GILBERT HOUSEHOLD

If Isobel aimed to leave the trio speechless, she succeeded with flying colors as the three women stood frozen in disbelief, their wide-eyed gazes fixed on the unexpected visitor framed in the doorway.

Isobel seemed to revel in the stunned silence, her demeanor poised and self-assured despite the palpable tension in the air. "Hello, Elena. It's nice to see you again," she greeted, her voice smooth and composed. Her gaze then shifted towards Aella, a faint hint of disdain flickering in her eyes. "You, not so much," she added dryly, her tone laced with thinly veiled disdain.

Turning her attention to Jenna, Isobel's lips curled into a sardonic smirk. "Ah, so you're the woman who's dating my husband, Auntie Vanilla, right?" Her tone was mocking, each word dripping with sarcasm.

Jenna's lip curled in response, her tone cutting and defiant. "I'm pretty sure Ric, being your husband, ended the minute you chose to end your life and become a vampire willingly," she retorted, her voice tinged with icy resolve.

"Uh, yeah!" Aella chimed in, her voice brimming with sass as she bounced up behind Jenna's shoulder. "You remember the vow you said: till death do us part. You're dead, Lady. So you parteth," she quipped, shooting a questioning glance at Jenna as she added in a whisper, "Is that the right tense?"

Rolling her eyes at Aella's antics, Isobel cut through the banter with a hint of impatience. "Enough of this; I need to speak to Elena. May I come in?" Her tone was firm, leaving no room for argument.

Elena's expression hardened as she snarled at Isobel, her resolve unyielding. "Like hell, you will," she spat, moving to shut the door in Isobel's face.

Isobel's eyes widened in alarm as she moved to block the door, desperation creeping into her voice. "I need to talk to you, Elena," she urged, her tone tinged with urgency. Elena began closing the door, and Isobel shouted, "Klaus is coming for you, and I can stop him!"

As Jenna stepped forward, her hand slamming against the door to halt its movement, a tremor of uncertainty flickered across her features. "She's lying," Elena declared, her voice laced with suspicion.

Aella echoed Jenna's sentiment, her warning laden with caution. "Don't let her Cruel Intention you, Jenna," she cautioned, her tone filled with skepticism.

However, Jenna remained unfazed, her gaze unwavering as she fixed Isobel with a penetrating stare. "You can save Elena?" she questioned, her voice tinged with a mixture of hope and skepticism.

Isobel preened under Jenna's scrutiny, her confidence unwavering. "I can," she affirmed, her voice laced with assurance.

Jenna hesitated, her mind racing as she weighed her options. Finally, she made a decision, her mouth opened,

"-Isobel, I invite you in."

That was not Jenna's voice. Aella's eyes closed with a loud groan, "Not you."

Elena shot a scathing glare over her shoulder at her father, her voice dripping with disdain. "You've just made a huge mistake," she warned, her words heavy with implications.

John remained silent, offering no explanation for his actions, as Isobel's smirk faltered for a moment, a flicker of unease crossing her features. But Jenna was not finished yet; her gaze locked onto Isobel's, her expression steely. With a whispered threat hanging in the air, she issued a chilling warning. "You can kill me very easily, I know that. But if you are lying about any of this and your only intention is to hurt Elena, I will somehow do everything in my power to make sure you suffer, even if that means risking my life. Do you understand?" Her voice was low but resolute, her eyes blazing with determination.

Aella couldn't help but smirk as she watched Isobel's attempt to conceal the gulp that rose in her throat at Jenna's ominous words. With a final nod from Jenna, Isobel reluctantly stepped over the threshold into the house, and Jenna firmly shut the door behind her, sealing their fate.

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As the doorbell chimed, Aella sprang into action, swinging the door wide open to reveal Alaric. His breath came in heavy pants as if he had been racing against time. "Hey. Where is she?" he demanded urgently, his eyes darting around the room.

"Who?" Aella quipped back, her tone light and teasing as she waved him inside. "The psycho that won't stop fussing or the one you married willingly?" she added, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Alaric fixed her with a flat stare, his expression deadpan. "Isobel," he replied tersely, his impatience evident.

Aella's eyes widened dramatically in mock surprise. "Oh, that one," she exclaimed theatrically. "Isobel is currently sitting in the kitchen, trying her best to politely swallow the tea I made her or risk the wrath of Elena."

