I woke up and realized that I needed to take things into my own hands. If Damon wasn't going to find Stefan, I would have to do it myself. I had gotten myself out of bed. I would just need to come up with the right plan based on the information that I knew.
I put on a white wool tee and a pair of jeans. I went downstairs to see Anna having breakfast.
"So what are we doing today since we don't have work?" She asked. I was hoping that she would ask that.
"We're going to find Stefan." I announced. I wasn't entirely sure how we were going to do it, but we were going to do it.
"How do you plan on doing that?" She asked. That was a good question, but I was pretty sure that I knew how to do that as well.
"Well I'm going to make Damon talk." I replied. "You know he called me last night while you were getting ready for bed."
"Damon?" She asked. I supposed that I could have been more clear.
"No, Stefan." I replied. At least I was fairly certain it was him.
"What did he say?" She questioned.
"He didn't say anything, but I know it was him because I had Sheriff Forbes trace the call and it came from a payphone in Tennessee." I explained. It could have been a prank call, but who would spend money to make a prank call? "So do wanna help me?"
"I don't have anything better to do." She stated. I knew that the attraction was still there between us but I was pretty sure that she wanted me to be happy at least.
We went to the boarding house to find Damon. Since the door was unlocked, the two of us just walked inside. We found him in the living room.
"You won't give up, will you?" He asked.
"You've been dodging my calls since last night." I pointed out.
"I'm busy burying my girlfriend, so make it quick." He ordered. He didn't seem particularly upset about it.
"Stefan called me last night. I had Sheriff Forbes trace the call." I explained. Unfortunately, I didn't seem to get the reaction that I hoped for.
"He is binge-drinking on coeds." Damon stated. I knew that Stefan was killing people, but I was pretty sure that Klaus was making him do that. "Stefan is gone, Mary."
"He cared enough to call me." I argued. "That means I need to care enough to bring him back."
"Count me out." He told me. Well, it looked like he wasn't going to be any help. Fortunately, I had another idea.
I sighed as the two of us went out the door.
"So now what are we doing?" Anna asked.
"We're going to see Ric." I explained. "I'm pretty sure that he knows most of the things that Damon knows."
We went to his apartment and knocked on the door, which he opened. He was not wearing a shirt.
"I thought you were Damon." He declared.
"I need you to tell me what you know about Stefan and Tennessee." I remarked. I decided to get straight to the point.
"I don't want to be involved in this." He said to me. He seemed to think that he had a choice in the matter.
"I'm pretty sure that you know everything that Damon knows." I replied.
"Why don't you ask Damon?" He challenged.
"I already did and he won't tell me anything." I explained.
"You know it's not safe for you since Klaus thinks you're dead. And I really don't think he should find out that Anna is a hybrid too." Ric responded. "Stefan's off the rails anyway."
"He still has his humanity because he called me." I answered. "He can be saved."
"Why do you have to be the one to save him?" He challenged. I already knew my answer to that planned.
"Because if I don't, who will?" I questioned. Damon didn't seem too interested and Lexi was too dead for that. "Stefan wouldn't give up on me, so I'm not going to give up on him."
"They're looking for werewolves." Ric relented. I was glad that I had a solution. Fortunately, I knew just the person to talk to about it. I just hoped that he would tell me. "They were last seen in Memphis."
"We need to go to the Grill." I told the two of them. He tended to go there a lot.
The first person that I noticed was that Matt was there, which wasn't that surprising. However, what was surprising was the fact that he had a blonde girl following him, wearing the uniform
"What are you doing here on your day off?" He asked me.
"I wanted to see if Tyler was here." I explained. "Who's this?"
"This is Cassie, she's our new trainee." Matt declared. "This is Mary and Anna, two of the other waitresses."
"Hey." Cassie replied.
"It's nice to meet you and I look forward to working with you." I explained before I noticed Tyler. "I need to talk to him."
The two of us headed over to him.
"Hi." Anna remarked. "We need your help."
"Before I say anything, do you know where Caroline is?" He asked.
"I haven't seen her." I answered. "But I need to talk to you about werewolves. Do you know if there is anywhere that werewolves like to gather?"
"A lot of us keep to ourselves and lock ourselves up. Not all of us can control when we change." He explained as he looked at Anna. "But there are werewolves that like to gather in places where they don't have to do that. They want somewhere they can enjoy."
