Off by a Single Degree: Part I Chapter 8: Donor, a vampire diaries fanfic

Ha! So, true to her pattern of the last several years, my muse suddenly decided it was time to update this fic just when my students turned in their 4-6 page research papers and I'm at crunch time for my own 6-8 and 10-12 page papers. Thanks, musie. That's just wonderful. But I really like this chapter, and the grading is coming along nicely, so I suppose it's not too catastrophic. Cheers again to AnglcDmn for betaing!

Also, to the guest reviewer who said the Salvatores were turned in 1864, I think you will find that the writers of the show themselves aren't clear on that. They kind of suck at keeping their own timeline straight, actually. But in episode one or two of S1, we got the date of the battle of Willow Creek, which happened around the same time Katherine turned Damon and Stefan and fled, and that date was April 7, 1865. So that's what I'm sticking with.

"So when I said I wanted you and your feathered sidekick to give me some space to figure things out, that didn't mean I wanted your brother to fill the void. Think you could have a chat with him about how counterproductive it is to toss me around like a rag doll and then expect me to take advice from him?"

Elena had sent that text hours ago, but every time she pulled out her phone under her desk in class on Thursday, her inbox was empty of any witty replies from Damon. The fifth or sixth time she did this, she let her phone drop back into her bag with a sigh and looked out the window. Maybe Edgar was out there, just perched somewhere she couldn't see him.

Lunch at the junior varsity cheerleading squad's table was getting less enjoyable every day. Caroline pulled no punches when she felt someone's performance was slipping, and her main target of criticism lately had been Elena. She was distracted in practice, she clearly wasn't making cheerleading a top priority, and if she didn't improve, she would surely lose the crowd during next season's games and the team would be left with no support system.

Bonnie was Elena's only ally during these lectures, but since the reasons for Elena's distraction all had to do with supernatural stuff, all she could offer was the occasional look of sympathy.

Things weren't improving with Matt either. He did seem more inclined to speak to her now, but not in a way that suggested he was getting over her. He always had this cautiously optimistic expression when he saw her lately, and she worried that he might have regrouped since the breakup and was now planning to ask if she wanted to get back together. And to be fair, from his perspective, there was probably a lot of evidence to suggest she'd be open to it; she wasn't dating anyone new and she definitely wasn't any happier than she'd been when she was with him. Consequently, she'd taken to ducking behind other students a lot whenever she saw him in the halls and rushing out of their shared classes before he could try to say anything to her.

When after school cheer practice finally ended, Elena headed, not home, but to her dad's work. When she walked inside, the receptionist smiled at her. "Hi, Elena," she said.

"Hi, Laura," said Elena. "Is my dad in an appointment?"

"No, his four o'clock cancelled and his four-thirty isn't here yet. You can head right on back."

"Thanks," said Elena, and she did as instructed.

"Hey, sweetie," said Grayson as soon as she stepped into his office. "Is something up?"

"Not really," said Elena noncommittally. She picked up the squishy gray foam brain off his desk and fidgeted with it. "I just wondered if you've talked to Damon since last Thursday at the boarding house."

"He dropped by here on Saturday, and we had a conversation," said Grayson, watching her with a raised eyebrow.

"Mom said you have a deal with him," said Elena. "Something about helping him get Katherine back if he lets you destroy the rest of the vampires in the tomb and if he and Katherine leave town."

"That's the gist of it," said Grayson.

"You didn't tell him not to contact me, did you?" said Elena, squishing the foam brain progressively harder, until the material threatened to tear beneath her fingers.

"Why, is he bothering you?" said Grayson, his brow furrowed in concern and maybe a little anger.

"No!" said Elena quickly. She set the brain back on the desk. "No, he just hasn't been replying to any of my texts, and the only other time that happened was last Thursday."

Grayson frowned. "Do you text him a lot?" he asked.

"Not really," said Elena, affecting a casual, disinterested tone, hoping her dad wouldn't see through her. "It's just nice every once in a while to talk to someone who isn't part of all my school drama."

"Be careful, Elena," said Grayson seriously. "Just because he and I have a deal doesn't mean he can be trusted. He's still a vampire, and he's here for Katherine first and foremost."

"Dad, he saved my life," Elena reminded him. Twice, she added silently, but she was still determined not to tell him or her mom about the visit to the boarding house that had necessitated that particular rescue. "I don't think he'd ever hurt me."

Grayson nodded, looking pensive. "I think that might be the one thing we can trust."

