(act one, chapter seventeen: let the right one in)

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That the last few days had been unbearable for Buffy Sommers, would be the understatement of the year. The girl had mostly stayed in bed, ignoring every time her phone rang and he-who-must-not-be-named's name appeared on her screen she had thrown it to the end of her bed, not even wanting to see the device.

Caroline had stayed over a lot too. From the moment Jenna had told the Forbes what had happened, because Buffy couldn't form the words, Caroline had offered them to personally go over to James's house and beat him up for what he did, but by the time she arrived at his house, he was nowhere to be seen.

It had been Alaric who had convinced Buffy to go to talk with Liz after hearing that James was gone. Of course he didn't want his daughter to relive what had happened, but he also wanted James to be in jail, for Buffy's sake.

Alaric, for some reason Buffy didn't understand, had come over a lot more than he had before but she was grateful for him doing so.

And there were the Gilbert siblings and Bonnie. Bonnie had called her the moment she had heard the news from Caroline as Elena had just sat down with her sister a lot for support.

Jeremy however had spent his day different than them. Between finding out that Anna is a vampire and they're are others and helping Buffy, Mr. Saltzman's words were repeating in his head. He had wanted to tell Buffy about his doubts but decided against it, not wanting to cause her unnecessary pain. Maybe later, when the whole thing had flown over a bit.

It had been a week now and Buffy wanted distractions. She was done with the feeling that even her favourite films didn't distracted her mind from what had happened.

And luckily Damon came knocking on the door with one.

"Hey, Buf, is Stefan here?" He asked as she let him inside. Surprisingly enough Damon had been a big support for her in the past week too. And the two had gotten closer. Damon went a bit more drastic than Caroline and had offered to go to James house and kill him and make it look like an animal attack.

Buffy can't say she didn't think about it.

"No, why? Is something wrong?"

"He went out in the woods and didn't come back. I can't get him on his phone. I figured he was here with Elena." He said and at the moment Elena appeared on the top of the stairs.

"Is Stefan with you?" Buffy asked.

Maybe these two had been in Elena's room or something?

"No, why?" 

"He didn't come back." Buffy answered, already taking out her phone to call Stefan. "It's going straight to voicemail." She said as the youngest vampire didn't pick up his phone.

"Where could he be?" Elena asked, as she arrived downstairs.

"You're not gonna like what I'm thinking."

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Elena and Buffy were sitting in Damon's car, nervously waiting for him to come back from Pearl's house with good news, or maybe even better: Stefan.

"Here he is." Buffy said as she stepped out of the car, taking Elena's umbrella with her so they could all stand underneath it. 

"What happened? Where is he?" Elena asked as Damon stood in front of them.

"They have him. I can't get in." Damon said with a groan. That was one of the disadvantages from being a vampire. To have to be invited in.

"Why not?" Elena asked.

"Because the woman who owns the house's compelled to not let me in." 

"We can get in." Buffy offered.

"You're not going in there." Damon said, more speaking to Buffy than Elena.

"I'm going!" Elena argued, stepping forwards but Damon held her back.

"You're not going in there."

"Why are they doing this?" Elena asked.

"What do they want with him?" Buffy continued.

"Revenge. They want revenge." Damon said with an annoyed sigh.

"We gotta do something." Elena said.

"I know." Damon answered.

"We can't let them hurt him. We gotta get him out of there." Elena started talking fast.

"I know. Elena, I know." Damon said as he cupped her face, trying to calm her down, as Buffy raised her eyebrows at him.

It's gonna start giving Twilight vibes soon

"But I don't know how to get him out." Damon said as he took one last look at the house, not wanting to think what they were doing to his brother inside that house.

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Alaric was walking down the hallway towards his classroom when Damon appeared in front of him, making his stop in his tracks.

"Well, don't you look alive?" Damon questioned as he watched the history teacher.

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

"Oh, I can hurt you, all right." Damon said.

"Mr. Saltzman. We need your help." Buffy said to him as she and Elena appeared next to Damon.

"All right." Alaric said as they all stepped into his classroom. It was his daughter asking, of course he wasn't going to say no.

"Stefan's in the house. Damon's a vampire. He can't get in. We need you. We would go, but-" Elena explained, pointing to herself and Buffy before she was cut off.

"But your life is valuable." Damon said, then he gazed at Mr. Saltzman. "Yours, on the other hand is-" 

"Okay, there's no need for that, Damon." Buffy said.

"Stefan told me about your ring." Elena said, making the history teacher looking at her with interest on why she knew.

"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. Am I leaving anything out?" Damon asked, sarcastically, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah. The part where I try and kill you again. Only this time, I don't miss." Alaric replied, standing up.

