A/N: Hey y'all! Just a trigger warning: extreme violence, bodily harm, mauling, and maiming are featured in this chapter. Grab your comfort characters and hold on tight, alright? It's brief and at the very end of the chapter, but I thought I should warn you (if you don't like extreme violence, head to the Author's Note when you see "DAMON!", alright?) I promise, fluff is coming after this!

Let The Right One In - Part 2

"Tori!"

Victoria shot upright, gasping as her hands darted up and clamped tightly onto her shirt. Her eyes were wide and she swung her head back and forth in distress. Vicki and Henri were both in front of her, knelt down and their eyes filled with concern. Vicki's eyes also had panic but Henri's had pure anger. His shoulders were heaving, as if he was trying to keep his cool but was failing.

Victoria spoke before she could think, "Please don't be pissed that I died again."

"For once, this trip was not your fault," Henri growled, his hands clenching into fists. "But we will be having a discussion on your self-defense tactics later and how to better improve them. Right now, we have more important things to worry about."

"Like what?"

"Henri and I don't think that Frederick knows you are the Immortalis," Vicki explained hurriedly.

Victoria's brow furrowed. "Great, right? It gives me an advantage against them."

"Not if he thinks you're some kind of reincarnating witch that he can torture and give blood to when you're in need of healing!" Vicki shot back. A shiver hit Victoria and she could feel her blood run cold at the thought. That...made a lot of sense, and a swell of terror collapsed onto Victoria's shoulders. "Tori, if you get even a trace of vampire blood in your system..."

"An immortal plus an immortal creates a mortal," Victoria recited, recalling the words that Stefan had said Zach spoke after Sheila Bennet had killed her. "Alright, so there is a justifiable reason to panic...slightly. The vampires had wyrmwood on their hands when they grabbed me, though. Wouldn't that mean that they knew?"

"Wyrmwood is abundant in those freaking woods," Vicki hissed, her eyes narrowed in anger. "I swear, if I ever get the opportunity to control a body or some stupid fanfiction shit like that, I will burn those woods down. Nothing good ever happens in them. Except Season 5."

"True that," Victoria agreed in her shock, but she could feel her anxiety rising. "S-So what do we do? If they have wyrmwood, then there's nothing I can do to fight them. The only reason I was able to fight back against Sheila was because she ripped my chest cavity open and I was bleeding rivers."

"Find any way to make them make you bleed," Henri advised, reaching forward and putting a hand on her shoulder. "You'll be able to use your blood as a booster for your magic. That, and the smell of your blood will attract them and they'll be on you like children on sweets. It will be painful, but your blood will poison them."

"Lose the battle, win the war," Victoria stated.

Vicki nodded in confirmation. "A third way you can fight back is what you did with Trudie Peterson's attacker. The Immortalis' poor version of compulsion. With strong concentration and sheer will, you were able to override his compulsion. So, you might be able to -"

"- override the compulsion on Miss Gibbons!" Victoria finished for her mind's persona, clapping her hands together in excitement. "Not only would I be able to save her from death by Damon, but I could also implant something that would make her leave before any of the fighting."

"Exactly."

Victoria opened her mouth to ask something else, but there was a sharp burning sensation in her arm. She let out a hiss of pain and glance down at her arm. She tugged up her sleeve, her eyes widening in shock.

There was a thin strip of blood, a cut that had formed out of nowhere. She jerked her head up and looked towards Vicki. Vicki seemed equally as confused and as terrified at the cut as Victoria felt. Henri, meanwhile, took the word 'concerned' to new heights.

Henri's hands came out of nowhere and cradled Victoria's face, forcing her to look away from her arm. She stared straight into Henri's dark eyes and he gave her a stern, but commanding look. He spoke quickly, and Victoria noticed that as he spoke, his body got hazy, as if he was fading out of existence. There was a burning sensation behind her eyes. A headache began, pounding harder and harder as each second passed. "They are bringing you back unnaturally. Your mortal body hasn't finished healing. The pain will be unmeasurable. Remember, you are the Immortalis."

"Henri...y-your voice is getting quieter and m-my eyes hurt. H-Henri, what's happening -"

"- You are the Immortalis!" Henri shouted, his voice loud and booming. It echoed with power. The ground underneath them all shook as everything turned a horrendous black. Victoria's body burned with pain in response. "You. Will. Survive!"

Victoria screamed.

