Chapter Three: Stefanie Salvatore

Present day

Morelli Manor, outskirts of Mystic Falls, VA

Stef stormed into the backyard and stopped on the patio, armed and ready. Her chest was heaving with fury, but she prevented her mouth from curling into a snarl for her friends' sake. They didn't need to witness the full extent of the kind of mood she was in after her dream last night. Scanning around, she soon spotted the one person who was not her friend – the person who was responsible for her bad mood. She clutched a large, round wooden contraption tightly to her chest like a suit of armor as she faced Cristian for the first time in six weeks.

Seemingly oblivious to the dream, Cristian's eyes glimmered in surprise and excitement when he saw her; but widened in concern when he noticed the lethal expression she was shooting back at him.

She was fucking pissed, and she was glad Cristian could sense it. She imagined him rummaging through his memories trying to figure out what he'd done wrong recently for her to target him with the most scathing look he'd ever seen.

Like trying to kill her friends and family wasn't enough.

"A thousand dollars a bet."

Gabe's voice broke her out of her vengeful ruminations, just as Raid's arm wrapped around her waist, calming her further. It was after sunset and Gabe had just finished explaining the aim of the Hunt. She hadn't needed to be here to learn the rules – it was a game Stef threw together as an excuse to inflict a lot of pain on Cristian. If her magic wasn't going to allow her to avoid him, then he was going to damn well suffer for it.

Phoenix's jaw dropped open at his words. It was the first time playing this game on the four-hundred-acre grounds of Morelli Manor – and it was potentially the first of many games. Were they trying to bankrupt him? "A thousand?! Are you kidding me? Who the hell has a thousand dollars to throw away on this every time?" His eyes moved a half circle across the patio and didn't even bother landing on Gabe, who could have upped it to ten thousand without blinking. Raid had the money, as did Zara now that she was married to Adam. Phoenix's shoulders sunk at the realization that – besides Flick, who was a contender – he earned the least out of all of them.

"Actually," Zara started, "I'm not paying that."

Grateful for the validation, Phoenix yelled, "Thank you!"

"No, I mean, because I'm Muslim and gambling is haram," Zara corrected. "But I'm still here to support, and my support goes to..." She swept a slender finger from her husband to Stef and finally landed on her choice. "... Flick."

"What?!" Adam barked incredulously, while Flick beamed thankfully at Zara. He slid up next to his wife, gripping her by the elbow, and whispered slowly and sternly in her ear, "You don't think I'm going to win this?"

Zara swallowed back her smirk, enjoying the rattled quiver of his breath against her ear and the annoyance in his tone. "No, I don't," she replied casually. "She has a crossbow, while you have..." Her eyes dropped down to the stake in his hand, then flicked back up at him with a flirtatious smile. "... a very big, penetrative stick."

Adam perked up immediately. He rolled his tongue against his bottom lip and smirked at the innuendo. "I can't disagree with that."

"Forget it, I'm not playing," came the voice they had all been ignoring since they dragged him outside in heavy-duty cuffs. Cristian had slumped himself down on one of the antique copper, bistro-style dining chairs while his captors went through the rules, none of which involved not killing him.

"Good, because you're not worth a thousand dollars – even if it's to watch you die," Phoenix retorted back at him.

Gabe groaned. This was not the point of the game. The point was to give newly-turned vampires, Adam and Flick, some practice hunting down another vampire. Adam was keen to join his wife in working for the Vampire Council, which served to keep other vampires in line. Flick wasn't as keen but needed a part-time job, and it meant she could earn extra money in the most entertaining way possible. Of course, they needed training for this, so that was the reason Stef suggested using Cristian as target practice.

After her determination to have nothing more to do with Cristian, Gabe was surprised Stef had pitched the idea to him. But he was even more surprised that she wanted to join in. She wasn't ready for this yet. Despite her years of experience, Stef was proving to be the most challenging one for Gabe to train. She had excelled at wielding magic that previously came from Cristian, but her new innate powers were... sluggish. But it was her decision... and it could even be cathartic for her. So, ultimately, the wager didn't matter. It just added to the fun. "Fine, how much can you afford?" he asked Phoenix begrudgingly.

