A/N: HAPPY TVD THURSDAY :)
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I wake up one morning to hear loud, obnoxious music blaring from Stefan’s room. Angrily, I drag myself out of bed with my blanket wrapped around me. I walk over to Stefan’s room with it draped around my shoulders and dragging on the floor. I pass Damon on the way who laughs at my frazzled appearance. Stefan is working out in his room.
“Can you turn it down?!” I yell at Stefan rudely. I had the right to be rude; no one should dare to wake me up from my deep slumber.
“Sorry,” Stefan says.
Damon walks into the room behind me and heads over to the stereo system, turning off the music.
“That was so annoying.”
“I know,” I grumble, yawning.
“When are you going back to school?” Damon asks Stefan before turning to me. “And are you ever going to actually go for a full day of school?”
“Soon,” Stefan replies as he’s doing push ups.
“I’ll go when I feel like it,” I yawn.
“Oh come on, just drink already.” Damon walks over to Stefan and waves his glass of blood in front of his face. “Come on, this self-detox is not natural.”
“Could you get that away from me, please?” requests Stefan.
“How long did you take yourself to wean off of it the last time you indulged?”
Stefan doesn’t answer him.
“Yeah, that’s not good.”
“I’ll be fine; it just takes a little bit of time.”
“I don’t get it,” I say. “I mean, you don’t have to kill to survive.”
“Yeah, that’s what blood banks are for,” Damon adds. “I haven’t hunted a human in… god, way too long.”
“Wow, I’m impressed,” Stefan says while continuing his push ups.
“That’s completely self-serving. I’ve been trying to get the town off the trail of vampires which is not very easy, considering there is a tomb of them running around.”
“What are we planning to do about them?” I ask.
“We won’t be doing much of anything if Stefan does not have his strength,” Damon states. “There is nothing wrong in partaking on a healthy diet of human blood from a blood bank. You aren’t actually killing anyone.”
“I have my reasons.”
“Well what are those reasons?” I ask curiously.
“You know, we’ve never actually discussed that.” Damon crosses his arms across his chest and sits down on a chair. “I’d love to hear this story.”
“You’re really enjoying this aren’t you?” Stefan questions. “Watching me struggle?”
“Very much so.”
“I hate to break it to you Damon but I actually have it under complete control.”
Damon looks disappointed. “You do?”
Stefan nods.
“Oh, then you should just carry on and continue making the rest of us vampires look bad.” He stands up and leaves, leaving his glass of blood on the table. “Have a great day Stef.”
I can see Stefan’s eyes darken but I sigh as I walk over to the glass and down the whole cup. I lick my lips and shudder a little.
“Ugh, fresh blood is still a hundred times better.”
***
I decide I need something normal in my life so I actually go to school. I just didn’t attend any classes. I walk to the back of the school where the druggies and smokers usually hung out and sat myself down next to Jeremy.
“You doing okay?”
“No.” He shakes his head.
I sigh and just stay quiet. There isn’t much else I can say. Tyler joins us shortly and sits on the other side of Jeremy, offering him his cigarette.
“No thanks,” Jeremy declines.
“What’s your problem?” asks Tyler.
“I just don’t want any.”
“Tyler, leave him alone,” I say.
“Okay,” he shrugs.
It is silent for a while before Tyler says something again.
“They say she OD-ed.”
“That’s what I don’t get, she was doing okay,” says Jeremy.
“Apparently not,” I mumble.
“How did she end up buried in the woods? That’s what I don’t understand.”
“Probably by whoever was with her when she OD’ed.”
“But you would just leave her there and not take the time to bury her.”
“Maybe she saw something,” Tyler shakes his head. “Man, I don’t know. I just don’t know. So are you guys going to attend the Founders’ Day Kick Off party?”
“I have no interest in the Founders’ Day Kick Off party,” Jeremy says.
I shrug. “Sounds interesting, am I invited to this since I’m not part of the founding families?”
“Yeah, it’s an open event to everyone in town,” Tyler says. “My mom and dad are making me go.”
“Well I might show up,” I smile.
A party seemed like a good idea, to get everyone back in good spirit. But parties were usually where everything goes wrong in my life.
***
“How are you doing?” I ask Stefan.
It had been a while since I last really spoke to him. He kept his distance from everyone ever since the incident at Pearl’s house. Elena had informed us that she let Stefan feed on her to get his strength back. Damon and I were instantly wary and worried; we knew how Stefan could get when he consumed human blood.
