[4x02; Memorial]
Something tickling her neck woke Lucy up from the weird dream about a world made of cotton candy. She giggled slightly as she tried to roll away from whatever was happening. The feeling went with her, though, making her laughter deepen. She tried brushing the thing off her neck and it went away for only a second before it descended on her lower neck, just above her collar bone.
She squeaked through her giggles; in her dream, a candy cotton monster was reaching toward her, digging his soft fingers into her neck to make her laugh until she couldn't breathe.
"Are you ticklish there?"
Lucy's eyes shot open at the voice that definitely didn't belong to her beloved cotton candy monster. She didn't see anything in front of her, just the door to her bathroom, but she could feel a weight against her back. She panicked for a second before relaxing, her sleepy mind catching up with the fact that Stefan had fallen asleep at her side the night before.
And, now, apparently he was up. All of him.
Stefan pressed his lips against the spot again and blew slightly, making a silly noise. Lucy squealed and flipped over, facing him with bright, yet slightly tired eyes. Stefan's green eyes were lit up and he looked so happy that her heart definitely melted in her chest.
"You are, aren't you?" he smirked.
"I am not," Lucy protested.
Stefan raised a single eyebrow and took his hand from off her hip, using two of his fingers to lightly tickle the spot he had been kissing. Lucy jerked away from him, her nose wrinkling as she squirmed. Stefan laughed loudly, making the tickling torture very much worth it.
"Stefan, no!" she giggled madly.
Stefan didn't stop tickling her neck. In fact, his other hand actually wandered, looking for another ticklish spot. He found one on her side, right under the band of her sports bra. Lucy jerked and stilled and then it was utter chaos as she started fighting back. They flipped over about three times while Stefan fought off Lucy's curled fingers while still on the offense.
And then, somehow, Lucy ended up straddling him and the tickle war was over.
Lucy stared down at Stefan with wide eyes, her hands tucked in between his. He was so beautiful. And not just in the stop-and-stare kind of way. He was handsome and sexy. Super sexy…Sexy-Stef…
Lucy couldn't hide the smirk curling her lips as she thought of his new nickname. Stefan didn't waste time in asking her what she was smiling about. He lifted his head just enough so he could kiss her. Lucy immediately returned the kiss; if Stefan didn't care about her morning breath, she wouldn't either.
She could feel everything at once when she was kissing Stefan. She could feel the way his soft lips caressed hers. She could feel his hands let go of hers and place them on her body; one holding the side of her neck while the other one drifted down her back lazily. She felt like she could feel his heartbeat and she could definitely feel his hardness against her ass. It was a lot but it felt damn good.
She buried her fingers in his hair, making it messier than it already was because of his night of sleep. She gasped softly when Stefan sucked on her bottom lip; he swallowed the noise and used more pressure as the hand on her back slowly trailed down to her short-clad backside. Stefan groaned against Lucy's lips when her hips rocked against him; Lucy took the opportunity to kiss across his cheek and down his jaw until she reached his neck.
Lucy hadn't really thought of being intimate with Stefan like this before. Of course, she knew he was the hottest guy on earth—besides Chris Evans but she couldn't tell him that—and she had a dream once or twice but she had always told herself that she and Stefan weren't going to happen. Since they had confessed their love for one another, there hadn't really been time to think about sex—they had more important things to work about.
But this…this was better than she expected. The quiet noises Stefan made as she sucked on his neck, using her tongue every so often, were beautiful. He smelled absolutely amazing and his skin was so soft. Everything about him was intoxicating in the best way.
Stefan placed his hands on Lucy's hips as he sat up to get better access to her. When she detached herself from his neck, there was a red mark that was rapidly fading. It was disappointing that her mark was healing but she was immediately distracted when Stefan kissed her throat right under her ear. Unlike the ticklish spot above her collar bone, this spot made her whole body tingle with pleasure
"Stefan," she breathed, her chest heaving. When he nibbled a little on her skin, not enough to break it, she groaned. "Oh, my God."
Stefan hummed against her neck and pulled away, recapturing her lips with his. He gasped against her mouth when she rocked her hips again, rubbing against his cock. He raised his hips to meet her and could have came just from the moan that spilled from her lips.
But then his phone rang.
"Ignore it," Lucy muttered, kissing down to his sharp jaw.
"Okay," the ringing continued as they kept moving against each other, an aching pleasure building in both of their bellies. "God, Luce."
"Mmhm…"
The ringing cut off and then started back up again.
Stefan sighed in aggravation as Lucy groaned in annoyance, pushing herself away from Stefan to land on the bed. The steady climb to her orgasm was officially gone and she was more than irritated with whoever was calling her boyfriend.
Wow, she never thought of Stefan with that word. He was her boyfriend. God, what a blessing.
