Rhea had woken up to find she was no longer lying on the mattress. Instead, she had rolled off it in her fitful sleep and was bound tightly in the duvet cover like a burrito. She kicked wildly to free her legs before heading downstairs to see Bonnie and Elena who were in the living room eating cereal and watching a rerun of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Rhea poured herself a bowl of coco pops and sat down on the couch next to them.

"I love this episode," Rhea said as she watched Joey and Chandler traipse around London. The girls agreed and acknowledged her arrival before they lapsed into silence and became engrossed by the screen once again.

Rhea looked at her sister and Elena. She was glad to see them enjoying a regular morning after everything that had happened recently. She hated seeing Bonnie as she was last night. She wished Bonnie could have been left out of the events but was glad she knew about the existence of vampires. 'No more secrets.' Rhea vowed to herself. Well, no more once she told Bonnie about agreeing to help Damon open the tomb. A task which had just become exponentially more difficult. 'Thank you, Emily.' Rhea thought sarcastically. She'd have to dive back into the grimoire to see if there were a way around losing the crystal, but decided she'd think about it later as she focused on watching Phoebe try to help Rachel get over Ross.

Damon stood by the window and stared out at the garden. He couldn't shake Rhea out of his head, her blood had intoxicated him, and he was feeling the withdrawal symptoms. The thought of her was enough to get his fangs to extend. He was tempted to visit her just to catch her scent. He shook his head. She wouldn't want to see him. He'd done a number on her last night. She probably hated him and would explode his brains as soon as he set foot on her porch. He grimaced at the thought although it amused it. Ignoring his cravings and the turmoil of emotions that swirled beneath his humanity switch, he turned when he heard Stefan enter the room.

"So any idea of where you'll go?" Stefan asked as he walked toward his brother.

Damon shrugged, "I don't know. London, maybe. See some friends."

"You don't have any friends, Damon."

Damon smirked sardonically. "You're right, Stefan. I only have you." He began to walk towards him. "So, where are we goin'?"

Stefan looked at him, incredulously, "We are not going anywhere. I'm gonna live my life as far away from you as possible."

Damon smirked as he stood in front of him. "But we're a team! We could travel the world together. We could try out for "The Amazing Race"."

"Mmmm, that's funny. Seriously, where are you going? Because we are not staying in this town."

The doorbell rang before he got a chance to respond. Damon and Stefan glanced at the door, then back at each other. Stefan sighed and left the parlour to open the front door. Liz Forbes stood on the other side. Stefan tried to hide his confusion, obviously failing as Liz clarified.

"I'm here to see Damon."

"Uh, sure. Ok." Stefan said, stepping aside as Damon came to greet Liz.

"Sheriff. What a surprise."

Sheriff Forbes nodded, "Sorry to bother you, but we need to talk," she said with a meaningful look.

Damon faked a look of concern. "Come in," he said, tilting his head hinting for Stefan to leave. He opened the door widely to let her in. Liz walked in, and Damon followed after shutting the door behind her. He led the Sherriff to the back courtyard out of the eye line of Stefan.

"Um, I hope you understand the secrecy." He explained as they walked into the back garden. "Stefan doesn't know about this yet, and I'd like to keep it that way."

Sheriff Forbes nodded, "Of course, kids are too young to be brought into this."

"So, what do you need?"

Sheriff Forbes sighed. "There's been another attack. A female victim, her throat torn out, completely drained of blood. It fits the pattern."

Damon blinked slowly, "I-I'm sorry. I don't understand. I thought we solved that problem when I..." He glanced back and hushed his voice even though he knew Stefan could still hear him, "staked the blonde one."

"I'm thinking she must have turned someone. Or multiple someones. I don't know."

"The story for the town is another animal attack, but I'm not sure how long we can keep lying to them. The council is in an uproar. We thought we were past this."

"So, uh, what do we do?"

"You're the only one who's ever taken on a vampire. We were hoping you could tell us."

