finally alone, stefan gentled his power and sent it questing through the woods. he was aching with hunger, but he hadn't let himself feed in front of the hunters. they didn't need him rubbing their faces in the fact that they were allied with their natural enemy.

he kept his power warm and coaxing, beckoning come to me, come to me. soon he heard a light step approaching through the undergrowth. a doe stepped delicately into the clearing, her big eyes fixed on stefan.

"yes, that's right," he murmured. he stretched out a hand, and the doe came to him willingly, nuzzling his fingers with her soft nose. she gazed up into his eyes and gradually grew still, until the only motion in the clearing was the steady rise and fall of her flanks. stefan lowered his face to her neck, his canines lengthening, and drank.

long before he was satisfied, stefan pulled away. taking any more would leave the deer weak, and he didn't want her vulnerable to other predators because of him. "go on," he said, slapping her lightly on the side. shocked out of her trance, the deer started violently and leaped away, crashing through the undergrowth as she went.

just as stefan raised his hand to wipe the blood from his lips, his phone rang.

he fished it out of his pocket, still feeling warm from feeding, and looked at the display. damon.

he let it ring again, thinking of not answering, but stopped himself. katherine was dead, and whether or not that was stefan's fault, he owed it to damon to talk to him. stefan had tried several times to reach damon right after elena had confirmed what he guessed about katherine's death, but this was the first time his brother was returning his calls.

"stefan." damon's voice sounded crisply determined, as if their last conversation had never happened. "i've been following up some leads on those vampires i keep meeting up with, and i wanted-"

"damon," stefan broke in. "are you all right?" he tried to put weight behind his words, knowing that katherine's death would have changed damon, damaged him.

and if whatever had killed katherine was still after damon, he was in danger. katherine had been old and strong and clever, not an easy target. stefan rubbed a hand across his face and leaned back against a tree, suddenly worried about his brother.

he heard damon sigh tiredly. "i will be," he said quietly. "i've got their trail now."

"the hunted becomes the hunter," stefan quipped, and damon gave a short answering huff of laughter. "damon, why did you tell elena i wouldn't help you?" stefan asked.

there was a pause on the other end of the line. "because you wouldn't help me?" damon said dryly.

"did you want her to be angry with me?"

damon was quiet for a moment, and then he exhaled, a long, weary gust of breath. "fine," he said. "i may have not been completely fair when i spoke to elena. katherine's death wasn't your fault."

"i didn't know things were so bad over there," stefan said, meeting damon's almost-apology with one of his own.

"it's probably better that you're not here. i'd only have to protect you." there was an edge of humor in damon's voice, and stefan relaxed, only to feel himself tensing again at his brother's next words. "what's going on with elena?" damon asked. "i can feel her pushing herself, all anxious and frustrated. it's very distracting, like an itch." his tone was light, but stefan heard real worry behind it.

stefan sighed. his head ached, and the lingering taste of the doe's blood was suddenly sour in his mouth. stumbling a little over his words, he tried to explain about trinity, about elena's refusal to help stefan and the hunters kill her. "i just want to protect her," he finished miserably. "why can't elena understand?"

there was a long silence on the other end of the phone. "listen, little brother," damon said finally, his voice unusually gentle. "don't be an idiot."

"thank you, damon." stefan's canines prickled with irritation. "always a pleasure to hear from you."

"she's not a child; she's a guardian, you halfwit," damon snapped. "she loves you-how much she loves you i can feel pounding through this connection between us, even when i don't want to. she's never going to stop. but she's made to protect the innocent, and if she thinks this trinity is one of them, then maybe you should listen to her. she might know something you don't."

stefan felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. had he been underestimating elena, ignoring her instincts, so sure that he knew what was right? "i have to go," he said absently into the phone, and hung up.

wiping the last traces of the doe's blood from his mouth with the back of his hand, he headed for home.

damon shook his head and tucked his phone back into his pocket. stefan never had been able to take advice gracefully, not even when they'd been human. damon had wanted to tell stefan about lifetime solutions, just in case something happened, but he wasn't going to bother calling back. he'd just have to be careful.

