Stefan and Elowen walked down the stairs at the boarding house. Klaus basically had told them to find vampires for Jeremy to kill or else he'd off them. They'd already learned by now to take Klaus seriously.

"Where have you two been?" Damon asked as he tried to block their way to the door.

"Ah, you know, out," Stefan replied as he walked around Damon. Elowen followed.

"Where are you going?"

"Well, I'm going to the Miss Mystic Falls pageant," Elowen responded as she reached the door. Damon looked at Stefan.

"And you?"

"Out," Stefan replied vaguely as Elowen pulled the front door open.

"I see shady Stefan is back. Please don't tell me that you're still working with Klaus."

Elowen sighed and closed the front door. "Don't worry about it, Damon. What do you want?"

Damon rolled his eyes. "Fine, don't tell me. I'll be quick. Apparently, if we want to find the cure, we have to find a vampire hunter who can kill enough vampires to reveal the map on the hunter's mark. Now, unless we want Jeremy to go all Connor 2.0, I suggest we find a different hunter."

Stefan shrugged. "Okay, and?"

"And, I was going to ask Professor Shane, but turns out he's shadier than you are. Matt Donovan connected him to the Pastor through phone records. Apparently, the two were very chatty the day that the Pastor blew up the council."

"Ah, so you're gonna confront Shane, threaten him, possibly kill him, that sort of thing."

Elowen bit her bottom lip. "You don't have to. There's another potential in town already."

Damon furrowed his eyebrows. "What?"

"Jeremy's got this new friend. Her name's Adriana. Matt said that she could see Connor's tattoo."

"Huh. I didn't realize hunter's could be women. It's called the Brotherhood, I'd assume for a reason."

"Maybe times have changed. I mean, the tattoo used to be visible to everyone, now only other hunters can see it."

"Maybe. I'm still gonna talk to Professor Shane. He might know something useful."

Elowen opened the front door again. "Good luck with that. Oh, and be nice with Adriana. She's probably scared out her mind with all of this being dropped on her."

Damon rolled his eyes. "Copy that, captain."

"I mean it, Damon."

"And I said I heard you."

"Whatever. Come on, Stefan."

Stefan turned and followed Elowen out of the house. Damon watched as the door closed behind them, leaving him by himself.

xxxx

Elowen approached Elena and Caroline, who were arranging flowers on one of the tables in the backyard of the Lockwood mansion.

"Alright, I'm here," she said when she reached them. "Assign me to work."

Caroline opened her mouth to answer when Professor Shane walked up to them.

"Excuse me, I'm a little lost. I'm here to interview contestants."

"Oh, Professor Shane," Elowen said. "We meet again. You seem to be popping up a lot recently."

Shane smiled politely at her. "Yeah, well, I'm only here because, in spite of being absurdly unqualified, I'm apparently awarding a scholarship."

"Uh, inside by the parlor," Caroline told him, nodding up at the house.

Shane pointed where she gestured to. "Right in here?"

Caroline nodded again. "Mm-hmm."

"Alright, I'll just follow the scent of hairspray and world domination."

Caroline laughed to herself as Shane walked off. Elena watched him go before turning to Elowen.

"Isn't he the one who told you how to break the hunter's curse?"

Elowen nodded. "Yeah."

"He's also the one that has Bonnie obsessed with practicing magic that she bailed on pageant prep." Caroline rolled her eyes.

"And now he's judging Miss Mystic Falls?" Elena asked. Elowen tilted her head and Caroline raised her eyebrows. "Jack of all trades or just creepy?"

Elsewhere on the ground, Matt, Jeremy and Adriana were taking boxes from the back of Matt's truck.

"So, I heard you're April's escort," Jeremy was saying to Matt. "Having to attend Miss Mystic Falls two years in a row? You must have great luck."

Matt rolled his eyes. "I only did it because she needed a date and you were taken." He looked over at Adriana, who blushed lightly and busied herself with the boxes. Matt moved to grab one of the kegs from the back of his truck, but it was too heavy. "Okay, let's just take these in and we'll come back for the kegs."

"No, wait. Want to see something cool?"