As Alaric made his way towards the kitchen, he paused and shot Aella a suspicious look. "What's wrong with the tea?" he inquired, a hint of concern creeping into his voice.

"Nothing," Aella shrugged nonchalantly, her tone casual. "It's just regular tea with a hint of milk that I found in the back of the fridge with last month's date on."

Alaric grimaced at the revelation. "And Jenna?" he pressed on, his brow furrowing in worry.

Aella leaned in closer, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "She's gone loco! She's moving things around and then moving them back and mumbling about some cheque from Carol Lockwood..." Aella glanced over her shoulder into the room Jenna was in, her expression one of bemusement. "I-I think we may have broken her."

"She's survived you all these years, Aella," Alaric remarked dryly, patting her shoulder with a wry smile before turning his attention back to Jenna. "I don't think my vampiric wife is even close."

Aella paused, a playful grin spreading across her face. "Aw, Ric. You say all the nice stuff," she praised, watching as Alaric opened the doors to the sitting room, revealing Jenna amidst her frenzy of rearranging furniture.

"Jenna," Alaric called out, his voice firm but gentle as he approached her, his arms outstretched in a gesture of peace.

Jenna shot him a scathing glare, her eyes blazing with frustration. "Get her out of my house, Ric. I am stress re-arranging; she is making me turn into my mother; get her out of my house," she demanded vehemently, her voice tinged with exasperation.

"You nearly invited her in," Aella chimed in sotto voce, earning herself a glare from Jenna.

Ignoring Aella's comment, Alaric moved closer to Jenna, his voice soft but firm. "Okay, listen. I can't begin to imagine what you must be feeling right now-"

"Rage..." Jenna interjected bluntly, her tone laden with anger. "...and more rage would pretty much cover it," she added with a scowl, shooting a pointed look toward the kitchen where Isobel was seated. "Plus, she is way prettier than you described her."

Aella, unable to resist a quip, waved off Jenna's frustration with a roll of her eyes. "No way, Aunt Jenna. She's a seven, and you're totally a nine-" Her gaze landed on the tequila bottle on the table, her eyes lighting up with mischief. "-Ten if you shared that bottle of tequila with me."

Alaric's concern deepened as he ignored Aella's playful banter, directing his attention back to Jenna. "Aella said nearly. How did Isobel get in?" he pressed, his tone edged with worry, reflecting the urgency of the situation.

Before Jenna could respond, Elena's arrival interrupted the tense exchange. Her expression was grave as she addressed the group, her voice tinged with urgency. "John wants to know when we can start?" she announced, her words cutting through the tension in the room like a knife.

Ric let out a heavy sigh, his answer inadvertently provided by Elena's question. Meanwhile, Jenna's frustration bubbled over as she directed her anger towards the kitchen. "Another reason my rage scale is at 100. That man invited her before I could shut the door in her face. I really hate him," she seethed, her voice dripping with disdain.

Glancing at her watch, Jenna issued a brusque command to Elena. "Tell him we'll start soon. I need you to go to the Lockwoods today and accept the Historical Society's cheque for your mom's foundation later," she instructed, her tone brooking no argument.

Elena's eyes widened in surprise at Jenna's abrupt decision. "You're not going?" she queried, her confusion evident.

Jenna's response was laced with bitter amusement. "Hah! I am going to buy pizza and two more bottles of tequila-" she declared, her voice tinged with manic energy as she shot a pointed look at Aella. "-No, Aella, you cannot have any- lock myself in my room and watch Bridget Jones Diaries on repeat while consuming the entire thing. Got it?"

Aella swayed with a smile, momentarily swept up in Jenna's infectious energy. "Awww, I love Bridget Jones. Can I join?" she asked eagerly, her enthusiasm bubbling over.

Jenna's smile faltered, and she leveled a serious gaze at the teen. "No. Now go talk, and then get that woman out of my house," she instructed firmly, her tone leaving no room for argument. With that, Jenna brushed past the trio and stomped up the stairs, disappearing into her room and slamming the door shut behind her.

As tension hung thick in the air, John emerged from the kitchen, offering his unsolicited opinion. "Let her go. It's better that she's not here. Looks like she's not as strong as she makes out..." he remarked, his words carrying a note of condescension.

Alaric wasted no time in responding to John's comment, striding purposefully towards him and delivering a swift punch to his face before continuing on into the kitchen without a backward glance.

