#Guy Haley you owe me like at least three follow-up books

[hyperion-moonbabe-art3mis]

Caught in Between 26. Fallen Friend

Summary: Athena Dumont has finally found a place to call home after many years of foster homes and traveling. She had finally tamed her supernatural side and just wanted to live a normal teenage life. She quickly discovers that there is nothing normal about her hometown, Mystic Falls and gets sucked right back into the supernatural world.

Post Date: 12.15.20

Word count: 2k

Based off: 04x06 “We All Go a Little Mad Sometimes”

I wake up the next morning to find multiple calls from Elena. I call her back and she answers and starts speaking so quickly I couldn’t understand.

“Ok. Ok. Just calm down,” I say.

“Can you just get here as soon as possible?” She asks frantically.

“Yeh, I’ll be there as soon as I can,” I say and hang up. 

I get ready as fast as I could and headed to Elena’s. As I made my way into her house, I find her walking back and forth freaking out. As I make it further into her house I find Jeremy laying on the couch, although it does not look like he’s asleep, more like unconscious. Damon comes in almost as soon as I make my way to Elena.

“What happened?” I ask ignoring that Damon had arrived.

“I uh couldn’t sleep so I came down to get some milk. And um I saw the hunter and next thing I know I stab Jeremy in the neck with a knife,” Elena explains.

“Ok well, at least he still has the Gilbert ring,” I respond.

“I can’t believe this happened. What--what am I going to say to him?” Elena says freaking out.

“Thanks for not ditching the family ring after it drove Ric crazy?” Damon suggests.

“Damon…” I say and look at him annoyed. 

“You should have called Stefan,” Damon says, clearly unsure of why he was there.

“I don’t want to talk to him. He’s been lying to me and hiding things from me. He compelled Jeremy to forget god knows what,” Elena explains.

“In all fairness, I mean, I think you killing him kind of trumps that. I mean, you should have called Stefan,” Damon suggests once more.

“I don’t trust him right now, Damon,” Elena says.

And just like on cue, “Hey,” Stefan says walking into Elena’s house.

“P.S. I called Stefan,” Damon says as I roll my eyes.

“What happened? Why didn’t you call me?” Stefan asks.

“I just--I need to go upstairs and shower. Clean all the blood off my hands,” Elena says and walks off.

“Could any of you listen to Elena, once?” I ask before Jeremy wakes up.

“Welcome back. How you feeling?” Stefan asks. 

“What happened?” Jeremy asks.

“Long story. Buy the E-book,” Damon says and walks to the kitchen. I head into the kitchen after Damon and help him clean up the blood staining the floor. 

“You know you could be a little more sensitive right?” I tell him.

“Ehhh…” Damon says.

“Damon… it’s her brother,” I give him an annoyed look.

“Where’d Jeremy go?” Damon asks as Stefan walks in.

“School. Bonnie has him volunteering for some occult exhibit,” Stefan explains.

“Or maybe he didn’t want to linger in a house where his sister just jammed a knife in his neck,” Damon says.

“It’s Klaus,” Stefan says looking down at his ringing phone.

“Ooh, time to face the music, pay the piper, dance with the devil,” Damon says.

“You know, I’m glad you find this amusing. If he finds out I told you about the cure, he’ll kill both of us,” Stefan says confusing me.

“Quit avoiding him. You’re being shady. Shady people get outed,” Damon says as Stefan answers his phone.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Stefan says.

“Well, I can’t imagine why what with you ruining all my plans for a hybrid-filled future,” Klaus says.

“Well, it wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t sworn me to secrecy,” Stefan says.

“Life’s full of ifs, Stefan. Let’s extenuate the positives, shall we? The hunter was one of the five. We’ll find another. It may take centuries, but we’ve got nothing but time, right?” Klaus says.

“You’re using your calm voice today. Who’s getting killed?” Stefan asks.

“Not you, if that’s what you’re worried about. But I am concerned about your beloved. Have the hallucinations started yet?” Klaus says as the three of us exchange looks. 

“What do you know about that?” Stefan asks.

“I’ll tell you. Where are you?” Klaus asks back.

“I’m at her house,” Stefan says.

