Author's Note:

Happy New Year to all of you!

I'm back with the next chapter and would like to thank shoppe69 for her huge help on it. She is an incredible writer, so check out her stories too.

Additionally, I send a special thanks to those of you who took the time to review. It's always great to read what you think about my storyline and I really appreciate it a lot, just as the favs and follows, so please keep it up?!

I hope you're going to like this chapter. Have fun.

xoxo Giuna

Chapter 5

"You're hungry, aren't you?" She jolted him out of his daydream.

"Huh?" escaped his lips, not quite sure what it was, she exactly wanted to tell him with this statement.

"In some way I can sense it," she whispered and concentrated to catch hold of it. "It is a strange feeling…, it tells me that there is still some time left, yet it feels stronger than any of my own emotions," she explained her new discovery.

"Um, well, I guess that might be the reason why you came to me unintentionally earlier. There is a pull which leads you to me just in case we get separated from each other for too long…," Damon suggested and shrugged his shoulders.

"I think you're right, it definitely feels this way," she supported his thought and suppressed her own conclusion, that this circumstance trapped her even more, to slip her mouth. She had no chance to simply ignore this strong, domineering sentiment at all. She was more than just relieved that she had heard Damon's kind words before, otherwise she would have felt like a slave not only to him, but also to herself."

"Well, I guess it's safe to say than that it wasn't necessary to ruin the door," he joked, trying to bring her out of the dark thoughts he could see running through her mind again. Elena met his gaze and grinned slightly back at him, her face relaxed again. She sighed and sat down on the huge and very comfortable bed.

"How are you going to do it?" she asked shyly, staring up at his smirking face as her pupils dilated and she blushed deep red, realizing that he had misunderstood her.

"Err, I don't mean… how… I mean… I don't know…where?!" Elena squinted and slightly shook her head.

God…she wished the ground would open up and swallow her. When she opened her eyes again, Damon gave her a wide smile.

"You're really sweet when you're embarrassed, but don't be. And to answer your question… No. You know what? I would rather show you," he said and climbed onto the bed to kneel right behind her, pulling her into the resulting V of his legs. Elena gasped at the sudden proximity to his body and stiffened instantly while she hunched her shoulders.

"Relax, Elena!" Damon whispered into her ear, stroking her shoulders and all the way down to her fingertips; pulling her back against his chest. At his first touch she wanted to jump off of the bed instantly, only that would have been pointless. Instead, she clenched her teeth and closed her eyes until she could stand the feeling of his palms against her bare skin. Her body remembered his touch, she couldn't deny it, but she wasn't able to give in to him yet. Damon felt her inner resistance all too well and wasn't quite sure what to do about it, not wanting to ruin the tiny progress they had made a few minutes ago.

When her heartbeat began to pick up, just at the same time as his hunger grew larger, he knew for sure what he was going to do. He, for once, would be patient and wait until she would tell him that he needed to bite her. Damon continued to pet her arms calmly, maybe she would get used to his touch at some point.

After a while she relaxed indeed, but just to get restless against his chest.

It was time, what was he waiting for? She needed to inhale deeply to fill her lungs with the air they craved so badly, but that was nothing compared to the nearly painful need to get bitten, which cut its way to the surface from deep down her belly. The feeling brought her close to madness."

He was so close, why the hell didn't he do it? She wiggled even more to resist giving in to the urge, but she couldn't bear it any longer.

"Damon?" she exhaled sharply, almost losing it.

"Yes, Elena?" he just asked, but she had no willpower left to answer him what she needed him to do so much. She was running out of time! Elena turned around lightning-fast, flipping her long hair over her shoulder and landed on top of Damon's legs, straddling him, her exposed neck with her hammering pulse point directly in front of his mouth. Okay, he definitely couldn't get a clearer signal.

"Damon, now!" she whined in a high-pitched voice, full of desperation. Before she had to ask twice Damon licked over her vibrating pulse, released the full length of his teeth and broke through the soft skin which separated him from the one liquid he craved the most. Just as he started sucking up what was made for him, Elena pressed her body further against him, clutched his hair with her hands and moaned softly straight into his ear.

