set in 4x05, the events changing quite a lot here
Alright, so... I'm experimenting here, and we'll see what comes out of it.
"COMMENT, PLEASE" in a whining voice
Apart from that, this chapter is one where I change many things about the story. First of all, I speak of the Augustine one season early. Doesn't mean we won't see them in part 4 ( that's still doesn't have a name, obviously ). And yes, Enzo is dead-dead. He didn't fit in the story, and considering Ariane... Well, you'll see.
And this is yet a chapter where I introduce something that doesn't exist in the show. Just consider it's because I've erased the bullshit that was the sire-bond ( love sire-bond, I mean. Tyler's exists ), if you want an excuse.
Also, if you want to see what Ariane looks like, go here: http_:_/_/_alviola_._deviantart_._com_/_art_/_Coups-de-crayons-Eternity-for-your-pleasure-589820543
without the "_"
One world apart, part 7: Her eyes were steel
Alaric squinted at Damon. Damon, who was, unsurprisingly, drinking. Getting stoned. Smashed. Intoxicated. Or at least, who was trying to become all the above. Ric snorted. Of course, the vampire would deal with things this way.
After having answered the phone, said two words to the caller, paled, and finally hung up, Damon had rushed to the Mystic Grill, and asked for a drink. And then another one. And yet another one.
And now, one day later, he was back in the Grill, and doing the exact same thing.
No one had questioned it, not even Jeremy, who was working as the bartender, because that was what Damon did, lately. Drink, to the blink of oblivion. It was a wonder there was still a drop of alcohol in town. Surely the Grill couldn't order enough to keep up with the speed the vmpire was gulping bourbon, and any other potent liquid, down.
Damon was staring at his glass of bourbon, currently, and not drinking it. Between two gulps, the ghost had noticed his boyfriend would stop for a minute, mumble something incomprehensible about "bloody murder / reaper / Ariane / Augustine". This was not his usual modus operandi to get smashed, and so Alaric just knew there was something wrong with that phone call.
Well. Wronger than usual. Meaning, very very very wrong.
Now, considering they had a hunter on the loose, a few hybrids, and some Originals in town, Alaric could hardly guess how it could get worse. Not that it couldn't. Just, he didn't see how it could.
It was all the more worrying that Klaus was, in fact, not in town. Rebekah was, but not Klaus. That meant only one Original around, and while they usually were a pain in the ass, they were quite useful to get rid of other insanely strong monsters, to learn about things forgotten for centuries, and other things like that. Meaning, they usually were part of the problem, but when they weren't, they were a good way to get rid of the problem. Especially since they didn't like when someone encroached on their territory. And as Damon had not muttered anything about "bloody Originals" so far, it seemed they weren't part of the problem.
But Klaus was not here for now, and Rebekah was unaccounted for, so they'd have to deal with whatever bad news this Ariane was coming with, alone.
So Ric worried, unable, once again, to do anything, or even to question Damon about whatever was making him try and get drunk.
After a fourth glass of bourbon, that had also been preceded, not only by three other glasses of bourbon, but two of tequila, a voice shook Damon out of his alcohol-induced torpor.
The vampire froze on his bar stool, unwilling to look at the woman who had just sat down next to him. After all, maybe it was only someone who sounded like her... and who had decided to come to the Mystic Grill just after they had agreed to meet there. Ariane had said she'd arrive around this hour, this day... She hadn't said she would be there just now. It could very well be someone else, who sounded like her.
Yeah, right. It wasn't as if there were a lot of people with a roman accent roaming around these days. And it wasn't as if the woman had just called him by his name, before she had asked Jeremy for a drink.
Eventually, Damon gathered some courage, and turned to look at Ariane.
For it was her. No doubt about it. It wasn't as if they had shared a cell for a few years or anything.
"Ariane, what a joy to see you again! I hope you don't resent me too much for what happened the last time we met?"
