So, like I said, all of the chapters are going up tonight. Enjoy. :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 6: Isobelle

Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep…

"No!" I groaned, shifting in the uncomfortable bed, squinting against the light. I hated hospitals with a burning passion. I hated the cold, sterile smell that these places seemed to emit. I hated the loud, constant beeping that wouldn't shut off. I pushed myself upward, reaching for my hand that had the IV and the other wires tapped to it and began to try to undo them.

"Stop that, Isobelle." The voice was a half growl as he separated my hand from the other. I looked up towards the sound and screamed, pushing him back with all my strength.

"Your face! What happened to your face?" It almost looked like the face of a demon. It was terrifying. I had never noticed before, but it was all twisted and bloodied and mutilated. Every vein was on the surface and the white part of his eyes were red. And he was furry, very furry in a 'I haven't shaved since ever' sort of way. If he was going for a Wolfman-meets-Hollywood-horror-makeup, he had it nailed.

The hybrid stared at me confused as a nurse ran in. "Sweetie, what is it? What's wrong?" I blinked and his human face was back in place. "Are you experiencing any confusion? What's the last thing you remember?"

"Why the hell am I in here?" I demanded from her.

"Experiencing confusion," she jotted down on her clip board.

"I'm not experiencing any damn confusion. I was walking up the stairs and got a migraine. I know that. I want to know what happened after I passed out and who's brilliant idea it was to bring me here?"

"Isobelle-" Klaus began, but was silenced by a hard glare from me.

"Sweetie, just take it easy. It's alright if you don't remember. Just take it easy. I'm going to put some more-"

"Don't you dare drug me. I just want to know what's going on here." I was embarrassed to admit that my voice had taken on a hysterical quality to it.

"Isobelle," Klaus started again, but this time I let him talk. "When you came in, you weren't breathing. They found a subarachnoid hemorrhage in your brain."

"What?" Is that what my visions did to me? I had no idea what the first word meant, but hemorrhage, I knew what that was. It was where a blood vessel had ruptured. Whatever a subarachnoid hemorrhage was, it didn't sound too good at all. "I didn't, I mean I'm not- right?"

"No. They were able to revive you without any vampire blood involved." Klaus frowned at me, almost like he was trying to dissect me, and I ignored the nurse as she moved from the room after inserting the drug into my IV bag. I could feel the drug move into my system, but I couldn't feel it's effect.

"What?"

"You healed incredibly quick, but your blood work shows that you're human."

I shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a regular Buffy mixed with an extra shot of awesome." He snorted and I used my psychic powers willingly for probably the first time ever, making his chair move back before he sat down, so he lost balance when he went to sit. I laughed loudly and he glared at me. "Make that two shots of awesome and better balance and reflexes than a thousand-something-year-old hybrid." Finally plopping back hard against the stiff pillow, I groaned. "Kill me now!"

"No, sorry, can't."

"I miss my bed," I muttered. He chuckled. "It's a nice bed. It's got curtains and a headboard and who do I have to kill to get some French fries around here?" He laughed at that. I guess the hospital's diet for me wouldn't allow it.

"We've never formally been introduced, by the way." I shot him a look, one that I would have been chided for, had my grandparents been here. "I'm Niklaus Mikaelson." He held out a hand to me.

"Isobelle." I took his hand, and he pressed his lips to the back of it. If you ignored the fact that he was a dangerous, thousand some-year-old half-werewolf half-vampire, he actually seemed like a pretty decent guy. After all, he had completely distracted me from my vision that had apparently killed me and put me in the hospital. Maybe that's why I asked him, "Can I call you Nik?"

He chuckled and leaned back in the chair. "Don't see why not."

"So how long have I been in here?"

"Just since yesterday." At this, I relaxed. My heart rate was beating far too erratically before, not just at his presence, but also at the being in the hospital to begin with, and he and everyone else on the planet could tell that it was. But at least I hadn't been here long. The thought of being here for weeks without knowing unnerved me more than just being here, so being here for a day calmed my heart rate slightly. I closed my eyes.

