I was currently in the boarding house with Anna. We were waiting for Ric to arrive so we could discuss some theories. Damon had a theory and so did Anna and we needed to find out what was right. All of them were related to the Lockwood situation. I was pretty sure that at least one of them was right.
He arrived after not much waiting. It was good because even though it was Friday night, I felt like we should still discuss it.
"Welcome, Ric." Damon greeted him. "Can I get you anything? Bourbon? Coffee? Bourbon in your coffee?"
Bourbon in coffee didn't really sound like a good combination.
"Mary said that you had something that you needed to talk about." He replied. It looked like we were immediately getting down to business. I couldn't help but wonder if he just wanted to get this done with, so he could leave…which I kind of wanted to do as well.
"Yes, we needed to talk to you about the Lockwoods." Damon remarked. "The vervain didn't affect them but the Gilbert device affected by the mayor and Tyler."
"Plus Mason exhibited superhuman abilities when he fought one of the carnival workers." Stefan added. He had a name, but I guessed it wasn't that important to what we were discussing. I was pretty sure that they didn't care about his name either.
"So why would I know anything about the Lockwoods?" Ric replied, asking the important question. I didn't think he would, but he was closest thing that we had.
"You wouldn't but we think the woman whose name will not be mentioned might have done some research that can help us." I explained. I hoped that I wasn't too vague that he didn't know who I was talking about. "Did she go over anything other than vampires and witches?"
"She also researched lycanthropes." He declared. That was such a fancy term.
"Yes, I knew it was werewolves!" Anna shouted. We all seemed to be a little surprised by her enthusiasm. "Sorry."
"No way. There is no way that werewolves can exist." Damon denounced. He was a vampire. Why couldn't he believe that werewolves existed? "I've been on this earth for 170 years and I've never seen one. This is all way too Lon Chaney."
"I am positive that they do exist." Anna replied. I was pretty sure that she was a more reliable source than him due to being older. "I've been around for almost 1000 and I've seen them, though I never really got to know any of them. Also, Lon Chaney never played a werewolf."
That was something every horror movie fan knew. Lon Chaney played several other monsters, but it was his son Lon Chaney Jr. who played The Wolfman. The studios wanted to capitalize on people not knowing he was dead.
"So, what are we going to do about this?" Stefan asked. It was probably a good idea to get back to the point. "Is there any way that we can look at Isobel's research?"
"Well, her research in Mystic Falls is restricted to vampires, but her office at Duke has a good deal of information." The teacher explained. Why was there only vampire research here?
"Okay, great, make a call so we can go there." Damon replied. Could he do that so late on a Friday night? "I still don't think that these werewolves exist, but if they do and Mason and Tyler are wolves, I do know that it doesn't usually turn out well for vampires like me and I need to know how to stop them."
The following morning, Anna and I were busy getting ready. The two of us were going with Ric and Damon. Stefan was in my room, but he was not going because someone needed to deal with Caroline and we figured that he would be best for the job since he was the best acquainted with her and we figured that she would trust him most. I was wearing a pink sweatshirt and jeans.
"Are you sure that you two want to go today?" Stefan asked me as I finished packing my backpack. Was there some reason that he didn't want me to go?
"Do you not want me to go with Damon?" I responded. I also considered that he didn't want me to go with Anna, but he should know that I was going to go with her.
"No, I want you to know more about who your mother was before she was a heartless vampire." He answered. That was definitely not the reason why I wanted to go. It was just an unlucky coincidence that it happened to involve her. "I'm just not sure that it has to be so soon. Maybe we can wait until this stuff with Caroline is sorted out and I can go with you."
"I think we have to go today." I pointed out. I was a little bit surprised that he didn't see the sense of urgency. "It's a full moon and we really need to know what we're up against. Besides, I'll have Anna with me who can kick Damon's ass a thousand times over."
"Without breaking a sweat." My roommate added.
"Girls, Alaric's here!" Jenna called upstairs. It looked like it was time to go. The three of us went downstairs. "So, Stefan, are you going to?"
"No, I'm staying here." He responded before the three of us stepped outside. Ric was in the driver's seat and Damon was standing outside. Since I felt like being petty, I gave Stefan a big wet goodbye kiss before Anna and I got in the backseat. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have done it in front of Anna, but I was pretty sure that she wanted to get back with Elena still.
