Previously on The Bad Twin:
I wish I didn't have to return home. But I had no choice. I had to save her and I had to find out more about her.
Stefan turned his face towards hers with her hand still on his cheek. Stefan's eyes were red and the veins still crawled towards his eyes. Elena looked at him with no fear as she gently touched the veins around his eyes. Stefan felt a little more under control with his urge to feed on her, before Elena kissed him.
Stefan walked over to a cupboard and inside were journals with years written on them. He pulled out a very old one and opened it to reveal two old photos of Elena and Chloe. They were dressed in clothes that were popular back then with their hair curled. Elena's hair was half up with curls cascading down her back. Chloe had all her hair down, framing her face. At the bottom of the photos were two names and a date. Katherine. Anna. 1864.
"Chloe. She's a dead ringer for Anna."
I opened the box and found a locket. The locket had a white tulip on it and was a faded gold color, as though it was very old.
Stefan stopped writing in his journal and opened a box he'd been holding onto for years and pulled out a necklace.
He grabbed my wrist and my bracelet then dropped my hand quickly.
"Vervain. Really?" he asked me.
"What's vervain?" I asked him.
"That necklace, it contains an herb called vervain. It protects you from being compelled." Stefan told Elena.
"It wasn't real, Damon." Stefan said sitting up. "Our love for Katherine and Anna. They compelled us. We didn't have a choice. Took me years to sort that out, to truly understand what they did to us."
"I'm gonna bring her back." Damon told him. "There's a tomb underneath the church. The spell sealed Anna in that tomb, protecting her." Damon told him.
"Hello, Jenna." Logan said smiling.
"Logan!" Jenna said shocked.
"Who are you?" Logan asked him.
"A friend of Jenna's." Alaric told him.
Logan turned from him before vamping out and attacking Alaric. Alaric, who was expecting the attack, staked the new vampire. Logan fell to the ground, dead. Alaric looked shocked at what he was capable of and quickly left the area.
"Alaric Saltzman. I'm your new history teacher." He introduced before starting the lesson.
"Is there something going on between you and Damon that I need to know about?"
I walked up behind Damon and sat next to him leaning my head on his shoulder, hand and fingers interlocked with his.
"Even if there was something going on between me and Damon it's none of your business." I told her.
"Damon. What a surprise." I said smiling at him.
"I'm no one's second choice."
You were right, you're no one's second choice." He kissed my cheek before smiling down at me. I smiled up at him lightly.
"It's true Elena. Everything my Grams told me. It's impossible and it's true. I'm a witch." Bonnie told her.
Damon, furious since his deal with Emily was off, attacked Bonnie making and fed on her making her scream.
"His face was like..." Bonnie said not coming up with the right word.
"Are you okay?" Elena asked her.
"What's going on, Elena?" Bonnie asked her.
"I'm gonna tell her the truth." Elena told him.
"I know that you think you put all of this bad stuff into my life, but my life already had it. I was buried in it." Elena told him.
"This is different." He told her.
"I know what I want." She told him.
Elena explored the muscles on Stefan's back and traced her finger against his lip while Stefan kissed her neck and touched one side of her cheek. Elena's face shows nothing but pure pleasure as the two have sex for the first time together.
"I've never been in your room before." She pointed out with a smile on her face.
"This room holds every memory that I've ever thought was important enough to hold on to." He told her.
Soon she got up and started exploring Stefan's room. Elena finally came across the picture of Katherine and Anna. She picked it up and was scared at the resemblance. Teary eyed, Elena dropped the picture down and ran out the door. She pulled her phone out of her clothes and called her twin.
"Elena?" He called for her.
Stefan was holding the picture of Anna and Katherine and the necklace Elena had left. He tried to call her, but with no answer he left her a voicemail.
"Elena. It's Stefan. I know that this picture must have confused you. But I can explain. I need to explain. So, please, when you get this, call me." He begged her before hanging up.
I was quickly driving down a deserted road towards Elena when I saw someone in the middle of the road. I slammed my brakes, but the person hit my windshield making my car flip. I tried to get out of my seat towards the roof, but I was stuck. I looked at the man who I hit and my eyes grew wide as his limbs corrected themselves and he slowly got back up and started to approach me. I screamed in fear before suddenly the man ran away. I looked around in silence before screaming again when Damon's face appeared in my line of sight.
"How ya doing in there?" he asked me.
"Oh, I'm doing fantastic." I told him sarcastically.
"You look stuck." He told me and I glared at him.
"It's my seat belt." I told him. "I can't get it undone." I told him and he opened the door next to me.
"Let me get you out of there. I want you to put your hands on the roof." He told me and I did as he said. "Just like that. You ready? 1, 2, 3." Damon ripped off my seat belt and I fell. "I got you." He picked me up and got me out of the car while still holding me. "Are you okay? Can you stand? Is anything broken?"
"I don't think so." I told him. He put me on my feet, but we soon found out I could barely stand. Daman quickly caught me before I fell to the ground and held me close to him.
"Whoa, you're fading fast, Chloe. Chloe, look at me." Damon told me grabbing my face. "Focus. Look at me. Okay."
