While helping Caroline and Bonnie- who was actively avoiding any sort of contact with me, still- plan out the Miss Mystic Falls float, my phone rang in my pocket. Sighing, I reached in to my pocket and dug out my phone, pressing answer before tucking it between my shoulder and ear.
"Not a good time," I told him. "I'm helping build the Miss Mystic Falls float."
"Will you tell your sister that I am not her boyfriend's babysitter?" Damon ignored what I said. "Her check-ins are getting a little too...mother controlling."
I rolled my eyes.
"She's just worried and I'm pretty sure she calls Stefan, not you," I defended her. "Besides, I call you all the time to check-in."
"You ask about me too, so it's a little less like you see me as a babysitter," he retorted. "I don't know how Stefan puts up with her."
"They're a match made in Heaven."
"Or Hell."
"You're funny."
"You're cute."
"And as cute as this conversation has been, I really do have to go, so..."
"Hang on," he said quickly. "I did want to ask you something else. Have you been avoiding your uncle too?"
"As much as I can," I admitted. "Why?"
"No reason. I just have a feeling he may be up to something..."
"And it would be oh so helpful if I could get in to that head of his and try to find out what?"
"Well if you insist on helping me, I won't stop you."
I smiled.
"I'll see what I can get out of him, but no promises. Uncle John can be...let's just say stubborn."
"Must run in the family."
"Goodbye Damon."
"Bye Sammy-kins."
I hung up my phone and slid it back in my pocket, not noticing Chastity and Caroline's eyes on me until I looked up.
"What?" I asked them.
"Nothing going on with you two, huh?" Chastity said.
I didn't reply and was afraid of the methods they would resort to in order to get an answer out of me, but Alaric saved me by swooping over to us.
"Sam, got a minute?"
"Does it have to be right now?" Caroline asked impatiently. "We sort of have to get working on this pronto if we want our float to be the best in the show."
"It won't take long," Alaric promised.
I looked at him, not liking the worried expression on his face.
"Okay," I said. I turned to the girls. "Be right back."
~~~~~
Alaric stood against his desk at the front of the classroom while Stefan stood off to the side by the windows. I sat in the desk up front next to Elena, who sat perfectly frozen while she stared forward in half-fear and half-anxiousness. I laid a hand on top of hers comfortingly, still trying to process the news myself.
Isobel, as in Alaric's wife and Elena's birth mother, was in town. She wanted to meet Elena and me, apparently, even though I wasn't even her daughter. Or at least I didn't think I was.
"Sorry I'm late," Damon said as he entered in the classroom swiftly. "Dog ate my..." He looked around the room, stopping on my face. "Uh...never mind. What's with all the furrowed brows?"
"I saw Isobel last night," Alaric answered grimly.
Damon snapped his attention to him.
"Isobel's here? In town?"
Alaric nodded in confirmation and Damon looked between me and Elena.
"Did you ask about Uncle John?" Damon asked Alaric then. "Are they working together?"
"No," Alaric grumbled.
"No, they're not?"
"No, I didn't ask."
"What about the invention?"
"Didn't ask."
"Does she know about the tomb of vampires?"
"I don't know."
"Did words completely escape you?" Damon asked, now annoyed.
"I think the shock of seeing his vampire wife may have played a role," I spoke up for Alaric, who sent me a grateful look before looking back to Damon.
Damon ran a hand through his hair and groaned.
"What did she want then?" he asked.
"She wants to see us," Elena answered. "Sam and I both."
Damon's jaw clenched and he looked over at me, a protective glimmer in his eyes.
"Alaric is supposed to arrange a meeting," Stefan said then. "We don't know why or what she wants."
"Well then Elena can go. Sam doesn't have to. She's not her daughter." Damon looked at me. "You don't have to see her if you don't want to."
"I don't really have a choice," I sighed. "She wants us both there."
"She's threatened to go on a killing spree," Alaric explained softly.
Damon looked up in realization. "Oh! I take it that's...not okay with you guys."
"I want to do it," Elena spoke up. "I want to meet her. If I don't, I know I'll regret it."
"I'm a little curious to see what she wants from me," I agreed. "So I'm going too. Besides, I don't want Elena to do this alone if she doesn't have to."
