Hey guys, just wanted to check you guys use the same rules, otherwise Stefan playing a game won't make sense. When we played hide and seek when we were kids, there was a neutral spot like a tree which was what we called DEL. If you were hiding and the person who was seeking didn't find you, you could win the game by getting to DEL without getting caught. If you were found you could still make a run for it and reach DEL to avoid being caught. The person who was the seeker in the next game is the first person found and caught. So basically if the seeker found everyone but didn't tag them before they got to DEL then everyone lost but if the seeker found you but you managed to get to DEL without being tagged then you were ok for next game.

Make sense? Probably not hahaha. My hubby says my version is warped but that's how we played it. I guess it was kind of a mixture of tag and hide and seek. Anyway, hope this makes sense later. In reference to what's happening with Stefan, it'll become clear soon.

X

Chapter 28 TH

Warm tongue caressing. Full, soft lips desperately massaging his. Her loins alive with desire and heat, energy and love. Hands stroking and caressing his skin as though his skin was made of silk. Love. Being loved, gently and with such adoration.

She stirred, cupping herself through her jeans as her body responded.

Hair falling against her cheek. She opened her eyes to look up. Raven hair, curling a little at the ends as her lover perspired. She reached up to touch it as she felt him enter, although something was different than before. Something was strange…Lips kissing and whispers of love. She relaxed and returned them, feeling like the most prized thing on the planet.

Moving inside of her body – the perfect exclamation of devotion, but it wasn't like it had been before. Why did it feel different? Why was her lover inside of her in that place and not the other? Why choose this cavity? She ran her fingers into the hair of her partner, tugging a little and tilting the lover's face upwards so she could bite his neck and taste his sweat trickling there. Blue eyes glowed at her and teeth sharpened as she felt a burning begin in her stomach. The smell of his skin, the lure of his blood was intoxicating.

"Stefan…" Her lover whispered encouragingly.

She sat up suddenly, waking and holding down the erection. She panted a little in both fear and surprise and shook her head. What had that been? How? She'd spent so little time with Damon. To have a sex dream about him seemed a little odd. She clutched Stefan's manhood, pleased by the pleasant sensation of squeezing it and tried to collect herself. It had seemed so real, like a memory, but that was impossible. Stefan was gone, receded somewhere into oblivion and if she could help it, he'd stay that way forever. She shook her head again.

Perhaps she needed to vent this frustration after all. The mates were highly sexed – she'd seen to that part of their nature. It ran in the blood of wolves to have higher sex drives anyway, but before she'd been killed, she'd needed to ensure that sex was an integral part of her bloodline's activities. She'd known that Klaus would be volatile in maturity and she'd had to make sure that her offspring would reproduce regularly and often so that they'd become so far diluted from his knowledge, that if he ever discovered he had living kin, he'd never find them all, plus the more people with the mating gene in them, the more power she had to draw from.

She never expected that she'd actually have to be in one of these bodies, especially with a vampire curse also. If only she'd been able to take over Nathan instead, that would have been preferable because then she'd simply be what she had been before – albeit male.

She was distracted from her thoughts by Nathan emerging from the tent and stretching. So odd to see a man and a woman sleep in a tent together without a coupling. She sniffed discretely in his direction as he gave her a quick flick of his jaw in acknowledgement of her. No sex. They really had slept next to each other and not had sex in that tent. She gave a small smirk of confusion.

She continued to watch as Nathan set a camp fire and retrieved an assortment of metal objects from his backpack. What was he doing? Grandma sat up in curiosity, watching Nathan come and go. He placed some strong smelling powder into a metal pot and added some water, summoning flames from the fire to heat it. The smell that followed was inviting and heavenly. Not quite like Damon's blood, but inviting still. Grandma licked her lips and sniffed.

"You want some coffee?" Nathan asked, noticing her enjoyment of the smell and she frowned at him.

"Food?" She asked and he shook his head, a little surprised.

"To drink."

"Yes." Grandma nodded, wondering if this body ate food as well as blood and Nathan almost seemed to perceive of her thinking.

"Stefan loves coffee."

