Elena collapses against Damon, and she lets him carry her up the stairs.
Damon's eyes meet Jeremy's as they pass his room, but neither speak. Damon shuts Elena's door with his foot.
He lays her down and kneels next to the bed while she catches her breath. Elena catches his hand as it twines through the hair behind her ear. She kisses his palm.
"Sleep well, Elena," Damon whispers. He returns the kiss on her knuckles, and disappears out the window.
In the morning, Elena and Caroline survey the last of the preparations at Founder's Hall. Apparently satisfied, they carry their pageant gowns upstairs to the dressing room.
"I can't believe I have to compete again this year," Elena remarks. "With everything else happening, the last thing I feel is festive."
"April Young will win anyway, Mrs. Lockwood already told me, so you only have to fake it for a little while. And then you can drink Prosecco until you do feel festive!"
Caroline beams when Elena's laughter cuts through the quiet. It feels foreign to them both. When had she laughed last?
And then she remembers—when she fed with Damon.
"Who are you going to bring tonight?" Caroline asks. She carefully sidesteps her real question—will Elena bring Damon? She thinks Elena made a mistake with Stefan, but it's pointless now that he's leaving town with Klaus. Again.
"I don't know. I'm not ready to think about anything with Damon yet, but that conversation will have to happen soon." Elena can feel the ghost of his thumbs on her cheeks still this morning, and she shivers.
"Jeremy is taking April so he can keep an eye on her for now. And so Klaus can keep an eye on him before they leave tomorrow." She's still unhappy about the whole situation. Two men she loves dearly, gone with the vampire she loathes most, for who knows how long.
"What about Matt?" Caroline wonders aloud. "He'd be willing to help."
"He's too willing, Caroline. I nearly lost control the last time he led me feed," she shivers again, but for a different reason. "Damon compelled him to forget, but I still feel awful."
"Then tell him."
"He'll hate me."
"Wow, did you burn brain cells during your transition? Matt isn't even capable of hate, let alone for you."
"I don't know, Caroline."
She ignores Elena and pulls out her cell.
"Matt, it's Caroline. Could you do me a favor? It's a long story, but Elena needs an escort for the pageant later." She pauses. "Thanks, you're a life-saver.
"Done."
Elena doesn't feel any better, but she knows Caroline does, so she nods.
Dressed, painted, and coiffed, Caroline and Elena wait for their escorts outside the Hall. Klaus is perfectly on time, and he makes no effort to conceal how delighted he is to see Caroline in such a bold red gown.
"You are a sight for hungry eyes." Klaus greets her with a wink. "Don't be too angry with me, love," he adds, and retrieves a small box from his jacket.
"I asked you not to."
"I took that under advisement," he explains, but extends the box anyway. Against her better judgment, Caroline accepts. Inside is a hair comb covered rose-gold flower buds with drips of tiny pearls.
"You forbade me a corsage, but I couldn't resist getting you flowers."
Elena adds the comb to Caroline's updo with a guarded glance toward Klaus, and Caroline takes his hand.
Elena smiles at Matt, not far behind in the arrivals line.
"Thanks for doing this, Matt."
"Yeah, sure. You look great."
"So do you. Ready to get this over with?"
He smiles and offers his arm.
Later, with the formalities of the pageant observed, Caroline crowns April and signals for the band to begin. Jeremy waits for April at the bottom of the stage for their dance.
"How are you doing, Elena?" Matt asks when the rest of their tablemates are safely away on the dance floor. "You doing okay with the crowd?" He gestures to his wrist, where he's unbuttoned his cuff.
"No, Matt. I can't do that again."
"I don't mind."
"You should." But she can't shift her eyes away.
"Why?"
"Because the last time, I lost control and nearly killed you. Only you don't remember it."
He rebuttons, giving himself a second to think. "Did you compel me?"
She shakes her head. "Damon."
"No wonder he's been so nice lately. Guess it's time to go back to drinking vervain, huh?" He smiles at her, unperturbed.
"You're not mad?"
"I'm glad you told me. And that you didn't kill me." He shrugs. "And now that I know, it won't happen again. I'm not sorry for helping you though, and I hope you'll tell me if I can in some other way?"
Damon hears her say his name, and eavesdrops on the conversation. Huh, Matt noticed he was being nice. Eyeroll. Damon pours himself another bourbon. He meets Elena's gaze for a moment, but breaks it quickly.
"Damon, how are you?"