Elena smiled softly at me, squeezing my hand in hers. I knew she was nervous about meeting Isobel and the thankful look in her eyes told me she was glad she didn't have to do it alone. I was happy she didn't have to be too.
~~~~~
Since Isobel wanted us to be alone, Alaric and Damon were forced to wait outside of the Grill. Stefan stood by the pool table near where Elena and I were sitting tensely.
While we waited for Isobel, questions popped in my head one after another. What would she be like? Why did she want to meet Elena after telling her to stay away? What did she want from her? What did she want from me? Why did she want to meet me? Did she know about Katherine? Did she know about Elizabeth? Was she working with Uncle John after all?
A shadow loomed over us and I looked up from the table to see a beautiful pale woman with blue eyes about a shade lighter than Damon's and brown hair so dark it was closer to black. She didn't exactly look like someone who could be Elena's mother. In fact, she reminded me more of Snow White.
But there was something about the way she looked. Something cold and...emotionless. It was like there was nothing at all within her, no soul or humanity. Nothing. It was unnerving.
This was Isobel. This was Elena's birth mother and Alaric's wife.
She took her jacket off and sat down across from us, setting her hands delicately on her lap as she exhaled and smiled.
"Hello Elena," she said, looking at Elena first. She turned her attention to me. "And Samantha. It's a pleasure to meet you both."
I didn't know what to say. By the way she tensed up, neither did Elena.
"You look so much like them," Isobel said staring us down. "It's eerie."
"You've met Katherine and Elizabeth?" I asked, surprised.
That's two of my questions answered.
"Elizabeth tracked me down after I was turned. Genetic curiosity, I suppose. Katherine I just met recently," Isobel answered. "They would be fascinated by you."
Elena eyed the blue stone around Isobel's neck.
"Is that how you can walk in the day?" she asked.
"Elizabeth helped me obtain it," Isobel confirmed as she played with it a bit.
"Who's my father?" Elena demanded.
"Not important. He was a teenage waste of space," Isobel responded coldly.
"A name would be nice."
"It would, wouldn't it? You ask a lot of questions," Isobel stated.
"Why did you compel that man to kill himself right after he told me to stop looking for you?" Elena asked another question.
"Dramatic impact. Wish it would have been more effective."
"You really didn't want her to find you that badly?" I asked now. "Does human life mean that little to you?"
"It means nothing to me," she replied shaking her head. "It's just part of being what I am."
"That's just an excuse," I called out. "We know other vampires and they're good."
"Elena's boyfriend over there by the pool table?" she knowingly said. "Stefan Salvatore. I just have to ask, Elena, why Stefan? Why didn't you go for Damon?"
She looked over at me.
"Seems your sister has better taste in men," she smirked. "Unless you enjoy them both. Like Katherine and Elizabeth did."
I was shocked by what she said. Did she just accuse us of being like Katherine and Elizabeth? We were nothing like them. We weren't them and we never would be. I shook my head at her and decided to direct the topic elsewhere, seeing Stefan shift uncomfortably by the pool table. He clearly heard what she said.
"Why did you want to meet us?"
"Can't be to just catch up," Elena added.
"Because I'm curious about you," Isobel answered. "Both of you. But the real reason is because I want what your uncle wants: Jonathan Gilbert's invention."
"How do you know our uncle?" Elena asked.
"I used to spend a lot of time here when I was younger," Isobel began. "John had a crush on me for years. He was the first one that told me about vampires."
"You dated him," I figured, remember what Alaric and Damon had told me after their confrontation with John. "He gave you his ring and you gave it to Alaric."
"Smart girl," she congratulated. "Very nicely deduced."
"So what made you want to be a vampire?" Elena asked her while I sat silently.
If John and Isobel dated when Isobel hung around here and Isobel went to Dad when she was giving birth...
"It's a very long list of reasons, Elena," Isobel deadpanned. "All of which I'm sure you've thought about- I'm sure both of you have thought about."
While Elena shook her head instantly, I blinked slowly.
"That was your first lie," Isobel called out. "It's inevitable. You're gonna get old, Stefan won't. Forever doesn't last very long when you're human."
"I'm sorry, but I don't have what you're looking for," Elena said coldly as she rose up, trembling, from the table.
I stood up to follow and comfort her, but Isobel snatched my wrist before I could leave. Elena, who hadn't noticed Isobel had caught me, marched over to Stefan.
