Chapter 48: The Hybrid
When Phoebe woke the next morning she went through her new routine of making coffee, taking her various medications, and checking her email to see if Stefan needed her. After that she headed upstairs to Stefan's room. She looked around at the mess Damon had made of it, as she sipped her coffee. She already knew she wanted to clean it up for when Stefan eventually came back, but wasn't quite sure where to begin.
Hayley appeared at her side with her own cup of coffee, "You know it's not gonna clean itself, right?"
"A girl can dream," Phoebe sighed. She unlocked her phone, opened a word document, and handed it to Hayley. "Stefan called me last night."
Hayley's eyebrows shot up, and she looked at Phoebe. Phoebe nodded and sipped her coffee. Hayley scrolled down the document and found there was a lot more to be said. Phoebe had typed up everything that she had said to Stefan, and the promise that she made to Elena.
Hayley gave her a disapproving look, which Phoebe understood was meant to convey the general message of, "If Klaus sees her and finds out she isn't dead..."
Phoebe gestured for her to scroll down, where she explained that she knew it was a risk, but that Elena would never stop searching for Stefan until she got what she needed. At least with her help, she stood a better chance of Klaus not finding out.
Hayley had enough of this one sided conversation crap. She locked the phone, walked over to Stefan's CD player, and hit play on whatever he had in there last. "You still can't use your powers, though. If Klaus sees you two and tries to do something, you won't be able to fight him off."
"But he doesn't know that. For all he knows I'm just as powerful as I was that night. Powerful enough to kill him," Phoebe argued. "Besides, he should be too preoccupied with his werewolves tonight in the middle of the Smokey Mountains to notice Stefan slipping away for a moment to talk to Elena."
"Tonight?!" she questioned in surprise. Phoebe shushed her and looked over at the door to make sure Damon hadn't reacted to her raised voice. "Phoebe, it's a full moon tonight."
"I'm aware of that."
"So I can't go with you to help you. If you have to use your powers, I won't be there to explain why it's making you sick, or cover for you. And you won't be able to bring any vampire back up, without risking them being bitten," Hayley pointed out.
"I know, I know. But this seems like the best time to do this. And if it's just me, Elena, and Rick then I can get away with saying that our tracking of them this summer has told us that they've been looking for werewolves; not that Stefan told me so. I can say that with that in mind, you told me that some werewolves like to turn out in the open instead of chaining themselves up, so they might go somewhere far away from people."
"Like the Smokey Mountains," Hayley finished for her. Phoebe nodded. Hayley gave a heavy sigh. "Just...be careful, okay?"
"I promise."
Stefan and Klaus were hiking their way through the Smokey Mountains, as they spoke. Stefan had Ray's still dead body thrown over his shoulder, while they searched for Ray's pack. When they finally found them, he dropped Ray at their feet. The pack was angry to say the least. It wasn't until Klaus introduced himself that they began to grow afraid.
Meanwhile back in Mystic Falls, Tyler's mother tests him for vampirism with vervain in his coffee – which he can taste, but isn't harmed by it. They discuss Caroline and how she tried to sneak out in the middle of the night, like a prostitute – Tyler both defending her and apologizing. After he leaves, Carol calls Bill Forbes about her vampire situation.
Over at the Grill, Jeremy convinces Matt that when he says he's been seeing Vicki he doesn't mean in that 'I miss her' kind of way. He's been seeing her all summer and she asked him to help her. Matt is unnerved by all this news, but Jeremy convinces him to try doing some kind of séance to contact her and ask her what she means, later that night.
Elsewhere, after sending Hayley on her way to the house in Reidsville, Phoebe tells Elena about her plan to hike through the Smokey Mountains to find Stefan. Rick and Jenna, who are also there, don't like the sound of this plan, but they can't stop them from going. Rick agrees to join them, but – as much as she wants to come too – Jenna has to stay behind. Since she's a vampire now, they can't risk her getting bitten.
Back at the werewolf campsite, Klaus describes a true hybrid to the pack. Then, as though on cue, Ray wakes up in transition. It had quite the dramatic effect. Stefan took one of the humans that was "along for the ride" and forced Ray to feed on him to complete his transition. While he did that, Klaus ran around turning the rest of the pack into hybrids.
