Alaric stumbled towards his front door, buttoning up his jeans as he went. Again there was a knock at the door, this one more urgent than the last. "Just a second." the teacher called out, swearing loudly when he hit his foot on the couch. He opened the door, surprised to find Jenna standing there. She regarded him with amusement. "Hey, Ric. Bad timing?"
He grimaced, only now realizing what he must look like – bare chested, barefoot, his hair tousled and wet. "Ahh, kind of, yeah." he admitted. Jenna chuckled. "I´ve got news on John. I tried calling you, but you didn`t answer your phone. And Elena told me you weren`t at school today. She seemed worried." Ric frowned. "My phone didn`t ring." he murmured, suddenly getting an idea what could have happened to his phone. The teacher stepped aside to let Jenna enter, grumbling under his breath. That damn vampire.
Ric had woken up this morning to find that school had started two hours ago. Jumping out of bed in shock, he had been stopped by Damon, who calmly told him that he`d shut off the teacher`s alarm clock and called school to inform them that Ric wasn`t feeling well and would therefore not be coming to work today.
Ric had been indignant and had scolded the vampire, told him he had no right to just make decisions for him. They had fought, had yelled at each other and somehow ended up in bed again. In the end Alaric had to agree that spending the day with Damon was far more pleasurable than going to work, but he also warned the vampire never to try anything like this again. He was sure Damon wouldn`t listen. He never did. Jenna`s words had made him realize that the vampire had obviously also shut off his phone. Just great. He wondered absently if Damon had ever heard of boundaries. Probably not.
"So.. you don`t really look sick." Jenna remarked. Ric shrugged sheepishly. "Ahh yeah, well I…" he stammered, flinching when there was suddenly another voice behind him. "I came over to play doctor. As you can see, my treatment worked wonders." Damon remarked as he strolled into the room, a towel slung around his hips, little droplets of water still clinging to his bare chest. Ric stifled a groan. Not only because of the tempting sight, but also because the vampire couldn`t be any more obvious about what they`d been doing minutes ago. He should probably be glad that Damon had at least bothered with a towel.
Jenna grinned knowingly. "Well, I`m sorry for interrupting. I just came over to tell you about John. I think you`ll want to hear this." Alaric didn`t like the sound of that. What was that guy up to now? Nodding his agreement he asked Jenna to take a seat. "Come on, Damon. Let`s go put some clothes on." The vampire regarded him with raised eyebrows and that infuriating smirk that had Ric always debating with himself whether he should kiss him or punch him. "Why should I?" Ric was about to formulate an angry retort, tell Damon that now was not the time for one of his little games. But looking at the vampire more closely he noticed something else besides the usual arrogance. There was a hint of uncertainty.
He supposed deep down Damon was just as jealous and insecure as everyone else. Maybe even more so. And so far he hadn`t given the vampire much reason to trust his sincerity. Stepping closer he pulled Damon in for a kiss, all too aware of Jenna standing nearby, watching them shamelessly. He broke away, grinned at Damon´s dumbfounded expression. He`d really managed to surprise him. "Get dressed. We`re about to discuss something serious and I can`t concentrate with you strutting around half-naked." the teacher admitted, strolling into his bedroom without waiting for an answer.
The vampire followed him seconds later and both got dressed quietly. Damon looked like he wanted to say something, but then thought better of it and just followed the teacher back into the kitchen. Ric made coffee and they sat down at the table. "Okay, I take it John`s back?" the teacher asked. Jenna nodded. "He returned this morning. Wouldn`t tell me where he had been. But I overheard him talking to Mayor Lockwood on the phone. He said something about finding a device and taking care of the problem. And that the plan would take place like they had discussed. It didn`t make much sense, but I thought maybe you`d know more about it."
"He`s looking for one of Jonathan Gilbert`s little inventions. It was stolen by a vampire in 1864. I have no idea what it is, though. Or what he´s planning to do with it." Damon let her know. „Jonathan Gilbert?" Jenna´s face showed clearly that she had no idea what the vampire was talking about. Damon shrugged. "Yeah, he was some sort of mad scientist. Invented all kinds of devices against vampires. I know that John is looking for one of them, but he didn`t say what it was. Or what it did for that matter."
Jenna looked thoughtful for a moment. "What about the old diary? The one Jeremy used for his paper. Maybe it says something about a device." she suggested then. Ric shook his head. "I already thought of that. I have copies of the diary. There´s nothing about the device. At least nothing useful." They had looked through it yesterday. Reading the diary more closely this time had only confirmed Ric´s believe that Jonathan Gilbert had been crazy. But who was he to judge? The teacher was pretty sure he qualified as crazy as well. Maybe it was a side effect of dealing with vampires.
"Any other brilliant ideas?" Damon spoke up again. Jenna shook her head. "None short of asking John about it." she admitted. "Don`t do that. It`s better to keep him in the dark about how much you know." Alaric decided. "He´s right. John is a suspicious guy. He wouldn`t tell you anything, but maybe he`ll be a little careless around you, when he thinks you don`t know anything. You could be our advantage over him." Damon agreed. Jenna chuckled at his words. "Your advantage, huh? Wow, you certainly know how to make a woman feel special."
"It`s all part of my charm." the vampire grinned back. Ric was starting to wonder what he`d gotten himself into. The two of them suddenly seemed to get along rather well. "So, what do we do about John?" he asked, steering the topic back to the problem at hand. "Keep an eye on him, try to figure out what he`s up to and most importantly find that device before he does." Damon decided. Sounded quite logic, so the other two agreed with him.
"He`ll be at the contest tomorrow, so you two should better show up as well. In fact, we could use a chauffeur. Elena`s competing for the title of Miss Mystic." Jenna remarked, giving Ric a pointed look. The teacher shrugged. "Sure, why not. It`ll give me a reason to show up there." Which was probably the best way to keep an eye on John. "Of course I`ll be there as well, seeing how Stefan is Elena`s escort. I have to watch my brother dance." Damon said. Ric suspected the vampire also wanted to keep an eye on Stefan. They hadn`t talked about it anymore, but the younger Salvatore still seemed to be struggling.
"Great. Then I`ll see you both tomorrow." Jenna agreed, standing up and heading for the door. Before she left she winked at the two men and called out: "Sorry again for the interruption." Ric shook his head in resignation. She was reacting way too gleeful to his relationship (or whatever this was) with Damon. The vampire looked thoughtful. "You know, she´s not so bad, now that she`s not trying to get into your pants anymore." he murmured. Ric decided not to comment on that.