Cry Wolf

Book: Cry Wolf
Chapter 143 (7x10)
Word Count: 774

March 12, 2014

In the world of the living, Stefan (who had already been brought out of the phoenix stone), Samara, Matt, Scarlett, Caroline (who was now visibly pregnant), and Juliet were gathered around Damon's body, which had the Phoenix Stone resting on his chest, while Tiana, Liv, Bonnie, and Emerson worked together to cast the spell to return his soul to his body.

They all looked restless and worried.

"The spell's not working." Liv sighed in frustration.

"Wait, what if something goes wrong? Maybe you guys just need to take a break and try again later." Matt shrugged. "You've been trying all day."

"But we pulled Stef out, no problem." Samara pointed out. "What's different now?"

"Because he's not ready yet." Stefan spoke up. "When I was in there, I could barely remember who I was, and then I was hit with visions and tests. But the worst part of hell isn't what you're going through... it's the sliver of hope that you can actually get out on your own."

"How come we had no trouble reuniting your soul with your body?" Scarlett wondered, confused.

"Because eventually, I submitted to the kind of suffering that just breaks you. Knowing Damon, he'll do anything he can to avoid that kind of pain, which means we may never be able to get him out." Stefan stated.

He gave the group a grim look, and everyone became even more worried about their chances of resurrecting Damon.

---

Tiana, Liv, Bonnie, and Emerson all still worked together in casting the spell in the upstairs living room.

Suddenly, Damon gasped awake, the Phoenix Stone still on his chest. The others in the room, who were silently sitting around on the chairs and couches, looked shocked to see Damon awake, but Damon didn't realize that this wasn't a part of his hellscape, but actually real life.

"No. No..." He began to whisper to himself. Cassandra stood to her feet and rushed over to her brother, who had just sat up and was panicking about what just happened. "No, we weren't done! I gotta get her back. I gotta get her back!" Damon, still not realizing he was alive again, stood to his feet as Cassandra stood in front of him and tried to calm him down, though it was clear that she was worried.

"Hey, hey, hey... Damon. Damon! Hey! It's me, it's me! You're safe. It's okay. It's okay."

"No. No! One more time. One more time!" Damon exclaimed frantically. "Send me back. I know what to do now."

"Damon, it's not real--"

"I know it's not real. None of this is real!" Damon cut Cassandra off angrily.

Thinking that it was just part of the Phoenix Stone's hell, Damon started to attack under the mistaken belief that doing so will reset the 'test' so he could start over from the beginning. He grabbed Cassandra by the arm and broke it before reaching up and snapping her neck. Samara rushed over to help Stefan.

"Damon, don't!"

Damon smashed a chair and used the broken chair leg as a stake, which he stabbed into Samara's chest, causing her to gasp in pain. She fell backward into Bonnie's arms as Matt rushed toward them.

"DAMON!"

Damon backhanded Matt so hard that his neck was snapped as well, and he fell to the ground.

"Oh, no..." Bonnie murmured, horrified. Damon heard her and spun around to face her. He grabbed a fireplace poker and vamp sped over to Bonnie, pinning her to the wall by using the poker to press against her throat, choking her. Bonnie desperately gasped for breath and tried to reason with him.

"Damon, stop it!" Juliet jumped to her feet and rushed over to assist Bonnie, only for Damon to frantically shove her away with all of his strength, causing Juliet to get thrown to the other side of the room and her neck to be snapped on impact.

"I have to get back to her."

"Damon, you're not yourself. Just--"

Stefan was cut off as Damon's hand quickly wrapped around his neck in a flash. He tightened it and tightened it, slowly crushing Stefan's throat, causing him to fall unconscious.

Damon went around, knocking out witches and snapping the necks of vampires. Once he was simply surrounded with bodies, he looked around in satisfaction, but he became frantic when he wasn't sent back like he expected.

"Why am I still here? This isn't real...?"

Damon looked around in horror at all of the bodies all strewn around the room from where he attacked them, and began to panic.