“How convenient. So am I,” Klaus says before we hear a knock on the door. Stefan quickly moves and heads outside. 

A few minutes later Elena comes down looking like she saw a ghost. “No!” She says before running outside. 

Damon and I follow her but we find that she had been whisked away by Klaus and Stefan was standing alone on the sidewalk. Stefan explained to Damon and me about the hunter’s curse, and about the cure to me. I call Bonnie knowing that she was our only luck in finding Elena. Once she arrived we explain what happened.

“You lost her?!” Bonnie asks.

“Well, ‘lost’ is a very strong word. We technically don’t know where she is,” Damon says.

“We do know that Klaus took her,” I say.

“I’m more worried about what Klaus said about the hunter’s curse,” Stefan says.

“How does Klaus even know about this?” Bonnie asks.

“How does Klaus know anything? The guy’s like a billion years old,” Damon says.

“He said it was a witch’s curse,” Stefan says.

“You know if I could do anything to help I would, But I--,” Bonnie says.

“But nothing. Wave your magic wand, hocus pocus, be gone, hunter, ghostess,  whatever,” Damon says.

“The spirits won’t let me do the magic I need to break the curse. But I can ask Shane for help. He knows everything about everything,” Bonnie explains.

“Great. You two do your thing,” Stefan says.

“Where you going?” I ask Stefan while he walks away.

“I’m gonna get her back,” Stefan says.

“I’ll come with you. Maybe he’ll listen to me for once,” I say and follow Stefan outside.

“I don’t need help getting Elena back,” Stefan says sitting on his motorcycle.

“Maybe not. But I am good back up. At least if he listens to me. We might have a better chance, than if you go by yourself,” I explain. 

Stefan takes some time to think, “Alright hop on,” Stefan says and starts his motorcycle. He stops just past the town clock tower and makes a call to Caroline. We then make our way to Tyler so they can explain what’s going on. 

“Haley is the one that helped me break the sire bond. She showed me what to do. How to help. When she showed up here, I thought it was just a coincidence but it turns out she’s been helping one of them. Her friend Chris. And she came to help us get the rest of them out from under Klaus,” Tyler explains.

“Including me,” I say waving my hand.

“So...Are you telling me that Chris and you aren’t sired anymore?” Stefan asks looking at me.

“That’s exactly what he’s telling you,” Caroline confirms. We all then come up with a plan and of course, I’m the one who goes to talk to Klaus, but what did I expect. Stefan, Tyler, and Caroline head out as I head to the Mystic Grill where Klaus was.

“Place looks pretty good considering your hybrid got blown up in it,” I say walking up behind Klaus whose drinking at the bar.

“Athena. To what do I owe the pleasure? You never seek me out on your own, I tend to have to come to you, even if you’re staying with me,” Klaus says.

“I want you to give Elena back,” I say standing by the bar.

“Ahh. They sent you to sweet talk me. Well, good form, But I’m afraid I can’t do it,” Klaus responds.

“Why not?” I ask.

“She needs my help,” Klaus says as I scoff at his statement. “Look, I’m not going to burden you with the gory details. I know you’d rather be doing other things, painting or hanging out with your friends,” Klaus says.

“Can’t do that, if Elena isn’t around,” I respond.

“Can I at least offer you a drink?” Klaus asks. 

“Yeah, thanks,” I say knowing it’ll keep him out of his house longer.

“How uh… was your trip to Italy? I assume it was for business, Klaus Michaelson doesn’t do vacations,” I say.

“It was very productive. I’d be glad to tell you what I’ve been up to, soon though,” He says as I feel a buzz from my phone. I look down to find a text from Tyler sayings that Elena had escaped. And another text from Damon saying that Jeremy is the key to stopping the hallucinations.

“So here’s the thing. I didn’t just come here to try to get you to release Elena,” I say.

“You don’t say,” Klaus says with a smile plastered on his face.

“I came here to distract you so that Stefan could go to your house and break her out,” I start as his smile falls. “Which he did and don’t get mad, but then he lost her,” I finish and Klaus doesn’t hesitate one moment to move from his seat. “Klaus!” I say.

“Athena. You’re beautiful and the love of my life. But if you don’t stop talking, I will kill you,” Klaus says surprising me.

