Book Three: Ineffable (A. Saltzman)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Alaric is lying on the sofa now, still dead, Diana sits on the floor at his side, her eye staring at the table in front of her, her fingers rubbing together. Damon enters the house and glances at Diana then at Elena.

"How is he?" He asks.

"He's dead, but he had his ring. Klaus's hybrid hit him." Elena answers.

"Now we just wait," Diana adds and then brushes her hand over her cheek. Damon turns to Jeremy.

"Jeremy, why aren't you wearing vervain? Where is your bracelet?" He asks.

"I don't know" Jeremy admits.

"It was Tyler" Diana offers, they look at her. "It had to have been." She looks over her shoulder at Jeremy. "That's why he was hanging out with you. To get you off the vervain."

"Klaus is trying to send us a message. He wants us to find Stefan who stole his coffins full of his dead family members." Damon adds.

"Coffins?" Elena asks.

"Yep! So all we have to do is find four coffins and voilà! No one else on your family's Christmas list needs to die!" Damon offers them.

"Wait- that's your big plan? To steal back four dead originals so this evil hybrid doesn't kill me and everyone else we know?" Jeremy asks them.

"You got a better idea?" Damon counters.

"Yeah! Let's get the hell outta here! Pack our bags and go!" Jeremy answers.

"Hey, Jeremy calm down."

"No, no!! I'm not gonna calm down, Elena! This happens every time, no matter what we do! Get on my case about school and work...Who cares? None of us are gonna make it out of this town alive." Jeremy tells them all then leaves the house. Diana looks back at the table and lets out a sigh.

"He said he wants his family back." Diana states, Damon moves to stand in her line of sight.

"No! No!!! I know what you're thinking. The answer is no!" He scolds her.

"If we give him Rebekah..." She continues.

"Yeah, then Klaus undaggers her, first thing she does is kill Elena! Frying pan, fire. Not an option!" He shouts a little, she looks up at him, the two of them sharing a look.

"Klaus's coffins...How many did you say they were?" Elena asks him.

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

It's nighttime when Alaric finally comes back to life, Diana turns to him as he takes a deep breath, his eyes instantly looking for her and finding her, she gets up and lets out a relieved breath, he reaches for her and she moves closer so he can embrace her, behind them Elena enters the house.

"Ric, hey! When did you return to the living?" Elena asks.

"Oh just a few seconds ago," Alaric admits as Diana pulls back from him. Alaric stands from the couch and rubs the back of his neck. "How is Jeremy?"

"Hating me. Hating life. Hating the fact that we can't even have a family dinner without somebody dying before dessert." Elena answers and shrugs. "Are you okay?" Alaric coughs violently into his hand, and sees there's blood on it.

"Gods!" Diana states, Alaric looks at her.

"Something's wrong" He admits. "The ring!" He collapses on the floor, moaning.

"Ric!" Diana begs.

..........

Elena opens the front door, letting the paramedics in.

"What happened?" One of them asks.

"He got hit by a car and...he's coughing up blood," Elena answers watching them.

"Get his vitals." The first paramedic crouches at Alaric's side and gets his vitals.

"Pulse pretty weak. Looks like internal bleeding. We gotta get him outta here."

"Let's move!" Tony appears at the doorway.

"Let's not and say we did. Why don't you two meet us at the hospital?" Tony tells the two paramedics.

"What?" Elena asks as Diana stands. The two paramedics start to leave.

"No, no, no, wait. No, wait! You have to help him!! What are you doing?" Diana scolds them.

"You can still save his life. Here, take my blood." Tony raises and offers her his wrist. "I can't get in. You're gonna have to invite me."

"No" Diana snaps.

"Why are you doing this?" Elena asks Tony.

"Klaus asked for his family. You didn't deliver." Tony answers, Alaric starts coughing again. Diana hurries back to him.

"Ric!" She kneels at his side, his hand taking hers. "I'm right here." She whispers.

"He's gonna die. Might want to invite me in, Diana" Diana glares at Tony. Suddenly, Tony is hit in the back with an arrow and falls to the ground; Elena runs to the door and sees Jeremy with Diana's bow.

"Jeremy!"

"He's not dead yet." Jeremy counters. Jeremy enters the house and passes by Elena.

"Where are you going?" Elena asks him, Jeremy takes a meat cleaver and goes out of the house again. "What are you doing?" Jeremy cuts Tony's head off. Elena screams slightly.

"Now he's dead." Jeremy points out as he stands up. "We've gotta get Alaric to the hospital now," Jeremy tells Diana who nods in agreement. Jeremy drops the knife and goes back into the house. Elena stands there in shock.

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

At the hospital, in one of the patient rooms, Alaric is staring at his ring. This can't be happening. It can't be failing him now, not this close to the birth of his children, not after everything they have been through to get to this point in their lives. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Meredith enters the room with Diana.

"Ric" Diana scolds him as she moves to him, he takes her hand when she reaches him.

"What are you doing up? You should be resting." Meredith adds.

"Ah, I'm more of a walk it off kinda guy. Do I need to sign something?" Alaric asks her.

"Internal hemorrhaging, three broken ribs, and a concussion. I have no idea how you're on your feet right now but I need to run some more tests." Meredith tells them both.

"Ric" Diana whispers. "Please" he looks at her. "Do the tests" he raises a hand to her face and brushes away her tears.

"Okay," he tells her. "Okay," she closes her eyes sending more tears down her cheeks. He leans closer and presses his forehead to hers. Both of them are scared of what is happening to him.