He'd only planned to step out for a minute, but now that he was out he couldn't muscle up the willpower to go back in. Back into that cauldron of magic, that… whirlpool as Mags had called it. He was as much a magic aficionado as the next vampire, but he had his limits. He could take a little fire, he could handle and aneurysm every now and then… but resurrections? Resurrections went beyond discomfort. They went beyond searing pain. Standing next to Magwyr while she'd chanted had felt like dying all over again.

The older than old memory of the pain of pellets in his chest came back to him like lightning. He could almost see Giuseppe there holding the weapon. That initial momentary pain of death filled him and wouldn't go away. That initial locking of muscles. That shooting pain down his spine and out along his nerves. That initial crush around his ribs as the ischaemia set into his heart, as his arteries stiffened and clogged. That initial burn in his gums as his fangs flared… His hands wouldn't stop shaking.

"How are you managing?" Jaxxon enquired as he stepped out onto the balcony and shut the panel behind him. Damon turned away from the backdrop and shrugged, conveying a thousand words with the movement of his shoulders.

"Ah..." the demon nodded, "That good? You'll find that there's a good bit of sluff that gets resurrected anytime you try one of these bad boy spells. Certain memories resurface. Major events, you know, like dying… being turned. Not recommended for tender laddies such as yourself."

Now you tell me. He wasn't managing very well at all. His hands were near numb, his fangs were permanently out, the fog was starting to gather around him, and the shadows were coalescing into something almost tangible. Losing control…

Every two seconds he kept having these surges of pure power up his spine and there was nothing he could do about it. Except turn into a crow and fly away… He'd been toying with that option, turning it over and around in his mind for the longest while.

Get away…

As far and fast as possible…

The lightning flashed again and he hissed at it. Veritably hissed, like some kind of man-cat.

I'm losing it.

I'm fucking losing it.

He'd always been one to talk about 'the switch'. He'd always been one to play with humanity, toggling emotions around… And now, when his existence depended on it, when his body felt like it was being broke in two… Not even that – drawn and quartered more like… Now when he needed to save himself, he couldn't.

His teeth clamped down on his own tongue, filling his mouth with his own blood. Even his skin hurt. His fingertips were starting to blister… The way it felt, he was five degrees away from spontaneous combustion. Pretty soon he'd be gone in a puff of smoke and that'd be the end of Damon Salvatore.

Damn.

Hepeered around the demon, through the broken shards of door and inside. Bonnie.

Still there. Still chanting.

Lucy's body was on the floor.

Klaus' original body was on the floor.

Only Bonnie was standing… Bonnie and another girl. A smaller girl. A child–

A blood vessel burst in his eye and his vision went dark, forcing him to blink away the blood.

Another witch? Where does he keep them?

Damn.

….