Chapter Sixteen

Bonnie was knocking frantically on the front door of the Salvatore Boardinghouse. She had gotten a call from Stefan not even thirty minutes ago and he had sounded in desperate need of her help. He'd asked her to bring her Grimiore over.

Caroline opened the door and let her in. They both went into the living room and she noticed that almost everyone was there. It seemed that the boardinghouse was starting to live up to its name – everyone congregated here.

Rebecca and Jeremy were here; Caroline seemed to be here more than she was at home these days; even Alaric was here. Elena was missing, however, but Bonnie assumed that was because Jenna had been let out of the hospital and was now at home resting. Jenna would need someone to care for her.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"We're gonna kill Katherine," Jeremy said.

Bonnie's eyes widened and she shook her head. "What? When?"

"Tonight at the masquerade party," Rebecca answered.

Bonnie then noticed all the weapons that were laid out on what was usually the liquor table. Ric was behind it showing Damon some contraption that could be strapped onto his arm. It had two thick stakes and two smaller one on the side of it.

"It fits nicely under a jacket sleeve. Here's the trigger." Ric pointed to a lever at the end of it. "When you're ready . . ."

Ric pulled the lever and a stake shot out into Ric's waiting hand. He caught it and then thrust out like he would if he was actually going to stake someone.

Damon looked at Ric with a weird expression. It almost seemed like Damon was glad he wasn't on the receiving end of Ric's knowledge.

"What? You told me you wanted me to teach you how to kill vampires."

"Well." Rebecca grinned smugly. "I already know how to do that. And I don't need a weapon to do it. If it had been up to me, Katherine would've died the day she arrived in Mystic Falls."

"Guys, are you sure this is a good idea?" Bonnie asked. "I mean, I know you love Elena, Stefan, and you wanna be with her, but it's risky. Too many people can get hurt."

"Look, I want Elena back, yes, but it's more than that. And what Katherine did to Jenna, it crossed a line, and she has to be stopped before it happens again."

"I don't know, Stefan," Bonnie said reluctantly.

"Katherine knows me, okay. She knows I'm not gonna try something in a crowd full of innocent people. That gives me an edge; we'll catch her by surprise."

Bonnie hadn't thought about that before. She'd never considered the fact that Katherine wouldn't expect them to do anything in public. It did give them an edge Bonnie hadn't known they had.

"I could do a spell to trap her. Like the tomb spell," Bonnie offered.

"Right, and we can isolate her away from the others. Please, Bonnie."

"Okay," Bonnie agreed. "But –"

"Bonnie. Most of the people in this room don't want anyone other than Katherine to get hurt," Rebecca said. "We understand that you don't want to risk other people's lives. So thank you."

"Okay." Bonnie nodded to accept Rebecca's thanks, but then looked at Stefan. "Who's all in this?"

"Ric's going to be at Elena's. He's watching out for her and Jenna."

"Oh. Can you watch Chelsea then?" Rebecca asked. "I usually take her with me to these things, but since Katherine's gonna be there . . . I don't want her there."

"Sure," Ric said.

Rebecca went upstairs to Chelsea's room and stopped at the doorway. Chelsea was sleeping peacefully, her small hands tucked up under her chin. She was the epitome of innocence, Chelsea was.

Rebecca sensed Damon behind her and leaned back into his chest when he put his arms around her.

"This is the real reason you want Katherine gone, isn't it," Damon asked. "Because of her."

Rebecca nodded. There was no use denying it.

"You're another reason, but yes. Chelsea is defenseless against Katherine, or anyone Katherine will send after me or us."

Damon nodded. "I have something to run by you then."

"Okay. What?"

"We can't actually kill Katherine," Damon said. "She's a well of information we may need sometime."

"That's what books are for," Rebecca said. "We don't need anything from her."

"Well, she knows about Chelsea. What if we could get that information from her?"

"She's not just gonna hand that juicy little tidbit over."

"No, but we can lock her in the tomb until she decides to."

Rebecca was not happy with the suggestion, but she knew Damon had a point. Katherine had been around for a long time. She would be useful if they needed information.

"Okay. I don't like it, but okay."

