Here we are again! I'm back with a new update. I'm happy to say that I'm still writing and hey, maybe I'll finish this story before the beginning of 2018 (hopefully I didn't just jinx it).

I try to respond to all reviews, but for those that haven't received any yet - thank you. I appreciate it SO much. It is the root to my motivation and it keeps me going like nothing else. Here we are - chapter 16

Chapter 16:

I was surprised when she slept through the night and even through the workers beginning to repair her room the next morning. Stefan had been good and gotten all that in order, so I didn't have to worry about anything else than Elena. I guess it's nice to have a brother, sometimes, even though he can be quite annoying.

She was still lying with her head on my chest, breathing deeply and even though I could probably slide out and replace my body with a pillow, I didn't want to. Spending the morning with her lying on me, seemed like a perfect way to start the day, but I hadn't fed in almost two days and my cravings were getting dangerous.

I combed my fingers through her hair and looked down at her sleeping form, before I slowly slid out and replaced my body with a pillow. She snuggled up with it, and I took one last look at her, before I got dressed and walked downstairs.

On the way, I saw the people working in her room. The curtains and pillows were in the trash and they were starting the process of replacing the wood.

Downstairs, Caroline and Stefan were sitting in the couch, talking. Caroline was lying down with her head in his lap and he was looking at her as though she was heaven on earth.

"You know, it's almost that time of year again," Stefan said, playing with the blonde hair that was fanned out over his thigh and the couch.

"I know. Have you looked at plane-tickets yet?" she answered back from the couch. I felt odd, standing there. Like I was invading their private moment, and really, I shouldn't give a fuck, but for some reason, I stayed in the shadows, listening to them.

"No, not yet. I figured we could do it together," he said, leaning his head back on the couch. Plane tickets? Where were they going? I hadn't heard about this before.

"Sure. We just have to make sure Damon is alright staying with Elena alone," Caroline said. I could have choked her. What did she mean if I was alright to stay with her? It wasn't like I was going to kill her or anything.

"I think they might benefit from some time alone. And we need to take this time to ourselves. We've gone back every year since you turned, honey, we're not giving up on that now," Stefan said. Were they going back to Chicago?

"I know, I just... I like Elena. We're becoming really good friends and I think that sometimes she needs me to sort out what Damon means when he says and does things. You know he's not exactly easy to deal with sometimes," Caroline said.

"I know, baby, but it's important to go back. We need to keep in touch with our roots," Stefan answered. I decided I'd had enough of listening to them and walked in, very loudly. Caroline sat up quickly, as though she had been caught red-handed doing something she wasn't supposed to. I looked at her in a strange way, and then I went to the door to the basement.

While fresh blood from the vein will keep me going for the longest time possible, I'd promised myself to try and cut down on it. Ever since I had killed Kelly, it seemed wrong to be feeding from a person who was still alive.

In some weird way, I felt like I was cheating on Elena.

I knew, of course, that it was ridiculous. I couldn't cheat on Elena, because we weren't together. She may have been my Singer, but that didn't mean I had some sort of claim over her. Even if she knew, she would never let me act like that – she had a fire I loved like nothing else and one I had never imagined coming from her.

She didn't give a shit I was a vampire and could snap her like a twig – she stood up to me and I loved it.

I grabbed a blood-bag from the cooler, when I felt her heart speed up. It wasn't much, so I figured she was just waking up. I quickly drained the bag and reached for the next one. It really had been too long since I had fed. The veins on my face were pulsating and my fangs were itching to bite into something that wasn't a plastic bag.

Frustrated, I ripped the bag open with my teeth and closed my eyes, trying to pretend it was hot, coming right from the vein, and not cold and tasting like a plastic bag.

It was gone too soon, but as I drank the last drop, I heard a heart-beat. One exactly the same as my own. I opened my eyes, and saw Elena standing right in front of me, her hand reached out towards my face.

I willed them to disappear instantly, not wanting to scare her.

But she didn't look scared. She didn't look like she had just been staring into the eyes of a monster. She looked curious. Her hand was right in front of my face, but she was looking me right into the eyes.

