Try {One | Alaric Saltzman}

A Double Edged Sword

The sky was shades of red and yellow when Abigail made it to the clearing in the woods where Alaric was set up for an early morning training session. After the masquerade ball she was determined to protect herself, to protect her family. There was a world of vampires out there, all of whom seemed to have ties to Mystic Falls.

After a warmup that rivaled the football team's, he slipped a stake sleeve onto her wrist. "So, the pressure of your punch ejects the stakes."

"Easy enough." She punched the mannequin as hard as she could, but the stakes stayed in the sleeve. "That's weird."

He put his hands on her hips, moving her to a better stance in a matter of seconds. "Try again."

She nodded, taking a shaky breath. "Okay."

This time when she punched the mannequin, the stakes buried into it.

"Good job." The way he said it let her know there was more coming, but she wasn't prepared for him to say, "But you're not going to get second chances out there."

"Thanks for sugar-coating it."

He pulled something out of his backpack, holding it up so that she could get a good look at it. "You know what this is?"

"A vervain grenade."

"The element of surprise is your only advantage when it comes to a vampire." He pulled the pin and threw it to her. "Surprise."

"Oh, my God!" She threw it in the opposite direction of him, watching as it exploded in the air. "This isn't a joke to me, Ric."

"You think I'm joking?" He gaped at her. "Vampires will take whatever they want. They will hurt whoever they want. And they'll do it without remorse. It's their nature."

"You don't think I know that?" She whipped around. "Why do you think I'm here?"

"I know why you're here. You understand that you could die like that." He snapped his fingers. "Just like that."

"After I killed Henry, it took days for me to come to terms with what I did; weeks to figure out how to close my eyes without seeing his body." She looked down at her dirty tennis shoes. "I don't know if I can go through that again."

"Hey, if you hadn't killed Henry, he would've killed me and then you. I may have a magic ring that brings me back to life, but you don't. So, vervain grenades, stakes sleeves, and good old-fashioned hand to hand combat are how you are going to survive." He took her hands into his own. "You can do this. Hell, I think that you can do pretty much anything. You are the strongest person I know."

The school hallways were lined with missing posters for Aimee although the sheriff, the mayor, and the Council knew that she was already dead. In front of Sarah's locker, there were pictures, candles, and teddy bears. It was a memorial her best friend would never get.

"So, Sarah attacks Tyler and he pushed her away and she tripped and she fell and she hit her head," Caroline told Abigail the story. "Matt thinks he blacked out, but I think they were both compelled by Katherine. That's why I covered for Tyler and said it was an accident."

"You did the right thing." Abigail elaborated, "Tyler getting blamed for Sarah's death just opens up questions that he can't answer. And do you really think that it's a good idea for him to tell his mom he's a werewolf?"

"Well, no." Caroline slammed her locked shut. "We all know what happened when I told mine I was a vampire."

Abigail leaned against Caroline's locker, stopping her from walking away. "Where is your mom?"

"Leading the search party for Aimee Bradley." They glanced down the hall. "They haven't found her body yet."

"Aimee's body is at the bottom of the ravine with a cracked spine." Abigail paused. "If you want to drop a hint to your mom."