The drive to the mall passed mostly in uncomfortable silence. Damon was drumming his fingers onto the steering wheel nervously, wondering why the hell he had agreed to Ric`s stupid idea. He had no idea how to start a conversation with Anna. He barely knew the girl. Back in 1864 he`d never really paid attention to her. She had always been hanging around her mother, but he couldn`t remember even talkling to her back then.
He had really consciously noticed her the first time over 100 years later, when she had tried to trick him into helping her open the tomb. Her fierce determination had been kinda impressive and he had realized that she wasn`t one to be trifled with. But after the tomb was open she had returned to her mother`s shadow and he hadn`t paid her any more attention. Until the night he saw her die, wishing desperately he could have saved her.
"So… Miss Mystic, hu?" he finally spoke up when the silence got too much. Anna gave him a cool look and wondered herself why she was sitting here with him now. They barely knew each other and never really had much dealings in the past. Aside from all the things she had told Jeremy about the human Damon she had always thought of him as a stupid, lovesick fool and kinda pitied him. He wasn`t the first and neither the last idiot that had gotten his heart ripped out by Katherine Pierce. Anna knew all too well how many men had been destroyed by their love for Katherine.
And while she was glad that Damon had managed to recover from Katherine`s betrayal it still didn`t mean they were suddenly friends. He would probably mock her anyways. "You got a problem with that?" she finally asked. "I wouldn`t be taking you shopping if I did." Damon shot back, steering the Camaro onto the parking lot of the mall.
They got out of the car and he steered her towards a shop for expensive ladies evening wear. "Should I be worried that you know so well where to go?" she joked. "Not at all. I look hot in a dress." Damon exclaimed with a straight face. Anna gigled against her will. „Oh god, I`ll never get rid of that image." she moaned. Damon grinned and started looking through the dresses. "So, how come you know this place?" Anna wanted to know.
„I was sort of dating Caroline Forbes for a while. Long story. She dragged me in here quite a few times." the dark-haired man explained with a shrug, before reaching for a frilly purple dress and presenting it to her with a perfectly solemn expression. "You`re kidding!" she growled, causing Damon to laugh. "Yeah, but I would`ve loved to see you try it on." he admitted. Anna took the dress and firmly put it back onto the rack. "Either you start taking this serious or you can wait in the car." she threatened. She hadn`t taken him with her so he could make fun at her expanse.
For a second he just stared at her and she almost expected him to turn around and walk off. Then he suddenly murmured: "You`re really serious about this." Anna shrugged and looked away. "Of course I am." she muttered. Damon didn`t reply, but instead he really walked away. She was just starting to wonder if he would drive back home and leave her stranded here, when he suddenly returned with a beautiful blue satin dress. "Something like that then?"
Surprised she took the dress and looked it over. "Yeah, exactly like that. You even guessed my size." she noted in wonder. Damon`s eyes swept over her body in a way she`d better not describe to Jeremy later. It looked like he was undressing her with his stare and she felt the sudden urge to cross her arms over her breasts. "Got an eye for it." he bragged with a wink. Anna raised her eyebrows. "Don`t waste your non-existent charms on me. You were never my type." she claimed dryly, hoping against hope that he wouldn`t notice that he had affected her. Fucking Salvatore-charms. He just shrugged and turned away. "You`re not my type either." he let her know, before he started looking through the dresses again.
About 30 minutes later Anna had found the perfect dress and had to admit grudgingly that he did have taste. Everything he had shown her had been really beautiful and fit perfectly. But she could`ve done without his sarcastic comments about some of the dresses she had picked. Stupid idiot. He paid for the dress, giving her a smug grin, before exiting the store.
Hesitating just a little Anna thanked him. He had even paid for the dress after all. "Don´t mention it. You really needed my help after all." he needled. Anna rolled her eyes and shot back: „You know, I`m really surprised I never noticed you`re gay. It`s so obvious." Damon stopped abruptly and turned to stare at her. "I`m not gay." he claimed. "Really? Could`ve fooled me, considering the noises you and Alaric make…" Damon`s lips curled into a smile almost automatically when she said Ric`s name and she wondered if he realized how utterly besotted he was. "I`m just… flexible." he explained.
