𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙏𝙒𝙀𝙉𝙏𝙔 𝙊𝙉𝙀
ミ★ ( lion and the lamb, act one ) ★彡

     Hazel should've known that something was wrong when she spoke to Stefan on the phone when she got home after the double date. His tone was off and he wasn't conversing with her in the normal manner that she's used to. However, when she came to find out why he wasn't himself, she felt sick. Somehow the vampires from 1864 that were trapped in the tomb had escaped; and Pearl and Anna had paid the Salvatore brothers a visit to let them know that they were taking up residence in Mystic Falls permanently. It was like history was repeating itself and it was a modern version of 1864 all over again—and on top of it, two of Pearl's minion vampires had broken in to the Salvatore home to try and kill them both for what happened in the past; and how they ended up in the tomb, including the man that had grabbed Hazel in the Grill. But, worst of all, Hazel thinks of Bonnie. Her Grams died because of that spell, and it would be heartbreaking to hear that it would've all been for nothing.

     "I say we go to Pearl's, bust down the door, and annihilate the idiot that attacked us last night." Damon says as he boards up the window that the vampires broke through while Stefan, Hazel and Elena watch him.

      "Yeah. And then what? We turn to the rest of that house of vampires and say, 'Oops. Sorry.'?" Stefan replies sarcastically and Damon shrugs as if it was a plausible thought.

      "I can't believe you made a deal with her." Elena shakes her head in disbelief and disappointment while Damon walks away from the window.

      "It was more like a helpful exchange of information." Damon corrects, "And it's not like I had a choice. She's... scary. Besides, she's gonna help me get Katherine back."

      Hazel's eyebrows raised at the information that Damon still wants to find Katherine after finding out that she had betrayed him, but Elena didn't have the same thought. She scoffs and rolled her brown eyes in response, "Of course she is. Damon gets what he wants, as usual. No matter who he hurts in the process."

      "You don't have to be snarky about it." Damon grumbles while going to sit down on the leather sofa.

       Elena's eyes narrowed onto him while placing her hand on her hip, "We woke up this morning to learn that all the vampires have been released from the tomb. I've earned snarky."

      Sensing an argument erupting between them, Stefan holds up his hand, "This isn't being very productive." He says, "We're gonna figure out a way to deal with Pearl and the vampires. Yeah?" He looks directly at Damon to let him know he has no choice in the matter since it was his fault that the vampires had the access to blood after being desiccated, and therefore had the strength to escape the tomb.

      Damon doesn't say anything. He just stands and just leaves the room instead, leaving the twins and Stefan standing there. Elena simply scoffs, "He's such a self-serving psychopath." She says and Hazel sends her a look. She knew that Elena and Damon had a weird thing where they got on each other's nerves but also had a strange connection. She wonders what changed to make Elena hate him again, "I mean, he has no redeeming qualities." Noticing the looks on Stefan's face and the confused look Hazel's face—reminding her that she's in the dark as to why she's so angry at him, Elena sighs at her outburst to change the subject, "I'm sorry. He just makes me so cranky."

      "I know. He makes everybody cranky." Stefan says understandingly.

      Hazel doesn't want to talk about Damon anymore. At least not while there's a major issue at hand: Pearl, Anna and their gaggle of vampires that have a vengeance for what happened in 1864, "So, what are we going to do?" She asks Stefan.

      "Damon and I are gonna handle everything, I promise." Stefan replies.

       "Well, what about us?" Hazel asks, pointing between herself and Elena, "We can't just sit here and do nothing."

       Stefan places his hands on both of Hazel's shoulders, "That's exactly what you're gonna do, because that's what going to keep you safe."

       "Which means nothing if you're not safe, too." Hazel reminds him with soft eyes.

       Stefan slightly smirks in amusement, "What do you mean? I'm perfectly safe." He says, causing Hazel to stare at him in confusion, "I have Damon, the self-serving psychopath on my side."

       Hazel's face falls to a deadpan. Well, that's comforting—not, "That's not striking much confidence."

