One day I'll be on time, I thought to myself, still not exactly in a hurry either, I'd had some weird dreams last night but I couldn't really remember them. The lack of real sleep had left me with a headache, I turned to walk out of the kitchen and smacked right into Damon, "Morning," I kissed him on the cheek, "sorry gotta go, running late."
He grabbed my arm as I walked past him, "Why don't I give you a ride? Alaric called, said he needs to talk to you and Elena."
"Is this a ploy so I'll have to come back here?" I said, raising my eyebrow.
"I don't need a ploy."
"I'll be by the car." I smiled before walking away.
We had just walked into the school when I asked Damon, "Did Alaric say what this was about?"
"Nope."
We walked into the class and I sat at one of the desks close to the door, no one was making eye contact with each other, "Who died now?" I asked.
"No one," Alaric started, "I saw Isobel last night."
"She's here?" Damon asked. "Did you ask about John? Are they working together?"
"No."
"No, they're not?"
"No, I didn't ask."
"Did you ask about the invention?"
"No."
"Did you forget how to use your worlds, Ric?"
"I was a little preoccupied with my vampire wife standing in front of me."
"Hi, yeah can we get back to the point here," I said
"She wants to see us," Elena said
"Fuck that." I spat.
"She's going to go on a killing spree if we don't."
"She can't just come into our lives and threaten people we care about."
"Well, she did." Elena paused looking at me, "We should go, we'll regret it if we don't."
"You might regret it but I can't remember the mom we had. I don't truly care to meet the one we didn't."
"Alexis-"
"Whatever set it up and just tell me where I'm supposed to be." I stood up and walked towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Elena asked.
"To work on the stupid float and pretend there isn't a shit show about to go down." I walked into the hallway, it was empty and all the other students were out working. I found an empty classroom pushing the door closed behind me, I slid down the wall running my hands over my face, my head was pounding now.
It has only been about ten minutes since I'd ditched everyone else, apparently that had been long enough for Damon, I heard his familiar footsteps coming down the hall before the door swung open. "How'd you find me?" I said looking up.
"Really?" He asked sitting in one of the empty desks, "I could smell you a mile away."
"That's absolutely not creepy, not at all." I sighed, "When are we meeting mommy dearest?"
"In about an hour at the grill." Damon shifted in the seat, "Ric and I have to stay outside."
"Excuse me? So just me, Elena and Isobel?"
"Stefan will be there."
"Oh well, I feel totally safe now." I rolled my eyes. Damon stood up and held out his hand. I took it pulling myself up and then wrapping my arms around him, "We could just kill her, solve a whole lot of problems real quick." I said into his chest.
He let out a small chuckle, "See when you say things like that, I start to think maybe we're spending too much time together. We both know Alaric and Elena would frown on killing her."
"You can't say it's not justified, this crazy bitch waits 17 years to try and meet us, then to force us to do it she threatens the entire town." We separated, "Let's go get this over with.
The ride to the grill did nothing to fix my headache which seemed to steadily be getting worse to the point I spent most of the ride with my eyes closed, Damon stopped the car and I rubbed my face again. "How long until this nonsense starts?"
Damon looked at his phone, "20 minutes."
"Ugh this is like being stalked by a snail, I wish I had brought something to smo-"
Damon pulled my hitter box out of his pocket and handed it to me, "I figured when Ric called it was going to be a rough day."
"You are amazing," I said opening the box and loading the hitter. When we walked up to Ric he gave me a face, "Calm down there judgy, I can smell the bourbon on you from here. We all have our own ways of dealing." Alaric just shrugged deciding this was a battle he wasn't going to participate in. I sat on the bench semi hiding, just in case there were any deputies around. I knew Liz was busy with founders day stuff but that didn't mean I needed to be caught by anyone else.
"Stefan just texted," Damon said, breaking my concentration on my shoes, "Elena just sat down. Isobel isn't there yet."
I looked up at him and sighed, I handed him the hitter box and walked towards the street. I had to stop short because two girls on bicycles raced by.
"You ok?" I heard Damon asked.
