Chapter Six

Rebecca got her things together quickly when she reached the boardinghouse. She needed to be away from Damon; she needed time to think.

"You're still mad at me?" Damon asked, watching from the doorway.

"Yes, Damon, I am." Rebecca's voice was tight and low. "You were gonna kill Caroline."

"I was trying to look out for us!" Damon exclaimed. "Caroline is a blabbermouth. How long do you think it's gonna take for Liz to find out about us now?"

"I don't care!" Rebecca shouted. "I'm sorry, but I don't. Caroline deserves a chance to adapt. A couple months ago you would've thought the same thing. But Katherine has you all screwed up in the head. You wouldn't have stabbed me if your head had been on right. You're unbalanced – more so than usual – and until you get your act together . . ."

Damon blinked when she trailed off. "What? Until I get my act together what? Are you leaving me?"

"No. But I'm not sleeping in this room, either. I'll find another one. Or, if you prefer, I can go to my dad's."

Rebecca hated herself when she saw Damon's eyes fill up with hurt. Damon was used to people just giving up on him and leaving him, and Rebecca didn't want him to associate her with that group of people, but she didn't see where she had any choice. She couldn't just let him get away with how he was acting.

"You're goin' to Caroline's to get away from me. Aren't you?"

"I need time to think, Damon. Away from you, yes. And Caroline needs help."

Rebecca walked out of the room without kissing Damon good-bye.

When Rebecca reached Caroline's house she saw that Matt was there. Caroline was trying to get rid of him, though.

"You should just go because my mom's gonna be here soon."

"No," Matt said. "You've been dodgin' me all day. I mean, I'm more insecure than you are right now."

"What d'you mean?"

"It means that you almost died and it really freaked me out."

Rebecca felt bad for eavesdropping, but she didn't want to interrupt their moment either.

"And it got me thinkin', you know, 'cause I'm just – I'm not in a position where I can lose someone else right now. I realized that even though today I wanted to throttle you, I'm pretty sure that I'm in love with you. And now it feels like you don't feel the same way."

"Oh," Rebecca heard Caroline say softly. "Matt . . ."

Say it back, say it back! Rebecca thought, but Caroline didn't.

Rebecca knew what the problem was. Caroline was thinking about all the problems she and Matt would face if she were to love him back. He was human; she wasn't.

Rebecca chose to spare Caroline from having to say anything; she knocked on the door.

When Caroline opened the door, Caroline smiled. "Hey, Becca."

"Care . . . Damon and I are . . . having a difference of opinion. Can I stay here tonight?"

"Sure."

Caroline moved aside so she could go in. When Rebecca saw Matt she smiled softly.

"Matt, hey. You here to violate the sheriff's only child?"

His eyes widened and his cheeks flushed.

"Becca!" Caroline exclaimed. "Not funny."

Rebecca shrugged lightly. "I thought it was."

"Well . . ." Matt grew uncomfortable. "I'll leave you to your girls' night, I guess."

Before Matt left, however, he let Caroline know that their conversation wasn't over by the way he looked at her.

While Caroline was learning about everything Rebecca and everyone else had been keeping from her, Tyler was doing some learning of his own.

Tyler had thought about his confrontation with Mason – both confrontations. He'd caught Mason going through his dad's office earlier; Mason had been looking everywhere – bookshelves, desk drawers . . .

When Tyler had asked him what he'd been looking for, Mason said he'd been looking for family artifact stuff, heirlooms. Tyler had joked with Mason about him having blown through his trust fund already. Mason said he was just looking for an old piece that had belonged to his mom; Mason's dad had given it to her when they'd gotten married. It held sentimental value. It had been passed down to Tyler's dad. Mason wanted to know if it was still in the house somewhere.

Tyler had told Mason that he should ask his mom, so Mason had.

"I think it's good for Tyler to have you in the house," Tyler heard his mom say from his spot in the kitchen. "Oh, and I'll see if I can dig up that stone you're looking for. It's bound to be tucked away in one of Richard's nooks and crannies."

