═════════════════

" Thanks for coming, Ric " Stefan said as Damon let Alaric in.

" Do you want something to drink? Coffee? Bourbon? Bourbon in your coffee " Damon asked.

" Alia mentioned you needed my help " Alaric said.

" Yeah, we were hoping you could help shed some light on the Lockwood family " Stefan sighed as Alaric said down opposite Alia, Stefan and Elena.

" And why would I know anything about the Lockwood's " Alaric asked.

" Well, you wouldn't.....but your dead.....not-dead vampire wife might " Damon said as he sat down.

" Isobel's research from.....when you guys were at duke together " Elena added.

" You said that she spent years researching this town " Stefan said.

" Isobel's research here in Mystic Falls was.....rooted in folklore and legend, at the time, I thought most of which was fiction " Alaric sighed.

" Like that amazing vampire story " Damon said.

" Aside from vampires, what else? " Alia asked.

" The Lycanthrope " Alaric replied.

" Wait....like werewolves " Alia asked confused.

" No way....impossible, way too Lon Chaney " Damon said.

" Is it? " Stefan questioned.

" I've been on this planet 169-some-odd years, never come across one " Damon said " If werewolves exist, where the hell are they? ".

" Why do you suspect the Lockwood's? " Alaric asked.

" Because vervain didn't affect the mayor on founders day but the Gilbert device did......and it affected his son Tyler " Damon replied.

" And at the school carnival, his uncle Mason exhibited......inhuman behaviour, when he fought one of the carnival workers " Stefan added " It suggested some sort of a supernatural entity ".

" We were hoping that Isobel's research could help us.....figure out, what it is " Elena said.

" Well, all of her research things are still at duke...I mean her office is still there, she's......technically still missing " Alaric replied.

" So can we get access to it? " Damon asked.

" 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 " Damon said " It means 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 ".

═════════════════

" Sorry, you can't come too, Stef " Damon taunted with a mocking pout as he leaned against the car door with Alia next to him.

Elena glared at Damon as she threw her bags into the open window of the car.

" Call me, if you need anything " Stefan said to Elena as she turned to him.

" Oh, I'll take really good care of her.....and Alia " Damon smirked.

Elena then pulled Stefan into a kiss as Alia scrunched her face and got into the car and put her headphones on and grabbed her sketch book out.

" Okay, time to go " Damon said annoyed as he got into the car, Stefan opens Elena's door and let her in.

═════════════════

Alia and Elena are sitting with Alia drawing in her sketchbook in the back of Alaric's car wanting badly to get to duke faster with her headphones on playing music.

" how are you two doing back there.......you know, Elena this whole pretending to hate me is getting a little silly " Damon said.

" I don't think she's pretending " Alaric said.

" you killed Alia " Elena said anger in her voice as she crosses her arms.

" there was a huge asterisk next to that statement......she came back to life, " Damon defended.

" thanks to the ring that you didn't know she was wearing, " Elena said.

" why are you so sure I didn't know she was wearing the ring? " Damon asked.

" did you " Elena said.

" yes " Damon said.

Elena gives him a look while saying " you're lying ".

" I saw the ring it's a big tacky thing, kinda hard to miss, " Damon says, Elena rolls her eyes putting her head on Alia's shoulder taking one of the earphones out of Alia's ear putting it in her own as Alia looked at the man she was drawing with a smile.

═════════════════

" So Isobel was officially employed at the anthropology department......given that most paranormal phenomena is rooted in folklore " Alaric said as he, Alia, Elena and Damon walked into the building.

" Excuse me, hi, I'm Alaric Saltzman, I called earlier " Alaric said to a woman standing by a file cabinet.

" Yes...uh, of course, I'm Vanessa Monroe, research assistant, comparative folklore " Vanessa said shaking Alaric's hand, she then looked both Alia and Elena down " Just let me grab Isobel's keys ".

" Sorry, these are my friends, Damon, Alia and Elena.....I hope this isn't....too much of an imposition " Alaric said.

" Oh please, Isobel's office is right through there " Vanessa said pointing to a door before going behind the desk to grab the keys " Isobel was one of my first professor's, I'm a grad student......she was brilliant and one of the reasons, I went into folklore.....I have to ask, umm.......has there been any news? ".

