Stephen Salvatore's Arc

Chapter 8 of 8

Stephen walked back to the manor with the answer he wanted and no way to use it. A month until the full moon. The plant sat in his bag, safe but useless. And Damon would know he had slipped away. Matt could only stall so long. Stephen needed a lie before he reached the door. He found Damon in the lounge. His brother stood by the tall fireplace, one hand on the pool table, waiting. The old paintings of their ancestors watched from the wall above him. Damon's blue eyes tracked Stephen the second he stepped in. "Two minutes," Damon said. "You sat on that stool for two minutes. Then the bartender said you'd left through the front." He rolled a ball across the felt. It cracked into the others. "So tell me. Where does my baby brother keep running?" Stephen kept his voice flat. "I got hungry. I didn't want you watching me feed. So I found a drunk near the square and drank, then came back." It was thin. Damon would smell no blood on him. Damon crossed the room fast. He gripped Stephen's jaw and turned his face toward the firelight. "No blood on your breath. Try again." Stephen's mind raced. A lie would crack. So he chose a different door. He pulled free and let his shoulders drop. "Fine. Elena. I went to see Elena." He made his voice small, ashamed. "She left me. She's chasing you now. I wanted to know why. I've been going back, trying to win her." Damon went still. The name landed exactly as Stephen hoped. His brother wanted Elena. The idea that Stephen still chased her, and kept losing, pleased him more than any threat. A slow smile pulled at Damon's mouth. "You've been sneaking off to beg a girl who picked me." He laughed once, sharp. "That's why you look like a kicked dog." "Don't," Stephen said. He let real hurt show. It cost him nothing; some of it was true. "I know she chose you. I just needed to hear it from her." Damon patted his cheek, almost gentle. "Poor Stephen. Always a step behind." The suspicion drained from his face. He turned back to the table and lined up a shot. "Go mope somewhere else. And stop running. It's sad." Stephen climbed the stairs. His hands shook, but not from fear. The lie had held. Damon believed the chase was about Elena, not a cure. That cover would buy him the whole month he needed. But in his room, the cost settled on him. To sell the lie, he had made Elena his cover story. If Damon mentioned it, Elena might learn Stephen was still fixed on her. And Elena had already walked away. Stephen had bought his month. He had also tied his cure to the one person now pulling closer to his brother.