A/N: And here is another chapter. I've been trying and failing at writing during vacation. There are a thousand better things (aka distractions) to do… like YouTube surf and listen to music and obsess over Twitter (newly discovered, in my case).

Ah, well. Anyway, I feel like you deserve a recap of the last chapter (because I need one… forgot what I wrote last chapter).

In the last chapter… Katherine got the moonstone from Tyler, called Mason to come help her, and Mason snuck up on Elena from behind and scared her half to death because he was hitting on her since he thought she was Katherine. And then Elena called Damon for help.

Elena's POV

As soon as Damon assured me that he would "take care of Mason" (the thought sent chills through my body) I ran back outside, dialing Stefan's number as I went. Bonnie and Caroline both glanced at my drink-less hands and shot me questioning looks. I shushed them.

"Elena?"

"Stefan, some guy in the bar just hit on me and called me Katherine." I said. It occurred to me that I shouldn't be telling him that, because he might go after Mason and run into Damon.

"What? Who was it?" he asked. I could hear him open and shut a door—probably coming to make sure I was okay.

I sighed. "I don't know, Stefan, and he's already gone."

There was a faint whoosh next to me, and I shrieked when I saw Stefan next to me. Bonnie and Caroline both started.

"STEFAN!" I yelped. "Someone could have seen you!"

He shook his head. "It's fine, Elena. So what did this guy say?"

"Well," I began, knowing Stefan wouldn't like what had happened, "I was getting a drink when he came up behind me and grabbed me waist." Stefan glowered. "He said, 'hey, good to see you again' and when I turned around and freaked he kept calling me Katherine and asking what was wrong."

"Are you okay now?" Stefan asked, putting a possessive hand around my waist. I nodded. "This can't be good. If someone in town thinks Katherine is here then she must be. Either that, or she's trying to send us another message; that she's made a lot of people angry and that they won't mind killing you at all."

I gulped. "You're wrong, you have to be. Why would she want me dead?" Besides, Damon told me once that if she wanted me dead I would be dead.

"I don't know." Said Stefan. "But we have to find out. You should go home, or come to the boarding house with me. I have someone there you'd love to meet."

Who? "I guess…" I glanced at Caroline and Bonnie, who had been hanging on to my every word. "Guys?"

Bonnie shrugged. "It's fine by me."

Nodding, Caroline said, "Yeah, we don't want Katherine to get you hurt. Of course, I wish she'd show up so that I could give her a piece of my mind."

Bonnie smiled and gently touched Caroline's hand. I could remember when Bonnie had shuddered and jumped away from Caroline in horror when Caroline was first turned, but now it didn't seem to bother her at all. "Me too. That, and a massive witch-induced migraine."

"Okay, I'll call you later." I turned to Stefan, allowing him to lace his fingers through my. "So, who's this friend of yours?"

"You've met her before, but very briefly. I don't think you even caught her name."

Damon's POV

Of course Mason would show up. I had been stupid to think otherwise, but some very vivid memories of dying from a werewolf bite were resurfacing and I had no desire to repeat them. I decided that I would find out what he wanted the polite way and then get rid of him if I had too. Elena might not like it, but I was here to protect her, not to win her over.

The only problem was that he wasn't at the Lockwoods or at Katherine's current house, which meant he was hiding out somewhere. It also meant that there might be a full moon I wasn't aware of. I decided that the best thing to do was find the closest computer and look it up.

Of course, the closest computer I could use was Elena's.

"Damon?" she asked, answering my incessant knocking. "Hey, anything on Mason?"

"Nope." I stepped inside. "Stefan's not here, is he?"

She shook her head. "He said he had some old friend over I might have met before that I should meet, but then Alaric called him about something and he had to go. He said I would be safe here if the person that called me Katherine was a vampire."

"Mmm." I was distracted by the various sketches laid out on the couch. They looked like Jeremy's, and most of them were of a very familiar girl. "So he didn't get the full story, I presume?"

"You presume correctly." She said, sighing and slumping onto the couch. "I just told him some guy hit on me and called me Katherine. I didn't want him to realize it was Mason and cross paths with you."

"Thanks." I said. I casually sat next to her, leaning across her legs to get a sketch. "Hey, do you know who this girl is?"

Elena shook her head. "No. I think she's some friend of Jeremy's."

I whistled. "She's a very attractive friend."

"Yeah, I think he liked her a lot. He says she's kind of annoying and clingy, but she's been growing on him."

I stared at the picture like it could tell me who the girl was. Where had I heard something like that before? She sounded and looked so familiar, but the sketch was blurred—charcoal, most likely—so it was hard to place her name. "Huh. Anyway, I was wondering if I could use your computer? I need to look up something."

