"Welcome back," Damon said as Elowen entered the boarding house. "How was your little field trip to New Orleans with the big, bad wolf?"

Elowen frowned a little. "How did you even figure out that's where I was?"

"Katherine tipped us off."

Elowen raised her eyebrows. "Katherine?"

"Yep. She was a little too excited to announce that she successfully got Klaus out of Mystic Falls. What'd he want you for?"

"Mm, let's just say that he needed a partner in crime."

"Care to share the juicy details?"

"Nope. What happens in New Orleans, stays in New Orleans. So, what's the latest?"

"Well, wolf boy has Elena locked in a safe in the cellar. I taught him out to get inside Elena's head and he's been manipulating her memories for the past hour."

Veronica came around the corner with a cup of tea in her hands, Janus following closely behind her. She took a sip and settled herself onto the couch. Elowen walked further into the house and plopped down next to her.

"Welcome back," Elowen said. "When did you get home?"

"Last night," Veronica replied. "Hotlanta is as exciting as always."

"Where's Adriana and Angel?"

"Angel's off with your witch friend Bonnie, doing god knows what, and Adriana is up in her room. The idea of torturing Elena made her uncomfortable, so she's been staying away."

"And you?"

Veronica shrugged. "I didn't like Elena in the first place. Caroline's cool, though. Sorry we missed prom. Angel was actually really bummed he couldn't take Bonnie."

Elowen chuckled. "I think Bonnie really likes him."

"And I'm certain Angel really likes her back. No idea why he hasn't asked her out yet."

Stefan came up from the basement and saw Elowen.

"Ah, you're here. Have fun in New Orleans?"

Elowen thought about it for a moment. "I guess you could say that. It was… pretty eventful. Got to kill some people."

"I'm not sure if I should be impressed or worried that you said that so nonchalantly," Veronica commented. "Seriously, is this what my everyday life is going to look like from now on?"

"You're welcome to leave whenever you please," Damon said with an overly friendly smile.

Veronica rolled her eyes. "You're the reason I'm in this mess, so maybe you should back up a notch or two."

"And you only have permission to stay in my house because it's apparently the right thing to do, but just know if it were up to me-"

"You would've kicked us out the second we stopped being useful to you, yada yada yada. Yeah, I get it. Elowen has you by the balls so you do whatever she says, and right now, she says play nice, so you play nice. Be lucky it wasn't me you turned, because the first thing I would've done was rip your spleen out through your mouth. Unfortunately, my brother, the peacekeeper, is much nicer than I am. Be grateful."

"What, you think I'm afraid of you? I hate to break it to you, but think again."

Veronica opened her mouth to retort when Elowen cut in.

"Okay! How about we don't fight?"

Stefan looked down at a message on his phone. "Caroline's on her way. She said Bonnie asked Josiah for his help on something, so he's with her."

Elowen furrowed her eyebrows. "Bonnie asked for Josiah's help? With what?"

"No idea. Let's hope that whatever it is doesn't get him killed."

Veronica frowned. "Wait, what? What do you mean? My brother is out there with her right now. Should I be worried? Because if that bitch gets my brother in trouble-"

"Whoa, whoa!" Elowen held her hands out. "Slow down. Bonnie is smart. She wouldn't knowingly put people in danger. Angel will be fine."

"He better be."

"He will be."

"Good."

xxxx

Caroline stormed through the front door of the boarding house, looking around the place.

"Where is she? I wanna see her."

Stefan closed the front door behind her. "We're not letting anyone see her. That's the whole point. Isolation leads to misery, which leads to emotion."

"She's been here for days. She hasn't improved at all?"

Stefan sighed. "Look, she doesn't want to, Caroline, not yet. She's devastated. She lost her brother. She attacked her friend, she killed an innocent woman."

"You said that you knew how to help her."

From behind her, Damon rolled his eyes.

"And we do. Relax, Blondie. She's in good hands."

Caroline turned to face Damon and crossed her arms. "Oh, she is, is she? And what exactly are you doing to help? Torturing her?"

"It's not torture. It's an intervention. An intervention that I don't even want to be apart of."

"Then why are you here?"

"You know why."

