Disclaimer: Don't own anything you recognise.
Thanks for the reviews! Enjoy the surprise chapter!
HEYITSJACE: Enjoy!
Blu3b3rryT3a: Stefan's such an idiot sometimes! Isobel's not my favourite either, but she's not lasting long!
dreamsnhugs: Enjoy this surprise chapter! I always believed that Jenna deserved better than Alaric, and now she's gonna get it, Mason's showing up soon, and I'm looking forward to Kat finally being in Mystic Falls! She's gonna get the shock of her life!
Starhunter18: Simple answer, yes they will go to NOLA, but I can't give you more than that.
Guest: Bonnie mostly just wants the talisman because Emily keeps haunting her, and while she can sleep now (which she didn't thank Maya for it) she still has her Grams whispering in her ear all the time.
WiseGirlDivergence46: You get a tiny bit of it in this one!
TikiKiki: Happy Birthday! Stefan's not going to see Elena for who she really is for a while, because Damon's not there to tempt her this time around.
edwardsgirl21: There's changes coming soon, and some meddling by a certain Entity that hates Death's creations!
Lourdes08: Thank you!
musa22lbl: Three months in the story till Klaus arrives, Kat's coming very soon too! But I do have a surprise in store for everyone!
John pulled out his phone and dialled his daughter's mother, "I can't find Pearl anywhere," he said, "I haven't seen any other Vampires apart from Damon and Stefan either. The tomb Vampires must be trying to keep a low profile."
"I take it that means that you don't have the device yet."
"I don't," John admitted, "Damon says he knows nothing about it, and he told me to go ahead and give the Council all the information I had on him, he said he'll just kill them."
Isobel scoffed, "I warned you John, threatening a Vampire like Damon with exposure means nothing to him. You need to come at this from another angle."
"What other angle?"
"Who does he hang around with? Who does he care about, other than his brother and Elena?"
John frowned, "He's dating Elena's cousin, or at least, that's what's being said around town."
"Elena's cousin?"
"She's Jenna's daughter, Miranda's sister. Who, from what I understand, is dating your husband…"
"Hmm… Keep an eye on the girl, see if you can get her alone."
"What are you gonna do?"
"I think it's time I had a reunion with my husband, don't you?"
Isobel walked into the Mystic Grill, spying Alaric at the bar, drinking, and grading papers. She sat down next to him, "Hello Ric."
"Isobel." Alaric straightened up as he was faced with the woman that he'd spent years searching for.
"It's good to see you. You look good. I hear that you're a high school history teacher. How is that?"
"Where have you been, Isobel?"
The Vampire shook her head, "I don't have any reasons that are gonna comfort you. I don't have any explanations that are gonna satisfy you. I wanted this."
"It's just that simple for you?" he asked incredulously, she'd abandoned him, without a word!
"Yeah." She nodded, "You were supposed to mourn me, and move on."
"You were my wife!" he hissed, "And I loved you! How could I not search for you?!"
"Because I wasn't lost, Ric," she took one of the pages that Alaric was marking and wrote something down, "I understand that you know my daughter, Elena, and I hear that she's been looking for me. So…" she handed the piece of paper back to him, "I want you to arrange for a meeting."
Alaric looked at the writing, and then back at her, "You want me to deliver a message?"
Isobel smiled, "Yeah."
Scowling, Alaric balled up the paper and threw it to the ground, "Screw you! You selfish bitch!" He grabbed his work, and stormed out, heading to his car, but Isobel whooshed in front of him before he could get inside, "What do you want from me?!"
"I told you."
"I'm not gonna do anything for you!"
She gripped him by the neck and slammed him against his car, "You better tell Elena that I want to meet, or I'm gonna start killing the citizens of this town one by one, and I'll start with your precious history students. Got it?" She released him and he dropped to the floor, crouching down, Isobel handed him the paper, and then disappeared from sight.
The next day, 30 or so students were in the gym, Caroline was in her element, having to design and build the main float for the Founder's Day parade, "You know," Rebekah commented, walking inside with Maya, "Don't you think this town has far too many events?"
