I do not own anything in this story. The CW created the universe, and I just play in it.
This is my first fanfiction. Please rate and review!
"So what's up with the hush-hush meeting?" Stefan looked from Elena to Caroline to Damon. "And does he really have to be here?"
"Stop it, Stefan," Elena snapped, even though she half-agreed with Stefan. Damon did not look good. The bite area was spreading past his shoulder and creeping up towards his neck, and his face was flushed with sweat. They'd practically had to drag him out of the basement—he could barely stand, let alone walk.
But ever since Damon had confessed his love and Elena had sorta-kinda accepted it, she'd found every reason to be irritated by Stefan. Suddenly, the way he talked seemed arrogant, his hatefulness against his brother unnecessary, and his constant self-righteousness annoying. And as her aggravation towards Stefan increased bit by bit, her feelings toward Damon grew even stronger.
"First things first," Caroline said, breaking the tension between Stefan and Elena. "Bonnie has something she wants to give to Damon."
Bonnie, who had been sitting quietly in the corner since she came, dug through her bag and pulled out a small bottle of liquid steeping in herbs. "I asked a group of witches up near Salem what I could do to slow the effects of a werewolf bite." She uncorked the bottle and passed it over to Damon. "This should get you back your normal strength for three days. But after that, I can't guarantee what happens."
"Thank you, Bonnie," Elena said gratefully. But Bonnie just took her bag and stood up.
"I'm doing this for you, Elena," she said coldly, "not him." She strode out of the room, and moments later the front door banged shut.
"Wow, I'm feeling the love from that girl," Damon said lightheartedly. He brought the bottle to his nose and took a sniff. "This stuff smells like cat piss."
"Just drink it, Damon," Stefan said, throwing his arm over his eyes as if the sight of his brother was too much. How melodramatic, Elena thought. Damon pinched his nose and downed the contents of the bottle in one gulp.
"How're you feeling?" Caroline asked anxiously. "Any different?"
Damon slowly and shakily got to his feet. The feverish flush to his face was slowly receding, and even the swelling on his arm looked as if it'd gone down. "Whatever Bonnie did to that bottle, she definitely did it right."
"She probably spit in it," Stefan offered.
"Right, now that that's out of the way, I've got some stuff to show you guys." Caroline pushed a pile of papers off the coffee table and neatly set a manila folder down in the middle. "I had my mom call as many sheriff stations in Virginia as I could. I told her I was doing a school project on paranormal activity, and I needed as many reports as possible."
"So did she find anything?" Elena leaned forward and flipped through a newspaper article from the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
"Well, a lot of the stuff she got back was just the usual—haunted houses, Bigfoot sightings, that kind of stuff. But there was this one report that really stuck out." Caroline laid a crisp piece of paper down on the table. "There's this forest up north that nobody's ever been to. There've been supernatural sightings there for years—werewolves, vampires, even witches—but police haven't come up with any conclusive proof besides eyewitnesses, who later mysteriously forgot the incident even happened."
"Compulsion." Elena took the report from Caroline and flipped through it. "Boyce? Where's that?"
Stefan cut in. "It's a tiny town up north near the border. You think Mystic Falls is small—that place has a population of about 500 people. A lot of vampires stop there on their way south."
"And read this part here." Caroline pointed to a paragraph highlighted in blue. "Nobody in the town has ever been near that forest. There've been cases of people being torn apart by wolves and wild animals, so people stay away. There's not one person who can say they've explored that part of Virginia—well, there are some people who claim they have, but their memories are too foggy and incomplete for it to be valid."
"Again, compulsion." Damon looked over Elena's shoulder. "If there's any place for a hocus-pocus waterfall to be hidden, that's the place."
"Then that's where we're going." Elena studied the travel plan Caroline had put together. "Four hours there by car, an hour hike through the forest…and then another hour hike up the waterfall? Could it really be that big?"
"Probably not. But I'm allotting that much time in case someone"—Caroline's eyes met Damon's—"has trouble getting to the top."
"Please, are you seriously worried about me?" Damon rolled his eyes and reached for the bourbon. "I could probably make it up there before all of you carrying Elena."
"Well, then that's settled." Stefan stuffed all the papers back into the folder and handed it to Caroline. "We're going tomorrow morning. Bonnie said that the potion would delay the bite three days, so we'll have plenty of time."
"Hang on, guys." Elena looked from friend to friend. "Are you forgetting about the monster Bonnie told us about? The reason why no supernatural creature's ever come down from the waterfall? Shouldn't we be worried about that at all?"
"Let's be real, Elena," Stefan said, rolling his eyes at her. "We've faced Klaus. There can't be anything worse than Klaus."
Elena gritted her teeth together. There goes Stefan again, being the big, know-it-all protector. "Stefan, can I talk to you in the hall for a minute?"
"Um, you do know we're all vampires here, right?" Caroline looked from Damon to Stefan. "We can still hear you in the hallway."
"Well, then, you guys can turn off your super-hearing, because I need to talk to Stefan alone." Elena grabbed his hand and dragged him out into the hall.
"So what's up?" Stefan folded his arms across his chest and looked at her. "I hope you're going to explain to me why you've been acting weird all day. Is something wrong?"
"Stefan, I just need to tell you something." Elena twisted her fingers together. "It's about…Damon."
Stefan sucked in a breath. "What'd he do to you?"
"Why do you automatically assume he did something to me?"
"Because he's Damon, Elena. He does stuff."
"Okay, well, he did do something, but it wasn't bad." Elena looked up so that she was looking Stefan squarely in the eye. "He told me that he loved me."
For a moment, Elena was sure that Stefan had stopped breathing. Then she remembered he was a vampire, and he didn't have to breathe. And then he spoke. "What did you tell him?"
"I…I didn't tell him anything, Stefan, I swear. But with everything that's been going on between me and you, and me and him…I think we need to take a break."
"Take a break?" Stefan echoed. "Are you…Elena, are you breaking up with me for Damon?"
"I don't know what I'm doing," Elena said desperately. "I don't know how I feel, I don't know what I should do, and I can't even talk to anyone about it because all of my best friends clearly hate Damon! Stefan, I just need some space right now, and—"
"Well, you're not exactly getting space by running to Damon," Stefan said bitterly.
"—and it's not helping that you're getting on my case about Damon every chance you get," Elena finished. "Please, Stefan, I just need some time to figure out my feelings. I love you both, I really do, but I can't love you both."
"Yes you can." Stefan was looking past Elena's head, at the wall behind her. "Katherine did."
"What, first Damon, now you?" Elena threw up her hands in frustration. "I'm not Katherine, Stefan!"
"You sure as hell are acting like it." Stefan pushed Elena away from him. "She chose Damon, too. But then again, what would I know? It's not like either of you actually loved me. Oh, would you look at that. Another Katherine similarity." He vanished down the hall.
Sorry for all you Stelena shippers! I decided that I wanted to portray Stefan the way a real jealous brother would act, since on the show he's always so willing to go along with whatever Elena decides, even when it comes to Damon. Besides, jealous Stefan is more fun to write! Hope you've enjoyed the story so far! xox
