Chapter Seven.
Stefan staggered in the front door. Okay so it had been a long time since he'd consumed Absinthe, much less that much of it.
Alex was off the sofa and at his side in an instant. "Where are you injured?" She asked looking him over, then backed away. "God you reek of wormwood." She shook her head. "I see you at least had a little fun while you were out." Under the circumstances she couldn't exactly blame him for wanting to blow off steam, even if it was frustrating.
Stefan stumbled toward the sofa. "Never mix absinth and willow… wow my head is spinning." He said as he slid down the arm of the sofa into a seat.
Alexandra frowned. "Where did you go that serves that?" She asked moving to sit across from him.
"Leveau's." He said, slumping to the left until he was lying down. "A vampire named Astrid gave it to me."
"And you let her? Are you sure it was willow that she was adding to the drink?" She asked. "Is your heart racing? Or do you just feel drunk as hell and giddy?" Alexandra asked.
Stefan laughed, "Giddy. Is that even a word people use anymore?" He asked.
"That answers that question. I don't know if there was willow in there or not, but there was definitely vetivert. It's used in hex breaking. Some vampires, usually fed a line by witches looking to take advantage of their desperation, believe that it lessens the effects of being enthralled. All it does is make them more likely to piss their owner off and get hurt. "
"She says Damon used to help their cause. Not sure I'm supposed to tell you that. " Stefan slurred. "They're trying to liberate the slaves." He laughed and it sounded almost like a giggle.
"Were you this out of it before you got here or did it start recently?" She asked, wondering what she was going to do about this now.
Stefan made a humming sound then giggled again. "Oooh I've been this way since I stood up after that last drink."
"How did you get here?" She asked more firmly wishing she could sober him up with her tone alone.
"M'lissa drove me home. She's the waitress. Not a vampire." He said, nestling down into the overstuffed sofa and flopping his arm down over his eyes.
"But she belongs to one. " Alexandra sighed. So much for sleeping, she thought.
"Was she right ?" Stefan asked, lifting his arm off of his eyes to look at her.
"About what?" She asked.
"'bout Damon." He said.
Alexandra nodded. "Yes. Because of Henry. He was looking for a way to free him without … what ultimately happened anyway. "
"Why'd he stop?"
"Henry told him to." She said. "Stefan… we're going to have to leave town tomorrow."
"What? No…" He slurred. "Astrid's going to call Katherine. Have to … to stay."
"With the reaction you had to the cocktail, she knows you're not enthralled. " Alexandra told him." If she asked you back after that it's a set up."
Stefan shook his head and regretted it. "Have… have to stay."
Alexandra got up and went to the office to grab the waste paper basket. She set it down beside the sofa. "You're gonna need this before the night's out." She told him. "Tell me in the morning how much you want to stay."
Meredith sighed in relief as a familiar car pulled up behind hers. She got out and met Joshua on the side of the road. "Thank you. I appreciate you coming to get me." She said.
Joshua nodded. "It's not a problem." He said walking around to the front of the car and lifting the hood.
"Did you take up shade tree mechanics too while you were in Italy?" she asked following him to peer inside at the engine. Not that what she saw made any sense.
He smiled a little. "No, while I was at Princeton actually." He said. "I could either eat, or pay the mechanic. The third option was to pay my roommate in beer and have him show me how to do it myself." Joshua shrugged as he looked inside. From what she had described over the phone he'd expected alternator trouble. He hadn't been wrong about that, but what surprised him was that the bolt holding the alternator in place had been shorn. Intentionally. "This isn't something I can fix here." He said straightening up and glancing around them.
It was a long deserted patch of road between Damon and Alexandra's where Meredith was house sitting and the hospital where she worked long late hours. It was the perfect sort of trap…
Meredith caught the look. He was looking for trouble. "Okay… so what do we do?"
"We go back to the boarding house and have the car brought there." He said, and pulled out his phone to call a tow truck. "It's nothing I can't take care of for you." He wanted a closer look under the hood to make sure there wasn't more damage done. That and he didn't want her staying alone if it was indeed a trap. There was more than one kind of monster in the world. Not all of them were blood sucking leeches. Some of them were very much human, and this was a human maneuver.
She nodded. "okay."
Joshua pulled out his cell phone and called for the tow truck. "Why don't you wait in the car," He nodded toward his own car, "They'll be here shortly then we can go." He watched as she got into the passenger's seat. "And lock the doors." He called out and went back to looking under the hood. He didn't find anything else, which was relieving. At least whoever it was hadn't planned on anything dangerous to her with the car itself.
