chapter sixteen
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Alex had spent the morning doing her daily routine to get ready for the Winter Wonderland charity event. she got dressed in a baby blue, long sleeve, floor length dress. across the collar and the waist line was a row of silver beads that added a little bling to the outfit. to top it off she added a silver and black headband and kept her wavy hair down.
she grabbed her purse and began to walk out of the room when she heard some shuffling downstairs. no one was supposed to be home, so she picked up one of the display daggers hanging on the wall and cautiously walked down the stairs.
she turns the corner and sees Stefan in a room hanging up the phone and closing a trunk belonging to Klaus. Alex vamp speeds towards him and pushe him against the wall, the dagger to his neck.
"what are you doing here, Stefan? looking for something?" she raises a brow, waiting for an answer. Stefan's eyes widen and he grunts as the dagger cuts into his neck.
"n-no, not looking for anything. Klaus asked me to pick you up and take you to the event at town square," he smiles convincingly. Klaus told him that he compelled Alex to forget the past two weeks.
Alex nods, believing the vampire, and backs away that that he could heal and breathe again.
Stefan takes a deep breath and coughs, "you've gotten strong. a lot stronger"
this makes her smirk, "I've gotten better at a lot of things since 1864," she then grabs his wrist and walks towards the front door, "now lets hurry up, I'm supposed to be helping Carol with the event"
the two walk throug the town square arm in arm. Stefan looks for Caroline and Klaus while Alex looks for Carol. Alex notices his determination and squeezes his arm, making him look at her instead.
"so... what have I missed lately? anything juicy and exciting?" she asked.
Stefan sighed with frown, "well, Elena and I broke up because she has feelings for Damon. but it turns out she's just sired to him, so Damon let go of her last night"
"really?!" she asked a little too excittedly. she clears her throat in realization and frowns, "I'm sorry, Stefan... but the sire bond didn't make her catch feelings for him. the sire bond formed because she had feelings for him as a human. now that doesn't happen everytime, just with certain vampires and if the feelings are strong enough..."
Alex notices the look on Stefan's face and realized that none of that actually helped him, just made him even more upset, and she hated to see him upset.
she stops them from walking and turns to face him, holding onto his hand, "look, I know how heartbreak feels. it sucks when the person you love also loves someone else... but the only way for you to heal is for you to let her go"
she then realized she was speaking from her own experiences, when Stefan caught feelings for Katherine as well. but she didn't let Stefan go, she couldn't, and even now she still hasn't. even after 145 years, she can't let him go. she knew he still loved Elena, but she couldn't help her feelings.
Stefan looked down at her and sighed, realizing she spoke from their relationship, "I'm sorry, Alex"
she shook her head, "no, no, it's okay. I kinda saw it coming... I guess," she laughed half heartedly, "I just want... I just, I need to know... if there's any part of you that still feels something"
Stefan is taken aback from the question, not expecting the straightforward question, "I..."
Alex pulls her hands away and shakes her head, "I'm sorry, that was stupid of me to say," she then noticed Carol standing a few feet away, "I'm gonna go," she then quickly walks off, not giving Stefan anytime to process what just happened.
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Alex spent the whole evening and half the night helping Carol direct the event and making sure the drunk woman got home safe. it helped the heretic keep her mind off Stefan and Tyler, and she did enjoy the company of the older woman. after the festivities, Carol promised that Tyler was picking her up, so she let the young heretic go on home.
Alex started to make her way towards her house when she caught a faint scent of blood, but there was lots of it. she then made her way to the source and stopped in the woods. she stood in shock as 12 of Klaus' hybrids were scattered around the ground, torn apart and dead. there was blood everywhere, and that was all she could see and smell. veins crawled down her face and she rested her hand against a tree to steady herself and calm down, but when she looked up, blood covered her hand and a dead hybrid was slumped against the exact tree. it took everything in her to not feed on what was left of the hybrids, to just get a taste. it didn't matter that the blood wasn't from a human, the scent was just as strong. she couldn't control her hunger.
she knew who had done it, her brother Niklaus. this had his work written all over it, the way they hybrids were killed were his tactics.
she breathed heavily and controlled herself long enough to vamp speed out of the forest and to the place that was close by where she knew she could calm down. the Salvatore home. she barged into the home and made her way to the nearest bathroom, grabbing a towel and soaking it with water to clean her hands of the blood.
