Warning: Use of language in this chapter.

Crazy

After five minutes of fruitless hanging around, Bonnie said she was going to go back to her house and gather as many grimoiries as she could, then bring them over to the Gilbert House where she didn't have to worry about her dad asking too many questions. Elena handed over the keys to her own house readily, giving Bonnie a tight wave as she pulled out of the parking lot, leaving Elena standing in the light of the setting sun, a chill of vulnerability and unease snaking along the bare skin of her arms despite the warmth of the day. As it happened, she wasn't alone for long, for Caroline soon walked over, vampiric grace allowing to cover the distance in a graceful jog despite the absurd size of her heels.

"Hi! I totally forgot that Tyler said he was going to bake early so that he could go to football practice, putting in the obligatory heir appearance, shaking hands and greasing wheels and all that. Where's Bonnie?"

"She went home to get a head start on the research front, and Ric still hasn't come back with Jeremy," Elena informed her, worry starting to brew like spoilt coffee in the pit of her stomach, acidic and sharp.

Calm as always, Caroline said breezily, "Well, let's go find him, then," before taking Elena by the wrist and pulling her inside, trying to look like nothing was wrong. She was likely doing a much better job than Elena was: these days, she felt like all she did was worry, either about Stefan, or Elijah, or what Klaus was going to do next or what was going on with Jeremy and...

"Stefan didn't tell you where he got the necklace from?" the blonde asked her curiously as they ducked down yet another hallway, their steps muffled by the plush carpet under their feet, a deep maroon that looked like an absolute nightmare to get clean.

Elena shook her head, heart hurting just at hearing his name. "No, and I never asked." She wished she had, though. She'd always been curious, sure, but he'd been around for over a hundred and seventy years: the guy was bound to pick up antiques, and his room was practically an Aladdin's treasure trove of unique and rare objects, anyway, so she hadn't given it's origins much thought. She added with a tinge of desperation, "Hopefully Bonnie will be able to figure it out."

Just because she no longer felt comfortable wearing it around her neck didn't mean she wanted to stop wearing it altogether, or have to destroy it or something. It was her last tangible piece of Stefan, the same way she knew that Damon had kept up the upkeep of Stefan's beloved car. Elena had go of him, but she wasn't ready to give up the memory of him just yet.

"I thought I told you to wait by the car for me," Alaric chided her when they eventually found him, worry etched gravely in the lines of his face. The poor guy; all this stress couldn't be good for him. She knew it certainly wasn't doing her any favours.

"I know, I'm sorry, but Bonnie left to start researching and I really just want to get out of here," Elena admitted, and her pseudo-dad visibly softened at her palpable exhaustion, both physically and mentally.

"Me, too."

"Where's Damon?" she asked him, figuring the Council meeting should have let out by now. Ha, let out: she made it sound like a high school chess club.

"Probably off buttering up the Council so they don't get it into their heads to ramp up their anti-vampire campaign, and not through strictly ethical ways, I'd wager."

Elena rebuked her friend with a sharp, "Caroline!"

The blonde held her hands up in surrender. "What? I'm just saying what we're all thinking!"

"Less arguing, more walking, ladies. I don't want to get cornered by Mrs Johnson again, otherwise we'll be here until next year."

Passing an open doorway, the colour drained from Caroline's face in one great rush, body strung tight like a wire, rooting her to the spot.

"Caroline?" Elena asked worriedly, tone so different from how she'd said her name not thirty seconds ago.

"It's my dad."

That was all she needed to say.

Alaric glared daggers at the man. "Why would he show up here?" he asked confusedly, but right then, Elena didn't give a damn. All that mattered was getting Caroline away from him as fast as possible.

"Don't know, don't care. Come on, I'm getting you out of here," gripping her shaking hand, slick with sweat like it hadn't been since their first cheer routine and Caroline was scared about being on top of the pyramid and messing up, Elena pulled her down the hall and out the door, not stopping until she'd reached Caroline's car. Then, and only then, did she let go of her hand.

"I'll call you later, okay?" Elena promised, moving to close the driver's side door when Caroline stalled her.

"'Lena...thanks, for that. For knowing I couldn't be around him, without having to say anything."

"Of course," the brunette replied instantly. "What are best friends for if not to rescue each other from bad situations. Get home safe, okay?"

Unfortunately, the day just got worse, especially with Damon's arrival and his exclamation of how Bill Forbes was somehow immune to compulsion and wanted to take over the Town Council, and how Damon wanted to kill him and just be done with it, which, of course, led to an argument between him and Ric.

And now here she was, standing over Ric's dead body, without a clue as to how this had all fallen apart so fast.

Lucy wasn't used to being relied upon, or being scared, either. She was a Bennett witch and could melt someone's face off with a glare, so what did she have to be afraid of? But when she picked up her ringing phone and heard Bonnie's voice on the other end, shaking so hard she could barely get the words out, a panic she had never known gripped her heart, froze the blood in her veins until she didn't even know if she was breathing, if her limbs were even working.

"Bonnie? Bonnie! I need you to take a breath. Can you do that for me? Just one, sweet pea," Lucy urged her in her gentlest voice. She'd never been a very touchy-feely person, but she hoped to God she could tap into some sort of universal reservoir of calm and kindness right now. Whatever had happened, it wasn't good.

"Okay, okay, I can do that." Lucy heard her take a breath, could imagine her (sort of) cousin steeling her shoulders, braver than any teen should ever have to be.

Taking a seat on the threadbare green couch in her apartment, she asked her gently, "What happened, Bon? Walk me through it."

