I found Elena with her diary on her lap and her phone to her ear.

"Calling Bonnie again?"

"Yeah…still no answer," Elena said.

It had been almost a month since the night of Grams' death. Bonnie was having a hard time grieving, and she didn't want to include Elena in the process. A vampire was the reason Grams performed the spell which killed her, and Elena was dating a vampire.

Bonnie did let me in, unbeknownst to Elena. I was grateful that she let me be there for her, because she's been such a steady and comforting prescence in my life after my parents died. But I also felt guilty. Sure, I wasn't dating a vampire like Elena, but… Well.

"I've got something to cheer you up."

"Did you figure out what that light thing was?" Elena asked, but I still didn't know how I had managed to knock Anna backwards in the tomb.

"Still a no on that front," I said. "But that's not important right now. Come, come on!"

Elena laughed and allowed me to lead her to the kitchen, where I had my research on the table.

"Dad kept everything from his medical practise," I explained. "Records, logs, old appointment books. I found an entry from the night you were born. Patient and birthdate."

It was a tried and true method for me. When I wanted to avoid dealing with my parents' death, I threw myself into my schoolwork. When I wanted to avoid dealing with what happened in the tomb, I threw myself into research about Elena's origin—something I knew Elena badly wanted to know.

"And?" Elena asked, excited.

"Isobel Peterson," I said with satisfaction, handing her the old appointment book.

"Do you think that's her real name?" Elena looked at the book.

I opened my laptop and logged in. "Pregnant teenage runaway? I doubt it. First name, maybe, but where'd she get Peterson? Most people use their best friend's name. So I did a search for all the Petersons in the area, born in the same year as Isobel, and found three—two men and a woman, Trudie. She lives in Grove Hill, Virginia."

"That's not far from here," Elena noted.

"Watch this." I pulled up an image of Isobel and Trudie together in their cheerleader uniforms.

"Isobel," Elena said before grinning at me. "She was a cheerleader."

I lifted an eyebrow and teased, "One who didn't quit. Maybe I got the wrong Isobel, after all."

Elena laughed and gave me a playful shove. "Thank you for doing this, Mel. You didn't have to."

"I wanted to." I smiled at her, but it faded. "You wanted to know this, and I needed the distraction. Caroline's dealing with Matt drama, Damon's skipped town, poor Bonnie is grieving…" I scribbled something down and handing it to my sister. "Here's Trudie's adress. You can pay it a visit. I can go with you if you want me to."

"What about Isobel?"

"I couldn't find anything about her."

"I think I might have some information on Isobel," Jenna said, joining us. "Mr. Saltzman, Ric, his wife was born around here. Her name was also Isobel."

"Whoa. Is Alaric Elena's father?" I exclaimed.

"No," said Jenna sternly. "Trust me, I checked."

"Both Isobels being the same one seems like a stretch to me," I said, doubtful.

"Wait… was?" Elena picked up.

"She died," Jenna confirmed sympathetically.

Elena found me in my room. "Damon didn't skip town."

"What?"

"I spoke to Stefan today, he's still there."

"Why would he stay?" Katherine wasn't here and she didn't care about him. Stefan hated him and with good reason. There was nothing here for him. Except… Except maybe…

An embrace next to a fireplace flashed in my mind.

No. I couldn't go there.

"I know, right?" Elena rolled her eyes. "He was supposed to leave town after we opened the tomb. He's brought nothing but problems to our lives."

I made a noise of doubt. "To play devil's advocate, some of those problems would have emerged even without Damon."

Anna still would have tried to open the tomb and get her mother back, for one. She would have killed Jeremy to do it, and without the Salvatores opening our eyes to the existence of vampires, we would have been none the wiser.

Elena frowned at me. "You're not defending him, are you?"

"No, of course not," I said. "I'm just saying."

"Look, I get that you two went on a fun roadtrip or whatever…"

"I got kidnapped twice," I said. "Not to mention the car crash."

"But don't forget all the bad things he's done, Mel."

"I haven't! Get off my case, Elena, jeez."

I really hadn't forgotten, and it was the reason why I felt so guilty for even liking Damon as a friend. He's done horrible things—killed his brother's best friend, almost fed on Bonnie, fed on me, not to even get into Vicki…

But it wasn't just horrible things. I could make a list just as easily of all the times he'd made me laugh, made me feel safe, made me believe in his humanity.

Yeah, I was pretty much screwed.

Elena left and I got changed before heading downstairs.

Jenna was typing something on her laptop. She glanced at me. "Hey, where are you going?"

"Uh, to meet Caroline," I lied.

