In the morning, I had to explain to Anna why John was back in town. I didn't entirely know the reason for that myself. I just didn't want her to go downstairs and see him. I did know that school was cancelled for some kind of memorial, which combined with tomorrow being Good Friday gave us an extra-long weekend. I changed into a white sweater and blue plaid skirt.
"So how about you explain why John is in town and more importantly in the house?" She suggested. I supposed we were just going to get down to it. "I thought that I made it clear that he was supposed to never come back."
"I thought he was gone too." I explained. It wasn't my fault that he returned. "But Stefan thought it was a good idea to call him. I don't even know why. The good news is at least we know that he's not trying to kill you this time. Maybe we should go downstairs and try to talk to him. I still have his ring which I don't plan on giving back."
We headed down and found him at the table drinking coffee. Only John could look so smarmy doing something so mundane. I really didn't like the look on his face. I also didn't like being related to him. Why did he have to be my father?
"So how did you sleep?" He asked. To answer his question, I didn't sleep that well but that was entirely his fault because I did not want him back here. I wasn't going to answer his question though.
"No, we're not doing small talk." I responded. I kind of wanted to pour that coffee on his head, but unfortunately that would be rude, and I was raised not to be rude. I wondered if Anna would do it. "I want to know what you're doing here right now."
"I'm here to protect you." He declared. I didn't want him to protect me.
"I didn't ask for you to protect me." I pointed out. I already had someone who was probably better at it than him protecting me. "I don't want you to protect me."
"I am so going to be late for class." Jenna remarked as she and Ric entered the kitchen. She did not have school off today. I wasn't sure if she had it off tomorrow or not. It didn't really keep track of the university's schedule.
"That's what happens when you hit the snooze alarm three times." The teacher quipped before he kissed her. It was then that they noticed who was in the kitchen and Jenna scowled. I sometimes wondered if they were going to do sleepovers at his place, but I supposed that was a lot smaller than our house.
"It's okay that I'm confused right because we weren't expecting to see you again ever." She stated. She pretty much had the same reaction that I did when I saw him. How was I not related to her? We had a lot of the same mannerisms.
"I got in late last night." John explained. I unfortunately had to let him in.
"Well what are you doing here?" She inquired. She was showing some authority.
"I've decided to stay awhile." John declared.
"Well you're not staying here." Jenna told him. "I won't let you."
"You can't stop me." He replied. I was pretty sure that she could because owned the house.
"Oh yes I can." She argued. "I'm their guardian and I decide who stays here."
"Yeah, about that, Mary do you want to tell her or should I?" He asked. I only had an idea what he was talking about. It might have been the fact that he was my father.
"What is he talking about?" She questioned, looking at me. I did not want to tell her about that.
"I'm just going to cut to the chase. I'm Mary's biological father." John declared before he left the room. I was pretty sure that still didn't give him the right to stay at our house, but it did set up a potential custody thing where he could possibly take me away and it would probably be better just to let him stay there. I couldn't help but wonder if Elijah would help me get rid of him. Or maybe we could do what we did with Sheriff Forbes and lock him up and compel him to leave.
"What?" Jenna asked in shock.
"It seems that he brought drama with him." Anna commented. I then got a text from Caroline with only word on it: Mayday. I also got a text from Stefan saying that we needed to meet at the boarding house. "John never even said how he planned on protecting you."
"We can't worry about John right now because we need to deal with whatever issue Caroline has." I declared as we got in my car. I did care a lot more about her than I did about him and I definitely didn't want to care about him. "We're going to the boarding house."
Once we got there, we found that Stefan was there with Caroline. She looked to be quite rattled.
"So what's the problem?" I asked. I needed to know what was going on.
"Tyler knows about us." Caroline explained frantically. I assumed she meant that he knew that they were vampires. "I don't know how, but he knows that Stefan and Damon are vampires."
"What about me?" Anna asked. That would be a good thing to know. I wasn't even sure if he knew who Anna was since our circles didn't really intersect that often. I really didn't hang out with him.
"He didn't mention you but he knows that Damon killed Mason." Caroline continued.
"It's got to be that Jules." Stefan deduced. That woman was nothing but trouble. I had never met her but so far all that she had done was cause problems. The only positive was getting rid of Rose and she hadn't even done that on purpose.
