Hey guys, thanks for all your reviews; I am taking your criticisms on board. Hope you enjoy this chapter! Zoë xx

"What the hell happened in there?" Damon asked, walking out after Katherine into the car park.

She raked her shaking hands through her now sweaty curls, getting her fingers tangled in her hair. Her leather pants seemed to stick to her and her high-necked blouse was pressing. Katherine had to resist the urge to rip both off of her person.

Walking away from Damon and lifting her head to the sky, she tried to calm herself.

One image, one image that had set her off like this.

'Oh, and the promise of death.' A voice reminded her.

That was it for her.

She may be a bad-ass, impatient, gorgeous Vampire but underneath all that, parts of that sweet, docile girl remained from centuries ago and right now she couldn't cope with the pressing thoughts of death and being threatened by God knows what.

Not since Klaus.

When Klaus had found her in Fell's Church and killed that young girl, Katherine had been furious. He was her problem. He wanted revenge on her. Nobody else should've got involved or been affected.

Stefan had insisted on helping with his girlfriend, Elena. Katherine hadn't been keen on bringing a human into this but when she had met her everything had frozen.

Elena looked exactly like her.

The hair was straight and more blonde. And sure she was a few inches taller but her face was exactly the same as hers.

She had been unnerved at first, they both had, but as they had got to know each other she realised that she quite liked her as a friend. Elena was fun, witty, intelligent and kind.

During the fight with Klaus, her Guardian Power had been unlocked in a blast of white light that had knocked Klaus clean off of his feet.

Even now, Elena was working on mustering up the same amount of Power.

And, Katherine thought dizzily, if there was a new threat, how were they going to fight it?

The tube lights inside the car park blurred around her. Her feet became unsteady in her heeled boots and she felt herself sway dizzily.

Damon ran forward to catch her as everything went dark.

Elena dived into the water from the ridge above. Her gold bikini glinted in the sunlight as she swam back to the surface. Stefan looked over at her lovingly as he turned the burgers on the barbecue.

She put her shirt back on and went over to kiss him, the lightest peck on the lips.

Her arms stayed around his neck and he could hear the barbecue sizzling next to them. "Having fun?" She asked, smiling up at him.

Dropping another kiss on her lips he replied, "You're here, so of course."

"I'm offended." Meredith said dryly, reaching for a soda from the cool box.

She was bone dry despite having just dived before Elena. It kind of made her look more flawless and stunning than ever.

There was a splash behind them as Bonnie dived into the water. Stefan glanced over, feeling the strangest dark presence near the water.

Her eyes were shining like brown orbs as she got out of the water by the cluster of trees. "Did you see that? I've never dived so-"

A paw fastened around her ankle and yanked her into the trees behind them. The fear in those innocent brown eyes drove Stefan forward as he raced into the bushes. He hadn't fed for nearly a week but he had just enough Power to go after her.

"Bonnie!" He yelled. The leaves shook as he burst through the trees yet he made no noise sprinting through the forest.

Stefan directed power to her eyes and scanned the forest around him. After about a mile, he could sense her aura. It was waning like a fading light. His stomach flipped over in fear; she was just an innocent young girl. The thought of her being hurt was like imagining a bird falling from a tree.

The dark presence was stronger hear, thick as fog to his Vampire vision. His spine had chills constantly running down it, chills of terror.

Blood scented his nose and he snapped his head to the right to see a trail of red.

Bonnie? Are you there? He asked telepathically for precaution but remembered if the attacker was supernatural, they would probably hear him anyway.

A crumpled figure lay among some branches, blood smeared across the forest floor surrounding them. A shock of red hair identified her as Bonnie. Her arms were splayed out around her and there were twigs in her hair like she had been dragged here.

He deliberated for a moment, torn between feeding her blood and searching for the attacker.

Screw it. Stefan thought, biting it to his wrist and sitting Bonnie up.

Her pulse was faint but there. He exhaled a gust of air, wondering why this felt so wrong.

Maybe because he only shared blood with Elena and that was an act of love. Feeding blood to anyone else but his Elena felt wrong. It felt strangely intimate.

Thank God they knew what he was, they had discovered it when Klaus-an Old One-had decided to visit town. He remembered the revulsion on their face which had morphed into understanding as they accepted the explanation behind all the strange events happening in town.

Klaus had started the curse for Tyler Smallwood by making him feed on Vicki Donovan's blood to make him a werewolf. He had almost exposed all that was supernatural in Fell's Church.

But they had managed to stop him.

Bonnie spluttered underneath him and his attention was back to her. A spot of red was on her chin, startling against her pale skin. "Stefan?" She whispered feebly.

He glanced at her before scooping her up into his arms. "What attacked you?" Stefan asked, harsher than intended.

Tears shined in her eyes as she stared hollowly at him. Something even worse than dread was in her gaze, "It was a fox, a red and black fox with golden eyes."

Damon sat on the floor of the car park with Katherine in his arms. Her curls fell over his arm as he held her tightly. Her mind had been frantic over some streak of dread which he was on the verge of discovering before she had passed out.

But that was the funny thing, Vampires didn't faint.

A very drunk couple stumbled into the car park. They were shouting in slurred voices and smelling strongly of alcohol. The girl's hair was fake-blonde and the guy looked old enough to be her father.

"You okay?" The guy questioned with a drunken smile.

Wrinkling his nose, he picked Katherine up and laid her on the trunk of the car. These pesky humans were getting on his nerves at the wrong time. His jaw shifted and his canines grew in irritation. He spun around, faster than the human eye could follow.

Damon jumped on the guy, snapping his neck after one whiff of his blood. The girl didn't look alarmed but clapped her hands like a child watching a magic trick. He didn't bat an eyelid as he grabbed her by the hair.

She cried out when Damon yanked her down to expose her throat. He sunk his fangs into her neck not at all gently. The girl writhed underneath him, crying out.

Damon felt a thrill go through him as her life force transferred into him. It was like an energy boost and it surged the Power inside him. He kept on drinking, keeping the flow of energy between them until her heart gave up and there was no more blood in her body.

He let her drop to the floor with a thump, wiping his mouth with the edge of his sleeve. That was his first kill in years. Katherine discouraged killing humans, saying that it was immoral.

Katherine

Who was lying on the trunk of his car. He needed help. He had to call Stefan.

Hands trembling, Damon pulled his mobile out of his pocket.