Alexandria Gilbert

by JChavz95

Vampires, witches, werewolves and doppelgangers, oh my! All Alexa Gilbert wanted was a quiet life, a free drink and to party the night away with her friends without being nagged by her twin sister Elena, but the arrival of the mysterious Salvatore brothers may just ruin those plans... Starts Season 1, Episode 1, Slowburn Damon/OC, Now on Season 4!

21. Isobel

Disclaimer: I only own my OCs

A/N: This was a good chapter to write, I wanted to reflect Alexa's feelings on Isobel as realistically as I could while still staying true to her character. And plus, wondering how Alexa reacts to all the vampire shenanigans is always fun!

XXX

"She shoots! She scores!" the green-eyed girl shouted happily as the ball passed through the two bottles that made up the goal.

"Go Alex!" a black haired boy of the same age cheered.

"Yay Alexa!" a blonde hair boy laughed as the girl leapt on him happily. He spun her around as he hugged her, the girl shrieking in laughter.

"No one can defeat the mighty team of Alexa, Tyler and Luke," Alexa smirked at the other team that consisted of Alexa's twin Elena, Matt, the twin's younger brother Jeremy and Luke's sister Jazz.

"Of course you're winning," Elena pouted. "You have Luke and Tyler."

"Yeah, well your team has 4 people," Alexa argued. "You should be the ones who are winning."

"Oh Alexa," Luke sniggered as he stepped forward and wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulder. A faint dusting of pink covered her cheeks at the contact. "They'll never beat us. We are clearly more awesome."

Luke stuck his tongue out at his younger sister and enjoyed the reaction he got.

"Hey! We're more awesome than you are!" Jazz protested fiercely, stamping her foot.

"No one is more awesome than Alexa the Awesome!" Alexa declared loudly.

"Alexa, be quiet," Elena ordered her twin.

"Never!" Alexa argued with a pout.

"As much fun as all of this is," Tyler cut in dryly. "Aren't we supposed to be playing a game of soccer?"

The children all turned to look at the ball that was sitting on the field.

"Mine!" Alexa screamed as she sprinted for the ball.

"Oh no you don't!"

"Get the ball!"

"Run Alexa!"

"We're gonna beat you!"

XXX

"Hey Alexa?"

My twin's voice drew my focus away from my conversation with Tyler. We were having a text war of epic proportions. What we did was find either the most hilarious or the most innuendo filled quotes and text them to the other person. Who had to try and find a better one.

I was, of course, beating Tyler. As if he could ever beat me. I was legit the Queen of this game. It didn't help that I stored quotes that I could use. In fact, I was so prepared that I was yet to be beaten.

"Yes my darling twin?" I smiled up at my sister as she stood in the doorway.

"Can you phone Damon for me and check in on Stefan?"

I let out a long groan and rolled my eyes, "Elena! Do I have to?"

"Yes, because you are a good twin."

"And you're an evil one," I immediately retorted. "Why can't you phone him?"

"Because I have to get ready to go and help at the school."

"But I'm helping too," I countered with a 'duh' tone.

Elena shifted uncomfortably before sighing, "I'm meeting Stefan there soon."

I frowned; I have to admit that I was rather confused. If she was meeting Stefan, then why would she need me to check in on him?

"But you just asked me to check up on him."

"Damon will give an honest answer; Stefan will just try and protect me."

I paused to consider that before shrugging, "Meh, that's a good point."

Elena smirked slightly, "Besides, Damon's more likely to answer your call than mine."

"What makes you say that?" I frowned. Honestly, that girl came out with the weirdest things at times.

My twin shook her head at me, a small smile dancing around her lips, "You'll see one day."

"That's not very helpful."

"It's not supposed to be. Now, will you phone him?"

"Yes," I sighed in mock aggravation and dramatically flung myself back on the bed. "I'll call him."

"Thanks Alexa," Ellie grinned at me. "I owe you."

"Damn right you do."

"See you at school."

"See ya."

As Elena left my room, I texted Tyler declaring my victory and telling him that I would see him at school. After he replied, I dialled a number that I beginning to know far too well.

"Hello?"

"Well, hello Mr Salvatore."

"Greetings Miss Gilbert."

I giggled slightly, "Heya Damon."

"What do you want, Alexa?"

"Well, that's rude."

Damon sighed, "Alexa, answer the question."

"I'm trying to waste time before I have to go and help build the Miss Mystic Falls float for the Founder's Day parade."

"Why are you helping if you didn't enter?"

"Caroline said that it's because I'm Elena's twin, so I have a duty to help her by building it."

"I'm surprised you're even going."

I snorted, "Have you ever experienced the wrath of Caroline Forbes? Oh hell no, I ain't goin' against that."

The meanie laughed at me. Hey! That's not very nice! He dated her! He should know how scary Caroline could be. Especially when it came to this sort of thing. She was like your worst nightmare. And she would do a Freddie Kreuger and hunt your ass down.

"Don't laugh at me!" I whined and pouted.

"Seriously, Alexa, why did you phone?"

"There's no fooling you. You know, it's scary just how well you know me."

"Alexa."

"Fine, since you refuse to entertain me, Elena asked me to check in."

"Well, I'm doing great, tell her thanks for asking."

"Haha," I deadpanned with an eye roll. "She asked me to check in on Stefan."

"Oh him? Oh he's... he's terrible."

Oh crap. This was not good. It had barely been a day. How could he be terrible already? Like seriously, this boy. No wonder my sister worried over him so much.

"Why? What's wrong? What's the matter?" I asked quickly, sitting up in worry.

"He's just back to his boring, strait-laced, off the junk self. Your sister has successfully cured him of anything that was interesting about his personality."

"Let's not forget who helped her," I sing-songed as I slumped back on my bed so that my head was hanging off the edge.

"I hate myself."

I giggled, "You could never hate yourself."

"Yeah, you're right, I'm too awesome to hate."

"I'm right? Did you just admit that I'm right? Is the world ending?" I even made a show of looking out the window, despite the fact that Damon couldn't see me.

"Haha," the vampire laughed sarcastically. "Have you spoken to your Uncle John recently?"

"Nope, he's been avoiding me."

"Why has he been avoiding you?"

"He's ashamed that he tried to use Luke against me, so everytime he sees me he turns around and walks in the other direction."

"And what do you do to make him do that?"

"Well... I might sort of... give him a death glare."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"Oh shush. Besides, Elena does it too. And so does Jenna. I think she even told him off but she's refusing to spill the beans. Which sucks cos that would be so fun to hear about. Anyways, is there a reason why you wanted to know if I've seen my dear uncle jackass?"

"I just wanted to know if he had mentioned anything about my field trip with the history teacher."

"Why would he ask? How would he even know?" I gasped dramatically. "Do you think that he's up to something?"

"I don't know, but I'd love it if you could find out for me."

"I'll do my best," I smiled before glancing at the clock. "Crap, I've gotta go."

"You late?"

"Extremely, if you hear about my death, it's because Caroline has killed me for being late."

"Have fun with the Mystic Queen," I could hear the smirk in the vampire's voice. "I know I did."

"You're disgusting!" I laughed and fake-gagged. "Buh bye Damon."

"Goodbye Alexa."

XXX

"Elena! Alexa! Jeremy!" Miranda Gilbert called for her children.

The three Gilbert siblings stopped playing and turned to look at their mother.

"Yeah mom?" Elena shouted as the rest of the children stopped playing.

"Can you come over here for a moment?" their mother answered.

"Sure!"

"Coming mom!"

"Don't start without us guys!"

"Yes mama?" Alexa smiled as the siblings reached their parents.

Miranda smiled softly as she rested a gently hand on her daughter's cheek and placed the other on Elena's shoulder. Grayson pulled his son into his arms as he watched his wife interact with their daughters.

"Girls, your father and I need to go and speak to Mayor and Mrs Lockwood," the Gilbert woman explained to her daughters as she pointed across the park. "Do you think that you will able to stay here for me and look after your brother?"

"Of course we can mommy," Alexa beamed.

"We promise, mom," Elena said, looking a lot more serious than her sister.

"Thank you girls, now go play," Miranda smiled at her daughters.

The younger twin beamed at her mother before she turned around and grabbed her brother's arm.

"Come on Jer!" she shouted as the children ran over to their friends. "Let's go play!"

Their parents and older sister watched with amused smiles as the two tackled Tyler Lockwood to the ground and started tickling him.

"Look after your brother and sister, Elena," Grayson grinned as he tugged lightly on his daughter's hair.

"I will dad."

XXX

I waltzed into the school cafeteria with an air of self-importance. I was gonna see my Ty-Ty and no one was gonna stop me.

Tyler?

Oh Ty-ler?

Where are you?

I peered around the room until I spotted my target. Bingo. There he was!

I beamed at the back of his head and sauntered over to him. Matt glanced at me over Ty's shoulder but I put a finger to my lips. He just rolled his eyes but he didn't say anything. If the two weren't beefing, then he may have snitched on me. Which reminded me, I needed to stage an intervention with Caroline to get these two friends again.

