Book One: Panacea (A. Saltzman)

Chapter Forty-Six

Diana types away at her laptop, her new laptop, after X destroyed her last one. Her eyes flickering over the screen. Damon stands behind her, watching her. She's been hanging out at the Boarding house since the whole X Derek thing and the Stefan thing a week ago now. And the...she doesn't want to go home and deal with John thing. She's quieter than Elena who has also been in and out since they locked Stefan up in the basement. Alaric drops into the armchair across from her and watches as she works.

"Where's your pet project today?" Damon asks her, she hums a little.

"Staying at the lake house" she answers. "Catching up on the normal news of the last 6 months"

"Can't you just undo it?" Damon asks her.

"My telepathy is not that advanced" She admits. "Plus can't undo something like that....whoever it was, deleted those memories, there is no finding them again"

"What about his phone?" Alaric asks, she holds up Derek's cell phone.

"Downloading data now" She admits and sets it down again.

"Grouchy this morning, huh, watchdog?" Damon asks her, she shoots him a look and goes back to what she is working on.

"No sleep" She counters. "No coffee...." she looks at Damon. "Why don't you have coffee?"

"Vampire" he reminds her, she pulls a face and looks back at her laptop. Her watch starts beeping and she glances to it, all this stress is bad for her powers, and the lack of sleep isn't helping either. She watches the red flashing numbers of her heart rate. She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, the watch beeping slows and then stops.

"What exactly are you working on?" Alaric asks from the armchair across from her, Diana opens her eyes to look at him.

"Remotely hacking into Uncle John's phone" She admits, the two men look at her. "What?" she asks them. "I can do that"

"You..." Alaric starts and then stops, knows there is still so much he doesn't know about her.

"Do you want to know what I found or not?" She asks.

"What did you find?" Alaric asks her softly.

"Damon, will you focus" Diana scolds noticing that Damon's attention is not on what they are doing.

"I'm very focused." Damon mumbles.

"You're not even looking at me right now."

"I though I saw something shiny." He teases, she shoots him a look. "Alright, tell me" He then motions to his eyes. "All attention on you"

"John was getting a call from a number...The same number that Elena dialed to get Isobel. And then the number was disconnected." Diana points out.

"Isobel knows John. Whatever. We knew that." Damon counters.

"Right. Well, after that, he started getting calls from a new number. And I have just finished running a geotrack. Got the address. It's...It's an apartment in Grove Hill."

"Isobel's in Grove Hill?" Damon asks her.

"I don't know. I thought we could take a look and see what we find." She offers as she looks between the two of them.

"Perfect. Give me the address."

"Oh, so you can go without us? No. I don't think so. We're all going" Alaric points out. The three of them share a look that is broken by Damon's cell phone as it begins to ring.

"Hold on." He answers the phone. "What?"

"I'm just grabbing some clothes, and then I'll be right over." Elena answers. "How's Stefan?"

"Extra broody. He won't eat anything."

"He has to eat what's his favorite...Kind of, um..."

"His favorite kind of what?" Damon asks Elena.

"Type of animal blood that he prefers?"

"Ew. Gross."

"Heh. Your joking doesn't help."

"Helps me. Now, hurry up. I can't baby-sit all night. I have things to do."

"I would say, 'drop dead,' but..."

"Ha ha. Stefan likes...Puppy blood...Little golden retriever puppies with cute, floppy ears. That's his favorite." Elena then hangs up, Damon smirks to himself and then turns to find Diana and Alaric giving him a look. "What?" Damon asks them.

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

Damon, Diana, and Alaric are sat in Diana's jeep outside of the Grove Hill residence. Diana types away at her laptop and then looks up at the house, she nods.

"This is the one here." Diana states as she closes her laptop. "The records show is was paid 3 months in advance."

"This is where it gets tricky. I may or may not be able to get in." Damon admits looking up at the house.

"Yeah, how does that work? You always have to be invited in?" Alaric asks.

"By the owner or the person of entitlement. Short-term rentals and hotels are a bit of a grey area. You kind of gotta play it by ear." Diana snaps a clip into her gun and turns for the door. Alaric touches her arm, curling his fingers in to stop her.

"Wait" Alaric stops them both. "Could we not kill anyone tonight, please?" He asks her, Diana pouts at him.

"But...vampire" She mumbles, he fights a smile because he's trying to be serious here.

"You can play with me later if it'll make you feel better" Damon comments, Diana turns to him and he smirks at her suggestively.

"I'm not having sex with you" Diana scolds Damon and then climbs out of the car. Damon smirks and looks at Alaric who is glaring at him.

"My wife not enough?" Alaric asks. "Stop hitting on Diana"

"You're so adorable when your jealous" Damon teases and follows Diana out of the car.

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

Diana pushes open the front door of the residence and peers inside. Alaric and Damon at her back.

"It doesn't look like anyone's home." Alaric comments, Damon waves his hand through the open door.

"Yeah. I'm good. No permanent resident, apparently" Damon offers as they all step inside the house.

...........

Damon is in the kitchen as Diana and Alaric look around the rest of the house. Damon opens the fridge and see blood bags.

"Uh, we have company." Damon announces just before a man jumps on Alaric. Alaric stabs him with wood knuckles. The man attacks again. Diana throws him off of Alaric and steps on his chest to stop him trying again.

"Boys, that's enough." Diana teases and holds the vampire down, her foot firm in his chest.

"I know you." Damon points out looking down at the vampire.

"Damon?"

"Your name is Henry. You were in the tomb." Damon points out.

"Yes, sir. What are you doing here?" Henry asks Damon who shares a look with Diana and Alaric.