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Chapter 2: Earlier that Morning

Damon was waking up with a rotten headache and a nasty taste in his mouth when the phone rang. He haphazardly glanced at the phone to see it was Jeremy Gilbert on the line. Knowing that he was not at the top of Jeremy's friend list, Damon grabbed the phone and sputtered "what's going on?" as he answered the phone. The younger Gilbert would not be calling him for a social chat.

"I need you to find Elena. She's not answering my calls." came Jeremy's terse reply.

"Do you think I'm some kind of errand boy, Gilbert?" Damon shot back. "Elena is not my problem, as you both have made abundantly clear."

"You think I don't know you're in Alexandria right now? Probably watching her like some kind of crazed stalker? I'm calling you because you might actually be of some use to Elena right now." Jeremy exploded. He continued on before Damon could even get a word in, "You know that Bonnie has been, what we shall say, off lately? Well, off doesn't cut it anymore. She's gone off the reservation again, and this time she has taken the stake with her. And you know her obsession with killing Klaus and Alaric once and for all. Which in turn means killing you as well as a lot of other blood-suckers out there. Which is fine by me, but it does leave Elena with a pretty short life expectancy too."

Damon dropped down to sit on the bed, sitting in stunned silence for a moment. "I don't understand how this is happening. Bonnie was neutralized for God's sake. The other witches made sure of that after last time."

Jeremy gave out an exasperated grunt. "You said it yourself, Damon. Witches are fickle. I don't know how it's happened, but you need to get Elena somewhere safe. Tyler and Caroline are still in Europe with Elijah. I wouldn't have called you but you are the closest option."

Damon's heart started racing. Why hadn't Jeremy been able to get a hold of Elena already? "Why isn't Elena taking your calls? When did all of this happen?" he queried.

"I just found out about Bonnie this morning. I've tried Elena 3 times and send 3 texts. Her phone is off or something has happened to her. But maybe instead of interrogating me, you should just go find out where she is." Jeremy challenged.

Damon hastily looked at the clock. It was 4 pm. Good God, had he slept the day away? "Fine, I'll find her. But you know this is not going to go well." Damon said as he walked to the bathroom to start the shower. Last night was not the night to take such a bender, he thought ruefully.

"I don't care about that, Damon. Just do what you've always done best. . protect my sister before she takes matters in her own hands. When she finds out about Bonnie, she'll try and come up with her own solution. We know how Elena's plans always work out." Jeremy reminded him as he hung up the phone.

Damon knew that well enough. Elena was a walking Pandora's box of bad ideas most of the time. With that thought for motivation, Damon stepped into the shower as contemplated his next move. Elena was a not going to be happy about seeing him. But he could not help but feel a slightly giddy feeling at the prospect of being with her again. Maybe he could finally convince her to let her walls down and feel something once again. He calmly dressed and hurried out the door, plotting his first move in his mind as he exited the hotel onto the busy street.

Two hours later, Damon was still trying to determine where Elena was. A quick drive by her apartment verified her car wasn't there. Her apartment appeared to be undisturbed as he peeked through the windows. At six pm on a Sunday night, it was doubtful she was at her office. He went by her gym, her grocery store, her coffee shop. All the usual places she visited were a bust. His anxiety heightened as darkness fell on the city. He tried her phone and found that it went straight to voicemail, just as Jeremy had described.

Damon decided that he needed to feed before continuing the search. He did not know what situation he would encounter in this search for Elena. It was better to be safe than sorry. It took no time at all to find a bar filled with drunken fools watching the Patriots and Redskins game. A pretty redhead was headed to the restroom and he caught up to her in a flash of an eye. She stumbled into him as he appeared, almost out of nowhere, in front of her.

"Oh, excuse me. I didn't see you there at all!" she exclaimed.

Damon smirked, and catching her arm, replied back lazily, "It's no problem, Red. Why don't you join me in the restroom?" His eyes dilated, forcing her gaze to his. She was barely inside the door before he pulled her to him and sank his fangs into her lovely white neck. The woman let a frightened squeak as Damon pulled back to gaze into her eyes once again. "You will not be frightened of me. Relax and enjoy this." he said before sinking his teeth back into her soft flesh. The woman gasped and sighed as he pulled the thick warm blood from her now-willing body. He felt her heart thundering in her chest as he continued to drink. When he felt that tell-tale slowing of her heart beat, he pulled back, licking his lips. The woman was breathing heavily and gazed up at him with glassy eyes.

"Oh, don't stop. . " she said, looking at up him.

Damon pulled her face close to his, demanding her gaze match his as his pupils dilated. "You don't want me to touch you. You will walk out of here and go home and rest. You will not remember meeting me here." He gave her a slight push towards the door. The woman blinked rapidly, not sure what was going on.

"Did I just walk into the men's room? I'm so embarrassed!" she sputtered as she looked quickly away from Damon as she walked through the door. "I've had more to drink than I thought!" Damon chuckled to himself as he saw her walk away. Worked like a charm every time.

Feeling refreshed, Damon left the bar after grabbing a quick shot of bourbon on the way out. He decided to refocus the search for Elena. He drove back to her apartment and parked outside on the street. Her car was still gone. Damn that woman, he thought to himself. She never ceases to be exasperating. He thought back to the many times she had knowingly and unknowingly put herself in danger. Why did he have to fall in love with the most stubborn, accident-prone woman this side of the Continental Divide? Especially one that wanted nothing to do with him. It must be destiny for a vampire to be in love with her. Any normal human would be toast. He stopped himself from thinking about the humans men in her life right now. If the thoughts didn't drive him mad from jealousy, he might actually feel sorry for the dumb bastard that found himself ensnared by Elena's charms.

His phone blipped suddenly, pulling him out his reverie. A text from Jeremy. He jabbed out a quick reply that Elena was still missing in action. Hopefully this is a case of no news is good news. He glanced at the time and realized that it was much later than he expected. He decided to take a trip back towards Elena's office at the newspaper. He could get in that building and at least check her desk or her computer for information. As he drove past a deserted convenience store, he spotted Elena getting out of her car in the parking lot. He let out a quick expletive as he was at once relieved to see she was fine but annoyed at her carelessness. He felt his ire raise at having being so incredibly useless all day in looking for her. Where in the hell had she been?

Damon whipped his car into the parking and sped out the door of his car. He moved a vampire speed so quickly through the empty parking lot that his movement was a blur in the window as Elena walked through the open door and down the aisle. She paused at the dairy case, looking into his reflection as he stood behind her as she reached for the door handle. Damon felt the familiar stab of heartbreak as he watched her entire body stiffen as she locked her eyes with his. He heard her faint murmur of "Damon." as she turned toward him. He frowned as he realized how much he ached to hear her say his name again.