Imelda let out a groan.
Hazel eyes slowly blinked open and she found her head was splitting. For a brief moment she thought it was because of Iris but as she shot up and groaned loudly, she realized that wasn't the case.
"Hey, you're awake." Alaric's voice was gentle and low. Imelda squeezed her eyes shut and massaged her temples. He chuckled. "You might want to grab a shower, Damon and Elena are on their way."
After last night, Alaric had decided Imelda had enough. He stopped by her house but after a pitiful plea of not wanting to be alone, she had a few bags packed and was now living with her history teacher.
If it was a good thing, neither of them knew, seeing as he let Imelda get black out drunk. At the time, she wasn't complaining and even confessed to calling Klaus and inviting Rebekah into her house. From what she remembered, Alaric never judged her.
"Did you get the pictures printed out?" Imelda whispered, forcing her tired body to stand. She blinked and squinted as he nodded, setting down a brown paper bag. The scent of muffins wafted her way, the urge to shower could wait as her stomach growled.
Alaric chuckled as Imelda descended on the muffins like it was her last meal. "While Damon teaches Elena more about killing vampires, I figured we could go over the pictures, see what we can't figure out."
Imelda nodded, already eating half of a chocolate chip muffin. "Did you take Elena down to the cave?" She flopped down into a kitchen chair as Alaric passed her a take-away coffee cup.
"We did this morning but she had some things to take care of before heading here." Alaric grabbed a muffin and ate it as he began spreading out the photos he took of the caves.
"Well, I'm gonna shower and tell myself I'll never get drunk again." Imelda quipped, finishing off the muffin and downing half of he black coffee. "Don't eat all the muffins." She called, leaving a chuckling Alaric behind her.
Imelda wasn't sure why she felt better, aside from the pounding in her head. All she really knew was that she felt more free. Iris was gone and after her trying to kill Imelda, she saw her sister for what she had been all along.
Iris Parker was the screwed up one.
She was the outcast, the one that wanted to hide from the world but demanded everyone listen when she spoke. She tried to play innocent but she had so many dark secrets she grew to fear the world.
She was controlling of Imelda, she didn't want her to have any friends, she had twisted and wormed her way into Imelda's life so greatly Imelda thought she was the one who pulled away from everyone.
The truth was, Imelda Fell wasn't the outcast.
She could ease into crowds, she wasn't afraid to say to much but knew when to bite her tongue. She wasn't anything like Iris and Imelda was going to prove that to the world but she was going to prove it most of all, to herself.
So maybe that was why Imelda felt better, even as she took a cold shower, rushing through with chattering teeth. As she dried off quickly and dressed in simple clothes she loved, she was going to start from that moment being herself, whoever she was, she'd find.
Imelda would stay human and face this world with her friends that she had never really lost. Imelda not have much family in Mystic Falls, but she wasn't alone and she wouldn't ever be alone.
The only thing she had to figure out was Klaus coming back and turning her. How to save Elena and how to completely free Stefan but Imelda learned that the world passed easier if you took one step at a time.
"Someone looks like they slept." Damon sang, being the first to greet Imelda as she put her damp hair in a bun. "Really? Buffy? Hitting it a bit on the nose, aren't you?" He scoffed at her choice of shirt.
Imelda looked to her Buffy The Vampire Slayer shirt. "You don't like my jeans?" She pointed to her black jeans that had a hole in the knee. She grinned as Damon shook his head.
"Good to see you smiling." Alaric chimed from his kitchen table. "Now smile over here and help me. I need a second set of eyes."
"Where's Elena?" Imelda did as told, sitting across from Alaric and grabbing another muffin along with a photo of the cave drawings.
Damon looked slightly offended. "Am I her keeper? Since when did you get to be in a good mood?" He shook his finger at her as he sped to the front door and jerked it open.
"Elena, we were just talking about you, all horrible things, don't worry." Imelda teased easing back in her seat and watching Damon look at her in confusion but Elena laughed.
"Good to have the old Imelda back." Elena greeted. "I had to sneak out, Jeremy was still home but I made him promise to go to work." She set her duffel bag by the door.
Imelda nodded, biting into her muffin. "Glad I'm an only sibling." She ignored them as they gave her pained looks.
"Alright, all of these images tell a story." Alaric cleared his throat. "To see the story, we've got to decipher them."
"Like pictionary." Imelda tacked on, wiping some of the crumbs off onto the floor. Alaric didn't mind and she found she was going to like crashing with him for a while.
"So what story do they tell?" Elena asked as she and Damon began sparring, though from where the hunter's sat, it was more of a playful game.
Imelda finished her muffin. "That's the question we're hoping to answer. But I've got some things to do in like two hours, so who knows what we can figure out before then."
