Damon heaved over the vamp, blood and saliva dripping from his mouth. He stares vacantly into the forest. He could feel a change in him, he just wasn't sure what it is exactly. Maybe it's a part of his mental state and it is crumbling and he can't control it. His hunger is worsening, although the lanky vamp's blood can help him sustain it awhile.

The last drop of its blood slides right off Damon's tongue, onto his moist lips and dripping off into his belly button as he sits back. His breathing slows and he feels like he's in control again. The bitter and salty taste of the lanky vamp's blood is left on his tongue. He regrets biting the vamp, but he was caught in a fury. In a twist of rage. The sun boils his skin like water on a stove. So badly, he checked to see if his ring is on him and intact. It is.

The vamp blood could keep him going for a few hours, maybe less or more. But even Damon knows that if he doesn't find some human blood soon, he'll starve to a slow and patiently. A kind of starvation even the sun would give a round of applause.

Damon lays back, lying uncomfortably close to the lanky vamp. He didn't care though; it's the last thing running through his mind. He's thinking of Mystic Falls. The scenery. The people and places. He doesn't dare delve into the heavy things about home. The things that'll make him question his existence again, or arouse certain feelings he doesn't want to deal with. He just thinks of a picturesque and simplistic Mystic Falls.

"What am I going to do?" He says to himself. The lanky vamp's body twitches and Damon looks at him. Suddenly, the lanky vamp's eyes open and he rushes to a tree, trying to get as far as possible from Damon.

"You're one of THEM!" He cries, pointing at Damon with his back against the tree.

"What?" Damon asks, sitting up. "What are you talking about?"

"But you're different!" His skinny finger shakes. "You're a hybrid?"

"No!" Damon stands to his feet in a quick motion, making the lanky vamp jump back. "You need to chill."

The lanky vamp raises his eyebrows. "Chill?! You tried to eat me."

"Correction. I did." Damon walks towards him and the vamp shakes his head, grasping onto the tree.

"Stay away from me," the vamp says through his nerves. "I'm already dying, and I'd rather go out in peace."

His last sentence piques Damon's interest. "You're already dying? What do you mean?"

"Just what I said… Every single vampire in this forest is going to die."

Damon walks closer to him. "There's more?"

"Yes— stay back!" The vamp puts his hand out in front of him, in an effort to keep Damon away. Damon sprints to him and grabs his hand, using his vampire speed to whip behind the tree and stretch the vamp's arm around. He grabs his other arm and whips it around the other side. Damon pulls and tugs on each arm, the lanky vamp screeching in pain. The bones in his arms jerk and crack in an attempt to burst through his skin.

"GAHHH!" The vamp screams again, looking up towards the sun.

"Shut up!" Damon yells to him. Putting the hands together, Damon picks up a branch and stabs it through both hands, leaving the vamp stuck to the tree with his arms. In endless and unremorseful pain.

"Why are you doing this to me?" The lanky vamp cries. Damon circles around the tree and stands in front of him.

"Because, you know things I don't know," Damon teases him. He gets closer to the vamp's face, their noses almost touching. "And I'm going to find out."

"But I don't know—"

"Shut up! Didn't I tell you to shut up?" Damon grabs his jaw forcefully. "How're you walking the sun, hm?"

The vamp doesn't answer him. Damon walks behind the tree to examine the vamp's hands. He crouches to look at them. He chuckles. There is a ring.

"A ring, huh?" Damon says. He circles back around to the vamp. "Now I'm going to ask you a series of questions and if you do not answer these questions I am going to RIP that ring finger off. Got it?"

"But, what if I don't know the answer?" The lanky vamp says, sweat rolling down his cheek.

"Then that's just too bad." Damon shrugs. "First things first. Where's Bonnie Bennett?" The lanky vamp shakes his head. "Fine. We'll come back to that. Next, what's your name?"

"It's Ross."

Damon nods, starting to pace in front of Ross. "Before, you said I was one of them. What were you talking about?"

"They're vampires, except rabid and primitive in nature."

"And where are they?"

"Here. In this forest," Ross's voice is adamant and on edge. Damon sensed a fear lingering around Ross. He stops pacing and feels the urge to try to calm him.

"Look, Ross, don't take this personally. I'm just desperate. I'm hungry and I'm lost. And I need her. I need someone," Damon says to him, his eyes downcast.

