His hands were still shaking but they were getting easier to control. He barely seemed to notice it anymore. Having time frozen around you tends to be a bit distracting.

Uber distracting.

Somehow or the other, Klaus was back in his original body, fangs bared, claws ready to go…

Elijah… There was no sign of Elijah… Hightailing bitch.

And Bonnie… Mags was in the centre of her frozen circle and frozen candleflames, her mouth frozen mid-chant. Eyes… red and weeping. All around her was a pool of bright red blood and he could smell death on her. Literally smell death. Possibly a foot or two feet away from her was Klaus, arm outstretched and reaching towards her chest. And reaching… And reaching… "I thought you stopped time," he wheeled on Jaxxon.

"He did," a girl answered. A fancy, short girl. The child witch. "Only Klaus is very, very, very fast. Klaus exists outside of time."

A child… Ten? Eleven?

"I'm sixteen."

Another fucking mind-reader. Damon tensed. Was he going to have to kill this girl? His fangs were just itching to bite down on something. And she was so small, so delicate. Buttery golden skin… full, pink cheeks, fine eyebrows and painted, bow shaped lips. A cute little mole at the corner of her lips… Green eyes… just like Bonnie's. The cutest snub nose he'd ever seen on a girl in all his life. Pretty. With some pretty veins on her as well.

I'll just kill this one real quick.

"Klaus wouldn't like it if you killed me."

"And I give a flying fuck about what Klaus would like?"

"You should. Klaus shows no mercy to his enemies. And you've already upset him."

Right… Brainwashed? "Who are you exactly?"

"Anastasia, from downstairs."

"And?" How had they missed her? Who the fuck else was downstairs?

"And I'm Klaus's witch."

Another one?

"There's Greta and then there's me."

"You share?"

"No. I live downstairs."

Right. She was very distracting, this witch-child. In the time he'd spent on her, Klaus had gotten his fingers that much closer to Bonnie's heart. Who the fuck is she?

"I'm the one who dismantled your plan. I'm a different kind of witch. I specialize in negating magic. Your witch, Bonnie? Magwyr? Whatever… she'd have to be Merlin himself to work a channelling in this building."

Fuck! He didn't have time!He couldn't even think! If she was strong enough to counter Magwyr then she'd have to be pretty strong–"

"Pretty fucking strong."

Did he want to try to duke it out with her? He imagined she'd pack one hell of an aneurysm… "Why are you helping him?"

"Why wouldn't I? You killed my mother, Damon."

"Bree?"

"No."

"Alicia?"

"No."

…Who else is there? "Annabelle?"

"No."

Witches that I've killed… "Mellissa?"

"No."

"Stacy?"

"No."

Kimberly? Janice? Think, Damon? She's what, sixteen? Think witch. Think 90s. "Can you give me a hint?"

"You killed her on Christmas Eve. 1996. You dumped her body in a canal in Detroit. They had to thaw her out at the morgue."

Ohh… "You mean, Esme!" Wow, the nostalgia… "You're Esme's kid? Last time I saw you, you were in diapers…" She'd grown up nicely enough though… "Sooo, how's it hanging? What is it, Klaus running a shelter for you guys or something?"

"He has a tender heart, him."

Damon spared a glance to the hybrid beast snarling at him in slow motion. Real tender… "I've already been tortured once for the day… Don't really have time for round two at the moment, though." He put his arms around Bonnie and tried to lift her out of the way. Nothing doing. As effective as heaving a mountain. He tried to redirect the glacially paced but persistently encroaching Klaus. Worse than heaving a mountain. "Anastasia…" he growled, thoroughly confused and fighting the blossoms of panic. "Bonnie's one of the good guys–"

"Says who?" the girl made a face. "I've seen what the two of you do in your sick little fantasies… I don't associate with people who fuck vampires."

Says the harem witch.

"First off, Klaus isn't a vampire. He's a hybrid. Second, I'm not a harem witch. Klaus is like a father to me and your implications are disgusting."

Right…

"Let's make a deal then. You save Bonnie, teleport her somewhere safe and far, far away, and I remain here and let you work out your grievances."

"As if I give a rat's ass about you, Damon." The microwave beeped off and she took out a bag of popcorn. She settled herself on the couch and stretched with a smile and a sigh. "I'm just here for the show. Drink piss and die."

Potty mouth.

How had it come to this? Had he blinked? Had he missed something? Why does nothing go according to the fucking plan?

"What the fuck do I do?" he screamed at the demon, as the space between Klaus's fingertips and Bonnie's ribcage dwindled to a measly eight inches. "Help me!"

Jaxxon was sniffing at a patch of blood on the carpet. He looked up with a disinterested, empty stare. "I think I've done enough, wouldn't you say? Like this, I'm still loyal to Klaus and I've kept, your Bonnie alive. What's in it for me if I cross the line?"

"What do you want?"

"What if I say your soul?" he replied airily. "Never ask a demon what he wants, Damon. That's how Shakespearean tragedies start…"

Never mind.

He was Damon fucking Salvatore, and Damon fucking Salvatore was beholding to no one. Man, vampire, werewolf, hybrid, witch, nobody.

Fine… I'll just… He angled and slid himself into the space between Klaus' hand and Bonnie's heart. The hybrid's fingers pressed on his chest, broke skin, pressed on his ribs, broke bone…

All right, Damon. It's going to hurt like fuck, but let's try this own more time… he got up his right hand, shook it out and loosed it up…

His own hand broke into Klaus' chest assisted partially by the hybrid's own slow momentum.

Klaus' face began to curl into a smile.

Oh, you like this?

His fourth and fifth ribs snapped, but Damon kept himself standing.

His fingertips grazed the smooth encasing of Klaus heart.

Right… like a game of chicken, only without motor vehicles.

Last time, he'd done it half-heartedly… This time, he was going to put his back into it. Second time's the charm. "Jaxxon, in the time it takes for Klaus to heal, get Bonnie out of here," he shouted out rushed as he felt Klaus squeeze his heart, even as his own fingers tightened around Klaus', "Just get Bonnie out of here, and you can do whatever the fuck you want with my soul. Not like I'll miss it."