Title: A Little Bloodier
Author: Hieiko
Category: The Vampire Diaries
Disclaimer: I don't own TVD, or any of the characters.
Word Count: 1442
Notes: Wrote this more than a year ago.
Summary: 2x13 slight AU. Salvatore brothers versus werewolves. Wherein Damon has at least the same body count as Stefan.
"It's a little too late to be waving a white flag, don't you think?"
The barb from Jules bounces off Stefan; her words are being directed at the wrong Salvatore brother. Besides, a white flag isn't the right metaphor. Stefan is not surrendering. At best he's asking for a truce, and at worst, issuing a threat.
He reiterates his piece. "You need to leave town. No one else has to get hurt."
Jules echoes hers. "I'm not leaving without Tyler."
"Tyler's free to make his own decisions," Stefan says calmly. "As soon as you release Caroline."
-x-
"My brother, the peacemaker." Condescension warps what could have been a compliment: a typical entrance for Damon. Stefan spares a glance at his brother, who moves to stand on the right side of Tyler.
"Since Stefan got here before me, I'm gonna let him try it his way, before I resort to my way, which is a little bloodier. So, give us Caroline."
"Let go of Tyler."
"Give us Caroline." Damon repeats. The exchange reminds Stefan of squabbling children, belying the fact that both parties are ready to kill (have in fact already killed) those on the other side.
Damon continues, "Not a full moon; it's not an even fight. And you know it."
But Jules doesn't waver.
"We will take you." The arrogance in his brother's voice makes Stefan want to roll his eyes. But he represses the urge since he, after all, agrees with the statement.
"I'm not so sure about that, tough guy." Jules smirks, then puts two fingers in her mouth and lets out a shrill whistle.
In seconds, they are surrounded.
-x-
Stefan counts six guys (werewolves, he clarifies in his mind, but at the moment they appear as men). A pair each at their right, left, and back. All armed: four with stakes, one with a home-made flamethrower, one with a crossbow. He doesn't need to look at Damon to know his brother has made the same calculations.
"Let's try this again," Jules says imperiously. "Give us Tyler."
"You heard her." Damon turns to the youngest werewolf and jerks his chin in Jules' direction. "Go. Get over there."
Stefan isn't sure whether he should be relieved of his brother's acquiescence. Tyler goes to stand by Jules, near the trailer's doorway.
One of the men (who, aside from Jules, appears to be calling the shots) demands: "Which one of you killed Mason?"
"Ah, that'd be me," Damon admits, sounding as though he'd just confessed to eating someone else's slice of cake left in the fridge.
"Boys!" The man calls loudly and points to Damon, "Make sure that one suffers."
-x-
Damon produces a slight grin. He angles toward his brother and asserts, "We can take 'em." Then groans inwardly when Stefan, being a realist (spoilsport), answers: "I don't know about that."
"Well then," Damon mutters, before rushing to attack Jules.
Tyler instantly flees for the relative safety inside the trailer. Jules takes a running leap up the trailer's side, and backflips over Damon's head. As soon as her feet hit the ground, she sprints past some of her fellow wolves who have begun to close in.
More than annoyed by Jules' escape, Damon goes for the other wolf-in-charge: the guy who asked about Mason's death. But before Damon can reach him, someone (a seventh werewolf, Damon assumes) jumps down from the roof of the trailer.
Damon doesn't wait for the new guy to land; he plunges a fist into the werewolf's chest and viciously yanks out the heart. The corpse tumbles to the ground, immediately followed by its missing organ which Damon tosses aside.
However, Damon's intent is again delayed when someone behind the wolf-in-charge runs forward, stake in hand, to fight him. He steps aside at the last second, then throws his right arm straight out, and slams his attacker across the face. Once the guy is down, Damon seizes the stake and stabs the fallen werewolf with his own weapon.
-x-
The guy armed with the flamethrower is the first to attack Stefan.
Blurring with vampire speed, Stefan moves behind him and grabs him around the neck. As they struggle, the flames from the guy's own weapon stops his friends from coming to his aid. Stefan finally gets a proper grip, and with a twist, snaps the guy's neck.
Only a few steps away from the body, he's confronted by the guy with a crossbow. Stefan easily catches the projectile stake that comes flying at him. When yet another of the werewolves moves in and tries to stake him at close range, he delivers a staggering punch to the gut. Then Stefan twists the guy's arm and pushes him over, leaving his third attacker a moaning heap on the ground.
The guy with the crossbow quickly reloads his weapon, and launches another stake at Stefan.
'Didn't he learn anything the first time?' Stefan thinks, as he snatches the stake in mid-air and hurls it back with precision.
The stake pierces the side of the neck. The guy's fingers close around the piece of wood in an attempt to remove it, but he only manages to make a gurgling sound before he collapses.
A fourth guy (Stefan's patience is running thin now) goes after him with a stake. This one, though, turns out to be more of a challenge.
-x-
Caroline looks up when her friend bursts in. "Tyler! There's a latch," she explains right away, "There's a latch on the door, and I can't get to it."
He hesitates.
"Tyler?" Caroline tries to get his attention. "Tyler, please. Tyler?" She rattles the bars of her cage pleadingly.
He makes up his mind and scrambles forward to release the latch. Then he lifts the cage door so she can get out.
-x-
When Damon finally gets his chance at the wolf-in-charge, he doesn't expect it to be a two-for-one special. He's pretty sure the second guy was taken down by Stefan, but apparently his little brother didn't feel the need to finish this one off.
Nevertheless, Damon knows how to work a situation like this. He's on the second guy before either could blink, with one hand under the jaw and the other at the back of the neck. Wolf-in-charge falters for only a second, but it's enough for Damon to snap the second guy's neck.
Then it's just the two of them. They circle each other for a moment, then attack.
-x-
Caroline steps out of the trailer, only to be met by a gun to the head. Jules.
Jules pushes Caroline's face against the trailer, and presses her gun at the base of Caroline's neck. Tyler gets to the doorway and sees Caroline's predicament. She turns to him for help, but he looks away.
Then Jules lets out another whistle, and declares, "Stop! Or I'll blow her head off."
The remaining fighters look in their direction. In that second, the tables are turned.
-x-
Stefan loses concentration the moment Jules threatens Caroline, and his opponent stakes him in the lower back.
Agony overcomes him. His knees buckle, and he falls forward.
-x-
Damon has the wolf-in-charge on the ground, and is about to stake him when Jules makes her declaration.
He doesn't realize he has stopped until a gunshot goes off and pain explodes in his chest. The force throws him backward.
-x-
Both Salvatore brothers are inches away from being staked through the heart when the surviving werewolves, save for Tyler, suddenly clutch their heads in obvious pain. They cry out until they drop unconscious.
The warlock responsible for the werewolves' pain reveals himself.
Damon groans as he rises from his prone position. Stefan looks up as well, and meets the warlock's gaze.
"Elijah made a promise to Elena. I'm here to see it's upheld. You need to go."
Stefan nods, then painfully gets up and walks slowly toward his brother.
Damon holds a hand to his chest as he stands. Eyeing the werewolf he has just fought (and who shot him), he kicks the guy in the side, and relishes the sound of breaking bones.
Stefan frowns while Damon smirks unapologetically. The smirk only grows wider when they hear more bones breaking. Behind them, Caroline has followed Damon's example, and kicked the unconscious Jules.
When the blonde joins them, she receives a nod of approval from Damon and a look of worry from Stefan.
"Get out of here. Now," the warlock reminds them.
The three vampires warily leave. Tyler moves slowly toward the warlock, who tells him,
"When your friends awaken, give them a message: they need to get the hell out of this town."