Pre-finale chapter! Thanks for the reviews, guys. Keep them coming!
Disclaimer: Refer to the first chapter please :)
Isobel
"I hate this," Claire complained as she, Stefan, and Elena walked into the high school's cafeteria where a bunch of kids were sitting in groups at tables discussing their ideas for their Founder's Day floats. "When Carol asked me to help with Miss Mystic Falls, I didn't think she meant the float, too."
Stefan chuckled at her. "You and I both know that you're excited to be bossing a bunch of teenage girls around," he countered. Claire didn't object, but Elena intervened.
"Excluding me, right?"
Claire smiled. "Ah, the sweet sound of favoritism! I should've been a teacher."
"Art teacher?" Stefan prompted her. Claire shook her head as she looked around and hummed, trying to think of a subject she'd like to teach if she could. Of course, she'd never really done it before and had no further plans to—fighting against evil in Mystic Falls was enough of a job. Eventually, she found a hypothetical answer.
"English. English teacher. That way, you can tell teenagers that their answers are wrong even when the question asks for an opinion." She smirked, and both Stefan and Elena just snickered beside her while they moved deeper into the cafeteria to head towards the Miss Mystic Falls table. Instead, about halfway towards the table, Alaric rushed up to them, his expression distraught.
"Hey, Mr. Saltzman," Elena began as he approached them, trying to be professional, but instead, Alaric just shook his head.
"Come with me. We need to talk," he said immediately and walked in another direction. Claire raised her eyebrows while Stefan and Elena exchanged a worried glance towards each other, but the trio followed the teacher without much of a fight.
A short while after Alaric had brought Claire, Stefan, and Elena into his classroom and had stressed the dire importance of the situation, Damon and Christopher opened the door and entered at the request of Claire, who had texted the both of them to get the school as soon as possible. Elena sat on a desk in the front row, Stefan stood by the window, and Claire was somewhat next to Alaric at the teacher's desk. As soon as the two vampires stepped inside, everyone turned their heads.
"Hey," Alaric greeted them, breaking the deafening silence in the room. "Thanks for coming."
"Sorry I'm late. The dog ate my, uh…" Damon quipped as he strode into the room. But when he felt the dark undertone of the room, he retracted his statement. "Never mind."
"What's going on?" Christopher asked as he stood next to the empty desk adjacent from Elena. He looked at Claire. "You said it was important."
"Yeah…what's all the furrowed brows?" Damon mumbled skeptically, feeling oddly chipper in such an unfriendly room. Alaric, who stood beside him, answered his question with no hesitation at all.
"I saw Isobel last night."
Damon turned his head sharply to the History teacher. "Isobel's here? In town?" Alaric nodded and Damon looked around the room to everyone else. Claire sighed.
"You could try to at least make an attempt to mask your excitement, Damon. I know you think she can lead you to Katherine." Claire shook her head without making eye contact with Damon. "But this is serious."
"Where did she find you?" Christopher asked Alaric just as Damon began to move over to be closer to his brother.
"Last night at the Grill while I was having a drink," responded Alaric. "She just…showed up."
"Did you ask her about Uncle John? Are they working together?" Damon pressured.
"No."
"No, they're not?"
"No, I didn't ask."
As Damon moved forward, he began to bombard the teacher with more and more questions that Alaric couldn't answer. "What about the invention?"
"Didn't ask."
"Does she know about the tomb vampires?"
"I don't know."
Alaric and Damon came face to face, and the elder Salvatore looked at the teacher like he was a pre-school student. "Did words completely escape you?"
"No, I was a little too distracted by my dead vampire wife to ask any questions!" Alaric shouted back, forcing Damon to step back and ease up on the throttle a bit. Claire rubbed her head as she leaned against Alaric's desk, the testosterone in the room getting to her just a bit.
"Did she at least mention what she was doing here? What she wants?" asked Christopher, who looked around the room rather than just at Alaric. Elena nodded beside him.
"She wants to see me."
"Alaric is supposed to arrange a meeting," Stefan explained as Damon turned his head at Elena and let the information sink in. "We don't know why or what she wants."
"I'll tell you what she wants." Claire scoffed. "She wants that stupid invention just like that leech, John Gilbert—no offense, Elena." Elena shrugged carelessly, taking no offense to Claire's harsh words about her uncle, who no one seemed to like.
"Surely, Elena doesn't have to see her if she doesn't want to..." Christopher tried, but Elena shook her head.
"I don't really have a choice."
"She's threatened to go on a killing spree," Alaric explained. Damon peered at everyone around the room, waiting for someone to give him a sign that he wasn't the only one thinking it. Eventually, he sighed.
