It's the smell that wakes him. It's a bit like rotting leaves, grime and dirt. A stale smell that, had he been human, would have made him cough. Groaning and rolling his head to the side, Damon opens his eyes. There's nothing but darkness. Weird, he thinks. After all, he can usually see perfectly fine at night. He tries to sit up, but he immediately bashes his head against something hard.

"Damn it," he hisses, lying back down and rubbing his forehead. After a few seconds, he raises his hands experimentally to find that he can touch the ceiling. He extends his arms to his sides, and they bump against two walls. He hesitates. I'm in a coffin. He sighs audibly. Well, he thinks, this sucks.

He thumps his fist against the top of his coffin, expecting the lid to fly open. Instead, it splinters and his fist hits concrete. He hisses again as blood runs from his rapidly-healing knuckles. He feels the top of the coffin where his fist broke through. He tears at the wood, widening the hole. Then, he slips his hands through the hole to the concrete ceiling. With gritted teeth, he pushes upward with all his strength. There is a grinding sound as he slides the concrete slate off. It crashes to the ground.

Dim light floods through, and Damon is able to maneuver himself up and out through the hole in the lid of the coffin. Looking around, Damon realizes that his coffin was encased in a cement sarcophagus, and there are other tombs along the wall. There are also hundreds of dead and half-dead blooms cluttering the base of his tomb. He recognizes where he is; in fact, he knows the place well. The Salvatore crypt.

He assumes that Stefan's played a remarkably un-hilarious joke on him, and he brushes the dust from the sleeves of his leather jacket. He vows vengeance. Well, as soon as he finds something to eat. Unfortunately, he is halfway out of the crypt before he realizes something important: he's not wearing his ring.

The sunlight hits him with full force, and the skin on his face cracks and burns. He flashes backwards, falling onto his butt in the safety of the crypt. He jumps to his feet and throws his hands down furiously. "You've got to be kidding me, Stefan," he roars into the cemetery. There is no reply. But then, he wasn't expecting one.

He looks down and notices a tear in his shirt. "Really?" he says, annoyed. "As if my day wasn't shitty enough." He examines the small hole in the fabric; it's positioned directly over his heart and the cloth around it is stained with long-dried blood. It's almost as if…

"You were shot."

Damon spins around in surprise. A man in a suit and trench coat stands before him; his blue tie hangs loosely from his neck, and he has an overall disheveled appearance about him. The man's face is completely deadpan.

Damon shifts on his feet, looking around. There's no way the man could have slipped into the crypt without Damon noticing. Unless the man had already been there. "And who are you?" Damon asks, narrowing his eyes.

"My name is Castiel," the man replies hoarsely. "I am an Angel of the Lord."

Damon stares at him for a few moments. Then, Damon throws his head back and laughs humorlessly. "Man," he says, shaking his head and wiping his eyes. "I'm going to kill Stefan."

Castiel scrunches his eyebrows together and tilts his head to the side. "Stefan…" he says slowly. "He's your brother."

"Of course he's my brother," Damon snaps. "And from now on, he should leave the pranking to me. He never was good at it." He extends his hand, palm-up, to Castiel. "Now, about my ring. Cough it up. Can't be stuck in here all day; I've got to go do the naughty with a hottie." Damon wriggles his fingers insistently.

Castiel squints his eyes. "With your brother," he clarifies.

"With my – What?" Damon splutters. "No, with Elena." Damon stares. "Where in the hell did Stefan find you?"

"I'm not from Hell, and Stefan didn't find me," Castiel replies calmly. "My orders come from those much higher up and a lot less demonic than any vampire."

"Demonic?" Damon repeats, raising his eyebrows. "You sure know how to make friends." When Castiel doesn't reply, Damon slowly begins to circle him. "Alright," he finally says, stopping. He hops on top of a closed sarcophagus, his legs dangling over the side. "I'll bite. Where do your orders come from, then, Mr. Angel of the Lord? No, wait." Damon holds up a finger. "Let me guess." He pretends to think. "Oh, gee, what's the name of that guy…You know, the big guy? White, flowing robes. Kind of judgy. Knocked up a virgin. Lives upstairs. I just can't seem to remember his name…"

Castiel hesitates. "God?"

