Singing Blood

Ghost World

"Oh, you got to be kidding me," Damon groaned, as he regained consciousness only to find himself chained to a chair with a fire poker stuck in his chest and his daylight ring on the floor. Next to and invisible to him stood Mason Lockwood, watching him intently with a satisfied smirk.

"Hurts, doesn't it?"

Damon wriggled the chains, trying to free himself, and groaned in pain as the fire poker buried itself deeper into his chest at the movement.

"Low blow, Stefan. Low blow."

Stefan appeared in the door frame behind Damon.

"What the hell happened to you?" he asked, half amused.

"Whatever twisted ripper game this is, leave me out of it," Damon hissed, wriggling at the chains again.

"I didn't do this," Stefan replied innocently as he walked around the chair until he stopped right in front of his brother, watching his struggle with an amused expression on his face.

Damon glared at him, not amused in the least.

"Quit screwing around!"

"I didn't," Stefan stated, checking the chains with an approving smile. "It's pretty messed up though, isn't it?"

"Yep," Damon pressed out through gritted teeth.

Stefan grabbed the fire poker and pulled it out of his brother's chest, making the latter scream in pain. He was about to break the chains but then decided that it would be more interesting to see if Damon could free himself from the chains, patted his brother's shoulder and walked off.

"Yeah, not to worry," Damon called after him sarcastically. "I'll just untangle myself."

Mason, deciding his killer hadn't suffered enough yet, opened the curtains, letting sunlight stream in. With his daylight ring still on the floor, Damon's skin began to sizzle and burn as he screamed in pain.

At the Town Square, volunteers were busy hanging up lanterns on trees and preparing the town for the impending Night of Illumination. Carol Lockwood was standing on the stage in the middle of the Town Square, holding a speech for the volunteers and assembled crowd.

"As a long-time member of the Historical Society, I am especially proud to be kicking off this day of festivities. Thank you, volunteers. Tonight, we turn off our town's lights and flare up our lanterns in honor of the Night of Illumination started by our founders 150 years ago. Before we start with a history lesson by founding family member Tobias Fell however. I'd like to ask for a minute of silence for the ten lives lost during the tragic fire last night. A memorial service will be held at the end of the week."

No one applauded as the Mayor stepped down from the stage after the minute of silence. Last night's tragedy had left the entire town in a state of shock. No one was in the mood to celebrate.

Among the crowd were Alaric and Jeremy.

"What are we doing here?" Jeremy whined. He had no interest in the celebrations. There were truly more exciting things to do on a school-free day.

"Tobias Fell is the head of the history department," Alaric explained. "I didn't have a choice."

"All right, that explains what you're doing here," Jeremy grumbled, still not understanding why the history teacher had dragged him here.

Alaric shot him an amused look.

"Well, I'm the one who can fail you if you don't help me out."

Jeremy was about open his mouth as Elena joined them.