fourcolorlove | beacon falls } { but i won't rot, i won't rot, not this mind and not this heart

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beacon falls } { but i won't rot, i won't rot, not this mind and not this heart

Stefan works as a barback in a seedy bar on the other side of town, to keep up a larger semblance of normalcy than he would in Mystic Falls. He doesn't exactly have the Founders Legacy to fall back on and it's not as though Beacon Hills is completely full of trust fund kids who never do anything. Besides, he's trying not to compel everyone everywhere, so having an actual job is a good place to start. It makes him look a bit more like a normal guy, which is good when dealing with most of the parents who wonder why Allison is spending time with an older guy who came out of nowhere.

Unfortunately for Stefan, Chris knows exactly what Stefan is, so it doesn't earn him any parental brownie points, but at least he's not trying to get himself invited into the Argent house all the time. In return, Chris agrees not to drive a stake through his heart. It's an easy enough deal.

Tonight, however, is a slow night. Weeknights usually are, as most people have better things to do than drink - another culture shock that he wasn't entirely prepared for. The bar is nearly completely empty, which is both good and bad. Good, because Stefan can have a few drinks of his own and no one will question his continued sobriety and bad because it leaves him alone with his own thoughts, heavily burdened by the nogitsune and whatever else may be running around this town. Deaton wasn't kidding when he said that activating the nematon was bad. Stefan could feel it, pulling at that thing inside of him, that animalistic nature that came with being a vampire, and while he was old enough to tamp it down and learn to control it, there are some that don't.

And there are some that don't care.

He's standing behind the bar with a glass of whiskey, trying to consider the information that he had - the fact that the nogitsune had managed to separate himself from Stiles and had a body of it's own was good. That means they could kill it. But he doubts that that's going to be the end of it, which means they need to have a plan of attack that wouldn't get everyone killed. Add to the fact that it now had Lydia as a hostage, and things were getting increasingly more complicated. Stefan knows he should be out there, should be trying to help find her because he can track, probably better than any of these new wolves could, but a vampire being thrown into the mix was a bit too redundant. And sometimes it's good to have a secret weapon.

He's about to turn and pour himself another glass when he picks up on a familiar set of footfalls, one that he would have placed anywhere, no matter how long it's been since he's heard them. Their owner leaves a very distinct impression, after all. He waits until he hears the door to the bar close behind her, before speaking with a small smile.

"If I remember correctly, you like your martinis dirty, right?"

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She's free.

She gets in her car and drives away from New Orleans, from her brothers and everything else she knew. Her brothers and she have been repeating the same story for a thousand years and now the story has changed. It's hard to completely believe but she keeps driving. She doesn't dare look back because she knows if she does her will will falter.

She doesn't know why she ends up in Beacon Hills -- something draws her here that she can't explain. But she ends up there all the same.

She makes her way into a bar and what she doesn't expect to find there is Stefan Salvatore. Good for him, she supposes. Getting out of Mystic Falls is pretty much best for all involved. Which is why she smirks as she sits down.

"Correct."

"Coming right up."

He starts to fix the drink carefully, watching her for a moment as he tries to figure out how best to ask her what she's doing in Beacon Hills. He doubts she's there for him, though he'd be lying if he didn't feel a bit of a red flag going up at the fact that they're in werewolf town and where Rebekah goes, Klaus isn't usually far behind.

"I didn't expect you this far west." Seems harmless enough. Not a question, but not really an accusation either.

"I could say the same to you." She takes the drink, sipping it with a shrug of her shoulders before she continues speaking.

"I wanted to go someplace new."

He nods in agreement, placing the drink down in front of her as it's finished. "Me too. Mystic Falls was getting a little suffocating for my taste." And Damon and Elena were there. All the time. Flaunting it in his face.

Yep. He definitely needed a change of scenery.

"I had friends out here, I figured it might be a good place to set up shop for a while." He'll probably only get a couple years at most, but it's at least time he doesn't have to spend at home.

"And that included getting a job?" It's as teasing as it questioning. It's not something she would have expected though she has had a few of her own over the years to help blend in.

Still.

She takes her glass, sipping from it.

"At least it's one you're good at."

He shrugs. "I needed to keep up appearances. The supernatural creature of choice is a werewolf, and they're not exactly known for compelling people for what they want. Besides, it's something to do."

