Author's note: It's long again. I know. I'm sorry. I honestly tried to make it shorter, but in fact I even had to cut out some stuff and put it into the next chapter, otherwise this one would be almost twice longer. It's not my fault though, blame plot bunnies :) Wanted to add some juicy break-up but you'll have to wait I'm afraid. On the bright side - a lot of Jalaric in this one :)
Comments and reviews are always appreciated :)
Chapter 7
Jenna snapped out of the dream on an instant, gasping for air, and woke up at last.
Alarm clock on the nightstand informed her that it was a little past three in the morning, and she fell backwards onto the pillows trying to catch her breath and feeling completely drained and, in fact, more exhausted now than before she went to sleep. She closed her eyes and exhaled slowly counting in her mind in a poor attempt to come to her senses. Having a dream about having a dream about something bad and bloody yet again… it was a little too much for one night. Okay, it was a bit too much, period.
What the hell was going on?
And why couldn't it just let her go? She squeezed her eyes tight, fighting to stop hearing the flap of wings…. Until it occurred to her that it wasn't coming from her head. In fact, it was—
Purely on instinct, Jenna all but jumped up and scooted backwards pressing her back against the headboard of the bed as her eyes darted wildly around the room. It wasn't a dream, she did hear it for real this time.
As one of her hand was clutching the blanket so tight that her knuckles had gone white and keeping it up to her chin as though it could be an actual shield, she reached out for the reading lamp hoping wildly that the light would take everything away the way it was supposed to. It wasn't real, she kept telling herself. Damn it, it couldn't be.
And then she froze halfway through when he eyes locked on the window – the window that she knew she closed before going to bed. It was open now and a crow was sitting on the windowsill shifting from paw to paw and looking back at her with calm curiosity that made Jenna's blood run cold as she distractedly caught the sway of the curtains out of the corner of her eye. And she was this close to having an honest to God heart attack.
Jenna didn't know for how long it lasted. She couldn't move and she couldn't breathe, terrified and shocked beyond imaginable, some part of her expecting the creature to attack her the way it did in her dreams. But then all of a sudden the crow turned around startling her, and took off disappearing in the night.
For a moment Jenna stayed glued to the spot, her head spinning and her heart pounding heavily, but then adrenaline rush threw her into action. She turned on the light, tossed her covers aside and hopped out of the bed. Crossed the room in two strides and shut the window locking it. Not that it helped a lot the previous time, but still. Closed the curtains then and backed away breathing hard as if after a long run, swallowed by déjà vu.
Panicking slightly, she looked around the room running her hand through her somewhat tangled strands nervously, and feeling that she was losing her mind. Well, she had no reason to think that she wasn't!
In the end her gaze rested on her mobile phone that lay on the dresser. She walked up to it and grabbed it hastily hitting the quick dial button, not quite thinking anymore, only knowing that she'd get nuts if she didn't do something. Listening to the rings on the other end of the line was almost soothing. He picked up after the fifths one.
"Ric? Can you come now, please?"
Slowly, persistent shrilling made its way to Alaric's ears and it took him a moment or two to register it and realize that it was his phone that he left lying on the nightstand that was trying to ruin his sleep, and, as a matter of fact, succeeding in it, too.
He groaned in protest and debated ignoring it but after yet another ring reached out and groped blindly for it not bothering to open his eyes, or even wake up properly, speaking of that.
If it was Damon, he thought with growing frustration, he was going to kill him. No kidding, he was going to find a stake, make it sharp as a knife, hunt down the damned vampire and draw it through his heart without so much as a second thought. Just like that, no regrets and no mercy this time. Damon was overstepping all boundaries now, and there was limit even to Ric's patience.
It wasn't Damon though, to Alaric's endless surprise, and at first he didn't even recognize the voice being 100% sure he knew who he was going to hear.
And then he was wide awake in just one moment when he realized that it was Jenna.
A cold hand of fear clutched his insides and squeezed them tight as he fought to hear what she was saying past the rush of blood in his ears. For one thing, she would never call him in the middle of the night simply to have a small talk or because of something else ridiculous, and it meant that something must have happened. Something bad – if only because he stopped expecting good news in the middle of the night a long time ago.
Ric wanted to ask what was going on but she already disconnected, and he only managed to get that she wanted him to come. A thought about calling her back crossed his mind but then it started to seem like wasting precious time, so instead he threw away the blankets and all but fell out of the bed tripping in a hurry. He pulled on his jeans, grabbed his hoody and pulled it over his head on his way out, his mobile clutched in his hand.
With the images of the worst possible things happening at the Gilberts' from the fire to serial killer who broke into the house to even worse ones flashing before his eyes, Ric sped along the streets of Mystic falls breaking traffic rules and regretting that his car had speed limit.
And you're going to tell him what, exactly? Jenna asked herself as she sat on the steps in the hall downstairs dressed in her pajama sweatpants and tank top, and a somewhat oversized cardigan she pulled over it, her hands clasped together on her knees and her eyes locked on the door.
Ten minutes later and in the comfort of the light, the whole thing started to look less real and more absurd making her feel almost guilty for calling Alaric in the first place, with the only exception that it probably was the only thing that could have saved her sanity. She needed to grasp onto something solid and real. Something that was making sense and what actually mattered. Who else could she possible call?
She heard the screech of the tires against the asphalt outside and opened the door for him when he still was halfway to the porch, shivering in chilly air that wrapped her instantly.
His arms were around her as soon as he was inside, the door locked behind his back, and Jenna just held onto him tight waiting for her heartbeat to slow down, realizing if a little belatedly that until he showed up, she was on the verge of a nervous break-down. She breathed in his scent mixed with the smell of cold fresh air and let out a long sigh. His hoody felt cold against her body even through her tank top, and his grip on her was so strong that she could practically feel the beating of his heart against her chest, and Jenna marveled in the feeling listening to him whispering something soothing to her, the meaning of the words not as important as the voice they were said in.