She nodded and couldn`t hold back her grin any longer. "Right, that`s it." she agreed like he was a child and grinned only harder when he seemed speechless for once. Usually he always had a witty comeback. "I need shoes." Anna exclaimed, before he could recover and say something evil. The older Salvatore rolled his eyes and handed her a credit card. "I`ll be in the shop over there. Don`t take too long." he warned, before heading for a men`s store.
When Anna joined him a short while later he was just selecting a tie. "Found what you were looking for?" he asked without looking at her. "Yeah, I did. What about you? Need a tie for the party?" Damon finally chose a tie and turned to face her. "Nope. This one is for Ric. Goes perfectly with the suit I just found him." he sounded like it was perfectly normal for him to buy clothes for his boyfriend.
"Little Gilbert is your escort, right?" he asked suddenly. Anna nodded, wondering what he was getting at now. "Okay, pick a suit for him." The female vampire gave him a curious look. "I think he has one. He would`ve said something if he needed one." she reasoned, but Damon just snorted. "We didn`t get you the perfect dress to have little Gilbert looking like a scarecrow next to you and ruining your chances."
"Jeremy would never…" she started protesting, but Damon just left her standing and ventured over to one of the racks containing suits. "Which size?" Anna crossed her arms and scowled at him. "I thought you had an eye for it?" she mocked. "I do. But little Gilbert isn`t really worth looking at in my opinion." he shot back. Anna just shook her head with a sigh and told him Jeremy`s size, reasoning that a discussion would lead her nowhere.
After about two hours they headed back to the parking lot. "What is Alaric going to say about you buying him a suit?" Anna asked once they were back in the car. "I guess he`s going to bitch at me, maybe throw a tantrum. He doesn`t like to be reminded about his lacking sense of style." the other vampire mused with a shrug. "You like pissing him off, don´t you?" Anna suspected. Damon looked at her out oft he corner of his eye and she could see his smirk. "One word honey: Make-up-sex." he whispered conspiratorially and she had to smile despite herself.
"You`re mental, you know that?" she told him. "Like you can talk. If I remember correctly you were stalking little Gilbert." the older Salvatore shot back and she felt her face heat. "That… was a long time ago." she muttered. "No need to be ashamed. We`re predators. And while I can`t really understand your choice…" He sounded completely honest, but she could see that he was stifling a grin. She hit him on the arm and muttered: "Idiot.", but she couldn`t contain a smile herself. Maybe Damon wasn`t all that bad…
###
While Damon and Anna were shopping, Ric and Jeremy worked their way through Shane`s documents. Jeremy really was rather helpful and Ric had to congratulate himself on his idea, while they worked. There were mostly different legends about Silas. All of them agreed that he was an immortal, who had been buried alive by a vengeful witch, because he had betrayed her. Afterwards the legends differed. One stated that he would rise again, to bring on hell on earth and reawaken the dead. The next one said something about a well of immortality, while another one said something about a weapon.
The research about the five hunters was better. The hunters had been "created" by a witch, who had given them superhuman strength and speed. Their whole purpose was killing vampires. Once a hunter had been awakened he could think of little else. It sounded like they were possessed or something. The notes also said that every hunter had a tattoo, a so-called hunters mark, which got bigger with every vampire he killed. Only hunters or potential hunters could see the mark. When a hunter died a new one would eventually take his place.
The paragraph about the hunters curse had Alaric a little worried. It said that whoever killed a hunter would be haunted by his ghost until he either killed himself or a new hunter was awakened. The legend hinted that only vampires were hit by the curse, but Ric thought it would be better not to risk it either way. Although Jeremy seemed more than willing to kill the hunter himself to protect Anna and his sister.
