Kick, claw, do something!

Damon knew he had to fight back, get to Cliona, somehow get her to safety. He knew she was in trouble, she was with that blonde Nut Job, and Katherine must've been telling the truth when she said she had had nothing to do with any of the murders. But the truth was, shock was holding him back. He'd spent so long trying to cut himself off from people, forbade himself from loving anyone. And the one time he had been unsuccessful, he hadn't spent nearly enough time near her, or kept her out of harms way. If he was unsuccessful again, then she'd end up dead, and he wouldn't be there for her. She would be alone, and Damon, himself, would be left to wallow in the fact that he hadn't spent enough time with her. He knew he had done it to protect her, but all of the council meetings, and sending her everywhere for her own protection, had led to him never seeing her as much as he should have.

And here stood the threat, finally.

There was no vervain, no sharp pieces of wood lying around. Nothing.

"It'd be lovely if we could catch up but I need to dash. I just wanted to make sure you wouldn't interfere"

Gasping for breath, Damon slowly looked to the man holding him by the throat. He had been the last person that Damon expected to see in Mystic Falls. He was meant to be dead, burned along with that bar in Arkansas decades ago. Before he knew that to expect, a stake had been lodged into his stomach, knocking any of the wind he had managed to inhale out of him.

Damon doubled over in pain, noticing that the hand around his neck was now gone, and looked up to see that the other vampire had disappeared. "At least he missed the heart" Damon grumbled to himself, before falling to his side and trying to get his phone out to call Stefan, not allowing himself the time to contemplate why it had been his stomach and not his heart that the stake had pierced.

000

"What are you doing here?" Elena took a cautious step back, which didn't go unnoticed by her doppleganger.

"Just tying up a few loose ends. I need to borrow you for a while" Katherine smiled sweetly, before taking a step forward, like a lioness stalking her prey.

"Wha-" But before Elena could finish her question, Katherine had struck her across the face, leaving her unconscious.

"I totally could have passed drama" Katherine huffed, trying to pick Elena up.

"Finally, why haven't you been picking up your cell? I've spent the last half hour being staked and trying to talk to you" Damon said angrily, now behind the wheel of his car and trying to get to the Boarding House to tell his brother about the vampire that had staked him.

"It's Cliona. Cordelia found her"

"Is she okay?!"

"She's alive. Pretty beat up, but she's unconscious. Elena brought her here from the Grill. She didn't see Cordelia, but it seems the most likely explanation"

"I'm on my way" Damon hung up the phone and pressed his foot down on the accelerator. He had to get to her as soon as he possibly could. It had been stupid to leave her. It had gotten him staked and left her unprotected. Elena could never have protected her. It had been a stupid move. If tonight had taught him anything, it was that Cliona was not to leave his sights anymore.

That was if she made it tonight

Don't think like that!

What if I need to turn her?

Don't think about that! Just focus on getting to her now.

The car just didn't seem to be going fast enough. He was now passing through the town square. He was imagining Cliona lying there, on the couch by the fire, unconscious, probably covered in her own blood. Elena pacing with her arms crossed, most likely blaming herself, which she should be doing. She shouldn't have let her go to the Grill, she should have brought Cliona back to her house, or to the Boarding House where Stefan had been. It was all Elena's fault. He didn't think he could forgive her if anything happened.

The drive seemed to take forever. When the car was finally stopped in front of the house, Damon wasted no time and entered the house at vampire speed. His eyes widened when he saw her there, her eyes still closed. There was no blood, but Damon could smell it. Elena or Stefan had probably cleaned her up. There were still a few droplets of blood on her clothes and in her hair.

"Why were you even at the Grill?" Damon growled in Elena's direction. She hadn't been pacing like he had expected, she had stood there awkwardly, her hands by her sides. She had just quietly stood there, no apologies, or telling him that she would be fine.

"We didn't think th-"

"OF COURSE YOU DIDN'T THINK! IF YOU DECIDED TO THINK, SHE WOULDN'T BE LIKE THIS!"

