The Sacrifice

Bad Moon Rising - 2

"Leave her alone" Alaric mumbles to Damon who was annoying Elena.

"You know this whole, pretending to hate me this is getting a little silly" Damon says to Elena, who sits crossed legged looking away from Damon.

I take a glance at her and then at  Damon. "I don't think she's pretending. You did kill her brother"

"There is a huge asterisk next to that statement. He came back to life. Besides you got over the hatred you had for me" I almost scoff.

"That's because hating you wouldn't bring Vicki back" I shoot back with a sneer. I didn't like talking about Vicki. I might not hate Damon anymore, and I might consider him my friend but I do not like it when anyone mentions her, especially him.

"Yeah. Thanks to a ring that you didn't know he was wearing" Elena says. "Why are you so sure I didn't know?" Damon questions. For the first time Elena looks at him with a skeptic face.

"Did you?"

"Yes" Elena narrows her eyes at him.

"Your lying"

"Elena, I saw the ring. It's a big tacky thing. It's hard to miss" Damon counters.

Alaric lifts his hand, examining his own ring. He frowns at it, most likely because of what Damon says, he's seemingly offended.

I sigh and pull out my head phones, getting my playlist ready, I plug them in and start listening to my music. I need something to get me through this ride.

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When we get to duke I can't help but marvel at the building. It's huge, and looks ancient like England.

"Close your mouth you look like a fish" Damon mocks. I growl at him, that name.

"So Isobel was officially employed by the anthropology department. Given that most of paranormal activity is rooted in folklore" Alaric explains a bit of a background as he leads us through the halls of duke. He notices a woman who's going through files and calls her out

"Excuse me. Hi" He says as she turns to us.

"I'm Alaric Saltzman. I called earlier" The woman smiles, closing up the cabinets. She's pretty, pale square face, brown hair that reaches just a little bit below her shoulders and brown eyes to match.

"Yes. Of course" She says, striding over to shake Alaric's hand. "I'm Vanessa Monroe. Research assistant- comparative folklore"

When her eyes land on us behind Alaric she seems lost in her mind for a moment, she snaps out of it quickly and points with her thumb behind her.

"Uh, let me just grab Isobel's keys" She says. Alaric notices her reaction and quickly explains what he's doing here with three other people.

"I'm sorry, these are my friends, Ariel, Elena and Damon. I hope this isn't too much of an imposition" Vanessa smiles and shakes her head.

"Please, Isobel's office is right through there," She says, motioning with her head to the door next to us. Vanessa goes over to her desk, rummaging around for the keys.

"Isobel was one of my first professors. I was a grad student, she was brilliant" She says, pulling out the keys and shutting close the drawer.

"One of the reasons why I went into folklore" She explains, sitting on the edge of her desk. She looks down, almost unsure or embarrassed.

"I have to ask...has there been any news?" Alaric shakes his head. "No. No I'm afraid not" She gives him an apologetic smile and gets up.

"It's right this way" She goes over to the door, unlocking it with a twist of the key. There's a desk right in the middle, the walls are riddled with books, maps and other strange stuff.

"I'll grab the light, feel free to look around" Vanessa says before exiting. I walk over to one of the bookshelves and trace a hand over all the spine edges.

Books have always fascinated me, if these books are filed with folklore they could be useful.

"Where'd she go?" Damon asks about Vanessa. I shrug and look back at the doorway where she appears with a cross bow pointed directly at Elena.

"No!" I yell as Vanessa presses the trigger. Damon reacts quickly and stands in front of Elena, the arrow hitting his back. He groans and falls to the floor. Alaric rushes to Vanessa and pins her against the wall.

I run to Elena and grab her by the shoulder, "Are you okay?" I ask. She nods, still taking in what happened.

"Damon!" I exclaim, crouching down to him. Elena crouches beside me, "You got this right?" I say and flee before she can say something. They need to work out this hatred.

"Get me some rope" Alaric orders and after searching I find some rope and we bring her to her office, leaving Damon and Elena in Isobel's.

Alaric pushes Vanessa down to a chair and ties her hand up to the arm post.

"Please! Okay I freaked. Alright you would have done the same thing. It's not possible! Katherine Pierce can't be alive and Damon Salvatore died in 1864!" She rants with a free hand.

"Okay. I read Isobel's research" She explains. "Well, then you know just how possible this is'' Alaric comments.

The door to Isobel's office opens and both Damon and Elena step out. Elena goes over to her and explains who she is.

"I'm Elena Gilbert. Isobel's daughter and a descendant of Katherine Pierce"

I as well explain who I am.

"I'm Ariel Donovan'' No way I'm calling myself a Gilbert even if I technically am.

"Elena's my twin sister. Fraternal obviously" I then run a hand over my face.

"I obviously didn't get the doppelgänger gene" Elena narrows her eyes on that but ignores it, looking back at Vanessa.

"And this is Damon Salvatore who you just shot"

"I'd be extra nice to me right now" Damon points out with a grin,

I explain what we were doing here, "Look we need your help. Ok. We need to see all of Isobel's Research, anything related to mystic falls"