A/N: Sorry to leave you hanging for so long with that cliffhanger, but the characters have minds of their own in this story. They do make the chapters better when they force me to take my time, though, so it's a trade-off. Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed or favorited this story (since I couldn't PM some of you), and I very much appreciate all feedback!

Chapter 14

Aedan heard the thud of bullets hitting flesh even as he spun around. One glance showed him two hybrids armed with guns and both Elena and Damon on the ground. His mind registered that Elena was moving and Damon wasn't even as he heard the girl's voice. "Damon, what the hell? Get off of me!" And then the tone changed. "Damon?"

Aedan forced aside his fear at the realization that Damon had been shot and the certainty that, if his lover wasn't getting up, the bullets had to be wood. If he let himself think for even a second about what Damon's stillness could mean, he would be dead himself because one of the hybrids was firing again. He could only hope that Elena had the sense to stay down. Aedan dodged as he saw the hybrid's trigger finger move, his reflexes even faster than those of Klaus' creation. But the hybrid and the bullet were lightning fast, too, and Aedan felt the burn of the wooden bullet grazing his shoulder even as he threw himself out of the way. He used the momentum of his dodge to counterattack, flashing forward and hitting the closest of the two hybrids with so much force that its head flew off its body.

The other hybrid, a dark-haired young man, panicked at that, or maybe he thought he had achieved his goal by shooting Damon. He turned to try to run back down the hallway, but Aedan was on him before he could get more than a single step. The unintentional beheading had worked so well on the first hybrid that Aedan tore the head off this one on purpose. He reveled in the spurt of blood that came from its neck and the way the body crashed to the ground as he tossed the head aside. Vampire instinct said that Damon was his and anyone who hurt Damon deserved the most brutal death that Aedan could dish out.

But the joy of the kill faded as quickly as it had come as Aedan exerted the iron control that had carried him through five hundred years of life as a vampire. He turned around to see Damon lying unmoving, blood soaking into his shirt. The familiar smell of Damon's blood was stronger for Aedan than even that of the hybrid blood that had splashed everywhere in the hallway, and he knew that today that scent didn't mean sex and pleasure and connection – it meant that Damon lay near death.

Aedan knelt by Damon's still body, his own heart pounding out of his chest – and not from the fight with the two hybrids. Elena was there as well, shaking Damon's shoulder. "Damon, look at me. Stay with me," the girl pleaded.

Aedan shoved her out of the way, probably harder than he should have. Damon's eyes were open, but the normally clear blue eyes were dull and unfocused with pain. Aedan wasn't at all sure that Damon was seeing anything around him. Worried, he let his eyes roam from Damon's face down his lover's body to where two large stains of blood were spreading across Damon's shirt. It was the one on the left that scared Aedan because, from the location of the hole, that bullet was very, very close to Damon's heart. He knew it hadn't hit the heart because wood piercing a vampire's heart would lead to almost instant dessication, and Damon wasn't gray and dead yet. But if that bullet migrated even a little, it could easily be the end.

Aedan forced himself to take a deep breath, trying not to panic. He couldn't take the bullet out here where more hybrids might show up at any moment. That meant that he was going to have to move Damon. He locked his gray eyes onto Damon's unseeing blue ones, pouring all his willpower into his gaze as he tried to hold Damon to his body. "Damon," he ordered. Aedan wasn't an Original and he couldn't compel Damon, but he saw the blue eyes gradually focusing, responding to Aedan's demand, his will and the power of his mind, and the bond between them. "Damon," he repeated more softly when he was sure that his lover was seeing him.

"Sorry," Damon murmured inconsequentially. His voice was raspy and weak. He blinked. "Couldn't let her get shot."

Aedan shook his head, not caring about that. His fingers flew over the buttons of Damon's shirt, undoing them to get a look at the wounds. "You're going to be fine," Aedan told him. "But there's a bullet close to your heart. I'm going to get you out of here, but you can't move much, okay?"

Damon nodded slightly, and Aedan didn't waste any more time. He gathered Damon very gently into his arms and got to his feet.

Elena was staring at them both with wide, frightened eyes. "He can't die," she said. "I need him."

Aedan shook his head, putting out of his mind the chemistry that he had seen between Damon and Elena back in the room and the stricken look in Elena's eyes at the thought of losing Damon. He didn't like seeing Damon spark like that with anyone but him, although he knew that flirting was practically a reflex action for Damon. He tried to sound reassuring. "He's a vampire. A couple of bullets won't kill him. But we need to get out of here now, before any more hybrids show up." Elena was going to have to pull herself together. He didn't have time to deal with a frightened girl. "Get up," he ordered her. "You said you can walk. Now you're going to have to."