Damon snaps his fingers. "That's it." He grins apologetically. "Sorry 'bout that, Cassy. Sometimes it's hard for me to keep my angelic, otherworldly beings straight because I'm, you know, demonic and all."

"My apologies if I have offended you," says Castiel. "I was unaware that I could hurt a vampire's feelings."

"Well, we can put this all behind us if you just give me my ring back." Damon, once more, holds out his hand. He glares at Castiel.

"I didn't take your ring," Castiel says. "I am not associated with your brother; I am here on my own accord to fix a mistake."

"A mistake?" Damon slides off the sarcophagus of a dead ancestor and slinks up to Castiel. Then, Damon flashes forward, slamming Castiel against the wall of the crypt. The man in the trench coat remains motionless as Damon lowers his mouth to the man's neck. With his lips a mere inch from Castiel's skin, Damon stops and whispers, "I strongly suggest you hand over my ring before I make a mistake."

Castiel pushes Damon off of him, and Damon is thrown across the room, his back colliding with the far wall. Damon groans as he crumples to his knees. After all, he's weak and starving for blood.

"Perhaps you should abandon your attempts to threaten me," says Castiel slowly as he walks towards Damon, "and listen. You were shot and killed, and I brought you back."

"News flash, angel cakes, I can't be killed with a gun," Damon says, aching as he climbs to his feet. He glares at Castiel. "And you just pissed me off."

Castiel ignores this. "Three months ago," he says, "some…friends of mine came to Mystic Falls about a vampire problem."

"Oh?"

"They had a weapon with them. The Colt."

Damon rolls his eyes. "And who were these friends of yours?"

"The Winchester brothers."

Damon freezes. Something in his mind clicks, and the memories start flooding back. He remembers the brothers. The tall one, Sam, tried to stake him. As punishment, Damon sank his teeth into the man's neck to drain him of his blood. There'd been a noise behind Damon, and when Damon turned, the crack of a gun sounded and Damon was suddenly lying on the ground, eyeballs-up to the ceiling.

"Dean Winchester shot you with the Colt," says Castiel, confirming Damon's memories. "Only, it was a mistake." Castiel hesitates. "Dean didn't know you were a good man."

Damon smirks. "Can't say I blame him. I didn't even know that."

Castiel grabs Damon by the collar of his jacket. "Understand this, vampire," says Castiel, so close to Damon that their noses are nearly touching. "I've been commanded by my superiors to stay out of any direct contact with the Winchesters because where Sam and Dean are concerned, rational thought tends to fail me." Castiel sounds bitter. "But you can help me." Castiel releases the collar of Damon's jacket. "Your brother has been holding the Winchesters captive for months now. As I am forbidden from interfering, you're going to convince Stefan to release Dean and Sam."

"If God forbade you from interfering, then how were you able to save me from, you know, being dead and all?" Damon asks, his voice heavy with sarcasm. He is still in disbelief that an angel, a real angel, would come to his aid.

"It was a loophole," says Castiel. "I was able to save you because you were never supposed to die, at least not for a second time. Believe it or not, vampire, the Lord sees good in you. I was given permission to bring you back because He has plans for you. Only, those plans don't include the Winchesters. Which brings me back to the fact that I saved your life, and that you are going to repay me by releasing my friends."

Damon gets in Castiel's face and breathes, "Or what?"

"Or you'll be hearing from me again." There is the sound of fluttering wings, and Castiel vanishes, leaving Damon alone with the dead in the Salvatore crypt.

xxx

So, obviously, I plan to continue this. That being said, tell me what you think. I'll try to update as frequently as I can. Thanks for reading.