After Dean stormed off in a red haze with Sam and Jeremy in tow, the crowd quickly dispersed and Elena rushed to go find Bonnie in a desperate attempt to make sense of things. "Hey, Elena. What's up?" Bonnie asked when she saw her friend rush up to her. "Can I ask you a question, and you give me a completely serious, no joke response?" Elena bombarded. Bonnie was a little thrown off by the question but nodded regardless. "The bad mojo you felt about Dean and Stefan when you said Dean was acting all cagey and you touched Stefan—" "You know what? Forget I said that. Your whole dinner party talk really won me over," Bonnie cut off. "No, Bonnie, seriously. Do you know something?" Elena pressed.
The young Bennett took a deep breath and shook her head. "It's not so much what I know rather it's about what I sensed coming from him. From them," she elaborated. "It wasn't a clear picture. Like today, I keep seeing those same numbers I told you about—8, 14, 22." "Yeah?" Elena nodded in remembrance. "Well, when I touched Stefan, it was a feeling. And it vibrated through me and it was cold, and the other day when I saw Dean, I—" Bonnie stopped, a wave of fear and uncertainty washing over her. When she noticed her friend pause, Elena leaned in closer and said, "And what, Bonnie?" "When I saw Dean, I felt the exact same thing as when I touched Stefan," Bonnie trembled. "What did you feel?" Elena continued.
Steadying herself, Bonnie looked Elena in the eye and said three words that sent chills down Elena's spine, "It was Death."
* * *
After speaking with Bonnie, Elena went back out to her car to go get something. It wasn't until she slammed the trunk of her car and was getting ready to head back down to the field that she was confronted by none other than Damon. She gasped and jumped back, startled by his sudden appearance. "You scared me. What are you doing here?" Elena asked after calming herself down. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you. I just wanted to come and apologize for the whole dinner fiasco last night," Damon lied perfectly. "I didn't mean to cause a scene, and I genuinely thought Dean had told you about us before you started dating. It was my mistake. I should have known he would be too uncomfortable with talking about it."
So, that's what this is about. Elena thought.
"Oh, it's okay," she accepted. "You wanted to make peace with him and things got dicey. No big deal. Besides, you and Caroline seem to be hitting it off, so it looks like everything worked out in everyone's best interest." Damon scoffed dismissively. "Yeah, right." Elena furrowed her brow at his response. "Is everything not OK?" she asked. "OK, full disclosure. I didn't just come out here to apologize, I— I'm hiding from Caroline," he confessed, whispering the last part as if Caroline was going to pop up out of nowhere. "Why?" Elena questioned, furrowing her brow even more.
"I needed a break," he lamented. "She talks more than I can listen." "That could be a sign," Elena suggested. "Well, she's awfully young," Damon sighed. "Not much younger than you are," Elena countered, as she shifted on her feet uncomfortably. "I don't see it going anywhere in the bigger picture," Damon huffed lightly. "I think she'd drive me crazy." At that comment, Elena went rigid. "Caroline does have some really annoying traits, but we've been friends since the first grade and that means something to me," Elena started defensively.
"Duly noted. I'm sorry if I make you uncomfortable. That's not my intention."
She studied him briefly and narrowed her eyes. "Yes, it is! Otherwise, you wouldn't put an alternate meaning behind everything you say. You're trying to do to me what you did to Dean last night by putting me on the spot like this," she realized. "What? No, you've got it all wrong," Damon started. "I don't think I do," she shook her head. "Look, I get that you and Dean have history, and I understand that you may have issues with your brother, but leave me out of it. I'm not your little plaything; I'm not Katherine."
Not wasting another second, Elena moved past Damon and stormed off back to the stadium, leaving the 170-year-old vampire in utter disbelief.
* * *
Back in the stadium, Stefan was hanging out near the parking lot waiting for Dean to get back when he saw his friend come out through the locker room door with a deep frown on his face and Matt Donovan in tow. "What is it?" Stefan inquired curiously. "Tyler can't play, that's what," Dean growled. Stefan's eyes went wide. "Wait, what?" he balked. "I thought he only had a broken nose." "We did, too. I guess somehow during the chaos, he got his fucking wrist broken, and now he can't fucking play the game! Meaning we're down a running-back, and therefore we can't play," Dean griped. "Jesus," Stefan cringed. "I'm so sorry."
