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[A Normal Life] Chapter 15
Title: A Normal Life: Chapter 15
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries
Verse: A Normal Life
Relationships: Stefan Salvatore / Elena Gilbert, hinted Bonnie Bennett / Damon Salvatore, hinted Alaric Saltzman / Jenna Sommers
Summary: Career Night raises a lot more questions than it answers, not just for Damon but also for Bonnie and Alaric.
Notes: This chapter was a lot harder to write than I anticipated, but it also got a lot of the plot points that I'd been desperately trying to incorporate earlier! I'm just glad I got to throw them in, before things got worse. ♥
His speech was one panic-induced blur. Damon must have given it, because he remembered taking the stage, catching the microphone that Caroline had tossed him - and he most certainly remembered his hands shaking the entire time. He even remembered yelling to the crowd as he plastered on the fakest smile he could muster, and he remembered the air, tinged with specks of violet. It pulsed with energy, the same kind that constantly ran through his veins. If he had to pinpoint a source of that energy, he would've later said it was Stefan.
To this crowd, he must've explained the general world of psychology - studying it in college, and then applying it to several real-world disciplines, such as clinical research; counseling; and even various forms of medicine. Used wisely, it could be a jack-of-all-trades degree, lifting students into whatever discipline they chose. He must have, because he had painstakingly carried those notes into the gymnasium earlier that evening.
He must have, and yet, he couldn't recall a single word. Right as he remembered to ask, "Any questions," Caroline freaking Forbes had to raise her hand.
“Sooooo, Damon,” she said in her best I’m paying attention voice, “If I wanted to become a counselor, would I get a psych degree and then go for a masters in counseling?”
Damon inwardly groaned. This wasn't his specialty - he dealt with cognitive psych, in understanding brainwaves and the nuances of how people perceive the world - and yet, this town had to act like he was the prime authority on the field. Jenna studied this discipline too, you know! As he gathered the strength to answer, he heard stupid Anna giggling from the back row. While Caroline had asked a reasonable question, he had places to be and people to save! He couldn't spend forever on a stupid question with multiple answers.
"Depends," Damon began eloquently, peering up over the crowd. So far, neither Anna nor Jeremy had moved from their spots in the back. Good: he could still reach them after the Q-and-A portion of the evening. "My co-worker's getting an academic one for school counseling, but you could get a professional one too for substance counseling."
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Stefan fidgeting by the door. His kid brother kept turning something in his pocket over and over again, with worried eyes that scanned the hallway for any sign of life. Whatever was bothering Stefan couldn't be good.
Damon finished by saying, "You've got a lot of options, basically. You can't go wrong with whatever path you choose."
Rolling her eyes at his non-answer, Caroline had to raise her hand again. "Um, Damon..."
Footsteps - namely, that of the principal - were rapidly approaching, so Damon tossed Caroline the microphone. "Looks like that's all the time I've got, so catch me later and we'll talk."
Hastily, he exited stage right and pushed his way through the crowd. As soon as this night ended, he would put Gilbert Jr. on a leash, because that kid couldn't keep himself out of trouble for a couple of hours. (He must've had a death wish. There was no other rational explanation.)
As he approached them in the far back of the gym, Anna ducked her head demurely. "Jeremy! Ow!"
Jeremy laughed, nearly swatting her with his sketchbook. "Weren't you the one who wanted to come, might I remind you? I was gonna call in sick, but you just had to convince me to stick around."
Her laughter echoed through the hall, no matter how tightly she pushed her hand against her face. Crap, Jeremy was falling hard for her, even though Vicki hadn't left town that long ago. He was falling and falling right into her tiny little fingers, and if he weren't careful, she would suck his veins dry to the bone.
Damon suspected that if he stuck around, he would get sucked into the vortex that had become Jeremy's poor life choices. So he announced his presence with an abnormally loud cough.
"Oh, Damon! Good talk." Jeremy waved warmly at him, motioning for him to sit down.
"Yeah, it was... informative," Anna chimed, her smirk betraying her amicable tone. "Wish you could've stuck around for more questions. Speaking of, I've still got one for you."
Jeremy blinked back surprise. "You do? I thought you said you weren't interested in this kind of stuff."
Damon narrowed his eyes at her. "I--"
Interrupted by a strong shoulder tap. "Hey, I think we have a problem," Stefan's voice called from behind.
Damon winced, pulling himself away from the brewing CW drama in front of him. Clearly, Anna's answer would have to wait for a few more minutes. Giving her the universal gesture for 'hang on a second,' Damon followed his kid brother to the opposite side of the room. "What kind of problem?"
"A Mr. Saltzman problem. He needed Elena to see something like, ten minutes ago, but they haven't come out of his room yet." Stefan folded his arms, peering towards the hallway that led to Alaric's classroom. "You think I'm overreacting?"
