Wayward Heart: Book 1

Part 16

Damon picked Emma up and ran with her to the Toyota that Stefan had hidden behind some shrubbery. They both got in and Damon gunned the engine as soon as it turned over.

"Damon," Emma asked again, "what happened?"

"Alaric's ring didn't work all the way, he is in the hospital right now," Damon looked over at Emma's reaction.

Her jaw was dropped, "Wha-what do you mean it didn't work all the way?"

"I can fix this Em, I just have to get to him."

The twenty minute drive felt like it took twenty hours to Emma. Damon pulled the car into the closest parking spot and both of them began to run into the hospital.

"Alaric Saltzman, where is he?" Emma demanded from the front desk clerk.

"Are you family?" The older woman asked.

"Yes, where is he?" Emma pounded her hands on the desk impatiently.

"I need to see some sort of proof," the woman tried to explain the policy to Emma.

Before Emma lost her temper on the woman, Damon gently pushed her aside and looked the woman in her eyes, "Where is Alaric Saltzman?"

The now compelled woman had no problem pointing them to the right room. Both of them ran down the hall and Emma threw open the door to Alaric's room.

Her heart sank when she saw all the tubes and wires connected to him, her rush to get to him suddenly stopped and she felt like she couldn't move. She felt Damon's hands on her shoulders, trying to reassure her, but all she could think about was the fact that the last person she had any kind of family feeling towards was laying in front of her on the brink of death. Damon stepped around Emma and took out a syringe from a drawer, he stabbed himself and pulled back the plunger, drawing some of his blood before he walked over to Alaric's bedside. He jabbed Alaric's arm with the needle and pushed the plunger down, forcing his blood into Alaric's system.

Damon walked back over to Emma, "He'll be fine in a little bit."

Emma nodded, still shocked. She was mad at herself for avoiding Alaric for the past month.

"Damon I..." Emma wasn't sure how to phrase everything that was going through her head.

Damon pulled her in for a hug and kissed the top of her head, "I know. I promise he isn't mad at you Emma, he'll be home in a couple of hours and you can talk to him then, okay?"

Emma nodded.

"Do you want to stay here or do you want to come with me, Elena needs me to clean up the aftermath. Some hybrid wouldn't let the paramedics into the house, so baby Gilbert took it upon himself to solve the problem, apparently the solution was bloody."

She hesitated briefly, "I think I want to stay here."

"Okay," Damon kissed her lips quickly, "call me when you're ready to get picked up."

Emma nodded.

Damon left the room and Emma moved over to the chair across the room from the bed. She stayed as quiet as should could while she listened to the monitors that were hooked up to Alaric. As Damon's blood moved through his system the beeping of the heart machine became more rhythmic. Emma rested her elbows on her knees and covered her face with her hands.

"Em?" As soon as Emma heard her name her head popped up and her eyes were wide.

"Ric," Emma tried to hide the crack in her voice but failed, she stood up and walked over to Alaric's bedside.