Katherine smirked at the thought of Jeremy flying through a windshield and getting thrown unceremoniously into hard asphalt. Just inflicting pain and damage was enough to make her chuckle. But as such, she had work to be done. So she waved away her daydreams and focused on the steps approaching her. "It would have made the witches oath void," she thought miserably. She had wanted to mess with Jeremy's car while she had the chance but knew that if he died, it would be on her hands, and poof, no more Katherine.
Sighing, she moved over on the bench to allow room for one more. She had been seated in such a spot in the park to where she could both observe Jeremy as he drove away—and had the interesting conversation with the wolf—and see when her guest was coming. She had no idea where Jenna had disappeared to, but she wasn't too concerned.
"I'm surprised that you would show," Katherine said stiffly as Isobel came and sat down next to her.
"I wanted to meet with you in the first place, Katherine. Why wouldn't I show up? It's been a while anyway," she said with a smirk.
"Too long. I was beginning to wonder whose side you were on, Is," Katherine said, raising her brows in concern. "Have you gone soft on me?"
"Soft isn't a term I'm familiar with anymore, Katherine. I simply had concerns about my daughter. You haven't killed her, so there's no reason for me to "go soft,"" Isobel said with a wave of her hand. "What she does is her own business. I dislike the company she keeps, but then again, I dislike a lot of people. "
"Why Isobel, are you telling me that if I do finally decide to kill her, you'll turn on me?" Katherine said in mock surprise.
"A deal's a deal," Isobel said with a shrug of her shoulders. "She's the last of my line…I'm sure you understand the importance of family heritage, Katherine. It's not feelings for her personally or sentimentality that keeps me motivated."
"Good. I don't think I'd be able to stand you if you got all emotional like a human on me," Katherine said in disgust.
"Are we going to sit her discussing our feelings or are we going to get to the important stuff," Isobel said finally.
Katherine shook her head and placed her arms around the back of the bench. "True enough…so what can you tell me about the spell?"
Isobel wiped a strand of hair out of her face and rolled her eyes. "Not that I doubt you, Katherine, but I don't know why you want to stick with the Bennett witch; she seems completely hopeless with witchcraft. She can't read the fine print and can't think on her toes."
"I have my reasons. Besides, you didn't know Emily and she had a lot of power," Katherine said with fire in her eyes. "But go on."
"Well she used the wrong blood for the spell; you see it required pure human blood injected into the heart. So that just left Elena," Isobel said, leaving Alaric out of it. "But, as you're probably aware, Elena's blood was tainted with the Salvatore's, hence it was not what the spell required."
"So did she die, then?" Katherine asked in curiosity.
"No…Since the spell didn't work, the introduction of blood into her system made her transition complete and she turned," Isobel replied. "So Caroline was drugged with vervain and thrown in the basement after she attacked Elena. What's happened since is a mystery."
Katherine smiled at the thought of Elena being attacked and nodded her head. "Do you think the spell would have been a success had the blood been right?"
Isobel thought for a moment and hesitantly shook her head. "I think that if it was right…it would have worked. There was something going on with the spell work. The energy and everything felt different and Caroline did react. It just shows you that once you have one ingredient wrong…once you're one tiny step off, the best of magic's will fail."
"Well then she best hope that she's on her game tomorrow," Katherine said with a shrug of her shoulders. "And since I'm the one responsible for the ingredients, I already know that those won't be a problem… I'm confident she won't fail, and if she does, well then it's one less witch to worry about. It'll just be tedious to start over again."
"I'm curious, what is it exactly you're planning with the witch, Katherine? You'll forgive me if I don't know what it is you're up to…that's why I wanted this little catch up session," Isobel said with a nod. "We barely talked since the Founder's Day fun."
"And I'm curious as to what your motives are to stick with me, Isobel, besides saving your own ass that is," Katherine said with a smile.
"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours," Isobel replied with a mischievous grin.
"So wait, you're saying that Jeremy is in the Grill with Katherine right now?" Elena said in alarm as Jenna finished going over everything she knew.
"Yeah, but I don't know if he knew it was you, I mean, he wasn't acting off," Jenna said in confusion.
"He knew or he wouldn't have barged in on you like that," Elena said, reaching in her bag for her phone. She silently cursed herself for having it shut off; for all she knew, Jeremy had tried to call her.
"Jeremy's a big boy, he can take care of himself," Damon said with a wave of his hand.
He and John had taken spots on the armchairs in the living room; John looking considerably pissed and Damon just bored.
