Glaring at Katherine, Stella went inside the house with Selina following. Katherine led them to a small living room that was dimly lit but had a fire in the small fireplace. "So," she said as Selina and Stella sat down. "What did you want to talk to me about? I assume you didn't just stop by to say hello."

Stella pursed her lips and shook her head. "As a matter of fact, no. We came over because I would like to know what the hell kind of stunt you think you're pulling."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Katherine said. "I'm not pulling anything."

"You know what I mean," Stella told her. "What's with getting that girl of yours to spy on Selina and then report to you?"

Katherine walked right in front of Stella and stopped. "How is that pulling something?" Katherine asked. "I'm protecting my doppelganger; I have as much right to as you do. In fact, I seem to be the one who's doing the better job. You, on the other hand, are failing miserably just as you have before. First Andria, then Stefan and Damon; I've gotten to all three; all three have been in your care. Doesn't say much for your track record, does it?" A slow smile spread over her face.

"You bitch," Stella said quietly, standing up. "Have you no heart? Do you care about anyone besides yourself? I don't think you do. I don't even think you're capable of love."

Katherine's smile disappeared. Before Stella could react, Katherine slapped her. As Stella's cheek reddened, she took a deep breath. "You're going to wish you hadn't done that," Stella said as she advanced on her former best friend.

Katherine began to slowly back away, her eyes wide. Just then, Elena entered the living room. "Did I hear Selina and Stella come—" She paused when she saw Katherine and Stella. "Sorry," she said quickly. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Yes," Stella said sharply. "Go away."

With Stella's attention distracted, Katherine moved away, but Stella wasn't diverted for long; with a growl of frustration that brought forth a clap of thunder so loud the house shook, Stella went after Katherine. She caught her in the kitchen, pushing her hard against the kitchen table, knocking her to the floor, and disregarding the ribbon of blood that was flowing freely from her forehead.

By the time Elena and Selina arrived back in the kitchen, Stella was leaning over Katherine, who was gasping in pain and coughing. "What are you doing?" Selina cried.

Stella hit Katherine one more time for good measure and then turned to the other two. "What do you mean?" She asked. "I'm doing what I've been meaning to do for over two hundred years."

"But you can't," Selina said. "At least not right now."

"What?" Stella said. "I can't believe I'm hearing this."

"Oh, don't worry," Selina said. "It's not that I've gone soft on her or anything. I'd love to see her dead as much as you do; possibly even more so. But remember we promised Damon that he could have closure before we killed her?"

"That's right," Stella said. "I almost forgot about that." She turned and strode away from Katherine's prone body. "So what do you think we should do with her? Katherine, I mean?"

"I don't think you should do anything," Elena said. "I think you should go away and leave us alone."

"You be quiet," Stella snapped. "I don't believe I was asking you."

"We could always take her as a hostage," Selina said to Stella. "And keep her at the house. I'm sure your husband would be more than happy to keep an eye on her."

"No!" Elena cried out. "Nobody is taking anyone as a hostage. We're all just going to back away quietly and pretend this never happened."

"And why are you sticking up for Katherine or any of your 'protectors' for that matter?" Selina asked. "You hate all of them!"

"That may be," Elena said. "But they're all I've got now that you've threatened to kill me if I breathe."

"And why not?" Selina asked. "Your duplicity almost got me killed!"

"I didn't mean to say anything." Elena protested. "They got me worked up and I accidently blurted it out."

"I've heard rumors that in the past, when a person betrayed their friend to the enemy, they got their tongue cut out," Stella said. "Selina, do you think there are any knives around here?"

"I believe I could find one very easily," Selina told her. "I did spend several weeks cooped up here in the early part of my vampire existence."

"Good," Stella said resolutely. "You find the knife, I'll hold her down, and then you can proceed with the cutting."

Elena's eyes widened. "You really can't be serious," she said, her voice shaking.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't be," Selina said.

"Because this isn't who you are," Elena told her. "Think about what you're saying; If Joshua was here right now, do you think he'd want to see his mother hurt somebody? Jonathan Gilbert told your son that you were a good person in spite of being a vampire; because of them, your reputation was mostly restored in the eyes of the town except in the eyes of a few really select people. Don't do something you might regret later just because you're angry now." She looked at Stella. "And if all this anger is about what Katherine did to Andria, killing her won't bring Andria back; it'll just make you as vicious as Katherine. Do you want that?"

