I was passing Uncle Damon's room when I heard the TV talking about Andie.
"Whether suicide or a tragic accident, WPKW News has lost one of its shining stars. Field reporter and weekend anchor Andie Star was discovered..."
"Just can't stay away, can you?" Uncle Damon asked, and I turned to see Elena behind me.
"You've been dodging my calls," Elena accused.
"Yeah, well, busy dating a dead fake girlfriend and all,"
"Why didn't you tell me?" Elena asked him.
"That would have been a conversation," I said.
"Happy Birthday, Elena. Stefan killed Andie. Cake?" Damon asked sarcastically.
"He called me, Damon," Elena told us.
"What?" the two of us asked her shocked.
"Stefan called me last night," Elena told us.
"Well, what'd he say?" Damon asked.
"He didn't say anything, but it was him. I asked Sheriff Forbes if she would trace the call's origin. It came from Tennessee," Elena told us.
"Where he's binge drinking on the country folk," Damon reminded her. "We went through this, Elena. Stefan's gone. I don't mean geographically." Damon threw the documents he'd been holding on to into the unlit fireplace, and I jumped at the anger.
"If he was gone, he wouldn't have called," Elena pointed out before Damon lit a match and threw it in the fireplace burning the trail he'd been keeping track of all summer. Elena shook her head and turned around to leave.
"If anyone can bring Stefan back, it'd be Elena," I pointed out to the vampire before following the angry brunette. I waited until we were out of hearing range for Damon before turning to her. "You know, there's someone else who would know what Damon knows."
I stood next to Elena as she knocked loudly on Ric's apartment door.
"Go away, Damon!" Ric shouted on the from the other side and Elean knocked again. He opened the door to see us, and I smiled up at the shirtless teacher.
"Surprise," I greeted.
"You're, uh...not who I expected," he told us.
"Obviously," I said with a grin.
"I need you to tell me what you know about Stefan and Tennessee," Elena ordered.
"Did you miss the part where I checked out of all this?" Ric asked her, and I looked between the two of them confused.
"Yes," I said raising my hand.
"Come on, Ric. Whatever Damon knows, you know," Elena said ignoring me.
"Ask Damon," Ric told her.
"He burned up any lead he had," I told him.
"For good reason. Because it's not safe for you. Stefan's off the rails," Ric told us.
"Yeah, but he's still holding on to his humanity, which means he can still be saved," Elena rationalized.
"And why do you have to be the one to save him?" Ric asked her.
"Because I'm not the kind of person who checks out," Elena told him harshly. "Look, he would never give up on me. I'm not gonna give up on him. Tell me what you know, Ric. Please."
"They've been tracking werewolves, he and Klaus," Ric sighed. "All over the eastern seaboard. We thought we had 'em outside of Memphis..."
Elena and I were sitting in the Grill across from Tyler with Ric watching us from the bar.
"A lot of us like to keep to ourselves for the full moon, chain ourselves up," Tyler said explaining about werewolves habits. "But there are some werewolves that like to gather in places where they don't have to do that, where they can enjoy it."
"What kind of places?" Elena asked him.
"Mountains, state parks, deserts, that kind of stuff."
"Any particular place in Tennessee?" I asked him.
"Yeah. Here. Give me your phone. I'll try to pull up a map," Tyler said and Elena pulled out her phone and handed it to him.
"Thanks for this. I know it's asking a lot," Elena said.
"As Caroline likes to remind me, Stefan's in this mess because I bit Damon. I figure I owe you one. Have you talked to her today?" Tyler asked us curiously.
"Not me," I told him shaking my head.
"No. Why?" Elena asked him.
"Just curious. Here." Tyler gave Elena back her phone and I looked at it over her shoulder. "That's your best bet."
"Thanks again, Ty," I said before Elena and I joined Ric at the bar.
"Did you get anything?" he asked us.
"How do you feel about a little hike through the Smoky Mountains?" Elena asked him showing him her phone.
"You wanna hunt down a pack of werewolves on a full moon?" Ric asked her.
"We'll be out of there before the moon is full," Elena tried assuring him. "If you don't come with us, we're going by ourselves." Ric gave us a look. "What? You're the one who told me that I could handle things on my own now."
"Yea, I meant like frozen dinners and SATs," he told her before sighing again. "A-all right fine. Let's just...Let's just go. But, uh, you're driving."
We made good time to the Smoky Mountains with Elena driving and quickly got out and hiked along a river following Tyler's directions.
