Blood Will Tell (The Vampire Diaries 4.5)

Stefan was not human, but inhuman or not, he was Matt’s friend.

Matt was talking again. “Look,” Matt said. “You didn’t want to do this tonight. We made you. And maybe there was something . . . somewhere that made us.” Involuntarily, Stefan glanced up. Yes, he’d had the strong feeling of her presence here tonight, too. Elena. Still scheming from the spirit world. Elena couldn’t help him any longer with her blood, but that wouldn’t matter to her. She had three humans that she could still influence, and that was fine. It wouldn’t matter to her that Meredith got a bit of a shock or that Bonnie might be playing with fire, or even—well, she wouldn’t have done anything to destroy his friendship with Matt, but he hadn’t known that before.

Matt was going on. “But even though we did force you, you did everything you could for each one of us: three different personalities. No, don’t try to figure out if Meredith or Bonnie talked. I could tell. And Meredith is going to be a tough one for a while, isn’t she?” There were some things gentlemen didn’t talk about. But . . . “Meredith is tough,” Stefan said. “She’ll figure things out for herself and then I’ll do whatever she wants.

Assuming,” he added dryly, “I survive past tonight.”

“What do you think about your chances—now? Our chances, I mean.” Stefan shook his head, both to convey his opinion about his chances, and his opinion about Matt getting involved. But he tried to think about the question. Matt deserved that.

“I don’t know, but a lot better than before,” he admitted slowly.

“So if Elena did influence things, it might really make a difference.” It had better, Stefan thought, remembering Meredith and the naked fear in her eyes—

in Meredith’s eyes!

“Well, there,” Matt was saying. “If Elena is behind it all, then it’s another of her little victories. Everybody did the best they could. You had to try to fit yourself to each person, and we had to face our fears—”

He paused and they spoke in unison. “—except maybe Bonnie.” Matt snorted. Stefan could sense him looking at him.

“I don’t want . . . to lose a friend. My best friend, I guess you could say, even though I don’t see much of him,” Matt said finally.

Now that took courage, Stefan thought. Overcoming the stereotypes of the culture you were born into, trying not to be defensive, or to run away.

“I’d be proud to have a best friend like you,” he said, and Matt smiled, then ducked his head and started fussing with his shoe, his tolerance for “mushy t

ype stuff” undoubtedly exceeded.

Each of them had done their best. Matt was still his friend. For Meredith, maybe the day would come when she could look at him and not think “inhuman”—or at least not think it immediately and constantly. Maybe Bonnie, the moth, would be able to stay away from the unholy flame. Now, there was something to worry about. He could all too easily see Bonnie taking a walk on the very wild side with Damon. His brother had a soft spot for her already, she knew. But if either of them had a problem, he already knew what he had to do to find a plan for a solution.

Just look up.

The end.



© Ljane Smith (L. J. Smith)

This is a fantasy of a fantasy. The idea is : what might have happened at the end of Dark Reunion if Stefan had been persuaded to drink the blood of his three friends in order to be more powerful when he fought that night.

It might have happened something like this...

Please note that the text from the actual book, Dark Reunion, is paraphrased and condensed.

Rating: for mature people who enjoy vampire tales.

Bonnie

Stefan picked up the branch of white ash, took the knife out of his pocket, and began to strip the smaller branches off, making it into a spear.“Terrific! The knight is going off to combat,” Matt said. “Don’t you see that you’re walking right into that monster’s trap?” He took a step toward Stefan. “Right. You’re the vampire, but you don’t drink human blood, so you’re almost as weak as a human . . .”

Stefan gave him a bleak smile. “You think so? Are you sure?”

“Well, I know that there are three of us and only one of you—”

“Stop it, Matt,” Meredith said quietly. “We can’t stop him from fighting this murderer.

All we can do is help him.” And without another word, she began unbuttoning the top button of her shirt.

Bonnie was shocked for an instant—although she’d had the same idea when Stefan had first arrived in Fell’s Church. She hadn’t been thinking of all three of them . . . but what did it matter? She nodded and unzipped her windbreaker.