He glared hard at her, as though his very stare could produce the stake to end her. Again. But no matter how dangerous he looked nothing seemed to shake Lexi. As she lowered to his level he stared back defiantly.
Then the burn started. First in his skin, and then his muscles, until it ran through his veins. Stefan screamed as pain engulfed him and his thirst flared, begging him for a drink like he was a man lost for days in the desert. His yells didn't seem to stop her though. He cussed, he spat, and then he did nothing as his agony increased and he could focus only on that. Nothing else around him existed. Stefan fully expected to burst into flame at any moment, except he didn't.
He gasped and fought for breath only to yell anew as wood met his shoulder, piercing his skin and stinging through his body. Stefan shifted enough to give it a glance before growling in Lexi's direction. "It's won't work," he told her, his voice labored and exhausted. "Give up." Even with the blood dried from his system and the lust dammed back, it didn't change who or what he truly was.