We were all hanging out at Elena’s house and talking about nonsense.
“I’m fine, getting better,” Stefan reassures me. “It’s only been three days.”
“Hey Aly, when you and Jeremy were writing that extra credit paper for Alaric, did Jeremy tell you what he was writing about?” Elena asks.
I think for a moment before something dawns on me. “I think he was writing about vampires.”
“Right.”
Elena tosses some papers at me which turns out to be Jeremy’s essay.
“Mr. Saltzman made a copy of it. Should I be concerned that Jeremy knows something?”
I scan through the papers quickly.
“I doubt it. This paper states very clearly that he doesn’t believe in them.”
“But what if there’s just the slightest possibility that he knows?”
“Then he knows,” I shrug.
“Why don’t you just ask him?” Stefan suggests. “If he doesn’t know, then it’ll just be an innocent question.”
Elena groans. “God, I hate lying to everyone.”
Stefan’s smiles hide his pain but I still see it. He doesn’t want this life for Elena. The two of them are staring deep into each other’s eyes.
“I’ve missed you,” Elena whispers.
“It’s only been a few days,” Stefan laughs gently.
“Feels like a life time.”
She leans in closer to them and they begin to make out.
“Oh sure, make out as if there wasn’t anyone else around.”
They ignore me and I just laugh it off.
“I’ll take that as my cue to leave.”
I exit Elena’s room just as Stefan is pushing her up against the bed. Closing the door quietly, I make my way downstairs to where Jeremy, Jenna and an unfamiliar man are sitting together at the dining table.
“Hi,” I say awkwardly.
“Aly,” Jenna smiles at me.
Jeremy nods and the man stares intently at me. His scrutinizing gaze is making me feel uncomfortable.
“Who are you?” he asks coolly.
I am slightly taken back by his bluntness but I collect myself and reply in the same tone. “My name is Alayne Mikaelson, and you?”
“John Gilbert.”
It’s like the room temperature has dropped fifty degrees or something. John continues eyeing my warily and Jenna clears her throat loudly. She walks by me casually and whispers in my ear.
“He calls himself John, we all call him Jackass.”
I stifle my laughter and take my seat next to Jeremy.
“What do you think you’re doing here?” John asks me sharply.
I raise an eyebrow at him. Who the hell did he think he was?
“John, Aly is a guest, don’t be rude,” snaps Jenna.
Jeremy just rolls his eyes at me before standing up and grabbing my arm.
“Let’s get out of here,” he mutters.
I happily comply. I did not like John Gilbert one bit. As Jeremy and I are making our way up to his room, I hear a banging noise coming from Elena’s.
“Wow, they’re really going at each other.” Jeremy laughs before walking into his room but I linger a little.
I walk over to Elena’s room and open the door to see Stefan crouched over in a corner. Elena has a terrified look in her eyes as she observes her boyfriend.
“Stefan,” I say and he looks over at me instantly.
I walk over to him and crouch down beside him. It appears he broke some of Elena’s furniture. I gently pull him into my arms and whisper calming words. Then I look at Elena.
“I need to get him out of here,” I say.
Elena just nods and I gently pull Stefan to his feet and support him as we make our way down the stairs. John Gilbert is still sitting down there and he stares cautiously at us.
“What the hell is going on?” he inquires.
“Stefan isn’t feeling well,” I lie. “I think it may be the flu or something, I need to get him home to bed.”
“Home?”
“Yeah we live in the boarding house together.” I probably shouldn’t have told John that.
I get Stefan into my car and head towards the boarding house.
“Are you okay?” I ask quietly.
“No.”
“Do you need to feed?”
“I– I don’t know,” he admits. “I don’t want to.”
“Stefan, it’s not a matter of want. You need to feed; otherwise, you’ll hurt someone you care about.”
“Just get me back to the boarding house, please.”
I sigh and focus on my driving. Stefan stumbles out of the car when we arrive and I help him inside. The house is dark, signalling that Damon is not home.
“Get some rest,” I order him.
He obeys and drags himself up to him room.
***
Damon and I are waiting on Elena’s front porch for her to open the door. She called us over early that morning and I had suspicions that she wanted to talk to us about Stefan.
