Mystic Falls, 2010.
"I HAVE A MESSAGE FROM KATHERINE."
Bella immediately stopped her activities when she caught that name through her supernatural hearing. She was at the top of Ferris Wheel on a school carnival right now, feeding on a random guy she had caught almost forced a girl to have sex with him.
She quickly sharpened her hearing and concentrated on that voice to find out the message.
"She said 'game on'."
As expected from Katherine.
Bella turned to the boy sitting next to her. His eyes were blank and his neck was wounded and covered in his own blood. She looked straight into his green eyes and muttered, "You will forget this ever happened." Wiping her own mouth with the back of her hand, she darted towards where the voice came from.
The voice apparently came from inside the school, from a certain blonde girl to be exact. The girl's name was Caroline Forbes. Bella recognized her as the sheriff's daughter. According to her source, Caroline used to be Damon's human blood bag. And it seemed that luck was never on the girl's side as she was Katherine's new minion now.
After following the other blonde for a while, Bella finally saw an opportunity to confront her as she saw Caroline walked into the bathroom. She grinned, then followed her inside.
While Caroline was too busy fixing her hair in front of the bathroom mirror, Bella quietly checked all the toilets to make sure they were completely alone. And as she found no one else there, without further ado, she asked, "What do you know about Katherine?"
Caroline's hand stopped in midair as she heard that name. Through the bathroom mirror, she looked at Bella who was standing behind her. "Excuse me?" she said, a mix of confusion and fear slowly appeared on her face.
"I'm not gonna repeat myself," Bella retorted calmly. There was a hint of danger in her tone.
Caroline forced a chuckle as she turned around to face her. "Look, I don't know who you are, but I think you got the wrong person." She started walking toward the door as she added, "I don't know anyone named Katherine, soㅡ"
But before Caroline could leave, Bella grabbed her hair first, then she threw her against the wall behind them.
"Do you really think playing dumb will save you?" she taunted as she stepped closer to Caroline who was half-lying on the floor after her body hit the wall.
Caroline groaned in pain and slowly looked up to her attacker. She began to whimper when she realized what Bella really was. "Please don't hurt me!" she begged, eyes filled with horror.
Bella tilted her head to the side and smirked. "Then answer my question."
"I don't know anything about her, okay?" She yelled in frustration. "I swear! She just told me to deliver a message to Damon and Stefan," she added, looking even more frustrated when she saw the look on Bella's face. "Game onㅡthat's the message!"
Bella rolled her eyes as she already knew that part. "Did she tell you where to find her?"
Caroline hurriedly shook her head.
Bella sighed irritably as she realized how useless that girl was. "Okay, here's what we're gonna do." She bent down to grab Caroline by her throat and forced her to her feet. "Katherine is obviously not done with you yet, so she definitely will come to you again. And when she does, I need you to do two things."
Caroline swallowed hard and asked, "What do you need me to do?"
"First, you have to tell me right away when and where," she explained while emphasizing the last three word. "And second, you're not allowed to say anything about me in front of her."
"But... I don't even know you!" Caroline remarked.
Bella let out a small chuckle. "Don't worry, cupcake," she giggled. "You'll find out soon enough." Not only she knew that Caroline was the sheriff's daughter, but she also knew that Caroline was the doppelganger's bestfriend. And since her brother was dating the doppelganger, it was only matter of time before he introduced her to them.
"Do I make myself clear?" she whispered to Caroline's ear as she tightened her grip at the girl's throat. "Because if I don't... I wouldn't mind showing you Katherine isn't the only one you have to fear."
Caroline nodded quickly. Her body trembled. Her heart was beating so fast that she was afraid to hear it herself.
"Good." Bella smiled with satisfaction, and finally let go of Caroline's throat. She took a step back and started walking away.
Her smile disappeared as soon as she realized that she still had a lot to do to beat Katherine. Threatening Caroline wouldn't help much, but it was still necessary in order to keep Katherine unaware of her plan. Katherine was somehow always one step ahead of everyone. If she wanted to beat her, she would need to be two step ahead of her.
Bella decided to go straight to home since she was no longer in the mood to enjoy the carnival. But when she arrived at home, she was startled by a stranger's presence in her living room. She knew for a fact that both Damon and Stefan were still at the carnival, so there was no way they were the ones who brought him to their house.
The stranger looked as surprised as Bella when he noticed her presence. He pulled his black hood back to reveal himself and asked, "I'm sorry, who are you?"
Bella frowned at the question. She folded her hand across her chest as she sharply replied, "I think I'm the one who should ask that question since apparently you're in my house."
"I thought this is the Salvatore's house," he replied, looking confused.
