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“All right, the shots are a bribe. I need you to answer a question. What are you really doing in Mystic Falls?”
Damon looks between said shots and Lexi Branson, his brother’s best friend and the one hundred and forty-five year old thorn in his side. Gone are the soft edges and warmish smiles, replaced with a knowing wariness of him and a hint of something dangerous. She has over two hundred years on him and she’ll use it. He’s not stupid enough to pretend he doesn’t deserve it.
He grabs one of the shots and downs it. “Have you tried the Brittle? It wins awards.”
“Cut the crap.”
“Okay.” Damon clicks his tongue, briefly considering what to say. He might as well come out with it - well, some of it - his plan will come into effect any minute now. “I have a diabolical master plan.”
Lexi nods once, unsurprised. “What is it?”
“If I told you it wouldn’t be very diabolical now, would it?”
The door opens and Damon works to keep from smiling. They’re almost there. From the corner of his eye, he watches Sheriff Forbes lead the young woman. They look around and the girl points right at them. Well, one of them. A deputy takes the girl out, leaving the Sheriff to make her way over alone. Damon makes sure the majority of his eye line is focused on Lexi, enough for her not to notice he’s focused on something else while she’s focused on him. Trying to sus him out.
Sheriff Forbes turns to Damon first, mouth open as though to speak to him. The frown he gives her is just confused enough to be real. Then she twists her hand, quick to inject Lexi with vervain. He gets to his feet, forcing his confusion to stick. “What are you doing?”
“Thank you for the vervain. Now if you’ll excuse me.”
The Sheriff’s too focused on her vampire to look back and Damon doesn’t wait to watch them leave, sneaking off between passersby and disappearing out the back. He doesn’t stop running until he’s in the parking lot, yards away from the police cars so not to be spotted until he’s ready. He feels the stake inside his jacket, ready and waiting. It doesn’t take the sheriff and her deputies long to drag a half-out Lexi, and they’re almost to one of the cars when the vervain wears off enough for her to throw the officers off her. Idiots got their dose wrong.
Sheriff Forbes pulls out her gun and fires. Wooden bullets, Damon guesses. They make Lexi pause, but they miss her heart and she’s too strong. She steps closer, closer. Damon watches until Lexi’s almost to the sheriff, then pounces, plunging the stake into Lexi’s heart.
“Why?”
“It’s part of the plan,” he whispers back, pushing it in even further until her skin begins to desiccate and she crumbles to the floor. It’s an odd feeling, watching her die. Something inside stirs, but he pushes it away before he can name it and turns to the sheriff. “You okay?”
Her nod is shaky. “Thank you. Get her in the car quickly.”
“I’ll take care of her. You should get back, make sure nobody noticed. Make sure your deputies are okay.”
“Thank you,” she says again. “Pretty handy with that stake.”
“It… just… reflex. I guess the adrenaline kicked in.”
The sheriff sighs, a look of relief ghosting her face. “This nightmare is finally over.”
“You got a lucky break. I’m glad.” He picks up the body, making an effort to pretend it’s hard. “Go, I’ve got this.”
He eases Lexi into the back of his car, really not looking forward to explaining this to Stefan, and gets in the front. He’s gotta be quick, get to the house first. Stefan was in the Grill; he lost track of his brother to focus on the plan. God only knows what he saw and what he’s doing now.
***
Elena tries to grab Stefan, but he walks too quickly - not for a vampire, but still for a human - shaking her off when her fingers graze his arm. “Stefan. Stefan!”
“He killed her!” He spins back her way, his face hard with anger and horror and pain. “He killed Zach. He killed Tanner. He turned Vicki. I have to kill him.”
“No, you can’t do that.”
“Why are you trying to save him?” he asks, almost begs, as if the answer isn’t immediately obvious. “Elena, he’s never gonna change. Don’t you see that? He’s never gonna change!”
Her second attempt to grab him is just as futile. “I’m not trying to save him, I’m trying to save you. You have no idea what this will do to you. Please, Stefan.”
“Everywhere I go, pain and death follow,” he mutters, seemingly to himself now, his pacing frantic. “Damon follows me. No more.”
She manages to follow well enough until he starts to pick up the pace. “Stefan please. Please talk to me. Let me be here for you.”
“No. You were right to stay away from me.”
