01. "Hello, Brother"

A young couple sat in their car, driving to their destination.

"Why do you drag me to these dumb superhero movies?" the girl complained, "There's too many, I can't keep track of who's who, their names and their outfits and who flies and who turns to ice, who poops fire--it's too much".

The boy let out an amused chuckle, "Well, that's why you have me" he said, looking over at his girlfriend, while driving in a very foggy road.

"Okay, well, now we're on overload, I'm done".

"Then I'm done with your dystopian teen crap movies, we don't need them either".

The girl let out a small scoff, "Okay, fine, maybe I'll do one more superhero".

"You know, to be honest, I'm just glad the whole vampire craze is over".

"Ugh" the girl said, looking at her boyfriend in amusement, she then turned back to watch the road when her eyes landed on someone standing in the middle of it, "Watch out!" she suddenly yelled.

The boy quickly dodged the person standing in the middle of the road and kept on driving.

"What the hell?" he wondered, looking back in his rear view mirror, "I almost hit that guy, what's he doing in the middle of the road?".

The girl shrugged her shoulders, she turned back to the front, only to see other person standing infront of their car, "Look out!" she yelled, but it was too late as their car hit the person.

The couple quickly got out of their car and rushed towards the person they hit.

"He's dead" the girl cried, looking down at the body infront of her.

"Oh, no, no" the panicked boy whispered.

Suddenly the couple heard someone clapping behind them, turning around their eyes landed on Damon.

"First of all, let me applaud you on your quick reflexes" Damon said, "The way you just whipped by me, it was impressive".

Enzo, who the couple hit, groaned in pain and suddenly sat up, shocking the already frightened couple.

"What is this?" the boy asked, feeling extremely confused.

"This is what is known as a slow night" Damon informed, "I mean I thought we'd go with the old guy in the road standby and you almost got by us".

"Yeah, maybe it's time we, let this one go" Enzo stated, cracking his neck, "It hurts".

Enzo then stood up and walked over to the couple, "What do you want?" the boy asked.

"We could use a ride" Enzo replied, "It's the least you could do".

"Come on" Damon said, "I'll drive".

***

"Okay, a little backstory because it's only fair--my friend here, Enzo, and I are the unwilling employees--".

"We're not really employees" Enzo interrupted, as the group of four entered the slaughterhouse.

"Yeah, more like slaves, serfs, lackeys" Damon corrected.

"Reinfields" Enzo added.

"I hate that reference" Damon stated.

"We'll just call it mind control" Enzo said.

"Our job is to bring the worst of humanity, the dregs of life, and bring them here" Damon explained to the terrified couple, "So, between the two of you, who's worse?".

"Come on" Enzo said, snapping his fingers, "Winner gets a prize".

"What's the worst thing you've ever done in your life?" Damon asked again.

"I stole make up from a drugstore once" the girl informed, "Some blush and lipstick".

"Try harder" Damon said, starting to compel the girl, "What's the worst thing you've ever done in your life?".

"I slept with my best friend's boyfriend".

"That's a little better" Enzo commented.

"Eight times".

"You're doing something wrong, pal" Enzo told the boy, who was looking at his girlfriend in disbelief, "So, what's the worst thing you've ever done?".

"One time, I stole all my nana's pain pills and sold them for 50 bucks a pop, while she was dying of cancer".

"I think we have a winner" Damon announced.

"What do I win?".

Damon placed his hand on the guy's shoulder, "You get to die the most painful, excruciating death imaginable" he informed.

"And me?".

"We grant you mercy" Enzo told the girl, "You'll die quick, it'll be over before you--", without even finishing his sentence, Enzo bit the girl on the side of her neck and kept drinking out of her until there was nothing to drink anymore, "I'll deal with this one", Enzo carried the dead girl over his should, "You do the honors?".

"Of course" Damon said, grabbing the back of the boy's neck, "This way, come on".

Damon led the boy further into the slaughterhouse, as soon as the boy's eyes landed on the many ripped up bodies hanging from the roof, he started crying, "No, no, no".

"Easy, my friend" Damon warned.

"Oh, god, no".

"Hey" Damon snapped, compelling the hysterical boy, "Stay calm, shh, no use in making a scene in your final moments".

"I don't want to die".

"Yeah, I know, and I don't particularly want to kill you" Damon said, as they climbed up the little platform in the room, "But sometimes we have to do the things we don't like".

