Twenty minutes passed without Elena noticing exactly when. The bonfire no longer seemed as hot as before, or perhaps it was just the restlessness that prevented her from relaxing. The cup in her hand was almost empty, but she didn't remember drinking much. Her eyes, however, automatically searched among the familiar faces whenever someone passed between the trees.
Ryan still hadn't returned.
Bonnie neither.
She tried not to think too much about it. She told herself that Bonnie had probably overdone it a bit, that Ryan was just being himself, too attentive, too protective, the type who didn't know how to simply "let it go." Still, something bothered her. Bonnie hadn't left just to get more drinks. She had left fleeing. And that wasn't normal even for her.....
Elena rubbed her arms, more out of nervousness than cold.
"You've had that face since I arrived."
The voice came from her left, too cheerful for the turmoil Elena was facing inside. Caroline Forbes appeared with a new cup in hand, impeccably put together; she wore a light jacket, fitted to her body, probably chosen more for style than necessity, with the sleeves rolled up in a calculated way. Underneath, a light fabric blouse in a pastel tone, too clean for someone in an uneven field, made it clear she had thought about that look. The high-waisted shorts contrasted with the dirt and dry leaves on the ground, and the short boots, though practical, still seemed too new for that environment. Her blonde hair was loose, falling in soft waves over her shoulders, not a strand out of place, as if the bonfire smoke had simply decided to spare her.
She had arrived a few minutes after Ryan went after Bonnie and, as expected, went straight to her, and the two spent a good time talking, as always, before the blonde went in search of a drink....
"What face?" Elena asked, without taking her eyes off the crowd.
"This one." Caroline pointed to her own face, exaggerating the expression. "The face of 'something's wrong, but I'm going to pretend it's not.'"
Elena finally looked at her.
"I'm not pretending."
"See?" Caroline smiled, satisfied with herself, before sitting on the log next to her. "Oh, I forgot to ask before, but where's Ryan? I thought you two would come together...."
The question came too direct to be casual.
"Yes, we did.... He went to check on Bonnie..." Elena replied, straightening her body and saying; "And to get more drinks."
Caroline arched an eyebrow, interested.
"Bonnie disappeared?"
"She... wasn't feeling very well." Elena chose her words carefully. "Ryan thought it best to go after her."
Caroline gave a half-smile, twirling the cup between her fingers.
"Of course he did."
There was something in that tone that Elena knew well. Caroline had always been too transparent when it came to feelings, especially those involving Ryan. She took a deep breath, deciding not to go into that territory.
"And you?" Elena changed the subject. "Where were you? You took a while for someone who just went to get a drink...."
"I was observing." Caroline replied promptly. "My specialty."
"Observing what?"
"Who....." Caroline tilted her head in the vague direction of the forest where Stefan had disappeared earlier. "The new guy."
Elena felt a slight tightness in her stomach, a mix of tiredness and irony.
"Stefan?"
"Himself." Caroline opened an almost theatrical smile. "Elena, do you have any idea how unfair it is for a guy like that to show up out of nowhere and look right at you?"
"I didn't do anything." Elena replied immediately.
"You always say that." Caroline rolled her eyes. "He's gorgeous. Mysterious. Polite. And clearly interested. It's practically a complete package."
Elena let out a short, humorless laugh.
"Yes. Lucky me."
Caroline frowned.
"That was... sarcasm?"
"A bit." Elena admitted, turning back to look at the bonfire. "I'm just not in the headspace for this right now."
"Because of Ryan." Caroline concluded, without needing to ask.
Elena didn't respond right away. Not because she didn't want to, but because she didn't know exactly what to say.
"He's taking a while." Elena said, finally, honestly. "And Bonnie left acting strange. This whole thing was... strange."
Caroline observed her face for a few seconds, her smile fading.
"Wait! Is Bonnie really okay?"
"I hope so."
"Well, she's been different since Ryan came back." Caroline commented, in a lower tone than usual. "I mean... all of us, right? But her especially...."
Elena nodded slowly. She knew that. She felt that. And deep down, she was afraid of what that meant.
"I just wish he'd come back soon." Elena murmured, almost to herself.
Caroline rested her elbow on her knee, leaning a little closer.
"Relax." She said, trying to sound light: "If there's one thing Ryan doesn't do, it's abandon someone when they need him. That's... kind of his problem."
Elena smiled faintly, despite everything.