"Okay," she said, gaze returning to her laptop only for her to look at me again. "Hey, do you have plans tonight?"

"No?"

"There's a fundraiser tonight at the Grill. It's a bachelor lottery kind of thing. Do you want to come with me?"

"Sounds horribly boring, no thank you."

"Alaric is one of the bachelors," Jenna pleaded. "We're gonna have to buy all the lottery tickets so I can get him."

"Jenna!" I exclaimed. "I thought you two were together."

"We haven't exactly put a label on us yet."

"Okay, fine, I'm coming," I said. "We need to secure your man."

"And who knows, someone might catch your eye," Jenna told me, oh so subtly.

"Really?" I gave her a look. "Setting me up with guys I know wasn't enough, now you're going to set me up with strangers?"

"I'm your aunt, it's my job to help you with your tragic lack of love life."

"Sure, Aunt Jenna," I laughed. "But if it's all the same to you, I'd rather you didn't."

I left and went to the boarding house.

I went to knock on the door, but the door opened before I could. Annoying vampires with their annoying vampire hearing…

Stefan stood in the doorway. "Melanie. What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to see you, of course," I said as sweetly as possible. "I figured we should hang out, you know, for Elena's sake. Show her there are no hard feelings on the whole…Damon almost turned me into a vampire because of you…thing."

"I'm sure that's true," Stefan said, amused. "But it's not the reason you're here today."

Busted.

"I came to see how Damon is doing," I admitted.

Stefan nodded. "Well… Not good."

I had expected as much.

"Is he here?"

Stefan gestured for me to come in.

"Dear god," I said as I took in the room. There were ten women with short dresses, smudged make-up and visible bite marks on their necks. Bodies were scattered around the room. The paintings were all tilted, paper was on the floor, and blood was dripping from Damon's mouth.

"Yeah," Stefan agreed with a grimace. "Damon," he called out. Damon's shirt was torn midway down, revealing his chest. "Look who is here."

"Melanie!" Damon hopped down from the table and walked towards us. "Come to join the party?"

I did my best not to stare too long at his chest. "I see you're dealing well."

"I know!" Damon agreed like I hadn't been sarcastic. "It's the holy trinity for dealing with things. Booze, sex and blood."

"There is nothing holy about that trinity," I said, my nose scrunching up at the heavy alcohol smell.

"Come on," he implored. "We had so much fun in Georgia."

Stefan gave me a questioning glance.

"What happens in Georgia stays in Georgia," I told Stefan primly.

He gave me an amused smile before he started compelling the women to go home and forget what they saw.

Damon groaned. "Such a buzzkill."

"You've had enough buzz. It could use some killing," I said.

"Give me a break," Damon complained. "I've just wasted one hundred and forty-five years of my life with one goal, and that was to open the tomb."

"Technically, you did fulfill that goal…"

"And Katherine wasn't there. She knew I was looking and she didn't care, and you know what I feel?" He spread his arms. "Liberated. No more master plans for me. Just this." He gestured at the women and the alcohol.

I opened the curtains to let some light into the room.

Stefan stopped compelling the women when his phone went off. He took it out of his pocket and walked away, leaving me with Damon.

"Alone at last."

I watched him with a frown. "You're a mess."

"You don't get it yet, do you?" He walked closer to me. "Do you want me? You can have me. Right now."

My heart hammered. "Not interested."

"Aren't you?"

He continued walking close to me until my back met the wall. He ran a hand through my hair.

"You don't have to be ashamed." He whispered, "Nothing matters."

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tempted. I wanted to kiss him, right then and there.

A moment later, guilt for that desire slammed into me, full force.

"I said," I pushed him away and he let me, "not interested."

"Suit yourself," he called over his shoulder as he backed off. "Are you interested in going to the Grill, instead?"

"What about the mess?" I gestured around us.

Damon waved a dismissive hand. "Stefan will clean it up. Come on, you came here because you wanted to see me. Don't deny it." He smirked at me. "So let's go to the Grill together."

"Fine, but I'm driving."

"I have an update about whatever's going on with me," I said as we got out of the car. "In case you're interested."

We walked inside.

"Do tell."

"I managed to knock Anna back against a wall."

Damon eyed me with disbelief. "You. Knocked back a vampire. Older than a century."

"Yeah, so don't piss me off," I joked. He was still staring at me. "Some kind of light came out of my hands."

Damon suddenly looked thoughtful. "What kind of light?"

I frowned. "I don't know. It was a ball of light." There was something in his eyes. I demanded, "What do you know?"

We sat at the bar.

"I may have read something in Emily's grimoire," he said, purposefully vague.

