The Red Herring Returns: A Mikaelson Love Story

Chapter 16: Sometimes People Turn Into Crazy Serial Killers

When I arrived at the house where Elena and Alaric were sitting nervously at the kitchen table. It was awful not knowing what was happening to him but I also knew that if we sat down and moped about it, we would just fall into this black hole of depression.

"Wow you guys look like you just found out Alaric's a secret murderer." I said with a chuckle that was met with resounding silence. "Jeez, remind me not to get into stand up."

"Girls, I want you to have this." Alaric said as he held out a notepad. "This is a list of my bank accounts, passwords, where to find my will, and how to contact my family, just in case this doesn't go my way."

"Absolutely no way." We said in unison. "Don't even think like that."

"I need to know that the three of you are going to be okay." He told us.

"The four of us will be." I told him when Elena's phone rang. I took his hand and squeezed whilst the two of us waited with baited breath for her to relay the news.

"Good news or bad news?" Alaric asked her when she was done.

"Bonnie thinks that she can help you with a spell." Elena explained causing me and Alaric to let out a sigh of relief. "But she needs something that you wore before you put on the ring. Something personal." Meredith walked into the room and Alaric began to feel slightly uncomfortable.

"Well, there's uh—there's my wedding ring. It's at the loft." Got it. Alaric started to get up but Meredith pushed him right back down.

"You should probably stay here." She told him. "With me."

"Oh, you and your tranquilizers." Alaric told her with a chuckle before turning back to us. "It's in the dresser by the kitchen. It's in a...an aspirin bottle, probably covered in cobwebs."

The two of us drove to Alaric's house in silence, sobered by the thought of Alaric dying. He didn't deserve this. And it was my fault.

"It wasn't your fault, Liana." Elena suddenly said, as if she could read my mind.

"I gave him that ring, Elena. Me."

"To help him."

"Yeah, well where did that leave us?" She squeezed my shoulder, unable to think of a reply that would make me feel better. Probably because there wasn't one.

We walked up the stairs to the loft in silence again and met with Stefan, who was leaning up against the frame and scaring us.

"What are you doing here Stefan?" I asked him angrily, trying to protect Elena from whatever heartache he was here to deliver.

"Missed you at the house. Alaric said you'd be here." He replied.

"Didn't answer my question." I snapped.

"Besides, you made yourself pretty clear this morning. You wanna be as far away from me as possible." Elena said sadly as she went to unlock the door.

"Elena, I'm not trying to hurt you." Stefan said with a sigh. "I just can't be what you want right now."

"Don't you dare." I said, clenching my fists angrily. He tried to enter the apartment, but I pushed his chest back away from me. "Just because you don't mean to hurt someone doesn't mean that they don't get hurt. Sometimes they turn into crazy serial killers and sometimes they cry themselves to sleep at night. Whether you want them to or not. So I'm gonna ask you again, what are you doing here? And don't give me a cryptic answer this time."

"I uh—I did a little more digging on Samantha Gilbert" He began. "Founding families were always pretty good about destroying their records, but I found a couple of newspaper articles. It seemed she killed two people while she was in the institution. A nurse and a guard."

"She was a psycho, not news." I said, rolling my eyes at him.

"She was under suicide watch." He continued. "No personal effects, no jewellery."

"Wait," I said as my eyes widened in horror. "That means that the violent behaviour can happen whether or not the person is wearing the ring."

"It does." He said with a nod.

"The floor is yours." He entered the room and closed the door behind him as we frantically began to search for the ring.

"What's this?" Elena said as she opened one of his drawers and found clippings of various members of the council.

"Pictures of his victims." Stefan said soberly.

"And here's his hitlist." I said as I showed them a list of council members along with an attached note. "Jeremy, if anything happens to me, carry on my work. You have the other ring, let the ring make you strong. The council must be cleansed before the work can begin."

"No." Elena said shaking her head profusely. "Alaric didn't write this."

"Who else would have Elena?" I said with a sigh. "He's been Mystic-ified. And that ring works with or without it."

"What are we gonna do if Bonnie's spell doesn't work?" Stefan asked and it was clear that he and Elena were having some tense romance that I was making superbly awkward.

"I'm gonna go home." I told the two. "Make sure Alaric hasn't done anything crazy."

"Okay." Elena said as she gave me a hug. "Stay safe."

I walked outside and standing in front of my car was someone I was not expecting to see for a while. I let out a gasp, still slightly unsure if he was really here.

"Hello Iliana."

"Elijah."

A/N: I hope you enjoyed! If you did please vote, comment and follow! X