(act one, chapter thirteen: children of the damned)

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"Yes, Damon?" Buffy asked, annoyed as he woke her up. "I hope you have a good reason to  call me" She checked the time on her alarm. "seven in the freaking morning? I need my beauty sleep."

"You look beautiful without sleep now-"

"Wait did I just get an compliment from the Damon Salvatore?" Buffy asked, a smirk appearing on her face.

"Whatever. Rise and shine, sleepyhead. We have lots to do, now we're friends and working toward a common goal. So, in order to open the tomb, we need to find the journal. To get the grimoire to open the spells. First things first-since your sister is Elena Gilbert she is on journal duty." He said, emphasizing her sister's last name. "Or if you can find it."

"Since when is Elena helping?"

"Well Stefan's helping and she has taken up residence in Stefan's bed, ergo."

"How do you know for sure that this journal will hold the location of the grimoire? Are you really gonna take the word of that vampire you guys killed? He seemed a bit like a dimwit to be honest." Buffy questioned, finally sitting up in her bed, seeing a Damon probably won't leave her alone till he gets that tomb open.

Yes, she wanted to be friends with Damon.

But she didn't want him calling her up.

I HATE WAKING UP EARLY

"In lieu of any other options." Damon said, shrugging.

"Okay, but why do you need that grimoire exactely? Doesn't stand the same in every single one?"

"Every spell that a witch cast is unique unto itself. So every witch would document their work. It's a cookbook."

"Oh don't get smart with me, Mr. Salvatore. I watched Harry Potter."

"Yeah and does this look like Hogwarts to you?"

I wish it did.

"What about our mystery vampire?Dimwit obviously wasn't working alone, so whoever is out there knows who you are."

"And I don't like that disadvantage, so chop, chop." 

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Elena was combing through some boxes were family memorabilia were in as Stefan sat at the breakfast bar, waiting for her to find the journal.

"Do you think Damon really believes us? That we're both trying to help him? Should we tell Buffy?" Elena asked her boyfriend.

"I don't think Damon knows what to believe. Trust isn't something that comes naturally to him. But maybe we should not tell Buffy the truth, if our plan fails, he will still think Buffy is a friend to him." Stefan answered, honestly.

"You know I really think that Damon believes that everything he's done, every move that he's made,He's done for love. It's twisted, but kind of sad. And I also think that Buffy really wants to help Damon become a better person or at least help him find Katherine. She always wants what's best for people and besides I think she really cares for him." Elena stated.

"There are other ways to get what you want, Elena. You don't have to kill people. Damon has no regard for human life. He enjoys inflicting pain on others. For 145 years, every single time that I have let my guard down and let Damon back into my life, he's done something to make me regret that. I'm not going to make that mistake again." Stefan said  as upstairs Buffy and Jeremy came walking down the stairs.

"So what do you think will happen If the tomb gets opened and Damon gets Katherine back?" Elena wanted to know.

"I think that no matter what Damon promises,A lot of people will die." Stefan said as Elena exhaled loudly while picking up a photo from the box. Stefan got up and walked over to her as Elena handed him the picture.

"That's Jonathan Gilbert." He said to her.

Elena looked down into the box with a confused frown on her face. "What's this?" She picked up a wooden box, what appeared to be a muzzle contained within in. 

The Salvatore thought he recognized it but he didn't explain it to Elena as her two siblings walked in, joking around.

"What are you guys doing?" Jeremy asked however Buffy already had an idea.

They're looking for the journal.

"Hey. Just going through some stuff, feeling sentimental. Dad had this whole family journal from years ago. I thought I'd dig it up.

Definitely looking for the journal.

"Jonathan Gilbert's journal?" Jeremy asked while he and Buffy sat down on the kitchen counter.

"Yeah, what do you know about it?"

"I just did a history report on it." Jeremy said as Stefan looked up at him, alarmed.

Oh yeah I forgot about that

whoops

Stefan is looking like me when I realize I overslept and should have been in school already

"Oh. So where is it now? Elena asked.

"I gave it to Mr. Saltzman. He wanted to see it." 

Well, looking like that at each other is not gonna make it obvious or something, lovebirds.

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Stefan and Buffy were walking through he school as Buffy insisted on coming with him. She did not want Stefan pulling the same trick on their history teacher as he had done with the vampire last night. Then the whole class would end up having another history teacher.

If we have another copy like Tanner I might just kill myself.

"Are you even sure that he is here?" Buffy asked as the two friends stepped in the history class together.

"Yes." Stefan replied at the same moment as Alaric entered his classroom, pointing a sort of gun at Stefan and shot the dart, careful that it was not to close to Buffy, at Stefan who without effort grabbed the stake. 

The two started at him.

Whatever I expected it was surely not this shit. What is he? Some kind of vampire hunter or what?

Alaric reloaded the gun with another stake as the two watched him do it. As Alaric looked down at the gun, moving towards the doorway, Stefan vamp-speed around him, blocking the history teacher's way from getting out.

"You shouldn't have done that." Stefan said as he grabbed Mr. Saltzman by his shirt, pushing him into the desks behind him and took the gun from him.

Alaric scrambled up from the floor.

"Have a seat." Stefan spoke.

The teacher definitely hesitated as Stefan pointed at the chair closest by, insisting that he does what he told him.

Alaric sat down, clearly not wanting too.