"Shhhh, it's okay," Alaric breathed out holding her as tight as he could without actually hurting her, wishing to take as much of her as possible, and feeling her whole body shaking in his arms, from fear or something else, he didn't know, and honestly, he didn't care. Whatever it was that caused it, he wasn't going to let it get her. God, when did it happen anyway? When did he start caring so much? "Everything is okay. Everything's going to be okay."
Eventually, Jenna let herself relax lulled into numb comfort by his warmth and the feeling of safety that he caused, her mind somewhat foggy. Felt him stroke her back absently and the world started to get shape again. Sort of.
Ric pulled back a little then, just enough to frame her face with his hands, push his fingers through her hair and keep her looking back at him as his gaze traveled around her face taking in everything from frightened eyes to a slightly trembling lower lip. If anything had happened to her… He felt sick at the thought. She seemed to be perfectly fine though, at least unharmed physically and he couldn't help but relax a little at the revelation.
His hair was rumpled from sleep and change, and Jenna's lips curved into a small smile at the sight of it, as well as his somewhat confused expression that replaced the worried one when the stress started to wear off.
"What happened?" He asked.
"Shh," she put her finger on his lips, her eyes darted towards the second floor area where Jeremy and Elena were supposed to be sleeping peacefully, the doors to their rooms closed and no sound coming from behind them.
Alaric followed her gaze noting that by the looks of it both Jeremy and Elena were fine and then looked at her once again. "Are you okay?" He asked, his voice softening by the second as his palm covered her cheek. "You're not hurt or anything?"
Jenna hesitated for a moment wondering if she should ask him to specify okay, and then shook her head a little reluctantly. "No, I'm fine."
"Thank God," he gathered her in his arms once again and swept as much of the first floor area over her shoulder as he could realizing if a little belatedly that he didn't even thought of taking vervain darts in a hurry and cursing himself in his mind for being so mindlessly reckless. There should be something in the car though. Some knives and stakes he kept in the trunk for the emergency situations but it was inexcusable all the same. He kissed the top of her head. "Now, what happened?"
Aaand, here we are! Jenna wondered what were the chances to change the subject and wiggle out of conversation.
"I had a… um, bad dream," the end of the phrase came out in a whoosh of breath, her voice muffled. And yeah, being said out loud it sounded so much worse than she imagined.
Ric stilled, obviously prepared to hear anything but that. He took his time to process her words in his not entirely awake mind, and then pulled back to look down at her, his face a mask of disbelief.
"You – what?" He blinked.
"Well, if it is any consolation, it didn't sound any much better in my head either," she offered him a weak apologetic smile.
"Look, I know how it sounds," Jenna started five minutes later when Alaric put a cup of tea on the table before her and took a seat next to her, his own mug clutched between his palms. "And I'm sorry for dragging you here in the middle of the night, but I am not making it up, Ric." Yes, all of her fears sounded ridiculous, to say the least, and it wasn't exactly making her feel better.
"I never said you do," his smile was soft and reassuring when he took her hand in his.
"I just…" Jenna entwined their fingers trying to collect her thoughts together. With Ric sitting right there before her in his jogging hoody and with a light stubble on his cheeks, everything that happened before, all the things she's been scared of and everything she was thinking about – it all started to blur, moving into the shadows and letting the reality step in. "I freaked out." She looked down at their hands trying to follow the train of her own thought. "It wasn't a dream. I don't know what's going on but…" she hesitated and lifted her eyes knowing that despite her best efforts to stay composed, she looked and sounded pretty helpless. "I closed the window when I went to bed. I double checked it – what with the paranoia that I started having lately," her chuckle was rueful. "Then I had this dream about the cemetery and my name on the tombstone. I woke up in my dream and the damn crow attacked me." She took her lover lip between her teeth for a moment before going on, "And then I woke up for real and saw it sitting on the windowsill – of the window that was supposed to be closed." Well, yeah, she started to sound pretty miserable, too. "I know it doesn't make much sense but…" She paused. "It wasn't the first time. Um, not really."
Jenna looked expectedly at him.
But Alaric didn't smile and didn't laugh it off, and didn't say all those comforting meaningless words she half-expected to hear. Instead, he was frowning and the sight of his expression made her stomach clench uncomfortably. Now, that was frightening.
"Ric?"
"When did it start?" He asked and his voice sounded oddly dull, as if coming from the distance.
"I—I don't know," she rubbed her forehead. "A few days ago. Maybe a week and a half. I didn't think it was a big thing at first and didn't pay much attention."
"Wait," his frown deepened. "You mean, before-" he began when a muffled sound from the back yard followed by the rap on the glass double doors cut him off.
Alaric whipped his head around. Instinctively his hand flexed on her fingers and Jenna felt him go stiff momentarily.
"Stay here," he mouthed almost soundlessly letting go of her hand and lifting up cautiously, his every move slow and calculated as his mind jumped from one thing to another. Automatically, he checked how far the stairs and the front door were from the back door, and where the stand with knives stood on the counter near the sink. Reaching out for one was tempting—
But an irritated voice from behind the doors didn't let him finish the thought. "Stop whispering and tiptoeing, and open the bloody door, it's freezing out here."
Damon.
Jenna let out the breath she didn't even notice she was holding and sagged back into the chair as Ric marched to the door and swung it open.
"You can't feel cold," he told Damon as the vampire invited himself in.
"I can't get cold," Damon corrected him "Doesn't mean I can't feel it."
On the last glance outside, Alaric closed the door and made sure it was locked. He turned to Damon then. "What are you doing here?"
