All is Not as it Seems

"You want me to cast a spell on a vampire?" Bonnie asked.

Elena nodded.

"Damon or Stefan?"

"Yeah."

"Elena, I have an agreement with Katherine – an agreement to leave them alone. You know she'll kill me if I break it."

"I'm not asking you to hurt them Bonnie. Just help me understand them better."

Bonnie was confused. Then she felt something.

"Did you bring Damon here?" she asked Elena sharply.

Elena gasped at the sudden change in Bonnie. "No! He won't come with me, even when I ask."

"Well he's here now." Bonnie said, as Damon knocked on her door.

"I didn't. I promise. Do you want me to see what he wants?"

Bonnie nodded, glaring.

"OK. I'll be right back."

Yeah, he had interrupted her asking for a favor, a favor it didn't look like she would get. But Elena was not wasting this chance to talk to him. She hurried to the door and went through it, closing it behind her.

"Damon. Do you want to see Bonnie?"

Damon laughed. "You know better than that."

"I didn't think you were talking to me."

"Why would you think that?" Damon asked.

"I haven't seen you as much as usual for the last couple of days. When I did see you, you hardly said anything. I've seen you like that before - when I said something that upset you."

"Elena…" Damon tried.

"No Damon. Let me finish. Everyone else is upset because of what I asked you to do to Jenna, and I understand that. I almost expected it. But not from you. You know what I had to do that day. You are the only one who knows everything that happened – the only one I trusted to know everything. If anyone would understand, I thought it would be you. But I don't see it."

Damon waited a second – he was letting her vent.

"You misunderstand, Elena. Maybe I was like you describe, but it wasn't about you. It was about me."

"The 'it's not you it's me speech?' What are you saying?"

"No Elena, not that either. I'm saying it was hard for me to do that to Jenna. It's harder for me to do things like that now."

It took her a second, but Elena began to understand what he was saying. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have put you in that position."

"No, Elena. I said I would do it and I did. It's just harder now."

"You're not upset with me? Everyone else is."

"No. I don't really understand all of your reasons, but I don't have to. I stepped up and faced my feelings about you long ago. I made promises to you, and one is I will tell you if I am upset at what you do. I won't make you guess."

Elena released a sigh of relief and hugged Damon. "Thank you. I need to know that you're still with me – that I'm not alone."

"I'm with you Elena, anywhere you go. Give or take in there." Damon said, nodding at Bonnie's house.

Favors From Old Loves

Katherine approached the boarding house slowly. She knew Stefan was in there, and he would know that she was reaching the door – if he was paying attention. Not very likely.

She knocked. She was here for a favor, and she was going to be polite about it.

Stefan came to the door and was surprised to see her. "Elena…"

Katherine shook her head. "Not Elena."

"Katherine" Stefan said as he realized it was her. She couldn't read his expression.

"Yes. Can I ask you something?"

Stefan hesitated, but motioned for her to come in.

"You got me into some trouble with Elena when we were last alone together."

Katherine smiled to herself. "Did I?"

"Yes. And I'm not sure I ever got out of it."

Katherine faced Stefan before sitting where he indicated. "I've been gone a long time, Stefan. If you're still in trouble with her, it's probably your own doing."

"Yeah. Living in the mess I made." Stefan stared at her briefly. She looked so much like Elena, but was so different inside.

"What did you need?" he asked.

Keeping Secrets

It was close to the end of the summer. School would start again soon, which meant Alaric Salzman was at the school, working when he saw her.

"Isobel."

"Hi Rick." Was she smiling – it was hard for him to tell.

"I didn't expect to see you again so soon. Did you come to see me?"

Isobel hesitated. She had hoped the pleasantries would last a little longer.

"Katherine asked me to check into something with you."

"I don't work for Katherine."

Isobel actually winced. "I know, Rick. It's just that Elena told me you have vervain darts that can take down a vampire. Can you tell me how many you have?"

"Why?"

"Please Rick. How many?"

"Right now – ten."