He made note of the cars that drove past. It was three am and this was a back road out into the woods, there would be little reason for anyone that didn't live out there to be driving by at this hour. Two cars passed them by. He made note of their license plate numbers as they slowed to pass them on the narrow road.
The tow truck arrived half an hour later and after giving them instructions on where to take the car and where on the property to put it, Joshua got behind the wheel of his own car and started it up. He drove back toward town in silence. It wasn't until they entered city limits that he spoke.
"Someone sabotaged your car. They alternator bolt was cut. "
"Why would someone do that?" She asked him.
"I don't know. But I'd like you to stay at the boarding house tonight." He said carefully not looking at his passenger.
Meredith nodded. "Alright. I can do that. If you are sure. "
"I'm sure. There are tool marks on the bolt that I can see with the naked eye. It was cut."
"Not about that." She said. "About having me stay there."
"I'm sure." He said, honestly, but a little tightly.
"I've regret how I treated you back then, I regretted it then." Meredith said deciding it was time to take the bull by the horns and deal with this. "You never let me say I was sorry then. I'm saying it now."
He took a deep breath. "We were children. It's fine." He said.
Meredith looked at her hands. That wasn't really accepting her apology and she knew it. That was being polite because someone had made the effort. "Josh-" She started but was interrupted.
"What do you want me to say, Meri? That it was okay that you used me? That the words I'm sorry make up for everything? That sure you slept with me and lied to all of your friends about it, that you ditched me the moment school was out because you didn't need me until class began again but I'm fine with that because what the hell I lost my virginity to the prettiest girl in school even if she did find me repulsive, and it's been decades so I'm over it?"
"When you put it that way… no. " She said quietly. "For the record I never found you repulsive."
"Embarrassing then. " He said tightly. "It has been decades." Joshua said. "And until I came back here I was sure that I was over it but apparently not. Regardless, we're adults now. People change, situations change. So I wouldn't worry about it overly much. The past can stay there."
Meredith nodded. "I understand."
"No. You don't." He said. "But I don't need you to understand. I just need you not to bring it up again."
She again nodded and turned her head toward the window. Decades ago she had been a foolish teenager far more interested in what her friends thought than even what she thought or wanted. It had cost her a good friend and maybe something more as well. She hadn't expected his reaction to be very much different than it was. It was an improvement over the one she'd received the first day of her senior year. She just hadn't expected it to hurt as much as it had. After all, like he said, it had been decades. "So why would someone want to sabotage my car?" She asked again, desperate to change the subject.
"I don't know. We'll talk about it at the boarding house. There has to be something to it. It may or may not have any connection to the other drama in our lives but I'm not quite willing to rule it out." Joshua said as he began to unclench. It was a safe subject; keeping her safe. He doubted she would take it as seriously as she should. She had always been a little too eager to cross lines.
He pulled into the drive and parked the car in the garage. There was plenty of room for Meredith's car to be brought in as well. "Why don't you go on inside, I'll join you as soon as the car is brought in." he told her nodding toward the door that lead into the back hall.
Meredith headed inside as directed. She thought he was overreacting a little but she was willing to go along with it. What if he wasn't after all? She just couldn't wrap her mind around why though. She heard her phone go off and pulled it from her pocket.
"Hey, you said you worked late so I figured it would be okay to call." Marco said leaning back in the seat of his car.
"You're right, its fine that you called. How are you? The rash healing alright?" Meredith asked. "I'm looking forward to giving you that tour." She saw that, as expected, Joshua had another pot of coffee made. He had anticipated being up late apparently. Or maybe the reason he had been able to be with that vampire for so long was because he didn't have blood in his veins but sugar and caffeine.
"It healed up pretty quickly, so yeah I'm good. I was calling to ask you about that. When is your next day off was and are you free."
"The next day off is tomorrow actually and yes, I'm free." She poured herself a cup of coffee and added cream. She looked up as Joshua came into the room.
"That's great, where and when should I pick you up?" Marco asked.
"Do you know where the Salvatore Boarding House is?" She asked. "I'm staying there tonight. My car broke down and it's just easier to stay in town until it's fixed."
"I do know where that is. Almost went to get a room there but my real estate agent came through for me with the house. Is noon too early?" he asked. "Seeing as it's early morning now."
"Noon is fine." She said smiling.
"Good. I'll take you to lunch and you can show me around the area. I understand there is a lot of history to learn about this place."
"There is." Meredith said. "But I will save that for tomorrow." She had caught the look from Joshua and figured she should end the call so he could pretend not to hover a little more before she called it a night. "After all you never know, there might not be much to talk about otherwise.