"Can you be more specific?" Anna asked. Yeah, we could really use a location because it would help us find him.
"Mountains, state parks, deserts, basically anywhere with a lot of open space." The werewolf told us.
"Do you know of any in Tennessee?" I inquired. I hoped that there wouldn't be too many because we couldn't afford to check more than one.
"Give me your phone. I can show you." He offered.
"Thanks, I'm sorry for asking so much." I apologized as I handed him my phone.
"It's no problem." He stated. "As Caroline likes to remind me, Stefan's only in this mess because I bit Damon."
Well there was that combined with the fact that we were unable to kill Klaus, but then Damon would be dead. The two of us then went over to Ric who was at the bar with a drink. I wanted one myself, but it probably wasn't the time for that.
"Okay, I found the place, so we need to get going." I told him.
"Are you seriously going to chase a whole bunch of werewolves on a full moon?" He asked. "Damon's right. You are insane."
"We can be out of there before the moon is full." I responded.
"If you don't come with us, we'll go by ourselves." Anna added. "We'd be a lot safer if you came."
Anna probably could turn into a wolf to protect us, but then we would need protection from her.
"Alright, fine, let's just go." He relented. I was pretty sure that he muttered something about protecting his students. I was more than just his student. I was his stepdaughter.
"So have you ever been to the Smoky Mountains before?" Anna asked.
"No, I've never been to Tennessee before." I explained. "Except for this one time in Bristol that we briefly crossed the border that is. Have you?"
"I actually lived in the Music City for a few years." She explained. I probably did want to see Nashville at some point. "I got to see Patsy Cline perform at the Bluebird Café."
"I'm really not that well-versed in country music." I admitted. I had heard the name before but I was pretty sure that I wouldn't be able to know if I had heard any of her songs.
After a few hours, we arrived in the Smokies. We got out of the car and began to hike along a trail that would lead us to the campsite that Tyler pointed out. I was glad that I hadn't decided to wear heels. I was still wearing a jacket because I was pretty sure that it could help with the bugs. I had a feeling that my feet would still hurt after I was done.
"So in a couple hours, the full moon should rise over that ridge." Ric explained. "That's where the pack should be."
"You were a boy scout, weren't you?" I asked with a smile. That was probably the best explanation for how he knew something like that.
"Shut up." He muttered.
"I can't believe that you were a boy scout and a vampire hunter." Anna teased before she had a sip of the vervain water. She probably didn't know because I was pretty sure that Klaus wouldn't compel his daughter, but it was probably still a good idea just to be safe.
Ric then opened his backpack to reveal a lot of weapons. I couldn't help but wonder how managed to fit so many in there.
"Whoa." I commented looking the stash over.
"We're not going bird watching." He reminded me. He then handed me a grenade. "Here take this."
"Vervain grenade?" I asked. I didn't know if that would be particularly effective for what we planned on doing. I supposed I could throw it at Stefan if I needed to.
"Wolfsbane." He corrected.
"Since we're exchanging gifts, you should take this." I remarked as I took the ring out of my pocket.
"John gave you that to give to your children." He stated. He was assuming that I planned on having them.
"Do I look like I'm pregnant?" I shot back. I then thought about that. I really did not ever want to become pregnant. "Don't answer that. Anyway, right now, I don't have anyone else to give it to, so you're the best recipient."
"Just take it." Anna ordered.
"We don't want you to die before happy hour." I added. He took the ring and we began to walk forward. I turned to face the river before suddenly I was pushed into it. I looked up, now soaking wet, and saw Damon. The water was only four feet deep, so there was no chance of drowning in it, but it was still cold and also inconvenient to be in it. "Damon, what the hell? Did you tell him?"
"Thanks for the tip, man." Damon stated. I couldn't believe that he would sell me out like that.
"You didn't think that I would let you two do this alone, did you?" Ric asked.
"Why does everyone keep forgetting how old I really am?" Anna responded in frustration. To be fair, I had a hard time remembering she wasn't a teenager sometimes.
"Because you act the same age as her." Damon remarked. He then caught her by surprise and threw her into the water with me. Why did he keep doing that? As if I wasn't wet enough…okay that was not what I meant.
After a few minutes, we were still in the water. Both of us were upset for different reasons. We probably should have gotten out because it was getting cold, but I didn't want to because I knew that Damon would try to force me to go back home.
