Thanks again to my beta's MsRahvin79 and kselzer.
I am Not Worthy
Chapter 2
"How did it go with Pearl?" Stefan asks as he walks into the living room, with Elena following behind him.
"She wants some control over the town." I mutter out as I think about Ric and this niece of his.
"Damon," Stefan yells.
I frown as I look at him to see he is sighing as he is pinching the bridge of his nose. "What now?"
"The tomb vampires, Pearl..."
"She's giving us a month to get the town ready for the take-over." I tell him with a roll of my eyes.
"So, what, we are just going to let this happen?" Elena asks.
"No, but we've got other problems to worry about."
"Oh, what's more important than that, Damon, you have another girl to compel, use and feed from," Stefan hiss. I leap up, grabbing a hold of him.
"No! I am talking about Ric getting a call to say his brother-in-law has been killed, and his niece is now an orphan." Stefan pales and swallows hard making his Adam's apple wobble, but I am not done. "His brother-in-law, as in Isobel's brother; makes her the niece, Elena's cousin. Now do you see our problem?" I push him away from me and he just stars at me.
"What do you mean Charlie's dead?" Stefan and I both spin around to see John standing there with a bag at his feet.
"Dead, as in no longer alive." I snarl out.
"Watch it," John hisses stepping toward me, but Elena the stupid idiot, steps in front of me.
"You promised not to hurt them," she barks out.
"No, I promised not to hurt Stefan. Damon on the other hand, is fair game, and a game I am willing to play." John grins in a challenging voice.
"Any day, Johnny boy. Remember, I have already killed you once."
"Enough!" Elena snaps, again holding her hand up between John and me.
"John what do you know about Charlie and his daughter?" Stefan questions, sounding amicable as usual.
"Not much, he was Grayson's friend."
"Do you know anything about his daughter?" I ask and he shakes his head.
"No, Grayson and Charlie had a big falling out about fifteen years ago. I don't think they ever made up."
"What was the falling out over?"
John sighs, but also looks guilty. "He found out about Elena and to say he went nuts would be putting it mildly."
"John, what…" Jenna says sounding shocked to see John standing in her living room.
"Hi," he grins out but she just sighs.
"You can't stay here, Alaric is bringing his niece back here, and she'll need her own room." At the end Jenna swallowed, closing her eyes.
"What have you found out?" I ask, knowing she went to the station to get more information on what went down.
"Nothing good. They have no leads on who killed Charlie or Renee. But they haven't been able to track down Renee's new husband." Jenna seems to stop but I know there is more.
"What about the kid?"
"They, the doctors were talking about committing her to a hospital for observation." I pull my eyebrows together waiting for her to carry on. "The person I spoke to said that Isabella refuses to talk to anyone…well any real person." Jenna swallows. "They said they hear her talk to herself, and there's the whole sleep issue."
"And the issues with sleeping…" I probe.
"She's not. She gets an hour or two at most, and even then she wakes up screaming." Jenna sighs, grabbing at her hair. "Her father and mother were killed in front of her just two weeks ago, what are they expecting from her?"
"She was there and she definitely saw it?"
"Yes, Alaric just called me a few minutes ago." She stops again almost if she is choosing her words. "He said whoever killed Charlie and Renee also beat Isabella badly. She had cuts and bruises all over her arms and legs. She just turned 17."
"When…when did this all happen?" I ask.
"They said it happened on the 25th." I look at Stefan who seems to hold the same worried look as I have. It could be a coincidence that at the same time we pulled down the tomb barrier, this girl was fighting for her life, but with the Petrova's you soon learn nothing is a coincidence.
I sit in my chair looking at the fire. I take a drink just as Stefan comes in and sits down.
"You think this is linked?" He asks with a frown.
"I don't see how, but we're talking about the Petrova's. I have a feeling where that family is concerned nothing is coincidence." Stefan nods his head in agreement with me.
"We need to watch her, make sure she is on the upper level." Stefan stops and swallows, looking right out at me.
"Spit it out Stef, I am not a mind reader."
"Could this be Katherine?"
I look at him and tilt my head. "She killed a couple, and compelled the town to make them think she was their child?"
I hum thinking over what he said. "We both know she can act the part of the scared hurt girl, we've seen it and fell for it."
"If it is then we kill her." I tell him simply.
"What if she hurt's Alaric?"
I sigh, picking up my cell. We may have a problem. Can you send a photo of this Isabella? I hit send and sat back, waiting.
