Chapter 3

I went to the Grill right after we got back to Elena's house. There is a Fundraiser for the Founder's Day Celebration. I walked inside and sat down at an empty table with no one there. I looked on up and saw my dad on stage. I sighed and rolled my eyes as I listened.

"Moving on. Number 4, 'Alaric Saltzman.' Wow. That's quite a mouthful. What do you do, Alaric? " Mrs. Lockwood asked.

"I'm a teacher at Mystic Falls High." He answered with a smile.

"Oh, beauty and brains, ladies. This one's a keeper. What do you teach?" She asked him.

"History." He answered.

"History. Oh, well, give us a fun fact about Mystic Falls, something crazy." Mrs. Lockwood asked.

I noticed my dad's focus shifted from the question to someone else in the room. I looked to see who he was looking at and it was Damon. Damon placed his hand up to his ear, sarcastically anticipating a response.

"Uh, wel." Mrs. Lockwood pulled the microphone away from him.

"He's probably saving the best stories for his date.

" She smiled and my dad moved out of the way for the next person.

"And last, but not least, Damon Salvatore." He came on stage. My dad joined me at my table.

"We don't have much on you." I turned to my dad.

"Hey, at least we know someone will bid on you." I said to him. We looked at a couple tables over and saw Jenna smiling as she talked to Elena. That brought a slight smile to his face. I smiled, and Damon continued to speak.

"Well, I'm tough to fit on a card." Damon said smirking. "Do you have any hobbies, like to travel?" Mrs. Lockwood asked.

"Oh, yeah. L.A., New York. 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?" Damon asked with a smirk.

My dad looked over at him.

"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 mmm." I stood up and ran to the door, tears coming out of my eyes.

"Myra!" I heard my dad call out. I ignored him and ran outside. I walked to the back of the Grill and started pacing around.

"He killed her? Damon was the vampire that killed her?" I heard Elena ask. I looked up at her and nodded as I wiped my tears.

"Oh my god." She said as a tear came out of her eyes. I sighed and stood up.

"They never found the body, Elena." I told her.

Suddenly, Stefan came out of the Grill and joined us.

"Stefan ..." Elena started. "I know. I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you. But I just-I wanted to know more." He said apologetically.

"I was feeling sorry for him, hoping that this whole Katherine thing would change him. I'm so stupid." Elena said angrily.

"He doesn't know about the connection to you. I thought about confronting him, but he's already so on edge." Stefan said.

"Why are you protecting him?" I asked angrily. They both looked at me.

"Yeah, I get it, he's your brother. But, he's not really acting like one."

"Because Elena's not the only one hoping that he might actually change." Stefan said sighing. I shook my head and started to walk back inside, but I looked across the street and saw a man that I recognized from earlier. I stopped walking.

"That man." I said in fear.

Elena came and stood next to me. She then recognized the man.

"We saw that man outside of Trudie's." Elena said.

I nodded.

"Both of you, get back inside. Come on." Stefan said.

I listened and walked back inside the Grill, with Elena and Stefan behind me. I saw the sadness on Elena's face and I stopped her.

"Elena, it'll get better. And at least there was one good thing that came out of this." I told her. She nodded and smiled.

"I have a sister." She said smiling. I nodded and brought her into a hug. I sighed in slight relief and pulled away, giving her a slight smile. We started walking, but we both bumped into someone. When I saw who it was, anger builded up in my body.

"Whoa. Easy there. Buy a ticket like everyone else." Damon said with a smirk.

"Did you enjoy that? Rubbing it in to Alaric Saltzman and his daughter?" Elena asked.

"What? He has a daughter?" He asked confused.

"Myra Saltzman. What a displeasure to meet you." I said with a fake smile as I crossed my arms.

"Just as I was starting to think that there was something redeemable about you." Elena said scoffing. Stefan walked up to us and looked at Damon with mad eyes.

"Am I missing something here?" Damon asked confused.

"Did I forget to mention earlier when we were talking about my birth mother? The one that gave me up?" Elena asked.

"Mm-hm." Damon hummed.

"Her name was Isobel." Elena said angrily. Damon's face faltered.

"Go ahead. Reminisce about how you killed her." Elena said angrily. She rammed into Damon's shoulder as she walked past him. She walked inside, and I sighed and followed her.

