A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in a while I have been piled down with soo many essays and school work! I'm ill and off school so I just had to update! Thanks to all the reviews and alerts they are so supportive and much appreciated – love you guys – Leahlovessalvatore124 (:

Chapter Twenty One - Lockwoof

Damon didn't care. He was dead anyway, so what did one more time matter, if it meant saving the girl he loved. He sped after her, sprinting into the forest after her, being careful to stick to the shadows. He flipped his cell-phone silently out of his pocket. The caller picked up after two rings.

"Hi Damon." They answered, the voice was deep and sounded as if it had been drinking alcohol.

"Hey Ric! Buddy! Where are you?" Damon whispered, still walking and being careful not to step on anything that would give him away.

"At the grill. Downing half a ton of whiskey...what do you want Damon?"

"In ten words or less: Elena duty, Lockwoof, Mystic Woods, be there in five."

"Why? What's going down? What's happening?" There was the sounds of footsteps and an engine thrumming gently.

"That's more than ten words Ricky." Damon said, pressing end call and racing further into the woods.

Elena was nearly at the old Lockwood place, and she felt her heart frantically pounding in her chest. What if something had happened to Caroline?

What if something had happened to Tyler?

But she had to push those thoughts from her mind, she couldn't think like that. Not now.

She got that feeling that someone or something was watching her. That something was out there ready to strike, to grab her.

There was a rustle in the bushes behind her. Now her heart was hammering, pumping power to her ears, to her eyes. The torch flashed dimly, fading, and she whacked it with her hand, but it just faded out, leaving her standing stranded in the darkness. This time the sound was closer. A twig snapped. Something wanted to kill her. To jump her in the darkness. Elena's breathing came thick and fast she ran faster, not looking where she was going, when something snagged her, caught her foot, pulling her across the leafy ground. She tried to scream, but it got caught in her throat, she couldn't breathe, someone's warm hand was clasped firmly over her mouth, choking her. She focused on everything that made her feel angry: Bonnie's death, Klaus, her boyfriend being lead astray, all of the lives lost.

And the things that made her happy: Holding hands with Stefan, their first kiss, her friends and family, Damon always being there for her, always brightening her day, his eyes that were so blue so clear and full of admiration for her, laughing together at the sixties dance, all of the simple things that made her complete, and she felt them burst straight out of her in a monumental flash of grass-green light, sending the leaves scattering in flurries of copper off of the trees, the body that had grabbed her flying into an old oak tree behind her. And then she concentrated, and the green glow flooded to her right hand, and she shone it around her. Elena's mouth dropped open. Ah, crap. Caroline would kill her. There was Matt Donovan, hunched up in an unconscious pile covered with leaves, and strapped to his back was a huge brown musket, wood-tipped bullets scattered around him from his jacket.

"Oh..God." Elena sunk to the floor next to him, tears pricking her eyes. Was he dead?

A twig snapped from in-front of her, and there were sounds of heavy footfalls. Elena crawled on her hands and knees round to the other-side of the tree, hardly daring to breathe, her back pressed up against it until she felt the wood pinch her skin, and tucking her hand into her pocket. The sounds of someone breathing bit into the silence, and Elena knew it wasn't her. She grabbed a piece of fallen wood that was by the floor by her feet and held it up like a club. There was a skittering sound from the other side of the oak. Elena inched forward slightly, and so did the unknown.

Elena braced herself.

3..2..1.

In one smooth movement she twisted round, the wood raised high, ready to hit something, and then it slowly slid out of her fingers.

"Sh..Sheriff Forbes?" She gasped, relief rushing through her.

"Elena? What are you doing here.." Her voice trailed off at the sight of Matt slumped up against a tree.

"What happened?"

Caroline's mother felt for a pulse.

"He..I..some wood fell on him and he passed out." Elena finished, looking down guilty. This was the bit about this life that she hated. She hated having to lie all the time.

The Sheriff didn't look convinced.

