Marisol rolled over to bury her head into the sheets with a small groan. Damon was lying next to her with his arm behind his head, watching her with a smile on his face. She'd finally fell asleep last night after practically begging Damon to come to bed with her. She voiced that Stefan scared her and she didn't want to be alone. Damon found out rather quickly that she trusted too easily and knew that would be a fatal flaw that could get her into lots of trouble. He'd have to teach her not to do that. Right now, he wasn't sure if it was Marisol or Elowen sleeping next to him. He figured he'd find out when she woke up, which so happened to be right now. Marisol's eyes slowly fluttered open and she smiled sleepily up at Damon.

"You're still here."

Damon was only slightly disappointed to find out it was, in fact, Marisol. Nonetheless, he shifted so he was lying on his side in order to face her. "Of course I am. You asked me to stay with you and I usually deliver."

Marisol slowly pushed herself into a sitting position. "Is Stefan still here?"

Damon followed suit and sat up. "Yes. I can sneak you out without him knowing if you'd like."

"Where else would I go? Elowen does not want to see her mother."

Damon moved to get out of bed. Marisol quickly followed him. "Actually, there's somebody I want you to meet." He looked down at her clothes. "Elowen leaves some of her stuff here for when she spends the night. You can shower and change."

"What's a shower?"

Damon sighed, walked around the bed, gently took Marisol's wrist and took her into the bathroom. She looked around in wonder at everything that was there. He stopped in front of the shower, opened the door and turned it on. Marisol jumped back in surprise.

"It's what you use to bathe yourself. It's just water. See?" Damon put his hand under the showerhead to demonstrate. He went and picked up the shampoo and body wash and showed them to her. "This one is for your hair and this one is for your body. That's not too hard, right?"

Marisol tentatively took the shampoo and body wash bottles from him and started to nod her head. Damon nodded as well.

"Okay. Think you can handle this on your own?"

"Uh-huh."

"Good. I'll be just over here if you need me."

Marisol watched as Damon left the bathroom and went back into his bedroom. She turned back to the running shower. She looked at it for a moment before setting the shampoo and body wash down. Then, she stripped and got in.

xxxx

"Damon?" Marisol called out softly. "I'm finished."

Damon poked his head in and saw Marisol standing in the shower with her arms wrapped around herself. He walked in, grabbed a towel and made his way over to the shower door. He moved to open it when Marisol stepped back into the wall.

"Wait! I'm not dressed!"

That's right. This wasn't Elowen, not exactly. Damon looked away and tossed the towel over the top. Marisol quickly grabbed it and wrapped it around herself. Once she was finished, she carefully pushed the door open and stepped out onto the tile.

"Where are the clothes?" She asked as she came to stand in front of Damon. She was squirming around awkwardly. She'd never been this close to a boy while practically naked before and she felt nervous. She only ever changed in front of Elijah, and that was different. Damon pointed at the sink. She walked over and picked up a dark purple tank top. Her eyebrows furrowed.

"What's this? It's certainly not a dress, and it doesn't look like it covers much." She turned to Damon. "Is this what women wear now?"

"It's a tank top, which is basically a shirt without sleeves. It's meant for warm weather. Every woman wears them when it's hot outside."

"Oh." She set the tank top down and picked up the pair of shorts that was also setting on the sink. "And these?"

"Shorts. Also meant for when it's hot outside."

Marisol nodded. She glanced out at the bedroom, then back at Damon. "Can I get dressed now?"

"Right. Of course."

Damon turned and left the bathroom. A few minutes later, Marisol emerged. She was pulling at the bottoms of the shorts and kept trying to tug them farther down. Wearing them obviously made her uncomfortable. She found Damon sitting on his bed. He stood when he saw her step into the room from the corner of his eye. He was holding a pair of shoes.

"Here." He handed them over. "Put these on. There's somewhere I want to take you."

Damon walked over to the door as she quickly put the shoes on and then followed after him. She trailed closely behind him, peeking out from his shoulder warily. She was looking out for Stefan. Damon led her to the bottom of the stairs, where there were two dead girls carelessly discarded. Marisol gasped and took a step back.

"Are they dead?"

Damon nodded grimly. "Yeah. Yeah, they are."

"Did Stefan do this?"

