ELENA

I took the pathway that led away from the terrace, towards the unlit parts of the gardens, only stopping when I was sure that I couldn't bee seen anymore from anywhere near the house. With shaking hands I took out the phone again and dialed Caroline's number.

"Elena," Katherine's sickly sweet voice greeted me. "You've probably figured out by now that I have Caroline here with me? I take it that you want a chance to apologize for all the really mean and nasty things you said and did to her..."

"Leave Caroline out of this, Katherine! This is between you and me."

"I will, provided we come to an agreement." She sounded very nonchalant, even amiable, as if we were discussing a mutually beneficial business agreement. "We two seem to have an issue here – a pretty inconvenient spell that needs to be lifted."

"I know. We're already looking into that. But the spell is none of my making."

"Oh, I have a fair idea who was behind this, and I also know who's now working on it," Katherine said. "A Bennett witch. One was very capable, the other one obviously isn't so much. A piece of advice from someone who has learned the hard way: Don't ever trust anybody, especially not people who claim to be your friends."

"People who you have to threaten to be nice to you are not really friends, Katherine."

"Ah, well – we should exchange our views and experiences on this some other time, if you don't mind. I'm afraid we'll have Damon on our heels, otherwise. He didn't fully agree with my plans for you."

"Which plans, exactly?"

"Hasn't Damon told you? We had a chat about you just last week. He's obviously so keen on drinking your blood that he's unwilling to solve this mess once and for all. I trust you understand that this bonding thing is a bit of an inconvenience for me?"

"I don't like it either," I replied, refusing to be tricked into inquiring about her alleged 'chat' with Damon. He had never tried to get my blood, so I knew she was just trying to drive a wedge between us. I chose to ignore it. "Unfortunately, we have no clue what to do about it yet."

"Oh, we do! It's quite simple, actually: You need to turn. I told Damon so, but he wasn't thrilled at the idea of having you around for all eternity. I guess he prefers you to be a bloody human – pun intended. So, I'd like to speed things up a little and just do it myself."

"You want to turn me?" I asked, an icy feeling in my stomach.

"To be totally honest, I'd much rather kill you, but for obvious reasons, I can't do that. So instead, I'm offering you the gift of eternal life, and I'd very much appreciate it if you could bring yourself to be a least a little grateful. Your cooperation would make this a lot easier on both of us."

"Sorry if I don't find the idea of life eternal as alluring as you obviously did."

"Right. The prospect of growing old, getting wrinkles, losing hair and teeth is so much more appealing. Well, I already figured that you might be difficult and in need of a little incentive. This is why I brought Caroline along to play. Maybe you'll feel better about the idea of turning if your friends are all vampires, too. You like keeping company with vampires, don't you? When I'm through with her, I will continue with all your other friends and relatives, one by one, starting with little Jeremy."

The idea of her touching my family again broke my calm. "No! Katherine, please!" I implored, despite knowing that pleading with her made as much sense as trying to invoke sympathy in a stone.

"No harm done yet," Katherine said coldly. "Caroline will leave with just another hole in her memories, provided you show up here in fifteen minutes, alone. We're at the tomb, by the way. I thought it be a nice touch to end this where it began, and it's just a quick walk from where you are. I hope I'll see you around."

The line went dead. I briefly closed my eyes and took a deep breath, fighting my panic. I had to hold it together and somehow make it to the tomb without Damon finding out about what was going on. Most likely, he was already looking for me. Determined, I hastened further down the path which led to the end of the formal gardens, where flowerbeds and stone edged lawns gave way to meadows and scattered trees. An iron fence marked the end of the Mikealson property. Though it was high, it was ornamental enough to allow me to climb it. I threw my shoes to the other side first, to get a better footing. I still managed to tear my dress and scratch my leg on the iron tips, but I made it.

It almost seemed like the fence was the last line of defense against the invasion of trees, as the forest was right on the other side of it. I quickly put my shoes back on and headed towards the direction of the famous party clearing, where the former Pierce property began.

I was considerably slowed down by the pumps I was wearing. Heels were clearly not meant to be worn on uneven forest grounds. I soon gave up and took them off again, running barefoot. It wasn't exactly comfortable, either, but I'd rather catch a few thorns and splinters than break my ankle.