"Sit down," Isobel instructed me. "And tell your friend to walk away. He can keep Elena."
Looking over to Stefan and a now horrified Elena, who noticed that I wasn't behind her and was making her way back with Stefan, I nodded to assure them I would be okay and followed Isobel's order. I sat slowly in the seat Elena abandoned directly across from her and looked at Isobel strongly while Stefan and Elena retreated back to the pool tables.
"I want the invention," she repeated.
"I don't have it," I told her. "Elena already told you that."
"I know that, but Damon does. The reason I wanted you here is because I want you to get it for me."
"Damon isn't going to give it to me," I told her obviously.
"Then the blood will be on your hands," she warned ominously. "And I don't think that sweet little conscious of yours will be able to handle that."
Without giving me a chance to recover from the threat, she stood up and snatched her coat, breezing behind me on her way to the exit.
"It was nice meeting you both, Sam," she called over her shoulder to me.
Elena and Stefan didn't waste a moment before they were at the table. I immediately stood and pulled my sister in to a comforting hug, feeling her shake in my arms.
"I'm sorry, Elena," I whispered to her. "I'm sorry."
~~~~~
Third POV
Damon Salvatore played strip poker with Isobel's female blood bag while music played loudly. She was in nothing but lingerie while Damon had lost nothing but his shirt so far.
"Uh-oh, Cherie," Damon playfully said after Cherie slapped down her winning cards. "You won again. Hope I'm wearing my good underwear."
Isobel entered the room, slamming the door behind her to earn Damon's attention. He paused in the middle of unzipping his jeans while she walked further in.
"It's just one blast from the past after another," she said with a fake smile. She pointed to his jeans. "No, no, no."
Damon hummed and zipped his jeans once more and buckling his belt. Isobel shooed Cherie from the room in French while Damon picked his shirt back up, admiring the back of Cherie's half-naked form as she walked out of the room.
"It's good to see you, Isobel," he said while he pulled his shirt back on. "I was just having fun with your naughty little minion."
"Mmm," Isobel smiled. "How'd you find me?"
Damon sped up to her until their faces were just inches away from each other and slapped a hand against the wall behind her. She didn't even blink.
"Searched all the neighborhood bank-owned foreclosures and found the most expensive one," he replied quickly.
"Oh I should have known," she smirked up at him. "You were the one who taught me that."
"Mm-hmm," Damon agreed.
"What are you really doing here?" she asked curiously.
"Well, you caused quite a stir when you blew into town," Damon began. "Saw everyone except for the man who made you, I'm a little hurt."
He pouted and leaned in closer to her.
"I'm so sorry," Isobel cooed, clearly not sorry. Grabbing Damon's hair, she yanked his head down, turning his face to the side. "Did you bring the device?"
Damon chuckled and rolled out of her hold, putting a hand up to his head.
"Ow," he breathed heavily as she walked away. "What are you doing with John Gilbert?"
"We dated a few times when we were young," she replied. "He was a little bit in love with me."
"I'm sure one of the many," Damon hummed.
There was something about hers and Elena's bloodline, stemming all the way back to Katherine that drew men in. As strong as their siren call was, the draw to Elizabeth and Sam had always been stronger. He knew Elizabeth had men dropping to their knees and obeying her every command, fulfilling every whim. It had been one of the many reasons why Katherine had always been so jealous of her.
"You know, this little invention, what do you want with it?" Damon asked then.
"Oh, me personally?" Isobel said. "I don't want anything with it. I'm just doing what I'm told. You know, Damon, we're on the same side."
Damon had gotten closer to her, lifting her chin up with his fingers. Inside, he was cringing at his own actions, but he needed Isobel to give him answers.
"Oh yeah?" he scoffed. She threatened Sam. There was no way they were on the same side. "Which side is that?"
"Elizabeth's."
The name caught him off-guard. He hadn't been expecting that to be her answer. He had no idea that Isobel and Elizabeth were in cahoots with each other.
"She wants John Gilbert to have the device and I think that you know that she's not happy when she doesn't get what she wants," Isobel explained further, stroking Damon's face. "Katherine also wishes for John to have it."
"Oh so Katherine ditched Anna and Pearl and went right back to the sister who abandoned her?" Damon questioned.
"Katherine has no idea where Elizabeth is," Isobel said. "I would be surprised if she even wanted to know."
