We've been seeing what you wanted, got us cornered right now.Fallen asleep from our vanity, might cost us our lives.I hear they're getting closer; their howls are sending chills down my spine and time is running out now.

-The Howling

Elena wanted to cry. Damon's toxic presence was slowly killing her. Every shallow breath he took was seeping oily into her pores, and she felt herself losing all her remaining strength. What did Damon want from her anyways? She was a shadow—a nobody. She had done nothing to Damon, yet he was punishing her with a fervent hatred. Elena couldn't understand Damon's motives, and to be completely honest, she didn't really want to. Whatever dark desires burned inside of Damon, seemed to be built up over time, and it was through Elena that he lashed out against these feelings. She felt like she was analyzing a psycho maniac: a perfect experiment in a secure room, but deadly when in the real world. Elena knew she was in the latter scenario, and that made her panic even more.

"What do you want from me," Elena shakily asked, not daring to look at Damon. Maybe he'd show her mercy; leave her alone on her porch steps.

"That depends on what you consider 'want' to be." His voice was husky and melodious, but the tight anger was still a looming presence. "Enough talk, get up."

Elena did as she was told, feeling her body buzzing in fear. He wasn't going to let her go. Damon rose from his seat as well, and pushed Elena on the back harshly, to get her to move. Enveloping his tight grip around her forearm, he forcefully guided her down the street.

The houses and trees that were usually so kind and pleasant now seemed to only taunt her. She was being dragged into her own personal hell, and nothing on the sleepy streets even tried to save her. Mystic Falls had failed Elena. She was quite sure it and its inhabitants wouldn't even miss her. Biting her lip, Elena tried desperately to ignore the pain in her forearm: Damon was dangerously close to breaking the bone.

"Tell me something girl, do you like your small little town? If you were… taken from it, would you miss it?" There was no kindness in Damon's voice. Elena was sure that even if she said she'd miss it, he wouldn't let her go.

"I could learn to miss it," Elena feebly returned, clenching her teeth as Damon tightened his grip on her.

"If you were to die, do you think anyone would truly miss you?" Damon was enjoying this. Each question he asked, he could see Elena turn even whiter. Although this girl had the fire Amica had possessed, she was easily frightened. The descendents in the past had fought him—hard. Their rebellions had only fueled Damon's dark passion: speeding up the process of their death. Elena though, would be a long and torturous game.

"I—" Elena began to feel tears streaming down her face, and could no longer summon the words she was going to say. Damon certainly had a knack for scaring the hell out of her. How could a man with such intensely beautiful features be so evil? His lips were delicate, yet they touched the darkest of things. Damon's bone structure was perfect, and somehow benevolent; but it always got overpowered by the mask of poison he wore so well. Elena almost felt sorry for her captor. He must have a past—no one is naturally evil enough to kidnap a teenager for twisted physical games.

Damon never replied to Elena, and she was relieved. Talking to him just made the nightmare so much more real. She couldn't deny that she was terrified of Damon: how could she not be? The man seemed more deadly and conniving than Lucifer himself; and was certainly darker than Hades.

After walking for what seemed like miles, Damon stopped in front of an abandoned inn. The building hadn't been used since the twenties, and it looked it too. The structure was built in the eighteen-nineties: a simple wooden frame, and painted with deep reds and greens. The paint was badly chipped, and cobwebs were abundant in the shattered and cracked windows. The steps leading up to the front door were badly termite eaten, and Elena feared the delicate wood would collapse under her weight. The inn was surrounded by trees with abstract branches, and their trunks seemed almost black. At least it wasn't dark outside: a little bit of sun still peaked through the forming gray clouds.

How did Damon even find this place? No one knew about Olde Harbour Inn except Mystic Falls residences. It was mainly a hangout for the potheads and drinkers, but there had been stories of the place being haunted. Elena had only heard bits and pieces of the myth, but she could not deny the dark spiritual presence around the building. Breathing in deeply, she timidly looked to Damon. He was smirking with a sort of excitement that made Elena want to vomit. He took too much pleasure in these old abandoned buildings and what was to go on inside them.

Tugging at her arms agonizingly harsh, he led Elena up the rickety stairs and to the front door. The crimson was blended with a hint of black it seemed, giving off the darkest of reds Elena had ever seen. She waited in tense anticipation for Damon to open the door. She debated wiggling from his grasp and running as fast as she could, but she somehow knew he would catch her. Elena didn't want to know the punishment she would receive for trying to escape. So, she stayed perfectly still as Damon took hold of the steel handle and shoved the locked door open with ease.

Elena stood frozen as she looked into the shadowy room, and Damon rolled his eyes. Letting go of her forearm finally, he pushed Elena's lower back, and she went flying into the room, landing knees first.

Feeling her kneecaps hit the unforgiving floor; she rolled onto her side, bringing her legs up to her chest. There was a pulsating pain around her knees, and she felt it begin to trickle into her shins. Elena couldn't move: out of shock, out of pain, and out of fear. She wanted so badly to cry, but somehow she felt she'd be penalized for doing so. Why did this have to happen to her?

"Oh stop favoring yourself," Damon said bitterly as he walked into the old inn, closing the door harshly behind him. "It's just a little slam." When Damon had been a child, he was so energetic and full of life. This fast paced personality caused many injuries, and each time he fell, his father would reprimand him for being such a baby. 'Life is full of pain. You'd better get used to it now, or you'll die young and weak'. Damon could still hear his father's voice clearly in his head. Even after thousands of years, his daddy issues controlled every move he made. The thought made his anger rise even more.

Taking a few steps closer to Elena, he grabbed her pointer finger, and pulled her into an upright position. She was sure the finger was dislocated, and the pain made her momentarily forget about the throbbing hurt in her knees.

