𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋𝐒
shes whiskey in a teacup
LATER that night, Echo had overheard an argument in Elena's room which was right beside her's. It was Stefan's voice who she overheard for just a second before there was silence and then crying.
She had left her own room and went to Elena's to see if everything was okay and that was when Elena told her; Stefan was a vampire. Echo stayed in her room, comforting her, all the while thinking of ways to kill the one and only Stefan Salvatore.
BUT, her plans all changed once Elena told her that they needed answers, that she wanted answers.
And that leads them to where they are now, sitting outside the Grill with Stefan.
"You said you would explain everything," Elena said as her and her twin sat across the very vampire who could change their lives. "That's why I asked you to meet me and Echo here. When you Google "vampire" you get a world of fiction. What's the reality?"
"I can tell both of you whatever you want to know," Stefan said with a nod.
Elena nodded, swallowing thickly, and entwining her hands out on the table in front of her. "I know you eat garlic."
"Yes," Stefan said with a nod.
Elena narrowed her eyes. "And somehow, sunlight's not an issue."
The waitress walked over and placed their drinks down in front of them, and as soon as she was gone, Stefan spoke up, "We have rings that protect us."
That was the moment that Echo knew he was a different vampire than she was used to. "Crucifixes?" She realized that it was a good thing that Elena dragged her along because now she needs to know everything about this different type of vampire species so she knows what to expect.
Stefan shook his head. "Decorative."
"Holy water?"
"Drinkable."
"Mirrors?"
"Myth."
Elena nudged Echo who sighed and nodded, allowing her to ask some questions. Either way, she'll get information. "You said you don't kill to survive."
Stefan nodded. "Animal blood keeps me alive, but not as strong as Damon. He can be very powerful."
"And yet you let him get involved with Caroline?" Echo asked angrily, clenching her hands into fists.
Stefan sighed and sat back in the seat. "Forcing Damon not to do something is much more dangerous, believe me."
"He was hurting her!" Echo snapped, her voice firm, shocking Elena. "He was feeding on her. He was somehow able to take away her memories of being bitten so that she never knew what was going on. All she knows is that she is scared of him and that something is terribly wrong!" She clenched her jaw. "Is that supposed to make it okay?" She could really use a knife or some sort of weapon to stab him with right about now.
"No. No, none of this is okay," Stefan said, shaking his head, furrowing his eyebrows. "I know that."
"Are there any others, aside from you and Damon?" Elena asked, grabbing Echo's hand to try and calm her down.
He shook his head. "Not in Mystic Falls, not anymore."
"Not anymore?"
Stefan leaned forward and stared the girls in the eyes so they knew he was serious. "There was a time when this town was... very much aware of vampires, and it didn't end well for anybody. That's why it's important that neither of you tells anyone."
"We can't promise that," Elena stated and that's when Echo had a reaction.
"No. We so promise that," she instantly said, giving her sister a look. "If we go blabbering our mouth out to people, choas will strike, and many people, those that are both innocent and guilty will get hurt." She furrowed both her eyebrows as both gave her a look in surprise. "What? Its obvious. Humans destroy what they can't understand or think is more powerful."
Stefan lightly smiled at Echo. Last night, she might've had the instinct to kill him, but she understood where he was coming from which was a huge relief on his part. "Thank you," he told her.
Echo reeled back and then shook her head. "That doesn't mean I like you."
Stefan sighed and nodded. "Okay." He mostly turned his attention to Elena. "Just give me today. I will answer any questions that either of you have, and when it's over, you can decide for yourself what you want to do with what you know. It'll be your choice."
"STOP here," Stefan told Elena who drove the car through the woods.
"Um... Okay. Woods." She slightly raised her hands and shook them. "Yay," She spoke sarcastically. "What are we doing here?"
"In the middle of nowhere?" Elena finished, looking concerned. She grabbed her twin's hand, and they followed after the vampire with their hands entwined.