"Bring it back. Please," she whispered. I kept my eyes on her and let the blood rush back to the veins and my fangs elongated, as I opened my mouth a bit to make room for them. The empty blood-bag was on the floor and I was looking at her tentatively to try and gauge her reaction. She looked as curious as ever and her soft fingers were touching the veins under my eyes, tracing them with her fingertips.

The other hand followed, and she cupped my face, tracing her thumbs over my cheeks, her mouth slight open, as she examined it. I noted with interest that her head was slightly cocked. She then moved her fingers down to my fangs and touched them, sliding her thumb over them, before she pressed the pad of her thumb to the tip of my teeth.

I growled, as the smell of blood hit me. It wasn't just any blood. It was Elena's and it smelled like heaven and all things good.

It smelled like her.

She had quickly withdrawn her thumb, and was now holding it close to her body, while she was watching me. I concentrated again, pushing the urge away and bringing myself into control again. I was surprised to see she was still looking curious and not at all afraid.

"You're playing with fire, Elena," I said, relaxing my posture a little. She knew that I was dangerous, but somehow, she had never been afraid of me. I had yet to figure out, if it was due to the Singer-bond or if it was just her person.

"You wouldn't burn me," she whispered back, stepping closer again and reaching out her thumb to me, offering it to me. For a second I thought about it. I thought about how delicious her blood would be and how I would love nothing more than to have a taste of her mood, of her insides, of her everything.

But I knew it was wrong.

So, I pushed her hand away and gave her a small smile, before speeding right past her, back into the parlor.

I avoided her for the whole day, trying to not think about how amazing her blood had smelled, even though it was killing me. I could feel that she was hurting and I wanted nothing more than to take it away, but I couldn't.

We were getting too close and I couldn't let myself be weak around her. It could so easily end up with me drinking from her, when she wasn't even afraid of it. I couldn't take that risk. I didn't know if I could control myself around her, and she was the one person in the entire world, I could never live with having killed.

It wasn't until I was in the kitchen, prepping dinner for her, that she cornered me.

"Why are you avoiding me?" she said, crossing her arms over her chest. I turned around and looked at her. She had that feisty look on her face, as though she was not leaving until she got her answer.

"Avoiding you? Elena Gilbert, are you getting paranoid?" I said, deciding that playing it off as nothing, would be the best way to go.

"Don't even try to pull that shit with me, Damon. You're always near me, when I'm home and ever since this morning you've been avoiding me. Why?" she said, raising one eyebrow at me.

While I do love her fire more than anything, I wished so hard, in that moment, that she would just leave it be. I didn't want to explain to her why she needed to stay away from me.

Well, really, I didn't want her to be scared of me. I enjoyed her never being scared around me, even when I vamped out. It was rather refreshing, but I couldn't have her get too comfortable.

"Well, lets see. This morning you were practically begging me to drink from you, even though you have no idea of the consequences," I said, turning the heat down and walking closer to her, "you think, that having me drink from you will be some sort of Twilight moment. That it'll be romantic and bring us closer together."

I was standing an inch from her now, baring my teeth and letting the veins pop forward. I was pretty impressed that she wasn't backing down – her face was still defiant and her arms crossed. Her heart was pumping like mad.

"You're wrong. Me drinking from you, would be painful. You would regret it the moment I bit you and with the way you smell, I wouldn't want to stop again. So, back. Off."

I was whispering now, my nose almost touching hers and my fingers trailing over the pulsing artery in her neck. I expected her to show some kind of weakness – something in her eyes, or a gulp.

But no.

She was still standing tall, looking right into my eyes, no hint of backing down on her face.

"I knew perfectly well what I was doing, Damon. Don't try to play it off like you would hurt me. For some reason, you decided to not only safe my life, but to take me in and keep me, without killing me. I don't know why or what it is, but there is a bond between us and no matter how much you try to deny it or threaten me, I know you would never hurt me," she whispered back, never breaking eye contact, "I'm not afraid of you. So, cut it off."

She pulled away again and sat down on one of the chairs, by the kitchen island.

"What's for dinner?"

