Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's.


Chapter 9: Homecoming

He tried very hard to focus on the book in his hands but with his very human girlfriend up on an almost 20 foot latter cleaning off the ceiling fan, it was just a tad bit difficult. He didn't usual think about how high the ceiling was, but at this moment in time he couldn't help cursing it. With one last huff he throws the book to the side and sits up from leaning against the headboard, tilting his head to gaze up at her. "Are you sure you don't want me to do it?" He asks for the tenth time since he stumbled in on the scene.

"Damon, seriously I got it. I'm up here aren't I?" Her answer carries down to him.

"How did you even get that thing in here?" He's referring to the ladder as he glares at it. He didn't even realize they had such a ladder.

"I asked Stefan to carry it in for me." She states simply like the idea of getting an emotionless vampire to do her bidding was the most normal thing in the world. He stands from the bed moving to stand next to the ladder as he continues to gaze up at her.

"Seriously Adele, you should've asked me to do this because there's really only one of us that will heal if something we're to happen." He reminds her and she throws her hands up and if he was alive his heart beat would have increased tenfold. "Please don't do that." She tilts her head down to look at him and he sends her a tight lipped smile. "If you're going to insist on being up there, don't make it easier for you to fall to your death please."

"Damon…If I fell you'd catch me." She reminds him.

"And if I didn't?" He crosses his arms, raising an eyebrow as she places her hands on her hips. Even from almost 20 feet in the air, she can still look like a complete bitch.

"Are saying you wouldn't catch me? That you'd just let me fall?"

"Maybe." He smirks and it's her turn to raise an eyebrow.

"Should we test that?"

"No." He laughs. "We should not." He makes to turn around, to go back to the bed when she lets out a surprise filled gasps and he jerks around, his eyes wide with panic. She begins laughing. "You're a bitch." He snips causing her to laugh harder.

"You love me." She sings throwing the cleaning product she'd been using and the rag towards him. He catches them as she's descending the ladder. Once her feet hit the ground and she throws off her flip flops he lets himself breathe easy throwing the cleaning stuff in the direction of the bed and catching her around the waist as she's walking past him.

"Damon…" She whines wiggling, trying to get out of his hold. "I need to wash my hands."

"Mikael is coming today…" He mummers his eyes becoming distant and worried and Adele stops struggling to gaze up at him.

"Is that today? I totally forgot." She grins up at him causing his tense muscles to relax and he grins down at her. "Even if this plan hits the fan we'll be okay." She assures softly squeezing his biceps softly. "We always are."

"Yeah but what if we're not? What if we fail and we end up having to run for our lives?" His voice is low knowing Stefan who was somewhere in the house could hear him if he wanted to.

"Then we run and we'll be together so we'll be okay." She cups his face in her hands moving up onto her toes to kiss him gently, her fingers tangle into the sides of his dark hair and she lets him pull her closer to fit them together in that perfect way that makes her head swim and her heart pound.

And when he backs them up and she falls onto the bed with him hovering over her, she doesn't protest knowing the extent of his fears reached further then she could reach with simple words.

He pulls off her sweatshirt so quickly she hadn't even realized what he was doing but honestly she should've expected it and when his fangs pierce into the healing wound of his last bite she lets out a startled gasps that breaks off into a moan as her eyes flutter close and her back arches into him.

A knock on the door causes him to pull back before he would've liked and instead of turning towards the door, he gazes down at her with that sort of awe struck look he gets when he can't believe that she's actually his. He's still waiting for someone to pull this dream out from under him because even when she's sprawled out beneath him, her blonde hair framed around her head like some kind of golden halo, her cheeks flushed with color, her blue eyes darkened and bright and her chest rising and falling at a rapid pace he still got the feeling that this couldn't be real.

The knocking continues until he actually acknowledges it with a rough, "Yeah?"

"Mikael should be here any minute!" Elena shouts through the closed door and he lets his head fall to the croak of Adele's neck. "Are you guys almost ready?"

"We'll be down in a minute." Adele calls after regaining some sort of composure. Damon listens closely to the sound of Elena's retreating steps before finally picking up his head. Adele quickly pushes him off stumbling to her feet as her fingers move up to touch the bleeding puncture marks he's reopened. "Damn it Damon!" She snaps with no real convection in her voice. "That was just starting to heal." She whines, grabbing up her sweatshirt and racing into the bathroom leaving him grinning on the bed.

*VD*

"Aye- let's say that Mikael followed Elena in here. He tried to grab her, so he could use her as bait." They follow Stefan and Elena into the study Damon's hand holding tightly to hers and she can tell underneath the clam front he's putting up, he's still worried. It's not like they haven't pulled off incredibly dangerous plans before, she doesn't understand why he seemed so freaked about this.

"And Stefan vervained him." Elena adds causing Adele to raise an eyebrow at their backs.

"You mean Stefan and Damon vervained him?" She says causing the duo to stop and turn back to look at them. "The guy's an original." She reminds them.

"Yeah," Damon smirks. "We have to make it realistic."

"Fine." Stefan sighs, like this whole conversion was a waste of his time. "We vervained him and in the process discovered that he had a dagger."

"Which he planned to use on Rebekah but instead…" Elena trails off looking towards the couple and letting Stefan finish her sentence.

"We used it on him instead." Adele nods slowly. It sounds like a good plan; they must've come up with it while they we're waiting for them to come out of the room though Adele attempts they've seemed to overlooked one major detail.

"And what happens when he asks to see the body?" She asks causing Elena's small smile to fall. "Because you know, if I spent a thousand years running from a guy who wants to kill me and suddenly someone was telling me he's dead, I'd want to see it for my own eyes."

