Chapter 13

William looked down impassively at Rebecca's body. That had gone remarkably smoothly, he thought as two younger vampires and his witch entered the room. He gestured down at the gray and dessicated figure. "Grab her body. I'm not sure how long it will be until she begins to revive."

One of the vampires glanced over at Damon. "What about that one?"

William shrugged dismissively. "He's not going anywhere." Rebecca had not even managed to untie his bait, and the black-haired vampire was unconscious again, probably a side effect of the blood bond that he shared with Rebecca and that had allowed her to find him so quickly.

"Should I just stake him?"

William shook his head. "No, he will still be useful in controlling Rebecca since she is foolish enough to care for him."

•••••

Alaric tapped impatiently on the steering wheel. He was not good at this waiting in the car stuff, and he was certain that Becca should have been back by now with Damon if nothing had gone wrong. He checked his watch, vowing to give her a few more minutes. He really hadn't liked Becca's lack of a plan, and he wasn't at all convinced that she was thinking clearly, not that he could entirely blame her. He was worried about Damon, too, but now he had to add Becca to his list of vampires to worry about. He shook his head, wondering not for the first time how exactly he had gotten himself into this life.

Two minutes later, Ric was cursing himself for a fool as he gathered up his weapons. He should trust the all-powerful Original vampire, he knew, but his instincts were screaming at him that it had been too long. Something had gone wrong. He left the keys in the ignition just in case Becca and Damon made it back before he did and slipped out of the car, heading toward the building where Becca had been certain Damon was being held.

Ric found two guards, both vampires, dead on the ground outside the building, their hearts ripped from their bodies, and he decided it was a safe assumption that Becca had passed this way. He crept toward the door and eased it open, his own heart pounding in his chest. He was well aware that the sound was probably a siren screaming for all nearby vampires to come and get him, but controlling his heart rate was easier said than done.

Inside, Ric glanced down a hallway. Halfway down, he saw a door that hung crookedly from one hinge. Since the rest of the building seemed in good repair, he guessed that broken door was probably another sign that Becca had been there.

Keeping close to the wall, Ric crept down the hallway toward the broken door. It seemed to take forever, but he finally reached the door and looked into a large room. Damon lay unmoving in the middle of the room, his hands and feet bound with ropes. There was no sign of Becca or any other vampires. Ric kept one hand on his weapons as he crossed the room and knelt by Damon. He whispered the vampire's name and shook his shoulder, but there was no response. Ric cursed quietly and started fumbling with the ropes around Damon's wrists. From the state of his friend's skin, the ropes had been soaked in vervain, and Ric hoped that Damon would wake up if he could get them off. Unfortunately, the ropes had been tied when they were wet, and the knot had dried impossibly tight. Cursing again, Ric finally gave up and dug in his pocket for his utility knife. He thought that it was a good thing he had been a boy scout and had developed the habit of always carrying a knife (along with a stake and a vervain dart, although those were more recently acquired habits). The knife wasn't very sharp, and he nicked Damon's skin more than once as he sawed at the thick ropes. He didn't think Damon would complain too much about a few small cuts – hell, the vampire would heal almost instantly – and Ric knew he needed to get Damon out of there as quickly as possible, before someone came along and noticed his rescue attempt. He also couldn't help but wonder what had happened to Becca.

Damon still hadn't stirred when the ropes around his wrists finally gave way, and Ric turned his attentions to the ropes binding his friend's ankles, feeling increasingly worried. He wasn't at all sure he could carry Damon out of there, and they would both be sitting ducks if he tried. After a few agonizingly slow minutes, Ric had Damon's feet free, and he flipped his friend onto his back. He shook him again. "Damon, wake up." Still no response. He slapped Damon lightly, wishing he had a bucket of cold water or, better yet, a blood bag. How exactly did you wake up an unconscious vampire? Ric could see the two tears in Damon's shirt where the vampire had been staked, but the stakes were gone now, so he thought Damon should be waking up soon. Unless his friend had been dosed with vervain, which was more than possible. Not knowing what else to do, he slapped Damon again, slightly harder this time.

Ric looked frantically around the room for anything he could use to wake Damon, or move Damon, but a moment later he turned back as the vampire groaned. His friend's eyes opened slightly, and Damon looked at him, confused. "Ric?"

"Yeah, Damon. It's me. We need to get you out of here. Can you stand?" Ric knew right away that was a stupid question. Damon seemed to be barely able to open his eyes.

Damon ignored him entirely, and he watched as Damon slowly brought a hand to his chest, feeling where his heart would be. The vampire's voice was still rough and uncertain, his blue eyes half-open and cloudy. "How am I . . . . I felt . . ."

Ric frowned. Now he was confused.

Damon looked around and tried to sit up, although he immediately fell back. His eyes were slightly clearer now. "Becca. Where's Becca?"

"I don't know. Did she find you?"

Damon nodded. "She was here. Something happened." He tried again to sit up, and this time Ric was ready and helped him get to a sitting position. He thought, although he wasn't sure, that the skin on Damon's wrists was beginning to heal from the vervain. He hoped that was a good sign even though Damon was clearly still pretty out of it.

