Chapter 20: Before the Storm
POV: Sam Barton
One week before the tomb opening, Sam has transformed into a grinding machine of experience accumulation and relationship strengthening. Every morning brings training sessions with Bonnie to develop her magical confidence (+200 EXP daily), every afternoon includes strategic discussions with Stefan about vampire behavior patterns (+100 EXP per session), and every evening ends with Caroline practicing defensive techniques in his basement (+50 EXP for successful coaching).
The side quests accumulate like interest: helping Matt navigate Vicki's sobriety journey (+150 EXP for preventing relapse), mediating a heated argument between Stefan and Damon about Elena's safety (+100 EXP for temporary peace), and even tutoring Jeremy in history to keep him focused on positive activities (+75 EXP for academic improvement).
"900 EXP to Level 8. Every point matters when ancient vampires are planning to remake the supernatural landscape."
But tonight, all the grinding stops for something more important—Elena Gilbert's first "supernatural aware" movie night.
The Gilbert house living room has been transformed into a cozy fortress against the darkness outside. Thick blankets cover every available surface, bowls of popcorn occupy strategic positions like defensive emplacements, and vervain sachets hang from the curtain rods like protective wards.
Elena perches on the main couch with Stefan beside her, their vampire-human relationship somehow making a cheesy horror movie seem like romantic comedy. Caroline claims the recliner as her personal throne, wearing pajamas covered in cartoon vampires that would be ironic if they weren't so perfectly Caroline. Bonnie settles on the floor with enough pillows to build a small fort, periodically making the television flicker when her magic responds to emotional moments in the film.
Sam occupies the remaining corner of the couch, hyperaware that he's surrounded by people whose canonical fates involve trauma, death, and resurrection in various combinations.
"This moment matters more than any training session. These connections, this normalcy—it's what we're all fighting to preserve."
"This movie is terrible," Caroline announces cheerfully as the third vampire victim of the night succumbs to laughably fake special effects. "The vampires look like they're wearing Halloween store fangs."
Stefan and Sam exchange glances that carry layers of irony.
"Completely unrealistic," Stefan agrees with perfect deadpan delivery. "Real vampires are much more sophisticated."
"And better looking," Caroline adds, then blushes when she realizes what she's implied about Stefan and Damon.
Bonnie attempts to make popcorn with magic rather than getting up to use the microwave—an experiment that ends with small fires that smell like burnt corn and require Elena's quick thinking with a spray bottle.
"Maybe stick to traditional cooking methods until you have better control," Elena suggests diplomatically.
"Or learn fireproof spells first," Sam adds, earning a playful glare from Bonnie.
For two hours, they exist as normal teenagers sharing terrible movies and comfortable friendship. Sam feels the weight of his knowledge pressing against his consciousness—he knows the pain that's coming, the supernatural chaos that will shatter their peaceful moments—but tonight, he lets himself exist in their happiness.
When the movie ends with a spectacularly ridiculous vampire death scene involving garlic and holy water, Caroline stretches like a satisfied cat.
"That was perfect. Exactly what I needed after this week's supernatural education."
"We should do this regularly," Elena suggests. "Movie nights, game nights, anything that feels normal."
"Agreed," Stefan says quietly. "Everyone needs anchors to humanity."
Sam looks around at the faces of people he's come to love—really love, not just protect out of obligation—and realizes they've created something that didn't exist in canon. A support network. A family of choice. A reason to fight that goes beyond preventing cosmic disasters.
[QUEST COMPLETE: FIND JOY IN DARKNESS]
[MAJOR REWARD: +300 EXP]
[NEW PASSIVE UNLOCKED: UNBREAKABLE BONDS]
[EFFECT: GROUP MEMBERS WILL PROTECT EACH OTHER FIERCELY]
[CURRENT EXP: 1,050/5,000 TO LEVEL 8]
After everyone goes home, Sam heads to his basement training room for the late-night grinding session that pushes him over the edge into new power.
The training dummy—reinforced steel wrapped in leather—absorbs impact after impact as Sam practices combat combinations. His Enhanced Speed clone assists with timing drills, blurring around him to simulate vampire-level opponents. His Defensive Shield clone maintains barriers that deflect his practice strikes, building stamina for extended supernatural combat.
Hour after hour of repetitive perfection. Muscle memory carved into neural pathways. Experience points accumulating through dedicated effort.
At 2:47 AM, the notification he's been working toward finally appears:
[LEVEL 8 ACHIEVED!]
