Sympathy for the Devil

Our story begins on a night such as this . . .

Chapter 1
1110 A.D.

Thunder cracks and the wind howls, as overly muscular men stand in a circle, while the witch casts her spell. Immortality, she whispers. Fire ignites; their swords become aflame. Long lines of intricately woven ink appear, their destiny written on their skin. They hold the emblem up, a testament to their power, their status: vampire hunters. They are The Five and this is their story.

Wait a minute. I thought this was supposed to be about vampires, not vampire hunters?
And witches, and werewolves, and hybrids.
Is this a kissing show? I thought there was supposed to be kissing in this. It is a love story, isn’t it? It’s called The Vampire Diaries. There should be kissing.
This is just the beginning. There’s more to it, you know.
Oh, okay. *I’ll try to stay awake.
*Oh, well. Thank you very much, very nice of you. Your vote of confidence is overwhelming.
May I continue?
You may.

Chapter 2

In modern-day Mystic Falls, Damon hopes to find out all he can about The Five, searching through Connor’s belongings, attempting to locate a handbook of some sort first. He enlists Stefan’s help, as he will soon be too busy helping Elena feed properly. Safe to say, Stefan isn’t very happy with the situation. He goes to confront Elena.

“I can only drink from the vein. Every other option was unsuccessful. Asking Damon for his help is the only sure way I have available at the moment.”

An arrow flies past, almost hitting Vampire Elena. She evades the single weapon, assuring Stefan she is still on her game. Time for Hunter Defense Class.

“I wish you could be there with me, but I know how blood affects you. It would be too much. No matter who teaches me how to feed, you’re the one who’s helping me through this, Stefan.”

Kissing?
Not yet.

Across town, Rebecca tries to make amends with Matt, needing to win his acceptance, buying it with a new truck. He declines, knowing the real person she needs to apologize to is Elena. Klaus laughs at his sister’s attempts at making friends. She is trying too hard.

“I thought you were leaving town?”

“I was, but then I thought to myself, how can I, when my sister – clearly so desperate for love and affection – is here, bribing the help.”

Rebecca, still heartbroken over Klaus’ previous actions, balks at his feeble excuses, wondering what he wants from her.

“I have some information that might be of some interest to you.”

He tries to reconnect with her previous unquestioned devotion to him, knowing the reemergence of The Five will gain her curiosity. A flicker of recognition – pain – and it’s gone. Rebecca has no desire to hear anything he has to say, whether it be The Five or anything else. She’s done with him.

*”As you wish.”

Chapter 3

Today’s the day; Elena’s finally going to learn how to feed Damon’s way. With Bonnie by their side, Damon and Elena greet hundreds of fresh faces waiting to learn . . . and have their blood significantly drained by the fearsome duo.

“You went to college?”

“Sure. Plenty of times. Always had a thing for sorority girls.”

“You’re disgusting.”

“I know.”

Using Bonnie’s invitation by one of her grandmother’s fellow colleagues (Professor Shane), the small group sit in on a class of his. Much to their surprise, the professor is well acquainted with the history of witches, vampires, and even doppelgängers. Damon scoffs at the lesson, choosing to school Elena instead on the fine craft of selecting a victim. Jock? Too paranoid. Nerd girl? Too suspicious.

“What you want is the little blonde. Pretty girl, self-absorbed. You just have to separate her from the pack and make your move.”

After class, Elena follows the girl, confident she can succeed in her mission. That is, until she makes the ultimate realization: all her victims have a mother, a sister, a brother. She can’t take that away from them.

“Snap out of it, Elena! They all have someone who cares about them. You can’t think about it.”

“But that’s not me, Damon! I’m sorry if I can’t be the super-vampire you want me to be.”

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing. Elena’s educating me on the importance of feelings.”

It’s sometime later when the trio make their way to a local frat party, dressed to kill, literally. Damon urges Elena to just pick her first victim and get it over with, but Elena chooses another way – striking down the bad verses the good. She bumps into the All-American, tempting him with her eyes, seducing him into following her. Vampire Elena forces him back, sinking her teeth into the artery.

“Mmmm. So good.”

“Elena. Stop. That’s too much.”

Damon gets her to retreat, but something’s changed, he knows it. Elena looks him in the eye, satisfied by her first success, voicing her pleasure, feeling the warm blood drip down her throat.

“I want more.”

They dance. Drink. Kiss and suck. Elena takes her fill, compelling her victims, swaying with them to the beat. When Elena sees Bonnie’s look of disappointment, she realizes the wrong she’s doing. It should be Stefan. It should be Stefan showing her how to feed. Not Damon.