"Yo bro!" I greeted the boy as I wrapped my arms around his neck and slumped over his shoulder.

"Hey Alex," Tyler grunted as I fell into his lap. It was only through years of practice that I didn't kick anyone or fall onto the floor. Ty just sighed and adjusted me on his lap while I smiled around the table.

"Whatcha doin'?" I asked as I looked at the pieces of paper covering the table.

"Mr Saltzman put me in charge of designing the history departments float for the Founder's Day Parade," my Ty answered as I picked up the float proposal.

"Ty, that's great!" I grinned, reaching back to pat him on the head. "Ric obviously sees the same in awesomeness in you that I see."

"Alexa, you're admitting that I have awesomeness?"

I gasped dramatically and flung the piece of paper back on the table, "Oh my god, I did! There must be something wrong with me."

"Gee, thanks."

"You're welcome," I beamed lazily, enjoying the annoyed look on Ty's face.

"Mm, that reminds me, Mr Saltzman wants to see you."

"What? Why?" I frowned in confusement, thinking on anything I could have done to warrant Mr Saltzman wanting to see me.

"He didn't say, he just told me to tell you to go to his classroom when you arrived."

"Are Elena and Stefan there?"

"Yeah."

I let out a long groan before nodding my head, "Okey dokey, guess I'm going to go and see Mr Saltzman."

I pushed myself off of Tyler's lap, almost falling over in the process. Firm hands gripped my hip and steadied me.

"Thanks Ty," I grinned down at the Lockwood teen.

"You're welcome Alexa," Tyler smiled, shaking his head. "Now shoo."

I saluted, "See ya laterz."

"Bye Alexa."

I waved at my Ty before I trotted from the room. Off to see Ric I go. Hmmmmm, I wonder what he wants. If Elena and Stefan are with him, then it must be a vampire-related problem. Thank god for that, I was worried that my amazing history work was being doubted. I was doing so much better in history now then I was before. Having Ric as a teacher had made a major difference in my work ethic. Meaning that I had one.

But it being vampire related was not the best option either. We had just finished dealing with our latest vampire problem, we deserved a bit of a break before we had to deal with the next one.

When I reached the door to the history classroom, I knocked sharply on the door and looked around. Despite the outside and cafeteria being full of students, the corridors were empty. Clearly no one wanted to venture too deep into the depths of hell that was school. Was that too dramatic? Ah well.

I spun around when the door was opened.

"Hey Ric," I beamed up at my history teacher.

"Alexa... come in." Rick sounded troubled. Like, really troubled. And that set off all kinds of warnings in my brain.

"Sure," I said slowly, giving the man a weird look.

I walked into the room to see Stefan leaning against Ric's desk and Elena sitting at one of the student desks. Elena had a shocked look on her face while Stefan didn't look happy. Not happy at all. And the warning bells just got louder.

"Guys, what's going on?" I asked, glancing between the three as I paused at the edge of Ric's desk.

"Lexa, you may wanna sit down," Ellie started, exchanging a glance with Stefan.

"O-Ok."

I sat down at the desk next to hers and looked at her expectantly. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ric lean against his desk and cross his arms. He looked… well, I don't know. It was a weird look, a mixture of loss and anger.

"There's no easy way of telling you this," my twin sighed, refusing to make eye contact. "Isobel's in town."

I froze, "Isobel as in our birth mom Isobel? That Isobel?"

"That's the one."

"In Mystic Falls?"

"Yeah."

"But... but," I shook my head, lost for words.

"She wants to meet us," Ellie spoke softly as she slipped her hand into mine.

"Ellie... I... what?"

"She said that if you two don't, then she'll go on a killing spree," Alaric cut in uncomfortably, rubbing the back of his head.

That's not good. That's really not good. Our birth mom wanted to see us. Our BIRTH MOM wanted to see us. And she said that she would go on a killing spree if we didn't. How... what... why... what?

"Ellie?" I whispered, silently asking.

My twin nodded.

I immediately shot up and joined her on her chair. She wrapped her arms around me as I rested my head on her shoulder. I just couldn't believe it. And I needed my sister.

"I wish that you didn't have to be involved in this," Elena mumbled into my hair as she gave me a squeeze.

"We're twins, Ellie, if something happens to one, it happens to the other," I whispered as Stefan and Ric talked behind us. "Together until the end."

We waited in silence for Damon to arrive. Stefan had called him when he had first heard the news. I knew that if any could help with the Isobel issue, it would be Damon. And, as much as I refused to allow myself to think it, I knew that I would feel a lot better if he was there. He would know what to do and he would make the situation better.

Everyone's eyes turned to the door when it opened and Damon walked in. I felt someone the tension in my body ease as I looked at the vampire. He had one of his cheeky smirks firmly on his face as he quickly glanced around the room before looking at Ric.

"Damon, thanks for coming," Ric spoke first, standing up from where he was leaning against the desk.

"Sorry I'm late," the vampire smirked at Ric. "My dog ate my... nevermind."

I rolled my eyes at his terrible joke. But, oddly enough, it sort of made me feel slightly better. And I was immediately thankful that he was here.

Damon's ice blue eyes revolved around the room, looking at each of us in turn. Now, it might have been my imagination, no, it probably was, but I could have sworn that his gaze lingered on my face longer than the other's faces.

"What's with all the furrowed brows?" he frowned, sensing the tone in the room.

Alaric glanced at us before sighing. Since he was the one who saw her, Ric took the lead in telling Damon the situation.

"I saw Isobel last night," he explained slowly, almost as though he didn't believe the words he was saying.

"Isobel is here?" Damon exclaimed; shock clear in his tone. Looks like Isobel had thrown everyone with her sudden appearing act.

Ric nodded.

"In town?"

Huh, Damon's reaction was just like mine. How strange. But I suppose it was a logical reaction. Isobel being in town was something that no one expected. Like every.

Damon's ice blue eyes locked gazes with my green ones. The corner of my mouth twitched up slightly, in a mockery of a smile, silently reassuring him that I wasn't gonna fall apart. Damon nodded slightly before turning his focus to Ric.

"Did you ask her about Uncle John?" he asked the history teacher. "Are they working together?"

"No," Ric answered. I'm gonna take a guess and say that that 'No' was the answer to the first question.

"No they're not?" Damon clarified.

"No, I didn't answer."

Huh, I was right.

"What about the invention?"

"Didn't ask."

"Did she know about the tomb vampires?"

"I don't know."

"Did words completely escape you?" Damon nearly growled as he got right up into the history teacher's face.

"No, I was a little too distracted by my dead vampire wife to ask any questions," Ric snapped back angrily. Well, the guy has a point. We may all be thinking about and focusing on the fact that Isobel is mine and Elena's birth mom. But she was also Ric's wife. The wife that he lost oh so suddenly. The wife that he still loves. It was affecting him as much as it was me and my twin. Maybe even more so.

The vampire shook his head before turning to look at me and Elena. His eyes sought out mine and held my gaze.

"What did she want?" he asked calmly.

"She wants to see us, Damon," Ellie answered as she wrapped her arms tighter around me.

"Alaric is supposed to arrange a meeting," Stefan told his brother from his place by the window. "We don't know why she's here or what she wants."

"You don't have to see her if you don't want to," Damon told us softly, his gaze gentle. He was talking to both me and Elena, but, somehow, I got the impression that he was talking more to me. He probably sensed the unease that I was feeling. The fact that I was clinging onto my sister like a barnacle probably helped too.

"We don't really have a choice," I told him. I fought to keep my voice steady, and I am pleased to say that I managed it.

I don't know why the thought of meeting Isobel affected me so much. I guess it's the fact that she's our birth mom, the one who brought us into this world. The one who abandoned us. I guess that I was scared that, after meeting me, she'll decide that it was a good thing that she gave me up. That she'll decide that I'm just a mistake that she never wanted to see again.

"She's threatened to go on a killing spree," Alaric explained further, temporarily drawing Damon's attention back to him.

"Oh. I take it that's not ok with you guys," Damon said with a twitch of his lips. But it was obvious that he was joking. A very bad joke, but a joke nonetheless. And it did help ease the tension in my body.

"I want to do it," Elena spoke suddenly, her voice piercing through the silence that had fallen. "I want to meet her."

I pulled away slightly and looked at her. I was in two minds over it all but as my sister looked at me, I could see her reasons why.

"If we don't," she told me softly. "We'll regret it."

She was... she was right. We would regret it. I would regret it. I couldn't let my insecurities affect my decision. We needed to do this.

We needed to meet our birth mom.

I looked at Ric after my sister gave me a soft smile.

"Arrange the meeting," I said, trying to sound as confident as I could.

I looked over at Damon as I sensed his gaze on me.

"Are you sure about this?" he questioned, his tone careful and gentle.

I took a deep breath and nodded, "Ellie's right, if we, if I, don't do this, we'll regret it forever. I need to meet her. I need to know."

The vampire nodded, understanding in his eyes.

Right, so I'm meeting my birth mom.

