I'm sorry, again, for the long delay. I think part of the problem was that the show hasn't been as interesting to me since Nina Dobrev's departure, but I finally got back on track. What I thought was going to be one chapter has turned into at least three, and the next part is only a few short scenes from being done, so I should be able to get that posted sometime next week. Many thanks to my beta and friend Mara Miller for the encouragement and advice. Go check out her stuff 'cause she's awesome.
Recap stuff: Grayson is working his mad science mojo on Damon in an attempt to cure him of Richard Lockwood's wolf bite, and one of the key elements of said mojo is that Stefan has to drink human blood so that Grayson can transfuse Stefan's healthy blood into Damon to replace his own venom-tainted blood. So far, the procedure seems promising. Jeremy has met Anna and knows she's a vampire. Richard is still reeling from turning into a werewolf.
Elena had no idea what it felt like for Damon to have all his blood slowly replaced with saltwater, but it certainly didn't look fun. As the liquid leaving through his right arm went from deep crimson to an almost completely transparent pale pink, his skin gradually turned completely white. Not pale or sallow or yellowish—white, and sort of translucent, as if he'd been carved out of colorless wax. He became utterly still about halfway through this process, including the pulsing of the bite wound on his left forearm. Up until then, she'd been able to talk to him, the conversation growing increasingly one-sided as his speech and reactions slowed. She couldn't tell if he was sleeping or just sort of…frozen. She wished she could enter his dreams the way he entered hers. She'd think of something fun they could do together until he had enough of Stefan's blood in him to wake up.
Every once in a while, she would glance over at Stefan, who was sitting on a stool at Damon's other side. At the moment, he was the complete opposite of Damon, even though there was a tube draining blood from his left arm too. His face was flushed with far a far healthier color than usual, and his body seemed to buzz with barely contained energy. He'd drunk nearly all of the bags of whole blood by now. She'd thought he'd start getting full eventually, but each bag only seemed to make him hungrier. It had been over an hour since his human features morphed into vampire ones and stayed that way. Either he couldn't or wouldn't change them back. He hadn't said a word, and his eyes had remained fixed on Damon the entire time.
Not long after Damon's movement had ceased, Elena felt her dad's large, warm hand on her shoulder.
"It's going to be a couple more hours of this before I'm even going to start testing samples to see how much of his blood has been pumped out. I want to get it as close to 100% as possible. You don't need to stay."
"Oh," she said. "I'll think about it."
"Okay," said Grayson. "Let me know if you're heading out. I'm going to go give your mom a call." He left the lab, and she heard his footsteps on the stairs a few seconds later. She looked at Damon. She didn't want to leave, but there was nothing she could do for him until he regained consciousness or…unfroze or something, and she probably needed to get in touch with Bonnie and Caroline. She pulled out her phone. Sure enough, she had several texts from them. They wanted her to come join them at the pool when the decoration cleanup was over. She bit her lip. Maybe a couple of hours away from here would do her good. The time until Damon was back on his feet would certainly pass more quickly that way. But the idea of having fun with her friends while he was lying here in this state sent a pang of guilt through her. After a few minutes, a text from Jeremy made up her mind for her. "When are you planning to head home? I'm all done at the library."
"I can drop you off," she texted back, then stood up. On the other side of Damon, Stefan stood too. He didn't look at her; it merely seemed like an automatic gesture of courtesy left over from his native era, but it reminded Elena that she'd been wanting to speak to him ever since she found out what the plan to cure Damon would entail. So instead of leaving immediately, she walked around the operating table to Stefan's side, just as he was crumpling up the latest blood bag and tossing it into the rapidly filling medical waste bin.
She touched him gently on the shoulder, and he looked around at her so quickly with those reddened eyes that she flinched a little. Shame crossed his expression, and with what looked like a considerable effort, he forced the vampire features back down. "Sorry," he said.
"You're going to make it through this," said Elena. "Both of you."
"Damon will make it through this," he said firmly, but then fear flickered in his eyes. Fear, and something darker. "But I'm not sure I will."
"Yes you will," said Elena. "You're stronger than you realize. Just remember why you're doing this. Remember that you have people who care about you, who are rooting for you."
Stefan didn't reply; he just pulled Elena into a hug. She hugged him back. His weight briefly sagged against her, and he made a sound like a muffled sob. But then he stiffened and pushed her from him so abruptly that it almost hurt. She staggered, but regained her balance in time to catch a glimpse of fangs, veins, and bloody eyes before he could turn away.
X
"So what did you do at the library?" said Elena when Jeremy climbed into the car.
"I was trying to look up stuff about werewolves," he said. Now that everyone in the family had decided to be all honest with him about monsters and magic and stuff, there was no reason to lie about that. But he was going to keep his promise to Anna, and not tell his family about her. It felt kind of thrilling to have his own secret from the rest of them for a change. Not that he trusted Anna. In fact, he was almost positive she wasn't on the level. It was too big of a coincidence that he, a Gilbert, would just randomly run into another vampire from the town's past in the public library.
