Chapter 14 (Sorry for the slow upload. I had a lot going on.)
[ENJOY CHAPTER 13]
A knock on Alaric's door sends him off to get his shotgun.
In the middle of a storm, he thought, really?
He opens it to find Declan, and a slow, reluctant Abby not too far behind.
"Well well well…. just come on in. Wasn't like I was busy or anything."
"Thanks Alaric."
They remove their rain boots and jackets, before entering his home.
They walk into the living room, and Abby almost walks out.
"Abby it's fine." Declan tells her.
"Declan-"
"It's going to be okay."
He walks Abby back out onto the porch.
They talk it over for a moment before he guides her back in, hand in hand.
They quietly sit across from Alaric and Bonnie.
"Declan, so what do we owe the pleasure?"
"That girl who's missing." Declan points to the miniature tv, "she's not missing."
Alaric briskly swivels his head around to see the mini television. "How do you know that? Where is she?" He points.
"Dead."
Alaric turns back around, leaning in."Okay start from the beginning."
Declan goes over everything, every detail from start to finish.
"He killed her? "Bonnie asked, "in the middle of the street?" She asked again in disbelief.
Declan nods.
"In the middle of the street. My guess is we can't go to the cops." He suggest.
"No we can't, good call." Alaric answers.
"Did anyone else see?"
"Just me and Abby."
He's slow to approach her. "Abby did you see anything? Something Declan might have missed?" Alaric asked.
Her eyes flick to the other side of the room, "No."
Bonnie looks over at her daughter.
She's analyzing her, watching her, carefully taking mental notes.
"Abby, did you feel something or sense anything before it happened?" She scoots closer, "Like an urge?"
"Bonnie." Alaric cautiously warns.
You could literally feel the uneasiness starting to form in the room.
"No." She rudely answers and folds her arms.
"Are you sure?" She doesn't give up so easily.
"What does it matter anyway?!"
Bonnie retreats, giving her daughter some much needed space.
Abby sinks further back into the couch, playing with a loose string on Declan's shirt. She's fixated with the small stringed ball, rather than the conversation taking place.
"So where do we go from here?" Declan cuts in.
"What do you mean?" Alaric asked.
"We can't just let him get away with this, he needs to answer, it's not a petty crime Alaric, It's murder."
Alaric stands and heavily sighs, "Unfortunately, we don't go anywhere from here. I told you to leave but you didn't listen, end of story. "Alaric shrugs.
Declan taken off guard.
"So he just gets away?" Abby asked.
"Yeah, I'm afraid so, he's the mayor for crying out loud, we can't just accuse him of something we have no proof of."
"So you don't believe us?" Abby asked.
"That's not it-"
"Coward." Declan spits.
"Excuse me?" Alaric steps forward.
"Ms. Bennett's been saying for weeks let's save the town, but all you've done is ignore her, try to send me off and deflect any real solution."
"I'm trying to save you, make sure you or anyone else in this town doesn't get caught in any crossfire!"
"It's a little too late for that now, isn't it! You can't play both sides."
"You have no idea what you're talking about!"
"Kelsee?" Declan tilts his head, "Stop lying to us Alaric!"
"You're crazy, now I know you really have no clue about the situation."
"That's because you won't tell us! His voice raises a bit, "You don't tell us anything! You even leave Bonnie out of it. We're not kids Rick!"
Alaric closes the distance between the two, "Then stop acting like one. That stubborn attitude and hero act is going to get you killed, just like it did your parents."
Declan jumps from his seat, shoving Alaric, making him fall over into his bookcase and various glasses on the coffee table. He lets his right fist fly, hitting Alaric directly on the chin.
Abby wildly grabs at his arms, struggling to hold him back and calm him down.
Declan glances over his shoulder to see Abby, making him immediately pull up.
Alaric wipes the blood from his lips and eyes it on his finger.
"Coward." Declan spits at Alaric once more, as he towers over Abby.
"Okay that's enough." Bonnie says, she turns to Alaric to help him up. Momentarily, the two men try to go at it again but Bonnie steps in, urging them to both sit down.
"Please, everybody just calm down."
With a huff, they finally sit.
"Let's just come together and figure this all out. Fighting each other gets nothing done."
"Figure out what Bonnie? If Matt figures out any of this, all of us are dead."
"Alaric we have to try."
"No you have to try, I'm leaving I don't want any parts of this."
He puts his coat on, beginning to leave.
"He's hurt too many people Alaric, we have to put an end to this. It can only be us!" She pleads to him.
He grabs the door,.
"What about the girls? What about Caroline? You owe it to them."
That makes him freeze for a second, his grip on the door gets tighter and his body goes rigid.
He sighs, "Make sure you guys turn off the lights and when you're done, feed the dogs." He says.
"Alaric!" She screams after him.
They hear the door slam.
"Maybe we should go too." Abby says.
"No. If he doesn't want to help so be it." Declan answers as he turns back to Bonnie.
"We can't do this without him." She honesty tells Declan.
"We have to try. Innocent people are dying."
His brows are furred, and his breathing fastens.
Bonnie stares at him.
"What?" He asked somewhat irritated.
She smiles, "You sound just like Elena."
Declan wants to return the warm smile and gesture, but when he looks down at his knuckles he simply can't.
"Don't worry he'll come around."
"I don't know Ms. Bennett."
"Well I do. Trust me."
" Right.. because," he holds his index finger to his temple.
"No," she smiles, " I just know."
"I didn't mean to push him."
"Don't worry he's been through much worse."
Declan nods.
"I'm sure you all have but in the diary you seemed to love each other. Not just friends, more of a family."
"We were."
"Then why is the town like this? Why is Mayor like this. In the diaries Matt seemed so nice, out of everyone, even you. I could never see him murdering someone. My mom constantly wrote about how good of a man he was."
"He was, but things can change and so do people."
"What happened?"
"It all just kinda built up."
"What?"
"His pain, his anger."
"What happened to him?"
"Not to him Declan, to those he loved. Tyler,Vicky, Penny, and Lisa."
"Vicky was his sister, Right? The debutante
, beautiful, model. Nicole never finished telling me how she died."
Bonnie couldn't help but crack a smile. "Vicki Donovan was no such thing. She was an addict, a mess, and a vampire."
"Why the ball and dance?"
"He wants to polish her name, their legacy. He'd rather paint her as who he wanted her to be, rather than who she actually was."
"How did she die?"
"Your father turned her, and your uncle Stefan staked her."
"Why?"
"She was blood lusted, the thirst got the better of her. She was actually trying to kill your mother." Bonnie looks up and smiles, "Those two certainly would never ever, in a million years let that happen."
They nod, taking it all in.
"Penny and Lisa?"
"Penny was his own doing. Lord knows he never forgave himself for it. Although it was Stefan who compelled him to think otherwise."
"And Lisa?" Abby asked.
They both turn to her, it was the first time Abby spoke more than a word to her mother today.
Bonnie looks down and sighs, almost as if she was ashamed ."She was pregnant and it was an accident. It really was."
"What happened? Who killed her?"
"Matt believes we all had a part to play in her death, but unfortunately he blames your father the most of all."
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