"Here we are," Mason said grandly as he drove up to the side of the lake house and parked. "Great, isn't it?"

"I don't know," Selina said as she gazed up at it. It was made almost entirely out of wood and had a green-painted roof. Two levels of balconies connected by a set of stairs jutted out from the front. "I didn't expect it to look so…rustic."

Tyler got out and stood beside her. "This is hardly rustic. It's like a wood mansion. You should see the inside. It's awesome."

Suddenly, Selina burst out laughing. "What's so funny?" Tyler asked. "The three of us standing out here in front of a wooden house made me think of the three little pigs for some reason. You know how the second pig builds his house of twigs and sticks and then won't let the wolf in?"

Mason grinned. "Well this time," he said, putting his hand in his pocket and pulling out a set of keys, "the wolf has keys. No huffing and puffing necessary." He unlocked the door and then situated himself so that he was on Selina's other side and the three of them went up the stairs and into the house.

"Oh, my God," Selina said, gaping openly at the high ceilings and large pieces of furniture covered in oil cloths. "You weren't kidding about this place, were you?" she asked Tyler.

"Nope," he shook his head. "You like it?"

"Um, of course," Selina said.

"So," Mason took a seat on a dark green recliner after removing the cloth. "What do you guys want to do now? I'm sure there's boggle or something around here."

"Actually," Selina said, "I'd like to go to bed, if you don't mind. I've had a really long day and I just need some sleep."

"Sure," Mason said. "Do you need me to show you where the rooms are, or do you want to explore?"

"Could you take me?" Selina asked. "I have next to no sense of direction."

"The room next to mine is empty," Tyler said quickly. "I could take you."

"Thanks," Selina said as he took her bag and led her up a set of stairs so that they were facing a long hallway with rooms on either side. "Where's your room?" she asked.

"Follow me," he said. He went down three doors on the left side of the hallway and stopped, opening the third door. "My room's the second door," he said. "I don't know where Mason's going to hang out, though." He headed into Selina's room and put her bag on the bed. "Good night," he said. "Try and get some sleep, even though it might be difficult for you. Things will look better in the morning if you do."

"I'll try," she said. "Thanks, Tyler."

He nodded and headed out of the room, pausing next to the doorframe and turning around. "If there's anything you need during the night, don't hesitate to come get me."

Selina nodded and as soon as he was gone, changed into her pajamas and climbed into bed, clapping the lights off. She lay her head down on her pillow and shut her eyes, willing sleep to come.

Tyler's eyes opened quite suddenly. He sat up in bed, wondering what had disturbed him enough to jolt him awake. He looked at the clock on his bedside table and saw that he'd only been asleep for about an hour or two. Groaning in frustration, he fell back onto his pillow and pulled the covers over himself again. It was as he was trying to settle back down that he heard the sobbing. It sounded like it was coming from next door. Curious, he threw his covers aside and got out of bed, slowly opening his bedroom door and tiptoeing to Selina's room. He opened the door and crept inside Selina's room, turning on her bedside lamp. When the light hit her, he gasped. Her sheets were crazily thrown all over the bed as if she'd been doing nothing but tossing and turning. She was just lying on her bed, not covered at all, and although her eyes were closed, her breathing was coming in shallow gasps and tears were streaming down her cheeks. When she made to roll over again, he put his hand on her shoulder and held her steady.

Then, she opened her eyes. "Hi," he said. "What's going on?"

She gazed at him blankly for a moment. "What?" she said finally.

"Sounds like you're having some trouble sleeping," he said. "Do you want me to stay with you?"

"I've been having the worst dreams about Mama," she said. "Just these horrible visions of her going up in flames and…" she broke out into gasping sobs.

"It's okay," he said, putting his arms around her. "Remember, they're only dreams. They can't hurt you."

She sniffled and nodded. "Thanks. I needed that."

"So," he said, "do you want me to stay in here with you? I could sit in that chair over there."

He motioned to an old rocking chair in the corner. "Sure," Selina said. "And thanks."