Later that morning – back at the Grill – Tyler and Matt finally talk. Tyler apologizes for his friendship with Caroline being a problem for Matt; it was never what he intended to happen. Matt begins to brush him off, but forces himself to try making amends. Caroline hasn't shown up to meet Tyler yet, and it's a full moon tonight. He offers to help him, if he needs it. Tyler, happy to have his friend back, politely declines.
Matt tries walking away, but is again stopped by Tyler. He's reacting to the taste of the coffee, which Matt tells him is the vervain in it. The humans can't even taste it, and the vampires, obviously, are burned by it. Though Hayley has stopped ordering the coffee there lately, because she can taste it too.
Elsewhere, Damon runs into Aunt Jenna. Somewhere in their brief conversation Jenna mentions something about him being left behind, too. Having assumed that Phoebe is away helping Hayley with the full moon like she does every other full moon, Damon is confused.
"Their little trip to the Smoky Mountains? Rick took the girls early this morning," said Jenna. "They didn't tell you?"
"What the hell are they doing in the Smoky Mountains?" Damon questioned.
"Oh boy…I thought they just asked you to stay behind too so you wouldn't get bitten by a werewolf, again."
"Why are they there?" he repeated, growing more agitated.
"They're going to find Stefan!" she blurted out. "Phoebe said she narrowed down a lead or something on the Smoky Mountains, so they went to look for Stefan."
That was all Damon really needed. After that brief chat, he headed for the Smoky Mountains to bring his idiot genius girlfriend home and scold her for being so stupid.
It takes him a little while to get there and find them, but when he does they're stopping by the water for a breather. Rick had just given the girls some wolfsbane grenades to put in their bags. Phoebe had taken her bag off to also get another energy supplement – she was beginning to feel run down – when Damon charged and sent her flying right into the water.
Rick reacted by grabbing his crossbow and aiming it at Damon, until he realized who it was.
Phoebe coughed out dirty water and cleared her eyes, realizing her glasses were no longer on her face.
"Damon? What are you doing here?" Elena asked him.
Damon scowled at his girlfriend, "Seems someone forgot to mention to Jenna that I was left out of the loop on this little hike of yours."
Rick looked at Phoebe, "You didn't tell him?"
"I wasn't aware that was a requirement," she joked, trying to feel around for her glasses. She had an extra set in her bag for emergencies, but still. Glasses weren't cheap.
"Get out of the water, Phoebe," Damon commanded.
"You know, now that I'm actually in here, I'm thinking I might go for a swim," she joked back. "The water actually feels kinda nice."
"Stop being an idiot and get out of the water," Damon repeated.
"You're the one that tossed me in here," she called back to the blurry outline.
"Right now, you're both acting like idiots," Rick mumbled, putting away his crossbow.
"You gave up on him, Damon," Elena commented.
"I didn't give up on him, Elena, I face reality," he replied. He turned back to the twin still trying to fish her glasses out of the water. "Get out of the water!"
Phoebe sighed, "Nope."
"What's your big plan, Phoebe? Huh?" Damon asked, joining her in the water. "You gona walk through a campsite full of werewolves, roast a marshmallow, and wait for Stefan to stop by?"
"Well, that depends." She stood up straight and squinted at the blur before her. "Does the marshmallow come as part of a smores? Because that's really the only way I can stand to eat a marshmallow."
Phoebe could see his face, but she still knew Damon wasn't amused. She gave another sigh. "My plan is find him and let my sister talk to him. She deserves a chance to say goodbye, Damon, and I'm not going home until she gets that. I made a promise."
"Klaus thinks she died when he broke the curse. That makes her safe. This?" He gestured to the open space around them – not that she could see it. "This is not safe."
"I'm aware of that, Damon, and I intend to keep her safe."
"It's a full moon tonight, Phoebe."
"I'm aware of that, too. But this is the closest we've been to him since he left Mystic Falls," said Phoebe. Damon didn't say anything. "Put yourself in her shoes for a moment. What if instead of taking Stefan out of town, Klaus decided he wanted to keep the only thing capable of killing him by his side and made me leave town with him? No goodbye, no explanation. Just left town with him. You'd be hunting me down just as intently as she's been hunting down Stefan, if not more."
