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Damon smirked, "of course, I have a plan. Dr. Gilbert will suffer for all the experimentation he's done."

Enzo raised one eyebrow, "And just what is your devious plan?"

"His daughter. He thinks he can get away with torturing vampires in the name of science. Well, I'll turn his beloved daughter into one of us."

"And if he sees her as a monster once she transitions? It isn't guaranteed that his daughter's transition will change his mind."

Smiling evilly, Damon said, "Then I let her kill him. Wouldn't that be poetic justice? I just love the agony it would cause."

Enzo chuckled, "You really are an asshole."

Damon smirked, "It's my best quality."

"It's your only quality other than your alcoholism," Enzo quipped.

Two days later, Damon and Enzo had Elena Gilbert tied to a chair in their sitting room. The fire was going, and the light from it danced over her body. Damon forced himself to block out how sexy she was. That had come as a surprise to him.

It was Enzo who commented on it, though. "Who knew the demon's own spawn would have a body like that?" Elena, being tied and gagged, couldn't respond in any way other than glaring at him.

Damon said, "She might be hot, but there's a viper underneath. She is a Gilbert, after all. They're all killers."

"She's got to be like one hundred pounds dripping wet. Who can she kill?"

"They're all alike!" Damon snapped. "Do I have to remind you of how many of our kind her father tortured and then killed?"

"Nope, I know just as well as you do. It doesn't change the fact that I will jerk off later tonight thinking of her tight body."

Laughing, Damon said, "Same. Just don't get soft on me."

"With her around, I won't be soft, that's for sure!" He then motioned to his crotch. "Know what I mean?"

Damon rolled his eyes, "I meant to stick with the plan."

"Yeah, I know. I know. Don't worry. Turn her, then let her lose on that bastard she has as a father. It's a simple but effective plan."

Damon turned to face Elena. He had to remind himself not to be affected by her big beautiful eyes. They left him feeling like he needed to rescue her and keep her safe.

Still, he pushed on. He had a plan, and he hated Greyson more than he wanted her.

He untied her mouth and forced a vial between her teeth when she went to scream. He tipped it, it was full of his blood, and he poured it down her throat. In her shock, she sputtered and swallowed it all down.

With wide, surprised eyes, Elena asked, "Why did you make me drink blood!?"

"So I can turn you into a vampire," Damon bragged.

"Vampires don't exist!"

He looked at the lying Gilbert in shock. "Really, you, of all people, are going to tell me you don't believe in vampires? Starting out lying to me isn't a good way to get to know me."

She trembled as she looked up at him. "Like the sparkly kind?"

Enzo laughed and shook his head, "We don't fucking sparkle. That's not a good way to get along with Damon."

"I don't want to 'get along' with Damon. I want you crazies to let me go and never see you again!"

Damon shook his head. "No can do. You, the daughter, will pay for her father's crimes."

"My dad's a doctor. He heals people! What crimes are you talking about!?"

Over the next two days, Damon was shocked at how things progressed with Elena. Either she was the best actress in the world, or she really didn't know about vampires, much less her father's "research." Even if she had been acting, her fury and heartbreak couldn't have been faked.

On the second day, she was untied and walking around the house. Damon asked her, "Are you planning on gaining my trust and then running?"

"Are you planning on getting balls and turning me into a Vampire?" She snapped back.

"Depends. At the moment, I don't know. If you're being honest right now, I don't think so. I'm guaranteed a pissed-off human daughter that will hate him. That would hurt him more than if you were a vampire, he might just see you as a monster and try to kill you."

She crossed her arms and glared at him, "So then check! It's been long enough for any vervain to be out of my system. I can't believe he was dosing me without my knowledge."

Locking eyes with her, he said, "Quack like a chicken."

She quacked immediately and then glared at him, "What the hell!?"

"I was testing you." He laughed, "and it was funny." He then worked to compel her again, "Answer all my questions honestly and immediately until I snap my fingers. You will remember all of this."

She pouted, "We should have come up with parameters. What if you never snap your fingers?"

He smirked, "that's a risk you will take. It's too late, after all. I did let you remember that part, though."

Grumbling, Elena said, "Gee. How kind. I can't wait to retake vervain to keep you out of my head."

"Elena, did you know about vampires existing before Enzo and I told you?"

"No," was her immediate answer.

Enzo was now standing off to the side, leaning on the doorframe and listening to the questions and answers. After all, they would dictate what would happen going forward.

"Elena, until you learned about vampires, what did you believe your father did at his office while he was there?"

"Take care of his patients and run his practice."

Damon nodded and asked, "Did you ever suspect anything was weird in your family?"

"My uncle is weird, but not my immediate family. Uncle John has some kind of job that worries my father, but they never actually talk about it. I don't even know what he does. When I was twelve, I thought he was CIA."

Enzo nodded his head as he pulled out his phone from his pocket. "On it." A secret job in a family that hated vampires could be something they needed to know about. He was shocked at how quickly he got a response. "Vampire hunter," he supplied to Damon. "Damn, good one too."

Elena looked confused, "like my Dad?"

"No," Damon said, stone-faced. "There are only five of those in existence at a time. They are supernaturally powered to fight against my kind."

"Elena, has anyone ever referred to your uncle as a Hunter?"

"Well yeah, but to me, hunter means shooting Bambie or birds."

"Did you ever eat any animals he killed?"

"No, but he's an asshole. He wouldn't share anything with us. I don't even know what state he lives in."

Damon figured there were a ton of family issues to unpack with her uncle. Ones that weren't important right now. He still asked, "You don't get along?" He figured the fewer family members she was defying, the better his odds of keeping her on his side. At that moment, she was angry over the massive betrayal from her father, a man who shouldn't lie to her. He then worked through the facts in his head. It dawned on him that a massive family conspiracy to lie to her could actually help him. He just couldn't figure out why it bothered him so much that it might hurt her.