he put the whole conversation out of his head and focused on the office building in front of him. at first glance, there was nothing special about the gray-and-glass building; it was practically designed to blend in anonymously. only the discreet sign showing an infinity symbol and the words lifetime solutions confirmed that damon had found what he was searching for.

and it hadn't been easy to find, not at all. it had taken damon days of searching, calling in favors, even consulting a witch, before he finally found his way here-to an inoffensive-looking office building on the outskirts of zurich.

no legitimate business would be this hard to find-which made damon sure that something extremely shady was going on behind these walls. something that led straight to the seemingly unkillable vampires.

it was the end of the day, and office workers were beginning to stream from the building. damon looked them over carefully, finally selecting a pretty young blonde who was walking alone, carrying an armful of files.

this would be easier if he was still able to use his power to influence anyone he wanted. technically, the guardian who bound him to elena had only forbidden him from using his influence to feed, but he'd fallen out of the habit of using his power on humans in general. besides, they were a fickle bunch, guardians; he didn't want to set them off.

and he still had his charm. moving to intercept the woman, damon bumped against her, sending her files flying to the ground.

"oh, no," damon said in german, "i'm so sorry. let me help you."

the woman's face had flushed with anger, but whatever sharp reply she was about to make died on her lips once she got a good look at him. he gave her his most beguiling smile and saw her soften instantly.

by the time they'd picked up her files, damon had learned that the woman's name was anneli yoder, that she was twenty-five, and that she was a secretary to a group of scientists at lifetime solutions.

"so, what do the scientists do in there?" he asked, his voice casual, his eyes tracing over her lips. let her think he was asking just as an excuse to keep talking to her.

"scientific research," anneli said brightly, tilting her head and looking up at damon through her long golden lashes. "health-care stuff. longevity is one of the things my group is working on. some rats will live longer on a specially restricted diet, did you know that?"

"fascinating." he carefully brushed a long golden curl back behind her ear, letting his hand linger. "i'm sure you're invaluable to your team. what do you do?"

"um, i file," she said. "i take notes at the meetings and send reports to the administrators. i answer the phones."

"interesting." damon edged a little closer to her. anneli's heart sped up and her lips parted unconsciously. she smelled sweet, and he regretted for a moment that he couldn't just feed on her. he was terribly hungry. "what sort of notes and reports?"

anneli looked startled. "i don't read the reports," she said. "i just send them. and i don't really have to remember what people say in the meeting. i know stenography."

"i bet you do more than that," damon said, his lips curling in a half smile. "don't be modest." he was tempted to lay a touch of power on his words, but who knew what the guardians would take amiss? it wouldn't be worth it anyway; little anneli didn't seem to know much.

"well," she said, a frown creasing her smooth forehead. "i send blood samples to the lab. i have to make sure to label them correctly."

"samples for what?" damon asked.

anneli blinked her big blue eyes at him. "research."

i could have chosen a better informant, damon thought with irritation, shooting anneli his most blindingly bright smile. he'd chosen her because she seemed the easiest to influence without using his power, and that apparently meant she was also the silliest woman in sight. he sent anneli on her way, waving when she turned to shoot him an eager smile over her shoulder.

she didn't have the answers he needed. but what she did have, damon thought with a smile, was a key card that gave her access to the building. he'd managed to slide it from her bag while they were picking up the files. with luck, anneli wouldn't notice it was missing until tomorrow morning.

he would come back tonight and discover the secrets hidden here. touching the key card hidden in the breast pocket of his jacket, damon smiled.

finally, he was on the verge of learning the secrets behind the strange vampires. the hunted would become the hunter, just like stefan had said.

but for now he had some time to kill, and the vampires who pursued him hadn't caught up yet. maybe he could meet someone in this city, some sweet vittoria, and slake his hunger. yes, damon decided, casting one last glance at the bland office building, that was a good plan. he would come back tonight.