Kismet | Damon Salvatore

Chapter 7

Nearly a full hour later, they still hadn't arrived.

It was nearly time for Maribel to finish the last steps of her procedure following the reflux to test the injection on Damon.

"This is weird," said Maribel worriedly. "This cabin is so close to Mystic falls, they should have been here fifteen minutes after that call. What if the Travelers got to them?"

"Be optimistic," urged Enzo. "They'll come and we'll sort something out."

"Or they'll come and I'll feed on them!" said Damon, still annoyed he called them.

"Those are also options," said Enzo. "As long as I live, I'm good. Joking! Kind of."

Suddenly, the door was blown open, and through it came a bullet that lodged right in Enzo's shoulder.

He turned around and saw Wes and the Travelers were back. "If you were aiming for my heart," taunted Enzo, "you missed!"

"Don't worry, I wasn't," said Wes, smirking. "I want to see how strong he comes when enraged."

Maribel leapt away as Damon growled, unable to stop himself from rushing toward Enzo. He broke through the ropes despite the vervain on them, and yanked out the IV, throwing it to the floor and letting the contents spill over the carpet.

"Conclusion," said Wes softly, "very strong."

Damon lunged at Enzo, and the other vampire managed to throw him across the room. "Boy, do I miss the indestructible Augustine cage right about now!" said Enzo, doing his best to keep him from biting in.

Maribel was already trying to call Stefan again, but the call was refusing to go through. Damon let out another growl and latched onto Enzo's neck, starting to feed.

"Damon, stop!" cried Enzo loudly. "Damon, stop— STOP! PLEASE, DAMON, STOP!"

Trying not to lose her head, she reached for the vial, her fingers burning as she withdrew it from the sand bath. She was quick to set it down, working as fast as she could to finish the procedure so she could inject him before he murdered Enzo.

Outside, the Travelers started to chant again as Enzo kept crying out for his life. Suddenly, Damon started to choke and ripped himself away from Enzo, throwing up and gasping for air on the floor.

"What did you to do him?" cried Enzo, holding his neck.

"My friends here raised the acidity in your blood," said Wes. "There must be some witchy explanation for it, but Damon's basically drinking hydrochloric acid. I suggest you leave before the spell wears off."

Enzo frowned. "And go where... with you?"

"There's one more thing I need from you. Then I'll let you go for good. The other option is to stay in here with your cannibal friend and see how long you last."

"Go, Enzo!" cried Damon. "I tried to kill you, I'll do it again."

"It's okay," said Maribel, turning to look at him as she deposited the final solution into a syringe with a needle attached to it "It'll be okay, he won't want to feed on me, get out of here."

Enzo hesitated, but stepped out.

A second later, another shot was fired, and Maribel cried out as a bullet pierced her leg.

"NO!" said Enzo, trying to get into the house, only to find that this time, he couldn't enter.

"We'll see how long you last in there," said Wes as he and the Travelers dragged Enzo away, leaving her alone with Damon.

Though he craved vampire blood, it seemed the Ripper aspect of the virus still made him hungry for any type of blood he could gain access to. His eyes darkened as he turned his attention to the wound on her leg.