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The Vampire Diaries #4.5

The Vampire Diaries - Short Story - Blood Will Tell

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This is a fantasy of a fantasy. The idea is : what might have happened at the
end of Dark Reunion if Stefan had been persuaded to drink the blood of his three
friends in order to be more powerful when he fought that night.
It might have happened something like this...
Please note that the text from the actual book, Dark Reunion, is paraphrased and
condensed.
Rating: for mature people who enjoy vampire tales.

102 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 12, 2012

10 people are currently reading
3735 people want to read

About the author

L.J. Smith

337 books112k followers
Smith was born in Villa Park, Orange County, California. In interviews, she has said she realized she wanted to be a writer sometime between kindergarten and first grade, “when a teacher praised a horrible poem I’d written”, and began writing in earnest in elementary school. Smith received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Experimental Psychology from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1987, followed by teaching credentials in Elementary education and Special education from San Francisco State University.

She taught kindergarten and special education for several years before becoming a full-time writer. Her first book, The Night of the Solstice, was published by MacMillan in 1987, followed by, Heart of Valor in 1990, and the 4-volume Vampire Diaries series in 1991-2. Three trilogies followed: The Secret Circle (1992), The Forbidden Game (1994), and Dark Visions (1995). The first installment of her popular Night World series was published in 1996, followed by eight more over the next two years. In 1998, Smith began a decade-long hiatus from writing, returning in 2008 with a new Web site and a series of new short stories. The Vampire Diaries series was reissued in 2007, followed by re-printings of The Secret Circle trilogy and Night World series in 2008/2009. The Night of the Solstice and Heart of Valor was also reissued in 2008. Three new Vampire Diaries installments were published in 2009 and 2010.

Smith lived in the San Francisco Bay area “with one dog, three cats, and about ten thousand books.”

She passed away on March 8th, 2025, after a lengthy illness.

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5 stars
280 (40%)
4 stars
112 (16%)
3 stars
156 (22%)
2 stars
91 (13%)
1 star
60 (8%)
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
Profile Image for Edlira Dibrani.
194 reviews7 followers
October 31, 2016
I don't know why I keep reading this series.

Maybe for the reason that I always hope that the next book will be better. . . .

But actually it never does.
Profile Image for Γιώτα Παπαδημακοπούλου.
Author 6 books384 followers
December 11, 2017
Ένα πολύ μικρό short story για το τι θα γινόταν "αν". Και μπορεί να μην είναι τίποτα το ιδιαίτερο, αλλά είναι κάααπως καλύτερο από τις προηγούμενες, ανάλογες απόπειρες, οπότε θα δώσω έναν πόντο υπέρ.
Profile Image for Učitaj se! | Martina Štivičić.
789 reviews134 followers
February 7, 2017
2/3 dosadnog i nepotrebnog hihotanja, filozofiranja i ljubljenja (jer, kad se spremaš za konačni obračun s ultimate evil bossom full imaš vremena za takve pizdarije), 1/3 ok. Jedva za 1.5*, ali osjećam se velikodušno pa dajem 2.
376 reviews
August 11, 2021
the rape metaphor....the xenophobia metaphor.....girl stop. like okay the rape metaphor for what vampires do to humans would be fair if that was what was currently happening with meredith and stefan, but uh, it was not

man, this story really is like "ah yes here are some details of stefan and elena's relationship that don't really fit bc they barely actually had time to get to know each other in canon lol"

"after years of wooing elena and her friends" the series has literally been months??? especially since damon came into the picture

and i understand there being a sexual factor to stefan drinking from elena - though they never did have sex at least not like, mentioned - but did it have to be that way with bonnie and meredith like?? yes, sure, just bc stefan is pining for elena doesn't mean he can't be attracted to other ppl but it was so. strange. also so transparent to have stefan offer to drink from matt's wrist instead like "uh oh it might look too intimate between two guys if stefan drinks from his neck even though they're the ones who were canon friends for the longest" just like, homophobic vibes all around even if i think the author was probably not intending that

anyway this was overall Weird and really dragged on despite being short, the actual version of events in the book was definitely better
Profile Image for Jovy.
299 reviews10 followers
June 21, 2013
This is what I get with watching the tv series first and not even bothering to read the book - frustratingly confused!!!