Damon opened his eyes, then groaned, but the groan immediately became a series of hoarse coughs. He was in the cellar, and every part of his body felt like it was on fire from Stefan's vervain. Even doing as much as trying to sit up only made it worse, but he pushed through it, squinting at his surroundings. It looked like Stefan had repaired and reinforced the door since he'd kicked it in the previous week. In his current condition, his chances of breaking out were remote. At least Stefan hadn't gone so far as to put him in shackles. He looked down at his hands and realized that his daylight ring was gone. Stefan must've taken it.

The sound of footsteps reached his ears, and he looked up at the tiny, barred window set into the door. "Stefan?" he said. No response came, but a few seconds later, Stefan's face appeared in the window.

"How do you like your new room, Damon?" he said calmly.

"I think I preferred the old one," said Damon.

"Well that's too bad, because this is where you'll be staying from now on. At least until Zach dies of old age."

"You're going to leave me here to rot," said Damon, fighting against the pain and getting shakily to his feet, "over Zach?"

"It's what I should've done fifteen years ago," said Stefan. "I won't make the same mistakes I made then." He looked angry. Damon knew he would never convince him to let him out willingly. He didn't regret his threat against Zach at all—the idiot shouldn't have tried to kill him in the first place, but he at least should've made sure his shot wouldn't be blocked by a sixteen-year-old girl before he pulled the trigger. Still, Damon hadn't waited all these years for that comet to return only to get locked up months before it came. And what if whomever Grayson Gilbert was afraid of came looking for Elena while he was still locked up? He couldn't let it happen.

"Stefan, there are things you don't understand," he said, reaching the door and curling his fingers around the bars. "I made a deal with Grayson Gilbert. I have to hold up my end."

"Grayson Gilbert is better off without any deal of yours," said Stefan.

"I didn't make the deal for him! I made it for Elena. She's in danger, Stefan." He looked intently into his brother's eyes, willing him to see the truth in his own.

Stefan only stared back, clearly unmoved. "Not anymore," he said, and he turned and walked away.

Damon closed his eyes and gritted his teeth.

Elena sat bolt upright on her bed, her heart thundering in her ears. The dream had been so vivid, but already she could barely remember anything about it. The only thing that stuck was an image of Damon's face, saying a word that might've been her name. She rolled out of bed and immediately pulled her diary from behind the painting above it, then sat down at her desk and began to write.

She spent most of the day at school continuing to go through the motions of exam review and interaction with her friends, but her mind never strayed far from Damon. Why wasn't he replying to any of her messages? She couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong.

Stefan couldn't get Damon's last words to him the previous day out of his head. His first impulse was to dismiss them as an attempt to manipulate him into freeing him. After all, with Damon locked up, what danger could Elena Gilbert possibly be in? But on the off chance that more than Damon was currently wrong with Mystic Falls, Stefan felt obligated to investigate further. He started with Damon's phone, which had ended up on the floor in the parlor during their struggle on Wednesday night. It wasn't locked, so he went straight to the inbox.

"Cynicism Detox Hotline," he muttered with a confused frown. What on earth was that? Somehow, he doubted that Damon simply had a therapist with a slogan that tacky. Whatever it meant, it was the only number Damon had texted since coming to town. His frown deepening, Stefan flicked back to the oldest conversation and opened it.

"What are you up to today?"

"Writing at the library, cheer practice at school, and then breaking up with my boyfriend."

"Breaking up with him, huh? I thought you said it was just a fight. Or is it that I've already ruined you for other men?"

"You got me. I've fallen madly in love with you. Where should we meet so we can elope to Vegas?"

"You, Elena Gilbert, are rapidly becoming my favorite human being."

So that's who "Cynicism Detox Hotline" was. Reading quickly through the rest of the conversation and the ones that had taken place since, Stefan had the distinct impression that he was missing a lot of private jokes, but at least now he knew why Elena wouldn't hear a word against his brother. He had clearly done a good job of earning her friendship and trust. She hadn't even been afraid to call him out for using that raven to keep tabs on her.

For a second or two, it occurred to Stefan that Damon might not actually have any ulterior motives with Elena Gilbert—all the evidence so far suggested that they simply enjoyed each other's company and there was nothing sinister about it—but then he reminded himself firmly that this was still Damon. The same Damon who never passed up an opportunity to make his life hell, who would have killed Zach without blinking, who had used the threat of it to torment both of them all week. He wasn't capable of doing anything without ulterior motives.

In addition to the old conversations between Damon and Elena in the phone, there were also several unread texts from her since yesterday, so Stefan opened those too.

