The First Step

"You're not on my hit list tonight." Klaus told Elena, "But, you are, and so is that little friend of yours. What was his name again? I believe it was Damon Salvatore.

He should be getting very well acquainted with my witch friends right about now." Elena gasped at him as she tried to understand what he could possibly want with Damon.

"Elena. Go run now!" Bonnie yelled at her as she hit Klaus with a large burst of power. Elena took off down the hallway and was intent on finding Stefan.

"Stefan!" she screamed as she saw him running towards her. "Bonnie's attacking him, and h-h-he said something about wanting Damon." Elena stuttered out as she tried to catch her breath.

"Damon? Why would he want Damon?" Stefan asked, confused. With quick contemplation, Stefan made the hardest decision he had ever made in his 125 years.

"Damon can take care of himself. Right now, Bonnie needs us," he said all the while he could feel a lump settling in his throat as they tore off down the hall to help Bonnie.

"Damon Salvatore?" a man asked as he walked up to Damon. "Who wants to know?" Damon replied with a smirk.

The man just smirked back and started chanting in Latin. Maddox kept chanting, his voice remaining the same even and soft tone as Greta came up beside the fallen vampire, injecting him with a syringe full of Vervain.

Damon gasped as he felt the breath leave his lungs, and pain erupted in his head, causing him to fall to his knees.

Once the vampire had successfully been knocked unconscious, they grabbed him. They took him to Alaric's apartment, where they locked him in the bedroom.

Who knew why Klaus wanted him. They were just glad they weren't in Damon's place right now.

With any luck, that one vampire would keep Klaus busy enough where they never would be. Damon struggled to open his eyes after being placed in the room.

The Vervain was pumping through his system, making him feel like he was on fire.

The soft cotton blankets on the bed that once would have seemed inviting made his skin thrum as if he was being licked by invisible flames.

A choked whimper tore from his throat as he finally managed to open his eyes.

Looking around, he quickly recognized it as Alaric's bedroom. 'Why am I here? Who brought me here?' Thoughts pounded in Damon's head as he struggled to make sense of what was going on.

The soft click of a door shutting alerted him to the fact he wasn't so alone in the apartment as he thought.

Despite the thrumming of Vervain in his veins, Damon sat up and pushed himself up against the dark chestnut headboard.

The lights in the room blinded him as his head pounded with pain coming from behind his eyes.

He stared at the door, preparing himself for the inevitable as the door opened with a soft click.

The door opened to reveal Katherine standing there with a gentle expression on her face that he had never seen before.

"What did you do this time?" She asked incredulously. "I don't know what you're talking about," Damon said, his voice coming out roughly as if he hadn't spoken in days.

With great reluctance, Damon took a second to actually look at Katherine, "Can you turn off the lights…please?"

Taking pity on him for the first and last time, she flipped the switch off, encasing the room in complete darkness.

"Klaus wouldn't have had you brought here for no reason. So either you did something, or he wants you for something."

Once the lights were off and the pounding in his head had dulled, Damon forced himself to pay attention to Katherine.

She was wearing dark wash blue jeans with a white ruffled blouse, and her hair curled up to her shoulders.

The words she had just blurted out clicked in his head as he stared at her. "Why would he want me?"

She just shook her head, "I don't know. Maybe he wants you for…." She was suddenly cut off as the front door slammed shut. "Where are you, Katerina?"

'I'm sorry.' She mouthed as she shut the bedroom door and returned to the living room with a soft click.

Despite the door being closed, Damon used his vampire hearing to listen to what was being said. "What were you doing in there?" Alaric's voice asked, but it had a hint of a British accent.

"I was just…." "Just what, love?" He heard soft footsteps as someone crossed the room. "Just looking."

Suddenly Alaric's voice was back. "I told you to stay in the sitting room and away from that room. Give me your ring and go stand in front of the window," he growled out.

Forcing himself to stop listening, the pounding in his head came back full force. Slamming his fists over his mouth, he tried to smother the whimper that choked out of his mouth.

"So he's awake." Damon heard Alaric say as footsteps started echoing closer and closer to the door. Damon slammed his eyes shut as he listened to the soft creak of the door being opened.