From an armchair, Caroline dabbed at her eyes as the credits for The Notebook began. Bonnie and I shared the sofa while Elena sat cross-legged on the floor between us. Turning off the player, Elena leaned her head back into the cushion. "What do you guys want to do now?"

Silence reigned for all of thirty seconds before Caroline broke it. "Let's do something… witchy."

"Something witchy?" Bonnie plucked a piece of leftover popcorn from the serving bowl and tossed it at Caroline.

Caroline barely glanced at it before catching it. Bonnie muttered a, "no fair," as Caroline leaned over her chair's armrest. "Yeah. Something like The Craft."

Bonnie served her one of her flattest looks. "Magic isn't like that."

"Oh, come on. You can't even change hair color?"

Bonnie's nose crinkled. "Maybe?"

"We're not doing a magic makeover, Caroline," Elena said.

Caroline pouted. "C'mon, you guys. We have a witch with magical powers. We have to do some kind of—spell or something!"

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Magic isn't a toy."

Eyes widening, Caroline ignored Bonnie's admonishment. Instead, she sat up straight and said, "I know! We'll do that spell that's supposed to show you who you're destined for."

"Like your soulmate?" Elena asked.

Caroline's answering nod was an enthusiastic bounce of blonde curls.

"There's no spell like that," Bonnie said.

"Yes, there is." Caroline grinned. "I've done it before. It didn't work, obviously—"

"Obviously," Elena drawled.

Caroline shushed her with a look. "—but that's because I didn't have Bonnie." Treated to a pair of skeptical stares, Caroline turned to me. "Come on." She stood up and tossed her hair back. "Unless someone else has a better idea."

With a shared glance we realized that no one did. "Fine." Bonnie leaned forward and set the bowl onto the coffee table. "Do we need anything?"

"A bowl of water for each of us, a lock of hair to burn, and a ring."

Bonnie's brows rose. "That's… not a bad list."

Caroline's grin widened. "See!"

Bonnie's lips pressed together before she stood up. "Still no guarantee it'll work," Bonnie warned as she extended a hand towards Elena. As soon as Elena took hold, she helped pull her back up to her feet.

We trooped across the hall into the dining room. Elena went on to the kitchen, grabbing a stack of bowls from her cupboard. Bonnie opened a drawer to grab a pair of scissors while Caroline and I got out the candles.

After filling the bowls with water and setting them on the table, Elena looked at the candles as I lit them and frowned. "I hope the whole room doesn't end up stinking of burnt hair."

"We'll open a window," Caroline said, arranging the bowls just so.

Bonnie looked around at each of us. "You guys realize this is probably just some old superstition."

"C'mon, Bon," Elena entreated, taking a seat. "What's the worst that could happen."

"Don't say something like that," I admonished before sitting.

Bonnie blew out a breath before lifting her hands. "Fine. I'll try."

An excited, "Thank you," came from a bouncing Caroline before she slid into her seat.

Bonnie shook her head but held her hands out over the water. "What's the spell?"

Everyone looked expectantly at Caroline. Her brows scrunched together in thought. "There isn't one. Just—cutting the hair, burning the hair, and dropping it into the bowl with the ring in it." At her words, she slipped a ring off her finger and dropped it into her bowl with a plink.

Elena, Bonnie, and I exchanged glances before following suit. Meanwhile, Caroline snipped a lock of hair and passed the scissors off to Elena.

I was the last to get the scissors. I picked a small bit of hair from the back and cut it free. Smoothing out the rest, I held the lock at the ready.

Bonnie's brow quirked, but she closed her eyes and held her hands out above the table. At first, I wondered if she was playing along, but then noticed her forehead was crinkled as she whispered under her breath.

After several minutes, her eyes opened and her hand fell to the brown lock of hair on the table. "Okay."

Caroline blew an excited breath before sticking her hair into the candleflame and quickly dropping it into the water. She stared into the bowl with crazy intensity.

