Challenge 15: Plan an Episode (By Team Vamps n Witches)
Title: The Calm Before the Storm
When: 23rd May 2009
Trailer
Do you recall a time when everything in your life was simpler? For everyone in Mystic Falls it takes them back to May 23, 2009. This is their journey.
Stefan hasn’t been back to Mystic Falls since Joseph’s death but when Zach, Joseph’s grandson, calls to tell him that some “animal attacks” have taken place in the nearby university Stefan must once again come home. He knows Zach suspects that he is the one on the killing spree, or even that it is Damon, but Stefan is not like that, not anymore, and he hasn’t seen his brother in over fifteen years. It’s up to Stefan to find the vampire that is haunting his home town.
Meanwhile Jeremy and his friend Tom are hanging out in the woods when Tom sees something that will change his life forever. So when Jeremy doesn’t believe him, Tom is desperate to change his mind, and forces Jeremy to go to the Salvatore boarding house to see this so called vampire. But will the means he resorts to end in his doom?
Jenna Sommers, the party girl, whose working on her masters meets a new friend. Gabe Robertson, likes to party, get with woman and have an all around good time. Did he forget to mention the part where he only comes out at night?
Alaric Saltzman has been searching for his wife’s murderer, he has piles and piles of research, newspaper clippings, and maps dotted with deaths. But he has finally found a current trail, and now it’s time for action. When he finally finds a vampire terrorizing a University will he be able to make his first kill?
Newly turned vampire Isobel Flemming-Saltzman is learning how to live like this with her sire Damon in tow but when she meets someone who says she is willing to help her will Isobel be able to figure out what this woman named Katherine has planned?
Elena Gilbert’s life is perfect, her parents treat her like a mature teenager, her brother is the one getting into trouble and she has a loving boyfriend. So when she thinks up a plan to force Caroline and Tyler to go on a double date with Matt and herself she doesn’t know what she’s getting herself into.
A party, a call home and a ride that will change her life forever.
Things in Mystic Falls will never be the same.
Name: Gabe Robertson
Played By: Jensen Ackles
Name: Thomas (Tom) Kurtland
Played By: Thomas Dekker
Name: Trisha Bradley
Played By: Deborah Ann Woll
Name: Janet Kingsley
Played By: Amber Tamblyn
It all came to me in an untangled mass of flashbacks. The day I gave life to the little girl, the day I left Alaric, the day I followed him.
I snapped my eyes open and found a pair of ice blue ones looking at me, a smirk on his face.
“Are you getting tired? We have super-strength, you know,” his eyebrows up, he was making fun of me.
“I know,” I answered him, finally realizing where I was laying. On the floor, a huge carpet under me. I was completely naked. I didn’t mind. I knew what we had been up to since he turned me.
Damon was naked too. And he was such a sight but I knew he was gonna be a temporary one. I had things to do.
“Shall I take you to dinner? Can you even remember what to do? I had to shove blood down your throat last time!” he scoffed, already getting dressed.
“I’m ready now” and I could feel it too. The transformation was complete. All the strength, the hunger…the desire.
In a matter of seconds, I pushed Damon up against the wall and forced him to kiss me…well, he didn’t need much encouragement. I could feel all of him pressing against me and I was ready to post-pone hunger for a while, until I was suddenly thrown to the other side of the room, breaking the precious coffee tables he had warned me about.
“Let’s go,” he said in a tone I knew well. No chance of saying no, I followed him once again.
It was dark outside, past twilight. He looked confident, like he knew where he was going. We took the car and drove for a while. He instructed me on a lot of different things about vampires…I already knew much of them, they had been my obsession for a long, long time.
That’s why I wanted to be one of them, no matter how many things I’d left behind. I was feeling ecstatic, wild and free.
“Remember, always choose a huge wonderful house with all the commodities…you’ll need it, for a lot of things..” he said as his hand ran freely on my leg.
He stopped the car and I noticed we were in front of a public library. It read “Bedford Public Library,” there was no one around. I didn’t remember how we got to Bedford, not even a little.
“I’m hungry,” I was starting to get irritated, all the magnified emotions were getting to me.