At the Gilbert residence Elena was walking Matt to the door. She was glad he'd decided to come home with her. Jeremy and Rebecca had bailed, so Elena had had to bring Jenna home herself.

"You know, you don't have to leave. You could stay. Alaric's coming over; it's gonna be pizza and bad TV," Elena offered.

"Uh, I'd love to, but I'm going to the masquerade party at the Lockwood's tonight. Aren't you?"

"Uh, no. Not with what's going on with me and Stefan."

"I've gotta go, there's somethin' that I've gotta do," Matt said, explaining his reason for going to a party he normally would not be interested in.

"What?" Elena only asked because Matt had sounded serious.

"Just somethin'. I can't talk about it, but I've gotta go."

"Oh. Okay," Elena said. "Well, have fun."

Elena was less than enthusiastic. Every one of her friends were going to be out that night having fun. Elena was going to be at home pigging out and watching bad acting.

"Yeah, me in a suit?" Matt said uncertainly.

"You look good in a suit."

Matt smiled widely at the compliment, but he sobered up pretty quickly. "You and Stefan will work it out."

"Um . . . I don't think so, Matt. There's so much about me and Stefan that'll never work." The least of which was Stefan's crazy ex. Katherine was a huge problem for Stefan and Elena, but that wasn't the only problem they had as a couple. Stefan was a vampire and wouldn't age, and Elena was human. She would age and eventually die because she didn't want to be a vampire.

Matt walked toward her and grabbed her shoulders. He looked into her eyes and sincerely said, "You know I'm here for you always."

Elena smiled softly and hugged Matt. She was glad that their friendship was still intact even though they had broken up almost a year ago.

Back at the boardinghouse Alaric was telling Stefan that he wouldn't let Elena out of his sight.

"Don't let her know what's happening," Rebecca said. "If she knows what we're doing she'll throw a fit."

"A'right," Stefan said. "Anyone wanna back out, we'll understand."

Alaric was fine with everything, it seemed. He was just standing there with his arms crossed. Caroline seemed nervous, but was firm in her decision to get rid of Katherine. Bonnie was still uncertain. Jeremy had no qualms to speak of.

Damon, Stefan, and Rebecca were all on the same page.

"Yeah, cold feet, speak now," Damon said. "I don't want this going wrong when someone chickens out. Caroline?"

"I won't," Caroline said. "Look, she killed me. Fair's fair. As long as there are no werewolves running around."

"Oh, I took care of Mason."

"And as long as Tyler doesn't kill anyone, he won't turn," Jeremy said.

The only one left was Bonnie; no one knew where she stood with this.

"Bonnie? You still with us?"

Bonnie looked at everyone and nodded. "But no one gets hurt."

"Except Katherine," Damon said.

Everyone was on board with the plan, Damon was glad to find. Now he could get to the fun part of the evening and show Rebecca the dress he'd gotten her. Bonnie and Caroline had to leave so they could get ready, and Alaric had to leave so he could baby-sit. Sadly, Elena needed it more than Chelsea; Elena got in more trouble than the baby did. Jeremy was going with Alaric, so he could get ready for the ball too.

Once everyone but Stefan had gone, Damon led Rebecca to their room. On the bed was a bag, a dress bag. Damon had gotten it specifically for Rebecca and for this occasion. He had seen a few other dresses he wouldn't have minded seeing Rebecca in but wouldn't have wanted to have anyone else see her.

"Damon, you did think about me wearing this in public, yes?" she asked softly.

"Yes," he answered, amused that their thoughts had pretty much been the same.

He watched as Rebecca unzipped the dress bag and smiled at her awed and pleased expression. The dress was a teal color. If it had been a lighter green it would've matched Rebecca's eyes. The top of the dress was made of silk and the lower part was made of a light sheer fabric that was see-through. There were many layers, though, so nothing would be seen that shouldn't have been.

There were peacock feathers flowing down the right side of the dress and they stopped about two inches from the end of her dress. The dress stopped about three inches above the knee. Well, if he'd made the calculations right, it would stop above her knees.

"Damon. I could've picked this out myself. I love it."

Damon let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He hated giving gifts because he never knew if the person was going to like it or not.

"You should've seen the ones I passed over. I would've loved to see you in some of the things I saw."