Stefan roughly grabbed his phone off her bedside table and answered the call. Lucy was honestly surprised he hadn't crushed the thing in his fist.
"What?" he snapped. "What? Are you kidding, Damon?"
"It's Damon?" Lucy complained quietly.
"Why can't you teach her?" Stefan sighed heavily. "Well, what about Joel? …You're sure she wants to try animal blood?"
Lucy closed her eyes in annoyance when she realized that the call was about Elena. She loved her sister, she really did, and she was sympathetic about the whole vampire thing but she had been so damn needy the last week or so. She was trying to patient but the hundred times Elena called Stefan with a question that Damon or Joel could easily answer was irritating.
She was starting to suspect that Elena's feelings for him weren't all gone. It sucked for three reasons. One, Damon really loved Elena and Lucy felt bad that Elena still had some lingering feelings for Stefan while trying to work out a relationship with him. Two, she and Stefan were together now. And three, she didn't want to be annoyed about Elena's lingering feelings for him because it'd be hypocritical of her.
It was hard to calm herself down. Especially when things had settled down some and the feelings of Finn and Alaric's deaths were creeping up again. She was mad at Elena and Joel for killing Finn, mad at Esther for making Alaric into a vampire, and made at Rebekah for running Matt's truck off the roof. It was like her emotions were all over the place and she wasn't even the one who was a newbie vamp.
Really, the only times she felt okay was when she was with Stefan, Caroline, or Jeremy. They were calming to her and understood what she was going through. Surprisingly, Jeremy was on her side about the whole Original thing. When he left Mystic Falls, he had been very anti-Original but he confessed his time in Denver put things in prospective for him. He wasn't happy that Lucy had almost died in the process of Elena and Joel killing Finn. Caroline was her ever-loving self when she wasn't having "hot-hybrid sex" with Tyler—her words, not Lucy's—and Stefan was as great as he always was.
When she opened her eyes, Stefan was giving her an apologetic look. She took that to mean that he was going to have to help Elena try to eat from bunnies or Bambi.
"Yeah," Stefan said to Damon. "Yeah, I'll be home soon. Bye."
He ended the call and set the phone back on the nightstand.
"Let me guess," Lucy sighed as she rolled off the bed and made her way to her closet. "Elena needs your help."
"Yeah," Stefan confirmed as he, too, got to his feet. As Lucy pulled out a v-neck t-shirt and a coral cardigan, he walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He pressed his lips to her shoulder where the strap of her tank-top fell away. "I'm sorry, Luce."
"It's fine," Lucy leaned her head against his. "I have to go to the school to help with the memorial, anyway."
Only hours after Lucy, Damon, and Matt came to Stefan, Rebekah, Joel, and Elena's rescue at Pastor Young's ranch, there had been an accident. While the council was meeting in the house, there had been a massive explosion. Everyone had died, including Pastor Young, so Mrs. Lockwood, Lucy, Caroline, and the rest of the planning committee had started to prepare for a group memorial.
"What time is that at, anyway?" Stefan allowed Lucy to step out of his arms to grab a pair of skinny jeans and undergarments from her dresser.
"Four," she answered absent-mindedly. "I'll be at the school until one or so. Want to meet for lunch?"
"Sounds good," Stefan grinned at her. "I'll see you then. Love you, Goofy."
Lucy smiled back at him and quickly crossed the room to give him a sweet but short kiss. "Love you, too, Broody. Get outta here."
"Yes, ma'am," he saluted her and, in a blink, he was gone.
"Okay, so what are these again?" Matt asked Lucy as he and Jeremy carried two boxes each from the school out to her car for her.
"Paper lanterns," Jeremy informed him while Lucy unlocked her car and opened the hatch.
While they put the boxes in the back, Lucy explained, "The student council made them for tonight. After the memorial, the town will light them in honor of their dead loved ones."
Matt raised his eyebrows at her. "And nobody thought fire might be a little inappropriate?"
Lucy's face fell in realization. "I didn't even think of that," she felt absolutely horrible. "Oh, my God, I'm horrible."
"No, you're not, Lulu," Jeremy nudged her playfully and gave Matt a warning look. "You had good intentions."
"It's a tradition in Japanese culture," she perked up a little when she remembered the history of lighting paper lanterns. Even if fire wasn't appropriate for the memorial the lanterns would still have a good effect on the loved ones they left behind.
"We aren't Japanese, though," Matt pointed out.
Lucy pressed her lips together and gave him an unimpressed look. "Wow, I had no idea, Matthew."
"Yeah, okay," Matt rolled his eyes and chuckled. As Lucy shut the hatch, he changed the subject. "So…how's Elena doing?"
"She's fine, considering," Jeremy shrugged. It him, Elena was acting normal, if not a little more intense. She was his sister, no matter what species she was—just like Joel.
