Elowen closed her locker and jumped when she saw Toby standing behind the door. He was smiling at her mischievously. She grumbled and punched him in the shoulder.

"What are you even doing here?" She asked.

He spread his arms out like it was obvious. She finally took notice of the backpack he was wearing.

"Carol decided it was time to enroll me in school." Toby fist pumped. "Go Timberwolves!"

Elowen sighed but smiled anyway. "I don't know if anyone told you, but Ric is our history teacher. It's only weird for the first five minutes."

Toby laughed. "Noted."

They had started walking towards their class when Toby grew quiet. Elowen furrowed her eyebrows and stopped walking. Toby followed suit.

"Tobes? What is it?"

Toby chewed on his bottom lip. "Look, I know Stefan and Damon are the last thing you want to talk about, but there's something you should know."

When Elowen looked at him expectantly, he continued.

"When I staked Elijah, it broke the compulsion he'd put on Katherine and Luis. She's free, Elowen."

Her face went slack when she heard this. She blinked a few times to try and regain her composure. "And Luis? What about him?"

"According to Katherine, he was too weak to move anywhere. As far as we know, he's still in there."

Slowly, Elowen nodded her head. "Okay. Usually I'd buy that, but last time we thought he was too weak to do anything, Stefan ended up getting trapped in the tomb. That's why they were compelled in the first place."

"What are you going to do?" Toby asked worriedly.

"Nothing. I'm going to keep an eye out, but I'm not willingly going down there to pay him a visit."

Toby breathed a sigh of relief. "Good."

They continued their walk towards their class. Toby opened his mouth again.

"Why aren't you mad at me? I staked Elijah. He's dead and you want answers more than anything right now."

Elowen sighed deeply. "I don't know," she answered honestly. "Maybe because I knew you had better intentions than Stefan and Damon. They were trying to dictate my life and force me to do things I didn't want to do. They were doing it to control me. You were just... looking out for your best friend."

"But, they were looking out for you, too. They were trying to protect you."

"They were trying to shelter me. There's a difference. Look, can we change the subject, please?"

Toby quickly changed topics without another word.

"I saw Matt putting up a sign that said there's supposed to be a live band at The Grill tonight. We should go. Get your mind off of things."

"That's the best idea you've had all morning." Elowen held her hand out and Toby took it without hesitation. "Shall we head to class?"

"We shall."

xxxx

"Hey!"

Elowen turned to the sound of the voice and found Caroline skipping up to her. It was lunch time and she'd been waiting for Toby to make it out to the courtyard.

"Oh. Hey, Caroline. What's up?"

"So, tonight me, Bonnie and Elena are supposed to have a girl's night tonight. You in?"

Elowen faltered, gave a really terrible half smile and shook her head. She didn't really want to be around Elena. Maybe she didn't have a right to be upset with her anymore, seeing as how she was ready to run off with Elijah, but still. She didn't like being lied to, if that weren't obvious by now.

"Sorry, I already told Toby I would go to The Grill with him tonight. There's supposed to be a live band and everything."

Caroline visibly deflated. "Oh. This doesn't have anything to do with what happened, does it?"

"Yes and no. I don't really wanna talk about it."

"Well, in that case, I'll cancel on Elena and Bonnie. I know I can talk Josiah into coming with to The Grill."

"No, you don't have to do that. Elena and Bonnie probably need you more than me, anyway."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Please. I'm just Elena's Bonnie backup, remember? They'll be fine without me. You need your best friend, Caroline Forbes."

"I already have a best friend. His name's Toby Lockwood."

Caroline gaped at her and hit her on the arm. "Ouch! Let me rephrase that, then. You need your girl best friend. How's that?"

Elowen laughed. "I'm kidding, don't worry. There's no rule that says you can't have more than one best friend."

"Best friend? Are we talking about me?" Toby asked playfully as he approached their table. He set his food down and took a seat next to Elowen.

Caroline scoffed with no real malice to it. "Not everything is about you, wolf boy."

"I thought we were meeting in the cafeteria!"

Everyone turned and found Josiah jogging up to their table. Caroline smiled sheepishly at him.

"Sorry! I kind of forgot."

