Hey guys! Finally getting this posted! Lol

A few chapters ahead actually, and I've almost wrapped up the ending.

I was wondering if ya'll might be interested in a sequel?

More info later! :)

On to a Darker Damon!

I sat in the study, with Alaric and Stefan.

As I heard yet another scream come from downstairs, I tensed, and Stefan, who was standing behind me, placed a hand on my shoulder.

Both comforting me, and restraining me.

I grasped his fingers, closing my eyes, and forced myself not to use my supernatural hearing to eavesdrop on the interrogation.

Then, for the hundredth time, I glared over at Alaric.

Damon had come a long way from the animal he had been before I joined the Pack.

Sure, he was good at making sure the laws were obeyed, but his reputation did most of the work.

Hell, most of the time, all Damon would have to do to its show up, and the Mutt in question would be scared straight.

But this...this was torture.

The kind Damon might have been known for, before he'd gained back a shred of his humanity.

And Alaric damn well knew it.

So I didn't understand why he was forcing Damon to do this now!

Was it really just to prove a point?

I huffed, and another shriek of agony rang through the house.

"I can't do this anymore," I jumped up, but Stefan grabbed me, "Elena, don't."

"Sit down, Elena," Ric commanded.

I turned on him, "Or what? Are you going to force me to obey too, Alpha?"

Alaric sighed, "This isn't about that, and you know it. Damon needs to be reminded of his place, just as much as we need answers from the Mutt. This will accomplish both."

I shook my head, "You're going to destroy him."

"Perhaps," Alaric allowed, "But he will put himself back together again, and he'll be better for it."

I crossed my arms, "Look, I get the tough love thing, but enough is enough."

Alaric started to answer, but then paused.

I froze too, realizing how quiet it had suddenly gotten.

A creak on the stairs, some groans, and the sound of a door shutting, then Damon was entering the room.

I stiffened.

He looked tired, and a little worn.

His hands were soaked in blood, and it had smeared onto the bowl he held.

He placed it, and the pliers, on the table next to Alaric.

I got an eyeful of its contents, and wished I hadn't.

Teeth.

Both human, and canine.

"He Changed halfway through," Damon muttered, "I had to give him morphine to finish...then I let him go."

"Good. I don't think he'll be doubting us in the future."

Damon's expression was hard, "Kol's awake. I guess all the screaming...anyway, the Mutt didn't know who started the rumors, he just heard them, but I'll bet Kol does."

Alaric didn't break their gaze, "Go find out."

Damon nodded, and turned to leave, seeming to avoid my gaze as he did so.

I pushed off Stefan's hand, and followed him.

Damon stopped in the kitchen, turning on the water in the sink, to rinse of his hands.

I walked over slowly, placing a hand on his back.

He tensed for a moment, then relaxed under my touch.

"You don't have to do this," I told him quietly, "There's other ways of getting information."

"Alaric told me to," he stated, his voice flat, as he switched off the water.

I grabbed him, turning his body to face me.

"Damon, stop. Alaric isn't right all the time. He's just doing this to prove a point to you."

He shook me off, "We need the information, Elena. It's my job to get it. End of story."

"You're going to lose yourself," I warned him, "If things keep going like this, it won't end well."

He looked at me, "I know, okay. I'm barely holding my head above the water here. But I have to do this."

"Damon," I stepped forward grabbing his arm.

He closed his eyes, "Don't, okay? Just don't kitten. I...I can't. I need to do this, and I need you not to hate me for it."

I swallowed, as he looked up at me.

Something set in his eyes.

Then he turned, and grabbed the saran wrap out of a drawer, before going back down the stairs.

To where Kol is.

To where all of our weapons are.

I felt my eyes prick with unwanted tears.

This was never going to stop.

Damon would let this eat him alive before he'd refuse Alaric's command, and nothing I could say would stop him.

It was as if our entire conversation from that morning meant nothing now.

The clock had ran out already.

Our five minutes were up.

Wiping my eyes, I considered my options.