"Let me— Let me help you. Who is it?" Ross asks. He genuinely wanted to help. Damon is stronger and meaner than him at the moment, Ross would be a fool to try and face him again. Now that his companion is frying to death in the middle of the ocean, it'd be smart to find someone else to cling to. To look to as an ally. "Is it the Bonnie girl?"

Damon's eyes shot up. "Do you know where she is?"

"No! But I can help you locate her. Track her. I…" Ross loses his train of thought.

"She's about ye high, caramely-sandish skin, very judgmental, and these eyes… You can't miss them."

"I'm sorry, I haven't seen her… But can I ask you a question?"

"What?"

"You're not from around here, are you?"

"No."

"See. We can work together. I can help you get your friend back. I can tell you everything there is to know about this place. I'm like an encyclopedia— I've been here long enough. Just please, let me go. I… I communicate better when I'm not under duress."

Damon stopped listening after Ross said he could help him find Bonnie. After that, he just rolled his eyes and wished Ross would shut up. His voice was piercing Damon's ears. It's whiny and high-pitched.

Damon walks around the tree and grabs ahold of Ross' hands. "If you flake out on me Ross…" Damon says as he twists the branch inside Ross' hands. "I will take your ring finger and shove it in your left eye."

Damon pulls the branch out of Ross' hands and Ross collapses to his knees, clutching his hands together. Damon walks back around to Ross.

"They aren't healing." Damon says, actually concerned. But not for Ross' wellbeing, but his own. He understands he's deteriorating, but even then he should heal.

"Tell me something I don't know," Ross replies, gazing at the ground.

Damon shifts his head to the side, keeping his eyes on Ross. He's confused by that statement.

"What do you mean, 'tell me something I don't know'?" Damon mocks him.

Ross looks up at Damon. "It means I'm going to die. There's nothing left here… at least not for our kind."

Damon kneels next to him. "Well, I don't belong here. So I don't care, and you said you'd help me."

"I will!"

Damon grabs his arm to pull him up. "Well! Let's start. Follow me."

Damon stands before the shore, wishing he could dive into the water. Every bone in his body is vibrating, he is itching; the urge to search the entire ocean for the one girl who has saved and can save him again, is unrelenting. His journey home is being hindered because his hope is declining. Returning without Bonnie would be a tragedy. Elena could break all over again, and worst of all Damon would blame himself. But he is torn. He can feel himself diminishing into starvation mode and turning into an unstable creature of the night. He doesn't want that to happen. He doesn't need that to happen. His impulses are a side effect of the natural friction occurring in his mind. It took him a while to realize this, and even longer to understand it. It's this reason that he's drawn to conflict because he is of a conflicting nature himself.

As he casts a dark shadow over the cusp of the shore line, he mouths word: I'm sorry, while scanning the area of the ocean. He feels compelled to apologize. What for? He doesn't know, he just feels he has to.

"Don't get too close, remember!" Ross warns him, creating a small bonfire by assembling rocks around a pit. "The ocean is immersed in vervain."

"Yeah… Why is that?"

"Because. It's a part of the new order."

Damon turns around to Ross. "The new order? Okay, what the hell is this place?"

"Well, here? It's the land of the Forgotten. Which is just… an accumulation of rabid, immoral vampires running amok. After all of the humans here were drained, there was nothing left but us."

"You mean to tell me there are a vampires with switched off humanity attacking any moving thing?" asks Damon as his eyes grow attentive.

"Basically. But, they were stripped of their humanity. There's no way they can get it back."

"What about you? You're here, you're a vampire, why aren't you going psychotic?"

"I had a companion… the one you… killed. It helps when you have someone, they can keep you sane and… somewhat human. Plus, we were lucky enough to escape the torture and keep our humanity."

Damon sighs and closes his eyes tight. The anxiety begins to chill his bones and put him in a place that he's not too unfamiliar with: Caring about Bonnie.

He turns and points towards the ocean. "I caught her scent. Bonnie's. She's somewhere out there."

Ross' mouth drops. He stands up in a slow motion, trying to think of the right way to tell Damon where Bonnie could be. Damon turns back around and sees him.

"You know something?" Damon asks, begging him. Ross' fear closed him off. He wanted to tell Damon, but he's scared of the reaction he'll get.