Isobel closed her eyes. "Not enough. Can you make more?"

"Yes. Why would you want them. I use them against people like you."

"We would use them to protect Elena, Rick. Something you approve of."

Alaric shook his head. "She is not on the top of my list to help right now. She told me what she did."

Isobel was stunned. Elena had asked her to keep it a secret.

"She had to, Rick. It was self defense. She did what she had to do to keep herself and Damon alive."

It was Alaric's turn to be stunned. "And how was having Damon erase Jenna's memory of vampires self defense? How did it keep Damon and Elena alive?"

Isobel closed her eyes and exhaled. This was not going as she had hoped at all. Alaric was cold, not willing to help her with the vervain darts, and she had just broken her promise to Elena.

"Isobel," Alaric said. "Exactly what did Elena do?"

Interruptions

Katherine's phone interrupted her conversation with Stefan. She looked at the screen to see who was calling and then back at him as she stood up to take it. She couldn't tell how he was taking what she was asking of him.

She was back before he had blinked

"Stefan, we need to go now!" Katherine said it as she grabbed one of his arms and pulled him to the door.

"Katherine, what?" He wasn't really resisting.

"No time, Stefan. Now!"

Back to the Hell House

Damon was fairly far from Bonnie's house, having left Elena to return to her discussion with Bonnie. He had arranged to meet her later in the day before he let her go back into the house he hated so much.

Damon's phone rang. He was surprised as he checked the caller before answering.

"Katherine?" Damon asked.

"Where is Elena?" Katherine asked. "Is she with you?"

"No. Bonnie's house."

"Go to her Damon and stay with her. I'll send others to the Bennett house as well. OK?"

"On my way," Damon said. "Is there a problem?"

But Katherine was gone.

911

Stefan let Katherine pull him through the door and into the daylight. He only resisted when he smelled something.

"Is that smoke coming from my house?" he asked, pulling away from her. "We need to go back."

"No, Stefan." Katherine said. "No time."

"But," he tried again.

Katherine was pulling him again. "Call 911 – the fire department. And the sheriff too, if you think she can handle it. But we need to move."

Unwelcome

Elena felt much better after her conversation with Damon, but she wasn't quite ready to give up on the spell yet. Bonnie was having none of it.

"Why don't you just talk to them, ask them?"

"I need to be sure, Bonnie," Elena replied.

"You can't keep doing this, Elena. You can't use magic or compulsion as a crutch to avoid facing what's hard. And you have to bring me or Damon into it."

Elena was in denial "That's not what I'm doing…"

She was interrupted by a loud knock on the door and by a startled Bonnie.

"Elena – there are vampires around my house."

"Who's at the door?" She asked.

"Damon." Bonnie said, rising and going there followed by Elena.

"I need to come in." Damon said as soon as the door was open.

"Get these vampires away from my house." Bonnie said as she glared at Damon.

"They won't go away unless I am in there with Elena."

"No!" Bonnie said.

"Damon, what's going on?" Elena asked.

"Katherine wants a vampire inside with you. Otherwise, they stay right by the house out here."

"Why?" Bonnie asked.

"The vampires out here tell me she got a tip. Someone's coming for Elena."

"I'll go outside Damon," Elena said. "We don't have to bring Bonnie into this."

"No. You're safer in the house than anywhere outside. But Katherine wants a vampire inside waiting with you, or the others will be right next to the house. And more are coming. Do you see Bonnie?"

Bonnie did. There were four besides Damon when he knocked, there were six now.

"Isobel. I'll let Isobel come in to be with Elena."

Elena was confused. Damon just glared.

"She's with Rick and they're busy. She can't come. It has to be me."

"Bonnie, he won't do anything," Elena was almost pleading.

"I can't trust him Elena."

"You know he'll do what I ask him to." Elena said. "And I am asking him to do nothing in your house except protect me. That's all he will do – right Damon?" Elena asked, looking directly at him.

Damon nodded.

Bonnie noticed that another vampire had arrived. She spat the words, more than said them. "Come in, Damon."