"She said we look like them…" I told him.
"What?" he asked me confused before I passed out. Damon grabbed me and gently placed me on the ground, brushing my face with his hands. "Upsy-daisy." He said softly before picking me up bridle style and carrying me away.
At Alaric's apartment he was typing away on his computer.
I found one. After years of research and study, there it was right in front of me. I was terrified. As I stared it in the eyes, I drove a stake through its heart. I was right about Mystic Falls. There is evil here. I can sense it. Feel it. It's everywhere.
Alaric looked at a photo of a young woman next to his computer.
Flashback
Alaric kissed the woman in the photo on the forehead waking her up.
"Ohhh." She said sleepily before looking at the clock next to their bed. "It's not even seven yet."
"Which means you shouldn't be awake for at least six hours." He joked with her.
"I hate morning people." She said smiling.
"I'm going to be home late." He told her.
"I love you." She told him.
"I love you too." He said.
Present
When I woke up I was in Damon's car I looked outside to see plants and buildings passing us by. And I didn't recognize any of them.
"Morning." Damon greeted next to me.
"Where are we?" I asked him confused.
"Georgia." He answered and I looked at him like he was crazy.
"Georgia?" I asked him and he nodded with a smirk. "Seriously, Damon. Where are we?"
"Seriously, we're...we're in Georgia." He told me. "How ya feeling?"
"I'm not sure." I told him.
"There's no broken bones. I checked." He told me and I gave him a look.
"But my car...there was a man...I hit a man. But then he got up. Who was that?" I asked him.
"That's what I would like to know." He told me.
"Where is my phone?" I asked him. "And pull over. I want to stretch my legs."
"Oh you were so much more fun when you were asleep." He told me and I gave him a look. He pulled over and once the car stopped I climbed out. I winced getting out of the car and bent over trying to make the pain go away.
"Hey." He said crouching down by me for support.
"Thank you." I told him quietly before clearing my throat. "I'm fine. We have to go back." I insisted.
"Oh come on. Look. We've already come this far..." he told me.
"Why are you doing this?" I asked him. "This could be called kidnapping."
"Then let's hope you get Stockholm Syndrome." He said smirking.
"You're not funny." I told him smiling. "I don't wanna go to Georgia."
"Well, you're IN Georgia. Without your magical little necklace or bracelet, I might add." He told me and I looked at my wrist and felt at my neck. Both empty. "I can very easily make you...agreeable."
"Then do it." I challenged before my phone rang. "That's my phone."
"Mmm. It's your worrywart sister." He said waving it in front of me. "I'll take it. Chloe's phone...!" he said answering it.
"Damon?" Elena asked on the other end. "Where is Chloe? Is she okay?"
"Chloe? She's right here. And, yes, she's fine." Damon said looking me over. I gave him a look before looking around us again.
"Where are you? I need to talk to her." Elena told him.
"She wants to talk to you." He told me handing me the phone. I rolled my eyes before taking it.
"Elena. What can I do for you?" I asked her sarcastically.
"Where were you last night? I had to walk all the way home in nothing but Stefan's shirt." She told me.
"It's called a car accident Elena. I hit a vampire." I told her.
"Oh my god! Are you alright?" she asked me.
"Goodbye Elena." I told her before hanging up. "Any chance of us going back?" I asked Damon.
"We're almost there." He told me.
"Where is there?" I asked him giving him confused look.
"A little place right outside of Atlanta. Oh, come on, Chloe. You don't wanna go back right now. Do you?" he asked me and I thought about if for a moment. "What's the rush? Time-out. Trust me. Your problems are still going to be there when you get home. Look. Step away from your life for five minutes. Five minutes!" he almost begged me.
"Am I gonna be safe with you?" I asked him.
"Yes." He answered.
"You promise not to try and compel me?" I asked him.
"Yes." He told me and I nodded.
"Ok."
"Get in the car. Come on." He told me and I did as he said before he started driving again.
At the high school, Alaric was at his car in the parking lot, searching for something in the seats when Jeremy saw him.
"Hey, Mr. Saltzman!" Jeremy greeted.
"Hey, Jeremy. I, uh...can't find my ring. I took it off for the gym, and thought I put it...there it is!" Alaric got out of the shade of his car to stand in the sunlight. "Losing family heirlooms...bad. How's your extra credit coming? You pick a topic yet?" Alaric asked him.
"Mystic Falls, the Civil War era." Jeremy told him.
"What's the angle?" Alaric asked.
"My family. I found a journal of an ancestor who lived in the 1800s. And the Gilberts were one of the original Founding Families of Mystic Falls. So..." Jeremy dropped off.
"That sounds good." Alaric told him.
At a picnic table in front of the school Elena was holding her sister's necklace when Stefan walked up to her.
"Elena." Stefan said and she sighed.
"Go away Stefan." She told him.
"Can we talk? Please?" he asked her.
"Not now Stefan. Damon has Chloe again and I don't know where they are." She told him.
"Damon has Chloe?" Stefan asked her confused and she nodded. He looked up and spotted Bonnie. "Come with me." He told her before walking towards Bonnie with Elena behind him. "Bonnie."