"Oh. I take it that's…not okay with you guys?" A small smirk appeared on his lips, but Stefan and Claire both looked up at Damon with harsh glances so that he dropped it immediately. From the desk she was sitting at, Elena inhaled sharply.
"I want to do it. I wanna meet her. If I don't, I know I'll regret it."
Claire straightened and dropped her crossed arms with a sigh. "Yeah, but you'll regret it more if you go alone to meet her, so why don't we all go with you? Stand in the back somewhere, spread out. Just in case this is a trap." Claire looked back at Elena. "Is it okay for us to go with you?"
The human nodded meekly, and Alaric set straight to work to arrange the meeting with Isobel on their terms.
Unfortunately, Isobel had made it clear that Alaric and Damon were to be nowhere within the vicinity of the Mystic Grill for her meeting with Elena, and it was a term that was non-negotiable. But while Damon and Alaric were banned, Isobel had said nothing about Claire, Stefan, and Christopher. Claire and Stefan stood at the pool table within Elena's eyesight and Christopher was positioned at the bar for another vantage point just in case anything went wrong. Though he didn't dispute this tactic proposed by Claire, Claire was sure he'd noticed it. The two hadn't been in the forgiving mood ever since she'd killed Henry. This suggestion, however, was what made Stefan become suspicious.
"Spill it," Stefan whispered, low enough so that only Claire could hear his words. "What's wrong with you two?"
Claire looked off in the direction of her husband and didn't look back to Stefan as she muttered under her breath, "We're having…issues."
Stefan scoffed. "That's obvious."
Claire turned back at Stefan while sharpening her cue stick, even though she was one hundred percent certain that she wasn't going to use it. "Am I a bad person, Stefan? Have I really changed that much since I was human?"
Stefan raised his eyebrows at her. "You've changed, Claire…sure, but…a bad person? Of course not. What does this have to do with…?"
Stefan trailed off, and Claire swallowed hard before she whispered at the lowest tone possible, "Last night, Damon and I killed a vampire who was working for John and…well, I think it would've eventually needed to be done. But after I did it, when Christopher looked at me…"
The young vampire straightened, realizing. "You thought he saw a bad person, didn't you?"
"He's the only one—besides you—who's ever really believed the best in me, vampire or not. But I'm afraid that all that time apart changed…me. And now I feel like him believing the best of me is more of an…excuse to pretend I'm just the same as I was back in 1864," Claire finished, dropping her eyes. "I don't know, does that seem crazy?"
"Considering you married the guy?" Stefan smiled, and Claire frowned at him, wishing to be serious. He sighed and began to give his words of advice. "Claire, you were turned a week after you got married. You never really had a chance to experience all the ups and downs. This is one of your downs. It'll pass."
"Hopefully," Claire added under her breath as she unconsciously pulled all the balls out of the pool table's pockets and let them spread across the table so they attempted to look like they were actually playing a game of pool. While she was doing that, Elena sat at one of the tables out on the floor of the Grill and accepted the cup of coffee she had ordered from the waitress serving her.
"Can you hear me?" Elena asked, looking at all the vampire she knew in the facility. They all nodded to her, and she sighed out of relief. "Thanks for coming—all of you. I'm nervous. But I'm happy that you're all here." Elena's eyes cut over to Stefan so that they were locking gazes, and she said with a smile, "Love you."
Stefan leaned against the pool table and smiled back at her while he mouthed, "Love you, too."
Elena watched with a genuinely happy smile as Claire tapped Stefan's cheek twice and cooed to him, earning him to laugh. But her sight of them was short-lived when Isobel walked right in front of her vision, blocking her view. The brunette vampire set her jacket down on the empty chair beside her and just sat down with her legs crossed and her hands on her lap.
She exhaled and smiled. "Hello, Elena." Elena stayed quiet, reveling in the sight of her mother. "You look just like her. It's…eerie."
At this, Elena widened her eyes. "You've met Katherine?"
"She found me after I turned," Isobel explained. "Genetic curiosity, I suppose. She would be fascinated by you."
Elena's eyes traveled down to the big, clunky, lapis lazuli necklace around Isobel's neck. "Is that how you can walk in the day?"
"Katherine helped me obtain it," replied Isobel as she touched the necklace subconsciously. Elena moved on quickly, trying to ask questions before Isobel decided she was done answering.
"Who's my father?"
"Not important; he was a teenage waste of space."
"A name would be nice."
"It would, wouldn't it?" Isobel tilted her head at her daughter. "You ask a lot of questions."
