Damon sipped wine in the Covent Garden Piazza. Tourists frittered their money. Locals dined and bustled around. The place was civilised. He'd been away from Mystic Falls for three years, almost to the day in fact. His new life in London had reignited a freedom he hadn't felt since way before he'd reunited with Stefan. Way before he had met the fair Elena. Some deep part inside him loved them both fiercely but he'd lost himself along the way. He credited Elena and Stefan with recapturing his lost humanity. However, the time had come for some breathing space. Peace had finally arrived in his hometown. The time had been right.

The woman he'd been waiting for was twenty minutes late but that wasn't unusual. Alyssa knew only his name, nothing of his nature, just the way he like it. Damon had picked her up in a Soho bar and couldn't seem to shake her, not for lack of trying. He was beginning to think she was obsessed. Time to cut her loose, he mused.

There were footsteps behind him now. They were close. Too close. Damon realised too late that they didn't belong to Alyssa. She was the only one he'd let in that close a proximity. Whoever lurked in his blind spot were professionals. Nobody ever saw the hypodermic full of Vervain or the swift, skillful way it was injected into his neck. All the regular folk saw was a man who'd had too much wine. They'd given him enough to just about walk. They slung his arms over each of their beefy shoulders and took him away.

Back in Mystic Falls, Stefan had his own issues. Insomnia hadn't been something that plagued him very often in his abnormally long life. On lonely nights like this he missed Damon. Stefan wandered passed his empty room realising it'd been far too long since he'd seen his older brother. He promised himself he'd call him in the morning.

The clock read four-forty-five and the sky was black and starless. Stefan drew the curtain and shut the night out. He poured himself a drink suddenly wished Elena was with him. She was the warmest person he'd ever known but even she would be irritated if he disturbed her slumber. He huffed, frustrated. He imagined Elena's butterfly delicate kisses and instantly found his inner calm once more. Tomorrow's to-do list seemed to be shaping up nicely. Call brother. Shower girlfriend with love.

Stefan's dull night got way too interesting way too quickly. He'd have taken never ending insomnia over this alternative any night of the week. Said alternate was currently rattling the front door. Someone was trying to pick the lock.

Stefan stood in the hallway braced for a fight. Now he really missed Damon. He badmouthed his brother all the time but he was excellent to have in a fight. The lock clicked, finally giving up its fight. The door gently swung open. Stefan bared his teeth. He'd be ready for whatever walked through it.

Before Stefan even saw who they were his chest exploded from the impact of a bullet. Blood rained on the walls and the wooden floor. He dropped, gasping for breath. He was being grabbed now. They were lifting him up by his arms. He thought his shoulders may dislocated. His chest was burning in pain.

"Its okay, son," an older man's voice said. "We'll take away the pain now."

With that, a wasp-sting prickle stung his neck. Vervain blazed though his system. Then the pain was all gone.

Positioned on his side, Damon's wrist was cuffed to a bedside. Still full of Vervain, he was out cold. A busy hospital buzzed above him while here in the bowels of the building things were about to happen.

"This is going to hurt tomorrow," one of his captors muttered.

"I know. We'll give him as much analgesic as is necessary. Remember, he's a vampire. His threshold for pain his high and he heals quickly," his companion replied. "We need a large sample for the spell to work, Lorenzo."

The man and woman both wore hospital blues and the room had been 'borrowed' for a whole twelve hours. It would be plenty of time to get what they needed.

"I just don't like inflicting pain," Lorenzo replied. "I'm a doctor."

Dania threw him a glare, "You're a witch too. We owe our Virginia cousins a favour and we will deliver."

Sufficiently told Lorenzo readied his equipment. He hoped the Royal London Hospital wouldn't mind donating some equipment.

Dania reached over to expose Damon's back and jumped back when a finger moved.

"Lorenzo, give him more of the juice. He's waking up." She hated vampires.

Lorenzo did as he was told. A fully conscious vampire, especially one a strong as this one, would not spell good tidings.

With his 'patient' sufficiently under again, Lorenzo got started. He took a spinal needle and positioned it at the base of Damon's spine.

"Do it, Lorenzo, before he wakes up," Dania instructed. "The sooner you start the sooner it'll all be over for all of us. Him included."

Lorenzo passed the needle through flesh, between vertebrae and beyond.

"I think I'm in," Lorenzo muttered to himself.

Dania watched as her companion skillfully drew clear spinal fluid into a syringe. Lorenzo repeated the process so many times that Dania wondered if Damon Salvatore had any CSF left.

Lorenzo withdrew his needle and turned to Dania. He looked like he'd just run a marathon, "Its done," he breathed. "Patient is dead though."

"He's a vampire. He'll live." Dania answered, coldly, "and stop calling him a patient!"

Stefan awoke in a similar position to Damon, cuffed to a hospital bed. A man was talking on the other side of the darkened room.

"Good news, Dania and Lorenzo got what they needed from the other one." Stefan heard no reply and deduced that he was listening to a phone conversation.

"Yes"," the man laughed. "She said they almost drained him of cerebrospinal fluid. We'll have plenty for the spell to work."

Stefan's powers were waning. In normal circumstances he'd have heard the other end of the man's call. He was so weak. Blood was draining out of him into nice neat little bags.

"The younger one's blood is coming wonderfully. We'll absolutely be ready for tonight,"

They had to be talking about him and Damon but Stefan wasn't caring anymore. One last question swirled in his head before his eyes closed. What the hell were they going to do with blood and spinal fluid?