"What's down there?" the boy asked, as Damon opened the grills revealed bloody water.

"Don't really know" Damon replied honestly.

"You don't have to do this, please".

"That's where you're wrong" Damon said, grabbing the hook that was behind the boy, "I don't have a choice".

The boy let out a painful scream as Damon stabbed him in the back with the metal hook, he then walked over to the remote for the hook and using it, he lifted the boy up in the air and then made him hover above the red water, he then pressed another button and the boy was shoved into the water, just as Enzo walked over to Damon.

"Help, help me!" the boy yelled, gasping for air and trying to swim out but failing miserably, suddenly the boy was pulled underwater and his screams stopped, Damon pulled the hook out of the water and all that remained of the boy was a piece of his meat still attached to the metal hook.

"Want to watch some TV?" Enzo asked Damon, as both of them started at the hook infront of them.

"Nah, I was just gonna read for a little while" Damon informed.

"All right, night then" Enzo said, walking away from Damon.

"Night" Damon said.

***

Dear Salvatore Triplets,

The search for your father and Enzo just keeps going on and on, we have no idea where they are, who took them, or even why did it take them, Caroline made me promise that everyday I will have at least one normal moment, she said that's how I'll stay sane, and too be honest, I get that moment of normalcy when I'm with you guys, but when I'm not, I'm back to losing my mind worrying about where Damon is, if he's okay or not.

You know I used to think the hardest thing for me to do was to learn how to live without Damon, but turns out, that's not the hardest thing for me, the hardest thing for me to is go on about living my life without knowing if Damon was okay or not, if he was even alive.

Aria sat on the floor of Damon and her old room, her back against the bed, the ring Damon gave her in her hand, after staring at it for a moment, Aria placed the ring on the floor beside her and ran her hands through her face, trying to stop the tears from falling, she was trying her best to be strong for everyone else but the more time passed the more weak Aria felt herself become.

***

"Caroline hates the triplets new nanny" Aria informed Kol, entering his room in boarding house after gathering herself.

Kol chuckled, "Trust me, I know, she sent me about thirty texts saying that because of Seline the triplets are wasting their perfectly good crust, she just doesn't realise that is not Seline's fault, it's yours because you passed that habit down to them".

Aria shrugged in response, "Crusts are so disgusting" she complained.

"Well, according to Caroline, millions of people in this world go hungry every single day while our hot nanny is getting all sparkly with the triplets food" Kol recalled.

"You think our nanny's hot?" Aria asked, a mischievous grin on her face.

"No, I just quoted Caroline" Kol retorted.

"Well I think Seline has a thing for you, she keeps staring at you with heart eyes" Aria teased.

"Ri" Kol warned.

"Kol" Aria mocked.

"God, you are so annoying" Kol stated.

"Thank you" Aria simply said, "Now, let's back to business, what's on the agenda today?".

"I'm going back over all the Central State Missing Person Reports for the last four weeks with Elijah, we're trying to see if by chance we missed an obvious pattern" Kol replied.

Aria nodded her head, "And I'm going to go check in with the local affiliates" she said, Aria then looked Kol, "Will today be better?".

Kol looked at Aria, "It will" he assured, giving Aria a small smile, just as her phone beeped.

"It's a message from Caroline" Aria informed, grabbing her phone and seeing Caroline's text, "Oh my god".

"What?" a confused Kol asked seeing Aria's shocked face.

"They found a body" Aria informed, "After all those missing people, there's finally a body, this has to be good news right?".

"It's definitely better news then yesterday" Kol said, grabbing Aria's phone and reading Caroline's text, hope rising in his heart, hope of finally finding Enzo and Damon.

***

"Dumped the girl" Enzo informed Damon, who was busy reading Fifty Shades of Grey.

"Why? She could have been dessert" Damon said.

"You know the rules" Enzo reminded, "Last night was pushing it, it wants real evil, not these lightweight losers we've been feeding it".

"Yeah, you should get on that" Damon said, not taking his eyes off the book.

"I'm trying" Enzo said, glaring at Damon in annoyance, "Which is more than you're doing".

"Hey, this is a really good book" Damon defended.

Enzo let out a frustrated sigh, "How long is this bad-guy slaughter going to last?" he asked, looking around the slaughterhouse, "How many more bodies will it take before this is over?".