Stefan scowled at the words on the screen. Hadn't they started over and put all that behind them the other day? Why couldn't she see that his intentions were good? The feelings of resentment festered for a moment before he sighed, his shoulders slumping a little. It was obvious that she was new to the reality that vampires existed. Damon had been able to make a good impression on her before she found out and had also saved her life, whereas he, Stefan, had nearly killed her, flashing his fangs the whole time. Mistake or not, perhaps he was being unreasonable to expect that she could just let that go after so little time. He hadn't exactly been gentle at the library either.

He kept reading. The next one was from yesterday afternoon. "Feel free to ignore this text. I just saw Matt coming down the hall and I needed to look busy enough that he wouldn't try to talk to me."

Stefan couldn't help smiling a little in amusement as he pictured her trying to avoid some guy in a hall packed with students. That message was followed by one timestamped a few minutes later. "Thanks, that totally worked."

Then there were more from earlier that day.

9:33: "If Edgar really does like apple slices, you don't have to make him stay away. I wouldn't want him to think he's the one on probation here. :P"

11:48: "Okay, I know I've been kind of a hypocrite telling you to back off and then still texting you all the time, but if you don't like it, can you let me know? Because the last time you went radio silent was last Thursday when my parents were torturing you or whatever that was, so it's starting to freak me out."

2:21: "Damon, please. I have a really bad feeling about this. Just let me know you're okay."

Elena was in the locker room getting changed for cheer practice when her phone buzzed in her bag. She pulled it out and flipped it open. Then, seeing the ID on it, she nearly lost her grip on it. Damon! Finally, she thought. She'd been starting to entertain the idea of going to the boarding house to check on him if he kept up this freaky silent treatment for much longer.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. I didn't know how to say it before, but I'm not in Mystic Falls anymore, and I probably won't be coming back any time soon." The relieved grin slid off Elena's face, and she sank slowly onto the low wooden bench behind her. "Stefan's sticking around, though," the message went on. "I know you two didn't exactly hit it off, but he's really sorry about that, and if there's ever anything weird going on, you can get in touch with him. I'll text you his contact info."

Another message followed seconds later, presumably the one with Stefan's number, but Elena shut her phone without looking at it. She went back to getting ready for practice, numb to her surroundings. Damon was gone? Why? It couldn't be her fault; she'd texted him too many times to make him believe she would keep him at arm's length forever. Just until the school year was over—one lousy week from now. And what about his deal with her dad? And getting Katherine out of that tomb? Had he really abandoned all of that? And what about her? Just days ago he'd kissed her on the forehead and told her what her friendship, brief as it had been so far, had meant to him. Had he already forgotten about that?

"Hey," came Bonnie's voice from nearby. "You okay?" she said.

Elena looked around at her, then at the other girls within earshot. "I'm fine," she said. Moments later, they all made their way out to the drill field, Elena feeling the most listless she ever had going into cheerleading practice. Once they finished stretching and started in on the routines, Caroline picked up on it too.

"Elena!" she barked. "Where's your pep and enthusiasm? This is cheerleading, not a geriatric aerobics club!"

"Sorry," said Elena vaguely, for her attention had just been caught by the person lurking under the bleachers of the football practice field, his eyes on her. It was Stefan Salvatore. "I'll be right back." And she walked off, listening to neither Caroline's huff of indignation nor her demand that she get back in position immediately.

As she approached him, Stefan stood up a little straighter and walked a couple of steps closer. She came to a halt slightly farther away from him than normal conversational distance, arms folded and eyes narrowed. "So Damon's appointed you my watchdog now?" she said.

"Actually I kind of volunteered," said Stefan.

"Well thanks," said Elena. "I feel much safer than I normally would while surrounded by my friends in broad daylight now that you're here to creep around under the bleachers and stare at me."

"Look," he said, "I get it; you don't like me, but I have reason to believe you might be in some kind of danger."

"Like what?" said Elena. "Last time I saw you, the only thing you thought was a threat to my safety was Damon, which I found pretty ironic given your sales pitch."

"I don't know!" said Stefan, looking extremely frustrated. "I've been trying to find out, but no one's talking to me."

Elena frowned. "Not even Damon? If he wanted you to keep an eye out, wouldn't he have said why?"

His mouth opened and closed soundlessly for a second, then said, "He didn't know either. I think it's part of why he left."

Elena considered for a moment, still eyeing him warily. "Fine," she said. "But don't just lurk around like a stalker, okay? If I notice anything, I'll call you."

Stefan looked relieved. "Deal," he said, smiling.

