Chapter Twelve

"So, you've killed someone?" Tyler asked Mason.

Ever since Mason had snapped at him about what triggered the curse of the werewolf, they had been talking about it.

"I didn't mean to. I was out drinking and one of my buddies accused me of messing with his girl. Blows were thrown and I lost control. We were in the parking lot and his head hit the asphalt because I tackled him."

"Wait. The guy died? You killed him?"

Tyler and Mason had moved to the study that had previously belonged to Tyler's father. Tyler was sitting on a sofa and Mason had perched on the arm of it.

"He kept coming at me," Mason said. "He got in his head that I was sleeping with his girlfriend."

"Well, were you?"

"No. No, I wouldn't do that. He was my friend. He was drunk and he attacked me. It was self-defense."

"And it triggered the curse?" Tyler asked. "Even though it was an accident."

"On every full moon, I lose control. If I don't sedate and chain myself down, I'll kill everything in my path. You have to be careful. All it takes is an accident, a car wreck. Any death at your hands and you'll have a lifetime of this. You don't want it, Tyler. Trust me."

All Tyler could think about was the fact that Caroline Forbes had almost died at his hands. A car wreck, like Mason had said. If the cheerleader had died, Tyler would've turned this past full-moon.

"A'right, where's the moonstone?" Mason asked. "Deal's a deal. I answered your questions."

"Um . . ." Tyler stood up. "Yeah, I'm not sure, but I'm guessing it's in here. My dad was very kooky about his hiding spots, but I've figured most of them out over the years."

Tyler had to move a chair off of the carpet so he could push the side of it up. Just like the first time he'd done this, he had to pull a plank of wood up and off the floor so he could get to what was underneath. He then put the combination in so Mason could go through the vaults contents.

"It's all yours. You gonna tell me what's so important about the rock or what?"

"I told you, it's just something I want. Sentimental value."

"Yeah, I'm not really buyin' that. It's a moonstone. You're a werewolf. You're sort of controlled by the moon. Why do you really want it?"

"Do you know where it is or not?"

"No. I figured it'd be in here, man. It's where Dad kept pretty much everything."

Tyler took notice of Mason's disappointed expression. What if the moonstone held a cure for Mason and what if Tyler was withholding said cure? But, for some reason, Tyler didn't trust Mason. If things were completely on the up and up, Mason would just tell him what the stone was for, right?

"I can't believe Tyler Lockwood is a werewolf," Jeremy said, standing in the doorway of his and Elena's bathroom.

"We're not sure about that yet," Elena said. "The only thing we're sure of is that Mason Lockwood is."

"That should be easy enough for us to figure out,' Jeremy muttered.

"There is no us," Elena said sternly. "I said that I wouldn't keep things from you anymore. That doesn't mean that I want you involved in it." Elena didn't want this life for Jeremy. Jeremy had so many options for his future she was a little envious. Jeremy could draw really well; he was a bright student when he applied himself. He could live a normal life if he so chose.

"By definition of being in this family, I'm involved." Jeremy showed her the ring that Rebecca had given him that had once belonged to John Gilbert, who had gotten it from their father, John's brother. "I mean, you're a doppelganger, one of my friends is a vampire one is a witch, and my history teacher is a vampire hunter . . . Need I go on?"

"This is dangerous, Jeremy. You need to stay out of it, okay?"

"A'right. Just sayin'."

Jeremy went back into his room and Elena went to hers. She had a lot to think about, the least of which was the next day. Pretty much the whole town was going to be at an annual clean up party thing. It was mostly for kids and teens, but everyone was invited to show up at the new recreational park to help get rid of weeds, litter, and, if needed, people would paint park signs, benches, picnic tables, and the like.

It helped younger people become aware of their environment and the dangers people were the cause of. It was for a good cause and she and her friends had helped out every year for as long as she could remember.

Maybe it would be fun?

The next morning Elena awoke to Stefan shaking her gently.

"Hey," he said, smiling softly.

"Hi," she said sleepily.

"You ready for today?"

"No. I hate fighting with you, even if it's fake." And this would be a performance for the whole town to see.

"I know, but if Katherine thinks that we're fighting then she'll think that she's winning, and that keeps her from following through on her threats."

"Yeah, but that doesn't make it any easier. Neither does knowing Caroline will be there reporting everything back to her."

"Hey, everything's gonna be okay. We have to keep up this ruse for a little while, but it's the best way to keep Katherine from hurting anybody, from hurting you."

"Just promise me that she won't get her way with us," Elena worried. "We can fake fight and we can pretend that her threats are tearing us apart, but none of it's real, okay?"