Damon took his time to study them both before answering. "I was… patrolling," and rolled his eyes when Alaric's brows lifted in surprise as he leaned against the table, his arms folded on the chest and his gaze still expecting. "And I saw you scaring off the squirrels by that speed race of yours. And I was a little bored-" Damon looked at them in turns again. "Hope I didn't interrupt anything?"
Ric snickered. "Thoughtful, huh?"
"You should see your faces. I feel like I am in a very bad movie," Damon drawled. "What's going on?"
"Nothing," Jenna shrugged getting up to her feet. Tried to keep her face as blank as possible.
Damon gave her a speculative once-over, "Nice outfit," and was scolded for that. Twice. "Really, what's with the faces? It's almost four in the morning and you look like the end of the world downed upon us at midnight." He paused. "Look, if it is some sort of a weird and overly depressing date… well, judging by the looks of yours-"
"I had a bad dream, okay?" She cut him off and luckily for Damon her expression kept him from bursting out laughing. "Happy?"
One of Damon's brows quirked up in Huh? "What?" He turned to Ric, then gave Jenna another 'okay-you're-nuts' look and peered at Alaric again, with obvious curiosity this time. "Really?"
Ric shrugged.
"You're unbelievable," the vampire rolled his eyes and headed to the door. "Seriously?" He shook his head. "I am never ever going to be bothered again."
"Wait," Ric called out after him surprising all of them. Waited for Damon to turn and then approached Jenna who watched him with confusion. "Tell him," he said quietly.
"What?"
"Tell him," he repeated.
"Are you kidding?" No, he obviously wasn't. "Look, I don't-" she threw a quick glance at Damon who waited patiently, his hands tucked into the pockets of his black pants. "Oh, whatever," she muttered under her breath, and filled him in.
By the end of the story Damon looked neither amused, nor mocking. His brows were drawn together and everything about him seemed to be tense and on edge. Speaking of descriptions, Jenna would compare him to the hound that caught the trail of the fox and followed it to the hole, with the only exception that the fox escaped in the end and the hound was really pissed off now.
"Sounds familiar?" Alaric asked him when she was done. Absently, he ran his hand up and down her shoulder in a small soothing gesture.
Damon's face was dark. "Sounds like mind games."
Ric cursed under his breath.
"Mind – what?" Well, whatever it was, it didn't sound like anything good.
"We can creep into people's minds when you sleep," Damon explained to her after a short pause. "And mess with it." Which wasn't exactly comforting. Not even a little.
"But vervain-" Alaric started.
"Is not working in this case," Damon cut him off. "Vervain protects from compulsion, but this is different. In a sleep she can't be compelled to do anything-"
"She is standing right here," Jenna reminded him, going all cranky all of a sudden. Not that she didn't have reasons. Like, starting from the one that Damon had just pointed out.
Damon turned to her. "I'm sorry, Jenna. You cannot be compelled to forget anything, or jump out the window in your sleep, or whatever. But it's not nice to know that someone is lurking in your head, is it?"
Ric frowned. "Is there any way to stop it?"
"Nope, not really." Yes, Damon and his optimism, inspiring as always. "Not without killing the one who is doing it."
"But who would-" Jenna began and then all but choked on her own words when another realization downed on her. "Logan." Her eyes grew wide when the pieces of puzzle clicked together. Her gaze lingered on Damon's face for a while and then locked on Alaric's. "Logan's a vampire, right?" It was more of a statement than a question though. "He could be back and-"
"No," Ric didn't let her finish. He and Damon exchanged an uncertain look. As much as he hated this theory to fall to pieces, he knew it wasn't Logan Fell. "He's—he's dead." And yeah, up to this moment he somehow managed to escape discussing it. Jenna's face froze and Ric's throat had gone dry. He had to tell her the truth now, hadn't he? He owed her that. "I-"
"He tried to kidnap Caroline," Damon stepped in interrupting him and shrugged somewhat indifferently. "No one would ever let him get away with it."
"Oh, God," she whispered.
Logan was a first-rate jerk that pretty much ruined her life, and not once, and she had a few moments when she wanted to strangle him with her bare hands and, given a chance, she'd do it without so much as a second thought because God help her, but he deserved it. She had a couple of minutes of pure shock when she realized that her was not exactly human anymore at first, but… Honesty, she couldn't imagine him actually hurting anyone on purpose, or kidnapping, or… Dead? The fact that his persistence to get close to her when he suddenly returned to town was short-lived should have alarmed her perhaps. She should have known better than that, no? But it didn't. In fact she was happy he went off the radar and left her alone at last. And now it turned out that he was dead. Which was probably just as much as she could take for one time.
She wrapped her arms around her shoulders and shivered from the cold that kept growing inside of her, feeling Ric's hand go up to rest on the small of her back even though his eyes remained on Damon.
"But this crow – it wasn't just a coincidence? Or…" Jena hesitated searching for the words. "Did I see something at all? Or was it a hallucination of some sort? Like, a mirage?" And if the answer was yes, it what exactly what she needed to add to the list of things proving that she going crazy, she decided sourly.
"No, it was probably real." Damon shrugged. "We can, let's say, have pets." Not that it was making much sense, Jenna thought, but still. "We can… like, do the same mind thing with the animals and um, make them do what we want. Like, control their will. Like compulsion but from inside their heads."
"Cute," Ric muttered.
"Not without purpose f course," Damon beamed at him. "When we do it, we can sort of see through their eyes. Not exactly see maybe, but associate the images that they see with our own perception. Something like that." He peered at Jenna. "In short – it was spying on you."
Jenna let out a short hysterical laugh. "Any other good news coming? Because I can't have enough of them today."
He gave her some time so that the information could sink in. "Did you notice anything strange lately? I don't know, anything different?"
"You're a vampire, Damon. Define not strange." She huffed and then answered after a short consideration. "No, I don't think so. Just usual stuff. Nothing… extraordinary." Except that her entire life was extraordinary.
