AN: Chapter 5, I hope you like it :) I promise there's more Volturi coming up, but this one's all Vampire Diaries. If you like Bonnie/Damon fanfics, be sure to check out Danielle Salvatore, my awesome beta, who has written some great ones :)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Twilight- or Vampire Diaries related, it all belongs to the great Stephenie Meyer and LJ Smith.

Elena POV

The next morning, Elena was up early. She was in a good mood because she knew she would see Stefan today, and she decided to make breakfast for her aunt and her little sister Margaret. When they came down the stairs, she kissed the top of Margaret's head and spun her around. Aunt Judith raised an eyebrow and Elena just shrugged and smiled brightly. They ate together while Aunt Judith talked about her plans for the day. When Elena was asked about hers, she didn't really know what to say. She thought it was best just to be honest.

"I'm seeing Bonnie and Meredith later today, but first I'm meeting Stefan here at the house."

"Stefan? Oh, the boy who was here yesterday, right?" Aunt Judith pretended to be uncertain as to who he was.

"Yes, I guess we're going somewhere. He didn't say anything about it."

"Well, have fun, then."

They both acted very indifferent but inside, Elena was feeling giddy.

Elena hurried upstairs after breakfast. She didn't know when Stefan would come, he hadn't said anything about the time. Actually, he hadn't said anything at all, only that he would come to her house. He had been very desperate to get out of the car. Elena wanted to make sure she didn't make it hard for him like that again. She wanted to learn more about him. The only thing he had said was that he was a vampire. She didn't have any idea about what that meant.

She decided to dress up, just to keep busy. She picked out a dark blue dress that fit tightly around the waist, but then swirled open and came to her knees. She let her hair fall down her shoulders and pinned a hairpin with a butterfly on it to the side of her head.

And then she waited. She cleaned up her room for a bit, threw away post-its and papers that lay all over the room, and made up her bed again, just to kill time. When she heard the doorbell, she almost flew down the stairs to get it. Aunt Judith was thinking she'd never seen Elena this excited over a boy. And it wasn't even a real date! But she had to admit he'd been very handsome last night, even though he'd been dripping wet.

Elena looked at herself when she ran past the mirror in the hall and saw that her eyes were big and her cheeks flushed with excitement. No wonder Aunt Judith is looking at me like I'm crazy, she thought. When she opened the door and looked at Stefan, she suddenly felt very shy. She didn't know how to greet him. Most of all, she wanted to throw herself at him and be surrounded by his embrace, she wanted him to make her feel safe like only he could, but she didn't know if that was appropriate. First, maybe their moment of closeness had been only that: a moment. Maybe he didn't want to be with her like that again. That thought hurt so much she shoved it aside. Maybe he did want to hug her, but he couldn't. He hadn't told her anything about being close, sometimes it seemed perfectly fine, and other times he couldn't stand it. That was the first thing she would ask him about when they were alone.

He must have seen her uncertainty, because he nodded and held out his arms. She smiled, relieved, and buried her face in his jacket. He closed his arms around her and surprised her by kissing the top of her head. She didn't want to move. And it seemed like he didn't want to either, because they just stood there in the hall, holding each other. But Elena had always been a curious person and finally curiosity got the best of her.

"Where are we going?" she asked, looking up at him.

"I don't care, you can choose. Everything's fine with me, as long as we're alone."

"Oh." Elena was surprised. "Well, Bonnie asked me and Meredith to come over later, the clearing in which we met yesterday isn't that far from the way to Bonnie's. And few people use the trail that crosses it."

"The clearing it is, then." He smiled as if he knew she would pick that place.

"I'll go and get my jacket, and then we can leave."

Stefan drove the first part of the way, otherwise it would take too long to get to the clearing. After they parked next to the trail between the trees, they walked together in a comfortable silence. When they reached the clearing, Elena decided to sit on the ground instead of the tree-trunk. It was dry and she liked being surrounded by high grass. He sat down next to her and pulled her against him.

"Why is it that you can hold me now? And yesterday you had to get out of the car?"

"It's because I… fed. Last night."

"And yesterday you didn't?"

"Actually, I did. And it would've been fine if I went to school the way I was yesterday, but I'd been sitting here with you for a while, holding you close. And we'd been sitting in the car for some time, too. I wasn't prepared for that."

"I'm sorry."

"That's silly. Don't be."

"So tell me more. What do you feed on?" She was anxious about the answer. It was unbelievably stupid, but she hadn't even thought about that before Stefan brought it up.