Grandma said nothing in response and watched as Nathan averted his eyes, sadly and returned to making the item. Grandma stood up, realising that she still had an erection. She rearranged her garments and squeezed it again as she tried to walk normally. Nathan didn't look up but yet he noticed.

"It'll relax. Just give it a few minutes."

"What?" Grandma asked.

"Morning wood." Nathan smirked but didn't look at her. "It's normal to wake up with an erection."

Grandma felt blush spread across her face and she cleared her throat. How awful to have this affliction every morning. She had no idea that it was an automatic reaction. Her husband and latterly fathers to her children, had simply been ready to engage in more sex the next morning, she thought due to her presence – if she stayed that long. Towards the end, she had been more interested in collecting as much seed as possible to birth her clan before she was murdered. She'd scarce learned the names of the men who contributed, only leaving their children with them once she'd given birth. She'd never been able to keep the children as she'd known they'd also be killed by association, so she'd returned them to their fathers as quickly as possible so they'd been spread far and wide and safe from harm.

She sat down beside the camp fire and sniffed deeply again.

"Do you remember the taste of food?" Nathan asked her now.

"No." She admitted.

She hadn't given it much thought really. Her focus had simply been on getting into this body, killing Klaus and then allowing herself to return to the other side where she could find peace.

Nathan gave a genuine smile and poured some of the liquid into a small tin cup. He handed it out to her and she took it from him. The smell was powerful, the liquid almost black and thick.

"You might want to put some sug…" Nathan began when she took a sip and spat it out in surprise. "Sugar and milk maybe." Nathan chuckled and indicated to the other ingredients.

Grandma grimaced and looked to him for aid and he took her cup back and added a little milk and sugar. He had come so equipped for camping. How had he known to bring these things? She scrutinized him as he stirred it and tasted a little to make sure it was ok, adding a little more water. He handed it back to her and she took it, sniffing carefully this time before taking a sip. The taste exploded in her mouth and she swallowed carefully. Much improved from the foulness of the last taste. She smiled gratefully and Nathan smiled back, but looked a little melancholy.

She tilted her head at that expression and he straightened his face again cautiously and took a seat to fill his own cup.

"Stefan likes coffee." Grandma said and Nathan gave a silent nod. "You know what he likes in his cup?"

Nathan looked to her unsure and she raised an eyebrow. He returned to making his own and she sipped it again. There was feeling here. She'd known there was affection between her young wolf progeny and the mates but there was more to it.

"Does Stefan know of your habits so well?"

Nathan took a sip and frowned at her.

"What do you mean?"

"In the beginning of the spell, you were drawn together." She commented and Nathan tightened.

"Because you locked us in the library while he was in heat!" He spat, disgusted and she took another sip as she watched him try to control himself again.

Silence followed.

"I wanted him for you." Grandma said casually, flicking her eyes up to him once more to check his reaction.

"What are you talking about?" He tried to seem uninterested.

"I ensured you two were together. I had that force field put there to allow you both to reset the balance."

Nathan looked at her outraged and angry, but he didn't speak.

"Had you two produced a child together, I would have spared it."

He scoffed in hatred, his eyes beginning to burn. She was losing him, she had to try and make him understand what she'd been trying to do for him, for everyone.

"Your child would have been pure bred wolf of my line with Stefan's strength and power. It would have been strong enough to counter Klaus when it grew, in case I failed to destroy him and if Klaus was gone, then it would have been the strongest wolf, an alpha. It would help our people rid the world of vampires."

"You sound insane." Nathan said, perplexed and unwilling to consider what she was saying.

"I so hoped Stefan's child was yours, I allowed it to grow when all along it was another demon." She sighed.

Nathan stood up abruptly and walked away from the camp. She watched him walk away but didn't follow him.

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"Stefan!" Stefan halted in fear at his father's wrath and looked up at him sheepishly. "What have I told you about visiting your mother? She is ill! She must not be disturbed!"

Stefan paled as his father's face turned red with anger.

"Do I need to get my belt before you will listen to me boy?"

"No sir." He squeaked.

