Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Diaries or Twilight. All rights belong to Julie Plec, Stephanie Meyer, and L.J. Smith.


Previously:

"What are you listening to?"

"Be safe, Sweety." Mrs. Weber's voice cut through Jasper's questions.

"I will. I'll call you when I know something, Mom." Jasper's eyebrows knitted together. "I love you."

"Love you, too." Mrs. Weber disconnected the call.

"That was Angela?" Jasper asked, receiving nods from both Rosalie and Emmett. "Where is she?"

"Some town called Mystic Falls." Emmett supplied. Jasper nodded in response.

"Jazz, that's not all." Rosalie said. "Bella's with her."


"Did you find it?" Rosalie's voice carried downstairs to where her husband was doing some research.

"Yeah," Emmett replied. "Looks like it's a small town in Virginia."

Rosalie stuffed another long-sleeved blouse into her and Emmett's suitcase before flashing to the living room. Jasper was already there standing behind Emmett, typing away on his phone.

"Virginia?" She asked, receiving only a nod in response. "This could prove to be a problem."

"What could?" All three jumped at the sound of Alices voice. They turned to find the small vampire, along with Edward and Esme, in the doorway.

"Carlisle, Edward, Esme, Alice," Rosalie greeted them each. "What are you doing home? We thought you'd be gone until tomorrow night."

It was Edward who spoke. "Alice saw you three packing and going across the country." Rosalie had no response to this. Emmett and Jasper chose not to speak, as well.

None of them had wanted to involve Edward in finding Bella. Carlisle, Alice, and Esme had just been the collateral damage of that. Had they called one of them, and told them about Bella's location, surely Edward would have heard it in their thoughts. Truthfully, Esme would have probably told him even if they had warned her not to. They faced the same problem with Carlisle.

"Why are you doing that?" Edward asked. "You're all hiding your thoughts from me. What's going on?"

Rosalie shared a look with Jasper, who gave a slight nod, before turning to Emmett, and seeing him do the same. She hesitated a moment before answering Edward and Alice's questioning looks.

"We know where Bella is, and we're going to go look for her." Four pairs of amber eyes widened.

"You what?!" Alice screeched. "Were you planning on telling us?"

"Well, we hadn't really worked out all the details yet..." Emmett trailed off.

Jasper spoke up. "We didn't want you to find out, Edward."

"She's my mate. My Isabella. And you didn't think I had a right to know where she was?"

"It's not where she is that's the problem."

"Then what?!"

"It's who she's with."

"What do mean?" Esme asked, concerned.

"Bella knows about the supernatural." Emmett blurted. His crude outburst was met with a chorus of gasps.

"No," Alice shook her head. "It's not possible. I haven't seen anything."

Rosalie looked to Edward, mentally replaying the conversation she and Emmett had overheard only hours ago. She paid special attention to Angela's description of the town - "Mystic Falls is the supernatural capital of the world." - and focused on the references to other beings, not excluding the mention of the girl Edward had been pining for - "Bella's here, and I've got a Bennett witch, and a few vampires all looking out for me."

"It's true." Edward said.

"What? How do you know?" Alice demanded.

"It doesn't matter." He replied harshly. "We just need to find her, and get her away from there."

Emmett stood and stepped towards Edward. "Now bro, hold on a second. This is why we didn't wanna tell you about what we found. We knew you'd get all over-protective and stuff. You need to slow down. She's probably totally fine."

"Rose, what was the name of the town Bella's in?" Edward ignored Emmett.

"Mystic Falls." She supplied, sighing. "It's in Virginia."

He nodded. "Alice, call the airline and book us a flight. We'll leave first thing in the morning."

"No." Jasper said firmly, turning all eyes to him. "I've already purchased three tickets for the 11am flight from Seattle tomorrow morning. Rose, Emmett, and I will be the ones leaving." Edward growled. "Look, Edward, be smart about this. We can't just take off from Forks with Victoria on the loose. We still don't know what her plan is."

"He's right, Edward." Alice defended her husband. "I haven't seen anything about her for a couple of weeks now. That's not a good thing. Maybe we should stay behind. I mean, do you really trust the wolves to handle her if she pops up?" Another growl, this one louder.

