Author's note: First of all, thanks a lot for reading and reviewing the previous chapters, it means a lot to me :) Second, I am honestly trying to update as often as I only can :)

Dig in!


Chapter 5

Jenna woke up the next morning to the strong smell of coffee and the sun beaming right in her face through the half-open curtains. Not fully awake yet, she groaned in protest and buried her face into the pillow, everything about her so not up to meeting a new day. She was too warm, and cozy, and overall comfortable to do it just yet. She stretched leisurely… and it was only when she heard the footsteps outside the room and muffled sounds of another human being's presence in close proximity that the memories of the previous night rushed back into her mind and she finally remembered where she was and how she got there.

She opened her eyes slowly blinking in the sun and observed Alaric's bedroom – something she didn't quite have time to do before. And the first thing her gaze stopped at was alarm clock that informed her almost tauntingly that it was barely past 6 am – hardly the time she liked to be awake at – making Jenna wish she could just squeeze her eyes shut again and go back to sleep, if only to keep the way she felt intact.

But curiosity won and she let her gaze move forward. The room wasn't big and the bed that she was curled in at the moment occupied the greater part of it. Next to it was a nightstand with the reading lamp and the said alarm clock, and then followed black leather couch. The desk with the computer on top of it ended up across from it right at the window that was probably slightly ajar, judging from the light sway of the curtains. A couple more boxed in the corner and the four-drawer dresser completed the picture. The door to the right from the one they came in through was probably a built-in closet, Jenna supposed.

Her glance travelled around once again, more attuned to the details this time. Surprised, she saw her jeans and some other pieces of her garment lying in a pile on the couch, dry by the looks of them. She couldn't help but smile at the sight of another stack of books on the table – there was no shortage of them in this place, that's for sure. Her eyes slipped past the PC monitor… to where the only photograph in Alaric's apartment stood, perfectly lit by the sun for Jenna to make no mistake in recognizing the woman on it.

The view was sobering, like a bucket of cold water poured on her when she least expected it. Her smile faded instantly and she suddenly felt very uncomfortable and out of place in this room, under the somewhat studying gaze of Isobel Fleming-Saltzman, Alaric's… well, she had a problem with defining the status of their relationship. The urge to get out of there overwhelmed Jenna and she sat up in a jerk of a movement and reached for her clothes, trying to keep her eyes anywhere but at the picture that seemed to be drawing her gaze like a magnet, as if to remind her of the real order of things.

Right, Sommers, great job! Getting involved with the man who clearly still has feelings for his not so dead vampire ex-wife is exactly what you need right now, she thought with mental wince cursing herself for being so damn stupid. "What were you thinking, again?" She muttered under her breath. Yeah, nothing, little evil voice inside of her head reminded her mischievously.

"Oh, crap," she let out in a whoosh of a breath when the next problem arrived. She threw her t-shirt away last night. Stashed it into the trash-bin without so much as a second thought because it obviously was way beyond fixable, what with it being shredded almost to spaghetti at the sleeves and all covered with dirt and blood, and ended up having nothing to put on now.

She bit her lower lip and looked around, considering. It took her a moment to make a decision. After a short hesitation she picked one of Alaric's button-up shirts that lay in a neat stack on top of the dresser, probably right after laundry, and pulled it on. It was too big in the shoulders and Jenna took her time to roll up the sleeves and tie the loose ends on the waist, and decided that it was much better than showing up at home in the morning wearing only her bra.

Terrific, huh? Jenna thought huffing to herself.

She found a hairbrush lying on the nightstand and ran it through her hair several times fluffing it with her fingers. Not that there was anything else she could do. And then she paused at the desk not able to help it or out of masochism perhaps, and looked closely at Isobel's photograph, her fingers ran down the smooth wood frame. Hell, she couldn't even decide if she should be referring to the woman in the past or present tense, which was a little unnerving and more than a little confusing. Isobel was beautiful with those deep eyes and thick black hair that fell down her shoulders in heavy curls, and that was something that Jenna couldn't deny no matter how much she'd love to. No wonder Ric fell for her in the first place. Of course there must have been more to it than that but… but she imagined him standing right next to her and had to admit that they looked good together, and the image made her feel a little sick.

Jenna suppressed a sigh and turned away willing herself to ignore the pang in her heart at the thought. So much for being reasonable, ha! And she ended up in his bed all the same. Some people never learn.

She opened the door and paused in the doorway listening to the sounds of human activity in the other parts of the apartment, still feeling Isobel's heavy stare on her back. Couldn't help but throw another look back. Even though the woman on the photo was smiling, and looking quite happy overall, her gaze sill seeming to be piercing right through Jenna.

You're being ridiculous now, she told herself mildly frustrated and took a deep breath. Keep the face and don't screw up, you'll have time to wallow later.

Outside, Jenna stopped in the entrance to the kitchen, arms folded across her chest, as she watched Alaric move around the small space humming something to himself. He was shaved and his hair seemed to be slightly wet, from the shower perhaps, and he was dressed in deep blue jeans and a long-sleeved dark-gray t-shirt that outlined his broad back and perfectly shaped shoulders. Bittersweet joy filled Jenna and her breath hitched in her throat. It was too good to be true from the start, wasn't it?

He reached to get the cup from the holder above the sink and then must have seen her out of the corner of his eye because he suddenly stopped and turned, coffee forgotten, and she couldn't help but smile back at the sight of his own broad smile that lit up his face.

