Harper was going over some things on her laptop in her motel room when there was a knock at the door. Based off the time on not only the computer but the watch on her wrist, it was way too late at night – or too early in the morning if you wanted to go that route – for her to be getting any visitors.
She grabbed the stake sitting behind her computer screen and moved to the window. After pushing aside the curtain just enough to see who was outside, she sighed heavily and opened it. "Do you have any idea what time it is, Jon?"
Jonathan Gilbert entered her motel room without a care and took in the scene. The bed was still made, computer on the table alit, and Harper not in her pajamas. "By the looks of things you haven't been to bed yet, so why does it matter?" He also noted the stake in her hand. "Expecting some unwanted company?"
"Almost everyone in this town is unwanted company," Harper replied as she tossed the stake on the bed and crossed her arms. "What do you want, Jon?"
"As you know, I am looking for Vivian. If you help me find her then I will give you some information." Jon was deliberately being vague, knowing that would pique Harper's interest.
"Tell me the information first and I'll tell you what I now know about Vivian." Harper grinned in a way that made it clear it was her terms or no terms.
Jon exhaled deeply. "I forgot how similar you and your sister could be." He pondered for a moment before telling her, "Your daughter is associating with Vampires."
"I know," Harper interjected before Jon could say another word. "Vivian was just telling me about that." She moved to the table to switch screens on the laptop and pulled up the video chat she was having with Vivian.
Vivian laughed at the sight she saw. "Well, hello, Jonathan. Don't bother trying to barter with my sister. I have told her everything she needs to know about the Salvatore brothers and how close Blair is to them. You're a little late to the game, Jonny-boy." She loved how his face hardened when she called him that, it amused her. "Now, I hear you've been looking for me."
"We have unfinished business, Vivian." Jonathan didn't elaborate any further on that since Harper didn't have anything to do with it.
"Not anymore, we don't," Vivian shot back. "I stopped owing you anything the moment your daughter knocked over the first domino that sent my husband to his death!" She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I owe you nothing."
Jon had a different view on that. "Elena had nothing to do with his death. Jae was the one who lost control of the vehicle. If you want to go there, then what's to stop me from demanding something in return for the death of my brother and his wife? Since, after all, your husband was the one driving."
"Enough!" Harper shouted, looking between Jon and her sister's video chat on the computer screen. "V, if you owe Jon something then just pay up. You always pay your debts."
"For giving me the original text of the Alden-Lockwood Prophecy, I will send you the weapon you desire. Will that make us square?" Vivian knew it would not matter much if he had the weapon, she would still go ahead with her plans.
"Get the Dagger to me and we will never have to deal with one another again." With everything else that had gone wrong so far, he needed this to go right. He needed to make sure this safety net was in place just in case the worst came to be.
"You'll be getting a package soon." Vivian turned her attention back to her sister. "Give our girl a hug for me. I miss her more than I thought I would." She sighed, "Oh well," before ending the call.
Harper closed her computer and turned to Jon. "Two questions – One, how the hell did you get your hands on the original prophecy texts? And two, what dagger is so important that making a deal with my sister was worth it?"
"Isobel tracked down the text, how or where I don't know but that doesn't matter. And as far as the Dagger goes, let's just say it's something we'll need in case things go even further south than they already have." Jon bowed his head in a 'good evening' manner before taking his leave.
Harper wasn't about to let her go that easily as ran out to the parking lot to stop him. "Hold on, what does Isobel have to do with any of this and what plan? What the hell is going on, Jon?"
"Isobel is a part of my plan. The specifics of my plan are…Nevermind. I don't trust you enough to tell you." Jon smugly smiled at her before getting into his car and driving away.
Harper tapped her leg in frustration before going back into her motel room. She didn't like Isobel and Jon when they were younger and she sure as hell didn't like them now.
Quite a bit and yet not so much had happened to Blair. She was put on duty for two floats – Caroline's Miss Mystic one and the history class's Battle of Willow Creek one. Honestly she didn't want to be a part of either but didn't want to let Caroline down and felt the need to be a sort of buffer between Matt and Tyler who were also assigned to the class's float.
