March 28th.

Next day.

Cherith is on her bed, floating midair, legs crossed and eyes closed as she pushes deep into herself.

It's a bit past midnight.

The house is quiet as she thinks on what Stefan and Elena had told her just a few hours ago.

The ritual of the sun and the moon curse.

And an original, another one, named Klaus, who apparently was the boogie man of the supernatural world.

Cherith opened her eyes and pouted.

"Well I wanna be the boogie man dammit!"

Clang!

Her eyes snap to the door at the sound of ceramics hitting each other and the sound of some voices, making her float out of bed to the door, opening it.

The sight that greeted her made her pause and wrinkle her nose.

"What the bloody hell??"

She walked out, staring at a shirtless Alaric, Jenna only in a blue buttoned up shirt and Elena looking like she'd been scarred for life.

"Cherry!"

Jenna greeted, trying to act all innocent.

"Cherith…"

Alaric sighed out, looking like his whole life had come crashing at his feet as the brat smirked at the both of them.

"Well well…"

She sauntered towards the three, arms crossed.

"What do we have here…"

"Of all the brats…"

Jenna mumbled under her breath before feigning a smile, pointing to the bowl in Alaric's hand.

"Want some? It's chunky monkey."

She sang to appeal the girl but Cherith's grin widened and she looked even more creepy.

"Now that you mentioned it… I think I'll go get some for myself instead."

She passes Jenna by the stairs when she pauses, placing a hand on Jenna who looked like she was going to regret this in the future and they looked at each other.

"Have fun Jens… you deserve it."

She winked at her aunt and jogged down the stairs, humming.

"Goodnight lovebirds… night sis."

She walked into the kitchen, opening the refrigerator, taking out a Ben and Jerry's chunky monkey. It was the only flavor they had at the moment and Cherith was craving some ice cream anyways.

The sound of the door opening and closing startled Cherith as she looks away from the opened fridge with a frown.

"Jenna? Is that you??"

Silence.

Cherith frowns, looking back into the fridge.

Either she was going crazy... or she was going crazy.

Closing the refrigerator, she walks to the door and grabs the handle but realizes it was actually locked.

"Going crazy then."

She jogs back up the stairs, not knowing Jonas Martin had just snuck into her home and taken a few of her sister's things.


Morning.

Cherith sat in the kitchen as she made herself some pancakes and bacon and began eating before heading out to school.

She was dressed in a wine dress with pink and white floral print on it. It had an high slit on the left side and was fitted and she paired it with a pair of white sneakers, her hair in a loose bun.

As she ate, Elena jogged down the stairs and walked into the kitchen.

"Hi…"

She greeted and Cherith nodded at her as she swallowed her pancake.

"Looks like someone couldn't sleep. What, horrified at the thought of Jenna and Alaric getting it on?"

She wiggled her eyebrows and Elena gave her a look.

"Please, don't say that… I already have enough nightmares as it is…"

Cherith snorted and in that moment, their doorbell rang.

"I'll get it."

Elena volunteered and Cherith snorted.

"I mean… who else was going to?"

Elena huffed.

"You're too spoilt."

"Who else would spoil me except myself?"

Cherith shouted back at Elena snarkily who opened the door to see Stefan and Damon behind it.

"Having trouble in sibling land again?... It happens."

Damon smirked knowingly, pointing at Stefan next to him who rolled his eyes and looked earnestly at Elena.

"Hey. Uh, can we talk?"

Elena frowned, looking at the both of them.

"Why?"

The two brothers looked at each other before turning to Elena again and then Damon spoke.

"We went to see Katherine."

Elena's heartbeat picked for a moment before going back to normal, knowing that this was a serious conversation, and she stepped aside.

"Come on in."

As they walk into the kitchen, Cherith took a look at the visitors and grimaced.

"What, have you brought another bad news again?"

Damon gasped mockingly, holding a hand to his chest.

"Well I am hurt Cherry Berry!"

Cherith gave him a side eye.

"Do you want the hurt to be real?"

He raised his hand in a surrender and she went back to her food.

"Hi Cherith."

Stefan nodded at her and she gave him a slight wave with her knife which looked way too violent to be a greeting, then again, this was Cherith anyways.

"So why's Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum here?"

She asked her sister who sighed and turned to the brothers.

"So why did you go to Katherine?"

Cherith perked up at that.

"Oh! Katerina? How is she?"

She asked in a deceptively warm voice and Damon snorted.

"Since we need the moonstone, she sort of struck a deal with us. We get her out of the tomb, she gives us the moonstone and she disappears from town forever. Ah… and she said to tell you to at least pay her a visit. Your, curse or whatever is driving her crazy me thinks."

Damon ended and a smug look appeared on Cherith's face as she waves him off.

"The curse will fade away very soon. It wasn't meant to last. I'm a bitch but I'm not a bitch who strives on pain, rather chaos."

"But you guys though… you don't believe her, do you?"

Elena finally spoke up again, looking at the two brothers incredulously.

"You don't actually believe Katherine would give you the moonstone and just walk away. After everything she's done??"

Damon snorts.

"No, of course not! We just want the moonstone from the bitch."

Stefan nodded and added his own two cents as Cherith stood to wash her plate.

"According to Rose's friend Slater, there's a way to destroy the spell that Klaus wants to break."

"No spell, no doppelgänger sacrifice. Ergo, you live."