Maya snorted in amusement, "You've only been here a month, wait till you've lived here a year, besides, if you plan on becoming the next Miss Mystic, you need to involve yourself in everything. We'll start by introducing you to Mrs Lockwood at the parade." The girls headed over to Caroline, "We're here Sunshine, put us to work."
Caroline smiled and gestured for them to look at her plans, she'd roped Jeremy into helping her, seeing as how he was an artist, and he'd drawn something out for her reference, "Okay first, let's reference last year's Miss Mystic float," she pulled up a picture on her laptop and showed the girls and Jeremy, "This is what they did last year, and this is exactly what we don't want to do."
"So what are we doing?" Jeremy asked.
"Southern classic elegance!"
"Gone with the Wind?" Rebekah asked with a raised brow.
"How'd you know?"
"You channel Scarlett daily," the Original shrugged.
"So true!" They laughed and Jeremy started taking notes on exactly what she wanted.
Alaric came up to the group, "Maya," he said, "I need your help with something." He couldn't say much more, he knew that Jeremy didn't really know about Vampires, and he had no idea who the other blonde girl was, so he had to resort to being vague.
Maya frowned, casting a quick glance at her friends and cousin, "Okay," she said, and followed him out of the room.
/ / /
Damon entered Alaric's classroom, just as the history teacher and Maya came in, Elena and Stefan were already waiting for them, "What are you doing here?" Alaric asked.
"Maya texted me," Damon shrugged, "What's with all the frowns?" he looked at Elena and Stefan who both looked worried.
"I saw Isobel last night," Alaric said.
"Isobel is here? In town?" He shot a quick look to Maya, who whipped out her phone and sent a text to Rebekah, telling her to get back to her place, and stay out of sight, they didn't know whether Isobel knew who all the Originals were, and they didn't want to take the chance of her tipping off Katherine.
"Yes," Alaric replied.
"Did you ask her about Uncle John? Are they working together?" Damon asked.
"No."
"No, they're not?" That didn't sound right.
"No, I didn't ask."
"What about the invention?"
"Didn't ask," Alaric shook his head.
"Did she know about the tomb Vampires?"
"I don't know."
"Did words completely escape you?!" Damon asked annoyed, really, if Alaric had no information, then why did he even call a meeting?!
"No, I was a little too distracted by my dead vampire wife to ask any questions!"
"Well what did she want?"
"She wants to see me," Elena cut in.
"Alaric is supposed to arrange a meeting between them," Stefan said, "We don't know why or what she wants."
Damon glanced at Maya, who shook her head, she had the feeling that this was a bad idea, he looked at Elena, "You don't have to see her if you don't want to."
"I don't really have choice."
"She's threatening to going killing spree," Alaric finished.
"…And I take it, that's not okay with you guys?"
"I want to do it." Elena said, "I want to meet her. If I don't I know I'll regret it."
"You'll regret it if you do Elena," Maya finally said, and her cousin looked over at her in question, "Meeting Isobel isn't going to be good for you, she's not going to be anything like you hoped."
"I need to do this," Elena insisted, and Maya sighed in resignation, even though she'd rendered the Gilbert device useless, she still had a bad feeling, no visions to indicate what would happen, but something felt wrong.
Rebekah went back to Caroline's place with her, if the Original couldn't be out in public, the girls could at least work together behind closed doors. Caroline put her stuff in the dining room, and then headed straight to the fridge, sighing in frustration when she realised that what she was looking for had gone. "Damn it!"
"What is it?" Rebekah asked.
"I'm all out of blood," she muttered.
"Oh!" Rebekah was surprised, she didn't think the Sheriff would be okay with keeping blood in the fridge for the Vampires, "It's okay, I'm not hungry."
"No," Caroline shook her head, "I didn't mean for you, Mom won't let me keep any blood bags in the house, something about stolen property and being the Sheriff. I meant Vampire blood."
"Why do you have a stash of Vampire blood?"
