Huge thanks to Lisa, Lizzy, Dreamthrower, itwillalwaysbedamon, EM and sharpie (and guest, whoever you are) for your kind reviews! You rock!

ELENA

I woke up to the sound of someone hustling in the kitchen and the scent of coffee drifting up from downstairs. Judging by the daylight that was coming in through the blinds, it had to be already late in the day. Carefully, since my ribs were still making themselves felt, I climbed out of bed. A bit more steady this time, I headed for the bathroom. Last night seemed like a strange, far away dream. I briefly wondered if Damon had anything to do with it – if he had messed with my mind to blur the ugly details. But then, it could be the pills, too.

Wondering if I looked as bad as I felt, I glanced into the mirror above the sink. A definite yes to that. I looked like a drug addict. My hair was all messed up, my skin flaccid and my cheeks hollow. There were dark rings under my eyes and dried blood on my neck – Damon's, probably, put there to close the wound. I turned on the water and wiped it off with a washcloth, gingerly probing the tender skin. It didn't hurt much anymore – in fact, it looked surprisingly good, considering that two vampires had chewed on it. There were still a few angry, red lines and dent marks that indicated how gruesome the fresh wound must have looked like. But those were beginning to fade already – except for two, deep puncture marks in the middle of it.

"He got you good, didn't he?"

I jumped at the sound of Damon's voice. I hadn't heard him coming up the stairs, nor seen him in the mirror. Following that particular line of thought, I checked again to find out if another myth was actually a fact. But no: There he was – dressed and shaved and looking all the more smashing contrasted with my own reflection.

"Damon! You startled me! You're not supposed to be sneaking up like this, especially not it the bathroom!"

"I wasn't sneaking. You left the door wide open. I was merely going to check if you were dead, alive or transitioning. You look okay, though."

"Hardly," I retorted dryly. "I look as if I've risen from the dead."

"Well, that's close to what happened. Take a shower, it'll probably make you feel better. There are clean towels underneath the sink, and extra toothbrushes in the drawer."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Always prepared for everything, aren't you?"

He smirked. "Every once in a while I order dinner to my house – and sometimes, it's still there in the morning."

I couldn't think of anything to say to that.

"Your jeans are in the bedroom, washed and dried," Damon informed me. "Figuring that you might want to get out of that blouse, I also put out one of my shirts for you – just in case. Coffee is waiting downstairs, whenever you're ready."

Wow. Who would have guessed that Damon had housekeeper genes besides being a superhero rescuing damsels in distress? Could have fooled me.

About twenty minutes later, somewhat restored and resembling a living being again, I made it down the stairs. Damon was reading the paper, casually leaning against the kitchen counter, a mug in his hand. It was sort of an open kitchen within a living area that combined eating and dining room. The furnishing was tasteful, modern in style. The shaded windows filtered the incoming sunlight, making it soft and giving the room a friendly atmosphere. Not really like what I'd expected from a vampire's den.

"Hi," I said, feeling a little awkward of a sudden. "I guess I'm ready for the coffee..."

"Have some, then." Damon poured a cup and handed it to me. "Cute outfit," he said, gesturing at his shirt that – of course – was black and way too big for me. I had rolled up the sleeves and tied the fronts to a knot at my waist. To make the casually sexy look seem more like it was intended, it did show a bit of my midriff. "My shirt looks way more exciting on you. But then, you'd probably look exciting even without it..."

Unsure whether I should frown at this transparent attempt at flirting or thank him for the somewhat shady compliment, I merely took a sip from my coffee and ignored it.

"How are you feeling?" Damon asked, in a more serious tone.

I shrugged. "Like I'm recovering from a severe flu."

"It'll take a while until you're fully back to normal."

"Is that what the women you feed from feel like – afterwards?"

He raised his eyebrow. "Given that I normally don't drain them half dry, I should think not. I probably won't need to feed for a couple of days!"

"Well, I'm glad I was good for something, then." I pointed to the marks on my throat. "This is a pretty ugly bite-mark. I never noticed wounds like this on Caroline..."

He shook his head, giving me chiding glance. "That's because I haven't tried to kill her, lately! Vampires usually don't tear people's throats out – unless they are either sadistic or seriously pissed. Feeding doesn't have to be a mess. You need to puncture the veins, not severe them. The vamp who got you obviously had other intentions. Be careful with those marks for a while – you might want to put something on it, so as to prevent them from being scratched open accidentally."