Damon rolled his eyes. He hated when she made such a compelling argument. It was a trait he loved about her, but when it was against him, he hated it. "Okay. Okay. But we are out of here before the moon is full and I'm werewolf bait."
"I promise," she grinned. "You owe me a new pair of glasses, by the way."
Meanwhile, Ray is reacting badly to his transition into hybrid. He's bleeding from his eyes and shaking uncontrollably. Klaus looks him over, wondering what's going wrong with him, while Stefan mocks his "master race". The others soon begin to wake and Ray takes the opportunity to run away. Klaus sends Stefan after him.
It didn't take him long to find Ray, but Ray refused to be taken quietly and bit Stefan. Stefan gaped down at his arm in horror. Surely a hybrid bite was just as lethal as any werewolf bite. Making them part vampire didn't change the rules that much.
Stefan was so lost in his own thoughts, he barely noticed Ray taking off again. He was about to turn back and tell Klaus what had happened when he heard a familiar sound. Someone was humming in the distance. He turned towards the origin and found an entire group of familiar faces hiking their way up the mountain. Rick, Damon, Elena, and Phoebe humming along with them.
Oh how he'd missed that sound. It was strange the things you found you missed when you went away for so long. Things you always took for granted or just plain never really noticed. And Phoebe's absentminded humming was something he'd never paid much attention to, but missed sorely now.
Klaus appeared before Stefan just as the group disappeared from sight. Stefan told him what happened with Ray, but Klaus refused to heal him. He said he'd heal him only when he brought Ray back to the campsite, and encouraged him to get moving before he became too weak to catch him.
Back in Mystic Falls, Tyler confronts his mother about the vervain she slipped into his coffee earlier that morning. She tried pretending she doesn't know what he's talking about, but Tyler isn't in the mood to play games. She's done something to Caroline and he wants to know what.
Carol admits she tested him, because she was worried Caroline might have turned him – what with all the time they'd been sharing together lately. She tells him that Caroline is a monster and that they can't be together anymore. That's when Tyler realized she had no idea about the Lockwood family curse. That's when he decided to show her just what a monster looked like, and it wasn't Caroline.
A short time later Rick, Damon, and the twins come across Ray the failed hybrid zombie thing. They were all rather confused by just what exactly he was. He certainly looked like a hybrid – well, sort of. Ray wasn't too sure what to make of them either, at first. They all sort of stood there for a moment trying to figure one another out – that is until Ray set his sights on Damon.
Ray charged at Damon the moment he sensed that he was a vampire. Phoebe – out of fear – reacted, and sent him flying back a ways. He recovered quicker than she expected and came charging back at Damon. Thankfully Rick had the sense to dig out his wolfsbane grenade, pull the pin, and toss it to Damon. Damon shoved it in Ray's face and it exploded. Ray went down for the count.
"Hybrid?" Rick guessed.
Damon nodded in agreement, then proceeded to tie Ray up to a nearby tree. They used all the chains and ropes they had – including dousing the ropes in wolfsbane and vervain, which Damon stupidly burned himself on.
"Okay, so now what?" Phoebe asked. "We've used all our ropes to tie him up. Which probably isn't gonna hold him, when he wakes up."
"She's right. And I don't think we're gonna make that ridge before the full moon," Rick agreed.
"If we can get him to talk, we don't have to," said Elena.
She moved in closer to Ray, reaching a hand up to wake him. Ray's eyes snapped open and inhaled sharply. Both of the twins jumped. Elena tried composing herself to ask him where Stefan was, but Ray had other plans. He began writhing beneath the ropes and chains, and the sound of bones breaking was audible to even human ears.
Damon eyed him with as much surprise as the others, "Is he turning?"
"That's impossible, it's still daylight," Elena argued.
"Tell him that," Rick retorted.
Damon moved in to hold Ray back, knowing the ropes weren't gonna hold forever.
"Okay, it's time to go," said Phoebe.
"There weren't supposed to be wolves out here until the moon was full," Elena complained.