"You don't want to know."

"YES I DO!"

"But… you love her."

"I—" Damon is caught off guard by the assumption. The complicated and intricate word love brought forth memories in Damon's mind he wouldn't dare forget.

It's never going to get any better than this… I peaked, he remembers telling Elena. His mouth agape. A soft, but swollen look on his face, he looks Ross straight in the eyes. And not with dangerous intent or malevolence, but a more approachable and endearing look. Ross; A lanky, pathetic guy but as wise as they come.

"I… it's just that I'm always saving her, and she's usually saving me… no matter how many foolish things I've done."

Ross shrugs. "It's the same look Kev used to show me…" Ross shakes his head as he realizes the conversation diverting back to the original situation at hand. "I just don't want you to lose hope."

"If you know this, Ross. You need to tell me!" Damon grabs hold of his shoulders and shakes him. "TELL ME!"

"There's a nest of… of vampire-like monsters underwater. She could have been taken."

Damon paces away, holding his head in displeasure. His jaw tightens as he tries to dispel the anger from his body. He has to approach this situation with more intelligence and less spontaneity.

"How do we get down there?" Damon asks. "And THINK before you say there is not a way!"

"Uh…" Ross itches his head and averts his eyes.

Damon shoves pass him. "We need to get firewood, cut down some trees, something." He marches off into the forest. Ross follows Damon diligently, putting his hands behind him.

"What do you plan to do?" Ross asks as they walked through the forest.

"I'm gathering firewood, just in case Bonnie comes back."

"I know where some is… where Laz and I slept last." Ross runs ahead of Damon, waving for him to follow. Damon runs behind him.

They trek up a hill in the forest entering a vast, open field with turquoise colored grass. The grass looked a bit frosted on the tips. Damon looks around and everything seemed familiar to him.

"What's this place?" Damon asks.

"It's a supposedly forbidden place here among the Forgotten," Ross explains. "Strange things happen," He says jokingly.

Damon clutches his chest, feeling a jolt. Ross stands behind him, consumed by surprise and belief. Damon's ribs push through his chest, creating a pain he had never felt before. His neck twists abruptly, meeting Ross' face. Ross screams and Damon starts to see something weird.

Him and Bonnie. She's lying in the middle of the grass, naked and soaked in some liquid. He lays his jacket on her as she awakes. He sees her face: submerged in innocence and played with by Satan. They have an exchange, and Damon can feel himself converge into the visual…

"Here, let me help you," Damon pulls Bonnie up off the ground. She looks around, snuggled in Damon's jacket. Walking forward, her curiosity pulls her away. "Bonnie…"

Damon catches up with her. "Where are you going?"

She holds up her hand in front him and he rolls his eyes. Her gaze is fixated on some point.

"I feel like I've been here before," Bonnie says under her breath. She looks up. The sky is grey and cloudy. The air still and peaceful. There is a spark between Bonnie and the environment she is in— something new, something different. And it's not just the fact that it's a different place, but she can feel an aura about it that's so strangely intoxicating. From the beautiful visuals to the contrite, grainy trees. She's enveloped in the colorfulness, the weirdness of this space.

"Then it'd be nice to turn on your Bonnie senses and tell me where we are," Damon tells her, observing the environment also. He turns around and sees even more land, surrounded by pillars of trees but still seemingly limitless in its content. The grass reflects a blueish-green hue onto Bonnie's glossy toes as Damon looks on. He smirks at the sight.

"I can't… make out what I'm feeling. It's different. It's…" Bonnie stands in front of Damon, placing her hands on his cheeks. He shivers, startled.

"Woah," He says, trying to catch his breath. "You're cold."

"You feel that?" Bonnie nods at him.

"Of course I feel it," says Damon as he moves Bonnie's hands. "Bonnie, what are we doing?"

She shakes her head. "This area… it's different. But I can't figure out what it is." She looks up at Damon and he sees the eagerness in her eyes.

Bonnie looks away, thinking Damon is lost in his own world. He doesn't remember the tragic journey to this place, so how could he understand what she is feeling?

In an instant, Damon is converted back into the real world. He's staring at the grass, it's light blue tips intriguing.