"Yeah, me, too," Matt grumbled. "The one time Sam decides not to de-escalate a fight and now the team has to forfeit." "Hey, don't pin this on my brother. You know as good as I do that Tyler's always been a hothead," Dean defended. "If Sam felt the need to lay a can of whoop-ass on Lockwood, then that's because he was completely deserving of it." "Be that as it may, this is our first game of the entire year!" Matt argued. "Hey, hey, hey! Guys, if you need someone to play running back, then I could fill in for Tyler," Stefan chimed in. Dean and Matt turned to Stefan with varying expressions on their faces. "You can play?" Matt asked. "Stef, are you sure?" Dean queried warily. "Look, I don't want you guys to have to forfeit the game. You worked hard all summer to be able to play, and I don't want you to feel like you did all that work for nothing," Stefan exhaled. "If I can help you guys out in any way, then I want to. Besides, I've been watching you guys practice all week long, I know all the plays and all the positions. I can do this."
"Well, usually, we'd have to run it by Coach Tanner, but since it's literally down to the wire and I don't wanna be the person to tell Coach that we can't play at all because one of our players broke his wrist at the last second, I guess we can make an exception this once," Matt sighed. "Dean, what do you think?" Suddenly, all eyes were on Dean, and Stefan couldn't help but notice how despite the recent animosity between them over Elena, Matt still looked to Dean for advice and affirmation. Even when they were at each other's throats, Dean was still Matt's best friend. "What the hell? Let's do it! Not like we got a whole lot of options," Dean said after a while.
Matt grinned for the first time in who knows how long. "Alright, Stefan, looks like you're in." "Matt, I'm gonna show Stefan where the gear is, you go and tell Coach what's going on," Dean announced. Matt rolled his eyes and cringed, "Seriously? Didn't you just hear me say I don't wanna be the one to tell Tanner?" Dean scrunched up his face and tilted his head from side to side. "No, I did, but I'm gonna make you do it anyway, as payback for what you did to me at practice this week," he retorted. Matt was about reply with some type of argument/apology when he saw the impish grin on his friend's face and relaxed. "I really am sorry about practice, though. This week at practice, I was a dick," Matt confessed.
"You had your reasons," Dean replied. "Besides, I did kinda go against the bro code."
"Oh, fuck the bro code!" Matt waved off. "If two people are happy together, nothing and no one should stand in the way of that. I'm glad she has you. Maybe you can make her happy." Dean couldn't stop the smile from blooming on his face. "You know as well as I do that Elena's happiness far exceeds what I can give her," he joked, causing Matt to smile as well. "Well, maybe you can be there for her in ways that others can't," he suggested. "So, are we good?" "Yeah, we are," Dean nodded before he and Matt fist-bumped and bro-hugged.
"Alright, alright, enough with the chick-flick moments," Dean cleared his throat obnoxiously, much to Matt and Stefan's amusement. "Go tell Coach what's going on and tell him Stef and I will be there soon." "Yeah, yeah. You owe me for this, Winchester," Matt snarked good-naturedly. "In your dreams, Donovan," Dean remarked. Then Matt turned and walked away to go find the Coach.
Suddenly, Stefan and Dean heard the sound of someone clapping behind them. They both whirled around to find Damon leaning up against the dimly lit wall observing them from the shadows. "Isn't that nice?" Damon swooned. "Stefan joins a team, and Dean makes up with his friend." "Hey, creeper, ever hear of not being a stalker?" Dean quipped. "Aww, c'mon, baby," Damon crooned. "Don't be like that." "I am not your "baby," asshole!" Dean gritted out spitefully. "Not anymore!" "Guys, please can we not do this tonight?" Stefan put in exhaustedly.
Damon quickly sped over to them in a blur of black shadow. "Nice trick you guys did with Elena," Damon noted. "Lemme guess—vervain in the necklace? I admit I was a bit surprised. But I couldn't forget that pungent smell even if I tried." "Why were you sniffing around her at all when I specifically told you to stay away from her?" Dean snarled. "Or did you not hear my warning last night when you came by Elena's house." "While I admit I swung by Elena's, I don't remember hearing any warning," Damon smirked. "Then again, it's probably because I couldn't hear anything other than her screams of pleasure while you punched in her V-card."
