**Chapter sixty two**

The final battle

*Hailey*

I felt something rough like sandpaper lick my face, and opened my eyes to see Ellie's face an inch from mine. she meowed happily, and then purred. Rubbed her face against mine, and I laughed hoarsely and scratched her behind her ears. I slowly pushed myself into a sitting position, my entire body sore. I was in my bed, the familiar scent of Damon mixed with my scent was all over the blankets, sheets, and pillows.

I looked around our room to see Damon standing in front of the bed, his back to me. I could tell by his stance that something was wrong. I got out of our bed, and walked to him, my body aching.

"Damon?" I asked gently, reaching out to touch him.

He whirled around before my hand could come in contact with his shoulder. I saw how tired he looked, how empty his blue eyes were. Damon didn't say anything as he pulled me into his arms, holding me tight against him. I buried my face into his chest, remembering with a sharp jab in my heart, how it felt when I thought that I lost him.

But then Damon pulled away from me, and broodily left the room. I frowned, and followed him out like a lost puppy. We were alone in the boarding house and I followed Damon down to the living room. When I got down the stairs, he was staring into the fire, a bottle of scotch in his hand.

"What's wrong, Damon?" I asked as I shivered slightly and walked closer to the fire.

He didn't answer, and I walked closer to him. I was starting to get worried. "You almost died," he blurted out finally. Damon took a long sip from his bottle. He had this empty, hollow, un-Damon-like look on his face that I didn't like at all.

Damon turned and looked sharply at me. "And what is that? Like the twentieth time? It seems like every other day, your life is on the line and I can never stop it!" he threw his bottle into the fire with a smash, and the fire grew wildly.

"Damon!" I exclaimed, a little frightened. I went to grab him, but he pulled out of my reach.

"I could've ended it too. I was so close to killing Markus, and then I found out that you were hurt, and I just-" he cut himself off, and stared up at him with concern.

"I let my feelings get in the way- I let my humanity get in the way. That's not good, Hailey. It's going to get everyone killed," he muttered, turning his back to me again.

I went to hug Damon. he pulled away, but I ignored it and pulled him to me. he didn't return my hug, but I just rested my head in his shoulder. "If it weren't for you Damon, I'd be very dead right now- you have saved me from dying, more than I've ever saved myself. I never really knew this inhuman Damon who didn't feel, but I hear that he was a real dick, so I don't miss him at all. We'll kill Markus sooner or later, and I'll even let you do the honors." I smiled into his shirt.

Damon sighed, and finally wrapped his arms around me. he rested his chin on top of my head, and I closed my eyes in contentment.

"I'm still a dick," he mumbled into my hair.

"Yeah, but instead of being a soulless dick, you're just a dick now- that's an improvement," I mumbled back into his shirt.

Damon chuckled, before removing his head so that he could kiss me. it started out slow and soft, but almost immediately gained passion and heat. I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around his neck. I let all of my fear over losing Damon wash away, as the kissing started to turn rough and lustful. I let him push me down onto the couch, and sighed in pleasure as Damon literally ripped my clothes off of me. my body was already sore, but I needed sex with Damon, and he needed it just as much as I did.

~LMF~

I woke up to sunlight streaming onto my face. I groaned softly and shut my eyes again tightly. My head was on Damon's chest, and I felt his arms tighten around my waist when he realized that I was awake.

"I love you," he told me simply, pushing my messy hair out of my face.

I smiled slightly, and opened my eyes. both of us were completely naked. I sat up in our bed, and kissed Damon softly. I knew why he was telling me this randomly- I thought that he was dead for five minutes, the longest and most painful five minutes of my life. I didn't want him to die without him knowing how much I loved him.

"I guess I love you too," I smirked slightly.

Damon rolled his eyes playfully at me, before pulling me into another kiss. Suddenly, white-hot pain filed up my head, familiar white-hot pain. I gasped out and pulled away from Damon. he instantly knew what was happening as I clutched my head. He held me and waited impatiently for my vision to be over. It was quick, just flashes. Being on vervain for a couple of days had messed up my visions.

I saw the cemetery. It was night time, maybe midnight, or so. It was slightly foggy. There were vampires fighting, tomb vampires. The cemetery must've been their first choice for a battlefield. I caught glimpses of Damon, Stefan, Julia, and Zane. I even saw a flash of bright green eyes, shut tight in pain. But it only lasted half a second.

I gasped and blinked slowly. It was over. I looked up into familiar blue eyes, and rubbed my temples, as the pain slowly receded. "It's happening tonight," I stated, closing my eyes.

"What is?"

"The final battle, or whatever you want to call it," I answered, opening my eyes again.

"Where?" Damon asked, a serious frown on his lips.

"The cemetery- of course. The tomb vamps must think that it's dramatic. I think that it's cheesy. I think around midnight, eleven thirty maybe. It's going to be foggy." I sighed and stretched my arms.

"Did you happen to see who wins?" Damon asked, tense.

It was at that moment that it actually occurred to me, that this was life or death, that my friends and I might be dying tonight. I gulped slightly, hoping that Damon didn't notice my sudden fear. "The vervain messed with my visions- it was all blurry and in bits and pieces. We have more hope now though. Their numbers are low, it's more of a fair fight."