"Damon, this is Katherine we're talking about. And with Jeremy's gung-ho approach lately, I'm worried about what he would do," Elena said sounding uneasy.
Her phone vibrated, alerting her to the news that she had 2 voicemails and a text. She listened intently, but it didn't give her any new information. They were all about heading to the Grill because he was suspicious about whether Jenna was meeting her or not. She felt guilty for not having her phone on so that she could tell him to stay away. She didn't know what she would do if something bad happened to him because of her.
"He knew it was Katherine," Elena said to Jenna once she was done looking through her phone. "I'm just nervous now on what happened."
She was just calling his phone when the front door opened with a bang and Jeremy came rushing in.
"Well there's the little bugger," Damon said as Jeremy looked around the room looking relieved.
"You're here; you're ok," Jeremy said in relief. But taking another look around, he noticed John also in the room. "What's he doing here? Did he hurt you?" he asked Jenna, looking angrily at John.
"No, I'm fine I'm freaked out, but I'm fine," Jenna said hurriedly. "Are you alright?"
Jeremy looked at Elena, stuck on how to respond. She merely nodded her head in affirmation.
"It's ok, Jeremy…She knows everything now no thanks to John," Elena said with a quick look at John.
"Did Katherine send her love?" Damon interrupted. "I assume since she left you alive that you didn't piss her off too much."
"Wait, time out. Jenna, you know about all this?" Jeremy said in confusion.
"Pretty much," Jenna said, still looking shell shocked. "Did she do anything? Are you ok?"
Jeremy raised his brows in surprise and shook his head. "I'm fine; surprised that you know now. I thought something bad happened to you because you just took off like that."
"She saw John here roaming the streets and he decided to take her home and go all out in telling her about vampires and all that jazz," Damon responded. "And judging by that blank look on your face, you didn't see him…is it safe to assume Katherine didn't as well?"
"I don't think she did. She didn't react or say anything about him," Jeremy replied. "I was just worried that she had someone do something to Jenna or that she compelled her to leave…"
"I'm sorry. I should have called to let you know what happened, but I was just absorbing all this crazy information," Jenna said apologetically.
"I'm just glad you're safe," Jeremy said. "Hold on, I have to tell Tyler to turn around."
"Wait, what?" Elena said in surprise.
"I didn't know what happened to Jenna and Tyler was around, so I asked him to check in at the boarding house to find you or Stefan," Jeremy explained. "You're phone was off…It was either check a bunch of places on my own or split the search by two."
"Oh way to go by asking the angry werewolf to go to the boarding house," Damon said in annoyance. "We'll never get the smell out."
"It was good thinking, but dangerous, Jer," Elena reprimanded.
"Oh next time I'll just call you and ask you to bring your boyfriend to come help," Jeremy said rolling his eyes. "But oh wait, you didn't answer did you? I didn't have a lot of options and I didn't know what happened with Jenna."
Elena looked at him guiltily, but nodded her head in acceptance.
"What did Katherine want anyway?" John asked.
Jeremy glared and ignored him, reaching for his cell phone and stepping out of the room to make a call.
"What? I didn't think that was a bad question," John said in surprise.
"You kinda staked his girlfriend and burned her body. I don't think he's going to give you a hug anytime soon," Damon replied.
Elena gave Damon a 'really?" look and he shrugged his shoulders and leaned back into the chair.
Moments later, Jeremy came back in the room looking annoyed. "He didn't answer; he said he was going to have his phone on, but there was no response."
"Probably stopping for some kibbles and bits before he starts working too hard," Damon said with a smirk.
"I'll just call Stefan, then, and let him know Tyler will be there," Elena said, leaving the room.
"So did you find out anything from her or did she just taunt you and go on about how awesome she thinks she is?" Damon asked Jeremy.
"I couldn't get anything out of her, but I didn't really expect to," Jeremy said distantly. "But she did mention something that didn't make sense."
"And what would that be?" Damon asked.
"She said she was responsible for my parents death…do you know what she meant?" Jeremy asked seriously.
"What?" Jenna said, covering her mouth in shock.
"I could answer that for you," John responded, standing up. "You want to go for a walk?"
Jeremy looked like he was about to tell him what he'd really like to do with John, but Jenna cut him off.
"No stay here, I want to hear it too," she said getting serious. "What did that bitch do to my sister?"
Stefan wiped his lips and threw the blood bag into the garbage. Hunting with Caroline had done nothing for him. While it would have satiated his hunger a bit before, it did nothing now that he was reintroduced to human blood.