“Hey, thanks for coming,” she said when she saw us. “Let’s go up to my room.” She puts a finger to her mouth, signalling that Jeremy was in the kitchen within hearing distance.
“No, Elena. I will not go to bed with you,” Damon says loudly. Elena slaps his arm.
“Hi Jeremy!” I wave at him and he smiles back.
Elena glares at both of us before shaking her head and sighing. We make our way up to her room where she shuts the door tight.
“So why did you call us over?” Damon asks Elena.
“I’m worried about Stefan,” she tells us.
I nod, I understand her concern. After last night, it was evident that Stefan was not okay. Damon flops onto Elena’s bed, grabs her teddy bear and smoothers it in a tight hug.
“Aw Damon, aren’t you just the cutest with that wittle teddy bear,” I tease.
He throws the teddy at my face and I flip him the finger before lunging at him. I tackle him off the bed and we roll around wrestling on the floor. Unfortunately, Damon somehow gets the upper hand and I’m pinned to the floor between his legs, my arms pinned above my head.
“Guys, stop messing around!” Elena demands.
Damon smirks before he climbs off on me and he holds out a hand, pulling me up. I look into Elena’s vanity mirror, trying to fix up my appearance.
“Oh don’t bother,” Damon says. “It will always look like a bird’s nest.”
I whip around quickly and throw Elena’s hairbrush at him, which hits him right between the eyes. Damon looks slightly dazed for a second.
“Guys!” Elena shouts.
I smile sheepishly. “Sorry Elena.”
“Hey Elena, did you know your uncle’s been kicking it with the Founders’ Council?”
“What?”
“Yup.”
“Oh god, I hate that man,” I crinkle my nose.
“Perfect, we’ll just add that to our growing list of how everything’s falling apart,” says Elena.
Damon eyes the furniture that Stefan damaged the day before.
“What happened over there?”
Elena and I share a look and she is the one to speak.
“Uh, nothing.”
Damon knows that she’s lying and she knows that he knows so she continues, “Look Damon, I’m really worried about Stefan. He says that everything is okay but he is clearly struggling. How long is it going to take before he is back to normal?”
“A few days? Give or take.”
“It’s been a few days.”
“Give then. I don’t know, what’s the big deal?”
“He’s not himself.”
“Well maybe his problem is that he’s spent way too long not being himself,” I suggest.
While we are talking, Damon wanders over to Elena’s drawers and pulls out a bra.
“Ooh,’ he admires.
“Damon!” Elena grabs it from him and stuffs in back in the drawer.
“Please don’t make me sorry for asking you to come over.”
“It is what it is Elena,” Damon continues where I left off. “The Stefan you know is good-behaviour-Stefan, reign-it-in-Stefan, and fight-against-nature-to-an-annoyingly-obsessive-level-Stefan. But if you think that there isn’t another part to this, then you have not been paying attention.”
“He’s not you, not even close.”
“He doesn’t want to be me,” Damon says. “But that doesn’t mean deep down that he’s not.”
Damon leaves the room, clearly somewhat offended by what Elena said to him. She looks to me for help.
“Look, I didn’t know Stefan in the past but there was a point where I did run across him. He was a ripper Elena, much worse than Damon is now. He mangled the bodies of all his victims and he had no control. I don’t know how he got control and became the Stefan we know and love, but once upon a time, he was a true monster.”
Elena’s face falls at my revelation and she is stunned for a moment, taking in this newfound information.
“I think I’ll leave now,” I tell her quietly and I let myself out of the house.
I had no plans after leaving Elena’s so I just head over to the Grill, which was bustling and full of town people. I saw Matt sitting alone at one of the tables and I decide I should go talk to him, to smooth over our relationship.
“Hey Matt,” I smile gently at him. “How is everything?”
“I don’t know, how am I supposed to feel right now after I find out my sister has been dead this whole time?” His voice is dead and I feel so bad for him.
“Come on Matt,” I say in an attempt to cheer him up. “Vicki wouldn’t want you like this.”
“What Vicki wants is ridiculous, look where her wants got her. She’s dead.”
“Matt,” I scold. “Don’t be so harsh.”
“What would you do if your sibling died?” he turned on me.
“My sibling did die, a long time ago,” I state flatly.
His face softens a little. “How?”