“Be patient, we’ll have a feast in no time,” he nodded to a girl who was just coming out of the library.
“That’s Janet Kingsley, she’s in college and really likes me. Been there a few times, getting her to trust me. You'll find betrayal and disguise go hand in hand in the vampire world” Damon forced me out of the car, he got closer and closer to me “Stay hidden behind those trees…you have to watch…and learn.”
He started walking and then turned to look at me. "Just a thing..you lure your prey the old fashion way...you don't draw attention to yourself."
I saw him walking to her, dazzling her, luring her…and all the time I could feel nothing. I didn’t care if she was young, if she had a future ahead, if she had a mother to return to. The switch Damon talked to me about was working perfectly…I don’t know why he looked so weird when I asked what was going on with my emotions. That was one of the few parts of my research that was never clear.
And as my thoughts raced through my mind there he was, standing before me, one of his hands firmly on the girl’s mouth to keep her from screaming.
His eyes were crazy with hunger, the teeth showing, the red veins forming…
“You have to let it overwhelm you, Isobel…you are hungry, you want her blood” I watched his teeth sink into the girl’s neck and as soon as the blood started pouring I felt a jolt all through my body, I looked at Damon feeding and I let my new nature flow in.
A month passed, Damon and I moved around a lot but I wasn’t worried. I knew where I was gonna find her, she was moving in a path.
----
Alaric looks over the map covered in his pen markings; lines and circles, and post-it notes, he rubs his eyes; sure they’re bloodshot. Closes them for a minute; he needs a fresh perspective.
Awakes with a start, two hours have passed. He pours himself a scotch, and stares again at the map. There’s a pattern. Rapidly circles buildings. Then looks online; recent news stories for small towns in Virginia. Researching Grove Hill reveals nothing. But then with the second town; three animal attacks at the University.
He begins to pack.
----
Jenna let out a grin at the sight of her new friend, proud of how well she was balancing whilst drunk and wearing ridiculous heels, she loped over to him in a perpetual tumble, finally landing in his arms.
“Gabe!” she calls loudly, arms remaining around his neck even after she has rebalanced herself.
“Hello Jenna,” Gabe replies with a chuckle, kissing her cheek.
“You’re a good friend Gabe,” Jenna announces, as he leads her safely to her seat.
When she’s sitting comfortably, Gabe saunters to the bar and orders them drinks. She chuckles as he chats up a blonde with hair down to her waist.
“Ditching me?” Jenna asks giddily, as her drink lands in front of her.
“It would be a crime,” Gabe says smoothly, giving her a faux outraged expression, “how goes the psychology?”
“Well, it goes well…” Jenna tells him, and proceeds to ramble about her recent thesis feedback.
----
Stefan is stacking shelves in a little family corner shop-it’s not as flashy as some of his previous jobs, but it’s something to do and he likes it-when his cell phone rings.
“Are you in Virginia?” is asked immediately after he answers, the voice is unusually dark so it takes a moment for him to place.
“Zach? What is this about?” Stefan replies, already taking off his name badge and employee apron. He almost hears Zach’s pause.
“You have to come back here, I need to speak to you,” Zach says, calmer this time.
“It sounds like you’re trying to coax a mouse into a trap,” Stefan points out. He gets a piece of paper, and quickly traverses the pencil pot with his fingers, pushing aside a few pens before finding one that he knows still works.
“Just come,” Zach demands tiredly.
Stefan scrawls a quick resignation note, and slips an extra hundred in the till to make up for the early closure.
“I’ll be there in four hours,” he says, locking up the shop.
----
Elena walks past Matt and Tyler playing basketball in the school courtyard before school and sighs. Things have been cooling off between them for the last few weeks and she’s been worried that he’s falling out of love with her.
She sees Caroline and Bonnie sitting on the picnic table and talking with each other, facing the two boys and makes her way over to them. “Your boyfriend’s wiping the floor with Tyler,” her friend fills her in with a knowing glance.
Elena catches Caroline’s eyes and when Caroline gestures toward them, Elena nods. She waits until Matt scores again and smiles widely as she starts clapping.
