Chapter One:

The club was crowded, hot, and loud. Exactly what Damon Salvatore was looking for. He slipped into the crowd, gliding between the drunk, sweaty women as easily as though he were a knife cutting through butter. The music pounded in his sensitive ears, along with the hearts of everyone in the club. Some were slow, some were fast. Some, should probably find their way to the nearest hospital, but he wasn't going to worry about that. He sat down at the bar and ordered a whiskey on the rocks, leaning with his back against the bar so that he could watch the crowd in front of him.

It was like fish in a barrel. So many to choose from, all in the same place. It was almost like his thoughts of Elena were gone already. Almost.

His drink arrived and he drank it all in one gulp, motioning to the bartender for a second. He should have brought his own bottle on his way to the club. He wasn't nearly tipsy enough to be content—or to deal with the unattractive drunk girl that slid up against him, putting her lips against his ear as she whispered in what she probably though was a seductive tone,

"How is it possible that someone as attractive as you, is here alone?"

Damon grimaced inwardly before turning to her saying, "How is it possible that someone as unattractive as you would even bother coming up to someone as attractive as me?" then before she could respond, dilated his pupils as he compelled her and said, "Go. Dance until you can't dance anymore."

The girl nodded and turned around, heading straight for the dance floor where she began swaying her hips and waving her arms to the music. Damon rolled his eyes and shook his head as he let out an irritated breath.

His second drink arrived and he gulped that one down as well. The bar tender raised an eyebrow at him, but poured another without Damon having to say anything. Turning back around to face the bar, Damon sat on a stool, slowly sipping his drink as he listened to what was around him.

"It's like he doesn't even appreciate me, Sarah. I do everything for him. I gave him everything!" A girl a few stools down was complaining to the girl next to her. "I'll show him, though. He'll see what he's missing out on."

Damon closed his eyes, rubbing a hand over his face, changing channels.

"My dealer said only take one. They're pretty strong, so we should be fine to last all night." A small group of girls were huddled in the back corner, glancing over their shoulders as they spoke.

Was there really nothing of interest at this club, Damon wondered as he skipped through multiple different conversations. Maybe he should just grab a girl and go. Bite her back by the dumpster and leave her for the drunks to find.

If only Elena knew what Damon was thinking—planning. She would be on one of her "higher-than-thou" trips, telling him what a terrible person he was for even thinking of doing something like that. He could almost hear her now.

"They're people, Damon! Not animals for you to slaughter for your own personal enjoyment!"

No, Damon told himself firmly, pushing Elena's voice out of his head. The whole reason he was here, was to forget about Elena. She had made it clear she would never feel anything for him, the way he did for her. Rather rudely, he might add.

"You shouldn't be here." Her voice said. Damon sipped at his drink again, trying to push the voice out. "I mean it." Whatever, Elena, Damon thought.

"We shouldn't be here." The voice persisted.

Damon paused, his drink halfway from his mouth to the bar.

"This is dangerous, we could get caught."

That definitely was not coming from his imagination.

Damon put his drink down, looking wildly around the club. That was Elena's voice. How could Elena be in the club? Damon stood up, following the sounds of the voice.

"I'm not doing this, I don't want to be here anymore-"

Damon pushed through the crowd until he found her. Elena was standing by the bathroom, talking to a girl whose back was turned to him. Anger bubbled up inside of him. What was she doing here? Did Stefan even know she was here? This was no place for someone like her to be without protection.

Before thinking, Damon stalked over to her and pushed the other girl out of the way and put a hand on her shoulder, forcing her to face him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded. He almost wanted to ask her why she couldn't just let him party alone, in peace. Why did she have to follow him there? How did she even know about this club? But what she was doing there, was a more pressing matter.

Elena gasped and looked at him through terrified eyes, before stammering, "Wh-who are you?"

"Nice try," Damon snapped, narrowing his eyes. "You really have no concern for your own safety, do you, Elena?" Boy, was he getting tired of having to play prince charming, running to save her from everything in the world, including herself.