Damon pounded his fist against the door to the Gilbert household. McJudgey had already ignored five of his calls (and then the sixth, which he had just done, which she had just ignored as well) and he was starting to get pissed off. He had things to do, people to see, dates to plan (he already had a faint idea of what he wanted to do with Victoria...alright, that sounded much dirtier in his mind than how he had meant it). He didn't have time for her lollygagging.

Her footsteps approached and the door swung open, revealing Elena Gilbert on the other side, looking slightly confused and annoyed that Damon was at her door.

"You're ignoring me," Damon huffed, pushing past Elena to stomp into her entryway.

Elena grumbled, rolling her eyes and shutting the door behind her, "The six missed calls? Sorry. My phone is dead." Her heart skipped a beat, indicating that she was lying. Damon resisted the urge to snap at her. He had other plans, and some of those plans, unfortunately, involved his younger brother, which meant that Damon had to keep McJudgey alive long enough to figure out where he was.

"Is Stefan here?"

"No," Elena said, and Damon frowned. That wasn't good. He must have made a face, because Elena raised an eyebrow. "Why? Something wrong?"

"He went out in the woods and didn't come back," Damon muttered, shaking his head. "I can't get him on his phone. I figured he was here with you."

"I can try calling him," Elena offered, striding over to her phone. She picked it up and dialed Stefan's number. Damon glared at her and she scrunched up her brow, giving him a look. "What?"

"'My phone is dead'?"

Elena rolled her eyes and verbally shushed him. They waited for a moment longer, and then Damon's ears picked up the telltale sound of Stefan's voicemail. He and Stefan's voicemail had become acquainted on numerous occasions. Some could say that the two of them were friends; they certainly talked more than Damon and Stefan ever did within the last seventeen years.

Elena took her phone down from her ear, the worried frown already on her face deepening with each moment. "It's going straight to voicemail. Where could he be?"

"Well, when he went hunting this morning, he took Victoria with him," Damon commented, sniffing lightly as he recalled that morning's events. "Maybe they're just having their BFF bonding time thingy they like to do occasionally."

Elena frowned, but quickly hid it away behind a blank, emotionless face. She, however, was not fast enough for a vampire of Damon's age to not catch it. He snapped his fingers and pointed towards Elena. "You made a face. What's with the face?"

"It's nothing," Elena lied, her heart skipping another beat.

"It's certainly not nothing if you made a face because of it," Damon refuted, tilting his head to one side. He narrowed his eyes, but widened them a moment later as the realization hit him. "You don't like hearing about Victoria and Stefan's relationship."

"It's nothing," Elena repeated, shaking her head. She set her phone down onto the small table it was resting on previously and leaned up against her hallway wall. "It's nothing."

"Be honest with me, Elena," Damon said, and Elena simply threw him a dazed look. "I can be a decent person every once and a while. I'm special like that. You know that; we got along perfectly well in Georgia after I saved your life."

Elena blew out a breath and shook her head. She leaned her head back enough that it rested up against the wall and she was staring up at the ceiling, looking not all quite there. "I...I worry sometimes; about Victoria and Stefan's relationship. They are both powerful creatures now and they just have this...this spark that I feel might be stronger than the spark that me and Stefan have. I mean, it obviously is strong because even I can see it. So...yeah."

"My brother is a very monogamous person," Damon snorted, rolling his eyes. "If he gets someone in his sights, he will go to extreme lengths to help, save, rescue, love that person, whatever one it may be, given circumstances. The person he's chosen, Elena, is you, not Victoria. The two of them are friends, nothing more. Honestly, they act like twins that were separated at birth most times."

"That...actually is a pretty decent description of their relationship," Elena breathed, her shoulders shaking as she let out a little giggle. "Who would have thought that I could get comfort from Damon Salvatore?" She brought her gaze down and connected eyes with him. A soft smile came to her face. Damon would never readily admit this out loud, because his reputation was already dangerously at stake given how sweet he was to Victoria, but Elena looked better when she smiled. It made her softer, less dramatic, and about ten times less judgey. "Thanks, Damon."

"No problem, McJudgey. Speaking of which, can you try calling Mama Bear? I got plans I need to discuss with Stefan but I didn't want to risk calling him and having her overhear."

"Sure," Elena agreed, grabbing her phone. She scrolled down to Victoria's number and clicked it. She held it up to her ear. A moment later, they heard the click of someone answering the other line. "Tori, hey! How's it going? Are you feeling any better since last night?"

"Miss Katherine? B-But I thought you were...gone."

That wasn't Victoria.