With a mental shrug, Elena, Bonnie, and I followed suit. I had just dropped my flaming hair into the bowl when Caroline gasped out, "Oh my god! It worked!"

"No way," Bonnie uttered, sounding amazed as she peered into the water.

Elena wore a huge grin as she leaned over her bowl.

It took a moment for my brain to process the rippling reflection, as if he were the one staring into a bowl in the middle of Elena's dining room. The face was a familiar one. The handsomest one I'd ever laid eyes on. Intense light blue eyes that could be mistaken as silver in the right light beneath thick black brows. Strong, shapely jaw, straight nose, full lips.

All connected to a man who still gave me nightmares. No. Not a man. A vampire.

Damon Salvatore.

Paling, I jerked back in my seat.

"I don't recognize him," Caroline lamented, before adding, "But he's hot."

"I don't think I've met mine, either," Bonnie said.

"Is he hot?"

"Yes, Caroline." But Bonnie wore a small crooked smile despite the exasperation in her voice.

Caroline folded her arms as she caught sight of Elena across from her. "Oh my god. Let me guess."

"Stefan," Elena confirmed, practically glowing with happiness.

While Bonnie and Caroline smiled with her, I pushed my bowl away. Of course, this drew their gazes. "Well?" Caroline asked.

"Don't know," I lied softly.

Elena sent a sympathetic look my way. "I'm sure you'll meet him someday."

I blinked, summoning a weak smile of my own. "Yeah."

"Is he cute?" Caroline asked.

"Caroline," Bonnie sighed.

"What?" Caroline demanded before arching her brows at you. "Well?"

"Yeah." I swallowed.

While the others started excitedly talking about the mysterious faces Caroline and Bonnie had seen, I slid further down my seat, slightly queasy.

I'd never really cared for Damon. He'd struck me as full of himself and way too suspect for dating Caroline who'd been sixteen at the time. When I discovered he'd been abusing her after they'd broken up, I'd detested him for how he'd treated one of my best friends.

Then I found out he was a vampire who'd gone around killing people for over a century. And I discovered that fact shortly before he'd threatened to kill me if I didn't help him hack into the computers of the people who turned out to be Elena's birth parents. Ever since, anytime he needed information he couldn't compel for himself he'd inevitably turn up with a quip and a threat.

Though, admittedly, the threats came off as more routine lately.

Either way, I still had nightmares of Damon making good on those threats. He frightened me.

How the hell was he supposed to be my soulmate?

By the time we settled down to go to sleep, I was still wide awake with the question. Eventually I decided the spell had to be wrong. I'd used a mood ring. My bowl had a chip. I hadn't burned my hair enough. It fell in counterclockwise or something. I decided to forget the whole thing as a fluke.

It was almost sunrise by the time I managed to fall into an uneasy sleep.

Over the next few days I barely saw anyone, not even at school. Supernatural shenanigans were afoot. This time, no one needed a computer whiz. It was quiet as Elena and everyone else dealt with matters without me. It gave me time to put the whole spell business behind me.

By the time the preparation for the masquerade ball came around, I'd mostly stopped freaking out about it.

And then I saw him.

He and Stefan were outside, Damon pacing back and forth as the two talked. He looked… irritated.

I bolted in the other direction.

I felt ridiculous as I scurried away. For the thousandth time, I assured myself the spell was a fluke. Besides, it wasn't like I needed a reason to avoid Damon.

Once I'd rounded one of the Lockwood mansion's many flowerbeds, I felt confident I'd gotten away. A glance over my shoulder revealed the spot where the two had been talking was empty.

I turned around and nearly crashed into Damon's chest. I stopped and stumbled back so fast I almost fell.

"Where you off to?" He was squinting down through the sunshine, pinning me in place with his stare.

I straightened up and took a steadying breath. "Just—looking for Mrs. Lockwood." Nervous, I added, "I finished the task she gave me and—"

"Mhm," an uninterested Damon interrupted before folding his arms. "Forget the ball. We're going to need your little talents."

I knew better than to protest. "What do you want me to hack into this time?"

