Chapter Five

Tormented

Nightfall had finally come down, covering Mystic Falls in a dark blue and a starry sky. Stefan had been searching the woods for twenty minutes, scouting cabins and finding a couple camping by the water's edge. He moved west and then picked up the smell of something that spoke to every fiber in his body. Human blood. He followed the scent and eventually spotted a motorhome with an interior light. The smell got stronger as he approached, he silently walked around the vehicle until he found disturbed earth and lots of blood. He shook his head, knowing he was too late. Further up, at the base of a large tree he found a mound of dirt, a perfect size to be a freshly made grave. Stefan didn't need proof that the hunter was dead, but he knew Klaus would, so he began digging the soft soil. After about four feet he hit the arm of the dead hunter. He shook his head again, knowing that the hunter being dead and buried meant no cure for Elena.

Hope was lost.

The metal chains dangled against the stone, sending a chiming sound around the cell.

"We don't need to chain him, the door will be enough." Elena said as she was sitting on the cot next to an unconscious Damon.

"You sure? Because I think Damon is an expert in breaking out of this cell." Matt said with a half-smile.

"That is true, but I'll watch him this time, I've also got these." Elena explained, showing Matt the two syringes in her hand.

"Smart."

"Thanks for help tonight." She said with a thankful smile.

"Yeah, no problem. I mean, I'll never get used to burying people in the woods but at least you guys don't have to worry about the hunter anymore." Matt said as he dropped the chains outside the cell door.

"Thanks for the blood too."

"I do owe you my life, Elena."

"No. you don't, you're my friend." She looked down at Damon, running her fingers through his dark hair, catching the dirt and wood ends. "Soon as he's back, he can teach me to feed safely, and you won't need to do it anymore."

Matt took notice of Elena's words and most importantly her body language, she really cared about Damon. It actually looked like more than that, it reminded him of what Elena said about Damon only nights ago. It did look like he consumed her, but Matt didn't comment.

"Do you need anything else?" He asked.

"I'm good, thanks Matt. You can go, you don't have to stay." She said as she looked at him standing underneath the door jam.

"Alright, I see ya, Elena." He responded before walking away and made it up the stairs.

It had only been two hours since she first vervained him, so she had more time before she had to leave his side and lock him in. He was laying on the cot, his face expressionless and his hands were sitting on his chest. She picked up the injured hand to see that it had completely healed but it was still covered in dark blood that was beginning to dry. She left the cell in search of a towel and returned to wash the blood away, starting with the tops of his hand then going around each finger. She was feeling less guilty at this moment, being close and helping him made her feel better. It also made her feel other things, feelings that she had denied for so long, feelings she was scared of. Feelings that had been magnified since becoming a vampire. But she put those thoughts back for a moment, she needed to focus on him in a different way.

Getting his humanity back.

But little did she know, Damon had a new problem when he would wake up.

She finished cleaning his hand and eventually left him to sleep, locking the cell door behind her. Elena was tired and wanted to go home and sleep but she wasn't going to leave Damon. She needed to spend the night at the boardinghouse. Things between her and Stefan were tense so she wasn't comfortable sleeping in his room. For a moment she thought sleeping on a sofa in the library near a burning fire would be peaceful but she knew if Stefan found her there he would move her while she slept and she didn't want that either. She walked around the top floor inspecting the guest bedrooms, some were small, some were painted, others were full of antiques and artwork. Eventually she found one with a huge bed, hardwoods floor, a dresser on one wall near to a fireplace place and an open plan bathroom on the other side.

Damon's room.

A smile came over her face as she looked around the room, the stack of books by the bed, the half-opened dresser full of black shirts. She knew it wouldn't be right to sleep in his bed for the night and it would be very awkward explaining that to Stefan. She backed out and decided to go for the bedroom closest to the door that connected the stairs to the cellar, if Damon woke up it would be easier to hear. She kicked off her shoes and undressed, keeping on her underwear and her tank top. She crawled under the covers, the cool pressed sheets soothed her aching body, the smell of dust was off putting but it only took moments until she fell asleep.

A new day, a new supernatural problem with a ticking clock. Klaus had returned back from his Italy trip to find that the hunter was dead. He was disappointed but he was determined to find another. Stefan had informed Klaus of the news and noted it was Damon that killed Connor, and he replied with a laugh.

"I feel sorry for your brother." Klaus said over the phone.

"Why?" Stefan asked. "He'll have his humanity back soon."

