Isobel approached the boarding house and looked for signs that the brothers were inside, but was out of luck. She even forced open the door and snooped inside. "I'm so not running around town to look for Damon," she thought to herself. "I'll just make myself comfortable," she said eyeing the canter of whiskey on the counter.
She indulged herself for a while, walking around the room and seeing if there was anything interesting. Going upstairs, she entered room after room, perusing through the shelves and drawers. She smiled as she entered Damon's room and saw the disheveled pile of black t-shirts on the floor next to a few empty bottles of liquor.
"Typical," she said shaking her head. She left the room and continued on to Stefan's. It was the complete opposite. The room was spotless with mostly everything in place except for the occasional books and papers scatted on the desk.
Curious, Isobel walked over to look closer at what Stefan was reading. He had the high school text books on there, but underneath them were random folklore books with notes written in pencil next to the parts Stefan found interesting. "What are you looking for?" Isobel wondered aloud as she saw he had circled random werewolf theories. She scoffed at some of the notes and moved on to see what else was there.
She paused in her tracks as she came to the picture of Katherine. "Eerie," she said. "And creepy. Why does Stefan still have this?"
"He's a pack rat, what can I say? He packs things that only rats should be gnawing on," Damon said walking into the room.
"I find it odd that he leaves it out. What's the point?" Isobel asked.
"And I find it odd that you're in my house and I haven't killed you yet," Damon said pensively. "Weird."
"I wanted to talk and I was waiting for you. I got bored, what can I say," she said gesturing around the house.
"Next time, wait outside like a good dog, ok?" Damon said angrily. "Let's get out of here. It's too clean, like the bunnies he hunts…"
They went downstairs to the living room and Damon eyed Isobel angrily as he saw half of his whiskey bottle empty. "You couldn't have at least gone for some vodka or something? Don't girls like those cosmo's or something?"
"You know me, I have higher tastes and expectations," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "The point is, I'll be out of your hair soon when you answer my questions."
"Shoot," Damon said, taking a long swig from the bottle.
"Did you come across a vampire named Frank recently? You'd know him by the muscles if nothing else," she said reminiscing on his features. "I have to find a hotter replacement," she thought to herself.
"Frank…Frank….The all brawn, no brains, let's stake him then guy? Yeah, I ran into him," Damon said shaking his head. "And all I have to say is that you're stupid for sending him out there to do your dirty work."
"What do you mean my dirty work? He wasn't supposed to be doing anything proactive. He was just supposed to watch," she said curiously.
"Well ape man was discovered in the woods by Stefan and Katherine happened to be there. Katherine wanted to know why he was there. I mean, how do you coincidentally run into three vampires in the woods," Damon told her.
"So he spilled why he was there?" Isobel asked with a bit of nervousness tinged in her voice.
"No. I staked him and he spilled his blood on my best shoes," Damon said shaking his head. "I remembered him being with you and I figured that if Katherine knew, you'd be dead right now."
"Why did you help me, then?" Isobel asked confused.
"Well you do serve a purpose now and again. And I also have some questions for you as well," Damon replied.
"Somehow I think it goes beyond usefulness," Isobel said smiling. "You did it for Elena."
"Like Elena really cares what happens to you miss 'don't find any redeeming qualities in me'," Damon said shrugging his shoulders.
"The woman you love who even though she has no reason to like me, still would probably be upset. She was with John, and she didn't like the guy either," Isobel reasoned. "I get it."
Damon got in her face and snarled. "Is there a point to your useless bantering, or do you just like hearing yourself talk?"
"Fine. Point of the story is that you won't kill me unless you want to lose Elena for good," she said crossing her arms and smiling. "So what's your question so I can leave before you do something you'll regret."
"Earth to Bonnie," came Caroline's voice as Bonnie snapped out of it and looked back to Caroline. She smiled and walked over to her, still shooting glances over to where Tyler was standing.
"Sorry. Didn't see you…who is that?" she asked gesturing at the man next to Tyler.
"That's Rio Lockwood," Caroline said quietly. "And apparently he and his sister are in town to watch after Tyler."
Bonnie nodded her head and shook off the bad vibes she was getting from them. Being more attuned lately, she could almost feel like their auras or energy was off. And if they were both the same kind of energy…then to her, it could only mean that Rio was a werewolf as well.
"Hello?" Caroline said interrupting her thoughts. "God, it's like talking to Matt when he's watching a football game."
Sorry. Sorry. Look let's sit down and get some food and something caffeinated for me, I'm just out of it I guess," Bonnie said shrugging.
"I'll say," Caroline replied rolling her eyes. "Let's sit over there," she said motioning to a booth that was out of the way of anyone.
"Perfect," Bonnie said. They sat down and looked over the menus. Bonnie skimmed it quickly not really hungry, and put it down. "So what happened the other night, Caroline?"
Caroline put her menu down and looked at her with annoyance etched on her face. "You haven't seen me in like, ages and the first thing you want to know is about the attack? Is that the only reason you came to meet me?"
"No," Bonnie said, mad at herself for just jumping to that story. "I just figured you had it on your mind and that I'd ask. But never mind. You don't have to say anything. So how are you and Matt doing?" Bonnie asked. She knew that Caroline would eventually burst with the need to tell about the attack, but appeasing her for the moment would work.
Caroline smiled, seemingly happy that Bonnie was interested in other things. "We're good. He's been so helpful since I've been out of the hospital. And he's trying to be a do-gooder with Tyler and work things out so that they're still friends."