"Yet they want the same thing?" Damon said skeptically.
Isobel shrugged.
"They're alike and they think alike," she said.
Damon slapped her hands off him.
"Why are you doing Elizabeth's dirty work?"
"Don't kill the messenger," she stated dryly. "We both know that you can't control Elizabeth. She does what she wants. She and Katherine both do."
Damon scoffed. "So do I."
"Oh really, Damon? You do?"
Isobel sped up to him, but was stopped when Damon gripped her forearm. The two were inches away from each other, breathing heavily.
"What should we do now?" Isobel asked innocently.
They both chuckled at her question. The answer was obvious.
They closed the distance between them and kissed each other roughly. While Isobel moved him quickly to the couch and continued kissing him with her hands roaming down his body, Damon made a mental list of the things wrong with her. Her hair was too dark, it didn't wave the right way, her eyes had too much blue and not enough green, there wasn't a ring of gold around her irises when you looked close enough, her skin wasn't soft enough, she wasn't the right height, her body wasn't the right shape...
Enough, he thought as he pushed her off and pinned her back on the floor by her neck.
"Now that I have your attention, listen up," he threatened. "You do not come into my town, threaten people I care about- going after Sam? Bad move. You can do whatever the hell you want with your daughter, but you leave Sam alone, or I will rip you to bits because I do believe in killing the messenger."
Isobel struggled in pain below him as he whispered in her ear. "You know why? Because it sends a message."
He picked her up by her neck and slammed her head back against the floor, making her shout in pain.
"If Elizabeth wants something from me, you tell that little bitch to come get it herself," he spat. "Same goes for Katherine."
With that, the angered raven-haired vampire left Isobel on the floor and stormed out of the mansion.
~~~~~
Sam's POV
The day after meeting Isobel, Bonnie came over to the house and apologized for walking away after seeing Elena in pain at the Grill. I hadn't even realized that she came because she left before I saw her. She reconciled with Elena and I and...I felt like a piece of us was back. Bonnie was back in our lives and we couldn't be happier about it.
We told her about the meeting with Isobel and what she wanted from us. We also told her about what Isobel was threatening to do if she didn't get it. Since we had no clue what the device was even for, Bonnie said that she would look in to it.
While preparing the floats for Founder's Day, she asked Elena and I to meet up with her and Chastity in one of the chemistry labs.
"Hey," she greeted when we came in. "Thanks for meeting us."
"No problem," I said. "What's up?"
"I wanted you guys to see this," Bonnie explained, showing us Emily's spell book open on top of one of the lab counters.
"Is that Emily's spell book?" Elena asked.
Bonnie nodded.
"She's been going through it since her Grams died," Chastity explained. "Check this out."
She pointed down at the old, yellowing paper of the spell book. Pictures, words, and symbols were drawn in an elegant script. I recognized one of the drawn pictures immediately.
"That's the vampire compass," I pointed to it in surprise.
"Yeah," Bonnie nodded. "According to Emily, Jonathan Gilbert never actually succeeded in inventing anything. Emily secretly spelled them all with magic. Compass..." Bonnie turned the page where a picture of a ring resembling the ones Uncle John and Alaric wore was. "...rings..." She turned the page again where a picture of the invention Isobel wanted was. "...and the mystery device you told me about."
"Damon only has the one piece," I realized, seeing a much bigger picture of the invention.
"Emily pledged her loyalty to Elizabeth and, consequently, Katherine," Bonnie started. "But she couldn't stand by and watch innocent people get killed. This was the only way she could think of to help- to let Jonathan Gilbert believe he actually invented these devices."
"Does it say what it does?" Elena asked.
Bonnie leafed through the pages, reading the old language of Emily's writing closely. After a few moments, she furrowed her eyebrows and looked back to Elena and I in confusion.
"What is it, Bon?" Chastity asked seeing the look on her face.
"Are you guys sure this is what Isobel wants?" Bonnie asked.
"Yeah, we're sure. Why?" I asked just as confused now. What did it do?
"This is a weapon," Bonnie answered. "Against vampires."
My eyes widened. What would Isobel want with a weapon that could be used against vampires?
~~~~~
Afterwards, Elena and I had split up in the crowds of people preparing for the Founder's Day parade to search for Stefan when out of nowhere, Matt's hand got crushed beneath the trailer of the float he was working on. I wasted no time in rushing over while Tyler and some other guys tried lifting in off him to no success until Stefan came over and lifted the whole thing with ease.