When Tyler was sure both his mom and Mason were out of ear shot, he went to his father's office. He closed the doors behind him. His father had kept things in a safe in that office – the safe was under a loose floorboard that was hidden by a rug.

Tyler opened the safe by putting in the right combination and pulled the lid up. Most of the contents within the safe were papers dealing with legal matters. There was one box, however, that held what Mason had been looking for.

The moonstone. It was an oval rock, milky white in some places, almost clear in others. It was small enough to fit in Tyler's palm; Tyler pocketed the stone. He wouldn't be giving it to his uncle. He didn't trust Mason. His eyes glowed yellow; it hadn't been a flare from a vehicle. His eyes had glowed.

Tyler would make sure Mason didn't get the stone unless he knew he could trust Mason.

The second Rebecca had left Damon had went straight to his liquor cabinet. Rebecca had left him, or had pretty much told him she was going to. If he didn't get his act together . . .

What did that mean? The only thing he'd done wrong was stab Rebecca, and he wouldn't have done that if she hadn't gotten in his way. What Damon had wanted to happen hadn't even come close to happening. He'd wanted to get rid of Caroline by himself, no interruptions. He hadn't wanted Rebecca there. He'd understood that Caroline was Rebecca's friend; Rebecca shouldn't have been a witness to Damon killing Blondie. But he'd never considered Rebecca would get in the way of what he'd been trying to do.

He and Rebecca were usually on the same page, but this time . . . some wires had been crossed, apparently, because they hadn't been this time.

Damon was already half drunk when Stefan got home and Damon wondered how pathetic he looked.

"What happened to you? Where's Rebecca?"

"She left. She might leave me for good."

Stefan didn't know what to say. He hadn't thought anything could make Rebecca leave Damon, but apparently him stabbing her while intending to stab Caroline had been enough to make Rebecca angry enough to actually punish Damon.

"Where'd she go tonight?"

"Caroline's. Apparently Blondie needs a baby-sitter."

"Oh."

Stefan was already wondering how much damage Damon was going to cause because of how hurt he was by Rebecca. Damon's hurt usually turned to anger, which then turned to rage and people usually got hurt. Or killed. Or both.

"Is she coming back?"

"I don't know. She said it was up to me."

"Oh," Stefan said again. "Well, what're you going to about it besides sit here and drink?"

"I don't know, Stefan. What am I supposed to do?"

"Well, it you love her like you say you do . . . what wouldn't you do?" Stefan shrugged. "Apologize for going after Caroline."

"What? No. I was doing what I thought was best and I won't apologize for that."

"Well, then you might want to get used to people leaving you."

"So . . . you were saying something about having a difference of opinion with Damon?" Caroline prompted Rebecca to speak.

"He wanted to kill you and I didn't, so I stopped him."

"He stabbed you," Caroline said. "But you seem fine now."

"We heal fast."

Rebecca had explained about the Katherine first thing since Katherine had been the one to kill Caroline. Caroline needed to know who the evil-monster-of-death was and to stay away from her at all cost.

Katherine had turned Caroline, which meant that she probably needed her for something. Rebecca didn't want Katherine to get what she wanted, no matter when that something was.

Rebecca taught Caroline how to break into the hospital in the next county over to get blood. She explained that Liz, Caroline's mother, had put security up at the local hospitals because they'd had blood stolen from them.

"So . . . I don't have to kill people? Use them as blood donors?"

"No. Most of the time we don't. Or I don't. And Damon stopped after . . . I asked him to stop feeding from you. I saw what it was doing to you, so . . . I asked him to stop."

Rebecca opened the blood bag she'd stolen – she'd taken two, one for her, the other for Caroline – and began sipping.

"I should never have let him drink from you in the first place. I just wanted him to know I accepted him the way he was. I'm so sorry I did that at your expense. I tried to be a better friend after that and I –"

"I know. I remember you became almost protective of me after that."

