Spider's Web by Reylan (Michele) Spider's Web CHAPTER ONE: A beginning It was a dark and stormy night. Damon Salvatore sat alone in his apartment. The place was dark, his face illuminated only by a t.v.. Damon was bored. And judging from the size of the bulge in his pants he'd been dicked over by Elena again. Once again the snobby whore has teased him then left to deal with blue balls while she pranced off to his brother's grand home down the road. Damon was tired of it. He was tired of the short skirts and sexy grins she shot him. All that stood at an end. Damon, in a t.v.-and-Cheetos induced haze, decided to do something about the aching boner in his silk boxers. The boxers weren't helping much. He picked up the phone, shivering slightly. What they didn't know was that Damon was telephobic. His desperation peaked as he picked up the phone and dialed his brother's nice split level suburban home. "Stefan?" "What do you want Damon?? I'm.. um, kinda busy." Damon heard it then, a not-so-quiet moan in the background of the call. Very female. "Um, I was just going to come over." Stefan let out a grunt and Damon's cock jumped to attention. "Now is not a good time Damon." Before Damon could hang up he heard the phone drop, but the connection wasn't severed. Damon listened spell bound as the pair became louder in their passion. Damon's hand crept down on it's own, sliding over his leather pants at first. Then his white fingers slid over the buttons, freeing his generous piece. Damon's hand slid around himself, brushing the silk boxers he was still wearing against the base of his marble white cock. As his hand pumped to the sound of the wild moaning he realized he couldn't hear Elena anymore. Only Stefan's moans traveled through the phone. Which was all the better, Damon hadn't had a good male in.. five hundred years. His black eyes closed. He pictured his emerald eyed brother before him. Damon's hand no longs stroked his dick, it was Stefan that ran firm vampire flesh against Damon. The ideas broke free from Damon's mind. He let loose his fantasies of his brother for the first time. His brother's teasing sculpted mouth enveloping him, swallowing him. Stefan's tongue, a virgin tongue, not even used on the women he had taken over the years, sliding along the length of Damon's cock. Stefan, his own blood and pain, tasting him, exploring him. And Stefan crouched before him back arched into him, moving against him as Damon's hard pulsing cock rammed into him again and again and again. The thought of being inside his own brother threw Damon over the edge. As Damon came Stefan moaned Elena's name over the phone. Damon shuddered and imagined that his brother was calling out to him. "Damon? Damon??" Damon didn't say anything, but was suddenly aware of Stefan's tiny voice coming from the phone. He held his breath, determined not to be found out, until Stefan hung up. Damon slumped in the chair, not caring that his boxers were soiled and his own milky cum dribbled down his designer Italian leather pants. All he could think of was Stefan. In that moment he decided he had to have his brother. Even if it broke them both. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Damon woke up the next day with the sun trying to stream through his extra heavy drapes. He still sat slumped on the over stuffed chair. His leather pants creaked as he stood and stretched. He peeled them off, ignoring the pulling sensation in the places where they seemed to be fused to his skin. His mind seemed remarkably clear, and very devious. First he showered, plotting. After he dressed the sun had faded away into a gentle dusk "Watch out Stefan. Tonight you're the hunted." Damon set to work. First he called a maid service that remained open especially late. Then he called Elena and demanded that her and Stefan join him for a special birthday dinner. Damon's birthday was soon. He jumped into his black Porche once they agreed to come and ran to various stores. He gathered everything he'd need. Always the adventurer Damon had done nearly everything in his immortal life. He had even been in the cult of a long dead sex god. The spells they had taught them could bring the pope to screw Mother Theresa so hard she'd break. Each of the local health food stores had two or three of the items he needed. Between three stops Damon managed to gather everything he needed. Including the best ingredients for Calamari il vino, Stefan's favorite meal. Damon arrived back at his apartment as the maid service packed up and left. He paid them generously, with a shit eating grin on his face. Then he set about his works. Stefan and Elena arrived hours later, but it seemed like moments. They politely rang the doorbell. Damon threw the door open with great relish and welcomed into his home in perfect Italian. He bowed to Stefan and kissed Elena's hand, barely brushing her skin with hard sharp fangs. Both stared at Damon in awe. He dressed simply, a black v neck shirt and tailored black pants. His black hair was v even slicked back and the lapis ring on his finger gleamed, freshly polished. Elena's jaw dropped. Her eyes filled with lust. "Oh, do stop gawking and come in!" Damon reached out and took both of them by the arm. Almost visible sparks jumped from his fingers to their skin. Heat flared up in their veins. Both Stefan and Elena blushed. But they stepped in. As the door shut the fresh air from outside suddenly cut off, leaving only the heavy scent of the incense burning inside. Three large candelabras circled the table in the center of the dining room. Each held at least ten blazing candles. "Sit! Sit! The food is almost ready." Struck voiceless and nearly senseless Elena and Stefan sat, looking around awed. "Although, we could skip the food and make out own dinner." Damon's dark eyes glimmered seductively at each of them, they both blushed though Stefan tried to hide it. They both seemed afraid to respond so Damon offered them his finest red wine, a sweet heavily spiced obscure vintage. Stefan drank it all down in a few gulps. Damon automatically refilled his glass. Elena tried to take it slow. Damon vanished into the kitchen, waiting for his herbs and scents to take effect. He didn't wait long. As soon as he turned his back Elena began running a stocking foot up Stefan's leg. Damon kept a laugh to himself. That slut. Never could wait for anything. The two crept closer, their fingers seeming to move to each other without being told to. They met eyes and lips followed. Damon reentered the dining room, leaning against the wall with a glass of wine in one elegant hand. "Seems the show has started without me." "What do you mean Damon?" Stefan's voice carried a hint of embarrassed rage. Damon knew Stefan liked this. He just wouldn't admit it. Ah, his pure hearted brother. Never had any fun. Damon didn't grace his beloved preternatural brother with a reply. Instead he stalked over, leaned in dangerously close, as if whispering to him. Damon kissed his brother's sculpted lips. He pressed into his brother's moist warm mouth, his tongue darted into Stefan's mouth, licking the last traces of Elena's blood from deep in his throat. Stefan looked genuinely surprised when Damon finally pulled away. He jumped up quickly, tripping over his chair in his rush to get away. Stefan could get away from Damon, but the heat and the lust wasn't coming from Damon. It was simple centered around him. Damon let his brother skirt back, hiding from the power of the lust spell. It was too late, Stefan had drown too much of the spiced wine. He'd have to get it out of his system. Damon sat on the edge of the table and looked at the pair, like some big black haired panther. Hungry. Elena watched Both the men entranced. "Elena?" Stefan looked confused. The look in Elena's eyes wasn't the kind sweet girl he'd come to know. This new Elena was very scary, very horny... and.. Stefan found himself with a growing boner. The change was very sexy. "Why'd you pull away Stefan?" "He's my brother. I don't know what you've done Damon, but undo it now..." "Or? You'll hit me? Make me bleed? You'll throw me on this table and take me like you do Elena?" Damon and Elena met eyes. He grinned and she returned it. "What if I say I'd like that?" "You're ...sick." Elena decided to take over. The blonde stood and sauntered over to Stefan. He watched every movement of her body and she knew it. "Stefan, my love..." Damon saw Stefan melt when he met her eyes. "Stefan.. I liked that." "The kiss?" Stefan whimpered. "Yes. I liked it. It made me wet and deliciously so..." Elena ran fingers along Stefan's face. Damon knew he was gone. Stefan would do anything Elena told him to. And it seemed Elena liked watching. Maybe there was more to her than he realized. Elena glared up at him. "Damon. Kiss him again. I want to watch." Elena sat down and propped her feet up on the table, flashing both men crotchless panties. Damon didn't care. He'd had too much of Elena and her damned ego. He wanted cock, and he wanted it now. Damon's lips pressed into his brother's then darted away like a nervous bird. Stefan closed his eyes feeling silken vampire lips slide down his face. Damon's fingers pushed Stefan's head up, baring his neck. Stefan braced for the pain of fangs, but it never came. A hot moist tongue darted out along Stefan's pulse point. The lips paused over it, as if Damon was debating whether or not to bite. The room flared up as if some one had just lit a bonfire inches from Stefan. Stefan could feel Damon grin. Damon was quick, but thoughrough. He ripped through Stefan's shirt, mouthing at the hollow of his throat for a moment before sliding hard wet fangs down Stefan's smooth marble chest. Damon chuckled and licked Stefan's erect nipples, raking a fang across it's tip. Stefan gasped at the sensation not even Elena had given to him. "My dear brother," Damon whispered onto Stefan's chest. "You have been so deprived. What do you say Elena. Shall I pierce his lovely nipple for you?" Elena didn't answer. Damon glanced up looking to where the once popular blonde sat, watching one hand curled around a glass of wine, the other was not visible. Damon's head slid lower, warming his brother's vampire flesh with his breath. Stefan forgot that this was his brother doing this to him. Not since Katherine had he felt so.. aroused. The kinky sex wasn't his style, but... he enjoyed it so much His cock strained through his thin cotton briefs. Damon felt it, he thrust his tongue down into Stefan's pants without removing them. Damon clamped teeth around Stefan's pants and pulled. He silently cursed his brother for not having the same easily accessible clothing styles as he did. Stefan reached down and helped Damon, brushing his fingers across Damon's lips. Damon's lips opened and sucked Stefan's finger inside. His tongue swirled around the finger. Stefan felt himself going weak with desire Damon tore Stefan's pants opened and glared angrily at his plain white underwear. Damon grinned evilly and maliciously. Then he bared his fangs and bit into Stefan's underwear. It was neat clean, and the perfect control of a bite. His teeth sliced through the jockey shorts without breaking skin. Holding the cotton in his teeth Damon pulled, and was rewarded by the beautiful sound of it ripping. Stefan felt the fangs brush his skin and tensed up, hissing in a breath. Damon thrust out his tongue, licking the very tip of Stefan's adequate cock. "Oh relax you wimp, I'm not going to hurt you." Stefan glared down at him in time to see Damon's mouth open and swallow the head of his cock. Damon's tongue pressed into the underside of Stefan's cock, sliding along it as if testing it. Damon's fangs, even though they were small, scrapped along the sides of Stefan's member. Stefan found he liked it. Damon swallowed his brother whole, sliding his head back down the shaft. His tongue and lips played along his brother, betraying much experience at this particular game. Damon brought Stefan dangerously close to climax then pulled away, grinning at his brother. "Now comes the fun part." Stefan almost shrank back from Damon's grin. A strong hand stopped him. Elena had reached over to him and was now staring at him intently. Her eyes were wild looking, glazed over in pure lust. "Fuck Damon." That was all she said. Stefan tended to be very submissive during sex, but this was something new something.... Damon already had his pants off, and toyed with himself teasingly. Stefan stared. He couldn't help it. It was as if he had never seen another man's dick before. This was his brother! And he didn't care, in fact it turned him on. He dove at Damon's neck, nipping, barely biting but still drawing blood. Stefan licked his brother's blood slowly. Stefan's throat was dry, he eyed the room. He snatched up Elena's unused glass of wine and poured it over Damon's back. Then he dove at it, pressing into his brother to slurp up every last drop from Damon's upper back. Most of the wine ran down where Stefan's stomach and groin were pressed into Damon's back and ass. Stefan ran fingers through the dripping liquid, his slipped fingers inside Damon, lubricating him. Stefan dug fangs into Damon's shoulder and thrust himself in, sucking in a breath at the feeling. Stefan gasped not because Damon was tight, but because he was discovering he liked this. The wine made a great lubricant, but something in it sent flames along Stefan's veins. It went straight to his head. Stefan growled and bit deeper into his brother's shoulder. Damon threw his head back attempting to bare more of his neck. Stefan pounded into him, loosing his caution, surrendering to his lust for sex and blood. Damon's blood. Stefan glanced over to Elena and nearly stopped in surprise. She sat back in the chair, feet propped and spread o the table and she rubbed at herself to their moans. Then Damon moved against Stefan and he resumed his delicious fuck. Stefan hid his moans in the healing wound on Damon's shoulder. But as he climaxed he threw his head back and half-howled. And he came all inside of his brother... Damon twisted as Stefan pulled away and turned towards him. Damon pushed the semi-weak Stefan onto his knees. Stefan got the hint and took Damon's cock into his mouth. Stefan did not have the skill Damon had, but Damon was close to the edge. Damon bucked and shoved himself deep into Stefan's mouth as he came. Stefan swallowed Damon' s cum without even thinking. They slumped against each other, sweat and bloody. Both watched Elena as she brought herself to orgasm one more time. They three sat there and stared at each other in silence. Damon smiled. He had won. He turned to the two and said, "So who wants some calimari?" * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "I'm sick." "So....?" Damon let out an exasperated sigh and looked at Spider. The silver haired girl slid a hot cup of coffee over to him. She just didn't understand. The impossible had happened. Damon felt guilty. "I fucked my brother!" Several other Denny's customers glanced at Damon then whispered to each other in hushed tones. Damon ignored them. "I see. Did you enjoy it?" Spider asked. She shifted in her seat, like she always did right before starting a long conversation. Her black nailed hands curled around her own cup of coffee. "Well... yeah." "Did he?" Her black eyes glittered. "I don't know." The truth was Stefan hadn't spoke to Damon since that night, last week when their little orchestrated orgy had taken place. Damon felt guilty for conning his brother and the woman he loved into an orgy. Well, just a little bit. Elena on the other hand had been making it a point to talk to Damon at every available moment. She made it known that she enjoyed that night. And that she wanted more. Damon wasn't sure what to think. "Happy Birthday, by the way." Damon glanced up at Spider, who grinned displaying teeth a bit too pointy. "Thanks." "How old are you anyway?" " Oh, I forget," Damon answered with a wave of his hand. "Try 527." "Yeah, that sounds about right." But Damon was thinking of Elena. He had loved her at one time. But now.. he didn't know. "Damon dear, you don't have loves, you have obsessions. And speak of the devil..." Spider stood as Elena walked towards their booth. "Hello Damon." Elena made a point to glare at Spider. She hated any female Damon talked to beside herself. "I think I'll leave you two alone." Spider took her coffee and walked over to another booth full of people. She passed Damon and shot him a pointed glance. Dump the bitch Damon, she's not worth the brooding. At least she's easy, Damon fired back mentally. Spider just sent him a mental laugh. " Picking up dinner Damon? Did I ruin it?" Elena looked pleased. "Not exactly. Just talking." "You never just talk Damon." Elena's voice dropped flirtatiously. Her foot slid up his calf under the table. " Are you jealous Elena?" She didn't answer the question. Instead she leaned into him, giving him a great view of her cleavage. "Stefan says hi." Damon glared at her. "Does he? Is he mad at me?" "No. He could never be mad at you." "Then why.." "Is he avoiding you? He's nervous. Afraid. He liked your little birthday party and he's afraid to admit it." "He did?" Damon narrowed his eyes and considered probing Elena. He decided against it. She may be new to her vampire powers, but Damon thought for sure she'd feel the probe. " Uh huh. He wants you to come over. That's why I came here. I've been looking for you for almost and hour." Damon couldn't think. His mind spun with this new information. Stefan had liked it. He wanted more. Damon mutely paid for his coffee and let Elena lead him to her shiny blue Escort. He slid into the passenger seat and sat back for the ride to Stefan and Elena's house on the better side of town. The mansion loomed ahead, dark and forboding. The whole trip had been one big tease. Elena hit on him nonstop. Her hand often wandered to his crotch to massage him. She kept dropping lines about how good Stefan was looking, and how great he was in bed. By the time Damon crawled from the car he wanted to throw Elena down at the base of one of these trees and screw her senseless. She kissed him teasingly at the door, then led him on through the giant home. Stefan wasn't home. "Where's Stefan?" Damon asked, looking around. " Oh, he must be out hunting." Elena answered. She kicked off her black flats and started unbuttoning her blue silk blouse. "You said he was here. That he wanted to see me." Damon glared at Elena. "He was here when I left." Elena shimmied out of her green pants, tossing them to one side with her foot. Damon wanted to cuss Elena out. He wanted to smash her face with his fists and lick her vampire blood from his knuckles. But he couldn't. Whenever she acted like this towards him his will power got shot to hell. Oh, he could resist her, sure. But not now. He didn't want too. Elena did a little two step walk towards him, showing off her still tanned, human looking body. She looked good. Damon hissed in a breath as she reached out and touched him. A moment later her naked body pressed into him as hard as her lips did. Damon groaned when she rubbed her hips into his. Her hands were already wandering down, unbuttoning his jeans. She reached inside the denim, wrapping cool fingers around Damon's cock. " Elena..." Damon gasped. She ripped down the front of his black t shirt, then shoved it off his shoulders. Her hot little mouth coasted along his pale, hairless chest. "Damon. You can give me what Stefan refuses to." "What's that?" Damon asked breathlessly. Her lips were on his neck, her fangs pressed on his carotid artery. Her nail scratched up his flat stomach. "Stefan is good. But boring." She nipped, calling a drop of blood to the surface of his skin. "I want excitement. I want this." Elena bit into Damon and ground into him at the same time. She let her knees give out, pulling Damon atop her on the oriental carpet, on