Stefan had been locked in the cellar for a week. He refused animal blood every day, resigning to his own guilt in a way that would result in him rotting away. There was nothing Damon, Abigail, or even Elena could do as they watched him fall into hallucination after hallucination.
"It's so hard to see him locked up like this," Elena said, unable to tear her eyes from his cell.
Damon gave her a half smile. "You're the one who locked him up."
"You helped."
"I couldn't have him running around chewing on people while the town was looking for vampires, now, could I?"
Abigail tilted her head to the side. "And it has nothing to do with the fact that you care about him?"
He walked out of the cellar. "You are the one who cares about your siblings, not me."
Softening her expression, she turned back to Elena. "Are you ready to go?"
"I-I just need a second."
Upstairs, Damon was examining the Gilbert device that Pearl gave him in a last-ditch effort to make up for the actions of the tomb vampires.
She sat down on the opposite end of the couch. "Did you ever figure out what that is?"
"Nope, but whatever it is, it doesn't work."
"Pearl didn't say anything else about it?" She asked.
"She thought she was stealing his vampire compass, but that was the pocket watch. That Johnathan Gilbert was a crazy scientist." Elena came in then, taking the open space between them. "Have either one of you spoken to your uncle lately?"
Abigail stood up. "I've been avoiding him, actually."
"And, I've been here most nights."
"So, you'll be here again tonight?"
"Is that a problem?"
"Yes!" He was joking, but they wouldn't have known that if they didn't know him. "You're a complete nuisance."
"Ha!" Elena threw her head back in fake laughter as she followed Abigail to the door. "See you later."
It was Alaric's idea to acquire more information on what John had been up to. His motives laid in finding Isobel, Abigail knew that, but she was quick to agree. She wanted him to have answers; she wanted Elena to have answers. So, when the first lead came in, they made quick plans to follow it. Of course, it was her who insisted on inviting someone else along for back up, someone she knew who was just selfish enough to join them: Damon.
Damon's voice came through Alaric's phone, "Hello?"
Alaric sat up, almost surprised that he answered. "Hey, it's Alaric Saltzman."
"Before I hang up, how did you get this number?"
"Ah..." He glanced at Abigail who was already shaking her head. "It's a mystery. Listen, I've, uh, been doing some digging on John Gilbert. You interested?"
"What kind of digging?"
"I've got an old friend from Duke who studied criminology when we were there together." He looked sideways at her. "Let's just say he's become a very proficient digger."
"Well, did he find anything?"
"Well," he mimicked him. "I had him run a track on John's cell records. He was getting a call from a number. The same number that Elena dialed to get Isobel. And then the number was disconnected."
"Isobel knows John. Whatever. We knew that."
"Right. Anyway, after that, he started getting calls from a new number. And I had my friend run a geotrack. Got the address. It's...It's an apartment in Grove Hill. The records show it was paid three months in advance."
"Isobel is in Grove Hill?"
"I don't know. I thought we could take a look and see what we find."
"Perfect! Give me the address."
He narrowed his eyes. "Oh, so you can go without me? No. I don't think so."
"I'm not going with you! You tried to kill me."
"Yeah," he scoffed. "Well, you did kill me."
"You drive. Pick me up in an hour."
Damon was waiting for Alaric outside of the boarding house. "Woah, woah, woah!" He pulled open the passenger door of his car. "Why are you here?"
"I'm going with you guys."
"What is with you?"
Abigail reached to close the door. "This is about my family."
"Too bad! I don't need someone else to take care of."
"I don't need you to take care of me."
"Oh!" He looked through her at Alaric, nodding slowly. "I see..."
"You see? You see wh-"
"Damon," Alaric's voice broke into their squabble. "Just get in the car."
Alaric, Damon, and Abigail approached the Grove Hill apartment.
"This is where it gets tricky," Damon said. "I may or may not be able to get in."
"Yeah, how does that work?" Alaric asked. "Do you always have to be invited in?"
"By the owner or the person of entitlement. Short-term rentals and hotels are a bit of a gray area. You kind of have to play it by ear."
Alaric let out a short laugh.
"Wait." She grabbed them by their elbows, stopping them in their tracks. "Could we not kill anyone tonight, please?"