"Stefan... Elena." Bonnie said smiling at the two of them.
"I haven't seen you lately. How are you doing with everything?" Stefan asked her.
"I'm fine. It's all fine." Bonnie told him.
"Good. Yeah." He said.
"Are you back in school?" she asked him.
"No. Actually I came here to find Elena. But, I was hoping you could help me with something. A spell." He told her causing Elena to look hopeful.
"Stefan, look, I know Elena and Chloe's okay with all of this, and I appreciate what you did to help me. But I'm not really ready to dive into it with you just yet." Bonnie said giving them both an apologetic look.
"I understand Bonnie, I do. But I need your help. It's Chloe. She's alone with Damon." Elena told her.
"We have Chloe's necklace. I was just hoping you could use this to make some sort of a connection." Stefan told her.
"How do you know I can do this?" she asked him.
"Because I've known a few witches over the years. I've seen what they can do." He told her.
"I'm still new at it." She reminded him.
"Bonnie." Elena said pulling her best friend's attention to her. "Please."
"Okay. All right." Bonnie took the necklace and closed her eyes trying to make something happen. "There's nothing. Nothing's happening. Usually there's an image or...tell me if anyone's looking."
"Okay." Stefan told her looking around as she picked up a leaf and tried to make it float up, but it didn't work. "What is it?" Stefan asked.
"Something's wrong." She told them.
"With Chloe?" Elena asked getting scared.
"With me. There's something wrong with me." She said before grabbing her things. "I have to go. I'm sorry. I can't help you." She said before walking away quickly.
"So, where's my car?" I asked Damon. I'd just gotten that thing and now Jenna was going to kill me.
"I pulled it off to the side of the road. I don't think anyone will bother it." He told me.
"What about that man in the road? Was he a vampire?" I asked him.
"From what I could tell, yeah." He answered.
"From what you could tell?" I asked him.
"If I've never met him, I wouldn't know him. I mean, it's not like we all hang out together at the Vamp Bar & Grill." He told me before pulling in front of a building with the name "Bree's Bar" in front.
"Where are we?" I asked him before reading the name. "You brought me to a bar? Damon, I'm not old enough. They're not going to let me in."
"Sure they will." He told me before we got out of the car and walked into the bar.
"No." the woman behind the counter said as Damon smirked at her. "No, it can't be. Damon." She crossed over the bar and walked up to him. "My honey pie." She suddenly grabbed Damon's face and started making out with him.
"Listen up everybody!" Bree said once we were sitting at the bar and she was back on her side. "Here's to the man that broke my heart, crushed my soul, destroyed my life, and ruined any and all chances of happiness!" Bree said pouring the three of us shots. "Drink up!" She and Damon took a shot and as he reached for mine I took it and drank it. "Ahh. Whoo! So, how'd he rope you in?" she asked pouring us another chance.
"What can I say?" I asked her with a smirk. "I'm just drawn to the bad boys. The baby blues don't hurt either."
"I'll drink to that." She told me and we clinked our shot glasses together before drinking them. "Whatever the reason, just enjoy the ride." She said pouring more alcohol in my glass.
"So, how did you two meet?" I asked her.
"College." She said and I raised an eyebrow at Damon.
"You went to college?" I asked him trying not to laugh at the picture in my mind.
"I've been on a college campus, yes." He told me and I smiled at him before looking back at Bree.
"About twenty years ago, when I was a sweet, young freshman, I met this beautiful man, and I fell in love. And then he told me about his little secret, made me love him more. Because, you see, I had a little secret of my own that I was dying to share with somebody." She told me with a secretive smile.
"She's a witch." Damon whispered to me and I looked up at her in slight shock.
"Changed my world, you know." She said.
"I rocked your world." He said cocky. Though I suppose he might not be so cocky since he'd had over a hundred years of practice.
"He is good in the sack, isn't he?" she asked me, but didn't give me time to answer. "But mostly he's just a Walk-Away Joe. So, what is it that you want?"
At the Mystic Falls library Jeremy was looking for a book when some books fall down in front of him. A girl appeared from the other side of the bookshelf apologizing to him.
"Oh my god. I am so sorry." She said as she moved towards him. "There was this one book wedged between the other, and so I pulled and then kaplunk, kaboom." She explained gesturing with her hands to the books. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." He told her as they both knelt down to pick up the books at the same time and knocking into each other's heads.
"Ahh!" the girl said rubbing her head. "I'm Anna."
"I'm Jeremy." Jeremy introduced as he rubbed his own head laughing.
Bonnie sat in her Grams' living room looking through old spellbooks when her Grams walked in.
"Thank God you're back." Bonnie told her close the book and moving it off her lap and following her into another room.
"And hello to you, too. What's the matter?" Grams asked her.
"My powers are gone, Grams. I can't do anything, even when I concentrate. And there's nothing in in any of these books that can tell me how to get them back." Bonnie told her.
"Hang on, now. Just calm down. Tell me what happened." Grams told her.
"I can't." Bonnie told her feeling guilty.