I quickly helped Matt get out, cradling his hand gently while Caroline hurriedly took out her phone to call an ambulance at Stefan's order.
Why did this happen? Any other time I would have summed it up to a freak accident, but considering who was in town and the fact that it happened to Matt...
I scanned the crowd while Caroline took over taking care of Matt. Stefan joined my side and shortly after, we were joined by a panicked Elena.
"Isobel did this," she informed us. "She has Jeremy and she's going to kill him unless Sam gets the invention from Damon."
"She did this to get the invention?" I gasped. "I can't get it! Damon won't give it to me."
"She said we're underestimating how much Damon cares about you," Elena shook her head.
"What does that even mean?" I said frustrated. "He's not going to give it up to her. Especially when he finds out what it's for."
We were joined then by Bonnie and Chastity, both looking equally confused.
"What the hell is going on?" Chastity asked.
~~~~~
We went to Alaric's classroom, seeing that we couldn't very well talk freely out in the open in front of our fellow classmates. Bonnie sat in one of the desks up front while Chastity leaned against Alaric's desk across from her. Stefan stood between them while Elena paced back and forth in the open space between him and Chastity. I leaned against the classroom door, worry about Jeremy plaguing my thoughts while I also wondered why Isobel was so insistent on me specifically getting the device from Damon.
"Where is the device?" Bonnie asked after we explained the situation to her and Chastity.
"Damon has it," Stefan answered. "He's going to be difficult to reason with."
"We'll go to him," Elena said. "Sam can talk to him."
"I have to try," I added.
"He's not gonna just hand it over, especially if it's harmful to vampires," Stefan pointed out.
I shut my eyes, knowing he was right.
"That doesn't mean I shouldn't try," I told him. "Isobel has Jeremy. I can't just do nothing about that."
"What if it's not harmful to vampires?" Elena spoke up then.
I perked up while she looked to Bonnie, who seemed to realize exactly what Elena meant as well as Stefan and Chastity. Bonnie glanced over at Chastity and a look was exchanged between them as if they were silently communicating before Chastity sighed and looked down at the ground.
~~~~~
"Absolutely not," was Damon's predicted response to the situation.
"Just hear me out?" I pleaded with him.
"Sam, I'm not gonna give the device to Isobel so she can give it to John, who is no doubt gonna turn around and use it to kill me," he said. "I like being a living dead person."
"But it'll be useless," Elena cut in. "Bonnie can take the power away."
I glanced over at Bonnie behind me, who was sitting on the arm of one of the chairs beside Chastity. I didn't want to say anything because I didn't know what to say. Elena's solution was asking Bonnie to take the magic away from Jonathan Gilbert's invention so it would be essentially useless.
There were two problems I saw with that. One, we didn't know what Isobel would do as punishment when they figured out that the invention didn't work anymore. She'd already proven that she had no problem hurting people we cared about and I didn't want to find out who she would go after next. Two, Bonnie was being asked to de-spell a device that would be used against vampires. Basically, she was being asked to protect vampires when it was a witch's duty to protect each other and innocents.
"I don't trust her," Damon said, shooting a glare at Bonnie, who happily returned it with one of her own.
"I can remove the original spell," she spoke up.
"And they'll never know," Chastity added.
"No," Damon said stubbornly. "I'll get Jeremy my own way."
"Really?" Stefan challenged now. "How are you gonna do that? Hm? Because Isobel is a vampire and Jeremy can be dead the second you walk in the door."
Damon's jaw clenched when he realized Stefan was right and he eyed Bonnie suspiciously.
"Are you even up for this?" he questioned her. "I mean, no offense. You're no Emily Bennett. Emily knew what she was doing."
"Ive been practicing," Bonnie stated confidently.
"It's not piano lessons, honey," Damon retorted.
"And what exactly would you know?" Chastity defended. "Just because you're older than dirt doesn't make you an expert on magic."
Damon gave her an annoyed glare while Bonnie suddenly rose up and marched up to him in determination.
"What's your favorite book?" she asked.
"What?" was Damon's confused, irritated reply.
"Name a book," Bonnie said. "Any book."
I watched Bonnie in wonder. What was she planning with this?