      It wasn't until later in the afternoon when Elena gets a call from Damon. The twins had decided to stay inside for the day since it was pouring rain outside and they weren't exactly interested in accidentally running into one of Pearl's vampires. Elena declines the call and goes to walk upstairs to her room but stops when there's a knock at the door. She turns back and answers the door to see Damon standing on the other side of it, "You're both ignoring me." Damon says as he enters the house to find Hazel.

      "The six missed calls on my phone and the thirty on Hazel's?" Elena asks as she follows him up the staircase, "Sorry. Our phones are dead."

       Damon finds Hazel's room, and enters it urgently to see Hazel by herself, reading on her bed, "Is Stefan here?" He asked the older twin.

      Hazel looks up from her book with her eyebrows pulled together in concern, "No. Why?" She asks because Damon wouldn't just barge in like that looking for Stefan, especially when they have enemies roaming town, "Is something wrong?"

      "He went out in the woods and didn't come back." Damon tells her and Hazel scrambles to get her phone that was plugged in to charge on the other side of the room, "I can't get him on his phone. I figured he was here with you."

       Hazel presses Stefan's contact information to call him and puts the phone to her ear, but instead of heading a dial tone, she only hears his voicemail, "It's going straight to voicemail."

      "Where could he be?" Elena asks Damon.

      Damon gives Hazel a sympathetic look which makes a pit form in the bottom of her stomach, "You're not going to like what I'm thinking."

     Damon followed his gut to a little cottage house that was surrounded by the forestry of the woods; a place that was secluded and private from just anyone walking by—perfect for those who have something to hide, like their vampiric acts. Pearl and Anna had unfortunately picked well. He bangs on the door harshly, "Pearl! Open this door." He demands, "I swear to God I'll bust through and rip your head off."

     Instead of Pearl, Frederick half opens the door and Damon's jaw clenches at the sight of him after their last encounter, "Pearl's not home." Frederick informs him and dread fills Damon because she was the one who was supposed to be pulling the reins. Frederick opens the door more and peeks his head to look up at the sky happily, "Hmm. Beautiful weather. Not a ray of sun in the sky."

     "Where's my brother?" Damon asks. Frederick and most of the tomb vampires didn't have daylight rings, and because it was cloudy and raining, Damon didn't have the advantage of sunlight against them.

     "Billy." Frederick calls and two vampires drag a weakened Stefan into the hallway, and into Damon's view.

     Damon's anger wants him to act now and his jaw clenches at the sight of his brother hurt, "You're dead." He says and goes to lunge at him, but is stopped at the doorway.

     Frederick smirks because of their little trick and stands so his body was shielding Stefan from Damon's view. Clearly Damon had thought that they didn't have something in place to protect them, "Whoa. I'm sorry. You haven't been invited in." He points out, "Miss Gibbons?"

     Miss Gibbons enters the front entryway with a kind smile on her face and bite marks all over her body from being used as a human blood bag, "Yes, Frederick, honey?"

       "Never let this bad man in." Frederick turns and compels her with a smirk directed at Damon, feeling as if he's won.

      "I'll never let him in." She repeats as she looks at the older Salvatore, feeling the effects of the compulsion instantaneously.

     "A hundred and forty-five years left starving in a tomb, thanks to Katherine's infatuation with you and your brother." Frederick snarls, "First few weeks, every single nerve in your body screams with fire. The kind of pain that can drive a person mad. Well... I thought your brother might want to get a taste of that before I killed him." He smirks at Damon as he steps back, "Billy." Billy stabs Stefan in the side with a stake and he screams out while all Damon can do is watch, "You have a nice day." He says before shutting the door.

      Damon contemplates his options before going back to his car that was parked in the woods. Both Hazel and Elena get out of the car once they saw him approaching, using an umbrella to shield them from the rain, "What happened?" Hazel asks, noticing that Stefan wasn't with him, "Where is he?"

     "They have him. I can't get in." Damon tells them.

     "Why not?"

