Chapter 57

"Why won't she wake up?" cried Stefan, desperately clutching his niece to his body, willing her to open her eyes. She'd never been unconscious this long after doing a spell before, and she was starting to frighten him.

Elijah shook his head as Hope held the smaller girl's hands, trying to use her magic to detect any problem. "It's like she's sleeping," she said after a few moments. "She's okay, but she's asleep, and I don't understand why she won't wake."

Caroline moved forwards, taking charge of the situation and prising Ottilie's body from Stefan's arms. "You need to go and find Damon," she instructed firmly. "I'll stay with Ottilie in case she wakes up or needs help."

Stefan nodded reluctantly before releasing his hold on his niece and allowing Caroline to take her gently upstairs to her bedroom.

"What's the plan?" asked Kol, a smirk starting to cover his face at the thought of potentially beating someone up.

Klaus smiled at his younger brother's enthusiasm. "Well little brother, I think we go to where Hope says Damon is, and we see who's keeping there and have a little chat. What do you reckon?"

Kol grinned, nodding before he turned to leave the house to head for the car the Mikaelsons had arrived in.

"We will follow you," called Lexi as she and Stefan exited the same way, climbing into Stefan's Porsche after having grabbed some blood bags and cooler, just in case.

Kai cursed under his breath, running to the window and looking out, scanning the bleak surroundings for any sign of intruders. Turning back to Damon, he muttered the spell and Damon's eyes snapped open, his chest heaving as he took in his surroundings, once again confused at his lack of memory of how he'd gotten there. He was left only with the nightmares that he'd been living through.

"Kai?" he gasped in shock, taking in the figure of the syphoner he believed to be dead.

"Yes, I'm alive, blah blah, we've been through this already, Damon," Kai snapped at him, ignoring Damon's confused look. "Your witchy friends somehow got through my blocking spell and are on their way. I've gotta go, but I just wanted to leave you with a little parting gift until we see each other again."

He smiled sadistically and walked to Damon who unwittingly flinched away from him, expecting pain. Kai touched Damon's forehead gently, closing his eyes as he did so before stepping back with a triumphant grin. "There we go, Salvatore," he hissed. "Now and then, when you shut your eyes to sleep, you will relive those nightmares, and you'll never know what night they're going to come. Enjoy…"

Damon began to tremble as the fear and horror he'd lived through in the those nightmares began to wash over him as the memories came back – everyone he loved – dead, and he unable to save them, left alone for all eternity. It's just a dream… he tried to reason with himself, trying to push down the rising panic he felt as his eyes began to close – Kai's parting gift being a sleeping spell.

The cars sped off in whatever direction Hope was instructing them, and before long, they pulled up outside a tiny cottage at the end of a very long road. Stefan's phone rang and he looked at the caller ID before answering it.

"Caroline…"

"She's awake, Stefan," his girlfriend interrupted him, knowing that he'd want to know as soon as possible, and heard a sigh of relief come from him.

"Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she said that she felt like she was sleeping, and that she had a dream that she was in a forest and saw Damon."

"Huh? Weird…"

"I know, right? Just hurry up and find him, she's really worried about him."

"Sure, I'll be home soon."

Hanging up, he climbed out of the parked car to tell the others that Ottilie was fine and they surveyed the situation, noting that they couldn't hear or see anyone else around. Walking slowly towards the house, the smell of blood suddenly hit them, and Stefan had to fight to control his urges.

Klaus opened the door slowly and they made their way inside, splitting up into smaller groups to cover more area. The Mikaelson brothers and Bonnie went upstairs, whilst Hope, Rebekkah, Lexi and Stefan searched the ground floor.

"Oh my God, Damon!"

Stefan heard Lexi's cry of dismay and rushed to the room, followed closely by the Mikaelsons, where he saw his brother tied up from the ceiling with ropes, a disturbingly large pool of blood collected beneath him. He ran over to Damon and tried to undo the ropes, hissing in pain as the vervain stung his skin. He fought through it, and was joined by Lexi as they pulled the ropes from Damon's wrists and ankles.

Once freed, Stefan had to quickly catch him as his brother fell lifelessly towards the floor, his body limp and more cold than usual. Lexi watched in horror as Stefan knelt by his brother, taking in the huge, unhealed wounds covering his bare chest and abdomen.

"He's almost been bled dry," muttered Stefan, grimacing at the grey tinge to his brother's skin. "Lexi, can you get the blood bags?"

She nodded and sped off to the car to retrieve them, unable to get the image of Damon from her mind.

Once she'd arrived back, she was presented with an even more frightening sight – Damon, still lying on the ground, was now hyperventilating, twitching as if he caught in a bad dream.

Stefan motioned at her to bring the blood bag. "Quick!" he called, before grabbing it from her, tearing it open and dripping the contents into Damon's mouth. They all waited expectantly for Damon to swallow, and collectively breathed a sigh of relief as he did so, watching as his wounds began to finally knit together.

"He's been spelled to sleep," announced Hope, her brows furrowed in concentration as she tried to undo the magic. "I think I've undone it – he should wake up soon."

Stefan nodded gratefully, and opened the second bag of blood, once again dripping it into Damon's mouth and smiling slightly as he noticed the grey tinge beginning to lessen.

Damon's eyes shot open and he looked around wildly before trying to sit up. "Lexi, Stefan, you're alive?!" he whispered in shock, his eyes starting to fill with tears of relief.

Lexi quickly put a small hand to his bare chest and pushed him gently back to the floor. "Careful, sweetie," she said softly, "you've lost a lot of blood. Just rest a while, okay?"

He nodded slightly, relaxing a little and looking around at the concerned faces around him.

"What happened?" asked Stefan, handing Damon the near-empty blood bag to finish whilst he readied a third.

"Kai," said Damon, focusing on replenishing his blood.

They looked at him, stunned.

"But Kai's…"

"Not dead" affirmed Damon, simply.

"Damn…" breathed Klaus, "that bastard is as hard to kill as I am…"

"And if he's still alive, he's still working with Marcel, which means that Ottilie is still in danger…" said Stefan, hesitantly, not wanting to scare Damon and wincing as once again, Damon tried to sit up at the mention of his daughter.

"Ottilie," Damon said, his voice strained with worry. "Is she okay? She died – you and Lexi both died, but now you're okay. Is she alive?"

"She's fine, brother," replied Stefan, quietly, placing his jacket around Damon's bare shoulders. "She's at home. Shall we go and see her?" He decided not to press what Damon said about him dying, not wanting to upset him further. He'll tell me later, he thought as he guided Damon to his feet and helped his wobbly, weakened brother to his car.