ELENA

Before I was even able to think straight again, my phone, which I had left on the kitchen counter, started buzzing, indicating a call from Jeremy. "Elena?" Jeremy's voice sounded tattered and breathless, as if he was speaking while running.

"Jeremy?" I shouted, frantic. "Where are you? What happened?"

"Don't know. Someone shot at Alys, through the windows. Two men, with freaky weapons... She was hit, but made it through the back door. They followed. Get Damon here, quickly."

"Wait – where are you? Come back here!"

"I'm after them – in the direction of her house, through the woods."

"Jeremy, no! It's too dangerous! Wait for us!"

"If I do, we won't be able to find them. I activated the tracking app on my mobile. You can see where I am."

"I'll call Damon. I'll get back to you."

I hung up and quickly speed-dialed Damon's number. Thank God he picked up immediately. On hearing what had happened, he told me the same as I had told Jeremy: to stay put. "You're not going after them, Elena! Understood?"

And just like Jeremy, I ignored him. "Jeremy's phone and mine have an app to share locations. You can track me." With that, I quickly hung up on him before he could get into a fit about me disobeying him. "Damon and Ric are on their way," I briefly told Jenna. "I'm following Jeremy."

"No, Elena! Don't – you heard what Damon said! They had guns. They might shoot at you, too."

"They're hunters, it's vampires they're after," I reasoned, blanking out that I had definitively been a target before, either because they had thought I was Katherine or simply because they shot first and only asked questions later. But Jeremy might be running into a dead zone – it's not like the forests had full cell coverage. I needed to get as close as possible before I lost him. And if I waited for Damon, he'd probably tie me to a chair.

Wasting no time, I grabbed my phone and set off, running towards the edge of the woods in a fast, yet steady pace that would hopefully allow for endurance.

Still, my lungs were soon burning in my chest. I had taken up jogging a while ago and done my rounds around the block, but it hadn't prepared me for this. The ground was uneven. I was wearing sneakers, and though they were considerably better then the heels I had been wearing last time when running through the woods, they still were less suited for this than running shoes. More than once, a branch or a hidden hole in the ground made me stumble and fall. Branches were getting in my way, and especially the nastier, whip-like twigs that were harder to see in the dark kept hitting me in the face.

On my display, I could still see the dot that was Jeremy moving, but it seemed more random and flickered every now and then. Had he lost track of Alys, or was the signal already weakening?

I was closing in on him when I lost the signal entirely. At least that's what I thought had happened, refusing to ponder other possibilities. Fearful and desperate I kept running in the direction where the tiny dot that was his cell phone had last appeared. I had barely made it there when I caught a swift movement from the corner of my eye. Before I could turn to take a look, the vampire was upon me. Fortunately, it was Damon.

He looked ready to commit murder. If he was mad because of my recklessness or for the fact that someone had just shot at his sister, I couldn't tell. Probably both.

There was a brief moment of relief in his eyes when he saw that I was obviously not injured, but his gaze immediately turned dark again. "We will talk later," he just said in a deadly serious voice, not having the time to lecture me right now. "Where are they?"

I checked my phone again, but it still came up blank. "There is no signal anymore. But they can't be far. A little bit further in that direction."

Damon signaled me to be quiet for a moment. He strained his ears, listening in every direction, until he apparently caught on to something. "Over there," he said, urging me on. His face was grim. Whatever he had heard, it hadn't been reassuring.

We soon found Jeremy, crouching on the ground and cradling Alys's head in his lap. She winced in pain as Jeremy pulled an arrow out of her thigh. Another one was sticking out from her upper body. Fortunately, it had missed her heart, if only by inches. Jeremy was about to pull it out, too, when Damon's thundering voice froze him mid-move. "Don't touch it!" He was at her side almost instantly and shoved Jeremy aside. "Just like I thought," he muttered on examining the wound, his mouth set in a grim line. "It's too close to her heart. We might cause more damage by pulling it out – look how broad those tips are."

"We can't leave it in either!" Jeremy protested, his voice panicky. "They're silver!"

"I know," Damon curtly replied, breaking off part of the shaft and pulling Alys up. "Hold her, just like this," he instructed, and before anyone could asked what he was about to do, he forcefully hit the stump, driving the wooden shaft all through her body until it came out at the back.

Alys let out another pained cry and fell forward, collapsing in Damon's arms. She still seemed conscious, but barely so. More blood gushed from the gruesome wound in her chest. It looked as if someone had poured corrosive acid on her. Damon sliced his hand with his fangs, drawing blood, and pressed it right onto the corroded flesh. It slowed the bleeding, but didn't stop it entirely.

"Why isn't it healing?" I asked fearfully. Damon's voice was utterly calm and devoid of emotion. "Because of the silver. It weakens the body quickly and Alys's immune system isn't up to fighting it off. She needs human blood, and she needs it right now." His hand shot out, and, without warning, he grabbed Jeremy's wrist, forcefully sinking his teeth into it.

"Hey, there's no need to be so brutal," Jeremy protested weakly. "I'll do it, alright?"

He tore his arm free of Damon's hold and pressed it to Alys mouth. Immediately, Alys's hands came up in reflex and clasped around it like iron bands. Her hold was so tight that her knuckles turned white and her nails dug into his skin. She was sucking ferociously, her eyes dark and the net of veins prominent beneath them. It was the first time I'd seen Alys's vampire face, and it looked totally alien.

My throat constricted in fear of what this might do to Jeremy. Theoretically knowing that the vampire you had fallen for had teeth was one thing, actually seeing them in action and looking into their vampire faces while being fed from was another. He shouldn't experience it like this – connected with pain, shock and fear – when I knew now that it could be totally different.

