This is my first story, I don't really know where it's going to go from here, I'll see how it's received first. WARNING – dark themes

Background: Everything in Damon's past has happened up to him finding out Katherine wasn't in the tomb and never loved him. However, this all happened without him having ever met Elena

"we found her" a voice crackled through the other end of the phone, pausing before the familiar sound of the dial tone rang in Damon's ear.

He slid his phone into his tight jeans pocket, making his way over to the bed and grabbing his leather jacket off the crumpled sheets. He glanced in the mirror across the room, numerous thoughts filling his head, a slight smirk curving its way across his lips...this is it he thought to himself. He strolled over to the door, his hand gripping the handle, turning it, pulling the door ajar, he took in one last look of the empty hotel room before slamming the door shut.

Elena sat in a wooden chair, her hands bound behind her back, her head slumped on her chest, her hair matted around her face. She could feel her body ache with every breath she took, her lungs sore from screaming so much. Lines of mascara ran down her cheeks, her eyes red and puffy from the constant tears. Her lips were dry, a slight red smudge plastered off the corner of her mouth from her lipstick. Why was this happening to her? was on replay in her head, who was Katherine and why did they keep calling her it?.

A loud noise broke her train of thought, she tried to lift her head and find out where it was coming from but a sudden surge of pain yanked her head to her chest again. A whimper escaped her throat as she felt it radiate through the rest of her body, fully reminding her that she was in no state to do anything about her current situation. Footsteps crept up behind her, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and her whole body shake. Suddenly they stopped, making her realise that whoever it was, was standing right behind her. Her fear was confirmed when she felt warm breath pass the side of her face, her cries hitching in the back of her throat, her body brought to a harsh halt.

"He's here...this probably isn't going to end well for you" the familiar voice of the man who had jumped her echoed through the room

Elena clenched her legs together, digging her nails into her palms as she heard someone else enter the room, sliding the heavy door of the warehouse shut. She heard them getting closer, the footsteps becoming louder and louder with each step they took. Thoughts raced through her mind I'm guna die...I'm guna die!, she tried to control herself but she couldn't, her breathing becoming more rapid and tears growing in her eyes as the thought of dying sank deeper into her.

Damon walked through the poorly lit room, stopping as he got to the man he had hired to find Katherine. He glanced over to the chair in the middle of the room seeing her tied to it, a smile appearing on his lips as he thought over how much he was going to enjoy torturing her.

"Where did you find her" he asked

"Posing as a high school student, back in Mystic Falls" the well built man replied

"Of all places, she chose to go back there...stupid bitch" he laughed

"You might have a tough time with her, she's playing the I'm not Katherine card"

"We will soon see about that" Damon snickered..adding "she'll break"

"I don't want to be forward but er have you got the money"

"Now why would I want to pay you when I can just kill you" Damon said tilting his head to the side a smirk growing on his lips

Silence filled the air as the man contemplated what had just been said to him. He studied Damon's face, desperate to see if he was joking or not

A small laugh slipped from Damon's mouth

"Its' a joke man, lighten up" he said tucking a wad of cash into the man's pocket "now leave us to it"

Elena struggled to make out their conversation, the pain clouding her hearing. Fear grew inside of her when she figured they had stopped talking, the dread of the fate that awaited her setting in. She could feel someone behind her but couldn't make out how far away, her senses all but vanished. She jumped as she felt someone touch her hair, sliding it to one side replacing it with the side of their face.

"I found you, I told you I would, and know you're going to pay for what you did to me"

Elena's lips quivered, the tears that had been building in her eyes gushing down her cheeks, a small whimper breaking its way through her lips as he tightened his grip of her hair. He yanked her head back exposing her face to him.

"Don't cry..were guna have a good time" he hushed her

"Please..."

"Uh uh ahhh" he said shaking his head "it's my time to talk, your get plenty of time in a minute"

"But..."

He slapped her across the face, ssshhing her

"Like I said...my time to talk"

Elena could feel her face stinging, more tears began to escape her eyes as he moved round to face her, pulling up a chair inches away from her.

"Now Katherine, were going to play a little game...I'll ask you some questions and if you don't answer me or if I don't like your answer then..well..lets just say it sucks to be you" Damon said laying out numerous tools on the floor beside him.

Her eyes burned into the array of tools he had laid out before her, her vision becoming fuzzy as tears glazed over her pupils once again. She turned her head to face him, scanning his face to try and understand why he was doing this to her. She was caught off guard by how gorgeous he was, piercing blue eyes, thick dark hair that crept over his eyebrows, full lips and a day's worth of stubble grazed his face. She tried to gather her thoughts, not wanting to let his good looks cloud what was happening to her, but it was hard, he was mesmerizing, his stare almost hypnotic. She swallowed hard, trying to budge the lump in her throat so she could speak.

