Elena's POV

I don't remember much. I had just dumped Stefan officially, which hurt more than being indirectly staked by him and his brother. Damn Katherine and her witch, no matter how much she apologizes. I was walking along the drive way, skirting around dark, glossy cars, my feet scraping drearily on the shadowed black pavement, and then... the memory stops there.

I was in a car, the trunk. I could tell that. There was the low rumble of an engine vibrating the rough floor around me, and the high pitched whine of rubber speeding along the road below me. As far as I could tell, we were one of few or the only car on the road, a morbid thought. I had once seen a trick on a movie where you kick out on of the back lights and observe your surroundings, but I could barely open my eyes. A deep cloud of drowsiness hung around me, pulling my eyelids down strongly. At first, I thought that maybe Damon had kidnapped me again and we were on our way to Georgia, but I dispelled the idea quickly. He wouldn't have the gall to do that again, especially after killing Jeremy. Just thinking about it made my blood boil, and I'm sure my toes would curl had I been able to move.

All this pondering was making my head hurt. I know I had to be careful, wait to see where I was going, but it was just too much energy. We slowed gradually, the smooth, hum of the pavement fading into the crunch of wheels on a rocky off road, and we stopped. My eyes weren't open, but I saw the red glow of light over my eyelids. It was daytime. There was the scent of green trees and grass, a delightful, nature smell. I was dropped into what I believed was another trunk, and the small babble of voices ahead of me.

"Come closer," I heard, a deep, dangerous voice. There was silence for a moment, and then the familiar squishing, tearing sound of teeth ripping into flesh and the upsetting, metallic smell of blood. My stomach turned. The engine started up, and before we had even hit the pavement again, I was asleep, with only the terrible thought, I've been kidnapped by vampires.

Damon's POV

We had the bitch-witch help us find Elena. Nobody had seen her since last night. Her car was still at the mansion. And everybody was flipping out.

Everybody except Briana, that is.

"I told you," she bragged, reclining lazily on the bar stool with a glass of vodka in hand, "fight as you will, I still told you." She poured some Diet Coke into the glass, a swirling concoction of deep, fizzy brown and searing clear liquid. She dropped a couple ice cubes in it.

"Yeah, yeah, you told us," I complained, my temper rising. "But aren't you worried at all?" She raised a brow, questioning the idea that she actually cared for Elena Gilbert, the reason she'd been originally deceived by, guess who, me. It still made my heart wrench painfully in my chest when I thought of how I endangered the connection to the only person who cared about me.

"Nope!" I rolled my eyes.

"But if you're so sure it's your family, shouldn't you be worried about, I don't know, dying, as you put it?" She flinched and turned away, her head tilting back to take a deep swig of alcohol.

"It's not 'as I put it', Damon. When every last one of my family members are dead, I die as well," she snapped, glaring at her empty glass. She walked to and dug through the fridge, huffing indignantly. "And I've had enough time to worry, figure things out, and deal with them. I'm not afraid to die. Are you?" Her gaze when she turned was piercing, as if she were trying to see right through me. I could've sworn it was working.

"At the hands of some unfair witches who wanted me to go down with my baby bro? Hell no!" I sipped my Bourbon and gave a slick smiled. She made an irritated sound in the back of her throat and picked up some lemonade off the top shelf, taking a sip, shrugging and deeming it drinkable.

"Well, you're still a newbie. You've been conned and duped forward, backwards, and every other way-wards," she prodded, a gloating smile on her face, "and one day, maybe you'll be smart enough not to fear death anymore." I spread my hands on the arm of the couch, pressing up into a standing position with a doubtful expression.

"I highly... wait a minute, did you call me Damon back there? Not Angelface?" I don't know why it was so important all of a sudden, but she had always called me that silly, cliche nickname Angelface. Briana's head shot up, a puzzled, searching look on her pretty face. She licked her lips, which I found more enticing than anything, even though it was a sign of her being nervous.

"No, of course not, Angel," she passed off casually, waving her hand and sampling her tart drink. My smirk grew wider.