"You're neck! It… It twisted," Ross screams from behind him. The pain lingered from his neck to his chest. He picks himself up and rubs it.

"This place… it's where I came from," Damon says to Ross. "This is where Bonnie and I were brought after we died."

"Died? You never told me that."

"The opportunity never came, but I remember. Between arriving here and finding the beach, I must have blacked out or something."

"Maybe this place had an effect on you…"

"I don't know, let's just keep moving."

As the sun set and night began to move in, Damon sat before a fire with his arms rested upon his knees and took it all in. Ross fell asleep a few feet away from Damon, but Damon couldn't sleep. His hunger seems to have weakened which only weakened his physical capabilities even further. And after regaining a patch of his memory and suffering through the torment of it, he feels even less inclined to go on.

A restlessness quaked through him. He poked at the fire with a branch, trying to keep it going, and broke the branch in the process. A mix of restlessness and frustration put a rise on his anxiety. And he is adamant on making sure this fire lasts through the night, even if that means he gets no rest. Bonnie Bennett could waltz through that water right now, not a cut or scratch on her, and be perfectly fine. That's the kind of thing he is hoping will happen. And as soon as he gets her back, they will formulate a plan to return to Mystic Falls.

Something snapped behind him in the forest. He quickly stood up and faced the forest, searching for any sudden movements. A girl appeared, naked. The same girl who resembled Bonnie.

"I thought you were dead?" Damon questions her.

"You vampires are so foolish…" The girl says, walking closer to Damon. "So self-righteous."

Damon sees the large wound where Ross and his friend sucked her blood. She twirls her neck and the wound heals fast.

"What the hell are you?"

"I'm a witch," She holds out her hand, boiling Damon's brains from the inside. Blood leaks from his ears as he holds his head, falling slowly to the ground. "And, see, witches are immortal."

Ross' eyes open slowly. He looks over and sees the girl he'd killed, killing Damon. He froze in shock.

The girl glanced at Ross and paid him no mind. She's interested in Damon.

"Wow… you're a different kind of vampire." She kneels next to him, putting her hand on his cheek. She begins to draw circles with her finger. Damon pushes her hand away and snaps her neck. His head still boiling from her magic.

He lets out a loud sigh of relief when the pain goes away. Ross stands up and runs over to Damon.

"Are you alright?" He asks.

"Yeah, I just hope she's telling the truth," Damon says, glaring at her body with captivating eyes.

"About what?"

"About her immortality."

"You want her to come alive? So, she can try to kill us again? You don't get it. Witches do this for fun."

"But she's…" He's still glaring at her, vaguely comparing her eyes to Bonnie's. "She could be my ticket to finding Bonnie."

"I'm not staying here for that— I won't." Damon doesn't let it phase him that Ross is not in on his plan, but he could care less. The universe has been moving mountains to keep Damon consumed in stress, but this is the first time he feels the universe could be on his side. He knows this girl is the key to finding Bonnie.

Ross stands up. "I'm leaving. It was nice knowing you… and your abs," He says. Damon averts his eyes in Ross' direction. "Okay, then."

Ross, as scared as can be, set out to be on his own. He'd rather be that than be in the vicinity of a sociopathic witch. But Damon risked it. For her.

He studied the girl in her lifeless body, sitting next to her. His apprehensive eyes taking their time as he appreciates her big, round orbs to her petite nose. He notices a tattoo on the right side of her neck. It's written "KB". He reaches for her, his hand hovering over her face. He's inclined to feel her. His land lays rest on her cheeks and a cold shiver is sent through his hand. He pulls her body onto his, propping her head up onto his chest. The blood still moving swiftly through her bones; he can smell it. A smell identical to Bonnie's. He knows he has to keep his composure. This girl is his one chance of finding Bonnie. He can't bite her. He only waits. He waits for her to wake.

Dawn moves into the land of the Forgotten as Damon watches the water come up the shore. It's kept him occupied all night, and his mind off the hunger that's swallowing him inch by inch. The girl's heart begins to beat. Damon looks down and her eyes open. She sees Damon's bony and angular face matched with the paleness of a grey sky. Her reaction was to bounce back, her bottom teeth stick out of her mouth in anger.

"You killed me," The girl says through her teeth.

"I just wanted to see if you were bluffing," Damon says raising his eyebrow. She sees her clothes scattered on the beach.