Those sounds were the most beautiful he had ever heard and fueled the desire for her even more. He couldn't resist and encircled her body with his arms, feeling as much of her in every possible way.

The second Damon started to feed on her, Elena was wrapped up in the satisfaction of him taking what was his which spread along every single nerve in her body. It didn't hurt; it just felt good and right and overpowered her in all respects. She felt needed and was all too willing to give him everything she had without expecting anything in return. All her dark thoughts and memories suddenly vanished from her haunted mind, were no longer part of her, and got replaced by the wonderful emotion of belonging to Damon. She felt a warmness swirling around and inside her heart which led her to finally give in and to accept her new place in life. It wasn't as horrible as she had thought it would be, no, actually, she had never been closer to genuine happiness.

She couldn't get enough of that feeling and of…him. With desperate need she wrapped her legs around his back and crossed them over tightly as she moaned into his ear once more, hoping he would never stop again.

Through the sensation of having a part of her inside of him, he noticed the way she pressed herself against him, holding on to him and letting him know that she was his now, willingly. It was beastly hard to stop just at that moment, but it was time. For now, he didn't need any more of her so delightful and intoxicating crimson juice.

Inch by inch he retracted his canines from her neck and ever so slowly he pulled his head back to search her eyes; his hands still caressing her back, not wanting to destroy what had built up between the two of them.

When their eyes locked, Damon was dazed to find hers sparkling right down into his. She didn't try to hide the passion which radiated from her every fibre; making her breathing lustfully and her heart skipping a beat. Still high from their shared experience, her eyes swayed between his cerulean ones and his full lips as she caressed the back of his neck, tickling the soft skin every now and then. Damon groaned as her firm grip caused him thrills of joy, and even tighter pants right under her centre.

She felt his hardness instantly and her mind fell back into its place. She blinked a couple of times while all the warming emotions slipped away from her; making room for the darkness to come back.

Hectically she drew her face away from his and climbed off of his lap to sit down on the other side of the bed, gazing at him in confusion.

"I'm sorry Damon; I shouldn't have let things get so far. I don't know what came over me," she excused herself, but felt lost without him near her anyway. Unfortunately, she was still herself; not able to simply forget about the past.

"If there is someone who needs to apologize its me!" he admitted. "The whole situation caught me off guard… I… just couldn't suppress it."

Elena nodded, biting her lower lip while she stared down onto the white silken sheds when all of a sudden a red dot appeared on it. She frowned in surprise but her hands found their way up to her throat nonetheless. Touching the sensitive skin with her fingertips, she felt the wet spot and drew her hand away, watching it in wonder.

"I'm still bleeding," she informed him unnecessarily, because he had already noticed it.

"Let me see," he said, crawled over to her and positioned himself in front of her lap to get a better glimpse on her bleeding neck. Carefully, he turned her chin to one side and saw her blood trickling out of his fresh bite marks pretty fast.

"Uh, that's weird! It should have stopped on its own by now …," he wondered, gazing mesmerized at the runlet, completely under its spell.

"Now what?" Elena asked frantic, not able to see the way he was gravitated towards her.

"Now, I'm going to heal you," he whispered into her ear, not able to suppress the attraction he felt at the view right under his nose, not to mention the domineering unique scent that filled his nostrils, forcing him to keep going no matter what. There was no self-control left inside of him, he simply acted on the indomitable call of her blood, seducing him to come closer and closer.

Damon inhaled sharply as he felt his fangs breaking unintentionally further through his gums. Giving in to the otherworldly sensation, he opened his mouth to release his tongue in a swift motion and licked her throat clean. Finishing what he should've done right after he had fed on her, he sliced his tongue with his fangs and brought his blood over the marks on her soft skin. The two punctures were healing instantly and Elena's demanding blood finally let go of Damon.

"Damn it, Elena, what was that about?" Damon asked, trying to collect himself, but it wasn't quite successful. He ran his hand through his pitch-black hair as he sat down in front of her with knees drawn to his chest and rested his arms on them, letting his head hang down to relax.