Aella couldn't contain her excitement at the sudden turn of events, jumping on the spot as she clapped enthusiastically. "That was awesome!" she exclaimed, her eyes alight with excitement.

Elena raised a skeptical eyebrow at Alaric's actions, her expression a mixture of amusement and disbelief. "You know you totally deserved that, right?" she remarked dryly, her tone tinged with humor.

John grunted in response, holding his jaw tenderly as he nursed the blow he had received.

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"I asked John for a do-over."

Aella's gaze sharpened as she fixed Isobel with a piercing stare. "A do-over? This isn't a pop quiz that you failed epically at and get to resit it," she retorted, her words laced with a mixture of skepticism and disdain. "The last time you were here, you kidnapped Jeremy, crushed my friend's arm, and made my best friend cry. That's three strikes; you're out in my book, lady."

John shot Aella a stern look, his frustration evident. "She has information about Klaus," he interjected, turning his attention to Elena. "Please, just listen to her, okay?"

Alaric, ever the mediator, sighed deeply. "All right. What do you know?" he inquired, his voice tinged with a hint of weariness.

Isobel offered Elena a half-hearted smile before addressing the group. "Since I was last here, I've been doing everything possible to find Klaus," she explained, her tone tinged with urgency. "We knew our best chance was to find him before he could find you."

"And what's the best chance at?" Elena demanded, her voice dripping with skepticism.

John wasted no time in providing an answer. "Keeping you alive," he stated matter-of-factly, his tone tinged with a sense of urgency.

Aella couldn't help but interject, her sarcasm evident. "He sounded a bit too much like Danny Tanner for me then," she muttered under her breath to Elena, earning a roll of the eyes from her best friend.

Ignoring Aella's commentary, Alaric pressed Isobel for more information. "Were you able to find Klaus?" he inquired, his tone serious.

Isobel's response was cryptic, her voice tinged with uncertainty. "No," she admitted, her gaze flickering between the group. "But there are rumors... rumors that a doppelgänger exists."

Aella's brow furrowed as she regarded Isobel with suspicion. Something about the vampire's demeanor didn't sit right with her, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

John seized the opportunity to elaborate on Isobel's cryptic statement. "Which means any vampire that wants to get in favor with Klaus will be lining up to capture you," he explained, his tone grave.

Elena remained skeptical, her distrust evident. "I'm not buying any of this," she declared, her voice tinged with defiance. "The last time that you were here, you made it clear that you didn't give a damn about me. Now all of a sudden, I'm supposed to believe that you want to help?"

Aella couldn't help but agree with Elena's sentiment. "She makes a good point," she whispered to Alaric, her tone low.

John brushed off Aella's comment with a scoff. "Isobel's been helping all along," he insisted, his tone defiant. "Klaus has been obsessed with finding Katherine for centuries. All it would take was any one of those 1864 tomb vampires to spread the word around that Katherine was still alive, and it would bring him straight here to Mystic Falls, where you were bound to be discovered, so we killed them."

Aella's eyes widened in shock as she exchanged a bewildered glance with Alaric. "Wait a second," she interjected, holding up a finger in disbelief. "That whole thing with the council and ridding the world of vampires was just a ruse to keep Elena from Klaus?" she questioned incredulously. "Pearl, Harper, Caroline, Mayor Lockwood... they were just what? Casualties of war?"

Isobel's gaze bore into Aella, her expression unreadable. "He did it because I told him to," she declared, her words ringing with finality.

Aella jabbed her finger in Isobel's direction, her voice dripping with contempt. "You don't get to speak, Norma Bates," she spat, her words sharp and accusatory. Turning to John, she continued her tirade, her frustration evident. "And if you were so worried about Klaus, why didn't you tell us about him? Why did Elena have to be kidnapped by his brother before we knew anything about him? Before we even knew there was a Klaus?"

Elena nodded emphatically, her agreement echoing Aella's sentiments. "If you'd just told us straight from the beginning instead of all these lies, this manipulation, maybe we could trust you. But we can't."

Isobel rose from her seat, her expression pleading. "I have a safe house that I can take you to," she offered, desperation tinging her voice. "The deed is in your name. No vampires can get in without your permission, not even me. Let me help you."

Elena's resolve remained steadfast as she delivered her ultimatum. "You wanna help? Then get the hell out of my house."

Before John could interject, Aella stepped in, her tone firm. "She said get out."