"Okay, how about this? Today, when we're fighting, if I say, 'I can't do this, anymore, Elena' . . . what I really mean is that I love you."

Elena smiled. "And when I say, 'Fine, Stefan, whatever . . ." it really means I love you too."

"Deal," Stefan said. "Now, come on. We can't actually make it to the picnic/clean-up if you don't get out of bed."

"Ohh," Elena exclaimed. "Torture."

"Damon . . ." Damon heard Rebecca call his name, but didn't open his eyes. He was comfortable just the way he was. "Come on. You gotta wake up. We have that historical society picnic thing."

She began circling his pec with her fingers and then after he sighed a little she trailed down his abs to his hip bones and back up.

"Hm, we're not going anywhere if you keep doing that."

Rebecca actually lifted the covers and looked underneath them and said, "Well, I think we can spare thirty minutes. For your friend there."

"Yes, ma'am," Damon muttered. "That's not a problem at all."

Rebecca giggled when Damon used vampire speed to get on top of her and cover her face and neck with kisses.

A little over thirty minutes later, Damon and Rebecca came downstairs ready to leave. They were both in a good mood.

"Can I drive?" Rebecca asked. "That Charger you got me hasn't really gotten much use at all."

"Sure."

They got into her Charger and went to the Falls, which was were the Historical Society was busy setting up. It was also where half the town was. People were hammering; people were raking and mowing; people were sawing. The Mayor was making a speech.

"This is a part of the Historical Society's continuing efforts to give back to the community. Thanks to the generous donations of the Fell and Stone families we are now standing on the site of our newest public park. Thank you to everyone today who has shown up to lend a helping hand."

"I didn't know your dad made a donation to help build this place," Damon said.

"Me neither. Anyway, I'm gonna call him. We need to have a chat about Chelsea."

"What about Chelsea?" Damon asked.

"I've decided, after a long inner argument, that we can't give Chelsea up yet, or at all. At first it was John and Chase and now it's Katherine. There's always something that's going to be after us and, by association, her. We're not gonna protect her by giving her up. We'll protect her by keeping her with us."

"And Robert and Tina?" Damon asked. "What about them?"

"Right. Well, Robert still wants to move to California to be with her, but he's going to wait for your old house to be built, I think. Plus he knows Chelsea is attached to me and he doesn't want to cause her any trauma. He's been off vervain for a few days. I can compel him to forget about us at some point. Then Chelsea . . . Chelsea will be ours, Damon."

Rebecca bit her lip. "Are you sure you're ready for that. You'd be like a real life Daddy."

"We'd play house, huh?" Damon asked.

Damon had to admit . . . it was an awesome feeling. He'd get to see Chelsea grow up. He'd get to be there through everything. But no matter the appeal of the thought of raising Chelsea . . . it was also frightening. Chelsea was human and vulnerable.

"Look, you go find your sister. I'm gonna go find mine."

"Um . . . you don't have a sister."

Damon smirked. "Of course I do. Stefan."

"And all this time I could've sworn he has male parts."

"I didn't think you cared about anyone's male parts but mine."

Rebecca rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Damon."

Stefan and Elena had arrived at the picnic about thirty minutes before Damon and Rebecca. Ever since, he'd been looking for Mason Lockwood. He'd heard about what Damon had done to Mason and wanted to make sure the werewolf wasn't planning anything stupid.

Stefan finally found Mason unpacking one of the supply trucks. Mason stopped working when he saw Stefan.

"Stefan, right? The other Salvatore?"

"The nice one," Stefan agreed.

"Hm."

"The one offering an apology."

"Not interested."

"Look, my brother acted impulsively. If you and Damon keep at each other's throats somebody innocent is gonna get hurt and I don't want that. You have family here, so I can't imagine you'd want that either. So what d'you say we just quit the whole alpha-male fighting thing. Just call it a truce."

"I made that same offer to your brother," Mason said. "He turned me down, with a knife."

"He made a mistake. And I'm here to make sure neither one of you make another one."

Mason grabbed a box and said, "Tell your brother to watch his back," before beginning to walk away.

Stefan grabbed Mason's arm as the threat registered in his mind.

"I'm guessing he only has to worry about that on a full moon. Otherwise, you're not as strong, am I right? Or you would've killed Damon by now. There's one of you; there's two of us. Three, if you go after Damon. I think you're the one that needs to watch his back."

Mason's jaw stretched taut as he clenched it. He seemed to be considering what Stefan had said. "If he comes at me . . ."

"He won't," Stefan promised.

The two men shook hands and then Mason left. A few seconds later, Damon appeared.

"What're you doin'?" Damon had seen Stefan talking to Mason.

