[Episode 15 - A Few Good Men]
Few weeks later
Grams' funeral was heart-wrenching. Bonnie left town to spend some time with her aunt and uncle. All these days, I've been reading the book that Grams left me - a book about Guardians. It explains why I can't be compelled even without vervain, why i'm allergic to vervain, and my powers.
In the morning, I lay my head on Elena's shoulder as I give the swing another push. The porch floor is cold and gives me goosebumps.
"Hey, Bonnie, it's me and Kat... just checking in, seeing how you're doing..." Elena starts.
"We miss you here. Don't let your aunt drive you too crazy!" I chuckle forcedly, trailing off as I see my own aunt walking up to us, coffee in hand.
"What are you doing out here? It's cold." she slightly shivers and we all go inside, shaking off the chill.
"Thinking" I say at the same time Elena says "Writing..."
"Grams' funeral... It brought back a lot about mom and dad... I was wondering...you said that you would do some digging about them, the adoption." I press gently.
Jenna sighs and motions us to the table where her laptop rests.
Starting it, she starts explaining "Your dad kept everything from his medical practice—records, logs, old appointment books...."
She gives a diary to us "I found an entry from the night you were born. Patient and a birth date. Isobel Peterson..."
"Do you think it's her real name?"
"Pregnant teenage runaway? Probably not. First name, maybe. But where'd she get Peterson? Classmate? Best friend? So I binged it..." she does what I assume she did at first "I searched for all the Petersons in this area born the same year as Isobel, found 3 --2 men and a woman, Trudie, who lived in Grove Hill, Virginia-"
"That's not far from here" I point out excitedly and Jenna smiles "Well, watch this..." she pulls out a picture on her screen and looks at us triumphantly.
"Isobel..." Elena looks at the picture. It's a high-school photo and evidently, our birth-mother was in cheer "She was a cheerleader" we smile at each other.
"Trudie still lives there" I'm handed a yellow post-it with words written in a sharpie "This is her address..."
I smile at my sister and pocket the precious piece of paper but Jenna decides to drop a bomb.
"Listen. There's something else..." she begins gently "Mr. Saltzman - Ric, his wife was from around here," I nod, I know that and I also know that a vampire killed her, but I didn't expect what Jenna would say next "-and her name was also Isobel".
"Wait. Was, as in..."
"She died"
▹▹▹
I enter the 'House of Blood n Booze', aka the Salvatore boarding house. Stefan's at my house, probably cuddling with Elena. So I escaped and came to check on the heartbroken Salvatore brother. It doesn't help matters that Damon has to go through the torture of seeing his brother happy in love, and actually be loved.
Music is blaring and Damon mixes blood with bourbon. Clothes are strewn all over the library and the state of the three girls dancing around in the room indicates that the vampire had a very busy night and morning. I roll my eyes and get to Damon, who purposely acts oblivious of me.
"Damon..." I shout over the music. He just wags his brows at me and continues to take a drink out of one of the soriority girls.
She moans and I gag. "Damon. Stop" I say louder but he continues. Irritated, I plug out the stereo and march to him "Stop this. Now." I demand.
"Go on. What are you gonna do, huh? Abandon me? Been there, done tha-" I roll my eyes as he tries to act like a careless Romeo.
I speed beside him and hold his ear. Since I have powers against him, he winces as I press a bit. I twist his ear and drag him away from the next-to-naked girl. I throw him onto the love-seat and throw him a bottle of wine
"Your long-locked love played you the whole time. She didn't care about you. You feel bad. I understand. You chased life for her love. Now, it's time to chase her. Chase her and probably try to kill her. No one fools Damon Salvatore and lives. And show 'em that"
I slap him hard on the cheek and he looks to me with blazes in his eyes.
"Wow. Anything else?" he opens the bottle and chugs down almost half of it. I snatch it from him, "Yeah. Send these girls home after the erase part and get a new mission in life" I roll my eyes.
His eyes narrow and he crosses his arms over his chest and I mirror his stance. He yields, drunk and tired from pining over a bitch for the better part of his life.
He erases and sends the girls back and I smile in satisfaction. I'm about to leave when he stops me, holding my hand back "What?"
