Chapter 1

"Damon why isn't this healed!" Elena shouted as she ripped away my shirt to show the un healing bullet wound

"Because the bullet was laced with werewolf venom! Okay!" Damon ground irritated as he rolled his shoulder trying to shake off the pain.

Elena looked frantic and started mumbling, "We. We w-w-we need klaus! We need his blood!"

Damon told her, "Klaus would rather see me die! Plus he's a thousand miles away sipping hurricanes on Bourbon street."

"That wound will kill you!" Elena shouted at Damon while he was trying to joke.

Jeremy then had an idea and said out loud, "What about he cure?"

Elena looked at him and smiled and looked at Damon hopeful, "Jeremy's right. If your human, the werewolf venom won't hurt you!" She said relieved.

Damon didn't look to enthusiastic.

Elena, Bonnie, Stefan, Matt and Caroline stood behind bleachers in their caps and gowns. Caroline was on her phone and so was Stefan. Alaric's voice was heard from Stefan's phone.

"Damon won't tKe the cure!" He exclaimed, "he wants it for Elena."

Damon was sitting against a rock looking as if he had moments left to live while Alaric talked into the phone.

"Alright look just, hang on a little longer Caroline is calling Klaus again." Stefan told Alaric as Caroline shook her head and closed her phone.

Klaus wasn't answering she looked at everyone and they knew he wasn't coming.

"Stefan!" Alaric shouted, "We are past the point for Hail Mary phone calls! What do you want me to do? Just stand here and watch him die? Or force feed him the cure?" Alaric exclaimed, worried about his best friend.

Stefan looked at Elena, he knew Damon doesn't want the cure but Elena gave him a look. He knew without having her sleek she wanted Alaric to force the cure into Damon.

Elena was sitting on the couch in the Salvatore's parlor. Damon entered the room and she could tell he was hurt, mad, and betrayed.

"What was I supposed to do Damon?" She asked, when he didn't respond she said, "I love you!"

She expected him to forgive her and let it all be okay and he knew that.

"Not his time. I can't forgive you." He said despite the pain that he was causing himself, "Elena, I'm sorry." Was all he could say.

"What?" Elena asked, not understanding what he was saying, "No Damon..."

He turned away not able to see the hurt on her face.

"I didn't know what else to do. Please." She begged as he walked further away from her.

"Damon, Please!" She kept begging. Begging for him to stay. To forgive her.

He turned around unable to speak because he knew he'd break down, he just shook his head. No, I can't stay, I can't forgive her.

He walked up to her and kissed her on her forehead, "I'm sorry." He whispered against her head.

He stepped back hands encompassing her face and let his eyes track every feature of her face and submit it to memory. He left not looking back. Elena shook her head, this isn't happening. She closed her eyes hoping it's a dream and he'd be there when she reopened her eyes. He wasn't. She sobbed her hand. Ladling her mouth trying to mute the agony she felt. She cried.

Damon was driving away from Mystic Falls, away from Elena, Stefan, Alaric, his life, his home, his love.

4 years later!

Damon was going to start a new job tomorrow, he just spent 4 years in college and strangely enough he was finding things he enjoyed about being human. There were downfalls. He had to be careful when he drove, he had to eat regularly, he had to face defeat sometimes, he couldn't just snap his fingers and have what he wanted. But then again, he was finally accomplishing something.

Damon sat at a bar in Hollis, a college in Rosewood. He drank his bourbon and thinking about all the changes his life has made the past 4 years. Luckily he had the money he gathered over the years. He was able to actually pay for college, an apartment, a car, but he still needed a job.

When he left his thoughts he looked over to the girl who sat a few sets over from him. He did a double take. She's gorgeous. She was wearing a black leather jacket, black and dark purple and blue dress, with black boots.

Dark black hair, soft skin that seemed to glow, big dark hazel green eyes.

Those eyes filled with a sadness.

She asked the bartender for a cheeseburger and then looked at the bulletin board behind the bar. Her eyes were glued to the poster about the missing 16 year old Alison DiLaurentis. Damon remembered hearing about that for months when she first went missing last year.

Damon turned to her and asked, "You alright?"

"Yeah just jet lagged. Just got back from Europe." She said in an angelic voice.

"Where in Europe?" He asked.

"Iceland." She said.

"Spent some time in Amsterdam once. Great city." Damon said remembering years ago when he was hunting locals.

She turned to him and asked, "Do you go to Hollis?"

