The Crow and the Falcon. (Epilogue)
Everything seemed strangely quiet. Stefan guessed that he'd become accustomed to the frenzy of the past few days - normality seemed strangely dull. But that was a good sign. Things were back to normal, and the inhabitants of Redditch were safe, the majority of whom were never likely to find out what had occurred lately.
Adam and Abigail Tate had woken from their comas at what the brothers had guessed was the time the spirit had been finally destroyed, the spell on them apparently dependent on being fuelled by the spirit's Power. It was a small blessing, but greatly received. Neither of them had any ideas of how to reverse it if it had still been going strong.
Stefan sighed and hefted a box full of belongings down to the hallway. It was surprising that as many of their belongings survived that did. Luckily, most of the stuff that had been destroyed had been bought when they came to Redditch. Their own most personal and valuable belongings had been kept in their rooms, where they'd been relatively safe. He was sorry he'd missed Cookie's theatrics about her evil arsonist cousins. He'd been told it was impressive.
Still, it was time to move on. Bruce and Lydia's testimony could be a threat. Granted, the community considered them to be raving lunatics, and only displayed outright hostility to them for what they'd done, but as Stefan had pointed out, it only took the wrong person to listen to them. It was safer they move on. Better for their new friends, too. That was the main reason for leaving. They'd be safer, be able to lead normal lives. It was hard to hold on to that when Stefan faced up to things. When all was said and done, they were leaving some good friends, friends who accepted them. Friends who cared.
"This is the last." Damon said quietly, coming down the stairs behind his brother.
Stefan nodded. "Where now?"
"Wherever." Damon shrugged.
"We staying together, then?"
"I suppose. I've nothing better to do than hang around for a few centuries with my little brother." He flashed a grin.
"Don't do me any favours." Stefan grinned back.
"Of course, there are conditions."
"I'm not drinking human blood." Stefan was adamant.
"Well, we'll see about that. A few more years in my company and you'll probably be revelling in the stuff." He joked. "No, the condition is that you lighten up, stop preaching to me about honour and morals. Take me for what I am."
Stefan stared at the ceiling. "The thing with the twentieth century is the honour and morals seem to have no place here anymore."
"Get up to date then." Damon teased.
"Nah. Someone has to keep the past alive." Damon rolled his eyes. "Oh, alright. I'll lighten up. But I'm not going to stop complaining altogether." He picked up a box and started for the door. "After all, if /I/ didn't, who else would keep you in line?" He laughed and jumped out of the door before Damon could hit him. Damon shook his head, and followed after with a box of his own.
~*~
"So, you're leaving without saying goodbye, huh?" Jess lounged on top of the hood of Damon's Ferrari, and blew a bubble with bright green gum before continuing. "And to think we thought we were friends. That hurts." She pouted.
"We thought it would be best that way." Stefan shrugged, embarrassed.
"You shouldn't think for other people." Cookie said from her seat on the sidewalk.
"Maybe we weren't doing it for you." Damon pointed out. "Maybe it's easier for us to let go if we don't have to say goodbye."
"We don't want you to go." Mike said. He was leaning against the fence next to Zia.
"It's better if we do." Stefan explained, putting his box down.
"For who? Not us." Jess retorted. "We mean it. We want you to stay. We're your friends."
"And that means a lot. But wherever we go, trouble seems to follow. We can only bring you harm in the long run. So it's because we value you as friends and because we care that we're leaving."
"Hey, what's a bit of danger now and then." Adam laughed. "We'd be bored out of our minds if we were safe for the rest of our lives."
Jess looked at them earnestly, her face open and hopeful. "Please stay. /Please/." Stefan shrugged uncomfortably, while Damon stared at the floor. "Aw, C'mon. Don't make me beg here, guys."
"Where would we stay. We've totalled the apartment." Damon told her, gesturing to the top of the large house.
"Paul is taking over the attic space, Kate couldn't take the noise on the top floor. Those plus the spare room leave you a choice of three rooms at our place." Mike suggested.
"What about your mother?"
"She won't mind. We kinda asked anyway." Jess grinned sheepishly.
"Uh huh. And what was it Cookie was saying a minute ago about thinking for other people." Stefan grinned. "Anyhow I don't think your mom would appreciate two vampires living under her roof."
"If she can put up with those two plus six other monsters, you guys would be tame in comparison." Zia laughed, speaking up. "You wouldn't have to tell her, anyway."
