When she learned that John had left town for good, Elena felt instantly better. To prevent from getting any undesirable new text messages, she changed her number and only gave it to her friends, asking them not to give it to anyone else. Since all of her friends were, willingly or not on vervain, she figured she could trust them.

.

Isobel was furious.

Alaric had obviously moved on with her daughter's aunt Jenna and he was on vervain so she couldn't compel him to do as she asked.

"Hello Alaric…long time no see." She said, appearing behind him in the empty school corridor. He had stayed behind a while so he could calmly correct a few copies.

"That's what happens when you disappear without a trace." Alaric replied, hiding his surprise.

He discreetly tried to reach for his phone but she saw him:

"None of that now… I just want to talk Ric… You try and call someone and I'll just kill one of your students." Isobel stated.

"What do you want?" He didn't manage to hide his anger this time.

"You could be a little warmer, I'm your wife." She replied.

"You're my ex wife."

"We never got a divorce." She reminded him.

"That's because you disappeared and were declared dead…which you are. Now what do you want?" Alaric replied.

"I want a special device that was locked in the tomb under the church with one of the vampires there. Damon Salvatore can get it for me." She said.

"Everything and everyone in this tomb got burned when we opened it and locked that Anna girl inside." He explained.

"The device is mechanic and made of metal, it would have survived. Pearl had it on her. We want it."

"We? Who's we? Who are you working for?" Alaric asked her.

"You don't actually think that I'll answer you do you? Now go see your friend Damon and have him get this device for me or I'll start killing your students one by one. I'll start with your favorites." She was about to turn around when Alaric asked:

"Why did you send those messages to Elena? Do you have no feeling what so ever for this girl that's your daughter? Your own flesh and blood?" Alaric asked.

"I turned it all off darling, things are much more fun this way. But looks to me like you care for us both… Look at it this way, if I had kept her, you would have been her step-father… You can play this role now. Don't forget, do as I say or I start killing your student, then I'll move on to their parents, their grandparents and their neighbors until this town is nothing but a pile of corpses on your conscience…" Isobel smirked before she disappeared suddenly.

.

Rachel was in her living room with her father, trying on for the Founder's day parade a dress that used to belong to her grandmother and was so pretty she wouldn't need to change much on it when Alaric arrived, looking panicked and angry.

It was so unusual for him to come inside without knocking first that they all turned toward the friendly intruder.

"What's wrong?" Damon asked him.

"Isobel just found me at school." He said before he sat down, drank the glass of whiskey that Damon handed him before he retold them what Isobel said.

When Alaric was done explaining everything, Rachel went up to her room to change out of her dress and start working on it. She knew that her father would want her to stay out of it and since she was just human right now, she didn't have any right argument to convince him. She used this opportunity to call first Puck, then Sage. She gave them both updates and received some from them. Puck asked her to send pictures of her in the 1860's dress and she said she would.

"I'm try to make it Rachel, I promise you." Sage had told Rachel.

"It's okay Sage... You're closer than you've ever been on Klaus's trail... Don't screw it for me... Daddy will send you a few pictures." Rachel replied.

"Very well... I miss you Rachel..."

"I miss you too."

"Okay, I've got to go now, take care of yourself please... Call if you need anything."

"I will. Bye." Rachel said as she hung up.

.

The next day, at school, Rachel was discussing dresses for Founder's parade with Caroline as they walked through the floats that the students were building. Suddenly, as Caroline went to bark some orders at a group of impressionable freshmen, Rachel recognised Isobel talking with Elena.

The young woman looked rather scared and kept on glancing around. Rachel discreetly got her phone out of her pocket and texted her father that Isobel was there so he could come and take care of the trouble maker vampire.

Rachel kept on with guiding student who wanted to help make the floats but she kept a discreet eye on the vampire mother that was obviously scaring her daughter.

"Hey Rachel, who's going to be on this one again?" Dawn asked her, pointing to the thing she was working on with a few of her friends.

"The English literature club I think." She replied.

Dawn nodded and walked away.

When Rachel looked back toward Elena, she found her alone. She wondered for a second if her father would arrive too late but she suddenly felt a pair of hand grabbing her arms as someone breathed down her neck, near her ear.

