Edited on 2/25/12

Chapter Two-The Hybrid

You two just can't stay away, can you?" Damon asked as Elena and I walked into his room

"Nope." I said

"You've been dodging my calls." Elena said

"Well, busy day." he explained, " Dead fake girlfriend and all."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Elena asked

"Happy birthday, Elena. Stefan killed Andie and almost killed Audrey. Cake?"

"He called me, Damon." Elena said

"He did what now?" I asked her

"What did he say?" Damon asked curiously

"He didn't say anything, but it was him. I asked sheriff Forbes if she would trace the call's origin. It came from Tennessee." Elena said

"Where he's binge drinking on the country folk." I added

"We went through this, Elena." Damon said, " Stefan's gone. And I don't mean geographically.

"If he was gone he wouldn't have called me." Elena argued before walking out of the room

"I'm sorry about Andie, Damon." I told him before following Elena


"This is a bad idea." I told Elena as we walked up to Ric's apartment

"I need to find Stefan and Damon is obviously not going to help me." Elena said, " You could have left at anytime."

"And leave you alone to get yourself killed

When we got to Ric's door Elena knocked politely.

"Move over." I said before cop knocking on the door.

"Go away, Damon." Ric yelled from behind the door

I continued to knock until Ric opened the door.

"Hi." Elena greeted to the shirtless Ric

"You're not who I expected." he said

"We can see that." I smirked

"I need you to tell me everything you know about Stefan and Tennessee." Elena told him

"Did you miss the part where I checked out of all of this?" Alaric asked moving away from the door.

"Come on Ric." Elena said, walking into the apartment after him, " Whatever Damon knows, you know."

"He tells you more than he tells me." I said walking in after Elena and closing the door

"Ask Damon." he told us, putting on a shirt

" Yeah, but Damon's not exactly in the mood to help right now." Elena explained as she picked up some of the beer bottles that were strewn across the room.

"For good reason. Because it's not safe for either of you. Stefan's off the rails." Ric told her

"Yeah, but he's still holding on to his humanity, which means he can still be saved ." Elena argued

"Trying to kill me is definitely holding on to his humanity." I said sarcastically, leaning on the closed door

" And why do you have to be the one to save him?" Ric asked, ignoring me

"Because I'm not the kind of person who checks out." Elena retorted, "Look, he would never give up on me. I'm not gonna give up on him. Tell me what you know, Ric. Please."

"They've been tracking werewolves, he and Klaus. All over the eastern seaboard. We thought we had 'em just outside of Memphis…"

"We were ever so close."

"We?" Elena asked me

"Yeah, I went to but you never asked me about Tennessee." I said

"Continue Ric." Elena said, turning back to him


We got to the Grill and we all went our separate ways. Elena to talk to Tyler about werewolves in Tennessee, Alaric to the bar, and me to talk Jer.

"Hey Jer." I said

"Hey Audrey."

"Are you still seeing Anna and Vickie?" I asked him

Over the summer I had become aware that the ghosts of Vickie and Anna were haunting my cousin. I walked in to Jer's room one day and saw Anna standing next to him. Seeing as I was there when Anna had died it confused me at first but Jeremy explained that when he was brought back to life by Bonnie there had been consequences and made me promise not to tell anyone that they were around. Of course being the awesome cousin I am I promised.

"Yeah." he replied solemnly

"I'm sure it won't be forever." I assured him

I saw Elena making her way over to Ric at the bar.

"Listen, Jer." I started, " I gotta go but if you ever need to talk I'm here for you."

"Got it." he said with a smile

"Good." I said, smiling back "I'll talk to you later."

I walked over to Elena and Ric and asked, " What did you find?"

"How do you to feel about a little hike through the Smoky Mountains?" Elena asked us

"You want to hunt down a pack of werewolves on a full moon?" Ric asked her

"You want me to exercise?" I asked her warily

"Well be out of there before the moon is full." Elena replied, " If you guys don't come with, I'm going by myself."

"Fine, I'll go with." I told her

Ric gave us a 'are you insane?' look.

"What?" Elena said, " You're the one who said we could handle things on our own."

"Yea, I meant like frozen dinners and SATs." Ric explained, "A-all right fine. Let's just... Let's just go. But, uh, you're driving."

Then we headed out to Ric's car.


"In a couple hours, the full moon's gonna rise just above that Ridge." Ric said pointing to a ridge a few miles away, " If Tyler's right, that's where the pack will be."

"You were a boy scout weren't you?" I asked him with a laugh

"Shut up."

