This is the second to last part. I apologize in advance for the ending. It just had to be written. And there will be one more part. It`s not over yet. I`m almost done with the last one and will - hopefully - have it up before the year is over.
Reviews would be very much appreciated. Good or bad. And thanks for the lovely review on the last part.
Disclaimer: I still don`t own Vampire Diaries.
It wasn`t meant to end like this
He could hear voices upstairs, too distinct to understand what they were saying, but loud enough to cut through the heavy silence and grate on his nerves. He was pretty sure he recognized Damon`s voice. And a female. Had to be Elena. He wondered if they were talking about him.
Sighing Alaric got up from the cot he was sitting on and started pacing inside the small cell. He hated being locked in this dark little room. Hated the silence, the isolation. It had only been a few hours and he was already going stir crazy. And yet it had been his own idea. He had practically begged Damon to lock him up in one of the cells in the boarding house, terrified his evil alter ego might take over his body again and kill someone. Which could be lethal, now that the other him, the vampire hating him, had a stake that could kill an entire line of vampires, possibly even Damon`s.
A couple of days ago Ric had protested when the sheriff arrested him, had claimed to be innocent. But now he knew better. Now he had realized the truth. The blackouts had come more frequent in the last few days. Bonnie`s spell hadn`t helped. Neither had the herbs. He hadn`t told anyone yet, but he was pretty sure they had figured it out themselves.
Elena had told him that Meredith had looked over his medical files again and found nothing. He hadn`t expected her to and quite frankly he didn`t understand why she bothered. He, or rather his evil self, had tried to kill her after all. Maybe she really was a psycho-case. But who was he to judge? He was probably the worst psycho out there.
The sound of heels clicking on the stairs shook him out of his dark thoughts. Seconds later Elena peered into his cell. "Alaric?" she asked cautiously. "It`s okay. Still me." he replied. Heaving an audible sigh of relief Elena entered the cell and dropped a bag in front of him. "You know, you shouldn't be in here. It defeats the point of the whole being locked in a cellar thing." he admonished.
Elena smiled sadly and told him she only brought him some basics he might need, like a toothbrush, clothes, some boring books to help him sleep. Picking up one of those boring books Alaric raised a questioning eyebrow at Elena "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?" Completely shocked she took the book from him, insisting she hadn`t packed that. "Damon! Thinks he's hilarious." she fumed.
Ric couldn`t help but chuckle, glad about the vampire`s dry sense of humor. He appreciated that a lot more than Elena`s sad, pitying looks. While he was thankful that she had never given up on him, even though he had given her more than enough reason to, he hated being a burden to her. He was her guardian after all. It should be him taking care of her and not the other way around.
She looked around the small cell with a frown and he knew what she was going to say even before she opened her mouth. "This is… this is the right place for me to be, Elena. At least until you guys can convince my highly uncooperative alter ego to fess up to where I or he hid the white oak stake." he assured her once again. She nodded, smiling wanly.
When she bit her lip and glanced around again he knew that there was something else she needed to tell him. "Listen, Stefan is going to watch over you for a little while. Now that Klaus knows where Jeremy is, it's not safe, so Damon and I are going to Denver to pick him up." Ric just nodded, not sure what he should think about that. He didn`t like the fact that she would be traveling alone with Damon, but he figured he had no right to be jealous. It was probably better to end his thing with Damon anyway, whatever it might have been. With his evil alter ego on the lose he was a danger to the vampire. And he didn`t want to hurt anyone, least of all Damon.
"Stefan thinks that I have some unresolved feelings for Damon." Elena confessed when he remained silent. "Do you?" he couldn`t help asking. She shrugged. "I`m not sure. I guess that's why I'm going on this trip. So I can figure it out." The honest answer cut through Alaric like a knife, but he forced a smile to his face and told her to be careful. It was better this way, he reminded himself again. And he would be happy for Damon if this should work out.
Elena hugged him and bid him goodbye and once again he was alone with his thoughts, wondering what he should do if it turned out that he couldn`t be saved after all. He knew what he must do if it should come to that. But that didn`t mean he had to like it.
His musings were soon interrupted by Damon, who strolled into the cell without a second thought. "You should make sure I`m me before you come in here." Ric warned. The vampire just shrugged, claiming Ric`s alter ego wouldn`t stand a chance against him anyway. "Elena probably already told you. We`re going to pick up Jeremy. We should be back soon. Stefan stays here with you, so he can get the stake as soon as your other self comes out to play. And once we have the stake, we can concentrate our energy on stopping your alter ego from taking over your body, okay?"
Alaric was about to nod and would it have been anybody else he would have. But this was Damon and he didn`t have to lie. "What if he can`t be stopped?" A pained look crossed Damon´s face, but it was gone in a second, replaced by his trademark smirk. It was faked, Alaric could tell. "Now, you shouldn`t even think that. Think positive. Never give up and things like that."
Alaric snorted. "Hard to do when you have an evil alter ego taking over your body and going on a killing spree." he pointed out. "I can't say, I thought I had it in me to be so hostile and militant." Damon shrugged. "Maybe it makes sense. Your wife left you to become a vampire and your girlfriend was killed by one." the vampire reminded him.