"In a couple hours, the full moon's gonna rise just above that ridge. If Tyler's right, that's where the pack'll be" Ric reminded us.
"You were a boy scout, weren't you? A boy scout, slash vampire slayer?" Elena asked him.
"Slash whiskey-drinking all-around lost cause," Ric reminded her and I rolled my eyes as we stopped. Ric dropped to his knee and opened his bag showing a lot of weapons.
"Wow. You came stocked," Elena said.
"Well, we aren't exactly bird-watching. Here. Put that in your bag." Ric handed her a grenade and she looked at it confused.
"Vervain grenade?" she asked him.
"I'm betting wolfsbane," I told her.
"You'd be right," Ric said.
"Well, since we're exchanging gifts..." Elena showed Ric the Gilbert ring John had left for her.
"That's John Gilbert's ring."
"It was yours once. Go ahead. Take it. I'll protect you from whatever supernatural danger we're about to get ourselves into," she reminded him.
"He gave it to you," Ric reminded her.
"Yeah, but I'm a doppelgänger. It's not gonna work on me. He left it for if I ever have kids," Elena told him.
"Then give it to Dani," he told me. I held up my hand and showed him the ring Jeremy had given me before we left. I wasn't about to bring his sister out here without telling him and he gave me his ring for protection. "Yeah, well, then why don't you save it for future generations of stubborn, relentless baby Gilberts?"
"Okay, and how 'bout you borrow it until after we survive this?" Elena asked him. "I'd feel bad if I got you killed before happy hour." He took the ring from her and she moved closer to the water. "I don't know why you think that you're a lost cause." Suddenly, Ric moved me back and Damon appeared pushing Elena into the water. Ric quickly picked up the crossbow until he saw who it was.
"Damon!" Elena shouted in surprise at my eldest uncle. "How are you even here?"
"Thanks for the tip, brother," Damon said to Ric and I hit the older man in the arm.
"Seriously?" I asked him.
"You sold me out!" Elena shouted at him.
"You think I'd take you to a mountain range of werewolves on a full moon without backup?" Ric asked her.
"Get out of the water, Elena," Damon ordered the teen.
"If I get out of the water, you're gonna make me go home," Elena said.
"Yes, because I'm not an idiot like you," Damon argued.
"Right now, you're both acting like idiots," Ric told them.
"You gave up on him Damon," Elena said.
"I didn't give up on him, Elena. I faced reality," he corrected. "Now get out of the water."
"No!"
"What's your big plan, Elena? Huh?" Damon asked her. "You gonna walk through a campsite full of werewolves, roast a marshmallow, and wait for Stefan to stop by?" He jumped down and walked into the water.
"My plan is to find him and help him. Damon, this is the closest that we've been to him since he left. I'm not going home," Elena told him.
"Klaus thinks you died when he broke the curse. That makes you safe. This, this is not safe," Damon told him.
"I'm not leaving before we find him," she told Damon.
"It's a full moon tonight, Elena," he reminded her.
"Then we'll find him before then," she told him. "Damon, please."
"Okay," Damon gave in and I rolled my eyes. He always gives in when it comes to her. "Okay. But we are out of here before the moon is full and I'm werewolf bait."
"I promise."
"Unless you wanna relive that whole deathbed kissy thing."
"I said I promise," she repeated.
"You guys ready yet?" I asked them.
"Fine," Damon told the two of us before the pair got out of the water.
Some hours later, Damon decided to taunt Elena and me with the speed we were going.
"How you doing?" Damon asked.
"How do you think?" I asked him.
"Fine," Elena told him.
"You know, I could help you," Damon said. "Both of you."
"No, thanks," Elena told him.
"Why would you help anyway?" I asked him.
"You're my favorite niece," Damon said with a smirk. "Why wouldn't I want to help you?"
"I'm your only niece," I corrected him.
"Just one little fwoosh," he said.
"Yeah, with our luck, you'd drop us," Elena said.
"What are you guys, twelve?"
"Of course not," I said. "More like five."
Hours later, the sun was starting to set and we were still walking to find the pack.
"We got about a mile left," Ric told us.
"The sun's about to set," Damon noted.
"I can see that, Damon," Elena sighed.
"I'm just saying."
"We should go soon," I told them.
"I knew I let you live for a reason," Damon said smirking.
"The moon doesn't reach its apex for a while," Elena told us. "We have time."
"I'd rather not lose one uncle while looking for another," I told Elena. We heard some twigs snapping and a man staggered out of the woods. Ric raised his crossbow at him. The man was bleeding from his eyes and looked like crap. He sniffed and stared at Damon.