"It can hear you" Damon said, in a singsong voice.

"It can get into our minds, it knows how I feel" Enzo retorted.

"Well, there's no reason to go out of your way to aggravate it" Damon said.

"Do you have any control left?" a curious Enzo asked, "Me, I'm down to about, I don't know, two percent".

"No free will needed, I have flipped my switch" Damon informed, "Humanity off, I'm on full cruise control, I recommend it".

"Oh, so you really have nothing left inside?" Enzo asked, having a hard time believing Damon really felt nothing.

"Just my winning sense of humor and a renewed appreciation for chick-lit" Damon replied.

"I'm sorry, did we wake you?" an annoyed Enzo asked the bubbling water, "When does this end?! How many more bodies till you're full?".

"Yelling never gets you anything" Damon warned, "Try asking nicely".

Damon kicked the back of Enzo's knee, causing him to fall into the bloody water, he then went back to reading while Enzo started screaming and was pulled deeper into the water, eventually he jumped to the ledge and glared at the oldest Salvatore.

"Get an answer?" Damon asked.

***

"Look Ri, I know it's not much, but that doesn't mean it's not a lead" Kol said, as he and Aria walked in the woods, "I mean, all this time we've only been following the trail of missing people, this is the first time we have a body".

Aria sighed, "I'm just scared that this body has nothing to do with them" she confessed.

"You can't think like that Ri, none of us can" Kol said, "We have to have hope that even the smallest of clue might lead us to them".

Aria suddenly stopping walking, causing Kol to stop as well and look at her with a questioning look on his face, "I want to hope Kol, I want to hope so badly, but every single time I've had even the tiniest of hope, we end up back at zero and the hope ends up crushing my heart all over again, I just don't know how much more of this pain I can take".

"Ri, no one in this damn town knows how to fight like you do" Kol said, stepping closer to Aria, he cupped her face in his hands, "You can't give up Ri, because you don't give up, you fight till the very end, you hold on to hope till the very end, I learnt this from you, we all did, so if you decide to give up, there's a high chance we all will give up as well, because you're the one holding us all together, giving us strength to keep going, so don't give up Ri, never give up on hope of finding Damon".

"I'm not giving up Kol" Aria said, "I will never give up on finding Damon and Enzo, but I'm just tired of having hope, because having your hope crushed, that hurts a lot, and I'm tired of getting hurt".

***

"Hey" Aria greeted the detective who was currently at the crime scene where the body was found.

"Oh, come on" the detective complained, "It took me four hours to get control of the scene from the local idiots, now they're letting press past the tape?".

"We're not press" Aria clarified.

Kol looked into the man's eyes and started compelling him, "You don't need to know who we are, instead why don't you tell us what you know about this body".

"Female victim, strangled, then exsanguinated, or maybe vice versa, brace yourselves, it ain't pretty, we found blood on the grille, not matching her type, blood in the road over there, also not her type, car's dented, like she hit a deer, maybe a mountain lion".

Aria looked at the girl who was tied to the front of her car, hearing the detective her mind went back to how Damon used to kill people when he first came to Mystic Falls.

"Or a person" Kol added, having the same idea as Aria.

"Teeth marks above the collarbone, ligatures on her neck from the wire".

Aria bent down slightly and looked at the bite marks, after confirming her doubt she looked at Kol and gave him a small nod, letting him know that is definitely a vampire's bite mark.

***

Aria stood to the side, talking to Caroline on her phone.

"It's just a lot of empty land" Caroline informed, going through her laptop, "Farms".

"The gas odometer of the victim's car only had three miles on it" Aria recalled, "Anything unusual in three miles of this place?".

"There was a news story about this area a couple months ago" Caroline said, looking at the news report, "Some locals cried miracle when a nearby creek ran red with blood, turns out there's a slaughterhouse with a drainage issue nearby, they closed it down".

"How far from the crime scene is this slaughterhouse?" Aria asked curiously.

"Exactly three miles" Caroline read.

"A slaughterhouse that closed down months ago is a perfect place to hide missing people" Aria connected.

"You think they're there?" Caroline asked.

"I'm about to go find out" Aria replied, hanging up on Caroline, but before she could walk towards Kol, her phone started ringing again, looking at it, she realised it was the triplets nanny, "Hey Seline, everything okay?".

"Aria" a panicked Seline said from the other side.