He looked at his sister and frowned. She was flexing her fingers on the steering wheel, and her brow was furrowed. "Are you okay?"
Elena pushed her hair away from her face with a shaky hand. "Damon got bit by Mayor Lockwood last night," she said. "He's really sick." She forced a smile. "But Dad came up with a procedure that should flush the poison out."
"I'm sure it'll work," said Jeremy. He hoped he sounded convincing, because he'd rarely seen her so stressed and upset. One of the things Anna had told him about werewolves was that their bites were deadly to vampires, and there was no known cure. "I went to get lunch at the Grill, and Mayor Lockwood was there," he said.
"What happened?" said Elena, looking alarmed.
Jeremy clenched his hands into fists. "He got into a huge argument with Coach Tanner because I guess Tyler got kicked off the football team for breaking Tanner's nose, and then when Mayor Lockwood saw me, he was surprised that I wasn't with you and Mom, planning Dad's funeral."
"You mean he remembers attacking him?" Elena gasped.
"I guess so," said Jeremy through clenched teeth.
"I can't believe he has the whole town convinced he's a great guy," said Elena, finally putting the car in reverse and pulling out of the parking spot.
"Yeah. I hope Mom and Dad can take him down before he tries anything else."
"Well, they pretty much have until the next full moon, don't they? What can he really do when he's not in wolf form?"
"He wasn't a werewolf yet when he killed Vicki," Jeremy reminded her. She looked at him, but didn't reply. It struck him how strange it was to be having a conversation this serious with his sister—and about creatures that shouldn't even exist.
X
Richard Lockwood was having an extremely bad week so far. He'd spent the better part of the previous evening in extreme and inexplicable pain before finally turning into a wolf, and once he was human again, he'd had to spend most of the morning stumbling naked through the woods until he finally found his car and discarded clothing. Then, when he wanted nothing more than to find out how the hell werewolves existed and he happened to be one, he'd instead been forced to try cleaning up another one of his son's messes, only to be publicly humiliated by a small town high school football coach.
To cap it all, he apparently hadn't even managed to kill Grayson Gilbert like he believed he had. He didn't remember much about those few short hours as a wolf—they were a vague, dreamlike string of images and sensations compared with the hours of sanity-destroying agony leading up to them. But the one thing he definitely did remember was the feeling of Grayson's throat ripping beneath his fangs. Hell, he'd still been covered in his blood when he returned to human form. So how could the man's son have been sitting so nonchalantly at the Grill, claiming that his dad was perfectly fine and that his house getting attacked by a 'rabid wolf' was no big deal? Something strange was going on here, and Richard was determined to find out what.
X
Caroline beamed in satisfaction when Elena arrived at the pool. "There you are!" she cried. "What took you so long?"
"I had to drop Jeremy off and do some chores for mom first," said Elena. She looked sort of stressed out. Bonnie had noticed; she kept giving Elena sympathetic glances. But Caroline preferred to let the pool work its magic. They spent about twenty minutes goofing off together in the diving area, then swam some laps (Bonnie, to no one's surprise, was by far the fastest, even though they were both a few inches taller than her). Once they'd satisfied their fitness needs for the day, they headed straight for the hot tub. A few freshman girls were lounging there, but Caroline shooed them away easily. "I love being an upperclassman," she said as she sank into the churning, heated water with a sigh of contentment.
"You shouldn't be mean to them," said Elena, looking after the girls Caroline had just evicted with a frown. "They're us two years ago."
"So?" said Caroline. "Two years from now, they can be the ones who rule the hot tub while we're in college, dating college boys."
Bonnie grinned. "Sounds like fun to me."
Caroline's phone buzzed on the cement behind her. She had a special waterproof case she put it in when she came to the pool so she wouldn't have to miss out on any updates. The message was from her dad, confirming the details of their next weekend together. She pouted. She'd been hoping for a reply from Stefan. She'd been sending him messages every hour or so since he disappeared on her during the cleanup project, and he still hadn't responded. She quickly typed out another message: "The pool would be so much better if you were here! I bet you look almost as amazing in a swimsuit as I do. ;)"
"You never told me why you and Damon suddenly vanished from the decorations cleanup," she said in a teasing tone, putting her phone back by the edge of the hot tub. "If you two sneaked off somewhere to make out, then I expect details."
Elena blushed. "That's not what happened!"
"Yeah, Caroline," said Bonnie, "I told you Damon got sick, so Elena and Stefan took him to her dad's office."
Caroline rolled her eyes. "I know. I just wanted to see Elena's reaction when I mentioned her and Damon making out." She looked at Elena, who was scowling, cheeks still red. "Did your dad figure out what's wrong with him?"
"Yeah," said Elena. "Heat stroke, and maybe a bad cold. He should be fine, but Dad wants to keep an eye on him for a while, just in case. He's lucky he didn't break anything when he fell off the ladder."
"This gives you a great opportunity to play nurse. You still have your costume from last year, don't you?"
"I'm not wearing that for Damon!" said Elena, blushing even harder. "Especially not in front of my dad."
