Written 2013 by VeGirl

The day we finally got back to the boarding house, Stefan had taken off with Lexi to celebrate his B-day; she didn't reveal where they had gone, but she made sure to put in black on white that he was only a hundred and sixty three. This company sure changed the perspective on aging; I still drew the line at two hundred, though.

It was a little sad that I didn't have time to see him before they took off, but I'd have time to talk when they came back, right? I had only been back in Mystic Falls for a couple of days, even if it felt like I had been here forever. I wanted to meet everybody again, we had such a great friendship before, and I missed it and I sure wanted more than just a vacation for a fortnight.

What I hadn't expected was for Elena to go after Damon in that aggressive way; they went out feeding together and Damon had told me that she wasn't able to keep down anything but blood straight from the vein, and it made me think of a spoiled toddler.

That night was the first I spent at the Boarding house, and it felt weird to be there all alone; this was a house that was never empty.

When they got back, Elena was giggling like she was drunk, and Damon sounded a bit annoyed with her.

"Come on Damon, Stefan's not home." She cooed.

"Elena stop it! You made your choice, and that is my brother."

I walked down the stairs and I saw her stroking Damon in a seductive way until she heard my footfalls. She snapped her head in my direction and in a flash she was pinning me against the wall.

"You?" She said both surprised and annoyed. "What are you doing here?"

With her hand over my throat it wasn't easy to answer, let me tell you; and when I didn't, she got really pissed off. Damon threw her off of me quite easily, and I drew in a deep breath. Everything was over really fast, but felt like a long time having her vamp-face furiously glaring at me, only inches away.

"Are you okay?" He asked concerned and I nodded. He turned around with me protectively behind him. "Don't you dare do anything like that ever again!" He threatened a surprised Elena.

"Emma, you're back?"

"Yes." I said in a short tone of voice, sliding an arm around Damon's waist in an obvious gesture of ownership and he put his arm protectively around me. Elena's eyes flickered between the two of us while her expression showed displeasure.

"Perhaps you should head home, Elena. I don't know when Steff and Lexi will be back."

She stared at us for a little while longer, and then she left, quick and stealthy without a word.

"Is it just me, or is she getting more and more like Katherine?" I asked Damon when we walked to his room.

He watched me as if that point of fact had totally slipped by him, and then he just shrugged. "She's gonna have some major guilt issues about this tomorrow." He sighed. "But that's Stefan's problem, I'm gonna take you to bed now."

I yelped and laughed as he swung me over his shoulder and carried me to his bedroom. It felt amazing to be back even if it hadn't been that long; the room looked the same but there was a somber feeling that I couldn't put my finger on.

Damon had no problem with distracting me from that feeling, and soon the whole meeting with Elena was wiped from my memory; replaced with pure bliss. I couldn't get enough of that glorious face or that magnificent body of his and couldn't believe that I was finally home with Damon again, in his bed and with his arms around me.

Damon's phone chirped in the middle of the night, waking us and even I heard a desperate voice at the other line.

"I didn't know who to call, she went after me."

"I'll get there." He sighed and hung up. "It's Elena, she loosing it." He explained to me.

"What's the matter?" I asked concerned.

Damon got out of bed and pulled his jeans and a shirt on. "You better stay here, princess. Elena attacked Jeremy, acting starved; I don't get it, she definitely had her share tonight." He sighed again, leaning over and kissing me before he left.

Why would she do that? So much had happened in this town while I was gone, that I had problems keeping up; the brooding kept me awake.

Since I couldn't get back to sleep, I got out of bed, looking through the artifacts on the chest of drawers and then I decided to see if my drawer in the closet was empty. When I opened the closet door, it revealed some serious search-plans; there were maps of the area around town, bigger maps of the state and even over Europe. Sticky notes with short comments were spread out over the wall; 'Dead End', 'Hotel' and 'Last seen' were posted around this area, but more surprising was the yellow note saying 'Home' in the south of Sweden.

I gasped when I realized the depth Damon had gone through to find me.

There was a list of dates, starting in June the eighteenth with departure in Copenhagen, Denmark and arrival in Atlanta the next day. My heart ached as I saw that he had noted spotting me walking around in his garden and there was of course a note of us meeting in Bree's Bar.

In the end of the list there was noted the date 3 July departure in Atlanta and then 3-5 July; no arrival in Copenhagen. I furrowed my eyebrows and let my eyes wander over the maps again there was a sticky note over the Atlantic Ocean, marked "No plane-crashes announced."