"Elena, do you hate vampires?"

"Sometimes you can be a massive dick. But overall, no. At least not as a species. I don't know many personally."

"Do you believe us about your father and your uncle?"

Enzo leaned forward a bit, and the answer was important to him, after all.

Elena sighed, "I don't understand why, but I do."

"You don't understand?"

"He's my daddy. He bandaged my cuts and kissed me good night. He also taught me to drive and helped me with homework and all of that. I grew up in the perfect loving family. I don't understand why I trust you now. When I met you when you kidnapped me just two days ago. Every bit of logic tells me you're the bad guy."

"I'm not?"

She frowned and teared up, "I'm sure you are. But I don't believe you're lying."

"I'm the bad guy?!"

"You kidnapped me!" Conceding her point, Damon nodded.

He asked, "I'm not saying I will let you. But what do you want to do?"

"I don't know," she admitted and curled in on herself. "I can't really go back, but they're my family. You've told me the truth and ripped apart my future. I don't have a home or anywhere I belong to now."

"You want to go back to being the ignorant little spoiled-ass princess you were!?" He was defensive because her obvious hurt shook him and left him feeling hollow. He ached for her.

His anger shocked her, but she still answered immediately like she was compelled to. "I want my father not to be a serial killer. I want the man who tucked me in at night not to have tortured someone earlier that day. He would cut into a vampire who had thoughts, a life, and feelings, brutalizing them, and then would come home and help me with my homework. He wanted me to be a doctor –like him!"

Enzo wondered if Damon was as shocked as he was over how human she saw vampires to be. He didn't know any Gilbert, ever, that could claim a vampire had "a life." He thought it went against their very nature.

Damon curtly nodded, "Well, that answer solves one of your problems. You are welcome to remain with us as long as you wish."

"What?" Elena asked, confused.

He decided not to ask if she hated her father. After all, that answer could be complicated. The apparent disappointment she had in the man who raised her worked better for him anyway. Anger could die down. But the way she felt was more permanent. And from experience, he knew his own father's disappointment had been harder to stomach than when the man seemed just to hate him.

"You believe us, and you don't like what your father did. You are welcome to stay with us. And frankly, as a human, you'd be helpful. We can deed any property to you, and you could keep other vampires out."

She blinked, trying to process everything. "I have a choice?"

"Yes."

"But you kidnapped me. You said you were going to turn me into a vampire. You even forced your blood down my throat."

Enzo pushed off from leaning against the doorway and finally decided to talk. "We thought you knew all about vampires and what your father did. Circumstances changed."

"Do you want to stay with us?" Damon asked.

"I don't know. This has all been overwhelming. I know I don't want to face my father like nothing has changed. I know I can't sit at the dinner table across from him and be able to eat. But I just met you two days ago. You kidnapped me. Am I even safe with you?"

Instead of answering that, Damon asked, "Are you even safe at home?"

"Absolutely, yes! You yourself told me he kills vampires, and it doesn't sound like you plan to make me become one. I would be completely safe –I'm not in the section of the population he likes to torture. It doesn't mean that I would like to be there, though."

"What better option do you have than staying with us?"

"Staying with my best friend, Bonnie."

Damon raised an eyebrow and said, "And when her father, your dad's best friend, insists you go home?"

"I would lose my place to stay."

Elena started trembling. Being forced to answer Damon's question honestly meant she couldn't even lie to herself. And right now, with the gravity of the situation, it felt like it was ripping her apart.

"What better option do you have than to stay with us?" he asked again.

"None. You're my best option." A tear leaked down her cheek.

"Why are you crying?"

"I lost my family. I loved my father my whole life, and now that's been destroyed."

"He was always a killer."

"And I didn't know!" There wasn't a question there, but she spoke anyway. He could compel her to tell him easily, so she just went along with it. "I still loved him even if his life of just healing the sick was a lie. I didn't know," she finished trailing off.

Elena thought about it and added. "I could go home. After he's arrested, I can go home to my mom." That made her smile.

"Arrested, how?" he asked.

"I will tell the Police Chief. She's a friend of the family, but-"

"But she's in on it," Enzo said.

"What?" Elena asked, looking to Damon for answers.

"Chief Forbes knows all about what your father is doing, and she's in on it. As does the Mayor, the school's principal, your best friend's dad, and all the other founding members. They have a council, and they all help capture vampires they give over to him. But most importantly to you, your mother knows exactly what your father is doing."

Elena lost it and burst out crying. She sobbed as she collapsed on the floor. It was bad enough that her father was a bad guy, but now her whole life consisted of a conspiracy of lies and killing.

Enzo whispered to Damon, "You really are an ass. You find Elena so alluring that you're cutting her out of her life, so she has to rely on you?"

Damon glared at Enzo. "It's not that!"

"Bullshit. You stopped fucking your snacks the moment we kidnapped her."

"Two days doesn't mean anything."

"It is where your dick is concerned. I've known you for a long time. You passed on that sexy redhead last night, and that's not your style. Not with tits that big."

"Why complain? You ended up getting your dick wet with her. You should be thanking me."

"And I do," Enzo said, smiling. "She was as good a fuck as she looked like she'd be. It's how I'm so sure something is up."

"Fuck off," Damon responded. He then bent down and pulled Elena into his arms.

Enzo was right. Elena was affecting him, and he wasn't one to resist any sexy woman. He held her close as she cried and brushed her hair from her cheek.

She clutched at his shirt and cried as he held her to him. As she did, Enzo's words worked through his head. She was being cut off from her life and having to rely on him. He was fine with being an asshole and taking advantage of that fact.

He stroked her back and whispered, "I won't lie to you. Do you believe me?"

"Yes."

