A/N: This is my first time writing a story using first person point of view. Please let me know if you think it works. If not, I can easily switch to third person perspective.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries show or characters.

Chapter 1

Elena's POV

How is it that I am going to die on my front porch? I survived being sacrificed on an altar of blood, the tomb vampires, all the doppelganger hijinks with Katherine, and an original vampire that made me a human blood bag. Now I am being beaten to death and will probably be drained in front of my own house feet from the safety of my front door.

I am fighting but he is too strong, he is staring into my eyes and saying words I can't understand as the pain is making the world around me spin. He is biting me now, I can feel myself slipping away as the blood leaves my body.

Damon's POV

I need another drink. Sitting, wallowing in my thoughts and thinking about the past year is doing me no good. It's all very Stefan of me. Speaking of Stefan….little brother has been back for 3 months from his Klaus induced ripper rampage and has been integrated back into society for the past month. Elena seems to be at his side every time I turn around. During all those months of searching she and I were practically inseparable. I knew what we were doing was operation 'save Stefan', but she seemed to grow closer and closer to me as time went on. Mr. Bad-ass vampire misses the company of a human teenager.

When Klaus sent Stefan back as Elena's protector in full ripper mode and then screwed up our plan to kill Klaus at Homecoming, I thought Elena may finally open up and admit she had feelings for me. We stood in front of the fire in this very room and she told me 'we had to let him go.' I could feel a connection flaring so hot I thought it would burn me, but then fucking Katherine called and the moment was gone. After Klaus practically hunted us all down because of Stefan stealing his family and kidnapped Elena, Stefan helped us release Klaus's family. The family was an effective bargaining chip to get Elena back. We just forgot to tell Klaus he would get them back awake instead of snug in their coffins. With the white oak stake gone in the mighty inferno that Michael became on Homecoming night, there was no weapon to kill him. Since we had no weapon or means to kill him ourselves we reluctantly agreed to let Elijah and his siblings deal with Klaus. They found a way to bind him for eternity essentially freeing us all from the Original hybrid asshole. I should be grateful, but I don't do grateful very well.

With Klaus gone, I let Elena put Stefan into vampire rehab again and we worked side by side nursing him back to health. Of course, it turns out that Stefan only screwed up our original plan to kill Klaus to save me. How do I go after the girl he loves when he saved me twice, twice, from certain death? I'm an asshole, but he's still my brother and I won't force Elena into a Katherine style situation. I backed off trying to push Elena to admit her feelings and have tried my best to stay in the friend zone even though my dick often seems to have other ideas. Being with her would be a betrayal of my brother, right? We weaned Stefan off of human blood and we convinced him to flip the switch on his emotions. There was much crying and brooding and Elena has been the shoulder Stefan turned to through it all. Uhg.

Whiskey or bourbon, I ponder looking from bottle to bottle trying to decide on which poison would help me forget the pain in my heart of yet again not winning the girl. Yet again, Saint Stefan is the better man. Just as I was about to pick up the bourbon bottle, my phone rings. I pull it out of my pocket and see it is Alaric.

"What's up Ricky?" I smirk knowing he hates the nickname.

"It's Elena. Get to the hospital. Now" Then the line goes dead. I blur to the Camaro and peal into the Mystic Falls hospital parking lot 5 minutes later. I run inside and immediately see Alaric. His face is strained and he is pacing. I have never seen him so unraveled and it stops me dead in my tracks.

Alaric looks up and sees me. "Follow me" He turns heading down the hall.

"What the hell is going on? Is she okay?" My voice is demanding but I don't care.

"No" he states simply as he walks into a waiting room where I see Jeremy and Bonnie. I feel a breeze turning I see Caroline at my shoulder.

"I got here as fast as I could. Is Elena okay?"

"We don't know" Bonnie leans her head on Jeremy's shoulder.

"Is someone going to explain what happened? Why is Elena in here in the first place?" My patience is growing thin with the lack of answers.

"Bonnie and I arrived at our house after grabbing dinner. We saw Elena sitting on the porch swing. We called to her but she didn't answer. I thought maybe she had fallen asleep reading or writing, but as we approach we knew something was wrong. She was bleeding and her shirt was covered in blood. She was breathing but we couldn't wake her. We called an ambulance not knowing how extensive her injuries were." Jeremy's voice is shaking as he recounts the details. I can tell the kid was desperately trying to keep it together.

"I arrived just as they were loading her into the ambulance. The doctors haven't really told us much. All we know is that she's barely alive and they rushed her into surgery." Alaric sits down heavily in a chair running his hand over his face.

"Vampire or deranged human?" Caroline looks around at all of us. I am amazed she got the question out before I did. Vampire Barbie is getting smart in her not so old age.

"She defiantly had a bite mark" Bonnie just stared at the floor.

"Stefan left last night for a few days. Did anyone call him?"

"Jeremy tried him just before Alaric called you" Bonnie sat back up straight. "It went straight to voicemail."

Sure, call the vampire that abandoned Elena first and call the vampire that promised to never leave her second. I pull out my phone and dial.

"I haven't even been gone 24 hours and you're checking in already? I'm fine, mom. Rebekah is here now keeping an eye on me like you asked while I'm hunting down Bambi and Thumper." Stefan sighs into the phone.

"Get back to Mystic Falls now. Its Elena. She's in the hospital and its bad." I had a bad feeling when Stefan suggested a few days ago that he wanted to leave to go hunting outside of Mystic Falls. He said he wanted to stretch his legs a bit and get rid of the claustrophobic feeling of everyone constantly watching him. I asked Rebekah to keep an eye on him to make sure he wasn't tempted to fall off the wagon. I just didn't know my bad feeling would extend beyond him.

Damnit. Why did Rebekah just get there? Doesn't matter now.

"Wh-what happened?"

"There must be another vampire in town. Get back here now." I order before hanging up.

It seems like we have been sitting in this waiting room for hours. Jeremy, Alaric and I take turns pacing the floor. At one point Liz showed up to take official statements and get the story straight to cover up the fact that it was a vampire attack. She left to see if there was any evidence that could put us on the vampire's trail. The longer we wait the more my anger grows as I know that means how hurt she really is.

We had been waiting there so long that at one point Caroline disappeared and returned handing me a thermos. "Thanks" I tell her when I realize it is filled with blood.

"Hungry and angry equals bad things for Damon" she smiles at me and I smirk back.

Finally after our sixth hour camped out in the waiting room, the doctor walks out still her in scrubs. She pulls the mask off from around her neck looking tired. Her eyes seem to dart around the room nervously and I take in a breath waiting for the bad news to be delivered. "I am looking for the family of Elena Gilbert."

A/N: Please review!