"If there's anything I can do, you know, short of giving her a ride, you'll let me know, right?" Matt's expression was undoubtedly guilty and it made Lucy's heart hurt. "She's a vampire because of me, so I'd like to pay it back or forward or whatever…"
Lucy sighed; if she had to tell Matt every day that he wasn't the cause of Elena's vampirism she would. "Matty, Elena is not a vampire because of you," she told him sternly. "Rebekah ran you two off the road, okay? Elena's neck snapped and it wasn't your fault."
Matt looked down at the pavement sheepishly as Jeremy agreed. "She's right, dude. It wasn't your fault."
"Regardless," Matt shook his head. "Let me know, okay?"
Jeremy nodded and Lucy reluctantly gave in. "Fine, but you have to stop blaming yourself, okay? It's not your fault. Say it, Matt."
"Come on, Luce," Matt groaned.
"Say it."
Matt gave in just to get her off his back. "Fine, this wasn't my fault."
Lucy beamed up at him. "Good boy."
"Shuddup," Matt shook his head in amusement and pushed her playfully.
Lucy broke out into snickers and Jeremy and Matt joined her. It was nice to laugh in the midst of everything that was going on. She had been a little crabby since Stefan left to help Elena and being with Jeremy and Matt really cheered her up.
"Jeremy?" a voice called behind them. "Lucy?"
Lucy, Jeremy, and Matt abruptly turned around. In front of them was a girl around Jeremy's age, an inch or so shorter than Lucy, with dark black hair and bright blue eyes. Lucy didn't recognize her but there was something familiar about her eyes.
"Hey, uh…" she trailed off, unable to remember a name.
The girl chuckled lightly. "Picture an emo pixie cut and braces."
Jeremy's face lit up in recognition. "April?"
A lightbulb went off above Lucy's head. This was the girl that Elena used to babysit all the time with her and Jeremy. Lucy wasn't good friends with her but April always drifted more toward Jeremy to give her the time of day.
"April Young?" Lucy raised her eyebrows; that would explain why her eyes were so familiar. She was Pastor Young's daughter who was sent off to boarding school a couple years ago; she had the same eyes as her dad.
April nodded with a kind smile. "Yeah."
"You look great," Jeremy grinned at her before looking at Matt. "Do you remember April? Elena used to—"
"Elena used to babysit you, yeah," Matt nodded in greeting. "I remember."
"Yeah, before I got shipped off to boarding school by my dad."
Lucy frowned at the reminder. She wasn't that upset about Pastor Young's death—did that make her a horrible person? —but she did feel bad for April. She was a nice girl and she was now an orphan…just like Lucy and her Gilbert siblings.
"I'm sorry about your dad, April," she said sympathetically.
"Yeah," Jeremy added with a sad smile. "I'm so sorry."
"Thank you," April said gratefully, yet awkwardly. "Sorry, I guess I don't know how to answer when people say that."
"It's hard but, unfortunately, you get used to it."
Lucy could relate; she had just lost all of her fathers. Her adoptive father had died first and that was so hard but she grieved. Then Mikael died and she didn't really feel like she had to grieve because she never really loved him like you should a father. And then it was Alaric who died and she hadn't really been able to process that he was really gone now. He was in the Gilbert plot and his headstone was in place but it still didn't feel real.
"I guess I'm just not much for grief," April shrugged and bit her lip, looking nervous. "I have to go register or something. I think."
April waved and before Lucy, Matt, and Jeremy could say anything else, she stumbled off into the school. The three of them gave each other awkward looks before Jeremy cleared his throat.
"So, where's Caroline?" he wondered. "Isn't she supposed to be helping?"
"Her shift is at one," Lucy informed with a laugh. "She's spending some time with Tyler, if you know what I mean."
Both Matt and Jeremy gave her disgusted looks. "Ew, gross, Luce."
At one, Lucy and Stefan did not get to have their lunch date. They were just about to leave the Boarding House to make their way to the Grill when Caroline called her, upset about something that happened to Tyler. Apparently some random guy entered the Lockwood mansion and shot Tyler and they needed Stefan's help to get the numerous wooden bullets out of Tyler's abdomen.
Lucy could hardly bare to look as Stefan dug four bullets out of Tyler. The fact that the bullets were wooden was very concerning to all of them. That meant that whoever that dude was, he knew about vampires and he knew how to kill them.
"Please tell me that's the last one," Caroline sighed from beside Lucy as Stefan dug the last bullet out of Tyler's chest.
Stefan dipped the bloody bullet into a glass of water, rinsing off the blood. He studied it, his eyebrows furrowing. "These were specially carved," he informed them. "The length, the width. If you were a normal vampire, you would be dead."
"This guy knew what he was doing," Tyler was still in pain by the tense way he held himself. "His gloves must have been steeped in vervain. He was looking for a vampire and he didn't hesitate for a second when he found one."