Feeling that he was making rather more of this than he should, she added, "I'm not inviting you into my house, though. If you show up there, my dad'll probably shoot you."

He grimaced. "Do you think you could talk to him about that?"

"Not until you prove I can really trust you," said Elena.

"Damon vouching for me in that text wasn't enough?" said Stefan, looking crestfallen.

"No, it wasn't," said Elena, who was starting to get irritated. Why did he keep acting like he was entitled to her good opinion when he'd dug that hole all by himself? "Maybe it would if he'd done it in person instead of ignoring my texts and leaving town, but he left me hanging, so you have to mend your own fences now."

With that, she turned around and started back towards the drill field. She winced when she saw that Caroline was already headed towards her, but kept walking. Caroline met her halfway to the rest of the squad, who were still working on their drills. "Sorry about that," said Elena as they both came to a halt several feet apart. "Had to deal with something."

"Okay," said Caroline, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "Elena, I'm trying to be patient and understanding, but what is your deal lately? You were never my best cheerleader, but I've never seen you so off your game before. Is this breakup angst? Because you're the one who broke up with Matt because you weren't feeling it, so that wouldn't make a whole lot of sense, but it's all I can think of!"

"No, Caroline, it's not about Matt," said Elena, massaging her forehead with her fingers, feeling resigned and frustrated.

"Then is it about Damon Salvatore? Was that him under the bleachers?"

"No, it was his brother Stefan, who seriously needs to work on his people skills. Damon left town."

"Jerk," said Caroline contemptuously. "Why don't you just go home, eat plenty of ice cream, and try to find the perky fun you in time for tomorrow's practice. I'll let all the other ones slide because you're my friend, but you've got to show me your best tomorrow or I'm going to have a hard time justifying keeping you on the squad when there are a bunch of other girls who still want in." She pulled Elena into a hug, which Elena grudgingly returned. "See you tomorrow."

"Yeah," said Elena. Caroline turned and headed back to the girls, but Elena veered towards the school building instead to go get her stuff. When she emerged a few minutes later, back in her normal clothes and with her gym bag over her shoulder, Bonnie caught her eye from the drill field. Elena offered a feeble smile and a wave, but kept walking. She'd fill her in about everything later. As she headed to the parking lot, her mind returned to gloomy thoughts about Damon's departure, and she went back over her conversation with Stefan. Was Damon really gone because he was trying to find out if she was in danger? Had the two brothers really set aside their differences—which were substantial, judging from how they'd acted around each other when she met Stefan—and decided to work together? Why did it matter so much to Stefan that she neither liked nor trusted him? He couldn't seriously believe she owed him anything after the way he'd acted, could he?

By this point, she'd reached her car. She threw her stuff in the back seat, climbed in, and put the key in the ignition. The more she thought about all of this, the less sense it made. And then she remembered what he'd said about Damon's message. She frowned. "I never told him Damon sent me a text," she muttered. Had Damon told Stefan about it? She pulled out her phone and flicked through all her conversations with Damon. This whole thing was just so weird. They'd had serious conversations in person, but he'd never been so formal in a text. Wouldn't he have called her for something like that?

A loud cawing noise just then made her jump so hard she nearly hit her head on the roof of the car. Edgar was perched on the hood. She scrambled back out at once. Her flurry of movement opening the door made Edgar flutter his wings and croak in protest, but he didn't fly away. "Whoa, calm down," she said, reaching a hand out slowly towards Edgar. Usually he would hop closer so she could stroke his head, but this time he only kept squawking and ruffling his feathers.

"What's wrong?" she said. Even with everything she knew now, this felt a little ridiculous, but what did she have to lose? No one else was in the parking lot, so they wouldn't see her talking to a bird anyway. "Damon?" she tried hesitantly.

Edgar went very still for a few seconds, but then abruptly took flight towards the woods. Elena let out a groan of frustration and got back into the car. She had no idea what that was about, but it made her very uneasy. She thought back to the dreams she couldn't remember, and how long it had taken Damon to get back to her… Why would he send Edgar now, and why had Edgar been so agitated?

She turned the key in the ignition and slowly pulled out of the parking lot, still thinking hard. Well, why did she have to figure everything out by herself? She reached for her phone again and punched in Damon's speed dial number, then held the phone to her ear. It rang four times, then clicked. "Damon!" said Elena, but before she could say anything else, she realized it was just the voicemail.

"If you actually called this number on purpose, you already know what to do," said Damon's voice, sounding bored and sardonic. Elena hung up before it could get to the "beep" part, then checked her mirrors and pulled a quick U-turn, no longer heading to her own house.

