The end of this chapter will surely please some people...
Just saying.
One wold apart, part 11: Nexus ring
Damon was being dragged back to the boarding house.
Dragged.
By Little Jeremy Gilbert, no less.
By a Jeremy Gilbert who, if the vampire knew anything about body language, was currently doing his best not to stake him without trial. Instead, the teenager was dragging him with unusual strength to his home.
Dragging, because Damon's feet refused to move on their own and lead him back to the boarding house. Or, more accurately, because Damon refused to move his feet so that he'd walk to the boarding house. In other words, that was, in Little Gilbert's words, because Damon was being "an annoying blockhead of a stubborn bastard".
Of course, Damon would not concede that he was sulking because one ghost refused to speak to him, even if through an interposed Ariane. He would not concede that after he had been left alone, once again, with the news that Alaric was still there – just, the prick didn't want to speak to him – he had decided to take a walk and piss off the first person he'd meet on his way, nevermind that said person happened to be an hybrid, and that he knew him to be one. He would not concede that, when Elena had walked upon the growing fight, and tried to put an end to it before it became dangerous, he had made a point of not listening to her. He would not concede that they both had nearly died because of his sour mood.
So now, he was being dragged back to his home by the little brother of the girl he had almost gotten killed with his idiocy. And even if Damon would not concede that his actions had been totally unnecessary, there was a part of him which couldn't really deny it. That was the reason, surely, why he wasn't putting up much of a fight as he was being dragged back to the boarding house, even if he certainly wasn't helping Jeremy in his task either.
The teenager tossed the vampire in his car, his features unreadable, but his grip strong.
"Be nice, Damon, and keep quiet. I just activated the Hunter's Mark, and it has the great effect of making me want to off you on the spot, for no other reason than because I know you are a vampire. With the stunt you just pulled, and with the danger it caused for Elena, I have half a mind to simply let the instinct control me. So you'd better keep quiet."
The vampire glared at the teen, but said nothing. Even if he had taunted that hybrid with something akin to a hope that he'd get killed in the process, and that he wouldn't have to deal with knowing that Ric didn't want to talk to him, he had realized during the fight that dying wouldn't do. In all his self-pity, he had failed to take into account that, just like Alaric, he'd be stuck on the Other Side for at least a few years, as long as he wouldn't be at peace.
Which would not be an improvement from being a vampire at all, considering that even if Ric changed his mind about talking to him, once on the Other Side, there would really be no mean to speak – unless they had a grim reaper or someone like Jer somewhere up their sleeves, of course.
Speaking of which...
Damon gave an inconspicuous stank eye to the teenager, who was gripping the steering wheel as if his life depended on it. If Alaric had been around for more than two minutes a day, Jeremy ought to have known, and the kid hadn't said anything, even after all the time Damon had spent training him. Ungrateful git.
What the vampire didn't know, was that it wasn't Jeremy's life that depended on how strongly he held his hands on the steering wheel. Or at least, not any more than for anyone else who could be driving, and definitely shouldn't let go of the wheel, lest they died in a terrible accident.
It was Damon's life that depended on the teenager's grip, for as long as Jeremy managed not to release his grasp, it meant he managed not to lunge at the vampire with the stake that was hidden in his sleeve.
"Just drop him at the boarding house, Jeremy. Then you can go somewhere where there are no vampires, and where you won't be tempted to kill you friends. I'll take care of Damon's... attitude."
The teen didn't turn to look at the ghost sitting on the back seat, nor did he respond. He did not know what Ric was planning to do to get his boyfriend to stop acting like a dangerous idiot, and couldn't see how the ghost thought he would be able to do anything, but right now his mind was too polluted with the urges of the Five. He had almost gone after Elena when he had wanted to make sure she was alright, for God's sake!
Jeremy had barely stopped the car in the alley of the boarding house that he opened the door on Damon's side.
"Get out."
The hunter of the Five made a point not to look at the vampire as he got out, and so he missed the dark look Damon sent him, but it was for the best. Jeremy wasn't sure how his newly-awoken powers would take any more taunting from a vampire.
As soon as Damon closed the door of the car, refraining with difficulty from snapping at Jeremy, the teenager drove out. The vampire stayed there, glaring at the car, as it went further and further away, for a good minute. As a result, he failed to register the presence next to him, until the person it belonged to made themselves known by clearing their throat.
Damon spun on his heels, but his reaction stopped there.
Ariane was glaring at him, and she really didn't seem to be in the mood.
Great. Now he wasn't the only one. The problem being that Ariane was harldy someone he wanted to upset, now that he had come to the conclusion that he didn't want to die.
"Apparently you need counselling, brat."
"Wha..."
"Don't try to make it sound like it wasn't your fault. A ghost told me everything I needed to know, and I've known you for long enough that I have no doubts as to how the situation ended up as it was, with you fighting a hybrid in a river."
For a moment Damon could only blink, really feeling as if he was being told off by the dad his father had never been.
Then it sank in.
"Ric told you?"
The grim reaper declined to answer, and indicated the boarding house with a flick of her wrist. Now Damon was feeling as if there was a spanking awaiting him as soon as they'd get out of sight.