"Not what I'm talking about…" He paused. "It doesn't concern me. Now, however, we need to find another hunter if you want that cure for Elena." Stefan didn't reply, he desperately wanted it for Elena but now it could take them centuries to find another hunter, his hope seemed to be slipping away. Will Elena even want the cure after hundreds of years had passed and her human family and friends were gone?

"Heeeyy, you're not late today, you're actually ten minutes early." Matt said with a smile, pointing at the wall clock.

"Yeah, yeah, I didn't sleep well. I've been awake since 4AM." Jeremy replied as he walked into the Grill.

"Oh, I thought you liked the work." Matt said with a hint of sarcasm.

"I like the money." Jeremy countered, tying his apron around his waist. He moved behind the bar and then turned to Matt. "Hey, what if I told you I saw a tattoo in my hand last night?"

"Are you serious?" Matt asked with a concerned look.

"Connor said I was a Potential and that I could take on the legacy of a dead hunter." Matt was surprised and then he put two and two together.

"That actually makes sense, Damon killed Connor last night."

"What?" Jeremy's face changed. "Does this mean I need to kill vampires? I don't feel any different."

"That's a good thing Jer, half the people in your life are vampires."

"True."

"Elena."

Damon shifted in the cot, his limbs were refusing to move. His veins felt like sandpaper rubbing stone, his muscles were tight, and he could taste the vervain in the back of his throat. He opened his eyes to find himself in a tiny room with stone walls and a single door that centered a single barred window. He instantly knew where he was. "Oh, Elena. Going for the Lexi method." He said to the empty room.

He struggled but got to his feet and shuffled over to the door. "Worth a shot." He groaned, pushing the door with both hands.

"You're not worth much at all, son." A chilling, familiar voice came out of the darkness of the cellar. Damon looked around, he didn't see anyone, but he knew that unpleasant voice, he grew up hearing that voice. "Do you like what you've become Damon?"

"I'm not little Gilbert, I don't hear ghosts." Damon said, sitting down on the cot, his back against the wall. He closed his eyes, still waiting for his body to heal from the vervain.

"I'm not a ghost, Damon." The voice spoke again. Damon could now hear footsteps in the cellar with him. He opened his eyes and stared through the bars and straight at the man before him. His father, Giuseppe Salvatore.

Upstairs, Elena was in the kitchen. After a somewhat of a decent night's sleep, she still needed coffee. While searching the kitchen she could hear Damon's muffled voice from the cellar. She abandoned her task and moved to the door and before descending the stairs she took a slow breath. She knew facing Damon wasn't going to be easy, he was emotionless, and she had vervained him and locked him up, just like they had done to Ripper Stefan not long ago. But she felt confident, she had plenty of experience managing an angry Damon. She began her descent down the stone steps and Damon's voice became clearer.

Even with no humanity, Damon reacted in the typical sense of seeing his dead father. His eyes widened and he shook his head, trying to dispel the image of the man in front of him.

"What the hell is happening?" Damon questioned himself. He suddenly became worried when he realized the last time he was seeing people from his past, and what caused it. He removed his leather jacket quickly and lifted up both of his sleeves and frantically started looking over his skin for bite marks. He hadn't fought a werewolf recently, but it was the only thing that made sense. He ran his hands over his neck, torso and then checked his legs. There was no werewolf bite anywhere. Damon stood back up from the cot and stared straight at the man before him. He remembered the last time he saw his father, he was just a shadow in the woods, a shadow armed with a rifle. It was the same night he and Stefan had died as humans, died at the hands of him. Before Damon could let out words full of hate his father spoke.

"So, this is where you ended up? Still in Mystic Falls?" He said, leaving the rhetorical questions in the air between them. "Is your brother alive?"

"Why would you care? He's a vampire, remember." Damon spat out. "Stefan told me what he did. Staked you and then drained you." He continued, a small smile curved his lips. Giuseppe seemed unfazed, he only shifted and looked around the cellar.

Elena made it to the basement floor and spotted Damon's blue eyes piercing through the window.

"Damon..." She said as she squared herself to face him directly, wondering what he was talking about.

"Stefan's still around, you should see the stuff your golden son has been up to, you'd be proud." Damon said sarcastically.

"What… What are you talking about, Damon?" Elena asked with a quizzical look on her brow.

"I'm not here for Stefan, I'm here for you, Damon." His father said.

"Sorry, I got sidetracked when you asked about him." Damon scoffed. "It's always Stefan, remember?" Hearing her repeated words coming from him made Elena's heart sore.

