Summary: ~ After Shadow Souls Damon is still a vampire, but he's changed. He snapped and realised he was second best to everyone around him and caring for people in the least- and helping get Stefan has gotten him nowhere. So Damon lost every bit of care in the world and broke off from everyone and became darker, harsher and has no kindness or conscious at all. Damon is now determined to get what he wants- his revenge on everyone who had made him feel anything in the slightest. In order to do so, he kidnaps- the weaker of the group, poor, innocent, Bonnie and holds her for ransom, power and as the first step in his diabolical plan. Will he remember his past? Will he remember how he felt about the brown-eyed witch? And most importantly, will he remember himself?

Let me know what you all think, and if I should continue :)

Elena Gilbert paced around the single, small room of the boarding house, trying to stay calm, but failing. She was waiting for her partner, Stefan Salvatore to return from rounding up all her friends, the people who meant most to her. Her friends meant the world to her; she had been through everything with them. She loved and cared for all of them, Meredith, Matt and oh, dear, sweet, innocent, Bonnie. Bonnie, who had never tried to hurt anyone in her life, who was so innocent, she actually sometimes believed everyone could get along and happy endings truly and always happened.

Elena wished she had a mind like Bonnie's, at times; to see the world the way she does, and be so happy with the simplest things.- and not always have to be the one with the plans. But unfortunately, that was her role in their little group. Well, she and Meredith to be fair. If anything happened to Bonnie, or Meredith, she wouldn't know what she would do. Well, for one thing, she knew her brilliant mind would come up with several plans, which could make or break with the right amount of co-operation. Elena felt another pang in her chest as she thought what she'd do without one of the other important members of their group, Matt… He's always been there for her, and he'd continue to do so, until he died. All of her friends would do anything to save her. They would all be prepared to sacrifice themselves for her. She'd seen proof with her very own eyes

Elena didn't need, or want protection or sacrifice. She was strong; she didn't need anyone making sacrifices for her. What she wanted was for everyone she loved and cared about to be safe and sound- a cliché and a long shot, but it's all she desperately wanted. She wanted to be able to go outside and just let loose and let the wind blow on her face, swishing her hair everywhere, frizzing and messing it up. She wanted to be able to have a proper, big wedding with Stefan- well as big as they could manage, not being able to invite her family and all. She wanted Miss. Flowers to be able to relax and not worry able being killed, or attached by creates of great evil; she wanted that for everyone.

All of her hopes, her happiness, her friends' happiness and safety, everything, was on the line. In the act of everything that was Shinichi and Misao, we all seemed to forget that they weren't the only danger in Fells Church, Elena thought. In fact, there was something, that could be, if he wanted to, far more dangerous- in a sense. He had been close to us, and it had been a long time since he had threatened any of us. We had all forgotten about the terrible thing he had done in his past, and what he could do.

Damon Salvatore was dangerous. Elena knew this. He was in fact something to be considered even more dangerous then Shinichi. He knew how to make all of us tick, Elena thought as she shook her head softly, with a grim frown plastered on her mouth. He knew our weaknesses, out soft spots, the things that meant most to us- and he would do anything to get what he wanted. With the right amount of power- and the right amount of blood, he could be capable of anything, really.

Elena knew he wasn't capable of possessing people to do terrible things –like fox spirits could, but with the help of someone, like… say Shinichi? The power that was formed was inevitable. It was deadly to everyone.

We can all remember what happened last time, Elena thought. No one wanted to say it before, but all the deaths… all the disturbances, everything since Elena had retreated back down to earth, was in fact of Damon's doing- being his purpose or not, Elena thought grimly. There were a lot of things they didn't know about Damon; they had to admit that. But, the one thing they did know was that you didn't want to be on his bad side. Unfortunately, after they had all returned from the Dark Dimension, they had spun themselves directly into where they shouldn't be with Damon- without even realising were had been doing so.

