A/N: Okay. *hides* I know everyone must be going stir crazy for an update. And I'm so sorry that this has taken so incredibly long. I want to say a quick sorry and thank you to allison lightning for your honest and straightforward review. I think I got stuck in my own little writing world and didn't really think about how it would really affect the whole story universe. But I completely see your point about cannon, so I want to make a note that the dead man's blood thing will not be in continuing chapters, and I will probably be editing chapter 15 to make the story run more smoothly. Enough about me. On with the story. ^_^
Save Your Soul
She just might get you lost,
And she just might leave you torn,
But she just might save your soul,
If she gets you when she gets you any closer
Rooftops and Invitations by Dashboard Confessional
Bonnie moved quietly and cautiously back to the living room where Caroline and Stefan were still sitting watching TV.
"So…" Bonnie said quietly, sitting down between the two of them. "Stefan, you know how we talked about Caroline and I not being able to stay here forever?"
Stefan raised a brow and looked at Bonnie carefully. "Mmhmm," he drew out dramatically.
"Well, that time has come sooner rather than later," Bonnie said, a grin plastered on her face.
Elena sank down into the passenger seat of Damon's car trying to disappear into the leather bucket seat. There was so much going on in her head that a dull throb had developed behind her eyelids. As much as she enjoyed being around Damon, she knew that it was not going to help her figure out her feelings for him and Stefan. For that, she knew she would have to be alone.
"Penny for your thoughts," Damon said, twirling a strand of Elena's hair around his finger.
Elena made a face. "I think I need to spend some time… alone."
"Now there's never a good sign. Do you know how much you just sounded like my brother?"
Elena smiled a little at that. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, was it? She could certainly think of worse, anyway. "As I told you before, Damon. Just because you enjoy inflicting pain on Stefan doesn't mean I do."
"And you really think he's better for you than I am?"
Elena gave Damon a crooked smile at that. "I know he is. I just don't know if I really want what's best for me anymore."
They were both quiet for a long moment, and then Elena spoke again. "At the risk of sounding like Bonnie, I know that you aren't your brother, but would it really kill you to be nice to people? I mean, you're nice to me."
Damon cocked a brow. "I am nice to you because you let me in your pants. And most of the time you don't nag me."
Elena made a face. "That's not true. You've already proven to me that there's more to you than this guy who only cares about causing trouble and getting laid."
Damon grinned. "Don't forget the blood, kitten. I care about that too."
"Uh huh…" Elena said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Fine, if Damon was going to play this game again, she couldn't really stop him. She couldn't make him admit that he had feelings either, so instead she sat quietly as he drove back to her house.
"I'm gunna let you out here," he said, pulling into the driveway and putting the car in Park but letting it idle.
"Let me out?" she questioned curiously. "Where are you going?"
His eyes danced. "Lunch time. Unless you've got a better meal planned inside?"
Elena actually considered it for about two seconds, and then shook her head. "It's too risky. Besides, I don't want you going and getting all attached to me as your meal-time go-to. Especially if I decide to pick Stefan instead."
Damon rolled his eyes. "You keep telling yourself that, Elena."
She got out and closed the door, leaning into the open window to look at him. He met her gaze but with little emotion on his own face.
"Thank you," she said quietly. Elena knew that he was giving her the alone time that she desperately needed, even if he wouldn't admit it. She also knew that he was a much better guy than he or Stefan would acknowledge.
"Don't know what you're talking about," he said seriously. And then he ran his tongue across his canines and grinned. "Maybe I'll see you for dinner then," and he threw the car in reverse and backed out of the driveway.
Elena shook her head as she watched him drive away. How on earth had she gotten so mixed up with him? A shiver ran down her spine and she had the strangest sensation that she was being watched. Elena ran to the house and pushed the door open, closing it swiftly behind her and locking it securely before leaning against the door, allowing her breathing and heartbeat to return to normal.
Knock knock on the door and Elena let out a quick yelp and jumped.
Bonnie moved swiftly from the living room to the entrance way, looking curiously at Elena whose face was sheet white and held an expression of utter shock.
"Everything okay?" Bonnie asked cautiously, taking her friend's hand in her own.