Her third attempt is easier. Stefan falters, just a moment. Just enough for her to grab his hand and hold on as tight as humanly possible. The grip makes him pause; he’d never pull away hard enough to hurt her. “At least let me take you home.”
Despite her hope, Elena’s surprised when he agrees. He even lets her lead him to her car. She drives quick, the tense silence making her uneasy. Who knows what Stefan’s thinking, what he’s imagining, everything he’s planning to do to his brother that he won’t share with her. She presses her foot on the gas harder.
Stefan’s out of the car before she’s finished parking. Elena rushes to follow, only to slam into his back at the foyer’s entrance.
Lexi’s on the couch, skin grey, the stake still lodged in her chest. The sight makes her sick, barely an hour ago they were talking, confiding in each other about Elena’s feelings for Stefan, her fears, how much Lexi understood. Now she’s gone.
The click of boots on wood forces their head to the dining table and Damon steps in, blood bag in one hand and a tumbler of bourbon in the other. Elena takes Stefan’s hand, but he doesn’t move anyway; he’s too still, too pale. Barely able to watch his brother make his way to Lexi.
Then the weirdest thing happens.
Damon pulls out the stake, juggling the movement with the blood bag, then bites into said blood bag and presses the open edge to Lexi’s mouth. Nothing happens at first, except for the blood pooling around the corners of her mouth. Most of it goes down, though, and finally Lexi moves. Her skin brightens, alive and healthy, and she finds the blood bag, feeding herself. Damon steps away, back hitting the wall near the dining table, his face stoic. Too passive to truly be unconcerned.
Lexi sits up with a gasp, free hand on her healed heart. Her eyes find Damon. “What? How?”
Damon holds up the stake. “Plastic. Looks real enough in the dark, doesn’t it? Figured it would come in handy.”
Stefan takes a hesitant step forward. “Why did you do this?”
“Town’s vampire problem needed taking care of. Couldn’t be one of us and she was the only other one here. Now they’ve stopped looking.”
“So you staked me?” Lexi snaps.
Damon drops it onto the floor. “You’ll live. But I suggest you leave before sun-up. Can’t have them knowing you’re still alive; they’ll come for all of us.”
“Should I thank you or hurt you?” she calls out as he walks away.
He pauses in the hallway, where he’d thrown his jacket, and rummages through it, pulling out another stake and throwing that to the floor, too. Elena picks it up with slow, shaking hands. It’s almost identical to the plastic one, the same size and shape, only this is real wood. She can feel the ridges and grooves beneath her fingers, whereas she can tell from across the room that the plastic stake is smooth all the way around.
“Don’t thank me,” he says, his voice hollow. “I was gonna kill you.”
“Why didn’t you?”
He doesn’t look her way, doesn’t look at any of them. “I owed you.”
Damon vamp-runs upstairs. It breaks whatever spell kept Stefan frozen; he rushes over to join Lexi on the couch. “Are you okay?”
Lexi flops backwards, finishing the blood bag before speaking. “Sore, but I think I’ll live.”
“What did he mean, he owed you?” Elena asks.
“It - it’s a long story,” Lexi mumbles. She doesn’t say any more and Elena knows better than to push it. Lexi’s alive, right now that’s all that matters. “I should go. Damon’s right about one thing; this town thinks I’m the vampire killing people around here, I can’t stick around.”
Stefan pushes her back down; she’s too weak or too tired, either way she doesn’t stop it. “Hide here, pick a room, get some sleep. Leave tomorrow night. We’re out of the way, they think you’re dead and that Damon killed you. No one will look here.”
Elena backs away slowly; it’s probably safe to say Stefan won’t be killing Damon tonight. “It’s getting late, I’ll leave you to it. I’m glad you’re okay, Lexi.”
“See you around, Elena. It was good to meet you. Sorry it ended so badly.”
“You’re not the one who should be saying sorry. Good night, Stefan.”
He makes to stand, his steps hesitant. He clearly doesn’t want to leave his friend’s side right now. And she doesn’t expect or want him to; she holds up a hand, gesturing for him to sit. He does. “Good night, Elena.”
Outside, Elena forces herself to breathe, head up towards the windows. She doesn’t know where Damon’s bedroom is; he’s always downstairs or bugging Stefan in his. But she imagines he’s there, running through the night in his mind, wondering if he made the right choice.
And Elena watches for any sign of him, wondering what the hell even happened.