Alaric entered the classroom, trying in vain to ignore his hammering heart. He felt even more nervous than he had on his first day of work here. Back then everything had been new and strange, but at least he didn`t have to fear accidently tearing into someone`s throat if his nerves got the better of him. Damon had driven him to school earlier and had waved away his concern with a sarcastic comment. He had also reminded Alaric that no-one had forced him to teach again. Really helpful.
At least Elena, Caroline and Stefan would be in his first class today, so he`d have some back-up, just in case. All three gave him encouraging smiles when they entered the classroom and headed for their seats. The bell announced the start of first season and Ric jumped in shock. It sounded a lot louder than he remembered. He took a deep, calming breath and forced a smile to his face. "Good morning, everyone. I guess you`ve all heard already that the rumours of my death were really just rumours. Unfortunately I had to find that my… replacement didn`t do a good job. We`ll have a lot of catching up to do, so be prepared for homework." he warned.
Like he`d expected there was a lot of grumbling from the students. Ric smirked and pulled his notes out of his bag, when suddenly someone spoke up from the last row: "Hey Mr. Saltzman, how`s Damon Salvatore in the sack? Didn`t know you were a fag." Out of the corner of his eye Ric could see Elena stiffen and Caroline grimace. He turned to the boy who had spoken, his calm expression giving nothing away. Dean Fell might be one of the stars of the football team, but aside from that he was only good at making stupid remarks during class.
"I guess you never heard the saying 'Don`t kiss and tell', Dean? But of course you haven`t. After all the whole school knows about your… encounters. What did Meghan say again, how long you lasted? About 30 seconds?" the teacher shot back. Dean`s head looked like it was about to explode, while the rest of the class roared with laughter. Alaric turned to the blackboard to hide his own grin. Damon was definitely rubbing off on him.
The rest of class no-one dared to interrupt. Dean was glaring at the teacher the whole time, but he looked about as intimidating as a Chihuahua. Second period went remarkably well, aside from the fact that Ric had to explain five times why he had really been gone. After that Ric decided he needed a cup of coffee and was seriously contemplating putting a shot of bourbon into the cup. In the end he didn`t do it. When he came back into the classroom the students were already seated and looking at him in anticipation.
He saw the reason for that when he turned around and got a look at the blackboard. Someone had written 'cocsucker' onto the blackboard. Alaric shook his head in resignation and turned back to the students. "I know that it´s really none of my concern, since I`m not your English-teacher, but cock is written c-o-c-k." A few students giggled, while others seemed disappointed by his cool reaction. "If you would be so kind to clean the blackboard now, Peter."
Peter Kane, a pimple-faced dark-haired boy, who`s IQ was about as high as that of a flowerpot in Alaric`s opinion, looked at him in shock. "Why me?" he grumbled. Ric rolled his eyes. „If you want to know what gave you away: It was your chicken scratch in combination with your miserable spelling. And now clean the damn blackboard. We haven`t got all day." Grumbling the boy complied. „Okay, if no-one else has any stupid questions or comments the rest of you can open your books on page 133. And be prepared for a bunch of homework. We have a lot of catching up to do." There were a few murmurs, but no-one dared to mouth back openly. Grinning Ric took a sip of his coffee and settled in his chair.
The next few classes went by without incident. There were a few whispers about his relationship, but no-one dared to ask him openly. Obviously the thing with Dean and Peter had gotten around already. Some students even told him how glad they were to have him back. Of course in every new class someone asked him what had really happened. By now there was the rumour that he had testified against some sort of Mafia-Clan and had been put in the witness protection program, but had left it to be with Damon. Someone was certain they had seen him talking to an FBI agent. The students were rather disappointed when he told them he had only been taking care of his parents, while they had been recovering from a car accident.
Still the teacher was glad when it was time for lunch break. He was just packing up his stuff when Damon sauntered into the classroom. The three 15-year old girls who were still lingering behind giggled when they spotted him. He winked at them, which caused all three to blush and hurry out, whispering among themselves. "You`re impossible." Ric commented, shaking his head with a smile. Damon shrugged and dropped a quick kiss onto his lips. "Maybe. But I`m not the one who taunted a student with the fact that he can`t get it up."
"I never said that. I said he can only get it up for about 30 seconds. And how do you even know that?" Alaric protested. „Stefan texted me. I asked him to make sure no-one`s giving you a hard time." the older vampire explained. "You hired your baby brother to play bodyguard for me? Nice to know how much faith you have in my abilities." Ric commented sarcastically. "Hey, I`m just looking out for you. I know you hate it when people talk behind your back, even if you try to act like you don´t care."