John and Isobel hesitated for a moment, but the unwavering determination in Elena's gaze left no room for negotiation. With a heavy sigh, they acquiesced and exited the Gilbert house.

Alaric waited until they were gone before addressing the two girls. "Soooo? What do we do next?"

Aella's eyes widened in disbelief at his question. "We? No. We'll deal with this. You? You need to stop Jenna from destroying her liver over your dead wife returning."

Alaric opened his mouth to protest but then thought better of it, nodding in understanding before making his way to Jenna.

Elena watched him go, her expression troubled. "How exactly do we deal with this?"

"I don't know," Aella admitted with a shrug, rising from her seat as Elena remained seated. "But what I do know is that I'm meeting Stefan and Damon at the Martin House. It's time we stop thinking separately and start acting like a team."

Elena's gaze held a hint of desperation as she spoke. "Or I'm dead."

Aella paused her hand on the doorknob, considering Elena's words. "I was thinking that the Mystery Inc. badges become null and void..." She glanced back at Elena, her expression grave. "...but that's a good point too." With that, she exited the kitchen, leaving Elena to contemplate the gravity of their situation.

MARTIN HOUSEHOLD

The Martin household loomed before them, its facade bearing silent witness to the secrets harbored within its walls. As Damon swung the door open with characteristic nonchalance, Aella and Stefan followed closely behind. He gestured grandly into the doorway, a sardonic smirk playing on his lips. "Yep. Everybody's dead."

Aella shot Damon a pointed look, her eyes narrowing with a mixture of annoyance and amusement. "How do you still sound like a complete asshole when you're just entering a house?"

Damon merely shrugged in response, his smirk deepening. "A gift," he quipped, stepping over the threshold with an air of effortless swagger.

Stefan rolled his eyes at his brother's antics, offering a wry comment of his own. "Only you could manage to maintain your charm in the midst of a potential crime scene."

Aella's attention was immediately drawn to the array of grimoires scattered around the room. With an eager grin, she dropped to her knees, her fingers tracing the ancient spines with reverence. "Whoa, grimoire mother lode," she exclaimed, her excitement palpable.

Damon regarded her with mild incredulity, his lip curling in amusement, "Only you could get excited about a bunch of old books."

"These are not just old books," Aella retorted, her tone brimming with reverence. "These are like a piece of a witch's soul. Inside these books, this is how they lived, how they survived."

Damon couldn't suppress a scoff, his skepticism evident. "Can't have survived long if they're here," he remarked dismissively.

Aella shot him a glare, her eyes flashing with indignation. Before she could retort, Stefan interjected, his gaze focused on the lifeless form of Luka sprawled in the center of the room. "Am I the only one concerned about the body in the center of the room?"

While Damon rolled his eyes at Stefan's concern, Aella and Damon spoke in unison, their voices eerily synchronized. "He's dead, big woo."

Stefan's eyebrows shot up in surprise at their unexpected harmony. "You two have been spending way too much time together," he observed dryly.

Damon shifted his attention back to the task at hand, his expression growing more serious. "Why am I here?" he demanded, casting a disdainful glance around the desolate interior of the house.

Aella tore her gaze reluctantly from the grimoire she had been perusing, meeting Damon's gaze with a sense of urgency. "Because this is the only place I know that Katherine, Isobel, and John do not know," she explained, her voice tinged with a hint of apprehension.

Damon shrugged a single shoulder in acknowledgment while Stefan crouched next to Aella, "How's Jenna?"

Damon couldn't resist interjecting with his characteristic sarcasm. "How's Jenna?" he quipped on Aella's behalf. "Jenna is probably eating her weight in chocolate as she downs shots of tequila."

"Pizza," Aella corrected him with a nod. "But scarily accurate. Jenna is being Jenna, and Ric is looking after her. Meanwhile, we are here because Jonas was the witch Elijah was going to use to kill Klaus. In one of these 'bunch of old books' is the only thing that Jonas knew could kill Klaus. And from what I've pieced together, I gotta hand it to him; it's ballsy."

Damon narrowed his gaze at her, his skepticism evident. "I didn't know you and Father witch were so close," he remarked dryly.

Aella rolled her eyes at his tone, brushing off his comment with a flick of her hand. "I met him once. But Elijah and now Jonas are gone, and we have to figure this out together," she insisted, her tone serious as she surveyed the grimoires around them. "That one spell is somewhere here."

