THE BENNET SISTER || The Vampire Diaries

The Hybrid

Salvatore Boarding House...

Damon is in his bedroom removing all the notes, maps, and newspaper cuttings from his closet and listening to the TV news, "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 says on the tv.

Elena arrives, "Just can't stay away, can you?" Damon asks.

"You've been dodging my calls." Elena answers.

"Yeah, well, busy dating a dead fake girlfriend and all."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Happy Birthday, Elena. Stefan killed Andie. Cake?"

"He called me, Damon."

"What?"

"Stefan called me last night."

"Well, what'd he say?"

"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."

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

"If he was gone, he wouldn't have called," He lights a match and throws it into the fireplace, which starts burning.

Alaric's Residence

Alaric is in his bed and is woken by loud knocking at the apartment door, "Go away, Damon!" Alaric yells. Someone knocks again. He gets up and opens the door. It's Elena.

"Hi," Elena smiles.

"You're, uh...not who I expected."

"I need you to tell me what you know about Stefan and Tennessee."

"Did you miss the part where I checked out of all this?"

"Come on, Ric. Whatever Damon knows, you know."

"Ask Damon."

"Yeah, but Damon's not exactly in the mood to help right now."

"For good reason. Because it's not safe for you. Stefan's off the rails."

"Yeah, but he's still holding on to his humanity, which means he can still be saved."

"And why do you have to be the one to save him?"

"Because I'm not the kind of person who checks out. Look, he would never give up on me. I'm not gonna give up on him. Tell me what you know, Ric. Please."

"They've been tracking werewolves, he and Klaus. All over the eastern seaboard. We thought we had 'em outside of Memphis..."

Smoky Mountains...

Klaus, Stefan and I are walking in the mountains. Stefan is carrying Ray, unconscious, on his shoulders, "You okay? Is Ray getting heavy?" Klaus asks.

"I'm fine," Stefan says.

"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..."

"He said he's fine can you shut the fuck up," I say tiredly going up this hill. Klaus glares at me.

"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 says.

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

"Maybe it's 'cause I'm a little tired of hunting werewolves. We've been at it all summer."

"Yes and it's getting harder every time," I add.