Echoes

Chapter Seven

I'd originally intended to combine this chapter with the next, but I didn't want to leave the cliffhanger any longer.
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Damon sat alone in the ICU waiting room. After much cajoling, bribery, and a promise of one of Ginger's puppies from Matt, Claire finally agreed to leave with Jenna. Despite a moment of clarity when Damon had first arrived, as time wore on, Claire's description of the evening had become more and more sketchy.

Maybe there was something out there.

Maybe it was just an animal. A deer had run in front of the car. Of course it had been a deer. Elena was just driving too fast...and she hit a deer.

Claire needed to believe it was a deer.

And suddenly all of Mystic Falls' animal attacks fell into place. He finally understood the excuses and the half-truths. The residents weren't just trying to protect the town's reputation – they were trying to protect their own sanity.

Because what person in their right mind would really admit to monsters in the dark.

Damon knew that he was in the midst of a room of them.

Matt.

Ric.

Jenna.

Jeremy.

Bonnie.

They'd all been there. They'd all been watching as Claire had tried to describe what happened to Sheriff Forbes. The only thing she'd been clear about was that she

was desperately afraid of something in the fog. When Damon asked her to tell him about the fog, she'd just said Elena was driving fast to get away from something that seemed to be following the car.

At the time, he hadn't shown his fear. He couldn't. They'd never let Claire in on the secret. She wasn't old enough. She wasn't ready.

But try as hard as he might, he simply couldn't pass it off as some random chance. Not since they'd found the bodies in the woods. And not since he'd seen the blood soaked bandage on Elena's neck. The vampires were back.

Everyone in the room knew it too. Even without looking at each other, the knowledge of what they were facing electrified the air around them.

Funny. For decades...over a century, really...he was the reason people were afraid. He was and monsters like him.

Now the fear lay like an iron weight in the pit of his stomach – a vise trying to squeeze every last bit of oxygen from his lungs.

The vampires were back.

And they'd come after Elena...and Claire.

But was it random? Could she have just been at the wrong place at the wrong time? Or was the whole mystery illness somehow planted to draw her away from the rest of the family?

Damon needed it to be a random occurrence. Because, if not, and they were coming for his family, Damon didn't know what to do. For the first time since he'd held the bottle to his lips years ago, he regretted his choice to regain his humanity.

He still didn't understand why they'd be here for Elena.

Their battle years ago should have convinced the vampires that Mystic Falls was far from a place of refuge for them. Why would they risk coming to an area where the residents both knew about the vampires and were prepared to fight them? He had an even more pressing question...why now?

He knew he'd have to re-convene the Council, but he couldn't focus on that at the moment. Damon didn't have the mental strength to deal with the vampire problem right now. He was physically and emotionally drained. He absently looked at the clock. 7 am. Just twelve hours ago, he'd been standing next to Santa Claus as he listened to Emma rattle off her Christmas wish list.