During the float prep at the high school, Blair was pulled away by Alaric who informed her, Elena, Stefan, and Damon that Isobel had made an appearance and requested a meet with Elena – A meet that if it did not happen then she'd go on a killing spree. By now Blair had been all caught up with the drama that was Elena's life, even though Blair knew for a fact that Elena still didn't know everything. Meaning she still hadn't told Elena that Jeremy knew everything and honestly wasn't going to.
Blair still couldn't get it out of her head that things were so similar with her and Elena, at least where their birth mothers were concerned. She couldn't help but remember that her life as Anne had a similar experience with Katherine back when Katherine was a human. Why the hell was it when Blair's life was born in the same year as the Doppelganger that there were similarities within their lives? So many differences, yes, but the odds of what was similar happening was slim and yet it happened.
As Blair thought about this, she felt like she was going to have a migraine and honestly wasn't sure if it made any sense. Her brain was kinda working over drive and she wouldn't have been surprised if she ended up passing out because of it.
What was decided at the end of Alaric's revelation about Isobel wanting to meet with Elena was that Elena wanted to meet with her. And not just because she didn't have a choice. This is where Blair bowed out.
"Since there really isn't anything I can do to help with this scenario, I'm just going to pretend that I'm a normal human being and get back to normal high school stuff. Kay?" Blair turned around on her heels to leave the classroom, but stopped when Alaric spoke to her.
"You're seriously backing out of this?" Alaric was finding that a bit hard to believe.
Blair turned back around on her heels to face him. "I don't even know why I was brought into this to begin with. This has to do with Elena's mother, not mine. I don't know Isobel, I have nothing to do with Isobel, so forgive me for wanting nothing to do with Isobel." She crossed her arms with a light scoff and a brief wave of her hand. "I mean, seriously, what am I expected to do here? Go on, tell me. Tell me what's my part in whatever plan you're cooking up and I'll do it."
The group pretty much exchanged glances with each other before Damon spoke. "You have a point. Not sure why you were pulled into the loop this time."
Blair grandly waved her hand in Damon's direction. "My point exactly. I'm useless here, guys. If that changes, let me know. Until then, I've got some float prep to do." This time when Blair walked out of the classroom, there was no one who tried to stop her.
Harper didn't like not knowing what Jon was up to so she decided to take another route to get some answers. It wasn't like she could go to the Council with this, not even to her fellow 'Wolf in the closet' because there were too many variables. Mayor Lockwood would likely cause more harm than good here, especially since he had no idea that the Salvatore brothers were Vampires. Unless absolutely necessary, Harper would like to keep it that way.
Harper hoped she wasn't going to regret asking Vivian to make contact with Isobel so they could touch base. How asking her sister that favor could possibly bite her in the ass, she wasn't certain but there were a lot of uncertain things as far as Vivian was concerned. Even so, she was the only one Harper knew that could make the meet happen.
The designated meeting place was a diner outside of Mystic Falls. Presently Harper sat at a booth near the window waiting for Isobel to arrive. She wasn't waiting long when the blast from the past walked in and sat across from her.
"This better not take long. I have others meetings today." Isobel looked Harper over with an amused expression. "You look older."
"And you've hardly changed a bit." Harper placed her hands on the table. "This won't take long. I just want to make sure that whatever plan you and Jon are cooking up that my daughter doesn't get caught up in it."
Isobel's amusement seemed to grow tenfold. "You really have no idea do you?" She chuckled at Harper's ignorance and leaned forward to say, "Blair won't be caught up in anything as long as she doesn't need to be. So far I've had no need to include her but that doesn't mean things won't change."
When Harper was about to speak, Isobel prevented her from doing so by saying, "You're not your sister, Harper. You don't have hardly any cards to play because you have no idea what is going on. So you can make all the threats you like but I know you won't do anything because you have just as much to lose." Isobel stood up, getting ready to leave. "I took this meet as a courtesy, but that only goes so far. I will give you a piece of advice, though. Stay out of my way and perhaps nothing will happen to you and yours." She smiled in mock sweetness, "Good day, Harper."