“It was a long time ago, we were all just kids,” I remember. “We used to live in a very small and secluded village. My two brothers snuck out one night to watch the wolves. Everything went wrong and my younger brother Henrik was attacked and killed. The event tore my family apart and we were never the same afterwards. Shortly after, my parents died of heartbreak and my other brother took off without a word.”
Everything I told Matt was true up until in the part where my parents died. But I couldn’t tell Matt the truth because then, he would begin to suspect me for being something more. I also left out the part where I had four more siblings but that didn’t matter. Half of them were dead anyways.
“That’s horrible,’ Matt says.
I smile weakly at him. “Those aren’t fond memories.”
We chat for a little bit more, getting back into our old routine before Caroline and Vicki ruined our relationship. I realized how much I missed Matt, as a friend and someone I could just talk to. We had been talking for so long, I didn’t even realize the time.
“Oh crap, I’ve got to go Matt! I was supposed to meet Tyler for the Founders’ Day Kick Off party.”
“Wait, you’re going? With Tyler?” Matt seems shocked.
“Yeah, I wanted to check it out and he wanted a companion. We’re just friends,” I state.
“If I remember correctly, you used to think he was an asshole.”
“He still is.”
Matt laughs a little and smiles warmly at me. “Well I won’t be keeping you here then. I’m sure you need to get home to change. I’ll see you there. Thanks for coming to talk to me Aly, it really helped and took my mind off some things.”
I smile back. “Pleasure.”
I went home quickly to change my outfit. Pulling on a tight black dress and my black suede ankle boots, I check my hair in the mirror. It was still a little frazzled from this morning’s little brawl with Damon. I decide to just tie up my hair in a high ponytail. Since I was already late, I grab my leather jacket and I’m out the door into my car. I get to the party where I see Tyler waiting outside for me.
“Hey I thought you were going to ditch me,” he says, looking slightly relieved.
“No, I was just held up a little.”
Tyler leads me inside where his dad is speaking to Matt and his mother. Huh, how did guys change so fast and still get to events on time.
“I’m so glad you could join us tonight,” Mayor Lockwood is saying to Kelly Donovan.
“It was nice of you to reach out to us,” she says politely.
Matt, Tyler and I just stand awkwardly around.
“This town is one big family and when we lose a member, we all have to come together.”
I see Tyler and Matt rolling their eyes and I can’t help but grin a little. The Mayor shakes hands with Matt and Kelly before turning to Tyler and I. He looks expectantly at his son before eyeing me.
“Who is this?”
“She a friend of mine,” Tyler explains.
“Alayne Mikaelson, pleasure to meet you Mayor Lockwood,” I reach out to shake his hand and when our hands connect, a feeling passes through me. I pull my hand back quickly.
“Something wrong?”
“N-no sir.”
Tyler looks at me but I just shake my head. The Mayor walks off to greet other people and Tyler follows him. Kelly Donovan just rolls her eyes.
“Well I guess a dead kid gets a special greeting from the mayor, huh?” she says point-blank.
“God, Mom!” Matt scolds.
She shakes her head. “I need a drink.”
Tyler comes back with a bottle of alcohol in his hands.
“Hey, check it out!” He smiles widely.
“Dude your dad is going to beat you down if he catches us.”
Tyler unscrews the cap. “Yeah, well let him try.”
Matt grabs the bottle from Tyler and starts chugging it. “Screw it.”
Tyler looks around the room cautiously.
I pout. “Hey aren’t you going to share?”
“No.”
“Matt…” I whine.
He places a finger over my lips. “Alayne, whining like a baby isn’t cute.”
I pout. Matt sighs before he hands me the bottle and I take a swig. The alcohol burns and creates a warm sensation in my body as it is going down. The music is suddenly turned up and I feel like dancing.
“Come on,” I grab Matt and Tyler’s hands and drag them into the other room.
I see Stefan dancing with Kelly while Elena and Damon are watching.
“Have I just entered into another universe where Stefan is fun?” Damon is asking Elena.
“Is he going to be okay?”
“Eventually.”
I think some of the alcohol has already gone to Tyler’s head and he’s partially wasted. We start dancing together and Matt, feeling like he isn’t included anymore backs away.
Suddenly, I feel Tyler’s lips on mine. We’re in the middle of the crowded dance floor and no one outside can see us so I kiss him back, hard and passionately. I can feel his hands moving up and down my body, his mouth is furiously on mine. His tongue searches for entrance into my mouth and I grant his access. We battle it out fiercely but eventually, I let him have dominance over me. His kisses begin to trail down the side of my face to my neck, going lower. All of a sudden, I realize what I am doing and I push Tyler back violently.