Elena nodded. "Yeah… of course. I just wasn't expecting the door…" she shook her head. She was being ridiculous now. Her mind was running on overdrive and she was completely worked up over what happened last night. The lack of sleep certainly hadn't helped her nerves at all, and as she felt her heart rate slowing, she almost laughed about how silly she was being.
Bonnie grinned. "I think it's my date. Hope you don't mind I borrowed some clothes since I didn't have time to go home."
Elena's brow furrowed. "Date? We're stuck under house arrest and you pick today for a date?"
"Chill," Bonnie said lightly. She leaned in closer and whispered, "Stefan's going too. He's going to keep an eye on me."
And then without another word, Bonnie swung the door open. Eric stood on the porch, his face a serene smile and a single yellow rose in his hands. He held it out. "For you, Bonnie."
The door opened wider and he nodded to Elena who was standing beside her best friend. Bonnie glanced quickly at Elena, and then looked back at Eric. "Eric, this is my best friend Elena. This is, uh… actually her house. We kind of had a slumber party last night."
His brow furrowed for a split second. "Protector mode, right?"
Bonnie smiled. "Yeah. Elena, this is Eric. I met him at the party last night. Actually… it was his party. Yesterday was his birthday."
Elena cleared her throat. "Nice to meet you."
"Well, we should probably get going," Bonnie smiled. "I've got curfew on school nights." She laughed. "Dad's rules."
Eric nodded understandingly. "Ahh, gotcha. Well then, we should probably be off if we gotta make sure to get you home on time."
Elena smiled again. "It was nice meeting you, Eric."
He glanced back over his shoulder. "Same to you, Elena."
Elena closed the door behind them and stalked into the living room. She knew that she should restrain her feelings, especially to Stefan when he was still upset about what had happened between the two of them. But, her mouth moved before her brain could stop it. "You let her go on a date?!" She said, staring Stefan down.
His brow furrowed. "It's not like I could really stop her."
"What happened to low profile and keeping under a safe roof where we're sure no other vampires have been invited in? For all you know the Grille could be covered in vampires."
Stefan rubbed his temples and chewed on the inside of his cheek while he listened to her. Once she had calmed down and took a seat on the arm of the couch he spoke calmly and quietly. "I am going to go and keep an eye on her Elena. If anything happens I will get her out of there. It will be okay."
He placed his hand on her arm and she turned to look at him, their eyes meeting for the first time since she told Stefan about her feelings for his older brother late the night before.
"Elena, I promise I will keep her safe. You have to believe me."
Elena swallowed hard and nodded. "I do," she responded quietly.
"Alright," Caroline interrupted, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the door frame. "If you two aren't going to kiss and make up, can we go now please? I'm sorry but I don't think I can stay here much longer. I'm going stir crazy."
Elena pursed her lips quickly and then shrugged and gave Stefan a 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em' look. "I guess we're all going."
"That is not a good idea. I can't keep an eye on all three of you at once."
Caroline rolled her eyes. "Okay, Grumpy, here's the deal. We all have that vervainy stuff so we can't be compelled. And Elena and I both know what the guy looks like, so if he comes to the Grille, we can let you know right away." Caroline sighed. "And I'm sure it won't be too tough for Elena to get your douchebag brother to follow her over there, so you won't have to watch us all. Plus, I was planning on calling Matt to see if he'd meet us there."
Elena raised a brow. "Looks like Caroline's got it all figured out. Well, except for the Damon thing."
Caroline narrowed her eyes at her friend. "He threatened to kill me. I get to call him a douchebag."
Elena swallowed hard. She couldn't dispute Caroline on that. But she knew that deep down Damon was different now than when he had first come to town. Then he had killed people just for the sake of it. But now that he knew that he was cared for and accepted, at least by Elena, he was different. For one thing he wasn't killing humans anymore. And his normally dark, sarcastic humor (which, let's be honest, was still dark but far more hot than Elena had ever found it before) had somehow become less menacing than it had been previously.
Damon was seriously pissed off. Despite knowing deep down that he really had no one to blame but himself, he consciously chose to blame… well everyone. He blamed Stefan for being his annoying, sickeningly sweet self. For brooding all over the girl that Damon wished he could have all to himself. He blamed Elena for making him want her all to himself and for understanding him in a way that no one had before. Not since Katherine. And even then, if he were being honest with himself, had Katherine really understood that much about him? Sure, she knew how to get at his desires and lusts, but had she really known him the way that Elena did? He was really pissed off at Elena for making him doubt and second guess the woman that he had spent over a century trying to get back. Hell, he was even pissed at Caroline and Bonnie for dragging Elena to that god-awful party the night before, where she had learned the truth about looking like Katherine.