Dean immediately tensed up and Stefan tried and failed to keep himself from looking surprised. "Ooh, I guess you're just finding out, eh, Stef?" Damon grinned. "But whatever. You two can talk about your mutual infatuation over Katherine's doppelganger later. What I want to know is where the hell are you two getting your vervain?" "Why do you think we'd tell you that information?" Stefan sneered. "Come on, Dean let's go." The younger Salvatore and the older Winchester were turning to head for the locker room when they heard Damon call out, saying, "I guess I could just seduce her the old-fashioned way... Or I could just eat her."
In a blur of motion, Dean had Damon pinned against the wall with a hand clasped around his throat. "Listen to me, you little shit! I have played your game for the last three years of my life, I refuse to play it anymore. I don't care what you say or do, we are never, ever getting back together," Dean sneered viciously. "Never say never," Damon rasped tightly. Dean was two seconds away from snapping his neck when he was suddenly pulled off of him by Stefan, who then stepped in between them with his arms spread out to keep them from getting past. "That's enough out of both of you!" he yelled. "Now, listen, Damon, you're not gonna hurt Elena." "No?" Damon challenged. "No, because deep down inside there is a part of you that feels something good, something genuine. And I believe that regardless of your anger and jealousy of Elena, you won't touch her; not unless you wanna lose Dean forever and I highly doubt you'd be willing to risk his eternal hatred. Especially since he's the first person in over a hundred years who stuck around and loved you despite all your... flaws."
"Ugh! Boring," Damon groaned dramatically.
"Oh, shut up, Damon! You know, I don't know what I ever saw in you," Dean swore. "I guess I thought, "maybe if I showed him how much I cared, he'd finally realize that he didn't have to act the way he does." I thought that maybe you would want to change, to be a good person; someone that I would have been proud to introduce to my brother and say, "this is my boyfriend." But I was wrong! You are a monster, and that's all you'll ever be."
Stefan closed his eyes in solemn resignation, as a flash of pain echoed across Damon's face before it was quickly replaced by hot, seething rage. As if to make matters worse, Coach Tanner decided to show up and butt into the conversation. "Salvatore! Winchester!" he shouted. "What the hell? Come on, we've got a game to play."
Damon scoffed. "You're right, Dean. I am a monster... which means that I don't have any humanity or reason to care about losing you because you've made it abundantly clear that I already have." Before Stefan or Dean could react in time, Damon's face shifted and knocked the younger vampire and the hunter aside and lunged at Tanner, wrenching him up by the hair and sinking his fangs into the teacher's carotid artery, and draining him dry! "No!" Stefan cried out. Dean gaped in horror, as Tanner collapsed to the ground dead as whatever remaining blood dribbled out of his body and onto the black asphalt.
"You were wrong, Stefan," Damon growled. "There is nothing inside me that feels good or pure. And if there ever was, it died 145 years ago when you took away the one person who EVER MADE ME HAPPY!"
* * *
Inside the locker room, Tyler was sitting on one of the benches with a bandage over his nose and a makeshift cast around his wrist scowling over the fact that he was benched from the game tonight. "Tanner's M.I.A., and so are Salvatore and Winchester," Tyler declared. "By the way, I can't believe you and Winchester actually got the new guy to replace me!" "Don't talk to me right now!" Matt hollered, slamming the locker shut. "OK, I'm pissed at you." "What are you pissed about? I'm the one who got his ass kicked and benched in the same night! I'm the victim here," Tyler argued. "You're my problem! You're a bully. A friggin' 12-year-old bully, man, and I'm sick of it," Matt lectured. "I mean, what was that about tonight? What's hounding our best friend and pummeling his and Elena's kid brothers gonna prove? Or screwing with my sister?"
"Are you for real?" Tyler screamed. "I'm on your team." "You were out of line," Matt concluded. Then he stormed out of the locker room in a tizzy and walked back out into the area where Damon, Stefan, and Dean recently had a confrontation. Out of the corner of his eye, Matt saw a humanoid figure laying on the ground. As he moved closer to look at it, his eyes widened fearfully as he came to realize that the figure laying on the ground was his missing football coach, with a gaping chunk of his neck missing.
"SOMEBODY HELP!"
Less than an hour later, the parking lot was swarming with vehicles from animal control, the hospital, and the police department, and many people were crowding around trying to catch a glimpse of what was happening. Among the crowd was Bonnie, and as she watched them seal Tanner's body in a bag and carry it away, she saw a sign in the background that read: BLDG 8, a Virginia license plate that read: FHT 14, and an empty parking space with a big 22 plastered on it.
The very same space where Tanner's body had been found.