"Good point, Kitten." Damon squeezes her hand softly. "You my brother have been compelled to do what Klaus says. So the idea is to lure him back here and kill him- last thing we need is you getting tripped up and tongue-tied."

"Well, don't look at me I am just in charge of getting him back here." Stefan says crossing his arms across his chest.

"Klaus is smart." Elena sighs. "If we tell him that Mikael is dead, he'll want proof."

"Then I shall be dead." The four of them turn as the new comer Mikael comes walking through the lower level of the study, stopping to roll something out on a table. Elena and Stefan move down the steps to face him while Damon pulls her towards the railing and he removes his hand from hers to wrap his arms around her waist and she runs her fingers along his forearm trying to reassure him that everything is fine but still he's tense.

"What if he wants to see you in person?" Elena questions.

"Well that means our plan is working. Klaus will absolutely want to see my body. You lure him here and I will kill him." Mikael explains.

"With what?" Adele calls from her spot ignoring the way Damon's arms tighten as if he's silently telling her to stay quiet. "Those daggers don't work on him." She eyes the dagger he's pulling from the wrap he had it in.

"Well, I'm in possession of a stake fashioned from the wood of the ancient white oak tree." He tells them while pulling the bottle of ashes out as well. "The one that left these ashes when it burned."

"Where is it?" Damon asks and she can feel the vibrations though her back.

"Not here." He remarks. "The knowing of its location is my insurance policy."

"Against what?" Stefan eyes the dagger as he dips the tip into the bottle of ashes.

"Against you leaving this in my heart." He places the bottle on the table and turns to face Elena and Stefan. "You see a vampire can't dagger an original without dying so, it falls to one of you." He glances between the Gilbert twins and Elena turns wide brown eyes in her sister's direction but she can't seem to escape from Damon's arms.

"You want one of us to actually dagger you?" Elena asks slowly taking the outstretched dagger.

"Klaus will leave nothing to chance, especially when it comes to trust." Elena once again glances back towards Adele because this was not her area, she did not dagger or stake anything. Adele was a lot more suited for this then she was.

Adele looks up at Damon, hoping that he'd let her go but instead he simply presses tightly against her back and sends Elena a small smirk. "Well go ahead Elena. I mean you're already holding the thing." And with that came the end of the conversion, Elena looked like she wanted to protest but instead let it go with a deep breath before turning back to Mikael.

They made sure Stefan was watching as she daggered him even going as far as instructing him to take a seat in one of the overstuffed leather brown arm chairs. They couldn't afford any mistakes, they had one shot and Damon would be damned if he didn't do everything possible to see it through.

After Mikael was officially dead for at least 10 minutes Stefan got on the phone with Klaus informing him that Mikael was dead and that he saw it with his own eyes. Klaus even ask to speak with Rebekah who had been standing ideally by watching the scene play out so quietly they hadn't even realized she was there at first.

Stefan hands the phone off to the original. "Hello Nik." She mutters softly into the phone and though she can't hear Klaus, she knows Damon can and she can guess what he's saying as Rebekah turns her blue eyes over to her and she nods slowly showing her the obvious reassurance that she needed. "It's true. He´s finally out of our lives for good. I miss you. I'm miserable here." Another second goes by and Damon tightens his arms around her briefly, letting her know there plan worked. "Good. I'll see you then, brother." Rebekah hangs up the phone and hands it back to Stefan. "He bought it. He's coming home."

*VD*

Michael's apartment is quiet when she walks in. There's no sound besides the T.V in the living room and the sounds of a guitar being played softly from the same direction and she follows the sounds into the room looking between the four individuals spread across the room.

Michael is on the love seat streaming the guitar in his arms slowly and staring into space. Jasmine is on the floor in front of the love seat with Willy sleeping peacefully in her lap as she watches the movie playing on the T.V along with Nate who lays sprawled out on the couch. Justin is flipping through the dead hunters IPhone seeming deep in thought in the arm chair.

"So is this what you guys do all day?" She finally speaks up causing Jasmine to jump making Willy roll out of her lap and he sits up looking around as if dazed. He'd grown but mostly he was just fat and Adele has to attempt that he is adorable. Jasmine seems to be the only one who was surprised by her appearance but she realizes that Michael and Nate are vampires they probably heard her before she entered the apartment and Justin was almost impossible to spook, she's tried and failed many times to surprise him to the point where she's simply just given up.

Jasmine quickly pulls the still dazed dog back into her lap as she looks up at Adele from her spot on the floor. "James pulled his people out of Fells Church." She informs her so quietly that Adele had to strain to hear her and that would definitely explain the thoughtful expressions on almost all their faces, expect for Nate who just looked completely dead to the world around him.

Adele takes a seat in the spare armchair next to Justin. "Well that's good right? He took my warning then."

"Or he's gearing up for something huge that we are totally not prepared for." Nate grumbles out his focus never straying from the television. "Let's just face reality guys, the big bad dragon is about to destroy our kingdom and everything in it, including us."

"No." Adele sighs, she hasn't been there for more than 5 minutes and she already has the urge to kick Nate upside the head. "That's not going to happen. "I made myself perfectly clear to him if he tries anything…he's going to get slayed." This causes all four pairs of eyes to fall on her and Adele leans forward placing her elbows on her knees and her face in her hands. "I'm sorry." She mumbles into them. "This has gotten way out of control and I didn't mean for any of you to get involved." She picks up her head slowly. "You know, you guys don't have to do this with me. I'm completely capable of dealing with this myself."