"A boy scout slash vampire hunter." Elena said

"Slash whiskey-drinking all-around lost cause." Ric added before stopping and setting down his bag and opening it up revealing all his weapons.

"Wow." Elena exclaimed, " You came stocked."

"Well, we aren't exactly bird-watching. Here. Put that in your bag." he said handing both of us a grenade

"Vervain grenade?" Elena asked

"Wolfsbane." he corrected

"Well, since we're exchanging gifts…" Elena started holding out Johns ring

"That's John Gilberts ring."

"It was you're ring once." Elena reminded him, " Take it. I'll protect you from whatever supernatural danger we're about to get ourselves into."

"He gave it to you."

"Yeah." she said, " But I'm a doppelganger. It's not gonna work on me. He left it for if I ever have kids."

"Yeah, well, then why don't you save it for future generations of stubborn, relentless baby Gilberts?" Ric asked her

"God save us all when they come around."

"Ok, and how 'bout you borrow it until after we survive this?" Elena tried to convince him

"Yeah, I'd feel bad if I got you killed before happy hour." I added before walking over to the edge of the bluff and looking at the lake and setting down my bag, "I don't know why you think that you're a lost cause."

Before I could say anything else I was flying. I gasped as I hit the water. When I came up I saw Damon standing in the spot I had been in.

"Damon?" I asked confused, "How are you even here?"

"Thanks for the tip, brother." he said, turning to Ric

"You sold us out?" Elena asked Ric

"You think I'd take you two into a mountain range of werewolves without backup?"


"Get out of the water, Audrey." Damon told me angrily after Elena had walked away from us

"If I get out of the water you're gonna make me go home." I said

"Yes. Because I'm not an idiot like you."

"Right now your both acting like idiots." Ric said

"You gave up on him Damon." I told him , shaking my head

"I didn't give up on him, Audrey. I faced reality." he replied, "Now get out of the water."

"No!" I responded

"What's your big plan, Audrey? Huh? You gonna walk into a campsite full of werewolves, roast a marshmallow, and wait for Stefan to stop by?" He asked, joining me in the water

"Well, I thought I would make some S'mores while Elena found and helped Stefan." I said sarcastically, "Damon, this is the closest we've been all summer .I'm not going home."

"Klaus thinks you and Elena died when he broke the curse. That makes you both safe. This, he said looking around the woods, " this is not safe."

"I'm not leaving until I help Elena get him back."

"It's a full moon tonight, Audrey." Damon informed me

"Then we'll find him before then." I said, getting closer to him, " Damon, please."

He thought about it for a moment and I saw him slowly giving in.

"Okay. Okay. But we are out of here before the moon is full and I'm werewolf bait."

" I promise." I said

"Unless you wanna relive that whole deathbed kissy thing." he continued

"I said I promise." I repeated

"Fine." he said turning and walking out of the water


"How are you doing?" Damon asked me as the four of us walked through the mountain

"I'm fine." I replied

"You know, I could help you." he suggested

" No, thanks."

" Just one little fwoosh…"

" Yeah, with my luck, you'd drop me." I told him

" What are you guys, 12?" Elena asked us

We continued walking up the mountain but I had this weird feeling that someone was watching us but when I looked around no one was around.


"We got about a mile left." Ric informed us as the sun started to set

"The sun's about to set." Damon said

" We can see that, Damon" I said

" I'm just saying ."

"The moon doesn't reach its apex for a while." Elena said, "We have time."

Then we all heard twigs breaking and a man covered in blood stumbled into the clearing.

" Stay where you are." Ric said aiming his crossbow at him

" Vampire." the man said before charging at Damon.

He held Damon up against a tree and Ric shot him in the back with an arrow but it didn't stop him.

"Damon!" I yelled before throwing a wolfs bane grenade into his hand. It exploded and the dude screamed and fell away from Damon. Damon kicked him in the stomach leaving him unconscious.

" Let me guess." Ric said, " Hybrid."


Damon and Alaric were tying the guy to a tree.

" These ropes aren't gonna hold him much longer." Damon said, " What else do we have?"

I doused some ropes with vervain.

"Ric, here." I said, "Take these ."

Damon grabbed the ropes and his skin burned.

" Aah! Ow!" he exclaimed

" I said Ric." I told him, trying my hardest not to laugh

Then Ric grabbed the ropes and put them around the hybrid.

"All right, that's the last of the vervain." Ric said, backing away " We don't have enough stuff to hold him. I don't think we're gonna make that ridge before the full moon ."

" If we can get him to talk, we don't have to." Elena said walking closer to the unconscious man

He screamed and started to transform.

