❝ 🪦‧˚꒰ ೯﹙ 𝗦𝗜𝗫 𝗙𝗘𝗘𝗧 𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥 ﹚- ୭౿ ❞
ꗃ ⊹ ࣪ ˖ ﹙ NEVER LEAVING YOU ﹚˖ ࣪. ࿐
𝗦𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗢𝗡 𝗢𝗡𝗘 ━━━ 𝖤𝖯𝖨𝖲𝖮𝖣𝖤 𝖳𝖶𝖤𝖭𝖳𝖸-𝖮𝖭𝖤
𝘐𝘚𝘖𝘉𝘌𝘓 ╱ ╱ ⋆⭒˚.⋆

❝ SO, THESE ARE the specs for the history department.❞ Alaric spoke to his students, giving Anastasia a weird look as she clung to Tyler even though he was siting in the chair at the round table, "For the Founders' Day float we'll be recreating the Battle of Willow Creek. Tyler has been nominated at the head of the production design."

"By who?" Tyler asked, glancing down at his and Anastasia's hands at the two played "Thumb war".

"By me." Alaric tells him, "I've seen your sketches and they're good."

"I'm not really into the...." Tyler trailed off.

"Well, you just pick your team, be creative and.....don't screw up." Alaric noticed Elena, "Anastasia, come with me."

"Uh, oh, Ellie's in trouble." Matt teased the girl.

"Shut it, Blue Eyes." She shoved his head to the side as she stood up from Tyler's lap. "Ask Matt. Make up with him." She whispered into Tyler's ear as she walked away with the history teacher.

"Hey, Mr. Saltzman." Elena spoke as he and Anastasia walked by her and Stefan.

"Come with me. We need to talk." He tells her, tugging on Anastasia's wrist.

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

"DAMON, THANKS FOR coming." Alaric greeted the male as he walked into the classroom.

"Sorry, I'm late. My dog ate my uh....never mind." Damon looked over to where his daughter, Stefan and Elena stood, "What's with all the furrowed brows?"

"I saw Isobel last night." Alaric tells him.

"Isobel is here?" Damon asked, Alaric nodding. "In town?"

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

"DID YOU ASK her about Uncle John? Are they working together?" Damon asked the history teacher.

"No."

"No, they're not?" Damon questioned.

"Didn't ask."

"Did she know about the tomb vampires?"

"I don't know."

"Did words completely escape you?"

"No, I was a little too distracted by my dead vampire wife to ask any questions." Alaric said as Anastasia leaned into him just a little as a sign of comfort.

Damon turned to Elena." What did she want?"

"She wants to see me, Damon." Elena tells him.

"Alaric is supposed to arrange a meeting." Stefan said to his brother, "We don't know why or what she wants."

"You don't have to see her if you don't want to." Damon tells her.

Anastasia raised an eyebrow at her father.

"I don't really have a choice." Elena said to him.

"She's threatened to go on a killing spree."

"Oh! I take it that's not okay with you guys." Damon said.

"I want to do it. I want to meet her." Elena said, "If I don't, I know I'll regret it."

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

"CAN THE TWO of you hear me?" Elena asked from the table she sat at, noticing Anastasia and Stefan nodding from where they stood at the pool table, "I'm happy that you're both here. I love you."

Stefan mouthed the words back to his girlfriend as he turned to look at his niece, "I'm not going on easy on you, hope you know that."

Anastasia rolled her eyes at her uncle with a smile on her face, "Please, I can beat you with my hands tied behind my back."

"Hello, Elena." Isobel sat at the table in front of Elena, "You look just like her, that's eerie."

"You've met Katherine?" Elena asked her.

"She found me after I turned. Genetic curiosity, I suppose. She would be fascinated by you."

Elena looked at the necklace Isobel as wearing, "Is that how you can walk in the day?"

"Katherine helped me obtain it."

"Who's my father?" Elena asked her.

"Not important. He was a teenage waste of space."