Wonder what she's like.

XXX

The ball passed from boy to boy to girl to boy.

Luke to Tyler.

Tyler to Alexa.

Alexa to Luke.

Intercepted by Matt.

Matt to Elena.

Elena to Jazz.

Intercepted by Alexa. Who blew a raspberry at her twin before running off.

Alexa to Tyler.

Tyler scores.

"Yay!" Alexa screamed as Team ALT (Alexa, Luke and Tyler) celebrated with a group hug. After a quick, but extremely enthusiastic celebration, the children went back to playing.

Matt to Jeremy.

Jeremy to Jazz.

Jazz to Elena.

Elena to Jeremy.

Intercepted by Tyler.

Tyler to Luke.

Luke to Alexa.

Alexa to Tyler.

Intercepted by Matt.

Matt ran with the ball towards his team's goal.

He aimed for the goal, prepared to kick the ball. But just as his foot hit the ball, Tyler came out of nowhere and tackled him.

The ball went flying through the air.

It completely missed the goal and landed in the woods.

XXX

The meeting between birth mother and daughters was to take place in the Grill. A nice crowded, public place with lots of witnesses.

Stefan and Damon were to wait inside with us while Alaric waited outside. Ric was to give us the heads up for when Isobel arrived. Stefan was positioned by the pool table while Damon claimed his regular seat by the bar. While we took one of the tables in the middle of the room.

I was secretly glad that Damon was waiting inside with us. He was, and I have to admit it, a helluva lot stronger than our dear bunny-eating Stefan and therefore, was able to protect us if things went south. And he just soothed me. Which was weird. But I just felt better when he was around.

I steadily sipped at my (alcohol free) hot chocolate with squirty cream and marshmallows while Elena quietly spoke with Stefan.

Ever since I had found out that I was adopted, I had imagined meeting my birth mom. It wasn't that I wanted anything to do with her, but it was more curiosity. Like what was she like, were we like her, that kind of thing. But I never in a million years expected it to be like this. For one thing, I had always imagined Luke to be sitting next to me and supporting me. For another, I never thought that my birth mom would be a vampire threatening to go on a killing spree.

But... what if she didn't like me?

No, I can't think like that. I can't.

I sighed and glanced over at the other vampire to see that he was intently staring at me. I frowned and tilted my head to the side.

"How ya holding up?" Damon mouthed as he swirled his glass around.

I glanced down at my slightly shaky hands and noted the nervous twisting of my stomach.

"I would be lying if I said I was holding up just fine," I replied softly, the corner of my mouth twitching up in a slight smile. Sigh, Damon did have his moments, didn't he?

Just as the vampire was about to say something else, he glanced behind me and his eyes widened slightly.

Elena's hand found my arm and squeezed it slightly.

I turned back around to face the table as the sound of a chair being scraped across the floor hit my ears. The girl from Ric's picture sat down in front of us. But... there was something different. Something missing.

"Hello Elena, Alexandria," she greeted us, casting her gaze over us.

She looked at me first, taking special note of my different eye colour. Then her gaze turned to Elena and an intrigued gleam entered her eye.

"You look just like her," she commented, with absolutely no emotion in her voice. "It's eerie."

Katherine. She's talking about Katherine. Of course it would be Katherine. She's all every single supernatural we've ever met has wanted to talk about. What's so damn special about her? I mean, I know she's pretty but come on. From what I've heard, she's a complete bitch!

... Ok, I think that I have some Katherine envy.

Not good.

Let's move on. Quickly.

Ellie and I exchanged glances.

"You've met Katherine?" my twin asked, frowning slightly as I gave her hand a squeeze.

"She found me after I turned," Isobel answered with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Genetic curiousity, I suppose. She would be fascinated by you, Elena."

Of course she would, Elena looks exactly like her. Katherine would never be interested in me. Not that I would want her to be. I didn't even want her to be interested in my twin but there wasn't anything that I could do there.

I knew that Elena was uncomfortable talking about Katherine, so I tried to change the subject.

"That necklace," I began, gesturing to the necklace hanging around Isobel's neck. The vampire focused her attention on me. "That's how you walk around in the day, yeah?"

"Katherine helped me obtain it," Isobel told me before quickly switching her gaze back to Elena.

Oh, yay, back to Katherine. The bitch.

Elena entwined her hand with mine more firmly as she asked, no demanded, "Who's our father?"

I looked at Isobel, anxiously awaiting her answer. I, too, was curious as to the identity of our father. Again, not that I cared. But I was curious. Was it someone that I knew? Or just another stranger?

"Not important," Isobel said dismissively. "He was a teenage waste of space."

Gee, thanks birth mom, for that lovely description of our birth father. We really appreciate that. Glad to know where we come from.

"A name would be nice," Ellie snapped, losing her patience. I gave her hand a firm squeeze to remind her to breathe and calm down.

"It would, wouldn't it?" our birth mother sighed. "You two ask a lot of questions."

Well, what can I say; we've always been like that. It's like being with the Riddler, as Chandler would say. We're naturally curious. My sister especially. She never let things go once they caught her interest.

"Ok then, here's another question," I started, the slightly bitchy part of me wanting to get some kind of emotion from the cold vampire in front of me. Even if it was annoyance.

"Why did you compel that man to kill himself?" Elena continued when I paused. "Right after he told us to stop looking for you."

I never did like him.

"Dramatic impact," Isobel answered casually, without a care in the world. Well, that sort of... failed. "I wish it would have been more effective."

"Does human life really mean that little to you?" I frowned at her tone. I have to say, I really wasn't liking my first impression of our birth mom. I'm sort of, almost glad that she gave us up. I dread to think what Elena and I would have turned out like if we had been raised by her.

"It's means nothing to me," Isobel corrected me, looking me dead in the eye. "It's just part of being what I am."

I shook my head fiercely as Elena snapped, "No, it's not!"

"We know other vampires," I told her as I gave Ellie's hand a squeeze. "And we know that that's not true."

"Are you talking about your sister's boyfriend over there by the pool table? Stefan Salvatore?" Isobel smirked, gesturing at the vampire in question. "Or perhaps you mean Damon Salvatore? Over there, by the bar?"

I glanced over my shoulder at Damon before looking back at Isobel. She had a gleam in her eye that I really didn't like the look of.

"Tell me, Alexandria, does Damon know how you feel about him?"

"I... I…" I stuttered before talking a deep breath and saying, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Of course you don't," Isobel smirked before looking at my sister. "I'm surprised Damon didn't fall for you, Elena."

"Look," I snapped, an ugly feeling rearing its head. "Why did you wanna meet us? Because I know that it wasn't to catch up."

I was hyper aware of the fact that Isobel almost revealed my crush on Damon. And that would have been... bad. He could never know. I wouldn't risk our friendship like that.

"Because I'm curious about you," Isobel answered, keeping her gaze on my sister.

I scoffed, "I call your bullshit."

"Ok, the real reason is this: I want what your uncle wants. Jonathon Gilbert's invention."

Ok, why do so many people want that piece of junk? It doesn't even do anything. Ok, we don't think that it does anything. But the question was, what was so important about it?

"How do you know our uncle?" Elena asked curiously as I saw her mind whirr for answers.

"I used to spend a lot of time here when I was younger," Isobel answered casually. "John had a crush on me for years. He was the first one that told me about vampires."

"So what made you want to be one?" Ellie took over the questioning as I just glared at the woman in front of me.

"It's a very long list of reasons, Elena," the vampire answered with a tired sigh. "All of which I'm sure you've thought about."

Ellie shook her head but I could see the hesitation on her face.

"That was your first lie," Isobel remarked, the corners of her mouth twitching in a smirk. "It's inevitable, you're going to get old, Stefan won't."

I saw Elena glance over at her boyfriend. I glanced at Damon to see him watching with a frown.

"Forever doest last very long when you're human."

Ellie looked at our birth mom, a subtle anger in her eyes. And I knew that this conversation would soon be over.

"I'm sorry," she said sarcastically. "But we don't have what you're looking for."

My twin looked at me and I nodded.

Time to get outta here.

We stood up and went to leave. Well, we would have left, but a strong hand gripped my wrist, squeezing it until the point of pain. I gasped slightly before whimpering.

"Sit down or I break her arm," Isobitch threatened, squeezing my wrist even harder. I felt something give way in my wrist and I fell back in my seat. There was a fuzziness in my head as my stomach rolled. It took a lot of effort to not pass out. "And tell your Salvatore's to walk away."

I looked up to see Damon halfway towards us with Stefan approaching from the other side. As my sister sat down, Elena nodded at Stefan, silently telling him that it was alright. I looked at Damon. There was fury in his eyes which were locked on Isobel's hand which was still gripping my wrist. It took a moment, but I managed to catch his gaze.

"I'm ok," I spoke, trying to ignore the pain, before glancing at the door. "Go check on Ric."

Damon opened his mouth to argue but I silently begged him. He stared deep into my eyes before sighing and striding from the room. I knew that if he stayed in here right now, heads would roll.