He reached their table and plopped down next to Caroline. She smiled at him and leaned in for a kiss. Toby and Elowen both made a face of disgust.

"Ew," Elowen said. "Get a room."

Both Caroline and Josiah rolled their eyes. Caroline gasped when she remembered what her and Elowen were talking about. She turned to Josiah.

"Hey, so, your sister and I were talking about how The Grill is having a live band tonight. Wanna come with?"

"Hey!" Toby cried. He faced Elowen. "I thought that was just gonna be a you and me thing!"

Elowen grimaced. "Whoops?"

Caroline and Josiah laughed.

"Yeah, I'll come with," Josiah replied at last. "It'll be fun."

Caroline clapped her hands. "Okay! It's settled. We'll meet up at The Grill and have a drama free night."

Everyone else at the table shared uncertain looks.

"Drama free?" Elowen asked. "I don't think that's in our vocabulary."

"Oh, whatever," Caroline drawled. "Let's just focus on having fun, okay?"

"Got it."

"Sure."

"We'll try."

Were Josiah, Toby and Elowen's respective replies. They all laughed together and then went on to eat their lunch.

xxxx

When school was over, Elowen had managed to get ahold of Luka and Jonas Martin. With Elijah dead, they were her only chance at A) finding answers and B) killing Klaus. All of her trust in Stefan and Damon was gone for the time being and she needed to find people she could depend on. They met up at The Grill.

"Thanks for coming," she said when Luka and Jonas took a seat across from her. "I just want you to know that I had nothing to do with what Bonnie did to you. I didn't know until after it was all said and done."

"I find that hard to believe," Jonas replied. "You are the one who told my son you didn't trust him when you took the moonstone."

"And I was right to say that, wasn't I? You were working with Elijah the whole time. Look, believe me or not, but I promise you that I didn't know."

"I think she's telling the truth, dad," Luka cut in. "She's the one Elijah was so bent on getting on his side. He wouldn't have done that if he thought she was conspiring against him."

Elowen jumped at this. "He wanted me on his side? Why? What for?"

Luka shrugged. "He wouldn't say, just that you were valuable."

"Well, he succeeded. I was supposed to leave with him when he went to collect Elena. He had answers I needed."

"Had?" Jonas asked a little more forcefully than he should have. Elowen looked down at the table.

"He's dead. I'm sorry."

Jonas started to get up from the table and Elowen quickly stood up as well.

"Look, if it were up to me, Elijah would be standing here right now. I had absolutely nothing to do with it." She wet her lips. "I think he'd want us to work together. I can help you get your daughter back if you help me get the answers I want. Please."

"What kind of answers are we talking about here?" Luka asked. Elowen sat back and Jonas slowly did, too.

"There's this girl Elijah once knew. Her name was Marisol. She was an ancestor of mine who was used to try and break the curse without the doppelganger. The thing is, she looked exactly like me and even Elijah didn't know why. The other night, I apparently channeled her somehow and became her. That's not something that happens to doppelgangers and I just want to know why I look like her and how that happened. Elijah was supposed to help me find out."

Luka and Jonas shared a look, as if they were silently communicating. Finally, Jonas opened his mouth.

"Elijah didn't have a dagger or a special stake to kill Klaus. He wanted to kill him permanently. He believed that if a witch harnessed enough power, it would be able to weaken him enough to kill him. We've been trying to find the spot where dozens of witches were burned at the stake centuries ago in order to channel their power. It's been weeks and we keep coming up empty handed."

Elowen nodded her head. "Okay. I can help with that."

"Good luck," Luka told her half sarcastically. "You'll just end up where we're at."

"I'm an elemental. My power is premonition and I think if I tried hard enough, I'd be able to use that in order to find what you're looking for. Just let me try."

Luka sighed, but nodded his head.

"Your friend Bonnie also asked to meet with us," Jonas said. "Should we do it?"

Elowen was quiet for a moment before shaking her head. "No. They'd just ask the same thing I'm asking you and I can't trust them to not use you without helping with your daughter. They killed Elijah. I wouldn't put it past them."

