Book: Cry Wolf
Chapter 19 (1x19)
Word Count: 3724
February 7, 2010
In Alaric's History Class, Scarlett sat in the back, fiddling with her red hair as she listened to Alaric drone on.
"Okay, this week, we're gonna set outside our regular curriculum for a lesson in local history as we approach Founders' Day. Apparently, the community leaders feels it's more important than World War 2 but hey what do I know?"
Bonnie interrupted him by entering and crossing the classroom to find her seat.
"Sorry I'm late."
"Well, it looks like we will be at full occupancy today. Welcome home, Bonnie." Alaric spoke.
---
Bonnie was walking, reading papers, when she stumbled forward by somebody jumping on her back.
"Bonnie! You're back!"
"Hey, Eliza." Bonnie chuckled, recognising that voice anywhere as Elizabeth slipped off of her back.
"I missed you!" Elizabeth exclaimed, pulling Bonnie into a tight hug.
"We were literally on the phone yesterday." Bonnie reminded with a small smile of amusement, hugging her best friend back.
"So what, I can't miss my bestie?" Elizabeth grinned, pulling away from the hug. "So, anyway, how are you? How's your family?"
"We're dealing, it's been hard." Bonnie sighed sadly. "I just had so much to deal with after Grams' funeral and, honestly after Elena told me the tomb spell failed, I just didn't really want to come back."
"Yeah, honestly, I've been pretty out of the loop since the tomb spell ordeal. They all just see me as a dumb kid who can't handle the important stuff." Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "So whatever is going on with the tomb vampires, I have no clue about any of it."
"Bonnie! Bonnie! Thank god you're home!" Caroline suddenly rushed over to the pair, pulling Bonnie into a hug. "I know we talked everyday but I missed you."
"Wow, so you will talk to Bon more than your own sister?" Elizabeth scoffed playfully. "Ouch, Care."
"Actually, I'm glad you're here, Eliza." Caroline turned towards her younger sister. "Major wardrobe problem. You need to help me pick up the perfect dress for the Founders' court since your fashion sense is, as much as I hate to admit it, better than mine."
"I know." Elizabeth smirked. "Of course I'll help you. So, the Founder's Court. I might sign up next year."
"The Founders' court?" A different voice cut in. The three girls turned at the voice to see Elena had overheard. "Did I miss something?"
"The Founders' court! You know, Miss Mystic Falls." Caroline responded. "They announced it today and you and I are both on it."
"Oh my god..." Elena's face fell into one of recognition. "We signed up for that so long ago... I completely forgot."
"So, are you dropping out then?" Caroline asked, looking almost hopeful.
"I can't." Elena sighed sadly, glancing at Elizabeth and Bonnie.
"Her mom is the one who wanted her to enter." Olivia informed her older sister.
---
Elena was in the kitchen. She opened the fridge and took a bottle of water. She was on the phone with Cassandra.
"So, that's a no?"
"I've always wanted to be apart of the Miss Mystic Falls festivities, Elena. I mean, I was at the very first one, and it was fun but... escorts are supposed to be male only. It's a strict stereotype."
"What? Why?"
"Because we apparently still live in a homophobic world. It's stupid, I know."
"Oh... but if you were allowed to be my Miss Mystic escort, what would you say?"
"I'd say yes, of course. It would be great to escort my friend and I'm sorry I can't."
"Friend?"
"Yes, Elena. Friend."
"Okay, I can take the hint, but I'm still not giving up. Um, do you know anyone else who would be alright escorting me? I know it's last minute, but I completely forgot about Miss Mystic until today."
"I can ask Stefan. We both know he still has a bit of a thing for you, no matter how hard he tries to hide it. He'll probably jump at the chance to escort you. I'll ask him tonight and let you know."
"Okay, thanks. Talk soon, Cassie."
"Yep, bye, Elena."
---
The Founders' Court girls were putting their make up on. Samara was curling Elena's hair.
"Thanks for helping me." Elena spoke gratefully.
