I know I said I was going to focus on Supernatural, and I am focused on writing it, but I already had this typed out, so I figured I wouldn't wait to put it on here.
Enjoy!
Chapter Nineteen
Rebecca's heart was racing when she reached her front door. She felt so . . . confused. She was scared of what her dad's reaction was going to be since she hadn't been home for about two days, but she was also happy that Damon had shown her he still had the part of himself that could talk to her even if he didn't let it show like he had when he'd been human.
As soon as Rebecca opened the door she was jerked inside. Her dad, of course, though she understood this time. She deserved his wrath now. But he had grabbed where Damon had gripped too tightly earlier that same day - he'd maybe left bruises? - and she winced.
"Where the hell have you been?" he yelled, sort of - Rebecca noticed his voice was rough and strained. "We've called everywhere for you. Your phone was off."
Rebecca looked at her aunt, who was silently fuming. Her face was red from anger and her eyes had a fire in them that Rebecca had never seen before. Her aunt Tina had never been this angry. Rebecca knew she probably wouldn't say anything since Tina wouldn't think it was her place, but the fact that Rebecca had caused Tina to become this way bothered her.
"I - I can't talk about it," Rebecca muttered, going past her dad. "I'm going to bed.
"Oh no. No, no, no," her dad said. "I am your father and you will explain yourself now."
Rebecca was thankful that Chelsea was already in her crib, probably fast asleep, because this was going to be a big blowout, it seemed.
"Dad?" Rebecca didn't know what to say. She couldn't tell the truth; it definitely wouldn't go well.
"Who were you with? That is a man's shirt and it's not mine. You disappeared yesterday, sent a cryptic message . . . You didn't go to school; you've been missing a lot lately. Now you come in wearing a man's shirt, you look like death. What is going on?"
Rebecca heard the genuine concern her dad was expressing and she didn't know what to do with it. It had been so long since anything had touched her father in any way that it stuck her dumb for an instant.
"Is it drugs?" her dad asked. "What're you on and where are you getting it from? It's Jeremy, isn't it?"
"Dad, I'm not on drugs. I was at Elena's last night, I slept there. I was there today, too. Call and ask if you don't believe me. And -" a sudden inspiration hit her "- I haven't been going to school because I've decided I want to graduate early."
That made both her dad and her aunt stop and go blank for a second.
"All I have to do is talk to the principal and take a test to prove I can pass it and then I get my diploma. It's what I want."
"Uh . . . Why?" her aunt asked, speaking for the first time since Rebecca had gotten home.
"Because I want to be able to focus on other things than school. There are more important things!"
"Like boys?" her dad asked steely. "Like that . . . Damon?"
Rebecca rolled her eyes. What, did he expect her to be alone forever?
"I like Damon, yes, but he has nothing to do with this decision. Okay? I made this decision on my own."
Her dad took on a suspicious and worried expression. "You're not . . . pregnant, are you?"
Rebecca laughed a little, though there was no humor in it. "No. I promise. I'm not doing anything bad and I'm not gonna get in trouble. I just . . . have a lot to deal with right now, and I have to do it on my own."
"Well, I just don't accept that," her dad said, regaining his angry focus. "What was so important that you couldn't have called to let us know you were okay or that you weren't going to school?"
Rebecca bit her lip, conflicted. She wanted to tell them the truth - she was fairly certain her dad already knew about vampires, anyway - but she didn't want to have to explain everything. And her aunt would freak out worse than she already was. Only instead of being angry, she would probably want to cart Rebecca off to the nearest psych ward.
Rebecca had never bothered to care what her dad thought of her, but she cared now. She cared because she was going through some very strange shit and she was doing things that were making him doubt her.
"Um . . ." What was so important? "Saving the world from vampires?" She'd said it as a joke just to see what their reaction would be.
Tina glared, obviously not appreciating the humor. Her dad, however, just blinked and looked on suspiciously.
"Go to you room, Rebecca," he said softly. "We'll talk about it later."
