A\N Good news, no A\N today except thanks for reviews ;) Oh and I messed up about Elena's brother, I forgot to say that he was shot AND stabbed.

Enjoy!

She didn't even know where she was going. She didn't care that her feet were almost swollen due to the cold hard floor. She didn't even realize that the front door just practically burst open as she screamed for it to be open when she ran through the corridors of the Salvatore house.

She was in the streets now, wearing only a little nightgown Damon had given her, without socks or even shoes since she had left those in her room. She was crying unstoppably, traumatized at the sight of the one she had just seen.

Elena froze as a familiar face stepped in front of her, along with three other men.

The moment Damon realized Elena had seen his true face he had tossed Andie around on the floor and put on a shirt quickly, ready to follow Elena. He realized that his front door was almost kicked down and for a moment Damon decided to let her go. It wasn't going to be the same and Elena was making it difficult for him to decide what he wanted. A part of him wanted to allow himself to care again, maybe to even love and protect. On the other hand, he knew that love only brings pain and hate afterwards, and sometimes he wanted to keep the girl around for revenge against his humanity taken away.

But as Damon was contemplating, he heard her scream.

…

Elena was standing frozen in front of four men. They were all staring at her with huge grins on their faces as one of them advanced on her. Her blood froze in her veins as he smirked, "Our dear Elena. We caught you again."

The second one laughed cruelly. "This time we shall make sure that you are delivered next to Klaus's doorstep, honey. Because everytime you are captivated, you always seem to escape…what is your secret, huh? Tell me, Elena…" He took a step towards her so that she had her back pinned to the hard wall behind her. He caressed her cheek and she flinched, amusing him even more as he twirled her hair with his other hand. "Tell me…"

She started to scream but he silenced her with an unbreakable grip on her neck.

"I'll behave…Just s-stop h-hurting me," Elena said with a shaky voice. "Please."

"Oh, you will," The second one smirked, and he started to pull the strap of her dress down, inching forward so that he could brush his lips there. In a minute, her sleeves were torn and Elena panicked as he didn't make a move to stop his act. She tried to jerk away but he kept holding her tight and threatened that he'd hurt her more if she didn't stop struggling. Without warning he hit her and she flew to the ground, and she felt something sharp press into her skin.

However before anything else could happen the man was flying off her and the other three men stared in disbelief. Elena remained frozen pinned to the wall, and then she felt a wave of dizziness occur and a dark-haired man was in front of her protectively, and in a brief second the man who had tried to take advantage of her had a hand stuck at his chest.

The last thing Elena saw was blood.

She was freezing. It had been a while since Damon was worried about someone, but as he called Elena for the hundredth time and she didn't respond he grew even more worried. Her skin had turned into a shade of blue and she was so cold. He couldn't imagine what could've happened if he didn't make it in time. He couldn't imagine that there were people that were ready to hurt and abuse an innocent young girl. She was fourteen years old, for God's sake! He tightened his grip on her protectively and he felt her stir.

"D-Damon?" She whimpered, both from the cold and fear.

"Shh, Elena, I'm going to take care of you," He promised her sincerely. "You'll be fine."

He saw her turn crimson as she realized that her dress was half torn and she tried to cover herself as much as possible. Damon locked his eyes on her face and in a few minutes he had her lay down on the couch, starting a fire to keep her warm. He turned on the light so that he could see her face and if she had any bruises, and he hissed when he realized she had an ugly cut in her thigh.

"Elena, if you allow me to, I can heal your wounds," He said softly.

The girl shivered. "H-Heal me how?"

"You saw what I am tonight, Elena."

"No," Elena said in disbelief, "I don't have any idea of what that means…These things don't exist. They just can't."

She looked down, tears in her eyes. She knew that she could end various species…monsters, but she never imagined that the monsters were like Damon, beautiful and human-looking. She always imagined the one that she had to be delivered to as a bloodsucking demon, but not like Damon. All the men that kidnapped her were human-like, their actions were what made them monstrous. She believed that the monsters that she was to kill with her existence were ugly creatures from hell. Tears streamed down her cheeks again, tears for being almost raped, for Damon being something more than human, for her life…

Damon sighed and went to sit down next to her. "Look, I don't blame you for being scared. But I already told you, I don't mean you any harm."

"What are you?"

Damon bit his lip. "There are things you don't understand. Your beliefs are about to change, are you ready for that?"

"What are you?"

"I'm a vampire."

Elena's eyes widened and she slowly backed up. She winced in pain when her back hit the headboard hard, and she stood frozen on the bed waiting for something-anything-to happen. She couldn't run. She didn't have the strength to run, or to hide, or even to scream. It was useless anyway. She just stood there waiting for him to do whatever he wanted to do to her.