"No problem. I'm a pro." Samara joked. "Happy to help you look even more beautiful than you already are, baby sis."
"You know I remember when mom and I were first applying for this, she was so excited." Elena reminisced.
"I remember, too. She got so upset when I told her last year that Miss Mystic wasn't my thing so she turned to you." Samara chuckled. "If I recall, you were just as excited as she was."
"I was. She just made it sound like so much fun." Elena sighed. "Lots has changed since then."
"You're not getting cold feet, are you, Lenabug?" Samara noticed, almost finished curling the last section of Elena's hair.
"I don't have cold feet." Elena reassured. "I just... I think I'd be enjoying it a lot more if she was here."
"I miss her, too, Lena. Mom, dad... our happy, normal, nuclear family. But you still have me, Jeremy, and Jenna. We're always going to be there for each other." Samara pointed out to try and cheer Elena up.
"I know." Elena smiled as Samara finished the final touches in her hair. "Okay, I should go put my dress on. I'll see you down there, Sam."
Elena stood up and left to get dressed.
---
Cassandra was downstairs, grabbing a drink from a tray that was being carried around and slightly swaying to the music in her beautiful dark purple dress. She turned around, only to stop in her tracks when she saw Damon stood there.
"Can't you just walk over like a normal person instead of sneaking up on me?" Cassandra rolled her eyes.
"We need to talk." Damon muttered, looking rather serious for him, his usual humor gone from his features. Cassandra immediately picked up on it.
"What's wrong, Damon?"
"Stefan's still drinking human blood, Cass." Damon admitted, catching Cassandra by surprise.
"What? No, he's not. I would've noticed."
"I guess you're not as observant as you thought." Damon shrugged. "Amonth ago, I would have rejoiced, but with the council back on the alert, it is not a good time for Stefan to fly off the handle."
"How'd you find out?" Cassandra asked. "That he's still on the human stuff?"
"He has a fridge full of stolen blood bank contraband in the house."
"What?" Cassandra frowned. "I would've smelt it if Stefan was bringing blood bags into the house."
"You have a fridge of blood bags of your own, don't you? You probably did smell them, just thought it was your own supply." Damon pointed out.
Before Cassandra could reply, they were approached by Stefan.
"What's going on?"
"Speak of the devil." Cassandra muttered.
"I was just filling our dear sister in on your extra-curricular activities." Damon informed, and Stefan played oblivious.
"What are you talking about?"
"I know about the blood." Cassandra snapped at her younger brother. "Why the hell wouldn't you tell me? I thought we were closer than that. I could've helped you with the blood lust, Stef."
"I'm, uh... going to grab a drink." Damon left. Stefan sighed and watched him leave before turning back to Cassandra.
"We are close, Cassie. I was going to tell you."
"When?"
"Look, I'm fine, okay? Come on, Cassie. Out of everyone, I thought you would atleast take my side." Stefan said. Once again, Cassandra rolled her eyes.
"There are no sides. You've been sipping on people blood and you kept that from me. We don't keep secrets, Stef." Cassandra looked around. "The Founder's Ball is about to officially commence or whatever. We'll talk about this later."
And with that, Cassandra walked off.
---
The escorts, the Mayor and the crowd of guests were waiting for the Founders' Court girls. Mayor Lockwood was announcing the girls one by one.
"Miss Tina Fell, escorted by Bartholomew Whitmore."
A pretty blonde descended the staircase, linking arms with her escort and heading outside with him to wait for the other girls and their own escorts.
"Miss Caroline Forbes and her escort Jeffrey Lockwood-Hamilton."
Caroline came down the stairs next and linked arms with her fill-in escort since Matt wasn't able to get out of work. They headed outside together.
---
Jeremy and Scarlett were stood off to the side of the Founder's Hall, talking.
"Okay, I'm not even gonna comment on the fact that you invaded your sister's privacy." Scarlett chuckled. "What did you find in Elena's journal?"
"Take a look for yourself." Jeremy reached into the small bag he'd brought with him and pulled out Elena's journal. "I have to put it back before she norices it's gone."
