Book Three: Ineffable (A. Saltzman)

Chapter One

Diana's had some weird dreams of late, whilst it is perfectly acceptable for pregnant women to have weird and vivid dreams, Diana doesn't really think that is what this is. She sees flashes of gold and lightening and white marble columns. Clashes of swords. Alaric's worried voice shouting out at her....and it scares her. Whatever this is. Causes her to wake with a gasp and sits upright in bed each and every single time. And this time is no different. Diana takes a few deep breaths as Alaric wakes beside her, his hand on her back as she pants and tries to catch her breath. He sits up with her, worried eyes on her face. They've been getting worse whatever these dreams are, but they are at least better than the nightmares she was having about Klaus and...what she went through with him and she's no longer waking up with a knife to his throat. He brushes her hair back from her the side of her face.

"Same dream again?" he asks her, she nods and curls into his side. He kisses her head and rubs her arm to comfort her. She pulls her knees up slightly and he rubs her knee. "You going to be okay?"

"Yeah" She whispers and looks at him. He knows she can never sleep again straight away after one of these dreams. She'll pace the hall for an hour....or two, then sit in her window seat and sketch for a couple more hours, maybe write for a bit, and then finally go back to bed as the sun rises. She stands from the bed and then pushes at his shoulder to get him to go back to sleep. "It's okay" she assures him, but this happens every night, she wakes, he wakes, he wants to stay awake with her even though he has to get up for work, so she stares him down till he goes back to bed. She touches his face and heads out of her room. He lets out a worried breath and leans on his knees.

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

Alaric sets a teapot on the stove as Elena walks into the kitchen. They share a look and a small smile. Elena sits at the counter.

"Heard Di pacing the hall last night" Elena points out. "She have another dream?"

"Yeah" Alaric answers as he grabs himself a mug of coffee. "They're getting worse too"

"And still no..idea what they mean?"

"They're just dreams, Elena..."

"Really?" She counters. "'Cause she drew it again" she points out, he sighs as she holds up her phone. "On my door" Alaric frowns at the photo on her phone, Diana's been almost obsessively and subconsciously drawing one symbol, a symbol that looks like the number 21 over an owl but fancier and more Greek than it sounds. They assume the owl is Diana's connection to Athena, but the number....it doesn't make sense.

"She needs to sleep" Alaric points out handing the phone back. "She's just sleep-deprived" Elena sighs, because she has a feeling whatever is going on with Diana is more than sleep deprivation and they're trying to keep it from her so she doesn't worry about that on top of everything else going on. "She's growing two tiny humans inside of her." Elena shoots him a look. "Not human" he assures her. "But it's shorter than saying two tiny demigod-demon-humans" Elena smirks a little. "And doesn't cause Diana to look at me like she wants to castrate me" He teases, they share a look. Diana had a week of really bad mood swings a couple of weeks back where no one could say anything right. They're all terrified it's going to happen again.

"How's apartment hunting going?" Elena asks him. He nods a little.

"Yeah, I might have found something in the same building" He answers. "It's not been listed yet but I know the owner moved out last week....." he shrugs a little. "I just can't go back to my apartment, and...Diana won't even talk about"

"Yeah" Elena whispers. Both of them understand why Diana wants nothing to do with that apartment. "You think she's going to be okay with the same building?" He shrugs.

"I'm going to talk to her about it later..." He answers as Elena's phone starts ringing. She looks at it.

"It's Caroline," Elena tells him and then answers the phone. "Hey, Caroline" she greets. "What are you doing?"

"Just shopping for the party you're trying to bail out on."

"I never said yes in the first place," Elena complains

"You were never going to which is why I planned it anyway. I gotta go. I'll see you in a bit."

"Oh, Caroline wait, just...keep tonight small. Please?"

"Wear something pretty." Caroline scolds and hangs up before Elena can argue. Diana enters the kitchen and heads for Elena. Diana sets a series of printouts in front of Elena who glances down at them.

"An animal attack in Memphis," Diana informs her. "It's the third one this week in Tennessee."

"And you're sure it's a vampire?" Elena asks her, Diana nods and moves to the fridge. "Are you sure it's Klaus?" Elena counters, Diana sighs a little and grabs a bottle of flavored water from the fridge.

"I have a feeling" Diana answers as she turns back to her sister.

"Like a feeling or a feeling?" Elena asks her, Diana gives her a look and raises an eyebrow. "I don't know...like a telepathy feeling?" Elena continues. "Or a demigod feeling....or a hunter feeling?"

"Pick one" Diana offers. "I just have a feeling that it could be more Klaus victims." Alaric pours out water from the boiling teapot into a mug, Diana smiles and moves to him, wrapping her arms around him from behind, he glances back at Elena as he covers Diana's hand on his chest with his own.

"You certain Stefan's still with him?" He asks her.

"Easy to be certain when the alternative is that he's dead." Elena counters.

"He's not dead" Diana argues pulling back from Alaric.

"You got a feeling about that too?" Elena asks.

"Yeah, actually" Diana answers. "A telepathic one" She moves to Elena and pokes her nose. "I feel him...every now and then...like a flicker at the back of my head...not enough to make contact....but enough to know he's not dead" Elena relaxes a little and nods.

"I have to go," Elena tells them as she picks up the printouts. "Take these to Damon..." She turns to leave.

"Hey, Elena" Diana calls her back, Elena looks back at her. "Happy Birthday" Elena gives her a half-smile before leaving. Alaric kisses Diana's head.

"Is that true?" Alaric asks her. "About Stefan?" She shakes her head.

"No" She looks up at him. "But she needs to think it is" she turns to him. "You going to work?"

"Yeah" he hands her the mug of tea. "I'll see you at the Grill for lunch" She nods and smiles as he takes her face in his hands. "And don't forget we've got that scan this afternoon" she nods her head a little. "I can't believe we're going to find out what they are"

"Babies" she teases a little, he smirks and kisses her, his arm wrapping around her to pull her closer to him.