"Or from being seen by the neighbors..."

"That, too. Although we won't run into that problem here. There are no neighbors."

Curious, I pushed the shades aside and gazed through the window. Outside everything was lush green, with trees and blooming bushes everywhere. It somehow looked familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. "Where exactly are we?"

Damon seemed a bit reluctant to answer and kept looking at me as if he was trying to anticipate my reaction. He was saved by a familiar ringing tone from somewhere nearby.

"That's my phone..." I looked to where the sound was coming from and saw it next to Damon on the kitchen counter.

He reached for it, checking the display. "It's your boyfriend."

"Stefan?" I stupidly asked.

"Are there others besides him?"

I folded my arms in front of me and shook my head. "I don't want to talk to him."

Damon gave me a surprised look. When it continued ringing, he answered it himself. "Hello there – Elena's phone. How can I help you?" His voice was mockingly sweet. He listened for a moment, then answered to Stefan's inevitable questions: "No, I'm afraid she's not available right now... Yes, she's had a bit of a rough night but is now in perfect shape again. – Sorry, my bad. We had other things on our minds..." Just to piss Stefan off, Damon was being intentionally ambiguous in his responses. Stefan obviously didn't take it favorably, because whatever he said in reply made Damon smile, widely and smugly. "M-hm. Will do. Have a good day! Bye!" He snapped the phone shut and shot me a questioning glance. "I take it the love birds are singing out of tune?"

"Don't mock me," I said flatly.

"I'm not. Seriously. Is everything okay?"

"Seriously, I don't want to talk about it. Why did you answer it, anyway?"

"Because this phone must have been ringing all night, ever since I took it out of your jeans and put it here. Stefan must have been out of his mind with worry, especially if you left after a fight."

"Like you care!"

"I don't, really. But if he starts getting desperate, he is likely to alert your aunt, and that will ruin the alibi story I made up for you."

"You called Jenna? What did you tell her?"

"That your car broke down somewhere on the way to Mystic Falls. That I picked you up and took you to my place – I didn't mention exactly which one. She probably thinks you're staying with me and Alys in Greenville."

"Which brings me back to my previous question: Where exactly is this other place of yours?"

"In Fells Church," he said, carefully gauging my reaction.

It was mostly surprise, followed by rapid thinking. "South Carolina... That's where we spent a night on our trip... the plantation we visited on our way back from Columbia..." I stared at him and my jaw dropped. "This is it? The hotel – it's yours?"

He nodded. I couldn't say anything; my mind was too busy sorting out the various implications that came with the information. Damon took the mug from my hand and put it down. Placing his hand lightly on my back, he lead me to the front door and opened it. I recognized the place immediately. It was the hotel. We were on the porch of one of the side buildings, facing the main house that was a little further to the right, half hidden behind the huge trees.

"These used to be the slave quarters..." Damon explained. "I had this one renovated to use as private house whenever I'm here. It's a little more intimate than being under the same roof with tourists."

"This is your home? All of it?"

"It used to belong to my family and their descendants for a long while. After the last one died – my great-great-great cousin or something – it was put up for sale, since there was no one left to inherit. I bought it and made a hotel out of it."

"So... when we stayed here, a couple of weeks ago – you were here, too?" He merely nodded, still with that careful expression on his face. I was thinking back to that weird night and the things I had dreamt and felt. "So I had been right, after all..." I murmured, more to myself than to him. "There was something creepy about this place. It was owned by a vampire, who probably made a habit of feeding on his guests..." I added a note of doubt to my reproach, hoping he would instantly negate the allegation.

He didn't, which should have been confirmation enough. Yet I pushed it. I had to know. "Seriously? Is that what you've been doing here all along? Spiking the welcome drinks to make your victims complacent and taking advantage of them while they were sleeping? Oh my God! Caroline said something about a strange dream that night... The way she said it, though..."

"Made you think she actually meant sensual? Forbidden? Maybe even erotic? – She had a pleasant night, even though she doesn't remember it clearly. So don't start trying to talk a guilty conscience into me – it won't work."

"What about me and Bonnie? Have you...?"

"I haven't touched you."

"How would I know that?"

"Because I'm telling you." Strangely, I believed him. On some instinctive level, I knew he wouldn't lie to me. But that didn't mean he wasn't still keeping things from me. "Then how come you suddenly turned up in Mystic Falls? Coincidence? I don't think so! There's more to it than that!"

