I sat there awkwardly across from Stefan and Elena, "Thanks for coming, Ric. Can i get you anything? Coffee, bourbon in your Coffee?" Damon smirks as he and Ric walk back into the living room.
"Elena mentioned you needed my help." He sighs, Damon gestures for him to sit into the open chair, Damon moves to come to sit next to me, putting an arm around me.
"Yeah, we were hoping you could shed some light on the Lockwood Family." Stefan sighs, the night of the Carnival, Stefan watched Mason literally hop over a car and his eyes turn gold. Alaric sighs, looking over all of us.
"Now why would i know anything about the Lockwoods?" He asks.
"Well, you wouldn't. But your dead--" I nudge Damon and he clears his throat, "Not dead vampire wife might." Damon smiles.
"Isobel's research, from when you guys were at Duke together." Elena clarifies, sending a glare Damon's way.
"You said that she had spent years researching this town," Stefan adds, looking towards Damon and I as well.
"Isobel's research here-- Mystic Falls-- was rooted in folklore and legend." Ric shrugs, "At the time, i thought most of which was fiction."
"Like that amazing vampire story." Damon smirks.
I roll my eyes, looking to Ric, "Aside from vampires, what else was there?" I ask.
"Lycanthrope." Alaric sighs, Stefan and Damon, Share looks, making me frown.
"Wait, like werewolves?" I ask, sitting up straighter.
"No way." Damon says, sitting up with me, "Impossible, way too Lon Chaney."
"Is it?" Stefan challenges, looking over to Damon.
"I've been on this planet 160 some odd years. I've never come across one." Damon deadpans, "If werewolves exist, where the hell are they?"
"Well, what do you suspect the Lockwoods?" Ric smirks, folding his arms.
"Because vervain didn't effect the mayor on founder's day but the Gilbert device did." Damon explains, "And it affected his son Tyler."
"And at the school carnival, his uncle Mason exhibited inhuman behavior when he fought one of the carnival workers." Stefan added, "It suggested some sort of a supernatural entity."
Alaric nodded, taking in all the information, "We were hoping that Isobel's research could help us figure out what it is." Elena tells him, rubbing her hands together.
"Well, all of her things are still at Duke." He sighed, clearing his throat, "I mean, her office is still there. She's technically still missing." Alaric explains, looking towards Damon.
"So can we get access to it?" Damon questions, leaning forward. Alaric tilts his head from side to side, not giving a direct answer. Damon looks to me and i shrug, "Ric, we need to know what we're dealing with. If this wolfman thing is true, I've seen enough movies to know it's not good. It means that Mason Lockwood is a real-life Lon Chaney, and that little Tyler punk may just very well be Lon Chaney Jr. Which means Bela Lugosi- Meaning me- is totally screwed." Damon explains.
Tyler hates Damon, and it's pretty obvious, but what can Tyler do that'll hurt Damon?
________________________________________
I huff as Damon puts more stuff in my bag since i an refusing to pack for this road trip to Duke, "Why is Elena coming?" I ask, "This just messes up the trio."
"Her and my brother don't trust us alone together." He explains simply.
"But we won't be alone, we have Ric. And we've been on road trips together before." I point out.
He sighs, turning to look at me, "Yes, we have, but we weren't together together on those, and i don't think Ric wants to be alone with us." He says, smirking at the end.
I nod, knowing his right. I look up to him and sigh, "You know she's gonna make this hell for you, right?" He nods and then moves to st next to me.
"It's not supposed to be fun anyway, we're going to find out something on this werewolf thing." He reminds me.
"Have doing that with Elena glaring at you the whole time."
"I'm immortal, i think I'll live." He laughs, wrapping his arms around me.
"Oh my god, what a vampire thing of you to say." I playfully groan. He laughs, spinning me around and guiding me out of my room. We walk outside, waiting for everyone, Stefan and Elena are in her room and Alaric is talking to Jenna, so that left Damon and i outside.
"Just try to keep it cool, okay?" Damon says, pulling me towards him after he puts my bag in the back, "I need you to be on your best behavior, promise?"
"I promised... other people I'd be on my worst behavior." I smile, by other people i mean Caroline, she supports Damon and I and is on the same page about Elena and Bonnie taking this too far.
