The Crow and the Falcon. (Six)
Stefan yawned. Tuesday. Just over a week of living there, and he'd managed to fall in with a close knit group of friends, get established at school and meet a weird psychotic cousin of one of said friends. Things were going well. If you excused the murder. One week into what would hopefully be a long stay, and already trouble was brewing. It had taken far longer at Fell's Church. And to think humans normally led mundane lives. He wasn't sure what he and Damon did to attract unusual people, but they'd been doing it on a regular basis lately. Surprisingly, despite all this and last night's tension, he was still on good terms with his brother. The music had stopped when he got back later that night and when he'd gotten up that morning, Damon was seated in the kitchen reading a newspaper and sipping a cup of coffee. Stefan had been slightly taken aback by the fact his brother was in a good mood, and had commented on it.
"Any reason I shouldn't be?" Damon had replied, politely.
"I guess not. Just after last night...you want to talk about it?"
"No."
"Okay." Stefan had known not to push this time. "Just remember, I'm here for you if you /do/ want to talk." He hadn't waited for Damon's reply. Instead he picked up his school bag and headed out of the door, uncomfortably aware of Damon's thoughtful stare on him as he left.
He yawned again and deftly spun in the code to his locker - a new locker. He'd been to student services that morning to change it. He was too tired to be overly bothered by the fact that he'd used his Powers to get what he wanted. He chalked that up to either Damon's bad influence, or the fact that Lydia was too weird by even /his/ standards to want to see on a daily basis. He chose the latter. He wasn't sure he wanted Damon being proud of him for misuse of Power. *Of course, if you stay friends with Cookie and Adam, chances are you'll be seeing Lydia on a regular basis, too.* He didn't relish the thought. He hadn't met Bruce yet, and if Lydia was anything to go by, he didn't want to.
"You moved lockers? Very sensible." Adam noted, sauntering up to him.
"My God, you're here." Stefan feigned a heart attack and grinned. Adam rolled his eyes, but grinned back anyway. The started walking down the hall.
"Yeah. Cookie was muttering about the three-fold law last night and Bruce and Lydia getting what's coming to them."
"What does that have to do with school?"
"I had this horrible vision of that applying to me. I'd end up spending eternity chained to a desk in Mrs Barclay's art room." He grinned.
Stefan chuckled. "I doubt that would put you off."
"Well, no. Mom's muttering about if I don't go I might as well pull out and get a full time job."
"You wouldn't want that?"
"Hell no. I may be a genius, but I'm also incredibly lazy."
"What do you want to do then?"
"Mess around for a couple of years, then get some high paid computer programming job. If Bill Gates can do it, then so can I."
"Bill Gates?" Stefan was puzzled.
"You know. Microsoft...Windows and all that shit."
"Ah, I'll take your word for it." Stefan grinned apologetically.
"Geesh. You'd think you'd be living in the Dark Ages to not know that."
"More like the Renaissance." Stefan laughed softly.
"Huh?"
"Nothing. I just meant I was a technological idiot, but not a total technophobe." Stefan covered the slip quickly.
"Oh?"
"Hey, I can program the video recorder!" The vampire defended himself jokingly.
"That's good." Adam nodded. "I can't."
"You're kidding?"
"Nope. Our video hates me for some reason. It won't do anything when I set it. I think it doesn't like me because it thinks I want to take it apart." He laughed, then cackled evilly. "Just wait until I get my hands on it when Mom buys a new one." He stabbed at the air while making the Psycho sound effects.
Stefan laughed. Then, after a few moments of companionable silence, "You get anything from the police?"
Adam's mood darkened. "Yeah. Interesting stuff." He looked at his watch. "We don't have the time to go through it now. How about we meet up in the library at lunch?"
"Sure, okay." Stefan replied.
"Great. I'm gonna head off for history now. Seeya then."
"Seeya." Stefan replied, and set off for his literature class.
~*~
"I didn't like Henry V when Shakespeare first wrote it." Stefan was pulled out of his mindless stupor when Damon leaned over to him, speaking quietly.
"/If/ he wrote it." Stefan grinned back. "What are we doing now?"
Damon rolled his eyes. "Act five, scene two. Discuss in detail Henry's speech 'Marry, if you would put me to verses' up to 'speak, my fair, and fairly, I pray thee'. We have twenty minutes. So do you want to get whatever happens to be on your chest off it?"
"Uh, and what about the work?"