Elena nodded slowly and got to her feet. She still looked dazed, but she started walking down the hallway, and Aedan followed with Damon limp and all but unconscious in his arms. He didn't dare move quickly. For one thing, he would have to leave Elena behind, and he knew Damon wouldn't approve of that. But more importantly, moving at vampire speed would only increase the likelihood of the bullet next to Damon's heart being jarred into motion. So it seemed to take forever just to reach the front of the house.

Elena turned to stare at him at the sight of the dead hybrids in the front room, and Aedan just gave her a hard look. "Keep moving," he told her. He saw her eyes wander to the two bodies on the front porch, too, but she kept putting one foot in front of the other. Aedan took the lead as they headed away from the house. He kept his senses on high alert, but they finally caught a break and no additional hybrids pursued them as they moved through the forest. It was lucky, Aedan thought, because Elena made a horrible racket for such a slender girl. No woodscraft at all, apparently, which probably shouldn't be a surprise in the twenty-first century.

Even at their slow pace, they reached the cars without any trouble. Aedan could hear the others milling around the back of one of the cars, but he ignored them. He set Damon gently down on the ground, leaning him against a tree. "Don't move," he reminded his lover, placing a gentle hand on his arm. Damon had regained consciousness, but that was a mixed blessing given the pain that the younger vampire was clearly feeling. Aedan hated seeing that dazed look in Damon's eyes and the way his features were pinched and tight with pain.

Damon was shifting restlessly, ignoring Aedan's hand and apparently trying to look around. "Stefan?" he asked weakly.

Katherine and Caroline appeared from around the other side of the car then. Both of them were more than a little splattered with blood, as Aedan knew that he was himself, but both appeared to be uninjured. Aedan thought he saw a trace of concern as Katherine narrowed her eyes at the sight of Damon slumped against the tree, his shirt hanging open and his torso covered in blood. "We got him out, Damon," she answered. "He's in the back of the car. They vervained and tortured him, but a little blood and he'll be as good as new."

"What happened?" Caroline asked, staring at Damon with confusion.

"He was shot. Wooden bullets," Aedan answered shortly.

"We ran into those, too," Caroline said with a nod of understanding. "None of us got shot, though. Bonnie's new cloaking spell totally worked, by the way."

It was Elena who tried to explain. "Damon was protecting me," she said.

Aedan ignored them both, glancing at the crew of humans and supernaturals around him. He was more concerned with getting the bullets out of Damon than with how he had gotten shot. Elena was hovering uselessly just a few feet away, and Alaric and Bonnie had just come around the side of the car. Aedan debated if Damon was weak enough that Alaric could hold him still while Aedan extracted the bullets, but he reluctantly rejected that idea. He couldn't take any chances with a bullet so close to Damon's heart. He turned to Katherine instead. "Will you hold him while I get the bullets out?" he asked. "One is lodged close to his heart."

Katherine nodded, looking unusually serious. "My fingers are smaller," she said. "You hold him still, and I'll extract the bullets."

Aedan hesitated, still not sure if he trusted Katherine with choosing a wine let alone with Damon's life.

The other vampire's narrowed eyes revealed that she was well aware of his doubts. "I wouldn't have left him behind," she said.

"Don't tell me you've grown a heart at your age," Aedan replied dryly. "It would shake my faith in one of the basic constants of the universe." Damon started to laugh at that, showing more awareness of his surroundings than Aedan had expected, but the laugh quickly turned into a groan. "Alright," Aedan conceded, hating that sound of pain coming from Damon. "I'll hold him." He very gently moved Damon and pulled the younger vampire against his chest, locking his arms around him. "Do it," he told Katherine.

Katherine nodded and silently knelt in front of them. Aedan felt Damon tense and instinctively try to wriggle away as she began to dig her fingers into the first bullet hole, and he whispered softly in Damon's ear. "Shhh. Still, remember?" Damon relaxed slightly at the words, but Aedan was afraid that Damon was slipping further from conscious awareness at the increased pain. He was suddenly glad that he was the one holding Damon, knowing that he could keep Damon immobilized even if the younger vampire started to truly struggle. Katherine seemed to be taking her own sweet time about things, though, and Aedan snapped at her. "Well? You don't have a future in surgery, do you?"

