Sorry for the short chapter this evening, but I wanted to get this out there. It seems there was some panic over where I left the last chapter. I hope this will help clear things up.

Also, thank you Merlin for your interpretation of Stefan. While I might not judge him quite as harshly, I do agree with you! I'm a Damon fan all the way!

Enjoy the short chapter and I'll post some more tomorrow!

Eternal Pain – Chapter 14

Damon POV

I don't know how to answer her. I know I should tell her, but just the mention of his name causes me pain. I open my mouth to speak, and then I hear Elena's cry.

"We'll finish this later," with that I grab Alaric off of his succubus of a wife and whisk him upstairs.

"Thanks, man." I hear him say in the second it takes up to get upstairs.

I see Elena and Bonnie crying over what looks like the body of Caroline Forbes. Crap. We're too late. I really don't want to tell Liz about this. I can't help but feel guilty as I see her lying there, think of the amount of her life that I used her. She lived such a short amount of time, and I wasted some of it.

Damnit Damon, pay attention.

"We need to get out of here, now." I grab Caroline's body and motion for everyone to follow me out.

"Going so soon? I thought you were enjoying the entertainment?" Katherine calls from the bottom of the stairs.

"Let us leave Katherine. You've had your fun and killed this child. I hope you enjoyed yourself."

"Oh, don't worry, Isobel and I both did. You can go for now, but I'll be heading your way soon. I must spend some time getting to know my progeny. Tell Stefan I'll see him soon and that I'm sorry he was too chicken to come himself."

"Elena, it was wonderful to see you and Ric. We'll have to catch up. Maybe we can do lunch?" The way this comes out of Isobel's mouth disgusts me.

"In your dreams," I call out. "Let's go."

I lead my team of misfits out of that house as quickly as I can, glancing backwards the whole time. Worried that they might follow and hurt someone else from our group. When we get to the car I open the trunk and lay Caroline inside. Bonnie and Elena are both openly weeping at this. I look at our misfit group, two girls bawling their eyes out and a teacher that seems to be in shock.

"Get in," I call as I get in the driver's seat. None of them look like they could handle a car right now. They get in and I drive quickly back to the boarding house. When we arrive I start heading inside.

"Damon, we can't just leave her in there. We need to call her mom." Elena says this, finally saying some coherent words.

"Ok, I got it." I open the truck and lift the Barbie like corpse out of the trunk again. I really wish I didn't have to call her mom.

I lay Caroline down on the couch, as I really don't know where else to put her at this point. Elena quickly grabs a blanket and lays in down on top of her. If I didn't know what was going on, I would have thought she was just sleeping. I look down at my phone, knowing what I have to do, wishing I didn't, wishing that the old me would just come forth and not give a fuck about this poor girl. I like Liz and I know that this will break her. I press the send button on the phone and lift it up to my ear, listening to the ringing noise.

"Damon! It's about time you called. I need your help, it's about Caroline."

"Liz…Liz, I have some bad news."

"Oh, god. Damon, just tell me."

"Well, Alaric and I found Caroline, she was captured by a group of vampires."

"More vampires? I thought we had ended that problem! Is she ok? Damon, tell me she's ok."

I start to speak when I hear a gasp, and a commotion happening right next to me.

"Caroline!" I hear both Elena and Bonnie shout.

"Liz, I think you should come to the boarding house. It seems we have some matters to discuss."