The Call

"What happened Isobel?" Stefan was pretty much yelling into the phone.

"You don't need to know that. You just need to come here right now."

"If you or Katherine put her in danger…"

Isobel cut him off. "You put her in danger every day. How often has she been caught between you and someone or something who is trying to get to you? Now get down here and help us keep her safe."

Isobel hung up. She looked over the house. At least a front and back door. She looked for a vantage point where she could see both and she found it. She went to a nearby hill, sat down and stared at the house wondering how she could bring it down by sunset.

The Cards

Damon had been running inside a shallow stream trying to minimize the trail he was leaving behind. He knew it might not work for long, or at all, but it was something he could do.

Elena was still not moving, but she was still breathing. He moved to the bank of the stream and carefully laid her down. The cuts were still bleeding a little, but did not look serious.

He ignored the draw of the blood and removed his shirt, tearing it into several strips. He wet one strip and cleaned up as much of the blood as he could before tying two dry strips around her arm to cover the cuts there. Her head was still bleeding as well. He was dabbing the wound with the wet strip when Elena opened her eyes.

"Damon?" was all she could muster at first. Then feeling a throbbing in her head, she moved her palm up to rub it and felt the blood.

"What happened?" she asked as he pulled her hand away and continue dabbing at the wound.

"What do you remember?" Damon asked, deciding it was a clean as it was to get. He took the remaining strips, made a pad out of one, placed it over the wound and tied it in place with the other.

"Standing in the light, something about rumors, vampire jumping at us," Elena said.

"That's about right. Can you sit up?" he asked, offering his hand.

"Don't know," she said, trying to push herself up with her hands, ignoring his. After a second she shook her head.

"Let me help," he said, his had still extended.

She accepted and he pulled her into a sitting position.

"I'm sorry about the blood," Elena said. "Was it hard for you?"

Damon nodded.

"Where did I get these cuts?"

"You….we went through a window to escape."

She nodded. "Isobel?"

"She followed us through the window."

"But now – where is she now?"

"She's back at the house."

Elena was stunned. "No! Why?"

"She's in the sunlight. She wants to make sure no one follows us."

"How could they, we didn't give them the ring."

"We lost the ring. We think it was dropped inside."

Elena shook her head. "You mean you think I dropped it inside. How could I have been so stupid."

"Elena, it wasn't your fault. I had to get you out of there immediately, and it was a messy exit. Live first, clean up the mess later."

"What will Katherine do when she knows I've lost her ring?"

"Let's just live long enough to find out. Can you stand?"

Elena held out her hand. Damon took it and slowly pulled her up. She hung on him for a minute but then regained enough strength to stand up on her own.

"I think so, she said," she said. "Getting stronger."

"Good. We need to go."

Elena held her hand up. "Just give me a minute." Then she realized what had happened.

"Damon, you saved me. Thank you."

"Just trying to even the score."

Elena shook her head. "No, it's not that simple. Thank you for being there when I needed you."

Damond wanted to get moving again. "You're welcome. Let's get going."

"Not yet. I owe you an explanation. You told me how you feel, it's my turn."

"Now? Elena, this is not the time."

"Yes it is," she said. "Just give me a couple of minutes, I need to say some things I don't know if I'll be able to say later. OK?"

She looked at him earnestly. After a brief hesitation, he nodded.

She exhaled. "This is hard. I know you have feelings for me. You've told me so. And if I haven't told you before now, I have feelings for you. I have for some time. And I want to explore what we have, what we could have. I just can't do it right now. There's still too much to figure out with Stefan. There too much else going on right now like with Katherine."

She paused briefly to try to read his expression. She couldn't, so she forged on. "I know I have no right to ask this of you, that it is more that could be expected from anyone. But please, I need to know that you will continue to help me. I need to know that I can count on you when I need to. I need to know that your feelings for me will not change while I work this out. Damon, I need some time and I need to know that that will not affect us."

Damon suddenly felt a rush of adrenalin – or maybe it was anger. He picked her up and prepared to run, but before doing it, he spoke.

"Elena, you can count on my help. That won't change. But my feelings for you? How can they not change? They will change because of what you do."

Then Damon started running.

Elena felt some relief at finally having just told him. But now she had one more worry – would she be able to choose before it was too late?

She put her arm around his neck, leaned her head against his shoulder, and let him carry her farther away from the farmhouse.

The Cavalry

Stefan arrived slightly more than an hour after the phone call. Isobel was impressed. Damon said it had taken nearly two hours for his car to make the trip, but he was in no hurry.

"Where is she?" Stefan asked immediately.

"I don't know. I just know that she is with Damon."

"How could you not know?"

"Stefan! We need to make sure no one is following them."

"From here?" Stefan asked as he glanced around the house, noting the damaged car and the broken glass.

"Yes."

"Have you seen anyone come out?"

"No, but we think one of them might have a ring for protection from the sun. I've been watching and I've seen no one come out."

"And does this house have an escape tunnel?"

Isobel did not understand. "A what?"

"A lot of old houses like this had an escape tunnel. They could have been used for a number of things when built, but vampires used them to come and go unseen by anyone around. I've lived in a few houses with them over the years. The tunnel would be from somewhere in the house to, say, someplace like those trees." Stefan pointed at the trees.

"I didn't know."

"Damon didn't mention this to you?"

"No, but he was busy trying to keep Elena alive. We both were. Would you go see if you can find one in those trees?

He left. He quickly called for Isobel to go to him.

"Here it is, and someone has left it recently. "

"I see," Isobel said.

"I'll go after them."

"No!" Isobel said quickly. "I'll go after them."

"But if they're after Elena…"

"Stefan," Isobel argued, "You're not strong enough. Your diet – without human blood you wouldn't be able to protect her as well as me. You wouldn't be as fast as me. I'll find them. You stay here and find a way to burn this place to the ground."

"Burn? But what if people live here?"

"The only ones in that house are vampires that want to eat Elena. Find a way to get rid of them by sunset. And if Katherine comes, have her call me. I can use the GPS in my phone to let her know where I am."

Without further comment, Isobel began to follow the trail of the vampire who had left the house.

"Katherine?" Stefan was left wondering as he turned back to the farmhouse.