Elena avoided her mother's gaze for a split moment before continuing, "Why did you compel that man to kill himself right after he told me to stop looking for you?"
"Dramatic impact." Isobel shrugged. "Wish it would've been more effective."
"Human life means that little to you?"
The vampire smiled. "It means nothing to me. It's just part of being what I am."
Elena stared at Isobel with disbelief tracing her eyes, and she shook her head without realizing it. Before she could stop herself, words came out of her mouth. "No. It's not. I know other vampires. That's not true."
"You mean your boyfriend over there by the pool table with his best friend? Stefan Salvatore and Clarissa King—oh, wait. I'm sorry; I think she goes by Claire now. And, of course, her husband, Christopher Fell, sitting over there at the bar." All of the vampires who were mentioned straightened at Isobel's words, becoming increasingly alarmed. Isobel continued ruthlessly, "But here's my question for you, Elena. Why Stefan? Why didn't you go for Damon? Or do you enjoy them both? Like Katherine did?"
"I'm not Katherine," Elena stated firmly. Isobel sighed.
"Yes, well, I suppose you could be right about that." She licked her lips once before finally speaking again, this time a bit more openly. "Your friend, Claire? I was hoping you'd bring her along. She needs to come over here—now."
Elena let her eyes flicker up to Claire at the pool table, who just exchanged a worried glance to Stefan and her husband across the room. Isobel waited, but they all should've known that she wouldn't wait long.
"I won't ask again," Isobel warned without turning her head, causing Claire to sigh at the pool table. After handing her cue stick to Stefan, she walked down to the Grill's main floor and finally reached the table, where Isobel was waiting for her to join. A sour smile appeared on her lips as she made eye contact with Isobel.
"I see you get your charm from Katherine."
Isobel hummed under her breath in a bitter agreement and gave her fellow blonde vampire a tart smile. "Sit."
Claire debated upon listening to Isobel—she didn't have to, really, because of the fact that she was twice Isobel's age and could rip her to shreds, but not without collateral damage and an impossible mess to clean up with the town practically sitting right beside them. So, with a sigh, she pulled out the chair on the other side of Isobel and complied. As soon as she situated herself, Elena started up the conversation again.
"Why did you want to meet me? It can't be to just…catch up," the human remarked.
Isobel tilted her head again. "Because I'm curious about you." Elena raised an eyebrow, and obviously, Isobel continued with her real reason. "But, the real reason is, I want what your uncle wants—Jonathan Gilbert's invention."
Claire scoffed. "Like I didn't see that one coming."
"How do you know my uncle?" Elena pressured the vampire.
"I used to spend a lot of time here when I was younger. John had a crush on me for years," Isobel explained. "He was the first one that told me about vampires."
"So what made you want to be one?"
"It's a very long list of reasons, Elena. All of which I'm sure you've thought about." Elena shook her head. "That was your first lie. It's inevitable. You're gonna get old. Stefan won't. Forever doesn't last very long when you're human."
Elena sat there, speechless, and Claire saw the look that crossed her face. Saving Elena from the silence, Claire straightened in her seat and turned to Isobel. "Okay…listen to me very carefully, Isobel. The fact that you asked to be a vampire just proves how pathetic you are. But, out of pure courtesy, I'm going to tell you exactly what Damon and I told John—we're not lifting one finger to help you. So you can leave now." Isobel didn't flinch, and Claire scoffed. "Fine. We'll leave then. Elena?"
With a glance over to Elena, both of them rose from their chairs, but not without consequence. Though Isobel couldn't restrain Claire, she could restrain her daughter by reaching forward and clasping onto Elena's arm hard. "Sit down. And tell your boyfriend to walk away."
A frightful Elena looked up at Stefan and nodded as she began to sit back down again, not wanting to get on Isobel's proven bad side. Isobel looked up at Claire next, and though the vampire could've gotten out without a hitch, she ended up sitting back down in the chair with a sigh. Once everything was calm again, Isobel let another smile onto her face, serious this time.
"I want the invention," she told Claire. The blonde rolled her eyes.
"Even if I had it—which I don't—I wouldn't give it to you."
"You might not have it, but Damon does. And you are going to get it for me or the blood of the innocent will be on your hands, Claire." The blonde sat in her chair with a grimace on her face, but Isobel was finally done. She rose from her seat, grabbed her jacket and purse, and began to saunter out. "It was nice meeting you, Elena."
Claire scoffed watching Isobel walk out the door. It seemed to take forever until she finally mumbled aloud without realizing it. "She wants me to get the invention from Damon. Right, because that's going to be as simple as taking fish away from a freaking shark!"
