Here And Now (S.S)

2.100 "So You Are Going With Him?"

Stefan " What are you doing?"

Julian " I seem to have misplaced my cellular telephone. These things have a way of, you know, jumping out of your hand and just...Scurrying off."

He was drunk.

Julian reached into the pocket of one of the dead Santa's and managed to find it. Which surprised me because that guy was drunk as hell. 

Julian "Oh! Stop looking. Here it is."

I rolled my yes.

Damon looked at Stefan" Well, I feel stupid. Don't you feel stupid?"

Stefan " Hmm..."

Damon "Because, see, Stefan and I thought you had some really great maniacal plan, but it turns out you're just a drunk sorority girl who ruins everyone's night by losing her cell phone."

Julian " Well, it has been a rough few weeks for all of us, I suppose, after what we went through."

Stefan asked offended" "We?""

Julian nodded "Mmm."

Stefan "What do you mean by "we?""

Julian " Well, you lost your mother, and I lost the love of my life."

Stefan scowled " She meant nothing to you."

Julian shouted upset "She meant everything to me!"

Then he pulled out a short sword" Do you remember this sword? When you, you know, drove it through my chest? You didn't quite have all the pieces together, though, did you? Literally."

Julian held up the sword so we could see that the Phoenix Stone had been affixed to the end of the handle " See, when a vampire is stabbed through the heart with, uh, the completed sword, it acts as a magical conduit, transferring their spirit into this particularly nasty stone. And the purpose of the stone is to punish vampires like you boys. Every sin you've committed goes into creating your own little personal hell. I spent over one hundred years inside."

He began to laugh hysterically " Pbbbt! One hundred. Then, Lily saved me. And for the briefest of moments, oh... I had her back in my life. So, she was the only thing that kept the madness of the stone at bay. You know, the only thing that kept me... sane."

Damon "Wait-- that was you sane?"

Julian " Well, it was. But, uh, now... These have been dark days for me."

Just then, at least a half dozen vampires started through the entrances of the bar and surrounded us.

I slowly walked behind Stefan and slowly grabbed his hand from behind. I knew he was trying to stay calm.

If one of the brothers-Damon- screws up then we are screwed. 

Julian wrapped his arm around a guy" Then, I remember what my old life looked like. And, I... I realized... I mean, it was a good life. I was surrounded by the people that I cared about-- my friends. Two, two. Heh, heh, heh. Raphael, here, I met in Florence in the 1600s.He was a painter-- terrible painter, though-- but a painter."

Julian clapped Raphael on the shoulder when the vampire nods in agreement. Julian then walked over to a woman and squeezed her shoulders "Oh, Dirty Robin, I found in a convent in Massachusetts in, uh, 1802, was it? Hmmm. She loved those nuns."

He pointed toward two men standing behind us. We slowly turne around to look at the. 

Julian "Seth over there, I rescued you from a claim-jumper in California during the Gold Rush, and Xi Nguyen, I met you last week, actually, in Portland."

This guy wasn't right in the head.

Julian" Now, I know you two have been following me for quite some time, right? I hope it wasn't for nefarious reasons."

Stefan smiled coldly " Well, that depends. Is killing you nefarious?"

Damon panicked " All right, guys. Listen... I'm sure we all miss Lily. Well, most of you. You guys in particular. But I'm sure, wherever she is, she's looking up and thinking, "I wish those boys wouldn't fight...""

Stefan said annoyed "I'm not going anywhere."

Julian smiled "Good."

Stefan nodded " Hmmm."

Julian "Good."

Damon sighed "Fine. Plan B-- booze-soaked flammable costumes."

He threw a lighter at Julian and his friends which set the dead Santas on fire. The boys had soaked them in alcohol earlier. The fire started to spread very quick.

We rushed out of the bar and into the alley.

Stefan " Okay, so we re-load, we figure out a way to separate him from his friends..."

Damon sighed frustrated "We do no such thing! We get in the car, and we go home."

Stefan asked confused " What? What are you talking about? He's building a small army back there. He's obviously up to something."

Damon scoffed "He's getting wasted with his friends! You're delusional. Trust me. That? That is a hornets' nest, and take it from an expert-- you do not want to kick it."

Stefan " You of all people should not be the one to give up! You're the reason he's alive and she isn't."

Damon " What kind of backwards-ass logic is that?"

Stefan "Because we would have killed Julian the minute he showed up into our lives, but no. You wanted to punish Lily with a long-con, didn't you?"

Damon rolled his eyes "She punished herself with a short stake."

Stefan "Huh. You know, for weeks, I've been watching you. I've been trying to catch even the slightest bit of regret on your face."

Damon "Regret for what, Stefan?"

Stefan "She was dying, Damon? How difficult would it have been to say something nice?"

Damon " Well, I didn't want to lie to the woman"

Stefan " All she wanted was forgiveness, and you practically spat in her face!"

Damon "She didn't deserve my forgiveness."

Stefan " What, because she made some mistakes? Or is it because she didn't choose poor you over Valerie?"

Damon was clearly offended and hurt but he covered it up with a cold smile" Giving her a hall pass, like always. Her little angel."

Stefan "You acted like a spoiled little brat. A coward. You had a chance to make things right, and you still do."

Damon glared at Stefan "Road trip's over, brother. You want to go back and risk it? Go for it. I'm going home."

Then he looked at me "you coming with me, princess?"

Stefan looked at me "angel?"

I looked at Stefan and took a deep breath "He's right, Stefan, you saw what happened when i forgave Katherine in her death bed, she bit me in the ass.   "

Damon "thank you, Adelaide"

Me "Julian made some friends since your mom died, Stefan, he and his friends are way stronger than us"

I walked to Damon.

Stefan asked betrayed "so you're going with him? you said you're going to help me kill him"

I nodded "You're right, i agreed to help you kill him but he's way to strong with that army. You wanna go back in there and kill him? then go. But i'm not gonna watch you getting yourself killed"

Damon and i walked away.