Blood Will Tell

by L. J. Smith

  He had his litany down, too. He didn't want to imagine the rage, and bright sickness in Matt's eyes that he'd have to be facing, but he knew what he was going to say, and how he was going to say it.

  I told you so was both cruel and necessary.

  But then:

  "You don't want to talk about it?" Matt wouldn't want to talk about it. "You don't have to. But somewhere, underneath, you're wondering what it all means." And if Matt tried to argue, "If you're not wondering now, then you will be. I was in your mind deep enough to be sure of that."

  That would shut him up, all right.

  "What it means, then. What it means is that you can never tell what's going to happen with humans and vampires, especially if they have any kind of emotional connection.

  Like our connection with Elena."

  And that, he considered, was truly a master stroke. Because it was true. The only problem was whether he could get it out without choking over Elena’s name.

  "What it doesn't mean may be more important to you." It would be, since Matt would be finished with him by then.

  "It doesn't mean you're gay." That was true enough. So far, as far as he could tell, Matt's sexual response had been confined solely to females. He hadn't found any of the conflict in Matt's mind that the tortured, lonely homosexual teenager always had. The need to conform to the norms of a human society that changed its norms every time a vampire looked, and over every national border a vampire crossed.

  "It doesn't mean that anything like this will ever happen again." He was pretty sure of that. Matt's own reaction would ensure it, and unless he fell into the grasp of a truly twisted vampire, Matt's only issue would be how to forget.

  "You've probably heard the cliché that most boys go through some kind of a homoerotic phase during adolescence. You're older than they usually are, which is just more proof that this isn't normal for you." And all that was true, too.

  "And, finally, if it was anybody's fault, it was mine. I knew what might happen, even though I thought your hatred of me"— would Matt be hating him by then—"might prevent it.

  And I still went ahead."

  Because I didn't think you would, a lonely little voice inside Stefan went on. Because I didn't know I needed it so badly.

  But that was the end of his litany, and he knew that Matt wouldn't even want to hear that much.

  I've made a friend hate me, Stefan thought again, even as the chorus mocked him for wallowing in self pity. He shut it up by summoning all the coldness he could muster, which surprised him. It was, in fact, pretty damn icy cold.

  I've made a friend hate me—and I don't care, he thought, and he could practically feel the blizzard blowing around the thought. I'm going use what made him hate me to save his life.

  Matt

  "Hnuh?" Matt came awake with a sort of halfsnort, half question. It was dark. He was lying flat on a hard bed, with some kind of lukewarm cloth on his forehead.

  "Wha—?" That was a better question. And then memory came back, not all at once, but in puzzlepieces, and fuzzy ones.

  "There's a Coke on the floor beside you. You might want to drink it for the sugar.

  But it's best not to sit up yet."

  That was Stefan. As for how you drank a Coke without sitting up, he didn't want to try to deal with trying to explain to a vampire. Then he found out two more things. There was something, a jacket, propping his head up, and the Coke had a straw. His hands were a little shaky, and a little damp.

  "You’ve got your own refrigerator," he said, more because in the darkness and silence he felt somebody had to say something, than out of any surprise. He was still trying to fit puzzle pieces together.

  "I have some juice, too. It's better for you, really. I took more blood than I meant to and it'll help you recover."

  Blood . . . yeah. That's what he was doing here. Being a donor. Because Stefan had to fight a monster . . . and dumb Stefan was planning to do it without any preparation. So they'd all offered . . .

  "Where're the girls?"

  "Meredith took Bonnie down to the car. She was pretty sleepy."

  Sleepy. A vampire drinking your blood made you sleepy. Yeah. And it made the vampire . . .

  "Hey, you're not drunk anymore."

  There was a pause, as if Stefan was waiting for something more, or uncertain about something. Then Stefan said, "No. I told you; it burns off pretty quickly."

  "Yeah." Despite the Coke, he was still feeling muddled. The darkness and silence when they weren't talking didn't help. Maybe Stefan didn't remember that humans needed light. Dumb Stefan, he thought, vaguely but affectionately.