"So what are we going to do?" Caroline asked. That was definitely a good question that I didn't know the answer to. She seemed to be smart, at smarter than Damon, even though that wasn't that hard.
"Let me talk to him." Stefan suggested. I was pretty sure that the two of them hadn't spoken to each other since the football game where Tanner got killed by Damon.
"I could come with you." I offered. I was human and could be a good buffer.
"No, he probably knows that you lied to him too." Stefan replied. I didn't say that they weren't vampires. All I did was ask him if he knew about the moonstone.
"You're going to tell Damon, are you?" Caroline asked in fear. I was pretty sure that nothing good would come of that.
"No, he thinks that all werewolves should die, and he may be right." He responded. It was probably unfair to say all werewolves needed to die. It was probably just Jules that needed to die. "But I will make sure to talk to him to see if I can convince him not to ally with Jules, because we do need to kill her."
"Stefan, whatever you do, please don't kill him." I requested. I was pretty sure that it would be too much of a scandal. Plus that family had already suffered enough. "You convinced me that vampires were okay, and I think that you can do the same with him."
"I'll do my best." Stefan promised before he gave me a kiss and ran off. It left the two of us with Caroline, which was a little bit awkward.
"So do you need anything?" I asked Caroline, trying to make conversation.
"No, I think I'm going to be okay." Caroline responded. "How are things going with you?"
"Well John's back in town." I explained. I supposed that I did need to vent to someone about it who didn't hate him as much as I did. I was pretty sure that she was just neutral to him.
"As in your uncle who's really your father that caused the device to go off that caused that the crash which resulted in me being turned." She asked. That was only one of the things that he did. In fact that was probably not even the worst thing.
"That's the one." Anna confirmed. We didn't really know any other Johns personally, which was surprising considering how common of a name it was. "He also killed my mother."
"Why can't my dad come back?" She pouted. I was pretty sure that I would trade her dad for John. He seemed pretty nice.
"His boyfriend probably likes Memphis more." I guessed. She glared at me. That was probably the wrong thing to say. "Okay, we will leave now."
"So do you have a plan for the next stop?" Anna asked me. I wasn't aware that there was going to be a next stop. I tried to think of something.
"Well if John's going to be at home, that's exactly where I don't want to be." I stated. What else was going on? That was when I remembered. It didn't sound fun, but it was probably better than being with him. "We should probably go to this memorial. Even though I don't really care about the people who were killed, it's still a good excuse not to be at home."
"Works for me." She agreed as we headed to town square. She was actually dressed appropriately for it. Once we got there, Mayor Lockwood was talking about the people. There really wasn't much worth saying about them. They were just random townspeople who hadn't done anything notable, except for the deputy. And I was pretty sure that he hadn't done anything notable either.
I also noticed that Elena was there, and she was looking longingly at Bonnie. From what I gathered, there weren't actually together. Elena looked like she wanted to go talk to her but then Luca's dad showed up. That was the first time that I had seen him.
"What are they saying?" I asked Anna because I knew that she could hear it. It looked like Bonnie was mad at for working with Elijah.
"She's mad at him for working with Elijah and basically wants nothing to do with him or his son." She answered. That was exactly what it looked like. "Uncle John at 5:00."
So, it turned out that my plan to get away from him was not going so well. I wanted to get away before he saw me but I had no such luck. Why did he have to go wherever I went? Didn't he know that I didn't want anything to do with him? Unfortunately, I probably wouldn't be able to get a restraining order because he hadn't done anything. I couldn't even get him for killing Anna's mother because he would reveal Anna was a vampire and I didn't want that.
"What are you doing here?" I asked him in frustration.
"It turns out that this actually isn't about you." He replied. That also didn't answer the question. "I notice that ring on your finger."
"You can't have it back if that's what you want." I spat, even though I hadn't needed to use it yet. I was glad that I hadn't died and needed to come back.
"What kind of a man would I be if I asked for that?" He questioned. Did he really want me to answer that?
"You probably wouldn't be any worse, but not asking for it doesn't make you a better one." Anna commented before she dragged me away. That was probably a good call on her part because I wanted to punch him, but I'd probably hurt myself doing so. I wasn't really good at throwing a punch.
