Alaric watched Damon as they discussed what was going to happen tonight. A huge sacrifice was going to be made. Everyone knew that. But something was off about Damon. He had been acting weird all day.
"We have a witch!" Damon yelled in frustration. "Nobody has to die!"
Alaric shook his head. "Except Bonnie."
Damon hissed in frustration, turned around, and slammed his fist into the wall, completely breaking it. When he pulled his arm out, he appeared to be swaying.
"Hey, are you okay?" Alaric asked, the anger no longer visible in his voice.
"I'm fine," Damon snapped, his voice tight with pain. He pushed passed Alaric, making his way to the door, when he began to sway again.
"You're not fine," Alaric said, rushing to help is friend. "What's going on with you?" He grabbed Damon's arm to balance him, but Damon just hissed in pain as soon as Alaric touched it.
"Did going through a wall really hurt you that bad?" Alaric asked.
Damon shook his head. "It's not that, Alaric."
"Then what is it?" Alaric watched as Damon hesitated.
"It's not important right now. We have other things to worry about," Damon said. He made his way to the door again, but without thinking, Alaric grabbed his arm again, making Damon cry out in pain.
"It is your arm," Alaric said. He quickly pulled up Damon's sleeve and nearly fell to the ground at what he saw. Damon's arm was covered in a purple-green mark that almost resembled a bruise but was too infected looking. It looked like poison was spreading through his veins. "Damon…"
Damon jerked his arm away and quickly rolled down his sleeve. "I know, Ric. I just didn't want to have to deal with this right now."
"Damon, what is it?" Alaric asked.
Damon looked at the ground, avoiding Alaric's gaze. "It's a werewolf bite," he said after several seconds.
` Alaric shook his head. "No. So that means-"
"It means I'm going to die," Damon finished.
Alaric shook his head. "I wasn't going to say that." He looked at Damon as his head finally came up. "There has to be a cure."
"There's no cure for a werewolf bite, Ric. You know that."
Alaric shook his head. "I refuse to believe that. There's no proof there isn't one."
"But there's no proof that there is, either," Damon pointed out. "No one's ever heard of a werewolf bite cure. The legend says that a werewolf bite kills a vampire. There's nothing about a cure."
"Damon-"
Damon cut Alaric off again. "You need to stop worrying about me. There are more important things going on tonight." When he made his way to the door again, Alaric didn't bother trying to stop him from leaving. Damon's hand was on the door when he turned around. "Don't tell anyone else, okay? People don't need to get more wound up than they already are." With that, he opened the door and left.