Damon grinned when Rebecca blushed. Even after all the things they'd done together in the bedroom she was still just as modest about her body as she'd ever been – unless she was performing in a concert, he remembered. She hadn't been modest then.

"And now . . ." Damon made a show of going to his dresser and opening on of the drawers. He pulled out a box and opened it. He tilted it so Rebecca could see the inside.

There a mask stood – sat, actually. A black mask, of course. On the right side of the mask were feathers. It had to match the dress, so when Damon had found the mask with just the right color of feathers, he'd had to buy it. There were sequins, too, that formed a figure eight around the eyes and connected at the nose.

The mask was one that strapped on, not one that had to be held up.

Damon saw the smile form on Rebecca's lips, but he also saw tears. Uh-oh. What had happened? What had he done wrong?

"What? What don't you like?"

"Nothing. I like all of it."

"Uh . . . okay. What's with the tears?"

Rebecca giggled. "It's a girl thing, Damon. Don't worry about it. It's just, even with everything going on, you noticed I hadn't been shopping for a dress and so you did it for me."

Damon still didn't understand why she would cry about that, but he let it go. If she wanted to cry happy tears, she could cry happy tears.

That night Stefan, Damon, and Rebecca were the first of their friends to arrive at the Lockwood's for the party. Rebecca was enjoying the show that some performers who were playing with fire were putting on. Some were juggling these stick looking things with fire burning on one end, and others were tossing those same stick things to other performers.

"Do you see her?" Damon asked Stefan.

"Nope," Stefan said. "Are you sure you can do this?"

Damon scoffed. "Who're you talkin' to?"

Rebecca realized that Stefan still thought that they were planning on killing Katherine. Stefan wasn't on the same page they were.

"Well, I had the chance to kill her and I hesitated," Stefan admitted.

"Well, that is the fork in the road between you and me, my friend," Damon said. "I don't hesitate."

"Actually, when it comes to Katherine, you both have hesitated," Rebecca said. "If it had been up to me, she would've been dead a while ago. Both of you stopped me, if I recall correctly."

"I won't hesitate," Damon said firmly.

"Okay," Stefan said.

Rebecca smiled a little. She was sure if they didn't need Katherine for something Damon wouldn't hesitate to kill her.

"Come on, guys. You're supposed to be having fun. So, Damon, let's dance. Stefan, go find someone to dance with."

Bonnie and Jeremy arrived at almost exactly the same time. Jeremy was responsible for the weapons and Bonnie's spell book. He had all the essentials in a bag.

He found Bonnie and led her upstairs to a room that was right off the stairway. It was close to the one he'd found Tyler in when he'd been here for the memorial service for the Mayor.

"I think this room could work," Jeremy said.

"Yeah, it's perfect," Bonnie said.

There were a few chairs and a sofa in the room. Jeremy placed his leather bag on the couch and opened it, pulling out a stake gun Alaric had given Damon to use. The next to come out was Bonnie's Grimiore.

"Is this the spell book I read about in my ancestor's journal?" Jeremy asked.

"It's my ancestor's book. The spell I'm doing here is similar to the one that sealed the vampires into the tomb."

Bonnie sat down on the sofa and opened her bag while Jeremy put the bag of weapons in the closet so whoever wanted to hide in there could choose what they wanted to use to defend their self.

"Well, can you do all the stuff that's in there?"

"I mean, it takes practice. I've worked on some small spells. Spells that only do good. I don't wanna know too much. I don't particularly enjoy any of this, in case you haven't noticed."

"Yeah, but you're a hundred percent witch; that is so cool."

"It is anything but cool." Bonnie looked at Jeremy. "Did your family journals tell you what happened to Emily? Or what about my Grams? It never ends well for people like me."

"If you feel that way, why help?"

"Because I don't want anyone else getting hurt. And I don't know how to stay out of it."

Jeremy looked at Bonnie and realized for the first time how beautiful she was.

"I feel like an invalid," Jenna complained.

"That's because you are an invalid," Elena teased. "Where's Jeremy? Isn't he hungry?"

The pizza had arrived a few minutes ago and now Elena was depositing the slices onto plates for everyone.