"Good," Isobel smirked as my wrist throbbed. "Now, I want the invention."

"How many times do we have to tell you?" I growled out as I ruthlessly paused back the nausea. "We don't have it."

"I know that," birth mom rolled her eyes. "But Damon does and you're going to get it from me."

I honestly didn't know who she was talking about with that demand. Was it me or was it my sister?

"He's not going to give it to us," Elena scoffed as she let me squeezer her hand tightly.

"He may not give it to you, Elena, but he will give it Alexa."

I frowned around the fuzziness, "What do you mean by that?"

"You'll find out soon. But I want that invention."

"Well, Damon's not gonna give it to me."

"Then the blood will be on your hands," Isobel countered casually as she finally released my wrist. I immediately pulled my arm away and to my chest. My wrist throbbed in time with my heartbeat.

Our birth mom stood up and walked away.

"It was nice to meet you Elena, Alexandria," she said over her shoulder. I stared at her back for a long moment before turning to look at Ellie. The tears that were forming in my eyes were also forming in hers.

"She's our birth mom?" I whispered, gripping tightly onto Elena's hand which had never left mine.

How can that woman be our birth mom? How can someone so cruel and heartless have brought us into this world? What the hell happened to her?

"This changes nothing, Lexa," Ellie whispered fiercly. "Miranda Gilbert is our mother. Not that... that..."

"Heartless bitch?"

"That's one way of putting it."

I glanced over my twin's shoulder, "Stefan's waiting for you."

Ellie nodded before pulling me into a tight hug. One that I gratefully returned. I clung tightly onto my twin and buried my head into her shoulder as I tried to push back the tears. That bitch didn't deserve them.

We reluctantly pulled apart and stood up.

"I'm not the only one with someone," Elena said, gesturing behind me.

I frowned. Uh, what? I turned to see my Tyler standing a few feet away from me with a worried look on his face.

Elena squeezed my hand one last time before letting go. I nodded at her before walking those few feet and throwing myself into Tyler's arms. I buried my face in the crook of his neck as I carefully held my wrist between our bodies.

"I saw Damon Salvatore outside," Ty said softly into my ear. "He said that you would need me."

"I just met my birth mom," I mumbled softly. Tyler knew all about me and Elena being adopted. I had told him when we fixed our friendship.

"How did it go?"

I shook my head. I wasn't sure if I couldn't give an answer to that, or if I just didn't want to. Tyler just tightened his grip, silently understanding.

XXX

The children stood in a line and stared at the spot where the ball had disappeared.

"Now what?" Alexa asked, looking up at the oldest member of the group.

"Now someone goes in and gets it back," Luke replied confidently.

"Well who's gonna go get in?" the girl questioned, unaware that her friends had all turned to look at her.

"Well, Alex," Tyler smirked, putting his arm around her shoulder. "Why don't you go and get it?"

"What?" Alexa whined, pouting up at her friend. "Why do I have to go?"

"Because we decided that you should be the one to go," Jazz grinned from behind Tyler's back.

"Why can't Mattie get it?"

"You would make me go and get it, would you Alexa?" Matt asked softly with his big blue eyes.

Alexa pouted and crossed her arms. Her friends just put on their most pitiful looks as she looked between them.

"Fine!" she gave in, throwing her arms in the air. "I'll go."

The girl dramatically stalked into the trees.

XXX

Damon's POV

I smirked at Isobel's delectable little human. Her lingerie left nothing to the imagination. Nor did the bite marks adorning her body.

"Oh oh Cherie," I smirked, placing my cards on the table, having let her 'win' the previous round. "You won again. I hope I'm wearing my good underwear."

I slowly stood up and removed my belt. The human's eyes were transfixed upon me. I locked eyes with her as I unzipped my fly. I could hear her heart thudding away as she licked her lips.

The sound of the door opening drew our attention to the front door.

Well, well, well, look who had finally arrived.

"It's just one blast from the past after another," Isobel smirked as she walked towards us, taking off her coat as she did so.

I zipped back up with a smirk as the younger vampire shook her head, "No, no, no."

She glanced at Cherie, who hadn't taken her eyes off of me. Her jaw twitched in annoyance before she threw her coat to the side.

"Degage Cherie," Isobel ordered her little human, keeping her tone soft. Cherie stood up and reluctantly moved her gaze from my shirtless torso. I waved mockingly at the human as she left the room.

"It's good to see you, Isobel," I smirked as I slipped my shirt back on. "I was just having fun with your naughty little minion."

"How did you find me?" Isobel asked curiously. Tut tut Isobel, surely you know me better than that?

I sped over to the younger vampire and answered, "Searched the neighbourhood for bank owned foreclosures and found the most expensive one."

"Oh I should have known," the vampire rolled her eyes. "You're the one who taught me that."

I smirked as she remembered.

"What are you really doing here, Damon?"

"Well you caused quite a stir, blowing into town like you did. Saw everyone except for the man who made you." I leaned in closer. "I'm a little hurt."

"I'm so sorry," Isobel apologized mockingly before she gripped my hair and yanked my head to the side. "Did you bring the device?"

Haha, does the baby vampire honestly think that she can overpower me? That barely even hurt. I bared my teeth at the younger vampire and she got the hint. Isobel let go of my hair and sped away to the other side of the room.

"Heh, ow," I mock pouted, rubbing the back of my head. "What are you doing with John Gilbert?"

"We dated a few times when we were young. He was a little bit in love with me."

Oh? Really now? Well that's interesting. And adds the last piece of the puzzle.

"I'm sure, one of the many," I said, moving closer to the younger vampire. "Now, this little invention, what do you want with it?"

"Oh, me personally?" Isobel passed me a glass of wine, trying to distract me. Without breaking eye contact, I put the wine down on the table and moved closer so that I was right in front of the female. "I don't want anything with it. I'm just doing what I'm told."

I put my fingers under her chin and tilted her head up. She looked up at me with a deceptively innocent gaze.

"You know, Damon, we're on the same side."

"Oh yeah?" I scoffed slightly as I tightened my grip on her chin. "And what side is that?"

"Katherine's."

I dropped my fingers in shock as Isobel's cupped my face, "She wants John Gilbert to have the device and I think that you know that she's not happy when she doesn't get what she wants."

Her hands slowly moved until they were resting on the sides of my neck. I growled and shoved her hands off. My mind buzzed as I tried to put it all together. What was the endgame here?

"Why are you doing her dirty work?" I asked sharply as Isobel slowly moved away.

"Don't kill the messenger," Isobel deflected as she moved around the room. "We both know that you can't control Katherine. She does what she wants."

I scoffed, "So do I."

"Oh really Damon? You do?"

Isobel sped forward until she was only a hair breadth away. I gripped her wrists and her face tilted up towards mine. I could see what she wanted before she even opened her mouth.

"What should we do now?" she whispered, her eyes flickering down to my lips.

I laughed softly before capturing her lips with mine. She eagerly responded. But her kiss did... nothing for me. What can I say? She just didn't do it for me this time. She did nothing for me. And now she was distracted.

I spun around and slammed her down on the ground, my hand around her neck.

"Now that I have your attention," I growled, glaring down at the woman. "Listen up! You do not come into my town; threaten the people I care about. Going after the girls? Going after Alexa? Bad move."

The hand that I had around her neck tightened in anger and Isobel chocked slightly. The image of the vivid red mark on Alexa's wrist flashed through my mind. The bitch had fractured her wrist. Elena had texted me from the hospital while they gave Alexa a cast.

"You leave Alexa and Elena alone or I will rip you to bits because I do believe in killing the messenger. You know why?" I leaned down and snarled in her ear, "Because it sends a message."

I slammed the vampire's head down on the floor, causing her to cry out.

"Katherine wants something from me? You tell that little bitch to come get it herself."

I slammed her head again for good measure before getting up and leaving the house.

XXX

Alexa wandered through the trees.

"Ball?" the girl called as her eyes scanned the ground. "Oh ball?"

She was so focused on looking for the ball that she didn't see the tree right in front of her until it was too late.

"Ow!" she cried out in pain as she put her hand over the graze on her cheek and forehead. Her eyes watered as the grazes stung.

"Stupid tree," the girl muttered as she kicked the bottom of the tree. "Stupid ball. Stupid Matt."

Alexa resumed her search for the ball as she rubbed the tears from her eyes.

"Mattie couldn't have kicked it this far... could he?" the girl asked herself as she saw how far into the woods she had walked.

The sound of a stick snapping echoed through the trees.

Alexa gasped and spun around, looking for the source of the noise.

"Hello?" she called warily, glancing around. "Elena? Luke? Tyler? Mattie?"

Her questions ended in a squeak.

"Ok Alexa, no need to freak out, everything's ok," the girl whispered to herself as she kept walking.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the shadow of a person, a woman. She turned with a gasp, only to see no one there.

"Ok, that's weird."

Alexa stared at the space where she thought that she saw the person before shrugging and turning around.

Only to see a woman standing in front of her.

XXX

Alexa's POV

"Alexa!"