"Fine," said Caroline, raising her hands out of the water. "But you'll wish you had when he starts noticing girls who aren't playing hard to get and you lose your chance."
"Can we change topics?" said Bonnie sternly.
Caroline rolled her eyes again. They were no fun. "You're going to be able to get the first week of August off, right?" she asked Bonnie.
"Yeah, I already submitted my request, and I know who I can ask to trade shifts with me if my manager doesn't accept it."
"Great, because cheer camp is going to be awesome, and you can't miss it for something as lame as lifeguarding."
"That's exactly what I thought," said Bonny dryly.
"And even turncoats who've abandoned the squad could hypothetically still go and have life-changing experiences there," said Caroline innocently.
"I'm not going to cheer camp, and I'm immune to your guilt trips about that now," said Elena, looking half-amused, half-annoyed.
"Boo," said Caroline. "I'm still not going to forgive you." She grabbed her phone and checked it again, even though it hadn't buzzed. Still nothing from Stefan.
"Why do you keep checking your phone?" said Bonnie.
"Because Stefan hasn't replied yet," said Caroline.
"I don't think pestering him while he's worried about his brother is the best strategy," said Elena.
"Hmm," said Caroline. "You might have a point. I should be playing the sympathy card." She opened her messages again and started typing a new one. "I heard Damon isn't doing so well. I'm sorry if all these texts are annoying right now. I'd like to help if I can. Want me to bring over some food for both of you so you won't have to cook tonight?"
"There," she said, pressing send. When she looked up, Bonnie and Elena were trading exasperated looks. "I saw that," she said, pointing an accusing finger at them. "You can't judge me for actually taking action to get the guy I want. I have to lock this in before school starts or he'll be fair game for every girl in junior year. Not to mention the freshmen and sophomores."
X
"That should do it," said Dr. Gilbert, easing the thick needle out of Stefan's arm. Over the past few hours, the younger Salvatore had drunk ten liters of blood and donated five—enough to replace the blood Dr. Gilbert flushed out of Damon, who was still lying like a wax statue on the examination table. Stefan watched as Dr. Gilbert disconnected the saline line feeding into the needle in Damon's right arm and swapped it out for the first bag of his blood. "We'll probably lose about 25% of the blood as it drains with the saline, but even 75% of normal blood volume should be enough to keep him functional between treatments."
"As long as you're sure," said Stefan. "I could keep going," he said, gesturing to the needle Dr. Gilbert had removed from him, which was now lying on a stainless steel tray.
"We'll see how he's doing after I've given him everything you already donated," said Dr. Gilbert.
"You know, it's moments like this when I'm reminded of why I used to want to be a doctor," said Stefan. Dr. Gilbert's calm confidence that he could save Damon was incredibly comforting.
Dr. Gilbert smiled a little. "When was that?"
"Before I turned," said Stefan. "But medicine isn't exactly a viable career path for a ripper, even if there was a way around the fact that I'm stuck in the body of a seventeen-year-old."
"Maybe you won't always be a ripper," said Dr. Gilbert, checking the tubing hooked up to Damon's arm.
"Wouldn't that be nice," said Stefan. He was starting to think Grayson Gilbert had a lot more in common with Damon than either of them would want to admit. "Even if I could get past that, though, there's still nothing I can do about being seventeen forever."
"Oh, I don't know," said Dr. Gilbert, whose success so far with Damon's procedure seemed to have put him in a very good mood. "Bit of gray dye at the sideburns, makeup to make it look like you've got crow's feet—what would really sell it would be some five o'clock shadow...or had you not started growing facial hair when you turned?"
"I got about as far as the embarrassing translucent mustache stage," said Stefan ruefully. "And it takes about two weeks of not shaving before it's even noticeable."
"That's too bad," said Dr. Gilbert. "Seems like you've got a sharp enough mind that you could've made a pretty good doctor."
"Thank you, sir," said Stefan. "That means a lot."
Dr. Gilbert chuckled. "You don't have to be so formal."
Stefan shrugged. "Old habits die hard, especially when you're immortal." He pulled out his phone to check the time, and was surprised to discover that he had five texts from Caroline Forbes. He hadn't noticed earlier because his phone had been on silent since he and Elena first brought Damon in. He scrolled through the messages.
"Hey, where did you go? I thought we were going to head over to the Grill after the cleanup finished."
"Boo, you missed out on lunch. I had no choice but to flirt with some of the football guys at the Grill instead of you."
"Bonnie and I are heading to the pool if you want to come."
"The pool would be so much better if you were here! I bet you look almost as amazing in a swimsuit as I do. ;)"
"I heard Damon isn't doing so well. I'm sorry if all these texts are annoying right now. I'd like to help if I can. Want me to bring over some food for both of you so you won't have to cook tonight?"