Rebecca did as he asked but was silently fuming about him dismissing her like a child. Yes, taken out of context she guessed her actions could be construed at childish - maybe - but the truth was she had more to deal with than either of the adults in this house could ever understand.
1) Vampire boyfriend - which was his problem as much as it was hers - liked to eat her and had almost killed her unintentionally.
2) Said vampire boyfriend sometimes had to kill people and he may or may not like it when he does it - she was undecided on that.
3) Elena was pissed at her for keeping her in the dark, but then she went and did the same thing to Jeremy - hypocrite.
4) Her dad was beginning to not trust her, though hopefully he might understand now.
5) Vicki. New vampire. Biggest problem of all because different people took to vampirism in different ways. Case in point: Stefan and Damon.
6) Oh yeah, she was a Slayer, which meant she was the only human strong enough to stop all this crap.
Add to that list making sure her family and friends didn't die, her brain began hurting.
The next morning came and Rebecca found herself not in school again, though this time her dad had called the principal and had made the arrangements for her to graduate early like she'd wanted. She had a month to prepare for the test; if she failed she could make everything up in summer school.
Her dad had woken her up in time so they wouldn't have to deal with her aunt's wrath. They had gotten in her dad's Mustang and he'd driven them to the police station.
"Uh . . ." She unbuckled her seatbelt. "What're we doing here?"
He ignored her question by asking one of his own. "Were you being serious last night? About what you were doing? Because . . ." Her dad smiled bitterly and Rebecca was reminded of how she herself felt. "That would explain a lot."
Rebecca just looked at him and he just looked away. So now he knew.
"I never wanted you involved in this," he said, looking back at her and she was surprised to find his eyes were shining. "How did you find out?"
"Um . . . When Vicki Donovan was bitten. The bite marks, an animal couldn't have done that. If anybody else in this town had half a brain, they would know too."
"H - How much do you know?"
"Vervain. Stake to the heart, fire, sun, beheading."
"Okay then." The bitterness left her dad's face. "I just . . . I'm thrown by this. Everything you've been doing makes sense now. You . . . What do you do?"
"I fight them. I don't know if you've ever heard of it before but I'm a Vampire Slayer. I - I'm human -" she thought she should point that out since she was near a Council member; the Council was pro-human only "- I just . . . In every generation a Slayer is chosen. One born with the strength and skill to stop the vampires. There's more, but it's really dull, so . . . Just know that I've been training and I know what I'm doing."
Her father was just staring at the steering wheel and biting his lip in thought.
"I wanna help, Dad. The Council, I know what you guys do, and I want in. Okay?"
He looked at her and he'd never looked so wrecked before. Or so old and tired. Rebecca's heart lurched in sympathy even though she'd sent so much time in the past eight months basically hating this man.
"We always assumed you were a myth . . . That the Slayer was a myth."
"Nope," she said softly. "I'm real."
"Have you ever staked a vampire?"
"Yes," she said honestly. "At least six. Not all of them were here. Some were in Richmond."
"At a warehouse?" her dad asked suspiciously. "That was you?"
"Uh . . ." How'd he know? "Yeah."
"The Council was called in on that. The two vampires . . . were hard to explain."
"Yeah, I didn't have time to clean up after myself. The security alarm went off. I had seven minutes to get the hell out of there."
"Language," her dad scolded her.
"Uh . . . I tell you I fight vampires and you get after me for saying the word 'hell'?"
"Right." He laughed a few times. "Um . . . That is kind of redundant."
Rebecca smiled and she felt . . . okay for the first time in a while - aside from the times when she was around Damon. She and her dad were having an actual conversation that didn't involve one of them getting angry at the other. They were bonding, sort of, she guessed.
"Are you being careful?"
"What?"
"With the slaying?"
"Oh, uh, yeah. I've got it covered."
"Okay." He sighed and leaned his head back against the seat. "We're here to talk to the Sheriff. She'll tell the Lockwood's and the Fells and Zach. Okay?"
