As Lucy finished drinking, Damon shifted their positions so she was sat up though she still trembled from pain and fear. Her gaze moved from him to the kidnapper. "You pushed me," Lucy said, remembering the impact that sent her forward just as the wolf lunged at Damon. She was thrilled he hadn't been bit, but the vampire bitch could have sacrificed herself instead.

Damon frowned and looked between the two women. "What?"

"She pushed me in front of the wolf," Lucy clarified.

Rose held up her hands in a gesture of innocence. "I don't know what she's talking about. Why would I do that?"

He looked at her a beat longer before shaking his head. "She's confused. That's all." He pushed Lucy's hair behind her ear, ignoring the glare she gave him. He moved the neck of her shirt aside to see her wound.

"How is it?" Rose asked.

Damon ignored her as he focused on his human. "How you feeling, baby?"

"Good. Better," she said with a nod of her head.

He smiled and took her hand in his to kiss the back of it. Then in a blink, he slammed Rose against the wall and buried his hand in her chest.

The elder vampire gasped. "Why?"

He leaned toward her. "I told you once if you hurt my human I would rip your heart out and shove it down your throat. I'd hate to think I'm not a man of my word." With a yank, he held her heart in his hand and she slumped to the ground.

Lucy blinked as she looked between him and the corpse at his feet. Damon stared down at the body, his jaw tight and anger flashing in his eyes. After a long moment, he looked up. "You okay, kitten?"

She ran a hand through her hair. "I seriously thought you didn't believe me."

He huffed a laugh as he dropped the heart and cleaned his hands on his shirt. "As if I'd take anyone's word over yours. I just wanted to make sure she didn't disappear while I took care of you."

She held her hands above her head so he could pull her to her feet. He took the hint, but didn't release her once she was one her feet. Instead, he tugged her against him and wrapped his arms around her as he buried his face in her neck. "I'm so sorry, Lucy. I'm so, so sorry. I never meant for you to get hurt."

She let herself sink into him and returned the embrace. "I know you didn't, baby. This is on that werewolf bitch, not you. And as much as I never want to experience anything like that again, I'm really glad it wasn't you that got bit. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Hopefully, you'll never have to find out." He kissed the top of her head. "Why don't you go get cleaned up while I take care of this mess."

She nodded and leaned back, not willing to let go of him yet. "Where's Stefan and Care, anyway?"

Damon rolled his eyes. "I don't know. Something about date night and stars and a rooftop somewhere. I quit listening when Stef goes all romance hero on me."

Lucy smirked and shook her head as she stepped away, not releasing him from her touch until absolutely necessary. She wrapped her arms around her waist as a shiver rolled through her. She really needed to quit this brush with death shit. It was getting old. Maybe she should do what Elijah wanted and leave town. She was taking the Salvatores and Caroline with her if she did though.

She wrinkled her nose at the thought. She couldn't abandon Elijah either. She sighed as she turned on the water in the shower and stripped her clothes. Life would be so much simpler if she just didn't give a shit about people.

Just as she finished lathering the shampoo in her hair, a sharp, piercing pain lanced through her just above her collarbone. She jerked back until she pressed against the cool tile behind her. A quick inspection showed nothing amiss and the pain left as suddenly as it came. Weird. It must have been some remnant of the injury healing itself. She hurried through the rest of her shower on the off chance it happened again.

She dried herself off and wrapped the towel around her body. Almost as soon as she stepped out of the shower, white hot agony flared from her shoulder and brought her to her knees. What the hell was happening. She panted as she tried to swallow back waves of nausea. Her hand flew to the source of the pain on instinct. Fear swamped her as the rough texture of an injury appeared beneath her palm. This couldn't be happening. Damon had healed her.

Lucy took a deep breath before moving her hand away. The previously healed bite mark was gaping open, raw and red. It looked old and infected. And it hurt, gods it hurt. She turned her head and vomited on the floor before calling for Damon. Her voice was weak, cracking. She cleared her throat before yelling his name again.

In seconds, he appeared in the room. "What is it? What's wrong?"

She looked up to meet his frightened gaze. "It's back."

His face paled and he was knelt by her side in a blink. He turned her so he could get a better look at the wound. "No. No. No."

His panicked eyes ran over face, taking in her features as he thought. He pulled out his phone as he sat and tugged her against his side. With one hand he dialed a number while the other arm wrapped around her shoulders.

"You need to get here now," he said when the call was answered. "It's Lucy." He hung up without waiting for a response and swept his girl up in his arms to carry her to the bed. He laid her on top of the covers before hurrying around the room gathering things together.

Her eyes followed him, but she was afraid to ask questions. Terrified if she opened her mouth she'd either vomit again or scream in pain. In a beat he was by her side helping her slip on a pair of underwear. "Let's get you decent," he said quietly. "Uncle Elijah is coming."