"Mr. Saltzman. Please. It's Stefan." Elena begged him as she stood in between Alaric and Damon, not wanting either of them to start a fight right now.

"I'm sorry, Elena. But it's not my problem." Alaric said.

"That's a shame. Because the woman in charge of the crowd can help you find your wife." Damon said, trying to bribe the teacher into helping them.

"You're lying." Alaric glared at Damon.

"Am I? Why don't you ask her for yourself?" When Alaric didn't answer he spoke again. "Coward. Come on, Buf, Elena." They started to leave, letting Alaric look down at his ring, thinking about the option of helping.

"All right!" He called behind them, catching their attention. "Wait. I'll go."

Alaric took out his arsenal of vampire hunting weapons as the three other reappeared back into the history classroom.

"Teacher by day, vampire hunter by night." Damon commented as 

"I've you to thank for that." Alaric replied at his remark.

"What are these?" Buffy asked her history teacher.

"Those are tranquilizer darts filled with vervain." Alaric explained.

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

"That's your plan? You're just gonna take them all on yourself?" Elena said

That's the biggest side-eye I have seen all day, Lena

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

Buffy picked up one of the varvain darts in front of her and handed one to Elena who stood opposite of her.

"Whoa. What are you doing?" Alaric asked his daughter in worry.

"We're going with you guys, obviously."

"No. No. No. No. No way.""You need us." Buffy said as Alaric took the vervain darts out of her hands.  

"We'll get in. You could distract them, and then I'll get Stefan out." Elena offered a plan.

"You'll both get yourself killed. You're not going in there." Damon warned them.

"I'm going." Elena insisted. 

"So, when you get me in, get out as quickly as you can." Damon said to Alaric, ignoring the to teenage girls. "I know how to sneak around where they can't hear me. You'll basically just be in the way."

"Damon, now is not the time to be the lone ranger." Elena said at annoyed at Damon for not letting them help him. 

"Fine. Elena, you can drive the getaway car. You're not going in the house."

"You can't stop me. It's Stefan we're talking about here. You don't understand."

"Oh, I understand. I understand. He's the reason you live. His love lifts you up where you belong. I get it."

"Can you just not joke around for 2 seconds?" Elena asked, half screaming.

This is so gonna turn into a love triangle. Mark my words.

"I can't protect you, Elena. I don't know how many vampires there are in there." He snapped his fingers. 

"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." 

This seemed to shut Elena down. 

"I know. I get it. I understand." Damon spoke to her. 

"If we're gonna go, let's go." Alaric said, but not after giving the two of them a weird look.

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Elena let out an annoyed breath as she and Buffy were waiting in the car, not knowing that by now, Alaric had entered Miss Gibbons's residence and Damon had killed the owner of the house to get inside with Alaric.

Buffy took a vervain syringe from Elena's purse and started to examine it in boredom when suddenly a tree branch fell onto Damon's car's windshield, making Elena gasp and Buffy yell out.

"I'm going in." Elena said.

"Elena, I love you, but no."

"It's Stefan we are talking about, Buffy."

Buffy let out a sigh. "Elena, it's a house full of vampires. You're gonna be dead from the second you enter."

"I don't care." Elena said as she opened the door of the car and held on of the vervain darts in her hand. She wanted to save Stefan, why didn't they get that.

But to her surprise Buffy also stepped out of the car.

"What are you doing?" Elena asked, confused.

"Well, I'm not gonna let you go over there alone, dummy." Buffy said as she started walking to the Gibbons house and it didn't take her sister long to follow.

What the two didn't know was that not even five minutes later Alaric came back, running to Damon's car and to his horror, his daughter and Elena weren't in the car.

The two jumped into the porch of the house, running over to the wall to try and keep themselves hidden. Buffy started to move towards the staircase a bit on their right when she heard a vampire talking.

Once she heard footsteps, they ran past the door in a fast pace, went down the staircase which would lead them down to the cellar Stefan was currently in. Elena tried to open the door after she looked inside the room through the glass to make sure nobody was inside, but to their displeasure it was locked. Elena busted out one of the windowpanes and unlocked the door from inside.

They took another set of stairs down and Buffy held Elena back who hadn't noticed the vampire standing guard by a door at the end of the hallway, probably where they were keeping Stefan locked.

Both of them got their vervain syringe out, ready to attack the vampire if needed, but before they could do something, Damon killed the man. 

Then Damon noticed Elena and Buffy.

"Are you two insane."

"Maybe just a little." Buffy shrugged.

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Buffy groaned at the sight in front of her as she and the other two entered the room to find Stefan leached to the ceiling with the vervain robes and another guy, a vampire Buffy assumed, bound tied to a chair.