"Not going to happen." Michael sets the guitar aside and sits up. "Come on Short Stuff…You really think I'd let you do this alone?"

"Yeah." Jasmine agrees. "We've been in this together since last summer."

"Every Princess needs a knight…" Nate mutters and still his dark eyes stay focused on the television. Adele has the urge to ask him what his obsession with the whole princess theme is about.

"I kind of went against my own…" Justin reminds her. "There's no going back for me."

"I'm just…I'm sorry. This whole situation is just screwed." She leans back with a huff.

"It's not your fault Adele." Nate sits up and finally tears his eyes away from the movie to look at her. "You didn't ask to be a target for a psycho okay? And we'd be shitty damn friends if we abandoned you to go up against an army alone so if I hear one more apology out of you, I'm going to duct tape your mouth shut. I'm trying to watch this movie, damn it!" And she smiles despite herself.

"Fine." She says turning her blue eyes to Jasmine. "So Jazzy…Is Michael taking you to homecoming tonight?" With the mention of the dance, Michael picks his guitar back up and begins streaming again as Jasmine squeals.

"Yes!" She exclaims. "I'm so excited!" Justin and Nate are grinning at Michael who seems to be playing louder than before and Adele grins at him as well. She remembered fighting with Michael constantly about attending special events such as dances and Founders events when they we're dating. He refused to go; he took her once to a Founders event because he'd been given no other choice. A boy from a different founding family had asked her to go and she'd been seconds away from accepting but instead he swooped in, threated the jock with a broken jaw, accepted the fact that he had to take her and whisked her away from the scene as quickly as he could.

"Do you have a dress?" Jasmine stumbles to her feet knocking Willy to the ground once more and he gives off an unhappy grunt as he looks up at her.

"Yes!" She practically bounces over to Adele, grabbing her wrist and yanking her from the chair. "Come see it! It's so pretty!" As they disappear down the hall Adele can hear the sound of Willy giving off half snorts half barks as he follows behind them and Nate and Justin laughing from the living room.

"Dude…" Nate says to Michael she's guessing. "I think your dog is picking favorites." Something crashes and Nate yelps in pain making Adele grin.

*VD*

Adele takes notice to the thousand yard stare Rebekah has seemed to master in the hour and a half they've been in Stefan's room. After helping Jasmine figure out how to do her hair and makeup Adele had got the surprise text from Rebekah asking if she could come back to the boarding house and help her, apparently she was having a mini freak out when she realized that this dance was actually going to happen and the fact that she's actually got a date seemed to freak her out more.

Tyler and Adele had with no one else knowing conspired with each other over the week to get Matt to take her; it wasn't too hard convincing him, what they we're really worried about was everyone's reaction when they found out that they set the two up.

The minute she showed up Rebekah confessed that this was her first high school dance –though Adele didn't need to be told that and that she didn't know how to go about this to which Adele set her straight.

The first thing she needed to do was take a shower.

Now an hour and a half later Adele is putting the finishing touches up on her hair and makeup and Rebekah is staring into the mirror with that thousand yard stare. "Are you okay?" Adele asks drawing her back to the here and now and Rebekah nods a smile gracing her lips.

"I'm better than okay." She attempts. "I'm…excited and I'm nervous."

"Expected." Adele smiles in return.

"I've never actually felt like this before. I've never been this excited or nervous about something so…trivial." She expresses and Adele shakes her head laughing softly.

"It's not trivial Rebekah." She tells her. "Despite being over a thousand years old, you're still a teenager but you've never been able to be a proper teenager. Teenagers look forward to homecoming dances and cute guys and this means a lot to you and anything that means a lot to you is never just something trivial."

Rebekah stares at her reflection again and Adele watches as her words slowly sink in and Rebekah smiles, an actual real smile that makes Adele smile back. "You're right."

"I know." She flips off the curling Iron. "I usually am." She jokes bringing a small laugh out of the original. "Okay now, I'm going to go check on Damon while you try on your dress and shoes."

"Adele…" She stops at the door turning back to look at Rebekah who seems to be struggling with something. "What about you?" She finally asks. "You're not going to homecoming?"

"I haven't actually decided yet. I may or may not show up."

Rebekah nods but Adele knows that isn't actually what she wanted and she finally lets out a deep breath and a small barely visible smile. "Thank you." She says. "You have no idea how much this means to me."

Adele shrugs a shoulder grinning at the blonde across the room. "Well…what are friends for right?"

*VD*

She finds Damon in the bedroom, exactly where she figured he'd be hanging out with the various weapons him and her sister have gathered and as she looks around, she's not exactly sure they're going to need all of this.

"What are you doing here?" Damon calls from the bathroom where he's cleaning up Wolf's Bane. "You're supposed to be with Jasmine getting ready for the homecoming dance."

"I never actually decided I was going to that." She reminds him tracing her finger over a cross bow as he appears in the bathroom entrance.

"No, I decided you were going, last night if I remember correctly." He says moving towards her as she plucks a throwing knife from the end of the bed.

"I don't know Damon…I don't exactly have a date. I mean my boyfriend isn't exactly in high school, he's a little old to be in high school." She says running the tip of her finger along the blade of the knife and before she realizes what's happening, the blade is knocked from her hands and Damon has her pinned against one of the bed post a hand resting at her waist the other holding her wrists above her head. He lowers his face towards her neck sending her a fanged grin as he does and she holds her breath.

