Elena and I were at the Salvatore house waiting for Alaric to arrive and I was going through everything I had learned about Isobel.
"So, let me see if I got this right. Isobel is our mother?" I asked Elena.
"Yes."
"She had us when she was a teenager at dad's clinic?"
"Yes."
"Uncle John isn't our uncle but our father, which would make mom and dad our aunt and uncle and Jeremy our cousin?"
"Technically, yes."
"Alaric, your history teacher, was married to Isobel?"
"Yep."
"But then she met Damon and turned into a vampire who probably will want us all dead eventually. If we go through history correctly."
"Don't know about the last part but the part with Damon is a yes. He killed her and she came back a vampire."
"So not only has Damon killed Jeremy but he also killed our birth mother. How much am I allowed to hate one person?" I asked her and she laughed a little. I smiled at her and turned when I heard a knock on the front door.
"Thanks for coming, Rick."
"Can I get you something to drink? Coffee, bourbon? Bourbon in your coffee?"
"Elena mentioned you needed my help." Alaric walked into sight and saw both myself Elena and I together.
"You let Katherine in your house and left her alone with Elena?!" I smirked and rolled my eyes.
"I'm Nicole. Not an evil doppelganger but I can be the worse of the twins." I told him. I walked up to him, my heels clicking on the wood floor, and held my hand out to him. He shook it, eyeing me and my clothes.
"We were hoping you could help shed some light on the Lockwood family." Stefan told him.
"Now, why would I know anything about the Lockwood's?" Alaric asked us.
"Well, you wouldn't. But your dead not dead vampire wife might." Damon told him, smirking.
"Isobel's research from when you guys were at Duke together." Elena clarified sitting on a couch.
"You said that she had spent years researching this town." Stefan reminded him.
"Isobel's research here in Mystic Falls rooted in folklores and legends but at the time I thought much of which was fiction." Alaric told us.
"Like that amazing vampire story." Damon said stupidly.
"Aside from vampires," I said looking pointedly at Damon, "what else?" I asked looking at Alaric.
"The lycanthrope." Alaric told us.
"Wait, like werewolves?" Elena asked.
"No way, impossible, way too Lon Chaney." Damon said, leaning back in his seat.
"Is it?" Stefan asked sitting next to his girlfriend leaving the only open seat next to Damon.
"I've been on this planet one hundred and sixty some odd years, never came across one. If werewolves exist, where the hell are they?" I sat next to him. He put his arm around my shoulders and I pushed him away.
"Why do you suspect the Lockwoods?" Alaric asked us.
"Because vervain didn't affect the mayor at Founder's day but the Gilbert device did and it affected his son Tyler." Damon told him.
"And at the school carnival his uncle Mason exhibited inhuman behavior when he fought with one of the carnival's worker. It suggest it's some sort of a supernatural entity." Stefan told him.
"We were hoping that Isobel's research could help us figure it out what it is." Elena told him.
"Well, all her things are still at Duke. I mean her office is still there, she's technically still missing." Alaric told us.
"So can we get access to it?" I asked.
"Rick, we need to know what we are dealing with. If this wolf men thing is true, I've seen enough movies to know it's not good. It means Mason Lockwood is a real life Lon Chaney and that little Tyler punk may just very well be Lon Chaney junior which means Bella Lugosi, meaning me, is totally screwed." Damon told him.
"Okay, I'll call and see what I can do." Alaric got up and walked into another part of the house pulling out his phone.
"So, big question, who's going and who's staying?" I asked moving to the chair Alaric just vacated.
"Why would some of us stay?" Elena asked me.
"Well, for starters, Caroline is still to new to be let out on her own. That's the boys territory but ours is the very much human family we still have. Jeremy and Jenna. That's our territory." I told her. She looked down then at Stefan.
"I'll stay with Caroline and your family your three should go. Nicole, Elena, you two should go. This is your life and your family."
"I'll go with them, for protection and all that." Damon smirked at us and I glared slightly.