"Very well. Look, I really don't think we can do this without Elijah. We have to find a way to get the dagger out of him. Even if we do find the spot, we can't successfully lure Klaus out without Elena and Elijah is a very persuasive man. I have an idea, but I'll need your help."

Elowen leaned forward in her seat and placed her arms on the table. "What did you have in mind?"

"We can use a spell to astral project one of us to wherever Elijah is being kept and undagger him."

"I'll do it," Luka immediately volunteered. "I'm too weak to send you and I doubt she has the strength, either. It's a pretty powerful spell."

Elowen thought it over for a moment before nodding her head.

"I'm in."

xxxx

Alaric was at her house when she got home. He was talking to Esmeralda in the kitchen.

"It was bad," he was telling her. "John planted all these seeds about Isobel and now Jenna knows we're both lying about something. She confronted me at the dinner party and it wasn't pretty."

"John is going to end up dead on the kitchen floor if he's not careful," she heard her mom respond.

"Yeah, well, easier said than done. I gave him back his ring, so… Look, Jenna keeps asking about Isobel. You know, was she murdered? Why haven't they found the body? I mean, I don't think she can stay in the dark much longer."

"You think we should tell her the truth?"

"I already talked to Elena and told her it was her decision to make. I just don't think we can be real friends with Jenna if we keep lying to her. That's not what you do to friends."

Elowen chose this moment to enter the room. Both Alaric and Esmeralda stopped talking and turned to her. It grew awkwardly quiet as Elowen made her way towards the fridge to find some food. She heard Esmeralda clear her throat.

"I think we need to talk."

"There's nothing to talk about," Elowen replied with an uninterested voice, looking through the fridge.

"You were going to run away with Elijah. I think there's a lot to talk about."

Alaric pointed in the direction of the door. "I think I'm going to go, leave you two to talk." He leaned over and placed a kiss on Esmeralda's cheek. "I'll see you later."

Once he left, Esmeralda raised her eyebrows.

"Well?" She asked expectantly.

Elowen shrugged. "Well what?"

"You care explaining what was going through your mind? Did it have something to do with your obsession with Marisol? Stefan filled me in on what happened."

Elowen closed the fridge and faced Esmeralda, crossing her arms.

"Did he also tell you about how her spirit possessed me? That doesn't just happen to anybody, mom. She looks like me and then I become her? It doesn't make any sense." Before Esmeralda could respond, she changed the subject. "What happened between you and Elijah? Damon said you two had a history together."

Esmeralda sighed deeply. She was expecting this question. She walked around the island and gestured to Elowen to sit at the dining table with her. She did.

"When you were a baby, Elijah came to my doorstep to warn me that Klaus was on the lookout for our family line. In 1564, our ancestor, Estefani, pledged her loyalty and everyone after her to Klaus and in turn, him and Elijah would protect us. He forced our bloodline to help him find a way to break the curse without the doppelganger for centuries, until another ancestor, Elizabeth, placed a cloaking spell on us in order to break away from him. This was sometime in the 1800s, before Esperanza immigrated to Mystic Falls.

"Elijah heard a rumor that Klaus had been trying to find a way to break the cloaking spell and he offered to keep watch on me to make sure nothing happened to me, you or Josiah. He stayed with us for 6 months. I was straight out of high school and newly married, but the truth was, I fell out of love with Luis after you were born. I stayed with him because, well… in the beginning, he treated me like a princess. He was very doting, and caring, and he used to shower me with gifts. No other guy at school wanted anything to do with me. They all said I got pregnant on purpose to trap Luis and they didn't want me to do that to them, too. I thought that I'd end up alone and be a single mother if I left. I was so insecure back then.

"By the time I met Elijah, Luis had just started university, so I didn't see him much. He was so new and different. He was old school, a perfect gentleman. It was a nice change of pace, you know? He treated me like a woman, not like some silly teenage girlfriend. God, and the way he handled Josiah. Everything was like it was out of a movie, and so I fell in love with him. I was absolutely heartbroken when he told me he finally had to leave. I begged him to take me with him, but he told me not to be selfish, to think about my kids. All I got was one goodbye kiss, and then he was gone. Afterwards, I just went on with my life. That was all there was left for me to do. I didn't think I was ever going to see him again, but here we are. That's what happened between me and Elijah."