Damon ended and Elena frowned.

"How do you destroy it?"

"By releasing it from the moonstone."

"But Stefan, How do you guys even know this is gonna work?"

Damon smirks.

"Cause we have a crafty witch on our side."

Elena sighed, already knowing who it would be.

"You already discussed it with Bonnie, haven't you?"

She questioned them accusingly as Cherith cleaned her hands, humming 'what a wonderful world' to herself and Stefan nodded unapologetic.

"She agreed to do anything she could to help us."

Elena shook her head, not liking the plan at all.

"It's Katherine who has the moonstone! She's not gonna give it to you."

Stefan though, was steadfast in his plan.

"We're gonna get it from her."

"Well, what Stefan here means to say is, we will pry it from her cold, dead hand if we have to. And if we can't… well, we have a more capable witch right here. In this room."

The other two follow Damon's eyes to Cherith who moved to back her bag and she looked up at the three as Elena shook her head.

"Absolutely not!"

Damon scoffs exasperated.

"Oh come on! Like you guys are not thinking it?! She's obviously super powerful! Heck that other Bennett witch alluded to her being some sort of myth!"

Stefan sighed but Elena's ears caught something.

"Myth? What's that?"

She looked at the three in the room and Cherith sighed, slightly put off that her secrets were slowly getting out.

She didn't mind, of course but she loved to keep things close to her chest.

When the Salvatore brothers said nothing, Elena turned to her sister.

"What are they talking about Cherry?"

Cherry shrugged.

"I don't know. They're the ones who brought it up, you ask them."

Elena shook her head, stubborn.

"No, Cherry. You always do this! You're hiding something from me, from us! What's this myth they're talking about??"

Cherith glared at her sister.

"No. No way. You don't get to shout at me or demand shit from me, Elena! You were the one always keeping secrets and hoarding it like a goblin with gold! Maybe I just learnt from you."

She smirked sharply at the last line, folding her arms and Elena looked like she wanted to tear her hair off when Damon cut in.

"Oh it's nothing too serious Elena. It just means your sister is something. Something powerful and maybe capable of taking down an original by the name of Klaus. Win-win! Mazel tov!"

He raised his hands and the two sisters glare at him and Stefan steps in to control the situation.

"Look, if you're worried about Cherith, then you don't need to. She will be nowhere near the moonstone."

He gave his brother a hard look and Damon rolls his eyes and Cherith snorts, standing up.

"Like I'd even help you lot out in the first place. You're all assholes! I hope you fall in horse dung."

"Cherry!"

"Yes, sister dearest?"

Stefan cut in again before another sibling spat could take place.

They really were worse than he and his brother.

"Guys, Bonnie just needs to find a way to release the seal long enough for us to get in, get the moonstone, and get out in time for her to return it."

Elena snorts, still slightly irritated at her sister keeping a big news from her as she sarcastically answered rather petulantly.

"Wow. I mean, it sounds like you guys already have it all planned out."

Damon smirks.

"Yep. We're awesome."

"Except for one thing. I don't want you to do it."

Stefan and Damon exchange looks and Cherith scoffs but says nothing.

"What are you talking about? Elena, we don't have a choice."

"What about Klaus, Stefan?"

At the mention of the name, an inquisitive frown begins to grow on Cherith's face.

Stefan tries to assure Elena.

"We'll find him right after we get the moonstone."

Elena though was already frustrated, resisting the urge to grab at her hair violently.

"Is that before or after he kills everyone that I care about?? including the three of you in this very room!"

She points from Cherith, to Stefan, to Damon and said dark haired vampire is startled at the idea that Elena cares about him.

Stefan continues to try and assure her.

"Elena, if we can de-spell the moonstone, we can save your life."

"I know. Everybody keeps saying that."

She replied with a slightly defeated look and gets up, leaving the Salvatore brothers and a deep in thought Cherith behind and the two brothers look at each other.

"Well, that went well."

Stefan glared at Damon who turned to Cherith.

"What's with your brooding face Sherlock?"

Cherith didn't hear him, though she spoke.

"Hmm… this Klaus fellow…"

"Yes?"

Stefan leaned in, probably thinking she was about to say a very important discovery.

"First of all… is his name really Klaus?... If it is, who in their right mind names their child after Santa?!"

She spat out incredulously and the two brothers exchange looks.

'Second, if it isn't… then does he have a fetish for being in red outfits?! Or get this… a vampire named 'klaus' is the boogie man in the supernatural world?! Ohhhhh… how times have changed… take me back to when I was young and innocent…"

She had a wistful look on her face as she grabs her bag and walks off, a disappointed look on her face and Damon turns to his brother.

"There's always that crazy one in the family, you know…"

He said in a matter of fact voice and Stefan gives his brother a look.

"Yeah. And I'm sitting next to the one in my family."

He stands up to leave and Damon raises his hand slightly.

"I was perfectly normal as a freaking human! Can't say the same for you baby bro."

"Let's go, Damon."

"Hold on now, if you have anything to say, say it to my face!...This conversation isn't so much as over and you know it!"


Mystic Falls High.

Cherith curses as she goes through her bag.

"Dammit! I can't believe I left my phone at home! What are the freaking odds!"

She sighed as she kept going through her bag.

"Hi, Cherith, right?"

Cherith idly looks up and looks back into her bag.

"Oh, it's you. Luke."

"Actually, it's Luka."

