Chapter Ten

Alexandra

"Ow, my goodness, stop," I say. I open my eyes to see the person who was about to be murdered for patting my cheek to wake me up. Fear struck me when I realized what happened to me and my sister and our friend who was stuck in a bathroom in a motel with us.

"What's going on why are we all here?" Bonnie asks. I sigh and explain. She's mortified by the time Elena and I are done explaining. "I'm not going to open it for him! He shouldn't let all of those vampires out."

"I understand why no one wants the vampires out but Damon just wants Charlotte back. What if it was someone we love in there. We were just want them back," I try to reason with Bonnie, but she is not having it.

"No, he doesn't get Charlotte back."

The door bursts open and Ben, Bonnie's date last night and vampire who wants us all dead, comes in. "Anna wants to speak with you two," he says, hauling us up from our spots on the ground and throws us onto the bed in the motel in front of Anna. I actually liked her and thought she would be good for Jeremy. Not anymore.

"How can you play our brother like that?" I ask before she can say anything.

"I didn't want to. It was the only way after Logan."

"You're the one who turned Logan? Man that guy was a dick," I say. "It still didn't give you the right to play our brother."

"And I'm not sorry." She sneers. "You two really are Charlotte's and Katherine's dopelgangers. You know they probably aren't in the tomb. No one wants to see Charlotte and Katherine again, not even each other, except for Damon, lovestruck idiot."

"Trust me, we figured. Why do you want to get in there so bad?" Elena asks.

"My mother's in there. Katherine and Charlotte couldn't help themselves. They just had to mess with the Salvatore brothers and when they got caught, so did my mother. I watched Jonathan Gilbert take her away."

"I'm sorry," Elena says.

"You really mean that don't you?" Elena nods. "Let's make you start serving a purpose instead of bonding."

"What's that?" I ask.

"Leverage, this belongs to you," Anna says, holding up Elena's blackberry. She calls Stefan and forces him to make an agreement with the grimoire and she leaves. Ben is still keeping guard and it's annoying. I want to leave.

"Do you have anything to drink?" Elena asks.

"There's water on the nightstand." She nods and grabs it.

"Can I have a sip?" Bonnie asks. Elena is confused but lets Bonnie have it. She throws it on Ben and he's up in flames. Bonnie and Elena make it half way out when Ben grabs me and holds me in place, his teeth next to my throat.

"Come back in and close the door!"

"Don't hurt her," Elena begs.

"Don't make me. And lock the door." He sits and lets me go. We sit on the bed closest to the door and Ben starts talking again. "Witches don't have eternal life, right? They can die?"

"Yeah, we can die." The door bursts open and in walks Stefan. Bonnie, Elena, and I run out the door while Ben cowers behind a bed. We leave and head to Bonnie's grams' place. We talk and decide that we are going to help Damon get Charlotte back and that we are going to burn all the rest of the vampire so the town wont be terroized by them. Though Stefan ends up bringing up a good point and someone has to ask Damon to help us by giving us the grimoire. I volunteer because we all know Damon won't kill me, let alone hurt me.

Damon was in the living room of the boarding house when I arrived.

"I should really change the locks. How'd you stage a jailbreak?"

"Stefan. Did you just not care at all?"

"Oh brother, ever the white knight," Damon says, ignoring my question. I guess I did upset him.

"I've convinced Bonnie to do the spell."

"I doubt it."

"I didn't know Damon! Why would I be with you all day and kiss you if I did know? Why would I go with you to find Anna instead of stay home with Stefan and Elena then go to the graveyard? Why would I gasp and get irritated at the fact that they were trying to get it themselves when we were searching for it together, Damon."

"Not interested." Tears prick in my eyes.

"You're a selfish son of a bitch, you know that? Let me help you get Charlotte, let me in and help with the heart ache full of your love for her and your excitement to get her back. Work with us, please."

"Fool me once, shame on you."

"When we were in Atlanta, why didn't you compel me at all?"

"Who's to say I didn't?"

"I know you didn't. I just have this feeling and you easily could of. You and I, we have something. An understanding. I know Stefan and Elena hurt you, but I didn't. I was just as surprised as you. I promise I'm going to help you get Charlotte back. Just let me in and let me help."

