Outside, Elena was writing in her journal. It had been five days since she and Bonnie had found Grams dead. She still felt really guilty about it. She did insist on them letting Anna out. Bonnie had left. At the same time, she also felt like she should start finding out who her real parents were.
She pulled out her phone and called Bonnie. "Hey, Bonnie. It's me. Just checking in, seeing how you're doing. We all hope you come home when you're ready." She brushed away a tear she didn't realize had fallen. Jenna stepped outside.
"What are you doing out here? It's cold."
"I needed a place to think." Elena told her. "The funeral for Bonnie's grandma, it brought back a lot about mom and dad, you know? Did you find out anything about the adoption?"
"Come in here." Jenna told her. She got up and followed her inside. "Your dad kept everything from his medical practice. Logs, old appointment books, records. I found an entry from the night you were born. Patient and a birth date. Isobel Peterson."
"You think that's her real name?" Elena asked. She knew Jeremy was downstairs listening.
"A pregnant teenage runaway. Probably not. Her first name, maybe. I ran a search on all the Petersons in this area born in the same year as Isobel." Jenna explained. "Found a woman named Trudie who lived in Grove Hill, Virginia."
"That's not far from here." Elena said.
"Trudie still lives there. Here's the address."
"What happened to Isobel?"
"I couldn't find anything on her." Jenna said. "But there is something else. Ric, I mean, Mr. Saltzman, his wife was from around here. Her name was also Isobel."
"Was?"
"She died." Elena seemed surprised. If Isobel was dead, was she really dead or undead? More importantly, though, if these two women were actually the same person, did it mean what she thought it meant?
Elena was in her room, talking with Stefan on the phone. "You think Alaric's wife may have been your mother?" Stefan asked.
"We don't know that." Elena said. "I mean, the coincidence alone is just crazy. I have the address of her friend's house."
"You wanna talk to her."
"I don't know." Elena told him. "If it's true and they are the same person, is she really dead or is she…you know?"
"Did your aunt tell you how she died?"
"Only that she was killed and the case was left open." Elena had a thought then. "Do you know anything about…"
"No. I've never seen him outside of class." Then he remembered something. "Look, if you want, I can go with you to talk to Isobel's friend."
"I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet."
"I'll see you later. I need to go talk with Damon."
"How is he?" Elena asked. She hadn't seen him since the tomb incident.
"I'll call you back." Stefan told her. He headed into the living room where Damon was sitting. "We need to talk."
"Okay, but I'm warning you, I have a slight headache right now."
"You probably shouldn't have been drinking last night, then."
"What did you really want to talk about? I have a feeling it has nothing to do with the fact that Katherine went missing."
"There was a woman a few years ago I remember you telling me about. Isobel."
"Oh, her."
"You said you were trying to help her." Stefan pointed out, remembering how tired he'd been when he came back late at night and was an even bigger wreck than he was now.
"Why are you asking me about her?"
"Do you remember anything about her?" Stefan asked.
"Only that she was at the wrong place at the wrong time." Damon told him. "I only knew her for about five minutes." He pointed out.
"Okay."
At the Grill, Alaric and Jenna were working together. "I don't know. It's just weird, you know, me being raffled off like a Disney Cruise." He told her.
"In this town, fundraising is like indentured servitude. You don't have a choice. Besides, you're a bachelor, and you're eligible, so there you go." Jenna told him.
"Is everyone in this town insane?" Alaric asked. He noticed Jenna's expression. "What is it?"
"Elena recently found out she was adopted, and she's been looking for her birth mother." Jenna told him. "Her name was Isobel."
"Isobel? Like my wife?" Alaric asked. "But we never…I mean, she didn't…"
"Here, I have a picture of her." Jenna said. She showed it to him. He seemed surprised.
"I'm sorry, I have to go."
"I know, I ruined the moment again." Jenna said. He left the Grill kinda fast.