"Stay where you are!" Ric ordered.
"Vampire." He rushed at Damon with his supernatural speed and Damon used his to push him away from us. The guy managed to pin Damon to a tree and Ric shot an arrow at him, but it had no effect as he continued trying to bite Damon. Elena took out her wolfsbane grenade from her bag and pulled the pin from it.
"Damon!" She threw it to him and he made it explode in the man's face. He screamed as his face burned and Damon kicked him in the stomach finally knocking him unconscious.
"Let me guess. Hybrid," Ric said.
"I'd take that bet."
Damon and Ric tied the guy to a tree with all the ropes we had on us. Elena was spraying a new set of ropes with vervain as Damon held the guy to the tree.
"These ropes aren't gonna hold him much longer. What else do we have?" Damon asked.
"Ric, here. Take these," Elena tried to hand the ropes to Ric, but Damon grabbed it and it burnt him.
"Aah! Ow!"
"I said Ric," she reminded him shrugging. Ric took the ropes and tied them.
"All right, that's the last of the vervain. We don't have enough stuff to hold him. I don't think we're gonna make that Ridge before the full moon," Ric said.
"Then we should go," I said.
"What happened to you want to help Stefan?" Elena asked me.
"We came here hoping to find Stefan, yes. But I'm not losing any more of my family for this," I told her. "We'll try again somewhere else."
"We don't have any other leads," Elena reminded me. "If we can get him to talk, we don't have to go back." Elena reached her hand out to touch his face, but just before her hand touches him, he wakes up and screams as his bones begin to break.
"Is he turning?" Damon asked.
"It's impossible. It's still daylight," Elena tried.
"Tell him that," Ric told her as Damon got closer to him and held the wolf's shoulders.
"New monster, new rules," I told them.
"There aren't supposed to be werewolves out here until the moon is full," Elena said.
"You know, those ropes aren't gonna hold the wolf," Ric reminded us as the guy continued to scream as his bones shifted.
"Damon, we've got to get out of here. We gotta get out of these mountains now!" Elena ordered, finally seeing some sense. "Damon, now!"
We ran down the way we'd walked up, the moon lighting our path in the darkness. Elena tripped and I rushed back to her side before freezing.
"Don't move," Damon told us. Elena raised her head up to see we were face to face with the golden eyed wolf. It turned towards Damon for a moment before looking back at the two of us.
"Here, doggie, doggie." The wolf turned back to Damon as he used his vamp speed to run away, the wolf following him.
"Come on. Let's keep moving," Ric told us as we stood up.
"But Damon..." I said looking after where he'd run off.
"We can't leave Damon," Elena refused.
"He can handle himself. Let's move," Ric told us.
"No. If he gets bit, he'll be dead. I'm the reason he's out here."
"I am the reason he's out here," Ric corrected her. "I told him where we were, and I'm telling you to keep moving. Let's go. Elena, now!" We finally followed him back to the car where we waited for Damon to return.
"Stefan's out there somewhere and now Damon, and we're just sitting in this car?" Elena asked.
"Let the vampires fight the hybrid zombie mountain man. I'll take care of keeping the humans safe," Ric told us.
"I thought you were checked out of taking care of people," Elena said. On the way here they'd told me what had happened between her and Ric.
"I know what you're doing. Don't. There doesn't need to be a lesson here," Ric told her.
"You're better at it than you think, you know?" Elena asked him.
"Oh, boy, are you a sucker for a lost cause or what?" Ric asked and I smiled at them.
"You don't know yet?" I asked. "It's kind of our thing."
"You're not a lost cause, Ric. You're just lost," Elena told him. "But so is Jeremy, and so am I. Our family is gone. We don't have anybody. I'm sorry, but you don't have anybody either, so...We're kind of good for each other." Ric thought about it for a moment before clenching his fist.
"I'm keeping the ring, then," he said and I smiled at him.
"Welcome back." I looked out the window to see Damon walking towards the car, and I smiled.
"Uncle Damon!"
"Damon?" Elena got out of the car and ran up to him. "Are you okay? Did you...?"
"Fine, bite-free. Get back in the car, please," Damon requested.
"Can you just give me a minute to appreciate that you're not dead?" Elena asked him.
"I'll give you 10 seconds. 9, 8..." Damon grabbed Elena by the shoulders and marched her back to the car. "Hey, Ric, did you happen to see where I parked my car?"
"Damon, stop being such a caveman," Elena told him before getting back in the car.