Rebecca nodded and tried to keep her expression clear. Zach was dead and so was Logan Fell. Of course the other Fells would be in on it, too, but still . . .
"Okay, let's get this over with."
Elizabeth Forbes was a forty-something year-old woman and Rebecca could tell she honestly did care about most of the people in Mystic Falls. The only problem was she'd been brought up to think all vampires were evil, no questions asked. To her they weren't people; they were just things, evil things that needed to be taken out.
Rebecca let her dad do most of the talking unless the Sheriff asked her a question directly. Her dad never mentioned the fact that she was a Slayer. Needless to say, she was happy when the interview - or whatever - was over. Finally she could leave. Her dad let her have the car because he had other things to attend to; he still wanted her to call and let him know if she was going to be late. That hadn't changed any.
Once out on the front steps of the station she took on her phone and sat down. She found Damon's number on her contacts list and texted him to see if he could talk - he might've been doing something and didn't want to be disturbed.
"Becca? What're you doin' here?" a very familiar voice said from behind her. Jeremy sat beside her and she saw he looked worried.
"I'm here with my dad. He had to talk to the Sheriff. Why are you here?"
"Vicki. A search party."
"Oh, uh -" her phone rang "- hold that thought." She flipped her phone open. "Yeah?"
"Yeah? How is 'yeah' any better than 'what'?" Damon's voice came over the line.
"It's better because I said it."
Rebecca felt something in her break, but it was a good break; it was amazing how much better she felt just from hearing his voice.
"Right."
"Uh-huh. So . . . Did you take care of that thing you were supposed to take care of?" She hated speaking in code, but, since Jeremy was right there beside her, she kind of had to.
"She's here. Hungry, but she's here. She's . . . okay, though."
"Oh. So it's safe for me to be there?" She grimaced when she saw Jeremy's eyebrows shoot up.
"I thought you were at school."
"I quit," she said, grinning, wondering what Damon's reaction would be.
"You what?"
The incredulity in his voice made her laugh out loud. She had a feeling that Damon didn't get shocked by much so that she could draw that reaction out of him was amazing.
"Well, I sort of quit. I'm taking a test so I can graduate early. Focus my energy elsewhere."
"On me?" She could just imagine him doing his eye thing then even though she couldn't see it. "Sounds potentially . . . fun."
"Those were your words, not mine. Anyway, I'll be there shortly. Bye."
"Mm-hm."
After that conversation was over she turned back to Jeremy, who was looking at her weird.
"What?"
"You're graduating early?"
"I'm gonna try."
"Why?"
"I'm . . . I hate school."
"Uh-huh. And where is it you were wondering if it was safe for you to be?"
Jeremy could be very protective when he wanted to be. She wondered how Jeremy would react if he knew Elena was dating a vampire and she was with a homicidal maniac vampire.
"Oh . . . Uh, a friend is going through something and I wanted to make sure I wouldn't get my head bitten off if I went to visit."
Jeremy grinned. "Nice friend."
She laughed; it was bordering on hysterical. "I know, right. Anyway, did you need a ride? I actually have the car today."
"No, I'm gonna catch a ride with one of the others."
"Okay, well . . . I gotta go, but I'll see you later." She hugged him briefly and said, "I hope Vicki's okay, Jer."
"Thanks."
Damon heard a car pull up outside the boardinghouse. He knew it was either Rebecca or Elena, and seeing as to how Rebecca had said she was coming over, smart money was on her.
He, Stefan and Vicki were in the library, but Damon left them to it so he could greet Rebecca. She'd said his name and he knew if he didn't go to her she'd start searching. It would've taken her a while to find them with the size of the house.
When he saw her he noticed her color was back to normal and she looked like she felt better, stronger.
"Hello, Rebecca," he said and smirked when her eyes lit up at the sound of his voice. Well, that was interesting and flattering.
"Hey, how's Vicki?"
