AN: Okay, so this chapter may be a tad confusing, so let me address the issues here. Hopefully, you are reading this, and if you aren't then, oh well. Anyways, this chapter back tracks to when Caroline was in Stefan's room, realizing what Damon means to her, and it goes deeper into her thoughts. It also shows what Damon and Caroline were talking about while the others were in the kitchen. So, it's before the fight. In addition for those of you who have read this story and are wondering, "What does Damon's father have to do with his crazy episodes?" Damon's father use to beat him. I know it doesn't talk about it in the show, but it mentions it in the books, and the show is doing a pretty good job at keeping that relationship the same, so I've decided to use it in this story for that reason. Guest, whoever left that review, thanks for stating that…I totally forgot that some people might not read the books, and so they might not understand that part. (I mean that with all genuine seriousness, too.) I hope that you all continue to review, because if you don't you will not know how I intend to end this story. Hopefully you all are enjoying it so far, and if you aren't then you can tell me. Criticism is nothing that I shy away from. Thank you to all my reviewers, I never thought I would get this many people so into my story, even if the guests are all the same person and that person is a regular, account-owning reader, who decided to review anonymously. I have done that, there's no shame in it, at least not in my eyes, LOL. Okay, so this is getting much longer than I wanted it to be, so I am going to shut-up and let you get to the story. Thank you for reading this and I hope that it will take away any confusion you may have. Please enjoy chapter seven, and review at the end for 7 yr. old Damon, if not for me or the story. Thanks again. :)

Chapter 7: Survival Tactics

Caroline knows what she has to do. She stands in Stefan's room, pondering over how to keep her sire alive. There are angry vampires lurking around, trying to harm the Salvatore brothers, maybe even kill them. Caroline does not want Damon to be fed from anymore, and she doesn't want to be craving his blood whenever she's around him. She knows Stefan keeps vervain in his room for protection, so she snatches a vial of it off of his dresser and walks out of the room. She's going to save Damon, her sire, and in doing so, she'll have saved Stefan as well.

"Damon?" She asks as she enters the dining room. She sees Damon sitting quietly on a chair with his head in his hands. She notices that he looks a little pale and wan, but she just brushes that thought off.

"Hmm…?" He answers back.

"You look tired." Caroline says casually.

"Yeah, I guess so; I feel a little drained today." Damon says in an annoyed tone, as he sits up.

"I have something for you." Caroline says as she sits in the chair next to Damon and sets the small vial of vervain on the table.

"You want me to drink vervain." Damon asks incredulously.

"Yes, I think it would be smart. All the humans are, and whether you like it or not Damon you are human, so drink up." She explains.

Damon rolls his eyes, "Since when do you care?"

"Well, I was made a promise to be taken to a 19th century style dance, and I am going to make sure that I get what I'm owed." Caroline says, but she's a horrible liar, and Damon knows what she's really saying: stay alive; because I need you, we need you, you selfish butt. Caroline pushes the vial closer to him, until it's up against his arm.

"Uggh…fine. You're incessant badgering is giving me a headache, Barbie." Damon says, but he can't seem to help the genuine smile that forms on his lips. He unscrews the cap and downs the entire thing. He groans in disgust as he sets the now empty container down.

"What? Does it still affect you?" Caroline asks, suddenly alert.

"No, no, I just never liked the taste of the stuff, even when I was human. It's nasty." Damon makes a face.

Caroline laughs, "Damon, you're antics never cease to amaze me."

Damon grins and laughs in response. "So, Stefan isn't telling me anything. What did you all find out yesterday about my little predicament?"

"Well," Caroline bites her lip. She doesn't want to stress him out and cause another episode, but she's not a good liar either. She's about to say something, when a loud crash comes through the window and the door bursts open at the same time. Twenty vampires rush into the room and start attacking them. Caroline screams as she desperately tries to fight them off.