"Who cares? It's that sickly scene where Henry professes undying love to someone he's only just met. Highly unrealistic, filled with idiotic imagery. You've only got to read it through once and you can bluff your way through it." He leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. "Out with it."
"Out with what?" Stefan scowled.
"Whatever's been bugging you since the lesson started."
Stefan sighed. "The murder."
"/That/?" Damon laughed loudly. He ignored the look the teacher shot him. "Is that all?"
"You could be a little more worried." He said quietly, aware of the other students around him. ((Don't you find it odd that a murder happens only a week after we turn up?))
((Coincidence.))
((Still dangerous. All we need is the wrong person to start asking the wrong questions and it could start finger pointing at us.))
((Alright. So there's a risk. But it's minimal. Stop worrying - the police are going to write this off as a psycho on the loose. They'll find the person doing this, put him in a mental institute...))
((/Him/ in the girls showers?))
((Peeping Tom, perhaps. Anyway. Boy, girl, androgynous being - they'll catch it, and then we'll be virtually safe again.))
((Don't be so sure.))
((What does that mean? What do you know that I don't?)) Damon asked suspiciously.
((Adam hacked into the police files.))
((And?)) Damon picked up on the urgency.
((He's seen it. He said, and I quote, 'Interesting stuff'. It's not your everyday murder. They did the autopsy faster than Adam thought they would, too. There's something that's made them suspicious.))
((On the other hand, she was popular, and from I can gather, the Kents are influential round here. If her parents put pressure on the police, they're not gonna sit on there backsides eating donuts on this one, are they?))
((Alright. You have a point there. But I still want to look at the report before I feel at ease about this.))
((Whatever makes you happy.)) Damon shot an amused grin.
((I'd prefer a look at the body. But she's not Sue Carson in a funeral home. I don't want to try and get in the morgue unless I /really/ have to.))
"Salvatore. Care to enlighten the group with your thoughts on Shakespeare's presentation of Henry in this scene?" The teacher broke in, a look of grim satisfaction on his face.
"Uh..." Stefan began.
"It's reminding the audience that he's a normal human being with feelings, which we probably forget after his portrayal as cold military leader in the previous acts..." Damon put in smoothly, delivering an analysis that left the teacher's mouth hanging open. ((Well, he didn't say /which/ Salvatore.)) Damon told his brother, amused.
((Do you want to come with me to look at the report at lunch?)) Stefan asked, grinning at Damon's obvious enjoyment at shocking the teacher.
((Might as well. Nothing else to do. And if it doesn't tell us anything informative, it might at least be entertaining.))
((That wasn't in good taste.)) Stefan chided him.
((Do you really expect anything different from me?)) Damon asked blithely.
((Not really.)) Stefan sighed.
The library was normally empty during lunch, and today was no exception. Stefan, Damon and Mike had been waiting for twenty minutes by the time Adam turned up.
"Sorry I'm late. Mr Wentworth kept me back after class."
"What for?" Mike asked.
"To congratulate me on turning up and to give me back an essay on the human reproductive system."
"What grade?"
"A."
"Did I need to ask?" Mike grinned. "You're a creep, you know that? You do no work, yet you still manage to get A's in everything."
"Except art. Don't forget I flunked."
"You have no idea how much that eases my ego." Mike replied sarcastically.
"Where are the girls?" Adam asked.
"The Gym teacher wanted to see them." Damon responded.
"Something about helping them deal with Tatum's death, explaining why they wouldn't be having gym sessions for the rest of the week, and to help them get over the fact it happened in the shower room. Apparently a lot of the girls don't want to shower in school anymore." Stefan added.
"I would." Damon commented. "Morbid curiosity."
"You're also sick and insensitive." Stefan pointed out.
"That too." Damon said cheerfully. "So are we going to see this report or not? I thought it was pretty simple. Slit throat, doesn't take a forensic pathologist to work out the cause of death."
"Cause of death, yeah. Eventually." Adam said, looking a little ill. He pulled out a plastic folder with some printed sheets inside. "Et voila. Police report, complete with autopsy. Skip the police file - it basically says no suspects as of yet, blah blah, yadda yadda. It's the autopsy you should see. Although I think that's what you wanted in the first place."
Stefan flipped the file open, reading out relevant bits for Damon and Mike's benefit. He had the impression Adam would be happy if he never heard it again. "Okay. Cause of death was indeed the slit throat." He scanned quickly down the page, and frowned. "Not the only injury sustained, though. Stab wound to the abdomen. Blade used was sharp, probably the size of a kitchen knife."
"Where on the abdomen?" Damon asked.
