I was currently in the boarding house with Anna. We were waiting for Ric to arrive so we could discuss some theories. Damon had a theory and so did Anna and we needed to find out what was right. All of them were related to the Lockwood situation, which of course is not referring to the part where Tyler kissed me.
He arrived after not much waiting.
"Welcome, Ric." Damon greeted him. "Can I get you anything? Bourbon? Coffee? Bourbon in your coffee?"
"Mary said that you had something that you needed to talk about." He replied. It looked like we were immediately getting down to business.
"Yes, we needed to talk to you about the Lockwoods." Damon remarked. "The vervain didn't affect them but the Gilbert device affected by the mayor and Tyler."
"Plus Mason exhibited superhuman abilities when he fought one of the carnival workers." Stefan added. He had a name, but I guessed it wasn't that important to what we were discussing.
"So why would I know anything about the Lockwoods?" Ric replied, asking the important question.
"You wouldn't but we think the woman whose name will not be mentioned might have done some research that can help us." I explained. "Did she go over anything over than vampires and witches?"
"She also researched lycanthropes." He declared.
"Yes, I knew it was werewolves!" Anna shouted. We all seemed to be a little surprised by her enthusiasm. "Sorry."
"No way. There is no way that werewolves can exist." Damon denounced. "I've been on this earth for 170 years and I've never seen one. This is all way too Lon Chaney."
"I am positive that they do exist." Anna replied. "I've been around for almost 1000 and I've seen them, though I never really got to know any of them. Also Lon Chaney never played a werewolf."
"So what are we going to do about this?" Stefan asked. "Is there any way that we can look at Isobel's research?"
"Well her research in Mystic Falls is restricted to vampires, but her office at Duke has a good deal of information." The teacher explained.
"Okay, great, make a call so we can go there." Damon replied. "I still don't think that these werewolves exist, but if they do and Mason and Tyler are wolves, I do know that it doesn't usually turn out well for vampires like me and I need to know how to stop them."
The following morning, Anna and I were busy getting ready. The two of us were going with Ric and Damon. Stefan was in my room, not going because someone needed to deal with Caroline and we figured that he would be best for the job since he was the best acquainted with her and we figured that she would trust him best. I was wearing a maroon button-up over a green tee with pre-ripped jeans and grey boots.
"Are you sure that you two want to go today?" Stefan asked me as I finished packing my backpack.
"Do you not want me to go with Damon?" I responded.
"No, I want you to know more about who your mother was before she was a heartless vampire." He answered. "I'm just not sure that it has to be so soon. Maybe we can wait until this stuff with Caroline is sorted out and I can go with you." He explained.
"I think we have to go today." I pointed out. "It's a full moon and we really need to know what we're up against. Besides, I'll have Anna with me who can kick Damon's ass a thousand times over."
"Without breaking a sweat." My roommate added.
"Girls, Alaric's here!" Jenna called upstairs. It looked like it was time to go. The three of us went downstairs. "So, Stefan, are you going to?"
"No, I'm staying here." He responded before the three of us stepped outside. Ric was in the driver's seat and Damon was standing outside. Since I felt like being petty, I gave Stefan a big wet goodbye kiss before Anna and I got in the backseat.
We began to drive towards North Carolina. I still wished that Damon wasn't going, but his friendship with Ric meant that it was unavoidable.
"Are you still mad at me?" He asked me. I just put in some headphones even though I wasn't actually listening to music. "That's kind of childish."
"Well you did try to kill one of her friends." Ric pointed out.
"Yeah, but I didn't actually do it." Damon argued.
"So Anna, you must have really tried out a lot of different looks since you've been alive so long." I said to Anna.
"You know talking about clothes isn't going to get me to tune out." Damon remarked. "I personally like Tom Ford." '
I had to admit that Damon was one of the only guys that I knew that seemed to show an interest in fashion while still remaining completely heterosexual.
We got to the Duke campus and I couldn't help but wonder why all college campuses looked so nice. Our school really needed someone to mow the lawn. I knew that Duke was a historically academic school, but it still blew Mystic Falls High out of the water.
"So Isobel was officially employed by the Anthropology Department." Ric explained. "Most of her work was rooted in folklore, which I thought was fiction."
"You mean like that amazing vampire story?" Damon quipped as we walked inside. We found a young woman at the desk.
"Hi, I'm Alaric Saltzman, I called earlier." The teacher declared.
"Yes, I remember that." She said. "I'm Vanessa Munroe, research assistant, comparative folklore. I'll get Isobel's keys. I have to ask, did they ever find anything about her?"
"No." He lied. Well they didn't, but we did.
She grabbed a chain and led us to the office.
"These are my friends, Damon, Mary, and Anna." Ric introduced as she let us in the office. It looked kind of dusty, but it hadn't been touched in over two years I assumed.
"I'll get the light." Vanessa replied as we began to look around. After a few seconds, I noticed an arrow flying through the air and into Damon's back. That looked painful. Ric grabbed her and held her against the wall. "Okay, I freaked. I read Isobel's research Damon Salvatore died in 1864 and there is no way that Annabelle Mikaelson could be alive."
So I guessed that was her real name.
"Mary, please get this out. I can't reach it and it's causing me great pain." Damon begged me. I stood there for a minute.
"I want you to apologize first." I told him authoritatively as I crossed my arms.
"Seriously?" He groaned. I remained still. "Okay, I'm sorry for trying to kill her, now get it out please."
I jerked it out for going over to Vanessa and Ric.
"My name is Mary Gilbert." I explained. "Isobel was my mother and we really need to look at her research."