We began to drive towards North Carolina. I still wished that Damon wasn't going, but his friendship with Ric meant that it was unavoidable. He was basically Ric's only friend. I couldn't confirm or deny if Damon had any other friends.
"Are you still mad at me?" He asked me. I just put in some headphones even though I wasn't actually listening to music. "That's kind of childish."
"Well you did try to kill one of her friends." Ric pointed out. That was the main reason why I was mad at him. He tried to kill Caroline.
"Yeah, but I didn't actually do it." Damon argued. The only reason that he hadn't done it was because Stefan had stopped him. I needed a distraction.
"So Anna, you must have really tried out a lot of different looks since you've been alive so long." I said to Anna. I was kind of curious if there were pictures of her from different eras. I didn't really want to talk about clothes, but I knew that guys tended to not to be into them since I wasn't when I was a guy.
"You know talking about clothes isn't going to get me to tune out." Damon remarked. "I personally like Tom Ford."
I had to admit that Damon was one of the only guys that I knew that seemed to show an interest in fashion while still remaining completely heterosexual. He may he even known more about clothes than me because I had no clue who Tom Ford was.
We got to the Duke campus and I couldn't help but wonder why all college campuses looked so nice. Our school really needed someone to mow the lawn. It probably was because they had landscapers come to the school and work on it. I knew that Duke was a historically academic school, but it still blew Mystic Falls High out of the water. I probably wouldn't be able to get into Duke because of my last semester.
"So, Isobel was officially employed by the Anthropology Department." Ric explained. I didn't know why we needed that exposition. "Most of her work was rooted in folklore, which I thought was fiction."
"You mean like that amazing vampire story?" Damon quipped as we walked inside the building. We found a young woman at the desk. I couldn't help but wonder how she felt about being there on a Saturday.
"Hi, I'm Alaric Saltzman. I called earlier." The teacher declared. If she was one of that woman's students, wouldn't she know who her husband was.
"Yes, I remember that." She said. "I'm Vanessa Munro, research assistant, Comparative Folklore. I'll get Isobel's keys. I have to ask: did they ever find anything about her?"
"No." He lied. Well, they didn't, but we did. I wasn't sure who they were, but I assumed that it was the authorities or something.
She grabbed a chain and led us to the office. I had a bit of a bad feeling about going in there but it may have just been because I hated that bitch so much.
"These are my friends, Damon, Mary, and Anna." Ric introduced as she let us in the office. It looked kind of dusty, but it hadn't been touched in over two years I assumed. Could they not have sent someone to clean it?
"I'll get the light." Vanessa replied as we began to look around. After a few seconds, I noticed an arrow flying through the air and into Damon's back. That looked painful. Still it did assume me to see Damon in pain. Ric grabbed her and held her against the wall. "Okay, I freaked. I read Isobel's research Damon Salvatore died in 1864 and there is no way that Annabelle Mikaelson could be alive."
So I guessed that was her real name. It was definitely not what I expected it to be.
"Mary, please get this out. I can't reach it and it's causing me great pain." Damon begged me. I stood there for a minute. I wanted him to be at my mercy for a little bit, even though it wouldn't kill him.
"I want you to apologize first." I told him authoritatively as I crossed my arms.
"Seriously?" He groaned. I remained still. "Okay, I'm sorry for trying to kill her, now get it out please."
I jerked it out for going over to Vanessa and Ric. I wasn't sure if Damon meant what he said, but he did apologize like I asked.
"My name is Mary Gilbert." I explained. "Isobel was my mother and we really need to look at her research."
I wished that I didn't have to say that name but I needed to in order to make her believe me.
We began to look around. I decided to stay by Anna since I didn't really want to be around Damon. I was glad that I got to boss him around, though.
"So Mikaelson. That's an interesting name." I told her. It was pretty safe to say that her father was a white man, probably of Scandinavian descent.
"It's the name of a father that I barely even know." She explained. I couldn't help but wonder if she had issues with her father like I did. Granted, I wouldn't have had any issues if the man that I thought was my father had been my father. "The only memory I have of him is the day that he turned me. He said since I was of age, which then was 15, he wanted to give me and my mother the gift of eternal life. I've only seen him a few times since. I don't like to talk about him."
"Well I know a thing or two about being abandoned by my father." I responded. Well it was more my mother and I wouldn't want to be raised by him either.
"Let's just see what we can find about lycanthropes." She responded. She sounded a little hot when she said that. "You know that is such a cool word. I don't know why more people don't use it."
