Book Three: Ineffable (A. Saltzman)

Chapter Forty-Four

Esther is lighting candles inside the Salvatore tomb and preparing for a spell. Elena sits with Alaric.

"Ric, this isn't what you want. It's not who you are." Elena tells him.

"You don't know who I am, Elena. You only know the weakest parts of me, the man who lost his way befriending vampires instead of killing them." Alaric counters.

"You don't mean that."

"They're all monsters. The blood of their victims is on my hands. Jenna's blood is on my hands."

"When you are ready." Esther tells Alaric.

"No Ric, please don't. Don't do this." Elena turns to Esther. "I won't help you, I'm not gonna give you my blood, you're gonna have to kill me!"

"That won't be necessary." Esther gestures towards Elena. A cut opens up in Elena's hand and starts to bleed. Esther grabs Elenas wrist and holds it above the bowl and the blood pours into it. "Drink. And let it be done."

"No, Ric, please, don't.. No!" Elena begs. Alaric drinks the blood in the bowl and puts it down.

"Is it finished?" Alaric asks her.

"Not just yet." Esther stakes Alaric with the indestructible white oak stake.

"No!" Elena shouts.

.......

Later; Alaric is lying on the floor of the Salvatore tomb. Elena pulls the indestructible white oak stake out of Alaric.

"He'll wake soon." Esther offers. "When he does he may for a time be his old self. If so you can say your goodbyes before his transition is complete."

"You said you wanted to undo the evil that you created, but this...This is just as evil!"

"Alaric will never be what my children became. I have granted him enough power to complete his task. Then when the time is right, he will die."

"How, if he's immortal?"

"All you need to know is that when this is over we will have rid the earth of vampires once and for all."

"Yeah, but you'll be killing the good along with the bad, you're no better than Klaus!"

"Am I not? I desire a world where you and your loved ones will not suffer at the hands of vampires, like your Aunt Jenna did."

"Don't you dare use Jenna as an excuse for what you've done." Elena scolds.

"You may draw comfort knowing that your aunt is not in the place that I was." Esther offers. She doesn't know the torment of The Other Side. Though made a vampire, she remained pure. She knows peace. Which is all any of us can hope for." Esther hears a noise and walks outside. Matt and Jeremy are there pointing a rifle and a crossbow at Esther.

"Don't move!"

"Where's Elena?" Jeremy demands, Elena comes outside

"Jeremy!" Elena shouts.

"Let her go."

"How foolish of you, to risk your lives in defense of those who will kill you. But if that is your choice." Esther uses her powers and makes Jeremy and Matt turn their hands and point their weapons at each other.

"Matt! Matt drop your gun!" Jeremy begs.

"I can't! I'm not controlling it!" Matt admits.

"Esther stop it!" Elena shouts. Alaric comes up and stabs Esther from behind. He is temporarily his old self.

"Oh my god. Where's my ring? Tell me what happened." Alaric tells Elena.

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

Diana is still in labor, all sweaty and out of breath as she tries to push through it all. Derek still sits at her side, his fingers clutching to his cell phone waiting for news on Alaric.

"It's been six hours, Derek" Diana complains. "And I have had no babies!! Why don't they want to come out?!" She asks him.

"You know what I think it is? I think you've made such a nice home for her over the last nine months that she doesn't want to leave." Derek offers.

"Ooh...look at you making up crap for me..." She tells him warmly, Derek lets out a little breath. Diana groans as she starts having another contraction. Meredith enters the room. Diana looks at her. "Oh, but you gotta do something! You gotta give me drugs! Or you could just light a fire up in there and just smoke 'em out." Meredith takes the stool again to check Diana's dilation.

"Actually, I think you're ready to go to the delivery room." Meredith counters.

"What?" Diana asks her.

"Ten centimeters. You're about to become a mom"

"Oh my God! Okay...wait, no..." She looks at Derek. "Ric's not here" Derek takes her hand and gives her a small smile.

"I'll call him, see what's going on" he offers her.

"Okay" She whispers, he brushes her hair back from her face.

"It's going to be okay" he assures her.

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

Inside the Salvatore tomb, Elena, Alaric and Jeremy are talking together.

"Damon's here. And Klaus took Esther's body." Jeremy tells them.

"Does he know about the stake?" Alaric asks.

"No, only that she tried to turn you into a weapon and failed." Jeremy answers, then notes their looks. "What's going on?"

"Listen Jeremy, I'm not gonna complete the transition. My dark side was dangerous enough as a human. I can't be a vampire."

"So, what we're just gonna lock you in here and let you die?" Jeremy asks. Alaric doesn't answer. "No, no we can't! What about Diana? The twins?"

"Being a vampire will put them at risk. I can't...do that to them" Alaric answers as he cries. The last thing he wants to do is leave them, but being a vampire will just put them all at risk, all the time, and he can't do that. He won't do that. Diana will understand, one day, maybe, she might even forgive him for this, maybe. "It's the right thing to do, okay?" Jeremy turns around and walks away.

"Hey, wait, Jer..." Elena scolds, Jeremy stops and turns around.

"Please, you guys let's not make this any harder than it already is. You two should go. Damon's here. He'll make sure it'll all go down the right way." Jeremy starts walking away. "Hey, hey..." Alaric calls for him.

"Don't." Jeremy scolds. "Don't give me some crap speech about how I need to be the man of the house."

"Okay, I won't." Alaric hugs Jeremy. Jeremy walks away. Alaric turns towards Elena. There are tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry" Elena tells him. "This is all my fault."

"Don't do that, okay." Alaric scolds her and takes a breath. "You know....Being with Diana has been-has been the closest I've ever come to the life I always wanted." He admits, Elena cries. "You need to take care of her for me" Elena nods a little. "You need to take care of all of them" Elena's phone rings and she glances at the screen.

"That's Derek" She whispers. "He's at the hospital with Diana" Alaric holds out his hand.

"Let me talk to him" Alaric pushes. "It's okay, I know what to do" Elena hands over the phone to him. He takes a breath. "You should go." He adds.

..........

Elena walks out of the tomb. Alaric follows her. They see a gathering of people outside the tomb. There are lit candles scattered around them. Alaric smiles a little. Elena walks to Stefan. The camera pans from Stefan to Damon, Caroline and Tyler, Matt, Bonnie and Jeremy. Alaric tears up and goes into the tomb and closes the gate. He looks to the phone and takes a breath before redialling Derek's number.

"Elena?" Derek asks when he picks up.

"No, it's Ric...listen...we need to talk" Alaric admits as he heads into the tomb.