Stefan stared at his screen in amazement. This girl was relentless. ...And really hot. He wasn't quite sure why he'd been so determined before to keep anything from happening with her. Right now, he felt better than he had in decades, and the idea of turning down any opportunity to have fun seemed absurd. With Grayson and Meredith seeing to his supply of human blood for the duration of Damon's treatment, his appetite should be sated enough for him to be able to handle spending time with humans, right? It wouldn't be like it was in the '20s. And besides, if he shut Caroline down, that would hurt her feelings. He didn't want to do that. Not when it seemed like she just wanted to do something nice for him while his brother was "sick."
"That'd be really nice of you, Caroline," he typed. "It's been a stressful day. Want to get enough food for yourself too so you can stay and watch a movie at my place?"
Her reply arrived barely a minute later. "That sounds great! See you around 7?"
X
As much as Richard would like to dedicate all his energies to finishing the job with Grayson Gilbert, he couldn't deny that his sudden lycanthropy was the more pressing problem. He spent most of his afternoon at City Hall shut up in his office, trying to dig up information online. His staff seemed to realize he wasn't in a mood to be questioned or interrupted, because they left him alone the entire time. His searches yielded few results, but he didn't give up even after he went home for the day. Carol was still meeting with her committees and Tyler was God only knew where, but that made it easier for Richard to spend the evening digging through his old family heirlooms.
This, at last, got him results. At first, he found a few references to something called "the Lockwood family curse," but nothing more detailed than that. His best lead all day came from the journal of Barnette Lockwood, one of the founders of Mystic Falls and its first mayor. The final entry stated:
"To any of my descendants who have had the misfortune of falling under our family's curse, I offer my deepest sympathies. My son wrote of his own experiences, but it is our wish that his journal remain unread. Its contents, if widely known, would destroy our family forever. However, if you are cursed, then it is your right to read what he has written. Perhaps you will be more successful than he in using the mystical stone he procured in the Battle of Willow Creek to end your suffering. I do not expect I will outlive George, but he and I have agreed that he will one day conceal his journal under the floor of the cellar, in the southeast corner. I pray that God may help you, though I fear the curse is a sign He has abandoned us all to the mercy of the devil."
By that point, Carol and Tyler were both home, so Richard decided to postpone his excavation of the cellar on the old Lockwood estate until morning.
X
After leaving the pool, Elena had her mom text her a list of groceries to pick up, just so she'd have something to do for another half hour. The extra task paid off; by the time she made it home, finished putting everything away, and headed up to her room, she got a text from her dad that Damon's treatment had been successful—a text Damon made redundant two seconds later by jumping out at her when she opened her bedroom door.
"God, Damon, you almost gave me a heart attack!" she said, but she couldn't quite muster up any real indignation. He was okay!
"Good," he said, looking smug. "That's what I was going for. Anyway, I stole Stefan's phone after I woke up, and I found out that Blondie is so overwhelmed with sympathy for us Salvatores because of my alleged illness that she's bringing dinner over. I plan to be the most obnoxious chaperone ever. Want to help?"
"Is it a good idea for Stefan to be spending time around humans so soon after switching to human blood?" Elena asked skeptically.
"That would be why he needs a chaperone," said Damon, as if that were obvious.
"Well, you're going to have to act really sick, then," said Elena. "Otherwise Caroline will get suspicious."
"I was planning to sneeze whenever Stefan tries to talk to her, and then pass out dramatically halfway through the movie."
"You're insane."
"Hey, this is what big brothers are for. I'm just doing my job."
X
The movie they ended up watching was Van Helsing. Caroline had brought Twilight, but Damon had declared veto power because he was so sick. Since this wasn't the movie she had wanted to watch, Caroline spent most of the first half trying to talk to Stefan, but true to his word, Damon faked a sneeze every time Stefan started to reply. By the time they got to the part where Van Helsing was trying to transport Frankenstein's monster to safety in Rome, Caroline announced loudly that she was going to the bathroom, and from her pointed stare, Elena knew she had no choice but to accompany her.
"What the hell, Elena?" Caroline hissed as soon as they were in the bathroom.
"What are you talking about?" said Elena, turning on the sink to cover the sound of their conversation from any prying vampire ears, but slowly washing her hands so Caroline wouldn't think it was weird.
"This is Stefan's and my first date. Why are you and your flu-tastic boyfriend horning in on it?"
"Damon's not my boyfriend!" Elena protested automatically, then grimaced down at the sink. "And I thought you offered to bring food so Stefan wouldn't have to cook for Damon. Doesn't that sort of imply you were going to be fine with Damon being around?"
"Yeah, it was really silly of me to assume that Damon, like most sick people, would have the decency to keep his germs behind closed doors in a sickroom far away from where his not-sick brother and the not-sick girl who likes him are having a date!" said Caroline. "How am I supposed to get Stefan in the mood for making out when we're watching an action movie and Damon's sneezing every five seconds?"
"Caroline, don't you think you should take things a little slower than that?" said Elena, making a herculean effort to be patient. Caroline stared at her like she'd suddenly started speaking Hindi, so she held up her soapy hands in defense. "Look, I don't mean you shouldn't go for Stefan at all. Bad first impression aside, he's a great guy. But you might blow your chance by coming on so strong when he's worried about his brother."
