Eyes of the Doppelganger - Chapter 1

Author Note: First time posting, please be kind. Thank you. I don't own any characters or anything to do with The Vampire Diaries, this is purely for fun.

Her fingers were so cold, her clothes and hair still wet. She must be so cold. Damon tightened his hand on hers, never taking his eyes from her face. The touch of her clammy, lifeless flesh made something inside him physically crumble but he couldn't let go. He would never let go. Even though the beautiful creature lying in front of him might as well be carved from stone now, he could not miss a minute of being near her. He knew that the few minutes that were left were already slipping helplessly away from him and would soon be gone for ever. Just another thing that he loved ripped away from him, another chance of happiness snuffed out, happiness that he knew deep down he didn't deserve. What was there here for him now ... or anywhere for that matter? There was no meaning to anything if she wasn't here. Oh he knew that the lifeless body would spring to life again, lurching along on borrowed time until the eventual decision was made. The decision he had been forced into. Meredith had told him everything and it had been all he could do not to rip her throat out right there in the hospital corridor. This was just one more indignity, watching her torture herself over the prospect of spending an eternity as a vampire, an eternity like him. He knew that it was the last thing that she wanted and it was the last thing that he wanted for her. He only hoped that when the time came he would have the strength to let her die because in his heart he knew that once those chocolate brown eyes opened again and looked into his, the thought of them closing for ever would be unbearable.

The room was dark apart from the soft red glow of an unceasing emergency light beyond the curtains. It was the way he liked it, the way he thought she would like it when she awoke gasping and frightened and inhabiting a body that was no longer hers. None the less he could still make out every contour of her face and the shadow of every eyelash that brushed her cheek. He tried to think about what it would be like to never be able to look on that perfect face again and he could unearth no emotion. It was too much to comprehend and it left him feeling nothing but cold and utterly empty.

He shifted in the chair slightly and gritted his teeth against the numbing pain that was clawing its way through him when suddenly he felt it - almost imperceptible at first but when it happened a second time he was sure. Her hand had squeezed his, just a little, as if she knew that he was there. That one slight movement sent the numbness skittering into the shadowy corners of the room. All of his own feelings were obliterated as her lashes fluttered slightly and she stirred. His only thoughts were now for her and the tormenting hours that lay ahead of her. He reached up and brushed a few damp strands of hair from her face, his stomach twisting in awful anticipation. He stroked her hair back once more and then she was with him. Not a juddering, inward scream that twisted her face in horror like he expected but a slow deep breath, like someone waking from a long sleep, as her large eyes slowly opened and latched onto his. For a moment both of them were quiet. The whole world seemed to have gone quiet. Damon, with all his vampire hearing, could not hear a thing. It was like nothing existed outside of this dark hospital room, where they gazed into each other's eyes and he tried to tell her without words how he would give up anything to make this right. Her eyes were agony. They were the Elena he loved, all her goodness and generosity and love gathering in the one place and flowing directly into him. It made his heart swell painfully. Strength. He had to find the strength to let her make her decision. It had to be her decision. He was just about to tell her that when her lips parted and one word rushed out on a shaky breath.

'Damon'.

The sound of his name husky and needy on her lips made his entire being shudder. He looked at her expectantly, unable to form any kind of coherent reply. She licked her lips sending an electric charge all the way up Damon's spine and, with a little effort she said,

'I'm sorry'.

Damon blinked in confusion.

'You're sorry?'

'I've made a mess of everything again, haven't I?' She continued sadly, her voice becoming stronger. She still lay on the bed, a vision of serenity, her eyes full of sadness and her fingers clinging to his hand.

'No', he finally replied. 'It's not your fault. I could have guessed that you would have asked him to save Matt first. It's exactly the kind of thing you do. Stefan should have made a better choice'.

'He made the right choice, Damon', she said sagely, the sound of her saying his name again killing any argument he was considering. 'But I wasn't talking about that. I was talking about me. I could have made a better choice too'. Unexpected hope surged through Damon although his thoughts were far too fractured for him to understand why.

'What do you mean?' he asked, a hint of desperation creeping into his voice. Elena laboriously lifted her head from the pillow and propped herself heavily on her elbow so that her face was level with his. For the first time her hand slipped out of his grip.

'I mean that with a split second to make that decision, Stefan did the right thing. I've had years now to make my decision and I still got it wrong.'

Damon's eyebrows rose as he started to comprehend what she was saying to him. Was it possible that she could suddenly erase the pain of that awful phone call with this one sentence? All of a sudden nothing else mattered to him, because in some way he knew that if she was really changing her mind, if she was choosing him then somehow he could make everything else be all right.