"Elena should stay, I'll go. I'll bring back anything vital and call you with everything and anything that we need to know." I said. Elena and Stefan relaxed and Damon smirked at me as Alaric came back.
"If you want to go we can go as soon as you're ready." I stood up.
"I guess I better pack." We all loaded up and went back to the house. When we walked in I went straight up to my room while Elena and Alaric explained everything to her.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Stefan asked me when they arrived up in my room.
"Which part? Digging through my birth mother's life work or going to Duke with Damon?" I asked him.
"Either, both." Stefan said.
"Well, I'm not sure about the first part but then again Alaric seems like a good buffer so we can bond in our anti Damon solidarity. Who knows, I might make a new friend." I said smiling at them, trying to reassure them.
"You know what? Maybe we should wait a couple days, huh? Wait until Caroline is less of a danger and then Stefan and I could go with you." Elena tried to convince me.
"It's okay that it's only me going, right? And be honest because if it's not then I can just stay here and we care take care of Caroline." I said looking at the two of them.
"Listen, I want you both to go okay? I do. You both have questions about your lineage and about Katherine and… look I'm not gonna let the fact that Damon is going alone with my girlfriends sister keep you from an opportunity to get some answers." Stefan told me.
"You hate it thought of Elena going with Damon without you there. That's why I told her to stay, so you don't have to worry about Damon pulling a fast one on her." I said zipping up my bag.
"Sometimes I forget how smart you can be." Elena told me smiling.
"Love you too sis." We were interrupting by Damon hoking downstairs. I walked to the window and leaned out.
"Patience is a virtue so shut up and wait!" I heard laughing behind and below me.
"Nicole?! Are you coming down anytime soon?" Aunt Jenna asked.
"On my way." I closed my window, grabbed my bag and walked downstairs with Elena and Stefan following. Alaric was walking away from Jenna when the three of us made our way to her.
"Hey, are you okay?" Elena asked her.
"Yeah, just, men and their baggage." Jenna shrugged her shoulders at us before we went outside to the car.
"Sorry you can't come too, Stef." Damon said smirking.
"Call us if you need anything." Elena said ignoring Damon.
"Oh, I'll take really good care of her." Damon told her, still smirking at her. I just gave him an irritated look then hugged my sister tightly. "Okay, time to go." I let go of Elena and got into the backseat of the car.
The three of us were silent as we went to Duke. I'd been looking out the window the entire time ignoring Damon as he constantly looking back to me.
"How are you doing back there? You know, this whole pretending to hate me thing is getting a little silly." Damon said trying to get me to smile at him.
"I don't think she's pretending. You did kill her brother." Alaric reminded him.
"There is a huge asterisk next to that statement: he came back to life." Damon said and I looked from the window to him.
"Yeah, thanks to a ring you didn't know he was wearing." I snapped at him.
"Why are you so sure I didn't know?" He asked me.
"Did you?" I asked.
"Yes" he smirked at me.
"You're lying." I said glaring at him.
"Nicole, I saw the ring! It's a big tacky thing, it's hard to miss." I just shook my head and looked back out the window. When we arrived at Duke we walked Alaric talked to us about his wife, my mother.
"So Isobel was officially employed by the anthropology department given that most paranormal phenomenon is rooted in folklore." H said as we walked. When we arrived at an office a woman greeted us at the door.
"Excuse me, hi. I'm Alaric Saltzman, I called earlier"
"Yes, of course. I'm Vanessa Monroe, research assistant comparative folklore" she looked strangely at me for a moment. She looked back at Alaric and said, "Uh, let me just grab Isobel's keys" She went back inside the office real quick and I looked my outfit over. I wore my black pants and heeled knee high boots and a red corset styled top with my black leather jacket on. Nothing was wrong with this outfit so what was with the look? She walked back out and we all walked down the hallway a little.
"These are my friends Nicole and Damon. I hope this isn't too much of an imposition."
"Oh please, Isobel's office is right through there. Isobel was one of my first professors. I'm a grad student, she was brilliant and one of the reasons I went into folklore. Uh I have to ask, has there been any news?" she asked him.
