Try {One | Alaric Saltzman}

Let the Right One In

It had gone dark and stormy not long after Abigail locked herself in her room. The thunder practically shook the house as she sat at her desk staring out of the window with her hands in her hair. She could barely make out the shaking trees that lined the street, but it was better than opening and closing another one of Alaric's books over and over again. It was one of his favorites, he had told her, one that he always went back to. Now, she wasn't sure she'd ever be able to read it.

Just as she pulled her knees to her chest, Elena opened her door slowly. "Hey."

"Hey." She looked around the dark room, eyes landing on the lamp on her desk. "You're still up."

Abigail spun around in her chair, wiping under her eyes as she did. "What's up?"

"Looks like the storm is worse than they thought." She wrapped her arms around herself. "Can you help me make sure all of the windows are closed?"

They walked through the house, side by side, taking the same route their parents had the first time they told them the story of their historic home. The windows had been replaced twice in their childhood, never quite standing up to the original ones, so they knew there wasn't anything they could really do, but it was the action that brought them comfort they hadn't realized they needed.

"Abigail," Elena's voice broke their silence in the living room. "What happened tonight? You said you were coming home, but you got here after me. And you were so upset. I'm worried about you."

She met the couch with a sigh. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Are you sure? You still seem really upset?" Elena sat down next to her. "You can talk to me, you know?"

"Please, just let it go." She looked straight ahead. "It never should've happened anyway."

Elena stood up, whatever frustration she had erased. "I'm going to Stefan's in the morning, to figure out what to do about the man at the Grill. Will you come with me?"

"Of course." As Elena took the first two stairs in one step, she called after her, "I'm worried about you, too, you know."

"Yeah." Elena walked back into the living room. "I just wish you would let me help you the way you help me."

The sun was nowhere in sight when it rose. The boarding house fit perfectly into the setting, especially factoring in the mood inside. The night before had turned into one of frightening discovery: all of the vampires had escaped the tomb, and some of them were still in town. Led by Anna's mother, Pearl, they were after more than just information on, and from, the Founder's Council. They wanted Mystic Falls back, just the way it was in 1864.

Boarding up the window two of the tomb vampires broke in through, Damon said, "I say we go to Pearl's, bust down the door, and annihilate the surviving idiot from last night."

"Yeah, and then what?" Stefan asked. "We turn to the rest of that house full of vampires and say, 'Oops. Sorry?'"

"I can't believe you made a deal with her," Elena sighed out.

"It was more like a helpful exchange of information." When none of them said a word, he shrugged. "It's not like I had a choice. She's...scary. Besides, she's gonna help me get Katherine back."

"Of course, she is," Abigail said to Elena and Stefan. "Damon gets what he wants, as usual. No matter who he hurts in the process."

He walked up behind Elena. "You don't have to be snarky about it."

"I woke up this morning to learn that all the vampires have been released from the tomb." She faced him again. "I've earned snarky."

Abigail smirked. "Besides, you're a self-serving psychopath."