Disclaimer: The Vampire Diaries isn't mine. Though I do have a secret plan to change that and make Damon my very own… *cackles evilly*
A/N: Thanks for reviewing on the last chapter, everyone! :D
Chapter Ten
Elena gasped out loud as her former history teacher fell into a crumpled heap at her feet. "Alaric!" she cried frantically, all thoughts of the scene in the kitchen fleeing from her mind. "Damon, get him inside!"
Damon darted forward and grabbed the man's shoulders, dragging into the house. He left him on the rug, and pushed Elena aside. Peering into the brilliant sunlight outside, he saw nothing that seemed amiss. A car was parked just at the curb, driver's side door hanging open. "He drove himself here," he informed Elena, closing and locking the door.
"Put him on the couch. I'll go get something to clean him up with," she said, hurrying out of the room.
Damon grabbed Alaric again and deposited him onto the couch as Elena had told him to do. The blood from Alaric's many wounds smeared across the fabric of the sofa, and Damon briefly hoped that Elena had a good stain remover. He bent and touched two fingers to the man's throat, checking for a pulse. There was nothing. "Damn," he swore. He wasn't really sure how to tell Elena that there was a dead man in her living room.
As though summoned by his very thoughts, she rushed back into the room, holding a dripping washcloth. "How is he?" she asked quickly.
"He's dead," Damon said, deciding not to keep her in suspense.
Her jaw dropped, while she stared at him with horror. "Dead?"
"Yeah, and not the kind where he comes back to life as a vampire. Stone cold dead. You should know what I mean; humans are always dropping like flies. Especially around this town." Damon grimaced and rubbed his neck, which had started to ache again. Elena's blood had helped, but apparently not enough.
"But…how did he die?" she choked out, lip trembling. "Something must have attacked him. And why did he come here of all places?"
"I doubt he'll be telling us anytime soon," he said. "Dead men tell no tales, as the saying goes."
Alaric sat up with a loud gasp. Elena screamed and leaped backwards, while Damon jumped about a foot into the air.
"Oh my God. I thought you said he was dead!" Elena shouted, as Alaric panted and tried to catch his breath.
"I thought he was!" Damon fired back, features fixing themselves into a dark scowl. He could only hope that no one had seen him jump like a coward. He was supposed to be a fearless vampire, for God's sake.
"Sorry," Alaric choked out, leaning back and closing his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, several seconds later, he seemed more rested. "I guess you didn't….Damon Salvatore?"
Damon folded his arms. "That's me, last time I checked. Now who the hell are you, really? Because I've never heard of a history teacher who was able to come back from the dead."
"None of the rumors that Katherine has been spreading around are true," Elena rushed to explain. "Damon is innocent; he's been buried in a tomb outside town for the last five years."
Alaric carefully studied the vampire, but seemed to buy Elena's story. "That's pretty bad luck."
"I'm trying my best to turn it around now."
"Here." Elena offered the washcloth to Alaric, who held it to his bloodied cheek. She then sat down beside him on the couch, eyes never leaving his face. "I don't mean to be rude, but how is it that you were dead thirty seconds ago?"
Alaric shrugged sheepishly, then grimaced. He held up his right hand; on his middle finger glimmered a large silver ring. "My ex-wife gave me this several years ago, before I even came to Mystic Falls. I found out a couple of years ago that it brings me back to life after I've been killed. Not that I'd like to try it out any more than necessary."
Elena's lips formed an O. "Brings you back to life…?"
He nodded.
"Just who is this ex-wife of yours, anyway?" Damon said suspiciously.
The teacher gave the vampire a dark look. "I doubt you've heard of her."
"Try me."
"That's enough, Damon," Elena said quickly, before another brawl could break out in the middle of her house; the werewolves attacking had been more than enough. "Okay, so you can't die as long as you're wearing that ring, Alaric. I've heard of stranger in this town. But what happened to you to make you die this time?"
He hesitated, still dabbing his bloody face. "I'm not sure how to tell you this, especially since I just found out myself…but the mayor and his employees are…werewolves." He quickly looked to both Damon and Elena for their reactions.
"You don't say," Damon said, thinking of the five wolves lying dead in the next room.
"We know," Elena added. "We had a little run-in with some of them a few minutes ago, actually."
Alaric frowned. "So did I. Several of them attacked me while I was leaving the Mystic Grill. You were the only person I could think of to go to, Elena. The closest house of someone I trusted."
"But why would they attack you?" she wondered. "Did you do something wrong recently?"
"It's no secret that I disapprove of Katherine's reign," Alaric said. "And Mayor Lockwood is obviously very closely tied to the vampires; now we know why. And it probably doesn't help that I plan to take down the regime."
It took a few seconds for Alaric's words to sink in, then Damon exchanged a sharp look with Elena. "Maybe my hearing is starting to fade with old age, but what did you just say?"
Alaric leaned back against the couch, heedless of the blood smeared all over him. "I have a contact, someone from out of town. He's generously offered his help. My contact has got a plan to effectively take down all the werewolves, leaving Katherine more vulnerable. And that's only the beginning."
Elena gasped out loud, and Damon quickly looked at her. "Is there any way you can tell your contact not to harm Tyler Lockwood? He's on our side, Alaric. I really think he is."
Alaric looked to Damon, who nodded reluctantly. "She's right. Tyler just started the Changing process tonight. So he hasn't been attacking anyone in town. Which you people usually seem to think is a plus."
"Okay, I'll do what I can for him. I don't want Tyler killed anymore than you do, Elena," he relented.
"So when's all this stuff your contact's got planned going to go down?" Damon asked.
"Tonight, at exactly midnight. And if you'll help me, we can take out all the vampires at Katherine's headquarters while my contact and his associates are getting rid of the werewolves."