"No problem," he said, taking a seat. "But don't expect me to sing you any lullabies or anything. My singing is worse than my dancing."

Selina smiled and lay back down, drawing the covers over herself. "Good night," she said.

"Good night," Tyler told her.

"Who was on the phone?" Stefan asked.

"Tyler Lockwood," Damon said. "He told me that he overheard a conversation between Mason and Katherine where Katherine said that the sole purpose of Amelia's death was to make Selina upset so that she would go and stay with the Lockwoods. Then, it would be easier for Katherine to get her hands on Stella's necklace."

"Did he also happen to mention why Katherine wants Stella's necklace so bad?" Stefan asked. Damon shook his head. "No, but he's going to try and get that out of Mason soon and he said that he'd report it back to me once he found anything out." He frowned. "I really hate having to rely on Tyler Lockwood for anything," he said.

"I know you do," Stefan said, "but that's how it has to be for now."

"Tyler also said," Damon continued, "that Mason and Katherine would probably try to get the necklace during the full moon when everybody's vulnerable. He told us to come by then and get Selina and the necklace away, maybe even getting to kill Mason and Katherine in the process."

"Us?" Stefan asked. "As in you and me?"

"Yeah," Damon nodded. "Unless you don't want to come."

"Of course I want to come," Stefan said. "But we're dealing with Katherine as well as a werewolf minion here. We're going to need some more backup."

"Backup for what?" Elena asked, coming to sit next to Stefan on the couch.

"The raid we're going to launch on that Lockwood lake house when Katherine tries to get Stella's necklace during the full moon."

"Do we know yet why Katherine wants it so bad?" Elena asked.

"No," Damon shook his head. "But I can't wait to find out."

"Now remind me again why you want this necklace of Selina's so badly?" Mason asked.

"Because," Katherine said, "if I don't get my hands on it, it could kill me."

"Why?" Mason asked, laughing a little. "It's a necklace for God's sake. How could it possibly kill you?"

"Five hundred years ago," Katherine told him, "I did something that I shouldn't have. I told a little white lie that got a friend of mine kidnapped and beaten to death and once she was dead, I kind of went to her house and turned her husband and brother-in-law into vampires."

"Seriously?" Mason said. "She obviously wasn't that good of a friend if you did all that to her."

"I didn't mean to, not really. It was just that her grandmother asked for my help in getting her to marry this other man because Stella's husband wasn't on her grandmother's list of appropriate marriage choices."

"And her grandmother had a better choice in mind?" Mason finished.

"Of course she did," Katherine said. "So she had some of her henchmen spirit Stella back to Germany in the middle of the night where she promptly imprisoned her in a tower of the castle until she agreed to the arranged marriage."

"But let me guess," Mason said, "she never agreed to the wedding, and that's why she was beaten to death?"

"Yeah," Katherine nodded.

"But where do you come in?" Mason asked.

"I arrived at the original Salvatore estate a few days after Selina's husband received a note from her saying that she had agreed to her grandmother's arranged marriage and had no desire to return to Italy or him or their children. He knew Stella and I were friends, so he asked me if what was in the note was true or a lie and I told him it was true. And just to be sure he wouldn't go after her, that's when I turned him and his brother into vampires."

"But the deal you made with Stella's grandmother—what was in it for you?"

"My safety of course," Katherine said. "Stella's grandmother was a close friend of the pope and at that point, vampires were being rounded up in droves. She knew what I was and threatened to expose me unless I betrayed my best friend."

"And the necklace?"

"I think Stella's soul is in that necklace," Katherine said. "And she possesses every person who has it in an attempt to find and destroy me for what I did to her. Now she has her claws in Selina. That's why I need to get my hands on the necklace."

"But if Stella's soul is tied to the necklace," Mason said slowly, "what do you think will happen when she realizes that you have it?"

"I don't know," Katherine said. "I don't have it yet, do I? But I will, and we'll find out then, won't we?"