"I'll fire you from being my girlfriend." Damon playfully threatens.
"You can't fire me," I smirk, leaning up to kiss him. I guess you could say Damon and i are totally in the honeymoon stage of the relationship. I hear Elena clear her throat and we pull away from each other. Damon smirks, looking towards Stefan.
"Sorry you can't come too, Stef." Stefan is staying back to help Caroline transition easier into vampire life. Elena glares at us, turning to face Stefan.
"Call me if you need anything." Stefan tells her.
"Oh, we'll take really good care of her." Damon says, his arms still wrapped around my waist, Elena rolls her eyes and reaches up, pulling Stefan to her. Damon scoffs, turning to me and pulling me to him. I lean into his body, wrapping my hands around his neck, Damon pushes me against the car. Damon pushes into me more and i smile into the kiss.
"Okay, we get it." Elena grits out. Damon slowly pulls away from me and smirks at them, opening the car door for me. He quickly closes the door, climbing into the front seat.
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"How are you two doing back there? Playing nice?" Damon asks, reaching back and touching my knee.
"Leave them alone, Damon." Alaric sighs.
"Just peachy," I grumble at the same time, looking out the window.
"You know, this whole pretending to hate us thing is getting silly, hate me, but not Alina," Damon says, looking at her through the rear-view mirror.
Alaric laughs, shaking his head, "I don't think she's pretending, you did try to kill their brother, and you're dating her sister and you two almost had sex outside the car." He explains.
"There is a huge asterisk next to that statement. I didn't kill him." Damon clarifies.
"Yeah, thanks to the ring you didn't know he was wearing, and the fact that you're so obsessed with my sister you wouldn't have actually done it." Elena seethes, glaring at Damon.
"You know, i hated Stefan when you guys started dating, but i actually gave him a chance, glad the favor can be returned." I glare, looking over to her.
"Well Stefan isn't a monster or a psychopath." Elena glares.
"Are you sure about that? He's almost killed me twice." I tell her, i had ended up coming clean about Stefan almost killing me when he was drinking human blood.
"He wasn't himself, you know that!"
"But wasn't he?" I say with a false pout, "Oh you're right, he was just his vampire self who's a ripper who can't control his cravings who has killed dozens of people. But sure, he's not a monster." I scoff, looking back out the window.
"He did just fine, he didn't kill anyone, unlike Damon. How many people has he killed since he's gotten here?" She asks, crossing her arms.
"Elena, i swear to god i am going to sh-"
"Okay!" Alaric calls out, veering off to the side of the road, "Time to switch, Damon backseat, Elena up here."
"Gladly." She grumbles, shoving the car door open and walking around the front, Damon is next to me in a second an arm wrapped around me. I glare at Elena as she gets into the front seat. How is it fair that i give Stefan and chance and support them, but she can't do the same for me.
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"So Isobel was officially employed by the Anthropology department given that most paranormal phenomena are rooted in folklore," Alaric explains as we walk through the lobby, "Excuse me." He calls out, a girl a little older than me turning to face us, "Hi, I'm Alaric Saltzman. I called earlier."
"Yes. Of course." She smiles, walking over to shake his hand. "I'm Vanessa Monroe, research assistant-- comparative folklore." She looks over to Damon, looking him up and down. I quirk an eyebrow, grabbing Damon's hand. He chuckles a bit, kissing the top of my head, she looks away, frowning slightly, "Uh, let me just grab Isobel's keys."
"I'm sorry. These are my friends, Elena, Alina, and Damon." He introduces. I smile at Vanessa and she quickly looks away from me, "I hope this isn't too much on an imposition."
She hums, shaking her head, "Please. Isobel's office is right through there. Isobel was one of my first professors. I'm a grad student. She was brilliant." She beams, grabbing the keys from her desk. "One of the reasons i went into folklore. I have to ask... um, has there been any news?"
"No, no, I'm afraid not." Alaric frowns.
She nods, moving from the desk, "Right this way." She says, guiding us to the office.
Damon leans down into my ear, "Jealousy is hot." He whispers. I chuckle, shaking my head as we enter the office.
"I'll grab the light. Feel free to look around." Vanessa smiles, She watches as Damon looks around the room, "It's fascinating, Isn't it?" I watch as she walks out of the room and glare at her path. I walk over to a bookshelf, running my hands over Isobel's things.