Silence fell then, interrupted only by the ticking of the clock on the mantelpiece and the sounds that any only house had, like the whistle of wind in the chimney or the creak of wood. The sounds that were so familiar and normal that they seemed to be out of place.
"And this should probably be my exit," Damon said after a little while. "Especially now that I burned these frowns into your faces." He headed for the door.
Alaric let his hand hall from Jenna's back and crossed the kitchen catching up with him before he opened the door.
"Did you notice anything while… patrolling?" Ric asked in a low voice. Couldn't help but enunciate the last world. Funny how inventive he could be to stick close to a certain Gilbert without arising much suspicion.
"I wish," the vampire grimaced with disgust. "Someone out there is crafty enough to sneak around right before my nose," he snorted. "I'd give a lot to know who it is."
"Is there anything we can do?"
"Catch, kill. Let's start with the crow," Damon offered enthusiastically. But he dropped the act almost immediately. "I'll see if I can track them down now that we know about their feathery friend."
Alaric looked over the shoulder at Jenna who picked their mugs from the table and went to put them in the sink, her expression somewhat distant and a little too concerned for his taste. His hands balled into fists involuntarily as everything inside of him started to boil at the thought that someone was tormenting her like that. Somehow, he was sure that if he was given a chance to put his hands on the one who was doing it right this moment, he'd rip them to pieces without a blink of an eye.
She was doing fine though, he had to give her that. Aside from expected reaction, she was handling it much better than most of people in her place would – which for some reason only made his wish to keep her away from it grow even stronger. Come to think of it, if it was up to him, she'd never have to deal with anything like that in the first place.
"I'll stay here tonight," he told Damon.
"And back to our earlier conversation," Damon made a meaningful pause.
At last, Ric turned to him. "If it is Isobel, I'm going to…" he huffed in frustration. "I don't know what I am going to do to her but she won't get away with it."
Next morning Jenna woke up to the sun beaming in her face and Alaric's soft even breath falling on her neck and tickling her skin. His arm was wrapped possessively around her waist keeping her close, and the weight of it felt like nothing else in the entire world. Not even fully awake, she felt her lips curve into a small smile as she buried her face into the pillow instinctively, not ready to let go of the moment. The events of the previous night seemed to be blurred and surreal, and the warmth of his body against her back was the only thing that actually mattered. Life sucked, but not without bright spots, that was for sure.
Jenna sighed letting her eyelids drift open slowly and felt him stir behind.
"I know you're awake," Ric mumbled sleepily into her ear before kissing her shoulder.
His arm was gone and Jenna rolled over in protest, scooting closer to him. Folded her arms on his chest and put her chin on them watching him somewhat coyly with a contemplative smile that played on her face. She studied his features taking in the smallest details from the creases in the corners of his eyes, to exquisite curve of his mouth, to glint in his blue eyes as her heartbeat accelerated a little, and decided that the man didn't have the slightest idea of how sexy he looked without even trying. Almost illegally sexy she'd even say, Jenna thought, because it very well kept her off the track from everything else.
"Morning," he smiled back at her and reached to push her hair off of her face and tuck it behind her ear, his voice a little hoarse from sleep.
"Morning," she leaned forward to kiss him.
"No more nightmares?" Alaric asked. His fingers remained on her cheek to stroke it absently as he searched her face for any sign of distress, and her skin tingled pleasantry under his touch.
She hated the question, though. The reality was making its return, practically tearing her out of that comfortable cocoon where only the two of them existed, although Jenna was not intended to give in to it that easily.
"Not that I had much time for them," she informed Ric giving him a long meaningful look and then let her eyes linger on his lips causing him to chuckle softly.
"Oh, really?" His brow creased.
"You can be distracting," she planted a few small kisses on his chest making her way up to his mouth.
He raked his hand through her wavy hair pulling her in for another kiss but his eyes were serious when he gave her a close look after that.
"I'll deal with it," he told Jenna, his voice thick with determination. "I promise."
Lord, he had no idea what he was doing to her. The last time she felt as silly as that was… well, never. "I know." Jenna bit his lower lip playfully making it clear that everything outside the two of them might as well go to hell for a little while longer. "And because of that I will even let you go to the shower first," finished in a whisper. "Maybe."
Alaric's laughter was soft and throaty when he rolled them both over trapping her beneath his body wrapped in the sweetness and warmth of hers. "How about you join me?"
"Mm, sounds good. I thought you'd never offer."
… When Jenna came downstairs dressed in plain blue jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt, with her hair still a little damp from the shower, the whole first floor area was filled with a smell of fresh coffee and what could possibly be qualified as food. Curious, she followed it and found Ric in the kitchen, standing by the stove where something sizzled on the flying pan looking… well, pretty much like he belonged.
She paused in the doorway, arms folded on her chest, and watched him speculatively for a little while. The ease and natural grace he was moving with were catching, and she couldn't help it. well, among other thing that attracted her so much.
"What are you doing?" Jenna asked at last letting the amusement in her voice slip.
He glanced at her over the shoulder, a boyish grin on his face. "You mind?"
"No, but I can get used to it." She pushed herself off of the wall laughing and finally walked into the dining room and then into the kitchen. "It smells delicious."
"Hm, can you please give me a plate?" Ric asked, and piled crunchy bacon onto it when she did. "Hope it's okay that I rummaged through your fridge."
"Be my guest," Jenna chuckled.
Someone stomped down the stairs, probably attracted by the smell as well, and Jenna had just enough time to put the plate onto the table when Jeremy poked his head inside, his hair still spiking out at odd angles after sleep.
"Wow, breakfast," he started looking at her but then noticed Alaric and faltered. "Good morning, Mr. Saltzman."
He gave Jenna a pointed look and opened his mouth to comment on it one way or another, to which she reacted with, "Don't!"