Damon was at Elena's side in a flash and he grabbed the phone away from her, ignoring her cries of distress as he stole the phone. "You've got five seconds to explain why you are answering Victoria LeBlanc's phone instead of the woman herself or I will personally hunt you down and send you to hell."

"M-Mr. Salvatore? Damon Salvatore?"

Damon's brow furrowed. He...He knew that voice...where...? The answer came a moment later, hitting him dead in the chest like a bullet.

"Harper?" Damon said incredulously, blinking out his surprise. "Harper Vessey? Pearl's little soldier?"

"Yes, Sir. I do work with Ms. Pearl, but that's not why you're speaking to me right now. You're looking for Ms. LeBlanc?"

"Yeah, I am. This is her phone," Damon grunted, sending Elena a look. Elena just shrugged, looking helpless. Typical. "Harper, where did you find the phone you're currently holding?"

"This 'electronic', as Ms. Annabelle calls these unique things?"

"Mhmm."

"It was set on one of the hall tables within the house the tomb vampires are staying in. I figured it must have been one of my acquaintances. I did not suspect -"

"- Harper, I need you to listen to me and listen to me well," Damon ordered, straightening his spine. "I don't care what you once believed, but your buddy Frederick tried to attack me, my brother, our mutual friend Victoria, and my brother's best friend last night. They hurt Victoria, but she defended herself and killed Bethanne. He'd be my first guess as to why her phone is there, but how would he have gotten it? It's still day time."

"I've overheard the other vampires speaking of how the storm has allowed them to leave with hoods on. Perhaps that is the method Frederick could have used," Harper suggested. There was a pause on the other side of the line and then Harper's voice came back, harder than before. "Yes. Yes, it was Frederick, for he left this morning with a group of vampires when he thought that many of us were asleep. When he returned, he carried two bodies. I thought that they were members of his morning expedition, James and Emma, who I hadn't seen all day. They moved too fast for me to know for sure."

"Do you hear a heartbeat in the house?" Damon suggested, snapping his fingers at Elena. He moved his hand, pretending he was jiggling car keys, and Elena's eyes widened. She rushed towards the living room, no doubt searching for the car keys, while Harper spoke to Damon.

"There is one for sure, Sir, but that is Ms. Gibbons, Sir. Sweet lady. It's her house."

"Listen real hard, Harper, because this will change this trip from a simple errand to a rescue mission," Damon ordered, on the verge of begging. "Listen for a heartbeat. Could be slower or even faster than Ms. Gibbons. And use your sense of smell. Does something smell like ambrosia?"

"Ambrosia? Really?" Elena stated incredulously, poking her head out from underneath the coffee table. Damon snapped at her and waved his hand, telling her to go back searching for the car keys. Elena grunted but ducked her head back down, searching once more.

"Now that you mention it, Sir, there is a peculiar smell coming from -"

A scream from the other side of the line interrupted Harper and Damon felt his body freeze. His blood ran cold and he could feel his fangs starting to drop in anger.

That was Victoria's scream.

He, unfortunately, would recognize it anywhere.

"I'll be there in three minutes and you better pray that she is not injured, or I will rain down hellfire," Damon swore, hanging up hurriedly.

A moment later, Elena stood up, her car keys held up triumphantly in her hands. Not caring who would see, Damon bolted towards Elena with his vampiric speed, grabbing the keys and the teenager, and in the blink of an eye, the two were inside the car, Damon seated in the driver's seat with Elena in the passenger's side. Elena let out a squeak of fear at the sudden change of environment, but Damon ignored it as he peeled out of Elena's driveway and sped off down the street. He probably broke every speed limit, pushing Elena's little vehicle to the extremes, but he didn't car.

Frederick had his brother.

Frederick had his Mama Bear.

Frederick had chosen death, it appeared.

And if there was a single hair on his Mama Bear's head that was even the littlest bit out of place, then Frederick would wish for death. He would cry out for relief, for a reprieve, but Damon wouldn't give it to him. Pain and suffering would be his only companions, and then he would go straight to hell, even if Damon had to escort him there himself.

"Damon," he heard Elena whimper pitifully from beside him. He had completely forgot that she was there. He was too deep within his anger, and he honestly didn't care what kind of opinion Elena had. He swerved down a turn and Elena let out a cry of distress. "Damon, slow down, please, you're scaring me!"

Human. Elena Gilbert was human. She wasn't indestructible like a vampire. She wasn't reincarnating like Victoria. Slow. Slow.

Victoria's screams haunted his brain.

