Author's Note:

I borrowed the general theory for the end of this chapter from the show, I apologize if this chapter is totally boring.

Thanks for reading and reviewing :-)

Damon's P.O.V.

After Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline had been gone for about three hours, I began worrying. I knew girls spent awhile shopping, but this wasn't like Elena to be gone for so long. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Bonnie, who answered sounding slightly worn out.

"What do you want, Damon?" she asked wearily.

"Look, I hate to interrupt your girl's day out, but I need to talk to Elena and she isn't answering her phone," I explained.

"Girl's day out? Damon, I'm used to you being a little off in the head, but what the hell are you talking about?" she asked impatiently.

"Elena said you, her, and Caroline were going to the mall today for a girl's day. She's been gone for three hours now," I said, worry spreading through me.

"I've been home all day," she said.

"Oh hell," I muttered. This was not good.

I hung up without another word and called Caroline, who had been the one to help Elena last time. Fear was starting to cloud my thoughts and actions.

"Hello?" Caroline answered.

"Where is Elena?" I asked, cutting straight to the chase.

"I had a feeling you were going to call soon. She should've been back by now," she said. Apparently she wasn't going to bother with trying to lie about Elena's whereabouts. That was a good thing, because I was getting very impatient very fast. And if Blondie didn't start talking soon, I was going to scream.

"She went to see Katherine," she blurted out.

"Again?" I said confusedly.

Confusion was quickly replaced by fear again, and I closed my phone and tucked it into my pocket. I took off out of the house and ran to the tomb at vampire speed. When I got there, Elena was nowhere to be found. Panic began settling in, and I spun around abruptly at the sound of Katherine's voice.

"If you want her then you're going to have to come and get her," she said smugly.

That was when I saw Elena. She lay unconscious at Katherine's feet, pale with blood crusted around three different sets of bite marks on her neck. When I strained my extensive hearing, I heard the faintest of pulses coming from her. She was alive, but she wouldn't be much longer.

"She had just a tiny but of vervain left in her that made her taste sort of funny if you're wondering why I didn't completely drain her," Katherine shrugged.

She looked alive and healthy now that she'd had blood, and a wicked smile slowly spread across her face. She tilted her head challengingly, looking as demonic as she really was. I had never hated the woman standing before me more, and fury took me over as I lunged for the entrance to the tomb.

Suddenly strong hands grabbed my arm and pulled me back, and I looked over my shoulder to see Stefan holding one arm and Caroline holding the other. I was far older than Caroline, but with her strength combined with Stefan's, the latter having recently gotten back on human blood, I didn't stand a chance of escaping. I felt my face transform, with my fangs extending and I could tell from their slight feeling of dryness that my eyes were turning red.

"That's Elena in there, Stefan. Are you really going to let her lay in there and die?" I spat.

My brother's features were hard when he spoke. "She wouldn't want one of us being trapped in there for the sake of saving her."

"I don't care what she would want. You're insane if you think I'm just going to let her die," I said.

"Look Damon, I don't want to leave her in there any more than you do, but we can't do anything until Bonnie and Lucy get here. I called them as soon as I figured out what had happened and they're on their way to take the seal off the tomb," Caroline explained, and I turned my attention to her. The shallow, naïve girl I'd used and toyed with wasn't there anymore. She currently sounded even more reasonable than Stefan.

"I'll make you a deal," I said, and the two vampires still holding me looked at me cautiously. "I'll get Elena out, and then I'll get out after Lucy and Bonnie take the seal down," I said.

And then, mustering all of my strength, I threw both vampires across the room and dashed into the tomb and right to Elena's side. I picked her up in my arms and gingerly handed her across the seal to Stefan, who looked at me gravely. Caroline gasped and ran over to Elena, staring at her friend worriedly.

"Good, I have some company now," Katherine grinned.

"Oh shut up," I snarled.

Stefan and I shared a brief look before I walked to the back of the tomb. It was a look that silently said we were still brothers and that he cared. Elena had left me for him, but still I saw his fear for me reflected in his eyes. I didn't see anger, only fear. I gave him a small nod before turning away, and that nod meant many things that I knew he would understand. It meant that I would be fine. It meant that I knew he would take care of Elena. It meant that he was still my little brother.

Once I was in the back of the tomb, far away from Katherine, I closed my eyes and sunk down to the ground. I knew that Stefan would keep Elena safe, but I wanted desperately to be there when she woke up. I wanted to look after her, to care for her. I listened to Caroline worrying and fussing over her and Stefan's sigh of worry as they cleaned her neck, and I knew that she would be fine with them.

I, on the other hand, was trapped.