Everyone stared as Luka crouched down and easily picked Bonnie up in his arms. He nodded curtly at Damon as he made his way into the living room and gently deposited Bonnie onto one of the sofas. Jeremy leapt up, but Damon pulled him back, his eyes flashing with anger. "Get back Gilbert, I'll take care of this."

Luka laughed, and suddenly looked straight at Damon.

"No!" Elena cried as Damon fell to his knees, his face contorted in agony. "Please stop—you're hurting him!" Luka didn't even blink, but all he had to do was raise a finger and suddenly two more screams ricocheted around the room. Elena looked up in horror to see both Caroline and Rose fall to the ground, writhing in pain.

"You've made your point!" Jeremy shouted, "You can take out three vampires, we get it! Just stop!"

"Please!" Elena begged, falling to her knees next to Damon. Her heart leapt with terror when his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he appeared to lose consciousness. "No! Damon!" She turned to Luka, anger coursing through her veins. "Stop it! They can't hurt you—just stop!"

Luka tilted his head, and nodded slowly. Within seconds, the pressure in the room eased and he sat calmly down on the sofa, "As you wish."

Elena waited a beat to see if he was going to do anything, but he seemed merely content to examine the repercussions of his spell. She hurriedly turned back to Damon, alarmed that he hadn't moved yet. She leaned over him, shaking him gently. "Damon, hey wake up!" she said urgently, "Come on..."

To her utter bewilderment, a single teardrop rolled down her cheek and landed on Damon's forehead. He stirred, his eyes blinking open slowly. "Elena?" He frowned, raising a hand to her face, "Why are you...?" Suddenly, his expression cleared and was replaced with fury. "I'm gonna kill him! Where is he?"

"Don't," Elena cautioned, pushing Damon back down. "Remember we talked about how you underestimate your enemies?"

Damon started to respond, but suddenly Jeremy called out, sounding panicked. "Elena! I can't get Caroline to wake up..."

Elena whirled around and rushed over to where Jeremy was kneeling, his face worried. "Caroline?" Elena paused, seeing the blood trickling out of her eyes and mouth, "What's wrong with her?" Alaric hurried back into the room from the kitchen, carrying a washcloth in his hands. He carefully began wiping her face, trying to stem the blood flow.

"I'm guessing the blonde one is newly turned?" Luka called out from the sofa. "Newborns are the most susceptible to my...powers. Don't worry, she'll be alright. Eventually."

"There's no way you're that powerful," Rose suddenly said, leaning against the fireplace in exhaustion. "How did you take out three vampires? It's impossible..."

"It would be impossible, by myself," Luka agreed, watching as Damon staggered over to a bottle of whiskey and downed it. "Oh, and alcohol won't help with the headache."

"No one asked you," Damon snarled, his hand clenching around the empty bottle until it broke into several pieces. Then, with lightning speed, he suddenly hurled the glass pieces at Luka. Elena gasped in spite of herself when Luka raised his hand and the glass pieces stopped in midair. Inches from his face. She screamed as Luka instantly whipped his wrist the other way and the glass pieces went flying back in the direction they had come from. Damon leapt out of the way at the last minute, and the glass landed harmlessly in the fireplace.

"Don't try that again," Luka said sternly. He watched as Elena hurried over to Damon's side, her expression furious.

"What did we just talk about?" Elena hissed at Damon, "Don't underestimate!"

"Anyway, as I was saying, I couldn't do it alone," Luka pulled out a necklace from this pocket, "Recognize this?"

Elena frowned, "Isn't that Bonnie's? It belonged to her grandmother."

Luka nodded, "That's right. So, using this as a sort of talisman, I can connect my magic with Bonnie's."

"Without her knowledge?" Jeremy seethed, "I don't think she would be very happy to know that you used her magic against her own friends—"

"What Bonnie doesn't know won't hurt her," Luka replied back unconcernedly. "Now, believe it or not, we're on the same side."

"Same side?" Damon hissed, "Do you even know the meaning of the word?"

Luka smiled serenely, "Alright, I'll prove it to you." He got up and knelt beside Caroline, "May I?" Alaric didn't respond, but hesitantly moved out of the way as Luka placed a hand over Caroline's face. As they watched, a golden light spilled out of his fingertips. Seconds later, Caroline's eyes opened. "See? All better," Luka held a hand out for Caroline, but she didn't take it.

He shrugged and moved backwards as Jeremy peered into Caroline's eyes, "Care...how are you feeling? Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she frowned as she tried to get up, "Just a little woozy."