Bonnie began shakily, "Elena has this necklace that Stefan gave her. You remember me mentioning him, right?"

"Right. The vampire Salvatore, the one who's been AWOL all the summer, with that bastard Klaus Mikaelson." Who had, only this past week, retracted his job offer to Orla, and she was glad of it: Lord knows what would have happened if her friend had taken the job and let herself been ensnared in the clutches of an Original.

"She's had it for almost a year now, and then out if the blue, it burned her. Then, I was looking through my grimoires and found an Indentification spell, since it obviously has its own magic, and it started floating, Lucy! Which is weird, but not too weird for us, you know? So, I went back to her house and was trying to do some more research when...when the books started burning, and there was smoke everywhere and Jeremy was with me and, oh, God, Lucy, he could have died! If I hadn't put it out fats enough, we could have burned to death!" Her words trailed off into tears, gasping sobs as Bonnie thought so hard to keep it together. Some might have diagnosed such a reaction from the teen as uncharacteristic, given the supernatural world she now encountered on the daily, but Lucy had an idea as to why this had hit her so much.

"I'm sorry, I'm so embarrassed for blubbering all over you like this, I don't know why I'm so upset-"

"But I do," Lucy cut her off softly. "You've been away from this for weeks, Bonnie. You were living a normal, happy existence with no vampires and no stress. Of course the first time you're put in danger, it's gonna hit you harder. It's nothing to be sorry or embarrassed about. I walked away from magic, too, for a little while. And then I got caught up in it again, just like I always do, and it was hard for me, too."

"Really?" Bonnie asked curiously. "You never told me that."

"I didn't want you to be scared of what you could do," the other witch admitted to her, feeling such a strong, glimmering connection with the girl in that moment. Yes, Lucy wasn't used to being relied upon, but it was one of the best feelings in the world, like magic, to be able to bring just a little bit of comfort and reassurance to someone she cared about.

Lucy was just about to say more when she heard Katherine's voice in the background of the call shout, "Jeremy! Can you get down here? Alaric's dead again." Not Katherine, then, but Elena. And Alaric...

He couldn't be dead. He just couldn't. Not that sweet guy with his shy smile who was so smart and adorably awkward and who just wanted to do right by his kids and...

"Alaric's dead?" The words were as insubstantial as a breath.

"Yeah, but it's okay," Bonnie reassured her happily, "he's wearing the Gilbert Ring, so if it was something supernatural that killed him...hang on a sec, Lucy, I'll go ask Elena."

There was some shuffling, then Bonnie's voice asking Elena, "What killed him?" and her raging reply of, "Damon, that's who."

Wait, weren't they friends? It didn't matter. Floating her bag out from the hall closet, Lucy slotted the phone into the crook of her shoulder as she said to Bonnie, "Bon? I'm coming over. I'll be there in a bit."

"Lucy, that's a massive drive! He'll be awake by the time you get here."

"No, he won't," she cut her off swiftly. "Listen, I need you to do something for me, okay? Have you got any chalk in the house?"

"Chalk?" Bonnie parroted incredulously. "Um, I think so."

"Good. Now, go to the Bennett grimoires and find the Transportation spell. If memory serves, it's somewhere in the middle. Draw out the circle, exactly as it is in the book, okay? Every line has to be exact, otherwise it won't work and things will go bad."

"How bad?"

Lucy flipped her hair over her shoulder, stalking into her bathroom and pulling out the bare essentials from the medicine cabinet. "I'll explode into a puddle of goo," she remarked off-handedly, going back to her duffel with her newly collected items and dumping them in there unceremoniously.

"Best to avoid that, then."

"Set up the candles and wait for me. I'll be drawing a circle of my own, here. It's kinda like hopscotch, I'll be moving from one place to the other, the circle here to the circle there, where you are. Bonnie, everything's gonna be okay, alright? I'll take care of Alaric and help you with whatever is going on with Elena's necklace, and put some wards up around the house, just in case," she promised her as she reached up to the little dish on top of the refrigerator where she kept her chalk and started lighting the candles with her magic.

"Okay," Bonnie let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Lucy. This means a lot to me."

Lucy smiled, although Bonnie couldn't see it, of course. "Yeah well, you mean a lot to me, and we Bennett's gotta stick together, you here?"

"I here you."

Picking up her bag, Lucy asked her, "You ready?"

"I'm ready."

She knew the spell from memory, so there was no need to check her books, but she did stuff in a few of her grimoires she thought might come in handy. "Now, before you start, I need you to get Elena to put a few drops of her blood at the four points of the circle."

"What?" Bonnie inquired protectively. "Why?"

"You're not strong enough to do the spell alone, Bonnie, and the blood of the doppelgänger will give you a power boost."

"It's fine," Lucy heard Elena say. "I'm used to spilling my blood for something or other by now."

"We good?" the elder Bennett asked of the younger.

"We're good," Bonnie confirmed.

"Alright, let's get cooking, then."

Elena had seen some weird things in her day, bit seeing Bonnie's cousin materialize out of thin air definitely stole the cake. Although she wasn't much of a sci-fi nerd, she couldn't help but think of the transporter in Star-Trek, and wonder if the mechanics of the spell worked in a similar way. Lucy took charge of the situation immediately, much to Elena's great relief, kicking her bag under the couch and getting Alaric set up on said couch, putting some sort of protective bubble thing around her necklace, and setting up wards around the house just in case the fire had been caused by anything else, since they weren't even sure why it has happened in the first place.

