"What the hell took you so long?" Damon asked Ric finally.

Ric regarded Damon with fake amusement. "What? No thank you for saving your lives, Damon? Really?"

Damon raised his eyebrows in a teasing manner. Him and Ric had rarely had any serious moments and that was definitely required here now.

"You're right." The humor disappeared from his face and he looked at his friend with nothing but serious appreciation. "I owe you everything, man. You saved all of our lives. I will never forget that." His lips grew into a goofy grin. "Good enough? A bottle of bourbon make us even? This much bromance is making me nauseous."

Ric smiled and nodded at him. He had never heard Damon so full of feelings before. And he looked like he was embarrassed already about it and probably wanting to take it back. "Sure, you bet."

He cleared his throat. "I was waiting for you at The Grill, like we had arranged. Jenna of all people introduced me to our friend here." He motioned to Elijah. "And he mentioned to me that he knew about the doppelganger and Klaus and that he wasn't going to hurt her but that he saw a wolf sneaking around Elena's place this morning," he began.

"I was pretty sure there were no other wolves around since you killed Mason. And tonight being a full moon this was not a threat I thought any of us would want to deal with alone."

He knelt on the ground digging through his bag and produced a blood bag and tossed it at Damon. Damon ripped it open and sucked it down fast. Ric held another one up looking at Stefan and Stefan shook his head that he was fine. Damon whistled at him and motioned to him to toss him the bag. He was starving. After the amount of blood he had lost, he could eat all night.

Damon tossed the empty blood bag down and had been all ears wondering why he hadn't found them sooner but nodded in understanding to everything Ric was saying; only half paying attention. He was busy digging around in Brody's bag.

"Oh yes!" He held up another bottle of bourbon triumphantly looking around at everyone. No one really looked impressed but Damon had been needing this all day now. He pushed more stuff around in the bag and heard more clinking. Then his hand closed around another bottle.

That was 4 or 5 bottles of bourbon he had had in there? Had he robbed The Grill? He whistled again at Ric and tossed him the last full bottle he had found. "There ya go. We are even." Damon winked at him.

Then he opened the other one, taking huge gulps of the bitter liquid feeling it burn down his throat. About damn time, he thought as he continued to listen to Ric.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the woman from the graveyard wake up. He walked swiftly over to her and put his hands on her shoulders as she stood up. He heard Elena gasp from where she was in Stefan's arms in the tomb. Did she think he was going to hurt her?

He waited till she looked back at him and looked into her eyes. "You will not remember anything that happened here. You went to the cemetery to mourn and you went home." The girl nodded and then Damon ripped into his wrist and forced it to her mouth. She at first was scared but then started gulping the blood. Damon watched his blood heal the women's wound on her neck. "Now, go" He instructed and she walked away from him and out of the crypt.

Everyone watched in silence until she was out of sight.

"I'm not even going to ask" Ric commented. "When I couldn't reach you on your phone. I went to the mansion, to Elena's house and no one had seen her all day. So I came here to ask Stefan what was going on or where you were. Jenna needed to borrow my truck and so I just walked from her place so I didn't even have a weapon on me. When I got here I heard screaming and your voices, so I ran back to The Grill to get Jeremy, Matt and Tyler, anyone I could to come and I couldn't find anyone. Then Elijah heard and offered to help. Jenna had just gotten back from her errands so we sped right back here."

Ric took a deep breath, finishing the story. "Thank God, I got here when I did!"

Ric looked again at Stefan and Stefan managed a weak but deeply emotional smile of thanks. He had saved his life, all their lives. He had saved Elena from God knows what Brody would have done to her before he killed Damon in front of her. He could not be more grateful to his friend.

Elijah smiled at Damon as he listened. "I truly mean you no harm" He spoke to Damon and Stefan. "But I thought this wolf should answer to what he did here to all of you."

"Damn right," Damon agreed, walking slowly up to Brody. He was brimming with confidence, knowing they were being protected by an Original vampire. This scum was dead! he thought to himself. More than dead. He looked in respectful thanks to Elijah and Elijah nodded back to him in understanding.

Brody was still convulsing in pain, bones cracking again, with his arms bending so far back they looked like they would break off. Elijah looked at Ric curiously. "You have all sorts of wolf weapons right?" he asked of Alaric. Ric nodded. "Do you by chance have something that will... slow his transformation?"

Ric grinned in agreement, putting the bottle of bourbon in his bag, he looked through the rest of it. "I have this" he smiled back up at him. Brody couldn't see what he was holding and shook his head back and forth in panic.

"Ah yes. That should help." Elijah said and motioned to Damon.

Damon took another long gulp from the bottle in his hands. He walked back up to Elijah while closing the bottle and took what was in his hand. "With pleasure," he hissed as he jammed the full syringe of wolfs bane into Brody's stomach. He screamed in pain and his legs couldn't hold him up and he just hung in Elijah's grip.

Damon really didn't know what to make of the Original standing beside him. He had killed him or so he thought and then was shocked to see him alive a few days later when Elena got Rose to summon him for her to surrender. And now here he was saving all of them?

It was difficult to understand or maybe he just wasn't drunk enough yet, he thought, opening the bottle again and taking another big gulp of the burning liquid. But Damon had no idea how much worse it could have gotten if Elijah hadn't shown up when he did. Stefan could be dead right now, really dead and Elena, he didn't even want to think of what could have still happened to her. So understanding or not... Elijah was his favorite person in the world right now.

Stefan was still holding her close and listening to every word. He was full of relief that this horror was finally over. Elena had no strength left and was just leaned into him, her eyes closed. She was still shaking from being wet and cold but he had nothing else to warm her with. He pulled back enough from her and zipped up Damon's jacket to keep the cold air out and then wrapped his arms back around her rubbing her back.

Damon smirked at Brody and tilted his head back and forth cockily at him. His head was hanging down weakly. Brody just glared up at him and spit at Damon.

He kept struggling in Elijah's grasp so much so that Elijah got impatient and twisted his arm back behind him till he heard it snap.

"Well gentlemen, what would like me to do with this...dog" Elijah said, sounding like he was trying to get some mud off his expensive leather shoes. He held Brody up at arms length look back and forth between the brothers. Damon winked at him and motioned for him to drop him. Elijah let go of him and let Damon at him.

"We are so not done with you! Damon snarled, pulling his head up by the hair to sneer at him.

"Should we burn you, stab you, blind you, choke you, hit you, cut you, punch you, strip you, shoot you or damn near rape you? So many options..." He counted his fingers. "What to do? I'm sure I'm missing something..."

Damon thought out loud thinking of everything the bastard had put them all through. "Feel like going all 12 rounds with just me, dick?"

Damon was just getting started!