Book Two: Aquiver (A. Saltzman)

Chapter Fourteen

"You're here for 10 minutes and I'm already back under the bleachers at the pep rally." Jenna points out.

"Like old times, huh? Only I didn't swipe this bottle from my old man." Mason holds up a bottle of tequila.

"Oh, the expensive stuff! I like you already." Alaric teases slightly.

"Just happy to be invited."

"Thank Diana, it was her idea." Jenna points out, Mason looks at Diana.

"Really?"

"Yeah, you know, I thought it would be nice to meet some of Jenna's high school friends. Dig up a little dirt." Diana teases, Mason smirks a little.

"I've got dirt. I've got so much dirt." Mason tells her as he pours them all out a drink.

"I have no secrets. Only dirty shame." Jenna counters as she nudges Diana, Diana raises her glass.

"To dirty shame." Diana offers and shares a look with Alaric who winks at her, they clink their glasses together before they each drink their shots. "Don't like tequila" Diana mumbles and pulls a face as Damon joins them.

"Hey" He greets.

"Damon." Jenna greets.

"We were just doing shots. Let me give you a shot glass, buddy." Alaric tells Damon.

"Here. Use mine." Jenna hands over her shot glass to Damon and then leaves.

"She doesn't like me very much." Damon offers.

"We haven't met. Mason Lockwood."

" Oh sure. Damon Salvatore." Mason and Damon shake hands.

"I know. I heard great things about you."

"Really? That's weird. I'm a dick!" Damon offers, Diana and Alaric both nod in agreement.

.....................

Later, Diana sits with Alaric on the couch as they play Pictionary with Jenna, Damon, Elena, Caroline, and Mason. It's Damon's turn and he is attempting to draw a wolf with a tutu. Attempting to.

"Dress! Ballerina!" Jenna guesses.

"Puppy! Puppy with a tutu!" Caroline offers.

"No, no."

"A dog! Hound-dog!

"Dances with Wolves" Mason offers.

"Mason wins...again." Damon comments, Diana cocks her head looking at Damon's drawing, she frowns.

"How the hell is that thing a wolf?" Diana asks Alaric at her side, he smirks and shrugs back in answer.

.................

Diana is in the kitchen serving the pie, she glances to Damon as he sidles up beside her.

"Aunt Jenna is getting tipsy." Damon teases, Diana shoots him a look.

"Then stop plying her with alcohol" She scolds him.

"I want her to like me." Diana barks out a laugh.

"Yeah, like that is ever going to happen" she glances at him. "How is operation Lockwood?" She asks.

"He's my new BFF," Damon answers, Diana hums and shakes her head just as Jenna walks into the kitchen.

"There you are. Isn't this fun?"

"Yes, thank you so much for inviting me." Damon answers.

"Did I have a choice?"

"I know what you must think about me."

"No, you don't. You've never dated you; I have dated many you's." Jenna admits.

"I'm a work in progress." Diana gives Jenna a cake knife from a set. Damon sees it. "These are fancy." He teases.

"Thanks. My mother's silver set." Jenna offers, Diana looks at Damon who smirks at her, she shoots him a look back when he takes a knife from the set. Diana takes it back from him.

"That's not going to work" She scolds him, he shrugs.

"It'll probably still hurt him if I stab him with it" He whispers back at her, they share a look.

"You are not stabbing him" She scolds him and sets the knife away again.

...............

Damon puts the pie on the table, with a cake knife made of silver. Diana rolls her eyes a little and shoots Damon a look, he shrugs back.

"Mason, why don't you start us off?" Damon offers.

"Sure." Mason then picks up a slice with his bare hands, not with the knife. "I apologize, I'm an animal."

"So Mason, you and Jenna never dated?" Diana asks as she sits at the table across from Mason.

"She was always lost in Logan Fell land," Mason answers, Jenna snorts.

"My first mistake. Mason was a catch; he had girls lining up." Jenna admits.

"Really? I always pegged you for a lone wolf."

"I'm sure I wasn't half the lady killer you were. How about a toast? To new friends." Mason offers and raises his beer.

..........

Later, Damon is still in the kitchen staring at the pie that Mason didn't even eat, he must have been able to smell the wolfsbane in it. Mason walks in and sets a few empty beer bottles on the countertop.

"Jenna just brought out Guitar Hero. Might be time to mutiny!" Mason offers.

"Well, I just happen to like Guitar Hero. So you, my friend, are barking up the wrong tree." Damon counters.

"Okay. Enough with the innuendos, you win, you're hilarious."

"Thank you."

"Come on, man. You don't think I know what this barbecue is about?" Mason asks Damon.

"How do you know about me? Your brother was completely clueless."

"It doesn't matter; I'm not your enemy, Damon."

"You tried to kill my brother."

"That was a mistake."

"Really?" Damon asks him.

"There was confusion; I couldn't chain myself up in time. I have no control once I shift."

"What, no obedience school?"

"I'm serious. Let's not spark some age-old feud that doesn't apply to us. Anyway...You should be more concerned about your buddy's girlfriend"

"Diana?" Damon asks with a frown.

"There is something very wrong with that girl" Mason answers. "Something....tainted" Damon looks at Diana as she and Jenna talk. "Something...sick. I can smell it...like an infection" Diana glances over at Damon and smirks, and he swears her eyes turn black, only for a moment, but he swears he sees it.