In the end it took three bloodbags for Damon to gather his strength and get up from the spot where Yuki had dragged him. Yuki had backed off, letting him feed while he spoke with someone on in his cellphone. They were in an alley.

Yuki looked up from the phone, and ended the call when Damon came over. He flashed a broad smile and was about to say something, when Damon's fist hit him straight in the face.

Yuki stumbled backwards.

"What the fuck Damon?!"

Damon's face was void of feeling as he answered: "Don't you ever feed from Kirya again. Do you understand? Or I will end you."

Yuki lifted his hands in surrender, "Whoa, relax man. There's no need to go all caveman on me. And by the way, don't you mean Alice?"

Damon growled, taking a threatening step closer to the vampire.

"Alright, I get it. She's off-limits. I wasn't planning on it anyway. Just thought she needed a little reminder of true vampire nature. I didn't compel her just so she could go straight back to mingling with vampires. Hell, that girl is like a trouble magnet."

Damon sighed, a bit of the anger leaving him.

"Yeah, tell me about it..."

Yuki was right, even if he had some seriously fucked ways to get what he wanted. He flashed his trademark smirk at his old friend.

"You know it didn't work, right? She thought she was turning, so she barged into Ric's asking Stef for his blood to reverse the transition."

Yuki's jaw dropped. "She what?"

"Yeah, so much for your plan to get her to back off from vampire business." Damon couldn't help to feel a little smug.

"So did he give it to her?"

Damon made af face. "What do you think? Of course he didn't."

"So she figured out it was a lie?"

"Nope."

Yuki rose his eyebrows questionly.

"Well, she got the blood," Damon said vaguely.

"Oh no, you didn't." Yuki burst out laughing.

"Oh yes. You should have seen Stefan's face when I let her drink straight from the vein in front of the whole bar."

"Holy shit, seriously, I think I would give practically everything to have seen the look on his face!" Clearly imagining Stefan seething, Yuki shook his head, mumbling to himself. "Priceless."

Damon couldn't help but smile. He had missed spending time with Yuki. He might be a sarcastic asshole, but when it came to Stefan, they had always been on the exact same page. The thought reminded him of something else. Quick as a snake he hit the still laughing Yuki. This time he fell on his ass.

"Come on man! What was that for?" Yuki grumbled. He didn't make a move to get to his feet, obviously not interested in attracting more violence.

Damon reached out a hand to help him up, receiving a suspicious glare from the vampire on the ground. "I'm still waiting for an answer."

"Well, you can't get everything you want now, can you? If you figure it out yourself the lesson will stick better."

"Fuck you, Salvatore," Yuki mumbled, but took his hand to get a boost.

Damon ignored his insult. "So, now that we're a bit closer to even, you need to tell me what the fuck happened here."

Yuki turned serious instantly.

"Terrorists. Anti-vampire."

Damon's brows furrowed.

"But then why did they attack downtown? There's just as many humans as vampires, if not more humans."

Yuki shook his head even before Damon had finished.

"They didn't just hit downtown. They are sending a message, and they are some pretty damn thorough bastards." He trailed off.

"What do you mean?" Damon didn't like the way Yuki spoke. "How thorough?"

Yuki looked straight at him.

"Most of Chicago is in ruins. It seems that they planted bombs at every single spot where vampires or humans with connections to vampires live. They don't seem to mind casualties."

It took Damon a bit to wrap his head around the information. He shook his head in wonder.

"But they must know that we wouldn't all die. Hell, the only thing they will accomplish is a bunch of wounded and very hungry fangers starting to hunt for blood."

"Yeah, it doesn't strike as a very good idea, but I already heard from one of my sources that there has been hunters out and about. My guess is that they will use the chaos to openly start a war."

Damon thought about it a bit, but was distracted when something Yuki had said entered his mind.

"Did you say that they bombed everyone who associated with vampires?"

He felt a cold shiver down his spine. He hadn't really thought about her since Yuki had dragged him out of the crashed train, but now the worry seemed to flood him. All he wanted was to rush off and find her.

Yuki nodded, clearly seeing where his mind was going.

"Go check up on her. I'll try and round up some more of us, and find out more about what's going on. There's a place down by the Pier that's still standing, I'll be there with the others untill tomorrow."

Damon stored the information in the back of his mind, and without a word he took off.

In less than five minutes he stood by the smoking ruins of the place that had housed Kirya's apartment. There was hardly anything left, and it was obvious that anyone inside would have died instantly from the blast. FuckFuckFuck! She couldn't be dead.

