"She's off the rails again."
Stefan looks out the kitchen window into the backyard. His fiancee Amber is sitting at the picnic table in the middle of a funny anecdote, judging by the way she's gesticulating wildly, her friends and family around her, smiling and laughing. He grins at the sight and then turns his attention back to the phone in his hand.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Damon. But I'm afraid that doesn't really have anything to do with me any more."
Nor with you, he thinks, but he leaves the words unspoken. Damon could never see reason when it came to Elena, couldn't let go even though what they'd once had had been fleeting and was now long gone.
The doorbell rings, and Stefan lets out a sigh of relief.
"I gotta go," he says quickly, cutting off Damon in the middle of a sentence. "I'll let you know if I hear something."
(He has no intention of doing any such thing.)
He shuts off his cell without waiting for Damon's goodbye and heads to the front door. One of their friends, Steve, was an ER doctor who'd said he might arrive late; Stefan assumes it's him. He reaches the door and opens it.
"'Bout time you—" Stefan freezes mid sentence, his eyes widening in shock at first and then narrowing in distrust. Fuck.
"Hello, Stefan. Miss me?"
oOoOo
"She's lovely."
Stefan looks up from loading the dishwasher, giving Elena a wary look. He holds his breath, listening for a moment, relaxing only when he hears Amber upstairs on the phone with her sister. He'd spent most of the day keeping an apprehensive eye on Elena, observing her with the others, searching for any indication that what Damon had said was true, but her behavior had seemed friendly and genuine. He doesn't that she's flipped the switch again. He'd come to know that Elena only too well over the years, and he finds no sign of her.
"Yeah," he says, his face softening at the thought of his fiancee. "She's the best thing that ever happened to me."
An odd look crosses Elena's face and Stefan can't help but feel a pang of satisfaction. He's long been over her, but he'd never forgotten how it had felt, when she'd picked Damon over him. It's taken him years to get over her and find someone like Amber, who loves him unconditionally and sees Damon as nothing more than a charming, amusing friend.
"That's lovely." Elena's lips curve upwards in the semblance of a smile, but her eyes remain cold. "I'm happy for you, Stefan. You deserve the best. When's the wedding?"
"Thanks. We're getting married in June."
"How romantic." Her tone is sarcastic, and Stefan braces himself. "You didn't invite me."
Stefan shrugs, glancing out the window. The backyard is dark, but he can see her reflection in the glass, distorted, ugly. A shiver of foreboding runs down his spine and he forces himself to look away.
"No," he says, turning back to the sink. "I didn't."
She's silent for a moment, but he can hear her behind him. Pulling out a stool, she sits down at the island counter and pours herself a glass from the open bottle of wine.
"Damon says you're in a little trouble again," he says finally, glancing at her over his shoulder.
Elena laughs. "Of course he'd say that," she says. "He hates it when he can't control me. Or that he doesn't have the 'right' to anymore." Her voice is slightly bitter as she raises the glass to her lips, taking a sip as she gives him a calculating gaze. "But you never did. Try to control me."
Stefan sighs as he hangs the dishcloth on the stove handle.
"No," he says matter-of-factly, "I didn't. But you know Damon."
"Oh, yeah." Elena snorts. "I know Damon all right." She gets to her feet. "It's getting late. I'd better get going."
Stefan looks at her in surprise. "Where are you staying?" He wonders for a moment if he should ask her to spend the night in the guest room, but then realizes he doesn't want her in the house with Amber.
"At a hotel a few blocks from here." She must have read something of what he's thinking on his face because she shakes her head. "And don't worry, you don't have to invite me to stay. I just wanted to see how you were doing."
Stefan nods. "It was good to see you again, Elena."
He isn't lying, he realizes. He really does miss her sometimes, at least the person she'd once been before the darkness destroyed her soul almost completely. Elena looks at him for a long moment and then she smiles, tears glistening in her eyes, and before he knows what he's about, he's holding her, his nose buried in her soft hair, her still-sweet scent enveloping him. After a few moments, she extricates herself from his embrace and leaves without a word.
oOoOo
When she finds out that Stefan let Elena stay at a hotel, Amber scolds him and insists that Elena stay in the guest room. Stefan tries to talk her out of it, but she's adamant. She doesn't care that Elena is an ex—the ex even—she is secure in Stefan's love for her. Stefan feels guilty; she knows that he's a vampire, but he's only hinted at the things he capable of, at the bad things he's done. He doesn't want to frighten her by telling her about the "ripper"; he's past that now. He's healed, and it was her love that healed him, he tells himself. And that's why he gives Elena another chance. If she is troubled, like Damon says, maybe his friendship and support can guide her. For her part, Amber opens her heart to Elena, and they are fast friends.
Damon keeps call him, cajoling him to help. Elena is with him during one of the calls, her eyes gleaming with a malicious glint as Stefan smoothly lies for her. When he hangs up, she laughs and leans forward. Stefan's heart skips a beat as her familiar scent, tinged with blood, fills her senses and he wonders if she's going to kiss him.
"Naughty Stefan" is all she says and she darts away, skipping from the room as his eyes follow her.
oOoOo
The next day, he gives in. He drags Elena into the pantry as Amber and her sister watch some romantic comedy in the living room. He slides his hand up her skirt and lifts her, setting her on the deep freezer. As he leans in for a kiss, Elena stops him with a finger on his lips.
"Amber is everything that is good and honest and pure, Stefan," Elena whispers. "When will you learn that girls like that are not for you?"
Stefan bites her finger, drawing blood, and she gasps in pain and delight, pulling him closer as she licks the blood off his lips and thrusts her tongue into his mouth with a moan. He rips aside her panties and thrusts inside her roughly, and they rut mindlessly on the freezer as his fiancee giggles with her friends in the other room.
oOoOo
He isn't gone long, less than an hour. They've run out of hamburger buns, of all things, and so Stefan hurries to the grocery store. The moment he gets home and walks in the door, he knows something is wrong. He smells it, the blood lying cloyingly in the air, and his teeth start to ache. He drops the grocery bag and he follows the smell, stopping in the door way of the living room. The room is strewn with the bodies of Amber's family and friends, and Elena is still drinking from Amber's best friend, while Amber herself, the only one alive, sits in a corner, sobbing as she watches in horror. Elena looks up and grins at Stefan.
"Sorry," she says with a shrug. "I got bored with your suburban dream. But I left the best piece for you."
Stefan rushes to Amber's side, pulling her to her feet. He can hear her heart beating frantically, awakening his instincts.
"Stefan," she sobs. "Help me. She's insane."
"Amber," he whispers, stroking her cheek. "You have to run. And don't look back."
She stares at him in shock for the briefest of moments and then she jumps to her feet, racing to the door. Stefan is already blocking the way when she reaches it and he grabs her.
"Sorry," he says, "Too slow," and then he sinks his teeth into her neck, just barely cognizant of her screams and Elena's laughter as he realizes he's home.