"Carol, nice to see you. That was a lovely speech," he says, though he hadn't really listened to a word of it.
She nods her thanks.
"No lasting effects from incarceration?" he asks. "Seems like you, Liz, and Meredith have resumed Council business rather handily." He gestures to the finery of the Founder's Hall.
"Yes," she agrees. "Listen, I've been meaning to thank you."
"For?"
"Restoring the Council," she says meaningfully. "We're all sad that so many others died, but I know it's what was best for this town. For our families."
"That's sweet, Carol, that you think me capable of mass murder and all, but I can't take credit for thatexplosion, at least. As I told Liz already." He leaves her at the bar, speechless.
Klaus corners Caroline as she steps down from her moment on stage. "You can't avoid me all night, love."
"I can try."
"Is that how you repay me for my gifts?"
"Gifts are given freely, Klaus." She swivels toward him and stops. "You don't give anything without thinking about what you want in return."
"Excellent, we're on the same page then."
Caroline reaches up for the hair comb. "Fine, here, have it back."
He grabs her arm quicker than the human eyes in the room would register.
"That," he insists, "was a gift, Caroline." He lets her arm go, and it falls back to her side. "I meant my hybrid's life I willingly surrendered to you and Stefan. For which you promised me a date. This is a poor excuse for one so far. You haven't even danced with me yet." He grins.
She picks up her Old Fashioned and gives up her protest.
Damon's eyes bore into Elena from across the room, lifting each tiny hair on her exposed skin. It's not the first time she's felt him watching, but he's run out of official Council duties for the night. They are oppositely charged atoms, acutely aware of each other, and if she doesn't find a distraction soon, they will collide here.
"You absolutely can help, Matt. Dance with me?"
"You got it," he says, and offers his hand.
Two songs and a glass of champagne later, she pushes him toward April and steals Jeremy for a dance.
"Having a good time?" she asks.
"Yes, for once. Seems like boring old Mystic Falls tonight."
"I'm glad you got to have this before you leave, Jer."
"Me too." He twirls her a few times. She wonders when, exactly, he learned to dance.
"Stefan showed me a few moves earlier when I told him I was coming here with April and didn't want to make a fool of us both."
Her mood deflates a little. "Is he at the mansion?"
"Yeah, he offered to stay as collateral to ensure I'll come back there tonight."
"You don't have to do this, Jeremy."
"Yes, Elena, I do," Jeremy disagrees, resigned.
"Yes, Elena, he does," Klaus adds. "May I cut in?"
She glares at him but consents. Jeremy bows overdramatically toward Caroline, who giggles and takes his invitation to dance.
Elena is quickly irritated to find Klaus a decent dance partner.
"Don't worry, my dear, I will keep your Jeremy safe while we're away. He's worthless to me unless he's alive. I can't promise anything about Stefan, however."
"Is that a threat?"
"Not at all," he says with a malicious grin. "But he does have a tendency to resist my wishes. It's really in everyone's best interest that he not interfere any more than he already has. You'd be wise to tighten his leash and remind him as much."
She resents the leash comment, but stays resolutely silent. He doesn't need to know that Stefan won't return her calls.
"Ah, speaking of Salvatores. Don't look now, love, but you've got an admirer," he says, and gestures for her to look to her left. She doesn't look, though, because she can feel quite well whose eyes are fixed on her. Klaus grins again. "Thank you for the dance, Elena."
He spins her back to Matt as the song ends.
"That guy cannot leave town soon enough," he seethes.
"I need a drink!" she requests. He raises his eyebrows at her and laughs. "Champagne?" she clarifies.
"Okay," he agrees, and leads her to the bar.
Another two songs later, Matt begs off to the men's room, and Elena heads to the table to take a breather.
She finds a single red rose and a note.
Save me a dance?
Elena scans the ballroom, but he's gone. She picks up her clutch purse and the rose, and winds a path through the dance floor to Caroline and Jeremy to say her good-nights.
Damon is captivated as she closes her eyes and dips her nose into the rose petals. He turns to leave before she spots him. They need to talk, but this isn't the place, just as last night wasn't the night.
He has one more piece of business before he goes, though.
"Boo."
Bonnie jumps. "Jesus. What?"
"Aw, not happy to see me?"
"I should put a bell around your neck."
"Ring, ring," he mocks.
"What do you need, Damon?"
"I thought we should chat about the brand-new extra-friendly eerily-well-informed neighborhood occult expert."
"What about him?"