"That's what I said."

She mumbled, a frown on her face as she realizes she indeed left her phone and her eyes dim slightly.

"Oh fuck. Look mate, I'm not in the mood to talk so…"

She shooed him off with a hand and he chuckles.

"You really aren't a people person hunh? I guess the town was right."

Her eyes narrowed as she fully turned to him.

"Who said that?"

A sliver of red shines in her eyes for a second and Luka could feel the hairs of his body raise as the magic surrounding Cherith became slightly violent.

"Uhhh…"

"I am a perfectly nice person. People love me. Tell me the name of this 'people', I want a talk."

Luka feigned a laugh, cussing himself internally for trying to even befriend her in the first place.

His father had no idea how intense she was.

Beautiful yes, but she was just as deadly.

He knew his father saw something in her… something that he also suspected, but he should have known that someone like her, if she was indeed what he suspected, wouldn't be easy to get to.

"Yeah… I don't think I should… so you don't try to curse them."

He grinned knowingly and Cherith raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?"

Luka grinned.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. I'm like you too."

Cherith scoffed crossing her arms and staring blankly at the boy.

"Pretty bold of you, you know? To come to me and tell me you know I have powers, but not know if I wouldn't try to hurt you."

The air around them suddenly stilled and the conversations around felt so far away.

"I mean you no harm—"

"If what you say is true, then keep to yourself then. I don't make friends easily. Everyone knows that about me. But… if you're lying… and you are as suspicious as I think…"

She stood close to him, making them both slightly eye to eye and Luka could see as red lightning seemed to dance in her eyes with something else…

"Then I wouldn't hesitate to show you just how crazy I can be."

She then stepped back, giving him a friendly pat.

"Well then! Welcome to Mystic Falls! I hope you like it here!"

She beams and walks off, waving to Leslie who greets her as they link arms and enter the building, leaving Luka shaky, sweat running down the side of his head.

All that power… it had felt so malicious and he'd almost dropped in a faint.

It had been so concentrated on him, like it was alive yet… warning him as well.

It was powerful, chaotic and filled with madness.


"Who was that boy you were talking to?"

Leslie asked curiously as they walked to class.

"Uh, his name is Luke or something. New to town. Want me to introduce you?"

Cherith asked curiously but Leslie shook her head.

"Nah. He's cute, yeah. But I still have Chad to focus on."

Cherith snorted.

"That's good. Cause I would have said no if you wanted me to introduce you to him."

Leslie pouted.

"Then why did you ask me in the first place?"

The red head shrugged.

"It was only right. The principle of things."

Leslie scoffed at the answer.

"Rude."


After School.

Salvatore Boarding House.

In the living room, Bonnie speaks to Stefan, Jeremy, and Damon about their plan to take back the moonstone from Katherine who was still in the tomb.

"I might be able to lower the tomb spell long enough for you to get in there and grab the moonstone from Katherine."

Jeremy frowned.

"How? It took both you and your Grams last time, and look what happened to her."

"I'm well aware of what happened. I've learned a few new things."

"Bonnie…"

Bonnie deflects Jeremy's concern and looks over at Stefan.

"How will you get it?"

"She hasn't been feeding. She's weaker. We're not."

Damon raises a glass of blood towards Bonnie but Bonnie still wasn't fully convinced.

"You wouldn't be underestimating her, would you?"

Damon shrugged.

"It's a plan. Is it perfect?"

He scoffed.

"What plan is? Besides… I've been trying to call Cherith all day but she hasn't been picking my calls. We could have her just waltz into the tomb, demand Katherine give her the stone and walk out free."

Stefan shook his head.

"You forget, Damon, that Cherith is still human. She has blood, flesh and bones that Katherine can use against her."

Damon scoffs.

"Human AND something, in case you're forgetting! Perhaps, need I remind you that there's a supposed myth tied to her apparently??"

Jeremy and Bonnie frown at that new piece of information, said boy turning to Damon.

"Myth? What's that?"

Damon ignored him, still looking at his brother.

"She's obviously carrying a ton of power inside her, and need I remind you, that even slightly more experienced witchy here, has nothing on Cherith!"

He pointed to Bonnie who had to push down a sliver of jealousy and anger and Jeremy cut in, trying to diffuse the whole situation.

"Let me do it then. I've got my ring. I can get in, get out, no spells necessary."

Damon gives Jeremy a sarcastic look.

"Gee, thanks, you 16-year-old human and very unsupernatural child."

He snorts and Jeremy rolls his eyes.

"I mean, why didn't we think about that? Why are you even here?"

Bonnie finally stepped up, having a sort of urge to prove herself.

"Maybe I can help better the plan. Do you have anything that belongs to Katherine?"

At that, Damon looks over at Stefan, significantly.


Woods.

Tyler and Caroline walk through the woods towards the Lockwood Ruins Cellar.

"Matt's bumming pretty hard."

Tyler tells Caroline who sighs.

"I know. It's better this way."

Tyler nods understandingly.

"I get it."

"You do?"

"Yeah. You can't be honest with him."

Caroline stops at that, looking at Tyler who stops as well and he sighs, moving to explain further.

"It's not really fair to be with someone and not really let them know who you are. I get it."

He starts to walk again and Caroline follows.

"I wonder where Cherith is."

He huffed and Caroline snorts.

"She arrives precisely when she wants to."

Tyler looks at her weirdly.

