Driving through Mystic Falls I sigh a bit, it's the same. It will always be the same. Nothing ever changes in this town. I want change. I want to never have to come back here again. One day, hopefully right after graduation I can leave and never look back.
I notice a whole mess of cop cars and fire trucks outside of the Grill, pulling over I open my window, "Sheriff Forbes!"
She turns, smiling a small smile, "Thank God you were out of town. There was a fire, nothing major, but it caused quite a scare."
"Was anyone hurt?" I ask her, knowing full well nothing this normal happens here.
"Thankfully no, but I know Elena was here tonight so maybe you should head on home and check to make sure her and Jeremy are alright." She suggests.
Nodding, I tell her goodnight and drive off towards my house. Walking inside I notice all the lights are on, which means at least one of them is home.
"Is that all you have to say to me?" I hear as I walk into the living room, Elena, Damon, Stefan and Katherine. Lovely.
"This doesn't change the way I feel about you." Elena answers stiffly.
"I don't much like you, either, if we're going to be open. And frankly, I'd be happy to see you dead, but if we're going to try and take on Klaus, we kinda need you to be alive. So I'm not a threat to you, Elena. If any of you are going to believe anything, believe that." Katherine jeers at her.
"Well, this is mighty peaceful." I say with a laugh, "All of you working, together. Really, that's a fucking laugh."
"I didn't think you were coming back until tomorrow." Elena stumbles to get out.
Looking at her, taking in her almost scared like expression, guilty.
"That was the original plan, however, plans change. I cut my trip short due to some emotional purging I got done. I was very enlightened on my little trip. Even got two new tattoos as a celebration." I tell her, "Now, what the hell did you do while I was away, hmm? Don't bother trying to lie about it, there is no other reason for Katherine to be anywhere near our house unless you pissed someone off."
Silence. Of course I was met with silence. It would probably kill them to be honest and tell the fucking truth just once, just once to tell me what was going on without me having to pry it out of them.
"Okay, Katherine, you tell me seeing as my sister feels she doesn't need to and Salvatore one and two aren't any help at all." I turn to her, an expectant expression on my face.
"Well, Luka is dead. That's semi my fault I admit, though most of that is Damon, he tried to burn Elijah's body to get the dagger back. Bonnie doesn't have her witchy powers, I think you knew that though." She laughs sardonically, "Oh, and Jonas is dead in the upstairs bathroom. Did I forget anything?"
"…There is a dead body in this house?" I ask calmly, turning to look at Elena, "Get. It. Out. Jenna is on her way home tonight and the last thing I need her to see is a dead fucking body."
"I'll take care of it." Damon declares as he heads for the stairs.
"Take Katherine with you. It's one thing for Jenna to know about this, she doesn't need to see the Elena look-alike all covered in blood either." I tell him, turning sharply and heading towards the kitchen.
There's a bottle of wine I had put in the back of the fridge, what a more perfect time to drink than right now. Grabbing the biggest wine glass we have, I pour much more than the allotted amount you should pour into a wine glass, and take a gulp of it before setting it down on the counter and turning to face the other occupants in the room.
"What the hell were you thinking Elena? No, don't answer that, you weren't thinking. You never think." I grit my teeth, "I get that you're scared but honestly, the Martins did nothing to you. Nothing and now they're dead because of the choices you all have made."
"It was an accident. Luka, we didn't even know what was going on! We just thought it was like some spirit or something trying to pull the dagger out! We didn't know it was a person!" Elena shouts at me, "Jonas practically burnt down the Grill, Matt was hurt and Caroline. We needed to take care of it. He wanted me dead!"
"His son was just killed! He wasn't thinking rationally Elena! He was upset, he wants his daughter back, and now, he's dead as well. I mean, Jesus, how many more people have to die for you?" I question incredulously.
"Liv? You back yet?" I hear Jenna call out as she opens and closes the front door.
"Kitchen!"
"I was hoping it wouldn't be this tense here after we got away for a few days." Jenna states with a hint of disappointment.
"It would've been. I'm actually perfectly happy with how my little trip went, got two tattoos, and had an incredible conversation with a new friend. It was relaxing, just what I needed. But of course, I come home to the most hostile environment ever." I tell her, grabbing the wine and sitting at the table.
