Chapter 1:

Damon walked away from Stefan and passed by the graves of the founding families. Stefan was slowly following after Elena and the others, but was clearly still reeling from the news his brother had just shared. Damon went his own way. He needed time to think and could not be around the others. He needed time alone.

A fog started to develop around Damon, which made him raise an eyebrow. He had not done that in some time and it reminded him of the vampire that trained in the skill of creating the dramatic effect. He looked out into the fog to see what was out there, but the cemetery seemed empty. Whatever, he thought. Like I have time to deal with whatever THAT was.

Behind the Lockwood monument stood a woman with long red hair falling in curls past her shoulders. Her blue eyes focused on Damon as he walked towards the small road that led out the North side of the cemetery. She pulled the fog back and took in what she had just learned from Stefan and Damon's conversation. Klaus was free of the curse, Elijah was with him and Damon was diseased with a Were bite. Elijah had clearly made a mess here and now she would have to clean it up. Nothing changes but the date, she thought to herself.

Seeing Damon was all she needed. She had come across the elder Salvatore brother not long after he left Mystic Falls and Stefan. Damon had captured her attention in a manner that surprised her. She had long grown bored with the world; surprises were few and far between.

Damon was still pining over Katherine when they met. While it was not the first time she had seen someone bewitched by Katherine, she still was lost as to understand the allure. Katherine was a selfish girl as a human and proved to be even more so as a vampire. Still, even with Damon's feelings for Katherine, they had grown close and she taught him how to be a vampire.

She understood his grief for his human existence and his resentment for having transitioned to vampire. She felt the same when the man she believed to be her Father gladly accepted the offer to make his family the Original vampires.

Despite Damon's feelings, he was an outstanding pupil and took to his new life incredibly well – his impetuousness being his own true shortcoming. She taught him all her tricks and shared the history of vampires, but never shared her own connection to the tangled dysfunction of the Originals.

Now she may be the only one who could help him. She worried how he would react to the secrets she kept from him. Would he forgive her? She took in a deep breath. None of that mattered if she could save him. She could live with his anger at her, but she could not bear the thought of him dying.

She shadowed him as Damon made his way out of the cemetery and followed him until he made his way home. She watched him enter the house, pour himself a drink and sit in front of the fire. Damon looked miserable. Her heart sank. She would have to reveal herself to him tomorrow, but tonight she would use everyone's ignorance of her being in town to her advantage. If Klaus had removed the curse, she wanted to see for herself.

Deep in the woods near a campground Klaus, in all his hybrid glory, was tearing apart some young couple he had come across skinny dipping in the lake. Elijah followed behind and covered Klaus' tracks. She sat in a tree at the top of slope overlooking the lake. There was her confirmation. Klaus was in wolf form, slaughtering. But why was Elijah helping him? She knew Elijah had nothing but contempt for their brother after Klaus ruthlessly tracked down and killed the rest of their family. Elijah had been on a quest to find them and kill Klaus for more than a century. Neither of them knew that she survived.

Her Mother knew after Father discovered Klaus' true paternity that it would not be long until he learned the truth about Oona as well. She staged her daughter's death and sent her far away. When the branch of the white ash was found around the staged scene, but the body seemingly carried away, the roués was complete. Elijah and Father burned the White Ash Tree. She was left alone to tackle her true nature, but she learned to control it. How to control the blood lust and harness the power.

She knew Klaus would betray Elijah, but could not risk them seeing her. She had to return to Damon before it was too late and it would not be the worst thing for Elijah to learn, yet again, that Klaus had no honor. She shook her head and thought, seriously brother when will you get it through your head?

Then she phased into wolf form to increase the potency of her blood. Damon would need it.

When she made her way back to the Salvatore Boarding House, the sun had set and she knew Damon's time was running out. She made her way into the house and followed Damon's scent until she was standing in his doorway. He was near death and in bed with the latest Petrova doppelganger, Elena. She winced as she heard Damon tell Elena that he loved her and when she saw Elena kiss him. She swallowed hard, Damon looked near death and she could not wait any longer. She entered the room, "I think I may be able to help."

Elena jumped from the bed and looked at her. Damon narrowly opened his eyes and saw her.

"Oona?" he questioned, "Is that you?" His voice was almost a whisper he was so weak.

"Yes, Mo Ghile Mear" she soothed. Then Oona looked at Elena and said. "I apologize and will properly introduce myself once we have our friend here healed."

She moved swiftly to his bed and bit into her arm. Placing the wound over Damon's mouth, she smoothed his hair and said, "Damon, you have to drink."

He looked confused, but latched on with his mouth and swallowed her blood. As he drank his color slightly improved and when Oona felt his life force strengthen she pulled her arm away.

As her arm began to heal, she sensed someone else in the house. Katherine. She moved quickly to close the door and looked at Elena and Damon. "Katherine is here. You must not tell her about me or what I just did. Pretend you are still ill. I will explain everything once she leaves."

Damon began to protest, when Oona placed her finger over Damon's lips and mouthed, "Trust me." Then she moved at vampire speed into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.

Elena took her place next to Damon and stared into his eyes as if to say, What was that? Damon slightly shrugged his shoulders and remembering how Elena had stayed with him, he said, "Thank you."

He did not have to do much of an acting job when Katherine entered the room. His strength was starting to return, but he still felt like he was death warmed over.

"Well it's me you should be thanking. I mean, I'm the one that brought the cure." Katherine stood in the doorway with a smug look on her face.

She held a small bottle with blood inside. Elena jumped off the bed and moved to the side when she saw Katherine, who tossed a look in Elena's direction and said, "I thought you were dead."

Elena's brain was on overload. Who was the woman that fed Damon her blood? What was Katherine doing here? Where was Stefan? Was Damon going to live? Questions just swirled in her head and she responded to Katherine almost absently, "I was."

Katherine dismissed Elena's answer and walked over to Damon. Still weak he looked over at her, "You got free."

"Yup, finally," Katherine replied as she poured the blood from the bottle down Damon's throat.

He felt another rush of power go into his body - just like he had when Oona gave him her blood a few moments before. Oona. What was she doing here and how could her blood had saved him? Damon jolted himself back into the moment. He needed to know what Katherine was doing here first.

"And you still came here," he asked Katherine.

Katherine touched his face, "I owed you one."

Elena blurted out, "Where's Stefan?"

Katherine, ever coy, cocked her head to the side and questioned, "Are you sure you care?"

"Where is he?" Elena demanded.

"He's paying for this," Katherine answered holding up the now empty bottle. "He gave himself over to Klaus; I wouldn't expect him back anytime soon."

Oona listened from inside the bathroom and her heart sank. She had not planned on Stefan discovering that Klaus' blood could be a cure now that he had transformed.

The color drained from Elena's face, "What do you mean he gave himself over?"

"He just sacrificed everything to save his brother, including you," Katherine replied. "It's a good thing you have Damon to keep you company. Goodbye Elena."

Damon could feel himself gaining strength, but felt like he'd been kicked in the gut by Katherine's news. Elena eyes were wide with Katherine's words.

Katherine, never one to let a snarky comment go unsaid, unloaded the final salvo, "Oh, it's okay to love them both… I did."

With that Katherine bolted. Elena and Damon stared at each other. Oona slowly opened the bathroom door and looked at them both.

After an awkward silence, Damon began to pull himself up into a seated position on the bed and looked at Oona. "I think you have some 'splainin' to do."