     "Because the woman who owns the house is compelled to not let me in." Damon explains.

      Hazel opens and closes her mouth again as she thinks. Smart. But, just because Damon can't get in, doesn't mean she can't—she's human; therefore doesn't need an invitation, "We can get in." Hazel speaks and Elena nods in agreement, taking a step forward to go to the house.

      Damon stops her, "Neither of you are going in there."

     "We're going!" Elena insists. It's Stefan, they can't just leave him there. Who knows what they were doing to him.

       "You're not going in there." Damon says again.

      "Why are they doing this?" Hazel asks calmly despite her wanting to cry. She doesn't want to see him hurt, "What do they want with him?"

      Damon looks away momentarily before he licks his lips, "Revenge." He answers and dread fills Hazel as she thinks back to the tomb and what Anna had said to her. She had said that Stefan and Johnathan Gilbert put them in the tomb, but she just doesn't know why, "They want revenge."

        "We gotta do something." Panic erupts in Hazel. If Stefan was truly the reason why they ended up desiccated in the tomb, then they would kill him to pay the price. They spend 145 years in that tomb—starving. Stefan wouldn't last long against several hungry and vengeful vampires.

       "I know." Damon agrees.

       "We can't let them hurt him." Hazel rambles, feeling a small panic attack coming on at the thought of him hurt or dead, so much so that she missed Damon agreeing with her to save him, "We gotta get him out of there."

      "I know." Damon repeats, placing his hands on Hazel's shoulders to calm her down, "Hazel, I know. But, I don't know how to get him out."

       Elena suddenly perks up, "I have an idea."

      Alaric Saltzman was walking down the hallway of Mystic Falls High School when Damon appears in front of him, stopping the teacher in his tracks. The last he saw of Damon Salvatore was when he had confronted him about killing his wife and it had gotten him killed as a result of it, "Well, don't you look... alive?" Damon smirks.

      "You can't hurt me." Alaric states.

       Damon's smirk only intensifies as he steps closer to him, "Oh, I can hurt you, alright."

       Alaric stiffens in preparation to fight him off when suddenly, Elena and Hazel Gilbert appear behind Damon, "Mr. Saltzman." Elena says stiffly, "We need your help."

      Elena had confessed some things on the car ride over to the school. She had let Hazel know that their history teacher and Jenna's somewhat-boyfriend, Alaric Saltzman was actually a vampire hunter. Hazel couldn't believe what she was hearing and she wondered how she knew that information about him because even Jenna didn't know that. Elena had explained that his late-wife knew about vampires and was tragically murdered by one, causing Alaric to become a teacher by day and vampire hunter by night.

       "Alright." Alaric relents with a sigh, gesturing them all to go to his classroom to talk, staying behind them all as he didn't trust Damon to let him lead in case he did a sneak attack. He sits down at his desk while Hazel and Damon sit by the windowsill and says, "What do you need my help with?"

      "Stefan's been kidnapped." Elena began to explain as Hazel doesn't have as much of a relationship as her sister does with him to ask something of him, "The myth of Mystic Falls having a tomb filled with vampires from the Civil War is true, and they have escaped and taken Stefan hostage because they want revenge." She says, "Stefan's in the house. Damon's a vampire. He can't get in. We need you. Hazel and I would go, but..."

     "But your lives are valuable." Damon interrupts, "Yours, on the other hand is..."

     "Damon!" Hazel scolds while Elena lets out an exhale.

     "Stefan told me about your ring." Elena says to Alaric, who was glaring at Damon for his remark.

      "What about it?"

      "Let me recap: you tried to kill me. I defended myself, you died. Then, according to my brother, your ring brought you back to life." Damon says and Hazel can't help but blink because that part was not included in the debrief in the car, "Am I leaving anything out?"

      "Yeah." Alaric stands to his feet and begins to walk towards Damon, "The part where I try and kill you again. Only this time, I don't miss."

      Elena stands in between them, "Mr. Saltzman. Please." She pleads, "It's Stefan."

