In New Orleans Klaus was having the time of his life, "That's it Rippah," he laughed as Stefan stood draining the body of a young redhead. "Now stop! You don't want to get carried away, we have had enough mishaps lately with your lack of control." Klaus instructed, Stefan threw the girl to the ground.
"Now Sweetheart, you are going to forget all about this, you fell and sliced your neck on a rock." Klaus compelled the young girl.
"Come Stefan, we have much to prepare for. We must get ready to head back to Mystic Falls, I am quite taken with a certain blonde." Klaus smirked, Caroline was the perfect leverage to enact his revenge.
Klaus's phone rang.
Stefan couldn't make out what the person on the other end was saying but he heard Klaus's response.
"Elijah, brother its nice to hear from you. Yes, I know I did promise you that you would be reunited with the rest of our family. In all good time brother." Klaus said into the phone.
Stefan drowned out the rest of the conversation only keying in on one thing; Family, Brother… these words rang in Stefan's mind, there was a small sliver of humanity clinging to life in his battered mind. For days now, he and Klaus had been wandering New Orleans making snacks out of the city folk. Stefan being Stefan had, had quite a few "mishaps" as Klaus liked to call them.
Klaus was grooming Stefan to be a well oiled killing machine, one that was devoid of emotion, but he wanted his pet to have control.
Stefan's mind was broken, things that used to matter didn't even flicker. He reached in his pocket and took out his cell phone, walking away from Klaus.
He hovered over Damon's name, 'brother, family' he thought almost robotically, he pressed dial. It rang and rang.
Damon peeled his eyes open at the sound of his phone vibrating, he reached for it. Stefan calling.
Damon's heart beat fast. Elena stirred beside him.
Damon answered the phone.
"Hello? Stefan brother please answer? Hello?" Damon pleaded.
Stefan just stood his eyes wide and wild. "Brother? Stef?" the voice on the other side of the phone yelled. Stefan just blinked he could feel a tear coming to his eye. He hung up the phone. "Damon." He whispered to himself.
The monster inside him sang, 'feed, ignore, feed'. He fought hard to push the monster out, but he felt it taking over again. "I am sorry brother." He groaned again.
"Stefan! Rippah, come we must go prepare." Klaus said pulling Stefan with him through the crowd.
Back in Mystic Falls…
Bonnie and Grams were working hard to get Caroline controlled.
"Bonnie! This is no use, all I want to do is kill people, I can feel it." Caroline cried.
"Give it time Care," Bonnie said handing Caroline a little white mouse.
"This is disgusting Bonnie, and this poor mouse has like no blood in it." Caroline moaned as she pricked the wriggling creature with her tooth and sucked slowly.
"That is the point Care, the little bit of blood it has the more careful you have to be not to kill it." Bonnie said quoting Emily's Journal.
"It is still gross!" Caroline whined as she set the mouse back into its cage.
The phone rang.
"Hello?" Bonnie answered.
"Bon! Its Elena, Stefan just phoned Damon." Elena said in a panicked voice.
"Oh my god is he okay?" Bonnie asked quickly.
"We don't know Bon, he didn't talk all you could hear was breathing sounds, and something that resembled crying." Elena explained.
"Oh, that doesn't sound good." Bonnie said.
"We were wondering if you could do a locator spell?" Elena asked her best friend.
"Yeah, I think I could, but Elena, when we find out where he is, what do we do then?" Bonnie asked, they needed a plan.
"I don't know we need to figure it out. Do you mind coming here to do the spell, Damon is still too weak?" Elena replied.
"Yeah of course, we will all come, Grams found some information about the baby, and Caroline really needs Damon's help." Bonnie sighed, no matter how hard her and Gram's were trying nothing was really working with Care.
"Oh, okay, yeah that's awesome see you soon." Elena said, and she hung up the phone.
"Damon? Where are you?" Elena asked as she turned to see Damon had left the room.
She walked down stairs and low and behold he was sitting on the couch with a glass of bourbon.
She sighed, "You shouldn't be drinking with painkillers Damon." She said as she sat beside him.
"I'm just having this one." He said sipping the amber liquid, the burning felt good on his throat.
"Okay, only one, I don't want you getting sick." She muttered. "Bonnie, Grams and Care are on their way over." She said.
