The relief of seeing Elijah washed away just as quickly when the guy standing in front of Damon turned and stabbed Elijah directly in the heart with a wooden stake. Elijah fell to the ground and faded into a gray color before my eyes. It was only in the very back of my mind that I remembered Elijah would soon come back to life. Until then I was doomed to look on in horror as they tortured Damon.

"Well, it's your lucky hour Damon. That stake was made especially for you. Now I'm going to have to make a new one. But I hope you enjoy your time until I'm done." The man said with a grin. He turned and nodded to another dark headed guy standing behind him. The guy nodded back with a grin and stepped up to Damon.

"Take your time." Damon said sarcastically through gritted teeth.

"Damon." I whispered taking his hand.

"Back up!" Jules said pulling me away from him.

The new guy in front of Damon pulled out a bottle. He then began to spray Damon from head to foot in vervain. I could hear the slight hiss from it burning his skin. He almost screamed in pain, but then I noticed him look over at me. He saw the pain written across my face and suddenly he quieted. Just the look on his face, tight with pain gave away any sign of his distress. He was trying to protect me. He was trying to hide the pain from me so it didn't hurt me. The guy torturing Damon smiled brightly taking out a large metal spike. He drove into Damon's shoulder.

Damon groaned though his mouth stayed closed. His body shuddered against the pain, sweat rolling down his face. The guy leaned into Damon.

"You are going to die today." The guy laughed as he watched Damon begin to convulse from the pain. Then he back up and began to stab Damon, in the legs, in the hands, in the neck and the stomach, over and over.

"Stop it! Please!" I begged through tears.

Everyone was laughing, they were laughing and it suddenly became a dark hell for me. I watched Damon closely through the laughing crowd. He was making a gasping noise over and over. I noticed tears actually running down his face and that is when I couldn't take it anymore.

"Stop!" I screamed. I jerked out of Jules grasp and made it up to Damon.

"Elena, please, just go." Damon barely managed to say.

"No, I won't leave you." I whispered, kneeling by his side.

"I want you to leave." He tried to say more firmly.

"Listen to him, get out!" The man said in front of Damon. He reached down and grabbed me under the arm and stood me up. "Your distracting me from the truly painful things I have planned for him." He grinned.

Just as I was about to fight him off, he was suddenly struck towards me and fell to the floor. Elijah had come back to life and as he tossed the stake aside he pulled a bottle from his pocket and threw it to the floor. The tiny glass vile filled with dark green liquid shattered and only moments later everyone besides Damon, Elijah and myself hit the floor in what seemed like unconsciousness.

Get him out of here, get back to the boarding house." Elijah said. I turned and began to pull at the chains around Damon. I turned back to look at Elijah once more and he was already gone. I found the key on the guy who was making a new stake and unlocked Damon from the chair. He stood and and staggered into me.

"It's okay." I whispered over and over.

The car ride home was very quiet. I had such mixed feelings I wanted to scream to break the silence. Not only was I horrified at Stefan over what I had learned, and still shaken up from watching Damon be hurt like that...but Damon said that he loved me. We kissed. Somewhere in my mind, filled with sadness and anger there was a glint of light circling its way around my troubles. Sending a strange nervous excitement straight to my heart. But the silence continued until I pulled into the drive. Damon opened the door and looked back at me. He looked tired and withdrawn.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You?"

Damon shrugged and his familiar dazzling grin stretched across his face.

"Torture...been there, done that." He smiled. Then just like that...he was gone and inside the boarding house.

I got back to my house and ate a quick meal while talking to Jen as if nothing had happened to me that day. Luckily I had managed to change upstairs before she could see the dirt, and the rips and the traces of blood on my cloths. I made it upstairs and took a long shower. I had just climbed in bed when Stefan appeared in my room.

"You came by the boarding house and didn't even say hello?" Stefan asked in the nicest tone he could. Although it was painfully obvious that he was angry.

I stared at him for a moment and sat up on the edge of my bed.

"How did you know I came by."

"Damon said you dropped him off?" I noticed the hint of aggravation in his voice. "Why were you dropping Damon off?" He asked.

"He didn't tell you?" I asked truly surprised.

"He said you picked him up from soccer practice so no, I would say I don't know all of the facts." He snapped.

"The wolves, they dragged him away out of the hospital parking lot. They chained him up, tortured him. Funny thing is though Stefan, Jules said you're the one who told them that Damon was responsible for Mason and that they should come get him." I said.

Stefan's face fell to what looked like confusion.

"What?"