"A name would be nice." Elena said.

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

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

"Dramatic impact. I wish it would have been more effective." Isobel said.

"Human life means that little to you?" Elena asked her birth mom.

"Means nothing to me. It's just part of being what I am."

"No, it's not. I know other vampires, that's not true."

"Your new boyfriend over there by the pool table with his niece? Stefan Salvatore and Anastasia Salvatore. Why Stefan?" Isobel asked, "Why didn't you go for Damon? Or are you enjoying them both like Katherine did?"

Elena looked shocked by the question while Stefan had an uncomfortable look, and Anastasia had a frown on her face.

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

"WE SHOULD BE in there." Damon said from here he and Alaric were sitting across the street.

"No. Isobel made it clear we're not to step foot inside." Alaric tells him.

"I'm not going to kill her in a crowded restaurant." Damon said.

"You're not gonna kill her period!" Alaric exclaimed.

"She ruined your life and you still want to protect her?" Damon asked.

"She's my wife." Alaric caught the look that Damon sent him, "Was my wife. I looked for the woman I married, but she wasn't there. Whoever that is, she's cold and detached."

"Yeah, she's given up her humanity."

"Yeah, see, I don't get that. Stefan and Anastasia have their humanity and they are good people." Alaric tells him, "And you're a dick and you kill people but I still see something human in you. But with her there was.....nothing."

"You can turn it off, like a button you can press. I mean, Stefan and my daughter are different. Anastasia would only turn it off if someone she loved very much died. She hates being left." Damon said, "Stefan wanted the whole human experience. He wants to feel every episode of "How I Met Your Mother", so he shuts his feelings out. The problem is, as a vampire, your instinct is not to feel. Isobel chose the easier role - no guilt, no shame, no regret. I mean, come one, if you could turn it off, wouldn't you?"

"You haven't."

"Of course I have, Ric, it's why I'm so fun to be around."

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

"WHY DID YOU want to meet me? Can't be to just catch up."

"Because I'm curious about you. But the real reason is ; I want what your uncle wants. Jonathan Gilbert's invention."

"How do you know my uncle?"

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

"So what made you want to be one?"

"It's a very long list of reasons, Elena. All of which I'm sure you've thought about."

"No."

"That was your first lie. It's inevitable you're going to get old. Stefan won't." Elena looked over at him as Isobel spoke, "Forever doesn't last very long when you're human."

"I'm sorry but I don't have what you're looking for." She moved to get up, but Isobel reached out and grabbed her arm, forcing her to sit back down.

"Sit down." Isobel tells her, "And tell your boyfriend and his niece to walk away. I want the invention."

"I don't have it."

"I know that but Damon does." Isobel tells her, "And you're going to get it for me."

"He's not going to give it to me."

"Then the blood will be on your hands." Isobel said before she left.

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

"I HAVEN'T SEEN Anna around lately." Anastasia said to her boyfriend as they walked around the school, hands intertwined.

Jeremy shrugged, "Shouldn't that be a good thing? Now, I don't have to worry about her intruding date night."

"Date night?" She raised an eyebrow as he throws an arm over her shoulder.

Jeremy shrugged, "Yeah. One day out of the week for the two of us to be together, no supernatural anything. Elena!"

"Hey, have either of you seen Stefan?" Elena asked the couple. "I need to find him. And I need to borrow your girlfriend."

"No, not lately. Listen, do you have a second?"

"Yeah, what's up? What's going on?" Elena asked as the three kept walking.

"Not that I actually care, but Anna hasn't been following me around lately, which is strange 'cause she's always there to mess something up that I have going with Stacie."

"I haven't talked to her, Jer." Elena tells her brother.

"Are you lying to me right now?" Jeremy questioned her.

Elena glanced at Anastasia, "Why would you say that?"

"Cause that's what you do. Lying. You lie about everything." Jeremy tells her, "I know what Anna is, same with Anastasia, and I know that you know. So tell me, do you have an idea where Anna is?"

