I do not own anything in this story. The CW created the universe, and I just play in it.

This is my first fanfiction. Please rate and review!

Elena sat, numb, in shock. "You're…you're going to kill me?"

"Perhaps." Annora looked bored as she surveyed her fingernails. "I can't allow you to live, of course—that'd just cause unnecessary problems. But I might keep you alive just long enough for you to watch your friend here die. Judging by his symptoms, he's only got a day or two left."

Damon was stirring now. The black stain was now covering his whole neck and peeking out underneath his right sleeve. His skin was slowly turning gray. Annora was right—he was on the verge of dying. "Please don't let him die," Elena begged. "Please, I'll do anything. Just let me help him, and then you can do whatever you want to me."

"How noble of you, Elena, sacrificing yourself for him. How can you stand to look at him? He's a murderer, and deserves to die." Annora surveyed Damon with a look of disgust on her face.

"You're no better," Elena snapped back, firing up with anger. "Who knows how many vampires you've watched die, because you wouldn't help them take the cure. That's just as bad as murdering them."

"Correct, but incorrect. It is true that I have watched dozens and dozens of vampires die and done nothing to aid them, but I was not the one who carried out their death. I did not stake their hearts as they laid on their deathbed, as one of us here did."

"He was trying to help Rose! He wanted to make her death as quick and painless as possible. Wouldn't you have done the same?"

"What I would have done, Elena," Annora snarled, whirling around to face her, "was bring my sister to this mountain so that I could save her life. Your friends were able to locate this mountain when trying to save this Salvatore, so why not for Rose? Did you not care for her life? Or did your hatred for Katerina stop you from saving the woman who helped her?"

"Please, Annora," Elena sobbed, crouching down beside Damon and cradling his face in her hands. "Don't let him die. Please don't let him die."

"I'm sorry," Annora said coldly, crossing her arms and staring down at Damon disdainfully. "But your Salvatore friend's fate was sealed the minute he drove that stake into my sister." She turned and walked to the other side of the ledge, staring out over the treetops.

Hours passed, and Annora did not move from her spot. The sun began to set over the horizon, bathing the valley and forest in soft golden light. Damon was now fully conscious, and though weak and sick, he was able to speak. "Elena," he said softly, reaching for her hand. "Go."

Elena held his hand tightly. "I'm not leaving you here alone, Damon."

"She's going to kill you." He coughed dryly—there wasn't any blood, which Elena took for being worse. "Get out while you still can."

"What part of I'm not leaving you do you not understand?" Elena brushed his hair out of his eyes. "So just shut up and save your strength."

The sun sank lower and lower in the sky, and finally Annora spoke. "It is time for me to take my drink." She strode over to the pool of water, knelt down, and swallowed water from her cupped hand. "As I told you before, Elena, I must drink from this pool every day in order to survive. I cannot leave this mountain for longer than a few hours, so I employ henchmen, whose lives I have saved, to do my dirty work. They should be arriving any minute now."

As if on cue, there was a scuffling on the other edge of the mountaintop, and a man pulled himself over the ledge. He wore a beaten-up leather jacket, and heavy hiking clogs. "Miss Annora," he said with the air of utmost respect, kneeling before her. "I have news from Mystic Falls."

Elena looked up, surprised.

"Go on, then, Rufus," Annora said impatiently.

"Stefan Salvatore has been repeatedly going to the hybrid Klaus's residence—I tailed him for four hours today. The other Petrova doppelganger is still there, under Klaus's compulsion, and she and Stefan spoke briefly each time. Meanwhile, I spotted Caroline Forbes with the werewolf Tyler Lockwood, but they did nothing out of the ordinary. Finally, the witch Bonnie Bennett has been at her residence all day, which is made to look as if nobody is home."

"You've been following my friends all day?" Elena exclaimed, outraged.

Rufus smirked at her. "Just doing my job, miss."

"Thank you, Rufus." Annora patted him on the head as if he were a dog. "Nothing unusual in the report, then. Now, I have business to attend to in Boyce, so I require you to stay here and keep an eye on Elena and her friend. Make sure she is to go nowhere near the pool—kill her if she does—and that her friend Damon does not leave this mountaintop, though I doubt he has even the strength to stand up. I should be back in an hour, if not less."

"Yes, Miss Annora." Rufus saluted her politely, and she disappeared over the side of the mountain.

Elena stood up, but Rufus was at her side in an instant. "Don't be getting any funny ideas, Miss Gilbert. You heard Miss Annora—I have instructions to kill you if you do."

"I can't even stretch my legs?" Elena snapped, annoyed. Rufus watched her closely until she sat back down. He shrugged, and turned away.

"Elena," Damon whispered. "You have to go, now."

Elena checked to make sure that Rufus wasn't eavesdropping—he was listening to a song on an iPod—and pressed a finger against Damon's lips. "Didn't we have an agreement about you not talking?"

"I'm going to die, anyway." Damon coughed, and his throat sounded like sandpaper and gravel rubbing together. "You might as well save yourself."

"I'm going to come up with a plan, Damon. We're going to get out of here alive." Elena studied the pool, gleaming at the other edge of the cliff.

"Run, Elena."

"Damon, the cure is literally right in front of us. You just need one sip of that water."

"It's too risky," Damon argued hoarsely. "That douchebag will kill you."

"If only I could taint that water somehow," Elena said, thinking out loud. "Remember what Annora said? If she doesn't drink the water, she'll die."

Damon's eyes were half-closed, but at Elena's words they flew open. "Elena," he muttered. "Left pocket."

"What?" Elena slid her hand into the left pocket of his leather jacket. Her fingers closed around something small and round. "What's this?"

"Shhh," Damon hissed. "Douchebag." But Rufus was still jamming away on his iPod, bobbing his head to the music.

Elena slipped the object out of Damon's pocket, and examined it in the dim lighting. It was a glass capsule, filled with a yellowish-brownish liquid. There was a worn label printed on the capsule, and Elena squinted to read what was printed on it.

Werewolf venom.

I would've posted this chapter sooner, but I was gone all day hiking, so sorry about that! Fun fact, the name Annora is old English for "honor". I've gotten over 1,000 views on this story already, which may not seem like a lot to you fanfic veterans but is a heck of a lot to me! Hope you're enjoying so far xox