Lisa Smith - The Struggle

“What’s that there?” he said. “A wallflower?”

Stefan, where are you? thought Elena. But she knew the answer to that. Halfway across school, in astronomy class.

Dick opened his mouth to say something, but then his expression changed. He was looking beyond Elena, down the hall. Elena turned and saw Vickie.

Vickie and Dick had been together before the Homecoming Dance. Elena supposed they still were. But Dick looked uncertain, as if he wasn’t sure what to expect from the girl who was moving toward him.

There was something odd about Vickie’s face, about her walk. She was moving as if her feet didn’t touch the floor. Her eyes were dilated and dreamy.

“Hi there,” Dick said tentatively, and he stepped in front of her. Vickie passed him without a glance and went on to Tyler. Elena watched what happened next with growing uneasiness. It should have been funny, but it wasn’t.

It started with Tyler looking somewhat taken aback. Then Vickie put a hand on his chest. Tyler smiled, but there was a forced look about it. Vickie slid her hand under his jacket. Tyler’s smile wavered. Vickie put her other hand on his chest. Tyler looked at Dick.

“Hey, Vickie, lighten up,” said Dick hastily, but he didn’t move any closer.

Vickie slid her two hands upwards, pushing Tyler’s jacket off his shoulders. He tried to shrug it back on without letting go of his books or seeming too concerned. He couldn’t. Vickie’s fingers crept under his shirt.

“Stop that. Stop her, will you?” said Tyler to Dick. He had backed up into the wall.

“Hey, Vickie, leggo. Don’t do that.” But Dick remained at a safe distance. Tyler shot him an enraged glare and tried to shove Vickie away.

A noise had begun. At first it seemed to be at a frequency almost too low for human hearing, but it grew louder and louder. A growl, eerily menacing, that sent ice down Elena’s spine. Tyler was looking pop-eyed with disbelief, and she soon realized why. The sound was coming from Vickie.

Then everything happened at once. Tyler was on the ground with Vickie’s teeth snapping inches from his throat. Elena, all quarrels forgotten, was trying to help Dick pull her off. Tyler was howling. The history room door was open and Alaric was shouting.

“Don’t hurt her! Be careful! It’s epilepsy, we just need to get her lying down!”

Vickie’s teeth snapped again as he reached a helpful hand into the melee. The slender girl was stronger than all of them together, and they were losing control of her. They weren’t going to be able to hold her much longer. It was with intense relief that Elena heard a familiar voice at her shoulder.

“Vickie, calm down. It’s all right. Just relax now.

With Stefan grasping Vickie’s arm and talking to her soothingly, Elena dared to slacken her own grip. And it seemed, at first, that Stefan’s strategy was working. Vickie’s clawing fingers loosened, and they were able to lift her off Tyler. As Stefan kept speaking to her, she went limp and her eyes shut.

“That’s good. You’re feeling tired now. It’s all right to go to sleep.”

But then, abruptly, it stopped working, and whatever Power Stefan had been exercising over her was broken. Vickie’s eyes flew open, and they bore no resemblance to the startled fawn’s eyes Elena had seen in the cafeteria. They were blazing with red fury. She snarled at Stefan and burst out fighting with fresh strength.

It took five or six of them to hold her down while somebody called the police. Elena stayed where she was, talking to Vickie, sometimes yelling at her, until the police got there. None of it did any good.

Then she stepped back and saw the crowd of onlookers for the first time. Bonnie was in the front row, staring open-mouthed. So was Caroline.

“What happened !” said Bonnie as the officials carried Vickie away.

Elena, panting gently, pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. “She went crazy and tried to undress Tyler.”

Bonnie pursed her lips. “Well, she’d have to be crazy to want to, wouldn’t she?” And she threw a smirk over her shoulder directly at Caroline.

Elena’s knees were rubbery and her hands were shaking. She felt an arm go around her, and she leaned against Stefan gratefully. Then she looked up at him.

“Epilepsy?” she said with disbelieving scorn.

He was gazing down the hall after Vickie. Alaric Saltzman, still shouting instructions, was apparently going with her. The group turned the corner.

“I think class was just dismissed,” Stefan said. “Let’s go.”

They walked toward the boarding house in silence, each lost in thought. Elena frowned, and several times glanced over at Stefan, but it wasn’t until they were alone in his room that she spoke.

“Stefan, what is all this? What’s happening to Vickie?”

“That’s what I’ve been wondering. There’s only one explanation I can think of, and it’s that she’s still under attack.”

“You mean Damon’s still—oh, my God! Oh, Stefan, I should have given her some of the vervain. I should have realized…”

“It wouldn’t have made any difference. Believe me.” She had turned toward the door as if to go after Vickie that minute, but he pulled her gently back. “Some people are more easily influenced than others, Elena. Vickie’s will was never very strong. It belongs to him, now.”

Slowly, Elena sat down. “Then there’s nothing anyone can do? But, Stefan, will she become—like you and Damon?”

“It depends.” His tone was bleak. “It’s not just a matter of how much blood she loses. She needs his blood in her veins to make the change complete. Otherwise, she’ll just end up like Mr. Tanner. Drained, used up. Dead.”

Elena took a long breath. There was something else she wanted to ask him about, something she’d wanted to ask him for a long time. “Stefan, when you spoke to Vickie back there, I thought it was working. You were using your Powers on her, weren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“But then she just went crazy again. What I mean is… Stefan, you are okay, aren’t you? Your Powers have come back?”

He didn’t answer. But that was answer enough for her. “Stefan, why didn’t you tell me? What’s wrong?” She went around and knelt by him so that he had to look at her.

“It’s taking me a while to recover, that’s all. Don’t worry about it.”

“I am worried. Isn’t there anything we can do?”

“No,” he said. But his eyes dropped.

Comprehension swept through Elena. “ Oh ,” she whispered, sitting back. Then she reached for him again, trying to get hold of his hands. “Stefan, listen to me—”

“Elena, no . Don’t you see? It’s dangerous, dangerous for both of us, but especially for you. It could kill you, or worse.”

“Only if you lose control,” she said. “And you won’t. Kiss me.”

“ No ,” said Stefan again. He added, less harshly, “I’ll go out hunting tonight as soon as it’s dark.”

“Is that the same?” she said. She knew it wasn’t. It was human blood that gave Power. “Oh, Stefan, please; don’t you see I want to? Don’t you want to?”

“That isn’t fair,” he said, his eyes tortured. “You know it isn’t, Elena. You know how much—” He turned away from her again, his hands clenched into fists.

“Then why not? Stefan, I need…” She couldn’t finish. She couldn’t explain to him what she needed; it was a need for connection to him, for closeness. She needed to remember what it was like with him, to wipe out the memory of dancing in her dream and of Damon’s arms locked around her. “I need us to be together again,” she whispered.

Stefan was still turned away, and he shook his head.