"Hey, hey, knock it off okay? You can't shout at Elena like that" Stefan interjected, coming to stand between his brother and his girlfriend.

"I'm sure you would be saying that to Cliona, if it were Elena lying there! Look at her! We don't even know if she'll wake up!"

"Of course she will. But we need to figure out a way to make sure it'll never happen again"

He listened for a heartbeat. It was slow, he didn't know if it would get slower or faster. He wasn't a doctor, but what he did know, was that he didn't want to take any risks. He didn't want to move her anymore than he already had. "Leave me alone with her" Damon almost whispered.

Stefan didn't reply. He merely nodded without even looking to his brother, and left with Elena following close behind with no hint of refusal. Damon thought that it was her guilt that must be keeping her silent. After all, what do you say to the guy who's sort-of-girlfriend was attacked on your watch?

He looked down at Cliona again and caressed her cheek gently with his hand. She was cold. That was definitely a bad sign. He didn't want to take any risk, and without thinking brought his wrist to his mouth and bit down, ignoring the sharp sting and allowed the blood to flow freely from his arm. Gently, he placed it against Cliona's mouth. "Come on, come on". She hadn't tried to drink any of it, but he knew that some must have, at least, fallen into the back of her mouth. Desperate times call for desperate measures, he thought. Not seeing anything to lose, he held Cliona's nose with his free hand and waited, his heart pounding with no sign of ever slowing down.

Gulp.

A breath of relief left him. His eyes closed in the new found calm, as he felt her begin to drink some more, before he could feel the gashes begin to heal. Cliona's eyes sprang open, her eyes widening even more when she realised what was going on. She pushed Damon's arm away and tried to sit up. "Thank God"

"Where's Elena? What happened to Cordelia? How did I get here? Where were you? Why did you give me blood? What's going on?" Cliona asked, her breath speeding up and her eyes darting from side to side. Her chest was heaving, panic setting in, mind unable to focus on just one thing.

"Hey hey, it's okay. I'm here now okay? I'm here. Look at me" Damon said coaxingly, bending down and cupping her face in his two hands, so she could look him straight in the eye. "I'm here now. You're safe. Everyone is fine. It's you I'm worried about. What happened?"

"It, it was Cordelia. She was there, at the Grill. I was waiting for Elena to come outside and she…" Cliona replied quickly, tears building up in her eyes. "I can't. I can't believe it. She actually tried to kill best friend just tried to kill me."

"Breath, okay. Just breath. Deep breaths"

Cliona nodded, looking directly into Damon's eyes as he let his hands fall from her face and came to sit next to her on the couch.

"Why does she hate me? What did I do? Oh my God, she's really a vampire. I saw her eyes change. She would've done it. But why? I've always been there for her."

"Because she's a Nut Job. I've telling you since the day we met" Damon replied, slowly rubbing her back in order to calm down the woman beside him. It seemed to be working so he didn't dare stop just yet. Her breathing was finally returning back to normal and she had stopped shaking.

"You're actually going to say I Told You So now? Of all times?" Cliona said darkly, but the slight curve of her lip told Damon that she wasn't being serious.

He didn't think that he could cope with an argument with her, so soon after almost watching her die in front of him.

"When?"

"I don't know, 9,9:30. She seemed kinda pissed. She claimed she had nothing to do with the murders"

"That was before the Grill. We didn't leave till 10" Cliona said, arms crossed as Stefan informed her and Damon about Katherine's visit, while Elena was at school. Cliona was in no mood to work so she had called Kyle to let him know to put up a sign before he went to school himself. He'd insisted on taking the day off and taking care of the place but she felt asking him to do such a thing was too much, and didn't want to anger his father either, especially after just getting him on the straight and narrow. Kyle may have thought that his son was falling back into old habits.

Damon glanced at her before looking back at his brother.

