Crimson Flower

The Hybrid

Carina POV:

So far, the hunt into Stefan was coming to a close. He had killed Andie Star and Jenna was devastated. Damon hadn't taken it well either and was currently in his bedroom, removing all the notes, maps, and newspaper cuttings from his closet and listening to the TV news. Rose and I walked in, and we both winced at the story currently playing. 

"Whether suicide, or a tragic accident, WPKW News has lost one of its shining stars. Field reporter and weekend anchor Andie Star was discovered..." The reporter said as Elena arrived and we all turned to look at her. 

"Just can't stay away, can you?" Damon asked, a tired sound to his voice had Rose going to rub at his shoulders. 

"You've all been dodging my calls." Elena said and I turned to her. 

"Yeah, well, busy dealing with Stefan's murder of your sister's and/or housemate's friend will do that to you." I snarked and Elena looked confused. 

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked Damon who looked annoyed. 

"Happy Birthday, Elena. Stefan killed Andie. Cake?" He retorted as he went back to ripping things up and she glanced at me, but I chose to look down at my phone where I was being texted by Finn and Klaus. 

"He called me, Damon." She said and he stopped before turning to look at her. 

"What?" He asked and Rose looked at me as I continued texting Finn. He was giving me poetry he found in a book he bought. It was all very sweet and Klaus was sending me pictures of sketches he did. 

"Stefan called me last night." Elena repeated and Damon raised an eyebrow. 

"Well, what'd he say?" He asked 

"He didn't say anything, but it was him. I asked Sheriff Forbes if she would trace the call's origin. It came from Tennessee." Elena looked excited about any news about Stefan. 

"Where he's binge drinking on the country folk. We went through this, Elena. Stefan's gone. I don't mean geographically." Damon snapped, throwing documents into the fireplace.

"If he was gone, he wouldn't have called." Elena insisted as Damon lit a match and threw it into the fireplace, which started burning. 
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Carina POV:

I felt my phone vibrate and pulled it out. I could see a request for video call on the screen and I tapped accept. Finn's handsome face filled my screen. 

"Hello, Kjære." He greeted, warmly as a smile spread across my face.

"Finn, what are you doing? How's it going with you and Nik?" I asked, and he angles the phone so I could hear Nik and Stefan arguing. Stefan was carrying poor Ray Sutton on his shoulders and Klaus was giving off an air of mischief. 

"You okay? Is Ray getting heavy?" Klaus asked, an almost mocking tone to his voice. I got the feeling that Stefan had been complaining for a while out of view. 

"I'm fine." Stefan insisted through gritted teeth. 

"You sure about that? You know, we've been walking for quite some time now. If you need some water or a little sit-down..." Klaus continued. 

"You know, I get that we're, uh...we're stuck together, but if we could maybe just skip the chitchat, it'd be great." Stefan said, giving a fake smile. 

"So much brooding. Your self-loathing is suffocating you, my friend." Klaus said. 

"He's not your friend!" Finn and I coughed in unison before laughing to ourselves. Stefan and Klaus either hadn't heard us or weren't paying attention.