While Emily dressed, Damon quickly went to get his car.

The four arrive at the dance. The basketball court is crowded with students and teachers dressed as the theme decade demanded. Music is blaring from the speakers, and the lights are a dimmed, warm grey.

For a minute, they all just stand, eyeing around warily for the suspect.

"Yeah, well, we're not gonna find him like this. We need to move around. Emily," Damon calls, putting a hand out for her. "Care to dance," he smirks mischievously at her. Elena smirks by Stefan's side, and Stefan hides his own, for, just like Emily had guessed, both boys were listening in on their conversation back at the house. Emily, only half-reluctant, takes his extended hand, and he leads her to the dance floor.

He abruptly stops and pulls her into him. She is pushed close against him, surprised, as he snaked an arm around her waist, his hand rising to find her bare back skin on purpose. "Somehow I knew you'd end up in a dress," he teases. It takes her a minute for her mind to function coherently again.

"That, or you were eavesdropping on me and Elena with your super-hearing," she retorts coyly, causing him to smirk.

"Super-hearing?" He sways her from side to side with the beat.

"Well, what do you call it then?" she asks.

"Heightened hearing," he corrects.

"Tsk. Technicality," she rolls her eyes. He chuckles lightly.

"So, what'd you do that had Elena going 'that's pretty badass,'" he says in a girly voice. Her eyes widen. She punches his chest lightly.

"You were listening in!" she exclaims.

"Maybe," he smirks. "So, what'd you do?" Emily sighs exasperatedly.

"I strapped the stake to my thigh."

"Ooh. That sounds incredibly sexy," he muses. She grins. "We're kinda like mister and missus Smith right now," he winks, causing a laugh to escape her plum lips. He smiles. After a few seconds, she calms down.

"Speaking of being secret agents, then, we're supposed to be on the lookout," she begins to eye around again, and Damon does the same.

For several minutes, that's all they do, to the point where it starts to feel pointless.

"Maybe he won't show," Emily tiredly says.

"Hm," Damon replies quietly, his eyes bitterly fixed somewhere. Emily furrows her brows and turns to see Stefan kissing Elena.

At first, she felt that green fire in her chest, wrongly directed at her sister, till she recalled that the issue wasn't Elena-related.

It was Katherine.

It was Stefan and Katherine.

It was their past, and how it related to Damon.

It was how one woman played two brothers,

and right now, one of those brothers was flaunting his love for someone that looked exactly like her.

She turned back to her dance-partner, debating something.

"Damon," she called.

"Hm?" his eyes snapped to hers expectantly. She said nothing, mulling over her decision some more as Damon started to look confused.

Without warning, then, she placed her hands around his neck and brought his lips to hers.

Damon, though un-expecting, slid his eyes shut as she kissed him softly caressing his jaw with her thumb, while her other hand rested on his shoulder. She pulled back before Damon could react. "…What was that for?" he quietly asked. She smiled calmly.

"You were feeling left out," she said. Damon cocked a brow, then scoffed.

"Please. You were just looking for an excuse to kiss me," he said. She giggled lightly.

"Maybe," she bit her lower lip in amusement, and, for a moment, Damon couldn't look anywhere but at her. He then locked serious eyes with hers.

"I thought you didn't 'fool around,'" he said.

"I don't..." she replied, suddenly taking that into consideration. He looks unconvinced, for fairly obvious reasons. "I was feeling sorry for you," she grins sarcastically. He raises both brows at her, then grins as well,

as though feeling sorry for Damon was the last thing anyone would do.

They continue swaying to the music, her hands on his chest and his on her waist.

"Besides. I owe you one," she said.

"For what?"

"For coming when I needed you to," she said in a serious tone. He took this in, then brushed off the seriousness with a smirk.

"Yeah, well, what kinda guy would I be if I didn't?"

"The worst kind," she widens her eyes playfully. He chuckles, spinning her, then pulling her into him with her back against his chest.

The scent of her blood set in from her exposed neck, and he was in the process of nearing it when she called out. "By the punch. Jeremy. Dark shirt. Long sleeves." she frantically said.

Damon releases her and steps in front of her to look. He saw someone with a phone to his ear, and couldn't listen in to what he was saying, for the place was too crowded. He leaned in to Emily. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes, Damon!" she exclaimed. He nodded.

"Go find Stefan," he said, then started forward.

XXX

Emily rushes over to Elena, who was without Stefan for some reason. "Hello?" Elena calls through the phone, but there's no answer.

"Where's Stefan?" Emily asks her scared sibling.

"He went after this guy I thought was him, but then he called me, and told me to head out, or he'll kill Jeremy!" Elena exclaims as she declines her phone.

"The guy behind Jeremy. Damon went after him," Emily assures, bringing out her own phone and filling Stefan in.

Stefan heads to find Damon after insuring that his target was false.

The brothers attempt to find out from him what he wants with Elena. The man, Noah, whilst being tortured by a stake, says it's because she looked like Katherine that he was after her, cause it's fun, and the two discover that they weren't the only ones Katherine played.