Scarlett took the journal and began flipping through it.
"Depressing, depressing, depressing."
"Try page six. That's where it starts getting interesting." Jeremy muttered, so Scarlett flipped to that page and began to read.
I am not a believer. People are born, they grow old, and then they die. That's the world we live in. There's no magic, no mysticism, no immortality. There is nothing that defies rational thought. People are supposed to be who they say they are, and not lie or hide their true selves. It's not possible. I'm not a believer. I can't be. But, how can I deny what's right in front of me? Someone who never gets old, never gets hurt. Someone who changes in ways that can't be explained. Girls bitten. Bodies drained of blood.
"Bodies drained of blood? Bitten? Is she describing the animal attacks?" Scarlett questioned. "What's all this talk about immortality? She writing a book or something?"
"It's not animal attacks, Scar. It never was." Jeremy revealed to his girlfriends. "You know I would never keep anything from you, so I need to tell you... it's vampires. They exist."
"Okay, funny." Scarlett chuckled, not believing a word of it. "Are you drunk already? You know I think you're hot when you drink."
"Thank you." Jeremy smirked, before going serious again. "But it's true, I swear. Look at this page..." Jeremy took the journal and flipped to another page. "Read this."
How could I let Vicki get involved with my brother? Vicki was a monster. A vampire. I had to protect him. He was in love with a vampire, and I know what that's like. He is in danger. And when he watched Vicki die, it was like mom and dad dying all over again. So, I asked Damon to take away Jeremy's pain...
"Maybe Elena's writing a book?" Scarlett suggested, but even she knew that there must've been some truth to what Jeremy was saying.
"You have to believe me, Scar. I need you to believe me." Jeremy said. "Vampires are real. The Salvatores are vampires, all three of them. I'm not sure who else, but both of my sisters know about it."
Scarlett began to think about it. About the deaths that had recently happened in the small town. Bite marks on the necks on all of the victims, all blood gone from their bodies... and the deaths only begun when the Salvatores arrived in town.
"I believe you, Jer..."
---
Mayor Lockwood was still announcing the names of the Founders' Court girls.
"Miss Elena Gilbert, escorted by Mister Stefan Salvatore."
Cassandra looked towards the bottom of the stairs where the escorts were lined up. Stefan wasn't there. She hadn't seen him since they'd had their mini argument.
Elena began to head down the stairs.
"Where the hell are you, Stefan?" Cassandra whispered to herself, looking around. Stefan was nowhere to be seen.
Cassandra knew that Elena would feel so embarrassed if she were to linger around the bottom of the staircase escort-less, so she did the first thing that came to mind. She nudged through the crowd to get to the bottom of the staircase, waiting there for Elena, who looked surprised but pleased to see her stood there.
"Where is Stefan?" Elena whispered as she reached the bottom of the staircase.
"I don't know." Cassandra whispered back, taking Elena's hand. They rejoined the others girls and their escorts outside.
The couples took their positions for the dance. They bowed and curtsied to their respective partner.
"What about the whole 'homophobic world' thing?" Elena chuckled as she curtsied to Cassandra.
"I guess I don't care." Cassandra smirked.
The girls and their escorts began to dance. Cassandra remembered all of the steps from when Katherine had persuaded her to practice with her back in 1864. It gave Cassandra a weird sense of Déjà Vu.
She and Elena locked eyes as they performed the first part of the dance flawlessly before joining together in a waltz.
As the music ended, the two girls returned to their original positions opposite of each other. Elena smiled at Cassandra, happy that she was able to dance with the person whom she wanted to all along. Cassandra tried to smile genuinely back, but her mind was swamped with worries over Stefan and where he was.
---
The Founders' Court girls were on the stage with Mayor Lockwood, who was speaking to the audience.
"Before I crown the winner, I'd like to offer a personal thank you to all of these young ladies for their efforts to better our community. So, without further ado, it is my honor to announce our very own Miss Mystic Falls, Miss Caroline Forbes!"