Instead of biting her, he brushes his lips across her pulse point. "You're dead." He breaths and she lets out the breath she's holding in a shaky laugh. She had forgotten all about his vow to get her back for the small stunt she pulled on him at Alaric's a week ago and she had thought Damon forgot too but apparently not. He lifts his head sending her a wide grin that she gladly returns as she leans forward quickly to capture his lips in a kiss and he presses her further into the post his fingers bunching the fabric of her sweater in his hand and his knee coming to rest between her legs and she fights off a small moan.

Despite having been together, they haven't actually been together and it was about to drive her insane. For the past few weeks or so it would seem every time they've gotten to be alone in some sort of physical way, something was just dying to drag them apart which just left her even more unsatisfied and she knew Damon was affected as well if the way his hand snakes up under her sweater his nails scraping against her back as he tries to draw her closer when in reality she couldn't get any closer is anything to go by.

It isn't until one unwanted and completely unwelcomed thought crosses her mind does she pull away but he pays no mind, moving his lips across her jaw. "Damon…" He hums against her skin and her eyes flutter closed briefly as she pulls at her self-control. "Where is Elena?" She gets out causing Damon to freeze which automatically puts up a red flag in her mind. Elena was supposed to be helping Damon and Adele had been completely blinded to the fact that she wasn't anywhere in sight and if he actually didn't know where she was, he wouldn't have frozen so quickly.

"I have no idea." He mummers before returning his lips to her neck.

"Damon…" She pushes him away slightly and his grip on her wrists falls as she gazes around the room. "Where's the dagger?" She asks eyeing the empty cloth on the dresser where it should be. Her eyes meet Damon's and she can see the answer in them.

"Adele…" He reaches out, trying to grab her wrist but she slips away racing out of the room and down the hall. He catches her at the bottom of the stairs leading to Stefan's room but she swings at him causing him to duck out of instinct and lose his hold and she rushes up the stairs appearing in the door way with wide eyes.

"Elena, don-" But it's too late and she has to turn her head away as Elena shoves the dagger through Rebekah's back and into her heart. She turns back as Rebekah's skin is slowly greying and Elena is saying how sorry she is, that she can't leave anything to chance. Rebekah's eyes are slowly dulling but they lift long enough to meet hers through the mirror and Adele hopes like hell that she understands that she had nothing to do with this.

"Adele…" Damon finally says after a few minutes of nothing but silence and Elena turns slowly to face them and as Damon reaches up to touch her arm, she rips away from him causing him to flinch.

"I…" She trails off her struggle to form words coming from a burning anger that she'd be surprised if her eyes weren't darkening with it. "I…can't believe you to." Her voice is eerily calm but there is that edge to it that lets you know just how angry she actually is. She moves past Damon as quickly as possible holding up her hands when he tries to grab for her and he instantly backs off. She lets off a small, frantic laugh as she's backing down the stairs. "I cannot believe you people! You're a pair of fucking idiots!" She explodes from the bottom of the stairs causing Damon to flinch once more. There's a crash from his bedroom and then the sound of drawers being flung open and slammed, the closet doors being ripped opened and Damon leaves Stefan's room quickly in favor of returning to his own finding Adele stuffing things into a small duffle.

"Wait…wh-what are you doing?" He curses himself for stumbling over his words but he didn't very much like the sight in which he's seeing. He didn't like the feeling of watching Adele rush around the room shoving clothes and other necessities into a bag when she's so obviously pissed at him.

"You're right, I should go to homecoming." She spits out. "And then I'm going to stay at Jasmines, or maybe Caroline's. Hell I'll stay at freaking Bonnie's anywhere where the two of you are not going to be today, tomorrow or maybe even next week."

"Adele…" He swallows and his voice is miserable even to his own ears as he takes notice to the smashed lamp near the dresser.

"Stop!" She snaps. "I can't…I just…I can't understand why. Why would you do this? Why would you conspire a plan of any kind with my sister without talking to be about it first…I…I don't understand!"

"Exactly." He says causing her to stop moving and stare at him. "We knew you wouldn't understand why we wanted to do it. After that night…you've been closer to her and we knew you wouldn't see it our way."

"Elena's way!" She shakes her head because she can't even believe she's hearing this right. "It was Elena's way, don't even try to do that Damon, I know her. You should've talked to me because that was completely unnecessary! You didn't see it. You didn't see the look of pure happiness when I told her that Matt was taking her, you didn't see the excitement when she was getting ready and you sure as hell weren't there when she broke down when she found out that Klaus killed her mother. You weren't there and Elena wasn't there so how in the hell do you think you can make a decision like that without knowing all the facts?"

He opens his mouth to reply but she cuts him off. "You can't!" She zips up the bag quickly shoving the strap onto her shoulder. "I need to cool off, I'm afraid if I stay in this house any longer with the two of you, I'll lose my damn mind."

"Good." He mutters turning away ready to go back to help Elena with Rebekah's body.

"Whoa, whoa wait!" She grabs his arm the bag sliding to the ground as she spins him around. "What?"

"I want you to go to homecoming Adele; I need you to stay away from here until this is over." Adele opens her mouth to say something only to shut it when nothing comes out.

"Damon…" She finally gets out. She hadn't given much thought to the plan tonight. She had no real part in it but she hadn't been planning on leaving, the idea of something going wrong and someone of course meaning Damon paying for it with quite possibly his life has been the main thought she's been pushing from her mind all day.

"I don't want you here; I don't want you to have any part of this. I want you safe and if that means you being away from me for the night then okay." She moves forward cupping his face in her hands.