"I really wished that I didn't have to know that he is my father. I liked my old dad a lot better." I ranted. I then realized that there was a way, but it wasn't something that I wanted. I didn't know if she would do it, but I didn't want to take the chance. "But I don't want you to compel me to forget it."
"Well we could go back to your house since he's here." She suggested as my stomach rumbled. We could have eaten something there, but I didn't know if I could wait that long.
"I need to get something to eat." I declared before we headed into the Grill, which we were standing outside of. I just wanted to have a nice and quiet meal and I didn't have very many options because it was just that and the Chinese buffet.
Once we got inside, we saw that John was there too. For the God love, why couldn't we avoid him? He was talking to Damon and I didn't need Anna to know that there was animosity between them. He had tried to kill Damon. I did walk closer and noticed that Damon made a death threat to him. That did seem like it wouldn't be a very effective way to communicate.
"How is that supposed to let me know that I can trust you?" John asked him. Why was he expecting us to show him that we could trust him? He began to walk my way and I ran to the girl's bathroom so I could avoid him. It was one time that I was glad that I was a girl for a change.
I ended up walking out after a few minutes because I felt like it would be a good idea to talk to Damon. I wasn't going to tell him about the Tyler thing, but he seemed to hate John as much as Anna and I did, so it would give us some common ground. I stepped out of the bathroom and took a seat at the table. I wondered if Matt could get me a beer. I looked at him hopefully.
"No." He responded.
"I didn't even ask anything!" I argued. I was a little bit upset that Caroline had gotten him on vervain now.
"Were you going to ask me to serve you an alcoholic beverage?" He questioned. I didn't say anything. "That's illegal in like three different ways."
I was pretty sure that it was only illegal in two ways. It was illegal for him to serve alcohol and it was illegal for him to serve alcohol to a minor. I sighed, hoping that I could convince Damon to give me some of his drink at least. We weren't drinking together as much since he had gotten Ric for that. I was a bit jealous. We took a seat at the table. I was pretty sure that the bartender was on vervain too, so Anna couldn't compel him.
"So I didn't get a chance to ask Stefan why he called John." I stated. I wondered what would possess him to do that.
"He was trying to reach Isobel." Damon explained. I supposed that made sense, but why would he want to talk to her either? "He said that Katherine said something to him while he was in the tomb with her."
"So now he's listening to Katherine? Since when did that become a good idea?" Anna inquired. The three of them were pretty much the Axis of Evil. I wasn't sure which one was which. The only way that it could get any worse would be if Klaus himself was involved.
"I'm really not why I should trust what any of them have to say?" I questioned. "I mean next to Klaus himself, they're the three people that I trust least in the world. I trust that random guy over there more than any of them."
"I think that guy thinks that you're weird." Damon told me before I rolled my eyes. It was probably a bad idea for me to point at him though. I then grabbed his drink. "What are you doing?"
"I can't get one of my own, so I need some of yours." I explained before I took a sip of it.
"Have you ever thought about going to an AA meeting?" Damon asked. He was not one to talk about that.
"Have you?" I countered, taking another sip. He did have a good taste for whiskey at least.
"Touché." He responded before stealing the glass back from me. "You know I could compel a waiter to mix some rum into your Coke."
"So, you're like the cool brother who gets drinks but really isn't that cool." Anna quipped.
"And you're the annoying friend that tells her that she doesn't need to drink." Damon shot back. Anna had never said anything about me drinking. I was pretty sure that she liked drinking with me.
"Hey, I don't have a problem with her drinking." Anna remarked. "There's nothing wrong with a little bit of partying, even though there doesn't seem to be very much in this town. Also you need to get me one too."
"That's because most of the parties are in the summer." I explained. "It's going to be a blast, provided that I'm still alive then."
"Hey, Klaus is not going to sacrifice you." Anna promised me. It was sweet. She seemed pretty sure about it. I was sure how she was so sure. "You're going to be here and we are going to go to a kickass party and get so wasted that our clothes start falling off."
I couldn't help but wonder if the two of us would hook up at that party. It was at that point that Jenna walked over to us with a woman that I didn't know. I hoped that she hadn't heard that part.
"Damon, this is my friend, Andie Starr." Jenna introduced. I never knew that she was friends with this chick. How did they know each other?