I didn't join them for dinner – I just finished cooking and let them figure out what they wanted to do. I headed towards the city, ready to find someone to feed on and take my frustration out on. I knew Elena wouldn't approve if she knew. For now, she thought I only fed on blood-bags and could never hurt anyone, and I would let it stay that way. This was the one relationship I couldn't mess up.

I ended up at The Grill again, where I ordered my usual bourbon and sat nursing it for a while. Elena had been able to stand up to me, in a way that nobody else had ever done. She wasn't scared of me, even when I was trying to intimidate her and push her away. She had mentioned that we had a bond, but lucky for me, it didn't seem like she was thinking too much about it. I was already dreading the day I would have to tell her, that we weren't just a normal girl and vampire. She was special to me and I would fuck her life up, whether she wanted it or not. I tried not to think of what her 24th birthday would be like, because I knew it was going to be painful, no matter what.

I would give her the choice – while I couldn't imagine letting her die, I couldn't force her to turn into a vampire. Turning would let her stay with me, but I couldn't imagine her as a vampire. She had so much light, that I couldn't imagine her becoming a monster, like us.

Not to mention that I wasn't sure where to find a witch, to make her a daylight-ring. Normally, vampires can't go out in the sun – no, it's not like Twilight, we don't sparkle, we don't look like statues. We burn. And quickly.

But witches found a way to end that. The only issue was, the vampires and witches normally aren't the best of friends. Since witches use nature and crap like that to perform their magic, we sort of go against their principles. But sometimes, you would be lucky to find one you could befriend, and voila.

Access to daylight.

I would have to make a mental note, to find a witch to make one for Elena, so I could have it ready for her. Just in case.
My train of thoughts were interrupted, by a person climbing onto the stool next to me. In the process, he pushed me and I already felt sort of pissed.

I was just about to turn to the person and compel them to leave, but then I noticed the lack of a heartbeat. I quickly looked at my companion and was surprised to see a pale face, with hair hanging in front of it.

"Alaric?"

He looked up and the slack hair fell away from his face. Alaric didn't look like himself at all. The skin around his eyes was sunken and dark and he had a stubble, that did not look healthy. His eyes seemed sort of blank, void of emotion and yet filled with them.

"Long time, no see, Damon," he said, not smiling. He nodded to the bartender, who placed a bottle of whiskey in front of him, with a doubtful look.

"What the hell happened to you?" I asked, surprised. We had been on some pretty rough benders together, but I had never seen him like this before, and I was worried.

"I have no idea," he said, not even bothering to get a glass, and just taking a swig from the bottle in front of him. I was speechless. Could he be sick? I had never heard of a vampire being sick before.

"One day... something happened to me. My heart... it started beating."

I felt the horror creep up my stomach instantly. I knew what that meant. But as I focused on him, I couldn't hear it beating.

"And suddenly, there's someone I feel like I need to see. And I had no idea why, but I couldn't.. not..." Alaric took another swig from the bottle. Did he not know about Singers? Had nobody told him what happens to so many vampires, all over the world?

"I watched her grew up. When she was 20 we became friends. I was at her wedding. I was in the waiting room when she gave birth to her kids. Two wonderful kids. First a girl and then a boy," he said, laughing in an empty way, "they looked so much like her. I was there for her anytime I could. But I wasn't there on the day I should have been."

My mind was still busy, thinking over the fact, that they hadn't been romantically involved, and it seemed like he wasn't even attracted to her. I had always thought that all Singers ended up with their vampire, unless they chose to die. I thought that the connection meant love.

"They drove over a bridge. Here. I was in Italy, on vacation. And suddenly I knew something was wrong. My heart stopped beating. I felt like it had been ripped out. I returned and went to their house, but it was empty. The police... she died on impact. At least she didn't suffer."

He drank almost half the bottle and tears started falling from his eyes. I wish I could tell him something comforting, but my mouth was gaping. Two kids.

First a girl.

Then a boy.

Drove over a bridge.

Dead on impact.

"What was her name?" I asked, my voice quivering.

"Miranda... Miranda Gilbert."

He emptied the bottle in one go and hid his head in his hands. Then he started murmuring to himself. I pulled him up and away from the table.