"No, I'm afraid not." he told her looking back at me slightly.
"It's this way." she said opening a door. We followed her into the room and she turned back to us.
"I'll grab the light, feel free to look around. It's fascinating isn't it?" she left to go somewhere and I walked to a bookshelf looking at my mother's stuff.
"Where did she go?" Damon asked us.
"How should we know? We've been stuck with you all day?" I said giving him a look, which he ignored. I heard the floor creak and turned to see Vanessa pointing a crossbow at me. She shot at me but before it could hit me Damon put himself in front of me and was shot in the back. Alaric ran at Vanessa before she could ready another arrow.
"Why did you do that?" I asked as I knelt next to Damon.
"If you wanted to get shot then next time leave a memo. Until then pull out the arrow." he told me.
"Are you sure you want me to pull it out?" I asked him, looking at the arrow in his back.
"Pull it out. I can't reach it Nicole. Just pull the damn thing out. It hurts." he said calmly. I grabbed the arrow, twisted it slightly then pulled it out.
"What the hell did you twist it for?!" he yelled at me.
"That was for killing my brother." I told him calmly. He rolled his eyes and then moved his shoulders around.
"That bitch is dead." he said looking in the direction of Alaric and Vanessa.
"You're not gonna kill her." I told him.
"Watch me." he said looking back at me.
"You touch her and I swear I will make sure no one in my family never speaks to you again." I told him.
"What makes you think that has any power over me? Because I took an arrow in the back for you? I just met you. You're severely overestimating yourself." he told me and I smirked.
"Right. I forgot that I was speaking to a psychotic mind who snaps and kills people impulsively. Fine, go ahead, do whatever you want." I started walking away but he pulled me back.
"You're trying to manipulate me." he said with no question in his tone.
"If by "manipulate" you mean "tell the truth" okay, guilty. From what Elena and everyone else told me, I don't have to know you personally to know your personality." I told him before leaving to fine Alaric and Vanessa.
"Please! I freaked out okay? Alright, you would have done the same thing, it's not possible! Katherine Pierce can't be alive and Damon Salvatore died in 1864. Okay, I read Isobel's research." Vanessa told Alaric as I walked up to them.
"Well, then you should know just how possible this is." he told her as I walked into the room with Damon right behind me.
"I'm "Nicole Gilbert, Isobel's daughter and a descendant of Katherine Pierce. And this is Damon Salvatore who you just shot." I clarrified for her.
"I'd be extra nice to me right now." Damon told her and I gave him a look.
"Look, we need your help okay? We need to see all of Isobel's research, anything related to Mystic Falls." she nodded her head and went to get what we needed. I hit Damon's arm.
"Ow, what? I was nice." he said, rubbing his arm slightly.
"Well, be nicer. I also get this feeling you'll say something worthy of an ass so I hit you." I told him as Vanessa started bringing boxes in.
"Really? Hitting me for something I haven't done yet? I think you just wanted to get a reel of what you're missing." he smirked and winked at me before starting on a box in another room.
"I wouldn't bet on it." I told him as Vanessa brought me a box.
"This box checks Katherine's arrival to Mystic Falls in April 1864." She said placing it down.
"Is that all there is about her?" I asked, hoping for more.
"All that I'm aware of." Vanessa gave me an apoligetic look.
"Great." I looked in the box to see vervain. I ripped some off handing it to Vanessa. Just because Damon was keeping away now, doesn't mean he won't try and hurt or compel her later. "Here, I'd take this if I were you." I told her, not bothering to keep my voice down. If he wanted to listen to our conversation then it would be easy.
"Does vervain really work?" she asked me, whispering.
"Nope, not at all." Damon lied to her while I nodded my head.
"Can he hear us?" she asked trying to be lower.
"No, that would be creepy." he whispered loudly over to us as I nodded again.
"Can he read minds too?" she stopped trying to be quiet finally.
"You know, if you want to see me naked, all you have to do is ask." he told her while looking at me.