Stefan examined Alaric's gun. "What is this, compressed air?" He asked but he didn't get a reply. "Did you make it yourself? Who are you?" Stefan asked while moving closer to Alaric, who flinched.

"We're not gonna hurt you. Unless you try that again." Stefan spoke, referring to the shooting.

I'm to tired to even witness a fight. 

Stefan handed the gun back over to Alaric, who took it. Stefan pulled two of the desks upright and both he and Buffy sat on top of one, looking at Alaric, waiting for an explanation. "Who are you?"

"I'm a teacher." 

"Are we gonna have to do this the hard way?"

"I'm also a historian. And while researching Virginia, I made a few discoveries about your town."

"So you show up like Van Helsing. Come on. Tell us the truth."

"My wife was a parapsychologist. She spent her life researching paranormal activity in this area. It was her work that led me here."

"Where's your wife?" 

"Dead. A vampire killed her."

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Saltzman." Buffy said as Stefan clearly was not gonna say it.

Poor man. He lost his wife and now is getting attacked by a grump vampire.

Alaric seemed to appreciate it. He really did appreciate it.

"Where's the Gilbert journal?

"What do you want with it?" The teacher asked.

"Where is it?"

"It's on my desk." He answered.

"No, it's not."

Alaric looked over his shoulder at his desk and sees that indeed the journal was not there. He looked back at his daughter and Stefan. "It was on my desk."

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"How long have you been aware of me?" Stefan asked.

"I learned just recently. What about your brother?" Alaric asked.

"You met Damon."

"Who do you think killed my wife?"

OH MY GOD THIS IS BECOMING WORSE AND WORSE

"Are you certain it was Damon?"

"I witnessed it." Alaric explained.

"If you're here for revenge, this is going to end very badly for you."

"I just want to find out what happened to my wife."

"I thought you just said that Damon-" Stefan was cut off by Alaric.

"Yeah. I saw him draining the life out of her. He must have heard me coming. He just disappeared. So did her body. They never found her." Mr. Saltzman said and it was clear that what he was saying was hurting him.

"Damon can never know why you're here. He'll kill you without blinking."

"I can take care of myself."

Stefan scoffed, shaking his head. "No, you can't. I can help you. If you let me."

"Sorry." Buffy said to them as she picked up the call from Elena and made her way to the hallway.

"Damon's here." Elena's voice came from the other side of the phone.

"Why?"

"Asking if he could trust Stefan." Elena said and because of the wind Buffy could hear that Elena was outside, probably to make sure Damon didn't hear their conversation.

"Tell him he can." Buffy replied. "I mean we are helping him so he can trust us, can't he?"

"Yeah, of course." Elena lied. "I should go. Jenna's calling me." The Gilbert said as she ended the call.

Buffy walked back into the history classroom but the two men seemed to be missing.

OH COME ON

However they quickly came back and Alaric seemed to have taken Stefan's deal.

"Stef, we should go. Elena just texted me that apparently Damon is at our house. And again I'm so sorry for all this, Mr. Saltzman." Buffy spoke before the two quickly left the school.

As they arrived at the Gilbert house, Stefan knocked.

Why are you knocking, man? 

Buffy opened the door at the same time as both Damon and Elena appeared at the other side. Stefan looked confused at his brother to Elena, who shrugged.

Well, that looks cozy.

They all walked onto the front porch to talk.

"Who took it?""We don't know." Buffy answered, honestly because they didn't. They just know that Alaric had it but not anymore.

"You know what, it's that teacher. There's something really off about him." Damon said as he stopped walking and turned to the other three.

yeah you killed his wife, smart ass

"No, he doesn't know anything. Somebody got to it right before me.""Who else knew it was there?"

Stefan looked through the window at Jeremy who was still on the couch gaming, but he didn't answer his brother.

Damon also looked at Jeremy and started to walk back to the house.

"No. Damon, leave him out of it!" Elena called behind him."Why, what's the big deal?" Damon asked as he opened the front door.Damon opened the door and walked back into the house, over to Jeremy. The others right behind him as Damon sat back on his previous seat to speak with Jeremy.

"So I heard you found a really cool journal from back in the day. Who else did you show it to?" He asked.

"Huh?" Jeremy asked, focused on the screen.

"Don't ask questions, just spill." Damon said.

"You're kidding me, right?" Jeremy asked, chuckling.

"Jer, did you tell anyone other than Mr. Saltzman about Johnathan Gilbert's journal?" Elena asked.

"Why is everybody so obsessed with that thing?"

"Who else did you tell?"

"Just that girl Anna."

"The hot, weird one?" Damon questioned.

"Yeah."

"Wait, who is Anna?" Stefan asked, never having heard of an Anna in Mystic Falls at the moment.

"That's what I want to find out." Damon said to his brother.

"How do you know her?" He asked the Gilbert.

"I just know her. She wants me to meet her at the Grill tonight."

"Perfect. I'll drive. Come on."

"Okay." Jeremy said.

Buffy took Damon's arm, surprisingly pulling him back. "Hurt him, I'll kill you."

Damon smiled at her as the Jeremy followed Damon out of the house.

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Later that night, Buffy heard Elena and Stefan had come back home but before she could greet them, something hit the back of her head and she fell on the ground, passed out.

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Words: 2001

Posted: March 17, 2024

Be sure to comment. I love reading them and it keeps me motivated!

x Kat