"I know what he's done, and I know what you've done, Damon. You really have embraced being a bloodsucker." Giuseppe said coldly.

"Huhh." Damon lets out with an exhale. "A century dead and you're still a judgmental asshole." Giuseppe doesn't respond, instead he vanished completely.

"Damon, who are you talking to?" Elena interjected, looking around the cellar for a third person.

"You've done a lot of terrible things son. Do you regret any of it?" His father asked as he suddenly reappeared beside Damon in the cell, causing Damon to flinch. He looked his father up and down, now realizing he was dressed in his period clothes.

"Vampires are predators, it's what we do." Damon said, hardening his stare.

"Predator, monster. There's no difference. You should be dead son." Damon's anger took hold. and he lunged forward, grabbing his father by the throat.

"You certainly tried to do that yourself! I bet you're turning in your grave right now because you can't do it again." He seethed.

"Damon! What's going on, can you hear me?" Elena shouted, banging on the door to get his attention. Elena didn't know what to make of the scene before her. Damon was pressed up against the far wall and yelling into the empty space. A moment passed and then she watched Damon scream in pain and drop to the floor.

"You cause nothing but pain son." Giuseppe said before he reached for his belt for a dagger and stabbed Damon in his chest. "You need to die." He continued, looking down on him and stabbed him again, hitting his shoulder. Damon groaned, holding his hands over his wounds, then he let out a short chuckle.

"You need a wooden stake to do it properly. Your vervain dagger is just gonna piss me off." Damon spilled out, trying to sit up.

"Damon!" Elena yelled again. She wanted to unlock the cell to get through to him, but she decided not to. Capturing him the first time was difficult enough, she couldn't risk losing him again.

Stefan made his way back to the house after his early morning hunt. He found hunting woodland creatures was easier just before dawn. He entered the house through the front door, and he swore he could hear Elena's voice. He stalled for a moment and then heard another voice coming from the cellar. He moved to the cellar door and then heard Elena's voice yell his brother's name. He quickly descended the stairs and found Elena leaning against the closed cell door.

"Elena, you're here?" Stefan asked, completely unaware that Elena had found Damon last night, drugged him, locked him up and then spent the night in the nearest guest room just to be near him. She turned to face him but didn't reply.

"What's going on?" He asked with concerned eyes. He moved towards her and then looked over her shoulder to see Damon laying on the floor of the cell, rolling on the dirt floor, holding his palms over his chest. "You found him. How did you subdue him?" He asked.

"I had help." She simply said, turning her gaze back to Damon. He yelled again, taking a third stabbing. Stefan wanted to know more but he had a more urgent question.

"What's wrong with him?" Before Elena could shrug, Damon yelled and spoke to the cell again.

"You forgot to bring a stake, so you're gonna torture me instead." There was silence until Elena answered Stefan.

"I don't know. He's been like this for a while, talking to someone who isn't here. I don't think he knows I'm here." Without replying, Stefan moved in, passing Elena and unlocked the door, moving to his brother's side, with Elena in tow. She didn't hesitate to crouch down on his other side and take his hand.

"Damon, can you hear me?" Stefan asked, grabbing hold of Damon's shoulders. He noticed Damon's shirt was wet and pulled back his palms to see they are covered in blood. "What was happening?"

Damon then shouted again in his brother's arms with a fourth wound appearing on his stomach.

"That stupid dagger shouldn't have any more vervain on it. Guess you're gonna miss that." Damon said through gritted teeth, his eyes focused on his father that was towering over him.

"A blade is still a blade son, you need to understand how much you hurt others." His father explained as he crouched down. Stefan's face held a shocked expression and Elena noticed.

"What? Stefan."

"A vervain dagger. There's only one person we know that had one, our father."

Elena couldn't believe what he said. It wasn't the first time Damon had encountered a vengeful ghost but the whole idea of his own father hurting Damon still surprised her.

"Your father? Are you saying Damon is being tortured by a ghost?" She asked as she squeezed his hand and looked over his body for other injuries.

"Must be." He muttered.

"But Bonnie isn't using her powers anymore, something else is going on." Stefan stopped for a moment and thought back to what Klaus said about the hunter. That he felt sorry for Damon, the hybrid must know what's going on.

"Klaus." He whispered.

"What does Klaus have to do with this?" She asked.

"He mentioned Damon when he called me about Connor." He replied.

