27|BAD MOON RISING

Gemma sits in the foyer of the Salvatore Boarding House accompanied by her siblings and Elena. They were waiting for Alaric to arrive so Damon could continue his obsession with the Lockwood's. Gemma didn't know why it was so serious, or important. Either ignore them, or kill them. Both options meant their problems would go away and they could keep living somewhat peacefully as they have until this point.

She shifts uncomfortably when Damon exits to go answer the door, Elena's doe eyes boring into the side of her face. The last conversation they had wasn't a pleasant one and while Gemma wasn't proud of her behavior, it had to be done for Elena's safety. Why Stefan hasn't done the same yet, she'll never know. Katherine is watching, waiting; and they all know it.

"Thanks for coming, Ric," Damon chirps, leading the history teacher into the main room. "Can I get you something to drink? Coffee, Bourbon? Bourbon in your coffee?"

Gemma raises her glass of Bourbon and winks at the teacher, "or a little coffee in your bourbon?"

Alaric sighs, "Elena mentioned you needed my help."

Stefan shuffles forward, tired of his siblings antics. "Yeah, we were hoping you could shed some light on the Lockwood family."

"Now, why would I know anything about the Lockwood's?"

Gemma raises an eyebrow, "you're the only one in this town who seems to know a lot about nothing."

"Correction," Damon holds up a finger, shaking his head in disagreement at Gemma's statement. "You don't know anything, but your dead not-dead vampire wife might."

"Isobel's research from when you guys were at Duke together," Elena finally speaks up.

Gemma bites back a sigh of relief, almost happy to hear the Gilbert's voice after days of being on bad terms with her. Elena brought an element to Gemma's life that the vampire wasn't certain she could name yet. She just knew she liked having her around, but if keeping her safe meant pretending to hate her, the Salvatore would gladly do it.

"You said she spent years researching this town," Stefan urges.

"Isobel's research here in Mystic Falls rooted in folklores and legends but at the time I thought much of which was fiction..." Alaric shrugs.

Damon smirks, "like that amazing vampire story."

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

"The lycanthrope."

Gemma lets out a loud laugh, surprising the people around her. She throws up one of her hands as an I'm sorry before covering her mouth and clearing her throat. "Can you really blame me? I mean... werewolves? What is this, teen wolf?"

"I was thinking more like Lon Chaney, but that's a good one too," Damon nudges her. "Either way, impossible."

Stefan purses his lips, "is it?"

"I've been on this planet one hundred and sixty some odd years," he says. "Never came across one. If werewolves exist, where the hell are they?"

"Well, if you're right, they're in our back yard." Gemma mutters under her breath.

Alaric shakes his head, confused. "Why do you guys suspect the Lockwood's?"

"Because vervain didn't affect the Mayor at Founder's Day, but the Gilbert device did— and it affected his son Tyler." Damon informs the teacher, looking quite proud of himself.

"And at the school carnival his uncle Mason exhibited inhuman behavior when he fought with one of the carnival workers," Stefan pipes up.

Gemma nods and decides to add in, "let's not forget he beat me in an arm wrestle competition, too."

Alaric blinks, "you... arm wrestled him?"

Gemma flushes, "it was a lot harder than it sounds. Blame Damon, he made me."

Elena huffs, "okay, moving on, we were hoping that Isobel's research could help us figure out what it is."

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

"So, can we get access to it?" Damon questions. At Alaric's hesitance, he pushes the man a little more. "Ric, we need to know what we're dealing with. If this wolf man thing is true, I've seen enough movies to know it's not good."

Gemma nods, "definitely not good for you. All of us on the other hand, I think we're okay."

Damon glares at her and she falls silent, sinking further into the couch while she lets the professionals talk.

.....

Gemma sits up front with Damon while Elena and Alaric occupy the backseat, the awkward silence in the car causing her skin to itch. Her brother convinced her to go on this trip because he didn't want to be stuck with two people who disliked him. Gemma curses her kind heart. If she were lesser of a person, she'd have sent Damon on his own and wished him the best of luck. Maybe it's an excuse to be around Elena, too. That, she wasn't ready to come to terms with yet.