She's barely able to manage one, but she's going to protect Damon. She doesn't know when the others joined her, but at one point she notices the others are fighting alongside her and Damon is not in the room. She hopes that he found a place to hide, and that maybe and hopefully Elena's with him. The two humans should be protected in this. Alaric doesn't count, because he has a magical ring, she thinks to herself as she continues to fight her many adversaries.

However, the fact that Alaric has a magical ring doesn't mean that he is invincible, but it sure does make her feel better, about his well-being.

cscscscscscscscscscscscscscs cscscscscscscscscscscscscscs

"Ahh…" Damon screams as the vampire viciously bites into his neck.

"Damon!" Elena screams as she struggles against the hands that are restraining her. She stops and frowns when she sees the vampire let go and throw Damon at her feet. He is losing a lot of blood, but Elena is more interested in the vampire that's now choking. Why is he choking? When she hears coughing sounds and moans of pain below her she remembers Damon and is once again struggling against the vampire that is holding her, a little too tightly.

"Garrett, what's wrong?" She hears her assaulter say.

"Vervain!" He manages to choke out. The vampire, however, regains his composure and starts to walk towards them, when he stops and his eyes grow wide with horror.

"Garrett!" Her restrainer shouts, as his friend grays and falls to the ground.

Elena cannot believe her eyes when she sees who her savior is. It's…

cscscscscscscscscscscscscscs cscscscscscscscscscscscscscs cscscs

"Pearl?" Stefan asks as he turns around and looks at the vampire with the stake in her hand. A vampire is dead at her feet.

"And Katherine." Caroline says as she watches Katherine take down her two assaulters.

"Well, looks like you've pissed off some very vengeful tomb vampires, Stefan." Anna says as she shows up from nowhere in the middle of the room.

A vampire immediately goes for Pearl, but she anticipates this and chokes the vampire until Katherine rips his heart out. She immediately goes limp and shrivels up.

"I told you we'd be in touch." Katherine purrs as she looks over at Stefan.

The rest of the vampires leave out of fear.

"Oh, good another one of my students is a vampire. Can I teach anything to anybody?" Alaric asks.

"I always learn in your class, Mr. Saltzman." Annabelle says kindly.

"It's not every day I allow my child in the room with a vampire hunter and killer." Pearl says through a straight face. They all understand the threat underneath those words and say nothing.

"He's fine, Mama. He's really kind, and plus he knows Stefan and Damon are vampires." Anna explains.

Stefan's eyes grow wide at that that statement and he frantically looks around him, but he cannot find his brother. "Damon!" He shouts, hoping to get a response.

"Stefan!" He hears Elena's voice, "Stefan, hurry!" She screams.

cscscscscscscscscscscscscscs cscscscscscscscscscscscscscs cscscscs

"Damon?" Jeremy asks.

"Damon, look at me, this isn't 1847 anymore." Elena says kindly.

Damon has his hand on his now healed neck and is frantically looking around, "How'd I get here?" He asks in a fearful voice.

"Damon?" Elena and Jeremy turn to see Stefan approaching them, with his full attention on Damon huddled against the wall crying into his hands.

"Stefan, this is trauma." Caroline says in a heavy voice.

Stefan sighs and closes his eyes. He wants to will this not to happen, "This is too much trauma." He says under his breath.

Jeremy doesn't seem to understand what's going on, but he knows it's not good.

"Damon?" Stefan asks as he gets on his knees and starts inching his way towards his brother.

"Please, stop! I don't know who you are!" Damon screams.

"Damon, please, it's me it's your brother, Stefan." Stefan says carefully.

"I don't have a brother. My mom is sick and pregnant and Father says I have to be with her, or he'll do more horrible things." Damon says in a panic.

"Damon, look at me, look around you, this isn't 1847 anymore." Stefan pleads as he inches closer.

"Why are you lying to me?" Damon screams, "Don't come any closer."

Stefan stops where he is, a mere four feet from his brother.