"You're right. There's far more to it than that. It's a very long story."

"Are you going to tell me?"

"I might – if you were to stay here with me for another day so I'd have the time..."

"Stay here?" I asked, incredulous. "With you?"

He rolled his eyes. "That's what I meant when I said 'stay here with me'! Or do you have other plans for the weekend?"

"Damon – I can't stay here! I wrecked my car, nobody knows where I am... Jenna thinks I'm in Greenville... I've got to go home!"

"Don't worry about the car. I turned it right side up again and pushed it back to the roadside. It has a few dents, bumps and scratches, but those will be dealt with. I already called a garage. They'll have it towed and fixed by Monday. We can pick it up on our way back. Nobody will notice anything amiss."

Seeing that I still wasn't convinced, Damon tried a different approach. He put his hands on my shoulders and turned me to face him. When he had my full attention, he let go of me again, only pressing verbally, now. Funny that I almost missed the slight cool of his touch. But then, the humidity in the air combined with the early summer heat was really oppressing. "You obviously had a bad fight with Stefan and fled in distress. Heading nowhere, judging by the direction you took. That tells me you wanted to get away for a while."

"How did you know? How did you even find me on that roadway?"

"You almost bumped into me, remember? I didn't think much about it, until I arrived at Elijah's place and found Stefan all wrought up. He wouldn't talk about what had happened, just that he thought you had gone home. Since I knew you hadn't, I decided to follow you." Damon paused, looking pensive and a little smug again. "You know – I think I'm starting to develop some sort of sixth sense when it comes to you getting into mischief again."

"That's not me! I mean, I never used to get in trouble – now trouble seems to follow right on my heels. Why is that happening?"

"Well, for starters, you befriended a couple of vampires. Even date one. That's begging for trouble, Elena..."

I briefly marveled at his choice of words. I had befriended a couple of vampires. Did he include himself in that number? Were Damon and I friends? Considering that he had saved my life for the second time now and taken care of me like he had yesterday, we probably were.

"Come on Elena," he said, as if encouraging a child to approach a difficult task ahead. "What's the rush, hm? Trust me – all of your problems will still be there when you get back to them. Just step away from your life for a few hours. I know that's what you're longing to do – otherwise you wouldn't have left Mystic Falls. So – take a time out. Let's have some fun."

I caught his gaze and was instantly lost. Something in those vampire eyes continuously played havoc with my mind. Not to mention the rest of my body, which tended to react rather strongly to it. "I don't think that would be a good idea," I said weakly, already doubting whether I'd heed my own advice in this.

"Why not? Are you afraid I could do something to you that you wouldn't want me to?"

Not really. I was more worried he'd do something to me that I wouldn't mind at all. At least not in one of my weak moments. But I couldn't well admit to that. Damon turned serious. "Just what are you so concerned about?" he inquired, and it sounded like he really was trying to understand. "Honestly?"

Where to start? That he was exactly the kind of guy I had always told myself to be wary about? That he was a serious threat to my life and not to be trusted? That he was about nine to ten times older and more experienced than I was – in every possible respect? That he definitely was not someone I should fall in love with, because he'd never return the feeling?

"Do you want it listed alphabetically or by weightiness of the argument?" I inquired.

"Oh, come on! It can't possibly be so bad. Just don't think all the time – you've got to let go every once in a while. Or you'll end up like Stefan – a depressive control freak with permanent worry lines etched into his forehead. Oops. Sorry. I really didn't mean to bring him up!" Damon's face contorted into a funny grimace of concern and mock disdain that almost made me smile. He could be really cute and charming if he chose to be.

Realizing that he was gaining ground by playing it lightly, he stuck with the strategy. "Now – I promise I won't bite – pun intended! I'll be on my best behavior. I can do the gentlemanly thing! You get a full day to try and make a better vampire out of me!"

"Well, if that's not an incentive..."

"Alright! That's the spirit! Now – what do you want us to do?"

*'*'*'*'*'*

We ended up doing exactly what he had proposed – simply hanging about and having fun. Damon showed me around in Fells Church, where there wasn't really much to see, and took me to out to a diner that was run by an old acquaintance of his. Obviously, it was the only place to go to, much like the Grill at home, and was crowded by the local youth in the evening.