His lips thinned into a tense smile. "Katherine's phone. I want to know where she's been, who she's been calling, who they've been calling."

Okay. That wasn't stalker-y at all. I was kind of confused. Last I'd heard, Damon had tried to kiss Elena. Everyone was saying how he was in love with her, despite the fact she was in love with Stefan.

I wasn't even sure someone as selfish as Damon was capable of love.

"Go get your stuff and meet me at the boarding house," he ordered.

Meet him? Alone? I was so unnerved at the prospect I didn't feel the usual irritation that came with one of Damon's demands. "Is… anyone else going to be there."

"Oh, yeah." The smile he gave me was the one that haunted my nightmares. "You, me, and a certain werewolf." With that, he walked off.

I turned to watch him go, brows furrowed. Soon as he was out of sight, my shoulders dropped as I sighed.

I stopped to let Tyler know I was leaving—I told him to study, which of course he didn't question. I drove back to my small two-bedroom house to grab my laptop, a few extra drives and usb sticks. By the time I arrived at the Salvatore's, I was unsurprised to see Mason Lockwood's truck parked outside.

I grabbed all my equipment from the passenger seat and followed the drive around to the covered entrance. Hugging my laptop to my chest, I gazed up at the front door of the Salvatore Boarding House and blew out a long breath. "Okay," I whispered. "It's no big deal. Just another electronic crime."

This was not helping.

Shaking my head and drawing in another deep, hopefully relaxing breath (it wasn't), I moved to grab the bell.

Of course the door chose that moment to open. And of course Damon was on the other side.

"'Bout time." One side of his lips slid up into an all-too familiar smirk. "Or are you not done with your little pep talk."

I spun about on the ball of my foot and—

Damon was there before I could take a step. "Ah ah." His stare intensified, until I felt trapped beneath it. "I need those records."

His hand fell on my shoulder. I stiffened. He seemed not to notice—or more likely care—as he guided me inside the boarding house and down the hallway. "Do you have her phone?"

"No." He steered me into a room a lot more modest in size compared to the rest of the house. One that sported a desk and computer, complete with printer.

"How am I supposed to—" I cut myself off with an irritated breath. "Never mind. I'll try the phone company."

"Great idea." Damon finally let go of my shoulder and moved back to the door. "Let me know when you have something." He closed the door behind him, shutting me in.

I hurried to set my laptop up at the desk, wondering who it belonged to. Before long, I was connected to the wifi and tunneling into various VPNs to conceal my address.

I was about to start poking around the first of the major cellphone carriers when the screaming began.

Startling, I stared at the door, horrified by the noises. I thought for a moment of leaving—but realized Damon expected me to finish this. It would be a good idea not to risk pissing him off. Another yell punctuated the point.

Hands trembling, I reached into my purse and pulled out my iPod.

An hour later, the screaming hadn't let up.

I had my earbuds in and my iPod turned all the way up, and I could still hear Mason. Rocking back and forth, palm pressed into my forehead, I gritted my teeth as another tortured cry cut through my playlist.

Forcing my hand down, I stared at the messages scrolling down the command line. Port numbers and networking information made up the bulk of the information. The program I'd created did most of the work as it sniffed around the target, seeking unguarded ways in. Anyone could've run it, really, but they always came to me.

I dug my fingers into my temples and rubbed, willing my computer to find its door.

How could Damon, verifiable psycho, be my destined soul mate?

"C'mon," I muttered as another scream rang out.

It was another twenty excruciating minutes—especially for Mason—before the computer finally found a way inside the network. "Yes," I cheered, a rush of pleasure burying my anxiety for a moment. This feeling was why I, an otherwise squeaky-clean A student who wouldn't even go a mile over the speed limit, had played around with more… illegal… activities. Even before getting involved with supernatural shenanigans. It was hard to resist the rush that came with the proof of how awesome I was. And then poking around where I wasn't supposed to, seeing all the things major companies or government departments wanted to keep hidden—it was addictive.