Stefan was still studying the bullets. "These etchings…" he touched the bullet with his bare fingers and hissed when they made contact, hurriedly pulling away from them. "Well, that was vervain…"
Caroline narrowed her eyes at the dark mark etched into the wooden bullet. "Are they spelled?"
"I don't know," Stefan stated; he held out the bullet for Lucy to see.
She carefully took it and placed it in her palm. It didn't sting like it did to Stefan but she didn't feel any magic coming from it, either.
"I don't feel anything," she told him. "but we can ask Bonnie to be sure."
Stefan raised an eyebrow. "I haven't seen Bonnie all week."
"She's been at her Gram's house," Caroline informed him. "She's been messed up ever since she put Klaus back in his body."
Lucy frowned, worried for her friend. "I'll check on her before the memorial," she declared. "See what's going on."
"I'll go with you," Stefan volunteered.
An hour later, after they were dressed appropriately for the memorial they were going to straight after visiting Bonnie, they arrived at the house Grams left for Bonnie. Bonnie's car was parked in the driveway but when Lucy knocked the first few times, there was no answer.
"Bonnie?" Lucy called. "It's me, Lucy."
Again, there was no answer.
"Bonnie, we know you're in there," Stefan called as he knocked this time. "I can hear you breathing. Bonnie, please, it's important," when Lucy gave him an annoyed look, he shrugged. "What?"
"We're not just visiting because we need something," she scolded him. "We're here to find out what's bothering her, too."
Stefan sighed. "Yeah, I know."
Through the glass window in the door, they saw Bonnie step out of her living room. She looked absolutely miserable with dark circles under her eyes and messy hair. She was even wearing a blanket cape with one of Grams' old quilts.
"Hey," Lucy greeted her quietly as she opened the door. "Are you all right?"
Bonnie's eyes started watering and her lips started to tremble. Lucy stepped into the house and pulled her into a hug, whispering soothing words as Bonnie practically curled into her for comfort.
"Hey, it's all right," she whispered. "What's wrong Bonnie? What happened?"
"Grams," Bonnie was able to say through her tears. Lucy furrowed her eyebrows and twisted her head to give Stefan a questioning look but he just shrugged, unable to step into the house.
"How about you tell me what happened," Lucy suggested. When Bonnie nodded, she asked, "Can Stefan come in?"
"Come in," Bonnie whispered to the youngest Salvatore.
Stefan was able to step into the house. He gave Bonnie a quick but sweet hug that had Lucy awing about how compassionate he was, and then they all went to the living room to talk about what was bothering Bonnie.
When Bonnie had tried to take Elena back from the Other Side, it was Grams that had warned her about the dark magic. And, when Bonnie tapped into it again to put Klaus back into his original body, Grams had appeared. She was tortured right in front of Bonnie until she suddenly disappeared.
"It was like she was dying all over again," Bonnie finished her story. "Just because I didn't listen to her about not doing black magic."
Lucy frowned and squeezed Bonnie's hand. She loved Grams and it hurt her to think about her being in pain so she couldn't begin to imagine how Bonnie felt.
"Well, you're dealing with the Other Side," Stefan tried to offer some comfort. "It's not reliable. The witches were probably just messing with your head, trying to teach you a lesson."
"Well, it worked. I tried to do a basic nature spell this morning, just to clear my head, and it just brought it all back. Like it was happening all over again," Bonnie shook her head sadly and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I'm sorry I'm a mess. I've been holed up in here, avoiding everyone. I've completely blown off Jamie…You cam here because you needed something, right?"
Lucy frowned guiltily. "It can wait, Bon."
"Oh, come on, Luce," Bonnie rolled her eyes. "If something's wrong, tell me."
Lucy sighed and nodded at Stefan; he took the wrapped bullets from his suit pocket and showed them to Bonnie.
"These burn to the touch," he pointed out the etchings. "They could just be steeped in vervain but this writing—have you ever seen anything like this before?"
"I didn't feel any magic in them but I wanted to be sure," Lucy added on apologetically.
Bonnie quickly looked over the wooden bullets. "No, it's not magical writing," she told them. "Where'd you get these?"
"I think we have a new vampire hunter in town," Stefan sighed heavily, putting the bullets back in his pocket.
"Hmm," Bonnie hummed, almost blankly. "That's bad timing."
Stefan scoffed. "No kidding."
The church bell was ringing by the time Lucy and Stefan arrived at the memorial. It had yet to start but the service was going to begin at any moment. It unnerved Lucy that they were so late because she was supposed to help hand out pamphlets for Mrs. Lockwood. She just hoped Caroline covered for her.
When they arrived, however, they spotted Elena and Damon outside of the church hidden underneath a tree. Elena had just pushed a blood bag in Damon's direction before she walked off to get a seat for the memorial.