Surely father wouldn't beat him. He'd never done it before, always simply threatened, but lately…

"Go!" Giuseppe ordered and Stefan hesitated for a moment, hearing his mother weep from within her bedroom.

Giuseppe looked at him commandingly and he ran down the hall and down the stairs to the garden. His heart thundered and his eyes filled with tears. He looked around, unsure where to seek refuge when he saw Miss Flora in the field with some of the other servants. His heart jumped and he ran towards her for solace, falling as he tripped over his untied shoe laces and crying out as he did so. All of the emotion building up inside of him began to pour out and he bawled, wiping his split lip and the muck from his cheek.

A strong pair of caramel coloured arms wound around him and lifted him up. He cried into her shoulder, smelling her sweet scent as she cooed at him. She bounced him as though he was a younger infant and he wrapped his arms around her neck.

"Little master, I got you." She said soothingly, carrying him away from the house to where the servant children were playing.

Stefan continued to sniffle and she sat him down on a rock and wiped his face with her handkerchief and tried to make him smile. He hiccupped a few times and wiped his eyes. She distracted him, trying to show him how to tie his laces for himself for next time and he watched, occasionally hiccupping.

"You try it now." She offered, untying them again and he shook his head. "Come on now. A master has to learn how to do these things himself."

He bent down and tried to copy her, with her guidance and managed to get them to knot.

"It's a start." Flora smiled encouragingly and he gave a small smile. "Thomas, Master Stefan needs to have some fun."

She called on the other children and they rushed over in a group. He smiled as they beckoned him to join their game of hide and seek. His pain forgotten, he jumped up with competitive adrenaline and began to run into the family grounds with them, leaving Flora standing behind looking up to his mother's bedroom window.

They played for a while, laughing and teaming up on the slowest of the group, William. William had a big appetite and figure to go with it and was always the finder – never able to tag them even if they were found. Still, William always cried eventually and ran back to Flora, who then made them swap over. Even though William was always the first caught, he seemed to be appeased by being allowed to have a different role in the game. Thomas was the finder in this round and he could run like the wind! Stefan knew he had to find a really special hiding place this time.

He chuckled to himself as he dove amongst some high grass and looked around. The family cemetery was near. He wasn't allowed to be there, father had warned that some of the older stones were crumbling and he may be hurt if one fell on him, but it did seem like the right place to hide. The other children had been brought up with some strange ideas and superstitions (according to father) and they would probably not come looking for him in here.

He grinned at his plan and looked up for Thomas to await his chance. Thomas ran towards someone else's hiding spot and Stefan made his move, dashing into the graveyard and throwing himself down behind a large stone. His heart pounded as he heard Thomas call out teasingly to him and he smiled widely. No way he'd find him here. The stone was so big, it clearly hid his small body. Sometimes he was thankful his body was still quite small. His father had begun to comment on his diet, making the servants give him more oats and grains to eat to make him grow faster. All the men on father's side had been tall and broad. Still, as mother defended, Stefan was only 8 years old and he had plenty of time to become the towering man his father expected.

A small bug landed on Stefan's hand and he shook it to shoo it away when he heard the other children scream as they raced back to the neutral point. He looked around the stone to see and chuckled, watching Thomas running around in circles to tag them. They'd totally tag teamed him. Stefan sat back behind the stone and waited. Thomas was so fast and confident all the time that he got cocky. Stefan planned to make him give up because he couldn't find him and then rub it in his face later.

He pulled at his shoe laces, struggling to untie them from his own knots when he heard Thomas call for supper. He paused, listening acutely. Yeah right, he wasn't going to be fooled into giving away his current location that easily! He chuckled and continued to untie his laces again. When he got them untied, he then tried to copy Flora's instructions again. It was as though she was a magician! How was this possible? It had to be magic.

He was so consumed by his efforts that he forgot about the game and looked up when he realised he hadn't heard the others laugh for a while. He tuned his ears in. Nothing, just the wind blowing through the grass. He slowly, peeked around the stone, carefully awaiting Thomas jumping out to tag him, but no one moved. He sat scanning the area. They could all be in on it, trying to catch him off-guard.