He hesitated. "I feed on animals. But it makes me weaker than others, the ones who feed on humans have more power, they can do a lot of things I can't."

"And you feed on… blood?"

He nodded, his head hung as if in shame. Strangely, Elena didn't feel horrified and she didn't want him to look at her like that, as if he was a monster and she should be appalled. "Don't be like that. You don't hurt people, right? Then you have no reason to look so ashamed." She went on before he could disagree. "Does it hurt when you bite someone?"

"Not if the person is willing, it even feels good. It only hurts if you resist it."

Elena hoped he didn't mind the questions. He only talked when she asked him something, and she really wanted to know everything.

"Have you ever been bitten?"

He nodded. "If not, I wouldn't be like this now." He gestured at his body.

"Tell me more about that."

He hesitated and Elena realized it had sounded like an order, and that hadn't been her intention. "I mean, only if you want to, of course… You don't need to tell me if it's personal…"

"No, I want to tell you. I don't know where to start."

"Why don't you start at the beginning? When were you born?"

"I was born in the late fifteenth century." He said, looking at her to gauge her reaction.

She didn't even have to try to stay composed, and she realized she'd already accepted it. Last night in the car, when she'd seen his changing face, when he'd told her what he was, she'd decided she didn't care. She'd decided that nothing he would say the next day would change her opinion. She hadn't thought it would be this easy, but sitting here, against him, there was no doubt in her mind that he would never hurt her. She smiled at him so he would go on.

"I lived in Italy with my brother. He never liked me, but it became worse when he came back from the university. There was a girl staying in our house, Katherine."

He spoke so quietly at the end, Elena barely heard him. She changed from leaning against him to sitting on her knees in front of him so she could look at him. His green eyes were filled with so much sadness, Elena's chest hurt just by looking at him.

"She looked so much like you, Elena, you wouldn't believe it. When I first saw you, I thought you were her." He stroked her cheek. She turned her head and kissed his palm. She could tell he'd loved Katherine.

"Tell me about her." She said softly.

And so he did. He told her about Katherine, about her beauty, about her childlike ways, about how much he loved her, about how much she loved his brother. He got caught up in the story, and before he knew it, he was telling Elena about the night she came to him.

"We told her she couldn't have us both, she had to choose. And when she came to me that night, I thought she chose me over Damon. We exchanged blood. That's how someone gets changed. When she drank from me, it felt so close, so intimate, more than holding her and kissing her. I thought she wanted me alone, she said we would be together for eternity."

"She lied?"

He laughed without humour. "No, she didn't lie. But she'd gone to Damon, too, told him the same things. So the next day, we got mad at her, told her she had to decide. And she did. Later that day, we found her ashes."

"She killed herself?" Elena was shocked.

"She did it, but it was our fault. She thought she was the only thing standing between us, and that when she was gone, we would love each other. She did it because we forced her." His pained eyes looked into hers.

"It's not your fault." She said, sounding firm.

He sighed. "We doomed her, and we doomed each other. I found her first, her ring was laying next to her dress, which was covered in ashes. She'd taken it of, without it we burn in the sun." He said, absentmindedly stroking the ring on his finger. "Me and my brother both wanted to keep it, so we took our swords and fought." Elena was as caught up in the story as Stefan, she wanted him to go on.

"He stabbed my heart, and I felt my body go limp. I died."

Elena gasped and her eyes were wet.

"He killed me, but I was furious, I hated him, and with my last strength, I lifted my sword and killed him, too. I killed my own brother Elena, over a ring!"

"It's not your fault, Stefan! What Katherine did wasn't very smart, and your brother hurt you first." She wrapped her arms around him, a few tears had escaped from her eyes and they fell onto his shoulder. He laid his hands on her shoulders and smiled a weak smile.

"It happened a long time ago." She could tell wasn't agreeing with her, but he wanted to change the subject and for her to stop crying. She blinked her tears away and nodded.

"But you didn't really die." She said, so he would continue his story.

"Me and Damon both had just enough of Katherine's blood in our system. To complete the change, after you exchange blood, you have to die. If not, you just return back to normal. So we woke up in our family's tomb. Damon immediately left. I've seen him a couple of times since then, but I try to avoid him. He doesn't live like I do, and he's powerful."

The sun was warm and Elena felt dozy, she yawned. Stefan moved to lay on his back and he pulled Elena with him. She used his chest as a pillow and curled up beside him. Her eyes were closed, but se wasn't done learning more about him.

"What are these powers you always talk about? Can you do something special?"

