As Jordan eyes slowly flutter open she still feels like she is dreaming. A lock of her blonde hair has fallen in front of her vision and as she tries to move it she realises her wrists are bound. It is no use to wriggle them, because her wrists are tied – with what Jordan assumes is rope – tightly behind her back. Her heart starts to trump louder in her chest, and she can feel panic move through her entire body like the fast paced beating of her heart.

The room is dark, and Jordan's vision is minimalised. She keeps her tongue between her teeth to keep her from crying out for help. Instead, she casts her eyes as far as she can, to the left and to the right. They rest upon a figure beside her, and she has to squint her eyes to make out the outlines of a body.

"Stefan?!"

A soft mumble escapes Stefan's lips, but it doesn't indicate that he acknowledges Jordan. Jordan is dumbfounded as she looks at Stefan. His hands are tied above his head and bruises have formed where the rope rests. She squints her eyes in confusion at the rope, it glistens in the darkness, and Jordan figures it must have been coated with some sort of liquid substance.

"Stefan, please wake up, I don't know where we are and who are after us."

Whilst his head falls into his neck, multiple groans of protest fall from his mouth. "What the..."

A weight lifts off Jordan's shoulders, and she is glad she doesn't have to face their abductors alone. "Be careful Stef, I think your ropes are coated with vervain of some sort."

Stefan's head snaps to his right, where Jordan is seated on a chair with her legs and arms bound. "Jordan? Are you alright?"

Jordan nods her head, but Stefan knows she is lying. Because whereas Jordan's vision is troubled, the darkness is no barrier for Stefan's vampire sight. Not that he needed his sight to detect Jordan's troubled state of being. The aroma of fear and panic sticks to her body like a second skin. "Don't be afraid, you're going to be alright."

The softness and tenderness of Stefan's voice makes heavy and strained breaths escape through Jordan's nose and mouth. She shakes her head rapidly from left to right, not at all comforted by his words. "You don't understand. I don't care about my wellbeing, I don't care that I am going to come home bloodied and bruised, I don't care if our abductors were to take my life. I don't care. What I do care about is Elena. And Jeremy. And Jenna. And my friends. Even Damon. I can take the breaking of my soul, but what I can't take is for them to see me break. I can't bear the look in their eyes when they realise I'm hurting nor can I bear when they hurt. They can beat me all they want, but they will never hurt me. Only when the ones I love are tormented does my soul scream in anguish. Do you understand, Stefan?"

The sting of the vervain that seeps into Stefan's skin doesn't come close to the breaking of his heart at Jordan's words. "I understand, but-."

"Good," Jordan interrupts him, but Stefan isn't done voicing his opinion.

"No, Jordan, that is not good. It isn't good to drain yourself to let others drink. It isn't good to break your arm to mend the one of another. It is not good to push yourself to the background to help others."

Jordan's eyes reflect those of the middle of an ocean, a mix between a raging and uncontrollable storm and still water. "I-I just can't help it. I just can't help that I want to fix everything that is broken at the cost of myself. I can't help it," Jordan is mumbling, and Stefan figures that she's talking more to herself than giving Stefan an answer. "I can't help it that I'm a nymph."

Jordan's remark is enough to make Stefan's thoughts go haywire, she is a what now? And he is sure that she doesn't realise how big of a bomb she has just implanted in their lives. Stefan knew that Jordan was something else, but he figured she had some features of a creature. He never thought she would be something as exclusive as a nymph. He has never met a nymph before, like probably eighty percent of the supernatural population hasn't, and he is sure she has just put a price on her head. But Stefan can't comment about it, because suddenly the room of their small compartment opens, and the light temporarily blinds his eyes. To drown at the glaring of the fluorescent lamp, he screws his eyelids shut. Only when the door closes again, and he finds himself in utter darkness, can he adjust his sight. But what he sees – or rather doesn't see – is enough to grind his teeth and resist the burning of the vervain as he pulls on the rope, because an empty chair is what is staring up at him. And an empty chair means they took Jordan.

♛

A blue Chevrolet comes to a stop deep in the dark woods of Mystic Falls. The car stands out in the green and orange leaves like a splatter of paint on a blank canvas, but that are the least of Damon and Elena's worries right now. None of the two kidnapped have answered their phone in the last three hours, and Elena doubled checked whether Jordan was still at Tyler's place. He had said no and had asked if Jordan was alright. Elena had hung up after that, not ready to face the fact that she probably wasn't.