"Where'd she go?" Damon asked. I frown, turning to look at the entrance seeing Vanessa walking back with a crossbow. I gasp, causing them all to turn to me. I hear the click of the trigger and close my eyes.
"Alina!" Elena cries out, i don't ever feel the pain of the arrow and i open my eyes to see Damon in front of me, the arrow in him. He grabs onto me and we slowly move to the ground. I watch as Alaric pins Vanessa to the wall.
What the hell just happened?
_______________________________
"Baby, pull it out. I can't reach it, Alina." Damon says for the fourth time, trying not to lose his temper. I frown, running my hands over his skin, "Just pull the damn thing out. It hurts."
"Fine," I grumble, placing a hand on his back and then pulling it out. He lets out a relieved sigh as i drop the arrow on his table.
"That bitch is dead." Damon grits out and i nod.
"Uh, you're not gonna kill her." Elena butts in. Damon scoffs rolling his eyes.
"Watch me." He smirks, moving around her.
"Alina, are you serious, you're gonna let him hurt her?" She scoffs, i shrug not really caring, i could've died. "Damon, you touch her and i swear i will never speak to you again." She threatens.
"What makes you think that has any power over me?" Damon laughs, "Just because I'm tolerating you means nothing. Your sister could have died if i didn't realize what was happening, i took the arrow for her, not you. You are severely overestimating yourself."
Elena's face falls at his words and then she quickly rolls her eyes, "Right, i forgot you two are like the Joker and Harley Quinn." She glares, does she think that's an insult? "Fine, go ahead. Do whatever you want." She shrugs.
"You're trying to manipulate me," Damon smirks.
"If by 'Manipulate' you mean tell the truth, okay." She nods, a sarcastic smile on her face, "Guilty." Elena looks between us for a second then rolls her eyes, "Okay." She walks out of the room, Damon and i follow her.
"Katherine pierce can't be alive, and Damon Salvatore died in 1864!" Vanessa explains, "Okay. I read Isobel's research."
"Well, then you should know just how possible this is." Alaric glares. Vaness turns to look at us as Elena pushes the door wider.
"I'm Elena Gilbert, and this is my twin sister Alina, we're Isobel's daughters," Elena explains softly, "And descendants of Katherine Pierce." Vanessa looks to all of us shocked.
"And this is my boyfriend, Damon Salvatore, who you just shot." I glare, "I'd be extra nice to him right now if i were you." I smirk, Damon smirking as well.
Elena rolls her eyes, sighing, "Look, we need your help. Okay, we need to see all of Isobel's research, anything related to Mystic Falls." Vanessa frowns, looking at all of us again. I quirk an eyebrow and she looks me up and down for a second before looking away.
_________________________________
"This box tracks Katherine's arrival to Mystic Falls in April of 1864." I hear Vanessa tell Elena. Damon and i are in the other room. I walk towards the door, listening to them.
"Is that all there is about her?" Elena asks, scanning over the box.
"All that I'm aware of." She nods. Elena looks up, seeing me in the door and then her eyes travel over to Damon.
"Here, take this," Elena says, handing Vanessa a sprig of vervain.
"Does vervain really work?" She asks, Elena starts to nod, but Damon walks over, placing a hand on the small of my back.
"Nope! Not at all." Damon smirks.
"Can he hear us?"
"I can hear you, so he can hear you," I tell her and she jumps slightly.
"No! That would be creepy." Damon teases, going back into the room.
"Can he read minds too?"
"You know, if you want to see me naked, all you have to do it ask. But this one here's protective." He laughs, wrapping his arms over my shoulder.
Elena looks up to us, rolling her eyes. "No. That, he can't do. But he is very capable of being a first-rate Jackass." I look up to Elena, slightly amused, walking back into the room with Damon.
_______________________
I'm looking through a box of papers Elena gave me, it's the stupid box on Katherine while Elena went through another box of papers on her, "Any luck?" Damon asks, walking up behind me.
"There's nothing in here about Katherine we didn't already know." Elena sighs, looking at her papers. I hum in agreement and Damon smirks.
"Ah, man. You know, it's a bummer we're not friends anymore." He smirks, looking to Elena, "Because i can tell you what i know." Elena looks up, quirking a brow at Damon.