top of a large pillow. She burrowed her feet into Damon's sides, between the jeans and his skin. With Damon's help Elena pushed his pants down. Damon jerked them off. Damon tasted Elena's skin, determined to tease her as bad as she teased him. He licked and sucked at her nipples, nicking her aureoles with his fangs. Elena had other ideas. "Damon..." she moaned. "I want you as a wolf." Damon looked at her. This was not the sweet Elena he had lusted over. This was... "DO IT DAMON!" He entered her and started shifting at the same time. The pillow lifted her hips for easier access in his lupine form. She had planned this. He bit at her and worked himself into a rhythm. Elena moaning and squirming under him drove his little wolf mind into a fucking fury. He felt a climax building. It felt different in wolf form. Suddenly Elena twisted away, hissing in breaths. She stared at him for a moment, then dove down, taking his lupine dick into her mouth. Damon wondered why, then all thoughts were chased away by his exploding orgasm. Elena licked his non-hairy parts clean, then sat back on the pillow. "Sorry, wouldn't do for us to be stuck together when Stefan got home." Damon growled mentally and tried to glare at her. Like all canids he had a knot on his penis in wolf form. They could have been stuck together for over half an hour. Elena just didn't want to get caught. Damon stayed in his wolf form. It kept him from thinking too much about how she had manipulated him to get what she wanted. And how much he had enjoyed it. Elena walked off to the glass tile shower and made a big show of masturbating while she cleaned up. Damon tried to ignore her. He kept his back to her, unfortunately the wall opposite the glass side of the shower housed a big mirror. He tried to keep his eyes shut. A crash came from outside. It sounded suspiciously like a car crashing through a gate. Damon stood tenses and waiting as voices called to each other from outside. Elena came from the bedroom, still wrapping a blue silk robe around herself when four men with nasty looking guns burst through the door. "Get her!" one yelled. The men swarmed Elena. Damon started to jump at them. Damon run. He froze at the voice. It wasn't Elena's. DAMON RUN NOW!! The mental yell over powered his wolf mind. He took off as a new horde of men spilled in the door. Damon tucked in his head and smashed through a picture window. Shots rang out behind him. Some one yelled. "Get that dog!" Damon ran for all he was worth into the woods. The moon was just a silver sliver in the sky, his black coloring was helping him. Until he ran into a net. "Got you mutt." A low voice growled. A sharp boot caught Damon's side. An instant later a streak of silver collided with the first of Damon's two captors. The man fell without a sound. "What the fuck?" A black nailed hand covered the second man's mouth as a dagger slid deep through his throat. The night suddenly smelled of blood and adrenaline. A shadow form ripped the net open. Damon tried to bolt. " Calm down Angel Fangs. It's me, it's Spider." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * They got into Spider's truck and took back roads Damon didn't recognize away from the house. Damon shifted back to human in the seat next to his supposively human friend. "Bullshit Damon, you knew from the beginning I wasn't human." Spider swerved to avoid a pothole in the road. Damon fell against the truck door. "Che il inferno pronto Tu?" Damon asked bitterly. "Well.. That is an interesting question. What the hell am I," Spider seemed to mused over the question before answering. "Damon, do you know how old I am?" "I dunno. About 20 maybe." "Mmmhmm... And why did you finally start telling me all about you?" "Because you came up to me that night in that ridiculous goth club and said 'I know what you are.' And because you were right. you didn't have any of those asinine movie vampire stereotypes. You really knew." "Damon, I was born in 1618." "Yeah right. Who the fuck were those people?" " Listen to me Damon. Stop thinking about Elena and listen to me." Damon glared at Spider. He had been thinking about Elena. "Yeah, you always think about your dick before anything else." "WHAT?!" " Oh you know it's true." "What's stopping me from killing you right now? You have no fucking right to talk to me like that." Damon's eyes glowed in the dark interior of the car. "Three things. The fact that I just saved your life. The fact that you like me. And you can't drive a stick shift." "I could figure it out. And I could kill you even if I do like you." "Which means we're left with the fact that I just saved you from vampire hunters. Organized vampire hunters. Hang on." Before Damon could protest Spider too a hard left, right into the forest. The truck bounced over rocks and ruts as Spider tried not to wrap herself and Damon around a tree. They emerged on a dark highway. Spider seemed to relax visually. She flipped on cruise control and looked over to Damon. "You okay?" "Well I'm not dead." " Pity it might solve some problems for me." Damon wanted to reach out and just snap her pretty little throat. But Spider was right. She had saved his life. No Salvatore ignored that. Not even the rebel. "So you're almost 400 years old." It was a statement. "Yes." " Can you explain? Or is it top secret?" "I can explain." "I'm waiting." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "I can explain!!" "NO!" the Inquisitor cried. "Listen not to the words of the wytch! She will bespell you with her voice!" The mob yelled in response. They chanted together for the death of the witch. Siran watched them, ignored and unnoticed. She watched the villagers burn her mother at the stake. Smoke filled her nostrils. The crowd's cheers filled her ears. And then came the scream. But it wasn't an actual scream, for only Siran heard it. It was her mother's death cry. It was only in her head. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "Your name is Siran?" "My first one, yeah. You know what it's like to have many names." "Keep going." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Suddenly a hand touched her shoulder. The scream cut off with the touch. Siran looked wildly towards the hand. It's owner appeared to be a young, brown haired man. He looked up just enough to give the five year old a glimpse of emerald eyes. "Who are you little girl?" Siran looked mutely towards the fire. The man looked surprised. "Ye gods, she had a daughter." Before Siran could protest the man swept her away to a room in an inn. That night he packed up his horse, then he and Siran rode away into the night. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * " Okay.. who was he?" " A member of a secret sect. A student of the paranormal." "So why you?" "My mother really was a witch. At one time she had been a member of his sect." "Which sect?" Spider hid a nervous jerk. "I'd rather not say. I've never told anyone this before." " Okay." Damon had long since settled back into the truck's high seat. He had begun to look comfortable. "Well, I was a natural telepath. I grew up with them. I think they expected me to stay with them for a long time, but as soon as I was seventeen I left. I wanted to travel, see the rest of the world that I had studied from their books and files. "I decided to hunt vampires. They had quite a bit of information on vampires. I didn't want to kill them... just meet them, prove they existed. Not everyone was happy with a strange girl poking around. "So one night they sent some one to capture me. Killing was bad then. The witch trials were popular, as was burnings. So the highest vampires forbid needless killing. A hundred years earlier I would have been killed on the spot, but the trials actually helped me. Once. "They jumped on me in the middle of the night. I was up writing in my journal, which was mostly poems. Well, one of them was young, and evidently a bit... excited. When I fought him he bit me. He was draining me and the other one wasn't doing a thing to stop him. I got scared, then mad. Then I threw him across the room and through the window in my room. "He fell two stories while his companion watched." "Mmm, did he die?" "No, the inn was cheap, no glass or wood beams in the window. The shutters were open. I liked it that way." "So what did they do? I would have killed you right then." "You would not have. If a seventeen year old human girl threw you through a window you'd be curious as hell." "Would not." Damon's eyes had begun to droop. Shifting and fucking and running had worn him out. That, and Spider's voice had a calming effect on him. "Go to sleep Damon," She whispered. "I'll tell you the rest when we get home." "Where are we going?" Damon asked, half asleep. "Tantum." "Wha...?" " Underground Richmond." "Yeah, that's so safe. No one in the underground scene knows me." Spider knew Damon well enough to realize he was being sarcastic. "Damon, you misunderstood me. I mean Underground Richmond literally. Tantum is the city under Richmond." Damon didn't reply. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Elena was teasing him again. The blonde nuzzled his stomach, nipping right above his navel. Damon hissed in a breath and sucked in his stomach. Elena laughed quietly. She nipped down his abdomen leaving a wet saliva trail to the waistband of his jeans. Damon groaned as her tongue slid between his jeans and his cool skin. Her mouth was hot and moist. Tempting. Yielding to his. " Elena, how did you get here?" She just laughed in reply. She slithered up him, brushing warm bare skin against his. Something in Damon started screaming as Elena kissed him, playing her tongue over his. Damon choked back the internal panic. He was Damon Salvatore. He could handle whatever came his way. Like his massive, insatiable boner. "Mmmm, I'll take care of that for you." The voice wasn't Elena's, it belonged to Spider. Her mouth caressed his. Her tongue entered his mouth and her body pressed into his. Her tongue seemed to fill his mouth. It touched the back of his throat, then suddenly the mouth and tongue were gone. "NOOOOOOO!!" A howl shattered Damon's dream. Elena flew back and slammed into a off white wall. She came loose with a hiss, leaving a smear of blood in her wake. She caught herself on her knees and glared at Damon. No, she was looking behind Damon. Damon glanced around him using the corner of his eye. Spider stood behind him, blood trickling from jagged wounds down her cheek and neck. The Elena-thing howled. Spider flicked her wrist, sending a sliver dagger flying into the creature's neck. The room went silent. "He's mine you bitch. Tell all your little friends I'll brand their pretty little faces with hot silver if they come near him again." There was a pause, Damon sensed some sort of communication sliding through the pair. Spider walked over and yanked her dagger from the thing's neck. "I know I can't kill you. But the council didn't say shit about disfiguring. Now get out of here." "I'll get you for thisss." Spider balanced the bloody knife on one finger. The creature got the point and fled the room, slamming the door behind her. "What the bloody hell was that?!" " Quiet Damon. These rooms aren't soundproof you know." "That was NOT Elena." "Nope, it was a succumbus. She crept into your dreams. Had I gotten here thirty seconds later, you'd be dead." "She can't kill me." "She'd have sex with you in your sleep." " And the bad point of that is?" "I wasn't done. That tongue? It would have kept growing inside you, until it pierced your heart. Then she'd bring the tongue and your heart back into her mouth." "Why me?" "Because your male, and easy target. And your a vampire. Vamp hearts taste good. They're considered a delicacy to the succumbi and incubi." Spider looked at Damon, smiling, and popped something small and bright red into her mouth. Damon's eyes grew wide. "You really don't know anything about the Shadow World, do you Damon Salvatore?" "What gave you that idea?" "That look on your face." Spider pulled a bag from her jeans pocket. "Licorice piece?" * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Damon suppressed a shudder as he thought of the Elena-thing that wanted to eat him. Water flowed over him in Spider's shower, so did his thoughts. He'd been a vampire for quite sometime now. But excluding Katherine and Stefan he had pretty much avoided other vampires. He hadn't seen many others. He even saw a few werewolves when he came to America for the first time. But he had never seen anything like the succumbus. He told Spider as much and she just laughed. "I'll show you some really scary things if you want." Damon had declined. Spider kept a flat over a store in Tantum. She said it was a good place to hide. The only humans that knew about it were on the menu. She showed him around the little apartment then shoved him into the shower. Part of Damon wished she was still there with him. Admittedly Damon was a bit more cautious after the succumbus had almost got him. "You almost done in there?" Spider's voice drifted across the plastic shower curtain. " Um... yeah. Almost." Damon answered. " Okay. My clothes might fit you, help yourself to what ever's in the closet." Damon thrust his face under the spray and rinsed the vanilla smelling conditioner from his hair. His thoughts turned to the silver haired enigma out in the rest of the house. She never did tell him what she was. Damon was lost. She knew about things he didn't even know, and yet he hadn't felt anything supernatural about her. Even their short telepathic chats had seemed perfectly normal. So what are you Spider? You never told me. He asked telepathically, hoping she'd pick it up. He got a quick glimpse of a ham sandwich and a waft of some sort of spicy mustard. That's because you fell asleep, she replied. So. I'm not asleep now. I've noticed. I'm a freak. That's what I am. Damon felt her sigh mentally. How so, he probed. I'm a bastard child. My mother was a witch, my father was a vampire. Damon was stunned for a moment. But vampires can't have children. We're sterile. Yeah, isn't it great? No, not always. I was being sarcastic dear. Oh. Damon turned off the water and rubbed himself down with a towel. It was warm and fluffy. I see you like my towels. Um... yeah. Nice. So how could your dad be a vampire? I don't know. My mother never told me how it happened. But I've heard rumors of certain potions or spells that could make a vampire fertile. Are you sterile? Boy that's a personal question. Sorry, bad thing about telepathy is the thoughts slip out faster. You don't have to answer that. I don't know if I am. Damon wrapped the towel around his waist and opened the bathroom door. A cloud of steam followed him into the rest of the flat. Spider was sprawled across the flat on a forest green couch. A ham sandwich sat on a plate in front of her. Damon looked around, taking in the whole place. The bathroom was the only place that had privacy. Right in front of him was Spider's bedroom area. A huge mahogany bed, that matched the dresser and a old-looking vanity, was draped in black and green silk bedding. A tall bookshelf towered over a night stand to the right. The living room was in front of the door. A bar and wall separated the kitchen area from the rest of the house. "The closet is across the bed. I have bigger towels you know." Spider said, referring to the fact that Damon's towel barely covered enough to be decent. "I know." Damon hadn't taken the smaller towel on purpose, but if it made Spider look, all the better. As he walked to the mirrored closet the towel nearly fell from him all together. Spider got a nice long look. They both remained silent as Damon slid into a pair of black jeans that looked too big for Spider, and black t shirt with a pair of ruby lips with fangs on it. The jeans had a series of rips down the leg. "What happened," Damon asked, gesturing to the rips. "Werewolf attack." After a moment Damon spoke again. "So where were we?" "I'm a mutt kid." "Right. So, what does that mean?" "I'm a witch and a vampire." "The powers don't cancel out?" "No, because I get them both naturally. So I'll live for a very long time, drink blood, do spells, et cetera." "You're immortal." "No. I just age very slow." " And you drink blood?" "Not as often as you. I can also fed off psychic energy. Which means I can feed off you and you wouldn't know it." "What else can you do?" "Well," Spider seemed to think about it. "I can't shape shift. But I can walk in the sun without that talisman." She pointed to the lapis ring on Damon's finger. After a moment she reached out and took his hand, looking at it. Damon shivered. Spider had changed. Where she touched him power crawled along his skin, like insects. "Holy shit." "I'm not blocking my powers anymore." "That's how you seemed human." "Isn't it cool?" Spider and Damon met eyes. Damon could feel her silvery power sliding along him. He felt something in reply. A darker, shadowy power mixed in with Spider's. Damon opened his eyes, he hadn't even realized he had closed them. His breath echoed slightly ragged in his ears. He realized the dark power was his. The two mixed and flared out suddenly. They fed on each other, building until the power filled the flat. Damon's hand traced Spider's cheek. As his fingers played along her skin, some phantom hand formed in his power and traced hers. Damon's lips met Spider's. Their twinned power throbbed around them. The sound of shattering glass came from far away. Spider pulled away first and looked around. A moment later the television in her living room exploded. "Holy shit!" Damon and Spider both jumped back. Spider was up in an instant and back with a fire extinguisher before Damon could blink. She covered the flames in the CO2. When she was sure the fire was out she looked down at Damon. "No one's been able to do that before." "Don't look at me. I'm new at this." Spider moved carefully around Damon. She managed not to touch him. Damon watched the silver-blonde girl rush to her closet and pull out a mound of clothes. "I'm going to take my shower." " All alone?" Damon asked with a grin. "I don't think the nice old lady in the shop down stairs would appreciate us bringing down the whole building." " Little old lady? I thought you said there were no humans in Tantum." "There aren't," Spider called from the bathroom. A moment later the sound of water from the shower filled the flat. Damon sat still for all of thirty seconds. Then he hopped up and started snooping around Spider's home. She had conveniently forgotten about her sandwich, so he munched on it while she showered. Her house seemed fairly normal. But then again, so had she at first. Damon noticed a beautiful dagger on display on Spider's bookshelf. It was stainless steel, with a black handle and a gold dragon on the blade. Damon managed not to touch it, but found a cardboard box to the side of the bookshelf. When he opened it she saw it was filled with various nasty looking daggers. He laid them all out on the black comforter of Spider's bed. He didn't even notice when the shower cut off, or when the door opened and Spider walked out in black leather pants and Dead Kennedys t shirt. "You like them?" Damon jumped. He hadn't even heard her walk up. But he covered it well. He twisted towards her and grinned. "Catch." He threw a small all black dagger near her. It wasn't aimed at her. In fact it would have just sunk into the wall about three inches from her head. Instead Spider's hand snapped out and caught it in mid air. "Don't play to rough, Damon. I might enjoy it." "How'd you..?" " Practice. Lots of practice. I'm female. I had to protect myself some way. Listen, I have to go up to the surface to get supplies. First of all, no, you can't go. I don't want anyone to see you until I figure out what's going on." "Wait a second. How'd that succumbus thing get in the house then?" "She's a runner for a friend of mine, who sells weapons on the black market." "That's where the knives came from." "Yeah. There's another t.v. in that cabinet next to the closet. I watch it when I'm in bed. And the stereo is in there too. Have a blast. Oh, is there anything you want?" " A nice blonde?" "Hmm, I'll see what I can do." Spider grabbed a wallet and shoved it in her back pocket. She grabbed her keys and walked out the door. Lock it after me, and don't let anyone in. Damon sighed and opened the cabinet. He flipped on the t.v. and slumped on Spider's bed. He was beginning to get the oddest sense of deja vu. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Damon's eyes snapped open. He was in a dark room, illuminated by the light of a flickering t.v. For a moment he wondered where he was. Then the sound came again. Something knocked at the door. Damon jumped up and walked over to it carefully. Spider had a key. She would have just walked right in and scared the shit out of him, knowing her. Damon remembered the Elena-thing. " Oh, fuck it." He said aloud. He opened the door a slit and peeked outside. A moment later he threw it open. Spider fell in. She caught herself with her hands and shook as she lowered herself on the floor. Damon picked her up carefully and laid her on the couch. There was a huge gash in her shirt, along her side. The shirt was wet with blood. Her right leg bent at a funny angle at the knee, and blood trickled from a half healed wound in her throat. The smell of blood was overpowering to Damon. He hadn't fed in a day. His stomach growled but he pushed aside the thought. This was Spider. She saved his life. He owed her more. Besides, he told himself. She can heal. "What happened?" Damon asked. A fierce protective note entered his voice. Spider gestured to her leg. Damon shredded the pant leg and looked at it. It had begun to heal at and off angle. "Hold on, this is gonna hurt." He broke it again, along the exact same place. Then he set it right. Those anatomy classes his father had forced down his throat finally paid off. Damon tore around the flat until he found something to serve as a splint. He found a mahogany cane in the closet, then he broke the handle off Spider's broom and set her leg into the makeshift splint. He suddenly realized why Spider hadn't screamed when he re-broke her leg, or why she hadn't called for help. The cut on her throat cut through her vocal chords. Damon hesitated for an instant, then he grabbed on the knifes near Spider's bed and cut his palm. His blood mixed with hers. Damon felt something snap inside himself. He had an idea. He reached out with his power and fed it into Spider. The wound on her throat seemed to melt away. Damon didn't see it go, it was like butter melting. He didn't see it, it just happened. He heard Spider moan. He looked down at her, then a shudder ran through him. Somehow he had called Spider's silver power. The building returned. Not unlike the press to orgasm, but there was no physical stimulation. Damon's energy twisted into Spider's. He tried to force it into her, as if he willed her to heal. His eyes opened before he realized he had closed them. Damon felt the last traces of the power disappear. He was suddenly alone in a dark room, perched over a panting Spider. Damon was acutely aware that he had cum in Spider's pants. He laughed weakly. "We gotta stop doing that." Spider said. She sat up and looked him over. "Didn't I tell you not to open the door?" "You are not in a position to bitch." Spider looked at Damon. He crouched over her, his knees on either side of her thighs, and his hands propping himself up near her head. "What position am I in?" Damon smelled blood again. He pulled Spider's shirt up and looked at her stomach. The wound was fading to pink. Damon couldn't tell how bad it had been, but blood smeared over her entire side. He felt certain some had traveled down to the couch. He scooted back and leaned over. When he felt sure that Spider wasn't going to pull away he licked over her side, tasting her blood. This time he felt his cock hardening and his fangs protrude. That magic confused him, eluded him. But this, this was one thing he knew. His mouth opened and cleaned Spider's sweet blood from her pale skin. Spider pulled away. "We can't." "We can." " Uh uh, Damon. I can't." "You are such a spoil sport." "Don't you even want to know what happened?" "No, I'd like to just continue with what was GOING to happen." Damon sat back on his legs. He put a little pout on his face. Dammit, he wanted some. "Stop thinking with your dick or it'll get cut off." "By you?" "Maybe." "Well then I just might like it." "Well then I'll cauterize it so it won't grow back." "Humph. You're mean." " And your life is in danger. Forgive me for wanting to help out a friend." " Oh please. They were human vampire hunters. Nothing more." "Think again Fang face." " Okay, Ms. Know-it-All. What were they then?" "Well, hunters but.." "Told you." "But they didn't want to kill you. If they had, they would have attacked you with wood, not regular bullets." "So? They're stupid hunters." "No, they wanted you alive." "They want to lock me up in a nice little cage and make me a sex slave for all eternity. What about Elena, and Stefan?" "They took Stefan. He was in the woods with a kill. I watched them." "You just watched them take my brother?" Damon stood and growled at Spider. He couldn't believe that! His so called friend watched some idiots kidnap his brother. "You didn't do anything?" Spider stood. She wasn't as tall as Damon, or a big. But she sure wasn't scared to yell back. "I couldn't! I'm not a god. A mob of them swarmed him. I couldn't take them all. I wasn't sure I could get you out." " And what if you hadn't gotten me away from them?" "I would have gotten you away somehow Damon." A silence filled the room. Damon and Spider watched each other. At last Damon spoke. "So what happened?" "They recognized me. They tried to beat and rape me to find you." "Why didn't you just kill them?" "I did. More came. I stopped trying to fight and started trying to get away." " Are you okay now?" "No. But I will be when we get Stefan back." "What about Elena?" "What about her?" " Aren't you going to save her?" "Why should I? I don't give a damn for her." "But I do." "Why Damon? I'm telling you she's a lying bitch. She doesn't care about you. Maybe she did at one point. But this isn't that same Elena. Everything that happened when to her head. And she just let it." "I don't care. She's Elena. I'll always think of her how she used to be." "Then you're deceiving yourself, Damon." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The door had a black rose on it. The shadow felt around it, probing with fingers and its mind. If it hadn't looked twice it would have missed the door altogether. But not now. It looked around the alley, which was surprisingly empty. The door suddenly clicked. The shadow pushed it slightly and slid in. "It's about fuckin' time." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Damon couldn't sleep. The t.v. was dark and quiet. Spider had cleaned herself up and changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top, then curled up under her silk sheets. Damon wished he could join her. But a part of him just wanted to sit back and watch her. She meant more to him that just food or sex, which was odd. Ever since Elena had married Stefan Damon had sworn never to care for another person again. But he was beginning to care about Spider. He sighed softly. He still cared about Elena too. That's why he let her pull him around with a choke chain on his dick. Not literally thank the gods. But part of him hoped she'd come around to him. For more than just sex. Damon rolled over and imagine that other part as a identical twin. He stabbed a stake into it's chest mentally as he closed his eyes. He fell asleep as the face began to change. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * When Damon woke up again he smelled people. But he didn't hear anything for several minutes. Then a loud crash sent him flying from the couch and into a defensive stance. Three voices laughed. "Calm down sleepy head." Spider said. "Yeah, we don't bite," an auburn haired boy called from the small dining room table. "Well I do," Damon retorted, untangling himself from the sheets. "Try it Count Damon and we'll see how long it takes you to reform from a pile of ashes." Spider started laughing histerically. Damon glared at her then bolted for the bathroom. When he came back out Spider and the two guys were arguing. The auburn one typed furiously on a computer, stopping every so often to growl something in a heated whisper. The second male was a tall and bony boy with dirty blond hair. He moved as if he was punching something in the air. "Damon, good. You're back." Spider stood and walked over to Damon. She led him to the table. "This is Damien. And the hunk on the laptop is Ace." "Ace? Is that your real name?" "Kinda. It's a nickname from my initials." Ace didn't even look up when he spoke to Damon. "So what's happening? What's with the new testosterone?" "Oh, I got bored and horny and wanted an orgy. You missed it." Damon thought Spider was serious for a moment. "Chill out, Damon. She called us in to find out what's up with the Magnus." "The Magnus?" Damon asked. "You know. Humans in black, big guns, nasty nets. What ever happened to the good old silver bullet and stakes?" Damien looked up at Damon with sincere gold eyes. "You're kidding right?" "Maybe," Damien answered. Damon looked closely at Damien. His face held some sort of knowledge that normal humans didn't have. The golden of his irises seemed to twist. His pupils were dilated to two different sizes. "What are you?" "You learn quick grasshopper." Spider said in a very fake accent. Damien looked at her. Spider gave the barest nod. "I'm Strega." "Strega? That's a type of witch-vampire in Italian lore." "Well, in reality a strega is a mage that practices blood magic. There are witches, natural witches, or mages. And we have different paths and ways of magic." "Like wiccans and New Agers and Buddhists." "Right. Strega manipulate blood to create a magical effect. And Technomancers, like Ace, use computers, or mechanical objects to perform magic." "Damien has been telling me about you." "Like what?" "You come from a strong vampyr line. The founder is said to be a caveman from the Bronze Age who became a lover to Lilith, the founder of the "other" races. Fucking a goddess had it's side effects. Klaus became vampiric in nature, though he wasn't a full vampyr for quite some time. There aren't many of his line still alive. Some say he's dead." Damien smiled and gestured to the fourth seat at the table. Damon took it. "He isn't alive." "Oh? How do you know? You didn't even know what a succumbus was, or so Spider says." "I didn't know. Hell, I didn't know witches really existed like you and him either." "You have been sheltered." "You have no idea. Klaus is dead, because I helped kill him." "How the hell did a little fledgling manage to kill a vampyr lord?" "We did." Damon told Damien most of his vampire life story. He left out gory details, Elena, Stefan and his own sexual exploits. Okay, he only told him the basics. "What about Spider? She's half vampire." "She's different though. She's a lot harder to read in that way. Your lineage is imprinted in your blood. Spider is a totally different creature." "Oh, thanks for making me sound like a science fair project." "She's like a new kind of vampire all together. She doesn't have a lineage because she's the first. Like a vampire without a sire." "So she's the Jesus Christ of vampires?" Spider started laughing. "Yeah, right. Vampires are gonna follow me for two thousand years." Damien and Ace both looked up at Spider. Damon thought it saw and odd glint to their eyes. He dismissed it. He couldn't picture Spider leading anyone to their destiny. "I am at your beck and call, dear Spider." Damien said with a smile. "So am I," Damon added. "Straight as a board," Damien muttered. "Nope. As twisted as the Mississippi." "River?" "Yeah, only he has stronger currents." Spider answered for Damon. Damon and Damien exchanged a look. Then Damien stood and sauntered into the kitchen. " Anyone want anything while I'm up." Damon dug his nails into the table to keep from saying anything. "I found it!" Spider popped up and moved behind Ace, looking over his shoulder. "Sweet goddess. Right there, you'll get it there." Spider pointed to the laptop screen. Ace looked down and typed a quick string of letters. "What did you find? What's there?" Damon asked. He stood up and walked behind Spider, reading the screen. They were looking at a file. N ame: Stefan Salvador B irthdate: Unknown B reed: Vampire "It's a file on Stefan. Where did you get this? Where is he?" Anger rode Damon's voice. " Apprehended June 3rd, 8:05 PM." Ace read out loud. "Recessive Genes, Type Three blood. Traces of alcohol, ylang-ylang, bleeding heart and unknown substance found in blood stream. Last fed June 4th, 11:38 am." " Look down there, recent notes." Spider pointed to the very bottom of the page. "Semen count low. Not recommended for Project Web. Advise holding subject over for deeper testing. Could be useful as subject is of an unknown bloodline. Final Decision to be made June 11th." "What are they doing to him? What's with all that mumbo jumbo?" " Oh God." Spider slumped back against the wall. Damien came back into the dining room and rushed to her side. "Spider? Spider what's wrong?" "Is this what I think it is Siran," Ace asked. He had turned in his chair to watch her. " Look at the file Spider's Web." Spider gave Ace a file name and a password. "Spider, what the fuck is happening?" Damon asked. "What are they doing to my brother? And to Elena?" "Breeding." "What??" "They're trying to make another me." Everyone but Spider stared at the screen as the file flicked onto it. Spider sat on the floor, half laughing half crying. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Damon crept along the busy streets of Tantum. He followed the explicit directions given to him. Left on Healy, past the Greek revival home. Right on Ravenwood, fourth house down. Apartment six. Damon knocked cautiously on the door. "It's about time!" Damien threw the door open and pulled Damon in. "I told you it wasn't hard." "Yes it is," Damon mumbled. Damien shot him a sharp glance. "What was that?" "Nothing, nothing." Damon answered quickly. He looked around the apartment. It was as nice as Spider's, but Damon had crashed in worse places in his unlife. The furniture, or what little there was, looked worn and definitely handed down. Damien watched him eye the place. Damien seemed to watch everything Damon did. "Why did you call me here? Spider'll kill me." "Don't worry, you're in good hands. Oh, I thought we'd have hard, desperate sex for hours on end, then collapse into a tired heap." Damon's lips twisted into a seductive grin. "Sounds good to me." "Boy you're easy," Damien laughed. Damon didn't answer. He took the two steps between them in one and pressed his lips into Damien's. Damien started to pull back, surprised, but instead he pressed forward, parting Damon's lips with his tongue. It was Damien that pulled away, though. His mouth moved down Damon's throat and down to the base of his neck. Damien bit, clamping his teeth over a pressure point. The two led each other across the living room and into Damien's bedroom. Damien gave Damon a shove. The back of Damon's knees collided with something solid and unyielding. Damon fell onto a swaying surface. Damien's waterbed. Damien was on top of him in an instant, nipping at the hollow of Damon's throat. Damon barely had time to remove his borrowed shirt before Damien attempted to rip it off. Damien pressed into his victim, his tongue tracing patterns over Damon's smooth white chest. He lingered over Damon's nipples, circling and playing with them. For once in his life Damon felt like making some one else do all the work. And Damien seemed to like what he was doing as much as Damon did. Damien's hands slid down Damon's stomach, dipping into his jeans before caressing Damon through the cloth. Damon made a move to unbutton his pants, but Damien's insistent hands took care of it. Damien's fingers hooked into Damon's jeans and his nails scraped over Damon's hips as he removed Damon's jeans. Damien's teeth scraped down Damon's stomach as he moved down Damon's body. Damon moaned as Damien brushed his cheek along Damon's hard cock. Damien's tongue darted out, running the length of him, before Damien took the head of Damon's cock into his mouth. Damon let out a gasp and watched Damien work. Damien's mouth was warm and wet around Damon's cock. His lips and tongue slid along the length of it, coaxing Damon to the edge. Then it was gone. The building orgasm subsided. Damon opened his eyes, not even realizing he had closed them. As he did Damien repeated the previous performance, teasing Damon to the bring of ecstasy, then drawing back. Damon clawed into to Damien's soft flawless shoulder. The intoxicating smell of blood joined the smell of sex in the room. This time Damien didn't pull back. Instead he thrust himself further onto Damon, as if attempting to swallow him whole. Damon thrust his hips forward as he came, crying out in the darkness of the room. Damien slid back up Damon, brushing as much skin as possible against him. Damien's tongue probed Damon, both men's mouths filled with Damon's salty cum. Damien and Damon watched each other, measuring the other's breaths, and every little jerk of their muscles. The smell of magic slowly seeped into the air. Damon closed his eyes and felt Damien, across the bed. He knew every curve and bend, even the parts he had never touched. Damon's breath caught in his throat. His eyes flew open. "What are you doing?" Damien panted. His loss of breath seemed to have nothing to do with his excited state. "I don't know." And Damon didn't. Even though it was his phantom fingers stroking Damien's soft skin, and tracing the sharp curve of his hip, Damon wasn't controlling them. The power seemed to be acting on it's own. Damien moaned softly as Damon ran a tongue along his hip before biting at the vein that ran along Damien's inner thigh. All without any physical contact. Damien screamed when Damon's fangs tore halfway down his thigh. The smell of coppery blood filled the room. Damon tasted it in his mouth, even though he knew he hadn't touched Damien. "What are you doing?!" Damien howled. "Nothing!" Damon yelled back. He began to panic. Then a voice cut through the magic, and the darkness. "Having fun Damien?" Damien whimpered and backed away from the silver-shadow form. Spider watched, uncaring. "I told you this one was to be protected." "Nothing happened! He's fine." "No thanks to you." Spider hissed. "I would have protected him!" " Like you are now?" Damien didn't answer. "Spider, what are you doing to him?" "Nothing." Damien cried and dug his nails into his wrist. Damon's nostrils flared. Power surrounded him. This wasn't like Katherine, or even Klaus. This was very different. It seemed as if every bit of magic from the vampire, witch and half breed swirled together in the confines of the room. Spider seemed to be unaffected, but Damien seemed to be at the mercy of it. Damon probed the magic in the air tentatively, and he learned something. He could take control of it. So he did. Before Spider could feel it, or Damien could succeed in ripping his veins out, Damon reached out with his mind and grabbed whatever was out there. The room suddenly went very cold. Damon opened his eyes. Damien was checking the skin of his thigh. Not even the palest scar. "What did you do to him?" "Nothing. He was doing it to himself. He's a slimy using bastard." "Maybe that's what I wanted." "If some one attacked you he'd run before he even thought about you." "Don't you think I can take care of myself, Spider? I have been for five centuries now." "You don't know who the enemy is." "I know about as much as you do," Damon fired back. Spider stayed crouched on the window sill. She looked at him, her eyes glimmering in the night. "Do you think so?" "Yes. I do." "In that case, when you're done here, you have a visitor at my flat." Before Damon could question her Spider took the half step out the window. It occurred to Damon a moment later that Damien's apartment was on the third floor. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Spider was not waiting for Damon back at her flat. Ace answered the door when Damon knocked. He looked a little sweaty and the whites of his eyes were showing. "So she found you?" "Yeah. Spider found me." "She's just worried about you. She tends to get way over protective." "You can go home now Ape." "That's Ace." "Damon, be nice to Ace." "Elena?" Damon all but gawked at the blonde as she hugged Ace before he fled. It didn't fit. Elena hated Spider. Spider hated Elena. Elena was supposed to be in some lab somewhere becoming a breeding guinea pig. Damon studied her. Her honey blonde hair fell in wisps around her jewel-eyed face. Smudges of dirt and darker things decorated her jeans. A tear in the shoulder of her shirt left it almost hanging from her. "Oh Damon," Elena fell against him. She let out a shuddery sob. "Damon they, they.." He hugged her tight. Elena had never been strong, not even after she had become a vampire. She wasn't the type. She wasn't a warrior like... Damon cut his own thoughts off. "Tell me what happened? How did you get away from them? Who were they?" "You don't know?" She cried. "No, we don't. You have to tell us. We have to get Stefan out of there." The mention of Stefan's name sent Elena into another round of tears. Damon pulled away and looked into Elena's tear-filled eyes. That's when Elena kissed him. It was just a kiss. Damon pulled away. He turned his back to Elena. "Damon, are you all right?" "Yeah, I'm okay." "You're acting odd." Elena nestled her lips into Damon's neck. "What was it like in there?" Damon asked, still not responding to Elena's touch. It didn't evoke any feelings in him. Damon suddenly felt cold. Like the old Damon, before Elena had softened him. Before she had used him. Elena shuddered against his back. Damon turned and shot one of his old killer- cold Damon smiles at her. "Why don't you tell me about it?" He sat in a cool leather recliner and looked at Elena. Elena sat on the couch. She smoothed back her hair and wiped away tears that were tinged pink. Damon couldn't smell blood on her, but the pink tears told him that she had fed recently. "Damon, you look.." "I know. Having people trying to kill you every other moment of the past two days gets to you. Don't worry, I'll get Stefan back. But I need your help." "What do you need?" Damon just smiled. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Spider cursed herself silently. A hand slid along her bare stomach. Long, thick fingers wiped beads of blood from the new ink pattern growing up her hip. The tattoo artist had pointy teeth. He raised his bloody fingers to his mouth and sucked them clean. "That's not very sanitary." "What do you think you'll catch from me chicka? This isn't a human place, we don't gotta worry about human diseases." "True, and dogs mouths are cleaner than humans." "If you weren't..." "Yeah, I know. If I wasn't Spider you'd have my throat for that." "Nah, I'm out of the throat phase. Now I take tongues. Dey take longer to grow back, while the throat jus' heals." "And wolves can still fight without tongues, but without throats..." "Dey get laid up for a whiles." The tattooist smiled sharply down at Spider. "I like the way you think." "Why thank you Fido." The man threw back his head and laughed. "Don't you go letting others hear you callin' me that." "Don't you do telling people you gave me a free tattoo." His hands worked the needle over her skin. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll pays me back somehow." The needle hummed as it thrust it's ink into Spider's skin. She laid on the leather seat with her tee shirt pulled up to her breasts and her pants in a pile by her feet. She didn't even really feel the needle. She felt the tremble of the werewolf's power against her own. It felt different than Damon's. His was the black and rainbow of crow feathers brushing against her skin. Like a great sadness that he channeled into power. A loneliness. The wolf felt more like the earth after a cleansing rain. Giving slightly with a sharp fresh smell. The same feeling one would have after crying for a long time. Spider wanted to cry. She wanted to shove Damon through a wall. She wanted to beat some sense into him. She wanted to beat some sense into herself. How could I have been so stupid! She knew he could take care of himself. He lived through Katherine, Klaus, and Elena. Well, okay, he was still living through Elena. Spider just didn't trust that girl. She hated seeing Damon so obsessed with some one that seemed to be just using him. She was a married woman, why wasn't she acting like it? Spider told herself it was just her hatred for all females popping up yet again. She almost convinced herself. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Damon silently killed the part of him that wanted to believe Elena. He choked down his urges to hold her through her pathetic sobbing, to kiss away her tears. At first he thought that she was another of those succumbi. But only Elena could tug at every one of Damon's invisible, thin strings. And he was beginning to hate that. He honestly didn't know if he believed her tear-tale of escape. It was possible that she had managed to fight to freedom while then struggled to restrain Stefan at her sight. If anything could rouse Stefan from near death the sight of Elena could. And if they really were being held by a large amount of stupid humans, then Elena could have ran fast enough and hit hard enough to get free. If Spider had been careless once she was in the upper world, under attack, then it would have been easy for Elena to follow her to Tantum. Elena clutched him, her sobs tickled Damon's ear. He hugged her lightly, holding he up more than embracing her. Then a voice split the sobs in the room. "Awww, isn't this sweet?" Damon spun. Elena fell. Damon didn't see he expression but he was sure she was pissed. "Spider.." " Oh, don't worry Damon. I'm just going to pick up a change of clothes and a few necessities. Then I'll leave you and your fanged beauty alone." Spider moved from the door towards the bedroom section of the room. She tore through her drawers to hide her anger. "You don't have to leave, Spider. This is your home." " Oh thanks for reminding me, I had almost forgotten." Spider unbuttoned her jeans and kicked them off. She slid out of her top before Damon and Elena's amazed eyes. "You have no sense of modesty do you?" Elena spat at her. Spider turned toward them. For the first time Damon saw her new tattoo. Bleeding red roses and shadowy black ones grew over the top of her left thigh and over her hip. The entwining stems weren't plant flesh, but instead they were dark, sharp looking barbed wire. "No, Elena. I'm afraid I'm not a lady like you." Spider slid into a black sleeveless cat suit. When she moved just so in the light Damon could see the tattoo through the material. She was sliding a studded belt around her waist when Damon kissed her. Spider wasn't expecting Damon to kiss her. From the growl Elena suppressed neither was she. Damon pulled away and looked down into Spider's glittering black eyes. "Don't leave. Please," was all he said. He probed her mind, knowing he couldn't get in. But he managed to feel her power around her, folded back on its self, wrapped around her like a tense muscle. He mentally reached out and massaged it. Please, he added mentally. You and Elena want to be alone... HA! Right. I don't want to be with her. She's... He paused. Part of him wanted to call her a bitch and be done with her. The other part still wanted her, if not loved her. She's Stefan's. " Alright, I'll stay." Damon leaned down and kissed Spider behind the ear. But don't you dare tell Elena that I'm not human. I don't trust her. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * He's sneaky and sly. He knows how to get what he wants. Spider growled mentally and glanced over at Elena and Damon on the couch. Her couch. Elena had showered and dressed in Damon's gargoyle t shirt, which hung almost long enough to hide everything. Damon seemed oblivious to her, even though her honey blonde head was in his lap. Spider had moved the bedroom t.v./VCR combination into the living room to replace the one she and Damon destroyed. She didn't want Elena and Damon curled up on her waterbed looking all lovey-dovey. Spider made herself not think about working out the sleeping arrangements. A banging at the door jerked her attention back to the present. She exchanged glances with Damon, who stood, leaving Elena on the couch. Spider unlocked the handle and the dead bolt, then peeked outside. "Spider, I have to talk to you!" Damien said from outside. Spider sighed and let the strega in. Damien froze at the sight of Elena. "What are you, a vampire shelter?" "Yeah, it's hunting season or something." Spider watched Damien closely. "Maybe we should talk outside." "Yeah, definitely." The two stepped into the small hallway that led to both the fire escape and to the first floor. Damien dropped his eyes from Spider's gaze and simply said, "I'm sorry." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "I'm sorry." "What for? You didn't get me in this mess." Spider hiked a thumb towards the door. "No, I'm sorry for making Damon come to my apartment." Damien dropped his head, glancing up at Spider. "Trust me, Damien, you can't make him do anything. It's not your fault. You didn't stand a chance of resisting him. Neither of us did." " Are you falling for him?" "Would you believe me if I said no?" "No." Damien looked up, meeting Spider's eyes. He shifted, standing a little taller. "Then why did you ask me?" "I want to hear you say it." "I can't. Not yet." "Spider, if he didn't care about you he wouldn't be down here right now." "Yeah, he wouldn't be on my couch with that slut, playing me like a fucking Royal Flush!" " Jeez, calm down. You're very independent, are you sure you aren't part cat?" "You'd know more than I would." " Look. I'm sorry about everything that's happened between us in the past. I was a total asshole. I deserved everything you did to me." Spider smiled through her anger. "Don't double-cross me." "I should have followed that rule when I first met you." Damien fingered something on his side. Spider reached over and pulled up his shirt, looking at a smooth silver scar on Damien's side. "Yeah, you should have." Damien offered her his hand. "Forgiven?" Spider took it. "For now. Don't let me down Damien, this is your last chance." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Spider and Damon felt each other as Spider entered her home. Her power slid along his then pulled away, cautiously. Damien was at her side, he seemed to be happy. He dropped his eyes from Damon's gaze. spider was the first to break the silence. "What time is it?" " Just after midnight." Damon answered without looking at any clock or watch. "Fuck, I've got a meeting." Spider fled to the bedroom area. She took the box of knives by the bed and placed it in a large duffel bag. She glanced at the trio watching her, slinging the bag over her shoulder. "Long story, I'll be back in an hour tops." Damon stopped her at the door. "Take me." " Excuse me?" "Take me with you. I've been stuck here for too long." Spider opted not to remind Damon of the whole Damien incident. "You're safer here." "But I need to feed. Remember, I don't have these fangs to be more goth than the rest of the kids." Damon smiled. He ran his tongue over his fangs, which sharpened in response. "Go feed then." "Where?" Damon looked terribly innocent. "You know the city I don't." Damien stepped forward, as if to say something. But then he seemed to change his mind and remained quiet. " Alright. You can come." Spider's voice softened, but just a touch. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The werewolf was waiting for them when they surfaced. The doorway led out to a wet Richmond alley. The wolf was leaning against the far wall, smoking a cigarette. "Spider?" "Yeah, it's me." "Who you got with you?" He flicked the butt onto the asphalt and scented the air. "When did you start hanging with the undead?" "Why don't you go cough up a hair ball, fur face?" Damon snarled. " Oh bite me fang-face." Spider's growl cut off both of them. "Both of you can shut up. Where's the boss?" "Witch-girl, who are you to tell me what to do?" Spider went very still and stared at the wolf. The waning moon and streetlights gave her more than enough light to see him clearly. He was one of the newer recruits. Obviously. She spoke two words, in a dialect Damon didn't recognize. But he felt her words, they were like knives flashing at the werewolf. The wolf took a step back. "What did you say Spider," Damon asked. There was definitely a fighting tension between Spider and the man. The man shifted slightly, moving his weight onto one foot. "How'd you know that?" "You whelp. Don't fuck with me. You are way out of your league," Spider answered. Without a warning the wolf charged Spider. Damon found himself shoved out of the way as a growing, furry form slammed into Spider. Spider had been expecting it, she rolled with the wolf's momentum and kept them moving. Somehow Spider ended up on top of the wolf-man with her arm shoved deep in his mouth. Before he had a chance to bite her she slammed his head into the brick wall behind his head. Damon heard a sickening crunch. The wolf went still. "Is he dead?" "No, just unconscious. Fuck head. Now we'll have to find our own way to the others." Spider cradled the arm that had been in the beast's jaws. Damon smelled the blood. " Are you alright?" The wolf form was melting away, leaving an unconscious man laying against the wall. Spider lifted him with her good hand. She glanced at Damon, her eyes glittering coldly. "No, but I will be." Damon felt Spider sink her fangs into the man as if he had done it. He tasted and smelled the strong, hot blood of a lycanthrope filling his mouth and flowing down his throat. He moaned and savored the taste. It was so much different from humans. It was stronger, and spicy. He rolled the taste around in his mouth. The blood brought memories. They weren't Damon's memories. Thoughts of dark moist places. Soil beneath his paws, wet leaves against his fur. And a strong silvery light calling to him. He'd been a vampire in a wolf shape when he shifted before. It had never felt like this. Never... Damon howled in the memories. More cries echoed around him, a whole chorus. Warm familiar furred bodies... He opened his eyes. "You okay, Damon?" Spider asked. Damon stared past Spider, trying to keep his fading claws into the memories. "What was that?" He sucked in a shaky breath. "Is that what it's like to be.. one of them?" Spider said something in the same ancient dialect. For a moment Damon almost understood her. Then the thoughts and feelings faded away. "What was that?" "I said it would fade." "What language was that?" Spider grinned. "Think of it as Wolf-ese." "How the hell do you know it?" Damon stood with Spider's help. He noticed her arm was almost fully healed. "Well...." "She just knew it." A voice rang out from the street. A showed form clapped and walked purposefully towards them. "Nice show Spider." "Kiel!" Spider rushed towards the voice. Spider hiked a thumb towards the tall thick man watching them. Kiel's hazel eyes gleamed feraly, but there didn't seem to be any hostility between the man and either Spider or Damon. In fact the rest of him looks vaguely amused. "Damon, this is Kiel, alpha of the Sawtooth pack." " And I see you've met Frekil. He's my newest recruit." "He'll be strong," Spider glanced at the lump of shadows that had attacked her. "Ss long as he learns who to fight and who not to fight." "Whoa, take a step back here." Damon eyed the unconscious wolf, then Spider and Kiel. "You did this on purpose." "Yeah," Kiel grinned. "Keep this one Spider, he's bright." " Listen here wolf-boy.." "Damon, chill out. He didn't mean it." Spider put the duffel bag on the sidewalk near Kiel's feet. the large man squatted and looked into it. "It's all here." "Yeah. Just like normal." Spider sounded bored with the whole routine. "Thank you domina Spider." Kiel wrapped thick arms around Spider. She hugged him back. " Anytime Kiel." "That's it?" Damon watched Kiel turn and walk off down the street. "It's not like I'm trafficking cocaine or anything, Damon." "You need some excitement in your life Spider." Damon looked over at her. suddenly his arm slid around Spider's waist. Before Spider could protest Damon vaulted up onto the building's fire escape, pulling her with him. "You aren't the only one who knows this city Domina Spider." Damon's laugh carried on the wind, waiting for some one, or something, to catch it. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The shadows in the alley twisted slight. It watched the werewolf regain consciousness and lope off. It smelled Damon and Spider on the wind. It tasted their lust for each other, both trying to hide it. It smelled blood. And Power. It caught Damon's laugh. Damien watched the alley, smiling. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "Where are you taking me?" Damon shushed his slightly reluctant Spider. "You never have enough fun. Maybe if you relaxed and let loose you'd handle things better. "I handle things fine. I haven't gone insane yet." "No, you have this image to keep. You have to be some sort of great Ice Princess and no one is supposed to get in. I got news for you, beautiful, I've been in your head already. You need to relax some. Let some of your stress go." Damon released Spider once they reached the roof of the building. She didn't get up from where he dropped her. Damon crouched over Spider, grinning down at her in the sparse light. "Are you that pissed that some one figured you out?" "No." "Good, because it wasn't that hard." With a growl Spider jumped on Damon, knocking him flat on his back. His head hit the roof with a crack. Damon blinked a few times. Spider's fingers pushed his chin back, baring his neck. Damon saw her smile, fangs glimmering in the stray rays of moonlight. Fear stabbed him for an instant, then his body relaxed before he could think to do anything. Spider's lips landed on his, her tongue darted along his teeth playfully. Damon felt the familiar lengthening and sharpening of his canines. Spider's tongue teased his fangs out, then slid away. She sat on his chest, her knees molded to his sides. Spider smiled. "You don't know me Damon. You just want to." "I may not know every bit of you, but I trust you with more than just my life." Spider looked at Damon for a moment, then stood and helped him up. "Let's go have fun." Damon laughed. Spider grinned and ran a hand through her short silver hair, brushing bits of dust and debris from it. Damon offered her his hand. Spider took it. They jumped to the roof of the next building. Both managed to land on their feet. Damon laughed as they ran and jumped to the next roof. By the next roof Spider was laughing too. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Damien hurried up the side of the building after Spider and Damon. He growled and cursed them mentally. He was just a human with a few powers, and the only thing he could do with them now was track those two. Maybe I should have nabbed some of that werewolf blood, he thought. But Spider had already taken a lot, and he didn't have any of his tools with him. Sometimes he hated being a strega. He knew a few spells that didn't require blood, but those were all useless, and not very strong. By the time Damien reached the roof the pair weren't in sight at all. The shadows on the roof danced. Damien looked around him. It was a whole different world up here. Birds and imps slept in the crooks of the buildings. Damien felt them. This place was rarely visited by humans. Damien could tell. Something tugged at him, like a wind sucking at him from the inside. He looked around, then followed the tugging cautiously. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Damon and Spider seemed to be happy. They found their way to a park and curled up in the gnarled roots of an old tree. "I got a question for you," Damon said. He let his fingers trail over Spider's arm. "What happened between you and Damien?" Spider sighed. Damon couldn't tell if it was happy or sad. "He and I once had a little thing going on. Nothing major. I thought I could trust him and he took advantage of that. "He stole some of my blood and tried to call up a vampiric demon. You know, the ones that are supposed to inhabit a human body that has turned into a vampire. Anyway, he thought I was just a normal vampire. He thought it would work. But something fucked up. He caught the attention of a very angry, very hungry.. thing. I don't even know what it was. It tasted my blood and decided it wanted more. "Because of Damien I spent six months either avoiding, or trying to kill that thing." "But it's not around now," Damon said. "No. Remember the night we met in the club?" Damon laughed. "Yeah, you looked really good in your leather pants and that purple tank top." "Yeah, right. I walked up to you, sat down at your booth and said 'I know what you are.'" "I about had a heart attack when you said that." "You smelled like blood. I smelled it the moment you walked in the restaurant. when I got closer I could tell you had been bleeding." "Yeah, I ran into a stupid bunch of teenagers. One of them put a knife in my side." Spider met Damon's eyes. "You made me hungry. For the longest time I had tried to just take in energy. But you made me want to rip off your shirt and lick your wound clean." "Why didn't you just tell me what you were?" Damon's fingers slid across Spider's cheek. "I was afraid you'd try to just use me. So I played human." "You were very convincing." "I had to be. I've spent all my life pretending to be normal." "Why bother to pretend?" Spider didn't answer. Damon lips met hers. Spider kissed him back harder, almost desperately. Their arms wrapped around each other. Spider was the first to pull away. She laid her head against Damon's chest. "You know, the night after I met you I killed that thing that Damien called." Something in Damon was scared. He had lived his whole life running from one rush to the next. He didn't think Spider deserved that. He wondered if he would get bored of her, like he did all the others. Was she just another conquest to him? "What are you thinking, Damon?" Spider asked softly. "I never fed. Maybe we should go." "No, you don't have to go." Spider tilted back her head, baring the side of her neck to Damon. "Spider, I can't." "Why not? Trust me, that werewolf gave me enough power for both of us." "But.." " Oh shut up and bite me Damon." Damon licked along Spider's neck. His fangs thrust out, almost as if they anticipated the bite more than he did. Spider let out a soft moan as Damon bit into her. the blood that rushed into Damon's mouth possessed a potency that human blood did not. Damon drank it in greedily. He closed his eyes and felt Spider all around him. He realized with a start that energy thing they had done earlier had began again. But for some reason it didn't alarm him this time. He relaxed and let it happen. He let Spider's sweet blood fill his throat, and her silver energy fuse with his. He felt teeth in his neck from a distance. Feelings of lust and sadness shot at him. Need. He needed the fangs in his throat, the closeness of a dark hard body. He needed... Damon? Damon looked around confused. He didn't even have time to think the response before the questioner knew it. I don't know what's happening. Spider? Yes. I said I don't know. But.. Shh, open your eyes. He did. He saw Spider's body beneath him. Damon's first thought was that he had killed her. Then he saw her panting. She threw her head back, her lips parting in a moan, fangs glimmering wetly in the light. A trail of blood trickled from a rapidly closing wound on her neck. "Spider!" Damon held her shivering body. Spider's fingers hooked into claws and dug into Damon's back. An unfamiliar fear filled Damon. He was scared for Spider. "Spider, are you okay? Spider talk to me." "Damon?" "Yeah, I'm here. You okay?" "Do you feel it Damon?" Spider whispered into Damon's shoulder. Before he could question her Damon knew what she was talking about. "Yes, I can feel it." Even now with eyes opened, and his head at least partially clear he could feel strong masculine arms around him. He could feel what Spider was feeling, the fear that they'd let go. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Damien felt a wave of pleasure pass over him. He knees bent and he fell to the ground outside the park. He clawed at the grass. In an instant he felt his cock, rock hard in his pants. He thought briefly of shielding himself, then another pleasure wave swept him away. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Kiel's fingers played lovingly over one of the silver knives Spider had brought him. It suddenly disappeared from his hand and clattered to the floor. Kiel dug claws into the table next to him, fighting the sudden overwhelming urge to shift. He looked around the empty room wildly, then glanced out the window and howled. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Elena felt a surge of pleasure wash over her. She growled and struggled to block it out. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "What is that?" Damon asked. He looked around him, seeing the trees and grass from two different pairs of eyes. "It's us." "I know that much." "It's our energy, our chi. It's combined." Spider, too, looked around. The double vision was disorientating. "Is this going to happen every time we have sex?" Spider laughed and wrestled Damon to the bottom. "We haven't even started yet." Damon laughed and grinned up at Spider. Her black eyes twinkled mischievously. "You're beautiful." "Flatterers go to the second circle of hell." "I mean it." They just looked at each other for what seemed like an eternity. They didn't need words. They were the same person in those instants. Sirens wailed nearby. Spider looked up. "What time is it?" "I don't know." "Damien and Elena are alone." Damon laughed. "Why do you suddenly care about Elena?" "I didn't finish. They're alone in my apartment." "Good point. Let's go rescue your poor apartment." Spider pulled Damon up, brushing every part of her possible against him. Damon wrapped an arm around her waist and walked with her. As they exited the park thunder rolled over their heads. The rain let loose again. Damon took Spider's left hand in his right. "What are you doing Damon?" "Haven't you ever tangoed in the rain?" "No, I don't tango." "Nobody's watching, just follow my lead." Damon began the dance, taking short steps towards Spider, pressing close against her. The pair tangoed down the street. They stopped in an alley, laughing and licking raindrops from each other's face. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Damien gasped on the carpet of grass beneath him. He pushed himself up and tried to stand. He made it to his knees, panting. A warm stain spread across the front of his jeans. Damien growled. "What the hell are you up to Spider?" * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The flat was empty. "Maybe they went hunting?" Spider grinned at Damon. "Maybe he killed her?" "You really hate her." Damon shot Spider a questioning look. "I don't know, something about Elena just turns off internal alarms. I've learned to trust my instincts." Damon kissed Spider gently. His hand caressed the side of her face. "Don't fight." "Don't worry." Spider kissed Damon back. She sucked his lower lip between her teeth and tugged at it playfully. Damon's hands went around her waist, fingers playing along her skin under her shirt. His fingers hooked into her jeans and pulled her closer to him. Damon stepped back, pulling Spider with him. All of a sudden Spider's waterbed looked very inviting. Spider's hands slid up under Damon's shirt, tracing the muscles of his chest. She pushed his shirt up with a faint growl, trying to take it off. With a grin Damon slid out of the shirt flinging it to the side. Spider's mouth danced over Damon's pale, cool flesh. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Damien looked around. something was wrong. He couldn't see Damon, or Spider, or... The night suddenly seemed very quiet. To quiet. Damien didn't like it one bit. He mumbled a quick spell of protection and hurried back towards Tantum. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Spider's teeth scrapped across the soft nub of Damon's nipple. She pushed up, nipping across his chest and up his throat. A grumble caught in Damon's throat. Spider's teeth nipped firmly at the side of Damon's neck. "Bite me," Damon mumbled. Spider grinned and sank fangs into the flesh of Damon's neck. The smell of blood and the feel of magick filled the room. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Damien became more and more convinced that something was wrong. He felt... hunted. He did a quick scan of the area. A few humans, and at least two nonhumans were within a fifty foot radius of Damien. Damien quickened his pace and headed for a nearby club to loose his follower. Footsteps rang out in the distance behind him. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Spider twisted on the silk sheets of her bed. Damon yanked her shirt over her arms. His teeth closed gently around her nipple from the outside of her bra. He pulled up, tugging at the cloth. His other hand scratched at the skin below her waist band. Spider hissed. She tugged at Damon's pants. Her hand unbuttoned the pants and dips against his skin. Damon bit at Spider's chest, leaving an angry red mark right in the center of it. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Damien froze. The shadows moved in front of him. It was twenty feet to the club. Twenty feet to safety. He knew he wasn't going to make it. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Damon's tongue traced the tattoo across Spider's hip. He nibbled along the bend in her leg, his hands pushed her pants the rest of the way off her legs. His mouth teased her. He licked once along her, grumbling at her moan. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "Why are you following me human?" Damien didn't argue the human point. "Why were you following them?" The shadow smiled. "Answer me." "I did. That's all you'll get from me." " Pity." The shadow moved in a blur. Damien blinked. Something hot and coppery spread across his chest. The shadows grew, blotting out his vision. Damien didn't feel himself hit the ground. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Damon's gasp had nothing to do with the aching hard on in his half opened pants. The power that flared between him and Spider had been interrupted. Damon had never been psychic, technically. But he had just gotten a vision of Damien, and knew that something was really wrong. He could taste panic in the back of his throat. At first he thought it was Damien's. "I don't feel him." Spider's voice cut through Damon's thoughts. "Something's wrong with Damien." "No shit. Even I can feel it." Spider was on her feet and slipping a shirt over her head before Damon could take in a breath. The pants went on next. Damon looked down, shoving his boner back into his jeans. This always fucking happened, every time he had her something came up. And it wasn't him. Damon turned back around in time to see Spider shoving a full clip into a slick looking pistol. Damon didn't know guns. He never really had to use them. "What are you doing?" "Damien's hurt. I don't know by what or who, but I'm going to get him." Damon felt shocked. "I thought you hated him for causing you trouble." "No, I'm just cautious of him. I don't want it happening again. But something isn't right here. If he was hurt to get to you or me, then some one's going to die." Damon felt Spider's fury wash over him. It wasn't how he expected anger to feel. Spider radiated cold, a bitterness that burned. "You might want to tone that down." "Why? No one else will see it unless I let them." Damon looked at Spider. this wasn't the same Spider he had hugged and licked moments before. This was some one very different. The Spider that looked through her black eyes now was the girl who had watched her mother burn. The little girl, lost in the crowd, watching dispassionately, not crying. Only wondering how it felt, to burn and to the others watching. Very little scared Damon. But seeing this coldness, the uncaring vengeful bitch inside Spider made shivers run up his spine. Which one was real? This one? Or the Spider that he loved? "We both are." It was just a whisper. If Damon hadn't been a vampire, he wouldn't have heard it. Spider shoved the weapon into the waist of her pants. Her eyes and muscles were hard and taunt. Waves of heat rolled off her. Damon's vision tinted red. He felt his fangs grow painfully long and sharp. His eyes widened, watching Spider's every movement. He was waiting for her to move like a wounded animal. He was waiting for her to be distracted so he could jump on her. so he could rip out her throat. So he could... "Spider, you have to tone it down or I'll attack you." The door handle wiggled. Damon crouched down, waiting. Spider somehow materialized next to the door, gun drawn. She held it down at her side, safety off, and opened the door. A moment later Elena shoved the door the rest of the way open. Damien lay in her arms. Elena looked paler than usual. She laid Damien on the couch and backed away, shaking visibly. "He left, so I went hunting. I was walking back and he was there. Damon, he isn't breathing, he didn't move!" Elena slid crying to the floor. Damon moved towards her. that was one of his weaknesses, he hated seeing women cry. Elena clung to him, shaking. "Dammit Damien, what the hell did you get into this time?" Spider pulled her butterfly knife and cut Damien's clothes from him. A long slash already decorated the clothes. Damon looked over at Damien's pale naked form on the couch. "What the fuck?" Something had sliced Damien from groin to sternum. A long black mark snaked across his skin. But it wasn't bleeding. "Spider, what the hell is that? did the attacker do that?" "Nope, Damien did." Spider laughed and kissed Damien's forehead. She jumped up and grabbed a black cordless phone from the charger next to her bed. "Kiel, get your hairy ass over here right now. Damien's injured, and if he wasn't smart he'd be dead already." "What is that? Spider, talk to me." Spider brought the phone with her back to Damien's side. She checked him out, grinning. She dipped a finger in the black line along Damien's chest and held the finger out to Damon. "Damien was expecting whatever happened. He knew he was being followed." "It's blood." "He made his blood thicker, thick enough so that if some one hurt him, he wouldn't bleed. Once his attacker cut him, he went into a kind of coma. All his systems slowed down drastically. He barely breaths, his heart beats just enough to keep him alive. This way, he won't die of blood loss, or shock." "How long can he stay this way?" "Maybe an hour at most. Just long enough for us to get him some help. If we get him stitched up while he's still in this phase he won't bleed, and the shock will be minimal." "Wow." It was all Damon could say. Elena sat watching Spider's hands roam over Damien, checking for foreign objects or anything else that could cause problems later on. Tendrils of power reached from Spider's fingers as she searched him magically too. "Luckily Damien's a strong strega. Gotta love those blood wizards." Spider laughed again. "So he's not going to die?" Elena asked. She seemed calmer, pink lines from the tears running down her cheeks. "Probably not." Elena stood, still shaking slightly. "Can I do anything to help?" "Watch for Kiel. He'll be here any minute." "Kiel?" "Don't worry, you'll know him. About eight feet tall, covered in brown-gray fur, big sharp teeth, makes you feel like Little Red Riding Hood." Spider's grin was slightly malicious. "A werewolf??" Elena looked about ready to faint. "Like, Tyler?" "Tyler?" "He was a werewolf in Fells Church. He attacked her," Damon commented. He shot Spider a look. "Don't worry. Kiel's a good guy. Just don't hit on him, he's mated." Spider grinned back at Damon. She knew exactly what his look meant. So Elena knew about werewolves. And she pretty much saved Damien's life. Spider couldn't help feeling a little bad for how she had treated Elena earlier. Maybe she wasn't that bad after all. Kiel arrived without a sound. The door opened and he stood in it, taking in the entire room for a moment before heading for the couch Damien lay on. Elena moved to shut the door when a hand stopped her. Ace grinned at her as he slid into the room. His eyes gleamed coldly, too savage for his baby face. "Hello, Elena." Ace moved on, arms folded across his chest. He moved to Kiel's side, checking Damien's unconscious form. "How's he doing Kiel?" "He's alive. The blood spell kept his insides from falling outside. We'll have to check for internal damage. How's the spell?" Ace looked at Damien intensely for a moment. "Still strong. We have time."' "Where'd you find him Spider?" Kiel asked, turning to the silver haired woman. "I didn't. Elena brought him in." Kiel eyed Elena. It was a neutral look. Elena looked shaken, she stumbled back. "You're the werewolf?" "I am." The room went silent. Everyone was watching each other. Finally Ace broke the pause. "Look, Kiel, we better get Damien to the Doc. We have time, but not enough to waste." "Spider, we'll need your help getting him there. Who knows what's out tonight." Kiel brushed his fingers on Spider's hand. "Besides, I want ta ask you about something." "Is it me?" Elena asked. "No," Kiel smiled at her softly. "Go get some sleep child." "Feel free to use the shower," Spider added. Kiel gathered Damien in his muscular arms. Ace opened the door for Kiel. Spider smiled in at Damon, then shut the door softly behind her. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "So what's up Kiel?" Spider asked as soon as they hit the street. "What the hell were you and that fanged freak up to earlier Spider?" "No beating around the bush? No easing into the subject?" "Hah! You know better chicka. Tell me what the fuck you two did." "Why?" Spider's eyes narrowed to obsidian slits. she wasn't sure she knew what had happened, so why was Kiel asking all of a sudden? " Please girl, the whole fucking city felt it, if you hadn't noticed." Kiel snorted and paused to light a cigarette. "No, actually I hadn't." "You did feel it right?" Spider got real quiet. She wanted to laugh, did she feel it? "Yeah, I felt it." "Then what's up with you and the vampire?" "I don't know. It's like..." She trailed off. Kiel and Ace walked silently beside her. Kiel cradled Damien's body, somehow managing not to trail cigarette ashes on him. "Like we merge." Kiel didn't say anything, he just raised one thick eyebrow. "I don't know what it is, and that's bad. I've never felt anything like this before. I've done energy sharing, and I've gotten memories when feeding. But this.. this is a complete merging. Beyond auras and energies and all that new age bull. This is-" " -Soul sharing," Ace cut in. "That's what it sounds like to me." "Soul sharing?" Kiel asked. He didn't betray any of his thoughts but Spider knew he was worried. He thought she might do this to one of his wolves. "There's a theory that says one body alone can't hold a soul, so it splits up and gets incarnated into separate bodies. Kind of like soul mates, only more so." "So maybe Spider and what's-his-fangs are parts of the same soul?" "Damon." "Hmm?" Kiel glanced over at Spider. "His name is Damon. Damon Salvatore." "They could be. It's never been proved, but..." Ace shrugged. " Anything's possible. Like a hybrid." Kiel looked pointedly at Spider. "What? You think I tried to do any of this?" "No, but ever since I met you, you've proven one rule after another false. I've never met a witch or a vampire that could speak like pack." " Until you met me." "Yeah." Spider grinned. "Go fig." "I don't trust Elena." Ace said. He broke through the conversation on purpose. He didn't like discussing Spider's powers. " Join the club," Spider growled. "It's like every time I'm around her alarms go off in my head." "You're just jealous of her," Kiel grumbled. "I'm afraid that's all it is." "No. Listen Spider the same thing happens to me. Damien planned to lure Damon to our apartment and do gods know what to him." "I know." Spider murmured. Ace didn't appear to have heard her. " And the first words out of my mouth were beware of the bitch. Damien thought I meant you, and so did I at first. But it's Elena. There's just something not right there." "Well, she died and came back, twice. I think that's pretty traumatic." Spider blurted. "I thought you told me you didn't know anything about her a while ago." Ace's eyes narrowed into suspicious slits. "Well, I don't." "Then how did you know she died?" "I didn't... until I saw the memory in Damon's head." Ace snarled at Spider. "I told you! Be careful girl. I don't trust Damon much more than I trust Elena." "They're different," Spider answered. "Elena's a manipulative conniving bitch. She's doing something, I'm just not sure if it's harmful to me or not." " And Damon?" Kiel offered. "He's trapped in whatever she's doing. He didn't ask to get attacked and drug down here to some weird between-world place filled with people like us." "Spider, he is one of us," Kiel fired back. "If you hadn't noticed the fangs and the shape shifting or the blood thirst yet." "He's a vampire, yeah. But he's not one of us. I mean, he knows nothing about the whole workings of the Shadow Realm." "I think he knows more than he's letting on to." "I agree with Kiel. Spider, he's gonna get caught up in this place." " And the bad point of that?" "What happens when he has to go back to his normal life? Back to his brother, and his nightly Denny's visits?" "You think he'll do that?" "I don't know. But I can't ever see you playing human with him. Not like Damon's brother and Elena do." "Damon is nothing like Stefan and Elena." "But he still lives up there. He lives in the middle of them, pretending. Face it, Spider, sooner or later he's going back to a human life, even if he'll never be human again." "No, he won't. He doesn't belong there and he knows it." Spider spun around on the heel of her boot. Ace and Kiel watched her vanish into the shadows. "She's attached to him already." Ace said, once he was sure Spider couldn't hear him. "Yeah, I noticed." "Do you think she'll get hurt?" "I don't know, Ace. But sometimes I wish I did." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Elena was pissed. Her dirty bare feet kicked at the soft, pale carpet of Spider's loft. "How could you just let that THING come in here?" Damon laughed under his breath. For living underground Spider's television got great reception. Great reception still didn't save him from sixty channels of infomercials. "This is Spider's home, not yours." "I know! And I saved her little toy, doesn't that count for a damn thing?" "Elena, go take a shower. I'll make the couch all comfy for you." "And where are you sleeping tonight? With her?" "And if I do?" Damon looked slightly amused. "I felt what you two were doing." "Were you jealous, Princess? Because we did something you and Stefan can't?" Elena stared coldly into Damon's black eyes. "You're changing. She's changing you. She'd taking you away from us." Elena sat next to Damon and caressed his cheek with her fingers. Damon stood, pulling away. His eyes glittered like crows eyes down at Elena. "See?" she said. "You already look like her." Silence filled the loft. "What about Stefan?" Elena asked quietly. "I'll find Stefan. Right now Spider is the best bet I have to save him. It's not like you care. I don't see you risking your neck to save him." "I don't see you risking your neck either. Just your libido." Damon almost slapped her. He felt the tension in his hand, waiting for the moment it would connect with Elena's skin. But he was better than that. Damon grinned at her, flashing sharp fangs, then walked into the bathroom for his shower. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * In the dream. In the dream Spider laughed and danced with a dark haired, dark eyed stranger. The world tilted around her, a great sparkling party. Golds, silvers, maroons and blacks smeared together in a great painting. And in the center some one lay in a pile of leafy green. The fur and claws on the guests weren't false Hollywood make up. They were real. Therianthropes. Vampires. Witches. They all laughed and danced around the man in the green. Damon's arms were around her, pulling her close to his sweet smelling body. Spider felt at home. They moved as one towards the buffet. Ordinate knives sliced off pale pieces of the motionless man. With dramatic flourish the blonde hostess, dressed in an ice blue Renaissance dress fit for a princess, pulled away the black cloth hiding the identity of the main course. Haunted green eyes stared up at them. Damon's face, Spider thought at first. Then she blinked, her hands finding Damon's next to her. Stefan. It was Stefan's face. Stefan's body they were eating. And all she could think was: "This tastes good." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Spider moaned as she woke up. Some one warm moved slightly, shifting against her. The silk of the sheets felt cool against the heat of her skin and her bed partner's. Spider's eyes flicked open. She remembered leaving Kiel and Ace. She remembered coming back to the loft and seeing Damon and Elena asleep. Elena was on the couch, huddled in blankets, and Damon evidently fell asleep while watching t.v. Spider remembered taking a shower and curling up in her water bed. She did not, however, remember some one crawling into the bed with her. The phone broke the silence. It rang shrilly on the other side of the bed. Spider did not feel amused. A pale, well muscled arm reached out and grabbed the phone. After some instinct mumbling Damon peek out from under the sheets and grinned up at Spider. "It's for you. It's Ace." Spider was kind enough to take the cordless from his hand before she nailed Damon with a pillow. She jumped out of the bed and jumped into the bathroom before he could throw it back. "So now he's answering the phone in the mornings?" "You sound jealous, Ace," Spider fired back. "And you sound like you got laid." "I didn't. I went to bed alone and woke up with a Salvatore." "Yeah, that's believable." "Is there a point to this call, Ace. Or did you just want to wake me on three hours of sleep to exchange witty repartee?" "As much as I'd love to be just annoying you, I'm afraid neither of us are that lucky. You were right, Oh-Sexy-One. Not only does the Magnus have Stefan, they're looking for Damon too. They think where the younger brother fails in ..." Ace cleared his throat meaningfully, "potency, Damon will excel." "And since they come from Klaus' line, and they are the last three of that line, Arin thinks they're easy marks." "Correct, my brilliant leader." Ace laughed on the other line. "What do you way you wake tall, dark and fanged up and we get some breakfast? I have the files all printed out and waiting for your beautiful eyes to read." "Where and when?" "Well, I'm on my way to Granny's. It's as good of a place as any." "Deal. You sure it's okay if I bring Damon?" "Yeah, just no Elena. That bitch scares me." "And I don't." "You never threatened to rip my testicles off if I didn't leave the loft." "Hmm, I'll have to save that one for later." "I'm not joking about her, Spider." Ace's voice sounded far away suddenly. "I don't trust Elena one bit." "Acknowledged. See you in a few." Spider clicked off the line before Ace could respond. She slipped back out into the main part of the loft and slithered under the covers of the bed. Damon jumped to attention when her nails dug softly into his inner thigh. She pulled the covers off herself and Damon and grinned down at him. "Morning, cutie." "Hi." Damon looked to sleepy to say anything else. "Get up." "I am." Spider's teeth found Damon's collarbone. "I meant get your body up." "Why should I? I'm quite comfortable where I am." "I'm sure you are, but we have a lunch date. And we're about to be late." "But that means I have to get up and get dressed." "Yup, it sure does." Spider threw the rest of the way off Damon." Mmm, nice view." "Shush." Spider laughed and stood at the foot of the bed, pulling off the shirt she slept in and putting on a pair of skin tight black jeans. Her shirt had a red and white grinning Cheshire cat against the black background. "You must tell me where you shop. You have the most interesting clothes." "I learned a while ago that denim and cotton are usually more comfortable and less expensive than leather. Now get dressed." "Yes Mother." Damon had just enough time to duck before a size seven boot flew past his head. "Okay!" "Shhh, don't wake Elena up!" "Oh, right." Damon borrowed one of Spider's shirts. Damon's was black too, with big white letters on it saying "The boat sank, get over it." Damon made a face at Spider and put his arm around her as they slipped out of the apartment, leaving Elena behind. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "She's been born into the wrong time She keeps nonsense on her mind She's a poet, she's a builder She's as bored as bored can be She's a have-not, she's a know-all She knows just how to say yes She's skating frozen chaos Till the no-good gods are dead But sometimes in the dead of the night Woken by city lights She wonders how she keeps alive..." " Okay Spider," Damon's voice broke through the music blaring in the truck. "What's bothering you?" "Nothing, I'm just singing." Spider took the ramp off the express way at fifty. She came to a quick halt at the red light waiting for her at the end of the ramp. Her voice rang out with the music flowing through the truck. Damon looked out the window. Your thoughts are chaotic. Thank you so much for noticing. Stay out of them. Then talk to me. " Okay, if I must." Spider said out loud, pushing Damon out of her head. "You don't have to. I'm just worried about you." "I had a dream last night. We were at a big ball. Stefan was the buffet." " Like.." "We ate him." "Why is this bothering you so much?" Spider looked over at Damon, her eyes meeting his. "Because.. we ate him Damon. I was in a formal black dress and you were in a tux. We cut off pieces of your brother, put them in our mouths and chewed. It tasted good." She turned back to the road, pulling into the turning lane beside a smaller diner, which Damon never would have noticed if she hadn't stopped. "You've seen worse things than that. I know you have." "I don't know what it was. There was this atmosphere to the whole dream, like I was tripping." She paused and started off into space for a moment. "Why are they so fascinated with me?" "Who?" " People. Look around. No one wants to be a vampire any more. Or a werewolf. They all want to be some sort of triple animal deity blood sucker. Do they think it's fun not being human, and not being a vampire? Do they think it's easy?" "I don't know. I try to stay away from the stupid humans." Spider didn't see Damon's smile. "Do they think being chased down for 200 years by some freak that wants to turn you into the prototype for his super soldier is just another game?" "Is that what this guy is after?" "Yeah. I've been avoiding him and his ancestors because they're ignorant greedy pricks." "What about this organization?" "It's the same one that saved me, kind of." "What happened Spider?" Spider turned off the truck. The music cut off in mid-note. "They were great to me, like a family. I didn't speak for almost a year. They knew about me. They didn't know I, a freak, was possible. "The inner circle of the Magnus argued about me. Some wanted to keep me, some to kill me, others to kick me out into the street to fend for myself. I was only six. Six years old. I wouldn't have made it. "They came to a conclusion to let me stay with them as long as I wanted. The man who saved me, Thaddeus, he had a younger brother who liked me a lot. the two of us grew up together. He was 2 years older than me, and the first guy I ever screwed. His name was Mikael. He knew everything about me that I knew, and more. "The council of the Magnus never told me about my family. They wanted me to grow up thinking what I was natural. Though they got pretty pissed when I started invading their psychics' dreams. And they didn't like it when I hit puberty and started craving blood. Evidently the vampirism kicked in at the same time the growth spurts and curves did." Spider shot a small smile at Damon. "Mikael never once loved me like he said he did. He was everything that's wrong with men, but I was too damned young and innocent to see it. One day, when I was sixteen, he showed me the file the Magnus was keeping on me. Everything was in there, height, weight, measurements, feeding habits, my favorite color, and information on my parents. "My father was a vampire who called himself Nigel. That's pretty much all that was known about him. There was one picture in there of him, at least I think it was him. The file didn't say if he was dead or not. Just that he was spotted once after my mother's burning. After that no one's ever seen him. "Mikael got this idea in his head. He wanted to take me to go hunting for my father, or that's what he told me. So we went, and that's when he started stealing my blood. He said he was required to keep the Magnus elders up to date n my physical health. But I know he didn't need to draw blood everyday. But I let him. Because I was afraid he'd leave me some where. And I didn't want to be alone. "He started getting in trouble with locals where ever we went. He came running into our inns often, packing in a hurry to get out of the city. That's how I first learned to fight, defending him." "What a fucking loser. Is he why you left the organization?" Damon looked irresistible to Spider in that moment. Maybe, she thought, maybe he actually cares. Of course I care you beautiful fool. Spider laughed, she felt a tiny bit better. "He was stealing from them for money. He had a scheme, but I didn't know that until later. He wanted to fund an organization of his own, to dissect me. He wanted to know how I managed to be both vampire and human." "I thought you're a witch." "I am, but he didn't know that. The Magnus didn't know that some witches were a race as well. They thought she was just a poor victim of the trials. I never bothered to correct them when I found out. " One night I packed up, I called the local cops and told them I knew where their thief would be heading. Sure enough Mikael came running to me, and they caught him. I packed up and just rode away. We were in Amsterdam. "There was just something in me that said 'No more'. I didn't think, I just acted. Almost like I blanked out. I came back to myself in a carriage, halfway to London. Totally free, and scared shitless." The truck remained silent for what seemed to be an eternity. Then Spider opened her door and said, "Now that you know my life story will you extend me the honor of joining Ace and I for breakfast at this fine witch diner?" " Um... okay." Spider left Damon, still slightly stunned, in the truck and disappeared through the doors of Granny's restaurant. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * There was something about the diner that seemed to wrap itself around Damon. The windows were not only tinted, but covered by thick dark red and gold curtains that shielded the patrons from the harsh rays of the sun. The seats were soft, the same dark red as the curtains. The air smelled of cloves, cigarette and something else. Something musky and slightly spicy hovered under it all. "It's a special mixture of eucalyptus and dragon's blood. It helps heal the hang overs and protects." Spider materialized from the kitchen area near the door with two mugs and a pot of coffee. She walked across the floor to the brightest corner where Ace sat immersed in his laptop. Only two other tables were occupied. One near the door held a single vampire, slumped over a cup of dark liquid. He looked up at Damon through blue lensed glasses as he passed. The other occupied table held a pair of moderately attractive brunettes arguing heatedly over something. "Have I slipped into some weird transdimentional la-la land or something?" Damon asked as he sat next to Spider. Ace nodded vaguely in his direction. "This is a place for people like us to come and crash after a hard day of partying, or a place to go when you need safety, or comfort." Spider answered. "I just finished printing out your files Spider, dear." Damon looked at the table. Ace's laptops, three coffee mugs, and empty coffee pot and a pile of paper, face down, were the only objects on the table. "With what printer?" "You need a printer?" Ace's smile was both innocent and mischievous. "Haven't I seen you some where before? Like, in a movie? Oh, I know." Damon grinned and raised a fist to the air. "Hack the planet!" Spider's laugh broke the almost-silence of the restaurant. Ace glared at them both. "Salvatore you fit in here too well." "Is this a bad thing?" "What happens if we manage to rescue your dear brother? what will you do then?" Damon took a sip of his hot coffee and sighed. "Then he and Elena can go back to being one miserable little couple." Spider hiked and eyebrow in Damon's direction. "Is that guilt I taste in your voice?" "Maybe. Aw fuck, Spider. Their happy. I never should have done anything to mess that up. Let them both wallow in their gothic little pits of despair. The party keeps going on out there. I'm gonna stay where I fit best." "So why are you so hard up to get Stefan free?" Ace asked. "He's my brother!" Damon growled. "Annoying, pathetic and wasted as he may be, he's blood. You don't just abandon blood. Not even if it's stolen everything from you." "Loyalty? From a vampire?" Ace gasped mockingly. "I thought I'd never live to see the day!" "I'm loyal to him because he's my little brother. If I don't protect and take care of him, who will?" "And Elena," Spider asked quietly. "Because at sometime I did love her. And somewhere inside of her, I believe she loved me to." "That bitch is not capable of anything resembling love." Ace spat. "Why are you so hateful of her Ace? What sides of her have you seen?" Damon asked, he felt overwhelmingly protective of his brother and Stefan's chosen mate at this moment. "This side Damon." Ace pulled aside his turtleneck. The skin at the base of his neck, where it met the beginning of his shoulder was covered in a bandage. A few rust colored spots peeked through the white gauze. Ace pulled the bandage off, revealing a patch of shredded flesh. A drop of blood tricked from the tangle of dried blood and skin. "She bit me. The bitch cornered me and bit me. Damien stopped the bleeding, or I would have died." Damon reached out. Ace tensed, but Damon's fingers hovered over the wound. "Why would she do this?" "'A vampire has to feed, Ace,' she said. 