A Saturday not long after found Damon and Lucy walking through the halls of the high school after being summoned by Alaric. Apparently, there was drama. Neither the vampire nor his friend were in anyway surprised.

When they finally found their way to Ric's classroom, they discovered Stefan and Elena waiting for them along with the teacher. Lucy was even less surprised to find that Elena was somehow involved in the drama.

"Sorry we're late," Damon said as they walked in.

"We just really didn't want to be here," Lucy finished.

Stefan smirked while Ric rolled his eyes. Elena just looked offended. She really needed to quit taking everything so seriously.

"So, what's up and why did we need to be here for it?" Damon asked.

"Did we interrupt you two or something? You seem very annoyed to be here," Stefan asked, narrowing his gaze as he looked between his roommates.

"I was writing a sonata," Damon answered his brother without missing a beat.

"And I was baking a cake." Lucy kept her expression blank and her voice monotone. In truth, her and Damon had been having a water balloon fight in the house but she wasn't about to admit that to the broody brother. He'd lose his shit.

Stefan continued to glare at them as if that would make them spill all their secrets.

Ric cleared his throat. "I saw Isobel last night." He didn't look very happy about it.

"Your vampire wife Isobel? That Isobel?" Lucy asked as she sat in the chair behind his desk.

Damon arched a brow. "No. The other Isobel. Seriously, Luce?"

She shrugged and swung back and forth in the chair. "Just asking." She flicked her gaze back to the teacher. "Where was she?"

"She found me at the Grill."

Well, that wasn't a surprise.

"She wanted me to deliver a message. When I refused, she followed me to the parking lot and made sure I knew it wasn't a request." Ric rubbed a hand across the back of his neck.

Damon frowned. "What was the message?"

"She wants to meet me," Elena answered.

Lucy quit messing around in the chair and leaned forward. "And she went through Ric instead of contacting Elena directly, why?

Stefan sighed. He didn't want to be here any more than his friends did but Ric had dragged him off as well as Elena. "We don't know. She literally killed people to get Elena to quit looking for her. Now this."

Lucy exchanged a look with the brothers before putting her attention on the girl. "You don't have to meet with her if you don't want to. In fact, it's probably better if you don't."

"Isobel threatened to go on a killing spree if she didn't," Ric said.

"Oh." Damon glanced at the others. "I assume that's not okay with you?"

Lucy huffed a laugh. The 'killing spree' wasn't an issue. Damon and Stefan could easily stop her. But they didn't know what she wanted or who else she may be working with. There were too many questions to make decisions just yet.

"I want to do it," Elena said with a nod of her head. "I want to meet her."

Of course, she did. That was the most dangerous option after all.

***

The next day, Elena sat inside the Grill waiting for Isobel to show up. Stefan was inside as he was the only brother Isobel had consented to being present. He was there to protect Elena and to get information for the rest of them.

Lucy sat outside on a bench between Damon and Ric, who also wasn't permitted inside, staring at the front of the building. The three of them were bored out of their skulls. She had tried to go inside once to play pool with Stefan but Damon made her sit back down.

The vampire sighed. "Remind me again why we're here?"

"Elijah," Lucy answered, earning a confused glance from Alaric. She really hated promising her uncle they'd keep an eye on the girl.

Damon nodded once. "Oh, yeah. Elijah."

Stefan stepped outside and headed in their direction. The three friends rose to meet him.

"Where's Elena?" Ric asked.

"She's inside with Matt. She's a little shaken up. It wasn't quite the mother/daughter reunion she'd been hoping for." Stefan raked a hand through his hero hair. "Isobel wants Jonathan Gilbert's invention. She told Elena to get it from Damon."

Lucy frowned. "How the fuck did she even know he has it? It's not like we've been advertising the fact?"

Stefan shrugged and shook his head.

"And why didn't she just ask me for it directly?" Damon asked. "It's not like we don't know each other."

Ric grunted at the reminder. "Maybe you aren't as memorable as you think."

Lucy choked on a laugh before she could help herself. Stefan even smiled a bit before turning serious again. "I'm guessing Isobel doesn't want to talk to you directly for the same reason she didn't want you inside. She threatened Lucy."

Damon's jaw set and he narrowed his eyes. "Excuse me?" His voice was low, deadly. Lucy hoped like hell that tone was never directed at her.

Stefan licked his lips. "She gets the device or she starts slaughtering people. Starting with Lucy."

Damon placed a hand on Lucy's back and nudged her in his brother's direction. "Take her home and stay with her. I have something to take care of."

He was gone before anyone could protest.

***

Damon sat sprawled in a club chair, the dim lighting reflecting off the edge of the glass in his hand. It hadn't taken much for him to find the house Isobel was squatting in. He was the one that had taught her all her tricks after all. The two compelled minions that had greeted him upon his arrival had already been drained and left in the bed upstairs to be found later.

He remained silent as the door open and Isobel stepped inside. Her steps stalled as she entered the living room and saw Damon. "Well, tonight is just one blast from the past after another."

His gaze ran over her taking in all the little details. She was trying to appear fearless, had most likely turned off her humanity, but there were enough little clues to tell him that she was scared of him. Good. She should be.