Elena found herself outside a small house. It was the same address Jenna had given her. She knocked on the door. A woman answered. "Are you Trudie Peterson?"
"Yes."
"My name's Elena Gilbert. I wanted to talk to you about Isobel Flemming."
"I haven't heard that name in years. How do you know her?"
"Do you know if she had a baby that she gave up for adoption."
"Oh, my God." The woman said. "You're her daughter. Come in." Elena stepped into the house.
"Sorry for dropping in unexpected like this."
"It's no problem. I am a bit surprised though. I haven't seen Isobel in years."
"When was the last time you saw her?" Elena asked.
"About seventeen years ago, when she left to go have you." Trudie told her. "We kept in touch for a while, but grew apart."
"So you don't know where she wound up?"
"She lived in Florida for a while, but not long."
"Do you know who my father is?" Elena asked.
"I could never get her to tell me that." Trudie said. "Last I heard of her, she got to college on a scholarship."
"Where'd she go?"
"Duke, I think."
In town, Stefan ran into Alaric. "Hey, you have a second?"
"What is it?" Stefan asked.
"You know my wife was named Isobel, right?"
"So she was Elena's birth mother?" Stefan asked.
"What does she know?"
"About Isobel? Not much." Stefan told him.
"Did either of you know if your brother knew her?"
"No. I only just remembered him mentioning something about her about a year or two ago." Stefan explained. "When I asked, he didn't say much."
"Can you ask again?" Alaric asked him.
"I don't know."
"I think he was the one who murdered her."
"What?!" Stefan looked at him. "I know for a fact that my brother would never kill anyone." He decided to leave out the whole vampire thing.
"He was with her when she died, though. That seems kinda suspicious to me."
"Look, he couldn't have done it."
"I just want to know what happened." Alaric told him.
"Do you have a picture or anything I could show him? I don't know if he remembers her that well." Stefan explained. Alaric handed him a picture of Isobel. He left.
Elena was still at Trudie's. They were going through a yearbook. "We both used to be on the cheerleading squad."
"Wow, more things we used to have in common." Elena said. "I quit cheerleading a while ago. Thanks, for telling me this."
"No problem." Trudie told her. Elena picked up the teacup, then sensed something was off and put it back down.
"This had been nice." She said. "But I think I should probably get going now."
"If you ever want to know more about her, feel free to drop by." Trudie told her. Elena headed out to her car and left in a hurry.
At the Grill, Damon was surprised when he found Alaric sitting next to him. "I wasn't expecting to see you here. No offense, but I thought you'd be grading papers."
"I do have a life outside of work, you know." Alaric said.
"Yeah, though it can get pretty depressing."
"You don't really seem like the type who gets depressed easily."
"You say that as though you know me." Damon told him.
"No, though you do seem kinda familiar." Alaric said. "I better get going." He left the bar, leaving Damon wondering what the heck that was all about. Sheriff Forbes came over to him.
"Listen, I need a favor." She said, sitting next to him.
"Have you ever known what it was like to not know where your girlfriend or whatever was?"
"You forgot I was married once." Sheriff Forbes pointed out.
"Oh, right. Gay husband."
"Look, there's a fundraiser here tonight that the Founder's Council is having. The town's most eligible bachelors get raffled off for dates and, we're short a bachelor." Sheriff Forbes explained.
"Is this what you people do when there's no…threat?" He couldn't make himself say the word vampire. "Organize bachelor raffles?"
"Hey, at this point, I miss dealing with that." Sheriff Forbes told him. "But if it were a choice, I'd rather be investigating. But you are single and a catch. Carol Lockwood will never let me live it down if I come up with nothing."
"Fine. I'll do it."
"Thank you."
"Hang on." He turned to the Sheriff as she got up. "Can you get a little information on Alaric Saltzman, the history teacher? There's something a little off about him. I want to make sure they know what they're dealing with at that school."
"No problem." The Sheriff left.