Elowen was quiet for a moment as she processed everything that her mom had just told her. It was a little confusing, and she wasn't sure how she felt about it all, but one thing was obvious.

"You're still in love with him," she stated.

Esmeralda blinked and immediately started to shake her head. "What? No! No, of course I'm not still in love with him. I'm with Alaric now, remember?"

"Mom, you didn't see your face when you were talking about him. You're still in love with him, trust me."

"But… But…" Esmeralda sighed in defeat. "You're right. I am. I just didn't want to admit it because I don't want to hurt Ric. He loves me, Elle. He hasn't said it yet, but I know he does. He's already jealous enough as it is. This would crush him."

Elowen put her hand on Esmeralda's shoulder in comfort. "You should tell him."

"I know."

"You know, my deal with Elijah was for him to take all of us. You, me, Josiah and Eliana. He was even going to let Caroline and Sydney come. He said that you'd probably be more than willing to come with."

"He was right. It would've taken a little bit of persuading, but I would've gone. Josiah would go anywhere as long as Caroline was there. Same with Eliana and Sydney. You really thought it through, didn't you?"

Elowen shrugged. "He said that he knew I wouldn't leave my family behind. It was all him, really."

Esmeralda gave a small laugh. "Sounds like him." She ran her fingers through Elowen's bangs. "I'll help you figure this out, honey. It means a lot to you, and to be honest, I'm a little curious myself."

"Even though I've gone rogue?"

"Even though you've gone rogue."

"Well, I've teamed up with Luka and his dad. They're trying to find the sight where-"

"Witches were burned at the stake. Yeah, I know. Elijah mentioned wanting to know where it was at the dinner party."

A look came over Esmeralda's face and Elowen furrowed her eyebrows.

"Mom? What is it? What do you know?"

"I know where it happened. I did some heavy research on this town before we moved here. I wanted to make sure I wasn't making a mistake coming here. I accidentally stumbled across it, but I didn't think anything of it at the time."

Elowen had perked up hearing this. "Mom, this is great! We have to tell the Martins."

"What's so great?" Eliana asked as she entered the room. Sydney was following close behind her. They'd just gotten back from a walk around town and caught the neck end of the conversation.

"Everything I'm trying to do is coming all together, is all," Elowen replied. Eliana quirked an eyebrow.

"Which is?"

"Finding answers."

"Not sure what kind of answers you're looking for, but I'm in. I am your aunt, after all."

Elowen smiled. "Alright, so here's the plan."

xxxx

Elowen knocked on the door of the apartment Luka and Jonas were staying at. Esmeralda and Eliana stayed at home because they didn't want the Martin's to back out knowing more than one of them were helping. Luka answered. He opened the door wider to let her in.

"So, how does this work?" She asked as she entered. Luka closed the door behind her.

"Luka will concentrate on Elijah, we'll say a spell and it'll transport him to wherever they're hiding Elijah's body," Jonas answered.

"Okay. Let's do it."

There were already numerous candles lit surrounding the table in the room. Jonas placed one of the many grimoires in the room in the middle and they all sat in a circle. The three of them held hands and Luka closed his eyes.

"I got it," he said after a moment. Jonas nodded and both him and Elowen cast the spell that was on the grimoire in front of her.

Luka opened his eyes and found himself at the Salvatore boarding house. He saw who he thought was Elena and Damon sitting in the living room, both of them reading.

"I'm at the Salvatore house," he told his dad and Elowen. "Elijah's body must be here."

"What do you see?" Jonas asked.

At the boarding house, Damon furrowed his eyebrows and glanced over at the door. He could've sworn he sensed something or somebody, but when he looked, nobody was there. Luka was invisible to them.

"Elena and Damon," he replied. "They're reading."

"Good. If Elijah's there, you'll sense him. Stay focused."

Luka left the room and started making his way towards the stairs that lead to the basement. When he left, Elena, or better yet, Katherine, peered over Damon's shoulder.

"Can I help you?" He asked, annoyed.

"I'm bored." She read a passage that was on the page Damon was reading. "'Emily Bennett and Esperanza Ramirez were taken by the Council today. They kidnapped them both from their homes and took them to the same location her ancestors were burned a hundred years ago'. So, Emily and Esperanza both died on the site of the massacre, too. Does it say where?"

