hey it's good to be back home again

[somanyadjectives]

[It's been a while since Stefan has been back in Mystic Falls, but he wasn't going to miss the twins graduation. He knew that coming home was going to be complicated. He was bringing his girlfriend to meet people. He was bracing himself for Damon's judgement about him dating a vampire slayer the entire ride from the airport.

What he hadn't expected, was getting ambushed at a gas station while filling up his car by a hunter.

According to Damon, there haven't been hunters in Mystic Falls in years. They knew that the school would be a beacon, but they also took precautions for that to protect the kids. Most hunters understood that they were trying to reduce deaths, rather than concentrate them. This isn't to say that Mystic Falls is perfect, but they're doing better than they used to.

Stefan doesn't kill him. He's caught off guard enough that he doesn't immediately go for the kill, and Buffy catches the hunter off guard enough that the guy decides to retreat and regroup rather than push his luck against a slayer and a vampire. This isn't, unfortunately, before he manages to plug Stefan with a few wooden bullets. And those hurt like a mother.]

Gotta love coming home.

[He groans as he sinks back against the car, trying to keep an eye on their surroundings, before glancing down at the bleeding holes in his shirt.]

I liked this shirt.

Comments

[cholesterol]

Buff -- that's Buffy Summers? She's --

( So tiny.

But she did kick that ass. Not the point, he breaks his staring. )

So. Buffy the Vampire Slayer isn't just in town. She's with some Ripping vampire. One of the slayers is now riding in cars with vampires, minus Drew Barrymore.

( Shut up. It's an underrated movie. He caught it late one night in a motel. Shut up, shut up. )

Is down up in this town? And how does Elena fit in?

[imnot_likeyou]

The Ripper of Montery hasn't really been seen since the 1920s in Chicago where he ... did a lot of damage. I saw a picture of him in one of the Men of Letter's tracking logs? If he's been out there, he hasn't been killing.

[Stefan's more recent murder sprees hadn't really made it to their attention - or at least not with enough evidence to pin them to him.]

His name's Stefan Salvatore. And if what I've read about Mystic Falls is true, the Salvatores were a so-called "Founding Family." He might ... just be going home.

[He can't qualify anything re: Buffy. That's not his department.]

[cholesterol]

( Give Dean a minute to try and -- track that himself.

Except. )

Elena's a founding family member. The Gilberts, the Forbes, the Fells. ( The Salvatores. ) Why attack him here, with no plan. And how did Elena get mixed up with them. Do you think, she --

[imnot_likeyou]

I don't know. Maybe he saw the opportunity so he tried to take it?

[That he can't answer. They probably won't know until they find the hunter themselves.]

And you'll have to ask her that one. She wouldn't be the first doppelganger to have gotten turned.

[That would be Katherine.]

[cholesterol]

I remember when her parents died. She almost did, too. In the same car accident. It happened after the last time we left. Dad found out and went to the funeral alone.

( Two decades later? )

I'll tell Cas we'll be longer. The auto shop and the nail place each have cameras facing the street. We could see if he parked in front of one of them. He disappears off that camera and heads East.

[imnot_likeyou]

Okay, yeah. Maybe if we can track the hunter down we might get a head start on what Monroe is up to.

[Sam's all for keeping on the task at hand.]

It's not like we weren't heading to Mystic Falls anyway.

[cholesterol]

( Yeah, it reeks of the kind of coincidences he's been wary of, but there are too many players involved.

He looks between him and his brother. )

FBI suits?

[imnot_likeyou]

[Sam nods, because that's probably the best chance they have of getting it done quickly.]

Yeah, probably a good idea.

[cholesterol]

Alright. Let's find a place to park the car.

( Time to go hunter hunting. )