Phoenix considered this. He didn't want to appear completely broke in front of his new girlfriend, Flick. They'd only been dating a few weeks – if either of them could consider it 'dating'. Flick was now eighteen and embracing her new life as a vampire. She enjoyed having another vampire at her side who was equally as quirky as her, but beyond hanging out and making out, neither of them were rushing to explore the relationship on a deeper level. It wasn't a big deal. Phoenix liked what they had. Still... now was not the time to reveal one of the many reasons he struggled to hold down a relationship. So he landed on an affordable figure and then doubled it. "Fifty?"

Gabe stared at him resentfully, like he was sucking all the fun out of the Hunt. "A hundred," he stated firmly. He wasn't going below that. "Now who are you betting on?"

"I told you, I'm not playing," Cristian repeated. Gabe glared briefly in his direction, like he was a dog that wouldn't stop barking and there was nothing he could do about it.

Returning his focus back on Phoenix, Gabe waited for his answer.

Phoenix sighed at the options. Stef was out of the equation. She was his best friend and he'd take a stake in the heart for her, but he damn well wasn't about to lose a hundred dollars betting on her to win. So it was between Flick and Adam. "Who are you betting on?" he asked Gabe, hoping for suggestions.

"Cristian," came his blunt response.

All heads shot towards Gabe in astonishment – including Cristian. In fact, nobody was more surprised than him. The edges of Cristian's mouth curled up and suddenly he was a lot more keen to play.

"Why the hell are you betting on that asshole to win?" Raid could barely get the words out as he unwrapped his arm from around Stef's waist and pointed a finger furiously in Cristian's direction. It wasn't even Gabe's bet that made him mad: it was the fact that he believed there was the possibility of Cristian actually winning. Gabe believed it enough to bet on it. "If he reaches the gate at the end of the premises, he'll escape. He'll make amends with the Coven and this shitshow will restart all over again. So if you believe there's any chance of that happening then, excuse me, but fuck this game."

"I'm touched you want to keep me here so badly, Raid," Cristian piped up.

Raid's head shot towards him. "What I want is to put you six feet under."

"I'm touched you'd go through the trouble of burying me." Nothing was bringing down Cristian's mood now. For the first time, he actually stood a chance of getting out of here. Even Gabe thought so.

Stef quickly placed the wooden device on the ground and took hold of Raid's hand to prevent him from storming over to Cristian. Her magic was weak, and Raid's was now non-existent, so entering into a fight with him wasn't a smart move. She didn't like to remind Raid of this though, so all she could do was take his hand to stop him. She knew how emasculated Raid felt without his powers. The one thing Raid did have, that Cristian didn't, was her. So she pulled Raid in for a light kiss on the lips.

A light kiss wasn't what he needed right now. He was wound up. It should have been him in the game, hunting down Cristian and ending him. Instead he had to sit on the sidelines and cheer on his girlfriend. So, to hell with who was watching – to hell if it was territorial – Raid took Stef by the back of the head and pulled her in for a deeper kiss.

Cristian rolled his eyes. "Try not to get her wet, Raid," he taunted. "Otherwise I can smell it."

Raid instantly broke the kiss, releasing her. His eyes widened and he paled with an expression of horror.

Stef took Raid by either side of his face, focusing on him imploringly. "He's lying," she told him, her eyes as stern as her words. "He can't do that. Believe me. I was a vampire too, I should know." Feeling Raid relax in relief, her hands slid behind his neck, and she pulled him down for a more tender kiss.

Cristian fluttered his drooped eyelids, faking a look of ecstasy. "Mmmmm, I can almost taste her."

Raid's lip curled against Stef's mouth and he burst from her embrace in an eruption of anger, charging towards Cristian.

Stef's heart rate quickened in panic.

Luckily, Zara got there first, slapping Cristian fiercely around the face before he even saw it coming.

Cristian's head whipped to the side with the force. He paused, a smile forming across his lips, before he returned his head slowly towards Zara. He looked up at her through lowered eyebrows. He didn't have to raise his eyes far – she had to be five-foot-one, perhaps five-foot-two max – but she trounced his stare, blink-free and deadly. He cocked his head, impressed. "Does Adam enjoy that as much as I did?"

Suddenly a sharp pain to the face had Cristian falling. He felt the back of his head hit the paving stones before it registered that Adam had punched him, sending both him and his seat tipping backward to the floor. He had expected another slap from Zara, but it seemed he had the talent to piss off all three Vaziris in an extremely short space of time. Why the hell not? They were planning on killing him anyway, right?