When Damon saw Stefan and Lucy, he sighed heavily. "Oh great."
"Did you bring a snack to church?" Lucy asked him with raised eyebrows.
"Oh, you know how it is," Damon waved sarcastically. "Church gets me hungry. The whole blood of Christ thing, you know."
"Are we pretending that you didn't just give that blood bag to Elena?" Stefan spoke up in disbelief. "She wanted animal blood, Damon. Are you that intent on having your way?"
Damon rolled his eyes. "It's not my way, it's the only way."
"She doesn't want to hurt anyone," Stefan argued. "If she does, she'll be desperate to turn the guilt off. Maybe even desperate enough to shut off her humanity."
"What and become a ripper?" Damon asked pointedly.
Lucy rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, Damon. Stefan's just trying to help her."
"She's going to go off the rails anyway," Damon snapped stubbornly. "So, the faster we can make it happen, the sooner we can get her back on track."
"She's strong," Stefan shook his head. "If we all help her, though, she can survive."
Damon's eyes narrowed furiously. "She's starving, Stefan. She hasn't been able to keep blood down for days."
Lucy reared back in shock. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"The four-legged protein shake was a bust, the juice box was a no-go," Damon shook his head. "She can't even keep my blood down."
Lucy didn't understand the weight of what Damon said, but Stefan did. His expression changed abruptly, going from frustrated to happy. He was glad for his brother and was happy that he and Elena were moving forward with their relationship.
"She drank from you?" his tone was light and almost teasing.
"Shut up," Damon jabbed at him before walking away from Lucy and Stefan.
Lucy gave Stefan a confused look as they started walking up the steps to the church. "Why were you so happy when Damon said Elena drank his blood?"
"Because, when vampires blood-share, it's personal," Stefan explained.
Lucy furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Personal?"
"You know, personal."
Lucy was quiet as she thought about what he said. Just as they were about to enter the church, she grabbed his arm and stopped him. "Wait, are you saying that it's personal, as in sexual?"
Stefan's eyes gleamed in amusement. "Yes, it's sexual."
Lucy could feel her face flushing as she looked around to see if anyone was listening to their conversation. Thankfully, most of the attendants were already in the church.
"Have you ever blood-shared?"
"No."
"No?"
"It's incredibly intimate," Stefan brushed one of her rogue curls from her neck.
She shivered because she could have sworn he was giving her bedroom eyes. She could feel that tell-tale tingle in her lower belly but she shook her head, trying to distract herself.
"You can't do that."
Stefan smirked at her. "Do what?"
"You can't get me all hot and bothered outside of a church, Stefan!"
"Are you all hot and bothered?" the cheesy grin on Stefan's face informed her that he knew exactly what he was doing to her.
Lucy gave him an unamused look—even though she was secretly amused because she absolutely loved when Stefan was in a playful mood—and entered the church. Stefan hurried back to her side and they both stopped next to the pew where Caroline and Tyler were sitting.
Stefan looked at the hybrid in surprise. "What are you doing here, Tyler?"
"Being sensitive to the community's loss," Tyler answered.
"Hmm," Stefan hummed as Lucy nudged an amused Caroline's shoulder, telling her to budge down so they could sit with them. "With a hunter out to get you?"
As Lucy sat next to Caroline and Stefan sat next to her, Tyler said, "I'm not letting a hunter stop me from where I'm supposed to be."
Caroline leaned forward so she could look around Lucy to tell Stefan, "Also, if he shows his face, I'm gonna kick his ass."
"Caroline," Lucy hissed quietly. "Language."
Caroline rolled her eyes. "Oh, you're hardly religious."
Lucy sharped jabbed her in the side with her elbow and smirked when she let out an indignant squeak. She gave her best friend an innocent smile and then took Stefan's hand, intertwining their fingers and setting them in her lap as Mrs. Lockwood went up to the podium at the front of the church.
"Before we begin the mass, we'd like to open the floor to anyone who would like to share a memory about our late friends on the town council," Mrs. Lockwood spoke into the microphone, looking out over the people who gathered to pay their respects. When no one spoke up, she awkwardly continued, "I know that April Young wanted to say a few words about her dad…April?"
No one stood; Lucy looked around the pews but she didn't see April anywhere.
"April?" Mrs. Lockwood cleared her throat. "Are you still here, honey?"
Again, April didn't stand up.
"Is there anyone else who would like to share a recollection or a memory about Pastor Young?"
Well, Lucy certainly didn't. He captured three of her siblings and her boyfriend to kill them. Besides that, she didn't know him as more than the father of a girl she used to be babysat with.
Elena stood up, though. Mrs. Lockwood looked relieved that someone was willing to speak for the pastor.
"Come on up, Elena."