"Damon…I swear if you die, I'm going to bring you back and then I'm going to kill you myself." She whispers. Despite being mad at him, she couldn't stand the fact that she could lose him.

"I'm not going to die." He assures with a deep breath. "But this isn't going to go down the way we planned. I don't trust Mikael and I don't trust Stefan which is why you need to be as far away from here as possible." She lets him go, reaching down to her bag and swinging it onto her shoulder. She walks past him towards the bedroom door. "And you know…" She stops. "You can always undagger her when this is all over."

Adele snorts not even bothering to turn back around. "You know as well as I do that if we have any hope of keeping Elena alive…that's not going to be possible."

*VD*

"Caroline just texted me." Adele calls out from leaning against the doorway of the bedroom where Michael is straightening out his tux. The bow tie he was supposed to be wearing lays discarded on the bed, the first few buttons of his white button up left undone and she knows despite all of Jasmine's bitching that he wasn't going to wear it she wasn't going to complain when she sees him. His blonde hair is a mess but she figures considering that's the way it's always been she can't see him fixing it up much. "The gym's flooded."

The grin that spreads across Michael's face as Jasmine peeks out of the bathroom has her repressing a laugh. He quickly wipes it away as Jasmine's wide green eyes fall to him. "Are you serious? So no dance?"

"What a way to sound so broken up about it." Jasmine snips stepping fully out of the bathroom and Michael's face drops, his lips parting slightly and his eyes bug as he takes her in and Adele actually does laugh.

"You look amazing Jazzy." She grins her blue eyes falling on Michael. "Doesn't she?"

Michael stumbles over his words as he manages to mutter out a "yeah" causing both Adele and Jasmine to laugh though Jasmine's cheeks are burning a bright red. It was cute the two of them still getting tongue tied over each other even after almost a year of living together.

"What about the dance? Is it canceled?" Jasmine finally asks.

"No." Adele shakes her head smirking at Michael as he pulls away from staring at Jasmine long enough to look annoyed. "Their moving it to Tyler's house."

"Well…" Michael unplugs his phone from its charger and grabs his helmet from the bed holding it out to Jasmine who stares at it. "That changes everything."

"You're crazy if you think I'm going anywhere near that death trap in this dress." She snatches the helmet from him and shoves it onto his head flipping up the visor. "I'm riding with Adele." With that she grabs a hold of her purse and Adele's hand and leaves the room quickly.

"You know, I've actually forgotten on many occasions that you three are still teenagers." Nate says appearing from the kitchen with a red bull in hand.

"What…" Adele starts. "No vodka?"

"We're actually trying to wing him off the stuff." Jasmine informs her and Adele snorts.

"And how is that working out for you?" She teases and he tilts his head, his dark eyes regarding her carefully.

"Screw you Princess." He finally says moving past her towards the couch as Adele rolls her eyes.

"Okay enough, you too. Here." She grabs Michael's phone from his pocket and throws it towards Nate. "We need pictures."

"Are you serious Jaz? Considering none of us has parents there's really just no point." Michael groans his voice muffled by his helmet as he comes into the living room. Justin lets out a laugh when he sees him.

"I resent that statement, I mean I know I'm not going to this dance but I happen to have parents, very living and loving parents." The three 18 year olds stare at Nate with some form of disbelief.

"Wait…you're serious?" Jasmine squeaks.

"He is." Justin nods. "He's got a mother and a father and two older siblings who all think he's off getting a degree in Photography."

"So they know nothing about you being a part of the undead?" Michael asks to which Nate snorts.

"Of course not, I'm sure my mom was a little suspicious when I knocked on the front door of the house instead of just walking in then I just stood there when she didn't automatically invite me in but other than that there totally clueless."

"And when they notice you're not aging?" Adele points out and he shrugs.

"I'll cross that bridge when it comes."

"Okay…" Jasmine snatches the helmet from Michael's head handing it to him as she tries to straighten out his hair some before huffing and giving up. Adele watches as Nate snaps a few photos of the two with Michael's IPhone before Jasmine pulls her over and the two take a few photos as well even going as far as to pose awkwardly in them or putting on faces and before they know it, Michael is back in the picture with his helmet back on and his visor up and they pose in such a way that suggest there in some secret spy movie. Even Justin who is watching from the kitchen is laughing as Jasmine pushes the visor down, hands Adele her gun and moves the two so Michael is standing slightly turned, his hands in his pockets and his helmet covered head turned towards the IPhone and Adele pressed against his side her gun raised to her shoulder and pointed towards the ceiling and after it's all done the five huddle into a group and with wide cheeky smiles Nate snaps a selfie and sends it to each of them and they know that they are all going to treasure that one photo for a long time.

*VD*

He's packing a duffle, stuffing the weapons he thinks they may need and discarding the ones he doesn't. Elena is pacing behind him and the whole scene just feels wrong. He keeps glancing up expecting to see Adele lounging on the bed all bare legged and sexy smile waiting for the plan to begin.

Instead he had Elena, who refused to sit down pacing from his bathroom to his door.

"So the plan…" His phone beeps with a message alert on the bed and he reaches for it Elena's voice fading to the background as he opens the picture message from Adele waiting for it to load.

And when it does he stops breathing.

He knew somewhere between her rushing around the room gathering things into a duffle bag, he'd seen something white and lacy. It's her homecoming dress all form fitting and thigh high and holy fuck, why would she send him this when she knows how important focus is? He scrolls down reading the attached message.

I'll save you a victory "Dance." (;

He swallows dropping the cross bow in his hand back onto the bed.

As long as the dress stays on. ;)

Her response is almost automatic.