He waited for five minutes and became aware of the wind getting cooler. He rubbed his arms as his teeth chattered. If this was a trick, they were playing it well. His stomach rumbled. He looked around again, beginning to realise that indeed, supper might have been called and they were gone. He slowly stood up and looked around. No one in sight. His stomach clenched. He realised where he was. He was standing in a graveyard with dead bodies all around him, on his own! He looked around gulping. What if they jumped out of their graves and grabbed him – he'd heard tales of creatures in the night. His heart began to thunder and he began to back away from the large tombs. Each became more ominous and threatening the farther away he positioned himself and he realised the best course of action would be to make a run for it.

He leapt into action, running as though the devil may be at his heels when his laces tripped him once more and he fell full force onto the ground. There was no nanny to pick him up and carry him this time. He picked himself up from the ground and fell again onto a slab on the ground. Was it a grave too?

His eyes moved to the name, as though drawn.

"Damon Salvatore." He said aloud as though by saying its name he could take away any evil power the corpse inside had to capture him, when he noticed the dates.

He frowned. It was a child's grave. A child who'd died only 6 years before. He rubbed away some of the moss and dirt on the stone and sat back as his hairs stood on end.

Beloved son of Lilly.

Lilly? Lilly was his mother. Mother had had another son? Mother had had another son while he was alive? If this Damon had died 6 years ago then that meant that he would have been 2. He felt his heart flutter strangely. Damon was his brother. But…why had he never heard of him? Why had no one ever mentioned him?

He stood up, feeling lost and confused. He had had a brother. He had to know what had happened. He looked up to the light in his mother's room and bit his lip. Mother would tell him the truth.

He kicked his shoes off and began to run unhindered back towards the house. He wanted some answers.

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Damon sat at the bar, drinking. This time round he didn't feel up to his usual shenanigans or pretences. Being his old self had been fun for a short while but now it was empty. Mercifully only a few women had offered him their bodies and he'd appeared so uninterested in them that a few had called him a queer and stormed off. You had to love this backwater town. He'd never actually been so glad of their attitudes towards homosexuality, because it meant they left him alone.

In truth he still loved women just as much but the only person he wanted to sleep with was Stefan. Simple. If that made him gay then…he guessed it was a title he didn't mind.

He smirked into his bottle. Today was a beer day. He needed to keep his head and await the call from Marcus. He had no idea what to expect and he wasn't comfortable with that at all. He didn't have a plan, he didn't have anything to exchange. He sighed and put his face in his hands soberly.

He heard her clicking heels as she entered the bar and could practically feel the energy roll off of her before she even knew he'd realised her presence. He sighed again and sat upright as she approached.

"Bonnie Bennett." He said in tired greeting that he put no enthusiasm into whatsoever.

"Old habits die hard I see." She commented, unimpressed and sat down next to him.

He gave a small smirk and took a swig from his beer. She exhaled and looked around.

"Nice place." She said sarcastically and he smirked again.

"How'd you find me?" He asked, pealing the label from his bottle.

"DNA and a locator spell. How many new bottles did you make up for Vida before you left? There's a whole room full."

He looked at her for the first time and swallowed.

"I assume it was for Vida, not Stefan."

"No." He agreed.

"She needs to begin eating food Damon. Do you think by bleeding yourself dry, it'll help her somehow?"

"It was all I could leave for her." He said simply.

She exhaled.

"Stefan's not dead Damon."

Damon took another drink and didn't reply.

"He's not dead." Bonnie leaned towards him emphatically and Damon looked at her almost angrily.

"No? Then where the hell is he then Bon Bon?"

"I don't know exactly…"

"Course you don't!" He huffed and she counted to ten rather than slap his shoulder in frustration.

"Listen to me. What Vida saw…" She began and he turned to her fully.

"You saw Vida?"

"Yes, Ian called me. They're worried you're making a mistake. They think you're on a suicide mission…"

"Damn dogs, I told them to call Anne and Mich…" He began to rant when Bonnie gripped his arm this time and stopped him.

"Vida knows you're on a suicide mission!" She snapped and he stopped and paled. "Your baby knows you've left her."

