"Why doesn't she wake up?"

"How should I know?"

"This isn't normal."

"Relax, her heart sounds just fine."

"But then why wont she wake? I'm gonna give her some more."

"Suit yourself, but make it quick we need to meet the others."

Kirya could hear the voices. She was sure she should know who was talking, but the names seemed to escape her everytime she almost had them. She couldn't open her eyes, no matter how hard she tried.
Something was pressed against her mouth, dripping some liquid. Her body acted automatically and swallowed the blood. She could feel it enter her system and strengthen her immediately. And suddenly she remembered the name; Damon. But she still couldn't move, and couldn't open her eyes. Damn!

He moved, and she felt him stroke her hair gently. And then, to her complete surprise, he kissed her on the forehead, before leaving the room.

Did he just kiss me? Really?

It was such a gentle act, nothing she would associate with Damon. But even though she wanted to stay awake, her mind started drifting, and then she slept again.

The next time her thoughts surfaced, she heard someone yelling, and something smashing.

She blacked out again, but she was pretty sure it had only been for a few minutes.

Still it was weird how everything was so quiet. She opened her eyes. The room was empty, the door closed. She slowly sat up in the bed. She actually felt good, all things considered. She looked around. She'd never been in here before.

So this is what Damon's bedroom looks like.

It was actually kind of cozy in a way. Not very big, the kingsized bed taking up most of the room. On a table by the window was a couple of books, left open, and of course a bottle of scotch. Eww.

Lining the walls, was shelfs stacked with books and a few small statues. Her stomach started making noises, and she sighed, getting to her feet. She had to face him sooner or later. She stopped short by the mirror.

She was paler than usual and her hair was a tangled mess. But what made her gasp was her neck. A large white scar was now covering her right side of her neck and shoulder. It looked like some wild animal had been chewing at her. She could feel tears sting in the corner of eye as violent pictures started flashing past her eyes in glimpses.

"Fuck," she breathed, as she had to steady herself to against the wall.

It took a while, but finally she got herself under control, and resolutely straightened her blouse so the scar was no longer visible. She quickly run her fingers through her hair, before going for the door. She pushed down on the handle.
It was locked.

What the hell?

She tried opening it again, but still it didn't buckle.
"Hello? Damon? Yuki? Someone who'd like to get me out of here?"

No one answered.

Seriously, had they just looked her up and left her?
She tried one more time, yelling louder.

"Come on. I'm awake, and I'm hungry. Would somebody please come get me out of here?"

In the end she had to climb out the window, balancing along the roof until she got to an open window. She climbed into the livingroom, cursing under her breath.

She stopped dead in her tracks.

The room in front of her was trashed. It looked like a hurricane had passed through it. Just a couple of metres from her a body was lying on the floor. Kirya couldn't hold back a small scream, as she ran to the corpse and sunk to her knees. It almost looked like it had been on fire, and it was impossible to recognise any features. A stake stuck out the back.

Please don't let it be one of them. Please!

Out loud she yelled.
"Damon? Yuki? Bjorn?"

A low moan caught her attention and she immediately followed the sound. Behind the flipped over couch, she saw him. It was Yuki, a stake was sticking out from his stomach, pinning him to the floor. She winced at the sight, but dropped to her knees next to him.

"Yuki, can you hear me? What happened?" He groaned and opened his eyes.

"Get it out."

Kirya bit her lip, trying to pull herself together. She placed her hands on the stake, gripping it firmly.
"Ready?"

He nodded.
Using as much force as she could gather, she pulled out the stake. He gritted his teeth and groaned in pain. Kirya threw the blodied stake as far away as she could. She checked the wound in his stomach. The bleeding had stopped. Yuki tried to rise, but in the end Kirya had to drag him over to the wall, where he slumped against it, breathing hard.

"Fuck me."

"Will you be okay?"

"I'm not sure. I need blood."
Kirya jerked backwards.

"Please, love." He weakly tried to reach for her.

"What if you can't stop?"

"I wont hurt you. Damon would kill me." He laughed, but it turned into an agonizing cough, shaking his whole body.
Kirya hesitated. Terrifying images kept appearing before her eyes. Not again. But this was Yuki.

