𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫 | Stefan Salvatore¹

headfirst i dive

‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.

Jade had been tossing and turning in bed for nearly an hour before giving up and swallowing down a melatonin tablet and falling asleep. She'd avoided Stefan in the morning, who seemed to be back with Elena, given their blatant eye-fucking in class.

Alex had noticed her strange behaviour immediately. "Okay, what is the matter with you today?"

"Didn't sleep well," she says. It's technically the truth, just not in its entirety.

"Uh huh. And whatever happened to Stefan and you? You seemed to be getting along well last night."

"I don't want to talk about last night." She leans back on her locker. "Tell me what you found. In your serial killer investigation."

Alex cocks an eyebrow at her. "Why the sudden interest? You said you didn't believe that was true."

"I'm interested in whatever you're interested in. That's my job. Tell me."

Alex leads her into the library and they walk to the far corner that no one usually visits. Most people go there to make out, so they will definitely not be troubled.

He pulls out a notebook and starts drawing a few stick figures. "Okay let's start from the beginning. Darren and Brooke were killed by an "animal,' right? So I went to the morgue and—"

"I'm sorry, you went to the what—"

"—and i found their autopsies. Both the bodies had many injuries but the most interesting part was that they were all drained of blood."

"You told me this already," she reminds him, in case he's already forgotten.

He adds two more stick figures to the right side of the already drawn ones. "Yeah, but the interesting part is that two more bodies were discovered, closer to Mystic Falls than the last one, two days later. Again, both drained of blood. I opened the uh.. compartments where the new bodies were kept—"

"Alex—"

"—and the newer ones were horribly disfigured. And on the sides of their necks..there were teeth marks. As if they'd gotten bitten."

She swallows, and finds that her mouth has turned dry. "So what's the working theory?"

"Someone whose signature method of killing is draining the victims of blood. Probably a psychopath. Uses some kind of... dental device? I'm not very sure about that part."

Jade doesn't know whether she should keep it to herself or not. If she told Alex, he would without a doubt go after Damon. She didn't know what had stopped Damon the previous night, but she couldn't risk it. This wasn't just about catching a killer. Alex's life was on the line, and hers too. She wouldn't be surprised if Damon targeted Caroline or her mother either. Sure, Alex's father was a police officer and her mother was the sheriff, but could they really protect themselves against this threat?

She grits her teeth. Alex couldn't protect himself if he didn't know who he needed protection against. And by withholding that information, she could be putting him in even bigger danger.

"I think..I have a suspect for you."

Alex blinks. "Wait, what?"

"I think he's the one behind all this."

He leans in. "Well don't leave me in suspense. Who is it?"

"You have to promise me. Until we know for sure, you're not going to tell anyone. And you won't directly approach him. And I want to be a part of whatever investigation you do for this. Don't go.. don't go searching without me."