Chapter 4

"So what are we gonna do?" I asked my dad.

After school was over, I was walking down the halls of the high school with my dad towards the door. We were talking about the situation with my mom.

"I don't know, but we'll figure something out." He told me.

As we turned the corner, we saw Damon and Elena standing there.

"Well, don't you look ... alive?" Damon said confused.

"You can't hurt me." My dad told him.

"Oh, I can hurt you, all right." Damon said with a smirk.

Elena gave Damon a glare.

"Mr. Saltzman, Myra .we need your help." Elena said.

I looked at my dad, and he nodded. We walked to his classroom where they started to explain the situation.

"Stefan's in the house. Damon's a vampire. He can't get in. We need you. I would go, but."

"But your life is valuable. Yours', on the other hand, are." Damon started.

"Stefan told me about your ring." Elena said.

"What about it?" My dad asked.

"Let me recap ... You tried to kill me. I defended myself. You died. Then according to my brother, your ring brought you back to life. Am I leaving anything out?" Damon asked.

"Yeah. The part where I try and kill you again. Only this time, I don't miss." My dad shot asked.

"Mr. Saltzman. Please. It's Stefan." Elena begged.

"I'm sorry, Elena. But it's not my problem." My dad answered. I sighed.

"If he won't help, I will. He saved my life. I owe him one." I told Elena as I nodded.

"No, Myra I won't let you do that." My dad said shaking his head.

"You still need to recover. You're in no shape to go out there. Just let me use your ring, and I'll be fine." I told him.

"If she doesn't help, that's a shame. Because the woman in charge of the crowd can help you find your wife." Damon said. I looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"You're lying." My dad said denying the possibility.

"Am I? Why don't you ask her for yourself? Come on, Elena." Damon said as they started to leave.

"All right! Wait. I'll go." He said. I shook my head.

"No. You are staying here and resting. I'll go." I said. My dad was about to say something but I cut him off.

"I don't care what you say right now. I'm going to help Stefan, and you are staying here and resting. Now, please just give me your ring." I told him.

He sighed knowing I wouldn't back off. He handed me the ring and looked at me.

"Be careful." He told me with concerned and serious eyes.

"I will." I said giving him a quick hug.

Once I pulled away from the hug, I grabbed my bag and walked out with Elena and Damon. We walked into the girl's locker room, which was completely empty. I opened my locker and saw all my weapons there. I was pulling out all of the weapons I needed.

"Student by day, vampire hunter by night." Damon said, breaking the silence. I looked at him.

"My dad's the vampire hunter. I'm just his back-up." I stated.

"And we have you to thank for that." I added.

"What are these?" Elena asked holding up the vervain trang darts.

"Those are tranquilizer darts filled with vervain." I told her.

"Just get me in. I'll get Stefan out." Damon said.

"That's your plan? You're just gonna take them all on yourself?" Elena asked.

"Well, I'll be a little stealthier than that, hopefully." Damon said.

Just then, Elena took one of the vervain darts.

"Whoa. What are you doing?" I asked her.

"I'm going with you guys." Elena said.

"No. No. No. No. No way." Damon said shaking his head.

"You need me. I'll get in. You could distract them, and then I'll get Stefan out." Elena said.

"You'll get yourself killed. You're not going in there." Damon explained to her.

"I'm going." Elena argued.

"So, when you get me in, get out as quickly as you can. I know how to sneak around where they can't hear me. You'll basically just be in the way." Damon explained to her.

I sighed at all their arguing.

"Damon, now is not the time to be the lone ranger." Elena said crossing her arms.

"You're not coming." Damon said sternly as he tried to make himself clear.

"You can't stop me. It's Stefan we're talking about here. You don't understand." Elena said. I continued to grab weapons as I listened to the argue.

"Oh, I understand. I understand. He's the reason you live. His love lifts you up where you belong. I get it." Damon said sarcastically.

"Can you just not joke around for 2 seconds?" Elena asked becoming impatient.

