CHAPTER EIGHTEEN / ACT ONE

Mother Dearest

Angelina packed her clothes in a small bag, getting ready to leave for Elena's house. She had no reason to stay at the boarding house any longer now that Stefan was back to normal. Though if she was being honest with herself, she was mostly fleeing to avoid him.

She couldn't take her mind off what had happened between them the night before. She told him she loved him, and whatever would come after that terrified her. He didn't seem to have a negative reaction to it based on what happened afterwards, but he was also inches away from committing suicide.

Instead of facing her fears head-on, she bolted, like always. But maybe she should start taking her own advice before she ends up like Stefan, on the brink of self-destruction.

A knock on the door interrupted her packing. She sighed, chewing her lip as she debated whether to answer it or not.

With a reluctant sigh, she trudged over to the tall wooden door. After a deep breath, she twisted the knob and pulled it open, revealing Stefan looming on the other side.

"Good morning, Stef." She faked a grin and walked away from him back towards the bed. "How're you doing?"

"Better," He replied whilst stepping further into the bedroom. "I wanted to thank you, again. For last night." His tone became more serious, but thankful. "I honestly don't know how to thank you."

"No payment required." She shrugged, a wide smile on her face. "You're my friend, I help you for free."

"Well, still. Thank you." He returned her warm smile, a comforting feeling coming across the two. "I uh- I wanted to talk to you about something else."

Angelina took a deep breath and avoided making eye contact with him, bracing herself for whatever he was about to say next. "Yeah?"

"It was something you said last night, that we didn't really talk about."

And here it comes.

"What was it?"

"You told me you loved me."

Angelina stared at Salvatore blankly, avoiding any expression of emotion. If she was being honest, she was relieved that he knew now. It was almost as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders and she didn't have to worry as much anymore. But she also wished he'd been too caught in the moment to notice her feelings.

"Right, I did." She admitted honestly along with a soft shrug as she picked up her bag and swung it around her shoulders. "What? No one's ever told you they loved you before, Stef?"

She started walking away from him, towards the bedroom door, hoping to appear careless, but he could see right through her.

"Can we at least talk about it?" He turned around on his heel and sighed heavily.

Angelina came to a halt and placed a hands on the doorframe before turning to face him, her demeanor gradually becoming solemn. "Of course, I love you; but if I'm being honest, It's really not that big of a deal." She pursed her lips together.

"So can we just get back to the way things were?"

Stefan locked his gaze on hers before nodding reluctantly. Without a second thought, the doppelgänger smiled and dashed out of the boarding house.

Angelina treaded down Mystic Falls High's empty, dark hallways. Not long ago, Stefan, Elena, and, surprisingly, Alaric had summoned her here to discuss an important matter. This meant that there were more issues to add to the growing list of issues.

Originally, she wanted to skip out just to avoid Stefan, but hiding in Elena's guest room forever wasn't an option. So, she sucked it up and decided to face whatever was coming. Somehow.

Eventually, she reached Alaric's classroom and was surprised to see Damon heading inside as well. If they were bringing him or Alaric into the mix, it had to be serious. Damon slipped into the room, with his doppelgänger close behind.

Inside, Stefan, Alaric, and Elena sat in silence, like mice in a trap.

"Sorry I'm late," Damon spoke whilst Angelina took a seat on top of one of the desk. "Dog ate my, uh- nevermind."

Angelina glanced around the classroom and noticed everyone else besides her and Damon sat there with gloomy expression. "Did someone die or-"

"I saw Isobel last night." Alaric blurted out.

As the vampire's name slipped out of his mouth, the brunette's eyes widened and her heart began to race. It took a moment for his words to sink in, but when they did, she panicked internally. If Isobel was back, Katherine was behind it. She wouldn't appear out of nowhere unless it meant trouble, aka her sister.

"Isobel's here?!" Damon exclaimed, just as shocked as she was. "In town?"

"Yep." The history teacher nodded.

"Did you ask her about Uncle John?" The vampire began to interrogate.

"No."