"Not really." Over the past few weeks, life had become chaotic enough that anything could spell trouble. Instincts mattered just as much as the little things that triggered them. "Was that why they left right before my talk?"
"Seems like it." Stefan gestured towards the hall, waiting patiently for Damon to follow him.
As they walked beside each other, falling into an old pattern Damon hadn't associated with his brother in a while, he couldn't help staring at his kid brother. Most days, Stefan was an eternal eight year old with a gap between his teeth and unruly hair that couldn't be tamed by even the thickest of hair gel. In Damon's memory, he trailed behind his older brother, tugging on his shirt and insisting, I can help too!
When had his baby brother been replaced with this gangly, determined teenager who would pay any price to ensure his girlfriend's safety? Damon rarely regretted his choices in life - because at some point, he had to accept that he had made them, and that he couldn't cry over spilt milk anymore. Yet, sometimes, he wished he had stuck around home a little longer, because then his own brother wouldn't surprise him so often.
He must've been gawking at Stefan, because his younger brother had tilted his head to the side ever so slightly before stopping in front of Alaric's classroom door. "What's up?"
"Nothing," Damon said, unable to hide the smile tugging on his face. "Come on, let's see what those two are up to."
"You may have this whole town wrapped around your little finger, but you don't fool me," Alaric was saying, right as Damon wrapped a hand around the doorknob. "Now, we can do this the easy way, or I can just..."
The hallway shook as the atmosphere again tinged with purple, lightly reflecting off Stefan's hands. Damon and Stefan exchanged nervous glances as Damon twisted the knob. The door didn't budge.
Elena's voice too echoed through the hall as she said, "I already told you, I'm not-- mrgh!"
Stefan hastily kicked the door open with his entire might - impressive, considering he was a ninety-five pound weakling - as he and Damon rushed inside.
Elena was encased in a circular shield of purple as Alaric kicked against its outer shell. With her back pressed against the wall, Elena fervently clutched her necklace, turning it over and over again. Violet light peeked between her fingers. She was breathing far too heavily to talk, with choked sobs escaping her lips every few seconds.
Damon turned on his heels, pushing Alaric against the other wall. "What the hell?"
When Jenna had announced - loudly and proudly via text - that she and Alaric had planned a first date, Damon had supported her the entire conversation. Alaric would be better for her than Scumfell; Alaric would support her crazy life choices; Alaric would... Alaric would...
Alaric would be full of stupid surprises, like attacking the most harmless girl in town. He could've at least gone for the warlock or the kid with anger issues, but nope, he had to pick the popular cheerleader. Of course.
Quickly, Stefan slipped through the shield and knelt down beside her. "Sssh, hey, hey," he said softly, pulling her close to him and gently enveloping her in his arms. "Hey, it's gonna be alright. See? Our spell worked."
"I said," Damon said through gritted teeth as he nearly pummeled Alaric into the next classroom, "What the hell, man?"
"She's - she's not who she seems, Damon!" Alaric protested, flinching at Damon's touch. "I swear, she'll..."
"You swear what?" Damon growled, pressing down on Alaric's arms harder as he pinned the moron better against the wall. As he reached for Alaric's throat, he held it loosely around his hand. "You swear that you'll kill Elena? Because, you know, your students aren't important to you or anything."
"She's--she's not Elena," Alaric's voice weakly cried out.
"Actually, she is," Bennett's voice echoed, as she walked in and surveyed the chaos.
Seats were strewn aside; the desk was wobbled, with papers tossed aside every which way - if it weren't for the giant purple shield, Damon could've assumed a tornado hit town.
Damon released Alaric, watching the man sink onto his knees. "What do you mean, she is? We've known that for years."
"He clearly thought she was Katherine, though," Bennett had to point out, folding her arms as she looked at Damon. "Why else would he threaten her?"
She had a point. One Damon desperately refused to acknowledge, just as he had refused to acknowledge the protection ward that Stefan had cast on his girlfriend's necklace. (He would never doubt his brother's paranoia again.)
Alaric nearly choked on his own breath, instead burying his face in his hands as he remained on the linoleum tiles. "If... if she's not Katherine, then..."
"For starters, how do you even know Katherine?" Damon tilted his head to the side. "She's locked up in a tomb."
"Now that's impossible." Alaric glanced up at him with blood-shot eyes, slowly rising to his feet and holding onto the nearby teacher's desk for support. "The last time I saw Katherine, she killed my wife."
Bennett stepped back, nearly crashing into the rows of students' desks behind her. "Wh-what do you mean?"
"You actually saw her?" Damon scratched his cheek.
