Chapter 5: Werewolves.
Darwin was afraid of the dark, which had to be rare for a vampire. His hearing and sense of smell were more than excellent, but his night-vision had for some reason never been all that good. Maybe because he had been half blind as a human.
They walked through the woods and could make out the shapes of the Salvatore brothers ahead of him with Tyler Lockwood between them. He could smell the young werewolf clearly and the smell was absolutely revolting. He was beginning to regret coming along. He hadn't known it meant he had to walk through the forest in almost complete darkness.
They finally came to a clearing and stopped. Ahead of them was an RV parked and two people were standing beside it, illuminated by the light from the open door. One of them was a man with cropped hair and the other was a female werewolf. Probably that Jules.
Darwin looked around, trying to see through the darkness. The smell of wolf was now so strong that he almost gagged. There had to be more of them hiding in the shadows. Maybe even a lot more. Even the Salvatore brothers - unused to werewolves as they were - had to smell it.
"Where's Caroline? "Stefan asked, and the woman inclined her head toward the RV.
"She's inside. Give us Tyler."
"Give us Caroline, "Damon demanded.
"You don't want to fight us."
"It's not a full moon. You're no match for us. We can take you, "Damon stated, sounding more confident than Darwin thought he should.
"I'm not so sure of that, "Jules said calmly and then she whistled.
Finally, Darwin could see them. They were showing up all around them. Wolves. Oe of them were carrying a flame thrower, another one a crossbow. There had to be at least ten and he and the Salvatore brothers were surrounded.
Darwin wasn't particularly afraid of them. Quite frankly, he was more afraid of the dark. He had never actually fought a werewolf before, but he knew they weren't as strong in their human form, though they still had a nasty bite.
"Give us Tyler, "Jules repeated.
Damon gave the wolf-boy a push forward. "Go ahead."
Tyler looked quickly back at Stefan, then slowly went over to the wolves and disappeared into the RV.
"Which one of you killed Mason? "she asked.
There was a short silence, then Damon held up a hand. "That would be me."
The male werewolf with the cropped hair pointed a gun at him. "Boys, make sure that one suffers."
And then they started closing in on them.
Damon went directly for Jules, but she jumped up on the RV and out of his reach. Stefan quickly had the wolf with the flame thrower in a headlock, setting a couple other wolves on fire.
Darwin considered his options for a few seconds, then decided that his objective had to be saving Caroline. He didn't kill and he didn't know how to fight. In that the Salvatore brothers were on their own.
He dodged a swing from a wolf, and ran to the RV. The werewolf pointed his gun at Darwin now instead of Damon and shot him in the chest.
Once.
Twice.
And then two times at point blank, but it didn't even slow the vampire down. In fact, Darwin hardly flinched at all. He grabbed the gun from the wolf's hand and hit him over the head with it, making him crumble like a piece of paper.
For a second, Darwin thought he might have used too much force and kneeled down to feel for a pulse. Luckily, as it turned out, the man was just knocked out.
As he entered the RV he felt a crossbow bolt hit him between the shoulder blades, penetrating skin and flesh painfully. He hissed, but couldn't quite reach the bolt, so he decided to leave it for now.
Darwin found Tyler sitting passively on the floor right beside the door, looking confused and scared half to death. He heard a woman sobbing and - ignoring the young wolf - he went to the steel bars at the other end of the RV. He didn't bother with the lock mechanism, but grabbed the bars and pulled. The door came right off with a shrill sound and he threw it aside.
The pretty, blonde girl trapped inside looked up at him, her face streaked with blood and tears. "Who are you?"
"Darwin, "he reached out a hand and she grabbed it like a lifeline, her nails digging into his skin as he pulled her to her feet.
"Excuse me, but could you help me with this?" He asked politely and turned around. Her hands gripped the bolt in his back almost desperately and pulled. He made a face when it came out, but didn't make a sound.
