"No, no, no, no…" Stefan repeated it over and over like this whole thing would disappear. I wasn't so naïve but I was still frozen. I knew this image would haunt me so I used all my willpower to make myself look away.
It was only then that I noticed the note. A neatly folded piece of card placed on one of the chairs. I picked it up to distract myself more than anything else. But then my curiosity got the better of me and I opened it. Then it got the better of me again and I read it…
Don't worry. He won't get off that easily
"He's still alive" I mouthed and my mind shouted. Then louder "He's still alive" I started to get excited and I ran over to him
"What? What's going on?" Stefan asked frantic watching my carefully.
I ran my fingers over Damon's wrist and checked for a pulse. I couldn't be sure in my excitement but I was sure I felt something. So I pressed my fingers into his neck and this time I was convinced. A steady pulse of liquid flowed under his skin. Weak for definite, but also certainly there.
"Get him down" I ordered "Get him off there now. He's still alive" Stefan complied without another word and lifted Damon off the hook. As soon as we tried to move him he awoke and his eyes flickered for a second like he couldn't quite focus. Then he howled in pain like an animal that had been shot. It hurt for me to hear so I can only imagine the pain that he must have been in. I tried to ignore it as I helped him down and I could tell that he was trying to smother it but we all still felt it.
Eventually we had him laid on the floor and Stefan called for an ambulance. A real one this time. I sat with him and whispered softly to him. Trying to tell him it was going to be okay. I wasn't sure if I was trying to convince him or me. If it was me it wasn't really working.
A few hours later after numerous statements to numerous police officers and ambulance crew and any one else with a macabre curiosity, Stefan and I were sat in the car in total silence.
"I'll kill them" Stefan was the first to break it
"Don't" I whispered "Not right now" I stared out the window to see the last of the bodies being taken away under white sheets. Everyone in the room was dead except for Damon. It was some gruesome joke by those…animals; set up for Stefan and me to find. It made me sick to my core. I could understand Stefan's anger. God knows I felt most of it but I was too tired for revenge right then.
"Let's just go home" I said rolling my head on the headrest and collapsing into the seat.
"That's the best idea I've heard all week"