The Beginning | Damon Salvatore #1

Chapter 16

"Where is she?" Dean nearly yelled as Damon came barreling through the door with a stone face. Elena knew that face; he was scared. He ignored Dean and went straight to Stefan.

"They took her, Stefan," he said, feeling his breath become heavy and a sting in his eyes. Stefan matched his brother's fear with his own concern.

"Who, Damon?" He asked.

"She said she just had to go to the bathroom. Ten minutes goes by and she's still not back. I checked and she wasn't there. I ran through the woods behind The Grill and I couldn't find her. Then, there was a van and I knew she was in it, but I was too late, Stefan. I don't know what to do. We have to find her," he said, faster than most of them could keep up. Stefan and Elena exchanged looks. They had never seen Damon so afraid and so unhinged.

"Dammit!" Dean yelled, throwing his chair back behind him. Sam clenched his jaw, waiting for one of the vampires to lose their cool and pounce on his brother, but they didn't.

"Okay, okay. Damon, tell me which way they went and we can track their scent. If they took her to the same place they had before, she can't be far. We just have to track her scent," he said, trying to force anything that resembled calm into Damon's eyes, which were now wet. He'd failed. He'd let her be taken, and now he was going to have to let one of these hunters kill him for ruining everything if they found her dead. He would make himself bury her. He would care for her until the blade hit his neck and the wood splintered his heart.

"Elena," Stefan said, gesturing her to help Damon get it together while he came up with something. Once she had Damon on the couch, wrapping her arms around his shoulders as his blank face stared at the carpet, she winced at the pang in her heart. They had to get her friend back. They had to get her back for Damon.

"I know you two are the experts on killing us, and the masters of letting Alex get captured, tortured, and released back into a random patch of woods anywhere on the planet, so what should we do first?" Stefan asked with sarcasm dripping from his lips. Dean charged at him with a growl, but Sam caught him.

"Wait, Dean. They want the same thing we do: to get her back. You have to let them help us. Remember what Alex said to you on the phone," he said. The last bit he tried to whisper, knowing well enough that it wouldn't make a difference and they would hear everything he said, every heartbeat in his chest, even. Dean glared at Sam and straightened his shirt.

"Fine. I have a general idea of where she could be. Most vampires, the rogue ones anyway, always seem to torture their prey in abandoned buildings and back alleys, so we just need to narrow that down in this Godforsaken town," he said.

"It's actually not that forsaken by God these days," Elena spat. Damon was now standing and listening to them as he paced in front of the fireplace.

"The van was black. It didn't have any markings on it. I'm trying to remember the license plate," he said, mostly to himself and the other vampires in the room. Dean couldn't help but watch the vampire walk back and forth with fear in his eyes as his hands ran through his hair. He cared. Somehow, a vampire, that should have no feelings and no reason to want anything but blood, is afraid to lose a person who houses the blood it craves. He couldn't understand it.

"So, are you two driving, or are we going to have to run the entire way?" Stefan asked with an impatient anger that oozed from him, seeping into the soles of the Winchesters' boots.

Sam and Dean scuffed those boots toward the doorway, trailed by Stefan, Elena, and a very anxious and ready Damon.

Damon and Elena got into his car since there wasn't enough room in the Impala. She wanted to comfort him because she considered Damon her brother and he would be in the future, she hoped.

"You sure you don't want me to drive?" She asked, turning to him in her seat. He shook his head, never looking her way. One hand clutched the gear shift and the other white-knuckled on the steering wheel.

"This is all my fault. I trusted her too much," he said, knowing he wanted more than anything to keep trusting her. Elena fought the urge to slap him.

"If Alex did this of her own free will, she had a good reason. She wouldn't just run away from you, especially now," she said, immediately regretting it. He eyes flashed to hers in hurried glances.

"What are you talking about?" His eyes were pleading her to tell him and the impatience in his chest couldn't wait for her to breathe until he knew what she meant.

"Are you blind?" She asked, not really wanting an answer. If she was going to tell him, she was going to do it all the way and not beat around the bush because she knew Damon hated that and she couldn't hate herself any more than now since she already said too much.

"That didn't answer my question, Elena," he spat, gripping the steering wheel, trying not to speed up and hit the Winchesters' car.

"If Alex doesn't care about you in some way, I will personally carve the stake that you can bury in my chest," she said, only second-guessing herself the tiniest bit. Damon shook his head. It wasn't true. Even if it were, it couldn't happen. God wouldn't allow it.

"Why do you look even sadder now?" She asked, throwing her hands up in the air, refusing to believe that Damon couldn't have love in whatever capacity.

"Because, Elena, she's one of God's little angels now. He's not gonna let an evil vampire ruffle her angel-wing feathers, okay?"

"And what do you know about what God wants, Damon?" She spat, remembering all of those stories in the Bible that included countless not-so-Godly people who somehow made it into It's pages.

"Because I used to have what she has with Him until Katherine ripped it away," he grumbled the last part, looking back to the road, which then became the broken entrance to a deserted building. Chances are, this wasn't the place, but a glimmer of hope alighted in his chest.

"You used to raise people from the dead?" She asked, not understanding. Damon scoffed.

"No, Elena. I used to have a relationship with Him, but that's not possible now and I'm not ruining her chance," he said, feeling a whimper in his chest that he suppressed. She was floored. She'd never known this side of Damon and he'd always talked like he wasn't sure what Alex was talking about, always seeming like he'd only first heard about it when she had her encounter.

"Oh my gosh," she muttered as Damon's door flew open. He trailed Stefan at super speed past the Winchesters who were running to the door. Elena finally got out of the car and sped to the human brothers.

"Wait. I'll listen for Stefan to tell me if it's safe. Even though you two don't like us, Alex does and we like her, so let me protect you," she said, giving as much attitude as she could handle to give with her adrenaline pumping from Damon's admission and Alex's potentially ended life. Dean's cocked his head to the side and raised his eyebrows.

"Wow. Way to make a man feel powerless," he said, shaking his head now. Sam rolled his eyes as they stood there waiting.

"She's not here," she said. The brothers looked to each other and back to Elena before walking back toward the car. Elena followed them and soon, the Salvatore brothers were zooming back out, already in the car and igniting the engine before the Winchesters could close their doors.