"Sure." She said. She brushed aside a few other sketches of what were suspiciously similar to vampires and headed through the doorway. When she came back she had both her computer and old cartons of Chinese food. "Hungry?"

"Not particularly." I said. I took the laptop and started to type rapidly.

"So, what are you looking for?"

"This and that." I said. "More specifically, whether or not tonight's a full moon. See, your friend from the bar… he's a werewolf."

"Mason's a werewolf?" she looked ridiculous, noodles hanging from her fork and falling onto her stomach. "Is he a Lockwood too?"

"You caught onto that?" I asked.

"Yup. He was a cross between Tyler and the Mayor, I could see it."

"He's the Mayor's brother, I guess." I said. The details were foggy. I pulled up a weather report. "Like I thought; there's a full moon. I couldn't find him anywhere because he's probably chaining himself up in some remote cave."

"Why?" Elena's innocent eyes were already swimming with pity for a man that had tried to hurt her once, in the past that I knew.

I shrugged. "He's a do-gooder, and the transformations are hard to control. He doesn't want to hurt people."

"Oh."

I shut the laptop and started to get up. I set it on the table amidst the sketches. "Thanks."

"Yeah… where are you going?"

"Home. Werewolf bites are fatal to a vampire, so I need to stay inside. Tell Stefan the same."

"He'll suspect you if I tell him that there are werewolves in town." She protested, blocking the doorway. "I can't give you away like that."

"Don't." I said. Her huge brown eyes were burning into me. "It's okay; just tell him you have a really bad feeling about tonight and that he should stay home. Stay with him, at the boardinghouse, if you want."

"I could do that." She admitted. "But what if Mason gets him?"

I took one of her trembling hands. "I can promise you that he'll be safe. I promise."

She just kept bobbing her head up and down, saying, "I know."

After I minute I let her hand go. "I have to leave now, but I'll call you later."

"Okay. Please don't get hurt, Damon." She begged. "Please?"

"I won't. Stay with Stefan."

As she closed the door I could have sworn I heard her whisper something, but it couldn't have been what I thought it was.

I wish I could stay with you.

Elena's POV

What was wrong with me? Why was it that every time Damon was around I instantly broke down or started acting like we were together. I also knew I shouldn't say things that he could hear even though he was out of the house.

The worst part was that I almost wanted him to turn around and come back.

"Stop it, Elena!" I scolded myself, texting Stefan. "Just try and act like Stefan's your boyfriend for once. And stop talking to yourself."

Can I come over? I have a weird feeling about tonight… full moon jitters, I guess. ~ Elena

Full moon jitters? Why? ~ Stefan

What was wrong with me? Why would I ever say that to Stefan? I groaned and flopped onto the couch, trying to think of a reason why the full moon would make me jittery.

Um… I read somewhere it gets animals worked up. And mammals count. And I'm a mammal. I don't know, Stefan, I just feel like something bad is going to happen tonight and I want to make sure you're safe. ~ Elena

No problem. Come on over, my friend still wants to see you. We have to talk about what Alaric called me for, by the way. ~Stefan

Yeah, what did he want? ~ Elena

I'll tell you when you get here. ~Stefan

Okay. I love you. ~Elena

I love you too. ~Stefan

That was more like it. I didn't need to grab any clothes—Stefan's would do just fine.

The whole drive I felt like a wolf would jump out of the shadows at any minute. It was only around 9:30, and according to Damon there would be no wolves until 10:00 at the earliest. It all had something to do with the moon being at it's peak or height… I hadn't listened very closely and was beginning to regret it.

When someone answered the door I ran into their arms, crying, "I was worried that you were hurt!"

"Ummm… yeah."

I backed up enough to see a blond girl's slightly surprised face. "You are…?" She was oddly familiar.

"Lexi." She said, detaching me. "Stefan!" she yelled down the hallway. "Your girl friend's here!"

"Oh, you're the friend I met for five second but didn't know the name of." I said. "I'm Elena." I could remember her now; she had been at Stefan's birthday party. He had been so busy making sure nothing went wrong with Alaric (who he thought was evil) that Lexi and I had bumped into each other, but the lack of formal introduction led me to believe that she was a normal person, and that there was nothing supernatural about her whatsoever. Apparently, I was sorely mistaken.

"I know." Lexi smiled pleasantly. She seemed like the kind of person that could be happy no matter what. "Stefan won't stop talking about you, it's annoying."

"Sorry about that." I said. Stefan rounded the corner. "Speaking of Stefan—"

"Hey." He drew me into a tight hug. "Sorry that you're all freaked out, but look: I'm fine."

