[second thread after Samael was exorcised - arooound three weeks ago]



Who the hell decided he was allowed to be any kind of role model?

Teachers were supposed to be that, weren't they? But teachers didn't go out with some crudely sharpened piece of wood looking for trouble. Elena and Jeremy weren't home when he left. They had no idea he was out being an idiot. But God, Samael had left him messed up. And he didn't know what to do about it. He'd found Illyria, traded away his loyalty – oh man, she would kill him if she saw him now – but... he wasn't sleeping. He was drinking more than he could handle. And he still wasn't talking to anyone. Whenever he looked at a stranger he wondered if he'd killed their niece, nephew, sibling, cousin, grandkid, son or daughter; because that's what kind of state he was in. Ric was getting so little sleep he'd convinced himself he hadn't tried hard enough. That he was responsible for what happened in that theatre, to those other hunters, to the civilians on the streets. Maybe Samael had driven him off some metaphorical cliff, or in the very least, to the edge of one, and now he was left just standing there... wondering when someone would come up from behind him and shove.

It was that sort of thinking that led him into this predicament. What exactly had been going through his head that told him this was a good idea? Probably nothing at all. He probably had known this was stupid, but its not like a lack of sleep allowed logical thinking to happen. Or the alcohol levels in his blood. He was pretty sure he was sobering now though. It'd been a few hours – enough that he wasn't seeing double and he knew he was in trouble now. It was lucky he hadn't been standing in this spot four hours ago when he'd first stumbled out the front door.

Alaric had meant to get his mind off of things. Not have his head removed all together. The vampires he was currently staring at probably couldn't care less.

The stake in his hand was already dripping with blood and there was a doubly dead vampire's guts six feet behind him. Six feet was all he'd managed to run before the staked vampire's friends caught up with him. Now... now he was staring into the faces of three pissed off vampires. He wasn't entirely sober – and he had to be sleep drunk, too. Wonderful. Why did he think hunting was a good idea again? Feeling entirely idiotic, Ric braced himself as two of them snarled before rushing him. Thud. The stake was embedded in one of them for all of two seconds before he burst – but at the same time, Ric was shoved backwards by the other vampire, his head hitting the alleyway hard enough to make him see stars. The next couple of minutes was a confusing blur of struggle and fear. One of them managed to sink their teeth into his neck but he'd gotten the damn thing off of him, though the fangs had left a ragged mark on his neck and hurt like a son of a bitch. It'd gotten him good, he could tell that much.

How exactly he'd gotten out of this one, he couldn't really say. 'Confusing blur' really summed it up. Then he was stepping over vampire goo and calling a cab to the hospital, stake forgotten and a hand pressed against his neck. He was still shivering slightly when he found himself in the emergency waiting room. One of the nurses handed him some gauze to stop the bleeding, casting a disapproving look at his general state of disorder. He took the gauze, ignoring her, and pressed it against his neck with a shudder. Damn it all. When did he get this stupid? All he knew was his cell phone better not run out of batteries, on the off-chance someone decided to call. Who knew how long he'd be waiting here... he should have gone home. But he didn't want to ask for anyone's help – not anyone he knew. He didn't want to face them. Tell them how desperate he was for a distraction. Generally just smother and put out whatever speck of pride or dignity he had left. Sure this would add to the gaping hole in his wallet... eh. He wasn't in a place where he was really making any kind of smart decisions though, was he?

It didn't take as long as he thought it would. Maybe they just didn't want him to ruin the seats in the waiting room? Either way, Ric stood – refrained with much effort from swaying – and went on over to the examination room. And then he did some more waiting, feeling like he was too high up off the ground, sitting on the table. Maybe he actually did have a concussion. Frowning, he waited, and tried to ignore the smell of iron. It sent his stomach churning, when he was alone like this. It didn't make sense that he felt so much better when he was alone in some aspects, whereas in others... he hated it. The blood began to leak through the gauze. His face felt cool. Ric made the prediction he'd be getting some medical tape as he sat, waited, and tried not to notice how the room turned ever so slightly when he was still.

