She had seen him when she was a spirit, and from the afterlife she had learned a great deal.
He was a womanizer, he could be callous, he drifted through his victims' lives like a chimera, like a catalyst, changing other people while he himself remained unchanging and unchanged. He mystified humans, confused them, used them - leaving them bewildered, because he had the charm of the devil.
And never once had she seen him break his word. She had a rock-bottom feeling that this wasn't something that was a decision, it was so much a part of Damon, lodged so deep in his subconscious, that even he couldn't do anything to change it. He couldn't break his word. He'd starve first.
Damon was still talking to Matt, giving him orders. "...and then take off her..."
So what about his word to be her bodyguard, to keep her from harm?
He was talking to her now. "So you know when to throw your head back? After he - "
"Who are you?"
"What?"
"You heard me.Who are you? If you had really seen Stefan off and promised him to take care of me, none of this would have happened. Oh, you might be messing with Matt, but not in front of me. You're not - Damon's not stupid. He knows what a bodyguard is. He knows that watching Matt in pain hurts me as well. You're not Damon. Who...are...you?"
Matt's strength and fast-as-a-rattlesnake speed hadn't done any good. Maybe a different approach would work. As Elena spoke, she had been very slowly reaching up to Damon's face. Now, with one motion, she pulled his sunglasses off.
Eyes red as fresh new blood shone out at her.
"What have you done?"she whispered. "What have you done to Damon?"
Matt was out of the range of her voice but had been inching around, trying to get her attention. She wished fervently that Matt would just make a run for it himself. Here, he was just another way for this creature to blackmail her.
Without seeming to move quickly, the Damon-thing reached down and snatched the sunglasses from her hand. It was too fast for her to resist.
Then he seized her wrist in a painful grip.
"This would be a lot easier on both of you if you'd cooperate," he said casually. "You don't seem to realize what might happen if you make me angry."
His grip was forcing her down, forcing her to kneel. Elena decided not to let it. But unfortunately her body didn't want to cooperate; it sent urgent messages of pain to her mind, of agony, of burning, searing agony. She had thought that she could ignore it, could stand to let him break her wrist. She was wrong. At some point something in her brain blacked out completely, and the next thing she knew she was on her knees with a wrist that felt three times the right size and burned fiercely.
"Human weakness," Damon said scornfully. "It will get you every time.... You should know better than to disobey me, by now."
Not Damon,Elena thought, so vehemently that she was surprised the imposter didn't hear her.
"All right," Damon's voice continued above her as cheerfully as if he'd simply given her a suggestion. "You go sit on that rock, leaning backward, and Matt, if you'll just come over here, facing her." The tone was of polite command, but Matt ignored it and was beside her already, looking at the finger marks on Elena's wrist as if he didn't believe them.
"Matt stands up, Elena sits, or the opposite one gets the full treatment. Have fun, kiddies." Damon had the palm-camera out again.
Matt consulted Elena with his eyes. She looked at the imposter and said, enunciating carefully, "Go to hell, whoever you are."
"Been there, done that, bought the brimstone," the not-Damon creature rattled off. He gave Matt a smile that was both luminescent and terrifying. Then he waggled the pine branch.
Matt ignored it. He waited, his face stoic, for the pain to hit.
Elena struggled up to stand by him. Side by side, they could defy Damon.
Who seemed for a moment to be out of his mind. "You're trying to pretend you're not afraid of me. But you will be. If you had any sense, you would be now."
Belligerently, he took a step toward Elena."Why aren't you afraid of me?"
"Whoever you are, you're just an oversized bully. You've hurt Matt. You've hurt me. I'm sure you can kill us. But we're not afraid of bullies."