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"What did you do to her?!" Damon velvety voice was no longer cool and controlled.
Elena struggled to sit up. Damon had a huge knot on his forehead and a swollen eye. Blood trickled down his chin. Yet she had never seen him this furious before. His knuckles were white from clenching them so hard, dark eyes flashing with fury.
And then she Bonnie. Elena gasped and brought her hand to her mouth. Bonnie's left arm was placed flat against her chest, her right one outstretched in front of her face as if she were protecting herself. Her eyes were wide with horror, lips parted slightly. She wasn't moving. She wasn't blinking. She wasn't breathing at all. Bonnie had been turned into stone.
The only good thing about the whole situation was that everyone had stopped trying to kill each other to gape at her friend.
"Bloody hell." The bleach blonde vampire with the thick British accent broke the silence. "You turned her into stone, Medusa!"
"I'm sure it was a mistake. Right, Willow?" The guy with wavy dark hair chuckled nervously as he wrapped an arm tightly around the girl with dirty blonde hair.
Willow fidgeted, inching closer to the girl she'd been trying to protect. "At least I didn't kill her."
Elena carefully made her way to Bonnie and Damon, glancing over her shoulder in case any of the foreigners were plotting something against her. But everyone was deadly still and silent. The expression Damon wore was neutral but Elena knew better. She knew he was silently agonizing inside.
Strangely enough, Elena didn't feel envious or possessive when Damon brought his hand up and stroked Bonnie's cheek, his face contorting into a mask of pain and anger. Apprehensively, she mimicked his actions, reaching out to touch her friend's face. It was no longer smooth and warm, no longer able to dent into deep dimples when she laughed. Instead, it felt sharp and jagged.
Damon lay his hand on the small of Elena's back. That was enough to make her fall into his arms and burst into tears.
"Meredith!" Stefan yelped suddenly. "Watch out!"
"Slayer! No!" Another cry.
Elena whirled around. Meredith fell to her knees, clutching a bloody stake driven into her stomach. Then there was Buffy. Her eyes were wide, glistening with unshed tears as she stared in horror at what she'd done.
"I didn't know..." Buffy raised a hand to her mouth. She staggered back. "I thought you were a vampire.."
"Get her in the house!" A soft voice called out. Mrs. Flowers was standing in the doorway, "Now!"
Everyone sprung into action. While Stefan carefully carried Meredith inside, Elena and Matt raced into the kitchen with Mrs. Flowers.
Matt gathered an armful of gauzes and cloths, Elena filled a bowl with warm water, and Mrs. Flowers dug through her cabinet of herbs until she found the jar labeled 'Healing'.
"Go. Go help Meredith. I'll be right out." Mrs. Flowers ushered the two of them out of the kitchen when she realized they were waiting for her.
"We're only going to take a look at the wound. Okay, Mere?" Elena knelt down beside Meredith, who was laying across the loveseat. She brushed aside the hair matted to Meredith's sweaty forehead.
"We're going to have to cut through her shirt." Stefan concluded.
"Here." Damon seemed to appear out of thin air as he reached over Elena and Matt and handed his brother a knife.
"Don't move." Stefan ordered as he dug the blade into the fabric. After cutting a big hole around the area where the stake pierced her skin, he signaled for Matt to pass him a cloth and dipped it into the water.
Meredith winced, reaching for Elena's hand as Stefan wiped the away the drying blood.
"It looks terrible." Matt grimaced.
"And it's only going to get worse." Damon proclaimed, eyes flaming. "If you want her to survive, little brother, you're going to have to take the stake out. Fast."
"He's right." Stefan said quietly.
"Do...it." Meredith choked out. Her face was dangerously pale, forehead covered in beads of sweat.
"It'll be quick, I promise." Stefan wrapped his hands around the stake. "Ready?"
Meredith nodded. She squeezed her eyes shut and gripped Elena's hand tighter when she felt Stefan put pressure on it. Elena cringed when Stefan yanked the stake out and Meredith cried out in pain. Stefan tossed the bloody stake to his brother, who rid himself of it by crushing it into dust.
Stefan carefully cleaned the gash and studied it.
"It's not too deep. If you want, I can..." Stefan trailed off in hesitation.
"What?" pressed Matt.
"You're weak." Damon snapped. Stefan's head shot up. He glared at him.
Get out of my head.
Don't be stupid, little brother.
I fed this morning.
On animals!
"What were you going to say, Stefan?" Elena interrupted the brothers' telepathic conversation. "Can we hurry up here?"
"He wants to feed Meredith his blood." Damon said flatly. "But he's too weak."
"Elena, do you want to save her or not?" Stefan demanded.
"Yes!" exclaimed Elena. "But I don't want you to get hurt! We can find another way."
"I can handle-"
"No. You can't." Damon bit into his wrist and knelt down. "I'll do it." He quickly shoved his wrist into Meredith's mouth. She fidgeted and attempted to pull away. Damon glowered. "Do you want to die? Get over yourself, Scary Mary." Meredith rolled her eyes but stopped squirming.
Damon let his blood flow freely into Meredith's mouth for a few seconds. Then he pulled his hand away and licked the cut shut. Already, Meredith was looking better. Her eyes weren't as sunken as before and color was returning to her cheeks.
"Here, dear." Mrs. Flowers finally came out of the kitchen. She handed Meredith a large mug.
Meredith sniffed the green liquid before taking a small sip and humming in pleasure. "Thank you, Mrs. Flowers. It's wonderful."
"What's that, Mrs. Flowers?" Matt pointed to a plastic baggie the elderly woman held. Inside was a deformed looking, bronze colored leaf.
Mrs. Flowers unzipped the baggie and held the leaf up. "This, my dear, is an enchanted healing herb."
Elena, Stefan, and Matt watched in awe as Mrs. Flowers' wrinkled hands crushed the herb into tiny pieces. She sprinkled the fine grains onto Meredith's wound, making sure to evenly distribute them out. The specks of crushed herb gleamed a brilliant silver for the tiniest fraction of a second before going back to its original rusty hue.
Mrs. Flowers mussed Meredith's dark hair. "You need to rest, darling."
"I'm exhausted." Meredith admitted. Smiling up at them gratefully, she murmured. "Thank you. I don't know what I'd do without you all." Then she rested her head back on a pillow, tired gray eyes drifting shut.
Damon burst through the front door, stone Bonnie settled between his muscular arms. He carefully set her down on the wooden floor. Gesturing her way, he crossed his arms, demanding. "What are we going to do about this?"
Elena chewed on her nails anxiously. Yeah, they still had a lot to figure out.
A/N: Thanks for the great reviews. No Buffy POV this chapter. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter even though it's sort of short and I'm not sure if I like it or not. Don't forget to tell me what you think.