Chapter 55

Damon's eyes shot open as he gasped for air, looking desperately around him to work out where he was. He was in the forest, in the clearing where they had met Marcel weeks ago. It was dark and the moon was hanging heavily in the sky, signalling that night was well underway.

Scrambling to his feet, he looked around to see whether anyone else was near him, his brow furrowing in confusion as he spied nobody in the clearing. Using his vamp speed, he sped from his side of the clearing to the other, in the direction of home, only to come across an invisible barrier preventing him from leaving. The speed at which he hit it caused him to ricochet back, hitting a tree painfully and stunning him for a moment.

Gathering himself, he stood up cautiously, looking around once again for the source of the barrier, finding nothing and no one. He walked slowly over to where he had hit it, feeling the deep scratches on his back where he had hit the tree starting to heal. He placed a hand tentatively against where he thought the barrier was, taking in a sharp breath as he felt the jolt of magic pulsate from it, running through him, seemingly exiting his body into the earth.

He took a quick step back, removing his hand and looking more agitatedly around him. Who was doing this to him? Why was he trapped? Why didn't he remember coming to the forest?

"Hello?" he called out, walking to the centre of the clearing and using his vamp hearing to focus in on any reply he might pick up. Instead of a response, he heard only a dull thud, perhaps 100m away, and he sped through the trees, still cautious of any invisible barrier to inspect it.

He stopped suddenly, a few feet short from the person lying curled up on the ground, their hair and clothing eerily familiar, their face contorted with pain and covered in beads of sweat as they gasped for air, clutching at a gaping wound with black veins dispersing from it.

"Stefan!" Damon ran to his brother, falling to his knees in front of him and gathering him into his arms. "Stefan, what's going on? What's happened?"

His brother gave no reply, just gazing up at Damon, his eyes rolling in fear and pain as he panted, unable to form a sentence. Damon looked at the wound on Stefan's arm and had a sudden horrible realisation, recognising it as the effects of Marcel's bite.

"No…" he gasped, holding Stefan closer to him, looking around desperately for anyone or anything that could help. "No, Stefan, stay with me…" He could feel his brother slipping away, and he shook him in vain, trying to keep him awake. "Stefan, please!" He begged as his brother's eyes closed, and the dreaded grey tinge of desiccation began to sweep across his body, slowly at first, then faster as it consumed him.

Damon was in shock, beyond dismay as he watched his little brother dying, the one constant in his long life. He heard a cry, almost unhuman and full of nothing but the deepest of pain, and it took a second before he realised that it came from him, cut off only as he heard another dull thud. Placing his brother gently on the ground and stroking his hair tenderly as his tears fell freely, he swore to come back for him before he sped off in the direction of the other thud, fearful of what he might find.

"Damon…" he heard the pitiful cry for help and felt his heart stop as he realised who it was.

"Lexi!" he screamed, trying his best to locate her through the thick branches of the trees. "Lexi, where are you?"

"Damon, help, please…" the cry was weaker, full of pain, and he ran as fast as he could towards it, almost stumbling over Lexi's body, curled up on the forest floor.

"Oh my God, Lexi," he breathed, taking in the sight of his girlfriend, bleeding heavily from her neck where he spied another of Marcel's bites, identification courtesy of the veins spreading out of it, carrying it's bitter poison throughout her body. "No, not you too, Lexi," he fell to the floor, his heart breaking as he held his girlfriend. He bit into his wrist, holding it to her mouth, but knowing deep down that it wouldn't help. "You're okay," he whispered to her, trying to convince himself as well as her.

She shook her head with the last of her strength. "This is your fault, Damon."

He felt his blood run cold as he took in her words. His fault?

"My death… it's on your hands…" He felt her body grow limp, and watched in horror as similarly to Stefan, she began to desiccate.

"No, no, LEXI!" he shouted, shaking her in a futile attempt to wake her up. He was openly sobbing now, beyond confused and desperate to escape this nightmare. Yet again, he heard a thud, this time quieter. Perhaps it's further away, he thought, as he reluctantly set Lexi down on the floor, planting a loving kiss on her lips before he pulled away, wiping his eyes.

Speeding over to the source of the thud, he stopped short as he saw it. A smaller body this time, tiny, in fact, with long, curling brown hair and a petite face covered with the smattering of freckles that he loved so much.

"Ottilie, no…" he stumbled to her body, looking her over for the same, tell-tale signs of Marcel's mark, but finding none. He fell in defeat next to her, checking her for a pulse and breathing, and feeling his stomach clench when he found none.

He immediately began to pump her chest hard, trying desperately to get her heart beating of its own accord, before pinching her nose and blowing air forcefully into her lungs. "Come on!" he muttered, as he gave her more chest compressions, wincing as once again, he felt her frail ribs breaking under his hands. "Don't leave me…" He kept the CPR up for what felt like hours, pressing deeper, blowing harder in a desperate bid to revive her.

Damon wasn't sure when he realised that she wasn't coming back, that nothing he could do could bring her back to him. He collapsed over her small frame, sobbing, screaming her name, begging her to wake up, but knowing that she wouldn't.

He heard some twig snap behind him, and he pulled himself up, his body heavy with the enormity of his loss as he looked around.

"You…" he hissed, his voice filled with the deepest hatred and loathing. "You did this"

The sing-songy voice edged with sarcasm and perhaps just a little madness replied. "Did you miss me?"