[+5 STAT POINTS AVAILABLE]
[ALLOCATION: +3 VIT (SURVIVAL), +2 AGI (COMBAT SPEED)]
[UPDATED STATS:]
STR: 10 | AGI: 16 | VIT: 20
INT: 21 | WIS: 27 | PER: 14 | CHA: 19
HP: 600/600 | MP: 465/465 | MP Regen: 27/min
[CLONE MASTERY UPDATES:]
[ENHANCED SPEED: 55% (EXPERT APPROACHING)]
[DEFENSIVE SHIELD: 30% (APPRENTICE SOLIDIFYING)]
Sam feels the power increase like electricity flowing through his veins. His Enhanced Speed clone moves faster now—not just vampire-quick in short bursts, but sustained superhuman velocity that can match experienced vampires for minutes instead of seconds. His Defensive Shield clone projects barriers that could absorb hits from Original-level strength, at least briefly.
"Two more levels until my third clone. Two more levels until tactical superiority. I'm becoming genuinely formidable—not enough to fight Originals alone, but enough to protect others and survive long enough to matter."
Through his mental link with the speed clone maintaining exterior patrol, an urgent alert cuts through his satisfaction: "Movement at the house. Someone's inside."
Sam's blood turns to ice. His clones are outside. The house security should be impenetrable. Who could—
He finds the answer in his bathroom mirror.
Written in red lipstick across the glass, elegant script that looks disturbingly like Caroline's handwriting reads:
"The psychic boy who thinks he's clever. Let's talk soon. -K"
Katherine Pierce was inside his house. Inside his private sanctuary. And he never detected her presence.
Sam's hands shake as he immediately activates every emergency protocol—texting Caroline, Bonnie, and Elena warnings about "a dangerous vampire who looks exactly like Elena," arranging for everyone to carry vervain at all times, and sending his clones to patrol their houses instead of his own.
His phone rings before he finishes the second emergency text.
"Stefan."
"Katherine's here." Stefan's voice carries the tension of someone who's faced this particular nightmare before. "That means everyone's a target. No one goes anywhere alone, everyone stays armed with vervain, and we assume she knows everything we've been planning."
"How did she get into my house without my clones detecting her?"
"Katherine Pierce has had 500 years to perfect stealth. She could probably walk past your clones, kill you in your sleep, and leave without disturbing dust on your nightstand."
"Reassuring. Absolutely reassuring."
"What does she want?"
"Unknown. But Katherine never makes social calls without an agenda. And if she's focusing on you specifically..." Stefan's pause carries ominous weight. "Sam, Katherine Pierce destroyed my life once. I won't let her destroy yours."
After the call ends, Sam stands in his study at dawn, staring at Katherine's lipstick message while his clones flank him like honor guards. The early morning light streaming through the windows should feel comforting, but instead it highlights how vulnerable he is—how vulnerable everyone he loves is—against 500 years of vampiric experience and calculation.
[QUEST UNLOCKED: KATHERINE'S ATTENTION]
[OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE HER GAMES WITHOUT BECOMING A PAWN]
[REWARD: +1,000 EXP, POTENTIAL ALLIANCE OR ENEMY STATUS]
[WARNING: KATHERINE PIERCE REPRESENTS THREAT LEVEL 4]
[RECOMMENDED: ALL CLONES + ULTIMATE ABILITIES]
Sam checks his progress toward the critical Level 10 milestone: 7,000 EXP for Level 9, then another 8,500 for Level 10 and his third clone.
"15,500 experience points. Against a vampire who's spent five centuries learning how to manipulate and destroy everything in her path."
But as he reviews his contact list—Caroline safe in her house with new vervain jewelry, Bonnie confident in her growing magical abilities, Elena protected by Stefan's watchful vigilance—Sam realizes Katherine's attention might actually be a gift in disguise.
If she's focused on him, she's not plotting against them.
"Let her come. I've changed too much of the timeline for her canonical plans to work. And every day I survive her attention is another day my friends get stronger."
Sam texts Anna: "We move in six days. Katherine's arrival changes nothing. Be ready."
Then he sends a message to the group chat Elena created for their supernatural support network: "Movie night was perfect. Let's survive long enough to have another one."
Caroline responds immediately: "❤️"
Bonnie sends a fire emoji that makes his phone screen flicker with magical resonance.
Elena writes: "We will. Together."
Sam closes his eyes and breathes. The tomb opens in six days. Founder's Day looms three weeks away. Katherine Pierce is hunting him with 500 years of predatory experience.
But he has allies now. Real allies who will fight beside him instead of just following his lead.
"The storm is here. Time to prove I can weather it without losing everyone I love in the process."
[CURRENT STATUS: LEVEL 8 (550/7,000 TO LEVEL 9)]
[TOMB OPENING: T-MINUS 6 DAYS]
[KATHERINE'S GAME: INITIATED]
[RECOMMENDATION: ACCELERATE POWER GROWTH]
Outside his window, Mystic Falls awakens to another day of supernatural threats hidden beneath small-town normalcy. But in the growing light of dawn, Sam's reflection in the lipstick-stained mirror looks back with eyes that no longer belong to a frightened medical student trying to survive transmigration.
They belong to someone who's learned to fight for the people he loves.
Katherine Pierce wants to play games?
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