"So I have a blast from the past called Ryan, which will totally confuse things. Cliona has a psycho vampire best friend after her. And your old flame is trying to get into our vervaine supply. Great. That's just great." Damon said bitterly, folding his arms and turning around to face the wall, too angry and frustrated to speak anymore.

"Do you think Katherine has anything to do with Cordelia and Ryan?" Cliona asked Stefan, worry evident in her eyes.

"We don't know yet. But there's got to be a reason she wants vervaine."

"Ugh this is so much to take in, I think I need to write it all out and draw diagrams or something." Cliona put her hand to her face as she turned around and began to walk to the other end of the room, clearly as frustrated as Damon.

"I've got the next best thing" came Damon's voice. She took her hand away to see a glass with a dark liquid being held in front of her. She smiled a little, taking the glass. "You're getting to know me too well"

He smirked in response before taking a swig from his own glass and turning to face Stefan. "Well you might want to warn your girlfriend about your psycho ex, if she's really hanging around town anyway."

"And what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to stay with Cliona and hopefully come up with a way to get rid of one of our other nuisances." Damon spoke with a light tone and smirked as he tilted his glass in Stefan's direction, but both Stefan and Cliona could tell that he was internally seething.

With a parting look to Cliona that read 'Don't Let Him Get Drunk', Stefan left the room, intent on finding Elena.

"You don't need to stay with me" Cliona said, moving towards the couch across from the fire and taking a seat. She didn't need a babysitter and she wasn't feeling up to going to work any time soon. "We don't even know if she has a daylight ring".

"Well I'm not taking any chances. And you're not leaving my sight again, so do us a favour and make yourself useful." Damon responded, waving her to follow him as he walked deeper into the house. Cliona followed him, going through doorways she had never previously passed through, even when she had stayed in the Boarding House during Jean's stay in Mystic Falls.

They began to descend a set of stairs going down below to the lower levels. It became colder as they walked and Cliona couldn't help but place her hands on her arms. It was much more confined now, with old brick walls on either side of them, some of them looking as if they had begun to crumble away.

"If Katherine wants vervaine, she's up to something. So it's up to us to ensure she doesn't get her paws on it."

"So where are you going to put it? Assuming I'm only here to help you move it" Cliona ended a little dryly.

"I would give it to Liz, but Katherine has this annoying habit of pretending to be Elena, so she might accidentally invite her in. Then there's Bonnie, but she might refuse to give it back or cast some weird spells on it. Well that, and I don't really like her all that much, mainly because she loathes me" Damon began to explain as they finally finished with the stairs and stopped at the end of a hallway, with one side lined with heavy doors. It was like a dungeon for all the world, thought the brunette.

"Matt, again, might think she's Elena, or do something else as equally stupid. Elena would kill me if I roped Jeremy into it. So that just leaves…"

"Me" Cliona finished for him. Damon smiled at her condescendingly. "Nice to know I'm a last resort" Damon's smile was replaced by a frown. "Cordelia has been in my house. She lives there too!"

"But she's a vampire. And as long as the house is in your name and you rescind her invitation, she can't enter."

"Damon, she'd burn it down. She wouldn't give up. It'd put a bigger target on my head. And if Katherine found out, who's to say she wouldn't try and work with the other two. It's too dangerous."

"I know" Damon said gently, reason in his eyes as he placed his hands on her arms and looked down at her to lock eyes with hers, "But Katherine can get in here. And we need to be careful. I don't like it either. But this is a chance that needs to be taken". He pulled away from her and unlocked the door. "Now," his voice was louder now and much more authoritative, "is this bachelorette pad of yours in your name or what?"

Cliona gave him a look of contempt and cynicism, her arms now folded, as she walked into the room ahead of him. There was a UV light hanging from the ceiling and shining on purple flowers that almost looked like lavender. "That's it? That's vervaine. Your kryptonite is lavender? Lavender hurts you" Cliona was almost on the verge of laughing.