If he were being honest with himself (which he wasn't) he probably would have realized that spending so much time with Elena was bound to get to him sooner or later. Even if he was just imagining that she was Katherine (which he had done… once or twice) there was something connecting the two of them now. Something that made her more than just the expendable human that he really wished he could still see her as.
To make matters worse, Elena- this fragile, weak human girl- was trying to make Damon believe that she might actually choose Stefan over him. His mouth salivated over the fact that in just one tenth of a second, he could twist her neck and drink from her rich, savory, delicious blood if he wanted to. He didn't need her permission. He was stronger, faster. Well, to be quite honest he was better. That fact had been engrained in him over the last century and a half- so why was she now making him doubt that? Why were Elena Gilbert's feelings making him think twice about what he said and how he acted? Could it really be as simple as the fact that he just didn't want to hurt her? Hurt her? Since when did Damon Salvatore care about hurting anyone? Since when did he care about anything other than numero uno?
Damon scoffed as he bit into another donor blood bag from the hospital. He growled angrily just for good measure into the empty boarding house. He couldn't recall a single time in the last hundred and fifty years when he hadn't put himself first. There had not been one instance when Damon did anything without an ulterior motive that would benefit him. Until the day he stepped foot back in Mystic Falls and ran smack dab into one Elena Gilbert.
Stefan picked a seat at the bar where he could easily see both Bonnie to his left and Elena and Caroline to his right. Of course they had to go to complete opposite ends of the restaurant, making it a little more difficult to simultaneously watch all of them, but it wasn't impossible. Especially for a vampire. Most of the time, he kept his eyes on Bonnie, watching for anything suspicious in the area. Stefan was pretty sure that whatever vampires were out there, they were looking for her. The fact that Bonnie was the newest known Bennett witch in Mystic Falls certainly had its disadvantages, especially when it was a Bennett witch that put a curse on Fell's Church to begin with. It was pretty well known that the easiest way to break a witch's spell was to have her or her descendants undo the magic. Unfortunately for Bonnie, her ancestor Emily had been into some pretty major stuff.
"Hey man," the bartender said, nodding to Stefan. "What's your girl doing all the way over there tonight? What's her name? Ella? No… Elena, right?"
Stefan ground his teeth together and threw back the shot of Jack Daniels in his glass, swallowing the mouthful and giving the bartender his best 'brooding puppy-dog' look.
"Ah, shit, dude. I didn't know." The man grabbed the bottle of Jack and quickly refilled Stefan's glass. "Sorry to hear that."
Stefan nodded. "Those who don't learn from history…. Right?"
The bartender's brow furrowed. "I don't follow."
A small, sad smile crossed Stefan's features. "They say those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it." He tipped his glass to the bartender and then added. "Welcome to history repeating…" And then he finished off the second shot of Jack in one quick gulp.
Just then, someone clamped their hand down over his shoulder. Stefan whipped his head around to see Ethan, a boy from school who was in his and Elena's history class. "Hey Stefan, sorry man. Didn't mean to sneak up on you like that. Just wondering, is Elena with you? I had a question for her about our Lit paper."
The bartender tried to cover his chuckle with a cough as Stefan let out another exasperated sigh. "She's over there," he pointed toward the general direction Elena and Caroline had gone. Stefan shook his head as he watched the boy jog over to where he had pointed and then turned back to the bartender. "That's it…" he said, fed up. "A shot of Jack for every time someone asks me about Elena tonight."
"You got it," the bartender replied. "Name's Jackson, and I'll be here all night."
Stefan threw a 100 dollar bill on the counter and sighed. "Yeah, I'm afraid me too."
Jackson grinned, pouring Stefan another shot (and making sure to fill it a little fuller than necessary), which Stefan downed as quickly as the first two.