She was in the process of scrounging up some dinner for the four of them, and maybe a strong cup of tea, when Caroline burst through the door, face a mask of Valkyrie-like fury as she ripped off her cardigan, scrunched it into a ball, and lobbed it at the wall in frustration, watching as the fabric fluttered, unharmed, to the carpet, a sad cloud of pink cotton.

"Ugh! I hate him! I hate him so much! I wish I could just tear his face off and kick him in the family jewels for all eternity and..."

"Who's face are we tearing off now?" Bonnie inquired lightly, a mug of tea in hand. She seemed a lot calmer now, with Lucy here, and Elena was swamped with guilt over the fact she'd had to deal with that fire alone. She should have been there. She shouldn't have waited -Jeremy hadn't, he'd been here- for Ric and she should have gone with her and she should have stopped Damon and-

"Damon tried to kill my dad! And then we got into a fight, he pinned me to the desk and everything! God, if Tyler hadn't been there, it could have been even worse."

As if on cue, Caroline's boyfriend appeared, just as frustrated and restless as her.

"I'm gonna kill him."

Caroline fisted her hands in her hair. "Tyler..."

"I'm serious, Care," he told her, vibrating like a plucked guitar string. "What he did was beyond wrong." His gaze traveled to Alaric's prone body on the couch. "What happened to Ric?"

"Damon," Elena supplied, and it was answer enough. Crossing the room, she held out a mug of tea for each of them.

"Thanks, 'Lena." Tyler shook his head, the movement purely canine, as he took a sip. "I guess we're all on board the Hating Damon Express tonight then, huh?"

"It looks like it," said a voice from the bottom of the stairs, and Elena watched in amusement as her friends, minus Bonnie, turned towards it in shock.

"Who's that?" Caroline whispered to her.

"That's Bonnie's cousin, the one who was working for Katherine at the Masquerade Party, with the whole Moonstone thing," Elena whispered back, a grin splashing across her face at the blonde's obvious curiosity.

"But how did she get here?" Caroline didn't wait for an answer, and instead posed her query to the lady in question.

"Magic," she replied simply, eyes scanning the two of them before travelling to Bonnie. "I'm Lucy, Bonnie's long-lost witchy cousin. Nice to meet y'all." She then wondered interestedly, "How many friends do you have, exactly?"

"Well, Matt's not here, but this is most of us. Why?"

"Just want to know how many people have access to the house regularly, is all. And vampires, how many have been invited in?" she asked Elena, and she had to think for a moment before admitting, "Stefan and Damon, obviously. And Elijah. We've had others, but they're dead now."

Lucy blanched visibly. "Elijah Mikaelson has a standing invitation here?"

"It's okay, Lucy, he's got a thing for Elena," Caroline said, voice heavy with merciless teasing.

The witch's eyebrows practically shot off her face. "He does? Well, good for you, I guess. You got good taste, kiddo. You should know, then, that Klaus put out a job to the witching community for someone to do a major locator spell on him, but has since retracted it. Make of that what you will."

That certainly didn't fill her with confidence.

"Now that that's settled, who wants to help me lug the vacuum upstairs so that I can get Jeremy room cleaned up?"

Unsurprisingly, nobody raised their hand. They were, after all, still teenagers, and therefore had a genetic aversion to any kind of housework.

"I'll help," Bonnie piped up eventually. "I'll need to see what I can salvage of my grimoires, anyway."

"Sounds like a plan to me."

Manouevering the vacuum upstairs was certainly a team effort, as was cleaning Jeremy's room. Her brother sat on the bed the whole time, staring off into space, brows pinched as if he was waging some internal battle with himself. Once her and Bonnie were done, though, he pulled them aside and began to explain just what had been bothering him all summer.

Life was going to get a hell of a lot more complicated, wasn't it?

Having Gloria invade his mind for memories of Elena was by no means a pleasant experience, yet Stefan wasn't sure if the aftermath was any better: getting saved by none other than Katherine Pierce would be a blow to anyone, especially one such as he, what with his yearning, burning hatred of her that made him contemplate ripping her heart from her chest even while she was helping him out.

After finally getting off that damned table, Stefan surveyed the dead witches body, saddened by the necessity of the act: she couldn't have been kept alive, just like Ray Sutton. She'd learnt to much, and as much as her death pricked at his conscious, his love for Elena and his need to keep her safe would always override that.

"I've been thinking about your diabolical plan," Katherine purred, a hint of excitement and self-satisfaction pooling in her tone like the blood pooling at her feet.

Stefan tried not to look too interested. "Oh?"

"You must know that Klaus is too paranoid to ever fully trust you, but his sister...she loves you like it was yesterday. She's an easier mark. But you can't just pretend to care," she mused as she pierced him with one of her searching glances, as if he were a book she'd memorized long ago, "because Klaus will know better, so you do the opposite. You ignore her, make her feel left out, and it'll only make her want you more."

"So, I'm taking a page out of the Katherine Pierce Playbook?" he asked sarcastically as he covered Gloria with a sheet and blew out the candles: he didn't want the place to burn down. He really had enjoyed some good times here.

Katherine carried on like she hadn't heard him. "The only question is why, Stefan. I mean, I get it, you want to keep Klaus away from Mystic Falls, but what else do you expect to get from it?"

Internally, Stefan rolled his eye: like he'd ever tell *her Elena's blood was the key to making Klaus' hybrid's.

"You know, it's funny," Stefan remarked, although nothing about their current situation was remotely amusing, "you're talking to me like I actually trust you enough to tell you. And why are you here, anyway, without Elijah, I might add? Did he get tired of you already?"