"I wish I could believe you."

I unclasp the bracelet on my wrist that he so kindly gave me and set it in his hand that I streched out. "Ask me now. Ask me if I knew they were going behind your back. Ask me if I mean it when I say I'll help you get Charlotte back. I've never lied to you once, I'm not starting now, nor will I ever lie to you in the future."

He grabs the bracelet off the table and clips it back on my wrist where it belongs. "I didn't compel you in Atlanta, because we were having fun. I wanted it to be real," he whispers. "I'm trusting you. For real this time. Don't make me regret it." I collapse in his arms with joy. I wrap my arms around his waist and hold him while he holds me back.

A few hours later, the six of us left to the cemetery. Damon and I ride together while the other's take their own cars there. We walk through the crowd of people at Duke's party. Duke is a douche. Jeremy invited Elena and I earlier. We all went last year and the year before that, it wasn't very fun.

"The Duke party, I hope they stay away from the tomb."

"Your hope, not mine."

"Don't have to be such a dick," I say wrapping my arms around my body, trying to keep myself warm.

"Alexandra!" I hear Caroline's voice in the distance and I want to run away. "Hey, where have you been?" She asks, catching up and linking her fingers with Matt's. Whoa, I guess she took my advice and started a relationship with Matt.

"Long story, no time to talk." I wrap my arms tighter around myself, trying to block the cold out. I don't like it one bit and I'm light headed. Damon presses his hand against my back and tries to lead me away.

"I'm Matt," Matt says, holding his free hand out to Damon. Damon looks at it.

"Matt, there's a reason we haven't met. Let's go." He grabs my hand and drags me away.

"I'm sorry guys!" I shout over my shoulder. I pull my hand away from his once we are far enough away. I wrap it around me again and shiver. I'm wearing two large jackets and I'm still cold. He notices my hostility and how literally cold I am. He shrugs out of his jacket and places it over my shoulders. I wrap it around me, subtly.

We get there and Damon is still in this funk he's been in since we got into the car tonight. "Brother, Witches," he greets.

"Are we ready?" I ask before Elena can start talking to me. Frankly I'm upset about her betraying Damon too because unknowingly, she did the same to me.

"I guess so," Bonnie says, shrugging. Bonnie and her grams lit candles, saying the elements they represent, air, earth, fire. There is a bottle of water in the middle.

"That's it?" Elena asks, somewhat rudely.

"As opposed to what?"

"She just figured it must be mystical or blessed. This is Mystic Falls, you know. Nothing here is normal anymore," I cover for Elena's rudeness. I smile and Sheila, Bonnie's grams, smiles back kindly. Damon picks up a blood bag and Stefan asks about it.

"It's for Charlotte. Admit it, you can't wait to get rid of me." Stefan smirks, yes smirks, and nods.

"We're ready." Bonnie and her grams start chanting in some old language. The rumbling started, and the door to the tomb opens. I stand there amazed. "It worked," Bonnie mummbles.

"Of course it did," Sheila says, grinning.

"I'll go get the gasoline," Stefan says. "Be right back."

"Let's go," Damon says. "You think I'm going to go by myself? So you can seal me in," he says, glaring at Sheila.

"Don't take her in. I'll bring the walls down."

"You'll bring the walls down if I don't. You think I actually trust you?"

"As much as I trust you."

"Enough," I tell them both, loudly. "He needs leverage. He needs to know you're not just going to shut the door when he waltz in to find Charlotte. I get it, I'll go with him," I tell them and go in with the flashlight. He follows me and I hear whispers.

"They can sense you, you know."

"Don't leave me alone in here."

"I won't. Now where is she?"

"What does she look like?"

"You."

"I meant her outfit, you idiot. I'm sure she's still in her original outfit from 1864 if she's here."

"Wait here for a second," he says suddenly.

"Come on, Damon, seriously?" He's gone before I can even get the rest of my sentence out.

"You must love vampires. You keep coming back for them," Anna says, behind me. She moves the torch and suddenly, I see a mummified woman that Anna calls mother. "I made a choice a long time ago that it would be Gilbert blood that brought her back. You're a Gilbert, it works out." She bites into my wrist and I scream as it drains into her mother's mouth.