A little, sweet and cosy cottage rests in the dark woods, and if you'd ask Elena, she will say a sweet woman who sells cookies lives there. Damon, however, knows better than to accept the sugar-coated façade. He knows vampires are back in town, and he curses himself for writing them of as problems to be dealt with in the future days. What lives in the cottage isn't a sweet woman, it is a compelled woman surrounded by a freak show.

"Stay in the car," Damon barks at Elena.

With no room for her to discuss her involvement in their rescue mission, Damon slams the door of his car shut; loud enough to announce his presence.

He directs all his anger at the vampires that kidnapped Jordan and Stefan. That way he doesn't have to be angry at himself. He can forget the look on Jordan's face when she caught him kissing Kelly. He can forget the quaver of her voice. He can forget how he messed up. Badly. He can't, however, forget his thoughts forever. They are like a needle in a haystack. Except there is no hay, only a needle, staring up at him in all its horrendous glory.

As Damon not so politely bangs on the door, his lips turn into a sinister sneer. "Open the door or I'll swear to God I'll rip everyone to shreds."

A man with black hair and a matching black beard opens the door. He cocks his head as he looks at Damon. "Even our guests?"

Damon lunges at Fredericks neck, but the invisible barrier stops him from clasping his claws around his throat. "Where are Jordan and Stefan," he says through gritted teeth, ready to pounce the head of the vampire who's standing in front of him with his arms crossed.

"Jordan? That's the name of the pretty girl? Such a shame, really." Two vampires hold Jordan up by her arms and the drag her into Damon's line of vision.

Blood runs down the side of her head and decorates her hair with a reddish glow. Damon bares his fangs as his blood runs cold at the image of a beaten down Jordan, "If you hurt her I am going to rip your friends hearts out while I force you to watch, and then I'll burn this house, together with you, down to ashes."

Frederick clicks his tongue, "So much bark, but no bite." With his index finger he motions for his friends to bring Jordan forward.

They drop her at his feet, and Jordan's hands clash with the floor. She doesn't know with what they injected her, but she is too weak to even try to run away. Instead, Frederick grabs her chin and drags the palm of his hand across her bloodied cheek. He slowly caresses her cheek, and when Jordan's blood is smudged across his fingers, he puts them into his mouth. The taste of Jordan's blood leaves Frederick hungry for more.

"Tick, tock, time is running out."

"Let her go, she has nothing to do with whatever has gotten your panties in a twist. This is between Katherine and us, she is innocent." Damon is close to falling to his knees while begging for Frederick to take his useless life instead of that of Jordan.

Frederick tells Damon off, "Be careful, Damon, your 'bad boy' exterior is slipping, and if I didn't know any better I'd say you had grown to have feelings for this poor girl."

At the mention of his name, Jordan uses all her strength to lift her head, and as her eyes interlock with the striking blue ones of Damon she realises his eyes were already glued to her. Jordan doesn't know whether it are tears that are forming in the corners of his eyes or if Damon's eyes were bluer than she remembered.

"D-Da-Damon?"

The uttering of his name is the last thing Damon hears as the front door is shut in his face. He hastily swipes his hands under his eyes as he vampire speeds back to the car. They don't have a single minute to spare. Damon Salvatore is not known to be a man of fear, but knowing they not only have his brother, but Jordan captivated as well, is almost enough to bring his fearless, dead heart back to life.

The moment Damon opens the door of the driver's seat, Elena starts bombarding him with questions. "What happened? Where are they?"

Damon shakes his head with a defeated touch to it, "I can't get in. The owner is compelled not to let me."

Elena moves her arms and head in a state of frenzy, "Then I'm going to go. They don't know me yet."

Elena moves to open the door, but Damon locks his car within a heartbeat. "You're not going," he states with no room for discussion.

Not that Elena needs room for discussion, she makes her own room, "I can damn well make my own decisions. They have your brother and my sister for crying out loud."

"What do you think Jordan would say, huh? She would hate me even more than she already does. She would rather bleed to death if it meant that you wouldn't get a cut."

Elena sunk further into the car stool, knowing that Damon was right. Who was she against a dozen of vengeful vampires: a blood sack. Nothing more, nothing less. But that didn't mean she was just going to abandon all hope. Elena was going to save Stefan, and she was going to save Jordan, no matter the consequences.