"You said you didn't tell him I was a vampire."
"I didn't. I wouldn't. He's practically a stranger still. I think we can trust him though, so if he knows about you and everything going on, maybe he can help us."
"You just said yourself—he's. a. stranger," Damon enunciates. "What in the world would possess you to trust him?"
"He's helping me reconnect with my power."
He widens his eyes, a gesture for her continue.
"He uses this hypnosis treatment, and it worked. The first time we tried, I was under for six hours without even feeling it. And two minutes after he brought me out, I lit all his candles with my mind without a second thought. Damon, this is a good thing for me."
He glares at her.
"Let me get this straight. You let someone you barely know hypnotize you. Which, first of all, shouldn't even be possible because you're a fucking powerful witch with powers of mental evasion, et cetera, et cetera, but it worked."
Bonnie nods warily.
"It worked for six hours."
And again.
"And you have no way of knowing what you might have done—or said—in those six hours during which you were completely under the control of another person.
"And it didn't occur to you that that might be the mother of all bad ideas? That he might not be what he says he is?"
"You're wrong about him."
"Make. Sure," he commands.
He rips off his bow tie and sprints home, too furious to feed on the way.
"So, what will it take to repay you?" Caroline asks warily. Knowing Klaus, he'll never be satisfied.
"Hm." Klaus keeps their rhythm to the song, thinking. "I could ask for anything, really, couldn't I? There is one delightful image I can't seem to shake from memory. Not that I'd want to." He pulls her in closer to whisper the rest. "Your hair was a lovely mess across your shoulders. Your shirt laying on the grass at your feet. Your lips soft and demanding on mine. Your hands frantic on my chest."
"Tyler's lips. Tyler's chest."
"All the same, that heat was me and you." He lets her contemplate that before he continues. "I'd like another kiss before saying goodnight, Caroline. One where you know it's me, and I can return the favor properly. After all, it's not as though you're still with Tyler."
Caroline nods, unable to correct him, and unsure whether she wants to.
Hours later, Caroline steps into the Lockwood foyer, expecting the worst.
"Did you have fun on your date with Klaus?" Tyler asks, eyeing his girlfriend's still-quiffed hair.
She rolls her eyes at Tyler's jealousy. "Are you finished?"
"Did he pull out your chair for you? Fetch you drinks? Walk you to your door? Kiss you goodnight?"
In the living room, Hayley picks up her bottle of vodka and shot glass and makes her exit. She'd rather not watch when their spat turns sexual.
"What choice did we have, Tyler? We needed to play out the break-up scene, and you know it."
"And I'll bet you just hated it."
"You know what, Tyler? I didn't hate it. He treated me like a lady. Danced with me. Complimented my dress. Told me I was an exceptional woman." She crosses her arms. "It was pretty much the best date I've been on in a long time. I felt like someone actually wanted to be in my company and not just in my bed."
Caroline hardens her gaze and her posture. How much she enjoyed the night doesn't say much about Klaus, really, but it says everything about her relationship with Tyler lately.
"Oh, okay. You want me to feed you clichés. And here I thought you wanted me to earn my free will. Next time I'll be sure to stay Klaus's little lapdog and think up some sweet words for you instead, Caroline."
"You did that for yourself as much as for me."
"I did it for us, and in case you hadn't noticed, there hasn't been much time to take you on a 'date' what with spending months breaking Klaus's hold on me, and then getting body-jacked, and now all the pretending-to-fight and actually-fighting and mourning the hybrids and werewolves your friends have been murdering. And yeah, I've been distracted with Hayley."
Caroline scoffs. She's over the Hayley thing, really, but she's not so mature that she can just let it be. Tyler ignores her petulance.
"We have a mission. To help them break their sire bonds to Klaus, all of them. But it takes time. Time to convince them, and time to show them how. It's dangerous, but it will be worth it."
She sighs melodramatically, but she knows he's right. If they are ever going to be free of Klaus, they have to take away his army.
"Are you on our side, Care? On my side?"
Their eyes meet and she nods. "Of course I am."
"Good," he says, relieved. "Don't you fall under his spell just after I break out," he whispers, and folds her up in his arms.
"Are you two done with the Scarlett and Rhett reenactment?" Hayley shouts from the kitchen. "'Cause we have strategizing to do."
Tyler kisses Caroline, slow and deep, the way he hasn't since those first few they shared. Since before they knew the name Klaus.
"Can I help?" Caroline asks when he pulls away.