"Look, the only chance we have with her is to provoke her," Stefan started to explain, walking over. "To trigger something. Fear, anger, self pity. Anything."

"Let me at least talk to her, before anymore interventioning. If she's weak, she can't hurt me. Please, just let me try."

Stefan looked back at Damon, who shrugged, then at Elowen, who did the same thing. He sighed.

"Fine. Come on."

xxxx

It turned out Caroline talking to Elena got nowhere. Caroline came back upstairs in a mood, heading for the front door.

"I need some air."

Elowen sighed and went after her. She couldn't try and talk to her about it, though, because Caroline already had her phone up to her ear.

"Bonnie!" She said into the line when the call connected. "Where have you been? I've left like, 90 million messages. I know you asked Josiah for his help on some mystery errand, but it seriously can't be that important."

"I'm studying Spanish, Caroline," Bonnie replied. "I thought that if anyone was going to help me study, it should be someone who knows the language. We still have final exams, remember?"

"Ugh, don't remind me. Look, this whole thing with Elena… it's about to get brutal, and I know that she's not your favorite person right but... but I could really use you over here."

"For what, moral support? Or so you can check up on me?"

"Moral support! And maybe just a tiny check in to make sure Silas isn't playing any more pesky little mind games with you."

"I'm fine, okay? Silas doesn't control me anymore, and I have Josiah and Angel to keep watch on me."

"Ooh. Sexy triplet is with you?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Don't start. I think I'll pass on the invite. Elena tried to kill me. I'm not quite ready to forgive and forget. I'm gonna call you later, okay? I gotta go."

Bonnie hung up. Caroline sighed and put her phone away. Elowen approached her.

"You all good?"

It took a minute for Caroline to reply. She eventually nodded.

"I'm fine. It's just… Elena brought up you know who."

Elowen crossed her arms. "You mean Klaus? Look, do you want my completely unbiased opinion?"

There was a pause where Elowen waited for Caroline to say no. She didn't.

"Josiah's my brother, and I love him, and I know you do, too, but… there's nothing wrong with admitting that you're attracted to Klaus. I think constantly denying it is making the situation worse. Sometimes the truth hurts, but sometimes you need to face it. When I first started realizing that I had feelings for Damon when I was still with Stefan, I felt like I was being a bad person. I didn't want to admit it for Stefan's sake, because I knew that it would hurt him, but in the end, I think I was hurting the both of us. Just… be true to yourself, okay? When the time comes, you'll know what to do."

"Thanks, Elle," Caroline replied quietly. "I love you, you know that?"

Elowen smiled. "Of course I know. I love you, too."

Caroline grinned back and walked over to hug Elowen. Elowen hugged her back.

"Come on. Let's get back inside."

"Actually, can we stay out here? It's a nice day, and I don't think I want to have a front row seat to whatever your boyfriends and Toby have in mind."

Elowen shrugged. "Alright, sounds good to me. Let's go sit down, then."

"Perfect."

xxxx

Bonnie, Josiah and Angel all sat at a table in a diner. Josiah leaned back in his seat and looked over at Bonnie.

"Why do you need my help again?" He asked. "You're stronger than I am now. You don't need me."

"Like I told you, if I anchor myself to someone who still uses spirit magic, it'll stop the expression from consuming me," Bonnie replied.

"And you're absolutely positive about this?"

Bonnie didn't answer. Josiah whined.

"Bonnie!"

"Okay, maybe I'm not 100% sure. It's more like… 70%."

"You're kidding me, right?"

"Look, just trust me! I know what I'm doing."

"Do you really, though?"

"Doesn't really explain what I'm doing here," Angel piped up. "Am I just like… the useless sidekick?"

Bonnie sighed. "No. I thought that maybe having a vampire bodyguard would come in handy."

Angel raised an eyebrow. "A newbie vampire bodyguard who's only been a vampire for, what? 6 months? I barely know what I'm doing. Besides, aren't you like, super powerful now? You don't need me."

"It's for reassurance."

"Okay, if you say so."

At that moment, Katherine took the seat across from them and picked up the menu sitting on the table. Angel widened his eyes slightly.

"Whoa. You weren't kidding about the lookalike thing."

Katherine smirked. "Who's your friend? He's yummy."

