𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐁𝐄𝐋
do no harm, but take no shit

THE door to the classroom opened, revealing Damon Salvatore. "Sorry I'm late, my dog ate my, uh..." Damon stopped when he saw their faces. "What's with all the furrowed brows?"

"I saw Isobel last night," Alaric stated.

Damon looked confused at that, asking, "Isobel's here? In town?" Alaric nodded and Damon looked over at the twins before walking over to the windows, asking, "Did you ask about Uncle John?" He looked at the teacher. "Are they working together?"

Alaric shook his head and said, "No."

"No, they're not?"

"No, I didn't ask."

"What about the invention?" Damon questioned.

"Didn't ask."

"Does she know about the tomb vampires?"

"I don't know."

Echo let out an exaggerated breath. "I'm disappointed in you, Ric."

"Did words completely escape you?" Damon asked, now standing in front of Alaric.

"No, I was a little too distracted by my dead vampire wife to ask any questions," Alaric snapped.

"What did she want?" Damon asked.

Elena sighed. "She wants to see me and Echo, Damon."

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

"You don't have to see her if you don't want to," Damon said, looking between the twins. His eyes mostly on Echo.

"We don't really have a choice," Echo stated. "She's threatened to go on a killing spree."

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

"O and I already talked about it," Elena started, "We want to do it. We want to meet her. If we don't, we know we'll regret it."

Echo nodded and stated, "This might be our one chance."

LATER that night, Echo and Elena sat in the Grill, waiting for Isobel. The waitress walked over and placed the twins' drinks down in front of them.

"Can you hear me?" Elena asked, looking over at Stefan, who stood over by the pool tables. He nodded and Elena said, "Thanks for coming."

Suddenly, a woman appeared in front of them, and Echo and Elena knew by the picture Alaric had given them, that this was Isobel.

Isobel took off her coat and placed it on the back of her chair before sitting down. The twins' hands linked under the table as Isobel smiled at them and said, "Hello, Elena." She looked at Echo. "Hello, Echo." She then stared at Elena. "You look just like her. It's eerie."

"You've met Katherine?" Echo asked before rolling her eyes. "Of course you did."

Isobel nodded and said, "She found me after I turned. Genetic curiosity, I suppose. She would be fascinated by you, Elena. But I can tell she would love Echo."

Echo rolled her eyes. "Well, I hate her, so..."

"Is that how you can walk in the day?" Elena asked, looking at the necklace around Isobel's neck.

The woman looked down at her necklace, saying, "Katherine helped me obtain it."

"Let's get to the fun questions," Echo said, leaning forward. "Who's our father?"

"Not important," Isobel said. "He was a teenage waste of space."

"Much like you?" Echo retorted. Isobel was the kind of vampire she hunts, so she wasn't feeling regret when the words left her mouth. "You can't just waltz in, ruin everyone's lives that they have fought to have e.i Ric who is actually an amazing person, better off without you." She scoffed. "And, to be honest, you shouldn't be surprised to be faced with anger. You're threatening innocent lives just to talk to people who dont give a shit about you. Like, come on."

Isobel smiled and said, "Katherine would definitely love you."

"I don't care. I want his name," Echo snapped, her eyes cold.

"You ask a lot of questions," Isobel stated, amused.

Elena shook her head, asking, "Why did you compel that man to kill himself right after he told us to stop looking for you?"

"Dramatic impact," Isobel said with a shrug. "Wish it would have been more effective."

"Human life means that little to you?" Elena asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Means nothing to me," Isobel said with a smile, "It's just part of being what I am."

The twins shook their heads, saying, "No. It's not."

"We know other vampires," Elena simply stated, shaking her head. "That's not true."

"You mean your boyfriend over there by the pool table?" Isobel asked, "Stefan Salvatore. Why Stefan? Why didn't you go for Damon? Or do you enjoy them both, like Katherine did?"

"Okay, listen here, you selfish bitch," Echo snarled, leaning forward, shocking Isobel. "Elena may look like Katherine, but she is not her. So, if you say anything rude or demeaning to me or my sister ever again, we are leaving. Now get to your point." She slammed her fist down on the table harshly.

"I'm curious about you two," Isobel said after a second as Elena held Echo's hand tightly, trying to keep her calm, "But the real reason is I want what your Uncle wants — Johnathan Gilbert's invention."

"How do you know our Uncle?"

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

"So, what made you want to be one?" Elena asked.