  "Why're you . . . all the way over there?" He squinted in the approximate direction of the voice.

  "Because . . . " Stefan suddenly sounded much less cool, which made Matt realize how cool Stefan had been sounding in the first place. He could hear, sense Stefan coming a little closer.

  "Matt, how much do you actually remember about what happened?" Now he sounded—torn. Sort of sharp, but puzzled.

  "Um." Matt tried to think, turning the puzzle pieces around and around. "You mean about how—stupid I was in the beginning?"

  "No. I mean about what happened."

  "I remember . . . it didn't hurt as much as I thought. Not when I figured out how to do it." Cautiously, Matt sat up, feeling the piece of damp cloth fall away from his forehead.

  He was a little dizzy, but not sick. He could remember the pain and . . .

  Suddenly, he was sharply aware of the and.

  "Jeez."

  No wonder his hands were shaky. His gut was shaky.

  "Stefan?"

  "Yes."

  " We . . . we . . . didn't . . . "

  "No." Stefan sounded much more like himself.

  “Oh. Okay.”

  “Okay? That’s all?”

  Matt felt defensive. “Well, what do you want me to say? Thanks a lot for drinking my blood?” He made an effort. I appreciate the Coke.”

  Stefan dropped his face into his hands. “I thought you would hate me.”

  “Because of . . . but you warned me, didn’t you? I figured it was probably like that.

  Like—like symbiosis or whatever it is. In biology, where the plant makes nectar so the bee gets pollen on it and takes it to the next plant. Right?” Stefan

  “Well—well . . . not exactly. Vampires and humans aren’t natural symbiants. They haven’t evolved together and all too often the human ends up—“ He realized he should shut up. Telling Matt that humans usually ended up dead or as vampires too was just the opposite of a good strategy.

  “Oh,” Matt said again. Stefan was too drenched in relief to find any fault with the conversation. He was gradually realizing that Matt didn’t have the fears for his masculinity that made overcompensation necessary. Matt knew he was male and straight the way he knew he was human and an omnivore that ate certain foods and didn’t eat others. He could force himself to take a bite of grass, or even, if the circumstances were drastic enough and survival was at stake, a bite of human flesh. But he wouldn’t worry afterward about becoming a horse or a cannibal for life.

  Besides, Matt was a giver. Just as Elena had been. Something inside them compelled them to get involved in any situation, to try to make it better.

  What Meredith had seen in the naked light of logic, and compelled herself to accept, what Bonnie had been able to follow as an adventure, Matt saw as an act of friendship, and an obligation between friends. Elena had always fulfilled her obligations, even to the undead.

  Stefan was not human, but inhuman or not, he was Matt’s friend.

  Matt was talking again. “Look,” Matt said. “You didn’t want to do this tonight. We made you. And maybe there was something . . . somewhere that made us.” Involuntarily, Stefan glanced up. Yes, he’d had the strong feeling of her presence here tonight, too. Elena. Still scheming from the spirit world. Elena couldn’t help him any longer with her blood, but that wouldn’t matter to her. She had three humans th
at she could still influence, and that was fine. It wouldn’t matter to her that Meredith got a bit of a shock or that Bonnie might be playing with fire, or even—well, she wouldn’t have done anything to destroy his friendship with Matt, but he hadn’t known that before.

  Matt was going on. “But even though we did force you, you did everything you could for each one of us: three different personalities. No, don’t try to figure out if Meredith or Bonnie talked. I could tell. And Meredith is going to be a tough one for a while, isn’t she?” There were some things gentlemen didn’t talk about. But . . . “Meredith is tough,” Stefan said. “She’ll figure things out for herself and then I’ll do whatever she wants.

  Assuming,” he added dryly, “I survive past tonight.”

  “What do you think about your chances—now? Our chances, I mean.” Stefan shook his head, both to convey his opinion about his chances, and his opinion about Matt getting involved. But he tried to think about the question. Matt deserved that.