But that seemed like a lifetime ago now. A lifetime before Damon. "Well, then he must really hate me, the failed hunter slash drinking buddy of vampires." Damon grinned. For real this time. "Ah, he's too judgmental." Alaric however didn`t feel like smiling at all. "The thing is, he's me. I'm not compelled, I'm not possessed, there's no humanity switch. What drives him is me." That was the worst thing about the whole situation.
"No. No, he's not you. He's the darkest parts of you. The parts we all have." Damon disagreed. "I know you, Ric. And I know you`re not like that. It`s not your fault. It`s that stupid witch and we`re going to get her back for messing with your head. Okay?" The vampire stared at him intently, his eyes conveying the sincerity of his words. Ric knew he meant every word he said.
"Okay." he answered finally. "Okay. I`ll see you soon." Damon promised and then did something completely unexpected. He hugged Alaric. Hesitating only a second the teacher returned the embrace, trying to memorize the feeling of Damon in his arms, in case this was the last time he would come so close to the vampire and silently vowing to himself to fight his dark side with everything he had.
Not long after Damon left, Stefan showed up with a bottle of whiskey. "Damon suggested that I bring something to help speed up the process." he explained, while he joined Alaric in the cell, pouring a glass for Ric and one for himself. They drank in silence.
"So, road trip, huh?" the teacher murmured after a while. Stefan nodded. "Yeah, I needed to stay here." Which didn`t make much sense to Ric. "Why? I mean, why you? You know, it doesn't take much to babysit me while I sit here waiting for a psychotic break." Stefan shrugged. He seemed uncomfortable. After staring at his glass for some time he confessed that they only had a limited amount of time, before they had to resort to other methods. After all, Klaus wanted that stake and they all knew what Klaus was like when he wanted something.
"So, you're worried that you're going to have to torture me. You don't think Damon could have done that?" Finally Stefan looked up. "He said he wasn`t sure if he could." Taken aback the teacher couldn`t reply. So Damon didn`t want to torture him. What did it mean? He hadn`t had any qualms about punching him not so long ago. But he`d been off the rails back then. Was he interpreting too much into this? Did it even matter?
His musings were interrupted by the arrival of Klaus, who argued with Stefan and threatened to kill him. Alaric just stood to the side and watched the exchange silently. "So, the fate of the entire vampire race depends on you finding a stake? And to get it we need you to pass out." Klaus said finally, looking from Stefan to Ric.
Alaric didn`t like the look the original was giving him. "Which means that I feel totally justified doing this." Before Ric had time to react Klaus had rushed over and blackness took him.
When he awoke he was lying on the cot in the cell. Stefan peered at him over the rim of a book. "What happened? Did I uh..?" the teacher asked, half afraid of the answer. "No. Klaus killed you and you pretty much laid there dead for half the night." Stefan told him. Okay, so his alter ego hadn`t made an appearance while he was out of it. While that was a relief it also meant they hadn´t found the stake yet. And they had to find it. Quickly. So maybe it was time to take more drastic measures.
Slowly Ric got up and took off his ring, somehow glad now that it would be Stefan and not Damon doing this. "Wait, wait, what are you doing? You need that ring." Stefan protested, stumbling backwards. But Alaric`s mind was made up. "No, what I need is hope that my alter ego doesn't have a death wish. I'm taking bets that my dark side has a sense of self-preservation. So, let's see if he defends himself against death."
Stefan protested at first, but in the end he conceded and attacked Ric. Hesitantly at first, but more brutal when the teacher told him to. However when he fell to the floor, blood coming out of his mouth, Stefan turned away. "Don't back down now." Ric ordered. The vampire shook his head vehemently. "No, no, no, no, no, I can't… the blood." Groaning Alaric got up. He knew he needed
to do this.
"Then use it! Give into it! Try and kill me, Stefan. Come on!" he demanded. "Not like this, Alaric. If I go this far, I may not be able to stop." Stefan warned. Ric knew he could be right. This could kill him. But there was no other way and he still counted on the fact that his evil side didn`t want to die any more than he did.
"If you want the answers from my darkest side, you're going to have to tap into yours. So, don't back down, don't fight it. Just do it. Do it!" he shouted. Finally his words were taking effect. Stefan vamped out and threw him against the brick wall. The impact knocked the air out of him, his vision was swimming and suddenly everything turned black.
Alaric awoke in a strange place to the sounds of shouting and with no recollection of how he got there. Or where he was, for that matter. But he instantly recognized Jeremy`s voice. The teen sounded terrified. Getting up from whatever it was he was lying on, Ric spotted a dagger and picked it up. Following the voices he headed outside, where Matt was pointing a gun at Jeremy, while Jeremy had a crossbow aimed at Matt. Off to the side Elena was pleading with Esther to let them go.
It didn`t take a genius to figure out what was going on and, reacting on instinct, the teacher snuck up on the witch and stabbed her in the back. Jeremy and Matt lowered their weapons and the three teens turned to stare at him. "Where's my ring? Tell me what happened." Ric ordered.