Damon cupped her cheek, moved back a bit, and got her to look up at him. "You have a place with us. Do you want to stay?"

"Yes."

Enzo rolled his eyes and began to leave the room. Damon's words stopped him short. "Enzo. She's under my protection. Do you get what I mean?"

"Absolutely. You can rely on me, like always. I can help keep her safe." He then walked off, knowing Damon claimed her as his own, and he essentially vowed to help his friend protect her. He found it all pleased him. He liked Elena a lot. She was fierce and vulnerable all at the same time. What he liked most about her was her view of vampires. What did surprise him, in the end, was that playboy Damon would commit to expending so much energy over one woman.

With Enzo gone from the room, Elena felt something inside of her stir as she looked up at Damon. His arms were wrapped around her, and he looked at her so intently.

Damon knew the look of an emotionally vulnerable woman, and Elena had just that look. Internally he smiled. He would have her. He knew just what to do to get her to have sex with him, and not an ounce of him objected to doing just that.

He kissed her neck tenderly, raising goosebumps on her skin. "You're safe with me." He then brushed the tips of his fingers along her side. "Do you believe me?"

"No," she answered honestly under compulsion. "You are very much a danger to me right now."

He smiled at her and snapped his fingers. "Hopefully, that makes you more comfortable with me. Does it?"

"I'm just glad I don't have to answer you," she teased.

Damon shifted and slowly pressed her back until she lay on the carpet with him half over her. "You aren't comfortable?" He pressed.

"On the floor? No."

He lifted her up and began carrying her. "My bed would be much better then." When he didn't comment, he raised an eyebrow at her. "Nothing to say to that?"

Elena ran her fingers through his hair. "Nope. You're right. Why comment? Your bed would be much more comfortable than the floor."

"Don't pretend you don't know what I have in mind. You know what I was asking." He found he liked her answers, too, now that she wasn't forced to be honest. She was difficult, and he found that alluring.

"If I needed a nap?" she teased.

He was in his room, so he laid her down on her bed and pulled off her shirt. "Do I look like a man who naps?"

"Maybe?" She shivered as he traced along her bra line with his fingertip.

He shook his head. "You need to know I'm not a good man. I did promise never to lie to you. I want your body, and I know how emotionally vulnerable you are right now. You'll let me have your body because I make you feel safe. I get that, and I don't care that I'm taking advantage of you."

"You forgot one more thing?"

"What?"

"I'm mad at my father, and fucking a vampire seems like really good revenge."

Damon kissed her sternum. "Damn, do I like you?"

Elena reached between her back and the bed and unhooked her bra. "I'm guessing, now that the vervain is out of me, letting you drink my blood would piss him off too."

He licked her jugular vein. "So damn much. Aren't you worried I'll drain you? You are my enemy's daughter."

"It's a possibility, but you're too cruel for that. You'll let me live. We both want to punish him, and I find you sexy. I'll become your blood whore. What better revenge?"

He bit her neck and drank a bit from her. When he stopped, he moaned. "Deal. You're my favorite blood type too. I'll greatly enjoy this."

Damon then pulled off the rest of her clothes and all of his. Again, Enzo was right. It was strange that he passed on those other women. And it felt odd until he looked at her naked body. When he did, it all made sense. Why have just anyone when he could have Elena?

She moaned as he ran his hands over her body. "How old are you?" He asked.

"Nineteen. Why?"

"I was just wondering how much I am going to corrupt you. You're out of high school?"

"Of course."

He bent over and licked her breast. "Good. College?"

"Parents were going to pay for it. If I go, I will have to work first to avoid crippling debt now."

"Your body?"

"What?" she asked, having no clue as to what he meant by the question.

He lay next to her on his side with his head propped up with one hand, and then the other went to her wet pussy. As he circled her clit with his finger, he said, "Your body? What is going to be my access to it?"

"I thought this all started with you talking about corrupting me."

He pulled his fingers from between her folds and licked his fingers. "You taste incredible."

Damon then got up and retrieved a bottle of bourbon. When he returned, he undid the cap and handed it to her. "Sex and booze."

She took a drink and winced at the burn. "You want to get me drunk to have sex with me?"

Damon scoffed. "You consented sober –easily. I don't have to get you drunk to get you in my bed. Obviously, since you're already here."

"I don't get it, then."

"I'm talking about the future. Your life is now one big supernatural party. You can have any vice you want, and we will supply you. I'm just wondering what access I get." He set down the bottle and climbed into bed with her. "I'm going to stick with honesty and say I want you in my bed all the time. I'm wondering if you'd be willing to make this your room and live with me. Not as a roommate, but as a lover."

She propped herself up and took another sip of his bourbon. "Fuck me and feed from me. I'll be your lover from now on. I liked it when you bit me. It felt sexual with your teeth penetrating me." She took another sip, placed the bottle on the nightstand, and laid back down.

Damon's hand went to her pussy, and he thrust two fingers into her. "I'm going to warn you. I like sex –a lot. I might leave you sore."

"Doesn't vampire blood heal? Feed me your blood and have me again."

"If witches didn't hate me and want me dead, I'd believe you were made just for me."

Elena knit her brow, "witches exist?"

"Yup. The Bennett women are all witches."

"Hunh, I just thought Bonnie's grandmother was talking nonsense when she was drunk."

Damon then decided to refocus the conversation by curling the fingers he had inside of her and flicking her clit with his thumb.

Elena didn't disappoint. She moaned and whispered, "Have my body. I'm giving it over to you."

"That good?"

"Yes."

She was drenching wet and smelled like sex. Damon was enjoying their deal already. "Do you have any fetishes?"

"Other than actually getting to orgasm?" She asked.

Damon laughed. "High school boys. What a disappointment they must be. Was one a jock?"

"First-string quarterback."