"Just graduated." Damon said with a smirk, "Never expected to but, went to college and here I am about to start my first teaching job."

"Yeah, I think I'd like to teach." She said.

Happiness by the Fray came on and she looked towards the speakers and smiled.

"Love this song." She said.

"B26" Damon replied. He's been to the bar enough to know the songs.

She smiled and his smirk turned into a smile at her beauty.

Damon cleared his throat and asked, "What's your major?"

She looked down and said, "Uh, I'm leaning towards English."

"Cool, I'm actually teaching English but, I've always been a history buff." Damon joked.

The girl smiled, "Yeah? Well, I write too but so far it's mostly personal. Just for me." She shrugged.

Damon looked at her in awe, "I'm impressed. I tried writing a long time ago but..." He moved closer to her so they were sitting next to each other, "I didn't get very far. Your lucky, if your writing for yourself it's pure passion. Maybe you'd let me read something of yours." He said with genuine smile.

She smiled at him and asked, "Yeah. You'd really want to?"

"Your smart, you've traveled, got pretty good taste in music, I'd like to know more about you." Damon said honestly.

She smiled and nodded, "Yeah, I'd like to know more about you too."

A little while later

The girl was on a bathroom counter with her legs to the side of Damon's body. They were kissing with his hands on her hips and hers on his face. His hand was stroking her thigh. They pulled away after a while and smiled at one another. She then kissed him quickly and he went in for more kisses. They kept smiling as they were kissing. Damon noticed he wasn't thinking about the past or what'll happen in the future. He wasn't worried. He was enjoying his time with this woman. Whether it was talking at the bar or making out in the bars bathroom.

He didn't know her name, but he knew he'd need to find her again.

The girl from the bar sat down at her desk at Rosewood high school in her History class. She was looking through her bag when Damon walked in. He wrote Mr. Salvatore on the board and turned around to face his class.

"Hello. I'm your new English teacher, Damon Salvatore. You can call me Mr. Salvatore."

When his eyes landed on the girl he made out with in the bar bathroom he was shocked.

"Oh crap." Damon said.

Everyone looked at the girl and she looked back surprised as well.

Her phone went off and she muted it with a, "Sorry."

The sorry was obviously not about the phone but about how she didn't tell him she was in high school.

Aria looked at her phone, 'Maybe he fools around with his students all the time. A lot of teachers do. Just asks your dad. -A'.

Damon went on teaching. After class he looked at the class list with the students pictures. He found her and finally learned her name. Aria Montgomery.

After school was out Damon was sitting at his desk. Thoughts swirled his head all day about Aria and how if anyone finds out about him and her then he'd probably be fired and sent to jail. If he was still a vampire he'd compel his way out but he isn't and he can't.

Aria entered his class room and she walked over to Damon's desk.

"You told me you went to Hollis." Damon said to her.

Aria the. Defended saying, "Actually I said I'm thinking about majoring in English. Which is true!" He smirked at her defense, she lied but not really lied.

"Aria, I think you're an amazing girl. And I can't deny that there's something between us, a connection." Aria smiled at those words "But..." He went to continue before being interrupted.

Aria had come closer to him while he was speaking and she was now standing besides his desk. She took his hand, that was resting on the desk, in hers before speaking herself. "I'm still that girl. Nothing's changed" She said, as a way to convince him that everything could stay.

"Yes it has. I'm your teacher." Damon told her, "if it had been a different time I'd be acting differently but now a days I have to think ahead of where I'm at. We can't. Aria, you don't even actually know anything about me. What makes you think that what you're feeling right now, would still stay the same after finding out about my past? I'm not a good person Aria. And you're pure and innocent. I don't have the right to ruin that for you"

Aria shook her head at him "I have a past too Damon. Secrets that I'm not proud of. But they don't matter. What matters is the two of us. We have something. Don't deny that. I know it's not just me. You feel like this is right for us too."

"It's right." Damon said, "Just not right now."

Damon then took his hand away from here and left the classroom. All he wanted to do was go back in there and never let her go. For some reason he can't seem to be able to forget her.

The body of the missing girl was found and their is a funeral taking place. Damon went to the funeral for the DiLaurentis girl. Damon noticed Aria seemed to be taking the death hard. He found her upstairs in the church.

He walked up to her and asked, "We're you two friends?"

"Do you care?" She sasses back with a shrug.

"I deserve that." He said, then took a deep breathe and said completely honest, "I don't know what I feel worse about, needing to stay away from you or being a jerk about it."

