Reached those lovely hundred! Thank you so much, readers ;)

I'm really enjoying writing this-It's such a challenge for me because it is a hard story to write since not every reader want the same in DE's relationship and due to the mystery element since I don't want to spoil anything until time's right.

Important: Lots of people are asking, Damon is physically 22.

Please check out my new FACEBOOK PAGE: www. facebook. com/ LiveBreatheVampiresFanfiction (Remove spaces)

I would LOVE if you please like it and have a chat with me there ;D Sorry...I don't accept friend requests since my Facebook is strongly private, but I can chat with you there and give spoilers ;P (:

Elena took the picture from Damon's hand and bit back a gasp as she saw the woman in the picture. She looked exactly like her, in maybe three years? Even less. What worried her greatly, though, was the bold 1864 date written in the corner of the picture.

Her first instinct was to stay there, frozen, for the next eternity. Her second one was to slap Damon in the face, and the third was to cry and pray to God that she'll die so that she'll meet her parents again, and her brother, or maybe find a way to get back to Aunt Jenna without monsters chasing her or threatening to kill Jenna if she did so.

However, she did none of these things, though Damon noticed how white her knuckles were since she was holding on too tightly.

"W-who is she?" She managed to choke out. "She looks like me."

Damon sighed. He didn't know how he could start, and he didn't even know how to handle Elena. Should he hold her hand, touch her face or stroke her hair to assure her that it was all in the past? He didn't want to lose her. Elena had become the most important person on planet Earth for him. He knew that Elena would probably think now that this was a façade, and that he only cared about Katherine, or maybe she'd think that he'll take advantage of her because of what she looks like. He bit his lip at that thought…The last thing he wanted was Elena doubting him or be afraid of him again.

He concluded that there was no way to sugar coat it. After a sharp intake of breath he choked out the words.

"She was my girlfriend, Elena."

This time, Elena didn't hold back her gasp. It filled the car with tension, and it took every ounce of rage control in the girl's body not to get out of there. Instead, she tried to look indifferent.

"Was?"

"Elena," He said slowly, "I have a lot to tell you. But I need to know that you want to hear it all, my past isn't simple."

This time, Elena nodded her head, genuinely wanting to hear him out.

"I was born on the 25th of September, 1842. My father came from a long lineage of Italian ancestors, and my mother had a French side, so I grew up speaking fluently English, Italian and French. My father was respected and we were very rich. My mother was very kind so people loved her. Actually, we were a very nice family."

Damon cleared his throat. "When I was five, my mom gave birth to my little brother Stefan. Things were going perfect. But then, when I turned 12, my mother caught a fatal disease. It killed her from inside out. She was weak, hallucinating, and she was in agony most of the time. She died one month after she was diagnosed."

"Oh my God," Elena said, "I'm so sorry. You were so young. I know what is like to lose your parents."

"I know. I'm sorry, too." Damon cleared his throat. "When my mum died, my father wasn't himself anymore. He blamed me for her death, because he believed that she caught the disease because of me since I was always running around in the forests barefoot. The roads and the environment weren't as clean as they are today. He quickly started to use violence as a solution to everything wrong I do. He tried to make me hate Stefan, since he loved Stefan more than me. But I didn't, because it wasn't Stefan's fault. On the contrary, Stefan always stuck up for me. I loved him and we spent so much time together. I had kinda become his dad."

"Time passed. Our relationship continued to develop, but mine and my dad's worsened. It became worse when I decided to leave for war. It was during this time that I met Katherine. She claimed to be an unfortunate victim of a tragic fire, and she had lost her parents. Our father took her in. Suddenly, my brother and I found ourselves fighting for her. It suddenly turned out that Katherine was indeed a vampire."

"She's the one that turned you, isn't she?" Elena suddenly screamed.

"Yes," Damon answered. "I loved her, Elena. But she was using us both. In every way possible. Then the townspeople, who were fighting against vampires, took her away because Stefan was caught with her and she was drinking from him. What he didn't know was that our father had spiked his drink with vervain, therefore poisoning Katherine as she did so. They locked her in a spelled tomb in town. I came to Mystic Falls to free her about three months ago, but Stefan beat me to it…Even though I was the one that discovered a spell to get her out. She chose him."

"I'm so sorry," Elena said genuinely. "You went through so much. How did you become a vampire though?"

"I willingly drank from Katherine. I wanted to be with her forever, despite her tie to both of us. My brother and I tried to free her from the townspeople. Our own father shot us both, and apparently we both had her blood in our systems. Stefan fed on our own father and completed his transition…he forced me to drink from a village girl."

"Your own father shot you?" Tears glittered in Elena's eyes at this information. She underestimated everything completely…she didn't think that Damon went through all this.

