AN: here I present you the next chapter! Originally I was going to only talk about Enzo and Rick confronting each other but then I decided to talk about Elena, Damon and Caroline and Bonnie. So in conclusion I had to cut short the scene with Rick and Enzo that will continue in the following chapter!
As always thanks a lot to all those of you that take sometime to let me know what you think about this story, even a simple 'good job!' makes me extremely happy!
And of course thanks to all that simply read or put this story in the followers or favorites, you are equally amazing!
"Are they talking yet?" Asked Bonnie for what was probably the tenth time.
"You just asked me five minutes ago, Bonnie." Huffed Caroline fed up with the situation. "No, they aren't talking yet!" She snapped.
The two of them had been keeping an eye on the abandoned house to see how things were going. When Enzo had said that they were going to have a heart to heart the two girls had hoped that everything was going to be solved fast. They should have known that nothing was ever that simple. Since those words had been spoken the two vampires had done nothing more than stare at each other. Sometimes they would open their mouth as if to say something only to close it again.
Caroline sighed and sat down near the bush behind which they were hiding. Bonnie was lazily munching on a potato chip from their stash of goods. They were closing in on the fifth hour of stake out and, by the look of things, they were going to spend at least another five hours there if Alaric or Enzo didn't decide to just say something.
"It's your turn to keep watch." Said Caroline tiredly.
Bonnie finished her potato chip, recuperated her binoculars and pointed them towards the house trying to see if there was something new. Through the window she could clearly see Enzo seating down with his back against the wall. Alaric had to be seated somewhere to his right since he kept glancing in that direction.
"Can't you do a spell or something to force them to talk?" Whined Caroline from her place cuddled up on her jacket, where she was trying to take a cat nap.
Bonnie sighed with resignation. "I can't." She murmured. "We should have thought about that earlier." She said without taking her eyes off Enzo for a second.
Caroline huffed again and moved to find a more comfortable position on the ground. This was not the way she wanted to spend her day. Why did they have to make everything so difficult? Sometimes she really couldn't understand men.
"Oh!" Exclaimed Bonnie.
Caroline jumped up immediately turning toward Bonnie. "What? What's happening? Are they finally talking?" She wanted to know.
After a second Bonnie answered. "No, false alarm. Enzo was just yawning." She said depressed.
Caroline lowered her head before pulling out her cell phone. "I better tell Elena how things are going."
Everything still quiet. I repeat everything still quiet. No hint of movement.
Elena read the text message and couldn't help but worry. She was starting to run out of ways to distract Damon. So far everything had gone according to the plan and she couldn't be more proud of herself. To be honest she was quite enjoying herself watching Damon freak out over the mess she was creating around the house.
When he had first come down after his relaxing bath, he had almost had a heart attack once he had entered the kitchen. Elena had really outdone herself even going as far as staining the ceiling with chocolate. After twenty minutes standing by the door with his mouth gaping over, taking in the catastrophe that was formerly known as his 'kitchen', Damon had jumped into action.
He had banned Elena from his kitchen for the next whole year before reaching for his cleaning supplies. He had rolled up his sleeves and had concentrated on erasing what, and she quoted, was 'the most horrible and heartbreaking sight he ever had to witness in 173 years'. He could be such a drama queen when he wanted to, even arriving to the point of defining himself as the new Cinderella forced to clean up after the wretched people who lived in his house. Singing 'Sing, Sweet Nightingale' really didn't help.
He had spent almost two and a half hours to clean everything, mostly because he had to go and buy some white paint to re-paint the ceiling. All in all she was satisfied with the results. While he was cleaning she had moved to the second part of the plan: messing with his books in the library. She had quickly realized that he had put all his books in chronological order and then set to work.
To put everything back together he had needed another two and a half hours. Now she really didn't know what to do. Plus he was starting to get really angry. Messing so much with the delicate order he had established at the Boarding House couldn't be good for his health.
She concentrated to find a way to distract him some more that didn't involve wrecking his house. An idea came to her mind and, since she could hear him stomping in her direction with angry steps, she acted quickly. She vamp sped into the kitchen, swiftly grabbed a packet of biscuits, and then she ran as fast as she could toward their bedroom.
Once inside she closed the door hard enough to let him know where she was, as if he couldn't hear her, threw the biscuits on the bed and opened the drawer Damon had reserved for her. She had to be quick so she didn't pay too much attention to what set of lingerie she took, a black one, and put it on. She could hear him approaching the bedroom so she threw herself on the bed, turned on the television and opened her packet of biscuits. She prayed God that her plan would work.
The door flew open, revealing an angry Damon ready to let her know how upset he was over the last five hours. He was already opening his mouth to hiss his displeasure when he took into the view right in front of him. Elena was lying on their bed, dressed in only black lingerie, calmly watching the TV. He immediately forgot what he wanted to say.
"Elena, what is going on?" He asked after recovering from the emotional whiplash he was experiencing that day.