"Did you just quote Gandalf?"

Caroline shrugged.

"Cherry made us watch the whole trilogy. Something about her wanting to watch it after reading the books."

At that moment, said red haired who had been flying, landed in front of the two, startling not just Caroline, but Tyler who fell to the ground, shock on his face as she dusted herself.

"Sorry about that. Had to park my car somewhere safe before flying over here. So… what's up?"

She looked unconcerned at Caroline who was staring at Tyler who looked like he'd pass out anytime soon as he pointed a shaky finger towards Cherith.

"Are you dying or something?... Is the full moon already affecting you?"

"H-how… where… how…"

Cherith raised an eyebrow before turning to Caroline who was trying to stifle a laugh.

"Is he on crack?"

Caroline snorts out a laughter.

"No. I just think he's shell shocked at seeing you land from the skies!"

Cherith frowned before she realized something and looked down at the boy who was slowly getting to his feet.

"Oh yeah… you don't know about me."

Caroline gave her an incredulous look.

"Really?!? You forgot that?!"

"Please! Not everyone is perfect you know?!... Except me perhaps… I'm the closest thing. And like I said, I thought he knew!"

"Know about you?!! What the fuck is going on?!"

Cherith and Caroline exchanged amused looks before she turned to Tyler with a smirk.

"Hey Dante… what do you know about magic…"


The three finally reach the cellar and go down it.

"Watch your step."

He warns them as he brings out a flashlight.

"So, do leprechauns and fairies exist?"

He asked Cherith as they went down the dark Lockwood cellar.

"Yeah, of course. You can find a number of clans in Ireland."

"Really?!"

Caroline and Tyler turned to her and she snorts.

"Of course I don't know if they exist! I'm new to this too."

"Bitch."

Caroline gave her a playful glare.

"Add boss to the front and we're good."

Caroline and Cherith follows behind Tyler as they enter the Cellar itself and he points the torch around.

It was dark and dank, moss growing on some parts of the room. All in all, it was depressive and Cherith idly thought that if this was where Tyler would be transforming every full moon, then it needed a major renovation.

"I'm guessing this is where Mason was headed the night he turned. It's this way."

He points them in, Cherith following behind, a curious look on her face as she looks around the room while Caroline stops at the entrance slightly cautious.

"Did Mason tell you about this place?"

She asked and Tyler shook his head as Cherith moved to a wall, crouching slightly and moving her hand across some claw marks she spotted.

It must have been animalistic and painful to go through.

"Mason bolted before I triggered the curse, but I found these."

He moves towards where Cherith was, Caroline behind him and shines the beam of light at the wall of the cave.

Three deep scratches ran across the wall.

"Whoa. They look old."

Cherith nodded as she stood back up and Tyler shined the torch at the rest of the cellar where some rusty chains could be spotted as well.

"And these bolts and chains. I need new chains, but the bolts could still hold."

He grabs the ring around the bolt and pulls it hard, showing them how resistant they are but Cherith wasn't too convinced.

"This is just your human strength though, you have no idea how powerful you'd be as a freaking werewolf. Wolves on their own are powerful, werewolves would be something else."

Tyler nodded.

"Yeah, I get that. But it is a little too late. The full moon is in two days."

And that was ominous on its own already.

"I think that's what this place was used for. Full moons."

Cherith nodded.

"Of course. This curse thing seems to run in your bloodline, so it's possible that a bunch of your ancestors unleashed the curse at one point in their lives, either intentionally or unintentionally. Seems right that they'd want to keep it a secret. Seems werewolves are as hunted as the ones in Harry Potter. Fascinating."

She breathed out as she stared around the room, spotting a couple of things that could be decades old.

She really was an history buff.

As she stared around, Caroline spots something in a nook and walks over to it.

"What's this?"

She says as she grabbed the item wrapped in a piece of cloth and walks back over to Tyler, Cherith joining them.

"I have no idea."

Caroline unwraps the cloth around what appears to be a journal and hands it to Tyler who hands the torch to Cherith.

"Was it Mason's?"

"Possibly."

He opens it and flips through the pages, coming to stop at a page and reading it out.

"August 31st. My body's changing. I'm edgy, angry, impatient. I get so mad, I black out and forget what I say or do. I'm not myself, not since Jimmy's death. What's happening to me?"

"So temperament is a usual thing then."

Cherith noted, trying to imagine Mason Lockwood who was always so calm, descending into absolute anger.

Because unlike herself, she knew she was capable of getting angry even over the littlest thing.

Tyler flips further back into the journal and glances up in surprise.

"He chronicled every single thing! Right from the start."

"Well good job Mason."

Cherith idly said as Tyler flipped to another page and reads out.

"The full moon is tonight".

"Well, does he say what happened?"

Caroline asked, hoping there would be more information on this curse that no one seemed to know anything about.

He flips the page and sees a memory stick taped to the page of the journal and slides it out of its place and holds it in his hand, looking at it and then up at Caroline and Cherith, Tyler and Caroline looking puzzled but Cherith having an idea of what was in there.

Not sure if it would be a good idea to watch it.

After all, how does one transform into a werewolf if it didn't included breaking of bones… or your body trying to take the form of a wolf's. It was a curse for a reason after all.

What could they expect?


Salvatore Boarding House.

Bonnie pours the ashes from Katherine's picture onto an end table as Stefan and Damon re-enter the room with supplies for the excursion back to the tomb to get the moonstone.