At the Boarding House, Elena went in looking for Stefan. "Stefan?"
"He'll be back in a couple minutes." Damon told her.
"Are you okay?" Elena asked. She noticed something was a little off about him.
"As okay as someone can be when they find out the person they've been looking for has probably turned and can be anywhere in the world."
"Oh. Sorry." Elena said. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"I'm fine. I'll get through this somehow."
"Anyway, I found out some things about my birth mother." Elena said. Stefan showed up then.
"Didn't she leave you?"
"She had a good reason, I'm sure." Elena told him. Stefan showed up then. "Hey, I was just waiting for you."
"I'll see you two later." Damon told them. He left the room.
"He's upset, isn't he?"
"He doesn't like to show it." Stefan told her.
"I just feel so bad about everything that happened in that tomb." Elena said. "I couldn't even do anything but stand outside and wait."
"It's not your fault, Elena. None of us knew she wouldn't be there."
"I saw Trudie today."
"How was it?"
"She knows about vampires, Stefan. She tried to give me vervain." Elena told him. "This can't be coincidence."
"It isn't." Stefan handed her a picture. "This is Alaric's wife." Elena looked at the picture.
"So, this is her?" Elena asked.
"He thinks she was murdered." Stefan told her. "And I think he knows about vampires."
"Whoa."
"Look, maybe we should talk with Alaric. There's a lot that we still need to figure out, and he might know something that could help."
Stefan met his brother at the Boarding House. "Where's your girlfriend?"
"She's headed to the Grill to meet Jeremy." Stefan told him. "I found this." He handed him the picture Alaric had given him earlier. He watched as Damon looked at the photo, recognizing her. "You knew her, didn't you?"
"Sort of. It's complicated."
"You didn't kill her, did you?"
"I would never kill a victim, Stefan!" Damon snapped. Stefan looked surprised. "Sorry, I overreacted."
"Wait, what happened?"
"I'll explain on the way."
At the Grill, Elena was with Jeremy. She'd explained everything. "Whoa. So, you think there's a chance that he's…"
"We don't know for sure yet." Elena told him. "We still need to get a few things cleared up first."
"Hey, whatever happens, I'm here for you." Jeremy said. Elena embraced him.
"Thanks, Jer."
Damon was talking with Carol. "I still can't believe I'm doing this."
"Well, it was kind of a last-minute thing." Carol pointed out.
"Could you give me a minute?" He found Liz over in the back corner and went over to her.
"I found out more about that teacher." She told him.
"So, what's up?"
"He's had a few speeding tickets. Looks like it's complicated, though. His wife went missing a few years ago around North Carolina." Liz told him.
"What was her name?" Damon asked. This case was starting to sound familiar.
"Isobel." Liz told him.
The auction was underway when Stefan finally showed up. "Hey, I was starting to think you wouldn't make it." Elena said.
"Yeah, I had to deal with something on the way here." Stefan told her.
"Okay, moving on. Number four, Alaric Saltzman." Carol introduced. "Wow, that's hard to say. What do you do, Alaric?"
"I'm a teacher at Mystic Falls High." He told her.
"And what do you teach?"
"History."
"Interesting. You must know a lot of facts."
"Not really."
"He's probably saving it for his date." Carol told the audience. "And finally, Damon Salvatore." Elena felt Jeremy tense beside her. "We don't really know much about you?"
"I sort of do detective work." He told her.
"Okay, besides work, what else do you do?"
"I do a little travelling sometimes." Damon said. "In fact, I remember this one case I was working on a little outside of down. I didn't know it at the time, but I think it was Alaric's wife." The group, and Alaric were looking at him. "She was a bright young lady. Who, unfortunately, ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time." Alaric was still looking at him. He seemed a little tense.
In the audience, Elena was in shock. "Are you okay?" Jenna asked.
"I need some air." She walked out, with Jeremy and Stefan following closely behind her.
She was practically halfway down the block when they caught up to her. "Elena, wait." Stefan called.