"What did I just say about not pissing me off?" I asked, annoyed. "Spill it already."

My phone buzzed. It was Elena.

"You should get that," Damon said guillessly. "In the meantime, I'll go hang with Mr. Saltzman."

"This isn't over," I promised. "And don't kill my history teacher." Again.

I walked away and answered the phone.

"Hey. I just went to Trudie's house," Elena said.

"How did it go?"

"She's aware that vampires exist."

"What? How?"

"She had vervain and she put it in my drink. She freaked out. There's something very weird about all of this."

"Why can't anything with us ever be normal?" I complained.

"I'm going to Stefan's to see what he thinks. We'll talk later," Elena said. We exchanged goodbyes before hanging up.

I walked over to Damon. He was talking with Alaric, but by the time I got there, Alaric had already left.

"Looks like you're still repulsive."

"You really know how to pump up a man's ego, Mel," Damon said with a sarcastic smile. He downed a shot.

"Tell me what you saw in the grimoire."

"Fine." He sighed dramatically. "There was a spell for a witch to augment fairy magic. The kind of magic that, according to the grimoire, manifests itself with a lightshow like yours."

I waited for the punchline, but it didn't come. "You've got to be joking."

"This is my serious face." He pulled his face into a mockery of Stefan's resting brooding face.

"I'm not a fairy," I said, annoyed with him. The bartender gave me an odd look. "We're roleplaying," I improvised before turning my attention back to Damon.

He just shrugged. "You can read it in the grimoire yourself. I didn't think they were real, but hey, if witches and vampires are… Why not?"

"Why not?" I repeated. "Clearly, you're too drunk to think rationally. First of all, you've lived a long time, don't you think you would have run into one by now?"

He seemed to consider it. "You raise a good point."

I continued, on a roll. "Second of all, I don't have wings. Fairies should have wings."

"I don't sparkle. A lot of people think vampires should thanks to that awful novel," he pointed out, raising a good point himself.

"Thirdly," I said hotly as if he hadn't spoken, "it's ridiculous."

"Is it? You're the one spewing light from your hands." Damon downed another shot.

"He's delusional," I said to the bartender. "Cut him off."

"Get me another drink," Damon compelled, and of course the bartender did.

"Daytime drinking, huh?" Sheriff Forbes asked, joining us.

"All the rage." Damon tilted his drink at her.

"Hello, Melanie." Caroline's mom smiled at me.

"Hi."

"Listen, I need a favor," Sheriff Forbes said to Damon. I had forgotten that these two were friends. Not that the friendship would last if she ever found out what he was; she was on the vampire hating council, after all.

Instead of answering like a normal person, Damon asked randomly, "Have you ever been in love?"

"Oh my god," I muttered under my breath.

"Excuse me?"

"Have you ever been so bent on someone just to get your heart ripped out by them?" Damon stared into space.

She chuckled. "You forget I was married."

"Right, gay husband," Damon said flippantly. "What can I do for you, Liz?"

"There's a fundraiser here tonight that the Founder's council is throwing. The town's most eligible bachelors get raffled off for dates and, well, we're short on a bachelor."

I laughed. "You're auctioning off Damon?"

This got me her attention. "Oh… You two aren't together, are you?"

Damon looked at me, clearly about to make one of his stupid comments. I beat him to the punch.

"He wishes," I said. "I'm still here. Unlike the girl he just mentioned, the one that ripped out his heart."

He glanced at me, face unreadable, before giving Sheriff Forbes a wry smile. "That's Melanie. Good samaritan, getting me through my heartbreak." His voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Well, helping me out with the fundraiser would help, too," Sheriff Forbes said. "Carol Lockwood would not let me live it down if I come out empty handed."

"A room full of women, clamouring to get a date with me, sounds…tasty." Damon glanced at me to make sure I got the hidden meaning.

"Hilarious," I said sarcastically, so quiet only he could hear it.

"Thank you," Sheriff Forbes said to Damon.

"Now can I ask you for a favor, Liz?" he asked.

"Sure."

"Can you get information on someone for me?"

He asked her to look into Alaric's background. After that, she left.

"Still haven't figured out Saltzman's deal?" I asked as soon as she was out of earshot.

"No thanks to your crappy mind reading."

"No thanks to your crappy compulsion," I shot back.

He grinned and continued to drink.

"That much alcohol cannot be good for you," I said.

"You've seen me heal from several bullet wounds at once, but my supernatural liver is where you draw the line?"

I grunted, not bothering to answer.

"Wild roleplay," the bartender commented. "Are you two writing it down? I'd love to read it."

Why was this my life?