"I can't protect you, Elena. I don't know how many vampires there are in there. That's how long it takes you to get your head ripped off. I have to be able to get in and get out. I can 't be distracted with your safety. Or this will end up a bloodbath that none of us walk away from.Including Stefan. I know. I get it. I understand. " Damon explained to her.

"So, you can't come" I sighed and picked up my bag.

"If we're gonna go, let's go." Damon and I got to the house, and I walked up to the door and knocked on it. When a man opened the door, I smiled.

"Oh, good, someone's home. Uh, could I use your phone? My car broke down a few miles up the road. This was the first house I saw."

"Well, lucky you." The man said.

"Yeah. Lucky me. It's no trouble, is it?" I asked him.

"Not in the slightest." He said smiling.

"Great. Whew." I said. I entered the house. I turned back to the man.

"Thank you again. I really appreciate it."

"Billy, show our visitor where the phone is in the kitchen. And get me something to drink." The man asked someone who just walked into the room.

"Yeah. Sure thing." Billy said.

"Hey, Miss Gibbons, this girl wants to use your phone."

"Oh, sure, honey. It's right there." Miss Gibbons told me showing me the phone.

"Thanks." I said giving her a smile. I walked towards the phone. I looked in the window and saw the reflection of Billy coming from behind me with a stake. Before he could stake me, I turned around, grabbed the stake, and stabbed him.

"Aah!" Billy yelled. I turned on the faucet and the blender to create noise.

"What's happening?" Miss Gibbons asked.

"I'm really sorry. But you're gonna need to invite a friend, well not really a friend, but you need to invite him inside." I said. I opened the door and Damon was waiting outside.

"Oh, I'm sorry. He's not allowed in the house." Miss Gibbons told me.

"I know that. But you've gotta make an exception." I told her.

"Get her out of the house." Damon said. I gently pushed her out of the house.

"Now! Miss Gibbons, tell me the truth. Are you married?"

"No." She answered.

"Parents, children, anyone else who lives on this property?" Damon asked.

"No. It's just me." She responded.

"No? Good." Damon said and without hesitation, he broker her neck and entered the house.

"You were supposed to compel her." I told him angrily.

"It doesn't work that way ..." He said looking at me.

"She was human." I told him annoyed.

"And I'm not! So, I don't care. Now, get out of here. And get rid of the body!" He told me before walking off.

"Hey!" I called out. He turned around and looked at me.

"I'm not some little human you can toy around. Your kill? You deal with the body after we go find Stefan." I told him.

"If you think you can handle these vampires, your more of an idiot that your father is." He said scoffing.

"So, what you said to try and get my dad to let me do this, about my mom. It was a lie, wasn't it?" I concluded.

"Yep." He said with a smirk. I took a small stake and staked it into his leg when he wasn't looking.

"Ahh!" He said in pain. Damon pulled the stake out looked at me.

"Ok. I deserved that." I nodded and walked past him.

We walked into the cellar and found Stefan, who was tied up by the wrists to the ceiling with blood all over him, and another man, who was tied to a chair.

"Myra ... You shouldn't be here ..." Stefan said weakly.

"Well, she's been somewhat helpful." Damon said.

He took a knife and was about to kill the other man.

"Unh! No. No. No. Not him." Stefan said groaning.

"Whatever. Let's get you down." Damon said.

He was about to pull the ropes down, but Stefan interrupted him.

"There's vervain on the ropes." Stefan said as he dangled from the ceiling.

"Myra , pull that." Damon told me.

I pulled the ropes down, and Stefan fell to the floor.

"Unh!" Stefan groaned.

"All right, let's go. Clothes on." Damon said.

"Wait." Stefan said, barely able to stand up.

"What? Guys, come on. We have to get out of here." Damon said impatiently. Stefan walked over to the man in the chair and pulled one of the stakes out of his legs.

"Uhh!" Stefan groaned as he pulled the stake out.

"Come on, we gotta go." Damon said trying to move things along.

"The other one." Stefan said with the energy he had left. I pulled the other stake out of the man's leg. He groaned in pain.

"Can you get him in the car?" Damon asked me.

