somanyadjectives | fifty shades of stefan } { don't want to feel, don't want to see what you've become [1864]

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fifty shades of stefan } { don't want to feel, don't want to see what you've become [1864]

Stefan lives his life in a haze of blood, with little regard for the things around him. He dances to the tune of the compelled fingers and visits war zones to feed without getting caught. The world is more beautiful, more intense than it ever was when he was human and he just wants to revel in it without all the complications.

He sneaks into the battle camp late at night, dressed in the makings of a soldier and following his nose to the scent of blood. It won't take him long to find some unwitting victim, someone on the edge of death who's death will go unnoticed, but odds are, it won't be long before he doesn't really care anymore. Someone healthy means someone he can play with for longer, compel into dancing or playing or whatever else his mind can come up with.

They're only human, after all. He is so much more than they will ever be.

But for now -- he feasts.

[Continues here.]

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After so many years living out west, returning to this part of America was a bit like being in a foreign country. The old world, really, where Diana remembered nothing but war and bloodshed.

She hated this place.

And she hated being on her own. Diana had never been very good at taking care of herself, and now, here she was. On the opposite side of the country from everyone and everything she knew. Oh, she'd picked up some friends along the way. That apothecary named Pearl had been pleasant company. And a handsome gentleman, who's name she could not remember, with whom she'd traveled by stagecoach.

But somewhere along the line, things had gone wrong. Once again, Diana was on her own and, once again, struggling to make sense of her task.

She was supposed to be establishing contacts for the railroad. And she'd been over the plan again and again with Liam. But one misstep inevitably led to another. And when the dust settled from the collapse, she found herself in an army camp, at the mercy of a general with a beard. So far, he'd proven himself a gentleman, but Diana knew he was lying when he told her that she couldn't leave 'for her own safety.' So she'd decided to take matters into her own hands, slipping out of the tent he'd been keeping her in, Dominating both of her guards to sleep.

Stefan spots her coming out of the tent and starts to follow her. He hasn't seen vampires do things like that -- then again, his knowledge of vampires was limited to Katherine, and that was probably a good thing. Still, he follows her quietly, trying to find out what she knows that he didn't.

Vampire or not, he's always willing to learn.

He abandons the body and treks after her, swiping the blood from his mouth with his hand.

Diana was trying to come up with some sort of plan. She thought she might, perhaps, try to find a horse. But she wasn't entirely sure how she would go about it without drawing too much attention to herself. Certainly, there would be men on guard, watching after their animals. There were precious few in the general's camp and, she imagined with a shudder, those that wouldn't do on the battlefield became lunch.

She made her way to the treeline, opening up her senses to try to locate where they were being kept.

Instead, she smelled blood. And heard a pulse behind her.

On instinct, she stepped into the shadow of a large oak, throwing up her obfuscate to be invisible. She saw him and was immediately struck by two things. The first was that he was exceedingly handsome. And the second was that he absolutely reeked.

Both of these things are incredibly true. Thank you, Diana, for noticing.

Then she disappears, and he doesn't quite know where she went. He continues to stumble his way forward into the woods, searching for some sign of the woman because she couldn't have disappeared that quickly. She has to be here somewhere.

Feeling quite smug, Diana started to follow him. Unfortunately, she was neither good at obfuscating, nor good at traipsing through the woods. The first twig she snapped with her foot broke the illusion, although she didn't realize it. Or else she was just too occupied with trying to discern what this man was doing.

For that matter, she wasn't entirely sure what he was.

Diana knew it was rude to just go about, reading auras willy nilly, but Liam had told her she must. It was important and would keep her alive. But his aura was something of a mystery. It had all the pale, washed out colors of a Canite's. But she could hear his heart.

Stefan hears the snap of the twig and smirks slightly when he sees her, eyes narrowing as he speaks.

"There you are. How did you do that?"

Merde.

Diana froze in her tracks, looking down at herself. That was foolish, of course. Obfuscate didn't work that way. And apparently, it wasn't working much at all tonight.

"Do what?" she asked, her hands finding the parasol that was hanging off of her sash. As of late, she'd been attempting to practice her new, American accent as much as possible, but under stress, it flittered away.

And this whole evening was decidedly stressful.

"That thing where you disappeared. And how you managed to get the men to do what you wanted. Is that some kind of compulsion?"