Alaric coughed pointedly, "Shouldn't you be getting home? Seeing as how your mom is the Sheriff...?"

Caroline blinked and looked at her watch. "Dammit, is that the time?" She looked torn, and looked towards Damon. "Should I—"

"Go," Damon ordered, "We don't need any more problems."

Caroline didn't need telling twice and she quickly blurred out the door, disappearing into the night. Elena glanced out the window, relieved to see that darkness hadn't completely fallen yet. As long as Caroline got to Tyler before the transformation occurred, then everything would be okay...

"You're the history teacher," Luka said conversationally to Alaric. "That is interesting."

"What, history?"

"Sure. My mother..." Luka hesitated, "She was a history buff, too. In fact, she did her thesis on the Salem Witch Trials when she graduated from Duke."

Alaric looked up sharply, "Duke, you said?"

"Just hold on a second," Elena interrupted, "You still haven't explained what you're doing here. Or who sent you."

"Nobody knows I'm here," Luka scoffed, "My dad would totally freak." He took a deep breath, "See, my mom got into witchcraft early, and she got really powerful. Really fast."

Jeremy narrowed his eyes, "What happened to her?"

"She became obsessed with collecting spellbooks, amulets...anything she could get her hands on. One day, she pissed off the wrong people. My dad...he tried to save her, but he wasn't powerful enough."

"Elijah offered to help him," Rose spoke up, sending a questioning glance in Luka's direction, "Am I right?"

"Yep," Luka stood up and began pacing the length of the living room. "And now my dad is forever indebted to Elijah. Basically, if he says jump—"

"You say how high," Rose finished, "Yeah, Elijah can be like that."

Luka nodded, looking thoughtful. "We moved here on Elijah's orders. He knew who Bonnie was, and he wanted us—me—to get close to her. Close enough for her to trust me with the 'secret' of the moonstone."

"Does he know you have it?" Damon demanded, but Luka quickly shook his head.

"My dad didn't expect Bonnie would ask me for help with it so quickly. But I staged a spell that would make it look like the moonstone was destroyed. In reality, it remained intact. The spell required a lot of power, in either case, and Bonnie passed out. I decided to bring her—and the moonstone—here."

Elena stood up, her arms crossed. "Why? What do you want us to do about it?"

He tossed the moonstone in the air, his expression contemplative. "I'm sick of my family having to do everything Elijah says. I'm sick of having to constantly look over my shoulder to see who's watching." He turned to look at Elena, "I figured you, of all people, would understand what that's like."

"Why me? Why would I understand?"

"Oh come on," Luka shrugged, "You must know what it's like; carrying the burden of our ancestors. Petrova."

"I'm not sure I understand," Rose interrupted, "What exactly do you want us to do for you?"

Luka's face was set, "Help me kill Elijah."

Elena took a step forward, frowning, "What about Klaus?"

"We'll kill him, too."

"What about—" Elena broke off as Damon roughly grabbed her arm and began dragging her out of the room. "Hey! What are you—?"

"Kitchen. Now." Damon snarled as pushed her into the kitchen, and closed the door behind them.

"What's your issue?" she snapped, snatching her arm out of his grasp.

Damon looked livid, "You're actually even THINKING about trusting this moron? Did you not see what he did to Bonnie?"

"Keep your voice down!" Elena hissed, looking over her shoulder unnecessarily. "Look, he's here, isn't he? That has to count for something...We need all the help we can get, Damon!"

"No," he said firmly, "We don't need him." He began to leave, when Elena grabbed his arm. He spun around, surprised by her sudden proximity. "Elena..."

"Wasn't this the whole point?" she whispered, looking into his gaze beseechingly. "Finding a powerful witch? Someone to get Stefan out of the tomb? Someone to destroy the moonstone?"

Damon gritted his teeth, "Yeah? Well he had the chance to destroy it with Bonnie, and he didn't! What makes you think he's going to help us now?"

"If we help him kill Elijah, then he'll owe us," Elena reminded him, "I think we should trust him." With that, she turned on her heel to walk back into the living room. Just as she reached the adjoining door, Damon blurred to stand behind her. She didn't turn around, but suppressed a shiver when she felt his breath on her neck.

"You can't trust everyone. He already had his chance, and he blew it," Damon whispered, his hands painfully gripping her shoulders.

"Some people deserve a second chance, Damon. You of all people should know that." She turned around to face him, and swallowed, "After all, I gave you another chance."

He let her go, and stepped away. "It's not the same."

"Yes. It is."

*more delena coming up :)