"You will cooperate," Ben told Elena with his compulsion as he slammed her against the hotel room wall.

"Nice try. The vervain I'm wearing says otherwise," Elena shot back at him. Ben, the high school football star and local bar tender, someone the town had known since he wore diapers—was now a member of Mystic Fall vampires.

Ben took a deep breath just before he ripped off the necklace Stefan had given her and shot it across the room. "Well my heightened senses say you will. So let's try this again. Are you going to cooperate?"

"Yes," Elena replied blankly.

"Great," Ben said rolling his eyes, "now go sit with your witch friend." He tossed her in the direction of the bed, where Bonnie sat stiffly. He then made his way over to Anna, who'd been studying the Gilbert journal all morning. It was coming close to 5p.m.

"Its not in here anywhere!" Anna chucked the journal at the nearby wall.

"Careful!" Elena warned.

"Oh shut up." Anna said with total disregard of her. She slouched into the wall with defeat. "All that it said was that Daddy Salvatore would take it to his grave."

"Well maybe he literally took it to his grave," Ben answered in a 'duh' sort of tone.

"That's too obvious kid. Try again."

"Well soooorry. Why don't we just ask the Salvatore girlfriend then? The brothers are trying to open the tomb too, remember?"

"But we have the journal, Ben," Anna was starting to question her judgment in turning Ben. Maybe someone with a bit more brains next time.

"Yeah," Ben agreed but quickly added, "You said Damon left saying he knew where to look."

"She's with Stefan though, and Damon doesn't trust his brother. Use your brain."

Ben sighed and walked over to Elena, this would be easier than bickering with Anna. He stared deeply into her eyes, his pupils growing as he started his compulsion.

"Do you know where Emily's book is?" He asked.

"Yes," she replied with that same blank stare she wore just minutes ago.

"Well where is it?"

"Damon has it."

"See," he said turning to Anna now. "I'm not totally worthless."

Anna got up from her seat on the floor, walked over to Ben, and planted a deep, rewarding kiss directly on his lips. "I love it when you prove me wrong."

. . . .

"Damon, I beg you, please help me find her," Stefan pleaded with his brother one last time.

"Well now that you said 'please,'" Damon retorted. "I'll help you juuuust like you helped me. How does that sound, brother?" He said the last part through clenched teeth. If he wasn't on his way to find Bonnie, he'd end his brother right here and right now. Right outside of The Grill.

"It was for your own good Damon. If you open that tomb you'll release all of them, not just Katherine." Stefan argued as he chased after his brother.

"And they'll all be starved and weaker than babies, big deal. I can handle that, I don't live off bunnies Stefan."

"When you bring Voldemort back you get all his little death eaters, too. And just because they are out of practice doesn't mean they can't run past you!"

"Ohh Harry Potter reference, how modern of you Stefan. Nobody will ever guess you're a blood sucking chronic liar." Damon didn't see Bonnie or her car anywhere, yet. Asking Elena was out for the moment, he'd have to get her later. She had his blood in her so if Anna tried to kill her, she'd be fine.

"I'm not a liar," Stefan defended himself like he was back in the fifth grade.

Damon immediately hit the brakes on his speed walk and turned around to face his brother. He glared at his with such intensity that he saw Stefan trying to divert his eyes out of discomfort. "Really? Well let's see then. You lied about," he began counting on his fingers, "when you met Elena, what you really are, about Elena looking like Katherine, about helping me, and here's the best one; you lied when you promised me you wouldn't tell our father about Katherine. So the survey says: you're just one lie after another."

"That's not fair Damon. I did what I had to with Elena at the times. And I didn't tell—"

"I don't care!" Damon was starting to lose all his patience. "Unless you know where---" Caroline caught his eye mid sentence. She would know where Bonnie was, or at least have the witches phone number.

Using his vampire speed, he flashed across the street to directly in front of Caroline. "Where's Bonnie?" He demanded while using his compulsion.

"Hello to you too Damon," Caroline shot back at him.

Damon look down to see her necklace, probably holding vervain just like Elena's. "Great," he mumbled and rolled his eyes. He'd have to do this the polite way. "Elena has been looking for Bonnie, do you know where she is?" He tried using his most sincere face.