"Someone will need to stay and inform Carlisle of what's happened." Esme pointed out.

Edward pinched the bridge of his nose.

Edward. Jasper focused his thoughts towards the frustrated vampire. You know it's the only way that makes sense. Edward sighed deeply. Please, let us go alone. Rose and I... We have some things we'd like to say to Isabella.

Edward looked to his brother. He considered the request that Jasper was making and looked to Emmett, and even Rosalie's, hopeful faces. Edward knew of the apologies his siblings wished to make to Bella. Who was he to deny him that chance? He would still have her in his arms in a matter of days.

"Fine." Edward consented. "But I'm going with you. Emmett, you can stay here to help Alice deal with Victoria." Emmett's face deflated, but from his thoughts Edward saw that he understood. It was the only compromise that Edward would agree to.

"So we're all in agreement?" Jasper asked, receiving a myriad of affirmative responses. "Very well then. Edward, get packing. We leave first thing in the morning."


When Jeremy had called Bonnie to set up a meeting time for their lunch date at the Grill he had been in a particularly good mood. Klaus was gone, Elena was alive, he and Bonnie were together. Everything in Mystic Falls, to his knowledge at least, was at a decent standstill. Jeremy couldn't remember the last time one of those had occurred.

Not wanting to waste the peaceful day, he'd asked one of the other waiter's to cover his shift at the Grill and called Bonnie. She had happily given him a response before asking if it was alright for Elena to join them. His sister was still on edge, and Bonnie had said she would explain the details at lunch. Jeremy had agreed.

An hour before either of them was due to arrive at the Grill, Jeremy was leaving his house. Stepping towards the car, he reached for the keys that were in his jeans pocket, fumbling a bit and dropping them on the sidewalk. He bent down and retrieved the keys quickly before bringing his head back up, his eyes meeting the glass window.

He dropped the keys again.

Jeremy, he heard a faint and familiar voice. The young Gilbert boy turned around to meet the well-known face of the reflection he'd seen. However, when he turned around, no one was there.

Jeremy stared curiously at the driver's-side window once more. It seemed to him that if he stared at it long enough the face would appear again.

He stood there, waiting for a solid five minutes before he decided nothing would happen, and, more than likely, nothing had happened. It was probably just his imagination, a trick of the mind. After all the stress he'd faced lately his brain was bound to create some sort of hallucination out of a mixture of fear and as a coping mechanism.

With a shake of his head, he picked up his keys again and climbed in the car. While adjusting his rear-view mirror he saw a flash of that familiar black hair, and whipped his head around.

Jeremy, he heard again. Only this time it was clearer, more distinct. And he saw the face that matched the voice. She was right there, right in front of him.

"Anna,"


"I still don't see why I have to be here," Rebekah said, studying her nails as she walked. "This is mind-numbingly boring, Nik."

The elder original halted his steps and turned to his little sister. "Bekah, sweetheart, in case you have forgotten, this is all for a very good cause. But if you believe you can find something more productive to occupy your time with, then by all means, go right ahead."

The blonde glared at her hybrid brother before turning and speeding away. Klaus rolled his eyes at Rebekah's behavior and went back to his earlier task.

Upon their arrival back to the town of Mystic Falls, Klaus had been quick to find what he assumed to be the main reason behind his inability to create new hybrids. It seemed the latest doppelgänger, Elena, still lived.

It hadn't been hard to deduce. The girl's brother, Jeremy, had been smiling like an idiot when he'd walked down the street and into the local restaurant while talking on the phone with Bonnie. Even from his somewhat far-away location - across the street and down a couple of blocks, inside a very small restaurant - Klaus could still make out the voice of the young witch. If the happiness of the young couple had not been strange enough for a pair that had supposedly just lost their sister and best friend, the mention of Elena joining them for lunch was enough to confirm Klaus' growing curiosity.

After the big reveal, Klaus, rather than sticking around to make a spectacle and possibly revealing himself too soon, had sought out to gain information.