"Elena?" she asked, backing against the wall, her eyes flicking around for an escape route. "Look, whoever you are, you have the wrong person. I'm not Elena. So p-please, get the hell away." She turned back to her friend and said urgently, "Katie, let's go."

Damon put his hand on the wall right by her face, stopping her from moving. She jumped, shaking. He leaned in close so that his nose was brushing against her neck. He could feel her skin shivering as she stood stalk still while he breathed in her scent.

Damon pulled back, narrowing his eyes at her. That girl, was not Elena. And she sure as hell wasn't Katherine. He would know Katherine from miles away.

"Who are you?" He demanded, forcing her wide, brown eyes to stare into his steely blue ones.

"L-look, we don't want any trouble." She stammered, shrinking below his gaze. Damon leaned in, dilating his pupils.

"Who. Are. You." He said slowly. The girl's face relaxed a little under his compulsion.

"My name is Amelia White. My friends call me Amy."

"Alright, Amy. Why don't you come with me?" Amy began to nod, but her friend stepped in front of her. She had fair, blond hair that was done in loose curls and pinned at the sides. If she was trying to look older and more mature, it didn't' really work. Her round, baby face seemed even younger to him, and contrasted the dark make-up that she wore on it.

"I don't know who you think you are, but she is not going anywhere with you."

"You can go home and forget you even came here tonight." Damon told her. The girl nodded.

"Yes. I'll go home." She agreed, then turned and walked towards the exit. Damon returned his focus back to the Elena doppelgänger in front of him.

"Follow me." He said, then took her hand and led her out to his car, where he strapped her into the passenger seat before getting into his. He turned the ignition on and squealed the tires as he fish tailed out of the parking lot.

Amy said nothing beside him, her fear still real through his compulsion. She had no idea who this guy was, or who Elena was. The only reason she was at the club was because her friend Katie convinced her to use a fake ID that she got so they could go out before school began after the weekend.

During the silence, there were a thousand thoughts racing through Damon's head. It was strange enough that there was one Katherine look-a-like, but how was it possible for there to be two?

"How old are you?" Damon asked.

"Please, let me go home." Amy replied, her eyes tearing up. "I promise I won't tell anyone, just let me go home!"

"Tell me how old you are."

"Please-"

"Tell me!" Damon roared, without taking his eyes off the road. Amy jumped in her seat.

"I'm seventeen. Where are you taking me?" She tried to look outside as the world whizzed by, but in the dark, it was hard to really know where they were heading.

"When is your birthday?" Damon ignored her question.

"What does it matter?"

"It matters. Tell me your birthday."

Amy burst into tears, burying her face in her hands.

"Please! Don't hurt me!"

"If you tell me your birthday, I won't have to." Damon replied through gritted teeth.

"June twenty second, nineteen ninety two." Amy sobbed. "I don't have money, so if you want a ransom, I can't pay it! And I don't have any family that cares enough to-"

"If you don't stop talking, I'm going to pull this car over. If I have to pull this car over, you're not going to be very happy."

Amy squeaked and moved towards the door, further away from Damon, but didn't say anything. Damon kept his gaze on the road, not trusting himself to look at the girl sitting beside him.

~ . ~

Forty minutes later, Damon pulled up in front of his house. He parked the car, turning it off. Amy was still sitting quietly beside him, except for the occasional sniffle. Her mascara was running down her face, he could see it through the dark, and dripping onto her upper thighs which were barely covered by her short skirt.

Damon loved seeing girls in the club wearing those kind of clothes, but on this girl, this Elena-look-a-like, he did not. He wanted to hand her a pair of pants and say, for the love of god, cover yourself up and have some decency. But he didn't.

Her long, brown hair, exactly like Elena's, was falling out of its hair clip. She looked completely disheveled, not at all like she had spent a good amount of time readying herself for a night at the clubs.

"I'm going to get out of the car, and come to your side and let you out. If you try to run, you will not like what happens." Damon leaned over the console and spoke directly to her. "Do I make myself clear?"

Amy nodded. She was terrified and Damon knew it. This girl was not confrontational like Elena was. She was not a fighter at all. In fact, it was almost like she had already given up. This girl, was the complete opposite of Elena. This girl was vulnerable.