They hadn't seen Damon Salvatore since he left us in a blinding tornado of rage and insults. He insulted and threatened each and every one of us personally. His outburst had affected even Meredith; they had all been guttered. Not only had they lost a friend, they had also gained an enemy. They were all exactly where they shouldn't be with Damon. He had sworn- given his word- for revenge, a vendetta. The terrible thing was that, another thing they all knew about Damon Salvatore, was that he never broke his promises.

Too many things were overwhelming them all; they were in too deep. The group had two enemies now, both hadn't pounced or attacked, and they had just waiting for one to do so. They couldn't concentrate on just one; they had to keep an open mind about all. At times, Elena wondered which attack would be worst. Elena often predicted it would be Damon's; he knew them, they knew him, it was personal. But the war with Shinichi isn't over, so they've had to keep steady. But so far, everything's been calm; and no glimpse of Shinichi or Misao has been seen, whatsoever. It's been a good thing, but the suspense has been pretty bad. But sometimes, they would forget about Shinichi. But, that was only to think about Damon.

H Everyone was being threatened now. They had all seen it coming, but Elena still felt a sense of shock when the whole thing went down. Elena was scared. She had to admit that to herself. Danger was once upon them all. They didn't have the greatest defence side either; thus, leaving them weaker then they'd obviously like to be. None of them were even dreadfully prepared. They just all had seen one of the attacks coming.

Just a few hours ago Elena had been calm and content. But, all that calmness had diminished so quickly, Elena couldn't even remember the feeling anymore- it seemed so distant, that it didn't feel like it had been real. Sure, Elena hadn't felt safe, but she felt calm. Now, the fate of them all was resting on the decisions of one particularly strong person. When thinking about who would attack first, none of them really knew. Elena had. She just didn't say it out loud. She had sillily thought that not saying it out loud- not believing it would make it not true.

In the end- now, she had been completely right. The fate of them all was resting on the shoulders of Damon Salvatore. He was ruthless and viscous; but she had never seen him like this before. Damon was completely original. He was dark and dashing, but had never this bad.

Damon had changed, his words from when he left home all had been serious. Damon had been sick of coming second and trying at all, only to end up nowhere, with nothing. Damon hadn't been a saint, but his devil self had been pushed aside after they entered the un-holiness of what was called the Dark Dimension. He had suffered and sacrificed for his brother, and her. He had shown compassion for Bonnie, Lady Ulma- perhaps even Meredith. He had a least a spark of care at all times- he had also shown he cared when his brother was almost dying at his feet, hurt by Klaus in his attempt for revenge and power.

Elena could see why he felt like he was trying for nothing and coming second all the time. When they had arrived back at the place they had unfortunately had to call home- Damon had only witnessed everything he already knew. He had seen the love, pure love that was shared between Elena and Stefan. Damon would never be part of something like that, especially not with Elena. Elena loved Stefan, that's how it was, that's how it would always be.

Damon had said he would never want to be part of anything like Stefan and Elena, when he had stormed out. He had witnessed a sense of contempt and care between all of them and he didn't feel a part of it- though they had all tried their best to make him part of it. Even Matt and Meredith.

Damon had also said that he felt used and betrayed by all of them. Elena felt bad about this, but she couldn't help the way Damon felt, but they hadn't used him. Damon had gone willingly into the Dark Dimension to save his brother, whether he admitted so or not. Damon knew Elena's heart belonged to Stefan, no matter how much fooling around they did. Elena and everyone else of course used his help, but her feelings for Damon were real.

On a level, Elena cared for him and would never use him. He didn't believe her, though. Elena and everyone else had merely done all- and what was to be done to save Stefan. In each of them, they all cared about him. He was eviler, but he was part of their group, whether they all agreed so, or not. But Damon didn't see the point; he had felt betrayed, he didn't believe any of them, he felt how he felt. All Elena wanted now was to talk and rationalise with Damon, and unravel and calm his irrational and dangerous thinking.

The panic in her had all formed little over an hour ago. Stefan had been out hunting for the energy he needed to gain the power to do the things that would keep them all safe. He hadn't been far away, so he could hear Elena and all that happened around the boarding house. Stefan, being Stefan, hadn't wanted to leave his little, lovely love alone in these dark, dangerous and troubling times, but Elena had insisted. She had all but pushed him out the door with threats.