"She'll be fine with…" he croaked, but Bonnie interrupted again, squeezing his arm.

"Your baby thinks her daddy has abandoned her and he's not coming back. She knows something terrible has happened to Stefan too."

Damon shook her grip from his arm and rubbed his face.

"She's devastated and scared, because you made a stupid decision without even waiting to find out what's really going on."

"And what the hell is going on!?" He shouted at her angrily and the barman tightened, watching their display.

Bonnie smiled apologetically in his direction and Damon glared at him, warning him not to butt in.

"Listen to me." Bonnie calmed her voice and turned to face the bar again. "I looked into Vida's memory to find out what she saw and it wasn't Stefan's spirit like you thought it was."

That got his attention and he turned fully towards her again, his expression full of pain and desperation. She hadn't often seen that expression and it melted some of the icy of her attitude towards him.

"It wasn't Stefan." She repeated and he looked as though he might vomit.

"But there was someone there, something…I sensed it and Vida…"

"She saw someone for sure, but Stefan is alive. We might not know where but we know that." She comforted and he looked to her in agony.

"How do we know that?"

"Because Vida knows he is. She can feel him still."

He flinched. Strange to feel jealous of your own child. How could she feel Stefan when he couldn't?

"Vida is a special baby Damon. She and Stefan have a connection different from anyone else in the world. She came from his body, even though his body should never have been able to create her. That goes way beyond any parent and child relationship ever seen before."

He nodded slowly as he considered that. Still, he felt oddly left out.

"I wasn't sure until I touched her mind and now I am. He's still around somewhere."

They fell silent, with Bonnie ordering a coffee while Damon processed everything.

"Who was it then?" He finally asked and she exhaled.

"That's the problem. I have no idea and that's why we need you back with Vida. We need to figure out who this woman was and why she's communicating with Vida."

"Woman?" Damon sat more upright and she nodded.

"Yeah. Youngish in her late 20's maybe early thirties."

Damon frowned.

"She was black, um, she wore her hair up in a scarf."

Damon stared into nowhere trying to build a picture in his mind.

"She seemed to know Vida, know both of you. It was kind of like she was trying to calm Vida."

"Calm her?" He mumbled.

"Yeah. I couldn't get a feel on why she was there and what her intentions were but somehow, Vida trusted her." Damon looked to her, full of emotion again.

"What did Vida feel?"

"She felt like Stefan had sent her. Like she was going to protect everyone."

Damon gulped and searched her eyes.

"We don't know what is going on wherever Stefan is, but it's clear there's other forces out there. This one seems to be benign, but we can't trust that until we find out more. So we need you home. Only you and the other mates can channel with Vida and we need to know who see saw."

Damon nodded absent-mindedly and his cell phone began to ring. It snapped him back to attention and he hesitated in answering. Bonnie returned to her coffee, listening curiously as Damon answered and spoke cryptically. He hung up and she looked at him.

"What are you scheming?" She asked when she saw how momentarily conflicted he seemed.

He gave her a sarcastic smile and she sat her cup down.

"Really? After everything we've been through together lately? You're going to keep secrets?" She said incredulously and his smile faded as he stared into thin air and thought about it.

"Why are you in Hicksville? It's not for customer service." She looked around at the clientele.

"I have my reasons."

"Which are?" She probed and he looked at her blankly.

She tilted her head but he continued to stare at her with no expression and she chuckled without mirth and put a five dollar bill down on the bar for her coffee.

"Back to being a jackass huh? That didn't take long." She commented, standing up. "Well, you enjoy whatever you're up to. I am going to go back to the wolves and tell them to call Anne. Vida needs one parent she can rely on until we can save her other one."

He paid her no heed and returned to drinking from his bottle as she moved away.

"Are you seriously not coming back to help us? To help Vida?" She asked and he ignored her.

She moved to the door, in disbelief that he was really going to let her go. Was he really so lost to the grief that Stefan was unable to be saved? Her heart clenched in pain, not just pain for Vida or the others, but pain for all of them.

"Stefan would be so proud." She whispered, knowing only he would hear and left the bar, headed back to the wolves.