"Matt's still hanging around Tyler? Bonnie asked surprised. "I mean, he threw him into a table and made out with his mom. How does he just befriend him again?" she asked skirting around the fact that she was more worried than surprised.
"I guess you just move past these things if you're a guy," she said rolling her eyes. "Whatever. So Matt went to go give Tyler a ride home and then, I don't know what. He's probably sleeping now," Caroline said looking down at her menu again.
"Oh, so you called me because your boyfriend isn't around?" Bonnie joked. "I see how it is."
"Nothing like that," Caroline said quickly. "I needed time with my friends. Promise."
"So why didn't you call Elena too?" Bonnie asked confused. "Are you guys not talking?"
"We're fine. I just figured that she was still at the hospital. When Tyler called Matt, he said he had to use Elena's phone, so I just assume she's busy," she said shrugging her shoulders." I think Im getting a burger…" Caroline mumbled looking down at the menu.
"Wait. You said that Tyler called Matt's phone?" Bonnie said thinking.
"Yeah…why? It's totally random, I know," Caroline said as she looked around the room for a waiter.
Bonnie was busy thinking up of an idea. "I need to talk to Matt," she thought to herself with a determined smile.
"I'd almost forgotten about Tyler's brother and sister," Elena said after Stefan was finished. "So now we have three wolves to worry about….the only good news I can see is that at least Tyler isn't alone."
"You like having more wolves around" Stefan asked with raised brows.
"She means that at least he has at least a brother or sister now that his parents are gone. It helps," Jeremy said looking at Elena, who grinned back thankfully. "But that being said, that's the only good news."
"Do you think Tyler did it, then?" Elena asked Stefan. "I mean, you said his story sounded wrong, so…"
"The thing is there wasn't a way for him to know and we can't know for sure either. Whether he did or not isn't important. It's whether he will again, and when," Stefan said looking disturbed. "We don't know enough about werewolves in the first place."
"I wish Anna was here…" Jeremy mumbled out of nowhere.
Elena shot a worried look at him, but he waved it off. "It's just that she'd probably know where to get all the information we needed. She was good at researching," he ended looking morose and remembering the first time he had met her.
"I'm sure Mr. Saltzman will stumble upon something," Elena said trying to break the tension. "And I'm sorry you miss her, Jer…."
"Forget I brought it up," he said growing agitated. "I think I'm going to take a shower if you don't need me here anymore."
Elena looked like she didn't want him to go, but she saw the look in his eyes and it looked like he clearly needed some alone time. "Go ahead. We'll be down here."
HE nodded gratefully and went up the stairs to his room.
"I feel so bad that everything is just piling up for him," Elena said sadly. "I told him everything and he's dealing with losing Anna. It's a lot to take in…"
Stefan brought her in for a hug and comforted her. "I'm sure he'll deal well. He didn't seem to freak out about any of the news. Besides, you are handling everything well. He's your brother; he can do it too."
"Speaking of brothers," Elena said sliding out of his grasp, "are you and Damon ok?"
"We're always going to have our issues, Elena. But I assure you we are on the same side now that Katherine's back. United in one goal so it seems," Stefan said musing.
"It's just, he seems kind of sulky when he's not talking and going on. And he's turning back to the booze," she said thinking over his mood lately. "Is he taking everything with Katherine that hard? Did she tell you guys something you didn't tell me?"
Stefan thought it over a minute. He knew Elena meant well, but it still bothered him a bit that she was asking about Damon; that she noticed how sad he was when no one was looking. The other thing that was bothering him, however, was that he was holding the news about Katherine and Elena's car crash. He didn't know how she would take it and didn't want to find out-not with everything else going on.
"Yeah. He's just taking Katherine being in town pretty hard," Stefan said as she looked at him curiously. "Even though he won't admit it, or hates to, he still cares for her regardless of the pain she caused him by being away all this time."
"Stefan. Why do you really think she's back in town," she asked after she was done worrying abuot Damon. "I mean, she can't really be here for you guys, right? She's had all this time and now? Well she's not exactly trying to win your hearts lately."
"The only thing I know for sure about Katherine is that she tries to get what she wants no matter what the cost," Stefan said sighing. "And usually gets it."
"Well I hope she wants a new car…rammed in her face," Elena said laughing. "Because I can always give it another go."
Stefan couldn't help but chuckle. "I know you can, but it's not fair to your car to subject it to something like that."
She was about to respond back when Jeremy came down the stairs. "Hey, Jenna called and wants me to come get her. You coming or staying?"
Elena thought about it but then shook her head. "No. If she's coming back, I have to straighten up. She'll freak if she sees the house all crazy."
"Ok. See you later, then", Jeremy said heading out the door.
"Wait. I'll go with you," Stefan said surprising Elena and Jeremy. "I want to make sure Katherine's not out there."
"Good thinking," Elena said.
"You need to promise me you won't leave this house. It's the only protection you have right now," Stefan said worriedly, thinking of sending Damon a text.
"Pinky promise. I have to clean and you have to go. Out," she said shooing them away and rushing to the closet for a vacuum.
They murmured goodbyes as she locked the door behind them. Sighing, she plugged in the vacuum and went to work.
I wish I could just tell you everything I have planned so you're not like, "why is this chapter here. I want kissing or punching or something" but that would totally ruin the story. So, hope you enjoy the characters and understand what some of them are up to and what they want. Review and enjoy. Cheers.