       "I'm sorry, Elena. But, it's not my problem." Alaric shakes his head and Hazel lets out a sigh. It was a long shot to ask a stranger to help put his life on the line, but she really had hoped that he would.

       "That's a shame." Damon comments as he stands to his feet and walks towards them, "Because the woman in charge of the crowd can help you find your wife."

Hazel's eyes widened because Jenna had told her that Alaric's wife was dead—well, declared still missing, but presumably dead. She then wonders how Elena knows her and how to find her if she wasn't, "You're lying." Alaric states.

"Am I?" Damon challenges, "Why don't you ask her for yourself?" Alaric looks at Elena, whose eyes were widened in a panic as she looks at her twin, but doesn't ask, "Coward. Come on, girls."

Damon, Hazel and Elena start to leave, and Alaric's chance to ever find out what happened to his wife was leaving with him. He looks down at his ring that was gifted to him by her and gives in. He owes it to her to find out what happened and why she disappeared, "Alright! Wait." He stops them, "I'll go."

The three of them walk back inside and relief flows through Hazel that they might be able to help Stefan before it's too late after all. Alaric goes to his desk and opens up one of the drawers that has a false bottom, pulling out his arsenal of weapons created to hunt vampires, "Teacher by day, vampire hunter by night." Damon comments when he sees the array of weapons.

Alaric looks up at the vampire, "I have you to thank for that."

Hazel's eyebrows pull together at the weapons and points to one she's unsure of, "What are these?"

"Those are tranquilliser darts filled with vervain." He explains and Hazel's eyes widened and how extensively thought out they were.

"Just get me in. I'll get Stefan out." Damon says.

Elena looks up at him in disbelief and incredulity, "That's your plan? You're just gonna take them all on yourself?"

"Well, I'll be a little stealthier than that, hopefully."

Elena rolls her eyes at him and takes one of the vervain darts. Alaric holds his hand out, "Whoa. What are you doing?"

Elena stares at both males like it's obvious, "We're going with you guys."

"No. No. No. No. No way." Damon refuses instantly.

"You need us." Elena insists, "We could get in. You could distract them, and then we'll get Stefan out."

"You'll get yourselves killed. You're not going in there." Damon says sternly and with annoyance that they're having this conversation yet again.

"We're going." Elena argues insistently.

Damon looks at the hunter, "So, when you get me in, get out as quickly as you can. I know how to sneak around where they can't hear me. You'll basically just... be in the way." He says with a mocking tone.

"Damon, now is not the time to be the lone ranger." Elena snaps.

Damon rolls his eyes in annoyance, "Fine. Elena, you can drive the getaway car. But, you nor Hazel are going in the house."

"You can't stop us." Hazel chimes in, needing to agree with Elena on the decision, "It's Stefan we're talking about here."

"Oh, I understand." Damon replies sarcastically and Hazel's face falls a little at the mockery, "He's the reason you live. His love lifts you up where you belong. I get it."

"Can you just not joke around for two seconds?" Hazel snaps.

"I can't protect you. I don't know how many vampires there are in there." Damon says bluntly before clicking his fingers in their faces, "That's how long it takes you to get your head ripped off. I have to be able to get in and get out. I can't be distracted with your safety. Or this will end up a bloodbath that none of us walk away from... including Stefan." He says and the twins look down at their feet, "I know. I get it. I understand."

Alaric looks in between them all, wondering what the relationship is between them and says, "If we're gonna go, let's go."

      Alaric knocks on the door to the Gibbons' home and Frederick answers the door. Alaric puts on his act of being an unknowing, regular human that doesn't know who he is or why he's there and smiles gratefully, "Oh, good, someone's home. Uh, could I use your phone?" He asks, rubbing has hands together for warmth as he was drenched in the cold rain, "My car broke down a few miles up the road. This was the first house I saw."

      "Well, lucky you." Frederick commented.

     "Yeah. Lucky me." Alaric chuckles nervously, "It's no trouble, is it?"

