You Lost Me

Chapter Eleven -Drained

"Elena, please forgive me, I never thought it'd happen" he pleaded, reaching her face and bringing her eyes back to his but what he saw in there broke him even further. Disappointment and pain, she was deeply hurt and it was his fault. Damon never felt so bad about something in his life. It was like the hurting in her still soft gaze entered his fresh ripping it and breaking each of his bones. Seeing her like that caused his body to literally ache and he felt like he needed to breathe to live but couldn't bring the air to his lungs. It was stifling and he felt like someone was strangling him.

"I'm dead… I'm a… I'm a vampire" realization finally hit Elena and just in front of him, he saw in her face how her heart and soul have been shattered in more pieces than it was possible to count.

"I'm so, so, so sorry Elena. I had no idea, I never thought she'd go to great lengths on her threats" Damon also broke in front of Elena and looking at him, still numb because of everything, she could see how honest he was and how it hurt him as much as it was hurting her but she couldn't bring herself to care no matter how much she wanted.

"It doesn't really matter Damon, I'm still… dead" she said deprived of any emotion. While the pair in the couch poured down their hearts, Katherine moved from where Damon had pinned her and went to Stefan's side, analyzing carefully the younger Salvatore's reaction.

"You need to feed" Damon said tentatively. He didn't want to address her new condition but he knew the sooner she fed, slimmer the chances of Katherine trying to kill her for good and he couldn't take any more risks with her life. Also Elena's transition seemed too fast. He expected her to take a few more hours to wake up but she took barely two hours to wake up. If that was any indicator of how her body was taking the transformation she needed to feed as soon as possible to avoid any further complications.

"No, you finally achieved what you wanted. You made it very clear that I don't mean anything to you anymore and I'm sure at some point you wanted me gone, you were granted your wish" Elena finally formed a coherent thought ever since she woke up. She was only reacting until that point but now she was finally absorbing her current condition and everything it implied and although deep in her heart she knew she was being cruel to him it seemed like she couldn't reach that still soft part of her.

"That was never what I wanted Elena" he pleaded her to believe him and for a moment she really did but it wasn't important. It wasn't relevant what his true intentions were, she'd deal with the consequences of his actions for the rest of her life… or death, she mourned.

She looked away from Damon because despite of the turmoil of emotions going through her mind that screamed at her that it was his fault, seeing his face was just breaking her more and she couldn't stand any more pain, she felt like her body weighted ten times more than usual and she knew it was the weight of her emotions. "But that's what you've accomplished" she offered bittersweet and her eyes finally rested in the two other occupants of the room.

Stefan was stunned, shocked and dull watching the exchange between his brother and his girlfriend all while the words Katherine said kept been repeated in his mind. He wanted to go there and kick Damon away from Elena and comfort her but he couldn't bring his legs to move. He felt rooted in his spot. Elena has kissed Damon and risked her life to impede him to leave and despite the shock she was going through in that moment all she could still think was about Damon. Ever since she woke up all she did was talk and look to Damon. She didn't even acknowledged his presence when he expected her to jump from the couch to his arms, like she always did. She always hugged him when she felt the most vulnerable. It only made him think more about what Katherine said instead of showing any reaction at all. He knew he was being selfish and he was yet to listen to her version of the facts but Damon's guilt proved him that everything Katherine had said was true.

Her gaze was on him for no longer than two seconds before it moved to Katherine, who has been holding his hand although he didn't even realize it but Elena did, immediately letting her eyes fall to where his body joint with the vampire's.

"Elena…" the blond quietly and lowly said but the new vampire only shook her head. She didn't want to listen to what he had to say. When she woke up she found Damon fighting Katherine, choking her while Stefan was there simply watching it and now he was letting the woman responsible for her death to be that close to him, to actually hold his hand like that and her eyes didn't let it escape that his lips had lipstick, the same that was blurred around Katherine's lips. The thought of what it meant made her wince.

"Please don't" she cut him off and stood, ignoring Damon who was still kneeled in front of her. As soon as felt her legs under her she realized how her senses had amplified. She was quiet for a moment paying attention to the noise she could listen coming outside the house. She could listen to the small animals in the nearby woods and the way each drop of rain reached the ground. She looked to Damon who was looking attentively to her and she felt like she was seeing him for the first time. She couldn't stop herself from touching his face appraisingly.

