A Twist In My Story
I'm finally waking up, a twist in my story
It's time I open up, and let your love right through me
A Twist in My Story by Secondhand Serenade
Damon had spent the majority of the night out of the house wandering through the woods looking for lost hikers or stray campers. The weather was cold, but there were still some hunters and other wilderness enthusiasts who were out that night. Damon had his way with most of them; draining them enough to sate his thirst but not enough to kill them. And then he wiped their memories clean. It really was a perfect arrangement in his opinion.
Stefan's holier-than-thou attitude about drinking human blood was really starting to get on Damon's nerves. It's not like his meals really missed the blood that he was taking from them. They always made more; it was just like donation. Damon smirked; even if all of his donors weren't exactly volunteers it wasn't like he had to live by their petty human rules. He was better than they were; stronger, faster, and smarter. Not to mention better looking.
He took one last mouthful of the crimson human life-force from the latest hunter that he had come across before compelling the man to forget everything. Damon dropped the heavyset huntsman back into his tent and eyed the man with tempered anger. He hated having to cover his tracks like this. Damon couldn't remember the last time he had sucked a human dry just for the fun of it and subsequently couldn't remember the last time he had really felt full. Most of the time he was just satisfying his thirst enough to keep him from wanting to kill any human he came into contact with. He grinned, making a mental note to head to the nearest big city and drain a few for Stefan. His brother would love the play by play back at the boarding house. He would be able to smell the humans on Damon, and would no doubt ask how careless he had been. And Damon would regale his brother with every single mouth-watering, gory detail. Yes, that was just what Damon needed to lift his sprits.
Damon wasn't looking forward to sticking around this small town any longer, but knowing that other vampires were coming to open the tombs, he didn't have many other options. And despite the fact that Emily had destroyed the crystal when she inhabited Bonnie, Damon had a sneaking suspicion that Bonnie would still have something to do with getting that tomb open. This unfortunately meant that he would need to be on his best behavior, at least for a little while.
In just a few seconds time, Damon was through the woods and standing at the base of the tree outside Elena's window. It was early, close to dawn, and he jumped into the low branches with ease, silently making his way up to where he could see through her second story window. He could see the nearly silent rise and fall of her chest and hear the faint thrumming of her heartbeat. A smile crossed his features at the sigh that crossed her lips in her sleep. He imagined her dreaming of him; despite knowing that he couldn't compel her to, it would be so much more satisfying when it's on Elena's own accord.
"Soon, Elena," he whispered quietly into the dusky air. And then, as quickly as he had appeared, Damon vanished into the early morning darkness, not knowing exactly how right he really was.
Bonnie pulled into the school parking lot, anxious and excited for the day. Caroline had driven herself home earlier that morning so that she could get herself ready for school and Bonnie was eager to see if the spell she had performed the night before had worked.
Spotting a blonde head of hair, she got out of the car and hurried toward where Caroline was sitting waiting for the bell to ring. Bonnie slid into the bench next to her and looked expectantly in her eyes.
"Well?" Bonnie questioned.
Caroline shrugged. "I don't feel much different I guess. But I haven't laid eyes on the men in question yet, so I don't know."
Bonnie grinned, "Well, let me know when you see them. You have to tell me how it worked. I have to know."
Caroline rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Sisterhood of the witchy spells… I got it. I'll let you know." Caroline stood up to head to class.
"Oh wait!" Bonnie said, grabbing Caroline by the arm, stopping her from leaving. She reached into her bag and pulled out a hairbrush. "Here."
Caroline's brows pulled down into a frown. "Why are you giving me that?"
"It's your brush, it's what I-"
Caroline shook her head. "Nope. It's Elena's. She let me use it last time we all spent the night at your house. That's probably how it got there. I gotta go. I'll see you at lunch and tell you if your 'spell' worked."
