Chapter 63 - Damon’s Weakness

My wrists ached.
Actually, my whole body was in pain, but the skin around my hands burned the most. As my awareness of my surroundings faded, the pain seemed to blend into the background. My arms and shoulders throbbed, and my legs had gone numb, as though they were no longer part of me. The persistent headache that had been plaguing me had intensified into something far worse, almost driving me mad. I forced my eyes open to face my grim reality. My arms ached from hanging above my head, bound by silver cuffs attached to a brick wall. Damon was next to me, his eyes closed, suspended by the same chains, his body limp and swaying. My heart sank. The air was damp and reeked of mold, and I instantly recognized where we were.
We were in the vampire prison in Somber Forest.
Why had the vampires taken us here?

"Damon!" I hissed and tried to regain the feeling of my legs so I could kick him awake," Damon, wake up!"
There was far too much silver hidden behind these walls to bring back Damon to his full strength but I knew I had to wake him up at the very least. I kicked at the air closest to him but I missed. He was just a few inches too far. I struggled against the cuffs and cried out as they slit into my skin. I had to get us out of there. If they were to come back for us, there would be no coming out. This would truly be the end for the both of us.

Maybe this is what I deserve, I thought. My choices brought humanity to this point. It's my fault that I'll die, just like Evan.
I fought harder against the restraints, shouting louder at Damon and kicking more desperately into the air. I sensed the vampires' icy presence before I even saw or heard them. It felt like tiny insects were crawling over my skin, sending chills through my body, and my mind became clouded. There were three of them, and I recognized the beautiful blonde girl who had knocked me out. She had such a sweet voice...

"Good, you're awake," the one in the middle said. It was a man with pitch black hair and seemingly white eyes," wake him up too."

The third vampire, another blond girl picked up a rusty bucket with water and tossed the contents inside at Damon who immediately burst into life, heavily panting and choking out loud. It hurt to see him like this, so weak and vulnerable. I wanted to last out and kill the filthy bloodsuckers.

"Precious Alpha, all it took was a little bit of silver to take you down," the middle man said.
The girls giggled.

Damon gazed at me with wide eyes and faced the man," why is she here? She has nothing to do with this, she's just a human."

"Oh, but she does," the man said and began to walk to where I was standing," silver isn't your real weakness, is it?"

Damon stared at the man as if he were to rip his head off. His fangs extended for a moment and shot back up. 
I winced at the man's cold palms tracing my facial features. His eyes were almost painful to look at as if I was staring into a white sun.

"This is your true weakness," he said," this will be the reason you either crumble or live."

"Let her go," Damon growled. He shook uncontrollably now like a mad man. The drool escaped his lips in bursts of spit," now!"

Shrill laughter echoed, reverberating off the walls of the underground prison. The vampires seemed to be thoroughly amused by his reaction.

“Not when she provokes you like this,” the man continued, “Do you remember what you did to my second-in-command?” He slowly ran a long nail across my neck. “I heard you slit her throat.”

“What do you want?” Damon choked out, blood now streaming from his mouth.

“If you want him to survive, you need to move the silver farther away,” I pleaded.

“That’s okay, I don’t intend for him to live much longer,” the man said, as if it were a joke, and once again, the blonde girls giggled.

"Tell me, what. Do. You. Want!" Damon spat contents from his mouth. Wide eyed and crumbling under the pressure of his own fury, for the first time ever and without needing to shift, Damon looked as wild as an animal.

"You don't like humans, do you, Damon?" the vampire had gone to stand in front of him," we have that much in common. But, unlike yourself, we actually need them to survive."
Damon stared into his eyes and waited for the punchline.

"You've been gassing villages of humans. Villages that were used to feed hundreds of us who since then have starved to death."

"Good, then it’s doing its job," Damon rasped.

"I don’t want a war with the shapeshifters. We’ve already lost so many of our kind to each other, so how about we strike a deal?"
The tension in the air was palpable as we all waited for him to continue.

"You stop gassing the villages and instead designate them for my people to feed on, and we won’t slaughter every last one of you."
Damon lunged as if to attack the man, but the silver must have burned him because he recoiled, growling. Blood dripped from his hands like rain, and he cursed loudly. More high-pitched laughter filled the room. I desperately wanted this to end.

"Is that a yes—"

"Fuck you!" Damon roared.
The man nodded.

“Well, I figured this wouldn’t be easy,” he said, moving toward the back of the cave. “That’s why she’s here,” he added, pointing at me.

“Blondie, why don’t you drain her? Try not to kill her completely; maybe that’ll change his mind.”

“No!” Damon struggled against the cuffs, which only caused him more pain. “Come back here, now! I said come back here and fight me like a warrior! Let her go, now!”

The man was already disappearing into the darkness of the dungeon, with the other girl following him. The blonde woman turned to face me, her wicked grin enough to haunt me for eternity—if I weren’t about to die right now. She sped toward me with lightning speed and unlocked the cuffs. I crashed to the hard floor with a thud, crying out as something in my arm snapped. Before I could recover, she grabbed me and slammed me against the wall.

“No!” Damon screamed, choking on the blood filling his mouth. “Don’t do this—”
She bared her fangs, her red eyes gleaming as she smiled.

“Don’t worry. I once lost a lover too. One of your men staked him with a tree,” she said. Without wasting another moment, she sank her long, painful teeth into my neck.