Bite

21

He woke up to Ashara asleep beside him, her head on his abdomen.Stefan smiled at her. She was out and he could feel a wet spot on his abdomen. She was drooling. That was kind of adorable.

"Ashara." He spoke gently. "Ashara." He nudged at her arm.

"Eh?" She was half awake, staring at him with her beautiful dark eyes. "Sorry, I was tired."

"You're fine." Stefan looked back at her. The door opened to Ellisyn looking slightly annoyed and half awake.

"Looks like your ex-girlfriend apparently is the rumored werewolf mother." She was holding a tray of food in front of her.

"The werewolf what-?" Ashara looked at her.

"My ancestor, Raynor-" Ellisyn started.

"Raynor? As in Nicholas Raynor?" Stefan almost jumped out of the bed.

"Easy there. You got stitches for another day or so." Ellisyn set the food tray beside him. He offered Ashara half of his hashbrown which she accepted. "Yes, I am one of his descendants."

"So is Anastasia your-" Stefan started to say but Ellisyn shook her head.

"Raynor remarried another woman after Anastasia tried to get her kids to kill him. He barely escaped but he lost an eye." Ellisyn sighed.

"Wow." Stefan didn't feel bad for Raynor. He had murdered Katalina in cold blood and taunted him with her corpse. "So how did she do that?"

"After they sealed you off, Anastasia and Raynor founded the Hunters. Raynor didn't suspect that she had cheated on him and she gave birth to a daughter later. The kids barely saw Raynor and Anastasia told them the truth about their parentage. She poisoned her kids against him, telling him he was murdering their kin and what not. Eventually, they tried to kill Raynor but he escaped. Those children went to create more werewolves by making their gift transmissible by biting. Anastasia begged for the gift to make sure she could be with her children. They gave it to her." Ellisyn crossed her arms.

"That explains why she's a werewolf. And werewolves of course." Stefan sighed. "I guess they're kind of my fault."

"I wouldn't say it's your fault as much as it's Anastasia. She had those children and on top of them, she made werewolves humanity's enemies, not you." Ellisyn looked as Stefan started to eat.

"So they just started off and started to create more of them?" Ashara looked at Ellisyn.

"Pretty much." Ellisyn sighed. "Anastasia has the original lycanthrope strand plus some kind of dark magic that's keeping her alive. I'm not sure what it is."

"Well, that explains the origins but why the hell does she want us? And what's up with them doing all that human trafficking?"

"The human trafficking part is easy." Ellisyn sits down on a chair by the door. "They're all so fucking inbred they're having trouble conceiving or having their babies make it past one."

"Damn, that's one way to say that." Ashara looked at the ground.

"It is. As for why she wanted you two, I don't know." She crosses her arms. "Possibly Stefan because he was her boyfriend or whatever once. You, I'm not sure. Jealousy? Spite?"

"She thinks I'm Katalina as far as I know. I'm not through." Ashara sighed.

"You're two very different people." Stefan looked at Ashara. "She was shy and kind and beautiful. You're a nice person but you're a lot more of a fighter."

"That's nice of you to say." Ashara looked back at him smiling. Stefan gently took her hand in his. She smiled at him.

"Well, I have some people inside of their compound and I'm hoping I'll be hearing more from them soon. I'll let you guys rest." Ellisyn got up from her chair and left. Stefan looked back at Ashara, gently pressing his forehead against hers. If Anastasia thought that Ashara was Katalina, she was in danger.

He trusted Ashara to defend herself but he still wanted to protect her. Stefan didn't think he could keep himself sane if something was to happen to her as well. Especially after everything she had already gone through.

"Seems like Anastasia is their alpha or whatever." Ashara sighed, shaking her head. "I just wanted this shit to end."

"You and me, both." Stefan kissed her forehead. Ashara nudged him.

"So I guess we're a thing, aren't we?" She leaned closer to his shoulder, moving her chair.

"I guess so." Stefan laid his head against her hair. Monica and Lauren opened the door.

"We're here to check on the injured man." Lauren had a tray of tools. Monica set down a few things on the side table. Ashara moved as Lauren moved the sheet over Stefan's abdomen and untied the gown which revealed a stitched up wound at his side. Lauren looked at it, gently touching with gloved hands.

"Healing is doing good. No red marks, heat, or pus." She then helped Stefan tie the gown back up.

"So how long should it take me to heal up, doctor?" He asked Lauren.

"First of all, I'm a physician's assistant and it will heal up in about a week." Lauren sighed. "How's the shoulder, Ash?"

"It feels normal, shockingly. My neck hurts but I think I just slept funny on it." I grab at my neck, trying to massage it.

"Probably, your labs look good too, Stefan." Monica sighed. "We'll let you rest then. Also Ashara, your parents wanted to talk to you in private."

Hmm, I wonder what was up with them. I squeeze Stefan's hand and kiss his forehead before leaving the room. I go to my parents' room where the room is wide open and my father is sitting on the bed with my mother. I close the door behind me.

"Hey, what's up?" I ask them. My mother closes the door behind me.

"We just wanted to thank you for saving us, sweetie." My mother hugs me. "And I wanted to let you know that I'm very proud of you."

"Aaww, thanks." I hug my mother back. This is a good morning.