AN: Thank you for all the amazing reviews ;) Some reviews and comments are really amazing *does happy dance*

And so, gazing in Damon's blue eyes seems to have convinced my muse to return, or maybe he just compelled her... I don't know. At the moment, she's back, and I hope she's going to stay till the very end... Also thank you for the support! Thank you too, Shadowfaxangel. You rock!

That being said, I have to admit that what happened at the end of the previous chapter was as big a surprise to me as it seems to have been for you guys! I hope you'll like what comes next... Enjoy!

Previously on Shadowdancing:

But still Elena watched, at the same time mesmerized and horrified, as Candy's head slanted to expose her throat, and the man pushed her up against the wall, his face nuzzling her neck… to the increasingly insistent moans of the girl. Elena didn't get the impression they were moans of pain though…

She clapped her hands over her ears to block the sound of the moans and recoiled, backing away in the direction of the parking lot…

… until she bumped into something solid. Strong arms wrapped around her torso from behind, like bands of steel… and she opened her mouth to take a deep breath, about to let out a bloodcurdling scream when a hand clamped over her mouth to silence her, and Damon's soft voice caressed her ear, "I can't leave you alone for a minute, can I? What are you doing outside?"

"Damon! You scared me!" Elena exhaled in relief when she recognized his familiar voice, and she sagged against him weakly, allowing Damon to wrap his arms around her from behind.

Damon hugged her against him, murmuring, "I'm sorry for startling you, poppet! But when I couldn't find you… Especially since I discovered there's another one of my kind hanging around the premises!" There were no words to describe the panic he'd felt when Caroline told him Elena had run off alone… "But I noticed he'd already found a willing donor…"

"I know. I saw it too. For a minute there I thought…" Elena began, but then she snapped her mouth shut: that was probably not the most diplomatic thing to say to him… And the truth was that she just hadn't stopped to think, because deep down she'd already known it hadn't been Damon who was… um… eating Candy…

Damon frowned when she swallowed her words, and he asked, sounding slightly suspicious, "You thought what?" He paused, "You didn't honestly think that was me, did you?"

Elena's guilty silence was answer enough, and Damon let go of her, turning his back on her to lean a hand against his car, furious.

How could Elena even think he'd do that? Especially when he was here with her? It was true that Caroline's words had upset him, but while that would have made the old Damon go hunting for the nearest convenient artery, he was proud that he'd gotten over that…

Elena answered his unspoken question anyway, "I'm so very sorry, Damon! I knew you wouldn't… It's just that you were flirting with her earlier and… and… I thought you might like her… and I just know that Caroline upset you and…" She took a step closer to him and hesitantly extended a hand to softly, apologetically touch his back.

As soon as her hand touched his shirt, he whirled around again, causing Elena to press herself flat against the side of his car in surprise, breath catching in her throat.

Damon took a step forward and braced his hands against the car, one hand on each side of her body. But he didn't stop moving: in the same fluid motion, he pushed his own body flush against hers, making her gasp at the unexpected intimacy of the contact.

Moonlight played over his features, silvering his dark hair and emphasizing the bold lines and hollows of his face. His eyes looked stormy and his mouth was compressed in a thin line, but Elena still wasn't afraid. She let her body relax into his in obvious submission and leaned her head back so she could look up at him.

Damon felt her instant surrender to him and growled, "You are the only one that I want, Elena… But you, I want body and soul!"

When her eyes widened, he pressed his lower body against her soft, yielding one, wanting her to feel the unmistakable effect she had on him, "Just feel what you're doing to me, Elena. You. Nobody else!" His voice sounded husky and tense.

Elena closed her eyes for a moment, bone deep satisfaction washing over her at his words. In spite of what she'd promised herself about not telling him anything before talking to Stefan, she opened her eyes to look up at him intently and whispered, "You do the same to me, Damon…"

Damon's eyes lit up with a flash at her words, and his mouth descended to claim hers with just as much irrepressible intensity as a force of nature, sweeping her along in a tidal wave of sweet longing. Elena's mouth opened but her gasp was lost in his mouth, silenced by his conquering tongue…

Her hands gripped his shirt and she almost ripped it in her urgency to pull it out of his pants… she needed to touch his bare skin, and she needed it now! Her hands disappeared under the soft black material and she moaned in satisfaction at the contact.

Damon's hands had come away from the car, one hand tangling in her hair so he could hold her head at the best angle for deepening the kiss, the other slowly sliding down over her back to cup her bottom. He lifted her slightly to fit her better to the part of his body that didn't leave any doubt about his growing excitement.

God, he thought, how could she feel so marvelous, smell so amazing? Her passionate response made the urge to claim her for his own stronger than ever… He felt his vampire instincts beginning to stir again, refusing to take no for an answer…

It was still too soon after the last time he'd had to fight the vampire down and there hadn't been any relief since… This time he lost the fight and felt his fangs beginning to descend…

He ripped his mouth away from Elena's and took a step back, panting with the exertion of keeping himself under control.