Hopefully, Stefan wouldn't have had time to get back to the boarding house yet. She could just talk to Zach and see if he knew anything else about Damon. The two of them probably weren't on the best terms, considering that Zach had tried to shoot Damon, but she figured if Zach owed anyone details about what was going on, he owed them to her, the one he'd actually shot.

The first thing she noticed when she pulled into the drive at the boarding house was that Damon's car was still parked in its usual spot. Her uneasy feeling ratcheted up a few more notches. Was he still here too, or did he have another car? Even if he did, it seemed unlikely to her that he'd have taken it instead—he'd told her this car was his baby.

Feeling almost jittery with nerves, she walked up to the door. She was reaching for the knocker when the door suddenly opened to reveal Zach. He had a briefcase in one hand and jumped at the sight of Elena, who had taken an automatic step backward in surprise. "Hi," she said. "Uh, were you about to leave?"

"What? Oh, yes," said Zach. He seemed tense and awkward. "Why, did you need something?"

"I just wanted to talk to you for a minute," said Elena.

"Well I have to run," said Zach. "Can you come back later?"

"Sure, I guess," said Elena. She turned, intending to head straight back to her car before this could get even more uncomfortable, but his voice stopped her.

"I'm glad to see that you're okay," he said. "I never meant to hurt you."

"Thanks," she said stiffly, not looking at him. No, she thought, what you meant was to kill Damon. She hurried to her car and pulled out of the driveway as quickly as she could without seeming too weird about it. She drove down the winding forest road away from the boarding house until she reached the next drive, then, after checking that Zach's car wasn't visible in her rear view mirror, turned down this drive and went far enough in that her car wouldn't be visible from the road and waited, listening hard. A moment later, she heard a car go past. Heart pounding at the thought of what she was about to do, she shifted into reverse and backed out of the drive onto the road again, and headed back to the boarding house.

The front door was locked, so she went around and started trying the windows and other doors. With each one she tried, her nerves wound even tighter. Her courage was about to desert her completely when she pulled the handle of the glass door outside the dining room and it turned easily and swung open. Even though she knew no one was home now that Zach had left, she still tried to make as little noise as possible, and jumped at the slightest sound, even if it was just from her stepping on a squeaky floorboard.

She had no idea what she expected to find, but she decided to try upstairs, the part of the house Damon hadn't showed her on the tour last week. The second floor was decorated just as ornately as the first, with vases and wood paneling and shelves full of expensive-looking old books. She found a couple of bathrooms, closets, and bedrooms that were probably the ones for when the place actually served its function as a boarding house—clean, but void of any real personal touches. She also found Zach's—she knew it was his because it had his college diploma framed on the wall above a cluttered desk. She could check that room more closely if nothing else turned up, but somehow it felt like a much less justified invasion of privacy to snoop around the actual bedroom of someone she'd been talking to minutes earlier than in the rest of the house.

The last room in this wing was another guest room. Trying to remember how she'd come so she wouldn't get lost, she backtracked to the corridor that overlooked the parlor and went across to the other wing. There, she found a room that was easily twice as big as any of the ones she'd been in so far. The space was dominated by the biggest bed she'd ever seen, and the main room was only separated by a glass wall from the en-suite bathroom. She walked inside cautiously, looking around. It was even cleaner in here than in the guest rooms. She wondered if it was the honeymoon suite or something. There weren't any photos on the walls or sitting on the desk or dresser.

The bathroom had a stand-up shower almost as big as her entire bedroom, as well as enormous porcelain bathtub. The bathroom counter had nothing on it but a bowl full of bars of soap. She walked back out into the bedroom and pulled open one of the dresser drawers. Inside it were two neat stacks of dark v-neck shirts. This was Damon's room! She frowned, and started opening more drawers. They were all full of clothes. She went over to the closet and flipped the light switch inside the door. The floor was lined with several pairs of shoes and all of the hangers were occupied with leather jackets and button-up shirts. An empty duffel bag sat on the shelf above the clothes.

If she hadn't already had her doubts about what was going on, then the fact that his car and all of his stuff were still here untouched was certainly sparking some. She left Damon's room quickly and kept exploring. Across the hall was another guest room, but down at the end was one that definitely looked occupied. The fancy wallpaper was largely hidden behind pictures, mirrors, and heavy bookcases full of volumes that had endured a lot more wear than any of the ones in the public areas, a jacket was hanging from a hook on the inside of the door, and all the surfaces of the many pieces of furniture were covered with knickknacks and yet more books.

