Many thanks to dizzy lizzie for the lovely review. So glad you still like my story.
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Sunday brought yet another founder´s event. The founder's day 150th anniversary kick-off party, to be exact. Damon forced Stefan to accompany him, quickly regretting it when his martyr brother kept grating on his nerves with his grumpy attitude. Every time Damon asked, Stefan insisted that he was fine. Yeah, like he really was going to believe that. It hadn`t escaped his notice, that Stefan had been drinking whiskey all day. Never a good sign.
But the younger one shrugged it off and went in search of Elena. Fine by him, although Damon couldn`t resist calling after him. "Don't embarrass me young man!"
Stefan ignored him, but he hadn`t really expected otherwise. Looking around he spied Sheriff Forbes and joined her, complimenting the blonde on her dress. She laughed and they made small talk. After a while Liz admitted that she trusted the vampire, although she`d had doubts about him at first. Damon smiled. Strangely enough he was really starting to like the sheriff. And it was good to know that she finally trusted him.
"You're not gonna like what I have to tell you, though." she muttered after a while. "John Gilbert sought me out earlier. He had some very distressing news." Damon looked at her questioningly. "John Gilbert?" That name didn`t ring a bell. Liz sighed. "Elena's uncle. His name is John but I call him Jackass." she rolled her eyes and the vampire smiled. It vanished quickly however, when she told him that according to John a hospital blood bank in Amherst had reported several break ins over the past two weeks. "And there were quite a few people reported missing as well. All close to Mystic Falls. We might have a problem."
Just great. Damon would need to have a word with Pearl and her tomb vamps. Could they be any more obvious? "That`s bad news. I`ll keep my eyes open." he promised. Liz nodded and left to find her daughter, while Damon strolled onto the balcony and considered just blowing up the old farmhouse with all the tomb vampires inside. Might spare them all some trouble.
Shortly after, he was joined by none other than John Gilbert. "Damon, right? We didn't get the chance to meet, yet." the man murmured and Damon instantly decided he didn`t like the guy. Still he pasted a friendly smile to his face and made Smalltalk. "Sheriff Forbes told me you`re a part of the council, too. So what do you think Damon? You know this vampire problem is real, right? It's a potential blood bath." John warned after a while. Damon shrugged it off, telling him not overreact, but the Gilbert idiot went on about how it was 1864 all over again. The vampire was surprised at how much he knew.
John kept babbling about the fire in the church and the hidden tomb underneath and Damon realized he was in serious trouble, even before John disclosed that he knew all about the tomb vampires and that Damon had been the one who freed them. Well, technically it had been those stupid witches, but the vampire didn`t really feel like pointing that out. "You know that I could rip your throat out before anyone would notice?" he mentioned casually, like he was talking about the weather. John simply nodded. The bastard looked way to smug. "Yeah, okay. But you probably ingest vervain so…"
"Why don't you take a bite to find out?" The guy had some nerve, baiting a vampire. He would soon regret that. "It's not worth my time." Damon declared, the smile never leaving his face. He started to leave, but then rushed back, broke John´s neck and threw him off the balcony. Problem solved. He really had enough on his hands right now. He couldn`t be bothered with an annoying Gilbert, who knew too much.
The vampire went back inside, spotted his brother, drinking yet again (what a surprise) and went over to tell him about Uncle John Gilbert. That shook Stefan out of his trance. Suddenly he looked like he wanted to launch into a monologue about how you shouldn`t kill people. Even drunk his little brother was such a bore. So obviously the wrong address, if he wanted help. "Great party by the way, huh?" Damon remarked, clapped him on the back and left again.
He wandered through the crowd for a while, debating with himself if he should go in search of Alaric, when he looked towards the entrance and got a shock. None other than John Gilbert was just strolling through the door, looking relaxed and way too alive for Damon´s liking. "You got to be kidding me." the dark haired vampire muttered under his breath. Why did nothing work out like he wanted it to, lately? It was getting beyond frustrating.
The stupid, annoyingly un-killable Gilbert proceeded to walk onstage and hold a speech. Damon hadn`t been paying attention, so he didn`t know the reason. Frankly, he didn`t care. Moving through the crowd quickly he joined Alaric. "Look at his right hand." Ric frowned at him, startled by the strange greeting. "Who's?" he asked, puzzlement in his tone. Damon barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Towns favourite's son. Look at his ring." he ordered again. Alaric did as he was told and his eyes widened in surprise. "It looks like mine."
