Chapter Nine: He About To Lose Me

Elena drew in a breath. They were related? No time to focus on that now. She had to warn her close friend about her evil captor and his powers.

She struggled against Damon's hold and resisted his hand against her mouth.

"Stefan, be careful, there's something wrong with him!" She screamed, half of the sentence muffled against Damon's hand, now secure against her lips.

Stefan began moving closer still to the two, and Damon began taking careful steps in the opposite direction. Elena tried to move her head to see where he was going, and she saw the edge of his bedroom door in the background.

Elena began screaming against the confines of his hand, trying to bite, spit and scream as loud and she could to maneuver her way out of his grasp. She had seen plenty of kidnapping stories on TV, sitting around after concerts in her hotel room. Victims rarely get such a chance at escape, and she would be damned if she didn't take it.

"Stop it, Elena!" Damon tightened his grip and she found she couldn't even move her little finger. It was painful, and her muscles ached for him to ease up.

Suddenly, in what seemed like a millisecond, she was thrust backwards out of the way as Stefan attempted to lunge at Damon.

"I said let her go, Damon," Stefan growled, his arms waving all around him in blurry action. Damon reciprocated his attacks and Elena was spun around viciously, her eyes spinning back into her head and her mind growing dizzier with each push in a new direction.

"Never!" Damon spat. "You knew what had to be done to protect her from you!"

Again the monkey in the middle, Elena, was shoved to a new corner of the open room, with Damon dodging all of Stefan's attempts to grab her and heading still for his bedroom door.

Elena tried her best to follow the fight but she was so nauseous and dizzy and achy that the words sounded muddy and foreign to her spry young ears. Damon's arms dug tightly into her sides, holding her still and she was in horrible pain. She didn't know if she was hearing things right, whether everything was as it seemed. Why would Damon say he was protecting her from Stefan? Stefan was the one who had protected her for all of those years. She struggled to breath as the air was being knocked from her. She was pulled at supersonic speed across the living room, her eyelids fluttering defenselessly against her face.

Suddenly, she felt Damon's arms leave her body and she collapsed into a heap on the floor where she was released. She could still hear the angry voices nearby and tried her best to zero in on her surroundings. Elena struggled and was able to focus on the outlining of what appeared to be the door to Damon's bathroom. She turned her aching head slightly and was greeted by the view of his california king bed, shaggy rug and other furnishings.

She felt her wet hair clinging to her face in tangles, matted in the back from where she was pressed up so tightly against Damon.

She breathed slowly and steadied herself against the floor, sitting up and resting on her knees. She could hear all sorts of noises, like things were breaking and flying and crashing all over. Looking over, though, all noises came from outside the bedroom door, which of course was closed and locked automatically as always.

What was she doing in here?

Damon must have shoved her down in here quickly behind him to make sure Stefan couldn't get to her. This room was like a fortress with it's internal steel lined ceiling and floor. Even the glass walls that looked out into the city were coated with diamond. Elena had learned this the hard way when she tripped earlier that day and gotten the wind knocked out of her in here against all of the hard surfaces.

Considering all of this, one thing was certain. She was isolated in here while Damon intended get rid of, well, his brother. Her top security agent and friend for many years. Elena needed to help him. How did this happen? How could Stefan have been related to someone so horrible? What were they talking about outside?

She had heard only bits and pieces of the conversation. "...just trying to protect her." "This wasn't the plan." "...supposed to be mine." "...you knew how I felt."

Piecing them together, nothing made sense. Elena had managed to tell Stefan about Damon's powers when he had first barged in, but the scary thing was, Stefan looked like he already knew. Judging by his quick actions that matched those of Damon's, and his ability to somehow gain access to the penthouse from the outside window, Elena had some other scary suspicions as well.

Could Stefan be a vampire, too? And if so, was he stronger than Damon? Would he be able to save her?

The most dreadful thing of all, though, was a thought that lurked at the very back of Elena's mind. She remembered something that Damon had said in the very beginning. Something that Stefan hadn't protested, but had actually confirmed.

"You knew what had to be done to protect her from you."

Because, thinking back, Elena did remember some sketchy things that had happened around Stefan.

Once in particular she had recalled a time when she was being personally driven home by him from her awards ceremony. At some time during the ride, he had changed directions and was driving her miles and miles away from the specified Ritz Carlton hotel. When Elena had finally realized this she waited until Stefan had stopped at a gas station and called Alaric for affirmation. Stefan had seemed to almost have heard the call from outside the car and proceeded to drive her straight to the hotel like nothing had happened, not mentioning a word and pretending he had been going there all along. This was when he had just started working for her, maybe a few months, and was being tested out as a personal security agent.

Eventually, he had moved right up to the head of the department, overseeing all aspects of Elena's safety. After that, Elena had pretty much forgotten about the incident. Though now, she could recall many more situations like it. Times when Stefan had taken her off course intending to go in the opposite direction before someone important caught wind and he had to cease his plans. These situations, these times were very specific to Elena now. She had just now realized what they really were. Kidnapping attempts.

That's when she heard a heavy knock on the door.

"Elena? Are you okay? It's Stefan. Open the door, you're okay now."

She held her breath, white as a sheet. What had happened to Damon? Surely he wouldn't have allowed Stefan to get so close to the door unless Damon was.. incapacitated.

She didn't respond, a thousand feelings flooding her brain, unsure about what step to take next. A few seconds later, though, she heard Stefan again.

"Elena, I know you can hear me. I understand that you're scared, but that man isn't going to hurt you anymore. You can come home with me, to your rightful home, and I'll protect you there."

Pause. Elena still didn't say a word. "Rightful home?" What was he saying?

Stefan's voice touched on anger as he spoke again.

"Come on Elena, come out. Didn't I say that you would be okay?"

Suddenly Elena remembered something. She couldn't open the door. Not even if she wanted to. It was locked from both ways, then. Only Damon could come in. Was locking Elena in here a final effort to keep Stefan from rescuing her, or was Damon trying to protect her from him?

Elena's worry grew for Damon. What had Stefan done? Who was the bad guy here?