You can imagine how that affects them, Damon more than Stefan,

With the fact that Noah knew Katherine, Damon asks him how to get into the tomb, and after some struggle, he eventually confesses that the answers lie in the Grimoire Damon was after, and that its location was stated in Johnathan Gilbert's journal.

He doesn't confess to who his partners were, but this confirms for the two that there were more vampires in town.

They had to kill Noah, cause he'd been invited into Elena and Emily's house.

Two people saw the occurrence.

A girl named Anna, one of Noah's partners, tasked with getting the journal, and so was attempting, and succeeding, to befriend Jeremy.

And Alaric Saltzman, whom Damon noticed, and compelled to forget the occurrence,

Alaric had vervain, and Damon didn't know…

Alaric was new to town, but held vast knowledge of vampires,

specifically Damon Salvatore…

What does Alaric want?

The brothers soon return to the girls, assure them it was dealt with, but to remain on their guard, until the rest were discovered. They drive them home, then the brothers leave.

In the car, Stefan finally convinces Damon to accept his help.

XXX

The next day goes by normally.

Elena is hanging out at Stefan's, in his room, on his bed, just sitting with him opposite her. They were talking. He had something important to tell her.

"I need to tell you something, and I don't know how you're gonna feel about it," he says. She furrows her brows.

"What?" she asked. He hesitates.

"I told Damon that I'd help him get into that tomb to get Katherine back," he says. Elena's eyes slightly widen. "But it was a lie. I let him believe that he could trust me." She is taken aback and fairly confused by this.

"Why?" she asks.

"Because…I can't trust Damon… There are other ways to get what you want. You don't have to kill people," Elena considers this. "Damon has no regard for human life. He enjoys inflicting pain on others."

"But…He seemed…to care about Emily…Did you see the way he reacted when she got hurt?" Elena tries.

"I did…But that doesn't mean he wouldn't turn on her if she stands against him …He's like that. Impulsive. He'll do whatever he will to get what he wants. Eliminate whatever is in his path…even if that's her," Stefan tries, fairly tense, and displeased by what he was saying,

the truth.

Concern fills Elena to the prim. She inhales deeply.

"I don't wanna be his enemy, Elena, but I can't let him do it. For 145 years, every single time that I have let my guard down and let Damon back into my life, he's done something to make me regret that. I'm not going to make that mistake again," he says.

"You know him better…Do what you have to do…" she rubs his shoulder. "I trust you." Stefan smiles softly at her, and pulls her in for a kiss. It's sweet, but short. There was one more thing he had to get out of the way.

"Listen…There's…something else," he says. she pulls back and eyes him expectantly. "Emily…" Elena raises a brow. "You can't tell her what we're planning. I know that the last thing you wanna do is lie to her but-"

"But Damon has her wrapped around his finger…" she sighs.

Then nods.

"Okay…I won't tell her…I just hope this is all over soon."

XXX

The next morning, it's around ten am. Emily had a lecture at twelve.

Her alarm rings on her phone, and she reaches out to shut it up with slit-open, tired eyes. The phone is suddenly in her hand, and she turns it off,

Her pillow slowly rises and declines,

and she could hear a heartbeat beneath her.

Her eyes widen.

She shoots up.

"Damon?!" she asks in shock, then sighs. "What the hell?" she questions exasperatedly, wiping the blurriness out of her eyes. He smirks at her, his hands behind his hand as he lay casually on her bed.

"Well, good morning to you too, sleepyhead," he says. She continues to stare at him, shaking her head. She then looks away, and pushes back her hair.

Expected behavior from Damon, she supposed.

He sits up to meet her face, their arms fully touching. "I need your help," he says as she turns to him.

"You have impeccable timing, Damon," she sarcastically remarks.

"So I've been told," he smirks, then gets off her bed, heading for her study desk. "You were dreaming about me, you know? Explains the droll." Her eyes widen, and she quickly wipes at her mouth, despite there being nothing. She rolls her eyes.

"What do you want, Damon?" she urged, moving to dangle her feet at the side of the bed, as if still in the process of encouraging herself to get up.

"Stefan's agreed to help me open the tomb," he speaks as he fiddles with her belongings, brushing his fingers against the cover of the novel: Robinson Crusoe, a few highlighters, and a cat mug with pens in it. She is busy listening to care much what he was doing. "Our little friend last night let loose the fact that Johnathan Gilbert's journal tells us where Emily Bennet's Grimoire is, and I need the journal, so. You need to get it for me…" he says, turning to her and leaning against the desk with his back. He crossed his arms and eyed her expectantly. She remained silent for a minute, considering things. "Hey," he called. She faced him. "No other vampire is coming out of that tomb. If you don't trust me about it, trust Stefan. He's there to make sure that doesn't happen, so are you in, or should I ask your sister?" he teases, knowing that neither Emily nor Stefan liked Damon anywhere near the younger Gilbert, probably each for different reasons. She rolls her eyes again and gets to her feet.

"I'll get you the journal. And why should I trust Stefan, when I can trust you, right?" she asks in implication, crossing her arms as she approached him. He grins mischievously.