I turned towards him, "Did you not just see..." I went to point to the girls but they weren't there, I rubbed my eyes and looked again, "Umm, never mind." I stepped off the curb and walked into the grill. It was still pretty early in the day so it was empty and Elena was easy to spot, "Hey." I said sitting down.
"Hey I'm glad you came, I was starting to get worried." She said.
"I know this is important to you and you know all that talk of slaughtering the town, me wanting to do it is irrelevant."
"Still though, thank you."
I grabbed her hand and squeezed it.
"Hello, girls." I heard from behind us, Isobel rounded the table, hanging her jacket on the chair before sitting down, "Wow you really look just like her." She said, looking at Elena.
"You know Kathrine?" Elena asked.
"She found me after I turned, genetic curiosity I guess, gave me a daylight necklace."
"Speaking of genetic curiosity, who's our father?" I spoke up, sneaking a peek at my ring that had finally changed colors. At least it works.
"He's not important."
"Maybe not to you but we'd like a name." Elena spat.
"That would be nice, wouldn't it? You two ask a lot of questions."
"Why did you compel that man to kill himself? The one who told me to stop looking for you."
"Dramatic effect, didn't seem to work very well."
"So what human life means that little to you?" I spat trying to keep my voice down.
"It means absolutely nothing to me, it's just part of being what I am."
"That's not true. We know other vampires and they are nothing like that." Elena said, her voice shaking.
"Oh yes, I've heard about Stefan. Surviving on animal blood because of the monster human blood turns him into." She looked to me, "And Damon-"
"I'm going to stop you right there." I said holding my hand up, "I'm well aware he's done some awful shit."
"I'm sure you don't know all of it."
"I'm sure I don't care," I said rolling my eyes and crossing my arms.
"Overly confident are we?" She started to choke, Elena raised her eyebrow at me. I smirked at Isobel letting her out of the spell.
"Just the right amount of confidence." Screaming inside because that small bit of magic made my head feel like it may literally explode. "So what do you want? You have had 17 years to find us and catch up without having to threaten the whole town."
"I was curious but mostly I want the same thing your Uncle John wants, the Gilbert device."
"How do you know John?"
"I used to spend a lot of time here when I was younger, John had a crush on me, he was the first person to tell me about vampires."
"And that made you want to become one?" Elena asked.
"I had a whole list of reasons many I'm sure you both have thought about yourself"
"No," Elena said quickly.
"That's a lie, it's inevitable one day you'll get old and Stefan won't, forever doesn't last very long when you're human. Alexis has made her decision, it's only a matter of time Damon won't leave you human long."
"You couldn't possibly know that," I said shifting uncomfortably in my seat.
"So that little red vile on your bracelet is just for decoration then? Trust me the moment you decided to be with him is when you gave up that choice."
My hand instinctively clapped around my bracelet not saying anything Isobel continued, "I want the invention."
"We don't have it," I said.
"Damon does and you are going to get it for me."
"He's not going to give up something that gives him the upper hand."
"Then the blood will be on your hands." Isobel got up and walked towards the exit.
Elena looked like she was about to break down, I saw Stefan walking over, he nodded to me and I looked at Elena, "I'll meet you at home in a bit." She nodded and I headed towards the door brushing past Bonnie on my way out. Stepping out on the sidewalk the light hit me like a ton of bricks, I ran across the street as my ears started ringing, when I made it to Damon I latched on to his arm.
"What happened." He asked concern shot across his face.
I clenched my eyes shut and tried to answer but I couldn't concentrate, and then it stopped, I opened my eyes and looked around.
"What the fuck was that?" Damon asked.
"I think..." I looked around again, "I think I remembered something, oh thank god I thought I was going crazy."
"Care to enlighten me?"
I turned away from Damon and pointed towards the far side of the square, "I broke my arm over there when I was like 8, yeah, Elena and I were racing on our bikes and she cheated, so I did too. I hit a sprinkler and flipped over the handles and broke my arm." Damon looked confused so I continued, "Look I don't know what happened. I had weird dreams all night and a headache all day I used some magic on Isobel and I think it pushed me over the edge."
"You used magic on Isobel?" Alaric said from behind me.
"She's fine, calm down. She wants the invention."
"Well, she's not getting it."
"She's threatening to kill everyone, Damon!"