What's going on now? Ric send's back. I roll my eyes but before I can send a text to tell him just to do it, I have another incoming text from him.
I hit on the picture, and a young girl…woman, appears. She looks like Isobel and Elena, but her face is more heart shaped than their round one. Her eyes look darker too, but that may be because of the dark ring around her eyes. Her hair is brown, but much longer than Elena's; it looks as if it would hit her lower back. The thing that jumps out from the photo is she looks broken, scared and alone. She is sitting on a chair with her knees held against her chest by her arms.
"It's not Katherine." I tell Stefan, still looking at the photo.
"She looks broken." Stefan mumbles over my shoulder. "The bruises look nasty; whoever did this wanted her hurt."
I just hum out my agreement, as my eyes linger on this girl who appears to be tiny with such violent bruises.
It's a few hours later and my cell rings with Ric's name flashing on the screen.
"What was that about earlier?" He asks as soon as I pick up.
"Stefan was worried that it may have been Katherine." I tell him as I pour myself a drink.
"It's not."
"I saw that." I snort out. "How are things going?"
"It's not going, she's afraid, but when the police are here she shuts down. I don't know how to help her. I barely know her." He carries out sounding tired and worried.
"How well did you know Charlie before this?"
"He was a friend, he's the reason I am still alive." Ric pauses, but I wait for him. "When I thought Isobel was dead, he….he saved me."
"What did you do?" I hiss out at him.
"I tried to kill myself." he snorts, "I didn't want to live if Isobel wasn't with me. But, Charlie found me, got me to the hospital." Ric chuckle's darkly. "He never believed that Isobel was dead, kept telling me to have faith.
"Did you see much of Isabella?"
"No, not really, Charlie and Renee had divorced by the time I married Isobel, so where I saw Charlie plenty, Isabella on the other hand, I think I saw her twice."
"What about Isobel?"
"She doted on Isabella. She would go to Renee by herself just to spend time with Isabella. They even wrote to each other, but that seemed to be just for the two of them," he sighs out at the end, "and I don't know how Isobel could have done that with Isabella, yet she abandoned Elena."
"How is she getting on?" I ask knowing its best to move things on from Isobel.
"Not sure, she's quiet, there has been a few of her friends around, but she doesn't seem to be talking to them much. An old friend of Charlie's said she just needed time, and things should get better after the funeral; after she's out of the house."
"She's staying in the house where her parents were killed?" I ask, shocked.
"This was where she wanted to be, she freaked out when I said we should go to a hotel."
I rub my face knowing this girl being in that house is a bad idea.
"When is the funeral?" I ask.
"11 am Friday."
Suddenly a loud scream fills the cell, making me jump. "Ric!" I yell, feeling worried. The girl's screams are sending a chill down my whole body. As a vampire I can sense changes in humans when they are excited, their heartbeat in a way making the smell different. The same goes for happiness, sadness, or any emotion. Even without these signs, I know this girl is afraid, deeply afraid. I block out Ric's heartbeat, trying to tune in to this girl's. I pick it up and the speed of it surprises me; it's going much too fast, and this girl is going to end up with heart complications if it keeps at the speed.
"Hush Isabella, its Alaric." I hear Ric hum, but Isabella seems to have stopped screaming only to start sobbing hard.
"Damon, I need to go." Ric says sounding far away from the cell.
"I'll be there soon." I tell him hanging up. I flash to my room packing lightly, and then move to Stefan room.
"Kids." I say as I walk in.
"Damon." Elena yells covering herself. I roll my eyes, biting back the want to tell her I know what she looks like naked, she is after all Katherine's doppelganger.
"I'm going to help Ric, be back in a few days." I don't wait for them to reply, knowing I don't really have the time. I've got 36 hours till this funeral takes place. The drive to Forks shouldn't take any more than seven, but her scream is still at the front of my mind. Isabella may not be Katherine, but that doesn't mean she is not behind this.
I arrive in town, before the sun is up. "Okay maybe I should have found out where this Charlie lived."
I end up driving around the town a few times, before the town's only diner opens. "Morning." I say to the woman, making her jump, she turns around looking at me startled.
"You're going to tell me where Charlie and his daughter Isabella live. Once you have you'll not remember our meeting."
"775 K St, Forks." She drones out.
Before she can blink I am in my car driving to the nearby house. As I near the house, I am surprised to see a police car sitting outside along with a beat up rusty red truck.
I go to knock on the front door, but the door opens and I see Isabella standing there looking at me.
"Invite me in." I say compelling her.