We sat down at the bar and Damon was given a warm welcome by the lady who ran the place. Damon introduced us only by name – hers was Bree. She seemed pretty much aware of what he was, without seeming to mind. I wondered briefly if she was a vampire, too. Obviously, she mistook me for his girlfriend, since she made a few conspiratory, lewd remarks which suggested that she had known Damon intimately or at least had tried to get to know him that way, some time ago.

Unaware that I was under age – or maybe not caring – she put a glass of tequila in front of our noses, which Damon graciously emptied for me while she wasn't looking. We ordered a burger and some fries, and to my surprise, I was ravenous. I finished that plate and had a second, wiping it clean except for the inedible decorations. Damon reached over and finished those, too.

"You don't like pickles? What's wrong with you?"

"Didn't you say yesterday that you had your share – after almost depleting me of my blood?"

"Yeah – but that was merely assuaging hunger. This is for pleasure."

"Ha!" I said, not trying to keep the note of triumph out of my voice. "I knew that drinking blood couldn't actually taste good or be even remotely pleasurable!"

"Quite on the contrary! I found it very tasty, and under different circumstances, I definitely would have taken pleasure in it. Well, there's always a next time." He was saying it lightly, but I knew that he had been eaten up with worry yesterday. I had seen a side of him that he carefully kept hidden behind this mask of irony, smugness and indifference – I had seen him protective, gentle and caring. Alys was wrong. There was still a lot of humanity in Damon.

"Thank you," I said with heartfelt sincerity. He gave me a questioning look. "For saving my life."

"My pleasure. It seems to be becoming quite a habit."

"I know. This was the second time you came to my rescue – after warding off the street gang."

Damon bent his head slightly and gave me a dubious look. "The street gang attack wasn't the first time I saved you."

"No?" Puzzled, I looked at him. I couldn't think of another moment where I had put my life at risk. I was normally a very cautious person.

"The first one was when you so recklessly came to the rescue of your friend."

"Caroline was reckless – taking off into the night with you like that! She didn't even know you, then."

"There was nothing she could've done about it. It wasn't exactly her conscious choice."

"You used those mind tricks on her make her follow you? I thought you were working with your looks and your charms..."

"There isn't always time for that. I was hungry. And I'm afraid I'm not very charming when I am. That's why it was extremely reckless of you to interrupt my feeding. Not a wise thing to do, with a vampire."

"Well, it wasn't a feeding I meant to interrupt."

"The result was pretty much the same. You have no idea how perilously close you came to meeting your destiny that night."

"To become your dinner, you mean? Is that what you think my destiny is?"

"Most definitely. But I meant something more final that just feeding on you."

"I wasn't in danger. You wouldn't have killed me." I said it with full conviction, only to have Damon cut it down: "Not on purpose. But there are always accidents... "

The way he said it made me frown. He sounded – contrite. What accident was he thinking about? Then it dawned on me. "That night in the park – that's when Vicky was attacked! By a wild animal, allegedly. But she said it was..." The word got stuck in my throat as I fully realized what Vicky had been knowing all along. "It was you! You attacked her after I had chased you away from Caroline!"

He didn't deny it, although I had been hoping for that. I stared at him in disbelief. "Are you insane? How could you hurt her like that? She ended up in hospital!"

"I said it was an accident. I'm not in the habit of leaving the girls I feed from to bleed to death. I would have taken care of the wound – at least that had been my honest intention – but unfortunately, her blood had left me a little light-headed. She was pumped with all kinds of substances, and all that on an empty stomach. My reaction was slightly off. She ran away screaming before I knew what had happened."

"She could have died!"

"Yes, she could have," he agreed, his voice firm. "That's what I've been trying to tell you all along." Damon turned his full gaze on me before he continued. He enunciated each word slowly and deliberately, willing me to understand. "I am a vampire, Elena. Though I usually do not kill humans for the mere fun of it, it's always a possibility. There are moments when control is easily lost: a hunger too strong, an all too enticing prey... I was ravenous that evening, just having arrived and without a source of supply. I had just taken a taste of Caroline when you suddenly appeared on the scene – flushed from excitement and the run, heart beating in your throat. I caught your smell even from the distance – a fragrance so much more appealing than Caroline's – sweet, intoxicating... it made my head spin. If I had lost control and allowed my lower instinct to take over to, like it happened a little later, when Vicky ran into me ... it would've been you, and not her. But I didn't lose it, then. I managed to erase Caroline's memories and then yours – and I somehow managed to get away from you."