"Who he is doesn't matter," Bonnie spoke up. "This is between you and me."

"Alright, well, luckily for you, I've got some spare time on my hands. You said you have an offer that I can't refuse. Well, by all means, what do you have in mind?"

xxxx

Toby had brought Elena up from the cell and tied her to a chair just in front of the window, where the blinds were closed. Stefan was supposed to draw the blinds back every few minutes to try and garner some type of emotion out of Elena, while Damon was in charge of putting out any fires. Toby and Veronica were standing in the room, watching as Stefan and Damon set everything up. Damon set the fire extinguisher down next to Elena with a loud thud. It was enough to make her wake up. She groggily looked around the room before realizing she was tied down.

"Good, you're awake," Toby said, walking over. "Thought you could use a little sunshine."

Stefan pulled the curtains back a little, allowing a small ray of light creep towards Elena. She looked down at it before noticing her daylight ring was missing.

"Looking for this?"

Toby held up her ring. Elena tried to reach for it, but couldn't due to the ropes around her wrists. Toby pulled it away.

"Sorry, but I don't think you deserve nice things anymore."

Elena sighed loudly. "You took my ring. I'm devastated, and bored. Can I go back to solitary now?"

Toby pretended to contemplate this for a moment. He turned to Damon. "I don't know, can she?"

Damon shook his head. "No, I think she deserves a spot in the hot seat." He nodded at Stefan. "Whenever you're ready, brother."

Stefan reached out for the curtain. Elena scoffed.

"Am I supposed to be scared?"

"You will be," Stefan replied. "And when you are, focus on that fear. It's the key to getting your humanity back."

"You're not gonna burn me."

"You don't think so?" Damon asked.

"No, and even if you do manage to get my emotions back, I'll remember all this, and I'll hate you both for it."

Veronica rolled her eyes. "Oh, enough with the dramatics." She started walking over to the window. "Lucky for you, I don't like you, so I really have no problem if you hate me. It also means I have no problem doing this."

She grabbed the curtain and pulled it back before Stefan could stop her. The sunlight washed over Elena's hand and it started to burn. Elena screamed in pain and thrashed around in her chair, but to no avail.

"Alright, that's enough." Stefan grabbed the curtain from Veronica and closed it as Elena's hand burst into flames. Damon put out the fire with the extinguisher. Toby crouched in front of her.

"Bet that feels better, huh? How about a little gratitude towards Damon, or any human emotion whatsoever, and we can stop this."

Elena was still recovering and mumbled something under her breath. Toby tilted his head.

"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

"I said, I'm gonna kill you."

"Bingo!" Damon commented. "See? There's a little rage. I should've figured that'd be the first emotion that came out of you. I tend to pull that out of people."

"Hm," Veronica hummed. "Same."

Elena's eyes trained onto her. "What are you even doing here? You're useless and have no purpose. I mean, your brother is a powerful vampire and your sister is a retired vampire hunter. You? You're just a waste of space."

Veronica snorted, unbothered. "And you're not? Seriously, what was your importance in your little friend group? Elowen, her family and Bonnie are witches. Caroline's the epitome of being a vampire. Stefan and Damon's roles are obvious. Your boyfriend is a hybrid and Elowen's best friend, who, by the way, still isn't in love with you, and then there's you. You can't last 5 seconds without needing someone to save you. At least I don't walk around whining about my life and crying about how I can't take care of myself. Honestly, what have you done other than get your brother killed?"

Elena growled at her last sentence and struggled against the ropes again. Veronica smirked. She tilted her head.

"I also heard it was your fault your parents died. I mean, they were only on that bridge because they were picking you up from a party you ditched family night for, right? By that logic, you're the reason they're dead. You killed them. How could you do that to your dead brother? Take his parents away from him at such a young age? Oh, and let's not get started on your aunt-"

"I'm gonna rip your head off," Elena hissed through clenched teeth.

Veronica faux pouted. "Aw, I'd like to see you try."

Damon whistled. "God, you really are a downright bitch."

Veronica smiled. "Thank you. I take pride in my work."

"You know, I think we're breaking through that tough candy shell and getting into the ooey gooey rich center of your humanity, Elena. This is good. Veronica, would you do the honors?"

"Gladly."