By process of elimination, this had to be Stefan's room. She walked around, looking at some of the stuff on the side tables. There were things from every decade going back at least a century, and she'd have liked to spend more time looking through them if the situation were different. As it was, she merely glanced at them and hurried on. When she reached the desk, she found what looked like a diary sitting amongst a bunch of old-fashioned stationery materials. She pulled open the drawer, which mainly contained a few stray fountain pens and more sheets of stationery, but in the corner, she spotted a large, ornate ring. She picked it up and examined it. It was set with a blue stone, which was encased in silver filigree with a calligraphic D in the center. D for Damon? It certainly looked like the ring he always wore. What was it doing in Stefan's room?

Something creaked outside the room, and Elena nearly jumped out of her skin. She pocketed the ring hastily, shut the drawer, and, still trying not to make a sound, fled the boarding house. She expected Stefan to catch her any second, but she made it all the way to her car without encountering anyone, and she drove away with her heart still racing.

Damon listened to Elena's car leaving the drive for the second time with a sinking heart. The vervain was out of his system now—it was only the fact that he hadn't had any blood since midday Tuesday that was keeping him weak. As long as Stefan didn't stick him with another syringe, he could keep trying to reach Elena with Edgar and through her dreams, but it would only take another day or two before he wouldn't even be able to do that much. He needed her to solve this, and fast.

"So you found this in Stefan's desk?" said Bonnie, turning the ring over in her hands and scrutinizing it.

"Yeah," said Elena. The two of them were sitting on her bed, both wearing their pajamas. Bonnie was sleeping over—so they could study for finals together all evening, or at least that was the theory—and then they'd go to cheer practice together the next morning. "But I'm pretty sure it's Damon's. He showed it to me when he came over for dinner the day after we met."

"I think I saw something like this in the old spellbook Grams showed me on Sunday," said Bonnie.

"Wait, what?" said Elena. "You mean it's magical?"

"Yeah," said Bonnie. "Well, maybe. I don't know if this is actually it, but there was a page in the book that had a spell for creating jewelry that would protect a vampire from sunlight, if you did it on the right kind of stone."

"Well Damon was wearing it every time I saw him," said Elena.

"Does Stefan have one?"

"I wasn't really looking," said Elena, frowning. She thought back. "I think he does."

"Well if this is Damon's sunlight immunity ring or whatever, his car and his clothes are still at his place, and he still isn't returning your calls, then I think it's pretty clear that he didn't really leave town."

"Yeah," said Elena. "And whatever really happened, Stefan and possibly Zach are behind it."

"So what are you going to do?" said Bonnie, handing Elena the ring.

"I don't know." She stared at the ring in her hand and closed her fingers around it tightly. Where are you, Damon?

The two girls had fallen asleep in a mound of study guides and textbooks on Elena's bed around midnight. They hadn't even remembered to take off their jewelry first. In the morning, they were woken around 8:30 when Aunt Jenna came bursting into the room to announce breakfast. Grayson and Miranda had made fresh biscuits with strawberries and whipped cream to go on top.

"Did you have any more dreams?" said Bonnie once Jenna left the two of them to get dressed for the day while she went to drag Jeremy out of bed.

Elena shook her head.

"There goes that lead," said Bonnie.

"Even without that, I think I have a plan," said Elena. She grimaced. "Caroline's totally going to kick me off the squad, though."

Damon could hear the voices of Stefan and Zach somewhere above him. Stefan was explaining to Zach how desiccation worked. From the sound of things, he just had a few days left before his body would shut down and start to mummify. He was already weaker and hungrier than he had been since the cell at Whitmore, and it was nearly as agonizing as the vervain had been. His body felt like it was trying to turn itself inside out, his desire for blood was so strong.

Sometimes he found himself drifting. Into the past, into his future with Katherine—so close, now. Sometimes he was as consumed by fury at his brother for doing this to him as he was by his hunger. Sometimes it was other emotions. If he hadn't regretted threatening to kill Zach before, he certainly did now. Hell, he'd be perfectly fine with letting the guy die of old age just as long as he didn't have to spend any more of the intervening time locked in here.

Getting into Elena's dreams had been a bust again. The vervain might be out of his system, but either it was in hers or she was wearing some, because his mind had seemed to hit an invisible wall every time he tried to brush against hers. Edgar was his last chance. If he could stay sane long enough to use him again.

