Chapter 2 - The Fire

I stared blankly into space as I was processing everything that Damon was telling me.

"Elena, there's more." He got quiet for a moment. "I don't know how to tell you this, but I have to. I need you to understand how serious this is." He paused again.

"Oh my God Damon, just tell me!" I practically shouted at him.

"Okay. Before I do, I need you to understand that there was nothing I could do at the time. I had no idea. Had i...had I understood or had I known that it would cause you so much pain, I would have done everything in my power to stop it." He stammered and paused for what seemed like an eternity. "Katherine killed your parents. She was there that day at the Wickery Bridge. She forced the car off the road. She knew that Stefan was watching you. Unfortunately, he did not know that Katherine was watching him as he watched you." His voice trailed off. He sat there motionless, waiting for a response from me.

I was frozen. I was incapable of saying anything. The tears started to well up in my eyes. I could feel the tightness in my chest. I felt like I was being strangled from the inside out. I couldn't breathe. I started forcing the air out of my chest. The tears sprang forward from my eyes. There was so much emotion. Too much. I couldn't take it anymore. I lunged forward with so much power that I surprised myself. I started towards the door.

"Elena," he called after me. "Elena stop." I couldn't though. I had to get out of here. I heard him behind me and then suddenly I crashed into his chest.

He had a hold of my arms. He was staring down at me. "Elena, I need you to stop. I need you to listen." Then as if completely exasperated, he bent forward and kissed me. I was in a state of shock.

"What are you doing?!" I screamed at him. "What are you telling me? Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because Elena...I love you. You can't tell me that you haven't felt it. That something inside you has always told you that. I know you know. I know you feel something. I can't protect you when you are away from me. I can't protect you when you take off like that. Whether you love me or not, you need to let me protect you. Katherine is cold and calculating. She has already killed your parents. She will kill again and she will kill you if she can." My eyes were blurred with tears as I looked at him. I was trying to concentrate on what he was saying. I was trying, it wasn't working. My parents were dead because of someone who looked exactly like me, someone that was trying to kill me. And...Damon loved me?

My head felt woozy and I sank a little in my knees. He had a grip on my arms still and held me up. He walked me backwards to a chair. I sank down in the chair when I felt it against the back of my knees. I was exhausted. In a matter of minutes, my entire reality changed...again.

He squatted down until his gaze was completely even with mine. "Elena. Are you okay? I need to know you understand me."

"Yes" I squeaked out. I started to refocus on my surroundings. "I understand I think. So what now? I can never go anywhere alone again? I can't live that way Damon. I can't just shut myself in a house and wait for the inevitable to happen. What about Jeremy? What about Jenna?"

"I need you to come with me and I need you to trust me. I know that is difficult given what you think about me, but I need you to." His face was serious and had an air of concern about it. He looked as if he was weighing whether he'd have to carry me out against my will.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Back to your house. It's the only place you are safe. Jenna and Jeremy are at the lake house. I influenced them to go."

As we walked out of the bar, I looked at Carolyn's car that I had borrowed. "What about Carolyn's car?" I asked. "I can't just leave it here."

He glanced at me and did half an eye roll as he said, "I'll have Blondie's car towed back to Mystic Falls". He was holding my left arm and walking quickly towards his blue mustang.

"That's over an hour away!"

"It's fine Elena." He said as he opened the car door and made a motion for me to get inside. "I promise, I will arrange to have Blondie's car safely returned to Mystic Falls if you would please get in the car Elena."

"Fine!" I rolled my eyes at him as I got in the car. True to his word, as soon as we were on our way back to Mystic Falls, he was on the phone with a tow service and paid a considerable sum to have Carolyn's car towed back to Mystic Falls.

I stared blankly out the window. There was so much that shouldn't be said right now. There was so much I didn't know how to say, especially given what I just found out. It seemed like such a long time until we passed by the wooden sign preceding the Wickery Bridge. The surroundings were becoming increasingly familiar, except, overhead there was a huge cloud of dark thick smoke over the town. I looked at Damon, he shrugged at me, but I could tell he was concerned.

We turned down my street and there were two fire engines and several cop cars blocking the street. Before I even thought, I opened the car door and stepped out of the car towards the road block. There was no doubt about it, that cloud of dark thick smoke was coming from my house. My house! I felt sick. As I walked towards the front lawn, a police officer grabbed at my arm. "miss you can't go in there."

"It's my house," I said it almost in a whisper. There it was, burnt to the ground. I could see remnants of the curtains and walls, but it most definitely was not my childhood home. I almost panicked when I remembered Jeremy and Jenna, but then I remembered that Damon had told them to leave.

Damon was beside me when I looked to my left. He put his arm around me, bent down and whispered one thing. "Katherine." I sank into the crook of his arm. I didn't know what else to do. He leaned down and swooped me up in his arms. As I lay against his chest as he walked away from the scene, I felt lost, but for once, not alone. I felt as if he was going to protect me and I felt as if I really knew that. It wasn't just a feeling.

When I woke up several hours later, I was in a dark room. It was big, I could feel the space, even in the dark. I jerked myself up into a sitting position and strained to see in the dark. I felt around the bed. It was huge and then I felt his leg. "Elena, I'm here." It was Damon. He was laying down beside me at a respectful distance.

"Damon, what are we going to do?" I asked with every sense of desperation that I was feeling inside.

"First let me tell you that I had Jeremy and Jenna moved somewhere safe. I want you to know that. The lake house will be burned as well if we try to go there. A friend is watching out for them. A much stronger friend than Katherine. Now I need some time to figure out what to do next. This house is owned by a human, Katherine cannot get in here. We are going to stay here until I figure out how to deal with her, which admittedly might take me awhile. Katherine is not an easy problem to solve."

I listened to him intently, realizing afterwards that the other question on my mind was 'what are we going to do about us?' and that it was going to remain unanswered for the time being due to more pressing matters. Still I wanted to feel close to him, I rolled over and rested my head on his arm. I wanted him to hold me, but he lay there motionless in the dark contemplating the current situation. I could feel the heat surging through my skin and I wondered if he could feel the same. As I closed my eyes, I could feel myself drifting off to sleep.