Chapter 5: When Shadows Collide
Ash moved between the forest trees like a bodiless specter, each of his steps a deliberate whisper of death that no ear could miss. The morning rays crept through the treetops, barely touching the cold ground. He didn't flinch when the deer fled from him, nor when the crows followed, circling above like ominous omens. He was no longer just a shadow… but a storm waiting to erupt.
He reached a small group of campers near the waterfalls. They were laughing over coffee cups, the sound of a guitar echoing in the air—completely unaware of what was approaching.
Ash waved his hand, and time stopped. Their bodies froze in place, trapped in a moment that was neither life nor death.
He whispered softly, "Forgive me…" then ripped their souls out in a single exhale. Their eyes turned to cold glass, their faces pale as if life had seeped out of them. He drank their energy like aged wine, his veins pulsing with stolen power.
When he finished, a strange, distorted smile formed on his face—one that didn't belong to humans. He muttered, "I'm ready."
---
The Salvatore mansion was wrapped in silence… a heavy, ominous silence.
Alexander sat alone, hunched over a leather spellbook, his hands still stained with the blood of past battles. He felt Ash approaching… like ice sliding down his spine. He rose, heading toward the main hall.
Suddenly, the front doors burst open.
Ash stood in the doorway, his eyes glowing crimson, his aura pulsing with stolen energy that didn't belong to this world.
He said in a steady voice, "I told you I was coming. Let's end this."
Alexander moved first.
They collided in the center of the hall, their blows making the walls tremble. Fists cracking ribs, magic scorching wood and stone. Blood splattered the floor—war had erupted inside the house.
Stefan appeared in a flash, rushing Ash with a surprise tactic, slamming him through the bookshelf.
Damon jumped from the railing, eyes shining with madness, and struck Ash with a sharp chair leg like a spear. He shouted as he hit him, "Welcome to the family, dumbass!"
Ash spun fast, kicking Damon violently into the wall, cracking the plaster beneath him. Stefan rose, his predatory side unleashed, his eyes turning pitch black.
He tore Ash's side with his claws, blood erupting from the wound.
He growled, "I won't let you hurt him!"
Ash roared, releasing a wave of dark magic that threw everyone across the room.
Alexander rose again, eyes blazing with fury. In that moment, the recklessness of Damon and the rage of Stefan merged inside him, as if they ignited in his blood.
He shouted, "You're not me!" and charged.
They clashed like wild beasts—blood, fangs, claws. Damon joined in, breaking Ash's nose with a brutal elbow. Stefan grabbed Ash by the throat, slamming him toward the stairs, raining punches on him.
But Ash came back fiercer. He stabbed Damon with a shadow spike, hurled Stefan through a wooden door, and knocked Alexander to the ground.
He screamed, "You can't stop me! I am you!"
Alexander growled, "Then let's die together."
He pinned Ash to the ground.
He shouted, "Bonnie, now!"
Bonnie stood outside the door, inside a blood-soaked circle, chanting a spell filled with pain, blood dripping from her nose.
"With the blood of the cursed, and the power of the fallen, I bind this soul!"
Ash's limbs twisted, screaming, as magic surged through his veins.
Stefan and Damon held his arms, restraining him. Stefan's mouth was smeared with blood, his eyes black as an abyss.
Damon laughed maniacally, a laugh soaked in violence and thrill: "Hold tight! I've waited a hundred years to beat the hell out of a family member!"
Alexander placed his hand on Ash's chest and cut the necklace.
He said, "It ends now."
Bonnie's final words echoed like thunder.
Ash screamed, his body trembling, light and shadow tearing inside him.
Then… silence.
His body went limp.
Stefan collapsed beside Alexander, while Damon leaned on the railing, his face covered in blood, the smile of victory still on his face.
Bonnie stumbled in, exhausted: "He's gone…"
Alexander slowly stood. His hands were soaked in blood, broken—but his eyes… were clear.
He said quietly, "If he ever comes back… we end it for good."
Damon lifted a bloody bottle from the rubble and shouted, "To Salvatore madness!"
They drank—three broken brothers and one witch, their hands stained with blood, their hearts beating with victory.
…
A day had passed since the fight between the brothers and Ash.
And the smell of burnt wood still clung to the air in the Salvatore mansion, gripping the walls like old scars cling to memory. Ash had been stopped… temporarily. But Alexander knew it wasn't over. The war hadn't died—it had only changed form.
He sat in the long hallway, wiping dried blood from his swollen knuckles, his eyes fixed on the wall where the Salvatore family portrait used to hang. A silent reminder of what was lost… and what had turned and twisted.
"Are you coming?" Stefan asked from the doorway.
Alexander looked up and answered softly, "Yes… let's go."
---
The Lockwood Library was wrapped in heavy silence when they arrived. Bonnie met them at the back entrance, her face pale and eyes filled with worry.
She said seriously, "There's something you need to see." She led them through the dark aisles between the shelves, to the library's restricted archive.
"My grandmother left notes in one of the old spellbooks. I didn't understand them back then… not until now."
She pulled out a large, leather-bound book, faded in color, its pages brittle as if time had gnawed at them.
She said, "It's a blood curse… one of the strongest there is. Born of betrayal and blood magic. Its purpose is to trap the soul, scatter the will, and curse the body."
Alexander's breath caught, and his voice barely came out: "Ash was involved with it. But this… this is bigger. Who did this?"
Bonnie opened the book to a specific page, where two names were written in the margin, underlined faintly in pale ink:
Katherine Pierce.
Giuseppe Salvatore.
Stefan stepped closer, stunned: "Our father?"
Bonnie nodded slowly. "He found out Alexander wasn't his biological son."
Damon scoffed, raising an eyebrow: "I always said he had a stick up his ass—wait, are you saying Alexander… is a bastard?"
Alexander's jaw tightened, his eyes locked on the page.
Bonnie said, "Giuseppe couldn't bear the shame. He feared scandal. He feared for his legacy. So he chose to make a deal."
She turned the page, revealing a hastily drawn symbol—a spell circle adorned with binding runes and soul seals.
"He promised Katherine survival from the church fire. In return, she had to help him kill Alexander."
Stefan stepped back, shaking his head slowly: "That night… the fire…"
Alexander spoke bitterly, his words like the edge of a knife: "It was all a distraction… so he could erase me."
Bonnie continued, her voice trembling: "Katherine sought help from a witch—one of her oldest allies. And she waited for the right moment. When Alexander was alone. The spell had already been written. All that remained… was for them to cast it."
Stefan whispered, "But they didn't finish. You survived."
Alexander clenched his jaw. "Only… because of her."
He walked to the window, looking out at the trees whispering danger in the silent wind.
"Lillian. My mother. She sensed something was wrong. She arrived late to stop the spell… but just in time to save my life."
Bonnie lowered her voice, barely audible: "But the damage was done. The curse was unleashed. The soul was split. You became what you are now… half light, half shadow."
Damon leaned against one of the shelves, unusually silent.
Then he finally muttered, "So, your father tried to erase you, Katherine tried to kill you, and the curse turned you into something not quite human… no wonder you're always angry."
Alexander turned away from the window, his eyes dark as the depths of an old well.
He said, "I'm not just angry… I'm ready."
Bonnie closed the book slowly. "The curse can be broken—but it won't be easy. We need to find the one who cast the original spell. And you'll have to face the blood that betrayed you."
Alexander looked at the Salvatore brothers. They stood in the shadows—part of the family that destroyed him… yet the only ones still by his side.
He said firmly, "We start tonight. We find the witch. And we end this."
Outside, the wind rose.
The storm hadn't begun yet…
It was just beginning.