Damon looked at her with fake surprise, opening the apartment door. "You mean, you just brought me along for my company?"
Alaric stepped inside, doing a quick sweep of the dark apartment as he did. "It doesn't look like anyone's home."
Damon motioned for Abigail to walk inside, following her through the threshold without a problem. "Yeah. I'm good. No permanent resident, apparently."
With their weapons at the ready, they went about searching the apartment. Alaric ventured further than any of them, disappearing out of sight before Abigail even reached the couch. From where she was, it didn't seem like there was anything worth finding
"Uh, guys," Damon called from the kitchen. "I think we have company."
There was a raucous in the hall as two shadows fought: Alaric and a vampire.
"Boys, boys, that's enough." Damon threw the vampire off Alaric. "I know you."
Recognition flashed across his face. "Damon?"
"Your name is Henry. You were in the tomb."
Henry settled in the armchair opposite of Alaric. "How do you know John Gilbert?"
"Well, I've known him for years. He's a good friend," Damon lied. "How do you know him?"
"I met him right after I got out of the tomb," Henry said. "He's been helping me out."
Abigail leaned toward him, brushing Alaric's knee with her own. "Helping you out how?"
"Adapting," he said. "It's a whole new world...Cars, computers, match.com. There's so much to learn. He helped me get this place."
"So." Resting his elbows on his knees, Alaric interlocking his fingers under his chin. "Do you live here alone or is there someone else here?"
Damon cleared his throat. "That's my friend's very passive-aggressive way of asking, do you know a woman named Isobel?"
"Uh, no. No, I don't know an Isobel." Henry shook his head. "I know John. He's my only real friend. He really showed me the ropes. How to use a microwave, separate my whites."
Steering the conversation in the direction that served her, Abigail asked, "What else do you do for him?"
"I keep an eye on things for him. You know, with the others."
"The others?"
"From the tomb. They're still pissed at the founding families for trying to burn them alive. I'm cool, but those tomb boys, they want revenge."
Damon leaned back in his chair. "Then what does John want with them?"
"He's just keeping an eye on them, you know?" He shrugged. "Trying to make sure they stay out of trouble."
"Well, that's John." Damon forced a laugh. "He's such a do-gooder."
Henry's phone rang. "That's John now."
"Oh!" Damon's eyebrows met his hairline as he looked at Abigail and Alaric. "Let me talk to him."
"Alright," he said, hesitantly handing him his phone. "A-Are you gonna answer that?"
The ringing filled the apartment. "Am I gonna...answer that?"
"What's going on?"
No answer.
He ran at Alaric. He had him pinned to the couch in an instant, using all of his weight holding him down. The veins around his eyes became pronounced, showing his hand. He was going to kill him.
Abigail didn't even realize what she had done until Henry's body was desiccating in front of her. She'd driven a stake through his heart. She had killed him.
"'Let's not kill anyone tonight,'" Damon quoted her. "Your words. Just pointing that out."
Abigail watched through a haze of remorse as Alaric and Damon searched the apartment. She had killed someone. Someone who had helped them. Someone who had just gotten their life back.
After Damon emptied every blood bag in the fridge, she asked, "Find anything?"
The couch dipped next to her. "No, I looked everywhere. The place is clean."
"Well, I found this." He tossed a beer to Alaric. "Behind the blood in the fridge."
"Oh, man." Alaric opened the beer. "This was a real dead-end."
"I wouldn't beat myself up over it, man." He picked up the stack of mail by the front door. "What did you think you were gonna find, huh? Isobel with a cigar and slippers?"
"I-I have to stop this. I can't...I can't keep searching for her."
"Really? After only two years?" Damon asked, sitting down backwards in the desk chair. "That's actually moderately healthy."
"What are you going on? One hundred forty-six?"
"Well, I figure the two hundred mark is probably a good stopping point."
"I mean, no answer is enough." Alaric sighed. "I keep thinking I want to know why, when, you know, the precise moment. When my wife decided life with me was not enough."
"She charmed me, your wife Isobel." He took a deep breath. "She talked a good game, man. She was smart. She had this excitement in her eyes. I probably should have known there was something different about her, some tie to Katherine. There had to be some reason I didn't kill her."