"Hungry," he quipped. "She's acting more or less the way she did yesterday."
"Oh." She bit her lip almost nervously. "You didn't answer my question on the phone whether it was safe or not for me to be here."
"You don't see me shoving you out the door, do you?"
She scoffed and shook her head. "Smartass."
Damon smirked and shrugged indifferently. He knew he was a smartass; he also knew she didn't really care.
"You know, not everybody can act like you do and get away with it."
"Well, not everybody is as attractive and fun-loving as I am."
"Right." She bit her lip again to stop the laughter from flowing out. "Glad you think so highly of yourself."
"Mm-hm" He held his hand out and he was still surprised when she accepted it so quickly. "The newbie's this way." Then, getting serious now, "You know if I see fangs, I'm playing dentist."
"Uh, agreed. Getting bitten twice in one week, not really a fantasy of mine."
Damon stopped walking when he noticed her pace decreasing, and he looked at her. She seemed nervous.
"What?"
She sighed and met his eyes. "I told my dad about me. And I talked to the Sheriff this morning. She's going to talk to the Mayor and they're going to see what they can do about getting me on the Council."
"Okay . . ." Why was she nervous about that?
"I . . . needed to know where they stood with the three partiers from two days ago. I needed to know if they had any suspects and they don't right now. I was just making sure they didn't suspect you."
"So they know you're the Slayer now?" That couldn't possibly end well.
"My dad does. Uh, I think my aunt would flip, so she doesn't know. Nobody else knows either; I didn't feel comfortable advertising my less than normal abilities to people who freak out over abnormal things."
So she had taken it upon herself to help him again. He didn't know how she did it, because like she'd pointed out the day before, she didn't have a switch that would make it easier for her to carry on. Every emotion she had, she didn't have the choice to not feel it. It was becoming harder for him to flip that switch, actually, so he could semi-relate.
The point was that Rebecca had too much on her plate already and her taking care of him in her own way was just adding to it.
"Why're you telling me?" Did she need help or something?
"Because I didn't want you to find out from someone else. You're a very important part of my life and that means I should be able to let you into every part of my life." She smiled a little. "Besides, if I hadn't told you, you would've wondered why when you did find out."
Before he realized what he was doing he leaned down and kissed her cheek. He wasn't so good at expressing himself out loud, but he had to let her know in some way what her doing this meant to him.
"Thank you," he whispered in her ear, and straightened up.
The smile she gave him could've brightened up the room they were in had she been connected to a power grid.
"You're very welcome, Damon."
Instead of making him dwell on how easy it was to be himself without the switch, around her, she grasped his hand again and requested he now lead her to Vicki.
"I don't get it. Why do I have to stay cooped up here? Why can't I just go home?"
That was the first thing Rebecca heard when she walked into the library/study room. How many libraries did this house have anyway?
The furniture was old-fashioned - they needed to update - but comfortable enough, she guessed. Damon sat at a desk and picked up a newspaper. Stefan and Vicki were on the other side of the room - Stefan on a chair and Vicki on a sofa.
"Because you're changing, Vicki, and that's not something you wanna do alone," Stefan answered with forced patience.
"Also sunlight," Rebecca said. "It's not your friend."
"Hurts like a bitch," Damon added. "But you're welcome to try walking out the front door."
Rebecca mostly ignored that remark and rolled her eyes. She leaned back against the wall and watched Vicki. She looked like she could burst out of her skin - Rebecca wasn't sure if that was from boredom, restlessness, or hunger. Either way it was potentially problematic and dangerous.
"There's nothing about that Logan guy I killed in here," Damon said way too casually for Rebecca's liking, but she didn't mention it. "Not a word. Someone's coverin' it up."
Damon began twirling the compass he'd stolen - re-stolen? - from Logan in his hand, and Rebecca felt like snatching it away. It was like he was ADD or something - seriously, he couldn't sit still without messing with something. Maybe she should think of inventing Vampire Ritalin.
"What is that?" Vicki asked.