Isobel shrugged and said, "It's a very long list of reasons, Elena, all of which I'm sure you two have thought about." Elena shook her head and Isobel said, "That was your first lie. It's inevitable. You're gonna get old. Stefan won't. Forever doesn't last very long when you're human."

"We don't have what you're looking for," Echo told her before Elena stood. Isobel grabbed Elena's arm, saying, "Sit down and tell your boyfriend to walk away."

On instinct, Echo grabbed Isobel's arm, and bent it so far in the wrong angle, it snapped. Isobel let out an angered growl, grabbed Echo's arm, and gripped it so hard in the same spot John had, that it made Echo wince.

"Do not touch me, again," Isobel demanded, leaning closer to her, allowing her core face to show. "I will kill you and everyone else in this stupidly named bar."

"Okay, okay!" Elena exclaimed. "We'll sit and listen to you. Stop hurting her, please."

Isobel smirked before roughly shoving Echo in her seat. She slowly took her spot again and looked at the twins. "I want the invention."

"We don't have it," Echo snapped, trying to not touch her arm which felt like static from how hard it was being grabbed.

"I know that. But Damon does. And you two are gonna get it for me," Isobel ordered.

Echo scoffed and said, "He's not gonna give it to us. I will make sure he doesn't, he listens to me."

"Then the blood will be on your hands," Isobel said before standing and grabbing her things, "It was nice meeting you two."

Echo clenched her jaw as the woman walked away, and Elena stood as she saw Bonnie walk into the Grill. But Bonnie stopped walking towards the sad Gilbert twins when she noticed Stefan behind them. Elena turned and looked at Stefan before turning to look back at Bonnie, who simply turned and walked away.

ECHO and Elena walked into an empty classroom the next day to meet Bonnie.

Elena walked over and hugged Bonnie, making the witch smile. When Elena pulled back, Bonnie said, "Thanks for meeting me. I wanted you two to see this."

"Is that Emily's spell book?" Elena asked, seeing the book on the table.

Bonnie nodded. "I've been going through it since Grams died. Check this out." Bonnie pointed at the page, pointing out the compass.

"That's the vampire compass," Echo said in confusion.

Bonnie nodded her head. "According to Emily, Johnathan Gilbert never actually succeeded in inventing anything. Emily secretly spelled them all with magic- compass." She flipped the page. "Rings." She turned the page again. "And the mystery device you told me about."

"Yeah, that's it," Echo said with a nod. "Well, part of it. Damon only has the one piece."

"Emily pledged her loyalty to Katherine," Bonnie explained. "But she couldn't stand by and watch innocent people get killed. This was the only way she could think of to help — to let Johnathan Gilbert believe he'd actually invented these devices."

"Does it say what it does?" Elena asked.

Bonnie bent down and read the page for a minute before standing up, and asking, "Are you sure this is what Isobel wants?"

"Yeah, we're sure," Elena said with a nod. "Why?"

"This is a weapon," Bonnie explained, "Against vampires."

Echo and Elena shared a confused look.

WHILE Elena went to go find Stefan, Echo went to find Caroline, and she found her on top of the Miss Mystic Falls float.

Echo walked up to her, and Caroline smiled, standing as she exclaimed, "You came!"

Echo smiled and hugged her tightly, saying, "Of course I did."

"Come help," Caroline said, handing Echo a hammer and some decorations. "Are you okay?" She asked as they started fixing the decorations on the float.

Echo went to speak when she heard her sister scream, "No!" And then Matt's scream was heard.

Echo and Caroline immediately ran down the float, rushing over to the truck to see Matt pinned down. Some of the football players were trying to pick the truck up, but Stefan appeared, and simply pushed it up, releasing him.

He sat up as they lowered the truck to the ground, and Stefan said, "Caroline, call an ambulance." She nodded and pulled out her phone as Echo looked around. She saw Isobel standing beside her twin sister, and immediately walked over, and pulled her sister behind her as Elena asked, "Why are you doing this?"

"I'm showing you two how easy it is to hurt the people that you care about," Isobel stated.

Echo narrowed her eyes and asked, "You're doing this just because of Johnathan Gilbert's invention?"

"Hand it over and the fun will stop."

"We told you, Damon isn't gonna give it to us," Echo snapped.

"And I think you underestimate how much Damon cares about you two," Isobel said.

Echo scoffed and said, "He'll kill you before he gives it up."