He tried to listen, using his vampire hearing to try to locate something that would tell him if she was alive and someplace near. Nothing. Only the distinct sound of flames dying out, and rubble settling. The image of Kirya shouting angrily after him earlier today hit him.

"Fuck!" he yelled out in total desperation. He took in a deep breath trying to gather his thoughts. As he did so a faint scent touched his notrils. His head whipped up. In a flash he was two hundred meters farther down the street. He looked closely at the concrete. A few small splotches of rusty red liquid had dried on the rough surface. It was her blood.

She hadn't been in the apartment, he realized with relief. But then why was she bleeding? He took in the small amount of blood. It couldn't be fatal, it was much more likely that she'd been knocked over by the blast.

But where was she now?

-o-

Kirya silently followed Matt and Kyle. It took them most of an hour to reach Matt's house. At that point she could hardly stand on her feet. Kyle seemed tired as well, as they crossed the small lawn in front of a red-bricked house. Matt, however, just rushed forward not paying any attention to them or his wounded leg. He pushed the door wide open and called out at the top of his voice: "Mia?! Lucas! Are you here? MIA!"

A shrill childs voice answered him, as a white-haired boy came running directly into his fathers arms. Behind him came a short redhead with almost as much speed. The small family hugged and cried in each others arms.

Kirya was too tired to pay attention to the tearfilled family reunion. She hovered just inside the door, not sure what to do of herself. Kyle touched her shoulder and nodded in the direction of a door that turned out to lead into a cozy livingroom.

Kirya instantly dropped onto a couch, Kyle mirroring her. She couldn't remember the last time a couch had been so comfortable, and she sighed content closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the soft cushions. After a couple of minutes silence, she opened her eyes slightly looking at Kyle. "You were right after all."

"Huh?" He didn't open his eyes.

"They were perfectly safe."

Kyle let out a small laugh. "Yeah, I guess I was." He opened his eyes and sat a bit straighter. "Seriously, I don't know what I would have done if they hadn't been here. I don't think Matt would have been able to handle it, if something had happened to them."

Kirya sighed, but was interrupted in her answer as her cellphone pinged. Feeling her heart leap, she pulled the phone out of her pocket. She was surprised that the network hadn't broken down. She'd always thought it would be the first thing to go when something like this happened.

Please let it be him. Please.
It wasn't. Instead it was a text from her aunt Maggie. Kirya could feel the stab of guilt. She hadn't thought og her aunt and uncle at all since the attack. She quickly opened the message. She hoped they were alright.

It was short and to the point.

Alice are you okay? Tried to call you, but couldn't get through. We are both fine. Call!

"Is everything alright?" she looked up. She had forgotten completely that she wasn't alone. She smile weakly at him.

"It's my aunt wanting to know if I'm okay."

He nodded understandingly. "Then you'd better call her. We can't be sure how long there'll be reception."

Kirya nodded, and punched in the number. The phone hardly had time to ring before it was answered at the other end of the line.

"Alice! Are you alright?" Her aunts worried voice was shrill through the speakers, and Kirya felt even worse about her forgetfulness.

"I'm fine, auntie. I'm fine."

"Oh thank god. We were so worried. We heard the explosions and..." she trailed off starting to sob. Kirya bit her lower lip. She heard some ruffling and then her aunts voice was replaced by her uncles.

"Alice, thank god you alright. What happened? Where are you?" Kirya sighed.

"My place was hit, but I'm fine. Just a couple of scratches and bruises. Nothing to be worried about."

She could imagine her uncles serious face as he spoke.

"Have you had them checked? Have you been to a hospital?" Uncle Tom had always taken even the smallest scratch very seriously. It had annoyed Kirya to no end when she had lived with them, but now the words warmed her.

"Haven't gotten to it yet, but don't you worry, I promise I'll do it."

"So where are you?"

"I met some people who was kind enough to offer me a place to crash for the night up by Lincoln Wood."

"You should come home. It's too dangerous..." She cut him off.

"It's alright, I can take care of myself. I promise I'll come home to you as soon as possible, but I need to find someone here first, and it's a long walk, so it'll probably take a couple of days."

"But.." he protested.

"Really, I'll be fine. I haven't got my charger for my phone, and I'm not even sure if there's electricity here, so I can't promise to keep in touch the next couple of days, but I will come." Not giving her uncle the chance to try to convince her, she quickly added. "Give auntie a hug from me. I love both of you."

"We love you too, Alice. Come home soon."

"I will. Bye."

She ended the call.

She hoped she would be able to keep her promise.