"Well, technically lycanthrope is a blanket term for someone that turns into any animal." I pointed out. "Werewolf is a more specific term."
"We really were meant to be best friends." Anna stated as she put her arm around my shoulder. "I'm so glad that I came back here because you've not only helped me get through my mom's death, but you're also someone that I genuinely enjoy being around."
"You don't need to get so mushy about it." I teased her. We began to look for anything that we could use on Katherine, because we figured that it might be worth looking into while we were there. It didn't look like there was a lot about it. It also didn't help that I didn't know what we were looking for.
"Hey guys, we found something." Vanessa remarked. We went over to where she and Ric were and Damon continued to hover. "We've got a legend called the Curse of the Sun and the Moon."
"Supposedly werewolves and vampires used to roam freely until a shaman put a curse on them to limit their power." Ric explained. That sounded a bit strange. "Since then vampires have been vulnerable to sunlight and werewolves could only turn on a full moon."
"You know I can't say that I believe in shamans." Anna responded. I was pretty sure that she would know enough about the supernatural that she would have a pretty clear idea what was real and what wasn't. I still wanted to see if I could see some old pictures of her some time. "Maybe it was a witch, but I'm pretty sure they're the only magic users."
"Is there any useful information about werewolves?" I questioned. Some old legend didn't seem like it was that important. And we also didn't even need to know why they turned into wolves. We just needed to know how and what they were capable of. One of the most important things was if lycanthropy could be spread because in some versions it could and in orders it could not.
"Well, in addition to turning on a full moon, werewolves have an ingrained personality trait when they transform." Vanessa explained. "They will attack humans, but they primarily will go after their prey of choice: vampires."
"What can a werewolf do a vampire?" Damon asked. I was pretty sure that a werewolf would be strong enough to rip a vampire apart.
"Well according to legend, one bite from a werewolf can kill a vampire." Vanessa told us. Though, not having to rip the vampire apart seemed like it would be easier. That was definitely good information to learn on a full moon. I needed to call Stefan and tell him right away. I also wanted to see how the thing with Caroline was going.
I decided to step outside and do that. I didn't really want anyone, not even Anna, to eavesdrop on my call.
"So, I was just calling to check up on you and ask how things are going with Caroline." I stated. I decided not to lead with the poison fangs part.
"Well, it's been a little difficult but she's learning." He answered. I would say that as long as she didn't kill anyone else then it was probably a successful mission. Maybe that was setting the bar a little too low though. "Bonnie was also kind of resistant about making a daylight ring for her."
I really couldn't believe that Bonnie was acting that way towards someone that she had basically been friends with since they were in diapers. If I had had a friend and they accidentally killed someone, even if they weren't a vampire, I would do what I could to help. Okay, I did have a friend who could accidentally kill someone, but I was pretty sure that Anna had better control than that.
"So there's something else that I need to tell you." I replied. I was a little nervous because I didn't know how much time I had because we hadn't actually found out how long the werewolf transformation lasted. I probably should have asked that before deciding to make the call. "I can't exactly confirm this is true, but legend says that a werewolf bite is fatal to a vampire. I think that it would be best for you and Caroline to try to get inside somewhere."
"Okay, I'll make sure to tell her." He responded before he hung up. I wished that he had told me that he loved me first. I knew he was pressed for time but it takes three seconds to say 'I love you.'. I didn't think that our relationship was in a bad place, but I still wished that he told me.
I decided to go back in and see if there was anything else that we didn't already know. I couldn't help but wonder how much longer we were going to be there. If we had found out everything that we needed, then it would probably be a good idea for us to go, but I did not have the keys to Alaric's vehicle.
"There's only stuff that we already know in here." Anna remarked in frustration. It seemed that there wasn't. It was then that I felt like I should ask her something. Maybe she could tell me about the spell that was cast on me. However, I figured that I didn't actually want her to know that I had been transformed into a girl and decided to ask her something else instead.
"You know I have a question for you." I said to Vanessa. "My sister looks exactly like Katherine. I was wondering if you had any idea why."
"Well, it sounds like your sister is a doppelganger." Vanessa explained. I couldn't believe that that was a real thing. "It's German for double-goer. They've been known to torment their lookalikes and try to undo all that is good in their lives."