"Did you bring the stuff?" Stefan asked as he opened the door of the boardinghouse to find Alaric standing on the other side. "What do you think?" Alaric asked. "Could I have a little help?" Stefan took two boxes from Alaric's laden arms and placed them on the sofa. "Thanks," Alaric said.

"Looks like you brought a little of everything, didn't you?" Damon asked. "That's good."

"Well," Alaric shrugged. "Never hurts to be prepared. Now, what exactly are we doing again?" he looked at Stefan. "You weren't very specific on the phone."

"Selina's at a lake house owned by the Lockwoods. Mason and Tyler are with her. It's a full moon tomorrow and Tyler told me he believes that that's when Mason and Katherine are going to try to take the necklace to fulfill some evil plan of hers. We don't exactly know what that is yet, though. So don't ask," Damon said.

"Oh, okay," Alaric said. "So it's a rescue mission mostly."

"Yeah," Damon nodded. "Exactly."

"And I'm here to help disable the werewolves by magic so that they don't kill the two of you," Bonnie said to Stefan.

"So we all know what we have to do," Elena said. "We have to be careful though. If we do something dumb, it could be bad for Selina or any one of us."

"Good morning," Tyler said as he watched Selina sit up. "Morning," she said, yawning. "Thanks for staying here last night. I really needed it."

"No problem," Tyler said. "I have something I need to talk to you about."

"What is it?" Selina asked. "Is it something bad?"

"Kind of," he admitted. "I suspect that Katherine's going to show up during the full moon tomorrow and try and steal Stella's necklace while everything is chaos. I told Damon about it and he said that he and Stefan would be here then to help us head her off."

"Us?" Selina said, looking at him in surprise. "You're going to be out fighting with the team during the full moon? But won't that be a problem? I mean, you're going to transform. You could hurt people. Maybe even me. And I don't want to be a werewolf! I'm perfectly happy just the way I am." Selina suddenly shivered. "Did you feel a draft in here?" she asked.

Tyler nodded. "I think I did." He got up to close the bedroom door, which had stood open before. Then, he turned around and gasped. "Selina," he said slowly, "do you see what I see?"

Selina looked by the door. There was a man standing against the wall who hadn't been there before. She'd never met him before, but she knew who he was. "Hello, Uncle Jacob," she said. "What brings you here?"

"You two," he said. "I sensed you had some werewolf questions."

"Well, actually we do," she said. "Tomorrow night, it's a full moon and thanks to an unfortunate incident during a past full moon, Tyler here is fully aware of the family heritage."

"You mean, fully aware," Jacob said. He looked at Tyler. "The curse is active in you?"

"Yeah," Tyler nodded.

"So what we want to know, Uncle Jacob," Selina said, "is, if he goes out tomorrow night, and I'm out with him, will he attack me and turn me?"

Jacob shook his head. "No dear, it's only those who don't have the gene that are in true danger on the night of a full moon. Unless he has a plan to kill you prior to his transformation just as Mason did earlier, in his wolf form, he will sense that you are a friend, and won't attack you."

"So when Katherine comes to take Stella's necklace back and very possibly kill Selina for not giving it to her, I'll be able to fight and defend and not worry about inadvertently turning Selina into a werewolf?"

"Exactly," Jacob nodded. "Just be very careful of the others," he said. "Remember, they won't recover the way Selina will if you go after them."

Tyler nodded. "Thanks."

"Any time," Jacob said, grinning as he slowly faded away.

"Well, that was certainly odd," Selina said. "But very useful. So, you'll be fighting Katherine and Mason with us tomorrow?"

"Yep," Tyler nodded. "I wouldn't miss it. So, what do you want to do for the rest of the day?"

"Probably prepare for tomorrow," Selina said. "My symptoms caused by full moons usually happen way before the moon comes up. You'll probably have to deal with slutty, moody me all day."

"A case of PFMS," Tyler said, grinning. "Bring it on."

"PFMS?" Selina asked.

"Pre-Full Moon Syndrome."

The next day, Tyler didn't see Selina until mid-afternoon. He was sketching in his room when he heard the knock on his door. "Come in," he called absently, then turned. "Hi," he said. "I wondered when I'd see you, Selina."