"Name a book," Damon mockingly repeated. "How about...Call of the Wild, Jack London?"
Bonnie turned to the bookshelf, focusing on the requested title on the shelf. Soon after, the book started shaking on the shelf before flying across the room right in to Damon's hand. He looked at the cover.
"Jack London," he announced, hardly impressed. "Great parlor trick."
"Damon please," I begged softly, stepping forward. "Isobel has Jeremy. We can't waste any more time."
He looked at me with sympathy before it disappeared when he switched his eyes back to Bonnie.
"I don't trust you," he declared. "I tried to kill you."
I winced at the memory before stepping even closer to him.
"You can trust me," I told him. "You know you can."
Damon sighed heavily, slowly looking back to me. I didn't dare break eye contact with him as he searched my face for the tiniest bit of deceit. When he found none, his shoulders slumped ever so slightly with defeat.
Reaching over, he picked up my hand and put the device in my palm, closing my hand tightly and bringing it up to his lips. He pressed a light kiss on my knuckles before releasing my hand and I let out a grateful sigh.
"Thank you," I whispered.
~~~~~
After Bonnie de-spelled the device, I prepared myself to meet up with Isobel in the town square where she requested to meet. Technically, her demand was for just me to show up to meet her and she swore that we would be alone. However, considering she was...well, her, her word wasn't exactly trusted.
Elena came with me, as did Stefan and Damon- though they stayed hidden. We waited anxiously in the empty square, looking around in the night illuminated softly by the streetlights for Isobel.
A breeze passed us and we both turned in time to see Isobel standing in front of us.
"Where's the device?" she immediately demanded.
"Where's our brother?" I retorted firmly.
"This isn't a negotiation. Where's the invention?"
I crossed my arms defiantly while Elena glared at her.
"Where is our brother?" Elena asked her.
"Do you really think I came alone?" Isobel questioned, looking superior.
Elena and I looked behind us, where a man and a woman now stood looking every bit as superior as Isobel did. I turned back.
"Do you really think we came alone?" I asked her as Stefan and Damon appeared behind her. "You probably should have figured Elena wouldn't be the only one to come with me."
"I expected as much," Isobel hummed, glancing back at the Salvatores. "For god sakes, call home."
Elena and I looked at each other before Elena pulled out her cell phone and called home. She visibly sighed with relief and nodded at me. I looked at Isobel curiously.
"You were never going to hurt him," I stated.
"No," she said in a looming coo. "I was going to kill him."
I was taken aback by her response.
"Don't look for any redeeming qualities in me, I don't have any," she said.
"Why did you want me to get the device?" I decided to ask. "How did you even know Damon would give it to me?"
"Because he's in love with you," she said.
I furrowed my eyebrows, though my heart beat wilding in my chest at her easy announcement.
"Damon's not in love with me," I denied almost instantly.
"Modest," Isobel stated, rolling her eyes.
She held out her hand, expecting me to give her the device. I glared at her before roughly handing it over.
"Thank you," Elena said to Isobel suddenly.
"For what?" she asked.
"For being such a monumental disappointment," Elena replied. Isobel seemed unfazed. "It keeps the memory of our real mother perfectly intact."
With that, she stormed past Isobel straight into Stefan's arms while I stayed where I was. Isobel looked from where Elena had just been to me.
"Have something you'd like to add?" she asked.
"Not really," I said. "I still think there's something there with you."
She rolled her eyes.
"You know, you can say you have no redeeming qualities, you can talk about how little human life means to you now all you want, but it meant something before and you had good qualities. I think you still do."
"If that's what you think, then you're more naïve than I thought you were," she drawled. "Goodbye Samantha. As long as you and Elena have a Salvatore on your arm, you're doomed. Elizabeth was smart. She got out. But we all know that you aren't her. Just like Elena isn't Katherine."
What should have been a compliment sounded more like an insult, especially with the way she looked me up and down.
She walked past me, her two bodyguards or whatever following closely behind. Elena and Stefan started walking toward me but I turned away to look after Isobel.
"Can I ask you one more thing?"
She stopped and looked at me, her emotionless mask still on.
"What?" she asked.
"John," I started. "He's Elena's birth father, isn't he?"
She stared at me momentarily and though I tried my best to read her, I couldn't see past the many barriers she had up.
