Chapter eight

Stefan wasn't as drunk as he was pretending to be. He kept Damon's glass full as they played first pool then darts. He never understood how Damon could be falling down drunk and still beat him at darts. Of course Damon spent a good deal of his time drunk or fast getting there.

"I'm gonna ask her to marry me." Stefan said and winced as Damon's dart hit the board hard enough to embed all the way.

"I'm sure she'll say yes, so congratulations, Brother." Damon said, sincerely even though it tore at his insides to think of her marrying him.

"I know it might be asking too much under the circumstances but, if she says yes, will you be my best man? If it's too much just say so." Stefan said.

"Yeah, hell yeah. " Damon said grinning at him. "What? You think a little thing like being the better man for the job is gonna keep me from standing up for you?"

Stefan laughed a little. "Thank you." He said waiting for Damon to get his darts from the board before throwing his own. "I know we talked about the one she didn't choose leaving town. I'm glad you stuck around. "

"Yeah, me too. " he said and turned around to pick up his drink, wondering why Stefan was trying so hard to get him drunk. Something was definitely going on with little brother and he didn't think it had anything to do with asking Elena to marry him.

"So why is it you have never mentioned Alex before?" Stefan asked as he went to retrieve his darts.

"Ah so that is what this is about. You want to pump me for information about my girlfriend." Damon said shaking his head. "You can't have this one. " He said mostly teasing.

"I'm not interested in her that way. I've just… never seen you like this before. I don't want you to get hurt . "

"Are you feeling alright? Someone bounce you off your head? I know it wasn't me. Well not since you were a baby anyway, " Damon said stepping closer to his brother. "You never worry about me getting hurt. You worry about me hurting someone else. I'm always the bad guy in your head. So why don't you tell me what this is really about."

Stefan took a deep breath and opened his mouth to speak, but it wasn't his voice that carried the next words.

"I can tell you want he wants to know." It was Kol Michaelsen and both brothers sighed in frustration. "He wants to know about your new fang bunny." He said. "He wants to know if she sucks the marrow from the bones of the dead. They say that about necromancers you know. That they feast on the dead and that once she's had a taste you belong to her forever. Like a cocke spaniel. "

"Where did you get that from, the internet?" Damon scoffed and tossed his first dart to keep from doing what he really wanted to do. "I see you forgot your baseball bat."

"Damon." It was Stefan's don't start anything voice. Damon had forgotten how much that tone irritated him . It really irritated him. Almost as much as the sound of Kol breathing.

"They also say that the female of the species, it really is a species you know, is weak in power. No match for the real thing. " Kol said.

"Is this because you're mad that I did your sister?" Damon said tossing the last of his darts and turning to face Kol nose to nose and pressing in closer still. "twice."

Kol chuckled. " Rebecca's a whore. I hear that Ripper here had her first while Klaus watched. " Kol shrugged. " That's three now isn't it? Three women you've shared with your brother. Oh, that's why he's poking about asking questions about necromancers. " he looked to Stefan "Are you scoping out your brothers girl?" He laughed.

"What do you want Kol? " Stefan asked putting a hand on Damon's chest to keep him from lunging at Kol. They didn't need a public fight. There was only so far the truce with the counsel would go.

The original laughed "Not a thing. Just out to have a quiet drink. "

"Maybe you should go do that." Stefan told him

Damon grabbed his jacket and pushed past Kol, shoving the man out of the way. "Come on. I'm done here." He said heading for the parking lot and his car. If he didn't walk away now he was going to do something Stefan would regret.

Stefan followed. "He's just trying to push your buttons." He said catching up to his brother.

"Now why is it that everyone seems to think that's the time NOT to hit someone in the head? It's the perfect time to hit someone in the head."

"Even if it's what they want?"

"She's going to die you know." Kol called out.

Damon stopped and turned to face the other vampire. Why had the son of a bitch followed him out here? Why did he keep pushing buttons when he knew it wasn't going to end well?