Her eyes flashed dangerously. Oh, there was so much cruelty in those eyes, and it was such a horrid thing, to see the face he loved so much, Elena's face, carry out such a soulless look. Although, deep down, he still believe there was some flicker of goodness in Katherine, some long-forgotten ember, blanketed by the ashes of her family and a life spent running from Klaus...otherwise, she wouldn't have just saved his life.

"Elijah, as my sources tell me, is on his way back to Mystic Falls as we speak: he's obviously very dependent on sweet Elena, can hardly be five miles away from her, which is just so yuck on so many levels." Katherine wrinkled her nose before stalking towards him, voice low and honeyed and persuasive. "Stefan, dearest, he's not important. We are, and we're beyond all of that. I literally just saved you from Hilda the High Voodoo Priestess," she reminded him, like a dog expecting a treat after doing a trick.

He was in the mood for neither, and all he wanted was to get away from her as fast as possible, and the only way for that to happen was...if he told her the truth. A weary sigh passed Stefan's lips before he confessed, "I knew them. Back in the twenties. They were running from someone, someone who scared them."

The vampire had never seen her go pale, had wondered if she was even capable of being shocked or frightened. Seeing her face now answered that question for him.

"The Hunter," Katherine breathed out, unconsciously taking a step back, as if merely saying his name would conjure him out of thin air.

Stefan nodded,

Katherine continued hesitantly, like she was talking about a monster from a fairy tale, hushed and yet slightly reverent, awes by such a capacity for darkness and cruelty, "I heard stories about him, centuries ago."

"You wanna know why an Original Vampire, who can't be killed, is afraid of a vampire hunter? 'Cause I certainly do."

She pounced on the idea, already sinking her claws into it. "If you're making a move against Klaus, I want in."

Mockingly, he patted her on the arm, moving past her effortlessly. "That's good. It's good to want things, Katherine." Hoisting Gloria's tarp-wrapped body into his arms, putting her over his shoulder ina morbid fireman's carry.

Katherine was practically vibrating with outrage. "Stefan."

"Katherine," he replied curtly before shutting the metaphorical door in her face with his, "I'm in this alone. If you're looking for a diabolical partner in crime, I suggest you look elsewhere. There's plenty more psychotic fish in the sea for you to catch on your hook. Thanks for the save. See you...well, hopefully never," before walking out back and burning the body of the only other person who could have brought this house of cards he'd been carefully stacking tumbling to ground.

He was living on borrowed time, though, and he knew it. He had been ever since he'd woken up on the other side of the Falls in 1864 with a bullet-shaped hole ripped through his shirt yet suffered no wound, when all he could think about was blood. Blood, and Katherine.

It seemed, in a hundred and forty six years, not much had changed, except now the only woman in his mind, his heart, was Elena, yet she was in far more danger than Katherine had ever been, and he was no longer there to come to her rescue.

Still reeling from her enlightening conversation with Jeremy, the last thing Elena wanted to hear right now was the familiar crunch of Damon's Camaro as he parked outside her house, yet here it she did, the noise resulting in a monstrous headache forming at her temples, weighing on her like a mountain. She didn't know what she'd say to him, if she'd even be able to hold herself back from tearing into him as she so wished to do, but for the sake of her friends in the house, for Jeremy's sake, Elena would try her utmost best to keep it together.

At Damon's knock -the act in of itself less common than the passing of the comet Mystic Falls celebrated with such reverence- Tyler and Caroline immediately tensed up from where they were squished together in an armchair, Alaric's lifeless body still on the couch, so that when he'd woke up he wouldn't feel confused and disorientated if he opened his eyes to see he was in Jenna's room.

Bonnie and Jeremy were in the kitchen with Lucy, washing up the plates from the pizza Elena had so artfully -not- cooked up. Her brother and vest friend remained oblivious, but Lucy shot her a warning look before turning her attention back to her cousin. Grabbing a cardigan from the hook by the door, Elena braced herself for the onslaught that was Damon Salvatore.

Elena looked exhausted. The thought gnawed at him, a dog relentlessly chewing on a bone although there's no meat left, and it knows it, but it keeps on going anyway. While usually he would have taken a minute to make sure she was alright, tonight Damon decided to skip the pleasantries.

"Is he awake yet?" was the first thing he asked her, trying to keep his voice as level as possible.

Elena shook her head, fisting her hands in her sleeves. "No, it's taking longer this time. But don't worry, we're all here to look after him," she commented flippantly, time frigid and frosty. Okay, maybe he deserved that kind of reaction from Ric, but he hadn't done anything to her, so why was he suddenly getting the cold shoulder?

"Look, I get that you're probably mad at me-" Damon began, only for Elena to cut him off with a humourless laugh.

"Probably? I'm probably mad at you? Damon, you killed the closest thing I have to a dad! And for no other reason than you were pissed off and needed an outlet. Next time, go to the gym, punch some trees, do whatever, but you do not touch Alaric, you got me? I thought, after what you did to Jeremy, you would have stopped and reconsidered before doing something like that again."

Wrong thing to say. Very, very wrong.

"You're right, Elena, it isn't anything I haven't done before! I make rash decisions that hurt you and the people you care about: it's who I am."

"No, it's not," she insisted, brown eyes pulsing with fury. God, she was a force of nature when she was pissed. And still just as beautiful. Even when he wanted to shake some sense into her, he couldn't not love her, and all that she was. That was why this was all so damn hard. "Damon, while Stefan was gone, while I was gone, you held things together here. You made sure everybody stayed safe. That doesn't mean nothing."

