Set in 3x16
Each a monster, part 32: "Innocent"
The hunter growled in his sleep. He had been so close to success, and he wouldn't even have needed to reveal himself to the others. Esther's plan had been good. To link all of the Originals' lives and end them with a single move. Alaric had agreed, and he had been just this close to do it, but obviously, the Original Bastard had had to be kind-of-immune to the white-oak-stake-thing and be able to move and stop him...
An additional dozen of seconds and Alaric would have ended it. The hunter wouldn't have even needed to step out of the shadows of the teacher's mind. Well, not exactly, since there would still have been normal vampires and other supernatural beings to deal with, but that was easy. A lot of work, certainly, but easy. Even the oldest, the strongest vampires could be killed easily enough. Sure, you had to be strong, quick, and cunning, but it was possible to deal with them, even if you were only a human, cursed or not. Originals weren't easy to deal with. Most weapons were useless against them, in the long run, and those that weren't useless were scarce and easily destroyed.
Take out the Originals, and maybe the vampires could be eradicated.
But no, it hadn't happened.
Klaus, being an hybrid and all, had been lucky and had saved his brothers, sister, and himself. Earning Alaric – and thus, the hunter – a concussion as an added bonus.
The hunter could feel something hard under his back, and he was sure he wasn't in a hospital. Which was weird, considering Meredith had just shot him, after she had treated him for the concussion. And since he didn't feel pain right now, he guessed she had used vampire blood to heal him. Which was weird too, considering she had just shot him.
The doctor obviously knew something was up with him and Alaric, or else she wouldn't have had a reason to shot him. Alaric had been so surprised, the hunter had almost laughed his ass off. Almost, because it wasn't only Alaric Meredith had been threatening with the gun, but him too, because, let's not forget that in a strange sort of a twisted way, the hunter was Alaric. So the hunter had been threatened too, and he hadn't had enough time to take over when she had fired on him.
And god, that hurt. Like. Hell.
A pity, if Meredith had figured out he was the one doing the killings. He wondered how she had possibly understood. If he could find out before he killed her, he'd be able to avoid doing the same mistakes.
If he was lucky, the doctor was keeping him prisonner in a cellar or something, to interrogate him. If so, he could free himself while she was away and deal with her in his own way when she'd come back.
That is, if he was lucky. He hadn't been, lately.
If his assumptions were correct, she hadn't kept him and his shooting a secret, and had talked to Damon, or worse, to the sheriff, who'd have told Damon. There, it'd be a problem. Alaric had no idea he was responsible, and he'd have kept it that way if he had been given the choice. Easier to act unsuspicious when you actually didn't know anything you shouldn't. And if they knew, they'd keep an eye on him, or worse, they'd try to erase him. He couldn't let that happen.
He was the best thing that could happen to Alaric. Just a little more time, and he'd have been Alaric. Just a little more time, and Alaric and he would have been alright once again.
But no, Meredith Fell had had to be nosey and figure out he had something to do with the murders. How? After all, he had gone as far as to get himself killed to appear as a victim and not as a suspect. Well, it was also to speed up the merging process a bit. But still, not every serial killer would be so devoted to their alibi, even with a resurrection ring.
Best not to show up for the next days, the hunter guessed, and he let himself be driven back to the back of Alaric's mind, as the teacher woke up.
Ric opened his eyes, and the first thing he noticed was that he definitely wasn't in his room, or, for the matter, in a bed. He blinked a bit, trying to adjust to the luminosity of the place he was in, and that let more light in than what should be allowed where someone slept.
His sight focused slowly, and he recognized a cell.
Why was he in a cell?
Alaric got up from the bench he had been lying on, and was happy to notice he had no wounds, despite Meredith shooting him the evening before.
For a second, he believed she was the one who had killed all these people, as Damon had believed once, and that she had come back for him since he had escaped the clutches of death the first time. Not that he had really survived, but she didn't know that. No matter, maybe she had shot him, healed him with vampire blood, and taken him away to a secluded place with underground cells to question him and make sure he hadn't told anyone about her culpability. After all, she couldn't be certain he really had no memories of his attacker.
And yes, there were many place with underground cells around Mystic Falls, some even deep in the woods so that no one would hear the screams. Mystic Falls was such a lovely place.
This belief was however brushed aside when someone came in, and a face appeared on the other side of the bars. It wasn't Meredith.
It was Elizabeth Forbes.
What the hell did that mean?
He asked just that.
At some point Damon joined them at the holding cells. This was so going to blow up out of proportions and control, the teacher just knew it...
Alaric felt like his head was spinning. Him, the murderer? That was ridiculous. He had died because of that nutcase, hadn't he? Maybe Meredith was framing him? But why? And seriously, no one had suspected her, and that was for a good reason. She herself had no reason to do it. Unless she was a psycho, of course, as Damon had first surmised. Oh, right, one person had suspected her. Damon. But Damon wasn't a very good judge of character, and he himself had some issues with killing sprees and trust, so...
Did Meredith really think he was the culprit? It would explain why she had shot him... But how could she think that?
After a good five minutes of running in circles between Liz who simply couldn't do anything to help because she had no proof of his innocence, and Damon who was hell bent on getting his boyfriend out of jail and find evidences when it wasn't his job and that would only make a mess if he did, Alaric was fed up with all that, and a bit angry.