A sudden movement to my right caught my attention. Damon? Had he found me already? Startled, I paused and looked, but couldn't see anything in the sparse light of the moon. I must have been mistaken, since Damon would hardly be hiding in the shadows. Yet I couldn't shake off the feeling of being watched. Maybe Katherine was quietly observing me, making sure that I came alone.

I had almost reached the clearing when I heard a branch snap loudly behind me – or so I thought. Until I felt something sharp bite into the flesh of my hip. Almost simultaneously, something hard flew against me, slamming me into a tree trunk. I heard a stifled groan, but was unable to utter a sound myself, since the impact had left me stunned and driven all air out of my lungs.

Before I knew what was happening, I was roughly pulled around to the other side of the massive trunk. I opened my mouth to scream, but it was immediately covered by a hand that muffled my cry. My anxiety would probably have escalated into a full-blown panic attack if I hadn't noticed right then that the touch and the scent were familiar. Having effectively shut me up, Damon turned me to face him, shaking his head in warning. I blinked, signaling him that I understood. He let go of me, carefully looking out from behind our cover at whatever had attacked us. Breathing rapidly, I looked down my body, wondering why I was still hurting, but couldn't see anything in the dark on the black material of my dress. It felt moist, though.

Damon, with the uncanny speed of his supernatural powers, suddenly jumped off me and onto a figure that was quickly moving in our direction with a deadly looking sort of crossbow in his hands. The thing went flying when Damon attacked the man who'd been wielding it, growling menacingly. But the guy obviously was no beginner. He had a few tricks and nasty weapons at his disposal, and was holding up against Damon long enough to land a few hits. Still, Damon quickly got the upper hand. Peeking around the cover of the tree trunk, I saw him on top of the man, who was lying on the ground now. Damon forcefully grabbed his head, and, with a sickening sound, twisted and broke it. And just so, our attacker was moving no more.

Damon came back, his formerly white shirt stained red. He took my hand. "There is at least another hunter out there," he said in a hushed voice. "We need to get out of here." He started walking, pulling at my arm until it was stretched out just like his because I was offering resistance. He looked back at me with a puzzled expression. Just as I was about to tell him that we needed to keep going in the other direction, I saw another man step out of the shadows of the forest, a deadly looking crossbow in hand. Horror-stricken, I realized it was aimed at me.

Before I could react and seek cover, he released the weapon. I stood frozen, waiting for the impact of the arrow, but it never came. Instead, the arrow tore into Damon's flesh, as he had propelled himself with lightning speed to stand in front of me again, shielding my body with his. My eyes widened in horror on seeing the stake sticking out from his shoulder.

Damon groaned and pulled me into cover again. His face was a grimace of pain when he fumbled for the wooden shaft. It was impossible to reach it at this angle. He turned his back to me. "Quickly, Elena, pull it out," he gritted through clenched teeth. "I think the tip is made of silver. It hurts!"

Without thinking, I gripped the stake and pulled. Damon hissed, and fresh blood spurted from the wound, but it wouldn't come loose. It must have hit the bone. I tried not to think about the damage the angled tip would do to his flesh on its way out and grabbed the stake with both hands now. Sickened and blinded by tears of dread, I pulled once again with all my might, and finally managed to tear it loose. Damon's shirt was stained red, his features contorted in pain.

My heart was beating in my chest like the wings of a bird that was trying to break out of my ribcage. My breathing was ragged; I just didn't seem able to get enough air into my lungs. My vision was narrowing and the stars I saw flashing were too close to be real.

"Don't you dare to faint on me now, Elena!" Damon warned, cupping my face and making me look at him. The pain in his eyes was replaced with concern for me. "Come on, breathe!"

As usual, the touch of his hands helped to calm me. I took a deep breath, and another one, willing my rapidly beating heart to slow down again. I blinked my tears away and wiped my face.

"You okay?"

I nodded, my resurfacing fear allowing me to ignore the pain at my hip for now. We had to keep going, quickly. "Katherine has Caroline!" I said, suppressing my sobs. Time was running out. "She threatened to vamp her if I didn't show up! I can't let that happen! I have to go to the chapel!"

Damon's hands were still holding my face. "I know," he said, his expression showing nothing but compassion and concern. "Believe me, Elena, I know. But you can't go there. Katherine will surely kill you right after she turns you. I've already called Stefan. Let him handle it."