"She was one of my best friends." Aria told him honestly.

"I'm so sorry." Damon said to her his eyes filled with true compassion and sadness.

"For Allison or being a jerk?" She sasses again.

This brought a slight and fleeting smile to Damon's lips.

"Both." He told her.

She nodded and looked up at him grateful, "Thank you." She went on to say, "I would never want to do anything that would get you in trouble."

Damon could see she was being genuinely honest and smiled.

Aria then lightly kissed his cheek and slowly pulled away and said, "Goodbye Damon."

Before she could fully leave Damon turned and pulled her to him and crashed his lips onto hers. They kissed just like from the bar. Aria went onto the tips of her toes in order to reach Damon's lips. The intense kiss then turned soft. After a few moments they pulled apart and Aria stroked Damon's hair with her hand and caressed his face. She then turned and left. Damon stood where she left him staring after her.

During the funeral Aria learned that her friends Hanna and Spencer got messages from this 'A' person, just like Emily and herself. When Jenna arrived at the funeral it confused the four girls. Jenna hated Ali. Ali hated Jenna. Why was Jenna there?

After the funeral Aria made her way outside of the church, her arm around Hanna's and Spencer and Emily were following behind. Suddenly a void called out stopping them. It was a voice Aria didn't know but seemed to know who they were because he called their names aloud. "Emily, Spencer, Aria and Hanna"

They stopped and turned around. "Do we know you?" Spencer immediately asked.

The man smiled at them with a creepy smile before answering "I'm Detective Wilden. I understand you were all good friends with the victim".

"We were." Aria answered this time.

"I'm gonna need to talk to each one of you." Wilden said, after nodding at what Aria had just said.

"We talked to the police when Alison went missing" Spencer said, her tone hesitant this time.

"I intend to go over your statements. However this is no longer a missing person's investigation. This is a murder." With a smile more fitting of a predator, he continued "Rest assured, I'll find out what happened that summer."

The moment was interrupted by Damon coming their way. He had noticed Aria's uncomfortable expression, that she imagined she had plastered on her face for everyone to see. She couldn't help the involuntary smile at the sight of him, especially because he was looking at Wilden with a rather scary look on his face. She found it kind of hot.

"Excuse me, can I help you?" Damon asked the detective, with an arrogant smirk on his face.

"Who are you?" Wilden asked, curious by Damon's sudden appearance and trying not to show that he was thrown off his game.

"I'm these girls' teacher. Now, excuse me if I'm wrong but... I thought a member of the police department can't interrogate a minor without an adult present. Not even a detective such as yourself." He'd obviously heard part of the conversation and had decided to come to their aid. Aria noticed the impressed faces of her friends while looking at him and she couldn't help but feel proud of him.

"First of all, I don't think this is a place suited for it. Interrogating four teenagers after they had just left their friend's funeral is really bad taste." Damon continued, his tone snarky and sarcastic.

"We were just having a friendly chat. Nothing big." Wilden answered, looking a little uncomfortable now.

"Well, then you won't mind if you continue having your 'friendly chat' with me present. Or if you'd rather I can call one of their parents." Damon said with a dangerous smile. Aria looked at him in complete admiration and cursed once again her luck at Damon being her teacher.

"I was done anyway." Wilden said before looking at the girls, "Girls" he said before walking away.

Damon turned to look at them with a smile. "Are you all okay?" His gaze lingered a little too long on Aria but fortunately her friends didn't seem to notice. Aria smiled shyly back at him.

"Yes, thank you Mr Salvatore" Spencer answered with a smile.

"Very impressive, Mr Salvatore" Hanna added, almost with a flirty tone.

Damon smirked at them before saying "I better go now. See you girls in class." And, after a last look towards Aria, he walked away.

Aria and the others watched him go before noticing Jenna making her way towards a car, helped by her walking stick and they stared at her for a few seconds.

"You think Wilden knows about...?" Aria asked, not feeling the need to finish her sentence since the others knew perfectly well what she was referring to.

"No" Hanna immediately answered "How could he?"

Their phones suddenly began to ring simultaneously and Aria retrieved hers, a sinking feeling making its way into her stomach "Oh, my god!" She exclaimed in both shock and dismay.

"It's from..." Hanna began to say before being interrupted by Emily. "I got one too"

"I'm still here, bitches" Spencer began to read and the three of them followed soon after "...And I know everything. -A".

The four of them looked at each other and at the text they had just received, trying to understand what is happening. Aria had the feeling that this was just the beginning.