Vampires must not kill another vampire.

Do not feed off of another vampire's human.

Do not steal from other vampires.

Do not use vampire blood for anything other than procreation.

Humans must not kill/kidnap vampires.

Dealing, Selling, and/or Distributing V is strictly prohibited for both vampires and humans.

Good, bad, or otherwise... The human population was no longer in the dark about the existence of vampire. Meredith, she was still wary about the entire situation. Vampire rights, like they were the ones who needed to be protected. Ignoring the fact that humans are merely a food source. She wasn't one to judge, the young woman had known what the world gave recently learned for a very long time. It came with the last name, like a birth right as a Fell and as a founding family member of Mystic Falls. Most girls, they get jewelry from their Mother...she learned things that until recently, wasn't very well known.  


With a small sigh of relief she turned away from the operating table. There was nothing quite like it, that post surgery feeling. Knowing what she had done had managed to keep one less person from dying. Meredith was far from perfect, and there was still so much death...and pain...and loss all around her. Though that was just it, there was only so much she could do, she was only one person. And knowing what what she was doing, was helping people, that was enough for her. A miracle worker, she was far from it, but she did cheat when she got the chance. Cheating death, she saw nothing wrong with it, and besides it was her little secret. So she was done..for now, the patient, a gun shot victim, simply needed time to recover. Now that the bullet was removed, and internal bleeding stopped, the young man just needed to rest. Only twenty-one, Jason Morgan, a local college student who decided to get drunk with a few of his friends...and of course, do something stupid. There was a small snap, followed shortly by another; the sound of her gloves being removed and thrown away.. Shortly after the mask that covered her mouth and nose was removed as well. 


Nothing was scheduled, at least not for a few hours... That didn't mean that between then and now something wouldn't happen... It was a real love hate sort or relationship she had with time to kill. Having nothing to do meant that obviously no one was hurt as she wasn't treating anyone... But that also meant that they weren't here, that they very person she could have used that spare time help was our there somewhere dying. There was good and bad, the same could be said of any situation and for right now, she needed something to keep her occupied. Her office, for the time being was where she went...a silver key was pulled from her pocket...the third drawer down, on the right...it was kept locked at all times. Inside, patient files....but in a hidden compartment under those files, her 'secret stash' No, not drugs, vampire blood...but thanks to the authority...something much more dangerous to have. If caught, by the wrong person, she could die...but it was a risk she was more than willing to take. Hazel eyes flashed up, flickering for a brief second to her door, no one, but it never hurt to be careful. Better safe than sorry. One...two...sixteen...seventeen....it was precise, the number of files she needed to move out  of the way and as she reached down....

"Dr. Fell?" Came the soft voice of Harley Stewart an intern nurse, the girl who had been for the most part helping her the past few weeks. She almost sighed, though far from startled, easily letting go, the files fell right back into place. Doctor patient confidentiality kept anyone from saying a word, careful and precise, very caring when it came to her patients...no one suspected a thing from Doctor Meredith Fell. Closing the drawer, with a twist and a small click it was locked once more. Pushing her chair back, she got to her feet. "Yes?" She asked, but it usually was always the same...someone needed her, or there was someone new. Based on what was in Harley's hands...it wasn't at all hard to guess. Taking the file in her  grasp, a small smile and a 'thank you' was given before she excused herself. It didn't look good, half her attention went to walking, whole the other, looking over just who she was about to see. Always one surenge of vampire blood hidden within her coat...just in case. It didn't look like she would need it, perhaps some stitches...x-rays, but not life or death. At the door she stopped, a small breath, as if a last minute pep talk sort of thing, a file and an actual person were two completely different things. Her hand raised, lightly tapping her fist against the solid metal, knocking once before turning the handle and stepping inside. 