"No, but Jer...."

"I'll see you later." Jeremy leaned down to peck Anastasia on the lips, "I love you."

"I love you."

"Jeremy, wait! Jeremy!" Elena called after her brother as he walked away. Both girls turned around finding Isobel behind them, "Isobel. What are you doing here?"

"I'm your mother, Elena. I want to be more involved in your life." Isobel tells her.

"I don't want you in my life."

"I understand that. You already have a lot of people that you care about, but I've been studying. Let's see if If got this right." Isobel turned to look at Bonnie, "There is the witchy best friend, Bonnie. Gonna stay away from that one." She turns to Jeremy, "Oh....sad little brother, Jeremy. Dating the vampire girl." She turns to Caroline, "And there's Caroline.....obnoxious Caroline. I got all my info from her by the way. She had no idea who I was and she wouldn't stop yapping. Oh..." She looks over at Matt, "And there's Matt. Friend, ex, yappy's future ex. Lots of connections there."

"Matt is not involved in this."

"He's involved with you, isn't he?"

"Look you shouldn't be here. You need to leave." Elena tells her.

"No, I have some friends here, too. Look, you see that man over there, standing next to Matt by the float? His name is Frank, he's very handsome and he's also quite handy and he noticed tat the axis are a little rust, which is very dangerous. So, all you have to do is apply a little bit of pressure and....."

"No!"

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

ANASTASIA AND ELENA watched as the vampire jumped onto the trailer, bringing it down and right onto Matt's arm.

Elena tried to run towards him, but Isobel grabs her arm and holds her in place.

"Get this trailer!" Matt yelled out, "Come on, guys, help me."

"Give me a hand!" Tyler yelled, running over with a few other people to lift the trailer up, Stefan included.

"Caroline call an ambulance." Stefan tells the blonde who had rushed to her boyfriend's side.

"Why are you doing this?" Elena cried.

"I'm showing you how easy it is to hurt the people that you care about." Isobel tells her.

"And you're doing this just because of Jonathan Gilbert's invention?"

"Hand it over and all will be stopped."

"I told you, Damon is not going to give it to me." Elena tries to tell her.

"I think you underestimate how much Damon cares about you." Isobel said, "Both of you."

"He's my father, you dumb bitch." Anastasia spat.

"He'll kill you before he gives it up."

"Is that before or after I kill your brother, Jeremy?" Isobel asked.

Elena and Anastasia turned quickly to find Jeremy gone.

"Jeremy!" Elena called out, Stefan looking over at them.

"Jeremy!" Anastasia called out for her boyfriend, spinning around to grab Isobel's arm as she tries to get away, sending a sharp pain up the vampire's brain, "I guess you forgot to get the little information about me being a witch from Caroline, seeing as she doesn't know about that. But let me tell you one thing, if anything is to happen to Jeremy before I find him, so help you God, bitch, that I will hunt you down and tear you limb from limb, starting with your head. But do you want that to be before or after I call one very important person?" Anastasia leaned down to Isobel's level, whispering one word to her which sent a tsunami of fear throughout Isobel's body, "Niklaus."

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

"WHERE'S THE DEVICE?" Bonnie asked as she, Stefan and Elena sat in Alaric's classroom, Anastasia having gone with Matt and Tyler to the hospital to check on his arm.

"Damon has it. He's going to be difficult to reason with." Stefan said.

"We'll go to him." Elena said, "I'll talk to him."

"He's not just gonna hand it over, especially if it's harmful to vampires." Stefan says, "Meaning he's not going to give us something that will harm his daughter."

"What if it's not?" Elena asked, the three of them looking at each other.

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

"ABSOLUTELY NOT." DAMON shook his head as everyone know stood in the den at the boarding house, Anastasia included.

"Just hear me out." Elena tells him.

"I'm not going to give the device to Isobel so she could give it to John who is going to turn it to kill me, and my daughter. I like being a living dead person." Damon tells her.