It's a small town."
"Oh those are always the most interesting under the surface. " Marco said. "Goodnight, Meredith. I will see you tomorrow. "
She hung up. "So… "
Joshua shook his head and poured a cup of coffee for himself. "Someone tried to strand you in the middle of nowhere and do God only knows what and you are making a date. Tell me do you still invite people in as well?"
"I refuse to live my life in a constant state of paranoia." She said firmly. "I can take care of myself."
Joshua raised an eyebrow at that. "I will take that as a yes then." He said in frustration. "I can understand why you thought it was weird when we were kids, I couldn't explain to you that there were such things as vampires in the world. But you know better now, Meredith. Or at least you should. "
"I knew growing up. I just didn't believe my parents until later. I thought you had bought into the founding family mythos completely. I thought you were just… playing up the connection between the families to make brownie points. "
"Brownie points? " He yelled. "I was bending over backwards to impress you with everything else but that. That was to protect you. That was the one thing that didn't have anything to do with what you wanted or what would make you happy. That was all that you noticed? That you thought I was trying to milk the council connections between our parents?"
"I didn't mean it like that." She said with a sigh. "You were nice. I always thought you were nice. All those other things you did I thought you were doing them because it was the sort of person you were."
"It's late." He said. Nice. Well, that must be what his problem was. He wasn't a dick like everyone else named Salvatore, including his own brother if the truth were to be told. "I must be more tired than I thought. I will see you at breakfast. "He told her curtly. "We'll discuss the car situation then. Perhaps Tyler or Caroline can add something to the conversation that you would take seriously."
"Josh!" She called as he turned and went up the backstairs. Why did he always take everything she said the wrong way? Maybe she was saying it all wrong. Maybe… she sighed and took another drink of her coffee. No. He didn't get to just walk away like that. Not this time.
She hurried up the stairs after him.
Joshua entered his room and unbuttoned his shirt, and tossed it into the hamper. He was just reaching into the drawer for a night shirt when the door opened behind him.
Meredith stood in the doorway, looking at him with wide dark eyes.
"And now you have no respect for my privacy."
"you used to climb in through my bedroom window. I don't think there is much room to complain about privacy issues." She said as she closed the space between them. "What did she do to you?" Meredith asked examining the scars that covered his torso and arms. Bite marks, lash marks, claw marks, burns.
Joshua pulled away and reached for a long sleeved nightshirt. "It doesn't concern you." He said and scowled as she took the shirt from his hands.
"Whether it's my business or not is one thing, but I am definitely concerned. " She told him. He attempted another glare and she could see where the family resemblance was its most obvious.
"She's not in my life any longer." He said with a shrug and pulled a tee shirt from the drawer and put it on before Meredith could take that from him too. "You have nothing to be concerned about." Of course she had left. No warning, no goodbye, no removal of the damned compulsions that had kept him loyal and by her side for ten years. None of it mattered because at the end of the day he had not mattered.
"It doesn't end just because they leave. You know that." She said softly.
"It wasn't all her." He told her firmly. "The bite marks… those were her. The rest, well, being involved with vampires is dangerous. It comes with the job."
"The way you say 'her'… are you in love with her?" She asked. He'd been abused. She'd heard that line before. They didn't do it. Next thing he was going to say he'd deserved it or earned it.
"After a fashion." He said. "It's late Meri. You should go."
"After a fashion? What is that, code for compelled?"
"Meredith." He said, in an almost desperate, sharp tone. "I'm tired. I would like to go to sleep and I cannot do that with you standing here loudly pitying me. I don't need it. I don't want it. All I want is for you to leave me in peace." He took a deep breath. "The room across the hall from Tyler and Caroline is available. Please. Go."
She turned to leave, not at all comfortable with where things were. "it's not pity, Joshua. It's really not. I'm concerned. "
"Thank you for your concern. " He said and it came out almost formally. "I do appreciate it. However it's nothing. Old injuries from another life, and nothing more and it needs to be let go. Good night, Meri."
"Good night." She said and Joshua sank down onto the bed letting out a long sigh as she closed the door behind her.
He traced the thick scars on his left wrist and flopped back on his bed, much as he had done when he'd been that boy so infatuated with Meredith Fell that he'd been willing to do anything to keep her attention. Now all he wanted was out from under her scrutiny. Away from her regret and pity.
He never should have come back to Mystic Falls. Still honor and duty had to count for something. Zachariah was gone. Now it fell to him. It would end with him as well. There would be no more Salvatores.