"And everything would finally be over?" Elena asked, looking like she thought all this was too good to be true.
"That's the plan."
"I don't mean to be rude, Ric," Damon said, "but just how do you plan to take out all these vampires? We're harder to kill than you would think."
"I know enough about vampires to kill them," Alaric said. "My wife was a paraphysiologist."
"Oh, your mysterious wife again."
"I never knew that," Elena said, seeming to be totally ignoring Damon.
"We never really had a chance to talk outside of class in the old days," Alaric said. "And it's not exactly something I'm broadcasting around town now that we're ruled over by vampires."
Elena nodded understandingly. "So what's the plan?"
"I'll come back around eleven tonight, and the three of us can head to the mansion," Alaric said. "I've got a special kit prepared to use on the vampires. It should make things a little easier on us."
"So let me get this straight," Damon began, arching a brow. "You think that the three of us can take down Katherine and all her followers with a collection of stakes? You're in denial, Ric. Kathy's over a century old; she's not going to play nice while we try to kill her."
"I know that," Alaric said tightly. "But I think that if we work together, we can end this tonight. I'll talk to Tyler and see if he's willing to help, if that would make you feel better, Damon."
"I don't know if Tyler would feel comfortable helping with this," Elena said. "This is his father's regime we're taking out, remember?"
"I think you'll be surprised. Tyler isn't on the best of terms with the mayor right now."
Damon suddenly stiffened, glancing over his shoulder. He'd heard a faint noise, coming from somewhere in the kitchen. "I'll be right back," he said distractedly, interrupting Elena midsentence. "Feel free to carry on without me."
He then turned and strode out of the room, into the hallway, and towards the kitchen. He noticed a faint smell as he approached the room, which stood out from the vile werewolf blood that was already splattered haphazardly across the area. It smelled sort of like human blood, but there was something off about it. Nevertheless, it clearly meant that someone who shouldn't have been was present in the kitchen.
Tensing for a possible ambush, Damon paused at the corner just before he came to the kitchen. Then he sprang around and landed silently on the balls of his feet, expertly scanning the room. He looked past the five wolf bodies, the crimson blood splashed across the tile, and the broken set of French doors. But nothing else was there. Whoever he had smelled a moment ago was gone now.
Damon frowned, then walked over to the doors leading outside. He stood just inside and peered past all the broken glass into the back yard. He saw absolutely no one.
"Maybe I'm getting stupid in my old age," he said, to no one in particular.
He heard the sound of two pairs of footsteps entering the room, then Elena asked worriedly, "Damon? Is something wrong?"
"What happened in here?" Alaric exclaimed at the same time, apparently noticing the gruesome scene that filled the once-tidy kitchen.
"Remember how I mentioned that Damon and I already knew about the werewolves? Well, this is how we found out," Elena said.
"What about Jeremy? Is he okay?"
"He actually saved my life, if you can believe that," Damon said, rolling his eyes. "But try not to spread that around too much; I want it kept on the quiet side."
He started to turn back to face the two humans, then for the first time noticed the single black hair dangling from a jagged shard of glass still attached to the frame of one of the doors. "Well, well. What have we got here?" he wondered, plucking the hair from the glass and holding it up into the sunlight.
"What is it?" Elena asked, sounding a little afraid of what he would say.
"I thought I heard someone in here, and I guess I was right. Ladies and gentleman, I think we had ourselves an eavesdropper." Damon spun around to face Elena, who was chewing her lip nervously. He held up the single hair for approval, then let it slowly drift towards the floor.
Alaric swore colorfully, dropping the washcloth he had formerly held to his cheek. It landed with a wet splat against the tile. "This is just what we don't need. If whoever was listening in goes to Katherine or Lockwood, that the end of all our plans," he said angrily.
"D-did you recognize the hair?" Elena asked nervously. She looked a bit pale.
"I may be a completely badass vampire, but I'm not a forensics expert," Damon said. "I was born before they even thought about forensics. So no, I didn't recognize it." He paused. "Why? Do you know something that we should know, Elena?"
"No," she said, a little too quickly.
Damon took several steps forward, using a burst of unnatural speed. He gently grabbed Elena's shoulders and peered down into her face. He was so close that could see the individual hairs of her eyebrows, along with the way her pupils dilated involuntarily. He licked his lips, trying to contain himself for Alaric's benefit. No matter how much he wanted to sweep her into his arms and ravish her senseless, it wasn't exactly appropriate for the current situation.
"You should tell us if you know something," he said quietly, meeting her gaze without blinking. "If you know who was here just now, we can stop them before they tell Katherine."
Elena hesitated, and swallowed hard. "No," she whispered. "I don't know who was here."
Alaric ran one hand through his hair. "Elena–"
"She's telling the truth," Damon interrupted, releasing his grip on Elena and stepping away.
"How can you tell? You weren't compelling her, were you?"
"Of course not. But she wouldn't like to me about something like this, not when it could mean trapping Stefan with Kathy dearest for all eternity," he said confidently, meeting her eyes again.
Elena visibly flinched, looking away.
Alaric, who had been gazing curiously between the two of them, shook his head. "I'll see what I can do about rounding up some help from Tyler. And be sure to call me if you figure out who was here."
"Will do!" Damon mimed tipping a hat in the other man's direction, then remained silent until the front door closed behind him. He turned to Elena. "Are you sure you aren't keeping something from me? Remember what I said about my brother, Elena. If Katherine finds out, we're not going to be able to rescue him."
Elena steadily met his gaze. "I'm not lying, Damon."
Damon nodded reluctantly, skillfully hiding his dubiousness. Elena wasn't the best of liars. But for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what she was hiding.
Only time would tell.
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