CHAPTER V ―

NOT WHEN SHE'D BE DEAD!

"𝐈 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐆𝐎𝐍𝐄," Chris Montenegro muttered to his sister, Kate as they stood outside the hospital room door of his daughter. "It's been years since any attacks like this."

The blonde-haired woman sighed, "it's the only thing that makes sense, Chris. Think about it, the attacks, the wounds, the bodies... it couldn't have been a mountain lion. No animal is that savage."

Inside room 207, Colby Montenegro sat on her hospital bed, staring at the wall in front of her. She could hear voices outside her room door, but she didn't bother to listen. It's like her mind was on autopilot, she didn't know what to think. She'd been like this since her attack, the bandage covering the bite that would inevitably leave a scar, constantly reminding her.

The door opened to reveal her Dad with a grimace and her Aunt Kate, who wore a charming smile on her features. "How's my beautiful niece?" Her voice seemed to snap Colby out of her trance, her doe-like eyes that usually held such kindness and warmth, were empty. It made both Kate and Chris frown.

"Hi, Aunt Kate," Colby sounded as tired as she looked. Her skin was paler than her usual ivory, dark circles under her eyes made her look like she hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. She looked like a dead girl walking. "I didn't know you'd be here this quickly."

Kate sat on the bed next to her niece, wrapping her arms around her gently. The youngest Montenegro girl rested her head against her Aunt's chest, where Kate began to gently brush through her curls with her hand. The sight made Chris' grimace turn into just a lift of his lips, almost a smile. 

Colby had always been quite close to Kate. Perhaps it was because Colby reminded him so much of the younger version of his sister, or it was because he never thought his sister had a maternal bone in her body... but seeing Kate with Colby through the years told him otherwise.

"Kate's going to be staying with us for awhile, Colby." Chris announced, smiling gently at his daughter. How could this happen to his baby? The moment they'd stepped into the hospital room only three short nights ago, Chris vowed to get whatever animal... or person did this. "I need her help with some work and she was already planning a visit."

Colby's lips turned up gently. "Really? You're staying this time?" It seemed Kate never stopped traveling for her job, moving from town to town, state to state... sometimes even country to country, so it wasn't a regular to have her Aunt Kate stay for long periods of time.

"Yes, my little dove." The nickname made Colby chuckle. "I'll be staying just long enough to get whatever... animal this was."

Kate and Chris' eyes met, unspoken words between them as they both nodded gently to each other. This animal would be caught and it wouldn't be the way that Sheriff Forbes wanted.

...

It seemed that over the course of three days, the mountain lion that Sheriff Forbes claimed it to be had gone on a spree of murdering campers and really anything that crossed its path in the woods. For the safety of everyone in town, Sheriff Forbes had put an alert out for everyone to stay in doors at night and not to go anywhere near the woods or the falls without protection until the animal was caught.

If only they'd known that the animal wasn't exactly what you would call... a mountain lion. The thought made Damon Salvatore chuckle to himself. It was crazy what these townspeople thought of, they really weren't the brightest.

It was almost sad how Damon forgot how much fun it was to play with your food, to build up the anticipation and the fear in their blood. It was exhilarating. It's exactly why Damon had let his little Bambi go. Sure, he could've taken her from the hospital and there wouldn't have been much fight... but it was more fun to watch her try to piece herself back together.

Over the last few nights, every time the young girl had fallen asleep, Damon had entered her dreams. It really wasn't that hard. In fact, it was a lot of fun to watch all the reactions Colby had. The first time he'd entered her dreams, he replayed the attack. It was fun watching her wake up with a scream, her heart thumping with anxiety, terror... it made her blood smell just that much more sweet.

It was funny, undoing the compulsion his weak brother had tried to use. His would always be so much stronger than Stefan's whilst he was on animal blood. It was that much more fun to taunt his brother with Elena, too. Damon would admit to himself that there was a lot of similarities between Elena and Katherine... but Elena just wouldn't cut it. She was too sweet, too forgiving; she was exactly what Stefan had wanted in Katherine. Only Katherine wasn't ever sweet, kind, caring to him... Katherine was Katherine and that made Damon love her just that much more.

Staring up into the large window that was his little Bambi's room, Damon smirked. She was sitting in her bed, staring at her light purple walls. She had been doing that from the moment she'd gotten home that night. He was going to keep his plaything alive for just long enough... just until Katherine was in his arms again. Then, well, little Bambi wouldn't have to be so afraid anymore. Not when she'd be dead.