Hey, readers ! I am so thrilled to have you all waiting to know what Stefan remembered. Well, here it is. Everything written in italic is a flashback.

I have to warn you - maybe the rating for this chapter is slightly more than T, although I don't consider it should be rating Mature. Please excuse my boldness if it offends you in any way - I just felt like Ripper Stefan should be depicted in that particular way.

Once and again, thank you very much for all of your support and kind words, it means a lot to me.

- M. -

Part 21 - Kill or Be Killed

They are in London – Klaus is somewhere doing something that Stefan has no business knowing. This feels like a routine. Stefan has been asked to pick a girl and bring her back to Klaus. The hybrid wants to start experimenting again. He is here to comply, of course, but not before he has some fun of his own.

As he usually does, Stefan chooses a crowded place to make his appearance. He is dressed extremely elegantly and his white shirt somehow makes him stand out from the other men, who only seem like kids compared to his seeping masculinity. His hair is disheveled just enough to make any woman want to run her fingers through it; he has let it grow a little and also a three-day stubble that he knows will add to his magnetism.

That's the way it always goes. He chooses them, but they come to him. There's something absolutely delicious about that – the chase starts from the second they lay eyes on him and it ends only when their hearts stop beating. This is what he does. Klaus was right when he told him that a true ripper enjoys the hunt. This is what he was born to do. Hunt and kill. Over the past five years, he has found that his best chance with women is seduction. He has become fully aware of his good looks and the effect he has on young women. It has become his routine to seduce them; he flashes a smile at them, makes one or two compliments, and then they fall for him. That's as easy as it gets. Sometimes, he brings them back to his hotel; the only thing that can compete with the taste of fear in their blood is the taste of excitement and pleasure.

Snapping back to reality, Stefan looks around. The streets of London are like a heart pumping blood; everywhere, people are coming out of bars, out of subway stations, out of apartments. He could just kill one of them to tame the cravings in his stomach, but that would only quench the thirst – not the painful need to hunt. So he waits.

Just when he is about to get seriously annoyed with all the plain girls that have been smiling at him conspicuously, he makes out an athletic figure getting out of a black cab. It takes him two seconds to decide that she's the one: she smells like chocolate and he's a very, very greedy boy tonight. He can feel his fangs starting to elongate and a low growl rising from his chest; his breathing becomes somehow shallow when she walks nearby without seeing him. He could just grab her and sink his fangs into her neck, right this second. But he loves the way his desire for her is just a little painful. He will take his time, fuel the flame of his desire until he can't breathe, and then, when he will feel like he'll die if he doesn't take her …The thought alone is enough to appease him and make his fangs retract, and his face become human and deadly handsome again.

The girl is queuing to get inside a bar. Stefan has already compelled the man at the entrance to let him in. She's making it way too easy for him. He grabs the hand of the first decent looking girl he can find and compels her to play his girlfriend. Women mostly want what they can't have – he is only making himself more attractive to her by showing up accompanied. Getting out of the shadow, he adroitly bumps into her. She starts yelling at him, that he should look where he's going next time and her breath smells like vodka. Obviously, she has had enough to drink. Stefan kneels to get her purse and hands it to her. She immediately stops yelling when she locks eyes with him.

" My apologies, Miss," he says in a deep, slow voice and trying his best to speak in a British accent.

Before she can answer, he brushes her arm with the hint of a smile and asks the bouncer to let her and her friends in. "They're with me." Stefan can hear the girl and her friends giggling at that, but as soon as they get in, he takes his supposed girlfriend at the other end of the bar and doesn't glance at his target. However, he can feel her eyes on him. If he listens attentively enough, he can hear what she and her friends are talking about: him. His hypnotizing green eyes, the compelling sound of his voice. The way she felt when his warm hands touched her skin. Stefan has a satisfied smile on his lips when he hears her pacing towards him after half an hour of longing stares.

"I didn't get a chance to thank you for getting us in," she says.

"The least I could do. I am sorry for bumping into you," Stefan says, keeping his voice low so she has to take a step closer to him. "Fancy a drink?" he says, gesturing to the nearest bar.

"I really shouldn't drink right now."

"I shouldn't drink either. But we both know we want to, don't we?"