  “I don’t know, but a lot better than before,” he admitted slowly.

  “So if Elena did influence things, it might really make a difference.” It had better, Stefan thought, remembering Meredith and the naked fear in her eyes—

  in Meredith’s eyes!

  “Well, there,” Matt was saying. “If Elena is behind it all, then it’s another of her little victories. Everybody did the best they could. You had to try to fit yourself to each person, and we had to face our fears—”

  He paused and they spoke in unison. “—except maybe Bonnie.” Matt snorted. Stefan could sense him looking at him.

  “I don’t want . . . to lose a friend. My best friend, I guess you could say, even though I don’t see much of him,” Matt said finally.

  Now that took courage, Stefan thought. Overcoming the stereotypes of the culture you were born into, trying not to be defensive, or to run away.

  “I’d be proud to have a best friend like you,” he said, and Matt smiled, then ducked his head and started fussing with his shoe, his tolerance for “mushy type stuff” undoubtedly exceeded.

  Each of them had done their best. Matt was still his friend. For Meredith, maybe the day would come when she could look at him and not think “inhuman”—or at least not think it immediately and constantly. Maybe Bonnie, the moth, would be able to stay away from the unholy flame. Now, there was something to worry about. He could all too easily see Bonnie taking a walk on the very wild side with Damon. His brother had a soft spot for her already, she knew. But if either of them had a problem, he already knew what he had to do to find a plan for a solution.

  Just look up.

  The end.

  

  © Ljane Smith (L. J. Smith)

  This is a fantasy of a fantasy. The idea is : what might have happened at the end of Dark Reunion if Stefan had been persuaded to drink the blood of his three friends in order to be more powerful when he fought that night.

  It might have happened something like this...

  Please note that the text from the actual book, Dark Reunion, is paraphrased and condensed.

  Rating: for mature people who enjoy vampire tales.

  Bonnie

  Stefan picked up the branch of white ash, took the knife out of his pocket, and began to strip the smaller branches off, making it into a spear.“Terrific! The knight is going off to combat,” Matt said. “Don’t you see that you’re walking right into that monster’s trap?” He took a step toward Stefan. “Right. You’re the vampire, but you don’t drink human blood, so you’re almost as weak as a human . . .”

  Stefan gave him a bleak smile. “You think so? Are you sure?”

  “Well, I know that there are three of us and only one of you—”

  “Stop it, Matt,” Meredith said quietly. “We can’t stop him from fighting this murderer.

  All we can do is help him.” And without another word, she began unbuttoning the top button of her shirt.

  Bonnie was shocked for an instant—although she’d had the same idea when Stefan had first arrived in Fell’s Church. She hadn’t been thinking of all three of them . . . but what did it matter? She nodded and unzipped her windbreaker.

  Matt hesitated a moment and then took off his Tshirt. “All for one; one for all,” he said.

  Stefan

  That was how it had started. The three of them so determined, united, against him.

  Insistent that he break his vow and take human blood. And Stefan had been walking out on it, despite the knowledge that it would help him to kill the monster preying on Fell’s Church, despite the danger to all of them if he failed. He had actually walked out the door when something else had sparked in his brain.

  “Wait,” Bonnie had said authoritatively. “Can’t you feel it? It’s Elena. She wants you to do this. Can’t you tell?”

  Stefan had looked at her blankly. If this was some new way of manipulating him. . . .

  But Bonnie had been serious, her small head tilted as if listening to faraway music; her expression almost beatific.

  And then he had felt it too. Like a benison from the heavens, a whisper from his goldenhaired angel. Do it, Stefan. Let them make their sacrifice for Fell’s Church, let them give what they can. As you are. It will be to their credit afterward, even if they don’t survive. As for breaking your vow; well, let the condemnation for that be weighed against the merit you’ve gained by staying to protect these humans who—many of them—hate and fear you. Beloved, you are very brave, but sometimes a little too stubborn to be practical.