"Oh yes we would." Damon muttered. "Stefan wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't..." He trailed off and shot a filthy look at his brother as Stefan kicked his leg.
"Come on. Stay." Adam urged.
"At least give it a try." Cookie added.
"You can't spend the rest of eternity running away." Mike told them. Stefan began to feel unsure of himself.
"Please." Jess slid off of the car, and knelt down on the sidewalk. "Look, I'm /begging/ you now. /Please/ stay." She shuffled forward in front of Stefan, and looked up into his face, her eyes wide.
Stefan laughed. "You'll ruin your pants doing that."
"Who cares. My hard image is totally out of the window now. What's a pair of pants compared to that."
"Oh for Gods' sake. Just tell her we'll stay before she decides to start up the waterworks." Damon sounded disgusted, but a grin tugged at his lips.
Stefan stared at him, surprised. "You /want/ to stay?"
"It's as good a place as any." He replied. "But I'll leave it up to you."
"You think if I /did/ cry, he'd stay?" Jess asked him.
"Probably. He's a sucker for damsels in distress." Damon told her, then grinned menacingly. "But I wouldn't do it if I were you."
"Why?"
"I'd have to kill you."
"Try it, bud. I'd floor you in seconds."
"Of course." Damon arched a sceptical brow at her. "And is that a pig with wings flying behind you?"
Jess poked her tongue out at him, then turned her attention back to Stefan. "Pur-lease." She whined.
"Okay, okay." Stefan laughed. "I give in. We'll give it a try. I mean, I promised Zia I'd help with her chemistry, so I can't leave her in the lurch, now, can I?"
"Yes!" Jess yelled, jumping up and throwing her arms around his neck. He was surprised, but after a moment he hugged her back.
"Anyone up for a celebratory meal at Deb's?" Zia asked happily.
"Maybe we could get those somewhere safe first?" Damon pointed to the boxes. "Because if someone steals my stuff the police are going to be dragging a body out of the gutter."
"I'll give you a hand then." Mike told them, shooting Damon a withering glance.
Stefan pulled Jess back as the rest of them retreated to the hallway to fetch the remaining boxes. "Just one thing." He said.
"Yeah?"
"Why did you accept what we are so easily?"
"Because I think I understand to some degree." Jess replied, a little reluctantly.
"How?" Stefan was intrigued.
Jess thought for a moment, then nodded as she came to a decision. "My secret is hardly in your league. I guess I owe it to you to tell you. I have Diabetes. Had it for years now. Every day I have to stick needles in my arms and give myself insulin. Without it, I die. So I can understand about having to depend an outside substance to survive. From what I can gather, you aren't to thrilled about being dependant on blood. Well I'm not thrilled about being dependent on a damned injection to live. I get so sick of the needles, the calorie counting, not being able to eat what everyone else eats. Hell, if I want to grab a burger I have to know about it at the start of the day. Then there are the tests. Frequent visits to the hospital to make sure I'm okay. All of it alienates you from the rest of the human race. You start feeling envious of the freedom other people have. I'm only guessing here, but I imagine you probably experience similar feelings about your own condition."
Stefan sighed. "Yes. But there's a difference. At least I had the choice. At least blood drinking doesn't cripple what activities I want to do like it does you. And I thought I had it bad."
"Hey, but look at me. Do I let it get to me? You think I lead a substandard life? Do I sit around moping?"
Stefan shook his head and grinned a little. "No. You lead one of the fullest lives I've ever known."
"So learn a lesson. Get over your handicaps, don't dwell on them. You'll feel a whole lot better for it."
"Maybe." He said quietly. Then, after a few moments, "You're sure your mom won't freak when we tell her what we are?"
"Hey, my mom would invite an alien invasion force in for coffee and cake. I don't think she'll have much of a problem with a vegetarian vampire and his wayward brother. Besides, she likes you guys." She grinned.
"But I'm not vegetarian." Stefan frowned.
"Might as well be." She said, reaching up and ruffling his hair. "Lighten up a little. It's the nineties after all." She skipped up the path after the others.
*Welcome to the nineties, Stefan.* He told himself. *And a brand new start.* He smiled, took a deep breath of fresh air, then followed Jess. The future was looking bright for a change. He decided to enjoy it for once.
The End
Thanks for reading. Hope your brain survived the ordeal. ;)
Witchy facts were made up by me, even though the chakras and the like do exist. I just played with them - dramatic license and all.
