2. Wuthering Heights.

On a bright and sunny day, Damon suddenly appeared beside a protective bubble, near the cubs. The warm rays of the sun illuminated the scene as the cubs spotted their father and eagerly ran towards him. Damon lifted his head, his eyes filled with uncertainty as he observed these unfamiliar creatures approaching him. A deep, rumbling growl emerged from within his chest, echoing through the air.

Sensing his father's unease, Demon, his firstborn with Mariella, swiftly positioned himself between Damon and the cubs, urging them to retreat slowly. Several other adult figures came forward, assisting in the relocation of the cubs. Demon quickly informed Charles about Damon's condition, prompting Adam and Charles to rush outside.

As they laid eyes on Damon, a mix of shock and frustration filled the air, audible through their curses. Charles caught a whiff of panic-inducing substances emanating from Damon, along with a medley of other scents. The details of how Damon had been captured and how he had managed to escape or end up in this situation remained unknown. Nevertheless, they swiftly teleported Damon to the medbay, securing him with magnetic restraints and beginning the process of taking blood samples.

Damon had been missing for eight hours. Meanwhile, Mimi had disappeared, leaving Charles with no time to ponder her whereabouts as they attempted to collect blood samples from Damon.

Mariella, sensing her mate's distress, anxiously inquired about Charles, her voice filled with concern. "Charles, what's happening? Is Damon alright? He's in severe distress, but he's not responding to me at all."

Charles, trying his best to not alarm Mariella, responded, "Damon appeared just outside the protective bubble. He was captured and is heavily drugged with panic-inducing substances. He doesn't recognize any of us. Thank goodness Demon was there to protect the cubs."

Mariella let out a sigh of relief and requested, "Find us a dimly lit, warm room, just for the two of us. Move me there and bring Damon next to me. I'll try to calm him down, help him sleep, and gradually wean him off those drugs. He won't allow you to bite his neck, and I'm still too weak. Where is Mimi? She might be able to assist. She's his biological half, the best one to handle him."

Charles admitted, "We have no clue where Mimi is. She teleported somewhere, and I can't reach her."

Mariella rolled her eyes and replied, "Fine, create the room for us. Then I'll begin my attempts to soothe him. I'll give you instructions, no questions asked. I'll follow my instincts here."

Charles and Adam got samples taken and then they went to find a room for Mariella and Damon. they found it suitable, with a big soft bed, warm, dim, and calm. Charles teleported first to Mariella, helped her to undress, and teleported her then into that room, helping her settle in bed.

Mariella said, "I need to get better, get me power stones, food, bump, whatever, my teeth won't work just yet and I need them in this. But first, bring Damon here and I will then say when I am ready some food."

Charles nodded. He handed the tablet to Mariella, who looked through the test results from those blood tests that had been taken and been ready. Drug concentration was huge and there were several different drugs. Mariella was frustrated, as if she had been in shape. This would not be such an ordeal, but she was still well under 40 kilos and weak as hell, but now she had so excellent motivation to get in shape.

She said before Charles left. "Take the tube of Damon's blood and let wolves smell it. Maybe Mimosa can come up with something. Or Shadow. But tell them that no chance for them to put fangs in his throat."

Charles grunted and left. Mariella was ready. It was no long time when he heard noise and men brought Damon in between them. He was naked, his gorgeous body full of wounds and burn marks. He stank of drugs and herbs, making Mariella sneeze. That sound caused him to lift his gaze, and he looked at Mariella, not knowing her at all. She was a stranger to him and Mariella knew that this would take some time and would not be easy. If only Mimi would have been here too. 

They helped him onto the bed. Mariella wrapped herself around him and whispered to him, letting him smell her, trying to calm him down, keep him safe, offering some sort of security so he could try to sleep at least a bit. It was soon clear that they had not established that kind of relationship ever and Mariella did not know how to use protector power. She could not purr at him. She could only talk to him, stroke him, keep him near her. 

Damon didn't know where he was or what had been done to him. He wanted to hide, to be safe, to escape. Then again, there was someone beside him, stroking and soothing. Damon held on as tight as he could and felt weak and helpless. He wanted to hide and be safe and he just could not find so much safety. But this woman, Mariella, darling, always calmed Damon down for a moment. Her voice soothed him, for a moment before drugs kicked in again, making him tremble and shake, trying to leave, find some dark hiding place.

He did remember Mariella when he was clearer, but the drug always took him into such a black abyss that he couldn't quite remember who he was. All he knew was that this feeling was terrible. He felt so damn insecure, so vulnerable. Never he had felt this way, not even he had been captured and tortured. 