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine but-"
Damon turned to Alaric cutting me off, "Take her home." He started to walk away.
"Where the fuck are you going?" I half yelled.
"To find Isobel we need to have a talk." He replied, he slammed the door of the Camaro and sped off.
"How the fuck is he even going to find her?" I asked looking at Ric.
Ric shrugged, "Come on I'll take you home."
Damon's pov
I wasn't sure it was even the right house until I walked in and saw her compelled companions, I sent them away not wanting Isobel to have any backup. I watched her walk in looking like she'd won the lottery, throwing her bag on the bed I stepped out of my hiding place. "Blow into town and say hello to everyone but me? I'm a little hurt."
"Damon Salvatore, Just one blast from the past after another." She said turning to face me, "I figured with your current situation it might be a little awkward." She slammed me up against the wall. "Did you bring the invention?"
I flipped us so she was now against the wall, "What are you doing with John Gilbert?"
"I've known John for a long time, he was in love with me." She smirked and continued, "Kathrine wants John to have it, don't kill the messenger we both know Kathrine always gets what she wants." She tried to pull away.
I slammed her back up against the wall hearing the drywall crack underneath her, "Do I have your attention?" She nodded her head, "You don't get to come to my town and threaten people, you stay away from Alexis and Elena. Wouldn't you know, I do believe in killing the messenger because it sends a message." I let go of her and straightened my jacket before walking through the door. I turned to her, "Tell Kathrine if she wants something from me the bitch can come get it herself."
Alexis's pov
Elena had helped me dig out photo albums, elated that I remembered something even if it was small. She'd left a half-hour ago after I'd abandoned hope they would jog anything else, I was about to clean them up when I heard the window, "I have a door." I said.
"I know, Jenna's downstairs." Damon replied, "I brought your car."
"Thanks."
"How was your field trip?" I was still flipping through a photo album not really looking at the pictures.
"Well there was violence and death threats, so I'd say pretty successful." He picked up one of the albums and sat on the bed, "What are you doing?"
"Elena had this idea, she got a little enthusiastic when I told her what happened after the grill."
"Did it work?"
"Nope, like looking at me with a bunch of strangers through the years." I kept flipping pages frustrated, finally having enough I slammed the book closed and sacked it on another one before dropping them on the floor and laying back on my bed. Damon laid down next to me and turned my face to his, "What's wrong?"
"You want the list because I've got one."
"Oh, there's a list?" He said pushing a piece of hair behind my ear.
"Well let's see I got a tiny glimpse of my life, which only proved I've always been uncoordinated, the murderous birth mother and her views on vampirism, oh and top all of this off after my little episode today, I've got no magic."
Damon sat up staring at me, "What, it just disappeared?"
"I don't know, all I know is you took off and I didn't hear from you for hours, I tried to do a locator spell and nothing happened, so I tried to light a candle and zip."
"You seem far too calm about this."
"I can't do anything about it, not tonight anyway my book is at your house."
"I did half expect you to be at the boarding house."
"You told Ric to bring me home, out of I'm sure fear for his life he brought me here. There's nothing medically wrong with me which leads me to believe my messed up memory and my magic are directly connected."
"We'll come on, let's go get your book."
"Not tonight, it's just been a really long day. Truly it's the last thing on my mind, all this with Isobel it was just a lot."
"She's trying to get a hold of the invention for Kathrine."
I made a gagging noise at the name and Damon chuckled, "What the hell does she want it for? Do we even know what it does yet?"
"I have no idea on both of those fronts, but I told Isobel if Kathrine wants it she can come get it herself."
"Yeah that sounds like a great plan, let's add more angry vampires to the situation." I threw my pillow over my head and groaned.
"Where's your bracelet?" Damon asked.
"I took it off, Isobel said some stuff and I started thinking which led to spiraling a little then Elena interrupted me and I forgot to put it back on." I got off the bed, walked to the bathroom and picked the bracelet up off the counter, "See safe and sound right here." I held my wrist out so he could help me tie it back on.
"Just a little spiral hu?"
"Well it was a medium-sized spiral, Isobel got in my head it was nothing." I lied.
"You have a brilliant poker face but that heartbeat will give you away every time." He said leaning back on the bed.
