Wayward Heart: Book 1

Part 28

Emma choked on her drink, leaving a severe burning in her throat that made her cough, "I'm sorry, what? Who in the hell would she have feelings for?"

"They should be getting to Jeremy soon," Alaric tried to change the subject quickly, Emma side eyed him.

Stefan nodded, "Elena is worried about him, knowing that she can't count on his ring anymore."

"Who knows? Maybe his alter ego is a pot smoking, hippie pacifist," Alaric joked.

"Yeah, maybe," Stefan sighed.

Alaric shrugged, "I never thought mine would be a militant, hostile killer."

"I could have guessed that," Emma sat back using her elbows for support, "your wife left you to become a vampire, your last girlfriend was killed by one, and your best friend is a bloodsucking asshole."

Both Stefan and Alaric looked at Emma, shocked that she had described Damon in that way.

"What?" She defended, "I love him, but I'm not ignorant. He's nice to me."

All three of them couldn't help but laugh at Damon's expense.

Everyone was quiet for a while, continuing to drink and wait patiently for Alaric to become anti-Alaric. The bottle was nearly gone by the time Emma had chewed on their earlier statement and her unanswered question enough to want an answer.

"Who does Elena have feelings for," she looked up at Stefan who leaned against the wall.

Stefan looked down at her pitifully, "Damon."

"What?" Emma sat up, suddenly alert, "So you let them go on a road trip together, to what exactly? Let her decide if she was going to move in on him?"

"I just want Elena to be sure that I am who she wants," Stefan tried to rationalize.

"By using your brother as the experiment?" Emma shook her head in disbelief, "Do you really trust him so little that you think he would go behind your back and try to steal Elena from you? Not to mention betray me."

"Before you came along, that is exactly what he was doing Emma," Stefan explained.

"Well, this is depressing," Klaus rounded the corner into the cell, twirling a stake in his hand, "isn't it? By the way, I found this up stairs. So by my count, there should be one more."

"Yeah," Stefan glanced at a slightly drunk Alaric, "that's gonna take some time."

"Why?" Klaus pointed at Alaric, "Because you're waiting on that one to pass out. No thanks, I'll just kill him."

Emma stood up, "Then you'll never know the location of the last stake."

Klaus shrugged, "I can live with that."

"Well, I can't," Stefan stood up straight, "when we staked Finn, we discovered that killing an Original vampire kills its entire bloodline. Now, I don't know which one of you I'm descended from, but I'd really rather not find out by dying, so why don't we just find the stake, destroy it, so we can all be safe?"

"So, the fate of the entire vampire race depends on you finding a stake? And to get it we need him to pass out, which means that I feel totally justified doing this," all Emma saw was a blur and heard a quick snapping sound before Alaric hit the ground, dead, "there, sleeping like a baby."

Emma sat at the edge of the bed as she waited for Damon to answer the phone.

"Hey there beautiful," Damon's voice calmed Emma's nerves almost instantly.

"Hey yourself," Emma laughed.

"Any sign of Evil-laric?" Damon half heartedly joked.

"No," Emma plopped back on the bed and sighed, "only dead Alaric."

"Uh, shouldn't you be more upset?"

"He had his ring on, Klaus is not very patient."

Damon growled slightly at the thought of Klaus so close to Emma, "Kol must have told him we were in Denver. How long has Ric been out?"

"A while, hopefully when he wakes up it will be Evil-laric," Emma smirked as she used Damon's joke.

"And if he isn't?"

"I don't want to think about it. Were you able to contact Rose's ghost?"

"Yeah but we don't have any answers yet, so we are just stuck here in this motel room until she gets back to us."

"A, uh," Emma hesitated, "a motel?"

"Yeah, we had to get away from Kol. I've got to go Em, I'll call you when I know more, okay?"

"Love you," Emma said trying not to let Stefan's words make her doubt Damon.

"Yeah, I love you too babe," Damon hung up the phone and slid it back into his pocket.

A cold whiskey bottle waited in the fridge for Damon as he slid on a shirt before grabbing it. He glanced over to where Elena slept only to find her quickly close her eyes when she saw him look at her. Damon sighed and headed outside, he leaned against the rail of the walkway in front of their second floor room, he twisted off the cap of his whiskey bottle and took a quick swig. Behind him the door opened, he looked over his shoulder to see Elena wrapped up in her coat, staring at him as if she were waiting for him to do something.

"You never told me what you did, for Rose," she said quietly.

Damon took another drink, "It wasn't about you."

Elena stepped up next to Damon, "Why don't you let people see the good in you?"

"Because when people see good, they expect good," Damon looked down at Elena, letting her know that he was referring to her, "I don't want to have to live up to anyones expectations."

"Even Emma?" Elena challenged.

"Emma sees what I am and excepts me for that Elena," Damon took another drink, "she hasn't tried to change anything about me."

"There is nothing wrong with bettering yourself," Elena argued.

"Maybe not," Damon shrugged, "but the other day in the alley, you walked away upset and pissed. Emma only asked I knew what I was doing and trusted me when I said I did. She didn't tell me that I wasn't the right person to help my own brother."

Damon pushed off the rail and turned to walk back into the room, but Jeremy opened it before he reached it.

"Rose found Mary, she lives in Kansas," he told them.

"Well, damn," Damon said as he put the cap back on his whiskey bottle, "Emma is gonna be so mad that she missed a chance to swing by that bunker thing she is obsessed with."

Jeremy smiled at Damon, "So take her when we get back dumbass."

Damon patted Jeremy on his shoulder as he passed the teen, "Good idea, no wonder all the ghost girls want you."

Damon started packing his bag and getting everything ready to hit the road.