'I watched Stefan rescue Matt and leave me behind Damon. I told him to, it was what I wanted because I knew that it was the right thing to do too - but that's just the point. Stefan will always do the right thing, no matter what that is. Even if means I end up dead. I know you won't always do the right thing Damon, but I know that you will always do the right thing for me.'

'Always' he nodded, fighting the unfamiliar feeling of tears behind his eyes. As she spoke her hand slowly found its way to his face and she now stroked his cheek softly. He turned his face into her palm and kissed it. All the deathliness that had haunted it moments earlier was now gone and it was warm and inviting again.

'I should have kept driving' Elena told him, her voice low as her face moved so close to his that he could feel her sweet breath on his cheek, 'I should never have stopped until I reached you'. Her words and the warm, solid closeness of her were too much for Damon. His heart erupted with joy forcing the air out of his lungs in a desperate gasp as he closed the tiny gap that was left between their lips and kissed her.

It was unlike any kiss that they had shared before. She had always been so careful, so guarded. A part of her had always been unsure and he could feel that part of her holding back, but not anymore. Now she kissed him with unadulterated want. They were hungry for each other and the overwhelming waves of desire and relief that were crashing over Damon drove gentleness from his mind. He moved quickly to sit on the bed and pulled Elena up into his arms. Her whole body slid towards him and her hands forced themselves underneath his leather jacket digging her nails into his back through his shirt. Damon groaned and buried his hand in her hair, kissing her so deeply that it almost made him feel drunk. Elena pulled him closer and closer as if she could not bear for even the thinnest sliver of air to separate them any longer. He felt her breasts pushing insistently at his chest and he ran his other hand down the length of her spine and pulled her up into his lap by the small of her back.

She roughly wrenched his jacket back from his shoulders and dragged it down his arms until she could throw it contemptuously to the floor. She wanted nothing in between them now. She tore at his shirt while he let his hands stray down over her waist to her ass and thighs, grasping at the areas he had never been allowed access to before. He grabbed her sweater and pulled it up over her head and marvelled for a second at how beautiful she looked with only the dusky pink bra clinging to her olive skin. She was bare to him at last and she was not afraid, not shy. She was panting for breath and looking at him from under her eyelids with such unbridled desire that the air around them pulsed with it. For the first time he smiled. He knew she could be like this. He was sure that Stefan would never have been able to coax this Elena into his bed but he had always know that he could.

They crashed together again and his hands tried to feel every inch of flesh at once. They followed the curve of her hip then travelled across her stomach until they closed around her breasts. They were as perfect as he had expected and he manipulated them with an expert hand eliciting a sharp hiss of pleasure from Elena. Hands and tongues seemed to be everywhere at once; it was as if nothing was enough. No kiss deep enough, no embrace tight enough. This was as close as Damon was ever going to get to heaven and he never wanted this feeling to end. As if sensing his thoughts Elena broke away with a gasp, her lips red and enticingly swollen, her arms still tight around his neck. .

'I need you Damon' she panted, 'I can't ever let this feeling stop – never' she emphasised by tugging on his hair causing an exquisite surge of pain that flared into intense pleasure. Damon nodded, completely intoxicated by her.

'For ever', he agreed, 'You and me for eternity', he promised with a flick of a smile. She gave him a hungry grin in return but before their kissing could resume there came a noise from the door. They both whipped their heads round to see Matt standing in the doorway. He was wearing a hospital gown and had a bandage fitted snugly around his head. His face was a mixture of confusion and shock.

'Elena … you're …what's going on?' he stammered. Struggling to take in the sight of them half naked and so tightly entwined that it was difficult to see where Elena stopped and Damon began. Before he could say anything further Damon had flown at Vampire speed from the bed and was behind him. One of his arms pinned Matt's arms tightly to his side while the other grabbed a handful of hair and yanked his head back. His throat was a swathe of pale flesh, vulnerable and throbbing with life. Damon looked over Matt's shoulder to Elena and his lips curved into a smile that grew from the pure animalistic joy that was welling up in him. This was what he was and this was what she would be too. With one last look at her encouraging eyes he felt his fangs extend and the veins in his face bubble and fill with blood. A wild sound that was almost a roar escaped him as his face descended with deadly speed and sank into Matt's flesh, tearing his throat wide open.

The initial spurt of blood dyed the hospital gown bright crimson and Damon savoured the mouthful that had run in gloriously warm rivulets down his throat. The blood was coursing steadily from the wound now and Damon could see Elena's eyes widen into saucers with desire. He hauled Matt's body across the room and slammed it onto the bed in front of her.

