16

—16. The Dinner Party

ALWAYS AND FOREVER

Mystic Falls, 1864

Stefan is draining the blood from a woman. She dies and Stefan lies back on the couch, breathing heavily. His shirt and chin are stained with blood. Nearby, two women dance while another woman plays the piano. Stefan gets up. "Who wants to die next?"

The two women walk over to him. "Me, I'm next."

"Me, you promised me." He caresses their chins and then looks at the woman playing piano.

He walks over towards her and grabs her face in his hands. "What about you? You know if you don't pick up the tempo, you're going to lose your head. Snap. Snap."

The woman picks up the tempo. Stefan rushes over to one of the women who was dancing and starts to drink from her. Damon walks into the room. "Company, brother?"

Stefan stops drinking and looks at Damon. "I brought enough to share."

Stefan throws the other girl towards Damon. Damon grabs her. "Are you mad bringing them here when the entire town is hunting us? Aurora was smart getting out of here."

Stefan walks over to him. "Damon, if you're worried about the Founding Families, please don't be. They're all dead or about to be."

Stefan looks back at the woman he was drinking from. She smiles at him and he proceeds to start drinking from her neck again.

Damon grabs the other woman's face in his hands and compels her. "Leave this place. Never think of it again."

Damon walks over to Stefan and rips him off the other woman. He compels her as well. Stefan growls in fury. "Same for you. Leave this place. Never think of it again."

"Damon, don't be like this. I'm just having some fun."

"Staying alive is more fun, Stefan. We have to be more careful than this. More clever. Like Katherine was."

"Look where that got her."

"I'm done here. With you. I'm leaving town." Damon walks past Stefan. Stefan rushes in front of Damon and grabs him by the shoulders.

"You hate me. I know. I know. An eternity of misery and on and on. I know, but you don't have to leave town. Damon, I'll do better. I promise. Aurora already left, you can't leave me too."

"Aurora would come back in an instant if you asked her to, and you know that. And no, you will get us killed. I'd rather leave you to do that to yourself." Stefan is upset by Damon wanting to leave him. Damon pushes Stefan off of him and walks out of the house.

Alaric, Aurora, Damon and Andie are at a table "Other than your lecture on the history of Mystic Falls, did you get anything out of Elijah?"

"No, it was boring. Of course, Jenna thinks he's charming."

"Well, I wouldn't put it past her, those suits really work for him." Aurora shrugged, popping a cherry in her mouth.

"You sounded jealous. Sound a bit jealous?"

"Kinda do." Andie nodded with a forced smile.

"Maybe we shouldn't talk about this here." Alaric glances over at Andie.

"Andie, she's been compelled not to divulge my secrets. Haven't you?"

"Uh-huh." Damon and Andie kiss. "Mmm. My lips are sealed."

Aurora makes a face of disgust, "Never do that near me again, please."

"This is too weird." Alaric stares at them in disgust.

"I just need the right opportunity." Damon sees Elijah and Jenna enter the Grill. "Ah, there's Jenna with her new boyfriend. Hi."

Elijah and Jenna walk up to their table. "Hey, guys." Aurora and Elijah share a discreet look of greeting, nodding to each other.

"So I hear you two had quite a meeting of historical minds today."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Well, as much as I'd like to continue this, I've got papers to grade." Alaric puts down some money and gets up from the table.

"No, you know what? We should continue this. Let's have a dinner party."

"Ooh, my girl. Full of good ideas. I'll be happy to host. Say tonight. Maybe?"

Andie nodded, enthusiastically, "It's good for me. Jenna?"

"I don't know if tonight works..."

"Yeah, I'm free." Jenna said, a look of distaste on her face after hearing Alaric.

"It'd be a pleasure." Elijah responded formally.

"Great. Ro?" Damon looked pointedly at his sister, who was trying to avoid doing this at all costs.

She knew how this would end, causing her to sigh, "You're not going to let me say no, are you?" Aurora muttered, looking up at Damon.

"No." Damon shook his head with a smirk, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

"Fine, whatever." Aurora rolled her eyes, "I'll be there."

Aurora was helping Jenna and Andie are preparing the table for the dinner party. "So what's going on with you and Alaric? I feel like there's some tension." Andie asked Jenna.

"I don't know. I really like him. It's more than like and I want it to work, but I can't help but feel that he's hiding something from me. And then I've got John whispering things in my ear about him.