"Come on, Caroline." Darwin took her hand again and pulled her along, but hey had only just exited the RV, when he felt a horrible pain stabbing through his scull; like a hundred nails - or a porcupine from Hell - being hammered into his brain. He heard cries of pain all around him and let go of Caroline's hand as fell to his knees, holding his head.
'You heartless Gods, 'he thought wildly. 'This almost hurts more than hearing Niklaus sing 'Lady Greenleeves!'
"What's happining?" Caroline put a gentle hand on his back.
"Elijah made a promise to Elena that no harm would come to you. I am here to see to it that the promise is upheld." The voice sounded distorded through the pain in his head.
"Not Darwin, he's with us, "he thought it was Stefan's voice, but he wasn't sure."He is not part of the deal."
"Please ..., "that was definitely Caroline.
As suddenly as it had come, the pain disappeared. He sighed in relief and let go of his head. He looked up and saw the wolves lying spread out all over the clearing - all either unconscious or dead - and a Warlock stood in the middle of the dramatic scene with his hands held up at his sides.
"You need to leave, "he told them darkly.
(Break)
"That was the last one." Damon dropped he wooden bullet into the sink and Darwin looked down at his chest. The wounds were rapidly closing now.
"Thanks, "he said and moved over to turn on the shower, while Damon rinsed the blood off his hands.
"No problem." Damon walked out of the bathroom and went downstairs. He had only just turned on the TV in the parlour, when he heard the doorbell. He glanced at the clock. 9.30.
He went into the hall and opened the door. Then immediately regretted it when he saw that it was John Gilbert.
"I was here at 8 and no one was here." John walked past him into the hall without waiting for an invitation.
"We had a situation, "Damon said, but didn't elaborate.
They went into the parlour and John looked around. "Where's your brother?"
"He took Caroline home, "Damon answered impatiently. "So, what is it that you have to show me?"
"You know, personal feelings aside; I believe that you and Stefan will do anything you can to keep Elena safe, "John announced a bit too dramatically for Damon's taste. "Therefore, I bring you this."
He put something wrapped in fabric on the desk and opened it. It was a dagger and a small vial of some kind of powder. He held up the dagger and Damon took a couple of steps towards him. "What is that?"
"This is how you kill an Original, "John explained. "The vial contains ash from a white oak tree that dates back to the genesis of the originals. The dagger must be dipped into the ash and then plunged into their heart."
"And how do you know this? "Damon asked, feeling unconvinced.
"Isobel. She did some research. She's good at finding out things."
"Yes, I know, "Damon said, drily. "The question is; Can I trust you?"
"As much as I can trust you, "John held his eyes for a minute, then turned most abruptly and left.
"Not very much then, "Damon commented to no one, picking up the dagger and examining it. It had a slender blade, reminding him most of all of an icepick. If only there was some way, he could know for sure ...
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs and he quickly wrapped the fabric back around dagger and vial. Then he opened one of the desk drawers and put them away.
(Break)
It was almost 10 when Stefan returned to the Boarding House. There'd been something in the look on Caroline's face when he'd dropped her off that he didn't like . She had looked absolutely broken. So he'd picked up Elena and Bonnie and brought them to her house to spend the night with her. At least he knew that she wasn't alone now.
He went into the parlour and found Damon sitting on a couch, watching the late news on tv. Darwin was sitting right next to him, sleeping with his mouth half open and his head resting on Damon's shoulder. For some reason, Damon hadn't pushed him away.
"Cosy, "Stefan remarked.
"Yeah, "Damon agreed in his usual sarcastic tone. "I'm taking a couple of minutes to pretend I'm a Family Man."
"Why?"
"I'm afraid if I wake him, he'll start talking about Eco-feminism again ... " The news ended and Damon grabbed the remote, starting to flip channels irritably. "I'm not carrying him upstairs, though, "he added, darkly.
Then the doorbell rang.
"That would be Andie, "Damon said and Stefan frowned.
"Who's Andie?"
"Andie Star, the news lady, we met at the Grill. I called Jenna and got her phone number," he waved Stefan away like a king making a royal demand. "Go let her in."
Stefan sighed, already knowing that this was going to be a long night.