PREVIOUSLY:

"Stefan this is serious." I said in a more urgent voice. "Alaric saw Katherine this morning." Stefan's eyes shot open wide and stared at me in disbelief. "So come on. We have to drop off Elena at Alaric's before we can go…hunting." I slapped Stefan's leg and walked out of his room. I went back down the stairs. Alaric was in the foyer waiting. "Stefan will be down shortly."

A few minutes later Elena came down the stairs dressed and ready to go. She planted herself at the corner of the staircase and crossed her arms over her chest. Stefan followed a few seconds later. Both had terrible expressions on their faces. Stefan's I got but Elena…I just didn't understand why she was so angry.

"OK are we ready?" Alaric asked.

"Yup. I'll drive." I said grabbing my keys and heading out to my car.

Chapter 5

I pulled up to Alaric's house and the four of us got out of the car and headed inside.

"The kitchen is through there…help yourself to anything." Alaric said to Elena. "I am going to go grab some stuff." He said directing his attention towards me.

I nodded slightly and Alaric disappeared upstairs. "OK so you have my cell phone number right? I will be able to get here faster than Alaric or even Stefan so call me first."

"OK." She said simply.

"I mean it. If you even just hear a noise outside…"

"I get it Damon." She said in an aggravated tone.

Alaric came jogging down the stairs with a medium size brief case "Ready?" He asked looking at me and Stefan.

"Yea." I replied.

"OK. Stefan we will meet you outside." Alaric said as he opened the door. He probably thought He and Elena would want a minute alone.

"I'm ready now." Stefan said as he turned and walked out the door.

Alaric followed Stefan outside. I turned to look at Elena. She was chewing on her bottom lip and her eyes were watery. She dropped her eyes from mine and stared at a spot on the floor.

"Well, be careful." She said quietly. Her voice cracked a bit at the end of the sentence.

"We will." I said quietly. I wasn't sure what to do. It killed me that she was upset. My brother was such a jerk to just leave her like this. "We'll be back soon." I added before I walked out of the house. I opened the driver's side door and got in. Alaric was in the front seat and Stefan was in the back. I turned around to look at Stefan. "What is your problem?"

"I don't have a problem." He answered flatly.

I shook my head and turned back around.

"So, where do we start?" Alaric asked.

"I figure we drive over to the cemetery…search the woods…try to pick up her sent."

"It has been a hundred and forty-five years. Do you really think you can still pick up her scent?"

"It's all I can think to do." I said in a defeated tone as I turned to look at him.

I pulled the car over to the cemetery entrance. Alaric opened his brief case and exposed all his vamp weapons. He split up the vervaine darts and stakes between the three of us. I suddenly wished we had left something with Elena. But I knew she was safe in the house, and I knew she wasn't dumb enough to invite anyone in.

We walked deeper into the woods. It was probably about thirty to forty minutes before I heard anything.

"What is it?" Alaric asked looking in the direction I was looking in.

"Come on this way." I said leading the way.

A women appeared out of nowhere standing before us holding a gun. I listened closely; no heartbeat. She was a vampire.

"Is she…?" Alaric started to ask.

"Yup." I said popping the 'p' sound.

Stefan hadn't said a word since we left Alaric's house. I mean his normal broodiness was bad enough but he was just making the situation even more painful.

"Go back to where you came from." The women said.

"We are looking for Katherine. Do you know her?" I asked.

"Leave!" The women shouted.

"We aren't leaving until we speak with Katherine." I said.

The women pointed the gun at Stefan. I was curious as to why she picked him. I knew it had to be loaded with wooden bullets. Stefan was not strong enough to survive being shot with them. I was in front of him before the trigger was pulled. The women fired the gun; I lost count how many bullets I was shot with before hitting the ground. A few seconds after hitting my head to the ground Alaric was knelt over me.

"Stefan, help me get him to the car." Alaric said. "Stefan? Stefan!" Alaric called out. I assumed Stefan had taken off.

"Just let him go." I said softly. I could barely get the words out.

Alaric let out a small sigh. "Alright. Come on let's get out of here."

He picked up my feet and dragged me back towards the car. I knew there was no way he could carry me back alone, and I was truly grateful for helping me. Although I knew that if I didn't somehow get those bullets out of me it would be pointless. I guessed we were just about at the car when I felt my phone vibrating.

"Wait…stop. My phone." I struggled to say.

"Don't worry about it; we will be at the car in a minute."

"No. It might be Elena." I shoved m hand in my jacket and pulled out the phone. "Here." I said holding it out to Alaric. I knew I didn't have the strength to talk much.

