Chapter 18: Truth or Dare?

The silence within the room was deafening, Caroline looking over at her friend with concern evident in her eyes. Elena's knuckles turned white as she was holding the paper so tightly in her grasp. Staring at the picture, she felt her throat growing tighter as the idea of breathing became incredibly hard for her. Swallowing, she let out the breath that she had held in and began shaking her head. There was no way in hell that it were true. It was Damon, HER Damon. Of course it wasn't true. Damon was NOT a killer, he was a genuine, decent and warm-hearted guy. It had to be a set up, it had to be.

"No!" Elena shook her head quickly, "This is a mistake!"
"Elena-" Caroline started nervously.
"No Caroline! Damon wouldn't lay a finger on anyone! I know that!"
"But-"
"I believe that!" The brunette cut her off.

"The evidence is laying right out in front of you, put two and two together." Katherine told her, rolling her eyes.
"He is NOT a murderer!" Elena glared, "He is not Stefan!"
"What if he is?" The blonde asked hesitantly.
"No ifs or buts! He isn't!"

Grabbing her bag, Elena walked out as she slammed the door shut behind her. She didn't care about what they both thought, she knew Damon and he was not a cold blooded, heartless murderer. Walking up the hall, she hit the button for the elevator repeatedly and stepped in as the doors opened up.

Leaning back against the wall, she took a deep breath as she watched the floor numbers descend. She just needed to get to the ground floor and then she could get out of this place and into the fresh air. She was lost, her thoughts all jumbled and in a scatter, keeping her from thinking straight.

"He touched you, more than once that is. He is dead! Anyone who lays a finger on you, is dead."

He was willing to kill Stefan because he hurt her, he didn't think of hesitating, he said he wouldn't. Taking a breath, she buried her face into her hands, groaning. He wouldn't kill a girl, his girlfriend of all. She did research, surely there was no girlfriend for three years. Swallowing, she looked up as the doors opened and rubbed her hand against her cheek. Looks like she had more digging to do.

Elena crawled onto her bed, after making herself a milky cup of tea. Taking a breath, she sat against the headboard and watched as her laptop booted up, nerves crawling into her stomach, trying to rip her from the inside out. On one half, she was in terror, the other she had full belief that Damon was still the Damon she had met. Sipping her tea, she looked over at her phone as it began ringing. Sitting up, she checked the caller ID seeing that it was Damon and frowned. Taking a deep breath, she slowly lifted the phone and held it to her ear.

"Hello?" She spoke softly, controlling her voice.
"Hey Lena, you okay? I texted you, but you didn't get back?"
"Fine," She cleared her throat, "Just fine. Just haven't been feeling to well today is all."
"Oh, did you want me to come over? I'm a great cure for illness." He laughed, smiling.
"Uhm," She held the phone to her chest, closing her eyes tightly, "It's not true."
"Elena, you there?"
"Y...yeah I'm here. Damon, I gotta go and sort this out, some problems with my laptop. I'll talk to you later, bye."

Elena quickly hung up without waiting for a response and let out a shaky breath, sadness creeping up inside of her. Pulling her laptop close to her, she fired up the browser as it came up with the Google homepage. Typing in his name, she pressed enter, reading about all the articles. His business, his love life and the work party. Shaking her head, she let out a sigh and searched again, going back a few years as she typed in past girlfriends. Reading the entries, she froze as she seen the title "Salvatore takes his girlfriends Life."

Rubbing a hand over her face. It meant nothing, everyone makes up stories all the time, tabloids make up every story going. Clicking on it, she began reading the article and looked up as her phone began ringing again. Seeing it was Damon, she closed her eyes, teary eyed. She couldn't talk to him, she needed to figure things out, a LOT of things. The phone stopped ringing as Elena pushed her laptop away and hugged herself, moaning when her phone beeped. Lifting her phone, she seen she had a voice mail and sighed deeply, pressing loud-speaker as she listened.

"Baby, listen...I have no idea what's going on with you okay? You were different on the phone and it's unlike you not to answer my texts or take my calls. Listen, if I've done anything wrong, just tell me please? Look, I gotta go into a meeting. I'll talk to you later."

The line went dead as Elena held her hand to her chest, more tears glazing her eyes as she took a deep breath. She had to talk to him. She had to. She couldn't go long without seeing him, it was too late, he captivated her and she was trapped. Trapped in a game of truth or dare. Only question was, what would it be? Truth or Dare? Would she get the truth and walk? Or would she get the truth and dare to go on?

A/N: Hey everyone, I hope you enjoyed! :)

Shauna

xxx