Her lips formed a flat smile as she stated, "Exactly."
The boy suddenly realized something. "Wait, so you are Damon and Stefan's relatives?"
"I'm their sister."
This was the first time in a really long time she'd introduced herself as a Salvatore. It sounded a bit weird for her, but at the same time felt so right.
"I didn't know they have a sister," he responded as he started to look at her with suspicion.
She sneered at the reaction. "Yeah, I didn't know they were hanging out with intruders either, but who cares?"
"I'm not an intruder," the boy said defensively.
"Yeah?" Bella took one step closer at the stranger while giving him an intimidating look. "Then what are you doing here?"
"Um..."
Only then did she realize what the boy had been holding the whole time they talked. "Why do you have vervain and stake?" She knew she should be worried by now since those two items could be used against her, but the look on his face made it really hard for her to see him as a threat. "Are you here to kill us?" She couldn't help but laugh at him.
"Just Damon actually," he admitted, looking away in embarrassment. But he quickly turned back to her as he realized something. "Wait, so you're also...?"
"A vampire?" she interjected. It was clear that he knew what Damon and Stefan really were so there was no point to play pretend. "How do you think it's possible for Damon and Stefan to have teenage-looking sister when they were over a hundred years old?"
He grimaced. "You got a point."
"So why do you want to kill my brother?" she questioned calmly. This wasn't the first time she had heard of someone trying to kill her brother. "Please don't tell me it's because he's an ass, because if that was the case I would expect the line to be much longer than this."
The boy couldn't help but chuckle at her joke. "Well, he killed me first," he explained. "I thought it's only fair."
"Ah, I see." She nodded in understanding. "Eye for an eye."
If this was 145 years ago, she wouldn't have believed her brother was capable of something like that. But now she had no reason not to believe. They were vampires, killing was part of their nature.
But then, she suddenly realized something. "Wait, if he killed you, does that mean...?"
"No," he answered as he knew exactly what she was about to say. He then showed her the ring on his left hand. "I brought back to life by a magic ring."
Bella narrowed her eyes when she realized who the boy really was. "So you're a Gilbert," she concluded without interest.
The boy smiled and took a step closer. He held out his hand and finally introduced himself, "I'm Jeremy."
Bella looked down at Jeremy's hand with disdain. She used to have great respect for the Gilberts until she realized how cruel they could be. She still remembered how Jonathan Gilbert betrayed the women he used to love as soon as he discovered that she was a vampire. And then, there was Elena Gilbert. Just like her ancestor Katherine, she was toying with her brothers' hearts.
"Yeah, I don't think so," she rejected him coldly. Jeremy frowned at the sudden change in her tone.
Deciding it was time to end the conversation, Bella continued, "Look, if you want to kill my brother, could you please keep it quiet? I really need my beauty sleep right now." She turned around and started walking towards the stairs. She then stopped at the middle of stairs and added, "And, uh, don't forget to clean up the body. Your mess, your responsibility."
Jeremy just stared at the girl's back in disbelief. In a way, he could see how she related to Damon.
"I DIDN'T NOW WE HAVE GUEST," Bella exclaimed as she entered her living room the next day. That, of course, was a lie since she could hear them discussing about the possibility of werewolves existence all the way from her room. She really wanted to tell them all the things she knew about werewolves, but she couldn't risk them asking questions about how she found out about them. Her brothers already had a lot of questions about her, the last thing she wanted was to add their list of questions.
Apart from Damon and Stefan, the other presence in the room were starting to look at Bella in confusion. Through their gazes, they tried to ask Damon and Stefan for an explanation.
Stefan took an initiative as he started walking towards his sister. "Um, this is our sister Bella," he introduced her as he put his hand on her shoulder. He then turned to his sister while pointing at their guests. "Bella, this is Elena and Alaric."
Both Damon and Stefan were looking cautiously at Bella as her gaze shifted from Ric to Elena. They were already expecting a reaction from her upon seeing Elena with all her resemblance with Katherine, but instead she simply just said, "Nice to meet you."
"Wait... you two have a sister?" Elena questioned in surprise, eyes looking back and forth at Damon and Stefan.
"Long short story, she went missing in 1864 and was never found. We only found out she still alive two days ago," Damon explained simply.
Bella rolled her eyes at his oldest brother and complained, "You know, I was kinda expecting more enthusiasm when you found out I'm still alive." But then she smirked as she suddenly remembered something from last night. "And speaking of still alive... I take it that the Gilbert boy's attempt to kill you last night failed miserably? What's his name again? Jericho?"
"Wait, what?" Elena exclaimed in shock. She turned to Damon with wide eyes and open mouth. "Jeremy tried to kill you last night?"