Caroline looked annoyed, but also slightly more thoughtful. "You really think so?"
"Yeah," said Elena, feeling relieved. "Stefan's the old-fashioned gentleman type. Damon teases him about it all the time. Going slow—" Caroline looked like she was about to interrupt, so Elena rephrased. "Slower than making out on the first date, I mean, is probably your best bet."
"I'll make you a deal," said Caroline, a mischievous glint in her eye, which made Elena nervous. "I won't try anything with Stefan tonight. But if you and Damon kiss before Stefan and I do, I'll pay you fifty bucks."
"Fine," said Elena, rolling her eyes, shutting off the water, and drying her hands. Anything to stall Caroline's advances on Stefan until they could be sure he'd be safe while he was on human blood. She made to leave the bathroom and head back for the TV room, but Caroline put her hand on the door.
"Not so fast," she said. "I'm not just offering to throw away money. This is a bet. If I kiss Stefan before you kiss Damon, you have to pay me. Me not trying tonight is your headstart."
"What? That's ridiculous," said Elena. "Damon's sick, remember?"
"That's not my problem," said Caroline smugly. "I'm not the one who wants to kiss him." With that, she strode out of the bathroom, leaving Elena with her mouth hanging open.
X
"I hope you're having fun, Damon," said Stefan irritably once the girls were out of earshot.
"Best recovery ever," said Damon, eyes on the TV screen, which was paused on a dramatic shot of a werewolf looming up over the top of a flaming carriage. "Watching a movie about over-the-top vampires getting defeated by a werewolf. The irony is hilarious. What makes it worth it is getting to watch you and Blondie slowly go insane while I'm being as obnoxious as possible."
"Then you're aware that you're being as obnoxious as possible," said Stefan.
"Come on, like I could just leave you, the perpetual high school student, alone with the head cheerleader for a couple of hours when it's your first day on human blood? I'd come downstairs to find one of two things: a scene out of a cheesy horror film or a scene out of a cheesy chick flick. Both of those genres suck, so let's not."
Stefan scowled. "Babysitting me is one thing, but do you have to be such a jackass about it? What's it to you if I want to hang out with Caroline?"
"So you're admitting you want to hang out with her?" said Damon in triumph. "That's a relief. Because I was starting to think she'd learned a way for a human to use compulsion on a vampire." The lights in the room appeared to get brighter all of a sudden, making him wince. His skin felt clammy, too, which meant his symptoms were starting again. Maybe dramatically passing out before the movie ended wasn't going to have to be an act.
Stefan seemed to notice something was wrong, because his only reply to that extremely witty comment was for a crease to appear between his eyebrows.
"No need to give yourself another frown line," said Damon, settling himself more comfortably on the couch he'd been sharing with Elena and trying not to think about the hot twinges starting up again in the wound on his arm. He heard the bathroom door open and footsteps approaching. "Grayson said this would happen. I'll be fine until we go back tomorrow."
X
Anna sat back in her chair at Mrs. Flowers' bed and breakfast, watching Logan Fell, Laura Fitzgerald, and Julia Smith file out after giving her their report for the day. She sighed. They hadn't told her anything new; she'd found out much more from her lunch date with Jeremy Gilbert. She pulled the crumpled napkin out of her pocket and stared at the phone number written on it.
Most of the time, Anna felt every second of her nearly six centuries of life stretching out behind her, but there were moments, every once in a while, where she just felt like a teenager. She'd had one of those moments that day with Jeremy. He was inquisitive, intense, and full of youthful idealism, and it was all strangely contagious. She'd gotten so used to biding her time and playing the long game that individual instants tended to pass by in a blur.
But she shouldn't focus on that. Attractive and interesting or not, Jeremy was still primarily a tool for her to get her mother back. And she had an idea of how she could make him even more useful. It all depended on how well she'd succeeded in gaining his trust today. She punched in Jeremy's number on her phone. Her breaths came a little shakily while she listened to it ring, and she mentally kicked herself for being such a dork.
"Hello?"
"Jeremy?" said Anna.
"Anna, hey!" he said. "I thought I'd have to wait longer than that for you to call." She could hear him smirking.
"Don't get cocky, hotshot," she said, trying to scowl but ending up smiling instead. "I just wanted to let you know I'll be spying on Richard Lockwood tomorrow. I thought you might want to join me."
"Hell yes I do!" said Jeremy, sounding both excited and angry at the mere thought of Richard Lockwood. "What will we be doing?"
"Since he's a werewolf with super-senses, it's too risky to do the spying in person, so I want to send some compelled animals to do it for me."
"Whoa, you can do that?" said Jeremy.
"Yep!" said Anna. "So can Damon. If you've noticed your sister getting a lot of attention from an unusually friendly raven, that's why."
"Yeah, Damon said something about using him to track the Mayor the other night."
"What's really cool is that, if you want, I can do this sort of mind meld thing with you, and then you'd be able to see what my furry and feathered spies are seeing."
