Book Four: Solitude (A. Saltzman)

Chapter Forty-Three

Diana is lying Elena's unconscious form onto the cot in the cell of the boarding house cellar while Damon and Stefan stand in the doorway watching her.

"She might not feel much, but she's gonna feel that in the morning." Damon teases slightly, Diana shoots him a dirty look and turns back to Elena. "So what's the plan, Watchdog?" Damon asks her.

"When Bonnie was whaling on her tonight, I could see it in her eyes. Elena thought she was gonna die. She was scared."

"Fear" Stefan offers from Damon's side.

"Last time I checked, one of those pesky human emotions." Diana points out.

"So Plan "C"...Make her life a living hell." Stefan states.

"You care to talk about our other problem? You know, the one that can be anyone, anywhere, anytime." Damon asks Stefan.

"Silas still needs Bonnie. And if tonight is any indication, she's no pushover. She's not gonna let him manipulate her, not anymore." Stefan admits.

"I wouldn't underestimate his talents. He fooled the hell out of both of us." They exit the cell and Diana shuts and bolts the door behind them. "What did he say to you anyway?" Damon asks his brother.

"He led me out in the woods, claiming he saw Silas, and then he staked me."

"Hm."

"How'd he get to you?" Stefan asks.

"Talked about his hair. Figured it had to be you." Damon lies, Diana gives him a look.

"Funny" Stefan comments. Diana heads up the stairs first, Damon starts to follow her, while Stefan looks through the bars in the door at Elena.

"You coming?" Damon asks.

"Yeah" Stefan answers after a moment of hesitation.

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

Diana yawns as she heads for the front door of the boarding house, Damon follows behind her.

"Do whatever it is you are planning on doing" Diana states. "Starve her, torture her, whatever...." She shrugs. "Text me if anything changes"

"Where are you going?" Damon asks her.

"I'm hungry" Diana answers. "So I'm going to get something to eat" She points out and rolls her eyes before leaving. Damon watches the door as it closes, a small suspicious frown on his face. 

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

Diana's jeep pulls up to a stop outside the burnt remains of the Gilbert house. She takes a breath and glances at the ruins of her childhood home and then shakes her head.

"Alright" Diana whispers as she unfolds the map onto the passenger's seat and draws her fingers over a few lines before grabbing a journal from the dash. She leans back in her seat and opens it up. This journal belongs to Penelope Fell. Thanks to Meredith it is now in Diana's possession. She is hoping there is going to be a clue as to where the monolith could be. Alaric leans over the back seat to read over her shoulder

"She watched you" He offers. "Your whole childhood" Diana hums in agreement as she touches the page. "She loved you" Alaric points out as he reads the entry. "And missed you"

"She gave us up" Diana counters. "She had no right to miss us" Diana flicks through the pages to find what she is looking for. "She has to have written something down...." she complains.

"There," Alaric stops her as he points at a page. "What is that about energy?" Diana flips back to the page he is motioning to.

"Urm..." Diana's eyes flicker over the page. "'I find comfort every time I return to the Menhir" Diana reads. "The energy it radiates fills me with the sense of home I find lacking everywhere but in Athens...." She looks at Alaric who shrugs. It's a good start. Diana looks down at the book. "One day the girls will need to know of it, hopefully by then I will have the courage I need to tell them everything...." Diana clenches her jaw and shakes her head. "There is nothing about a location here..." she sighs and brushes through the pages. "As if she would just write it down....that would be stupid...." Alaric smiles a little. "No, if it was me and I had to hide something of mystical powers....." She flips the journal over and traces the back cover. "Hmmm" She grabs her knife from the dash and slides the knife under the cover, lifting it from the book. Under the cover is a folded piece of paper. She unfolds it to reveal a page of lines and symbols. "It's a coded map" She answers turning it around to read the symbols and lines. "This" She touches a symbol. "I think this is the Church....and these" She moves to another symbol. "Is the old Lockwood ruins where we found that cave...This must be the monolith" She states touching a symbol on the map. "It's different from the others...."

"More Greek" Alaric teases, she snorts and nods.

"Yeah..." She whispers. "This is right under the school" She admits. "Right in the centre...." She traces the lines of a triangle linking all the massacre points. That can't just be a simple coincidence. She sets the book and map down before starting the jeep's engine again. "Okay," She shifts it into gear.

"Food" Alaric reminds her. "You haven't eaten today"

"I haven't missed this" She counters and shoots him a look.

"Someone has to look out for you" He offers, her features soften, she's touched that even in death, here he is, on her side, looking out for her. He smiles and nods at her.

"Okay," She tells him. "Food first...." She assures him.