Chương 31: 30.No Matter What.
Damon Salvatore was in two minds. When he'd seen that Spike and Drusilla were back in the picture after the morons kidnapped this werewolf woman, he'd decided to follow them out of sheer boredom. He'd seen this werewolf woman shopping a couple of times before and hadn't bothered to go introduce himself. He hadn't always seen her face that closely. He'd mostly always seen her from behind. This was a petite little girl, but Damon could smell that this strawberry-scented little creature was actually the pretty dominant and peculiar werewolf.
Damon was over a thousand years old. He was experienced and seen a lot.
He had fallen in love a few decades ago with someone, a woman or a girl who resembled one of his old girlfriends. His most destructive love affair. Damon had had thousands of women over the centuries. He was a seducer, used women for a moment for pleasure, food even, and soon forgot about them.
But with this human, Elena, he had had an affair with this human girl; she had turned into a vampire but then decided she wanted to be human. Damon had also taken a substance that temporarily made him human for a few decades, though he didn't age that much. He had temporarily sacrificed his immortality for love. It wouldn't have been worth it.
They were going to start a family, and everything would be like a storybook or a TV show, Damon thought ruefully. The love mess that had been in that stupid fucking TV show was much more drastic in real life. Even though he ended up marrying Elena, Stefan was who Elena wanted, and Elena was who Stefan wanted.
Taking the substance that made him human also gave him human feelings, and then he broke his heart.
Stefan had moved on and let Elena be with Damon. He and Caroline had been doing well, but then Elena got in the way and intruded between Stefan and Caroline, got pregnant by Stefan, and viciously claimed to Damon that the child was hers.
Even the child's name was suggestive: Stephanie Salvatore. Damon tried to be a good husband and wanted to make everything work. He even went to medical school and enrolled as an anesthesiologist so Elena, a top surgeon, could spend time with him. Damon had done everything he could to make sure they had the perfect life, but when he was no longer the bad boy Elena had fallen for.
Instead, he wanted to be a responsible spouse, father, husband. But no, the more Damon gave in, the more Elena played tricks on him. He tried to raise their daughter and tried to spend time at home, but he had to work sometimes, too, and Elena wasn't a perfect mother.
She turned Stephanie against Damon and told him how daddy didn't have to come to her birthday party when he was at work even though Damon had tried to give her a nice birthday party on her official day, but Elena kept the party for all her daughter's friends while he was at work.
When Stephanie was nine years old, she fell into drug addiction. Damon went all out and took Stephanie to rehab, only to discover that Elena had gotten Stephanie out of there. Stephanie died four days before her 15th birthday from a heroin overdose. Elena blamed Damon, just as she blamed him for everything. Even her relationship with Stefan. She accused Damon of driving her to another man when he wasn't jealous enough of her.
Damon had had enough and left Elena. She didn't break up with Damon, but he walked away. When even Stefan ignored Elena because she had patched things up with Caroline, Elena started drinking. Elena had died of alcohol poisoning a few months earlier, and Damon had just figured it all out. The whole damn thing had reminded him of all his unpleasant experiences with women, and there were a lot of them. He had even sold himself sometimes; women had abused him, and he had then gotten stronger and started using women like they had used him sometimes. He soon felt his vampire side beginning to wake up, but still, he thought he could go to the coffin and sleep for a century.
His story was not unique in that sense that there had been so many vampires under thrall of these bitches and it was almost cliche how he had turned from weak to strong, and become monster himself, at least for innocent human women. His meals who died in his arms. He did not remember their faces, not their scent either. He felt he had no soul left. Not really.
He followed Spike and Drusilla into the old factory and hid in the shadows. Damon had really started to feel his vampire side awakening again when he smelled the woman's blood in the factory as Spike and Drusilla ate. He almost felt the bloodlust, almost felt fangs growing in his mouth, and it wouldn't be many years before he was fully awake. He could blend into the shadows and not be seen. He watched at first as the vampires took turns eating the werewolf and saw what they would do.
Damon was shocked at how much pure silver they were able to sink into this woman, and she was still alive. So when they packed her into the silver cage, and Damon smelled her skin burning, he decided to do something. He noticed the love spell that Drusilla put on the Spike. So he waited for the vampire duo to get to fucking and then went to the cage.