"Yes, he did."

Marisol couldn't stop staring at the two girls. Her breathing had picked up and Damon could feel the panic radiating off of her. He acted fast and grabbed onto her face to redirect her attention.

"Hey, look at me. Don't look at them. Just close your eyes, okay? Close them."

Marisol did as she was told and closed her eyes tightly. In one swoop, Damon grabbed onto her thighs and hoisted her up into his arms. Her legs wrapped around his waist while her arms went around his shoulders.

"Hold on, alright? Don't let go."

When he was sure she was secure, he sped out of the house.

xxxx

"Where are we going? We've been walking a long time."

Damon was leading Marisol through the woods. He looked back at her to make sure she was okay.

"We're almost there. I promise."

"Okay."

A few minutes later, Alaric came into view. He was standing there with a target mannequin and a bag full of his weapons. He paused slightly when he saw Marisol, thinking it was Elowen. Josiah had told him what happened the night before, but he wasn't expecting to cross paths with her, at least not this soon.

"Mornin', Ric," Damon greeted casually as he approached him, as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Marisol stopped directly behind Damon and appeared to be hiding behind him.

"Who is this?" She asked quietly in Damon's ear. She recognized him from the night she saw Nik and the doppelganger, the night Stefan told her she was just a replacement. It was him and another woman. Alaric frowned. Something didn't seem right.

"This is Alaric," Damon answered patiently. "He's… he's Elowen's dad."

"I'm confused. Josiah said Elowen's father was dead."

"This is her other father."

"You can have more than one father?"

"In some cases, yes. This is one of those cases."

"Alright, what the hell is going on?" Alaric questioned after listening to whatever in the world they were talking about.

"Ric, I'd like you to meet Marisol." Damon stepped out of the way so Marisol couldn't hide anymore. She fidgeted, but managed to smile.

"Hi," she said meekly. "Elowen wants you to know that she missed you and to tell her mother that she's sorry."

Alaric cleared his throat. "You can talk to Elowen?"

Marisol nodded. "Sometimes. I can hear her thoughts if I concentrate hard enough. It's weird. I know she's there. I can feel her." She shrugged. "I don't really know how to describe it."

Alaric nodded his head slowly and looked at Damon. "Okay. Want to tell me why you texted me asking to bring all of this stuff and then bring along Elowen's… Marisol? And then bring along Marisol?"

"You need to teach her how to defend herself," Damon told him simply.

"What? Damon, she's a witch. She can defend herself."

"No, Elowen knows how to defend herself. Marisol doesn't."

Marisol simply blinked at this. She wasn't exactly sure what they were talking about.

"She had Elijah and Klaus protecting her her entire life. Look." Damon turned around to face Marisol. "Do you know how to do the spell that causes vampires' blood vessels to go pop? Elowen knows the one."

Marisol slowly shook her head. "I wasn't really allowed to use magic. Nik said it wasn't necessary to learn because I was going to die anyway."

Damon gestured to her and turned back to Alaric. "See?"

"Well, if she works with Josiah and Esmeralda, I'm sure they can teach her how," Alaric suggested.

"Yeah, there's only one little problem with that. Elowen doesn't want to see Esmeralda."

"What? Why?"

"She said that she can't face her mother after what she said to her," Marisol told him. "She thinks this is a good idea, though. Whatever you teach me, she'll remember. We're more connected now."

Alaric looked on the fence, so Marisol put on her best puppy dog face. Elowen told her to do it. Elowen was being rather vocal at the moment. Marisol thought it was interesting, considering she had been pretty silent prior to seeing Alaric. Alaric saw Marisol's face and grunted in defeat.

"Fine," he gave in. Marisol beamed as Ric bent over his bag of weapons and pulled two contraptions out. They were sleeves that went over your arm that had two stakes in them. He put one on his arm and handed the other to Marisol. She took it in her hands and mirrored Alaric. He suddenly punched the mannequin and deployed the two stakes. Marisol jumped slightly.

"So, the pressure of your punch ejects the stakes." He nodded at the mannequin. "Go ahead, try it."

Marisol walked in front of the mannequin, drew her hand back and punched. Nothing happened. She furrowed her eyebrows and tried again. Still, nothing happened.