"You and Lexi both seem fine." I said.

"I appreciate the thought, if it helps." Lexi teased, heading for the livingroom.

I groaned. "I should look before I launch myself at someone and get all sappy. At least I didn't kiss her."

"Now that I would pay to see." Someone behind Stefan said. The voice was familiar, and I felt electricity up and down my spine. Peering over Stefan's shoulder, I saw the person I least wanted to see in the room.

Mason.

He was looking at me like nothing was wrong at all. "So you're the famous Elena." He said. "I'm Mason Lockwood, a friend of Alaric's."

"A recent friend." Alaric corrected from the couch. "I met him today while I was tracking someone."

"Who?" I had no idea what to do, but my heart was pounding out of my chest. Stefan looked at me quizzically.

Alaric said, "You might want to brace yourself."

"Why?" I couldn't take the suspense anymore, I just couldn't. Stefan was trying to pull me aside—probably to ask me what had me so scared—but I wrenched my arm away. "Who was it?"

"It—she—was Isobel. She's still alive... in the undead sense."

I felt my throat go dry. "Oh."

My legs carried me past everyone, out the door and across the neatly-kept lawn. In the back of my mind I was wondering how it was so nice, but Zach had to be the one that took care of it. It didn't even matter.

I stopped underneath a willow tree, panting. What was I going to do? Mason was in Stefan's house, it was almost a full moon, and apparently my mother was a vampire and in town. I desperately wanted to call Damon, but Stefan was already at my side.

"What happened back there?" he asked. I stayed huddled on the ground when he tried to help me up, shivering.

"It's nothing." I bit out through clenched teeth.

Stefan shook his head, denying it. "No, you were starting to panic before Alaric mentioned Isobel. Something was wrong."

I didn't intend on telling Stefan about Mason. I wouldn't give up Damon now. "I'm fine Stefan, I just need a minute. Please?"

He sighed, wearing his "I-suffer-in-silence" look, but he left me alone. As soon as he disappeared into the house I whipped out my phone. "Damon?" I said. Tears slid down my face, and my voice was already thick.

"Elena? What's wrong?"

"He's here, Damon, he's here!" I choked out. "I'm so scared. He's here, and the moon's almost up, and he's going to hurt Stefan but there's no way I can warn him without giving you away or alerting him."

"Who is 'him', Elena?" Damon asked. "Breathe for a minute, calm down. I just need to know who's there."

"Mason is. He's Alaric's new f-friend." I gasped. I took Damon's advice and gulped in a few hasty breaths. "He's at the boardinghouse. So are Stefan, Lexi, and Alaric."

I heard a few indistinct swears. "Can you give Stefan and Lexi a plausible reason to leave? A werewolf won't hurt people. Usually they just go after the closest vampire."

"No. I don't think Mason would believe anything I said was true." I said. "I think he knows by now that I'm Katherine's doppelganger, but he's pretending that he just met me." I sniffed. "What can I do?"

"You can go back inside there and tell Stefan what you know." Damon said.

"No!"

"Why not?" despite the gravity of the situation, Damon sounded back to his usual self. "You don't have to tell him where you heard it, do you?"

"He'll want to know."

"Too bad." I could practically see the smirk on his face. "He'll have to be happy with just being alive."

I thought about it for a minute. "Fine. Do werewolves have super-hearing?"

"Nope."

"Alright." I got up to my feet and brushed the grass of my skirt. "I have to go."

"Wait!"

"What?" I asked. "Damon, I don't have much time left. Not according to your calculations."

He said, "I know. The thing is, right now Mason should be in the kind of pain that would have him doubled over on the floor."

I glanced through one of the windows. "I can't see much from here, but he looks fine to me. He was fine when I got here."

"He can't be turning then, it's not possible for him to be fine."

"He is, Damon." I said. "Look, I'm going to go get Stefan and Lexi anyway."

"Be careful." Typical Damon. "Oh, and… good luck."

I rolled my eyes as I tucked my phone back into my pocket and headed into the house. I could do this.

Mason was seated next to Lexi, a feral grin on his face. I could see the wolfish features if I looked closely, and they unnerved me. Stefan, hanging near Lexi, came over to me. "Are you alright now?"

I nodded. "I have to talk to you, though. Right now."

"Elena!" Alaric interrupted, spotting my by the doorway. "I'm sorry if I upset you." He began, but I cut him off.

"It's fine." I said. "Stefan, please?"

"Sure." Mason was watching me carefully. He could probably smell the fear radiating from me a mile away.

I pulled Stefan into the next room. "You and Lexi have to leave right now." I said.