Damon play-winced. "No wonder."

He grabbed her breast and said, "We can experiment."

"Actually, isn't being bitten a fetish? I know I have that one."

"Good, because biting and fucking is one of mine."

Elena began rocking her hips, fucking herself on his fingers. She was getting impatient.

"I'm enjoying watching you –naughty girl. You want me so badly that you just can't help yourself. You want an orgasm."

"I'm hoping to motivate you to make good on what you're saying. I want to experience the promise of lots of sex. And with the size of your cock…." She moaned when he curled his fingers as she rode them. "I've never felt a cock that big." She then wrapped her warm hand around his cock and stroked it.

Damon removed his fingers from her, licked off her juices, and thrust his cock into her. He held still and asked, "What do you think?"

"That my pussy has never felt so full in my life. Please fuck me." She desperately wanted what she knew would be the best orgasm of her life so far.

As he began pistoning his cock in and out of her, he bit her neck again. It was harder than he meant to, but she moaned in pleasure when he did, so he didn't worry about it. He took small sips as he worked to get off inside of her.

That was until he felt how warm and tight she was. Her blood flowing in him along with her body created a shift. At least, that was what he told himself. He grabbed her hands and pinned them above her head as he thrust into her perfect heat.

The sex was already the best he'd ever had. Her pussy felt to him like it was made to stimulate his cock perfectly. Every little movement, along with the big thrusts, brought him blinding pleasure. He was so distracted by his enjoyment that it took him a bit to notice she was screaming herself hoarse and trembling. He could feel how overwhelmed her body was with pleasure.

They orgasmed, and he didn't pull out. He kept his cock deep inside her warm pussy. She was panting for breath, trying to get her senses back. While she was, he was trying to figure out what had happened. It was all confusing, but in the end, it came down to him having fantastic sex. He rested on that and was glad he had her promise for more.

When she could breathe, she said, "If I hadn't already agreed to be your blood-whore I would now."

"You know 'blood-whore' isn't a term?" he asked, smirking.

"What do you call them?"

"Women," he sassed.

She rolled her eyes. "You really are an ass. Fine, what would you call me?"

He thought about that. They didn't have a defined word for what they were. She was now his lover, but he felt calling her would create the wrong dynamic between them. It didn't dawn on him that the term bothered him personally. He wasn't the type to think about his feelings. When he had them, they usually sucked, so he drank them away.

"Well, you live with me. I think the proper term to call you would be my girlfriend. Unless you object."

"I don't object." He almost laughed, but he refrained. It was the quickest she's answered a question since she was no longer compelled. She then worried her lip with her teeth, "Do you… Cheat on your girlfriends?"

He laughed hard at that question. He knew he was offending her, but it was just too funny to him. "You're my first girlfriend. And no, I don't cheat on them."

"How would you even know?"

"If I were willing to cheat on a girlfriend, I would have had many over the century and a half I've been alive. I had plenty of opportunities. I just didn't want to."

She shook her head, "I'm not sure why that's comforting, but it is. There is probably something very wrong with me."

Damon felt his cock hardening a bit, and to further it along, he bit her neck and drank some of her blood. He was quickly fully hard, and he rocked his hips, stimulating her and making her moan. "You don't know how much sex you signed up for."

She scratched his back as he began steadily thrusting. "You're able to get hard already?"

"Yes. Your blood helped, along with your tight pussy. I'm not exaggerating when I say that was the best sex of my long life."

"You're not making that up?"

"Why? I promised I wouldn't lie to you. And doesn't that take power away from me to admit it? If I were smart, I would have just kept the truth to myself."

"Why?"

"Because now you know I want you desperately. It gives you power."

Elena shook her head. "I'm not that type of woman. What it does is make me happy to know I please you that much. It makes me feel special."

And that was the problem for him, really. She was special. And she was probably telling the truth that she wouldn't use it to take advantage of him. His worry was that she wouldn't even have to ask, and he'd do anything to make her happy and willing to have sex again.

All of that drifted from his head as he had sex with her, though. He grabbed her ass, lifted it, and held her hips in the air as he drove himself into her at a different angle. He loved the view it gave him of his cock penetrating her. He loved watching it enter her while she was dripping wet, coating his cock.

He pounded into her perfection. Something in him wanted to continue to admit to her how special she was. He chalked it up to amazing sex for now and said, "I love looking at your wet pussy as I stretch you with my cock. I can't get enough."

It all gave her confidence that she never had before. Lots of unsatisfactory sex made her feel like she was the problem. After all, she was the one thing that didn't change every time. It made her want to please him all the more. "I'm willing to have sex anytime you want it. I didn't know it could be this perfect."

He blinked, realizing that he wasn't the only one who couldn't get enough. Maybe. "I don't think you know how much sex I like to have."

"Not enough?"

"What?" He paused, his hips confused. "Not enough? How. Every time I go out and feed-"

"Exactly," she said. Then wiggled her hips. "Fuck me again already." She smiled when he went back to doing just that. "You had to go out. Don't you think you can have a lot more sex with me living here with you?"

He thrust hard into her and said, "You might think I'm too demanding. What if I want it too much for you?"

"Try me. I'll enjoy proving you wrong."

"Damn, I want that."

Then he was lost again in the feeling of having sex with her. No more words came, just grunts as he concentrated on how his cock was feeling. When he orgasmed, he felt her walls flutter, and he was surprised at how powerful it was for a nonvampire.

He lay next to his panting girlfriend. He loved how wrecked she looked right now. It made him feel pretty damn cocky. "Enjoy that?" He couldn't help asking.

"Yeah," she said, still breathing hard. "Enough to make me believe I will want just as much sex as you will."

She rested her eyes. As she did, she asked, "And drinking blood? What will you do now?"