"Is it broken?" She asked, turning back to Alaric. He shook his head.

"No, you're just not strong enough. You and Elowen will have to work on that, start lifting weights, put some meat on your bones."

"I don't know what that means."

"I'll help," Damon offered quickly before Marisol could get any more confused. "Don't worry."

Alaric went and grabbed something else out of his bag.

"This is a vervain grenade," he explained to Marisol when he showed it to her. She looked down at it cluelessly.

"What's vervain?"

Alaric and Damon shared a look. What did this girl know?

"Vervain is a vampire's weakness," Ric patiently said to her. "It can hurt them."

"And it hurts like a bitch," Damon commented. Marisol tilted her head and looked from the grenade to Damon.

"How do you know? Are you a vampire?"

"Yep."

"And Stefan?"

"Also a vampire."

She turned back to Ric. "Are you?"

Alaric shook his head. "No. I'm human."

"Oh."

Alaric changed the subject and held the grenade up. "The element of surprise is your only advantage when it comes to a vampire. Watch." He pulled the pin out of the grenade and tossed it to Damon. "Surprise."

Damon's eyes widened and he quickly threw it in the air where it exploded. "What the hell, Ric?"

"Hey, you're the one who wanted me to train her. I'm just teaching her the first lesson in Vampire 101."

Alaric's phone beeped and he took it out of his pocket to check it. Marisol eyed it curiously. She leaned over to Damon.

"What's that? Elowen had one, too." She reached into her own pocket and pulled her phone out. "She told me not to leave it at the house."

"It's a cellphone. You use it to talk to people. I'll teach you how to use it later."

Alaric looked up from his phone. "I've got to start getting ready for school. First day and all."

"School?" Marisol asked. "What's school? Does Elowen go?"

"School is a place you go to learn things," Alaric replied. "And yes, Elowen goes."

Marisol nodded. "Okay. I'll bring her back."

Alaric and Damon looked at each other as Marisol closed her eyes. There was a long pause before her body shuddered and her eyes opened. The first person Elowen saw was Alaric. She immediately dove forward and crashed into his arms.

"Hi, dad," she mumbled into his chest. Alaric froze for a moment in disbelief before his arms wrapped around her smaller form.

"Hey, kid. Long time no see."

Elowen pulled back when Damon loudly cleared his throat. Her eyes were already watery from seeing Alaric so when she faced Damon, she had to pause for a moment to blink the wetness away. They simply stared at each other before both moving at the same time in order to hug one another.

"You aren't going to compel a bunch of kids to jump off of a cliff this time, are you?" Damon asked as he rested his chin on top of her head.

"Please don't remind me I did that."

"You got it."

Elowen and Damon parted. She looked at Alaric.

"So. School?"

xxxx

Elowen got out of the car with Alaric. He had snuck into the house to grab her school things without Esmeralda, Eliana or Sydney seeing him while she waited out front, and now they had just pulled up to the school.

"How come mom went ahead and enrolled me when she knew I was gone?" Elowen asked as she walked around the front of the car to walk with Alaric.

"She did it in hopes that you would be back by the time school started," Alaric replied. "In a way, she was right."

As Alaric and Elowen walked towards the school, she spotted Caroline, Bonnie and Elena and immediately ducked behind him. Alaric looked to see what she saw and sighed.

"You can't hide from them forever."

"Coming back to school was a mistake." Elowen shook her head. "I'm just gonna walk back to the boarding house-"

"Hey." Alaric grabbed onto her wrist. "Elle, Klaus is gone. You can start reconnecting with them again. It's okay."

"What about when he comes back? Because he will come back, dad."

"Well, we'll cross that bridge when it comes, but for now, at least try to enjoy being back home."

Elowen didn't have time to do anything else, because Caroline noticed her from across the campus and made an immediate beeline for her. She engulfed her in a tight hug once she reached her. Bonnie and Elena slowly caught up with her.

"You're here," Caroline said as she pulled back. Elowen awkwardly cleared her throat.

"I'm here."

Alaric pointed towards the school. "I'm gonna go. I've got a class to prepare."

As Alaric left, Elowen pointed after him. "I should-"

"No, you're not going anywhere." Caroline took hold of Elowen's wrist. "At least let me have a moment with you. You were gone all summer."