"You're talking to Klaus. Why?" She asked with a scrunched brow. Damon then screamed again as the ghost knife entered his chest and he passed out from the pain. He had a lot of vervain in his system, his wounds were taking longer to heal.

"You need to trust me on this, the hunter was important." Stefan looked into Elena's eyes.

"Well, he's dead now and Damon is suffering." She simply said as she shifted underneath Damon and took his upper body over her lap, cradling his head against her stomach. Stefan had to swallow hard to refrain himself from spitting out a bitter comment about the suffering. So, he got back to his feet and pulled out his phone.

"Klaus knows something, and I'll get it from him." Stefan insured before he left the cell and walked halfway upstairs to reach a signal. He called Klaus.

Elena, now holding an unconscious Damon in her lap, easily overheard the phone conversation. Something about a curse that torments vampires into ending their own lives, a curse that Damon now had. She was grateful the cellar had no natural light, so the daylight ring removal method wouldn't work. She then looked around the room and didn't see any pieces of wood, the walls were stone, and the cot was made from steel, another relief flowed over her. Ripping out his own heart was the only way, but she figured he was too weak for that at the moment. The shots of vervain were taking its toll, and he had no blood bags to heal from. She let out a long breath of relief.

"You're gonna be okay, Damon." She said, her voice slightly shaky. Stefan reappeared and explained the curse to Elena from the doorframe.

"Did he know who to break it?" Elena asked, looking up at him.

"No. But I'm going to call Bonnie, she might have an idea." Elena just nodded back.

A few minutes passed and Stefan returned again, Elena and Damon hadn't moved.

"Bonnie doesn't know the curse so she can't break it." He said as he walked in the cell. "But she suggested we talk to Professor Shane about it." He moved to her side and reached out his hand to her, but Elena shook her head.

"No, I'm staying with him. You can meet with Bonnie." She explained, feeling very protective but also responsible for the man in her arms.

"You can't do anything here Elena, we'll need to break the curse, and Shane is our only hope. Damon will be safe here." The two words, only and hope made Elena shiver. She couldn't imagine how things would be if Damon was stuck with this curse forever. No one could survive such relentless torture, Damon would eventually die, and she would be short of another person that she cared about. She shook her head again, not wanting to think of such a hellscape.

"I'm staying, Stefan." She stated in a firmer voice as she tightened her hold over Damon.

"It's not safe to be in here Elena, he'll want blood when he wakes up." He pressed her shoulder.

"I'll be fine." She shook him off. She didn't know what the hunter's curse was like to experience but she had faith that Damon wouldn't hurt her. Stefan just shook his head and moved back to the cell door. "You should lock the door, I don't want him to run again." Elena said. Stefan only remained silent and observed his girlfriend holding his brother. Everyone knew Elena was compassionate and she saw the good in everyone but the way she was holding Damon, the way she didn't want to leave him had Stefen questioning everything. Elena was also stubborn, so arguing with her would take too long. The best thing to do was to meet up with Bonnie and solve this problem hastily.

"I'll be back soon." He mumbled before exiting the cell and putting the door to a close. He looked at Elena again, watching her through the bars. It looked like she wanted to sob and yell at the same time. With one hand holding Damon's, her other hand was scouring his body, finding tiny slits in his shirt. She had found six in total and all of them were paired with an identical stab wound underneath that was slowly healing.

Stefan broke his stare and then locked the door and took off up the stairs.

"You deserve to die, Damon." A soft female voice floated through the cell, waking him up. He rapidly blinked his eyes, adjusting to a standing. brunette woman that was staring down at him.

"Elena..." He said in a strained voice.

"Damon, you're awake." She said, her gaze softened as she saw his blue eyes. His body didn't shift from her lap, but it was a relief to see his eyes again.

"You've hurt me so much Damon, why do you feel like you should still be in my life?" Elena said in an icy tone.

"I apologized for that, remember? You said you forgave me." Damon replied while coughing, remembering that special moment they shared when he thought he was going to die.

"An apology doesn't make the pain go away." Elena said dryly, crouching down next to him. The real Elena was confused for a moment but then she realized Damon was still talking to his father's ghost, but little did she know that Damon was talking to her. A tortured version of her that was aimed at having Damon kill himself.

"I know. Believe me, I know pain, but I am sorry, Elena." Damon expelled, locking eyes with the hovering girl. In this moment the real Elena realized Damon was being tormented by her, only not the real her. A flush of panic rose up in her body, knowing if anyone could convince Damon to end it, it would be her. She gripped his body tighter, hopeful that simply holding him would save him. She could easily recall all the bad moments that had come between them, especially in the beginning. She could only wonder what moments the curse was using against Damon right now.

