The Bourbon Diaries ✢ The Vampire Diaries FanFiction ✢ TVD FanFic ✢ TVDU FanFic

Chapter Thirty-Four - Raid Vaziri

Present day

Outskirts of Albemarle, NC

"Over my dead body!" Raid snapped.

He caught up with Stef as she walked quickly towards the stairs. What was she thinking? That it would destroy their friendship if she fed on him again? It had already happened twice. Granted, she didn't realize what was going to happen the first time and was too weak to refuse the second time, but he wasn't about to let her do this with someone else---someone she didn't even know. That wasn't her. He knew she would regret it if she went ahead with it.

"You're not doing this, Stef," he continued, following her up the stairs. "If you're not feeding on me, then don't do the spell to protect me."

"It's not just you I'm thinking about," she said. "It protects Adam too."

"Then neither of us will go to the meeting. We'll be safe here."

Stef stopped mid-step and turned. "Even if you stayed behind, you wouldn't be safe. I put up the wards to this house, a coven of witches could still take them down if I'm not here."

Raid was beginning to get frustrated with the way Stef had answers prepared for everything. Every thought she had was like a constant risk analysis for saving her friends. They reached her bedroom door and Raid clutched the handle, preventing her from opening it.

"Tell me you wouldn't prefer it to be with me," he said. "If you can tell me that, I'll drop it."

Stef stood facing the door, lowering her eyes. She didn't want to lie to him. "I would prefer it to be you," she whispered honestly.

"Then let it be me," he whispered back. He wasn't telling her, he was begging her.

Stef sighed softly, looking up at him. He didn't understand what he was asking of her. He had been back in her life for two days. Everything he was experiencing right now had been her life for over three years. This wasn't his life. She wasn't his life. If she went ahead with this, it would be amazing for a moment... then the moment would be over. He would return to his old life, and she would be yearning for another moment like that again for the rest of hers. There would never be another chance for them like there was for Gabe and Winifred. Raid had one life to live and it wasn't going to be as long as hers.

Stef then thought of her parents. She knew the story: her mother was a human, swept up in the world of vampires. She had not once told Stef that she regretted it, but Stef also couldn't keep track of the amount of people her mother had lost as a result. So much sadness attached to so many memories. She wondered if her mother could even look at old photos without mourning a little each time.

Her parents had wanted Stef to have a normal life, but instead they were going to eventually find out that she was a vampire. There was no avoiding it, and she knew it was going to break their hearts. Everything they had already been through, they would have to live through again: all the risk, all the danger. Her parents didn't want this for her. So why would she ever want Raid to be part of this either? She shouldn't give him a reason to stay.

But she also couldn't hurt him by pushing him away.

Stef had told Raid the truth. Now she needed him to do the same for her. "Raid, do you know the risks of being close to a vampire?" she asked.

"I don't care what the risks are," he stated without hesitation.

Stef shook her head in disappointment, moving his hand from the door handle. "Then you don't know the risks," she confirmed solemnly. She open the door to her room. "I need to get dry. If you know the answer before I leave, maybe you can change my mind." Without another word, she went inside and closed the door.