      "Not in the slightest." Frederick says as he steps aside to make room.

       "Great. Whew." The hunter says as he enters the house and Frederick closes the door behind them, "Hey, man, I really appreciate it. It's rough out there."

      Frederick turns to the other man that walked into the hallway, "Billy, show our visitor where the phone is in the kitchen. And get me something to drink." He ordered.

     "Yeah. Sure thing." Billy leads Alaric to the kitchen, not knowing that Alaric was analysing how many vampires were in the house on their way over there, seeing a whole bunch playing pool in one of the rooms. They get to the kitchen, where the lady that owns the house was, preparing something to eat for all of them, "Hey, Miss Gibbons, this guy wants to use your phone."

      Alaric notices the bite marks on her instantly, but she didn't seem to mind as she smiles, "Oh, sure, honey. It's right there." She points to the direction of the phone with her knife.

      "Thanks." Alaric says and walks towards the phone. As he does, Billy comes at him with a stake but Alaric is too quick for him and grabs the stake and stabs him with it, the vampire letting a groan as he feels himself desiccated instantly.

      Alaric turns on the faucet and starts the blender to create noise so the other vampires can't hear him, "What's happening?" Miss Gibbons asks.

     "I'm really sorry." Alaric says as he grabs her arm and leads her away from the kitchen, "But, you're gonna need to invite a friend of mine inside."

     They get to the front door and Alaric opens it to where Damon was standing on the other side, "Oh, I'm sorry. He's not allowed in the house."

     "I know that. But, you've gotta make an exception." Alaric insists.

      "Get her out of the house. Now!" Damon orders and Alaric pushes her out from within the house. Alaric checks to see if anyone has heard them while Damon places his hands on her shoulders as he asks, "Miss Gibbons, tell me the truth. Are you married?"

      "No."

      "Parents, children, anyone else who lives on this property?" Damon elaborates.

      "No. It's just me."

      "No? Good." Damon breaks her neck and promptly enters the house.

      Alaric sees Miss Gibbons' dead body on the porch and grabs Damon's arm, "You were supposed to compel her."

      "It doesn't work that way..." Damon replies in the same tone that was given.

     "She is human." Alaric reminds him.

     "And I'm not! So, I don't care. Now, get out of here. And get rid of the body!" Damon shoves Alaric outside and closes the door behind him, successfully now in the house.

      Meanwhile, Elena and Hazel were waiting in the car. Elena pulls a vervain syringe from her purse and examines it, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Hazel asks, as she too was examining the syringe.

       Elena looks at her sister, "That we go in there and help?"

      Hazel nods although she knows whatever she's about to face will most likely give her more nightmares than usual, "We have to. It's Stefan."

      Suddenly, a tree branch falls onto the car's windshield and the twins gasp, giving them the sign they need to get the hell out of the car and do what they need to.

     Elena and Hazel jump onto the porch of the home after climbing over the railing and they pressed their backs against the wall to keep themselves hidden. They begin to move, but as they hear Frederick, Hazel pulls Elena back, "Billy, Jacob, get back in here!"

     They spot a set of stairs that lead down to the cellar and while keeping their bodies low, they run past the door and go down the staircase, through a gated door. They get to another door made of windows and Hazel tries to open the door, but it's locked. Elena busts out one of the windowpanes and reaches her hand into the gap to unlock the door and open it while Hazel stares at her twin in wonder.

     They walked through the doorway to see a man standing guard by a door at the end of the hallway, who was unaware they were there since he was listening to music. They look at each other and nod to agree they were going to take him on, and Elena got the vervain syringe out to get ready to attack, gripping it tightly in her hand.

     The man stands up and pulls out his earphones and the girls gasp and hide around the corner as he walks towards their direction, but Damon appears and kills the man before anyone could do anything else. He sees the twins and snaps, "Are you two insane?"