At the sound of my twin's voice, I smiled at Tyler and spun around to face her.

"Hey Ellie," I grinned at her before giving her a hug. It was hard, with the cast, but I managed. Of course, the pain meds that I was on helped a lot too. They made things the right amount of fuzzy and so I was able to enjoy the day a bit better.

"Lexa, have you seen Stefan?" she asked as she returned the hug.

"Hmmm, no, I can't say that I have," I frowned as I pulled back. "Tyler, have you seen him?"

"Nope," Tyler replied as he concentrated on my cast.

We were all once again at school. But this time, we were building the floats. How... fun. Tyler had just had a bit of a bad conversation with Mattie, who was still mad at him. So had come to seek comfort from his amazing adopted sister. Who is just so amazing and wonderful. So I put him to work decorating my cast. Jeremy had started it last night. He had been a bit off lately but he was worried enough that he pushed past all of that. And I told him to start decorating the cast that I now had to wear. Courtesy of my bitch of a birth mom.

I scanned the crowd, looking for our dear bunny eating vampire. But I couldn't see him anywhere. Which meant that I had to get up. Ugh. Luckily Ty had finished his section of the cast. He put away his markers with a sigh as he rolled his eyes at my head pat.

"Let's go find him," I smiled at Elena. "Bye Ty."

"See you later Alex," my Ty smiled at me before leaving, tucking his markers into his bag.

"How's Tyler doing?" my twin asked me as we made our way through the crowd of people.

"Matt's still mad at him," I answered. "And, well, it's killing him. Tyler needs his best guy friend back."

"I'm sure Matt will forgive him soon."

"Hopefully."

"And how is your wrist doing?" Ellie glanced down at it with a guilty look.

I rolled my eyes and poked her cheek, "It's doing great. Pain killers are actually the best. So don't go feeling guilty."

"I should have done something to stop her," my twin looked at me with her big brown eyes.

I sighed, "Look, neither one of us expected her to actually break my wrist. And there was nothing that you could have done. So stop it."

Elena opened her mouth to argue but she was interrupted by a shout.

"Elena! Alexa!"

Gee, I'm so popular today. We turned around to see our dear baby brother Jeremy striding towards us.

"Hello Jer-Bear," I beamed up at the kid as he gave me a nod in return.

"Hey, have you seen Stefan?" Elena asked him. "I need to find him."

"No, not lately," Jeremy answered quickly. "Listen, do you have a second."

"For you my darling Jeremy, we will always have a second," I said, patting his shoulder. "So what's up? What's going on in the life of Jeremy Grayson Gilbert?"

"Well, its Anna," Jeremy confessed as he avoided Elena's gaze. "I've left her all these messages and she hasn't gotten back to me, not even a text."

Oh. Girl trouble. He would be better off talking to Elena about all of that shdang. Especially right now. I was not very good at giving relationship advice. And with the pain meds in my system, I was having trouble keeping on one topic of conversation. It took a lot of effort and I was very easily distracted.

"Anna?" Ellie frowned as Jer glanced over before quickly looking back at me. "I didn't know that you guys were still friends." Uh, Elena, I think that they're slightly more than friends. Like a lot more. Disgustingly more. "We're more than friends." See, told ya. "Look, something could be seriously wrong and if you know anything you've got to tell me."

"I haven't seen her in ages, Jer," I told him as I admired the new addition to my cast. I hadn't seen Anna since I helped her rescue her mom from the tomb. I still hadn't told anyone that I had donated my blood to the rescue. How I kept it hidden, I do not know. But somehow, I got lucky.

"I haven't talked to her, Jer," Ellie told him.

Jeremy squinted at her suspiciously, "Are you lying to me right now?"

Uh, why would he think that? That was a bit of an out there accusation.

"Jeremy, why would you ask that?" I asked my brother, taking hold of Elena's hand. I just knew that whatever it was that had been bothering Jer was about to come blurting out.

"Because that's what she does," Jeremy snapped. "She lies." He turned his attention to Elena. "You lie about everything. I know what you were going to do to me the night that Vicki died. And I know that you would do it again."

Well shit. That wasn't good. Jeremy was never supposed to know that Elena would have had him compelled. Like that was a secret that we were supposed to take to our graves. So how did the kid know? And how could I stop this from destroying their relationship?

"So tell me, do either of you have any idea where she is?"

"Jeremy, I swear to you, I don't," I told him, reaching out a hand to try and calm him down.

"No," Elena shook her head. "But Jer."

Jeremy scoffed and walked away before she could finish.

"Jeremy! Wait!" Ellie called after him.

"God, what crawled up his ass and died?" I frowned as I watched him pull out his phone. How dare he talk to Elena like that. The little brat! He could be angry at her but he couldn't treat her like that. We've discussed handling situations like this calmly. If he wasn't able to do that, then he should have spoken to me first.

"Kids these days," I muttered as I shook my head and took a step backwards only to crash into someone.

"Oh my god, I'm so sor..." I trailed off as I saw exactly who I had crashed into. And it was someone that I had never wanted to see again.

"Isobel!" I gasped, stumbling back. Is this bitch stalking us or something? I automatically pulled my bad arm to my chest to try and protect it. I wouldn't put it past this bitch to try and hurt it again.

That caught Elena's attention as she spun around.

"What are you doing here?" my twin demanded as she grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the vampire. I went willingly and huddled into her side.

"I'm your mother," Isobel frowned at the question. "I want to be more involved in both of your lives."

"Well, what if we don't want you in our lives?" I snapped as I slipped my arm around Elena's waist and gripped on to her tightly.

"I understand that," Isobel nodded as she looked around. "You already have a lot people that you care about." A shiver of dread went down my spine. Oh crap, this isn't good. Definitely not good. "But you see, I've been studying. Let's see if I got this right."

The bitch looked at Bonnie who was walking past.

"There is the witchy best friend of Elena's, Bonnie. Gonna stay away from that one."

She looked over at our Jeremy who was on his phone.

"Oh, sad little brother Jeremy."

Then she turned to look at my Tyler who was talking to a couple of boys.

"Alexa's best friend and older brother figure, Tyler."

Her attention turned to Caroline who was helping preparing a float while chatting happily.

"And there's Caroline. Obnoxious Caroline. I got all of my info from her, by the way. She had no idea who I was and yet she wouldn't stop yapping."

"Don't talk about her like that!" I growled in defence of my friend. Caroline did have a brain to mouth filter problem at times. But she was important to me and I wouldn't have this bitch talk bad about her.

Isobel smirked at me before looking at Mattie.

"And there's Matt. Friend, ex, Tyler's friend, yappy's future ex. Lots of connections there."

"Matt is not involved in this," Elena snapped as she took a step forward.

"He's involved with you, isn't he?" Isobel countered, not taking her gaze off of him.

"That means nothing, you bitch!" I spat, stepping forward to join my sister. "You shouldn't even fucking be here!"

"You need to leave!" Elena backed me up as I hid my bad arm behind her back.

"No," Isobel disagreed sharply. "Because, you see, I have some friends here too."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, suspicion clear in my tone. I really wasn't in the mood for this bitch, as you could probably tell. Even doped up on pain meds, I couldn't stand her.

Isobel rolled her eyes and pointed to a man dressed in cowboy gear that was standing near Mattie, "You see that man over there, standing next to Matt by the float? His name is Frank, he's very handsome and he's also quite handy and he noticed that the axles are a little rusty, which is very dangerous."

Isobel smirked as Ellie and I exchanged looks, and raised her voice slightly, "So, all you have to do is apply a little bit of pressure and..."

"No!" Elena exclaimed, realising what Isobel's intention was.

The asshole, Frank, jumped on the trailed that Matt was working on. Matt cried out in pain as his arm was trapped underneath. I don't think I could ever forget the sound he made as his arm was hurt.

"Matt!" I yelled as Elena and I took a step forward. But Isobel grabbed our arms to stop us. I had to stop myself from panicking as I flashed back to when she grabbed my arm yesterday. Luckily this grip was a lot looser. Not loose enough that I could get free, but she wasn't looking to hurt me this time.

"Get this trailer off!" Matt shouted in desperation. "Come on guys! Help me!"

Tyler ran forward with a group of boys, all of them trying to move the trailer. I watched as they all hefted. Ty alternated between yelling at the group to lift and reassuring Matt.

"C'mon, Tyler, c'mon," I mumbled, clutching my bad arm to my chest.

It wasn't until Stefan arrived to help, that the trailer was moved. Matt fell back as Tyler dropped down to his side. As Caroline rushed over to her boyfriend, we turned to face Isobel.

"Why are you doing this?" Elena asked, her voice thick with a sad kind of anger. Even after yesterday, I think Ellie expected different from our birth mom. I knew that she was beyond redemption. But my sister still hoped.

"I'm showing you how easy it is to hurt the people that you care about," Isobel replied coldly, shattering my sister's dreams.

"You're doing all of this just because of Jonathon Gilbert's invention?!" I exclaimed angrily as I saw Ty and Care usher Matt to Tyler's car.