“They figured out how to stop the hallucinations,” I say stopping Klaus in his tracks.

“Ok. You have 10 seconds to tell me,” Klaus says with haste in his voice.

“You have to find a potential hunter and have them kill another vampire. The catch is...it’s little Gilbert,” I explain.

“Well, this leaves us no choice. Let’s find us a little Gilbert and a  hybrid,” Klaus says.

“Damon already contacted him. We’ll meet them at Tyler’s,” I say.

“Well, let’s not waste any time,” Klaus says taking my hand in his and pulling me with him. We make it to Tyler’s house and go over the plan. 

I watch as Klaus walks into Tylers and the next thing I hear is Klaus yelling. As the hybrid was starting to make his way out of Tylers, Stefan rushes in, staking him. And soon after Jeremy follows in and finishes the hybrid off. I follow in after and see Jeremy standing over the body, Klaus with a big smile on his face, and Tyler and Haley standing in shock. 

“Alright, let’s go home,” Klaus says grabbing my arm.

“No, I’m staying here,” I tug my arm away. Klaus doesn’t try to stop me, but instead just leaves.

The next morning I wake up to find Haley asleep on the couch and Tyler sitting there with a bottle in hand. 

“Tyler?” I ask walking into the room.

“It’s just us. Paying our respects to Chris,” He says and takes a sip of the alcohol.

“We didn’t have a choice,” I explain, sitting in the chair next to him.

“I told him we had his back. I told him if he helped us, he’d be free,” Tyler explains.

“We needed to help our friend,” I say.

“Yeah, we helped our friend by handing over another friend,” Tyler says. I sat in silence not knowing how to respond. “Chris was a friend. He’s like us. Part of my pack. All he wanted to do was be unsired by that disgusting, piece of...How did you even get Klaus to agree to give up one of his hybrids?” Tyler asks. 

“Well, I didn’t have much to offer nor do I want anything to really do with him but…” I say.

“I agreed to go on a date with him,” Caroline says walking into the room. Tyler stands up facing Caroline. “I just thought that it might help keep up the ruse between you and Haley,” Caroline explains. Tyler doesn’t respond but instead, he throws the alcohol bottle against the wall, scaring both Caroline and me.

“What the hell is going on?” Haley asks waking up.

“Nothing. Nothing at all. Just celebrating the life of a fallen hybrid friend,” Tyler says shifting his eyes between Caroline and me.

I decided to leave Hayley and Tyler alone for the rest of the day and go check up on Elena. 

“Hey, how are you feeling?” I ask her as we walk into the kitchen. 

“Better now that the hunter is gone. Thank you for your help,” Elena says.

“No problem. I’d hate to lose you too,” I say.

A/N: This is just a filler, I hope you all enjoyed! Thanks for reading.

🏷: @tristanacarry​ | @commentaryfanfic​ | @april-14-blog​ |  @simonsbluee​ | @awkwardspontaneity​ | @keiko0​ | @xetherealbeautyx​

[hermanwatts]

Sensor Sweep: Wulfhere, Monster Manual, Heroism, Howard A. Jones

Heroism (Rogue Blades Entertainment): “The heroic books, even if printed in the character of our mother tongue, will always be in a language dead to degenerate times …” Henry David Thoreau wrote those words in the mid-19th Century for his distinguished book, Walden. They rang true then and they ring true today. Of course there will be those who say we do not live in degenerate times, that we live in the greatest of all ages, that our technological and social achievements are pressing us towards some utopia, but those who are true students of history and have open eyes might argue otherwise, or at least they might hold more than a little skepticism about the potential greatness of the immediate future.

Fantasy (Tor.com): Here’s a funny thing about “action reads:” a lot of people would equate that to mean a whole lot of running and chasing and swordplay. They wouldn’t be wrong, of course, but all the physical action in the world can’t liven up a bland tale, or make boring characters interesting, and there’s actually plenty of forward momentum and tension to be had in some fantasy adventure stories without the more obvious blood-letting. And then of course there’s lyrical prose. Me, I prefer to see my action with great characters and some lovely writing, and today I’m going to share a few favorites that deliver all those things.