Yeah, not too slow, but he did reduce his speed marginally. Victoria may have an awkward relationship with Elena, but his Mama Bear would be mighty pissed if Elena was injured. Elena must have noticed the reduced speed, because her heartbeat slowed down a little. It was still faster than what was probably healthy, but oh well. There was nothing that Damon could do about that.

They got to the woods in record time and Damon was flying out of his seat before they were even fully stopped. Elena's hand clamped down on the handle of her door, ready to follow, but Damon held up a finger and glared at her. "You step out of that door and you will regret it, McJudgey. Do not test me right now."

Turning around without seeing if she was going to follow him, Damon sprinted towards the house in the woods. He had seen the building a handful of times when he had gone hunting for the stray hiker, but had never thought much of it other than it was conveniently close to the tomb. He took the front steps two at a time and when he got to the door, he pounded on it, his hand closed into a tight fist.

"Pearl!" Damon shouted, his voice a thinly-veiled threat. "Open this door! I swear to God, I'll bust through and rip your head off."

The door opened a moment later, but the person behind Door Number One was not Pearl.

Confirming Damon's suspicions, Frederick stood behind the door, a condescending smirk on his face. It made Damon's blood boil. "Pearl's not home. Hmm. Beautiful weather. Not a ray of sun in the sky."

"Where are they?" Damon ordered, dropping his hand from the door. His hands were clenched into white-knuckled fists and all he wanted was to punch the vampire in front of him in the face.

"Billy," Frederick called out.

Two vampires walked into the hallway entrance, a limper vampire hung between them.

Stefan.

Damon straightened up subconsciously as he observed his brother. Crumbled in on himself, panting, eyes watering and looking like he was a fish out of water. He gasped for air but it seemed like he couldn't get enough breath in his lungs. He caught Damon's eyes and Damon didn't need words to hear what Stefan was crying out. All he had to do was look into his eyes. The eyes were the windows to the soul, after all.

I'm sorry.

I failed.

Forgive me.

"You're dead," Damon growled, making sure that it was obvious he was directing his words towards Frederick. No need to hurt his brother even more than he already was.

"Whoa, I'm sorry," Frederick pouted, shaking his head. "You haven't been invited in. Ms. Gibbons?"

A woman walked into view, standing beside Frederick. She was older in age, maybe a decade or two ahead of Zach. She dressed like a grandmother though. She looked towards Frederick with adoration in her eyes, and even Damon could tell that it was compulsion in the way her eyes sparkled. "Yes, Frederick, honey?"

"Never let this bad man in."

"I'll never let him in," Ms. Gibbons agreed, turning towards Damon. Frederick turned his head briefly to speak something to the vampires holding Damon's brother, and Damon caught Ms. Gibbons mouthing something to him. He squinted for a moment, returning back to his previous stance when Frederick turned around.

For now.

Those had been the words that Ms. Gibbons had mouthed to him. The moment that Frederick looked back towards Ms. Gibbons, she looked as clueless as she had been moments ago. Damon did his best to pretend he knew what the hell was going on and what the hell those two words had meant.

"One hundred and forty-five years left starving in a tomb," Frederick monologued, and Damon did his best to pay attention. He wasn't all that interesting of a guy, to be honest, "thanks to Katherine's infatuation with you and your brother. First few weeks, every single nerve in your body screams with fire. The kind of pain that can drive a person mad. Well...I thought your brother might want to get a taste of that before I killed him. Billy."

The man next to Stefan grabbed a stake from behind his back and rammed it straight into Stefan's stomach. Stefan let out a gurgled gasp of pain and blood shot out from his mouth and stomach. The vampire let out whimpered cries as he fell in on himself; fell into the pain. Damon didn't even realize he had punched the wooden doorframe in front of him until his fist started to pulse with pain. A handful of broken fingers; something he could worry about later.

Damon turned his gaze back towards Frederick as the man mused, "You have a nice day."

"Where is she?"

"Who?" Frederick asked, pretending to be clueless.

Damon let his vampiric features come to his face. Frederick was maybe a year or two older than him in terms of vampire years, but Damon had a hundred plus years of experience under his belt. He would not be intimated by what was practically a child vampire. He hissed menacingly, spittle flying as he shouted, "Where is she?"

Frederick didn't seem frightened by Damon's sudden rage. "Oh. You mean my new best friend. Chrys, would you be a dear and bring out our new friend?"

There was a clattering of footsteps, and a new heartbeat joined the collective. A moment later, a body stumbled into the room, falling to their knees.

Holy shit.

Dead.

Every single one of them would be dead and Damon wouldn't blink while doing it either.