Everything about his dashing features was even more beautiful now. She could see the first wrinkles that were just starting to appear when he's been killed. Human eyes couldn't ever see them but Elena now could. She looked into his eyes and she was shocked to know that there were silver lines intertwined with all shadows of light blue craters. His lips never seemed so flushed and his skin so paled. But then the pain in all his features has also been magnified. She could see the torture he was going through and how the pain consumed each cell on him. She could see guilt breaking him apart and regret eating him from the inside. She imagined for a second if she looked as slightly devastated as him.

"I can't be here… I can't" she cried quietly, her voice just above a whisper as she wiped her tears, letting go of his face and ran away. Damon jumped from his position and followed her but Stefan reached for his arm, hindering his brother.

"You have no rights" Stefan said through gritted teeth.

"It's raining and cloudy but if Elena is exposed to the sunlight she'll die!" Damon yelled to his brother that didn't seem to be himself anymore. Damon couldn't understand how Stefan reacted that way when Katherine was so clearly manipulating them. He thought Stefan knew better than that but right now he had more important things to handle, like preventing Elena from being killed in the most painful way.

"Finally alone" Katherine whispered on his ear as soon as Damon left and Stefan looked at her still confused, shocked and lost. He was just an easy prey now and she wouldn't let the chance go. Her plan was going as designed.

She didn't know why she ended up there but that was where she was. That was the last place she should be now as she didn't want to complete her transition. She preferred to die than becoming a vampire and maybe being in the hospital, surrounded of human blood everywhere, was more than she could handle. But that was the best idea she had. She couldn't explain how she's been saved from a car accident without having as much as a scratch but she'd find a way to make it look like she had a heart arrest or anything. So she'd wait in the staircase until she felt her strength vanishing from her because she couldn't risk having anyone to find her before her eyes saw the last of thi planet because of the vampire blood running on her veins. The moment the doctors decided to run any test on her she'd be stealing the chance of her family having a proper goodbye in her funeral as she was sure they'd send her to any of those NASA or whatever laboratories, probably thinking she was a freak. But who said she wasn't one now?

So she sat in one of the stairs and looking at her surroundings she smiled bitterly. She's driven herself to the exact spot where she and Damon have argued earlier, when he once again and so bluntly dismissed her. It was when all the insanity started when he told her goodbye and she realized that she couldn't let him go. Remembering of that moment brought her back to the pictures of him a few minutes ago. It was agonizing to see how he was suffering but she couldn't forgive him for not saving her. Except he did save you, her inner voice told her and it was true. Damon wanted to leave and now she knew why. She'd never suspect that he was leaving because of her, because he couldn't handle to be around her but that what was she concluded of his words in that road before. He was tired of never being loved by anyone and she was one of the very few people that cared about him somehow. She could only think of Alaric and Stefan but even they had their reservations about Damon while she didn't. Damon has lost the only person who truly cared about him, maybe for the first time in many years. He didn't ask her to follow him and maybe if she knew by then how hurt he was she'd let him go because she didn't know if what she had to offer to him would ever be enough.

She regretted then the words she's said to him not only in the boarding house before she ran but also in that same staircase. She's judged him blindly and she's been really unfair. It broke her heart and she couldn't stop the tears from falling again. He didn't deserve to listen to the words she's said. Those accusations were really harsh and they couldn't be farther from the truth. Maybe if she hasn't said anything, he wouldn't decide to move away and she wouldn't need to follow him like a desperate woman and end up dead.

It still hurt to know that he let Katherine kill her. It was one of the things that hurt her the most in that moment although she was sure that the vampire would do it anyway, if not today any other day as the brothers didn't spend twenty-four hours guarding her. All those thoughts were overwhelming and frustrating. She didn't know what to think or who to blame. Maybe everyone was to blame, starting with herself stalking her boyfriend's brother and then kissing him but before she could try to have a final thought about everything, she's been interrupted by someone taking the stairs the floor behind her.

Elena stood up to leave but when she looked down at the stairs she recognized those red curls and something inside of her dropped.

"Elena!" Carla greeted excitedly as she saw a familiar face. The redhead didn't even think about asking what Elena was doing in a hospital staircase, that being the second time that day that she'd meet her in the hospital surroundings without asking if someone she knew was there.

"Hi" the baby vamp answered defensively. The smell of Carla's blood immediately hit Elena's nostrils and it was intoxicating.