      Meanwhile, Stefan was still trapped in the cellar with his arms tied above his head with vervain ropes while bleeding from wounds located on his chest. Harper, a vampire that was from Pearl's clan, was tied to a chair in front of him for trying to help him and stand up to Frederick until it blew up in his face, "Thank you." Stefan whispers weakly, "For trying to help me."

      "They just needed somebody to blame. Someone to punish." Harper replies in a weak tone before Hazel, Elena and Damon enter the cellar.

       Hazel runs right to Stefan's side, "Hazel..." Stefan whispers out, "You shouldn't be here..."

       "They were supposed to stay in the car." Damon says as he pushes past the twins and twirls the stake in his hand to stab Harper.

      Harper prepares himself for death before Stefan yells out, "Ugh! No. No. No. Not him." Harper tried to help him and had nothing to do with what Frederick had planned. He didn't deserve death and especially not in front of Hazel.

      Damon rolls his eyes, "Whatever. Let's get you down." He says as he walks over towards the area where the rope that was holding up Stefan was being anchored.

     "There's vervain on the ropes." Stefan informs his brother before he tries to touch it knowing it will harm him.

     "Elena, pull that." Damon orders as he walks back up to Stefan to assist Hazel in holding Stefan up on his feet when Elena releases the ropes. Stefan lets out a groan as his body can finally relax from being held up as he stumbles into Hazel and Damon's arms, "Alright, let's go. Clothes on."

     Damon goes to check the hallway to make sure no one was coming when Stefan says, "Wait."

      "What? Guys, come on. We have to get out of here." Damon protests. They have a very small window and so far, Damon is the only one who can take on the other vampires, and he's outnumbered.

      Stefan pulls out the stake from one of Harper's legs and the vampire lets out a groan of pain. Hazel places Stefan's jumper around his shoulders and he whispers weakly to her, "The other one. I can't do it."

      Hazel looks at Stefan and Harper's leg in wide eyes. God, she might puke. She bites her lip because there has to be a reason he's asking her of this and she hesitantly grabs onto the stake and pulls up, lifting the wooden instrument out of the man's other leg that was pinning him to the chair. Harper lets out another groan as she goes to grab back onto Stefan while Elena runs to his other side, leading him to where Damon was.

      "Can you get him to the car?" Damon asks the twins.

      "Yeah, we can do it." Hazel says as they reach the hallway.

      "Alright, go." Damon orders as he takes a step into the other doorway that didn't lead to the staircase where they came in.

       "You two rescue, I'll distract." Damon says, nodding his head forward to direct, "Go."

      The Gilbert twins carried on getting Stefan outside and back to the safety of the car, where they hoped Mr. Saltzman wasn't going to be too mad at them for straying from the original plan that they had created. It was dark outside by now, and the darkness of the woods were slightly terrifying knowing they were running from danger and they were hoping they were headed in the right direction.

     Stefan was struggling to keep going. It was clear he had been through torture and was weakened as a result of it, "Can you make it?" Elena strains. She was used to throwing around girls her size in cheerleading practice, not muscular men.

       Stefan grunts and loses his footing, causing them all to fall down and Hazel cuts her hand on the edge of a sharp rock that her hand fell onto to catch her fall. She feels the sting and looks at the cut, "You okay?" Stefan grunts.

       "Yeah." Hazel answers. They don't have time to baby her and her small wound when Stefan needs help, "Come on, we need to keep going." She says as she and Elena pick Stefan up from the ground again to continue onwards, "Come on."

      It was a few more minutes before they arrived at the car and Hazel can't help but sigh in relief that they made it in one piece, although she knows they aren't out of the woods yet—pun intended. Stefan is continuing to deteriorate by the second and she's worried about him—vampires aren't meant to be weaker than a human. He needs to regain his strength fast, "Come on, it's right over here." Elena says encouragingly as they reach the passenger side of Damon's blue Mustang.

