Sorry folks. I know it's been a while since I updated. Here's something to keep you interested, I hope! This chapter was really challenging, but really fun to write. Enjoy:

The ground was soft from rain in the mountains, and Damon's Frye boots slurped as he pulled them out of the muddy path. It had been that mindless repetition of pulling footstep after footstep up and out of the muck that had consumed all of his attention, and so he was surprised when he looked up and saw his brother racing down the path.

Stefan's eyes went wide when he saw Alaric and Damon standing on the path he had been racing down in search of Ray. His first reaction was stark fear – what if Klaus saw them, what if all of this was some sort of trap. The second emotion, though, was anger. Where was Elena? Surely they hadn't been foolish enough to bring her here. Even if they hadn't, Damon had left her alone in Mystic Falls, alone with only a fledgling werewolf and a newbie vampire.

"I thought I made it clear that you should stay away." He let the anger, the tumult of emotions he had been holding inside all these months drip into his words.

"When has that ever stopped me?" Damon answered back, his words full of his usual cocksure tone.

"Damon, I'm gone. I'm not coming back. For anyone." Even now he hesitated to use her name, terrified that Klaus would hear. Terrified that saying her name would somehow conjure her, that he wouldn't be able to resist her even now.

"Well, brother, you left without even a goodbye. Someone has been missing you terribly, and guess what? Just like always, I'm there picking up your mess."

"I had to –" Stefan's anger turned soft for a moment, feeling the guilt singeing his insides.

"Bullshit. You left because you had to, sure. But I've seen what you did. The bodies, the carnage. You're back to your good old ripper days, ay, Stefan?" Damon's voice was tight, his words feral, slicing brutally into the other man's conscience. "You never did understand moderation, self-control. Now you've lost everything." He met his brother's gaze, his eyes blazing with fury.

"I love her, Damon. I –"

"No, damn it. I love her. For the first time in a century I feel alive. She makes me feel alive. I dare you to come back and fight for her, Stefan. I dare you." Damon balled his fists in an uncharacteristic gesture, his lips twisting into a sneer.

"Damon." Alaric's voice penetrated the intensity between the two brothers, but didn't break it.

"I know what I'm doing Ric. Just stay out of this."

"I don't want to hurt you, Mr. Saltzman." Stefan said simply, gesturing with open palms and a shrug, then he turned his eyes back to his brother. "Do you think I'm an idiot? It's been so painfully obvious that you were in love with her from the very beginning. I've seen the way you touch her, that reverence that you don't have for any other human life. Once she's had a chance to forget about us, maybe she could come to see you as more than…"

"She already has."

"What?" Stefan shook his head as if trying to get water out of his ears. He set his jaw and narrowed his eyes, his voice cooling to nonchalance. "You can't goad me into coming back, Damon. I need –"

"You're the idiot if you think I'm here for you. I'm here for her, and for me. Tell me one more time that you can't come back, that it won't be safe for you or her. Tell me again that you want her to move on. Then I can turn around and go back to Mystic Falls. I'll slip back into her bed before the sun rises again and tell her that I tried."

Alaric's mind was racing. Damon was moving farther and farther into dangerous territory. The last comment would surely have Stefan's blood boiling. It was obvious that Stefan, though on the edge of losing control, had not yet completely shut off his emotions, even if he wished for them to believe that. Talking about Elena was only going to push him into doing something he would regret, and so Alaric took that moment to clutch at the Vervain bottle he had stashed in his pack.

"She wouldn't let you in her bed."

"She did. She begged for it, again and again. And I obliged her. You're kidding yourself if you didn't think that she felt something in her blood for me."

A feral grunt ripped through Stefan as he barreled forward toward Damon. Enough was enough. Brother or not, he couldn't stand listening to another word. Every muscle was wound tight as he bashed into Damon's form. Stefan had braced himself for impact with the statue-like solidity of a well steadied vampire, but instead he found himself still hurtling forward after the impact, Damon's body thrown back into the forest. He cringed and readjusted, stopping himself and waiting for the counterattack. It didn't come. Instead there was only the familiar voice of the history teacher.

"Damon!" Alaric ran to his fallen friend, relief flooding him when he felt a pulse. "He's human, you idiot! Were you so lost in rage that you couldn't see it? Couldn't smell it?" He shouted wildly at Stefan. Damon was a rag doll, his arms and legs loose under Alaric's probing hands.

"What!? How is that even possible!?" Stefan stood, dumbfounded, watching the scene unfold. Blood trickled from his brother's hairline and sharp nose. Blood.

His body had moved with supernatural quickness, his mouth savaging at his brother's neck. His eyes closed with the pleasure of it all, and then the taste of it registered on his tongue. He stopped suckling at once, taken back to the moment when he had taken his father's blood to complete his transition. Even after more than a century the taste of family blood was distinctive. Here he was, repeating history again, killing everyone he cared for.