" No, no, I'm afraid not " Alaric replied.

" It's right this way " Vanessa said as she walked to one of the doors and opens it and Alia, Elena, Alaric and Damon walked in behind her " I'll grab the light, feel free to look around, it's fascinating, isn't it? " Vanessa said before walking away.

" Where did she go? " Damon asked as Alia and Elena looked at one of the bookshelves.

Suddenly Vanessa walked in with a crossbow in her hand and pointed it at Alia and Elena, Alia gasped as she fired it and Damon quickly moved in front of Alia before it hit her and groaned, when it pierced his back, Alaric quickly shoved Vanessa against the wall and grabbed the crossbow.

═════════════════

" Pull it out, I can't reach it Elena, just pull the damn thing out it hurts " Damon said as he leaned against a desk with Alia and Elena behind him.

" Oh, for gods sake " Alia cursed and shoved Elena aside and pulled the arrow out.

" That bitch is dead " Damon smirked after he recovered.

" You're not killing her " Alia said standing in Damon's way.

" Watch me " Damon smirked as he walked past her.

" You touch her and I'll never forgive you for what you did to me " Alia declared.

" And what makes you think that has any power over me? " Damon replied as he turned around to face her.

" You really wanna test that theory? " Alia smirked.

" Fine, I won't touch her.....who knew you could be so manipulative " Damon sighed.

═════════════════

Alaric shoved Vanessa on a couch outside Isobel's office

" Please, I freaked, okay, you would have done the same thing, it is not possible that the girl from the drawing is still alive and Katherine Pierce can't be alive and Damon Salvatore died in 1864, okay, I read Isobe's research " Vanessa exclaimed.

" Well, then you should know just how possible this is " Alaric said before turning when he heard the door open and Alia, Elena and Damon walked out.

" I'm Elena Gilbert and this is my younger sister, Alia Gilbert " Elena said to Vanessa " I'm Isobel's daughter and a descendant of Katherine Pierce ".

" And this is Damon Salvatore, who you just shot " Alia continued.

" I'd be extra nice to me, right now " Damon added.

" Look............we need your help, okay, we need to see all of Isobel's research, anything related to Mystic Falls " Elena said.

═════════════════

" This box tracks Katherine's arrival to Mystic Falls in April of 1864 " Vanessa said as she carried a box over to Elena and Alia.

" Is that all there is about her? " Alia asked.

" All that I'm aware of " Vanessa replied.

" Here, take this " Elena said giving Vanessa some vervain.

" Does vervain really work? " Vanessa asked and the girls nodded.

" Nope, not at all " Damon yelled from the other room.

" Can he hear us? " Vanessa whispered.

" No, that would be creepy " Damon said in a whisper as Alia rolled her eyes.

" Can he read minds too? " Vanessa whispers again.

" You know, if you wanted to see me naked, all you have to do is ask " Damon smirked.

" No, that he can't do......he's just very capable of being a first rate jackass " Alia sighed.

Elena and Vanessa smiled as Damon gave her a look.

═════════════════

" Any luck? " Damon asked Elena and Alia, who were both looking through papers.

" There's nothing in here about Katherine that we don't already know " Elena sighed in frustration.

" Oh man, you know, it's a bummer......we're not friends anymore, Elena, because then I could tell you what I know " Damon taunted to girls.

" Now who's manipulating who? " Alia asked mockingly with raised eyebrows.

" Hey guys, look at this " Alaric said showing a book to Vanessa, who grabbed it as Damon and the sisters walked over to them.

" There's no record of werewolf mythology in Mystic Falls but here are some records of some of the lesser know legends " Vanessa said as she handed the book to Alia, who looked through it " Everything from..uh...Scandinavian skin-walkers to the MarÂchal De Retz " Alia then handed it to Damon as Vanessa continued " tonartsliitsii metslii, which roughly translates into ' the sun and moon curse ' ".

" That's Native American " Alaric said as Elena grabbed the book from Damon.

