Kenzie Gilbert: The Brave Twin (2)

3: Roadtrip To Duke

~Here we are, chapter 3 already. CAN WE DO 8 VOTES & 4 COMMENTS?! 😀😀

Chapter Three

"Thanks for coming, Ric," Stefan called out as Damon opened the door for Ric. I was over the Salvatore's with Elena and we had invited Alaric over to talk.

"Can I get you something to drink? Coffee, bourbon, bourbon in your coffee?" Damon offered Ric, shutting the door behind him.

I was sitting on the couch between Elena and Stefan who was clearly stressed. I was rubbing his back with one hand while the other held my warm cup of coffee. "Elena mentioned you needed my help," Ric said.

"Yeah," Stefan muttered. Ric took a seat across from Stefan on the love seat while Damon settled to stand to the side. "We were, uh, hoping you could help shed some light on the Lockwood family."

"Now why would I know anything about the Lockwoods?" Alaric frowned in confusion.

"Well, you wouldn't," Damon chimed in, taking a seat in an arm chair to the side of us all, but closer to Ric's seat. "But your dead-- Not-dead vampire wife might."

"Isobel's research from when you guys were at Duke together," Elena clarified while I sipped on my coffee, still tired.

"You said that she had spent years researching this town," Stefan added, sitting up a bit so I moved my hand and let it rest on his thigh, which I gripped gently and comfortingly. I needed some type physical contact with him.

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

"Like that amazing vampire story," Damon smirked.

"Aside from vampires, what else?" Elena questioned.

"The lycanthrope," Alaric answered.

My eyes snapped to his and off my cup of coffee. "Wait, like werewolves?" I grinned.

"No way. Impossible," Damon said. "Way too Lon Chaney."

"Is it?" Stefan asked.

"I've been on this planet 160 some odd yeas, never come across one," Damon pointed out. "If werewolves exist, where the hell are they?"

"Why do you suspect the Lockwoods?" Alaric questioned.

"Because vervain didn't affect the mayor on Founder's Day, the Gilbert device did. And it affected his son Tyler," Damon explained to him.

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

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

"Well, all of her things are still at Duke. Ahem. I mean, her office is still there. She's technically still missing," Ric replied.

"So can we get access to it?" Damon asked. Ric didn't respond. "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. 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."

***

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Stefan asked me as I was packing a bag for the day, to roadtrip with Damon, Elena, and Alaric to Duke.

"Which part? Digging through my birth mother's lifework or going to Duke with Damon?" I asked him, pausing after throwing a jacket into my bag.

"Heh, either. Both," he said, sitting on the edge of my bed, his back turned to me.