"It depends on some things, how often you feed, how many humans you kill, how old you are, and lots of other things. We can move faster than humans, and we're stronger. That applies to me, too. But others can change into animals, or affect the weather, or compel humans."

"Like, hypnotise them?"

"Something like that."

Elena thought about that. She didn't like it, the thought that someone could control her will was disconcerting. Stefan must've guessed what she was thinking.

"There's something that can disturb it. It's a herb, but it doesn't grow here. If you wear or ingest vervain, no vampire would be able to compel you." Elena shivered at the word 'vampire'. Stefan hadn't used the word so casually before. He stroked her back, he'd felt the tremor go through her body.

"I would never hurt you." He said.

"I know." She whispered, and dozed off.

When Elena woke up, she didn't know how long she'd been asleep. It could've been minutes and it could've been hours. She looked up and saw that her hands had clutched the fabric of Stefan's T-shirt while she was asleep. He was playing with her hair and smiled when he noticed she was awake.

"How late is it?"

"You didn't sleep very long, only half an hour. It's twelve o'clock."

"I need to be at Bonnie's at one. Walking takes half an hour."

"Then we have plenty of time." He smiled.

She stretched and went to lay higher, her head next to his, propped up on her elbow. "We've been here for some time now, is it hard for you?"

"No, I was well-prepared when I showed up at your door."

"Good." She said, and bent down to kiss him. She kissed him softly on his mouth, but when he reached up to embrace her, she forgot to be soft and careful. She felt the fire burning inside her and in this one kiss, she tried to tell him everything she felt. How much she cared about him, how nothing else mattered and how he made her feel. She'd never kissed anyone like this before, it had always been just a kiss. And she knew this was somehow more. She and Stefan belonged together, she was sure of it. It was perfectly clear to her.

When they got up some time later, they held hands while walking through the forest. The distance between them on the way there had been comfortable, but Elena liked it a lot better like this. She squeezed his hand to let him know that, and sometimes it seemed like their minds were one, because he squeezed back and said: "I like it better, too." Elena wasn't surprised, she only saw it as more proof that she finally found her other half.

"We left a little late, I can drive you if you want."

"Oh, okay, thanks." Elena had lost track of time and she didn't want to step out of the haze she was in when she was with Stefan. She almost wished she could stay with him and go to Bonnie and Meredith some other time. But she wanted to tell them about Stefan. Bonnie will go crazy, she thought. Stefan released her hand so they could get in the car, but held it again when they were both seated. He didn't seem to close her out anymore and Elena was incredibly happy about that. She lifted their entwined hands and kissed his softly. He smiled at her and stroked hers with his thumb.

When they arrived at Bonnie's house, Elena reluctantly let go of him and unbuckled her seatbelt. He stroked her cheek as a goodbye.

"Have fun."

"I'll try" she grinned, but inside she felt worried. It had come up suddenly, but she had a bad feeling about leaving him. She knew it was irrational, but she still didn't like it.

"Stefan, this will sound stupid, but whatever you do for the rest of the day, please be careful?"

"I will." He said, but she saw that he didn't take her warning seriously. So what, she thought, I'm just being paranoid. She was trying to shake it off, but it didn't make her feel any better.

Bonnie POV

Elena had been right about Bonnie. When Bonnie saw Elena get out of Stefan's car, her eyes got big and her mouth fell open. Meredith gently lifted her chin to close it again.

"Stop staring, it's rude." She whispered.

"I don't believe it! How does she do it?"

They were watching from behind the window, and Bonnie didn't care if they saw her staring from behind the curtains. She was in shock.

"Does that mean I get free access to Matt?" She wondered.

"Don't talk about him like he's an attraction."

"You know what I meant." Bonnie grumbled.

They went to open the door for Elena.

"We think we know more about your feeling-thing." Bonnie said to Elena when they returned to the living room.

"What? How?"

"Internet." Meredith rolled her eyes. "Though it took some time to find any useful information."

"I should've known." Elena sighed. But she was curious as to what her friends had found.

"Let's go somewhere to eat first. I'm starving and we don't have anything but dry crackers." Bonnie and her sister had given their parents a weekend off for their anniversary. They were home alone now, and neither had gone shopping. "And before we tell you anything, you have to tell us everything about what's going on with you and Stefan Salvatore."

Elena rolled her eyes and started talking while they left the house.

Stefan POV

Stefan drove away from Bonnie's house after Elena got inside. Then he went back to the clearing they'd just left. While Elena was sleeping, he'd felt blasts of power coming from somewhere in the forest. He'd noticed charms all over the forest, too. Used to mark territory. He'd felt the power before, but never nearby. Now he wanted to see where it came from. He had a fairly good idea about who it might be, and he didn't like that. He didn't even want to think about what it might mean if his brother was in town.

