I wake up to see one of The Five. I realize that I'm tied to a tree with vervain ropes around my neck and hands. I see that one of The Five is crouched by a campfire. I try to get out of my bonds, but I can't. They're vervained, which causes me pain and eats at my skin.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7bG1JHKHvP
"Something botherin' you?" he asks me.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpiuCRvrFFw
"Would you believe me if I told you mosquitoes?" I ask him.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR4thqKe1lk
"Aye, I would. How does it feel when a relentless eating machine is draining the blood from your veins?"547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS3KgqrJmIP
"Itchy."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsfY1IqQeVO
"Your friends from Mystic Falls think you're funny, Damon?"547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb1qTrc35Bg
"You obviously know who I am and where I'm from. Have you been spying on me?"547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS03zARQaQD
"Aye, I have," he answers, getting up. "You and Stefan, Elena, your witch, Bonnie. You need her to cast the spell written on your pal, Jeremy's Hunter's mark..." he continues and sits down again. "...the tattoo that looks exactly like this?"547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE4f5cbR0pi
I look at his tattoo.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVeoZZgk3If
"You wanna know something, just ask," I tell him.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWiZIYvBt40
"I've been killing vampires my entire life. Still, this thing refused to reveal itself to me. That was, until three days ago and it just magically completed for no apparent reason."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeUTNqw42KN
"Come on, man. Do I look like I know anything about tattoos? Look at my skin. It's flawless."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoa8sI2eemm
"Ah! You're not taking me seriously."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMo90KLqq8q
He walks over to me.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ20aOXAa2oU
"I don't blame ya. You don't know me."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl8T3L8cznt
He holds up a pointy wooden stick that he's been holding over the fire. "So let me introduce myself."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp1OhUbIX83
He stabs the stick in my neck.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxI7bncwg8B
"My name is Galen Vaughn, and you'd better start talkin'."
It's a beautiful day, as Galen and I walk through the woods, a vervain rope still around my neck and hands.
"Mind telling me where we're going?" I ask him.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ93RFlXcvV
"At the wishing well lies an entrance to a crypt. In the crypt lies Silas. And with Silas lies the cure, which will allow me to kill Silas, bring the mission of the brotherhood of the Five to an end. You're my leverage, Damon. I use you to get your witch friend to open the passage to Silas' crypt for me."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDrUaMlS1u2
"Wait a minute, you're using me to get to Bonnie Bennett? Whoa, brother. Ha! You picked the wrong vampire."
"I guess we'll see about that."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD0FxvqXr8p
"Here's the deal, Shrek. My witch friend will open the passage for you. No leverage necessary. We don't care about Silas. All we want is the cure, so you cut us in on your share, and we'll get out of your hair."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0xJfd8x0ZF
"You really don't understand, do you?"547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡexQmTNpWv8
"No, I don't understand, so why don't you explain it?" I say in a slight accent, mocking Galen's.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgCCu3fLRUY
"Silas is immortal. I have to cram the cure down his throat in order to kill him."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ00LxeqcMoj
"Yeah, what does that have to do with me and my friends?"547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1y8CvGnbm7
"I need to use the cure against Silas. Your friends, they can't exactly have it, now, can they?"547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhvQ1ElR2nw
"So you use it on Silas, and we'll use it for whoever wants to use it. You don't want to share it with us?"547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7DA2R0cYq6
"Even if I wanted to, I couldn't."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmmdUoC78Hs
"And why can't you share it?"547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWQM2EWwZ6K
"So it is written. There is only one dose. "547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEtR1tlQlQ
I'm still walking ahead and he shoves me.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYVEqnISDhR
"You touch me again--" I start to say.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYBq75w0UwQ
"And you'll what? Threaten me? Sorry if you're upset about the cure, Damon, but we've got road to cover."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2wJkP95nLo
"I don't care about the cure. In fact, I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to be a vampire. You know what? If I wasn't a vampire, then I wouldn't be able to do 9 of the things I'm gonna do to you when I'm free."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuMrsqbUkwO
Galen shoves me again.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFfcyQwWihd
"Make that 10," I add.
"Right."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqcQjsqN9HC
"All right, I admit it, okay? My friends want the cure, and I want them to have it, and I get very upset when I can't provide for my loved ones. But tell me something, Vaughn, if all you're worried about is Bonnie the teenage witch, then why'd you save Jeremy and Elena yesterday?"547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ETa8WFLzO
"How did I do that?"547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYriPlrM0jx
"Big guy. White paint all over him. You stuck a hatchet in his spine."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBX4qZHUw8I
"I don't remember doing such a thing."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ10NGTcVT0p
He pulls on the rope, but I resist, refusing to walk.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOymSQ1NLkJ
"We're on a remote island. There's you, me, and a bunch of unpleasant locals. You expect me to believe that someone else took out that monster truck of a human being that went after Jeremy and Elena?" I say.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR21ZUzCeoL
"I'm telling you, it wasn't me."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Y3cTEYp26
He shoves me forward again, but we stumble across a body. He's dead with his throat slashed.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLDA1pLpZKV
"Was that you?" I ask him.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZTasLxiGA4
"No. You?"547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn5ka7aRKdY
"No."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhrzd64pygu
He looks around, as he says, "Well, I reckon there really is someone else on this island."
