**Author's Note: a reviewer on AO3 alerted me to the fact that I had goofed and forgot the fact that Renfri is a human resident of the boarding house and would therefore have to invite vampires in, having the house in her name is not required. I don't know why I completely forgot this when I definitely remember it lol. I've gone back and fixed this detail in a few chapters, a few sentences here and there for it to make sense, but the biggest change was with the fight scene against Frederick and Bethanne in Ch 10. Feel free to go back and read it if you want.
Cursed Blood and Bound Fates
Chapter 11
The next morning, Damon was boarding up the destroyed window until it could be fixed as the gray sky opened up, releasing a downpour of rain. Elena had come over to get updated on what happened the night before.
"I say we go to Pearl's house, bust down the door, and annihilate the idiot that attacked us last night," he suggested cheerfully, turning to them and playing with the hammer in his hands.
"Yeah? And then what, we turn to the rest of the house of vampires and say, 'Oops, sorry!'" Stefan retorted, making Renfri snort from her position leaning back into the sofa.
"I can't believe you made a deal with her," Elena complained, standing next to her friend.
Damon wandered back over to the group to stand by the fireplace, "Yeah, well, it was more like an exchange of information. It's not like I had a choice, she's…scary. Besides, she's gonna help me get Katherine back."
"What?" Ren asked, sitting up.
"Oh, of course she is. Damon gets what he wants, as usual, no matter who he hurts in the process," Elena remarked snidely.
"No need to be snarky about it," Damon said back and turned away.
Renfri raised her eyebrows and stretched out across the couch, knowing that comment would stir up the girl.
Elena's eyes widened before narrowing, and she snapped, "I woke up this morning to learn that all the vampires had been released from the tomb, I've earned snarky."
Damon strode over and lifted Ren's legs, plopped down, then dropped them into his lap.
He drummed his hands on her shins and sighed, "Ugh, how long are you going to blame me for turning your birth mother into a vampire?"
Renfri interjected, "Uh, I think it was more about you taunting Alaric about it in public. You know, calling her 'delicious'? Not the best move."
"I'm not blaming you, Damon," Elena responded with a sarcastic half-smile, "I've accepted the fact that you're a self-serving psychopath with no redeeming qualities."
"Oooo, burn," Renfri mocked her uncle with a laugh.
He just put a hand to his heart and said, "Ouch."
"Okay, this is not productive," Stefan stepped in, "We're gonna figure out a way to deal with Pearl and the vampires, yeah?"
Damon said nothing, he just got up, pushing his niece's legs off the couch in the process, and walked out.
The brunette sighed and exclaimed, "I'm sorry! He just makes me so cranky!" as she leaned into a hug with her boyfriend.
He hummed in commiseration, "Yeah, he makes everybody cranky."
Renfri shrugged, sitting forward to lean her elbows on her knees, "Nah, he's mostly just funny to me, somewhat because of the stupid shit he pulls; only on occasion does he actually piss me off. So, what are we going to do?"
Stefan looked up at her, "Damon and I are going to handle it while you two stay safe."
"What? What about us, what can we do to help?" Elena asked with her friend nodding right along with her.
"You're going to do nothing because that is what will keep you out of danger. You are human, you can't take on a vampire, never mind a dozen or so, without risking your lives. It's not worth it."
"It's not worth it to me if you're not safe," Elena protested, putting her hands on either side of his face.
"What do you mean? I'm perfectly safe. I have Damon, the self-serving psychopath, on my side," he joked.
"Ugh, well that's comforting."
Renfri chuckled, "Honestly though, Elena, no matter how much they fight, Damon wouldn't let Stefan die if he could help it; they're brothers."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Renfri was in the den on a couch, sitting up with her laptop on her thighs as she researched human anatomy. She had been serious about wanting to be able to defend herself properly, and against a vampire that meant she had to know exactly where to aim with a stake. She knew from what she'd learned that she had to get the heart in order to kill a vampire, but it could be tricky. She was studying anatomy charts to determine the best way to get to the heart. She tapped her chest over where the organ was as she looked at the diagrams, feeling the hard plate of bone underneath, blocking it: the sternum. Going straight for the heart through the chest was not the way to go, so she reviewed the images and considered going in from between the ribs. Either in front or back could work, though the back might be more challenging due to the spinal column and the ribs reaching further down than the front. She'd also have to be careful not to hit a rib directly and instead wedge it between them. The gaps weren't huge, so she'd have to shove the stake through with significant force, thank god she worked out regularly due to being a varsity athlete. She also contemplated whether she could aim for the gap where the upside down 'V' that connected the ribs and the bottom of the sternum started and just angle the stake up to puncture the heart.