"Why are you doing this to me" she managed to whisper

He picked up a scalpel, her eyes growing in fear as he placed it against her cheek. The metal was cold and it sent a shiver down her spine. Slowly he made a shallow cut, blood seeping from the wound and rolling down her face.

A faint scream flew from her mouth, her heart racing as the pain made its way through her already aching body

"Did I say you could speak" he warned

Her head fell to her chest, sobs breaking their way through her cracked lips, tears falling from the end of her nose, mixing with the blood that splashed from her chin and onto her lap. She couldn't believe that someone so beautiful could be so menacing underneath.

Damon rose to his feet, scalpel in hand. He paced back and forth thinking of the first question to probe her with, but his thoughts were blurred. He had waited, 145 years to be precise, for this moment and he didn't want to mess it up. He put his emotions to the back of his mind, not wanting to show any sympathy to the women he once loved, who he had searched years for, only to find out that she never loved him, never wanted to be with him, couldn't care less about him. It was now his turn to show her how little he cared about her, even if it was through physical pain.

"Why did you turn me" he shouted looking at her for a reaction

"I don't know what you're talking about" Elena cried

A short sharp slap hit her across the face, knocking her head to one side making her yelp

"Wrong answer" he quipped

"I'll ask you one more time...why did you turn me" he seethed, kneeling to her level pushing his face against hers

"Please" she whimpered

Before she could even finish her words Damon drove the scalpel into her thigh, twisting it harder as screams poured from her throat. Blood was oozing from the wound, her thigh pulsating as the pain ravaged its way through her. His eyes began to change, the sight and smell of the blood sending him into a frenzy. His fangs pierced his gums glaring at her as she grew wild with fear.

He pushed himself away from her, not wanting to let her to get the better of him. He growled to himself, bringing his hands to his head, gripping his hair between his fingers

"See what you do to me" he screamed before whacking her across the face one again

"You turned me...and left me..." he shouted, dropping to face her once again, taking her face in his hands

"You turned me and left me...I loved you and you let me look for you all these years...NOW TELL ME WHY" he spat, his rage becoming uncontrollable

Elena stayed silent, fearing that if she said anything it could be the end of her. She began to shake, her teeth chattering together as the blood loss grew. Through the haze of emotions Damon had failed to notice that she wasn't healing as a normal vampire would, as Katherine would. Thoughts started to race through his mind, something was wrong but he didn't want to admit it. A part of him was screaming, this wasn't right, she wasn't fighting back, she wasn't healing... why? He pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind, a more dominant side of him taking over, she's just messing with you a voice in his head purred. She wants you to think she is human, wants you to untie her and let her go, let her get away with what she did to you. An angry look spread across his face, his mind made up, she wasn't human, this was Katherine, she was playing games as she always did, and she was going to pay.

"Fine...stay silent...but I'm warning you, your soon be begging me to let you answer"

He pulled the scalpel from her leg only to drive it back in a second later. Elena screamed louder than he had ever heard anyone scream, her shrieks echoing throughout the warehouse, but it didn't make him stop. He removed the scalpel once again, this time plunging it into her chest just above her breast, dragging it sideways to slice her open. Her breaths grew rapid and short, her head swaying from side to side as she struggled to stay conscious. She began to shake violently as he moved the blade to her neck, scraping little grazes into the flesh and sticking his fingers inside, twisting and turning them to get a reaction from her.

"Have you had enough yet?" Damon laughed

He heard no response

"I guess not.." he said reaching to the floor to grab some vervain

Elena could feel her heartbeat slowing, everything was blurring together. His voice had become muffled, even the pain had subsided slightly as she dipped in and out of consciousness. She felt him grab her face, tipping it to one side as she closed her eyes and prayed for her ordeal to be over, she would rather die than feel any more pain.

Damon sat on her lap, his mouth lingering over her neck. He began to lick the blood seeping from the shallow cuts, his body becoming electrified as soon as the sweet taste hit the back of his throat. He glanced at her face a smirk growing on his lips

"Now this" he said holding up the vervain "This is going to ruin those pretty looks of yours"

He smoothed the herb over her face expecting her skin to sizzle under his touch but she sat limp under him.

He jumped off her lap, taken aback by the lack of reaction.

He yanked her head to face him, brushing her hair out of her face and looked into her puffy eyes. Reality began to set in, he could hear a heartbeat, a faint one admittedly, but a heartbeat none the less. She was still bleeding, her wounds open and on display for him. Vervain had no effect and she had screamed as if she was human. His eyes grew wide as he came to the realisation, he looked into her eyes once more, seeing them consumed by fear and fading fast.

"You're not Katherine" he whispered