Book Three: Ineffable (A. Saltzman)

Chapter Thirty-Seven

At the Gilbert house, Diana, Alaric, and Elena sit together at the dining table together. Alaric pushes a pad of paper with writing on it towards Diana as Elena stands from the table to sets a few mugs into the sink, Diana frowns at the pad.

"Listen, I want you to have this. 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." Diana pushes the pad back towards Alaric.

"No, no, no. Don't" She scolds him. "Don't even think like that."

"Diana, I need to know that you and..." He swallows a little. "That our children are gonna be okay."

"We're all gonna be fine." She promises him, they share a look. Elena's phone rings, she answers it.

"Caroline?"

"So, Abby thinks Bonnie can reverse the damage of the spell." Caroline answers. "I guess this same thing happens to witches who get obsessed with dark magic. They lose control and start acting out their darkest impulses." Elena moves away from Diana and Alaric.

"Thank you so much."

"I'm gonna hang back here with Abby, but Bonnie's leaving now, so...Hold on." Caroline hands Bonnie her phone and goes to help Abby pack up some herbs. Bonnie takes a deep breath and starts to talk to Elena.

"I need a personal effect of Alaric's, something he wore before he started wearing the ring," Bonnie admits.

"Okay, yeah, I- I'll get it. Bonnie, I'm so sorry for everything, thank you for doing this."

"Be ready to do the spell as soon as I get there. We have to work fast. I'll see you soon." Bonnie hangs up very quickly. Alaric and Diana are both watching Elena.

"Good news? Bad news?" Alaric asks, Elena turns around and walks back over to the table.

"Bonnie thinks that she can help you with a spell.

"Well, it's worth a try."

"But she needs something that you wore before you put on the ring. Something personal." Elena points out. Alaric glances at Diana and then to Elena.

"Well, there's uh- there's my...my old wedding ring. It's at the apartment."

"Okay, yeah, uh- that's a...that's a good idea," Elena assures him, Alaric starts to get up, but Diana pulls him back down.

"I think it's better if you stay here with me." She whispers softly, he nods in agreement.

"It's in the dresser by the kitchen. It's in a...an aspirin bottle, probably covered in cobwebs." He tells Elena.

"Okay" Elena whispers, she looks at Diana who nods in reassurance before Elena leaves.

...........

Elena enters the apartment complex and turns towards the apartment door. She startled by Stefan who is leaning against the doorframe.

"Missed you at the house. Diana told me you'd be here." Stefan admits as he leans up.

"You made yourself perfectly clear this morning, Stefan. You don't want to be around me." Elena walks over to the door and unlocks it.

"I'm not trying to hurt you, Elena. I just can't be who you want me to be right now. I'm not in control." Stefan admits.

"So then, what are you doing here?" She asks then enters the loft, Stefan follows her.

"I uh- I did a little more digging on Samantha Gilbert." He closes the door behind him and turns on the lights. "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"