"Are they working together?"

"No."

"No, they're not?"

"No, I didn't ask."

"What about that watch John wanted?" Angelina went along with his interrogation simply out of curiosity. "Did she say anything about that?"

"Didn't ask."

"Have you done anything other than being completely useless?!" She scoffed, standing up from the desk and in front of Alaric with her arms crossed.

"No, I was a little too distracted by my dead vampire wife to ask any questions!"

"Well, what did she want then?" The raven haired vampire continued to quiz.

"She wants to see me, Damon." Elena spoke up after her long period of silence on her end.

"Alaric is supposed to arrange a meeting." Stefan spoke as well. "We don't know why or what she wants."

"You don't have to see her if you don't want to." Damon comforted the Gilbert.

"I don't really have a choice." Elena sighed, followed by a soft shrug. "She's threatened to go on a killing spree if I don't."

"Y'know, random thought, totally out of the blue." Angelina threw her arms in the air with a sarcastic smile painted all over. "I say, we kill the bitch."

"I like that idea." Damon agreed.

"What? No," The other doppelgänger protested against it. "Why would we do that?"

"Because it solves our problems, of course." She shrugged. "If Isobel miraculously shows up out of the blue to reunite with her long lost daughter who she's shown no interest in for the last 17 years, then there's obviously something much bigger coming along with it."

"I'm just suggesting a very good, and effective idea."

"We aren't going to kill Isobel." Stefan shook his head, receiving an eye roll from the brunette in response.

"Buzzkill."

"I want to do it," The Gilbert informed the group, adjusting her posture to sit up straight in order to make her point clear. "I want to meet her. If I don't, I know I'll regret it."

"And I'll come with." Stefan spoke. "Just to make sure you're safe."

"What exactly are you gonna do?" Angelina scoffed, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. "You just got off human blood after days of starving yourself, you aren't strong enough to save anyone."

"Angelina's right," Damon agreed, earning a smile from the brunette. "You're back to basic, boring, weak Stefan. Someone else has to go."

"I'll go." She shrugged. "I'm the oldest, strongest, and clearly the smartest." She remarked whilst giving a devious smirk.

"Fine," Stefan sighed heavily. "But we aren't killing anyone."

Angelina glanced over at Stefan and smirked. "I wouldn't dream of it."

The doppelgängers sat at the grill together, awaiting Isobel's arrival with anticipation running through their bodies. Stefan stood on the other side of the grill, keeping an eye on the two, and no matter how many times Angelina assured him that everything was fine, he refused to budge.

Throughout the wait, she was itching with excitement. The only reason she "offered" to kill Isobel solely to enrage Katherine. Out of spite, as some sort of retaliation. Nervously, the doppelgänger tapped her finger against the table with an impatient expression across her face while the Gilbert remained as quiet as possible though it was easy to tell she was stressing on the inside.

A tall dark figure suddenly appeared in front of both of the girls' eyes. Angelina looked up to see the one and only Isobel Flemming, who was smiling. As Isobel removed her jacket and placed it on the back of the chair across from the girls, she straightened her back.

Angelina could hear Elena's heart begin to race as Isobel sat down. She bit her lower lip and, with the sliver of kindness in her heart, rested her hand on her doppelgänger to comfort her. The brunette returned her gaze to hers, smiling softly and mouthing the words, "Thank you."

"Elena, Angelina." Isobel greeted the two, placing her hands on her crossed knees. "You two really do look exactly like each other, it's eerie."

"You've seen Katherine and I before, shouldn't be too shocking." Angelina remarked, forcing out a fake smile.

"You two've met before?" Elena furrowed her eyebrows, her lips slightly parting.

"Unfortunately."

"Her sister found me after I turned," The vampire explained. "Genetic curiosity, I suppose. She would be fascinated by you."

"Is that how you can walk in the day?" Elena pointed out a large black necklace around her mothers neck.

"Katherine helped me obtain it."

"Who's my father?"

"Not important." Isobel snapped, earning a small laugh from Angelina as she already knew the answer to that question. "He was a teenage waste of space."