"Seline, what's wrong?" a suddenly worried Aria asked.

"You don't think the triplets would leave the boarding house, do you?" Seline asked, staring at the front door infront of her, the front door that just blew open on its own.

"No, absolutely not, they know not to leave the house without someone" Aria replied, "Seline, what's going on, are the kids okay?".

Seline suddenly turned around when she heard a vase crash, a crash that Aria heard as well, "Aria, I think someone's in the house".

"What?" a shocked Aria asked.

But before Seline could say anything, someone slit her throat, as Seline fell to the floor, her attacker was revealed to be Virginia St. John.

On the other side, a panicked Aria quickly used her vampire speed to rush away from the crime scene and towards her children.

***

With a knife in her hand, Virginia climbed the boarding house stairs, looking for the triplets.

"Mia, shut up, because of you Seline is going to find us!" Virginia heard Alec's voice coming from Damon and Aria's room, a sinister smirk appeared on her face, she took small and steady steps towards the room, she placed her hand on the door knob, all ready to attack the triplets, when suddenly Aria speeded behind her, she grabbed her by the neck and smashed her head on to the wall, causing Virginia to fall to the floor unconscious.

Aria then opened the bedroom door and breathed a sigh of relief seeing the triplets standing there, all fine and well.

"Mom!" the triplets yelled, running over to their mother.

"Hey babies" Aria greeted, kneeling down and hugging her children, "Are you guys okay?".

"We're fine mom, we were just playing hide and seek with Seline" Asher informed.

"Seline's an awful seeker, it's been so long but she hasn't found us" Alec complained.

Hearing Alec, Aria suddenly remembered Seline, before she was too panicked to think about anyone but her children, "Okay you guys, I need the three of you to stay inside this room and no matter what, don't come out till I come to get you, okay?".

"Why mom?" a confused Mia asked.

"It's part of the game, bunny" Aria replied, "Now come on, in you three go".

Listening to their mother, the triplets quickly rushed into the room, after closing the door and then locking it, Aria turned to Virginia's unconscious body, grabbing her arm, she started dragging her body downstairs, when she reached the living room, Aria's eyes landed on a injured Seline.

"No, no, no" Aria whispered, dropping Virginia's arm, she bit into her wrist and rushed over to Seline and placed her wrist on her mouth, "Come on Seline drink, please drink", after a moment Seline drank Aria's blood and slowly opened her eyes, making Aria breathe a sigh of relief.

***

Kol had no idea where Aria had rushed off to, she didn't tell him where she was going or what she was doing, she just sent him a text about the slaughterhouse telling him to check it out and that Caroline will meet him there, when Kol asked where she was, he received no reply in return making him worry a bit, but then he realised Aria could take care of herself so he went to check out the slaughterhouse while hoping Aria was okay.

As Kol walked further into the slaughterhouse, he was shocked seeing so many bodies hanging from the roof.

"Damon!" Kol called out, walking further in, he then stood on top of the bloody water, he looked down at it but before he could investigate it, someone called his name.

"Kol".

Kol looked infront of him and after months of searching, he was finally face to face with Damon.

"Hello, brother" Damon greeted, his signature smirk present on his face.

"Mind tell me what all of this is?" Kol asked, getting straight to the point, but Damon ignored him and walked over to the mop and bucket, "What the bloody hell are you doing now Damon?".

"Daily chores" Damon replied, mopping up the blood from the floor.

"What the hell was in that vault Damon?" Kol asked, "What has that of a hold on you that you, who never picked a mop in his life, is now doing daily chores".

"Eh, it doesn't matter what has me" Damon said, "Only that I've been had, you should be proud of me, killing bad people".

"Where's your other partner in crime Enzo at?" Kol asked curiously.

Damon looked at Kol, "Go home, Kol" he simply said, "We're all good here".

"You're good in a slaughterhouse?" Kol asked, not believing the Salvatore infront of him.

"Surrounded by death" Damon replied, "It's who we are, it's who I've been for 160-some years, and you for the last thousand years, I know you think it's still worth the fight to live the illusion of your non-heroic life but I'm officially done".

Kol let out a chuckle, "You flipped you switch" he realised.

"Always the quick one" Damon mocked.

"Come home Damon, come back to Ria, once you've seen her, once you've seen the triplets, we both know that your humanity will automatically turn back on" Kol said.