He has so many questions because the woman who was supposed to teach him is dead. Now he just needs to learn from someone else.

"Compulsion? Disappeared? Are you mad?"

Diana was a rubbish liar. Always had been, always would be. She had far too many nervous ticks, for one thing. 'Honest to a fault,' they called her. And as much as she hated it, she knew it was true.

And so, there she was. Breaking the Masquerade in front of a...whatever he was. It was quite the auspicious start to her plans to lay the foundation for her railroad.

She moved forward, reaching out a hand toward him. "Listen to me," she said urgently. "You must forget about that."

"Forget?" He blinks, confused at her for a moment, before shaking his head. "You think I would reveal you? I can't do that without revealing myself in turn." Which he would not do because he is not as dumb as he looks, contrary to what Damon may think.

She frowned, a line forming between her eyes. "But what are you?" she asked, her grip tightening on the heavy parasol. He made absolutely no sense, but that he had ventured this far, after seeing such strange things certainly told her much.

This was a man who was not easily frightened by shadows.

Perhaps that would suit her needs.

"The same as you, I assume." He takes another tentative step closer to her. "A vampire."

Diana shook her head, taking a small step backwards. "That isn't possible," she insisted. But that he knew vampires were a real thing was something. Perhaps he was a mage, sent to trick her. Although why any mage would take an interest in Diana was beyond her.

She simply didn't matter enough for that.

Unfastening the parasol from her waist, she pointed the tip of it at his chest. "I can hear your heart."

"I'm well fed," he states pointedly, trying to figure out why she was denying what she herself was as well. "My heart will continue to beat until I'm not."

Ruth's lessons came back to her. If you want to get what you want, you must demand it, Miss York. Never let anything hinder you. As long as you speak with authority, you'll see.

She raised her chin to a practiced, haughty angle. It had been such a long time, but it came back to her as easily as playing the piano.

"Prove it," she said. "Prove to me that you are what you say you are."

He raises an eyebrow at that before shrugging. "Alright." And with that, the veins in front of his eyes started to fill, turning the whites of his eyes a blood red as his fangs started to extend. "Proof enough for you?"

Well, it was proof that he was something. But Diana had never seen a Beast quite like that before.

Still, fair was fair. She ought to at least extend the courtesy of proof herself. And so her face changed. There were no veins, her eyes remained lavender, and she was as pretty as ever. But in the blink of an eye, she was no longer an innocuous girl lost in the woods. She was a predator. Her very essence sang of the hunt.

She was a childe of Caine.

He recoils a bit, on instinct if nothing else. He's not scared of her, but he's never seen a vampire like her before. "And you are a ... vampire as well?"

"A Cainite, yes." Grandmother had raised Diana to use the term, even if it was out of fashion. There was also a beautiful symmetry to it, with her name being 'Abel' and all.

Now what was that old-fashioned greeting the Gangrel used? Ah. Yes.

"How many winters?"

He frowns even more. "I have not been a vampire long. It hasn't even reached winter yet."

Yeah, Stefan knows nothing. Congratulations, Diana.

Diana's face relaxed, her teeth and airs returning to what they had been. She struggled not to feel entirely superior to this neonate. Certainly, it was no great honor to be an old vampire.

Then again, it wasn't as easy as it used to be.

"You're new," she said. "That explains quite a lot, I should think. Were you Embraced near here?"

"Embraced?" Katherine hadn't called it that, but he was smart enough to figure out what she meant. "In Mystic Falls. That's where I ... died." Was murdered is more like it, but that's neither here nor there.

Her eyes lit up. "Mystic Falls?" she repeated excitedly. "That's very near here, isn't it? I was there a few months back and I..."

Opportunity. Opportunity was not a lengthy visitor. But already, Diana could see a light at the end of the tunnel. A way out of this mess and away from that dreadful general.

"Do you think you could take me there?" she asked.

Stefan's face darkens a bit, before shaking her head. "They recently burned twelve vampires alive in a church. I don't know if Mystic Falls is where you want to go."

Oh, God.

Diana pressed her hand to her mouth, eyes wide as saucers. "No!" she whispered. "Were there hunters?"

Eve. Oh, dear God in Heaven. Please, she prayed silently, please don't let it be Eve's work.

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