With a disbelieving shake of the head, Claire turned back to Elena, who she could tell was trying to hold it together. The blonde vampire didn't say anything, but watched as Elena spotted someone out of the corner of her eye. Bonnie walked into the Grill and spotted Elena as well just as a tear escaped her eyes and the human breathed in deeply. The witch looked like she was about to move forward and hug her friend, but when Claire stood up and Stefan and Christopher came out from behind Elena, she froze. Elena saw the look on Bonnie's face, and she turned around to look at all vampires.
When Elena turned back around to Bonnie, her friend had turned her back and had walked out of the Grill.
"Uh-oh, Cherie," Damon sung in a happy disappointment as the half-naked girl next to him set down her cards that read better than Damon's. They were playing his favorite game—strip poker. "You won again. Hope I'm wearing my good underwear."
The compelled human laughed as Damon stood up and unbuckled his belt that was free to him since he had already stripped his shirt when Cherie won the first time. The front door of the foreclosed house slammed, and though Damon knew exactly who it was, he still pulled the zipper down on his pants as a voice rung out.
"It's just one blast from the past after another," Isobel stated as she sauntered into the room and pointed at Damon's halfway-unzipped pants. "No, no, no." Damon hummed under his breath as Isobel walked in and spoke to her compelled human in French, telling her to leave. Damon waved seductively, humming again.
"It's good to see you, Isobel," Damon lied as he reached down to grab his unbuttoned shirt. He slid it over his shoulders and didn't bother with the buttons. "I was just having fun with your naughty little minion."
"Mm. How'd you find me?" Isobel feigned delight for him in her presence. Damon flitted forward so that he was trapping Isobel against the wall she was at, his face right up in hers.
"Searched all the neighborhood bank-owned foreclosures and found the most expensive one."
Isobel didn't flinch. "Oh, I should've known. You were the one that taught me that."
"Mmhmm."
"What are you really doing here?"
"Well, you caused quite a stir when you blew into town. Saw everyone except for the man who made you—I'm a little hurt," Damon whispered as he brushed a piece of hair out of Isobel's face and pouted. Isobel feigned an apologetic smile as she leaned forward.
"I'm so sorry." She pulled him into a hug, but then yanked his hair to the side and hissed in his ear, "Did you bring the device?"
Damon just laughed, and Isobel let him go with a hard shove as she flashed over to the couch. Damon's smile dropped as he ruffled his hair. "Ow." Isobel laughed. "What are you doing with John Gilbert?"
"We dated a few times when we were young. He was a little bit in love with me."
"I'm sure. One of the many."
"You know, this little invention…what do you want with it?"
"Oh. Me, personally? I don't want anything with it. I'm just doing what I'm told." Isobel handed him a can of beer that he set down immediately and sauntered closer to her. The vampire put her hands up in the hair as if she were surrendering. "You know, Damon, we're on the same side."
Damon tilted her head up as he neared her so they were only inches apart. He scoffed. "Oh, yeah? Which side is that?"
"Katherine's," Isobel answered. Damon dropped his hand and Isobel's came up to cup the back of his neck. "She wants John Gilbert to have the device and I think you know that she's not happy when she doesn't get what she wants."
Damon forced Isobel off of him and urged, "Why are you doing her dirty work?"
"Don't kill the messenger," Isobel complained blandly. "We both know that you can't control Katherine. She does what she wants."
Damon scoffed again. "So do I."
"Oh, really, Damon?" Isobel patronized. "You do?" She moved to hit him, but Damon grabbed her hand and forced it back. They were now closer than they were before, which was too close. The two vampires panted in desire, and Damon saw Isobel's eyes drop to his lips. "What should we do now?"
The arguing vampires stood for a moment, their noses touching, when they began to laugh with each other over their proximity. Isobel smiled. "Oh…yeah. Memory serves."
All they had to do was just move a fraction of an inch before they were feverishly kissing, and Damon's hand relaxed on her wrist to the point where he was no longer holding it as they kissed roughly. In a flash, Isobel was on top of him, straddling his waist on the couch as she crushed her lips onto his. Damon's hands tangled in her hair and she waited as he flipped their positions to continue their fun.
Instead, Damon pinned Isobel to the ground in a very unfriendly manner, his hand wrapped around her throat tightly so she couldn't escape him. His eyes went wide with fury.