He throws his most devilish smile at her and he hears her heart skip a beat. It's the way he is looking at her, like he can see underneath her clothes. While she is thinking about all the naughty, naughty things she will do to him if he allows her, Stefan's eyes travel from her lips to her neck and back. His appetite is building up. He is thinking about all the places he can draw blood from. Definitely her lips; he can kiss her roughly enough to inflict tiny cuts with his teeth. He can cut her tongue open; surely she will wince at that, making him smile. The lust is slowly taking over Stefan as she closes the distance between them. Her chest crushing against his, he can feel her heart beating, pumping the luscious liquid into her veins. She tiptoes to be a bit taller and whispers in his ear.

"I'd love to take the party home, stranger."

"One more word and you won't make it home," he growls, running shivers down her spine.

She takes his hand and leads him to the back door – obviously, he's not the only one on edge. She has an excuse – she is seriously inebriated, as she leads him into a dark alley behind the bar. The music is echoing loud and no one will hear the screams of terror that will soon ensue. She is really making it way too easy for him. The alcohol has taken away all of her inhibitions and she is exactly what Klaus wants – fierce and fearless. Good for the experiments and good for dinner, you truly are the One, Stefan thinks, amused. She's the one who initiates the kissing and Stefan has all the trouble in the world to resist sinking his fangs into her silky skin right away. But he is a gentleman and he has learnt to put the lady's pleasure first. He will let her have her way with him before he finds his release. The game needs to be fair; there's no reason she can talk dirty and he can't, so he compels her to not be afraid of his harsh words. He even talks her into thinking she likes it. Next thing he knows, his shirt is off and she's moaning and whimpering at his touch. Her heart is pumping the blood faster and stronger in her veins. He inhales her scent deeply and he nearly loses it.

"I want you," he whispers in her ear, his voice somewhat close to animal. "You have no idea how much I want you."

"Tell me more," she urges.

So as to prove him how enthusiastic she is, she wraps her legs around his waist and in the process of supporting her, he lays his hands on the bare skin of her thighs. One place he hadn't thought of, her thighs. One femoral artery on the left, one femoral artery on the right…

"I will kill you. Oh, yes, I will kill you when you least expect it," Stefan breathes out in between kisses. "I will rip through your skin and make you taste your blood on my lips."

The girl unexpectedly bites into her lower lip until she draws blood and tastes it under Stefan's mesmerized eyes. His whole body is reacting to her – both his human and vampire sides. He takes in deep, deep breaths to try and regain control. She must be alive when he brings her to Klaus. The hybrid won't mind a few bites but she must be alive.

"What the devil you waiting for?" she moans and he comes undone.

Stefan can't tell the rest of the story, but Damon can easily imagine what it was like. He has done that himself, many times before. He can tell that Stefan's lips have left a trail of kisses along her neck before he sank his throbbing fangs deep inside her, ripping through her skin and releasing the thick red liquid. What he doesn't understand is what Klaus would possibly want with such a random girl. Stefan said he wanted to start experimenting again. Experiment what, he has no idea.

"I reckon it has to do with creating a race of hybrids,' Damon mumbles.

"I don't know. I can only tell you that I ran away after I brought that girl to him."

"No offense, brother, but from what you've been telling me, you were not entirely disgusted with killing. Why run if you enjoyed it?"

"Before he killed her, Klaus asked for her name. It was Elena," he simply says.

The two men remain silent for a while and Damon knows that this is his chance to be a brother again. He feels incredibly guilty for what Stefan has just told him. He is the reason this all started; he is the reason Stefan gave up on his life and took so many others. The least he can do now is help his little brother figure this out.

"How did you run?"

"Well, he sent me on another mission and I never came back."

"How is it then that you have been compelled?"

"Well, I wouldn't be surprised if Klaus had a whole army of witches willing to do him a favor," Stefan says and his brother nods. "I guess he doesn't want me to ruin whatever his plan is."

"Hmm," Damon approves. "Why would he make you remember this? Why now?"

They cautiously avoid the question that's taunting them both: why hasn't Klaus come to get him back?

"I'll take care of this, okay?" Damon says. "I want you to forget about this conversation and focus on fully recovering. Deal with your everlasting Elena drama and also, make sure you apologize properly to Caroline for being so rude earlier. Not a word to the girls until we know more. I've got your back, brother. We'll figure this out."