Veronica grabbed onto the curtain and yanked it back.

Outside, Caroline, Elowen and Matt were talking. They all heard Elena's screams from inside and Caroline covered her ears.

"We have to keep talking. If we don't keep talking, then I won't be able to stop myself from listening in, and I can stand to hear Elena in pain."

They all walked over to the patio. Caroline sat down in one of the chairs and Elowen took the seat next to her. Matt leaned against the wall.

"Well, what do you want to talk about?" Matt asked.

"I don't know. Anything." She paused. "I ordered you a cap and gown."

"You did?" Matt asked, surprised.

"I just figured that you'd forget, so I ordered yours when I ordered mine… and I got one for Elena, too."

"My mom had to remind me to get mine," Elowen said. "I got one for Toby, too. I figured with everything going on with Elena, he wouldn't remember to order his."

They all heard the sound of a door opening and closing from across the way and looked over to see Rebekah inside the house through the window.

Caroline furrowed her eyebrows. "What the hell is she doing here?"

They all got up and went back inside the meet up with her. When they reached her, she was taking out a to-go box from a brown paper bag.

"Hi, I don't mean to interfere. It's just, I figured that even though the wonder triplets are living here, they probably still keep mainly blood and booze here, so I brought a peace offering. Burgers?"

Matt approached her and took the to-go box from her hands, smiling. "Thanks."

Caroline crossed her arms. "Yeah, we can't really entertain right now, but thanks for stopping by."

"I think I might stay," Rebekah said. "Matt mentioned that he was failing classes and needed a study buddy."

Caroline turned her wide eyes onto Matt. "You're failing? Wha- Why didn't you ask me to help you study?"

Elowen snorted. "I'm sure that even I wouldn't ask you to help me study."

Caroline turned and narrowed her eyes at Elowen, but didn't say anything.

"Look, I didn't exactly ask her," Matt explained.

"Well, what classes are you failing?"

"I'm not failing. I'm just… really, really behind… in history, and Italian, and math…"

"Matt!"

"This year's been a little distracting."

"We could both help," Rebekah suggested. "All hands on deck. That's the motto around here, right?"

"We don't have a motto." Caroline turned to Matt. "Look, if you need to study, we're gonna study. I'm gonna go home and I'm gonna get my flash cards, and my study guides, and some energy bars! This is gonna be good."

Caroline grinned widely and gave Matt two thumbs up, then turned to leave. Elowen shook her head with a sigh.

"You guys do this. I'm gonna go check on you know what."

Elowen turned and left the living room, leaving Matt and Rebekah by themselves.

xxxx

A waitress stopped by to refill everyone's coffee. Katherine was still seated across from Bonnie, Josiah and Angel.

"Okay, let me get this straight," Katherine said. "You want me to hand over Silas's tombstone? What makes you think I even have it?"

"I know you took it from the island," Bonnie replied. "You're a scavenger. You'd never leave it behind."

"So, you're working for Silas now, huh? Running errands for the big, bad immortal?" Katherine's eyes flickered to Josiah. "What does your sister think about this? Does she even know you're here?"

Josiah shook his head. "No, but we didn't switch sides. In two days, there'll be a full moon. Silas wants Bonnie to harness its power to drop the veil between our side and the other side. He wants to take the cure, and then he wants to die."

"I said I'd help him and I've been hiding from him ever since, buying time," Bonnie explained.

Katherine tilted her head. "Time for what?"

"You don't need to worry about it. You just need to bring me the tombstone."

"It's a hunk of rock. What do you even want with it?"

"The less you know, the better. Silas is psychic. He can get into people's heads, read their minds, make them see things that aren't really there. I'm taking a big enough risk involving these two, and an even bigger one just by talking to you."

"Okay then. How do I know that none of you aren't him?"

"You don't, but we're not."

"And what makes you so sure I'm not him?"

"Because he can't get into my head anymore, because I am the only one who can see his true face."

Katherine leaned back in her chair. "What's in it for me?"

"Bring me the tombstone, help me stop Stilas from unleashing hell on earth. Believe me, we'll make it worth your time."

xxxx

Elena yelled in pain as the sun continued to burn her skin. Veronica left the blinds open for a few seconds longer before letting them fall closed. Elowen was in the room now. She was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. She turned her head to address Veronica.

