Author's note: Wow…. It's such a long time since this has been updated! This chapter has actually been sitting in my documents folder for almost two years now. If any of my faithful reviewers are still with me, I salute you and hand you all cookies :D I think this chapter might be a bit short but I wanted to get it out of the way because, as you might have guessed, it's been hard to keep the story going, and my inspiration has been at an all time low. Oh well, hope you at least don't hate this chapter and I'll try and be more frequent with the following chapters! Thanks if you read and/or comment!

Chapter Eleven

Damon paced the hallway outside the living room, frustrated. He wanted to throw open the door and barge back into the room to tell Meredith exactly what he thought of her, but he didn't. Actually, what he wanted was to get the hell out of this house and go back to the pretty good life he'd been living before a certain dark-haired, annoying little human had dragged him into this big mess.

But he didn't.

Bonnie had come out of the kitchen a few times to apologise again, but one snarl from Damon had sent her scuttling back to Matt, and she hadn't bothered him since. He was glad. The redhead was almost as unbearably irritating as the boy. And right now, he felt that if someone pushed him over the edge he was teetering on at the moment, he would snap and drain them dry. He was quite hungry, come to think of it. But it would wait. He wasn't going anywhere until he got answers from Elena.

As if on cue, the door to the living room opened and Meredith walked into the hallway, closing the door behind her slowly. Damon stopped pacing and stood watching her, his arms folded.

"Well?" he demanded.

Meredith raised a finger to her lips. "She's asleep."

"What did she say?" He didn't lower his voice at all.

Meredith sighed. "She was trying to get some sleep and only knew someone was in the room when she heard a crash. They broke in through the window. She said they had masks on, so she has no idea what they look like. They put a knife to her throat and told her that they were the ones that killed Stefan, and that they could come for her or any of us whenever they wanted to, and not even you would be able to stop them." She waited, expecting him to say something, but he was silent so she continued. "Elena said that they told her to tell you that if you try and go after them, or if we run away, they'll come back and kill us all. I think the only person they want is Elena. For some reason they don't seem bothered about you, even though you're a vampire."
Damon shook his head. "They're bluffing."

Meredith looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"They're just trying to scare us into staying here so that we're easy pickings. We have to move."

Meredith stared at him. "But that's crazy; if we leave they'll know and they'll find us, and we'll end up like Stefan!"

Damon's eyes flashed angrily. "You'd rather stay in this house and wait for them to come and find us here instead? Either we stay here and wait for them or we move and at least get a good chance at escaping them before they get to us."

Meredith still looked unsure. "But Elena—she can't move now, she's terrified!"

Damon looked her in the eyes. "She's stronger than she looks."

"Damon…" Meredith paused. "I don't know; it's too risky… And besides, where will we go?"

He shook his head again. "Wherever, it doesn't matter. But away from here. It's too exposed in this place; too easy for them to just drop in whenever they want. We need to be covered." He looked up at her. "It's this or waiting around for a slow death. Which would you prefer?"

Meredith glanced down at the floor for a few seconds and then back up to Damon. "All right then," she replied softly.

He nodded once. "Good. Then find the other two and tell them to get their stuff together. Make sure they only take what's necessary—I don't want the redhead taking her entire wardrobe." He inclined his head towards the living room door. "I'll make sure Elena's all right. I want everyone to be ready to go in five minutes."

"Five min—" Meredith started, but stopped when she saw the look on Damon's face. "Oh, fine, I'll make sure."

"You do that." He turned and walked into the living room, and Meredith sighed once again, heading into the kitchen to find Matt and Bonnie.

Damon was surprised to see Elena standing in the middle of the living room, rather than seated anxiously on the sofa like she had been previously, and not asleep as Meredith had said she was. She looked different too; livelier and more alert. He was glad to see it; it was a bit of the old Elena returning, slowly but surely. She looked up at him as he entered the room.

"So we're leaving?"

He did something he rarely did and blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I heard you and Meredith talking." She raised an eyebrow. "We're leaving then?"

He smiled slowly and nodded. "Yes, as soon as Meredith collects the children," he said, gesturing upstairs. He regarded her for a moment. "Are you ready?"

She looked straight back at him and nodded once. "Yes. I'm through being scared. It's hardly going to get me anywhere, is it? If we're going to have any chance of getting away from these guys, we have to run." She gave him a strange look. "You were right."

The smile on his face grew wider. "It's amazing how often that statement is true and yet people are always surprised."

She smiled; the first one he'd seen on her face since he arrived. He was somewhat relieved, but he said nothing. If Elena was suddenly feeling strong again, he didn't want to do or say anything that might upset the balance.

He noticed she had no bags with her, and added, "You might want to take a few things with you."

She frowned. "What for?"

He didn't answer her.

"This is it either way, right? If we get away from these guys, it means starting all over again somewhere else, and if we don't…" She stopped, hesitating for a moment, and then carried on. "If we don't, I won't need them, will I?"

Damon looked at her and then nodded. "You're right."

Elena took a deep breath, and then squared her shoulders. "Well, let's get going then."

She followed Damon into the hallway, where Meredith, Bonnie and Matt were coming down the stairs.

"I don't see why we only had five minutes; it's not like they're banging down the door right now, is it?" Bonnie grumbled as she dragged a couple of bags behind her. Matt was frowning.

"Bonnie, we have to get out of here quickly. The quicker the better. Damon and Meredith are right."

Meredith glanced up at Matt, surprised. It must have taken a lot for him to admit that Damon had been right about something, she thought to herself.

Bonnie was staring at Elena. "Elena—are you okay?" she asked nervously.

Elena nodded. "I'll be all right Bonnie. Don't worry about me; we just have to get away. Who knows when these guys will come back for us?"

Damon, meanwhile, was looking at the two medium-sized bags Bonnie had with her. "What do you have in those bags?" he asked sharply.

Bonnie looked up at him. "Just things I need, you know; clothes, toiletries, make-up, shoes…"

Damon looked her up and down quickly. "You seem to be wearing most of those things already."

Bonnie looked confused. "Well, yes, but we'll need enough clothes to keep us going; you know, warm things in case it gets cold and fancy things in case we go out somewhere—hey, what are you doing?!"

Damon had opened one of the bags and was rummaging around, throwing things out of it onto a heap on the floor. Elena raised an eyebrow, and Meredith hid a smile as he thrust a jumper, some jeans and underwear at the red headed girl. Bonnie looked from the clothes to the vampire, about to protest, but the glare he gave her silenced her immediately.
"We're leaving now," Damon clarified, turning to walk out of the front door without even pausing to offer to carry anyone's bags.

Meredith sighed, for what felt like the hundredth time, and followed him out along with the others.