Running back to New York clearly wasn't one, even though right now, it's what I felt like doing.

But this Mutt thing needed to be dealt with first.

And despite how much I hated the idea, so did Damon, and my feelings for him.

But right now, with what was going on downstairs, it wasn't the time.

I thought of Damon torturing Kol.

Of Damon almost killing Kol earlier.

Kol had taken part in Enzo's death, hadn't he?

What would Damon do to him for that?

Fear filled me as I thought of what he was capable of.

I couldn't just leave him alone down there.

If I did, I wasn't sure I'd like what came back up.

Making up my mind, I left the kitchen, and followed Damon's scent, to the basement stairs.

At the bottom, Damon was in the cage with Kol, who was tied to the far side, his hands bound through the bars behind him.

Damon looked over at me, but didn't comment.

He turned back to Kol, "I'm going to ask you again, what is your brother and Kai planning against the Pack?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kol spat, and Damon shook his head.

He picked up the roll of saran wrap, and began wrapping it around Kol's head, pinning it to the bars.

Kol struggled, as the wrap blocked his ability to breathe, and Damon waited until he was changing colors before he poked a hole where Kol's mouth was gaping.

The Mutt sucked in a breath.

"Let's try that again," Damon instructed, "And before you even think about Changing, you should know that the wolf can't withstand the way your arms are bound. You'll rip them right out of socket, and then I may decide to sever them completely."

Kol whimpered a little.

"Now, answer the question," Damon demanded, "What are they planning."

"I don't know," he said again.

Damon cursed, and wrapped another layer of the saran wrap around his head.

He left it on a little longer this time, and I fought the urge to point that out.

Eventually though, he poked another hole in the wrap, and sighed, "I'm leaving the next one on. Tell me what I want to know, or die. It's up to you."

"Then go ahead and kill me," Kol growled.

My eyebrows furrowed.

This wasn't right.

Kol wasn't an overly deep Mutt, and wasn't really the type to have plans or hidden agendas.

And his loyalty to his brother would only extend so far, but surely not enough to risk his own life.

So what was he hiding that he was willing to die for?

"Damon, wait," I called.

Damon sighed, "Elena, you don't have to watch-"

"No, that's not what I'm saying. There's more to this."

"What do you mean?"

I sized Kol up, "He's willing to die for this secret. That doesn't seem strange to you?"

Damon hesitated, looking back at Kol.

Then he ripped the wrap from his head.

Kol met Damon's gaze.

"She's right," he said, "You wouldn't die for some scheme."

Kol was actually starting to look nervous, "Well, I guess that depends on the scheme, doesn't it?"

"Bullshit," I cut in, "You're hiding something."

Damon grabbed a fistful of Kol's hair, forcing his head up, "I do have ways of making you talk."

Kol swallowed thickly, "Do your worst."

I stepped in front of Damon, edging him away, and met Kol's gaze.

I stared at him for a moment, wondering what could be so important.

"Your brother wants territory," I told him, "That's why he's a part of whatever is going on. He thinks Kai can help him get it, I'm guessing. But you...what would you want with that? No, there's something else. What are you getting out of this?"

"I bet I know," A voice called from behind us.

Mason had walked into the basement, holding a piece of paper, "Tyler and I found this in his car."

I took it from him.

It was a picture.

Of Kol, and some pretty brunette.

That was all it took for everything to fall into place.

"Thank you," I told Mason.

He nodded, "No problem. Alaric thought it might be helpful."

I looked back at Kol, "That, it is."

Mason left to go talk to his father, and Damon looked at me, "I don't understand."

I flinched.

Of course he didn't.

If he did, I would still be human.

I held the picture up to Kol, ignoring the twinge in my chest, "What's her name."

Kol's face hardened, his mouth a tight line.

I swallowed, "She's human, isn't she?"

Those words placed it for Damon.

"You're joking."

I shook my head, and Damon took the picture.

He smirked then, and it sent a shiver down my spine.

There was something wrong about using love to hurt people.

"That's why you want the Pack out of power," Damon realized, "So your human can know about what you are without being put in danger. Which means, she probably already knows, and you're hiding her."