"Hey, look who is up," Ric walked up to her. "Good morning," he bent down to kiss her, as his hands ran up and down her arms making her body respond to the touch. "Sorry, didn't mean to wake you up."

"Good morning," she whispered back. "It wasn't you, it was the sun. And, I had to borrow this for a while," added referring to his shirt when his glance shot down for a moment and his brows quirked up in silent question. "Mine was totally ruined." And she made a funny face to emphasize her point.

Alaric laughed softly. "Keep it, it looks so much better on you than on me." His hands remained on her shoulders for a little while longer, and then he looked back and at her again. "Coffee?"

"Oh, that would be nice," Jenna nodded suppressing a yawn.

"Okay." He went back to the coffee pot. "Look, I've got an early class today," Ric waited for her to climb onto one of the tall stools and then put a mug filled with dark bitter-smelling liquid before her, "but you can stay here if you want." He took his own cup and leaned against the cool wooden surface of the counter in front of her.

Jenna shook her head. "No, I should go home." She took a sip and all but moaned with pleasure. It did taste good. "I shouldn't have stayed in the first place," she pointed out and then added on a long meaningful look, "Not that it was a bad idea whatsoever."

He grinned at her and then suddenly reached out and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering on her face careful not to touch the cut on her forehead that was now covered with beige band aid as his own face softened and he watched her for a long moment with the expression that Jenna couldn't quite define.

"How are you?"

"Stressed," she replied with a theatrical shiver. "The very thought of talking to the insurance company is depressing." Took another sip watching him over the rim of the mug, and dropped the act then. "It wasn't just an accident, Ric. Guess the talk to the police is on agenda, too. It was rather nightmarish when Elena did the same thing with her car a couple of months back. Better get it over with as fast as I can."

He nodded. "Okay." Jenna thought he was going to add something else, but he only said, "Let's go then."


"Okay, the trick is to sneak in before—" Jenna started at they walked up the porch. She paused to listen to the sounds behind the door and reached for the knob when she thought she heard none.

But she didn't even have a chance to even touch it as the door suddenly swung open and Elena walked out, her school bag slung over her shoulder, her thumb under the strap, and a mug of coffee in her hand.

They both stopped short after nearly bumping into each other and just gawked at one another for a little while.

"Elena," Jenna began in an overly cheerful voice but that was as much as she could muster.

"Jenna?" Elena blinked at her. Opened her mouth to say something as her brows came together in a confused frown, but then closed it again. Threw a quick glance over her shoulder. "Where have you-? I thought you were-" His eyes went to Alaric, then back to Jenna, then to Ric again and she successfully mimicked Jenna's smile addressing it to him. "Good morning, Mr. Saltzman!"

"Hi," Ric cleared his throat covering the chuckle and fighting to keep a straight face. God knew, it wasn't easy. They should have seen their faces, and yeah, he felt almost guilty for being so amused when Jenna clearly wanted the earth to swallow her, but he couldn't help it.

Awkward silence fell for a moment over them as all three just stood there at a total loss of words, and then was interrupted by the car signal behind their backs.

"Oh, it's… I've gotta go," Elena said being the first to regain her composure. "I have a class and Bonnie is here-" She trailed off and reached for Jenna's hand squeezing it briefly. "I'm so glad you're okay." Gave her a quick hug then and hopped down the porch to where silvery car was waiting for her at the curb.

Jenna closed her eyes for a moment, counted to five and then opened them on a long exhale to see the tail of Bonnie's car disappear around the corner.

"That was unexpected. Do you think she guessed I hadn't been home last night?" She asked Ric in a small miserable voice, obviously searching for support.

"Nope, not a chance," he reassured her.

"Really?"

A quick struggle crossed his face. "Yeah, she definitely did," he replied with confidence after a short pause and then laughed at the sight of helpless defeat on Jenna's face.

"You think it's funny, huh?" She bumped her forehead into his shoulder on a low growl and his arm went around her. "I feel like a very good example of bad." She muttered onto his jacket, her voice muffled.

Alaric chuckled. "She's a big girl, and…" looked at his watch. "It's my class she is having. Crap. I've gotta go. You promise to stay out of trouble?"

Jenna lifter her head. "I promise."

"Good." He kissed her lightly. "And if you need a ride-"

"It's alright," she shook her head. "There's an old Grayson's car in the garage. He… he never got to sell it. It should be fine. Running, I mean. I will only have to fill it up perhaps."

"Oh, okay then," Ric nodded and then gave her a small smile. "I'll call you later."

Once inside the house, Jenna locked the door and heaved a long sigh. She was tired and confused, and her thoughts were a mess, and embarrassed was a serious underestimation of what she was feeling. Even if Ric was right and it wasn't a big deal (because it probably wasn't), it still…

"Hey, Aunt Jenna!" A greeting from behind caught her half-way through self-consolation slash self-reproach. "What's up?"

"Jeremy!" Yeah, it would be too good to be true if she ran only into Elena, right? Bracing herself for whatever might follow, and cursing in her mind for not seeing him right away, she suppressed a sigh and made her way into the kitchen where Jeremy sat at the table with a bowl of cereal and a half-empty mug of coffee. "What are you doing here?"

"We don't have the first period," he replied around the mouthful of cereal, and explained, "Math teacher got sick." And that was when his eyes went up and he finally paid attention to her looks, and she watched his face fall. "What happened to you?"

Really, where to start?