But he couldn't get to the cage because it was enchanted.
"Shit," Damon thought. "Hey, you awake?" he tried to ask, but the trembling creature probably didn't even notice his presence. He could smell that strawberry scent. It was faint. He sensed her pain, desperation, and weakness and cursed when he couldn't open the cage.
Damon pulled out a business card he'd found in the pocket of another dead man. The men had apparently been bodyguards of some kind.
Damon said: "Hey, I'm gonna go call for help. Hold on a second. These guys that were with you, bodyguards, anyway, I'm going to call this number and ask." No answer. Damon slipped back into the shadows as silently and quickly as he had come.
The cage hurt, and I felt my skin, and then my muscles, burn. Soon, the wounds were up to the bone in places. The silver Satan hurt so bad I couldn't think; my heart wasn't beating, and the silver was lodged in my body, so I felt very weighty, heavy. I thought I heard someone talking, but no one was in the cage when I finally got my head up.
I thought this was the most horrible, if not the second most horrible, experience next to my creation. I can hear hallucinations already. Nice, I didn't even want to think about anatomy now and what kind of damage I would get. Now I would deserve few weeks sleep in my incubator if I ever get free here.
Adam was in a panic. He had just received a call from one of his employees telling him they had received a call from a man who had claimed that Mimi's bodyguards had been attacked and killed that Mimi had been kidnapped and stuffed with silver and that she was currently in some satanic warehouse in an enchanted silver cage. Two mad vampires were torturing Mimi. Adam tried to think of a plan of action.
The story was quickly confirmed, and Adam frantically wondered what he could do about it. He was on the other side of America. Hell, he was in Hawaii, and the flight would take forever. Finally, he called Nicholas and Elias. They promised to go help, and they had a wizard who could surely break the spell. Salvatore would be redundant.
The Michelson's thought Salvatore was a snob, a smug playboy who had slept with more women than they had combined. At one time, Salvatore had even sold himself. The vampires took the wizard and moved on. The wizard had a grudge against the other vampire, a woman, Drusilla; Drusilla liked to mess up all his gigs.
Dresden rarely got commissions from vampires, but it had been a dry season, and any job would do. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he could take the spell out of the silver cage. These vampires didn't give too many details, and Dresden guessed this must be some sex game gone wrong. It wouldn't be a terribly tricky gig, and the reward was substantial. And since they'd mentioned Drusilla, even better. This female vampire was one hell of a nasty character with her love spells. Usually, they were more sex spells, so that's why Dresden assumed Drusilla had struck again.
Adam told Bran to deal with Charles, went to the airport, and caught the first flight to Arizona. Adam wanted to take care of Mimi. Samuel looked for a replacement and found an Irish doctor who looked like Colin Farrell. This doctor's name was Collin Ferrel, so there wasn't much difference, so he called himself Colin Farrell. He was rarity among supernatural, werewolf-leprechaun hybrid. His story, like most old beings, was tragic, and it had been Samuel who had helped him in time. Leprechaun mate for a life and he had lost his mate.
Samuel left Quebec and headed for Arizona. He couldn't wait at the airport. He had to get moving. With no flights for hours, he could use all that time to drive closer. Samuel had a fast car and excellent driving skills.
Damon went to talk to the woman in the cage again. "Hey, I called for help. It'll take a while; that cage is enchanted, so I can't help you, sorry."
I was in the cage. I thought I heard another noise, but no one was there when I finally got my head up.
The creature moved slightly, and Damon heard footsteps, talking, and went to check that the horror duo hadn't moved again. Fuck, they didn't even fuck for an hour.
Damn, they had to be such menace. Nicholas put up a message, "Eta 2 h. wizard present."
Damon cursed. He couldn't go after them because of Drusilla, a witch who was very famous for her love potions and spells. Damon didn't want to end up a slave to any more women. He retreated to the shadows to wait for a better time.
Drusilla and Spike went to the cage. Spike now took the drip rack with aconitum, slyly inserted the cannula between the cage bars, and opened the drip to full.