"She's dead. Not like I didn't already know that." Elena said. Her voice was cold.
"We don't know much about what happened." Stefan pointed out. "But Damon mentioned when he brought them to the crime scene, her body had disappeared."
"What does that mean?" Jeremy asked, echoing Elena's thoughts.
"I don't know." Stefan said. "But I have a feeling we're going to need to talk to both of them to find out."
"I still can't believe he knew something and didn't say anything." Elena said.
"He doesn't know about the connection to you." Stefan told her. "I wanted to ask, but it seems to bring up bad memories."
"He did seem a little depressed when he talked about her." Jeremy pointed out.
"Come on, we should get back." Stefan said. The three of them walked back over to the Grill. Outside, they ran into Damon.
"Whoa, easy, Lena. You should really watch where you're going."
"How did you know Isobel was killed?" Elena asked.
"Why are you so concerned?"
"Forget it, I don't know why I'm even…"
"Elena." Jeremy caught her arm and stopped her from leaving.
"What's going on here?" Damon asked.
"Remember when we were talking about my birth mother?" Elena asked him. "Her name was Isobel." Damon seemed surprised. "Look, I just want to know what really happened."
"Maybe I can help you." The group turned and saw Alaric coming toward them. "My wife was obsessed with vampires. She lived in a town not too far from here and spent her life researching them. At the time, I thought it was all just fiction."
"And you thought I killed her?" Damon asked him.
"We were in town and got separated. The last time I saw her, she was dead in your arms." Alaric pointed out. The group turned to Damon.
"But he doesn't seem like someone who would do that." Elena pointed out.
"Because I didn't." Damon told them. "Here's what really happened." He remembered meeting Isobel that one night.
Flashback: Outside, Isobel was walking down a sidewalk, when she got a bad feeling. She turned around and saw someone. "Miss?" She jumped. It was Damon. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. You dropped this." He handed her a wallet.
"Oh, thanks." Isobel said. "It must've fallen out."
"You should be careful around here." He told her. "It's not safe to be walking around alone."
"I'm not alone." She told him. "I'm looking for my husband."
"Still. Be careful." He walked away. A few minutes later, he heard someone scream and ran back. Isobel was surrounded by a group of men.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Isobel asked.
"No need to get defensive, lady. We're just here to help."
"I don't want any of your help!" She yelled. Suddenly, one of them came toward her at speed. She gasped, realizing these men weren't human. She tried to defend herself, but fell back. Before they could do anything, though, one of them suddenly dropped over, dead, with a stake in his back.
"Didn't you hear the lady? She doesn't want you're kind of help." Damon told them. The group turned to him.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Isobel asked him.
"I'm an expert at this." Damon told her. "Just stay behind me." He fought off most of them easily. One of them tried to stake him, but he got out of the way and took him out from behind. Then he realized there was still another one left.
When he turned, the vampire was holding Isobel by her shoulder. "You touch her, I swear…"
"Fine. She's all yours." The vampire said. He dropped Isobel and sped over to him. He took him out. It was then he noticed Isobel was bleeding and that she wasn't trying to get up. He went over to her. He took out his phone.
"I'm dying, aren't I?" Isobel asked.
"There might still be time to get an ambulance."
"It's too late." Isobel told him. "They won't get here in time."
"There's still a little time." Damon told her. He came down to the ground and took her in his arms so that they were facing each other. He could see how scared and sad she was. "Don't just give up because it seems hopeless."
"It's too late for me to be saved." Isobel said. "There's no point in hiding the fact. Let my husband know that I'm sorry about everything."
"I will, once you tell me who he is."
"Alaric." She managed to get out between breaths.
"Can you tell me your name?" Damon asked her. When he found him, he wanted to make he'd know he wasn't lying.
"Isobel." She told him. Then she passed out in his arms. End flashback.
"And that's when you saw me." Damon finished.