Bonnie nodded, staring off after Caroline as she disappeared into the building. And then Bonnie swallowed hard. She lowered her eyes to look down at the brush in her hand. Elena's? Leave it to Bonnie to mess up the first spell she had ever tried. It wouldn't be so bad if it hadn't involved using something from the subject you're putting the spell on. But that makes it pretty binding. And if the hair she had pulled from the brush had belonged to both Caroline and Elena… then Bonnie was in way over her head.
Stowing the brush back in her bag, Bonnie hopped up from the bench and headed for her car. This was something Grams was going to have to help her sort out; she knew that she couldn't do it alone.
Bonnie hurried off toward the student parking lot, eyes staring down at the ground in front of her, trying her hardest to not draw attention to herself. As she rounded the corner to where her car was at, she bumped into someone and fell to the ground. Bonnie glanced up, seeing that Elena had fallen to the ground with her. Shit, this was what I was trying to avoid.
"Oh, Bonnie, I'm so sorry, I don't know where my head is today." Elena stood up, holding out her hand to her friend.
Bonnie shook her head, standing up and dusting herself off. "No, my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going."
Elena linked arms with Bonnie and pulled her towards the school. "Where were you going? I have to tell you, I had the strangest dreams last night… and today I just feel all backwards. I could really use help deciphering my dreams. I thought you would be the perfect person for that."
Bonnie stopped dead in her tracks. "I… uh… I have to go see Grams. She called and needs me to come over right away."
Elena's eyebrows pulled together in concern. "Is everything alright? Did she get hurt or something?"
Bonnie hesitated. "Uh… yeah, she's alright. Just… I have to go…"
"But school! Bonnie, what's going on?!" Elena shouted after Bonnie, but her friend had already disappeared into her car and was pulling out of the parking space.
Elena let out a long sigh. This was going to be an awfully long day. And Stefan hadn't showed up at her house this morning, so she would have to be looking out for him to pop up somewhere at some point. Probably to say that he was finally leaving. Now that Logan Fell had been taken care of, there was no reason for Stefan to stay any longer. Elena felt a twinge of guilt at not feeling more upset that he was leaving, but there was some mental roadblock that seemed to be keeping her from it. She was probably just repressing her feelings because she knew that he was going to leave. At least, that's what she had been convincing herself of all morning long.
"Elena," his voice was smooth and sensual and if his startling her hadn't made her jump, it would have put goose bumps on her arms. She turned quickly to find Stefan standing behind her.
"Stefan, you have to stop doing that or you're going to give me a heart attack one of these days."
His eyes were sympathetic, and his mouth drew down at the corners pulling his features into a frown. "I apologize, I should have been more cautious."
Elena's eyes softened. "I'm sorry… I'm just really edgy today."
"Did something happen?" The look of sympathy turned to concern in an instant.
Elena walked over and sat down on the picnic table on the edge of the school's campus and looked at Stefan. "No nothing really. Just didn't sleep well last night. Bad dreams."
Stefan sighed. "Were you wearing your necklace?"
Elena nodded. "Yeah, nothing Damon-inspired. I guess I've just got more of an overactive imagination than I thought."
Stefan sat down next to her on the top of the picnic table, the look on his face still obviously concerned. "Well, make sure you don't take that necklace off. The vervain is the only thing keeping Damon from compelling you to do whatever he wants, because trust me, otherwise I'm sure he would."
Elena raised a brow. "The vervain and of course you, right Stefan?"
He gave her a weak smile. And it was obviously not the answer she was looking for.
Elena bit down on her bottom lip, and then all at once the words bubbled to her lips and she couldn't stop them. Although now, she didn't know that she wanted to.
"You know, Stefan, last night I went to bed thinking about how much I couldn't live without you. It seems like every time we get close to having something really special, you decide that it's too dangerous for me. You decide that you have to leave. I thought that you cared about me; I thought that you… well it really doesn't matter."
She took a breath and stood up, not being able to face him while finishing this. "It seems like I just keep convincing myself that if I want you enough that you'll stay." She lets out a deep sigh. "I am tired of working so hard at this relationship only to have you back out on me when I feel closest to you. There is always going to be danger in my life. Whether you are here or not won't change that."