Here she was, in her twenties and standing in a vampire's basement, staring at the flower that was apparently lethal to him, in order to keep them safe from other vampires, now including one of her friends that was currently trying to kill her. The laughter was probably due to her disbelief of how her life had turned out, or it could have been due to the fact that everything was finally taking its toll on her after she had nearly died the night before. Then again, it may have just been due to the blood loss too.

Damon picked up a pair of gloves from the small table in the corner by the door and began to put them on. "Well I don't know what you were expecting. You knew it was a plant"

"Yeah but I thought it was like a leaf or a weed or something"

"Whatever, come on and help me move this"

Cliona was conflicted. Part of her wanted to stay in her own house and babysit the flowers that she was hiding. It was ridiculous. They were treating it like some sort of drug movement, when actually all the fuss was over a flower. A FLOWER!

But she wanted it to be safe and out of the grasp of the other vampires that were trying to kill her and her friends. She was paranoid that Cordelia would figure out a way to get inside and then shit would hit the fan. What if she gave it to Katherine? What if she made a deal for Katherine to kill Cliona and in return she would give it to her? What would Cordelia do if she had vervaine at her disposal? Cordelia hated nature. So it wasn't like she would accidentally try to wear it in her hair and burn off half of her scalp.

Cliona couldn't help but internally snicker at the thought.

But the other part of Cliona didn't want to go anywhere near her house or the plant. Again, what if Cordelia turned up? Cliona didn't want to be anywhere near her. And what if she ended up being there too much and drawing attention. She didn't even know how much it would need to be watered. She wasn't a botanist, by not by any stretch of the imagination.

Either way, it was safe in her own basement now, the invitation had been rescinded and all was right with the world, or at least, as right as it could be.

What she needed was to get away entirely from the situation and that stupid flower.

Damon had been driving silently, unable to bring himself to say anything, too enveloped in his own thoughts.

"Pull over, I need to get something from the store" Cliona said quietly, with all the authority she could muster.

Damon sighed and parked the car by the curb. "Make it quick" he ordered. He didn't get out of the car to follow her, instead opting to stay in the car and keep the engine running. He watched her as she pressed the button on the keychain that made the electric window shutters rise, and then proceeded to unlock the door. It was when she flipped the door sign to 'open' that he realised what she was doing.

He huffed and cut the engine, getting out of the car and going to enter the shop himself. "Forget something?" he asked sarcastically, as the door swung shut behind him.

"Yep, my sanity" Cliona replied, no longer willing to have people tell her what to do, where to go, or who should go with her. She was turning the key in the cash register and turning it on, keeping her eyes on the task at hand and not at Damon.

"Cliona, you can't seriously be thinking of doing this today. You nearly died the last time"

"No. I was fine here. I was attacked at the Grill, and I refuse to allow anyone to take my livelihood from me. When they're gone, I need to have something to fall back on. I won't lose the thing that brought me here. This store has being my life goal and I refuse to throw it away. I'm not doing it Damon. Cordelia may be able to abandon it but it was just her excuse to get to America. I'm taking care of things"

The way she said it, with such passion and anger, prevented Damon from responding for a while. He stood silently in the middle of the shop, watching her as she moved around dealing with security machines, switching on lights and radios. It was like a well rehearsed dance, she did it all so rhythmically. He finally understood that this was her life, this place. And he had to admire her dedication to it, just as he had been dedicated to find Katherine all that time ago.

"I get it. But I want you to know that I want you safe-"

"I know you feel guilty. I know you're angry because you weren't there. But you can't glue yourself to me forever. We both need space. You can't follow me into the women's bathroom, and you wouldn't want me following you if you had to eat someone. We need to get used to this"

Damon strode forward and stopped, trapping her between himself and the window, with the wall and the counter on either side of her too, preventing any form of escape. "Can't I play the role of overprotective boyfriend at least once? I feel useless when it comes to your safety as it is"

Cliona smiled and took a step toward him until they were only centimetres apart. She looked up into his eyes, as if she were about to tell him something really profound, or that she loved him. "You can", she said, " You can make yourself useful and get putting the clothes in the back on racks"

Damon huffed, with the mood now killed. "Oh yeah, and what makes you think I'll do that?"