"Yeah, okay I do." Alaric admitted a little sheepishly. „But I`m slowly getting used to it. And while I think it`s really sweet of you to look after me, it`s also unnecessary. I think I can manage a couple of stupid football players." he assured. "Sweet? You shouldn`t spend so much time with vampire Barbie." Damon grumbled, causing the teacher to laugh. „Maybe. But why are you here? Looking to see if you need to protect me from my students?"
„Nope. I`ve brought your lunch, just like I promised." the dark-haired vampire explained and Ric noticed the bag in his hands for the first time. He gave Damon a worried look. He couldn`t really drink from a blood bag in his classroom. The risk of being seen was too high. To his surprise Damon produced a sandwich and a thermos from the bag. "What? You were always complaining how horrible the food at the cafeteria is and I don`t think they cater to your special dietary needs." the older vampire murmured, opening the thermos.
Alaric was instantly hit by the now familiar smell of blood and had to stifle a grin. Okay, Damon could be subtle if he had to. The teacher mumbled a quick thanks, before devouring his sandwich and taking a sip of the blood. "You`re an angel." he muttered. The dark-haired vampire smirked and took a sip as well. "Of course I am. And I hope you can appreciate that." Laughing Alaric pulled him closer for a kiss. „Of course I do."
Lunch break was over way too soon. Of course Damon had to wait until the very last second, before leaving the classroom, passing the students on his way out. But obviously by now everyone had heard that it wasn`t a good idea to provoke Alaric, because there was some giggling and whispering, but no-one dared to say anything.
The rest of the days classes passed rather uneventfully. Jeremy and Anna were in his last class for the day. Ric noticed absently that they were sitting next to each other and wondered if Anna had compelled someone to make room for her. But as long as they didn`t disturb the class he didn`t really care. And they didn`t disturb. On the contrary. Anna was listening intently and even taking notes.
He praised her for that, when she and Jeremy came to his desk after class and Jeremy told him with a grin that his girlfriend was a total geek. "Oh shut up, or I`m never helping you with homework again." Anna threatened. Ric wondered if she had been attending high school often over the last decades, but he didn`t dare to ask. He knew almost nothing about her and he didn`t want to anger or upset her by asking stupid questions.
"I`ve got to go. My shift at the Grill starts in about 20 minutes." Jeremy finally excused himself. "And I`m meeting April in the library." Anna told the two guys and looked a little surprised that anyone would want to meet her. Ric got the impression that she hadn`t had much friends in her life, but once again he didn`t dare to ask. Instead he said goodbye and left school. Since he didn`t want to force Damon to play chauffeur all the time, he had decided to walk home. He really needed a new car.
###
Damon had returned home after his visit at school, feeling relieved. He had to admit that he`d been a bit worried about Ric. He seemed more affected by all the gossiping than he tried to let on. And Damon knew all too well how vicious teenagers could be. Ric was already scared enough of losing control and attacking someone. And while the dark-haired vampire was pretty sure that this wouldn`t happen, he still thought it couldn't hurt to be cautious. So he had asked Stefan to keep an eye on the teacher and step in if necessary.
Shortly after first period Stefan had texted his older brother and calmed his worries. Damon could really picture his boyfriend brushing that stupid football player off coolly. Still that hadn`t kept him from visiting Alaric during lunch-break, like he`d promised. Normally the teacher should`ve been able to make it through the day without another blood ration. He always had so far. But Damon wasn`t sure yet, how much blood his boyfriend actually needed. A young vampire usually needed a bit more, but Ric was also an original and Damon had no idea how that affected his need for blood. So he`d decided not to risk anything. And Ric had certainly been happy to see him.
But now he had the whole afternoon ahead of himself and really nothing to do. He was just considering visiting sheriff Forbes, when the doorbell rang. Damon moved to the door quietly and opened it cautiously, ready to duck a possible attack. After all, that weird hunter was still out there somewhere. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found a dark-haired woman on his doorstep instead. "Celia, come in."
"Were you expecting someone else?" the witch asked. Damon couldn`t help but stare at her for a moment. Celia had always had a talent for showing off her curves and long legs perfectly. She was wearing tight black pants and a dark red velvet shirt, that clung to her curves and highlighted her pale skin. Her long, black locks cascaded down her back and shoulders. "There´s a hunter around here somewhere. I`m not sure if he knows I`m a vampire." Damon finally answered her question, only now noticing that Celia had brought her twin-brother Colin with her.
Colin always seemed to disappear next to his beautiful sister, despite the fact that he was quite nice to look at as well. He was dressed simply in blue jeans and a grey shirt that was a little too big and made him look gangly. His black hair was ruffled, giving him an almost boyish look. Colin always appeared harmless, while looking at Celia gave Damon goose bumps. He supposed that it was her power, that surrounded her like a dark cloak.