"This is the second time you've lied to me about where you were the other day, are you seriously going for confused now?" I asked, standing up.

"Elena, I haven't seen the wolves since the night with Caroline." He answered.

I crossed me arms and waited for him to come clean.

He looked at me wide eyed for what seemed like a while.

"I'm telling you the truth!" He said. "I can't believe you're so bent on taking her word over mine." He said angrily.

"You've already lied once to me." I said.

"Yes Elena, I lied but this is the truth, I haven't spoken to any of them. I wouldn't do that." He said convincingly.

"Fine, I'm sorry. I should have talked to you first." I said quietly, starting to doubt more what Jules said.

Stefan stood for a moment and then crossed the room. He pulled me close to him and hugged me close.

"I'm sorry." I repeated.

The next day after welcoming Jeremy home I decided to go to the boarding house. I was feeling guilty about blaming Stefan so harshly by the word of an enemy. I knocked on the door.

"Come in."

I walked in and found Damon walking down the hall holding an arm full of cloths and heading to his room.

"Hey, what's that?" I asked motioning towards the cloths.

"Oh just a few things of Stephans that would look much better on me." He grinned.

I smiled. "Where is Stephan?" I asked suddenly noticing he was gone.

"Not really sure, he had questions about what happened to us yesterday so he said he was going to go talk to someone. I really don't know, you know Stephan …." Damon said.

I followed him into his room where he began to shove the cloths in his drawers.

"Do you know when he'll be back?" I asked.

He shrugged. "He just left."

"So did the star pupil of drivers ed make it home today?" He asked about Jeremy, studying some of his stolen shirts.

"Yeah, he got home today. I'm glad he's home, it's been weird without him there." I said.

I noticed something strange and it occurred to me that it was the fact that Damon was making small talk. That just doesn't happen with him. He was uncomfortable and suddenly it was very obvious.

"Damon, about yesterday." I said.

"Elena, just stop right there. I'm sorry I made you forget. But I hope you understand that it was out of selflessness that I did. I just...I know you're with Stefan and it wasn't right for me to say it but I just wanted to so badly." His eyes filled with true sincerity looked away after a moment and he looked back down at the cloths.

I didn't know what to say so I stood there looking around his room. The last time I had been I here was when Rose was in the bed dying. I took a deep breath and walked up to Damon. I walked up so close to him that he had no choice but to look at me.

"Damon, I'm sorry you made me forget to. You should have just told me." I said.

"What difference would it have made?" He asked.

At this point we were standing mere inches from each other. I could see the small details in his eyes. The slight silver that lined the blue. I could feel the electricity in the air between us.

"I don't know. I don't know anything anymore." I whispered, feeling warm tears forming in my eyes. Because I looked pained, his face mirrored mine with the same pain.

I raised his hand and I felt it slide across my cheek and his fingers slid to the back of my neck. He leaned in and kissed me lightly on my forehead. My eyes closed as I felt like my body was fleeting. I didn't feel the floor beneath my feet, or the open air around my skin. My head felt light. When he back away the only thing I could see was the perfect smooth planes of his face. His blue eyes alive and dilated. And as he searched my face for what I was thinking took in the perfection of his lashes that touched the tops of his cheeks when he blinked. Then I took the plunge and kissed him deeply. His hands slid down to the small of my back. He kissed me back with true passion. I stepped into him and held myself closer to him. Our kiss turned wild, like a man nearly thirsted to death with a cool glass of water. I slipped his shirt over his head and I did the same with mine. The feel of his chest, his stomach smooth against mine made me dizzy. Our breathing was loud in the silent room, the sound of us kissing rang in my head. I reached for the buttons on his jeans. He suddenly backed away and put is hands on my shoulders as if to block me.

"Elena, think about what you're doing." He said, his voice raspy and breathless.

"I know exactly what I'm doing." I said as I jerked his hands off my shoulders and flew back into him. Our lips met again with even more violence. I felt the back of my bra come loose and fall. He ran his hands down my bare back. Suddenly my feet left the floor and Damon laid me down into the cool sheets of his bed. He hovered over me, pressing his mouth deep into my neck. I couldn't help but to notice how predatory it was. How much like a victim I probably looked. It drove me wild and I couldn't help but to moan softly in his ear. And then that was it, we were making love, the deepest, passionate, beautiful love.

I grasped the sheets tightly in my hands uncontrollably and almost screamed in pleasure. Damon leaned into my ear.

"I love you." He whispered.

Please leave reviews :D It shouldn't be a long wait this time for the next chapter. But let me know.