Damn drunk just wouldn't die. He knew he hadn't made a mistake, he'd aimed to kill, but the kid just didn't want to die. Fucking drunks. They'd live longer than all of them and turn the world into one big pile of misery and failure. It didn't matter. The drunk was no longer an issue. Bonnie wouldn't want to be with him and after a while he'd drink himself to death. He smiled to himself. It's actually worked out better than he could have hoped. He wouldn't kill the kid, the kid would eventually kill himself, all he had to do was convince Bonnie that the drunk hadn't changed his ways.

"You won't win, you know that right?"

He rolled his eyes as he turned to look at Stefan. The guy was in bad shape, he was only feeding him the bare minimum that was needed for survival, and Stefan even refused that at times. Fucking stubborn ass vampire. He'd had to resort to giving him the blood as a transfusion through his veins. Wasn't entirely healthy, but it kept the damn thing alive, and for the moment he needed him alive.

"You have something to say to me, Vampire?"

Stefan laughed and spit blood at him, his two canines were missing but he still had the rest of his teeth. It didn't matter to him one way or the other, his teeth would grow back, but he knew that he had to get under the guy's skin, keep him making mistakes, rile him up. He couldn't be there physically for Elena, but he would do what he could from here.

"You heard me, you won't win. So far, if I'm following along, you've managed to fail in killing Matt, failed to keep Bonnie away from other guys, failed to kill Jeremy, and now you've got a chained up vampire who you don't have a clue how to control and one who will have your neck before this thing is over, am I about right?"

"Fuck you, vampire! You have no idea what my plan is!"

Stefan only continued to look at him with that damned smirk on his face, "Do you have any idea what your plan is?"

Stefan laughed as he took the hits to his face, chest and neck that the killer rained on him. At this point his body had been numbed to pain, he felt nothing but the insidious hunger that refused to give him peace.

"I'll show you, I'll show you all. Before this is done I'll have my wildflower at my side and we'll both look back laughing as Mystic Falls burns to the ground."

The killer burned with fury as he stormed out followed by the vampire's taunting laughter. Forever taunting him. Letting him know that he wasn't good enough, that he was a failure. No! He would win! He'd show them, he'd show them all! *

"We've been sitting here like waiting ducks as this guy plucks us off one by one. I'm done. It's time we do something about this fuck."

Damon folded his arms and regarded the group in his foyer.

Tyler Lockwood, Hybrid. Quiet, Damon didn't entirely trust him, but he'd be good to have on their side in a fight. Plus, he was part dog. Maybe he could be used to sniff out the bastard.

Alaric Saltzman. Damon trusted the guy more than anyone else in the room, and he knew that he could be fairly helpful. He would need to put his head together with Ric to plan this thing out.

Caroline Forbes. Damon took a moment to look her over. Wan, but strong. Determined to see this thing out to the end. She may be of some help if this killer underestimates her.

Elena Gilbert. Weak, worried, upset over her brother, Bonnie and Stefan. She'd be useless.

Jesse Boldari. Good cop. Strong. Still an unknown to Damon, but he'd use the guy until he figured he didn't need him anymore.

Damon nodded at his assessments of the group. He could take or leave any of them, he didn't frankly give a fuck. His brother was missing, not dead, Damon would know, but some fuck had him and Damon was going to get him back if he had to go in by himself. The group would stand, but they'd damn sure better be prepared to fight.

"Damon's right. This is the last straw. I'm tired of us all being made into victims, I'm ready to fight back."

Caroline spoke up for the first time, and Damon cocked a brow at the vehemence in her voice. Yeah, Caroline would fight. Damon raised his glass in acknowledgment to her.

"The rest of you?"

Alaric was the next to step forward. He laid a hand on Damon's shoulder briefly, "Stefan meant alot to us all, Damon. He's my brother as much as he is yours. I'm in."

Damon looked him in the eye and nodded at the unspoken promise he read there. Alaric would fight.

"He was a dead man the minute he hurt Caroline."

Damon looked at Tyler. The kid was quiet, but aggressive, and the killer had made a huge error going after the Hybrid's girlfriend. Tyler would fight.

"You guys know I'm a cop right? It's my responsibility to point out that civilians should never attempt the take the law into their own hands, you could all end up hurt. The way he's already hurt Bonnie."

Damon took a moment to study Jesse Boldari. He looked him in the eye for a second before he grinned for the first time in nearly 2 weeks. The son of a bitch would fight.

Damon was quiet when he turned to face Elena. He didn't want to ask it of her, didn't want to put her in that position. She'd already been through so much, Damon doubted she had much fight left in her. Elena looked at him for the first time all night and he could have sworn he saw fire in her eyes. He had expected tears, hysterics, denial. But there was fire in her eyes, and Damon wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

"He's killed Liz, ruined Caroline's life, Harassed Bonnie, almost killed Bonnie, attacked Matt, did god knows what to Stefan and now my little brother is laying in a hospital after nearly losing his life. Don't you dare hesitate to look at me Damon, don't you dare underestimate how much I want this guy dead and how far I will go to see him pay. I damn well will fight, and whether you like it or not, my face will be one of the ones he sees when he realizes that he's lost."