Caroline and Elena waited at a booth near the pool tables for Matt. Stefan had made it perfectly clear that they weren't supposed to so much as go to the bathroom without letting him know first. Elena drummed her fingernails absentmindedly as her mind wandered over all of the things she knew she should be worrying about right then. Part of her was glad to be out of the house, away from the claustrophobic bedroom where she would have nothing but her thoughts as company. Because she knew the instant she was alone, everything that she was keeping firmly at bay because she was in public, would finally crash down around her and she would have no choice but to face it. The expression when it rains it pours seemed to reverberate in Elena's head as she stole quick glances in the direction of the bar, where Stefan was sitting. He was at an angle which meant if he turned to the right he could see her, but Bonnie was clear across the other side of the restaurant and he would have to keep an eye on her as well. Good, she thought, at least I don't have to worry about catching his eye all the time.
"Hey ladies," Matt said enthusiastically, interrupting her thinking. "Thought we were playing pool."
Caroline grinned up at him, sliding herself out of the booth and giving his arm a quick squeeze. "Yep, you and I are up first. Elena's playing the winner."
Matt's brow furrowed for a moment, taking in Elena's clearly frazzled appearance. "Uhh, you sure?" He asked, wondering if it might be a better idea to stay and make sure she was alright.
Elena saw the concern in his eyes and gave him a hopeful smile. "Mmhmm. Best two out of three. Then it's my turn."
Matt raised one brow and let out a quick chuckle. "No offense Elena, but you are not that great."
She rolled her eyes. "Then I'll play the loser." She smiled again, a little more genuinely this time. "I wanted to grab something to eat anyway."
He nodded and followed Caroline over to an empty pool table.
Elena let out a deep sigh and wondered if maybe talking to Stefan would be a good idea. They certainly did both have a lot to apologize for. Her gaze lingered on him for a moment, watching him throw back two shots in a row. And then her brow furrowed into a look of deep confusion when Damon slid into the barstool beside his brother. On second thought, Elena mused. Maybe I should just stay right here…
Once Damon's thirst was sufficiently sated, he decided to check in on Stefan. He was wondering how Stefan was handling all three girls at once, knowing that he personally had considerably more experience than his little brother, and that if nothing else it would be an amusing sight to watch. Damon hadn't been counting on none of them being at Elena's house when he swung by, and so he made his way to the Mystic Grille, which was really the only thing to do in that tiny god-forsaken town.
Of course, all four of them were there, along with Stefan's bromance buddy Matt Donovan and some new guy that Bonnie was with. He made a mental note to swing by their table later and embarass her a bit. Hey, what were friends (err... sleeping partners of friends?) for? Damon was a little surprised, however, to see that none of them were all together. Bonnie and her boyfriend were off at a little table in the back corner. Elena, Caroline and Matt were near the billiards tables. And Stefan. A pleased smile crossed Damon's face when he noticed his little brother sitting all alone at the bar. He narrowed his eyes to get a better look when he caught a glimpse of… Was that Stefan knocking back shots? Damon laughed to himself. Now this, was something worth seeing up close.
He walked coolly through the large open space and slid inconspicuously into the bar stool beside Stefan.
"Save some for the rest of us, cowboy," Damon said, a smirk securely planted on his face.
"Go away, Damon," was Stefan's only reply. And he could be wrong, but did that sound a little slurred?
"Aww come on. Looks like the party is just getting started in here." He held up Stefan's empty glass and grinned. "What are we drinking to, little brother?"
Stefan pulled the glass from Damon's hand and Jackson immediately started refilling it.
"Your little bro lost his girl. Plan is to do a shot every time someone says her…" He cut off abruptly, seeing the mortified, anger ridden glare Stefan was throwing his way.
Damon laughed. "Every time someone says Elena?" He made a face like he approved. "Well, I'll abso-fuckin-lutely drink to Elena." He grinned again. "And make mine a double."
A/N: I really hope that you all enjoyed this chapter. It was a lot of fun to write. Even though it took me entirely too long to complete. I promise that I will never make you wait that long for an update again. This chapter kept escaping me for some reason. But I finally got back into the groove, so I hope you all enjoyed it. I kind of left little cliffies going on with everyone… so you'll have to tune in for more to find out what happens next! Reviews are… hmmm… Well, they're definitely welcome. And I've got no metaphors today. So review if you liked it. Review if you didn't. How about that? ;) Thanks again for reading guys. You're all really awesome!