Katherine tried to take the journal from Damon, but he pulled it away.

"Nope. You know this whole friendly, cooperative thing?"

"Mm-hmm."

"I don't buy it."

"I have no reason to lie to you, Damon."

"You said you'd stay to help with Elowen, but it's obvious she doesn't want any of our help. You're here for nothing."

Katherine smirked. "Yeah, about that. I always knew she was smart, but I didn't think she'd ever go against you like this. Looks like she's even smarter than I thought. Good for her. Maybe it's her I should be bothering."

Damon scowled. "Stay away from her, will you?"

"Hmm, if it's her I'm supposed to be helping, then… how can I do that from here? You're nothing without her, you know. You only got this far because of her powers."

Damon's scowl deepened. "Keep going and I'll rip your heart out."

"I'm right and you know it." Katherine got up from her seat. "I'm hungry."

"You're the unwanted house guest. Go feed yourself."

Katherine sighed loudly, but still went down into the basement. She took a blood bag out of the fridge and felt a presence. She looked back, but didn't see anything. Luka was there, making his way towards the cell Elijah's body was in.

"There's a lock on the door," Luka said to Jonas and Elowen. "I can't get in."

"They must've put that there in case I tried to sneak in and undagger Elijah myself," Elowen said. "Isn't there a spell to unlock things?"

"Keep yourself anchored," Jonas ordered. He removed his hands from the circle and Elowen felt a weight drop onto her shoulders as the spell was left to her by herself. Jonas walked over to the grimoires, pulled one out and started flipping through the pages. He came back when he found the right one. He grabbed onto Elowen's hands and recited a spell.

"It worked," Luka announced. The door swung open with a loud creak, gaining Katherine's attention. She wandered over warily. This door was supposed to be locked. Luka walked inside, found Elijah, crouched down and started to remove the dagger. Katherine saw this and rushed forward. Her hands slammed down on the dagger in order to stop it from being removed.

"Elena's fighting me," Luka said with a frown.

"What's wrong?" Jonas asked.

"She's stronger than me."

Realization dawned on Elowen's face. "That's not Elena. It's Katherine."

"Luka, kill her," Jonas instructed. "She's a vampire. Find a stake and drive it through her heart."

Luka released the dagger. Katherine, feeling the struggling stop, also released the dagger. She looked around the room to try and find the source of what was in the room, but instead watched as a wooden chair broke itself.

"Damon!" She yelled just as Luka stabbed her in the stomach, missing her heart. Damon arrived down in the basement and saw Katherine on the ground, impaled, and moved to rip it out.

"What happened?" He asked in confusion.

"Damon…" She was looking at Elijah's body, where Luka was trying to remove the dagger again. Acting quickly, Damon picked up the flame gun he'd used earlier to try and burn Elijah's body and aimed it in Luka's general direction. He shot flames around Elijah's body, unknowingly hitting Luka.

Luka burst into flames back at the apartment and started screaming in pain. Elowen jerked back in surprise, while Jonas quickly jumped up to grab a blanket. He wrapped it around Luka to smother the flames, but when he pulled back, Luka was severely burned and unresponsive.

Elowen covered her mouth as Jonas tried to shake him awake.

"Oh my god, Luka! Luka! Luka! I'm sorry. Please, just wake up, son. Open your eyes."

Jonas grabbed a grimoire and opened it. He started to cast a spell, but stopped when nothing happened. Both Elowen and Jonas started to realize that Luka was dead and Jonas started to cry. Elowen slowly walked over and reached down to touch Jonas's shoulder, but he harshly pushed her away. She flinched back.

Jonas pulled some items out of the nearby shelf and a picture of Elena and then a picture of Elowen fell out of it. Elowen looked on, confused. What was he doing with this? And how did he get it? She didn't have time to ask.

"Dr. Martin? Dr. Martin, what are you doing?"

Jonas didn't answer her and cast a spell in order to locate Elena. Elowen started to panic and tried to stand in front of Jonas when he got up and made to move towards the door.