"Negotiating peace on your behalf."

"But I don't want peace."

"Well, consider it opposite day."

"Stefan . . . please don't tell me you seriously think a handshake just solved all our problems." Damon was just checking because Stefan could be a little naive sometimes.

"No, actually, I think that the first chance Mason Lockwood gets . . . he's gonna drive a stake through your heart and then through mine. All because you took it upon yourself to try to kill him. So thank you, because we don't have enough problems."

After talking with Stefan, Mason felt the need to protect himself more than ever. He dropped off the box of supplies he'd gotten from the truck and the sheriff thanked him.

"Hey, you got a second?" he asked.

"Sure."

"I was hopin' to talk to you about the council."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I know you and the other founding families have a secret council."

"If that were true then you know it's a secret and isn't discussed with non-council members." Liz gave him a knowing and severe look.

"I know I rejected all that, but that's only because I wanted a life outside of this town. Not because I was a non-believer. Look, I know vampires exist. And you have two of them living right here under your nose."

"Really? And who would they be?"

"Damon and Stefan Salvatore," he said firmly.

"That's impossible," Liz said. "I know Damon Salvatore. Do you know what he's done for this town? I have watched him kill vampires. He's an ally; he's part of the council."

"Think about it," Mason said impatiently. "When did the vampire attacks begin? When Damon and Stefan Salvatore moved to town."

"They walk in the sun, Mason."

"They've evolved. It's not 1864. They've figured it out, Liz."

Liz shook her head. "No. Damon Salvatore is my friend."

"What if I can prove it to you?"

"So, suddenly, she's in the running for Mother of the Year just when I'm trying to avoid her the most."

Caroline, Rebecca – along with Chelsea – and Elena, were headed toward some benches that needed to be painted. Chelsea couldn't help much, of course, but she was still being included.

"Then what happened?" Elena asked Caroline.

"Well, I was a bitch. Which is par for the course with us. So . . . how are things with you and Stefan? Anything?"

"No, not since the fight."

Caroline glanced at Rebecca and Rebecca gave her a small nod. Rebecca had told her to act like everything was normal, which meant she had to pretend to be Katherine's lapdog.

"He's been pushing me away because he thinks that Katherine might get jealous enough to hurt me. I just don't know how to change his mind."

"You said that Katherine's dangerous. Maybe he's got a point."

"Yeah . . . I know that she's dangerous, and I know that he's just trying to protect me, but it feels like giving up. And I – I just . . . I just thought that we were stronger than that."

Rebecca was sorry that Elena and Stefan were fighting because of Katherine. Katherine seemed to cause friction no matter who was involved.

"If it makes you feel any better, she got between Damon and me, too, for a little bit, when she first got here," Rebecca admitted. "Stefan will see he's wrong, you'll see."

"Hey, I saw you talking to Mason earlier," Damon said, walking up to Liz. "What was that about? Is he in trouble already?"

"No, I just asked him to help with the clean up in the woods."

"Well, that's what I'm here for. Put me to work. Should I go help him?"

"Oh, no, no. You know what, he's – I'm sure he's fine."

Liz seemed odd. She was stuttering and she never stuttered. She was the sheriff and she was usually sure of herself, confident.

"Are you okay, Liz?" Damon asked, concerned. "You seem really upset."

"It's Caroline. We had a moment."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"No, Damon. Thank you." Liz smiled a little. "You just wait until Chelsea gets Caroline's age."

"Oh, no." Damon shook his head. "Horror of all horrors."

"Hopefully you have better parenting skills than I do."

"You mean, hopefully Rebecca does. I'm learning as I go."

The girls were still painting, only now they were fixing up the picnic area. They were working with a group of boys who were marking woods to be cut. Stefan was part of that group. Elena and Stefan kept looking at each other.

"I'm gonna go talk to him," the brunette said.

"No, Elena. I think it's a bad idea."

Elena strolled away and Rebecca watched her go to Stefan. Her attention was diverted, however, when Damon showed up beside her.

"What's her problem?"

"Don't worry about it," Caroline said.

Damon sighed. "Why're you being such a bitch to your mom?"

"Don't worry about it," Caroline repeated and walked away.

Rebecca tuned Damon and Caroline out so she could overhear what Elena was saying to Stefan.

"Do you still care about Katherine?"

"Don't do this, please," Stefan said. "Don't turn this into something that it's not."

"So this isn't up for discussion? That's what you're saying?"

"No, I'm saying this isn't up for discussion right now because we have ears on us."

Elena and Stefan looked toward Rebecca, Damon, and Caroline. All three looked away at the same time and Rebecca giggled a little.