Alaric's ghost turned in his seat to take a good look at the woman.
She appeared to be in her twenties, slender and well proportionned. She was wearing dark greenish / greyish draped pants, with leather black boots on top of them, and a shoulderless top of the same colour. Her hands weren't visible, in black long gloves. Strange, but not so much that people would start staring openly.
The woman's face was squarish, but not too much. Her mouth was thin, her nose straight, her eyebrows arched as if in anger. Her long black hair curled up a bit at the ends, and went down to the small of her back, with two locks falling on her chest, and bangs before her right eye. She looked somehow italian, the ghost mused, before he finally looked at her eyes.
Just under the corners, she had what looked like two triangular, dark turquoise tattoos. But it wasn't what disturbed him the most.
What was the most disturbing with the woman's large black eyes, was that Ric had the feeling they could see he was here. He backed away, stunned, and when he looked at her again, she wasn't paying him any attention. The ghost sighed, reasoning that he had to be paranoid. There was no way she could see him. Even Jeremy, who could see ghosts, could only see those who had mattered to him. Alaric was no one to this Ariane, so there was no way she could see him.
He was becoming paranoid.
Damon cringed when the woman gave him a scathing look.
"If I resent you for using me as a bait for those scientists? No, certainly not!"
"Come on, I knew you wouldn't die of it."
"Me, no. But Enzo died because of your decision. Now, what was it about an immortal who wanted your hide, that you went so far as to call for my help?"
The vampire winced, when he remembered two things: first, that he had in fact called for help when Alaric had been disturbingly bent on exterminating all vampires from the face of the Earth; second, how he had escaped from the secret society Augustine, leaving Ariane behind, and Enzo, another vampire, to die. They both knew Damon wouldn't have made it if he had helped them... but maybe he shouldn't have used Ariane as a bait.
Damon cleared his throat, awkward.
"Oh, that... Well, finally, we got it all sorted out, in the end... Apparently, he was indestructible, but not immortal. His life had been bound to a human's one, and Rebekah killed her... So we got... rid... of him."
The vampire's voice went down, and down, and Ariane didn't miss the fact. The woman could only guess, but it was pretty obvious that Damon had lost someone dear to him, that day. Several someones, perhaps.
That would explain why this one was here, with them.
"Oh, Rebekah is..."
"Don't bother. I'm older than the Originals, remember? I've done my best not to run into them, for a fight between us wouldn't have come to an end quickly, but I've also kept an eye on them."
Damon knew that Ariane was older than Klaus and his siblings. How much older, he wasn't sure, but several centuries, at least. She wasn't a vampire, either, and she would be extremely difficult to kill, if what he had seen when they had been experimented upon by the Augustine was any kind of hint. A fight against any Original would have been an unending bloodshed... Though, technically speaking, it would have only been the Original bleeding, because Ariane couldn't bleed.
"So, in the end, I've come for nothing."
The woman sighed, and rose from her seat, apparently heading for the ladies room.
Damon hesitated an instant, but eventually followed her. She could be useful, after all, in getting rid of Connor. The hunter of the Five certainly didn't think he would have to fight against somehing like her, and it was a given he would have no idea how to even do that. People like Ariane were rare. From what she had told the vampire, there were only twelve of them. And only one of them had ever died.
So Damon followed Ariane, intent on talking to her, maybe to get her forgiveness. He followed her – to the ladies room. This had Ric's ghost arching an eyebrow at his boyfriend, but of course, said boyfriend couldn't see him doing that.
While Damon and Ariane were talking, April and Matt entered the Mystic Grill, and went to talk with Jeremy. Alaric watched the teenagers speak of various things, including Rebekah Mikaelson.
But things got ugly pretty fast, when one hunter named Connor entered the Grill, followed Jeremy, and threatened him with a knife, effectively taking the three teenagers hostages under the very eyes of an angered ghost who could, obviously, do nothing to help.
