You never know when a sheriff in your house's basement might come in handy.
After 2x05, I believe.

I'm fed up with being myself lately.

Maybe I should try to be someone else.

Adjusting to our reality, part 7: He and I

When he walked into the Mystic Grill, Damon was feeling way too tired for a vampire.

He hadn't exactly been surprised by Liz Forbes' reaction when she had found out about him and Stefan. But still. He really meant it, that they were friends. He was surely one of the most manipulative kind of friends that would ever walk the Earth, but he cared about the sheriff. He even had evidences to substantiate the claim: first of all, she was still alive. Even though she had let Mason Lockwood poison him with vervain. Even though she had trapped him. Even though she had tried to kill him and his brother. And he had been nice even when she had begun to insult him.

For Damon Salvatore, that was something new. With so many reasons, he usually would have killed her right away. Because, let's be realistic, it wasn't Caroline's whining that would be able to stop him if he decided to kill the sheriff.

Speaking of people that should have been on his blacklist for their actions and yet weren't, Alaric was sitting at the counter, just as the vampire had expected.

As he got closer, Damon was surprised to see that the teacher was reading a book with a worried look on his face.

Usually, Ric graded papers while drinking and nothing else.

But Damon wouldn't complain about this sudden change of habits. That was something he could decipher, unlike the unfazed demeanor he had been confronted with for days now. An incomprehensible but possible hint was always better than no hint at all. You couldn't try to decrypt what was not.

Alaric closed his book when he spotted the vampire coming, but did not put it away.

Damon sat on his favorite bar stool.

"Fancy seeing you here."

The teacher gave him a look that was far from convinced.

"We meet at the Grill almost everyday, Damon. What do you want?"

"Why do people always conclude I want something when I come to them with small talk?"

"Because you always want something when you come to people with small talk. So spill it out."

The vampire pretended to be outraged by so little faith in his goodwill, then dropped the act and asked for a glass of bourbon.

"What I want is for you to tell me what the hell you've been hidding from me, but as you don't seem to be willing to share, I am simply going to ask you about your reading."

Alaric glanced at the book then handed it to the vampire.

Damon couldn't know what he was searching for, and nothing could help him figure it out, so.

"I ordered the book Vanessa found in Isobel's office. The interesting chapter is basically a synthesis of what was written in the book you found about the Petrova family, but there are passages about what can be done with a human doppelganger and magic. It's rather ominous."

"Vanessa? You two are already on first-name ground?"

"She calls me every now and then, it's not like I can help it."

Damon frowned as he leafed through the book.

"Should I tell Jenna to worry?"

This time it was Ric's turn to frown.

"To worry about what?"

Damon looked up at him, half amused, half concerned.

"So I'm the one who should be anxious. Maybe she's aiming for the best friend spot instead of the lover spot."

Alaric rolled his eyes and took a sip of bourbon.

They kept on drinking for some more time, but in the end Alaric left with his book, saying he couldn't concentrate with Damon around, which was true enough.

Damon ordered one last drink then went back to the boarding house.

Once again, Ric had evaded his question. Maybe it was time to talk to a specialist. Good thing he had one under hand. You never knew when you'd need a sheriff in your basement.

When he entered the cell, Liz stiffened, but she looked more resigned than vindictive. She had hated vampires since forever, but she loved her daughter, even if their relationship was not the best. It was normal to be confused and / or abashed.

Damon was the one who had asked her to give a look at the history teacher's past. Nothing had come out, besides the fact that his wife had been reported missing in two thousand and seven.

But there had to be something, somewhere that would allow the vampire to finally understand what was going on with his best friend. Ric was exactly the same as before, they talked, drank, laughed together, but there was something strange that popped up from time to time.

And Damon didn't like it. Usually, when people weren't honest, something bad was to be expected.

He sat at a relatively respectful distance from the sheriff.

"What you told me about Alaric, was it all?"

"Why, you don't trust your drinking buddy anymore, vampire?"

Damon sighed.

Liz had been quite cooperative up till now, too shocked to have discovered that Caroline was actually dead and had been a vampire for some time already. He guessed the shock had receded.

"Come on, Liz. I'm still me. In fact, I'm even more myself than your daughter is herself, since I was already a vampire when we met."

"You're a killer."

And there it was. World's oldest argument ever.

As if the sheriff did a thorough investigation before she decided to kill a vampire. Maybe this one had never killed anyone, or at least anyone not going after them. Maybe they still had a family that was happy enough they were kind of alive. Vampire meant non-human. Not always inhumane.

"And you're not helping. People like you tend to make us murderers. That's exactly what happened when my father killed both his children."

Liz grew pale.

Damon and Stefan Salvatore. 1864. Had died during the night of the fire. Reported as victims of the vampires who were supposed to have been burnt in the church.