"Course you can," he raises his brows humorously. She smiles lightly.

Then he frowns.

"Of course, that oughta go both ways," he says. She eyes him perplexedly. Then he locks intent eyes with hers. "Can I trust you?"

"Yes. Why ask?" she retorts, still confused, and now a little worried.

"Because I don't buy what Stefan's selling. The sudden teamwork enthusiasm…I need someone on my team." Her eyes slightly widen. "Someone who won't lie to me," he approaches her to a foot apart. "Can I trust you?" he repeats lowly, looking straight into her eyes. A few seconds pass alongside her heavy heart.

"Yes," she nods. "As long as you keep your promise that no one gets hurt."

He smiles,

and something told her she shouldn't believe him.

She knew Damon was intent on doing whatever it took to open that tomb,

and she didn't know what that would lead him to doing…

XXX

"What are you doing?" Elena asks Emily that same day after returning from school. It was around four pm. Emily was at the dining table, digging through a large box.

"Looking for-" Emily is about to answer when she spots Stefan by Elena's side.

She hesitates.

"Uh, Jonathan Gilbert's journal," she answers as though it was no big deal, going back to her search.

"For Damon," Stefan clarifies. Elena gives him a worried look. Apparently, he was right about Emily working for Damon. He smiles lightly as Emily pauses momentarily. "He trusts you more than me. I guess that's fair."

"Is it?" Elena adds to compliment the act.

"Well, I don't know. Did you give him a reason not to trust you?" Emily curiously asks.

"You try reversing that sentence, Emily. And you'll be closer to the truth. It's the other way around," he says, half-humorously. She considers his meaning, and brushes it off. No one fully trusted Damon, including her. "But I guess me trusting Damon isn't what matters here. It's him trusting me. I want him out of town, Emily. If getting Katherine back is how to do that, I'll do it," he states firmly.

He seemed genuine,

but when Emily glances at Elena,

she could sense something was off.

…She'd have to ask Elena herself later.

"Well, it isn't here," Emily states, facing the box again. She pulls out an old, non-colored photograph she'd seen before.

"That's Jonathan Gilbert," comments Stefan. The sisters face him curiously.

"What are you guys doing?" Jeremy asks, stepping in. He leans against the kitchen counter, smiling at them casually.

"Hey," Emily smiles back at him. "We're just going through some old stuff, but, uhhh, there was a journal here, you know, the one I used to read a lot," she says. Stefan eyes her with furrowed brows,

and just then, he realizes it was through the journal, that Emily found knowledge of the supernatural.

He wonders also, since she'd read it before, if she already knew where the grimoire was.

"Johnathan Gilbert's journal?" Jeremy asks, raising himself onto the counter.

"Yeah. Know where it is?" Emily asks suspiciously as the other two eye him expectantly.

"I gave it to Mr. Saltzman after I did that history report. He wanted to see it," Jeremy explains.

The three share a look.

"What?" Jeremy asks, feeling left out. Emily faces him again.

"Nothing. What are we having for dinner?" she changes the subject as Elena and Stefan step into the living room.

"Jenna said she'd come home tonight and try and cook something up," he says as Emily throws the other stuff back into the box, glancing warily at the duo outside plotting suspiciously.

"Uh, huh. Sounds good," Emily nods nonchalantly.

"You're not even listening to me," Jeremy smirks. She faces him. "Seriously. What's going on?"

"Uhh, I don't know. I think…" she gets to her feet, looking to the side momentarily as she thought of a good excuse. "Elena and Stefan wanna see it for some reason. It is pretty cool, you know?" she smirks.

"Yeah, it is. Some crazy stuff in there," Jeremy nods as she approaches him.

"Yeah? Do you…believe it?" she glares playfully. He chuckles lightly.

"Ehh, monsters in the dark? It's a little out there," he retorts,

despite, greatly suspecting it…

It was that girl. The new girl in town. Anna.

She was…strange…She helped him with the report…insisted that maybe vampires were real…

At the fifties dance,

he could have sworn he'd seen her face change…

Emily hears the door to the house shut, and she turns to see that Stefan has gone.

Her eyes widen slightly.

"What about you?" Jeremy asks, half-suspecting. Emily turns to him again. She grins sheepishly.

"Psh. Come on…"

then, she reconsiders.

"Maybe," she tells him in hint.

"Maybe?" he asks in disbelief.

"Yeah…You know…I'm sure there's a lot out there we don't know." Just then, Elena walks in. "Who knows?" Emily widens her eyes playfully at him. He smirks in amusement as she steps out of the kitchen and heads for upstairs.

"Where are you going?" Elena asks, following after her as if hostilely. Emily pauses and squints her eyes.

"To the bathroom," she lies, but it is unclear, as she seemed to be looking accusingly at Elena. "Why?" she asks. Elena swallows.

"No reason…Just asking," she casually smiles, and steps into the kitchen and out of sight.

Emily was definitely getting funny vibes.

Maybe Damon was right not to trust them…

…Maybe she shouldn't trust Damon…

XXXXX