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"Bonnie, you can stay here as long as you like," Caroline said, comfortingly to Bonnie who was blankly staring at the piles of grimoires around guest bedroom.

"Caroline, thanks, really; but I've got to face my Dad sometime," Bonnie said drearily.

"Have you talked to him, like, at all?" Caroline asked hesitantly. She knew Bonnie and her father's relationship was stressed, especially since her mom had left, but they seemed okay- better than her mother-daughter relationship anyway. Hopefully, now that her mom knew, things would get better, but the thing was no one did know.

"I've left him a couple of messages on his cell saying that I've been at Elena's for the past few days. But I've been gone for like two weeks, so I don't know what he thinks. I guess I could say I was at Grams'. I mean there still a lot of her stuff there. I could say I've been going through the rest before they sell the house. He might believe it," she shrugged. "I just don't know."

Caroline gave her a what-can-you-do-about-it face and went back to sorting through the grimoires.

Elena walked through the door a few minutes afterwords. "Sorry, Caroline, but the door was unlocked so I just came on in."

"That's fine," she answered. "Hey, who's Helena Naughtori?" Caroline was looking inside one of the oldest and thickest books there. "I've seen like two others this size around with her name in it, too."

"Dunno," Bonnie said shaking her head. "Luka said his dad had been collecting grimoires for awhile all over the place. So it could be from a thousand years ago from someone in Europe for all I know. There are other grimoires that are thicker than that. Like," Bonnie demonstrated, holding up one of them. "This was Carson Alder's. He has like five others like this! I've also seen the name Eleanor Beansworth a lot." Bonnie put down the grimoire she was holding and put it in one of the many boxes. "Oh, hey," she said picking up another. "Here's one that says Cecilia Deandro."

"So?" asked Elena, not sure what was so special about the name Cecilia Deandro.

"It's not the name, but what's under it!" Bonnie began excitedly.

"What?" asked Caroline craning her neck to see whatever Bonnie was looking at.

"There's an inscription. It says 'Cecilia, you have the gift and it is strong within you. I hope that you take my gift of this grimoire and fill it with all the knowledge I know you will gain. A witch's grimoire is their closest confidant and best friend. I should know as I've already filled one and intend to continue writing- as you should. Keep it with you always.' And it's signed Helena."

"You think it's Helena Naughtori?" asked Elena doubtfully.

"It's possible," Bonnie explained. "Magic usually runs in a family. If there were two sisters than it would be likely that both could use magic. You know, that's something I want to work on, too."

At the quizzical looks from both Caroline and Elena, Bonnie continued. "Making my own grimoire and learning about who these belong to."

All three of the girls went back to work trying to pack away everything that Bonnie had brought. It was also decided that Bonnie would come and stay at the Gilbert's, while her grimoires would go to the boarding house. As they finished up each gave their own account of what they experienced. Bonnie and Caroline told about what happened to Jeremy, and Elena explained the whole Stefan situation.

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Jeremy was, to simply put it, freaking out. He had to tell someone, but who? There was no way he was about to tell Elena. She had enough to worry about as it was and would probably freak out anyway. Damon was out of the question too, along with Caroline- both would just go blabbing to Elena. He thought about it some more and decided that Bonnie would have the same reaction and blame it all on herself. There was only one other person that he could talk to. Thankfully, he was currently taking up residence on the couch. But he wouldn't tell him yet. Jeremy would wait to see if it happened again, in case he was just hallucinating or something from the stress of all this.

With that in mind, Jeremy went about making up Elena's room for Bonnie and packing up some of her stuff to take to the boarding house as Elena had texted saying Bonnie was going to be staying in her room for a few nights and Elena was going to stay at the boarding house for a little while longer. It would make more sense for Bonnie just to go stay at the boarding house and Elena to come back, but seeing as Bonnie still couldn't really stand Damon it was kind of out of the question.

Jeremy picked up one of the picture frames on her desk with her and Bonnie and Caroline. Smiling he stroked her face, but dropped it out of shock.