"Walk away Kol." Stefan said and sighed as Damon was back in Kol's face in an instant. "And I might as well be talking to myself." he grumbled.

"What did you say?" Damon growled.

"I said your woman is weak and she is going to die." Kol said.

Damon didn't pause to think. He didn't consider the possible ramifications. He reached up with lightening quick reflexes and snapped Kol's neck. "That's what I thought you said." He turned to walk away looking up at the crow perched on the telephone wire and nodded to it. The crow took flight silently.

"I'll drive." Stefan said heading for the driver's side door.

Damon tossed him the keys and got into the passenger's side. He pulled out his cell phone and called Alexandra. "Damn it." He said when it went straight to voice mail . "Call me when you get this. It's important." He hung up and fidgeted while Stefan drove.

"She'll be alright." Stefan told his brother. "He's probably just yanking your chain."

"Why would he think that's a good plan? Has that ever ended well?" Damon hit redial and hung up when once more it went to voice mail.

Alexandra had been on the phone with her mother since she had returned home. Timon had spooked her, and more than that he had made her angry.

"He won't hurt you. I am sure he just doesn't want you interfering with whatever he has going on. Timon is melodramatic, he's Greek for pity's sake, but I don't believe for a moment he would risk my displeasure." Julianna Sauveterre told her daughter.

"You do realize the aristocracy lost the revolution right?" She asked stepping off of her porch into the yard. Something felt off. "It's entirely possible that people don't worry about your displeasure anymore."

"Did he or did he not tell you to send his affection." Julianna said.

"Yes, mo-" the phone dropped from her hand and clattered across the ground. Alex cried out as she was knocked to the ground and someone embedded his fangs in her shoulder.

The vampire rolled off of her "What-" He got out confused by his sudden weakness.

"That would be the Vervain, idiot." She said pulling a bone shaft the length of a stake from her coat pocket and plunged it into the nearly unconscious vampire's abdomen. She winced as her shoulder started to stiffen.

The crow cawed and dived at the second vampire, talons clawing at his eyes. The bird retreated and attacked again, and again.

Alexandra could see shadows moving in the distance. She pulled the ornately carved bone from her attacker. The blood that did not flow smoothly down the shaft seemed to be absorbed into its sleek surface.

She drew the blade across both palms, letting her blood drop to the ground. Boney hands reached up through the dirt and clawed at the legs of the undead as they approached. Hands from below and talons from above dropped the last two vampires to the ground and held them there.

"What the hell?" She asked looking up at the crow, knowing who it belonged to. "I'm alright." She told it. "I'm alright." She said again, sinking to the ground herself.

The Crow swooped in closer to her, head tilting to one direction then the other.

"I'm alright." She repeated a little breathlessly and rotated her shoulder, "Damn that hurts." She muttered.

The crow flew away as the car sped up the drive. Damon was out of the car and running to her side before Stefan had come to a complete stop. He looked her over and eased the coat off of her shoulder.

"It's just a bite, I'm fine." She said.

"This doesn't look fine." He told her both of them ignoring the sounds of her mother demanding that someone speak to her coming from the phone on the ground.

Stefan staked the vampires held down by the dead, trying to dodge the hands that groped blindly for him. Although once their prey was dead, they let go, and sank back into the earth.

"Not that one." Alex said as Damon helped her to her feet. "I have his blood. I want to question him… tomorrow." She said leaning against her lover as the exhaustion began to settle in.

"We can take him back to our place." Stefan said. "lock him in the basement."

"Easy." Damon said taking her over to the porch and easing her down on the steps. He grabbed up the cell phone from the ground. "Jules." He said worriedly.

The woman made a groaning sound. "Of course it's you. Put Alexandra on the phone."

"I have a question first. Do you know of any toxin that can be delivered by vampire bite to a necromancer?" He asked, looking at the wound that was starting to fester already.

"And why would I tell you that?"