Damon looked at Kol, then at the water, a gesture that was not missed by Kol, "I know, which is why I'm not coming back home" Damon said, after a moment of silence.

Kol looked at Damon and for a second just observed him, something wasn't right here, when Kol mentioned Aria and the triplets, Damon suddenly looked worried, and if his humanity really was off, why would Damon be worried?

"I've seen how this ends Kol and believe me humanity can't save me from it" Damon continued.

"Save you from what?" a confused Kol, "What are you blabbering on about?".

"I'm talking about hell, Kol" Damon replied, "Not the kind of hell that traps you in a stone, fire and brimstone hell, I've seen it, I met it up close, tasted it, touched it, it's beyond its reputation".

"You've lost your mind" Kol said, "Nothing that just came out of your mouth made any sense".

"Okay" Damon said, ignoring Kol and looking in the distance, almost like he was talking to someone else, he then looked at Kol, "You need to go, it doesn't want you yet, walk out of here with your psychotic personality intact and never come back".

"I can't leave without you, I promised Ri I will bring you back to her" Kol said, "And I don't break my promises".

***

"Okay" Aria said, entering the boarding house after making the triplets sit in the car, she then walked over to Seline who she had compelled to stand still, "The triplets are in the car, you are going to take them and drop them off at the Mikaelson mansion, don't leave them alone until you see them with Nik, Elijah or Finn, understood?".

"I won't leave the triplets till I see them with one of the Mikaelson brothers" a compelled Seline repeated.

"Good" Aria said, "Now off you go, oh and Seline, try not to die tonight".

A compelled Seline gave Aria a nod and then proceeded to walk out the front door, after making sure Seline had driven away, Aria shut the front door and walked over to a unconscious Virginia.

"Wake up, bitch!" Aria said, slapping Virginia across her face, extremely angry that she came after her children, "You have thirty seconds to tell me why you came after my kids, or I swear to god I will crave your heart out and make you eat it, your time starts now".

"You opened the vault" Virginia said, glaring at Aria, "I told you not to open it".

"Clearing we're getting karma for not listening to you" Aria snapped, "Keep talking, you have fifteen seconds left".

"It has come for them" Virginia said, suddenly gasping for air.

"No, no, no!" Aria yelled, grabbing Virginia by her hair, "We are not playing this game, just tell me why does this thing want my children?!", suddenly blood start spurting out of Virginia's mouth, "What the hell?", Virginia threw something out of her mouth on to the floor, "Oh my god" a shocked Aria whispered, "You bit your own tongue off".

***

"Damon don't be stupid" Kol warned, "Think about Ri, think about your family, they need you".

"I'm trying to explain to you, Kol, Aria doesn't matter to me anymore" Damon said, glaring at Kol.

"Bullshit" Kol snapped, "Aria has, is and will always matter to you, no monster in this world can remove that girl from your system, it's impossible Damon, not even your flipped switch is going to come inbetween you two, I know this, you know this, so let's just skip all the drama and go straight to the last chapter, where you and Ri reunite and finally get the happy ending you deserve".

"I ripped the switch off the wall" Damon snapped, "There is no switch Kol, because there is no hope, every drop of blood I ever spilled, every body I've ever drained, every bad decision I've ever made sealed my fate, my path and Aria's path, they're not the same, her great beyond is a decidedly happier one than mine".

Kol shook his head, "Yours and Aria's path has always been the same, Damon" he said, "They've been the same since the moment you two came face to face".

"For the last time, go" an annoyed Damon snapped, he then turned around to put the mop away but before he could, Kol speeded over to him, he snatched the wooden mop from his hand and after breaking it in half, he stabbed Damon in the back with it, causing him to yell in pain and then fall to the ground.

"Not leaving without you" Kol stated, just as Caroline appeared behind him

"Get him in the car, I'll go find Enzo" Caroline told Kol.

"We have to leave now, it's not safe" Kol stated.

"Rebekah will kill both of us if we leave without Enzo" Caroline retorted.

Suddenly, Kol heard a whoosh, turning to where he left Damon, he saw that Damon was no longer there, when he turned back to face Caroline, he instead once again came face to face with Damon, who punched him in the face, just as Kol's eyes landed behind Damon, at Enzo, who had his hand in Caroline's chest.