He sat her up carefully and she tried to swallow her whimpers. She failed miserably if Damon's flinching was any indication. He slid a t-shirt over her head that he'd cut a slit into so the wound was more accessible then helped her lay back down.

Sweat beaded on her skin and she groaned in discomfort. "It's so hot, Day."

Another blink and he was wiping her face down with a cool rag. "Just stay with me, baby. We'll get you through this."

She wanted to believe him. She did. But she couldn't stop the sobs as the pain leeched from her shoulder into the rest of her body. After what felt like an eternity, a large hand cupped the side of her face and she blinked her eyes open. Elijah's warm brown eyes looked her over. He gave her a small smile trying to comfort her, but it didn't come close to reaching those eyes. His gaze moved from her to Damon. "What happened? Leave nothing out."

Her eyes drifted closed again as she listened to Damon recount the events of the evening, including Rose's overdue end. "Have you seen anything like this before?" he asked when he finished.

Lucy's eyes fluttered open to find Elijah still looking her over. He pursed his lips with a sigh. "I have. But not in humans. She's reacting to the bite as a vampire would."

Damon shook his head. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Something in vampire blood mixes with the werewolf venom and acts like a toxin. I can only assume that when you gave her your blood to heal her, it initiated the same reaction in her." Elijah pushed her hair behind her ear and kissed her forehead.

"So when the blood's out of her system, she'll be fine, right?"

His eyes moved from Lucy back to Damon. "If she makes it that long."

"What?" Damon shouted. "You can't mean that. I had to heal her. She wouldn't have made it otherwise."

The Original worked a muscle in his jaw. "I do not doubt your assessment of the situation. The fact remains, however that we still may lose her. Human's have a weaker immune system. I can't possibly predict how the poison will affect her. If she dies, she may not come back at all. If she does, it will only be to die again as the toxin will still be coursing through her veins."

"Don't tell me there's nothing we can do," Damon said, frustrated tears leaking from his eyes.

"There is one thing, but it will take time. Take care of her until I return." He bent and pressed another kiss to her temple. "I will get you your cure, little one, even if I must sacrifice all my plans to do so. Just hold on for me." And in a flash, he was gone.

***

Hours passed and Lucy found herself wrapped in Damon's arms as he leaned against the headboard with her wrapped in his arms. Sweat beaded her pale skin and soaked through her clothes. She couldn't keep anything down, not even water. Every part of her ached and she was disoriented enough that she'd drifted off more than once only to not know where she was when she awoke.

"Where else do you want to go?" Damon asked in a low voice.

Lucy smiled. He'd been trying to distract her by planning an epic road trip. "What about Yosemite? I want to see those giant trees." Her voice was rough, raw, but she would keep talking to him for as long as she was able.

He tightened his arms a bit. "The redwoods? Yeah, they're impressive. Even more so if you see them at hundred year intervals. It's amazing how much some things can change and how much other things stay the same."

Another jolt of pain went through her and she coughed in discomfort. Damon rubbed her back as she sat up to finish coughing. "You're okay, baby. I'm here."

"Have you heard from Eijah?" she asked for the hundredth time as she resumed her previous position.

He lifted one of her hands to his lips and kissed the back of it. "Not since the text that said he's working on it. That was a couple of hours ago."

"What's the emergency? And why did I have to drop Caroline of at her mom's?" Stefan's voice drifted into the room before he appeared in the doorway. His jaw dropped and his face turned lighter than its normal pale. "Lucy? What the hell happened?" He was beside the bed in an instant, kneeling next to it. His worried gaze darted between her and his brother.

"If this is how long it takes you to respond to an emergency text, I'd hate to see how long it takes you to respond to a regular one." Damon sounded bitter.

"We had our phones off. Now, what happened?" Stefan asked again.

Lucy looked at him but didn't answer. If she opened her mouth she was going to vomit. Again. She closed her eyes and hot tears ran down her cheeks.

"Werewolf," Damon answered. "Turn a little so I can show Stef, baby."

She shifted a little and he pulled back the neck of the t-shirt where he'd cut it. Stefan hissed in a breath. "I thought the bite was only toxic to vampires."

Damon helped her get settled back into a comfortable position. "Yeah, that was something of a shocker. I gave her my blood to heal her and it apparently turned the bite toxic. She's reacting like a vampire would."

"Can we fix it?" Stefan's voice was quiet, worried.

"Elijah is working on it," Damon said.

"And why can't Caroline be here? You know she'll be devastated if something happens and she's not here," Stefan argued and Damon tensed beneath her.

He pressed a kiss to her head and shifted the around until he was out from underneath her and she was laying on his pillows. "I'm going to go talk to Stefan for a minute, baby. I'll get you some fresh water and we'll try to drink again, okay?"