"But I still have my memories of that night – I remember seeing you... Well, all but your face, that is... I never saw that."

"Yes, you did," Damon contradicted. "You even saw the blood on my lips and the wound on her neck. You looked straight into my eyes. And you were scared to death. That's why it was so easy to for me to hide those memories from your mind. You didn't want to remember, it was too shocking, too disturbing – threatening to shatter your world. So much easier to believe in someone kissing her than biting her, even if he was a stranger."

"The raven... there was this huge black bird, and then, all of a sudden, you were gone."

"I don't know how the raven ended up in this. I sure didn't put it there intentionally. I can only imagine that some small fragment of my messing around with your memories must have remained – like an imprint, a trace of me, a feeling telling you that something had happened."

Something dark, something menacing. Something fleeting. I remembered what Damon had told me about the mythology to it. A messenger form the underworld, a harbinger of death and disaster – that's what my subconscious had recognized him for. How fitting.

"It wasn't the only time you've been doing this to me – hiding yourself from my memories..." It wasn't a question, which was probably the reason why he didn't say anything to that. It wasn't necessary. My mind came up with more memories – not with the images he had erased, but the with the picture of the crow-bird he had involuntarily left behind. The night at the hotel, the Hitchcock scene at the cemetery, Caroline...

Yet there was no bird in my more recent memories, despite them being hazy. "Have you been messing around with my mind after the car accident, too?" I asked. "The funny thing is, I can't remember it all that clearly... "

"That was the intention. I partially erased your memories of the assault."

"Why?"

"Because I didn't want you to totally freak out every time a vampire came close to you," Damon said, before adding gloomily: "And believe me, you most likely would have, with your memories of that intact."

"Ha! Don't tell me you did that only for my own good!"

"I'm not saying that. It's also very much for my own good – after all, I might want to feed on you sometime, and can't have the memory of what he did interfere with your response to that. Have you ever heard of trauma?"

"You're manipulating me!"

"Admittedly so! But I only promised not to compel you – we never ruled out manipulation, persuasion and seduction..." He grinned, giving me one of these looks that made my heart jump.

I forcefully pulled myself together, concentrated on my food and wisely abstained from commenting on that. Being around him was getting more and more confusing. Even after all I knew about him, I couldn't help feeling attracted to him, which was unsettling for a number of reasons. Firstly, there was Stefan. How could I fall for two guys so quickly, one after another – that wasn't me. I wasn't that desperate. Or was I? I valued loyalty highly, and even feeling this hint of attraction for Damon seemed a whole lot like unfaithfulness to me. Maybe it had to do with the vampire-thing. Maybe one couldn't help being attracted to them, and probably I would feel the same about any other male vampire. Of course, this made me look incredibly superficial. I might have convinced myself that it wasn't Stefan's good looks that had attracted me, but his kind and gentle heart. But then, there was nothing kind or gentle about Damon. Or so I had thought – until last night.

Last night, I had caught a totally different glimpse of Damon. Bonnie's interpretation of the raven came to my mind again: that of a powerful guardian to those who stood high in his favors. Was I high in Damon's favors? The idea made my heart give another sudden jolt. Highly perturbing, indeed. Nothing good could come out of it.

We finished our plates and Damon ordered another beer. I signaled to Bree to make it two. If she didn't care about juvenile protection laws, there was no reason why I should. After all, I knew beyond doubt that it wasn't alcohol that posed the greatest threat to my juvenile innocence right now, and I needed something to put my wheeling mind to rest for a while.

Damon raised a questioning brow when she put it in front of me. I shrugged my shoulders. "Time-out, remember?"

He looked mildly surprised, yet didn't protest. "I should warn you", he said, "if only for the record: It's really not advisable to drink alcohol after a blood transfusion. It did substitute most of the blood you lost, but your body is still weakened. Any drink you have will pass straight into your system."

"Thanks, but I think I can handle a beer."

"If you say so..." He raised his bottle and we clinked. "Cheers!"

A/N: Yes, alcohol, bloodloss and Damon - definitely not a wise combination. But then, 'wise' is rarely an equivalent of 'fun', right? ;)
By the way: I'm curious if Lizzy has the right idea about Stefan - you'll have to let us know after the next chapter...