Elena slowly walked up to the stage, looking as pale as the night when she drank Lucy's blood to finish her transition. She leaned against the podium and looked visibly weak.
"She doesn't look good," Lucy murmured worriedly.
"She's rejecting all food sources," Stefan reminded her, catching Caroline's attention.
"What?" she hissed but was unable to get an answer as Elena started speaking.
"I, um, when I talked to April earlier, she was kind of nervous about coming up to speak and…now that I'm up here, I'm kind of nervous, too," Elena inhaled deeply to pull herself together. "The worst day of loving someone is the day that you lose them…"
In all her life, Lucy had never heard Elena say something that true. She never really thought of it that way but now that she did, she realized how much she related to that. When she thought about Grayson, Miranda, Jenna, and Alaric the first thing she thought about was how they weren't there anymore. How they had died. It wasn't until she was able to push past the mind-numbing grief that she could remember the good memories she had with them.
It was a shame because those good memories—and even the bad ones, if she was honest—meant a lot to her. They were all that she had left of her parents and aunt. She wouldn't get to talk local history with her mom, laugh with Jenna, get comfort hugs from her dad, or train with Alaric again. All she could do was remember—but still, those memories were tainted by the fact that they were gone.
Her eyes stung in realization and before any of her tears could fall, Stefan squeezed her hand. She couldn't help but smile. He knew her. He knew her so well and it made her love him so fucking much.
But she'd lose him one day, too. He was a vampire and she loved him so much that she would maybe be considered becoming one but she wanted to grow up. She wanted kids and grandkids. She wanted to go to Duke and have a career, even if she didn't know exactly what she wanted to do. She wanted all of that but she wanted Stefan, too.
Lucy was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even notice that Stefan, Caroline, and Tyler had smelt fresh blood from somewhere in the church.
"Do you smell that?" Caroline whispered.
Stefan nodded at her while Tyler confirmed, "Blood."
Stefan could hear the blood dripping from the ceiling behind them, where a balcony with more seats was located. It made goosebumps appear all over his body and his gums ache at the sweet scent that tempted him. He was squeezed Lucy's hand so tightly but he was pretty sure she wasn't noticing.
"Nobody move," Damon whispered from the other side of the church where he sat with Joel. "Don't turn around, it's a trap."
Stefan would have made a Star Wars reference if the situation wasn't so dire—well, he'd make it to Lucy, anyway.
Elena had noticed the blood, too. She was sweating and Stefan bet that she was having trouble controlling her blood lust. "I, um…"
She gripped the edges of the podium tightly but before she could take a step, Joel was out of his seat and walking toward her. He gathered her in his arms, acting like she was breaking into cries, and escorted her back to her seat next to Matt and Jeremy.
With Elena unable to continue her speech, the church was left in an awkward silence. Finally, Pastor Johnson stood up and made his way to the podium.
"Please, turn to page forty-two in your hymn book," he requested as the choir behind him stood to their feet. "Let us join together in song."
Stefan stood up and pulled Lucy with him, seeing the grieved look in her eyes. He wanted to take her out of there and comfort her, to get her out of her daze but he couldn't. Not with the hunter watching them with whatever weapons he had in his arsenal.
The choir started singing and the congregation joined in. Stefan could briefly hear Joel reassuring Elena and helping her control her blood lust but it didn't look like it was working.
"What's wrong with her?" Matt asked.
"She's hungry," Joel whispered to him. "She hasn't fed."
"So, get her out of here."
"We can't," Joel's tone became annoyed. "There's somebody watching us."
Damon grunted quietly. "I'm going to rip his head off now."
"You do that, Damon, and you risk exposing all of us," Stefan spoke up warningly.
"Well, I think the risk will be slightly diminished when I, you know, rip his head off."
"Joel, I'm losing it."
"You have ten seconds before I go old-fashioned on the new guy," Damon threatened through clenched teeth.
"Don't do it, Damon," Stefan objected so only his vampire friends could hear him. "Please."
"Three, two, one, bye—"
"Wait, wait, wait," Matt objected, interrupting Damon's countdown. "Elena, feed from me."
Stefan, Tyler, and Caroline looked over at him in surprise.
"It's okay," Matt assured her. "Everyone will just think you're upset. Feed from me, it's okay."
It didn't take long for Elena to accept Matt's offer. Joel transferred Elena to Matt and he wrapped his arms around her. Stefan knew when she started drinking from him because he could smell the new scent of Matt's blood mixing with the other scent.
When she was done, Elena thanked Matt and faced the front of the church.
"The blood, I can still smell it," she told the others. "It's got to be April, we have to help her."
"We can't risk it, Lena," Joel shook his head.
Tyler slipped around Caroline and Lucy to leave the pew; Stefan moved as well, giving him a questioning look. Tyler just nodded at him and walked up the aisle, heading toward the front of the church.