"A very old, very special compass," Damon said. "It tracks vampires."
"Well, if you're worried, why don't you leave?" Stefan asked.
"Uh, I object to that," Rebecca said, raising her hand a little.
"Besides, we should all be worried," Damon said.
Seeing as to how Stefan had been the one to get hurt the night before, Rebecca thought he should know that.
"Hey, I'm hungry; do you have anything to eat?" Vicki asked.
"Yeah, here," Stefan said, handing her a mug.
Vicki was new and Stefan was giving her only enough blood to fill half of a coffee cup? And it was probably animal blood, right? Wouldn't that make it harder to control her thirst? Because that couldn't really satiate her hunger - it wasn't really what she wanted or needed.
"What is it?" Vicki asked, turning her nose up at it.
Rebecca hid her grin at Vicki's obvious distaste by looking down.
"Yeah, Stefan. What is it? Skunk? St. Bernard? Bambi?" Damon taunted, but Stefan pretty much ignored him.
Rebecca, however, had a very disturbing picture of a mauled Bambi etched in her brain now. For some reason that even she couldn't fathom, the thought of animals being drained of blood bothered her more than the humans Damon had sucked dry. Not for the first time, she realized something was seriously wrong with her.
"It's what you're craving," Stefan said.
"Hm. Don't lie to the girl. It's so not what you're craving," Damon said. "But it'll do in a pinch, right, Stef? She's new. She needs people blood. She can't sustain on that stuff."
"Mm. Yeah, why can't I have people blood?" Vicki asked.
Rebecca found herself holding back laughter again. She was sure the Slayer thing had driven her a little insane because the scene before her should not have been funny; she knew that. Maybe it was the unreality of it all - maybe it still hadn't sunk in that all this stuff was real.
No, that can't be it. I've almost died a few times in the past month alone. It's real, I know it.
"Because it's wrong to prey on innocent people, Vicki," Stefan said.
"You don't have to kill to feed," Damon said. "Just find someone really tasty and erase their memories afterward. It's so easy."
Oh, that's why she was laughing - the beautiful blue-eyed man was there and she usually felt joy whenever she was in his presence - barring when he was starved, of course; that had been joyless.
"No, there's no guarantee that you can control yourself, okay? It takes years to learn that. You could easily kill somebody, and you'd have to carry that with you for the rest of your life, which if I haven't been clear, is eternity."
"Don't listen to him. He walks on a moral plane that is way out of our eye-line. I say snatch, eat, erase."
It was like watching a ping-pong match - Rebecca kept having to look from one brother to the other.
"Hey, look at me. We choose our own path," Stefan said. "Our values and our actions, they define who we are."
"You know . . . I don't remember you being this speechy," Rebecca said, not unkindly. "And you can shove that 'freedom of choice' speech. You and I both know you were never good at that." Okay, that last part had been a little bitter, but . . . Now that she'd said it she felt better. Though Stefan did look up at her with impatience burning in his eyes. She wasn't helping any. "Okay, okay, I'll be quiet now. Jeeze."
"Anyway, I'm outta here," Damon said, getting up and walking out.
Well, wait. He wasn't gonna leave her with the lunatic and the new vampire, was he? Granted, she'd been all for forgiving Stefan until he'd locked Damon up; she'd been willing to start anew until then. Was she supposed to follow Damon? Was that what he wanted her to do? Sometimes she couldn't tell with him. And she was torn, anyway. There was a small tug in her chest that was telling her to go after Damon, but there was another part that knew she needed to stay at the boardinghouse with Vicki. Vicki was stuck there, and listening to Stefan talk was about as exciting as watching paint dry. Vicki might want to talk to someone who wouldn't put her down every time she said she wanted human blood.
What was with Stefan anyway? Why did he pretend that human blood wasn't really what he wanted? Was he in denial about the vampire thing? Because really, he'd had 145 years to come to terms with that.
"Uh . . . Elena's here," Stefan said. "Stay with Vicki?"