"Now who's manipulating who?" Elena glares.
Damon smirks, looking to me and then Elena, "Hey, Guys. Check this out." Alaric calls out, passing a book to Vanessa, Elena walks over to them, looking over her shoulder.
"There's no record of werewolf mythology in Mystic Falls. But here are some records of the lesser-known legends. Everything from Scandinavian Skinwalkers to the Marsheldurretes." She says something in a foreign language, "Which roughly translates into, 'The curse of the sun and moon.'"
Alaric looks at her strangely, and then tilts his head, "It's Native American."
"Aztec." She corrects. Damon takes the book from Elena, showing me the different pictures, "It explains one origin of the werewolf curse traced through Virginia. The short story- 600 years ago, the Aztecs were plagued by werewolves and vampires. They terrorized the countryside, made farming and hunting impossible. Until an Aztec shaman cursed them," She says, pointing to one of the pictures on the page, "Making vampires slaves to the sun and werewolves servants of the moon."
"As a result, Vampires could only prowl at night and werewolves could only turn on a full moon. When the full moon crests in the sky, whosever unlucky enough to fall under the werewolf curse into a wolf." Vanessa explains.
"Can they control the transformation?" Damon asks nervously. I look over to him worried as well.
"If it were a choice, it wouldn't be called a curse." She says in a 'duh' tone. Damon gives her a sarcastic smile as he walks over to the window. "Werewolves will attack humans. But instinct and centuries of rivalry have hardwired them to hunt their prey of choice--"
"Please don't say what i think your about to say." I frown.
"Vampires." She nods. Damon looks to me and we all share a look.
"Well... if werewolves are hunting vampires i would know about it." Damon smirks, trying to assure us, more like me.
"Not if there aren't that many werewolves left alive." Vanessa adds, "Hundreds of years ago, vampires hunted them almost to extinction."
"Why would they do that?" Elena frowns.
"To protect themselves. Legend has it that a werewolf bite is fatal to vampires." I look up to Damon with a frown, his face matching mine.
__________________________
I pace the room and Damon frowns, watching me. "Alina, relax."
"Damon, a werewolf bite can kill you." I frown, "And you have a tendency to irritate people." I say shaking my head.
"You heard what Vanessa said, Vampires hunted werewolves down to the verge of extinction." He reminds me, "We don't know if it's even true or not."
"Just... be careful please." I frown, "Things don't have the tendency to go our way. Of course, we live in the one town with a werewolf origin." I huff. Damon sighs, standing up and moving towards me. He wraps his arms around me.
"Look at me," He says softly, putting a hand under my chin to have me look up at him, "I'll be careful, i promise." He says, kissing me softly. He pulls away and i sigh, opening my eyes and smiling.
"Okay." I nod.
"Hey, guys! I could use some help!" Elena calls out from the other room. Damon and i roll our eyes and walk out to see Elena shuffling through papers. "Hey. have you done any research on Doppelganger twins? Or just doppelgangers in general?"
"Um, well the word means a lot of different things to different cultures. But typically a doppelganger is a living, breathing double of oneself." Vanessa explains.
"Did Isobel have anything that'd explain the link between us and Katherine?" I ask, walking over.
"That's all she had of Katherine, unfortunately." She frowns, "But doppelganger twins have been around before, typically the older or firstborn is the doppelganger and the younger one is the shadow, a backup." Elena and i look to each other and sigh, "But i can tell you that doppelgangers usually torment the other, trying to undo their lives. It's not exactly uplifting." She frowns, i look over to a picture of Katherine, lifting it up.
"And more things we already know." I muse.
"I just... i want to know why we look alike." Elena frowns.
"Head-scratcher isn't it?" Damon frowns.
Elena sighs, looking up to Damon, "Do you know something or are you just being yourself?" She glares.
"Well, 'If' i know anything, I'm not going to tell you, not with that attitude." Damon sasses.
"That's good, Damon. And this is coming from someone who wants to be my friend." Elena scoffs, "But you know what? Friends don't manipulate friends. They help each other." She turns away, walking out of the room. I sigh, looking back at Elena as she walks out. I shake my head, looking back forward at the picture.
______________________________
Damon and i walk up to the car to see Elena struggling to open the door. I take the bag in his hand, "Go help her." I tell him. He sighs, walking up to her.