Damon shrugged nonchalantly. "Who knows? Maybe I was just getting bored and wanted to switch things up a bit, try out the hero routine without having to commit to the part. I guess it just wasn't to my tastes."

"That's a load of crap, and you know it! God, Damon, you can't do this anymore! Not in this town, not around me!" Frustrated tears pricked at the edges of her lashes, glistening like drops of ice in the porch light. And he knew he'd only cause more of them.

Leaning towards her, nose almost brushing his, he goaded that wild temper of hers, "Why is it suddenly so important for everyone to keep me in check?"

"Because I don't want you to be what other people think that you are!" was her whisper-shouted reply.

Damon rolled his eyes, fists finding their way into his jacket pockets. "What, a monster? Last I checked Elena, I was still a vampire!" he shouted, not even attempting to maintain this lace-thin facade of decorum. So what if her friends heard them arguing? It was better they all knew now, rather than being caught unawares in the future. Better they say the serpent now, than mistake it for a harmless flower. Because, oh, boy, did he bite.

"Yes, but you don't have to act like one."

His hand darted out, pulling her towards him until her chest collided roughly with his leather-clad one, voice like midnight thunder as he rumbled, "Listen to me, very, very carefully, alright? I am not Stefan. I will never, ever be him. I will never be the golden-haired goody-two-shoes skipping through the fucking daffodils. I will never be good, or moral, or righteous, and no amount of sleepovers or pancakes or cuddle sessions on the couch is ever going to change that, which is something you're just gonna have to live with. You all are, otherwise this will end badly. Goodnight, Elena."

Turning on his heel, he half-expected her to race after him, to get him to stay and work this out, to hit him or slap him or just do something. She'd given Elijah Mikaelson hell when he walked out of here just a couple of days ago, but tonight, no such assault came.

Maybe, to her, he was no longer worth the effort.

And maybe, just maybe, that was his own damn fault.

For a long time, Tyler had never felt quite right hanging out with the girls without Matt. Perhaps because he didn't know how to quite talk to them anymore, long gone were the days of lazy summers by the lake and baking cookies and having snowball fights. And also, he figured they'd be thw first to notice what was going on with his dad, since they all seemed to see far more than anyone else he knew, and he wasn't quite sure how hed deal with that can of worms. Luckily, it never came up, and now, he didn't feel weird at all, hanging out with them, talking about magic and spells of all things, going through books like they were in an episode of Buffy.

He did feel bad, leaving Matt out, especially now that Jeremy was seeing Vicki and all, but they all agreed that for now, it was best to keep him away from anything dangerous as much as possible. He was still human and, unlike Jer and Ric, didn't have a freaky magic ring to bring him back from death should the worst happen. Pulling his girlfriend closer, Tyler watched with a smirk as Caroline shamelessly eavesdropped on Elena and Damon's conversation on the porch, making the occasional, "Oohh," and comment of, "Oh, boy, she got him good," and, Tyler's personal favourite, "God, Damon is such a psychotic knucklehead." She'd made no secret her dislike for Damon, and was probably glad Elena hadn't been around him this summer and was now instead pining over the scary Original fella with the suits and the pocket squares.

Slamming the door on her way back in, they all tried their best to avert their gaze as Elena trooped back inside and just slumped into the middle of the carpet, her head falling back against Alaric's boots. Nobody tried to talk to her, sensing she needed a moment to decompress, but when the TV switched to adverts, Tyler threw her the blanket currently squashed under his back, and she took it with a grateful smile, settling in for another long night.

Rebekah could always tell when Stefan was lying. Oh, he put on a good show, which she had anticipated, said all the right things and looked at her the right way and made her feel beautiful and bold and important...but it was all a falsehood. The things she said to him, however, about how she'd hated her brother, how no one being truly fearless, and how Nik secretly admired Stefan's loyalty to his brother...that was all true. Which was why it was all the more satisfying to see his face when Nik snapped his neck.

It hurt, to know he wasn't really with them, that this had all been some elaborate deception, some trickery in order to steer them away from their objective. Well, Nik's objective, to be fair, she couldn't care two cents about hybrids, she was only along for the ride because 1) Nik was her brother, she loved him, and he was the only one of her family she could talk to, since despite her snooping behind Klaus' back -the first thing she did upon waking was see which of her siblings' coffins were empty, and which were not- it seemed Elijah was occupied with other things, which means they'd had a tiff, which means she'd have to get them to reunite somehow, hopefully within the next decade or so and 2) She loved Stefan, which she'd have never thought possible, so soon after the death if Marcel, yet here she was. Watching as Klaus loaded his dead body into a removal truck like he was so much furniture.

It was more than the git deserved. If that had been her, she would have at least kicked him in the head a few times, for good measure.

"You're pouting," Klaus noted wryly as he compelled the driver before slipping into their own car -there was no way they were going all the way in that *thing.

"I'm not," Rebekah huffed exasperatedly, gripping the door handle with perhaps a tad more force than was required, making a small dent in the delicate metal. Well, it certainly wasn't her fault modern cars weren't equipped to handle vampiric strength, was it. "I just...we were so happy, Nik. Back in the twenties. You treated him like a brother, like family, and then he goes and betrays us so easily."

"Are you really so surprised by this, Bekah? Haven't you yourself betrayed our family in the name of love more than once over the centuries?"

Of course he'd bring that up now.