Kol paled, and Damon chuckled, "She does. You actually told her you're the big bad wolf. And you knew that if we ever found out, she'd be on the Pack's hit list."

Kol squirmed, and I knew Damon was hitting the nail on the head.

"That's why he was okay with dying," I murmured, "He's not protecting the other Mutts, he's protecting her."

Damon nodded, "Well, she shouldn't be too hard to track down."

"No," Kol shouted, and finally, his voice was layered in fear, "Please, no, I'm begging you."

My voice was thick, "She knows about you. About us."

"She won't say anything," he promised, "Please, she loves me. She even wants to be one of us. She won't tell."

"She wants to be one of us?" I scoffed.

Kol nodded, "She begs me all the time to bite her. She doesn't know, she doesn't understand that it's a death sentence. I can't do it...but it doesn't matter, she won't tell anyone, because she loves me. You have to believe that. Please. Don't hurt her."

Damon had all the ammunition he needed now.

"I'll tell you what," he taunted, "You tell me what Kai and Elijah have planned, or I'll find your little human. And I'll make sure she's begging to die, before I break her neck...or maybe I'll just give her what she wants. Maybe I'll bite her, only, I won't stop biting."

Kol had actual tears in his eyes now, and my stomach lurched.

This wasn't right, god, it wasn't.

He started talking then, spilling everything, but I couldn't focus on his words.

I left him with Damon, and walked back up the stairs, numbly.

I ended up in the kitchen, where I knew I'd be alone.

My mind was racing through what he'd said, what it meant, and soon, hot tears were running down my face.

Damon found me there a moment later.

"He told me everything he knows, even some things I didn't care to hear," he said, "Good job on the-"

He noticed my face then.

"What's wrong?"

I shook my head, and Damon reached for me.

I pulled back, not being able to stand the idea of his hands on me right now.

"Don't."

"Elena," he pressed, "Talk to me, kitten, what's wrong."

I swallowed, and looked up at him.

"He was honest with her. He told her everything. He shared who he was with her, and she accepted him."

Damon tensed, his jaw setting.

He knew exactly what I was getting at.

"But now, she has to die," he reminded me.

"That's not the point," I cried, "The point is that he was willing to die to keep her a secret from us, instead of trying to turn her! He was going to die to keep her away from our world. Damon, she begged him to change her! She begged him, and he still didn't! Because he didn't want to risk losing her! That's love."

Damon's gaze dropped to the ground, but waves of bitter anger were pulsing from him.

"I can't change the past," he said, finally, "But I'm through apologizing for it. You have to decide if you can ever let it go, and I can't make you. But there's either something here between us, or there's not. Your decision."

He walked away after that, and more tears came.

I wasn't sure how to make them stop.

Vaguely, I became aware of Damon talking to Kol below me.

His voice was venomized with his anger over me.

"So, this human of yours...sure is a pretty thing, isn't she?"

Kol was silent.

"I want you to tell me something," Damon said slowly, "This girl...do you picture a life with her?"

He paused, and when he continued, his voice was thick, "Do you picture a home? Maybe getting married?"

I closed my eyes, knowing that this wasn't even about the Mutt anymore.

"Did you imagine making children with her?" His voice was shaking now, "Having the family you'd always wanted?"

When no reply came, Damon grew angry.

Metal clanked, as, I imagine, he shook Kol furiously.

"Tell me," he growled, "Do you love her enough to share all of that with her?"

I heard Kol's weak reply of "yes".

Damon's sigh, "It must hurt, knowing you'll never have that chance."

Kol swallowed, "If you're going to kill me, just kill me."

Damon's low chuckled, "With pleasure. And you can die, knowing that the last thing your human will see on this earth, are my teeth, ripping her insides apart."

Kol began to yell, and I hurried to the stairs.

But just as I reached the basement door, I heard the crack.

I knew that sound well.

Damon had snapped his neck.

Kol Mikaelson was dead.

Until next time, lovelies :)

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