ALMOST IS NEVER ENOUGH | TVD [4]

III • AGE OF INNOCENCE

three. age of innocence

Alaric Saltzman's Apartment

Damon, fresh out of his morning shower, walks into the living room in which Alaric is sitting in a vintage armchair, reading a non-fictional history book and examining the ruby Phoenix stone, still studying it in genuine curiosity. When Alaric hears him coming, he immediately hides the stone in his nearby duffel bag. The whole room is a mess-- his coffee table is covered in empty glass liquor and beer bottles, and there are clothes strewn everywhere.

"You seen my phone?" The icy blue-eyed vampire asked hopefully.

"I've, uh, seen your empties, your dinner..." The former Original holds up a black and blue disposable razor that was laying on the coffee table as well, "Your razor." He tosses the razor back on the table before sitting back in his armchair and sighing, "You know, some clothes would be nice right now."

Damon sees his cell phone laying under Alaric's heavy legs and smacks them playfully as he bends over to grab it from under him, "Got it!"

"How long are you planning on crashing here, Damon? You know, you could compel yourself a whole sorority house if you wanted to." He scoffs.

His vampire friend smirks, "And miss this Odd Couple squalor? I'm starting to enjoy the luxury of having one barely-functional shower-head after years of being tortured by the four that I have in my actual home." He sighs when he earns an undeniably annoyed look, "Relax! It's just 'til we hunt down Lily's lone-wolf Heretic and swap him out for my girlfriend in a coma."

"Yeah? And, uh, how long until that happens, huh?"

Damon checks a message on his phone, "Pretty soon, thanks to Donovan. A phrase no one has uttered...ever." They both chuckle in amusement by that, "He's checking Lily's cell phone records, and he better do it carefully."

Just then, Bonnie and Melissa/Minerva walk into the room, one after the other through the main door, with an irritated look on both of their faces.

"Hi, ladies!" Damon greeted with a wide smile on his gorgeous face.

When the pair of young ladies see him in a towel, they pause; the former clearly creeped out while the latter is clearly getting even more irritated.

"Can you be any more appealing?" Minerva said, dripping with sarcasm.

"Please tell me we're not interrupting something..." Bonnie mentioned.

"Oh, trust me-- you're not. What's up?" A defensive Alaric asked the pair.

"That Phoenix stone that I touched yesterday..." The older girl trailed off.

"You did destroy it like you promised us, correct?" Her best friend continued.

"Why? What happened?" The Occult professor asked with a frown, alarmed, and the two ladies share a look before Bonnie answered the question.

"We just had another vision-- a flash of horrified people with x-shaped wounds on their skin. And, when we opened our eyes, ten minutes had gone by."