It was Victoria alright; Damon could recognize her from the scent of her blood (plus that hair was a little hard to try and hide). And shit, there was a lot of blood. It soaked into her skin and her clothes; her outfit was all soiled and ruined by her life juices. Damon couldn't see exactly what she was plagued with, but there were noticeable cuts on her arms. Her ribs rubbed against each other in a crackling way that concerned Damon. That wasn't the biggest area of concern, though.

Her head was covered with two bandanas: one covered her eyes like a blindfold, while the other was tied around her mouth like a badly placed gag. Her hands were tied behind her back by something, but Damon didn't know what. Her cheeks, what could be seen between the two bandanas, were tearstained and red, as if they were scrubbed heartily with something. Or like something was scrubbed off; Damon spotted a little blob of blood hidden just in front of her ear. Her lips and lower chin were also stained with a dark blood and there was a thin blood train falling from Victoria's nose. There was a thick scent of herbs in the air and it radiated around the premise of the building more than a millennial's house would, and Damon winced at the sharp smell. Vervain.

Victoria's body shook silently, and it reminded Damon too much of the time when Emily had kidnapped Victoria. She was defenseless and Damon didn't like that. He didn't like that at all.

Victoria let out a hiss of pain as the female vampire who brought her in grabbed the back of her hair, tilting her head up so she would have been staring straight into Damon's eyes if she wasn't blindfolded.

The doorframe cracked hard underneath his fingertips and he didn't tear his face away from the damaged shape of Victoria. "Dead. Each and every single one of you are dead."

"It's cute that you assume you have any power here," Frederick snickered, striding away from the door. He wound his way down the hallway and stopped when he was standing on Victoria's other side. He placed a hand down on her head and Victoria flinched. Damon seethed. "She killed my Bethanne. Did you seriously think that I was just going to let her off easy?"

"I figured you would have a semblance of honor," Damon snapped back, gritting his teeth. His fangs were salivating, wanting to dig themselves into each and every vampire's neck. "She bested you; respect it and move on."

"If she had killed your dear beloved Katherine, wouldn't you have reacted that same way?" Frederick fired back, moving away from Victoria and back towards his previous spot.

"You don't realize the utter hell you have just unleashed," Damon swore, ignoring Frederick's statement and shaking his head.

"I think I'm aware, and I can handle it."

"No, you don't, dickhead!" Damon growled, moving his eyes away from Victoria to Frederick. "There is a whole cult of occult species dedicated to protecting her just because their leader has a crush on her, vampires in town who would be more than willing to swim through an ocean of vervain to ensure she stays safe, and a witch mother who could fry all of your brains without a second glance. If you do not let her go, I will open the floodgates and you will learn for yourselves that your choices were idiotic at best, freaking clueless at worst."

"You don't scare me, Damon Salvatore."

"I'm not the one you should be afraid of."

There was a muffled grunt from Victoria and through the gag, it sounded as if she was trying to say his name. Damon looked back towards Victoria, sucking in a sharp breath. To Victoria, he swore, "Hang in there, Mama Bear. These idiots will regret it."

"Maybe you'll regret your harsh words, Damon," Frederick fired back. He snapped his fingers. "Chrysanthemum, if you would."

The female vampire by Victoria's side wrenched her head back, causing the Immortalis to let out a pained gasp. Chrys, Damon assumed, dropped her fangs and knelt down beside Victoria. She lined up her mouth with the curve of Victoria's neck and bit down. Hard.

Victoria let out a panicked, muffled scream and flailed around on the ground and Damon let out a roar of rage and he punched the doorframe even harder. "Let her go! Stop!"

Chrys took a few more steady gulps before many things happened all at once.

First thing, Stefan stood up. On the surface level, this wouldn't be that remarkable of an event to note during a time like this. However, given the fact that he had a wooden stake jammed right into his stomach, Damon was surprised he was even functional. He was running low on Bambi blood and he had probably bled quite a bit already. Stefan let out what Damon could only describe as an animalistic growl and he flung the two vampires holding him down into the walls of the hallway. He jerked the stake out of his stomach with a pained grunt, but he blitzed Chrys. He grabbed her hair, forcibly detaching her from Victoria's pulse point, and he threw her down the hallway, dropping the stake in his hand as he did so.

Second thing that happened was that Harper came running through one of the doorways. Damon hadn't seen him in over a hundred and forty-five years, but he looked the same. Ah, the perks of being a vampire. He Spartan-kicked Frederick out of the way, sending him careening into Ms. Gibbons. The two went falling onto the floor, and Harper made a brief moment of eye contact with Damon before he sprinted towards Victoria.