For the smallest moment something dark inside of him whispered: Kill them both. Be rid of your humanity and give in to the instinct. But that side of himself spoke with Damon's voice, taunting him even then, and he pressed it back down into the depth of his psyche.

Alaric's eyes were still locked on his companion, his hands swiftly checking for vital signs and damage.

"Klaus' blood. He's been human since the day you left. He-"

Ric turned to the young vampire, thinking, perhaps, to ask for help, but the words died on his lips. Instead he watched as Stefan's face changed, his eyes grew dark and then the pain cleared from his face and he seemed a caricature of himself.

"Leave this place. There's a pack of half-dead, transitioning hybrids up on the mountain, with one on the loose already. Protect Elena – Klaus will probably come after her when he realizes why they aren't transitioning properly. Tell her I won't be back. Tell her what happened, Ric. What I did." He turned then, with stiff precision and stalked away, his body picking up speed as he went until Alaric's eyes could no longer track him. He cursed himself for not having used the Vervain grenade that lay forgotten beside his unconscious friend.

"It'll get you out of her, brother." Alaric murmured, not sure where the words had come from

Ric knew that there wasn't time to mourn the loss of Stefan's humanity, but he had seen it drain from the man just as surely as sand from an hourglass. He hauled Damon over his shoulder as gingerly as he could, trying to brace the unconscious man's head from bobbling as he ran as fast as he could towards the car.

###

"I cannot believe this is happening." Elena sat at the edge of her bed with her eyes pressed into the palms of her hands, willing the small blue plus sign to disappear.

"It's going to be okay, Elena. You've got time to figure this out." Caroline sat down on the bed beside her friend and set a hand gingerly on her shoulder.

"What time, Care?" Elena looked as she spoke, her eyes red from crying, her face shocky white. "Damon will be a vampire again in a few weeks and then I'll lose him again. He's not going to want to hang around with a teen mom changing diapers and washing spit up."

"Oh, honey." Caroline squeezed Elena harder and set her head on her friend's shoulder. Elena threw the test across the room and stood, pacing the space from the window seat to the bathroom like a stalking tiger. "He loves you, Elena. He loves you so much that he's-" She shut her mouth immediately, realizing that she had almost let on what she knew. She had almost forgotten.

"That he's what?" Elena turned back to look at the blond vampire that had been her friend since childhood. She had learned by now to tell when her friend was being evasive. She was surprised that she hadn't noticed it earlier, but then she had been thoroughly distracted.

"Oh, nothing. He's just…He's just smitten, that's all." Caroline stammered.

"Smitten." Elena repeated, arching a shapely eyebrow. "Care, I've known you long enough to know when you're making things up." She swallowed hard, fighting down the panic that surged deep in the pit of her stomach.

"Well, um." The vampire looked around the room, desperate for distraction and chewed at her lip. "I might have gotten a call from Damon suggesting that I come over and distract you for a few hours?"

Elena glared at her friend, then stomped over to the bed and threw herself onto it. She continued giving her friend the evil eye until Caroline could no longer stand it.

"Al right!" She whined, letting her body, too, fall back against the soft comforter and fluffy pillows. "Damon made me swear not to tell you. He and Alaric got a location from Tyler – where a werewolf pack likes to meet up. He didn't tell me where, he just said it was up in the mountains, and that they'd be gone most of the day.

"Caroline!"

"I know, I'm sorry! Don't hate me forever, okay? It just really sounded like he was trying to do something selfless, and I actually wanted to help him." Her last few words were quiet as she had just come to the realization while saying them. When had Damon gone from a psycho killer to a loving boyfriend? She raised her own eyebrows surprised at the thought.

"As sweet as that is," Elena stopped herself for a moment, impressed that Caroline had actually come to find compassion for Damon. "I can't believe that you're playing diversion again! Haven't you learned that just ends badly for everyone?" She stopped then, finished chastising Caroline, and focused on what she had actually said.

"Wait, Damon and Alaric – human Damon and Alaric – went out to find a pack of werewolves on the night of a full moon?" She was incredulous of her own words as she said them. "They're going to get killed!" She fished her phone out of her back pocket in one deft movement and dialed Damon's number. Her heart jumped into her throat when he didn't answer. Quickly she dialed Alaric, silently praying that they were okay. The phone clicked and then connected.

"Elena?" Alaric's voice was throaty, the sound of his heavy breathing making her heart race. "I'm on my way back to Mystic Falls now."

"Where's Damon?" She felt Caroline rest her hands on her shoulders, offering what support she could. "Is he with you?"

"Yeah, he's with me." Elena closed her eyes and murmured thanks before Alaric went on. "Elena, he's been hurt – badly. I did what I could out in the mountains, but he's unconscious. He's uh, he's lost a lot of blood."

"What happened?" The words came out in a whisper, she couldn't find her voice. She was terrified of what he was going to say next.

"We found Stefan. He's what happened."