"Why? Elena, is this about whatever you're not telling me?" Stefan was genuinely worried, and he wanted to help. Unfortunately, I only wanted him to leave before he got killed.

I had both fists balled up at my sides. "I know Mason. He was at the bar. He's a werewolf, Stefan, and he will kill you when he turns, which will be soon."

"He was the man at the bar?" Stefan was outraged. "You know him? Why didn't you say so?"

"I couldn't." I said. "I just want you to know you should not pick a fight with him. You need to get out with Lexi as discreetly as you can."

He was so confused. "But how do you even know he's a werewolf? Why would that be bad?"

"I can't tell you." I said. "I know that werewolf bites are fatal to vampires, but that's all. I don't know what time he'll turn, whether it will be in ten minutes or five. Please, Stefan, get out. Run as far as you can and don't come back until morning."

He took my hands and rubbed his thumbs along the edges of them. "Okay."

"Really?" I had expected a fight, or lots of "Elena you have lost it" but got this. This is why I love him. I reminded myself.

Out in the living room Mason had supposedly gone off to the bathroom while we were talking. "You okay?" asked Alaric. I nodded. "So, do you want to hear what I found out?"

"I guess." I said. Stefan had already sat next to Lexi and was talking to her in a low tone. "What was she doing?"

"I think she was spying on the town." Alaric said. A wrinkle along his forehead told me just how hard having his wife back again was for him. "Besides that, all I know is that she's a vampire, and I think she's working for someone."

"Who?" Hurry, hurry, hurry… I urged Stefan and Lexi in my mind. If they left before Mason came back it would be even less obvious we were on to him.

He shrugged. "I don't know. Just some guy she kept calling. I think his name was Elijah."

I saw Lexi's eyes widen, and she sprang up from the couch. "I should go."

"Good idea." I said, nodding my head the smallest fraction of an inch. She seemed to understand what I meant. "You too, Stefan?"

"Yes." He leaned to kiss my head. "Sorry, Alaric, Elena can explain later."

"Vampire troubles?"

"You could say that—"

I heard a tremendous crash from farther in the house. "Stefan?"

He was in front of me in an instant, shielding me. "What was that?"

Then the absolute worst thing crashed through the doorway.

It was Mason. I could see it in the cruel, bloodthirsty eyes. The wolf was lean and shaggy, with enormous fangs and a vicious, bestial smile on its face. It barked sharply at Stefan and Lexi, springing for them like a gray blur. Of course werewolves would posses the same vampiric speed. Why not?

I ducked as the furry gray mass flew over my head. "Stefan!" I screamed. I could see him holding the wolf away from his face, then throwing is across the room. Alaric was up and armed with one of his stake-throwing gadgets. Mason snarled at them and leapt again, undeterred by a volley of stakes.

"Stefan!" this time the scream wasn't mine. Lexi was pinned to the floor and Mason has sunken his teeth into her shoulder.

"Lexi! No!" I wasn't thinking anymore. I half fell, half tripped over the back of the couch and landed on Masons' back. It was much stronger than I had anticipated. "Let. Her. Go!" I shrieked like a two-year-old that wanted a toy back. Each scream was punctuated with an ineffective punch. He didn't even feel it, as far as I could see. Instead I felt a deep rumble in his throat, like he was laughing, and he threw me off.

Lexi was writhing under him when Stefan came to the rescue and sent Mason flying at the fireplace. The strong smell of burning fur invaded the place, and Mason retreated temporarily to a corner to roll around and put out his fur.

"Out the window!" Stefan ordered, smashing the closest window down. Alaric helped haul a dazed Lexi through. She was mumbling and complaining about being able to walk herself. Stefan held out a hand for me when she was safely out. "Elena, hurry!"

I was halfway over when I felt teeth sink into my leg.

"Elena!" Stefan launched himself back into the boardinghouse and wrenched Mason away from me. Bleeding, panting, and disoriented, I somehow managed to get over the broken bits of glass and the windowsill. My hands were sliced to ribbons.

I hit the ground and curled into a ball. I couldn't walk. My leg was on fire and all I could see was red. I had to have hit my head, because it was throbbing and I was pretty sure that the red I was seeing was blood.

Somewhere in the foggy distance I could hear Stefan yelling something and Mason howling. I got up and ran to the closest bush before I fell. Three people ran off, the blond one being dragged by the others. That was Lexi. Why were they leaving? Did Stefan think I had already run to safety?

Just before I blacked out I saw two icy blue eyes staring into mine, and reassuring voice saying, "I've got you. You're safe."

A/N: Yes, Lexi was actually bitten. Proceed throwing rocks at my house.