"Sorry," she said, striding into his room. "I had some shopping to do and it took me quite a while." She sat down on the divan and stared up at him. "Would you do me a favor?" she asked.

"Sure," he said. "Anything."

She shifted position slightly. "Would you sketch me?"

"Sure," he said. "No problem." He took a pencil in hand and began to make an outline of her face. "Wait," she said. "Not like this."

He paused and put the pencil back on his desk. "How, then?"

She stood up from the divan and removed her jacket. "Oh, my God," Tyler breathed. "You do know you're not wearing anything right now, right?"

She grinned. "Of course I do. Listen, I've had so many portraits made of me in my life that the last thing I need is another one of me looking like a porcelain doll." She fished around in one of the pockets of the jacket and pulled out the cross necklace. "Could you fasten this for me?" she asked.

Tyler nodded silently and stood up, coming up behind her and fastening the necklace, the cross resting neatly between her breasts. "So," she said. "How would you like me to position myself?"

He blinked. "What?" he asked.

"How would you like me to position myself?" she repeated. "For the portrait."

"Oh," his voice was shaky. "You're fine just the way you are."

"Really?" she said. "Because I'd be perfectly happy to try a new position."

Tyler blinked as he heard the crunch. He looked down and saw that the pencil he held was now snapped cleanly in two.

"Would you like me to get you another one?" she asked.

"No," Tyler shook his head. "I'll get it."

He got another pencil and through pure willpower managed to get the sketch done. "So," Selina said once he was done, "what would you like to do now? Me?"

She stood up and strode over to him. "Let me put you out of your misery." She captured his mouth with hers. He backed her up onto the divan, undressed, and soon, the world was gone.

"You look happy," Mason said knowingly as Tyler came down the stairs. "Did something good happen?"

"I made a sketch I'm proud of, that's it. I swear."

"Oh, please," Mason laughed. "I know exactly what was going on. I've been there before."

"Have you been there on the day of a full moon?" Tyler asked. "It's even better then." He paused. "That's right; you haven't." At that moment, Selina, dressed in a bathrobe, came downstairs. "Hello, Mason," she greeted him. "I'm hungry. Did you make something?"

"I could make you a sandwich," he offered. "Or you could make it yourself."

Selina put her hands on her hips. "Are you sore because you think I've been neglecting you?" she asked.

"No," Mason said huffily.

"Now you're lying to me," Selina said, getting out the turkey, mustard and bread. "Look, it's not my fault that this necklace does nothing for you. If you wanted one, you should have gotten it made up like Tyler did. He took initiative and now look what he's got." She turned away from the counter to face them for a minute before grabbing her sandwich and heading out of the kitchen.

"Is she always a slut during full moons?" Mason asked Tyler.

"A little," Tyler admitted. "But when she was a vampire, she was violent too." He paused. "So what are you going to do tonight?" he asked. "Staying in because of the full moon?"

"Actually," Mason said, "a friend of mine is stopping by. Selina has something of hers and she wants it back."

Tyler's eyes widened. "So Katherine is going to try and get Stella Salvatore's necklace from Selina tonight!"

"How did you know about that?" Mason asked.

"I overheard you and Katherine talking about it at the Halloween party," he said. "You might want to be a bit more subtle about it next time. So, when's Katherine coming over?"

"I'm not going to tell you," Mason shook his head. "You don't need to be getting involved this!"

"Yes, I do." Tyler nodded. "Yes, I do."

Mason shook his head and went into the living room to watch some television while Tyler grabbed the phone and dialed the boardinghouse. "Come tonight when the moon comes up," he said when Damon answered. "Mason told me Katherine's coming for the necklace."

Once the moon came up, the doorbell rang. Tyler went to answer it, careful to stay out of the moonlight that the door brought in with it. It wasn't time for that yet. "Hello, Tyler," Katherine said. "Have you seen your uncle?"

Tyler shook his head. "Not since this afternoon. But I'm sure he's around somewhere."