"Now that I have your attention, listen up. You do not come into my town and threaten people that I care about. Going after Claire—bad move. Katherine already succeeded once at ruining her life and I wasn't there to stop it, but I am now." His hand tightened on Isobel's throat as he leaned closer. "You leave her—and Elena, while you're at it—alone, or I will rip you to bits; because I do believe in killing the messenger. You know why? Because it sends a message." Damon lifted Isobel up as if he was getting ready to release her, but he then slammed her back down on the floor so that Isobel cried out in pain. "Katherine wants something from me, you tell that little bitch to come get it herself."
Damon finally lifted his hand off of Isobel's throat, and by the time the vampire could recoil, Damon was already gone.
"I'm sorry—what did she say?"
Claire, Elena, Bonnie, and Stefan all gathered in Alaric's classroom at the high school the day the students were help building the floats. Claire had seen the tail end of what happened, but she and Stefan had been too busy to notice that Isobel had showed up at the school seeking leverage. While Elena's mother distracted her with an injury to Matt Donovan, she had her other vampire minions kidnap Jeremy so Elena would have more motivation to get the invention. The exclamation came from Claire, who was baffled at Isobel's apparent words to her daughter.
"She said that I underestimated how much Damon cares about you and that I have to get you to get the invention from Damon. She said there's no chance that he'll ever give it to anyone else." Elena nodded firmly, as if believing it herself. But she was panicked and was pacing, trying to get the thought out of her head that her evil vampire mother could be killing her brother because of some stupid Gilbert invention.
Claire scoffed and jumped off Alaric's desk. "Is this woman high or something? Damon won't give me that stupid invention! He'd rather kill Isobel instead."
"That's what I tried to tell her," Elena reasoned. "But she took Jeremy, Claire. We don't have any other options. You have to talk to him...please."
"He's not just gonna hand it over, especially if it's harmful to vampires," Stefan mentioned aloud, clearly stating the obvious. His eyes swept over Bonnie who had been the one to figure out this information that the Gilbert invention was a hazard to all vampires—it was a two-part mechanism that could be fatal if put together. Claire looked back and forth between Elena and Stefan.
"I'm not talking to Damon. I hate talking to Damon like I'm some kind of guidance counselor. And not to mention the fact that I don't want to hand it over, either. John will kill us!" The blonde threw her hands up in frustration.
Elena sighed heavily, trying to figure out a solution to their problem. But the second she got her mind to work, something sparked. Her gaze immediately cut to Bonnie, who stiffened when addressed. "What if...it's not harmful to vampires, then?"
The four people in the room looked back and forth at each other and let the idea slowly sink in.
"Absolutely not," Damon refused the five people who stood against him and waited for the device so they could carry out their deviously dangerous plans. He'd heard everything that came along with giving the device over to Elena, but he didn't trust the witch enough. One wrong move and they could turn into ashes.
Elena sighed. "Just hear me out—"
"I'm not gonna give the device to Isobel so she can give it to John who's gonna turn around and kill me! I like being a living…dead person," Damon reasoned. Elena shook her head, trying to make the vampire before her understand her brilliant plan.
"But it'll be useless! Bonnie can take its power away!"
"I don't trust her."
"I can remove the original spell," Bonnie assured them all, causing Elena to turn back at Damon with her hands thrown up in the air to rest her case.
"John and Isobel will never know."
"No," said Damon again. "No, I-I'll get Jeremy my own way."
"Really?" Stefan prompted, earning Damon to nod at him. "How are you gonna do that? Because Isobel is a vampire and Jeremy can be dead the second you walk in the door." Damon fell silent at Stefan's reasoning, but his eyes moved over to Bonnie and narrowed into slits.
"Are you even up for this? I mean, no offense…you're no Emily Bennett." He crossed his arms. "Emily knew what she was doing."
"I've been practicing."
"It's not piano lessons, honey," Damon snarled. A peeved Bonnie walked up to him with great confidence, her eyes cold and hard.
"What's your favorite book?"
Damon raised his eyebrows in confusion at the random question. "What?"
"Name a book. Any. Book," she said slowly. Damon sighed and looked around, trying to come up with a book's title to feed Bonnie's silly little game.
"Name a book," he repeated. "How about…'Call of the Wild', Jack London?"
Almost everyone in the room sighed out of exhaustion as they watched Bonnie walk over to the bookshelf next to her and focused. After a moment, a book on that shelf began to come out of its place next to other books, and it flew over to Damon, who caught it in mid-air. When he looked at the title on the spine, he gave a feigned impressed look and repeated the author that he gave to Bonnie. But his impression was short-lived when he tossed the book elsewhere.
"Great parlor trick."