As long as you have nothing on, I could care less. ;p

"Damon!" His eyes snap up meeting those of Elena's annoyed ones. "Did you even hear what I said?"

*VD*

Jasmine gazes around the back yard of the Lockwood's with wide eyes. She'd only been here a couple times but it has never been this packed with people -teenagers and there was never a loud live band playing either. "I think I understand what you meant now by this changing everything." She says only loud enough for her vampire boyfriend to hear her. "It's not a homecoming dance anymore…"

"It's a party!" He yells over the music and Jasmine nods. This wasn't exactly how she thought this night would go but she couldn't say she was disappointed. She's never been to an actual high school party either so this was like killing two birds with one stone and she was here with Michael and Adele…she couldn't really ask for more.

"This is…" Adele is gazing around as well but her face is scrunched up in a way that suggests she's suspicious of foul play. "Is all wrong!" Jasmine and Michael gaze over to her. "Tyler of all people would never be able to organize something like this, that quickly."

"Can't we just enjoy it?" Michael calls. "Can we not look for the bad in something good tonight? Let's just have fun! I think we deserve it!"

"Yeah!" Jasmine grips her arm. "Adele, let's just have fun!" Adele turns her bright eyes over to her witch friend and sighs, a small smile playing at her lips that very quickly disappears as a new voice with an English accent breaks over the entire crowd and she's wiping back around to stare at the stage.

"Good evening everyone!" Jasmine turns as well eyeing the guy on the stage. He looks like a regular guy to her. "I want to thank you for being here with me to celebrate! It's been a long time coming!"

"Oh no." Jasmine is able to hear her muttering despite the cheering of the crowd and Michael can obviously hear her as well and they turn back to her. "I knew there was something wrong here." Her eyes have darkened considerable and Jasmine finds her gaze straying towards the guy leaving the stage.

"Who is he?" She asks causing Adele to straighten her back as her dark blue eyes turn on them.

"He's the devil…" Jasmine finds herself frowning up at her friend. "He also tends to go by the name of Klaus." Jasmine chokes on her own saliva as she turns back to the stage, the band was about to start back up and the guy was nowhere to be seen.

"Are you serious?" Michael eyes the stage as well shifting closer to Jasmine without realizing it.

"What is he doing here?" Jasmine asks.

"I…have no idea." And it was in that moment that realized that she really didn't. She had no idea what was going on, she didn't know what the plan was where he was concerned and she found the thought…surprisingly terrifying. She didn't like being left in the dark, especially not about something like this.

*VD*

Damon is pouring himself a drink and not his typical Bourbon, the drink was more on the crimson side. If he was going to be taking down evil hybrids, he figures he's going to need his strength. He hears Mikael entering the foyer instead of actually seeing him.

"Did my daughter go to the dance?" The vampire hunting original asks after a few stretched out seconds.

"Yep." He answers automatically. "You missed the Photo-op. Did you get the stake?"

"I did." He assures but Damon stares waiting for something more. He wasn't just going to suddenly trust this guy. That would go against his very being.

"I'm not going to take your word for it." He points out after the oldest original does nothing but stand thee. "No offense to your honor and all..."

"None taken." He pulls the wooden stake from his coat and Damon takes in the greyish color of it and the design.

"Fancy…" He eyes the stake and then Mikael. "May I?" He asks referring to holding it.

"It's the only weapon on this earth that can kill an original. So I think I'll hold on to it. No offense." He mocks and Damon simply shrugs because it was a long shot anyways.

He mentions down to the glass in his hand. "I'd offer you a drink- but Katherine tells me you're more of a "vampire on the rocks" kind of guy."

"Well…" Mikael dwells. "Technically you could still offer." And the original can tell that the comment didn't really sit well with the eldest Salvatore though he doesn't actually respond to it.

"Why feed on vampires?" Damon questions. "Don't tell me it's for the smooth after taste."

"I had a hand in creating vampires, but bloodlust was never my intention." He explains. "Over the centuries I learned to feed from the predator, not the innocent."

Stefan comes barging into the room, seeming a bit frazzled about something. "Change of plans. Klaus is back. He is at the Lockwood's and he wants your body delivered to his doorstep." He says his voice clam and Damon pushes back the slight ping of panic. She was going to be fine. If she wasn't involved which she's not at all, she'll be fine. Adele will be fine. He just has to keep telling himself that.

"I'm afraid he is in for a colossal disappointment." Mikael smirks towards the younger vampire.

"Well, he's certainly not going to come here." He didn't like the fact that he didn't know what the plan was and it showed in his voice. "I hope your plan didn't depend on that?"

"Didn't depend on that." Damon says taking a sip from his glass.

"But you do have a plan right?" He asks looking between the two.

"Oh yeah, we have a plan. Just doesn't involve you." Stefan frowns ever so slightly before jerking back only to be caught by Mikael who appears in front of him, sinking sharp fangs into his neck and though he tries pushing him off, he can't and slowly he loses consciousness.

"You couldn't just break his neck?" Damon asks his face twisted in disgust and slight horror.

"Well that certainly occurred to me." He says wiping his mouth with a handkerchief before leaving the room and Damon sends one last look towards his brother before placing his glass down, retrieving there bag of weapons and trailing after him, finding him by the front door.

"One more thing we should get clear right now Damon…" Damon lifts his blue eyes to the original. "If anything should happen to go wrong tonight that ends up in my son not being dead…you should know that Miss. Gilbert will pay the price."

