"Who would know who has the records of the trees in this town?" Bekah asked me after we had gone through some books in the public records.
"I don't know, Mayor Lockwood maybe." I offered her.
"Let's go ask." she told me grabbing my hand and pulling me with her. Nik was spending the day with Nikolas, father son day he called it. I thought it was too adorable not to leave them alone. I called Carol and had her meet us at the Grill.
"Thank you for meeting with us, Mayor. We figured as head of the Preservation Society, you'd be a good person to ask about the oldest trees in this community." Bekah told her.
"A long line of Lockwood women use to keep those records. Back before any of them had actual jobs." Carol said and we all lightly laughed at her joke.
"We've been to the Founder's archive, but we can't seem to find any record of the tree we've been looking for." I told her.
"It probably got cut down. Big old trees built half of this town in the 1900s." Carol told us. "Nicole, you should know this." she said giving me a look.
"I hope you'll forgive me, Carol. It has been a while since I studied the town history." I told her and she nodded.
"Do you happen to know who kept the milling ledges during that period?" Bekah asked Carol.
"Back then all the logging mills were owned by the Salvatores." she told us and we ave each other a look. We'd have to talk to the boys.
"Thank you Carol." I said smiling as we got up and walked up to the boys.
"But why them? Huh? Brian Walters and Alaric weren't from founding families. I mean, hey, if you're gonna slaughter council members, go A-list. At least in 1912 they killed a Salvatore." Damon said.
"Which Salvatore would that be?" Bekah asked them as we walked up behind them and they told us the story of 1912.
"So, Zachariah Salvatore was your nephew?" Bekah asked them.
"Well, our father knocked up one of the maids during the Civil War, she had a son. But as far as everyone else knew, Stefan and I were dead. Family name had to go somewhere." Damon told her.
"And, uh, your family owned the logging mills back then?" Bekah asked him.
"You're full of a lot of questions." Damon noted giving her a curious look.
"I'm just researching the town history. I grew up here after all." Bekah lied to him.
"You know you don't have to disguise your true motives with... if you want more sex, just ask for it." Damon told her and I rolled my eyes.
"IS that all you think about?" I asked him.
"Why are you offering?" he asked me.
"Not enough liquor in the world." Bekah and I said together as she grabbed the bottle.
"Oh, come on, it was too good for you to be this hostile." Damon told her. Stefan grabbed his glass and the bottle from her and moved from one side of Damon to the other.
"You'll have to excuse my little brother, he's jonesing for some O positive." Damon told us.
"I'm not jonesing." Stefan denied as Bekah and I moved into the seat beside both boys.
"So, did they ever catch the killer?" I asked them.
"Nope. Wrote it all off on vampires." Damon told us.
"The Founding Families are very racist, aren't they?" I asked him.
"That would mean you." Damon said giving me a look.
"Fine, racist back then." I corrected.
"Maybe it was a vampire." Bekah said, pulling us back on topic.
"Yeah, yeah, maybe it was a vampire, Damon." Stefan said giving his brother a look.
"Don't think for a second you didn't cross my mind too, brother. But these weren't your style, were they? Plus there were no other vampires circulating then." Damon reminded him.
"Well, there was one other vampire. Remember Sage?" Stefan asked him.
"Ohh, right, Sage. Speaking of great sex." Damon said smirking taking a swig from the bottle.
"Who's Sage?" I asked them.
"I knew a Sage once." Bekah said going through her memories. "Trashy little thing."
"You really think it was Sage who was killing all those founders back then?" Damon asked Stefan ignoring Bekah.
"Town questioned of a grown man in Mystic Falls. Probably never occurred to them that a woman could have done it." Stefan told him. Bekah drank the dregs of the remaining whiskey before looking at they boys.
"So, uh, tell me more about your old relatives. I heard they tore down half the woods to build this town." Bekah said as the bartender gave them a new bottle of whiskey. Bekah went to grab the bottle, but Damon grabbed it first.
"Easy there, lushy pants and Mrs. Original. It's been a hoot and a half but it's boy's night and you weren't invited." Damon said before he and Stefan walked away, taking the alcohol with them.
"I think we just got dumped." I told her.
"I agree. Who's lushy pants and Mrs. Original?" she asked me.
"I think you're lushy pants and I'm Mrs. Original, given my boyfriend is your brother and I was welcomed into the family by you and your siblings. You really do have nice pants, kinda strange Damon noticed a woman's clothes." I said.
"Shall we listen in on their conversation?" she asked me smirking.
"I believe we should. Someone's killing Founding Family members that puts my siblings and my son at risk." I told her. We watched as Damon played darts and Stefan sat at a table as they continued their conversation.
"So, let's just say Sage was killing everyone in 1912. Who the hell is doing it now? It's not that psycho, Dr. Fell. She's a woman. There's no way she could stab three grown men." Damon said throwing another dart. Before it hit the board Bekah caught it.
"That's a bit sexist. A woman could easily kill a man, with the right motivation." she told him as I joined Stefan at the table.