Hoarsely, Abigail said, "That's enough, Damon."
"I don't want to hear anymore." He was speaking only to her now, "I don't want to waste any more of my life. Searching for answers that I really don't want. I... I'm done with all of this."
Halfway back to town, Alaric's hand found Abigail's shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"I should be asking you that."
He dragged his hand down her arm, letting it rest on hers for only a second before taking hold of the gear stick. "You saved my life."
"Oh, please! She barely had to do anything." Damon leaned into the front seat. "And you have a magical ring that brings you back from the dead."
"Damon, leave her alone."
Elena was writing in her diary when Abigail and Damon finally made it back to the boarding house.
"Ugh. God." He rolled his eyes. "You're still here?"
Elena looked up as they moved further into the room. "Were you expecting anything else?"
"No." Damon picked up Elena's legs and sat down on the couch. "Take a load off, Abigail. You've had a tough day."
Elena looked at her skeptically. "You went on the 'errand?'"
"Yeah." She took a deep breath. "Has Stefan eaten yet?"
"I think he's getting there, but he's got a lot of guilt that he has to deal with." She looked at Damon. "And it doesn't help that you've spent the last one hundred forty-five years punishing him for Katherine getting caught."
"This is my fault now?" Damon asked.
"No, it's no one's fault, Damon. I'm just saying you're not exactly innocent. You've made it your life's mission to make him miserable."
"Let me ask you a question. In all this important soul-searching and cleansing of the demons of Stefan's past, did you ever manage to get the rest of the story?"
"Well..." She looked down. "He said there was more."
"Yeah. That's an understatement." He crosses the room, refusing to face them until he had a glass of bourbon in his hand. "From the moment Stefan had his first taste of human blood, he was a different person. I didn't want to feed, he forced me to. But I suppose I should thank him. It's been a hell of a ride."
Elena gasped. "He said he wanted to die. That's why he won't feed. Now I understand why, but..."
"His choice. If he's stupid enough to make it, so be it."
"Don't do that, okay?" Abigail maintained eye contact with him. "Don't pretend like you don't care that you're surrounded by death."
Damon looked away from her at the subtlest move Elena made. "Where are you going?"
The followed her down the basement stairs and into the cellar where she found Stefan's abandoned daylight ring.
It wasn't long before Elena and Stefan walked back into the boarding house, hand in hand.
Abigail sighed his name in relief. "I'm glad you're okay."
"Thank you."
"Alright, I-I'm going to go home." She looked between them, slowly making her way to the door. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."
Although history class met in the cafeteria the next morning, Alaric did not seek out Abigail. Not in the small ways it would allow, not even the big ones. He didn't even stop at the table she was sitting at with Matt and Tyler until he had to.
"So, these are the specs for the History department." He dropped a stack of papers in the middle of the table. "For the Founders' Day float, we'll be recreating the battle of Willow Creek. Tyler has been nominated at the head of the production design."
"By whom?" Tyler asked.
"By me," he said. "I've seen your sketches and they're good."
Tyler shook his head. "I'm on the Founders' Court, so I can't-"
"You don't have a choice."
"But Abigail-"
"I already spoke to your mom, she said she would find someone to stand in. Just pick your team, be creative and..." Something in the hallway caught his attention. "Don't screw up."
"Sorry, Abigail." Tyler looked to Matt. "You want to help me out with this?"
"Not really, no."
"Abigail!" Caroline called. "Get over here."
"For the record..." Abigail stood up. "I would much rather be helping you two."
Once she was sitting at a table with the rest of the Founders' Court and a few extra volunteers, Caroline pulled up a picture on her computer. "This is last year's Miss Mystic float. Which means this is exactly what we don't want to do. Wait, where is Elena? She's supposed to be helping."
Abigail pulled herself to her feet. "I'll go look for her."
There was only one person in the hallway. It was not Elena. It was not Alaric. It was Damon. "I got a mystery call from my brother. Something about the teacher."
She met his strides in the direction of the history classroom. "Are you ever going to call him by his name?"
"What's the fun in that?" He stepped in front of her. "Guess what?"
"What?"