"It's not Elena's birth father you should be curious about," she finally said. "I'd start looking for yours, if I were you."
With that, she and the other two disappeared, leaving me astounded. Why would she say that?
Not wanting to think anymore of it, I turned to Elena, who had tears running down her face and wasted no time in walking over to comfort her. She had just met her birth mother- the woman she had been searching for so hopefully- only to find a supposedly empty shell of a vampire. I couldn't imagine how she must have been feeling and it only hurt more to know that there wasn't anything I could do to take her pain away.
~~~~~
Third POV
Damon stood in the living room of the boarding house pouring himself a drink, thinking over what Isobel so bluntly said earlier in the handing over of the device. He wasn't used to being figured out so easily. His feelings for Sam, and he wouldn't deny to himself anymore that they were there, had been more obvious than he initially feared.
Looking over his shoulder as his younger brother entered the room, Damon mentally groaned.
"Would you like one?" Damon offered a drink.
No response, so Damon just decided to have Stefan get it over with.
"Say it," he said, looking forward. "Whatever it is, purge, get it out."
"It's about what Isobel said," Stefan said, placing his hands on the railing in front of him.
"Figured as much," Damon muttered. "What about it?"
"Well, I know that you and Sam...bonded, and I know that she cares about you, and, uh, I know you care about her."
"Well, this is going in an interesting direction," Damon said genuinely amused now.
"I'm just concerned about Sam getting hurt," Stefan shrugged. "She considers you a friend. She's light, she's very compassionate, and while she's strong, there's still only so much she can take."
"She's all those things and more and I consider her a very good friend," Damon agree. "I would even say that she's my only friend. Is that a problem, brother?"
"I just don't want her being hurt," Stefan informed Damon. "I'm sure you can understand. Considering she's her and you're...you."
"Is someone trying to juggle two girls again?" Damon smirked. "How would Elena feel about that?"
"History will not be repeating itself," Stefan shook his head. "Not where she and Sam are concerned."
"Honestly, we're just friends," Damon insisted innocently. "But speaking of, were you planning on breaking the news to Elena? Because I'm not sure she caught on to what Sam already had figured out."
"What are you talking about?" Stefan said with furrowed brows.
"Are Sam and I the only ones who know how to put two and two together?" Damon asked. "Isobel and John dated when she was fifteen, she gets pregnant, gives birth under the care of John's brother...come on. What do you think John's role is in all of this?"
"You think John is Elena's birth father?" Stefan realized slowly.
"Ding, ding, ding!"
"What proof do you have?" Stefan asked skeptically.
"Don't need any," Damon shrugged. "That's a DNA test for John, Elena, and Maury Povich to deal with. And yours because...well that's your bomb since I'm sure Elena wasn't paying attention. The bomb I'm more interested in finding is the one for Sam, which probably won't be as hard to figure out since Isobel clearly knew something about who her birth parents are. As her friend, I feel it's my obligation to help her find out especially when she's too busy taking care of Elena to find out for herself."
He strolled out of the room with his drink, leaving Stefan to stare at the spot he had just been standing in.
"Let me know when you drop that bomb on Elena, though," he called over his shoulder. "I'm looking forward to her reaction."
Stefan wanted to punch him.
~~~~~
In the backseat of a car heading out of town, Isobel called John and informed him as to where he could find the device and reminded him of his instructions on what to do with it, warning him not to screw up.
"I won't fail," he assured her.
"You better not," Isobel said. "Elizabeth wants all of those tomb vampires dead. And I want to add two more to that list."
"Let me guess," John said knowingly.
"Stefan and Damon," she said clearly anyway. "I don't want this life for Elena."
"Well that was always part of the plan," said John. "Consider them gone."
"She's our daughter, John," Isobel said. John would swear up and down that there was a hint of emotion in her voice. "We owe that to her."
"I know," he said. "One more thing before you go, Isobel?"
"What?"
"Who are the vampires you've had following Sam around?"
Isobel's eyebrows furrowed.
"I haven't had anyone following her," she denied.
"Elizabeth then."
"Elizabeth hasn't either and as far as I know, neither has Katherine."
"Someone has been keeping tabs on her," John insisted. "Unless you think it's them."
"Your guess is as good as mine," Isobel stated flatly. "Either way, do your job and keep her safe. Make sure Stefan and Damon die."
"I will."