I clearly remembered what being violated like this had felt like and what it had done to me. Damon caught my tortured gaze. "What's with the scared Bambi look, Elena?" he chided, but his voice was gentle. "I'm not gonna let her eat him, okay?"

At his remark, Jeremy became aware of my apparent concern. "It's alright, Elena," he reassured me, trying a weak smile. "I've done this before, it's alright." He had done it before? Damon and I exchanged a slightly surprised glance. Neither of us had been aware that their friendship had progressed so far as to include this kind of intimacy.

I didn't have time to ponder the thought. When Damon gently loosened her iron grip on Jeremy's hand and pried her head back, Alys came fully round. She let go of Jeremy as soon as there was sense in her eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but right that moment, a small object buzzed by my ear, hitting Damon in the stomach with a dull, sickening thud. He let out a growl and swore, tearing an arrow from his flesh angrily.

"Jeremy – get the girls out of here, quickly. Go to Elijah's. I'll take care of that hunter." And with that he took off in the direction where the shot had come from.

"Damon – no!" I shouted, but he was already gone. Alys, who thanks to Jeremy's blood seemed to have regained some of her strength, scrambled to her feet. "We need to go, Elena," she said, still breathing heavily. "None of us is strong enough to be of any help to Damon right now."

"No, we can't leave him! Who knows how many hunters are out there..."

"Right – that's why we have to get out of here. You heard what Damon said."

All my protests that I wasn't the one in danger right now were in vain. "She's right, Elena," Jeremy said determinedly. "Katherine is still out there somewhere. Damon will have our hides if something happens to you. We need to get someplace safe."

I had a very bad feeling about this, but their reasoning was sound. There was nothing I could do to help him, but maybe Elijah could. Following Damon's order and going to his place was the wisest option right now.

Only later, with more time to think things through, did I notice all those little details that we had missed before and realized: We all had walked into a trap.

*'*'*'*'*

We reached Elijah's house within ten minutes. He was shocked to see us all in the disheveled state we were in: Our clothes were all blood stained and dirty, and Jeremy was still bleeding slightly from his wrist. Elijah quickly took care of that and gave Alys a blood bag.

"I'm sorry," she apologized to Jeremy, looking guilty. "I should have done something about your wound immediately.

"Well, as I remember, we were not exactly having much time," Jeremy pointed out. "Not with that hunter shooting at us. I'm just glad that he missed your heart."

We told Elijah what had happened, and he immediately got ready to go after Damon. "Don't worry," he tried to calm Alys and me. "I'm sure Damon is perfectly capable of taking care of a couple of hunters. I'll just head out there to offer him a hand. We'll be back in no time."

With that, he was gone and there was nothing to do but wait impatiently for their return.

I called Jenna to let her know that we were okay, and was relieved to hear that Alaric was with her. There had been no sign of Katherine or the hunters.

When twenty minutes had passed, I was getting concerned. Another quarter of an hour later, I was pacing the room restlessly, slowly starting to feel panicky. And when the phone rang in my pocket showing an incoming text message, my heart sank at the deja-vu feeling of the situation.

I quickly left the room, sure that this message was for my eyes only and already dreading it's content. With trembling fingers, I opened the attachment, and even though I was prepared to see something dreadful, I almost dropped the phone on the sight of the gruesome picture that had been taken just two minutes ago.

Katherine had created a scene right out of a horror movie. Damon was more hanging than standing, his outstretched arms held by chains and his wrists locked in clamps that looked like bear traps with vicious, iron teeth. Blood covered his naked torso and was running down from his arms. She had obviously been torturing him for mere pleasure – getting her revenge on both of us and giving me a really strong incentive to do as her text message suggested: 'Get into a car and head out of Mystic Falls on highway 31. Keep driving until I give you further instructions. I suggest you hurry up – your boyfriend is in pain.'

My legs gave in and I had to support myself against the wall. My throat constricted, tears started falling, my hands were shaking badly. Katherine had most likely had this all planned out. Had she set the hunters on our track to drive us out of the house? In retrospect, it seemed unlikely that they could have missed Alys's heart when shooting at her from up close through the window. She had been completely unsuspecting and on full display. Maybe Katherine had managed to turn the tables on the hunters that had been following her. She must have compelled them to drive us out of the house. Would Alys have managed to escape into the woods, if their attacks had been intended to kill, and not to divert?

Most likely, Katherine had reckoned that I would stay safely inside the house – just as she knew that Damon would rush to his sister's rescue. Her best chance to get me was to get Damon out of the way first. Most likely, she had been lurking close by, waiting for a chance to capture Damon on his rescue mission. Alone, unsuspecting and already weakened from the hunter's attack he had probably been an easy target.

What now? My mind was running in circles like a trapped animal. There was no way we could both get out of this alive. Not even if I did as she said and let her turn me. She'd still kill me – or more likely, kill Damon, just to make my new eternal life a living hell. There was no way to overwhelm her, either. By sending me out on a lonesome highway she'd made sure that she could see whether I was coming alone or not.

Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to calm down and think. What did she expect me to do? There was no time to come up with a wicked plan. I had to take her by surprise, do something that she wouldn't expect. I was my only chance.

And suddenly, maybe because the adrenalin in my blood had sent my mind into overdrive, it came up with an idea. Yes. It meant putting everything at stake, but no matter the outcome, Damon would be safe.

Feeling much calmer now that I knew what I had to do, I silently slipped into the kitchen and hastily searched the drawers. Fortunately, I found the kitchen utensils I was looking for in the drawer right next to the knives. Elijah's car keys were on the table in the hallway. I quickly grabbed them, too, and snuck out of the house.