"That was different," she snapped defensively. "The depth of any of my prior transgressions is nothing compared to the might of Stefan's treachery."

It was true. Her actions in the name of love had been far, far worse, for nothing would be more of a betrayal to her beloved brother than learning the knowledge she had once summoned him to their home in New Orleans, to drive him out of their beloved home so that she may be with Marcel once and for all, and they had all suffered because of it, Marcel most of all.

"I think it's that girl, the one you told me he loved, I thinks that's what's keeping him back."

Klaus tapped his fingers against the steering wheel, a motion completely alien to her, since she'd only ever seen him do that with one of his paintbrushes, and only ever when he was stressed or deep in thought. Right now, Rebekah suspected he was feeling the effects of both.

"I think you're right, sister. It's the logical conclusion, isn't it? It would also explain my failure to make hybrids, if proven to be true."

Rebekah shifted in her seat, the pale shafts of moonlight fighting the way through the glass the only illumination, but it was still perfectly adequate to see the unease swimming in her brother's blue eyes. "Are you worried?" Rebekah asked him softly. "About going back?" About going home?

The Original waved her words away like they were bothersome flies. "I'm a hybrid now, Rebekah: what reason would j have to possibly worry? It's not like anyone in that town poses any real threat to me."

"The girl does though," the blonde pointed out thoughtfully. "You said she was brave, right? That she knew of the sacrifice months in advance and tried to make a deal with Elijah?"

"She did make a deal with our brother, yes," Klaus corrected her agitatedly. "But of course, the Salvatore brothers -the elder one in particular- had to botch it up. Somehow, Elena got Elijah to reconsider and then there's some details Stefan didn't care to fill in. What's your point?"

Nik really could be a careless dolt sometimes. "She won't come willingly, Nik. You killed her, and her aunt, in that ritual sacrifice of yours. She likely hates your guts. Honestly, I can't say I blame her."

The corner of his mouth lifted in a smirk. "Still smarting over the fact I kept you locked away from the world for ninety years?"

"Of course I am. I've experienced so little of life as it is, what with our constant running and all. Klaus, you could have woken me, could have fixed whatever quarrel you had with Elijah, and we could have gone home, back to New Orleans. We could have rebuilt."

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. There's no point in trying to recapture out past, Rebekah: it wouldn't be the same, and we both know it."

Marcel's name hung between them, heavy as a curtain, as terribly sad as a Greek tragedy. He was right, of course, it would no be the same, without his shining light and wonderful smile. But still...wasn't it better than going back to the place they'd died? The place their father had driven a sword through each of them, the place Nik had been cursed for all eternity?

Plus, New Orleans was sure to have far better places to go shopping, and far tastier things to eat, and she didn't just mean beignets.

"We could be wrong," she wondered as she traced the condensation fogging on the window with an idle fingertip.

"We could be," Klaus agreed readily before turning to her, "but I trust you too much not to take that risk."

The first three things Ric noted when he came back to life was: someone had taken off his boots for him, there was a glass of water and a bottle of aspirin on the coffee table, and that Elena had fallen asleep just a few inches away from his hand, Tyler and Caroline in a similar state in one of the armchairs. Gingerly, he reached out for the aspirin and the water, since he did have a killer headache, and took them in one go. Next, he scooped Elena off of the floor, only slightly unsteady as he made his way up the stairs and pulled back the covers on her bed, attempting to be extra quiet since Bonnie had made an impromptu bed on the floor. Ric was in the process of hustling up an extra pillow for her when he felt a tugging on his wrist.

Elena was awake, eyes still half-closed, but a smile was on her face as she looked at him. "You're awake. I was getting really worried."

"I'm fine, Elena, there's no need to worry," he assured her gently, only to watch as she shook her head stubbornly.

"But I do. I worry about you all the time. I have to worry, because apparently Damon hasn't learnt his lesson from the last time he killed one of my family in a hissy fit."

Ric jolted at that word. Family. He'd loved his parents, yes, and he'd loved Isobel -God, he'd loved her so much that the thought of her being dead still clawed at him sometimes in the middle of the night- but what he'd found here in Mystic Falls, these two teens who were braver than any warrior or soldier and yet so compassionate and forgiving and giving...it really was everything he could have asked for.

Sitting up slightly, Elena pulled the coverlet up to her chin and broached tentatively, "I know with me being gone this summer, we haven't had a lot of time to talk. But I want you to know that...I loved my dad a lot. I know now that he wasn't perfect, that how he saw the world was so black and white, when it came to vampires, and that's not something I'd ever condone, neither is it something I can change. And being a part of this family...it comes with risks. So many, many risks, and what happened to you today is proof of that. What I'm trying to say is...I know you're not my dad, biologically, but I love you like you were. This past year, you've gotten me and Jeremy through so much, things I don't think even he could have gotten us through, you know? And seeing Damon kill you today, I haven't felt scared like that in a long time, when you didn't wake up, not even when Klaus sacrificed me, since I knew there wasn't anything I could do to stop that. It was like I was in that car, going off the bridge, or watching Jenna die, all over again. That feeling like I was loosing everything, and I couldn't stop it. Something could have gone wrong, and I-I just..."

Ric didn't let her get another word in. Faster than thought, he was wrapping his arms around her and holding her as she cried, sobbing into his chest so hard she shook like a leaf in a winter wind. Yes, her and Jeremy were strong, but they also carried so much inside, such weight on them, that when it finally all came out, it devasted her. And it devastated him, to see her go through it, both of them.