Third thing, Victoria smiled. The moment that Chrys had been thrown off of her, Damon had noticed the corners of her lips peeking up above the gag. She had wanted Chrys to drink from her. Why?

An immortal plus an immortal creates a mortal.

Her blood was toxic to vampires.

Damon cracked a sadistic grin. Oh yeah, he was definitely a bad influence on Victoria and he loved it.

Harper and Stefan reached Victoria at the same time. Both of them made eye contact for a solid two seconds before silently grabbing her by each arm. They hauled her up to her feet and she stumbled as she did so. Stefan and Harper led her quickly as they could to do the door.

However, before they got very far, the two vampires that Stefan had sent into the walls were up, grabbing Stefan and tearing him off of Victoria. The lose of his presence beside Victoria sent the woman tripping, collapsing to the floor. Chrys was up on her feet and in front of Harper, her hands wrapped dangerously around his throat. One quick twist, and a loud snap filled the room. Harper went down like a sack of potatoes, his eyes unseeing and his neck twisted at an odd angle. Chrys moved for Victoria next, quickly straddling the woman and pinning her to the floor by planting two strong hands on her shoulders. Victoria tried to fight back, but it seemed that the strength that she had had early had passed already.

Frederick was up and glaring at Damon, covering his view of the hallway. Damon didn't like that and growled, "I was enjoying the show, man."

"Try and get here all you want; it won't do a thing. As I said, I am not afraid of you nor am I afraid of anyone you may bring with you to try and save them," Frederick spat, his body vibrating with anger.

Damon let out a scoff and gave Frederick a dark glare, mustering up all the venom he could as he whispered, "Who cares if you're not scared of me? It's nobody out here that you should be fearful of. You should be scared of the ones you brought into your home." He backed up and swore colorfully, "Stefan, Mama Bear, I'm coming for you. Hang tight, okay?"

"Hurry...up..." came Stefan's weak, quiet reply. He couldn't be positive, but he thought he heard Victoria grunt.

"Grab that gift at the end of the porch on your way out," Frederick chuckled darkly, gesturing behind Damon. Damon briefly glanced backwards. There was a small little red box with yellow ribbon sitting on one of the tables. Damon narrowed his eyes at it and turned back to Frederick, but the vampire had shut the front door already.

Damon frowned. He reached out and nabbed the present and ditched the house, rushing back a mile away from the house where his car and Elena were waiting. When he skidded to a stop, Elena was busy getting herself out of the car. Damon rolled his eyes. Apparently she didn't listen to anything that he said.

"What happened?" Elena demanded, pulling her coat tighter around her body. She shivered lightly. "Where are they?"

"The tomb vampires have the both of them," Damon growled, shaking his head. "I can't get in."

"Why not?"

"Because the woman who owns the house is compelled to not let me in, for now," Damon explained, blinking his eyes in confusion. "I think that has something to do with Victoria, but I'm not so sure."

"I could get in," Elena suggested, but Damon was already shooting down that idea immediately.

"You're not going in there," Damon huffed, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"I'm going!"

"You're not going in there," Damon repeated, shooting her a sharp glare to get her to shut up.

"Why are they doing this? What do they want with them?"

"Revenge, I suspect. They want revenge."

"We gotta do something."

"I know," Damon grunted, already reaching for his phone.

"We can't let them hurt either one of them," Elena muttered, her dark eyes wide with concern and fear. "We gotta get them out of there!"

"I know, Elena, I know!" Damon snapped, twirling to face her with a glare. He softened his gaze when he truly noticed how her heart raced, how fearful she really was. "I have an idea on how to get both of them out, but I need to make some calls." He passed the little present from Frederick to Elena. "Here, take this."

"What is this?" Elena asked curiously, taking the present with two hands. She shook it a little and winced when it made a squelching noise. "Damon, why the hell did it make that noise? Who is this from?"

"Frederick," Damon said offhandedly as he dialed up a number he had forced himself to memorize. "Said I should grab the gift on my way out." He hit the call button on his phone and turned his back on the teenager. He waited until the click sounded and he immediately started talking, "No time for chitchat, Noble. I need every single resource you can possible manage within the next two hours down at the Salvatore boarding house immediately."

"Damon. A pleasure, as usual," Noble mused, his Scottish accent thicker than ever. "To what do I owe this unusual request?"

