Book Four: Solitude (A. Saltzman)

Chapter Sixteen

Elena is lying in Stefan's bed, looking incredibly ill whilst Stefan is on his phone as he paces the room. He groans when no one picks up.

"Come on, Diana, where the hell are you?" Stefan hangs up his phone and sits on the bed, next to Elena. "Hey." Stefan greets Elena, she smiles at him. She feels the werewolf venom running through her and shuts her eyes. Diana enters the room. Stefan gets up and walks towards her. "You came." Stefan offers relieved

"I did. And for future reference, one voicemail is just as effective as nine." Elena moans in discomfort. Diana looks at her. "Did warn you not to drink the beer" Diana points out and then pulls a vial from her pocket, a smaller one than the one Klaus gave her. "Here" She throws it at Stefan who catches it.

"What is this?"

"Klaus' blood" She answers, he frowns at her.

"He just gave this to you?"

"I asked nicely" She counters and shrugs. "Go on" She pushes, Stefan moves to Elena and sigs on the bed next to her. He uncorks the vial and feeds Elena the blood. "You're welcome" Diana points out and then leaves.

"Diana" Stefan calls for her, she sighs and returns. "What's going on? One minute you want to kill her the next..." He holds up the vial. "You're saving her life"

"I know" She agrees. "I'm....dealing with things....sort of. Some days are better than others....today was a good day" She shrugs and looks at Elena. "I'm revaluating my choices and my vengeance" She adds and then leaves, for real this time. Stefan sighs and strokes Elena's hair.

...........

Connor wakes up on the couch in his trailer. He attempts to get up, but is pushed back down by Klaus, Diana snorts at his side.

"You saved me." Connor points out.

"Congratulations, you just became worth more to me alive than dead," Klaus states, Connor looks at Diana.

"What-what did you mean when you said I was one of the Five?" He asks her, Klaus looks at Diana and frowns, she nods a little.

"He doesn't know his own history?" Klaus asks her.

"Nope," She answers. Klaus kneels down next to Connor.

"Well, let's just say, it's made you the most well-protected vampire hunter in town."

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

Diana moves through her apartment, Alaric's ghost following her, sensing her determination. She shrugs out of her jacket and heads into the study.

"What is going on?" Alaric asks Diana as she pulls a book from the study bookshelf. "What do you know?"

"A great many things, my dear" she teases as she looks at him, he smiles a little. She sets the book down and opens it up.

"What language is this?" he asks her as he peers down at the book.

"Ancient Syrian" She answers and opens it up to a page. "It's Aramaic" She adds. "It's a story, the real origin of the vampire species" He frowns and looks at her.

"Not the Originals?" He asks her, she shakes her head.

"No, I mean yes...they are the progenitors of the vampire species as we know it, but 1,000 years before them, there was another immortality spell, a Greek spell" He watches her as she gets excited for the first time in months. A real pure excitement at being knowledgeable and helpful and alive.

"And what does this have to do with Jeremy and those tattoos?"

"The vampire hunter, he's part of the group known as The Five...they are a group of hunters created by magic" She explains. "And the story goes that their tattoos are a map" She explains touching the pages.

"A map to where?" She smirks at Alaric.

"A cure for vampirism" He snaps his head around to her. She nods and smiles at him. "I'm going to find that cure and I am going to jam it down Elena's throat" She lets out a breath. "How's that for revenge?" He frowns at her. "Taking away her immortality and her future with her boyfriends...she took away my future with you, I'm going to take hers"

"Diana" He scolds.

"Would you rather I went back to wanting to straight-up murder her?" She asks him. "This way...she doesn't die. I thought you would prefer that?"

"I do" He answers. "But...." He stops, because he can't actually see a downside to this plan. She gives him a look and nods.

"See" she coos and steps closer to him. "It's a good plan..." Her eyes turn black as she smirks. "All I've got to do is get to it before anyone else figures out that it exists" Alaric stares at her eyes before sighing. This is actually a better Diana. She's not hurting so much, and her demon side has her actually coming up with a good plan to save Elena.

"And working with Klaus?" he asks her.

"A necessity" She answers. "An unfortunate necessity" She adds. "Without him, that hunter would have died today and it would have been a dead end...If I have to play nice with the guy that..." She lets out a breath and growls a little not wanting to finish that sentence. "Then fine" She admits. "Look...Damon has your white oak stake, if I can get it off of him, I will use it to destroy Klaus when this is over...Then I am going to take the twins and move back to Greece" She admits with a shrug. "And ghost you will...come with us" He gives her a small smile. "And if this is all I can have with you then....I have to take it..."

"Diana" he whispers. 

"No" She stops him. "Don't argue with me right now, the thought of having you here, even as a ghost, is all that is keeping me sane..." She admits. "I need this" He nods a little.