"Me too." Anastasia held her hand up, shrugging as her uncle shoots her a look, "What? I do."

"But it'll be useless." Elena says, "Bonnie can take its power away."

"I don't trust her."

"I can remove the original spell." Bonnie said, "And without El, I've been practicing."

"John and Isobel will never know."

"No, I'll get Jeremy in my own way." Damon said.

"Really? How are you going to do that?" Stefan asked his brother, "Because Isobel is a vampire and Jeremy could be dead the second you walk in the door."

"I don't want my boyfriend dead, Dad." Anastasia turns to her dad, Damon's eyes softening a bit at his daughter, "No another one."

"Are you even up for this?" Damon asks Bonnie, "I mean no offence, you're no Emily Bennett. Emily knew what she was doing."

"I've been practicing." Bonnie repeats.

"It's not piano lessons, honey."

"What's your favorite book?" Bonnie asked him.

"What?"

"Name a book, any book."

"Name a book." Damon looks around, "How about 'Call of the Wild', Jack London."

Bonnie turns towards the library and concentrates. A book flew off the shelves and Damon caught it.

"Jack London. Great parlor trick." Damon said, "It was the first spell Eloise learned when she was eight years old."

"We're doing this, Damon." Elena said, "And we're doing it my way. Now give me the device. We're wasting time!"

"I don't trust you." Damon looked at Bonnie, "I tried to kill you."

"You're right. You can't trust me."

"But you can trust me." Elena held her hand out.

Damon looks at them, "No."

"Dad, please." Anastasia spoke, and blue eyes locked with green eyes, "Please? I just want Jeremy to be safe. I love him, daddy."

Damon's eyes grew soft once more, everyone could see it, as he slapped the device into the palm of Elena's hand. He walked over to his daughter and kissed the top of her head.

"Thank you." Anastasia smiled.

"Anything for you, baby."

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

JEREMY WALKED TOWARDS John, both of them still being in Isobel's home, "Here you go." He hands him a towel.

"Thank you."

"What is she after?" Jeremy asked.

"Your ancestor invented a weapon -- a device that's extremely harmful to vampires and we've been trying to get it."

"Why?"

"Because there's a group of vampires from a long time ago that wants revenge on this town." John tells him.

"But why - why would a vampire help you kill other vampires?" Jeremy asked, worried for his girlfriend.

"She has her own reasons for wanting them dead." John shook his head, "Look, Jeremy, no one ever thought vampires would return to this town. Not in modern times, but they have and we have to destroy them."

"All of them?" Jeremy thought to Anastasia, "No, there are some good ones out there."

"There's no such thing."

"I don't believe that."

"Well, your dad did." John said, "And as his son, that should be something to you."

"How did my father know about all this?" Jeremy asked.

"Who do you think told me about the family history?"

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

ANASTASIA STOOD NEXT to her father as he hummed loudly as they all watched Bonnie at the table, who wanted to do the spell without Anastasia's help.

"Done." Bonnie spoke after she did the spell, giving it to Elena.

"Great, now what?" Damon asked.

"Now we give it to Isobel."

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

ELENA STOOD IN the middle of town square, waiting for Isobel.

"Where's the device?" Isobel stood behind her.

"Where's my brother?"

"This isn't an negotiation. Where is the invention?"

"Where's my brother?" Elena asked again.

"Do you really think that I came alone?" Isobel asked as Frank and Cherie stood behind Elena.

"Did you really think that I came alone?" Elena asked.

Stefan, Damon and Anastasia showed up behind Isobel, Isobel's eyes showing just a bit of fear as Anastasia titled her head to the side with a smirk on her face.

"For God sakes, call home." Isobel tells Elena.

"What?"

"Call home and asked to speak to your brother, Jeremy."

Elena glanced at Anastasia, who nodded. Elena pulls her phone out and dialed her brother's number.

"Hello?" Jeremy was the one to answer the phone.