     Elena opens the door and Hazel helps Stefan into the passenger seat as Elena runs to the driver's side to start the car, but as her hands reach for the ignition, she sees that it has been removed, "Stefan..." Her eyes widen and she looks up to see Frederick approaching them and grab Hazel, throwing her against the tree, causing her to let out a screech of pain from her back hitting the trunk. Frederick proceeds to punch through the window on Stefan's side and drag him out of the car before beating on him continuously.

       Elena runs over to Hazel with wide eyes to help her up, rolling her on her back to see the tears in her eyes, "Are you okay?" She asks, worried that her back might be broken.

       Hazel can only nod and cry at the same time, which wasn't very believable but she was sure nothing was broke, she was only severely winded.

      Frederick picks up Stefan by the throat, "This is for Beth-Anne." He says, stabbing him in the abdomen with a tree branch that had fallen from the impact of Hazel hitting the tree and Stefan lets out a groan while Hazel yells out in protest, "And this is for the tomb."

      Frederick winds back his hand and is about to plunge his hand into Stefan's chest to grab his heart when Elena yells out, "No!" She runs over and plunges the vervain syringe into Frederick's back. Frederick lets out a choking sound as he drops Stefan in his now weakened state and falls to his knees.

      Hazel crawls over to Stefan's side as Elena sits down next to him, "Stefan." Hazel whispers as she looks over at him and his wound—which was the very large tree branch sticking out of his chest. Stefan can only let out a groan in response, to which Hazel realises he can't talk or recover with that thing in him and it needs to be removed now. She doesn't hesitate to reach over and pull out the branch.

       "Stefan..." She calls out his name, but he doesn't respond, he only stares up at the sky blankly. She grabs his face in her hands, "Stefan..." She calls again but instead his eyes start to roll to the back of his head. She panics as she shakes him to wake him up, "No, Stefan. Stefan!"

       Elena looks around, trying to figure out how to get them out of there while Hazel continues to shake him awake, "Stefan, please. Stefan! Oh, Stefan, please get up. Get up, Stefan." She whispers as she has his face in her hands and looks over at Frederick to see that he is beginning to wake up. Her eyes widen and she looks at the cut on her hand, an idea coming to mind, "Stefan." She tries once more before she puts her hand up to his mouth for him to drink, placing the blood on his lips, "Here."

       "Are you sure?" Elena asks in concern.

       No, she thinks. It hurts so bad to be fed on but she can't let him die, and if she doesn't, then they'll all be dead, "No, Hazel, please run." Stefan whispers.

       Hazel shakes her head, "No."

       "Please—"

       "Stefan. My wrist." Hazel insists shakily as she pulls her sleeve down to reveal the vein on her wrist and puts it closer to his mouth, basically begging him to drink from it out of desperation, "Here. Take my wrist. Please, you—you need more blood. Just drink, please."

      "No." Stefan moves his head away and tries to grab her wrist to push it away, "Go, Hazel, run. Run."

        "No." Hazel says again sternly, pushing her wrist back, "No, I trust you."

       Hazel gives Stefan her wrist and he looks over at her as if he's asking her for permission. Hazel can only nod her head as he hesitantly grabs her wrist and bites down, drinking her blood. Hazel lets out a gasping sound and her face wincing from the pain.

       Frederick begins to get up and grabs a branch to walk towards the three of them, but Stefan is still drinking from Hazel's wrist to notice, Elena can see her twin beginning to become weak from the blood loss, but he doesn't notice that also, "Stefan, stop!"

       As Frederick gets close and is about to stab Stefan, Stefan gets up and pins Frederick to a tree with a growl, getting him far away from Hazel and Elena before he could harm them again. He takes the branch from Frederick and repeatedly stabs him in the heart while Frederick groans until his skin desiccates and he dies.

       Hazel can only watch in horror as she watches Stefan transform into something she's never thought he was capable of. Stefan was always protective and sweet, and this side of him was different. It was like he was lost in himself—he was lost in the rage.

        "Stefan!" Elena yells out at him when she notices the frightened look on Hazel's face, but he doesn't stop. Elena runs over and grabs Stefan's arm to try and make him stop. His head snaps around to look at them, his face is still in its vampire form which equally terrifies Elena.