"Around the navel." Stefan replied.
"Solar Plexus." Damon muttered, almost to himself. He leaned back, looking troubled. "Go on." He said, waving his hand at his brother.
Stefan went back to the file. "That's weird." His eyebrows shot up.
"Let me guess." Damon leaned forward. "Little or no blood loss from that particular wound."
"Yeah." Stefan replied, puzzled.
"Inflicted after death, then?" Mike suggested.
"No, it says here it was likely /before/ death. Signs of struggle blah blah. How they find out half this stuff is beyond me."
"I told you it was interesting." Adam said looking up from a book he'd plucked off of the shelf. "Keep on going. It gets more interesting."
"Don't bother." Said Damon. "I'll hazard a guess as to the rest of it."
"You mean you've seen this before?" Mike asked, surprised.
"Maybe." He told the red head, then turned to his brother. "Does it seem as if she's perhaps /aged/ at all?"
"It doesn't say that exactly." Stefan replied uneasily. "Some medical babble about decomposition and the like."
"But it sounds to you as if she'd aged?"
"Yeah."
"Right." Damon sat back in his seat again, brooding on his thoughts.
"What do you know about this then?" Adam asked.
"I might say the same to you." Damon replied. "Most people would have just dismissed all that. You didn't, you said it was interesting, and it's playing on your mind. Something's obviously not right. Care to tell me your thoughts?"
Adam looked at him oddly. "Some things my Mom talks about stick here." He said, tapping his head. "The navel is the location of the third chakra."
"The /what/?" Mike frowned.
"Chakra." Stefan replied. "Energy centres, organs of the spiritual body."
"Carry on, Adam." Damon invited. "What is the third chakra ruler of?"
"Lifeforce and Willpower." Adam replied. "That's all I know. You gonna tell us what's hooked your interest now?"
"I'd be interested to know that." Stefan frowned at his brother.
"Based on what Adam has just told us, I can tell you part of why she was killed."
"Well?" Stefan prompted after a moments silence.
"Lifeforce. Someone tapped straight into the centre for Lifeforce. The idea is that you open up the chakras spiritually for enlightenment and well being - all that New Age mumbo jumbo." Damon explained. "However, in this case someone has decided to get to that centre to drain away the Lifeforce. That's why she appears to have aged - her life energy has been taken."
"Why?" Mike exploded, earning a look of annoyance from several of the more studious students using the library.
Damon shrugged. "A number of reasons. Most likely magic. Certainly for nothing good. If it was they'd have found a different way to gather Lifeforce - tapped into their own or enlisted the help of someone willing. The lack of blood loss from the wound suggests the energy cauterised the wound on the way out. Spiritually speaking, of course."
"What kind of magic?" Mike asked.
"Bad, bad, bad magic." Adam replied, looking sick. "If whoever it is stole Lifeforce and killed Tatum, then it must be real bad. And the only thing I can think of that they'd need Lifeforce for that's really bad is to bring someone back."
"Back?"
"From the other side. From death." Stefan told him.
"Necromancy?" Mike looked disgusted.
"Something like that." Adam nodded.
"If that's what happened - and I think it is, then it won't stop with Tatum." Damon said darkly. "We can expect more killings to take place."
Everyone was silent at that. Finally Mike spoke again. "We have to stop this."
Stefan nodded in agreement. "We will. Somehow." Stefan promised. He looked at Damon. ((You with us?))
Damon stared back, considering, before he replied. ((You need me.))
((That's a yes? Without having to be convinced?)) Stefan was surprised.
((Don't make me say it, or you might find me siding with the other guy.)) Stefan could tell he didn't really mean it, though.
"Guys?" Mike sounded as if he was repeating himself.
"What?" Damon asked, coming back to the real world.
"If this is gonna turn into some weird serial killing, I think you should keep what you know quiet." He replied. "We know you didn't do this, but if someone gets wind that you know of a reason for this to take place, then you'll go up there on the suspect list."
"Good point." Stefan noted.
"If you're not on the list already." Adam said nervously.
"What does that mean?" Damon frowned.
"It means that they'll be checking up on out of town students. See if any lunatics have enrolled themselves into the school."
"And?" Damon asked.
"To put it bluntly, you'll be number one on the list of suspects. You," He said to Stefan, "Have a record from Robert E. Lee that is sketchy, and what there is of it is not what you'd call good. And you," He turned to Damon, "Appear to have no record at all. Now if /I/ were a cop and found that interesting piece of information, alarm bells would be ringing. It /looks/ like a case of someone making up their background. Which is something that someone who has something to hide would do."