"A name would be nice."

"It would, wouldn't it? You ask a lot of questions."

"Why did you compel that man to kill himself?" Elena continued to quiz. "Right after he told me to stop looking for you."

"Dramatic effect." She shrugged carelessly. "Wish it would have been more effective."

"Human life means that little to you?"

"Means nothing to me." The vampire shook her head. "It's just apart of being what I am."

Angelina fixed her gaze on Isobel. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that her humanity switch had been turned off. She'd met her before she turned it off, and she wasn't as heartless then as she was now. She felt sorry for Elena knowing that the only part of her mother she had met was the one who didn't care about her or anything else.

"No," Elena shook her head. "I know other vampire's, that's not true."

"Your boyfriend over there by the pool table?" Isobel pointed out Stefan who continued to stand on the other side of the room. "Stefan Salvatore."

"Why Stefan? Why didn't you go for Damon?" She inquired. "Or do you enjoy them both? Like Katherine did?"

A short awkward silence fell over the group. Angelina pursed her lips together and sighed heavily. "Way to make things awkward."

"Anyways.. what do you want?" She leaned forward and placed her hands on the table in order to get straight to the point. "Unless you want your head ripped off in the middle of the grill, I suggest you tell us now."

"I want what John wants." She replied. "Jonathan Gilbert's invention."

"How do you know my uncle?" Elena questioned.

"I used to spend a lot of time here when I was younger. John had a crush on me for years. He was the first one that told me about vampires."

"What made you want to be one?" She pressed further.

"It's a very long list of reasons, Elena," She told her, her voice sounding utterly monotone. "All of which I'm sure you've thought about."

Elena shook her head no and Isobel smiled. "That was your first lie. It's inevitable. You're gonna get old, Stefan won't. Forever doesn't last very long when you're human."

"Are you going to keep deflecting from the real conversation?" Angelina stood up from the table. "Because if so, I'll be leaving."

Isobel snatched a fork from the table and slammed it in her hand just as Angelina was about to leave. The doppelgänger winced in agony, fighting the urge to scream aloud to avoid drawing attention to them. Elena gasped, slapping her hand to her mouth as she stared in horror at her bloody hand.

"Sit down," Isobel snapped. "And tell Stefan to walk away." Angelina looked over at Stefan, who was approaching them, and shook her head to stop him. He came to a halt and stared at her for a few seconds as she sat back down to make sure everything was fine.

She returned her gaze and gave him a reassuring nod, prompting him to return to the pool table. She ripped the fork from her hand and set it to the side, wiping her hand with a napkin.

"If we aren't gonna get to the point, then fine." The brunette forced out a smile. "Where's Katherine?"

"Unimportant." She answered straightforwardly. "I'm not sure she wants you to find her anyways. She doesn't need you anymore."

Angelina bit her tongue, fighting every urge in her body to stop her from ripping the vampire's head off. "We don't have the invention, Damon does." She remarked.

"I know that, and you're gonna get it for me."

"Well I don't know if you've met Damon before, but the last thing he's gonna do is give it to me."

"But he'll give it to you," Isobel shifted her gaze to her daughter. "I'm sure of that."

"...And what if he doesn't get it?" The Gilbert sighed softly, trying to ignore her comment.

"Then the blood will be on your hands." She rose from the table and grabbed her jacket, wrapping it around her back. "It was nice to see you two." She remarked before walking away from them.

"Wish I could say the same." The vampire retorted, rose from her seat, and exited through the other door. She didn't want to spend another second in that hellhole, and she wasn't going to.

If Isobel wanted the invention, it meant something bad. Extremely bad. She needed to do everything she could to avoid Isobel getting her hands on it it. She didn't care if she was being petty in order to annoy Katherine. She desired for her sister to fail, regardless of the consequences.

And this was merely the beginning of their war.

AUTHORS NOTE
aw elena and angelina bonding 🙂
that isn't gonna last long at all

not that something bad happens haha x
goodbye