Ash picked up his head from his paws where he was resting on the floor by the couch, watching Damon enter the room.
He eyed her computer screen and the notes she had scribbled on a pad before inquiring, "Is Stefan back yet?"
Renfri looked up in confusion, "Back from what?"
"He went out to hunt, it's been almost an hour," he answered, pulling his phone out to give his brother a call. It rang for a minute before going to voicemail. He tried a few more times with the same result. Getting concerned, Renfri tried with her phone, only to fail to get an answer as well.
"Maybe he's with Elena and they're…busy?" She suggested weakly, though she was beginning to worry as the concern on her uncle's face grew. They hopped in his car and drove to the Gilbert house, Damon calling Elena's phone all the way but getting no answer either. As they pulled up to the house and headed for the front door, the call was clearly denied as the ringing was cut off after only a couple seconds, so he knocked on the door. Elena opened the door with a frown as Damon walked straight past her and into the house, with his niece following right behind.
"You're ignoring me," he accused.
"The six missed calls? Sorry, my phones dead," she replied dryly.
"Is Stefan not here?" Renfri quickly asked, only for Elena to look confused and shake her head.
"No, why? Is something wrong?"
Damon's brow furrowed as he returned from having a quick peek around the first floor, "You're not gonna like what I'm thinking."
They quickly filed into the blue Camaro and drove out to the edge of town, into the woods as the rain poured down in sheets.
"Fuck, I didn't even consider that a heavy overcast could block enough sun for a vampire without a daylight ring to be able to go outside," Renfri scolded herself.
"I hadn't either and clearly, neither did Stefan. We'll see if I can confirm that he's at Pearl's house and get him out. Wait here, I'll be back," Damon replied. He parked the car on the side of the road and ran out into the rain.
Elena and Renfri only had to wait a little more than five minutes before they saw him returning back through the trees Elena climbed out with an umbrella but Ren stayed in the backseat to avoid getting soaked before she had to. She could see their blurred figures talking back and forth for a minute, Elena trying to move past him but being held back. When Elena clearly started to protest, Damon surprised her when he put his hands on her cheeks briefly to get his point across before letting go. He urged her back into the car so they could head back into town.
As he started the car, Ren asked, "So they have him?"
"Yeah, it was the same asshole from last night, I think his name was Frederick. Pearl wasn't there so it looks like he's decided to run things while she's away. He blames us and Katherine for getting them locked in the tomb, and Stefan killed his girlfriend last night, so he's out for blood."
Renfri sighed, "Shit, what are we going to do? There's definitely too many of them to be able to just fight them straight on."
"No, this is gonna have to be a stealth mission, that's for sure. We do have a problem though, I can't get in because the woman who owns the place is compelled not to let me in," he responded, his face serious.
"What if we ask for help from Alaric?" Elena suggested, making the two Salvatores turn to look at her in disbelief.
"How would that be a good idea?" Renfri asked her.
"He's a vampire hunter, he's got weapons and things that could lessen the disadvantage, and maybe he'd be willing to join in since it's Stefan?" the brunette argued.
"Well, he might be useful as a distraction, and he might be able to get the woman out of the house so I can reach her," Damon reasoned, nodding a bit, "Alright, let's go find the teacher."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
They found themselves in Alaric's classroom, Elena pleading their case in front of the teacher's desk as he sat in his chair and looked up at her. Damon and Renfri leaned against the window sills with their arms crossed. Renfri stayed by her uncle's side, still not too comfortable around the hunter now that they were the only ones in a room with him out of the public eye. She certainly didn't hide it either, the disdain was clear on her face as she watched him talk with Elena.