Elena sat there numbly, not getting up when Damon directed her to. This infuriated the vampire. Grasping the girl by her shoulders, he lifted her up to her feet, making sure to dig his nails into her skin. The white shirt she wore began to soak up her blood, and Damon smirked.

Taking hold of her wrist, Damon directed her to the far-most corner of the room. Elena hit pieces of furniture as she went. Her hip, her shin, elbow and feet all fell victim to her limited vision in the darkness.

Damon finally stopped, and pushed down on Elena's shoulder until she fell to the ground.

"Against the wall," Damon directed, and Elena felt her way to the wallpaper peeling wall. When her back hit it, Damon lifted one of her arms, and clasped a metal bracelet around her wrist that was chained to the wall. He repeated the process for her other hand. He laughed at how helpless she looked chained to the wall.

"You're sick, you know that?" Elena was seething. She felt like a play toy that could be scrapped at any minute.

"You have no idea, love," Damon whispered into her ear. Trailing a nail along her soft cheek as he got up from beside her, he felt the blood touch his finger. Oh, sweet bliss. Sucking the irony substance from his finger, he sat on the couch positioned right in front of Elena.

"You think that I am the bad guy," Damon began, "but wait until you see what your own mind can do to you. You're a dark girl, Elena… you can go on to do great things." Damon gave her a sly but knowing smirk, and then slithered his way into his victim's head.

A shadow began to approach Elena, much too slow to have no ulterior motive. Her heart raced painfully in her chest, and she could feel the sweat beads forming all over her body. She tried to get away as the figure came closer, but the damn chains held her in place. She wanted to cry. The unknown had always terrified her, and a shadowy figure certainly fell into that category.

"Stop, please, stop. I promise I won't do anything. I've done nothing. Please don't hurt me…" her ramblings sounded almost like a prayer. They were quiet and rushed, and totally based upon faith. She waited for the shadow to reply, but it did no such thing. It simply came silently to her. Elena lifted her eyes to the thing, to see deep red orbs staring back at her. The dark mist had fallen from the creature, and now a white sharp nose and a set of jagged teeth looked back at her. The thing looked like a demented witch that the devil had gotten a hold of. Its breaths were like hisses, and it looked like it wanted to eat the flesh right off of Elena.

The girl was too terrified to scream, and when the devilish creature knelt down beside her, she wanted to faint. The witch thing took a handful of long and thin metal rods from god knows where, and showed the shiny weapons to Elena in pleasure. Elena held her breath. Needles and anything resembling them had always scared her. Looking to the creature next to her, she pleaded with her eyes for it to leave her alone.

The witch paid no attention to Elena, and slowly took one of the rods from the pile. Bringing it to her forearm, the creature tapped it against one side of Elena's arm. The girl sighed. This wasn't that bad. Then, after once last innocent tap, the creature dug it into Elena's skin, and she watched in horror as it reappeared on the other side. The witch continued the process up her arm, and then went as far up as the top of her shoulder. Elena screeched with each rod that was pierced through her body. Everything was on fire in her arm, and she felt the tears trickle heavily down her face.

Elena then heard hisses… and they didn't come from the creature that had moved to the other side of her, and was piercing the rods in her right arm now. Elena looked in front of her, and saw a massive group of snakes approaching her. Their dark little slits for eyes looked at her hungrily, and Elena screamed louder than she ever had before in her life. Snakes were her worst nightmare. Watching as the long scaly things slithered creepily towards her, she no longer really noticed the rods in her arms. Elena began to wiggle uncontrollably, in an attempt to avoid the snakes. The animals quickly anticipated her movements thought, and made their way on top of and all over her. Pretty soon, she was under a layer of hissing serpents, feeling their sharp teeth scrape over her skin. Trying to break the chains, the metal rods though her arms dug into her bones and tendons. There was nothing she could do. All of her worst fears were consuming her.

Thinking this was as bad as it could possibly get, she was rudely proven wrong. Hearing quick little sounds against the wooden floor, Elena held her breath: they sounded like bugs. The little legs came scurrying closer. Elena felt the witch remove the converse from her feet and Elena's heart rate quickened. Why the hell would she do that…? Unless, the bugs coming towards her could bite or pinch. Oh god.

Elena tried to clench her toes so the bugs couldn't get to them, but she soon felt a very strong and harsh pinch on her big toe…. It was a scorpion. Those bugs had always terrified her. Bugs, needles, snakes… they were all swarming her, and she could not escape. Elena wanted to die. There was no use trying to live through this—what was the point. Moving her wrist closer to one of the snakes she could feel on her chest, its teeth bit deeply into her veins. The pain only lasted momentarily. Soon, she could feel the venom seep thickly into her bloodstream, and she felt as if she was slowly falling into a very deep and permanent slumber…

Damon let her mind free, and Elena was crying uncontrollably. She could still feel the memory of the snakes slithering over her, and remembered clearly what each rod felt like being shoved into her skin. Elena wished she could forget the scorpions gnawing at her toes, but she could still feel each pinch.

"Wh—why did you… do that… to me," Elena could hardly speak. Lifting her eyes heavily to meet Damon's, she hated him. That was just too cruel… too evil. Even for him.

"Oh, dear, I had nothing to do with it. I just opened your mind—you caused and created the pain." Damon crossed his arms. She was just like Amica. Outwardly good, and desperately trying to make that true internally as well. But Elena and Amica were both just too dark for salvation.

Could it be true? Had she done this to herself? What did that mean? What did that make her?

Okay, first of all, so sorry for the long wait. I've been very busy with school and life, and have just had no time to write! So, I'm very sorry. Also, this chapter is short—again. Hopefully the torture as still okay? I really hope so!

Your thoughts are much appreciated.