"I don't understand the question. Do you want me to bite you again?"

She blushed crimson. "Well, yeah, but that wasn't what I meant." She ran her finger along her neck where he bit her without thinking. "Enzo talked about going out and feeding. He always combines feeding and sex. Do all vampires?"

And he realized she was back on the cheating thing. He admitted she had a point, though. And it was all things she didn't know, and he hadn't explained. He wanted to snap Enzo's neck for telling her that, though. He himself had told her the last two nights he was going out feeding. She probably assumed he was having sex too. And he did –until he met her.

"Things affected that."

"Like?"

"Kidnapping," he answered.

"Kidnapping? That makes no sense."

"I fucked and fed every time until I kidnapped you. Enzo didn't stop." He didn't want to analyze why he made sure to tell her that.

"So they do go together?"

"Correlation and causation are all mixed up in your head."

She rolled her eyes, "That's why I'm asking, so I can understand, and not just begging for you to never feed from a woman again."

"Feeding doesn't mean I have to have sex. If anything, really, sex much more strongly points to feeding. Going out to 'feed' sounds less abrasive than the truth."

"And the truth was?"

"We were going out to fuck a random woman and get a snack at the same time. I have drunk from men, and I can promise I was never tempted to give it up the ass to any of them."

"But habits are hard to break. Especially old ones."

Damon grabbed her hip and pulled her to his body tightly. "Which is why you should expect to be bitten a lot." He bit her breast and drank from her. When he released her from his teeth, he said, "I did mention you're my favorite blood type and my favorite fuck. I wouldn't expect me, if I were you, to go to anyone else for either. I can drink from blood bags and get everything I want from you. If something happens and I need more blood than is safe for you to give me, I can feed, and then if I need a lay, I can get that between your thighs."

She bit her lip, willing herself not to whine anymore. At least, that was how she saw it. He was either telling her the truth, and she needed to stop, or lying to her, and she would eventually need to get away from him. So far, she didn't have any reason to doubt him, other than her worry that he wouldn't be satisfied with only her.

Elena was thrilled with how satisfied Damon was to be with her and her only.

It had been four months, and at the moment, the three of them were out at the bar like usual. She was now able to drink bourbon on the rocks while Damon and Enzo drank it straight. Everyone severed her, compelled to believe that she was twenty-one.

Enzo was off searching for his "blood-whore" for the night. It might not have been a term before, but with Elena there using it, the phrase quickly caught on.

It helped that while she was Damon's girlfriend, Enzo saw her as a friend and liked her being around. She suspected she was the only woman he ever respected.

Damon had a long-held habit of not caring what he did in public. At the moment, that meant Elena was sitting on his lap as he was sitting on a stool at the bar. His left hand was up her skirt, pulling her panties to the side and fingering her as he drank bourbon with his other hand.

He whispered into her ear, "I don't get why you still insist on wearing panties. They just get in the way." He then slid two fingers into her pussy.

Elena moaned and said, "It makes this feel dirtier for me."

He chuckled darkly. "You do like it dirty. In that case, I approve." He curled his fingers, and she moaned. He teased, "Are you trying to let everyone know what I'm doing?"

She mock-glared at him. "You do that on purpose. You know that I can't keep quiet."

"And that fact is just so much fun," he stressed.

She wasn't even embarrassed when she slid her thighs open more. She'd long since given up on pretending she had much shame in public when it came to him. He rewarded her by thumbing her clit. She drank some bourbon, knowing it was coming, so everyone could think she just really liked her drink. She moaned again.

Damon laughed out of seemingly nowhere to her. She knew that meant he heard something she couldn't. He said, "Enzo's found his 'snack' she's really into it right now."

"Did you want a bite to eat?" She asked playfully.

"I found I like my snack in private now. And you know that." He "punished" her little tease by pumping his fingers in her a few times.

He was playing with fire, and he loved it. Some nights he drove her crazy enough that he had to compel the whole bar to forget what happened, or she'd be mortified. His favorites were the nights he got her to just step over the line. Where everyone knew what was happening, but it wasn't so embarrassing to her he needed to do anything to the other patrons. Those nights he'd get fist bumps, and silent head nods from other guys when she wasn't looking. When she ground her hips, bringing herself pleasure on his fingers, he hoped to be getting the latter by the end of the night.

No matter what, though, he knew going out always worked her up. Even tame nights in public resulted in hours and hours of sex, and lots of biting at home.

When she ground down on him again, he admitted tonight at the bar wouldn't be tame. He pulled her whole body closer to him using his arm and his fingers deep inside of her. He could smell just how much she enjoyed that. He ordered her a double on the rock as she ground her hips again.

"Trying to loosen my inhibitions?" she asked, taking a big sip of her drink.

"You have inhibitions?" He teased her.

She let out a small laugh, "I did before I met you. I don't know what happened to me."

He knew she was teasing, but he answered her honestly. "You trust me. And if it goes too far, you know that I'll protect you and make everyone forget."

She turned to look him in the eyes. She wore a vervain necklace he gave her so he could drink from her, but she never had to worry that her thoughts were her own. Elena took another drink of bourbon and smiled. "I've never felt safer in my life. You're right."

He groaned in pleasure as he felt her let go and began trying secretly to ride his fingers. She buried her head in his shoulder, and he knew it was because she couldn't hide the look of pleasure on her face. He was already getting discreet head nods from guys at the bar.

He felt her approaching her orgasm, and he kissed her on the mouth, swallowing her climax. He knew she was unable to keep that in. Damon raised an eyebrow at her as he removed his fingers from her and stirred his very full bourbon with them. He then brought them to his mouth and sucked them clean. She would be comforted by the fact that others could assume he was just licking the bourbon off.

Damon knew no one near them was fooled. It was clear she'd just orgasmed. Her face was a dead giveaway. He just wasn't foolish enough to point that out to her.