I needed to figure out what happened to my visions. Normally, they were painful. They had never been so full on messed up before though. I had never had the pain of having a vision without the actually vision before coming here. Or was that figure and the strange language my vision? This town was killing me.

There came a knock on the door and he walked over to it. "Do you want anything to eat?" I shook my head, and he opened the door, letting the people inside, before he left. I stared at them in shock. There was Damon Salvatore... and although I was surprised he would visit me in the hospital, I was even more blown away by the next person.

It was my mom.

She walked over to the bed quickly, wrapping me up in her arms as she hugged me and fussed. And even though it had been years since I had last saw her, I immediately felt bad for making her worry. "I'm sorry, Mommy," I whimpered into her shoulder as she stroked my hair.

"I'm so sorry too, Izzy," she murmured. "I didn't want to leave you, but I was trying to protect you."

"I know." My eyes moved behind her, to Damon. And in that moment it made sense why he was here with her. He had a look of tenderness in his eyes that he never had before and I now knew why. In those few minutes, everything became clear to me.

Damon Salvatore was my father.

Which also meant that I was a Salvatore.

His brother, my uncle, had tried to hurt my sister.

He didn't know before that he was my father.

I guess he could see the realization in my eyes, because he smiled, nodding slightly, a small smile coming to his lips. I reached a hand out to him, and he held it, sitting down besides Mom and me on the bed and hugging us both. It was the first time in my life that I ever felt like I belonged. It was also the first time I remember feeling like I mattered, like I was somebody.

"So what's the last thing you remember?" Mom finally asked.

"I... um... a lot."

"How long have you had seizures?"

"She didn't have a seizure," Damon snapped, then looked at me, "did you?" I shook my head.

"Then what was it?" Mom turned her heavy, questioning gaze on him. He glanced back to me, then back to her.

I shrugged. They may be my parents, but I hadn't really met them before today. I was entitled to my secrets, especially from people trying to do the right thing. God save us from people with good intentions.

They smiled and Mom kissed my forehead as she left. Damon- Dad- tucked back a strand of my hair and paused, as if deciding something, then leaned over and pressed his lips to my forehead. "Get some rest." I nodded, laying back in the hospital bed, feeling more relaxed than I had in days. I may not have known what was wrong with me, but I was going to be okay. I was a Salvatore and a survivor.

The squares were made from ivory and ebony and there were ornate decorations carved into the heavy mahogany sides of the board. Each piece was carved by hand, each one unique. The board and each piece was heavy.

With a careful hand, I lifted the piece, carefully, moving it a few spaces over. "Check."

Nik frowned, "That's a good move." He went to move a piece, then faltered. "That's really good move. Why couldn't you be as bad as your mother at chess?"

"What can I say? I inherited my father's good looks, his brains, his style and charm, and his unflinching ability to listen to my sister talk on the phone and her playing Taylor Swift. Over and over and over."

"That sounds like something he would say." He used his queen to take my knight that was about to take his king.

"Don't I know it." Effortlessly, I knocked the piece over and he flinched.

"Careful there, 'Belle. This is a twelfth century chess set."

I snorted. "And you are a ninth century guy. Will you bruise so easy if I knock you over?"

He smirked up at me, despite the fact that we were sitting at the same level. "I'm slightly more sturdy." My breath hitched for a moment and I looked down, focusing on the game.

"I know that you know that I know that that can't be the whole truth." He flinched. "What?"

"Did you really just use the word 'know' three times in the same sentence?" I offered him a small smile.

"Maybe. Why?" Straightening in the bed, I looked down at him, "Does that bother you?"

"Immensely."

A smirk came across my face as I filled away this information for later encounters. "You should know that I know that you know that I will use the word 'know' now on random occasion because I know it bothers you that I like using the word 'know.'" He stared straight at me, unblinking.

"Did you have to map that sentence out before saying that, or is that just a general Salvatore quality of knowing how to get on my nerves?" The smirk grew larger. Realizing what he said, he scowled, "That doesn't count, Isobelle."