I sat down staring at my feet, what Isobel had said at the grill made me feel like eventually turning wasn't really my choice, I was more frustrated that I'd let her get to me at all. "Can we just leave it alone for now, please?" I rubbed my eyes when I looked back Damon was gone, "Uggggg." I groaned out.
The sound of the shower turning off and Elena's music playing in the bathroom woke me up. I looked at the clock and it was already 8, when I walked downstairs Jenna was heading for the door and I waved bye before heading into the kitchen. I heard Jenna greet someone as she was walking out, I grabbed a carton of ice cream and sat down at the counter.
"Good morning." I heard Damon's voice as he stepped into the kitchen, "Are you eating ice cream for breakfast?"
"I ate most of it for dinner, figured I'd put it out if it's misery, my momma didn't raise a quitter," I said before taking a bite.
"I brought you coffee." He set the cup on the counter and looked like he was going to say something but a knock at the door and Elena coming down the steps yelling, "I got it." interrupted him. I heard Elena talking to someone before she and Bonnie walked through the doorway.
Elena was recapping what had happened with Isobel, I took a drink of the coffee and immediately tasted more copper then coffee, I lifted my eyebrow at Damon he just shrugged.
"As much as I'd love to join this little pow wow I'm going to go," Damon said he kissed me on the forehead.
"It's probably best," I nodded, "I'll come by later."
Damon left, Elena got up from the table snagging my coffee off the counter, "Elena no-" I said just a little too late, she immediately spit it into the sink "A little warning would be nice." She said as she went to pour the cup down the sink.
"Hey, that's mine," I said, taking it back from her, "I shouldn't have to warn you, make your own coffee."
"Does Damon make shitty coffee or something?" Bonnie asked.
"No, he just adds a secret ingredient." I took another sip.
"It just proves what Isobel said is right, sneaking blood in your coffee." Elena snapped.
"It's not really sneaky if he does it almost every day." I shrugged my shoulders and finished off the cup, "mmmm"
Elena and Bonnie both made a face, one disgust the other shock respectively, "I just don't get it." Elena said, "Let's change the subject, did you remember anything else after I went to bed?"
"You're remembering things?" Bonnie asked excitedly.
"Just the one, the day I broke my arm. Honestly, if they are all like that I'm fine not remembering anything ever."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean it was like someone was jabbing an ice pick in my head all day, I hallucinated it wasn't worth it for something so trivial." I wasn't going to tell her my magic just up and hightailed it.
"I feel like I've read something about that I can look into it if you want?" Bonnie looked at her hands for the last part.
"No, I'm sorry Bonnie after the pageant I don't trust you, the last thing I need is for you to be rooting around in my head."
"What if I told you I might know about the Gilbert invention?" She asked leaning in.
"It may tip the scales a little more in your favor, go on."
"I've been looking over Emily's spell book since Grams died, it's at the school."
"Well, I'll get dressed and meet you guys there." I stood up from the table and headed upstairs, I grabbed a shirt from the closet, Damon was on my bed when I stepped out, "Comfy?"
"Mines definitely more comfortable." He said with a smirk.
"As much as I'd love to talk and other dirtier things, I have to go." I pulled my shirt over my head.
"So Stefan filled me in on the meeting with Isobel, you wanna tell me what your little spiral was about last night?" He had gotten off the bed and was standing directly behind me I turned around
"Want is a strong word." I sighed, "Isobel said you wouldn't leave me human long and that I gave up my choice, it scared me. I started feeling like one day you're going to get impatient and just snap my neck. That extra heavy dose of blood in my coffee did absolutely nothing to ease that fear B.T.W."
"If you'll remember the choice was taken away from me why would I do that to you?"
"I don't know, a year ago to me eternity with someone was like 70 years, you- you are offering me actual eternity. When Isobel said that, something just clicked and I freaked out. Look we can talk about this as much as you want later but I have to go." I pushed past him grabbing my bag and keys, Elena and Bonnie had already left and I wanted to know about that invention.
Elena and Bonnie were huddled in Alaric's classroom, he was nowhere to be found. "What did I miss ladies?" I said as I walked in.