Her hand went up to the band aid on her forehead involuntarily and she refused to think of what she really looked like in Ric's oversized shirt and all covered with scratches and bruises.

"Oh, that? Nothing," she waved her hand and leaned against the back of the chair in front of him trying to look and sound all nonchalant. "Just… ran into something."

"Something like what? A concrete wall?" He snickered.

"A tree. The car looks worse, believe me." Oh, it wasn't a good joke, she realized when Jeremy froze and his eyes grew despite his will. Damn it!

"What happened?"

Great! Well done, Jenna! She kicked herself mentally watching his face change from slightly amused to horrified and fought to find a way to wiggle out of this situation without drama. A car accident. Of course. Again. Like with his parents.

The memory of him flinching every time he had to get in a car for weeks after Miranda and Grayson's death flashed through her memory. She didn't want to even try to imagine what it felt like for him to hear that she was a step away from following her sister to a better world. Her own attempts to block out the bad and only leave the best memories of Miranda backfired in the worst possible way. She was so stressed and scared and simply thrown out of reality last night that the idea simply hadn't occurred to her, and now she couldn't help but feel endlessly bad and even physically sick at the thought of nearly making them go through the whole nightmare all over again.

Jenna tried to keep her face though. Not that pushing back her feelings was something new anyway. Leaning forward, she reached for the bowl of fruit and picked a grape, threw it into her mouth and chewed slowly. "You should have seen the tree," she said in a low confiding voice hoping she'd pull it off. "It's got the worst part of the deal." And enunciated her point with her eyebrows ignoring the lump that formed in her throat as her little adventure gained new and very colorful shade to it.

Jeremy watched her with a mixture of suspicion and disbelief for a little while, but then huffed and shook his head obviously letting her topic slip, and Jenna all but sighed with relief.

"You're… really something, Aunt Jenna."

"I've heard worse," she scoffed. "It's not a big deal, Jer, I swear." Her face turned serious. "I should have been more careful on the road, is all. So far, calling the insurance company seems to be the worst part of the accident for me."

"Well, I kind of guessed it wasn't that bad," he drawled then and his easy tone made her eyes narrow. "Assuming Mr. Saltzman brought you back home in the morning," he finished and downed the remains of his coffee, and added in response to her jaw that dropped in shock. "I saw his car."

And that was exactly the part she wholeheartedly hoped they wouldn't touch. Except that she was almost sure he brought it up intentionally, and she suddenly found herself caught off guard and maybe even flushing a little.

"Yeah, about that-"

"Morning, everyone," John walked into the kitchen interrupting her before Jenna came up with something that sounded better than "Aliens took me" looking a little too cheerful for this time of the day, or in general – speaking of that, and it made her wonder what it was about.

"Morning, Uncle John," Jeremy called back getting up. He grabbed bowl and a mug and went to the sink.

John's gaze followed him and then stopped at Jenna whose greeting was limited to a questioning look she gave him, her head tilted slightly in suspicion.

"Jenna? What happened to you?" Yeah, it couldn't have escaped him, could it? "Did you… run into something?"

"It was a tree," Jeremy answered helpfully with a mock-grave face. Well, at least he was past crisis, which couldn't not be somewhat consoling.

John's eyebrows shot up as he looked expectedly at her. "What did I miss?"

She contemplated saying something quick, sharp and witty in response but the exhaustion and overall wish to get the whole situation out of her head won. In the end, she only gave him a cold glare and chose to ignore the question.

"Right." She peered at Jeremy. "You – go to school, now. And I—I have a long day ahead."

Shower, coffee, breakfast, the rest of stuff – in that precise order, she decided. And maybe she'd be lucky enough to survive it.


A visit from John Gilbert was the last thing Damon expected, and the idea of slamming the door in his face was tempting – more than tempting. He actually had to struggle with himself not to do it. And yet – he suppressed his wish and mustered what was supposed to look like a sincere smile. Well, it was almost sincere, assuming that it was a lot more annoying than the fake one.

"John! What an unpleasant surprise!" He drawled. "What do I owe the honor? Oh, the newspaper!" He bent down to pick it up from the door mat.

John returned neither the smile, nor the greeting. Instead, he let himself into the house and went straight to the living room. Damon rolled his eyes behind his visitor's back, closed the door and followed him wondering what on earth could this man possibly need from him now that everything was more or less clear between the two of them. At least they made a point in hating each other enough to stay as far away from one another as they could, their involvement with the Council assumed.

"What the hell is going on?" John asked stopping in the middle of a huge living room and turning around to glare at Damon.

Damon cocked an eyebrow with his trademark charm. "I'm not exactly a morning person. Could you please be less vague or come back later? Oh, wait! How about you never come back? That would work, too."

John ignored the sarcasm. "I am talking about the attacks," he snapped. "Or did you forget that the Council-"

"I hang out with them too, remember?" Damon interrupted him. "So yeah, I know about the whole drama. Your question still doesn't make much sense to me, I'm sorry."

"What do you know about these… incidents?" He all but hissed.

Damon pretended to give serious thinking to John's words, took his time to make a semi-circle before him knowing that his guest's frustration grew with each passing moment. "Just as much as you do, I'm afraid." And had he been someone else, he'd probably buy the regret he put into his own answer. "And by the way, if you wanted to ask me if I did it, you could have been more direct. I wouldn't hold it against you, John. Not now that we're both fighting against big bad vampires together." And he wiggled his eyebrows.

"Why are you here, Damon?" John asked and his nostrils flared with annoyance.