Katherine glared at him. "Shut up. It's in deep, but I've almost got it."

Damon gave a stifled cry of pain then and tried to flinch away.

"Katerina," Aedan began menacingly. She was supposed to be extracting the bullet, not removing Damon's heart, and from that sound Damon had just made and the way he had flinched, her finger had just dug into his heart.

Katherine ignored both him and Damon, and a second later, she pulled the bullet from Damon's body. She held it up to Aedan triumphantly, and Aedan felt a wave of relief wash through him. It was such a small piece of wood to have nearly taken Damon away from him.

Damon leaned his head back against Aedan's shoulder and went limp. His breathing was heavy and he trembled slightly as he tried to catch his breath. The bullet might be out, but the wound wasn't healing yet, and Aedan knew that it wouldn't heal until the other wooden bullet was out of Damon's body. If anything, Damon was bleeding more heavily now from where Katherine had been forced to widen the hole in his chest to get to the bullet.

"One more," Katherine said, and Damon nodded weakly.

"Just get it out," he murmured. "It hurts."

Caroline's voice interrupted them. "Hybrids, coming through the woods."

"Shit," Aedan cursed. He could hear them now, too, as he let his attention shift from monitoring the beating of Damon's heart. "Four, I think," he said as his ears automatically parsed the faint sounds to evaluate the threat. This was the worst possible time for another attack, with himself and Katherine both occupied. Damon was in no condition to move yet, let alone fight, and he couldn't bear the thought of leaving Damon in this kind of pain any longer than absolutely necessary.

"On it," Alaric said. "Bonnie, how many can you take down?"

Aedan felt a surge of relief. He liked Alaric, for a human, and the man seemed to be a competent hunter. It shouldn't take long to get the remaining bullet out of Damon's body, and four wasn't that many hybrids.

"Two, I think," was Bonnie's reply.

Alaric nodded and produced a crossbow from somewhere. He looked briefly at Damon, his eyes filled with concern, and Aedan could see the evidence of the friendship between the two that Damon had told him about. "We'll take care of it," he told Aedan, gesturing to Bonnie and Caroline. "Get Damon patched up." And then he and the two girls headed off into the woods.

Katherine turned back without a word and dug her fingers into the second bullet hole in Damon's torso. Aedan could feel Damon tense in his arms as Katherine burrowed her slim fingers deeper into his body. This time she didn't have to be careful, and it took only a few seconds before those fingers were holding up a bloody little piece of wood. Katherine tilted her head, and Aedan couldn't read her dark eyes as she studied Damon. "Don't say I never did anything for you, Damon," she said. She casually tossed the bullet aside and wiped her hands on one of the few clean parts of Damon's dark button-down shirt. She got to her feet and stepped back with her usual smirk on her face. "I'll just go make sure that the kids don't mess up killing the last of those pesky hybrids."

They were left alone for a moment then, except for Elena's silent presence, and Damon slumped in Aedan's arms. He had opened his eyes at Katherine's words, and Aedan felt a surge of relief that his blue eyes were clear and flashing with his usual spirit. Aedan thought he could see the wounds on Damon's torso beginning to heal, but the tissue was knitting together very slowly. The wounds were deep, and Katherine had been forced to widen them further to dig the bullets out, and Damon had lost a great deal of blood. Any vampire would take a while to heal under these circumstances. Aedan placed a light kiss against Damon's ear, unable to hide his relief that his lover was going to be okay.

Damon stayed relaxed for another brief moment before squirming in Aedan's arms. "I'm fine now," Damon said, sounding impatient to be on his feet. His eyes jumped to where Elena was crouched a few feet away and then scanned the area. "I need to see Stefan," he demanded.

Aedan suppressed a sigh. "You can't sit still for even a second, can you?" He helped Damon to his feet, holding him up when he nearly fell and ignoring the hand that Elena placed unnecessarily on Damon's arm from his other side. The sounds of battle in the forest had stopped now, and Aedan could hear Caroline talking excitedly – and loudly – about girl power, followed immediately by an apology to Alaric. They had presumably won then, and Aedan really hoped those were the last of Klaus' hybrids, bound by their sire bond to try to avenge their master's death.

