The Phone

Katherine was moving through the trees to where her gadget said Damon's phone was. And she realized that she had to keep herself aware of what was around her at the same time.

She wasn't sensing anyone else, but knew she couldn't risk going any faster. It could change anytime.

When the phone was very close she stopped and concentrated. Nothing. She scanned the area until she saw it, walked slowly to it and picked it up. She looked around. She could see no signs of a struggle or fight. She could see where he had gone – the trail he had left, and she was getting ready to follow when she realized others were coming. At least three.

She concentrated to determine where they were coming from, picked a gap she thought she could get through, and left at full speed. It was, unfortunately, not the direction that Damon's trail led.

She did manage to reach under her blouse and pull out a necklace she wore. It had a small button on it, which she pushed. Then she concentrated on running.

Into the Light

Damon was getting a little concerned. The sun was moving, though slowly. He knew he had some time, but the vampires weren't budging. At least he was resting –getting stronger. But they were too.

And he realized where he had seen one of them. This was not good.

He watched them carefully. If one turned his back, or even if he thought they were far enough apart for him to move, he was ready. He needed something – anything He was grasping at straws now. He began looking around for a rock or something he could throw to distract them. It was a long shot, and there was nothing anyway.

The needed distraction came from the outside. Something was moving toward them. He heard it, very faintly. And at least one of the other vampires heard it. It turned away.

It was all Damon wanted or needed. He was immediately jumping towards the vampire still watching him. The vampire braced for his assault, even flinching back a little. But Damon moved slightly to the side and instead of directly hitting him, grabbed him, planted his feet, and started dragging him into the light.

The vampire wasn't going there without noise and a fight. Damon was taking some real damage, but was getting some blows in himself, and was holding on firmly.

Damon had been able to drag the vampire part of the way into the light when the vampire that had been walking away realized what has happening. He was immediately in place and pulling the vampire out of the light.

It was a tug of war that Damon was losing. If he could just keep some of him in the light long enough, he could do real damage. Perhaps enough that Damon would really only have one vampire left to fight.

Then he was no longer alone in the light. A vampire had appeared and was helping him pull. And the resistance stopped. Damon looked briefly at the vampire next to him. He was easily holding the struggling vampire in place.

He looked back into to trees. The other vampire was under vicious assault, and was losing. He too, was being dragged into the light.

Damon watched silently as both struggles ended. One vampire approached him, while the other went back in to trees and stood still, concentrating.

He was walking in sunlight. That was a good sign, wasn't it? Surely his call to Katherine had paid off.

"Who are you," Damon asked the vampire that approached him.

"We work for your girlfriend."

"My girlfriend?" Damon was a little confused.

"Or we protect her. You really need to decide which - we're getting tired of hearing about this."

"Katherine's talking about me?"

"Surprised? She has been for awhile."

"Where is she?"

A noise came from the vampire's pocket. He pulled out something that looked like an ipod and looked at the screen.

"She needs help." The vampire said. And both were gone.

"Katherine or Elena?" Damon asked, starting to follow. He had to stop and work out a few kinks in himself before he could start following.

He still could not approach their speed. He had taken some damage. But he followed as quickly as he could.

Back into the Sunlight

Stefan was moving as fast as he could while carrying Elena. She was silent, trusting him. Or maybe knowing that if she spoke it would distract him.

Her protectors were following, but he couldn't tell how far behind they were. He was concentrating on Bonnie and Alaric.

And he found them. As he approached, he could see two vampires who were trying to figure out how to get through Bonnie's spell. And he could see them turn towards him.

He tried to set Elena down carefully as he ran, but he was going too fast. She stumbled to the ground. And though he knew a vampire was coming at him, he also saw that a vampire was moving toward her. He turned immediately towards her but did not reach it before the vampire hit her. It was going towards her neck before Stefan managed to knock it off of her. Then he was hit again from behind by the other vampire. He had to turn to fight it.

Elena was struggling to get up, trying to regain her senses. She knew the vampire would be coming at her again.

She saw a blur go past her and the vampire that had attacked her was being taken by two vampires - apparently her protectors.

She couldn't stop watching. It was ugly and fierce, noisy and bloody. When it was over, she could only think 'He was right again. We do need to keep these idiots on our side'."

When she managed to stand. One of the Katherine's vampires was standing near her, though it did not speak.

Her eyes found Stefan – still fighting.

"Go help him!" She yelled at the vampire next to her.

"Not allowed." It simply said.

"This is stupid," Elena said as she started to move in that direction.

Alaric finally decided he had a clear shot and fired a vervain dart at the vampire fighting Stefan. Before it arrived, the fight shifted. The dart hit Stefan, who managed to throw the other vampire aside before collapsing.

Bonnie then had the other vampire under he spell. She was able to hold it and get it onto the ground, shaking in pain. She released it when Alaric moved to stand next to it with a stake. As soon as she released it, he staked it.

Alaric made sure the stake was firmly in place, then moved to Elena, who had run to Stefan.

"I'm sorry," he began.

"Not your fault. Do you know how long he will be disabled?"

"No. It's long enough to burn them or stake them. That's all I've ever cared about."

"But you made them!" Elena's frustration and fear were beginning to show.

"Didn't you use one of these on him once? How long was he down?"

Elena shook her head as she tried to recall. "I don't know. I couldn't bear to watch him that closely after all that had happened. Maybe 20 minutes or half an hour."

"That's as good a guess as we're going to get." Alaric said.

Elena looked at Stefan and sighed. Then she looked at Katherine's vampire who had moved towards Stefan with her – though he just stood nearby watching.

"Where's the other vampire?"

"Checking to see if there are more."

Elena nodded her head. She wanted to yell at him, to let her frustration out. But she had learned that arguing with these idiots didn't help. She turned back to Alaric. Bonnie was standing next to them now.

"Are you guys all right? Did they get to you at all?"

"No. We're fine."

"Thank God. OK." She realized she was sore from the fall she had taken as she stretched her neck and shoulders.

The other vampire had returned and they were standing together nearby.

"Do you know where Damon is?" she asked them both at once.

One of them shook his head. It was the one she had talked to before about Bonnie.

"Can one of you go and find him? He might need help."

She had just gotten the question out when a noise came from the pocket of one of the vampires. He pulled out the same ipod-looking device, briefly nodded at the other vampire, and was gone.

The remaining vampire approached Elena. "He has gone to help Katherine. I will remain with you. We need to get you back into the sunlight."

"No!" Elena said. "Katherine needs help? Where is she?"

The vampire just shook his head.

"If she needs help, I'm going there. Where is she."

"Back into the sunlight." He said.

"Are you going to take me to her, or let me just wander in the woods?" She said. Then she started walking in the direction the other vampire had gone. "Come on." She said to Alaric and Bonnie.

"Oh," Elena said, turning back to the vampire and pointing at Stefan. His eyes were open, but he hadn't moved. "Bring Stefan."

"You'd better do what she wants." Bonnie said to the vampire as she started following Elena. "She's obviously queen…"

Bonnie said another syllable under her breath, but managed to not say it out loud. Alaric tried to not chuckle as the vampire picked up Stefan and started following.

"She won't be happy about this. It had better not get me staked…" it muttered.