Author's notes: Another chapter is finished! Happy reading!
As soon as the door opened and Katherine entered the room Damon lunged out trying to catch her off guard. But the female vampire recovered quickly from the sudden attack and fought back. She threw Damon against the wall and went straightly for his neck. Bonnie tried to sneak up on her holding one of the makeshift stakes in her hand. Katherine however was too fast, snatched the wooden piece out of her hands and plunged it swiftly into Damon's right shoulder. Damon cried out in pain and fell onto his knees. Bonnie gasped and looked timidly at Katherine who approached her. "If you weren't so important to me I would kill you right away, you stupid little witch." Katherine hissed.
"But nevertheless you ought to be punished so that you realize your mistake." she added.
Damon watched in horror when Katherine grabbed Bonnie and smashed her into the wall. The young witch immediately collapsed and sunk down onto the floor leaving a trail of blood on the wall.
"No!" Damon screamed and jumped at Katherine once more.
He was still weak because of the vervain but the rage about her attack on Bonnie fueled him. When Katherine buried her sharp teeth again in his neck he pulled the stake out of his shoulder and plunged it right into her heart. She looked at him with a mixture of shock and surprise before her features started to crumble. For a moment he just stood there and stared at her withered body trying to realize that he had actually killed her. But as soon as he spotted Bonnie still lying on the ground he braced himself and hurried over to her unconscious form. He cautiously brushed her dark hair out of her face and ran his hand gently over her forehead.
"Come on Bonnie, wake up. Everything is fine."
But the witch remained unresponsive.
"Bonnie please, don't do this to me." he urged desperately.
Without further thinking he bit into his wrist and held the bleeding wound against Bonnie's lips.
"Please, you have to drink." he whispered.
But Bonnie made no attempt at all and contrary to her head injury his bite wound immediately healed. He could hear her steady heartbeat but it sounded faint.
"Hang on, I'll get you out of here." Damon hushed.
He carefully picked her up and carried her upstairs. Without being seen he made it out of the front door and found himself in the middle of a deep forest. It was dark outside but being a vampire his senses were sharpened and his eyes only needed a couple of seconds to adjust. He looked up into the sky and the stars told him which direction he had to take. Due to Bonnie's head injury he didn't dare to use his vampire speed not wanting to cause any further damage. Time and again he glanced at the witch in his arms and hoped she would just open her eyes and give him her beautiful smile. But her eyes remained closed. He tried to ignore the delicious smell of her blood but he couldn't help himself remembering the sweet taste of it. It had been awhile since he had fed and the smell of Bonnie's blood in his nose let his hunger rise. However it wasn't a problem for him to keep his blood thirst under control, it was just painful. He had just decided to quicken his pace and shifted Bonnie's body in his arms when he could sense another vampire. Two other vampires. He cursed inwardly and considered to run off, but he didn't want to hurt Bonnie. The vampires headed straight toward him and Bonnie and suddenly Damon could also track down a heartbeat. He assumed that those vampires had simply brought their victim into the woods to feed so that he decided to pretend that Bonnie was his midnight snack and kept walking. But when the vampires leaped into view he stopped an looked surprised into three familiar faces. Stefan, Anna and Alaric were standing right in front of him apparently out on search and rescue. They looked equally astonished but also relieved.
"Damon, are you okay? What happened to Bonnie?" Stefan asked and reached out for Bonnie.
"Don't touch her." Damon hissed at his younger brother and held the witch protectively against his chest.
Stefan stepped back and raised his hands in defense.
"It's okay Damon, we're here to help." he said and kept calm.
"What's wrong with him?" Anna asked.
"I guess he's just confused, he went through a lot." Stefan assumed.
"Was it Katherine?" he asked approaching his brother again.
Damon nodded. "I need to bring Bonnie to the hospital."
"My car is not far from here." Alaric said.
Damon hesitated shortly but eventually followed the teacher.
"Damon, what happened to Katherine? Is she still out there?" Stefan asked.
"I killed her." Damon answered monotonously.
Knowing that he wouldn't tell anything else at the moment they didn't press him with further questions and walked in silence. When they reached Alaric's car Damon put Bonnie carefully in the backseat and climbed in next to her. As the space in the car was limited Anna decided to run home while Stefan wanted to stay with his brother and Bonnie. During the car ride to the hospital Damon constantly whispered soothing words to Bonnie who was still lying motionless in his arms. When they finally arrived the hospital Stefan and Damon quickly entered the emergency ward. They were immediately surrounded by doctors and nurses and Damon was forced to let go of Bonnie and put her on a gurney. Stefan had to hold him back when the doctors wheeled the gurney down the corridor and out of his view.
"They are going to help her." Stefan reassured his brother.
Damon sighed and sat down on to one of the plastic chairs in the waiting area. After Alaric had parked his car he also entered the hospital with his cellphone in his hand.
"Anna has already arrived home and informed Elena. She's on the way." he told them and went to find a vending machine to get some coffee.
Stefan nodded and glanced at Damon. The look on Damon's face could only be described as a mixture of desperation and worry. Altogether he looked terrible. He was pale, he had dried blood on his neck and his torn shirt and he was clearly exhausted. But Stefan knew that it would be useless to try to sent him home. Ever since they had become vampires, he had never seen him in such a state. And he could sense that Bonnie had become more than just a friend to Damon. After a short moment of hesitation he took a seat next to Damon and laid a hand on his forearm in order to comfort him. He was completely baffled when he saw a tear rolling down Damon's cheek. Damon quickly wiped it off and stood up trying to hide his tears. He would never allow himself to cry especially not in front of someone else. His father had always equated crying with being weak and he had made it clearly that his oldest son wasn't supposed to show any kind of weakness. But right now he was so full of sorrow that he simply couldn't stop the tears from falling. He tried to escape from Stefan's glances by walking away but was stopped when Stefan grabbed his arm.
"Bonnie is going to be fine." he said softly.
"What if she isn't?" Damon asked quietly and finally faced his brother.
Instead of answering Stefan pulled him into a brotherly hug to comfort him. At first it was a bit awkward for both of them since they hadn't embraced each other for nearly 150 years. Damon was tense but eventually relaxed in his brother's arms and hugged him back.
"This is all my fault. I didn't protect her." Damon whispered.
"I'm pretty sure that Bonnie would object and so do I. I don't what happened during the last hours but I do know how strong Katherine was. And the fact that you killed her is proof enough that you protected Bonnie properly."
When he eventually let go of Damon the tears that he had cried were still visible. Damon felt slightly ashamed and once again wanted to turn away.
"It's okay, Damon." Stefan reassured him and patted his shoulder.
"Thank you."