Those Damon and Stefan Salvatore.

"Giuseppe Salvatore killed his own sons?"

Oh, right. Elizabeth Forbes would never be able to kill her daughter, even though she was a vampire now. And back then, Stefan and him were still human. No matter what the situation, it was murder.

Parricide.

"We were young, foolish, and in love with a vampire. That was reason enough for him."

Damon sneered, but that was not as convincingly casual as he tried to make it sound.

"To bad for him, Katherine had been feeding us her blood for weeks. Stefan didn't know, obviously, but I did. We woke up. Worst surprise in his life, when Stefan went to see him and told him he wouldn't complete the transition."

"But you brother is..."

"Stuff happened. Our father tried to ensure his youngest son would die by staking him, but Stefan defended himself instinctively, Father was injured, and the smell of blood was too enticing so Stefan lost it."

Ultimately, it was all their father's fault.

Liz vowed to herself never to go down that road with Caroline, knowing it was a futile promise as she would soon forget everything, even her resolve. But as a mother, she needed to feel as if she wasn't a failure who would be able to kill her own flesh and blood without even a reason.

She watched the vampire go with a somewhat mixed expression on her face. Sure, he was a monster and had killed people, but at the same time he was not such a bad man. Or at least he tried not to be one. He had only been alone for too long, hoping for something that was never meant to be.

Not long after his departure, the sheriff heard footsteps. Those belonged to Alaric Saltzman.

"What did you tell him?"

Liz looked at the hunter with a disgusted face.

"What I know. Which is pretty much nothing."

Alaric leaned against the wall.

They were the only ones in the boarding house, he had carefully checked. Stefan was with Elena at the Grill, and Damon had just stormed out. Why exactly the teacher didn't know, but he could make an educated guess. Investigation and all. Good thing Damon gave him the keys, in case of emergency. Damon investigating him was an emergency.

"I first suspected nothing, when Damon came to me and asked me to look into your background. But now, I see I really overlooked a lot of things. I don't even want to know how you got into this."

Ric had a sarcastic smile.

"He turned my wife because she begged him to do it."

Liz stiffened. None of this made sense.

"Maybe you thought I was some kind of psycho who loved to hang out with murderous monsters? Sorry to disappoint, but if I am indeed slightly insane, I don't enjoy slaughters. And I believe Damon is making progress about that, so I am willing to give him one more chance. After all, he and I suffered the same kind of treason from the one we loved, and I know what it feels like at first. If I hadn't been human when she... went away... I might have gone ballistic too. As a matter of fact, I did. Solely, his fits of rage are more consequent than mine, and so he did horrible things when I merely switched my extracurricular activities to vampire hunting."

"You...?!"

Liz was astonished to know there was a man in town, someone who was not part of the Founder's Council, who was used to staking vampires in their free time, and that she never knew about it.

The sheriff started to realize how she was so not up-to-date.

"I'm the one who killed Logan Fell."

Silence.

"So you didn't tell him anything?"

"As I said, I know nothing."

The hunter came inside the cell, locked the door again, and looked into her eyes.

Liz wanted nothing more than to look away. But she couldn't.

There was something with this man's eyes.

Most of the time, they were calming, even laughing if he was in a good mood, or broody, restless when he was annoyed. But from time to time, they seemed so inhumane it would make anyone uncomfortable. Not the slightest emotion could be seen. The eyes were there, ocular globes, blue irises, black pupils. The person to whom they belonged was not here. Alaric Saltzman could not be seen in this body which was his.

Alaric Saltzman could be seen in this body which was his.

But he was not the man everyone thought they knew.

"And do you really know nothing?"

"Is there something to be known?"

"This kind of lies I can easily read, Sheriff Forbes. And you are not the best liar I've met in my life."

The thing was, the teacher was surely the best liar in Mystic Falls when he was serious about it. Which was rarely the case. He didn't like to lie to people. But sometimes, you had to do things you didn't like. And in these cases, he did it, no question, no hesitance.

The sheriff looked down, then looked back up, defiant.

"The only sure thing I can say is that, when I called your parents to make sure that you were really Alaric Saltzman, your mother froze on the phone the moment I said I was from the Sheriff's Office. Her voice trembled until I told her I was simply trying to contact you because we had found identity papers in your name along with some phone numbers."

The hunter's face was so expressionless it actually gave her the creeps.

"I want to say that I would appreciate it if you refrained from calling my family from now on, but since you will soon forget everything that happened these last days, there's no point to it. However, if you haven't said that to Damon already, I suggest you keep it to yourself."

Alaric got up, left the cell, locked it again, and then went away.

As much as she didn't like to agree with a vampire, Elizabeth Forbes had to give it to Damon Salvatore that there was something suspicious about the way the man acted.