Written In Blood

Chapter Twenty One.

As the night drew on, the more vicious the scene got.
Founding Family members and other townspeople littered the darkened streets with torches and weapons.
At the Salvatore house, a muzzle was placed over Katherine's mouth before she was carried off by the Sheriff and another man.
"Damon, don't." Rayna warned as he edged back to his bedroom door.
"I need to help her." He said, his eyes pleading her to let him go. "Please, Rayna. I love her."
He pushed past the Heretic and sees Katherine in the state.
"No! Don't take her!" He shouted.
Rayna watched as Guiseppe slammed his oldest son against Katherine's bedroom wall.
"Do you know what will happen if you're branded a sympathiser? You'll be killed along with them!" He pleaded with Damon.
Damon grabbed his father's shoulders and looked him dead in the eye.
"Then let me be killed." He spat.
Rayna's heart broke.
She knew he loved Katherine, but Rayna loved Damon. More to the point, she knew what Katherine was eventually going to do to the brothers.
Damon ran as fast as he could until he was intercepted by Stefan.
"Damon! Damon! Stop, stop. I'll help you. We'll get her back." He said, pushing his older brother back.
Damon shoved Stefan out of the way.
"Help me?! Don't you think you've done enough? You promised you wouldn't tell him!" Damon shouted.
"I didn't think this would happen." Stefan sighed.
The pair watched as the carriage containing Katherine and other Vampires drove away.
Damon glared at Stefan, looking ready to kill him.
"You did this. This is your fault." He spat, running off into the woods. 

Damon finally caught up with the carriage, which had only one person guarding it. He grabbed a fallen log and hit the guard over the head with it, knocking him out cold. He grabbed the keys from his pocket and unlocked the carriage door when Stefan turned up.
"We don't have long." He panted.
"Katherine? Katherine!" Damon called, trying to find her amongst the Vervained Vampires.
The brothers spotted her and lifted her out, untied her and released her from her muzzle.
"We're going to get you out of here." Stefan told her before turning to his brother. "Damon, hurry. Hurry!"
Out of nowhere, a gunshot was heard. Stefan watched as his brother fell to the ground, bleeding.
He rushed over to his brother's already dead body.
"No! No. Damon..." He cried.
Voices could be heard in the direction of the gunshot, so Stefan got up quickly and grabbed the guard's gun, but before he could shoot, the men shot him down, too.
As he dipped in and out of consciousness, he watched as Katherine was re-muzzled and bound and dragged back into the carriage. 

Rayna Vamp sped through the woods, stopping only when she heard the first gunshot.
"Please no..." She whispered to herself, tears welling up in her eyes.
She jumped at the sound of a second shot and continued to speed through the trees.
Rayna smelt the blood before she saw the bodies.
"Oh God... No." She cried.
Her heart tore more and more the longer she had to wait for the hunters to leave.
When the coast was clear, she ran to the boys' bodies.
They were dead...
She looked up at the disappearing carriage, seeing Katherine in the barred windows. The way her eyes sparkled in the torchlight, Rayna knew this wasn't the end. 

An hour later, Emily turned up with a man and a horse.
"What are you doing here?" Rayna asked.
"Katherine asked me to take the Salvatore brothers somewhere safe." The witch replied.
"What do you mean? And who's this?" Rayna raised her eyebrow, beckoning to the man next to Emily.
"This is my brother. He's here to help." Emily answered. "Katherine fed Stefan and Damon her blood every day that they were together. They're going to be okay." Rayna looked to her best friend's bodies.
"They're going to turn..." She realised.
Emily nodded. "Will you help us hide them?"
Rayna sighed. "Yes. Come on."
Rayna picked up Stefan's body and laid him across the horse's back, then picked up Damon.
The three carried them to the Quarry just outside of Mystic Falls, where Emily's brother lived.
"I need to go. I need to get out of town." Rayna sighed, sitting down in the small cabin.
"Are you at least going to wait until they're awake? They're going to need help with the transition. My brother and I can't do that." Emily pointed out.
Rayna thought about it. She knew the witch had a point.
"I've had these made for weeks." The witch said, revealing from her fist, two rings.
"Daylight rings." Rayna confirmed.
"Yes. If I may ask, Miss Rayna, where is your daylight amulet?" The witch raised an eyebrow.
Rayna untucked a necklace she always kept hidden, revealing a small blue gemstone on the end of the chain.
"I've never fancied the extravagant things." She chuckled.
Emily smiled. "And how is it that you can be both a Vampire and a Witch?"
Rayna looked up from her pendant, back to the witch.
"You felt me as I did you, then." She said, earning a nod from Emily.
"I have my own magic, but I can also siphon it from other magical beings and objects. Since Vampirism is a form of magic, I am able to siphon from myself." She explained.