"Really? You're dating her?" asked Vicki standing next to him with her hands on her hips.

"Vicki!" Jeremy almost yelled.

"Ah, yeah, who else?" she asked him as if it were obvious.

"What? How? Where's Anna?" he asked looking around then back to VIcki who was still there.

"We aren't BFF's or anything, you know."

"I know, but you two always seem to be together. Wow," Jeremy said shaking his head, "I can't believe I'm having this conversation."

"You do get I'm not actually here, right?" Vicki asked, plopping herself on the bed.

"What?" asked Jeremy, very confused as he picked up the picture- still intact.

"I'm a ghost! Duh," VIcki explained.

"Whoa, wait, what?" he asked still very confused.

"Yeah, apparently they exist too. Crazy right?"

"Ah-"

"Unfortunately that other vampire came back too," she continued making a face. "What did you call her- Anna?"

"Yeah, I sort of dated her after you ..."

"Died, for the second time, actually?"

"Yeah, but why are you here?"

"I don't know. I just came back. Didn't have a choice in the matter, but whatever. Apparently that Anna chick came also."

"Came back? What do you mean?"

"I don't know. There were all these voices whispering in this language and ... Well, I don't know," she finished getting up. "The important thing is," she continued putting her hands on his shoulders and looking him in the eyes, "that we're here together."

"Hey, Jeremy?" asked Elena as she entered the room.

Jeremy looked from Vicki to Elena, but Elena seemed unable to see Vicki who had moved to the side and was making a face at Elena. "God, you're sister is still so annoying."

Jeremy shook his head and tried to concentrate on what Elena was saying, but it was really hard with his ghost (previously human then turned vampire) dead ex-girlfriend making snide comments every few seconds.

"What, Elena?"

"Do you need any help? Caroline and I finished helping Bonnie. She's downstairs now."

"Oh, ah, no. I'm good," Jeremy told her handing her a bag from the bed. "Here, I got those jeans and toothbrush."

"Thanks," she said with a grateful smile. She turned to leave the room. Right before she closed the door, Elena turned back, "And Jer?"

"What? Yeah?" he asked, still preoccupied with Vicki.

"I know this is all kind of crazy, but it'll be okay. Someday."

"You have no idea," he told her. Elena just smiled and nodded, closing the door.

Jeremy let out a breath he hadn't even realized he had been holding.

"Thank God," Vicki muttered, following Jeremy as he walked through the bathroom to his room.

"What are you still doing here?" he asked again, only angrily this time, turing to face her.

"What do you mean? I told you I don't know how-"

"I get it, you're not sure what's going on either, but you did that little disappearing thing the last two times I saw you. So can you do that again because I've got to go deal with more people, and you talking and making faces and everything else is annoying and distracting."

"Sorry," Vicki said, not sounding that hurt. "Fine, but I'm stuck here for now, whether you like it or not," she told him.

"Okay," he said rubbing his eyes. "Just don't-" Jeremy looked up to see that Vicki wasn't there anymore. "Sneak up on me again."

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Klaus was on the outskirts of Baltimore, Maryland appearing to just be milling around.

"Where's the entourage?" asked Stefan, seeing that the second car was no longer there in the rearview mirror.

"We lost them. We don't need them for this."

"What is this exactly?" Stefan asked, brooding as usual.

"Don't you ever get tired of asking questions, Stefan?" Klaus asked him, still amused.

"No, not really."

"Didn't think so," Klaus said with a smile.

He made a right turn and followed what seemed to be a dead end road. Stefan wondered vaguely about where they were headed figuring that he already knew what they would be doing once there. Instead, his thoughts drifted to Elena. He hoped she would realize that he did this to save Damon. After all, he owed his elder brother.

Klaus' thoughts weren't far away in Mystic Falls, or anywhere else for that matter. No, they were here in Baltimore, not more than ten miles away. He hoped it would be worth it. Stefan would be a fantastic distraction. To be perfectly honest, Klaus thought this one of his more genius moves. Stefan would serve his purpose today, on his first day, and continue to pay for the cure for the rest of a decade.