"Did to," I jabbed, "and you know it."

"I did not!" Her voice grew into a protesting whine, encouraging me further. A bellowing laugh echoed in the kitchen, and she scowled hotly. Though I was happy to have her company and would do a lot not to lose it, I couldn't help but antagonize her when the opportunity presented itself. She was so disgruntled and fuming she was practically scarlet. It was a wonder how annoyed she could get just by saying the wrong thing.

"Did to," I coughed.

She made that shrill 'Ugh!" noise, dropping her jaw. She raised her arm and swung. My face composed and I ducked, missing the glass lemonade bottle she chucked at me. I stood back up, laughing, but then realized I'd never heard the glass crash. With a smug sneer, she wound back her arm for real this time and sent the bottle hurtling at me. Their was an ear-splitting shatter and a sharp pain in my chest. All the breath left me in one rushed exhalation, and I doubled over clutching my stomach. Briana's giggles washed over me, and I found my self gasping for air and laughing along with her at the same time. I fell onto the floor in a fit of snickering, still feeling dizzy and weak. There were cuts quickly healing on my chest and drops of blood on my wrecked shirt.

"Dickwad!" she screeched and lept on me, one arm around my neck and one repeatedly smacking the back of my head. I tried to calm down, hoping that she would too, but I just couldn't stop laughing.

And then I remembered what had started our conversation.

My noise died down, and, catching the hint, she slid off me. She brushed the shards of glass of me and picked a particularly sharp piece out of my chest, grimacing. I never took my eyes off her. I had meant what I said when I called her perfect, and her reaction had been so strong she nearly started crying, and that hurt. I really hope she didn't think I was tricking her again, but I'd already gotten everything I could out of her and we both knew it. Now, we were just friends with benefits. And I would do anything to keep it that way.

My phone beeped, and I started. Briana backed away, grabbing my glass off the table and walking out without a word. It was a Google map picture of a large house in the middle of the nowhere Stefan and I were headed towards. I sighed, hating the fact that the Gilbert kid was sort of growing on me. He tended to be useful, and he had one hell of a heart.

"Stefan!" I called, though I'd only need barely speak. "Got the location, brother!" He was at my side in half a second, a bag of vervain grenades (a personal favorite of mine) and stakes, darts and one soaked dagger slung over his shoulder.

"Alright. You wanna drive?" he asked, his usual frown more worried than usual.

"Do you trust me to drive?" I joked, smirking and twitching my brow.

"Nope." And he walked off with the keys. I scowled.

"Damon!"

I turned around and looked down at Briana's slender form in the doorway between the dining room and the kitchen. She moved back for a moment, meek as a rabbit, but then walked straight up to and kissed me with a passion hotter than anything I've mustered. It made my whole body flare up like a fire with a cup of gasoline poured on it. I felt like I was wearing a red cape and she was rewarding me for whatever epic crime I'd just stopped. The mental image was amusing. She pulled back and stared up at me with nothing but pure fear, betraying her earlier denial of worry. She swallowed.

"Be careful," she warned, "If this is the work of who I think it is, then he's going to be stronger than you think. Don't be your usual arrogant, stupid self," I debated ignoring this conversation entirely until she smacked the side of my head, "Listen! I'm not kidding. I may be one shitload of awesomeness who could kick your ass from here to China, but these guys are nearly as bad. They're smart. They've been alive much too long to be deceived by the likes of you. If you injure him, grab Elena and run. Try and sneak her out if possible. Don't piss them off. Do NOT." I backed away.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it-" I interrupted. She groaned.

"I mean it," her voice was more serious than I had ever heard, low and disturbing, "do your best not to be a total ass. Get her and run like hell." She kissed me again, running her tongue along my lips and running her hands through my hair. She sounded incredibly somber when she said, "Just in case, that's a goodbye kiss." She turned away and ran up the stairs. I ran outside to the car, my confidence dimmed like an overheated light bulb.

Despite the act I had running, I had this horrible feeling that something was going to go extremely, terribly wrong.