"Carol Lockwood called me, too," he said. "Told me that Tyler was going to fail history if he didn't head up the history department's parade float."
"And?"
"And she asked me to fill in as your escort since I did such an amazing job filling in for Stefan at the pageant."
She pushed past him. "Great."
They entered the classroom to find Alaric, Elena, and Stefan.
"Sorry I'm late." Damon smirked. "My dog ate my, uh, never mind."
Abigail took in their expressions. "What's with all the furrowed brows?"
Alaric looked at Abigail for the first time that day as he answered the question, "I saw Isobel last night."
"Isobel."
"Isobel is here? In town? Did you ask her about Uncle John?" Damon's questions did not stop, "Are they working together?"
"No."
"No, they're not?"
"No, I didn't ask."
"What about the invention?"
"Didn't ask."
"Did she know about the tomb vampires?"
"I don't know."
"Did words completely escape you?"
"No!" Alaric huffed. "I was a little too distracted by my dead vampire wife to ask any questions."
Abigail's cut through the other voices in the room, "What did she want?"
With a shaky breath she said, "She wants to see me."
"Alaric is supposed to arrange a meeting," Stefan said. "We don't know why or what she wants."
Damon, still looking at Elena, said, "You don't have to see her if you don't want to."
Abigail moved to stand next to Elena. "Why is everyone trying to make this decision for her?"
"Abigail, I don't really have a choice," she said slowly. "But I want to meet her. If I don't, I know I'll regret it."
The meeting was set for after school at the Grill. There were conditions, of course. Elena was to sit at a table alone and no one else was to be inside; however, Stefan was lingering near the pool tables, just in case.
Damon paced in front of the bench Abigail and Alaric were sitting on. "We should be in there."
"No, we shouldn't," Abigail said. "Isobel made it clear we're not to step a foot inside. She threatened to go on a killing spree."
"Oh! I take it that's not okay with you guys." Damon looked past them. "It's not like I'd kill her in a crowded restaurant."
"You're not going to kill her period!" Alaric yelled.
Damon took a long step toward them, lowering his voice to a whisper, "She ruined your life and you still want to protect her?"
"She was my wife, but I looked for the woman I married and she wasn't in there." He ran his fingers through his hair. "Whoever that is, she's cold and detached."
Damon stuffed his hands in his pockets. "She's given up her humanity."
"I don't get that," Abigail said. "Stefan is a good person. And you, well, you're a dick and you kill people, but I still see something human in you."
"With Isobel..." Alaric looked to the ground. "There was nothing."
"You can turn it off, like a button you can press. I mean, Stefan's different. He wants the whole human experience. He wants to feel every episode of 'How I Met Your Mother,' so he shuts his feelings out." He paused. "The problem is, as a vampire, your instinct is not to feel. Isobel chose the easier road: no guilt, no shame, no regret. I mean, come on, if you could turn it off, wouldn't you?"
"You haven't."
"Of course, I have, Ric." He walked backwards, leaving them alone. "It's why I'm so fun to be around."
Rubbing his hands together, Alaric slowly looked up at Abigail. "I get the feeling you're mad at me..."
"Why would I be mad at you?" She asked. "The blatant avoidance or the Founders' Court sabotage?"
He sat all the way up. "I didn't sabotage the Founders' Court."
She rose to her feet. "Then what do you call tearing Tyler from the program?"
"I'm trying to help him out. The same way I helped Jeremy."
She laughed cynically. "Really?"
"Really." He stood up, crossed his arms over his chest, and took a short step toward her. "Why are you turning this into something it isn't?"
"Because I'm terrified that you're doing everything you can to push me away."
With less than ten days to Founders' Day, float assembly began. The school was bustling with people from all over town working together to make the town's 150-year anniversary the best yet. Abigail had to push through the crowd to even spot the Miss Mystic Falls float, but she did not stop there. She walked all the way to Alaric's empty classroom where Elena and Bonnie were waiting for her, staring down at the Bennett grimoire.
"I've been going through it since Grams died," Bonnie explained as they gathered around the desk. "Check this out."
Abigail looked down at the yellowed pages. "That's the vampire compass."
