It was about two hours later when Alaric quietly entered the boarding house with a stake in hand, a little surprised that the door had been unlocked. He found Damon in what appeared to be the living room. The vampire was busy preparing himself a drink and had his back to the teacher. Ric was about to take another step forward, when Damon suddenly spoke up. "I guess this isn`t a social call?" He turned around and stared at the teacher, raising an eyebrow in question. "You gonna put down the stake?" Alaric remained in an attacking stance, watching the vampire warily.
"Wow, that's courage." Damon mocked, walking towards Alaric. The teacher gripped the stake tighter, not willing to back down. "Where's Isobel? What have you done to my wife?" he demanded. He saw something flicker in Damon´s eyes. Some emotion he couldn`t name. "That`s the reason you`re here? Your wife? You want me to tell you I killed her? Would that make you happy? Because I think you know what happened." the vampire claimed.
"I saw you feeding on her." Alaric let him know. Damon didn`t seem surprised. But maybe he was good at hiding it. His face seemed like an expressionless mask, devoid of any emotion. "Yeah, I did, and you know what? She was delicious." Something in Alaric snapped and he rushed at the vampire. But of course Damon had expected his attack and blocked it easily. Within seconds Alaric found himself on the floor. "Oh, come on. What do you think happened? Not an inkling? Never considered the possibility?" Damon asked, looking down at him.
Ric frowned. He had no idea what the vampire was hinting at. Obviously Damon noticed this, because he elaborated: "I turned her." Those news shocked the teacher. For a moment he was unable to reply. He had never considered that Isobel may still be alive. Or well, as alive as a vampire could be. The thought that she had left him stung. "Why?" he asked. Damon laughed humourlessly. "She came to me. All pathetic, begging me to turn her. Said she`d do anything."
The words hurt, which was probably just what the vampire wanted. Still, Alaric just couldn`t let it go. He wanted answers. Needed answers. Had asked himself too many questions for too long. "You turned her because she begged you?" he asked. Damon shrugged. "Yeah. But you knew that, too, didn't you? She wasn't happy at home, wasn't happy with life in general, wasn't happy with you. She didn`t care about you, Ric. Not one bit. She left you without a second thought." the vampire went on. He seemed to be taking cruel delight in Alaric`s pain.
Ric got up and launched another attack, but once again the vampire proved to be stronger. He knocked the stake out of the teacher`s hand and punched him in the stomach, sending him sprawling onto the floor again. "Stop fighting me. We're kindred spirits, Ric, abandoned by the women we loved. Unrequited love sucks. But you know what, you`ll get over it. Isobel was a heartless bitch. Just forget about her." Damon advised. The teacher glanced over at the stake that was lying a few feet away, wondering if he would be able to reach it before Damon stopped him.
He had no chance to find out. Suddenly he heard the splintering of glass and seconds later Damon was tackled to the floor by some guy. Another vampire, Ric noticed with a glance. While the two vampires were busy fighting he quickly scrambled forward and picked up the stake. Looking back he noticed that a female had joined the fight now as well. Damon managed to buck the guy off and he stumbled into Alaric, who tried to seize the opportunity and put the stake to use. Unfortunately the vampire was stronger. He blocked his attempt, grabbed the stake and stabbed the teacher, who yelled in pain.
The vampire pulled the stake out again and Alaric crumbled to the ground. Gasping for air he placed his hands over the wound, trying to stop the blood flow, but it was no use. His body felt like it was on fire and each breath hurt like hell. He wasn`t getting enough air. The stake had punctured a lung. Already his vision was swimming, the sounds of fighting becoming distant. Ric tried to fight the drowsiness, but his eyelids were getting heavy and he couldn`t breathe. And then everything went black.
###
Damon broke the leg off a wooden chair and used it to stake the girl. Seeing this the other vampire fled through the broken window. Damon looked after him with a frown. It didn`t take a genius to figure out that the two vampires had been in the tomb. He recognized the girl, Beth or something like that. He wasn`t sure why they had attacked him, but frankly he didn`t really care. Turning around again he spied Alaric on the floor and took a step towards him, but stopped when he noticed the bloodstain on the teacher´s shirt. He didn`t need to go any closer to know that Ric was dead. He could hear no heartbeat.
For a long moment he just stood there, staring down at the dead teacher. The guy must have killed him while Damon had been busy fighting off the girl. He hadn`t even noticed that Ric had still been here. A smart man would have run as soon as Damon was distracted. But not Ric. He should have known. The guy had always had a serious hero complex. Finally Damon turned away, feeling strangely numb. After debating with himself for a second, he grabbed the dead vampire and put her into the trunk of his car. He would hand her over to the sheriff later, let Liz deal with getting rid of the body. It would give her one more reason to be thankful to him.