Damon looked around the room, confused. "I live here," he said patiently, as if talking to someone mentally incompetent.

"In Mystic Falls."

"The real question, John, is why are you here?" He paused to give him a long once-over. "Did you know that after all these years Isobel was going to come back? Or-" His eyes narrowed. "Was it she who asked you to come?"

They started at each other as if having a mental battle for a long while.

"I want you to stay away from my family," John pointed a finger at Damon. "Or I swear, I-"

"What?" The vampire rolled his eyes. "I thought we already were past the I'll-hunt-you-down-and-stake-you thing, really. You're repeating yourself."

"I mean it, Damon."

"Get in line, seriously. And by the way, does Elena know about the extent of your fatherly feelings?"

John froze. "What are you talking about?"

"You know what I am talking about," Damon's voice was soft now. "How else would Elena end up in your family? Too much for just a coincidence, don't you think?"

"How do you know?"

Damon snorted. "I'm surprised no one figured it out yet. It's so obvious." He walked up to John knowing that the man could probably feel the danger emanating from him. "And just for the record, it was your ex and not me who practically stalked your daughter and wanted to slaughter half of the town. So how about that – you stop threatening me every time we happen to run into each other and I promise to try not to spill your little secret to wide masses? Because I am really sick and tired of being accused of everything that happens in this little paradise of a place."

"Who is threatening who now?"

"I am offering a truce." Damon corrected him "And I'm not doing it for you. Elena has enough crap to deal with now, the last thing she needs is someone like you to add to it. And if you see a threat in it, I can't help but feel sorry for you." He stepped back, his face is controlled again. "You know where the door is, right?"


Jenna knew it wouldn't be a pretty view in the daylight. And still, she couldn't help but cringe when she arrived at the spot right after the insurance agent.

There was hardly much left of the hood – that was practically wrapped around the trunk of the tree with the pieces of torn metal spiking here and there where it broke under the impact. The whole trunk was scratched all over and the wind finished the job that the tree started – the entire windshield was lying shattered on the dashboard and front seats, some sharp pieces that got stuck in the frame still sticking out, glinting dangerously in the sunlight.

Blinking in the morning sun, she shielded her eyes with her hand and took a closer look letting the busy-looking agent – a man in his forties in dark-blue trench coat – fill in the forms he had on the clip-board and make all necessary measurements, or whatever.

She pushed away the hair that the light breeze kept throwing in her face and her gaze traveled along the flattened grass that her car left behind all the way up to the highway. Fifty feet at least, she thought as sinking feeling settle in the pit of her stomach. The huge stone that she managed to avoid by some unbelievable luck could have sent her car rolling down the hill, and in that case she'd hardly make it out of this adventure without stitches and probably a stay in the hospital.

She jerked as the phone started to ring in her bag. So much for being jumpy, huh? Jenna retrieved it, threw a quick look at the insurance agent who seemed to be too preoccupied with his task to pay any attention to her and pushed the answer button.

"Hello?" Waited for a moment but no one responded. "Hello?" She repeated louder cupping her hand around her mouth thinking that she might have not spoken loud enough but all she heard was static on the line. Static, and what she took for soft breathing for a moment. And then silence fell when whoever called her disconnected. Jenna looked at the small screen. The caller ID of whoever tried to reach her was hidden. "Very funny," she muttered trying to push back the inexplicable chill that started to crawl beneath her skin.

Someone had just dialed the wrong number by mistake, heard unfamiliar voice and hung up, right? No big deal. And yet…

Jenna frowned, somewhat worried by how everything inside of her twisted for no apparent reason and was about to stuff her phone into the pocket of her jacket when another round of shrills stopped her halfway. She hesitated for a moment as if something kept her back, and then picked it up.

"Hey, it's me," a familiar voice said in reply to her greeting giving her heart a small leap.

"Ric," she breathed out with relief feeling the corners of her lips tug up of the will of their own. "Hi. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, just a… um, touch base," he joked. "I'm having an extremely boring break here. Thought I'd… make it a little less unpleasant. What are you up to?"

"Oh, I am having a very exciting excursion to the ruins," Jenna informed him.

"That bad, huh?" She could hear sympathy in his voice.

"Well, let's say I liked the way it looked at night much better." She paused for a moment, and then blurted out, surprising herself. "Mm… Ric? Did you just call me?"

"When?"

"Two minutes ago, maybe."

"No. Why?"

Obviously, because I am going nuts. "Missed call. Thought it was you." She lied hating herself for that but there really was no reason to make a big thing of it, right? "Never mind."

"Oh, okay. Look… how long are you going to be stuck there?"

"I don't know. Not long I hope. Why?"

There was a short pause on the line before Alaric asked. "Wanna… wanna join me for lunch? I was thinking… you and me, and three hundred of other students. What would you say?"

She let out a short laugh, surprised and ridiculously pleased. "Wow, now that's an offer no girl can turn down."

"Miss Sommers?" She heard from behind and turned to see the insurance agent – Dave? – wave at her asking her to come to him.

"I'm sorry, I've got to go now," she said a bit hurriedly and surely with regret, and added, "But I'll be there."

Jenna marched back to where the man was scribbling something on his clipboard, her jeans soaking through at the ankles from walking on the grass that was still wet from the rain. Not exactly the feeling she liked after the previous night, but she chose to ignore it and focus on tasks at hand.

