Whatever It Takes {Two | Alaric Saltzman}

Prayer for the Dying

"You know, I was fine, Damon. I was finally okay with being a vampire. Really okay with it, with all that it meant." Her body was heavy, so heavy that she hadn't moved from the couch since she answered the door. "Then Alaric came back. He came back and he hated what he was. Even though he had me, he hated what he was. What do you think that feels like?"

"I know exactly what that feels like."

"Yeah, you do." She sniffled because, whether she realized it or not, she'd been crying. "But guess what? Elena is still a vampire."

He rose to his feet in a way that completely contradicted his expression. "So, you're going to do what I do? You're going to run away?"

"I am not running away."

"From where I am standing that is exactly what it looks like you are doing!" His voice was raised to the point she was sure it couldn't get any louder, and she knew it was not the same one he used with Alaric on the nights he'd spent with him. "This is a mistake. This is the biggest mistake of your life."

"Am I just supposed to pretend I don't see the way he looks at couples pushing strollers in the park? Or that he suddenly has gray hair? Or how when he talks about the future it's never about how after a few years we'll have to pack everything up and start over again?" Rather than giving into what she had before, she stayed right where she was. "That I'm not holding him back from who he wants to be?"

"Abigail-"

"He's a human, Damon. I'm a vampire! He's going to grow old and die and I will still be this... I will still be this thing." Her face was tear-stained and wet in a way she had never allowed him to see, a way that took everything she was going to say and turned it into exactly what she meant. "If I'm making a mistake, fine, I'm making a mistake, but at least it will give Alaric the life he has always wanted."

"You have been so focused on doing the right thing since New York that you have started making the wrong choices."

When she pulled her face from her hands, he was gone. Her view to the empty bedroom was clear now, and all that she felt was moving from one place to the other. She jumped to her feet with a shallow breath, taking a step toward the kitchen. A step that was once met by a soft rug. A step that was now met by the bare laminate floor.

Abigail knocked on Liv's dorm room door but did not wait for a response before pushing it open.

"Perfect!" Liv turned away from Tyler. "Abigail's here."

She watched the space between them grow, leaving her eyes on it rather than either one of them. "Yeah, you invited me to dinner after my meeting with Garrison."

"I invited you to dinner after your meeting with Garrison next week."

"Well, Elena's at work, Damon is babysitting Kai, Caroline and Stefan are with Liz, and Alaric basically ran out of town when it turned out there was something that might help with the Merge to get away from me. Not that we're speaking about anything other than what we have to." She dropped her bag by the door before slumping into the armchair that was tucked away in the corner. "So, I guess you're stuck with me."

"Well, you're not our first visitor." Tyler had not moved since she walked inside. At first, she thought it was because he, like anyone would be, was annoyed by her sudden appearance. Next, she thought he'd found a way to be mad at her, it wouldn't have been hard, not in recent weeks. Then, she realized he was worried about something. "Is she, Liv?"

Looking between them, she asked, "What?"

Liv examined herself in the full-length mirror on the opposite wall with the tilt of her head. "So, spring break? Where are you going?"