Rhea sat by the waterfall, her eyes closed as she focused on the water flowing down the rocks beside her. The magic hummed in the air around her as she drew in the energy. Peace. Rhea finally felt at peace. No thought of Damon or her possession crossed her mind as she immersed herself in the nature around her, sighing contently she opened her eyes feeling recharged and looked at Emily's grimoire which sat open on her lap.

She browsed the contents of the tomb spell, trying to decipher if there was a way to get around losing the crystal. She studied the list of instructions. Fire, water, earth were the only ingredients listed. Emily didn't mention the crystal. Could they do it without it? Rhea shut the book and gathered her things. She needed to go and see Grams.

As Rhea shut the door to her Grams house, she was startled by the sudden appearance of her Grams standing in front of her.

"Hello, I had a feeling you were coming to see me."

"Hi Grams, yeah, I have some questions regarding Emily's spell" Rhea clarified showing her Grams the grimoire as the pair headed to the living room.

"Thank you for stopping by," Damon said as he opened the door for the Sherrif to leave.

"Let me know what you come up with."

"Absolutely," Damon said as she leaves before shutting the door behind her. As the door closes, Stefan sped over to Damon and grabbed his shirt, pinning him to the door. Damon grunted as the impact hit him looking frustrated with his brother.

"What is wrong with you? You killed somebody?" Stefan accused.

"Get off of me," Damon said, pushing Stefan away. "A- don't touch me." he said holding up a finger, he began to walk away from Stefan, "B- if I had, I wouldn't have been so obvious about it." He turned back around to face Stefan who had followed him and was now face to face with him. "C...There's another vampire in town."

"That's impossible."

"Obviously not," Damon pointed out as he made his way to the parlour.

"Well then, who could it be?"

Damon sighed, "Ah, what do we care? We're leaving anyway, right?"

Stefan looked conflicted with his arms crossed and brow furrowed. "No, I can't leave now, and you know that. How are we supposed to find this person?"

Damon smirked a plan already forming in his head; hopefully, she would be willing to help him.

"Let the adults handle this, Stefan."

Feeling confident after speaking to her Grams, Rhea made her way to the Salvatore Boarding house. She approached the front door, but before she was able to knock or ring the bell, Damon opened the door.

"Oh good, you're here," Damon said, trying to hide his surprise. He opened the front door widely to let Rhea in. He found himself wanting to apologise for last night but refrained as he didn't do apologies and didn't know why he suddenly wanted to.

"Erm, yeah. You were expecting me?" Rhea asked, confused as she followed Damon inside. She had been anticipating a furious Damon who would refuse to speak with her.

"No, I was about to come to see you. Saved me a trip."

"Oh." Rhea said even more confused "Okay. What's up?"

"I need you to follow this compass and call me when it's finished leading you to wherever it's pointing to," Damon said pulling the Gilbert pocket watch out of his back pocket and rolling in between his fingers. Rhea held out her hand, and Damon placed the device on her palm.

"Why?" She asked, opening the watch and watching the dial in the middle spin wildly until it pointed to Damon. She could feel Emily's magic thrumming through the device. Rhea frowned thoughtfully. 'would Emily spell the Gilbert's pocket watch?'

"There's another vampire in town, and I interfere with the signal as does Stefan so ergo I need you to do it."

"Great, just what I needed. Sure, I'll track them down." Rhea said, beginning to head to her car.

"Wait, " she said, turning around. "I'll need your number so I can call once I found it."

"Oh, yeah." Damon agreed, taking Rhea's phone and began to input his digits. "There."

"Great, guess I'll be in touch soon, " she said before getting in her car and driving off leaving Damon to wallow in the lingering intoxicating mix of perfume and her blood she had left wafting in the air.

Rhea had followed the compass to a warehouse on the outskirts of town. The vampire was inside. She could sense them. She got out of her car and pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialled Damon's number, rolling her eyes at his contact name: The Eternal Stud.

"Hello?" Damon answered after two rings.

"I've found them," she said, "what do I do now?"

"Just wait. I'll be there in a minute."