"Dr. Martin, whatever it is that you're planning on doing, don't. Think about Greta! You won't get her back if you go through with this."

Jonas pushed her aside and she landed on the ground next to Luka with a muffled thump. The front door opened, revealing Stefan on the other side, but Jonas quickly cast a spell on him and he went down, clutching his head in pain.

"He's dead and I have no one," Jonas growled. "And now you're about to find out exactly what that feels like."

Elowen seemed to realize what was happening and scrambled back to her feet. "Dr. Martin, no! If you kill Elena, you might as well kiss Greta goodbye. Please!"

Jonas ignored her, stepped over Stefan and left. She tried to run after him, but she stopped when she reached Stefan. Instead of going after Jonas, she squatted down to help Stefan up.

"Where's Elena?" She asked quickly. "He's going after Elena."

Elowen's phone rang and saw Caroline's name pop up on the screen. She quickly answered it.

"Hey! Where are you-" Caroline started to ask, but Elowen cut her off.

"Please tell me you know where Elena is."

Caroline looked over the crowd of people at The Grill and spotted Elena with Bonnie a few feet away.

"She's here at The Grill, you know, where you're supposed to be right now."

"Nevermind that. Jonas Martin is on his way there right now to kill her. Protect her."

Caroline widened her eyes in alarm. Both Josiah and Toby looked at her expectantly. "What? Okay, I will."

She hung up with Elowen and filled Josiah and Toby in. They all made their way over to Elena to tell her. Jenna was with them and had just left for the bar when they arrived.

"You need to come with us," Caroline told her. "Ask questions later. Come on."

Elena furrowed her eyebrows, absolutely lost as Caroline took hold of her arm and started dragging her away from the crowd. Bonnie quickly followed, flanked by Toby and Josiah. Bonnie saw Jonas enter The Grill and walked over to him.

"Dr. Martin, are you okay?" She asked.

"Where is she?" Jonas questioned instead.

"I don't understand."

"My son is dead."

Suddenly, Caroline's behavior made sense. "Whatever it is that you think you need to do, there's a better way."

"They killed Elijah and they killed Luka and my only shot at getting my daughter back is if I have Elena."

"No. No, Dr. Martin."

Jonas broke the stage lights with his powers. Some people inside The Grill screamed and ran away from the sparks.

"Where is she?" Jonas demanded again.

"I don't know," Bonnie said hastily. "I haven't seen her."

He used his powers to break the rest of the lights inside The Grill. Elowen and Stefan arrived just as Caroline snuck Elena out of the back. They rushed over and took hold of her.

"What else can I do to help?" Caroline asked. "Let me help."

"Damon and I have a plan," Stefan told her. "But we need to get Elena out of here. Distract him."

Caroline, Toby and Josiah all nodded and rushed back inside. Jonas had just broken all of the bottles in the bar and started a fire inside. Everyone was running outside as the fire spread. Bonnie tried to stop him, but he put his hand to her head and she fell to the ground, unconscious. Matt saw her go down and rushed over to her.

"Bonnie! Hey, Bonnie!" He shook her and her eyes slowly opened. He helped her up to her feet. Elowen and Stefan had dashed inside and found Jonas.

"Dr. Martin!" Elowen called out. "I didn't mean for this to happen. I just wanted us to help each other! We can still do that. Just, please, don't do this."

"My son is dead because of them."

"But, I'm not them! I'm not with them anymore, remember? I can help you get your daughter back."

"Only Elijah can do that."

"And I agree! I agree, but hurting Elena is not the answer."

"I don't want to hurt her. If I have her, I can still get Greta back. I'll still have a chance."

Elowen's earlier guess that he was out to kill Elena turned out to be wrong (for once, she was wrong about something) and her face showed that she understood what was happening now.

"Look, you still have me."

Jonas looked at Stefan, who was standing behind her.

"Don't look at him. He's not here. You have me. Elijah wanted me for a reason, right? That means I'm important. I can help, please."

For a minute, it seemed like she'd gotten through to him. Then, he set another fire and it flared between him and Elowen. She inched backwards away from it and Stefan grabbed onto her arm. Caroline came out of nowhere and jumped on top of him. Stefan pulled Elowen away. Caroline hissed at him and tried to bite him, but he cast a spell and sent her down on the ground. Josiah and Toby quickly dropped down next to her as she screamed in pain. Matt saw this, too, and made his way over.