Alaric had no reason to lie about Katherine. He had no reason to create some fanciful tale about his wife's killer, just as he had no reason to remain in Mystic Falls. He could've re-invented himself anywhere else in the country, and yet he chose this tiny town of six thousand people. If Alaric claimed that he saw Katherine, and thus was prompted to move here, then...
"Is there..." Damon swallowed saliva, racking his brain for any feasible answer (because Elena killing some woman clearly wasn't the answer). "Bennett, is there any way Katherine could've escaped that tomb already?"
Bennett stared down numbly at her shoes. "I hope not."
Another story - one worse than the tales Giuseppe had described - was brewing at his feet, and Damon couldn't bear to hear the ending. He was so tired, of the bloodsuckers descending upon the people he loved (and even the people who loved the people he loved).
Elena released the shield, collapsing in Stefan's arms. Gently, he rose to his feet, cradling his girlfriend against his chest. "I'll get her home safe. In the meantime..." Stefan took a deep breath. "Get this worked out."
As he left, leaving Bennett, Damon, and Alaric to mull over the mess in the dimly-lit classroom, silence threatened to overtake them. Damon lacked the energy to speak: he could save Tyler from his father, but he couldn't properly save Elena from an acquaintance? An acquaintance, keep in mind, that had willingly risked his reputation and livelihood against the most powerful man in town? The pieces weren't properly adding up, no matter how many times Damon turned the jigsaw pieces in his brain.
Almost half a minute passed before Alaric admitted, "She was immune to vervain's effects, so I thought... she might've been a super vampire somehow... which sounds really stupid now that I'm saying it out loud." He paused for a second, the gears visibly turning in his head as he scrutinized Damon. "How come you know? About the supernatural, I mean? I thought you were normal."
Bennett snorted. Loudly. "If he's normal, then I'm the Queen."
For that, Damon leaned on her, pressing his elbow lightly on her shoulder. "It's a long story."
"Well," Alaric said with a small laugh, gesturing around his empty classroom, "If you don't mind, I've got all the time in the world."
As they cleared the mess Elena's shield had caused, Damon explained nearly everything - how he and Stefan were wizards; how Bennett's arrival had exacerbated Stefan's powers; and now how Tyler's anger management was rooted in genetic 'enhancement.' He danced around the exact word, because Tyler shouldn't know the truth before Mason told him - yet despite Damon's outright refusal to elaborate, Alaric's shoulders sank with relief.
"So you're kind of like the town protector," Alaric mused, steadying the last stack of papers. "Makes sense."
Bennett stifled a laugh. "He tries to be. As to whether or not he succeeds, well..."
"You're no help whatsoever," Damon pointed out, sighing as he straightened the last row of desks. "You gave me a diary and expected me to pull supernatural secrets from it. What, you don't trust me with your ancestor's grimoire?"
"You could've given it to Anna," Bennett retorted, rushing to help him with the last desk, "And then where would we be?"
"Why would I work with her?" Damon groaned, lightly poking her chest with his finger, "I don't want to work with you, Bennett. Jesus Christ, you're stupider than I remembered!"
Alaric barreled over with laughter, leaning forward to hold his stomach as he shook his head fondly at them. "You two are really something," he said, once he regained his composure long enough to speak. "Man, and I thought Jeremy and Tyler were a riot."
"Your turn, by the way," Damon said with a scowl, turning from Bennett as he reached for the doorknob. "How did you uncover the supernatural? If Katherine was the one who killed your wife, she should've wiped your mind clean."
Bloodsuckers were awfully notorious that way, with their constant reliance on mind control that never fully worked. Witches and warlocks were fully immune, as well as every male in Tyler Lockwood's bloodline, not to mention other supernatural creatures that roamed the universe. Damon hadn't encountered a psychic or ghost yet, but he figured it was only a matter of time. Strange, too, that she had left a witness to her crime - unless she wanted the memory etched in Alaric's brain.
Damon had to be overthinking it, because no vampire could be stupid enough to leave a calling card in the form of some poor guy's dead wife.
"If she noticed me, you mean." Alaric shrugged somberly, fidgeting with the ring on his finger. "She didn't realize I was there, the night Isobel died."
Isobel. Isobel, like Dr. Isobel Flemming, the parapsychologist Damon occasionally cited in his research. Her name cropped up enough for Wes and Misao to tease him about his puppy crush on a woman he'd never meet. (What? Damon couldn't help that her work was highly relevant to his thesis. She had written extensively on all these differently-abled species, and he could incorporate them into his masters' without worry of digging through other scientific journals.
He could only quote Magitek so many times before someone noticed that it was a journal restricted to the supernatural community.)
Bennett reached over and lightly squeezed Alaric's hand. "It's a good thing she didn't, if this is Katherine we're talking about."