Elena had had to use all of her own stubborn will to convince Stefan he would be no help to anyone if he weren't strong enough. As usual, Elena got what she wanted, as usual, which wasn't a crime. Stefan had agreed to leave, but only a little distance away, with his phone, and he let Miss. Flowers know where he was going and what was to be done in case of an emergency.

This was her first mistake. Elena moaned in shameful agony, she blamed herself for her stupidity, which she rarely ever did. Why, oh, why, did she leave the window open?

Elena had been simply reading a book out of Stefan's personal collection, letting the window blow across her face- it felt wonderful, when she had heard a tap on the top half of the open window. Her blue eyes had drifted to the medium sized window in curiosity and caution, but to her dismay, no one was there. Elena didn't dare question if she heard it in these times, in her position, if you heard something, you heard something, and coincidences and craziness weren't excuses.

Elena hadn't gotten up to close the window, or look around, she merely went back to her reading, as if nothing had happened. Her second mistake was made there. She should've closed the window at that point, or called Stefan, not dismissed the noise and left it to chances.

Her attention averted, she didn't notice when the clouds out the window started to mysteriously darken, and wind surrounding the boarding house began to grow ferociously. After a few minutes a huge gust of wind had hit her right in the face- literally, her book had been thrust forward with an incredible force of wind, that it slammed into her nose, making her gasp at the shot of pain and drop the book. She had held her nose and looked around the room for an explanation, when he eyes got to the window.

The sky had been dark, nearly as dark as night, but it was only four o' clock. The wind whipped all the trees and branches swayed violently and uncontrollably, hitting into each other, and the buildings around them. Rain hadn't started yet, but it seemed like it would. The hair on the back of Elena's neck stood up and a shiver ran down her spine. There would have never been a better time to trust her instincts, but then. But Elena just backed away, unreasonably.

She wasn't panicking; she was staying calm. Something told her she shouldn't do anything; should make any sudden movements. She had been right in a way, but there were plenty of other things she could have done to better the situation, all that had seemed to escape her at that moment in time. The plans in her mind had been forming but had instantly disappeared as a black bird soared dramatically in front of her window, making her back away even further.

She had a few options, none of which were reasonable, or practical. The bird wasn't just a bird, Elena knew this, but she hadn't wanted to believe it for a moment. One of her worst nightmare was confronting her. The bird was in fact a crow. A black crow, with a glint of rainbow that you had to look closely to see- as she had. The crow was holding something in it's talons and Elena didn't know what.

She waited, and waited for the crow to make it's next move, as she stood boldly straight and prepared for what was about to happen. A feeling of familiarity swam through her, she knew this situation all to well. She was starting to feel scared, she tried to reassure herself she was doing well in how she was reacting. Elena tried to visualise Bonnie as an example of how she would be feeling, and she instantly felt better. She was doing well, that's all she had to think of. Help would surely becoming, besides, she could take care of herself.

She tried to stay neutral; the emotions that were trying to pull through were exactly how he'd want her to feel. Damon was amongst her. She felt another shiver run down her spine. Would she have to face him on her own? Would her death lead as a message to everyone else? She pushed those thoughts away, she couldn't think negative at this moment.

Thunders sounded at the same instant as lightening cracked, thunderstorms didn't startle Elena, but she did spare a thought toward poor Bonnie, who is terrified of thunderstorms. Elena at that moment couldn't even begin to imagine how she would be dealing with this situation in her hands. No wait, she could, Bonnie would have fainted and been on the ground the instant the clouds had started to form and the crow flew overhead.

Elena focused on the window. And in another instant, the crow flew in sight, but instead of flying onward into the other side, it flew into the window making Elena scream in shock- truthfully, she had never liked crows. And especially when they were in her room. They were like a fish out of water and Elena hated that. She wanted it out now. But, this crow knew what it was doing; it had a brain, an evil and dangerous one at that.