"Stefan, maybe you should go home." Jenna says as a suggestion, "It's late."
"Yeah, sure." He kisses Elena, "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Tomorrow." She tells him.
Looking at Jenna, I fake gag at the scene in front of us and she laughs, stealing a sip of my wine. Scowling at her I grab the glass back and hold it protectively in my hands, "Get your own."
"I'll do you one better, I'll get the ice cream and we share." She smiles.
"You're my favorite Aunt." I beam at her.
Snorting at me, "I'm your only Aunt."
"Doesn't make you any less my favorite."
"Are you both seriously going to ignore that I'm standing right here?" Elena asks loudly, her hands on her hips.
"We're not ignoring you Elena, we're merely having a conversation with each other that doesn't involve you." I tell her with a roll of my eyes.
Hearing the doorbell ring, I look around, confused.
"Who the hell actually rings the doorbell that we know?" I ask them.
Following Jenna to the door, my eyes going wide in shock.
"Hi, you must be Jenna. I'm Elena and Olivia's mother"
"Isobel." Elena seethes.
"Hello Elena, Olivia. It's nice to see you again." Isobel says with a small smirk on her face.
"I should be more surprised than I am." Jenna utters quietly, looking back at the guilty look on Elena's face.
"So you're the woman who's dating my husband. I need to speak with Elena, may I come in?" She asks Jenna.
Scoffing at her, "No. I know who you are, what you are. I won't invite you into this house, if they would like to speak to you, they'll let you know."
"You need to leave, Isobel. We don't want to talk to you." Elena quickly says to her, closing the door.
"Yes, because closing the door makes her disappear. She'll just come back, you know she will." I tell her.
"I never…I mean I know you said she was still alive. I just never thought I would have to come face to face with her." Jenna mutters out quietly, "I'm gonna go to sleep, we can discuss this more in the morning."
"Goodnight Jenna." I say to her, pulling her in for a quick hug, "Don't worry about her too much, but try to watch your back, she's a devious little bitch."
Waiting until I hear her door close, I turn to Elena.
"You need to sort out your goddamn mess. Jenna may know everything now, but that doesn't mean that she wants her boyfriends, dead-vampire-wife showing up on her front fucking porch!" I glare.
"It's not all my fault. She's your mother too! Plus she wanted to talk to the both of us, not just me." Elena frowns.
"Exactly. Except I have enough common sense to meet with her in a public area, away from the place that I live. I don't want her here. I don't want her in my life. She is literally nothing to me but the woman who gave birth to me, I don't need her help." I march upstairs, "I'm done with this conversation, I'm tired, and I've been in a car for hours. I'm going to sleep. If you think you can be honest with me, then we can talk tomorrow."
A knock on my door brings me out of the chapter I was reading, barely glancing up, "What?"
"Olivia, can you come downstairs? I need to speak with you, Elena and Stefan." John tells me as he opens my door.
"I don't have much to say to you." I express to him going back to my book.
"Please. It's important." He insists.
Muttering incoherently under my breath I follow Elena and Stefan down the stairs, practically colliding with her back as she stops suddenly. Looking around her, I see Isobel walking out of the kitchen. Turning back towards John, a frown on my face.
"I asked John for a do-over." Isobel says blankly.
"You invited her in?" Elena asks him disbelievingly.
John sighs, "She has information about Klaus. Please, just listen to her, okay?"
Stepping away from Elena as Stefan rubs her arms and steps forward, "All right. What do you know?"
"Since I was last here, I've been doing everything possible to try and find Klaus. We knew our best chance was to find him before he could find you." Isobel says, watching Elena pace annoyed in front of her.
"Best chance at what?" Stefan asks.
"Keeping Elena alive." John inputs.
"You don't get to talk." Elena scoffs at him, "Not after everything you've done."
"Did you find him?" I ask from my position, leaning against the counter, "I mean, we're you even able to find Klaus?"
"No. Nobody knows where he is, but there are these rumors flying around that a doppelgänger exists." Isobel says, and I have to hold back the mocking laugh that almost leaves my throat.