"Alright, get out of the water you two." Damon ordered. He seemed to think that I would listen to him.
"No, I'm not getting out because you'll make us go home." I replied. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a vervain needle that they planned to use on her. That much vervain probably would be enough to knock her out.
"You two are both acting like idiots." Damon stated.
"That's a lot of talk from someone who tried to kill an Original without instructions." Anna argued. "I could have told you about the dagger if I knew you had it."
"All three of you are acting like idiots." Ric piped in. "You're acting like children even."
"You might not understand because you gave up on him, but I haven't." I declared. I was going to bring him back, regardless of whether I was in a relationship with him or not.
"I didn't give up on him, Mary. I just decided to face reality." Damon argued as he came closer. "Now get out of the water."
"You're going to have to make me." I told him. I hoped this wouldn't last much longer because I was starting to feel a little cold.
"What's your plan? Are you going to walk into werewolf territory and wait for Stefan to show up." Damon asked as he walked into the water and closer to us.
"You know maybe he's right." Anna stated. "Maybe it's a bad idea to do this."
"No, you're supposed to be on my side." I whined. I really couldn't have decide to bail right now. "We've never been this close. We can get him back. I'm not leaving."
"Klaus thinks that you're dead." Damon pointed out. "What's he going to do when he finds out you're not? What's he going to do when he finds out his daughter is a hybrid? On top of that, it's also a full moon."
"We can find him before the full moon." I said. I had to keep trying to convince because I didn't know what else to do. "Damon, please we both love him."
"Fine." Damon relented. "But we're getting out before the moon's full."
"Thank you." I agreed as I stepped out of the water. I then shivered a little.
"Here, this will help warm you up." Anna replied as she started to rub my back. It was too bad it wasn't like the werewolves from Twilight that were naturally warm for some reason.
"Good thinking, so girl on girl is always good." Damon quipped. "Why don't you just have her carry you?"
"Damon, I can do without your sense of humor." I remarked. I still did blush. Anna blushed as well.
"We have about a mile left." Ric stated. I wasn't sure how it would take us to go a mile uphill. I was pretty sure it would take long than simply walking in a straight line.
I still wasn't entirely sure what I would say to Stefan. It would seem that after a full two months away, I would, but I didn't. Maybe I did at one point, but I probably forgot it in a drunken haze. All I knew was that I needed to convince him to come home. I couldn't help but wonder if drinking some more would help me, but there really wasn't anything for me to drink right now.
"The sun's about to set." Damon noted. Just because the sun was setting didn't mean that the moon was full.
"Yeah, but the moon won't be full for a little while." Anna pointed out. "We still have time to do this. Wait. What do we do if Klaus is around?"
"The goal is to get Stefan away from him." I declared. I wasn't sure how. We would probably have to try to figure it out without him seeing either of us.
It was then that I heard some branches cracking. Ric raised his crossbow, and we saw a man with a bloody face. He looked dazed and confused.
"Stay where you are." Ric commanded him. He didn't really look like he wanted to listen to us. Maybe we should have asked his name first.
"Vampire!" The man declared as he ran at Damon. I stood in front of Anna, even though I couldn't do anything to protect her. He pushed Damon against a tree, but Ric shot him with an arrow, and I threw Damon the wolfsbane grenade at him. Damon pulled the pin, and it blew up, burning our mystery wolf as he screamed out in pain before he passed out.
"Let me guess: hybrid." Damon replied. Is that what they were doing? Was Klaus trying to turn werewolves into hybrids? I supposed it made sense, but why did it take so long? Damon chained him to the tree. I also couldn't help but wonder how he managed to determine such a thing. I couldn't help but wonder if Anna would be able to do it by smelling him.
"Do we have anything else?" Anna asked. I took out some ropes and began pouring the water on them.
"Ric, take these." I instructed. Damon grabbed them and pulled his hand away. "I said Ric!"
Ric then tied him up with the rope. The only question that remained was what to do with him. He didn't seem like he was willing to talk to us, so an interrogation was probably out of the question.
"That's the last of the vervain." He explained. That wasn't good because we probably needed some to subdue Stefan. I had considered the option of taking him by force if he didn't listen to us. "I don't think that we have enough to hold him or that we'll make it to the ridge before the full moon. It might be a good idea to go back."
