Saving The Found...(Final Journey:Based off The Vampire Diaries Books & TV Show)

FOUR |Tricks|

Alaric

I talked to Stefan today, I could tell he'd been crying for months, all the months I had left and abandoned him. It hadn't been my intention, I thought I was doing the right thing by leaving. I felt as if I were only a hindrance to Elyssa, Katherine, Damon, and Stefan. They had their lives ahead of them, and I only had a lousy history degree with a lousy paying job at the Mystic Falls High School.

In my time away I began to miss teaching. I missed what it felt like to make the students laugh, to see their faces light up when they learned something new. I took the job because I wanted to be normal. Because I had truly hoped I would forget about my past relationships, with women, that all failed. I didn't know if it was me or them, but from what I've heard it's my fault, I'm the one with the issue. After a while there I began to believe them. More and more I realised that I didn't have much of an interest in women. I mean they are pretty and all but for some reason they weren't cutting it until one night a few months ago. It was the usual night for me, only it had been the Founders Ball. I sat at the bar there the entire time and had far too many drinks for anyone's liking. I remembered a good looking man sitting next to me, and then I was in his house making out with him. For the first time in a long time I felt like I was enjoying myself, like I wasn't forcing myself to do something.

I went away because that night terrified me. When I woke up in a stranger's bed, a male stranger's bed I freaked out, left a note, and got on the next plane to New Jersey. My brother owned a house on the ocean which I knew would calm my nerves. He didn't want me to leave apparently he liked the company of an alcoholic. Then, I recieved a voicemail from Stefan under many missed call notifications. It was painful to hear, his voice cracked in between his deep breaths. The tears had consumed him when he had told me the news about Elyssa and Damon who I was shocked to hear about. Damon had passed away before Elyssa, yet Stefan hadn't said a word. Though, when I he told me about Elyssa I broke down. If only I had stayed, and not gotten drunk. If only I hadn't run away to some beach, then maybe I could've saved her. Stefan reassured me there was nothing I could have done that if anything he was to blame. I knew Stefan too well. I knew he would blame himself for not giving her his blood.

I came back for him. But it caused me great agony to see him this way. He was crestfallen and distraught over their loss. A five hundred year old man lost the only living blood relative he had left. I didn't want to begin to imagine what he was feeling. Although I got a glimpse when I entered the Mayson House. It was dark inside. A feeling of sadness washed over me as I stepped into the kitchen. My mind began playing tricks on me as time passed. I thought I would hear Elyssa's voice downstairs, or in her room, but it was only hopes. She is gone, Damon and her forever.

Elyssa died just before Senior year, she could have gone off to college, gotten a pre-med degree like she'd always dreamed about. Ronnie too. I feel better knowing a witch is with them but then again it's been months if Ronnie could do anything, she would have done it by now.
My phone vibrated so I checked who it was.

Stefan - Come over.

I replied with a quick okay and drove to his house.

The door was wide open, so I walked in. Just the foyer alone was mouth dropping, Large paintings decorated the maroon walls, all of which I knew well. A large carpet was laid out over aged hard wood floors that creaked with every step. I walked in further and walked down a few steps to enter their family room, with even more paintings, and strange decorations. Stefan was sitting in his reading chair positioned in front of a raging fire.

"Ric." He said and within seconds was in front of me.

"Hello, did you need something." His eyes glowed from the fire behind us.

"Just some company, I don't like being alone here." I knew the feeling all too well, I wanted to say.

"Is your mind playing tricks on you too." Stefan turned and walked back towards the chair he sat in. Before he sat down, he pulled an identical one next to his.

"Ah, yes. Just before you came I thought I heard Damon singing while playing the piano. There was no one here when I walked downstairs." I couldn't see his face for it was facing the fire now but I imagined it to be riddled with despair.

I sat next to him, with the glass of bourbon Stefan had given to me in my hand.

"Did you find any leads?" I asked, trying to change the gloomy mood in the room. Stefan gripped his glass harder in his hand that rested gently on the arm of the chair.

"No. She's doing a swell job of hiding her tracks." His eyes remained on the fire, that crackled and rose as time passed.

"Indeed. Do you want to find her." This got Stefan's attention. His eyes surveyed my face as mine did the same. He was beautiful. Every fine line on his face was drawn with delicacy. His face belonged on the walls with the other paintings, I thought to myself.

"Well that's a strange question to ask." His voice was calm, but it was intertwined with a croakyness to it that only older people had.

"Not really," I took a sip of my bourbon, "She killed your brother, you must want vengeance." His face became contorted with anger. I knew I had hit a nerve. Nice job, Ric.

"Vengeance, revenge... After a while it becomes the same thing. I do not wish to take part in such a cruel act. Yes, Ayble must be stopped. However, I will not let her await the same death my brother was forced into." His voice had risen to pure exasperation. Thankfully he was no longer holding the glass in his hand. I wanted to make his pain go away but I didn't know how.

"Your brother didn't deserve to die, you must agree with that." I watched while Stefan calmed himself down. He rolled his hands into fists over and over again until his muscles had relaxed.

"Maybe he did... Maybe I do too. It simply may be fate's way of punishing me."

"What do you mean?" I asked, curious as to where Stefan was going with this.

"Alaric, I have been on this Earth for nearly five hundred years. I do believe I have overstayed my welcome." I placed a reassuring hand on Stefan's shoulder. His skin felt good beneath my palm. I wanted more of his skin beneath mine.

"I don't believe that for a second." Stefan turned towards me with his glowing green eyes. I felt whole again. I wanted to kiss him. I wanted to feel his skin on my skin, to hear our hearts beating beneath each other. Except, it was only a fantasy something that'd never become a reality.

"Why is that?" Stefan once more faced the fire, leaving my fantasies untouched.

There was a brief moment of silence before I answered. The fire had dimmed down to a more relaxed state and was no longer crackling loudly.

"Well, it's like you said. You are a survivor. There is a way to kill a Vampire you know. So, clearly you survived, you've simply been doing it for a long time." I replied eager to hear his voice.

"You are a wise man, you know?" I smiled, and could see one gradually forming on Stefan's face as well.

There was no more bourbon in my glass, so I sat and listened to the fire when neither of us interrupted it's desire to be heard.

"I hope so, I am a teacher." He laughed. It was the perfect laugh, it was stern, and held a longing for happiness as it drawled out of his plump lips.

"Damon's father was a teacher." Stefan stated without any emotion in his voice. This baffled me. Why had he not just said my father, since they are brothers... were brothers, after all.

"I thought you were brothers?" Stefan nodded his head, still never meeting my eyes.

"My father saved him when in England. A war had been going on. My father had been sent from Italy to England. In a small village he saw Damon crying next to his two dead parents. My father wasn't a kind man, but for some reason he took Damon and traveled back to Italy. We grew up together, of course Damon had a few years on me, and seemed out of place when out in town talking. None of that mattered to me like it had to my other siblings. Damon became my best friend, and I his."

I yearned to hear more about his life. He must have thousands of untold stories. I wondered why he kept them all to himself.

"That's," I struggled for words, "Incredible. You both have such a strong resemblance of each other. I never noticed." Once more, Stefan chuckled.

"Yes, yes. We got that same comment many times. Even after all the years, Damon still has the slightest remains of his english accent. I don't know how exactly."

"You still have an accent too, Stefan." I noticed the odd way he pronounced things whenever we spoke but never commented on it.

"Really? Damn, I thought I'd gotten rid of it."