Singing Blood

The Hybrid

It was the morning after Elena's eighteenth birthday and Damon was in his bedroom, removing all notes, pins and newspaper cuttings from his closet while he was listening to the news reporter on TV.

"Whether suicide, or a tragic accident, WPKW News has lost one of its crew members. News editor Mia Jackson was discovered-"

While the reporter continued sharing information about Mia's tragic death, Elena walked through the door frame. Damon sighed.

"Just can't stay away, can you?"

"You've been dodging my calls," she stated.

He grimaced.

"Yeah, well, busy dating a dead fake girlfriend and all."

He turned off the TV. Elena's eyes softened.
"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Happy Birthday, Elena. Stefan killed Mia. Cake?"

Damon angrily tore the map from his closet door and dumped it into the fireplace with the rest of the documents.

"He called me, Damon," Elena told him after a few seconds of silence. He turned around.

"What?"

"Stefan called me last night."

He raised his eyebrow.

"Well, what'd he say?"

"He didn't say anything, but it was him," Elena replied, hope glinting in her eyes. "I asked Sheriff Forbes if she would trace the call's origin. It came from Tennessee."

"Where he's binge drinking on the country folk," Damon said, sighing exasperatedly. "We went through this, Elena. Stefan's gone. I don't mean geographically."

Elena shook her head.
"If he was gone, he wouldn't have called."

He rolled his eyes at her naivety and proceeded to light a match before he threw it into the fireplace. One moment later he felt a breeze in the room as someone vamp sped through the door and pinned him against the wall, hands on his throat. Andie glared at him.

"What did you do to her, asshole?" she hissed.

Instead of answering her question, Damon pushed her hands from his throat and threw her off him, making her crash against his closet. Before she had the chance to get back up on her feet, Damon had shoved a stake into her stomach. Andie groaned in pain. One hand still on the stake, digging it deeper, he grabbed her chin with his other as he leaned closer.

"I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now so don't test my patience," he hissed. "Next time you try something like that, I will rip out your heart."

He let go off her chin and the stake and walked to the door, before he stopped and turned around.

"Oh and if you want to catch her killer, you should go to Tennessee and track down my wayward brother. I have nothing to do with this."

Without waiting for an answer he left the room.

Alaric was soundly sleeping in his bed after having had one too many drinks last night, when a loud knock on the door pulled him out of his sleep.

"Go away, Damon!" he groaned, unwilling to leave his bed just yet.

But whoever was at the door continued to knock persistently. He groaned again before proceeding to climb out of his bed and opened the door, ready to give his best friend a piece of his mind. He blinked in surprise when instead of Damon, he found Elena standing in front of his door. She smiled at him.