"Hang on..how are you here?" Elena asked taking a step backwards. She had a funny feeling that something was wrong with the Sheriff.

"I saw something flash, my lovely." She continued, smiling and dancing forward a little further. Elena's mouth dropped open. Klaus.

"Yeah, it was your life flashing before your eyes, fluff-ball, when I kick your furry back-side." Growled a voice from behind her.

"Ah, Mr Salvatore, how nice of you to join us." The original body grabber said.

"You can stuff the milk and cookies chit-chat. I'm on a diet." Damon quipped, blurring to Elena. And grabbing the hand that wasn't in her pocket, getting ready to pull her away.

"Why are you here, Damon? After everything that I said, you just couldn't stay put could you?" She huffed. Damon rolled his eyes. So she was allowed to be the unstoppable martyr with a death wish, and he just had to tag merrily along like her little pet lap dog? Er, hell no.

"Look who's talking, stubborn ass." Damon shot back. "Now we are going home, to some-place where you can't get yourself killed."

Klaus smiled, amused, his eyes twinkling in the Sheriff's body as he tentatively took a step towards them.

"One more step and I will wedgie your werepire butt."

"You keep saying that young one, but when are you actually going to do it?" Klaus laughed.

"Don't tempt me."

Damon's eyes flashed, and he lifted his foot to storm towards him, his hands balled into fists.

"Damon..Damon, don't."

Elena whispered, taking their linked hands and pressing hers to his chest.

"You need to stop doing that." Damon snapped, through gritted teeth. It was using all of his energy not to take her into his arms right now.

Elena let her hair drape over her face, dropping his hand as if his touch burned her, she began to walk away towards the Lockwood mansion. Damon looked after her, instantly regretting what he'd said. Klaus saw his chance, lunging at the vampire when he wasn't looking, but Damon was quicker, and had him pinned against a tree in a second, his hands across his throat. A sly smile crept across his face. He was stronger than Klaus was in this form.

"Go near my girl again and I will not hesitate to rip your heart out." He snarled, a low warning growl slipping from his clenched teeth. "Oh..and send my brother our best."

"Barbie and Mutt are fine, now lets just go, Elena." Damon whined.

Elena ignored him, making her way down the cellar steps.

"You don't know that." Elena mumbled, reaching the bottom as Damon blurred in-front of her.

"Do you really want to jinx our fantastical powers of 'good luck', Elena?"

"Ha ha, very funny Damon." Elena replied, reaching for the door handle, but Damon was there before her, blocking her way.

"That's me. Damon the optimist, charismatic Damon, charming Damon, hot Damon.."

"Don't flatter yourself." Elena cut in, trying to remain serious, but she couldn't control the small smile that broke across her face. She reached for the handle again, but he waggled his finger, tutting at her.

"Ah ah ah. Touch that and I will throw you over my shoulders and drag you home kicking and screaming." Damon said, utterly serious.

Elena sighed.

"Caroline! Care, are you in there?"

She shouted, ignoring Damon's eye-roll.

There was a thud from behind the door.

"Yeah..I'm a little busy right now."

The blonde vampire's voice was muffled, but Elena could still hear, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Come on brown eyes, let's get outta here." Damon said, dragging her away when there was a howling sound and a huge bang coming from the other side.

"Oh, by the way Blondie, you might wanna avoid your Mom,"

Damon quipped, but Caroline cut in before he could finish.

"What? Where is she?"

"Klaus is inside her, Caroline, it's not safe."

Elena finished for Damon.

"Can't Bonnie do a spell or something?"

Elena swallowed, remembering that Caroline and Tyler didn't know.

"Yeah, about that.." Damon trailed off, flashing Elena a look that said 'are you gonna tell her, or should I'.

"Caroline..I can't explain right now, it'd be better if you come round when you're done."

Elena choked off.

"Oh..okay. I have to go..Tyler needs me, see you later. By the way, Ric's here too, so everything's great, tell Damon not to worry. I thought Alaric was acting a bit weird, he said it was best if it came from you."

And then she was gone.