Elena couldn't answer yet and avoided to look at him. Her heartbeat was still racing in her chest, actually she could feel the beat in each part of her body; every inch was pulsating. She didn't know what Damon had experienced the last few moments but for her it was like her whole body had been on fire, sending all its available attraction out to him to receive what it craved and that was him stopping the bleeding.

Damon raised just his head. Regaining his heightened senses, he could hear her still accelerated heartbeat and from the look on her face he knew that something had happened to her too. Her cheeks were flushed deep pink, her pupils were dilated, her lips slightly parted and there was something else, something he thought he would never see on her face again. There was desire. Elena somehow devoured him with her eyes.

Well, she probably liked whatever she had felt.

If it hadn't been for her past with that bastard Mason, he would've gladly accepted her invitation. For God's sake, he had shown her what it was like to be with him, but if he took advantage of her current emotional state, he would ruin everything.

"Are you okay?"was all he managed to direct to her, without being tempted to throw his compassion over board and to take here and now.

Elena blinked twice and Damon saw her effort to gather herself; for her it seemed to be as hard as it was for him. She ran her hands through her long chocolate strands and jumped off of the bed to escape his alluring proximity. Pacing up and down the bedside, her emotions were on a rollercoaster. Her body's siren call for him hadn't left her untouched at all. At that moment she had wanted him, maybe still did, but she couldn't allow herself to give in to those strange feelings she never had before in her life in the presence of a man, except of one… Damon, during their first encounter. But those sentiments couldn't be real, could they? It was all because of that shit gene of hers which drove her totally crazy.

Argh! She stopped and tore at her hair, tousling it wildly around her head.

"I'm not sure…," she finally answered honestly and shot him a short glimpse, embarrassed by herself.

"You know, it's a little hard to behave properly around you when you're sending those ambiguous signals… and please, don't understand that as an accusation… it's not… it's just that I'm not used to being considerate towards anyone. So if I'm doing anything wrong, don't hesitate to tell me, okay?" he suggested, well knowing that those words might be difficult for her to deal with, but she needed to hear them anyway. Just to be on the safe side.

"Oh my God, this is so embarrassing!" she whined as the flush on her cheeks expanded to her ears "I hoped you didn't notice," she admitted shyly.

Damon chuckled "First of all, I'm a vampire, Elena. I can sense pretty much every emotion you go through. I can hear every single change of your heartbeat and I can smell all the reactions of your body caused by those emotions. Second of all, I've been around for over 160 years now. I would say I'm quite experienced, so it is damn hard to hide something from me. And last but not least, I don't want you to hide from me. If this… thing between us shall work, we need to learn to trust each other…even it is going to be difficult."

She choked and started to snort with laughter. "Damn! You are freaking old!" she blurted, half shocked, half amused. His eyebrows raised in vampire speed before he pouted, "Wow, from all the really important things I tried to tell you, my age is what stands out? Ouch!"

As Elena saw his pouty lips, she couldn't prevent herself of having a laughing fit. Giggling non-stop she could sense all the confusion falling off her, all the bottled-up emotions found their way out, leaving her freed and more light-hearted. She couldn't see it because she was bending over her knees, holding her stomach while she still laughed, but Damon was smiling brightly while he watched her letting it all out in her own special way. She wasn't all lost and hurt; in this moment he realized that she could still be saved from all the darkness buried deep inside of her. And that was exactly what he was going to do!

Elena woke up with the first rays of dawn softly warming her cheeks. Needing a moment to collect herself, she remembered where she was and why. Not quite ready to face her destiny yet, she remained in the comfort that was Damon's bed and cuddled into the velvet cushions she had rested on last night.

After she had calmed down from her fit of laughter, Damon had wished her a good night and promised that there would be plenty of time to pick up their conversation again before he had granted her some badly needed privacy.

Drifting slowly into sleep, she had realized something. Whatever would happen in the future, she knew that Damon was going to protect her, even if it was just to keep himself alive. And from what he had told her, he wasn't interested in treating her like a certain other man of whom she was so terrified." How twisted all of this was, but she finally was able to relax. She had found the place where she was safe, even if she had expected something utterly different.

When she had allowed herself to be taken away to the world of her dreams, for the first time in years, she hadn't been afraid anymore.