"It is."
The two stayed silent for a few moments, watching the flames rise and fall, while the music changed once again in the background.
A few more minutes passed before Elena noticed movement between the trees. First it was the sound of footsteps on dry leaves, then muffled voices. She raised her head almost at the same instant Ryan emerged from the edge of the clearing, accompanied by Bonnie....
The relief was immediate, though brief.
Ryan walked naturally, holding two cups of drinks, his posture too relaxed for someone who had left two worried people behind. The fire illuminated his face as he approached, and Elena noticed the apology before he even opened his mouth.
"Sorry for the delay." He extended one of the cups to her, the gesture automatic, intimate. "We ended up getting tangled up."
Elena accepted the drink, her fingers touching his for an instant too quick to be considered an accident, not that it mattered....
"It's fine." She replied, trying to sound casual. "I was starting to think you'd gotten lost...."
Ryan smiled faintly, that easy smile that always made people comfortable around him.
"Almost that."
Before Elena could say anything else, Caroline ended up interrupting upon realizing she had been "ignored," crossing her arms in a theatrical manner.
"Look who decided to reappear." The tone was playful, but there was too much curiosity there to be just a joke: "I should have taken a chair into the forest, because you took forever."
Ryan turned his face to her and smiled immediately.
"Hey. Good evening to you too, Caroline...."
Caroline returned the greeting with a wide smile...
"Good evening nothing." She raised an eyebrow. "Now you're going to explain why you disappeared with Bonnie for almost half an hour."
Bonnie, who had stopped a step behind him. Unlike usual, she didn't look directly at Elena or Caroline. Her face was calm, but there was something restrained there, an excessive care in keeping her shoulders relaxed, her hands too busy to seem natural.
"We ended up talking a lot." Bonnie said, finally. "And... helping someone who wasn't feeling very well."
She smiled, but it was a small, contained smile that didn't fully reach her eyes.
Caroline tilted her head, evaluating the two with a gaze too attentive.
"Helping someone." She repeated, slowly: "Of course."
Ryan laughed faintly, trying to break the tension.
"Yes, nothing conspiratorial." He raised his cup. "Just too much talking and too little drinking."
"Uh-huh." Caroline decided to let it go: "If you say so...."
Elena tilted her head and looked at Bonnie; she had the feeling that something was strange, and ended up observing her closely.
"Are you better?" She asked, sincerely.
"I am...." Bonnie replied too quickly. "I just needed... some time."
Ryan sat on the log next to Elena, as if nothing had happened, as if that was exactly where he should have been from the start.
While Elena and Caroline talked with Ryan, making banal comments about the music and the drinks, Bonnie remained silent, slightly apart. Her thoughts formed a contained whirlwind, spinning too fast for her to organize them.
She avoided looking at Elena, not out of fear, but out of guilt.
The realization of what had happened in the woods finally started to sink in.
She and Ryan had shared a deeply intimate and impulsive moment, right after she discovered that her powers were real, that she was, in fact, a witch. At that instant, everything seemed too intense to be questioned. Now, however, consciousness hit hard, and she realized how much she had let herself be carried away by emotion: by the impact of seeing her "first love" suddenly approach, breaking years of distance, taking her lips in a kiss that made her melt completely; of being pressed against the cold rock while his large hands explored her body, leaving her completely out of herself, consumed by arousal. That's why, at that moment, it didn't matter what he had said about being with Elena; she simply didn't care about any of that, even knowing that, technically, it could be considered a "betrayal."
But, despite everything that could be considered a kind of "betrayal" to her friend, she believed that Elena would end up forgiving her. After all, Elena knew very well the feelings she had always had for Ryan. Maybe that's why she didn't feel exactly regret, just guilt. An uncomfortable, silent guilt, but not paralyzing.
And it wasn't as if she had completely lost herself in that "situation."
While they were returning from the woods, Ryan explained that he and Elena hadn't assumed any official relationship; they had only been together the night before, which considerably lessened the weight that was now starting to fall on her conscience. He also said he intended to talk to Elena about all that, which immediately put her in a panic, making her ask him to wait a little longer.
Then, Ryan said he wanted the four of them to be a happy family.
The idea left her deeply strange. Sharing the same man and imagining a kind of family alongside her own friends was something uncomfortable, too weird to be digested easily. No matter how much time passed, that idea remained strange... but, in an equally disturbing way, it also wasn't completely repulsive.