"You can give me that," Damon said startling Rhea. She handed him back the pocket watch, and he put it in his jean pocket.

"Now what?" She asked.

"Now you go home, and I deal with the rest," Damon said, walking away from her towards the warehouse. Rhea stood there conflicted, she had a bad feeling about leaving him alone, but she had school to go to so resolved herself to get in her car and return to classes not hearing the rounds of gunshots fired moments after she had driven away.

Damon fell to his knees grunting as Logan continued to fire bullets at him. Blood soaked through his jeans and shirt as the pain radiated through his body.

"I have tons of these wood bullets, so nothing funky," Logan started walking toward him gun raised as he circled Damon who tried to sit up through the pain. He panted as he pushed himself upright ignoring the searing pain that flared with his movement. He put a hand under his shirt and tried to grip the bullet that had lodged itself by his collarbone.

"You don't wanna do this. Trust me." Damon said, sounding pained.

Logan shot Damon in the shoulder as if to prove a point causing Damon to scream in agony.

"That's what you get," Logan said, approaching him.

"For what?"

Logan crouched down in front of Damon, "You made me like this."

"I killed you. I didn't turn you." Damon said his voice hoarse as he successfully removed a bullet from his chest. Logan held up one of the wooden shots and examined it as Damon desperately tried to get out the others panting with the exertion.

Logan looked smug. "See, I know what you and your brother are. I've been watching the two of you. I knew you'd show up here and I'm glad you did because I have some questions."

Damon pried another bullet out, looking at his blood-soaked hands angrily as he threw the shell across the room.

"Me first. Who turned you?"

Logan remained crouching down, face close to Damon's. "How should I know? Last thing I remember is, I'm about to stake your brother and then you grabbed me." Logan stands up angrily. "That's it! Until I wake up in the ground behind a used car dealership on Highway 4. Somebody buried me."

"It happens," Damon replied flippantly forcing a bullet out of his leg. "Ow."

Logan looked unimpressed. "You bit me."

Damon ignored him and examined the wooden bullet he just extracted from his leg. "Damn it."

"It had to be you," Logan stated.

Damon looked up at him and looked him straight in the eye. "You have to have vampire blood in your system when you die. I didn't do that. Some other vampire found you, gave you their blood." Damon groaned and fell back on the floor, exhausted from the blood loss and pain he had endured.

"Who?"

"That's what I wanna know," Damon said, attempting to sit up again his face contorted with discomfort.

"Dude, it's not like the welcome wagon was waiting with a bundt cake and a handbook. It's been a learn as you go process." Logan was crouched in front of Damon again a wild look in his eyes as he waved the gun as he spoke. "You know, one minute, I'm a small town on the rise news guy and next thing I know, I can't get into my house, because my foot won't go through the door."

Damon sat up properly and pulled another bullet out of his arm. "You have to be invited in," Damon said breathlessly.

"I know. I live alone."

"Ah," Damon chuckled softly, "that sucks."

"So now, I am at the Ramada, watching pay per view all day, eating everything in sight, including housekeeping."

"It could be worse." Damon continued to remove the bullets each one getting more challenging to remove than the last as his body tried to give up on him.

"All I can think about is blood and killing people. I can't stop killing people. I keep killing" Logan said laughing maniacally still holding the gun with a crazed look in his eyes, "and I like it. I'm conflicted."

"Welcome to the club," Damon said sarcastically.

"Wait a minute. Cops only found one body."

Logan stood and looked down at Damon, "I left one. I was tired. But I've been hiding the rest of bodies. They're right back there." He said using the gun to point at the pile of bodies off to the side. Damon looked over.

"You're kidding," Damon muttered.

"They're just piling up!"

"Hey Damon, I haven't heard from you all day. I hope everything went well with the other vampire, please call me when you get this."

Rhea hung up the phone, that was the fourth time she had gotten his voicemail, and she was beginning to worry, it was almost nightfall. She sighed heavily and headed to her car. Maybe she should go to the warehouse and make sure everything is okay. She didn't like the feeling in her gut that hadn't left her since she arrived at the warehouse that afternoon. She started her engine and sped towards the warehouse, hoping her gut feeling was wrong.

