"We need to talk" – those are words that no one wants to hear especially when things are threatening to take a turn for the worse. Damon dreaded what he was about to hear as he said, "What happened?"
"Bonnie called me a little after you left. She said that she felt Susan cross over to the other side. But she said her name was Tanya."
"It's probably nothing. Susan was probably a fake name", said Stefan trying to ease the situation. But his expression betrayed his thoughts.
"But it is", said Damon.
"What are you talking about?" asked Elena.
"I don't think the vampire you killed was Susan. She left me a note again today." Damon handed over the note to Elena.
"So who was she then?" asked Stefan. He was puzzled. "Are we talking doppelgangers?"
"Bonnie doesn't seem to think so. Doppelgangers are a result of the immortality spell and she thinks it's unlikely that such a spell was cast after Silas and Amara", replied Elena.
"My guess is Susan sent someone in to pose as her so that she could keep a safe distance from us. She knew we'd go after her so she sent in someone she considered disposable and we fell for it." Damon was getting agitated again and that was never a good sign.
"This is getting stranger by the day", said Stefan.
"What happened at your stakeout?" asked Elena.
"Oh, that! Remember the vampire that Susan, or whoever that was, was with before you yanked off her daylight necklace?" Elena nodded. "He's apparently one of the four vampires."
"So she's working with them. The question is whether they were in on Susan's plan. Did they know that Susan was actually Tanya?" Stefan's question was met with silence.
Elena was the first to break the silence. "What do you think about the threat though? An eye for an eye? The last time, she let us know who she was going after so maybe this is a clue as well."
"You killed the vampire who was posing as her so she's going to kill the vampire who's posing as you?" Damon was sceptical. "That doesn't even make sense. No one's pretending to be you, not anymore, anyway."
"Then maybe Tanya wasn't a poser. Maybe they were friends or family or something. Maybe we've never met the real Susan and she just wanted us to think that Tanya was her all along."
"We need to take a step back and think this through", Stefan cut in. "We know that the vampire threatening you is Susan and she is still alive. The person we killed was someone she knew, a vampire someone and now she's even more pissed than she was before."
"None of this helps us in anyway, Stefan. We're back to square one, which is exactly where she wants us and where we've been since all of this started!"
"So what do we do?" asked Elena.
Damon really did look dangerous. "Honestly? I'm out of ideas. But I will tell you one thing. When I find her, I will make her pay."
-xx-
Rosaline went out the front door to find Aaron sitting on the steps outside the house and just staring at nothing. She sat next to him and said, "You know that sitting here and wishing she would come back isn't going to change anything, right?"
Aaron sighed. "I know. I've been thinking about what Jason said, about how much I really know about her and I realised that I don't actually know a lot." He sounded defeated.
"You shouldn't let what Jason says get to you. He can be a little insensitive sometimes."
"But he's right. All I knew was that she was a vampire and she chose to turn willingly when she was eighteen. She was going to kill herself once she killed Damon Salvatore and I was trying to convince her to let it go and live with me, forever. That's all I knew. She didn't tell me anything more and I didn't ask either."
"That maybe but you loved her and that's what counts."
"Despite all that I can't help but think that there was something off about her that day at the Grill. She kept looking around like she was expecting trouble."
"Maybe she was worried that the Mystic Falls gang was closing in on her. They identified her and she's been following them. She must have known that they were going to be coming after her."
"I don't know what to say. I may not know everything but I know something was off about her. It was as if she was another person entirely. She almost looked scared."
"What were you two talking about anyway that you couldn't just do it at home?"
"It was nothing. We were just there at the same time so we figured we'd grab something to eat together. It's been a long time since I got to spend a lot of time with her. I wasn't able to put my finger on it at the time but I knew there was something wrong. I shouldn't have let her walk away. She was clearly worried. I should have made sure she was okay."
"You can't blame yourself for what happened to her, Aaron. Did she tell you that the others were closing in on her?" Aaron shook his head no. "Then there's nothing you could have done to save her."
Suddenly, Aaron tensed. He was on his feet within seconds and he walked forward looking around as if he were searching for something. Rosaline was confused. "What's wrong Aaron?" she asked.