His eyes were careful now; he knew he had no right to ask her for anything.
"Sure."
Once Stefan was out the door she went to sit by Vicki. She was on her guard, of course, because she wasn't a complete idiot and she was a human and that's what Vicki was craving right now. Vicki as a human had been used to giving into temptation, so it was going to make it harder to help her.
"I saw Jeremy earlier," she said. "He was worried about you."
Vicki didn't respond; she was busy cleaning the cup she'd had with her finger. Rebecca wondered why it didn't gross her out; not Vicki, but herself.
Maybe because you've had blood in your mouth yourself, she thought wryly.
"Can I have some more?" Vicki asked.
"Uh, I'll ask Stefan when he gets back." She took the cup from Vicki and put it on the table. "How bad is it?"
"What?"
"The hunger?"
"Oh. I hurt," Vicki said. "My head, my stomach, everything's just . . . I don't know."
"Magnified? Like what you felt before is a thousand times worse now?"
Vicki nodded but didn't speak. Rebecca just felt bad for her. She hadn't wanted this; she hadn't even known what was happening until the last minute.
"Can you hear them?"
"Hear who?"
"Stefan and Elena," Rebecca said, feeling like she was suddenly talking to someone who was mentally handicapped.
"No, it's all mixed together."
"Oh, well, I can help you with that."
Vicki looked at her expectantly.
"Close your eyes and try to find their voices. Once you hear them, focus, and you'll know what they're saying."
Vicki did as she asked and Rebecca smiled a little. She wondered if there were any other Slayers in the history of Slayers that had been sympathetic to vampires.
"They're talking about me," Vicki said. "Jeremy's a part of a search party for me."
Vicki stood up and when Rebecca saw she was leaving the room she followed Vicki. Vicki made her way downstairs where Stefan and Elena were; Stefan was saying something about keeping Vicki there until she was safe.
"How long is that?" Vicki asked impatiently.
Stefan and Elena turned to Vicki and Rebecca. Stefan looked at Rebecca with suppressed irritation.
"What?" Rebecca asked. "You told me to stay with her and here we are."
"How long?" Vicki repeated.
"We can talk about that later," Stefan said.
Rebecca locked eyes with Elena now and she could tell Elena felt bad for Vicki just as Rebecca did.
"Hey, Vicki, how are you?" Elena's voice was genuinely compassionate and sympathetic.
"How am I? You're kidding, right?" Vicki seemed to be bitterly amused. "I woke up dead. How do you think I am?"
Rebecca gently took Vicki's arm into her hand and began leading her to the other two.
"No, she needs to stay up there," Stefan said, his brooding forehead beginning to work overtime.
"No, she needs to be around humans so she can get used to it. She will never learn to resist if she doesn't practice." Rebecca knew Stefan was worried about Elena's safety, so she didn't roll her eyes at Stefan's obvious disapproval. "We will be right here, Stefan. Nothing's gonna happen."
Stefan gave in reluctantly probably because he knew Rebecca was right. It didn't stop him from looking worried, though.
"We can talk in the dining room. I'll make some coffee."
"Coffee?" Elena asked.
"Caffeine is our friend,' Stefan explained, looking at Vicki now. "It circulates through our veins and it warms our bodies, so we're not so cold to the touch."
They made it to the dining room and Elena said at the table. Rebecca sat between her and Vicki - just in case - while Stefan went to make coffee.
"What're you doing here?" Elena asked Rebecca curiously.
Rebecca told her the graduating early story and, just like Jeremy had, she wondered why.
"I have too much on my plate as it is; school isn't something I need to be worrying about."
"Sorry," Elena said sincerely.
Rebecca smiled softly. "Does this mean you're not mad at me anymore?"
"We've been friends for too long for me to let this get in the way. I still don't understand most of it, but . . . No I'm not mad. I'm sorry that you have so much responsibility that's been thrown on you."
Me too, Rebecca thought.
Okay, so . . . What do you think?