The Last Banshee~The Vampire Diaries

Chapter 9

Liza was just walking into history class just before the bell rang, supposedly they were getting a new teacher today. As she took her seat she turned her attention to the front as she heard a man's voice. "Good Morning everyone," he sat his stuff down on the desk, "Alrighty." He wrote his name on the board, "Alaric Saltzman. It's a mouthful I know, it doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Saltzman is of German origins, my family migrated here in 1755 to Texas. I, however, was born and raised in Boston." Liza leaned onto her desk, actually interested in what he was saying as he moved to the other side of the board. "Now the name Alaric belongs to a very dead great-grandfather I will never be able to thank enough. You'll probably want to announce it Ala-ric, but its A-lar-ic, ok? So you, can call me Rick, I'm your new history teacher." Liza smiled, happy to have an actual teacher she won't totally hate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was later at lunch that Liza and Elena got an explanation for Bonnie acting weird all day. "And then I ended up in the remains of the old fells church before I woke up back in the woods." Liza and Elena looked at each other before Elena asked "And you always see your ancestor Emily?" Bonnie nodded her head, "That's weird," Liza said. Bonnie looked at them, "Do you believe in ghosts?" Liza nodded as Elena said "Two weeks ago I'd say no, but now..." "I think I'm being haunted." Liza leaned into her hand "Cause that's so what we need right now." Elena nudged her cousin, "I don't get it, why Emily?" Bonnie launched into her explanation. "Grams said she was a powerful witch back in the civil war days and that this medallion was hers. A witch's talisman."  Liza perked up a little "And it all started when you got the necklace?" Bonnie nodded, "I think she's using it to communicate with me." Elena nodded "Ok well what does Grams say about it?" Bonnie shook her head, I can't call her, she'll tell me to embrace it. I don't want to embrace it, I want it to stop." Liza shook her head, "This is some weird shit."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Liza was walking out of school that day, she saw Stefan walking away from an obviously angry and hurt Elena. Liza was quick to rush over to her, "Hey, you ok?" Elena nodded, "I'll be fine." Elena then walked away, heading to Bonnie's car to wait for her. Liza shook her head and watched her go, unable to follow her as she was Jeremy's ride. It was then that Jeremy decided to join her, "Hey." Liza looked at him and smiled, "Hey, ready to go little cousin?" Jeremy chuckled at the nickname, "Yeah, I'm ready." Liza smiled at him and they walked towards her car, "So I heard you got called into see Mr. Saltzman today, what was that about?" Jeremy sighed as he got into her passenger side, "It was nothing like that, he was offering me extra credit, to turn my grade around." Liza was happy to know that Jeremy was trying to change, that he was improving. She still felt incredibly guilty that she had killed Vicki, that he doesn't know what happened to her, but she knew it was for the best now. She still couldn't face Matt, she chocked up every time she saw him, no matter how many times she tried. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Liza, her mother, and Jeremy were all sitting at a booth in the Grille as the two students did homework as they waited for their food. "I love a man who can dine alone. A quiet strength." Liza and Jeremy looked at Mr. Saltzman. Liza shuddered as she thought about her mother with her teacher. Jeremy laughed at Liza as he asked Jenna "I thought you were still in that whole Logan depression thing." Liza quickly took a sip of her drink as she avoided joining the conversation. "Oh I've sworn off men forever, but it doesn't mean I can't observe them from a safe distance." Liza shook her head at her mother, she knew someone would come in and make her mom happy, she just had to wait. "Well I can introduce you." Jenna looked at Mr. Saltzman as she hesitated before shaking her head. Liza smirked as she nudged Jeremy.

They were finally eating as Jeremy and Jenna talked about his extra credit work. "Have you picked a topic?" Jeremy shook his head, "No not yet. It's gotta be local, and non-internet research so..." Jenna took a sip of her drink as Liza said to Jeremy, "Well that's easy, you got all your dad's stuff." Jeremy looked at her, "What stuff?" Liza looked at him, "About how the gilberts came over on the Mayflower stuff, all that family lineage from way back. Uncle Grayson really loved all that family history stuff, its all boxed up in the closet." That's when Mr. Saltzman came up to the table, "Mr. Saltzman!" Alaric looked between the three of them, Jeremy, What's up man? Liza, How are you?" Liza smiled at him as Jeremy introduced her mother to him "This is my Aunt Jenna, Liza's mother." Alaric looked at Jenna and held out his hand, "Alaric Saltzman, It's nice to meet you." Jenna smiled at him "Jeremy and Liza were just telling me about his paper, thanks for giving him a second chance." "Oh you know, it was my first day, wanted to make a good first impression."