"Victoria got herself kidnapped by a group of tomb vampires after she killed their leader's girlfriend in self-defense and they hurt her," Damon said hurriedly. "I figured you would want to be a part of the collective to rip Frederick's heart out."

There was a tense silence over the phone, and then Noble growled, "We shall be there in one hour."

"DAMON!"

Damon jumped, not expecting Elena's loud, panicked scream. He flipped around, catching Elena just as she stumbled away from the car with weak legs. She collapsed onto the ground, heaving up that morning's breakfast onto the wet grass beside the car, her whole self shaking with full-bodied sobs. Damon's eyes retraced her steps to where she had been. The present from Frederick was on the hood of the car, opened up and staring up into the open sky.

Damon's blood ran cold when he saw what was in the present and he swore quietly under his breath in Italian. An automatic response. He...For once, Damon didn't know what he was supposed to do.

Staring up into the open sky was a proper terminology for the gift within the present.

Inside the box sat a pair of eyeballs, perfectly intact and rounded. The color of the eyes were a stunning grey-blue that Damon could recognize from a mile away. They looked lifeless. Seated next to them on the bottom of the box was a large, red tongue, perfectly intact.

The bandana.

The bloodstained and tearstained face.

"They took her eyes and tongue," Damon breathed, his face the epitome of disbelief. He gulped heavily and fell to his knees in shock. "N-Noble, they took her eyes and tongue."

"Half an hour. Gather your people and call forth a hunt. No one in that house shall be allowed to leave with their hearts."

A/N: Hey everyone! For those who skipped the extreme violence, Victoria no longer has her eyes or her tongue. A little icky, but this is the level of some extreme violence you'll witness in this story. Lemme know if I need to change the rating level if it's too gory, kay?

Also, just a heads-up: if this story ever gets a little too intense for y'all and you need a break, feel free to take one! Your mental health is super important to me. You don't even need to let me know (but you can if you'd like)! I can understand that it's a lot to handle at times.

But we're going to have a Mystic Falls/Crucifix Organization teamup! I'm excited for that. And we're three reviews away from 500 reviews! Eek! That's exciting too. Also, what are y'all's comfort characters within this story? I asked last time, but I'm curious to see your guys' answers. Mine is Zach. I really enjoy his character arc so far.

And yes, it's a lot of angst right now, and will be for the next two-ish chapters, I believe, but I swear: more fluff! Fluff is coming!

THE SHIPPING WARS! (feel free to keep on voting (you can vote for more than one ship!); 1 full point for if you choose one ship, two half points for two separate ships, more than 2, smaller decimals. Anything that is not a full point will be italicized. This will not decide the final pairing; I already know who Victoria will end up with, I just want you all to be able to guess):

ROMANTIC:

Team Stetoria {Victoria/Stefan} (17.5): insert name here XD, sammyleann's dad, TikiKiki, Maistryia, Don't-Say-It-Feel-It, another guest, Lime, herewegoagain, K, emma, just another guest, heyyeah, Guest (3), guest4ithinklol, Guest (6), Guest (9), guest (1), theappleseed, Anaidiana, Hayden, Takinginspiration1, Serena Salvatore, Prometo, Lolita, MoonlightMiracle-SakurianaHime

Team Datoria {Victoria/Damon} (45): Sciave, Guest, ArganRose, CrystalAris, Marine76, Assenavira, CarlaPA, Guest (1), Maistryia, emma, just another guest, Freeshavacahdoh, Guest (3), Guest (4), Guest (6), sabrinaannpierson, Guest (7), Guest (8), Guest (9), guest (1), hfgfgfrdr, lillen20, Yolo, theappleseed, Guest (10), Juko, Bulma, Ellay, V, Ghest, charlievini, Guest (13), Guest (14), Guest (15), TrembleB4DietCoke, dhariti, Hayden, Guest (17), Elyse1821, Dannn, Yukihino-Sama, Dede, 4day, jazica, Guest (20), Unnisa, MoonlightMiracle-SakurianaHime, Tik, 00esoteric00, Hariana Halone, jenniferchase2402

Team Vilijah {Victoria/Elijah} (43.5): guest, Guest, SoraLover987142, insert name here XD, sammyleann, Orange keys 25, LoyalElijahFangirl, Hinata Megumi, A. G Herz, Aryabloodlust, ferallahey, AngelColdHeart, BlueDragibus, dreamwalkerlisa, Guest, Stachelbeere, Guest (1), jocillyria, Guest (2), BookwormStrawberry, Ieviheichu, Teghan-Potter1370, karenc0r, Hachiko33200, Guest (11), Anaidiana, Dalia2009, wolfcorgi, Nia, Rory, Teghan-Potter1370, Guest (12), Shiro7, alessandra92, Guest (16), Guest (18), Karina, Serena Salvatore, xrysatsan, Lolita, jazica, Guest (19), MoonlightMiracle-SakurianaHime, TheLadyO, jjaejjae, Guest (21), Guest (22)