'I haven't eaten in such a long time and you smell good. Like magic.'" Ace's eyes had take on a haunted glimmer. He pulled away and replaced the bandage, then covered it with the turtle neck. "I'm not food Damon. If she wasn't claiming to work with us she'd be dead by now for this." What's wrong with him? Damon asked Spider mentally. Ace was abandoned at birth. He grew up in a family with a vampire. The vampire molested him. Molested? Fed, molested, it's practically the same. The vampire fed from him every night just about, just because he had magic in his blood. "I'll take care of Elena, Ace." Damon said. "What do you care, vampire?" Ace bit back. "You've probably done just as bad. How many of your victims screamed as you tore their flesh? How many of them knew what you were? How many of them ever had half a chance?" "Not many." Damon said. "Why don't you leeches ever think before you sink those fangs into a vein?" "Some of us do, Ace." Damon said. "Some of us at least try. but I'm no better than a human soldier out there in battle paying more attention to what color some one's wearing than what their face looks like under that helmet. Not a single one of us are perfect and you cannot hold some one else's mistakes against me. I told you I would take care of Elena and I will. Conversation ended." "Ace, tell me what you found out about Stefan." Spider managed to catch Ace's eyes after a few tries. "Please." Ace sighed and closed his eyes. He tried to wash away the horror that had resurfaced in the past few nightmarish moments. "Okay, Here goes. "Your stalker Arin comes into power of the Magnus in 1978. He's the first of the Lian family to actually make it to the head position. Plus he's the last of his line. No kids, no wife, no family. First thing ole Arin does is reappoint a new Inner Circle. Seem the old one lost a few members." "How many members?" Spider asked, her eyes slitted in anger. "All but three. Arin replaced them with younger members." Ace answered. "No one knows what happens to the old one, they just vanished. Some of the older Magnus members suspect Arin of offing them, but no one can prove a thing. Plus he seems to have done good for them. He brought the whole group away from a near extinction. There were 15 known members, not including the inner circle, when Arin took over. Now there are over 500." "Hell of a enrollment program." Damon muttered. "It's still your standard mix of low level psychics, humans that know too much, have a past with us, et cetera. But Arin's added a new twist. He hunted out Army discharges, especially the ones that caused a lot of trouble. Army, Navy, Reserve forces, you name it he's got 'em. All of them discharged for mental problems, over aggression or the like." Ace met Spider's eyes. "That's where your attack team came from. All trained professionally by the good old U.S of A. He's been a busy boy. Look at this," Ace brought something up on the laptop's screen. "Some one's been keeping really old vampire files up to date. And that same some one has been accessing those files a lot. There are whole lineage here. "There's yours Damon. Klaus was only 3 generations from the person believed to be the original vampire. There's lots of vampire families. There's yours, the Redferns, the Dracul... the list goes on for a while. "We already know what he's got Stefan for, breeding. And obviously he's not quiet that good in that area. It's odd enough finding actual brothers that are vampires, but to find one to be so much stronger than the other..." "The woman who made us made us both on the same night. I'm stronger because I spent hundreds of years drinking human blood and Stefan's a damn wimp when it come to humans. He still considers himself a monster." Damon still felt a slight twinge of guilt at the thought of what had happened only a week before. "Were you made first, or second?" Ace asked. "She came to me first, why?" "Then your strength has nothing to do with whether or not you drink human blood. Oh sure that helps, but it's not nearly as important as you think. If you shared blood with her first then you got the strongest parts of her blood. Stefan didn't get half the power you did from her because she was probably very weak when she shared blood with him. "So Arin thinks maybe you have the power Stefan doesn't. That idea probably increased when you escaped his attack. Plus, like I said earlier you're line is powerful, but pretty small. I mean, it's just Klaus, Katherine, you, Elena and your brother." "It's just me and my brother. Klaus and Katherine both tried to kill us, and we killed them." Damon's face didn't show a glimmer of emotion. "Which makes it even easier. No one would notice if any of you three disappeared." Ace smiled for the first time of the whole conversation. "Where are they keeping Stefan?" Spider asked. She poured herself another cup of coffee and corrupted it with two sugars. "Becker Lab, is all it says. No address listed anywhere, which makes me think it's a false name. There is, however, a list of Magnus safe houses." Ace shot a chilling grin at Spider and Damon. He pulled a sheet from the pile on the table and handed it to them. "The rest of this is various files I found about high ranking people, vampires Arin seems to be following closely, and I found some old blue prints of some of the houses that some one had the courtesy to scan and file for us." Spider laid the list and the blue prints out on the table. "Jesus." "So now what, oh fearless leader?" Damon looked down, trying to follow the line of Spider's gaze. "There's one house here in Richmond. That's as good of a place to start as any." "Are we gonna raid it or something?" Ace asked. "Nope," Spider didn't look up. "We're gonna watch it." Damon put a hand on Spider's shoulder to get her to look up. "Watch it for what?" "One of the Inner Circle members." "And how will we know them when we see them?" "You two won't. I will." Spider shuffled the papers into a big pile. "We can't keep these at my flat, because so many people are coming and going there right now. There's no way I can guarantee no one will see them." "So take them to mine and Damien's place. With Damien gone the only one that will be there will be me." "How's Damien, by the way?" "Sleeping last I heard. The spell broke about an house after we got to the clinic." "I'm guessing you didn't just walk into a human hospital and lay him down?" Damon's question reminded both Ace and Spider just how new he was to their underground city. "Nope, Tantum has it's own clinic, just for us monsters." "Lucky us," Spider mumbled. "Let's get out of here," Ace said. A thin trickle of tired looking people had begun to wander in the door. "This place is going to be packed in no time." The trio stood and cleared off their own table. Spider took the mugs and pot into the back while Ace and Damon headed out to the truck. The vampire by the door stood grinned sharply and waved at Damon. "Long time no see Salvatore. I thought you were dead." "Hardly, Ash. I'm alive and well. At the moment." Damon fired back, finally recognizing the gold-blond vampire. "You'll kill yourself trying to keep up with that chick. But I hear she's a good lay. Is it worth it?" "I wouldn't know Ash, can't say I've been in her pants yet." "You're wearing them now. They look good on you." Ash's laughter caught glances from the others in the diner. "Someday, Ash, you'll find some one that you'll give it all up for." "When I do Salvatore, I'll be sure to cut her throat with my own hand. Emotions ruin everything. Remember that." Spider materialized from the kitchen and looped an arm through Damon's. Damon shot one last grin at Ash Redfern. "That's all a matter of opinion Ash." Damon took Spider's hand from his arm and kissed the back of it. He felt a faint trickling of power there and reached for it. Spider's power twisted with his, Damon harnessed a small amount of it and sent Ash a little shock. He grinned and walked out the door without turning to see the amazed look on the teen vampire's face. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The first thing Spider, Damon and Ace saw when they stepped into Ace and Damien's apartment was darkness. The next thing they saw was rubble. Ace stood by the light switch, mouth open in surprise. "What the..." "Shit." Spider waded through the remains of a couch. "Maybe we won't be keeping the papers here. When did you leave here Ace?" "I didn't. I spent the night at the clinic with Damien." "Are you two, um, together?" Damon asked. Ace recovered and glared at Damon. "No we are nothing but friends. I'm straight." Spider knelt by the busted wood pieces that were either an end table, or the insides of the couch. "Go check the other rooms. Ace do you have a Ziplock bag or something?" Ace nodded and went into the kitchen. He searched through the mess of plastic dishes and lukewarm foods. Finally surfacing with a box of bags he tossed them to Spider. Damon watched her pull out a slick black buck knife and cut off the jagged end of a piece of wood. "Go on, you two, check the other rooms." Damon went into Damien's room. Two steps into it he realized the floor was wet. Something had ripped through Damien's lovely water bed. It had been messy to, Damon noted. Dried watermarks trailed down parts of the wall. The dresser had been torn to pieces too. Damon looked around for a moment, taking it all in. Then he realised something. "They only broke furniture." Damon made his way back to the living room. "Spider, who ever did this only broke up the furniture. Look, papers, clothes, dishes, scattered, but not harmed." "You're right. Ace!!" Spider called for the third member of the clean up party. He materialized with chunks of dark plastic and colored wires. "What all is destroyed in your room?" "Bed, dresser, all my toys." Ace answered. "Toys?" "My big computer is good for parts now. Everything I had up, every electronic or piece of furniture is dead." "What about clothes or papers?" Spider asked hurridly. "Everywhere. It'll take a while to clean up." "Anything missing?" "I don't know yet." "You two stay here and clean up." Spider put three plastic bags and their occupants in her pockets and headed for the door. "Where are you going, " Damon asked. "To visit a sick friend." The door slammed behind Spider, leaving Ace and Damon alone in the trashed apartment. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Damien's hospital room was unlike any in the human city above Tantum. The walls weren't the sickly-green color used above, but a rich forest green, accented with gold. The furniture was real wood, the kind one would find in a home, or a nice hotel. Damien was laying under thick soft, blankets watching a cheesy porno when Spider strolled in. She sat on the side of the bed and grinned down at him. "Aren't you a little to injured to be doing that?" "Hey, when you gotta get off nothing can stop you. You know how it is." Damien yawned and flipped the sound off. "Those chick are always too noisy. I wish they'd get some good porn in here." "Besides being horny, how are you?" Spider laid on the two inches of space between Damien and the edge of the bed. "Feeling shitty. Look, I'm all stapled up." Damien pulled down the comforter and showed Spider a dark red line, decorated with silver staples, snaking its way down Damien's smooth stomach. "Did you loose anything important?" Spider asked, teasing Damien. Damien's grin turned to mock alarm and he patted himself down, paying special attention to his crotch. "OH NO! They cut it off!! You bastards! Now I have this hot vampire on my bed, alone in this nice room with me and I don't have anything to poke her ear with!" "Ha ha." "Boy, you sound sincere." "Who did this Damien?" "I don't remember. I blacked out before I saw a face." Spider studied Damien's wound. "Looks like a knife." "Doctors said it was high silver, too high really. They found silver traces around the giant hole in my stomach." Damien toyed with a staple, seeing how much of the tickling-pain he could take. "Maybe it was a ritual dagger. Wolves use a lot of silver in their rituals." "You'd think they'd want to avoid thing like that." "Silver is a moon governed metal. Werewolves are moon governed people. They're compatable. Anyway, we went to your apartment today." "Who did?" "Me, Damon and Ace. It's trashed. Some one broke every piece of furniture." "WHAT???" "Calm down, or you'll pop a staple." "They trashed my house?? Who did it.. if I get my hands on one little dried speck of their blood I'll..." "I have some." "They'll be wishing they didn't have any blood in their body. Ever seen some one's eyeballs explode in their head?" Damien sat up higher in the bed. His eyes gleamed ferally betraying every ounce of the blood mage he was. "Damien, I have some of their blood." Damien froze. "How do you know who did it?" "I don't. They must have cut themselves on the wood when they busted up the couch." Spider removed the baggies from her pocket. Damien tore them open hungrily. He set the three small chunks of wood out in a rough line on the forest green comforter. The jagged edges were tinted with a rust red liquid. Damien grinned and ran a tongue over the edge of the first piece of the wood. He did the same with the second. His eager smile was replaced by a confused look as he licked the third. "There's two different people. One of them taste a lot like Damon. the other.. I don't know.. I've never sensed blood like this before. Soemthing is very wrong with the second person, I've never sensed blood like this before." "Could you identify them if you tasted them again?" "Yeah, this is weird enough to stick out in my mind." "What were they looking for Damien?" Damien sighed and sat back. He flipped the porno back on and shifted, almost in rhythm to the lead female's moaning. "Damien, talk to me. What did you have hidden there?" "Nothing. They were looking for my Book of Shadows, where I keep everything I know about blood." damien didn't even glance at Spider. "Where is it Damien?" Spider glared at Damien. "The safest place I knew of," Damien paused. "Between your headboard and the wall." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * She was dream walking. It had been a while since Spider last had the disjointed, floating feeling of dream walking. But her body remembered it well, it knew where to go. Her heart flew from Damien's hospital room like a crow. Wings black with misery, lifted by the power of the night. The door of the flat was unlocked. Inside darkness covered the familiar, soothing sights. This was Spider's hole to crawl in. Silvery threads of magic shimmered, even in the absence of light. Spider's protective web wrapped through her, around her, weaving a spell only one person could form into the very walls themselves. Her hands reached out, on their own command, sliding between the dark wood head board of her bed and the wall. Her fingers felt beyond the flesh, reaching for magic. When she drew back she held a deep red book in her hands. It didn't look like something that held the secrets to blood. Spider opened it and traced the rust colored curve of the Strega symbol. Damien's line was long and powerful. However, they were also sparse. Spider didn't know of any blood mage other than Damien and his mother. Thumbing through the book Spider realized why. Her body and mind came back together, it was almost like coming to after a fight. The page beneath her fingers seemed to have a depth that should not have been achieved by ink and paper alone. The Blood's Release. It was a spell. Or rather, part of a spell. Certain details were very vague, but Spider knew what it was, a spell to turn a vampire human. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "She disappeared that night." Damon said. He sat in the shadows in Spider's truck, half watching the three story apartment building across the street. It wasn't a comercial complex, but more of a large home that had been split up into several small apartments. The outside was light blue brick in the sun light, but now it practically glowed by the light of a half moon. Several lights still shone from inside, despide the late hour. "She left a note telling me and Ace to watch the house, and to ask you for help." "Why did you wait a day and a half to call me?" Kiel asked. His eyes stared past the raven haired Salvatore, "Because I didn't know what to do." "You went looking for her, didn't you?" A knowing grin split Kiel's face. "Yeah, I did." "Spider's a great chick. Any guy would be lucky to have her. But she's not the type to get tired down. She's a wanderer and a hermit at heart. Nothing any of us do will ever change that. She will not stay in one place until she's buried." "So she's a coward?" Damon's voice flared in anger. "No. I never said that." " And you think she isn't coming back?" "I didn't say that either. Calm down. I'm saying that she's always been a mover and shaker.That doesn't mean she's an abandonner. Maybe she just felt the urge to get away from here for a while. She needed to clear her head or something." Damon sat silent, gazing at the lights of the house. "She'll be back, she's gotta be. She cares about you too much to just vanish on you." "Why do you believe that?" "I can see it in her eyes. When she's around you she plays off you, like your counterpart. She smells of desire around you." "I've got it bad, don't I?" "I don't know, Damon. Do you?" "She's not my type. She's not controllable enough. I mean, in my past I always went for the beautiful airhead that I could find a use for. Some one very weak, very controllable, and very human." "Whoa, you're in trouble." "You're telling me?" Damon's fingers drummed on the dash board. It was a surprisingly human gesture that he hadn't done in ages. Something dark slipped out from behind the tree beside them and bolted across the street. Neither Kiel, nor Damon noticed a figure being let into the apartment building. Both were caught up in a world of their own. "I think we need a shange of subject," Kiel said, breaking the silence that had fallen over the truck. "How's Damien?" "He's fine. He doesn't remember who attacked him. I think it's been blocked out. The doctors are making him stay in the clinic for another week, just to make sure he's okay. Not that he minds, the clinic gets better channels than his apartment does. And the apartment is still being cleaned." "What exactly were the thieves looking for?" "We still don't know. I think Damien does, but he's not saying." "Theives in Tantum are rare. Usually we all know each other and just share. Do you realize how odd Tantum is?" "Besides that fact that it's a small city, completely underground?" "Yeah, it's also the most diverse underground city on the east coast. The only bigger ones in the US are Angel Point and Orleans." " Orleans?" Damon stared at the apartment building, not really paying attention to Kiel. " Underground New Orleans. Silly humans think the Crescent City is named for some French city, or something." Damon was obviously not listening to Kiel. He had grabbed Spider's cell phone and dialed a number frantically. Kiel fell silent. Why bother trying to sooth a vampire that wasn't listening? " Ace, we have a new one." Damon said into the phone. "About 5'7", looks like blond hair, long. Female." Kiel sat patiently, thumbign through print out descriptions of all the people that had been in the house in the past day and a half. It was mostly an exclusive group. Damon had already told Kiel that Ace was back at his apartment, trying to get the phone records for the Magnus safehouse. Something moved at the corner of Kiel's eye. His head jerked towards the movement. Something was off about the shadow of the maple trees next to the truck.The