He checked there was no sheriff deputy at the holding cells, and just let the Falkenbach in him come out. When he talked, his voice was cold and dangerous.
"Sorry, Sheriff, but I am no serial killer. Only your average natural born killer."
Elizabeth Forbes blinked.
"What?"
Next to her, Damon stopped arguing on his own and frowned, then winced, looked up, and rolled his eyes. It was quite a sight, and Ric could have laughed if he hadn't put his serious face on.
"Right, Liz, we forgot about that... You might have noticed that Ric over here is awfully good at fighting and killing vampires / whatever-kind-of-monsters-comes-at-him-with-unfriendly-intentions. Have you?"
The sheriff arched an eyebrow, waiting for more.
Damon put a patronizing hand on her shoulder, and the arched eyebrow rose up even more.
Alaric rolled his eyes, finding the vampire's theatrics very out of place right now.
"Well, Ric over here is human, as you already know, but he and his whole family are cursed so they don't know hesitation. They're awfully good killers, but without the killing intent or impulse, so they usually don't go around murdering people for fun. When they do, it's most of the time out of necessity. Of course, there are a few who, since they don't care about killing, just do it, but..."
Ric coughed, feeling that the vampire wasn't helping.
"Right, anyway, that's why Alaric over here is a super-badass-and-effective hunter. But he doesn't kill for the fun of it, because there is no fun, or nothing else for the matter, in the killing for him."
"What he means, sheriff, is that 'Alaric over here' is certainly not the one who did it. Let's face it, if I were the culprit, you wouldn't have found anything to incriminate me, even by association. I have the skills to murder someone without getting caught, even more so if I get some time to prepare it. If it were me, I certainly wouldn't have left a message behind, and the message wouldn't have come from the Gilbert stash. I'd have come up with some kind of undestructible-even-if-doubtful alibi, and not spent the nights of the murders alone. As for the motives, I have no reason to do that, but you don't have to believe me there. Still, this is not the work of a sane Falkenbach, what I am, by the way, and so it can't possibly mine. If I had to guess a culprit, I'd say my cousin Theodoric, but unfortunately he has alibis worth thrice your salary for every single murder..."
Liz looked a bit shocked, and it wasn't surprising, she had just learned the local high school history teacher was a cursed man with instinct for murder. Of course, she had always known there was something about him, but that? She had surmised Alaric Saltzman was a very good fighter with a knack for the supernatural, not a natural born killer...
"And what do you suggest I do? I can't let you out on your good word."
Damon was about to talk, but Ric stopped him.
"How long have I been there?"
"A few hours, why?"
"You wrote a report about it?"
The sheriff winced almost apologetically.
"Sorry about that. But as soon as we get proof you're not guilty of anything, we'll let you out. It shouldn't hinder you with your work or anything else. It's not as if you were convicted."
Alaric hold up a hand, and shrugged it off.
"Don't worry about that. I can even say you'll get a visit of my lawyer before noon, and she'll get me out of there faster than you can say 'innocent'".
Damon and the sheriff frowned at the same time.
"Your lawyer?"
They looked at each other, shocked because they had spoken exactly at the same time, and said the same thing. Alaric smirked at that, but his mood soon lowered again.
"But you haven't even made a call yet..."
"I don't have too. I'm literally stalked by my family, and they surely didn't like the news of my jailing. You should prepare yourself to meet one of them before long..."
Damon squinted disbelievingly at his boyfriend, and pointed out what had just struck him.
"Your lawyer is one of your cousins?"
"Why do you believe they are so hard to shake off? All of the Saltzman Family's lawyers are from the family itself. When one of us is accused with something, they step up immediately and get the most they can from the opposition. Even when the verdict is 'guilty', we Saltzmans always get off lightly. Mine is my cousin Magdalena Haguenhauer. She looks younger than she is, and friendly, but you should be careful when dealing with her. She'd rip you to shreads if you give her a reason to. Damon, you of all people shouldn't cross her."
The vampire put his hand on his heart, mocking hurt.
"You wound me. Do you think I'm unable not to rile up people?"
"I do."
The vampire grinned a devilish smile, stole a kiss through the bars, and left in a hurry.
"And don't get into trouble... Oh well, I guess he will no matter what."
Alaric turned to Elizabeth Forbes.
"Since you're bound to check my background history, I'm willing to play blunt honesty. I've killed a man once, who wasn't a supernatural being. That's why my mother reacted badly to your call. I've been acquitted, for it was self-defense and to protect someone else, and I was a minor at the time. Feel free to look it up, though you won't find my name on the accessible reports and newspapers: homicide on an armed attacker, in 1991, Boston."
Elizabeth Forbes left the Sheriff's Office a bit disturbed. She went straight to the Mystic Grill, where Damon had said he'd be, and there, she watched longingly the glass of bourbon the vampire was emptying. She really would have liked one too, but she was on duty.
They were both about to leave, her to seek evidences, or lack of said evidences, him to do whatever he had planned to do to interfere in her investigation. But a woman sat next to them.
"Sheriff Forbes? I am Magdalena Haguenhauer, Alaric Saltzman's lawyer."