"We keeping secrets now?" Grams asked her pulling a face.
"I have to. I'm sorry. I promised. Please, help me." Bonnie begged her.
"Well, first of all, there's nothing in any of these that's gonna help you. If you're blocked, it's in here." Grams told her pointing to her head. "You gotta clear it out, then you're back in business."
"Clear what out?" Bonnie asked her.
"Whatever's got you so scared." Grams said and Bonnie had no trouble thinking about what needed to be cleared out.
Back at Bree's bar I was standing outside by Damon's car talking to Jenna on the phone.
"Hi, Jenna. I'm so sorry I didn't get a hold of you sooner." I told her.
"Where are you? Why didn't you call?" Jenna asked me.
"I was so tired last night. I fell asleep at Caroline's. And then this morning, I just felt sick to my stomach so I'm still at her place." I lied.
"Are you okay?" she asked me.
"Other than my tossing stomach, just boy drama and twin stuff." I told her before looking back at the bar.
Inside, Damon was sitting at a table with Bree trying to get the information he'd wanted to get before he found me in my wrecked car.
"Come on, there's gotta be another way." Damon told her.
"After all these years, it's still only Katherine. How do you even know she's still alive?" Bree asked him.
"Well, you help me get into that tomb, and we'll find out." Damon told her.
"I already did. Twenty years ago. Remember? Three easy steps: Comet. Crystal. Spell." Bree reminded him.
"There's a little problem with number two. I don't have the crystal." Damon told her.
"That's it, Damon. There is no other way. It's Emily's spell." Bree reminded him.
"What about a new spell with a new crystal that overrides Emily's spell?" Damon asked her.
"It doesn't work that way, baby. Emily's spell is absolute. You can't get into that tomb." Bree told him and he looked away to the door.
After her talk with Grams, Bonnie made her way to the old Fell's Church where Emily had used her Bonnie to destroy the crystal and she'd been attacked by Damon. She suddenly heard a noise and spun around to find the source.
"Hello? Anybody here?!" the ground below her feet gave away and Bonnie fell into a hole screaming.
After I'd gotten off the phone with Jenna my phone rang and I looked at the caller ID to see Elena's name.
"Chloe, is that you?" she asked me.
"Well hello to you to, Elena."
"Where are you? Stefan will come get you." She told me.
"I'm fine. Damon's looking after me." I told her.
"Please. Stefan wants to explain, but he wants to talk to both of us." She told me.
"So?" I asked her.
"Just tell me where you are and he'll come get you." She told me.
"Why?" I asked her. "I'm fine where I am."
"With Damon?" she asked not believing me.
"Yes, with Damon." I told her.
"Chloe, please. Just…" I didn't let her finish before hanging up on her. I turned to go back into the bar, but jumped when I saw Damon behind me.
"You okay?" he asked me.
"So you care about me?" I asked him raising my eyebrow smirking.
Inside the bar, Bree was watching Damon and I talk outside before she picked up the phone and dialed before she turned on a blender.
"Hey, it's Bree. You'll never gonna guess who walked into my bar."
When Bonnie woke up inside the hole she's fallen in she immediately looked around for a way out.
"Ow." She said before calling for help. "Hello?! Anybody?!" she turned and jumped back with she saw a part of the wall with a pentagram inside a circle engraved on it.
At Grams' house, Stefan walked up to the door and knocked. Grams answered the door and stayed just inside the doorway.
"Hi." Stefan greeted.
"Can I help you?" Grams asked him.
"I'm Stefan." Stefan introduced extending a hand to her. She took it and shook his hand. "I'm a friend of Bonnie's. Her dad told me that she might be here."
"She was. Not anymore." Grams told him.
"Do you know where she went?" Stefan asked her.
"No. But you do." Grams told him and he looked at her confused.
"I'm sorry?" he asked her.
"I told her to face down her fear. And I'm sensing now that you know exactly why she was scared. You know what I am. And yet you offered me your hand, which means you wanted me to see that I can trust you." She explained.
"Can you?" Stefan asked her.
"I trust you'll keep her safe. You'd better be on your way, then. I'm not going to invite you in. I'm sure you understand why." Grams said before closing the door on him.
"This aisle is local and state history. And Civil War is one over. What do you need?" Anna asked Jeremy as they walked through the library.
"Local. 1860s. Do you work here?" he asked her curiously.
"Nope. You want reference. This way." she told him leading the way. "Um, home-schooled. I study here for a "mock-school environment." Ah, here we go." She turned into an aisle and looked at the rows of books on the shelves. "Original settlers, town archives, Founders' stuff. It's all here. So, what's your topic?"
"The town's fear and hysteria surrounding the war and how it influenced certain writers of the time." He told her.
"You might want to focus that." She suggested.
"The origin of local folklore and myths." He told her narrowing his topic.
"You mean the vampires." she stated smiling at him.
After our talk, Damon and I were sitting at the bar eating a burger and fries.
"Let's just say that Elena and I are descended from Anna and Katherine...does that make us some weird vampire/human hybrid or something?" I asked him.