When the aconitum hit my vein, I started screaming. I was surprised myself that I made a noise, but it burned and tore so badly that I could no longer control myself. So when my heart was no longer beating, but the aconitum had penetrated the vein, the tissue, the pain, and the agony were too much.
I screamed as loud and as long as I could. Spike was relentless. He always found the cannula and got more poison flowing into my guts. Drusilla walked, ate my pain, and collected the full dark black pain stones in a bag she put on her belt.
I began to vomit, spewing out silver, aconitum, blood, and bile. Then they took me out and started kicking and punching me. I couldn't scream anymore and didn't even try to defend myself. I just lay on the floor vomiting more and more silver aconitum mixture, blood. I also coughed up silver blood sputum from time to time.
After Spike had emptied 8 liters of aconitum, he removed the empty bags and opened the cage door. He dragged the victim to the floor and started kicking. Drusilla joined in. Spike put his shoe on the woman's flank and stomped downward.
There was a series of cracks as the ribs snapped. The woman vomited silver, aconitum, and blood. Then she coughed weakly, blood spurting from her lips. Drusilla kicked her hard in the back, the blood spurting further now.
The vampires had tortured the woman for over an hour, and Damon had never felt so helpless. He was still human. He needed a distraction to get those two out of the game. Damon cursed harshly in his mind. That woman wouldn't last much longer. He sent the video to the vampires and wrote Hurry!
When Nicholas heard his phone beep and looked at it momentarily, he told Elias, "Now hurry up and a lot."
Nick recognized those two satanic bastards. He had never bothered to panic about those two, well he should have. He mentally considered having one of his subordinates care for those two while he had the time. Then, he showed a video clip to Elias.
The vampire squeezed the steering wheel so that it was pressed together. The muscle in Elias' cheek twitched. He pressed the gas pedal to the floor, and Dresden asked from the back seat, "What's the matter?"
Nick looked at Elias for a moment, who nodded. Vampires had gotten to know Mimi more, and they were very attached to her. They had promised to Adam that she could live with them too and they would keep her safe. Nick thought he could offer his subordinates to work with Adam, keep Mimi safe. Good horde of vampires while she would be shopping would stop something like this happening. Nick then explained the whole thing to Dresden and showed him the video. Dresden went pale and silent.
"Maybe we should hurry," he said calmly.
Dresden was a tall, thin man at over 195 cm, and he wore a long black leather jacket on which he had put spells, shields, and even some curses over the years to keep himself safe. He had lost his life to love decades ago, and even though he was a wizard, he would live a long time; he didn't want to love anymore.
He had denied his feelings for too long, and they hadn't really even had time to be together before his love had died in a war against evil. Then Dresden had done gigs as a wizard, a private detective, and even a bodyguard, trying to make ends meet in this crazy world and raise money for rent and whatnot. Now, it looked as if he might actually have a job to do.
Dresden knew himself, allure of darkness had been in there after tragedies of his life and he had been mixed up with Faes, and whatnot for so long that he no longer see himself as human. His friend, doctor had confirmed that, he was fully blown wizard, not human meaning he would live long time, he would be very hard to kill, and it all came with cost. Or at least it felt like. Live for centuries, lose everyone and everything that had ever meant anything to him. He tried to do good. Do the right thing. But it was not so easy and right now, he had to suppress need to use dark measures to rain revenge on those vampires.
The kicking and beating seemed to go on forever. Spike then dragged me to the table again, not bothering to tie me up as he wrapped me in wrappers, which Drusilla lovingly soaked in an aconitum-silver mixture. I screamed as hard as I could. I was thrashing, shaking, trembling, trying to move. They had already wrapped me up to my waist when I heard the sound of footsteps and a car.
Spike said, "Did you hear that? Do we have company? We've got to go and see. We don't want our fun spoiled, you think, Dru, when we take those wrappings off, that thing has got none skin left. Oh, I love playing with werewolves. If we can torture it until it's a full moon and it's mad with pain, and then it's got to turn into a wolf, oh, it could attack people."
Drusilla exhaled sharply and smiled at Spike. Spike fastened the shackles, and they set off to explore.
Nicholas and Elias arrived at the warehouse. They heard Spike ask Drusilla for something now and then, then they smelled silver, aconitum, and blood, and as they got closer, they heard a feeble whimper erupt from Mimi's lips now and then. She had screamed before, but not anymore. The poor thing was in shock already.