Elena's breathing was ragged as well, but when she felt Damon start to pull away from her, she grabbed his shirt, and pulled him back to her. Her hand wrapped itself around his neck and she pulled his face down to hers again, whispering against his mouth, "Don't you dare hide from me, Damon! I know what you are and I'm not afraid of it… "

Then she added with a secret smile, "I think I already told you that fluffy white bunnies just don't do it for me… I prefer my cuddly toys armed to the teeth!"

Her other hand came up to his face and she traced the darker shadows under his eyes before her finger softly touched his mouth. He couldn't help it: his upper lip peeled back intuitively, revealing the mark of the predator in the form of two gleaming, lethal looking incisors.

She touched her thumb to one of them, and pressed hard against its sharp edge, deliberately breaking her own skin. She bit her lip, flinching slightly at the sting.

Damon hissed at the overwhelming, irresistible scent of fresh blood, and he pulled back his head as far as it could go, while he growled at Elena, "Are you crazy? What do you think you're doing?"

Elena contemplated the welling drop of ruby red blood on her thumb before she said quietly, "Yes, I am definitely crazy… I'm crazy about you. And since I'm bleeding now anyway, you'd better not waste it."

She held out her hand to him, "Please, Damon? Won't you take it?"

Damon looked at her as if he was deciding whether she was as mad as a hatter and he'd be better off running as fast and as far as he possibly could, or if she was the best thing that had ever happened to him…

Everything started feeling distinctly unreal to him, as if he was living that fairy tale Ric had been talking about… Here was Elena, the girl of his dreams, not only telling him she had feelings for him, but freely offering him her blood as well…

He was well aware of the whole host of unresolved issues between them, but for the moment he was unable and unwilling to bring any reason to mind why he wouldn't take her up on her tempting offer…

His eyes focused on the tempting little drop of blood on her finger, and he lifted her hand to his mouth slowly. As his tongue darted out to lick the pad of her thumb, his eyes locked on hers and the expression of amazement and wonder in his almost brought her down to her knees. Then his tongue grazed her finger, lapping up the little droplet.

He would have stopped at that, but Elena pressed her thumb to his mouth, and he opened his lips, allowing her finger entrance. The presence of blood had ensured that his fangs were still down, and she nicked her thumb again, opening the little wound once more.

When the blood trickled into his mouth anew, Damon started sucking, unhurriedly drawing the blood from the tiny cut in her finger, the rough side of his tongue stroking her sensitive flesh.

Though he was still standing close to her, he wasn't really touching her. But almost like it had happened in her dream, Elena felt the sensation not just in her finger. It was as though he was pulling the essence out of her whole body, and she couldn't keep in a soft whimper.

Her knees wobbled and she sagged against the car for support, but before she could fall, Damon was there, his body propping her up, his leg sliding in between hers, just as he'd done in her dream. Elena was having a hard time distinguishing what was real from what wasn't. Her heart was pounding in her ears and she heard someone panting, only belatedly realizing it was her own labored breathing.

Damon couldn't believe the receptiveness of the girl in his arms: he knew very well that the taking of blood could be a deeply erotic experience for many people, but he was only taking a little and he was taking it from her finger! Still it had Elena trembling in his arms, almost as if he was truly making love to her…

Because he was so distracted by Elena's reaction, he didn't hear the approaching people until they were almost upon them. They were a small group of overexcited female partygoers, who'd clearly been having a hen party. They had just exited the club and were looking for their car, shouting at each other and laughing boisterously.

Damon stopped sucking Elena's finger and shielded her with his body, hoping they wouldn't notice them in the shadowy parking lot. It wasn't really necessary to conceal his face, since it was too dark for humans to notice anything out of the ordinary anyway.

As one of the women passed right by them, he put a hand over Elena's mouth to muffle her loud breathing, but a throaty voice commented, "Hey, hot stuff! I suggest you get a room before other people go all frustrated!" She snickered lasciviously, "Although… I'd sure like to have me some of whatever it is that she's having!" And they walked on, laughing uproariously.

Damon half expected Elena to break away at that point, but she just leaned against him, and he wrapped his arms around her tightly, listening as her breathing evened out and her heartbeat gradually slowed down. Then he closed his eyes and used her steady heartbeat as an anchor to calm himself, so he could force the vampire down again.

Emotions had run high, and they both understood instinctively that now was not the best time to address the issues between them. So they just stood there, enveloped in companionable silence, and enjoyed the simple comfort of each other's presence while waiting for Caroline and Matt to find them.

AN: So, what did you think? According to Shadowfaxangel, Damon was extra vampy here... Hope you liked it! Please drop me a little (or not so little ;) note!