"Stefan's in the house, Damon's a vampire and can't get in, we need you. I would go, but—"
"But your life is valuable," Damon continued for her, "Yours, on the other hand is…"
Elena ignored him, "Stefan told me about your ring."
"What about it?" The teacher asked, hands folded in front of him.
Damon spoke up again, making his niece sigh, "Let me recap: you tried to kill me and little Red over here, we defended ourselves, you died, and according to my brother, that little ring brought you back to life. Am I, uh, am I leaving anything out?"
Alaric sat up straighter, his face dark, "Yeah, the part where I try to kill you again, only this time I don't miss." He stood from his chair and took a step forward.
Renfri scoffed in disbelief and looked at her uncle, "Is he serious?" she looked to her teacher, "Are you serious?"
"Mr. Saltzman, please, it's Stefan," Elena begged, stepping in his way.
"Elena, I think you're failing to realize that he doesn't give a shit about Stefan. He only tolerated him because he was helping him look into Isabel, otherwise he would probably have killed him if he could. Why would he risk his life for him?"
Elena glanced back at her then returned her pleading gaze to the man, who said, "I'm sorry, Elena, it's not my problem." Renfri waved her hand at him as if to say 'see?'
"Well, that's a shame, because the woman in charge of the crowd can help you find your wife," Damon remarked, standing up from his resting position. Renfri followed him quietly, knowing it was a lie to get the hunter on board.
"You're lying," Alaric accused immediately.
"Am I? Why don't you ask her yourself?" Damon goaded, and when the man didn't say anything he looked him dead in the eye.
"Coward," he stated, leaning forward, before he turned to lead the girls out, "Come on, Elena, Red."
They only made it a few steps, feigning disappointment, before Alaric called out again, "Wait, I'll go."
After Alaric had agreed, he went to fetch some of his gear and returned with a rolled up tool satchel. Once it was laid out, it revealed several neatly carved stakes and what looked like thick metal tubes with vials of liquid and thick needles on the ends.
"Is this vervain?" Renfri asked, helping herself to one as she eyed it curiously, noticing the yellowish liquid inside.
"Just get me inside, I'll get Stefan out," Damon told him simply.
"That's your plan?" Elena asked dryly, "You're just going to take them all on yourself?"
"Like I said earlier, he'd be stupid to just charge in, he'll have to pick them off as he sneaks around, take out as many as he can before he's noticed," Renfri commented as she flipped the vervain dart in her hand before sliding it back into its pocket in the satchel.
Damon nodded, "Yup, that's the plan."
Elena just huffed out an annoyed breath before reaching to pull out a vervain dart.
"Woah, what are you doing?" Alaric asked.
"I'm going with you guys," the girl insisted.
"No no no, no you're not," Damon denied immediately.
"You need me; I'll get in and distract them, then I'll get Stefan."
"Elena, anyone human going into that house is likely to get themselves killed, no offense, Mr. Saltzman. At least he has trained to kill vampires and has the means to do it. You're as thin as a twig, Elena, I doubt you could get a stake more than an inch or two into a vampire's flesh," Renfri said bluntly.
"And you're so much better?" the brunette replied with frustration.
Renfri shrugged, "I'm a triple letter varsity athlete; I do cardio every day and weight training multiple times a week. I'd fair a slightly better chance than you, but that doesn't matter, because I'm still only human. I'd prefer not walking into a house full of vampires that wouldn't blink before snapping my neck."
"I'd listen to Red, she's clearly got a good head on her shoulders, most of the time. It seems like the multiple concussions are starting to really sink in," Ren rolled her eyes at that, "So, you're not going in."
"Yes I am," Elena said sharply to Damon before turning back to her friend with anger in her eyes, "How can you not want to help Stefan? He's your family?"
Renfri scoffed, irritated by the accusation, "Of course I do. I love Stefan, but if there's a smarter way of doing this, I'm going to go with that first. I'm fine with waiting outside until Uncle Damon gets him out and helping from there because I trust him to save his brother. He loves him too, even if he isn't great at showing it like a normal person." It was Damon's turn to roll his eyes but she ignored him and added, "You have no reason to doubt that we'd do what it takes to save Stefan just because we won't dive in recklessly and get ourselves killed in the process, like you're so eager to do."