"Because Sacha's been bitten. " Damon told her "And she doesn't look good. "

"I'm fine." Alexandra said in frustration, even as she leaned against porch post.

"Is the vampire that bit her available to you. " Julianna asked.

"Yeah. He's vervained. "Damon said motioning for Stefan to go to the unconscious vampire. "What do you need?" He asked.

"Look at its mouth, be careful not be bitten or to get its blood on you just in case. I cannot believe she is back with you. " Julianna said. "You are trouble on two legs."

"Stefan, look in that guys mouth and tell me what you see. Don't get anything on you or punctured." Damon told him, rolling his eyes at Julianna. "Don't hold back, MOM. Tell me how you really feel."

Alexandra laughed a little at that.

"His gums are black and his fangs haven't retracted even though he's unconscious." Stefan said stepping back.

Julianna swore in archaic French. "Have there been any sudden brief storms lately?" she asked.

"What? Yes, this afternoon. It lasted maybe 10 minutes, what does that have to do with anything?" Damon asked, pressing his hand to Alexandra's forehead. "She's burning up. What do I do?"

"Don't give her your blood to heal her. It will kill her. The poison is tied in with vampire blood. It was created by a witch, and the vampire who bit her would have had to transition on human blood that was infected. The creature has to be destroyed and the corpse burned, and it has to be done nowhere near where she is going to frequent. " Julianna said. "Now listen to me carefully. Do you know where she keeps her supplies?"

"Yes." Damon motioned for Stefan to come closer. "Stay with Alex," He said and ran toward the mausoleum. "Okay I'm there what do I need?"

Julianna gave him a list of ingredients. "Alright, you've worked with her before. Please tell me she taught you the basics when you were first in service to her."

"Yeah, yeah I know how to mix things. Just tell me what to do and I'll do it."

Bonnie was actually enjoying herself. Things were looking up for the first time in months. She was finally able to relax around Caroline and feel like she was a normal girl. The chocolate overload the girls had brought over helped as well.

She was surprised when her cell phone rang that late. She looked at the number and forced a smile. "Jamie, Hi. " She said, "I'll be right back." She told Elena and Caroline and went out the back door to be out of the range of vampiric hearing.

"Is it done?" Tyler's voice asked.

"I don't know. I haven't heard anything." She answered. "You can't just call me. Elena and Caroline are here, what if they heard your voice?"

"Caroline is there with you?" Klaus asked and Bonnie could hear the smile in his voice.

"You can't be thinking about her that way. She'll never believe that you are Tyler, and trust me, neither of us will ever win her back if she finds out who you really are."

"Let me worry about that, Sweetheart." Klaus said. "First we make sure the necromancers are dealt with."

"I'll call you when I hear anything." Bonnie said. She ended the call and went back inside, again forcing the smile. Leave it to Klaus to ruin a perfectly good night.

There was a knock at the door and she looked to the girls incredulously. "I am popular tonight." She said and opened the door to see Matt and Jeremy standing there.

"We're not too late are we?" Jeremy asked as they came inside. He hugged Bonnie close. "I'm sorry about tomorrow night." He said.

"That's okay, you're here now." She told him.

"Caroline said it was a chocolate theme. So I brought chocolate vodka. I've never had it. Heard it's good though." Matt said.

"Well aren't you just the man who thinks of everything." Caroline said smiling at her former boyfriend.

Damon hurried back to the house. "Here, stuff these in their mouths. Kill that one too. He could be infectious." He told his brother, handing over 4 bundles of several herbs. "Hey, babe, come on, I need you to wake up and drink this." He told her setting the cell phone aside and pulling her gently into his arms so that he could help her drink. "Come on, it's your mother's recipe, it can't be all bad" he said pouring it down her throat. "That's my girl."

He picked up the cell phone again. "I've got it down her. How long before it takes effect?" he asked worriedly.

"Soon." Julianna said, and he could hear that she was pacing.

