anne

03 | The Original Ripper

TVD - S5 E14 - aftermath

• ____________ •

"Tall, puppy eyes, brooding... this the one?"

Stefan stood in the doorway, an eyebrow raised at Anne's words.

"Yeah... yeah, okay. Got it, see ya." Anne hung up and put her phone in her back pocket.

"Henry!" She called out to him, still in the car, "I'm staying here for a bit, find us a motel will you? take your time!"

She turned back to Stefan and picked up the bottle of bourbon at her feet, "I hope Klaus hasn't told you anything about me?"

"Um, I"m guessing your Anne?"

"Yep, and this is for you," She said as she pushed the alcohol into his chest and walked into the house.

"Thank you?" He said, holding the bottle in his left hand while he shut the door behind him.

Anne stood in the lounge, spinning around slowly to take everything in. "Nice house you got, where's your brother?"

Stefan licked his lips and frowned, walking over to the Alcohol cabinet and putting the bottle with all of Damon's others. "Okay, I literally don't know who you are, other than that Klaus knows you—which, no offence, isn't exactly setting a great first impression."

"That's true," Anne agreed, "But there's not a whole lot about me I can tell you that you'd find relevant to be honest." She walked over to the couch and sat down, "All I know is that I'm here to help your brother with his Ripper problem."

"For all I know you could be here to kill him."

"Well, I'm here on Klaus' word so... does he have a reason to kill Damon?"

"Probably, a lot of people do."

Anne smirked at Stefan amusedly, "You're not selling your brother very well, are you? I'm supposed to want to help him, you know?"

Stefan folded his arms, "Yeah speaking of that, how are you supposed to be more helpful than me for him? He's my brother and I've been through what he's going through."

Anne shrugged, "You'll just have to trust Klaus on this, I'm the best help he's gonna get."

"Trust Klaus? Are we talking about the same person here?"

She pouted her lips in thought, "Yeah, you got a point. How about you trust that Klaus wants to help?"

Stefan gave her the driest look that even she couldn't argue with, "Yeah, another good point. Ok, can you trust that Klaus doesn't want to kill your brother?"

"Nope, he'd love to kill him."

"Jesus," Anne snorted in exasperation. "I mean, I don't know what else to tell ya."

Stefan felt sympathetic, considering she'd flown out to help without even knowing him or his brother. "Ok, how about this," he started, while grabbing the bottle of bourbon she bought and two glasses, "You tell me who you are and how you can help, and we'll go from there."

"Sounds good to me."

He sat down and poured her a drink, which she finished the second she got hold of it. 

"We'll start with the basics. What's your name, how can you help and why?"

"Anne Orda. Unfortunately, I'm the best help a Ripper can get, and I'll tell you why."

::: ::: :::

With a third of the bourbon in Anne's system, she spent the next twenty minutes sitting on the opposite couch from Stefan, debriefing him on why she was here.