"Hey, man," Ric called back reaching for yet another plate. "Hungry?"
"Hell, yeah." Jeremy sniffed the air. "This, Aunt Jenna, is what real food smells like. Remember it."
She made a funny face at him, "Thanks, Jer."
"Did he move in?" He asked in a low voice leaning closer to her to make sure Alaric couldn't hear him. "'Cause it'd be cool if he did. I can already see my grades getting better by the end of the semester. He wouldn't let me fail, right?"
Jenna nudged him biting her lip not to laugh and shook her head. "Jeremy Gilbert, don't be so mean." And then they both mustered innocent smiles when they noticed Alaric watching them, his eyes narrowed suspiciously.
He didn't say anything though, except for, "Hey, how about some eggs, Jeremy?"
"Sure!" He agreed with excitement, and then bent down and whispered into Jenna's ear, "I love him already," and barely missed her elbow aimed at his ribs. "That's a cool tat, Mr. Saltzman," he said noticing tattoo on Alaric's underarm, exposed now that he was wearing a dark-blue, short-sleeved t-shirt.
"Oh, thanks." Caught by surprise, Ric looked down at the intertwining of letters and symbols that formed intricate pattern. "That's, um… that's a reminder of wild youth, I guess," he chuckled.
"So, history teachers can have fun too, huh?"
"Thanks, man," Alaric snorted.
"Hey, Aunt Jenna, what do you think if I-"
"You turn 21 first," she stopped him, "and then we'll talk. Maybe." She pointed her finger at him enunciating her words. "Until then, feel free to forget about it."
"We'll talk about it," on a short laugh, Ric winked at him if a little conspiratorially.
"Don't encourage him," Jenna told him with reproach.
Still laughing, he turned coming practically face to face with her.
"Don't do anything embarrassing," Jeremy rolled his eyes as his made his way back to the table and sank onto one of the chairs before digging into his breakfast.
"Hey, what's all the-" Elena began appearing in the dining room and paused for only the barest of moments when her mind registered the whole picture before finishing, "noise about?" She opened hew mouth, closed it again, cleared her throat and smiled, "Mr. Saltzamn."
"Oh, hey, Elena," Ric beamed at her.
"Coffee," she breathed out with relief and went straight to the pot making big eyes at Jenna on the way. Fought to keep somewhat triumphant 'see? I knew it would end like that' smile back and failed.
Jenna shook her head in response, but then her eyes darted towards Alaric for a moment before returning Elena similar smile. She fished a pack of paper tissues from the cupboard and set it on the table second before Ric put a plate with omelet beside it and went to fetch some coffee for himself, his hand brushing against her arm casually, as if it was as natural as breathing arousing goose bumps on her flesh, and on impulse she turned to follow him with her gaze, which didn't escape Jeremy's attention and he let out a mixture of snort and chuckle muffled by chewing.
"What are you two doing up so early on Sunday anyway?" Jenna inquired then looking at Jeremy and Elena in turns.
"Going to spend the day with Anna," Jeremy mumbled around the mouthful of eggs, toast and bacon, and it took Jenna a moment to decipher the sounds. He swallowed visibly then, surprisingly without chocking, and added, "We wanted to work on some assignments and stuff." He shrugged. "Maybe just hang out then."
"Meeting with Caroline at Bonnie's," Elena responded. "Something about Founders Day nightmare… sorry, parade." She put her hands into the air, "I do not ask questions anymore, my task is to show up."
"On Sunday morning?" Jenna's brows lifter up almost to her hairline.
"Yep," both called back simultaneously.
Elena looked at her watch then. "Oh, I've gotta go. They'll kill me if I'm late."
"It's my phone," Jeremy took off right after her when his mobile started to ring in his room. Grabbed his plate though and grinned at Jenna, "I'll finish upstairs."
Jenna followed them both with a thoughtful gaze, her hands tucked into the pockets of her jeans. She turned to Ric then. "Did I miss something?"
"Coffee?" He supposed, his head inclined slightly to his shoulder.
She chuckled softly. "Right." She joined him at the kitchen isle where he stood leaning against it with his mug. "I'm glad you guys get along."
"I'm their teacher," he let out an amused snort. "They have to tiptoe around me. Let's see how they are going to like me when finals begin."
She giggled. "Watch your back then." She hesitated for a moment, torn between the urge to hold onto simple things – this morning, the two of them in the kitchen lit with warm autumn sun, the chirp of birds outside, the feeling of peace and safety that she knew was fake – and the reality that was pretty much unavoidable. Suppressed a sigh and looked into her mug as if expecting to see some sort of hint in her drink. "Ric?" Lifter her head to look at him then. "Last night Damon asked if there was anything… strange-" Met his gaze.
His smile fell momentarily, and Jenna felt him tense. "Was there?"
"Well, in fact… I don't know," she said honestly and if a little cautiously. Reached into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out the postcards she spotted earlier while she was dressing. If it was nothing, if she was just lumping it all together, she wanted to hear it from him.
"What is it?" Ric frowned when Jenna put them onto the counter before them.
I wish I knew!
"This one," Jenna tapped her finger on one of the cards, "I found on the windowsill the night I had the first nightmare," she explained. "Right after I saw this crow sitting on the tree outside." He lifted his eyes to her face, and something resembling worry mixed with half-understanding flickered across his features.
"And the second one?" He prompted her in a voice that suddenly became hoarse.
"In the gloves compartment of my car the next morning after the car crash when I went there with this guy from insurance company."
Alaric put his mug aside and leaned against the counter twiddling the cards in his fingers as he studied them inside and out, just like she did so many times, his expression hard and not at all consoling. Jenna tried to guess his mood – something she never found difficult before – and failed this time.
She leaned in beside him and propped her chin on her hand. "Look, I don't even know if it has anything to do with what Damon told us about last night," she said uncertainly and took one of the cards form him.
