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

Chapter Fifty-Six - Stefanie Salvatore

Present Day

Mystic Falls, VA

Stef felt a wave of contentment wrap warmly around her.

Cristian was right: this feeling was much better. She didn't have a care in the world.

Such a shame that the mood was being ruined by endless crying.

Most of the crying came from Zara. It was wailing actually... ceaseless, high-pitched, piercing wailing... especially after checking Adam for a heartbeat and finding none. Now she was draped over his body pathetically like her presence had any chance of bringing him back to life, and Stef's eardrums were suffering for it.

Zara held onto Adam's lifeless hand, pressing her lips to it, sobbing repeatedly, "No, please, you can't be gone, habibi. We're engaged, you're supposed to be my husband."

Stef rolled her eyes. Vomit-inducing suffering. Perhaps she could convince Zara to turn off her humanity, just as the death of Adam had switched hers off. They both needed it. Zara was a good friend to have around, but if she had to tolerate the noise of her sobbing over some dead guy for the rest of her life, that friendship was not going to last very long.

Her father was muttering something beside her. She tried to tune it out, but he was insistent. Finally, she slowly turned her eyes in his direction, meeting him with a bored stare.

"Sweetheart, don't look," he repeated. "Keep your eyes on me. We're going to get out of this."

Stef watched him glance over her cheeks in concern, unsure why. Then she remembered she'd been crying. Crying over what? Some old friends had come back into her life for a few days and she'd already been bawling her eyes out over one of them? Thank god that's over. What a waste of energy that was. "I know I'm getting out of this, Dad, but don't be too sure about you," she shot back to his surprise. She turned towards Cristian, emitting a beckoning whistle. "Hey, hotshot, how about cutting me loose?"

Cristian pitched her a dubious look. She was smiling but it didn't mean she had switched sides. He was pretty sure she wasn't on any side but her own right now.

Stef was about to attempt a second appeal, when she saw Raid take hold of Zara's wrists. The girl was now snarling at Cristian like a vicious predator, and he was holding her back. Fat lot of good his strength was going to be, the spoilsport. He was barely able to construct a fluid sentence, the shock of losing his cousin almost sending him into hyperventilation mode. Good grief, what had she seen in him? At least Phoenix she could respect; he was making the effort between the blood vessels bursting in his brain to crawl towards his friend to grieve for him. She had never given him enough credit for being a fighter.

None of them were as much of a fighter as Zara though. The girl finally erupted, all fangs and fury, growling like a beast, breaking free of Raid, and pouncing upon Cristian in a flash... only to get flung across the room by Lorraine. It was ten years of vampirism against five hundred: Zara didn't stand a chance. Stef knew Cristian couldn't cast another aneurysm spell without dropping the one he had on Gabe and Phoenix first, and Gabe was too equally matched in strength to Lorraine for that. She had no choice but to enjoy the entertainment as Lorraine and Zara grappled on behalf of their respective men. This was starting to resemble a trashy reality show.

Suddenly, Raid was in the mix, getting to his feet, storming towards Cristian. What on earth was he thinking, the powerless fool? He didn't even get to raise a fist before Cristian propelled him backwards with his magic, sending him skidding along the floor until he was at Stef's feet.

Cocking her head at Cristian, Stef taunted, "Must be so irritating, only being able to manage short bursts of magic while juggling two spells at the same time. How about dropping the one you have over me?" But she didn't have his attention. She lost it to Zara breaking off a sharp shard of wood from a crate and hurling it in Lorraine's direction, narrowly missing both her and Cristian behind her.