Without a brother to harass him or supernatural events centered around his ex-girlfriend, he's had to find a way to keep busy. Never mind the supernatural events centered around the girl he's currently interested in, but that's werewolf stuff.

Werewolf stuff he can handle in his sleep.

"No, that doesn't tend to be a skill most wolves have." Unless they're hybrids and there's only two of those left in the world.

"At least it sounds like a break from all the supernatural politics of New Orleans."

"I heard things down there were getting a little ... dicey." Beacon Hills may be werewolf country, but that doesn't mean Stefan doesn't hear things. Keeping his ear to the ground regarding Klaus is smart, not just for himself, but also for the werewolves in the area. He's not going to let Allison's friends go through what happened to Tyler, even if they do know how to break the sire bond now.

"Is that why you're here?"

"Actually -- I'm here because my brother and I had a falling out, he nearly killed me, and then he let me go. I wasn't going to wait for him to change his mind."

She knows whatever mercy Nik had granted her, it was temporary.

Stefan's eyebrows climb, just slightly, before his face melts to one of sympathy. Being forcibly driven from family like that - it isn't easy, even if the other brother is a psychopath. Stefan knows this from experience.

"I'm sorry."

Because even if losing Klaus wasn't much of a loss, he knows how much Elijah means to Rebekah, and unless the suited Original is going to be following her through the door, Klaus got him in the divorce.

"It wasn't all bad. He didn't dagger me -- he let me go. I think Elijah and I got through to him in a way we hadn't in centuries -- for a moment I could see the brother I loved again."

And that's no small thing. Of course, she knows it was probably brief, Klaus will go back to being terrible and Elijah will stay by his side because that's what he does but she got her freedom out of it. She got her life.

Stefan understands that all too clearly himself. For a moment, before Klaus happened and everything went to Hell, he thought that he was starting to see that in Damon himself. Now a part of him realizes that that was mostly wishful thinking, and he'll probably never have the brother that he loved back again, but that's something that will come with time.

"Hopefully it's something that will stick." He doesn't have high hopes, but he can pretend for her sake, if nothing else.

"One can hope."

For the baby's sake, if nothing else. Either way, Rebekah won't be around to see it happen, but she's sure Elijah will send her updates when he can.

Stefan nods in agreement, before tipping his head to the side. "So, I have to ask - why Beacon Hills of all places?"

She shrugs her shoulders. "No particular reason, I felt drawn to it, I suppose."

Or perhaps a city of wolves reminds her a little of the brother she's no longer with.

Or it was the Nematon. He pauses for a moment, before taking another sip of his drink. "Well, I'm kind of glad you're here. There's actually been a situation we've been working on and ... I'll admit I'm a bit out of my depth. Maybe you've seen it before."

There's a pause, tapping his finger against the rim of his glass. "A nogitsune?"

Or it was the Nematon. It was probably the Nematon.

The name makes her eyebrows climb a little. "I've heard of them, but I've never run into one myself."

He nods, afraid of that. It was worth a shot asking, but not necessarily helpful in figuring out how to stop him. "A friend of a friend is possessed by one. They somehow managed to separate them into two different bodies, but I think they're still ... linked, at least. If we can find a way to separate them completely, maybe we can find a way to kill it."

And he definitely means to kill it. He doesn't care with Scott McCall says. He's not an werewolf, he's not going to be bowing to the whims of an alpha - at least not at this point in time.

Rebekah wrinkles her nose. That's a decidedly complicated situation. Her gut reaction is that they should just kill it anyway -- but she has a feeling he doesn't want to kill this friend of his friend.

"They has to be a way. If something can be linked it can usually be unlinked. Do you know any of the witches in the area?"

She assumes there must be some.

"A couple druids - or 'emissaries' as they call them." He makes a bit of a face. One he tries to avoid. "I think they might be descended from the Bennett line." His reasoning being that Marion Morrell is a dead ringer for Emily Bennett.

"What makes you think that?" She asks, raising a curious brow at that. It doesn't seem like a theory he'd come up with lightly.

He pulls out his phone, flips through the pictures for a moment, before pausing and turning the screen around to face her. It's a picture of Marion Morrell, which if she had seen a picture of Emily Bennett at any point in time, she'd notice there's a rather striking resemblance.

"That's Marion Morrell. The other is her brother. The pack alpha has been consulting with both of them, and so far he's managed to come up empty."