"I told you to leave, Kol" Damon said, "If you don't leave, then Enzo will be forced to do something that will ruin things even more", Damon glanced at Caroline and Enzo, he then looked back at Kol, "Go" he mouthed, making sure Enzo couldn't hear him.

Kol finally nodded his head, "Fine" he said, walking over to Enzo and Caroline, "Let Caroline go and we both will leave".

Immediately Enzo let go of Caroline and shoved her over to Kol and without saying another word, he walked out the room.

Kol and Caroline looked at Damon, who looked at them, then at the thing in the water, and after a small shake of his head, he also walked in the direction Enzo had gone in.

***

"I tried to use my blood to heal her but she kept bleeding out" Aria informed Kol, who was now wrapping up Virginia's body, "She didn't even tell me anything useful before she died".

"One slaughterhouse" Kol whispered, "I decide to go check out on slaughterhouse that has a very creepy network and suddenly I'm out of range to help out my children who are under attack".

"Don't play the blame game" Aria warned, "You were trying to find Damon, for them, everything you do, you do for them and their safety and happiness, so don't blame yourself, you didn't know this was going to happen, none of us did".

Kol sighed, he sat on the floor and leaned his back against the couch, "Aren't you going to ask me what happened?".

Aria sat next to Kol, "I'm scared to know" she admitted.

"Damon's still in there" Kol informed, making Aria look at him, "Your Damon is still holding on Ri, for you, for his children".

"How do you know this?" a confused Aria asked.

"Because there was just something about the way he kept trying to push me out of that slaughterhouse" Kol replied, "It was like he was trying to protect me, if that vault monster has truly taken over him, why would he try to protect me?".

"Maybe the vault monster hasn't fully taken over him?" Aria suggested.

"If that's the case" Kol said, "Then we need to get to Damon before he can't fight the monster anymore".

"But how Kol?" Aria asked, "To get to Damon, we need to get past Enzo, who, according to you and Caroline, has fully given himself to the monster".

"I honestly have no idea" Kol whispered.

***

Damon stood next to a guy, staring at a red piece of artwork infront of him.

"I am a fan of the homegrown art community" Damon said, "You know, the wine is dreadful, but the people are nice, you know, I couldn't help but notice in your work that you express a certain inner struggle, darkness and light, a burdened brain if you will, you really enjoy exploring the themes of sin and redemption".

"You're very astute, not many people in these parts get it".

"True" Damon agreed, "But you should know that there is no such thing as redemption, because it only takes one bad day, one bad decision, and then it doesn't matter what you do with the rest of your life, because once the devil comes a-calling", Damon clicked his tongue, "You're done, amazing use of red by the way".

Enzo walked over to the duo, "Not every victim needs a monologue" he told Damon.

"Well, we don't know that he's our guy yet" Damon defended, "It might be a misunderstanding, see, here's the thing, my friend here and I have a particularly innate sense of smell, not to mention an immense appreciation for blood, and we just couldn't help but notice that the red that you use, very liberally, I might add--maybe a bit too on the nose--has a very familiar scent, care to explain to my friend and I why are you indeed painting with human blood? And more importantly", Damon started compelling the guy, "What the hell did you do to the person you got it from?", Damon patted the guy's shoulder, "Go ahead, whisper in his ear".

The compelled guy turned and whispered what he did into Enzo's ear.

"And?" Damon asked.

Enzo sighed, "What is it with Middle America and evil?" he asked, he then turned to the guy, "Stay with us, don't say anything".

 ***

Aria sat infront of the fireplace in the Salvatore's living room, writing in her diary.

Dear Salvatore Triplets,

Today I could have met Damon, but like always fate seemed to work against us and I couldn't meet him but Kol did, who thinks that Damon isn't fully lost, but I already knew that, even without seeing Damon I know his not fully lost, I know I will bring him back, I know your love will bring him back.

But I don't know how long it's going to take before I manage to see him, I just hope he can keep a part of his humanity, even if it's a very small part, tucked away somewhere safe in his mind, somewhere whoever this monster is can't reach.

As long as his holding on to even a thread of his humanity, I know there will be a chance to get him back to his family.

Aria stopped writing and looked down at her neck where the ring Damon gave her resided, she grabbed it with her hand and lightly kissed it, "Hold on Damon, please keep holding on".