Alaric stood all the while, eyes flicking back and forth between the arguing teenagers, and Damon chimed in.
"She's right, you're just going to get yourself killed, you're not going in there."
Elena continued to stubbornly argue like she hadn't heard a single thing Renfri had said, making the redhead fume.
Damon turned to Alaric, ignoring her, "So when you get me in, get out as quickly as you can, because I know how to sneak around so they can't hear me. You'll basically just be in the way."
"Damon, now's not the time to be the Lone Ranger," Elena sniped.
"Fine, Elena, you can—you can drive the getaway car," he said mockingly before dropping the sardonic smile, "you're not going in the house."
"You can't stop me, it's Stefan we're talking about here! You don't understand," she retorted defiantly and Renfri let out a loud groan of frustration.
"Elena, he's trying to make sure you don't die! Just quit being so stubborn, nobody likes a martyr."
Damon nodded condescendingly to the brunette and closed his eyes dramatically. "Oh, I understand, I understand. He's the reason you live, his love lifts you up where you belong," he dropped the act, "I get it."
"Can you just not joke around for two seconds—"
"I can't protect you, Elena!" Damon shouted over her, sick of her refusal to listen, "I don't know how many vampires there are in there." He snapped his fingers between them, "That's how long it takes you to get your head ripped off. I have to be able to get in and get out. I can't be distracted with your safety, or this will end up a bloodbath that none of us walk away from, including Stefan."
They stood in silence for a long moment, Damon and Elena staring at each other hard. Elena was clearly still frustrated but had stopped arguing and looked down a bit guiltily, Alaric and Renfri watching in tense silence as Damon's sharp blue eyes softened.
"I know. I get it," he finished, shifting his weight towards her before leaning away again, watching her as she seemed to deflate a bit. Alaric's eyes moved between the two skeptically before he took a breath to speak.
"If we're gonna go, let's go."
The two men headed for the door, and Renfri let out a sigh before patting Elena's shoulder and following them, letting her take a moment to gather herself.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Renfri and Elena sat in the front seats of the powder blue Camaro that sat on the side of the road in the rain, waiting as the hunter and vampire put the plan into motion. They had decided that there was no way for Alaric to enter without notice, so came up with the ruse that his car had broken down with no cell reception in the woods, so he was in need of a phone. They knew they would let him in, they wouldn't turn down the chance for another warm body to feed from when it walked in of its own free will. He would find a way to be left alone with the phone on the wall in the kitchen, where Damon had spied the woman who owned the house cutting up vegetables, and lead her outside to the uninvited vampire to give him entry. Renfri had a feeling that Alaric didn't know that if the woman was compelled not to let Damon in, there was nothing they could do to change that, except to kill her. If no one alive owned the place, he wouldn't need an invitation, and with all the bitemarks Damon had described seeing across the woman's skin, it would probably be a mercy to the poor woman who was being used as a blood bag to an entire house of vampires.
Renfri and Elena would wait for one of them to return to the car with Stefan and take him to Elena's house where the tomb vampires weren't invited in while the men stayed back to distract the enemy so they could get away. They left them each a vervain dart just in case any of the tomb vampires strayed from the house and came upon them, though it wasn't too likely since Damon planned on keeping their attention. Ren had also brought her own stake and what was previously Logan's handgun freshly loaded with wooden bullets.
Both teenagers sat in tense silence, eyes trained on the blurred woods through the windows and layers of rain coming down. It had been less than ten minutes and Renfri watched as Elena became increasingly restless, fidgeting and twisting in her seat to look past her and out the window every few seconds. Elena glanced down at her purse on the passenger side's floor, before reaching in to take out her vervain dart and grabbing the door handle.
"What are you doing?" Ren immediately asked.
"Going to find Stefan, they're taking too long, something could have happened by now," the girl responded before stepping out into the rain.
"Elena—fuck!"