"I was looking for these!" She stands up to grab them. Damon watches her as if she is a type of meat he wanted to devour. His vision becoming hazy again.

"I need your help…" He says, barely audible. She hears him though, because a smirk crawls upon her mouth.

"My help?" She laughs, putting her clothes back on.

Damon flashes in front of her, two inches away from her face. "My friend…"

"The vampire?"

"No, the witch!" Damon says with delight.

"Who is she?" asks the girl, suddenly interested.

"Her names Bonnie. And she's witch a too. She's in the ocean somewhere!"

"Really! And you want to save her…"

"I have to."

The girl circles Damon, noticing he's falling apart. It's only a matter of time before he explodes. He sees her tattoo again.

"What's 'KB' stand for?" He asks her.

She touches her tattoo lightly. "It's my name. Kaya," She knocks Damon back into the air with her power. "The B stands for back ya ass up!" He falls onto the shore line and begins to fry.

"AHHHH!" He tries to run but she keeps him there, walking towards him with her hand held out.

"I'll help you," She says. The burning sensation leaves Damon's body. He doesn't feel anything anymore. He looks at his hands and body, confused.

"What happen?"

"I told you, I can help you. But there's always a price… for me using this kind of magic. And I like you…?" She waits for him to say his name.

"Damon."

"Damon…" says Kaya, seductively. She chuckles. "I definitely like you now."

Damon stands to his feet. "So, you'll help me?"

"As long as I get to have your humanity. It's fading, anyway, you might as well just give it to me." Damon thinks about this for a minute.

"No. I won't let you do that."

"Fine. I'll just take it myself." Before she could place a spell on Damon, he launches at her and grabs her arm to twist it.

"OR I'LL JUST RIP YOUR LIMBS OFF MYSELF AND TOSS THEM IN THE OCEAN! TIE A LARGE BRICK AROUND YOUR TORSO AND DUMP YOU IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEA! THEN YOU CAN DROWN OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN!" Damon pushes her away and she falls to the ground, moaning.

"Oh my god…" She licks her lips while her arm twists back into place. "That was so sexy. I want your humanity… or no deal."

Damon closes his eyes tight in frustration. "You know, you remind me of someone." He walks up to her and they shake hands.

"It's a deal. Your humanity is mine… may I ask— You're from somewhere else, aren't you?" She stares at him with admiring eyes, wondering how she got to meet such a beautiful and majestic creature. "Another kind, huh?" Damon nods.

Damon lowers himself into the water. With Kaya's protection spell, the vervain is only a tickle on his body. He opens his eyes. The water is dense and opaque, but he moves forward anyway. Kaya is a tricky, manipulative girl— how long will she keep the spell going before she lets Damon boil? He doesn't stop moving to find out. He swims forward, using the ocean bottom as force. Damon drops abruptly, further into the abyss as the ocean bottom disappears. His feet found ground, and he continues moving forward until a body hits him, head first. He's his knocked back, almost unconscious. Dizzy, he stumbles, losing his footing. He feels another coming at him and dodges it, just in the knick of time.

He sees a glowing blue circle out in front of him. When he reaches it, he puts his hand through and it's some sort of portal. He walks in it, not wasting any time and falls into a grey rotunda. A girl hisses at him and attacks him. Damon snaps her neck, looking back up from where he fell. The portal is there, glowing and blue in radiance.

He steps over the girls' dead body and walks into a hallway. Torches are lit on the walls and the ground is covered in dirt. He sprints down the hall arriving in another rotunda. He stands on a balcony, hanging over what looks like a cafeteria. It's empty.

He walks down the dilapidated staircase and into the cafeteria. It's not empty after all. He sees two children in ragged clothing, sleeping under a wooden picnic table. His fangs elongate and eyes turn dark red as the children's heartbeats fill his mind with temptation. He shakes his head, trying to fight off the feeling and sprints to the other side of the room. That's when he sees a door on the side where he just was. He sprints to that door, opening and closing it quickly.

Leaning on the wall, trying to endure the pain and hunger, he looks over to see a corridor. He stumbles down the corridor, kicking up dirt in his path, and busts down every door; scaring families, who looked trenched in poverty. He ran into old men, begging him for something to eat.

