AN: So, honestly, this went in a direction I had not intended at the beginning. Sometimes you just have take whatever ride the muse decides to go on.

CHAPTER 12

Caroline and Damon moved silently through the woods. They could hear the men gathered in the clearing around the cabin they had rented. The smoke from several campfires was acrid in their noses but they moved swiftly toward the group. All movement and noise ceased in a wave as the two vampires moved out of the tree cover and came to a stop.

Damon's eyes scanned the group and took in every detail of the men, the clearing, and everything that could potentially become a weapon, including the fires. His eyes tracked over them until they came to rest on the man heading toward them, clearly the alpha dog in this group.

"Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?" the man asked, hostility flowing off him in waves.

"We have a message," Damon said addressing the leader calmly.

"What message? From who?" the man asked.

"The message is that you have no idea what you've stumbled into by coming to Mystic Falls," Damon said. "There are forces here you can't even begin to conceive of and stand no chance against. So you should leave town. Immediately."

The man stared at him for a minute and then started to laugh. The other men shifted uncomfortably but then hesitantly joined in the laughter.

"Why should we leave? Someone in this backwater knows what happened to our friends and I'm not leaving until I find out who is responsible and punish them," the man said.

"I know what happened to your friends," Damon said quietly and felt the focus of the entire group center on him.

"Tell me," the man hissed leaning forward.

Damon met his eyes and then swept his cold and empty gaze over the gathered men. "The first five tried to rape a seventeen year old girl in an alley," Damon said his voice frigid with fury. "The second five beat a woman unconscious. In my town. So I killed them."

The leader blinked and said, "You killed ten men?"

"You are missing the point," Damon said. "They came to my town and hurt people I care about. That is unacceptable. So yes, I killed them. Every damn one. And if you aren't out of my town very quickly, I'll kill every last one of you, too."

With that warning, Damon sent them a predatory smile that had every single one fighting a shiver of dread. Caroline hissed at them before the two vampires turned and disappeared into the woods.

The bikers were silent for several long moments after their visitors appeared to vanish into thin air.

"That's not actually possible, right?" one man said. "There's no way one guy could have killed all ten of them."

"I don't think he was lying," another man responded.

"No," the leader said. "He wasn't lying. But he had help. He didn't do this alone. So we find out who he is, we find out who would help him, and we take them out."

All the men nodded in agreement even as an uneasy feeling settled over the camp. None of them could forget the beginning of the warning: there were forces in this town that they didn't understand and couldn't stand against.


"You're both okay?" Elena asked for the third time after Caroline and Damon returned to the boarding house.

"Elena," Caroline said with a laugh. "We're fine. They didn't come anywhere near us."

"Do you think they'll listen?" Elena asked. "Do you think they'll leave?"

"Damon was pretty scary," Caroline said.

"They won't leave," Damon said quietly. "They aren't that smart. But no one can say they weren't warned about what would happen if they didn't vacate Mystic Falls."

"And what did you tell them would happen?" Bonnie asked.

"I told them the truth," Damon said meeting Bonnie's eyes. "I told them that no one comes into my town and hurts people I care about without dealing with me. I told them that if they didn't leave, I'd kill every last one of them."

Bonnie let out a sigh, something she'd been doing more and more frequently as she had to accept Damon's violent nature.

"I don't like it," Bonnie said finally. "But I don't see any other option either."

Jeremy squeezed her hand in support and she smiled slightly at him.

"We should get out of here," Jeremy said. "Jenna's going to be wondering where I am, if she's home."

"Yeah, I should go check on my mom," Caroline said. "Make sure no one's come after her."

Caroline, Jeremy, and Bonnie all headed for the door. Jeremy paused and looked at his sister.

"Should I tell Jenna you're staying here?" he asked.

"If she asks," Elena said. "I doubt she will. I think she's used to it at this point."

Jeremy nodded and the three teenagers headed out the door.

Damon watched Elena fidget on the couch for a few moments before asking, "How bad was it?"

Elena shrugged and said, "I survived."

"I never doubted you would," Damon said. "But that's not what I asked."

"I was scared," Elena admitted. "But Bonnie and Jeremy talked the whole time to distract me so it wasn't as bad as it could have been."

Damon nodded and said, "It's pretty late. Do you think you'll be able to sleep?"

Elena shrugged again but got up and headed for the stairs.

"Maybe if you read to me for a little while," Elena said.

"Of course," Damon said. "I'll be right behind you with Call of the Wild."

Elena smiled over her shoulder and then disappeared around the corner at the top of the stairs.


Damon sipped a glass of whiskey as Alaric told him the news from town later that night. The bikers had not packed up and left and instead had gone into Mystic Falls and asked about Damon. The Grill patrons were only too happy to talk about Damon Salvatore and his brother, Stefan, when they were asked.

Damon heard her coming but said nothing before Jenna burst through the front door. Ric blinked in surprise at her sudden arrival.

"What are you doing here, Ric?" Jenna asked her surprise at seeing him no less than his at seeing her.

"Damon's my friend," Ric said easily. "Just came to pass along a little gossip."

Jenna raised a brow at that but instead of replying turned to Damon.

"Where's Elena?" she asked.

"Sleeping," Damon said easily.

"Well, I'm waking her up," Jenna said sharply. "It's time she and I talked."

Damon led Jenna up the stairs and opened the bedroom door for her. She stopped short just steps inside the room and turned to glare at him.

"This is your room!" Jenna hissed.

Damon just shrugged and leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.

Jenna marched over to the bed and put her hand on Elena's shoulder, saying, "Elena, wake up."

The moment Jenna's hand touched her, Elena came up swinging. Her arms flailed out and her scream echoed through the room. Jenna fell back under the onslaught and before she could get up, Damon was next to the bed, his hands on Elena's face.

"Elena," Damon said calmly.

The teenager immediately stopped lashing out and with a shudder wrapped her arms around Damon's waist.

"Sorry," Elena mumbled against his shirt. "Did I hit you?"

"No, you hit Jenna," Damon said.

Elena gasped and wrenched away from him to look around the room.

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry, Aunt Jenna," Elena said. "Are you alright?"

"You've got a hell of a left hook, kid," Jenna said rubbing her jaw lightly. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Elena winced and said, "Yeah, people touching me when I'm asleep kind of…well, I don't handle that so well. I'm surprised Damon didn't warn you."

"I didn't really give him a chance," Jenna admitted.

"So, why are you here?" Elena asked. "Not that it's not good to see you but you don't normally come to the boarding house. Especially not in the middle of the night."

"Elena," Jenna started. She paused and looked at her niece. "I…I was just wondering when you might start spending nights at home."

Elena flinched at that and said, "I don't know, Aunt Jenna. I could try but…it didn't really go well last time I tried sleeping there."

"Well, Damon could stay at the house if that would make it easier," Jenna said grudgingly. "I'm not trying to push or make you do something that you can't do but I'd really like to have you home."

"I'll try," Elena said hesitantly.

Before Jenna could respond, Alaric called from the first floor, "Damon, you've got company!"

Alaric's tone made it clear to Elena and Damon that it was a vampire and they exchanged a look. Elena quickly pulled on a pair of jeans as Damon moved into the closet to grab weapons.

"Stay in here with Jenna," Damon ordered Elena who moved toward the window.

"Damon," Elena's tone stopped Damon as he was about to leave the room.

Damon's head turned to look at her and she whispered, "It's Lexi's boyfriend."