Mariella sighed. So ever since a week ago, when Mimi mysteriously disappeared, and a couple of hours later, there was Damon outside the protective bubble, Mariella had had her work cut out for her. She was still too weak to help herself. Her teeth weren't doing anything, even if the radar told her what was wrong. She had eaten, always telling Adam or Charles to deliver food or bump or whatever and eat and feed Damon, too. Trying to get him to calm down. To sleep off the drugs. Not so easy.

She realized Damon had probably put in his panels to adjust when she could do the dental stuff. But now she just had to hold Damon and calm him down, try to get him to sleep properly so that his body would understand how to digest the substances. She had gotten Charles to take a little more blood from Damon and took new blood tests, but he had not really chopped much of anything yet. This would take time. 

Mimosa had made a substance that chopped copper bark, which was one of the reasons Damon didn't heal so quickly. Mariella didn't even think about who or what; she just focused on Damon completely. Wounds in his skin were raw and red, but he would heal once the copper birch was out of his system.

Mimosa's substance was orally given and not bad tasting, but it was slow as there was quite a high concentration in Damon's blood and it was dangerous to all the magical creatures, so no teeth in the neck just yet. Mariella continued to get herself in shape. She ate, used power stones, whatever it took in order for her to get her strength back. 

It took Damon two weeks before he could start digesting the panic-inducing drug properly, because there was such a massive concentration of it in his system. By then, Mariella had gotten her teeth working and gotten the rest of the copper birch and other herbs out of Damon's system. Damon slept now peacefully, but mariella was next to him, still near him, so he could rest and get rid of that drug. Maybe then they would get answers to what happened. Mimi had not returned, and Charles suspected she had something to do with Damon's return. She probably took his place.

Damon woke up after two and a half weeks after he arrived. He was lucid and furious.

He said to Mariella, "It was Damien. He captured me with some kind of cube. It was awful, and he showed it to me. It was not big, maybe 50 cm on its side, and inside it was a horrible place to be. I was too careless."

Mariella soothed him. She did not say a word. She just sensed Damon's distress when he talked about that cube. Damien had told him that once someone is imprisoned for a longer time in a cube or crystal, it usually breaks them a bit. Then Mimi's fate was revealed, too.

Damon said, "Mimi fucking sacrificed herself in a shed session for me. It was fucking Damien. Oh fuck. That damn stubborn, sacrificing stupid woman."

Mariella did not comment, she let Damon rant and rage. Adam and Charles were enraged too, and it took quite an effort for Mariella to stop Damon from trying to save Mimi. He was trying to unleash spells to locate her and everything else. But Mariella had looked at the future and the chances of them rescuing her were infinitely small. No real chance at all. In the worst case, Damon or Adam, Charles would end Damien's prisoners too. So she had to be cruel, denying him even a chance to try.

Mariella had read Salvatore's rage. It was a problem with most male salvatores, and so was Damon. Now, it had flared up properly, but Mariella was relentless, knowing that only good, raw sex would help Damon the most now. Adam and Charles were also in a rage, and Mariella knew she was the only one who could help everyone unravel. They could do nothing about Mimi's situation now, and the rage had to be gotten down from everyone.

They had fucked hard too, for weeks, and not thinking about Mimi or what she went through, when she would be free, they would be ready to help her. Heal her too. And Mariella knew Damon wanted to talk with her long and hard about this stunt. He was not happy with how she just sacrificed herself willy-nilly. She was supposed to be the leader of her organization and a little more cunning than this.

But then again, she had been like that these years. Always taking the hit that others cannot take. It was quite a blow to Damon's ego and Mariella was not sure what had been said, or what had happened because there was something that bugged Damon, but he refused to talk about it.

After they had fucked five weeks or so, Mariella cursed as she'd never cursed before. "I don't fucking believe it. Don't fucking start that shit. Damon's not gonna like it, and what about Mimi? Fine." She was helpless. This was one thing that had to be done. No other choice here.

Mariella went downstairs and said, "If everyone would come down for breakfast now, I'd like to talk to you."

Damon looked at his wife in amazement, wondering what she was up to. Damon had no idea, but Mariella was furious, more so than he had ever witnessed her to be. They went into the kitchen, ate and everyone was looking at mariella after she had been eaten. Her sensual mouth was in the tight line and her normally seductive green eyes were now burning with rage and frustration.