Imposing figure glided out of the shadows, faint scent of passionfruit told vampires about Salvatore's identity, so they did not attack but looked him with contempt, almost.
Damon came close to them. "I'll lure those idiots away, and you save that girl."
Nick said, as if in passing, "Mimi." His voice was cold, he regarded Damon of being lower than him.
Damon slipped like a ghost into the night and caught the attention of Drusilla and Spike. He led the vampires away from her, hid in the shadows, and acted. In one swift move, Drusilla's neck snapped, and the same thing happened when Spike came to watch. Even though Damon was human, he had centuries of experience behind him and knew how to snap necks effectively. He grabbed the unconscious Spike by the legs and started dragging him somewhere.
Nick, Elias, and Dresden sprang into action. They quickly made their way to the table, unhooked the shackles, and frantically ripped the wraps off. They were stuck on Mimi. Mimi started screaming.
When I realized Nick and Elias were with me, my relief was immense. They had third figure with them and Elias said to me, "He is wizard, he helps us, his name is Dresden. "
Then they started to remove the wrappings, and I started screaming again. I felt like my skin was being torn off, and it must have been because the wraps had been rough material, and they were firmly attached to my skin.
Nick put his hand over my mouth. " Shh, I know it hurts, but try to be quiet. We don't know if Salvatore's got those two under control yet. "
Dresden came over to the table and muttered something, a spell. I felt something trying to penetrate me but it glided over me.
Then he said: "She's resisting the magic. I can't get her to sleep, poor girl."
Elias took the syringe from his jacket pocket, pushed it into one cannula, and emptied it. The pain faded as my consciousness did. I tried to be quiet. The pain was there, but it wasn't as intense as before. I was getting tired from the shock and the damage, though. I could feel it my bones, literally.
Eventually, they managed to rip off the rest of the bandages. Dresden looked at the vampires for a moment and said, "I could probably get most of the silver out of her, but it's not pleasant."
Nick said: " Okay, do it and you'll get at least some of it off. That's the worst thing for her right now."
Elias emptied another syringe into one cannula. Mimi relaxed considerably. Nick touched Mimi on the shoulder and shook her. Mimi didn't react. Her pale face was slack, and she looked quite worn out.
"Do it now, while she's asleep," Nick said tensely.
Dresden came over to Mimi, put his hand on Mimi's stomach, and began to utter some unfamiliar language. Dresden put his other hand on one dish, and the chanting intensified. Dresden's fingertips oozed silver, and Mimi's body began to arch and writhe. The flow of silver continued and sped up as the bucket filled with silver.
Then Dresden sighed and stopped. "Now I can't do it anymore. I can't do it." He was sweaty catching his breath. It had been hard job for him.
"But there's at least another ten liters in Mimi," Nick said tensely.
"Then you'll have to take it out another way or wait because I can't. It's a damn hard job pulling the metal out. It's going to take me a while to recharge, and I might help in three days, a week, but not before." Dresden said tiredly.
Pulling out the silver hurt. As Elias shoved more medicine into me, I fell into a deep sleep, only to wake up almost immediately to the feeling of every molecule of my body being torn apart. The tearing force continued, and the silver moved inside me, moving the aconitum as well. The sensation was more than pain.
Eventually, the sensation ceased, and I exhaled. There was less silver, and I felt it because I felt lighter, and my heart started beating, which again was not a good thing in itself because it was circulating the fucking aconitum. The men wrapped me in a blanket and carried me to the car. I shook from the pain, shock. I was getting damn nauseous and my broken ribs hurt, my whole body was one damn pain.
Damon watched from the shadows as the men carried the woman wrapped in the blanket. He had heard her screams and almost swore he felt the pain as the metal was torn from her. He was anesthesiologist so seeing someone in so much pain made him feel at least something. He was healer, sometimes, and that woman had woken that part of him up. Damon sighed and disappeared back into the shadows. Well, a good deed done for a day or a month, he thought to himself. Drusilla and Spike wouldn't be a problem. He had ambushed, snapped both their necks, and tossed them in the garbage truck.
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