The brothers stared at each other. ((I would say that it would be sensible to leave.)) Damon told his brother.
((You would, would you?)) Stefan asked lightly.
((I /would/. Except I know damn well you won't go, and as much as I hate to admit this, I'm not leaving you.))
Stefan was near speechless. */Damon/ is telling me this?*
((Besides which,)) Damon added nonchalantly, ((If we leave it's like admitting we had something to do with it.))
((So what do we do about these records?))
Damon didn't answer. Instead he turned to Adam. "I have something to admit to."
"Oh?" Adam asked politely.
"I never attended Robert E. Lee."
"I guessed as much."
"And they won't find anything about either of us beyond that."
"Uh huh."
((How serious is this situation?)) Stefan asked.
((Deadly.)) Damon replied. ((There are a number of things that you can use Lifeforce for. And if they're killing someone to get it, it's not good. Apart from bringing back the dead, there are quite a few nasty little spells you can use it for, and the chances are it will bring about death in a nasty way.))
((We have to tell them.)) Stefan said after a moment. ((We can't not help. We're probably the best hope they have in stopping this - they'll try and do it with or without our help. If we're open with them, it makes life easier for all of us.))
((And if they can't take it, if they want nothing to do with us?))
((I guess we leave.)) He replied reluctantly. ((After dealing with the problem as best we can from the shadows.)) Damon was silent. ((Well?)) Stefan prodded.
Adam and Mike were looking at them strangely. They'd been silent for too long.
"As I was saying." Damon continued where he had left off, his attention on Adam "They won't find any background on us whatsoever. So, if you were feeling bored later on, perhaps you could focus your energy on a creative writing task."
"You want me to fabricate some school records for you?" Adam grinned slyly.
Damon grinned. "You catch on fast. Nothing fancy. Something average and normal."
((/Well?/)) Stefan prodded again, feeling exasperated.
Damon frowned and flashed him an annoyed look. ((I'm getting to it.))
((You're a stubborn asshole. That doesn't tell me anything.))
"Just one little thing, Adam. Before you do anything for us, you might want to know who you're dealing with."
"That might be courteous, yeah."
"You know where our apartment is?" Damon inquired. Adam and Mike both nodded. "Come round tonight at, say, eight o'clock. Bring the girls. I'll tell you then."
"Eight." Mike affirmed, looking intrigued.
"You might want to bring a /very/ stiff drink." Damon added, almost as an afterthought.
~*~
The evening dragged on. The pair of them had been out hunting early, and had arrived back not long before. For once, Damon had gone with Stefan, and although he complained bitterly about it the whole way, he'd settled for the rabbit and fox blood from the woodland animals they'd caught. It had only re-affirmed his preference for human blood, but it served the purpose of preventing needlessly winding Stefan up. Besides, even he had to admit to himself he wasn't up for an argument about morals this evening. It would only hinder them in the long run.
Stefan was visibly nervous - he'd already broken two glasses from exerting too much pressure on them. Damon wasn't about to admit it, but he felt just as uneasy. He hated deliberately revealing himself. And he was about to do it to five people. One of whom was a witch, trouble if things went the wrong way. Jess would be a threat in Damon's opinion if that happened. Humans who knew martial arts and were /good/ at them tended to be bad news in his experience. If this went the wrong way, it could /really/ go wrong for them. The only thing going for them at the moment was that the group already suspected something was being kept from them.
"We've known them for four days and we're telling them this already?" Stefan looked dazed.
"I've known the twins for a week if that makes you feel any better." Damon offered. Stefan glared at him. "I guess not." He amended, retreating to the sitting room to rot his mind watching TV.
"There's nothing on." Stefan said, following him from the kitchen.
"I didn't expect there to be." Damon said dryly.
"What time is it?"
"Seven-thirty." Damon replied, shaking his head. "There's a clock on the video player, a clock in the kitchen, /and/ you're wearing a watch."
"Can I help it if I'm nervous?"
"It's not too late to make up some story to tell them. Witness protection plan, maybe."
"No. We tell the truth." Stefan said firmly.
"Then resign yourself to it, and stop feeling nervous. You're driving me up the wall. We should be relaxed."
"Easier said than done."
"Put it this way. If it blows up in our face and we end up with five hysterical and frightened teenagers on our hands, I don't know if I can control myself. We don't want five bodies, and if this goes badly and I'm uptight, we /will/ have. Now, I know you want them left alive, so for /their/ sakes, let /me/ relax." Damon was relieved to see his brother relax himself after a few moments. He switched the TV on and started the mindless game of channel hopping.