Alaric nodded, shooting Bennett a grateful smile. "No kidding. Anyways, Isobel had always been interested in the supernatural, so after she died... well, I kept her research going, and realized she was onto something crazy."
"So you decided to go all rogue vampire hunter on Elena here," Damon finished, staring at the spot where Elena and her shield had been. "Good thing Stefan had decided to enchant her necklace."
"Like grandfather, like grandson," Bennett mused, her heels clacking against the floor as she turned to leave. "Alaric, are... are you...?"
"I think I'll be fine." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "It makes me wonder, though. Why does Elena look so much like her?"
Damon shrugged, staring at the empty hallway before them. "That's a question I think we all want the answer to."
Anna and Jeremy were waiting for him and Bennett beside his car. Sheepishly, Jeremy gestured towards the large canvas in his arms. "I can't walk back home with this, and Stefan and Elena had..."
Stefan and Elena had already left, because they were (understandably) spooked about their history teacher trying to kill them. Damon nodded, motioning for Jeremy to climb into the back as he unlocked the trunk. Carefully, Jeremy stashed the painting before sliding into the backseat.
"Anna?" Damon gestured towards the parking lot, the second he was certain Jeremy was out of hearing range. "I've got a question, before I answer yours."
"Hm?" She blinked back surprise, turning on her heels to look at him better. "What's up?"
"Is... is Katherine still in the tomb?"
Anna furrowed her brow. "Huh? Why are you interested in her?"
"Just answer the question, Anna," Bennett insisted, standing before Damon as she met Anna's steely gaze. "Is Katherine locked with the others or not?"
"Bonnie..." Anna lifted a hand to her mouth, furiously blinking back tears (wait, tears?!) as she avoided meeting her fellow vampire's gaze. "Dammit, I thought you knew."
"Knew what, exactly?"
Anna swallowed her saliva, staring down at the ground as she balled her hands into little fists. "Knew that she was never there."
Bennett staggered backwards into Damon's arms. For what felt like eternity, Damon sensed her whole weight collapsing upon him, and he couldn't push her onto the ground. Technically, he could - he didn't owe her any relief. He owed her nothing, after the trickery she had incurred on him earlier.
He owed her nothing, even as he leaned down and wrapped his arms around her waist, allowing his head to rest on her shoulder. She looked like she was all skin and bones, but she felt differently. She felt soft, with warmth radiating from the sunlight necklace she always wore. For better or worse, she had bypassed every single lock he had placed upon her.
"She... wasn't?" Bennett's voice squeaked. Tears were streaming down her face as she managed to say, "B-but Anna, if she's not there, then... then..."
"Then she's been avoiding you for over a century." Anna bowed her head in shame. "I last saw her in 1983, in Chicago. Bonnie, I'm... I'm... I thought you hated me because of my mom, not Katherine..."
They hiccuped, before Anna rushed into her fellow vampire's arms and hugged her tightly. Bonnie returned that hug, nearly forcing Damon off her and into the most awkward three-person hug he'd had in his entire life. Nothing said awkward more than your archenemy and your sometimes-enemy insisting on a group hug with you on the sidelines.
"I would never hate you because of Pearl," Bonnie said soothingly, clinging fiercely to Anna long enough for Damon to let go. "Never."
"It sure felt like it," Anna admitted shyly, burying herself in Bennett's hair.
From the back seat, Jeremy peered at them. "Are they...?"
"Let them," Damon said after a moment, climbing into the driver's seat. "I've got a feeling they'll take a while."
Before he revved up the engine, Anna peered over at the car. "Hey, Damon? About my question?"
Damon thought about it for maybe a millisecond. "I'll give you an answer tomorrow. Drop by my place around noon."
"Sounds good." Anna's cheeks were tinged pink as she let go of Bennett. "I swear, I'll do anything you ask."
"I know." Damon raised an eyebrow. He remembered: hard to forget her earlier actions, as good as the motivations behind them may have been. (At least she wasn't trying to release Katherine from a crummy fate.) "Scumfell was working with you, right? You need higher standards, Anna."
Anna wrinkled her nose at him. "And I got them, right, Van Helsing?"
Jeremy groaned at them. "Come on, I've got school tomorrow. Wait, we've got school tomorrow, Bonnie. Anna's home-schooled, but we've got like, no excuse."
Bennett wistfully stared at Anna, then at the starry sky above them. "I know. I can walk home by myself."
"Not a chance." Damon unlocked his door, motioning for them to slide inside. "Come on, or the big bad wolf's gonna eat you two alive if you're not careful."
Although Bennett and Anna had rolled their eyes at him as they obeyed his orders, Damon couldn't help glancing up at the full moon hanging in the sky. The night had raised more questions than it had answered - Katherine was still alive, namely, and she had wandered the Earth for over a century, eluding Bonnie every step of the way.