Damon opens his mouth ready to remind him that Elena wasn't supposed to be a part of this but the original shakes his head. "I'm not talking about the doppelgänger." And he walks away leaving Damon standing in the door way with wide eyes and dropping stomach. He pulls out his phone unlocking it and letting the screen light up with their picture, his eyes falling on her scrunched up face as he's kissing her cheek. He locks the phone and leaves the house. He didn't need to alert her. He could save her, he always does.

*VD*

"I can't find her anywhere." Jasmine yells over the music before she realizes that she doesn't have to, he'd be able to hear her anyways.

"Maybe she went home." He shrugs, shoving his hands into the pockets of his black dress pants and Jasmine takes a minute to look at him, to take in the complete rock star look he's got going on. It would explain the many girls who keep looking over. She had even over heard some girls in the bathroom saying how surprised they we're to see him here, that the only way he'd be here was if he was with Adele.

"I have a question…" She blurts causing him to look down at her, his lips twitching slightly as he tries to hide a smile.

"Okay." He nods and she grabs a hold of his hand pulling him away from the crowd of dancing bodies and he follows behind her wordlessly, curious but also worried. She leads them towards the hallway that leads to the bathrooms.

"Do you still love Adele?" Though she always seems to have a hard time reading his emotions from his eyes, they clearly light up in confusion.

"Yes." He answers almost automatically. "But not in the same way I use to." Jasmine nods slowly and Michael grabs her hand as she starts to turn around, heading back towards the crowd. "Why are you asking?"

"It's nothing Michael…really…"

"Jasmine…" He cuts her off. "Tell me."

"I overheard some girls in the bathroom talking about you and Adele and I always notice the way you tense up when she mentions Damon…so I just…"

"Thought I was jealous?" He offers and she sighs before nodding. "I'm not jealous, I just don't happen to like the guy. I mean seriously, the first time I met him, he compelled me to pick a fight with Tyler and then I got attacked by a newly turned Caroline because of it. I just think he's a douche and I worry about her with him. I love her Jasmine but not in the way I love you." His eyebrows raise, his eyes widening to a fraction of their original size as her jade green eyes regard him in surprise and he realizes exactly what he said.

"What?" She breathes.

"What?" He practically squeaks

"Did you just…" Taking in his deer caught in headlights expression, she realizes that he probably hadn't meant to let that slip, that or he didn't mean it. "Did you just say you love me?"

He opens his mouth but nothing comes out and he takes a minute to gather his racing thoughts. "Y-yes." He manages to get out and Jasmine gaps up at him. He swallows back the nervous rambling that is threating to come up as she continues to only stare at him. "Y-you know, maybe Adele is by the lake…we haven't exactly been down there yet so I'll just…I'll go check." Before he can flee, her tiny pale fingers are connecting behind his neck and she's yanking him down to meet her lips.

When she pulls away, there both breathless. "I love you to." She whispers and a grin tugs at the corners of his lips as he pulls her up and kisses her again ignoring the looks they receive in return.

*VD*

Her blue eyes scan the dark lake. She stands at the edge, not entirely sure how she ended up here in the first place. The last thing she really remembers is being close to the large crowd of dancing bodies in front of the stage, watching in mild amusement as some staggered and fell over when she'd caught sight of Klaus.

He'd spotted her as well despite her attempt at appearing like she wasn't actually there, he grinned at her anyways and it was that same boyish grin she noticed at the school, the boyish grin that made it hard to remember that he was the bad guy.

And she fled, through the crowd of drunken dancing teenagers towards the house which is why she can't remember how she ended up all the way towards the edge of the backyard staring out over the dark lake.

She picks at the hem of her dress as Jasmine comes up beside her. "Finally! Oh my god, I was freaking out. You totally disappeared on us. If it wasn't for Michael I would have never found you."

"Did he listen for me? Use his vampire super powers?" She teases as Michael comes up as well.

"Actually I just suggested we check by the lake." He grins and she lets out a soft laugh.

"I didn't even know this place had a lake. This place is ridiculously huge." Jasmine eyes the lake in front of them.

"Yeah, it's big but I've seen bigger." Jasmine eyes widen slightly.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah…" Adele smiles over at her. "The Boarding House is bigger, not by too much though."

Instead of dwelling on that fact and risk giving herself a headache Jasmine shakes the thought away before smiling softly at her friend. "This Klaus thing is really bothering you isn't it?"

"No," Adele shakes her head before sighing. "Yes. I mean, I feel bad for leaving Damon alone to deal with this and I'm worried something is going to happen to him. I just…I wouldn't be able to handle it if something went wrong and I did nothing to help."

"Come on Short Stuff. Be reasonable. What could you have really done?" Michael tilts his head slightly, his black eyes regarding her carefully and she stares back at him trying to form a response before sighing.

"I don't know. It just doesn't feel right not being with him during this. Out of all the ridicules plans we've executed it has to be this one I have to sit out from? I just feel like I should be with him."

"He made it clear he didn't want you there, probably because he knew he had to focus on what he had to do, not on keeping you safe and as long as you're somewhere else he can be sure you are safe." Jasmine says to which Adele rolls her shoulders. She knows that but it still doesn't change the way she feels. "Let's just get your mind off it. Let's go have fun." Jasmine starts to back away, a wide grin spreading across her features as Adele and Michael turn to watch her.

Adele's small smirk fades, her brows furrowing as a dark figure slides up behind Jasmine. "Jazzy…" Adele calls out in warning and the young witch whips around but with no time to react as the figure who Adele can finally make out as a female presses two fingers against her forehead and Jasmine drops unconscious to the ground.