He was limiting himself to a certain number of bags so that he wouldn't lose control like he had last time, but he was finding the feat difficult. The only thing that kept him paced was the thought of protecting Elena. He couldn't be crazy with hunger; he had to be focused and rational.
He was resisting the urge for another bag when there was a harsh knocking at the door. At the same time, the phone in his pocket went off.
"Hey," Stefan said answering the phone and heading to the door.
"Stefan, Tyler's going to be by there looking for me or you about Jenna, but she's fine and she's with me at home," Elena said as Stefan opened the door.
But instead of Tyler there was Chloe looking a bit disheveled.
"Uh, Elena, I'll call you back, "Stefan said, hanging up the phone.
"Sorry to interrupt you and your girlfriend," Chloe said with raised brows. "Do you have a minute?"
"Yeah, what's this about?" Stefan asked suspiciously.
"Well for starters I wanted to thank you for helping me out that night…" she said awkwardly. "You were true to your word."
"I'm just sorry I couldn't help you brother," Stefan said sincerely.
"Thanks…the thing is…I'm worried about what that Katherine chick is up to. I have a bad feeling she's not done with me or Tyler," Chloe started. "Did you know she recently asked Tyler about a werewolf's transition process during the full moon?"
"No, I wasn't aware," Stefan said with a frown. "Is there something important about that specifically that makes you worry?"
"Well besides the fact that we are uncontrollable and contagious…" Chloe said, rolling her eyes. "I just don't like the idea that she may be watching us. The full moon is in 24 hours, Stefan. I have enough to worry about with getting myself prepared…so," and here she looked hesitant.
"What is it?"
"I was wondering if you could do me one big favor," Chloe said uncomfortably.
Stefan cocked his head to the side and looked at her curiously. "And that is?"
"I was wondering if you could kind of keep guard tomorrow just in case Katherine was going to try anything…I mean, I can handle myself at any other time, but tomorrow is different," she said angrily. "I would love to personally rip her throat out, but I can't risk being leashed on the whole town."
"In all honesty, Chloe, I don't think Katherine will try anything against you because she'll be otherwise preoccupied tomorrow night," Stefan said, thinking of the spell work. "But if you are seriously worried about it, I could offer you safety here…we have cells in the basement where you can lock yourself in…But I won't be able to look after you tomorrow night."
"I'm not worried about the chains holding me, I know how to control myself beforehand; it's the after I'm worried about… I was just hoping for a set of eyes just in case, but if you're too busy," she said losing patience. "You know what, forget I asked. I'll see you around," she said, walking away.
"Chloe, Stefan started, but she simply turned around and glared at him.
"No I understand…there are more important people out there to watch out for….and if it's as you say, I shouldn't even be worried because she'll be busy, right?" she said with a grim smirk.
He was about to respond when he saw headlights appear in the drive—Tyler's car.
"Don't tell him I was here," Chloe said, rushing away into the darkness, shifting into her wolf form as she ran into the trees.
Stefan watched her leave and then turned his attention to Tyler.
"Hey, man. What are you doing outside?" Tyler asked as he approached the house.
"Nothing…Look, Elena called me and said that you'd be here because you were looking for Jenna, but she said that she was fine and at home," Stefan said quickly.
"Are you sure it was Elena calling you? Jeremy said that Katherine was trying to pull the twin card out today," Tyler said in concern.
"It was her. I didn't get all the details because I had to go, but that's what she wanted me to know," Stefan said with a shrug.
"Oh, alright," Ty said looking around awkwardly. "Thanks…I'll head back, then."
"Hey, before you go….do you know if you've ever invited Katherine into your house?" Stefan asked suddenly.
Tyler looked taken aback. "No, even Elena hasn't been by so it's not like there would have been a confusion…why you asking?"
Stefan shrugged his shoulders. "Just making sure you're safe at your house. Be careful tomorrow."
Tyler's face went white and he nodded his head. "Thanks."
After Tyler got to his car, Stefan shut the door and ran his hands over his face. He debated calling Elena back but was already tired of the phone tag.
Deciding to just head over there, he went to grab his keys. As a second thought, he headed for the kitchen and opened the fridge.
"Just one more," he muttered to himself as he grabbed a blood bag and headed out of the house.
Haha, sorry to tease you with Jeremy's crash. I did figure he'd gone through enough lately, and, as Katherine stated, her oath would have been wiped if she would have caused his death. Hope I didn't make you too mad or crazy, haha. Anyways, enjoy and review. Title is by Sick Puppies. Cheers. (p.s. yay for a longer chapter)
