Disclaimers: Elena Gilbert, Stefan Salvatore and friends, along with the Vampire Diaries I - IV belong to L.J. Smith. Everything else belongs to me. No harm intended or money made from this fic.
Notes:
~ Chapter ~
::Thoughts or telepathy::
_emphasis or italics_
Date posted: 25 November 2002
Author's Note: I'm changing the name of that hunter Elena embarrassed from Domick to Peter. Also, I'm going to start dating posts from now on.
~ Twenty ~
As another evening crept up on them, the training session drew to a close. Elena handed her staff to a waiting Eiran and watched the figures drifting towards the house. Some new and unexpected friendships had been planted today, along with some new hatreds and grudges.
Taura, who had been overseeing the knife-fighting exercises, was being wheeled over to her. The tall, ascetic Seth, who had been giving Elena pointers on how to use a staff was also nearby.
"If only I was out of these stupid plaster tubes, I'd show them how it's done," the small girl complained good-naturedly when she got within earshot. "So how was your first day of proper weapons training, Elena? Did Sethie-boy here take care of you?" she asked, coming to a stop a foot or so away. The tall man did not deign to reply to this shot.
"He did," Elena reassured, smiling. "And how are you?"
"Oh, this is shaping up to be the most fun I've ever had recuperating. I think I heard the comment 'dead on their feet' more than once when my pupils migrated towards the house. Except, of course, that dead people shouldn't hurt so much." She chuckled evilly. "Ten bucks says they're all headed for long, hot soaks. Good thing Crystal's monster Jacuzzi survived last night's attack.
"They think they're suffering now. Just wait till I get back on my feet!" Taura promised. Or threatened, Elena was not sure. "Shall we join them in the spa and gloat?" she invited.
"No, I was thinking of taking a walk. Stretch my legs a little," Elena replied. She _was_ tired but restless all the same. And the dark line of trees fifteen feet away was beckoning to her.
"What, Seth didn't run you ragged already?" Taura asked disbelievingly.
Now it was Elena's turn to chuckle, but she didn't give any other reply.
"Well, we'll see you inside then. Come along, Grayson," Taura said to Seth. "Leave Elena alone; she's seen enough of your pointy face today already." The austere man rolled his eyes but followed the wheelchair-bound girl with a stoic expression nonetheless. Elena heard her chattering fade as they moved away. When she no longer heard them, she stuffed her hands into the pockets of her jeans and started towards the wood, head bowed and lost in thought.
* * *
"Alone at last."
Stefan saw Elena jump, her head jerking up at the sudden voice. He resisted the urge to dash forward and pull her into his arms to reassure himself that she was real. Instead, he hung back as the other three vampires flanked her.
"Well, well," Leon drawled in mock surprise and Elena turned from Tristan whose words had first drawn her attention. "If it isn't the super-slayer." Makoe simply stepped out of the shadows, his presence sufficient for Elena to notice him. Failing sunlight dappled the ground and the four figures. Stefan was careful to stand under densely covered ground, where no light fell.
It was as if he were seeing her for the first time. Her sun-streaked gold hair – longer than it had ever been, her luminous complexion that never tanned, her expressive eyes as dark a blue as the lapis lazuli on his ring, the slender grace and regal bearing of her every unconscious movement.
She looked from one man to another then breathed, "You're vampires." She backed a step and Stefan wanted to jump in front of her and shield her from the menacing trio.
"Bravo," Leon continued to mock. "Now, can you guess why we're here?"
She took another step back and raised on hand in a warding gesture. Stefan saw the three vampires tense. "I have no quarrel with you," she said. He heard the faintest quaver in her voice. She's scared, he realized and protectiveness surged through him again. At the same time, her reaction was odd, almost as if she was asking them not to start a fight that they would lose.
Stefan's own reaction was mixed. The relief of finding her alive and safe was wearing off, replaced by confusion, hurt and a burgeoning suspicion. ::What if the vampires were telling the truth?:: Was Elena planning genocide on the vampires? He had seen her training with people who were obviously vampire hunters. She was here, in a hunters' stronghold, apparently of her own free will. He didn't know what to think.
Tristan advanced three quick paces. "No, you just want to kill us and all our kind for kicks," he said with biting sarcasm.
Elena stared at him and Stefan held his breath, hoping to hear her deny the accusation. "You don't understand," she said, her words falling softly in the stillness of the forest.
"What's to understand? We saw what you did to Nigel Emery!"
She seemed at a loss for words to explain and was silent. "_He_ had to be eliminated." If there was regret or sorrow in her voice, Stefan could not find it. He suddenly felt chilled. She had not denied killing this supposedly Powerful vampire. How could she, a human, have managed that? The vampires' claim that she had powers beyond any human's suddenly loomed in his mind.