Whatever that moron wanted, it couldn't be anything good.
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries
Verse: A Normal Life
Relationships: Stefan Salvatore / Elena Gilbert, hinted Bonnie Bennett / Damon Salvatore, hinted Alaric Saltzman / Jenna Sommers
Summary: Career Night raises a lot more questions than it answers, not just for Damon but also for Bonnie and Alaric.
Notes: This chapter was a lot harder to write than I anticipated, but it also got a lot of the plot points that I'd been desperately trying to incorporate earlier! I'm just glad I got to throw them in, before things got worse. ♥
His speech was one panic-induced blur. Damon must have given it, because he remembered taking the stage, catching the microphone that Caroline had tossed him - and he most certainly remembered his hands shaking the entire time. He even remembered yelling to the crowd as he plastered on the fakest smile he could muster, and he remembered the air, tinged with specks of violet. It pulsed with energy, the same kind that constantly ran through his veins. If he had to pinpoint a source of that energy, he would've later said it was Stefan.
To this crowd, he must've explained the general world of psychology - studying it in college, and then applying it to several real-world disciplines, such as clinical research; counseling; and even various forms of medicine. Used wisely, it could be a jack-of-all-trades degree, lifting students into whatever discipline they chose. He must have, because he had painstakingly carried those notes into the gymnasium earlier that evening.
He must have, and yet, he couldn't recall a single word. Right as he remembered to ask, "Any questions," Caroline freaking Forbes had to raise her hand.
“Sooooo, Damon,” she said in her best I’m paying attention voice, “If I wanted to become a counselor, would I get a psych degree and then go for a masters in counseling?”
Damon inwardly groaned. This wasn't his specialty - he dealt with cognitive psych, in understanding brainwaves and the nuances of how people perceive the world - and yet, this town had to act like he was the prime authority on the field. Jenna studied this discipline too, you know! As he gathered the strength to answer, he heard stupid Anna giggling from the back row. While Caroline had asked a reasonable question, he had places to be and people to save! He couldn't spend forever on a stupid question with multiple answers.
"Depends," Damon began eloquently, peering up over the crowd. So far, neither Anna nor Jeremy had moved from their spots in the back. Good: he could still reach them after the Q-and-A portion of the evening. "My co-worker's getting an academic one for school counseling, but you could get a professional one too for substance counseling."
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Stefan fidgeting by the door. His kid brother kept turning something in his pocket over and over again, with worried eyes that scanned the hallway for any sign of life. Whatever was bothering Stefan couldn't be good.
Damon finished by saying, "You've got a lot of options, basically. You can't go wrong with whatever path you choose."
Rolling her eyes at his non-answer, Caroline had to raise her hand again. "Um, Damon..."
Footsteps - namely, that of the principal - were rapidly approaching, so Damon tossed Caroline the microphone. "Looks like that's all the time I've got, so catch me later and we'll talk."
Hastily, he exited stage right and pushed his way through the crowd. As soon as this night ended, he would put Gilbert Jr. on a leash, because that kid couldn't keep himself out of trouble for a couple of hours. (He must've had a death wish. There was no other rational explanation.)
As he approached them in the far back of the gym, Anna ducked her head demurely. "Jeremy! Ow!"
Jeremy laughed, nearly swatting her with his sketchbook. "Weren't you the one who wanted to come, might I remind you? I was gonna call in sick, but you just had to convince me to stick around."
Her laughter echoed through the hall, no matter how tightly she pushed her hand against her face. Crap, Jeremy was falling hard for her, even though Vicki hadn't left town that long ago. He was falling and falling right into her tiny little fingers, and if he weren't careful, she would suck his veins dry to the bone.
Damon suspected that if he stuck around, he would get sucked into the vortex that had become Jeremy's poor life choices. So he announced his presence with an abnormally loud cough.
"Oh, Damon! Good talk." Jeremy waved warmly at him, motioning for him to sit down.
"Yeah, it was... informative," Anna chimed, her smirk betraying her amicable tone. "Wish you could've stuck around for more questions. Speaking of, I've still got one for you."
Jeremy blinked back surprise. "You do? I thought you said you weren't interested in this kind of stuff."
Damon narrowed his eyes at her. "I--"
Interrupted by a strong shoulder tap. "Hey, I think we have a problem," Stefan's voice called from behind.
Damon winced, pulling himself away from the brewing CW drama in front of him. Clearly, Anna's answer would have to wait for a few more minutes. Giving her the universal gesture for 'hang on a second,' Damon followed his kid brother to the opposite side of the room. "What kind of problem?"
"A Mr. Saltzman problem. He needed Elena to see something like, ten minutes ago, but they haven't come out of his room yet." Stefan folded his arms, peering towards the hallway that led to Alaric's classroom. "You think I'm overreacting?"
