Wayward Heart: Book 1

Part 2

Alaric's next stop before heading back to his apartment was the girl's apartment, which happened to be right across the hall from his, he needed to know what happened that had brought them back here.

He waited patiently for someone to answer the door after ringing the bell. Katie opened the door was surprised to see him, "Ric, what are you doing here?"

"Just checking in."

"Come on in," Katie opened the door more to give Alaric room to come inside.

Alaric gave her a smile he passed her. Alaric was only a few years older than Katie and when he had first met her he thought she was beautiful, even now that stayed true. He met Henry Peters while he was working on his final dissertation on the occult. Mr. Peters was head of the department at the time at Duke, Katie was still in high school and Emma was just about to start the sixth grade. Alaric had been welcomed into their family after so much of his time being spent with Henry. He ate dinner there most nights and before he had married Isobel he had lived in their spare bedroom for a short time.

The Peters's had kept nothing from their daughters about the dangers of the paranormal. Henry and Janice strongly believed in the reality of vampires and witches and made sure their daughters, as well as Alaric, were taught to defend themselves against the creatures of the night. Emma was so young that she needed a lot of help with some of the fighting techniques and weapons, and the only one who had extra time to help her was Alaric.

"Ric," Emma's head popped around the corner and a large smile stretched across her face.

Before Katie could close the door all the way behind Alaric a hand stopped it, "Excuse me."

Alaric spun around fast a met Damon's eyes.

"Sorry, I'm one of Alaric's friends, I was going over to his apartment but saw him come over here."

Katie looked at Alaric, "I live in the apartment across the hall."

Katie turned back to Damon, "Well come on in then."

She invited Damon inside before Alaric could protest or do anything to stop it. With a champions grin on his face Damon took a large exaggerated step inside and let Katie close the door behind him.

If Alaric hadn't trusted Damon as much as he did he would have already ousted him to the girls and he would have two stakes aimed at him, and knowing the way the girls could fight he would put his money on them. Alaric eyed Damon as Damon passed him on the way to the kitchen where Emma was making dinner. He quickly followed him and Katie joined the group in the small kitchen area.

"So whatcha making?" Damon asked Emma with his usual heart melting smirk.

Emma blushed but quickly turned back to the stove to hide it, "Um, spaghetti and meatballs."

"More like trying and failing," Katie teased her sister and earned a side eye from Emma.

"Here, let me help," Damon quickly washed his hand and stood close to Emma to help show her how to form the perfect ball.

He laughed when he saw that hers were coming out more like square blobs and reached his arms around her and held her hands as he showed her the best way form them.

Alaric turned to Katie and spoke softly, hoping Emma wouldn't hear him ask, "What happened Katie?"

Katie leaned against a near by wall as if she needed it for support, "They were working for some place called The Armory and they went out on some archeological dig to find something they thought might be buried somewhere in Arizona. The tunnel they were working in collapsed, The Armory managed to get to them, but they were just..."

Alaric nodded, letting her know that she didn't need to continue. He also noticed Damon give Emma a remorseful look briefly.

"So how do you like it here in Mystic Falls?" Damon asked Emma as they continued to work on dinner.

Emma shrugged, "Its fine, I lived here when I was younger, so I already know most of the people at the high school and all that, they just don't really remember me much I guess."

"Why did your family move away?"

"My dad got a position at Duke University and away we went," Emma used one of her hand to make a walking motion.

"And you would have rather stayed in Durham."

"Mostly just because that was were I knew everything, I had an, admittedly small, group of friends; but I didn't want to finish high school by starting school all over again."

Damon nodded in agreement, "Understandable."

They continued small chat about Emma's life in North Carolina, he favorite places, her school, and her friends, while they finished dinner for everyone. Once everything was done Katie realized there wasn't enough room for everyone at the kitchen bar that they used as the dining table since it only fit two chairs. Emma was quick thinking and served her own food in a bowl and sat on the wood floor with her back against the wall, Alaric and Katie took the bar stools and Damon chose to stand just using the corner of the bar to support his plate.

Alaric and Katie did most of the talking about the time they had spent together while Emma added to the conversation here and there. Damon was content to just listen and learn more about this new person he was charged to protect, from his own brother. He was silently deciding how much effort he really wanted to put into it, she may mean a lot to Alaric, but up until a week ago he had no idea who she even was.

Damon had to admit to himself that every time her eyes lit up from something that was brought up in conversation, something in him stirred. Her bright amber eyes would widen and become so vivid and lively it made him miss being a human even more. Just as he was looking at her she turned to look at him, her eyes stayed bright but they softened slightly and she smiled up at him.

"So is everything at least tasting good? Even though most of the balls look squished?" She asked him nervously.

"Passable I would say," Damon shrugged and put a judgmental face on, but it was quickly broken with a smile when he saw Emma frown, "It's fine Emma, next time just make a meat sauce."

Damon winked at her and she tried to turn her face before he could see her blush but she was never quite quick enough. Damon turned back to his plate with a smile on his face.

Alaric was too wrapped up in his conversation with Katie to notice the small interaction between the two.

Once all the cleaning was done Damon excused himself for the night and left Emma, Katie, and Alaric to continue catching up. After a while Emma's head started to nod off and on as she started getting exhausted.

"Go to bed Em, I'll see you tomorrow in class," Emma just nodded at Alaric and stood before heading to her room.

She quickly changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top and climbed into bed, she pulled the tie out of her hair and let her velvet red hair fall loose before using her fingers to shake it out. Just as she was about to climb into her bed she heard a caw from outside, she glanced out the window, just around the curtain and saw a crow sitting on a branch of the tree next to the building. For some reason the crow made her think of Damon. The crow cocked his head to the side and cawed again.

"Look dude, I'm gonna need you to shush," she scolded the bird, which only responded with another caw.

Emma sighed angrily and unlocked her window to shoo the bird away, she grabbed the branch and shook it slightly, the bird finally took off. Feeling accomplished she closed the window and relocked it before finally climbing in bed.

On the street below Damon chuckled as he saw Emma arguing with his crow, it had been a long time since he had messed around with that power but it was worth his while. He knew the bird would get Emma to think about him, and for some reason he didn't understand, he wanted that.