We continue walking, but stop when his tattoo starts to disappear.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIysnuFNrJD
"Looks like your witch is casting her spell," he says.
I stagger into the cave in the upper chamber with Galen behind me, vervain ropes still around my neck and hands. We then see some ropes hanging down that we can use to go down into the lower chamber.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfZgAHjwZD1
"Well, here we are. Looks like someone beat us to the punch," I announce.
"That's a shame, Damon. I have no use for you anymore. Hate to kill ya."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHXtTLOZyfq
"Ditto. You know, that pesky hunter's curse and all."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLsQKe032WK
He nods.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡliEOvuLPvW
"All right. How do you want to do this?" I ask him.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrd4yS5f5Vf
"I'll make it quick and painless," he replies.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfxh034ic7F
He pulls on the rope tied to my neck.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6SwVOmNFdR
I resist and grab onto the rope, and the vervain sears my skin.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoMhTqSNyHe
"Wish I could make the same promise," I tell him.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLsp93f6n84
He cuts the rope at his end and flings it towards me.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmNhahgNraP
I pull the rope off my neck, groaning in pain, and pull off the ones around my wrists. He then takes out a gun and prepares it.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr2ohtJ4v0x
"I'm gonna kill you. And then I'm gonna get to that damn cure, and I'm gonna give it to the girl that I love," I tell him.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs1MOxaX707
"Your attachment to your friends will be the end of you."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbCxtAyEDDj
We hear footsteps from the entrance and I smile.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMJqH6385S2
"You don't know my friends," I say. I then add when Rebekah appears, "Or my enemies."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡezsygNK0dZ
Rebekah and I go and stand on one side of the cave side by side, Galen on the other side with his gun trained on us.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnBpV3YXz0f
"Are we gonna dance or are we gonna play?" I ask him.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTokWngcbbG
"You know he can't hurt me, Damon, unless he's got the white oak stake."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6NDveff3bg
"Oh, he doesn't, but he's got other toys," I tell her.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvMmxacLd7U
He shoots Rebekah three times and she runs towards him at vamp speed and grabs his throat, but he stabs a grenade with wooden spikes protruding from it into her chest.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJcsWhtFpRz
Rebekah looks down at it.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡExm8tEb0M8
He holds the fuse that he pulled out and the grenade detonates, sending wooden spikes through her body, all the way through her back. She falls down, neutralized.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCUk0pNu8Et
I run towards him and we engage in hand to hand combat.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡynBwpgyHqy
He withdraws his weapon and fires it at me and it throws a lasso-like device covered in vervain, which secures me by the neck to a pole behind me.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSTZvZ118GB
I groan and make choking noises.
"Damon!" Stefan yells in the distance.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1K1AzsVDuv
Galen grabs a rope going down the shaft and slides down it quickly and disappears.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡotkIIIUSnW
I see Elena and Stefan enter, just as I hear Galen reach the bottom.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdDW4YE0X8g
Stefan goes to my side and tries to get the rope off of my neck while I groan in pain, but it burns Stefan's fingers.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrfkbubALyt
"You're wasting time. Just get the cure. Go," I tell my brother.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhEGKtllJd0
"We're not gonna leave you," Elena says to me.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTybiVFS1JQ
"No, we're not," he says to me, and then says to Elena who's at his side, "You need to go ahead. We'll be right behind you." When she hesitates, he adds, "Go."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh21tQQmqH8
She looks at us both a moment longer, before she jumps down into the shaft.
I fall to the ground when Stefan finally manages to free me from the rope.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTsXEqqR78I
"All right, come on. We have to catch up," he says to me.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0u80jKDFZe
I breathlessly say to him, "No, it's okay. I just need a minute. I'm only gonna slow you down. Go. She only needs one of us."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS45o7HBS10
"And what? You don't care to be that one anymore? You finally decided it was easier to just walk away?"547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoGc8lon2DD
"There's only one dose of the cure, Stefan. She wants to take it, you want her to. I don't. Just do what makes her happy, Stefan."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡak3dGVmVNo
"Things have changed. It's not that easy anymore."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfeKb2OZSql
"It is right now," I loudly tell him. " Get your ass down the well. Help Elena get the damn thing."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVzvLY6xijX
Stefan hesitates and I add, "Come on."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvHp6xhtKhN
Finally, Stefan jumps into the well, while I sit and watch him go.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDOwP83GldL
I drag myself over to Rebekah and start pulling the spikes out of her. And after the last one, she coughs and starts to wake up.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi3UDINBLTu
"You're alive," she says to me.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWlQ4HxgWlG
"Yeah."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSg97MA1sKv
"Why didn't you go with them?"547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKW8mEB2VdI
"Needed a siesta."
"You gave up, didn't you?"547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXlnlADdBZV
I groan, as I try to sit up.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXZr5JAIcWS
"I didn't give up. I just realized... you can't control everything... no matter how hard you try. Let's just say I made peace with that fact."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyuMAlCpM2p
She sits up.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGwDtsi3xeU
"Peace? You love Elena. You always will. If she becomes human, she may not feel the same way about you. You'll never know peace."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUl6iqiXASo
"Life sucks. Get a helmet."547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMjpigBnpNZ
She smiles.547Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTo1a3Ywrp8
"You did something selfless, Damon. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were becoming a halfway decent person."