“You let her get completely out of control.”

“She’s not out of control. She was having fun.”

“This isn’t fun. She’s acting like a different person.”

“She IS a different person. She’s a vampire. We’re a predatory species. We enjoy the hunt, the feed, and the kill. When the guilt gets too bad, we switch off our humanity and revel in it . . . I can make it fun.”

“I don’t want to be like you, Damon. I can’t live like this. I’m becoming someone I don’t want to be. I don’t know if can be a vampire.”

Chapter 4

He silently waits, calculating the ways he can escape. Connor tests the metal cuffs, unable to move his hands; his arms hanging above his head. It’s not the right time. He must wait for the opportune moment.

“Looks like I’ll have to beef up the hybrid security detail.”

“I was gonna take him, but I figured you went through such trouble to truss him up in your red room of pain.”

“Really, Stefan? I always knew you were a closeted Twilight fan, so I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise. But I never knew you had such an extensive reading list.”

“Edward Cullen gets me.”

“I thought it was a Mr. Grey, or something, or other?”

“Yeah, but in the original fanfiction . . .”

Hold the phone. What does this have to do with anything?
Sorry. We must have gotten off track somewhere. Where were we?
Klaus was just about to talk to Connor.
Oh, yes. Let’s see now . . .

Despite Stefan’s intrusion, Klaus seems pleased to see his former ripper friend. Connor can’t be compelled, so it has been quite difficult for Klaus to retrieve the answers he needs. Thankfully, Klaus knows more than enough.

“The Five were a team of extremely skilled vampire hunters in the early 12th century.”

FLASHBACK
Italy 1114

“Elijah and I had just been scouring the marketplace for a nice meal to eat when we saw them. My hair had been cooperating very well that day; luxurious, flowing. Elijah’s was quite nice as well. We were curious as to what the strangers were selling, so we took a closer look. They had a makeshift stage, bloodied bodies of staked vampires around them. He thrust a vampire into the noonday sun, his skin burning in an instant. Exposure. It was something we had been dealing with then. Elijah had warned me, but I didn’t listen. What’s new, eh? I could eat him for sport. What did I care?”

‘Stories of the Original vampires are spreading.’

‘I welcome such infamy. But if you’re worried about discretion, perhaps you should wrangle our sister.’

“She had fallen in love with him. He told her all his secrets. Which is why I need to make peace with her. I need to know what she knows. Bring her to me and we’ll finish our history lesson.

Oh. And, Stefan? Trust me when I say this, that hunter in there holds the answer to all your prayers.“

What does he mean by that?
We shall find out soon enough. Now, are you going to keep interrupting me? Or can I finish this story before we hit four-thousand words?

Stefan leaves without a word, immediately making his way to the Grill to seek out Rebecca – who stakes her claim on Matt after April Young gives him the once over. He compels the human, getting right down to business, ignoring Klaus’ requests at keeping Rebecca in the dark. Stefan relays Klaus’ need to know more about The Five, offering her what no other can give. A clean slate. He will never be able to forgive her for killing Elena, but he can put their differences aside and start over. Stefan’s belief in Rebecca’s intense desire for acceptance makes him confident that she will take the bait.

Chapter 5

There is nothing quite like a Klaus Mikelson dinner party. The lights are low. The music plays softly in the background. And one of Klaus’ bimbo compelled lackeys are serving the elegant, over-the-top meal.

“Rebecca, love, eat your veggies.”

“I’m not eating until you apologize.”

“For which indiscretion? There have been so many.”

“You broke my neck.”

“You threw away Elena’s blood so I can’t make any more hybrids.”

“Because you took me for granted.”

“That’s what big brothers do, Sweetheart.”

I love it when he says, sweetheart. Sigh.
Me too.

“Let me just name the million other people I’d rather be having dinner with right now.”

Klaus reluctantly apologizes, but Rebecca only takes his admission under consideration. There’s many other things to talk about. Like Rebecca’s hunter bo.

FLASHBACK
Italy 1114

“Alexander. Nice chap. I’m being sarcastic, of course. He was looking for creatures of the night, so it seemed safe for us to wear our daylight rings. Elijah and I had a laugh. Rebecca was more than happy to coerce his secrets right out from under him. But sometimes on top. Right, Sis? He spoke of a weapon, the ultimate weapon, in which no vampire could survive. Yet, he wasn’t the one to survive after he stabbed her with the white oak dagger. As you know, I can’t be put down by such trivial things. I killed them all.