Lucy gave a little nod and watched the brothers walk out the door. They shut it behind them, obviously not wanting her to overhear them discussing her impending death. She drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them as she whimpered.

The door opened and Elena walked in. Lucy frowned wondering who thought this visit was a good idea. "Elena," she managed to say by way of greeting though it was little more than a whisper.

The girl smirked. "Nice guess, but I'm not Elena."

Panic flared through Lucy. She wasn't in any shape to face Katherine and survive. She couldn't fight and she didn't even know where her guns were at the moment. Shoving down the pain as well as she could, she scrambled backward in the bed until she fell to the floor with a thud. Agony tore through her with the impact but she kept pushing. Katherin stalked toward her as Lucy pushed herself toward Damon's closet. Finally, she made it inside and shut the door before locking it. It was supposed to act as a safe room of sorts if she was even in trouble. The goal was to delay any attacker long enough for help to reach her.

Getting to her knees, Lucy opened the top drawer of Damon's dresser. Shoving aside the clothes, she grabbed the stake he kept hidden there. They were stashed all over the house for her protection and she'd never been more grateful. Grasping the wood in her hand, she scooted back into the corner hoping the hanging clothes would hide her a little.

The doorknob rattled. "Just let me in, Lucy, and it will be over in a moment."

She squeezed her eyes shut and wished for Damon. A low growl reverberated through the closet and she whimpered in response.

"There's a friend here to see you," Katherine taunted. "Don't be scared, she just wants to finish what she started."

Claws scratched at the door and Lucy trembled, both in fear and from the cold. One of Damon's dress shirts laid on the floor and she grabbed it. With some painful maneuvering, she managed to slip it on and immediately felt better.

The door knob rattled again. "Lucy?" Katherine called.

"Leave me alone," she tried to yell but it came out as little more than a whimper.

A fist pounded against the door. "Open the damn door, Lucy."

Horrible, hot burning pain flooded her and she curled up on her side on the floor. A pained sound accompanied her every breath but she kept the stake clasped in front of her. There was a cracking sound and the door burst open. She buried her head in her arms and waited for it to be over. Fingers gripped hers and gently peeled them away from the stake.

Careful hands moved her arms away from her face and she blinked up to find Damon kneeling beside her. She started to cry. "Shh. It's okay, baby. I'm here." He picked her up and carried her back to the bed. "What happened?" he asked once they'd gotten settled.

"K-K-Katherine was here with the wolf. They were going to kill me," she stuttered out between sobs.

Damon shushed her again and ran his hand up and down my arm. "Katherine wasn't here, sweetheart. She's still in the tomb. And it's not a full moon so you're safe from the wolves, too." He kissed the side of her head. "The bite's making you see things that aren't there."

He sat her up and lifted a glass of water to her lips. "Try to drink some water. You need it." She sipped at the cool liquid, relishing in the icy sensation as it traveled to her stomach. Suddenly, she heaved and spit out the water she'd just drank.

She sank to her side on the bed and cried. Tears ran down her face and sobs racked her body making the pain flare through her again. "I'm sorry."

He left her where she was but wrapped his arms around her. "There's nothing to be sorry for. It's fine."

Agony worse than anything she'd ever experienced flared from her shoulder and burned through her. She was running out of time. She twisted and writhed in her vampire's arms as she screamed. "Oh gods, it hurts. Please make it stop. I can't take it. Just make it stop."

Again, he shushed her, trying to comfort her with the sound and his presence. She vaguely registered he was crying as his tears dropped to mix with her own. After another round of screaming the pain subsided enough she could relax a little.

"Sleep, Lucy. Try to find some peace. I'll wake you if I hear from Elijah."

Her eyes drifted shut and much to her surprise, she was able to find sleep even if it was only for a short while. It didn't take long to realize she was dreaming when she found herself standing on top of a familiar cliff looking at the ocean beyond.

"I used to come here with my dad," Lucy said, feeling Damon's presence as he stepped up behind her. "He about had a heart attack the first time I cliff dived from here." She chuckled and turned to face her vampire.

"I never would have taken you for a cliff diver."

She shrugged. "It shouldn't surprise you. I voluntarily hang out with vampires. Obviously, I'm an adrenaline junkie."

He smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. "The view is nice from here."

"Nice?" she scoffed. "This view is amazing. It needs to go on our road trip list." She sat on the edge with her feet dangling over. Damon sat beside her and took her hand in his. "How much longer?' she asked.

"For what?"

"I know this isn't real, Damon. How much longer do I have before it's too late?" She didn't want to die. Didn't want to leave him.

He shook his head. "Doesn't matter because it's not going to happen. Elijah will get here in time."

She didn't respond. It wouldn't do either of them any good to point out that her uncle might not make it. That this might be the first and last time he failed her. Damon stiffened then squeezed her hand and turned to face her. "Time to wake up, baby. Elijah's back."