"Why is Blondie coming?" Damon said pounding the whiskey back.
"She needs your help Damon," Elena exhaled.
"Well good, because I need hers too." Damon said getting up and getting another drink.
"Ah, ah. You said one. You had your one." Elena sighed taking the glass from his hand. Damon groaned, she was right, he had said one.
Elena got out her phone and phoned Aunt Jenna.
"Hey Elena, is everything okay?" Jenna replied.
"Yeah, its all good, the doctor let Damon come home. I was wondering if it would be okay if I stayed with him, for a few nights to help Zach?" Elena asked.
"Yeah, that would be okay El. I don't need my car for a few days, but what about clothes?" Jenna asked.
"I'll borrow one of Damon's shirts for bed tonight and come by tomorrow to get some okay?" Elena asked.
"Yeah sure El. Is Damon okay?" Jenna asked.
"He's still hurting, and he's worried about Stefan, nobody has been able to get a hold of him." Elena said with worry in her voice.
"Oh my god, that's terrible. Well tell him we are thinking of him," Jenna replied.
Elena said goodbye and hung up the phone.
The doorbell rang.
"I'll go get it." Elena said swiftly heading to the door. Bonnie and Grams pooled in. Caroline just stood there, a force field keeping her from entering.
"Hey! Why can't I come in?" Caroline pouted.
Damon sighed, "Because someone has to invite you, since Zach isn't here I guess you cant come in." Damon smiled.
"Damon!" Elena lightly smacked his chest, he cringed.
"Okay, okay. Caroline Forbes please come in." Damon snorted, "There is that better." He said as Caroline entered the house. Elena rolled her eyes.
"How come I could come in the other day with Stefan?" Caroline was confused.
"Because when you came in you hadn't transitioned yet." Damon said grabbing a candy from a little dish on the coffee table and popping it in his mouth.
"Oh." Caroline mumbled.
"Before we get this show on the road, I need blood blondie, I am sick of being an invalid here." Damon demanded.
"Damon! Caroline can't give you blood she is too weak." Bonnie blurted out.
"Jesus, what have you guys been feeding her?" Damon demanded.
"We have been using Emily's journal." Bonnie defended.
Damon stood with his mouth open, he walked to the kitchen, pulling out a bag of human blood from the fridge.
"You have been feeding her mouse blood, that is disgusting. You don't have to explain Emily's sick stories. I know all about her animal blood diet, who do you think gave Saint Stef the idea the first time. Eww. Okay Blondie, you need to drink this, then heal me. After we do this locater spell, you and I are having a serious talk, I will tell you everything I know about being a vampire, teach you the ropes so to speak. I mean not actually because well," he flashed his normal human teeth.
Caroline nodded and took the bag from him. Ripping it open slowly with one of her fangs she took small little sips, until the bag was gone.
"Good, I am impressed, most baby vamps would chug that." Damon said raising his eyebrows. "Right now, will you feed me your blood please?" Damon begged, Elena sighed, 'so much for healing the old fashion way.'
Caroline nodded ripping her own wrist open and handing it to Damon, he took deep gulps of the blood.
Almost instantly he felt his ribs healing, his arm no longer hurt, he knew it was fixed. "Okay, now before we get started anything else I am going to the shed for ten minutes, you girls get started." Damon said slipping outside. Elena looked at him confused.
He went into the little shed out back, pulling a small hand saw from the wall he took his good hand and started sawing the cast. Once it was half free he banged it two or three times on a bench, finally his arm was free. "Thank God!" he moaned, extending his arm and wiggling his fingers.
When he got back inside; Grams and Bonnie had step up the locator spell, the map was waiting for his blood.
"What happened to your arm?" Elena was confused.
"Blondie's blood healed me, I didn't think it necessary to have the cast anymore." He shrugged, grabbing a knife from Grams and slicing his palm over the map.
Bonnie began to chant, the blood moved on the map, stopping in New Orleans.
"He's in New Orleans, Bourbon Street to be exact." Bonnie said reading the map out.
"Great, now we have a location, now we need a plan." Damon said going to the bar and getting a drink, it was about to be a long night.
"First, we need to talk about something more important than a plan." Grams said breaking her silence.