"Vampires can't procreate." He told me while eating a fry. "But we love to try." He smirked at me and I rolled my eyes laughing a little. "No, if you were related, it would mean either Anna or Katherine had a child before they were turned."
"Is it weird?" I asked him after a breath of silence. "Having the two of us as a constant reminder of the two women you guys loved?"
"No." he answered. "The two of you are different from the two of them."
"Did Stefan think he could replace us with them?" I asked him.
"Kinda creepy if you ask me." He told me as I removed the pickles from my burger. "Come on, what? You don't like pickles? What's wrong with you?" he asked me taking the pickles off my plate.
"How can you even eat?" I asked him. "I mean, you are technically..." I dropped my sentence.
"Dead?" he whispered before laughing with me. "It's not such a bad word. As long as I keep a healthy diet of blood in my system, my body functions pretty normally." I nodded adding the information to memory.
"So, this nice act." I said giving him a small smile. "Any of it being real and lasting longer than this trip?" Before he could answer me Bree walked up to us with Damon's drink.
"Here you go." She said handing him his beer.
"Thank you." He said taking it.
"I'll have one too." I told her.
"Hmm?" Damon asked raising his eyebrow.
"Time out, remember?" I reminded him. "For five minutes? Yeah, well that five minutes is going to need a beer. Possibly more."
"There you go." Bree said smiling at me as she gave me a beer.
"Thanks." I said returning her smile before taking a drink and glancing at Damon.
"You're kidding me, right? There's no such thing as vampires." Jeremy told Anna.
"Well, there's not a lot of documentation, but the stories have been told since the Civil War. My granddad used to tell me all these creepy stories when I was little. And he said that his granddad told them to him." Anna explained to him.
"Yeah, that would be folklore. Vampires are a metaphor for the demons of the day!" he told her.
"Which are?" she asked him.
"The union soldiers!" Jeremy told her. "I've read the stories myself. They talk about the enemy, the demons that attack at night."
"That sounds like vampires to me" Anna told him.
"Allegorical vampires. Which is what it is. Creative expression during a very volatile time. I mean, a country at war doesn't want realism. They want fantasy. Thus, vampire fiction." Jeremy told him.
"Man, you're smart. I gotta give it to you; when I first saw you, I missed it." Anna told him.
"Yeah. I've had a rough go of it lately, but I'm just now getting back to my old self." Jeremey explained to her.
"Well, good luck on your paper. I gotta get home." She said getting up from the table and collecting her items. "You know, my great grandfather actually showed me a journal once of an ancestor, and he had written all of this creepy stuff about vampires. It was actually really believable." She said turning to leave.
"Wait. A journal?" he asked her.
"Yeah? Why?" she asked.
"Are you sure you have to go?" he asked with a smile on his face.
At the church ruins, Bonnie tried to call someone, anyone, on her phone but she couldn't get s signal.
"Come on, phone! Great! Great." She said once as she walked along the wall as far away from the door as she could. She looked at the door before using her phone as a light and slowly moving closer to the door. She could feel something from the other side of it. She drew closer to the door and put her hand on it. She gasped before backing away quickly.
"Bonnie!" Elena called out for her best friend as she and Stefan looked for her topside. They received no answer but found the large hole from where Bonnie fell under where they old church had been.
"Stay up here." Stefan told Elena. "I'll go and get her."
"Okay." She nodded her head and he jumped down into the hole and tapped the focused Bonnie on the shoulder causing the young witch to scream.
"Bonnie!" Stefan called to her but she couldn't see who it was behind her.
"Get away from me!" she ordered.
"It's me! It's Stefan." Stefan told her, trying to calm her down.
"Stefan?" she asked turning her phone light to see him before relaxing slightly. "The ground gave way, and I fell..."
"It's okay. It's okay. Calm down. Come on, let's get you out of here." He told her.
"How?" she asked him.
"Just close your eyes. Trust me." He told her wrapping his arms around her firmly. She hugged herself to him and he jumped out of the hole. Once they'd landed, he released her. "You can open your eyes now."
"Whoa." Bonnie said as she saw she was once again safe above the tomb. Elena joined the pair and hugged Bonnie to her.
"I didn't want to scare you." Stefan told her.
"How did you know where I was?" Bonnie asked him hugging Elena.
"Well, your grandmother told me what you were doing. I guessed the where and brought Elena." He old her.
"I was so worried when he told me you came back out here." Elena told her. "What were you doing?"
"I heard them..." Bonnie said confusing Elena. "Down there...behind the door. Are they in pain?" Bonnie asked looking at Stefan.
"In the beginning...yes. But not anymore. They've starved to the point of desiccation." He explained to her.
"But if they have blood..." Bonnie started saying.
"That's not going to happen, Bonnie." Stefan assured her. "They can't get out. Emily saw to that when she had you destroy the crystal. You're safe."
Hours after lunch and my first beer of the night I was still at the counter with Damon only now we were surrounded by strangers taking shots of liquor making a race out of it.
"Ready...Go!" Bree said and we all downed our shots. Mine was gone sooner than the others and I clapped my hands in victory before doing a little dance.