“What are we doing?” I whisper, my eyes wide.
“I- I don’t know,” Tyler stutters.
“I’m sorry,” I back away from him and make my way out of the crowd.
What the hell just happened and what the hell was I doing? Kissing Tyler and letting him feel me up? Damn, I was seriously fucked when I had alcohol in my system.
“Hey are you okay?” Matt’s face suddenly looms up in front of me.
“I’m fine,” I stutter. “I need to use the bathroom.”
I stumble off and I run into Jeremy, Damon and Sheriff Forbes. Jeremy was questioning the Sheriff on Vicki Donovan’s death and both Damon and the Sheriff were composed but they looked slightly uncomfortable. The sheriff quickly reassures that Vicki died of a drug overdose and that they were still investigating what happened. Jeremy seems unsatisfied with the answer and he just wanders off into the crowd. Damon and I share a look. We head to the bar where we find Elena sitting alone.
“Have you noticed what your brother has been up to?” Elena asks Damon when we sit down next to her.
“Nope, I was too preoccupied with yours.”
“Jeremy was asking questions about Vicki’s death,” I explain.
“But he knows that her death has been ruled out as an overdose,” says Elena.
“Should we compel him again?” Damon asks. “Maybe your friend didn’t do such a good job last time.”
“Sebastian is a very powerful vampire, he knows the mind better than anyone,” I mutter coldly.
“No, I am not doing that to him again,” protests Elena.
“If he keeps asking questions…”
“Damon, no, I’m serious,” Elena says. “I’m not going to do that to him again, I’ll handle it.”
“Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
He plucks a rose off a decoration bouquet and hands it to Elena before walking away.
“I think he likes you,” I say to her.
She rolls her eyes, “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I’m serious!”
“Stop joking.”
“Fine Elena, be in denial. Let’s see how far that gets you.”
Elena pretends to pout and turns her back on me.
“Elena, I’m not some dude that’s helplessly in love with you,” I say sweetly. “Your fake pouting won’t work on me.”
“Whoa ladies, what are you two arguing about?” Matt shows up out of nowhere with a huge grin on his face.
“Nothing, we were just having a friendly dispute,” I laugh.
“Well who knew we’d be missing all the fun at the Founders’ party.”
“This is rare,” Elena chuckles. “Believe me.”
“Is it bad that I’m enjoying myself?”
“No, it’s great that you’re enjoying yourself,” I say.
“Yeah, thanks for making me dance,” adds Elena.
“Well I was dancing with Aly until she got all exclusive with Tyler so I had to find a new partner,” Matt jokes.
Oh right, the incident with Tyler. I can feel my face drop and Matt looks like he instantly regrets his choice of words. He smiles apologetically at me.
“Hey, I didn’t mean it like that. Are you okay? I saw what happened.”
“Uh yeah, just got carried away a little,” I mumble.
“I need some air, would you two like to come with me?” Matt asks.
Elena nods while I shrug. We follow Matt outside to one of the balconies. The breeze is cool but thankfully, I have on my leather jacket. When I step outside, the first thing I saw was Tyler making out with Matt’s mother.
“Oh my god,” I stutter.
Matt rushes over and pulls Tyler off his mother.
“What the hell are you doing man?!”
“Matt,” says Kelly.
He turns furiously on her and she shuts up.
“Dude, calm down,” Tyler holds up his hands.
Matt punches him in the face.
“Matt!” screams Elena.
Tyler punches Matt who staggers backwards into his mother and she knocks an entire table of wine over, glass shattering all around her. I rush over quickly to pull Tyler off Matt and I deliver a quick punch to his face as well. Tyler lurches back, surprise dawning on his face.
“What the hell was that for?”
“I don’t know, I just know I’d feel a lot better if I did that.”
Tyler rushes past me and continues to beat down Matt. He climbs onto of him and continually beats him.
“Tyler, stop it! You’re hurting him!” Elena is screaming.
I couldn’t exactly go over and rip Tyler off since their little brawl was gaining an audience. I did attempt to pull Tyler off but his hand just whipped backwards and struck my face. I blunder back a few steps into Elena’s arms, which help steady me.
“I can’t pull them apart, not with everyone watching,” I mutter in her ear.