"You just- uh - don't give up, do you?" he asked us.
"Stubbornness runs in our family." I reminded him.
"Why are you so grumpy?" Bekah asked him.
"He's on a master cleanse. Trying to be a better man and all." Damon told us.
"You're not drinking Human anymore?" I asked him and he confirmed.
"You know, you were a lot more fun in the '20s." Bekah told him and Damon bumped her with his elbow.
"Don't rile him up." he said taking the bottle from the table. "He's testy when he's being self-righteous"
"I'm not being self-righteous, Damon. I'm just not interested in slaughtering innocent human beings anymore." Stefan said.
"Oh, okay, fair enough. My mistake." Damon said taking out an old book. "You use to be self-righteous." Stefan's journal. "Dear diary, Damon has lost his way, though I have pulled my own life together he continues to waste his." Damon read and Bekah grabbed the journal from Damon with a smile on her face.
"Ouch." she said before reading it aloud. "His bitterness consumes him. He is nothing but blackness and vile. "Oh, judgy." she closed the journal.
"Well, this is fun." Stefan said sarcastically.
"No kidding." I agreed.
"You know, if I'm being honest, you didn't seem like much fun either, Damon." Bekah said to Damon, handing him the journal.
"I wasn't. The woman I was in love with was stuck in a tomb and she wasn't getting out for a hundred years. I wasn't having any fun at all." he told us. "Sage found me feeding and taught me how to find the right meal to not only eat but also enjoy." he said wiggling his eyebrows.
"That sounds like Sage alright." Bekah said.
"How did you know her?" I asked her.
"She was obsessed with my brother Finn, over 900 years ago." Bekah told us and my mouth dropped open in shock.
"What? Creepy suicidal guy?" Damon asked him as Stefan began hitting his ring on the table. "You're doing it again."
"Alright, you know what, I need to, uh, I gotta get out of here." Stefan said getting up.
"Sure. First, admit you're jonesing." Damon told him.
"Damon, I'm not…" Stefan said and Damon rushed over and grabbed him.
"Admit it." he ordered.
"Okay, fine, I'm freaking out. I'm ready to eat the entire wait staff, why do you need to hear me say it?" Stefan asked him.
"Because I'm feeling a little self-righteous too." he told his baby brother. Stefan gave him a look before walking out of the Grill with the rest of us behind him.
"So he doesn't want to drink human blood?" Bekah asked Damon.
"Ah, he's an eternally guilty conscious." Damon told us.
"Funny. When I knew him in the 20s, he didn't have any conscious at all. One of the things I liked most about it. Can't possibly think he can survive without feeding." Bekah said.
"Oh, on the contrary, he's determined to live his life pursuing one extreme or the other. He's a stubborn one, my brother. Uh, think I'm gonna need some help with this one." Damon said looking at Bekah.
"What can we do?" I asked him.
"You nothing." he told me and I rolled my eyes at him. "But you..." we turned and saw a woman getting out of her car. Damon turned to Bekah before using his vampire speed to get in front of her.
"Hello." he said with a smile.
"Hi." she said and you could hear her smile.
"This may seem very forward but you're just so pretty." he told her and I rolled my eyes.
"Thank you." she said.
"And please don't scream, you're about to have a very, very bad night." Damon said as he compeled her. He then bit her and started to feed off her. Stefan stopped walking and rushed over to Damon and pulled him off the woman.
"Damon, stop!" Stefan ordered. The woman fell and Bekah caught her as I ran to them.
"Sorry brother. It's dinner time, have a bite." Damon told him.
"What are you doing?" Stefan asked him.
"Tough love, Stefan. You're not gonna survive this cold turkey thing, you never do. It's time to get that monkey off your back." Damon told him.
"No. No." Stefan denied.
"Feed or Bekah will have her way with her and you know she'll kill her." I told him.
"You know I will." Bekah agreed.
"Then her blood will be on your hands. Or you could just have a little drink, save her life. Come on, Stefan. You were the one that said you didn't want any more innocent lives slaughtered. Save her. Go on, have a bite. I snatched, you eat, I'll erase. Hell, I'll even heal her for you." Damon told him.
"Why are you doing this? You know what blood does to me." Stefan told us.
"Because you let it control you. You always have. I'm just here to help you learn how to fight it." Damon told him.
"This is rubbish." Bekah said before extending her fangs and getting ready to bite the woman. Stefan rushed over and pushed Bekah into me and out of the way before grabbing the woman. He stared at the blood running down her neck and then fed from her.
"I got it from here. Go ahead." Damon told us.
"The night's just getting started." Bekah said smiling.
"Scram. No one likes lurkers." Damon told us.
"You're a real ass, you know that?" I asked him.
"So I'm told." Damon said before Bekah and I left. When we were far enough away from the boys I sighed.
"We didn't get the information we needed." I told her.
"We will. That I promise you." she told me putting her arm around my shoulders and pulling me into her. I wrapped my arm around her waist as we walked back to her car.
"We better. I don't want to lose you guys." I told her.