"Yeah, according to Emily, Johnathan Gilbert never actually succeeded in inventing anything. Emily secretly spelled them all with magic." She flipped through the pages. "The compass, the rings, and the mystery device Isobel wants."
"That's it," Abigail said. "Well, that's a part of it. Damon only has one piece."
"Emily pledged her loyalty to Katherine, but she couldn't stand by and watch innocent people get killed," Bonnie explained. "This was the only way she could think of to help. To let Johnathan Gilbert believe that he'd actually invented these devices."
"Does it say what it does?" Elena asked.
Bonnie read the page, pausing at the bottom. "Are you sure this is what Isobel wants?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"This is a weapon." She furrowed her eyebrows. "Against vampires."
From between the Miss Mystic Falls and history department floats, Abigail said, "Caroline, have you seen-"
Matt screamed.
He was pinned under a trailer, trapped with what was sure to be a broken arm, until Stefan arrived to help. An ambulance was on the way, or maybe it wasn't, Abigail didn't hear what they were saying. Not once Stefan told her that Isobel had Jeremy.
Elena and Bonnie had come up with a plan to get him back, a plan Abigail heard for the first time with Damon in the Salvatore Boarding House.
"Absolutely not!" Damon's voice filled the library. "I'm not going to give the device to Isobel so she can give it to John who is going to turn it on to kill me! I like being a living dead person."
"But it'll be useless," Elena said. "Bonnie can take its power away."
He ignored the fact that Bonnie too was standing in front of him. "I don't trust her."
"I can remove the original spell," Bonnie persisted. "John and Isobel will never know."
Damon finally turned to Bonnie. "Are you even up for this? I mean no offense, you're no Emily Bennett. Emily knew what she was doing."
Bonnie tilted her head to the side. "Name a book. Any book."
"'Call of the Wild', Jack London." The book was in his hands before any of them realized it had flown through the room. "Great parlor trick."
"We're doing this, Damon," Elena said. "And we're doing it my way. Give me the device."
"Damon, come on." Abigail had grown frustrated with the same selfishness she needed from him the day before, so her voice rose to his initial volume. "We're wasting time! Isobel is a vampire who could kill Jeremy, the only innocent one in all of this, in a second. Just give Bonnie the device and no one will die!"
"I don't trust her!" He pointed at Bonnie. "I tried to kill her."
Bonnie presses her lips together in a slight frown. "You're right, you can't trust me."
Elena took a step forward. "But you can trust me."
Isobel never planned on hurting Jeremy, she explained as they handed over the device, she was going to kill him. She knew he was the one they would not let die, the one they would all protect. And that was why she took him. But in taking him, she took something else.
Elena followed him up the stairs. "Jeremy, we have to talk about this."
"No," he said over his shoulder. "We really don't."
Abigail pushed her way in front of them both. "I don't know what they told you, but there are things that you need to know."
"Yeah?" His back remained turned, but his voice came out louder. "Because I'm pretty sure that Elena's journal covered it."
"Y-You read my journal?" Elena stuttered.
"Yeah. Anna filled in the rest." He looked past them. "And save me the speech about invasion of privacy because I read the section about Damon erasing my memory about what happened to Vicki."
"That was me, Jeremy." All Abigail had done to protect him had been reversed, leaving her with nothing but regret. "I was the one who asked Damon to erase your memory. The night that Vicki died, it was like Mom and Dad died all over again. It was all over your face and it hurt so much to see you like that. I just wanted to take away your pain. I'm so sorry."
"Leave me alone."
He slammed the door in her face.
"No, Jeremy!" Abigail pounded the door with her fist, flattening it out to slide the palm of her hand to the locked knob. "Jer..."
"Leave me alone," she barely heard him say. "Please."
Abigail took the keys without telling anyone where she was going. Alaric had had called, twice, but she hadn't answered. So with one message telling her he was sorry and another telling her he was home, she took the keys without telling anyone and drove to the loft.
He opened his front door with a soft smile. "Hey."
"Ric, I'm really sorry. It's just, with Isobel being back, i-it affects..." She looked down for a long moment. "Everything."
"It's okay, Bea. I understand." He cupped her cheeks in his hands, bringing her eyes back to his. "Why don't you come in? Stay a while."