Here And Now (S.S)

2.18 Our Blood

Later. At a Farm.

We got out of the car. Nadia had brought Stefan and me to a rustic farm somewhere in the middle of no where. We had no choice. She has Matt.

Nadia "I figured you two would be my volunteers."

Me " Congratulations on your intuition. We're here. We volunteered. Now, tell us where Matt is."

Nadia "Matt will be freed once you help me get what I need."

Stefan asked confused " Which is what, exactly?"

Nadia " I need a traveler. Katherine and my aunt were born into a traveler bloodline. Katherine can make herself a passenger in someone else's body, if a traveler teaches her how to do it."

Me " Like your boyfriend, Gregor, hopped a ride inside Matt's body, until Katherine killed him, of course. Your mother killed your boyfriend and ruined me! Why should i want to do anything that would help her live longer?"

Stefan looked at me "Gregor was going to kill her and she was defending herself."

I scoffed " Oh please. I've had enough with you defending her, Stefan. Especially now-"

Stefan cut me off "what? that i see the good in a dying person? I'm sure you have plenty to say about that."

We stopped in front on the front porch of an abandoned house with boarded-up windows.

Nadia " We're here."

Me " So we're just supposed to help you let Katherine take over someone's life?"

Nadia shook her head " Not just anyone's life...mine. I'm going to make her passenger in my body."

My eyes widened "are you sure, Nadia? She's not worth it"

Nadia nodded "she's my mother"

I scoffed and walked with Stefan inside.

Stefan looked around " Not exactly the Ritz..."

Nadia " Travelers don't have much, They're always on the move, but on the plus side, sometimes, their services can be bought. I found one who named the right price."

Someone came out of the shadows.

Traveler " You brought them..."

 Nadia " Yes, Mia. Are you ready to make a deal?"

I raised an eyebrow "What's going on?"

Stefan " I have a feeling the right price for the deal was us."

Nadia "I'm sorry, but they asked for doppelgängers. No idea why."

I raised my eyebrows.

Nadia grabbed Mia and they speeded out of the house, leaving me and Stefan prisoner to a group of a dozen travelers.

Isn't Family a great thing?

They were chanting something. I walked to the door but it shut in front of me. I tried to open it but the sun burned my skin. I hissed in pain.

I looked at Stefan "Our rings..they are messing with them. We can't go outside."

We were surrounded by the group. Portions of the roof were caving in, preventing us from moving around, or leaving.

They were encircling me and Stefan.

I looked at Stefan "Betrayed by my own family. Again. Why does that not surprise me?"

Stefan "I guess we probably picked the wrong day to be in a fight, huh?"

I rolled my eyes at his failed attempt to joke. 

A traveler approaches the pair and places two buckets at their feet.

Stefan "You don't happen to speak Czech, do you?"

Me "Let me think, Spanish, Bulgarian, Portuguese. But Czech? nope"

The traveler pulled out a knife and went to slice my wrist.

My eyes widened " Stefan..."

He cut into my hand.  I gasped.

Stefan " It's okay. I guess they want doppelgänger blood."

The traveler then took Stefan's wrist and cut him too.

I whispered "Should we knock his head off?"

Stefan " Depends. If I kill him, do you think the rest of these boards fall down?"

I sighed "Right. Blood it is."

My wound was still gushing.

I asked confused " Why aren't we healing?"

The buckets began to fill with blood.

Stefan "I guess it's a good thing I'm not claustrophobic anymore."

Me "Thanks to me"

Stefan "why did you start fighting with me?"

Me "i don't think this is the place to-"

Stefan "Adelaide"

Me "Because you see the good innocent girl in her"

Stefan asked confused "what's wrong with seeing the good in her?"

I took a deep breath " It's just, after what Katherine had put me through for 500 years, i didn't feel like you had my back"

His eyes softened "of course i have your back. Always"

I gave him a soft smile "but i guess, that's one of the things that made me fall in love with you in the first place. Your thing in seeing the good in the most screwed up people"

Stefan smiled" nice to know"

I smiled back.

The room had fallen silent. The travelers shut up. I looked down at my wrist. The wound was healing.

Me "So...that's it? All you needed from us was a bucket of blood?"

Stefan raised his hand against a beam of light. I expected the sun to burn him but it didn't.

Me  "Let's get out of here."

Stefan took my hand " Come on."