The Gilbert's were in shock, one second it looked like they were going to crash into the water and the next they smashed into the gravel shore of the river. It was already strange enough to Grayson that his car had swerved like that.
"Miranda honey, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, check on Elena."
Grayson turned to the back seat to check on his daughter and to his horror found no one there. Miranda screamed and his attention shot back forward towards the shattered windshield. There out in the front of the car was Elena, but she wasn't alone. A strange young man was holding her by the shoulders shouting something incoherent at her while shaking her.
Grayson hastily undid his seatbelt and stumbled out of the car.
"Let go of her!"
"Katherine why did you do this to me!"
'Who was this young man, why did he call Elena Katherine?'
Grayson charged at the stranger who dropped Elena and turned to him. Grayson hesitated when he saw the figure's eyes change into the tell tale eyes of a vampire. Curing silently he shoved the vampire away just as Miranda came out of the totaled car and ran over to Elena.
"Miranda take Elena and run, it's one of them."
"You can't fight it, you have nothing to defend yourself with."
"Just go!"
Miranda cursed and helped Elena to her feet, the brunette shakily put an arm around her mother and the two women ran away as quickly as they could. The vampire recovered at glared at Grayson.
"She has you compelled. She turned me into this. That's not your daughter."
"I don't know what you're talking about vampire. All I know is that you aren't leaving here to go after my family."
"Don't get in my way!"
Just then a blur dragged the vampire away into the darkness. The vampire let out one more scream as it disappeared into the night. Grayson slumped to his knees, that had been a close call. He took his phone out of his pocket with shaky hands. Dialing the Mayor's number he made a call.
"Lockwood, it's Gilbert. I just ran to one. Call the council in, we may have a problem in town."
With help from the mayor, Grayson and Miranda along with Elena were escorted back to their home. Members of the council had already gathered, they had foregone going to the hospital as a vampire attack on a member of the founding families was much more important.
Once everyone had been seated around the Gilbert's table the Mayor began the meeting.
"Less than a few hours ago, an incident occurred."
There were murmurs around the table, Sheriff Forbes looked over at Grayson and Miranda. No doubt the office had found the wreck by now.
"One of our own was attacked by the very being that our ancestors drove out of these lands."
"There hasn't been a vampire attack since 1864, why now?"
"I'll let Grayson answer that, I believe his answer holds the key to this problem."
"The vampire called Elena Katherine." There was a curse at the end of the table. Grayson looked over at the young man.
"Who are you?"
"Seth," the table looked at the young man. "I'm sorry for my outburst, please continue."
Grayson shook his head and started again.
"The vampire called my daughter Katherine. I believe that this vampire was referring to Katherine Pierce. Who was one of the vampires caught in our forefathers trap all the way back in 1864. I do not not yet why the vampire believed that Elena was Katherine perhaps it was delusional."
"What does this mean for the town? I'm already stretched thin as is, the sheriffs office doesn't have the man power if you're planning on having patrols at night."
"Don't worry Liz, Seth here has kindly assured me that his private security firm will handle the patrolling."
"Just doing my part Mayor Lockwood."
The council meeting went on and eventually the town decided on spiking the water supply with vervain just in case there were more vampires in hiding. Grayson noticed Seth making a call after the meeting.
"Business call?"
"Not at all, just the old lady at home asking about when I'd come back."
"Listen, back in there. You reacted pretty strongly to the mention of the name Katherine. Any particular reason?"
"She's one of the ones I have been tracking for years now. I didn't think she'd show up here of all places."
"Tracking how?"
"My grandfather mentioned her in his journals, her description in the pages made it seem like they had something going on between them. So I wanted to research who and what she was. I found out she was a vampire and I've been looking for her ever since."
"That's quite the lofty goal for one as young as you."
"Trust me Mr. Gilbert. I've had my fair share of wild experiences and whirlwind adventures. I'll notify my guards that they can begin patrolling tonight."
Before Grayson could say anything else Seth walked away to a waiting car. The driver shut the door behind the business owner and the car pulled away moments later. Grayson felt something strange about Seth, he didn't know what it was yet but there was something about the young man that put him on edge.