Jeremy hopped into the back of the truck and grabbed both kegs like they weighed nothing. He jumped out of the bed of the truck and set them down while Matt looked at him in surprise and slight worry.

"How did you just do that?" He asked.

Jeremy shrugged. "Ever since I was awoken as a hunter, I've had all this energy, like all the time."

"Jer, I think you need to talk to someone about this. I mean, look what happened to Connor, okay? A byproduct of this energy is that you're gonna want to kill vampires and you happen to live with one."

"Hey, I would never hurt my sister. I'll be fine."

Jeremy grabbed a cart and started to push it towards the house, leaving Matt and Adriana. Matt leaned over to her.

"Should I be worried?"

Adriana. "Maybe a little." She looked down at her hand, where the beginning of her tattoo was. "If I could get rid of this stupid thing, I would. You don't think I'll end up like that Connor guy, too, do you?"

Matt shook his head. "I don't know. I mean, you haven't killed any vampires, so maybe that means you haven't triggered it. You could be fine."

"'Could' is such a reassuring word." Adriana sighed and grabbed a cart. "Let's just finish this, okay?"

Caroline had broken away from Elowen and Elena and was now standing with a clipboard, directing people as needed. Three girls holding flower arrangements were about the pass her, and she stopped them.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop, stop! Those flowers go in the back as indicated by the floral chart that you had plenty of time to memorize."

The girls turned around and walked off.

"Yeah, thank you."

She looked down at her clipboard as Klaus walked up to her.

"Now, how did I know I'd find you at the helm of the ship?"

Caroline glanced at him and then went back to her clipboard. "Go away. I'm busy."

"I was wondering what time I should pick you up tomorrow."

Caroline looked away from her clipboard again. "How about a quarter to never?" She went back to what she was doing. Klaus walked closer to her.

"I was promised a date in return for one of my hybrids."

"Yes, a date, like to a movie where we don't have to talk and I can put at least three seats between us."

"Well, surely the reigning Miss Mystic Falls won't be hosting the party alone."

Caroline finally gave up at trying to ignore him and gave him her full attention.

"And I assume you're not taking Josiah, considering last time we spoke, you said you were having 'issues'."

Caroline grumbled. "Fine. If you insist on coming, meet me here. 2 pm." She started to walk away. "Black tie optional." She turned around and pointed a finger at him. "And I already have a dress, so don't even think of getting me so much as a corsage, you understand?"

Klaus smiled in amusement, but nodded his head. "I'll see you tomorrow, Caroline."

xxxx

The next morning, Elena, Caroline and Elowen were helping April Young pick out her dress for the pageant. She helped up two different dresses, one red and one blue.

"Blue," Elena, Caroline and Elowen said in unison.

"Really?" April asked timidly. "The blue seems a little safe."

"Safe is good when it comes to the judges," Elena explained.

"She's right," Caroline agreed. "Gracie Lockwood had a three foot slit her year and practically got laughed off the court."

Toby walked into the room and glanced at April. "If I were a judge, she's got my vote."

Caroline grabbed something and threw it at Toby. It hit him in the chest. "Ugh. Get out! No boys allowed. I don't care if you're Elena's boyfriend."

Toby rolled his eyes. "Do you know where Professor Shane is? Damon's looking for him and I'd prefer to have him off of my back."

"Check the judges table." Caroline tried to close the door on him, but Toby jammed his foot in the doorway to stop her.

"Hang on! I think it's only fair that I have an opinion on the dresses." He looked at April. "The red one. It'll go with your skintone."

Caroline crossed her arms. "We've already agreed that the red one is a bit too showy."

"I thought the whole point of this thing was to stand out?"

Caroline placed her hands on her hips. "Did you win Miss Mystic last year? No, I don't think you did."

Toby looked at Elowen. "Weren't you the runner up? What color did you wear?"

"Pink," Elowen replied. "Elena wore blue and Caroline wore green."

"So, nobody has given red a shot and blue clearly doesn't cut it. No offense, Elena."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Nobody cares what you think. You're not even an escort."

"I care," April piped up quietly.

"See? April cares." Toby looked at Elena. "Red, right, Elena?"

Caroline looked back at Elena expectantly. Elena glanced at April and shrugged.