"Yeah." I said.

"All right, go." Damon told me.

"What about you?" I asked. "You'll need help with all these vampires."

"You rescue, I'll distract. Go." Damon said.

I sighed and put Stefan's arm around my shoulder as I helped him out of the house. We kept walking and made it to the woods, which was where my car was parked.

"Uhh." Stefan said groaning in pain.

"Can you make it?" I asked him.

"Uhh! Unh." Stefan said as he fell, which cause me to fall and cut myself on a rock. I hissed at the open wound on my wrist.

"Ohh. You okay?" He asked. "Yeah. Come on, keep going. Come on." I told him. I pulled him up, and we continued onward until we arrived at the car.

"Come on, it's right over here." I put Stefan in my car and went around to the driver's seat. I looked ahead at the hood of the car and saw the ignition was removed.

"Stefan." Just then, a vampire busted the window on Stefan's side out and dragged him out. He started beating him.

"Aah!" The vampire yelled.

"Ugh! Uhh .." Stefan groaned.

"This is for Beth-Anne." The vampire said before stabbing Stefan with a branch. Stefan yelled in pain. I grabbed a vervain syringe from the glove compartment.

"And this is for the tomb." The man said. He was about to kill Stefan.

"No !!!" I yelled before running around the car and plunging the vervain syringe into the vampire's back.

"Ugh! Unh!" The vampire said before collapsing to the floor.

"Stefan." I said sitting down next to him. He groaned. I looked down and saw the branch in his stomach.

I pulled it out and looked at him. His face was still.

"Stefan.Stefan.No, Stefan. Come on. Stefan!" I panicked. I shook him trying to get him up. I looked to my right and saw the vampire starting to get up. I remembered the cut on my wrist and put it up to Stefan's mouth for him to drink.

"Here."

"Myra , please run." He said weakly.

"No." I told him.

"Please." He said looking at me.

"Stefan. My wrist. Here. Take my wrist. You need more blood." I told him.

"Go, Myra . Run. Run ..." He said in pain.

"No. You're hurt, and this vampire will kill you if you don't heal. So stop being a baby and drink the damn blood!" I said becoming impatient.

I gave him my wrist, and he drank my blood. The vampire was regaining his strength. He grabbed another branch and walked towards Stefan. Stefan got up and pinned him to a tree. Stefan took the branch from him and repeatedly stabbed him in the heart.

"Okay. Stefan. I think he had enough." I said. I tried to stop him, but Stefan turned around, with his face still in vampire form. I was a little frightened, so I stepped back. Stefan stepped back, looking horrified.

Salvatore Boarding House

"You don't have to pay to fix my car." I told Stefan as we walked to the front of his house.

"It's fine. It's kind of my fault it's broken." Stefan said. I smiled.

"Well, thank you." I said. We walked into the house.

"Wow .. You have a beautiful home. I didn't really notice the last time I was here, well seeing as I was busy with your brother almost killing me." I said looking at all the features of the house.

"Umm .. which way?" I asked confused.

"Up the stairs." He said.

I looked to my right and saw the stairs.

I helped him up before I saw Elena pacing in the hall.

"Hey." She said relieved. She ran up to him and kissed him. I looked down, feeling awkward.

"How are you?" She asked concerned.

"I'm okay. The wounds I had have mostly healed." Stefan told her.

"Well, I'm gonna get out of here." I said as I started to leave.

"Myra .." I heard Elena say. I turned to look at her.

"Thank you for saving Stefan." I nodded and smiled before turning back to the stairs.

"Wait." I turned around again to look at Stefan.

"What you did today, coming to help me..You could have been killed."

"I had my dad's ring on." I said lifting up my hand for him to see the ring.

"Well, what I did, I'm sorry that.I'm sorry that you had to see it." He said sincerely.

"It's fine. Vampires are vampires. I've learned you can't control them. You can only protect yourself and the people around you. They have to be able to control themselves." I told him.

"And, I can tell you have trouble with control." I said looking at him. "Sorry for making you--"

"What? No. You didn't make me do anything. You were saving my life, which I am thankful for." He explained.