"No," Stella and Selina said balefully at the same time. Then, Stella grabbed Katherine by the hair. "But we're still taking Katherine as a hostage. Don't try to stop us." Elena started to move forward, but thought better of it. Instead, she watched in horror as Stella dragged the motionless Katherine, her hair spattered with blood, out of the house.

"Help me get her," Stella said. "Grab her legs." Selina did so, and together, they brought Katherine down the front steps of the house and threw her in the backseat of Stella's car. "What should we do now?" Selina asked.

Stella smiled. "I don't know. You want to dump her off at the house and go and get a drink?"

Selina nodded. "Sure. Do you think we should call Damon and Junior to let them know we'll be out a little longer?"

Stella shook her head. "If we're going to the house, at least my husband will know where we are; and when he finds out what we're doing, he'll undoubtedly call your husband, and then the two of them will probably take bets on how long it'll take the two of us to get drunk, and try and decide which one is going to come and take us back home."

"Good point," Selina said as Stella started the car. "You know, it's been awhile since I've been good and drunk."

When they arrived at the house with Katherine, they were greeted by Stella's husband, who actually looked shocked. "Did the two of you drink before you went and met up with her?" He asked.

Stella shook her head. "No, but that's just what we plan to do now. I assume you're going to call Junior and let him know about all this?"

"Of course," he said. "I mean, eventually we will have to decide who's going to come and get you two because you," he said, eyeing Stella, "are not a good driver when you have alcohol in your system."

"You're one to talk," Stella said, handing him Katherine. "How many times have I had to drive you home?"

"I few, I will admit," he said. "But I've never gotten so drunk that I got arrested for public indecency."

"Really?" Selina asked in surprise, looking at Stella. "You've been arrested for public indecency before?"

"Yes," Stella's husband nodded. "And that was during carnevale, so that just tells you how bad it was."

"They blew the whole thing way out of proportion," Stella said. "It wasn't half as bad as they made it out to be; that's why I had to wipe their memories of the whole thing later."

"You consumed the equivalent of two bottles of wine, stripped off your clothes, went streaking through the streets of Venice and ended up skinny-dipping in the canal. What exactly did they blow out of proportion?" Stella's husband asked. He had a smirk on his face that made Selina wonder whether or not he really disapproved.

"You know," Selina said quickly, "I'd like to consume some bottles of something right now. Can we go?"

"Sure," Stella said, glaring at her husband. He just smirked and waved them away with a dismissive "have a good evening, ladies".

"We will," Stella shot back. "Don't worry about us." They headed back to her car and sat for a few minutes. "Are there any good drinking places around here?" Stella asked.

"Well," Selina said, "there's O'Neil's on 3rd and West Court. It's not super fancy, but they have alcohol and karaoke, which are both great; especially when the people who are really drunk start singing."

Stella started laughing. "Sounds good; could you tell me how to get there?" Selina nodded and in no time at all, the two of them were at O'Neil's, entering the bar just as a particularly inebriated man in dirty denim coveralls and a trucker hat began belting out "My Heart Will Go On" off-key. "See," Selina whispered, "I told you it would get interesting when the really drunk people started singing."

They headed up to the bar; Stella ordered a Grey Goose martini, Selina a Bay Breeze. They took sips of their drinks and then turned on their barstools to watch the entertainment.

Finally, after four glasses each, both of them were having trouble walking. They were stumbling around the restaurant, with men all hollering at them that they would be more than eager to give them a ride home and a bed for the night. Just when Selina was about to get into a bus with a team of college basketball players, Damon showed up to cart the two of them away. He grabbed Selina's arm and pulled her gently from the bus steps, punching out one of the players who tried to stop him. He got her into the front passenger seat of his car and then went back for Stella, who didn't come as easily. She slapped him hard and pushed him away, insisting that she could get home on her own. Damon made one more attempt to get her to come with him, but it didn't work and he finally gave up, telling her goodbye and driving off with Selina. As soon as they were gone, Stella went behind a tall row of hedges, stripped off her clothes, and ran back to the hideout.

Damon pulled up the driveway of the boardinghouse and parked the car just in front of the garage. "You need any help coming in?" he asked her.

"No," Selina shook her head. "I can do it." She made to get out of the car and promptly fell on the pavement, scratching her nose up. "Here," Damon said, rolling his eyes as he picked her up. "God, I don't know why I even asked. It's so obvious you're wasted."

"And you know why that is?" Selina asked. "Because people suck, that's why." He carried her all the way to their bedroom and sat her down on their bed. "Do you want to talk about what happened at Katherine's?" He asked. "Stella's husband called me and told me that's where you and Stella had gone."