Stefan was writing in his journal when his phone buzzed on his desk next to him. He picked it up and opened it. To his slight surprise, he found a message from Elena. She hadn't seemed all that receptive to anything he had to say yesterday. However, the happy little bubble that had formed in his chest at the sight of her name on the screen burst as soon as he read the message.

"Stefan, help me! I'm in the woods by the high school. Something's chasing me."

"Bonnie, you promised you'd get Elena to practice today!" said Caroline indignantly. They were in the girls' locker room, and everyone else had already headed out to the drill field.

"I tried, Caroline, but something came up," said Bonnie. "She wouldn't tell me what it was, but she had to go. She said to say she was really sorry."

"It doesn't matter if she's sorry; I have to kick her off the squad now," said Caroline, and she turned and stomped out of the locker room after the rest of the girls. Bonnie heard her open the door, and then it sounded like she'd bumped into someone on the other side. "Excuse you," she said. Then, right before the door closed and muffled the voices, she added in a much more interested voice, "Hey, aren't you the guy who was under the bleachers yesterday? Stefan Salvatore?"

Bonnie's eyes went wide. She shut her locker and hurried to catch up with Caroline. When she exited the locker room, she found Stefan staring intently at Caroline.

"You're going to go to practice, but you're going to let Miss Bennett come with me."

"Whoa, what?" said Bonnie.

"I'm going to let her come with you," said Caroline vaguely, and before Bonnie could stop her, she started wandering off towards the exit.

"What the hell did you just do?" Bonnie demanded.

"Look, Elena's in trouble," said Stefan.

"What?" said Bonnie. She hoped she was getting the right combination of anger and confusion in her performance. "What are you talking about?"

"She sent me this," said Stefan, showing her his phone with the text from Elena on it.

"Oh my God, what happened?" said Bonnie.

"I don't know!" said Stefan. "Damon said she was in danger, but we didn't know what from. But I figure you know her better than me, so I'll have a better chance of finding her with your help."

"Then let's go!"

They ran down the hall together, Stefan slightly ahead. Bonnie slipped her phone out of her pocket as she ran, clicked down to the first of the two messages she'd prepared, and hit send.

"He took the bait. You're clear."

Elena breathed a sigh of relief, stowed her phone in her pocket, and put her car in gear. A minute later, she pulled into the boarding house driveway. Damon's Camaro was still there, but Zach's car was gone. Better and better. The front door wasn't even locked this time—probably from Stefan leaving in a hurry after that first text she'd sent him. Elena ran straight to the stairs. She got turned around for a minute on the second floor, but soon found the corridor that led to the wing with Damon's and Stefan's rooms.

Stefan's door was still open. She ran in and headed straight for his desk. The diary was sitting on top of it like it had been the previous day, but just when she reached for it, a squawk and a flutter of wings behind her nearly gave her a heart attack. She spun around to see Edgar flying straight at her. She cried out in surprise and threw her hands up in front of her to stop him from colliding with her face. For all the flurry and panic, he landed quite gently on her left forearm, but then immediately started attacking her vervain bracelet.

"Edgar!" she said. She tried to stop him, but he pecked at her finger and squawked again, then went right on savaging the bracelet.

"Okay, okay, I'll take it off!" she said. This seemed to appease him, for he sat calmly while she unclasped the bracelet and set it on the desk. "Happy now?" she asked. He turned his head and caught her with his gaze. At first, nothing else happened, but then it was like she was being drawn into Edgar's beady black eye. For a moment she seemed to be traveling through a dark tunnel. When she came out the other side, she saw the parlor of the boarding house. The image zoomed dizzyingly, going through the corridors and rooms until it reached what looked like the kitchen. Then there was a set of stairs, which she sped down, followed by a dimly lit, narrower hallway until, at last, she reached a heavy metal door with a tiny barred window at eye level. She looked through it and saw Damon. He was sprawled out on the dusty floor. His skin had a sickly pallor to it, and there was at least three days' worth of stubble on his face. He looked up at her. "Elena," he said hoarsely. "Help me. Please."

"Damon!" she cried. She stumbled backward, her actual physical surroundings slamming into place around her. His mission complete, Edgar gave a low croak and flew away, back out Stefan's open window. Elena was so horrified by what she'd seen that she almost wanted to cry, but she knew what she needed to do now. She snatched her bracelet back off the desk and stuffed it in her phone-free pocket as she ran back out of the room.

She took the main stairs so fast that she nearly slipped and fell twice, but she made it to the bottom and tore across the parlor to the kitchen, yanked the cellar door open, and sprinted the second flight of stairs as well. She ran down the dimly lit hallway, skidding to a halt in front of the door with the little barred window. "Damon!" she cried. "I'm here!"