"No, that he can't do. He is very capable of being a first rate jackass. And if I really wanted to see you naked Damon, you wouldn't be able to refuse." I said smirking at Damon. Vanessa put the vervain in her pocket and Damon smiled at me.
"You think you're that hot?" Damon asked me getting back to his box.
"Damon, not only am I that hot but I'm that good." I said winking at him then walked to a bookshelf.
"Do I really have to listen to this?" Alaric asked sounding disgusted.
"You could let me kill you again? Then you wouldn't have to listen to anything." Damon said getting closer to me.
"Like I'd let you kill me." Alaric told him.
"It was a joke." Damon stopped walking when he was next to me, hands behind his back. "Who did you learn to talk like that from?" he asked me putting his head close to my shoulder and ear.
"Women have needs just like men do, Damon. When you travel you pick up some things to get what you want or need. Did you know I never had to pay for a hotel room? I just seduced the man behind the counter and got a free room for as long as I was there. I even introduced a few to some of the cheeper hookers." I said brushing my hand lightly over the spines of the books in front of me.
"You're sister would be shocked." he told me.
"No. my sister knows me to well. I always get what I want Damon. No matter who gets hurt in the process or the results. Now what did you come over here for?" I asked him.
"Just wanted to see if you've had any luck?" he asked me.
"If I had evryone would know by now." I said turning to him. I hadn't noticed how close he was until then.
"Ah, you know, it's a bummer we're not friends because I could tell you what I know." he said smirking at me.
"Now who's manipulating who?" I asked him, leaning a little closer, before Alaric's voice could be heard.
"Hey guys, check this out."I rolled my eyes and walked over to him with Damon following me.
"There's no record of werewolf mythology in Mystic Falls but here are some records of some of the lesser known legends. Everything from Scandinavian skin walkers to Aztecs legends." Vanessa handed me a book with drawing in it. "It's translate into the "curse of the sun and the moon""
"It's Native American?" Alaric asked her, looking at the pages over my shoulder with Damon over the other.
"Aztec. It explains one origin of the werewolf curse traced through Virginia. The short story: 600 years ago, the Aztecs were plagued by werewolves and vampires. They terrorized the countryside, made farming and hunting impossible until an Aztec shaman cursed them, making vampires slaves to the sun and werewolves servants of the moon. As a result, vampires could only prowl at night and werewolves could only turn on a full moon. When the full moon crests in the sky, who's ever unlucky enough to fall under the werewolf curse turns into a wolf." She explained to us.
"Can they control the transformation?" Damon asked her.
"If it were a choice, it wouldn't be called a curse. Werewolves will attack humans but instinct and centuries of rivalry have hardwire them to hunt their prey of choice: vampires." she told him.
"Well, if werewolves were hunting vampires, I would know about it." he smirked at her.
"Not if there aren't that many werewolves left alive. Hundreds of years ago vampires hunted them almost to extinction." she explained once again. I turned the pages in the book, showing the pictures of monsters fighting monsters.
"Why would they do that?" I asked looking up from the book
"To protect themselves. Legend has it, a werewolf bite is fatal to the vampires." I looked at Damon then pulled out my phone to call Elena.
"Hey." Stefan answered.
"Hi. Listen we've learned some stuff here and I know it's gonna sound crazy but I wanted to fill you and Elena in. Is she there?" I asked him.
"Yeah, what's going on?" I told them everything that we had learned about the curse.
"I don't know what that means or if we should even believe it but it's a full moon, but after what you saw Mason Lockwood do..." I told them trailing off.
"We'll be careful, don't worry." Elena told me.
"There's one more thing." I said before they could hang up on me.
"What is it?" Stefan asked.
"According to the legend, a werewolf bite can kill a vampire."
"Listen, we got to go. I'll see you when you get home okay, Nickky?" Elena said.
"You better be there to greet me." I told her hanging up. I started looking through another box and found a picture that, if I hadn't known better, I would have said was mine. Katherine.
"Hey, have you done any research on doppelgängers?" I asked Vanessa who was sitting in a chair reading a book.