"Are you serious? That's awesome!"
"But there's a catch," she said, injecting an apologetic note into her tone.
"What do you mean?"
"It—it won't work if you're on vervain."
"Oh." He didn't sound excited anymore.
"You don't have to do it," said Anna quickly. "We only just met today; it'd be insane for me to expect you to trust me that much already. If you'd rather just hang out, I can tell you everything I'm seeing, and I'll be super descriptive so it's almost the same—"
"How can I make sure it's out of my system by tomorrow?"
"Wait, seriously?" said Anna, feigning surprise. He was reacting exactly as she'd hoped he would.
"Yeah, let's do this. Whatever it takes to get more evidence against the Mayor, I'm game."
"Okay. If you're sure. When was the last time you drank the vervain tea?"
"This morning."
"That's good. You can probably flush it out of your system by midday tomorrow if you drink a ton of water between now and then."
"I can do that. Where do you want to meet up?"
"Library again?"
"Okay. I'll see you there."
X
Damon and Stefan were back in Grayson's lab first thing on Thursday morning. So far, everything was progressing just as Grayson had expected. There was still some infection, but the first treatment had decreased the toxin's intensity, slowed its progress, and repaired most of the damage. Further treatments would ensure even more improvement until the last of the toxin was finally flushed out or the infected white blood cells died—whichever happened first.
That didn't mean there would be no complications at all. They'd been lucky the day before to score the blood supply for Stefan to drink, but that supply was not infinite. In fact, they would run out of it by the end of this round of treatment. Grayson entrusted Meredith with the job of finding more blood to use while he set Damon up for the saline flush and started drawing Stefan's blood. The hospital currently had extra units of the more common blood types, so Meredith was confident she could requisition those without raising any suspicions, then reconstitute them into whole blood using platelets and frozen plasma.
"You should sponsor a city-wide blood drive," said Damon once Grayson had informed him and Stefan of this potential problem. "Stefan and I could go around compelling everyone to participate. Then you could fudge the numbers, give a respectable amount to the hospital, and hand us the rest under the table so we can toss it in our freezer at home."
"It's not a bad idea," said Grayson as he checked a slide of Damon's blood and made some notes on a clipboard.
Damon blinked. "It's not? Are you sure you were listening when I suggested you set up a blood embezzlement scam in your precious hometown?"
"Of course I was listening," Grayson snapped. "Less than ten percent of people who are eligible to donate blood actually do it, and there are shortages all the time. It would be dangerous to let Stefan just go bite people for his food, considering his ripper tendencies." Here, he cast Stefan a glance that was more stern than apologetic. Stefan grimaced and made an effort to slow down his enthusiastic draining of his current blood bag. "But," Grayson went on, "I wouldn't want to deprive local hospitals of their much-needed blood supply just to keep two vampires fed. A 'blood embezzlement scam,' as you put it, would likely be the option with the fewest risks and greatest benefits."
"There are a couple of risks I can see," said Stefan, tossing the empty blood bag into the trash. "You'll have to check all the blood you collect for vervain, first of all. And won't the Council be suspicious if you're the one who sets this thing up out of nowhere?"
"Particularly when their leader is Mayor McWerewolfpants, who has proven he wants you dead pretty effectively by already killing you once," said Damon. "But we could compel a puppet Red Cross staff if that's a problem."
"That won't be necessary," said Grayson. "If anyone on the Council asks, I can just tell them we're better off being prepared in case any vampires do turn up. Even Richard can't say it's a bad idea; Sheriff Forbes will probably suggest similar precautionary measures soon anyway. I'll have the best chance of controlling the results if I'm the one who proposes it first. And you should be careful how many people you compel. We'll definitely attract attention if there's a line around the block. Meredith and I can send sign-up sheets around town, and you can match the number of volunteers."
"Have I ever mentioned how much I admire your ruthless sense of pragmatism?" said Damon. "I'm really glad I didn't kill you after you skewered me with hot pokers. And not just because you would've come back to life a few hours later."
"Such sentiment," said Grayson. "I'm touched."
"Now you know why Damon can count all the friends he's ever had on one hand," said Stefan, smirking.
"All the human blood must be hitting the spot, little bro," said Damon. "That was the best insult you've thought of in decades. But you really couldn't have saved it for when I wasn't lying helpless on my sickbed? Tsk tsk. What if Grayson's cure turns out to be a fluke and that was the last thing I ever heard you say?"
Stefan flipped Damon off with the hand not holding a new blood bag.
Grayson chuckled. "Boys, don't make me separate you two."
X
Richard was up, dressed, done with breakfast, and heading for the old Lockwood estate with a crowbar and shovel over his shoulder before Carol or Tyler had even woken up. He hadn't been out here since he was a teenager, but he still vividly remembered where the cellar was. He and his friends used to go there to drink and party, which had resulted in one of the worst beatings of his life when his father finally caught him.