"Jeremy, are you okay?" Elena asked him.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Uncle John hit his head. It as an accident." Jeremy said.

"We're all laughing!" Jenna called out.

"But yeah, I'm okay."

"I'll be home soon, alright?" Elena asked.

"Yeah. Oh! Bring Stacie when you come." Jeremy says before he hung up.

"You were never going to hut him." Elena looked back at her birth mother.

"No, I was going to kill him. Don't look for an redeeming qualities in me." Isobel said, "I don't have any."

"But you took a risk with Damon. How did you know that he as going to give it Stacie?" Elena asked.

"Because he would do anything for his daughter."

Elena gives Isobel the device, "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For being a monumental disappointment. It keeps the memory of my real mother perfectly intact." Elena tells her.

"Goodbye, Elena. As long as you have a Salvatore on each arm, you're doomed." Isobel said, "But I'd keep Anastasia around, she's got connections in higher places."

"I'll be happy to send them your way." Anastasia says, "One of them owes me."

"Katherine was smart. She got out." Isobel says, "But we all know that you're not Katherine."

"C'mon." Damon wrapped his arm around his daughter as the two walked away from Elena and Stefan who stood hugging, "I'll drive you to Jeremy."

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

"JEREMY, WE HAVE to talk about this." Elena came into her brother's bedroom from the bathroom, glancing at Anastasia who sat against Jeremy's bed with a book in her lap and a bored expression on her face.

"No, we really don't."

"I don't know what Anna or Stacie told you." Elena glanced at the vampire again, "But there are things that you need to know."

"Yeah? Because I'm pretty sure your journal covered it all." Jeremy stood up to stand in front of his sister.

Elena looked at him in shock, "You read my journal?"

"And save me the speech about invasion of privacy because I read a section about Damon erasing my memory, about what happened to Vicki." Jeremy said, "And Stacie pieced the rest of it back together for me."

Elena looked over at Anastasia in disbelief beofre looking back at her brother, "Jeremy, please, you don't understand. The night that Vicki died, it was like mom and dad died all over again. It was all over your face and it hurt so much to see you like that. I just wanted to take away your pain. I'm so sorry."

"Just get out."

"No, Jeremy-,"

"Elena! Just get out. Please." Jeremy tells her.

Elena sighed, walking back into the bathroom before turning around, "Jer, I..."

Jeremy grabbed the handle of the door, pulling it closed and making sure to lock it.

Leaning his back against it, he turned his head to look over at his girlfriend.

"Come here." She sat the book down and held her arms out for the boy to crawl into, resting his head against her stomach as she ran her fingers through his hair.

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

THE SHOWER RAN as Anastasia laid in Jeremy's bed, waiting for him to get out of the shower before the two of them went to sleep for the night.

"Anastasia."

The green eyed girl turned her head to find Anna standing by the window, "What are you doing here, Anna?"

"I know you don't like me, but I - I didn't know where to go." Anna cried.

"Hey, hey." Anastasia got up from the bed and wrapped her arms around the girl, "What happened? What's wrong?"

"My mother." Anna sobbed, "She's dead."

"What?"

"Someone killed her."

"I'm sorry."

Jeremy walked out of his bathroom, sending a confused look in his girlfriends direction but she only shook her head, holding the sobbing girl tighter to her.

Even if she didn't like Anna, she knew what it felt like to lose someone.

Anastasia knew what it was like to lose people.

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

"SO, YOU'RE NOT going to tell me what happened?" Caroline asked as she and Bonnie sat in the Grill.

"I didn't something bad, Caroline, and I lied about it." Bonnie told her.

"To who?"

"To Elena. To Anastasia. I pretended to do something I didn't really do." Bonnie said.

"What are you talking about?" Questioned a confused Caroline.

"I couldn't do what she wanted me to do. It wasn't right. Grams would have never done it, so I couldn't either." Bonnie says, "But when Elena find out, she's never going to forgive me."