"Why couldn't you just stay away?" A venomous voice made me spin around and put a hand over my heart to prevent it from jumping out though the chest.

"Elena?" I said after a few deep breaths, when my heart resumed its beat again. "Damon's gone looking for you, are you alright?"

She glared at me in a way she had never done before. "Can't you see that you're messing his life up again? He was on his way of getting over you."

I didn't know what to say, she had never been this mean before. "You're going after Damon as well now? No wonder I thought you look more and more like Katherine!" I said appalled and in no time for me to react at all she thrusted herself at me, face in full vampire-mode. I reacted in pure instinct with twisting, turning and throwing all according to my Aikido-knowledge.

There was no Aikido in the world to keep me up front when she put her vampire speed and strength into it though. It didn't take long for her to take me down and there was nothing I could do. After a searing pain in my side and then in my neck, everything was black.

* * * * *

I wasn't sure where I was when I woke up or how long I had been out.

The silence felt deafening and the pain was searing when I started to move, and I moaned. As soon as I got up, I recognized the door, the inside of the door to the dungeon in the Salvatore basement. A sigh of relief ran through me; I was at least still in the house.

I looked down at the side of my waist that hurt the most and found my white shirt red-stained of blood; when I lifted the shirt I found a cut that still seeped blood from. I also noted a pain in my neck and as I lifted my hand there, it was red with blood; blood that had also colored the shoulder of my shirt red.

I moaned and was waiting for the nausea to set in. The first minutes I even tried to hold my breath. It took some time for me to realize that the nausea never came and that was when I remembered Klaus' compulsion. The head wasn't working right, it was swooning and I wasn't sure if it was some post traumatic chock, blood-lost or head trauma. It felt like I dosed off from time to time.

Finally I heard sounds upstairs.

"Damon!" I yelled, or I at least aimed for a yell; it came out more like a moan. Suddenly I realized that something might be wrong and I slithered or dragged myself over to the door, to lock myself in before I slumped back against the wall. By then I dared to call out Damon's name again. "Damon, I'm down in the basement."

The door upstairs flung open and I heard fast steps moving down the stairs.

"Who's in there?"

"Stefan?" I asked relieved.

"Emma, is that you?" He looked in through the barred window and tried to open the locked door.

"Wait, I'll open it!" I winced as I reached up to open it and then Stefan was kneeling beside me, carefully watching my wounds.

"What the hell happened to you?"

"Elena attacked me." I moaned.

"Elena?" He asked shocked and I just nodded.

"You're back; where the hell did you go? Damon's been searching high and low for you, but you just vanished from the face of the earth."

I tried to get up, but winced hard as the burning pain ran through me again. Stefan lifted me in his arms and carried me upstairs. "Does Damon know you're back?"

"Yes." I pressed out as my entire body burned with pain when he laid me down on the couch. "He's been taking care of Elena, while you went out." I was talking with great difficulty as Stefan examined my wounds. "Happy birthday, by the way." I said and winced again.

Once again he lifted my shirt to peek at the bleeding wound. "We have to do something about this." He frowned.

"I'll be fine." I said, but needed to harrumph, which made me wince and moan.

"Who smells so delicious?" Lexi walked inside the room. "Emma, is that you? Stefan claimed that you were gone."

"Lexi, I'm so glad to see you!" I said, but the pain and probably the post-attack-shock made tears fall down my cheeks.

"I'm glad to see you, but you don't have to cry." Lexi teased me. "Who turned you into a midnight snack?"

"Elena." I said in my strained voice and Lexi gave Stefan a confused face.

"Wasn't Damon supposed to take care of her?" She asked.

"He did." I sighed and closed my eyes. "Can you get me an aspirin?" I felt how they lifted the lower part of my shirt again, and I figured that Stefan needed a second medicinal opinion. I didn't care; I was safe and that was all that mattered. I heard how they spoke to each other in muted volume, but I just tuned them out and let the safe pain free darkness swallow me up; it sounded like Stefan was on the phone, but like I said; I didn't care.

"Emma, you have to wake up!" Stefan's voice forced my eyelids open. "Hey girl!" He said suportive when my eyes found him.

I smiled weakly.

"Emma, I'm gonna give you some of my blood to heal you." He explained as if he was talking to a small child or demented person.

