Wayward Heart: Book 1

Part 23

Damon sat on the piano bench playing a soft melody as Emma sat close to the fireplace, her Phoenix ring sat in her pocket as she tried to control the flames. Every now and then one of them would look up and catch the other's eye, they would both smile before turning back to their activities.

Stefan entered the room holding onto an old leather bound book, "So I dug into the family archives from the1900's."

"So now you want to be helpful?" Damon said sarcastically as he continued playing.

Emma stood up and slipped her ring back on before walking over to Stefan, taking the book from him and flipping through it for a moment, she put a hand on Damon's shoulder and he stopped playing the piano.

"Want me to go back to being mad at you?" Stefan challenged.

Damon sighed, "What did you find?"

"Well, nothing from 1912, they never arrested anyone for the Founders' murders," Stefan took the book from Emma and flipped to a page that was mid way through, "but they did get a confession ten years later."

Damon was paying attention now, "They did? From who?"

"Johnathan Gilbert's granddaughter, Samantha, they assumed she was crazy. Locked her up in an insane asylum," Stefan looked pleased with himself.

"Then what?" Emma asked.

Stefan shrugged, "Trail ends there, I mean she was a founder, and you know how they like to look after their own."

Damon looked at the book, "Samantha Gilbert, that is very weird..."

"Why?" Emma asked cautiously.

"Because I'm pretty sure I had already killed her," Damon looked up.

"Did you turn her?" Emma tried to avoid sounding accusatory.

Damon scoffed, "No."

"So you think Samantha Gilbert is still alive, running around Mystic Falls, killing Founders?" Stefan asked.

"It's not possible, if she had become a vampire we would have known about it, right?" Damon looked for some sort of confirmation from his brother.

"Then she must have had a ring that brought her back to life, I mean she was a Gilbert, right? Those rings were passed on for generations," Stefan noted.

"Resurrection rings don't protect from old age," Emma pointed out.

"Jonathan Gilbert only made two of those rings, Jeremy has one, and the other..." Damon trailed off.

"Alaric's?" Emma guessed.

Damon nodded to confirm her conclusion.

"Meredith says everything is normal," Emma said as she entered the hospital room that Alaric was sitting in, he was staring at his ring that he hadn't put back on.

"Yeah, well, everything is normal, because there is nothing wrong with me. I didn't kill Brian Walters, I didn't kill Bill Forbes, and I sure as hell didn't shove a hunting knife into my stomach," Alaric turned the ring in his hand again, "or I did and I've gone insane, just like Elena's ancestor who wore it."

Alaric held the ring out to Emma who took it and put it in her pocket.

"Elena is calling Bonnie, a Bennett witch made them, maybe she can undo whatever it is going on," Emma tried to sound hopeful, "I called Sam and have him doing research too."

"You ready to ditch this house of horrors?" Damon asked as he joined them, he looked over to Alaric, "Oof, you look terrible."

Alaric rolled his eyes, "Yeah, let me check out of here."