"The red is pretty."

Caroline's face fell while Toby smiled triumphantly.

"And my work here is done."

He turned and left. Caroline looked back at Elena in disbelief.

"Uh, what happened to thirty seconds ago when you hated the red one? What happened to safe is good?"

Elena stared at Caroline for a moment before shaking her head. She turned back to April. "Whichever one you want to wear, April."

Elena walked past Elowen and Caroline and left the room. Caroline looked at Elowen.

"What just happened?"

xxxx

Professor Shane had just left Damon alone outside. He'd tried to get him to fess up to knowing the Pastor, and, to try and be the good guy, asked him how to find another hunter. Yeah, there was Jeremy's friend Adriana, but he knew Elowen would prefer him to leave her out of it. Since Shane gave him jack, he had no choice. Carol was up on the stage, starting the pageant, when he spotted Adriana standing by herself. Jeremy was nowhere to be found and since Matt was an escort, he was standing in his designated space. Veronica and Angel had come, but Veronica was too busy with Tyler (who Adriana was surprised she seeked out; she usually had one night stands and then bailed), and Angel had been whisked away by one of the contestants' older sisters. Damon approached her and stopped just behind her.

"I'm only gonna say this once and I'm going to say it nicely," he mumbled under his breath so only she could hear. "You're gonna come with me."

He felt Adriana freeze. She swallowed and didn't look behind her. She slowly nodded her head and Damon placed his hand on the small of her back and led her away from the crowd. Angel noticed from where he stood and a suspicious look crossed his face. He turned to the girl he was talking to.

"Excuse me."

Inside, Damon pushed Adriana into an empty room. She finally turned around, clearly scared, and took a few steps backward to put some distance between them. Damon rolled his eyes.

"I'm not gonna hurt you. You're Jeremy's friend, right?"

Adriana eyed Damon. "Maybe. What's it to you?"

"Look, I'm gonna cut to the chase. I know you're a potential hunter and I know that you know. The mark on your hand leads to something I need, but the problem is, nobody wants to involve Jeremy, so you're the next best thing."

"Why not involve Jeremy? Because you don't want Jeremy to turn crazy like that Connor guy?"

"Ding, ding, ding! Give the girl a prize."

"What makes you think that I want to become like him? What does this mark even lead to?"

"Yeah, I can't tell you that. Not unless you agree to help."

Adriana shook her head. "I don't know you and I don't owe you anything. I'm not helping you."

Damon sighed dramatically. "I was hoping we wouldn't have to do this the hard way."

The door to the room they were in opened and Angel came in. He looked at Damon and then at Adriana.

"Is everything okay in here?" He asked, casting Damon a hard look.

Adriana quickly nodded. "Yes, Angel. You should go. Please."

Damon looked at Angel as something formed in his head. "Who the hell are you?"

Angel walked closer to Damon in an attempt to intimidate him. "Her brother. Who the hell are you?"

Damon slowly smirked. "Damon Salvatore. Sorry about this."

Damon grabbed Angel, wrapped his arm around him in a headlock and bit into his wrist. He forced it against his mouth as Adriana screamed.

"What are you doing?! Let him go!"

"Gladly," Damon replied before snapping his neck.

"No!" Adriana screamed again, running forward and dropping to her knees to cradle Angel's head in her lap. She looked up at Damon with tears in her eyes. "What did you do?!"

"Gave you a motive to help me."

The door opened again and Elowen slipped in.

"I saw you walking off with Adriana and I honestly can't trust you not to-" She stopped when she saw the scene in front of her; Adriana crying over Angel's dead body. Her eyes widened. "Please tell me you didn't."

Damon shrugged. "Sorry, I kind of did."

"Damon! Are you insane?"

"What? She said she wouldn't help! I needed to give her a push!"

"By killing someone?"

"Don't worry, I didn't kill him. I fed him my blood."

"That's even worse! What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking, 'Hey, we need someone who's not Jeremy and we have someone else at our disposal! Why not use her?'."

"And you couldn't have done this nicely?"

"I did! At first. And then she said no."

"Do you even know who he was?"

"Of course I did. He's her brother, aka the best candidate to make her help us."