"A while back, I was attacked by a Vampire, and when Kol found out, he told me that I had to drink a little Vampire blood every day, just in case. I told him I was fine, but he insisted, but he didn't want me drinking Damon's or Enzo's. He sends me some that's been magically preserved, but we haven't been talking recently, and I've run out."
Rebekah raised a brow, she didn't realise that Kol and Caroline were close, she'd seen him flirt with her once, when they all thought that Nik had kidnapped a child, and then again when Kol had tried to see Maya after she freaked out on the Originals. But other than that, there'd been no communication between the two. "Kol wants you drinking his blood?" she asked, her brother may have had a large sire-line, but that wasn't because he just gave his blood to anyone, he was rather selective about who he turned, but the members of his sire-line were less so. The fact that he wanted Caroline drinking his blood, made her curious, she liked Caroline, she was her friend, but Kol didn't make friends, not with humans at least. He thought them below him.
"Yeah," Caroline nodded, "And now I'm gonna have to call him, even though I don't want to."
"Why not?"
"I'm mad at him," Caroline shrugged.
"Mad at him for what?"
"I…don't want to talk about it."
"Caroline."
"Ugh fine!" Caroline dropped into a seat next to Rebekah, "He called the Miss Mystic Pageant pointless!"
Rebekah sighed, her brother was an idiot, "My brother's an idiot," she replied.
"Exactly! And I don't want to call him first! It makes it seem like I'm giving in!"
"Well we can't have that!" Rebekah said, Kol deserved to sweat a little for his thoughtless remark. She grabbed a glass, and made a cut on her hand, pouring a little blood in it, she handed it over to Caroline, "Until my brother is ready to apologise, you can have my blood."
"I-really?"
"Yes," Rebekah nodded, "I get to piss off my brother, while helping a friend."
Caroline beamed, "Thanks Bekah!"
Elena was sitting alone at the Grill, Stefan was at the pool table watching her, but Damon, Maya and Alaric were waiting outside.
Isobel took a seat across from her, "Hello Elena. You look just like her, that's eerie."
"You've met Katherine?" Elena asked surprised.
"She found me after I turned. Genetic curiosity I suppose. She would be fascinated by you."
Elena glanced at Isobel's necklace, "Is that how you can walk in the day?"
"Katherine helped me obtain it."
"Who's my father?" Elena asked.
"Not important," Isobel shook her head, "He was a teenage waste of space."
"A name would be nice," she replied frustrated.
"It would, wouldn't it? You ask a lot of questions."
"Why did you have Trudie Peterson killed? I checked, she was thrown down the stairs, the day after I met her."
"Dramatic impact. I wish it had been more effective."
"Human life means that little to you?"
"It means nothing to me," Isobel responded, "It's just a part of being what I am."
"No it's not! I know other Vampires, that's not true!"
"Your new boyfriend over there by the pool table? Stefan Salvatore. Why Stefan? Why you didn't go for Damon? Or are you enjoying them both like Katherine did?"
Elena scowled, "I'm nothing like Katherine! And Damon doesn't care about me, he has a girlfriend."
/ / /
Damon scowled, Stefan may have needed to be inside to hear what Isobel was saying, but he didn't, and he didn't like the implication that he could be played again. "We should be in there."
Alaric shook his head, "No, Isobel made it clear if we step a foot inside, she'll retaliate."
"I'm not going to kill her in a crowded restaurant!" he complained.
"You're not going to kill her period!"
Damon shook his head in disgust, "She ruined your life and you still want to protect her?"
"She's my wife- was my wife. I looked for the woman I married but she wasn't there. The woman over there is just cold and unattached."
"Yeah, she's just given up her humanity."
"You see, I don't get that, Stefan has his humanity, he's a good guy. And you're a dick and you kill people, but I still see something in you. But with her there was… nothing."
"You can turn it off," Damon elaborated, "Like a button you can press. I mean, Stefan's different. He wants the whole human experience. He wants to feel every episode of How I Met Your Mother, so he doesn't shut his feelings out. The problem is, as a Vampire, your instinct is not to feel. Isobel chose the easier road. No guilt, no shame, no regret. I mean, come on, if you could turn it off, wouldn't you?"
