Try {One | Alaric Saltzman}

The Return

Abigail ran down the stairs faster than she knew her feet could carry her. Elena was on the kitchen floor, kneeling next to John. He was sitting in a pool of blood, beaten within an inch of his life. Missing fingers. Missing the Gilbert ring.

She dropped to her knees next to him, frantically taking over Elena's efforts to stop his bleeding as she called for an ambulance. He used what little strength he had left to place his uninjured hand on top of Abigail's. "Be-behind-"

"What? Uncle John, what?"

"Elena..." He gasped. "Behind Elena!"

A vampire sped around her, leaving them with no signs of who it might have been before running out of the door.

"Jeremy!" Elena ran up the stairs. "Jeremy!"

"John," Abigail said, holding onto the hope that whatever scene Elena had walked into wasn't as bad as the one in front of her. "Stay with me. John? John!"

Stefan arrived as the paramedics did, the crease between his brows more prominent than ever. "What happened?"

Elena led him up the stairs to Jeremy's room. "He said Anna gave him her blood and then he took these pills and now... I mean, he looks fine, but then again so do you. So, I just...I don't know."

"Look at me." Stefan took Jeremy's face in his hands. "Look at me."

"I'm fine, okay?" He pushed him away. "I feel exactly the same."

Abigail's eyes darted around the room. "What should we do? Should I get a paramedic?"

Stefan peered into his eyes. "No, he's fine."

"You mean I'm not a vampire?" He stood up, pulling the blanket off of his bed in his wake. "Damn it!"

"Don't say that Jeremy!" Elena crossed over to him. "Jer, why would you want that?"

"Did you hear about Anna? What happened to her tonight?" He paused. "She's dead."

"Jeremy. Jeremy, come here. Sit down." Stefan pushed him back onto his bed, taking his face back into his hands. "I am very sorry about Anna, but it's very important that you listen to me right now. With every passing moment, Anna's blood is leaving your system. If you try to kill yourself right now, you could really die."

A policeman knocked on the door frame of Jeremy's bedroom. "Miss Elena Gilbert? We need to ask you a few questions to finish the report."

"I-I'll be right there."

"You two need to go to the hospital," Stefan said to them.

Abigail looked over his shoulder at Jeremy. "But..."

"I'll stay with him."

"No," Jeremy said. "I don't need a babysitter."

"Yes. You do."

When they arrived at the hospital they were met with the rest of their friends, but not for the reason they were expecting. They had been in an accident, one that seemed to have been caused by the Gilbert device. Caroline took the brunt of it, the severity of her injuries leading the doctors to question if she was even going to make it.

"Is there something that you can do?" Elena asked Bonnie in hushed tones. "Like a spell or something?"

Damon strode over to them, jumping into the conversation he heard from across the emergency room floor. "She doesn't know how, do you?"

"No," Bonnie sighed. "I don't."

"No," he repeated. "You don't because it took Emily years to learn a spell like that."