"Stefan?" I shook my head. "No, he's no match for Katherine! I have to do what she says! Caroline's my friend! Let go of me, Damon!"

But his hands just slipped to my arms, enforcing their grip. "Over my dead body!" Damon said, his eyes flashing with determination now. "I won't let you go on a suicide mission!"

I was getting desperate. The fifteen minutes would soon have passed. I couldn't waste precious time discussing this with Damon. "You have no right to hold me back! It's not your decision to make!" Feeling instant guilt and remorse, I pulled the very move on him that he had shown me himself in our training sessions. Damon was injured and handicapped, and obviously still in pain, and that's what worked to my advantage.

He groaned and loosened his hold, and I was free to run away. I managed to make it across the clearing and into the denser part of the woods. I could already see the crumbled remains of an ancient brick wall that marked the Pierce property. But even injured, Damon was a lot faster than I, and before I knew what had hit me, he'd thrown me to the ground again. I started hitting at him, bucking my hips and trying to throw him off, but he simply pinned my hands to my sides and held me down with the weight of his body. I knew that I no chance to fight free if he was unwilling, which he clearly was.

I started to cry, pleaded with him to let me go, but he didn't even budge. He tried to reason with me, first, but soon gave up when he realized that he couldn't get through to me. Precious minutes tickled by as he just kept me from moving, determined, unrelenting and dispassionate. Until we suddenly heard shots and a scream, coming from the Pierce property. I stilled in horror. "Oh my God! Stefan... What if the hunter got him? Damon, please!"

"Fine," he growled, yet visibly torn between wanting to keep me out of harm's way and taking action. "But you stay with me, Elena, or I swear to God I'm gonna knock you out cold, understand?"

I nodded fearfully, and Damon pulled me up. We both started running again, towards the chapel ruins. The wounds on my side started to burn like hell, and I felt fresh blood soak my dress. We could already see the chapel ahead, when Damon suddenly slowed us down and pulled me into cover. Silently, he pointed to something underneath the trees ahead of us. Only now could I make out the silhouettes of two hunters standing motionless behind tree trunks between us and the chapel.

The only reason they hadn't instantly spotted us was the fact that their attention was diverted by a much closer presence: Stefan. My relief at seeing him alive and moving was brief: He was carefully approaching the ruins, and from his viewpoint, the hunter's were invisible. He had no idea of the deadly crossbows that were raised and aimed at him.

I shouted a warning, and, simultaneously, Damon launched himself at the nearest hunter, knocking him out cold. Though Stefan was too far away to attack the other, he managed to dodge the arrow. The hunter had no time to reload his crossbow. Instead, he suddenly had a weird kind of pistol in his hands which he fired at Damon, who was approaching him. I screamed as he got hit, at least twice. Yet Damon kept going, and so did Stefan. Suddenly they were on him like raging animals – fangs extended, howling and screaming.

No, the screaming, I realized, was coming from my own throat, and it was what got through to them. They stopped, realizing that their prey was dead and that tearing him to pieces right in front of my eyes was probably a bad idea. Damon winced as he slowly straightened himself, while Stefan turned back to the chapel.

"Wait!" I cried, shaking badly. "Katherine might be still in there!"

"No, she isn't," Stefan said. "The hunters chased her out. I saw her flash by shortly before I got close to the ruins. Looks like they scored a hit on her, too."

"And Caroline?"

Stefan didn't say anything. He just resumed walking toward the tomb. I rushed after him – or better to say, I tried to rush. I just found that I hadn't enough strength left. Everything was hurting, and my legs were shaky. So I staggered behind, reaching the chapel only when Stefan was coming out again. My legs completely gave out and I fell to the ground on seeing the lifeless body he was carrying in his arms.

"Caroline! No!"

A/N: Since you all have been following me up to here and obviously enjoyed story, you might be pleased to hear that it very much looks as if there's going to be a sequel. Dreamthrower, my awesome beta, kind of pushed me for it, and though I was a bit sceptical at first if I could pull it off once again, I now have the story pretty much outlined and even started writing. I couldn't let go of my favourite characters just yet, especially since we're not going to get any Delena goodness on TVD anymore...