There was a long pause, but Stefan didn't say anything, so she continued. "So if you are going to go, stop toying around with my heart and just leave. Because I can't handle all of the on-again off-again drama. Not with you- not with the way I feel about you."
Elena wasn't sure she really meant that last part anymore. But nevertheless she stood her ground. He wasn't going to do this to her. If things were going to end, it was going to be her decision. She was done letting him play around with her.
She felt his cool breath on her ear as he whispered quietly. "I'm sorry." She turned around quickly, but in the split second that it took her to face him, he was gone.
Damon had himself sprawled out on the couch with a glass in his hand and a bottle of Jack Daniel's on the coffee table in front of him. He heard Stefan's approaching footsteps and wondered what his brother was doing back already. Usually Stefan spent his days at school with the ever elusive Elena.
He heard Stefan's quiet landing into his room, meaning he wasn't looking for a confrontation with Damon. Damon grinned, it was time to go find out why his little brother was skipping school. Damon dropped the TV remote and was in Stefan's doorway before he heard the quiet clanging as the device hit the glass table downstairs.
"Tisk tisk, Stefan. Shouldn't you be at school with all the other good little kids, practicing your p's and q's?" Damon's eyes perused the room as he strolled in.
"Not now Damon," Stefan sighed, pulling out a duffle bag and throwing clothes into it.
"What's this? The always-chipper Stefan with a frown on his face?" Damon said, moving to the bed and sitting down, sifting through the shirts that Stefan had just put in there and taking them out again. "You're not skipping town on me already, are you?"
"Damon, I said not NOW," he pulled Damon up off the bed and shoved him into the wall, standing with one hand on Damon's chest and the other on Damon's throat.
Damon's eyes danced with excitement and a grin spread across his face. "Trouble in paradise?" he asked, pushing Stefan off him and straightening his shirt and leather jacket.
"I don't want to talk about it."
Damon pouted. "Not even with your oldest, most trusted friend? Come on, tell me what happened. Did she get a little too feisty on you? Or is she into that 'True Love Waits' bullshit?"
Stefan put all of the clothes back into his bag and zipped it up. "She broke up with me, alright? She told me that if I was going to leave, to do it already."
Damon's jaw dropped in surprise. And then he had a nice full, hearty laugh. Stefan stared at him, face calm, mouth drawn into a straight line, eyes hard. It took a moment for Damon to compose himself.
"I'm sorry. I have to tell you, Stefan. I honestly did not see that one coming."
Stefan's eyes narrowed. "Yeah well, self pity seems a little redundant coming from the undead, but I'd like to take this time to remind you that I could really have used Lexi right about now."
Damon smirked. "You and me both. But I know how much you detest sharing women. Besides, threesomes? Not really my idea of a good time when you're involved."
"Cut it out Damon."
"Please. Come on, you're free of your boyfriend duties. You can kick back, relax, enjoy the bounty of the earth, so to speak. There are a lot of human girls out there that would do anything for sex with a vampire. Trust me, I know most of them."
Stefan let out a sigh. This really was the last thing he needed right now. What he wanted was a friend, someone, anyone to confide in. And Damon was surely not that person.
"What do you think made her change her mind anyway? Your brooding forehead get to be more melancholy than she could handle? Because seriously man, I have to tell you, that is exactly why you never get laid."
Stefan glared at his brother. "I have had about enough of you. I have some loose ends to tie up here, and then I'm gone Damon. And if I were you, I'd do the same thing."
Damon leaned against the wall. "Luckily enough, you aren't me. And I am more than happy to keep it that way." He cleared his throat. "If you'll excuse me, I've got some 'loose ends' of my own." Damon grinned and jumped from the second story window. He had himself a girl to find; a girl by the name of Elena Gilbert.
A/N: Thank you so much for all of the encouragement and for all of your reviews. I appreciate them all! The next chapter reveals the first interaction between Elena and Damon! I hope you are as excited as I am!! As always, reviews are love. Give some to get some ;)