The teacher was almost glad when they were interrupted by the arrival of Stefan. There were still a few documents lying on the floor in front of him that he hadn`t looked through yet, but for the moment he had read more than enough. Still, nothing explained what the hell Shane actually planned or why he needed Bonnie.
"Where have you been?" Ric asked the younger Salvatore. Stefan put the cool bag down and took a seat on the couch. "I was at a slaughterhouse a good few miles away. Elena still has problems hunting, so I… got some animal blood for her." he explained quietly. Alaric eyed the cool box sceptically. Stefan obviously misunderstood, because he offered him some of the blood. "No thanks. I… Damon and I agreed on human blood." he explained almost apologetically.
Stefan looked worried and seemed about to say something, but then thought better of it and asked where Damon was. "He`s shopping with Anna." Ric explained and had to laugh at Stefan`s dumbfounded expression. "You`re kidding me." Still laughing Ric shook his head. „No, it`s the truth." he assured and Jeremy nodded. "Why the hell does my brother…?" the younger Salvatore started, but didn`t get to finish the sentence, because suddenly the front door opened. Damon and Anna strolled in, both loaded with shopping bags and grinning like Cheshire cats. It looked like they`d actually had fun, which surprised Ric a little.
"I got you a present." Damon sing-songed, walking towards his boyfriend. He greeted him with a quick kiss, before pressing a shopping bag into his hands. The teacher looked inside and then looked up at Damon in surprise. "You bought me a suit?" Damon grinned. "Of course I did. I want to show off my hot boyfriend at the pageant. After all, it is the most important social event this week." Ric shook his head with a fond smile. "You`re nuts." he murmured, looking at the suit again. It was charcoal-grey and looked rather expensive.
Meanwhile Anna had joined her boyfriend and told him that she had found the perfect dress. "And we bought a suit for you as well. I wasn`t sure if you had one and Damon insisted." Jeremy wasn`t sure what to think about that. Damon had already made it pretty clear that he thought Jeremy had no style. But Anna was beaming and she looked so happy that he couldn`t be mad either. "Come on, I`ll show you my dress." she enthused and dragged him upstairs.
Stefan looked at his brother in shock. "You were really shopping? With Anna?" Damon flopped down on the couch and pretended to pout. "Ric forced me to do it." he claimed. "Come on, it was practically your idea. And it looked like you had fun." the teacher pointed out, taking a seat next to him. Damon shrugged. "Well… it was okay, I guess. She´s not as annoying as I thought. And she really needed my help. You should`ve seen the dress she would have chosen. Thanks to me she actually has a chance of winning this thing."
"Winning what?" Stefan wanted to know. "She`s competing for Miss Mystic Falls." Damon let him know, frowning at the cool box, his brother had just picked up again. "Stefan went to a slaughterhouse and got some animal blood for Elena." Ric explained. Damon made a disgusted face. „Now you`re forcing bottled stuff onto her? Like fresh isn`t bad enough already."
"Shut up. I already told you once: I will do anything in my might to prevent Elena from having to go through what I did. If she only drinks animal blood right from the beginning she´ll get used to it much more easily." Stefan insisted. Damon snorted. "You`re kidding yourself. This is never going to work. If you keep going like this she`ll end up just like you. And deep down you know that." he shot back. Which only served to heaten Stefan`s anger. "Shut up! You think you know everything, but you have no idea what Elena is going through at the moment. So stay away from her. It`s bad enough you`re forcing Alaric to drink human blood."
Ric could feel Damon tense beside him. He seemed seconds away from attacking his brother. The teacher quickly grabbed his hand and gave it a quick squeeze, before turning to the younger Salvatore. "Damon isn`t forcing me to do anything. We talked about it and I decided for myself that human blood is the better option. It was my decision." he stated calmly. "If he wanted to drink animal blood I would let him." Damon grumbled.
Stefan`s eyes darted from Damon to Ric in surprise. He seemed at a loss for words. "Okay. I should put that in the freezer." he mumbled finally. "Yeah, do that. But we need to discuss something with you. About that hunter." Damon remembered. His brother looked at him quizzically, but promised to come back straight away.