"A bit too much for a coincidence, don't you think?" Ric watched her face hating himself for saying something like that.
"Yeah, as if I wasn't freaked out already," she breathed out – more to herself than to him – and short laughter that followed was more nervous than humorless.
"Jenna, can I take the car?" Elena walked into the kitchen making Ric swallow the words that nearly slipped out of his mouth.
"Yeah, sure," Jenna replied a little distractedly. "The keys are in my purse."
"Thanks," Elena nodded, but instead of walking away she paused, and then walked up to them, her eyes glued to the pieces of paper on the marble surface. "Where did you get those?"
"Why?" Jenna straightened up; some feeling, like a foreboding, crept in on her and she wondered ruefully what could possibly be wrong this time.
After a short hesitation, Elena reached into her bag and retrieved a similar card. Gave it a long look and then put it down beside the other two. "I found it a few days ago on the windshield under the wiper," she said answering unasked questions. "Thought it was from Stefan but never got to ask. Honestly, I just forgot about it."
Alaric and Jenna exchanged a quick glance.
"What's going on?" Elena asked cautiously, as if she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.
"Can I?" Jenna reached out for the card but paused with her fingers hovering above it.
"Sure. But seriously, Jenna, what is it?" Her gaze flickered to Ric but then returned to her aunt.
Jenna opened the card, read the single word written inside and then passed it over to Alaric not quite sure what to make of it. Okay, personal stuff – this she could get, except for the part where she was completely clueless about who was doing it and why, but why would Elena be involved? Then something clicked and she whipped her head around and peered at her niece.
"Wait, on the windshield of my car?"
"Well, yeah," Elena watched Jenna let out a slow exhale. "Mr. Saltzman-" she began, obviously not expecting any explanation from her aunt anymore.
But Jenna snapped her head up before Ric had time to open his mouth. "It's nothing," she said to Elena in what she hoped was an easy light voice. Hesitated for a few seconds feverishly trying to come up with something decent. "Looks like I've got a secret admirer." Which was lame and she knew it, and she hated it, but there was no need to set panic just yet. Besides, it wasn't a lie, exactly.
"And not so secret one is not happy about it," Ric muttered making them both turn his way and smile.
Elena let out a sigh of relief then. "Are you serious?" She asked with unmasked curiosity.
Jenna forced out a crooked grimace of a grin, "Yeah. It's like high school all over again, nostalgia and all. Well, it's been a while since I had to deal with a stalker the last time, so it creeps me out a little. But it's nothing, really." She hoped she sounded convincing enough.
Elena studied her face somewhat suspiciously for a moment. Her eyes shifted to Ric then but even though his expression was a little concerned but it wasn't worried enough for her to start worrying, too.
"Okay then," she said if a little hesitantly. "I am really late already." She reached out for Jenna's hand and gave it a light squeeze. "You sure you're fine?"
"When wasn't I?" Jenna smiled. "Go, have fun! Just… be careful, okay? And don't stay late."
"I won't—"
"And if you notice anything… unusual, tell me." The definition of usual got a little vague lately but obviously Elena understood what she meant.
"Now you freak me out, Jenna," Elena backed out of the kitchen, smirking. "See you later!"
Jenna watched her leave and then let out a frustrated huff when the front door closed behind Elena. "I hate lying to her," she groaned.
"Why not tell her the truth?"
"That there is another fanged psycho on the run wanting to rip my guts out? No, I can't." She turned to him knowing she looked and sounded pretty defeated but wasn't able to help it. "I can't."
"We'll deal with it, okay?" His voice was soothing. "We'll figure it out and deal with it." His phone beeped shortly announcing that new text message had arrived. "Oh, sorry, I have to-"
"Go ahead."
The message was short. Call me. From Damon. And Ric wondered with growing dread what else could possibly had happened over the few hours that passed since they last talked. He looked at Jenna who went to refill her mug out of the corner of his eye and then hit the dial button waiting patiently for Damon to pick up. Whatever the drama was this time, it would probably be better to deal with it sooner than later.
"Where are you?" Damon asked skipping the greeting.
"Where do you think I am, Damon?" Alaric snorted. And so did Jenna. Her back was till to him but she couldn't have missed his words.
"Yeah, right," Damon scoffed. "Anyway, get out of there and drag your ass to the boarding house."
"What happened?" Alaric tensed, and saw Jenna turn to look him questioningly.
"We've got a lead." Ric's breath hitched in his throat when he heard the words. "Another body was found in the woods, some hiker. Our guy got sloppy there, and left some traces. So I need you here with the magic compass in ten minutes so that we could do a day-time hunting when he can't run around in the sun."
"Yeah, sure," Ric suppressed a growl of protest. No, really, how not cool was that anyway? "Wait, another body?"
"Well, that's sort of inevitable, no?" And on that Damon disconnected, his black humor somehow a little more disturbing this time than before but Ric couldn't exactly blame him. Clearly, the vampire was running out of patience, and a lot faster than he.
"What happened?" Jenna came up to him, expecting to hear about yet another disaster by the look of it, and Alaric felt a pang of guilt in his chest. The very idea of leaving seemed to be more of less unbearable. The idea of telling her about yet another killing was just impossible.
"I am so not looking forward to hiking," he let out a desperate growl. Everything felt like a vicious circle and there was no way to get out of it. Honestly, he was getting so tired of it all. And when did good healthy sleep without waking up every half an hour listening to everything that could be crawling in the darkness become so unimaginable?
"What?"
"Never mind. Just… stuff." He smiled down at her. "Eight o'clock. My place. Just like we planned. Okay?" And felt better when she smiled back. And then – even better than before when her smile became contriving. The wish to send Damon to hell and never get out of this house became almost overwhelming. "If I am a little late, the spare key is in the hallway under the pot with some palm thing."
