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Elena's screams had dragged Damon into the darkness, but it was her calm voice that led him back out.
"Stefan, I love you. Don't do this. She's gone, and we'll get through this. We'll get through it together." She sounded so far away as Damon struggled through layers of pain and confusion.
Getting your neck broken really wasn't that bad—the pain was over quickly and then it was just a matter of taking a little nap until the healing factor kicked in. But in order for the neck to heal, it had to break again as it returned to its normal position. And that was the part that hurt like a motherfucker. But Damon couldn't even allow himself a scream. He'd blown his tactical advantage once by charging down here like a bat into hell. It wasn't going to happen again.
Damon gritted his teeth as his neck involuntarily snapped forward, choking on his own cries as the vertebrae slowly, agonizingly restored themselves. He had to focus on something else. Assess the situation, Salvatore.
He was lying on his side, arms and legs forced behind him and bound together with sturdy chains. Hogtied. Charming—and almost impossible to break free.
Damon nearly gasped in relief as the last vertebrae clicked into place, leaving him with nothing more than a stiff neck. Good. That was done. Now he could really survey the battlefield. Cautiously, he cracked his eyes open just a hair, using his long eyelashes to hide the movement from view. His view was shadowy and limited, but it was enough to see that this was very, very bad.
Elena lay next to Katherine's lifeless body on that low stone table, her feet bound, but her arms were free. Well, not quite. Elena's left arm was free, but her right hand was bound to Katherine's left, the two forced together at the palm in a grotesque mockery of prayer.
Stefan stood over Bonnie, blocking Damon's view of the little witch, but he didn't need to see to smell the blood. It hung thick in the air, and the labored beating of Bonnie's heart told him it was still flowing freely. Stefan must have grown impatient with merely breaking fingers.
"Bonnie, this can all stop. You only have to do this one small thing. I know you can do it—you're the strongest Bennett witch I've ever seen." Stefan's voice was cajoling, as if he were asking a friend for a trifling favor. "Can't you feel Katherine here waiting? All you have to do is bring her home."
"Bring her home?" Bonnie sounded like hell, her voice weak and roughened with screaming. How long had Stefan been playing this game? "You're not talking about bringing her home, Stefan—you're talking about letting her possess Elena. You know what that would do."
Oh. Shit. That…made sense. He wasn't going to resurrect Katherine at all—after all, why waste power reanimating something that was long dead when he had the perfect body waiting for her? It looked like her, it felt like her, it shared a blood line. It was the ideal vessel. And there was no doubt in Damon's mind that Bonnie could do it.
"We've been through this, Bonnie. I know what will happen, but you're going to do it anyway." Stefan turned away from Bonnie, and Damon quickly snapped his eyes shut. "Maybe I've been going about this the wrong way. I know how much you love precious Elena, how you'd sacrifice anything for her." Damon heard footsteps moving away from Bonnie and towards Elena. "I think you just need the proper motivation."
"Stefan, what are you doing? Stefan, don't do—" Damon heard the knife parting through tender flesh, smelled the tang of fresh new blood in the air long before he heard Elena's scream.
Damon nearly blew everything, nearly destroyed his element of surprise in some scream of agony, some pathetic lurch towards Stefan. He almost certainly would have, if he hadn't felt the sudden, intense heat focused on two crucial links of chain, right where his bound hands met his bound feet. God bless that judgy little witch.
"It can be fast or slow for her, Bonnie. But one way or another, you're going to do this," Stefan said.
"Don't hurt her! Please. I don't want her to die, not like this. I'll do it. I'll do it." Bonnie's sob echoed off the walls of the tomb, and Damon heard footsteps moving back towards the witch.
Damon slammed his body forwards, snapping the weakened links in the blink of an eye. In the next instant, he leapt for Stefan.
