The Vampire Diaries: Trinity

Chapter Sixty One: Break On Through

At the hospital, Alaric is lying down on an MRI machine. Elena and Meredith stand in another room, preparing to scan him.

"What are you looking for?" Elena asks.

"I don't know. A tumor, vascular anomalies, anything physical that might explain his behavior. If it's medical, I can treat it." She tells her.

"And if it's not?"

"Well, then we'll deal with that too." They watch as a technician slides Alaric inside the machine.

Alaric stares at his reflection in the mirror placed above him.

"When did you suspect him? That it was Alaric who was killing all of those people?"

"It was after he told me about his ring. I remembered a story my grandmother had told me about Samantha Gilbert and her secret journal. I don't know if you know this, but we Fells are notorious busy-bodies." Meredith explains.

"But then, why did you protect him?"

"Because I'm a doctor, I don't like to see someone hurt by something they have no control over. And because when he and I first met I felt like... I don't know, I-I just kind of want to help him."

Alaric continues to stare at his reflection in the mirror in the MRI machine. His reflection glares down at him, but Alaric is not making the same expression. He starts to panic.

Meredith talks to him over a speaker. "Everything alright in there?"

Alaric closes his eyes and opens them, he stares at his reflection again, its expression is the same as his. "Yeah. Yeah, everything's okay."

Alaric is in a hospital room, preparing to leave.

Elena walks in. "Meredith says that everything is normal."

"Yeah, well, everything is normal, because there is nothing wrong with me. I didn't kill Brian Walters, I didn't kill Bill Forbes, and I sure as hell didn't shove a hunting knife into my stomach." Alaric looks down at the ring, the only thing he didn't pick back up. "Or I did and I've gone insane, just like your ancestor who," he picks it up. "wore that ring."

"Look, I'm gonna call Bonnie, the rings were made by a Bennett witch so maybe a witch can reverse the damage."

He holds the ring out to her. "Take it. I don't want it anymore." She takes the ring and looks at him.

Damon walks in. "You ready to ditch this House of Horrors?" He looks at Alaric. "Ugh, you look terrible."

"Yeah, let me... let me check out of here." Alaric leaves the room. Elena glares at Damon before leaving as well.

Elena walks to her car and Damon follows after her.

"Don't worry about him, take him out for chicken soup, get him a martini, make sure he doesn't kill anybody." He says.

"What is wrong with you? How could you just go out feeding with Stefan like some vampire pub crawl?"

"Oh right, I thought we were talking about Alaric, but of course we're talking about Stefan."

Elena turns around and walks up to him. "You stood there and let him feed on an innocent girl."

Damon closes the gap between them. "I didn't let him do anything, if you want to get nit-picky about it, I made him."

"Why would you do that?!"

"Because we're vampires, Elena! We need human blood to survive. We're predators, not puppies."

"Well, Stefan found a way around it before."

"Stefan has built himself a delusional wagon which he has repeatedly fallen off of. What he needs to learn is control."