"You should come home with me. I'll explain everything tomorrow," I said grimly. He didn't even protest. He just let me lead him out of The Grill and back to the boarding house.

Once I finally got him back, I dumped him in one of the beds downstairs, so he could get some sleep. Even for a vampire, he'd had a lot of alcohol and I needed to gather my thoughts, before I could explain everything to him – and explain why I hadn't told him about it.

I hadn't noticed him having a heart-beat, when I met him in the Grill, those years ago, when I was watching Elena on her first date. There had been so many people, and so many heart-beats, that I hadn't focused on his alone. Why would I? It wasn't like I knew there was one.

Elena's mom had been a Singer. And not just any, she had been Alaric's Singer. I had no idea if it was common to run in the family like that, but it was still clogging up my mind.

I was surprised, when I entered my room, by a sleeping Elena. She was in my bed, cuddling with one of my pillows and fast asleep.

I instantly felt bad for leaving her behind. I had totally forgotten that it had been less than 24 hours since someone tried to kill her, by setting her room on fire – less than 3 months after she had lost her entire family. I shouldn't have left her alone like that.

I grabbed some clothes from my drawers, quietly, and went to the bathroom to shower and put on boxers and a t-shirt. I didn't want her to feel uncomfortable, when she woke up.

When I came out of the bathroom, she was sitting up in bed, looking at me.

"Hi," she said sheepishly, pulling the cover up to her neck. I smiled at her, closing the door behind me and sitting down next to her.

"Decided you didn't want to sleep alone tonight?" I asked, leaning back against my headboard. She blushed and nodded.

"Do you mind?" she asked. She almost made me smile. The way she was sitting, all red in the face, cuddled up under my sheets, asking if I minded if she stayed, made me notice, once again, how adorable she was.

Then I remembered who I am, and why I shouldn't think she was adorable, and the smile never came to my lips. I wasn't supposed to be getting this close to her.

"No, but you can't sleep in here forever," I said, keeping my face straight. She cocked her head and looked at me, as though she knew. I was afraid she was going to ask, but the worried expression was taken over by a yawn, and I could have sighed from relief.

"Let's go to sleep," I said, getting into the bed. As soon as I was laying down, she found the familiar position, with her head on my chest, and her hands on my stomach. I looked down at her and put my arm around her, the warmth from her body making me want to cuddle her as close as possible.

"Thank you, Damon," she said, before she closed her eyes and relaxed against me.

As soon as her breaths evened out, I pulled her closer, remembering what Alaric had told me. So, that was the way a Singer died if they weren't turned. For some reason, I had always believed that it would be a lot more mysterious – that they would just drop dead on the second they turned, whatever year. But apparently, it didn't work like that.

Would Elena drive over a bridge too, if I didn't turn her? Or how would she die?

I looked down at her sleeping form and found myself growling lowly, at the thought of her dying. She brushed her hand up and down my stomach, as though she was petting me, and tried to move closer to me. I frowned.

She wasn't just any normal human. She was sound asleep and yet she still tried to calm me down. She was never scared of me, even when I tried to make her scared. Even when I'd locked her in the basement, she'd shown no signs of fear, whatsoever. Not to mention the fire she seemed to have, every time she stood up to me.

I guess it was all part of the Singer-bond. Well, some of it. From what Stefan had told me, a Singer feels safe around their vampire. They feel the connection, so they know that they're never gonna hurt them.

At least, that was what it had been like for Stefan.

I had no idea if it varied from person to person. I didn't know enough about the bond, in general. In that moment, I decided that I was going to go through all the library books and diaries tomorrow, to see if I could find out more. I had to, for Elena's sake. Maybe there was a way around it. Maybe, I could somehow free her from being bound to me.

Because as I was looking at the sleeping girl in my arms, I knew that I could never hurt her and I wanted her to have everything in life.

Even if it meant I had to lose her.

When I woke up the next morning, I was panicked to find that I was alone in bed. Elena never woke up before me, and the flashes of her room on fire, reminded me that someone was out to get her.

Her heartbeat was steady, and I could feel that she wasn't far away.