"How about you give me something?" Damon says to a poor, old man. Then he throws him into a wall, trying to hold onto his humanity a little while longer. As he trudges along, he trips and falls down a long, dark staircase into an area with white tiled flooring.

Incapable of standing up, he rolls over and sees a light shining down on him. A lady in a black pea coat leans over him, a beret over her head. Damon's hunger kicks in and he can't contain it any longer. His fangs elongate and she screams, trying to run. But Damon grabs ahold of her ankle, tripping her. He slowly reels her in while she kicks him the face and yells for help, but it doesn't stop him. His vision is hazy and red, but all he sees is food. He uses his other hand to reach for her calf, and his other to grab her knee. And he when he gets ahold of her thigh, he quickly climbs onto her body flipping her over in the process. He stares into her eyes and compels her not scream.

Damon runs down the white halls in search of Bonnie, wiping the blood off his mouth. There are alarms going off and an emergency evacuation is in effect. Someone must have found that lady's body. And now, they're looking for Damon. The hall he's is a circle; he runs back to the area where he'd killed that lady. A blonde boy is standing over her body, he sees Damon and is infuriated. His sharp teeth bulge out of his mouth and he charges at Damon. They wrestle each other until Damon realizes how overpowered he is over him and throws him at a wall. The blonde one rolls on his back, coughing in pain.

"Wait! Stop!" Damon looks up and sees a chunky girl. Jenica. "Don't hurt him just… tell me what you want!"

"Bonnie. Bennett."

Damon looks through the small opening in the door and he sees Bonnie smiling. Joy emanates off Bonnie and into Damon. He becomes elated to see she's okay… then he breaks the door down. It flies in whipping at Luca, who ducks.

Bonnie sees Damon and runs to him. She hugs him, her face pressed against his crisp and cold chest. Damon sees Luca standing. He glares at him and Luca presents an amicable smile. Bonnie pulls away and hears the sirens and alarms going off.

"This room is sound proof?" Bonnie says, mad. She turns around and looks at Luca, biting her jaw. "Did you know about this?"

"It—It doesn't matter. He's here," Luca says.

"How is he—" Damon says.

Bonnie cuts him off. "I'll explain later, let's just get the hell out of here."

"Right after you."

Bonnie turns around to Luca. She nods for him to follow. "I'm not leaving you down here."

"And I'm not saving him too." Damon demands.

"He doesn't deserve this, Damon. None of these people do." She waves for Luca to follow as she walks out of the room. Damon looks at the ground remembering the first section he entered when he got here. Seeing those children and those families… She was right.

"DAMON!" Bonnie screams. He runs out to find a tall, olive-toned man clutching Bonnie's neck. It's Allind. Damon sprints to him, but stops when he hears the blonde one's voice calling from behind.

"I wouldn't do that," The blonde one says, holding Luca. "Or he gets it."

"Is this a joke?" Damon asks, chuckling. He sprints to Allind and pushes his thumbs into his eyeballs. Bonnie watches him with a disturbed look as Allind passes out. The blonde one tries to snatch Bonnie, grabbing her from behind but she counters him, tossing him over her back. Damon sees this and is impressed. He claps, sarcastically.

"Let's just go," She says, but as she walks away, the blonde one grabs her ankle and Damon smashes his face into the ground with his foot. Blood splatters on their legs.

"Was all that really necessary?" Bonnie asks.

"You need to learn how to necessarily deal with a threat. And that's how you do it."

Bonnie walks away from Damon, catching up to Luca. Damon sighs, following them from behind.

They advance to the cafeteria where the Royalty stood, revenge in their eyes. Damon stands in front of Bonnie, pointing towards the staircase.

"Go," He tells her. "GO!"

She and Luca run up the staircase. She stops. "I'm not leaving you, Damon," He says.

"I'll… I'll meet you up there," He tells her so she'd go. He just needed her to be safe. And happy. But Damon knows Bonnie as well as he knows himself. She will not be happy until the people she cares about is safe. Damon considered the idea of Bonnie caring about him. He glances at her again to see her glance back also, her mouth almost frowning as Luca pulls her away.

He shakes his head at the hundred or so of people dressed in formal wear standing before him. Their blood isn't the most satisfying, but it's tasty with the right suck.

"I am going to eat ALL OF YOU," Damon says in a deep, commanding voice.