"So, what was that whole thing with Willow at Founder's Day?" Damon questions, lowering his voice. Elena and Alaric keep themselves busy with idle conversation and Gemma shrugs, glancing out of her window as to stay quiet. "Come on, you know you can't keep a secret from me."

Gemma huffs before side eyeing the man, "Willow knows about us."

Damon blanches, "excuse me?"

Gemma purses her lips, facing her brother and meeting his eyes with a challenging gaze of her own. "You heard me," she says. "Willow knows."

Damon shakes his head, "that doesn't make sense. How?"

The female Salvatore bites the inside of her cheek and contemplates for a short second before confessing, knowing she could trust Damon. He knows how much Willow means to Gemma and so she believes he'll do the right thing and keep the blonde's secret as well.

"Willow is a witch."

"She's what?" Damon gapes, tightening his knuckles on the steering wheel of his car. "She was supposed to be your escape from your vampirism. Not another string attached to it."

Gemma rolls her eyes, "Don't be so dramatic. I don't think she knew I was a vampire when she started our sessions, plus she's done a good job. This shouldn't change anything."

"This changes everything," Damon mutters.

The raven haired woman pinches the bridge of her nose, massaging the space there. "Your paranoia is getting really exhausting, I hope you know that."

Damon shrugs before whistling a tune under his breath, his eyes flicking to the rearview mirror and a smirk rising on his lips when he makes eye contact with the Gilbert. "How are you doing back there?" He muses. She doesn't answer and he sighs, "you know, this whole pretending to hate me thing is getting a little silly."

"I don't think she's pretending," Alaric says. "You did kill her brother."

"There is a huge asterisk next to that statement: he came back to life," Damon smiles dryly.

"Honestly, I'd see it as good luck," Gemma shrugs. "Your brother can't die. What more could you ask for?"

Elena sneers at her, "maybe for him not to be in danger in the first place, Gemma."

Gemma slaps her leg, giving the girl a look of mockery. "You finally caught on to what I've been saying this whole time. Vampires are toxic, Elena."

"Yeah, I'm starting to get that," she grumbles.

"Come on," Damon groans. "Enough of the fighting. He was wearing his ring, he's fine."

"You didn't even know he was wearing it!" Elena exclaims, her cheeks flushing in anger.

"Why are you so sure I didn't know?"

"Did you?"

"Yes."

"You're lying," she accuses.

"Elena, I saw the ring!" He snaps, "it's a big tacky thing. Hard to miss."

Gemma leans her head against her headrest and closes her eyes, a heavy sigh escaping her lips. This was going to be a long road trip.

.....

"So, Isobel was officially employed by the anthropology department given that most paranormal phenomenon is rooted in folklore." Alaric explains as he leads the trio further into Duke university.

Gemma hugs her jacket closer to her body as she observes the scene around her. It almost made her miss college; it almost made her miss the days where she was semi-normal and on her own with no one to answer to but herself. She lags behind but quickly catches up when Damon hisses something under his breath at her, urging her to come inside the front office with them.

"Excuse me, hi," Alaric greets the woman at the desk. "I'm Alaric Saltzman, I called earlier."

"Yes, of course," she says, a twinge of sympathy in her voice. "I'm Vanessa Monroe, research assistant, comparative folklore." Her eyes flick over Elena, Damon and Gemma and she furrows her eyebrows, swallowing thickly. "Uh, let me just grab Isobel's keys."

"These are my friends, Elena, Gemma and Damon. I hope this isn't too much of an imposition."

"Oh please," Vanessa scoffs, waving him off as she rifles through a drawer for the keys to the office. "Isobel's office is right through there—" she nods toward one of the closed doors further down the hallway, grabbing the keys and continuing to speak as she leads them to the office. "Isobel was one of my first professors. I'm a grad student. She was brilliant, and one of the reasons I went into folklore." She looks over her shoulder and flashes Ric a hesitant smile, "Uh, I have to ask—has there been any news?"

"No, I'm afraid not."

Gemma clears her throat loudly and the grad student jumps in fright, turning around and quickly unlocking the door. The raven haired woman didn't know what the hold up was, or why Vanessa seemed so jumpy— but she knew it was going to bring them trouble sooner or later. It was all a matter of when. She heard it the minute Alaric introduced them; Vanessa's heart rate skyrocketed.

