Book One: Panacea (A. Saltzman)

Chapter Thirteen

Alaric wakes to Diana hovering above him, he smiles up at her, his hands coming up to brush her hair back from her face, his fingers soft against her face. She leans closer to him and kisses him, he hums happily against her lips, his hands on her back as he holds her close to him. Blankets ruffled and wrapped around them.

"Mmmm morning" he breaths softly against her lips. She chuckles and lets him pull her closer to him, his fingers threading through her hair. She takes to kissing his jaw and neck. He sighs softly and lets himself enjoy this. His arms loosen a little as she kisses down his chest and disappears beneath the blankets.

...........

Alaric wakes, alone in his bed, his heart pounding in his chest. He's not a had a dirty dream in a very long time, so of course, he would have one now about the woman....girl....whichever she is, that he is having an existential crisis about. He runs his fingers back through his hair and lets out a breath.

"That's new" he whispers to himself and then sits up. New. But not entirely unpleasant, it's probably as close as he'll get to Diana now.

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

Alaric makes his way through his apartment, he sets a coffee mug down next to his laptop before he sits at the desk and opens the computer up. He lets out a breath and stares at the open journal page on the screen before he begins to type.

'I found one. After years of research and study, there it was right in front of me. I was terrified. As I stared it in the eyes, I drove a stake through its heart. I was right about Mystic Falls. There is evil here. I can sense it. Feel it. It's everywhere'. Alaric looks at a photo of a young woman, his wife, Isobel, and next to the photo, his eyes move to the arrowhead from the arrow he pulled from Logan. He continues typing. 'But there is good here too. A protector. Another hunter.' he picks up the arrowhead and turns it around in his hand, notes the specialized nature of it, and the fleur-de-lis engraved into it. He traces the design and lets out a breath.

"Who are you?" he voices. He sets the arrowhead down and picks up his cell phone. His finger hovers over Diana's number. He wants to text her. To call her. To see her. He sets the phone down, stands from his computer, and runs his fingers through his hair as he paces. His phone pings with the arrival of a message. He lets out a breath and picks up his phone, hoping that Diana has reached out first. It's not Diana. It's a blocked number.

'When teachers kiss students, someone gets hurt. That's a promise I'll keep. - X'. Alaric frowns at the message. As far as he was aware, Logan was the only one who knew but Logan is now dead. This message implies that someone else knows. Someone intent on not letting their identity be known. And someone that is threatening him.

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

Diana leaves the bathroom and crosses the hall to her bedroom where Derek is lounging on her bed, she jumps slightly and shoots him a look. He sets his cell phone into his pocket and gives her a small smile at her.

"You just walk in?" she asks him.

"Jenna let me in" he answers and looks over her, she holds her towel closer to her body.

"You going to tell at me?" she asks him. "Sure you've heard" She states as she moves to her wardrobe.

"Yeah, my dad called me last night to rant" He admits. "It was stupid" he scolds her. "But kind of awesome" she looks over her shoulder at him. "Why are you carrying around a baton anyway?" he asks her, she shrugs.

"For my boyfriend's dick of a father" He shoots her a look. "He was trying to get Tyler and Jeremy to fight, Derek, he was being a dick...and he's lucky, I would have...." he chuckles a little.