It only took him about a quarter of an hour of prying up stones and digging in the dirt beneath them to unearth the box containing George Lockwood's journal, and he spent the next few hours sitting there reading. The first entry was an insert that seemed to have been written last. It began:
"If you are reading this, then my efforts to prevent this curse from spreading to anyone else in the family must have failed. Forgive me. When I could not purge myself of the curse, I wanted at least to warn all in our bloodline so that they could avoid sharing my fate, but I was overruled. I fear it was reckless and cowardly of me to bow to my family's influence. What could their disapproval mean in the face of consequences such as I have already endured? I pray you will not make the same mistake I have. Warn everyone you know who is related to the Lockwood family by blood that he must never take a human life, either in error or a'purpose, lest he fall subject to the same terrible curse."
From there, George described everything, from the rush of power and heightened senses after he killed his first Union soldier to the seemingly unending agony of transformation. He wrote of how his father had helped him outfit this cellar to keep him contained during the full moon, but they didn't finish in time to stop him wreaking havoc during his first transformation in Mystic Falls. It seemed much of the carnage the Council had historically attributed to vampires had actually been done by Richard's own ancestor.
The second half of the journal was much less coherent than the first. Each transformation made George more frantic to discover a way to free himself of the curse. He performed a number of unsuccessful experiments, both on himself and on the moonstone—that odd white rock Richard had inherited from his father and always kept locked under the floor of his office. The person who'd given George the moonstone had assured him it contained the key to breaking his curse, but he'd never figured out how to use it.
The entire journal was written in a tone of desperation and self-loathing, which Richard found baffling. He certainly agreed that the pain of the transformation was worse than anything he could have imagined, but that was the only part of the whole situation that seemed like a curse. Had George not felt that same sense of euphoric power as a wolf as Richard had? Had he not reveled in the increased strength and awareness? Richard had never felt so alive as he had in the last week. Maybe it was simply a mark of the era in which George and his father had lived that they viewed it in such a negative light. Personally, Richard felt he would gladly keep it all if he could only do something to avoid the pain.
X
Jeremy was no fool. He knew better than to trust that Anna only wanted him off the vervain so that she could let him join in on her animal espionage mission. He knew what to do. He might be meeting her to spy on Richard Lockwood, but he was also going to spy on her. To that end, he spent most of the morning preparing. Then, he made a video message for himself, in which he recited everything he'd learned about Anna and about vampires and werewolves in general. He left the file in a spot on his computer where he could be sure to stumble across it even if Anna made him forget everything. Then, to be extra safe, he typed it all up, printed it out three times, and hid the copies in different places in his room.
Admittedly, most of his preparations would only work if she used compulsion to mess with his memories; they wouldn't protect him from her ordering him to do something. But that's why he had stolen his dad's voice recorder out of his desk. He should probably buy one of those for himself. It would be way handier than using multiple phones. The thing had more than enough battery life and storage to last an entire day, if he needed it to. He'd be making a complete recording of his and Anna's time together, so that he could play it back the next day. If it turned out that she hadn't used compulsion on him, then he would gladly continue to keep his promise not to tell anyone about her. If not, that promise would be forfeit.
X
Anna had only been waiting in the library for a few minutes when Jeremy arrived. She smiled in amusement when he found her in a deserted aisle of the nonfiction section. "Why are you so sweaty?" she asked, poking the sweat stain around the collar of his shirt.
"I rode here on my bike," he said, swatting her hand away. "That way I don't have to come up with a story for my family. Plus, I figured working up a sweat would help get the last traces of the vervain out."
"Good thinking," said Anna.
"So how do we find out if it's gone?" said Jeremy. He looked thoughtful. "Maybe I could...wipe my sweat all over you!" he tried to tackle her, a huge grin on his face.
Anna squealed and vamp-sped out of reach. "Don't do that, you dork!" she hissed indignantly. "If there still is vervain in your sweat, you'll burn me!"
"Oh, right," said Jeremy, still grinning. "Sorry." He took a long drink from his water bottle, then wiped his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand. "Well, that was my only idea. Your turn."
"Hmm," said Anna. She gave him a sly grin. "We could play Truth or Dare."
Jeremy snorted. "Which would be helpful how?"
"I'm serious!" said Anna. "If the vervain's gone, you'll have to do what I say. So, truth or dare?"
"Wait, how does that prove anything?" said Jeremy. "I guess I'll know if it worked, but for all you know, I could just be doing it of my own free will, to trick you."
"True, but I'm going to trust that you have too big of an ego to voluntarily do what I'm planning to make you do," said Anna sweetly.
Jeremy looked slightly alarmed. "It's not going to be something people will tease me about for years, is it?"
"You'll find out."
He grimaced. "Fine. Dare."
"Really? You're not going to take the easy way out and pick truth?"
"Picking truth is for wimps."
"Okay," said Anna. "Just remember you asked for it."