"Why am I so overly emotional? All I can think about is my ex-girlfriend. I wanna be with her and bite her and stuff."

Damon thought about that remembering when he first turned, and for some reason, Rhea popped into his head at the mention of biting; he ignored that thought.

"Well, you probably love her. Anything you felt before will be magnified now. You're gonna have to learn how to control that."

"What about walking in the sun? I'm a morning person. You can walk in the sun which, by the way, is pretty cool."

Damon flexed his hand with the daylight ring on it and hid it with his other hand.

"The council will never suspect you. That's not in the journals."

Damon looked at him, his eyes narrowing. "The journals?"

"Yeah, the founding fathers, they passed down journals to their kids," Logan explained as if Damon was an idiot for not knowing. "Come on, man, you gotta tell me. How can you walk around in the sun?"

"Who turned you?"

"How do you walk in the sun?"

"Who turned you?"

"You know, I've been really nice so far, but I will kill you," Logan said, pointing the gun at Damon aimed for his heart.

"Then, you'll never know." Damon stood up. "You're not answering my question."

"You first!"

Damon smirked, "it seems we're at a bit of an impasse then, doesn't it?"

"I have things to do, people to kill. Guess I'll be needing a little head start."

Logan shot Damon a couple of times causing Damon to groan as collapsed to the floor leaving Logan to exit the warehouse.

Damon lay groaning on the concrete as his blood pooled around him. He dug out a bullet from his stomach, grimacing at the pain. He tried to reach the bullet that had lodged itself near his heart but couldn't remove it without feeling it scrape against his heart. Rhea rushed into the warehouse after witnessing Logan leaving after the firing of shots. She gasped at the sight of Damon's blood staining the ground.

"Oh god, Damon" Rhea said kneeling beside him not caring that the blood was now on her knees.

"Asinta Mulaf Hinto, Sho Bala," Rhea muttered taking away the physical pain. She hadn't mastered a healing spell so pulled the bullets out of Damon as quickly as she could and held his unconscious head in one hand as she magically sliced her wrist, she hissed at the pain before placing it near his mouth letting the blood drip onto his lips. His face changed as he caught the heavenly spicy smell of her blood, and he soon latched on taking deep gulps of her blood as she whispered reassurances to him, ignoring the pain in her arm. She struggled to pull away, and Damon struggled to let go. He couldn't get enough of the taste. A small whimper escaping her forced him to come to his senses and let her go opening his eyes. he looked at her gratefully before biting his wrist.

"It'll stop the bleeding." He explained when she looked at him, confused.

She reluctantly took his wrist and drank a couple of mouthfuls of his blood. The taste wasn't repulsive as she feared it might have been instead his blood kind of reminded her of bourbon. She watched in amazement as the cut healed. Damon stood abruptly and cleared his throat awkwardly before he began to exit the warehouse. She looked at him perplexed. 'What had happened there?' she wondered, confused by his sudden change in behaviour. She sighed before getting to her feet and following him to her car.

The pair drove back to the Salvatore Boarding House in silence as Damon mulled over the strange stirrings he felt as Rhea drank his blood. He didn't like how the witch kept pulling at his emotions, almost causing them to surface. As she parked, he got out of the car as quickly as he could and didn't bother to check if she was following him inside.

Rhea made her way inside and up the stairs to see Damon on the phone. Her heart lurched slightly at the sight of him shirtless. She shook her head. She knew he was attractive that wasn't new so why the sudden reaction. She didn't get a chance to think about it as he announced down the phone, "Logan Fell is a vampire, and when I find him again, I'm gonna destroy him limb by limb. No, I'm not okay. I was ambushed. I was shot, and now I'm vengeful. Just gotta find him." Damon grabbed a shirt and thankfully put it on before telling, Rhea assumed Stefan, that he would be right there.