Stefan looked as confused as the others since he didn't know anything about it.
Damon ignored them as something else caught his attention. His eyes narrowed at his sister as he muttered, "So you know someone was about to kill me last night? And you didn't do anything about it?"
"Yeah, sorry, I was too tired to care," she reasoned, putting on a fake sorry look. "Besides, you can't possibly blame me for having faith in my big brother's ability to defend himself, can you?" Her smirk started to grow back as she watched Damon's annoyed face.
Before anyone could say anything, she quickly added, "Lots to do. Gotta go. Bye!" And, she dashed out towards her car.
To be honest, Bella didn't have much to do other than to keep an eye on Caroline. She needed to make sure that Caroline wouldn't ruin her plans. She also needed to find out the real reason for Katherine's return to Mystic Falls and right now Caroline was her only key to it.
Keeping an eye to Caroline turned out to be even more boring than she had imagined. That girl was a vampire now and she didn't have any daylight ring or bracelet to let her walk freely in the sun without burning. And since Caroline couldn't leave her house, Bella had no choice but to stay either. She chose to keep a safe distance, not visible to anyone but still able to listen to their conversation.
Bella let out a sigh of relief when Stefan finally came to the rescue. He brought a witch to make a daylight ring for the newbie. She swore she'd punch Caroline if that girl didn't make good use of her daylight ring by going to somewhere fun after this.
But then it was Stefan who ruined everything when he insisted on taking Caroline out on a hunt. It actually would have been fun if only the prey were humans instead of animals. However, she respected her brother's choice of lifestyle. She knew exactly what human blood would do to him and she was really glad that he didn't let that get the best of him anymore.
"Well, well, look at this," Bella cheered as she finally reveal herself. They were in the woods right now where Caroline had just finished with her first bunny victim while Stefan was watching. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"
Caroline's jaw dropped when she saw Bella standing ten feet away from her. Her eyes started to widen and she looked like she was seeing a ghost. Confusion started to fill her as she watched Stefan casually walked over to Bella and asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Nothing," Bella muttered dryly. "I'm just bored."
"I thought you said you got lots to do, whatever that means?" Stefan quipped while folding his arms across his chest.
"But I'm still bored." She started putting on a sad face as she whined, "You and Damon never have time for me."
Stefan sighed. He already felt guilty after everything that happened to her. He didn't want to feel guilty about that either. "Sorry, Bell, but you didn't come at the right time," he explained. "We have some situation right now." He then turned back to Caroline who was just standing still at her place. "Um, Caroline, this is my sister Isabella."
"Just Bella please." She held out her hand as she smiled innocently at Caroline. "Isabella is so 1860s."
Caroline stared at Bella and Stefan in turn. Her face looked even more scared that before when she realized it wouldn't be easy to avoid Bella. She swallowed hard as she hesitantly took Bella's hand and mumbled, "Caroline."
"Pleasure." Bella's smile grew bigger when she saw her effect on Caroline.
Caroline's sudden change in behavior didn't go unnoticed by Stefan. He frowned and put his hand on her shoulder as he asked, "Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah," Caroline stammered. She then turned to Stefan and forced a small chuckle. "I just didn't expect you and Damon to have a sister."
"Well, I didn't know I still have a sister until two days ago," Stefan stated as he turned to his sister with blaming look.
But as usual, Bella refused to be blamed. "Look on the bright side; she's here now and you have plenty of time to show her how much you love her."
Stefan rolled his eyes and groaned. "You said you're bored, right?" He tried to change the subject. "Since you've been a vampire for quite a long time, why don't you help me share some tips?" He suggested and stared at the two blonde girls around him in turn. "Caroline here is new with all vampire things, so I think it would be good for her to hear some vampire experiences from different perspective."
"What kind of tips?" Bella tilted her head to the side.
"Anything." But as he looked over Caroline, he quickly added, "For example, how to not kill people."
Bella couldn't help but laugh at this. "What makes you think I don't kill people?"
"Hmm... I don't know," Stefan shrugged and pretended to think about it. "Maybe because the Bella I used to know didn't like doing that?"
The mention of her old life made Bella's laugh faded. Her expression turned cold. There was a mixture of pain and sorrow in her eyes as she retorted, "Well guess what, Stefan? She has been dead a long time ago." She then turned to Caroline who didn't dare to say a word at the moment. "You want some tips? Here's a tips; Not all humans are innocent. Some of them are monsters. If you can't stand the urge to kill, be sure to aim it at the bastard who deserves it. At least that way you have an answer to your guilty conscience."
And just like that, she left.