"That's three!" I told everyone with a large smile on my face. I turned to Damon to see liquor going down his chin and pouted at him. "Aw, do you need a bib?" I asked him and he wiped his chin off.
"Sorry I can't unhinge my jaw like a snake to consume alcohol." He joked with me making me laugh.
"Whatever. All right. Who's next? Another round, Bree?" I asked her.
"Honey, you should be on the floor!" a woman told me drunk.
"I am not even drunk!" I told her feeling the fogginess in my head. "My tolerance is, like, way up here!" I said reaching above my head.
"All right. Here you go." Bree said pouring another round of shots. I downed the shot with Damon next to me before giggling.
"I am having so much fun right now, I don't care what happens when I get home." I told him.
"Well that's good since you will probably be in trouble." He told me and I giggled again.
"Nah. I'll tell Jenna something and she'll go with it." I told him. "I always manage to wiggle out of trouble with her. Which reminds me, I should get someone to buy me a car."
"Quite the manipulator, aren't you?" he asked me.
"Need to so I can survive living with Elena." I told him. "Miss Goody-Two-Shoes gets everything she wants just by batting her big doe eyes. I have to find my way around them."
"So, you have no idea where the journal is?" Jeremy asked Anna as they played foosball at the Grill.
"Nope. Gramps died. And all the kids split his stuff. I can ask." She told him.
"I just find it weird that our ancestors kept the same kind of journal. It's crazy." He told her.
"Maybe it's based in some partial reality." She offered.
"No. It's gotta be metaphorical. My ancestor wrote short stories." Jeremy told her.
"So, that's why you're hung up on the fiction of it all." Anna joked.
"No, I'm hung up on the fiction of it all because I've seen "The Lost Boys" and "Near Dark," like, fifty times." He explained.
"Are those movies?" she asked as she won the current game they were playing. "Hey, I've never seen them. Maybe we can have a Fright Night and rent a whole bunch of vampire movies." She suggested. He hesitated thinking it through.
"Uh, yeah, sure." He agreed.
"Why does that sound like a "no way in hell"?" she asked before laughing lightly. "Sorry, I'm blunt."
"No, it's-I don't want you to get the wrong idea. I just recently got out of something. It's a little too soon, you know?" he asked her.
"Oh please, sure. No worries. I meant as friends. Yeah. Look, I really gotta go. Nice meeting you, Jeremy." She told him before collecting her things and leaving.
Back at the bar I'd been pulled to a pool table and was having fun buzzed, okay make that slightly drunk, attempting to play a game I'd known my whole life. I heard my phone ring and stumbled over to it still at the counter. I didn't bother looking at the caller ID before answering.
"Hello?"
"Chloe?" my eyes widened at the voice on the other end.
"Jenna! Hold on, it's loud in here." I told her before making my way to the door.
"Chloe, where are you? Are you okay?" she asked me.
"Huh? Yeah. No, I'm good. Everything's fine. Hold on, I can't hear you." I told her when I finally reached the door.
"No, it's not fine! I got a call..." I stepped outside and tripped over my own two feet dropping my phone. I reached for my phone and picked it up placing it next to my ear.
"Hello?" I asked into the phone hoping it didn't hang up on Jenna. Behind me the mystery man Bree had pointed Damon and I out to came up behind me and covered my mouth making me drop me phone, again.
Back inside the bar, Damon made his way back to the counter Bree was cleaning.
"Hey, where's your girl?" Bree asked him.
"Hmm." He leaned back looking at the pool table. "She was right back there." Damon moved away from the bar and looked around. He noticed the door I'd gone through and headed towards it with Bree's eyes following his every move. He stepped outside and saw my phone on the ground. He bent down and picked it up before looking around again. He walked around the bar, over to an electrical building and found me hanging onto a tank.
"Damon, look out!" I called out to him, but the man was faster and attacked him with a wooden plank with supernatural speed. The man continued to hit him repeatedly, breaking his legs, as I ran towards them.
"What the hell?!" Damon asked him confused before the man threw the plank away and grabbed a thing of gasoline. He uncapped it and started pouring it on Damon.
"Stop it! Leave him alone!" I ordered the man. He turned to me revealing his vampire features making me stop in my tracks.
"Who are you?" Damon asked him.
"That's perfect! You have no idea." The man said.
"What are you talking about? What did he do to you?" I asked him.
"He killed my girlfriend. What did she do to you, huh? What did she do to you?!" The man shouted at Damon in his grief.
"Nothing." Damon told him.
"I don't understand." I told him.
"My girlfriend went to visit Stefan, and Damon killed her. Got it?" he asked me before hitting Damon with a bat.
"Lexi?" I asked him and got a reaction. "Lexi was your girlfriend? She told my sister about you. She said that you were human."
"I was." He told me and I put the two together quickly.
"Lexi turned you?" I asked him.
"If you want to be with someone forever, you have to live forever." He told me.
"She loved you." I told him trying to keep his focus on me so Damon could heal and either kill him or get out of here. "She wanted to spend her eternity with you so she gave you a choice."
"Well, that's a choice you're not going to have to make." He told me going back to Damon.