"I'm going to take her inside." He said to both her and Stefan. Damon gently lifted his lover into his arms and carried her inside. Kol had told him, knowing he'd be too late to stop the attack. Probably figured he'd give her blood to heal and ultimately kill her. It had been stupid blind luck that she had been on the phone to her mother at the time. Nothing but luck had saved her.

He laid her on the bed and began to remove her clothing, throwing the blood stained shirt and coat into the fireplace. He put her in comfortable pajamas with narrow straps so that he could watch the wound. It wasn't healing but the discoloration faded.

He described what was happening to Julianna. "This should be healing. The house is built over an old cemetery. "

"The antidote seems to be working though. Does she seem in pain?"

"No, she's sleeping now." He said.

"Good. Call me if she worsens, have her call me if she wakes. I don't care the time. Don't make me come up there to check on her myself."

Damon laughed tiredly. "Don't worry, I will do whatever it takes to keep you out of Mystic Falls." He told her in complete honesty and ended the call. He covered Alexandra and walked back to the front door. "Sorry man, she's out cold and I can't invite you in." he said stepping out onto the porch and taking a seat.

"That's okay. I got the bodies bundled up and in the trunk. I'll take care of disposing of them." Stefan said as he joined his brother on the porch.

"Leave one for me." Damon said darkly.

"How is she?"

"She's recovering but she's not healing." Damon said. "This place is built over the old Fell's Church cemetery. She should be getting better. "

"What about you, can't she draw from you?" Stefan asked. "She drew energy from Caroline."

He shook his head and explained that he was taking something she had put together so that she didn't leech from him every time they touched.

"I'm not." Stefan offered.

"When the poison is clear, we'll give it a shot. Julianna said not to give her blood it would make the poison worse. I'd rather not risk it keying in on our energy too."

Stefan nodded. "You think it was the Originals."

"I don't believe in coincidence, and who else do we know with access to very powerful witches?"

Stefan again nodded. "Okay. I'll go get someone to keep an eye on Alex and we'll take care of it. "

"Okay." Damon said going back inside to lie down beside her while he waited. He stroked her hair, watching the wound, willing it to close and fade to just another faint scar.

He looked up hearing the car in the drive some time later. He got out of bed and adjusted the covers again.

"Hello?" It was Meredith Fell. How strangely appropriate.

"Come on in." He said walking out to meet her. "Alex is in the bedroom." Damon ran a hand through his dark hair. "Call me if anything changes. I won't be too long." He said

"Take as long as you need. I'll see what I can do while you're gone." Meredith told him. Her license had been the one thing Elijah had not been able to fix. But she was fighting it. As long as the council wasn't fighting as well she should be able to get it cleared up. In the meantime this was something she could do. Someone she could help.

"Thank you." He said pulling on his jacket and going out to meet his brother.

The first thing Elijah noticed was the loud thunk on the front door. Then came the stench of burning flesh. He pulled the door open and backed away from the intense heat, nearly gagging at the strange smell underneath it all.

Damon stood in the driveway, waiting. "Just returning your property. " He called out to the older man. "She has no part of our feud. You never should have touched her."

Elijah strode forward and struck Damon across the face, sending him flying. "I have touched no one."

"No, you sent your plague rat to do it for you." Stefan said and the brothers instantly began to work in concert against Elijah. Two against one was nowhere near fair odds, Elijah was a thousand years old. He was no easy mark, and if he was in earnest he could destroy them without half trying, but they had bested him before, and that overconfidence coupled with Damon's rage fueled them.

Stefan dodged a blow, ducking around and behind, bringing a knife up under Elijah's rib cage, his other arm wrapping around the man's neck.

Damon stepped closer, plunging the white oak stake into his stomach, intentionally missing his heart. "It's just that easy." He hissed. "You don't touch my family, you don't touch my woman or my friends. "

"I don't know what you are talking about." Elijah said and groaned as Stefan twisted the knife. "You have my word."

"Your word?" Damon scoffed. "Right, whatever." He nodded to Stefan and they removed their weapons at the same time. The brothers were gone.