Makoe's cold words jerked his attention away from reflection. "And so do you." Stefan didn't see him move, but the shorter vampire suddenly appeared beside Elena. He pressed a small, almost dainty-looking pistol to her temple. Stefan reacted before he even thought.
It was as if he blinked and was suddenly facing his three guides and hearing Elena's breath catch on his name. He didn't remember darting forward, evading Leon's grasp or knocking Makoe's gun away while simultaneously pushing Elena behind him.
He longed to ask her all the questions that were plaguing him but he daren't turn his back on the three men. Tristan looked ready to rush him at any moment, Leon was as deceptively mild as always and Makoe was expressionless.
All motion ceased. Stefan was beginning to wonder how long they would remain like that when he felt a warm hand resting lightly on his arm. "Stefan."
He lowered his head a little in acknowledgment, not taking his eyes off the vampires. "Elena," he replied, his voice low. "What's going on? What is this?"
She took a moment before answering him. "This is what I was sent back to do."
"Wipe out vampires?"
Another pause before she answered. "Yes." Her tone was quiet, but determined. Even half-expecting the answer, Stefan felt as if he had been sucker-punched. Or perhaps staked through the heart; the pain had been similar, he recalled. The past year, their plans for the life ahead of them – all nothing but empty lies.
He resisted the urge to face her, forcing himself to focus on the waiting vampires. The exasperating voice of his better sense was lecturing him on the repercussions of his protecting Elena from them. He would need their help in leaving the Baron estate and there was little chance of him getting it now. And even if they _did_ take him with them when they left, they would certainly exact retribution for his actions once they were safe and free. Not to mention the coming apocalypse Elena would cause on the vampire world as a result of his weakness.
But he paid the voice little attention, the roar of his emotions washing away the pull of logic. His bitterness condensed into six clipped words: "Why didn't you start with me?"
He heard her draw a sharp breath and her hand fell away. He lost track of the moments that passed as he struggled to think clearly. The five of them still formed a frozen tableau; the deadlock had to be broken somehow. Stefan thought furiously; the vampires certainly wouldn't back down and withdraw, which left...
"Go," he told Elena in a dead voice. "Leave."
He heard a rustle from behind, as if she shook her head. "They'll kill you."
"Then they'll save you the trouble," he ripped back, feeling a stab of disgust through the general wave of anguish at her hypocrisy. She fell silent, but did not budge. Stefan closed his eyes briefly, asking for strength, and then whirled to face her.
Her face was white, bloodless and pinched with pain. A small part of him exulted that his words could still hurt her; he still meant something to her.
"Leave," he told her again, flatly. "Before I decide to do every vampire in the world a favor and kill you."
"You wouldn't hurt me," she said softly.
The laugh that tore from his throat made her wince visibly. "Not too long ago, I would have said the same about you," he told her, each word ripping him apart inside. But he had to drive her away before the trio got her. He advanced on her, fixing his face in an unaccustomed, savage mask. Oddly, she did not retreat. Stefan cursed himself for not being convincing enough when he stood an inch away from her, staring down at her with fangs fully extended. He was beginning to think that he would actually have to hurt her when an alarm went up from the mansion.
Someone must have found the guard with the broken neck they had left behind, Stefan thought. Or maybe the heap of cooling canine bodies they had hid under a bush. It couldn't have been any of the mechanical or electrical sensors; those would have raised an alarm long before this.
Humans streamed out of the various doors and temporary exits in the walls, calling to each other. Someone pointed towards the woods and the flood flowed in their direction rapidly. With the approach of the force, the vampires came to life.
Stefan turned to see Tristan brandishing another gun, silver-barreled and much larger than Makoe's pistol. He aimed it at Elena, but Stefan had carefully kept himself squarely between her and the vampires. To shoot her, Tristan would have to shoot through him.
Tristan growled as Makoe grabbed his arm, jostling him. "If he's injured, he'll slow us down."
"Who said anything about taking him with us?" Tristan fired back heatedly. Stefan kept absolutely still.
"Tsk, tsk. Is that any way to treat a brother undead?" Leon murmured.
"Get off my case!" Tristan sputtered. "If he has the wit to move out of the way, he won't get hurt. All I need is one clear shot." The gleaming barrel seemed to expand to fill his entire field of vision as Stefan stared at it.
"Forget it," Makoe said shortly, eyeing the leading edge of the human band, which was ten feet away, armed to the teeth and rapidly closing in. He pocketed his pistol, shifted his gaze to Stefan then turned away. ::If you value your health, Salvatore, I'd advise you not to stick around,:: he said, already breaking into a fluid, ground-eating run. Leon followed, moving with uncharacteristic speed.
Tristan looked momentarily torn before he snarled and took off after his hunt-mates, his longer legs making up the distance. After a split second of hesitation, Stefan followed them, refusing to look over his shoulder at the girl who was his entire world.
