Hey guys! If you're curious about exactly what happens when you play strip flash cards with Damon, you might want to check out "Flashed." I didn't like how it fit with the flow of the larger story, so I made it its own separate fic. Or, just sit back, pour yourself a glass of blood, and enjoy this new chapter.
Blood oozed around her fingers as she dug into Stefan's flesh with a sickening squish. Elena had seen this day ending in plenty of ways, but she hadn't foreseen digging wooden buckshot out of her ex's chest. Obviously she lacked imagination.
"Just get them out, Elena," Stefan gritted through clenched teeth.
"I'm trying. Shut up and stop moving," she ordered. It wasn't easy to pluck the tiny fragments from his chest without accidentally sending one plunging into his heart. Amazing: vampires could live a thousand years, survive being starved, beaten, and shot, but a splinter could end their immortal existence. The Original Witch had a great sense of humor.
"Got it." Elena managed to pinch the sliver between her fingers, drawing it out of Stefan's chest. She wiped her hands together in a vain attempt to remove the blood. "That's the last of it." She stood and began to walk away, already dismissing him. She'd arrived just in time to see Bonnie dragged away by a woman—presumably her mother—and in spite of everything that had happened in the past week, Elena still wasn't going to let anything happen to her friend. Bonnie didn't deserve that. Being tied to a pole by a compelled stranger had delayed her rescue attempt, but Elena wasn't about to give up.
"Where are you going?" Stefan asked, struggling to his feet.
"To find Bonnie," Elena said as she marched to her car.
"You have no idea where she is, Elena. Stop, we need to talk," Stefan said, his footsteps close behind her.
"We don't have time to talk. There's nothing to say, anyway." The last thing Elena needed right now was a heart-to-heart with Stefan. Get Bonnie. Figure out what Klaus was up to. Go home. That was the plan. There was no time for detours.
"You don't even know where she is." Stefan stepped in front of her, cutting off her path. He thrust his cell phone towards her. "Look, I got a text. She's okay. I'll go pick her up. Now will you slow down and talk to me for a minute?"
Elena glanced at the text long enough to confirm his story and note where Bonnie was waiting. Fine. She crossed her arms across her chest. "So talk."
"I was wrong. I shouldn't have kidnapped you. What happened on the bridge...that was too far. I went too far," Stefan said. Green eyes caught hers, and she saw the briefest glimpse of the boy she'd once loved.
"Yeah. It was. I accept your apology. Was that it?" Elena said, starting to move around him and towards the car. He blocked her path again.
"I was wrong about that. It never should have happened. But I wasn't wrong about Damon. You're better than him." A look of pain flickered across his face. "You're better than both of us."
Elena shook her head. "You know, he said almost the same thing to me. He said, 'I don't deserve you.' But you know what? I don't care what anyone deserves or who I'm better than. All I know is what I want. And what I want? Is him. So thanks for your apology, Stefan, but I know I'm just Katherine 2.0 to you. Sloppy seconds, right? But he doesn't see me like that." She broke away and stomped to her car. There he was again, putting her on a pedestal. All because he couldn't stand to see Damon happy. She jerked the door open.
"You can't trust him, Elena. Sooner or later, he'll turn on you," Stefan said.
"Oh, so that's something you two have in common? Go to hell, Stefan." Elena peeled out of the driveway.
Damon was waiting for her at the door of the boarding house. She was in his arms before the door even shut behind her. "I never should have let you go," he said between kisses. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" He pulled away from her, examining her minutely as if she were somehow hiding a grievous injury from him. He scowled when he caught sight of her rope-chaffed wrists.
Elena pulled her hands away from him, tugging her jacket down to cover the red lines. "I'm fine, Damon. Everything is fine. I took care of it." The day had been terrible. Awful. Really bad. Between Stefan and an awkward car ride home with Bonnie, it was a day to forget. But defending herself, taking out Jamie and saving Stefan? That had felt good. For once, she was the one doing the saving. "Besides, if you hadn't have been here, Klaus would have won. He would have gotten everything. Did you get all the coffins?"
Damon shook his head, leading her into the living room. "Just one. The lock box. I didn't have time to get them all, so I figured that was the thing that'd piss him off the most." They flopped down onto one of the couches. Elena reached for the full glass that sat on the end table, raising it to her lips. After the day she'd had, she needed a drink. But Damon snatched it out of her hand. "No, no, no. You don't want that one." When the liquid moved, she saw that it wasn't a dark whiskey after all. It was blood.
She made a face. "Yeah. Not so much."
"Sorry. Ric's new squeeze blood-jacked me today. I'm still recovering." He stood, heading to the decanters to fix her a drink.
"Wait, what? No part of that sentence made any sense," Elena said.
"I know, right?" Damon shook his head as he added a splash of water to a glass and topped it off with bourbon. "Apparently, Ric's been getting friendly with Meredith Fell. Doctor Meredith Fell."
"Oh. Huh. That's good, I guess. I know he loved Aunt Jenna, but he can't spend his whole life missing her. It'd be nice if he dated someone who didn't wind up a vampire for once," she said, accepting the tumbler.
"Yeah, what a terrible thing, dating a vampire," Damon mocked, settling down beside her, one arm draping across her shoulders. "I'm not sure Fell's any better, though. Her ex showed up dead with a wooden stake through his heart. I thought I should investigate. She thought she should inject me with vervain and help herself to a couple of pints of my blood."
"That's all she wanted? Blood? What do you think she's doing with that?" Elena asked, puzzled.
"No clue. I think I surprised her by coming out of the vervain coma early. Makes drinking battery acid every day worth it," he said, gulping down a mouthful of blood. "But none of that's really important. You're doing okay?" He looked at her with concern, brushing a strand of hair from her face.
"Yeah. Bonnie and I had a good talk. I think she's coming to terms with us. At least she doesn't think I'm compelled anymore. You still might want to steer clear of her, though."
"Trust me, Elena, I always want to steer clear of Bonnie. After murder attempt number six, I'm starting to think she doesn't like me very much," he said with a sardonic smile.
"Never let it be said that Damon Salvatore is a slow learner," Elena said, resting her head on his shoulder. "But you know, Stefan and I talked, too. He apologized for what happened on the bridge."
Damon became very still. "Oh?
"For a minute, he almost seemed like his old self. How he was before all this started with Klaus. But seeing him like that, remembering how he used to be, you know what I felt?" she asked.
"How did you feel, Elena?" Damon asked quietly.
"I felt sorry for him. But I didn't miss him, Damon. Not for a second." Elena lifted her head, turning to face him. "All I could think of was how much I wanted to come home. To you."
Damon laced his fingers through hers, just looking at her with those otherworldly eyes. "One of these days, I'm going to stop being surprised when you stay things like that and just accept that a girl like you could love a...whatever like me."
"You can believe whatever you want. But I do love you. I don't see that changing any time soon." She leaned forward to kiss him, but a gleam of silver caught her eye. She frowned, reaching for the long, slender dagger on the coffee table. "Damon? What did you do?"
Damon just grinned and pulled her close. "Things are about to get very interesting. We'd better enjoy this moment while we can."
So they did.