"I don't know what went wrong – I was just supposed to be driving the getaway car. But right now, we need to get out of here. Becca can take care of herself."

Damon shook his head. "Need to find her."

"And do what? How are you going to help her like this?" Ric was certain that Becca would want him to get Damon away from there. If they had to, they could get reinforcements and come back to look for her. "Come on. Get up before someone finds us." Ric hauled Damon to his feet, awkwardly slinging Damon's arm over his shoulder to half-carry the vampire. After just one step, Damon's legs gave out, and Ric just barely managed to keep them both upright. "Fuck, how much vervain did they give you?"

Damon's words were still slightly slurred. "Too much."

"That's an understatement." Ric wondered how the hell he was going to get a punch-drunk Damon out of there. He was supposed to be just the backup on this rescue attempt, after all, and right now he definitely thought that Becca should have brought Stefan or even Caroline. She clearly had not anticipated this turn of events. Luckily, it wasn't far to the door, and by the time they reached the hallway Damon seemed to have regained enough equilibrium that he could at least bear most of his own weight.

Alaric felt like there was a bulls-eye burned onto his back as they made slow progress down the hallway and out the front door. But nothing happened; no one seemed to be pursuing them, and Ric half-dragged Damon to the car and maneuvered the vampire into the front seat. Then he reached into the cooler in the back seat and handed a blood bag to his friend. "Drink this." At least he had enough experience dealing with vampires by now to know what to bring on a rescue mission, Ric thought ruefully.

Two more blood bags later, Damon was acting much more like himself. Of course, that meant he was reckless and completely unconcerned with his own safety. Intense blue eyes zeroed in on Ric. "We have to go back for her."

Ric sighed. "Damon, you're in no condition to do anything of the sort."

Damon glared at him. "I'm fine. Mostly. And I'm not leaving her behind."

Ric shook his head. "Becca can take care of herself. She can't be killed, remember? And what kind of prison could hold her?" Becca wore her power lightly compared to the other Originals Ric had encountered – where Klaus had always been openly, sadistically threatening and Elijah conveyed an air of quiet danger beneath his façade of calm sophistication, Becca usually appeared to be nothing more than a carefree young woman. But Ric had seen her in action more than once during their long battle against Klaus and his minions and he knew just how powerful she was.

Damon shook his head. "Ric, I felt a stake in the heart, and I'm here talking to you so clearly Becca was the one who was staked. Hell, it could have even been a dagger for all we know. Something happened to Becca, and I'm not leaving her."

"Doesn't Elijah have all the daggers?

"Maybe he lost one, maybe he's in on it. I don't know. Look, this whole thing was a trap for Becca, and that guy was ready for her. He wouldn't have gone to all this trouble just to say hi." Damon looked at him pleadingly, his voice suddenly filled with emotion, like he could no longer hold it in check. "I can't feel anything from her right now, Ric."

Ric looked at his friend, feeling his own worry for Becca increase at the sight of what passed for near panic from the ever-cool Damon Salvatore. "Let's get reinforcements and come back, then."

Damon glared at him stubbornly. "That would take too long. Right now we know where they are and we have the advantage of surprise."

"Only if they haven't noticed that you're missing."

"Even if they've missed me, they won't expect me to come back."

Ric had to admit that Damon had a point there, but only because going back was such a monumentally stupid idea. He sighed again, already knowing that he was going to lose the argument. Damon was way too good at using those big blue eyes to make his case, and it really did look like Becca was in trouble. "Can we at least call Stefan for back up?"

Damon shook his head. "He's probably with Elena, so if we call him, she'll insist on coming. You know how she likes to throw herself into the middle of every dangerous situation, and Stefan can't say no to her, so . . ."

Unfortunately, Ric could see Damon's point. "He might not be with Elena."

"Fine, give me your phone."

Ric pulled it out of his pocket reluctantly. "Where's yours?"

Damon rolled his eyes. "I was staked, vervained, and kidnapped, Ric. I have no idea."

Ric reluctantly handed over his phone and watched as Damon typed a text message to Stefan. R u with Elena? The teacher in Ric winced at the abbreviations, but he raised a different issue. "Shouldn't we tell him that you're alive?"

Damon shrugged. "He'd just want an explanation that we don't have time to give him, and he'd show up here with Elena in tow. He'll find out soon enough."

The beep that signaled Stefan's reply cut off Ric's comeback. Yes. Why?

Damon shot Ric a look that clearly said "I told you so." Good. Stay there and keep your eyes open.

What's going on?

Damon handed the phone back to Ric without replying.

Ric sighed. "You know I'm going to have to explain that, right?"

Damon shrugged. "Or you'll die today and those will be your last known words."

Ric let out a short bark of laughter. "Damon Salvatore – ever the optimist. Remind me again why I rescued you."

Damon smiled crookedly at him. "Because you secretly love me."