A very happy Caroline stepped forward and Mayor Lockwood placed the 'Miss Mystic Falls' banner around her shoulder.
---
Cassandra had another drink in her hand, observing the crowd, when Damon approached her.
"Finally learned not to sneak up on me then, did you?" Cassandra turned towards her older brother. "Did you find Stefan?"
"There were signs of a struggle in the upstairs bathroom." Damon informed, looking rather nervous. "There was blood and that Amber girl is missing."
"Stefan isn't one to hurt anyone, but he's out of control when he's on human blood. It controls him..." Cassandra muttered worriedly. "It also doesn't help that he's never tried to build up a tolerance for it like you and I have."
"Let's just find him, okay?" Damon said. Cassandra nodded and the two left.
---
Cassandra and Damon had been heading through the woods when they'd picked up the sounds of screams with their enhanced hearing and had vamp-sped to the scene, only to find Stefan feeding on one of the Founders' Court girls, Amber.
"Hey! Stefan, stop!" Cassandra sped closer and pulled Stefan off of Amber.
"Stefan, come on, get control. It's okay, come on." Damon walked over to them. "Breath through it, man."
Stefan grabbed Damon's arm and threw him against a tree, but Damon was quick to get back to his feet.
"Knock it off!" Cassandra yelled at her younger brother. "I mean it, Stefan. Pull yourself together."
All the sudden, Stefan groaned and grabbed his head, yelling out in pain. Cassandra looked around in confusion and noticed that Elena, Samara, Rosalie, Elizabeth, and Bonnie had all clearly followed them and were stood a few feet away. Bonnie was glaring at Stefan, using her witch abilities to give him an aneurysm.
"That's enough. He's had enough!" Cassandra snapped at Bonnie, who released the spell, and then turned back to Stefan. "Stef... it's okay." She held out her hand. "Come on. Let's go home."
Stefan stared at his sister's outstretched hand for a minute before stumbling backwards and turning, running off.
---
The police had arrived to get Amber the treatment she needed. Sheriff Forbes walked up to Damon, Cassandra, Elena, Samara, Rosalie, Elizabeth, and Bonnie.
"She doesn't remember what happened."
"It's a good thing the girls got here when they did. She lost a lot of blood." Damon spoke. Sheriff Forbes turned to all of the girls.
"You didn't see anything?"
"No, we just found her and then I called my brother." Cassandra lied.
"Is she gonna be okay?" Samara asked.
"It looks like it, yeah." The Sheriff reassured. "Why don't you girls get back to the party? Damon and I can take it from here."
"Mom..." Elizabeth sighed. "I want to help. Amber was hurt--"
"Damon and I will handle it, don't worry." Sheriff Forbes told her daughter. "I'll see you at home, okay?"
"Fine." Elizabeth gave in, leaving with the girls. Elena turned and noticed that Rosalie was staring hard at the floor as they walked, her fists clenched at her side.
"Rose? Are you okay?"
"It's a full moon soon." Rosalie pointed out. "I'm just feeling on-edge. I'm fine."
"Right. Full moon." Elena had almost forgotten that Rosalie was a werewolf. "How are you doing with that?"
"The transformations still hurt. A lot. But I've gotten better at controlling it. I figured out that if I just stop fighting the pain, it hurts less and it's over quicker, so..." Rosalie shrugged. "It's like I black out once I turn, though. I learnt that after my first transformation. I wake up and I can't remember anything, so to make sure I don't hurt anyone, I have to go deep into the woods and chain myself to a tree. It's hard to find chains that are strong enough to hold me though. I need to find a better place to turn."
"Let me know if you ever need help with anything, okay?" Elena muttered. Rosalie nodded and shot her a grateful smile as the two of them made it back to the Founders Hall with the other girls.
---
Stefan entered in his bedroom, running his hands through his hair as he tried to calm himself down. Samara arrived, leaning against the door frame.
"Hey, Broody."
"What are you doing here?" Stefan asked, his tone rough, his eyebrows pulled together.