"It's this way," Vanessa murmurs, ushering them in. "I'll grab the light, feel free to look around. It's fascinating, isn't it?"

Gemma lingers off to the side while the other three look around, dragging her fingers across the top of Isobel's desk and grimacing when a thick layer of dust costs her fingers. "They keep this place under lock and key, huh?" She mutters.

Alaric shoots her a look and she relents, casting her eyes elsewhere.

Damon perks up, looking around the room with a raised eyebrow. "Where'd she go?"

Vanessa reappears with a crossbow in hand and aims it at Elena, pulling the trigger without a second thought. It's moments like these that Gemma's thankful for how much her brother cares for her. She was too far away; to distracted to notice, but Damon wasn't. He lunged in front of the human just in time, grunting when the arrow lodges itself in his back and he falls to the ground.

Alaric springs in to action and shoves Vanessa against the wall, taking the crossbow from her and restraining her arms. Gemma scrambles to Damon's side and ignores Elena's worried questions, hauling her brother up by the arms and pulling him into the next room.

He braces himself against a nearby desk and breathes deep, "take it out."

Gemma pauses, "maybe we should—"

"Pull it out!" He snaps, "I can't reach it. Just pull the damn thing out. It hurts."

The raven haired woman grins to herself and wraps her hand around the arrow, yanking it out in haste as to not make her brother suffer more. Damon groans loudly and squares his shoulders, his jaw ticking. "That bitch is dead."

"You're not going to kill her," Elena steps in front of him, folding her arms over her chest.

Gemma almost forgot she was there with Elena being so quiet.

"Watch me," Damon snides.

"You touch her and I swear I will never speak to you again."

Damon side eyes Gemma, both of the vampires somewhat confused. Elena acts like it's a huge threat to Damon that she'd never speak to him again. Gemma thinks it'd probably be a relief to her brother if anything.

"What makes you think that has any power over me?" Damon scoffs out a laugh, "because I took an arrow in the back for you? I did that to avoid a century of whining from Gemma and Stefan. You're severely overestimating yourself."

"Right," she scowls. "I forgot that I was speaking to a psychotic mind who snaps and kills people impulsively. Fine, go ahead, do whatever you want."

"Okay, enough of the manipulation tactics," Gemma rolls her eyes, waving the two off. "Let's go talk to her."

"If by manipulation you mean tell the truth, okay, guilty," Elena mumbles under her breath.

Gemma clenches her jaw but says nothing, brushing past the girl to go speak to Vanessa.

.....

After their long day at Duke University, Gemma is more than happy to be dropping Elena off at her home. The two spent the day making snide remarks at each other and if it weren't for Damon reminding her, Gemma would almost be convinced that she actually hated the girl due to her bad attitude. She glances at Damon in the car when he honks and holds up a finger for him to wait, turning back to Elena with raised eyebrows. "Maybe we shouldn't take any road trips together any time soon."

Elena folds her arms over her chest, "that's on your account, Gemma. Don't act like any of this is because of me."

Gemma sighs heavily, "you realize you're letting Stefan's petty jealousy dictate your life, right?"

"I'm dictating my life, Gemma," the human argues, her eyebrows pinching in anger. "If there's anything I've learned since you basically cut me off it's that you were right. You guys will only bring me trouble."

Gemma stills, shaking her head as her stomach turns. "You've got it all wrong. Katherine was—"

"Right," Elena cuts her off. "Katherine. I don't want to get into that tonight. I'm just tired, okay? Since I've been your friend, it's only been trouble between me and Stefan. My brother was killed, Gemma."

The female Salvatore furrows her eyebrows, "how does that have anything to do with me?"

Gemma can see it all over Elena's face; it doesn't. Elena's taking the easy way out, she's running from her fears; her problems. Gemma doesn't blame the girl, but damn does it just suck. The raven haired woman decides to have mercy on her and she shuffles backward, nodding her head. "Fine, Elena, have it your way."

"It's just better for everyone, Gemma."

Gemma bites the inside of her cheek and hums in agreement, flashing the girl a weak smile before turning on her heel and walking away.

.....

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