"We're doing this, Damon," Elena snapped at him. "And we're gonna do it my way. Now give me the device."
Damon shrugged. "No."
"We're wasting time!"
"I get it, Elena," Damon spat at her before looking at Bonnie. He was about to walk away, but he found himself telling the witch, "But I don't trust you. I tried to kill you."
Bonnie smiled at him in agreement. "You're right. You can't trust me."
Once this had been said, there was no taking it back. Elena was getting desperate now, and she knew that Isobel had been right. She'd known it from the beginning, but she at least had to try to get Damon to hand it back to her without Claire's unwilling involvement. The human's eyes travelled over to Claire, who was standing off to the side with her arms crossed. Feeling someone's gaze upon her, Claire looked up to find Elena staring with pleading eyes. Claire didn't want to try, but she figured that there was no harm in it. Everyone would be able to see how wrong they were about Damon's preferences and they could move on from it and find a different plan. But it was worth a shot.
After looking to the side to see her husband next to her waiting for her to make the first move, Claire looked straight ahead to find Damon waiting like everyone else was for the resolution to their conflict. With an exasperated sigh, Claire moved forward and uncrossed her arms while she extended a hand to him.
"I hate this just as much as you do," she told Damon, who looked at her with understanding tracing his eyes. "But, if you're gonna trust anyone, you can trust me."
Claire waited, one hundred percent positive that Damon wasn't going to give her the device and she would prove to everyone that she was right. But, surprisingly, she found Damon reaching into his pocket to grab the circular invention before he placed it in her hand and squeezed her fingers. Claire looked down at the device and back up at him, and Damon just nodded once. Claire was shocked, but when she didn't say anything, Elena did.
"Thank you," she told Damon, filling into say the thing that Claire couldn't let escape her mouth. The vampire was still completely surprised that it…it worked. After everyone else had asked, Damon had given it to her? Why?
But her question wasn't answered. After Bonnie removed the spell from the device, Elena, Stefan, Claire, Christopher, and Damon all headed out to go meet Isobel to exchange Jeremy for the invention to end it all. When Isobel showed up, she wasted no time with greetings of any kind and just cut straight to the point like a true emotionless vampire.
"Where's the device?"
"Where's my brother?"
Isobel scowled at her daughter. "This isn't a negotiation. Where's the invention?"
"Where is my brother?" Elena repeated as she crossed her arms defensively.
"Do you really think that I came alone?" Isobel challenged, causing Elena to turn around to see a few of Isobel's vampires walk out as backup. Elena turned around, but didn't flinch.
"Do you really think that I came alone?" she pushed, and when Isobel turned, she saw Damon, Stefan, and Christopher walk up behind her. As Isobel was turned, Claire flashed over to Elena's side and waited for Isobel to turn around. When Isobel caught Claire's gaze, the blonde vampire just waved her fingers with an acidic smile.
Isobel sighed and looked at Elena. "For God's sake, call home."
Elena straightened. "What?"
Her mother rolled her eyes. "Call home. Ask to speak to your brother, Jeremy."
Skeptically, Elena turned around and did what Isobel told her to. The telephone rang only twice before her brother answered. "Hello?"
"Jeremy! Are you okay?" Elena breathed out.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Uncle John, uh…hit his head. It was an accident."
From the background, the vampires could hear Jenna shout, "And we're all laughing!"
Jeremy chuckled softly at Jenna's outburst, but then spoke again. "Yeah, but…um…I'm okay."
Elena nodded. "I'll be home soon, all right?"
Jeremy sighed. "Yeah." He hung up the phone, as did Elena, and the teenager turned around to Isobel in realization.
"You were never going to hurt him."
"No. I was going to kill him," Isobel corrected her. Elena raised an eyebrow, causing Isobel to shake her head. "Don't look for any redeeming qualities in me. I don't have any."
"But you took a risk with Damon," Elena said suddenly, narrowing her eyes. "How did you know he'd only give it to Claire?"
Isobel wasted no time in answering, and she didn't even look at the subject of conversation as she said it, "Because he's in love with her." Finally, Isobel's eyes looked over at Claire, who straightened out of surprise. "Oh, don't look surprised, Clarissa. I'm sure the topic's come up once or twice over the decades."
"You're wrong." Claire scoffed, shaking her head in disgust. "You don't know anything."
"I know that your marriage is falling apart," Isobel told her with a shrug, not turning her body and inch. Claire's eyes moved back to look at Christopher, who was tensing up at the mention of it. "It's obvious, really. Being separated tore you away from each other, whether you choose to believe it or not. Your old lives are gone, it's time to start accepting that." Isobel held out a hand for the device, and Claire just shook her head and scoffed once more.