"You haven't," Alaric commented.
"Of course I have. It's why I'm so much fun to be around."
/ / /
Elena sighed, "Why did you want to meet me? Can't be just to catch up."
"Because I was curious about you. But the real reason is, I want what your uncle wants. Jonathan Gilbert's invention."
"How did you know my uncle?"
"I used to spend a lot of time here when I was younger. John had a crush on me for years. He was the first one that told me about Vampires."
"So what made you want to be one?"
"A very long list of reasons," Isobel replied bored, she was getting tired of Elena's constant stream of questions.
"All of it I'm sure you've thought about."
"No," Elena denied.
"That was your first lie. It's inevitable, you're going to get old, Stefan won't." Elena looked over at Stefan with a frown, he didn't look happy where the conversation was headed, "Forever doesn't last very long when you're human."
Elena didn't want to talk about this anymore, ignoring the twinge in her gut telling her that her relationship with Stefan wasn't as solid as she believed, "I'm sorry but I don't have what you're looking for." She got up to leave, but Isobel grabbed her arm, and yanked her back down.
"Sit down." Stefan started towards them, "And tell your boyfriend to walk away. I want the invention, Elena."
"I don't have it."
"Damon does," Isobel insisted, it was the only thing that made sense, Damon was far too cool about dealing with John, "You're going get it for me."
"He's not going to give it to me."
"Then tell him Maya's blood will be on his hands," Isobel got up to leave, "It was nice meeting you Elena."
Damon was to Isobel's house, he found a couple of humans inside, clearly compelled, he could hear the woman walking up the steps and grabbed the girl, feeding on her.
"And it's just one blast from the past after another," she sighed.
Damon dropped the woman to the ground, dead, "I was just having a little fun with your minion."
"How did you find me?" she asked, ignoring the dead woman on the ground.
"Searched for the neighbourhood bank closures and found the most expensive one."
"I should have known," Isobel said, "You're the one that taught me that. What are you really doing here?"
"Well you caused quite a stir when you blew into town." Damon shrugged.
"Did you bring the device?"
"What do you want with it?"
"Oh, me personally? Nothing. I'm just doing what I'm told." She looked at him with a glint in her eye, she knew exactly how to get to him, "You know Damon, we're on the same side."
"Oh yeah? What side is that?"
Isobel dropped the bomb, "Katherine's. She wants John Gilbert to have the device and I think that you know that she's not happy when she doesn't get what she wants."
Damon scowled, he knew that Isobel thought that at the mention of Katherine, he would do anything, he was so sick of people assuming that he was still obsessed with sluttier version of Elena, he couldn't wait until she came to town and he could lock her up for Nik, "Why are you doing her dirty work?"
"Don't kill the messenger. We both know that you can't control Katherine. She does what she wants."
"So do I," he replied.
"Really," she said, walking towards him, "What shall we do now?" she leant up to kiss him, but just before their lips touched, Damon slammed her to the ground.
"Now that I have your attention, listen up. You do not come into my town; and threaten the people I care about! Going after Maya! Bad move. You leave her alone or I will rip you to pieces! Because I do believe in killing the messenger. You know why? Because it sends a message. Katherine wants something from me? You tell that little bitch to come get it herself!" he snarled, snapping her neck and then speeding off.
The next day, Elena was back at the high-school, "Maya!" she called, "Have you seen Stefan?"
The girl shook her head, "No, did you hear anything else from Isobel?" she asked.
"No, nothing yet."
"Alright," Maya replied and turned to leave, but paused and sighed, "If you see Isobel and you can't get hold of Stefan, you can call me." She needed to make sure that Elena stayed safe until Nik got there.
"Really?" Elena asked suspiciously.
"Yes." Maya nodded, she turned to leave again and bumped into Isobel.
Elena froze, "Isobel, what are you doing here?"