Rebekah hasn't ever seen a picture of Emily Bennett, but she'll take his word for it.

"So they don't know anything -- that's disappointing."

"They managed to find a way to suppress it while it was still inside Stiles, but now that they're separate entities we'd like to try and separate them the rest of the way." It's just a matter of finding the right means. "I know that he's drawing energy from Stiles. It almost makes me wonder what would happen if we took that energy away."

"I wonder what would happen if you turned him -- if he died that would cut off the energy." At least temporarily. Of course then he'd come back as a vampire, which has it's own issues, but.

Stefan frowns as he shakes his head. "There was a scroll that said something about changing his body, but he's already been through enough with this possession. I'd like to find a way to fix this that doesn't involve killing him if I can help it." Though turning him would be a good final solution to the plan. He's not sure how Stiles would take to being a vampire, but he's a bit like Caroline. Maybe in the end, he'd be okay.

(Something to keep in their back pocket if nothing else.)

However, that comment had the wheels in his head spinning. " ... But what if we almost killed him? He's feeding off Stiles's energy - if we take that away, it could weaken him enough to let us kill him all the same."

Rebekah considers this, tilting her head as she listens.

"One of could nearly drain him -- and then see if that severs the cord -- and once that's done we could just use our blood to heal Stiles."

It could work. Maybe.

"It would have to be you." Stefan glances at her apologetically. "I've gotten better, but my control still isn't ... great. If we're draining that much blood, I can't be sure I'd get it right."

"I figured it would." It's not putting him down so much as the simple truth -- control is always an issue with Stefan. "My control is just fine."

He nods a bit in agreement. "Now we just need to track down ... " There's a pause as his phone buzzes in his pocket, and he frowns. " ... Well, that's convenient." "Convenient" doesn't necessarily mean "good" however. He accepts the call and places the phone to his ear.

"Allison, hey. What's up?"

Rebekah listens in on the conversation, more amused than anything else. When he hangs up she can't help but grin.

"I should have known there was a girl involved"

He gives her a bit of a look at that, before sliding his phone into his pocket. "She knows where the nogitsune is. Time to see if this crazy plan will actually work." You can tease him for his choices in women later, Rebekah. There will be plenty of time for that.

Rebekah downs her drink and gets up. "Well, at least I can say it's never boring when I run into you."

Oh she'll definitely get back to teasing later.

He grins at her, before having a quick "chat" with his manager about a family emergency and making his way around the bar.

"What can I say? I keep things interesting."

--

It doesn't take them long to find their way to Eichen House. Stefan had been there before when Stiles was inside, but by the time they get there, the battle has already started. Stefan isn't entirely sure how the nogitsune got control of the Oni, but that train of thought is suddenly halted when he sees one of their blades slice through Allison.

It happens so quickly, and the only thing he can think is no, not again. He abandons any pretense of being human, moving to her side at vampire speed to catch her as she falls, and his wrist is already coming to his lips to bite down, before offering his wrist to her.

"Allison, drink. You need to drink."

"A vampire." He can hear the voice that is Stiles-but-not, and he doesn't even offer the thing a glance. Right now all he cares about is Allison. "Well, that is certainly interesting."

Edited 2014-06-29 13:40 (UTC)

Allison gasps for air for a moment, a gurgled breath and then she nods weakly, leaning up to drink his blood. The taste is like iron on her tongue but it's better than the alternative. Allison doesn't want to die -- even if she knows there's an inherit risk to having that blood in her system. (If she woke up in transition would that be like when a hunter gets bit -- they have to chose to die?)

Rebekah in the mean time looks over at the boy with the strange voice. "That's what Stiles looks like?" One of the others -- Isaac -- nods.

"Where is he?"

"He went to find Lydia with Scott."

And Rebekah zooms off to find the boy so she can drain him and put the plan in motion.

Stefan pulls his wrist back as one of the Oni try to come at him again. The nogitsune clearly intended to kill someone tonight and he's not stopping until that end is achieved. But Stefan's hand comes up to catch the blade before it can come down again. It slices into his palm but he holds it steady, twisting his hand to snap the blade and shoving the creature backwards again.

Stiles, Lydia and Scott are coming towards Rebekah in the tunnel, stopping short when they see her blocking their path. Stiles isn't looking so hot - in fact, he's just about ready to pass out if he stands still for too long, but both Lydia and Scott are staring at her like she doesn't belong there.