"Nothing bad happened," Selina said. "I just had to be in the same room as Elena again. I'm not talking to her. She's mean. Oh, and Stella beat the crap out of Katherine and we took her as a hostage."

"Really?" Damon asked. "Where's Katherine now?"

"Stella's husband is watching her," Selina said. "And I assume Stella will want to as well, eventually." She looked at him for a moment, and then threw her arms around him. "Thank you," she said, burying her head in his shoulder. "Thank you for coming to get me."

"No problem," he said in surprise. She usually wasn't this demonstrative, but she was drunk, so that changed things quite a bit. "I just hope Stella got home all right."

About an hour after he'd called Junior about Stella and Selina needing to be picked up from the bar, there was a knock on the bedroom door of Damon the First. Curiously, he got up to answer it, and just about fell over when he saw who it was.

"Surprise," said, grinning. "Are you surprised to see me?" She was standing with one hand against the door frame completely naked, her eyes sparkling mischievously. "Junior offered me a ride home, but I told him I was all right getting here by myself."

"In answer to your question," her husband said when he finally found his voice, "I'm not surprised to see you because I knew you'd come home eventually. I'm just surprised to see this much of you."

She leaned forward and kissed him. His hands came up around her and began running up and down her back. Then, she suddenly pulled away, her face changed. "What's the matter?" he asked.

She didn't say anything, but ran for the bathroom and immediately began to throw up. Stella's husband sighed, stripped down to his boxers and got into bed. He wouldn't worry about Stella. Once she got everything out, she would join him. It wasn't the first time this had happened.

When he woke up the next morning, he saw that Stella's side of the bed was still empty. Getting out of bed, he opened the bathroom door and tried his best not to laugh. Stella, still naked, had fallen asleep curled up on the bathroom floor. He got down on his knees and put a hand on her shoulder. "Good morning, my beautiful Venus," he whispered. She opened her eyes and began to groan. Her head was throbbing. "What the hell did I do last night?" she asked as he helped her sit up. He went back into the bedroom and pulled the sheet off the bed, bringing it into the bathroom so she could cover herself up. "What the hell did I do last night and why in the world did you let me do it?"

"You went and saw Katherine last night," her husband told her. "Some bad things happened. You got upset. You and Selina went out drinking and next thing I know, you show up here completely naked, telling me you refused Junior's offer of a ride home. You must have given quite a few people a hell of an eyeful."

"Wonderful," Stella said, pulling the sheet closer around her. Then, her eyes lit up. "We got Katherine as a hostage, didn't we?" she asked. "Where is she? I want to gloat."

"You might want to shower and dress first," her husband said. "And would you like something for your head?"

"Yes," Stella said. "Just get me an aspirin and a coffee and I'll feel better." After she'd gotten ready, taken the aspirin and drunk the coffee, Stella was in much better form. "I put her in the basement," Stella's husband said. "The same place Tommy and that cousin of Lina's tortured Junior." They went downstairs, and when Stella saw Katherine, sitting in the corner looking angry, she bit her lip on a smile. "What's the matter?" she asked. "Can't you move?"

"No," Katherine squirmed angrily. "That wizard person put some sort of spell on me to keep me down here." She looked up at Stella. "Let me guess: you came to gloat, didn't you?"

Stella nodded.

"I'd enjoy gloating while you can," Katherine said. "Because it won't be for very long; you may have captured me, but remember: I'm not the only one. There are others."

That same morning, Elena got up to go to the bathroom and on her way back, she passed Jeremy's half-open door; she heard John and Jeremy talking. Curious, she stood by the door, listening to their conversation.

"Your sister's in trouble," John told Jeremy. "And we need your help to protect her."

"I thought that you and her birth mother and Katherine had that all taken care of," Jeremy said.

"We thought we did," John said. "But Katherine got carried off today, and that leaves us one short."

Jeremy nodded. "What would I have to do?"

"Well nothing too complicated," John said. "I just need you to make friends with Selina; you do know her, don't you?"

"Selina Warren?" Jeremy asked. "Of course I do."

"Good," John nodded approvingly. "At school tomorrow, get Selina to open up to you. She and Elena had a fight and now we can't use Elena to get inside information."

"You want me to draw Selina in and then stab her in the back by betraying her trust? No. I won't."

"Yes, you will." John said. "Because you're a Gilbert; it's part of your family legacy to fight and kill vampires. And also because you love your sister."