Notes:
~ Chapter ~
::Thoughts or telepathy::
_emphasis or italics_
Date posted: 25 November 2002
Author's Note: I'm changing the name of that hunter Elena embarrassed from Domick to Peter. Also, I'm going to start dating posts from now on.
~ Twenty ~
As another evening crept up on them, the training session drew to a close. Elena handed her staff to a waiting Eiran and watched the figures drifting towards the house. Some new and unexpected friendships had been planted today, along with some new hatreds and grudges.
Taura, who had been overseeing the knife-fighting exercises, was being wheeled over to her. The tall, ascetic Seth, who had been giving Elena pointers on how to use a staff was also nearby.
"If only I was out of these stupid plaster tubes, I'd show them how it's done," the small girl complained good-naturedly when she got within earshot. "So how was your first day of proper weapons training, Elena? Did Sethie-boy here take care of you?" she asked, coming to a stop a foot or so away. The tall man did not deign to reply to this shot.
"He did," Elena reassured, smiling. "And how are you?"
"Oh, this is shaping up to be the most fun I've ever had recuperating. I think I heard the comment 'dead on their feet' more than once when my pupils migrated towards the house. Except, of course, that dead people shouldn't hurt so much." She chuckled evilly. "Ten bucks says they're all headed for long, hot soaks. Good thing Crystal's monster Jacuzzi survived last night's attack.
"They think they're suffering now. Just wait till I get back on my feet!" Taura promised. Or threatened, Elena was not sure. "Shall we join them in the spa and gloat?" she invited.
"No, I was thinking of taking a walk. Stretch my legs a little," Elena replied. She _was_ tired but restless all the same. And the dark line of trees fifteen feet away was beckoning to her.
"What, Seth didn't run you ragged already?" Taura asked disbelievingly.
Now it was Elena's turn to chuckle, but she didn't give any other reply.
"Well, we'll see you inside then. Come along, Grayson," Taura said to Seth. "Leave Elena alone; she's seen enough of your pointy face today already." The austere man rolled his eyes but followed the wheelchair-bound girl with a stoic expression nonetheless. Elena heard her chattering fade as they moved away. When she no longer heard them, she stuffed her hands into the pockets of her jeans and started towards the wood, head bowed and lost in thought.
* * *
"Alone at last."
Stefan saw Elena jump, her head jerking up at the sudden voice. He resisted the urge to dash forward and pull her into his arms to reassure himself that she was real. Instead, he hung back as the other three vampires flanked her.
"Well, well," Leon drawled in mock surprise and Elena turned from Tristan whose words had first drawn her attention. "If it isn't the super-slayer." Makoe simply stepped out of the shadows, his presence sufficient for Elena to notice him. Failing sunlight dappled the ground and the four figures. Stefan was careful to stand under densely covered ground, where no light fell.
It was as if he were seeing her for the first time. Her sun-streaked gold hair – longer than it had ever been, her luminous complexion that never tanned, her expressive eyes as dark a blue as the lapis lazuli on his ring, the slender grace and regal bearing of her every unconscious movement.
She looked from one man to another then breathed, "You're vampires." She backed a step and Stefan wanted to jump in front of her and shield her from the menacing trio.
"Bravo," Leon continued to mock. "Now, can you guess why we're here?"
She took another step back and raised on hand in a warding gesture. Stefan saw the three vampires tense. "I have no quarrel with you," she said. He heard the faintest quaver in her voice. She's scared, he realized and protectiveness surged through him again. At the same time, her reaction was odd, almost as if she was asking them not to start a fight that they would lose.
Stefan's own reaction was mixed. The relief of finding her alive and safe was wearing off, replaced by confusion, hurt and a burgeoning suspicion. ::What if the vampires were telling the truth?:: Was Elena planning genocide on the vampires? He had seen her training with people who were obviously vampire hunters. She was here, in a hunters' stronghold, apparently of her own free will. He didn't know what to think.
Tristan advanced three quick paces. "No, you just want to kill us and all our kind for kicks," he said with biting sarcasm.
Elena stared at him and Stefan held his breath, hoping to hear her deny the accusation. "You don't understand," she said, her words falling softly in the stillness of the forest.
"What's to understand? We saw what you did to Nigel Emery!"
She seemed at a loss for words to explain and was silent. "_He_ had to be eliminated." If there was regret or sorrow in her voice, Stefan could not find it. He suddenly felt chilled. She had not denied killing this supposedly Powerful vampire. How could she, a human, have managed that? The vampires' claim that she had powers beyond any human's suddenly loomed in his mind.