Resolutely she pulled up her sleeve and offered him her wrist.
Yuki bit down. It hurt a bit, like it used to with Damon the first times. She clenched her teeth, and endured. She was just about to tell him to stop when he drew back.

"Wow."
His eyes were closed, and he slowly licked his lips, cleaning the last couple of blood drops. He opened his eyes, and with a well known smirk he looked at her repeating.
"Wow! No wonder Damon kept you to himself. I mean, that was just... incredible."

"Oh, shut up Yuki." She slapped him on the shoulder. He winced, and she imediately felt bad.
"Sorry, I..." But then she saw his face. He was holding back laughter, making his whole body shake.

"You bastard." She rose to her feet, not really angry, but tired, and worried as hell.
"So what happened here? Where are the others?"

Yuki grew instantly serious. "Did Damon ever fill you in on what was going on?"

Kirya shook her head.

"How much have you figured out yourself?"

She thought it through. Of course she'd known the vampires had something going on. She'd recognized their hushed voices and gloomy looks, from her her childhood, when her father was making plans with people to take over a new company. And then there was the things Klaus had said and done.

She cleared her throat.
"I figured you were planning an overtake or something along those lines. I guess it had to do with Klaus." She shuddered, saying his name out loud. "He was somekind of vampire regent or boss, right?"

Yuki slid his hand through his hair, before answering.
"You could say that. He's one of the Originals. The first vampire ever."
He sighed and got to his feet.

"Listen, Kirya. There's no need for you to know the specifics. Only that someone told on us after we killed Klaus. They put the others down with vervain and took them away. Must have thought I was dead."

He fell silent, and Kirya appreciated the pause. Her insides were in turmoil. She didn't know who "they" were, and she doubted she could get much out of Yuki. She would try, though. She was pretty sure the penalty for killing an Original was pretty bad. And even though it in the end had been Ben staking him, Damon was obviously the leader.

"What happened to Ben?"

"They took him as well. Probably gonna keep him as a pet or snack." Yuki's words were cold, but Kirya could see the pain in his eyes.
Kirya tried to organize all the new knowledge and focus.

"So... Do you know where they are?" He nodded. "So it's actually pretty simple: We go there, and find a way to bust them out."

But Yuki shook his head.
"Don't you understand girl? There is no 'we'. I will do what need's to be done. You on the other hand will stay away, and live your life."

His tone was harsh, and matter-of-factly.

"What? They're my friends too! This is my life. You have no right to make descisions for me."
She was furious. Who did he think he was? No one was gonna tell her what to do or not to do.

She nearly screamed when he grapped her by the arm.

"Let go of me, Yuki."

"No." He was close. Way to close. He caught her eyes with his, and she saw his pupils dialate. She felt the fear run through her. No. But it was too late.

"Look at me." And suddenly she couldn't remove her gaze from his.

"Please Yuki," she stammered. But he ignored her completely.

"Keep silent. You will do exactly what I tell you to. You will forget everything about vampires, and along that everything that happened these past months. You will go on with your life, and try to make the best of it."

They left the appartment. Kirya shot the guy next to her curious glances. She felt a bit dizzy, and couldn't quite figure out who he was. He took her to a small convenience store were she'd never been before. Two elderly people stood behind the counter, they were talking but looked up when they entered.

The guy next to her went directly over to them, and Kirya followed along.

"How can we help you?" the woman asked.

"Look at me. This is your niece... Alice." Kirya was about to protest that her name wasn't Alice, but Kirya, but he just talked on.
"You love her like she was your daughter, and you will take care of her, and provide anything she needs."

Then he quickly spun to face Kirya, cupping her face in both of his hands.

"Your name is Alice, and you will follow your dreams, live your life and forget you ever saw me."

He left the room, and Alice immediately forgot he had been there. She hugged her uncle and aunt, and they closed the store early, to go home and celebrate the fact that their beloved niece would stay with them from now on...

This is not the end, but the story will take a different direction now. I'll need to plot it out, so it might be a bit before the next update. Thank you for all your kind reviews, they help me write on.

Please let me know what you think of the story untill now. All kinds of critisism is welcom :-)
If you have ideas for the future story you can always write me, and I will gladly see if it will fit with my idea...

Goodbye for now :-)