Alaric stopped and grabbed the phone from me. "Hello?" He paused. "He is right here…he was hurt pretty badly we are on our way back now. Is there something wrong?" He paused again. "OK. We will be there soon."

"Is…she... OK?" I managed to say.

"She heard a noise outside."

We were back at the car within a few seconds. Alaric lifted me and put me in the backseat. I could barely keep my eyes open anymore but I had to know she was safe. I forced myself not to close my eyes…even for a second. Alaric turned off the car and more quickly then I knew humanly possible got me out of the car and into the house.

"Oh my god!" I heard Elena say. I heard her run over towards Alaric and myself.

"Help me get him over to the couch." Alaric said.

"What happened?" Elena asked Alaric as they placed me down on the couch.

"Wooden bullets; we came across a female vampire and she had a gun loaded with wooden bullets." Alaric paused. "She was aiming at Stefan…but Damon jumped in front of him."

I felt Elena's hand on my forehead.

"We are going to have to get the bullets out." She said as she slid my leather jacket off of me. "Where is Stefan?" She asked.

"He took off after Damon was shot."

"Can you go to their house and get him some blood bags. And if Stefan is there try to get him to come back with you."

"Sure." Alaric said quietly. "I will go get you a First Aid kit before I leave." He said. I heard Alaric walk away and head up the stairs.

"So this is your idea of being careful." Elena whispered in my ear with a fake laugh. She ran her fingers through my hair and it almost made me forget about the excruciating pain I was in.

"Here." Alaric said to Elena. "I will be back as soon as I can."

I heard the front door open then close. Elena began unbuttoning my shirt, then slid it down my back and pulled it off.

"Damon." She said quietly. She took a deep breath and tried to steady her breathing but it didn't work. "I am going to try to get the bullets out." She said in a low voice. I could feel her breath on my face so I knew she was close. It sounding like she was fighting back tears. I heard her rummage through what I assumed was the First Aid kit. I tried not to use any unnecessary energy on moving my head, opening my eyes or talking. Her forehead lightly dropped against mine. "I am really sorry if this hurts." She said quietly.

I felt the tweezers enter the wound. "Ahhh!" I called out. I felt her body tense up but she continued. The first one came out pretty easily. The second and third ones were a little more difficult for her to grab onto. The fourth and fifth ones came out almost as easy as the first one.

"OK. One more." Elena sighed. Not sure if she was talking to me or herself, or both. She stuck the tweezers into the last wound. "Uh…Damon I can't get it." She said in a half frustrated half nervous tone.

I took a slight breath in. "You…have…to go…deeper." I said quietly. I felt her hesitate for a minute before slowly moving the tweezers further into the wound. "Ahhh" I yelled out. I felt my fangs descend and my face quickly turning into vamp mode. Elena jumped back slightly. I moved my left hand and placed it on top of her free hand. I gave it a light squeeze and she got back to work on getting the bullet out of me.

"I got it. I got it!" She said. "Oh my god, I can't believe I did it!" I slowly opened my eyes and looked at her. She had tears streaming out of her gorgeous brown eyes. She quickly wiped them away. She poured some peroxide onto a cotton ball and began to wipe the blood from my chest and clean the wounds. "So will these…just heal?" She asked confused.

"Yes. It will take longer than I would normally take to heal; that last bullet was deep and pretty close to my heart; but they will heal."

"Well Alaric should be back soon with some blood for you."

I heard Alaric pull into the driveway. A few seconds later he walked through the door.

"How is he doing?" Alaric asked Elena as soon as he walked in.

"He is doing fine." I said answering for her.

"I got all the bullets out. One was pretty deep but there out. Was Stefan at home?"

"No." Alaric answered simply.

"I can't believe he just took off after Damon got shot saving him." Elena said.

"Here this was all that was in the fridge." Alaric said placing two blood bags on the coffee table.

"What?" I asked confused. I tried to sit up but the pain won. "Ahhh."

"Damon, lay down." Elena said.

As much as I didn't want to my body made me obey her so, I layed myself back down. "I just… stocked the fridge… yesterday. Are you sure?" I asked.

"Positive."

Elena whipped her head around to face me. "Oh my god… you don't think…"

I looked at Ric. "Let's not jump to conclusions. Just because we can't find Stefan doesn't mean he stole the blood and went on a drinking binge." He said.

I heard both Alaric and Elena's heart rate increase. Even though Alaric was trying to stay calm and keep Elena calm I knew he knew there was a very good chance Stefan took that blood.

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A/N – I know it is not really realistic to take wooden bullets out with a pair of tweezers in a First Aid kit but hey… it's a story about Vampires so I think it's safe to say that reality pretty much went out the window from the start! lol