Tyler grabs the ball and grins at Matt. “Go get your girl,” she hears him say.
Matt walks over to her and gives her a hug and she laughs because it’s starting to feel like it used to again.
----
Stefan enters the Salvatore Boarding house, and finds Zach with an angry expression on his face.
“What’s going on?” Stefan asks with concern.
“There have been some killings at the university; animal attacks,” Zach says in an accusatory tone.
“And you think it was me?” Stefan states, less surprised than he thought he would be at Zach’s lack of faith.
“Well, are you still on the wagon?” Zach enquires brusquely.
“Yes, just like I have been for your entire life,” Stefan deadpans.
“Then it was probably your brother, who you still haven’t done anything about!” Zach exclaims.
“It wasn’t him, I know he’s in Bedford. We should look into who else it could be,” Stefan tells Zach calmly.
“Really, you expect me to just believe it wasn’t one of you two?” Zach asks with suspicious incredulity.
“Zach, we don’t have time for this, you have to trust me,” Stefan implores.
“I would like to, but I can’t.”
“I’ve always been honest with you Zach,” Stefan says softly.
“Look, Stefan, I know you’re trying, but that doesn’t change what you’ve done, and it doesn’t change what you are. My grandfather had to live with the constant danger you and your brother posed hanging around his neck--and we all know how that turned out--even now I’m still living with the knowledge that I’m not dead because Damon deigns to leave me alive, I didn’t have children so that they wouldn’t be messed up in this,” Zach explains bitterly.
“I’m not asking you to forgive, or even forget, I’m just asking you to trust me enough so that I can help with this situation, isn’t that why you called me?”
“No, I called to find out whether certain more permanent solutions were necessary.”
“Fine,” Stefan says dejectedly, walking towards the door.
“Wait, where are you going?”
“To get something to eat, and then deal with this threat myself,” Stefan answers, leaving.
----
Tom sits tranquilly on a fallen tree trunk, enjoying the pleasantly buzzed state he is in, and holds his joint out to Jeremy.
“No thanks,” his friend replies with a smile.
“Sure?” Tom asks.
“You know I don’t do that stuff Tom, how high are you?” Jeremy says, chuckling, “anyway, I should be heading back, I’ll see you tomorrow, ok.”
Tom begins nodding, it makes his head feel float-y so he stops. He watches Jeremy leaving, he likes Jeremy; Jeremy is a good friend. Then he watches a bird.
He hears something rushing through the trees, leaves tremor in its wake, Tom carefully moves in the same direction, and hides behind a tree so he doesn’t scare anything off. But he sees nothing, keeps moving cautiously, doesn’t know why he’s so curious when he’s probably chasing a squirrel; his heart knows it’s something more.
A minute later there comes an ungodly, unrestrained howl of a dying animal. Tom stops behind a tree, and turns. He blinks, then blinks again, briefly considers whether his weed was cut with something bad, except he suddenly feels very sober. About fifteen feet in front of him is a man--vampire--biting a deer, except the guys face is contorted into a monster-like picture; black eyes, veins, fangs--vampire, vampire, vampire--he thinks it can’t be, but it is.
The vampire trudges away. Tom tries to resist the crazy urge to follow, and fails. He ambles slowly, keeping his distance, and luckily the vampire seems too distracted to notice him. As they reach the Salvatore estate, the open fields force him to turn back; the first place he goes is the Gilberts’.
----
Alaric sits at the student bar nursing a scotch. He’s here for research; to socialise, find out if anyone knows anything without knowing it. But he’s feeling too morose today to do anything more than stare into his drink--gives himself a half an hour before he has to start working. As luck would have it, three drinks (and twenty minutes) later, he hears something, it’s probably nothing but his ears perk up.
“Is Gabe coming?”
“No, you know Gabe, he wants to keep his mystique, stick to the shadows or whatever,” an auburn haired girl replies--eyes rolling.
“What does that even mean Jenna?”
“He only comes out at night,” the auburn haired girl--Jenna--replies.
“Weirdo.”
“Hey,” Jenna protests, giving her friend a playful slap on the arm.
It’s almost definitely nothing. He sidles up to the girls.