"Skip whatever it is, this is way more important." Damon spoke in a relaxed tone. Imelda shook her head at him.
"Sloppy!" Damon smirked as he easily stopped Elena's attempt at staking him and jerking the stake from her hand.
"Spread your feet further apart." Imelda offered, glancing to see Elena's feet to close together. "He'll knock you down,-" Before she could finish, Damon had knocked Elena back onto the sofa and winked at Imelda.
"Okay. So how did you learn all of this?" Elena grumbled as Damon joined Alaric, both talking about Mason and how he could have known about something to kill Klaus. Imelda left the table and helped Elena from the sofa.
"I was looking for my sister's body. I wasn't going to let my inexperience stop me, so I learned what I could and trained on the road." Imelda explained, taking a stake and standing next to Elena.
"Just mimic me for now." She ordered, shifting her feet evenly and balancing herself. Elena mimicked her.
"Your greatest weapon will always be surprise. So if you can't stake them on the first go." She stopped speaking, dropping quickly to the ground and knocking Elena flat on her ass. She hopped back up and smiled as Damon and Alaric laughed.
"Surprise and keep surprising until they're dead or you are." Imelda offered her hand. Elena paused for a moment before smiling and taking her hand. Imelda helped her up.
"I forgot how to the point you could be when you were teaching." Elena spoke earnestly. It was clear the Gilbert and Fell had been close, now that Imelda was finding her own way, Elena hoped she could find her way back to her.
Imelda snorted. "Because you took forever to learn the easiest things. I got tired of caring your dead weight." She was shoved onto the sofa, blinking as Elena smirked at her.
"Surprise and surprise again." Elena mocked playfully. Imelda rolled her eyes.
"As much as I love seeing you two get along, and trust me, I love it." Damon winked though he scowled as both girls shared a look before gagging and joining them at the table. "These look like they just lead us to Mikael."
"Which we already found." Elena pointed out, grabbing the last muffin.
Imelda tapped her thigh. "And then lost, which is not a great thing because now he'll be the death of the entire vampire species."
Damon rolled his eyes. "Lighten up, Buffy. I'm not leaving you anytime soon."
"Oh, I wasn't talking about losing you." Imelda winked at Elena who laughed. "I meant more Rebekah."
"Blonde ponytail?" Damon was greatly offended. "You'd rather She-Klaus live than me? How cruel."
Alaric chuckled. "I don't know Damon, Imelda might be onto something." He
"I'll kill you again." Damon shook his finger at Alaric who rolled his eyes.
"Well, this is fun." Imelda bumped her hip with Elena. "But Elena's got cheer practice, which sucks but you know." Elena nodded in agreement.
Damon rolled his eyes. "Alright since you all seem to be in a great mood, I'll join in by being overly optimistic. If we can figure out these drawings we might, just might be able to tell us what sort of almighty weapon Mikael has."
"That's great and all, but he's still missing." Imelda pointed out as Damon wrapped his arms around her and Elena's shoulders.
"Back on my side, Buffy. Thought I lost you to preppy here." Damon winked at Elena but Alaric cleared his throat. All three rolled their eyes at him.
"Knowing the weapon might lead us to Mikael." Alaric looked to the photos. "The problem is that this is all going off of the chance we can decipher these. Which could take weeks."
Imelda and Elena shared a look. " I think I've got an idea." Imelda wiggled out of Damon's grasp and headed for the door, picking up her phone, keys and wallet as Elena joined her, grabbing her duffel bag.
"And where are you two going?" Damon wondered, sharing an uncertain look with Alaric.
The girls shared another look. "School." They chimed, leaving the men to shiver.
"You sure Imelda's alright?" Damon found himself asking, glancing to Ric who shook his head.
"I've got her staying here but I don't know Damon." Ric sighed. "She's good at pretending, so maybe this is an act? Whatever it is, let her have it." Damon just shrugged but decided to leave without saying anything else. Ric just groaned.
~~~~~
"Alright. Since Rebekah is on the cheerleading squad, I'll leave it to you to talk to her." Imelda pulled her car into the parking lot of the stadium. "Just be nice and ignore her bitchy attitude, she means well underneath it all."
Elena nodded, unbuckling and grabbing her bag. "And you're going to keep an eye on Stefan, make sure he's exactly where he needs to be."
"Forbes jail." Imelda snorted at the thought. "A vampire being thrown in jail because he doesn't care." Elena rolled her eyes but didn't exit the car.
"You know, when my parents died I started writing in a journal." Elena explained, watching as Imelda drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. "I still do, it helps when I can't talk to anyone because I don't want to burden them."
Imelda sighed, her arms dropping into her lap. "So you want me to start a journal?"