Adam leaned over him, his face transitioned, fangs bared, snarling like a vicious animal as he yanked him closer by his t-shirt. He gripped the stake tightly in his hand. "Say another word about my wife and I'll stab this stake through your throat and hold it there until the sun comes up so I can watch you fry."

Cristian drew his chin back, blinking slowly for effect, but remaining unperturbed. "Well, that's awfully graphic."

"Adam, save it for the game," Gabe reminded him.

Adam sighed in frustration, his fingers twitching against the fabric of Cristian's top. Then he finally dropped Cristian to the ground, straightened, and took a few steps back, watching him suspiciously, waiting for the inevitable retaliation comment.

Cristian groaned heavily and sat upright, raising his cuffed hands to his chin, pressing at the tender spots. "Holy crap, your wife really does know how to make a man's jaw ache." The innuendo was nagging at him. He shouldn't go there... he really shouldn't. But it was too damn tempting, and – for whatever reason – Gabe really didn't want him dead yet. So, he went there. He turned his head towards Zara and winked. "Does that apply in the bedroom too?"

As soon as Adam raised the stake, Gabe grabbed him and used his vampire speed to whisk him away from Cristian. Keeping him grounded by the shoulders, Gabe reminded him, "I said, save it for the game."

Then there was a thwip through the air, a thud, and the sound of Cristian screaming, "Fuck!"

"Whoops... game's over," came a voice entering the backyard.

Gabe slowly rolled his eyes and sagged his shoulders as he turned around to see Damon stepping onto the patio carrying a rifle, no doubt loaded with wooden bullets if Cristian's writhing on the ground was any indication.

Damon added tauntingly, "Yeah, try making it to the back gate now with that in your thigh, asshole."

"Wait, is Mr Salvatore in the game?!" Phoenix burst. "My bet's on him!"

"Yeah, mine too!" Zara chimed in, before opening both palms up devoutly and specifying, "Not that I'm betting."

"What?!" Flick's mouth hung open in outrage. "Him?! But he's human!"

"Fickle, aren't they?" Adam smirked, teasing Flick.

Gabe groaned, wondering if the whole thing was a bad idea. This was turning into a circus. Yes, he needed Damon for the game, but he wasn't aware he was coming armed. He should have known that he'd want to protect Stef.

"I'm not in the game. I'm just here to support my daughter," Damon informed them, strolling up to her and kissing her on the cheek. He looked down at the wooden device at her feet – the weapon she planned on wielding with her magic. He picked it up between his fingers, pinching it tightly after discovering it was heavier than it looked. "This brings back memories," he muttered, heaving it up and circling it in his hands. He turned towards Gabe with a smirk. "You remember this thing chasing you around the parking lot, Gabe?"

How could he forget? It was the first time he met Damon and Elena. "I remember Elena saving me from that thing." Gabe briefly considered whether it was bad taste to allow Stef to hunt Cristian with the Wood Wheel: a device that Cristian's mother once used to hunt him. He then wondered if Damon was going to aggravate Cristian by telling him. He didn't need another fight on his hands, so he changed the subject. "Did you bring it?"

Damon had been expecting the question sooner or later. He slowly lowered the Wood Wheel back down to the floor. As he straightened, he pursed his lips, took a deep breath through his nose, slapped his hands together, and spun quickly towards his daughter. "So, honey, how's the training coming along? You got the hang of that thing yet?"

"Damon," Gabe scolded in a low tone. "Did you bring it?"

Damon turned back to him in mock confusion. "Bring what?" he asked innocently.

"You know what."

"Oh... that!" Damon chuckled. He paused, pretending to be deep in thought, then announced, "No."

"No?"

"Yeah, Elena said she's not giving Cristian diddly-squat," Damon explained proudly. "Actually, I'm paraphrasing. She used much more colorful language."

Gabe sighed. There was a small part of him that had been expecting that. "Then we can't go through with the Hunt."

Holding a palm up towards Gabe, urging him not to make any hasty decisions, Damon said, "Wait a minute, let's just consider all the benefits of going through with this anyway." He pointed towards Cristian, who was sitting upright clutching his thigh and gritting his teeth through the pain of the wooden bullet lodged in there. "One... he dies." Damon's expression went vacant for a moment before snapping back into reality. "Oh... that's it."