"Then I'm going to do it."
Tyler stepped behind the podium, cutting off the hymn. "Excuse me," the pianist stopped playing. "I just wanted to say a few words about Pastor Young."
"What do we do?" Elena whispered as everyone sat down to listen to the hybrid.
"Back in first grade, I was a brat who couldn't be bothered with team sports," Tyler recalled his memory of Pastor Young. "I didn't care much about anything that didn't affect me but Pastor Young was the one who made me understand how important it is to be part of a team, a community…of giving yourself up for the sake of—"
A gunshot exploded through the air, making everyone scream. Tyler's body was thrown back a few feet from the blow of the bullet he took to the chest and everyone started out of the pews, running to get out of the church. Lucy flinched heavily at the loud noises as Stefan practically carried her out of the pew. She could see that Caroline was rushing toward the front of the church but she didn't understand why.
They were out of the church on in the parking lot next to her car before her mind caught up with her body. "What's going on? What happened?"
"The hunter was at the church," Stefan explained quickly as he pulled her keys from her purse. "He had April and he shot Tyler in front of the whole town."
"What?" she practically shrieked. "Oh, my God, is he okay? I need to go check on Care—"
"No, we're getting in the car and we're leaving," Stefan said firmly, picking her up by the waist and putting her in the passenger seat despite the fact that she protested strongly. "Tyler's fine, okay? But we need to go now."
Lucy inhaled shakily but nodded. She would check in with Caroline and Tyler later.
Lucy flipped through the plastic pages of her photobook, pouring over the pictures that were displayed in each of the little sleeves. There were a lot of them; some with Grayson and Miranda, with Joel, Elena, and Jeremy, with Jenna, Caroline, and Bonnie, with Stefan and Alaric…
She could hardly see their faces because her tears blurred her vision. There were so many good memories in this one book. So many memories and yet, she could be happy about any of them. She was sad; she was so sad and she didn't know what to do.
Lucy had felt grief before. It was one of the most familiar feelings to her but this…this was horrible. It was like the pain of all of her loved ones' deaths threatened to drown her. Henrik, Esther, Mikael, Finn, Miranda, Grayson, John, Jenna, Isobel, and Alaric—it was all there. It was all there and it was the worst feeling in the world.
She was past the point of a panic attack. She felt numb as she held her chest, blankly staring at the photo book with blurry eyes. Her breathing was shaky but there and she was lucky she didn't pass out.
There was a knock on her door and, as much as she didn't want company, she did.
"Come in," she called weakly.
The door opened and it was quiet as whoever it was walked into the room. She didn't know who it was until she saw Stefan sit on the floor across from her. She gave him a small, embarrassed smile and wiped her tears.
"Hey."
"Hi there," Stefan's eyes were a little wet too. She wondered why. "Tell me what's wrong."
"N-Nothing's wrong," she tried to deny but stumbled over her words.
"Yeah, there is," Stefan insisted. "I know when you're hurting, Lucy. I know because I hurt when you hurt."
Lucy's vision went blurry again as a fresh wave of tears came to her eyes.
"I'm sad," she confessed. "I'm so sad and I can't stop thinking about the fact almost everyone I know has died. All of my parents died; I had four sets of parents and every single one of them died, how crazy is that? And my brothers died, one of them was killed by my other siblings and I didn't even get an apology from them. And Alaric died and I wasted so much fucking time holding him at arm's length and I sometimes I can't breathe because if I think about it too much I feel so ashamed."
"I can't—" her chest shook with her sobs. "Stefan, I don't know what to do. I don't—"
Stefan couldn't help his own tears as he pulled her into his embrace. The sobs coming from Lucy were so heartbreaking he couldn't control his own emotions. He hated seeing her like this. He hated that he couldn't bring back her family and he hated that there wasn't much he could do for her. She was grieving—she was feeling grief she hadn't even got to process yet. Finn and Alaric's deaths were so fresh and no one had really given her the time to grieve them. She was always busy, always doing something and now it was too much.
He hated that he hadn't taken the time to help her. He hated that he hadn't seen this coming and tried to help her grieve in a healthy way.
"I'm so sorry, Luce…I love you…it's gonna be okay…I'm here for you…" he repeated those phrases over and over, meaning every single word. He wouldn't leave her side until she was okay. He didn't care if it took days, weeks, months, or even years. His girl was hurting and he didn't have anything else to do but love her and make sure she was okay.
Lucy's cries eventually slowed and then, a half-hour after Stefan came to her room, they stopped altogether. Her eyes were itchy and tired and probably caked with mascara when she pulled away from Stefan's chest but the way he looked at her made her feel like she was the most beautiful person on Earth.
"Sorry," she sniffed, reaching up to try to wipe away the mascara on his dress shirt. "I stained your shirt."