“Damn, I thought he was coming, I’ve got some stuff for him,” Alaric says, blasé.
“He’s probably in his room, it’s at the end on the ground floor of halls; can’t miss it.”
“Thanks,” Alaric says quickly, already heading out the door.
----
Re-entering the boarding house, Stefan strides up to Zach.
“Okay, this is very simple, I’m going to work on this vampire situation; we can work together and figure it out quickly, or we can work separately and let people die.”
“I already decided to let you help,” Zach says sighing begrudgingly.
“Then let’s get to work.”
“The sheriff sent these over,” Zach says, picking up some photos, “some newbies at the university; do you recognise any of them as vampires?”
Stefan hides his frustration at Zach’s presumption that he should know the vampire; after all he does know more vampires then everyone in this town put together. Giving the photos an initial cursory glance, he has a thought.
“Does Sheila Bennett still teach on the Occult at the university; she could be a big help.”
“We don’t involve non-council members in council business; it’s not safe,” Zach declares conceitedly.
“Okay,” Stefan says, realising Zach has no idea Sheila is a witch, and respecting her privacy says nothing more. He can contact her when Zach isn’t standing next to him.
----
After third period English, Elena is grabbing her calculator and her advanced algebra book for her next class when all of a sudden there is a hand over her eyes and a voice whispering in her ear. “Guess who?”
Elena laughs and leans into her boyfriend as she reaches behind her to remove his hand. “How many times have I told you not to do that?” she scolds him playfully while holding his hand.
He kisses her cheek in response and wraps his other hand around her, in the process revealing a handful of roses. “Let’s go out tonight,” he says.
“You’re supposed to ask me out, Mr. Perfect Boyfriend, not semi-command it,” she chastises, turning around in his arms.
Matt rolls his eyes. “Well, then, Miss Perfect Girlfriend, will you go out with me tonight?”
Elena smiles brightly and kisses him. “Yes,” she says before pushing him away. “Now, I’m going to be late for algebra if you don’t let me go!”
----
One day, Damon went out to find us some servants to play with. He could walk in the sun and I just couldn’t, but this time I didn’t mind. As soon as he went out I started taking the few things I wanted with me.
Damon had been my link to this dark world but I needed to find Katherine Pierce, I wanted to know her, to know my lineage.
I took the car and started to speed, I was dead set on finding her.
She wasn’t that far but it hadn’t been easy.
Katherine certainly hadn’t welcomed me with open arms; she knew she had been followed and she jumped at my throat in a matter of seconds.
“Who are you and why are you following me? I suggest you speak or you’ll die this instant,” a pair of deep brown eyes fixed on me, not letting go.
“I’m Isobel…you’re my..you’re my ancestor.”
The grip around my throat got tighter. “Need more.”
And so I told her everything, Damon included. Her face lit up with pleasure hearing his name, of course. When I told her about my research her eyes snapped onto me: “You researched the Gilbert family? Mystic Falls?”
“I did,” I answered not fully aware of where that could lead.
“Then we’re gonna be really close, darling…you could be way more than my waste of time,” she smiled and got closer to me.
And so started my friendship with Katherine.
----
Alaric finds the place easily enough, and treads carefully outside, before coming to a standstill at a window with the curtains closed. He peeks through the slight crack between the curtains. Despite everything, he isn’t prepared for what he sees.
There, in front of him, a vampire bows its head and bites into its blond--longhaired--victim. Alaric bites his tongue to keep silent. He thinks about every scrap of information he has read since Isobel’s disappearance. He knew it already, but this is confirmation; it is all real. The vampire couldn’t be stopped from this kill; he wouldn’t have the element of surprise in a break-in. Maybe to get to the one who took Isobel he would take the insane risk, but for this one--he had to wait for sunset. Creeping away, Alaric thinks of kill plans.
----
“You’re so lucky, Elena,” Caroline announces dramatically, her eyes planted firmly on the roses Elena has carried to algebra and chemistry and now to lunch. “I haven’t even been on a date since-”
With a roll of their eyes, Bonnie and Elena take over Caroline’s speech, having heard it three times already since they sat at their lunch table, “last spring when Jimmy Reed took you bowling and spilled soda all over your new outfit. Yes, we heard you.”