"Not really." Over the past few weeks, life had become chaotic enough that anything could spell trouble. Instincts mattered just as much as the little things that triggered them. "Was that why they left right before my talk?"
"Seems like it." Stefan gestured towards the hall, waiting patiently for Damon to follow him.
As they walked beside each other, falling into an old pattern Damon hadn't associated with his brother in a while, he couldn't help staring at his kid brother. Most days, Stefan was an eternal eight year old with a gap between his teeth and unruly hair that couldn't be tamed by even the thickest of hair gel. In Damon's memory, he trailed behind his older brother, tugging on his shirt and insisting, I can help too!
When had his baby brother been replaced with this gangly, determined teenager who would pay any price to ensure his girlfriend's safety? Damon rarely regretted his choices in life - because at some point, he had to accept that he had made them, and that he couldn't cry over spilt milk anymore. Yet, sometimes, he wished he had stuck around home a little longer, because then his own brother wouldn't surprise him so often.
He must've been gawking at Stefan, because his younger brother had tilted his head to the side ever so slightly before stopping in front of Alaric's classroom door. "What's up?"
"Nothing," Damon said, unable to hide the smile tugging on his face. "Come on, let's see what those two are up to."
"You may have this whole town wrapped around your little finger, but you don't fool me," Alaric was saying, right as Damon wrapped a hand around the doorknob. "Now, we can do this the easy way, or I can just..."
The hallway shook as the atmosphere again tinged with purple, lightly reflecting off Stefan's hands. Damon and Stefan exchanged nervous glances as Damon twisted the knob. The door didn't budge.
Elena's voice too echoed through the hall as she said, "I already told you, I'm not-- mrgh!"
Stefan hastily kicked the door open with his entire might - impressive, considering he was a ninety-five pound weakling - as he and Damon rushed inside.
Elena was encased in a circular shield of purple as Alaric kicked against its outer shell. With her back pressed against the wall, Elena fervently clutched her necklace, turning it over and over again. Violet light peeked between her fingers. She was breathing far too heavily to talk, with choked sobs escaping her lips every few seconds.
Damon turned on his heels, pushing Alaric against the other wall. "What the hell?"
When Jenna had announced - loudly and proudly via text - that she and Alaric had planned a first date, Damon had supported her the entire conversation. Alaric would be better for her than Scumfell; Alaric would support her crazy life choices; Alaric would... Alaric would...
Alaric would be full of stupid surprises, like attacking the most harmless girl in town. He could've at least gone for the warlock or the kid with anger issues, but nope, he had to pick the popular cheerleader. Of course.
Quickly, Stefan slipped through the shield and knelt down beside her. "Sssh, hey, hey," he said softly, pulling her close to him and gently enveloping her in his arms. "Hey, it's gonna be alright. See? Our spell worked."
"I said," Damon said through gritted teeth as he nearly pummeled Alaric into the next classroom, "What the hell, man?"
"She's - she's not who she seems, Damon!" Alaric protested, flinching at Damon's touch. "I swear, she'll..."
"You swear what?" Damon growled, pressing down on Alaric's arms harder as he pinned the moron better against the wall. As he reached for Alaric's throat, he held it loosely around his hand. "You swear that you'll kill Elena? Because, you know, your students aren't important to you or anything."
"She's--she's not Elena," Alaric's voice weakly cried out.
"Actually, she is," Bennett's voice echoed, as she walked in and surveyed the chaos.
Seats were strewn aside; the desk was wobbled, with papers tossed aside every which way - if it weren't for the giant purple shield, Damon could've assumed a tornado hit town.
Damon released Alaric, watching the man sink onto his knees. "What do you mean, she is? We've known that for years."
"He clearly thought she was Katherine, though," Bennett had to point out, folding her arms as she looked at Damon. "Why else would he threaten her?"
She had a point. One Damon desperately refused to acknowledge, just as he had refused to acknowledge the protection ward that Stefan had cast on his girlfriend's necklace. (He would never doubt his brother's paranoia again.)
Alaric nearly choked on his own breath, instead burying his face in his hands as he remained on the linoleum tiles. "If... if she's not Katherine, then..."
"For starters, how do you even know Katherine?" Damon tilted his head to the side. "She's locked up in a tomb."
"Now that's impossible." Alaric glanced up at him with blood-shot eyes, slowly rising to his feet and holding onto the nearby teacher's desk for support. "The last time I saw Katherine, she killed my wife."
Bennett stepped back, nearly crashing into the rows of students' desks behind her. "Wh-what do you mean?"
"You actually saw her?" Damon scratched his cheek.
