Odette stood in the doorway of her cousin's classroom and watched as Alaric went about teaching his class, he seemed really passionate about what he was doing and Odette was glad that something was providing him with some kind of stability. As much as Odette was happy and willing to help Alaric with his quest to find out the truth about what happened to Isobel, he needed something that would take up his time and not make him obsess about the vampire thing constantly. And him teaching seemed to do that which she saw as a good thing as Odette was worried that Alaric was going to have a mental breakdown or rather a major depressive episode as it was called these days. Teaching seemed to give him something to focus on during the day and it seemed to be doing the trick and the fact that it seemed to make Alaric happy was an added bonus. Odette waited until the bell had gone and the students had left to walk into the classroom.
"Hey stranger, what brings you here?" Alaric asked in a warm tone of voice.
"Brought you a coffee, thought you might need to get you through the day of teaching the next generation but apparently not as you looked all bright eyes and bushy tailed up there." Odette said as she handed Alaric one of the two cups of coffee that she had brought here before sitting down in one of the desks.
"I like teaching."
"I know you do and it suits you very well, I wish I had a teacher like you when I was in school." Odette replied with a bright smile.
"You did Ettie, you just never paid attention to any them because you were too busy daydreaming in class as you thought you knew everything already. And before you say it I know that your one of those naturally smart people who got through school without really trying, so you don't have to convince me." Alaric retorted.
"Yes I know I was very arrogant about my intelligence in my youth but going down memory lane about my high school and college years as fun as that may be isn't why I'm here. Nor am I here to discuss your fine teaching abilities and how you're influencing the next generation to not repeat the mistake of those before them." Odette began with a small chuckle before reaching into her bag and grabbing a file from inside and handing it over to Alaric.
"What is this?"
"This town is very weird–." Odette started.
"–Ettie this town has a history of vampire attacks so of course it's a weird town." Alaric replied and Odette rolled her eyes.
"Look I know it's Buffy and Angel kind of weird but that wasn't what I was referring to, this town is more than that. It's certainly got the supernatural freaky weirdness to it but this town also has a frigging Stepford and Groundhog day vibe to it as well. Kind of reminds me of a Stephen King novel if I think about it…" Odette said.
"So the men in town have made robotic wives and the days just keep repeating themselves?" Alaric asked in a sarcastic manner as he took a sip of his coffee and Odette just rolled her eyes.
"Ha ha! Very funny wise ass but that's not what I mean, have you heard of the founding families of Mystic Falls?" Odette questioned moving things along so she could finally make her point seeing as it was the reason for her visit,
"I've heard of them, back in 1860 five families founded Mystic Falls and as such they are known as the founding families and these families still continue to live in Mystic Falls. Members of the founding families sit on the Founders Council which is in charge of celebrating the foundation of the town." Alaric informed Odette who nodded.
"Yes that's them, anyway I was doing some research and I noticed something, I'm not sure whether it's something of worth or not but I thought I should bring it to your attention. If you'll open that file and you'll see that it's a bunch of records, more specifically it's a list of names of those whose who have held the highest positions of power in Mystic Falls." Odette said and she watched as Alaric opened the file and read it and as he did a frown appeared on his face. "You've noticed it haven't you? That the names on that list are surprisingly similar." Odette said.
"The Lockwood's and Forbes." Alaric slowly said before looking up from the file to look at Ettie. "You did all of this research?"
"Writer's block is a real bitch when you have a three chapter deadline in two weeks but all the free time I have has gone to very good use." Odette quipped only to be interrupted by the sound of her phone ringing, Odette looked at who was calling her before frowning.
"Someone important?" Alaric asked.
"Just the boyfriend." Odette said blocking the call before tugging on the end of her blonde ponytail.
"Problems in paradise?"
"I've got other things to worry about now than that… You look at that list and you see that those two founding families have practically held the office of Mayor and Sheriff, since the towns founding and right now the Mayor and Sheriff of this town are Richard Lockwood and Elizabeth Forbes. Now Sheriff Forbes is only a member of the Forbes family through her former marriage although she kept her ex husbands name after the divorce. But that wasn't my point, this is my point; do you want to guess who was in office during the animal attacks of 1864?" Odette replied.
"A Lockwood and a Forbes." Alaric noted.
"Correct, Benjamin Lockwood and William Forbes." Odette added.
"Ettie are you suggesting that the founding families know about the vampires? Or just the Lockwood's and Forbes and they've been covering it up for the last hundred and forty five years." Alaric questioned and she knew it sounded very far-fetched and kind of in the conspiracy nut basket but Odette couldn't deny the information that was in front of her. It all added up but it didn't make sense in a manner of speaking given that they were talking about vampires and potential cover ups.
"I don't know what exactly I'm saying but all I know is things in this town aren't what they seem at first glance, this town may not be Kansas but it certainly isn't some quaint little town either."