The Owl Gilbert

2:3: Duke To Look

I'm sitting on the couch in between Stefan and Elena; Stefan on my right side and I'm holding a warm coffee mug in both hands, and we see Damon and Alaric walk into the living room. "Adam and Elena mentioned you needed my help." Alaric says. "Yeah, we were hoping you could help shed some light on the Lockwood family." Stefan says as Dad sits in front of us. "Now, why would I know anything about the Lockwoods?" Alaric asks. "Well, you wouldn't. But your dead, not-dead vampire wife might." Damon says. "Isobel's research from when you guys were at Duke together." I say. "You said that she had spent years researching this town." Stefan says. "Isobel's research here in Mystic Falls rooted in folklores and legends but at the time I thought much of which was fiction." Alaric says. "Like that amazing vampire story." Damon says. "Aside from vampires, what else?" Elena asks. "Lycanthrope." Dad says. "Wait, like werewolves?" Elena asks. "No way, impossible, way too Lon Chaney." Damon says. "I told you guys it was werewolves." I say. "I've been on this planet one hundred and sixty some odd years, never came across one. If werewolves exist, where the hell are they?" Damon asks. "Why do you suspect the Lockwoods?" Dad asks. "Because vervain didn't affect the mayor at Founders' Day but the Gilbert device did and it affected his son Tyler." Damon says. "And at the school carnival his uncle Mason exhibited inhuman behavior when he fought with one of the carnival's workers. It suggests it's some sort of a supernatural entity." Stefan says. "We were hoping that Isobel's research could help us figure it out what it is." I say. "Well, all her things are still at Duke. I mean her office is still there. She's technically still missing." I say and sip my warm coffee. "So can we access it, Papa Smartass?" Damon asks and Dad sighs. "Ric, we need to know what we are dealing with. If this wolfman thing is true, I've seen enough movies to know it's not good. It means Mason Lockwood is a real life Lon Chaney and that little Tyler punk may just very well be Lon Chaney junior, which means Bella Lugosi, meaning me, is totally screwed." Damon says.

I'm walking out to Dad's car and see Damon, Stefan and Elena. "Sorry you can't come, too, Stef." Damon says as I set my bag in the open middle seat on the far left. "Call me if you need anything. Both of you." Stefan says as Elena and I look at him smiling, and we smile back. "Oh, I'll take really good care of these two." Damon says, smirking at us, and we see Elena kiss Stefan; trying to make Damon jealous. "Want a goodbye hug, Adam?" Stefan asks as Elena laughs, and I get in the car. "Ok. Time to go." Damon says as I buckle up and Elena gets in, and Stefan shuts the door behind her with his right hand.

Alaric is driving down the road to Duke. "How you two doing back there?" Damon asks. "Leave them alone." Dad says. "You know, this whole pretending to hate me thing is getting a little silly." Damon says to Elena. "I don't think she's pretending. You did kill her brother. And I don't know why my son isn't as mad at you as she is." Dad says. "There is a huge asterisk next to that statement. He came back to life." Damon says. "Yeah, thanks to a ring that you didn't know he was wearing." Elena says. "What makes you so sure I didn't know?" Damon asks. "Did you?" I ask and Damon looks back at us. "Yes." He says. "You're lying." She says. "Elena, I saw the ring! It's a big tacky thing. Hard to miss." Damon says.

We soon arrive to Duke University. "So Isobel was officially employed by the anthropology department given that most paranormal phenomenon is rooted in folklore." Dad says and we walk into an office, seeing a woman with dark hair. "Excuse me, hi. I'm Alaric Saltzman, I called earlier." He says. "Yes, of course. I'm Vanessa Monroe, research assistant, comparative folklore." She says, shaking hands with him, and looks at Elena and I. "Let me just grab Isobel's keys." She says. "These are my friends Elena and Damon. And my son, Adam. I hope this isn't too much of an imposition." Dad says. "Oh please, Isobel's office is right through there." Vanessa says and she collects the keys from the desk with her right hand. "Isobel was one of my first professors. I'm a grad student. She was brilliant, and one of the reasons I went into folklore. Uh, I have to ask.. has there been any news?" She asks. "No, I'm afraid not." Dad says. "It's right this way." She says as we follow her inside after she unlocks the door, and we walk into a huge office. "I'll grab the light, feel free to look around. It's fascinating isn't it?" Vanessa says and walks off. After a long pause. "Where'd she go?" Damon asks as we're looking around and I turn around to see her holding a crossbow, pointed at me as I gasp and she launches it, and Damon dashes in front of me, taking the hit and falls, and see Dad pushing Vanessa to the wall.