Katherine found him in his room. "We have a problem," Mason said as soon as she entered. "Tyler knows what we're up to."

"How is that a problem?" Katherine said. "We can kill him; then it'll be just like things were before."

"No, Katherine," Mason said. "I'm not going to kill Tyler."

"You might not even have to," Katherine said. "I've heard that full moons tend to make Selina be off her guard. She probably isn't even watching the necklace now. Where do you think she keeps it?"

"I'd check her room," Mason said. "It's the third door upstairs. She's not wearing it now. She replaced it with the one that has the spell on it." He grinned. "The full moon makes her do such crazy things."

Katherine slowly opened Selina's bedroom door and saw that the necklace was sitting on her dresser. "Bingo," she whispered. She advanced into the room, but after she took two steps, a stake shot through the air and embedded itself in her shoulder. She cried out and fell to the ground in a heap.

"Hello, Katherine," Damon said, hefting the stake gun and climbing through the window. He strolled over to Selina's dresser. "Were you looking for this?" he asked, picking up the necklace and dangling it in front of her.

"As a matter of fact," she said, pulling the stake out of her shoulder and groaning a little. "I was. Are you going to give it to me?"

Just then, there was a knock on the bedroom door. A minute later, Mason entered. "If we're going to fight, which I assume we are, we should take it outside. If we break anything, my brother will kill me."

Looking at one another for a moment, the three of them headed down the stairs and out of the house where everyone else stood waiting. They watched in horrified fascination as Mason and Tyler transformed. Bonnie took Mason down first and then the rest of them proceeded to deal with Katherine.

Damon had grabbed Stella's necklace on his way out of the house and gave it back to Selina once they were outside. Katherine focused her energy on Selina of course, but thanks to Tyler's help, she always failed. Finally, grunting with frustration, she pulled a knife seemingly from out of nowhere. "All right," she whispered. "No more Miss Nice Girl." She advanced on wolf Tyler. Selina, despite being out of it for most of the day, realized what was about to happen. "No!" she cried, launching herself in the knife's path just as Katherine flung it in the wolf's direction. The knife landed in her chest and as blood spurted from the wound, Selina crumpled in a heap on the ground.

"It's over," Katherine said, ripping the necklace away from Selina's prone, shallowly breathing body. "Game. Set. Match." Before anyone could move to stop her, she ran. They all stood frozen for a moment afterward. Then, they came back to life again.

"Selina, oh, my God!" Damon and Stefan kneeled on the ground next to her, trying to hold her up. "Don't die on me," Damon said. "Don't leave me."

"It hurts so much," Selina said weakly. "Make it stop hurting."

"You two get Selina in the house," Alaric said. "I'll call the ambulance."

After they were sure the ambulance was on its way, Alaric and Bonnie left, leaving Stefan and Damon alone with Selina in the living room. They looked up when they heard the horrified gasp. "My God," Tyler said. "Is she going to die?" Being out of the moonlight had allowed him to regain his human form.

"Looks like it," Damon said. "The knife got her pretty good. Now all we can do is wait for the ambulance."

"Guess again." Damon looked up at the new voice and gasped in surprise. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "I thought you were dead."

"I am dead," Matthew Warren said. "But under special circumstances, I'm allowed to come back." He took Selina's hand in his and her eyes widened. "You're solid, Daddy," she said.

"During full moons, spirits can return if they choose. I heard from Uncle Jacob that you might need me, so I came. How are you feeling, baby?"

"It hurts so much," she repeated. "Make it stop hurting."

He kissed her on the forehead. "I could," he said. "But that's not the only way." He pushed his brown hair out of his eyes.

"You mean you didn't come to get her spirit, or whatever happens when someone dies?" Damon asked.

"That's one option. But you or Tyler have the power to save her life. She doesn't have to die," Matthew said. His green eyes were serious.

"Great," Selina muttered. "Guys planning my life without consulting me. Again."

"Well, sweetheart," Matthew said, "do you want to die?"

"No," Selina shook her head, taking Damon's hand. "I want to live. I want to live forever."