Harper pressed her hands into the table in frustration. That conversation did not get anywhere near where she thought it was going to. She didn't have any more information then than she started out with and this did not sit well with her.
After leaving money on the table for the cup of coffee and tip, Harper went outside with her cellphone in hand. She dialed Vivian's number and got into the car while leaving a message for her. "V, it's Harper. I have a bad feeling about Jon and Isobel. If you know anything you've got to tell me. I need to know what I'm protecting out girl from."
With that said and done, Harper ended the call, put the car into gear, and headed back for Mystic Falls.
After spending a late night at Caroline's to get the float designs done, Blair went back to her empty apartment. If it wouldn't have been inappropriate, she would have gone down to Rick's place just to hang out for a bit. This whole being alone the majority of the time was really starting to get to her. Yeah there were times she loved it but for some reason lately it'd been getting under her skin. This left her with only her thoughts and not just her thoughts but her memories.
That morning was no different. Blair was going over things in her mind and after getting some juice out of the fridge, she jumped fifty feet to find her past life Anne standing there. After all her years there were still times she just couldn't get used to seeing and conversing with her past selves that only she could see. "I honestly thought I'd be seeing Minnie by now. Not you."
"You should tell them everything." Anne moved to the other side of the kitchen island while Blair started in on her breakfast.
"Tell who what?" Blair had no idea what Anne was trying to get at but soon figured it out. "I am not telling them how I knew Katherine way back when."
"History could be trying to repeat." Anne didn't need to tell her this, after all she was just a projection of Blair's own mind.
"If it does then I'll do something about it. Just like last time." Blair lost her appetite and pushed her bowl of cereal away. "Maybe it won't bite me in the ass this time." She was done with this conversation with Anne, so she closed her eyes and willed her away.
When Blair opened them again, Anne was gone, so she cleared her breakfast dishes and gathered up her things. Caroline was expecting her help with the float so she couldn't be late. After this particular blast from the past, Blair was looking forward to the distraction.
Blair was using a staple gun to hold the decorations in place on one of the floats being worked on in the school parking lot when Caroline came over to her.
"Spill it," was Caroline's greeting with crossed arms of expectancy.
Blair 'kah-thunked' another staple before turning her attention to Caroline. "And what exactly would I be spilling at this point in time?"
"You use a lot of unnecessary words when you're trying to avoid something, you know that?" Caroline wasn't expecting an answer and went on to clarify her original question. "I've known you long enough to know when something's bothering you, so what is it?"
"That's a loaded question, Caroline, so I'd rather just do this and not think about anything else." Blair picked up another decoration to add, only for it to be taken from her hands by Caroline.
"Not talking about what's bothering you is the worst thing for you. I'm pretty sure you taught me that." Caroline raised a brow to emphasize that she wasn't going to let this go until she got an answer.
Blair couldn't tell Caroline what was going on and that was part of the problem. There were still so many she couldn't talk to about what she was dealing with and since the whole Isobel thing going on it really wasn't the time to be self-centered anyway. After a quick thought she did manage to come up with a way to say it though,
"I got a call from someone today – someone I hadn't thought about in a long time. And – and they asked me to do something but I just can't. What they want me to do will open up a whole can of worms that I'm trying to avoid at all costs." Blair didn't realize it until after she'd finished speaking that how vague she was being was probably going to make Caroline ask for more details. That's why it surprised Blair when she didn't.
"Don't do it then. If it's going to cause problems then it's not worth it." Caroline handed the decoration back to Blair with a smile before going onto dealing with other things.
Blair just nodded in an 'okay then' manner and went back to decorating only to find that her staple gun was empty. "Of course it is," she muttered to herself before tossing the decoration aside.
The supply table was off on the perimeter of everything to avoid anyone accidently bumping into it and mixing it all up. It was there that Jeremy came over to her, looking worried as hell. Blair was quick to pick up on this. "Whoa, Jer, what's up?"