I nodded and smiled.

"Well, we're even now." I told him. I felt my phone vibrating in my back pocket. I saw it was a text from my dad asking me where I was.

"I have to get going. Glad you're ok." I said to Stefan, giving him a slight smile. I turned and walked out of the house. I texted my dad to come pick me up at the Boarding House and minutes later he was there. When I opened the car door, I saw my worried dad.

"Are you alright?" He asked me.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Oh!" I said remembering I was wearing his ring.

"Here's your ring."

"I really think you should wear it." He told me.

"You promised mom you would always wear it." I said looking at him.

"I know. But I feel like I'm not fulfilling my responsibility as a father because I'm putting my safety above your's." He said sighing.

"Again with this." I said rolling my eyes.

"Dad, I know how to protect myself."

"I know you do." He said with a smile. He brought me in for a hug as we were at a red light. When the light turned green, he continued to drive.

"So, did they know something about Isobel?"

"No." I sighed. We arrived home and walked inside.

"I'm gonna go do some homework. I don't really feel like talking about this anymore." I grabbed my bag and started to walk upstairs.

"Ok." My dad said. I heard him sigh before I closed my door.

Stefan got my car fixed and dropped it off at my house this morning. I assume he compelled the workers to fix it quickly, which would explain how it got fixed in less than a day. I got a call from Elena. She asked me if I could drive her and Jeremy to school. I said yes, and I was on my way to go pick them up. I pulled up in their driveway and got out of my car to knock on the door. Once I knocked on the door, Jenna opened it.

"Hello Myra." She said. She gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Elena, Jeremy. Myra's here."

"Hey, Myra ." Jeremy said. I waved to him and gave him a smile as he just walked past me. I sighed and walked into the house and when I did, I saw a very familiar middle-aged man standing there.

"Who's this?" The man asked.

"Myra Saltzman." Elena said.

"She's actually my half-sister." Elena smiled.

"Half-sister? Wow, I missed a lot." He said.

"You're a Gilbert?" "No. I'm adopted, Uncle John. My birth mother is her mother." Elena explained.

"Isobel Flemming." I said. I saw the look on his face change. He cleared his throat.

"Shouldn't you kids be at school?" He asked.

"Yes. Go on." Jenna said.

"Ok. I'll see you later Uncle John." Elena said. John? As in the John Gilbert? Holy crap. I sighed as we walked out the door and into the car. I started driving and noticed Jeremy's face was full of sadness.

"Hey, Jeremy are you ok?" I asked. "Not really." He answered.

"You know Matt Donovan right?" Elena asked. I nodded.

"Well, they found his younger sister dead and buried outside of town. Her and Jeremy were close." Elena explained.

"I'm so sorry." I said sympathetically.

"Yeah. Everyone is." He said. I looked at Elena and she gave me an apologetic look. When we finally arrived at school, Jeremy got out of the car and walked off.

"I'm sorry about him." Elena said.

"It's ok. I was way worse when my mom died. Wel ... our mom." I confessed.

"Hey, there's just a couple things I wanted to ask you." She said.

"Sure." I said. We both started walking.

"When is your birthday?" She asked.

"November 1, 1993. I just turned sixteen." I told her.

"Why did you .." Then, it hit me.

"You wanted to know my birthday because you wanted to see if we're twins or not." She nodded.

"And?"

"I'm June 1992." She told me.

"So, at least now we know who's older." She said with a smile.

"Wait did you say November 1?" I nodded.

"You have the same birthday as Stefan. Except he's like a hundred something years older." I laughed and smiled.

"Well, that's cool." I said. She returned the smiled.

"Also, I haven't told Jeremy about the whole adoption thing.

So until I do, do you mind not saying anything?"

"Yeah. Of course." I said understanding the situation. As we continued walking, we ran into Matt, who wasn't looking too good.

"Hey Matt." Elena said. "How are you feeling?"

"Like shit." He answered. I gave him a sympathetic look.