"This... didn't use to be nowhere," Stefan stated, turning to look at the twins. Once he saw that they were indeed following him, he turned back around to look at the land. "Used to be my home."
They walked forward until they were staring at a brick column.
"It looks so..."
"Old?" Stefan asked. "It's because they are."
Echo pursed her lips before turning to face Stefan, her face blank. "How old are you?"
"I've been seventeen years old since 1864," he stated which had Echo shaking her head.
"I don't understand that. Why would you want to live forever?" She has never been able to ask a vampire thesw types of questions before so this was all new to her. Usually it's just her beheading them. Though, there was that one time with those vampires who drank from animals.
It was a weird case and they ended up saving them, but hee father wasn't that happy about it. He is all shoot first, ask questions later. Echo is pretty much just like him, but there is rare occasions that if she thinks that they're good enough, she will let them go.
Stefan shrugged and had a faraway look on his face."You said you wanted to know. I'm not gonna hold anything back." He turned to look back at the house, saying, "Half a century before the Boarding House was even built, this was my family's home." He started to walk and the twins followed him. "Damon and I... we were both born here. The Salvatore brothers. Best of friends." He looked back at them. "Much like you two. It was when we met Katherine."
"You knew Katherine in 1864?" Elena asked in shock. "Damon made it seem like—"
Stefan cut her off, shaking his head. "Damon was trying to make you think that I was still heartbroken. He saw that I was happy with you, and he wanted to ruin it."
"All because you loved the same woman a hundred and forty-five years ago?" Echo asked, shaking her head. She couldn't see herself loving someone so much that she will give up everything for that person. "That's petty as fuck."
"She wasn't just any girl," Stefan said, "When Damon got back from the Civil War, we both asked her out to the Founder's Ball. She chose me. I escorted her to the ball at the original Lockwood mansion."
"The first Founder's party," Elena said in shock. "Where you signed the registry."
Stefan nodded. "I didn't care that I had gotten something that my brother wanted. I didn't even care if it hurt him. I only knew that I wanted her."
"So he was upset," Elena said, nodding. "Seems normal for Damon.
Echo frowned as she listened to this story. From what she has already heard, it seemed like Damon was — is — insecure and thinks that his brother gets everything he wants. And if that had happened to Echo, too, everytime she wanted something or someone, and someone else took it — them — she would probably lash out, too. Anyone would, really.
"That's the thing about Damon," Stefan said, shrugging. "He doesn't get mad... he just gets even. What Damon wants, Damon usually gets. I didn't know it at the time, but turns out that night... Katherine was with him too."
"Sounds to me like she is a terrible, two-timing bich," Echo spat, knowing already that she didn't like Katherine.
"So, he stole her away from you, not the other way around?" Elena asked, confused.
Stefan sighed. "Turns out... she wasn't ours to steal. She could control my mind and Damon's. She compelled each of us to keep the secret from the other. She wanted all of us to be together... forever. Didn't work out that way, but..." Stefan bent down and pulled something up from under a piece of rubble. "Damon and I, looks like we're stuck with each other," He opened up the piece of cloth to reveal a ring, "Like it or not."
"Is that Damon's ring?" Elena asked, forrowing her brows.
Stefan nodded and said, "I took it from him, but I have to give it back."
"No. Don't, Stefan," Elena said, "Keep it hidden."
"Wait a minute!" Echo exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at the two of them. "Stefan taking Damon's ring would only anger him, and keeping it hidden will only make it worse."
"But giving it back will bring choas!" Elena argued. "Think. If we give him his ring back, he'll just hurt more people. Think about Caroline."
"I am thinking about Caroline!" Echo snapped. "I don't want her to get hurt because Stefan is being a jackass." All this was bringing back memories of demon-blood Sam and Demon!Dean. "And I don't want you to get hurt, either!"
"Echo is right," Stefan stated which made the Winchester in secret smirk and point to the vampire. "If I don't give it to him, he'll retaliate in the only way that he knows that he can hurt me."