Enzo walked up and discreetly rolled his eyes at Damon. "Having fun?"

To deflect Enzo's jib, he said, "Were you?" The stormy look that crossed Enzo's face confused him.

"I'm ready to leave if you both are," was Enzo's only reply.

Elena was Enzo's real problem this past week, and he didn't know how to explain it all. He just fucked and drank from a hot woman in the back room of the bar, and it stunk. He had trouble even getting off –again.

Six days ago, he realized what was bothering him.

Damon had something real. Something he thought was only for weak-willed men before. That was until he met Elena. Suddenly Damon being faithful to one woman made sense to him. She was good for him. And even Enzo could admit that Damon was getting so much more sex than he was.

Enzo wanted what Damon had.

It got him wondering if he could talk to Elena and ask for her help. She was less likely than Damon to tease him mercilessly. That and she was right. He respected her. It was pride that kept him from asking for advice, though.

That got him wondering. Did Damon even fully understand what he had? Would his abrasive, bastard-of-a-best friend even admit to himself that he loved her?

Elena was lounging on the couch in the main room when Enzo walked in three days later. "Where's Damon?"

"Getting blood bags and probably hiding the fact that he's threatening my father on the side."

He poured himself a drink and sat in an armchair. "You know about that?"

"Absolutely. I just don't tell Damon since he hides it to protect me."

"How did you find out?"

"Carolyn, she came here crying and trying to tell me I'm a horrible daughter. That and how I'm a spoiled bitch to reject a father that actually cares about me. She has huge daddy issues."

"How did we miss that?"

"You were both busy threatening her mother at the time. She's Chief Forbes' daughter. She used your visit to the police station to talk to me. I assumed they planned it that way."

Enzo frowned. He didn't like being outsmarted. He asked, "And you didn't say anything to us?"

"Why? I won. Carolyn and her mother aren't speaking right now. She didn't know about the vampires either."

"That doesn't even surprise me that you got the upper hand. Does she still want you to go home?"

Elena shrugged, "I don't know. I slammed the door in her face before I could ask."

"Have you had any other visitors?" Now he was really curious.

She shook her head and frowned. "No."

"That bothers you?"

"I thought my brother would come."

Enzo ended up asking his question to her out of desperation. He needed to change the subject because he felt guilty not telling her that she was hoping to see her cousin. Out of spite, Grayson had revealed to Damon that she wasn't her biological father.

He said, "So how do I find the right person?!"

Elena cocked her head, "what?"

"I'll be honest and say I want what you and Damon have. I'm just not a lucky little shit like him who had the perfect woman fall in his lap."

"I'd say be open to it, but even I know Damon wasn't. I don't know what to tell you. I was kidnapped and fell…." she trailed off and frowned. Enzo knew what the problem was. Damon was sabotaging everything. Love wasn't a word he would use, and Enzo knew Elena wasn't the kind of girl to use the word first.

Now he was trying to jettison the new conversation too. "Got any non-Forbes friends I could hit on?"

"Bonnie Bennett."

"Oh. Never mind." He hadn't met her, but he knew she was a witch and that all witches hated vampires.

At that moment, Damon sauntered in with a cooler full of blood. Enzo was more than happy to grab it to put it all in the fridge. As he did, he looked at Elena meaningfully. He then whispered so only Damon could hear him, "You have a lot to tell her, lover-boy."

As Damon turned to Elena, she was already getting off the couch and heading away from him.

Damon asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

He hated that word. Nothing meant "something, but I don't want to tell you." He knew that. The problem was he really sucked at guessing. Last time he guessed and gave her a whole new reason to be mad at him.

"Elena, please. Your father is doing his damndest to pull us apart. Normally, you being nineteen, would quash that, but he's friends with the police chief. They are trying to come up with anything to force you back home. We shouldn't be helping him."

"Why would you even care?" she snapped.

He looked at her, confused. "What in the world is wrong?"

She spun to face him. "Right, blame it on me!"

"Tell me what I did wrong. Then you can get offended. I don't even know what you're talking about."

She deflated. "I'm just tired."

"Do you need more of my blood?" Damon asked, concerned. He wished Enzo wasn't such an asshole and gave him more of a clue.

"No. Not that kind of tired."

Damon approached her slowly. "Are you done with me?"

"No. That's not how this works."

"I don't understand. What does that mean?! I'm not forcing you to be my girlfriend."

"No, you're not. I'm just happy to be here until you're done with me."

That pissed him off, and he was finished with being confused. He vamp-sped her over to the wall and trapped her against it. "Explain what the fuck that means, or I'm ripping that necklace off and compelling you to tell me!"

"You wouldn't!"

"Abso-fucking-lutly I would. Explain this 'done with you' crap you spouted."

Tears pricked Elena's eyes. "Please don't make me say it."

He grabbed her necklace, burning his hand, but didn't pull. "Tell me."

She started crying harder. "Fine! I love you! So yes, I've realized how much you avoid the word love, and it hurts." She tried to brush away her tears. "And still, I'm yours as long as you allow it. How weak am I?"

Damon released the necklace and said, "My mom told me she loved me all the time before she died. I believed her until a century later when I found her very much alive. It turns out she chose to leave me with my father, who hated me. Words are just words to me. Have I not shown you I love you?"

She looked up at him, blinking, "But I need the words."

"Have I not shown you?" he pressed. He did realize he would need to say the words, but he wanted her to admit he loved her. "Everything about me revolves around you, and I'm thrilled. I'm the happiest I've ever been, even fighting with your father and the whole damn council. Can you not see that?"

"To be fair, I don't know if you were happy before you met me."

"I was Enzo before I met you. I fucked random women and lied to myself, saying it was fun and everything I wanted in my life. My life sucked!"