"Look, I know what it's like to loose someone. It hurts like hell. But, what you need is someone to help you through it. And from what I can see, you have a lot of people who can help you through it. " I told him reassuringly.

"Thanks." He said giving me a slight smile.

"And I know we just met and all, but if you need someone to talk to about it, I'm here." I told him with a smile. He returned the smile.

"Thanks." He said with a smile.

"T'll let you two talk." I said. I smiled and walked into the school. I walked into my dad's classroom and sat down in my seat.

"So, what are we gonna learn about today?" I asked.

"That is for me to teach and for you to learn." He said with a smirk. Then the bell rang and the school day began. My dad dragged me to the Founders' Day 150 Year Anniversary Kick- off Party. So, that meant I had to pick out something fancy to wear, and I hate fancy clothes. When we arrived, my dad started looking for Jenna, but I ended up finding her first.

"Hey Jenna." I said with a smile.

"Wow. Myra , you look beautiful. I love your dress." She said with a smile.

"Why thank you. It was my mom's." I told her.

"Well, your mother had excellent taste." She said. I nodded.

"So, how are things at school?"

"Good. I think I'm past the new girl phase." I told her.

"That's always good." She said. We both started to laugh. Then, I saw my dad walking towards us.

"Here comes my dad." I told her.

"How do I look?" She asked nervously.

"Beautiful." I answered. My dad joined us.

"I was looking for you." My dad said to Jenna.

"Here I am. I haven't seen you in a while." Jenna said twirling her hair.

"Well uh ..," He looked at me.

"Things have been a little crazy, but I'm here now. Do you want to get a drink?"

"Sure." She answered.

"Okay." He said. They both looked at me and walked off.

Jenna looked at me with nervous eyes. I mouthed 'You got this' to her. She smiled, and they walked to the bar. I walked outside to look around and when I did, I heard someone talking from the balcony above me.

"Oh, there's more?" I heard Damon say.

"Oh, there's a lot more. See, it seems there was a tomb under the church, where vampires were hidden, waiting for someone to come along and set them free. But then you already knew that didn't you?" My eyes widened.

I walked inside the house and up the stairs. I saw John, the man I used to see at my mother's house, and Damon on the balcony talking. I quietly moved closer so I could hear them.

"You know that I could rip your throat out before anyone would notice?" Damon threatened.

"Yeah." John answered.

"Yeah, okay. But you probably ingest vervain so .." Damon realized.

"Why don't you take a bite to find out?" John asked trying to push Damon's buttons.

"It's not worth my time." Damon said. I turned the corner and saw John being thrown over the balcony.

"Why did you do that?" I asked looking down at John's lifeless body.

"He's was pushing me. And I don't like being pushed." He answered.

"Why are you up here?" He asked confused.

"Well, I was thinking about how much trouble a handful of vampires could cause until I heard you and John talking about a whole freaking tomb full of them. And now they are running loose in Mystic Falls." I said angrily.

"And I assume you and your brother had something to do with it."

"And so what if we did. What are you gonna do about it?" He asked angrily.

"You're brother is sort of on my good side. You aren't." I told him.

"Oh really? And what happens to people on your bad side?" He asked.

"Well, let's just say, Logan Fell was on my bad side." I answered.

I turned to walk away, but he pulled me back and slammed me into the wall. He wrapped his hand around my neck.

"And what if I decide to give you the same fate as old, pathetic John Gilbert?" He threatened.

"You won't." I told him.

"Oh yeah? Give me one good reason." He said as his grip on me got tighter.

"Because then Elena will hate you forever." I told him with a smirk.

"You will never be able to kill me for that reason. So ..." I kicked him where the sun don't shine. He hunched over as he groaned in pain.

"If you don't mind, I'm gonna go back downstairs." I turned and walked off the balcony. I walked down the stairs and rejoined the party. As I was walking, I looked outside and saw Stefan and a woman, who was bleeding and crying against a tree.

"Is everything alright?" I heard Stefan ask.