If I weren't such an idiot, I would look at the facts – she wasn't far away, she wasn't scared and she probably just went downstairs to the others. But I'm an idiot, and I had to see for myself that she was okay. And I needed to see it right now.

It hadn't even been a second, before I stood right in front of her, cupping her face. She screamed and dropped the pan she had been holding, right onto our feet. As soon as it hit, she screamed again, this time in agony from the burning.

I quickly removed it, internally embarrassed that I had just made her drop a warm pan on herself. Then I carried her to the table, so her feet were in the sink and let the cold water run over them.

"Could you please stop speeding around, you're making me dizzy," she said, hissing as the cold water hit the place she had burned herself. I looked up at her and cursed myself for being such an idiot. She might have been with us for a while now, but she still wasn't very used to vampires – I should have known not to move so fast around her.

"I'll try," I said shortly, taking her small feet into my own hands, "has anyone ever told you you're clumsy?"

Her mouth fell open and she stared at me.

"Me?! This was all your fault! If you could just have walked down here, like a normal hu-..." I grinned at her.

"Human being? Sorry to disappoint you, Elena, but I'm not human," I said, looking at her feet. It didn't look too bad – she would have a few blisters, but that would be it. There were small red marks all over her shins, from the grease that had splattered from the pan, but the would be gone before too long. Luckily, it seemed I had gotten her under the cold water, just in time.

"I know that. Mysterious creature of the night and all," she mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. I raised an eyebrow at her, while I made sure the cold water covered all the marks.

"Are you ever going to be able to use the word 'vampire'?" I asked, almost laughing. She looked down at her feet, crossing her arms tighter.

"No. I'd rather call you Cullen. Or creature of the night. Or any other thing I can come up with," she said, not looking at me.

This time I couldn't keep myself from laughing at her. She was behaving rather like a toddler and it was hilarious. She didn't seem to appreciate my laughter, however. It only made her pout more and splash water on me with her feet. Because I was so closed, my face got drenched and so did my shirt. I expected her to realize what she had just done and freeze, but she didn't. Instead she pulled out her feet, dried them with the dishcloth and hopped off the table, without looking at me.

"Are you done being mean now? First you make me drop my pan, then you laugh of me and now I have to cook all new breakfast, because you ruined the first one."
I looked at the remains of her eggs, on the floor. They were burnt in the edges and I could smell that she had forgotten salt and pepper.

"Let me make you new ones. Yours was burnt anyway," I said, walking to the fridge to get new eggs.

"Excuse me?" she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You heard me. Your eggs were burnt and they needed seasoning. Now, sit down and let me cook some new ones for you," I said, grabbing the eggs, some milk and vegtables.

"That's rude," she said, and sat down at the kitchen bench. I started cracking the eggs into the bowl and smirked.

"It's the truth, nonetheless."

I turned around to get a look at her face, but I noticed something in the background. A hooded figure was standing outside, with a gun in his hands and as he was positioned, it would hit Elena. I heard the gunshot and sped, this time dropping the bowl with eggs, so I was positioned in front of Elena, the bullet digging painfully into my back. The window had shattered when the stranger had shot and Elena was screaming so loudly, I was scared he would have somehow hit her anyway. But she was unharmed – it was only the shock.

"Son of a bitch!" I said, holding onto the kitchen counter on each side of Elena, for support.

"Damon! Damon, are you alright?" she asked, cupping my face with her hands. I reached one hand back, to try and dig out the bullet, but it had lodged itself in that annoying spot, I couldn't reach.

"I'm fine, Elena, I just have a bullet in my back," I said, turning my head around to look at the window. The stranger wasn't here. His heartbeat was gone. If I had fed last night or this morning, I would have been able to go after him, but I hadn't, so I wasn't quick enough.

"Oh God, okay, I'm gonna get some alcohol, and something to cover the wound with," she said, trying to jump off the chair, but I locked her in like a cage.

"You will do no such thing," I growled, "someone just tried to shoot you. Stay close to me." Painfully, I wrapped my arms around her and carried her away from the windows, into the hallway. Then I collapsed against a table.

"Damon, I need to close that wound or you're going to bleed out!" she said, her voice quivering.