"I'm done here," Dave started as soon as she was close enough and tucked his pen into the holder on the clipboard. Looked over his shoulder at the car with what Jenna thought was a profound skepticism and then faced her again. "I am going to call for the truck now to have your car towed to the shop so that they could estimate the damage," he explained.

"Okay."

He nodded curtly. "Good. I suggest you check if you've left anything that you think you'd need inside. Gloved, glasses." He shrugged and reached for his phone. "It'll take a while to bring your car back to-" he cut off and Jenna wondered what he was going to say, which quite frankly was understandable since even in her opinion the mess before them wasn't an easy piece to fix. "Just have a look."

"Yeah, sure."

Jenna checked the back seat and the trunk. Found a colorful satin scarf in the latter that she or Elena forgot there and stuffed it into her bag. Opened the front passenger door and dove inside trying to be careful with the glass that was lying all over before her. Two CD disks from the compartment between the seats followed the scarf. She paused then, considering. Even despite rather cool air outside, the car got warm in the sun and felt a little stuffy and not even the wind blowing through the destroyed windshield helped much.

Not that she ever kept anything valuable here, Jenna thought and decided that she would do just fine without whatever was left, like a pack of napkins in the pocket behind the driver's seat or a sunscreen for the back window she spotted in the trunk several minutes ago.

Her eyes stopped at the gloves compartment then. Gloves, glasses – Dave's words shot through her mind. Without any second thought she reached to open it. And then froze in her spot, one hand still lying on the back of the seat and another holding the gloves compartment handle as her heart jumped up to her throat first and then plummeted down heavily and her blood started to drum in her ears.

On top of the folded state road map and right beside the case for her sunglasses lay a folded piece of paper that matched the one that she found the other night in her room. A small beige postcard with ivy ornament on the front side. And she would probably think that it was the same one, except that Jenna knew with absolute accuracy that the postcard that she got before was still lying on the nightstand in her bedroom. That was one of a very few things she was 100% sure of.

This morning it was the first thing that she saw when she walked into her room and, sitting on her bed, she took her time to examine it closely once again hoping to find something that slipped her attention the night she received it, what with the darkness and her half-awake and pretty nervous state. Be damned that crow! The handwriting was beautiful, almost calligraphic and what she would call old style. Not the scrawls that most of her notes were. Someone took an effort to make it look… well, presentable. Like on the wedding invitations. Except that this someone totally forgot to sign it, she huffed with frustration and put it back realizing all of a sudden that she had more important things to deal with than studying what probably was either a mistake, or a joke, or both and – what was most important – was not necessarily directed at her.

Why would anyone leave her anything like that anyway?

The sun that was making its way into her room thought the curtains and filling it with the soft yellowish light made all of her fears and half-formed assumptions look irrational and ridiculous. By the time she woke up the previous morning, the memories of the nightmare blurred and the images faded in her mind, which of course wasn't a bad thing. She simply threw another glance at it and decided to forget about it for good.

And she probably would, if she hadn't found another one…

Jenna swallowed hard and reached for it hoping madly that it was just a piece of paper, like a receipt from the shop or a napkin, or something else similarly meaningless, which looked like a postcard in the semi-darkness of the gloves compartment. The hope fell to pieces as soon as she touched it though. The texture and the thickness of it told her everything even before she retrieved it to the light. With the trembling fingers Jenna opened it slowly and thanked God she was sitting as the dizziness washed over her and the chill ran down her spine.

Inside, she saw one line written in red ink in the same neat handwriting: Have a safe trip.

With her gaze running along the line over and over again, Jenna climbed out nearly stumbling on uneven ground beneath her feet. Not that it was that easy to keep her focus on the words though, assuming that her hands shaking and the letters jumped before her eyes.

What the hell was going on?

Her head was spinning as her mind fought to find a simple and logical explanation and everything inside of her twisted making her feel sick by the second. Absently, she looped her hair around her ear and noted without surprise that her legs started to feel heavy and not exactly reliable to stand on.

It was the roar of the car from the highway that gave her a start and she jerked her head up to see red minivan disappearing out of her sight.

"Miss Sommers?" Dave was looking at her shielding his eyes from the sun with her clipboard. "Are you done?"

She processed the question in her mind. "Yes," replied after a short pause and asked him, squinting in the sunlight, "Do you need me for anything else?"

"Just a signature here," he handed her the clipboard and pointed to the place she needed to sign. Jenna ran her eyes quickly through the text and then scribbled something barely definable in the bottom right corner. "And here," he turned the page over. "That's all." Checked everything and nodded more to himself than to her. "We'll call you."

"Sure." She responded distractedly suddenly aware of clutching the card tight in her hand. Looked up to where her car was parked, not visible from where she stood, and turned back to the agent. "I'm sorry, but I really need to be somewhere else now."

"No problem," he didn't acknowledge her leave in any specific way.


They found a free picnic table at the far end of the back yard close to the football field where in the absence of the players several students were sitting on the grass in semi-circle, their bags scattered carelessly around them, and discussing the parade.

"Wow, school food," Jenna observed the selection of snacks on the plastic tray before her in almost awe. "I hadn't eaten anything like that ever since…"

"School?" Alaric suggested helpfully.

She laughed. "Yeah, something like that." She shook her head under his amused gaze not able to hold her own smile back. Looked over her shoulder at the kids to the right from them – obviously, the members of the Founders Day committee, or so Jenna guessed by the bits of conversation that she managed to capture – and then asked, "How is the preparation going?"