"Elena," came a hoarse voice from inside the room. She didn't even bother to look through the window, focusing instead on getting the latch undone. Once it clicked apart, she threw the door wide open and dashed inside to where Damon lay. Just like in the vision from Edgar, his skin was chalk white, his eyes were sunken and shadowed—he looked like a corpse.

"God, what did Stefan do to you?" she said, crouching down next to him and cupping his face in her hands. It seemed like a struggle for him to even meet her eyes, and then to keep her in focus once he had.

"Vervained me," he said. "Locked me in here without any blood. He was going...to let me rot here for the next few decades. He even took my daylight ring so I couldn't...go far if I got out."

"The ring!" said Elena. "I found it!" She pulled it out of her pocket and slipped it back onto Damon's finger. Even his fingers were thinner; he had to clench his hand to keep the ring from falling off. "Why would he do that to his own brother?" she asked.

Damon offered a dry smile. "I pushed him too far. Did something I shouldn't have."

"Okay, well, he could be back any minute, so you can tell me the details later. Right now I've just got to get you out of here." She moved to get under his left shoulder, wrapped both arms around him, and tried to hoist him to his feet. Even though he wasn't an especially large man, he was still heavier than anything she'd ever tried to lift. He helped as much as he could, but he could barely keep his legs under him. They nearly fell back to the floor twice before they even reached the cell door. About a third of the way up the hall, Damon's legs gave out on him again and he went down, taking Elena with him. Elena hit her elbow on the cement floor hard enough to make her eyes water, but Damon was still her main concern. Gritting her teeth against the pain radiating up her arm, she moved to him and helped him sit up against the wall.

"This isn't going to work," she said.

"So what's plan B, then?" said Damon.

"Well," she began hesitantly, "you're only weak because you haven't had any blood, right?"

"Don't even think about it, Elena," he snarled.

"Why not?" said Elena, her voice rising in desperation. "How the hell am I supposed to get you up the stairs, through the house, and to my car if you can't even stand on your own? What if Stefan comes back? I don't know how long Bonnie can keep him going on that wild goose chase before he figures out it's a trick. What if he makes me forget where to find you?"

"It's nearly been four days since I fed. Once I start, it'll take me over and I could kill you before I even realize it."

"No you won't," said Elena firmly. She put her hands on his face and neck again. His eyes were starting to drift back out of focus. "You saved me with your blood; let me do that for you too."

His eyes found her face once more, but they looked confused. "Katherine?" he said.

"I'm Elena, Damon," she reminded him, feeling rather annoyed all of a sudden.

"Oh," he said. "You just…really remind me of someone." And he was out again, his eyes rolling back in his head.

"No, no, Damon, come on," said Elena, shaking him slightly. He mumbled something incoherent but gave no other response. Well, she thought, if he wasn't going to let her do this when he was lucid, then she'd just have to make the most of the current situation. She moved closer until she was sitting on his lap, her legs off to his left side, kissed his forehead like he had done to her, then curled her fingers through his hair and pulled his face down to her neck.

It took him about five seconds to react, but then his arms suddenly flew up to trap her tightly against him, his lips parted against her skin, and he bit down. Hard. She cried out in pain and surprise—she hadn't expected it to hurt this badly.

Damon had no idea what was going on, only that he'd never tasted anything so perfect. His whole world had narrowed to this one thing. Warm, rich, sweet, and powerful. He could feel himself mending with every mouthful he drew. The rush of returning strength was euphoric. He wanted to keep drinking forever.

A few moments in, he felt the odd pressure on the back of his head loosen and vanish, and as the body in his arms went limp, he heard someone whisper his name. The voice was so familiar to him, but why did it matter now? The pulse of his victim was weakening—he had to keep drinking while the blood still pumped on its own.

Elena's voice. Elena's blood. Awareness shot through him like a jolt of electricity, and he tore himself away. Elena's eyes were closed, and tear tracks ran down her face. "Elena?" he said, cradling her lolling head with one hand. She did not move.

*ducks flying projectiles* I know I know! I did the cliffhanger thing to you again! I'm sorry. Kind of. Not really. *evil cackle* If it helps, I already wrote past the cliffhanger and I really adore the stuff that comes next, so once I get through the end of the semester, I should be able to update again. Anyway, things I loved writing most in this chapter: Caroline (seriously, even when she's pre-character development, for some reason she's just fun to write), Stefan snooping in Damon's phone and getting all confused and indignant (silly Stefan), and Edgar-vision.