"Maybe we can get him to talk." I suggested as I slapped him awake. Suddenly he started to scream as his bones started to crack. "Is he turning?"
"That's impossible. It's the moon's not full yet." Damon announced.
"It doesn't matter with hybrids. We can turn whenever we want regardless of whether or not the moon is full." Anna stated. "I vote for getting the fuck out of here."
"These ropes won't hold a wolf." Ric explained. It looked like running was the best option. It was very unfortunate because it looked like the mission would another failure. Anna grabbed me and we began to run but we ended up coming face-to-face with the wolf. She probably could have fought him off, but that would also leave me unprotected.
"Go, I'll lead him away." Damon replied. He went in a different direction and we began to head back to the car. Damon did have his own car, so if he didn't get bitten, he would be able to make it home.
"Damn it, we didn't even get to see Stefan." I stated in frustration. I then felt a strong ache in my body before it was like my bones were cracking. I fell to my knees. "Fuck!"
"What's going on?" Ric asked.
"I don't know." I screamed in pain.
"Mary, I think you're turning." Anna declared. That was impossible because I wasn't a werewolf. We knew that I wasn't a werewolf. All I knew was that I was in a lot of pain at the moment. She then looked at Ric. I could barely keep my eyes open at that point. "You need to get out of here. I'll get her under control."
I then heard Anna let out a growl as I was pretty sure that she started to turn as well. At that point, I pretty much blacked out.
When I woke up, I was covered with a blanket. I couldn't believe it. I had turned into a wolf. I managed to see Anna, who was fully dressed once again. She had some mud on her, so I was pretty sure that she had changed as well.
"What happened?" I asked. I didn't understand how it was possible.
"Mary, I don't know how but you're a werewolf now." She explained. That didn't really make any sense. "Ric's at that rest spot we passed on the way here. We need to go down there and get out of there.
On the way home, I couldn't help but contemplate what had happened. Not only had we failed to even find Stefan, but I had also somehow become a werewolf. It was then that I thought of something. The deputy. I had killed the deputy and that must have triggered it, but it still didn't make sense because I was pretty sure that it wasn't possible for me to just become a werewolf all of a sudden and I also wasn't affected by the Gilbert device. The only possible thing that I could think of was that it may have been a consequence of Klaus breaking the curse. I had felt strangely aggressive during the last full moon, but I thought that was just because I was drunk.
After we got back, I was preparing for bed, after putting on my pajamas. Apparently, Ric decided that he was going to stay with us. I heard the doorbell and answered it and there was Damon. I wondered if we were going to talk about what happened to me.
"I was wrong about Stefan." He replied. It seemed like we were not going to talk about it. "I thought he was gone."
"You saw him?" I asked in surprise. "Is he alright?"
"No, he's not alright. He's acting like a martyr." Damon responded. "He needs an ass-kicking, but he can be saved."
"What happened to change your mind?" I asked curiously.
"Stefan saved me from our little hybrid friend." He explained. I knew that he couldn't be too far gone. "It turns out that even when he's bad, he won't let me die. So, I owe him the same. We'll get him back."
I still had to figure out what I was going to say to Stefan when I saw him. I had at least a day to think because I had to work tomorrow and would have to put my Stefan searching on hold. Maybe I wouldn't need the job anymore now that Ric was going to help pay the bills, but I liked working. It helped keep me sane. Plus, it was the thing that most normal 16-year-olds did, and I wanted to be as normal as I could, even though I was now a werewolf. I would probably have to deal with that more later, but I was too tired now.
"So, it sounded like Damon was back." Anna said when I got to the room.
"Yeah, now he's on board with the whole bringing Stefan back thing." I explained. "Stefan killed that hybrid tonight."
"You know in case things don't work out with Stefan, I just wanted to tell you that things are going to be okay." She told me.
"How do you mean?" I replied.
"Well Stefan's just a guy. I get that you're in love, but it doesn't mean that you won't be able to fall in love again." She remarked. I didn't even know if I wanted that. "Lots of people do it."
"I still want to bring him back." I declared with a yawn. I wondered if being a werewolf meant that I didn't have to brush my teeth anymore. "Good night, Anna."
"Good night." She reciprocated before we got into bed.
So the biggest surprise is that Mary is now a werewolf. And Mary and Anna met Cassie who is definitely going to be important as the story goes on. Please don't forget to review.