We're still in Isobel's office as I have my right hand on the arrow in Damon's back. "Pull it out. I can't reach it, Adam. Just pull the damn thing out. It hurts." He says and I grab the arrow with both hands, and pull it out, and toss it on the table, and he straightens up, shaking himself back to normal. "That bitch is dead." He says, turning around to look at me. "You're not gonna kill her." I say. "Watch me." He says and walks past me, and I turn around to look at him. "You touch her and I swear I will never speak to you again." I say and turns around, looking at me. "What makes you think that has any power over me? Because I took an arrow in the back for you? You're severely overestimating yourself." He says. "Do I look like Elena? I'm actually your friend." I say and cross my arms at him, and we see her walk over to us. "Right. I forgot that I was speaking to a psychotic mind who snaps and kills people impulsively. Fine, go ahead, do whatever you want." Elena says. "Not helping." I say to her. "You're trying to manipulate me." Damon says. "If by 'manipulate' you mean 'tell the truth" okay, guilty." Elena says.

We walk out of the office to see Dad and Vanessa, as she's sitting in her chair. "I'm Elena Gilbert and this is my half brother, Adam. We're Isobel's children and descendants of Katherine and Dimitri Pierce. And this is Damon Salvatore who you just shot." Elena says. "I'd be extra nice to me right now." Damon says, smiling at her. "Look, we need your help ok? We need to see all of Isobel's research, anything related to Mystic Falls." Elena says.

We're in the office, looking through boxes and Vanessa walks over to us with a box. "This box checks Katherine's and Diarrival to Mystic Falls in April eighteen sixty four." She says. "Is that all that there is about them?" Elena asks. "All that I'm aware of." Vanessa says and Elena slips her vervain. "Here. Take this." She says. "Does vervain really work?" Vanessa asks and I nod. "Nope, not at all." Damon says. "Can he hear us?" Vanessa asks. "No, that would be creepy." Damon whispers. "Can he read minds, too?" She asks. "You know, if you want to see me naked, all you have to do is ask." Damon says, looking at us, smiling. "No, that he can't do. He is very capable of being a first rate jackass." Elena says.

I'm with Elena as we're going through old papers in the same box. "Any luck?" Damon asks, appearing behind us. "There's nothing in here about Katherine or Dimitri that we don't already know." I say. "Ah, man, you know, it's a bummer we're not friends anymore because I could tell you what I know, Elena." Damon says. "Now who's manipulating who?" She asks. "Hey, guys. Check this out." Dad says and we walk over to him as he hands Vanessa a book. "There's no record of werewolf mythology in Mystic Falls, but here are some records of some of the lesser-known legends. Everything from Scandinavian skin-walkers to the Maréchal de Retz." She says, handing me the book of drawings. "Tonartsliitsii Metslii, which roughly translates into the--" Vanessa says and I interrupt her. "The curse of the sun and the moon." I say. "It's Native American." Dad says. "Aztec." I say. "It explains one origin of the werewolf curse traced through Virginia. The short story. Six hundred years ago, the Aztecs were plagued by werewolves and vampires. They terrorized 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, who's ever unlucky enough to fall under the werewolf curse turns into a wolf." Vanessa says. "Can they control the transformation?" Damon asks. "If it were a choice, it wouldn't be called a curse. Werewolves will attack humans but instinct and centuries of rivalry have hardwired them to hunt their prey of choice. Vampires." Vanessa says. "Well, if werewolves were hunting vampires, I would know about it." Damon says. "Not if there aren't that many werewolves left alive. Hundreds of years ago, vampires hunted them almost to extinction." Vanessa says. "Why would they do that?" I ask. "To protect themselves. Legend has it that a werewolf bite is fatal to vampires." Vanessa says. "Oh." We all say at the same time.

We're still in Isobel's office. "Hey, have you done any research on doppelgängers?" Elena asks and we all look at her. "Well, the word means a lot of different things to different cultures, but typically a doppelgänger is a living, breathing double of oneself." Vanessa says. "Did Isobel have anything that explained the link between Adam, Dimitri, Katherine and I?" Elena asks. "That's all she had on Katherine and Dimitri, unfortunately. But I can tell you that doppelgängers usually torment the people they look like, trying to undo their lives. It's not exactly uplifting." Vanessa says. "Who would want to have my boring, nerdish life?" I ask and we all laugh. "And more things we already know. Just.. I want to know why we look alike." Elena says. "Head scratcher, isn't it?" Damon asks. "Do you know something, or are you just being yourself?" Elena asks. "Well, if I know anything, I'm not gonna tell you, not with that attitude." Damon says. "That's good, Damon, and this is coming from someone who wants to be my friend, but you know what? Friends don't manipulate friends, they help each other." Elena says.