"Don't, please, don't hurt him..." I begged him as he lit a match.
"I'm doing you a favor." He told me. I only had one shot left.
"Lexi loved you!" I shouted at him. "And she was good! And that means she thought you were good too. Prove her right. Be better than him. Don't do this." Lexi's ex picked Damon up and threw him against the building, but stopped attacking him after that. "Thank you."
"It wasn't for you." He said before leaving us alone. Once I was sure he was I gone I ran to Damon's side.
"Karma sure did catch up to you quick on that one." I told him.
"Shut up and help me." He said.
"And how do you plan I do that?" I asked.
"Blood helps the healing process." He said and I gave him a look. "Thought I'd give it a shot."
"If your joking you can't be hurt that bad." I said. "What I want to know is how he found you here instead of at Mystic Falls." He got a dark look on his face.
Stefan and Bonnie stood on Grams' porch after their small talk in front of the tomb.
"Well, now, look who's returned from battle. Can I talk to your friend for a minute?" Shelia asked Bonnie who turned to Stefan.
"Thank you." Bonnie said to him before going inside past Grams who stood in the doorway.
"I appreciate your help, Stefan." She told him.
"You're welcome, Sheila." Stefan said and she smiled at him.
"I wasn't sure you remembered." She told him.
"October 1969." He told her revealing that he remembered her perfectly.
"I was barely a teenager!" she said.
"And you were leading what was probably the only anti-war sit-in within miles of Mystic Falls." He recalled.
"Hmm." She said smiling in memory.
"You know, when you spoke, people were mesmerized. I know I was." He said smiling at her.
"Until the cops showed up." She reminded me smiling at him. "You took a big risk coming to see me earlier. Letting me read you, realize who you were. It could have gone in a completely different way."
"Your family has a very long history of keeping my secret. I knew that I could trust you if you believed I was worthy of your trust." He told her.
"Bonnie knows, doesn't she?" Sheila asked him.
"Yes." He confirmed.
"Please understand, our loyalty can only extend so far. This town won't be easy on any of us if they figure it out. And I'll protect my own before anybody else." She warned him.
"I know that." He told her.
"As long as we're clear. Goodnight, then." She told him.
"Goodnight, Sheila." He said before she closed the door between them.
Back at the bar, Bree was alone taking shots.
"We were just leaving, I wanted to say good bye." Damon said from behind her.
"Good to see you again, Damon." She told him flatly still looking away from him.
"No kiss?" he asked her and she finally turned to him.
"I'm full of vervain. I put it in everything I drink." She told him.
"And you're telling me this why?" he asked her.
"Lexi was my friend. How could you?" she asked him before turning away, but Damon was already in front of her, scaring her. "The tomb can be opened." She told him quickly.
"You're lying!" he said harshly.
"Emily's grimoire, her spellbook. If you know how she closed the tomb the reversal process will be in her book. You can open that tomb." Bree told him quickly.
"Where is this book?" Damon asked him.
"I—I—" she tried but she didn't know where the book was.
"You have no idea." He said.
"No. I'm telling you the truth." She told him.
"And I believe you. My dear, sweet Bree. That's why I'm almost sorry." He said before thrusting his hand into her chest and grabbing her heart.
"Ugh!" Damon ripped out her heart and watched her fall to the ground dead before washing his hands, grabbed his jacket and went to the car.
"Ready?" he asked me and I nodded.
"5 minutes are up." I sighed before looking out the window as we headed out. Once we'd been driving for a while I sent him a confused look. "So, why did you bring me with you?"
"Well, you're not the worst company in the world, Chloe. You should give yourself more credit!" he told me.
"Oh, I know that." I said. "But, seriously, why did you bring me with you?"
"You were there in the road, all damsel-in-distress-like. And, I knew it would piss off Stefan and Elena. And...you're not the worst company in the world, Chloe." He reasoned, but I could tell there was something else.
"Whatever the real reason, I was a lot of fun today." I told him.
"You did okay." He told me and I smacked his arm playfully.
"I saved your life!" I recalled.
"I know." He said giving me a look.
"And don't you forget it because I won't!" I told him getting more comfortable in my seat missing the look he gave me.
Once I was back at the boarding house I walked up the stairs, as directed by Elena who'd texted me on the way back home, to see her and Stefan.
"Oh, thank god!" Elena said before rushing to hug me.
"Hi to you too." I said hugging her and looking at him. "I hear you have something to tell us." I said to Stefan.
"I wanted to tell you both the truth about them." Stefan started saying.
"You said no more lies. Only the truth. I can handle the truth, Stefan. As crazy as it is, I can handle the fact that you are a vampire. And that you have a vampire brother. And that my best friend is a witch. I can accept the fact that the world is a much more mysterious place than I ever thought possible. But this...this lie, I cannot take. What am I to you? Who am I to you?" Elena asked him and I rolled my eyes.
"Once again, this is all about you." I said pulling away from her. "Are we them or not?"
"You are not Anna." Stefan told me before turning to Elena. "And you are not Katherine. The two of you are the opposite of everything that they were."