Alaric had no reason to lie about Katherine. He had no reason to create some fanciful tale about his wife's killer, just as he had no reason to remain in Mystic Falls. He could've re-invented himself anywhere else in the country, and yet he chose this tiny town of six thousand people. If Alaric claimed that he saw Katherine, and thus was prompted to move here, then...
"Is there..." Damon swallowed saliva, racking his brain for any feasible answer (because Elena killing some woman clearly wasn't the answer). "Bennett, is there any way Katherine could've escaped that tomb already?"
Bennett stared down numbly at her shoes. "I hope not."
Another story - one worse than the tales Giuseppe had described - was brewing at his feet, and Damon couldn't bear to hear the ending. He was so tired, of the bloodsuckers descending upon the people he loved (and even the people who loved the people he loved).
Elena released the shield, collapsing in Stefan's arms. Gently, he rose to his feet, cradling his girlfriend against his chest. "I'll get her home safe. In the meantime..." Stefan took a deep breath. "Get this worked out."
As he left, leaving Bennett, Damon, and Alaric to mull over the mess in the dimly-lit classroom, silence threatened to overtake them. Damon lacked the energy to speak: he could save Tyler from his father, but he couldn't properly save Elena from an acquaintance? An acquaintance, keep in mind, that had willingly risked his reputation and livelihood against the most powerful man in town? The pieces weren't properly adding up, no matter how many times Damon turned the jigsaw pieces in his brain.
Almost half a minute passed before Alaric admitted, "She was immune to vervain's effects, so I thought... she might've been a super vampire somehow... which sounds really stupid now that I'm saying it out loud." He paused for a second, the gears visibly turning in his head as he scrutinized Damon. "How come you know? About the supernatural, I mean? I thought you were normal."
Bennett snorted. Loudly. "If he's normal, then I'm the Queen."
For that, Damon leaned on her, pressing his elbow lightly on her shoulder. "It's a long story."
"Well," Alaric said with a small laugh, gesturing around his empty classroom, "If you don't mind, I've got all the time in the world."
As they cleared the mess Elena's shield had caused, Damon explained nearly everything - how he and Stefan were wizards; how Bennett's arrival had exacerbated Stefan's powers; and now how Tyler's anger management was rooted in genetic 'enhancement.' He danced around the exact word, because Tyler shouldn't know the truth before Mason told him - yet despite Damon's outright refusal to elaborate, Alaric's shoulders sank with relief.
"So you're kind of like the town protector," Alaric mused, steadying the last stack of papers. "Makes sense."
Bennett stifled a laugh. "He tries to be. As to whether or not he succeeds, well..."
"You're no help whatsoever," Damon pointed out, sighing as he straightened the last row of desks. "You gave me a diary and expected me to pull supernatural secrets from it. What, you don't trust me with your ancestor's grimoire?"
"You could've given it to Anna," Bennett retorted, rushing to help him with the last desk, "And then where would we be?"
"Why would I work with her?" Damon groaned, lightly poking her chest with his finger, "I don't want to work with you, Bennett. Jesus Christ, you're stupider than I remembered!"
Alaric barreled over with laughter, leaning forward to hold his stomach as he shook his head fondly at them. "You two are really something," he said, once he regained his composure long enough to speak. "Man, and I thought Jeremy and Tyler were a riot."
"Your turn, by the way," Damon said with a scowl, turning from Bennett as he reached for the doorknob. "How did you uncover the supernatural? If Katherine was the one who killed your wife, she should've wiped your mind clean."
Bloodsuckers were awfully notorious that way, with their constant reliance on mind control that never fully worked. Witches and warlocks were fully immune, as well as every male in Tyler Lockwood's bloodline, not to mention other supernatural creatures that roamed the universe. Damon hadn't encountered a psychic or ghost yet, but he figured it was only a matter of time. Strange, too, that she had left a witness to her crime - unless she wanted the memory etched in Alaric's brain.
Damon had to be overthinking it, because no vampire could be stupid enough to leave a calling card in the form of some poor guy's dead wife.
"If she noticed me, you mean." Alaric shrugged somberly, fidgeting with the ring on his finger. "She didn't realize I was there, the night Isobel died."
Isobel. Isobel, like Dr. Isobel Flemming, the parapsychologist Damon occasionally cited in his research. Her name cropped up enough for Wes and Misao to tease him about his puppy crush on a woman he'd never meet. (What? Damon couldn't help that her work was highly relevant to his thesis. She had written extensively on all these differently-abled species, and he could incorporate them into his masters' without worry of digging through other scientific journals.
He could only quote Magitek so many times before someone noticed that it was a journal restricted to the supernatural community.)
Bennett reached over and lightly squeezed Alaric's hand. "It's a good thing she didn't, if this is Katherine we're talking about."
Alaric nodded, shooting Bennett a grateful smile. "No kidding. Anyways, Isobel had always been interested in the supernatural, so after she died... well, I kept her research going, and realized she was onto something crazy."