On the other side, Enzo and Damon were now in a car, with Enzo driving and Damon sitting in the passenger seat, sleeping, dreaming about the last thread of his humanity he was still holding on to so tightly.

In his head, Damon walked towards the road he had first met Aria, and that's when he heard the voice, the voice he has been craving to here.

"I know Care, you're right, like always, you and supermom both are, I'm just too scared to tell Jeremy about my love for him, I'm scared he will hate me, anyways, I'll call you later, I need to see where Elena is".

Damon walked over to where Aria stood, their first meeting going around in a loop in his head.

"Natalie" Damon remembered his past self calling Aria.

A confused Aria looked at Damon, "Uh, I think you've mistaken me for someone else" she said, "My name is Aria".

Present day Damon stared at Aria's face, "Ria" he whispered, "I need you, I don't know how much longer I can fight".

Back at the Salvatore Boarding house, Aria continued to write.

I will never give up on Damon, and I know I told Kol that having hope hurts and it does, but sometimes I can't help but do have hope for us, despite how much hope hurts, sometimes it's the only thing helping you go on, today was good, it's the small victories that count, but I'm hoping tomorrow will be better.

***

After finishing writing on her diary, Aria got on a three way call with Rebekah and Alaric.

"Enzo left me all these clues pointing to an old story about the Sirens" Rebekah informed the duo, "Ric, since you clearly have a lot more degrees then I do, what do you know about these Sirens?".

"There are different origin stories" Alaric informed, "Greek, Pagan mythologies, I mean, all the legends are based in the same idea, Sirens use mind control to lure their victims to their death, some say they're messengers of the devil".

"We know for sure that something is controlling both Damon and Enzo" Aria pointed out, "Could it be that it's a siren? Could sirens be real?".

"To be honest Aria, I don't know what to think anymore" Alaric admitted, "I suppose every story has to start somewhere".

Rebekah looked down at the book in her hand, "They bewitch everybody who approaches them" she read out.

On the other side, Enzo dragged the man towards the water while Damon followed behind.

"There is no homecoming for the man who draws near them unawares" Rebekah continued.

Damon stuck the metal hook into the back of the guy, causing him to cry out in pain.

"With their high clear song, the Sirens bewitch him as they sit there in a meadow piled high with the moldering skeletons of men".

Damon shoved the man into the water and him and Enzo then stood back and watched him struggle before whatever is in the water finally pulled him down and ate him.

"Whose withered skin still hangs upon their bones" Rebekah finished.

"Very poetic" Alaric commented.

"But it's not just poetic Ric" Aria said, remembering what Kol told her he saw at the slaughterhouse, "Kol saw the bodies, the clues Enzo left for Rebekah, Enzo wants us to know who we are up against, both Damon and Enzo need our help to fight this thing".

After the man was eaten and the hook was pulled back up, Damon and Enzo started walking away.

"What is that?" Damon complained, hearing a female singing.

Suddenly both Enzo and Damon stopped walking, "If I had to guess, I'd say it was singing" Enzo said.

Both the vampires turned around and that's when their eyes landed on the girl coming out of the water.

"Well, I guess she finally had enough to eat" Damon commented.

***

Presenting 8x01 of Cold Hearted!

WELCOME TO ACT EIGHT OF COLD HEARTED! THE FINAL BATTLE FOR ARIA AND DAMON'S HAPPILY EVER AFTER HAS OFFICIALLY STARTED! Whose ready to say goodbye to these two? I'll be honest I'm not 😭

Anyways, how was the chapter?

Thoughts on Damon and Enzo attacking people?

Thoughts on Aria trying her best to find Damon?

Thoughts on Virginia coming after the triplets?

Thoughts on Kol informing Aria that Damon hasn't fully given into the vault monster?

Thoughts on Damon struggling to hold on to his humanity without Aria?

ALSO...I know in the last chapter of act seven I said I will be changing the title to iconic Daria's lines but then I realised how hard it is for me to pick one quote per chapter, so instead I'm starting a new thing, since this season only has sixteen episodes, till the last chapter of this book, you will get sixteen facts about this book, one fact per chapter, there is so much I want you guys to know about this book and the crazy plotlines I had in mind.

Fact #1: When I first started this book, back when I started writing act one, the plan was that when Damon died and went to the prison world, firstly he was supposed to be alone with no Kol in sight and secondly, Aria would leave Mystic Falls with Stefan and they would have a little fling >.<