I know where he is. Hell I have his fucking phone number in my phone, though I'm not entirely sure when he put it in there.
"Which means that any vampire that wants to get in favor with Klaus will be lining up to capture you." John says looking directly at Elena.
Glancing at Stefan, Elena turns to them with a skeptic look on her face, "I'm not buying any of this. The last time that you were here, you made it clear that you didn't give a damn about me. Or Olivia. Now all of a sudden I'm supposed to believe that you wanna help?"
"Isobel's been helping all along." John says, trying to diffuse some of the tension that is building rapidly in the room, "Klaus has been obsessed with finding Katherine for centuries. All it would take was one of the 1864 tomb vampires to spread the word around that Katherine was still alive, and it would bring him straight here to Mystic Falls. Where you were bound to be discovered, so we killed them."
"And almost killed Stefan and Damon in the process!" She yells at them.
"Yeah – " John says before Isobel cuts him off.
"I have a safe house that I can take you to. The deed is in your name. No vampires can get in without your permission, not even me. Let me help you." She pleads with Elena.
"You wanna help?" Elena asks sarcastically, "Then get the hell out of my house."
Isobel turns away from her slightly, looking at me, "You want me to leave too?"
Shrugging a bit, "I personally don't give a damn what you do Isobel. No one is after me, and even if they were, I can't die. I do want you out of this house. Jenna doesn't need the added stress of having you around. Stay in town. Don't stay in town. I don't care, but you will get the fuck out of this house, and never come back."
Looking towards John, she nods and silently makes her way to the front door. Leaving the rest of us standing there in silence until John quickly follows her lead.
"Come on, Damon should be back by now." He tells us.
Sitting in the Salvatore's parlor, a glass of Bourbon in my hands I lean comfortable against the side of the couch, my feet stretched out in front of me as I face Elena.
"Do you really think that Isobel's telling the truth, that words gotten out about the doppelgänger? Elena asks them.
"Look, I don't trust a word she says, but I think we'd be stupid to ignore the warning." Stefan says with a shrug of his shoulders, his face pulling between his eyebrows like it does when he's stressed.
"You should just stay here." Damon proposes, "It's better for us to keep an eye on you."
Laughing, slightly louder than I intended, "What? In the house that any vampire can enter? You're an even bigger idiot than I thought."
"Olivia's right, their house is safer." Stefan agrees with me.
"Okay, so we'll stay there then." Damon concludes.
"So what? Neither of you let me out of your sight again? That's the new plan?" Elena asks annoyed.
"Let me know when you come up with a better one." Damon tells her with a smirk.
"Fine. Then one of you two bodyguards has to come with me to the Lockwood luncheon." Elena sighs rather dramatically.
"That would be me." Stefan smiles at her.
"Not me. I have witch stuff to attend to with Bonnie." Damon says.
Sitting up quickly, careful not to spill the drink in my hand. "What witch stuff? I thought that Bonnie had lost her powers?"
Damon looks over towards Stefan, "Yeah, about that, Jonas sort of gave them back to her the night we killed him. Along with a way to kill Klaus."
"And you were planning on telling me this when exactly?" I ask them, the anger evident in my voice.
"When you needed to know. You heard, therefore, now you needed to know." He says with a smugness.
Interrupting what would have been an argument, Elena asks, "Does that mean you're taking her to the –"
"Shh…" Damon says cutting her off, as Katherine walks into the room.
"Don't get quiet on my account." She tells them walking over to lean on the couch above me, "If you have a plan to combat the impending vampire doom, please do tell."
Realizing that not one of us is willingly going to tell her anything, "Seriously, what is the plan to get us out of this mess, hmm?"
"Oh come on now Katherine, you don't expect them to tell you anything do you?" I ask her scoffing, "They barely tell me anything and they like me a hell of a lot more than they like you."
Scowling at me, she ignores what I said, "I delivered you a moonstone, a werewolf, and the dagger to lure and kill Klaus, and right now all you have is the moonstone. Or so you tell me."
"No. We have it." Damon assures her.
"Where is it?" She asks him, a little too eager.
"It's in a very safe place." Damon taunts.
"I've been honest with you this whole time. It's time to repay the favor." She tells him.
