Book Two: Aquiver (A. Saltzman)

Chapter Sixty-Four

Jenna holds out a bowl of soup to Diana who glances at her and gives her a small smile. She's not really feeling up to eating right now. Her stomach already feeling unsettled, she doesn't want to make it worse.

"I'm not really hungry, Jenna, but thank you" Jenna nods a little and seems unsure of what she wants to do, she sets the bowl on the table. "Sit with me" Diana offers, Jenna nods again and sits next to her as Alaric tries to get the shackle off her ankle. "Ric said you know about....everything" Jenna nods and looks at her. "Questions?"

"Yeah, so many" Jenna admits. Diana raises an eyebrow for her to continue. Jenna lets out a breath. "You..." She stops and then changes her mind. "There were two of you? Twins?" She asks, Diana nods.

"Yeah" She whispers. "Eva" She adds. "I don't know why it worked out that Grayson and Miranda kept me and not her, or not both of us, or why Penelope didn't keep her either....but she ended up in the system...."

"What happened to her?"

"Urm...she..kind of went dark and I had to kill her..."

"Twice" Alaric adds, Diana nods.

"Twice" Jenna frowns. "It's a whole long story, Jenna...that involves demons and gods and body jumping" Jenna raises her eyebrows in surprise but nods.

"That special boarding school?" Jenna asks her.

"Well it was special, and it was a boarding school....for demigods" Diana answers.

"Oh," Jenna whispers. "Did your parents know?"

"Yeah" Diana assures her. "They found the school for me..." Jenna nods a little.

"Do you have....powers or is it...I don't know, just a blood thing?"

"I'm a telepath" Diana answers. "I can also quake" Jenna frowns. Diana holds out her hand towards Jenna. "Give me your hand" Jenna places her hand in Diana's, Diana smiles and holds her hand over and vibrates the air between their hands, Jenna laughs and smiles.

"That's amazing" She whispers and looks at Diana. "You're amazing...I never even...." Diana shrugs a little. "You've been dealing with so much, for so long, and I just...dumped shit on you about...Ric...about your pregnancy...."

"It's okay, Jenna..." Diana assures her.

"No, it's not...." Jenna argues. "You were already dealing with so much...I was such a bitch"

"You weren't to know what was going on," Alaric tells her.

"I'm really glad she had you through all this" Jenna offers him. Diana looks down. "That she had someone"

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

At the Fell's Church Tomb, Damon is in the woods just outside the stairs leading into the tomb. Maddox appears to stop him.

"Which one are you trying to save? The blond, or the wolf? Did you really think Klaus would leave them unprotected?" Maddox asks him.

"Wishful thinking." Damon comments. He rushes over to Maddox and pins him on the ground. He starts strangling him but Maddox uses his powers and throws Damon back against some rocks. He falls on the ground. Maddox gets up and uses his powers and provokes a headache. Damon screams and tries to fight the pain. Suddenly there's a gunshot. Maddox falls to the ground. Damon raises his head and sees Matt with a rifle. Damon gets up, snaps Maddox's neck, and looks at Matt suspiciously. "What are you doing here?" Damon asks him.

"Where's Caroline?" Matt demands.

"Listen, man. Not a good time to play the hero." Matt quickly cocks the rifle and points it at Damon.

"Where is she? And what did he do to her?" Damon puts his hands up and glances at Derek who sneaks up behind Matt with his own gun. Derek presses his gun to the back of Matt's head, Matt's eyes widen.

"Drop the gun, Donovan" Derek warns. Matt drops the rifle.

"Derek?" Matt asks. "What the hell man?"

"We're here to rescue Caroline" Damon offers, Derek clears his throat. "And Tyler" Damon adds. Damon and Derek share a look. Derek sighs and hits Matt with the butt of his gun. Matt falls to the ground, unconscious. Damon picks up Matt's rifle and clears the bullets out of it. "You're lucky I already screwed up once today or you'd be dead," Damon tells Matt, Derek shoots him a look. Damon crouches and picks up a bullet. He realizes it's wooden. He holds it up so Derek can see.

"Matt knows" Derek offers, Damon nods. "Who the hell told him?"

"Two guesses..." Damon comments. "She's blonde and neurotic" He sighs.

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

Alaric groans as yet again, he fails to get the shackle off of Diana's ankle. Everything he tries. Fails. He fails. He fails her. He looks up at her, finds her watching him back.

"I can't get it off" Alaric admits, Diana sighs and looks to her ankle. "Every time I get even close, it magically re-tightens itself" he drops his screwdriver and sighs.

"Wasn't going to be that easy" she points out. "Nothing else has been" he gives her a sad smile and sits next to her. They both just sit in silence. Both unsure what to say or do now. He takes a breath.

"We're going to be okay, right?" he asks her. She looks at him.

"I don't know" She admits. He nods a little, he wasn't really expecting her to say yes. "You were right," She tells him, he frowns at her. "We're cursed" She reminds him.

"What about fate?" he asks.

"Maybe they got it wrong" She answers, her voice breaking.

"No" He argues. "No, they didn't...We're still here. Still alive....despite everything....and we're still together, right?" she looks at him. "Right?" he repeats, pleading with her that they are still together after all of this. It has to end with them together, or all of it, none of it was worth it if they're not together. Stefan interrupts them and walks into the room.

"Where's Damon?" Stefan asks them.

"Where's Elena?" Diana counters, Stefan looks at her.

"Diana...."

"Where is she?" she snaps as she stands and moves towards him.

"Klaus....he came for her, took her" Stefan admits.

"And you let him?!"

"What was I supposed to do?" Stefan argues as he steps closer to her.

"Stop him..." She snaps.

"Maybe if you hadn't gotten yourself kidnapped, then you would have been here to help stop this" Stefan states and then realizes what he's said. "Diana" She punches him, knocking him to the floor. She stands over him.

"I'm sorry, Stefan," She tells him, but she doesn't sound apologetic at all. "I'm sorry that I didn't think to look into Ric's head to determine whether or not the man in front of me was actually who it was supposed to be....I'm sorry that I felt safe in his apartment and didn't consider it had been invaded by a psychopath. I'm sorry I allowed Klaus to touch me. To carve into my body." Alaric's eyes sadden as he listens to her. "I'm sorry that I had to make nice with Katherine....everything else that Klaus did to me....that was the worst thing I had to go through....I'm sorry that after 16 days, not one of you noticed I was gone or in trouble...I could have been dead, and what? No one would care"

"That's not true" Stefan scolds her.

"All of this is your fault anyway" She points out, Stefan frowns at her. "You should never have come back to Mystic Falls. And you sure as shit shouldn't have stayed and ruined Elena's life...All our lives" She glares at him and then walks away. Alaric watches her go before turning to Stefan.

"She's just upset"

"She's right" Stefan counters. "None of us noticed...Because Klaus told us she was resting....she's pregnant, with twins, it was feasible and none of us questioned it"

"Because it came from my face" Alaric adds, Stefan nods. Alaric sighs a little.