He hung up the phone, "Come on, we have a vampire to catch." He said as he noticed Rhea standing in the doorway. She was thankful her skin tone didn't really show her blush as when he locked eyes with her; she felt her cheeks heat up. She ignored the feelings swirling within her and nodded mutely, leading them to her car.

"Where is he?" Damon demanded as he and Rhea found Stefan.

"He has Caroline," Stefan said his face grave as he watched Rhea's expression fall.

"What are we still doing here then? Let's go." Rhea said rushing out of the building. The brothers followed her.

"Rhea wait!" Stefan yelled, "We don't know where she is, and the two of us could find her more quickly than you can, no offence." He added as if that made it better.

Rhea looked at him, tears in her eyes. He did have a point. She nodded conceding as she made eye contact with Damon, who watched her with an inscrutable look.

"You should stay here and keep an eye on Bonnie and Elena in case he comes back, okay?" Stefan persuaded gently.

Rhea nodded and began to head back towards the school, trusting the brothers to bring Caroline back safely. They watched her walk away silently before speeding away to find Logan.

Logan stopped at an intersection as he continued to taunt the Sherriff on his phone. Suddenly, Stefan vamp sped at the car and pulled Logan out of the car, throwing him to the pavement. Logan groaned but recovered quickly getting up. He began to make his way towards Stefan angrily. He didn't get far before Damon came out of the woods, shooting a gun at Logan causing him to fall to the pavement again.

Damon smirked, "payback's a bitch, isn't it?" Damon turned to face Stefan and gestured to Caroline, "get her out of here."

Stefan nodded and moved around to the passenger's side to retrieve Caroline, who sat slumped bleeding from her head.

Damon could hear the faint sound of the Sherriff through Logan's phone. "Logan, what happened?! Logan?" He jogged over to the car and picked up the phone, "Sheriff, yeah, it's Damon."

"Where is Caroline?" Sheriff Forbes worriedly asked.

Damon watched concerned as Stefan breathed deeply to calm himself as the scent of Caroline's blood flooded his senses. He struggled to compose himself as the need to taste her was threatening to overwhelm him, but he gathered Caroline in his arms and sped away.

"She's ok. I'm on Elm Street." Damon reassured before hanging up the phone and opening Logan's trunk feeling pleased when he finds a tire iron lying there. He grabbed it and turned to face Logan, who was still groaning on the ground.

"Gonna try this one more time," Damon said as he mockingly swung the iron like a golf club, showing he would definitely hit Logan. "Who turned you?"

"I told you I don't know."

Damon examined the tire iron. "This tire iron here could take your head clean off." Damon held the iron as if it was a baseball bat and swung it slightly, "Is that your final answer?"

Logan looked at him venomously. "How can you side with them?"

Damon narrowed his eyes. "I don't side with anyone. You pissed me off. I want you dead. Who turned you?"

"I don't know!" logan shouted indignantly.

Damon shrugged, "Oh, well. You're screwed." Damon started to swing the tire iron towards Logan's head.

Logan tried to get up in a panic, holding up and arm to stop Damon. "Wait, wait! I do know."

Damon held his backswing as he stared down at Logan. "You're lying."

Logan started to stand, "you think you're the only one who wants to get in that tomb underneath the old church?"

"If you're lying to me, I will end you," Damon said, pointing the tire iron at Logan's chest.

"I am not lying. There is another way to break the spell. We can help you. Meet me at the old church."

Sirens began to fill the air as Damon contemplated Logan's offer.

Damon looked around and could see the lights coming towards them. "Take me down. Make it look real. Make it look real!" He said swinging the tire iron behind him again as if he was about to hit Logan. As the police cars pull up, Logan threw Damon against his vehicle and vamp sped off. Sheriff Forbes got out of her car and rushed over to Damon's side.

"Where is she?"

"She's ok. My brother's taken her home. I'm sorry, Sheriff. I just wasn't strong enough."

Damon was pacing around by the fireplace, preparing himself to meet Logan. His phone rang, and he answered.

"Hello."

"I just wanted to say thank you. I don't know how you did it," Sherriff Forbes said on the other end of the line.