"Sorry, Stef," she said.

"No, we're not," Damon said, amused, and it got another laugh from Rebecca.

Rebecca handed Damon a paint brush and pointed him toward a paint can.

"Here, work. Paint. Don't make a mess."

"Bossy," Damon quipped.

Damon noticed that Rebecca had even given Chelsea a paint brush – one for a child – and her own piece of wood to paint. So far, Chelsea had used green, blue, and a horrid pink color to make . . . something. Damon wasn't sure what the piece of art could be called since it consisted mostly of squiggly lines and blobs of paint. She was a mess, had paint all over her clothes and her face.

"She hasn't been eating that, has she?" Damon asked.

Rebecca shrugged. "It's for kids, so it's unleaded and not harmful. I wouldn't have left her to herself otherwise."

"Good point."

"I didn't want her to feel left out."

Damon helped Caroline and Rebecca finish the benches all the while listening to Elena's and Stefan's conversation.

"I saw her, Stefan. It's like we're the same person. How could you hate her and be in love with me?"

Rebecca rolled her eyes; apparently she was listening too.

"Tell her she's nothing like Katherine," Rebecca said. Damon smirked because he knew she was talking to Stefan. Stefan glanced their way and Rebecca sent him an innocent smile.

"I can't do this anymore, Elena."

"Fine, Stefan, whatever."

The way Elena and Stefan were looking at each other almost made Rebecca laugh. They were arguing, if one could call it that, and they were still making googly eyes at each other.

"Hm. Some argument," Rebecca muttered. "They don't even sound mad at each other."

"Relationships are about communication," Damon said.

Elena walked away from Stefan, and Caroline left Damon and Rebecca to go after her. Rebecca didn't know if she was being a good friend or pretending to report back to Katherine. Or both.

Rebecca needed to let Damon know about Katherine and Caroline, but she needed to figure out a way to tell him without him getting angry afterwards. Maybe she could –

Chelsea let out a sudden cry and both Damon and Rebecca whipped their heads toward her. Then they almost collided when they moved to get to her.

The smell of blood hit Rebecca's nose and she realized Chelsea had hurt herself. When she and Damon reached the little girl they realized Chelsea had sliced her finger open on a sharp piece of wood.

"Hey, it's okay," Damon said, picking her up, careful not to jostle her too much. "It's okay."

"I'm gonna go get her something. We need to clean her cut."

Damon nodded but was almost completely immersed in helping Chelsea feel better. Rebecca knew Chelsea was in good hands, so she didn't feel too bad going to get the first aid kit.

Jeremy Gilbert was with Tyler Lockwood at the mansion Tyler called home. The two guys had met up at the Grill, found two girls whose names were Aimee and Sarah, and were now partying at Tyler's house.

"Ooh, can I see?" Sarah asked Jeremy, referring to his sketch pad that he'd left in his book bag on the couch.

"No way," Jeremy said. He had things in there that people shouldn't see.

"I wanna see," Aimee said.

"Yeah, let's see," Tyler said. "What's Van Gogh got goin' on?"

It was Tyler's vote that did it. Tyler actually seemed to be trying to make amends for his past behavior. He wasn't being snide or rude. He was really interested.

"Okay. Yeah, check it out," he told Sarah.

"Okay." Sarah flipped to the first page. "A . . . scary-demon-wolf thing."

It fact, every page had some kind of wolf on it. Usually just the head surrounded by darkness.

"What's this about?" Tyler asked.

"Just some sketches," Jeremy said. Truth was that Jeremy hadn't been able to think of anything but werewolves since he'd found out that Tyler might be one. "You still draw, Tyler?"

"A little, but not much. You know, I've got somethin' that I'm actually workin' on. Come on, I'll show you."

"Yeah, okay, sure."

"I mean, it's nothin' special. It's pretty much amateur hour over here."

"Oh, no. I've seen your stuff before. It's great."

Tyler led Jeremy to his dad's old study and told Jeremy to look on the desk.

Jeremy went further into the study and did as Tyler had told him. "Uh . . ." He heard the door click shut. "I don't really see it anywhere."

Jeremy was suddenly pushed back against the wall. Tyler had slammed him into it. Tyler was choking him.

"What're those pictures about, huh?"

"I can't – I can't breathe!"

"Answer me!" Tyler said. "Why? Why wolf pictures?"

"Because – because I know."

Tyler looked confused, but he also decided it was time to let Jeremy breathe.

"You know what? You know what, Jeremy?"

Jeremy massaged his throat to soothe his desperately sore air pipes.

"I know what you are," he said hoarsely, hoping he wasn't getting himself in serious trouble.