"Dude, you're like, one of those emo love songs right now," Jeremy observes. Stefan is lying on his back in bed in jeans and a singlet, unwashed and unshaven. He sits up and rubs his face.
"How was the Gala?"
How was your sister? is what he means.
"Hardly any bloodshed."
Stefan's features shift into concern.
"Kidding. It was fine."
Jeremy un-tucks his shirt and takes off his shoes. He opens his sketchbook to an unfinished page and picks up a handy piece of charcoal. He doesn't have to think to remember every last detail.
"What's that?"
Stefan had silently crept up behind him, and Jeremy starts.
"Just a dream I had," he replies, and sets down the charcoal.
On the page, Klaus drains a woman with an empty face. Stefan flips through the book, and finds page after page of horror, death, and blood.
Jeremy stops him at one in particular.
A dark bar, bodies and broken glass littered on the floor, and Jeremy and a nameless other with stakes at the ready.
"Honey, I'm home!" Klaus calls. Jeremy flips the book shut and stashes it quietly away before he enters. "Good, you're together. Now imagine, master Gilbert, that you will never get to travel anywhere else once I'm finished with you." He pauses. "Mostly because I plan to kill you when you've lost your use, but I digress. We can find vampires to kill just about anywhere in the world, and I'm feeling charitable this evening. Where would your little heart like to frolic before I eat it?"
Jeremy takes a deep breath. "How about New Orleans?"
"The Big Easy it is! Pack your bags."
Stefan wonders just what the littlest Gilbert is up to.
Hayley brings three glasses and a pitcher of beer into the living room. Her brain is already riffling through the options.
"Klaus put Darius in charge of the hybrid packs while he's gone. It's no good trying him, he's too loyal," Hayley admits.
"We'd better steer clear of the ones who've had the most contact with vampires," Tyler suggests.
"Good point."
"How many will you be able to convince to break the sire bond?" Caroline asks.
"Hard to say," Hayley says. "Some of them are more tightly sired than others, and some are just too stubbornly loyal by choice to listen to reason."
"I think if we could get two or three at first, and ask them to help out, it might spread through whole packs over time. You know, build a resistance movement."
"Won't word get back to Klaus about what's happening?"
Hayley and Tyler share a look. They both know it's likely he will, and soon. She answers for them. "We have to take that risk."
"When will you go?" Caroline asks, though she knows the answer already.
"Klaus leaves with Stefan and Jeremy in the morning," Tyler tells her, and though he doesn't say the words, she hears the apology.
Elena takes her time walking to the boarding house, holding her skirt in one hand and her heels in the other. She stops on the lawn, suddenly unsure.
Damon knows she's there, though, and opens the door. "Coming inside?" he asks, and she hesitates. "Come inside, Elena."
His bow tie lays untied around his neck, and the top two buttons of his shirt are undone. He vibrates with leftover rage and more than a little anticipation. And he's beautiful to her.
Her hair is falling out of its elegant twist, and her toes carry a bit of grass and mud onto the wood floor when she enters. Her shoulders relax when he takes her shoes and sets them down. And she's gorgeous to him.
"We need to talk, Damon."
"We will," he assents. "Will you dance with me first?" Damon had been drinking Four Roses and listening to a Sarah Vaughan record when she got there. He leads her over to the fireplace so her feet will dry, and takes her in his arms.
They dance quietly for a moment, and he tucks their hands together close to his chest. She seems to make a decision, and melts into him infinitesimally.
"I feel different, Damon."
"You are different."
"I'm not that girl anymore, am I? The one I was only a few weeks ago?"
"You're just as beautiful as she was. More, even, for all you've fought through to get here."
"I don't feel very beautiful right now. I just feel lost." She stops dancing. "But—"
She sighs, as though she's letting something lift from her soul. "But I feel like if anyone can help me find my place again, Damon... It's you. You know me, don't you?"
He fixes her with one of those penetrating stares of his. "I do."
She lifts up on her toes, and his lips meet hers halfway. They don't linger for long; they don't need to. They've agreed to something, very quietly, and they both recognize it.
He winds his fingers in the hair at the nape of her neck, and leads her back into their dance.
"I love this music, Damon, what is it?"
"It's like a crime that you don't know Sarah Vaughan. Okay, we need to add that to your lessons. First, How to Eat People Without Killing Them 102, then Best Music Throughout the Ages for Dummies. Check," he says, and dips her without warning as the song ends.
Her laughter is infectious.