"Like what?"

"Things I don't want to believe. Things I don't believe, not if they're coming from John's mouth."

Aurora decided to speak up, as she did have experience with such things in her one hundred years of living, "Well, I for one, would not believe anything that comes out of Johns mouth, even though I have never had a conversation with him myself, I've heard stories. But, I think Alaric just wants to protect you from whatever he's not sharing. It may be better this way."

"Yes, I get that, but I feel like he doesn't trust me. Anyway, how do you know all this? Do you have a boyfriend? Or had one?" Andie and Jenna now look at Aurora, interested in her love life.

"I had one. It didn't work out."

"What happened?"

"I was friends with his brother, he got jealous, and...pushed me away, so I left and haven't seen him since -it's almost as if I'm on the run."

Jenna looked to the vampire with pity, as Andie left to grab Damon, "Did you love him?"

Aurora paused, trying not to bring up the memories in her mind. She reached up with her hand to caress the small m crescent necklace, "Yes, I did. Very much."

Upstairs, the bell rings. Jenna answers the door. John is outside on the porch and walks into the house. Damon walks out of the library and into the front hall. "Who invited him?"

"John. Surprise. Leave."

"When Jenna told me she was coming to a dinner party for Elijah, I decided I couldn't miss out on all the fun and games."

Alaric walks in. Damon and John look at him. "There are not going to be any games tonight, John. It's just a friendly dinner party."

John looks back at Damon. "What he said."

Damon opens the door. Elijah is outside. "Good evening."

"Thank you for coming. Please, come in."

"Just one moment. Can I just say that if you have less than honorable intentions about how this evening is going to proceed, I suggest you reconsider."

"No, nothing, nothing dishonorable. Just getting to know you."

"Hmm. Well, that's good." Elijah enters the house as Aurora walks up. "Because, you know, although Elena and I have this deal, if you so much as make a move to cross me, I'll kill you and I'll kill everyone in this house. Are we clear?"

"Crystal."

"You wouldn't hurt me, would you 'Lijah?" Elijah looks over to Aurora, smiles, and walks over to her.

"Aurora. Wonderful to see you. How are you?"

"Nice to see you."

"You look incredible."

"Thank you." Damon shuts the front door while looking between his sister and the original with a suspicious look, did they know each other prior to saving Elena?

Damon, Andie, Aurora, Elijah, Jenna, John, and Alaric all sit around the table. Jenna pours some wine for Damon. "I hate to break it to you, Damon, but according to Elijah, your family is so not a founder of this town."

"Hmm, do tell."

"Well, as I mentioned to Jenna earlier, a faction of settlers migrated from Salem after the witch trials in the 1690s. Over the next hundred years they developed this community where they could feel safe from persecution."

"Hmm. Because they were witches."

"Yeah, but there's no tangible proof there were witches in Salem."

"Andie's a journalist. Big on facts."

"Well, the lore says that there was this wave of anti-witch hysteria. It broke out in the neighboring settlement, so these witches were rounded up. They were tied to stakes in a field together and, uh, burned. Some say you could hear the screams from miles around us. They were consumed by the fire. Could you pass the..."

"I wouldn't repeat this to the Historical Society."

"It's starting to sound a little like a ghost story to me."

Aurora hummed, "I'm sure it does."

"So, why do you want to know the location of these alleged massacres?"

"You know...a healthy historian's curiosity, of course."

"Of course." Elijah glances at Damon and smiles, nervously.

"Would anyone care for some cognac? I have a bottle that I've been saving for ages." Damon gets up from the table.

"None for me thanks. Nine bottles of wine is my limit."

Salvatore Boarding House

The others start to get up. Damon looks at Andie. "The gentlemen should take their drinks in the study."

"I have to say the food was almost as wonderful as the company."

"I like you." Aurora rolls her eyes at Andie, while moving to the kitchen.

Jenna hands some plates to John. "Here you are, gentleman, make yourself useful. Hmm?" John takes the plates and walks off. Alaric comes up behind Jenna.

"Here, here. Put me to work

"Um, I got it." Jenna picks up the plates and starts to walk out of the room. Alaric stops her. "Hey, Jenna, are you...are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine, Ric." Jenna leaves the room.

Auroras phone starts to ring as she placed her plate in the sink. She answers it. "Hello. Slow down. Slow down. Stefan?"