As soon as he had left the room, Alaric scooted closer to Damon and kissed him softly. "What was that for? I didn`t say anything, so there was no need to shut me up." the dark-haired commented. "Just a thank you. For leaving the decision to me. And for your patience." Ric explained. The older vampire smiled a little sheepishly. Searching for a snarky reply and finding none, he decided to kiss his boyfriend again.
They broke apart when Stefan cleared his throat to indicate that he was back. The younger Salvatore looked uncomfortable, his eyes darting around the room nervously. Damon ordered him to sit down and asked: "Okay… how exactly did you kill that hunter?" The younger one looked at him in surprise.
"Well, actually… I didn`t kill him. Klaus did. He had offered his help, like I told you. I was a little suspicious, but I thought he wanted to protect his remaining hybrids. Or Caroline. And I could use some help, so… He said we should split up. So I drove to the Lockwood's in case the hunter should show up there again. But then Klaus called and told me that he had already taken care of the hunter and I shouldn`t worry."
Damon and Alaric shared a quick look and Stefan wanted to know what that was all about. "Well, it looks like Klaus lied to you. He didn`t kill the guy, he held him captive. The hunter is still very much alive. And to make matters worse, he escaped." the older Salvatore explained. "What? But why should Klaus…? And how do you even know that?" Stefan wanted to know, now completely puzzled. "We saw the hunter. At Whitmore College." Ric explained and Damon added: „And we heard him talking to Professor Shane on the phone. The professor sent him here."
"Professor Shane? The guy who´s helping Bonnie?" the younger Salvatore asked. Alaric nodded. "He plans something. It`s no coincidence that he`s here and that he`s helping Bonnie. He needs her for something." he told Stefan. "So that´s what you were doing yesterday? Stalking Shane." Stefan murmured almost to himself. "He told Bonnie you had threatened him. She´s pretty angry at you." Okay that explained the dark looks she had given them earlier. The professor was trying to rile her up. And it seemed to be working.
"We didn´t threaten him. We only asked him a few questions." Damon clarified. Ric chose not to remind him, that he had also accused Shane of mass murder. "And what did you find out?" Stefan wanted to know. „Not much, except that the guy is a total psycho who set a killer on us." Damon grumbled. "We made copies of some documents from his office. Jeremy and I started looking through them earlier. It looks like Shane is totally obsessed with some legend about a guy named Silas. I can`t say what he wants, yet. But I found out some interesting stuff about the hunter." Ric spoke up again.
Damon urged him to go on, so he told the Salvatores what he had read about the five hunters. "Wait a second, that means we can`t even kill him?" the older Salvatore asked. "That´s exactly what it means." Ric confirmed. „Klaus must`ve known. Why else should he keep the guy alive and lie to me about it?" Stefan mused. "Klaus is ancient. He knows lots of stuff. And it´s typical of him to keep his knowledge to himself." Damon agreed.
"Okay, so what do we do now?" the younger Salvatore asked the most obvious question. "We have to tell the others that the hunter is still alive and that they can`t kill him. I`m afraid he might be on his way here. Maybe he`s already here again." Alaric murmured. Stefan nodded and promised to inform the others. „But be careful how much you tell Bonnie. She seems to trust Shane and I`m not sure she`d believe us." the teacher warned. The younger Salvatore wasn`t happy about this, but after a few more discussions he agreed to keep the witch mostly in the dark for now.
Since it had gotten pretty late Alaric packed up the documents and went to the Grill with Damon. Obviously their kiss was still the town gossip, because there were whispers all around and Ric could practically feel most of the other patrons staring at them. Matt was watching them, too and it was really starting to grate on the teacher`s nerves.
Damon however enjoyed the attention and fuelled the speculations by leaning close to Ric to whisper in his ear or touching him all the time. But when Ric said that he wanted to leave he relented. They drove to the Gilbert home, where they discussed their plans for the next day, before going to bed early.
