Book Two: Aquiver (A. Saltzman)

Chapter Thirty-Four

Damon glances up from the couch when Diana walks into the room, he smirks and laughs a little as he leans back. Diana huffs a little and crosses her arms over her chest.

"What happened to your face?" Damon asks, Diana shrugs and touches her split lip. She is aware there are many other wounds now gracing her face.

"Artemis" She answers and glances at the goddess as she passes through the room. "We kind of got into it"

"She kicked your ass, huh, Watchdog?" Damon teases, Diana shoots him a look.

"She's a goddess that's been around since like the dawn of time, of course, she did" She admits. "You ever been punched by a goddess, it's not fun" He smirks. 

"You're out though" he adds, she hums.

"As long as she's here, I'm not going anywhere" Diana mumbles. "She's bound me to her" she drops onto the couch next to him and lets out a breath. "So you're a bitch?" she asks him.

"The biggest bitch" he teases, she smirks a little. "Well I will be when we get your evil other half tucked away again" he looks at her, she honestly looks exhausted, skinny, pale, her hair is all greasy. "You look like shit" He voices.

"It's eating away my soul, Damon" she looks at him. "Did you think I'd be ready to walk the runways?" he shrugs.

"Don't worry, Ric still thinks your foxy" He assures her, she takes a breath.

"Don't know why" He nudges her.

"Yeah, you do" He corrects, she looks at him.

"Yeah, I do" she agrees, they share a look. "So you and Elena...?" she starts, he looks away from her. "I'm a mind reader, Damo...." she teases. "Look, I get it, Elena's beautiful, smart...utterly bonkers for getting involved in all this shit" he nods in agreement. "And you know...the whole Katherine thing" He hums a little. "You want to...I don't know....talk about it?"

"Not even a little" he argues. "Not with you like this" he taps her thigh with the back of his hand. "Maybe after" She raises an eyebrow at him. "You confided in me once" he admits. "So I guess you owe me one confessional" she smirks and nods. "Speaking of Katherine by the way..." he starts. "I'm going to get the moonstone back from her," he tells her, Diana looks at him. "She doesn't get to keep it"

"Agreed" She assures him. They share a look. "And if I could leave this house, you know I'd help" He nods. "Where's Derek?" she asks. "Thought he was around today"

"He's gone to grab lunch" He answers. "We're vampires, we don't have human food" She snorts a little. "He can be trusted with this, right?" he asks her. "He's not going to go blabbing?"

"No" She answers. "Derek might be a lot of things, but he's not a snitch...I know that much" Damon raises an eyebrow. "You think I was a model kid?" she asks him. "Did everything I was told?" he shrugs a little. "Derek was the one that had my back through every screw-up and every curfew break...he covered for me when I skipped school or got drunk or high, or...totalled my jeep" Damon smirks. "Even demon me trusts him" She frowns. "That's weird.." she shakes her head and lets out a breath. "I currently only feel that for Ric..."

"I'm hurt" He scolds her with a smirk. She shoots him a look.

"You're a vampire, Damon, I'm never going to be 100% okay with that...." She admits. "We can try the whole....friendship thing that you talked about, but I am always going to want to kill you" he smirks wider.

"Just like all my other friends...so we're cool" he teases, she leans into his side and lets out a breath as she closes her eyes. Damon looks at her and wraps an arm around her and smiles. He likes this friendship. It's not exactly complicated, well, usually, and there is nothing sexual about them. He thinks she's hot, sure, but doesn't want to do anything about it. "You know we're going to fix this, right?" he asks her, she hums a little. "We need to fix this" he counters. "'Cause we need you, Diana" she looks up at him. "The badass, bow-wielding, Robin Hood you...she is what is going to assure our survival in this screwed up world.....and we all know that"

"You're such a soft shit" she whispers in his ear and smirks. "If you let more people see this, more people would like you, and would try to kill you less..." He chuckles and nods.

"Got a reputation to keep" He whispers back at her.

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

Later; Diana sits with Derek and Damon in the main room with Bonnie, Stefan, and Jeremy. They have a sort of plan to get the moonstone back from Katherine, sort of.

"I might be able to lower the tomb spell long enough for you to get in there and grab the moonstone from Katherine," Bonnie admits.

"How? It took both you and your Grams last time, and look what happened to her." Jeremy points out.

" I'm well aware of what happened. I've learned a few new things." Bonnie counters.

"Bonnie..." Bonnie deflects Jeremy's concern and looks over at Stefan.

"How will you get it?" Bonnie asks.

"She hasn't been feeding. She's weaker. We're not." Stefan points out. Damon raises a glass of blood towards Bonnie.

"You wouldn't be underestimating her, would you?" Bonnie asks.

"It's a plan. Is it perfect?" Damon scoffs. "What plan is?"

"Let me do it. I've got my ring. I can get in, get out, no spells necessary."

"Gee, thanks, you 16-year-old child. Why didn't we think about that? Why are you even here? Shouldn't you be at school?" Diana asks, Damon elbows her and gives her a look, she shoots him one back.

"Maybe I can help better the plan." Artemis offers in the doorway, they all look at her. "I can teach Bonnie a spell"

"You and your hunters kill the supernatural, right?" Stefan asks, Artemis nods. "Why would you help?"

"Witches are servants of nature" Artemis answers. "They are servants of the dead and of the Gods....." Bonnie raises an eyebrow at her. "Means we like them a lot more than the vampires" Artemis adds. "Diana filled me in on everything that's happened. That moonstone is of magical origin and does not belong in the hands of an individual such as Katerina Petrova"

"You know who she is?" Damon asks her.

"She is on my.....shit list....as Diana calls it" Artemis teases giving them a look. "Any vampire that breaches 300 makes it onto that list...How old are you two again?"

"Not that old" Damon counters quickly.

"We've not hit 200 yet" Stefan adds.

"Lucky you" Diana mumbles and smirks.

"Do you need anything for this spell?" Bonnie asks Artemis.

"Do you have anything that belongs to Katerina?" Artemis asks, Damon looks over at Stefan, significantly.