What's so important about that damn invention? Why did she want it so much?

"Hand it over and all of this will stop," Isobitch said. The boredom in her tone was destroying the last of my patience.

"I told you, Damon isn't gonna give that damn invention to me!" I snapped, desperation in my voice as she continued to scan the crowd.

"I think that you underestimate how much Damon cares about you," Isobel sighed in disappointment.

I gaped at her, unable to think of something to that.

"Damon will kill you before he gives it up," Elena told the vampire, saving me from replying.

"Is that before or after I kill your brother Jeremy?" the bitch smirked as she glanced at something behind us.

"What?" I squeaked in panic before spun around to look where Jeremy was. But he wasn't there.

"Jeremy?!" I shouted desperately, frantically looking around.

"Jeremy?"

"Jeremy?!"

She'd taken Jeremy.

That bitch had taken our baby brother.

XXX

Alexa squealed as she stumbled back a few feet and fell over.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to surprise you," the woman said with a small smile.

The girl stared at the strange woman with fear in her eyes. Her heart pounded; her breaths came in short gasps.

"Who are you?" she squeaked.

"My name is Isobel."

XXX

We had once again taken over Alaric's classroom. Bonnie sat at one of the student desks while Elena had claimed Ric's desk with Stefan standing next to her. They had quickly ran over at our shouts. Stefan had ushered us to somewhere more private while Bonnie followed. Elena explained what had happened while I clung on to her in panic. I just couldn't process that Isobel had taken my baby brother to use as leverage. That was it. She was dead to me now. There was no way that she could come back from that.

I was pacing from one end of the classroom to the other. Frustration, fear and anger boiled inside of me. My baby brother had been taking by a emotionless psychopathic vampire bitch. And I was powerless to help him. I needed to save him but what could I do?

"Where is the device?" Bonnie asked, ever the voice of reason and calm.

"Damon has it," Stefan told her before he looked at my sister. "And he's going to be difficult to reason with."

"I don't care," I snapped before my sister could answer. "I'll talk to him, reason with him somehow."

This was on me to get. Isobel seemed to think that Damon would give it to me. I didn't know her reasoning but either way, she would end up being right. I would get Damon to give it to me. He was my friend and he would help me save my brother. He would do that for me.

"He's not gonna just hand it over," Stefan repeated, gently grabbing my arm. "Especially if it's harmful to vampires."

"Pish posh, I'll make him hand it over," I waved off his concerns as I itched to continue pacing. Just moving around was doing something to soothe the panic raging inside of me.

"But what if it's not?" Elena suddenly spoke, drawing everyone's attention to her.

We looked at her in confusement, waiting for her to elaborate.

"What if it's not harmful to vampires?" she continued as she turned to look at Bonnie.

"Twin, what are you thinking?" I asked, a smirk dancing around my lips.

XXX

"Isobel?" Alexa repeated. "That's a pretty name."

"Thank you," the woman smiled as she crouched down. "What's your name, little one?"

"Alexandria, but everyone calls me Alexa," the girl replied.

"Hello Alexa."

"Hello Isobel."

Isobel looked at their surroundings.

"What are you doing out here, Alexa?" she asked.

"Me and my friends were playing football," Alexa explained, scuffing her foot on the floor. "And one of them kicked the ball in here."

"It must have been a very powerful shot for it to have landed this far into the trees."

"It's more powerful than I thought it was."

"Do you want me to help you look for it?"

"Really? Thank you!"

The two walked in silence for a few minutes before Alexa piped up.

"Hey, Isobel, were you following me earlier?"

"No, why do you ask?"

"No reason, I just saw a woman watching me just before I met you."

"I wasn't following you, Alexa."

"Ok, Isobel," Alexa paused for a moment before blurting out. "Why are you in the woods?"

"I was waiting to meet you."

"What? Why?"

Fear was clear in the girl's tone.

"Because I'm your mother."

XXX

"Absolutely not!" Damon scoffed when we told him our plan. Stefan, Elena, Bonnie and I had gone to the Salvatore Boarding House to meet with the older vampire. Elena and Stefan had explained their idea while I hung around in the background. I had started chewing my nails, which was a terrible habit, but with my arm in a cast, it was hard to keep my hands busy.

"Look, Damon, just hear us out," I pleaded with the vampire as he kept batting away Elena and Stefan's protests.

"I'm not gonna give the device to Isobel so she could give it John who is going to turn it on and kill me," Damon argued, giving me a slightly apologetic look. "I like being a living dead person."

"But it'll be useless," Elena spoke up, gesturing to our witchy friend. "Bonnie can take its power away."

The vampire glanced at the witch. Bonnie held his gaze, a challenging look on her face. Well, that definitely wasn't going to help change Damon's mind.

"I don't trust her," Damon smirked at Bonnie, returning her challenging look.

Bonnie rolled her eyes and stepped forward, "I can remove the original spell."

"And the best part is," I started, drawing Damon's attention back to me.

"John and Isobel will ever know," Elena finished for me, her eyes wide with desperation. This was our one shot. It was the only way to save our brother.

"No, I'll get Jeremy back in my own way," Damon argued, shaking his head. He sure was adamant about not giving up that blasted invention.

"Really?" Stefan scoffed at his brother. "How are you going to do that? Because Isobel is a vampire and Jeremy could be dead the second you walk in the door."

Damon glared at his brother before turning to look at the witch. If Isobel wasn't a vampire, then I would have sent Damon in there straight away. There would have been no negotiating. But even with his speed, Jeremy would be in danger if Damon went in there. And I couldn't put my brother in any more danger. It was our fault that he had been taken in the first place.

"Are you even up for this?" he asked her. "I mean no offense, you're no Emily Bennett. Emily knew what she was doing."

Ooh, cheap shot Damon. Cheap, cheap shot. And we didn't have time for cheap shots right now.

"I've been practicing," Bonnie told him, not backing down.

"It's not piano lessons, honey," Damon smirked, looking for a reaction. Bon-Bon stood up and walked a couple of steps closer to the vampire.

"What's your favourite book?" she asked with a hard look. Bonnie, is this really the time to ask questions like that? If you wanna get to know him better, pick a better time. Like seriously. I wanted to reduce the amount of time that my brother was around my bitch of a birth mom.

"What?" Damon exchanged a look with his brother.

"Name a book, any book," Bonnie demanded with a roll of her eyes.

"Name a book," Damon paused in thought before saying, "How about 'Call of the Wild' by Jack London?"

'Call of the Wild'?

Never heard of it. Wonder if it's a good book. Nope, not important right now.

The witch turned around and gazed intently at the Salvatore book collection. After a few seconds, a book shot off of a shelf and into the air. Damon caught it and looked at the cover.

"Jack London," he mused, looking at Stefan before chucking the book to the side.

Cool trick Bonnie. Now get me my brother back.

"Great parlor trick," Damon smirked at the witch.

I rolled my eyes and decided to properly intervene before any more time was wasted, "Look, Damon, we're gonna do this. And, seeing as thought it's our brother, we're gonna do it mine and Elena's way. I would love for you to support us and help us but we will be doing it either way. Now, please, give me the device."

"Damon, we're wasting time that Jeremy might not have," Ellie added as Damon stared down at me. He didn't look away for a few seconds before sighing and releasing me from his gaze.

"I don't trust you," the older vampire stated, looking at Bonnie. "I tried to kill you."

"You're right, you can't trust me," Bon-Bon shrugged. Guys. Focus please. My baby brother is in danger. We don't have time for this.

I stepped forward and placed my hands on Damon's shoulders. I tried to convey everything I was feeling through my voice. I saw Damon glance down at my cast before he looked at me.

"You may not be able to trust her," I said softly. "But you can trust me. I won't let this hurt you, I promise."

Damon stared me straight in the eye. I stared back, showing him the sincerity of my words. You can trust me Damon. I promise.

The vampire sighed softly before taking the Gilbert Invention out of his pocket. He removed one of my hands from his shoulder before placing the invention in it. As I wrapped my fingers around the device, Damon covered my closed fist with his hand. My skin tingled at his touch but I refused to let myself enjoy it.

"Thank you," I whispered, looking up into his eyes.

As Bonnie set up what she needed for her spell, I stood to the side with Damon.

"You better not make me regret this," the vampire said, glancing down at me. Same here. I couldn't break his trust twice. I just couldn't. I mean, neither of those times were in my control but still, I couldn't let it happen again. It was so hard for Damon to trust people, I couldn't keep breaking it, accidentally or not.

"Well, Elena trusts Bonnie. And I trust Elena. And I trust Bonnie," I told Damon. "So she'll do this for us."

"And if she doesn't?"

"She'll find out why it's dangerous to mess around with the people that I care about." I took a deep breath. "But she's our friend, so she'll do this."

We watched as Bonnie removed a part of the device. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, her hands clenching and unclenching. Using her witchy mojo, she made the little metal component levitate.

The candles flared, making me jump. Then the lights started then the fire in the hearth flared.