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

Echo and Elena immediately turned to look over at where they had last seen their brother to see him gone. "Jeremy!?" The twins yelled.

The twins turned back around to look at Isobel, only to see that she was gone, too.

"ABSOLUTELY not," Damon snapped as they all stood in the Salvatore Boarding House later that night.

"Just hear us out," Echo said with a sigh.

Damon shook his head and said, "I'm not gonna give the device to Isobel so she can give it to John, who's gonna turn around and kill me. I like being a living dead person."

"But it'll be useless," Elena explained, "Bonnie can take it's power away."

"I don't trust her."

"I can remove the original spell," Bonnie said from where she sat next to Elena.

"John and Isobel will never know," Elena said with a smile. Echo did not trust witches and she definitely did not trust Bonnie.

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

Stefan narrowed his eyes from where he stood by Elena. "Really? How are you gonna do that? Hmm? Because Isobel is a vampire, and Jeremy can be dead the second you walk in the door."

"Are you even up for this?" Damon asked, looking at Bonnie, "I mean, no offense. You're no Emily Bennett. Emily knew what she was doing."

"I've been practicing," Bonnie stated.

"It's not piano lessons, honey," Echo snapped. "We need to save our brother and if you're not up for it—"

"What's your favorite book?" Bonnie asked, standing up and walking towards Damon.

"What?"

"Name a book, any book."

"Name a book," Damon said with a sigh, "How about "Call of the Wild" Jack London?" Bonnie looked over at one of the bookshelves, and instantly the book flew off of the shelf and into Damon's hand. "Jack London," Damon said as he looked at the book. "Great parlor trick."

"We're doing this, Damon," Elena stated, "And we're gonna do it our way." She gestured to her and Echo.

"We're wasting time," Elena said after Damon hesitated.

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

"You're right," Bonnie said with a nod. "You can't trust me."

"But you can trust me," Elena said, holding out a hand.

Damon stared at her for a minute before placing the device in Echo's hand.

"Thank you," Echo said with a small smile. "Also, if it isn't obvious, I don't trust her either."

A few minutes later, they all stood up, watching Bonnie as she took a piece out of the device, and placed it on the desk before holding her hands over it. It started to levitate, and then the lights started flickering. The fire behind Bonnie lit, and then it dropped into Bonnie's hands, and she said, "Done."

"Great," Damon said as Elena walked forward, taking the piece from Bonnie. "Now what?"

"Now we give it to Isobel," Echo stated.

Damon simply turned and walked out of the room.

THE twins walked through the town square, stopping by the statue.

"Where's the device?" Isobel asked as the twins turned to look at her.

"Where's our brother?" Echo asked, pursing her lips.

"This isn't a negotiation," Isobel stated. "Where's the invention?"

"Where is our brother?" Elena asked, crossing her arms.

Isobel rolled her eyes and asked, "Do you really think that I came alone?"

Echo and Elena turned to look behind them, seeing the two people that were at the High School with Isobel earlier.

"Do you really think that we came alone?" Echo asked with a chuckle, and Isobel turned around to see Stefan and Damon behind her.

"For God sakes, call home," Isobel said.

"What?"

"Call home, ask to speak to your brother, Jeremy."

Elena immediately pulled out her phone, dialing their house. It immediately picked up, and Jeremy's familiar voice was heard as he said, "Hello?"

"Jeremy, are you okay?" Elena asked.

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

"And we're all laughing," Jenna was heard saying.

"Yeah, but um, I'm okay," Jeremy said.

"Echo and I will be home soon, okay?" Elena told him and hung up, and she turned to look at Isobel, saying, "You were never going to hurt him."

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

"But you took a risk with Damon," Elena said, narrowing her eyes, "How did you know that he was going to give it to us?"

"Cause he trusts Echo more than anyone else, even himself," Isobel stated and held out her hand, and Elena sighed, walking forward and handing the invention to her.

"Thank you," Elena said as Echo crossed her arms.

Isobel narrowed her eyes and said, "For what?"

"For being such a monumental disappointment," Echo snapped harshly. "It keeps the real memory of our Mother perfectly intact."

"Goodbye, girls," Isobel said, looking at the twins. "As long as the both you have a Salvatore on your arm, you're doomed. Katherine was smart. She got out. But as Echo said, you two aren't Katherine."

Echo scoffed. "Bye-bye now. I hope you burn to death."

Isobel said nothing and simply walked away.