"Still gotta get the torches."

Stefan mentioned as he and his brother packed up.

"Alaric's stake gun's in my trunk. Bonnie?"

Bonnie turned to Damon.

"Go ahead. I'm almost done."

As soon as the two brothers leave, Jeremy turns incredulously to Bonnie.

"What are you doing?!"

"Shh!"

She reprimanded him, hold a hand to his lips and Jeremy sighed, a fluttering feeling settling between the two of them.

"Hey, you're not strong enough."

"I'll be fine."

"You could get hurt."

"And Elena could die. I'll be fine. Promise. I promise."

Jeremy sighed, still not liking the plan.

"But… Cher—"

"Cherry is nowhere to be found, Jeremy! I can do this."

She repeated again, this time determined, and Jeremy looked away, another plan coming to mind.

"Hey, I got this okay? Go get me, um, go get me something to put this in. All right?"

They smile at each other Bonnie leaves to get a container for the ashes.

As she walks away, Jeremy glances over his shoulder before pulling out his wallet and taking out a card, using it to carefully scrap a handful of ashes into his wallet without Bonnie noticing.

Cherry might be mad about his plan later on, but he couldn't just stand by as Bonnie knowingly risked her life over something that could very well kill her.

He had the Gilbert ring at his own disposal anyways.

And also, it was his sister's life that was tied to the moonstone.

It would have been a better idea to wait for Cherry to turn up and hopefully deal with it, but Jeremy also knew his sister wasn't infallible and would need help as well.

He was the only one with a guarantee of stepping into the tomb and getting out alive and so he had to do this now before it was too late.

"For family."

He mumbled softly.


Slater's residence.

Alice, Slater's girlfriend manages to log on to Slater's computer as Elena and Rose stand behind her watching.

"Someone's been here. The hard drive's completely wiped out."

Alice says as she scrolls around the computer and Rose shrugged, slightly frustrated.

"Yeah, probably whoever killed him."

Elena runs a hand over her face and turns away with a sigh, a feeling of disappointment in her but Alice wasn't done yet.

"Lucky for you, Slater was paranoid. Everything's backed up on a remote server."

As she goes through the backup, Rose turns back to speak to Elena and whispers lowly.

"You know that she's not going anywhere near my blood, right?"

"I know. She doesn't."

Elena walks past Rose with a small smirk, and Rose scoffs, smiling at Elena's deception.

"Kristen Stewart. God, was he obvious."

Alive rolls her eyes and Elena leans toward the screen.

"These are all leads to vampires?"

"Slater was obsessed. Almost as much as me."

She scrolls through all the files but stops when rose points.

"What about that one? Cody Webber. They exchanged dozens of emails about Elijah."

"I could call him."

Elena hands the phone over to Alice.

"Tell him that we're trying to send a message to Klaus. The doppelgänger is alive and she's ready to surrender."

Elena says with a resolute expression on her face, ignoring Rose's look of shock.

"What?!!?!"

"Oh, my God, I knew I recognized you."

Alice gushed as she stared at Elena who gave her another look.

"Get him the message, please."

With that, Elena quickly walks out of the room but Rose follows her out.

The eldest Gilbert sibling places her hands on a table and exhales heavily, hearing Rose's footsteps behind her.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm getting Klaus' attention."

She replies with a stubborn look and Rose stares at her exasperatedly.

"If Klaus knows that you're alive, he'll find you and he'll kill you!"

Elena looks away, not responding and Rose's eyes widened as she came to a conclusion. A conclusion she should have come to quite a while ago.

"That is exactly what you wanted all along. Wasn't it?"

She gave her an accusing look but Elena doesn't stand down.

"It's either me or my family. I have to do this."

Rose scoffs disbelievingly.

"So this whole charade is some suicide mission so that you could sacrifice yourself and save everyone else? And what makes you think Klaus would spare your family?! You obviously have a connection to Katherine, he might get vindictive over that and decide to go after all connections to Katerina Petrova. Did you even think about this??"

An unsure look appears on Elena's face but before she could talk, Alice walks back into the room, looking at Elena.

"Cody is on his way and he really wants to meet you."

Elena's heartbeat picked up as she realized her plans were actually going into fruition.

Now, she had to wait.

Rose though, shuts her eyes and sighs, walking off.

"Doppelgangers… they're so annoying."

She brings out her phone, dialing Damon's number.


Tomb.

Katherine, hearing footsteps coming down into the tomb, walks over to the entrance, waiting curiously as Jeremy walks down the steps and stands in front of the entrance, where Katherine can't reach him.

She smirks, her voice slightly drowsy after not having blood for some time.

"The youngest Gilbert. This is an intriguing surprise."

Jeremy glares at the vampire.

"I'm here for the moonstone."

"Yeah, yeah, the moonstone. It's very popular today. Where's Cherry, by the way? Thank her for me. Her little nightmare illusions have stopped appearing some hours ago. Or… maybe she's not as strong as I believed and it just… faded away huh?"

She smirks but Jeremy ignores her, going straight to the point.

"Just give it to me."

Katherine sighs, standing in front of the entrance.

"Naïve little Gilbert. If you want it, you're gonna have to come here and get it."

She goaded him when suddenly, Jeremy pulls a stake gun from out of his sleeve and shoots a stake at Katherine, hitting her squarely in the stomach.