With a glare, Elowen got on her knees to get on Adriana's eye level, who was still crying. She placed a comforting hand on her shoulder to get her attention.

"Hey, listen to me. Your brother's not dead. Not exactly."

Adriana sniffled and looked up at her through her tears. "What do you mean? He snapped his neck."

Elowen sighed. "Jeremy told you the truth about everything, didn't he? You know about vampires?"

As Adriana's nod, Elowen continued.

"In order to become a vampire, you have to die with vampire blood in your system. Damon's a vampire, if you didn't figure that out already. He fed him his blood before he killed him."

Adriana had calmed down a little. She glanced up at Damon. "Are you saying that my brother's a vampire now?"

"Not exactly. When he wakes up, he'll be in transition. He'll have to make a choice: drink human blood and complete the transition, or die. Right now, we have to get your brother somewhere safe where nobody can find him. I know this is a lot to take in, and I'm sorry it happened this way." Elowen looked up at Damon. "Find Toby. Now."

With a nod, Damon left the room. Elowen turned her attention back to Adriana.

"What's his name?" She asked gently.

Adriana wiped at her tears. "Angel. His name's Angel."

"He's your brother?"

"Yeah."

"Older or younger?"

"Older. I'm the youngest of three. We're triplets." Adriana tore her eyes away from Angel and looked at Elowen. "Why did he do this? He said the hunter's mark leads to something he needs. What is it?"

Elowen sighed. "It leads to a cure."

"A cure for what?"

"Vampirism. We have a friend who needs it and the mark is the only way to find it."

"So, he turned my brother so I'd want the cure for him?"

"Yes. I'm sorry."

Adriana sniffled again. She'd stopped crying. "I'll help you. What do I have to do?"

"You have to activate your hunter gene. In order to do that, you have to kill a vampire."

Adriana nodded. "Okay. Okay." She forced out a laugh. "No big deal."

The door opened and Damon and Toby snuck back in. Toby took one look at Angel's lifeless body and hit Damon across the shoulder.

"Are you kidding me?! At Miss Mystic, with eyes all over the place?"

Damon rolled his eyes. "Oh, get over it, wolf boy. Just help us get him to your room."

Toby glared at Damon, but picked up Angel and hauled him over his shoulder. Adriana and Elowen both stood up.

"Make sure the coast is clear," Toby said to Elowen. She nodded, opened the door and peeked outside.

"It's clear."

Toby sped off with Angel in the blink of an eye, causing Adriana's eyes to widen and for her to take a step back.

"Wha-"

Elowen sighed. "I'll explain later. Let's get you cleaned up, okay?"

Adriana nodded numbly. Elowen wrapped her arm around her shoulders, glared at Damon, and led her out of the room towards Toby's bedroom.

xxxx

Caroline was outside, clearing the tables of empty champagne glasses. She smiled at the people sitting there before angrily stomping over to a bus boy standing nearby.

"Hey, why am I bussing your tables?" She slammed the glasses down on his tray. "I said no empty glasses."

As he walked away, Caroline strided over to the orchestra.

"Will you guys pick up the tempo?" She snapped her fingers. "This is a pageant, not a funeral."

She turned around and walked away, only to find Klaus walking towards her.

"And how am I doing?" He asked.

Caroline stopped and looked at him. "You're… perfect." Klaus smiled. "Just so beyond annoying. I can't even look at you."

Klaus looked over Caroline's shoulder and saw Tyler, Hayley, Alani and a blond girl he didn't recognize.

"Is she another one of Tyler's wolf friends?" Klaus asked curiously.

Caroline furrowed her eyebrows and turned around. "Oh, no. That's Veronica, Tyler's date. She's an out of towner."

"Was two girls not enough for him?"

"I suppose not."

"Your boyfriend is staring at us."

Caroline looked across the lawn and saw Josiah standing with Esmeralda, Eliana, Sydney, Storm, Zion, Artemis and Nicole. He had a glass in his hand that if he gripped any tighter, it would probably break. Caroline sighed.

"Tell me, what exactly are the 'issues' you're going through?"

Caroline crossed her arms. "He's jealous of you, okay? And insecure. He thinks I'm going to dump you for him because you're rich and impressive."