" Aztec, it explains one of the origins of the werewolf curse traced back to Virginia " Vanessa added " The short story: 600 hundred years ago.....the Aztecs were plagued by werewolves and vampires, they terrorised the countryside, made farming and hunting impossible, until an Aztec Shaman cursed them, 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's who's ever unlucky enough to fall under the werewolf curse turns into a wolf ".

" Can they control the transformation? " Damon asked.

" If it were a choice, it wouldn't be a curse " Vanessa replied " Werewolves will attack humans but instinct and centuries of rivalry...have hardwired them to hunt their prey of choice......vampires ".

Alaric, Damon, Alia and Elena all looked at each other.

" Well, if werewolves are hunting vampires, I would know about it " Damon said.

" Not, if there aren't that many vampires left alive " Vanessa replied " Hundreds of years ago, vampires hunted them almost to extinction ".

" Why would they do that? " Alia asked.

" To protect themselves, legend has it that a werewolf bite is fatal to vampires " Vanessa answered.

" Oh " Damon said as they all looked at each other.

═════════════════

Elena was outside calling Stefan about what they learned.

" Alia, there's something I wanna show you " Vanessa said as she walked to the girl.

" What is it? " Alia asked as she followed Vanessa and the woman pulled out a folder.

" Look for yourself " Vanessa said as she opened it.

Alia pulled out a piece of old and worn out paper which contained a detailed drawing of her, she picked up bunch of other ones, which also contain a drawing of her with the initials ' K.M ' and different dates on them.

" How do you have these? " Alia asked confused.

" Isobel found them, she thought some old vampire drew them " Vanessa said and Alia nodded as she continued to look through the drawings that looked exactly like her.

" Can I keep this? " Alia asked.

" Yeah, yeah....course " Vanessa said.

═════════════════

" Hey...umm, have you done any research on doppelgängers? " Elena asked.

" Well.......the word means a lot of different things to different cultures but typically a doppelgänger is a living, breathing double of ones self " Vanessa answered.

" Did Isobel have anything that'd explain the link between me and Katherine? " Elena asked.

" That's all she had on Katherine, unfortunately " Vanessa said causing Elena to sigh and Vanessa stood up " But I can tell you that......doppelgängers usually torment the people they look like......trying to undo their lives, it's not exactly uplifting ".

" And more things we already know " Elena sighed in frustration " Just...I wanna know, why we look alike ".

" Head scratcher, isn't it? " Damon sighed.

" Do you know something? Or are you just being yourself? " Elena snapped.

" Well, if I know anything, I'm not gonna tell you.....not with that attitude " Damon said as he walked over to Elena.

" That's good, Damon......and this is coming from someone who wants to be my friend " Elena said as she turned to Damon " But...you know what? Friends don't manipulate friends.....they help each other ".

═════════════════

Alia walked up to the car with the folder filled with drawing of her clutched tightly in her arms, she rolls her eyes and her sister and Damon and shoved passed them into the car and puts her headphones in and closed her eyes, after a while she felt Elena sit next to her and leaned against her shoulder and Alia leaned her head against her sisters.

═════════════════

Alia was sitting on her bed looking though all the drawing, there was a lot more than she thought, she smiled as she looked at them and wondered, who drew them.

" Mar, how did today go? " Jeremy asked and Alia turned to him.

It was alright, don't worry to much about it " Alia said.

" You know I'm the older twin right.....it's me that's supposed to protect you " Jeremy laughed.

" We protect each other " Alia smiled.

" What's all this? " Jeremy asked as he picked up one of the drawing of her.

" I don't know...it was in one of Isobel's research files, one of Isobel's students said that Isobel thought some old vampire drew them " Alia replied.

" But how this looks like it was drawn ages ago " Jeremy said.

" I don't know, but let's just not worry about it " Alia said as she packed up all the drawings and placed them on her art desk.

" Yeah " Jeremy sighed as he got under the cover of Alia's bed.

Ever since Alia had died, Jeremy had been quite protective and he would sleep in her room to make sure she's safe.

" Night, Remy " Alia smiled as she got under the covers.

" Night, Mar " Jeremy smiled and wrapped an arm around her.

═════════════════

𝐀/𝐍:

𝐇𝐢𝐢,

𝐒𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬
𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞

𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐮𝐲𝐬 𝐱𝐱