Damon could hear her heart racing and he didn't know what to do or say. Usually if someone discovered his secret he would've snapped their necks right there. Not that it happened often, because usually he compelled his victims to believe that he is human. But with Elena it was different. It never happened before, and Elena was not just an ordinary human girl. She was special.

"Elena," He started, "Let me explain."

"I don't want to hear it," She said, her voice muffled with her cries, "I-I can't."

"Yes, you can," Damon replied, moving a bit away from her so that she could finally see that he wasn't going to hurt her. It seemed to work, because Elena visibly relaxed, but she remained frozen on the bed.

"What do you want to tell me? That you are going to deliver me to him, like the people you saved me from? That's why you saved me, didn't you? So that it'll be you that takes me to Klaus."

Klaus. The name was not new to Damon.

"Elena, I honestly don't have anything to do with any of it."

"Yet you let me believe that I could trust you! I started to trust you, Damon, you are the first person that I told about my life story. And ironically enough, you were not a person I could trust, because I didn't even know you. You let me confide in you when you are one of them!"

"What did you want me to do, Elena?" Damon snapped. "Tell you what I am? Or would you rather prefer me to take a drink from you to show you who I am?"

Elena flinched.

"Yeah, that's what I thought, too."

"The truth is, Damon, that you deceived me. You made me believe you are human."

"You knew I was a monster the moment I kept you here."

"That doesn't mean I thought you were more than human," Elena spat.

Damon sighed in frustration. "Go on, then. What are you going to do? You want to leave? Fine, then, leave. The door's open. I'm not keeping you here anymore."

He got off the bed. "You're free to go…But I do warn you, if someone knows my secret, I'll have to get rid of them."

Elena stared at him in disbelief. Did he just say she was free to go?

She had nowhere to go, but she always survived on her own. She knew that she could leave first thing in the morning, because she was too scared to go out now after her accident.

Elena laid back, saying a silent prayer before going back to sleep. Her wounds were hurting, but she didn't want his help.

It was seven am but the sun was already shining. The house was quiet and Elena slowly woke up looking for her clothes. She got dressed quickly and she knew that she had to leave before Damon returned home. She didn't want to face him again.

However, she did feel a bit guilty that she was leaving like this. After all, she didn't get to thank him for saving her. God knows what those men could've done to her if Damon didn't step in the day before. But she was too scared to face her fears. However, guilt was Elena's weakness. She got a piece of paper and with a shaky hand she wrote a small thank you message. He did deserve it, after all.

With a small plastic bag in hand with some clothes, Elena walked out the back door.

When Damon returned home after having a nice buffet available from the local women, he found that Elena had left. Even though he was the one that decided to set her free he soon started to feel that that girl filled his house. Without her, he was empty again, and even though he knew she hated him he still enjoyed her company. Just having a human girl around, smelling her amazing scent in the morning and hearing her heart beating, and mostly just knowing that he wasn't alone in that giant boarding house.

However as he was contemplating he heard a loud noise coming from the parlor. He flashed to the room and when he was scanning it around to see if someone had intruded his home, he was suddenly attacked by another vampire. He was pinned to the ground and before he could even blink the wooden stake the other vampire had been holding was pressed against him, against his chest, arms, legs…

"Remember me?" The vampire growled.

"Ben?" Damon said panting, helpless as the other one continued to stake him.

"You took Katherine away from us, you son of a bitch," He growled, "You have no idea for how long I waited for this. For me to torture you. I watched Katherine being taken, you bastard!"

"Wait, Katherine's alive," Damon groaned, "She's free."

"You are lying," Ben continued as he got a piece of vervain and dug it into Damon's face. "Now, here's how it's going to work. You tell me how to open the tomb or I swear to God that I will rip your heart out right now."

Damon was telling the truth, though. Katherine had gotten free because of his brother. It was Damon that found the way to get her out first, but Stefan apparently had found a way to get her out before. What hurt, though, was that he spent over one hundred and forty five years searching for her, waiting for her…Stefan didn't. Stefan got over her, and then he took her from him at the last minute.

"Katherine's free," He repeated again.

Ben stopped for a minute. "I guess I believe you. But I hate you too much to leave you like this."

He continued to torture him, weakening him with vervain, and then he raised the stake he had been holding as Damon desperately tried to fight him off or at least scoot away from him. But whenever vervain weakened Damon, it weakened him for good.

That was it, he thought. After a hundred and forty five years his time had been over. Ben lowered the stake and turned Damon around, pressing it to his back. Without warning, he lit a match and was ready to burn him alive along with this house, when a tiny voice screamed.

With supreme effort Damon saw Elena running towards him.

"Let him go," she begged. "Please, don't hurt him!"