He was walking back to the road when he saw someone standing ahead of him. He could only see the person's back, but it was Damon, all right. Dressed in black, black leather jacket and straight black hair. He was sure Damon had already heard him, but he came closer. When he almost stood next to him, he noticed why his brother didn't turn around. Damon was watching something. Stefan strained his ears so he could hear what was going on at the edge of the forest. It was Elena. She was walking to town with her friends, and Damon was watching them. Stefan felt fear arise inside. Damon had already seen Elena, did he know she was not Katherine?

"I'm not after you girlfriend, Stefan. If that's what got you so worked up." Damon said suddenly.

"She's not Katherine." Stefan wanted to make sure he knew this.

"Oh, I know that. I wouldn't let you have her if she was." He sneered, still not looking at Stefan.

"Then why are you here?"

Damon turned around. "I wanted to see how you were." Damon flashed him a smile, and then looked serious. "No, seriously, Stefan. Stay out of this."

Damon was being secretive and it only made Stefan angrier, especially since Damon had been looking at Elena.

"If you're not here for her, then why were you watching her? She's not yours."

Damon's voice was cold when he answered, "I don't care, I don't want her. And I wasn't even watching her. And now leave me alone, little brother." Damon could be really dangerous when he got angry, and Stefan knew he shouldn't mess with him now. But then his words took on a different meaning. 'I wasn't even watching her' was Damon's way of saying 'I wasn't even watching Elena." Stefan couldn't let this happen. First of al, those were Elena's friends. Hurting them would hurt Elena, and that was something he would never allow to happen. Second, this was his town now, Damon couldn't go and feed all over the place. He tended not to be careful about covering his tracks, and Stefan didn't want to risk getting exposed.

"You can't have them, Damon. Move on to a different town. Some of us try to be inconspicuous."

"The ones who live on little bunnies and squirrels, you mean? So who's there to stop me? You? I'd like to see that." He laughed. Damon was harassing Stefan, who was on the edge of attacking. Damon went on, "Oh, I'd like to taste the little redhead, I bet she'd like it, too. Or the tall one. Or both of them! Have you ever tried that, Stefan? I'm sure Elena would love to." He smirked.

Stefan was furious, he hadn't been able to control the anger that welled up inside of him, and he launched himself at his brother. Damon was stronger than Stefan expected and he was knocked away by a swing of Damon's arm. He smashed into a tree and tried to get up, dazed by the strength his brother had used. How many lives had he taken to gather that kind of power?

"Don't ever think you can win this fight, little brother, you'll only get knocked down more, every time you try." Damon said.

"Stay away from them." Stefan said, he almost stood upright again, and he wouldn't let this go. He knew it was a stupid move when he saw Damon's face grow colder than it had been since they'd started talking. Damon kicked him down as if he were a mere human, bent over so his face was close to Stefan's and said: "You can't order me to do anything. And I'll prove it to you. And I'll make sure you are nowhere near to stop me." He kicked Stefan into another tree. Stefan wasn't able to stand up yet, so Damon went looking for something a few paces further into the forest. He came back with an old rope, covered in leaves and dirt.

"How convenient garbage dumped in the forest can be." He smiled at Stefan, who was barely even conscious.

Stefan felt his body being rolled over, and his arms were pulled backwards. With his foot, Damon rolled Stefan on his back again and towered over him. He was twirling a branch between his fingers. Stefan, alarmed at the sight of it, grunted and tried to get his arms freed. "Good luck." Damon said, and thrust the branch into Stefan's stomach. Then he changed form and flew away as a crow.

Stefan was in agony. He didn't know what to do. He was losing blood, and even if he could get his hands untied, his arms were pinned beneath his body. But he wasn't far form the road, and his confrontation with Damon had lasted only a few minutes. Elena would still be close, and she was the only person he could hope would help him. He could still faintly feel her presence because he was getting attuned to it, but he didn't know if her friends were still with her. He didn't care. All he could think about was the pain he felt everywhere in his body. With his last powers, he tried to send out a thought to Elena. Even if she got it, there was a great chance she wouldn't understand it. It was as incoherent as his thoughts, which were slipping away more every second.

AN: Damon is being a jerk, I know, but remember that this is happening at the beginning of the first book. Thanks for reading and please review, almost every review I got was written by my best friend, so I'd really like to know what other people think about this story..