Damon's POV

"What's our next move?" Stefan asks as he stares at me expectantly. I don't know when I became the decision maker in this group, but I don't like it.

"Shouldn't one of us keep an eye on Tyler, just in case he tells someone about you guys," Jeremy says and that's when I realize that Caroline isn't here. She was supposed to stay with Jeremy, but she's not here. My heart is racing because I know that after Elena, Caroline attracts trouble like a moth to the flame.

"Where's Caroline?" I ask, staring at Jeremy. Everyone is silent and there all looking at each other like they have no idea what I'm talking about, like they've forgotten. It makes me angry that no one seemed to notice that Caroline wasn't with us. It makes me furious that I didn't notice.

"Jeremy?" Elena prods.

"I don't know. Matt wanted to talk to her, so I left her with him." He says.

"You left her with Matt? A human? What's Matt going to do if she gets attacked?" I yelled. Why does it feel like I have t explain everything fifty times over and over again to everyone?

"Look, Caroline's a vampire, I thought she could handle herself." He said.

The next second Alaric bursts into the room.

"I don't know what you guys are doing up here, but I just saw Jules and Tyler headed towards the woods at the back of the house like five minutes ago. Aren't you suppose to be interrogating them?" he says, breathless. As soon as he gets the location out of his mouth, I am out of there. Stefan is on my tail and I'm glad for the extra support. I get a little ways into the woods before I realize that I have no idea where to start looking for her. I can't sense any wolves something is masking their scent.

"Should we split up?" Stefan asks and I'm about to say yes when I hear her scream. Again both of us are off this time side by side. If this were any other situation I'd say the imagery of us running side by side was almost poetic, but it's Caroline screaming and I can't get to her fast enough.

I stop right in front of where Caroline's being held. The guy is shooting her with some sort of dart gun, and she's tied to a tree. She looks so weak and her clothes is ripped in some many places that it makes me think he's been shooting her with these darts for awhile now. I know that Stefan will follow my lead, so I take a breath, dash behind the guy and twist. His neck cracks and he's dead within seconds. I stare at his body; it never ceases to amaze me how fragile our bodies are.

"Damon," I hear whispering from behind me and I remember that Caroline is scared right now and needs my help. I kneel down in front of her trying to untie the knot keeping the rope in place. I look up, her eyes are wide as saucers brimming with tears and her makeup is a mess. If she was her normal self right now, she wouldn't have a hair out of place.

"Damon, why are they doing this?" she asks. Her voice is so soft that I'm pretty sure it's taking everything she has in her just to speak.

"I don't know, shshsh Caroline, it's gonna be ok. I'm going to take care of this." I say and something impulses me to raise my hand and caress her cheek.

I've almost got the knot done, when I hear Stefan from behind me. "Damon, we've got company,"

I turn around and see that Stefan has taken care of the body, but now there are 3 wolves coming at us. I rush one hoping that my speed will be enough of a surprise to give me an advantage. I don't know how Stefan is doing, but more wolves are coming up on us. Caroline is too weak and we're too outnumbered. My heart sinks, we're going to lose this fight. My only thought is to take down as many of these dogs as I can with me.

So that seemed like a good place to end this chapter. Next the second and resolution to the fight…