"Get her out of here." I hear Stefan say. I see Elena above me and we leave. Stefan follows us till the opening.

"What are you doing?" I ask. "Get out here."

"I can't."

"What the hell do you mean, you can't?"

"I'm stuck. The just opened the door, not the barrier."

"We'll fix it," Sheila assured us.

"It's my fault Stefan, I'm sorry."

"I'd do anything for Elena's family. You're my family already." I smile sadly.

"We can't leave him in there," Elena says to Sheila.

"We can't leave Damon in there, either. We promised. We promised we wouldn't betray him and now look at us. We are doing exactly that. What does that say about us?" I say.

"Even if we were to break the seal, we wouldn't be able to hold it for long," Bonnie says. I nod.

"Stefan, please find Damon, I need him to be safe and happy, even if it is with Charlotte." He nods and is gone, finding him. Bonnie and her grams are doing the spell while Anna comes out with her mother.

"I just wanted my mother, Jeremy is fine. He's outside. We won't touch him, I promise." Elena and I nod.

I turn to Elena, "They're taking too long. I'll be back, stay here." She's shocked but stays. "Stefan? Damon?" I shout into the tomb. I hear their voices and run to them. "Stefan! Damon!" I say relieved. "Get out of here Stefan, I've got Damon."

"She's not in here," he says before he's gone. I turn to Damon.

"Damon, come on, I know she's not in here but you need to come with me. You need to get your ass into gear before I do it for you and force you out." He doesn't move. "You promised me that you'd save me when I needed saving, now I'm promising you that same thing. Get your ass out of here." He finally moves and I let him go in front of me. As he gets out, Sheila and Bonnie stop chanting. I walk out after him and I'm sad for him.

"You're okay," Elena says. I nod. I follow Elena and Stefan to the top of the stairs of the tomb. I find Damon, looking numb.

"Damon," I whisper. He looks at me, his eyes filled with hurt and guilt and anger. "I'm so sorry." I wrap my arms around his neck, letting his forehead fall to my shoulder and he wraps his arms around me. I can feel his grip get tighter. The butterflies in my stomach turn to small dinosaurs. "If you ever need to talk, you know I'm here, right?" He nods against my shoulder.

"How's your head," Elena asks Jeremy.

"It's alright." He shrugs, taking the asprin that Elena gave him and went to sit on his bed with me. "I just wish I knew how I passed out. I didn't drink that much I swear!"

"And you don't remember anything?" she asks, hesitant to know the answer.

He shakes his head. "The whole things pretty cloudy. I just, I know how this looks, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"No Jer, don't be sorry. You didn't do anything," I let him know, brushing the hair out of his eyes for him. He nods. I stand at look at him. "We are going to Bonnie's for a bit, 'kay? Is there anything you need before we go?"

"I'm just gonna crash." I nod and we leave.

"What would you do if Jeremy remembered?" She asks me when we get in the car. She's driving and we head out.

"Well you don't know this but when Damon compelled him to think Vicky was just out of town, I wrote down the reality after so if Jeremy ever found out we had something to give him so he could know what happened. So I'm debating weither or not to write it all down. If he remembered, I'd tell him about Vicky. That's what I would do if he knew."

Elena nods, shocked, but keeping it bottled up. We get to Bonnie's Gram's and Stefan calls when we walk inside. They talk while I make tea for Sheila.

"We just got to Bonnie's a few minutes ago. She's pretty shaken but handling it just fine. Her grams is resting." Elena and Stefan keep talking as I walk with Bonnie into her Grams' room.

"Grams," Bon says trying to wake her up. "Grams. Grams wake up!" She started to shake her frantically, beginning to cry. I hold her back from her Grams.

"Elena!" I shout.

"She's not breathing," Bonnie cries. "Please wake up," She yells at Sheila.

"Call for an ambulence, now!" I tell Elena. Some times I feel like the older sister.

"I can fix this!" Bonnie says trying to escape my grasp. Elena held Bonnie with me as Bonnie was breaking down.