"I'm probably gonna regret this so chalk this upto one of my drunk antics-"
"Damon...?" I raise my brows warningly, I swear if he kills me one more time-
He hugs me. I stagger back and he lets out a breath.
"You do know I'm not gonna sleep with you right?" I joke and he withdraws from the hug, looking to me "I know. That wasn't seduction. That was what I call truce"
I chuckle and shake my head "Go on, you can say it. Friendship, Smoldy. It's called friendship. Take care and think about what I said..." My phone pings with a message from my sister
Let's go see Trudie Peterson.
"See ya around Hellfire..."
▹▹▹
The sun shines dimly when Elena and I stand in front of Trudie Peterson's house. I look at the post-it and Elena nervously snatches it from me to do the same. She hesitates but knocks the door. She knocks again and the door finally opens.
We are greeted by a young woman, probably in her late 20s. She smiles tentatively as her head peeks out "Yes?"
"Trudie? Trudie Peterson?" I ask and she nods "Yes?"
My twin finally finds her voice "Uh, my name is Elena Gilbert and this is my sister Kat. We wanted to talk to you about Isobel Flemming...?"
Trudie's face stretches into a real smile and her door opens wider "Well, I haven't heard that name in years. How do you know her?"
" Um, well...do you know if she had twins that she gave up for adoption?"
"My god. You're her daughters!" she chuckles in disbelief, "I was just gonna make some tea. Would you like some?" we both look at each other and smile "Thank you Ms. Peterson"
We both step in and it strikes me as weird that the woman watches us keenly as we enter the house.
"I'm sorry for barging in..." I say as we settle down at the dining table in the kitchen. Trudie laughs slightly, a bit too breathy for a normal person "It's no problem. Um, just a surprise, though. I haven't thought about Isobel in years."
"When was the last time you saw her?"
"About 17 years ago, when she left to go have you. We kept in touch for a while, but, well, you know, people drift apart..."
"And you don't know where she ended up?"
"She was in Florida for a while. She was on her own. I know it wasn't easy,"
"Do you have any idea who our father is?" I ask, crossing my fingers hopefully
"I could never get her to fess up," she shakes her head "Anyway, she finally pulled it together, got into college on a scholarship."
"Oh, where did she go?" I ask keenly, finally some leads. "Somewhere in North Carolina. Duke, I think. Smart girl, smart school..."
The kettle starts whistling from the kitchen and she gets up "Let me just grab that-"
"O I could hel-" I start but she cuts me off with a forced smile "It's alright. Just sit. I'll get it".
▹▹▹
I gaze at the yearbook with wide eyes and I'm sure Elena is too. Trudie flips to another page that shows her and Isobel with their cheer team "Ah. They came to the games for us. The football team hadn't won in years. We were the stars. Well, Izzie was. But I was a damn good backup..." I chuckle.
"You girls haven't touched your tea..." she plasters a smile.
"Oh yeah" Elena murmurs takes a sip of the tea. I follow suit and absentmindedly sip the 'tea'.
Imagine my surprise for feeling the burning sensation in my mouth as I swallow. Before Elena can speak, I interrupt "Herbal mixture is it?" I ask with a forced smile as I set the cup down. My voice comes out an octave higher and my nostrils burn. Trudie's lips twitch down "Uh, yes..."
I roll my eyes and look to Elena "She knows" I state simply. My twin looks to the woman in shock "You know"
"Know what?" Trudie plays dumb and I bite, too exasperated.
"You didn't invite us in, and you're serving vervain tea. You. know" I cross my arms and step slightly in front of my sister. What a coincidence! Alaric's wife was killed by a vampire and now, Trudie, 'our' Isobel's friend, knows about vampires.
The woman gets up in a swift movement and urgently moves away "I think that you should probably leave-"
"What aren't you telling us Trudie?" Elena asks but she just shakes her head and straightens her back
"Please leave. Now!" she instructs with a push towards her door. We oblige and leave the house slowly. The driveway is empty. Or so I think until my twin nudges me before my car "Kat..."
A man stands at the edge of the corner, not moving a muscle. But his eyes are definitely on us. I push my sister into the car. After I see her safely buckled, I rush to the driver's side as humanly fast as I can and drive off.
The first thing I do off the driveway is drink some water and sooth my burning tracts.