Elena thought back to the conversation she just had with Enzo. He pretty much alluded to the same thing.

"But you've never said anything to me."

Damon laughed, "Really? Do you think you can claim that? I might not have said that one word, but I said it in every other way possible."

"Damon, you're over a hundred and fifty years old. You have so many life experiences I don't have. It all makes me feel disadvantaged when it comes to you. Fine, I'll admit it, I'm insecure."

He still pressed, "You have to know I hold you all night long. Vampires don't sleep. Doesn't that sound like love or at least total devotion? I know you've seen how you can change my foul mood by just smiling at me. Or what about how you can trust me to be there for you and protect you? What about my actions doesn't show you that I love you, Elena? I love you."

"I want to become a vampire."

He was not expecting that. "Wait, what?"

"I love you. And when you're ready, I want what you initially wanted to do. I want to become a vampire. I want to spend the rest of time with you, but I need to know if you want that too."

Damon ripped his wrist open with his teeth and pressed it to her mouth. "Drink." She obeyed. Once she consumed a lot of his blood, he kissed her hard. "You made a mistake. I love you enough to just need to hear that once. You're mine!" Then before she noticed what was happening, he snapped her neck.

As he was carrying her up to his room, Enzo came home from his walk. He had wanted to give them time to talk initially, but in the end, he decided he was more curious than anything, so he returned.

"Who killed her?!" He asked in a panic.

"She has my blood in her, don't worry. I killed her."

Enzo was brought up short. "You snapped her neck? Why?"

"She made a miscalculation. She said she loves me and that she wanted to transition. She said she wants to be with me for the rest of time. Elena didn't realize how much I was holding back from keeping her with me. She'll figure it out when she wakes up."

"So you finally told her you love her?"

"That's what you meant?! Why not just tell me?"

"Because it's fun fucking with you." He then smiled, "did she tell you that she knew you were speaking with her father today?"

"No."

"Or that when we went to the police station to argue with the chief, she sent her daughter over to talk to Elena?"

"What the hell?! That conniving bitch of a police chief!" He then turned to Enzo, still holding Elena tenderly. "Carolyn is her friend; it didn't work?"

"Elena said she won. Carolyn isn't talking to her mother right now. She didn't know about the vampires either."

Damon looked down at Elena, her neck was obviously broken, and that made him happy. She was becoming like him. "Carolyn was one of her closest friends. She chose me over her."

Enzo looked at Elena. "It's a little disturbing how fast you made the decision to kill her and how brutal it was."

Sounding offended, Damon said, "I promise you she didn't feel anything. I'm too quick for that. I didn't want her to worry about what dying would feel like. And the decision wasn't quick. I've wanted this since six hours after we got together."

Nodding, more than satisfied with his friend's answers, he turned. "I'll bring you up some blood for her. She'll need that to transition."

"You're okay with it all?" Damon asked him suddenly. "This changes your life too. I'll need your help training her."

Enzo smirked over his shoulder at Damon. "She's the best thing that ever happened to us. You got a lover, and I got a friend that doesn't have the tendency to be an asshole when annoyed."

Damon turned and headed up the stairs. "Bring two bags of blood."

"You killed me?" Elena said the moment she woke up.

"You asked me to make you a vampire. I just obeyed."

Damon had the room as dark as he could to ease her transition. He knew Enzo would be in the main room, keeping an eye on the front door. It was in case something happened and Elena fled or got a strong taste for blood from the vein, they both knew new vampires still thought like humans and used doors, not windows.

She moved slightly. "Wow, that feels weird." She then looked at Damon. "I guess you did."

"Are you unhappy?"

"No! Surprised, yes."

Damon caressed her cheek, and it felt amazing to her. He drew her attention back to the conversation when he said, "I know you. If I didn't do it right away, you would have obsessed over when, how, and if it would hurt. Did it hurt?"

"I'm honestly not even sure what you did. I really was asking if you killed me. I feel weird, but I wasn't sure."

"I killed you the fastest way I can. I snapped your neck."

"That sounds awful." She then moved her neck around. "It doesn't hurt, though."

"Good." He tenderly kissed her forehead. "I really do love you, Elena."

She blinked and furrowed her brow. "Don't I need blood?"

He grabbed a bag of blood from his nightstand. "Whenever you're ready."

She'd opened plenty of blood bags for him, so she grabbed the one he offered her and started drinking. Always the overachiever, she drank the whole thing.

When she was done, she sighed, "There. Now I can stay with you."

Elena loved the feeling of her transition. Everything felt different and heightened. It struck her as funny that she finally understood why he spent a small fortune on bedding. The sheets were just so soft. Then he brushed her arm lightly with his fingertips, and she moaned. It felt so good.

Damon heard her moan and realized she was getting pleasure from his light touch. It was all new to her and overwhelming. He was already hard. After all, he had her there with them both naked. He had plans for her when she transitioned.

He focused on her body and lightly touched her shoulder, and slid his fingers down over her collarbone to her breasts. "Does it feel good when I touch your boobs?"

"Every touch feels incredible."

He pinched her nipple, and it felt so good she orgasmed. That surprised them both but left Damon feeling cocky. "Again," Elena whispered. He pinched her other nipple four times, and she orgasmed.

Pleased, Damon said, "You're made for sex, Elena."

"It's all so overwhelming."

Damon made love to his new-vampire girlfriend. The number of times she orgasmed that night fed his ego for decades.

"Sorry, you were right, mate." Enzo walked over and refilled Damon's bourbon before pouring his own. "Where is Elena?"

They both heard the front door crack open, and someone step in. That meant the intruder was human. They then ignored whoever or was.

"Crying in the woods all alone after she miscalculated how far away she would have to be for me not to hear her. She forgets my senses are stronger than most vampires."