"Hey Bonnie, it's me. Just checking in, seeing how you're doing," Elena says on her voicemail to Bonnie while I sit next to her quiet and cold. I actually still have Damon's jacket. I'm surprised he hasn't come back to get it. "We miss you here. Don't let your aunt drive you too crazy. Come home soon. We love you." She hangs up. "Who's jacket is that by the way? I never got a chance to ask this past week."

I sigh deeply. This is the one question I would rather her not ask me. "Damon's. He hasn't left town and he hasn't gotten his jacket back in the past week, I can't get him out of my head. It's bad, isn't it?"

"You're selfless. You care. It's not bad at all."

"This right here, is why we are still sisters. You give me advice and support me. That's why we are still as close as we were before." Elena smiles and pulls me into a hug. Jenna walks out at that moment and sees us.

"What are you two doing out here?"

We pull apart. "Thinking, talking, 'Lena's writing in her journal," I answer. "Bonnie's Grams' funeral brought back lots of memories of our parents." Elena is tapping her pen against the journal. "So we were wondering. You said you would do some digging into our birth parents?"

"Yes, I did. Come look." We get up and follow her into the kitchen where her laptop is. "So your dad kept everything that had to do with work. I searched and found an entry in one of his log books from the night you two were born. Isobel Peterson."

"Think it's her real name?" Elena asks.

"Pregnant teengage runaway. Probably not. First name, maybe. But where'd she get Peterson? Classmate? Best friend of hers? So I binged it and searched the last name, same year Isobel was born, in this area. Found three, two men and a woman, Trudy who lives in Grove Hill, Virginia."

"Not far," I say. Jenna nods and types till she brings up a picture of two girls. Trudy Peterson and Isobel Flemming. "She was a cheerleader?" Jenna nods.

"Trudy still lives there, I've got her address." She hands it to Elena. "I couldn't find anything about Isobel. Listen, there's something else too. Mr. Saltzman, Ric, his wife her name was also Isobel."

"Was?" Elena asks.

"She died." That's it. I just felt my heart shatter. First my parents, then Vicky, Bonnie's Grams, Damon ignoring everyone because Charlotte didn't care about him like I told him from the beginning.

"I'm leaving," I tell them. Elena rushes after me. I climb into the car and so does she. "Give me the address." She does and we head out to Grove Hill, Virginia.

We go to the door when we get there and Elena knocks on the door. She comes to the door and looks at us.

"Trudie? Trudie Peterson? My name is Elena Gilbert and this is my twin sister Alexandra. We wanted to talk to you about Isobel Flemming."

"I haven't heard that name in years. How do you know her?"

"Do you know if she had babies that she gave up for adoption?" I ask.

"My goodness. You two are her daughters," she says softly, astounded. "I was just going to make some tea, would you like some?"

"Sure," we say at the same time. We walk in. She has a nice house, stairs by the door, pictures up on the walls, spacious. Everything you would want in a small house. "We weren't going to come," I say as I sit down at the table. "I mean I was driving already and hit a stoplight and it made me think about when I was learning to drive and how my mom would always warn me about this blind turn off of the left hand side and then I was thinking about my mom and well, we had your address."

"What she's trying to say is that we're sorry for barging in, not knowing if you'd be home or have company over or busying doing something completely irrelevant," Elena covers for me. I look at her gratefully.

"It's not a problem, really." She smiles kindly. "I haven't thought about Isobel in years."

"When's the last time you saw her?" Elena asks.

"About seventeen years ago, when she left to have you two. We kept in touch for a little while, but you know, people drift apart."

"Do you know where she ended up?"

"She was in Florida for a while, on her own for the first time. I knew it wasn't easy for her."

"Do you know who the father could be?" I ask.

"I could never get her to fess up. She pulled herself together and got into college on a scholarship."

"Where?" I ask.

"Somewhere in North Caroline, Duke I think. Smart girl, smart school." The tea kettle starts to whistle. "I'll go get that." She gets up and goes through the door that leads to the kitchen.

"Something is off," I tell Elena.

"I get it. She didn't invite us in. She knows." I nod and look back at the door swinging open.