"Caroline! Hey, get away from her!"

Matt pushed Jonas against one of the nearby pillars. Without missing a beat, Jonas broke a bottle and stabbed Matt in the neck with it. Josiah was at Matt's side the second he hit the floor. Jonas had left and now that the spell was broken, Caroline crawled over.

"Matt! Matt, oh my god!" Caroline took a deep breath to calm herself down and then bit into her wrist. Matt's eyes widened and he tried to move away, but Caroline's wrist was already to his mouth. "You have to drink. Please."

xxxx

Elowen had called Esmeralda and asked her to come to Elena's house when Alaric told her Jenna was with him. She knew what was going on and figured that it would be better if Alaric didn't deal with Jenna on his own.

Katherine was coming down the stairs, blood dripping down her mouth. Elowen regarded her with a nod.

"Nice thinking."

Katherine smirked. "At least someone knows how to say thank you around here."

"Don't encourage her," Damon said from beside Elowen. She didn't acknowledge him as another plan started to form in her head. She wouldn't say it here, though. Not in front of Stefan, Damon and Elena.

"You're going to have to get her out of here before Jenna gets home," Elena told Stefan, who nodded. Katherine scoffed.

"Is that all you have to say to me?"

"This doesn't change the way I feel about you."

"I don't like you much, either, if we're going to be open, and frankly, I'd be happy to see you dead." Katherine paused and turned to Elowen. "You, however, I'm much warming up to. Shocker, isn't it? But, if we're going to take on Klaus, we kinda need Elena alive. I'm not a threat to you. If any of you are going to believe anything, believe that."

Elowen tilted her head. She actually found herself believing Katherine, and if her new plan was going to work, she'd need Katherine on her side. If you told her months ago that she was going to be teaming up with Katherine Pierce, she'd say you were insane. Now, however, it seemed like her next best option.

They all heard Alaric, Esmeralda and Jenna on the porch and took that as their cue. Stefan, Damon, Katherine and Elowen went to sneak out the back door. Katherine took off at full speed, but Stefan and Damon lingered.

"I can get home by myself, thank you very much," Elowen drawled in annoyance when she noticed that they weren't leaving.

"We just want to make sure you're doing okay," Stefan said. "We're worried about you."

"Well, don't be. I'm fine."

"You're not fine," Damon cut in. "You're going on some sort of rampage and you're so bent on finding what you're looking for."

She rolled her eyes. "Which I will, no thanks to you two."

Elowen tried to leave, but both Stefan and Damon stood in her way. She huffed.

"You wanna help? You wanna fix everything like you always do? Undagger Elijah."

Stefan and Damon glanced at each other, but didn't say anything.

"That's what I thought. Now, get out of my way."

Stefan and Damon did as she asked. She pushed past them without a word and left.

On the porch, Alaric and Esmeralda were talking to Jenna. Alaric had been at The Grill when everything went down and was making sure Jenna got home safely. Esmeralda had been waiting for them.

"Hey. I heard about what happened at The Grill. I wanted to make sure you were okay," Esmeralda lied. She was here because Elowen called her. Jenna didn't need to know that. Speaking of Jenna, she looked between Esmeralda and Alaric with her jaw set. It was obvious that she didn't want to see either one of them.

"I'm fine," she replied shortly.

"Jenna, are you going to be okay?" Alaric asked. He sighed when she didn't move. He glanced at Esmeralda before continuing. "Look, Isobel is dead and there are things about her death that neither of us can tell you about. It isn't for us to tell. You can be upset and hate us, you have every right. We get it, but just know that we're doing this for a good reason." He looked at Esmeralda again and nodded his head in the direction of their cars.

The both of them took each other's hands and left.

xxxx

Matt slowly woke up in Caroline's bedroom. Both her and Josiah had brought him here after everything that happened at The Grill. Toby had helped, but left shortly afterwards. Caroline and Josiah were sitting in the room and both sat up when they saw him wake up.

"Hi," Caroline weakly greeted. Matt quickly sat up and grabbed at his neck.