He had killed a teacher, Lexi and turned Vicki when he first arrived, he had killed Ric more than once and killed Jeremy after being rejected by her. He even force fed his blood to Elena multiple times. Any of these moments would be racked with guilt, making them ideal for torture. Elena also took a moment to recall the things she had done. Lying and betraying him when he was after the spell book, using him to learn more about Katherine, telling him he had lost her forever. The worst moment was only a few nights ago, the entire reason Damon was in this predicament. She chose Stefan, broke his heart and let him go to die in a warehouse alone. Tears started to form in her eyes, as she prayed to any god that could hear her that the curse wouldn't use that memory. That memory was already bad for Damon, she didn't want it reaching nightmare status.

"I've heard your sorry before Damon, but people are still dead." She scowled.

"I wasn't going to let anyone get in my way to get Katherine back." Damon replied honestly. "But that didn't matter anymore, once I spent time with you."

"Yes, time with me. But you only did that to piss Stefan off, just like when you kidnapped me and took me to Georgia." Elena countered.

"That wasn't the only reason, Elena. I enjoyed your company, and you saved my life that night." Elena was still holding her vice grip from behind, listening to Damon talk to the air. She understood from the context that he was talking about their unusual trip to Georgia, where she had agreed to take a five-minute break from her life, which turned into a day of carefree fun.

"I shouldn't have saved you then, everyone would have been better off if you burned alive that night." Elena said, her voice becoming colder.

"No, Elena..." Damon pleaded as he tried to squirm away from her, he didn't want to hear that. The things she was saying were causing the steel box of feelings to shake and the chains to rattle. Damon was also confused, he couldn't believe that the compassionate Elena Gilbert had given up on him and wanted him dead. He tried to shift up, hoping to get in a seated position but something was holding him back.

"Damon, don't listen to her, she isn't real and what she's saying isn't me." Elena whispered down in his ear. "I know what's real. We know what's real."

"You must be Stefan Salvatore?" A short man said as he approached the vampire in the deserted hallway. "Bonnie mentioned you might need my expertise." He held out his hand to greet.

"Professor Shane. Yes, I was hoping you could help me with some research." He shook the teacher's hand.

"Ah, occult studies emergency?" Shane asked as Bonnie approached both men. "I can't imagine a topic being so urgent."

"I have a curious mind about history." Stefan replied with a slight smile.

"What's the topic?"

"Do you know anything about the hunter's curse?" He asked, watching the professor's reaction.

"Why? Do you have a dead hunter at home or something?" Shane asks with a curious look in his eyes. Holding back that he knows the hunter personally.

They talk more and Bonnie and Stefan learn that the only way to save someone from this curse is to have a potential hunter kill a vampire and take on the mantle. Shane excuses himself to seek his research from his office. Bonnie turns to Stefen.

"Are you going to suggest what I think you're going to suggest?" Bonnie asked with a worried expression.

"It's the only way Bonnie. We need to find Jeremy."

"I'm not comfortable making Jeremy into the next hunter but where are we going to find a vampire to kill?" She asked, knowing that all the vampires in town are friends of the group. Except Klaus and his minions.

"I have an idea." Stefan said.

"Klaus." Bonnie guessed, knowing it was the only option. Have Jeremy kill a hybrid.

"Tell me why I need to sacrifice one of my hybrids to save your brother?" Klaus asked with his back to his two recent visitors. He's staring down at the flames in the fireplace waiting for Stefan to answer.

"He's, my brother." Stefan replied. Klaus only chuckled and then turned to face him.

"Anybody else getting a sense of DeJa'Vu?" Klaus laughed, realizing that this has happened before.

"I won't beg Klaus, we just need Jeremy to kill a vampire. That will save Damon and then we'll have a new hunter with the map." Stefan explained, feeling guilty about offering up Jeremy to the immortal hybrid.

"Wait, you're giving me to Klaus?" Jeremy interjected, turning to Stefan on the couch.

"No, it means you have a way to fix your sister, she can be human again." He explained.

"Well, Damon is an impulsive creature that enjoys disrupting my plans, so I don't care for him, but we do need the map." Klaus agreed. "But it's not worth giving up a hybrid." He walked away from the fire, heading for the doors.

"Are you saying you have a vampire here?" Stefan asks, getting to his feet.

"No, let go make one." Klaus smirked as he left the room.