Damon looked at her for another minute before he nodded. Elena would fight. *

The room was blessed dark when Jeremy woke up. Bonnie wasn't quite ready to face him in the light, so the darkness was something she appreciated. Jeremy had been awake on and off fo the last couple of days and it was always both a relief and terror when he looked at her. She never knew what to say to him, so she simply held his hand. The doctors said he would be in the hospital for a while and Bonnie had wanted to put Nick, the bodyguard, on watch outside his door but Jeremy had refused. When Jeremy had his mind made up on something, he didn't budge. It didn't matter, Bonnie never left his side, so the guard had just had to protect them both.

"Bonnie?"

Bonnie rushed to his side and held onto his hand, "I'm here. I'm right here."

Jeremy squinted to look at her in the dark. Unlike Bonnie he cursed the darkness. He needed to see her eyes.

"What are you worrying about, Bonnie?"

"I'm not, I'm just anxious to see you better."

Jeremy closed his eyes. He hated to hear her lie to him, hated that distance he felt growing between them everyday.

"I love you, Bonnie."

She didn't answer him, only held his hand tighter.

"Did you hear me?" He knew she had, but he needed her to talk to him. It scared him that she wouldn't. The one thing Jeremy knew he couldn't lose was Bonnie, and he was only hanging on to her by a thread.

"This isn't the time for this, Jeremy. The doctors say you need rest-"

"Fuck the doctors! I said I love you, Bonnie." Jeremy knew he sounded harsh, but he felt like he was drowning the further and further away she was.

Silence was his only answer. Jeremy felt tears threaten and sat up to get a closer look at her. Bonnie immediately rushed to his side when she saw him trying to get up and he grabbed her and held her close when she had made it to his bed.

"A year ago I met a vampire. I didn't know she was a vampire at the time, only that she was different, alone, isolated. That pain in her spoke to the pain in me and we bonded. I cared about her, in my way, she seemed like the perfect thing to help me move on from Vicki. I used her, she used me, and I'd never felt more free in my life."

Jeremy felt the shudder go through Bonnie, but she lay limp in his arms, so he continued.

"we made love, we got drunk, we studied folklore, and for the first time in a long while I felt like I belonged somewhere. She was alot like me, and so I held onto that. I don't think I ever loved her."

Jeremy felt Bonnie's instant rejection of that confession and ignored it. He would get this all out, and she could say what she needed to when he was done.

"The sex was amazing, she understood my isolation and we had a lot in common. She was my friend and I cared for her. I thought it was enough. Then I met you. I've known you my whole life, and yet I feel like I've only met you a few months ago." Jeremy grinned ruefully. It was backwards, but he knew she got it. Knew she felt the same way.

"You made my palms sweat and my heart race. My lungs burn and my body ache. I've never felt anything like it. Vicki was dangerous, Anna was easy, you were...You scared me to death, Bonnie. I couldn't even tell what was happening to me because I was falling in love. I've never really been in love before and I couldn't be sure what was happening to me."

Jeremy lifted Bonnie into his arms and held her close. He rubbed his face along hers and smeared tears. His tears or hers he wasn't certain, so he continued.

"I didn't know what it was, but for the first time in my life, I felt right. Not isolated or alone because I could never feel that way when I was with you. I didn't need to be surrounded by a dozen friends, we were each other's friend. You were home, for me, peace. When Anna came back I was confused. I loved her but not the way I loved you. Never the way I loved you, and that made me feel guilty. At one point I thought Anna was the one, and because she wasn't and deep down I knew she wasn't, I forced myself to look at her differently. She was dead and I didn't protect her, the least I owed her was my heart."

Bonnie tugged and he let her go. He couldn't see her, but he heard her pacing around the room.

"Bonnie..."

"Jesse says that everyone will be meeting at the Salvatore house to discuss what to do about this guy who has hurt you. They're already there, but I'll swing by and get caught up, let you know what's going on."

Jeremy let out a breath when she walked to the door.

"Ok. Just be sure to let me know." *

Snarling with rage, he kicked the chair in his path so that it flew across the room and landed in a shower of wood on the floor. He punched the air again and again. How dare they? How fucking dare they? They thought they could outsmart him? Damn, damn them, damn her, damn him! He'd show them. He was smarter than them all. Fucking retards thought they could sit around and conspire against him? He would see them all suffer before he was through. He punched holes in the wall and stomped on the already broken chair until it was unrecognizable. Yeah, he'd show them. Thought they were so smart? They couldn't beat him! what they were trying to do was take Bonnie from him. No one took her from him! He hit the wall until his knuckles bled. She was his! He would not let them win. He just had to be calm, get himself together. He took a deep breath and heard the taunting laughter of Stefan Salvatore. Fuck them all! *