Damon and Elijah are in the library. Damon is pouring drinks for the men. "So, let me guess. In addition to the moonstone, the doppelgänger, the lion, the witch and the wardrobe, you need to find this witch burial ground."

"Because I feel as though we've grown so close, Damon, I'll tell you yes. Do you know where it is?"

"Maybe. Tell me why it's so important." Damon hands Elijah a glass of scotch. He takes it.

"We're not that close." Elijah turns around and looks around at the books. "It's quite a collection you have here."

"Hmm." As Elijah has his back turned, Damon slowly and carefully grabs the silver dagger from the tray of glasses.

"It's a funny thing about books. Before they existed, people actually had memories." Aurora and Alaric burst through the study doors. Damon quickly puts the dagger back down.

"Gentlemen, we forgot about dessert." Alaric quickly said.

"Elijah." Aurora holds her hand out for him.

"Miss Salvatore..." Elijah hands his glass to Damon, who drains it, and takes Aurora's hand. He twirls her around and they walk out of the room together.

As soon as they leave, Damon smacks Alaric angrily. Alaric points down at the dagger. Damon doesn't understand what he means. Alaric walks over to a desk and writes something down on a piece of paper. He hands it to Damon who reads it. The paper says "The dagger will kill you if you use it." Damon angrily throws the paper at Alaric and they walk out of the room.

Back in the dining room, Jenna pours coffee into a cup for John. Elijah and Aurora enter the room.

"Sorry, guys, dessert is taking longer than I thought. I usually just unwrap food."

"So...I know this is a social thing, but I...I would really love to ask you some more questions about the work that you're doing here."

"I'd love to answer."

"Great, that's so great."

Damon and Alaric enter the room. Damon sits down and glares across the table at John.

"Ric, would you do me a favor and grab the notebook out of my bag?" Alaric walks over to her bag.

"Elijah, did John tell you he's Elena's uncle-slash-father."

"Yes, I'm well aware of that."

"Of course, she hates him, so there's absolutely no need to keep him on the endangered species list." Damon looks back at him.

"No Ric, it's in the front pocket. On the...you know what? Excuse me, guys. Sorry." She gets up to help Ric find her notebook.

"What I'd like to know, Elijah, is how do you intend on killing Klaus?" John asks, causing Aurora's head to snap over to Elijah's with wide eyes.

"What?"

"Gentlemen, there's a few things we should probably get clear right now. I allow you to live solely to keep an eye on Elena. I allow Elena to remain in her house living her life with her friends as she does as a courtesy. If you become a liability, I'll take her away from you and you'll never see her again." Elijah informs the group, ignoring the looks being sent to him by Aurora.

Andie comes back with her notebook and sits down. "Okay. My first question is when you got here to Mystic..."

Alaric comes up behind Elijah and stabs the dagger through his heart through the back of his chair. Elijah screams and dies. Everyone at the table gets up in shock.

Alaric pulls the dagger out and places it on the table. He looks at Damon. "Now, get rid of him before Jenna comes back with dessert."

"All right."

Aurora watched as Damon pulled Elijah's body down to the cellar, but she knew Elijah wouldn't stay like that for long. She turned her head to see the silver dagger sitting on the table.

Aurora stayed back at the Salvatore Boarding House as Damon went off to find Elijah and save Elena. Just like she predicted would happen, although it wasn't very hard.

Currently, Aurora was sitting on her bed with a old, wooden box filled with all her things that meant something to her, or her past self.

She pulled out a sealed letter, one that both scared her and filled her with happy memories, ones she tried so hard to forget.

Aurora hesitantly opened the fragile paper, looking down at the handwriting she thought she would never see again.

Dear, Aurora

only one day has passed and I miss you with my whole heart. Today I dreamt for the first time in years. I dreamt about the first time that I met you. When Kol brought you in to our house, I was confused. At first I thought why would he bring a young vampire home. But when I looked at you I understood. Your eyes. Brighter than the stars. Your voice. So angelic that I could listen to you for the rest of my life. Your smile. You always wore that beautiful smile of yours despite everything that you went through. But after I witnessed your appetite being filled, I knew you were absolutely perfect. You made me want to become a better person and I will always be grateful for that. I will love you forever.

Yours,

N.M

Aurora wiped a stray tear from her face, placing the letter down and closing the box. Sealing away the memories she re-opened.

WORD COUNT : 2612