"Tea?" Trudie asked as she came in with cups and tea. She poured us some and set a book down. Elena and I look at it's their yearbook. We started looking through it. Trudie stopped on a page and chuckled. "Ah, the football team. The crowds actually came for us. The football team hadn't won in years. We were the stars. Well Izzy was, but I was a damn good back up!" We chuckle together. Elena and I out of nervousness, Trudie out of humor and memories.

"This is great, thank you," Elena says.

"Are you two okay?" We nod. "You two haven't touched your tea."

"Oh," I say. "I completely forgot I had it, I was so engrossed in the memories and the yearbook." I say, picking up the tea cup and taking a sip of it. I coughed when I tasted it.

"Alexandra, you okay?" Elena asks trying to get me to cover up my coughing.

"Wrong pipe," I cough out. It soon stops. "What's in this?"

"Just some herbs." I take another sip.

"Is this Vervain?" She didn't answer. "You know," I say.

"Know what?" Trudie asked, getting defensive.

"You didn't invite us in, you were serving Vervain tea, you know," I say.

"Leave now." And we do. When we get out to the car, there's a man standing a few feet away. We quickly get in, Elena driving this time, as he starts walking toward us.

"Let's go to the boarding house. I need to talk to Stefan." I nod. "Damon better not be there. I don't want to deal with him, and knowing Damon he's going to be drinking blood and alcohol like it was the end of the world." I shrugged. "What is going between the two of you?"

"Well nothing but something. I think if he flirts with me now, he just wants me to be Charlotte and I won't be her. I refuse, but I can't help but to fall for Damon. Do you ever hear me talking at night and it sounds like I'm talking to myself?" Elena nods. "Well Damon is usually sitting with me and talking to me at night."

"When did this start?"

"Well two things, I think I met him before you and I officially met him. When Vicky was attacked at the party and Bonnie saw something. I was walking around the trails in the woods and the guy that was dead, well he was coming on to me and he was drunk and Damon saved me, granted he could have just compelled the guy to not do it anymore but Damon killed him. And he was in my room the night after the football game. But it officially started when Lexi was killed and he came to thank me for telling Stefan to not kill him."

"He should be grateful for that."

"Trust me he is." We get to the boarding house. "Alright you find Stefan and I'll wait down here." She nods and goes upstairs. I sit there for a while before Damon struts through the door.

"Allie is here!" He's in front of me in less that a second. "How are you?" He slurrs. His shirt is unbuttoned so I reach forward and start buttoning it.

"You're drunk."

"You haven't come and seen me today."

"Elena and I were talking with our birthmother's friend from awhile ago to see where she is."

"Ugh, who cares." I glare at him. "She sucks, she left you." He catches my wrist as I'm about to button the last button and kisses the inside of my wrist. My eyes meet his and then Elena has to come in a ruin the moment, but for the good.

"Alexandra."

"Well that was fast."

"He said a lot but wants you in there too." I nod. "Alright, here she is."

"This is Isobel, Alaric's wife."

"That's her, that's our mom." I say. I take the picture from Stefan and sit down next to him. "That's definitely her. Wow."

We are at the fundraiser, not sure why, maybe because we want to see if Jenna will win that date with Alaric, maybe to see what drama ensues.

"He's already been hit on like twenty times, total cougar bait," Caroline says about Damon. "You must be getting irritated." She looks to me.

"No. Why would I?"

"Party? Disappearing? Anything ringing a bell?" I knew going through the party would be a bad idea.

"No, Care, nothing happened. Promise."

As Care is about to say something related to the conversation, she sees Mrs. Donovan. "Hi Mrs. Donovan!" Kelly smiles bitterly back.

"Elena, darling!" She hugs Elena. "Alexandra, how are you?" She hugs me as well.

"Good."

"How are you, Kelly? We've missed ya around here," Elena says.

"Good good." I smile and excuse myself to talk to Jenna for a bit.

"Hey Aunt Jenna."

"We're back to Aunt Jenna?" She asks, surprised. I nod. "Good, I like being Aunt Jenna, not just Jenna."

"You're still Jeremy's aunt."

"I know but I'll always consider you my neice, whether you are or not." I smile and hug her.

"I love you, Aunt Jenna."

"I love you too, sweetheart."