"No." she snorts and tries to stare me down.
I frown a little, "Invite me in." I try again.
"Look Spike! You have the wrong house." I raise my eyebrow at her. Maybe Ric gave her vervain?
"I am a friend of Ric's."
"I don't know any Ric." she snaps back at me. I narrow my eyes at her starting to feel pissed off.
"Alaric, go and tell him Damon is here."
"No." she replies back, but there is some fire in her voice.
"Why not?" I question her.
"Because…I…he didn't fall asleep until a few hours ago"
"Did your screaming keep him awake?"
Isabella drops her eyes from mine. "Yes." she whispered having lost the fire she just had.
"Be a good girl and invite me in." I snark out hoping to get some of that fire back; no one should be this sad.
Isabella's eyes come back to mine and she just looks at me. "Are you going to invite me in?" I grumble.
"What's with the acting like Spike?" I widened my eyes as I raised my eyebrows hoping she will explain what she's going on about.
"The whole need to be invited in like a Vampire, you know Spike?" I chuckle at her darky.
"The people who invaded your home, did they ask to be invited in?"
She shakes her head at me. "No, they didn't. Well come on in Damon." she says standing back. But I find that instead of feeling relieved to get in, I am pissed at her for trusting me.
"That was a stupid thing to do, I could be anyone." I'm channelling her in her stupidness.
To my surprise Isabella snort, "Alaric told me last night that he thought you were coming, even showed me a photo of you so I would not get worked up if I saw you here." She stops talking, and seems to get angry. "He thinks because of those…" again she stops and bites her lips, "I told him I'm not going to freak out on everyone I meet, or anyone that drops in. The people," she spits out the word people, "that killed Charlie and Renee are long gone; if they or any of their group comes here I would know right away. But like you said they wouldn't wait for an invite in."
I watch her walk away and she looks over her shoulder at me. "I was just about to make breakfast, would you like something?"
I walk behind her into the kitchen taking a seat at the table as she gets to work on breakfast. As she is busy I take a few minutes to look her over. She looks very similar to Elena and Isobel. The main difference is Isabella is smaller, both in height and build. She looks to be around five foot two; she also looks thinner than Elena. Her hair is the same color, even has the same wave to it, but like I thought most of it touches her lower back. There are some strands that are shorter.
As she has on shorts I can see the bruises that are still covering her legs. Isabella reaches up to get something off a shelf, as she stretches, her tank top and shirt move up revealing whip marks. I leap out of my seat and move to her. As I place my hand on her she jumps but I keep her in place moving her tops up more. I swallow and just look at her in shock.
"They whipped you." I whisper out, but she just looks at me. "They whipped you." I repeat harsher than before.
"I didn't give them the answers they were looking for." she tells me with a shrug, like it was no big deal to get whipped.
I just stare at her "Leave it, please." she begs me, as her eyes fill with tears, tears I know she's not letting go of.
I give her a bob of my head and move back to my seat.
"What were your parents like?" I ask her softly.
She looks at me from over her shoulder, as she touches her hair behind her left ear.
"You don't have to tell me I was just wondering what they were like."
"No, I'll tell you, just let me get breakfast plated up." It only takes her a few minutes to come over to the table with a plate of pancakes and another with bacon.
She sits them down and goes away, only to come back with plates, and two cups of coffee.
"Help yourself." She says pushing the plates of food closer to me.
"What were your parents like?" I ask keeping my eyes on her.
"You eat I'll talk." she say compromising.
I nod my head in agreement; I take a few pancakes placing them on my plate I look at her to tell her to start.
"My mom, there's no quick way to explain her. Her personality changed depending on the guy she was with. When she was single she was irresponsible, irrational to the point of putting herself and others in danger. She never thought anything through, and could be quite self-centred. But she was seen as being a cool, fun, party girl who was ruled by her emotions. She was the teenager and I was the parent, it may have been weird to an outsider, but it worked for us." Isabella pause d and then sighs. "Charlie, he was the complete opposite of Renee in many ways. He was this town's Chief of Police. He loved his work and fishing. He couldn't cook to save himself, and would always keep his in emotions under control."
Isabella pulled her eyebrows together as she seems to think something over. "There were times I never knew if he was happy, sad, or angry. But the...the night he died, he-I" she cover her mouth just looking at me. "He cried. He cried and begged them to let Renee and me go...he...he never knew it was my fault." Before I can evening question what she mean's she is running off sobbing.
