Alaric Saltzman

It was probably the silliest, weirdest, and possibly most inappropriate thing Ric had ever done, and he'd done some pretty silly, weird, and outright stupid things in his life. A lot of them, granted, with the help of alcohol. This one might just take the cake.

But after sleeping with Elijah (metaphorically and literally), he found himself getting steadily less certain about just what the hell he was supposed to do, now. He'd had sex with people, but never a vampire, never a man, and certainly never an Original Vampire. Did he want it to continue? Yes, he did. Was it appropriate so soon after Jenna died? Probably not. Was it more necessary because of that? Probably.

Even if the sex didn't continue -and really, Ric would be fine with that- he wanted the friendship to. Which meant figuring out a way to communicate that to Elijah. Everything he could think of just didn't seem to fit, or he second guessed until he'd talked himself out of it. Second guessing wasn't really in his nature, though, so he eventually bit the metaphorical bullet.

He sent Elijah a colorful bouquet of flowers that the internet told him meant nobility, and signed the card with a request for his presence. It was silly. He could have called. Old fashioned seemed to fit Elijah, though, and well. If he'd gotten flowers in the last century, Ric might eat them.

Ric was... happy. Being able to sleep with Hayley -and really just sleep, god knew the sex wasn't lacking- even with Damon acting as a guard dog, had been good for him. No new bodies turning up, not missing chunks of time, those were pretty good, too. They weren't quite enough for him to let his guard completely down, but he didn't think there was going to be a whole lot of sleeping going on tonight, anyway.

And if there was, well, tonight Hayley would be even more equipped to play guard dog and take care of him. Elijah's reassurance helped keep that one metaphorical and mildly amusing.

He dumped the last load of camping gear onto the ground, and looked up at the sky to check the weather. "I don't think we're going to have to worry about being rained on tonight, but we should probably set up the tent." Who knew what tomorrow would bring,and it would be easier to relax somewhere enclosed. And limit bugs.

He'd hesitated, but he'd actually, eventually, bucked up and called Elijah to see if there was any news about the cave. He wasn't sure why, except that it seemed like such a nice, relatively non-threatening distraction.

Better than alcohol and vampire slaying, anyway.

Then he'd invited Elijah over to his place for a drink and to update him, before maybe (hopefully) going out and getting Elijah in there to look around. He understood that even less. Except... Elijah's company had been really, really easy. Kind of weird! But easy.

He missed easy.

Not that kind of easy. Just... close to comfortable, and pleasant.

He met Elijah with the door, handed him a glass of bourbon and stepped back to let him in.

"Any luck?" he asked, as he gestured Elijah toward the living room.

Continued from here

Ric licked at the trickle of blood that escaped before Damon's skin knit back together, breathing harsh and heart pounding.

There could be little doubt that Damon had enjoyed himself, feeling the release against him and echo of it inside his own satisfaction, but he was still... shocked at himself. He had never in his life bitten someone hard enough to break skin. At least not someone he liked, or in an intimate situation.

"Sorry," he managed, breathlessly. "Are you all right?"