Chapter Text
Damon woke up on a lab table after answering a call for help from his family only to find out that he’d killed said family. That hurt even worse than the torture he was enduring as the sick doctor took him apart. That his own family had sold him into this and that he had accidentally kill Joseph himself. He almost relished the physical pain even. It took attention from the emotional turmoil. Once the doctor was done with him, he found himself dumped in a cell and laid there, lost in misery, until a voice snapped him out of it. “Buck up soldier,” the voice said, and he tried to do just that, pulling himself to sitting as they introduced themselves and Enzo told him what to expect in there.
By the time he had all the necessary information, he decided to give up a secret that very few people knew. “I’m not as helpless as they think I am,” he smirked, raising his hands and flexing his fingers in preparation for a spell. Only to find that he couldn’t access his magic. “No…” he breathed out and started trying out blasting spells, fire spells, anything that came to mind, but nothing happened.
“What?” Enzo asked curiously.
“They have magic blocked somehow,” Damon said, actually starting to get worried now.
“You’re a witch? I thought you were a vampire?” Enzo asked confusedly.
“I’m both. We think since I had a different kind of magic than the average witch, I didn’t lose it when I became a vampire,” Damon answered automatically. “If we get out of here, keep that to yourself though. I don’t like to broadcast it.”
“Understand that, mate. Keep your advantages secret,” Enzo nodded, feeling privileged to be one of the few who knew. Even if it was just because of the situation. “But how could it be blocked?”
“They have to have a witch on their side. Some sort of ward,” Damon said thoughtfully. It was the only explanation.
“So we’re trapped,” Enzo sighed heavily. For one fleeting moment, he’d had hope of getting free.
“Maybe…” Damon tilted his head before dragging himself to his feet and going to the edges of the cell, and even reaching as far through the bars as he could. “If I could find the edge of the wards, I can siphon them,” he explained while he was looking. He soon had to give up on that though and slumped back to sitting with a huff. “No luck. At least not in here.”
“If we’re lucky, they only have the cells warded and you can get out from the lab. You didn’t try while you were in there?” Enzo asked.
“I…didn’t even think about it. Once they told me that my own family sold me into this and…and that I killed him when I tried to fight back…”
“I understand,” Enzo said sympathetically. He wouldn’t have any fight in him after learning that either. “But next time?”
“Next time, I’ll try, yeah,” Damon agreed. It wasn’t just about him anymore. Enzo had already been here for a decade. Even if his own guilt had him ready to believe he deserved this, Enzo didn’t.
“And…you will come back for me right?” Enzo felt the need to ask.
“Of course,” Damon assured him. “I would never leave anyone like this.” Which was why, when the doctor came by again, before he was even recovered fully, asking who was next, Damon didn’t dispute himself being chosen, even if he couldn’t quite bring himself to volunteer.
Enzo watched Damon go with a wince. If not for the fact that he had a chance to get out from the lab, Enzo would have taken this one. Given the poor guy a chance to heal. But if all went well, they would both soon be free. That hope started to fade the longer Damon was gone, and once Damon was thrown, even worse than before, back into the cell again, he knew that it was a lost cause. “I’m sorry, mate. I would have taken it if we’d known.”
Damon just grunted, not having the strength to do much more. He knew why they were spending more time with him right now. Trying to bleed him out and get him weaker faster than the starvation would. Which was pretty much done by now. It was quite a while before he was able to pick himself up and lean against the wall to make a plan going forward. “How tight is the security?”
“Too tight,” Enzo sighed. “Even if you could get away from them, they have tranquilizer guns with vervain. Wooden bullets in real guns. Added to the fact that we’re barely stronger and faster than humans with as starved as we are and as much as we have to heal…we’d never get out that way.”
“But if I can find the edge of the wards…” Damon said thoughtfully. “If they’re close enough…”
“Can you tell where the edge is at all? Even just a direction?” Enzo asked.
“Not with the magic muffling aspect,” Damon shook his head. “I can’t sense magic right now either. Which means it will have to be trial and error.”
“If you try too much though, they’ll be on guard for it and you won’t succeed,” Enzo pointed out.
“I know. And they’ll be on guard for a while with me anyway. So I’ll lull them into a false sense of security before breaking away. And then keep it up at random intervals with at least a week in between,” Damon considered.
“That might work,” Enzo nodded. “But you know they’ll make you pay for those attempts,” he warned.
“If it gets us out of here, it’s worth it,” Damon said seriously. Even though that determination was tested often over the next six months. Twenty-two attempts and he’d seen pretty much the entire facility, and killed four guards in the process, but never found a ward edge. And his look at the access doors for the facility told him that he’d never make it out no matter his head start. Even beyond the much worse pain those attempts got him, he found out the real cost when the yearly party for the new year came around and Damon was told he wasn’t going. He couldn’t be trusted to behave, so would be left behind. The fact that the ballroom might give him a better chance meant that he was kicking himself now.
“Next year, mate,” Enzo told him when they were left alone after the party. “I’m sure if it was possible to get out from in here, you’d have managed it by now.”
“You’re right. I’ll behave from now on. Just one more year and I can get us out at the next party,” Damon said with as much conviction as he could muster. Enzo had shown him the value of hope. And the fact that Enzo could still cling to such with as long as he’d been here meant that Damon had no excuse for not having hope of his own.
“One more year,” Enzo said, clinking their blood glasses together. The rest of the evening was spent in silence as he imagined what he would do when they got out. Other than ripping every aspect of the Augustines to shreds, of course. Once, he thought he might go find Maggie. Release her compulsion, see if she still loved him, if she still wanted to become a vampire, if they could have their happily ever after. Lately though, he’d started questioning things. Such as whether he’d ever really loved her. Or whether she’d really loved him.
Maggie had always kept her distance. She had always been afraid of him. Even the last day he saw her when she was professing her love and asking him to turn her she flinched away when he touched her. That wasn’t love. He realized that he’d latched onto her due to hope. She was the light at the end of the tunnel that he needed to keep going. She was something good he could hold onto when all else was lost. If not for the fact that she would never have succeeded at getting him out he might feel like a fool for sending her away. Her attempt would have just gotten her killed and him back in the cage though.
The fact that it had never been real love had never been more obvious than the last few months with Damon. He knew what love was now that he’d fallen for the witchpire. He had no idea how that even happened. One minute they’re best friends, keeping each other strong, propping each other up, and the next thing he knows he’s contemplating kissing him. Dreaming of a future together. Practically falling apart every time he was taken to that bloody lab. The late night talks, baring their souls, sharing everything were the highlight of his days. The more he learned about Damon Salvatore, the deeper he fell until all thought of Maggie had flown from his mind and his dreams of freedom were focused around Damon.