Damon's brow furrowed, "um, not following."

"We found Logan's body up by the old Fell warehouse. He has been disposed of. He was hoarding victims, innocent victims."

"What?"

"This town owes you so much. So do I."

Liz quickly hung up, leaving Damon to stare at the fire completely and utterly shocked. Damon headed to the cart and grabbed a bottle of bourbon ready to pour a drink. He could hear a human in his home. The history teacher he noticed staring at him at the high school. Damon finished pouring his drink and turned around to look at Alaric who was standing behind him, holding a stake.

"Are you really this stupid?" He asked.

Alaric stared him down, not putting the stake away.

"Guess so," Damon said, taking a drink, he placed his glass down, and vamp-ran at Alaric, throwing him across the room. Alaric landed on the floor, heavily with a groan, but quickly got back up, ready to attack.

Damon looked at him, bored. "You gonna put down the stake?"

Alaric stayed silent and remained in an attacking stance.

"Wow," Damon said with a sarcastic raise of the eyebrows. "That's courage."

"Where's Isobel?" Alaric demanded as Damond began to walk toward him. "What have you done to my wife?"

Damon frowned, Isobel? Why did that name ring a bell?

"Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about," Alaric said, annoyed by Damon's confused expression.

Recognition flooded through him as he remembered the feisty brunette who accosted him while he was at Duke. Her pathetic whining to become a vampire rung in his ears as he faced her husband. Damon smirked mockingly.

"You want me to tell you I killed her? Would that make you happy? Because I think you know what happened."

"I saw you feeding on her."

"Yeah, I did. She was delicious."

Alaric rushed at Damon, holding the stake up pointed directly at Damon's heart. Damon utterly unphased by the attack hit Alaric in the stomach, causing Alaric to keel over falling back onto the floor.

Damon looked at him, unimpressed. "Oh, come on. What do you think happened? Not an inkling? Never considered the possibility?"

Alaric looked up at him from the ground.

"I turned her."

It was Alaric's turn to look confused. "Why?"

"She came to me. All pathetic, looking for vampires. There was something about her, something I liked. There was something special."

Alaric looked at him incredulously. "You turned her because you liked her?"

Damon scoffed. "No, I slept with her because I liked her. I turned her because she begged me to. Yeah. But you knew that, too, didn't you? Hmm. I guess she wasn't happy at home, wasn't happy with life in general, wasn't happy with you."

Alaric stood and sped at Damon again, but Damon grabbed the stake from Alaric's hands and stabbed him in the chest, puncturing his lung. Alaric yelled in pain.

"Ah, this is a shame," Damon said holding Alaric near him by the stake. Damon removed the stake from Alaric's chest. Alaric wheezed

Damon looked sympathetic. "sounds like I got a lung. Which means I get to sit here and watch you die," he said smugly as he tossed Alaric to the floor. Alaric gasped for air and placed his hand over his wound. Damon threw the stake down, grabbed his drink, and sat down on the sofa as he watched Alaric take one last breath before he died. Damon takes a swig from his glass as he looks at Alaric's dead body before grabbing his jacket and leaving the house.

Stefan arrived home feeling awful about telling Elena it was over and found Alaric's body lying in front of the fire blood staining his shirt and a stake lying next to him. Stefan collapsed on the couch. Why the hell had a history teacher come to kill Damon? Alaric gasped awake startling Stefan from his thoughts.

"What happened where am I?" Alaric asked sitting up rapidly.

"H-How are you alive?" Stefan asked. "Did Damon turn you?"

"No. I- I went for him and then he, uh- he stabbed me."

Stefan shook his head. "No, no, no. You must have vampire blood in your system. Somebody slipped it to you."

Alaric flexed his fingers and examined his ring, "no, it's uh, it's something else."

Stefan looked confused, "then how?"

"I-uh...Isobel." He said, rolling the ring around his finger as he remembered what Isobel said about it when she gave it to him, a ring to ward off demons.

"You ready to go home?" Rhea asked Elena as she returned from her chat with Stefan.