      As soon as he looks at the identical frightened faces, Stefan stops, horrified at himself and what he had just done. His hands were covered in blood, a mix of his own, Hazel's and Frederick's and he drops the branch to the ground, feeling ashamed that he had let go of the animal he had been holding back for decades in front of her.

      Hazel was looking out the window of the Salvatore Boarding House. They had returned back almost immediately after Frederick was killed and Hazel had tried to sleep the night off; she was exhausted from being thrown around by another vampire and the blood loss before being promptly woken up by a nightmare. It was the same nightmare as usual—the rings of fire before a pair of sharp teeth coming for her, this time, instead of a faceless man, it was Stefan. She didn't know what to think of it besides that she was just freaked out after everything that had happened tonight, and she was in shock from the adrenaline that was pumping through her veins. She had done things that she didn't think she was capable of because the man she loved was in danger.

Stefan approaches Hazel, and she turns around when she hears his footsteps. Once they make eye contact, Hazel turns back around and tucks a piece of hair behind her ear nervously, "How are you doing?" Stefan asks her, she was in pretty bad shape when they returned back—both physically and emotionally.

"I'm okay—I'll heal." Hazel says. Her back is throbbing from the impact and she knows she'll bruise, but other than that, she's okay, "You?"

"Uh, I'm okay. The wounds have mostly healed." Stefan replies and Hazel nods her head.

"Good." She says breathlessly, trying to sound brave and not desperately relieved and scared like she feels on the inside.

"Hazel..." Stefan calls to her, taking a step towards her and she finally turns to face him, trying to look nonchalant, "What you did today, coming to help me... you could have been killed."

And if she didn't, he would've been killed, and that seems worse to her. She couldn't let that happen—and that makes what she did worth it, "I know."

Stefan looks down at his feet, "And what I did, I'm sorry that... I'm sorry that you had to see it." He says genuinely, looking up at her with pure guilt and shame. He should've never lost control like that, especially not in front of her.

Hazel swallows thickly, "I've just never... you were like this other person." She says, but she knows it's not his fault. He usually drinks animal blood and she made him drink hers to save them, "And it's my fault. I made you..."

Stefan shakes his head, "What? No." He interrupts her before she could continue to self blame, "You didn't make me do anything. You were saving my life. And I was saving yours." He walked towards her and gently caresses her face when he sees the frightened look on her face, "Everything's gonna be okay."

      Hazel feels that pull again when she looks in his eyes. She can't let it go and she's not strong enough to fight it, "Stefan, when I knew that they had taken you, I was... I was so scared." She admits, tears welling in her eyes and his facial features soften further at her confession, "I know we've been in this weird in between phase but when I thought I was going to lose you, it made me so scared because I didn't want us to end like that."

       "Hazel..."

       Hazel shakes her head, "You mean so much to me—I love you, you know? I hated seeing you hurt, and I hated the way that we weren't really us anymore because I was so scared of letting myself be hurt again, but after today, I would rather take that risk than regret never trying."

       Stefan's heart swells more to hear that she still loves him despite everything, "Everything is going to be okay." He assures her once again, "I'll be here for you no matter what, and I promise you, I'll do better and be the man that you deserve." He promises and she nods because that's all she wants, "I love you, Hazel. You'll always be the woman I love."

        Hazel smiles. She's glad she listened to her heart and not her head this time. Before she can say anything else, her phone rings and she answers it when she sees that Jeremy was calling, "Hey, Jer..." She starts, trying to sound normal.

       "You need to come home." He says in a rush and her face drops at the way he sounds. He sounds so upset and hurt, "You need to come home now. Hazel—I can't—"

       "Woah, what—what's going on?" She says, trying to calm him down but she can only hear his sobs on the other line, "Jeremy, calm down. It'll be okay, what's going on?"

       Jeremy lets out another painful sob before she whispers, "They found Vicki's body."

      Hazel looks at Stefan in shock as she whispers, "Oh, no."