We began to look around. I decided to stay by Anna since I didn't really want to be around Damon. I was glad that I got to boss him around, though.
"So Mikaelson. That's an interesting name." I told her.
"It's the name of a father that I barely even know." She explained. "The only memory I have of him is the day that he turned me. He said since I was of age, which then was 15, he wanted to give me the gift of eternal life and that was the last time I saw him."
"Well I know a thing or two about being abandoned by my father." I responded.
"Let's just see what we can find about lycanthropes." She responded. "You know that is such a cool word. I don't know why more people don't use it."
"Well, technically lycanthrope is a blanket term for someone that turns into any animal." I pointed out. "Werewolf is a more specific term."
"We really were meant to be best friends." Anna stated. "I'm so glad that I came back here because you've not only helped me get through my mom's death, you're someone that I genuinely enjoy being around."
"You don't need to get so mushy about it." I teased her. We began to look for anything that we could use on Katherine, because we figured that it might be worth looking into while we were there.
"Hey guys, we found something." Vanessa remarked. We went over to where she and Ric were and Damon continued to hover. "We've got a legend called the Curse of the Sun and the Moon."
"Supposedly werewolves and vampires used to roam freely until a shaman put a curse on them to limit their power." Ric explained. "Since then vampires have been vulnerable to sunlight and werewolves could only turn on a full moon."
"You know I can't say that I believe in shamans." Anna responded. "Maybe it was a witch, but I'm pretty they're the only magic users."
"Is there any useful information about werewolves?" I questioned. Some old legend didn't seem like it was that important.
"Well, in addition to turning on a full moon, werewolves have an ingrained personality trait when they transform." Vanessa explained. "They will attack humans, but they primarily will go after their prey of choice: vampires."
"What can a werewolf do a vampire?" Damon asked.
"Well according to legend, one bite from a werewolf can kill a vampire." Vanessa told us. That was definitely good information to learn on a full moon. I needed to call Stefan and tell him right away. I also wanted to see how the thing with Caroline was going.
I decided to step outside and do that.
"So I was just calling to check up on you and ask how things are going with Caroline." I stated.
"Well it's been a little difficult but she's learning." He answered. "Bonnie was also kind of resistant about making a daylight ring for her."
I really couldn't believe that Bonnie was acting that way towards someone that she had basically been friends with since they were in diapers. If I had had a friend and they accidentally killed someone, even if they weren't a vampire, I would do what I could to help.
"So there's something else that I need to tell you." I replied. "I can't exactly confirm this is true, but legend says that a werewolf bite is fatal to a vampire. I think that it would be best for you and Caroline to try to get inside somewhere."
"Okay, I'll make sure to tell her." He responded before he hung up. I wished that he had told me that he loved me first. I knew he was pressed for time but it takes three seconds to say 'I love you.'.
I decided to go back in and see if there was anything else that we didn't already know.
"There's only stuff that we already know in here." Anna remarked in frustration. It seemed that there wasn't.
"You know I have a question for you." I said to Vanessa. "My sister looks exactly like Katherine. I was wondering if you had any idea why."
"Well it sounds like your sister is a doppelganger." Vanessa explained. "It's German for double-goer. They've been known to torment their lookalikes and try to undo all that is good in their lives."
"I think that you've got things backwards because Katherine is the one doing that stuff." I responded.
"Well I can tell you right now that they don't get along." She explicated. "So can vampires read minds?"
"If you want to see me naked, all you have to do is ask." Damon quipped.
"No, we can't read minds." Anna declared. "We can just tell you what to think, even though I personally don't like to do it unless it's deemed necessary."
That might have been why she didn't do it when she kidnapped me.
"You should take this." I declared as I handed Vanessa some of the vervain. "This will prevent from being compelled if any other vampires come here."
"Do you know what happened to Isobel and her research?" She asked me.
"Isobel sort of became her research." I answered. "I would also like to point out that she is a terrible mother and also a terrible person. Just don't go down the same path."
I had a feeling that Isobel was right about me becoming a vampire in the future, because it was the only feasible way that Stefan and I could stay together but I wasn't going to do it for selfish reasons like she did. I wasn't going to abandon everyone that I loved for it. I couldn't help but wonder if she ever really loved Ric.
"So it looks like we have everything that we need." Ric declared. "We should probably get going."
"I don't think anything needs to be said about you saying anything about what happened today." Anna said to Vanessa.
"I promise that my lips are sealed." The research assistant replied. We needed to hope that she was telling the truth. We all headed outside to Ric's car.
"Are you sure that you want to go?" Damon asked.
"Damon, what do you want?" I responded in frustration.
"I know that you were looking for information about Katherine." He declared as he took out a book with 'Petrova' written on it. "I just thought that you should know that you missed something."
"I saw this book on the shelf but I don't see what it has to do with Katherine." I remarked.
"Katerina Petrova was her real name. I saw it on a pendant of hers one time." He replied. "Let me know what you find in it. I'm kind of curious myself. I am sorry about Caroline."
"Well we all make mistakes, Damon." I stated. "We have to give Caroline a chance to prove that she deserves to live. Would you have done the same if it had been me?"
"Well, no." He started.
"Who knows maybe I saved your soulmate." I replied. "Maybe the two of you really are meant to be and you were just doing it the wrong way. I mean Katherine may not love you but that doesn't mean that you can't find love with someone else. I believe there is someone for everyone."
From there we got in the car and headed home.
So Anna went with the group to Duke and we got confirmation that she is a Mikaelson. I know that she would have her father's name instead, but then you would know who it is. Please don't forget to review.