"No, but can you take me to the Salvatores, I need to see Stefan, he's wrong. I need to tell him he's wrong."

Rhea didn't question her, and the girls got in her car and headed toward the boarding house. Elena took a deep, steadying breath as Rhea pulled up in front of the building and began to get out the car.

"Call me if you need me, okay?" Rhea said before Elena shut the door.

Elena nodded and headed to the door, frowning when she sees Alaric exit the house as Elena entered. Rhea pulled out of the driveway and headed to the grill instead of going home. She had a feeling Elena would need her later.

She sat at the bar and ordered a coffee thanking the bartender when he gave it to her. She pulled out a book and began to read as she waited for her coffee to cool slightly.

"Bring me a bottle of your best bourbon" a familiar voice demanded from her left. She looked up and saw Damon sit beside her looking dishevelled.

"Fahrenheit 451" he commented as he noticed her presence.

"Yeah, it's good so far, what's up with you?" She asked, referring to his appearance and the obvious tension radiating off of him.

"The usual," He replied bluntly.

"Wow, forget I asked," she said, returning to her book as the bartender dropped off the bottle and a glass.

He poured himself a shot and downed it.

"I lost my last chance of getting Katherine from the tomb."

Rhea nodded and put her book down, "how?"

"someone killed Logan, who knew how to open the tomb."

"I thought you killed Logan?"

"I was going to until he said that he knew how to get into the tomb as others are wanting to do the same."

Rhea's heart dropped at the thought of more vampires being in town. "There are others?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't matter now 'cause I lost my connection to them, and now I will never get to see Katherine again," Damon said, taking another drink.

Rhea was about to tell Damon how she and her Gram's had found a way to do the spell without the crystal, but her phone ringing interrupted it. Elena's name appeared on the caller ID, and Rhea answered it immediately excusing herself.

"Hello."

"Rhea please can you come and get me?" A tearful Elena asked.

"Of course, I'll be there as soon as possible," Rhea said, hanging up the phone.

"I've gotta go," she said rushing out the door and leaving Damon with her book and coffee still sat beside him.

Rhea found Elena walking along the road in the direction of town and pulled over to let her in.

"Are you okay?" Rhea asked as Elena clambered in the car. "What happened?"

Elena sobbed as she told Rhea how she confronted Stefan and they had the most fantastic night until she found a picture of Katherine. Rhea feels her anger at Stefan rise; he never told her and didn't bother to hide the picture. Rhea took her eye off the road for a split second to glance at Elena, who was struggling to repress her sobs. She looked back at the road and saw a hooded figure in the way. The car suddenly flipped as she hit a hooded figure unable to avoid it. They screamed as the car flew through the air and rolled on to the roof. Rhea immediately fell unconscious as Elena struggled with her seatbelt. The hooded figure began to make its way toward the car the boots visible on the drivers' side. Elena's heart pounded loudly in her ears as she accepted she would die.

Damon heard the crash and smirked easy meal. As he approached the car, it looked very familiar. Rhea's car. He ripped the door off its hinges, revealing an unconscious Rhea and a tearful Elena.

"How ya doing in there?" He asked, looking at Rhea's unconscious form worried but quickly hid the expression before Elena could notice.

"Damon?" Elena asked relieved the other vampire had sped away.

"You look stuck," He said, trying to figure out how to get them both out safely. He moved around to the other side and pulled Elena's door off.

"My seatbelt" Elena explained pathetically.

"Let me get you out of there. I want you to put your hands on the roof," He said as Elena did as he said, "just like that."

"You ready? 1,2,3." He pulled her out and helped her to stand. He then crawled into the car and unclasped Rhea's seatbelt. Moving back to the driver's side he gently pulled her out too.

"I got you" He murmured into Rhea's hair before turning to Elena who was leaning against the car looking exhausted.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just take me home please."

Damon nodded and held Rhea in his arms bridal style as Elena insisted on walking back to his car. He placed Rhea gently in the passenger's side and drove them both into town glad Elena fell asleep not long after he started to drive.