"Have you heard from Anna? I've been calling her and haven't heard anything back. Not even a text." Jeremy was really concerned that something bad had happened to her.
"No, I haven't. I can try giving her a call now if you'd like?" At Jeremy's nod, Blair pulled out her phone and dialed Anna's number. After a couple rings it went straight to voicemail. "Hey, Anna, Mina 2.0 here. I'm with Jeremy at the school here and he's pretty worried about you. Can you shoot either of us a text at least to let us know you're okay?" The message system cut her off there so Blair returned her phone to her pocket.
Blair could see that Jeremy's worry just increased. "I'm sure she'll call, Jer. If we don't hear anything from her in a bit I'll help you look for her. Deal?"
"Yeah, okay. Thanks, Blair." Jeremy felt a little better knowing that he'd have some backup. Upon seeing Elena, he thought he'd ask her just in case, so he gave Blair a quick, "Later," before going over to his sister.
Blair turned her attention back to the staples and was about to reach out to get some when a guy dressed like a cowboy took her by the wrist. Before Blair could even get a word out, she felt a sharp sting in her arm and the world went black…
When Blair awoke she had a splitting headache and found herself in a very fancy house – borderline mansion – and she wasn't alone. The cowboy guy was standing with an attractive woman and in the chair beside hers was an unconscious Jeremy. "What the hell is going on?"
"We're holding you hostage until I get what I want," Isobel answered from the doorway as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I noticed you've been out of the loop a bit, so allow me to introduce myself. I'm Isobel."
Blair muttered, "Of course you are," before saying in a clearer tone, "Look, you don't need both of us to get whatever it is that you want, so just let Jeremy go."
"Oh, but I need you both here." Isobel took a couple steps closer to her. "I need Jeremy to ensure I get the Device and I need you to receive a message."
Blair had a bad feeling this was going somewhere she didn't want it to. "A message from who?"
Isobel chuckled a bit before answering. "Katherine. She wants you to know that she knows what you are, who you are, and who you were. She knows everything."
Blair swallowed a lump her throat and adjusted in her seat a little. "And how could she possibly know that?"
Isobel held her hands out to her sides and laughed. "Why Vivian of course. Your aunt has been working with Katherine for years, and there really isn't anything Vivian won't do or share if the price is right." She looked to her companions to say, "Knock her out. I've been warned to what she's capable of."
Blair bolted up from the chair but barely had a chance to defend herself before she was injected with a sedative yet again and passed out in result.
By the time Blair awoke the second time it was nightfall, Jeremy was conscious, and Jon Gilbert was sitting on the floor looking like he'd recently had the crap kicked out of him. "I'm killing someone for this. Not sure who I'm going to start with but someone is going to die."
"You're not killing anyone," Jon groaned as he pushed himself into more of a sitting position against the chair.
"You're not in a position to give me orders, Jon," Blair shot back and tried to stand up only to find she was quite a bit dizzy and needed to sit again. "And clearly I'm not in a position to make good on my threat yet."
"What are you even doing here?" Jeremy had been worried that she might never wake up because it'd been awhile since he had and she was still out of it.
Instead of Blair, Jon was the one who answered. "Vivian, right? She's got something to do with this where you're concerned?"
Blair tightly gripped the arms of the chair she was sitting in. "I'm starting to feel like everyone knows more about Vivian than I do, but we'll get to that later. What the hell is the Device Isobel wants?" She made sure to ask the question quietly in hopes of not drawing attention.
Jon touched the wound on his forehead with a mild wince before answering. "My ancestor, Jonathan Gilbert, invented a Device that's extremely harmful to Vampires. We've been trying to get it."
Jeremy had a follow up question but needed to ask his uncle something first. "You know Blair knows?" When Jon nodded, Jeremy went back to the matter at hand. "Why do you want the Device?"
"Because there is a group of Vampires from a long time ago that wants revenge of this town."
Blair knew exactly what Jon was talking about when he said that. "All the Tomb Vampires. Figures."