" Is he turning?" Damon asked

"It's impossible." Elena muttered, " It's still daylight ."

" Tell him that ." Ric said

Damon walked up to the man and grabbed his shoulders holding him back.

" There aren't supposed to be werewolves out here until the moon is full." I said,

" You know, those ropes aren't gonna hold the wolf ." Ric told us

The man snarled and tried to bite Damon again.

"Damon, we've got to get out of here." I said,, walking up to him "We gotta get out of these mountains now! Damon, now!"


We had been running for awhile, it was now dark and I was falling behind when I tripped over a rock and fell.

"Don't move." I heard Damon say

I looked up slowly and gasped when I noticed I had come face to face with a wolf that was a foot in front of me.

"Here doggie, doggie." Damon said, getting the attention of the wolf and then running off at vampire speed into the woods with the wolf right running after him.

"Come on. Let's keep moving." Ric said as I got up

"We can't leave Damon!" I shouted

"He can handle himself." Elena said, " Let's move."

" No. If he gets bitten , he'll be dead." I reminded them, " I'm the reason he's out here."

I was about to go after him when Ric grabbed my arm.

" I am the reason he's out here." Ric corrected, "I told him where we were, and I'm telling you to keep moving. Let's go. Audrey, now."

I followed Elena and Ric out of the woods, although reluctantly.


" Stefan's out there somewhere and now Damon, and we're just sitting in this car?" Elena asked

" Let the vampires fight the hybrid zombie mountain man." Ric said, " I'll take care of keeping the humans safe ."

" I thought you were checked out of taking care of people ." I said

" I know what you're doing. Don't. There doesn't need to be a lesson here." Ric said

" You're better at it than you think, you know?" Elena said

"Oh, boy, are you a sucker for a lost cause or what?"

" You're not a lost cause, Ricky boy." I told him, "You're just lost. But so is Jeremy, and so are we. Our family is gone. We don't have anybody. I'm sorry, but you don't have anybody either, so…"

"We're kinda right for each other." Elena added

"Exactly."

" I'm keeping the ring then." he said after a few moments

Then I smiled and looked out the window to see Damon approaching the car. I got out and went towards him.

"Damon." I said, " Are you okay?"

"Fine, bite free" he said," Get back in the car."

"Can you just give me one minute to appreciate that you're not dead?" I asked

"I'll give you 10 seconds, 9, 8..." he said, grabbing my shoulders and turning me back towards the car, " Hey, Ric, did you happen to see where I parked my car?"

"Stop, being such a caveman." I told Damon as he pushed me towards the car

After we had all gotten in the car we drove home.


I entered my room after I had showered and gotten into my Pjs and I saw Damon staring out my window.

"Really?" I asked, annoyed that I couldn't walk into my room, just once, and be by myself

"I was wrong." Damon said, confusing me

"Are you drunk?" I asked him

"No." he said , sounding offended, as he turned around, " I thought Stefan was gone but I was wrong."

"You saw him out there? Is he okay?"

"No, he's not ok, Audrey." Damon said, " He's an insufferable martyr that needs his arse kicked... But he can be saved."

" What happened out there?" I asked him, " What made you change your mind?"

"I changed my mind because even in his darkest place, my brother still can't let me die. So I figure I owe him the same in return. I'll help you bring him back ."

"Thank you." I said, " Now Elena can get her man back."

"But before I do, I need you to answer one question." he said, "What made you change your mind?"

" What do you mean?" I asked

"You were so h*llbent on staying on that mountain, then you just gave up. So what changed your mind?"

" We were under attack, Damon ." I said

"You had a bag full of weapons and a teacher with an eternity ring. You could have kept going ."

"It was too dangerous ."

" It was too dangerous going out there to begin with, so what was it?"

"Why are you being like this?" I asked

" What changed your mind, Audrey?" he insisted

" I didn't want to see you get hurt, ok? I was... I was worried about you." I admitted

"Thanks." he smirked before heading towards the door

" Yes I worry about you." I said, stopping him, " Why do you even need to hear me say it?"

He turned to look back at me.

" I need to know that you still care for me so I can do this." he said putting his hands on my and bringing his lips down to mine.

I was shocked at first but caught on quickly and started kissing him back. Our lips moved in sync for a few minutes before I heard someone clear their throat. I pulled away from Damon and turned to see Ric standing in my doorway.

"Ric." I said, " You're here."

" Good night, Audrey." Damon said before walking past Ric and heading down the stairs

"Do you know what you're doing there?" Ric asked me

"I can't say that I do, Ric."