Stefan was surprised to find that the road did come to the dead end, but not in the way he had expected. "A gated community?" Stefan asked. Of all the places for a vampire to kill- a gated community was not the place. Even if you did manage to make the kill, it would be a mess to clean up afterwords.

"What?" asked Klaus at the look from Stefan which was a mixture of disbelief and confusion. "Ah, Stefan, surely by now you should realize that I know what I'm doing."

"Mmm," Stefan said, not entirely sure how to answer.

Once to the gate, Klaus rolled down the window to talk to the security guard.

"Excuse me sir, do you have any weapons in the car?" the man asked suspiciously. He had never seen this man and his friend before, and he was immediately distrustful of these two.

Klaus removed the sunglasses over his face and compelled the guard. "Let us through and don't tell anyone about your meeting with us."

"Go on in, and have a good day, sir," the guard said with a smile while he buzzed the two in.

"Well," Klaus said, putting his shades back on, and driving through the gate, "my jobs done. It's your turn."

"And what do you want me to do during my turn?" asked Stefan, getting really agitated.

"First we'll wait for the cover of darkness, then you'll do what rippers do best," Klaus explained with a sadistic smile.

"Why darkness?"

"Stefan," Klaus said with the smile still on his face, "I would have thought that after even just one day with me you would have realized that you'll know when I want you to know."

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Damon knocked on the door of Liz Forbes' office. Inside he heard hushed whispers that held the tone of some pretty mad people. Damon turned his head in the direction of the voices and, using his vampire sense of hearing, listened in.

"Do you want to explain to me what happened last night?" asked Carol Lockwood.

Damon tensed at the mention of the previous night.

"Carol," Liz began, "As I've already told you, the situation is under-"

"Don't tell me it's under control, Liz," snapped Carol. "Your deputies have been telling some very interesting stories concerning Damon Salvator and Jeremy Gilbert and a gun going off? I mean-"

"Liz, Carol!" Damon said in greeting after opening the door.

"Damon!" said a flustered Carol.

"What are you doing here, Damon?" asked Liz, confused.

The two women were no more than a hand's width apart. Each was in the other's face, determined that their side of the argument be the winner.

"I came here to talk to you about last night, actually. This seems to be a common occurrence today, though," he said with a nod to Carol.

"Ah," Liz began.

"No, don't worry. I got everything straightened out with Jeremy and took care of that vampire."

"What?" asked Carol, looking from Liz to Damon.

"Ah," Liz said again.

"Uh ... John," Damon said, silently cursing himself for bringing John into this. Unfortunately Damon hadn't had a cover story when he came over here, but then again Carol wasn't supposed to have been here. He would have to come up with something and fast. "were right. There was another vampire in town like you suspected. Someone to avenge that girl with the brown hair."

"Wh-? Oh, really?" asked Liz, trying to play along.

"Yeah," Damon continued, this time mentally slapping himself for mentioning Rose like that. "But don't worry. I staked her, but John's- John's dead," Damon finished with a said face. "I've already taken care of everything. All bodies are buried and no one knows but the three of us in this room now."

"So you got the vampire?" asked Carol. "He's gone. Everything's back to normal?"

"As normal as Mystic Falls ever is," Damon said with a wince.

"Well, Liz, I'm sorry for my ... little outburst just now. I didn't realize that you didn't have all the details either. Goodbye, Liz, Damon," Carol said, walking out of the room and shutting the door behind her.

"She didn't sound very sorry," Damon commented.

"She's not. But for now, Carol doesn't have an excuse to be breathing down my neck."

"No, guess not."

"Why are you here, Damon?" Liz asked. She was standing behind her desk, straightening papers and refusing to look Damon in the eye.

"I need to know how much you know, then I'll tell you what you don't."

At this, Liz looked up. "Really?" she asked skeptically.

"Caroline's already called and told me about Matt and the vervain. Obviously no matter how many times I compel you, you figure out a way to figure out what I am," he finished with a sheepish smile.