"Be sure I'll find it," she promised somewhat mysteriously and he laughed before bending down to kiss her. "But really, what about the hiking?"
"I don't know yet," he shrugged. "Maybe we'll make a campfire, bake some potatoes. Tell scary stories. Of course they won't be as scary in the daylight as at night but still."
"I'm serious, Ric."
"Eight o'clock." He kissed her quickly again. "Don't be late."
Okay, fine, Jenna thought, maybe she didn't really want to know any of that anyway.
Something that Damon said at night bothered her but she couldn't remember what it was. And yet, the feeling that something was missing from the picture juts wouldn't let go hovering in the back of her mind like a black shadow clouding all the good things Jenna fought so hard to focus on. She was too stressed and too tired and just shocked to pay proper attention to everything that she heard a few hours ago and now she couldn't help but want to kick herself for being so damn mindless. She couldn't stop thinking about it now.
Her eyes fixed on the counter where the cards lay before Ric swept them all on the way out. She didn't say anything about it. All she actually wanted was to get rid of them one way or another, and she had to admit that she felt much better and a little less insane now that they talked about everything. Not that the things that she found out were optimistic in any way but at least she wasn't all alone in all that anymore. Wasn't it enough that she still was one on one with her thesis? Speaking of…
The train of her thought was interrupted by the sounded of the front door open and close, and then the footsteps followed along the corridor and a few second later John poked his head into the kitchen.
He sniffed the air and observed the plates with the leftovers that Jenna was covering with the cling film to put them in the fridge, obviously surprised, and asked, "What happened here?"
"Ric happened." She slammed the fridge door, picked a couple of grapes from the fruit bowl and walked out of the kitchen.
"So, how much does she hate me?" Damon asked Alaric as they were making their way through the woods. The day was sunny but chilly enough to make the walk not exactly pleasant, for a human at least. Dry leaves were crunching beneath their feet and Ric's breath was puffing out in small white clouds. "Say, on the scale from one to ten."
"Who?"
"Jenna."
"Does she have a reason? Except for you being vampire and having a thing for her niece. This, though, I hope she's not aware of."
Damon ignored the comment. "Well, you're here with me instead of being somewhere with her," he shrugged and then wiggle his eyebrows when turned to him. "So, how much?"
Ric scoffed. "Come and ask her." He gave the vampire a studying look then, and added as an afterthought, "Although I wouldn't if I were you. In this regard, twelve maybe. Why?"
"Well, trying to stay in the good graces of the Gilberts," Damon beamed at him.
"She's not exactly Gilbert," Alaric reminded him. "And speaking of which, what exactly am I doing here with you instead of being somewhere with her? You said there was a lead…"
"Yeah, about that," Damon stopped. "The dead guy… I came here when Liz called me. The town is a step away from uproar," he said in a grave cold voice. "And the Sheriff is a step away from the nervous breakdown."
"And you're obviously a step away from the Sherriff," Ric offered tucking his hands deeper into the pockets of his hoody which was as far from being appropriate for such kind of walk as possible.
Damon glared at him but ignored his words. "I found this by the body."
He reached into the pocket and fished a plain silver chain, a bit too short to be worn on the neck. A bracelet most likely. Nothing fancy, not too thick, not too thin, pretty much unisex. It felt cook against Ric's palm when he took it from Damon to examine it closely.
"So?"
"It wasn't the dead man's thing."
"How do you know?"
"It smells differently," Damon explained.
Alaric studied it again, more thoroughly this time but this was one of the things that were beyond his perception because he wasn't dead. It didn't mean that it wasn't any less fascinating though. In a way. "And you want me to do what, exactly?" He asked giving the chain back to Damon. "Sniff him down?"
"He cannot move in the sun the same way as in the dark. It's way easier to corner him wherever he's hiding now. He wouldn't be able to escape."
Well, he had the point, Alaric had to admit. "And why here?"
"Well, because it was probably the last place he'd been to before the sun came up," Damon explained patiently. "Did you take the compass?"
"Yeah."
"Well, take it out, I am going to scram, and let the search party begin."
His voice was a bit distracted though and Alaric gave him a long suspicious look. Followed Damon's gaze to the trees where he saw nothing at all, and then glanced back where he also saw only threes, mostly naked at this time of the year.
"What?" He asked at last in case it was something important.
"The smell." Damon swept as much he could take with his glance, his eyes narrowed as though he tried to peer through the trees. "So… strange."
"Strange, like-?"
"Oh, never mind. Um, you don't happen to have cuts or something, do you?"
"Cuts?" Alaric's brows shot up. "Now, I-" he pulled his hands out of the pockets, and as he did that, one of the postcards he took from Jenna fell out and landed onto the leaves at his feet, oddly white on the brown and grayish leaves.
Damon noticed it first. "What's this?" He bent down to pick it up, the crease between his brows deepening by the second.
"Um… Jenna's been getting them for a while. There's nothing in them but it's just… too much for being a coincidence." He retrieved the other two and demonstrated them to Damon. "I was going… I don't know. Guess, I wanted to try and make connection somehow."
Still looking weird, Damon opened it and grimaced. "It's blood."
"What?" Ric blinked, taken by surprise. "What do you-"
"It's not red ink." The vampire cut him off. "It's written in blood." Took other two cards from Alaric's hand. "Human. All different. And I bet all will match the blood of our victims, had we bothered to check."
"You sure?"
"As much as I hate it, I am."
It was an odd feeling, something Alaric thought he's never get used to, even if he tried real hard.
It took him more than two years to accept the fact that she was dead and gone forever. He'd been through the whole shock-anger-disbelief-denial thing routine so many times going through their entire life together over and over and over again trying to recall every detail of the every moment that stuck in his head that it became a routine. He was living in the past grasping for it as if it was a matter of life and death. Losing it meant losing himself. He couldn't see himself living without her, couldn't imagine himself existing at all. It was so wrong, so unfair. She was gone and he was left all alone. His whole life stopped having any sense.