only movement was the leaves in the wind. But Kiel's instincts screamed for him to watch the shadows. He couldn't smell anything from inside the car, just Damon, traces of Spider and the normal car smells. Then the shadows shifted again. A human would have missed it. Hell, Kiel would have missed it if he hadn't been staring straight at it. He opened the door a crack and slipped into the shadows of the truck. He waited, for one more movement, ears perked and listening for a tell tale sound of some one breathing. One of the lights in the building went off and some one muttered, "Shit." Kiel's ears fixed on the watcher's location. He crept slowly towards the cluster of trees. Who ever it was suddenly bolted from the trees. The shadow moved too fast to be human. Kiel took off behind it, half shifting as he ran. He ran close to the ground, gaining on the shadow. Until something dropped beside him and grabbed him. Kiel growled and fought off his attacker. He pinned whoever was stupid enough to attack him to the ground. " Owww... Kiel, let me go." The beast inside Kiel cocked its head at the sound of the voice. It was familiar, it was a safe voice. A boot connected with Kiel's chest, kicking him off the attacker. "You ruined it." "Ruined what?" Spider stood and walked over to Kiel. she held out a hand to help him up. "I've been following her for two days, now you've scared her off." "Who?" Kiel asked, half growling. "Who do you think.? Elena!" Spider wiped moist leaves and smears of dirt from her arms. "What was she doing here?" "That's what I was trying to figure out." Spider scooped something from off the ground and started walking away. "Where do you think you're going?" Kiel caught Spider's arm and held her back. "I'm going to catch up with her!" "What about Damon? He's worried about you." "What does it matter? Once we get Stefan back he'll just leave anyway. Remember what you told me?" "That's not true." " Oh? Are you calling yourself a liar?" " no, I'm saying he's worried about you and you're running away." "I am not running away. I'm hunting. I'm doing what he wants me to do." spider growled at Kiel and yanked her arm from his. "He wants you to help him, not do everything for him. He wants you with him." "Bullshit. He wants his brother with him. He wants that cunt Elena." "No, he wants you. He reeks of you. He smells of desire and lust." "Don't worry, Kiel, Stefan and Elena will fuck him silly." "What if he doesn't want them? What if all he wants is you?" "Then he's a damn idiot." Kiel growled in frustration. "We all got into this mess because of you. Because we wanted to help you, even if we didn't like Damon. Now we want to help him because we're begining to like him too, and you're running away? Look around you Spider. You won. You showed us how great of a person this vampire is. " Look at Ace. Ace hates vampires, but he likes Damon. Hell, he trusts Damon, how often does that happen? Gwet your butt in that truck and talk to him. what's the worse that could happen?" "I could be in love." "Don't worry, if you start getting mushy and gross I'll put a stake through your heart and bury you upside down, just like the legends say I should." " Oh, good. That way the world can kiss my ass." "Get in that truck, or I'll kick it from here to Ontario." Kiel gave spider a little push towards the truck. "I'll watch the house, you two got lots to talk about." Defeated, Spider walked over and opened the door of the truck. She didn't look at Damon as she got in. She just sat in the passanger seat and said, "Drive." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * She smelled like the air after a cleansing rain, and underneath that she smelled like sex. Damon did what she said and drove. The truck seemed to stop on it's own in the parking lot of the park they had ended up days before. The trees blocked the moon, but Damon had no trouble seeing Spider. He waited. "It's Elena." "What is?" He asked. This was not how expected this conversation to start. "She's the one that set Stefan up, and you." "How do you know?" "She was outside the safehouse tonight. And she trashed Damien and Ace's apartment." "How do you know this?" "She cut herself on the wood of the couch." "Why did she trash the place?" Spider didn't say anything. Instead she took out a small redish book and opened it. she read alound from it, her voice frighteningly clear. "The blood wizards are a rare and powerful line. It is their duty to record the secrets of the shadow world, and to know what sets us apart from the human world." Damon listened as she recited half of Damien's lineage. Then Spider calmly closed the book. "She was looking for this." "Why? what does Damien's spellbook have in it that's so important?" Spider shifted closer to damon. She held the book close to his face. "This book not only has the different vampire lineages in it, it has a spell too, or part of one. A spell that would turn a vampire back into a human." " Elena wants to be human?" " Uh uh, I read the spell. If it works the person will just cease to drink blood. Yeah, they'll loose some of the vampire powers, but they'll still be superhuman. They'll be like me. Only they'll be fertile. Vampire kids, Damon. As many as they can pop out." " Elena wants to have kids?" " Elena wants to be human. The Magnus wants superhuman kids." Damon went silent. The world world seemed to go quiet as the idea sank in. "Elena's working for the Magnus." "That's what I think, but I could be wrong." Damon's eyes met Spider's. He drew her closer to him in a desperate hug. "I was worried about you." Spider didn't fight him, she relaxed into him. "I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself." "I was scared you weren't coming back." "I was scared to." "Why?" damon looked at Spider, amazement in his eyes. "Because I wasn't sure how you'd react if I told you Elena was one of them." Damon kissed Spider's throat. His breath was warm against her skin. "Elena was always one of them. Elena never wanted to be a vampire. But sometimes she's a better one than even me." Spider shivered in Damon's arms. It felt good to her to just be held for once, instead of being trapped behind her wall. Damon's power rolled around her, wrapping her inside a protective shield. Something inside Spider responded, flaring out and twisting with Damon. Their minds merged again, this time neither one caught off guard. Both moved towards each other, eager for the closeness. The taste of Spider's skin rolled across Damon's tongue. Spider tasted herself in his kiss. Damon felt his own borrowed jeans grind against Spider's skin. I want you. Spider thought. They needed each other, for some great unknown reason. They needed the feel of each other's mind inside their own. Spider and Damon needed to feel like something greater than just themselves. They needed to feel like a part of something... no, some one. Damon's nails found the soft skin of Spider's side. There was a desperateness to the jerk that pulled her dirty t shirt over her head. Damon traced her collar bone with his tongue, scratching lightly over her ribs. Spider's hands tugged impatiently at Damon's shirt, threatening to rip it off him. She growled under her breath and moved against him, brushing the soft material of her bra against his chest. Damon's fingers dipped into the fabric, toying with her nipples. Spiders head was buried in the side of Damon's neck. She licked along the vein of his neck, then tongued his ear lobe, sucking it into her mouth with a brush of fangs. The need to hold her, taste her, grew as Damon's boner pulsed against his jeans. Spider's nails, filed to a point, slid along Damon's ribs sending chills through Damon's abdomen. She sucked at the hollow of his throat, teasing him with the sharpness of her fangs. Damon moaned and ground into Spider. Spider's fangs nicked his neck, drawing small drops of blood from his pale skin. Damon growled at her and yanked her shirt over her head. There was a slight ripping sound, and a laugh from Spider. "This time, let's not get interrupted." "Not a problem," Damon said. He grinned up at Spider then shoved her bra off her breasts and sucked her left nipple into his mouth. His tongue circled it expertly. He slowly worked his hand over her thigh, up and down wanting to rip her jeans off. Spider's hands slid over Damon's and unbuttoned her pants. She hooked Damon's fingers in the waistline and squirmed out of them. Damon's fingers slid between Spider and her panties. He rubbed the tip of his finger against her clit, tauntingly. Spider's black lace panties ripped beautifully and fell into Damon's hand. "Pretty." Spider answered by grinding herself against his thigh, smearing her wetness and scent on him. He licked up her throat and met her lips with his. Something in Spider reached out and flowed around him like molten silver. Damon hugged her close, pausing to look at her. "Should we do this?" He asked, caressing her cheek with his hand. Spider licked his fingers. "I don't know." Damon loved her. It poured from him, taking form and wrapped wings who's feathers were made of fur around Spider protectively. He honestly didn't want to hurt her. Ever. Spider pulled him to her, burying her face in his neck. That's what Damon regretted most later, the fact that he hadn't been able to see her face when he first entered her. Spider clutched Damon tightly. Her nails bit into his back, she pulled him deeper into her. Damon crushed himself against her, meeting her lips with his. Spider glared up at him and growled, challenging him. Damon growled back, digging his nails into her hips he pulled them to him and thrust fully into her. spider moaned, closing her eyes and baring the line of her smooth, pale neck. Damon felt his fangs lengthen and harden in his mouth. He clentched his teeth to keep from biting on his tongue. What began as a act of desire and need morphed itself into something desperate and beastial. Spider rose up, with Damon still thrusting in and out of her, and sank her small fangs into Damon's shoulder. Blood flowed into her hungry mouth and the power they possessed flared to life and merged like a warm and a cold wind. The air around them shimmer silver, with sparks of black. With each thrust from Damon and shiver from Spider the power pulsed and grew. Damon was in a near frenzy with the power, and desire. He kissed Spider hard, tasting blood when his fangs sliced her lower lip. Her blood was sweet and spicy. His mouth burned with its power. Damon groaned. "Let it go Spider," he whispered. Spider's sheilds around their power dropped and it broke free, exploding from them even as Damon exploded inside Spider. Spider clenched around Damon, melting to a powerful orgasm of her own. Both rode the power until it receeded like a wave from the sand. They found themself wrapped in each other's arms. Spider trembled, holding Damon like she had wanted to for the longest time. Some one was screaming in the night. The sound brought Spider off her high. "What is that?" Damon looked out the front windshield. Across the street a white Suzuki Sidekick's lights were flashing. "It's a car alarm." Spider sat up enough to see it. She glared at it. "Shuttup," she hissed, throwing a bold of power at it. The alarm gave one last squeal then cut off. "Nice aim." "Why thank you." Spider curled up in Damon's arms, content for once to be the fragile human she appeared to be. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The shadows of her dream were sharp, almost painfuly so. She flew between them, wings hot with blood. The buildings of the city glared up at her. Something made of hate and teeth snapped at her cutting the thread that held her to the ground. Spider watched the silver thread sink into the shadows. A midnight-blue wind slammed into her. A stinking purple gust grabbed her. She spun between the two, spiralling out of control. Spider held her breath, unable to close her eyes against the black street rising to meet her. Red exploded in a arc around her, pain bolted up from the broken glass ground into Spider's body. She couldn't feel the wings, just her face and hands. She couldn't cry, no. She didn't cry. The pain flowed back into the ground and Spider stood on rusted iron railroad nails. The razor pointed ends bit deeply into the flesh of her foot. But the pain left her before her brain felt it. She folded her wings against her back and walked into the dark emptiness of her dream. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Something pounded furiously at the window of Spider's truck. Her eyes opened and saw a stern looking man in a familiar dark blue uniform. "Shit. Damon, get up." Spider pulled herself from the circle of Damon's arms. Damon shifted positions behind her. Spider opened the passenger's side door and stepped out in a brilliant white world. The car sat in the shadow of a giant tree. Spider looked at the tree, jaw nearly dropping. It was the same tree she had been by last night, only... It was three times larger thatn it had been the night before. It's branches reached out almost all the way across the street, and rose higher than the four story apartment building next to it, despite the leaves larger than her face dripping from every inch of the monster. "Hello miss? You a retard or something?" The cop made a gesture Spider only partially saw. "No, I'm not. What's the problem officer?" "I got these two kids sleeping in a truck on the street where half the houses have been vandalized. I think it seems kinda suspicious." "Vandalized?" Damon stretched out, noticing both the cops taking to Spider and his partner, still standing by the squad car. "Yeah, as if you didn't know already, some one went around and broke most of the windows in this area. And we find you two righthere in the middle of it." Did we do this? Damon asked Spider. I don't know, but I think we were the only ones who could have. Stupid humans. If they had any inkling of how we did it they'd be running... Damon, take a look at the tree. Damon's glance slid over to the tree next to the truck. He tried to hide his surprise, but Spider knew that gleam when she saw it. "Kids, I want some names right now." The cops barked at them. he was starting to look pissed. Funny, Spider thought-spoke to Damon. I can't seem to get a good look at these two. Damon took a step towards the closest cop and both he and Spider heard a click and smelled gun oil. The cops both held large nasty looking guns. Spider's eyes narrowed. She'd seen those guns before. "Damon! Run!" She spun and tooks a step forward and felt a sharp pain in her shoulder. Her legs locked on her, sending her crashing to the ground. Her whole body froze, refusing to move despite her muscles' screams. She saw Damon fall a feet feet from her, imoblized by the same chemical. The cop that had been talking to her stood over her. "Stupid bitch. Did you think you could get him away from us?" His steel toed boot caught her in her stomach. He cracked her in the back of the head with the butt of his gun. Spider pulled up inside herself, crying and waiting for the beating to be over. Behind a shield of determination and anger, Spider waited for her body to start pushing the drug from her system. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * CHAPTER TWO: An ending Freedom is an imaginary concept. A strength and a weakness in one. Once I am free... Minds held in bars. One's own imprisonment in order to be a productive member of society. They bar their own minds with glass bars, easy to break free from yet solid and real. Distracting. Freedom, she thought. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Freedom, he thought. Damon opened his eyes, only to find they had already been open. The haze he had assumed was a dream was, in fact, the room around him. He blinked, and his vision cleared. Oddly enough he was the only one in the room. His heart leapt into his throat when he saw the IV half filled with blood going into his arm. At first he thought it was his, slowly leaking into the waiting plastic bag. then her realized the blood was going into him, not coming from him. He tried to get up, to move off the hospital bed he was laying on. But something he couldn't see held him to the mattress. He tried to turn his head, but his neck muscles didn't flex or stretch like the should. He tried desperately to move, but none of his limbs obeyed him. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Spider could tell day from night. She saw them erupt magnificently outside the small window of her cell. She even saw the nurses and once or twice a doctor enter her cell. But she didn't respond to their prodings, much to their delight. Since the time she woke up she even picked up a thing or two. she didn't know how long she had been out. They were in a private hospital, surrounded by terminal and mental patients. She was supposidly heavily drugged. Twice a day a nurse came in the cell and shot her full of enough sedatives to kill an elephant. And twice a day her body burned it off in an hour. They had been doing things to her. They'd come in twice in the past week to draw blood. They had been feeding her blood intravenously. They assumed she was a full vampire, based on their actions. They hadn't given her any real food, which was just as well. It brought her vampiric side to full power, and thinned out her body. It had taken the past week to use her weak magic to loosen the ties in her straight jacket. The cloth had weakened enough for her to get free with a few good yanks. The last of the sedatives had burned off half an hour ago. Spider had given herself the extra time to be sure the poison was clear of her system. Spider shed the straight jacket. They had taken her clothes for some reason or another, probably to experiment easier. Spider didn't care, she just wanted out of here. She scaled the wall like her namesake, digging her fingers into the soft padding on the walls. With an nearly audible growl she punched at the window. The glass shattered in a spider web but didn't break loose. Mesh threads between two pains of glass held it together. Spider hit it again with all her strength, she felt the glass give way. Five punches, a shattered hand and a broken wrist later Spider squeezed through the window, ignoring the ripping of her side on a sharp piece of the window and fell two stories towards freedom. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * He almost wished he could feel the pain. He wished he could feel anything besides his ever present mental voice. His mind was awake, he fully understood everything that went on to his body, and in the room around him. They drugged the blood they fed to him. But it wasn't like any drug Damon had ever used, pushed or heard of. It kept him immobile, and supposedly in a complete zombie-like state. Damon didn't think the doctors knew exactly how aware he was of outside events. Yesterday he had felt his hand when they were taking blood. Once the needle left so did all the sensation, but that was the most he'd felt since he woke up. He was hoping the drugs they were pumping him with were being burned off, bit by bit. Yesterday he had also remembered what had happened, and he remembered Spider. He hadn't stopped thinking about her since. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Spider felt sick. She stumbled into a alley and puked blood. Something solid and dark purple glistened in the thin light. Oh, Goddess, I have to hold still. Spider curled in a tight ball and lay unmoving between a pile of garbage and the contents of her stomach. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Her heart beats slowly. I can taste it on my tongue. I feel it pulsing through my body without rhythm. I turn to the setting sun, feeling her in my head. Faint but real. Spider's out there somewhere. So's Damon. I, Damien Tanglewood, swear by my blood to find them both. End of fragment.