"Yeah. I know."

"Okay, what's with you? We tried so hard to find you to bring you home and it's like you don't want to be here."

"I didn't need saving, Caroline. I'm not even supposed to be here. Stefan just has a terrible poker face."

Caroline's shoulders slumped. "So, you're not even the least bit happy to see me?"

"Of course I am, Care, but I'm not letting myself get attached. Klaus will eventually come back to Mystic Falls and when he does, I'm gone again. I think it's just better if we-"

"If we what? Pretend that we didn't use to be best friends? Look, it's senior year, Elle. This is supposed to be a huge milestone in our lives and I'm not gonna sit here and not let you experience it."

Elowen was silent for a minute. She glanced back at the school. "Isn't this supposed to feel slightly more empowering?"

A wide grin started to appear on Caroline's face. She knew she had her. "Look, I'll admit it. Prank night was a bust, but we are accepting it, and we are moving on."

"You're right," Bonnie spoke up from behind Caroline. "I mean, why should I let the fact that my boyfriend is seeing the ghost of his dead girlfriends hinder this experience?"

"And why should I let the fact that I'm just some human blood bag that can create hybrids put a damper on an otherwise fabulous day?" Elena added. The four of them had started walking towards the school doors when Elowen suddenly stopped. Caroline, Bonnie and Elena looked back at her in curiosity.

"Today's our anniversary," Elowen mumbled. "Technically, Stefan and I met on the first day of school last year."

Caroline grimaced. "Yeah. You win."

"Are you sure you want to be here?" Bonnie asked. Elowen shook her head.

"No, but I have to be. If I don't do something normal, my head is going to explode. Marisol is taking over my body faster and faster by the minute and my other best friend was forced to become a hybrid, with my help. If I stay holed up at the boarding house, I have to deal with Stefan in his ripper glory, and I can't go home because I said some really terrible things to my mom in Chicago. So, school it is."

Elowen took a deep breath, stood up straighter and started walking towards the school again. Caroline, Bonnie and Elena all looked at each other before following behind her.

xxxx

"Hey, the two brunettes on the staircase owe me a Persian rug," Damon said as he entered the boarding house. He had followed Elowen to school to make sure she was okay before taking his leave and remembered the two girls him and Marisol had found earlier that morning.

"You mean, they owe us a Persian rug?" Stefan lazily replied. "It's my house, too, brother. Ooh!" He held up the spinner used for twister, which is what he had the girls in the living room playing. "Would you like a spin?"

"So, this is what Klaus had in mind when he compelled you to protect Elena?"

"These ladies are helping me be all that I can be. Oh, and not to correct you, but he asked me to protect our girlfriend, too. Her entire family, actually. You know how he is about the Ramirez bloodline."

There was a knock at the door and Damon went to answer it. Rebekah pushed past him, holding various shopping bags and being trailed by Rudy.

"Where's Stefan?"

"Who the hell are you?" Damon asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"He left me here," Rebekah told Stefan when she spotted him, completely ignoring Damon. "My brother actually left me here, with this pesky little dog no less."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Your tone implies that I'm actually supposed to care," Stefan replied.

"You're Klaus's sister?" Damon asked as he closed the door. Rudy wagged his tail and ran over to Damon's feet. He looked down at the puppy in confusion. "What's with the puppy?"

Rebekah turned to Damon. "Rebekah. Pleasure, I'm sure. And the puppy, ask your girlfriend. She's the one who picked him up." She looked back at Stefan. "Which one's my room?"

Stefan rolled his eyes. "You're not staying here."

Rebekah stared at Stefan for a moment before glancing at Damon, who didn't say anything. "Rude. Both of you. I'll see to it myself."

She walked off towards the stairs. Stefan watched her and then shrugged.

"So, I guess she's staying here."

xxxx

Elowen's phone rang as she was opening up her locker. It was Damon.

"Hey," she answered. "Are you checking up on me? Because I'm fine."

"Oh, I have no doubt that you are, I'm just calling to tell you that maybe you shouldn't call the boarding house home base right now," Damon responded. "We have a new housemate. Barbie Klaus."

"Rebekah? She's living with you now? Why?"