Still, he made his way inside.
It wasn't as if he could simply ignore a grim reaper's order.
Ariane closed the door behind them, and her eye searched for the ghost she knew to have followed Damon all the way from the river, except for the half minute he had spent informing her of what had transpired. She had a good enough idea as to what exactly he hoped she would do about Damon's behavior – that is, talk to him, and maybe tell him it wasn't a good idea for the vampire to continue pinning after a dead lover.
She'd have done just that, really, if she hadn't seen the look in her friend's eyes.
There was no talking with Damon Salvatore on some subjects, and apparently, this one was one of those.
Ariane sighed, as she let herself fall into an armchair.
Surprised, Damon sat on the sofa where the ghost was already seated. The grim reaper smiled slightly at the fact, because even if Damon had not known his boyfriend to be just there, he had still sat right next to him.
Looking at the ghost, Ariane finally spoke.
"Did the idiot manage to deal with his own shit?"
The said idiot looked like he wanted to protest at being called just that, but the ghost next to him ignored his lover's indignation.
"Jeremy, a potential hunter of the Five, got rid of the hybrid for him. The idiot's lucky he wasn't bitten in the fight, but I guess fighting underwater prevented that from happening, if it did any good. We now have one of the Five amongst our friends, which is definitely not great at all, and it seems Elena will thus come to live here indefinitely, as Jeremy's her brother, and she's a newly turned vampire. Really not a good combination."
Alaric glanced at the vampire next to him, annoyance clearly visible on his face.
Clearly visible to Ariane, that is, since he was a ghost, and only her could see him.
"Still, the idiot managed to do one thing right: he thought to call his brother to take care of his shocked girlfriend before being dragged here by our very new and personal hunter of the Five."
Ariane smirked the second time the ghost called Damon an idiot. The vampire was staring suspiciously at the space next to him, obviously wishing dearly that he could hear what was being said that made the grim reaper smirk – or simply that he could actually be sure he was staring at the right place. Which wasn't the case, in fact. It wasn't easy, really, for Ariane not to laugh as Damon stared suspiciously at his boyfriend's right shoulder.
She schooled her features, just in case something else made her lose her calm.
Then she looked back at her utterly deplorable vampire of a friend.
Damon's back instinctively straightened.
"Damon, you realize that what you did didn't put only yourself in danger, but other people as well?"
Ariane was feeling a bit silly lecturing a murderous vampire like that, but well. Maybe Damon actually needed someone to do it for him once in a while, so that it'd get inside his thick head.
The vampire had to fight the urge to sarcastically drawl his answer, way too aware of the glare he'd get from the grim reaper if he did it, and not at all aware that Alaric's ghost was already doing just that.
"I suppose that fighting with someone cannot be without two individuals at least being in danger."
"Of course. But what about the ones you put in danger by ignoring their plea for you to stop, and forcing them to try and help?"
"I never asked for Elena's help."
Ric rolled his eyes, frustrated that he couldn't berate Damon himself.
"As if you'd ask for anyone's help! But you knew she'd try to stop it. And asking for help or not, without Jeremy, you could very well be dead now. And as if you putting the two of them in danger wasn't enough, now you have made the boy trigger his Hunter's Mark. Jeremy has become a threat to most of those he cares for because of you, Damon!"
Ariane kindly relayed the ghost's message, but the vampire only shrugged noncommittally. If Damon hadn't been avoiding her gaze, she'd have thought he really didn't care.
But her friend had changed, since the Augustine. It was obvious to Ariane, who had seen him caring about his brother and that Katherine vampiress, but not about many other people. She had even heard him swear revenge upon that guy from his family who had literally sold him to the Augustine. At the time, Damon had not cared about many, and certainly not about people who were potential enemies, as was this Jeremy boy.
The vampire had changed; he even happened to care for humans in general, though not so much that he'd sacrifice himself for them if it came to that. Still, from what the grim reaper had seen, it was a huge improvement of his personality.
Ariane looked in silence at the two lovers who sat before her, one glaring at the other who had no idea of the first one's action, and she eventually came to a decision.
"Be aware that I wouldn't do that for just anyone, brat."
Damon frowned, surprised by her words, but his words were stopped from leaving his throat as the grim reaper produced a black ring with no stone, but with a free space that seemed made for one.
"What is it?"
"Damon, I need your blood. And this is a nexus ring. With both your bloods in it, and some of my reaper's blood too, it will allow the two linked people to see each other, even through death, as long as they are present."
Damon bit the tip of his finger almost eagerly, but Ric seemed a bit reluctant. Ariane could see why, especially after the vampire's reaction at the news, but because of that very reaction, she knew this was the best thing to do – even if it was bad.
"Alaric, please. My scythe can cut you, even if you are dead, and even if the idiot should learn to live without you, I don't want him to be the cause of more deaths for the sole reason he can't cope."
The ghost sighed, knowing it to be true.
Ariane took out her scythe.
And three drops of blood fell onto the ring, magically creating a blood red stone in the vacant space.