Elena and Damon looked at her both of them having a feeling of dread, 'the baby' they thought.
"I have been looking into the protection spell that was cast. I didn't find any information other than what I already told you about. But I did some more digging, when you conceived Damon was more Vampire than he was human, but his reproductive organs were fully functioning. Also, I had wondered how all his vampire qualities just disappeared as soon as Klaus bit you. I think they didn't disappear, instead they got transformed into pure magic." Grams took a breath, "Your child, it is powerful, all the magic that it was conceived with, plus the magic that got transformed; all lives with in the child." Grams sighed.
Elena and Damon sat with their eyes wide. Grams went over to Elena and put her hands on Elena's stomach, chanting in a low voice, her hands glowed. She nodded her head and began to speak again.
"It seems that the baby is not developing as fast as I had suspected, but because of the magic its heart was developed sooner than it is supposed to. Otherwise I would assume the pregnancy will be just like any normal human one." Grams explained.
Elena sighed in relief.
"But what you are saying is that he is very powerful, and you think people are going to come after him don't you?" Damon finally spoke.
"Yes, I do suspect if word gets out, that there are dangers ahead. That is why I believe it best for myself, Bonnie and Caroline to go alone to find Stefan." Grams responded.
"What!" Damon gritted his teeth, "I want to rip that Klaus guy apart myself, old woman." Damon bellowed.
"Damon! Don't talk to grams like that." Elena said putting her hand over his. "I am so sorry for him Grams." Elena apologized to Grams, glaring over at Damon. Damon just chewed his lip.
"I'm sorry but he's my little brother, do I not get any say in this?" Damon whined.
"No, someone has to protect Elena and the baby Damon, if you get injured or worse, then the baby and her are in danger." Grams retorted.
Damon bit hard on his lip, so hard that it almost started bleeding, he knew that the old witch was right.
"Fine, but how do you plan on getting my brother back, if I know Stef, he's gone off the rails by now." Damon groaned pounding back his drink.
"What do you mean off the rails?" Elena looked at him worried. Damon cringed, he had knew that this day would come; the day that he would have to explain.
"Um, when Stefan drinks human blood. He… he changes. Stefan could never control the thirst. He never gave it a chance. Instead he went right to Emily's animal blood diet. When Stefan drinks human blood, he goes crazy okay." Damon was getting very hot, just talking about Ripper Stefan was making him angry.
Elena was worried, "Please Damon, we need to know what happens. So that we can be prepared." Elena stroked his hand.
Damon gulped, "He… He rips peoples heads off Okay! And then he feels bad about it and puts them back together!" Damon yelled, getting up from the couch and running outside. He had always thought emotions were stronger as a vampire, but tonight his emotions were all over the place. He felt hot tears falling down his face.
Elena gasped as she watched the love of her life run out of the room. "I… I am going to go and see if he's okay." She said as she rushed out behind him.
Bonnie and Caroline looked at each other, there eyes were wide a look of fear on their faces, if what Damon said is true Stefan could be very dangerous.
"Damon?" Elena said softly as she got outside, Damon was sitting on the front porch his head in his hands. He wasn't even trying to stay calm anymore. Violent sobs racked his body.
Elena looked at him with deep emotion, "Oh Damon," She said sitting next to him and pulling him close to her.
"He's… my baby brother… Elena. I am… supposed to protect him," Damon said in between sobs. Every second, every day until you don't need me… the words rang in his head.
"He's going to be okay Damon, I promise, we are going to do everything we can to get him back." Elena said putting Damon's face in her hands. Damon nodded, he pushed his forehead to hers. Claiming her lips in a desperate kiss. Elena kissed back softly, before pulling away.
"We should go back in and finished discussing the plan." Elena said getting up from the step.
"Yeah, your right." Damon said wiping his eyes and fixing his shirt, that had gotten crumpled.
"Come on," Elena said slipping his hand in hers.
"I love you." Damon said.
"I love you too," Elena smiled as they walked back into the house.
"I am sorry for running out, I just got worked up about Stefan." Damon said as he sat back down on the couch.
"It is alright child." Grams said, Damon chuckled at the comment, "Child" he was over 150 years old.
"Okay let's talk about a plan." He said taking a pad of paper and a pen from a little drawer.