Team Klatoria {Victoria/Klaus} (6): Tayla141, TikiKiki, Guest (9), Mythology216 the Beard King, thisIsNotATest, Guest (10), Tris Hart

Team Koltoria {Victoria/Kol} (2.5): DreamerPop, MelissaMorningstar, Guest (11)

Team Vinn {Victoria/Finn} (1): silentmayhem

Team Vioble {Victoria/Noble} (.5): Shiro7

New Followers!: ruthoramatthews, daxeenraye, cherry gamerS2, Lissakay, Darkmoondancing

New Favoriters!: rruthoramatthews, Rlsmith0918, dr058832, cherry gamerS2

Onto reviews!:

DBZFAN45: That is the question, isn't it? Just wait until we add Zach and Kelly to the mix. Oh boy. Awww thanks! I am a tease, aren't I? ;p. Chrys is definitely going to be regretting drinking Victoria's blood, which we will see in the next chapter. Victoria and Stefan are going to have some nonintentional bonding due to their kidnapping, and the fallout of the kidnapping will be similar, but different in some ways. Y'all see soon.

jenniferchase2402: Your vote has been added!

Elyse1821: You're welcome! I'm glad y'all liked that. That's an interesting question. What do you mean by that? Because I fully plan on Klaroline being a prominent relationship within this story, and I have said so many times (I don't know why some people still vote for Klatoria cuz I have said that's not happening). I have thought of maybe doing a medieval spin-off with Victoria and Caroline and it would feature the Mystic Falls gang but in medieval times, and Caroline would end up with Klaus in that as well, but I've been focused on this story, and then the spin-offs that'll come off of this story (two of them being for the two guys that Victoria doesn't end up with out of the big three, stories named "When we all fall asleep..." and "Red For The Blood You Bleed", and two of them being stories within the Immortalis universe but taking place in Teen Wolf and Grimm) that I haven't really stopped to think about writing that story, yeah?

BrookeWorm3: I do enjoy killing Victoria, actually (how else would we see Henri?). I will let you in on two little secrets (one not really being a secret): dying is a prominent characteristic of Victoria, so she will be dying quite a bit. Vampires on the show do it a lot too but they never discuss it. But, the second more secret-secret I will share is that, I believe, after one more death, she's not dying for the rest of Season 1, so she'll have some reprieve.

Stachelbeere: Awww, I'm sorry to see you go, but yes! Take care of your mental health! She is a walking disaster, isn't she? That's totally my fault; I've never really liked characters who easily get what they like and I like to see them suffer more (hence why I had to change one of the genres of this story to angst). I'm glad you've discovered your limits though. Don't worry about it at all. Read this story at your own pace and speed (this chapter's a little much, so sorry about that). Take care, Stachelbeere, and I can't wait to hear from you next!

Guest: Awww thank you! You're Guest (21) if you ever want to change your vote!

Guest: And thank you! You're Guest (22) if you ever want to change your vote!

Lime: Heyo! Oooooooohhhh, I get it now. J.M. Barrie is the author of Peter Pan, and he's also the main character in the musical Finding Neverland. I think that's where our confusion happened. Kelly and Kol will have some great bonding sessions ;p. I feel like every Mikaelson has some sort of artistic talent: Klaus can draw, Elijah can play musical instruments, maybe Rebekah can sing, Kol can dance (more fluently then the rest, perhaps), and Finn is an avid writer? Some little headcanons. You always point out the little lines I throw in for filler, and I'm glad you appreciate them as much as I do. Yeah, I get that about Katherine. I feel as though Damon has to shift his focus to something to really not lose himself, and Victoria's someone he has gotten closer to, so she's next up in line for the Damon-care. And you're welcome! You four have been some of my favorite reviewers, so you guys deserved it.

Kathiena: You have a very pretty username, FYI. You're re-reading this story? Aww thank you! Huh? Did I? I checked and I couldn't find it. Maybe my eyes are getting old. I'll look into it. Enjoy your read through!

I'm glad I was able to get this chapter published. Until next time! I am off to go do taxes! Whoo!

Stay healthy and stay safe!

BecomingFearless1F