"Here." He says unlocking the door, "Allow me." He opens the door for her and slids in, he sighs and gestures for me to go in and i do. She looks to me and then back to the window.
"Look, you're not gonna be able to hate me forever." I frown.
"I don't hate you, you're my sister i could never hate you. I hate him." She tells me. "I just wanna go home." I sigh, opening my bag and pulling out a book.
"He asked me to give this to you since you won't talk to him. You didn't dig deep enough." She frowns, taking the book.
"Petrova? I saw this on the shelf." She shrugs.
"Damon told me that Katherine is originally from Europe. Petrova was her real name." The door opens and Damon slides into the passenger seat.
"Katerina Petrova to be exact." Damon corrects, turning to look at us.
"How did you know that?" Elena frowns.
"Back when i saw it engraved on an old heirloom. Men snoop too, you know." Damon smirks, "Let me know what you two find. Very curious myself." Elena looks down to the floor and Damon sighs, "You have every right to hate me. I understand. You hated me before and we became friends, it would suck, not just for me but for Alina too if that was gone forever."
Elena looks to me and i look away and frown.
"So... is it? Have i lost our friendship forever?"
Elena looks between us again and then back to Damon, "Thank you for the book, Damon." She says, looking out the window. I frown, looking out my window. Damon reaches behind the seat, grabbing my hand.
________________________
It's silent as Elena and i walk up the stairs to our rooms, "Do you love him?" Elena asks.
I look over to her and nod, "Yeah, i really do."
Elena scoffs, shaking her head. I frown, turning to look away, "How? He's hurt so many people, he's done terrible things, he killed Vicki, he wanted to kill Caroline!"
"You don't think i've realized that!? If you want to get technical, Stefan has killed people, Stefan killed Vicki! I love him, and why can't you accept that? You have no idea what it's like to feel worthless, Elena, where nothing you do matters, i felt that way everyday until i met him. Every damn day! You were the favorite, and i am not gonna let you take another person away from me." I glare.
"What are you even talking about?"
"I'm talking about everything! You made me break up with Tyler, you guilt-tripped me into it. You 'needed your sister' but once you had me, you only needed me when no one else was around." I tell her, her face falls and i shake my head, "I can't do this anymore with you, Elena. I am so tired of waking up and it's like every other day, what can i do to help Elena, how does Elena feel, is Elena, okay, It's the same thing over and over again. I can be doing so good and then one minute I'm not because i feel like shit because you're hurting. I am tired of living in a world where i am shadowed by you."
"Alina..." Elena frowns, walking over to me.
"No!" I say pushing myself away from her.
"Why are you so angry, Alina what's going on. You're scaring me." She frowns.
"I am not angry, i am in pain! And you put me here. My twin, the person who is supposed to care about me and is supposed to be my go-to! Mom always said i was so good at making something out of nothing, and then would ask me if i was afraid of dying! Elena, i was afraid of living! You get to be happy and follow your dreams, but i can't follow mine unless you approve and i have your permission? And i have to sit here and wait around hoping that you'll like the person i love? How is that fair?"
"You lied to me, Alina? You said you were done with Damon. We were doing so good, you were doing so good."
"Even if i was done with Damon, it wouldn't have mattered because Stefan is still in the picture. If i had asked you to leave Stefan because i didn't like him would you have?"
She stays silent and i nod, "Exactly." I turn away, walking into my room. I stand there for a second until everything rushes in. I look over to my dresser seeing the picture of Elena and i, or my parents. I storm over, opening the top drawer and shoving all the pictures in and slamming my drawer shut.
I feel like everything is slowly falling apart. Have you ever built one of those expo swords with the marker, how you can get at least four on there and it's stable, but if you keep adding more it starts to bend and break? I'm bending and barely am being held together, more stuff being stacked on just to see how long it take me to fall apart.
Vanessa said that the older twin is the doppelganger, that'd be me. And the doppelganger wants to torment the others, Katherine wants to make my life a living hell. She turned Caroline into a vampire, She wants Stefan and Damon back... Elena and i are in a horrible place, Bonnie and i obviously are on the edge, and who else can be added onto that? I'm pretty sure Jeremy still hates me...
Is any of this even worth it?