Damon slid out of the car and walked around to the passenger side. Amy had unbuckled herself, so when he opened the door she slipped out quickly, taking off down the driveway. Damon watched her run, letting out an irritated sigh before quickly catching up to her and tossing her over his shoulder.

"No!" Amy yelled, pounding on his back. "Help! Please, someone!"

"I'm getting bored of your pathetic crying." Damon announced, before sauntering into the house and slamming the door shut behind him. He stood Amy on the ground in front of him, placing his hands on her shoulders. "I'm not going to hurt you." He said firmly to her.

"Then what do you want with me?" she asked in return, her voice small.

"Damon?"

Damon looked over Amy's head. Stefan was standing in the doorway to the living room, arms crossed with a confused expression on his face.

"Elena? I thought you went home."

Amy looked from Damon, to Stefan, then back to Damon.

"Why is everyone calling me Elena?" She asked, her voice shaking. "I'm not Elena, I don't know who you're talking about! Just let me go home!" she moved to push past Damon, but he put both his hands on her shoulders once more and held her firmly in place.

"Ah, good evening, brother." Damon said. "May I introduce my new friend? Her name is Amy White."

~ . ~

A large fire crackled in the fire place, casting an orange glow across Amy's face as she sat on the couch wrapped in an afghan blanket with a hot chocolate in her hands. If this was the worst of being kidnapped, maybe it wasn't so bad after all. The other brother, Stefan, seemed hospitable at least. He offered her a drink and a blanket, and asked if she was comfortable.

This house was much larger than any of the other houses she had grown up in. Nicer, too. There were expensive looking throw rugs on the ground, ancient looking artifacts on end tables, and old, faded paintings on the walls. The couch that she sat on was soft, yet firm at the same time, like it hadn't had much use out of it.

Damon and Stefan, sat across from her on the other identical couch, staring intently. Though they did look like brothers, Amy had never seen two brothers that looked similar, yet so different. Damon had dark hair, with bright, stunningly blue eyes. Stefan, on the other hand, had lighter hair, like a brown color, rather than black, and his eyes were the color of emeralds.

The sight of them alone was almost enough to terrify Amy, yet entrance her at the same time.

"I swear, I'm not Elena." She said after moment, for the hundredth time. "I don't know who Elena is."

"We know," Stefan said, holding a calming hand out. He seemed much more practical than Damon, as if he was more curious to find out who she was, rather than demanding to know. "We know you're not Elena."

"Then why are you keeping me here?"

The two brothers looked at each other as though silently communicating to one another, when there was a ring at the door. They both looked towards the front door, then back to Amy.

"What?" She asked nervously. "Who is that?"

"That," Damon said as he stood up, "Is Elena." He made his way out of the room to the front door. Amy glanced over at Stefan who looked uneasy and stood up from the couch.

"-really couldn't wait until tomorrow, Damon?" Amy heard the voice of a female in the hall.

"Trust me, Elena, it couldn't." Damon replied, then appeared in the doorway. He held his arm out towards Amy, when the girl entered beside him. "Elena, meet Amy."

Amy dropped her mug on the ground, jumping up from the couch and backing away towards the fire until she couldn't go any further. The girl in the doorway was the mirror image of herself. Even the shocked look on her face seemed to match exactly the way she felt.

"What is this? What's going on?" Amy demanded, her voice shaking as violently as her voice.

"Yes, Damon. What is going on?" Elena asked, her tone sounding less frightened than Amy's, yet curious and disbelieving.

~ . ~

"She never mentioned a sister."

"You mean twin." Damon corrected. Elena glared at him from across the couch.

"Isobel said that she had me and left me on the door step of the Gilberts. If I had a sister, why didn't she leave her with me?"

"That's a good question. One you might want to ask her." Damon insisted.

"It was hard enough getting a hold of her the first time, Damon. It could take me days or weeks to get a hold of her again."

"Elena, this isn't something we can ignore. If Amy really is your sister, then we need to know. This adds a whole new layer to things, a whole new complicated layer."