"Yeah. I was trying to make up for being a bad friend."

Rebecca sighed. "I love him. A lot. I let him get away with too many things, but tonight was just too much. Katherine has him on edge. If this had happened a few weeks ago, he probably wouldn't have tried to kill you."

"What's the deal with her and him? Or with Stefan. The message was for the Salvatore brothers . . ."

Rebecca didn't know how to explain everything to her blonde friend, so she thought she should start from the beginning.

"Well, it all started with a time traveling spell . . ."

"And then you know what she said? She said if I don't get my act together, she's gonna leave!"

"Well, you did stab her," Ric said.

Ric had been Damon's shoulder to cry on, which was better than being a shoulder to chew on, but Damon was completely drunk. It was a little funny, actually. He'd never imagined Damon to be a share-your-feelings type of drunk, but here he was.

"I apologized for stabbing her," Damon exclaimed. "I did. I was sorry and so I apologized."

"And then there's you wanting to kill Caroline, which you didn't apologize for."

"Not going to either," Damon muttered childishly. "All I did was try to protect us. Caroline is a liability now."

"She might surprise you," Ric said. "Given the chance."

He watched Damon down a shot of whiskey and wondered if he should get the bartender to just leave the bottle there because Damon didn't seem to be quitting any time soon. And Damon didn't quit. In fact, Ric had to drive Damon home because Damon wasn't sober enough to operate a vehicle. Ric watched Damon stumble into the Salvatore boardinghouse and then drove away.

Damon didn't think he was halfway near drunk enough so he went to his own alcohol collection. He noticed Jeremy was sitting in one of the chairs in the living room.

"What are you doin' here?" he asked, subconsciously checking for Rebecca's heartbeat. Nobody else was in the house aside from Damon and Jeremy, not ever Stefan.

"You don't lock your front door," the teen said. "And I wouldn't drink any of your alcohol. It's laced with vervain."

Damon sniffed the bottle and, sure enough, the floral scent hit his nose. Though it smelled a little bitter to him.

"Now, why would you do that?" Damon needed that alcohol; he wasn't numb yet.

"So that I could stake you." Damon watched Jeremy hold up a badly whittled stake. "With this."

Jeremy threw the stake to the floor and Damon very wobbly picked it up.

"You came here to kill me?"

"Well, it's only fair. You threatened to kill me at the carnival."

"I did not. I made a statement about how easy it would be if I had to kill you." Damon went to the sofa and plopped down. "What made you wizen up?"

"My father hated vampires. My uncle, too. They were absolute; they knew exactly what they stood for. And I figure maybe I should, too. I mean, stand for something. But killing you? What's that gonna do?"

Damon didn't really know what to tell the kid. Jeremy obviously lacked purpose and was looking for it.

"Look, I don't do the big brother thing very well. Sorry I don't have any milk and cookies to offer you."

Jeremy glared at him with as much menace as the teen could manage and then stood up to leave and said, "Jerk."

"Wait," Damon said. "My father hated vampires too."

"He did?" Jeremy asked, turning back around and crossing his arms.

Damon nodded. "For the same reason your dad did. Only it was 1864, and people knew how to whittle.

Damon watched Jeremy chuckle and bite his lip.

"Did you do this?" Damon asked, holding the stake up for further observation.

"Yeah, I tried. It's a little harder than it looks.

"Huh."

"So where's Becca?"

"With Caroline, who is a vampire now. I tried to kill her, Rebecca didn't like it, and chaos ensued."

"Caroline's a vampire?"

"Uh-huh."

Damon explained the car accident and him feeding Caroline blood to help her heal. Then Katherine had happened. Damon realized that Caroline would have still been human had he let Rebecca kill Katherine when she'd wanted to, when she'd had the chance to.

He also realized that, because he was drunk it was easy to talk to Jeremy. The kid was okay to be around as long as Damon had a buzz going.

The next morning Rebecca got a call from Damon and she almost pressed ignore. Almost. But she realized the call might be about something important so she answered.