Ric followed her gaze. "Crazy," he admitted. "There's so much to do and we're totally short of time – of course! – which doesn't make it any easier. Honestly, most of time I want to run away, screaming," added on a chuckle and then cocked his head slightly. "Is it always like that?"

"The celebration? Well, yes, as far as I remember. But this time it is this 150 years anniversary. Big date and all. So consider yourself lucky."

He took his time to think her answer through. "We should seriously work on your understanding of luck some time," Ric said at last with firm determination.

The comment made Jenna all but choke with her orange juice and she barely managed to swallow it without laughing. Looked across the table at him. "Thanks."

"For what?"

"This," she nodded at their trays and then swept the whole yard packed with students with her glance before meeting his eyes again.

"Junk food and noise?" Alaric specified.

"Yes, junk food and noise," she nodded. "I really needed it."

"Well, the pleasure is all mine," he beamed a smile at her and then studied his ham and cheese sandwich thoughtfully. "I am fortunate to enjoy it every day. Thought I didn't have to suffer alone all the time." His expression softened when he studied her face closely. "Tough morning?"

"Yeah," Jenna let out long breath and raked her hair back from her face. "You could say that." She crossed her ankles under the bench and picked a salted cracker from the plastic plate. "I had to fill, like, a ton of forms for the insurance company. Don't remember the last time I had to do so much paperwork. They promised to try to deal with it as fast as they could but it will take some time all the same."

"Did you talk to the police?"

"Yes, I did." She rubbed at her forehead with uncertainty and offered him a small smile. "That was the fun part."

"What did they say?"

"Well," Jenna leaned forward a little propping herself on her elbows, "As long as there is no evidence of anyone following me, there is no case." She shrugged. "Not that I didn't see it coming," added under her breath. "So, now it's between me, my imagination and stupid tree."

She hoped she managed to keep it light and not let the irritation slip because that was exactly what she was feeling ever since talking to the police office who made it perfectly clear that she must have fallen asleep while driving. Lulled by the rain perhaps, she thought dryly. And that was exactly what she didn't need to bring up at all and ruin their small getaway.

Even if, truth be told, there was something else. Something that lurked in the back of her mind, like a thought she couldn't quite grasp, or a vague memory. Something that she wasn't able get out of her head but that kept slipping away from her every single time she came close enough to catch it. She knew it was nothing. She knew it was unreasonable.

And yet, the uneasy feeling was sill there, like a suspicion that something was seriously wrong. She couldn't quite shake it off for a little while already. And she couldn't help feeling that someone was constantly watching her, breathing down her neck even, a heavy glare burning the back of her head and making her throw quick looks over her shoulder every now and then. She could feel it with her skin.

Ever since she had that dream, Jenna realized if a little belatedly. Ever since she found the first card. The awareness downed on her like a heavy stone muting all of her other thoughts, making her practically deaf to everything around, and she wondered how she never saw it before. Not that it was making any sense because there still was no connection, or least she couldn't find any yet. But… but she couldn't ignore it either because… okay, she didn't know why but that was either this, or her becoming a paranoiac with persecution mania, and Jenna honestly preferred the first one. Except that—

Except that even the first theory was a bit too insane for comfort, even with the whole vampire thing in the background.

Well, maybe—

"Jenna?"

Somehow the voice made it to her ears and snapped her out of her thoughts and back to the sunny but windy afternoon and her sitting with Ric in the high school backyard. Her fingers flexed on the cracker and it broke in two pieces and fell back to her plate.

"What?" Her gaze fixed on Ric's brows lifted up questioningly. Obviously, the conversation was one-sided for a little while as she was doing a lousy job on her part, too distracted by her mental speculations. "Oh God, I'm sorry. I…"

"Got a little carried away?" He offered.

"Sort of." Jenna chuckled softly and then gave him a small apologetic smile. "It's… there's just some stuff that I try to wrap my mind around but-" she trailed off not sure what exactly she was going to say.

Alaric looked at her seriously. "Is there something else?"

Her first impulse was to say No and laugh it off because seriously? She was being ridiculous, and rational and logical part of her screamed about it in earnest. And thank God for that! Everything else was just her imagination and half-formed guesses that had no sensible ground, right?

Yeah, tell him, small voice nudged her with a tease. About the messages, and calls, and stuff. And don't forget the crow that followed you out of your dream and right onto the tree outside your window. That would be interesting! Not as interesting as a feeling of being followed – nothing can beat that perhaps – but still!

Jenna scowled mentally at herself. Except—except that it was Ric. Why not tell him everything? He'd most definitely decide that she was overreacting – which was probably true – and she'd feel much better. Well, she'd feel pretty silly first, but then again there was one thing about Ric that she knew for sure – he'd always listen to her, and that alone was somewhat comforting. She could deal with silly, and she definitely could use someone else's opinion on the things, if only to sort them out for herself. Who else could she possibly tell if not him, anyway?

Alaric watched her closely, expecting for a reply – any reply by the looks of it. And as much as she'd like to shake it off, she knew better than being so damn secretive.

"There's-" she started when she made up her mind just as the bell rang cutting her off and they both turned involuntarily to look at the school and the students that took off and streamed into the double doors hurrying to get to their classrooms.

"You were saying?" Ric's attention was back to her in a moment.

"No, nothing." Jenna shook her head. "You should probably-"

"Yeah," he looked over his shoulder again as if torn, but then nodded if a little hesitantly and got up. Circled the table and bent down to kiss her. "I'll catch up with you later."

"Sure."