"If you do that much faster, you'll break the remote." Stefan commented after a few minutes. "As it is you should come with a government health warning about epilepsy."
"Oh, very funny." Damon scowled, finally stopping on a channel showing a documentary about lemmings.
"I feel like a lemming at the moment." Stefan commented after a while.
"Huh?"
"Suicidal. What we're about to do is suicidal."
Damon digested this for a few seconds. "Well, this is obviously a good omen then."
"How'd you figure that?"
"Lemmings don't commit suicide. It's all a myth."
"Oh. You know some really useless shit." Then after a minute more. "TV opens up too many topics of philosophical and mystical debate. We're getting a games system."
"You can get lemmings on those, too." Damon nodded, grinning.
"So we sit in front of a blank screen?"
"Definitely not. We might start pondering the meaning of life then. And that would /never/ do."
Stefan tried to bite back a laugh, but failed miserably. "You're an idiot, you know that?" He said grabbing a cushion and hitting Damon with it. "You should be locked up."
"What games system?" Damon asked, attempting to keep the light mood going.
"Why ask me? I don't know a thing about them. Ask Adam." He sighed. "/If/ he's still talking to us after this." He turned his attention back to the screen, and stared at it with a pensive expression on his face until there was a knock at the door. Damon answered it.
"Hi." Mike said. "Can we come in?"
"Of course." Damon said, grinning to himself as he stepped aside.
"We told the girls about the autopsy report." Adam said as he passed.
"That makes this evening a little less complicated." Damon commented. "Go on through to the sitting room. Sit wherever."
"Neat place." Zia told him. Damon nodded in agreement. Top floor, easy access to the roof. There were only three floors below them, and the bottom floor wasn't occupied. Private enough. The ideal apartment for a vampire. Or it would be if they stayed.
Everyone was assembled in the sitting room. Stefan had vacated his place on the couch and moved to the window seat. Not necessarily to make more room. Damon guessed that Stefan was trying to put a comfortable distance between himself and the humans to make things easier if things started to look bad. Silence descended on the room.
"So, spill." Cookie said eventually. "What's this secret that I /really/ don't want to know?" She was looking directly at Damon, a small smile playing on her lips. Damon didn't smile back. He remained deadly serious. He had the impression that the girl might even be feeling smug she'd been proved right she was going to find out. Whether or not she would be when she found out remained to be seen. He moved carefully over towards Stefan, putting the group between the vampires and the door. A small gesture that they didn't mean harm. Escape was there if the mortals so desired.
"You don't have to do this if you don't want to." Jess put in after a few more moments. "You've not known us for even a week - we'll understand if you don't want to trust us with whatever it is."
"No. You have a right to know." Stefan told them. "We didn't want to tell you yet. We didn't know how things would work out. Then this happened, and we don't really have much choice. It's only fair that you know."
"Of course, I would like you to understand /before/ you hear what we have to tell you that we're on your side. I want you to be clear about that."
"Okay. Whatever." Cookie smiled, puzzled. "You're on our side. want to tell us now?"
Damon frowned. "Are you in a bad mood? You're being a little short tempered tonight."
"/You/ try living with Bruce and Lydia. One more week and I'm seriously going to consider killing them. There's no way in hell I can survive a whole /year/."
"Oh."
"Yeah. So /please/ get on with it."
Damon exchanged a glance with Stefan and shrugged.
"Where to start." Stefan sighed. "Alright. First of all, Cookie already knows something."
The group turned to look at her. "They're telepathic." She told them. "They talk to each other with their minds."
"Cool." Zia grinned. "How'd you know that?"
"She unknowingly broadcasted her thoughts to me, and I couldn't resist replying." Damon explained.
"That it?" Mike asked surprised.
*You'll wish that 'was it' when you find out the truth.* Damon thought.
"No." Stefan replied.
"So what is it then?"
"Would you believe us if we told you we'd been hanging around for the past five centuries?" Stefan asked.
The group grinned and started chuckling. All except for Cookie who looked at them through narrowed eyes. "Maybe." She said finally. Everyone shut up and looked at her wide eyed. "So what are you, then?"
((Convince her, we convince them all.)) Damon told his brother. Stefan nodded slightly.
"Here goes nothing." Stefan muttered.
"We're Vampires." Damon told the group.
Pandemonium ensued.