"No," Gabe insisted. "I'm not taking that risk."

Raid was getting more and more confused by the second. Why was Gabe protecting Cristian all of a sudden? This morning he was willing to go ahead with it whether Cristian died or not. Now that was no longer an option? He turned his head to Damon. "What did Gabe want you to bring him?"

"I'll tell you later," Damon muttered, jutting his head towards Cristian to emphasize the reason for secrecy. If Cristian ever escaped, he couldn't let the knowledge that Elena's blood could heal fatal vampire injuries escape with him. Had she agreed to let Gabe use it, Damon would have made up some explanation as to where the healing blood came from. Blood from the erection of an eighty-year-old syphilitic witch had been top of his excuses. Subject closed, Damon then casually tilted the rifle in Raid's direction. "Hey... you betting on Stef to win the Hunt?"

Staring down the barrel, Raid obviously didn't have much choice in the matter. "Of course."

"Good," Damon replied, tilting the rifle away again.

"Elena's blood," Cristian piped up, answering Raid's question, having deduced the answer from the clues. "That's what Gabe wanted Damon to bring. Elena had the cure in her system and now her blood can save vampires' lives." But why Gabe was eager to use that to save his life was still a mystery to him.

Damon swung his head over to Gabe with a haughty look. "You see why we have to kill him now?"

"My father already knew that," Cristian continued resentfully. "My mother told him."

"Your father isn't a vampire," Damon snapped. "Unlike you, he'd have no interest in letting that information leak."

"Who the hell am I going to tell?!"

"You can tell the earthworms when I bury you," Damon replied.

"Why the hell is everyone so obsessed with burying me?" Cristian grouched. "Hasn't anyone considered that I'd like to be cremated?"

"That can be arranged," came Damon's low-tone response.

Gabe's focus was diverted after feeling his phone buzz in his pocket. He tried to ignore the chaos around him while he took out his phone and looked at the message Bonnie had just sent him. He'd been waiting for it all afternoon.

Bonnie: I'll be over later this evening to talk. This isn't something I want to break to you over the phone and Renata won't go to bed until her dad's home.

Damn it! It was not the response he'd been waiting for. He swiped back over the thread, looking through the history of their recent conversation.

Bonnie: I can't break Cristian's loyalty to his father.

Gabe: What do you mean? I got you everything you needed for the spell. Winifred got you what you need from Dimitri. If we sever the connection Cristian has with his father, we break his connection to the Coven. He might start cooperating with me.

Bonnie: Cristian has no connection to his father. I can't sever anything.

Gabe: That's impossible, he's a blood relative. That's what was needed, right?

Gabe: Right?

Bonnie: Yes.

Gabe: Are you saying Dimitri's not Cristian's father?

Gabe: Bonnie, what does this mean?

Bonnie: I think you know what it means, Gabe.

Gabe: I'm going to need you to tell me in plain English.

Gabe: Bonnie? I need an answer.

Gabe shoved the phone back into his pocket and ran his hand over his face. It could wait. He'd speak to Bonnie later. He didn't need to know now. It didn't matter who Cristian's real father was. Dimitri was the one who raised him. Dimitri was the one who turned him into the insolent shit he was today. It didn't make a damn difference. So why the fuck did he find himself saying, "The Hunt's not going ahead if nobody can prevent Cristian from dying in the game. That's the end of it."

A chorus of groans was broken by one person who wouldn't let that be the end of it.

"Stef can prevent it."

Every one of them looked at Cristian with a mixture of suspicion and surprise.

Cristian elaborated. "Stef used to use her witch powers to prevent herself from dying as a vampire. She could extract wooden bullets, turn wood into less lethal objects... she could do the same for me."

"Even if she could do that anymore, there's no way she's doing that for you."

It hadn't been intended to hurt her, but Stef still felt the sting of Raid's words. After a split second of looking at him, wide-eyed and offended, she dropped her gaze. It was true: she didn't have that kind of power anymore. Using her magic to navigate an object she couldn't see was slow and frustrating. Powers of transformation were impossible; she hadn't even bothered attempting those kinds of spells yet. But she had to remember that Raid had no magic at all. No good could come from challenging his statement. After all, nobody else did.

Nobody... except for Cristian.