"Oh, nothing." Samara shrugged, walking further into the room. "Just came to see if you were alright. You're not gonna eat me, are you?" But Samara frowned when Stefan's head snapped to her, his eyes wide with guilt. "Sorry... that was too far."
"You need to leave." Stefan snapped at her. "I'm a monster, Sam. A predator. Leave, I don't want to hurt you."
"Oh, please. If I thought you were going to hurt me, I wouldn't be here." Samara scoffed. "You need to have faith in yourself."
"Get out!" Stefan raised his voice.
"Okay, stop! I'm not some girlfriend that you can boss around whenever you want, Stefan!" Samara snapped, walking closer to him. "I am here as your friend who is worried about you!"
"I..." Stefan sighed, closing his eyes for a moment in an another attempt to calm himself down. "I wanted to drain every ounce of blood from that girl's body. It's who I am."
"See? This is what I mean. You don't believe in yourself one bit." Samara pointed out. "The blood controls you. You need to learn how to control it."
"No... I can't."
"Yes, you can." Samara walked even closer to Stefan, causing him to stumble back. "I believe in you."
"Stop. Stay there." Stefan kept walking back, but Samara continued to approach him. "Stop it! I... I could hurt you, Sam."
"So, hurt me." Samara shrugged nonchalantly as Stefan walked back until his back hit the wall. Samara stood right in front of him. "I'm the one who gave you the blood in the first place. Hurt me. Kill me if you want. Get it all out of your system. Come on."
"No..." Stefan looked to be struggling. Samara moved her hair off of her shoulder, revealing her neck, which Stefan's eyes were glued to. "No... I don't want to hurt you." Stefan raised his hand, running his fingertips over Samara's neck. He looked as if he were about to attack her, until he eventually grabbed Samara's hair gently, placing it back over her shoulder to shield her neck. "I can't."
"See?" Samara smiled. "You didn't lose control. You can do this, Stefan."
Stefan stared at her before he began to sink to the floor, his body shaking as he began to cry. Samara knelt down in front of him, pulling him forward into her arms as Stefan began to cry on her shoulder.
"It's okay..." Samara rubbed his back. "You'll be okay."
"How can you still have faith in me, Sam?" Stefan asked in between soft cries, his words muffled in his shoulder.
"I have faith in many things." Samara replied. "You're at the very top of my list."
"I don't know what's happening to me." Stefan sobbed. Samara softly shushed him, continuing to rub his back soothingly.
"You're embracing your true nature, Stefan. It's who you are. There's nothing wrong with that." She quietly reached into her pocket, pulling out a vervain dart. "You'll be okay. Everything's going to be okay. I'm so sorry..." And with that, Samara raised the vervain dart and stabbed it into Stefan's back.
Stefan tensed up immediately, lifting his head from Samara's shoulder to look at her. Guilt flooded Samara as Stefan succumbed to the vervain, falling against her, unconscious.
Footsteps were heard entering the room. Samara looked over to see Damon, Cassandra, and Elena stood there.
"Why did you make me do this?" Samara complained.
"You're the most convincing." Damon shrugged. "Come on, let's get him into the basement."
So, Cassandra and Damon worked together to get the unconscious Stefan downstairs and into the basement, placing him inside one of the cells. Cassandra then locked the cell door, staring through the bars in the door at her brother.
There's no guarantee it's going to work." Damon pointed out.
"It has to." Cassandra muttered. "I'm not going to give up on him. He's our brother, Damon."
"I better head home. It's my turn to make dinner." Samara said. "Coming, Lena?"
"Yeah." Elena then glanced at Cassandra and Damon. "See you guys tomorrow."
The Gilbert sisters then left. Damon went to head back upstairs before noticing that Cassandra hadn't moved.
"Coming?"
"I'm not leaving him." Cassandra admitted, sliding down the wall beside the cell door, resting her back against the wall. Damon looked at her for a moment before walking over and taking a seat beside her.
Cassandra shot him a small smile, resting her head on Damon's shoulder.