"Johnathan Gilbert was a liar," Elena said.
"Not much different from the current one then hu?"
"So apparently John Gilbert didn't actually invent anything, Emily spelled it, the compass, the rings, the invention," Bonnie stated.
"Which Damon actually only has one piece of," Elena spoke up.
"It's a weapon against vampires, Emily pledged her loyalty to Kathrine but she wasn't going to just let innocent people get hurt so she made John think he'd invented these things. If you can get me the invention I can take the spell off."
"Ok so I'll get Stefan and you can go fill Damon in and we can meet at the Boarding House," Elena said, turning to me.
"Well see the thing is..." I said.
"What?" Elena asked annoyed.
"Could we just all tell Damon together, I kinda walked out on an important conversation."
Elena rolled her eyes before standing up, "Well let's go find Stefan then."
As we walked outside the both of us looking around, "Alexis! Elena!" I heard a voice from behind us, Jeremy was running up.
"Hey Jeremy, have you seen Stefan?" Elena asked.
"No, have you seen Anna?" He asked us both.
"Anna?" I choked, "No, you guys are still friends?"
"We're more than friends, and something could be seriously wrong so if either of you are lying to me then I need you to come clean."
"We haven't seen her Jer, why would we be lying to you?"
"I read your journal Elena, I know about you guys having Damon take my memories away." Jeremy pushed past us. I turned to see where he went seeing Isobel, "Elena."
"I see her." She replied.
"What do you want?" I asked as Isobel stepped in front of us.
"I'm your mother. I want to be more involved in your lives." She said, smirking.
"We don't want you here," Elena said, crossing her arms.
"I understand you two seem to already have so many people in your lives I've been studying up, there's Bonnie not going close to that one being a witch and all. You have sad little Jeremy, he's mad at you both right? Then there is Caroline who didn't even know who I was but wouldn't stop talking, that one. Oh and let's not forget Matt so many connections with that one for you Elena."
"Leave Matt out of this, he's not involved in this," Elena said.
"If they are involved with you they are fair game."
"You need to leave," I said stepping in front of Elena.
"Oh no see I have friends here too," she pointed to a guy close to Matt "That's Frank, he noticed the axles are a bit rusty on that trailer and with a little bit of pressure," the man jumped on the trailer and Matt screamed. We tried running to Matt but Isobel stopped us. I tried to drop her but my magic was still gone.
"Why are you doing this?" Elena asked tears welling up in her eyes.
"I'm just showing you how easy it is to hurt the people around you I want that invention." Isobel's eyes darted between us.
"Damon will kill you before he gives up that invention," I said.
"Will that be before or after I kill Jeremy." Isobel said before disappearing, "JEREMY!" Elena yelled out he was gone.
"You go get Stefan and Bonnie, I'll look around a little on my way to my truck we'll meet at the Boarding House we need to take care of this now," I said, I ran all around the school no sign of Jeremy, Isobel or her cronies.
I pulled into the driveway thankful to see Elena already there, I took a deep breath getting out of the truck, when I walked in I found everyone in the library mid-argument.
"I'm not giving the device to Isobel, who's going to give it to John, who's going to use it to kill me, I like being a living dead person," Damon said.
"Bonnie is going to take the spell off," I said from the doorway.
"Nice of you to join us," Damon said, narrowing his eyes at me then looking at Bonnie, "I don't trust her, couldn't you do it."
"It's not my magic to undo, Bonnie is the best witch for the job. John and Isobel will never know, please Damon she's going to kill Jeremy."
"I'll get Jeremy myself."
"How? What's to stop her from snapping his neck the second you bust in there?" Stefan asked.
"Can you even do this? I mean you're no Emily Bennett."
"I've been practicing, name a book."
"What?"
"Name a book, any book."
"Call of the wild, Jack London."
Bonnie closed her eyes and the book came zipping by into Damon's hands, "Neat parlor trick."
"Damon this is our only option, you don't have to trust Bonnie but you can trust me," I said stepping in front of him, he pulled the device out of his pocket and handed it to me.
It only took Bonnie about ten minutes to set everything up and even less to do the spell itself, when she was finished she handed the device back to me, "I guess now we call Isobel." I said.
