Chapter 1

"Come on Damon," Liz pleaded.

"No. I'm not getting involved. Sort out your own mess," Damon protested.

"Damon, for once, don't be selfish. Help someone other than yourself for a change. Just because we don't have a direct link to vampires with this doesn't mean you don't have to help. Besides, I help keep your cover about being vampires so do something for me in return. Just help me with this one," Liz presented her reasoning.

Damon's veins started to flare up and Liz knew that she was about to get it. Damon used his vampire speed and strength to fling her against the nearest wall. She stumbled up against the wall and Damon pressed his arm against her neck. "Do you really think that you can blackmail a vampire and get away with it?"

Liz felt the pressure on her neck release before Damon was flung away from her, revealing Stefan in front of her. Damon was on the other side of the room.

Damon got to his feet and ran for Stefan, broken chair leg in hand, with the intention of stabbing Stefan in the side. Stefan, having heard Damon coming up behind him, span around just in time to avoid the swinging chair leg. In a swift movement, Stefan snapped his brother's neck. Damon collapsed onto the floor. Liz gave a sigh of relief.

Stefan turned back to her, "What happened?"

"I came to your brother for help and told him of these weird disappearances. He refused to help and I did something stupid," Liz answered.

"What was that?" Stefan asked curiously.

"I tried to blackmail him," she admitted.

"I'm guessing that made him pretty mad," Stefan remarked sarcastically, glancing around at the small wreckage in the room. "What did you need help about?"

"Over the past few weeks there have been many disappearances in Mystic Falls all of which have been 18 year old females and there has been no trace of where they have gone." Liz explained to Stefan.

"Have they not just run away?" Stefan inquired.

"The girls who have disappeared don't have a tendency of running away. No, there has to be foul play involved," Liz replied, a strong sense of certainty in her tone.

"Do you suspect vampires are involved? Was there any blood at the crime scenes?" Stefan questioned her, interested in the details of the disappearances.

"We have no way to tell because we are not a hundred percent sure as to where the crime scenes are…" Liz's voice trailed off at the end.

"I can see why Damon refused to help," Stefan muttered to himself, looking down at the ground to see Damon's middle finger on his left hand flicker as he began to regain consciousness. "I'll call you in a bit to talk more about this, Liz. Right now, you need to go before this gets ugly."

Liz nodded before leaving the hall, closing the front door behind her.

Stefan glanced back at his brother's body before following Liz's footsteps out of the front door; heading towards the one place that he knew would be safe. Elena's house. Damon wouldn't do anything in front of his girlfriend.