Obviously the doppelgänger being alive had screwed up his plans for hybrids. It was only a matter of what he needed to do now in order to make his hybrids live through their transitions, so to speak. The witches, with all their laws and principles regarding the balance of nature, were sure to have some sort of ritual for Klaus to perform so that he could be rid of Elena, this time for good. Once the doppelgänger was dead he could be on his way to building his hybrid army.

Klaus had known of the nearest witches he could contact, as well as the ones that were most powerful. True, he may not have been on the friendliest of terms with many of them, or even on civil terms with a select few. But control over magic, over power, meant authority, strength. Dominance. And it was something Niklaus craved.

After learning that doppelgänger still lived, Klaus called the the most powerful witch that he knew still resided within two-hundred miles. While she wasn't the most pleasant person in the world to work with, she was unbelievably powerful. Klaus coveted her abilities.

His phone rang once, twice, three times, before he heard, "What?" on the other end of the line.

"Ah, Sylvia. Delightful to hear your voice." Klaus greeted somewhat sarcastically.

"Oh Klaus, how dreadful to hear yours." Came the reply he'd expected. "I trust you're in good health?"

"For the most part, yes. And you?"

"Great. Thanks for checking in. I'll expect your next call in about ten years. Ta-ta."

"Sylvia!" Klaus barked, as he heard her go to hang up.

"Hmm?" She replied, attempting to sound innocent.

Klaus exhaled slowly. "I need your help," The words tasted bitter in his mouth, and he regretted them the instant he heard Sylvia's laughter on the other end of the phone.

"I'm sorry, could you please repeat that?" She asked. Klaus could almost hear the smile that had to stretched across her face.

He growled. "No,"

"Alright, alright." Sylvia said, her voice taking on a more serious tone. "What exactly is the problem?"

"It's a rather long story. It involves the doppelgänger."

For a moment, there was nothing to be heard on Sylvia's end before she suddenly asked, "Where are you?"

"Mystic Falls," he said simply.

"I'll be there tomorrow morning. Be prepared to fill me in on the entire situation." Without so much as a goodbye, Sylvia clicked to end the call and turned around in her chair.

"Katherine, what did you do?"


Despite being ready for his lunch date with Bonnie an hour before they were supposed to meet, Jeremy had still been late. Admittedly, he'd had an amazing excuse - conversing with the ghost of your past girlfriend isn't exactly something you hear everyday - but it wasn't like he could share that experience with Bonnie or Elena.

So he wasn't exactly surprised when he walked in to find them both already sitting down in a booth with food and drinks in front of them. What did surprise him however, was that they were joined by Damon and Isabella.

Jeremy liked Isabella. Though he hadn't really spent much time with her aside from their initial meeting, she seemed nice. And given that, from what Elena told him, she was treating his sister like family that she'd known her whole life, well, he figured she earned quite a few points for that.

He greeted the group, grabbed a passing waiter's attention to get his order in, and finally apologized for being so late. Then, once the standard pleasantries were out of the way, he managed to ask what the previous topic of conversation had been about.

Now Jeremy was being brought up to speed on the current Stefan-Klaus predicament, and seemed only mildly interested as to how his sister and her friends planned to fix everything.

While Jeremy tried to pay attention, knowing how important it was to take down Klaus, he couldn't stop thinking about Anna. His mind continually strayed to the conversation he and she had had not an hour earlier.

"Jeremy," Bonnie called for her boyfriends attention.

The young Gilbert boy shook his head, focusing his eyes back to Bonnie. "Sorry, what?"

"Have you been listening at all?" She asked.

"Yeah, of course. Klaus has control of Stefan." Jeremy summed up. "But how is that even possible? I mean, Klaus skipped town. There's no way he's forcing Stefan to do any of his dirty work."

"So you haven't been listening." Isa said. "Little Petrova and Emily Number Two here have spent the last twenty minutes thoroughly explaining how it is in fact possible for Klaus to have dominion over Stefan's mind."

"Jeremy, what's going on?" Elena asked, her tone equal parts accusatory and concerned.

"Nothing," He replied.

"C'mon, Jeremy. We all know that's a lie." Damon said. "You've been fidgety all afternoon. Out with it, Little Gilbert. What's got your panties in a bunch?"