"You know what? Screw you. Like you're the expert on marriage. You left a man who loves you to become a vampire. I don't think marriage counseling is really your forte," she snapped as she pulled out the device and placed it in her hand. She said nothing more but just stepped back, rolling her eyes at the childishness of Isobel's statement. But some part of her—deep inside—told her briefly that Isobel was right. She shoved that part out of her as fast as the voice came inside of her head.
Isobel turned to leave, but Elena stopped her. "Thank you."
Her mother turned back with a cocked eyebrow. "For what?"
"For being such a monumental disappointment," Elena answered with a shrug. "It keeps the memory of my real mother perfectly intact."
Isobel showed no signs of being hurt by the statement, and she just said, "Goodbye, Elena," before turning with her group of vampire friends to leave. As Isobel fled, Stefan walked up to hug Elena and comfort her during the tough time of watching her real mother throw her away like she was unimportant, but Claire just stood beside them and watched as Isobel left. When she turned her head, what she didn't expect was to find both Christopher and Damon staring at her, both of them realizing exactly what she had.
Stefan peered at his friend over Elena's shoulder, and Claire stiffened before her eyes caught Stefan and she shared a look of panic with him.
After dressing from the much-needed cold shower she ran right into after she came home, Claire walked out into her bedroom and ran her fingers through her wet blonde strands of hair. She hadn't spoken much since telling Isobel off, but on the inside, she was having an internal argument with herself. It screamed at her, it kicked at her, and she hated every second of it.
It didn't help that, when she escaped from the solitary of her bathroom, Christopher was standing at the door with a glass of alcohol in his hand. She straightened seeing him and cleared her throat.
"Oh…hey. Sorry, I…err…didn't see you there," she apologized awkwardly and walked over to the dresser to keep messing with her hair for something to do. The two of them avoided each other's gazes, until Christopher walked into the room and stood behind her so that his image was clearly in the mirror.
"I think we need to talk."
Claire swallowed hard before looking up to find her husband staring at her seriously, setting his glass down on the bench at the foot of the bed. Pursing her lips, Claire turned around and kept her fingers tightly gripped on the dresser.
"About what?"
"You know what," Christopher countered softly. Claire fell silent. "What happened with Isobel tonight…what happened with Henry the other night. We can't sit here and…ignore it anymore."
Claire bowed her head into herself and thought about what to say. Normally, with Damon, it wasn't this…calm. Arguments that she'd had were always heated. They were never serene, they were always challenging. A tug-o-war, somehow. This was new to her, actually talking instead of yelling. She cleared her throat. "What do you think of me?"
Christopher blinked at her. "What?"
"I mean…when you look at me, what do you see? Do you see Clarissa or do you see Claire?"
He scoffed. "Is there a difference?"
"Yes, actually. There is." Claire nodded. "I've…changed, okay? I'm not the same girl back in 1864 who was—at the very least—polite to everyone. I've killed people and I've done things that…that even I'm not proud of, but I learn to accept it, because that's just who I am. And when you say that you believe the best of me, all I can think about is what that means. I feel like it's an excuse to say that 'Clarissa' is inside of me somewhere."
"Claire…Clarissa…the name doesn't matter," Christopher protested, looking at her with puzzlement. "I accept you for who you are—I've always done that, even when you and Katherine came to me and she forced you to tell me what you are. I was never afraid, not even for a second. "
"But you were human!" Claire argued. "That was different. I sat there, and I sobbed because I thought you would hate me. Instead, you still saw...human Clarissa, somewhere, so you weren't afraid. But now, you're a vampire, too, and I feel like you still look at me like I'm supposed to be…human. When the truth of the matter is, I've changed more than you can ever imagine."
"Because you've slept with other men?" Christopher scoffed, as if the thought was inconceivable. Claire shrugged, almost agreeing. When he saw his wife's eyes that let him know his inconceivable thought was exactly what she was thinking, he shook his head. "No. You and I both know that's not what this is about."
"Then what is it about?"
"Damon," Christopher returned seriously. They stood for a while in utter silence before Claire arched an eyebrow.
"What about Damon?"
"That's what changed you, isn't it?" Christopher asked as he reached down with the bourbon glass in his hand. "All this time on the outside with him, you and Damon have become something similar. And maybe even something more, as Isobel seems to think."
"Isobel is a pathetic, selfish little bitch who gave up her humanity to be a vampire!" Claire protested, now getting angry. "And you're going to actually listen to her?"