X
Richard might not be able to do anything about Grayson at the moment, and he'd found out everything he could about the Lockwood curse for now, but one thing he could do was force Coach Tanner to reinstate his son to the football team. Grayson was too influential in the town and on the Council to confront without serious and careful planning, but William Tanner was nobody. An unpopular high school teacher with no family and no history in this town. Still, Richard knew he hadn't done a great job of making his case the previous day. He shouldn't have approached Tanner at the Grill, and he shouldn't have brought Tyler with him. He was confident that he could get the result he wanted if he met Tanner in his office, which was exactly where he went that afternoon, once the football practice Tyler should have been part of was over.
Wanting to give the appearance of coming to offer an olive branch (but with no intention of leaving until Tanner did what he wanted), Richard knocked on the door of the office adjacent to the boys' locker room before striding inside. It was small and cramped, and decorated about how one would expect a high school football coach's office to be decorated: trophies and certificates on every surface, along with framed pictures of Tanner as a grinning teenager in red and yellow football gear and a few newspaper articles with headlines like "Razorbacks take California State Championship in the '90-'91 Season." On the desk next to Tanner's nameplate was a particularly large, football-shaped gold trophy, the one he'd won in that state championship.
"Coach Tanner," said Richard, making an effort to sound courteous.
"Mayor Lockwood," said Tanner, looking up from some paperwork. He had a cast on his nose now and deep purple bruises had developed under both eyes. Richard wondered what Tanner had done to inspire Tyler to do that to him. "I won't be pressing charges against Tyler. I had the hospital mail the bill to you, but I guess I could've just held onto it until today."
Richard didn't like the way Tanner just assumed he was entitled to his money over this—particularly because it robbed him of his best piece of leverage in getting Tanner to let Tyler back on the team. His plan had been to graciously offer to foot the bill, but now he was going to have to improvise. "I will of course be glad to cover that bill, and I'm very grateful that you won't be pressing charges." He took a seat in the chair across from Tanner's desk. "But is it really necessary to keep Tyler off the team? He's a very active boy; it's important for him to have constructive outlets for all that excess energy."
"I agree," said Tanner. "That's why I didn't kick him off the track and field team or the rugby team. Three varsity sports were going to be an almost impossible demand on his time; I expect his grades to go up a full letter from last year now that he's down to two."
"If the problem is that three sports are too many, then why did you let him sign up for all of them in the first place?" said Richard.
"Because he promised it wouldn't be a problem," said Tanner, folding his arms across his chest. "A promise he broke when he broke my nose."
"Then kick him off the track team or the rugby team instead!" said Richard, raising his voice slightly in frustration. "Football is the only sport anyone cares about in this town."
"Which is what makes preventing him from playing it an effective punishment," said Tanner. He wasn't raising his voice, but his eyes were getting narrower and his tone colder.
"It's not up to you to decide the best way to punish my kid!" said Richard, leaping to his feet so quickly that the chair toppled over behind him.
"Is that really the direction you want this conversation to go, Mayor Lockwood?" said Tanner, also getting to his feet.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Richard demanded. He noticed, irritably, that Tanner, like Grayson, stood several inches taller than him. And judging from the photos, articles, and trophies, it appeared that Tanner, also like Grayson, had been the golden boy of his high school. Grayson seemed to think that made him better than Richard, but Richard was not going to stand here and let Tanner do the same.
"You know damn well what that means," said Tanner, staring Richard directly in the eyes. "I've been coaching long enough to know the difference between bruises from the practice field and bruises from fists. Is that how you've been letting out your 'excess energy'?"
"Are you accusing me of beating my son?" said Richard, outraged.
"No," said Tanner. "I'm warning you. The next time he comes into my locker room with bruises like that, I will be pressing charges. Just, not against him. Now get the hell out of my office." He pointed sharply at the door.
The fluorescent light overhead seemed to blaze more brightly, and all the sounds of the building around them suddenly became almost deafening. It was just like that moment on the side of the road after the Donovan girl had tumbled to her death. Richard didn't fight it; he simply allowed the crimson wave of rage to sweep him up in it. The feeling was almost as exhilarating as what he remembered from his time during the full moon. Something of the wolf must have shown in his face, because there was a split-second where Tanner's expression changed from one of icy anger to one of disbelieving terror, but he didn't have time for anything else. Richard seized the large trophy off the desk and slammed it against the side of Tanner's skull.
Is it weird that the first time I started to like Coach Tanner even a little bit was when I was writing the scene I knew would end with Richard bludgeoning him with a football trophy? And I know this chapter was pretty light on the Damon/Elena stuff, but a) while slow-burn Damon/Elena is the emotional core of this fic, it's still very much an ensemble story, and b) the next chapter should make up for that. Also I just really really love writing Damon and Grayson riffing off each other frenemy-style, and now that Stefan is on human blood, his sense of humor gets added to the mix too, and it is so much fun, guys. Also, Stefan/Caroline stuff. When I started writing this fic, I'm pretty sure the plan was to go the Stefan/Katherine route, but the last few seasons have made me a Stefan/Caroline shipper. Stefan on human blood is a bit of an ominous way for that to begin, though, so we'll see how it goes.
Points to anyone who spots the Buffy reference.