"Elena, Buffy you shouldn't be here." Stefan grunted out, not having noticed his brother yet who had stormed in a second later.

"They were supposed to stay in the car." Damon said as he grabbed a stake, ready to stab it in the other vampire's heart.

"No. No. Not him." Stefan spoke, weakly.

"Whatever. Let's get you down." Damon said, throwing the stake to the said as she walked over to his brother.

"There's vervain on the ropes." Stefan spoke to them.

"Elena, pull that." Damon nodded his head to the wall where the ropes that were holding Stefan up, were in a knot, making the youngest Salvatore hold on to the wall in front of him. 

"All right, let's go. Clothes on." Damon said as he started walking to the door.

"Wait." Buffy said.

"What? Guys, come on. We have to get out of here."

"I'm so sorry." Buffy said as she pulled the stakes out of Harper's legs.

"Can you get him in the car?" Damon asked as they finally stepped outside.

"Yeah." Elena answered.

"All right, go." Damon demanded. 

"Guys, we can't just leave him here." Buffy said, looking back at Harper with pity.

"Whatever." Damon said as Buffy helped the hungry vampire up.

"What about you?" Elena asked Damon as she tried to hold up Stefan.

"You rescue, I'll distract. Go."

"Where are you going?" Buffy asked.

"Frederick." Damon answered with annoyed eye roll by even thinking of Frederick.

"Here." Buffy said, offering Harper to drink from her wrist but he shook his head.

"I don't drink from the veins." The vampire weakly replied and by now the three others were gone. Well, she saw Elena and Stefan walking in the woods ahead of her but between herself and Harper and the couple were standing a couple of vampires so there was no way she would get out of this house.

Through the house I guess

This is the stupidest idea I have ever had

Damon's gonna kill me

Like actually gonna kill me

From the moment she entered the hall, Frederick saw her and Harper, but before he could do anything, Damon caught him by surprise. They fought until Damon got Frederick on the floor and stated to punch him. Two other vampires came up to Damon and Frederick but also towards Buffy and Harper.

Buffy tried to get the door open but it was locked.

Suddenly a stake went trough the vampire who was making his way towards the human girl and tomb vampire.

Buffy turned around shocked to see Alaric with a crossbow in his hand and two dead vampires on the floor.

"I'm going after Frederick." Damon said as Frederick sped away from them.

"Are you okay?" Alaric asked, worriedly as he directly walked over to his daughter.

But that didn't go as planned. 

A vampire attacked him. They wrestled to the ground as Buffy tried to let Harper drop to ground as gently as possible, wanting to help Alaric. But he clearly didn't need help since he stabbed the vampire with a vervain dart.

As Alaric pushed the vampire off him, Buffy helped him up.

"Are you okay?" She repeated the question he had asked her.

"Yeah." Alaric replied and a panting Damon came back inside.

"Frederick's gone."

"Let's get out of here." Alaric said.

"I'm gonna kill him." Damon said before he noticed Buffy. "What are you still doing here?"

"Well, I don't know if you mister, but the entire backyard was full of vampires.

"Let's just get out of here." Alaric told the two as Buffy picked Harper up again. 

"Thank you for saving me." He whispered in her ear as the four of them walked trough the front door. The only problem was that there were more vampires approaching the house. 

"How many of these vervain darts do you have left?" Damon asked Alaric but didn't take his eyes of the vampires.

"One."

"Not gonna be enough."

"Okay, let's get back inside people." Buffy said, already making her and Harper's way into the house once again.

"So, what you said to get me to do this, about my wife. It was a lie, wasn't it?" Alaric questioned Damon as they all backed away from the door.

"Yep."

It looked like Anna and her mother had finally decided to return home. 

"Stop!" Pearl's stern voice came from outside that door.

AND NOW YOU SHOW UP HUH?

"What did you do?" Pearl asked Damon after she opened the front door and entered Miss Gibbons house with her daughter.

"Me?" Damon questioned. "Your merry little band of vampires spent the day torturing my brother."

Pearl looked a little bit surprised. "Trust me. The parties responsible for this will be dealt with."

"Our little arrangement doesn't work unless you learn to control them."

"Well, it did. If I had a good side" Damon said as he started to walk away. "not a way to get on it." He opened the door.

"I'm gonna stay here." Harper spoke to Buffy.

"Oh." She spoke surprised. She hand't exactly though he would want to stay in the same house with the same vampires who tortured him. "Okay. Uhm, bye."

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Be sure to comment. I love reading them and it keeps me motivated!

Words: 2755

Posted: May 12, 2024