"And when did you figure that out? Before you kissed me? Before we slept together?" Elena asked him.
"Before I met you. Both of you." He told us and we gave him a confused look.
"What?" Elena asked him.
"The first day of school. When we met. It wasn't for the first time." He said.
"Then when was it?" I asked him.
"May 23, 2009." He told us and I felt the blood drain from my face.
"But that was..." Elena said, but she couldn't get the words out.
"That was the day your parents' car went off the bridge." He finished.
"We know what day it was, Stefan." I told him.
"You were there?" Elena asked him.
"Every couple of years I come back here, to see Zach and see my home. Last spring, I was out in the woods, by old Wickery Bridge. And I heard the accident. All of it. I was fast getting there, but not fast enough. The car was already submerged. Your dad was still...he was still conscious. I was able to get to him, but he wouldn't let me help him, until I helped the two of you." Stefan explained to us and Elena started crying.
"Oh my god. When I woke up in the hospital, nobody could figure out how we got out of the car. They said it was a miracle." Elena cried.
"I went back for them. But it was too late. I couldn't— I couldn't save them. When I pulled you out, I looked at your face. You looked like Katherine and Anna. I couldn't believe the resemblance. After that, I spent months making sure that you weren't her. I watched you. I learned everything that I could about you. And I saw that you were nothing like Katherine and Anna. And I wanted to leave town, but, Elena, I couldn't. I couldn't leave without knowing you. I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you. I wanted to. But you were so sad." Stefan told us.
"Why do we look like them?" Elena asked him.
"Elena, you've been through so much." Stefan told her.
"Why do I look like her, Stefan? What are you not telling me?" Elena asked him again, but he didn't answer.
"Answer the question Stefan! You owe that to us." I told him.
"It didn't make any sense to me. You're Gilberts. They were Pierces. But the resemblance was too similar. And then I learned the truth. You two were adopted."
Back at the library Jeremy was sitting on the floor looking through books. Anna approached him with a large folder.
"There you are." Anna said happily.
"Hey." Jeremy said smiling in greeting.
"Hi. Okay, look. I know I don't know you, so don't ask me why I did this. I just, sometimes...mostly all the time- I have this need to be right. So I googled and..." she said before giving him the folder.
"What is it?" he asked her.
"Proof. Sort of." She answered and he started looking through it. It contained printed-out articles from the Mystic Falls Courier newspaper. Among the articles were ones titled "Another Animal Attack – Second Attack in Two Weeks leads to closings and cancelations", "Campers Found Mauled – Animal Attack Suspected in Recent Deaths".
"What does this mean?" he asked her.
"Well, I only went as far back as 1942, and found that there's been a string of animal attacks periodically in and around this town for the past seventy-five years. It's consistent. In '62, five bodies found. In '53, four people killed. In '74, three people dead. And there's been five this year. All attacked. All suffered major blood loss, as in drained of blood." She explained to him.
Back at the Boarding House, Stefan and Elena were sitting together on the sofa as I stood next to him.
"How do you know all this?" Elena asked him.
"Your birth certificate from the city records. It says Elena Gilbert, Mystic Falls General. But there's no record of your mother ever being admitted. There's no record of her ever being pregnant." Stefan explained.
"What else do you know?" I asked him.
"For me to go any further, I would've had to look into the Pierce family, and I couldn't do that. It's too much of a risk. If someone found out I was asking about Katherine and Anna..." Stefan told me before looking directly at Elena. "Listen to me, it doesn't matter. You are the woman that I love. I love you." Elena turned to him and gave him a chaste kiss before she started crying in his arms.
After Elena had calmed down, Damon took us home. Elena got out of his car ad to the house quickly, but I took my time.
"You okay?" he asked me quietly.
"Do I really have a choice?" I asked him getting out of the car and going inside behind Elena. Jenna was sitting on the sofa until she'd heard us walk in. She jumped up and made a beeline for the two of us.
"I don't set a lot of rules, girls. Not with the two of you. I trust you to tell me the truth." She said before rounding on me. "Where were you? Why would you lie to me about it? I thought that we were closer than that."
"Now is not the time you want to talk to me about lies." Elena told her heading up to her room.
"Don't do that. Don't turn this back on me. I didn't do anything." She told her and I scoffed before following Elena.
"You didn't do anything?" I asked her before turning a dark gaze onto my aunt. "Are we adopted?" she froze and her eyes widened. "We trust you to tell us the truth too, Jenna. How could you not tell us? I thought we were closer than that."
"Chloe, Elena, I didn't...they asked me not to." She told us and I made my way up to my room.
"Enough!" I told her.
"I don't want to hear it!" Elena called down to her before slamming the door to her room.
At the Grill, Alaric was sitting at the bar, drinking, when Damon walked in and sat at the counter next to him.
"Bourbon." He ordered after making brief eye contact with the teacher.
Flashback
"I love you." Isobel said.
"I'm going to be late tonight." Alaric told her.
When Alaric returned home he went to the bedroom to find Damon holding Isobel in his arms draining her.
Present
Alaric recognized Damon who killed his wife. He set his drink on the bar, his hand visibly trembling.