"How? Damon, you dragged her here. You are the only one making complications. I mean, this poor girl's whole life is probably going to be screwed up forever because of what you did. You can't just drag random people into Mystic Falls. Nothing good ever comes." Her face went stony as she remembered all the bad things that had happened over the past year.

"Elena, if she is anything like you, she needs to be protected. If she really is your sister, she needs protection." Damon straightened up from where he was leaning against the wall, sauntering over to Elena slowly. "What's the matter, Elena? Afraid you're going to be replaced?"

"Grow up, Damon." Elena rolled her eyes. "I just can't believe you did this. I mean, really? You could have at least thought it through, or talked to us before you brought her here."

"So you'll call your mom, then?" Damon asked, his eyes sparkling knowingly.

"I'll call her tomorrow. But I'm not promising anything. For all I know, she could be dead." Elena responded defeated. "What are you going to do with Amy until then? You can't just keep her under compulsion until Isobel gets back to me. Who knows how long it could be."

"I'll keep her here. Don't worry," Damon held his hand up as Elena began to object. "I'll be nice to her. I'll make sure she's safe until we figure out what's going on."

Elena regarded Damon carefully. Damon was a lot of things—cruel, sadistic, manipulative—but he never lied to her. She knew she could trust him to keep her safe. However in Damon's book, 'safe' might not constitute as 'comfortable' and 'happy'.

"Be nice. I'm going home." Elena announced. "I'm going to try to comprehend everything that just happened. I'll be back tomorrow."

"I'll walk you to your car." Stefan offered, getting up from the couch. He hadn't said much during the whole ordeal. Elena waited for him to walk over and put an arm protectively around her shoulders. She didn't move though, as she kept her gaze on Damon.

"Be nice to her, Damon. I mean it. Don't scare her or any of that nonsense you like to do." Elena insisted firmly.

"Aw, how cute. You're so protective of her already." Damon crooned, smirking at her. He had no intentions of hurting the girl.

With one last roll of her eyes, Elena made her way with Stefan out the front door. Damon went over to the fireplace and stood in front of it, staring into the flame for a moment, before glancing over his shoulder at Amy who lay asleep on the couch under his compulsion.

She had gotten so upset when Elena walked into the room, that they couldn't get anything useful out of her, or even talk because she was making such a racket. He had to compel her to sleep so they could converse.

He went over and stood next to her, lightly tracing his finger over her cheek. She stirred, making a small noise in the back of her throat, nestling her head deeper into the pillow. It almost deterred him from waking her.

"Amy." Almost. "Wake up."

Her eyes fluttered open and she sat up, yawning. Damon knelt down so that he was eye level with her. Amy blinked, looking momentarily dazed, before she focused on Damon. Her eyes were guarded and she stiffened slightly as she looked at him, then around the room for any signs of Elena.

"Can I go home now?" she asked, her voice soft. "I just want to go home." Tears were brimming in her eyes. Home for her wasn't much. A small house with foster parents that didn't really give a rats backside about her, but at the moment, it seemed safer.

"I'm sorry. I can't let you." Damon answered, and he sounded almost sincere. "Until we get some answerers, it'll be much safer for you to stay here."

"Safe from what?" Amy asked hesitantly. She wasn't in any danger until he showed up.

"I'll explain everything tomorrow. I promise. But for now, I have a room you can sleep in."

Damon stood up and held his hand out for her. Amy looked at it, then into his face.

"I'm not going to bite." Damon grinned at the lie behind the truth. When she still didn't take it, he retracted his hand. "Fine, don't take it. But if you try running, I will make you hold my hand like an untrustworthy little child."

Amy flushed at his terminology and stood from the couch. Damon led her from the room and up the stairs to one of the spare bedrooms. He opened the door, ushering her in.

When he entered in behind her and closed the door, she turned to look at him anxiously.

"I—I'm not interested in you, l-like that. J-just so you know." She stammered. She had a stuttering problem when she was younger, which came out when she was under pressure, or scared.

Damon raised an eyebrow. Was this girl really assuming that he was taking her in there to take advantage of her? Well, it wouldn't be totally unlike him, he thought.