"What?"

"So rude," Damon said softly, lightly. "We need you here. Ric's gonna come over and we're gonna find out about the Lockwoods."

"Oh, yeah?"

Rebecca looked at Caroline, who had woken up because of her phone conversation and decided then that Damon or someone could fill her in later.

"Damon . . ."

"You're not coming, are you?" Damon asked, though it was more statement than question.

"You can tell me later. Right? I just . . . I don't want to leave Care alone. She can't go out in the sun. She'll be bored to tears without someone here."

"And you're still mad at me . . ." Damon said.

"No, I'm not. I'm . . . I don't like what you did. But I'm not angry anymore. But you still need to think about what I said. Katherine is making you act crazy. And she's not compelling you this time, Damon. This is all you." She sighed heavily, thinking about the out of character things he'd been doing since Katherine had come back. "We'll talk later, a'right?"

Damon snapped his phone shut with anger. She wasn't coming. He'd told her he needed her – well, he'd said they but still – and Rebecca still wasn't coming.

Damon looked at Stefan and Elena. The brunette was setting on the couch in the living room drinking from a coffee mug. Stefan was beside her.

Ric had already arrived and had not muttered a word about the night before, thankfully.

"Elena mentioned you needed my help," Ric said.

"Yeah. We were hoping you could help shed some light on the, uh, Lockwood family."

Ric's eyebrows shot up as he looked at each of them individually. "Now, why would I know anything about the Lockwoods?"

"Well, you wouldn't," Damon said. "But your dead-not-dead vampire wife might."

"Isobel's research from when you guys were at Duke together. You said that she had spent years researching this town."

Ric nodded. "Isobel's research here in Mystic Falls was rooted in folklore and legend. At the time, I thought most of which was fiction."

"Like that amazing vampire story," Damon quipped.

"Aside from vampires, what else?" Elena asked.

"The lycanthrope," Alaric informed them.

Stefan and Damon looked at each other and Elena sat forward.

"What, like werewolves?"

"No way. Impossible," Damon said. "Way too Lon Chaney. I've been on this planet 160 some odd years, never came across one. If werewolves exist, where the hell are they?"

"Why do you suspect the Lockwoods?" Ric asked.

"Because vervain didn't affect the mayor on Founder's Day, but the Gilbert device did. And it affected his son, Tyler."

"And at the school carnival, his uncle Mason exhibited inhuman behavior when he fought one of the carnival workers. It suggested some sort of supernatural entity."

"We were hoping Isobel's research could help us figure out what it is," Elena said.

"Well, all of her things are still at Duke," Ric said. "I mean, her office is still there. She's technically still missing."

Ric glanced at Damon, who shrugged.

"So can we get access to it?"

"I guess if I go with you. You have to have permission from me."

"Good. Because we need to know what we're dealing with. If this wolf man thing is true, I've seen enough movies to know it's not good," Damon said. "It means that Mason Lockwood is a real-life Lon Chaney, and that little Tyler punk may just be Lon Chaney Jr. Which means Bela Lugosi, meaning me, is totally screwed."

Back at Caroline's house Rebecca was helping Caroline avoid Matt. He'd been knocking on the door, but Caroline couldn't go out during the day. And it was daylight now. Neither Caroline nor Rebecca thought it safe to risk Matt seeing Caroline accidentally burn herself in the sun.

"Okay," Rebecca said. "I have an idea. Just stay quiet, okay?"

Caroline nodded.

Rebecca went to the kitchen sink and got her hair damp enough to make it look like she'd towel-dried her hair. Then she went outside to Matt.

"Sorry, I was upstairs getting dressed. Care's not here."

"She told me she was at home."

"Well, she left before I took a shower. Maybe she was heading to your house to surprise you."

"Maybe. Tyler's doing this thing at the swimming hole. I wanted to spend the day with Caroline."

"Oh."

