The Supernatural Diaries {Book One}

Lost Girls: Trust Issues

After draining the last of his victims in the cemetery, Damon set about grabbing a bottle of alcohol and pouring over the carcasses before picking up one of the torches they had and setting the bodies ablaze. Before he burned the last body, Damon scavenged around for one of the teenager's cellphones and dialed Stefan's number.

"Hello?" Stefan said on the other end.

"Where is my ring?" Damon demanded.

"Where are you, Damon?" Stefan growled.

"I'm at the Sizzler having the buffet," Damon snarled. "Where is my ring?"

"I don't have your ring, now what have you done?" Stefan seethed.

"No, no, no, no. What have you done?" Damon corrected snidely. "You were the one who locked me in the basement and starved me. So, whatever I've done, whoever I've sucked dry is completely on you and the Tweedle idiots."

"You are getting reckless!" Stefan yelled. "How many more animal attacks is this town going to believe?"

"I know how to cover my tracks, Stefan!" Damon snapped, as he finished lighting the last body on fire. "Now where the hell is my ring?"

"I gave it to Zach to hide," Stefan lied. "Maybe you shouldn't have killed him."

Damon almost fell into an angry panic, before he realized that his brother was lying and smirked sardonically, "Nice try, Stefan. You almost had me, where is it?"

Silence and then, "I'll get it back to you, but I need you to give me time."

Damon nearly burst a blood vessel at his brother's response. "What did you FedEx it to Rome?" Damon fumed. "Where is it? I want my ring, Stefan. Otherwise, my next stop will be Elena's."

"I already want you dead. Don't give me another reason to make it happen," Stefan warned.

"Don't give me another reason to rip you apart," Damon shot back.

"That might be hard without your ring, no?" Stefan retorted.

Damon growled in annoyance, and said, "Just get it back to me." Then he hung up the phone and went over to drag Vicki's body over to the unruly campfire when she began to regain consciousness. Damon raised his brow in astonishment and huffed. "You just don't want to die, do you?" he mused.

Then, a wicked smirk played across his lips as an idea sparked in his mind. A wonderful, horrible, deliciously terrible idea.

Guess it was a good thing he didn't kill her after all.

*                              *                              *

Meanwhile, outside Elena's house, Stefan was standing guard on her front porch when he heard a rustling coming from the bushes. Preparing himself for an attack, Stefan stalked over to the bushes and lunged forward just as Dean popped up out of the bushes with a stake aimed at Stefan's heart. Realizing that there was no threat, Stefan relaxed instantly, letting out a sigh of relief. However, Dean still looked supremely pissed off.

"Dean, thank God, it's you," Stefan breathed. "You have no idea—"

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't stake you right now?" Dean hissed. Stefan paused in confusion. "What?" Stefan blinked.

"You told Elena the truth, even after I specifically told you not to," Dean hissed.

"I didn't have a choice, Dean. She came to my house asking me what I was. She found out somehow that I was a vampire," Stefan defended. "I knew she wasn't going to keep my secret unless she knew the risks, and so I... told her that by exposing me, she'd also risk exposing you and your brother."

"So you're saying that you broke your promise to protect me and my brother?" Dean scoffed angrily. "That's the best you got?"

"Look, I didn't want to do it, but it was the only way I could get her to keep our secret," Stefan reasoned.

"Your secret, Stefan," Dean argued. "It's your secret, yours and your brother's."

Stefan's face fell at his friend's harsh tone, and Dean almost immediately regretted his words. "Look, Stefan. I'm sorry. I just... everything's falling apart, man," Dean repented, eliciting a curious look from his friend. "After you called, Bonnie showed up and told us about the strange episodes she had been having, including the car wash incident. Then Sheila practically forced Sam and me to tell her the truth."

Stefan's eyes softened in understanding and realized why Dean was upset. "So now Bonnie knows the truth about you guys," the vampire said as a statement more than a question. "Yeah, and she knows or at least is coming around to the fact that she's a fledgling witch," Dean summarized. "Sam is at the house trying to calm her down."

"And now Elena knows the truth about me and your involvement with me," Stefan sighed.

"Damon is on the loose," Dean added.

"Zach is..." Stefan trailed off sorrowfully.

Dean clapped his friend's shoulder sympathetically. "We're going to get justice for his death," he vowed. "No one else is gonna die in this town. I promise."

Stefan nodded his head and cleared his throat, wiping the tears forming in his eyes. "Well, uh, you can take over watching over Elena for the rest of the night," he groaned, as he started to walk away from the house. "Where are you going?" Dean asked.

Stefan stopped and let out a deep breath. "Damon isn't gonna stop until I give him back his ring," he declared. "I'm going to give it back to him."

Dean narrowed his eyes. "You know, if you do that, he's still not gonna stop killing people, right?"

Stefan turned back to his friend and gave a mirthless smile. "Tell me, would you rather fight an animal who is somewhat docile and whole or an animal who is rabid and out of control?" he inquired. "Which one is easier to get rid of?" Before Dean could form a response, Stefan had disappeared into the night.