Bonnie stopped me, "So while you guys were looking for Stefan I found something about your memories." She said.
I looked past her to see that Damon was listening in, "Bonnie I told you I don't want your help with this."
"But I can get them back for you." She insisted.
"Seriously stay out of my head." I turned away from her.
"So what, you just don't want them back?" She snapped.
"No, no I don't, I seem to be the only one who could give a shit less about getting them back." I shot a look at Elena, "Just leave it alone Bonnie." I clenched my fist and saw the fireplace flare up. Well at least that's fixed, Damon walked over and put his hands on my shoulders, the fire calmed back down.
"Ric got a hold of Isobel, she's going to meet you two in the square at 7," Stefan said uncomfortably.
I nodded towards him before turning and walking out of the room, I could hear footsteps in the hall behind me, not really wanting to talk to anyone. I stepped outside hoping whoever it was would take the hint. "You should let Bonnie help you." I heard Elena's voice from behind me.
"Go away, Elena." I sat down on the step putting my forehead on my knees.
"I can't believe you won't let someone help you."
"You mean fix me?"
"I didn't say that."
"You don't have to, you don't like me the way I am now. The journals in the hospital, the photo albums, you were so excited about me remembering one thing, a tiny sliver of hope that the old me was crawling her way back. I like who I am." I stood up my face an inch from hers, "So get used to it."
I stepped back into the house Damon was in the living room, standing by the fireplace drink in hand, he didn't look up when I walked in, "I'm sorry I've been blowing you off." I said sitting down, he looked up but didn't say anything. "Look, Isobel didn't change my decision, she may have actually pushed me harder in the direction I was already going. She did, however, make me sit down and think about it. I don't think there is anyone else I'd rather spend eternity with. I just need it to be on my terms." Damon stepped in front of me holding out his hand, I took it standing up he wrapped his arms around me, "I'm really going to need you to say something please."
"Why couldn't you tell me this yesterday? Or this morning?" He asked.
"Because I didn't have the words for it, it was like I was panicked and then you showed up and it was like all of the doubt was gone, I can't explain it."
"It's because you're bonded." Bonnie's voice carried over from the entryway, "Elementals lose their memories so they can form stronger alliances with their protector, you two took it a step further by falling in love. The blood sharing probably didn't help either."
I pulled away from Damon and turned towards Bonnie, "How could you possibly know that?"
"Emily's spell book has a whole section about Elementals, now do you believe I can help you?"
"I'd trust Jack The Ripper in a room full of hookers before I'd trust you to put a spell on me, I'll fix it myself." I stomped off towards the library Elena and Stefan were talking by the fireplace, "It's almost 7." I said, Elena nodded and I headed out to my truck. I put the key in the ignition and heard the passenger door shut. I looked and saw Damon.
"You didn't think I was going to let you go by yourself did you?"
We got to the square with about 5 minutes to spare. Isobel was already there, I met up with Elena and we walked up together.
"Where's our brother?" Elana asked.
"Where's the device?" Isobel answered.
"Brother first then you can have it." I snapped.
"I'm not negotiating, do you think I came alone?"
I looked past Isobel and saw the man from the float and a woman. "Neither did we." Isobel's face changed as she saw the guys behind us.
"Call home."
"What?" Elena asked.
"Call home and ask to speak to Jeremy."
Elena pulled out her phone and turned away, "I gave you a lot to think about didn't I?" Isobel asked.
"You did but it only made my decision that, much, easier," I smirked.
"Jeremy's fine." Elena said, turning around, "You were never going to hurt him."
"I was going to kill him. I don't have any redeeming qualities so don't look for them." Isobel stuck out her hand, "Now give me the device." I slapped it down in her hand, she held on to my wrist so I couldn't pull away, "You two need to get away from the Salvatore brothers with them in your life you will only know pain, Kathrine figured that out."
I jerked my hand away, "Stay away from us."
"Good-bye, girls," Isobel said and zipped away.
I turned around and Damon was already there, "I'd like to be anywhere but here pl-" I couldn't finish my sentence. There was a buzzing in my head that turned to high pitched ringing, my hands went to my temples, I felt my knees give out and Damon caught me before I passed out.