Katherine grunts in discomfort and pain, clutching at the stake and ripping it out.

Before she regains her composure though, Jeremy throws a handful of the ashes he'd taken from Bonnie directly into Katherine's face and she gasps, falling to the floor, temporarily unconscious.

Jeremy grins, a winning smirk on his face as he stepped into the tomb.

"I kinda figured you'd say that."

He immediately crouches down, wasting no time patting Katherine down in search of the moonstone.

After realizing the stone was not on Katherine, he slowly walks into the crypt with his torchlight.

As he walks through the small gate, he sees the moonstone laying on a stone ledge innocently glowing and he runs to grab it, relief on his face at how easy the plan was.

As he runs towards the entrance, he stops as he spots an hungry and angry Katherine, bloodlust in her eyes and she whips her head over to him.

Without wasting any moment, Katherine blurs over to Jeremy, grabs him, and bites into his neck and he yells out in pain, throwing the moonstone out of the tomb.

After having a fill, Katherine raises her head, blood dripping down her chin and looking the monster that she was.


Stefan and Bonnie go down the church as Damon excuses himself and rushes off.

As the two get down, Stefan drops his bag and starts rummaging through it, but something catches his eye as he spots the moonstone lying nearby.

"What the hell?"

He walks over it, Bonnie standing behind him as he crouches down.

"Is that the moonstone?"

As he picks it up, Katherine, lips drenched in blood, comes to the entrance of the tomb.

"I hate to interrupt,"

She begins, making the two look up at her in surprise.

"but today has just been full of surprises."

As she said that, she pulls Jeremy out from behind the wall and they look in horror as Jeremy's eyelids flutter and the bite mark on his neck oozes blood.

Stefan rushes over to the entrance as Bonnie looks on in horror as Jeremy weakly apologizes.

"I'm sorry. I took some powder."

Katherine then smirks.

"Don't worry, I know that he's wearing his ring, so no matter how many times I kill him, he'll just keep coming back for more. So, I'm going to be in the back playing with my new little toy…"

She shoves Jeremy back into the cave

"And you guys just give me a holler when you've got the tomb open. And, don't try to threaten me with your little Bennett witch or Cherry Gilbert. The little red head would be here if she could, wouldn't she?"

She smirks before walking off and Stefan and Bonnie look at each other.


Stefan paces around as Bonnie lights up the tomb.

"Where the hell is Damon?"

He mumbles to himself, panic flooding his system at the thought of Jeremy being used as nothing but a blood bag.

If only they could get to Cherith right now.

Bonnie turned to him, grimoire in hand.

"We can't wait, we have to get him out of there."

Stefan stands in front of the tomb entrance.

"She's fed, she has her strength back."

"We still have what's left of the ash though."

Bonnie hands Stefan an envelope with the ash before looking at him anxiously.

"Do you think you can get close enough?"

He takes the envelope from Bonnie before looking at the tomb and sighing.

"I don't have a choice."

"It's gonna take me some time."

"How long?"

Bonnie bit her lip, unsure.

"I don't know, a while."

Stefan looks at the entrance once more before steeling his resolve.

"Just get me in there as soon as you can."

He walks towards the tomb entrance and Bonnie's heartbeat quickened.

Maybe they shouldn't have rushed this plan.

Maybe they should have waited for Cherry to show up.

Maybe if she had been here, this plan wouldn't have failed so drastically like it had.

And Bonnie had no idea what to do to bring down the tomb spell.

Deep down, she knew she wasn't as strong.

But…

She dropped her grimoire, rummaging through her bag and bringing out something.

Luka's dog tag necklace.

She could still draw power from him.

She could still do this!


Forbes Residence.

Caroline, Cherith and Tyler sit on a couch at Caroline's.

It was a bit dark out now and Tyler sat in the middle of both as he opened a laptop while Caroline went through the journal.

Cherith would have read it but she was slightly jittery at the moment and wanted to know what was in the memory card.

As he inserts it to play, Mason appears on the screen, holding the camera and shirtless.

The three leaned in to watch.

"It's September 15 – 2 hours from the first full moon since I triggered the curse."

"He taped his first transformation!"

Tyler said in slight wonderment but Cherith wasn't so sure about watching it. Mainly because she wasn't too sure about what they'd find.

She'd read about this curse after all and it was as painful as it was dreary.

Tyler then pauses the video and looks at Caroline who has Mason's journal and she flips through the pages before stopping on a page and reading it out loud.

"Um… Oh! September 16th, he – he wrote about everything the next day."

"How… nice. Well at least we know he was feeling okay the next day. Not like old Lupin in Harry Potter."

Cherith chirped and the other two snorts as Tyler fast forwards through the video and Caroline reads aloud from the journal again.

"'I chose the garage. I could deadbolt the door. It was far from the street so no one could hear. I bolted hooks to the floor for the carabiners'… Like for mountain climbing?"

She looked up in confusion and Tyler speeds up the video, stopping at the scene that showed the carabiner.

"Retractable cables."

Cherith nodded.

"They're pretty sturdy enough, especially as he had no idea what to expect. Genius idea."

She admitted quietly as Tyler slows down the video to a part where Mason is drinking a golden liquid from a water bottle.

He then sputters and coughs out painfully, kneeling on the ground and Tyler frowns.

"What's that?? What's he doing?"

Caroline goes through the journal but Cherith already knew what it was.