It was a good thing for the hunter that Alaric wasn't able to do anything because he was a ghost. If Ric hadn't been a ghost, member of the Five or not, Connor would have had to deal with an ireful Falkenbach. And the facts were that, even if Connor had never fought against one of these cursed humans, Falkenbachs and hunters of the Five had already fought on three occasions through History – not that Ric knew. Only one fight had been won by a member of the Five; they were programmed to be perfect vampire hunters. The Falkenbachs were programmed to be perfect killers, period.
Still, Falkenbach or not, Alaric was a ghost, and he just couldn't do anything. He couldn't even warn anyone, considering Jeremy was one of the hostages.
The mad hunter said things, which Alaric barely registered, too busy with self-anger. The ghost was also wondering what the two idiots were doing in the washroom, that they still hadn't gotten out, and helped the kids. With Damon's vampire hearing, they should know, by now, that Connor the Freaking Psycho had come and was keeping his knife at Jeremy's throat...
But maybe that was why they weren't getting out.
Damon was a vampire, and Connor was doing this to get at all the vampires in Mystic Falls. If he came out and did only one thing wrong, Connor wouldn't shy away from taking it out on Jeremy.
But eventually, they'd have to act.
In fact, it was Connor himself who pulled the trigger for that one. The hunter had just sent a text saying he held the children's fate in his hands to Tyler, Stefan... and Damon.
The ringing of Damon's phone could be heard from the ladies room. Jeremy and Matt shared a surprised look, while April's eyes went wide open, and Alaric facepalmed.
Connor's face twisted into one of vicious satisfaction.
"So, there is one here already... Wonder why he hasn't come to your help yet, Jeremy?"
The teen rolled his eyes, but refrained from commenting. He still had a knife resting against his neck, after all. And it just happened that he liked his neck to be just where it was. Between his head and his torso.
Sure, he had his Gilbert ring, but he wasn't completely certain it would work if he was killed by a human being, even if with supernatural abilities like a hunter of the Five. Cursed humans were kind of a grey area, when it came to that. Jeremy personally didn't want to test what the rules were for them.
Connor spoke louder, this time.
"Come out, vampire! Or one of the children will lose their life... and after that, I'll come for you!"
Alaric glared daggers at the hunter. He had never threatened an innocent human being – in his right mind – and he was a cursed man! What was Connor's excuse?
They all heard the door to the ladies room open, but when they looked there, it wasn't Damon who stood in the doorframe. Though the vampire was just behind her.
No, it was Ariane, who looked at the hunter with contempt.
"Get away from the vampire, woman! I won't hurt you, if you get out of the way."
Matt snorted at that, clearly doubting the man's words.
Ariane walked to the member of the Five, keeping herself between Damon and Connor. When she joined him next to the bar counter, she stopped less than one metter away from him.
"Let the teenager go, and use me as a shield instead."
Her voice was cool, as if she was used to this kind of situation, but her eyes were steel. The hunter felt he'd better not argue with her offer. Still, he did. This woman knew nothing of the danger of vampires, and if she did, she clearly didn't understand what they really were. What if he had to kill a few innocents? In the end, he would save more than he would condemn.
"Certainly not. But since you won't move... I warned you!"
The hunter violently released Jeremy, his knife grazing lightly the teenager's neck as he did so. He then went for Ariane's throat, while he grabbed for another weapon at his hip in the same time with his other hand. He intended to get rid of her, since she wouldn't let him do his duty, and to immediately aim for the vampire who was cowardly hiding behind her.
But his knife, when it touched the woman's skin, stopped dead, its speed disappearing. Connor saw the skin being cut open, but it never got further than that. There wasn't even any blood.
He saw one more thing, heard one more thing, before he felt no more; it was a dark blade going for his own neck, and it was Ariane's voice as death claimed him.
"Let's do this again: hello there, I'm very pleased to meet you, and before you ask, I'm older than anyone you've ever met, and I'm a grim reaper."