▹▹▹
Elena asks me to drive to the House of BnB and I hesitantly oblige. I'm still confused about Stefan. Why would he, avoid talking to me? I swear if this is another plan of his to 'protect us', I'm gonna stake him myself.
This time, there are no sorority girls around but there are blood and bottles lying around.
"Stefan?" Elena calls out only to be rewarded by the other brother, shirtless, smirking. His hair is ruffled as he shimmies into vision "Better. Me"
I venture further into the house, looking for a seat not occupied by either of the Bs. Jenna would kill me if I'm day-drunk and right now, I doubt I can stop if I get my hands on anything alcoholic.
"You look-" Elena tries fumbling for the word that wouldn't hurt him
"Dashing? Gorgeous? Irresistible?" he smirks and I smile sweetly "Wrecked, Smoldy. She means you look wrecked..."
"No reason why," Damon pouts "Do you know that I am one of Mystic Falls' most eligible bachelors?"
"Huh..." Elena says as I throw a shirt against his chest "Yep"
"How are you doing?" Elena asks sincerely. Damon looks to me with a serious look and as much as I hate to admit it, I have no idea what it means "Never better. Yep"
I raise an eyebrow and walk around aimlessly along the wooden banister.
"What can I do for you? I'm a barrel of favors today. It's my newfound purpose—how can I help, girls?"
Elena explains the reason (Stefan) and it seems to me the name of the brother who got love sparks something in the old vampire. Damon purposely acts as if he's drunk and makes a big show of trying to buttoning up his shirt and failing.
He pouts at Elena "Help a guy out, will ya? I can't get this" he shimmies closer to my sister and she looks to me in a save-me way and I purse my lips and roll my eyes.
Damon looks over to me and I warningly shake my head - he isn't getting laid with either of us Gilbert sisters.
He turns over to me and Elena sighs in relief for having diverted the flirting. Damon stands in front of me, and presents himself with a flourish. I slap his hand away and begin buttoning it up.
Elena sits down on an ottoman. How did it end up in the living room anyway? Darn I wanted to find that.
I begin buttoning up the black button-down and avoid his eyes as I murmur "So... I found out who our birth mother is-"
Damon's face scrunches up "Eccch. Who cares?" I furrow my brows in hurt but it melts when he goes on
"She left ya'll. She sucks..." I scoff and shake my head but that stops halfway when I hear Elena say "Stefan. There you are..."
I look at Stefan whose eyes move in between us and Damon. I nod to him in a brief greeting and start going out. Surprisingly, I'm followed by Damon.
▹▹▹
"He's already been hit on, like, 35 times. He's total cougar bait!" Caroline shakes her head with a pout. Elena and I chuckle while Matt grimaces. He and Care are going steady now and it's good to see them both in a refreshing relationship.
"Impressive" Elena mocks.
"More like, embarrassing"
Caroline and I laugh at his discomfort but the noise dies in our throat as we see Kelly Donovan stagger upto the counter where my blonde friend is minding the money and the tickets. Care puts up a very very wide smile, nothing less of showing her teeth "Hi, Mrs. Donovan..."
Kelly looks at Caroline with a distasteful look and her eyes move to me. She brightens up, probably assuming I'm Elena in her drunken faze. But that brightness dissapates when she sees that it's actually Kat, her least favorite Gilbert. She turns robotronically to her left to see Elena and she ignores her son when almost falls into a hug with my twin "Elena, honey!"
I scrunch up my nose. Kelly's being a bitch about Caroline. Unlike her, her son actually takes interest as serious and not just a matter of bodies. Elena's eyes widen at the sudden gesture from her ex's mother and she looks apologetically at our friend. "Kelly! Hey..."
"How are you doing?"
"Oh, same old. Oh. Matty tells me you broke his heart..." she looks mockingly at my sister and I grit my teeth. She decides to drop on us right now, out of all the uneventful days in the year when my best friend wasn't dating her son, or Elena and I just did not have a spook outside of Trudie's.
"Just kidding. Calm down. He found his rebound girl" she looks at the blonde with smugness and I intervene "How's Pete doing Kelly?" I tilt my head and smile sweetly.