Right now I pulled Katherine's cell phone records from their archives. Everything from the numbers she'd called and that had called her (and cross referencing them) to the GPS locations during those calls. An embarrassment of riches on the vampire's recent movements.

I wasn't surprised that one of the numbers was connected to Mason Lockwood's cellphone. I ran a search on his phone, too, in case more people were involved.

All in all, I was quickly filling up my drive with a ton of call logs and billing information as Katherine's web of contacts just kept growing. I supposed someone who'd been around as long as she had was bound to have quite the rolodex. To narrow things down, I started building a database to query through the records for more useful bits of information.

Thanks to another script, it wasn't long before the downloaded info was being transferred into it. I started searching for people Katherine was calling most frequently since she'd come to Mystic Falls.

By the time I had a good sized, cross-referenced list, I felt ready to hand the preliminary data over to Damon to do—whatever he wanted to do with it. Connecting to their printer, I started printing off the summary—all twenty pages of it.

Grabbing the finished pile, I left my laptop running to finish pulling the rest of the information from the phone company and left the office. However, the closer I got to the library, and the muffled noises of pain emanating from within, the more the momentary fog brought on by my triumph lifted. I slowed, biting my lip in indecision. I was pretty sure I wanted nothing to do with whatever was going on in there.

But maybe something I'd found would make all this torture unnecessary. Squaring my shoulders, I marched forward and through the library's doors.

And immediately regretted my decision.

Mason was chained to a tall wooden chair, shirt covered in bloody holes. He was straining against the chains, head thrown back and neck so tense I could see his veins pulsing as he screamed. Damon stood over him, fireplace poker in hand. The other end was shoved into Mason's chest.

The room smelt terrible, like sweat and burnt ham.

Damon pulled the hot poker out of Mason's chest and straightened up. His brows rose as he turned to me. "Found something?"

My sights kept jumping to Mason's own pleading, pain-filled eyes. Apparently, I took too long to answer, because Damon walked over and buried the end of the poker back into the fireplace. He snapped his fingers in front of my face, making me jump. "Eyes on me."

The last thing I wanted to do was look at the handsome vampire that was apparently unbothered with shoving pokers into people. Bile climbed my throat, but I swallowed it back before silently holding out the pages.

Damon plucked them from my hands, throwing a smirk over his shoulder at a panting, red-faced Mason. "Let's see what Mystic Fall's little wonderkin managed to dig up." He scanned the page, flipping to the next one quickly as he took in the information presented. "Well. Hasn't Katherine been a busy little beaver. Lots of calls." He paused to before adding pointedly to the man tied to the chair, "Lots of guys."

Mason shook his head.

"Denial." Damon continued flipping through. He paused halfway through. "You, however, are much more pathetic. Katherine. Katherine. Katherine. Ooh, here's one. Jules." Damon wiggled his brows. "Who's that?"

Mason's eyes widened. "She has nothing to do with any of this."

"Says you." Damon glanced over. "Hm. Looks like she's still in Florida. Sun. Beaches. Bikinis." He arched a brow. "Maybe I should take a trip."

Mason let out a frustrated groan before yanking against his chains so hard his head banged against the chair.

"Sore spot?" Damon handed back the pages, and I took them silently. He leaned over to grab the poker from the fireplace. "Thanks for the intel." Damon glanced my way before stalking forward and adding, "You know the way out."

I turned quickly from Mason's pleading gaze before hurrying back through the door. Another scream chased me from the room.

I nearly ran into Jeremy, who carried a box in his hands. "Woah." He met my frantic gaze. "You okay?"

I summoned a weak smile. "Just eager to get home."

Jeremy nodded.

We looked away as a muffled cry sounded from the library.

"See you," I murmured, stepping around.

"Yeah."

Back in the office, I was glad to find the searches had finished. I copied the database and the raw information to a usb drive, leaving it on the desk with a note. More screams made me pack up in record time and chased me all the way out the boarding house's front door.

The spell had to be wrong.

Had to be.