"Then I guess I'd be putting my life on the line by having more faith in her magic than you do," Cristian stated coldly to Raid. "I don't need Elena's blood. I'm going to play, and Stef's going to win. She's going to hunt me down with her magic, and then heal me with her magic. You remember what magic is, don't you, Raid?" He chuckled, seeing Raid's jaw tighten. "My bet is on Stef winning... and, unlike you, I don't need her father's fucking rifle pointed in my face to persuade me." Cristian slowly turned to Stef, pleased to see that she wasn't looking Raid in the eye, despite his efforts. "Now, why don't you prove to everyone what you can do by getting this bullet out of my leg?"

Stef swallowed. Her adrenaline was surging, and her breathing was heavy. But it wasn't from anger this time – it was from determination. She could feel her magic awakening inside of her. She took a step forward, only for Raid to put his hand in front of her, stopping her.

"Don't do this," he told her.

"We're here to train, aren't we?" she reminded him.

"If you get close, he'll feed on you."

"Oh, that's the last thing on my mind," Cristian assured him. He looked Stef in the eye with a smirk. "I had my... ration... of blood very late last night... I'm quite full."

Stef pushed past Raid's arm, storming up to Cristian and kneeling on the floor next to him. She wished she could wipe the smug grin off his face, but evidently, it was there for a reason. She just hoped it wasn't the reason she feared. She hated that she was going to have to help him to get the information out of him. She hovered her hands over his injured leg and whispered sharply, "What the hell was that 'blood ration' comment about?"

"Oh, I think you know," he teased.

He was referring to the blood bag. How much of her dream was real? Stef felt her heart plunge into her stomach at the same time she felt her magic plunge down into Cristian's leg. He winced as the magic struck the bullet clumsily. "How the hell did you know all of that stuff about me? How did you know I used to save myself using my magic?"

"You told me."

"I didn't tell you shit!" she emitted in a low hiss.

"You don't remember?" Cristian suddenly cried out, grasping the sides of his thigh with both hands, forcing his leg to stay in place. It felt like the damn bullet was chewing its way through his leg. He clenched his teeth and kept his own voice low – no mean feat when he felt like screaming. "Is that why you're pissed at me? Because of the sleepwalking?"

Did he want a list? Stef persisted with her questions. She kept her voice low enough to be out of earshot of Raid and her father, but whether anyone else was using their vampire hearing to tune in, she didn't know. She had to hope they had enough respect not to listen. "How much of it was real?"

"Get the bullet out of me and I'll tell you."

Let me out of here and I'll tell you.

The words triggered her back into the dream, and suddenly her magic shot out of her, the force penetrating the bullet through Cristian's thigh – seemingly fueled by his screams – until it ripped from the skin underneath his leg.

Cristian slumped back onto the paving stones in relief, but he didn't stay down for long as Stef grabbed him by the front of his t-shirt and hauled him back into a sitting position.

"Tell me," she demanded.

"Later," he said, his eyes flicking to the vampires behind her. "And I need three things from you in exchange. One, I want you to save my life if I get caught in the Hunt. I need to be alive to tell you, after all. Two, I want you to make me a daylight ring. I'm sick of waking up to my feet frying in the sun."

"That's your fault for breaking the UV-filtering window," she scolded. Then she dropped her eyes, realizing the only way she could have known about that was if she had been meeting with Cristian in her sleep.

"Finally," Cristian continued, "I want you to win the Hunt."

Stef couldn't believe it. "You want me to win at killing you? Why?"

"Because you're a witch," he told her. "So prove to everyone that you've got your shit together and fucking be one."

After a moment, Stef's head bobbed slightly, and Cristian couldn't tell if she was nodding in agreement. Her lips were pinched in annoyance, but otherwise, it was a relatively conflict-free interaction. Stef was getting to her feet, turning, ready to walk away, without throwing a single hit.

So he shouldn't go there... he really shouldn't. But it was too damn tempting, and – for whatever reason – he just loved getting under her skin. So, he went there.

"Make me proud, beautiful."

Stef paused and took a calming breath.

It did fuck all to help.

She threw back her hand, hurling a surge of pressure towards Cristian, sending his upper body flying backward against the paving stones, resulting in the second head injury of the evening.

After the shock of the hit subsided, Cristian chuckled. "Attagirl."