"Shh, it's okay, sweetheart, I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere," he promised her, knowing that in this town, keeping such a promise was hard, but he'd try with every fibre of his being to stick to it.

"It's all my fault, Ric. Damon got bit because of me and Stefan went with Klaus because of me and Elijah won't even return my calls and it all just hurts. It hurts so much, that they think they can keep doing this to me and then expect me to be fine, to be bright, happy Elena. I never asked for any of this, yet I always seem to be the one paying the price, watching the people I love suffer because if things that happened before I was even born. How is that fair?"

"It's not," Alaric murmured, shifting so that she was more comfortable against his chest. "Everything's that happened to you, none of it did you deserve. Sometimes, life just really, really sucks, you know?"

That got a laugh out of her, broken and crackling like old vinyl, but a laugh nonetheless.

"Was that pun intended?"

"Elena, we live in a town with vampires: of course it was intended," he smiled at her. "You've got such a big heart, and you feel things so deeply, and sometimes that's a really great thing...but your guilt, that's not one of them. What Damon did, he did because yeah, he feels something for you, but being around you has changed him, made him see things from a different perspective. At the end of the day, you didn't ask him to do what he did, so you can't hold yourself responsible. Stefan leaving, again, you didn't make him go to Klaus, would never have put him in that kind of position. You went all that way, and it's on him that he chose to stay, for whatever reason. And Elijah...I'm sure he'll come around, hopefully with a very big apology hamper or something."

Dashing the tears from her face, she wondered faintly, "How can you be so sure?"

"Because you weren't looking at him when he hightailed outta here, Elena. He looked how I felt, when Jenna died, and you died, and I didn't know if Bonnie's spell was going to work. Like all the life had drained right outta him, and he'd never be able to feel happy again."

"I never want to make someone feel that way," Elena replied, burying her face against his grubby T-shirt.

"I know, but you're such an amazing, special person, that we can't help but feel that way, and nothing you could say or do will ever change that. Like you said, we're not biologically related, but I feel like you are, like looking after you and Jeremy was what I was always supposed to do, as much as I always wanted to teach, as much as I love history. I know it's not a lot, coming from a washed-up vampire hunter who drinks way too much, but I love you, too, and I can't thank you enough for taking care of me like you have, especially today."

Elena shook her head fervently, almost bashing her chin against his shoulder. "It is a lot, Ric. It's more than enough for me, and I don't think you're washed up, not for a second. And you're welcome for the taking care bit; I wasn't exactly going to leave you in the middle of Mrs Lockwood's lawn with a broken neck. What if Damon had been the one to find you and brought you to the Boarding House in some lame attempt to apologize?"

"Yeah," Ric agreed with a chuckle, "that would not have gone down well."

"He did come by though, to make sure you were okay, so I guess there's that."

He didn't know what to make of that, so he decided to let it go for the time being.

"You should also know that Bonnie tried to do some research on my necklace, and her books caught fire. She freaked out, and called Lucy for help. They did this Transportation spell and she was here in the blink of an eye. It was pretty cool."

A smile rose, unbidden, to his face. "Lucy's here?"

"Yeah, she's been really great, putting up wards so that no-one with bad intent can enter the house, putting some magic around my necklace so that it doesn't do anything crazy again and she even helped wash up." Elena peered up at his face questioningly. "She seemed awfully worried about you, when Bonnie told her you were dead, albeit temporarily. Care to tell me the story that's so obviously there?"

"No, I don't. Not tonight, at least," he amended at the sight her sweetly childish frown, but something lingered in her eyes beyond curiosity. "What else is in your mind, Elena?"

"Jeremy's been seeing ghosts, ever since he came back from that spell Bonnie did. But these aren't just any ghosts, he's been seeing Vicki and Anna, talking to them. Supposedly, Anna thinks there's some darkness lurking and that Vicki can't be trusted."

"Woah," was all the response he could muster.

Elena nodded in agreement. "Woah indeed. I left before I could hear it all, but from what I can gather, Bonnie isn't exactly happy that her boyfriend's been seeing the ghosts of his ex-girlfriends and hasn't told her, hence her sleeping in here, and I don't exactly blame her. I know he probably didn't want us to worry, but he should have told us. Anything could have happened."

Alaric raised a brow. "Says the doppelgänger who didn't tell us her blood was some super-duper magic juice that Klaus needs to make his army of hybrids," he pointed out, not unkindly.

The girl huffed in annoyance. "Fine, you win, I'm a hypocrite. But this is a whole other ballpark, Ric. We've never dealt with ghosts before. How do we help him? What if they hurt him? What if they're the ones behind that fire?"

"Then we'll deal with it."

"That's not answer."

"It's all I got for you at," he checked his watch, "four sixteen in the morning. Which means you, little miss, should be asleep. Isn't it Senior Prank Night tonight, anyway? You'll need all your strength and cunning if you're gonna get past us stalwart teachers."

"Ha, ha, very funny. I'm dying of laughter."

He shook his head exasperatedly. "Well, better than dying in a ritual sacrifice, right? Get some sleep," Ric urged her, making sure she was properly wrapped in the coverlet, "and we'll figure it all out in the light of day."

"Okay," Elena said around a yawn. "Night, Ric. Love you."

"I love you, too," he murmured as he shut the door. Making his way to the kitchen, he was surprised to see that Lucy was awake, dressed in a pair of satiny green pajamas and holding out a coffee to him.

"This isn't exactly the coffee date I had in mind," she told him with a smile, "but I guess it will just have to do. For now."