Damon suddenly feels a pounding in his head and his stomach is hurting. In fact now that he thinks about it, his whole body is aching and hurting for reasons he doesn't know. He groans in pain as he suppresses a shiver and clutches his head and his stomach.

"Damon." Elena breathes, "What's going on, Stefan?"

"He's dying." Caroline manages to get out.

Damon falls to his knees and before he falls to the ground face first, his brother is there to catch him. "Please, I'll be good. I didn't do anything." Damon moans weakly.

"Bonnie, please find a way to fix this. We don't have much time." Caroline pleads.

Bonnie can't help but cry herself. She nods to Caroline's plea and rushes back into the house, passed the others.

"This spell is killing him?" Anna asks.

Caroline nods, "He won't make it to Saturday at this rate." She says.

"I think I know something that can help Bonnie." Anna says and she and her mother use their vampire speed to be with Bonnie to help her. Jeremy dashes in after her with Elena, Katherine, and Alaric right behind him.

Caroline however, rushes up to find Stefan and Damon. When she reaches Stefan's bedroom door she listens.

"Damon? Can you remember me?" She hears Stefan's barely composed voice ask. Then she hears choked sobbing and figures that Damon must have indicated the negative. She opens the door and can't believe the scene before her.

Damon's wrapped up in covers to his shoulders and Stefan's sitting on a chair by the bedside sobbing uncontrollably. However, that's not even the worst part, when she sees Damon, with that look of fear and wonder in his eyes along with weakness and glassed over eyes, she wants to cry herself.

Damon barely seems alive.

"Stefan?" Caroline asks softly. "May I speak to him?"

Stefan looks up at her and then stands up and looks back down at his shell of a brother. He brushes the raven locks from his eyes and is gone before Caroline could say anymore. All she feels is wind going by her, and she's alone. She walks over to Damon's bedside and puts her hand on his shoulder.

"Damon, if you're still in there, I need you to hear this. You're scaring the crap out of everyone, even Katherine, Pearl, Anna, and Jeremy, and they don't even like you; although I will give you this, they tolerate you." She adds more to cheer up herself.

"Damon, you need to understand this, you can't die. For whatever reason, we all care about you and don't want to lose you." Caroline explains as she sobs more and more openly.

"I need you. Please. I'd hate to say it, but I've been waiting for you to ask me out for a while now, and you have no idea how badly I am looking forward to you and me at the dance." Caroline says.

Damon swallows hard and coughs a little, while Caroline is talking. He feels very sleepy and there are strange people all around him and he doesn't want to be beaten anymore, but maybe these people aren't so bad. This girl seems to know him, and is really heartbroken over something to do with him. He sighs and starts to relax. His eyelids grow heavy and before he could think of something to say everything goes black.

After Caroline sees his eyes roll back into his head, Caroline just plain sobs into Damon's shoulder. She doesn't realize when his body seems to grow in size, but suddenly she realizes this when she clutches Damon's arm tighter. She looks up and starts to calm down when she sees that Damon is normal sized again and covered Stefan's covers. Bonnie broke the spell. Damon's saved, She thinks to herself.

However, things quickly take a turn for the worst, when she notices Damon shriveling up and graying right before her eyes. She can't accept it, and she won't. Damon's not dead! He's not dead!

"Damon!" She screams as she desperately tries to wake him up.

She notices the door bursts open and reveals an unreadable Stefan in the doorway. He's staring at his brother's dead body with unbearable pain, loss, and something that she can't quite place, but she's afraid of nonetheless.

AN: Wow! Aren't I mean? Don't worry it's not over yet. So stay tuned. Hopefully I'll be able to write more and get it uploaded by Monday; if not then I guess you'll have to wait till next weekend. Sorry, blame my school if you want, but that's the way it goes. Okay, so Damon's dead, bet you never saw that one coming. Stefan's…okay, you know what I'm not going to spoil it. Please review if you want more. The more reviews I get the more likely I am to have this up by Monday night. I'd love to know what you think, so please review and I'll return soon.