"I'll let you use the price gun if you do"

Damon smiled, the sarcasm evident in his facial features alone. "Ah, the thing I've always wanted to do. You've found my weakness"

Cliona went back to stand behind the register, obviously not going to move any time soon.

"You're impossible" he said, torn between anger and amusement. If it had been Stefan and Elena in this position, he would've stood back and left, perhaps even told his brother to leave his girlfriend to it. He hadn't cared about someone else's welfare in a long time.

It was certainly going to be a long day.

"Seriously?"

"Caroline! Just go with me on this, please! I know what I saw. I know what I felt."

"I do Bonnie. I trust you. You're my best friend. But she's, like, Jeremy's age, if not younger"

"Who says there has to be an age limit?"

After a few seconds of silence Caroline asked, "What are you going to do with her?"

"I told Stefan. He said to bring her to Elena's. He's there now. He said that he'll let Damon know"

"Do you actually think Damon will show? I mean, he's basically trying to attach himself to Cliona, they'll be Siamese if he gets his way"

"He needs to know, Caroline", Bonnie said seriously, looking up at Caroline, not letting her height get in the way. Caroline's mouth twitched as she bit her tongue, knowing that they should do what Bonnie said. She was the expert in this area, after all. "Okay, I'll drive".

The shorter of the two smiled in thanks and went to get into the passenger seat, leaving Caroline standing in front of her car as she looked out into the distance, not liking what was about to happen. Mystic Falls was weird enough already.

"Seriously"

Elena's arms were still and her muscles were beginning to ache. She didn't know how long she had been sitting there, but she had noticed that the sun was shining, so she knew that it was the next day.

The rope itched her skin and she was starving. Her neck ached more than her arms after sleeping in her seated position. She hadn't been inside this apartment before, but it seemed basic and unused. It was too clean to be lived in. There were no dishes in the sink, no creases on the blanket covering the settee.

No one had been to check on her.

It was obviously Katherine who had stuck her here. And she was most likely out there, parading around as Elena. She could only hope that Caroline or Bonnie would notice soon and get her out of the chair. Stefan had told her about the vervaine. Maybe that's why she was doing this. Or maybe that, in itself, was a ploy and she was up to something much more sinister?

Elena let out a sigh of frustration, her eyes beginning to heat up as she felt the tears coming. Her throat constricted, and she became focused on trying to control herself. She couldn't cry. Not here. Not now. Stefan would save her. It would all be okay.

The door creaked open .

Kyle was happy, actually happy, for the first time in years.

He liked being busy. He liked his new responsibilities, his job, the fact his father was proud of him and making it known, and above all, he was finally talking to the girl that he had secretly been harboring a likeness for the past few years.

And all of those things had brought him here, to Lucy's house, helping her with her fears over going for the interview she had had to reschedule for Cliona's shop. He had never noticed how much of an anxious person she was. It was only now, as he took in the long hair in her face, the way she meekly picked things up and kept her head down, that he actually noticed how shy she could be.

"It's okay! She'll love you. Plus you'd totally score points for being a girl. Since Cordelia left, it's just been us really"

"What happened to her?"

"I don't know. I think they had a fight. Cliona said she was unreliable anyway. She used to leave for days at a time, she wasn't too happy when I was hired. Cliona said she partly hired me to get back at her for leaving as much as she did. Hey, it's kinda hot out, how about we take a break. I'll go and get some slushies or something and come back here, and we can sit outside or something."

Lucy looked up at him from the other side of the couch, and pushed some of her hair behind her ear with a small smile, "Sure, that sounds nice"

"Okay, I'll go now and be back soon."

"Damon, thank God you're here" Bonnie said, relief evident in her voice as she saw Damon standing by a shelf. She had just walked into Cliona's shop, hoping that the brunette could tell her where the vampire in question was but had luckily found him there instead. "We need to go, Stefan wants us."