Elena was frozen, paralysed in fear, though some part of her said that if she wanted to move, she could, but that's just it; she didn't want to. The crow's wings were flapping violently; Elena had quit her screaming a few seconds ago, but her breathing was jagged and uneven. "Get out!" She shrieked, knowing she had no chance of him listening to her. Damon did what he wanted, when he wanted. An oddly quiet part of her brain had started to speak up. It said things like 'Maybe it's just a random bird? Maybe it's not Damon' Elena had almost wanted to slap herself. The quiet part of her brain could also be the stupid one; there was no such thing as a coincidence.

Elena's arms had been acting like a shield, covering her face as she waited for a bigger impact. The flapping had stopped at one point, and Elena hesitantly pulled her hands away from her face to look at the damage done.

The room wasn't as messed up as she would have expected, the soft brown curtains that hung from the window were now in shreds, hanging down in a swishing, broken motion. A couple of picture frames had scattered and smashed on the ground, falling from the drawer, and the pillows from the bed, lay still one half under the bed, it's edge poking out, and the other in front of her feet. Elena looked around the room the spot anything else out of the ordinary.

A white piece of paper had been left on the ground, the lightness of the paper standing out against the brown of the wooden floor. Elena slowly walked over to it- almost in a creep, on her tiptoes. Elena had know that what was written on the note wouldn't be pleasant. Elena has started to read it when a breath of smugness was let out loudly. Elena had turned around to see Damon. In all his glory, the older of the two Salvatore brothers had graced Elena's presence, his eyes were cold, lifeless, and they had no emotion in them. His mouth was shaped into a plain tight line, as he stared at her for a moment.

Damon had looked down at Elena's hands, which had contained the letter she suspected her wrote and dropped. Damon's head cocked to the side as his eyes retreated this time lingering up to hers. They held two emotions, this time. Pure hatred and determination radiated off his entire being. Elena shivered. The corner of Damon's mouth had quirked up a fraction, to give the signature Damon smirk. Except it was full of hatred. His smirk reminded her of the words 'You'll never know what I have in store'

Elena opened her mouth to speak, but Damon had already run behind her, shifted and flew out the window. Elena's head had been spinning.

Elena's thoughts were back in the present, as she now looked at the dresser, where she had dropped the note to call Stefan, her voice a jumble of words that made sense in her head, but misconstrued as she said them out loud. Stefan had been a panicked mess and had already been on his way to Elena's aid, but Elena in her jumbled mess, insisted Damon wouldn't try anything in the next hour, and he should go get Bonnie, Meredith and Matt.

Elena now waited patiently- or she would have liked to say she did, for Stefan to arrive. She had calmed down and had looked at the note; she refused to make anything of it until everyone else heard it. Damon had shaken her up, but, as usually, she recovered, what else could she do? Sob and complain? That would do nothing. Besides, she needed to stay strong, not only for herself, but for Bonnie and everyone else.

Elena continued to pace around the room. And with each step she took she felt as though the ground would give way or the space was getting smaller. The blue-eyed girl attempted to stay still for a moment, and leant on the dark dresser that belonged to her beloved. The blonde-haired women had never been a patient person.

Elena continued to breathe in and out, rather loudly as she leant her forehead on the dresser, and tried to picture how much of a mess she looked like at the moment. She could imagine her small form leant over the dresser, her hair frazzled into a huge mess after weaving her hands through in as an act of stress relief, many, many times. The blonde- haired girl felt the urge to let out a scream she had been trying to keep in. Elena didn't give access to the scream; she was trying to stay strong. She had to be. Aside from Meredith, she was meant to b the other strong, calm one. She had to stay strong and calm for not just everyone else's sake and her sake- of course- but Bonnie's.

Her little physic friend needed her support and strength for reassurance, and after Damon left, Bonnie hadn't been exactly all right. Elena felt the need to stay strong outweigh the urge to cry, sulk or feel weak. The note had messed her up, because it was going to change everything. Elena had to be calm for the duration of the day at least.