"Can I buy you a drink?" Andie asked. Was she trying to set Damon with someone? I thought that she hated him.
"Sorry, Andie, but my glass is full." Damon declared as he walked away.
"You can buy me one." I offered. Both her and Jenna looked at me. I couldn't help but wonder if they thought that I was possibly hitting on Andie. Maybe it did sound like that a little, but it definitely wasn't what I meant. "I'm just kidding."
At that point, I got a call from Stefan. I walked away from the table and answered it because it was something that I only wanted Anna to hear.
"Hey Stefan, how did things go with Tyler?" I questioned.
"Jules has taken Caroline hostage." He explained. Fuck. How did she even find her? "I need you to find Damon and Anna and have them meet me at the clearing."
About a minute later, I was in the bathroom with the two of them. We explained to him what was going on and he did not look very happy about it.
"How did I not know about this?" Damon asked.
"We thought that…" I stammered. I tried to figure out the best way to tell him that we didn't want to tell him because he would try to kill Tyler.
"You thought what, that I would kill him?" Damon responded. I supposed that I was a bit too transparent. "I'm the good guy now."
"What's going on in here?" John questioned after opening the door. Didn't he know you're supposed to knock before entering a bathroom? Also why would he even enter the girl's bathroom?
"This is a private conversation." I remarked. "We need to get going."
"You're not going anywhere." Damon stated. He then looked at John. "It's time for your first daddy duty. Ground your daughter."
"No, I'm going." I replied. I was not going to listen to anything that John had to say. Plus, last time this happened, I managed to save the day…and inadvertently cause more trouble by giving Stefan my blood, but that wouldn't happen this time.
"Mary, we'll bring her back. We can't have you being a liability." Anna told me. She did sound more convincing. "Just stay here okay."
"Okay." I responded. I looked at John. "Can you get me something to drink?"
"You're not old enough for that." He answered. He was going to lecture me about the law when he had murdered several people? Although, the law may not apply to vampires since you can only murder a living person.
"I have a 1000-year-old vampire who wants to sacrifice me, and you're worried about drinking laws?" I asked in disbelief. "I just want one drink. It's not like I could get drunk off of one drink."
"No." He repeated. He was definitely not doing anything to make me like him more.
Later that night, I went home. I hadn't heard from anyone yet. I really hoped that they were alright. I hated not knowing anything. At that time, the door opened and both Stefan and Anna walked in. They looked a bit beaten up. I gave each of them a tight hug.
"Well?" I asked. I hoped that they had good news.
"We got her out okay." Anna explained. "We were basically getting our asses kicked before Luca's father showed up and took them out at once. Caroline is in really bad shape, even though she's trying to pretend that she isn't."
And that was why it was a good idea for me to make my deal with Elijah. I did wonder how he found out about that though.
"I'm not entirely sure what to do." Stefan added. It was then that I had an idea. I ran up to Elena's room. I was pretty sure that I knew what would cheer her up.
"What?" She asked.
"You need to call Bonnie." I instructed.
"Why?" She asked. Maybe she thought that I was suggesting that she should ask Bonnie out and while that would be good, she needed to talk to Caroline more.
"Because Caroline got abducted and tortured by werewolves and she really needs her friends right now, and while I could go there, she needs you and Bonnie." I explained. I was pretty sure female friendships were really strong. "I'm thinking a slumber party."
"We haven't done that in so long." Elena commented. That was why it was a perfect time to do it tonight. She called Bonnie and then went with Stefan to go get her. It also meant that Anna and I were alone once again.
"You know I wouldn't have minded a slumber party." Anna commented. It would probably be a little weird if the two of us were there. Also, Anna was not able to go inside of Caroline's house and I wasn't sure if her mom would be home or not.
"Well you get to have one with me." I stated. She smiled. I was pretty sure that she didn't think that I meant anything sexual by it. She also seemed to think that I was joking. "I'm serious. We're going to go put on our jammies and watch a movie."
"Well we still have to deal with John." She pointed out. There was probably a movie that we could put on that he would have no interest in watching.
"We can just ignore John." I argued. "Come on, what we did the other day when we were trapped in the house was fun and I want to be able to have fun with you. We can even make a bowl of popcorn."
"Okay, let's do it." She agreed with a smile.