The fundraiser auction started soon. All the bachelors were up and giving some biographies about themselves. Number three was funny. He was a plumber and Carol Lockwood said that we always need more plumbers, not knowing what to say and with a great amount of sarcasm.

"Moving on to bachelor number four, Alaric Saltzman. Wow, that's a mouthful. What do you do Alaric?"

"I'm a teacher at Mystic Falls High School."

"Oh, beauty and the brains ladies. This ones a keeper. What do you teach?"

"History."

"History! Oh well give us a fun fact about Mystic Falls. Something crazy." He froze on stage. "He's probably saving the best stories for his date." She walks ahead to Damon. Is it bad to say that I actually bought a ticket? "And last, but not least, Damon Salvatore. We don't have much about you, care to give us a preview on you. Like to travel?"

"Oh yeah. L.A., New York. Couple years ago, I was in North Carolina near the Duke Campus, actually. I think Alaric went to school there, didn't you, Ric? Cause I know your wife did. I had a drink with her once. She was a great girl. I ever tell you that? Cause she was delicious." Damon smiled at Alaric. My blood ran cold.

"You okay?" Jenna asks.

"Yeah. I just need some air." I get up and run outside. Elena follows. I lean against the wall. Elena is crying but I'm numb. I can't feel the sorrow or hate that I should feel. I'm just numb. Stefan catches up with us. "He killed her? Damon was the vampire that killed her?" I yelled at him.

"I don't know what happened. Alaric said that they never found the body. Damon doesn't know the connection to you two. I thought about confronting him, but he's already so on edge."

"Why are you protecting him?"

"Because Alexandra wasn't the only one hoping deep down that she might change him for the better."

I look at the street and see a familiar face. A face that we saw just a few hours prior.

"Elena, we saw him outside of Trudie's." Her eyes go wide and Stefan tells us to go inside. I go in after them and I collide with Damon. I look up at him and see him smiling. I finally feel the fury that I should have. I slap him hard.

"All right, I'm missing something." He rubs his cheek.

"Did you enjoy that? Rubbing it in to Mr. Saltzman?"

"What are you talking about Allie?"

"Do not call me Allie. You lost that privilage. I thought there was something redeemable about you, that you had a shred of decency then you go and be a complete dick!" I yelled.

"What have I done?"

"Did I forget to mention earlier when we were talking about mine and Elena's birth mother, the one who gave us up? Her name was Isobel. Go ahead, Damon. Reminisce about how you killed her."

"Allie," He starts but I interrupt.

"I told you not to call me that anymore."

"Let me explain something to you."

"No. After not finding her, I thought, maybe he's just upset, maybe I can help him get through it. But after this, I don't see anything that I like anymore," I hiss at him. I walk away, grab my bag, and let Jenna know that I'll be home soon. "Why do I feel so cruel?" I ask Stefan and Elena when I meet them outside.

"You're not," Stefan says. He brings me in for a hug and I wrap my arms around his waist from the side, like siblings hugging. "It'll be okay." We turn around and see that man again.

"I have a message for you."

"Who are you?" Stefan demands.

"Stop looking."

"For what," I ask, getting irritated.

"She doesn't want to know either of you. She doesn't want to talk to you."

"Isobel?" Elena asks.

"You need to stop looking, do you understand?"

"She's alive? She's a vampire?" I look at Elena as I say it. "Wait, he's under complusion."

"Do you understand?"

"Yes." We replied together.

"Good I'm done now." He steps backwards into on-coming traffic and a large truck hits him. Elena and I scream loudly. People started to gather and Elena sprints to take his phone that fell out of his pocket. We flee and go home.

I climb into bed and go to sleep quickly because of this exhausting day. But in the morning, I wake up facing my bedside table and I found a note.

'Allie,

I know you told me not to call you that anymore but you listen better when I do. I'm sorry for upsetting you, but you have to know that one, this was before I even met you, and two she begged me to do it. I know that's a weak reason for my actions but she did and if I didn't comply then she would have gone to a different vampire.

Allie, I'm sorry and that's usually a hard thing for me to say, you know that. I just want you to forgive me, but on your own time. I need you to know that. Plus that I'm over Charlotte not being in there, sure I'm disappointed but if she doesn't care about me then I don't care about her. It's only you in my life right now.'