Writers (Slate.com): Three years ago, over breakfast, my friend Helen handed me a novel about a quest that, unknown to both of us, would set me off on a quest of my own. The book was called The Dragon Waiting, and it was written by the late science fiction and fantasy author John M. Ford. Helen placed the mass-market paperback with its garish cover in my hands, her eyes aglow with evangelical fervor, telling me I would love it. I would soon learn that, owing to Ford’s obscurity, his fans do things like this all the time. Soon, I would become one of them.

Writers (The Nerd Daily): In this sequel to For the Killing of Kings, Howard Andrew Jones returns to the ring-sworn champions of the Altenerai in Upon the Flight of the Queen to continue this thrilling, imaginative and immersive epic fantasy trilogy.

We had the pleasure of chatting to author Howard Andrew Jones about his upcoming fantasy sequel Upon the Flight of the Queen, which publishes on November 19th from St. Martin’s Press. Howard talks about what readers can expect and the challenges he faced, the inspiration behind the trilogy, what’s next for him, and more!

Genre Fiction (Dark Worlds Quarterly): There are those Fantasy writers and critics that accuse Robert E. Howard’s Conan of lacking any depth because he just hacks his way out of trouble. In fact, I think it was Robert Bloch in his intro to Wolfshead (Bantam Books, 1979) who said it, qualifying his words with the fact that he preferred Howard’s subtler characters such as Kull or Bran Mak Morn. I would hate to disagree with such a wonderful writer as Bob Bloch but I think he kinda missed the point. We want to see Conan hack his way out. Just as people pay gobs of money to be ringside at a boxing match.

Subculture (Amatopia): But if you show up humble and willing to learn, and don’t lie about knowing stuff about the subculture, you’ll find you have a whole bunch of cool new friends eager to help ease you in. At the very least, the people in the subculture will respect you, even if they may resent your intrusion. In time, you learn to be a part of the crew.

Fantasy (Matthew J. Constantine): The first novel in the Prydain Chronicles, The Book of Three introduces us to Taran the assistant pig-keeper, Hen Wen the pig, Gurgi the…um…wildman?, and the rest, as well as the Welsh inspired land of Prydain.  The book drips with a sort of gauze filtered, dreamy Fantasy in a similar vein to Tolkien’s Shire, particularly from The Hobbit. Reading the book, I kept thinking it would have fit as a comic strip in the tradition of Prince Valiant.  It also has a lot that could translate well into an animated film or potentially a live action film these days.

D&D (Skulls in the Stars): Die, Vecna, Die! (2000), by Bruce R. Cordell and Steve Miller. This module has the curious distinction of being perhaps the last “old school” adventure ever published! Die, Vecna, Die! was one of two mind-bogglingly epic adventures released with universe-spanning ramifications, allowing DMs to have a reason for transitioning from 2nd edition AD&D to Wizards of the Coast 3rd edition D&D. The other is The Apocalypse Stone (2000).

Fiction (DMR Books): Next week DMR Books will make our first foray into historical adventure fiction with the first book publication of Wulfhere by A.B. Higginson! Wulfhere, Higginson’s only novel, was originally serialized in Adventure magazine in 1920. In the Dark Ages of England, kingdoms were ready to be carved out by any with the ambition and might to do so. The mightiest ruler of all was Penda, Lord of Mercia, a man as strong as he was ruthless. He had no equal in martial prowess, except for his son Wulfhere…

Tolkien (Alas Not Me): Crucial to the tale of Eärendil the Mariner is his ship, Vingelot or Vingelótë, without which Eärendil would have been stuck in a port on a western bay where lonely sailors pass the time away talking about their homes. The name Vingelot gives us a tantalizing and frustrating example of how very easily stories can be lost, likely forever.

Writers (Mystery File):  Over the course of his writing career, Clark Howard may have written over 200 short stories, not all of them criminous in nature, plus a couple dozen crime novels and collections. This does not include an unspecified number of works of true crime the editor of EQMM mentions in her introduction to this tale.   Howard hardly ever used a character more than once, and “Blues in the Kabul Night” is no exception. When mercenary for hire Morgan Tenny smuggles himself into war-ravaged Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, it is for a specific reason. His twin brother is in a high security prison there and scheduled for execution soon, unless Morgan can do something about it.