Caroline only looks partially affronted. “Well, I’m just saying…. I wish I had a boyfriend like you. Matt’s just so sweet; I mean, have you ever heard of something so romantic happening to anyone else in Mystic Falls?”
Bonnie shrugs. “Girl has a point there, Elena. You and Matt are absolutely perfect together.”
Caroline perks up instantly and Elena giggles at her animated friend. “Yes, Caroline?”
“I just had the most perfect idea! Maybe you could ask Matt to set me up with one of his friends and we could double tonight.”
Elena takes a deep breath. This was supposed to be her and Matt’s night to reconnect. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah! It doesn’t have to be some big thing…maybe dinner at the Grill, some pool between couples and a late movie.”
Caroline just looks so hopeful that Elena sighs before putting on a smile. “Okay, I’ll ask.”
----
“Come with me,” Tom requests.
“I can’t come out, tonight’s family night,” Jeremy answers him.
“I’ll have you back by tonight, come on, I need to tell you something,” he cajoles.
“Okay,”
Tom waits until they’re outside, places a hand on Jeremy’s shoulder:
“This, this is massive,” he says in a loud whisper.
“What is?” Jeremy asks, when he doesn’t say anything further.
“I saw something…eating a deer…it was a vampire,”
“You saw a vampire?” Jeremy asks, biting back laughter, and he’s glad; it’s not the patronising indulgence (aw, of course you did, that’s what doped up idiots do) he would get from others he knows.
“This is serious; I know what I saw!”
“Are you ok man, did you do anything stronger today?” Jeremy asks.
“I’ve got an idea, I can prove it to you.”
“You really believe this don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, show me, maybe I’ll get some inspiration for my next drawing.” Jeremy mutters sarcastically.
----
“It’s family night, Elena, you know better than to schedule things on family night,” her mother chastises as she washes dishes in the sink before rinsing them and handing them to Elena.
Elena dries the plate her mother just handed her and puts it away as she pleads. “I’m sorry, Mom, but he was being all sweet and romantic and he gave me flowers! And then at lunch, Caroline just looked so hopeful and she has been so down lately after that whole thing with Jimmy Reed. I couldn’t say no. Just this once, I promise I will never bail on family night ever again, but this is important!”
Miranda sighs and relents. “Just this once, and you’re the one who has to explain it to your father!”
Elena squeals and hugs her mother. “I love you, I love you, thank you so much!”
----
Alaric peruses his weapon stash laid out in front of him, strapping stakes to his thighs, Vervain grenades to his hips, and crossbow bolts to his arms. When he’s ready he glances at his watch; he needs to leave now to get to Gabe’s dorm room before sunset. He picks up a mostly empty wine bottle as he heads out.
He takes a seat on the steps leading up to the halls, and waits.
“Hey! Gabe!” Alaric bellows affecting his voice with a drunken slur, he waves his bottle around.
“Hello friend,” Gabe replies, mischief twinkling in his eyes, and Alaric knows he has to move quickly or he’ll become food.
Still, he waits a minute, walking beside Gabe until they’re in a less populated area.
“I’ll let you finish this, if you buy me another,” Alaric drawls, pushing the bottle against Gabe’s chest, and slinging an arm around Gabe’s shoulders in the process.
From there it’s just a matter of slipping the Vervain dart out of his sleeve and sticking it in his shoulder. Alaric fumbles. The dart is visible in his hand. Holds his breath. Gabe turns.
“Feel like getting high?” Alaric sputters out, wagging the Vervain injection between his fingers.
The vampire narrows his eyes, giving him a measuring look. Alaric decides to make a Hail Mary pass and lets himself stumble to the ground.
Gabe considers him curiously for a moment, and then laughs. He struggles to not let out a relieved breath. As an arm is held out and helps pull him up, Alaric pulls the trigger on one of the crossbow stakes. It goes straight through the vampire’s heart. Alaric simply walks away.
----
“This is a terrible idea,” Jeremy tells him.