She held his gaze for a long moment marveling in the warm feeling that formed in her stomach and spread all over her body making her feel… oddly right. God, she was in trouble. How not cool was that, huh? Jenna watched him cross the yard and enter the school and then tapped her fingers on the table. She had things to do. Like, to check if Grayson's car was functioning properly to begin with. No need for bad surprises now, thank you! Getting back to her thesis was a close second on her must-do list. Throwing all that crap out of her mind – top priority!

…The phone call caught Alaric when he was trying to make his way back to his class in the sea of high-school students who tended to change the trajectory of their movement so fast that he needed to stay alert most of time to avoid bumping into someone or another every now and then.

He wiggled his phone out of the pocket of his jeans. Caller ID said: Damon Salvatore, which never meant anything good, and he winced against himself, so not up to facing yet another disaster. For one thing, Damon would hardly call to have a small talk or open his heart and soul, or something else like that. Ric maneuvered his way out of the crowd and squeezed into the corner between the door to the gym that he knew was empty now and the lockers.

"Please, tell me you dialed my number by mistake," he breathed out into the receiver trying to keep his voice as low as possible.

"Can't you at least make an effort to pretend that you're happy to hear me?" Damon snickered.

"No then," Ric sighed and looked around to make sure no one was close enough to eavesdrop. The hall was almost empty by then, luckily. His eyes locked on the clock on the wall. He was three minutes late for his class already. "What is it this time?"

Damon ignored him though. "What's with all the noise?" He asked curiously instead.

"I work at school, remember?"

"Ah, yes. Deliciously fresh students. How could it slip my mind?" He sounded almost embarrassed with himself. "Are they the reason of the global crisis I hear in your voice?"

"No, it's because we've got a problem," Ric lowered his voice even more.

There was a muffled noise of Damon's end of the line. "Speaking of which, I'm now reading the morning newspaper here. Seven deaths in the last three days – two locals, three tourists and two campers that were having a wild life fun at the lake not far from Mystic Falls. That's beside the deaths that we already know about."

"Yeah, that too."

"Too?" Damon got all serious by the second, his voice cautious and alarmed. "Is there anything else?"

The bite marks on Jenna's neck in the silvery light flashed before Ric's mind's eye and he swallowed hard fighting the nauseating feeling caused by the thought of someone being that close to killing her that kept haunting him. His free hand balled into a fist against his will.

"Much to my dismay."

"Well, I've got good news then."

"Humor me," Ric muttered.

"How do you feel about a late night field trip?"


"Someone fed on her!" Alaric said with poorly masked anger holding back the wish to kick something. His breath was puffing out in small white clouds and he tucked his hands deeper into the pockets of his coat feeling his blood boil with rage.

"You sure?" Damon frowned. Whatever he expected Ric's problem to be, it obviously was anything but that.

"I know what bite marks look like, thank you," and he shook his head. "And they left her alive which… which I can't explain because it makes no sense."

Damon's eyebrows cocked up. "And Jenna doesn't know who it was?"

Ric grimaced. "She doesn't even know that it happened."

"What?" The vampire, who was studying the Mystic Grill sign hanging above the entrance to the bar, whipped his head around and all but gawked at Alaric with what could be qualified as utter and complete disbelief. "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope. The bite – it's on the back of her neck," his jaw tightened at the memory. "Whoever did it, made sure she'd never see it unless she knew where to look, and what to look for – to begin with." He looked at Damon somewhat helplessly then. "I didn't tell her. Didn't want to freak her out."

"Then how on earth did you-" Damon started but the stumbled when the pieces of the picture clicked together. "Oh," he drawled and his lips stretched into a wide sly grin. "I see." Alaric scowled at him and he scoffed. "Oh please, don't flatter yourself, Ric. Your love life is the last thing on my list of interests, believe me. No need to be so pouty about it."

"Whatever," Ric rolled his eyes.

"What I don't understand is how could she not notice?" Damon's forehead puckered up and his voice was mildly frustrated. Apparently, the puzzles like that annoyed him. Not that it wasn't understandable. "Compulsion?"

Ric pinched the bridge of his nose. "She stayed unconscious for a little while. I guess that was when she got attacked. She's, um… she's wearing vervain so she couldn't have been compelled or something." He heaved a long exasperate sigh. "It's getting too far, Damon. She could've died. We've got to do something about it."

"How about catch and kill?" Damon offered with excitement beaming at him.

"And, wasn't it the general idea from the start?"

"Well, now that you've mentioned it," he reached into the pocket of his black leather jacket and retrieved something from it. A small golden object winked at Ric in the light of streetlamps when the vampire passed it over to him with a nonchalant expression. "Here it is."

Alaric took his time to study what obviously was an antique pocket watch with a very delicate engraving on both sides of it. It felt cool and heavy in his hand. Nice thing, surely expensive by the looks of it and probably historically valuable, but—

"A watch?" He blinked at Damon.

"Yes, Ric, a watch. So that you could always check the time when yet another tragedy falls upon us." He agreed with mock patience and snorted then. "Open it, would you?"

Alaric did and then looked up at Damon again when he didn't see the usual watch face that he expected he would. "What is it?"

"It's a compass," Damon explained. "Jonathan Gilbert's invention from 1864 peppered with one little witch's magic. It is sort of attuned to the vampires." He shrugged, and as if to confirm his words, thick arrow made a full circle and then stopped still, its sharp end pointing at Damon.