"Let me be honest with you. Don't mistake the fact that we haven't set you on fire in your sleep for trust."
"Fine. Be that way." She mutters, walking out of the room.
Waking up to someone shaking my arm, "Olivia. Olivia, wake up."
Groaning a little I open my eyes, looking around to see the interior of a car. Sitting up, I look ahead of me. Isobel. Turning to my left I look at Elena, "What the hell is going on?"
"I don't know, I woke up and we were here. I don't know who she's talking to." She tells me.
"-I had to do what I was told. He wanted the moonstone and he wanted you." I listen to Isobel say.
Nik. Of course, I don't know why I didn't put it together sooner than right now. There's no way she would know so much about all of this, no way he would let Isobel get remotely close to him unless she could be of use. She can be compelled, compelled to betray Katherine. After all, she has been running for centuries now, I can only assume that he's well past angry with that.
"It's gonna be fine Elena." I tell her when she grabs onto my arm, tighter than needed.
Looking around as the SUV comes to a stop. A cemetery. Not exactly the place I had thought we would end up at today.
"Just because you two can't be compelled doesn't mean I can't force you to come with me." Isobel tells us as she gets out of the car.
Nudging Elena towards the open door, I get out after her. Looking around as the SUV drives off, leaving us here.
"So is that what happened then? You were compelled to betray Katherine." Elena asks with a wave of her arms as we walk towards a grave.
"If I was, I couldn't tell you." Isobel states.
"So you lied. You did find Klaus didn't you?" I ask her, more than curious about how that had happened.
"Are you taking me to him?" Elena asks her.
Watching Isobel bend down to move some dead leaves out of the way, I glance down at the grave we're in front of. Isobel Flemming. Her grave. Now this is more than morbid, I mean who takes their daughters, to her own grave?
"What is this?" A frustrated Elena asks her.
"My parents, your grandparents, they put it here when it became clear that the police weren't gonna find my body. They visit every week with flowers, even though there's no one buried here. The Isobel they knew is dead. So maybe there's a part of me that's buried here, the – the human part. The part that I abandoned when I chose to become a vampire, the part that use to dream of the day she would get to know her twin daughters." She turns to look at us, a warm smile on her face.
"What?" I ask her quietly. Not entirely believing my ears.
"Instead, you got to meet the other part. The part that would betray her own flesh and blood." She says as her phone rings.
Elena reaches out to grab onto my arm, almost anchoring herself to me, to keep herself grounded, to keep herself from crumbling under the weight of that information.
"Yes." Isobel says into the phone, "Let her go?"
We turn to look at her, let us go?
"I'm done?" She asks with a sad smile on her face.
Hanging up the phone with a sigh, she closes her eyes.
"Who was that?" Elena asks her.
"I'm so sorry Elena, Olivia…that I was such a disappointment to you both." She tells us with tears in her eyes, her hand reaching up to grasp her necklace.
Her daylight necklace.
Taking a step forward, "What are you – " I barely get out before she rips it off her neck.
Stepping back into Elena, her arms wrapping themselves around me as we stand there and watch her burn in the sun. Screaming out in pain. Frozen, we can't look away from it.
Gasping, "Oh…my god." I cry out.
Standing there with Elena, I can feel the tears in my eyes forming. I didn't…I don't know how to process the scene that played out in front of me. Watching my birth mother die before my eyes, and all I can feel is shock. Not sadness like I can tell Elena feels the tears she's got are pure agony and sadness over watching someone die. Mine, mine are pure shock. I've never seen anyone die that way before, not standing two feet in front of me. I'm not sad about it, I'm almost numb to it.
Pulling Elena into a hug, I hold her as she lets herself gasp a bit, the emotional side of her taking over as she grips onto me tightly and lets it all out now.
"Call Stefan, Elena. I want to go home." I tell her as I pull away, briefly looking down at the unrecognizable body of Isobel before walking away, towards the entrance of the cemetery.
Thank you kate1243 for the author suggestion! I definitely enjoyed reading some of their stories.
yasminasfeir1 & RomanticBlondie - I do have a few different plans that I'm writing to keep Chris and Kyle in the story for the long haul!