After all, the four had grown up together. There was that night when, basically, they did almost everything and, after that, any possibility of a normal relationship seemed too distant. Faced with that, the idea of all being together, as confusing and unconventional as it was, seemed strangely easier to accept.
To help, Ryan had been honest. Cruelly honest, perhaps. He had said he was in love with the three. Not as an excuse, not as provocation. As a fact. If he was an asshole for wanting the three, then maybe she was an idiot for accepting that truth. Or maybe the world simply wasn't as simple as it should be.....
Bonnie closed her fingers around her own cup, feeling the cold of the glass against her skin.
She loved him.
And, at that moment, admitting that to herself seemed scarier than anything she had learned that night about witches, vampires, or secrets.
Ryan cast a quick glance at Bonnie, almost imperceptible, but enough to make her raise her face by reflex. Their eyes met for a second. There was no smile, no words. Just a silent understanding, too heavy to be shared there.
Bonnie looked away first.
Elena noticed the tension, even without fully understanding its origin. There was something different between the two, something that hadn't existed before that night....
She brought the cup to her lips, trying to push away the uncomfortable feeling.
.
.
.
.
.
Meanwhile, in the woods near the party, Vicki and Tyler were leaning against an ancient tree, the rough trunk pressing against her back as he cornered her with his body. The air was humid, laden with the smell of wet earth and distant bonfire smoke, and the muffled sound of music echoed like a hum in the background. Tyler, with his face flushed from alcohol and desire, kissed Vicki urgently, his lips descending along her neck, nibbling the exposed skin possessively, his hands already sliding up under her blouse.
Vicki stopped him, placing her hands on his chest and pushing lightly.
"No, Ty. I'm not going to have sex leaning against a tree..."
Tyler paused for a second, but didn't back away, his hot breath against her collarbone. He laughed softly, as if it were a joke.
"Oh, come on, it would be hot..."
Vicki pushed him harder this time, creating space between them.
"For who? No, this isn't happening. It's not happening, not here, not like this..."
But Tyler didn't listen to her, ignoring the firm tone in her voice. He advanced again, his hands grabbing her waist insistently, pulling her close as he tried to kiss her once more.
Vicki resisted, turning her face and pushing his shoulders.
"No. I said no. I said no! Ow, that hurts!"
It was at that moment that Jeremy emerged from the shadows of the nearby trees, his face serious and fists clenched. He had wandered away from the party to smoke or simply to be alone, but the sound of the argument drew him.
"Hey, leave her alone!"
Tyler turned to him, his eyes narrowed in anger, his body still too close to Vicki.
"You know, you're starting to annoy me, Gilbert..."
Vicki took the opportunity to push Tyler harder, creating distance.
"Go away, Tyler, get out of here..."
Tyler hesitated, looking at her with a mix of frustration and disbelief, upset at being denied like that. He huffed, adjusting his jacket as if trying to regain composure.
"Wow. Vicki Donovan said no. It's a first..."
And with that, he turned his back and walked away, disappearing between the trees toward the party, murmuring something inaudible to himself.
Vicki straightened her blouse, her chest rising and falling rapidly, and turned her gaze to Jeremy, her eyes shining with a mix of irritation and wounded pride.
"I didn't need your help..."
Jeremy replied with sarcasm, crossing his arms and tilting his head.
"Yeah... Seems like it."
Vicki frowned, defending Tyler almost by instinct. "He was just drunk..."
Jeremy rolled his eyes, his tone laden with disbelief.
"I'm drunk. Am I throwing myself at you?"
Vicki stared at him for a second, then replied rudely, her words coming out sharp as blades.
"No, you're worse. You want to talk to me, get to know me, see into my soul and fuck, fuck and fuck until you're sick of me..."
Jeremy blinked, hurt, his face contorting into an expression of genuine pain.
"Is that what you think?"
Vicki didn't back down, her lips pressed into a thin line.
"That's what I know...."
And, without another word, she turned her back and left there, her quick steps echoing on the dry leaves, leaving Jeremy alone in the dark of the woods...
.
.
.
.
.
Back at the clearing, the atmosphere gradually returned to something approaching normality.
Ryan was saying something about the weather in Japan, about how he had forgotten how chaotic the parties in Mystic Falls were, while Caroline commented animatedly, interrupting here and there with exaggerated opinions about music, clothes, and people she barely knew. Elena participated when she could, laughing at the right moments, still with part of her attention fixed on Bonnie, who remained too quiet for her own standard.