Jonathan nodded. "Exactly." He could see the gears turning in Jeremy's mind, so he said something to hopefully clear it up. "No one ever expected that Vampires would return to this town, not in modern times, but they have. And we have to destroy them."
Jeremy didn't like the sound of that. "All of them?" He couldn't accept that answer. "No – no, there are some good ones out there."
"There's no such thing," Jon countered, much to Blair's chagrin.
"That's bullshit." Blair scoffed incredulously and scooted herself closer to the edge, getting ready to stand when she felt completely able. "Just because your narrowminded view refuses to accept that doesn't make it true."
"I agree with Blair. I don't believe all Vampires are evil." Jeremy didn't intend on letting anyone change his mind otherwise.
"Well, your dad did. And as his son, that should mean something to you."
Blair couldn't believe Jon was pulling that crap. "You're seriously trying to guilt Jeremy into believing what you do? I've thought a lot of things about you, Jon, but I never thought you'd stoop so low."
Jeremy would address that later, but right now he needed to know something. "How did my father know about all this?"
Jon thought his nephew would have pieced it all together by now. "Who do you think taught me about the family history?"
Isobel stepped into the room at that moment and looked right at Blair. "Come into the other room. I wish to speak to you."
"And what if I don't want to?" Blair snapped, knowing all too well how immature that sounded.
Isobel's face turned serious as she replied, "Come into the other room or I'll break Jeremy's hand. If you're lucky, that's all I'll break."
Blair wasn't going to risk that so she pushed herself off the chair, held her hand out to keep Jeremy from trying to assist her, and followed Isobel into the other room.
Isobel led Blair into the study and leaned back against the desk and gestured to the chair across from her. "You look a bit wobbly there. Please, take a seat."
Blair was just stubborn enough to stay standing so that's what she did, but did brace herself against the back of the designated chair.
Isobel didn't care one way or another. "Suit yourself." She clasped her hands together in front of her. "Now as to why I brought you in here. I'm to deliver you another message from Katherine. As long as you keep your information to yourself she won't give away yours."
Blair had no idea what was being specifically referred to and needed a bit of clarification there. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"You know more than you think you do. Vivian is proof of that since you shared your memories with her, did you not?" Isobel moved away from the desk to step forward. "Keep your mouth shut about Katherine and she will do the same about you."
Blair agreed despite still not knowing what she was technically agreeing to. "Fine, whatever. It's not like I intend on giving that bitch much thought anyway. Is that all?"
"Yes, that's all. And you're free to go. The message has been delivered so I have no further need for you to be here. Run along." Isobel went as far as to shoo Blair away.
"I'm not going anywhere without Jeremy." Blair stood her ground about that.
Isobel sighed dramatically. "He and Jon are free to go as well. They are being informed of this as we speak. I have no need for them any longer, either."
Blair wasn't going to bother asking why they were free to go. It must meant that Isobel had already gotten or was about to get the Device somehow. Besides, Isobel wasn't the person she should be asking her questions to anyway. So without a word, Blair went out into the foyer to be met by Jeremy who assisted her without resistance this time.
The three of them walked out of the fancy-pants house together and headed down the walk, only to slow a bit when a car screeched to a stop and Harper came running out of it.
"Blair," Harper gasped and ran right to her daughter, hugging her close. With daggered eyes on Jonathan, she seethed, "If you had anything to do with this I swear…"
"It was all Isobel," Jon replied before Harper could make her throat. "Well, not all. You might want to have a more in depth conversation with your sister."
Harper's face hardened a bit when she heard that but turned her attention to her daughter. "Come on, I'll take you home."
Blair nodded and looked to Jeremy. "I'll call you later." On the way to Harper's car, she asked, "How did you know I was here?"
"I got a text from a blocked number saying if I wanted you safe that I better come here." Harper stopped once they reached her vehicle. "Blair, I think it's time we had a talk."
Blair couldn't argue with her there. "Yeah, I think it's time we did."
End Season 1 Episode 21