You want me to quit with the theatrics, Stefan, but there is more you need to know. In order to find the weapon, we have to solve the puzzle. Which seems to have disappeared at the moment. Yes, the tattoo. It’s a map and Alexander’s sword is the key to reading it.

When the hunters drew their final breath that night, the marks disappeared from their bodies. The map was gone. The Brotherhood of The Five, extinct. For 900 years there was not a whisper of another hunter until our friend in there showed up in town.”

“Well now that we have the map, what do we do now?”

“We don’t do anything. You can’t be trusted, Little Sister. You’ll be blabbing this secret to the first boy who calls you pretty.”

“We can’t see the map, but we know someone who can.”

One of Klaus’ hybrids drags Jeremy Gilbert into the room. He refuses to help the evil genius, but when Klaus takes his magic ring, Jeremy has no other choice but to agree. Connor berates Jeremy for being a sympathizer, as the human easily mirrors the tattoo on the page. Connor wants answers, but gives more than he receives.

“We were in the army together. Claimed he had this intense feeling to kill vampires. That he had to kill vampires. He told me the same thing as I told you. If you can see the mark, you’re a potential. I lost track of him, but one day that tattoo just showed up on me. The more I killed, more of the tattoo would appear. It spread, like it was trying to tell me something.”

Later, when left unguarded, Connor uses his exceeding strength to pull his chains, removing them from the wooden structure. When the hybrid returns, Connor ropes the chains around the man’s neck and slices through.

Chapter 6

Hey! You keep talking about a weapon. Are we ever going to find out what it does?
Shush. Yes. Listen.

It’s a cure. The weapon is a cure.

Say what? There’s no cure for vampirism!
Oh, I wish that were the case.

Eventually, Rebecca figures out the truth.

“You want the cure for Elena, don’t you? So you can go back to mass producing your hybrids. That’s why you brought Stefan in. Because you knew he’d help you, even though he hates your guts. You can shove your cure.”

Um . . . WHAT THE HELL?  They can’t do that! They can’t turn Elena human again!
That’s a bitch move, TVD writers. A bitch move. 

“You have a chance to save Elena from the very thing that’s going to destroy her. You can call it a deal with the devil, if you like.

Get Rebecca to tell the location of the sword and it’s yours, Stefan.”

Voicing their past, their thoughts, Rebecca lets slip the location of the sword.

Stefan admits he wants to spend eternity with Elena. He’d do anything to save her. But Damon’s right. Every vampire kills a human. Elena is so compassionate and loving, if she ever were to kill, she wouldn’t be able to handle it. And that scares him the most. Yet, if he had the chance to grow old with Elena, in love, with children at their feet? He’d take the cure.

“I’m sorry, Rebecca.”

Klaus is there waiting. He dips the dagger into the white oak ash, slowly stepping closer and closer to the heartbroken hopeless romantic.

“Go right ahead. Laugh at the girl who loved too easily. But I’d rather live my life than yours, Nik. No one will ever sit around a table and tell stories about a man who couldn’t love. Do it! Look me in the eye and do it, you coward. Do it!”

Tears stream down his face. He knows she’s right, but he can’t face the truth. Not yet. Klaus forces the dagger into her abdomen. Speechless. Sad. Guilty.

I know I said I didn’t like Rebecca, but after tonight, I really feel sorry for her. All she wants is for someone to love her, but every time, she gets the window slammed down on her fingers. It’s quite sad. She really proved where her heart lies tonight.
Yes. I feel the same. Poor, Rebekah.
Gasp! Did you just spell her name right?
I did. She deserves it.

Chapter 7
The Final Scene

Connor’s walks into the room and greets Professor Shane; an etching of The Five’s tattoo placed blatantly on the wall.

“Shouldn’t you be in Mystic Falls killing vampires?”

Dun, dun, dun!!

The Vampire Diaries

That was a great story. Ms. FanGirl, maybe you could come over and recap another episode for me next week.
As you wish.

*Quote from the classic film, The Princess Bride
“Quote from this week’s episode of The Vampire Diaries”

What did you think of this week’s episode of The Vampire Diaries? What was your favorite scene? Favorite line? Even though Klaus is awesome, how do you feel about the Rebekah story line? Who is Professor Shane? What does he want? Will Elena remain a vampire or will they find ‘the cure?’ What do you think about this new plotline? Will Damon and Elena ever learn to be friends again? Or is there no going back? How will Elena feed if she won’t feed on humans? Tell me in the comments!

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