  Voices from beyond? But that was Elena; that was the way she spoke, and that was the way he felt when she spoke. The next words were not just for him, and something inside him watched Matt and Meredith as they heard the voice too, Matt astonished; Meredith with her usual composure.

  This is our reunion and I give you to each other. I give my friends to you, Stefan, so that you can fight with all your combined strength. And to you, my friends, I give Stefan . . . who may be able to keep you alive. Take each other. . . and trust.

  And then trust. Aye, there was the rub. How to trust even the beneficence of heaven after what that monsterinhumanform had done to this innocent little town.

  But when Elena commanded, he listened. When Elena spoke, even from the afterlife, he obeyed. He’d promised her that in his heart, long ago.

  And so he had agreed, his only condition being that they do this one at a time, with the other two waiting in the car. He, Stefan Salvatore, who had given up drinking human blood so long ago, and bound himself with fearsome oaths not to do it, was going to do it.

  The only thing left was to determine the order, which Meredith did with three twigs from the white ash branch. Meredith. Bonnie. Then Matt.

  Stefan was glad that Meredith was going to be first. Meredith would remain calm during The Last Judgment. She was a rock. He was relying on her to help steady him a little as he broke this pledge that had been his one guidance since becoming a vampire nearly half a millennium ago.

  Bonnie and Matt headed for the car. Stefan looked around the landing for Mrs.

  Flowers, but the landlady had disappeared. Together, he and Meredith went back upstairs.

  “If Bonnie were here,” Meredith said, “she’d be sure it was a good omen that Mrs.

  Flowers was gone.”

  “Fortunately, the door has a good sturdy lock. We don’t have any need for good omens; it can make sure nothing human gets in, and I can keep anything inhuman out. I don’t suppose I can talk you out of this right now?” Stefan spoke without changing his tone in the slightest on the last sentence.

  Meredith smiled. “And flout an edict of Elena’s? I’m not that dumb.”

  “That’s what all three of you think it was? An edict?” Stefan looked at Meredith pleadingly. “I was hoping to get you to talk some sense into Matt. You’ll be alone with him while I’m with Bonnie.”

  “Sense? Matt? Now? In the same sentence?”

  “Yes. We have to get him to give t
his up. You have to, Meredith, because I don’t think he’ll listen to a word I say. It’s all very fine and noble, offering your blood to make me stronger so I can fight that . . . thing. But Matt can’t handle it.” Meredith’s bright dark eyes were as sad as he had ever seen them, like still water in deep pools. "You don’t know Matt well enough by now? He wants to save Fell’s Church even if it kills him. And do you have any idea how he’d feel if you said you’d take blood from Bonnie and me, but not him?"

  “I thought we could fob him off with something about the two of you being girls.” Meredith laughed shortly. “Nyet, Yvette. He knows Damon takes blood from guys. He knows about Mr. Tanner. He knows it’s not a sexual thing.” Stefan groaned. “It’s not. But—how do I explain?”

  He studied Meredith, the quiet elegance of line of her body, the timeless beauty of her high cheekbones, arched eyebrows, and the striking features that had been the downfall of countless males in Fell’s Church. He studied the way her eyelashes tangled together when she shut her eyes. And even as he looked at her he was aware that she was studying him from under those seemingly demure eyelashes. Meredith was like the abyss that looked back at you when you looked into it.

  He sighed.

  “Meredith—can I try to explain something to you? I know there’s no time, but we have to make time for it. Unless you want one of your friends ending up in a psychiatric hospital—

  do you remember Vicky?”

  She didn’t snap off a superficial answer, pointing out that of course she knew a girl she’d gone to school for years with. He watched her face as her mind roved back over the seasons until she could picture what he wanted her to picture: Vicky, a splash of white as she stumbled down a dark country road, wearing nothing but a thin torn slip; her hair disarrayed; her eyes like two black holes to some other dreadful dimension; her mouth one long silent scream.