"Well, the word means a lot of different things to different cultures, but typically a doppelgänger is a living, breathing double of oneself."
"Did Isobel have anything that explained the link between my sister, Katherine and me?" I asked her.
"That's all she had on Katherine, unfortunaltely, but I can tell you that doppelgängers usually torment the people they look like, thying to undue their lives. It's not exactly uplifting. Doppelgangers also normally don't have identical twins, there must be something about what's happening now that would make twin doppelgangers." Vanessa told me.
"And more things we already know. Just... I want to know why we all look alike." I said putting the picture down again.
"Head scratcher, isn't it?" Damon said coming up behind me.
"Do you know something, or are you just being yourself?" I asked turning to him.
"Well, if I know anything, I'm not goinna tell you with that attitude." Damon said smirking once more. Did he ever do anything else.
"That's no good, Damon, and this is coming from someone who wants to be my family's friend, but you know what? Friends don't manipulate friends, they help each other." I told him trying to dig the information out of him.
Later that night, I tried getting into the car as Alaric talked to Vanessa. When I tried to open the door it wouldn't budge and I sighed in frustration.
"Here. Allow me." Damon said unlocking the door then opening it for me. "You and your sister aren't gonna be able to hate me forever."
"Can we just go?" I tried getting into the car only to have hid hand appear in front of my face with a book in it.
"You didn't dig deep enough." he said as I took the book from him and read the spine.
""Petrova". I saw this on a shelf." I said giving him a look.
"Katherine originally came from Europe. Petrova was her real name. Katerina Petrova, to be exact."
"How did you know that?" I asked, impressed.
"Back when, I saw it engraved on an old heirloom. Men snoop too, you know. Let me know what you find, I'm very curious myself." Damon said smiling at me. I smiled back at him then tried to get into the car, but she stopped me again. "You have every right to hate me, I understand but Elena hated me before and we became friends. It would suck if that was gone forever, or, in your case, never exsisted. So, is it? Have I lost you and your sister forever?" I just looked at him.
"Thank you for the book, Damon." i got into the front seat of the car and held the book close to me. This was all Elena and I had that linked us to our birth family. The car ride home was silent, which was fine with me. It gave me time to think. My phone chose that moment to go off.
I haven't heard from you all day, are you okay?
-K
I'm fine, we've just been doing some digging on an old curse. The curse of the sun and the moon.
-N
Did they buy it?
-K
Yes, they fully believe it.
-N
Did you find anything else?
-K
I told K all we had been told and all that had happened.
So they trust you?
-K
Yes
-N
"Who are you talking to ?" Damon asked me.
"Just an old friend from when I was traveling." I said putting my phone away. Luckily we were pulling into the drive way as I did. When Alaric turned off the car he got out and ran inside while Damon and I got out at our own pace. As we walked to the porch it was silent, but before we went in Damon broke that silence.
"Road trips work well for us."
"This doesn't mean that we're friends, Damon." I told him, holding on to the book harder.
"Oh come on! You know I chipped a little bit off of your wall of hatred." he said trying to convince me.
"I need to know the truth. When you broke Jeremy's neck, did you know that he was wearing the ring?" I asked him on last time.
"No. No, I didn't. Katherine really pissed me off and I snapped and… I got lucky with the ring. I don't know what I would done of he wasn't wearing it. Nicole, I'm sorry."
"First, thank you for being honest with me. Second, tell that to Elena and Jeremy you owe them. Third, the answer to your question, about our friendship is yes. You have lost her forever. That's what happens when you go after your brother's girl then kill her brother. Just because you gave us some vital information doesn't mean that either of us will ever forgive you."
"But you knew that already, didn't you? You used me today."
"You had information about Katherine that I needed to know." I told him shrugging.
"I thought friends don't manipulate friends. You and Katherine have a lot more in common than just your looks."
"That just it, Damon. We're not friends and I told you; I always get what I want, no matter who get's hurt." he looked at me hurt and pissed then walked off.