Reminding herself of the conclusion she had came to and the way it had made her feel - protected and safe - she jumped out of the gigantic bed to stroll through Damon's bedroom. Elena still wore his shirt and boxer-briefs and grabbed the fabric, tightening it around her slender form. Breathing in deeply, she moaned a little.

Mhmm, she liked this smell. Even though the clothes were laundered still a bit of his scent lingered in them. Shutting her eyes dreamily, she abruptly wondered whether she was feeling like this out of free will, or if it was her special gene which guided her… Although he wasn't in the same room, she could still feel the unworldly strong pull to him and what scared her most was that it seemed to have grown even stronger since the last time he had fed on her. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling and definitely one she couldn't ignore. It had her thinking that the blood-slave was meant to fall for the vampire, thus making this inevitable arrangement bearable. She couldn't deny that she felt attracted to him and if she was honest with herself, she had really enjoyed him taking blood from her. However, she wasn't sure how to handle those emotions with all the horrible memories crashing down on her at the slightest reminder. Unfortunately, there were plenty of them.

Damn it, she hated Mason for real! Even though she wasn't with him anymore, he still caused her so much pain.

Trying to push him into the farthest corner of her mind, she walked over to the door.

Damon had slept on the couch that night; she hadn't even had to ask him, he had known it would have been wrong to impose his company on her.

He woke up from hearing Elena walking through his bedroom and wondered what she was thinking about. For him, the way the evening had ended had been much better than he had expected. He could literally feel the tension between them, and he was quite sure that she could feel it too. It wouldn't be easy for him to stay away from her, because even though she was not in the same room, he could hear her blood calling for him in a seductive way. Not loud, not yet, but still. At least she could let go and relax while he was feeding on her. A thin end of the wedge…

Damon was relieved about the small progress they had made, but he needed to be sure about it, he needed to know where they stood for sure. When Elena entered the living room, he pretended to be fast asleep. Would she stay or would she run away? Damon asked himself silently while he waited tensely for her decision. He could hear her steady heartbeat that suddenly skipped a beat when her footsteps joined to the sound of her heart. She didn't even hesitate… He noticed that she came closer to the couch, probably to check if he was still asleep. When she was closer to him he could paradoxically handle the call of her blood much better than before. Actually he felt… joy… and…serenity. Huh?

Slightly confused, Damon heard her turning away from him and tip toeing into the direction she had come from, but she entered the bathroom instead. He suppressed a chuckle when he imagined her dumbfounded expression in his mind the moment she examined the shreds of the bathroom door

"Oh, fuck!" she cursed faintly as Damon's words popped up in her head "Remember you asked for it!" Argh!

Damon bit his lower lip until he tasted blood. Internally he was laughing like crazy while Elena's pulse picked up with rage. She shoved the wooden pieces to one side and walked through the midsized room to search for a brush, but just found a comb. She combed her long hair hastily; she wanted to shower before Damon would wake up. When she was finished, she pulled his shirt over her head and got rid of the boxer-briefs as fast as she could, leaving her completely naked. She slipped into the sandy tiled shower stall and closed the glass door behind her. Of course it had to be a glass door. Yay!

From where she stood, she couldn't see the couch on which Damon slept and just hoped the sound of the shower wouldn't disturb his sleep. She turned on the spray and after a few seconds she managed to relax nonetheless. The hot water felt heavenly on her skin and she tilted her head back, letting it run over her throat and breasts, enjoying this peaceful moment. After a few minutes she grabbed the shampoo bottle from the shower caddy. It smelled intensely like him. For the second time this morning a soft moan escaped her parted lips as a shiver of excitement ran up and down her spine…no suppressing possible. Confused and maybe a tiny little bit aroused, she started shampooing her hair and used the resulting foam to lather her body with it. Her head tilted back again and she closed her eyes as she started to stroke her hand down her jaw line and throat, lower over her collar bone and over her sternum, brushing her delicate nipples as she continued.

Damon swallowed hard as he drank in the sight of her hand sliding further downward, reaching her flat stomach, making one circle around her belly button and finally vanishing between her legs. He saw her squeezing her hand once… and… twice over her core before she retraced it. Damon blinked in disbelief, having a hard time keeping his erection at bay. God, she was so beautiful and the way she stood there under the spray, her body in a perfect s-shape, enhancing her wonderful round ass deliciously, looking like a sculpture.