"Katherine?" Ben asked confused, but the girl looked younger. Not to mention, human. Elena focused on the match and it was put down, much to her surprise.

"Let him go," Elena pleaded again, but Ben turned around to stake Damon again. However before he even made a move, Elena stared at Ben and she felt herself getting lost into an entire different world. Damon realized that she was in some kind of trance, and Ben let out a bloodcurdling scream when every bone in his body started to break. Elena couldn't take her gaze off him, and every second she stared at him Ben's screams maximized until the vampire was set on fire.

Elena stepped out of her trance and looked confused around her, before darkness overwhelmed her.

Damon had been trying to wake her for minutes now, calling her name and even trying to nudge her. But he couldn't stand up since he was pinned to the ground due to the stake stuck in his back. He couldn't believe that she came to help him. She was lying unconscious now, weak and pliable, and Damon couldn't help her. He hated feeling helpless.

After a few long minutes Elena started to open her eyes, rubbing her head where she had hit due to the fall. She looked around and for a while she seemed lost and she forgot where she was. But when she saw Damon with a stake in his back she immediately remembered and she ran to him, pulling the stake and helping him up.

With great care she helped him to sit on the couch and she sat next to him.

"Oh my God," She gasped when she saw the marks on his body.

"He vervained me," Damon choked out, "I can't heal."

"Is there anything I could get you?" Elena asked in horror.

"There are some blood bags in the chest freezer in the basement," Damon said with a pained look.

Elena flinched but she shook her head and went into the basement, getting him a few blood bags. When she returned, she gave them to him and wetted a cloth to put on his wounds. As he drank, she lifted his t-shirt up and put the warm cloth on his wounds, helping to soothe them and clean the blood at the same time.

Damon stopped drinking so that he could stare at her. She was staring at his wounds profoundly, too alienated to even notice that he was staring at her. He couldn't help himself and he reached out to put his hand on the back of her neck, stroking her hair. She looked surprised at this unexpected contact, but she did look up so that she could lock her eyes with his. Damon was smiling at her softly, though he was in pain.

"Thank you for coming to my aid."

"You're welcome," Elena said softly. "I couldn't just leave you there. Thank you for saving me yesterday. God knows what could've happened if you didn't save me."

She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Are you feeling better?"

"I'm better, thanks," He said, his voice polite and soft.

"I'm glad. Well, my work here is done now," Elena wiped the last few drops of blood from his stomach and started to scoot away from him so that she could stand up.

However, he reached out to grab her arm gently, not forcefully, and he pleaded with his eyes, "No. Please, don't go."

Elena stared at him, noticing that he had asked her, not forced her.

"I'm not forcing you to stay. I'm asking you. Will you stay a bit?"

She sat back down next to him. "Okay."

However, as she said those words Elena raised her hands up to her brow bone, suddenly feeling a bit dizzy.

"What's wrong?" he asked in concern.

"Nothing Damon, I'm f-fine," she mumbled, but she didn't seem fine at all.

"No, you're not, you are so cold," Damon said, his voice heightening with worry as he felt her hand. It was cold as ice.

Before she could even speak, Elena felt her head spinning. "I think I caught a fever," She said weakly. "From yesterday. I'll just rest for a bit, I'll be fine."

Time passed, and Damon was getting better, however it wasn't the same for Elena. She started to become cold and dizzy, and Damon was getting worried.

"Elena, do you want me to call for a doctor?"

"No…I think…." She gasped as she remembered, "Damon, did I kill the vampire that was hurting you?"

At first, he bit his lip, but then he nodded. "Yes."

"Oh my God," she exclaimed, "I was in a trance again, wasn't I?"

Damon nodded, confirming.

"I think it's because I used power, or energy, whatever it is…" She said closing her eyes, the pain in her head was getting stronger.

Damon didn't give her chance to protest because he scooped her up in his arms, and in a mere second they were up in his bedroom and he gently laid her on the bed. "You'll feel better soon, Elena," he said, tugging her under the covers and he sat down next to her.

"Thank you."

He slowly brushed her hair back. "I'll be here, okay? If you need anything, I'm here on the armchair."

Elena slowly nodded, unable to believe that this man had the ability to turn from possessive to protective, from a monster to a sweet man. She stared at him as he got her more blankets, and then she reached out for his arm.

"Stay with me," she pleaded, patting the spot next to her.

Damon nodded his head and climbed in next to her. She scooted closer to him.

"Damon?"

"Yes, Elena?"

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, princess."

I hope you liked this chapter! I think it's the longest chapter I've ever written in all fanfictions I've ever written. I enjoyed writing this very much, I hope you did too ;) If you did, please leave a review!

Take care

Amy xoxo