"She's stranded. Apparently, Klaus left her in the dust after I name dropped Mikael." There was a faint bark in the background. "Oh, and by the way, please don't adopt anymore pets. Rudy is one clingy little bastard."

"At least he doesn't want to bite your hand off like Binx."

"What an upgrade," Damon sarcastically quipped. Elowen could practically hear the eye roll through the phone.

"Where else am I supposed to go, Damon? You know I don't want to see my mom."

"I don't know, try Blondie or your favorite mutt. Can I even still call him that, considering he's a hybrid now?"

"You're asking like you're gonna stop calling him that."

"Fair point. Look, for what it's worth, I'm sorry. I know you're having trouble adjusting to being back here."

"That's an understatement." Elowen sighed. "I should go. Class awaits."

"Good call. Love you."

Elowen paused. She wanted to say it back, she really did, but she knew that once Klaus came back, she was leaving again. She knew that if she let herself get too attached, it would be even harder to let him go when the time came. So, what came out instead was...

"Yeah, I know. Bye."

She hung up quickly, grabbed the books she needed out of her lock and closed it. As she walked down the hall, she saw Caroline putting a flyer on the wall that was for the bonfire that was happening later that night.

"I forgot about the bonfire," Elowen thought out loud as she stopped behind Caroline. She turned around at the sound of Elowen's voice.

"You have to go," Caroline said hastily. "It's our first spirit squad event, and it sets the bar for the whole year."

Elowen laughed. "Relax, Caroline. I'll be there."

Caroline sighed in relief. "Thank you. It's just that-"

Somebody came up behind Elowen and suddenly lifted her to spin her around. She squealed in surprise and turned around to find Toby smiling down at her.

"I can't believe you're here! Happy first day."

Elowen smiled back and was ready to reply when she saw a small red splotch on the collar of his shirt. "Is that blood?"

Caroline's eyes widened as she noticed it too. "Oh my god!"

Elowen grabbed Toby's arm and dragged him into the boy's bathroom. Caroline followed them in.

"What's going on?" Toby asked in confusion as Caroline went to check the stalls to make sure they were alone. Elowen crossed her arms.

"Vampire 101, Tobes: don't wear your breakfast to school!"

"Chill out," Toby responded as if there wasn't a problem. "It was just a blood bag."

"From where?"

"Rebekah hooked me up."

"Rebekah?" Caroline asked as she turned around. She had gotten some paper towels and wet them to get the blood out of Toby's shirt. "What are you even talking to her for?"

Toby shrugged. "Klaus told her to keep a watch on me and Tyler. Protect his two new assets."

"His what? Why are you amused by this?"

"I'm his first successful hybrid, you guys. Don't you think that's the tiniest bit awesome?"

"Oh, wow! I cannot believe you just said that."

Meanwhile, Elowen had taken the paper towels from Caroline and was dabbing them on Toby's shirt. She knew why he was saying these things. He was sired to Klaus. It wasn't clicking in his head on exactly what was coming out of his mouth. He genuinely didn't see anything wrong with what he was saying. Elowen finished getting the blood out of his shirt and threw the paper towels away.

"Next time, try not to be a messy eater," Elowen told him with a bite to her words. Toby blinked in confusion as her tone. What did he do? She turned and left the bathroom.

Out in the halls, she ran into someone and was getting ready to apologize when she saw it was Stefan. She stepped back in shock. Stefan smirked down at her.

"Hello, Elowen."

"What are you doing here?" She blurted.

"What do you mean? I'm going back to school. Go timberwolves!"

Elowen furrowed her eyebrows. "What? Why?"

"Klaus wants me to keep an eye on you and Elena. I'm just doing what I'm told."

Elowen clenched her teeth. "I'm going to be late for class."

She went to continue her way down the hall when Stefan roughly grabbed her by the arm.

"Oh, class is this way." He pointed in the opposite direction with a smile.

"Let go of me, Stefan."

"Elowen, do you think I want to be a senior for the 100th time? No. But, if I don't have a choice in the matter, then neither do you."

Elowen concentrated on Stefan's hand and sent a burst of energy in that direction. He hissed and drew his hand back. There was a large patch of frostbite covering his hand.

"Apparently, you didn't hear me. I believe I asked you to let go."