Right, that's it. I entwined my arms with one of Damon's and clung onto it. I don't know why, but witchy mojo really freaked me out. Give me a vampire and I would be fine. Well, not fine, but you know what I mean. But witchy mojo creeped the bejesus outta me. Weird or what? I think it's because I was more used to vampire shenanigans. With witches, they were still relatively new. And… I dunno, it was just all weird.

As the lights and fires returned to normal, Bonnie looked at Elena and announced, "Done."

I didn't bother removing my arms from Damon, instead, I just rested my head on his shoulder.

"Great," Damon deadpanned as we all stared at the device as Bonnie put it back to together. "Now what?"

Bonnie placed the device in Elena's hand as I answered, "Now we give it to Isobitch."

XXX

"My mother?" Alexa gasped, stumbling back. "You're not my mother."

"Yes, Alexa, I am," Isobel assured the girl as she reached out to steady her.

Alexa shook her head fiercely, "No, my mum is Miranda Gilbert who is sitting in the park."

"Alexa, you and Elena were adopted."

"No we weren't!" Alexa exclaimed, shaking her head. "We weren't! We weren't! We weren't!"

"Alexa, why would I lie?"

"Because you're a mean stranger!"

Isobel reached out to touch the girl, "Alexa."

"No!" she screeched, jumping away. "Don't touch me!"

XXX

You can do this, Alexa. You can do this. Just give the bitch the invention, get Jeremy back and leave.

Simple.

"Relax, Lexa," Ellie soothed, taking my good hand in hers. "Everything will turn out fine."

"Right, ok, sure, I know, it will," I rambled slightly. "Everything's gonna be fine."

"Trust me?"

"Always."

There was a rush of air and we turned around to see Isobel standing behind us in the town square. It was late enough that the square was empty. Everyone was either at home or in the Grill. And it was cold enough that not many people would willingly be wandering round.

"Where is the device?" the vampire asked without preamble.

"Where is our brother?" Elena countered sharply as she squeezed my hand.

"This isn't a negotiation," Isobitch snapped. "Where is the invention?"

"You're right, this isn't a negotiation," I smirked, putting on my brave face. "So where is our brother?"

I used my amazing ability to ignore and deny the danger to bury my worry and fear. I needed to be strong for this. Elena couldn't handle this on her own. She needed her twin to support her. And I needed to ignore my fear in order to do that.

"Do you really think that I came alone?" Isobel asked, gesturing behind us. We looked around to see the asshole who hurt Matt and some woman walked up behind us.

Silly goose.

Of course we knew that you wouldn't come alone. Which is why...

"Did you really think that we came alone?" Ellie shot back, gesturing to the other side of the square.

Damon and Stefan walked up behind Isobel. Haha, our backup beats hers.

"Now, I do believe that we asked you a question," I said, clenching my fist. Which I probably shouldn't do since the wrist was broken. But that was the beauty of pain meds.

"For god sake, call home," Isobel sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Come again?" I frowned, glancing at my sister.

"Call home and ask to speak to your brother," birth mom repeated.

Elena and I exchanged confused glances before she pulled her phone out of her pocket. I glared at Isobel as I moved closer to my twin so that I could also hear.

"Hello?" Jeremy answered the call. I closed my eyes in relief at the sound of my brother's voice. He's safe. He's safe. He's safe.

"Jeremy, are you ok?" Elena asked, relief clear in her voice.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, Uncle John hit his head. Thanks to your birth mom," Jeremy answered.

"And we're all laughing!" we heard Aunt Jenna say. Well, nice to know that Jenna would never change. Even when John got his ass handed to him by a vampire, Jenna would still laugh over it.

"Jeremy, are you sure?" I asked, just to make sure. I had to make sure. "Tell me the truth."

"Alexa, I'm fine."

"Good," I sighed, resting my head on Elena's shoulder. Well, at least I don't have to kill my vampire of a birth mom for killing my brother.

"We'll be home soon, ok?" Elena told our baby brother.

"Yeah."

Elena ended the call and we turned to look at our birth mother. She looked bored and that just pissed me off.

"You were never gonna hurt him," Ellie stated, looking at the vampire in front of us with hope in her eyes.

"No, I was gonna kill him," Isobel corrected her. "Don't look for any redeeming qualities in me, I don't have any."

You can say that again, bitch. I honestly wasn't surprised by her words. I had given up on looking for anything if value in our birth mom. She wasn't worth it.

"But you took a massive risk with Damon," I frowned. I deliberately kept my eyes on my birth mom and avoided Damon's gaze. "How you could possibly know that he would give the invention to me?"

"Because he's in love with you," was Isobel's reply.

I froze.

What?

He's in love with me? Damon's in love with me? Damon, who was in love with Katherine for 145 years, was in love with me? What? Why? How? What?! No, she's wrong. She had to be wrong. Damon was not in love with me.

Isobel held out her hand, silently demanding the invention. Elena took charge and removed the invention from my pocket while I was still frozen in shock from Isobel's words.

She slapped it into Isobel's hand and said, "Thank you."

We all looked at her in confusion.

"For what?" Isobitch asked as I moved to stand next to my twin.

"For being such a monumental disappointment," my twin answered, her voice hard and gaze sharp. "It keeps the memory of our real mother perfectly intact."

I smirked at my twin as I slipped my hand into her's. Elena had some truly awesome comebacks, sometimes. And her viciousness made me proud.

"Goodbye Elena, Alexandria," Isobel didn't even try and make a comment about that epic put down by my twin. "As long as you both have a Salvatore on your arm, you're doomed."

Elena and I glanced at each other before we glanced at our Salvatore boys.

"Katherine was smart, she got out. But we all know that neither of you are Katherine."

I snapped.

"Good!" I snarled into the vampire's face. "We wouldn't wanna be like Katherine anyway. She's a spoilt, selfish, heartless little bitch who takes pleasure in hurting others and destroying families. So saying that we're not like Katherine? That's a compliment of the highest fucking order!"

I glared into my birth mother's shocked face.

"Goodbye Isobel," I spat, wanting to get this monster out of our lives. She had brought nothing but misery to us since she returned. And I hated her. She hurt me; she would have hurt my brother. She was worth nothing to me.

Isobitch just looked at us before walking past us and leaving.

You know what, I'm glad that she gave us up for adoption. Miranda was a much better mother than she could ever be. I dread to think what I would have turned out like if I had been raised by her.

I released the breath that I didn't know that I was holding. I honestly expected her to attack me for that. All of it just came pouring out; I didn't even know that I felt like that. But I was glad to get it off my chest.

I glanced at Elena only to see her in Stefan's arms. I nodded at the bunny eater, giving him a small smile. He was good for her and I was glad that she had him.

I then glanced behind Stefan to look at the vampire that I had sort of claimed as mine. He looked... I don't know how he looked. But I know what I needed.

Slowly walking over to the vampire, I stood in front of him and looked into his eyes. Damon understood what I wanted, no, needed, and opened his arms. I gratefully stepped into them and was soon enveloped in his warmth. I rested my head against his chest.

I don't care what Isobel said. She was probably stirring trouble. Damon loved Katherine, he loved Elena. He could never love me. Why would he ever want to love me?

No, until I heard the words from Damon's mouth, I won't believe it.

XXX

"Alexa, calm down," Isobel firmly ordered the girl.

"Calm down?!" Alexa shrieked. "You just lied to me and said that you were my mother!"

"But I am your mother."

"No you're not."

"I was young, only 16. I was scared and alone."

"Nu uh, not listening."

"Alexa, I had to give you up. I didn't want to, but I had to."

"My mother is Miranda Gilbert-Sommers," Alexa snarled at the woman. "She will always be my mother. Not you. Never you."

"Then you leave me with no choice," Isobel said sadly before disappearing.

XXX

When Stefan dropped us off home, Elena decided that it would be a good time to confront Jeremy. I had tried to persuade her otherwise, but once my idiot twin had made her mind up, nothing could change it.

"What do you think Anna told him?" Ellie mused aloud as we walked up the stairs. We had, of course, taken special care to avoid Uncle Jackass. Luckily for us, he had gone to bed early.

"Dunno, but whatever it is, it's not good," I sighed. Somehow Anna had found out that Elena was planning on compelling Jeremy that night. How she found out, I had no idea. But now it was up to me to do damage control.

Elena entered our brother's room through their adjoining bathroom while I entered through the main door. Right, lets see what's bothering our little brother.

"Jeremy, we have to talk about all this," Ellie started, her hands shaking slightly with nerves. I sighed and walked over to my twin. My sweet Elena was rather nervous about confronting Jeremy. Understandably so, seeing as though she was the one that he was mad at earlier.

"No, we really don't," Jeremy dismissed her rudely, not even looking up from his game.

"Jeremy!" I snapped, drawing his attention. "We have to discuss this and you know it."

I looked at Ellie and nodded at her to continue.

Elena hesitated before sighing, "I don't know what Anna told you, but there are things that you need to know."

"Yeah?" Jeremy scoffed as he stood up to face us. "Because I'm pretty sure that your journal covered it."

He read her journal?