"I don't know, I've been looking for her too. She was supposed to call me after her date with Ben last night," Caroline replied like it was gossip.

Ben. Anna's new play toy. If they had her then they were probably on their way to the tomb. "Thanks," he said just before he took off at a normal jog. Once he was out of sight from anyone he took off at full speed vampire style to the tomb.

. . . . .

"Just sit down by the tree and shut up!" Anna ordered Elena, who'd been filling Bonnie in on the story of last night.

"Sooo, what do we do now?" Ben asked impatiently. They'd been waiting outside the Fell's Church for almost an hour now. Damon hadn't shown up, Bonnie kept rambling on about hour her powers weren't working, Elena just kept talking, and he hadn't fed since before his date with Bonnie last night.

"We keep waiting. Damon won't keep us long once he realizes Bonnie is missing," Anna smirked.

"Mind if I snack while we wait?" Both Bonnie and Elena stiffened when they heard him say that.

"No feeding on the witch, she's gonna need her strength," Anna sighed. She kept forgetting that Ben oddly enough needed blood more frequently than she did.

"But Elena is fair game right?" He was starting to get excited now; the rich taste of Elena's blood sinking down his throat sounded like heaven. He was already starting to make his way to her.

"Just don't drain her. We've got some starving vampires to set free who'll be needing a quick bite," Anna laughed. She couldn't wait to get into the tomb and see Pearl again. This had been way too long in the making.

While Anna was pondering her reuniting with Pearl, Ben had made himself friends with Elena's soft, silky smooth neck. He didn't make it hurt like he typically did, a struggle was fun but he really wanted to enjoy this. Her blood was the sweetest he'd ever had, and was way better compared to that stale crap he'd been drinking out of bottles. Every drop of blood flowed warmly down the path of his throat and into the depths of his hunger, begging him to take just a little bit more. She was limp in his arms, but not near death, he was being careful. Or trying to be at least.

Just as he'd lifted his head, he was pulled from behind and thrown across the field right into some stranger's headstone.

"NOT a good move," Damon screamed at the Anna's little minion. He bent down to pick up Elena from the ground. She was still alive, but not by much. He was still extremely pissed she lied to him, but he'd done a lot of things in the name of love that pissed people off. He wasn't just going to let her die, something in his heart just wouldn't let him. He bit his wrist and nuzzled it in-between her lips and made sure she was swallowing it.

While Elena gained her liveliness back, Damon glared back up at Ben—who was just now fumbling to his feet. The kid was probably still buzzing off Elena's blood, he had no idea that he wasn't going to have to enjoy it. Why was he getting so defensive over Elena? She was just a human, right? Yeah, right. Damon could lie to anyone, anyone but himself.

She was finally starting to regain her strength and that meant reject taking his blood any more.

"Damon?!" Elena questioned in disbelief once she'd successfully rid her mouth of his wrist. Of course she'd be surprised, Stefan was the one who did the rescuing.

"Don't make anything of it," he replied while helping her up. What she did next completely caught him off guard.

"I'm so sorry!" She leapt up and threw her arms around his neck, completely clinging to Damon. He knew she felt bad about lying, it was written all over her face last night, but this was out of character for her.

"Like I said," he pulled her off of him but kept his hands on hers, "don't make anything of it."

Damon turned his attention to Anna, who was staring in amusement at him. "So are we gonna get to this or what?" He didn't wait for a response from anyone, just started making his way into the church. When he glanced back to see who had followed him, he noticed Elena being pulled along by Anna. If she came with them then she'd get killed the second that tomb was opened. Bonnie shouldn't be along the ride either but she was needed.

"Elena," Damon started as he appeared in between Anna and Elena, "won't be coming with us."

" She's leverage," Anna stated harshly and put herself in-between Damon and Elena. "Just incase your darling brother shows up, or you step out of line." She smiled deviously and took the lead, leaving Damon and Elena in the middle and Ben with Bonnie in the rear. "Hurry up!"

"Damon listen," Elena grabbed his shoulder in hopes to stop him, but he just shook her off. "Would you stop for second!"

"Save it. There's nothing Stefan told you to tell me that's going to stop me from opening this tomb."