Damon nodded, as I got out of bed and slipped on his shirt. Damon got out of bed too, and he walked towards his bathroom, completely naked. I openly checked him out, and he smirked at me. "Come on, show time," he told me, pulling me towards the bathroom with him.

I giggled slightly. "Then we should probably go alert the rest of the power rangers that we have to go kick some tomb vampire ass," Damon continued.

I let him pull me into the bathroom, and Damon unbuttoned his shirt on me. "You're going to lock me in a closet tonight, aren't you?" I asked.

"I would, but you would just break the door down with your super powers before I could even barricade you in," he told me, letting his shirt slide off of my bare shoulders.

I smirked, as Damon's lips latched onto mine. he knew me too well.

~LMF~

I was in Elena's bedroom, pacing. My nerves were getting the best of me, as I thought about losing my friends tonight- about losing Damon. Elena came out of the bathroom, looking as if she had just vomited. I wasn't the only one with nerves. "You nervous, Hailey?" she asked.

"Nervous? I don't do nervous, Elena," I dismissed, hoping that the lie reached my eyes.

Elena gave me a look that made it clear that she thought I was full of shit. I felt a pang in my chest as I watched my best friend pull her hair up into a pony tail- she was the weakest out of all of us, the most vulnerable. I couldn't let her get hurt, get killed, tonight. I'd rather have my heart ripped out.

Suddenly Damon's words came back to me, about how he wanted to lock me in a closet so that I wouldn't have to fight. I bite my lip as a plan formed in my mind. "Hey Elena, can you go get me the brush?" I asked her.

Elena rolled her eyes at my laziness, but went back into the bathroom, unsuspecting. With a wave of my hand, both door slammed shut. "Hailey!" Elena shouted, trying to get the door open, but it was pointless.

I can't let you fight Elena, I'm sorry," I sighed, as I barricaded both bathroom doors.

"How can you expect me just to sit here while the people I love might be dying?" Elena asked fiercely.

"It'll be much easier to fight without having to worry about the human, Elena," I told her honestly, before leaving her room.

Damon and Stefan were in the kitchen and didn't seem surprised when I walked down the stairs without Elena. "You locked her in her bathroom?" Stefan asked, amused.

"Please, if I didn't you would've," I dismissed as Damon smirked at me.

"I was going to," Stefan admitted, as I shrugged my jacket on.

I smirked at him as I checked the time. Quarter to eleven. We had to go meet Zane and Julia at the cemetery. "Shall we?" Damon asked, opening the door for me.

I sighed. "As ready as I'll ever be," I mumbled, walking out the door. I pretended that I was fine, that I wasn't scared.

I'm not nearly as good at pretending as I think I am.

~LMF~

I was crouching behind a giant angel with Damon, as the fog floated around our ankles. It was all very horror movie-ish. "Are your spidey senses tingling yet?" Damon whispered.

I rolled my eyes at him. "They should be here soon," I whispered back, my hand finding his.

Suddenly, nausea rolled through me, but I sort of expected it. "They're here!" I announced bluntly, not only to Damon, but to the three vampires around us.

I jumped up from behind the angel, and sent a vampire flying before he could attack. It was hard to see through the fog, but I counted around twenty vampires, which I was semi-confident that we could take.

I retreated to the edge of the forest- which Damon and I had compromised to- and I watched him disappear in the fog. I spotted Stefan fighting a vampire, and held her still for him. that was my job- to hold vampires still and allow the others to kill them.

Soon I was alone and I just heard the fight, I couldn't see anything. It drove me crazy, not knowing what was happening. Suddenly, I felt a hand around my neck and a familiar voice whispered into my ear, "I told you that I'd be the one to kill you."

Candace bit into my neck, and I screamed out in pain. My eyes closed shut as I struggled to get away. Suddenly, Candace was off of me, and I turned around in time to see Julia rip her head off.

I smiled morbidly at her in thanks. Julia saluted me before disappearing into the fight. I walked away from Candace's head and back into the fight, just in time to see Stefan and Damon take on Markus. Most of the other vampires were dead, and Julia and Zane were taking care of the leftovers. But Markus was still alive and kicking, and too much for the brothers.

I moved to help them, but suddenly Markus froze, a hole forming in his chest. he fell to the ground, and Nicolai stood behind him, holding his heart.

Nicolai looked directly at me and I saw the sadness in his eyes. I moved over to Damon to keep him from attacking. "I'm not going to attack," he told us, dropping Markus' heart.

"I'm leaving town," he continued. "I just thought that you all should know that there was a woman Markus was taking orders from. I never met her- only Markus had. I only know that she was from 1864, and that she wants Hailey and Elena dead."

No one said anything, but I found Damon's' hand. It was over- finally, it was over.

Nicolai looked one last time at me, before disappearing into the fog. That was the last time I ever saw him.

~LMF~

A/N: two more left! I'm going to try to update again tonight. I have surprises for you guys, but I can't tell you until this story's over ;)

Thank you to: Kelsey, Rejected-Starr, SomebodyWhoCares, and jacquline for reviewing!

Reviews are appreciated!

~Abby :)