"Whatever you say, oh Original Hybrid Freak Lord Supreme." He looked at me for a moment like he was going to saying something, but decided again it, shaking his head as if to shake out the thoughts.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Uncle! Uncle!" I screamed out as Nik twisted my arms behind my back, bending me in ways I didn't even know I could bend.

"You okay?" His face showed concern and I knew that he never would hurt me on purpose. In response, I gave him a nodded, falling into a chair near where we had cleared his room to spar. He sat on the same chair, nudging me to move over, despite the other places to sit, like the giant couch, in the room.

We had become close over the last few weeks, both of us freaks among freaks. I curled into him. His closeness brought me a peace and comfort that I hadn't known since I was little. It soothed that restless edge we were both on, just standing by, idly waiting for Stefan to do something... anything.

Things stayed quiet. Way too freakishly quiet for normal. It hadn't been this quiet in weeks, not with Stefan hovering, ready to take my sister. It made me more alert, if anything, looking for something wrong, forcing me to jump at shadows.

My bedroom would have looked normal to the untrained eyes. The dark blue dress I first admired hung from the closet door, a gift from my mother for the dance. Devil's traps were on the ceiling in clear paint.

I had been asleep, with the curtains drawn around my bed at night, which I preferred to being out in the open because it gave me some comfort. Suddenly, I felt the bed shift. It took everything I had to calm my pounding heart and not move, other than the hand that slide under my pillow to grab the silver knife that lay underneath it. I squeezed my eyes shut, letting my other senses take over. There was a musky scent in the air, something familiar. I unclenched the fingers with the knife and turned to see Nik sitting against my headboard, laying beside me, sketching.

"Holy cow! You scared me!" He raised his eyebrow, not looking up. Of course he knew he had scared me; he had heard my heart pounding about a thousand miles an hour. It still was beating fast, but for different reasons. "And you woke me up," I muttered pettily.

At this, he did look up, pushing the curtain back to set the book down on the nightstand, before he shifted so he was facing me eye to eye. "You weren't sleeping that well before that. You sounded like you were in pain. I was going to keep an eye on you, make sure something wasn't attacking you in your dreams."

"How?" He shrugged.

"I'm old. I know a few tricks." It vaguely registered in the back my mind that Niklaus Mikaelson, one of the oldest vampires alive and the oldest hybrid in existence, had been worried about me. The rest of me was too tired. That was the part of me that moved closer to him as he stretched his arm out and laid my head on his chest. His arms came around me, encasing me in a warmth that was strange for a vampire.

"Thank you," I murmured.

I could sort of feel him smile, his lips brush in my hair like a butterfly's kiss. Other than that, he stayed silent. As I feel back to sleep, it was the most peaceful one I had in months. On the verge of unconsciousness, I heard it, "'And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.'"

When I woke up the next time, it was because there was someone standing over me. I could feel Nik, still beneath me as my pillow, his breaths even. My eyes snapped open to look up at the person.

"Oh my God!" Jennifer gasped, her eyes looked like they were about to just fall out of her head. With the reflexes of a cat, I sprung from the bed, clamping my hand tightly over her mouth.

"Not a word," I hissed, pulling her from the room. I didn't want to wake the hybrid. Chances were, he probably wasn't a morning person. In the safety of the bathroom, I closed the door and released her mouth.

"How the hell did you get a guy that looks like that to-" she cut herself off, the smirk that came to her face both devious and evil, "You're going to be in so much trouble."

It was at that moment, Nik appeared behind her. As my eyes met his, she turned, facing him, and gasped. He looked down at my sister and spoke, "You will not remember this. You will go downstairs and continue your normal morning routine."

It was then I noticed her necklace was not on, the one that I had filled with vervain and sealed shut. She left, dazed and oblivious to us. The moment her footsteps echoed loudly on the stairs, Nik moved. With sudden determination, the hybrid crossed the bathroom and pulled me flush against him, pressing his lips to mine. When we parted, I could see the pain in his eyes.

"What is it?"

"Stefan, his army is here. Tomorrow at sunset is when he's said will be his big battle. If we don't fight them then, he's going to first slaughter the town, then the rest of the world."