Elena looked like she was about to cry. "You`re in transition. Esther, she... she turned you into an original vampire. A hunter like Mikael. Once you complete the transition your alter ego will take over your body." Her voice trembled and there were tears streaming down her face. Alaric took a moment to process this.
Then he went back inside the building he had woken up in. A tomb, he now recognized. How fitting. He sat down and tried to think. He was becoming a vampire. Not all that shocking, really. He couldn`t say he had never contemplated turning. But if he understood correctly, once he had turned he would stop being himself. He would become the other him, the evil killer him. He couldn`t let that happen. So that left only one option. One option he had already contemplated not so long ago.
Swallowing past the lump in his throat he looked up when Jeremy entered. "Damon's here. And Klaus took Esther's body." Ric nodded, although the thought of seeing Damon pained him. For now he would concentrate on Jeremy. Which would be hard enough. "Listen Jeremy, I'm not going to complete the transition. My dark side was dangerous enough as a human. I can't be a vampire." he told the teen.
"So what? We just lock you in here and let you die? No, no we can't!" Jeremy protested. "It's the right thing to do, okay. After everything that's happened, after all that I have done. Maybe I had it coming." Jeremy shook his head and turned to leave, but Elena stopped him, staring at Ric with wide, tearful eyes. "Please, you guys let's not make this any harder than it already is. You two should go. Damon's here. He'll make sure it'll all go down the right way."
By now Ric had to fight his own tears. At least he would get to say goodbye. He went over and hugged Jeremy. The teen left with tears in his eyes and Ric turned to Elena. "This is all my fault. I forced you to stay and take care of us." she sobbed. Ric shook his head. "Don't do that, okay. Taking care of you and Jeremy has been…has been the closest I've ever come to the life I always wanted."
And it was true. Once, a long time ago he had wanted kids. Kids like them. He hugged Elena one last time, before he guided her outside, surprised at the gathering of people outside the tomb. A sad smile grazed Alaric`s features as he looked from Elena to Stefan, to Damon, Caroline and Tyler, Matt, Bonnie, Jeremy and Meredith, all of them holding candles.
He could feel his eyes watering and, not wanting the others to see, went back into the tomb, closing the door behind him. A few seconds later Meredith entered and offered to sedate him. "You'll fall asleep first. You'll go comfortably." she promised and he nodded. "Thank you. For everything." She smiled sadly. "It wasn`t meant to be, huh? Even if this hadn`t happened, your heart belongs to someone else."
He hadn`t wanted to admit it. Not even to himself. But now he did. "Yes, it does." She smiled at him one last time, before leaving the tomb. Silence fell around him. He hated it. Wishing he wouldn`t have to do this on his own, but not knowing how to say it.
He looked up when the door opened again. Damon hovered in the doorway. "I could snap your neck, put you out of your misery." the vampire offered quietly. Alaric didn`t even contemplate it. "No, thanks."
For a second he thought Damon would leave again, but then he closed the door and sat down next to the teacher. Alaric felt eternally grateful. "Is this the part where you give me a dream? Rainbows and rolling green hills?" he joked weakly. "I was drunk when I told you that." Damon protested and he managed an actual smile. "Yeah and I told you I'd use it against you."
They were silent for a while. Just sitting there. Ric could practically feel Damon`s gaze on himself. "Damn Ric, I was so stupid. I´ve wasted so much time. I thought... with the ring and all... there would be time, but now... I should have told you weeks ago."
Swallowing hard Ric looked at Damon, whose eyes were shining with unshed tears. "Tell me now." he pleaded. They stared at each other and finally Ric recognized the look in Damon´s eyes. The look he had seen many times now, but never been able to place. Or maybe he just hadn`t dared to. He knew what the vampire was going to say even before the words left his mouth. And yet it was a whole different thing to hear it.
"I love you." Damon whispered, a lone tear sliding down his cheek. Alaric reached out and wiped it away, unconscious of the tears streaming down his own cheeks. "I love you, too." Damon´s breath hitched. "I know." He leaned closer and pressed his lips to Alaric`s.
It was a goodbye-kiss and they both knew it. They had both been stupid. Too insecure and afraid to admit their feelings for each other. They could`ve been so good together.
Finally Damon pulled away and cuddled against Ric`s side. The teacher felt tired like never before. Breathing was getting difficult. Talking even more. He couldn`t keep his eyes open any longer. But there was something he still had to say. "Don´t lash out. They need you. Promise ..." he rasped, his voice barely audible. "I`ll take care of them. I promise." he heard Damon whisper.
Alaric felt weak, so incredibly weak. Was he even still breathing? He couldn`t tell. Distinctly he noticed Damon getting up. He heard the vampire`s choked sob as he left the tomb. And a few seconds later his anguished scream. Hovering on the edge of consciousness he was startled when he suddenly felt someone in front of himself. The smell of blood reached his nostrils and then there was blood in his mouth and he was too weak to fight. Too weak to do anything but swallow. A searing pain shot through his head and then there was only darkness.