"How do you know about all this?" Tyler asked, stepping away from Jeremy.

"My uncle, John, left this old diary lying around. It was written by a crazy Gilbert ancestor who wrote about this curse that ran in your family. Werewolves. It's crazy, right? But then Matt got attacked by a wolf under the light of a full moon, and your uncle had just gotten back to town. It was just – it was too weird. Is it true?"

"About my uncle?" Tyler asked, sitting down in the leather chair that had been his father's sitting place. "Yeah."

"But you, you're not?"

"A wolf? I'm sorry, werewolf? No. I mean, not yet. You know, hell, just saying that out loud I – I sound insane."

"No, I don't think so," Jeremy said. "But then again, I always did believe in the crazy stuff."

"According to my uncle, you have to trigger the curse. Somebody has to die at your hands, like murder, or an accident. I basically have to cause death and then, boom. Next full moon, I'm howling on all fours."

"Was that why he came back? To tell you all this?"

"He had to tell me. I caught him. He's not here for me." Jeremy watched Tyler dig into his pocket only to pull out a white rock. "He's here for this."

Jeremy wondered what the rock had to do with anything. It was just a stupid rock, wasn't it?

Back at the park, Damon and Rebecca had deemed Chelsea okay, but had decided to keep her away from sharp objects. They were now playing ball with her. Rebecca would roll it to her and Chelsea would toss it back – or, well, Damon would help her toss it back. Damon realized Chelsea's hands were too small to hold a ball in one hand so he helped her cup the ball with both hands and toss it in the air so it would reach Rebecca. It helped take Chelsea's mind off the pain of her recent cut, so he figured it was worth it.

When the game was over Rebecca, Chelsea, and Damon went to take a seat at a picnic table. Mason was nearby getting a glass of lemonade from a stand that two girls had put up.

"Hello, Mason," Damon said. "Workin' hard?"

"Doing my part."

"I heard you talked to Stefan."

"Hm. Nice guy."

"Yeah. A lot nicer than me," Damon admitted. "Well, nice is overrated."

"That's what I think"

Rebecca, who had Chelsea in her arms, hadn't said a thing. She wasn't so fond of Mason anymore. He'd flirted with her on purpose the night before to get between her and Damon.

"You have a good day, Damon," Mason said, before walking off in the opposite direction.

One of the girl's from the lemonade stand offered them some lemonade and Damon took some for himself and some for Rebecca and Chelsea.

Damon realized his mistake as soon as the drink touched his tongue. The lemonade burned and made him choke. He spit it out and dropped his cup.

"Damon? What's wrong?" Rebecca gasped out, grabbing him with one arm and holding Chelsea with her other.

"Vervain," Damon said hoarsely. "Vervain."

Vervain in the lemonade? Really? Mason must've done it. Liz wouldn't have had a reason to because she didn't know vampires could walk around during the day.

Rebecca led Damon to a nearby seat and softly sat him down. "I'm gonna get you some water. I'll be right back. If anyone asks, the drink was too sour."

Damon gave a nod and continued his labored breathing.

When Rebecca came back with the water, Damon took it, opened the bottle and took a huge amount into his mouth. He swished it around like it was mouth wash, got up from his spot and went to the edge of the picnic area to spit it out.

"Oh, I'm gonna kill him," Damon said. "No more Mr. Nice Guy."

"Damon, wait," Rebecca said. "We need to call Stefan and Caroline and –"

"I'm not listening to anymore of his 'give peace a chance' crap. Mason's dead."

"Okay," she said readily. "He wanted to expose us, I get it. I still think we should call them, at least warn them to stay away from the lemonade."

When she called Stefan, he agreed that Mason needed to be put down. Mason was making threats.

"All right. Let's do it," Damon said. He seemed shocked that Stefan was on board. "The woods. Trash duty. Come on."

"Um . . . Damon . . ." Rebecca said softly. "I can't go."

Damon watched Rebecca nod at Chelsea, the infant in her arms. Right.

"I'll find Stefan. You go find Blondie, let her know what's going on."

"Yeah, okay. Be careful."

When Damon found Stefan, they went in search of Mason; they found him pulling up some weeds in the woods. He seemed upset that they'd found him.

"Oh, don't look so surprised. You knew this was inevitable."

Mason looked at Damon and then at Stefan, who had appeared behind the man-beast.

"Go ahead. Run. I'll give you a head start."

Suddenly Mason was falling to the ground and then a shot ran through the air. Damon felt pain in his chest as a bullet pierced him. Two more gun shots, this time it was Stefan who got hit. Damon was hit twice more and then Stefan once again.

Both brothers hit the ground, unconscious.