Rebecca knew automatically that Matt would have to know about Caroline if they had any chance of working at all. Caroline couldn't avoid him forever.

"Well, I'm goin' to Elena's. If I see Care there I'll tell her you're looking for her."

Rebecca got into her car, which was parked in Caroline's driveway, and started it up. She really was going to go to Elena's just in case Matt followed her.

Unfortunately, everyone was at Elena's. Damon, Stefan, Ric . . . what where they doing here?"

She said a quick "Hello," to Damon before heading in. Jenna and Ric were in the living room and Rebecca decided to leave them to it. Besides, she heard Stefan and Elena upstairs.

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" Stefan asked.

"Which part?" Elena responded. "Digging through my birth mother's work or going to Duke with Damon?"

"Either. Both."

Rebecca reached the entrance to the bedroom and saw Stefan sitting on the bed and Elena packing a small bag.

"Well, I'm sure about the first part," Elena said. "But then again Ric is a good buffer, so we can bond in our anti-Damon solidarity."

Stefan chuckled and even Rebecca smiled.

"I wish you were coming, though."

"Why are you going to Duke?" Rebecca interrupted. "Lockwood research?"

"Yeah. Hey, Becca," Elena said.

"Hey."

"You know what?" Stefan said, standing up. "Maybe we should wait a couple of days, huh? Damon and Rebecca will have made up and then we can all go. Wait until, uh, Caroline is less of a danger and then I can go with you."

"It's okay that I'm going, right?" Elena asked. "And be honest, because if it's not, then I can just stay here. And we can take care of Caroline."

"No, listen, I want you to go. I do, okay? You have questions about your lineage and about Katherine and I'm not gonna let the fact that Damon is going too keep you from an opportunity to get some answers."

Elena smiled. "You hate it, though."

"I hate it." Stefan chuckled. "But I love you."

"I love you too."

Rebecca turned her head away when the couple kissed; she smiled but felt grossed out by the cuteness.

When Rebecca got downstairs she saw Jenna and Ric still talking.

"It's been a while," Jenna said.

"Yeah, well, work has kept me, well, busy."

"I want you to know it means a lot to me that Elena has a connection to her mother. I appreciate you bringing her along today."

"Yeah, well, I figured it was time to take care of my wife's things, you know? Look, Jenna, I know things between us have been a little start-and-stop, and I'm sorry for that."

Rebecca heard a beep beep come from outside. Damon was becoming impatient, it seemed.

"Elena, are you coming?" Jenna called upstairs.

"Be right there!"

Rebecca went outside, caught between going straight to her car and going to Damon. She figured it would be rude to not say anything, so she went over to the blue-eyed vampire.

"So . . . Duke, huh? Takin' a little road trip?"

For the first time that Rebecca could remember, she felt uncomfortable around Damon. Well, felt uncomfortable talking to him anyway.

"You can come, too, if you want."

"Caroline," Rebecca said. "She'll need help today."

"Right," Damon said, rolling his eyes. "Blondie."

Rebecca could tell Damon didn't really believe Caroline was the reason she was staying.

"Damon, I mean it." Rebecca lowered her voice. "I want to be here for her like I was there for you. So let me be here for her. You do what you have to do, Damon, and call me if you find out anything."

Rebecca walked back to her black Charger and got in and Damon watched. Then Stefan came out with Elena.

"Sorry you can't come too, Stefan," Damon said.

Elena glared at Damon and shoved her bag into the backseat where she would be sitting.

"Be careful, okay. And call me if you need anything."

"Oh, I'll take very good care of her," Damon said suggestively just to bug Stefan.

Elena rolled her eyes and pulled Stefan in for a kiss. It annoyed Damon because Rebecca hadn't kissed him before she'd left. Things had been tense because of the Caroline situation. And there had been a huge chasm between them that hadn't been there before. He didn't like it; he wanted it gone.

"Okay, time to go," he said hopping in the car.

Stefan opened the door for Elena and she slid into the car. Stefan watched them until the vehicle disappeared.