Jeremy glared at the elder Salvatore without answering him until his sister prompted, "Jer?"

He let out a huff, his eyes darting around as though on the lookout for something. "Look, can we not do this here?"

"Believe it or not Gilbert, I've got more important things to deal with right now than your sorry ass. So if you've got something to say, then spit it out."

"Alright, fine." Jeremy turned to face his girlfriend, quite hesitant about his next few words. "You remember how you brought me back to life?" He asked in a low voice.

"How could I forget?" Bonnie said, clearly unhappy with new topic of discussion.

"Wait, you did what?" Isa demanded, turning all the group focus to her. "Bonnie, tell me it's not true."

"What's the problem, Isa?" Damon asked.

Isabella ignored Damon's question for a moment, eyeing Jeremy carefully. He was no longer facing Bonnie, nor any of the group for that matter. The young Gilbert boy had his head down and refused to make eye contact with anyone, as though he was ashamed of something. It was true.

"Well, why don't you just have Jeremy here explain it to you?" She leaned back against her seat and arched a brow at Jeremy, as though testing to see if he would actually reveal anything.

Surprising Isabella by boldly making the move towards telling the truth, Jeremy took and deep breath. "I've been seeing things,"

"What, like... like hallucinations?" Elena asked timidly.

"No, at least I don't think they are. I've been seeing people-"

"Scandalous," Damon interrupted.

Jeremy continued as if Damon hadn't said a word. He hesitated a bit before saying any names. "Vicki, and Anna."

Elena and Bonnie's eyes both widened a considerable amount.

"Who are Vicki and Anna?" Isabella asked quietly of Damon, trying to allow the two human girls and Jeremy some time to process all that was happening.

"Vicki's a dead druggie that I turned out of boredom a few months ago; She couldn't handle her thirst so we had to put her down." Isabella somewhat grimaced at Damon, however she knew his ways as well as the ways of vampirism and she understood what he'd had to do. "And Anna," Damon's face somewhat softened when speaking of the girl he'd watched die. "I don't know if you ever met Pearl, she traveled with Katherine in 1864."

"You mean Annabelle?" She asked, completely shocked to find that the teenage vampire she'd come to know as a friend had ended up dead.

"You knew her?" Jeremy asked upon hearing the name of his dead, former girlfriend.

Isabella looked at him with sad eyes. "Yeah, I did. Anna was the one who reunited Katherine and I." Isa looked down at the table. "I met her in Philly. She had been looking for a witch who could help her get the tomb open, and I was looking for the same witch. When I told her about Katherine, she said that she had seen her recently - traipsing around Chicago. I caught up to her and we stayed there a few years. Last time I saw Anna was with 'Rina in Chicago. 1983."

Damon's mind flashed with recent memories. 'In 1987 you were in Chicago, at a concert of all places, with that wench, Lexi...Of course I checked on you over the years...You were watching Bon Jovi and I was watching you.'...'Last I saw her was Chicago, 1983. She knew where you were, Damon... She didn't care.'

Anna had of course meant Katherine when she'd said that. However, she'd failed to mention any company Katherine might be keeping at the time, or what Katherine might be doing in Chicago. But he couldn't really fault Anna for those mistakes. There was no way she could have known. He'd never told her anything about his and Isa's relationship.

But Katherine... Well, he honestly didn't know what to think about the bitch. At the time of course it seemed she'd been aiming both to hurt him and win over Stefan as some sort of prize. However, her endgame proved to be far more than the Salvatore brothers.

Damon was brought out of his musings as Jeremy stated, "She's here."

"Anna?" Elena asked, somewhat disbelievingly.

Jeremy nodded. His gaze was fixed on a spot in the booth behind Damon and Isabella. Assuming that was where Anna was, Damon and Isa turned, both knowing they would see nothing, but their curiosity was stronger than any formerly gained knowledge.

Both vampires raised a glass in Anna's general direction. Isabella raised her's in acknowledgement of everything that Anna had done to reunite her and her sister, even if she didn't realize it. Damon did so knowing that Anna would understand the gesture meant he was sorry. He had been there when John killed her in the basement of the burning building, however he had been too weak to do anything about it.