He took the cup, downing half in one go, feeling a little less dead. "Thanks. For everything. You didn't have to come all the way over here; this isn't my first rodeo when it comes to dying."

Lucy shrugged effortlessly. "Yeah, well, Bonnie was freaked, and I don't like hearing someone I care about sounding so upset. Besides, you need more level-headed grown-ups around here, don't you agree?"

"I do. How long are you staying?" Ric dared to ask her, suddenly not wanting her to leave. They really did need more grown-ups around here.

"Why, house getting a little small with all these girls in? You starting to feel outnumbered?"

"No!" Ric protested, perhaps a little too forcefully. Clearing his throat, he said at a kinder decibel level, "No, I don't. It's just-"

"Easy there, Teach. Don't have a stroke, I was only teasing ya. To be honest, I don't have any intention of going back to New York any time soon. Something's brewing here, I can feel it, and we both know that Elena and Bonnie are gonna be smack-bang in the middle of it. So I'm staying. I can find a hotel somewhere and-"

"Didn't Elena already offer foe you to stay here?"

Lucy gave him a baffled expression. "How'd you know that? I thought I was the one with the magic powers."

He smiled, taking another contemplative sip of his coffee. "Oh, you are. I just know her, and after everything you've done for us today, she wouldn't be Elena Gilbert if she didn't offer you a room here, free of charge, pancakes and endless cups of coffee included."

"Would it be okay if I did?" she asked him quietly, folding her arms and leaning against the lip of the kitchen island.

"It's not my decision, since this isn't even my house."

She waved her hand about frustratedly. "That's not what I meant, Alaric. I meant, we've met once, talked on the phone once, and then I just show up. I may be Bonnie's cousin -ish- but you don't know me, and I don't want you to feel pressured or obligated into letting me stay here if it's not what you really want. You're a really nice guys, and I don't want to put you in that kind of situation."

Letting out a long breath, Alaric reached out, tentatively taking her hand in his. "You're not," he assured her softly. "I'd really like it if you stay here. This house, it's full of ghosts, and not just the ones Jeremy's seeing -I'll explain later- and it would be nice to have some new, better memories, have someone that knows what it's like being a part of all this. And I do make really good pancakes, although Elena and Her will tell you otherwise," hw couldn't help but add.

"Okay," Lucy nodded. "Okay. I'll stay."

Seeing her dad again, in the light of day, made everything seem so much more real to Caroline. She'd dragged Elena on a shopping spree for some last-minute supplies for Senior Prank Night, but all thoughts of making memories and having fun flew right out of her head. He couldn't even meet her gaze when she walked over to him, or when he thanked her for coming to his rescue, which hurt her more than she could ever express. And after, when she'd told him that she was going to be okay, and he'd said that she was a vampire, and therefore wasn't ever going to be okay again...she'd remember that forever, and she really meant that.

Deciding she needed a serious pick-me-up after that, Elena and her headed to the Mystic Grill, where Bonnie was already seated outside, face blank with shock.

"What's wrong?" Ever the Mother Hen, Elena swooped into over-protective mode, checking Bonnie over as if there was something physically wrong with her.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. It's just... Katherine was here."

"Wait, what?" Caroline exclaimed, flopping down into the nearest available chair. "What did that bitch want with you?"

"She wanted Elena's necklace, and she got it. I'm sorry, 'Lena, I thought it was you, although it was pretty weird how you'd suddenly want it back, especially now that you and Stefan aren't and you and Elijah are whatever-"

"Take a breath, Bon. It's okay. Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll burn her: it's still got vervain in it, after all."

The blonde grinned, chirping brightly, "We can dream."

"The only question now is...what the hell does she want it for?"

Watching Stefan wake up was quite a tedious process. Perched on top of a coffin -Finn's, to be precise- Klaus observed the young vampire's lifeless body with a hawk-like intensity, knowing that when he woke up, he'd be met with quite a sight: Klaus sitting there, perfectly composed, but with a face that promised death, and not the slow kind.

As expected, Stefan's first instinct was to try and rescue his pointless ruse.

"Just give me a chance to explain myself," he pleaded, such sincerity in his voice, and the hybrid was almost impressed at his gall. Almost.

"No need. I'm not mad," no, he was far beyond that, "I'm just curious." Curious how long this has been going on for, curious as to how you could betray me so easily. You, who once considered me kin, a King, and yet all you want is to usurp me, dash my plans for glory. "Rebekah seems to think you're holding on to something, a piece of your old life, and I quiet agree with her, which should give you an indication of just how important this is to me. The thing is, she's got flawless instincts, my sister, bordering on supernatural," always good to get a pun in before the bloodshed begins, "so I thought I should see for myself what it is you've been hiding, what's keeping you back from embracing the darkest parts of yourself, as you did back in the twenties. Therefore, you left me with few other options but to do this."

Pulling back the rolling door, morning sunlight filtered in, great big sweeping bars of yellow highlighting Stefan's comically shocked face.

"Welcome back to Mystic Falls, Stefan."

Author's Note: Hi, everyone! This is me, just saying hello, and I hope you're all doing okay, and that I am SO FlLIPPING EXCITED to get the next two chapters written up and posted. It's the moment we've all been waiting for...Klaus finding out Elena's still alive, turning Tyler into a hybrid, Elijah showing up...and kissing Elena? What!? I guess you'll have to wait and see!

Thank you so much for reading, and, as always, I love reading all your reviews; nothing brightens my day more. Reviews, and watching TVDU edits with Taylor Swift songs.

All my love, Temperance Cain.