"I'm a vampire, Elena, what I need you to do, is to dig out the bullet for me," I said through clenched teeth. I let her out through my arms, but she looked pale.

"Okay." Her voice was resolute, as though she really didn't want to do this, but was forcing herself to.

I sank to my knees to let her get a better view and bent slightly over. She took a deep breath and then started putting a finger into the wound.

It definitely wasn't a pleasant experience, but she was careful and her heart was pounding the entire time, so I held in any noice of discomfort, to make it easier for her.

"Damon, there's a lot of blood," she said.

"I won't bleed out, Elena, I'm a vampire, I promise. Just get the bullet out and I'll start healing," I said. She took another deep breath and then seemed to get a bit more rough with her fingers. It definitely paid off – a few minutes later, she had to bullet out and I could feel the damaged tissue starting to stitch itself together. I turned around and sat down on the ground, looking at Elena, who were on her knees.

Her hands were covered in blood and it wasn't until then, that I noticed tears were falling down her cheeks. I leaned forward and put my arms around her middle, pulling her into my lap, where she curled up, with her head against my chest, crying. As soon as she sat in my lap, I had to fight down the urge to drink from her. I had lost a lot of blood – most of it was spread all over Elena's hands and my t-shirt, and I was hungry.

And damnit if she didn't smell like a 7 course meal, made by the best chefs in the world. But I couldn't feed from her – least of all while I was actually needing blood. I couldn't be careless around her.

But I also couldn't leave her like this. She was sobbing and holding onto my shirt, as though she was clinging onto life and it made me feel like a teenage-boy, to know that she was in my lap and she wanted me to comfort her, but I really needed to do something about the craving.

"It's okay, Elena," I said, rubbing her shoulders lightly. My veins were popping forth, but I was holding back my fangs with all I had.

"Y-you just... took a.. b-bullet for me," she sobbed, "somebody tried to... k-kill me."

Had she not been sobbing in my arms, and had I not been minutes away from tearing into her veins, I would've pointed out to her that this wasn't the first time somebody had tried to kill her. But the situation, once again, wasn't for sarcastic remarks, and I just shut my mouth and tried not to breathe in through my nose, so I couldn't smell the delicious scent of her blood.

Just then, my brother and Caroline came walking through the door and I had never appreciated them more. They both saw my veins and Caroline hurried to comfort Elena, while Stefan sped after two bags of blood.

He threw them to me and I tore them open to gulp down the blood quickly.

Lucky for me, Elena hadn't seem to notice what I was doing, but was instead being cuddled by Caroline, who was looking grimly at me.

"Someone shot through the window in the parlour. Lucky for Elena, I saw him and was able to take the bullet for her," I said, and pulled off my shirt, now that I had two bags of blood in my system. The wound was healed, but my back was covered in semi-dried blood, and my shirt was ruined too. Elena looked up from Caroline's arms and seemed momentarily distracted by my naked chest.

"Did you get a good look at him?" Stefan asked. I shook my head and kept my eyes on Elena.

"He was hooded and masked. But it was a male without a doubt. Probably 5'7 and built. He had brought shoulders, unless he was wearing gear underneath the hoodie," I said, trying to remember the brief fraction of a second, before I had reacted on what I had seen. If only I had been strong enough to go after him, even with a bullet in me. I then remembered what Elena had said the night after the fire.

She wanted to learn to defend herself.

She may not be able to safe herself from a bullet, but I would teach her how to defend herself against anyone who were trying to harm her.

I looked at her, my eyes cold from the hatred to the asshole, who was trying to kill my singer.

"We'll start your lessons today. Whenever you feel better," I said harshly, already forming a plan in my head.

It wasn't until later, that I noticed Alaric wasn't here and while I was worried, I was even more worried about what was going to happen to Elena. I would have to find Alaric at some later point.

Big chapter, huh? We finally got to see Alaric again and *gasp* his singer was Elena's mom! What did you think of that? And someone tried to kill Elena again! Any suspects?

As much as I'd like to just read your minds, I can't, so be kind and leave me a review, so I know what's going on inside everyone's heads!