"She says you guys are cheesy," Jeremy informed them.

Isabella set her glass back down on the table, muttering, "Love you too, Anny-B."

Jeremy snickered. "Anny-B? Really?" There was a long pause before he finally said, "Okay," and turned to Isabella. "Besides some seriously fucked up catching up, there's another reason Anna decided to show up tonight. She wanted me to give you a message. She told me she's been watching Mystic Falls since she died which means she knows everything that's happened with Klaus."

"Does she know exactly what he compelled Stefan to do?" Elena asked.

Jeremy looked to the spot where Anna was supposed to be and waited a moment before answering his sister. "No, she wasn't watching Klaus at that time."
Isabella was growing impatient. "Back to the topic at hand. You said she wanted to give me a message?"

"Anna knows someone who can help, and she said that you know them, too. A witch. Sylvia?" Isabella's eyebrow's shot up, though she said nothing. Jeremy continued, "She thinks that this Sylvia chick might still be in the same place. Anna said that given your past with her family, Sylvia would probably be willing to help us out," The last sentence was more a question than a statement. Jeremy was obviously curious about Isabella's past as well as how Anna knew of it.
Isabella said nothing of her past with the unknown witch, though. Instead she said, "You really think Sylvia will still be in Philly, Anny?"

Damon's eyes snapped to Isa's face. She was staring blankly at the table waiting for Jeremy to translate Anna's response for her.

"She said yes," Jeremy stated, eyeing Isabella with the same curiosity that Elena, Bonnie, and even Damon seemed to be expressing.

"Then on to Philly we go. Jeremy start packing. I'll need you with me to bring Anna along." Isabella moved to stand from the table but stopped in her tracks when a hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. She turned to see Damon staring at her with a calculating look.

"I know you don't think you're doing this without me, Isa." He said.

"Damon, Sylvia's not going to be happy that I'm even bringing Jeremy along, even though he's only coming so I can bring Anna. If I bring you, there's a chance she might not even help me."

"Iskra, there's no way I'm letting you go off to fucking Philadelphia with no one but the Ghost Whisperer as your protector." He spoke too low for the humans around them to hear.

She stared down at him, his eyes unrelenting in their determination, before a sigh escaped her lips, letting him know that he had won.

Isabella knew it was pointless to argue with Damon, almost as well as knew it was pointless to argue with her. The man was right most of the time, and when he wasn't, he would, more often then not, go behind someone's back to pull some shit that would make everything alright in the end. It was better to just be on the winning side to begin with.

In this case, Isabella knew that if she told him she and Jeremy would be going to Philly alone, Damon would show up at some point along the way and join them.

"Pack a bag, we leave tomorrow."

This time, when Isabella moved to stand no one stopped her.

"And just where do you think you're going exactly?" Isabella heard a voice behind her. She whirled around to meet a familiar face that she hadn't seen in over a century.

"Rebekah."


AN:

Alright, so I know I'm an evil, terrible, horrible, dreadful, (and a whole bunch of other words that end with "L") person. I haven't updated in forever. Plus, there are SO many cliffie's in this chapter it's not even funny. And, to top it all off, there's not not even a good balance of cliffie's and D/B. Like I said, I'm a terrible person.

Anyway... You guy's know what I would really love right now? Reviews. Tons and tons, maybe even Millions! of reviews. For several different reasons.

1) I'm sick - I need reviews to help me feel better.

2) I'm extremely nervous about this chapter, introducing an OC character and all. (By the way, Sylvia - She's supposed to be about 51 years old. I usually picture her as Demi Moore, who is 51 but doesn't look like it, which is exactly like the witch. She can slow the aging process, just like Gloria did on the show, 'member?)

3) The cliffies. I'd love to know what you guys think, not only about the cliffies themselves (I imagine mostly 'Cruel!'), but also let me know what you guys think is going to happen.

Until the next chapter, which I have no idea when you guys should expect it, head on over to SteampunkFairytale's page and read anything and everything of her's. (I especially recommend her one-shot, soon-to-be multi-chapter fic, What Hurts the Most.) Anyway, off to bed with me.