“I know.” Worry is etched all over her face.
Finally, after what seems like a century, Alaric comes running out and he roughly pulls Tyler away from Matt and shakes him.
“Stop, Tyler. Hey! Stop!” Alaric shouts forcefully. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Tyler seems to snap out of a trance and he looks at what he’s done. Matt’s face is bloody as Elena and I kneel beside him.
“Aly, your eyes,” Elena whispers.
I know my eyes must have turned red because of the blood lust. I close them and count slowly, levelling my breathing and regaining control of my conscious. I open my eyes and look at Elena, who nods her approval. We help Matt to a chair and sit him down gently. The cuts on his face are bad. I don’t even see what happens to Tyler, my entire attention is focus on Matt.
“Let me see your face,” I say softly.
He turns his face to the side and my fingers graze his cheek lightly. Where they touch, Matt’s cuts begin to heal gradually. He flinches a little but doesn’t move as I pretend to inspect him further. In reality, I was really using magic to heal him.
“Oh good, your injuries aren’t as bad as I thought they would be,” I lie.
“Where is she?” Matt cries looking around.
“Stop moving your head,” I scold.
“Where is my mom?”
“I- I don’t know.”
I turn to Elena. “Can you take him? I need to find Stefan.” I whisper in her ear. “Matt’s mom is running around with a cut on her forehead.”
She nods in understand and moves to comfort Matt. I make my way inside the house to run into Damon.
“Do you want the bad news or the really bad news?” he asks me.
“What?”
“Okay so the bad news is that the town council is moving in on vampires again and the even worse news is that I just killed Uncle John Gilbert.”
“Why is killing John Gilbert bad news?”
“Oh wait; you’re not Stefan, never mind.”
“Yeah, speaking of Stefan have you seen him?”
“Nope.”
I rush around looking for any sign of Stefan or Kelly Donovan. It was no use, there were too many people. I close my eyes and focus. Focus on the smell of blood, my mind tells me. I breathe in and out slowly, and suddenly, my senses pick up on a scent. It’s definitely blood, there’s the sweet metallic scent of it. I head it the direction and I find Kelly Donovan sitting in a chair alone, crying.
“Mrs. Donovan, are you alright?” I crouch down in front of her.
I look around and there is no sign of Stefan. I turn back to the woman in front of me and help her wife the blood off her head. Then looking around to make sure no one is watching, I heal the cut on her head quickly. She looks at me in shock.
“What did you do?”
I looked her right in the eye. “You hit your head when you fell but there weren’t any serious injuries. You ran off because you were upset with yourself and you couldn’t face Matt. Forget me.”
She blinks a couple of times.
“What am I doing here?”
“You hit your head Mrs. Donovan, after Matt and Tyler started fighting?” I prompt. “Matt caught you making out with Tyler.”
“Oh.” Her memory seems to come back to her. “Oh god, I’ve ruined everything. I always do this, why am I such a disappointment?” She sobs uncontrollably. “I promised Matt I’d try.”
“Shh.” I try to comfort her. “It’ll be okay, Matt will forgive you.”
I leave her shortly and look around for someone I know. Damon walks by me and I grab his arm. He looks pissed off and confused.
“What’s wrong?” I ask him.
“Remember how I told you I kill John Gilbert?”
“Yeah.”
“Well he’s alive.”
“What?!”
“Shush.” He takes my arm and pulls me to the corner of an empty room. “I don’t know how but he’s alive and he knows that I’m a vampire. I’m not sure about you but he may suspect you since you live with us. This guy seems to know a lot about the town even though he’s been away.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know. Why?”
“Let me go talk to him.”
“No, he’ll kill you!”
“Excuse me?” some lady approaches Damon and I. “The Mayor is requesting for everyone to come into the other room. He’s making a speech.”
Damon and I share a look before we follow her into the other room. After everyone has gathered, Mayor Lockwood begins his speech.
“Thank you all for joining us tonight. In a few moments, we will officially begin the countdown to our upcoming Founders’ Day Celebration and it’s a special one this year: The 150th birthday of our town.”
Everyone begins to clap. Damon stands stone still, his eyes never leaving John Gilbert’s back. I keep my eye on the Mayor. I still remember the feeling I had when our hands made contact.
“And I would like to welcome back one of our town’s favourite sons, to do the honours of ringing our official charter’s bell. John Gilbert, if you would please join me up here.”