The truth was, there were no 'issues' between Caroline and Josiah. It was a ruse to try and distract Klaus from what Tyler, Hayley and Alani were doing right under his nose. It seemed to be working.

Klaus raised an eyebrow. "And are you?"

"No! God, no. I'd rather gouge my eyes out than go out with you."

"Yet you agreed to this date."

"To save my friend from killing herself. Don't flatter yourself."

Back across the lawn, Storm followed Josiah's line of sight and perked up in interest.

"Ooh, who's that?"

Josiah clenched his jaw. "That's Klaus."

"The guy who has a thing for your girl and the one who's like, a super powerful Original?"

"That's the one."

"Hmm. You didn't mention he was sexy."

Josiah took his eyes away from Caroline and Klaus to shoot Storm a look of disgust. "Ew."

"He's also British," Esmeralda informed her with a sip of her champagne.

Storm's eyes lit up. "Even better."

Back with Caroline and Klaus, Klaus laughed and smirked, having been listening in on Josiah's conversation with Storm. Caroline furrowed her eyebrows and glanced over at Klaus. He pointed over at Josiah and singled out Storm.

"Who's she?"

"That's Storm. She's like… Elowen and Josiah's aunt, kind of." She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Why?"

"Oh, just wondering who called me sexy."

Caroline hit Klaus's shoulder. "Don't eavesdrop! It's not nice."

Back with Storm, who was still eyeing Klaus, Eliana leaned towards her when Klaus pointed in their direction.

"I think he heard you."

Storm smirked. "Good."

Sydney shook her head. "God, you're so shameless."

"Oh, you know you love me."

"Yeah, and as your big sister, I'm going to have to advise you to steer clear of that one."

"Since when have I ever listened to you?"

"You should, since I warned you about your last relationship that ended up turning out horribly."

"Listen to your sister," Nicole cut in. "She's wise beyond her years. She's also been in a steady relationship since 1999. That means she knows a thing or two."

Storm rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, mom."

xxxx

Elowen hastily walked down the steps towards the courtyard where the pageant was about to start. She left Damon, Toby and Adriana upstairs with Angel. She could've stayed and just duplicated herself downstairs, but everything was happening so fast that she didn't think of it.

"Hey, have you seen Jeremy?" Elena asked her when she saw her. Elowen, still slightly frazzled, furrowed her eyebrows.

"Sorry, what?"

"Jeremy. He's not here."

Josiah walked over to them when he noticed Elena. Jeremy had told both him and Matt about how he had woken up in bed with a knife that he couldn't remember how it got there and his nightmares. He had a feeling Jeremy wouldn't fess up, so he would.

"Hey," he said when he reached them, but before he could get a word out, Elena turned on him.

"Please tell me you know where Jeremy is."

"What? No. Why, is he not here?"

"No. He totally bailed on his date. I think she got tired of waiting and just left."

Elowen grimaced. "Yeah, about that… we have a little problem."

Elena stopped looking around the lawn and faced Elowen with an uncertain look. "What kind of problem?"

"Damon… might've sort of did a thing."

Elena's face dropped. "What kind of thing?"

"Well… you know how Jeremy's friend, Adriana, was also a potential? Damon tried to ask her to help us so Jeremy didn't have to and she said no, so he…"

"He what, Elowen?"

"He fed her brother his blood and killed him so she would have no choice."

Elena and Josiah's eyes widened.

"He what?!"

"Shh!" Elowen looked around to make sure nobody heard Elena. "Can you be any louder?"

"Well, that adds another problem to our list," Josiah said, causing Elowen and Elena to look at him.

"You mean there's more?" Elena asked in exasperation.

"Jeremy's been having these nightmares."

Elena furrowed her eyebrows. "Nightmares? About what?"

"Killing you."

"Okay, we need to find Jeremy," Elowen stated. "Now."

Elena nodded. "I'll call him right now."

"I'll start asking around," Josiah offered, and Elena nodded again.

"I have to help Toby out with our little hunter problem," Elowen told Elena as Josiah walked off. "Tell me when you've found him."

"Yeah, I will. Go."

Elowen nodded and then rushed back towards the house.