Isobel smirked, "I'm your mother Elena, I want to be more involved in your life."
"I don't want you in my life!"
"I understand that," Isobel nodded, "You already have a lot of people that you care about, I've been studying. Let's see if I got this right," she looked over at Bonnie, "There's the Witch best friend, Bonnie, gonna stay away from that one. Oh," she spotted Jeremy, "The little brother Jeremy, your mother Miranda." Isobel looked at Maya then, "And you have no shortage of loved ones either, Caroline, Jenna, the Sheriff. So many to chose from!" Maya clenched her fist, holding herself back from killing Isobel where she stood. Damon, Enzo and her mother had agreed that she wouldn't out herself as a Witch to Katherine's minions for as long as possible. "And there's Matt, friend to you both, ex-boyfriend to you Elena, current boyfriend to Caroline, there's lots of connections there."
"Matt is not involved in this!" Elena exclaimed, looking over at Maya, wondering why she wasn't doing anything to stop the Vampire.
"He's involved with you, isn't he?"
"You need to leave Isobel," Maya said, she was very close to blowing her cover, if Isobel threatened Caroline or Jeremy again, there's no telling what she would do.
"No, I have some friends here too. Look, you see that man over here, standing next to Matt by the float? His name is Frank." They looked over to Matt, who was working on the back of the float by himself, with the man standing very near him, "He noticed that the braces are rusted on the float, which is very dangerous. I mean, all you have to do is apply a little bit of pressure…" Isobel nodded and the man jumped on the trailer above Matt, trapping the boys arm between bits of metal, causing him to cry out in pain.
"No!" Elena exclaimed, trying to run forward, but Isobel grabbed her, to stop her moving. Maya, however, evaded Isobel's grasp with her magically enhanced reflexes, and rushed over to help get the trailer off of Matt. "Why are you doing this?" Elena cried, never in her life did she think that her birth mother would be this kind of person.
"I'm showing you how easy it is to hurt the people that you care about."
"And you're doing this just because of Jonathan Gilbert's invention?" Elena struggled in the Vampire's grip, desperately trying to get away.
"Hand it over, and this will all stop."
"I told you! Damon is not going to give it to me."
"I had noticed he doesn't look at you the way you'd think, but he does look at Maya like that."
"He'll kill you before he gives it up!"
"Is that before, or after I kill Jeremy?"
"What? Jeremy?" Elena spun around, her brother had disappeared, "Jeremy!" she cried, turning around and finding Isobel gone too.
/ / /
Maya paused in her assistance of Matt when she felt a twinge in her heart, looking up, she couldn't see Jeremy anywhere, "Jeremy?" she whispered. "No!"
Maya had Enzo rush her home, she needed the Gilbert device, she wasn't about to put Jeremy in any more jeopardy, she knew that Isobel wouldn't hesitate to kill him should she need to. "Enzo, you and Rebekah need to find Jeremy!" she pulled out a map, dripped her blood over it and cast a locator spell, she and Jeremy were cousins through their mothers, so she could use her own blood to find him. "Damn it!" she cursed, it looked like there was a Vampire with Jeremy, because he was being taken from place to place every thirty seconds. "Isobel's not keeping him in one place!"
"Hey, take it easy," Enzo grabbed her arms, "You keep Isobel busy, Rebekah and I will find your cousin, she's faster than your average Vampire, we'll find him. I promise."
Maya panted in panic, she should have accounted for this, but she hadn't, she should have just handed over the device, instead of wanting to play with Isobel, now Jeremy was in danger. "Please Enzo, I can't let anything happen to him!"
Enzo grabbed the map, "I'll bring him home," he whooshed out of the room, to meet Rebekah and find the littlest Gilbert.
Maya grabbed the device from her magic room and raced out of the house, Isobel wanted Elena to deliver the device, outside of the Grill in the parking lot, plenty of foot traffic made for it to be the best place for an exchange.
/ / /
Elena was waiting in the Grill parking lot, the device tucked into her pocket, Maya was waiting in the wings, fuming that she'd allowed this to happen to Jeremy, "I'm gonna kill that bitch!" she growled.