"Well, evidently hybrids don't play by the same rules as your average werewolf," Phoebe retorted. "We need to go."
"I'm not leaving without Stefan."
Phoebe barely touched her sister's face and sent her into a deep sleep. Rick had to catch her as she collapsed.
"Damon, let's go!" Phoebe called, grabbing his arm and pulling.
Damon let go of the hybrid and took hold of her hand, following her away from the dangerous hybrid failure.
Back in Mystic Falls, Matt and Jeremy go through some of Vicki's old things to look for stuff to use in the séance. It's nostalgic for them both. But after looking at an old picture of the two of them together as kids, Matt changes his mind. He doesn't want to bring up old memories and such or for ghosts to be a real thing. So he sends Jeremy away. When he turns back around, he finds the picture that he was just looking at is now standing upright, which is not how he left it.
Meanwhile, Tyler brings his mother down to the old Lockwood cellar and locks her in a cage for safety. She protests, not understanding what's going on, but soon finds out. Tyler barely makes it into his chains before he begins to turn right before her eyes.
Back in the Smoky Mountains, Rick – carrying an unconscious Elena – trips and falls. Phoebe and Damon turn around to help, but there's a problem: Ray's wolf is there, right in Rick's face. Damon calls the wolf's attention to himself and flits away. The wolf follows.
"Damon!" Phoebe called. She looked down at Rick. "Can you walk?"
"Yeah, I just tripped."
"Good. Get Elena out of here," she ordered, running after Damon and the wolf.
"Phoebe!" Rick called after her. It was a stupid idea to chase after a hybrid – even a failed one – but there was no stopping her. Not without leaving Elena alone. So he let her go, and took care of Elena.
Ray catches up to Damon pretty quickly – Phoebe not too far behind, despite the fact that she can't flit. Having shifted back into human form, he attacks Damon. He does his best to fight off the hybrid, while also avoiding being bitten again. Ray slams him so hard against a tree, Damon is knocked out cold.
Ray moves in for the kill, but is suddenly sent flying away from the vampire. Again, he recovers quickly and sets his sights on Phoebe. She braces herself to fight back, but an unlikely ally appears, ripping the heart from Ray's chest. Phoebe suddenly felt very nauseous, and lurched.
"Phoebe? You o-"
He was cut short by Phoebe actually throwing up. She'd had way too much coffee and caffeine supplements today. That combined with her using her powers so much in such a short time, her body was now paying her back for it all.
She wiped her mouth, and stood up straight, "Stefan. Good to see you, again."
"You, too." He gestured to her hair. "I like the haircut."
"Thanks," she smiled. She did a double-take at his arm and moved in for a closer look. "Tell me that's not what I think it is."
Stefan took the hand reaching out to grab his arm and held it, "Klaus already said he was going to heal me as soon as I get Ray back to him. Nothing's gonna happen to me, I promise."
"He better. Or I'll have to kick his ass…again."
Not that it wasn't good to see her again – it really was – but Stefan was confused about something, "I didn't know you were gonna be coming out here. You usually tell me when you guys are gonna be checking out an area nearby."
Phoebe took her hand back and told him the truth – she told him about her promise to Elena. Stefan listened quietly, then nodded. "So you decided to take a hike through the Smoky Mountains to look for me, on a full moon, knowing we were going to be with a pack of werewolves?"
"Yeah…Hindsight? Not one of my better plans."
"Ya think?"
"I'm sorry. I just thought it would be good for you both to have that closure," said Phoebe.
"It's okay. You were just trying to help," he replied – though Phoebe could tell he was a little upset with her for it.
Phoebe opened her mouth to try smoothing things over more, but Damon began grumbling and moving.
"I better go," said Stefan, picking Ray up. "I'll email you."
Phoebe started to say goodbye, but Stefan flitted away before she could. She sighed with disappointment, then moved to help Damon. She lied about scaring Ray off with her powers, and told him to get them out of there before he came back. Damon snatched her up and flitted to his car. There, she threw up again from the motion, while Damon called Rick to tell them they were both still alive.