"He already left for the Lockwood party."

"He went to that?" Elena asked, feeling suspicion come to the forefront of her mind. Jeremy had made it perfectly clear ages ago that he hated the town functions and had no desire to go to them.

"I'm glad. He needs to have more fun," Jenna said. "Lose some of that emo thing."

Elena looked behind her at Ric, who was in the kitchen with his phone out. He was texting away.

"I'm gonna get some napkins."

Ric put his phone down and began trying to open a wine bottle.

"What's going on, Ric?"

"What d'you mean?" Ric asked, looking away guiltily.

"I haven't heard from anyone all day," Elena said. "It's like everyone's been avoiding me, and now Jeremy's supposedly at the party? He hates stuff like that."

Now that she mentioned it, Matt usually avoided these things too. And while Rebecca usually went to them with Damon, she didn't leave Chelsea behind.

"I don't know what to tell you, Elena," Ric said.

Ric's phone vibrated and Elena reached for it, but he snatched it from her. Elena didn't blame him; she didn't like anyone going through her phone either, but she wanted to know what was going on.

"So then you'll be okay if I just head out and just try and meet up with everyone?"

"No, wait," Ric said, grabbing her arm. "Wait."

"What're you hiding, Ric?"

"Stefan asked me to keep an eye on you," he said. "Just in case Katherine showed up while he was at the party."

"So Stefan's at the party, too?"

Ric shrugged a little and turned away from her.

"He would never go to the party for himself. He did that stuff for me."

"Just let this one go, okay, Elena?" Ric asked. "Come on, we have Chelsea to watch out for, huh?"

Elena nodded slightly. She would give it an hour and then she would try calling Jeremy and Rebecca. If they didn't answer, she'd sneak out and head to the party herself.

"We need to find Stefan and Damon and let them know the room's ready," Bonnie said, coming down the stairs with Jeremy following her.

At the bottom, Bonnie froze and took in her surroundings. A very weird but familiar vibe had gone through her suddenly. She'd only felt that vibe when she'd been around family, but she didn't have family here at the moment. Her mom was dead to her and her dad was out of town.

She followed that vibe until she found another caramel-colored woman.

"Excuse me, do I know you?" Bonnie asked the guest.

"No, I'm a plus one. I know no one. It's a great party, though."

The woman walked away, smiling. Bonnie turned back to Jeremy, who had been watching. He wanted to know if she was okay.

"I just got a weird vibe. Let's find Damon."

They found him on the dance floor with Rebecca. The scene was so normal – both having fun, smiling, laughing, being in love – that Bonnie almost forgot that they were there for a reason. Rebecca and Damon were just a couple having a good time. That's what they looked like.

"Hey, everything's ready upstairs."

Rebecca looked suddenly grim but thanked them both.

Damon, however, said, "This spell that traps us inside the room . . . you can lift it after Katherine is taken care of, yes?"

"Yes, Damon. As much as I'm not good with Rebecca right now, I wouldn't lock her up when Chelsea needs her."

"Dance with me," Stefan heard Elena's voice come from behind him, but he knew it wasn't Elena. Elena was safe at home.

"No." He gave Katherine an answer she didn't want. Katherine had always had a problem with the word no.

"Fine." A waiter passed by with a tray of strawberries and Katherine picked one up. "Then tell me who I should kill. Him? Mm. He looks delicious."

Katherine bit into the strawberry and Stefan reluctantly offered her his arm and she grasped it with her hand. He led her onto the dance floor and they began dancing close together so they could talk without being overheard.

"It's a beautiful night," Katherine purred.

"Why the charade?" Stefan asked, wondering why Katherine kept pretending to be Elena. Was Katherine jealous? Did Elena have something Katherine wanted?

"How's Jenna? I certainly didn't expect her to survive that. Lucky girl. Clumsy. How does one stab oneself?"

Katherine was being evasive. She didn't want to answer the question.

"Katherine, I don't want anyone to get hurt tonight."

"Okay," Katherine agreed easily. "Then give me the moonstone and nobody will."

"Mm. Well, see, I don't have the moonstone on me. So you and I will have to go get it together."

"Mm. I have a better plan. You go fetch it, and I will try not to kill anyone in the meantime."