Bonnie nodded from time to time, let out a short comment, but always seemed a second behind, as if trapped in thoughts she didn't want to share.
Ryan took a sip from his own cup and made a face.
"Okay, this has turned into melted ice with alcohol." He raised the cup to show: "I'm going to get more drinks before someone has the brilliant idea of dancing on the table."
Caroline opened an immediate smile.
"Hey, don't exclude me from that possibility."
Ryan laughed, already standing up. Before taking the first step, however, his gaze instinctively slid toward the woods. It wasn't a distracted look. There was curiosity there. Attention. Something too calculated to be casual.
"I'll be right back." He said, in a calm tone.
The three watched him walk away almost at the same time.
.
.
.
.
.
Vicki didn't go very far before realizing she had wandered too far from the clearing.
The woods seemed different in there, more closed, darker, as if the trees leaned slightly toward each other, blocking the little light coming from the moon. She slowed her pace, breathing deeply, trying to orient herself.
"Great, Vicki... brilliant." She murmured to herself.
It was then that the fog began to appear.
At first, it was just a thin veil between the trunks, almost imperceptible. In a few seconds, however, it thickened, crawling along the ground and rising slowly, cold and damp, enveloping her legs, then her waist.
Vicki frowned, feeling a shiver run down her spine.
"Jeremy?" She called, turning suddenly. "Stop that."
No response.
She heard a snap to the right. Branches breaking under a weight too careful to be the wind. Her heart raced.
"Jeremy, seriously. It's not funny."
She took a few steps back, her eyes scanning the fog. For a second, she was sure she saw a silhouette move. Her stomach churned.
"If it's you, I swear—"
Nothing.
Vicki let out a nervous sigh and shook her head, irritated with herself. "Okay, enough. You're not here."
She turned to continue forward.
And then stopped abruptly.
A man was there, a few steps away, as if he had simply appeared out of nowhere. He was tall, with a posture too relaxed for someone standing in the middle of a fog-enveloped woods. He wore a dark open jacket, black t-shirt underneath, the contrast highlighting his pale skin. His face was handsome in an almost offensive way, well-defined features, marked jaw, light eyes that seemed to reflect the available light with an attentive, predatory gleam. There was something about him that didn't fit the place... or perhaps fit too well.
He smiled.
It wasn't a friendly smile. It was slow, laden with amusement.
Vicki swallowed hard. "Who... who are you?"
The man tilted his head slightly, as if the question was interesting.
"Does it matter?" He replied, with a lazy, ironic tone. "Because, normally, when someone meets me like this, the question is 'what do you want?'"
She took a step back, feeling the fog close in more around her. "Look, I'm not in the mood. I just want to get back to the party."
"Of course you do." He took a step forward, reducing the distance with unsettling ease. "Everyone wants to get back to the party."
"Then get out of the way." Her voice faltered at the end, betraying the fear that was starting to rise.
His smile widened.
"You know, I can tell you're scared. A piece of advice from an old friend, you should really pay attention when your instinct tells you to run."
Vicki frowned. "What—"
She didn't finish the sentence.
The unknown man moved too fast for her to process. In one instant, he was at a safe distance; in the next, his hand closed on her arm with enough force to make her let out a muffled scream. She tried to break free, her heart racing, panic finally taking control.
"Hey! Let me go!"
"Shh." He said, almost gently, approaching her ear. "It'll be easier this way."
Vicki tried to push him, but it was like trying to move a wall. Her arms trembled in vain, the strength simply not enough. The last thing she managed to see were the vampire's fangs, a flash of white and sharp, sinking into her neck. The pain came quick, too intense to be comprehended, and then everything began to darken.
In a few seconds, her consciousness faded completely.
The man was still bent over Vicki when something extremely terrifying happened.
The air became heavy, dense, as if each breath required effort. The fog stopped moving for a second, didn't dissipate, didn't advance. It just hung suspended, as if the environment itself was holding its breath.
The man sucking Vicki's blood froze.
Not by choice.
His body locked in place, the muscles too rigid to obey. A shiver ran down his spine, pure instinct, ancient and desperate. Behind him. Very close.
"You know..." A voice came from behind him, too calm, almost bored: "....there are more elegant ways to approach a beautiful girl."
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