'For ever' he repeated and then pressed his bloody lips to hers. She accepted excitedly and within seconds was voraciously licking the blood from his face. The smell of blood and death was suffocating in the dark room. It invaded all of Damon's senses until he couldn't think about anything else and when Elena pulled back and he saw her face smeared with blood his excitement reached fever pitch. With a cry of satisfaction she raised her head, mouth open and teeth bared and dove into the gaping wound on Matt's neck.

Damon woke with a start, his skin tingling with horror and an erection straining shamefully at his jeans. He looked guiltily around the room as if someone might have seen the lurid dream that had been playing through his head but he was alone next to Elena. She was still lying motionless on the bed in a horrible parody of sleep. He was still holding her hand but he withdrew it hastily now. It didn't feel right to touch her after the grotesque scenario that had found its way into his consciousness. Suddenly a thought leapt into his head. Stefan. Had Stefan been infiltrating his dreams? He leapt to his feet and lunged for the door, swinging out into the corridor, every nerve bristling and ready for a fight.

Stefan was standing at the end of the corridor. He was staring through the window into Matt's room, his face ashen and set in a rictus of despair. A thoroughly depressing statue Damon thought wryly. He couldn't tell whether Stefan was distraught with himself for saving Matt first, with Matt for being alive when Elena was not or if he was simply willing him to pull through so that at least some good might come out of his actions this evening. Whatever the reason was there was no way that he was in any fit state to be joyriding in other people's dreams. Damon shook his head with a twinge of shame. No, the macabre vision he had just endured had been his alone. He laughed mirthlessly as he thought about how far from reality that would be. She would not miraculously wake up ready to face the transition, she would not miraculously wake up wanting different things … wanting him. Strength? Even in his dream he had fallen at the first hurdle. The real Elena would be horrified at the thought of an eternity as a vampire and no promises that he could make her would ever change that. No matter how much he loved her he knew that she would hate herself.

'Damon?' his thoughts were suddenly interrupted. He looked up and realised that Stefan had spoken and was looking at him. 'Is she still …' Stefan trailed off.

'Sleeping beauty?' replied Damon. 'Yes she is, but you would know that if you were looking through her window and not … his'. He knew he shouldn't complain since it left him alone with Elena but it did irk him that Stefan, the man she had chosen over him didn't want to spend every possible remaining moment with her.

'I just wanted to see how Matt was …' Stefan began, thrown off guard by Damon's accusation.

'Yeah', Damon interrupted him, ''He's you're number one priority isn't he. You've made that pretty clear'.

'Come on Damon, that's not fair' Stefan replied but it came out like a bleat. 'What would you have done …'

'You know exactly what I would have done', Damon snapped striding up the corridor so that they were face to face. 'I'd just really like to know why you didn't. And another thing Mr Knight in Shining Armour, what are you doing pacing the corridors instead of staying with her when she really needs you? She chose you so why aren't you choosing her!' he snarled. Stefan's face contorted in anguish and his hands lashed out catching Damon in the chest and pushing him away.

'Back off Damon!' he growled, 'I don't need this right now. We're all upset'.

'Oh yeah' Damon scoffed, 'Everyone's upset but nobody's getting down to whose fault this is!'

'It was an accident!' Stefan cried and Damon felt his rage surge forward, knocking any restraint he was exercising completely out of the way. He sprang forward grabbing the front of Stefan's shirt and slamming him into the window behind with enough force to send spidery cracks spreading across the glass.

'Hey!' came a cry of alarm as Meredith rounded the corner and was faced with the brothers struggling against the wall.

'You could have saved her! Why didn't you save her' Damon was screaming while Stefan wailed,

'It's not what she wanted, she would never have forgiven me'. Meredith strode towards them and tried to drive an arm into the middle of the scuffle to force the brothers apart.

'This is helping nobody!' she shouted.

Several open mouthed doctors gathered in the corridor drawn by the commotion and stood by dumbly, not sure how to break up the escalating brawl that was threatening to bring down the ceiling. Stefan managed to push Damon off of him and he crashed into the opposite wall. Meredith placed herself between them; arms outstretched trying to keep them at a distance. Both Stefan and Damon's eyes burned like liquid metal and they tensed themselves to fly at each other when suddenly they heard the only sound that could bring them to a halt.

Elena's awakening scream seemed to ring through the whole hospital. Meredith's arms dropped to her side while Stefan staggered back and sagged against the wall, his hands coming up to cover his ears. Damon grimaced as every ounce of fight left his body. Yes, this was the reaction he had been expecting.