Stefan chuckled. "My way, or you don't get it."

What Katherine didn't know was that Rebecca was the one who had the moonstone on her. It had come down to Bonnie and Rebecca. Rebecca was the stronger of the two, so . . . Rebecca had won that contest. Also, Rebecca was the one who was least likely to give into Katherine's antics.

"Stefan, I can't find Matt," a girl, Aimee Bradley, came up to them and said. Stefan vaguely knew her and that was only because Caroline had complained about her at some point. "Oh, Elena, you look so pretty. I love that dress. You look gorgeous."

"Thank you. I love your necklace," Katherine said. "Oh. It's twisted. Let me fix it."

Katherine got behind Aimee and, before Stefan could intervene, severed her spinal cord.

"Paralyzed from the waist down," Katherine said. "And dead."

Katherine shoved Aimee into Stefan's arms; it looked, to the casual observer, like Aimee had passed out and Stefan had caught her.

"The moonstone, Stefan. Tick tock."

Stefan watched Katherine walk away, and began walking away himself. After getting to a secluded space, he rushed to Damon's car and placed Aimee in the trunk. Bonnie was going to pitch a fit if she found out about this.

This was not going how he'd planned it. No one was supposed to get hurt. This was exactly what he hadn't wanted - having to hide a body and then find a way to dump it when they left. This was becoming a very dangerous game.

He knew Damon, and possibly Rebecca, would consider Aimee's death collateral damage. But Stefan couldn't consider it that way. They couldn't play this game with Katherine anymore.

Damon got a text from Stefan asking where they were and once Stefan appeared and told them what had happened Damon knew Stefan was feeling guilty about Aimee's death.

"We need to call it off," Stefan said.

"What?" both Damon and Rebecca said. Damon added, "Who's hesitating now? Don't do this to me!"

Damon grabbed his brother by the shoulders. "This woman destroyed our lives. She destroyed us. Tonight it ends. We can do it together. I got your back."

Stefan hesitated by eventually said all right. Damon knew that Stefan was just worrying about who else Katherine would kill. Damon wasn't worried about that, though he didn't want anyone else dying either.

This was his town. Nobody was allowed to kill his people but him.

"So, can you do, like, a hocus-pocus to ace a test?" Jeremy asked Bonnie. They had picked a table and were now waiting for a text from Damon or Rebecca to let them know Katherine had been taken care of.

"I don't know that spell," Bonnie said and smiled.

"It'd be, like, the first one I'd learn." Jeremy shrugged. "Or maybe a sex spell or something. I don't know. You wanna dance or something while we're waitin'?"

"No," Bonnie said. She was giggling too, and looking at him as if he'd grown an extra head. "I mean, no, thank you."

Jeremy wondered if Bonnie thought it was weird that he was flirting with her or that someone was flirting with her, period.

"Anyway, I can't use magic for personal gain. Magic always has a consequence and if I were to use it for something selfish there would be a backlash."

As her words sunk in, Jeremy's phone rang and, already having it in his hand, he saw that Rebecca was calling. Just who they needed to talk to.

"Yeah?" he answered.

"Rebecca wanted me to tell you that Katherine's here," Damon said. He was obviously using Rebecca's phone. "We need to make her suspicious enough to seek Blondie out."

"On it."

Jeremy didn't know what he was going to do, but he knew he would do something. Katherine couldn't get away with everything she'd done. She'd made Jenna hurt herself; she'd ruined Stefan's and Damon's lives; she'd sent people after Rebecca – nobody really knew why; she'd messed up Mason's life and had gotten him involved, which had gotten him killed.

He found Katherine talking to the woman Bonnie had sensed earlier.

"Elena?" The two women turned toward him. "Hey. Could I – could I talk to my sister for a minute?"

"What is it, Jeremy?" Katherine gave the woman leave to go.

"I have a message from Stefan."

"Oh."

"He and Damon want you to meet them at the edge of the lake by the woods. They brought the moonstone."

"And why are you their little messenger?" Katherine asked scathingly.

"Because they know I'm not afraid of you."

"Mm . . . Oh, you Gilbert men. So courageous."

