If We Had Met First

Chapter Twenty Six

When Stefan stopped and turned back to look at her she blushed a deep shade of scarlet and looked at her hands which were clenched together.

“Why are you telling me that?” Stefan asked keeping his voice neutral even though he was doing flips on the inside. Screw the guilt, he could get over that. If Elena wasn’t made at him then he had a chance, granted it was a very small chance but a chance nonetheless.

“Because I don’t want you to think I’m mad, because then you might avoid me. Lately I’ve kind of cut myself off from everyone else because of what happened with Damon...” She trailed off slightly so she could swallow the lump that had formed in her throat and blink away the tears that had appeared when she started talking about him. However she quickly recovered, “and I don’t want to be like that anymore. The only way to get over it and move on is if I start being normal and strangely enough you have become part of my normal.”

The smile that appeared on her face was literally breathtaking and left Stefan speechless for a moment. “So you think that you will be able to move on?”

After a moment of hesitation to think over his question Elena nodded, “I think him ending it really made me see that we wouldn’t have worked anyways. Not because of the whole vampire thing but he’s just not the guy I thought he was.”

Even though he knew it was wrong and that there was a huge possibility that it would only drive Elena away at that moment Stefan wanted nothing more than to kiss her. Her words which seemed harmless enough seemed to have a second meaning behind them and that small smile she was giving him made him think he knew exactly what that second meaning was.

Before he could stop himself Stefan took a step to close the distance between them. His face and hers were only separated by a couple inches of air and he smiled as her eyes widened in surprise but she didn’t push him away or back up.

“Just tell me if you want me to stop,” Stefan whispered. When she just stood there in silence for a couple seconds he began leaning in. He could already feel her lips against his and couldn’t believe that after waiting for this moment it was actually happening.

However just before he could kiss her two strong arms grabbed him and threw him down the staircase and right into the wall below. He hit the wall with a sickening thud and groaned when he fell to the ground. He had been trying to go back to the animal diet so he was weaker and it took him much longer than it should have to get back to his feet.

When he did he couldn’t believe his eyes. Damon had his hand clasped around Elena’s throat and had her pinned against the wall. His face had made the transformation from human to monster and even from this distance Stefan could see the fangs that had appeared among his otherwise normal teeth.

Luckily Damon was completely occupied by Elena that he didn’t even see Stefan coming. Damon grunted as Stefan’s body made contact with his own but was back to his feet before Stefan.

“What do you think you are doing?” Stefan asked.

“That’s not Elena.” Damon growled trying to focus both on Stefan and Elena who had crumbled to the floor and was gently rubbing her neck.

The moment of confusion was all Damon needed to take action. The next thing Stefan knew was that there was searing pain in the back of his head and then everything went black.

When she opened her eyes she was looking up at the stone ceiling of a cellar. The air was cold and even though she was only wearing a thin jacket it didn’t bother her. When she tried to stand up she noticed the rope that was tied tightly around her arm, it was at this time that she noticed a dull pain around her wrist.