I would have been more forgiving if there were more Damon Salvatore...
Profile Image for Milagros Guevara Bernabé.
466 reviews4 followers
February 4, 2024
Calificación: ⭐(0.9)

Opinión:

¡Chica, esto fue una TORTURA! ¡Tan lentooooooooo! Supuestamente iban a dejar que Stefan se alimentara antes de que Klaus hiciera pedazos a Caroline, ¡y en lugar de eso, se toman una eternidad! 🐢🙄

Y ¿sabes qué? ¡Qué oso! ¿Por qué Stefan estaría besando a cualquiera de las chicas cuando aún babea por Elena? ¡Ni al caso! Y peor aún, ¿por qué diablos Meredith o Bonnie querrían eso?! Estas chicas han sido súper unidas, ¿y ahora se andan besuqueando con el novio de su mejor amiga? ¡Qué falta de respeto! Sé que Elena ya partió al más allá, pero aún anda de metiche por ahí en forma de espíritu. No creo que esté muy contenta con este espectáculo. 🤨👎
Profile Image for Sarah Elizabeth.
5,002 reviews1,410 followers
November 8, 2020
This was okay, but it was so sloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow! They're supposed to be letting Stephan feed before Klaus kills Caroline, and instead they take forever!!

Also, why, why, why would Stephan be kissing either of the girls when he's still in love with Elena? And why the hell would either Meredith or Bonnie want that?! These girls have been super close-knit, and surely snogging your best friend's boyfriend would be a no no? I know Elena is dead, but she's still been hanging around in spirit form. I can't imagine she'd be impressed really.
Profile Image for Dawn.
1,668 reviews16 followers
August 5, 2017
This is a fantasy of a fantasy. The idea is : what might have happened at the  end of Dark Reunion if Stefan had been persuaded to drink the blood of his three  friends in order to be more powerful when he fought that night.  It might have happened something like this
Profile Image for Hannah Monise.
329 reviews4 followers
February 21, 2023
Se você leu "Diários do Vampiro - Reunião Sombria" você vai entender e adorar este conto, que é um final alternativo para o livro.
O que teria acontecido se Stefan bebesse o sangue de Meredith, Bonnie e Matt?
O conto não chega a ter a luta entre Stefan e Klaus, ele apenas descreve as emoções e as conversas entre os personagens, até incluindo em certa cena o Damon. Você vê mais claramente os sentimentos de Stefan pelos amigos de Elena. Pra quem gosta da série de livros, é realmente muito bom para ler. Mas a dúvida do que aconteceria na luta ainda fica!
315 reviews
December 20, 2025
and so what if he drank the blood???
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Panda.
266 reviews43 followers
March 4, 2020
Yeah no. So glad this wasn’t how the book ended. I just ew no.
Profile Image for R..
2,074 reviews
August 8, 2015
This looks as if it has been removed from the web site as it gives a 404 error. Hopefully it will be back up again later on as I would love to read it. Found it elsewhere to read online.

This is an interesting piece that shows what might have been if Elena had intervened to make Stephan drink from all three of his friends before facing down Klaus. Each of them have significantly different reactions and reveals as a result of the experience. Overall and interesting look into the psych of four of the main stars. The part with Stephan, and even the others aside from Bonnie, hearing Elena clearly is very out-of-character with the actual book. It certainly has a very clear and drastic effect on all of them, but I wonder if only having the silence compared to seeing and touching her at the end of the real book isn't a more dramatic comparison and made all the better for not having that continual contact prior.


This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Carly Fries.
304 reviews19 followers
January 27, 2015
Before I Read the Book...

Ohhhhhh shit. So this is a "what if" tie-in story. As in, what if Stefan had actually drank the group's blood before taking on Klaus. Cool, cool.

What I Thought

Okay, so the story was about what would have happened if Meredith, Bonnie, and Matt had let Stefan drink from them. And let me tell you, it was pretty freaky.



Overall, it was fifty shades of screwed up in so many ways, but interesting...I guess...

I did like when Matt said "fuck" though.
Profile Image for Jessica.
62 reviews41 followers
June 25, 2015
Nice little side story that sheds a bit of light on the more important side characters and their view towards vampires in general and Stefan specifically.

However, I don't really see the point in publishing it. If you wanted Stefan to drink human blood and try to become strong enough to bash some kitsune heads, then why didn't you just write the story that way in the first place?

And then when you do write it, why stop halfway? We now know Stefan is pumped up and ready to fight, but will it work or will he get his head ripped of before he is able to land a single blow?

Because that's the whole point of him sacrificing his way of life and starting to drink human blood, isn't it? So you could at least show us what it was worth.
Profile Image for Kushnuma.
1,288 reviews35 followers
July 8, 2015
That was weird… would have liked it even more if there was more of Damon.
Profile Image for Maya.
332 reviews12 followers
July 12, 2015
Okay, so this was absolutely unnecessary and drawn out.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews

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