"Wolfsbane. Toxic to werewolves."

Tyler looked at her slightly startled at that information and Caroline nodded.

"She's right. 'I diluted wolfsbane with water to weaken myself, but I could barely get it down without puking. It felt like I was drinking battery acid. Over an hour passed and nothing happened. It got so quiet I could hear my own blood pumping. That's when'…"

Suddenly, Mason begins to scream out in pain, pulling at the cables holding him.

Caroline puts a shaky hand up to her mouth in shock, but continues reading as Tyler watches the video play out, shock in his eyes as well.

"'I kept thinking I'd black out and not feel it. But I did. I…I felt all of it.'"

Mason has fallen to the floor due to the pain he is experiencing. Mason cries and yells for help and Cherith swallows tightly, looking away from the excruciating pain in Mason's eyes.

"How long is it?"

She asked Tyler who had a sheen of sweat on his forehead and the ruby haired girl felt pity for the 17 year old.

"We're three hours in."

He starts to fast forward the video.

"Four hours."

He continues to fast forward the video.

"Five hours! H-How long does this last?"

His voice breaks slightly and Cherith wrinkled her nose slightly at the video.

This was certainly something she'd never wish on anyone.

Caroline flips through the pages again, but doesn't respond and Cherith and Tyler continue watching the video.

Mason's body suddenly begins to contort and he yells even louder now, shocking the 3 teens into fear and anxiety, none more like Tyler who, not being able to handle it anymore, pauses the video.

He gets up, his eyes filled with tears as he turns to the two girls, fear racking through his body as he shakes his head.

"I can't – I can't do that. Whatever that was, I can't go through that."

He forces out, and Cherith who always had a thing or two to say, had nothing had the moment.

Because, no matter how much she even so much as tried to make him look on the brighter side… nothing trumped this… unimaginable pain he'd have to go through in 2 days.


Slater's Residence.

Elena walks into the main room, sipping on a glass of water when she looks over at Alice who was staring at something behind Elena.

Elena then turns around and gasps as right in front of her was an unamused Damon Salvatore.

"What are you doing here?"

He glared at her but she glared back.

"What are you doing here?"

Rose walks into the room and Elena's head whips around as she glares at the female vampire with anger and betrayal in her eyes.

"You called him?"

Rose shrugged unapologetic.

"Sorry."

"You said that you understood."

"She lied."

Elena turns back to stare at Damon and Alice walks up to them, star struck at seeing Damon.

"Damon Salvatore! I am such a HUGE fan!"

She gushed and Damon gave her a slightly disgusted look before turning back to Rose.

"Get rid of her."

"No…Way!"

Alice gushes as Rose leads her away from the room, her eyes still stuck on Damon.

As soon as she leaves, Damon turns, motioning to Elena.

"Come on. We're leaving."

"No."

She stood her ground and Damon turned back to her.

"I said we're leaving."

"No. I'm not going with you."

The vampire scoffed.

"You do not get to make decisions anymore."

"When have I ever made a decision? You and Stefan do that for me. Now this, this is my decision."

"Who's gonna save your life while you're out making decisions? Do your siblings even know what you're up to??"

Elena glared at him.

"You're not listening to me, Damon. I don't want to be saved. Not if it means that Klaus is gonna kill every single person that I love."

Damon's jaw tightened.

"Get your ass out the door before I throw you over my shoulder and carry you out myself."

He then grasps her arm tightly and she struggles and releases herself from his grip.

"No!"

She shouts out angrily, throwing a punch at Damon but he easily catches her fist halfway, a blank expression on his face as she gasps in shock as he moves closer to her.

"Don't ever do that again."

He releases her fist from his grasp and walks away, leaving her standing still, horrified.


Tomb.

Bonnie chants a spell as she holds her grimoire and the dog tag and the flames flare up around her as Katherine drags Jeremy back towards the entrance, and interested look on her face.

Of course she had feared repercussions from Cherith Gilbert, but the girl was obviously not around at the moment, and it would seem this Bennett witch wasn't as weak as she thought.

If her plan worked, she'd be gone before the red head found out about this all.

"Ohhh, something's happening."

She watched with an intrigued smirk and Stefan turns to the vampire and Jeremy who looked quite weak but alarmed as he watched Bonnie.

"Bonnie, no!"

He screams out and Stefan turns back at Bonnie, a look of alarm on his face as she began to shake slightly.

Jeremy tried to fight Katherine's grip on his shoulder but he wasn't strong enough so he turns to Stefan.

"You have to stop her, she's not strong enough!"

The flames flare up higher and Katherine smirked, hope building in her chest at the thought of leaving the hell hole she was currently locked up in.

"Maybe she is."


Martin's Residence.

Luka sat at a table, opposite his father and doing homework when he feels some discomfort and grimaced in pain, knowing he was being channeled.

All evening, Jonas Martin had noticed the discomfort in his son but had decided to day nothing but now, this was too much.

Luka takes in a deep breath as the pain starts to get unbearable and Jonas puts his hand down, looking at his son.

"What's going on? And tell me the truth."

He looked at his son, urging him to tell the truth and a gritting Luka answered.

"It's Bonnie Bennett. She's channeling me!"

The hairs on Jonas' body raised at that.

"Why would you let her do that?!"

He shouted out exasperatedly and Luka holds his head.

"You told me to bond with at least one of them, so I bonded with Bonnie!"