"Who are you?" Lydia asks, because she wasn't part of what she saw or ... heard or however this works. "What's happening out there?"

"I'm a friend of Stefan's -- I'm here to help." Probably not what they were hoping for, but right now it's what they can get. "Your friend Allison got hurt, but Stefan healed her."

She makes her way towards the three of them.

"We think we figured out a way to stop the notsigune. You need to trust me -- well you don't, but I'd rather not have to waste the time knocking you out."

"Allison?" The panic that launches through Scott's voice, and Lydia nods for him to go ahead. Stiles isn't looking so good, leaning on Lydia and a mix of concern or exhaustion on his face. The other question was still hanging in the air, and he doesn't know how to answer it. So he lets Lydia do it for him.

"I don't care what happens to me."

Not now. Not if someone is getting hurt. Lydia studies Rebekah more carefully, weighing her options, before nodding. Her and Stefan being here has already changed things. Might as well change a few more.

"Do it."

"I promise, I'll heal him when this is over with -- but we need to sever the cord to the notsigune."

Rebekah's veins around her eyes darken and her eyes turn red and her fangs extend. She doesn't hesitate before zooming to the other side of stiles now, sinking her teeth into his neck.

She promises Lydia, she's not going to kill him. She has better control than that.

Stiles starts a bit in surprise but doesn't fight her. He's not even strong enough to, and he knows it. His hands do find her shoulders to try and steady himself, but slowly he feels things getting hazier and hazier until he's teetering just on the edge of passing out.

Meanwhile, back out in the front, the nogitsune sways for a moment, almost as though he's feeling dizzy. He blinks for a moment, almost as though he's trying to regain focus, and he's not getting it. Then he glances into the tunnels and growls back at Stefan. "What did you do?"

Stefan glances to who's where. Kira is the closest. "Kira, now!"

She follows his cue, not entirely sure what it even means, cutting a glancing blow off one of the oni, then surging forward, stabbing the nogitsune through the chest. He gasps, hands scrambling against the blade for a moment, before she withdraws and the fake version of Stiles falls to the ground, shattering like a clay pot.

Stefan watches, satisfied for a moment, before calling back to Rebekah. "It worked, you can stop!"

As soon as she hears Stefan's words Rebekah stops feeding on Stiles and pulls back. She bites into her own wrist and holds it up to his mouth. "You're going to want to drink this." Luckily, Stiles seems too out of it already to fight it and begins to do as she says.

Yep, Stiles is just going to drink up while Lydia watches on, hoping that whatever this is, it actually works.

Stefan, on the other hand, is just going to turn back to Allison while Kira and her mother dealt with what was left of the nogitsune. One hand comes up and brushes against the side of her head gently. "Are you okay?"

Yes good. Stiles will heal quickly that way.

As for Allison she smiles weakly, nodding her head a little. "I'd be a lot worse if it weren't for you."

Eventually he pulls back, making a bit of a face at the copper taste in his mouth. "Was that blood? I was just drinking blood." There's a beat. "You were just drinking my blood. Are you a vampire? Are vampires a thing now? Psychotic possessing fox spirits weren't enough?"

Lydia, who looked like she was going to be worried for Stiles's well-being for a moment, simply sighed. "Looks like you're going to be just fine."

Stefan smiles back at her, leaning forward to press a kiss to her forehead before helping her to her feet. "Come on. We should get you somewhere safe until my blood passes out of your system. Stiles too."

Rebekah raises a brow at Stiles' reaction. "Yes. I'm a vampire. And my blood just saved your life so it'd be in your best interest to be a little more polite about it."

She's just saying.

Allison nods her head a little. "Right. That's a smart idea." She remembers him telling her what would happen if she died with his blood in her system. She's pretty sure if an Argent was in transition they would have to deal with it like they do the bite.

"Oddly enough, for him that's as close to polite as he gets." Lydia rolls her eyes a bit. "This is the part where you say 'thank you,' Stiles."

Stiles looks sheepish for a moment before saying genuinely: "Thank you." There's a beat. "So if I have your blood in my system, does that make me a vampire now?"

Stefan nods as they get to their feet, before glancing back towards the entryway. "Let's keep you and Stiles together - easier to keep an eye on both of you that way."

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beacon falls } { but i won't rot, i won't rot, not this mind and not this heart

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