Makoe's cold words jerked his attention away from reflection. "And so do you." Stefan didn't see him move, but the shorter vampire suddenly appeared beside Elena. He pressed a small, almost dainty-looking pistol to her temple. Stefan reacted before he even thought.
It was as if he blinked and was suddenly facing his three guides and hearing Elena's breath catch on his name. He didn't remember darting forward, evading Leon's grasp or knocking Makoe's gun away while simultaneously pushing Elena behind him.
He longed to ask her all the questions that were plaguing him but he daren't turn his back on the three men. Tristan looked ready to rush him at any moment, Leon was as deceptively mild as always and Makoe was expressionless.
All motion ceased. Stefan was beginning to wonder how long they would remain like that when he felt a warm hand resting lightly on his arm. "Stefan."
He lowered his head a little in acknowledgment, not taking his eyes off the vampires. "Elena," he replied, his voice low. "What's going on? What is this?"
She took a moment before answering him. "This is what I was sent back to do."
"Wipe out vampires?"
Another pause before she answered. "Yes." Her tone was quiet, but determined. Even half-expecting the answer, Stefan felt as if he had been sucker-punched. Or perhaps staked through the heart; the pain had been similar, he recalled. The past year, their plans for the life ahead of them – all nothing but empty lies.
He resisted the urge to face her, forcing himself to focus on the waiting vampires. The exasperating voice of his better sense was lecturing him on the repercussions of his protecting Elena from them. He would need their help in leaving the Baron estate and there was little chance of him getting it now. And even if they _did_ take him with them when they left, they would certainly exact retribution for his actions once they were safe and free. Not to mention the coming apocalypse Elena would cause on the vampire world as a result of his weakness.
But he paid the voice little attention, the roar of his emotions washing away the pull of logic. His bitterness condensed into six clipped words: "Why didn't you start with me?"
He heard her draw a sharp breath and her hand fell away. He lost track of the moments that passed as he struggled to think clearly. The five of them still formed a frozen tableau; the deadlock had to be broken somehow. Stefan thought furiously; the vampires certainly wouldn't back down and withdraw, which left...
"Go," he told Elena in a dead voice. "Leave."
He heard a rustle from behind, as if she shook her head. "They'll kill you."
"Then they'll save you the trouble," he ripped back, feeling a stab of disgust through the general wave of anguish at her hypocrisy. She fell silent, but did not budge. Stefan closed his eyes briefly, asking for strength, and then whirled to face her.
Her face was white, bloodless and pinched with pain. A small part of him exulted that his words could still hurt her; he still meant something to her.
"Leave," he told her again, flatly. "Before I decide to do every vampire in the world a favor and kill you."
"You wouldn't hurt me," she said softly.
The laugh that tore from his throat made her wince visibly. "Not too long ago, I would have said the same about you," he told her, each word ripping him apart inside. But he had to drive her away before the trio got her. He advanced on her, fixing his face in an unaccustomed, savage mask. Oddly, she did not retreat. Stefan cursed himself for not being convincing enough when he stood an inch away from her, staring down at her with fangs fully extended. He was beginning to think that he would actually have to hurt her when an alarm went up from the mansion.
Someone must have found the guard with the broken neck they had left behind, Stefan thought. Or maybe the heap of cooling canine bodies they had hid under a bush. It couldn't have been any of the mechanical or electrical sensors; those would have raised an alarm long before this.
Humans streamed out of the various doors and temporary exits in the walls, calling to each other. Someone pointed towards the woods and the flood flowed in their direction rapidly. With the approach of the force, the vampires came to life.
Stefan turned to see Tristan brandishing another gun, silver-barreled and much larger than Makoe's pistol. He aimed it at Elena, but Stefan had carefully kept himself squarely between her and the vampires. To shoot her, Tristan would have to shoot through him.
Tristan growled as Makoe grabbed his arm, jostling him. "If he's injured, he'll slow us down."
"Who said anything about taking him with us?" Tristan fired back heatedly. Stefan kept absolutely still.
"Tsk, tsk. Is that any way to treat a brother undead?" Leon murmured.
"Get off my case!" Tristan sputtered. "If he has the wit to move out of the way, he won't get hurt. All I need is one clear shot." The gleaming barrel seemed to expand to fill his entire field of vision as Stefan stared at it.
"Forget it," Makoe said shortly, eyeing the leading edge of the human band, which was ten feet away, armed to the teeth and rapidly closing in. He pocketed his pistol, shifted his gaze to Stefan then turned away. ::If you value your health, Salvatore, I'd advise you not to stick around,:: he said, already breaking into a fluid, ground-eating run. Leon followed, moving with uncharacteristic speed.
Tristan looked momentarily torn before he snarled and took off after his hunt-mates, his longer legs making up the distance. After a split second of hesitation, Stefan followed them, refusing to look over his shoulder at the girl who was his entire world.