Try {One | Alaric Saltzman}

History Repeating

He used his hands as he spoke, drawing attention to the ring on his right hand. It was hauntingly similar to the ones Stefan and Damon wore to protect themselves from the sun, but she was in the middle of the classroom, too far away to know if it was made from lapis lazuli. Either way, she couldn't shake the feeling that something about him was different.

"And then," Bonnie rounded out her story as she led the Gilbert sisters to a secluded picnic table after school. "I ended up at the remains of the old Fell's church before I woke up back in the woods."

"And you always see your ancestor Emily?" Abigail asked.

"Mhm. Do you believe in ghosts?" Bonnie did not give her time to answer. "Because I think I'm being haunted."

"But," Elena started, "why Emily?"

"Grams said she was a powerful witch back in the Civil War days, and that this medallion was hers." She held up the necklace that she and Caroline were fighting over. "A witch's talisman."

"And it all started when you got the necklace?" Abigail asked.

Bonnie nodded. "I think she's using it to communicate with me."

"What does Grams say about it?" Abigail's phone chimed in a sequence she recognized. "That's Jenna. I'm late. I told her and Jeremy I would meet them at the Grill."

Elena gave her a look. "Meet us after?"

"You got it."  Raising to her feet, she said to Bonnie, "Talk to Grams."

"I can't call her." Bonnie shook her head. "She's gonna tell me to embrace it. I don't want to embrace it, I want it to stop."

Abigail found Jenna and Jeremy sitting in their usual booth at the Grill with drinks and an appetizer.

"Sorry I'm late. Friend drama." She slid into the booth next to her aunt. "Elena had to take Bonnie home. She and Caroline are really going at it."

"It's okay." Jenna's eyes were trained across the dining room. "I was just saying I like a man who can dine alone. A quiet strength."

Abigail followed her aunt's gaze to Alaric Saltzman. "I thought you were still in that Logan-depression thing."

"I've sworn off men forever," Jenna said. "But it doesn't mean I can't observe them from a safe distance."

"Well," Jeremy laughed out. "I can introduce you."

"What do you mean you can introduce them?" Abigail picked at the food in front of her. "He probably doesn't even remember us."

"Actually, he will remember me because-"

She froze. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" He defended himself. "Tanner had a file labeled 'Jackass.' I was in it, but Mr. Saltzman told me not to worry about it. That he's giving me a clean slate."

She felt her face relax. "You need it."

"Shut up," he laughed. "I have to write a paper, though, to help my grade."

"Have you picked a topic?" She asked.

"No, not yet It's gotta be local and non-internet research, so..." He leaned forward. "Any ideas?"

"That's easy!" Jenna lit up. "You've got all your dad's stuff."

"What stuff?"

"'How the Gilberts came over on the Mayflower' stuff, all that family lineage from way back," Jenna explained. "It's all boxed up in the closet."

Abigail searched her aunt's face for some kind of realization, but it never came. "How come you never told me where any of that was?"

"I didn't know how to bring it up since history was the thing you and your dad spent a lot of time on." Jenna gave her an apologetic look. "The right moment just hasn't come along until now."