"So you decided to go all rogue vampire hunter on Elena here," Damon finished, staring at the spot where Elena and her shield had been. "Good thing Stefan had decided to enchant her necklace."
"Like grandfather, like grandson," Bennett mused, her heels clacking against the floor as she turned to leave. "Alaric, are... are you...?"
"I think I'll be fine." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "It makes me wonder, though. Why does Elena look so much like her?"
Damon shrugged, staring at the empty hallway before them. "That's a question I think we all want the answer to."
Anna and Jeremy were waiting for him and Bennett beside his car. Sheepishly, Jeremy gestured towards the large canvas in his arms. "I can't walk back home with this, and Stefan and Elena had..."
Stefan and Elena had already left, because they were (understandably) spooked about their history teacher trying to kill them. Damon nodded, motioning for Jeremy to climb into the back as he unlocked the trunk. Carefully, Jeremy stashed the painting before sliding into the backseat.
"Anna?" Damon gestured towards the parking lot, the second he was certain Jeremy was out of hearing range. "I've got a question, before I answer yours."
"Hm?" She blinked back surprise, turning on her heels to look at him better. "What's up?"
"Is... is Katherine still in the tomb?"
Anna furrowed her brow. "Huh? Why are you interested in her?"
"Just answer the question, Anna," Bennett insisted, standing before Damon as she met Anna's steely gaze. "Is Katherine locked with the others or not?"
"Bonnie..." Anna lifted a hand to her mouth, furiously blinking back tears (wait, tears?!) as she avoided meeting her fellow vampire's gaze. "Dammit, I thought you knew."
"Knew what, exactly?"
Anna swallowed her saliva, staring down at the ground as she balled her hands into little fists. "Knew that she was never there."
Bennett staggered backwards into Damon's arms. For what felt like eternity, Damon sensed her whole weight collapsing upon him, and he couldn't push her onto the ground. Technically, he could - he didn't owe her any relief. He owed her nothing, after the trickery she had incurred on him earlier.
He owed her nothing, even as he leaned down and wrapped his arms around her waist, allowing his head to rest on her shoulder. She looked like she was all skin and bones, but she felt differently. She felt soft, with warmth radiating from the sunlight necklace she always wore. For better or worse, she had bypassed every single lock he had placed upon her.
"She... wasn't?" Bennett's voice squeaked. Tears were streaming down her face as she managed to say, "B-but Anna, if she's not there, then... then..."
"Then she's been avoiding you for over a century." Anna bowed her head in shame. "I last saw her in 1983, in Chicago. Bonnie, I'm... I'm... I thought you hated me because of my mom, not Katherine..."
They hiccuped, before Anna rushed into her fellow vampire's arms and hugged her tightly. Bonnie returned that hug, nearly forcing Damon off her and into the most awkward three-person hug he'd had in his entire life. Nothing said awkward more than your archenemy and your sometimes-enemy insisting on a group hug with you on the sidelines.
"I would never hate you because of Pearl," Bonnie said soothingly, clinging fiercely to Anna long enough for Damon to let go. "Never."
"It sure felt like it," Anna admitted shyly, burying herself in Bennett's hair.
From the back seat, Jeremy peered at them. "Are they...?"
"Let them," Damon said after a moment, climbing into the driver's seat. "I've got a feeling they'll take a while."
Before he revved up the engine, Anna peered over at the car. "Hey, Damon? About my question?"
Damon thought about it for maybe a millisecond. "I'll give you an answer tomorrow. Drop by my place around noon."
"Sounds good." Anna's cheeks were tinged pink as she let go of Bennett. "I swear, I'll do anything you ask."
"I know." Damon raised an eyebrow. He remembered: hard to forget her earlier actions, as good as the motivations behind them may have been. (At least she wasn't trying to release Katherine from a crummy fate.) "Scumfell was working with you, right? You need higher standards, Anna."
Anna wrinkled her nose at him. "And I got them, right, Van Helsing?"
Jeremy groaned at them. "Come on, I've got school tomorrow. Wait, we've got school tomorrow, Bonnie. Anna's home-schooled, but we've got like, no excuse."
Bennett wistfully stared at Anna, then at the starry sky above them. "I know. I can walk home by myself."
"Not a chance." Damon unlocked his door, motioning for them to slide inside. "Come on, or the big bad wolf's gonna eat you two alive if you're not careful."
Although Bennett and Anna had rolled their eyes at him as they obeyed his orders, Damon couldn't help glancing up at the full moon hanging in the sky. The night had raised more questions than it had answered - Katherine was still alive, namely, and she had wandered the Earth for over a century, eluding Bonnie every step of the way.
Whatever that moron wanted, it couldn't be anything good.