RPG (Brain Leakage): As I mentioned a few weeks back, I’ve been at work on an Appendix N inspired science fantasy series, one that envisions what D&D fiction might have looked like if it followed the wilder literary roots of the game, rather than filling in the map of TSR and WotC’s pre-fab fantasy worlds.  And while I still plan on writing that, the fact is my recent thought experiments on what Fantasy Effing Vietnam would look like have gotten a bit more attention. To the point that I’ve gotten several messages in public and in private expressing interest in a published print version.

Calendars (Mens’s Pulp Mags): Now, with Eva’s permission, we’re offering a special collectible to go with the book: the Authorized 2020 Eva Lynd Calendar. It’s a limited edition calendar featuring photographs and artwork Eva modeled for, and it’s available exclusively from me on eBay. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you probably know why Eva Lynd is so familiar to fans of the men’s adventure magazines (MAMs) published in the 1950s and 1960s.

Fiction (Sacnoth’s Scriptorium): So, I’ve been trying for a long time to find an answer to the two questions:  Did the Inklings ever read Lovecraft? And Did Lovecraft ever read the Inklings? So far as the first question goes, the answer is: still not proven. We know that Warnie Lewis was a fan of ‘scientifiction and read some of the pulp magazines like AMAZING STORIES. And THE NOTION CLUB PAPERS suggests that the Inklings were fairly conversant in science fiction. Certainly there are some echoes of Lovecraftian themes in Tolkien’s account of the Things beneath Moria, Lewis’s description of the subterranean world far beneath the surface of Venus, and especially Wms’ Cthulhesque octopoid-lords of P’o-l’u.

RPG (Walker’s Retreat): With last weekend’s Big Brand marketing event masquerading as a fan convention came the announcement–with no release date–of the fourth installment of its iconic isometric dark fantasy action RPG franchise. You know which one I’m talking about, and it’s not the MMORPG. I thought I’d take the time to give you all some alternatives that you may have overlooked or forgotten about, beside Path of Exile and adaptation of other Big Brand properties.

Art (Pulp International): Above, numerous Italian posters for 1960s and 1970s westerns. Some of these movies were true spaghetti westerns (produced in Italy and shot in Europe, often Spain), while others are U.S. productions. All the imagery is beautiful. The artists responsible include Renato Casaro, Rodolfo Gasparri, Averardo Ciriello, Aller, aka Carlo Alessandrini, et al.

Review (Hillbilly Highways): I bought Congregations of the Dead over a year ago on a bit of a lark because it was cheap.  Which isn’t to sale that it didn’t sound right up my alley.  A country noir/urban fantasy/horror mashup with significant pulp influences?  (A secondary character is named Carter DeCamp in an obvious homage to Lin Carter and L. Sprague de Camp and Manly Wade Wellman’s characters Silver John and John Thunstone seem obvious influences as well.)  What I didn’t realize is how damn good it would be.

D&D (The Other Side): For today’s Monstrous Monday I want to do another review. For this one, it still follows my ‘Back to Basic’ theme I have been doing all year even though it is not a Basic-era D&D book.  It is though one of my Basic era books.  The book is the Monster Manual and it was just about 40 years ago that I first held this book in my hand. This is the book. This is the book that got me into D&D and RPGs.

Warhammer (Warpscream): This book opens with a look at the bleak life of the average imperial citizen. Urinating in water recyclers on the arid world of Baal. It’s one of Guy Haley’s strengths is that he can paint such a despondent picture so rapidly to open with. The story briskly moves along as we are made aware of a dire threat to the world of the Blood Angels.

Writing (Frontier Partisans): I guess it triggered a memory of Robert E. Howard’s description of his own trip to the Carlsbad Caverns in the early 1930s. Howard is best known for his creation of the fantasy character Conan of Cimmeria — and he translated his experience in New Mexico directly into a Conan story. . . The power of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien derives in great part from his ability to evoke a landscape that is at once fantastical and real. Tolkien was profoundly affected by landscape — beloved and comfortable; awe-inspiring; terrifying and appalling.

Sensor Sweep: Wulfhere, Monster Manual, Heroism, Howard A. Jones published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/