Besides, she needs to stay strong- and able to speak for that matter- so she could tell everyone of the message she had received on a particularly sensitive topic around here. Elena raised her head off the dresser and continued to breath in and out deeply. She found that she couldn't stop, so she attempted to think around the absurd breathing that was filling the silence around her.

The jewel- like, blue-eyed girl, stood alone in the dully- lit room, which was unfortunately the only form of light at the moment on this dark night. Elena had the main light turned off, as a perfectly sane attempt to keep from attracting attention to where she waits alone. From who exactly, she didn't even want to think about. She just wanted Stefan and the others to arrive at the house soon, before she decided to charge out of the house and go looking for them.

Elena felt as if she was loosing her touch on being able to handle supernatural situations- this being one of them. It has surprisingly been months since she had had to handle a supernatural situation- in which someone of supernatural and tried to form an attack.

A door slam sounded below the stairs at the entrance of the boarding house. Elena could hear the sound as it vibrated and the muffled voices as their footsteps were easily heard as they ran up to the door. The room had been utterly quiet before Stefan and her loud friends arrived in frazzled moods. Elena was glad that the silence was finally filled.

Stefan was in front of Elena first, his hands gently placed on her shoulders as eye looked her up and down, obviously searching for damage he could kill his brother over. Elena shook her head at him, "I'm fine," She reassured flatly, her mouth in a tight line. Stefan placed his had gently under her chin and placed his other hand on her back, pulling her close to him. She sighed into his arms, she felt safe and let her knees give way a little.

She was always thankful for Stefan, he always knew exactly what she wanted and exactly what to do to see that she got what she needed and wanted. "I'm so glad you're okay," He whispered. "I knew, I shouldn't have left you," Stefan continued, obviously trying hard not sound accusing, Stefan knew she wasn't very stable on the inside at the moment, thought she'd never show it. Elena shook her head at him. "Don't say that, you did the right thing; I didn't give a choice," Elena replied, keeping her voice steady. Stefan released a sigh as he let her go and moved away so Elena could see her friends, all hyped on adrenalin.

Meredith's mouth neutral, not swaying down or up, while her hands gathered at her hips, clutched together in worry. Meredith didn't show any form of weakness, in fact her best friends' eyes showed a spark in her eyes that screamed 'I'm up for anything; I'm ready'. Elena actually smiled at that. Meredith was always prepared for anything; she would've handled that situation a hundred times better than she would have.

Bonnie stood a little behind Meredith, all her emotions clearly displayed on her face, like an open book. Bonnie was extremely worried, scared and couldn't keep still. She was constantly switching her feet over, leaning on one for a moment, while the other rested on the arc of her steady foot, and then switched over and over. Her hands were fiddling and her eyes were planted on Elena and Elena only.

Matt stood straight, his arms folded over his chest, he was calm, but his eyes screamed 'I'm worried about you' which was sweet, but she didn't need it right now, She had to get to the point.

"Alright, I don't know how much you guys know, so… I'll try my best to explain," Elena said, not mentioning the fact that she wasn't even sure Stefan knew what happened, her mindless jabbering on the phone probably hadn't proved to let out any information, besides the fact that Damon had done something.

"Damon came over in his crow form… and… and…" Elena wasn't sure how much to reveal to everyone, was a little a lot? She had to say the right thing by everyone. She could already see Bonnie start to tear up at the mention of Damon's name. A little was defiantly a lot for Bonnie. Elena decided to dull it down a bit, not admit she was scared.

"He came in and messed things up a bit… he didn't say anything to me, he just dropped the note and… left," Elena said truthfully, purposely skipping out on some unimportant yet, things that should have been said nevertheless. Stefan eyed Elena. "That's not it, is it? You're skipping out on a few things, they may seem unimportant, but we need to full truth," Stefan spoke, half sternly, half worried. Out of the corner of her eye, Elena saw Meredith and Matt nodding in agreement.

