The second failure was not small.
It rippled.
I felt it building throughout the day, the threads tightening beyond comfort, humming with a frequency that bordered on pain. The town resisted more openly now, events refusing to bend as easily as before.
When it finally happened, it happened fast.
A fight broke out near the high school. Two vampires. Old grievances. Too much pressure. Not enough restraint.
I arrived as one slammed the other into a car hard enough to dent the metal. The threads surged, wrapping tightly around both of them, forcing stillness through sheer resistance.
It worked.
For three seconds.
Then one thread tore free.
The backlash hit me like a wave, sudden and disorienting. I staggered, breath catching as the strain rebounded through every connection I held. The vampires froze again, stunned, confused.
But the damage was done.
I dropped to one knee, palm pressed against the pavement as the threads screamed in protest, frayed and unstable.
This was not sustainable.
Damon appeared first, eyes sharp with alarm. "You look like hell."
"I feel worse," I replied.
Stefan followed moments later, concern etched deeply into his expression. "This is costing you," he said quietly.
"Yes."
"How long can you keep this up?"
I didn't answer.
That night, Elijah found me alone.
"You're paying the price personally," he said, standing at a careful distance. "That was inevitable."
"I knew the risk."
"Knowing it doesn't make it acceptable," he replied.
The threads shifted uneasily, reacting to his sincerity.
"You don't need to carry this alone," Elijah continued. "There are other ways. Alliances. Structures."
"Control through hierarchy," I said. "I've seen how that ends."
He nodded. "And yet you're approaching the same end through endurance."
Silence settled between us.
Far away, something ancient shifted again, its attention sharpening with interest.
The threads responded instinctively, pulling inward, bracing.
This time, they did not calm quickly.
Balance was no longer quiet.
It was strained.
And soon, something would break.