He got the twins settled into a guest room upstairs and made coffee while they freshened up. Afterwards they sat down in the library and Damon told them what they had discovered about Shane`s plans so far. "He wanted to get Klaus to kill those 12 hybrids, but I think we managed to stop that plan." At least he hoped so. He would need to talk to vampire Barbie about her boyfriend. If wolf-boy didn`t listen to her, Ric would have to compel him again.
"What about the Bennett-witch?" Celia wanted to know. "I don`t know. I stayed away from her, like you asked. She hates me anyway." Damon said with a shrug. „I`ll visit her." Celia promised. „But it would be better if Atticus didn`t know that. It could make him nervous and we shouldn`t underestimate him. He can be very persuasive and we don`t know how much influence he already has over her." she cautioned.
"I guess Ric and I could distract him for a while." Damon mused, before posing the question that had been ghosting through his mind for a few days now: "Wouldn`t it be easier if we just killed Shane?" Could save them a lot of trouble. But Celia shook her head. "We don`t know enough about his plans yet. Maybe they`re already in motion and killing him would only make it worse." Okay, she may have a point there. "I could compel him. Find out what exactly his plans are." the vampire suggested. "Shane can`t be compelled."
"Well, yeah I figured he was on vervaine. We`d have to lock him up until it`s out of his system." the vampire explained. "He doesn`t need vervaine. He knows enough about the human psyche to be able to withstand compulsion." Celia told him. Great, that sounded like the Bill Forbes method. Damon seriously hoped that wouldn`t get around. It would really complicate his life. "I like that guy less and less with every minute."
The discussion went on for a few more minutes. In the end Celia excused herself and went upstairs to look something up in her grimoire. Colin watched her leave and then moved next to Damon on the couch. "I`m worried about her." he admitted quietly. "She changed since the spell. Her power is growing. I`m afraid she might overestimate herself. Or get caught up even more in expression. That kind of magic can destroy a witch, Damon." The vampire frowned. "Why are you telling me this?"
Colin cast a nervous glance towards the stairs, as if he was afraid his sister might hear him. He moved even closer to Damon. "She doesn`t listen to me. I don`t know what to do." he admitted in a whisper. "She doesn`t listen to me either." Damon protested. „Could you try talking to her anyway? Maybe it gets her thinking. Please, Damon." The warlock looked at him pleadingly and the vampire sighed in resignation. "I can try. But I don`t know what good it`ll do."
"She always valued you opinion." Colin claimed. Damon rolled his eyes and was about to answer, when Alaric entered the room. The teacher had long ago given up on knocking. Damon noticed a little surprised how Alaric`s smile turned into a frown when he spied the warlock. For a moment he looked almost angry. Then he flopped down on the couch next to Damon, pulled the older vampire closer and kissed him possessively.
When he pulled back Damon looked at him curiously. Okay, Ric wasn`t as uptight about showing off their relationship anymore, but this was strange. There was something weird going on with the teacher. He put an arm around Damon, before finally turning to Colin, who had moved away and was looking a little embarrassed. "Colin. I thought your sister was coming here." Damon blinked at his boyfriend and wondered if he had only imagined the challenge in his voice.
"We came both. Celia is upstairs." Colin explained quietly, not really daring to meet Alaric´s gaze. Celia chose that moment to return to the library. Her eyes swept over the three men and she smiled. "Alaric. I see you`ve adjusted to your new life quickly." she commented. Damon could feel his boyfriend tense up as the witch came closer. He too could feel the vibes coming from her. "I did. Thanks again." Ric replied.
„Good. I`d like to talk to the Bennett-witch now. Find out how much she knows about expression yet and if she trusts Shane." she decided. "Okay, we`ll try to distract him for a while." Damon promised, looking at his boyfriend, who nodded in agreement. "He should be at school. The principal allows him to use an office there as long as he`s here." Ric told the others. "Text me if he leaves the office. I`ll let you know when I`m done with the witch." Celia ordered. Damon and Ric agreed and they decided to meet at the boarding house again.
"What was that in there?" Damon asked while he and Ric got into the car. "What was what?" Ric asked back with a puzzled look. „You kissing me like that." the older vampire explained, rolling his eyes. "Am I not allowed to greet my boyfriend with a kiss?" Ric shot back. Damon glanced over at him. The teacher seemed irritated and angry and Damon wondered what he had done now. When he left school everything had been okay. Ric had even been smiling when he came in earlier. That had changed once he`d spied Colin.
Damon thought back to the situation and finally realized that he and Colin had been sitting very close. Colin had leaned over to him, had whispered in his ear. Could it be…? "Are you jealous?" Damon asked in disbelief. „What? Don´t be ridiculous." Ric growled without looking at him. Damon grinned. "You are jealous. Of Colin." Ric crossed his arms, stared out of the window and kept silent.