"You don't have to worry. I'm not going to hurt you." Damon assured her for what he felt was the hundredth time that night. "But I am going to stay in here. You know, just to make sure you don't wander anywhere you shouldn't." he winked.

Amy turned to face the bed, wringing her hands together. It was a large bed. Larger than any bed she'd ever slept in. She was used to single beds. She didn't have many nice things, especially moving around between the foster system.

Slowly, she pulled the comforter back on one side. Her shoes had been removed while she was sleeping on the couch, by who, she wasn't sure. Maybe it was Elena. She doubted Damon would have the consciousness to remove her shoes.

She placed her hand on the bed, feeling it. Damon watched her, raising an eyebrow.

"Can you please stop staring at me?" She asked suddenly, then glanced over her shoulder at him. "I can f-feel you staring at me. Can you please s-stop?"

Amused, Damon sat down in the armchair in the corner, folding her arms across his chest.

"If you get in bed and go to sleep like a good little girl, I won't have to keep staring." He told her with a flash in his eyes. Immediately a flush rose up into her face and she quickly scrambled into the bed. Wow, Damon thought. She really was the complete opposite of Elena. Elena would have argued and found reasons not to get in bed just because he had suggested it.

Damon reached over to flip the light off, but halted when she said, "Don't." she was sitting up with the blankets pulled to her chest. "Please, leave it on."

"Amy, for the millionth time, I'm not going to do anything." Damon reiterated.

"I-I'm not worried about that. I just-I don't like it to be completely dark when I sleep." There was something small and pathetic about her tone, and it almost made Damon want to get up and go over to her, to put his arm around her and comfort her. Instead, he retracted his arm and crossed it over his chest again.

"Very well." He said as she lay back into the pillow. "Goodnight, Amelia."

~ . ~

Damon awoke to the sound of a scuffle. Being a vampire with superb hearing, he was a very light sleeper. His eyes opened, yet he remained still, quickly surveying the room for the source of the noise. It was the bed where Amy was sleeping. She was flopping back and forth, her face strained and shining with sweat as she made a whining noises in the back of her throat.

Damon straightened up in his chair, watching intently, curiously.

"Mhmm-nooo." She groaned, twitching her head from side to side. "No." her voice was beginning to rise as it became clearer and her twitching grew more sharp and quick. "Noo! Noo!"

Suddenly, she was bolt upright in the bed, chest heaving as she breathed heavily. Her hands shot up to her neck, clutching at it. Damon's eyebrows drew together as he watched her hunch over with her face in her hands, but only for a moment before she shot up again with a gasp, looking wildly around the room.

When she saw Damon staring at her, she shrieked, scrambling back until she toppled off the other side of the bed.

"Oh, for God's sake." Damon muttered, quickly going over to assist her back to her feet.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." She muttered, trying to shrug him off.

"Clearly." Damon replied sarcastically, taking a step back once she was on her feet. "What was that all about?"

"Nothing."

Amy climbed back into the bed, pulling the covers up to her chest, hugging them against herself. Her heart was still racing a mile a minute, and that shock of seeing Damon staring at her didn't help either. The fact that he was there made it harder for her to calm herself. Usually when she woke during the night, she was alone, and she was able to deal with her emotions alone.

"Nothing. Right." Damon rolled his eyes. "So what, were you choking in your dream? Drowning?"

"What do you mean?" Amy breathed, resting her head against the backboard of the bed.

"When you woke up you grabbed your throat. It must have had something to do with your dream."

Damon slowly walked around her bed, watching her with a raised eyebrow as her eyes widened, mouth parting slightly.

"No, it was just a—just a reaction." She lied. Damon crossed his arms, coming to a stop beside her.

"You're a terrible liar. Why don't you tell me what you were dreaming about?"

"Because it's not any of your business." Amy snapped, causing Damon to raise an eyebrow. "I don't even know you, I'm not going to tell you about my dreams, so just leave me alone!"

She rolled over, turning her back to him. She pulled the covers up to her chin, wrapped in the blankets like a cocoon.

"Like I said," Damon said softly. "You're a terrible liar. And you will tell me."