Book One: Panacea (A. Saltzman)

Chapter Twenty-Three

Alaric's car is parked on the street across from the Gilbert house, after his whole conversation with Stefan, the missing journal, plus the texts and photos, he just needed to check on her. To put his own mind at ease. Diana leaves the house causing Alaric to slump in his seat to hide from her. His eyes following her as she shifts on the porch. She looks exhausted. Drained. She runs her fingers through her hair and takes a few steps down the porch. She closes her eyes and lets out a breath before she sits on the step beneath her. Behind her, Stefan leaves the house and sits at her side before they share a look. Her jaw is tight and angry. She shakes her head and looks away from him. She's unhappy. Alaric frowns a little. Unsure if she knows about the vampires or not. She sure hangs around one a lot. But that doesn't mean she knows. He knows she's read the journal. He knows she knows about her ancestor's vampire stories. The way she'd asked him if he'd believed. He looks at her now. She knows. She has to know about them.

.........

Stefan touches Diana's arm, and she looks down at it before ripping it free of him. She doesn't want him touching her. Doesn't want him comforting her. She turns and punches him in the jaw before she stands heads inside. Stefan touches his jaw and works out the ache. He had that coming and worse. He knows she's upset about this whole thing. About Elena going missing. And whilst they were both in the house. She's mad at him, but not just him, but herself too. Stefan looks up as Diana leaves the house again, this time her jacket in place around her and she carries a black tactical bag. She passes him without stopping, jogs down the steps, and heads towards her jeep. Stefan stands and follows after her.

"Where are you going?" Stefan shouts after her as she throws the bag into her jeep.

"I'm going to go look for her" Diana counters as she slams the trunk of her jeep. She walks back towards Stefan. "You can sit here and wait for the nice vampire-kidnappers to bring her back, fingers crossed, alive...." She touches his chest. "Or...we can go out there and find her before they do damage" she points away from them. "So what's it going to be, Stefan?"

"I'm with you" he offers in way of answer. "Whatever you want....mostly because I don't know what you are going to do to me if I say no" she smirks at him.

"Good boy, now get in the damn jeep," She tells him and then climbs into her jeep herself. Stefan lets out a breath before he joins her. He glances at her as she starts the jeep.

"You know you and your history teacher have a lot in common" Stefan mumbles, she looks at him, he raises an eyebrow.

"Because we both hunt vampires?" she asks him, he seems surprised that she knew what she was talking about. "Yeah, I know" she states and lets out a breath.

"You knew?" he asks her, she nods.

"He killed Logan" She admits as she pulls out of the drive. Stefan nods.

"When you said it wasn't you, and then...finding out about him, it made sense that he killed him...." Stefan agrees.

"I'm guessing you took care of the one from the dance too?" she asks, he nods and looks at her.

"Probably best Damon never finds out you were the one that riddled him with arrows" He points out.

"I've dropped enough hints" She comments. "If he hasn't figured it out by now, he's a moron" Stefan smiles.

...................

The sun is starting to rise, and Alaric is half-asleep in his car, he might have followed Diana's jeep all night, just a little. He did. He followed her. Wanted to make sure she was alright after she ran off with the vampire. His phone rings on the passenger side seat. He glances over at it and lets out a breath, he picks it up, glancing at the new message notification. He opens his messages with a sigh, because this is getting ridiculous now. It's another photo, taken from the top corner of Diana's bedroom, she is sleeping and some figure dressed in black with their hands around her throat. It's obviously not from the night before, given that she's not been home at all, but this person has been in her bedroom recently. His breath catches, because this is more real now. This person is in her bedroom. Is touching her. Threatening her. His heart pounds in his chest, his fear real. This person, whoever they are, can now actually hurt her. It's gone from watching, to touching. A text follows the picture. 'See how easy it is for me to get my hands around her neck. Call off your date or I'll finish it – X'. Alaric has no choice now. They are asking for something. They are threatening life. He has to do what they say. He can't risk her life. He won't do that. He will never do that. He takes a deep breath. He has to do it. He has to hurt her to protect her. His frown then deepens. This person knows he and Diana have plans. They only talked about that in his car. No one could have heard that. Unless they....were a vampire. There is no other explanation. It has to be that. And it has to be someone Diana let into her home because they clearly have access. They are being stalked and threatened by a vampire. That's just great and makes everything 100x more difficult because he actually fully believes that they can hurt her. And they will hurt her if they don't get what they want. He jumps a little when Diana knocks on his window. He stares at her before lowering the window, throwing his phone onto the seat beside him. She lets out a breath and holds out a travel cup of coffee, he hangs his head and takes it from her. She leans on the car door.

"Why don't you go home?" she asks him. "Get some sleep" he looks at her.

"I will when you do" he counters, she smirks a little. He lets out a breath. "When did you....figure it out?"

"I clocked your car the second I left my house" she admits. "So I guess you want to talk about it"

"About what?" he asks her, she lets out a breath and leans closer to him.

"The reason you're following me" she answers. "The reason you were camped outside my home..."

"Would you take 'weird day', as my excuse?" he asks her, she shakes her head.

"You're worried about the vampires" she points out, he lets out a breath. He has his answer. She knows about them. And yet is still associating with them. Still getting into her car with them. Still punching them. "We can talk about it later" she assures him. "At dinner" his heart sinks a little, because he has to do it, he has to cancel on her, he has to protect her. He has to hurt her. And he has to do it right now. He would have liked more time to think about it.

"Diana" he starts as he reaches up and touches her necklace, rubs his fingers over the crystal. "I can't go out with you tonight" she leans back from his, her necklace falling from his fingers.

"It was your idea" She reminds him, he nods.

"I know...I just...something came up" he tells her.

"Right, I get it" she whispers, her voice breaking. "You got sex" she states. "And....what other reason would you continue to try and be nice to me?"

"Stop" he scolds her. "You know that's not what this is..."

"Do I?" she asks him. "You were all nice and charming, said all the right things, made me....feel things" He watches her sadly. "Got sex and then...this" She states, her voice turning cold. "Go home, Alaric," she tells him firmly before she walks away. She reaches up and rubs at her cheek. Alaric lets out a breath and sets his head back against the headrest. His own heartbreaking with what he's done. What he let happen. But he knows he did it for the right reasons. He did it to protect her.