I'll never love again [1]

BRINGING OUT THE DEAD

"Morning." Nat said as soon as she entered the kitchen with Elena. They had just returned from their morning run, which had been pretty exhausting. For some weeks now they had been running every morning, hoping to develop a better stamina to go along with their training. Nat also used it as a way to release all the stress she had from her curse, which had been affecting much more the past few days. Ric was looking in one of the pantries for something while Elena poured some water in two different glasses.

"Thought we had aspirin." Ric rasped and Nat nodded.

"They're in the vitamins." She told him and he quickly went to the other shelves. Nat looked at the counter and noticed a nearly-empty bottle of whiskey and an empty glass next to it. "You're hungover." She chuckled and he looked at her sheepishly.

"Yeah, sorry about that. It was a bit of a weird night." He told them and Elena shook her head.

"We told you you don't have to feel guilty about inviting Meredith over here." She reminded him and he sighed.

"Oh, I know. And I thank you guys for that. But I do feel guilty for whiskey dialing her at two in the morning." Nat wrinkled her nose and couldn't help but laugh lightly.

"No you didn't." She said and he nodded.

"Oh, yes I did."

"Was she cool about it?" Elena asked him.

"Well, as soon as these aspirin kicks in and I remember the conversation, I'll let you know." Suddenly, the doorbell rang and they walked over to the door. Once they opened it, they found Sheriff Forbes waiting outside holding a plastic bag. Elena walked out onto the porch, followed by Nat and Alaric.

"Sheriff Forbes, hi. Is everything okay?" Elena asked confused at her sudden appearance in their house.

"This is an unconventional conversation we're about to have. So I hope you'll protect me on it." She told them cautiously and they nodded.

"Of course." Ric assured her and the woman nodded.

"I assume you both heard our medical examiner was murdered the night of the Wickery Bridge fundraiser." Nat crossed her arms and stared at her curiously.

"Yeah. Brian Walters. Why?" Ric asked her.

"We've been investigating. Someone drove this stake through his heart." She held up the evidence bag and when they looked carefully, they noticed there was one of their stakes in it.

"That's one of ours." Ric realized as he took it in his hands. "I mean, this is one of a set from your parents' lake house." He corrected himself as he looked at Nat and Elena.

"That's why I'm here. I haven't told anyone, but forensics ran it for prints and found only one clean set." Sheriff Forbes said and looked at Elena. "Yours." Elena's eyes widened and Nat's lips parted in surprise.

"What?" Elena asked confused and the Sheriff shrugged.

"I just wanted to let you know. I know neither of you did it, but it just seemed weird that someone used your family's weapon to kill a council member."

"Thanks, Sheriff." Nat told her and the blonde nodded.

"Of course. I'll leave you guys to it." She said and turned around, heading to her car. Nat, Ric and Elena stepped inside the house and exchanged confused glances. They went to the kitchen and stayed silent for a moment.

"Okay, what the hell." Nat said out loud and Elena crossed her arms, not knowing what to say.

"I'm gonna go get my weapons, see if any of them are missing." Ric told them and went to his room. Elena got her phone out and dialled someone, putting it on speaker phone and placing the phone on the table.