Elena turned her head to look at him as if only then noticing his presence. She had put on the most innocent look she possessed and it seemed to be working. She could see that he no longer wanted to scream like a madman and, paying attention, she saw the desire rapidly filling his eyes.
She hit him with the full power of her wide doe eyes. "I don't know what you're saying." She innocently said. "I just wanted to surprise you. Don't you like what you see?"
Damon clearly liked what he saw if his hungry stare was anything to go by. She decided to encourage him.
Exhibiting her most seductive self she sensuously murmured, "Don't you want to join me?"
Damon took the bait, just like she wanted him too. As soon as she saw him move to reach her she revealed her secret weapon. Damon's eyes widened when he saw her slowly raising a biscuit to her lips, smiling at him before happily biting down on it. He could hear his mind screaming at him to do something to stop this madness, but he could only stand there petrified watching the crumbs fall onto his Egyptian cotton sheets.
Elena internally rejoiced when she saw him immobile in the middle of the room. She knew that right now, inside of him, there was a battle to decide what he was supposed to do. She knew he wanted to have sex with her but at the same time his OCD nature wouldn't allow him to just forget about the crumbs on his sheets. Seeing his eyes moving from her to the sheets and back again Elena smiled, he could go on like this for who knew how long. 'This is way too easy'.
Enzo had never felt so bored in his entire life. The atmosphere inside the living room they both were in was reaching a tension level that had to have never been reached before. He had told Alaric that they were going to have a heart to heart but that was easier said than done. And what were they even supposed to talk about? They couldn't stand each other, period.
Alaric sighing forced him to turn to look at him. Like him he was seated on the floor with his back to the wall. He had his hands in his lap and did nothing but look around, turning toward him once in a while. However he had not uttered a single word in five hours. Something seemed to be changing now. Maybe he was tired of the silence?
"Okay this is stupid." Begun Alaric looking at him. Enzo raised an eyebrow silently telling him to go on. "We are two adults who are supposed to be talking right now so, since you clearly have no intention to, I'm gonna talk." He stated waiting for Enzo to say something.
Enzo cleared his throat and said, "By all means, mate." Anything to put an end to this awkwardness.
"I don't like you." Rick brutally said. "You are reckless, childish, borderline psychotic and you think violence is the answer to everything." He continued. "Well guess what, mate. It isn't."
Enzo was momentarily speechless. Granted he already knew that Alaric probably thought something like that about him, but still...he had been so brutal. He opened his mouth to answer back but he was interrupted.
"Oh and I don't like your perpetual smirk." Added Alaric with a smile.
Enzo's mouth audibly shut with a 'pop'. What was wrong with his smirk? Women seemed to like it. Caroline always rolled her eyes when he smirked but he could see in her eyes that she really didn't mind it so much. He bet she was actually fond of it. He shook his head, now wasn't the time to think about Caroline. He stared at Alaric who was smugly smiling at him. So he wanted to play it this way, uh?
"Well, Alaric." He started ready to let him know what he thought about him. "Since we seem to be in a sharing mood I'll tell you that I really can't stand your sanctimonious attitude, your hypocrisy and the unbearable way in which you seem to obsess about history." By the end of it he was practically screaming.
Alaric jumped to his feet, now he really had had enough of him. "I'm a history teacher of course I like history and that is called being passionate not obsessed!" He shouted back at him. "And what the hell do you mean with hypocrisy? How am I a hypocrite?"
Enzo stood up to be face to face with him or face to neck since Alaric was taller than him. Bloody giant. "You're a hypocrite because you always try to pass yourself as peaceful but I know you're capable of some violent shit!" He barked. "And don't try to deny it." He said raising his finger.
Alaric was by now balling his hands into fists. "The fact that I'm capable of killing someone doesn't mean that I relish in it." He hissed moving closer to Enzo. "That's why you're a psychopath and I'm a normal, stable man." He stated.
Enzo barked a laugh. "If you're a stable man than pigs can fly!" He was beginning to like where this was going, he could finally say everything he thought.
"Why don't I make you fly out the window so you'll see that pigs can actually fly?" Growled Rick a second away from turning his threat into reality.
"You can't because we are stuck in here, dumb ass." Retorted Enzo pushing against Alaric's chest to provoke him.
Rick looked down at his chest while raising his arms. "Did you just push me?" He asked as if he couldn't believe Enzo would actually fall down to such childish means.
"That's exactly what I did. What are you gonna do about it? Write me a book about the history of provocations during the centuries?" He joked pushing him again.
Alaric stared at him seeing red. Maybe it was the fact that he really couldn't stand him anymore or maybe it was the fact that when he got agitated, thanks to his new vampire status, his emotions tended to run wild. The fact remained that he just couldn't stop anymore.
"Now you've done it." He said with a throaty voice before pushing Enzo with so much strength that he ended up going through the wall landing in the hallway.
Now he was going to kick his ass.