"Then tell me that she was wrong," Christopher suggested, no trace of humor or a way out in his eyes. Claire stood quietly, trying to hold her ground. This was a battle she chose, and she wouldn't give up so easily. "Tell me that she had no idea what she was talking about and that you don't think—even just a little bit—that Damon's in love with you."
She took a long while to think over her answer, but eventually, words found their way out of her mouth. "What does it matter if he is? And that doesn't mean that he is, okay? Damon and I are...we're complicated. We're enemies, but we're friends, too. And, yes, there are days when Damon and I can actually admit that we don't absolutely despise each other, but…" Suddenly, she trailed off, losing her own train of thought. A dark cloud began to settle on Claire when she realized exactly what they were doing: fighting—yet again—about Damon Salvatore. Hysterically, she laughed. "You know what? No. I refuse to have the same argument with you for the rest of my life. I can't—I won't argue over him forever, Christopher. I won't do it."
The couple stared at each other for a long time until Christopher looked down at the alcohol in his hand and just stared. "I think I'm going to find another room to sleep in for the night."
Neither one of them said a word after that, and Claire didn't find herself objecting when Christopher just walked out. She was right, to some extent—she couldn't have the same argument over and over for the rest of eternity. No matter if his argument had merit, it was the trust that was diminishing between them. And it wasn't just because of Damon; it was because of all the time they spent in two separate worlds before finally reconciling.
While Damon poured himself a glass of much-needed alcohol, he heard Stefan walk into the study with his trademark concerned expression. With a glance back at his brother, Damon smiled, "Would you like one?" Stefan was silent, and Damon knew there was a big, fat elephant in the room. "Say it! Whatever it is…purge. Get it out."
Stefan sighed and leaned over the railing in the study. "It's about what Isobel said."
Damon turned around at his brother and pretended like it was no big deal. "What about it?"
Stefan stared at his brother with confusion in his eyes. "Well…I know that you and Claire have been on good terms lately and that…well, you've both cared about each other in your own ways ever since your falling out."
Damon smirked to himself. "Well this is going in an interesting direction."
Stefan just smiled lightly, but the topic was nothing to be joked about. He was concerned with the wellbeing of his friend, who was already handling enough trying to fix things in her marriage. "Damon, Claire is married. I just want to make sure that you know that. I think it's gotten to the point now where you two consider yourselves…friends again."
Damon shrugged. "Yes, Stefan. I know that Claire is married. And I do consider her a friend. Maybe I'm not her best friend since you stole that from me, but still a friend. Actually, she might qualify as my only…friend. Is that a problem?"
Stefan pursed his lips. "A little."
Damon frowned at him. "So now there's a rule that I can't be friends with married women?"
"Actually, you can't be friends with any women, if we're being honest here." Damon just smirked to himself at the thought, and Stefan crossed his arms. "But she's trying to work things out. I want her to work things out. Maybe things would've been different if you hadn't had that falling out, but you did. Do you understand what I'm trying to say to you, Damon?"
"Sure." Damon shrugged again, taking a sip out of his bourbon. "Sure, sure. I totally understand—we're just friends, anyway." Damon gasped and snapped his fingers. "Speaking of friends, I almost forgot about Elena! Don't you think you should tell her the truth or something?"
Stefan flashed over to Damon as he began to pour himself another glass of bourbon. "What truth?"
"About John," Damon said, as if it were obvious. But Stefan was as clueless as ever and, grateful for the subject change, Damon was irritably happy to ease some of his brother's confusion.
"So you're not gonna tell me what happened?" Caroline asked Bonnie as the two friends sat at the Grill, talking. Bonnie was clearly upset about something, but she refused to speak about it. For good reason, too, since Caroline had no knowledge of the supernatural. But the guilt was eating Bonnie alive, ripping at her very core, desperate to get out. The truth was on the tip of her tongue and, she felt like if she even opened her mouth, it would spill out. As a result of this, she just shook her head tightly and didn't say a word. After a patronizing look from Caroline, Bonnie realized that it was killing her to keep it a secret.
"I did something bad, Caroline. And I lied about it." Bonnie's confession wasn't easy, and it was also vague.
"To who?"
"To Elena," replied Bonnie. "I pretended to do something...I didn't really do."
Caroline straightened out of puzzlement. "What are you talking about?"
"I couldn't do what she wanted me to do. It wasn't right. Grams would've never done it, so I couldn't, either." Bonnie quivered, trying not to give away too much information to her oblivious friend. But how could she sit and pretend like everything was okay when she betrayed the person she trusted with her life? "But when Elena finds out...she's never gonna forgive me."