"Elena, do you need a ride?" I asked her. She suddenly stopped abruptly when she saw something. I looked at what she was looking at and saw the man from earlier standing in front of us.

"I have a message for you two." He said looking at us.

"What?" Elena asked.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Stop looking." He said.

"Stop looking for what?" Elena asked confused.

"She doesn't want to know you. She doesn't want to talk to you." The man told us.

"Isobel?" Elena asked. "No, there's no way. She's gone." I said confused.

"You both need to stop looking. Do you understand?" The man asked.

"She's alive? Does that mean she's a-" I started inching forwards, but an arm in front of me stopped me. I turned to see Stefan holding his arm out in front of me.

"He's under compulsion." Stefan said.

"Do you two understand?" He asked again. I looked towards him.

"Yes. I do." Elena said. The man looked at me.

"Is my mother alive? I need to know." I said on the brink of tears.

"Do you understand?" He yelled.

"Myra.." Elena said looking at me. I sighed.

"Yes. I understand." I said, letting it go.

"Good." He said. The man looked down the street.

"I'm done now." The man stepped backwards into the road.

A large truck blared its horn but ran over the man, killing him. Elena, shocked, grabbed Stefan. I put my hand over my mouth in shock. After the truck went by, I ran into the middle of the street. People around me were yelling. I kneeled down and looked at the man. I saw a phone that must have fallen out of the man's pocket and picked it up. I stood up and walked back to the sidewalk. .

"Elena, I found something." I told her. I held up the phone and showed her. I let her see the phone before she gave it back to me.

"So, do you think Isobel's alive?" Elena asked, still shaken up from what happened moments ago.

"I don't know. But, I'm gonna find out." I said. I looked at Stefan.

"Get her out of here." I told him.

"Are you gonna be alright?" He asked me. I nodded. Just then, my dad storming out of the Grill. He didn't notice I was there because he kept walking.

"I gotta go." I said.

I followed my dad, not knowing what he was about to do. He got in his car and started driving. I ran to my car and started driving as I followed him from a distance. He arrived to what looked like a mansion but smaller. He got out of the car with a stake in his hand. I pulled into the driveway and parked after he went into the house. I groaned and grabbed a gun with wooden bullets along with a stake. I put the stake in my back pocket. I locked my car and walked to the back of the house. I looked inside one of the windows, and I saw my dad trying to sneak up on Damon. Damon was finishing up his drink and turned around to face him. Damon placed his glass down and vamp-sped at my dad and threw him across the room. He landed on the floor with a thud, but quickly got back up, ready to attack.

'I gotta get in there.' I thought to myself.

I backed up and saw a window on the second floor that was wide open. I smiled and tried to climb up the side of the house. When I successfully reached the window, I climbed inside. I found myself in a bedroom, and I quietly walked to the door. I tried my best to open the door as quietly as I could, and when I did, I slipped past the door and started walking towards the stairs. But, I could hear my dad and Damon talking.

"Oh, come on. What do you think happened? Not an inkling? Never considered the possibility?" I heard Damon say before he paused.

"I turned her."

"Why?" My dad asked.

"She came to me. All pathetic, looking for vampires. There was something about her, something I liked. There was something special." Damon said, and I could hear he was smirking in his voice.

"You turned her because you liked her?" My dad asked confused.

"No, I slept with her because I liked her. I turned her because she begged me to. Yeah. But you knew that, too, didrn't you? Hmm. I guess she wasn't happy at home, wasn't happy with life in general, wasn't happy with you or your little girl. " I heard movement going on, so I looked in the room they were in and saw my dad rushing to Damon. Damon grabbed the stake from my dad's hands and stabbed him in the chest. He yelled in pain.

"Ah, this is a shame. We're kindred spirits, abandoned by the women we love. Unrequited love sucks." Damon removed the stake from my dad's chest and he wheezed.

"Sounds like I got a lung. Which means I get to sit here and watch you die." I loaded the gun and turned to Damon before shooting him in the leg with the wooden bullets.

This caused him to fall to the ground. I dropped the gun and grabbed the stake from my pocket and held it towards him as I moved closer to him.