Sure as hell he knew it wasn't nice to spy upon her, but damn, it had been too tempting. And from what he had seen it had been totally worth it. Just as Elena turned off the spray Damon vamp speeded back to the couch, pretending to be still asleep.

Elena wrapped herself into one of the fluffy towels and glimpsed over to the couch. Whew! Damon seemed to be blessed with a very deep sleep she thought happily and began to towel herself quickly.

"Morning, sunshine!" Damon purred behind her and smirked when he made her cringe.

"Argh, Damon! You scared me!" she exhaled, her heartbeat speeding up. She felt caught, although she hadn't done anything or at least nothing he could know.

"Bad conscience?" he teased her, enjoying it way too much how her cheeks flushed pink.

"No! Of course not. Why should I?" she asked back innocently, but avoided to meet his eyes at all. She only had washed herself, hadn't she? There was nothing to it! Aside from the fact, that she might have enjoyed it a little bit too much. His scent all over her had just overwhelmed her. Elena bit down on her lower lip, slightly embarrassed by her own reaction.

"Um, I don't know," he replied with a neutral face, but raised his eyebrows when he witnessed the way her teeth were ashamedly scrunching her full bottom lip. She thought about her shower; he would bet on it!

Elena just nodded, sensing his eyes lingering on her frame, and combed her wet hair with the aim to stifle the uncomfortable feeling of being exposed because she wore nothing but a towel which barely covered her behind.

"We definitely need to add some shampoo for you too the shopping list. It's weird that you smell like me!" he mentioned casually when he turned around, but he stopped when he saw Elena's reaction. She suddenly stiffened and stared at him wide-eyed, her cheeks crimson red. As fast as she could she faced the mirror again and continued the hair combing.

She liked it, didn't she? Damon smirked cockily and felt suddenly very self-satisfied knowing that she had thought about him while touching herself. Still grinning all over his face he walked over to the bedroom and changed his clothes for the day; going for black as almost always. While he pulled his jeans up, his gaze fell upon his bed and a realization hit him. It had been a very long time since a woman had slept there… for a whole night and from now on it would remain like this. He had never thought about settling down with a woman, at least not since his vampire existence. Damon had always enjoyed the company of many different women, but never had come close to being in a relationship. He wasn't used to that and now that they had been forced into this blood-slave issue. All his choices had been taken away from him. Suddenly he understood Elena's outburst last night much better, now his own shock hit him with delay. She wasn't bound to him, another vampire could come and take her or she would leave voluntarily, but he would end up dead in any case. Great!

Otherwise, Elena was also a gift, even though she still was a mystery to him. He didn't know what would be revealed of her past, but it was pretty easy to like her. Under all the shit that was her cross to bear, she had remained a tough woman who knew what she wanted and who was brave enough to stand up against a vampire. Not to mention that she was beautiful like a goddess. And to be honest he was fond of the way she seemed to need him too. Not just the basic need her gene caused, but also that her soul demanded to be comforted. The desire to protect her, to give her the badly required reassurance, that nothing would ever harm her again, made him feel connected to her in a way that the gene alone could never cause.

Suddenly he knew that he wanted their connection to work, not because he was forced into it, or because he could die, but because for once in his life he had the chance to do something good and maybe, if he won't fail, he could be loved one day.

"Everything okay?" Elena asked softly, knowing from his absent look that she had interrupted his thoughts.

"Um, sure! What's up?" he smiled at her, causing Elena to look at him with amazement. She had never seen him smile like this before and although she knew that he was extremely good looking, she was stunned how this smile and the glint in his beautiful blue eyes could still top it all.

"Elena?" he asked and his smile turned into a smug grin which made her think straight again.

"Um, you know, I just wanted to ask if there is something edible in your kitchen. I'm… pretty hungry…," she admitted shyly, almost afraid, and studied the floor while her heart thundered momentarily in her chest.

Damon noticed her hesitation and her odd behaviour, but he could only guess where it came from. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for him, not anymore. He needed to know the truth.