Peachie X is still Beta. If you think she's not helping, you're living in La La Land (not an insult, I spend a fair amount of time there myself...)

The Fuming

Damon hadn't calmed down any, he was still fuming – about the girl he loved, about witches and about Isobel, who didn't seem to care who went into the Gilbert house.

His back was to all of them, his eyes closed as he tried to think of something to say or do now – something that would make Elena see the danger she was putting herself in trusting the Proctor witches. He couldn't believe she was using his own words against him – words he had spoken to get Katherine to let her do what she wanted. Yes, she had always survived her recklessness, but she survived because of him and now she was ignoring everything he said.

He knew it wasn't helping anyone – not her, not him. All his anger had done was ruin a few street signs. At least that had felt good.

He turned to look back at Isobel on the porch again, still not sure what he was going to do next.

She wasn't there.

It took a few seconds of concentration before he heard the fight. Isobel and the others – all of them. It took a few more seconds for the realization. He had left Elena alone, or in the hands of witches and baby brothers – which was probably worse.

He didn't hesitate any more. He went to her at top speed.

The Instinct

Jeremy sat on the bed, waiting for his sister to return. He had had enough of the hiding, the lies. She had said she would talk to him – tell him everything he wanted to know. She was telling him nothing. She didn't care that whatever hurt her could hurt him, or Jenna. She didn't care that he wanted to help.

Yes, she looked pretty messed up when she pulled herself off the bed and went to the bathroom with Bonnie and Sarah. She said she was going to get cleaned up. Fine, she would look better when he made her tell him the truth. Even if she wouldn't do it, Sarah had seemed to like him enough that she might tell him. The thought of the cute blonde that had come to visit Elena made him smile briefly, but he quickly returned to thinking about his sister. Somebody would tell him the truth, but it should be Elena. He would insist. He would threaten to go find whoever was after her himself - that had worked last time.

His eyes met those of his sister when he stood and spoke as she entered, followed by the others. He was speaking to the witches "Will you give me a minute with my sister?"

He felt a little hurt when he saw the expression on Elena's face. It looked like fear. All he wanted was for her to talk to him, all he wanted was for her to keep her promise to him..

He looked to her best friend at the same time as his sister turned to look at her. "Bonnie? Please. I just need a minute."

He saw Bonnie's eyes move from his to Elena and back. Then she nodded to him, pushed Sarah back into the bathroom and shut the door.

Elena stayed close to the door as she faced him. Jeremy decided to stay near the bed.

"Elena, what's going on? Who hurt you?"

His sister didn't answer him. He tried to read her expression as he spoke again.

"You said Damon's upset. Why? Because someone is trying to hurt you?"

Elena closed her eyes and took a step back, shaking her head.

"You accuse me of holding back from you. You said you would tell me anything about this stuff, Elena."

She was inches away from the bathroom door now. She did look at him again, but her uncomfortable expression was the same. "Please don't do this, Jer."

Jeremy took a step towards her. "Who, Elena? Or wha…" was all he managed to get out before the door to the hallway burst open behind him.

He turned around to see two people that he didn't know, a woman and a man, standing in the doorway. "That's her!" the woman said quickly. She began saying something softly he didn't understand.

It was instinct, not some conscious thought, that made him move between the door and his sister. His mind did not have time to register it as his sister yelled his name. It was too busy registering the sharp pain he felt. It was too busy blacking out.

The Concentration

It probably wasn't the right thing to do, but Bonnie was doing it. Sarah knew Elena might not approve, but she held her ear close to the door, just as the other witch was doing.

She couldn't really hear anything, not until she heard Elena's scream.

"Jeremy! No!"

Then she was stumbling as Bonnie was forcing the door open. She was able to quickly right herself and enter Elena's bedroom. The other witch was going to Elena who was sprawled on the floor behind the door.

Sarah's eyes moved to towards Jeremy and then the doorway. She saw a woman clearly, as well as part of another person. Her eyes remained on the woman. Sarah recognized the woman's stance and quickly pieced together what had happened. A witch's spell, meant for Elena, had hit Jeremy. Worse, the witch was starting to cast again.

She reacted automatically, beginning to chant. She stared at the witch in the doorway who had a sudden surprised expression. 'She wasn't expecting me.' Sarah thought to herself when the witch turned her head and took a few steps back.

Then she saw that Damon was in the hallway, growling. He was twisting the head of whoever was there with the witch. The witch must have sent a spell towards Damon, he was suddenly on his knees as she ran away.

Sarah let her spell go and started towards the door, almost tripping over Jeremy before she noticed him again. She glanced to the doorway again. Damon was struggling, trying to get up. He was alive.

She looked back at Jeremy. Breathing, but nothing else. She heard Elena call from behind her again, "Jer!", before the human girl stumbled again. Bonnie was speaking to her, saying something about a ring, trying to get her to be careful.