After everyone had eaten, Mariella said, "This is difficult for you to understand or obey, Damon, but there is no alternative. In short, Mimosa and I are off to hunt the demon. A very specific demon and there are always rules. If I break the rules, the demon goes free, and believe me, you don't want to give this demon any slack. No one else but me and Mimosa can chase this demon because of the rules. But you have your demons to chase, and I can tell you there is plenty of work to do. "

Mariella then explained in detail what everyone had to do. Charles was silent and said, "Me and Adam are not leaving. Mimi just sent a message. She needs us. Damien just released her and I can barely sense her, meaning she is in very bad shape. I am not sure if Colin is free, though."

Mariella sighed and said, " We have no choice. You have been ordered to hunt. But someone has to take care of Mimi, and I think I have the solution. It's pretty damn peculiar, but it works. Honey, we have to duplicate ourselves. This is actually one thing that must happen. This is new to me, just got this information from upstairs. So no need to call Colin."

Damon looked at his wife for a moment and said, " So what, say it again?"

Mariella had a room in her mind. It was shielded so that even Damon couldn't get in. There was everything divine that the big fat white cat had left there. There were kinds of tools that she would need from time to time and even she did not know about them, when, or why. So she had a now solution in her room. From there, on one shelf, Mariella took a spell to make duplicates of herself for jewelry.

Mariella said, "Damon darling, make us rings where we will hide this second piece of ourselves. We need a vessel to put duplicate first."

Damon watched for a moment and made rings for himself and Mariella. They were simple gold bands with one violet stone in the middle. Damon himself was irritated, by the thought of Mimi being in awful shape and this time he was not helping her. The rings were lust rings. Mariella was irritated too and when she was this irate, she liked to take it on damon by irritating him. To the max. Mariella took Damon by the hand, and both held their rings in their hands as Mariella read the spell, and Damon felt familiar.

He didn't understand at all how this felt so damn familiar. When the spell was over, Damon could feel someone on the ring. He had never felt this before, and now he could. It was him, but then again; it was not him fully. 

Mariella took her ring and said, " Come on out." Mariella appeared in front of her. She had different clothes. Red leather dress and black heels. She looked at Damon hotly and went to wrap herself around him. Damon kissed the second Mariella, and she nibbled on his lips. Her nails scraped his back same time, she was quite pushy..

Damon grabbed her hand and said, "Not that. Not now. Stop scratching me."

Second Mariella looked at him and said, " Aren't you irritable? Don't you like a little pain? No, you're not ready. Well, I guess I'll just have to wait till you get yourself back in the right frame of mind. There are other men here, too. "

Damon looked at this specimen, a little surprised but irritated, took a better grip on it, and said, " Start Mariella to fix that attitude and pretty quickly. Now it is not time to irritate me, or anyone else."

Mariella looked amazed, as that version of her was all over the place. She had no self-control, and she went straight into the irritating mode, trying to rile up Damon really well. 

The second Mariella looked at Damon, clearly challenging him, and said, " There is nothing wrong with my attitude, Salvatore. You are what is the problem here. Can't even tolerate a little pinch of the lips. A few little lines made by my nails and you are all serious and irritated. I bet I could get you even angrier. You are just in the right mood. Perfect victim.."

Damon let go of this version, and it went to Charles. She kissed him, bit his lips too, and made Charles push her away. Charles was worried about Mimi, not in the mood to fuck. 

Damon looked at Mariela and said, "If your version is like that, what's mine? Well, let's see. Come on out of there."

Damon came out. He went straight for Mariella, and they started kissing wildly and then started fucking passionately against the wall. Their grunts and moans filled the air pretty soon, and Damon rolled his eyes. He was not so sure that this would work at all. 

Damon said, "I don't know if they're concentrating on Mimi or each other?"

The second Damon sighed as he stopped fucking and said, " Better behave, darling. I will keep you under control."

Second Mariella was like she hadn't heard the whole thing. Second Damon sank his fangs in her throat and drained her, counting in her mind as she was getting irritated.

Mariella said, " Fine, you and me, we'll get Mimi and see what the situation is. Then you two can get to work when we have to leave as soon as the itsy-bitsy comes out."

Itsybitsy, as Mariella called him, was a satanic old and powerful demon of destruction called Izgar. But since his human form was rather like a Joe Pesci doppelgänger, Mariella had always called him itsy bitsy. She and Mimosa would hunt the demon, and then when Mimosa got hold of it, Mariella would have a special vial to suck the demon into and then give it upstairs for safekeeping. What they would have to do could be anything from defusing a bomb to a fight club. demon would do all kinds of nasty things and it would be up to them to help and try to catch that little bastard.