She scrambled to open her door and grudgingly accepted that she couldn't let her go alone, then followed her through the downpour to approach the house through the woods. When they came up to the edge of the treeline, crouching behind some bushes, they eyed the property. They were facing the back of the house and could see a door on the covered back porch and the windows all covered by curtains, luckily. Their best bet was to move quickly so there was less time for someone to glance out the windows and see them, so when Renfri tapped Elena's shoulder and moved out in front of her, they both sprinted for the porch, the redhead getting there several seconds before the thin brunette. They ducked into a corner, peeking to make sure no one was in the kitchen through the door's glass window, then noticed the stone steps leading down below ground level. They glanced at each other and silently agreed to look in the basement for the kidnapped Salvatore. They stayed low as they moved quickly past the back door and down, passing through a metal gate and coming upon a wooden door with grimy glass panels.
They could see an empty cement hallway past the dirty glass but when Elena jiggled the doorknob, it was locked. Elena looked at her and mimed elbowing the glass and lifted an eyebrow. Ren glanced back up the stairs, nervous that the breaking of the glass would draw attention, but it was clear that Elena wasn't going to stop, so she nodded reluctantly.
As soon as the glass gave a crack and tinkled to the ground, Ren's head whipped back and forth, waiting for someone to appear, but no one did as Elena reached in carefully to unlock the deadbolt then the knob. She carefully opened the door and entered the hallway, Renfri following behind and being sure to leave the door open in case they needed a quick escape route. Even a second or two wasted opening a door could mean life or death against a vampire's speed.
The hall came to an end then turned left. They tip-toed up to the corner, Renfri in front this time as she forced herself to breath slowly and nearly silently. She inched her head forward, only peeking out enough for one eye to see the end of the hall that turned right again, though a vampire sat in a chair at the far corner. She pulled back quickly, realizing they would have been dead by then if the man hadn't had headphones in and been listening to loud music.
She turned to Elena and held up a finger, then pointed to her ears while mouthing, 'One vampire, headphones.' Elena nodded slowly, looking scared but determined. Renfri thought frantically for a couple seconds before looking back at where they came in. The entryway they came from was a good blind spot, it had a little brick wall on each side about a foot and a half tall that they could hide behind and have the element of surprise. Elena could use the vervain dart to take the guy down quietly and Renfri would finish him off with her stake, the gun would be too loud and was a very last resort. She gestures for Elena to follow her back down the hall and halfway up the stairs. She leans over to put her mouth right by Elena's ear and, as quietly as she can, whispers her plan to her. Elena nods eagerly and gets into place, fear in her eyes and her hand clenching tightly on the metal tube with a needle on the end.
Renfri grabs a nearby pebble and leans over the back portion of the little wall, tossing the stone hard enough for it to reach the end of the hall, getting the vampire's attention, before ducking behind it, watching for the target to appear. Seconds later, the man's steps could be heard moving up the steps cautiously and just as his head appeared above the level of the brick wall, they pounced. Elena jabbed the needle into the side of the man's neck, making him gurgle a bit from the poison being injected into his blood stream while Renfri shoved her stake through the man's back, though she gritted her teeth as felt it hit bone. The man collapsed to his knees and Ren rushed to jump down onto the steps behind him, preventing him from tumbling back down the stairs. She held his shoulder and determinedly forced the tip of the stake down a bit, changing the angle. She stepped back then lunged forward, putting most of her weight into pushing the stake between his ribs and into his heart. She sucked in a breath, knowing she had succeeded when the man turned gray and veiny and she leaned his body against the stairwell wall.
Elena watched with wide eyes as her friend pulled the stake from the body and quickly ducked past the dead vampire, ready to move on again, but was stopped when a figure flashed into her path. Out of sheer panic, Renfri swung the stake at the person's chest but was stopped right before it hit its mark, her wrist caught.
"Are you insane?" a voice hissed.
She looked up with relief into her uncle's angry face as he gripped her wrist hard over her jacket sleeve. She let out a huge breath and stepped back as he finally let go of her wrist.
"No, but she is, and I wasn't about to let her go running into danger alone," Renfri replied in a whisper. Damon eyed Elena frustratedly while the girl looked back defiantly, clearly eager to keep searching for Stefan. Damon looked at the dead vampire laying haphazardly on the steps and shook his head.
"If you hadn't used the vervain first, you'd be dead; your first strike missed and this asshole would have snapped your neck or just tore your throat out."
Renfri sighed wearily, "Yeah, I know, that's why I had Elena vervain him first, I wasn't too confident in my accuracy on the first try."