Stefan, who had remained crouched next to her, leaned in with interest. "Is this what Elijah shared with you?"

"Yeah," Aella confirmed with a nod. "It's why he needed those familiar with the town to show him certain areas that may be of use," she explained, her eyes flicking to Damon. "For example, where an extreme amount of energy converges. Sound familiar?"

Damon caught on quickly, a glint of understanding in his eyes. "Like the power you get from a spot marked with a hundred dead witches?"

"Bingo!" Aella confirmed, nodding in agreement.

Stefan, piecing together the puzzle, voiced his understanding. "Elijah wants to use the power against Klaus? To weaken him?"

Aella hesitated, the weight of her revelation heavy on her shoulders. "Yeah," she finally admitted reluctantly.

Damon, still grappling with the implications, voiced his confusion. "So why the big secret? Why risk everything by trusting Elijah?"

"B-Because it's not as simp-" Aella began, her words faltering as she struggled to articulate her thoughts. "It's not as simple as that. Klaus is different."

Stefan's confusion mirrored Damon's, but Aella's reluctance raised a red flag. "Elijah was different, but we dealt with him," Stefan pointed out.

Aella let out a sarcastic laugh, her frustration was evident. "Yeah, with the exception that if anyone removes the dagger from Elijah's chest, Damon and I will be the next Rose and Trevor!"

Damon, tired of the dance, settled across from her with a grunt, "So? Spill the beans, pixie," he demanded.

Aella groaned in annoyance. "I hate that name."

"I know," Damon smirked in response.

Stefan, growing impatient, urged her to continue. "Aella... You're stalling."

Aella's pout was met with Stefan's steady gaze. "That's because you both are going to be soooo annoying when you find out," she muttered, her eyes darting between the brothers. "And I can already see these looks you both get, which totally shows how you're brothers. It's like the left eye squints a tiny bit smaller than the right one, but they both narrow and then the brow raises an—"

"Aella!"

"Klaus is Elijah's brother," Aella blurted out at their shout.

The weight of Aella's revelation hung heavy in the air as Stefan and Damon processed her words, their expressions turning incredulous as the truth sank in. Aella, sensing their disbelief, awkwardly continued to dig her own grave, her attempts at levity falling flat in the tense atmosphere.

"Not just his brother, his middle brother. And I'm sure you're thinking - after the whole Aella, how dare you keep this a secret mindset - you are now thinking, middle brother? How can he be the middle brother if it's just the two of them? Well, guess what?" Aella laughed uneasily, but the brothers remained unnaturally quiet, their steely gazes fixed on her. "There's more of them. And not just one more of them; there are three more. Two boys and a girl. Congratulations, we have triplets!"

No one laughed, no one blinked, and still Aella continued uncomfortably. "And there's more." She closed her eyes, bracing herself for their reaction, before waving a hand at the brothers with a groan. "I know! I know. I'm a terrible person, but Elijah was adamant. I swear to tell no one, or he wouldn't tell me, and I really needed to know more because as much as I get on at Caroline for being a gossip whore, I really am one too, you know?"

Stefan glanced over at Damon, his expression a mix of disbelief and frustration, as Aella rambled on, her eyes still shut tight. Damon rubbed his brow harshly, a sign of his growing impatience, as Aella's words poured out in a torrent of nervous energy.

"And I love gossip. I love when we find out things at school like Misty H. stole Misty J.'s boyfriend, and now neither of them is talking, yet they do synchronize swimming, and it is really becoming a struggle when the captain and co-captain aren't talking, so one's doing the crane position, and the other is doing the flamingo position when really they both need to be doing the side-tail fish position!" Aella's eyes snapped open at her own confession, her breaths coming in rapid succession from the strain of talking so fast. "Boy, that really came outta my mouth a little too easy."

Somehow, Stefan knew that wasn't all of it. "Aella," he prompted, his voice steady but firm.

"Stefan," Aella repeated childishly, biting her lip nervously under his scrutinizing gaze.

Stefan raised a brow, silently urging her to continue, and Aella stiffly confessed, "Klaus is not only a vampire; he's also a werewolf." Damon's eyes widened in shock at the revelation. "Which means that Klaus is a hybrid, deadlier than any werewolf or vampire to have ever existed..." A tear slipped from Aella's bright green eyes, her voice trembling with emotion. "...ever."