"Well, thank you."

"Don't mention it," Damon said, sitting down in one of the two chairs sitting in front of Liz's desk. "Besides, you're one of the people I'd actually call a friend, and let's face it, considering everything that's pretty sad."

"Yes," Liz said smiling and sitting down herself. "It kind of is."

"Now what has Caroline told you?" Damon asked- starting the beginning of what would be a very long conversation.

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Elena walked through the entrance to The Grill, starving. She hadn't had much lunch and no breakfast, so she had come to The Grill for some early dinner. Bonnie and Caroline would be meeting her a little later. Bonnie was spending time with Jeremy and Caroline with Tyler. Elena absently wondered if a relationship was brewing between the two. They had been good friends the past two months, but she wasn't sure if there was anything more to it.

She walked around, looking for an empty table (apparently everyone was having dinner earlier today) when someone started talking to her.

"Uh, excuse me," said a ridiculously hot guy sitting in a booth next to where she was standing. He had dark blonde hair which was standing up every which way, blue-gray eyes that reminded her of the ocean, and a perfect smile. "Sorry, but I was wondering if you could maybe give me directions to a hotel, assuming you're from here that is," he finished a little uncertainly seeing Elena's blank expression.

"What?" Elena asked, shaking herself mentally. "Oh, ah, yeah, I'm from here, born and raised."

"Cool," he said with a smile. "Oh, sorry," he continued standing up and offering her a hand. The guy was maybe in his early twenties and was about five eleven or six foot and in great shape. "I'm Liam and new here, obviously."

Elena shook his hand. "Hey, I'm Elena ... Gilbert."

"So ... what about that hotel or motel, whichever; I'm not picky."

Liam waited patiently for her answer while Elena quickly tried to figure out what to tell the guy.

"Uh, I think there's a bed and breakfast on the edge of town. Take Sycamore down to Washington, then turn right. It should be on your ... left."

"You sound very sure of yourself," Liam said jokingly. "Are you certain you live here?"

"Yes," she said laughing. "That's why I've never had to find a hotel in this town."

Liam was laughing along with her. "Didn't think of it that way."

Elena smiled but continued her search for a free table. Liam noticed her looking around.

"You looking for someone?" he asked, politely interested.

"No, actually. Well," Elena amended, "I'm meeting some friends later, but I got hungry and came early, and apparently so did everyone else."

Liam smiled at her then said, "Hey, you can wait for your friends with me. I could really use someone to tell me about Mystic Falls. If you don't mind that is," he finished weakly, seeing the look on Elena's face.

"No, it's just ... I ... I have a boyfriend," she finished blushing, hoping that she really did still have a boyfriend and that Stefan was actually safe and okay and that she hadn't misread Liam's winning smiles at her.

"Completely platonic," Liam said raising his hands.

"I'm sorry, I just figured I'd get that out of the way," Elena said, still embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it," he said still smiling, and motioning her to sit down.

She took the seat across from Liam and he handed her a menu. She flicked through it absently, already knowing it by heart, as most Mystic Falls residents did. "So, you're new here?" she prompted.

"Ah, yeah," Liam began. "Not for long though. I'm sort of between places right now," he finished a little uncomfortably.

"Really?" Elena asked, interested. It was refreshing to meet someone with problems, too.

"Yeah," he said, but he didn't elaborate till after the waitress that had just shown up had left with their orders. "I'm sort of on my own and trying to figure out where to set up some roots. And that's not something I've ever been really good at."

"Why?" she asked before she could stop herself. "I'm sorry, that was rude, I shouldn't have ..."

"Don't worry about it, Elena," Liam told her. "I have no secrets."

Elena just looked at him.

"What?" he asked, as the waitress brought them drinks.

"Nothing, it's just, someone without secrets is new for me."

"I try not to anyway."

"And how's that going for you?" she asked, intrigued.

"Okay for now. It used to be harder- family stuff. But I think Mystic Falls will be a good new start. A clean slate- you know?"