"I think that you've got things backwards because Katherine is the one doing that stuff." I responded. I didn't know if Katherine had even had much of a life to undo and I also knew that Elena was not interested in messing with Katherine. As far as I knew, she also did not want to meet Katherine, which was probably a good decision because for all that I knew, Katherine would want to kill her and I did not want my sister to be dead, even if she wasn't really my sister.
"Well I can tell you right now that they don't get along." She explicated. I was pretty sure that Katherine didn't get along with anyone. "So can vampires read minds?"
"If you want to see me naked, all you have to do is ask." Damon quipped. I rolled my eyes at that. I also knew that I wouldn't want Damon to read my mind.
"No, we can't read minds." Anna declared. "We can just tell you what to think, even though I personally don't like to do it unless it's deemed necessary."
That might have been why she didn't do it when she kidnapped me. It also could have been because she respected me. You know we never really talked about that, but I was pretty sure that she knew that I had forgiven her for it. I had basically forgiven her for as soon as we were in the tomb. Also, I didn't want to bring up her mother. That was another why I hated my father, and I was glad that he was gone.
"You should take this." I declared as I handed Vanessa some of the vervain. "This will prevent from being compelled if any other vampires come here."
I didn't know if any other vampires would come there, but it was probably a good idea to be safe.
"Do you know what happened to Isobel and her research?" She asked me. I couldn't happen but wonder if she was asking me if I knew how she died.
"Isobel sort of became her research." I answered. That was probably the best way to put it. I then decided to give her some advice. "I would also like to point out that she is a terrible mother and also a terrible person. Just don't go down the same path."
I had a feeling that Isobel was right about me becoming a vampire in the future, because it was the only feasible way that Stefan and I could stay together but I wasn't going to do it for selfish reasons like she did. I wasn't going to abandon everyone that I loved for it. I couldn't help but wonder if she ever really loved Ric. One thing that I was a little excited about was the prospect of being friends with Anna forever. Even if my relationship with Stefan didn't last, I would probably still do it for her. I couldn't help but wonder if I was weird for thinking that.
"So, it looks like we have everything that we need." Ric declared. I wondered if that meant that it was finally time for us to go. "We should probably get going."
"I don't think anything needs to be said about you saying anything about what happened today." Anna said to Vanessa. I couldn't help but wonder if we should have just compelled her, but it was possible that we may have needed her help later.
"I promise that my lips are sealed." The research assistant replied. We needed to hope that she was telling the truth. We all headed outside to Ric's car.
"Are you sure that you want to go?" Damon asked. Yes, I really wanted to go. I wanted to go home so I would be able to sleep in my own bed, but it was beginning to look like it might be better just to get a hotel at this rate because we would get home pretty late.
"Damon, what do you want?" I asked in frustration.
"I know that you were looking for information about Katherine." He declared as he took out a book with 'Petrova' written on it. "I just thought that you should know that you missed something."
"I saw this book on the shelf, but I don't see what it has to do with Katherine." I remarked. I didn't know why he felt like I would care about this particular book. I was feeling a little cranky.
"Katerina Petrova was her real name. I saw it on a pendant of hers one time." He replied. Okay, I supposed it was useful. Anna looked away when he said that. Maybe she knew something about Katherine. "Let me know what you find in it. I'm kind of curious myself. I am sorry about Caroline."
"Well, we all make mistakes, Damon." I stated. This time I was pretty sure that he was serious. I was pretty sure that he hadn't been taking other people's feelings into account when he had decided to do it. "We have to give Caroline a chance to prove that she deserves to live. Would you have done the same if it had been me?"
"Well, no." He stated.
"Who knows maybe I saved your soulmate." I replied. It probably was a bad idea for them to ever get back together based on what he did to her, even though I was pretty sure that he had changed since then. "Maybe the two of you really are meant to be and you were just doing it the wrong way. I mean Katherine may not love you but that doesn't mean that you can't find love with someone else. I believe there is someone for everyone."
From there we got in the car and headed home. Damon was actually explicitly clear that he did not want to stop at a hotel, so we didn't stop at a hotel. I had also got a text from Stefan that everyone was okay. Also, Tyler wasn't a werewolf, but he thought Mason was. Caroline had also broken up with Matt because she had bitten him. Well, she didn't kill him, so we could probably still count it as a win.
So Anna is a Mikaelson and Mary was mad at Damon for trying to kill Caroline. They found out more about werewolves as well. Please don't forget to review.