"You can't believe what happened. I was trying to convince the guy at the car shop to buy my car when I've got a call from the hospital saying that grandma was awake! I came here immediately and they ran all sort of tests and for any unknown reason her cancer is dimming" the happy girl broke the news to Elena that felt slightly happy for both the woman.

"That's amazing, Carla" she offered back but not very enthusiastically.

"You and Damon were right. She did get better. I should believe in miracles!" the young woman was teary and emotional but the moment Elena heard Damon's name everything changed.

The mention of him brought back the memories of how he's been so caring towards the young woman and what he did for her grandmother. If Elena has been jealous about their affair before she turned it's now been amplified to deadly amounts. Damon couldn't save her from Katherine but he did everything he could for the girl in front of her and it made Elena's blood boil. Also there was the smell of Carla's blood and her bubbly behavior and before she realized it words were leaving her mouth bitterly.

"Yeah, your miracle is definitely called Damon"

"Damon has been great to me but I guess it's a little bit exaggerating to say he's responsible for it" Carla tried to be amusing but she just then realized that Elena looked odd and maybe she had someone in the hospital too.

"That's because he's a vampire, moron and his blood has healing properties and giving it to Mrs. Flowers surely can make things that medicine would call miracle" she completed annoyed. She was growing to hate Damon's little girlfriend.

Carla was shocked at first but then she finally thought straight and what Elena said was crazy. The teenager was probably going through something very harder to say something like that. Maybe she was even a patient in the hospital instead of being there for someone she loved. Or maybe she was just jealous.

"Elena, Damon really cares about you; you don't have any reason to feel jealous about what we had. We had sex, it was amazing but it's over, we put an end in our adventures this afternoon, while you were across the street. I know how it feels to go through a heartbreak and I'm sure it must be really hard for you to be between two brothers especially with Katherine in the mix but follow your heart. I don't know Stefan but I know Damon a little bit and I'm sure he'll let it go if you decide to be with his brother and Stefan should do the same if you decide to be with Damon" Carla offered sweetly and even moved her hand to squeeze Elena's arm but the brunette flinched and moved her arm away leading the redhead to frown. For her Elena's actions seemed too overboard.

"You're really stupid if you think you know Damon at all" there was venom in Elena's voice like it never had before and Carla was about to reason when she saw Elena's eyes darkening along as much black veins forming around her eyes. But it was only when the noticeable fangs caught Carla's attention that the graduate finally understood what was happening.

The rain made it difficult for Damon to catch her scent that was also new to his nostrils but although it took him over an hour, he thought he has followed it properly. But the final location led him to frown. Could Elena be that stupid and think that there was anything medicine could do for her to avoid the change? He thought the many times they talked about the vampire transition to her made it clear that once someone is killed with vampire blood in their system there were only two ways out: become a vampire or die forever. But as the second option crossed his mind he knew what she was thinking. She wasn't there to be saved, she was there to die.

He ran inside the hospital in inhuman speed, taking advantage of the gloomy and rainy day to move without drawing any attention. He decided to take the stairs but as soon as he opened the door he heard two familiar voices and flew over the stairs. Carla was about to scream out of fear when Damon came behind her and moved his hand to her mouth but it didn't stop Elena from reaching the woman's arm and tuck her fangs on her wrist.

AN: Here I am again. I should have updated yesterday but I was on a high after that amazing final scene that I had to go to a forum and talk mindless about my favorite couple.

Damon was just perfect and Ian deserves some serious kudos for everything he did out of that scene.

Recovered from the excitement and high about Delena, I had to have my own thing going.

I hope you liked this chapter. Someone told me they wanted Elena to make the decision to turn into a vampire, instead of having Katherine to make the decision for her. Well but there was still a decision she could make and she actually tried to make it the harder way. But she snapped - even revealing Damon's secret to Carla - and attacked the redhead.

I've already have most of the next update written so I know where I'm taking this but I want to know what you guys think. I've changed my mind a few times because your suggestions sometimes are better than my ideas and I'm totally open to them if I like and see them fit for what I have in my mind for the long haul.

That said I want to thank to bluestriker666; Sushiking; xLoveRyanx; opiopi; tsukivamp; Vampgirl144; Avecia, niadk; Lily, natitasha; damvampsal21; WhiteLine-Turned-HurricaneGirl; MsMaeve18; Alottalove; shadylady21; kat and BMCullen for reviewing. You guys are amazing and keep me inspired.

Talk to you soon.

Babi