"You know, you seem to be enjoying this a tad too much."

Veronica shrugged. "Hm. As sadistic as it sounds, I've always wanted to see what it was like to torture someone."

"And how's that going for you?"

"Pretty good, actually."

Damon stared at Veronica for a moment. "Wow, I really turned the wrong triplet, didn't I?"

Elowen rolled her eyes. "You just want an evil best friend you can terrorize people with."

"There's nothing wrong with wanting a friend who shares equally dodgy morals."

Veronica thought this over for a second. "I wouldn't say my morals are dodgy. Just slightly skewed." She shrugged nonchalantly. "I have apathy issues."

"Ugh."

They all looked at Elena.

"Are you guys done? Your voices sound like nails being dragged across a chalkboard."

Toby sighed and walked over to Elena. "I'm trying to be nice here, I really am, but you're making this harder than it needs to be. Once you turn it back on, you'll realize how much life with no emotions really sucked."

"You know what else sucked? Being sired to you, going everyday believing that I was in love with you. I remember every horrible moment of it, and you, you aren't even in love with me, so why are you so hellbent on getting me to turn my emotions back on? To see that maybe my love for you might've been real, so you have a justified reason for moving on from Elowen? Well, guess what? It wasn't, so go ahead, keep trying to get the old me back. You'll have to realize that nobody loves you the hard way."

Veronica tilted her head. "I dunno, maybe I might take a chance on him. I mean, we already know he's got a thing for Latina's. All I've gotta do is bat my eyelashes a few times."

Elena scowled. Suddenly, she broke free of the ropes that were holding her down, which had weakened from being burned so many times, and sped at Veronica. She grabbed her by the throat and started choking her, but before anyone could react, Veronica ripped open the curtains, completely enveloping Elena in sunlight. She dropped Veronica and immediately burst into flames, screaming in pain. As Veronica fell to the ground, coughing violently, Toby rushed over and pulled Elena away from the window. Stefan came over with the fire extinguisher to put her out quickly while Elowen went over to check on Veronica.

"I'm fine," Veronica wheezed. "I'm fine."

Elowen helped her up to her feet. "Come on. Let's get you out of here."

xxxx

"So, that went well," Toby said as him, Stefan and Damon all walked out onto the front lawn. Damon was holding a bottle of bourbon in his hand and he took a swig.

"Every other vampire turns it on, no problem," Damon started to say. "You kill, you feed, you do all the awful things that a vampire does, and then when you're done, you turn it back on! Elena is being so damn stubborn. I say she's a lost cause, but none of you are going to let me throw in the towel."

Stefan sighed. "Look, she has nothing to come back to. Her home's gone, her family's gone, she alienated her friends, she destroyed her relationships-"

Toby shook his head. "No, she wants to come back. Scaring the hell out of her should've worked. She's smart. She knows we're not really gonna hurt her. Veronica might if we give her the green light, but what can she do other than say stuff to piss her off? She might enjoy pulling back a curtain a few inches, but given the chance, I doubt she'd do any real damage."

"Alright, so we get somebody else. Somebody who really will hurt her."

"Who?"

Stefan didn't reply. The answer seemed obvious. Damon picked up on it first.

"Katherine?"

Stefan nodded. "Think about it. She's the reason Jeremy's dead, right? So, if anybody's gonna provoke an emotion, it's her."

"So, we call her and then what? Beg her to help us out of the kindness of her own heart? Are you kidding me?"

"No, no, Stefan's right," Toby agreed. "Katherine hates Elena with every fiber in her body. She's done nothing but want to rip her head off since she got to Mystic Falls. We invite her over and let her have her way with Elena? There's no way she's gonna turn that down."

Stefan nodded again. "Yeah, and Katherine was just abandoned by Elijah. She has nothing. She has no one. Imagine all the pent up anger a person can have after that. She'll come. I know she will."

xxxx

Author's Note: Someone in the reviews of last chapter was wondering if I would consider writing a spinoff series where Elowen goes off to TO/New Orleans and I gotta be honest, I considered it but that would be starting another big project and I unfortunately don't think I have that time for that. We can only imagine I suppose. Hope you liked this one!