"I've been on my own for so many years, Elena," He turned to her. "When I found you in the woods, at first I didn't know what I should do. I didn't want to see a young girl get hurt. But when I got you out of the camp and looked at your face…You looked just like her. And I was so confused, Elena, because I didn't want to compare a young girl to Katherine. Because Katherine might have been physically 17, but she was the complete opposite of you, Elena. She was bitchy, manipulative and selfish. I soon realized that you were not Katherine."

He sighed. "I just want you to know, Elena, that everything that happened between us…It's all you. I didn't look at you and see Katherine, not even once. It's like comparing the devil to God. But now you know. I'm not going to force you to stay."

"But how do I look like her, Damon?"

"I honestly don't know," Damon said, "But it doesn't matter to me. You are Elena, and you are kind, warm and unselfish. You're not her."

Elena stood there, staring at Damon's face. Her hands immediately found their way to his.

"I appreciate you being honest with me, Damon," She said clearly. "And we're on the same page. You are the only one I can trust and rely on, I don't know why but I felt it from the beginning. I knew that I was safe, and I know that you changed already and did so much for me. That's why…I want to stay with you, Damon."

"Please, it's only the beginning," Damon tapped her lightly on the nose. "If you intend on living with me-permanently-I will treat you like a princess. Just know that you'll always be free to make your own decisions. I'll always be there to pick you up whenever you fall, and to stop you from hurting yourself, but in the end…You're free to do whatever you think is best."

"And I appreciate that," Elena continued, "Because you're giving me what I never had. Freedom."

By the time they got to the boarding house it was late in the afternoon. Elena prepared a warm bath while Damon took care of arranging one of the guestrooms to Elena's liking and prepared some food for Elena. Thank God I happen to like cooking, he thought, because taking care of a human girl was definitely not in his lifetime plan before.

He was cooking pasta when suddenly he felt very odd and weird, almost as if he just felt death coming. Wiping his hands, he suddenly called out Elena's name.

Once.

Twice.

Third time.

He blurred to the bathroom and knocked hard, and still, she didn't reply. He knew it was definitely not a good idea to walk in on her, but that moment he didn't care. He sensed that Elena was in danger.

He kicked the door open, and his eyes widened when he saw that Elena was literally being pulled down in the tub, and she wasn't fighting back. She was laying paralyzed, drowning.

He let out a scream as he called Elena's name, running towards her, pulling her up. She was so strong, which was odd for a human. Then suddenly, Elena seemed to gain consciousness again, and started to cough out the water she had swallowed.

"Damon?" She said weakly between chokes.

Damon grabbed a towel and wrapped it in it, the towel dripping soap all over the floor as he pulled her up from the tub. He didn't care that she was soaking wet as he put her on his bed. The poor girl was freezing, and looking vulnerable in that little white towel she was holding onto tightly. She was obviously shy, and Damon hated making her feel uncomfortable even though he kept his eyes to her face all times and that the towel covered her up.

"I almost died," Elena was sobbing as Damon gently dried her hair.

"You're okay…You're okay…" He kept soothing her, "I can't figure out what's going on…Why…"

"I felt myself choking but I couldn't scream or fight back," Elena sobbed, "I'm so scared, Damon…I'm so scared!"

"Shh, shh, it's okay, it's okay," Damon wrapped his arms around her. "It's okay. I've got you. You're okay."

She wrapped her arms around him too, sobbing as he stroked her wet hair.

"Come on, go change, I'll be here…" Damon encouraged, and Elena obeyed, changing to new pajamas. When she came back, he ran a comb gently through her hair, keeping her calm as much as possible, and then placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Feeling better?"

"Yes," Elena said weakly, "But I'm feeling pain in my back…It's like a burn…"

"Let me take a look at it," Damon offered, exposing her upper back.

But this time, Damon couldn't keep calm. He knew the symbol on Elena's back, the symbol that looked like it was made with fire and blood.

It was the symbol of vampirism.

But before he had time to process, Elena gasped, "Damon…I think my time has come. He's coming to get me."

Shorter chapter :S But I'm happy with it, you?

Reviews are love!

Symbol of vampirism: (fifth one)

http: / / www. google .com .mt /imgres?q=Vampire+symbol&um=1&hl=en&qscrl=1&nord=1&rlz=1T4ADFA_enMT450MT450&biw=1024&bih=540&tbm=isch&tbnid=AhLRKLSQKBxOtM:&imgrefurl=.%3Ft%3D2217&docid=lmFJcQZKG2zDNM&imgurl=.com/albums/l150/OrthaeVelve/Sigils%252520and%252520Symbols%252520I%&w=641&h=538&ei=Ql5vT-4k0_ThBJ3F-b4C&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=732&vpy=33&dur=125&hovh=206&hovw=245&tx=135&ty=98&sig=110088917543609543352&page=4&tbnh=151&tbnw=180&start=41&ndsp=16&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:41

Remove spaces, if link doesnt work type Vampire Symbols on google images it's called blood bond symbol :P