He read her journal?!

How dare he!

That was an invasion of privacy that could not be forgiven. Journals were private. And Jeremy found Elena's and read it?

"You read my journal?" Elena gasped in shock as she exchanged a look with me.

Jeremy snorted and scoffed, "And save me the speech about invasion of privacy because I read a section about you asking Damon erasing my memory of what happened to Vicki. And how unhappy you were with Alexa when she stopped it."

I closed my eyes. I had tried so hard to make sure that he never found out Elena's intentions that night. I had made sure he had a choice but that he never knew that it was nearly taken from him. It was all going so well. I never wanted Jeremy to find out about it. Let alone like this. But something must have compelled him to go looking for answers. Whether it was something Anna said or a different reason entirely, Jeremy knew that something was wrong.

"Jeremy, Lexa, you have to understand," Ellie begged, desperately, trying to explain her reasoning to us. "The night that Vicki died, it was like mom and dad died all over again. It was all over your face, Jer, and it hurt so much to see you like that. I just wanted to take away your pain. I'm so sorry."

I could see where she was coming from. That night... seeing Jeremy like that... so soon after mom and dad, it did hurt. It had hurt me to see him like that. But I also knew that the only way Jeremy could stay safe was if he knew. And that was something Ellie had trouble understanding. She wanted to protect everyone and thought that the only way to do that was to keep this all secret from them. But I saw differently. People had to know in order to keep themselves safe. All I had to do then was stop them from getting involved.

I caught Elena's gaze and gave her a small smile, silently telling her that I understood. I understood then and I understood now.

"Get out!" Jeremy snapped viciously, pointing at the door.

Right, I needed to say something to this kid.

"Jeremy, no," Ellie begged tearfully.

I glared at the brat before turning to my twin. I gently placed a hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

"Go, I'll deal with him," I told her, brushing a lock of hair from her face with my other hand.

She nodded at me and slowly left the room. It was clear that she didn't want to leave but I managed to persuade her. Jeremy needed time to calm down. And I needed to have words with the kid in order for that to happen.

"Right, look here you little brat!" I growled, spinning around to face my brother once my sister was safely back in her room. "What Elena wanted to do may been wrong. Ok, it was wrong. But she wanted to do it to protect you. Don't you get that? Is that information not penetrating your thick skull?! You remember what happened that night, how Vicki attacked us. How she bit me, how she was going to bite you. And you were so cut up about it, I didn't know if you were going to recover. And while I took the selfish route and made you keep the memory so that you didn't blame me, Elena just wanted to protect you. Because she loves you."

"Alexa, stop," Jeremy snapped, not listening to what I was saying. "Get out."

"I suggest you apologize to Elena for your attitude towards her today. She's apologised for what she's done and she feels guilty for it."

"How would you feel if she did it to you?!"

"I would be angry, yeah, but I would listen to why she did it and try to understand. That's what family does, Jeremy, it forgives."

I shook my head at my brother and left the room, slamming the door behind me.

XXX

Alexa stood there in shock, staring at the place where Isobel once stood.

"She... she... she disappeared!" she stuttered, stumbling back. "Where'd she go? Where'd she go?"

The girl spun around, looking for any sign of the woman.

"Did I just imagine it?" she muttered, gently running a finger over the graze on her head.

"No. No." Alexa shook her head. "It was real. I could never imagine someone saying that."

The conversation that the girl had with Isobel went rushing through her mind.

"Mommy," she whimpered before turning and running back towards the park.

"I'm not adopted!" she mumbled as she ran. "I'm not adopted. I'm not adopted."

XXX

Damon's POV

Well, well, well, Saint Stefan has arrived. I was wondering what was taking him so long. He normally leapt at any opportunity to preach at me.

"Would you like one?" I asked as I poured myself a glass of scotch. I knew that he would say no.

I rolled my eyes at my brother's silence, "Say it, whatever it is, purge, get it out."

"It's about what Isobel said," my brother finally remarked. And how predictable it was.

"What about?"

It was obvious that he was talking what Isobel said to Alexa. That I loved her. How Isobel saw that I did, I don't know. But I was pissed that she blurted it out. That she was using it against the both of us.

"Well, I know that you and Alexa have bonded," Stefan explained, walking further into the room. "And I know that she cares alot about you and," here he hesitated, "I know that you care about her."

He doesn't believe what Isobel said. But then again, he doesn't think that I am capable of feeling love. I know that he expected me to fall for Elena as she was the twin that looked exactly like Katherine. But seriously, am I really that transparent? Elena may look like Katherine, but she wasn't Katherine. That was painfully obvious. But after finding out that Katherine wasn't in the tomb, that she was free all this time, I realised that I didn't need Katherine, or a Katherine lookalike. I had exactly what I needed right in front of me.

"Well, this is going in an interesting direction," I smirked, blocking my thoughts from going to unpleasant places.

"I'm just concerned about Alexa being hurt," Stefan continued, completely ignoring my comment. "She considers you to be a good friend of hers."

As if I would ever hurt Alexa. The girl doesn't make many friends, but the few friends that she does make; she relies on them for everything. She was loyal to a fault and breaking that loyalty would be sacrilege.

"Same here, Alexa is a very good friend. Actually, she may qualify as my only friend. Is that a problem?"

God help you if that is a problem, brother.

"So, at the risk of sounding like, uh, like a protective older brother-"

"Oh there's no risk," I interrupted with a smirk. "You do."

Stefan carried on, ignoring my interruption, "You will not hurt Alexa. She doesn't deserve to be hurt anymore. Do you understand what I am saying?"

I knew that Stefan was talking about how hurt she was after her blonde boyfriend's death. But I knew better than he did how hurt she was. He was only there for some of it. He didn't go to the funeral with her. He didn't hold her and comfort her when she found the bodies. He didn't deal with the nightmares and the denial. I was there for all of it.

"Sure, sure," I answered Stefan's question as I knew that he was waiting for an answer.

Saint Stefan sped forward so that he was blocking my way.

"Do you understand?" he repeated sharply.

"Whatever you say, man, I mean, honestly, we're just friends and as her friend, I really wasn't looking forward to telling her the truth anyway, so I'll let you tell her."

"What truth?" Stefan frowned at my words.

"About John. Because I know that Elena wouldn't want to keep this from her twin and you don't like to keep secrets from Elena."

"What are you talking about?"

Is he really that dim? Or is it just an act?

"Am I the only one around here who has the ability to put two and two together?! Isobel!" Nope nothing, still a blank face. "Hello? She dated John when she was 15; she gets pregnant and ends up at the doctor's office of John's brother. Now, what do you think John's role in all of this is? I mean go ahead, think about it, I'll wait."

I looked at my watch and made ticking noises. I glanced at my brother to see realisation begin to dawn.

"Did you get it? You there yet?"

"You think that John is Elena and Alexa's father?"

"Ding! Ding! Ding!"

"What proof do you have?"

"I don't need any proof. That's a DNA test for John, Alexa, Elena and Maury Povich to deal with, but I know how well you deal with these bombshells so, sleep tight."

I smirked at my brother and went to leave the room.

"Oh and when you do tell Alexa, and she needs a friend to talk to about anything, tell her that I'm here for her."

XXX

Alexa burst out of the trees, only to skid to a stop after only a few feet.

The girl looked around the field.

"NO!" she screamed as she fell to her knees.

They were all dead.

All her friends.

Her family.

Everyone that she loved and cared about were lying dead on the field.

Mrs Lockwood. Mayor Lockwood. Sheriff Forbes. Matt. Jazz. Bonnie. Caroline. Luke. Tyler. Aunt Jenna. Uncle John. Jeremy. Her mom. Her dad. Elena.

"No! No! No! No!" she sobbed into her hands. "They're not dead. They're not dead. They're not dead. They can't be dead."

She crawled over to the body of her twin.

"Ellie! Wake up! Wake up Ellie! You can't leave me."

"They're dead," a cold voice uttered from above her head.

"They can't be dead," the girl sobbed, looking up to see Isobel standing feet away from her.

"They are. And you will be too."

The veins beneath her eyes darkened until the girl could see them. Isobel opened her mouth and revealed elongated canines.

Alexa screamed as Isobel sped towards her...

I bolted up right, gasping for breath.

I scrambled to switch on a light and sighed in relief when I did.

"It was just a dream, it was just a dream, it was just a dream," I mumbled to myself.

Sweat covered my body and my covers were tangled around my legs.

"It wasn't real, Alexa. It wasn't real."

But it felt so real.

I guess I know what my subconscious thoughts about Isobel are now. Not that I was particularly surprised. I carefully slipped out of my bed and left the room. Elena's door was partially open, so I snuck in and climbed into her bed.

"You alright Lexa?" Ellie mumbled sleepily as I curled up next to her.

"Can I sleep in here with you tonight?" I asked quietly, praying she would say yes.

"Of course. Bad dream?"

I rested my head on the pillow.

"The worst."

XXX

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed! Just 2 more reviews and we hit 400! So please review :) until next time dearies xoxo