Stefan scowled deeply while Elowen kept her face neutral. She raised an eyebrow at him, daring him to make a move she knew he wouldn't make. Alaric came down the hall and sensed the tension.

"Everything okay here?" He asked. Stefan's eyes darted towards Ric and he took a step back.

"Just fine, Ric. Just fine."

xxxx

"What the hell is he doing here?" Alaric asked. He'd led Elowen to his classroom after Stefan left so he could talk to her.

"Klaus compelled him to watch over me and Elena. She's one of Klaus's assets now that her blood is the only way to create hybrids."

"And you?"

"I guess it's got something to do with why he took me with him in the first place."

"Marisol."

"Yeah."

"So, what, he's a bodyguard now?"

"I don't know what he is, but he's definitely not Stefan."

The bell rang and Elowen stepped away from Alaric's desk to go take a seat. Caroline sat next to her while Elena sat behind her. Toby walked in and took the other seat next to Elowen and smiled at her. She gave a small smile back. Stefan entered and stopped in front of Toby.

"You're in my seat," he told Toby, who only looked up at him.

"I don't believe I am," he replied. "Is your name on it?"

Stefan narrowed his eyes at Toby and then glanced at Elowen. He backed off and instead took the seat next to Elena.

They all chose to ignore Stefan and instead watched as Alaric wrote 'AP American History' on the chalkboard.

"Welcome back, seniors," Ric started his lecture. "Let's turn our brains back on, starting with this country's original founders. The Native Americans."

Rebekah entered the classroom and took a seat at a desk in the front. "What about the Vikings?"

Elowen, Caroline, Elena, Toby and even Tyler looked at her in surprise.

"There's no evidence that Viking explorers actually settled in the United States," Alaric responded. "Who are you?"

"My name's Rebekah. I'm new, and history's my favorite subject."

xxxx

Out on the field, Caroline was stretching for cheer practice while Elowen was across the way with the marching band. Tyler was there for football practice. Toby was, too, but he was watching Elowen from the bleachers.

"Has anybody seen Dana?" One of the cheerleaders asked. Rebekah arrived and started stretching as well.

"Sounds like you have an opening on the squad."

Caroline stopped stretching and walked over to Rebekah. "What are you doing?" Rebekah didn't answer. "Hey. Hey. You can't just come here and infiltrate all of our lives."

Finally, Rebekah stopped stretching to answer Caroline. "I'm only interested in yours. Your spunk, your popularity." She glanced at Toby on the bleachers. "Maybe even a boyfriend or two. That's what Elowen did, isn't it?"

Caroline crossed her arms. "Oh yeah? And who's boytoy number 2?"

Rebekah smirked and looked at Tyler in the corners of her eyes. Caroline followed her line of sight.

"I hate to break it to you, but maybe you should narrow it down to one," Caroline snapped.

"Where's the fun in that? Elowen gets to have two men worship at her alter. Why can't I?"

"Because Toby would never do that to her."

"Oh? Well, I'll have to change that."

Toby looked away from Elowen with a smile on his face and saw Caroline and Rebekah looking at him. Rebekah waved flirtatiously and Toby waved back to be polite. The flirty part went right over his head. He immediately went back to watching Elowen. Caroline smirked at Rebekah, whose face was slowly turning into a sneer.

"Told ya."

Over by the marching band, Elowen was counting out loud for the flute section because they went off beat. She had been put on clarinet for the time being, although she'd only get to play during games and concerts because she had been made drum major this year, which meant when it came to marching, she'd be leading in the front with a baton instead of playing an instrument.

"You guys got it now?" She asked the flautists when they were done with their portion of the song. They all nodded. She nodded as well and moved on. She was getting ready to approach the saxophone players when Stefan came up behind her.

"Look at you, being a leader. Hey, are you going to the bonfire tonight? Sounds like fun, right?"

Elowen rolled her eyes and went in the opposite direction. "Seriously, Stefan, leave me alone."

Stefan turned and followed her. "You think I'm annoying now? Wait till homecoming. Hey, who are you bringing, by the way? Toby? Because I don't want to be weird."

Elowen turned to face him and started walking backwards to say something when she suddenly tripped over someone's instrument case. The owner, a boy Elowen remembered was named Rory, who was in the year below her, came jogging over.