"Jasmine!" Michael makes to rush forward in a fit of concern and rage, the veins under his eyes pulsing as his fangs extend but the woman throws her hand up stopping him mid step as he growls out in pain, his hands moving up to clench at his head and Adele jumps back startled. When Michael falls unconscious as well Adele makes to drop down beside him to check on him but is stopped when the woman tells her not to move.

"Who are you? Why are you doing this?" Adele asks her voice is steady but her hands are shaking. The one time she doesn't bring her gun with her and there being attacked by a random witch.

"It's not really important who I am." The witch dwells. "But…why I'm doing this, that's a different story." Adele watches her closely, waiting for her to make any sudden movements. "The spell is simple really."

"What spell?" Adele asks, becoming that much more confused.

"The spell in which I drown you in your own blood, the spell in which I make you choke on it." The witch smile as Adele takes a wide step back.

"Why?" She demands, searching for any possible escape.

"Because Damon Salvatore failed." Her hands come up, the wind around them picking up considerable. "And now you must pay." Adele squirms, moving from foot to foot feeling as if it's becoming harder for her to breath. She tries hard to swallow back the blood that's beginning to rise in her throat, only for it to push back up until she can't push it back any longer and it fills her mouth making it impossible for her to breath and she begins to feel like she's drowning.

*VD*

Damon watches frozen in surprise, in horror as Klaus drives the white oak stake through Mikael's heart after Stefan had jumped him knocking him off of Klaus and making it possible for Klaus to grab the upper hand.

Mikael screams before bursting into flames destroying the stake, destroying the only weapon they had against Klaus and Damon's thoughts immediately turn to Adele. "If anything should happen to go wrong tonight that ends up in my son not being dead…you should know that Miss. Gilbert will pay the price."

"What the hell did you do?" Damon breathes, panic clear in his voice as he gazes up at Stefan standing above him.

"He's earned his freedom." Klaus answers for him but Damon doesn't stick around to hear anymore, he rushes out of there towards the backyard where he knows Adele is around somewhere.

He runs into Bonnie on the way.

"Hey, what happened? Did it work?" She asks stopping him from running off.

"No it didn't work!" He snaps. "Where's Adele?" He demands resisting the urge to grab a hold of her arms as she shakes her head. "Where is she? I have to find her!"

"Damon I don't know. Why? What's going on? Is she okay?" He stares down at the witch before swallowing.

"I don't know." He answers truthfully to which Bonnie frowns. "Help me." He demands. "Help me find her!"

"Call her!" She yells and Damon almost jumps, reaching for the phone resting in his pocket. Why hadn't he thought of that? He dials her number quickly listening to it ring until it hits voicemail. "Call again, get closer to the party, maybe you'll hear it."

They venture quickly into the backyard, pushing through the crowd of people, listening for her and it isn't until he reaches the very edge of the rowdy crowd at the very back that he hears it along with the sounds of choking and a voice he doesn't recognize.

"It's too late to save you now. Once the spell is in motion it has to run its course. It won't stop until you're dead."

He runs, leaving Bonnie yelling after him as she tries to keep up but when he's halfway to the lake and he can finally see her, doubled over, choking as blood sputters from her mouth each time she does, something snaps and he's behind the woman who is obviously the cause of this before he even realizes it. The woman whips around in surprise, her eyes wide and her mouth opened as if ready to scream but he doesn't give her the chance. He breaks her neck with so much force that he isn't surprised when her head falls detached from her shoulders but he doesn't dwell.

He rushes to Adele's side, catching her as she falls forward spitting more blood across the grass as she continues to choke. The wind is roaring around them and Bonnie skids to a halt taking in the scene before her.

"Bonnie…" Damon's voice calling above the wind snaps her back to reality. "Help her!"

"I don't…I don't think I can! I don't know what's happening; I can't help her if I don't know what's happening!"

"Try!" He growls and she comes forward, resting her fingers gently against Adele's temples and closing her eyes. Damon looks up at the witch while holding Adele tightly as her whole body convulses as she continues to choke, in an endless show of torture because he knows it has to hurt.

"I can't!" Bonnie yells ripping away from them in frustration, tears forming in her hazel eyes as she places her hands over her ears in a show of panic.

"Bonnie…" He stumbles over the words he's about to say as she falls limp in his arms. Bonnie drops her hands staring down at her best friend's sister and the way she's now gone completely still. Everything has stopped. The wind, the noise, the convulsing of her body, the horrible choking, the blood flow and Bonnie can't be sure if it's just a trick of the eye but even her breathing looks to have stopped.

"Adele…" Damon shifts her in his arms, laying her back across his lap and Bonnie resists the urge to scream as her head lolls back. "No…" Damon breaths, his eyes moving across her face, across her parted lips stained in crimson and her cold but still hauntingly beautiful eyes. "No…No." He pushes blonde curls away from her neck, feeling frantically for a pulse though Bonnie knows he really doesn't have to. He can listen for it but all sense seems to have left him as his expression twist into pure agony.

Bonnie watches his fingers tighten around her as he pulls her tightly against his chest before he lets out a loud heart-breaking scream that has Bonnie covering her mouth with both hands, backing away slowly.

A groan makes her jump and she turns to the right watching with wide hazel eyes as Michael begins coming to and when he pushes himself up and turns his black eyes to the scene before him, he meets her gaze. "What…what happened?"

Bonnie turns back towards Damon watching him bury his head into the crook of Adele's neck as his shoulders shake violently. "She's…" Bonnie shakes her head as the words leave a hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach. "She's dead."