He rolled his eyes, "That's what happens when you've only studied anatomy charts and not actually done it before; it'll get you killed."
Elena interrupted, "Look, we did the best we could, but we need to find Stefan. I'm not going back without him." Damon seethed quietly, glancing around before finally accepting that she wouldn't listen. He led the way as they searched the last hallway of the cellar besides the entrance into the house and found a door past the corner the vampire had been sitting at. Elena barged right past, making Renfri mutter about the girl being an idiot, and found Stefan hanging by his wrists from rope tied to the ceiling in some kind of storage room. He looked rough, long gashes and puncture marks from where he had been slashed and stabbed but were slow to heal due to his lack of blood. Elena ran right to him, completely missing the other man with dark skin that was staked down in a chair by his thighs with his hands tied behind his back.
"Who's this guy?" Renfri muttered.
"Elena," Stefan called to her groggily as she rushed over and put her hands on his face. Damon tossed up a stake casually and caught it, taking aim at the vampire in the chair across from his brother.
"No, not him!" Stefan said hurriedly.
"Whatever, let's get you down," Damon said flippantly and went to untie the rope holding him up, then let Elena when Stefan said there was vervain on the ropes. Damon held him up so he could lean onto a support beam, then went to check the hall again. Stefan sagged under his own weight as he struggled to support himself, clearly very weakened from the torture and lack of feeding, but made an effort to pull the stakes from the dark-skinned man's thighs. Elena held him up as Damon and Renfri waited by the door, wary of being caught.
"Come on, we need to go," Damon urged in a hushed whisper. When Elena got Stefan's arm over her shoulder and held him to her side, helping to hold his weight as they walked shakily, they stepped out into the hallway with Damon and Renfri looking around carefully ahead of them.
"Get him to the car," Damon ordered.
"We'll meet you there?" Renfri asked.
He nodded, "You rescue, I'll distract, go."
Renfri ducked under Stefan's other arm since Elena was stick thin and could barely hold him up, while trying to move up the stairs. They hurried past the gray body and up into the cooling air as the sun sunk below the horizon, turning the sky a myriad of purple and orange. Stefan was heavier than he looked, but Renfri and Elena pushed on. Renfri held most of his weight but what kept slowing them down was all the roots and rocks on the uneven ground. As they moved through the trees far more slowly than Renfri was comfortable with, the woods descended into darkness as the sun disappeared from the sky.
Elena breathed a sigh of relief as the car came into sight after shuffling along for twice as long as it took them to reach the farmhouse initially, especially after tripping and falling face first into the ground, getting a couple cuts and scrapes on her face and hands in the process. Stefan eyed the blood before forcing himself to look away, making Renfri even more twitchy, she didn't want to be right next to a starved and weak vampire while bleeding, even if it was only a little bit. The two girls helped ease Stefan into the passenger seat and Elena crawled across him and into the backseat as Renfri rounded the vehicle to get to the driver's side. As she slammed the door shut and reached for the keys they had left behind, she paused.
The car key was snapped off.
"Uh, I think we've got a problem," Renfri announced.
CRASH!
The two girls screamed and Stefan grunted as the passenger window exploded inward, a fist shoved through it and grabbed the weakened vampire. Stefan was hauled through the opening and thrown several yards away, the vampire flashing over to punch Stefan repeatedly as the girls cried out. Renfri scrabbled for the door handle and Elena practically dove onto her lap in her hurry to get to her boyfriend, now laying on the ground as the man stood over him. The vampire ignored the girls, seemingly not seeing them as a threat, and lifted Stefan up, a small branch in his hand.
He shoved the broken end into Stefan's gut, making him groan in pain, "This is for Bethanne." He pulled it out, ready to strike again, "And this is for the tomb."
BANG BANG BANG!
Renfri had rounded the vehicle, fired three wooden bullets into his midsection, aiming for his heart though it was hard at the current angle and with Stefan in the way. She clearly needed some target practice, since he didn't turn gray and only dropped to one knee, letting Stefan collapse into the undergrowth. The vampire growled furiously and went to stand again, but was stopped.
