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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6GgsTXHff5
"Something botherin' you?" he asks me.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4YgiCq3lkO
"Would you believe me if I told you mosquitoes?" I ask him.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcQmKYVPGGH
"Aye, I would. How does it feel when a relentless eating machine is draining the blood from your veins?"582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAjck3SSFKN
"Itchy."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSGByUbUhLe
"Your friends from Mystic Falls think you're funny, Damon?"582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC6jsfXSwho
"You obviously know who I am and where I'm from. Have you been spying on me?"582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0pC5rur5Xu
"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?"582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡThQxm9AUNy
I look at his tattoo.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX2eLePOvol
"You wanna know something, just ask," I tell him.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVWHQY8ijig
"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."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2xJV3pg5xG
"Come on, man. Do I look like I know anything about tattoos? Look at my skin. It's flawless."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAE8TtJRo1V
"Ah! You're not taking me seriously."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn23pnnbKQl
He walks over to me.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡydAsDBQ9Ne
"I don't blame ya. You don't know me."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡySiToaEUtB
He holds up a pointy wooden stick that he's been holding over the fire. "So let me introduce myself."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhyNq7aRxn2
He stabs the stick in my neck.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyOrX65c6lj
"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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMO8sVKlxvi
"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."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI3w5od0OwY
"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."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXDVjyatz0b
"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."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA7HuYz0dOU
"You really don't understand, do you?"582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBkEj6Zws7F
"No, I don't understand, so why don't you explain it?" I say in a slight accent, mocking Galen's.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ84Z4rv7Gcl
"Silas is immortal. I have to cram the cure down his throat in order to kill him."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMEDIM2T9nc
"Yeah, what does that have to do with me and my friends?"582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWqfxMjG2Vc
"I need to use the cure against Silas. Your friends, they can't exactly have it, now, can they?"582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzyrOAOD5yA
"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?"582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡutJSzS6AJR
"Even if I wanted to, I couldn't."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSrHbvASVsz
"And why can't you share it?"582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbBU3khwvjr
"So it is written. There is only one dose. "582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ50oIOYZOTC
I'm still walking ahead and he shoves me.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ19X8rlS9Kl
"You touch me again--" I start to say.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKSKPMzm1ak
"And you'll what? Threaten me? Sorry if you're upset about the cure, Damon, but we've got road to cover."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8K5H0LUqHX
"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."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhnPa6WPUs3
Galen shoves me again.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM9sYNCufcs
"Make that 10," I add.
"Right."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1t5gVi9nzq
"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?"582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAQBejeCIhn
"How did I do that?"582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRN0faUMmqQ
"Big guy. White paint all over him. You stuck a hatchet in his spine."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMsdFKZRBy0
"I don't remember doing such a thing."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDG406i6YD4
He pulls on the rope, but I resist, refusing to walk.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9jZjmitbfN
"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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzG1gOmk0zV
"I'm telling you, it wasn't me."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnGDbmv1Yvi
He shoves me forward again, but we stumble across a body. He's dead with his throat slashed.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTDJYbx5gUC
"Was that you?" I ask him.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkBoyAobazJ
"No. You?"582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbLYVY7fqGi
"No."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwQ6zk0B07C
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNGwqGjGBW4
"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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiXP2imFM5w
"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."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKusXFabBUR
"Ditto. You know, that pesky hunter's curse and all."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVCn8MFiqpm
He nods.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtwBmyptKAB
"All right. How do you want to do this?" I ask him.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJlk5H6bXU
"I'll make it quick and painless," he replies.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnDKWbypbx8
He pulls on the rope tied to my neck.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjeUKwk1Ypx
I resist and grab onto the rope, and the vervain sears my skin.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrnBJXOQEoE
"Wish I could make the same promise," I tell him.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpL6SpG9Moi
He cuts the rope at his end and flings it towards me.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYhbAyX1Oil
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡldbLXJkFIt
"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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡANPNNSg3vU
"Your attachment to your friends will be the end of you."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2xRKwIOS0p
We hear footsteps from the entrance and I smile.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuRZhM14ya2
"You don't know my friends," I say. I then add when Rebekah appears, "Or my enemies."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6wqa3DlGpZ
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6InhpIG4Ed
"Are we gonna dance or are we gonna play?" I ask him.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNDkNKs9Vb7
"You know he can't hurt me, Damon, unless he's got the white oak stake."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0QH5zm0ROk
"Oh, he doesn't, but he's got other toys," I tell her.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUXC6cPkk5n
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡthbZHEH8L2
Rebekah looks down at it.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8oNfg0R4yT
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdan9ulvxkT
I run towards him and we engage in hand to hand combat.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQdRdaEAmc8
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpN9qUHwxhs
I groan and make choking noises.
"Damon!" Stefan yells in the distance.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIHHdnc9QFu
Galen grabs a rope going down the shaft and slides down it quickly and disappears.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTDBigbUMLw
I see Elena and Stefan enter, just as I hear Galen reach the bottom.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3wVd36fFmw
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQy2bW0iNbj
"You're wasting time. Just get the cure. Go," I tell my brother.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoAR1EyXG3y
"We're not gonna leave you," Elena says to me.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfmfIGHnPmZ
"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."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqyyeyap162
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsgo900QNrY
"All right, come on. We have to catch up," he says to me.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOiu57O2CQm
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."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcIxFw67PE3
"And what? You don't care to be that one anymore? You finally decided it was easier to just walk away?"582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMGtNIWdmoF
"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."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlpvai723HI
"Things have changed. It's not that easy anymore."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrSS5TjvDg6
"It is right now," I loudly tell him. " Get your ass down the well. Help Elena get the damn thing."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuxSqHXUeSg
Stefan hesitates and I add, "Come on."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5uOScuZLq2
Finally, Stefan jumps into the well, while I sit and watch him go.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXw5qCMWy4R
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeOsjlVXB4b
"You're alive," she says to me.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0DNOMxJAV0
"Yeah."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOj6KSSPd4D
"Why didn't you go with them?"582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrgeyPANeoF
"Needed a siesta."
"You gave up, didn't you?"582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlXH5KYAwc0
I groan, as I try to sit up.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNUprPV88NJ
"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."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1hDmMBrNdt
She sits up.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3LSVf8PfGh
"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."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtUnoteNyBK
"Life sucks. Get a helmet."582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl5U4aT5YAV
She smiles.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Qk1iwpRew
"You did something selfless, Damon. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were becoming a halfway decent person."