"And how is that?" Elena asked, confused.
Stefan sighed and said, "By hurting you both."
"Wait, what?" Echo blanched, confused. "I literally just tried to take your head off last night. Are you okay? Can vampires get sick, 'cause I think you are."
Stefan simply chuckled and shook his head. "Just trust me, okay?"
"Trust isn't something I do," Echo simply told him, crossing her arms.
Stefan nodded before pulling out a simple box. He handed it over to her and she slowly opened it, not used to be given things. Once she opened it, she saw a pendant necklace. She looked up at the vampire, confused. "It's a vervain necklace. It prevents you from being compelled. I wanted to protect you both from Damon's influence. But I also wanted to... protect you both from me." He gave them both a stern look. "Never take those pieces of jewelry off, because no matter what happens after today, no matter how you two feel, you two will know that you were free to make your own choice."
WHEN they got home later that day, they had ran into Vicki who was apparently transitioning into a vampire. She had freaked out and ran out of the house. Matt and Stefan then went out, searching for her while Echo and Elena tried to keep Jeremy occupied.
"Maybe we should check in with Matt," Jeremy said as Elena and Echo cleaned up the table from where they had just ate dinner.
"He'll call when he finds her," Elena simply said, giving Echo a look.
"Well, what are we supposed to do?" Jeremy asked.
Echo walked over to her little brother and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "We just have to wait."
And just as she was about to say something else, the doorbell rang, and the twins walked towards it with Jeremy following closely behind.
Elena had been the one to open the door, and once she saw that it was Damon, she immediately tried to shut it. His hand stopped the door, and he pushed it open easily, revealing all three siblings.
"Jer, go up stairs," Echo demanded, gritting her teeth, moving to stand in front of them, seperating them from the — most likely — angry vampire.
As soon as Jeremy was out of sight, Damon said, smirking, "You two are afraid of me." He put all his attention on Echo. "It's nice to finally meet you." He smirked. "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess. Stefan finally fessed up."
"Stay away from us," Elena snapped, trying to push past Echo seeing as she was the eldest, but Echo was surprisingly strong, and held her back.
Damon smiled at them, finding Echo feisty and cute. "Hey, hey, hey, there's no need to be rude. I'm just looking for Stefan. May I come in? Oh, wait. Of course, I can. I've been invited."
Elena instinctively grabbed Echo's arm, backing her up along with her as Damon walked into the house, shutting the door behind him. "We can cut to the chase if you want," Damon said, shrugging. "I'm not gonna kill you two right now. That wouldn't serve my greater agenda. So... where's Stefan?"
"Here's a hint..." Echo started as she took a step towards Damon, her head held high. "It starts with an 'F' and ends with 'U'."
Damon lowly chuckled at her. "Awe. How cute. You look like an angered Chihuahua." He then glared. "Where is he?"
"He's out looking for Vicki," Elena stated, giving Echo a warning look.
Damon sighed and said, "Don't look at me with your judgey little twin eyes. Girl's gonna thank me for what I did to her."
"Did you thank Katherine?" Echo asked, smirking as he walked up to her.
He backed away, grinning lightly. "Got the whole life story, huh?"
"We got enough," Elena stated.
Damon smiled. "Oh, I doubt that." He shook his head and walked towards the door. "Tell my brother I'm looking for him. Oh, a tip for later. Be careful who you invite in the house."
Echo watched as he left, closing the door, recalling the look he held in his eyes the moment Katherine was mentioned. He did love her. And the way he said that made her think they didn't get the whoel story, that Stefan was trying to seem like the good guy, the victim. But, in reality, it might've been Damon who was the victim. Afterall, they didn't know the whole story.
Echo sighed and ran an exaggerated hand down her face. "I'm going to pass out and not wake up for a few years. Bye!" She made her way up the stairs, into her room, and fell face first on her bed.