Back in Mystic Falls, Matt changes his mind about the séance and brings a few things over to the Gilbert house for Jeremy to use. They both talk about their last memories with Vicki – or lack thereof. Jeremy had his compelled away, and Matt can't remember his last memory of her before she was a vampire.
They're reminiscing causes Vicki to appear. Jeremy talks to her, and she claims she can come back, with their help. Before she can say how, Anna appears and tells Jeremy not to trust Vicki.
Meanwhile, Stefan returns to the campsite with Ray's body. The entire pack is dead. Klaus explains that he had to kill them, because they became rabid, like Ray. He throws a fit, and raises his voice in anger. He doesn't understand why he can't sire hybrids; even though he did everything he was told. He sacrificed a vampire, he sacrificed a werewolf, and he sacrificed the doppelganger.
Stefan became nervous. He didn't want Klaus to figure out that Elena was still alive, and that it might be the reason he can't sire hybrids. Klaus noticed his discomfort, but Stefan played it off as his concern for not being healed yet for the werewolf bite. Klaus accepted this answer, and healed him. Then the two left the dead pack of werewolves behind to find answers.
It was a quiet car ride back to Mystic Falls for Damon and Phoebe. Both were busy sulking over what the other had done. Damon was angry that Phoebe had kept him out of the loop, and Phoebe was angry that he'd followed her out there. But once they were home and Phoebe was getting ready to head out to join Hayley in Reidsville, The tension was broken and words were exchanged.
It wasn't the kind of fight that needed making up after, because it was understood that both parties were only angry out of love for the other. Damon wanted to protect Phoebe and going out there on a full moon, knowing there were going to be werewolves, was a stupid idea. Phoebe wanted to protect Damon as well, which is why she didn't tell him. She knew he'd follow her out there if he knew, and he was just healed from a werewolf bite. She wasn't eager to go through that nightmare ever again.
They were both still angry at one another when she left, but again it wasn't something that needed making up or resolving. They were merely showing concern for one another. Though it bugged the hell out of Phoebe that Damon, yet again, showed his lack of respect for her wishes and called her stupid for what she'd done.
When she finally made it to Elijah's house in Reidsville, Phoebe helped unchain Hayley and get her to bed to rest. She herself was tired from today's events, and passed out soon after on her own bed. Meanwhile, Carol promises Tyler to get Caroline back for him, having seen that Caroline isn't the worst thing out there.
Elsewhere, poor Caroline wakes up alone and restrained to a chair that even her vampire strength can't break free of. She calls out for whoever's there, and they appear. To her own horror, the person holding her captive is her own father.
Ok, so these first two episodes of season 3 have been more boring to write than I thought, for some reason. But they are now out of the way, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the season. So many plans, guys. So many plans.
The next chapter will be them going to Chicago to find Stefan. I will tell you, Phoebe's gonna be the one to distract Klaus while Elena talks to Stefan. I am so excited to write that conversation and have you guys read it.
How do you think that's gonna go? How will Rebekah and Phoebe get on? Will they be friends? Will they hate each other? Which twin will be the key to creating hybrids? How will the dynamic change between Phoebe and Stefan once he has his humanity off? Will she avoid him like Elena? Or will she treat him like any other vampire? Who will get Stefan his humanity back? Will it be his closest friend? Will it be the girl he loves? Or will it still be Damon? How will the return of the Original Family effect Phoebe and Damon's relationship given his already jealousy of at least Elijah? How will Phoebe get on with the rest of the family? What's gonna happen when Phoebe finds out that the witch that created her and cursed her to this existence is their mother?
What do you think so far? What do you think will happen this season? What do you hope to see happen?
EmmyAltava: Of course I understand. Your studies and work come first. Good luck with them, by the way. :) I'm glad the chapter was too terrible, then. Really the only thing I found interesting with it was the phone call at the end. Is that weird to say, seeing as I wrote it?
Natashaa78: Thank you so much! I really try to reply to people when I can. I just don't have much to say to some reviews, except for a thank you. I was surprised to hear that not many people use Hayley or that they make a villain out of her. I mean, I've never read anyone else's TVD fanfictions so I guess I wouldn't know that. But I love Hayley. I can't imagine her not being used.
