The Sensitive

Chapter 20: Caution before Chaos

Stefan's POV

I gazed down at the girl lying beside me with a fond smile on my face. Last night was probably the best night I have had in a long while. Marilyn and I had stayed up talking and playing cheesy board games until she eventually fell asleep. I had lent her one of my shirts and a pair of women's pajama shorts that were amongst some of the boxes of stuff my descendants kept.

I probably should have moved her into one of the guest rooms or slept in one myself...but I couldn't bring myself to do so. The thought of being so close to her was too tempting for me to pass up. So I laid beside her throughout the night, eventually pulling her into my arms and holding her close. Where she remained.

"What do we have here?" The voice snapped my attention away from the lovely brunette I was holding. My brother leaned against the doorway, eyes trained on my bed. Though the smirk he wore was playful and teasing, I could see anger in his eyes. "So this is where you've been all night. Don't tell me you took a bite out of your girlfriend's sister last night?"

"Don't be ridiculous." I answer defensively, the mere thought of feeding from her was utterly insane to me...unless she asked me to. "You would've smelt her blood the moment you got in the house. I didn't sink my fangs into her."

"Then why pray tell is said girl lying in your arms, while Elena is running around Mystic Falls searching for you after your sudden disappearance last night?"

Damon's voice was rising with every word, the anger bubbling just beneath the surface. If this continued, he'd wake Marilyn. I gently slid myself out of the bed, covering her up again before leaving the room. Damon's eyes tracked my every movement, his rage barely held in check. I made my way toward the parlor, Damon hot on my heels.

As soon as we made it to the parlor, I was flung across the room hitting the bookshelf. Damon sped over, grabbing me by the collar of my shirt and pushing me up against the shelves. "What did you do?"

"Absolutely nothing," I snap. "I was feeling a bit overwhelmed after you two accused me of going off the rails when that is not the case. I started to lose control of my vampire side. Marilyn found me and calmed me down."

"SHE WAS AROUND YOU WHILE YOU WERE LOSING YOUR SHIT?!" Damon exclaimed, furiously. "SHE SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN ANYWHERE NEAR YOU! YOU COULD HAVE HURT HER! KILLED HER!"

"I WOULD NEVER HURT HER!" The tenacity of my response surprised him, halting the tangent he was about to go off on. Though he still looked furious and unconvinced. "She means too much to me."

"Oh, so Elena's got some competition?" Damon sneered.

"No, not like that. Marilyn...she just gets me. She understands me in ways no one else ever has. She's helped me regain control of my blood lust in less than two weeks. I may be able to drink human blood again at this rate without fear of killing everyone I feed on." 

Damon's fists clenched at his sides, his body tense, as if ready to strike. His voice, when it came, was low and dangerous. "And what happens when you lose control again, Stefan? What happens if she can't stop you? What if you KILL HER?"

"I won't lose control," I said, my voice firm, though a flicker of doubt gnawed at me. "Not with her. Not anymore."

Damon's eyes narrowed, and for a moment, I thought he might attack me, the air between us thick with tension. Then, he turned away abruptly, speeding out of the room. But in his wake he left one last remark in a harsh whisper. "We'll see about that."

Marilyn's POV

I left the Salvatore Boarding House shortly after waking up, leaving Stefan to deal with Elena and the aftermath of last night. I felt a little bad leaving him to face the music alone, but in all fairness, I'd received another call from Caroline before I left. Apparently, she had tried to call me six times last night. Seeing that... Stefan and I concluded that I may have a worse fate than him if I didn't set things right with the blond.

After a long phone call that lasted my whole run home, I won the blonde's forgiveness after promising to help her find a dress for the Founders' Day parade. Not that the dress she wore in the show was bad, but I thought she could do better. Elena shouldn't be the one wearing the best dress there. I hung up the phone in much better spirits before getting dressed. 

Outfit: 

I am just looking forward to the few days left before Isabel arrives, starting the true chain reaction of crazy events here in Mystic Falls. I still had a few projects I wanted to start on before Katherine comes and stirs up trouble in town. Things I intended on working on today between and after my classes. Another change is that since Stefan is still doing well and isn't locked in the cellar, him and Elena will be at school today. Hence why I'm going, so I don't become Elena's new worry project. 

In between classes I went on my laptop and looked on craigslist, searching for Slater. Though the guy seemed very obnoxious in the show, he does appear to be very resourceful. It didn't take long for me to find and send him a little message, requesting an in-person meeting. If things go my way at this meeting, I will have this well educated vampire in my corner. I also shot a quick text to Anna, asking for a favor later in the week. And by the end of the school day I got a response saying he would meet with me the day after the parade, aka probably the busiest day of my life. 

When the school day was over, I stole Tyler for the afternoon. Today seemed like the best day for us to break his werewolf curse since the next full moon is Founders' day and the rest of the week is kind of a wild card for me. The killing was quick, just him putting some poison in the evil bastard's coffee. And that was that, afterwards we went to the safe house did some homework and watched some old horror movies. 

I didn't want to put too much on my plate while Isabel in the area. The younger vampire currently had her emotions off and as much as I hated to admit it, that concerned me. The woman was a wildcard and I knew she could easily change her plans however she saw fit to get the device...which I still have. But no one knows that yet. I was kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place with this. Part of me thought to just have Jeremy give the device to Damon saying Anna wanted him to have it... but after a lot of internal debate I decided that wasn't the best call. I didn't think it was a good idea because it leads to Bonnie lying and pretending to spell the device which only caused drama and pain. So...I wasn't really sure what I am going to do. I'm probably just going to catch her after her meeting with Elena or at the float set-up to just hand her the device. 

Not my most elaborate plan, but the smartest course of action seemed to be just to give it to her. That way Jeremy doesn't get kidnapped and Matt might not get hurt. Whether or not John gets hurt is still up in the air. The guy might just talk himself into a beating anyway, despite my interference. I've had no visions so I guess my plan doesn't work out too badly, but I'll guess we'll have to wait and see.