"Wow, that's… handy." As well as amazing and unbelievable. "Where did you get it?"

"Let's say we're lucky to have a Gilbert for a friend." And added, "Elena gave it to me so that we could try and track this thing down before Mystic Falls became extinct." He waited for the information to sink. "I can't do anything with it, for obvious reasons," He said with a dramatic sigh. "See, it will keep pointing at me, like, all the time."

"Side effect of being who you are, huh?" Ric smirked – couldn't help it, really. But Damon only scolded in response. "What should I do?"

"Now we're talking business." The vampire pushed himself off of the hood of Alaric's car. "Put this on the dashboard and have a drive around the neighborhood. If you come to our visitor close enough, the compass will react to it. Just don't speed up."

"Got it."

It was almost exciting at first – circling the town, waiting for the compass to come to life and start spinning or something. In two hours though it got a little boring. An hour and a half after that driving around with the turtle speed became plain annoying and the very plan started to look like a rather stupid waste of time. The anticipation of the miracle faded and was replaced by an overwhelming numbness, which wasn't that really surprising assuming that the time was nearing four in the morning, and the whole idea seemed to be falling to shit.

Ric let out a long sigh and stifled a yawn. Blinked several times to concentrate on the road and debated turning on the radio. He didn't risk to do it before, scared to lose his attention and to miss something but now it was either that or running into the nearest hedge. Coffee would help perhaps, he thought with despair and even thinking about it made him practically feel bitter scent of it.

If only he found out that all of this was just Damon's idea of fun, he was so going to rip the vampire's head off, Ric thought darkly. He wouldn't put it past Damon, honestly.

Except that Damon had his own reasons to have the creature caught and stopped by any means. That, though, Ric tried not to go too deep into and let the vampire deal with it on his own. Falling for his brother girlfriend was a very bad idea in general. Repeating the story for the second time and in the same place where it all began 145 years ago was an even worse scenario, which made Alaric wonder against his will how it would end this time.

He jerked slightly when his phone started to ring on the passenger seat and groped for it keeping his eyes on the road, his gaze darting to the right and to the left as he observed dark houses – where normal people were all long asleep. With dread he thought of the football training session that was planned for the morning and all but groaned at the prospect.

"Any luck?" A lazy voice asked.

Damon.

"For how long am I supposed to have this detour, exactly?" Ric inquired with a mist of annoyance in his voice. "I believe I already know the town better than anyone else around here."

"The answer is no, I guess."

"Look, it's been more than here hours." He tried not to let his exhaustion slip but knew he didn't succeed much. "You guys can move fast. What if our guest camps 100 miles outside Mystic Falls and only shows up for dinner? I mean, seriously, Damon, he could be anywhere. And what's the range of work of this thing, again?"

"Do you have a better plan?" Damon asked dryly.

"I have a plan to be functioning properly tomorrow," he cut off and corrected himself. "Today. Some of us have to work, you know."

"Duh, what's fun in that? I thought we were all about teaming up and fighting now! Besides, who are you going to work with if the number of your students starts decreasing?"

"Yeah, thanks, that was helpful."

But damn it, he had a point and Ric knew it. They had to do something and do it quick, if only because the overall panic was the last thing they needed, period. Not to mention that it wasn't just a wish to protect the unknowing and innocent. It was a personal revenge no matter how hard he tried to take it differently, and Alaric's fingers flexed on the steering wheel at the thought. Going against Jenna was a bad move, and apparently it was the trigger that needed to be pulled to set his outrage free. Whoever did it – accidentally or on purpose, was not going to get away with it just like that.

They were still walking on thin ice but one thing Ric knew for sure. Wherever they would go and however their story would end, he already cared deep enough not to ever let anyone lay so much as a finger on Jenna or hurt her again. His determination was surprising and even somewhat frightening even for himself, but when he said that he would make sure she'd get the best – he meant it.

Except that he was exhausted like hell and not really useful at any rate. The previous night was stressful and draining enough to add this wild goose chase to it.

"Anyway, keep going," Damon singsonged but his voice was swallowed by the outburst of laughter on his side of the line.

"Where are you?"

"The bar. Just me, some bourbon, and crazy folks that have a birthday party. So noisy!" The way it sounded – almost like a complaint – made Ric grit his teeth.

"You know what-" he started ready to send this whole campaign to hell but then his ears caught the crackling noise coming from the dashboard. His gaze jerked to the compass even before the realization formed fully in his head and fixed on the arrow that shifted to the right and kept moving as his car continued to go further down the street. He clutched the phone tight and hit the brakes on instinct, his body jerking forward as the car came to an abrupt stop.

"What?" Damon asked rather lazily, completely oblivious to what had happened.

"I have something," Ric whispered as if seriously thinking that the compass could be spooked by the loud voice. Crazy as it seemed, he couldn't help it.

"Like what?"

"Damn it!" His phone now squeezed between his shoulder and his ear, he made a U-turn making the tires let out a loud squeal. "What do I do now?"

Finally, Damon seemed to catch up with what was going on. "Follow it."

"Oh crap," Ric let out in a whoosh of breath after a little while.

"What?"

"It stopped."

"What do you mean stopped? You lost it?"

"No, I didn't." Ric swallowed. "I'm right outside my apartment, Damon." He knew he was saying the words but they weren't making any sense even to him. Absently, his gaze slid up the driveway and fixed on the familiar curtains on the living room windows. The impossibility of situation making it hard to believe it was real. "It points at my apartment."

To be continued…


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