"What the hell? Your face… and all the blood. I- I drank your blood."

"You were dying. My blood healed you."

"What do you mean, it healed me? How can your blood heal me?"

"Because that's what vampire blood does for humans and that's what I am. I'm a vampire, Matt."

Matt immediately started to back away. Caroline quickly stood up and so did Josiah.

"No."

"Look, we'll explain everything, okay?" Josiah said. "We'll explain it all, including why we kept this from you. I just need you to calm down."

"Calm down? You want me to calm down? How do you expect me to calm down after hearing something like this?" Matt's face changed as he remembered something. "Vampires. Oh my god. Vicki. At the hospital, I thought she was tripping out."

Caroline shook her head, confused. "What?"

"Vicki, she knew about vampires, and I- What did you do?"

"Nothing. Nothing!"

"I need to get out of here."

Caroline jumped in front of him. "No, no, no! I can't let you leave. I cannot let you leave."

"What did you do to my sister?" Matt asked loudly.

"Nothing! Nothing, I swear! I swear, nothing!"

"What did you do?!"

"Hey, calm down!" Josiah tried to help. "She had nothing to do with Vicki. I know this because my sister tried to help her, remember? Elowen was friends with Vicki. I wasn't even dating Caroline yet when all of that went down. I said we'll explain everything, including what happened to Vicki, as long as you calm down."

Matt started to shake his head. "No. Screw this. Get out of my way." He pushed past both Caroline and Josiah and made a beeline for the door. Caroline tried to go after him, but the sound of the front door opening and closing rang through the house. Sheriff Forbes was home. She couldn't know what was happening.

Matt burst through Caroline's bedroom door, past Sheriff Forbes and out the front door. Liz looked in the direction Matt went with wide eyes and turned to Caroline and Josiah expectantly when they came running out of her room.

"Want to explain to me what the hell that was?" She asked incredulously.

"We just had a bad argument is all," Caroline lied easily. "He'll come around."

"Uh-huh." Liz nodded slowly, not particularly buying it, but letting it go anyway. "Josiah, always good to see you. It's getting late. You better get home."

"Yes, ma'am." Josiah shot Caroline a look before heading for the door.

Hopefully, they could find Matt before he told anybody anything.

xxxx

A girl giggled loudly as she dragged her boyfriend down the stairs of the tomb.

"What's down here? This didn't used to be here."

Her boyfriend warily peered down and tried to pull his girlfriend back up.

"I don't know, but I don't like it."

"Oh, stop being such a baby. Ooh, look!" She found the opening to the tomb and looked inside. "I'm going in."

"Crystal! Ugh."

"Oh my god," came Crystal's voice from inside. She found Luis's desiccated body lying on the ground and slowly approached him. "Liam... I think he's hurt. He needs help!"

Liam rushed inside the tomb and found Crystal trying to lift Luis up. He dove down and swung Luis's other arm around his shoulder and helped pick him up. Luis, although weak, had his head lolled over into Crystal's neck, and the scent of her blood was enough to wake him up. It hurt a little, but he let his fangs slowly come out and sank them into her neck. She screamed and dropped him and they both fell to the ground as Liam let go as well. With his strength gradually coming back, he was able to grab Crystal and hold her down. Her screams died out and she stopped struggling until she was dead.

Liam had taken off and left Crystal there. He'd just made it to the top of the stairs when Luis sped in front of him. He gasped and fell backwards. Luis's face was soaked in fresh blood and it dribbled down his chin. Liam tried crawling away from Luis, but it was no use. Luis grabbed him roughly by the hair and yanked his head to the side. He bit into his neck and drank until Liam was dead, too.

When it was all said and done, Luis let his face go back to normal and he rolled his shoulders back.

God, did it feel good to be outside again.

xxxx

Author's Note: okay, so i think i'm gonna start updating this story a little faster now than before because i want to get season 2 finished up and all published so i can start on season 3. even though i've been updating this pretty regularly (at least once a week), it's still taken me 6ish months to get this all posted. season 1 took me over a year and i don't want that to happen again. that's what i get for making these stories so long lol. anyway, hope you enjoyed this one and please review!