"Ah, if it isn't the mysterious huntress. You know, I'm surprised you could sneak up on me. Your dad could learn a lesson from you. Oh wait, he can't." He said smirking. He quickly vamp-sped and took the wooden bullets out of his leg before he pinned me against the wall with his hand wrapped tightly around my throat. I struggled to breath as he tightened his grip.

"Damon!" I heard someone yell from behind us. I looked to see Stefan.

"Let her go." "Oh, look it's Stefan and his hero hair. Give me one good reason I should." Damon said as he tightened his grip again. It was becoming harder and harder to breath.

"Because she's Elena's sister and if you kill her, Elena will hate you for the rest of her life." Stefan said.

That seemed to do the trick because Damon let go of me, letting me fall to the floor. I gasped loudly as I tried to get my breath back. I felt a gust of air around me, and I looked around to see I was in Stefan's arms. I sighed and looked at my dad. I knew he wasn't dead, but it was still upsetting to see him like this. Stefan kneeled down to him and checked his pulse to find nothing.

"What happened? What did you do?"

"Do what? He attacked me. And then she attacked me." Damon said looking at me with anger. Stefan sat up and looked at him.

"Damon." Stefan said gritting through his teeth.

"All I did was tell him the truth. Isobel didn't want him or her anymore. It's not my fault he couldn't handle it." He said looking at me.

"Like you've been handling Katherine?" Stefan asked. At that name, I stiffened up, but I don't think anyone noticed how tense I was.

"I'm handling it fine. You know what? Isobel came me. She found me. And if she's related to Elena, that means she's related to Katherine. Maybe Katherine sent her to me." Damon concluded.

"Stop it. You don't have to keep looking." Stefan told him.

"Can't be a coincidence Isobel sought me out. Uh-uh. Can't." Damon said. He pointed to my dad.

"I'm assuming you'll take care of this. Oh, and little mysterious huntress, sorry for killing your daddy." He said with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes and watched as Damon left the room. I sat down on the nearby couch. I looked over at Stefan, who was already looking at me.

"Thank you for helping me. He probably would've killed me." I said rubbing my neck.

"No problem. And I'm really sorry about your dad. Do you need anything?" He asked with concern.

"No, what I need is for my dad to wake up already." I said sighing. Stefan looked at me confused.

"He's dead. He's not gonna wake up." Stefan told me with concern.

"Just wait for it." I told him. As if on que, my dad's fingers move, and he gasped back to life, panting heavily.

"What happened? What's going on?" My dad asked.

"You were just..Did Damon turn you?" Stefan asked.

"No. I-I went for him and then he, uh-- he stabbed me." My dad said standing up.

"No, no, no. You must have vampire blood in your system. Somebody slipped it to you." Stefan said confused.

"No. It's, uh, it's something else." My dad said flexing his fingers.

"Then how?" Stefan asked.

"I, uh ..." My dad couldn't find the words to explain it.

"My mom." I told him.

"That ring protected him." I said pointing at the ring.

"That's impossible." Stefan said with wide eyes.

"I know." I said sighing. Then, my dad looked at me.

"Hey, did Damon hurt you?" He asked concerned.

"Yes, and I would've died if Stefan didn't stop him." I told him. My dad looked at Stefan.

"Thank you for saving her." He said as he held out his hand. Stefan shook his hand.

"It's no problem." He said.

"And, I'm sorry for Damon. He doesn't have much control over his anger."

"Yeah." I said. I looked at my dad.

"We should get going." He nodded and we both walked out the house. Once we were by our cars, I turned to him.

"That was incredibly stupid."

"What?" He asked.

"Going after a vampire for revenge." I yelled.

"And if you didn't have that ring, you'd be dead. So please, stop getting yourself into trouble." I said. I got in my car and drove off. I got to the house first and walked to my room. When I laid down on my back, I felt something under me. I grabbed it and saw the phone I took from the man that was run over. I opened the phone and found the last number that was dialed. Before I could change my mind, I called the number and placed the phone to my ear. After a few rings, someone picked up on the other end.

"Was there a problem? Did you find them? What's going on?" I heard my mom say. I sighed in relief as tears slipped from my eyes.

"Mom?" I asked with hope that she would answer me. But, she didn't. She hung up without another word. I shut the phone with tears in my eyes as I cried.