"That's my wife!" Alaric protested, "You're not killing her!"
"She kidnapped my cousin! She's fair game Alaric."
"She doesn't have her emotions on!"
"I don't care!"
"I thought you wanted her to get to Katherine!" Alaric pointed out, "You can't do that if she's dead."
Maya grit her teeth, she'd promised Nik that she'd get Katherine into town, and if she killed Isobel, she'd jeopardise that, but Jeremy was hers, and Isobel had taken him, she was torn between her duty to her family, and the promise she'd made to her love. And then her eyes lit up, she knew what to do, she shot Nik a text, telling him what was going on, and he responded back that he would take care of it for her. Isobel may leave Mystic Falls alive, but she wasn't going to stay that way for long.
"If Jeremy's hurt in any way, it won't matter."
/ / /
"Where is the device?" Isobel asked, appearing behind Elena, and she spun around.
"Where is my brother?"
"This is not negotiation. Where is the invention?"
"Where is my brother?!"
"Do you really think that I came alone?" two Vampires walked into the lot, at Elena's back, she glanced behind her and then looked back at Isobel.
"Do you think that I came alone?" Damon and Stefan stood behind Isobel, both looking very stoic.
"For God's sake," Isobel rolled her eyes, "Call home."
"What?!"
"Call home and ask to speak to your brother."
Elena pulled out her phone and dialled her house, and Jeremy answered, "Jeremy! Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied, Rebekah and Enzo had found him, just before Isobel's minions were due to take him home, "What's wrong?"
"I-I just had a bad feeling," Elena said, thinking that he'd been compelled to forget what had happened to him. She said her goodbyes, and hung up the phone, "You were never gonna hurt him."
"No I was going to kill him," Isobel refuted, "Don't go looking for any redeeming qualities in me. I don't have any."
Elena handed the device to Isobel, "Thank you," she finally said.
Isobel paused, "For what?"
"For being such a monumental disappointment. I've never been happier to know that Miranda Gilbert is my real mother."
"You don't understand Nik," Maya said, her astral form looking at the man stood next to her, "When Isobel took Jeremy…The only other time I've been that scared, is when Logan took Caroline and nearly killed her! I never felt more powerless than I did in that moment."
Klaus turned to look at her head on, he reached out, his hand running down the outline of her cheek, and she wished, not for the first time, that she could feel him, "I'll put one of my men on Jeremy, they'll watch him 24/7 until I get into town. I'll protect your cousin," he said, "I swear."
Maya closed her eyes, imagining the feel of his skin on hers, "Thank you Nik."
"I have something for you anyway," he took out his phone and pulled up a video, Isobel was being chained up, by two of his people.
"You caught her!" Maya smiled.
"My men picked her up just as she was leaving town, Kol's on his way to her, he'll compel her to his bidding, and then kill herself when she's done."
Maya was very happy with that, "I love you," she whispered.
Klaus's eyes filled with heat, "Three months," he said, "Three months and I'm coming for you. I promise."
John kicked the door in his apartment in frustration, "The device doesn't work!"
"What do you mean it doesn't work?" Isobel asked.
"I tried it out around that Vampire you left tied up for me, nothing happened!"
"There's only one person in that town that could fix it," Isobel said, "Sheila Bennett, she's a Witch, and the device was spelled by her ancestor."
"You think she'll help?"
"Word on the street is, she hates Vampires, almost as much as she hates Elena's cousin…couldn't figure out why that is, but…you can use it to your advantage. Don't screw this up John, Katherine wants all the tomb Vampires dead. If you can't do it, she'll kill you."
John hung up the phone and got in his car, it was late, but this couldn't wait, he needed the device to work.
/ / /
There was a knock on Sheila's door, and she frowned, she was just about to go to bed, looking out the window, she was perplexed, what was John Gilbert doing at her house at this time of night? Going downstairs, she opened the door a crack, "What are you doing here?"
"Ms Bennett, I need your help."
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