[Paris' outfit is the same as the one she's wearing in the previous chapter.]

꧁ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ-ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ ꧂
ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ ғᴇᴇᴛ ᴜɴᴅᴇʀ

❝I thought that it would be ironic to make Damon suffer at his most cherished place.❞

♠

     STEFAN AND LUCIEN finally arrived at the scene after Ric had called them, which confused Ric because Damon said that he was on his way but Stefan and Lucien arrived before him.

"Where's Damon?" Stefan asked. Ric looked at the younger Salvatore with a frown face.

"I have no idea."

♠

Damon slowly wakes up and finds himself surrounded by water. He could barely keep his eyes open as he struggled to breathe. He was underwater.

He attempted to reach for the surface but couldn't bring himself to because of the fact that he is chained to an anchor and the fact that his veins are corrupted with vervain, making him much weaker.

He starts panicking as he shouts at the top of his lungs, but no one could hear him, only air bubbles escaped his mouth.

Due to the lack of air, his eyes slowly close again and he temporarily died of drowning.

♠

Paris closes the door to the Salvatore  Boarding House. She went home after the incident.

She brushes her fingers through her hair as she sighed, cursing the day for being such a bitch. But she's about to figure out that the day's about to get worse.

"Hello again, Paris." Camila said as she emerged from wherever she is hiding from in the living room.

Paris snaps her gaze towards Camila and she widens her eyes while her body tensed at the sight of the witch.

"I've had enough, okay?" Paris said, her voice slightly shaking.

"Then give me the serum." Camila said as she walked closer to her descendant.

"You're not getting your filthy, witchy hands on that serum." Paris replied, earning a chuckle from the witch.

"I knew you'd say something like that. So, I made some arrangements." Camila said. She walks around the sofa and lets herself fall on it. She crossed her legs and rests her elbow on the arm of the couch.

"While I was still inhabiting your body, I heard you saying something to Aurora when she kidnapped you. You told her that you were getting tired of being the leverage that everybody needs to save." Camila said.

Paris gritted her teeth, trying to calm herself down because she knows that if she does something reckless, it isn't going to be her that will survive.

"So, I switched it up. I kidnapped Damon. He's probably chained to the ground, drowning over and over again as we speak." Camila informed her.

Paris' eyes widened as she took a step closer, her insides sparking with panic while she imagines what Damon is going through.

"W-What?" Paris stuttered, her breathing unsteady.

"Damon is underwater. Aurora made sure that he would stay underwater. So, in other words, since he's a vampire, Damon is reliving your biggest fear repeatedly, drowning." Camila said, and ended with a smirk.

Paris shakes her head, her eyes widened at Camila with disbelief. Just thinking about it is giving her panic attacks.

"But wait, that isn't the worst part of your fear, right? The worst part is, your friend, Chloe, drowned and died, and you just watched, as you were drowning as well. And since then, every time you immerse yourself underwater, you see her, gasping desperately for air, screaming. That's how your phobia was developed." Camila explained, her finger twirling around as she explained the whole thing.

"You bitch." Paris muttered with gritted teeth and eyes glistening, her voice cracking in the process.

Camila throws her hands in the air and then back at the couch as she pushed herself to stand. "So," she said as she did. "Here's the deal. You give me the serum, and I'll tell you where he is."

"No. You will tell me where he is right now." Paris insisted as she takes a few steps closer to Camila, which probably would be a bad idea.

Camila smirked before she muttered "Motus." under her breath and Paris is sent flying across the room, her head hitting the wall hard causing her to bleed.

"How stupid can you be?" Camila said, anger obvious from her voice while she approaches Paris.

She grabs Paris by the neck and forced her to stand up before she pushed her against the wall, tightening her grip around her neck. Paris struggles to breathe, her hands trying to pry Camila's from her neck.

"H-How?" Paris managed to stay as her throat closes up due to how strong Camila is.

"Oh, you mean, how can I hurt you when you're wearing a necklace that protects you?" Camila said. She leans in towards Paris' ear before she continued. "Because I'm a century-and-a-half-year-old witch that can beat a little witch's spell. You better tell Bonnie to work harder next time." Camila said before she lets go of Paris. 

Paris slumps to the ground, leaving a small trail of blood on the wall from a cut on the back of her head. She gasped for air immediately as her hand caressed her neck. She looks up at Camila and glares at her.

"I'm not gonna ruin the necklace. It's pretty. Tell Bonnie to fix it. On the other hand, I'm gonna give you a treat. A clue, to be exact." Camila said, walking away from Paris and towards the front door before turning back around to face her.

"I thought that it would be ironic to make Damon suffer at his most cherished place." Camila said.

Paris furrows her eyebrows, her breathing still uneven. Camila then leaves and Paris sighs in relief. She reaches for the back of her head and feels a warm liquid touch her fingertips. She swallowed as she winced at the migraine she's currently experiencing.

She tried to stand up but she clearly needs help. Luckily, Stefan and Lucien just got home. As soon as they stepped in the house, they smelled blood and went towards where it is.