If you stay clean, no one will suspect a thing. that was something Elijah had taught her years ago, and something their mother had taught him, so she went by that for many years. she scrubbed her hands until they turned pink and the blood was completely gone. she then grabbed a tissue from her purse and cleaned up her face, making sure her eyes weren't red and puffy and her makeup was intact.
Alex walked out of the bathroom and into the parlor to see Caroline sitting on the sofa watching Stefan, who stood up and knocks over one of the chess pieces on the chess board gently. but suddenly, he knocks the board off the table with such force that it flies halfway across the room. he proceeds to knock the end table and it flies across the room as well.
Caroline closes her eyes and starts to cry. Stefan breathes heavily as he stares blankly at nothing. Alex walks over to them, placing her hand on Caroline's shoulder.
"go home, Caroline. I'll take care of this from here" Alex says softly. Caroline nods and looks over at Stefan one last time before leaving. Alex walks over to the angry and upset Stefan and watches he trys to control his breathing and is seconds away from breaking somehing else. he goes to flip over the table beside him but Alex stops him by placing her hand on his.
"Stefan, stop this! you're going to hurt yourself!" his breath becomes ragged and Alex places her forehead to his, shushing him to calm him down, "It's okay... I'm here, Stefan. just focus on your breathing for me, okay?"
Stefan nods with tears in his eyes. Alex pulls him down to the ground with her and pulls him against her chest. one hand running through his hair and the other gently rubbing his back. she would to this with him when he and Damon would get into arguments all those years ago when they were human.
Stefan clung onto her arm closest to him and did a she said, taking deep breaths to control his breathing. his head laid on her chest and he used the sound of her calm heartbeat to match his own. she listened as his heart rate slowed and gently pulled back.
she kept one hand massaging his head in comfort as the other reached his cheek, wiping away a tear, "what happened?"
he closed his eyes and took one last deep breath, "Elena and Damon are together"
Alex looked at him with pity. she could tell he loved Elena a lot, and the fact that she left him for his brother hurt. she nearly chuckled, remembering that Stefan nearly left Alex for her 'sister' Katerine one time because Katherine had tried to compel him to love her, but Alex stopped it before it could actually happen. Alex shook the memory off and made eye contact with Stefan, who was already looking at her.
"don't let this control you, Stefan. don't let the darkness take over like I have let it for me so many times before. you are stronger than the anger trying to break through. fight it, and let her go. you deserve so much better than what you're given. you deserve to be with someone who will love you forever. where even in death, they can't imagine a life without you"
they look at each other for a moment longer, not daring to break eye contact. Stefan was thankful that she was there to calm him down, even after becoming a vampire and his entire personality basically changing, her method of comfort still worked. that, and her being in front of him gave him a feeling of warmth and familiarity.
it was then in that moment that he realized that his feelings for the girl never went away, that after all this time he still cared her very deeply. the love that nothing could replace was still there.
"to answer your question from earlier..." he reaches up to place his hand on the side of her face, looking into those same warm, hazel eyes he fell for years ago, the spark still there, "I still feel it"
he pulls her close and kisses her, one hand on her cheek and the other on her waist. she immediately kisses back, she had longed for this feeling for years, no other kiss by any other man felt the same as the ones she shared with Stefan.
they both pulled apart, out of breath and looked into each others eyes, trying to figure out if there was any regret, any hesitation, but there was none.
Stefan grabbed her tightly and sped to his room, closing the door behind him and pinning her against it. kissing her lustfully yet gently. they both wanted this, their kisses were full of love and longingness, they had both waited 145 years to finally reunite and be together again. they weren't stopping. Alex pulled apart for a short moment to pull her shirt over her head and rip Stefan's off. more kisses were shared and their clothes scattered across the room as they made their way to the bed. Alex laid on the bed with Stefan on top of her.
he slowly pulled away from the kiss, resting his forehead against hers and smiling, the same smile he would give her during their life together long ago. it was a white teeth smile that reached his eyes that meant he was happy.
he was happy to be with Alex again, happy that she was alive, happy at the fact that even after everything, she still loved him as much as he loved her. Stefan tried to move on from her, but there was nothing he could do to shake away his desire for Alex Pierce. and with her being back, he knew that nothing could stop them from being together.