"Didn't you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"A kind of rustling sound. It came from right there", said Aaron as he pointed to the corner of the street. "I could have sworn that I saw someone there."
"It was probably just one of the neighbours. Come on, Aaron, let's go back inside", said Rosaline as she ushered him back inside the house.
-xx-
Susan Wright was a lot of things but careless wasn't one of those things. But this time Aaron had almost caught her. She left Maple Street as fast as she could, praying that he hadn't seen her. Teaming up with the vampire was never part of the plan but Jason had managed to convince her that she needed help and so she had joined them reluctantly. However, she hadn't expected Aaron to fall in love with her. If she had to be honest, it was a little inconvenient. He tried to talk her out of her mission to destroy Damon Salvatore, always tried to distract her from her goal. He had even made her second guess her decision sometimes. He was proving to be a bad influence on her.
She also hadn't expected Tanya to turn up at the Grill. Over the years, she had come to accept the fact that her twin sister had a penchant for sticking her nose where it didn't belong. Now thanks to her, Aaron and his friends believed that she was dead. She quickly realized that it was for the best. She no longer had to worry about Aaron trying to deter her or about playing by Jason's silly rules. She had always had her plan and now she could just put it into action. All she had to worry about now was who to start with.
She still had one question though – how was Tanya even alive? The last time she had seen Tanya was the day she had left in order to find a vampire who would turn her. Tanya was still human and as far as she knew, Tanya was going to college and probably have a great life. So what changed? How had she become a member of the undead club? Now there was no way she was going to find out. That had made up her mind. She knew who her next target should be.
She had begun walking aimlessly when she left Maple Street. She soon realized that she was very close to the Salvatore boarding house and decided to make a short visit to see what was going on. The woods provided her a great place to hide and for that she was grateful. As she stood at her usual spot under the tree, she saw the door of the boarding house open and Stefan Salvatore stepped out. It was time for her to stalk her prey once more. She knew that the younger Salvatore brother was on animal blood and would make an easy target. Stefan broke out into a run as he headed into the woods and away from her. Susan quickly and quietly started following him.
-xx-
The atmosphere in the Salvatore boarding house had been tense. Damon was angry and nothing was going to calm him down. Stefan knew his brother well enough to know that there was nothing he could do at the moment. He started off at a sprint into the woods. He knew these woods like the back of his hand. Without a backward glance, he moved deeper hoping to catch at least a small animal to satiate his hunger.
He stopped at a clearing and listened carefully to the sounds to find out if there was any game near the area. As he opened his senses, he heard light scampering of feet not too far away to his left. But just as he was about to take off in that direction, he heard the rustling of leaves behind him. In one fluid movement, he spun around just in time to see blonde hair disappear behind a tree. The first thing that went through his mind was "Could that be Susan?" He wasn't sure but he was willing to bet on it. Giving up on his source of nourishment, he decided to stalk his stalker. He moved to the tree at vamp speed but found no one there. He looked around the woods to see where someone could have disappeared off to so quickly without being seen.
Keeping his eyes and ears open, he walked forward and immediately to his right, he noticed that the path to the old Salvatore property looked well worn. He knew that it had been ages since any of them had stepped into that area of the woods. Deciding that it was worth investigating, Stefan sped into the woods until he reached the ruins of the main house. The abandoned house looked like it was on the verge of collapsing. He slowly made his way through the house all the while keeping his ears open for any sign of life. Once he made sure that the lower floor was completely empty, he went upstairs and he found himself walking instinctively to his old room. For a moment, he couldn't help but think back to those days when he was human. He quickly reminded himself of why he was there and continued his search through the old house.
The next room he stepped into was Damon's old bedroom. The windows were broken and bright sunlight flooded the spacious room. The door to the closet stood open and on it was perched a large black raven. When Stefan stepped closer to the closet, the raven took off and flew out the window. By the door, he found an envelope and just as he expected, it was addressed to Damon. Damon was already angry and he knew that this would do nothing to brighten his mood but it was important for his brother to know what the letter said. With that thought in mind, he picked up the envelope and made his way back to the boarding house.
-xx-
AN: Sorry it took me so long to update. Turns out trying to complete and engineering course isn't as easy as I thought it was. I'll update in more timely fashion from now on.