Elena sighed, oh well, she thought. "He created a thunderstorm, clouds, wind, thunder lightening, the whole deal… he was powerful. He flew in the room in crow form; I found the note on the ground after a couple of seconds of not looking at him. I picked it up, Damon was behind me, but he didn't try anything… but he was staring at me as if… he had some nasty plans in store for us all… he didn't say anything, like I just said, and then he left."

No one spoke for a few moments. "What did the note say?" Meredith asked, her voice straight and firm. Just like Meredith, breaking the silence and getting straight to business. Elena really didn't want to read this out loud, but it had been intended for everyone, not just her.

She looked briefly at the short red head that was standing in between Matt and Meredith and acting like she wasn't here and she didn't care. It was painfully obvious that both statements were in fact true. Bonnie's strawberry curls were used as a way to shield everyone from her expression, which was likely to be one of desperation and sadness.

Elena took a breath and walked over the wooden dresser where objects on the top were scattered everywhere from the literal storm Damon had created. Elena picked up the note and walked back over to them all, with a grim expression covering her face. She hated to be like this; she truly did.

Here it goes, Elena thought as she began to read.

"Dear Humans (and Stefan),

The time has come, or should I say,

The time is coming for my revenge and my

Utter most feelings of hatred for you all, to become

a living nightmare for each and every one of you.

You can scream as much you'd like,

You can prepare as much as you'd like,

By all means, you can move to Canada.

But it will happening- in fact my plan is already in action,

And you don't even know it.

I'm not sure what you think I'm capable of,

But I can assure you it is more than you'd have ever expected.

I'm more powerful then any of you could ever imagine.

The first part of my plan will commence very, very soon.

The feeblest of your assemblage, will be the first to relinquish."

Elena gulped as she let air flow through her lungs. She knew everyone had heard the hints of uncertainty and horror in her voice. She hadn't even bothered to hide it. They all knew the seriousness of the situation and she wasn't made of stone; she wasn't invincible, they knew that. There was nothing wrong with sharing with her friends how she felt.

She looked up at everyone, wondering what they thought. Elena had actually been a little puzzled by the last statement of the note. Though, she could make it out clearly if she thought about it. She could see dear Matt puzzling over parts of the note, his cheeks slightly red with rage. He wasn't happy; he hadn't ever been the best of friends with Damon, and after everything Damon had done to Matt, made him hate him even more. How dare he do this to any of them, Matt thought.

"So… what does this mean?" Bonnie finally asked, her head up, her face neutral, emotionless. It wasn't any better then her hiding her emotions a few moments ago. Elena was going to attempt to answer her question, when Stefan beat her to it.

"It means… the weakest, of our group… will be the first to go…" Stefan trailed off shamefully. He didn't like saying it anymore then he did thinking it. Everyone knew who the weakest of the group was. No one wanted to say it, or look at her. They were all so angry and confused and just upset. It wasn't fair at all. Elena was looking at Stefan with worried eyes.

"He's sick," Matt finally said, breaking the silence "He's just picking on people weaker then him… he can't be that strong," Matt said, his voice full of the rage that his face clearly displayed. Matt sounded like he was trying to convince himself, rather then anyone else.

Stefan shook his head. "No… he's powerful, he proved that by creating that storm, and flying in his crow form. I bet if he had wanted to, he could've flew in his human form… taking… the weaker one is a form of power and… deviance. He's saying that he can take down anyone he wants, he could kill any of you; but he's choosing not too and taking down the feeblest," Stefan explained, wincing at the terms deviance and weaker.

Stefan neglected to mention that Damon might have also chosen… the weakest one, because he used to care for the weakest one… He was showing he had no feelings for anyone; he was detached. He was getting a message across.

Silence erupted like volcano for what it felt like twenty minutes. They had all seen something like this coming; they had all tried to prepare each other for it. But it hadn't seen to work. "Is he really going to… me?" Bonnie's voice was soft and full of fear. No one answered her. No one knew what to say. Stefan just simply nodded, he was going to say what we all just simply knew was true. "He's going to kill you, Bonnie."

Should I continue or not? Review, Please and let me know. Review and I'll give you a sneak peek.