[Location: The Mystic Grill – Parking Lot] [Time: 8:15 PM – Immediately Following Chapter 12]
The taillights of Logan Fell's car disappeared around the corner, leaving a red blur in my vision.
I stood in the cool night air, running the simulation in my head.
Variable: Logan Fell. Status: Infected. Vampire blood in system. Paranoia level critical. Risk: If he dies tonight, he wakes up in transition. If he feeds, he becomes a vampire who knows where the Council meets, who the vampires are, and—most dangerously—that I lied about the Gilbert Watch.
Logan was a "Legacy Employee" who had gone rogue. In the corporate world, you fired them and revoked their access. In Mystic Falls, you liquidated the asset.
I pulled out my phone. I stared at the screen.
I could call Stefan. Stefan would try to "save" Logan. He'd try to talk him down, maybe lock him in the cellar to detox. That was too risky. Logan was too loud.
I needed the cleaner.
I scrolled to a number I had saved not under a name, but under a symbol: ⚠️.
I didn't call. A call is a record. I sent a text.
Subject: ⚠️ Message: The reporter knows. He's running. Last seen heading East on Route 9. He smells like your blood.
I hit send.
Then I deleted the text. I deleted the log.
I walked back to my Jeep. The game was in motion.
[Location: The Salvatore Boarding House – Library] [Time: 8:20 PM]
Damon Salvatore checked his phone. He was pouring a drink, bored out of his mind.
He read the text.
His eyes narrowed. "Unknown Number." But the message was specific. He smells like your blood.
Damon remembered feeding on Logan during the attack on the church (in the canon timeline, Damon attacks Logan at the cemetery, but here, he likely fed on him during a "snatch and erase" that went wrong, or just for fun).
"Well, well," Damon murmured, knocking back the bourbon. "Loose ends."
He didn't care who sent the text. He cared that a Council member was running around with his blood in their veins. That was sloppy.
He grabbed his jacket.
[Location: The Cross Residence – Bedroom] [Time: 10:00 PM]
I was home. I was safe.
But I wasn't sleeping.
I was sitting on the floor with the Gilbert Watch in my lap. The back was open again. I was tweaking the sensitivity of the piezoelectric buzzer.
Buzz... Buzz...
It was vibrating faintly.
Why?
There were no vampires in my house.
I walked to the window. I looked out at the street.
The streetlights flickered.
A police cruiser drove by slowly. Sheriff Forbes was patrolling.
The buzzing stopped.
False positive? Or was the sensitivity too high?
I adjusted the tension spring.
Suddenly, my phone rang.
Jeremy.
"Hello?"
"Adrian," Jeremy's voice was shaky. "Are you up?"
"Yeah. What's wrong?"
"It's Vicki," Jeremy whispered. "She just... she just ran away. She was at the Grill with Matt, and she started screaming about the noise. She said everyone was too loud. Then she just bolted."
Heightened senses. Vicki was transitioning. Damon must have killed her—or she died from her injuries—and now she was waking up.
"Where did she go?" I asked, grabbing my keys.
"I don't know. The cemetery? The woods? Matt is looking for her. I'm... I'm scared, Adrian. She looked... primal."
"Stay at home, Jeremy," I ordered. "Do not go into the woods."
"But—"
"I mean it," I said, my voice hard. "If she's sick, she's dangerous. I'll go help Matt. You stay put."
I hung up.
Crisis Multiplying.
Logan Fell is rogue.
Vicki Donovan is transitioning.
Two new vampires in one night. This was the "Chaos Cascade."
I grabbed my jacket. I grabbed the Vervain Spray. I grabbed the Stake.
I went to the garage and got in my Jeep.
[Location: The Cemetery] [Time: 10:45 PM]
The cemetery was the center of the supernatural nexus in Mystic Falls. It was where the ley lines converged.
I parked the Jeep at the service entrance, hidden by the overgrown hedges.
I got out, holding the Watch.
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
It was going crazy.
I walked into the graveyard. The fog was rolling in again.
"Vicki?" A voice called out.
Matt Donovan.
He was wandering through the tombstones with a flashlight. "Vic! Come on, this isn't funny!"
I ran over to him. "Matt!"
He spun around, blinding me with the beam. "Adrian? What are you doing here?"
"Jeremy called me," I said, shielding my eyes. "He said she bolted."
