Devil in Disguise ➳ S. Salvatore [COMPLETED]

➳ 45: fight the dark to find the light

"OKAY, so I know this looks horrible but please let me explain uninterrupted for a minute." Efah nervously requested from Stefan, who was glaring at her in fury. He motioned for her to continue so she took a deep breath to steady herself before continuing on with her explanation. "This let's me speak to people in other dimensions as long as they have the other line." She explained, pointing at the phone on the coffee table. "Gabriel dropped this one off to me this morning and threw the other one in with Damon and Bonnie. They're stuck in a prison world created by the Gemini Coven. I was just there trying to get answers. Damon wasn't supposed to call. I explicitly asked him not to in fear of this happening."

"How long have you known?" He asked harshly through gritted teeth then reiterated his question when she gave him a confused look. "About Bonnie and Damon. How long?"

"Gabriel told me about two months ago that Damon was trying to summon me using a rune but because the prison world is magic, I can't go in or out so I couldn't hear him. It wasn't until a few days ago that I was able to confirm it for myself." She answered honestly and lowered herself down to sit on the couch in front of him. "The day before Enzo and Caroline showed up. We've been exchanging letters using this." The archangel reached into her tote bag, pulling out the small messenger box. "It can send letters across any dimension but it takes a few days. That's why Gabriel gave me the phone."

"You've known for months and didn't say anything?" He remarked in disbelief and scoffed while running a hand down his face. "This is... this is fucking ridiculous. How could you? How long were you planning on keeping this from me? Were you ever going to tell me?" He interrogated, bewildered by the truth, then raised his voice when she didn't speak up. "Answer me, Selaphiel!"

At the use of her biblical name, Efah blinked back her tears and flattened her lips for a second. Her bottom lip quivered and her voice shook as she spoke. "I didn't want to get your hopes up. I couldn't tell you because I didn't want to risk there being a chance that we couldn't bring him back. That he'd be stuck in there forever with no way out." She explained her reasoning, feeling the dam in her cracking with every second he spent angry with her. "I was trying to protect you from experiencing that heartbreak all over again. You say you're fine but I know you, Stefan. You're far from fine. You're dealing but you're not living. Just taking every day one moment at a time until you can find something to give you relief. Fighting, blood, sex, booze. You're coping. That's why I hid it from you. You didn't need more pain right now. I was going to tell you everything after Damon was back. You weren't supposed to find out like this and I am so sorry that you did. I know my apology means shit right now but I am sorry. I just wanted to protect you."

If Stefan hadn't felt so betrayed and angry, he may have realized that she only did it out of nothing but pure love for him. However he didn't see it that way, he only felt rage that Efah had lied to him for days while knowing that Damon was still alive. That's the part that hurt him the most. Efah knew Damon was alive and didn't utter a single word about it.

"You lied to me." He angrily commented after a brief silence between them. "You kept secrets from me. We agreed we'd never do that."

"I know." She acknowledged in a small whisper. There was no use in denying it, Efah knew she lied. She was well aware of what she had done. "I know."

"I should've known Gabriel wasn't here to learn about human life." Stefan mused, scoffing and shaking his head.

"He is." Efah corrected while running her hands along the tops of her jeans, drying her sweaty palms. "In exchange for my help, he stole the phone. But he really did come to Earth to finally live his life."