"Yeah," she said, smiling a little. "Yeah, I do. I wish I had that." Elena was surprised at how easy it was to talk to this guy. Liam seemed to be one of those go with the flow types that went wherever the wind blew them. The kind that would make the perfect kind of vampire she thought. Not wanting to set up roots, just see the world, not caring about relationships and never meeting a person that wasn't there friend.

"A clean slate? What for? I mean, I know it's none of my business, but you seem pretty faithful to your boyfriend and your waiting for friends to meet you here for dinner? Just by my first impression you're life seems decent."

"It's ..."

"Complicated," he finished for her, the corner of his mouth turning up. "Trust me, I've heard it all before."

At that point the waitress was back with orders. Elena tried to remember her name. Amber, was it? Well, it didn't matter anyway. The thing that did seem to matter to Elena was that the girl was flirting so obviously with Liam, it was disgusting. For some reason, and she didn't know why, she felt a pang of annoyance at the girl. For all she knew they could be dating and here Amber was, laying it on thick with Liam.

"Gracias, bonita," Liam said to the waitress as she put down the plates.

"I doubt that," she said interrupting whatever it was the waitress was saying.

"What?" Liam asked, not sure what Elena was talking about.

"That you've heard it all."

"Oh really?" he asked, raising and eyebrow mischievously.

"Really," she said playfully, answering with a mischievous smile all her own.

"Well, we'll just have to agree to disagree then," he said, digging in.

There was something about this girl, but Liam just couldn't place a finger on it. He like her, she was funny and open in the sort of way most girls weren't. She also hadn't flirted with him once, which was something that he wasn't really used to.

"Guess so," she agreed, taking a bite of her burger. "What was with the Spanish back there Mr. Smooth?"

"Oh, just used to it. I've spent a lot of time in South America."

"Wow," Elena commented, confirming what she had thought about him being a traveler.

"Yeah, there's great food, people, and waves."

"You surf?" she asked in disbelief.

"A little," Liam admitted. "So, what is there to do in this little town anyway? Something tells me I won't get any time on my board."

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"Rick! Hey, Rick!" called Jeremy from the top of the stairs.

"I'm in here!" Rick called back from the couch, where he sat with an array of papers in front of him. Downside of teaching, thought Rick, there were always papers to grade.

"Oh, hey, are you busy?" Jeremy asked, peering over Rick's shoulder to see what he was doing.

"Not with anything remotely interesting or important," he answered. "What's up?"

"Umm," Jeremy began, not entirely sure if this was a good idea or not. But he had made up his mind to tell somebody before this got out of control, and Rick was the ideal candidate. He wouldn't go blabbing in Jeremy asked him not to, he wouldn't freak out, but he would still listen and try to help Jeremy.

"How bad?" asked Rick, leaning back as Jeremy came around the sofa to face him.

"What do you mean?" questioned Jeremy, confused.

"I mean how bad is whatever you're about to tell me," Rick explained matter-of-factly.

"Oh, uh, that's the thing. I'm not sure," Jeremy began, looking at his feet.

Rick waited patiently for him to go on.

"Do you- do you believe in ghosts, Rick?"

"Jeremy, I believe in vampires, werewolves, and witches now, and I wouldn't even have contemplated any of this a few years back. I don't think ghosts are that big a jump."

"Good, because I think I'm seeing ghosts," Jeremy said letting out a breath.

"Elaborate," Rick commanded.

"Well, last night I thought I heard something, so I came downstairs to see if maybe Elena had come home or if you were up or something. Someone called my name and I turned in the direction of the kitchen and saw Anna-"

"Wait, your vampire girlfriend who died on Founders' Day?" asked Rick, clarifying a few points.

"Yeah, anyway ... It hadn't been Anna would said my name because the voice came again. I turned around and saw Vicki. Yes, my first vampire girlfriend who also died," Jeremy put in before Rick could ask. "The thing is only seconds later they both vanished, so I thought maybe I was just hallucinating and tired, but then they showed up in the kitchen for a few seconds, too, while I was in there. I still hadn't been back to sleep so I didn't tell anyone. But now, when Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline were here Vicki popped back up and I had a conversation with her, so either I'm going mad or seeing ghosts. And I'm not sure which one it is."