Elena shrugged. "It's what helped and still helps. But you know what else helped?" She opened the door and climbed out, leaning down as Imelda gestured for her to keep talking.
"Finding out where I came from." Elena offered an encouraging smile. "Stefan isn't going anywhere, and I'm glad you're trying to be happy, but you need to close all of the doors if you want to be able to breathe again." She stood straight and closed the door.
"If I stopped breathing, I'd be dead." Imelda banged her head against her headrest. Elena had a point though.
The only door Imelda had open was her dad, if Samuel wasn't her father, who was? She knew she was a Fell through her mom, the founding families were strict in the fact that whoever carried it made their spouse carry the name as well.
"Looks like I'm solving my own mystery today." Imelda put her car into drive and headed to the hospital.
Her Uncle Tobias, who apparently up and left town, had said her Aunt was working at the hospital, maybe her mom's sister could tell her what she needed to know. If she could get over Imelda ignoring her all summer.
The drive to the hospital didn't take long. The normal medicinal smell of the hospital was something Imelda had gotten used to when she was a child and her mom still lived in Mystic Falls.
If you were a Fell you either become a doctor or a journalist. Imelda could remember being young and sitting at the nurses station with Iris as they waited for their mom's shift to end. The thought of her mom made her grimace.
"Imelda Honoria Fell." Meredith Fell spoke with a dark tone. Her brown eyes were dark as she came to stand in front of her niece. Her gaze swept over her. Despite the old and faded shirt and jeans, Imelda looked healthy.
"Ims." Meredith breathed, jerking the young girl into a warm embrace. "I swear to god if you ever pull a stunt like you did over summer again, I'll chain you up." She promised, pulling back and grinning as her eyes twinkled.
"Could you not?" Imelda found herself asking. "Besides, it's not like I was hard to find." She pointed out.
Her Aunt looked exactly as she remembered, a few inches taller, same wavy chocolate brown hair and twinkling brown eyes. Meredith Fell was like most of the female Fell's, quick to ease back their anger and default to smiles and jokes.
Meredith rolled her eyes. "Am I a stalker now? Is that what you want your poor, sweet, Aunt to become?" She wrapped her arm around Imelda's shoulders and guided her to an empty room where they could speak more freely.
"Have you talked to mom?" Imelda got to the point no longer did the door swing shut and click closed behind them. Meredith removed her arm from her shoulders and both women faced one another, arms crossed and eyes focused.
"Talked to a dead Iris, too." Meredith sighed. "Imelda, if Iris was killed by a vampire why didn't you tell me? Or the council? Why keep something like that from us? From your mom?"
Imelda shrugged. "You know, for a family that hates secrets, we uh, we have a lot of them."
Meredith sighed. "You found out that Iris wasn't your sister." Her arms fell to her sides but she tucked her hands into the pockets of her white coat.
"Yeah. I found out a lot but I don't care about all of that. Iris is dead and I'm hoping gone for good." Imelda ignored the shocked expression on her Aunt's face. "I've got more important things to worry about but before I do that, a friend of mine wants me to shut some doors."
Meredith cleared her throat. "Imelda, I understand you and my sister deflect emotions but this attitude, it's not healthy. Iris was your sister. No, Samuel and Amanda never got married but,-" She was cut off by Imelda coughing loudly.
"They what?" Imelda didn't know that. "So, not only was Iris not my twin she wasn't even my step sister? She really was nothing to me?" Anger started to rise in Imelda's chest but she shoved it down. She always shoved her anger down.
"Ims." Meredith tried to do damage control but it was clear she made things worse. "What door do you want to close?" She tried, the anger and betrayal that burned in her nieces gaze left her crushed.
Amanda should have known the only one to be devastated by the truth would be her daughter but Merediths' sister was big on pushing problems away, even if it meant pushing her daughter away to.
Imelda ran her hand down her face. "Samuel wasn't my dad, who was?" Her voice was flat.
She shouldn't have listened to Elena. She should've just went to the jail and watched Stefan. Yet here she was, trying to let go of the secrets and anger to help her friends but all she was doing was growing more angry and more lost on who to trust and where to go.
Just a few hours ago she thought she was okay, she thought had things figured out well enough but now she was wrong. She didn't know anything or how to feel about anything, so like her mom taught her, she chose to feel nothing.
"Your real father is Micah Irving." Meredith was betraying her sister but gazing at her niece, learning the truth from Iris and learning first hand all of the things Imelda suffered through. She knew that Imelda deserved the truth.
"Let me guess, he's dead too." Imelda felt the words leave her lips but she didn't fully register them. What brought her back was the timid smile her Aunt offered her.
"Imelda." Meredith breathed just as her name was called over the intercom.
"Micah is alive."