In The Hot Seat | WTM

Smells like teen spirit

Elena was in the woods, she had been out there now for an hour. 

As she retied her pony tail, Alaric, who looked like he had just woke up off the Grill's floor, set up one of his mannequins and showed her how to stake a vampire with a sleeve and two stakes in it. "So the pressure of your punch ejects the stakes."

Elena shrugged, "Easy enough."

She tries but the stakes stay in the sleeve, "That's weird." 

Bonnie took a obnoxiously loud slurp of one of a green slushys, the one Matt had been protecting as if his life depended it on it, "I'm embarrassed for you"

Elena ground her teeth, "And do you think you could do it, Bonnie"

"I'm normally sleep deprived, increasing my Cholesterol level, and still manage to maintain a C+ average." Bonnie stared at her, right in her eye, "Yes, Elena. I know I could"

Elena tries again but it doesn't work, "Must be jammed or something"

Alaric ran his hands over his face, "You're not strong enough. Better start lifting some weights, put some meat on your bones."

"Thanks for not sugar-coating it."

Alaric smiled and took something out of his bag, "You know what this is?"

"A vervain grenade." Cocking her head, "I've used one before."

"Then you know the element of surprise is your only advantage when it comes to a vampire." He pulls the pin out of a grenade and throws it in Elena's hand, "Surprise."

Elijah's lips twiched upwards faster than he would have cared to admit. Yes, Elena was human, but he knew the drunken hunter would never harm his charge intentionally. And so, the tiniest speck of guilt he should have felt, none existent; those grenades cost him a good suit

 Alaric, on the other hand and on the other side of the Cinema, was almost bursting with guilt. He made those things and knew just how much they packed a punch; the amount of terror he had that the FBI or CIA would show up because of the explosives he bought was immense

"You were doing the right thing," the voice crooned. 

Alaric felt his guilt intensify, "I could have seriously hurt her"

"And vampires," she spat, "would not think twice about killing her"

Elena froze momentarily, before throwing it in the air and the grenade explodes, "This isn't a joke to me, Ric." She angrily pulls off her sleeve, and slammed it into his chest, before walking away. 

"You think I'm joking? Vampires will take whatever they want. They will hurt whoever they want. And they'll do it without remorse," Alaric ranted. "It's their nature"

"You don't have to use pronouns." Elena sighed, turning to face him, "You can say Stefan."

"Look, I get why you're here. Stefan hurt you. You don't want it to happen again."

"But you think that I'm crazy, to believe that I can protect myself from a vampire who's flipped the switch on his humanity"

"I was compelled to have my switch off." Stefan tiled his head, pointing towards Klaus with the Blood Pop in his hand, "Nothing short of the compulsion being removed would have let my emotions come back"