"Yeah, and that would be a big coincidence if he didn't just come back from the dead about 5 minutes ago. Where the hell did you get that ring?" the vampire wanted to know. Alaric looked troubled. "Isobel gave it to me. Made me promise to always wear it." he mumbled. Things started clicking into place. "Isobel, who gave birth to Elena, under the medical care of Dr Grayson Gilbert, John's brother!" Both men turned to look at John, who was still enjoying his moment in the spotlight. "John knew Isobel." the teacher concluded. "John knows a lot of things." Damon corrected.
Ric frowned at him. "What does he know?" he asked hesitantly. "Pretty much everything, I think. He knows about me, about the tomb vampires…" he broke off with a shrug. John knew way too much, that was for sure. Ric`s eyes shone with worry. "That`s not good." Damon snorted. "Understatement of the year, Ric." He saw John leaving the stage and frowned. "We need to find out just how much he knows exactly." he muttered, starting to follow the Gilbert. The vampire was pleasantly surprised when Alaric tagged along.
They caught John just outside the door. He met them with a smile. "You're going to kill me again or are you gonna let Mr. Saltzman do your dirty work this time?" The guy really had some nerve. "Okay, you obviously know who I am." Ric answered, hiding his surprise quite well. "Alaric Saltzman, a high school history teacher with a secret. Or maybe more than one secret." John muttered, casting a sly sideways glance at Damon. The vampire faltered slightly, but caught himself quickly and made a comment about knowing a lot for someone who just got to town.
John told the two men that a letter containing all his knowledge would go to the council, should they kill him. He had the audacity to threaten to out Damon to the council. For once the vampire felt speechless. Alaric used his distraction to ask John about the ring. "I had inherited one, my brother Gray had the other. The one I`m wearing was his and I wouldn't have given mine to Isobel if I had known she'd hand it over to another guy." Okay, that explained a lot. The rings were obviously some family heirloom. Damon was pretty sure that he had Emily to thank for those.
"So you did know Isobel." They had figured that much already. John shrugged. "Who do you think told her you were a vampire? Or about your infatuation with Katherine?" he asked and Damon really wanted to wipe that grin off his face. "What do you want?" the vampire asked, his voice dangerously low. He would not allow this stupid little human to play games with him. John didn`t feel inclined to answer however and instead took his leave. Since there were still too many people around, Damon had to let him go. For now.
He turned to look at Alaric, noting sarcastically. "That went well." The teacher rolled his eyes. "No kidding, Damon." For a moment they just stood there, staring at each other. "He knows too much. We need to figure out a way to get rid of him." the vampire spoke up again. "We? He´s your problem, Damon. Who says I`m helping you?" Ric asked. Damon huffed. He`d really thought they were over this. "He knew Isobel. He obviously knows a lot about both of us. He threatened me, for fuck´s sake!" the vampire growled. Ric just shrugged. "Not really my problem. If you`ll excuse me now…" he muttered, turning around and leaving without a backward glance.
Damon could only stare after him, wondering where the hell this sudden change of heart had come from. Just a few minutes ago Alaric had followed him without question, had stood by his side and helped him confront that stupid Gilbert guy. And now he was suddenly playing pissed off again? He just didn`t get that guy. And he was getting angry now himself. No one just dismissed Damon Salvatore like that.
Resisting the urge to follow Ric and tell him just that, Damon stormed out and drove home, where he proceeded to drown his sorrows in bourbon once more. When Stefan finally made it home a couple of hours later, the older one wanted to try and enlist his help against John. But he only needed to take one look at his brother to see that he couldn`t count on him either. Stefan was bad off. This time the craving seemed to be too much for him. Great. Yet another problem Damon had to take care of. And no-one to help him. This was just getting better and better.
Patting his brother on the shoulder and muttering some nonsense about things getting better, he went to bed, but he couldn't sleep. Tossing and turning for hours his thoughts drifted to Alaric once more. He thought of the first night they had actually spent together. He couldn`t even remember why they had waited month to finally topple into bed together. He had wanted Ric from the very second he`d met him. And he knew that Ric had felt the same way, had caught the teacher`s gaze on himself often enough, heard his erratic heartbeat, whenever they came close.