"Okay." I mumbled and felt something, most certainly Stefan's arm against my mouth. With my eyes still shut, I gripped his arm with my hands and suckled droplets of his blood as if it was the most natural thing in the world; like a baby, drinking milk from its mother.

"Stefan!" Damon's voice made me jerk and open my eyes to find the older brother glaring furiously at my savior. "What the hell are you doing?" I immediately dropped Stefan's arm.

"Ask instead what happened!" Stefan's voice was icecold. "And why would you be upset if I have Emma drinking my blood? It's not like you did the same thing to Elena..."

Damon got quiet.

"It's not like we would have this awesome connection now..." Stefan continued in a tart tone and the brothers kept glaring furiously at each other.

I had a hard time to process what they were arguing about; would Stefan and I have some telepathic bond? Was my feeling for Damon based upon the fact that we had shared blood and not feelings, and would I now get feelings for Stefan now? I felt a frown forming on my face and soon both brothers were watching me intensely.

"How are you?"

"Confused." I admitted. "Is that true; are our feelings for each other only based on the blood?" Damon got a bemused expression, as if the thought never crossed his mind.

"Don't you think we should focus on who attacked Emma, and why." Lexi interrupted.

"I know it was Elena, and it sounded like it was due to her feelings for Damon." My voice was little strained and I had to keep myself from glaring.

"Yeah, she attacked Jeremy and then she apparently got over here." Damon had a guilty look when his eyes returned to me. "What I don't get is that Jeremy told me that she acted like she was starving, yet I know she had plenty." A wave of nausea ran through me and I wasn't really sure if it was because of the bloodshed or only from jealousy; it might be a bit of both.

"How's this wound looking?" Lexi asked with a sharp look at the brothers, babbling about something completely different than my well-being. She kneeled by my side and lifted my shirt carefully to examine the progress. "See, much better." She smiled at me.

"How are you baby?" Damon was by my side, looking worried.

"Better now." Lexi answered clipped.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here to defend you."

"I'm a tough girl."

"No, you're not." Three voices claimed.

I glared at them. "Thank's guys, really nice of you."

They just smiled.

Vampires!

"Could I get something to drink and then go to bed please?" I glared at them.

"Come here!" Damon scooped me up in his arms and I noticed that the seering pain had subsided.

"Thank you Stefan and Lexi." I called before we left the room.

"You're welcome Em'."

"Would you please shed some light on this whole blood-sharing thing now?" I asked an hour later, when we were snuggled up in bed.

Damon sighed. "It's a bit complicated..."

"In opposite to this whole other supernatural, vampire thing?" I asked sarcastic. I couldn't see him but I imagined him with a crocked smile.

"If you share blood, several times, which you and I have done, you could create a strong bond." He explained. "We could feel each other's emotions, need of help or... happiness."

"Have you felt that?"

"Yes." He said terse. "In the beginning when you went away, the fear was sharp, but eventually it subsided into acceptance."

"I felt so much pain and hurt, but I was sure it was my own feelings." I stated. "First kidnapped by Kol and then by Klaus, racing through Europe day and night." I sighed. "Oh, I've already yelled the story to you; I don't want to feel that kind of pain, ever again." I turned around, facing him.

Damon looked tender at me, and wrapped his arms around me. "And I definitely don't want to go through that again, when I've finally got you back." He kissed me soft and started to trail soft kisses down my neck.

"Damon, would you turn me if that meant I could stay in Mystic Falls?"

He stopped and looked at me with his eyebrows shadowing his beautiful ice blue eyes. "Is there anything I need to know about? Is there another date of departure you haven't told me about?"

"No, no!" I hurried to assure him. "No, there isn't, but..." I stopped and studied his gorgeous features. I let my fingers trail feather softly along the face I had missed so incredible during the two weeks in Klaus company. "You will live, but there is an expiration date on my life." I said quietly.

His troubled face relaxed into a surprised one. "Don't say that! I don't want to think about that now when I have you back." He hugged me closer to him. "Is that what you're thinking about?"

Now it was my turn to knit my eyebrows close. "No!" I said stern, but started to ponder about it. Did I really have that in my inner mind? Did I have some existential crisis about age? "No, I'm not thinking about that." I answered truthfully. "I just thought about staying here in Mystic Falls instead of leaving for my other life."

He exhaled relieved. "I'd do anything to keep you here." He resumed the light kissing that sent delight through my body. "But I'd miss this sweet scent..." He kissed down along my carotid artery. "And the soft sound it sends."

That pulse wasn't soft for long.

.