"Don't make a sound and walk with me to the shadows over there or I'm snapping your neck." A woman's voice said in a sweet yet threatening voice.

Rachel nodded and bravely did what she was told. As soon as they reached the desired place, slightly isolated from the rest of the place, she turned around:

"What do you want from me Isobel?"

"Oh, you know who I am don't you? There is so much I want… I'll settle with Damon's help getting what I want…" She replied.

Rachel was about to say something when she heard her father say:

"Let her go now or die Bitch."

It was her father's voice and she had never been happier to hear it in her life.

"Damon… let me think about it…hum…no!" Isobel said with a smirk.

Rachel looked at her father in the eyes and knew what she had to do. She hit Isobel in the stomach with her elbow and stepped away quickly while he rushed to the heartless vampire and pulled her heart out, letting the body drop to the ground.

"You're okay princess?" He asked his daughter.

"Yeah, I knew you'd be there soon…I just needed to keep her busy... We need to clean this off…" Rachel replied.

"No, you need to go back to what you were doing and supervise the floats construction, I will take care of this." Damon said gently.

"I'll tell Elena that she has nothing else to fear." Rachel suggested.

"Good idea… See you at home… Have fun." Damon said with a smile as Rachel left him to clean off the body.

Damon looked around, they were isolated but the body was still in a very public place with a lot of students around… he sent Rachel away because he didn't want her to have to watch the body longer than necessary but he did need help…

"Ric? … It's Damon, I'm behind the dumpsters in the parking lot of the school, you know, the dark isolated place? Your now very dead ex wife is with me… I need help cleaning it off without any students seeing it… Can you get here with your car?" Damon asked him.

"You killed her?" Alaric asked as he already left his spot in the lunch room where he was supervising some students.

"Yep, 'you coming?"

"I'll be right there." Alaric replied as he hung up and told the student to keep on working, he would be right back.

Alaric arrived soon and together, they put Isobel's body in the trunk before they went back to the Boarding house to bury it. When the history teacher asked his friend why he didn't call Liz Forbes, Damon replied that he didn't want to have to lie to her again and that he wasn't totally ready to tell her the truth yet...but soon maybe...soon...

.

When the day of the parade finally arrived, Rachel stood proudly on her float and saw her father taking pictures. She was glad that she could enjoy this moment without having to fear anything from anyone. Jeremy stood with her since he had been her escort, next to her was Caroline and Stefan and next to them, Elena and Stefan.

.

Katherine stood away from the festivities and watched as Elena kissed Stefan over some cotton candy… Even Damon seemed happy with this girl… She got lucky when her witchy friend Lucy managed to make her see Damon… She had been wondering why he wasn't in town and Lucy help her so they could be even… Now she knew that Damon had somehow fathered a child and was over her… She wasn't deluded enough that she hoped to manipulate Damon into doing what she wanted but if Stefan was dating her doppelganger, maybe there was hope for him after all… The younger Salvatore obviously wasn't completely over her.

Nothing happened like she had initially planed but she was smart and if her plan A didn't work, she had a plan B, C, D and E prepared just in case… She had a whole alphabet of plans and was ready for any obstacle… She would be able to get through it… She would win her freedom soon…

Katherine smirked and as Elena giggled happily and joined her brother and her group of friends at a table at the Grill.

After a while, she saw the one called Caroline getting in a car with Elena's ex Matt and Mason's nephew Tyler…

"Time to play this game by my rules…" Katherine whispered wickedly.

She followed and waited until the car was started and on the road to run by and push the car into a poll on the side. She didn't know why Matt was driving when it was Tyler's car or why Caroline was in the front seat but she watched as the quarterback managed to crawl out of the car painfully only to cry out when he saw Caroline unconscious. Tyler seemed to be fine but he was stuck and bleeding a little on the forehead.

"Plan B just started perfectly…" Katherine whispered for herself as an ambulance and a police car arrived.

"Caroline!" The sheriff cried out.

After listening for a while and following them, Katherine learned that she managed to give Caroline very serious internal bleeding… Well, things couldn't have worked out better could they?" She wondered with a smirk as she turned around…

She had an ex to visit…

So, what did you think of this one?

I think you know what's in the next chapter... What will come of Caroline and will Liz find out about Damon sooner?

Don't forget to leave a review behind you!

Lorelei Candice Black