The blonde witch forced these things out of her mind. She put her hand on his shoulder and concentrated. She had been taught how to help a vampire recover from a witch's spell. It was years ago, but she had done it. Of course she had never tried it on a human, but this was Elena's brother.

She did have to remind herself that spells weren't dark. It was how they were used. When she was so much younger, she had used it to help the vampires that her family worked for recover from the spells of hostile witches. This was different, this would help Elena – if it worked.

She heard Bonnie speaking to Elena again.

"He's breathing, see? He has the ring, Elena. He'll be fine."

"What's she doing?"

No answer came, but Sarah was pushing the girls' voices out of her mind anyway. She had to concentrate. The last thing she noticed hearing was Elena calling the name of her vampire.

"Damon!"

The Difference

'Bonnie's right,' Elena told herself as she pulled away from her best friend. "Jeremy's breathing, he has the ring, he'll be fine."

She stumbled a little as she moved away from the witches. Bonnie didn't follow her – she was watching Sarah.

There was someone in the hall with Damon, not moving. She paid no attention to him, she just moved to the vampire she loved. She stopped just a little away from him. He was sitting, back against the wall.

"Damon?" She approached him hesitantly, recalling how upset he was earlier, that he didn't want her too close to him.

She was relieved when he looked at her, though she could tell he was stressed, angry.

"Damon. Are you OK?"

She wasn't sure why Damon did not respond immediately, but he did hold her eyes. His voice was hoarse when he finally spoke.

"I'll be fine – I just need a minute. Damn witch."

She made the connection then – he had been hit by a witch's spell again. She remembered the last time it happened and became frantic.

"Damon, are you sure? You were hit with a spell again. What can I do for…"

"Elena!" Damon said hoarsely.

She stopped, but hadn't calmed down. He looked like it took effort when he spoke to her again.

"It's not the same. This was just a jolt – not very long. Meant to stop me – no more. She didn't have time for more."

Elena understood. She knelt next to him, praying he would not push her away. He didn't.

"Just a little time? Is there nothing I can do?"

Damon's face did not soften, but she was glad his voice was returning to normal as he answered her.

"Isobel's fighting. Call Stefan – he needs to check on her."

Elena turned and sat next to him as she pulled her phone out. She tentatively reached for his hand with one of hers while she pushed buttons with the other, breathing a sigh of relief when he took it.

"Stefan? Please. I need you right now."

The Helping

Jenna was startled as she worked in the kitchen. She heard a door slam, a scream and a growl. Her mind was rushing before she could get her body to move.

When she could see the stairs, she saw a woman running down them.

"Hey!" she called as she approached the woman, but wasn't quick enough to catch her before she heard the door open and slam again.

She went to the door and opened it, stepping briefly into the darkness before stopping herself. As angered as she was about the violation of her home, she knew there were vampires out here, though she did not see any, and the woman she could see running down the street was not approached by any.

It took her a couple of minutes to decide what to do. By that time, the woman was long gone and anyone important to her was inside anyway.

She had to gasp at what she found at the top of the stairs. Someone was lying there not moving. Elena was cuddled up to Damon. He looked angry, she looked a different kind of upset.

Elena's hand held her phone as she pointed into her bedroom saying "check on Jeremy."

Her eyes didn't stay on Elena long before she followed the pointing phone into the bedroom. She ran inside as soon as she saw Jeremy lying there.

"Jeremy!" she called as soon as she felt Bonnie grab her arm, stopping her.

"Wait," the witch said. Jenna turned to look at her. "She's helping him."

Jenna was confused, but looked back. She hadn't really noticed Sarah there before. Jeremy was lying on his side, both of the blonde witch's hands were on his shoulder. She could tell he was breathing, eyes open, moving his arms and legs.

She turned back to Bonnie. "What happened? Is he alright?"

Bonnie had only nodded when she turned as she heard Sarah speak.

"Help him sit up."

She let the witches take hold of her nephew on either side and pull him into a sitting position. She knelt in front of him and pulled him into a hug. "Thank God."

Following

Isobel was holding her own. She was glad for that, though she knew she was able to do it was because there was another of Katherine's vampires with her, fighting the hostile vampire. It was a stalemate, at least the two of them were keeping him busy, away from Elena.

She had actually tried to pull herself away to return to the Gilbert house a couple times. Each time, she was set upon by the other vampire. They both needed to be there. At least it seemed they could keep the vampire busy until help came.

Her heart sank as she saw the vampire fighting beside her crumble. She had barely noticed when she found herself flung aside, hitting a fence.

It stunned her a little. She heard the conversation clearly as she pulled herself up.

"Where is she?" the vampire snarled.

A woman's voice, breathing hard, answered, "She wasn't alone. She was with a witch and another vampire."

Isobel had just pulled herself into a standing position when she heard the vampire's angry growl and saw him pointing at her.