"Why?"

"You'll find out when we get there, just come on. You need to be there" If it had been anyone else, Bonnie would have tugged them by the arm and tried to pull them away but she refused to touch Damon. She still couldn't bring herself to like him, not even a little. She could just about tolerate him and that was enough. As Elena's best friend, she would always despise him for how he had tried to create a wedge between her and Stefan. As a witch, she hated him for all of the people he killed. And as a normal woman, she just hated that arrogant look in his eyes.

"What's going on?" Cliona asked, stepping out from behind the counter and coming over to them, her brow furrowed, as she looked at Caroline and Bonnie.

"You need to lock up and come with us!" Bonnie almost cried in exasperation, before turning around and heading out of the shop, expecting the rest of them to follow her before they could ask anymore questions and delay them further.

"What bee is in her Bennett bonnet?" Damon asked Caroline, who just started back at him before heading out to the car after her friend.

Damon looked at her darkly, obviously not pleased with being ignored. "Come on, we better follow them. Call Kyle and get him to cover"

"I can't he said he was with Lucy today."

"Well then lock up and make it quick"

Kyle had gotten Lucy the red slushie. Girls liked the red ones right? He hoped she did anyway. Everything had gone well, and he was really eager to get to know her some more, maybe even ask her if she wanted to catch a movie or something? Or was that too soon?

Her front door was open ajar, which he found odd, but immediately passed off as Lucy trying to leave some air in, after all it was a hot day, hence the slushies.

"Hello?" he called out, pushing the door open with both drinks in hand. "Hello?" he said again, looking around but not seeing any sign of the girl he had been crushing on. "Lucy?" he was getting worried now. If the door had been open then maybe that hadn't been a good sign.

"Why are you doing this?"

"It would've gone smoother if you didn't have vervaine in your system."

"You were going to bite me?!"

"No I wasn't going to bite you. I was going to compel you. I'm not going to hurt you. I just need to ask you a few questions and to explain things to my friends. How did you think I was going to bite you?" he couldn't help it, he was curious.

"You said vervaine. Vervaine equals vampire, and vamps bite from what I remember"

"Well no one is going to hurt you. I promise you"

Cliona, Bonnie, Caroline and Damon were waiting. Damon was impatiently pacing back and forth in Elena's living room. She hadn't turned up yet, and Damon was glad. He was still annoyed over what had happened to Cliona at the Grill, and even more annoyed over how she hadn't even tried to apologize like he had expected her too. He would've turned it down and said that it wasn't enough, but he still wanted her to say sorry. "Where are they? You said they would be here. What's going on?"

"They'll be here, okay? Stefan just needs to pick someone up first, I text Elena. She's on the way" Bonnie tried to reason, just wishing that they could get this over with so she could get away from Damon. His presence annoyed her and his pacing was only amplifying it.

The sound of the front door opening could be heard, followed by the sound of two pairs of feet, rather than three. Obviously Elena hadn't gotten to her house yet.

Cliona looked up from the couch, her eyes widening in genuine surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Yes you have probably all figured it out! I am so sorry about that REALLY long wait. But I've gotten a new laptop and a freer schedule! Plus this story is over halfway done and I refuse to leave it incomplete. It's odd, I need to reread it, and it's even weirder having to write a Bonnie that doesn't like Damon, I mean have you seen the new season?

I've also gotten really heavy into the Buffy fandom, or heavier, anywho I was thinking of writing some stuff for that but I don't know what I'd write plotwise.

Anyway, sorry for that wait and this really long note. I hope you enjoyed it!

p.s I also co-wrote for a book reviewing blog now, and it's new so it doesn't have LOTS done, and all of us are in University so we can't update once a week but I'd appreciate it if you could check it out! We're called The Ink Devourers and can be found on Twitter and Facebook. Or you could just find us at .ie

Oh and sorry if my new pen name confuses anyone

Snozzberry

:)