There were moments when Ric wanted to die so much that it was just overwhelming. It hurt so much that he wanted to scream in pain and fury. He wanted it all to stop. And yet, somehow he survived. He lived through it. He learned to breathe again without suffocating in agony. He got over her, sort of. He crossed the line and move on, or so he wanted to believe. It wasn't easy but no one said it would be.
But in the end, all the pain, and loss, and a feeling that the life was over – it blurred and faded when he found out that she wasn't dead. Well, not exactly. And all the things he'd gone through, all that hell he lived in – she didn't care about it. Alaric thought that losing her was the worst thing that could have happened to him. God, he was wrong. Finding out that she did it to him on purpose, that he meant so little to her – it hurt a million times worse.
And maybe because of that, seeing her was so strange. Some part of him was not ready to believe that it was true. Against better judgment, he wanted to think that he was wrong. That it couldn't have been real. All this time and all the things he convinced himself of – they stopped existing, and hell was back.
With the only exception that now he felt a lot more lost than before because none of what he did was making sense anymore. These two years were a huge waste of time and nothing else. And Isobel – she still didn't care, right?
But now someone else was put in the mix. A woman he cared deeply about, maybe to a larger extent than he should have, considering his unresolved issues and all this crap with his living dead ex. But it didn't mean he could leave everything the way it was.
And this was what flashed through his mind in these ten seconds that passed from him ringing the bell till the moment when the door knob turned and the door opened revealing Isobel standing on the other side, elegant as never before.
Damn, she was beautiful, Ric thought feeling his throat go dry like sandpaper. She always was but before he called it natural beauty. Well, in his mind. She always was the one to catch the eye. Now though, it was a different thing entirely. Her beauty might have as well been called deadly, and hell, it wouldn't have been an exaggeration. Not even a little. His gaze took in her perfect hair and simple black long-sleeved dress with a thin string of pearls around her neck, and a thought about butterfly flying to the fire because it was so bright crossed his mind. He was the butterfly of course, and the description was pretty close.
Anger and hope filled him again, almost like the first time when he saw her after two years of missing, boiling his blood. And all he could do was hope that he'd hold it together.
"Ric," she smiled at him not expressing any particular surprise at all, as if finding him on her doorstep was the most logical and natural thing ever. And once again he noted that it was shocking how little she resembled Isobel that he knew.
"We need to talk."
He made his way in past her not waiting for an invite and gave himself points for keeping his voice steady. Tried to ignore the luxurious mansion she was occupying and fought to stay focused. He stopped in the middle of the hall and turned around. Isobel closed the door and want past him into the living room, expecting him to follow apparently. On a scowl, he did.
"Would you like to have something to drink?" She asked, and filled a glass for herself when he ignored the question. "It's funny that you work with Damon now," she commented turning to him. "Is this a permanent thing, like a friendship? Or you two just mutually use each other?"
Surprisingly, her detached attitude and overall indifference helped him keep his composure. "What makes you think I have anything to do with Damon?"
"Well, maybe because there are very few people who know where to find me at the moment." She took a sip of her drink, and he was relieved that it wasn't blood. "If you had to look for me on your own, you'd probably spend a lot more time for it, I presume. Or maybe not." She gave him a long look. "You've always been resourceful and persistent, Ric."
"I'm flattered."
Isobel studied him searching for something that he couldn't quite define. Her gaze was piercing. The softness he remembered was gone without a trace. Whoever was inside of this body now, it wasn't Isobel that he knew. And yet, the image was too distracting to concentrate on logic. He wanted it to be her.
"So… I'm all ears," she said at last as if stating who was calling the shots here.
It took him a couple of second to get back on track.
"Leave her alone, Isobel." And damn him, but his voice wasn't giving in. It was as firm as it could possibly be. Firm enough for him to believe in his own determination.
"Leave alone who?"
Well, she might have been a good actress but her surprise seemed to be genuine, even if Ric was not going to buy it just like that.
He flinched inwardly. "You know that I am talking about Jenna. Stay away from her."
"Oh, that cute aunt of Elena's slash new girlfriend of your?" Isobel smirked. "To stay away from her I think I should first try to get close, no? Well, I didn't. Not interested, see. Since that our encounter a few weeks ago I am more picky about who I feed on, just in case. It would be unfortunate to run into your other friends since it upsets you so much."
"Am I supposed to believe it?" He snorted.
"Believe what you want, Ric, but if I actually wanted to do something to her, I'd wring her neck and she wouldn't even notice it."
And the way she said it – matter-of-factly, as if talking about weather or shoe sale - made his blood run cold. The cruelty and simplicity of it was horrifying. She had the point here though, as much as Alaric hated it. Which somehow didn't make him feel any better because, first of all, it meant that it was unpredictable, and thus – a lot more dangerous.
"Fine," he said sounding surprisingly calm. "Prove it then. Leave Mystic Falls."
Isobel laughed as if his words were the funniest thing ever. "I am not going anywhere. Not without what I came here for." She put her glass onto the mantelpiece and came up to him.
"Didn't you get it?" He quirked the brow, trying to ignore the fine scent of her perfume that washed over him upon her approach, sweet and expensive. Some device that she blackmailed out of Elena – Damon told him. She had it. What was the deal then? Was there something else? Or did she just look for another way to make their life even more miserable?
"Not yet."
"What is it?"
She took her time, let her gaze travel around his face before speaking again. "I thought it was obvious." Another pause to escalate the interest followed. "I came back for you, Ric."
To be continued…
A/N: And on this I leave you for a little while as I am going on a short hiatus now, for about 4-5 weeks because I go on vacation next week and after it it'll take me some time to come up with smth new. Anyway, you're warned! ;)