"Hey, I'm sorry," he apologized, helping her up to her feet. "I shouldn't have left it out in the open like that."

Stefan came over and shoved Rory down on his back. "Watch where you put your stuff, dick."

"Stefan!" Elowen yelled with wide eyes. Some of the other band kids looked over at the commotion. She quickly helped Rory up and off the ground. "Are you okay?"

Rory nodded his head, eyeing Stefan warily. "Yeah. Um, I'm gonna be over there."

Rory scurried off, leaving Elowen with Stefan. She turned to him angrily.

"What is your problem?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm just the guy who's been assigned to protect a pathetic clone of a dead witch. I mean, no offense or anything."

Elowen scoffed and walked off.

"What?" Stefan called after her as she left. "Was it something I said?"

xxxx

Elowen was lifting weights in a room. Elena was there, hiding out from Stefan. He'd bothered her earlier that day, too, and she didn't want to be alone. The door opened and Damon walked in. Elowen furrowed her eyebrows, but continued what she was doing.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

Damon shrugged. "Elena called me."

"Why?"

"Because Stefan called me a human blood bag today, Elowen," Elena replied. "He's a completely different person."

Damon came over and pressed down on the bar Elowen was lifting. She tried to lift it, but struggled as Damon was putting a lot of strength down on her.

"Mm!" Elowen groaned. "What are you doing?"

"Helping you out," Damon replied as if it were obvious.

"Damon!"

"Come on, Buffy!"

Elowen shot a small amount of magic at Damon, just enough to push him backwards and knock him off his feet. Elena gave a loud laugh. Damon groaned as he climbed back up.

"Not fair, Wen. Not fair."

"Neither was holding the bar down when you knew you're stronger than me."

"Touche."

Elowen placed the weights on the rack and sat up. "Seriously, though. Why'd you call him here?"

"Yes, oh warrior princess. Why am I standing here right now?"

Elena jumped down from the windowsill she'd been sitting on. "I want to lock Stefan up, at least until this Mikael guy comes, kills Klaus, and the compulsion breaks."

Elowen stood up. "I don't think that's your call to make."

"Yeah? And whose call is it? Yours?"

"Look, compulsion or not, Stefan's high on human blood," Damon stepped in before anything could escalate. "Okay? A lot of it."

Elena shrugged. "You've gotten him off of it before."

"This is different. It's not a stint in rehab, Elena. His humanity's gone. Light's out. No one's home."

"Besides, where are you gonna lock him up? Huh?" Elowen questioned. "Certainly not at the boarding house. Rebekah will just let him go."

"How can you be so sure?" Elena challenged, crossing her arms.

"Because she has a thing for him."

"So, we'll just distract her."

Elowen sighed deeply. She wasn't getting through to Elena and she wasn't going to try. "Okay. Suit yourself. Someone's gonna end up dead, and it most definitely will not be me."

"What? You're just gonna continue to let Stefan wreak havoc at school? You're not even gonna try and stop him?"

"What do you want me to say, Elena? I've spent all summer looking out for myself, not me and Stefan, just me, because Stefan is a big boy and he could take care of himself. You don't know what it's like to be scared every second of every day because Klaus could suddenly decide he doesn't need you anymore, and you clearly don't know what it's like to have to hide every single emotion possible because if you don't, they'll break you. And something I hope you'll never have to know how to handle is killing innocent people. I've lost count of the amount of people I had to get rid of this summer. So, yeah, excuse me for not caring what Stefan does."

Elowen collected her stuff and started walking towards the door.

"You're starting to sound a lot like Katherine."

Elowen stopped with her hand on the doorknob and turned back around to face Elena. "I'm starting to understand her a lot more now that I've been put in her shoes."

With that, Elowen turned the knob and left the room.

xxxx

Author's Note: From this chapter on, we get to see a lot more of Marisol, which I'm super excited about! I had a difficult time deciding how Damon was going to handle her before settling on what I did. It would make sense that he would be delicate with her since she's inside Elowen's body, and now that he's had Elowen's influence for about a year now, it would be in character for him to have softened up at least a little. I'm pretty confident in saying that I still portrayed him decently accurate, but changing a few things whenever he interacts with Marisol. Hope you enjoyed!

P.S: I'd really like your thoughts/reviews on this one, please!