Book Two: Aquiver (A. Saltzman)

Chapter Twenty-Three

Stefan opens the boarding house door to find Elena and Caroline on the other side, he smiles at Elena and she looks everywhere but at him. They'd for real broken up after what happened with Jenna and it sucks for them both.

"Hey..."

"I'm here for Diana" Elena stops him as she adjusts the box in her arms. "Bonnie called..." Stefan nods and lets them in.

.........

"What did you find?" Damon asks as Elena puts the box down on the table.

"It says 'crap from Greece'" Elena points out tracing the words on the top. "Figured if she had anything that is to do with Eva, it would be in here" she opens up the top. Elena touches a photo frame sat on the top and then turns it over to reveal a photo of Diana and Eva, Elena softens seeing the two sisters smiling at one another, before it all went wrong. "They really were identical" Elena whispers touching the photo.

"That's usually what identical twins means" Damon teases taking the photo from her. "Will a photo work?" He asks Bonnie as he shows her the photo, Bonnie nods and then leaves the room.

"No, I know, but...we saw Eva..." Elena defends.

"Body hopping" Damon reminds her as he looks down at the photo in his hand. Even he feels a little unnerved by how identical they are, he can't even pick out which one is Diana.

"Can Diana do that now?" Elena asks. "Can she jump bodies too?"

"I'm working on it," Bonnie tells them as she walks back into the room with a handful of small pouches. "There's a binding spell in my book that will lock her inside her body...just in case" she hands a pouch to Stefan who frowns at it.

"What is this?" Stefan asks.

"Hex bags" Bonnie offers as she passes them around. "It will stop Demon!Diana from reading our minds..." Elena glances at Alaric who stands in the doorway to the basement, not quite going down but not leaving her alone either, Elena takes the bag from Bonnie.

"Is he okay?" She asks.

"His girlfriend has gone all psycho murderer," Damon tells her. "What do you think?" Elena glares at him. "So what do we do with these?" Damon asks looking at his hex bag.

"Just keep it on you" Bonnie answers as she moves towards Alaric, he glances at her as she holds out a hex bag to him. He takes it from her and sighs.

"What's in it?" Caroline asks as she turns the bag around.

"Two bones from a chicken's foot, an unbroken spider egg, lavender, hemp, and Goofer Dust" Bonnie offers.

"Goofer dust?"

"Hoodoo" Bonnie answers with a shrug.

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

"We know this sort of thing works" Bonnie reminds Elena who seems more skeptical than the others. "It's how we contacted Emily..." she motions to the floor. "Come on....this is for Diana" Elena joins her and lets out a breath. Bonnie places the photo of Eva and Diana in the center of the ouija board. "Hold hands," She tells them as she holds out a hand to Elena at her side and Alaric on her other side. They all join hands, creating a circle around the ouija board, the slider sat in the middle. This way they know no one else is messing with it. "I call forth Eva, sister of Diana, great-granddaughter of the goddess Artemis" Bonnie starts. "I call on you...." The candles immediately flare around them.

"Yeah, that just happened." Alaric whispers, surprised that this is real, he knows to be more open-minded now given everything going on in his life but a ouija board actually working? That was a far fetched thing for him to believe in.

"Eva?" Bonnie asks and the slider on the board moves to 'Yes' before moving back to the center of the board. "How do we find Artemis?" Bonnie asks and they wait for an answer.

"Eva wanted this to happen" Alaric reminds them when nothing happens with the spirit board. "She wanted her to go dark, she's not going to help us" He stands and shakes his head. The slider begins to move and Alaric turns back as it spells out 'Bite Me'. Damon snorts.

"Bite me....charming" he teases. "But totally Diana's sister" he shoots a smirk at Elena who glares at him.

"Told you" Alaric counters under his breath, they all still heard him though.

"It was still worth trying" Bonnie argues. Alaric glances behind him at the basement door.

"How long does she have to stay down there?" Alaric asks them.

"Till she no longer wants to kill people" Damon answers.

"Then why aren't you locked away?" Alaric argues. "Why is it okay for you to go around killing people?" he asks as he heads down into the basement again. Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie look at Damon, Alaric makes a fair point there.

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

"Back again?" Diana asks, Alaric hums and slides down the wall.

"I'm not leaving you" he answers, she shifts to peer out the small barred window. He glances up at her.

"Didn't go well with my dearest dead sister?" she asks, he shakes his head.

"No" he mumbles. "But I'm not giving up, we'll find something"

"Didn't sound so optimistic a minute ago" she nods to the stairs.

"You heard?"

"Oh yeah..." She answers. "Peak everything" she reminds him. "And none of you were exactly quiet about it" she lifts her hands and wraps her fingers around the bars. "I'm feeling much better" she offers. "Maybe you can let me out" she smiles at him, and it's so close to the old Diana that he almost caves. "I miss you" she whispers sadly. "Ric" She breaths, he closes his eyes. "I'll behave"

"No...you won't" He argues. "I can't let you out, Diana...not yet, not until it's out of you" He stands and moves closer to the bars. "Not until you are you..." She softens a little. "I miss you too" He assures her. "But not like this" She reaches through the bars and manages to touch his face, curling her hand around his skin. He closes his eyes and leans into her touch. She then smirks darkly and tightens her hold on his face, her fingers vibrating with a quake. Damon is suddenly there and has his fingers around Diana's wrist to stop her.

"Let him go" Damon warns her. "You don't want to hurt him"

"Yes, I do" Diana argues. "I need to do it"

"Need...not want" Damon counter. "Now let go of him" Diana's fingers release Alaric who stumbles back from her. Damon shoves her hand back through the bars. Damon turns to Alaric. "What were you thinking?"