“I know,” Tom replies, giving his patented maniacal grin. And before Jeremy can talk him out of it, he lifts his arm and throws as hard as he can. Keeping his grin firmly in place, he swallows nervously, as the egg splats satisfyingly against the door of the Salvatore boarding house.
“Your turn,” he lilts towards his friend.
Tom watches as Jeremy holds the egg in his hand, considering, and looks like he’s studying some archaic sculpture. Tom doesn’t push, just waits for the inevitable.
“There,” Jeremy points at his target just above the door, before letting loose. It hits a window instead. They both laugh.
Tom flings three eggs one after the other, Jeremy hurls two more, minutes tick by and Tom begins to relax. Plan provoke-the-vampire hasn’t resulted in them being killed yet, maybe he was just daydreaming before. Of course that’s the moment when Mr. Salvatore comes out to investigate, not nearly as worrying as the man with him--the vampire.
“That’s him! That’s the vampire!” he whispers urgently at Jeremy, ducking down further in the tall grass.
“He looks like an ordinary…” is all Jeremy has time to say before the vampire is somehow standing in front of them.
“How do you know that; what did you see?” vampire man asks.
“In the woods, I saw you drink that deer’s blood,” Tom blurts, seemingly without any control over the words spilling out.
“You didn’t see anything,” vampire man says with a suggestive tone.
Tom blinks.
“What were we doing?” he asks Jeremy, confusion already blurring into normalcy.
“Throwing eggs; we should go before we get caught.”
“Yeah, there are much better places to fire eggs at anyway--like the sheriff’s office,” Tom says, only half joking.
“Come on, let’s head back,” Jeremy says with amused exasperation.
----
Caroline comes over later and they get ready together and Caroline drives them both to the Grill.
“How did Matt react to the news? I mean, I know he agreed, obviously, but was he disappointed?” Caroline asks as she turns into the parking lot.
Elena shrugs as she unbuckles. “He didn’t seem all that disappointed, actually. Thought it was a great idea and said that he had the perfect guy in mind.”
Caroline grins. “Did he tell you who? Can you tell me?”
Elena shakes her head. “Wouldn’t say. He told me he wanted it to be a surprise.
“Sometimes, surprises are overrated.”
Elena laughs. “He’s just inside the door.”
The walk quickly to the restaurant and look around for their dates.
“Tyler Lockwood?” a frustrated Caroline whispers in Elena’s ear when they spot the pair of guys already sitting at a booth. “Of all the guys he could have chosen, your boyfriend picks Tyler-freaking-Lockwood?”
“Give him a chance, Care,” Elena says sagely as they walk to the table before sliding in to sit next to her boyfriend.
The waitress, apparently having been informed by Matt or Tyler that they were a party of four, notices their arrival and comes up to them to take their drink orders. Elena recognizes the waitress immediately as Trisha Bradley, she’s a senior this year and is graduating in a few weeks.
Elena smiles at her after ordering her Pepsi and asks her what her plans are following graduation. Trisha smiles at the question. “I’m heading down to Tallahassee this summer to go to FSU,” she answers before fetching their drinks.
Elena watches Caroline watch Tyler as Trisha walks away and smiles at Caroline’s smile when the girls both notice that Tyler pays no attention to the older girl.
----
“I have to call Miranda,” Zach tells him.
“What’re you going to tell her?” Stefan enquires apprehensively.
“The truth.”
“Are you sure that’s for the best?” Stefan says, hard-toned, the last thing he needs is the pitchforks coming out when he’s trying to stop this town from being eaten.
“It’s not like she doesn’t already know you’re a vampire, and she more than anyone doesn’t want her son knowing about all the creatures of the night,” Zach placates, already dialling.
Stefan listens to Zach’s cursory explanation of the day’s events, and doesn’t have to stretch to clearly hear Miranda Gilbert’s reply.
“You had my son compelled?” she asks with alarm, before settling into resigned acceptance, “Okay, I suppose you had to.”
“More troubling; their reaction to seeing a vampire is to egg said vampire’s house,” Zach points out.
“Hmm, yes, anyway, regardless of other issues, I’m sorry about Jeremy egging your place; I’ll be sure to send him by to do some chores to make up for it. But perhaps after your guest leaves.”