"No, that's not it. I think it was because your girlfriend is very persuasive, not to mention insanely powerful."

"I do have good taste in women."

Ric shook his head. Damon was irrepressible. "Yeah. It's her taste that I'm wondering about right now."

Damon's expression said that he knew he had won. "You wound me, Ric. Let's get her out of there so you can tell her how I'm not worthy of her."

Ric closed his eyes with a sigh of frustration. "Can we at least try Caroline or Amaya first for back up?"

Damon sighed and visibly hesitated. Ric suspected that Damon was taking stock of his own strength – or maybe that was giving the vampire too much credit for sensible caution. But then Damon surprised him. "How quickly can they get here?"

•••••

William glanced worriedly at the door to the room containing the cage where he had imprisoned Rebecca. He turned as he heard one of his other vampires approaching, frowning when he saw that the man was empty-handed. "What happened?"

"He was gone, sir."

William glared at the younger vampire. "Gone? That's impossible. There is no way he could have gotten loose."

"The ropes were cut, sir."

"Damn it." He could only assume that Rebecca had not come alone, as they had expected. Clearly, he should have left a guard on his first prisoner. William shook his head. This plan was going more and more wrong all the time, and he was certain that he should cut his losses and get out now. The original plan had been simple and solid – kidnap Rebecca's favorite vampire and use him to distract, manipulate, and control her. They hadn't known about the blood bond that she had formed with him, however. William wasn't sure why she would do such a thing. He supposed that Damon Salvatore was attractive (although not really his type), but there seemed to be nothing particularly special about the young vampire. But the blood bond meant that there was no way to hide his prisoner from Rebecca for any length of time; not even magic could block that bond.

William had wanted to cut their losses and allow Damon to escape, leaving no one the wiser about the real motives behind his capture, but his allies had insisted that they could still salvage the situation. Now, however, instead of the simple task of holding one young vampire captive, William was supposed to somehow hold Rebecca, and he was certain that spells, stakes, and cages were not going to do the trick, even for a day. He had planned to threaten the life of his other captive in order to keep Rebecca compliant, but now that plan was out the window, too. He sighed. He hadn't survived for seven hundred years by being stupid, but he had a truly glorious prize – something he had craved for a very, very long time – awaiting him if he succeeded with this operation. And he was well aware that the power dynamics of the vampire world had shifted dramatically with the death of Klaus and the awakening of the other Originals. It was very important to be on the right side in this new situation, even for a vampire as old and powerful as William, and his best chance at that was not to piss off his allies, especially since Rebecca would certainly be after him if she got free. Unfortunately, those allies had left him to take all the risks right now with no more help than a few spells that would allegedly slow Rebecca down. He was going to need all the luck he could get.

•••••

Damon stared at a small residue of light gray powder on the arm of his black shirt. He raised his hand to brush it off and stopped. He had a vague feeling that the powder had significance, and suddenly he thought he knew. It had landed on him when Becca had been attacked as she had tried to rescue him, and it reminded him of something . . .

"Shit." Damon knew what the powder was, and he was right that he had seen it before – it was ash from the white oak tree. That just confirmed his theory that his captors had laid a trap for Becca. He was out of Ric's car in a second, unable to stay confined in the small space. He braced his hands against the hood of the SUV, staring at them blankly. If their enemies had the ash, they might have had a dagger, and Becca might really be gone. Dead, and not just for a few hours.

He pounded his hand against the car in frustration. He had to go back now, find Becca before they moved her body. He still couldn't feel anything through their bond, and he could only assume that meant Becca was dead, either temporarily with a stake or semi-permanently with a dagger. He couldn't bear the thought of losing her. If Damon had any doubts about who he really loved, they were answered by the pit in his stomach and the crippling despair he felt at the thought of losing Becca. He leaned over the hood of Ric's car, his face in his hands, fighting the despair that threatened to break him. Becca couldn't be dead, he told himself. But he still couldn't feel anything through their bond, nothing but an emptiness where his connection to Becca should have been.

Ric was out of the car now, too, reacting to Damon's agitation. "Damon, what's going on?"

It took Damon a long moment to gather himself enough for words. He rubbed a hand across his eyes, removing the trace of tears that he couldn't allow anyone, even Ric, to see. He gestured to the powder on his shirt before finally finding a choked semblance of his voice. "They had the ash, Ric. I have to go now."

Ric looked puzzled. He pointed at the small dent in the hood of his car with a wince. "You barely even damaged my car, Damon. You're still weak."

"Fuck." Ric was right. That was a pathetically tiny dent that he had made (although Ric would probably make him pay for the repairs, so that might not be entirely bad). Damon hated his own weakness in that moment, aware that it was true that he wouldn't be much use to Becca like this. He took a deep breath, trying to pull himself together.

Ric was looking at him sympathetically. "Just wait for Caroline and Amaya, and we'll find her."

Damon glared at his friend. "Fine." More importantly, his body should be restoring itself every minute as the remainder of the vervain left his system. He would find Becca and get her out of there, he told himself firmly. There was no alternative.