She swallowed. "Did you bring the invention?"

He continued to stare without answering as he contemplated killing her. Ric would probably be pissed but Damon could live with that. The teacher would get over it eventually. Maybe.

"What are you doing here, Damon?" Isobel asked when the silence stretched for too long.

In a blink he stood in front of her. A muscle twitched in his jaw as he glared down at her. "What do you want with the device?"

She stepped back to put some space between them. "Me? Nothing. I'm only doing what I'm told."

Damon stepped into her space and continued to move forward while she backed away from him until her back hit the wall. "By whom?"

Isobel's eyes ran over his face. "Katherine."

A jolt of surprise shot through him. He hadn't expected that. He figured Katherine was done with Mystic Falls a long time ago. Her involvement meant it wouldn't do any good to kill Isobel. Katherine would just send another minion. It also explained the threat against Lucy. His sire was nothing if not a possessive bitch.

Isobel placed her hands on Damon's chest and looked up at him, her lips inches away from his. "Don't shoot the messenger. Just give her what she wants." Her voice had taken on a sultry edge as if she could get what she wanted by seducing him. As if she had been more than a mediocre fuck.

He grabbed her throat and slammed her against the wall. "You do not come into my town and threaten the people that I care about. Bringing Lucy into this? Big mistake. If you or any of your friends even looks at her wrong, I will tear you apart. Because I do believe in killing the messenger. You know why? It sends a message."

As if suddenly realizing she really wasn't safe, Isobel tried to get away from him and he slammed her back against the wall. She winced as her head bounced off it. "If that bitch wants something from me, tell her to come get it herself."

He released her then and stormed out of the house needing to return to Lucy. Together they could come up with some sort of plan to end this latest mess.

***

"Wait. So, you're telling me the device is a weapon made to be used specifically against vampires?" Damon looked at the group of high schoolers gathered in his living room. "No way in hell am I handing it over then.

Stefan had shown up with Elena, Caroline and Bonnie after Isobel broke Matt's arm and took Jeremy. Bonnie had found the information on the invention in her ancestor's grimoire. Lucy leaned against the wall watching everything with her arms crossed over her chest. She'd give her opinion when they asked for it. Or she thought they were being monumentally stupid.

"She took Jeremy, Damon," Elena argued.

Damon looked at her like she was stupid. "I don't give a shit about Jeremy."

She stepped forward and placed a hand on his arm. "I know that's not true, Damon. You helped him so much. With Vickie and my folks. You wouldn't do that if you didn't care."

Lucy's brows lifted. That was an odd way to remember that particular event. Maybe they should compel Elena to not be delusional. Lucy wondered if it would work.

Damon jerked his arm away from the girl's touch. "I didn't do that because I care about Jeremy, Elena. I did that because I didn't want him to run around town screaming vampire to everyone he met. It's called self-preservation."

She shook her head. "No. That's not true. You could have just compelled him to forget everything instead you gave him peace with it."

He gestured in Lucy's direction. "Yeah, because she told me to." He raked his hands through his hair and paced across the floor. "Fuck's sake."

Caroline tugged on Stefan's arm wanting him to do something. He sighed but gave a nod. "You care about Lucy, don't you? She threatened her as well, remember?"

"Isobel won't touch her." Damon stated it as if it were a matter of fact.

"I can take the spell of the device so it won't work. They would have no way of knowing," Bonnie spoke for the first time since she entered the house.

Damon spun from where he'd been watching the fire to face the witch. "No offence, witchy but I don't know you. I don't trust you. You may not even have enough juice to pull it off."

"I do, but even if I didn't, I could get Grams to do it."

He shook his head. "Don't trust her either. I can get the kid back a different way then take care of Isobel."

"How, Damon? She's a vampire. She'll snap his neck before you even step foot in the house," Stefan said.

Elena straightened her spine and held out a hand. "We're doing this and we're doing it may way. Now, give me the device."

Damon snorted in disbelief. "No." He moved over to Lucy and grabbed her hand to pull her along behind him as he headed to the kitchen. "Stefan," he called over his shoulder.

Once the three housemates were away from prying ears, the huddled together. "Okay, what do you think?" Damon asked.

Stefan shook his head. "I don't know. I think we should do it. It's our best chance for low collateral damage."

They both looked at Lucy. "I don't like it. I don't trust the witch. But I also don't want anyone innocent to die and I kind of like the Gilbert kid. More than the rest of his family at any rate. But what if—"

"We can worry about what ifs later. We're running out of time," Stefan interrupted.

Damon rolled his eyes. "Fine." They walked back into the other room and Damon handed the device to Bonnie. "Do your thing, witchy."

She laid it on the table and lit a couple of candles. Her hands moved through the air over it as she concentrated. The lights flashed and the fire flared. Lucy pursed her lips as she watched. She couldn't help thinking this all seemed a bit...much. Theater. A show for the uninformed. There was no time to get a witch she trusted here, so they would just have to hope this one was honest.

When the theatrics stopped, Bonnie opened her eyes. "Done."

"Now what?" Caroline asked.

Elena laid the device in the palm of her hand and looked it over. "Now, we give it to Isobel and get my brother back."