She staggers for a second but she recovers and avoids my eyes while handing Caroline some notes "Oh. Here you go, sweetheart. However many that'll buy..." I lean beside Caroline and we watch in amusement as Kelly accepts the tickets and waves them in forced excitement
"Very exciting. I just hope I don't get Bachelor 3. I dated him in high school. Not impressive. In any way!" she whispers to Elena and I gag in disgust.
Just because she's slept with so many men, doesn't mean others want to. She finally walks away and I soothingly rub Caroline's shoulder as she leans against a pillar. Matt looks apologetically at his girlfriend.
I look around the Grill, surprised to find it crowded already. Across the crowd, I see Alaric sitting at the bar, his eyes furting around the room. After a while, I catch his eye and he immediately diverts his head away. I sigh.
Though the coincidence might be too much, Alaric might be my father, or step-father. We're, right now, only connected by a name - Isobel... But his wife died. And a vampire killed her. I can only hope that our Isobels aren't the same because, as selfish as it may sound, I would want my birth mother alive.
▹▹▹
The bachelors stand on the stage as Carol Lockwood walks by them, introducing them to the crowd. She now stands in front of a very roughly dressed middle-aged man - bachelor number 3 "And what do you do, Bachelor Number 3?".
The man smiles "Yeah, I'm a plumber..." Elena and I suppress a laugh and so does our aunt.
Carol tries to hide her disgusted look with a disdained smile "Well... Isn't that wonderful? We could always use more plumbers... Moving on. Number 4, Alaric Saltzman,"
Elena and I nudge Jenna from either side and she hides her blush, mockingly glaring at us just as Carol speaks "-wow, quite a mouthful. What do you do Alaric?"
Maybe he's been blind these past few weeks when the girls in his class cast him looks, because Alaric gives a small smile "I'm a teacher at Mystic Falls High..."
"Oh, beauty and brains, ladies. This one's a keeper. What do you teach?"
"History"
"Well, give us a fun fact about Mystic Falls, something crazy!" Carol asks enthusiastically. But Alaric just looks to his side, where Damon swings on his feet with a sarcastic smile on, his fingers holding his ear.
What's with him tonight?
Alaric? Of all the people he could make nervous, he chose the History teacher/might-be-my-father/vampire-hunter. Alaric fumbles and the Mayor's wife covers for him "He's probably saving the best stories for his date..."
I hand Jenna the ticket and whisper "I knew you wouldn't take a chance so, here, I hope that your name is drawn" I smirk and waggle my brows. Jenna's eyes widen but she takes the ticket anyway. Aha.
"And last, but not least, Damon Salvatore. We don't have much on you..." Carol smiles flirtatiously and I roll my eyes.
Elena waves to Stefan across the room and he returns her smile. He looks to me and I hesitantly smile. But I divert my attention to the stage as Damon speaks "Well, I'm tough to fit on a card"
"Do you have any hobbies, like to travel?"
"Oh, yeah. L.A., New York..." he waves it off "-Couple of years ago, I was in North Carolina. Near the Duke campus, actually. I think, I think Alaric went to school there. Didn't you, Ric?" my brows furrow as I look to Stefan, he has the same look as he glares at his brother, however, his mannerism shows that he knows something I don't.
I didn't know Ric's wife went to Duke, the same University as Elena and my birth mother. And I certainly didn't know that Damon knew Isobel.
No... A vampire killed Isobel. Damon didn't. He couldn't have. No-
"Yeah, 'cause I-I know your wife did. I had a drink with her once. She was - she was a great girl. I ever tell you that? 'Cause she was -- Delicious. Mmm! Mmm mmm m-" I don't listen to the rest of his secret gloating as my chair screeches back when I bounce out of it.
Elena follows suit, but she has the mind to spew some explanation to Jenna. I let Elena drag me out of the Grill, because if no one has a hold on me now, Hell might as well freeze over because Damon Salvatore would actually die at my hands.
Stefan comes out behind us. I lean against a wall, fisting my palms as I try to make myself believe Damon killed my mother. "He killed her? Damon was the vampire that killed her?"
"I don't know what happened. Alaric said that they never found the body..."
"Oh, my god. Stefan!"
"I know. I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you, tell you both," he looks to me with pleading eyes "But I just—I wanted to know more..."
"I was feeling sorry for him, hoping that this whole Katherine thing would change him. I'm so stupid..."