Then he went back inside, grabbed his glass and sat down on the couch. Once again his eyes were drawn towards Alaric`s still form. He just couldn`t look away. What a waste. The dark haired vampire didn`t even stir when he heard Stefan enter. The younger Salvatore rushed over and knelt down next to Alaric, checking for a pulse. What a ridiculous thing to be doing as a vampire. "What happened? What did you do?" Stefan asked dismayed. Damon didn`t answer. Simply continued to sit there. "Damon, how could you? Tell me what happened, damn it!" Stefan demanded again.
The older one shrugged. "All I did was tell him the truth. His wife didn't want him anymore. It's not my fault he couldn't handle it." he murmured, not bothering to tell his brother that it hadn`t been him who killed Alaric. Stefan probably wouldn`t believe him anyways. "Like you've been handling Katherine?" the younger vampire mocked. Damon glared at him. "I'm handling it fine." He drained his glass and pointed to Alaric. "I'm assuming you'll take care of this."
Without waiting for a reply he strolled out of the room, feigning nonchalance. Acting, hiding his true feelings – that was an art he had perfected over the years. His brother didn`t need to know how Ric`s death was affecting him.
He had thought about telling him the truth. Maybe even taking the compulsion off. Hadn`t been sure yet, if it would be a good idea to allow Ric to remember. All this time he had wondered if something might have gone wrong two years ago and if the teacher remembered him. And then Ric showed up here tonight. But not because of him. No, because of Isobel of all people.
The dark haired vampire walked upstairs slowly, but stopped dead in his tracks when he suddenly heard a gasp, followed by Alaric`s voice. "What happened? What's going on?"
For a second Damon actually thought he was hallucinating. It simply couldn´t be real. Obviously Stefan was just as shocked as him, for Damon heard him stammering downstairs. "You were just... Did Damon turn you?" The words almost made Damon rush back downstairs. He remembered Logan Fell. What if Anna or one of her lackeys had slipped Ric vampire blood as well? It would mean he was in transition and once he turned … he would remember.
"No. I … I went for him and then the, uh… the other guy.. he stabbed me." he heard Ric mumble. "No, no, no. You must have vampire blood in your system. Somebody slipped it to you." Stefan protested, seemingly not even realizing exactly what the teacher had said. Damon was still standing on top of the stairs, listening.
"No. It's, uh.. it's something else." Ric muttered. Damon frowned, wondering what he was getting at. There was no other way he could be alive. "I, uh... Isobel. She gave me this ring. It protected me." the teacher said after a while. "That's impossible." Stefan protested and Damon had to agree with him. But Ric insisted on his explanation, stating he felt fine, no craving for blood, no strange hunger, nothing. It was simply too crazy to be true. Then again Damon had been around a long time. He´d seen many strange things and had learned not to question them. If it really had been the ring, it must be magical. Spelled by some witch, he supposed.
Downstairs Stefan finally realized what Ric had said, about some other guy killing him and questioned him about it. Damon rolled his eyes. Really perceptive, Stef, he thought sarcastically. "I don`t know. Some vampire. He came through the window and attacked Damon. There were two of them actually, a man and a woman." the teacher replied, before insisting that he didn`t remember anymore, since he`d obviously been dead then. "I`ll just.. go home now." he muttered.
Damon remained where he was, stared down at the retreating figure with a mixture of relief and intrigue. Alaric stopped in front of the door and turned to look up at him, almost as if he`d felt the vampire`s eyes on himself. Their eyes met for a second and Damon`s breath caught in his throat. Then Ric opened the door and left.
Seconds later Stefan appeared. He stopped in surprise when he spied Damon standing on the staircase. "Did you hear…?" The older one nodded. "You should probably ask the little witch to check out that ring." he suggested. Stefan gave him a questioning look. "You think the ring is spelled?" Damon rolled his eyes. "I think rings don`t usually revive dead people. What other explanation could there be?" His brother looked thoughtful for a minute. Then he nodded. "You could be right about that. But I can`t ask Bonnie. She just lost her grandmother. Because of us. She must hate us, Damon."
The dark haired vampire sighed in annoyance. "She`ll get over it." He turned and was about to head to his room when Stefan`s voice stopped him. "Damon, wait." He looked back at his brother, eyebrows raised in question. "Why didn`t you tell me about the other vampires? You let me believe you had killed Alaric." The older one shrugged. "I probably would have, if those tomb vamps hadn`t interrupted our little discussion. So what does it matter?" His emotionless mask was back in place, giving nothing away.
Stefan frowned. "You think they were in the tomb?" he asked, ignoring the other comment. "Correction – I know they were in the tomb. I recognized the girl. She`s dead by the way. And unlike our friend Alaric she won`t be getting up again anytime soon." Damon informed his brother, finally continuing towards his bedroom. He debated calling sheriff Forbes, but decided to postpone it until tomorrow and just go to bed. The day had been strange and tiring enough.