"Take this one down. Let's finish these."

She knew then. The woman was a witch. She started moving as the witch turned to face her, but she hesitated, hearing Katherine's voice.

"Isobel?"

The witch and other vampire were gone immediately.

Isobel watched as Katherine whispered into the ear of one of the two vampires that had arrived with her. She saw him leave in the same direction the others had gone.

"One's a witch," Isobel managed to tell Katherine. "it's dangerous."

"He won't confront, just follow." Katherine said to her, moving to the nearest downed vampire. Isobel followed her lead, moving to the vampire that had been fighting next to her. He was down but was still alive.

Katherine joined her, shaking her head. "One gone, two down. Is Elena safe?"

"I left her at her house. The witch didn't have her. I hope that means she's safe."

"Go back." Katherine told her. "We'll take care of these and join you there shortly."

Elena's mother nodded and left Elena's downed protectors to Katherine.

Annoyed

Stefan arrived at the Gilbert house at the same time as Isobel. He was startled by the other vampire's appearance. She was dirty and unkempt.

"What happ…" he began.

"Check on Elena." Isobel interrupted, speaking sharply.

Stefan scowled. "She called me, told me to check on you."

The other vampire glared and spoke icily this time. "I'm alive. Make sure she is."

He was annoyed, but he had done as Elena asked. He turned and entered the house.

The Urgency

Elena thought she could actually feel Damon's stress, his anger as she held his hand. She had followed him up when he stood, he was still next to her holding her hand, but said very little to her.

She turned and looked at his face, hoping he would turn his eyes to her. "Please Damon. Tell me that you are all right."

Damon closed his eyes at first. She thought the worst, but then he reached behind her and pulled her to him. She was breathing a sigh of relief when he spoke softly.

"I said I would always be next to you, always be near to you. But I left you alone."

"You were upset."

She could tell he was trying to calm himself to speak to her. "I'm always upset when someone's after you. It was no excuse to leave you alone."

She thought the words – 'I wasn't alone'. It hadn't worked last time, so she kept them to herself.

"You came back, that was what I needed."

She felt his hand on the back of her head. She concentrated on it briefly before speaking again.

"Do you need blood? You did last time."

"It's not the same as last time," Damon repeated. "but yes. I'll get some at home when you have more help here."

"Maybe I should keep some here. You are protecting me, and you're not the only one." "Maybe,' she thought, 'I just want to keep him here with me. He shouldn't have to leave me when he's hurt'.

"I wouldn't ask that of you, Elena. Neither would Katherine's."

Elena heard Stefan's question from behind her. "Not ask you to keep what here?"

She turned herself around, but kept hold of one of Damon's arms so it would still be around her. She decided Stefan didn't need to know her thoughts, so she shook her head.

"Blood." Damon said flatly.

She saw Stefan grimace, then look into her bedroom.

"What happened? Who is that?"

Elena realized he must be asking about Sarah as Bonnie came through the door.

"How's Jeremy?" she asked the witch quickly.

"He's fine now."

"What happened?" Stefan asked again, continuing to look into the bedroom.

"Jeremy was hit by a spell." Bonnie answered. "We don't think it was meant to kill. Whatever it was, it was meant for Elena."

Elena saw Stefan turn toward her. She didn't want to meet his gaze, but did. She was glad when he turned back to the witch.

Instead of to Stefan, her best friend spoke to her. "Are you sure he's safe? He was ready to kill someone a few minutes ago."

"Yes," Elena said – irritated – before she could stop herself. She regretted saying it – she knew Bonnie had helped her.

"I got my kill," Damon replied harshly. "I just hope it's a witch."

She was still annoyed when Bonnie spoke again. "You know that you're only alive because witches were here. Without us, she would have taken you out and still gotten to Elena. Witches stopped her."

"And Jeremy," Elena added softly, though mostly to contradict the witch.

Maybe it was something in her tone when she said it , but Elena felt Damon turn her around a pull her into a hug – she willingly let him.

"I still hope it's a witch," She heard him say.

She turned back to look at Stefan as he spoke again. He was looking at the body as he asked. "Are you all right, Elena? Isobel is worried."

She had forgotten. She looked at him hopefully. "She's OK? Damon said she was fighting when he came in here."

Stefan nodded. "She looks like she was fighting, but she seems fine."

Elena let out a breath, relieved. Then she wondered if she had ever worried about Isobel before.

She thought Damon's voice sounded urgent when he spoke to his brother. "They're getting close to her." He nodded towards Elena, as she held onto his arm which was still wrapped around her shoulder. She turned back to look up at him as he spoke. "I need blood, but we need to go after them before they try again."

She didn't like hearing it, but didn't argue.

"Do we know who or where?" Stefan asked.

Damon started to glare at his brother. "We have a body, we have rings, we have a couple of witches. We'll figure it out."