When Damon parked in front of the school the teacher finally spoke up again. "Did you… sleep with him?" The dark-haired vampire hesitated. „I slept with both of them." he finally admitted, turning in his seat to look at his boyfriend. After a few seconds Ric met his eyes. "But that was a long time ago. You have no reason to be jealous." he assured, before adding with a smirk: "Though I`ve got to say it´s pretty hot when you get all possessive." Ric rolled his eyes, but had to smile as well. "Sorry. I don`t know what´s gotten into me. But seeing you together on the couch, sitting so close, whispering… I just snapped. I don`t want to share you, Damon."
"You don`t have to. I`m all yours." Damon promised with a smile. Ric leaned over for a quick kiss. „Good to know. But I guess we should visit Shane now. We promised Celia to distract him and I don`t want to break my word to her. That woman gives me the creeps." he admitted. "Yeah me too. I`m glad she`s an ally." Damon agreed.
They entered the school and Ric led him through the corridors to a closed off section near the back entrance. "This part of the school isn`t really in use anymore. A couple of years ago every teacher had his own office back here, but that was too expensive. The school officials thought we could just as well do our paperwork at home or in the classroom or the teacher´s lounge." he explained. They knocked on the door that had a hand written sign with the name "Professor Shane" taped on and entered without waiting for an invitation.
Shane was surprised to see them. He had a bunch of papers spread over his desk and candles placed all around the office. There was also a teapot on the desk, smelling strongly of herbs. "You again. Are you here to accuse me of mass murder again? Sorry, but I`m really busy. I`ve got an appointment." the professor explained. „Oh, don`t worry. We won`t be long." Damon murmured and sat down in a chair across from the desk. "We`ve only got a few questions."
"And I don`t have time." Shane repeated, but the dark-haired vampire ignored him. "So you want to destroy the veil, yeah?" he started. The professor didn`t react. He either was really good at controlling his feelings or he already knew that they were on to him. "Why? Just to get your dead witch-wife back? There are other options to accomplish that. We could even help you with that. Without bringing back all the dead."
„You have no idea what this is about." Shane claimed. "Then explain it to us. What is your plan?" Damon asked nicely. „You won`t understand." the professor spat. „You don`t know that." the dark-haired vampire shot back. "Is this about Silas? Are you planning to awaken him?" Alaric chimed in. Shane glanced at him and seemed about to answer, but then thought better of it. He crossed his arms and kept his mouth stubbornly shut. "Maybe we should ask with a little more force." Damon mused, but Ric shook his head. "Not here. Too many possible witnesses."
Shane´s eyes were darting from one vampire to the other. Slowly he was starting to get worried. "We could bring him to the boarding house. No-one would hear his screams down in the basement." Damon suggested. Alaric looked like he was contemplating it. "Bonnie would find me. And she would make sure you`re sorry you ever messed with me." the professor threatened. The two of them couldn`t tell how serious the threat was. Of course Bonnie would try to help him. The only question was: Could she actually help him? Had her powers already returned?
The beeping of Damon´s cell phone brought their musings to an end. The dark-haired vampire glanced at the display and then held it up for Alaric to read. The Bennett witch is on her way. Get out of there. it read. "We`ve got to go. Don`t think your empty threats actually scared us. We`ll continue this some other time." Damon promised, before leaving the office. Alaric led the way again and they left through the back entrance, so they wouldn`t accidently run into Bonnie.
Celia was already waiting for them back at the boarding house. "She`s very powerful, but most of her powers are blocked right now." the witch started to explain. "She wasn`t exactly cooperative, so I can`t really tell how much she knows. Expression is hard to learn and even harder to practice. Especially when you don´t know what you`re doing. Shane`s knowledge is very theoretic. He can't be much of a help."
"And what does that mean? That she can`t even use it?" Damon prodded. "No. Shen can use expression. Even now. But she can easily overestimate herself and make mistakes. Maybe deadly mistakes. But I`m afraid she won`t believe me. I don`t know how Atticus did it, but his influence on her is huge. She`s practically enslaved by him." Celia confirmed their worst suspicions.
"Could you stop her if necessary?" Damon wanted to know. The witch hesitated. „As long as her powers are partly blocked, I could. But if Shane succeeds in breaking her out of it… I`m not sure. Like I said, she`s extremely powerful." Well, this was just getting better and better. "That means we have to act now, before Shane can help her overcome the blockade and get even more control over her." Alaric mused. Damon nodded and pulled out his cell phone. „I guess that calls for an emergency meeting." he murmured, already dialling Stefan`s number. "Come home now. And bring the others. Except Bonnie. We need to talk."