Jeremy shrugged. He had his ring on that would bring him back to life. He wasn't afraid of Katherine. He wouldn't have been afraid even if he couldn't come back to life. If he had to die so everyone else would be safe, then so be it.

As Katherine walked away, bait taken, Jeremy began walking the path back toward the party, but someone grabbed him and pulled him into some bushes.

"What is going on?"

It was Elena this time. She had on something Katherine wouldn't be caught dead in.

"Elena! You're not supposed to be here. You're –"

"I know, but I was worried."

"Okay, I'll explain, but there's something I have to do first."

Jeremy took out his phone and texted Caroline.

Your turn – J

Inside, Caroline got Jeremy's text and went off on her own; she knew Katherine wouldn't actually attack her in public. If she was pretending to be Elena, she couldn't argue with Elena's friends without people becoming suspicious.

Caroline headed to the bathroom but was confronted by Katherine. No one was around to see Caroline being slammed up against the wall.

"What are Stefan and Damon up to?" the brunette asked.

"What d'you mean?"

"I've got Jeremy Gilbert luring me out to the lake. What's going on?"

"I don't know. I – Nothing." Caroline put on her best frightened voice. She sounded like a small child. She suddenly wished she and Rebecca had been able to start her defense-training that day. She really didn't think she stood a chance against Katherine.

"Don't lie to me, Caroline." Katherine put a hand to Caroline's throat and began squeezing. "They're up to something. What is it?"

"I –" Caroline felt her neck begin to crack. "Wait, wait, wait! No. Okay?" When the pressure began to lessen Caroline continued speaking. "They're trying to kill you."

"Figured as much." Katherine let her go. "Where's the moonstone?"

"Rebecca has it," Caroline admitted softly.

"And where is Rebecca right now?" Katherine asked sweetly but with an underlying malice.

Caroline glared at her. "I don't know." She had to make Katherine believe how hard it would be for her to betray one of her friends.

Katherine grabbed her by the throat again, this time lifting her off the ground.

"She's upstairs! She's upstairs!"

Back outside, Elena was listening to Jeremy's explanation of why everyone was there and what they were doing. She thought maybe everyone had gone crazy.

"You're trying to kill Katherine here?"

"We saw an opportunity and we knew we had to take it."

"Okay, stop with the we. Are you guys crazy? You're gonna get yourselves killed."

"We know what we're doing, Elena," Bonnie tried to reassure her. Jeremy had texted her and Bonnie had shown up quickly after that.

"And how am I supposed to feel if one of you guys gets hurt because of me?"

"It's not just about you anymore, Elena," Jeremy said. "She's messed with all of us. She has to be stopped."

Elena wanted Katherine gone. She did – but she didn't want to lose someone she cared about in the process. Katherine was crazy and selfish and vengeful; she didn't really need any more reasons to go on a killing spree.

"Why do you keep dragging me into this? I don't want any part of it." Caroline was being dragged by her hair; Katherine was leading her upstairs when she thought Rebecca was waiting.

Well, Rebecca was, but there was also a trap waiting for Katherine that the brunette didn't know about.

"Shut up," Katherine ordered her. "Which room is it?"

"It's that one," Caroline answered, gesturing to the one closest to the stairs they had just climbed.

Katherine let her go and went in, banging the doors against the walls as she opened them. Caroline saw two chairs, a sofa, a small wardrobe thing, a coffee table, a small alcohol table, and other decorative furniture, but no Rebecca, Damon, or Stefan.

"Where is she?" Katherine asked.

Rebecca was there, just not in sight.

Caroline laughed. "I did it." Another laugh. "I really didn't think that I'd be able to fool you, but I did it."

Katherine snarled and pounced toward the door, but Caroline wasn't afraid because she knew Katherine couldn't reach outside the door frame.

"What the . . .?"

"Hello, Katherine." Caroline saw her friend come out of her hiding place. "Hey, Care."

"Hey, Becca." She looked at Katherine. "Delivered as requested. Good-bye, Katherine."

Okay, I don't seem to be getting as many reviews as I used to. Is it because I'm taking too long to update or am I not writing as well as I did? I have, however, getting more and more followers and being favorited - I don't know if that's the same thing or not.

Anyway, let me know what you guys think!