"What?" Ric asks looking at me then to the door, Isabella just ran out of. "What did you do?" he asks sounding as if shock has left him leaving anger in its place.
I shake my head at him and walk out of the kitchen; when I get to the door that holds the sobbing girl I knock on it gently.
"Isabella." I say as I walk into her room, she shakes her hand at me and I let out a sigh, emotional girls are so not my thing.
"Sorry." she sniffs wiping her face. "Just over tired"
"Lie down and get some sleep." I tell her as I pull back her cover. Once she lies down I pull them up and over her.
"Ric and I will be down stairs." She bobs her head at me and closes her eyes.
I walk out of her room, and take one last look at her before closing her door.
"What happened?" Ric grits out as I walk into the living room.
"She got overwhelmed." I tell him simply. I know a thing or two about guilt, and just because Isabella feels guilty doesn't mean it has anything to do with her.
"Sorry." Ric sighs as he rubs his face. "She just looks so sad and broken all the time."
"It's still fresh Ric, humans don't move on that fast, but after the funeral I will compel her to forget what she went through."
As I wait for Ric to explode over what I just said I tune my hearing to the girl upstairs. I can hear her moving around, but seem to still be on her bed.
"That may be a good idea but we should wait till we are on our way to Mystic Falls."
I turn looking at Ric with a frown. "It's as much for me as it is for her, I don't think I can cope with hearing her screaming."
I bob my head at him. "No need to explain, but you do know you have to stop the vervain." I tell him as Isabella's heart and breathing slow down telling me she is falling asleep.
"I haven't given her any; I didn't even pack it." My head snaps to his tilting it as I think over why I couldn't compel her earlier.
"What's wrong?" Ric asks and I shake my head at him. There is no point in talking to him until I have this figured out.
"Nothing, Isabella is asleep, why don't you head back to bed, I can keep an ear open for her." To my surprise Ric nods his head at me and walks back to the room he is using.
Not even an hour has gone past when Isabella's heart rate goes from 40 beats per minute to 160. I move quickly to her room finding her panting as if she can't breathe.
I close my eyes and touch her forehead as I try to push myself into her dream, in order to change it. I see that I am in a room, with Isabella who is tied up; looking across the floor to her parents who are screaming in pain, yelling it burns over and over again.
"Tell me." Someone hisses. I turn to see a group of men, but they are in the dark. So, I try to lighten the room up. "Tell me!" The man roars. Suddenly I am harshly pushed out of her mind. I open my eyes to see her panting as she looks at me scared, but her eyes are pleading at me, pleading with me just to hold her.
I open my arm and she all about jumps into them sobbing. "Hush, it's gonna be alright." I mumble into her ear. I run my hand through her hair but she pulls quickly away from me.
"Sorry, again." she says as she tries to calm herself.
"Get dressed." I demand, but she just frowns at me.
"You need to get out of this house, get dressed." I walk to the door, and look around at her.
"I'll give you ten minutes to get dressed."
"If I don't?" She questions making me smirk at her.
"Then I just take you out with those cute shorts on. I am getting you out of this house one way or another."
"Can I have half hour?" I tilt my head at her, "To get a shower, wash my hair, takes twenty minutes to dry it."
"That may be a good idea because frankly my dear you stink." I close the door chuckling at her grumbling.
"Am I invited?" Ric asks looking at me.
I shrug. "Not like I can stop you."
It takes Isabella closer to forty minutes to join Ric and I in the living room. But as the shower didn't stop till twenty minutes in I decided to give her a few extra minutes. I look her over seeing that her hair is mostly dry, and she is wearing jeans and a large sweater.
"Where are we going?"
"You're the girl that from here, where do you want to go?"
"La Push beach?"
"The Indian tribe beach?" I ask and she bobs her head.
"Let's go kids," I grin out.
Ric and I walk behind Isabella as she walks along the sand, "Charlie used to bring me here every summer; I would stay here on the beach with the other kids and women. He would go fishing. He and the rest of the guys would come back in time to cook up whatever they caught." She stops and looks at us as she chuckles. "By the end of every summer I would be a little afraid that I was going to turn into a fish. But, I would gladly eat it every day for the rest of my life, just to get one more second with him. I don't think I told him that I loved him." As her tears start to fall from her eyes Ric and I both move forward, Ric gives me a curious look before he wraps Isabella into a hug.
"I'm sure he knew that you loved him." he whisper whispers to her.
Thank you for all those who offered to Beta.
So you have meet Bella what's your thoughts on her. Who do you think killed Renee and Charlie?