There is more clapping as John makes his way to the front.
“One hundred and fifty years of community, prosperity and family. We take care of each other; we look after each other, and protect each other. It’s good to be home,” John’s eyes focus on Damon when he speaks.
More clapping.
Damon grabs my arm and leads me over to Alaric.
“Look at his right hand.”
Alaric and I both look, seeing a ring that resembles the one Alaric wears.
“It looks like mine,” says Alaric.
“Where did you get yours?” Damon asks him.
“My wife, Isobel.”
“Who gave birth to Elena, under the care of the esteemed Grayson Gilbert, John’s brother,” I piece together.
“Wait, you think John knows Isobel?”
“I think John knows a lot of things,” Damon says.
We follow John out of the room and trail him as he heads outside.
“Going somewhere, hm?” Damon speaks up.
“I don’t like to be the last one to leave a party,” John says curtly.
“That’s so desperate,” I mutter.
“You going to kill me again or are you going to let Mr. Saltzman or Alayne Mikaelson do your dirty work?”
“Okay, you obviously know who I am.”
“I do. Alaric Saltzman, a high school history teacher with a secret.”
“You sure know a lot for someone who just got to town,” I say.
He regards me coolly. “I don’t know who you are. I’ve tried to go back but I haven’t uncovered anything about your past.”
“I cover my tracks pretty well if I do say so myself.”
“No, you just have someone doing your dirty work for you. Does the name Arie ring any bells?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “What the hell have you done with Arie?”
“Nothing,” John smirks. “I just tortured him until he spilled your information. I don’t know what you did to him but he’s completely under your spell.”
“I have a powerful mind,” I say coldly. “What did you do to Arie?”
“I didn’t do anything to him,” he growled. “I underestimated him, he got away from me before I could kill him.”
“Oh thank god,” I let out my breath.
I wouldn’t have wanted anything bad to happen to Arie, he was a good slave. Very reliable and loyal, qualities I look for in my companions. Who else would I get to run errands for me if Arie was dead?
“Back to the topic,” Damon says. “You sure know a lot for someone who just got to town.”
“More than you can imagine Damon. My knowledge of this town goes beyond anything any of you or the council of knows. So if you were planning to kill me, I’ll just come back to life. And everything I know goes to the council, including the tale of the original Salvatore brothers who have presently returned to town.”
“How did you get that ring?” Alaric asks.
“I inherited one, my brother Gray the other. This was his. I wouldn’t have given one to Isobel if I knew she’d hand it over to any guy.”
“So you did know Isobel?” I state.
“Who do you think sent her to your friend when she wanted to become a vampire?”
“How do you know Sebastian?”
“I encountered him years ago when I was still a child, been keeping track of him ever since.”
“Your friend is an idiot,” Damon says to me.
“I know,” I mumble.
“You people don’t even knowing anything,” John laughs as he turns around and walks off.
Damon does not look too pleased. He turns to Alaric and I.
“Ric, go home, Aly we need to speak with Stefan. Get hold of Sebastian and inform him on what’s happened.”
I nod. “Let’s get out of here.”
***
“Stefan we have a problem, and when I say problem, I mean global crisis,” says Damon.
Damon and I were in the living room of the boarding house, waiting for Stefan to get home so that we could update him on what’s happened.
“It seems that Uncle John-” Damon stops abruptly. “You don’t look so good.”
Stefan has been eyeing Damon’s glass of blood ever since he entered the room.
“It’s different this time, isn’t it? The need is too strong…”
“Damon, I don’t think you should be tempting him,” I stand up; ready to react if Stefan tried anything.
“He needs to feed.”
“He doesn’t need you taunting him like that.” I grab Damon’s glass out of his hand and shove it into Stefan’s. “Just drink, you’ll feel better. Maybe you should learn to control the thirst instead of avoiding it.”
Stefan gingerly takes a sip of the blood.
“Go on,” I encourage him.
And gradually, he drinks the rest of the cup.
A/N: If anyone was wondering who Arie was, he was mentioned in one of the first few chapters. He’s the vampire that delivered Aly’s belongings to her when she first moved into Mystic Falls. It was just a reference, I doubt he’ll become an important character in the story but just in case anyone was wondering, Arie is Alayne’s “friend”. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! It’s never a dull moment in Mystic Falls, something is always happening ;)