Book One: Panacea (A. Saltzman)

Chapter Fifteen

Diana sits at the top of the stairs at home, waiting for Elena to come home, she is going to have words, without telling that she knows too much. In the living room below, Jenna is agitatedly flipping the pages of a magazine on the sofa when Elena walks in. Jenna turns around to face her, to scold her.

"I don't set a lot of rules, Elena" Jenna points out. "Not with you. I trust you to tell me the truth. Where were you? Why would you lie to me about it?" Jenna asks her. "I thought that we were closer than that." Jenna scolds Elena.

"Now is not the time you want to talk to me about lies." Elena snaps at her.

"Don't do that. Don't turn this back on me. I didn't do anything." Jenna gets up and follows her to the staircase.

"Okay...Question: am I adopted?" Elena asks Jenna who remains silent. "I trust you to tell me the truth too, Jenna. How could you not tell me? I thought we were closer than that."

"Elena, I didn't...they asked me not to." Jenna defends.

"I don't want to hear it!" Elena walks up the stairs and then stops seeing Diana sat there. She realizes that Diana probably heard all of that. "Diana" Elena whispers, Diana stands and stares at Elena. "I..What I said......" Diana shakes her head and walks away and into her room. She leans back against the bedroom door, her eyes wide. She didn't know that. She had no idea that Elena wasn't....theirs. Why didn't Grayson ever tell her? He told her the truth about vampires but not that her own sister isn't her sister? She rubs her head and lets out a breath as she crosses her room. She already has too much to deal with and now this, how is she supposed to feel about this?

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

Alaric is sitting at the bar at the Mystic Grill, drinking. Who knew how hard it would be to make it through the day without actually seeing Diana? And watching her with Stefan Salvatore, he actually considered that she might be off with Stefan doing the things that they used to do, and he knows that's stupid, and kind of childish of him to think that. He lets out a breath and shakes his head. He made the choice to stay away from her, he cannot get all jealous about her going around with other people. Damon walks across the Grill and sits at the counter a couple of seats down from Alaric. Alaric turns in his direction and the two make brief eye contact.

"Bourbon" Damon orders of the bartender, Alaric suddenly recognizes Damon as the vampire who killed his wife, Isobel. He sets his drink on the bar, his hand visibly trembling.

"Hey, Diana" A voice greets behind him, Alaric glances over his shoulder to find Diana heading towards the bar, her eyes hard, determined, a little scary. But she's not approaching Alaric. She's approaching Damon. His heart hammers in his chest because this cannot be happening again, someone he cares about at risk of death because of Damon Salvatore.

"Hey, you're Damon, right? Damon Salvatore?" Diana asks, Damon looks at her and nods.

"Yeah, who wants to know?" he asks her. Alaric actually looks terrified that she's talking with Damon. She smiles at Damon, something so disarming and alarming and dark.

"Diana" she offers. "Gilbert...Elena's sister" Diana then throws a right hook, hitting Damon straight in the face. He rears his head back and groans in pain. She smirks and turns to walk away. He grabs her wrist to stop her leaving.

"Big mistake" Damon growls in warning at her, his fingers tight around her wrist. She leans closer to him.

"I'm not scared of you" She counters firmly, showing that she's not, at all, scared of him, she then rips her hand free. "Stay the hell away from Elena" she warns him as she walks away. Damon stares after her, before he smirks a little and touches his face.

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

Diana leans against her jeep and takes a deep breath. Everything is changing. She knew all this stuff was out there in the world. She knew it, but all of that stuff being here in her town, affecting her family this way. She slaps her hand against the jeep and leans up. She's not working hard enough. Not trying hard enough to protect them. She needs to do more. Concentrate on dealing with the threat. She opens her eyes and notices the reflection of a figure behind her in the glass, sees it clearly so doesn't jump this time. She's getting better. It's Alaric who stands behind her, she hangs her head and turns to him.

"You okay?" he asks her and then motions to her hand curled in a fist at her side.

"Thought you were mad at me" She whispers sadly. He nods and reaches for her hand, gently uncurls her fingers.

"I am still mad" he assures her. "Doesn't mean I don't still care" he whispers as he checks her hand, his fingers soft on her knuckles. "You need to be more careful" he scolds her. She needs to stop hitting vampires. To stop threatening people. To stop putting herself in harm's way.

"I don't like people threatening my family" She admits, he nods.

"I've noticed" he agrees, he shifts his hold on her hand and lets out a breath. "Diana" he starts, she hums a little in acknowledgment. "Did you tell anyone about us?" she shakes her head.

"No" She answers. "No one" she assures him. "I swear" he nods.

"I believe you" he whispers. He hasn't told anyone. She hasn't told anyone. But someone sure as hell knows about them.

"Why?" She inquires, her eyes searching his. 

"I just wondered" he offers with a shrug. He reaches up to brush her hair back from her face and gives her a sad smile. He misses her and he hates that they're in a fight. But it's not as simple as forgiving her and things going back to how they were. He wraps his arms around her and sets his lips against her head, her fingers grasp to the back of his jacket. He wishes things were easy here. But they are so far from it.

..........

Alaric lets out a breath as he walks into his apartment, his boot scuffing on the edge of an envelope on the floor waiting for him, he tilts his head a little. He picks up the envelope as he closes the door with his boot. There is no address written on it, just his name, meaning it was hand-delivered to his home. He frowns and pulls out the contents of the envelope. It's a photo of Alaric and Logan, well of Alaric killing Logan. He turns over the photo to look at the back where written in red ink is: 'Killers don't get a happily ever after – X' . He doesn't even know what this person wants. It's just...cryptic messages and now photos. They've not asked for anything. What is he supposed to do with this? Cross his fingers and hope for the best? No, this is what they want. To place him in a constant state of unknowing fear. To think that there is someone out there that can screw up his life.