"No!" Elena shouted, stabbing him in the neck from behind with the vervain dart Renfri had pushed into her hand as they got out of the car. Elena threw the empty vervain dart aside as he collapsed face first into the dirt and went to check on her injured boyfriend. Renfri lowered the gun to her side and moved toward the two as Elena dropped to her knees, trying to rouse him as he seemed on the verge of passing out.
"No no no, come on, Stefan!" the brunette urged.
"Shit, we're going to have to wait for Alaric and Damon to get back before we can go anywhere, maybe they can hotwire the car," Renfri said breathlessly, hands on her knees as she looked warily at the downed vampire a few feet away. She was worried that the other vampires had heard the gunshots and would come running; she prayed that Damon and Alaric could keep them distracted. Elena continued to shake Stefan, but he didn't respond, eyes closed. She looked up at Ren, who shook her head and shrugged helplessly. They heard a rustle and looked behind them to see the vampire, who Renfri realized was the guy from the other night, Frederick, start to move his fingers.
"Shit, we need to do something. I can't take him on alone, I don't want to use all the bullets in case more of them come, and Damon's not here yet," Renfri bit out, clenching her hand over the grip of the weapon tightly.
"Stefan, you have to drink."
Renfri whipped around again in shock to find Elena putting her hand with a small cut to Stefan's lips. Renfri was torn since Stefan had once said to her that he kept to an animal diet because he didn't handle human blood well and tried to avoid the temptation. He didn't say much more than that, but he was quite serious about it. However, they were in a life or death situation, so she figured he'd just have to do his best so they all didn't die at the hands of the tomb vampires. Stefan opened his eyes and refused at first when he realized what he was tasting, fear in his eyes, before Elena convinced him in a loving whisper to try because she trusted him. He reluctantly fed from her, biting into her wrist. The vampire behind them continued to shift, arms moving underneath him now.
"That's enough, hide," Renfri hissed and pushed Elena forward, ducking behind a tree several feet away. Frederick slowly got to his feet, the vervain not quite out of his system yet and the bullets pulling on his wounds, and stalked towards Stefan, who lay still on the ground with his eyes closed. As soon as the tomb vampire went to stab him with a branch again, Stefan shot up, fangs out and eyes dark as he growled then pinned Frederick against a tree. He broke the wrist that held the branch, taking it and shoving it into the Frederick's heart as his expression morphed from angry to shocked as he began to desiccate. Stefan seemed lost in his rage and continued to growl and stab him even after he was clearly dead.
Renfri stepped out from her hiding place, "He's dead, Stefan!"
Elena approached him, reaching for his arm, "Stefan, that's enough—"
He whipped around and growled in her face, shoving her hand off and making her stumble back in surprise and some fear. After a few seconds, it finally registered in his head what he had done and the fangs and dark veins slowly retracted as he let Frederick's body slide to the ground. He ducked his head and saw the blood on his hand from the branch he had been stabbing into Frederick. He stumbled backwards, ashamed, while Elena and Renfri watched him warily. Renfri was the one to break the silence and insist they go wait by the car for Damon and Alaric.
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The vampire and the hunter had returned after apparently confronting Pearl and Anna when they arrived home to find the leftover tomb vampires trying to break down the front door, where the two had barricaded themselves inside when surrounded. Renfri was both relieved and unnerved to find out that Pearl and Anna hadn't been a part of the kidnapping, having been in town all day, but that also meant that they weren't truly in control of the group.
As soon as they arrived, Damon had paused, eyeing his brother, who was noticeably stronger than before. Renfri came up beside him and as he put an arm around her shoulders, checking to make sure she was alright, she whispered to him about how Elena had let Stefan drink from her to fight Frederick. The older Salvatore glanced at his brother with evaluating eyes and Stefan refused to meet them.
They all piled into the Camaro, Elena half sitting on Renfri and Stefan's lap in the back seat. Damon jokingly called Renfri an official badass now that she'd killed her first vampire, but he only received a weak chuckle from his niece as the rest of the car's occupants sat in emotionally charged silence. Alaric had figured out that Damon had lied about Pearl knowing how to find Isabel and was fuming quietly in the front seat while Stefan and Elena looked away from each other awkwardly, that tense moment from after he killed Frederick still lingering.