"Alaric..." A small pause, and her attention turned to the clip board in her right hand. "Satlz-man?" She asked, for clarification on the name and the obvious confirmation that she had the right person. Neck bite, the red already seeping through the gaze was hard to miss, even from where she stood a few feet away.  This vampires revelation thing, it was hard for her to see it as good...at least from a doctors point of view, being seen as a food source was more than an easy way to end up hurt, best case scenario or much worse. "I'm Dr. Fell.." Professional, but there was a part of her that was concerned...seeing anyone hurt was hardly something she liked.. She stepped over to the examination table, a few things in hand meeting his gaze, she hardly needed permission to do her job, but at least a warning...even a silent one was better than none at all. Slowly the gaze was pealed away, and discarded in the waste, just to her right. "So do you want to tell me what really happened or make up a story. I think I can pretty much guess but i'll leave that up to you." Anymore being banged up like that...with neck wounds, more times than not...it involved a vampire.   While she spoke, she was at least cleaning that wound... seeing how bad the damage was, it was the worst from what she could tell...so everything else could wait


(ooc; I'm so sorry for the wait!!!! I promise this is the longest I'll ever take. I hope it's okay, and happy birthday!!!).

There was a knock at the door and that was the only warning he had before a young woman entered wearing scrubs. Ric nodded in confirmation that he was indeed Alaric Saltzman – and basked in the irony, for a moment, of how much he'd changed just recently. The woman introduced herself as Dr Fell. Alaric tried for a semi-friendly smile in greeting and probably failed, but nodded again (ignoring the way the room continued to tilt and spin bizarrely.) Funny, that she had the last name Fell. It reminded him a little of Mystic Falls – the Fells, the Lockwoods, the Gilberts, the Forbes'... He met her pretty brown eyes before he let her handle the gauze, wincing slightly as it stuck to the gash in his neck. Damn vampires. She asked whether he'd be honest, pointing out in the mean time it'd be useless to be anything but. Ric grimaced and started shaking his head slightly before he remembered to sit still. “I was cornered.” He left it at that. It was the truth after all, he had been cornered like some sort of animal; Ric had just left out the part where he'd been hunting them in the first place, maybe not entirely sober and... well, she could probably see how freaking tired he was. Shivers wouldn't quit crawling up his spine because of it.

“D'you...” he paused a moment, blinking, before keeping his eyes closed. Whoa. Damn his head hurt. Was that from blood loss or just getting hit on the head...? He cleared his throat slight. “Are there a lot of bitten people that end up in here?” Alaric was honestly curious. How many made it out okay? He had a vague idea as to how many attacks there were per night, at least around their neighbourhood. As Dr Fell cleaned around the cut, he tried to keep from flinching and ignore the stinging. It had been one hell of a night. He couldn't ignore the feeling of the coppery red stuff on his hands, though he knew it was his own – maybe a bit of the vampires. Ugentas were messy kills anyway. He was lucky he wasn't, er, drenched. Still, the stickiness was sickening, too reminiscent of Samael and his... nightly activities. Ric opened his eyes, staring straight ahead as the doctor cleaned, face hardened as he did his best not to remember. Damn. Why'd he been so stupid? Was he really so desperate for a distraction he had to go and be reckless on a goddamn hunt? He'd been gone for just over three weeks, he didn't need to keep abandoning Elena and Jeremy like this – and he'd come way too close to making it permanent.

“Sorry,” he muttered a moment later, glancing sideways at the doctor. “Wasn't thinking, you probably aren't allowed to say.” He lapsed into silence. Eh... maybe a wake up call was what he'd needed. Illyria had told him to quit drinking so much. But he really couldn't blame this entirely on a lack of sobriety. Ric knew he'd just made a dumb mistake because frankly, he'd just been plain old dumb lately. He'd been ignoring or otherwise avoiding as much communication as he could with everyone, too... freaked out. It was weird, being himself again, and it was even weirder that he thought so in the first place. But even though Ric typically didn't much care for hospitals, being here right now wasn't so bad, safe for the reasons why he was here at all. The room in which he sat was quiet. He didn't mind Dr Fell; maybe he'd just needed the company of a stranger who didn't know anything about him. Well, nothing other than he was just someone else who'd met a vampire's fangs and whatever was in that file on her clip board.