“He’s just here to help with the attacks at the university; I’ll let you know when he’s left,” Zach replies.
“I have news on that front; the vampire had actually befriended my sister, he was found, staked.” Miranda says.
“Huh, is Jenna okay?”
“She’s fine, all she knows is the cover story; that he has left the university indefinitely. Anyway I should be going; we’re still trying to figure out who this new vampire hunter is, and whether they’re a threat; I sense an upcoming town fundraising event.”
“I take it everyone’s certain it wasn’t a council member then? We’ll let you know if we find anything on our end.”
“That’s good, speak to you later.”
“Goodbye Miranda.”
----
After a dinner that goes surprisingly well, and three games of pool in which Caroline and Tyler take two of the three wins, Tyler suggests an alternative to the late-night movie. “A guy I know is throwing a party in the woods near Wickery Bridge. We could hang there for a bit.”
Caroline nods in favor of this idea and Matt looks pretty into it himself but, ever the dutiful boyfriend, he looks over to her. “What do you say, Elena?”
Elena bites her lip. “What the hell? We only live once right?”
----
Stefan trudges through the woods towards the spot his contact specified--Zach thinks Stefan’s hunting, because he’s better off not knowing this guy--but if anyone knows who this new vampire hunter is this guy will. He’s just reaching the specified location when he hears something in the distance, focusing his ears in the direction of the sound, he picks up tyres screeching, and a crash--metal on metal--he’s already flashing at top speed in the sound’s direction when there’s a cacophonous splash.
Immediately he attempts to pull the car out of the water, but it’s already two-thirds submerged, and he has nothing to push off on. He begins working at the front door.
“Hold on, I’m getting you out,” Stefan reassures the driver who is looking around in confusion.
“Save them first!” the man shouts, panicked.
Stefan can only hear two heat-beats, “she’s already dead,” Stefan says--as gently as he can whilst knowing there’s no time to spare--gesturing to the woman in the passenger seat.
“No, she’s not! Save them!” the driver argues desperately, attempting to assess passenger seat woman but unable to move.
Stefan moves to the back of the car, ignoring the--suspiciously Damon-like--voice pestering him about how it’s this sort of situation where human blood helps. He tries to pull off the rear door, fighting against the force of water keeping it closed. The driver’s head, barely above the water, begins to nod.
“Hey, stay with me, what’s your name?” Stefan asks; voice strained as he tries to dislodge the top part of the door.
“Grayson Gilbert,” the man replies dazedly.
It occurs to Stefan that the dead woman is probably Miranda Gilbert, who he heard on the phone just earlier today, he sighs.
“Keep talking, tell me what you do?” Stefan says, pushing his fingers in to hold the crack he has made at the top, gasps to stop a scream as said fingers break against the pressure--keeps them in place anyway.
“Doctor,” Grayson murmurs in an increasingly slurred voice.
“That must be great, I used to want to be a doctor, what kind of medicine do you practise?” Stefan urges, aware he’s unlikely to get a response, finally pushing his other hand through at the side of the door.
“Genwarrhgr,” Grayson says, urgently hanging on.
Stefan allows his feet to float up through the water and push against the car, as his hands pull at the door.
“Just a little longer,” Stefan tells Grayson, finally ripping off the door.
Just as Stefan pulls the girl from the car, the driver slips into unconsciousness, pulse slowing. Holding the girl in his arms above the water he finally sees her. Katherine. Is his first thought. Impossible. Is his second. Heartbeat. Is his third, this girl, whoever she is, has a pulse that’s much too faint. He snaps out of his thoughts, and back to the situation.
“Hey!” he bangs on the window, hoping Grayson will at least stir.
“Ok, hold on,” he says softly to the unconscious girl with his old lover’s face, biting into his wrist, he forces the blood between her lips.
Stefan looks back and forth between the girl and the man; his blood in her system won’t stop her from drowning. He knows he can only save one of them. It should be a hard choice, but it’s not.
Credits: bambiscott, bangel_4e, leftofmyheart, simply_aly, swirlsofblue