"Paris?" Stefan said as he looks at the hurt Paris on the ground. He and Lucien rush towards the brunette and crouch down in front of her.

"What happened?" Lucien asked.

"Camila happened. She has Damon." Paris groaned. Lucien looks at the back of her head to see how bad her cut is.

"What?" Stefan said with wide eyes.

"You're bleeding." Lucien said. He bites his wrist and offers it to Paris. She takes his wrist and she drinks his blood so that her wound would heal, which is what's happening right now.

Paris lets go of Lucien's wrist and she feels the wound closing up, making her feel a lot better.

"Aurora couldn't get to me. So, she went after Damon." Paris said as Lucien helps her get up from the floor.

"But, how come Camila is able to hurt you?" Lucien asked.

"Well, she's a very powerful witch. What can't she do?" Paris said.

"We need to get Damon. What did Camila say?" Stefan asked.

Paris runs her fingers through her hair as she spoke. "She said that he's currently underwater. I don't know where, but she said that if we give her the serum, she'll tell us where he is." Paris explained.

"We're gonna need another way to rescue Damon. No one is getting anywhere near the serum, certainly not the evil witch and her psychotic red pet." Lucien responded.

Paris' eyebrows shoot up when the clue that Camila had given her finally made sense. She turns to the two vampires before she spoke.

"I know where he is."

♠

For what feels like the hundredth time, Damon wakes up and he once again can't breathe fresh air. He could only breathe in liters and liters of water which causes him to cough and choke repeatedly.

His eyes are blurry, his ears are filled with water, hell, his whole body is filled with water due to the number of times he had drowned.

Once again, his eyes fall shut and he dies. But then suddenly, Damon's skin started to sizzle, as if the water is burning him. Well, the vervain is.

♠

Paris, Stefan, and Lucien arrived at the river under the Wickery Bridge with a bolt cutter and a blood bag. All of them rushed towards the water but before Stefan or Lucien could dive in, Camila spoke.

"I wouldn't do that." Camila said.

The three lifted their heads up at the witch.

"When I heard you come, I quickly spelled the water. Now, it's filled with vervain, and Damon is currently soaked in it." Camila said.

Their eyes widened at Camila's information. "No!" Stefan shouted.

"Vervain can't kill me. I'll get him." Lucien told Stefan.

"It won't permanently kill you but it will temporarily kill you. How many times do you have to die before you could finally get Damon out? When he's already dead?" Camila said.

Lucien glared at the witch. She was right. Vervain is still poison to him, it might not really kill him but Damon doesn't have time for Lucien to bring back to life over and over again before he saves him.

"Paris is not a vampire-" Camila turns to a terrified Paris. "Come on, have a swim. Overcome your fear. After all, it is for Damon." Camila challenged.

Paris looks at Camila with a horrified expression as she imagined what Damon is feeling. They need to save him. She needs to save him. And there's only one way.

"Or, you give me the serum and I'll pull out Damon." Camila added.

Stefan and Lucien were about to say yes to the deal, but before any of them could even get a word out, Paris grabs the bolt cutter and dives in the vervain-filled water.

"Paris!" Lucien and Stefan shouted.

Camila's lips parted as she watch Paris try to save Damon. She has no idea that she would actually take it upon herself to save Damon, and she finds it fascinating.

Paris couldn't hear anything from Lucien or Stefan while she immersed herself underwater. Images of her and Chloe drowning flashed before her and she started to panic.

Water starts to fill her lungs at a fast pace as her fear eats her up. She whimpered repeatedly before she could look past Chloe and there she saw Damon, chained to an anchor, inaudible screams leaving his mouth as vervain burns his skin and his insides, since he couldn't help but breathe in a lot of it.

Paris focused her gaze and attention to Damon before she swims her way towards him.

When Paris finally got to him, she could see how burnt his skin is. So, she quickly used the bolt cutter to break the chains. It took all of her strength to actually do it, since when underwater, everything is harder.

Damon, who lost consciousness again, is picked up by Paris. She removes the chains that are wrapped around Damon and she pulls him as she swims towards the surface. 

Stefan and Lucien could only look at the water with wide eyes as they waited for Paris and Damon to emerge from it. Camila, on the other hand, watched with amusement. Her eyes squinted as she anticipated what she thought was impossible.

Just before Paris runs out of air, they've reached the surface and she immediately gasped for it. Lucien and Stefan immediately run towards them and they helped her and Damon get to the ground.

Paris coughs up some of the water she had inhaled as Stefan tries to feed Damon some blood.

"Are you alright?" Lucien asked her. Paris coughs again before she nods.

Camila's smirk went away. But not because she was angry by the recent turn of events but because she's concocting a plan in her mind.

It wasn't Damon or Stefan or Lucien that could stop her from getting the serum. It was Paris. So, she had to go after her.

Camila watched the four of them, and she muttered an incantation under her breath before she left the scene.

♠

Another update! I hope you guys liked it.

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