"She's tripping out," Matt said, his voice thick with worry. "She said her gums hurt. She said the light was burning her."
"Matt," I said, putting a hand on his arm. "We need to find her. But you need to stay close to me."
Crack.
A twig snapped behind a mausoleum.
Matt swung the light.
"Vicki?"
A figure emerged from the dark.
It was Vicki Donovan. But she looked wrecked. Her skin was grey, her eyes were bloodshot and dilated. There was dried blood on her hospital gown.
"Matt..." she whimpered. "It hurts. I'm so hungry."
"I've got you," Matt said, stepping forward. "We'll get you some food. We'll go to the diner."
"No!" Vicki screamed, covering her ears. "Too loud! Your heart... it's so loud!"
She looked at Matt's neck. I saw the hunger take over. The veins under her eyes pulsed.
She wasn't looking at her brother. She was looking at a meal.
"Matt, get back," I said, stepping in front of him.
"What?" Matt asked, confused.
Vicki hissed. It was a vampire hiss—unmistakable.
She lunged.
She moved faster than a human. She hit me, knocking me into a tombstone. The impact knocked the wind out of me.
"Adrian!" Matt yelled.
Vicki was on top of me. Her fangs were out. She snapped at my throat.
I jammed my forearm into her neck, holding her back. She was strong. Insanely strong for a junkie.
"Vicki, stop!" I grunted.
She snarled, drool and blood dripping from her mouth. She didn't recognize me. She was just instinct.
She leaned down to bite my shoulder.
DO IT, I thought.
She bit me.
Her fangs sank into my trapezius muscle.
Burn.
The moment her teeth broke my skin, the concentrated Vervain in my blood hit her tongue.
Vicki screamed.
It sounded like she had bitten into a live wire. She gagged, pulling back, coughing violently. Smoke—actual steam—rose from her mouth.
"Ahhh! It burns!" she shrieked, scrambling off me.
I rolled over, clutching my bleeding shoulder. It hurt like hell, but it worked.
Matt was staring at us, frozen in horror. "What... what did you do?"
"She's sick," I wheezed, standing up. "She's on something bad, Matt. We need to go."
Vicki was writhing on the ground, clawing at her mouth.
Suddenly, a shadow fell over us.
Stefan.
He appeared out of nowhere. He grabbed Vicki by the arms, restraining her effortlessly.
"Matt, take Adrian and go," Stefan ordered. His voice was calm but commanded absolute obedience.
"Stefan?" Matt stammered. "What is wrong with her?"
"She's having a drug reaction," Stefan lied, looking at me. He saw the bite mark. He smelled the blood. And he smelled the vervain smoke.
He gave me a look that said: We will talk about this.
"Go!" Stefan roared. "Now!"
I grabbed Matt. "Come on, man. Let him handle it."
I dragged Matt toward the car.
[Location: The Cross Residence – Bathroom] [Time: 11:30 PM]
I sat on the edge of the bathtub, shirtless.
The bite wasn't deep, thanks to the vervain reaction, but it was ugly. Two puncture wounds on my shoulder, oozing red.
I poured rubbing alcohol on it. I gritted my teeth, but I didn't scream.
Pain is data, I told myself. Pain means you're alive.
I bandaged it up.
I looked in the mirror.
I had been bitten. I had fought a vampire. And I had won.
But the night wasn't over.
My phone buzzed.
Unknown Number.
I opened the text.
Message: Done. The reporter is cancelled. - D
Damon.
He had killed Logan.
I let out a long exhale.
Logan Fell was dead. Vicki was in Stefan's custody (where he would try to teach her to eat bunnies, and she would eventually die anyway).
I had managed the chaos.
But now, Stefan knew.
He knew I had vervain in my blood. He knew I didn't panic when Vicki hissed. He knew I was more than just a smart kid.
I walked to my bedroom.
I needed to prepare a story for Stefan.
I sat at my desk and pulled out a notebook.
The Narrative for Stefan: 1. I figured it out. 2. I'm scared, but I trust him. 3. I want to help.
If I played this right, I wouldn't just be a "protected human." I would be an Ally.
And an ally gets access to the Boarding House. An ally gets access to the Grimoires.
I looked at the bandages on my shoulder.
"Phase 1 complete," I whispered. "Welcome to the inner circle."
[End of Chapter 13]