"He doesn't know about the connection to you. I thought about confronting him, but he's already so on edge-"
"Why are you protecting him?" my twin bursts out and Stefan sighs "Because you're not the only one hoping that he might actually change!"
My eyes widen when I see a familiar figure across the street "That man" I say abruptly. Elena and Stefan's gaze furts to the figure as I explain "We saw that man outside of Trudie's..."
"Get back inside. Come on" he gently pushes us towards the door but I stand my ground "No. I'm staying".
Stefan shakes his head "Come on Vivi, please, get inside..." I grit my teeth and go inside, making sure Stefan too, comes inside with us. He puts a hand on my shoulder "Viv-" I shrug it off and shoot forward.
I turn at a corner to see Damon turning rigid at Elena's words "-was starting to think that there was something redeemable about you-"
Stefan bypasses me and calls out lowly to his girlfriend "Elena..." he warns. Elena steps back from the older Salvatore but I barge upto him.
Without preamble, I shove him inside the bathroom and close the door, Stefan and Elena banging on the door, begging for me to come out.
I push Damon over to the far wall and yank open his jacket with one hand, another over his throat for holding him in place "Did you kill Alaric's wife?" I ask. I'm fuming but I want to know for real, if he did kill Isobel. Damon's eyes narrow as he pushes me off "Yes. You know what? I even slept with her before that. So save your spee-"
I yank him over and hit him hard on the cheek. "Listen Damon Salvatore. I might want to kill you right now, but at least I'll give you a reason that explains why. Did I forget to mention earlier when we were talking about my birth mother? The one that gave me up along with Elena?" Damon stands there, clueless "Her name was Isobel... And she went to Duke".
His face falters and his brows furrow. I stalk closer to him, hand hovering over his heart underneath the open jacket
"Go on. Reminisce about how you killed her" I dig my fingers slowly into his heart and for his credit, he doesn't even wince. I dig my fingers deeper, waggling them as much as I can as they progress deeper.
"Hello! Open up!" a shrill drunk voice sounds and I hear Stefan's voice "Vivi... Please, just come out... Mrs. Donovan's waiting"
I withdraw myself from Damon and take a deep breath. I open the door with shaking bloody hands and come out to face a plastered Kelly. I bypass Stefan and Elena and walk out as normally as I can manage. On the way, I pass by Alaric and Jenna. I try not to show the tears in my eyes as I nod to the man who might be my father.
I go outside the Grill and lean against the wall as I collect my thoughts. I was going to kill Damon in public. I almost killed him in there. What's wrong with me? Why can't I control my emotions? And why do I keep losing the people who are supposed to stand by me?
Hands come around me as Elena and I remain in our embrace. I wipe my tears off when I hear a voice in front of me "I have a message for you..." Stefan and Elena turn about to face him, the vampire trying to shield us both.
"Stop looking."
"Stop looking for what?"
"She doesn't want to know you. She doesn't want to talk to you."
"Wha- Isobel?" I ask in disbelief.
The man doesn't reply but looks straight at the wall behind me "You need to stop looking. Do you understand?"
"She's alive? Does that mean she's a-" Elena starts to inch forward, but I pull her back and Stefan gestures the same thing."Elena, he's under compulsion..."
"Do you understand?"
"Yes. I do..." Elena answers. No, I don't understand. What is going on? Is our mother alive? Is she a vampire?
"Good. I'm done now" The man nods simply and walks backward onto the street and in a second, a truck blares by, running him over.
I gasp and rush forward in shock. The road is beginning to gather a crowd and the blood from the run-over shines in the light. I kneel and look at the man, while people yell and make calls. I see a small phone lying not far from him to my side. I look around and with a small motion, grab the small device.
Stefan pulls me and my sister up and I walk behind him, pocketing what I retrieved.
▹▹▹
I wait until Elena decides in favour of this. She finally settles beside me on my bed as she looks down at the phone hesitantly.
"Last dialed?" I ask her, one last time.
She inhales "Last dialed"
I flip it open and find the number. I press it hard and close my eyes as I put it on speaker. Elena holds my hand tightly and it becomes tighter when we hear a voice on the other end
"Was there a problem? Did you find her? What's going on?" she questions calmly.
"I-Isobel?"
Beeeeeeeeep.