"Wait, wait." Jeremy said. "You said when you brought the police back, they couldn't find the body."
"They still haven't found it." Damon said. "What's your point?"
"I get it." Elena said. Everyone turned to her. "Maybe she wasn't murdered. Maybe they turned her instead."
"And then she could've run off without anyone knowing." Alaric added.
"If that is what really happened, then I'm sure she never intended to hurt you like that." Damon told him. "If she was, well, she's no better than my girlfriend."
"Yeah, but there's a few things we don't know." Stefan pointed out. "What are you really doing here?"
"Since my wife died, I went over her notes." Alaric told him. "Since then…"
"Oh for heaven's sake!" Jeremy said. "Are you all that stupid? He's a vampire hunter!" Everyone was looking at Jeremy in shock
"How did you know?"
"You're wife's not the only one who wrote about them." Jeremy said. "My ancestor kept a journal."
"That, and someone turned us." Elena added.
"Elena." Stefan whispered. He took her hand.
"No, it's okay." Elena said. "I think we can trust him." Alaric looked at her.
"You really do have her spirit."
"Do you know something about this?" Damon asked.
"Before we left town, she told me about a time where she had given up a child to her ex's family." Alaric explained. "Of course, she didn't tell me that it was her, but she dropped a few hints. It wasn't hard to figure out."
"So, why are you here, then?" Stefan asked. He was holding Elena's hand.
"After Isobel died or whatever, I found out about it through an old medical file she'd hidden." Alaric explained. "It stated that her child was born in Mystic Falls. It didn't list a name, though. Then Jenna told me your birth mother was Isobel."
"You came here to find her daughter." Elena realized.
"It didn't take long to put the pieces together." Alaric told her. Elena walked over and embraced him.
"Another vampire hunter. So you're the one who killed Logan Fell after he was turned." Damon realized.
"That's right." Alaric said. "He tried to kill me, so I killed him first."
"Thank goodness you did. He tried to out us and kidnap someone." Elena told him.
"Of course. That's why your ring looked so familiar." Jeremy said. "It's the Gilbert Ring, the one that protects humans from being killed by vampires."
"Or other supernatural creatures." Elena added. "But how did…"
"Isobel gave it to me." Alaric explained. "She said it would protect me from them, as crazy as it sounded."
"Wait, are you sure it's the same ring?" Elena asked Jeremy.
"I'm pretty sure. And I don't think either of us wanna find out the hard way." Jeremy pointed out.
"Yeah, that would be a bad idea." Elena said.
"Okay, so now that everything's cleared up, I think we should head back inside." Damon said. "In case you've forgotten, we're still being auctioned off."
"Good luck you guys." Elena said as they headed back inside.
The rest of them began to head home. "Wow. That was a little intense."
"Well, what do you expect?" Elena pointed out. "The supernatural have a way of effecting people."
"But we've all made it out okay so far." Stefan pointed out.
"Yeah, you're…" Elena froze. The guys looked and saw a man had shown up.
"Uh, can we help you?" Jeremy asked.
"I have a message for you." He told them. They quickly realized they meant Elena.
"What is it?" She asked.
"Stop looking." Elena was confused for a second, then looked at him. "She doesn't want to know you."
"Jer." Elena whispered so only he heard it. Jeremy noticed what was up with him and quickly texted Stefan. He looked at the message:
He's under compulsion.
"Do you understand?"
"Yes, I understand." Elena told him.
"Good. I'm done." The siblings looked at each other. They knew what that meant.
"Stef, close your eyes!" Elena told him. He did what she said. When he opened them, the man was dead in the middle of the road. They ran over to him.
"What just happened?" He asked.
"She must've compelled him to kill himself after he gave the message." Elena explained.
"Well, that confirms one thing, you're birth mother obviously turned." Jeremy said.
"Let's just get out of here." Elena said. "I think I've had enough of trying to figure this out for a while." The guys agreed and they all headed back home as fast as they could.