Stefan didn't even look down at the large black stain on his chest. "I have other shirts," he grinned when she gave him a weak smile but it fell as he became serious again. "Listen, Luce, I want you to know that you can talk to me about whatever you're feeling, okay? I'm not just here to tell you you're beautiful. I'm here because I love you and I'm here for you. Always."
"I love you," Lucy would have cried—happy tears, this time—if her tear ducts were working; her chest welled and her eyes stung but nothing came out. "I love you so much, Stefan."
"I love you, too," he assured her lovingly. "and I don't know if you feel ashamed or something because you think that you can't be sad with me but you can. You're my goofy girl but you can be broody sometimes, too. I can be goofy for you."
Lucy couldn't explain what his words meant to her. What she felt, there wasn't words to describe. She just knew that she loved him. She loved and appreciated him so much. God, she loved him.
She lunged at him and wrapped her arms around his neck, firmly pressing her lips to his. Stefan was startled by the action but he quickly returned her affection, passionately kissing her back.
"I love you," Lucy pulled back from the kiss only to tell him. "I love you."
"I know, now shush," Stefan murmured against her lips, carefully biting her lower lip.
Was it the best thing to make-out after such a heavy conversation? Maybe not. Was Lucy going to enjoy it anyway? Yes, she was.
All too soon, though, Stefan pulled away.
"What are you doing?" Lucy asked breathlessly, lips swollen.
"I have an idea," Stefan quickly got to his feet, pulling her up with him. "Get dressed, I'm gonna call everyone."
"What's the idea?"
"Hurry, get dressed."
"What's the idea, Stefan?"
"Shh, I'm on the phone!"
Stefan's idea turned out to be the Japanese lanterns. Stefan had gathered everyone in their group—except for Tyler, who was confined to a hospital bed for the sake of appearances—to confer at the school. He took a box of lanterns from Lucy's car and a lighter he stole from Jeremy's room.
Caroline, Jeremy, Matt, Joel, and Elena were the first ones to show up after Stefan and Lucy. Then Bonnie and Damon completed their group. They gathered around two picnic tables and waited to see what Stefan wanted them for.
"Stefan, what are we doing?" Damon asked his brother, disgruntled.
"We're finishing the memorial we didn't get to have earlier," Stefan started passing out the lanterns. "We need to start healing, Damon. We've all lost so much, especially recently. I think we're numb to it. We push it away, we make a joke out of it, ignore how we feel," his eyes landed on Lucy as he finished. "It's time to just let ourselves grieve."
Lucy gave him a small, appreciative smile.
"So, you're lighting lanterns," Damon stated flatly.
"Yeah," Stefan nodded. "Yeah, we need to do this."
"What we need to do is find out who this hunter is and what he knows about the death of the council," Damon retorted. "We have more important things to be doing right now than this."
Stefan shook his head. "Not tonight, we don't."
Damon scoffed heavily but Stefan wasn't bothered.
"This is for my Uncle Zach," he held up his lantern and lit it. "My friend, Lexi…For Alaric and Jenna and Grayson and Miranda."
Stefan handed the lighter off to Matt. As he lit his lantern, he declared, "This is for Vicki."
It was Caroline's turn this time. "This is for my dad," she lit the lantern and passed the lighter to Joel. "and Tyler's."
Joel lit his lantern and handed the light off to Jeremy. "This is for my parents, for Aunt Jenna, for Alaric…for me."
"This is for our parents…for Vicki…Anna, Jenna, and Alaric."
Jeremy tried to hand the lighter over to Damon but he refused.
"No way," he shook his head firmly. "I'm not doing that."
It wasn't really a surprise when he left and got into his car to drive away. Jeremy just shrugged lightly and handed the lighter to Bonnie. She stood up from the table and took her spot next to Caroline.
"This is for my Grams," she lit the lantern.
Lucy stood up next, taking the lighter from Bonnie to stand between Stefan and Joel.
"This is for my parents, all of them," she carefully lit her lantern, her chest aching as she listed off her loved ones. "For Lexi, for my brothers, Henrik and Finn, for Aunt Jenna…for Ric."
She handed the lighter off to Elena, who stood up to stand next to Joel and Jeremy. "This is for my mom, my dad, and Jenna…Everyone that we've all lost; everyone that this town has lost…And, for me, I guess."
Caroline was the first to let go of her lantern, followed closely by Matt, Stefan, and Joel. Lucy looked down at her lantern and inhaled deeply, trying to find the strength to let go. It took a few seconds but she did; the lantern hovered out of her hands to join the others, lighting up the dark sky beautifully.
As Stefan wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders, a feeling of peacefulness settled over Lucy. She'd be okay. Not now, not the next day, or the next few months. Maybe not for a long time. But one day, it wouldn't hurt as much. One day, she'd be okay.