A few hours later, after they were all home and settled from the night's events, Renfri was lounging on her bed in sweatpants and a t-shirt with Ash stretched out alongside her, enjoying her warmth. She was leaning back against her pillows with headphones in her ears, listening to music.
Damon appeared in her doorway and took a few steps in, arms crossed.
"How are you doing, Buffy?"
She pulled an earbud out and shrugged, sitting up a bit, "I'm fine, I guess…I am worried about Stefan though."
Damon nodded, "Yeah, it's been a while since he's had blood from anything that doesn't have fur. I'm sure he'll be fine though, he always comes back from it eventually."
She raised her brows, "How long is 'eventually'?"
"Eh, depends on how bad it is. He only got a few mouthfuls of Elena's blood and stopped himself, so if he goes cold turkey from here, he should be back to his normal brooding ways pretty quickly." She nodded, relieved.
"However, if he starts drinking human blood again, and I mean binge drinking like an alcoholic, then he could go full ripper. It could be years before he gets it under control again."
Renfri frowned, hoping that wasn't the case, and asked, "What do you mean 'full ripper?'"
Damon raised his eyebrows mockingly, "Oh, you didn't know? When Stefan's on human blood he goes completely off the rails, he has absolutely no control. In the early 1900s, he was called 'The Ripper of Monterey' because he tore through an entire village."
"What?" she whispered in shock.
Her older uncle stared at her seriously, "Stefan on human blood is a completely different person. He's an addict, so once he's completely given in to the pull, he's lost for a good long while."
Renfri let out a shaky breath, "Fucking hell. I mean, I knew he had a hard time with it, he said that was why he stuck to animal blood, but that's…"
"A hell of an understatement, yeah."
She looked up at him as he strode around her room, eyes wandering lazily about, "How does he get back to himself?"
He waved a hand, "Oh, Lexi usually handles that. I've attempted getting him try to control himself on human blood, to learn moderation, but that didn't end well."
Renfri thought about it, "That does make sense, he could slowly incorporate it into his diet. A little bit each day, increasing the amount gradually, isn't that how anyone would build tolerance to something?"
Damon snorted, "You'd think, but he won't try it. He doesn't trust himself to stay in control with even a little human blood, and he doesn't trust me to stop him if he goes too far."
"Why does he turn into a ripper though, how does he so completely lose himself?"
Damon turned to look at her, "It's a vicious cycle. He feeds too hard and gets lost in the blood, completely gives in to his predatory instincts. He ends up killing people, completely ripping them apart. When he comes to again, like waking up from a dream and realizing it's reality, the guilt overwhelms him and he drowns himself in blood to forget the pain. Even shuts off his humanity to avoid the guilt. Then Lexi helps bring him back, he's good for a while, then something happens and he snaps all over again. It's quite predictable at this point." He turns away again and shrugs nonchalantly, like it's just another Tuesday, but she can see the tension in his shoulders.
Ren eyes him curiously, "Have you checked on him yet, to see what's the case this time? I know he went hunting in the woods before talking with Elena, so hopefully it was just—"
She paused when she noticed Damon had frozen and tipped his head to one side, eyes unfocused as he listened to something.
"What? What is it?" she asked in a hushed voice, scooting forward to the edge of the bed, making Ash sit up. She patted his side, whispered a command for him to stay, and hopped down as Damon ignored her and walked out of her room. She quickly followed him, staying as quiet as she could in her socked feet as she followed him down the hall of the second floor to the handful of steps that began the entrance into Stefan's bedroom. Her heart jumped in her chest when she caught the sound of heavy breathing and a strange sucking noise.
Damon stepped up into the doorway and paused, tilting his head down a bit. She followed his gaze, seeing an empty blood bag on a side table by the door. He moved further into the room with the redhead right behind him, finding another on a standing shelf by the leather sofa. Damon's mouth tightened as his niece stepped up beside him, her hand wrapping around his forearm in silent concern as they stared down at the scene before them.
Stefan was sitting on the floor with his back against the sofa, a third blood bag clutched in his hands as he turned to face them. His chest heaved and blood was smeared across his mouth, his face a picture of shame and desperation.
Renfri let out a puff of air and squeezed Damon's arm.
"Son of a bitch."
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**Please review, it's much appreciated!