"No. I ruined it, I always ruin it. What is wrong with me?" She asked crying. Stefan slowly kneeled down to her eye level and stared at the blood coming out of Kelly's forehead. He touched the blood on her forehead.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Uh, I'm sorry." He said realizing what he was doing.

He got up and left. I was about to go after him before I looked to my right and saw none other than John Gilbert. I looked at him in confusion before I saw the ring on his hand. It was just like the ring my dad had. I quickly went looking for my dad. When I found him and saw the ring on his hand, I sighed in relief.

"You got to be kidding me." I heard Damon say from behind me. I turned around and saw that he was looking at John. Just then, the Mayor started to talk.

"Thank you all, thank you very much, thank you. Thank you all for joining us tonight in just a few moments we will officially begin the countdown to our upcoming Founders' Day celebration and it's a very special one this year. The one hundred and fiftieth birthday of our town. "

A bell on a table was wheeled next to him.

"And ... and I would like to welcome back one of our town favorite's sons to do the honors of ringing our official charter bell. John Gilbert, would you please join me up here?" John Gilbert joined the Mayor as everyone applauded.

"One hundred and fifty years of community, prosperity, family. We take care of each other, we look after each other, protect each other. It's good to be home." John said.

Everyone applauded. I walked over next to my dad.

"Look at his right hand." I whispered to him.

"Whose?" He asked confused.

"John Gilbert. Look at his ring." I answered.

John rang the bell, and it was seen that he was wearing the same ring as him.

"Well, it looks like mine." He answered.

"Yeah, and that would be a big coincidence if he didn't just come back from the dead five minutes ago." Damon added standing on the other side of my dad.

"Where the hell did you get that ring?"

"Isobel, my wife." My dad answered.

"Who gave birth to Elena, under the medical care of the esteemed DR Grayson Gilbert, John's brother!" Damon concluded.

We all looked at John.

"Do you think John knew Isobel?" My dad asked.

"I think John knows a lot of things." I answered looking at John suspiciously. As John was leaving. Damon, my dad, and I followed him.

"Going somewhere, hm?" Damon asked.

"I've never liked to be the last one to leave a party. It's too desperate. You're going to kill me again or you're gonna let Mr. Saltzman do your dirty work? Or his precious little daughter." He asked looking from Damon to my dad to me.

"Okay, you obviously know who we are." My dad said suspiciously.

"I do. Alaric Saltzman, a high school history teacher with a secret. Myra Saltzman, a high school student with a secret." John told us.

"Sure know a lot for someone who just got to town." Damon told him with narrowed eyes.

"More than you can imagine, Damon. My knowledge of this town goes beyond anything that you," He said looking at Damon.

"or you two," He said looking at me and my dad.

"or the council knows. So, if you're planning on some clever high speed snatch ring vamp kill move, know that if I die, everything I know goes to the council including the fascinating little tale of the originals Salvatore brothers and their present day return to Mystic Falls. " Damon was surprised and didn't know what to say.

"How did you get that ring?" My dad asked.

"I had inherited one, my brother Gray had the other. This was his and I wouldn't have given mine to Isobel if I had known she'd hand it over to another guy." John said. And that's when it clicked.

Flashback - 10 years

"... Four ... Three ... Two ... One! Ready or not here I come!" My mom said as she finished counting. I giggled from my hiding spot.

"Where are you Myra?"

"You have to come find me mommy." I said from under the bed. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. I looked at the door and saw a man standing there.

"John. I wasn't expecting you now." I heard my mom say. I heard the door close and came from under the bed to find both of them gone. I looked out the window to see the man handing my mom a ring.

"Stay safe. And wear this for protection." He said before looking at me in the window and then walking away. My mom came back in the house.

"Mommy, who was that?" I asked confused.

"That was ... an old friend."

Present Day

"What do you want?" I heard Damon ask. I listened to the conversation after zoning out.

"So many questions. It was a pleasure meeting you, Ric. I've heard so much about you. And it was nice seeing you again, Myra." He said before walking out.

"Again?" My dad asked confused.

"We met this morning. But I don't think that's what he's talking about. Because we did meet another time, ten years ago when he gave mom that ring."