But maybe waiting had made it even sweeter. Even more intense. And he couldn`t deny that he had enjoyed the man`s friendship. Craved it, even. Damon had always been pretty solitary. Had seldom made friends. Why befriend someone, who would die sooner or later anyway? And he just found it hard to trust someone. But he had trusted Ric right from the start. There was just something about the man that had caught Damon´s interest from the very second they met. And they had just gotten closer over time. With a wistful smile he remembered the morning after their first night together…
Damon woke slowly, feeling relaxed like he hadn`t in ages. With a content smile he stretched languidly, rolled over … and blinked his eyes open in surprise. The bed next to him was empty. Not what he`d been expecting. Frowning he sat up. Where the hell was Ric? He hadn`t really snuck out during the night?
Then the smell of fresh coffee reached his nostrils and he heard the man puttering around in the kitchen. Shaking his head with a smile he got out of bed, put his boxershorts back on and padded to the kitchen.
Alaric was just rummaging around in one of his cupboards and obviously hadn`t heard the vampire. He too was dressed only in boxers. "Morning." Damon drawled, making the man jump in surprise. Ric turned to him with a sheepish smile. "Morning. Thought I`d surprise you with breakfast this time around, but you`re too much of an early-riser. I only got the coffee ready so far." Damon chuckled. "That`s okay. We can just make breakfast together." He quickly went to the fridge, glad that Ric obviously didn`t have time to look in there, yet. He would need to find a better hiding place for the blood-bags he kept at his apartment, if Ric was going to stay overnight more often now. And he would definitely be staying overnight more often now, if Damon had any say in it.
They made strawberry pancakes, working in perfect concert with each other. Like always. Damon was flipping the pancakes, while Ric set the table. The vampire was pleasantly surprised when suddenly strong arms wrapped around him from behind and Alaric started placing kisses all over his neck. "If you keep that up breakfast will have to wait." he warned lightly. Ric`s rough chuckle made him shiver. "Guess I`ll have to behave myself then. Although that`s damn hard."
Damon pushed the pan away, turned in Ric`s arms and pulled him into a heated kiss. Ric`s hands slid over his body teasingly, touching all the right places, making goosebumps rise on his skin. The vampire pulled away, breathing heavily. He was just about to suggest skipping breakfast when Ric`s stomach growled lightly. "Guess I really have to behave myself." the man muttered sheepishly. Damon chuckled. "Okay, breakfast first, then back to bed. How does that sound?" he suggested. "Sounds like a perfect morning to me." Ric replied, giving him a look that made the breath catch in his throat. Yeah, definitely a perfect morning.
Damon smiled wistfully. There had been no awkwardness about the change in their friendship. No uncomfortable discussions. It had all felt so natural. Like it was meant to be that way. They hadn`t even talked about what was going on between them. Had just accepted that this was the way things were now and enjoyed it.
He wanted that back. That feeling of… completeness he`d always had with Ric. The feeling that everything would just fall into place. He`d been an idiot, when he had let the teacher go to chase after Katherine. He knew that now. He couldn`t really understand anymore, why he`d done it in the first place, truth be told.
Maybe the hope of finding Katherine and finally being with her forever had been so much part of who he was back then, that he`d never really questioned his motives. Before he`d met Alaric, there had never been anyone he had wanted to keep for a while. He had never allowed himself to get close to anyone. But Ric had shattered all the walls, Damon had built around himself for decades. Maybe that fact had scared him more, than he`d wanted to admit.
For all of his long, undead life Damon had been driven by one thought alone: Freeing Katherine from the tomb, to live happily ever after. Until he met Alaric. Somehow the man had just taken him by surprise. Had wormed himself into his heart, without Damon even realizing it. Back then they had reached a point where it was getting increasingly hard to keep up the façade. To keep track of all the secrets and lies. He wouldn`t have been able to hide his true nature from Ric for much longer.
And how would Ric have reacted to the news, that the guy he was sharing his bed with was a vampire? One of those creatures from Isobel`s research, to which he referred as fairytales and made fun of. Maybe he would`ve accepted it. But maybe not. Maybe he would`ve hated Damon. Despised him, for the lies and all the evil things he`d done.
Damon hadn`t wanted to find out. It had been easier to leave and make Alaric forget. But he had missed Ric. Hadn`t even realized how much he`d missed him, until the teacher showed up in Mystic Falls. Only when it was too late, did he realize, that this thing with Ric could`ve been something special. Something real.
But maybe it wasn`t really too late. Maybe they had the chance to start over. To make it better. Without all the lies and secrets. All he knew was that he wanted Alaric back. And he would get him back. No-one said no to Damon Salvatore. Especially not Alaric Saltzman.