He led Damon over to the open back of his SUV where the others had been gathered when they had arrived. Sure enough, Stefan lay inside, bloody and unconscious. Aedan wondered whose idea it had been to get all that blood on the upholstery in his car, but he couldn't be too upset because he could feel the shudder of relief that went through Damon at the sight of his brother. He watched as Damon reached out a shaky hand to touch Stefan's arm, and Aedan hid a smile at the realization that exhaustion and blood loss were making Damon uncharacteristically emotional. He wanted to kiss him then and there, but the moment was interrupted by another voice.

"Oh, God. Stefan," Elena gasped, bringing her hand to her mouth in horror. She didn't seem to feel the same relief as Damon at the sight of the younger Salvatore brother, even though it was clear to Aedan that Stefan would be fine as soon as they got him some blood.

Damon's voice was stronger as he pulled away from Aedan slightly and turned to Elena. "He'll be fine, Elena," he said reassuringly. "Vampires are hard to kill, especially ones as stubborn and annoying as Stefan."

Elena offered a small smile at that. "I guess you would know something about that," she said, brown eyes bright with unshed tears.

"You're damn right I would." Damon's velvety voice was deeper than usual with his own emotion, his eyes locked on Elena's face, and Aedan suddenly felt like the intruder in the moment between them. He saw Damon glance back at Stefan and then frown like something had just occurred to him, but before he could speak again, the sound of people tramping through the forest drew all of their attention away from the back of the car.

"You should have seen us kick some hybrid ass, Elena," Caroline practically squealed as the small space around the car quickly filled with vampires and humans. Aedan reluctantly took a small step back away from Damon, very much aware that he was the outsider among the group. He was pretty sure that Katherine was the only one who noticed.

•••••

Damon leaned his head back against the seat of the car and closed his eyes. His skin had finished knitting itself back together, but his healing had been way too slow without blood and it still hurt like hell. He wasn't even convinced everything inside of him had healed completely yet. Elena had taken the seat next to him – he wasn't sure why she had picked Aedan's car to ride back in, except that Stefan's unconscious body was in the back – and she grabbed his hand in what he assumed was supposed to be comfort. Too bad she smelled like a tasty snack, and Damon could hear her blood pounding teasingly in her veins. Hell, he could feel her pulse in her thumb where she touched him. He would never hurt her, of course – unlike his brother, he had control – but his body was screaming for fresh blood to replenish its strength. He couldn't remember the last time he had been this hungry. He certainly wasn't getting any comfort from her proximity. He opened his eyes. He wanted Aedan's shoulder to lean on, in fact, but Aedan was busy driving.

As if his lover could sense his thoughts, Damon saw Aedan glance in the rearview mirror. Gray eyes met blue, but Damon couldn't read the look in the other vampire's eyes. He frowned as Aedan turned his attention back to the road. Something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Aedan was too good at hiding his thoughts, even from Damon. I'm too tired and hungry to figure this out, Damon thought. And Elena still smells like a fucking happy meal. He closed his own eyes again and concentrated on keeping his hunger under control.

Damon heard Stefan groan from the back of the car, and he gladly let that sound distract him from the sound of Elena's blood pumping through her body. He didn't intend to let anyone know just how relieved he was that his brother would be okay. Although if Damon thought his own healing was slow right now, Stefan was taking forever to wake up. He suspected that Stefan had gone back on bunny blood, and that worried him. Elena had probably pushed his brother in that direction while Damon was away with Aedan. He knew she thought that was the humane way for a vampire to live, but she didn't realize what she was doing. She was only feeding Stefan's tendency to go from one extreme to another, and Damon was convinced that as long as Stefan denied what he was, he would fall off the wagon periodically. Stefan might be a dick on human blood, but he needed to learn how to control himself. Damon had explained this to both Stefan and Elena more than once, not that either of them ever listened to him. Not to mention that after today it seemed just as important as ever that Stefan be as strong as possible to protect Elena.

One problem with this caring about people thing, Damon decided, was that you had to help them out when they were in danger. Damon hoped that they had finally seen the last of the hybrids, but Mystic Falls certainly seemed to be Grand Central Station for supernatural threats. Damon thought maybe he could teach his little brother to control himself, but he was afraid that it was going to take time. And he wasn't sure how Aedan felt about staying in Mystic Falls for a while. He thought Aedan understood something of how he felt about Stefan – Damon had in fact accidentally revealed far more of his emotions when Stefan had been captured than he had ever intended to – so maybe he would be willing to stick around. Because the last thing Damon wanted was to give up Aedan. This caring thing is fucking complicated, Damon thought in frustration.