"I'm leaning more towards the whole you're losing it situation- Hey!" Rick yelled, as a pillow was flung at him.

"I honestly don't think I'm insane," said Jeremy, threateningly holding a pillow.

"I know, I know, I know," Rick agreed, covering his face with his hands. "What I think, though, is that you should tell Bonnie."

"What?" exclaimed Jeremy. "I think you're the one who's insane. Bonnie would freak. And this may not be anything; it could get better."

"Jeremy, you see dead people, you don't have a bad cold," Rick said, still holding his head in his hands.

"Look, even if I wanted to tell her, I wouldn't, not yet. She's done some pretty big spells with me and with Klaus. She's gotta be weak from that and everything else."

"Okay, I agree with you, but, Jeremy, you need to talk to her. She was really shaken up after everything and was talking about some consequence or something. I'll give you a day, but that's it. You have to tell her by tomorrow night if it happens again. Or so help me I'll tell Elena, and we both know how stupid that would be."

"If it happens again?" Jeremy asked.

"Yes."

"Thanks, Rick," Jeremy said, his face splitting into a smile as he made his way to the door.

"By tomorrow Jeremy, if it happens again!" Rick called after him as Jeremy made his way out the door.

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Klaus was still parked in the exact spot since he had arrived. He had remained relatively still and quiet for the duration of their stay outside one of the large houses in the gated community. A few phone calls were answered, but he didn't say much just listened as people talked to him, and Klaus and Stefan split a few blood bags betweens them.

As dusk descended Stefan grew more and more agitated in anticipation of what was coming. He had no idea what Klaus was planning, none at all. That's what scared him the most. If he had know, he thought he could deal with it. Unfortunately, Klaus wasn't the sharing type.

Finally, Stefan couldn't take it anymore and began his steady stream of questions once again. But Klaus put a stop to it before Stefan could even get a word out.

"Don't because you are about to be answered," he said, holding up a hand, a just as a porsche pulled into the driveway next to the Jaguar XKR of the house opposite. Two girls and a boy stepped out.

"We're here because of them?" asked Stefan, unsure why they had come all this way for three people.

"Not because of them, because of the Jag," Klaus said exasperatedly. "Of course," he continued, "they'll be a nice evening snack."

Even though he hated to admit it, Stefan was hungry, starving in fact. Just the thought of ripping into their veins made his fangs ache.

"Well then," Klaus smirked, "what's the wait?" And Stefan was out of the car door before Klaus had even finished.

Klaus just chuckled to himself as he watched Stefan run (at human speed) up to the trio to ask for help. There was a park behind the houses on the other side of the street, and Stefan motioned to it. In a hurry they all headed up a low hill in the park behind their house. But right as they reached the bottom of it, all hell broke loose. Stefan clamped his mouth down on one of the girls' throats. The guy just stood their paralyzed, and the girl backed up slowly. Once he was done with the first one, he went after the other two. Klaus stood, leaning against the car watching with rapt attention.

The moon was just past it's full and had just begun waining, A girl appeared silhouetted against the soft light given off by the moon, watching the seen unfold around her. A second woman also appeared leaning casually against the jag.

"He has skill," she commented, "but no style."

Klaus tore his eyes away from the hill were the girl was standing and where Stefan was draining the life out of the third victim and turned towards the woman, well she was more of a girl really, just like the person standing on the hill, and smiled.

"I prefer skill to style anyways," he joked.

"You would, Klaus," she said and rolled her eyes, laughing.

Cliffhanger! Well, now it's on to the good, juicy stuff. The first episode was just to sort of summarize what went on last season and foreshadow some plot lines for this season like who's Liam and who are the two girls that seem to know Klaus and why is he looking for them? Keep reading and reviewing. I'd love to hear what you have to say!