"I have a mind of my own, ya know." Elena shoved him as hard as she could, which of course was nowhere near as powerful as need be. In return, Damon grabbed her shoulders and shoved her up against the stonewall. He looked down into her eyes, not to compel her and not really with much anger, he looked confused more than anything.

"Do you really think that Katherine is just going to want to be with you when you release her, Damon?" Elena tried saying that in the nicest, most sincere way she could, but now Damon really was mad. He probably hadn't thought of that yet. He'd spent his whole vampire life loving Katherine when she just bounced from guy to guy.

"Elena is right Damon," Anna jumped in the argument. "You loved Katherine, but she just loved toying with you. She loves the game Damon; I'm surprised you haven't picked up on that after all these years. But I guess it's hard to see the truth when you've been compelled for so long," that last part she added with a bit of a cocky laugh.

"I wasn't compelled!" Damon snapped at Anna so loud that even Ben and Bonnie jumped with fear.

"I traveled with Katherine long before you met her, Damon," Anna was getting defensive now. "She compelled everyone! She never loved, but if you were fun to play with then she'd change you so she could come back if she got bored."

"Damon, Stefan isn't the reason I don't want you to go into the tomb. I—"

"You what, Elena? Suddenly you realize you care for me now? Or let me guess, you realize you love me and that's why you don't want Katherine out." Damon rolled his eyes in irritation. He was hurt mainly because that's what he wanted to hear, but he knew he'd never. She was Stefan's; despite how much he lied to her time and time again. What Anna didn't understand was that he was doing to Katherine exactly what she would have done to him. He was lonely and bored, the only person he'd had a connection with more than just for blood was caught up in his brothers deception.

"Damon. . ." Elena cooed. She twisted her arms up and around his neck and smiled shining all that spunk she knew Damon loved. "I thought you promised you wouldn't read my mind."

"Cute Elena," Damon said sarcastically, not believing anything she said. He pulled her arms off of him and turned away to continue down the tomb. He heard Elena sigh in anger and grab hold of his shoulder. Reluctantly he let her turn him around and was surprisingly greeted by her soft angelic lips on his.

Around him he heard everyone in the tomb gasp, in his head he was in complete astonishment as well. Not only was she kissing him but he was kissing her back and actually letting himself get lost in it. Katherine, the women he'd loved for 100 plus years, the focal point of all his diabolical plans, was only a few twists and turns away. Yet he was getting lost in a kiss from someone else.

"Elena stop," he whispered as he broke their kiss. "After all this I'll be sure to tell The Academy where to ship your award." He couldn't let her know he liked it, love it. He'd dreamed about that kiss, but he'd also dreamed about Katherine.

"Damon!" Elena was furious. She opened up to him and now he was shooting her down! She wasn't lying; this was something she'd been dying to do ever since their road trip, probably before then too. Stefan was great and always there to save her and comfort her, but he was also always there to lie to her, always. "I'm not wearing my necklace, I'm vervain free. If you don't believe me just do you're favorite little mind trick."

"It doesn't matter," he already did believe her, "Katherine and Pearl," he shot a look at Anna, "are waiting."

. . . . .

The tomb was filled with twists and turns, narrow passage ways and of course, no map. Anna seemed to know her way pretty well so it seemed. They only made one wrong turn so far and she picked up on it almost immediately.

The group was quiet most of the way. Bonnie was worried that her powers weren't back and if they were, she'd probably be killed. Ben was pissed at Damon for interrupting his snack, and Damon had been trying to keep his distance from Elena—but was failing miserably.

He was starting to doubt wanting to open the tomb. All he could think about was Elena and being close to her again. He'd been so sure of himself and his plan before, her lying to him only proved his motives more desperate. But now she'd chosen him over Stefan, the very thing he'd wanted since he first laid eyes on her. He was completely torn. Katherine was a game, on both ends now. Elena was love; she saw through him and brought out his good side.

Anna and Damon stopped abruptly in a large circular room. Elena smacked right into Damon's back; she was so caught up in her frustration that she didn't see him stop. He circled an arm around her slender waste and pulled her close beside him. Catching a glimpse of his face now, she saw that he was staring wide-eyed and terrified at a huge stone door masked in dirt and roots from above.

Next to that door stood, slouched on a wall, his face dimly lit by a torch in the wall next to him was. . . .

Stefan.