Enzo knew the tension in Damon's whole frame was because he could still hear her cry. He sat down and sipped from his glass. "Sucks when we can't fix it."

Damon stared into the middle distance. "It fucking does."

"How bad was it? If you can handle telling me."

"Grayson said he wished she was dead and that he was glad he wasn't her real father. He went on to tell her she was John's daughter and that he loved killing vampires. In the end, he said he was ashamed she was even his niece. And you're right. We expected this from the beginning if we turned her. I'm a monster for doing this to her."

"Is that why you're here drinking instead of comforting her?"

"It's my fault!"

"That her asshole uncle-daddy's a jackass who can't see his own daughter standing in front of him because of his bigotry?" Enzo rolled his eyes. "Come on, how is this your fault?"

"I knew he would hate her, and I turned her into a vampire anyway. Actually, I didn't even consider what would happen when I turned her. I was just so relieved she wanted to stay with me that badly." Damon slammed down his bourbon and swallowed. "She's a mess right now."

Enzo took Damon's glass from him, ripped the leg of a nearby chair, and stabbed it through Damon's thigh. "Pull yourself together. She knew what she was asking you when she told you she wanted to be a vampire. She still chose you. Please don't make her look foolish for believing you'd always be there for her. Go and hold her while she cries. She might have lost a father. Remind her she still has you."

"What if she doesn't want to see me?" Damon was hurting so much over the confrontation that he didn't hide his fears.

"You're afraid she'll find out you knew Grayson wasn't her biological father."

"Bingo."

"We both knew and didn't tell her. We're cowards, and that blew up in our faces. I fully expect her to be mad at us. But Damon, don't be a fool. Even if she's mad, she needs you. It's Elena, she'll forgive us, and we'll still feel like assholes for making such a sweet girl cry."

"I don't deserve her."

"No, you don't. But it's not about you. She deserves to be treated right. Get off your ass and do just that." Enzo ripped the chair leg out of Damon's thigh.

Enzo was relieved to watch Damon go make his way to Elena.

He heard the human move away from the door. His back was to whoever it was, but he didn't turn. "What do you want?" He asked acerbically. "Today's a shit day, and I wouldn't mess with me if I were you." Enzo was on his knees with the worst headache of his life before he knew what was happening.

Bonnie stopped torturing the vampire, his name was Enzo apparently, and said, "Don't you dare threaten me. I'm here to check on Elena."

Enzo turned to look at the witch. "Bonnie, I assume."

"How would you know?"

"Bonnie Bennett is Elena's friend and from a long line of witches. Since you showed both your power and concern for her, why wouldn't I figure it out?"

"Yeah, I'm Bonnie."

"And why weren't you here before?" Enzo challenged. "Why show concern now?"

"Because everyone lied to me!" She balled her fists. "Even Carolyn lied to me. When I found out, she said I was better off not knowing about Vampires. They all told me Elena was in a mental hospital and couldn't get calls. I thought she had a breakdown. With the pressure her dad put on her to be a doctor and her mom put on her to be the perfect cheerleader, I wasn't surprised."

Enzo frowned. "As you heard, they aren't her parents."

"Yeah. I get that. I just didn't have any idea, either. I thought they loved her."

"They do. They just hate vampires, and to them, now she's not human. They consider the Elena they knew dead."

"Assholes."

He smiled, "Besides the headache, I think I like you."

By the time Damon and Elena returned, Enzo and Bonnie were in deep planning mode. He was drinking bourbon, and Bonnie was drinking wine he'd retrieved for her from the cellar.

"Bonnie?" Elena asked, full of fear of what she'd hear from her friend.

Bonnie smiled, "Okay, so we kinda have a plan. It's not really complicated, though."

"What?" Elena asked, not following along with Bonnie's train of thought.

"Get the hell out of town. I just found out about vampires and the council. It's horrid! Why would we all stay here? Let's go somewhere awesome and ditch this boring town and all the lies. Do you know they had me convinced that you were in a mental hospital?!"

Damon's recent words came back to Elena. He had been insistent that anyone who really looked at her would see she was still Elena and not focus on the vampire.

"I'm a vampire. Do you know that?"

Bonnie looked at her like she was crazy. "Of course I do."

"And you don't hate me?"

"Who was the first boy I kissed?"

Elena laughed, "He kissed you, and you punched him. It was Matt, and you both were six."

"No one can convince me you're different from the friend I've had since we were born. Why would I care that you're now a vampire? It turns out I'm a witch. Neither of us are the same."

Damon smiled as he watched Elena and Bonnie hug. He found he wasn't even mad that Bonnie was drinking a seven-hundred-dollar bottle of wine. She made his point to Elena even better than he could. As a human, her feelings about Elena's transition would hold more weight.

Enzo walked over to Damon. "I think I'm in love. The first thing she did was attack me. It was hot."

"There's something wrong with you, Enzo."

Six months later, Damon, Elena, Enzo, and Bonnie were all in Palermo, Sicily.

John had come after Elena quickly after that day. He hated the idea that he, as a Vampire Hunter, fathered someone who was now a vampire.

Damon, in a rare exhibition of restraint, got them the hell out of town like Bonnie had suggested. He didn't want to be responsible for killing Elena's crappy father.

The decision to go to Italy was an easy one for him. The mafia was still strong in Sicily, and they didn't know about vampires. He could use his compulsion to protect her with a veritable army of made men.

It also didn't hurt that the warm climate meant she didn't need to wear many clothes.

Enzo had actually fallen for Bonnie that day. It had taken her two months to warm to him and then another one to fall in love too. He was more than ready to hear "I love you," when she finally said it.

Today Damon and Elena were lying on the large sofa they had on their veranda outside their room. "I love you," he whispered.

She looked over at him and snuggled into his embrace more. "I love you too."