Luka groans in pain, falling to the ground still holding his head and Jonas rushes to his son, checking him as his nose starts bleeding profusely.

"Oh, God."

He muttered, dread in his eyes.


Tomb.

Meanwhile, Bonnie continues to chant stubbornly even as Stefan tries to persuade her to stop.

"Bonnie! Stop it! You're hurting yourself!"

He shouts but she doesn't answer, instead in that moment, Bonnie falls to a faint, and Stefan crouches, shaking her.

"Come on Bonnie, wake up!"

He urged.

"Yes, please because I'm still in here!"

Katherine impatiently adds as she paces around inside the tomb and Bonnie finally wakes up.

"Are you okay?"

Stefan asks her as he helps her sit up.

"You all right?"

Bonnie looked around as she stood up, a disappointed feeling clawing in her chest as she looks at the tomb.

"It didn't work."

She turned to Stefan, tears brimming in her eyes with anger and sadness.

"I-I'm not strong enough. Even with help, I can't do it!"

Katherine tuts, a small sneer appearing on her face.

"Ahhh, that's too bad… While I suspected that this witch was a weak one, I at least thought the little light shows would make up for something."

She gives Bonnie a face of mock pity before moving towards Jeremy.

"But… I'm still hungry."

Katherine immediately grabs Jeremy's shirt and hoists him up against the wall and he grunts in pain.

She then extends her fangs and prepares to bite into Jeremy's neck when Stefan finally makes his decision and vamp-speeds into the tomb, grabs Jeremy and throws him out, restraining Katherine against the wall.

Jeremy falls onto the ground and immediately, Bonnie kneels down and wraps her arms around him, checking to see if he was okay.

After her assessment, the two look up as they suddenly realized Stefan was now stuck in the tomb with Katherine Pierce.

Katherine though, looks up at Stefan with a smug smile.

"Well then… better call up the other witch… she might be more useful."

She stares coyly before walking into the tomb, leaving the other three behind.


Forbes Residence.

Caroline stands up, closing Mason's journal and placing it on a table.

"You know what? I don't think we should read this anymore."

She hesitantly spoke, fear in her eyes and Tyler looked at her curiously while Cherith sat going through the video all over again and making some notes in her head about the things she'd seen.

"Why? What did you read?"

He asked her as he stood up and walked towards the table.

Caroline looked at him, not sure how to break it to him and not wanting to look at him with pity as well.

"There's a…a reason it's called a 'curse', Tyler."

Tyler takes the journal from off the table, opens it up, and begins to read aloud.

"'Unimaginable pain. I thought it would never end. It was the worst night of my life'."

He laughs humorlessly, shuts the diary, slams it down on the table, and sits back down on the couch, next to Cherith who looks up at the slamming of the book.

"But…he did say that the transformation speeds up over time."

Caroline tries to make him feel better as he takes a glass of alcohol from the table and drains it in one gulp.

"So, if you can just get through this first time, then…"

She shrugged, looking to Cherith for help but the red head shrugged helplessly. With all that she'd seen and read, she didn't know how she could make him see the brighter sides of his transformation.

"Why are you guys even helping me?"

He questioned and the two girls turned to him.

"What do you mean?"

"Why do you care? We've never been friends before."

Caroline immediately tried to refute the sentence.

"That's not true. I've known you my entire life, Tyler. I—"

"We've never been close. Not like this. And you too Cherith…"

He cuts the red head off as she opened her mouth and she shrugged.

There was no lie in the sentence and she wasn't going to lie.

The boy deserved some truth at the moment.

Caroline though, wasn't giving up as she stared at him where she stood.

"I don't know. You just seem like you…like you kind of need it."

Caroline moves to sit down next to Cherith, making the 16 year old in the middle.

"I was alone when I turned. I had no control over my body or my…urges. And…I almost killed somebody. If it hadn't been for Cherith... I don't know the amount of self hate that'd be growing inside of me at the moment."

She gave a small smile to the girl next to her and Cherith patted her absent mindedly.

"I don't want that to happen to you. I don't want you to be alone."

Nobody says anything again and Caroline hits Cherith knee against knee quite painfully making Cherith's head snap towards the blonde.

'What the hell?!'

She mouthed but Caroline gave her a look and Cherith sighed, before disgruntledly speaking up.

"Yeah well… I also had no idea about my powers too. They apparently came from my mother's side, but as you know, she's been gone for 16 years now…"

She shrugged, a feeling growing in her chest.

"So I had no one to turn to except someone I'd thought of as a mentor… but she's also dead now too. But even she couldn't help me, because even amongst my kind, I was born different. Uncontrollable anger, lack of control over my magic and that scares me a lot! Especially since I know what I am and can be capable of. So… yeah! I guess, I can see myself in you… in a way. Helpless, lots of rage issues… no one to turn to."

She finished quietly and everyone stews in their inner issues for a moment before Cherith clears her throat, putting on a threatening face.

"If you tell anyone I can still muster this much feelings, I swear I'll throw you into the sun Caroline… and I'll through you into the moon, Tyler. Don't you dare think I couldn't do it."

She hisses out and the tranquil moment is broken as they both snort, but Tyler understands… a feeling of comfort growing in his heart.

Suddenly, the door bell rings and they all glance at the door.

Caroline gets up to answer it.

"I'll be right back…"

She tells them and Cherith's eyes immediately spits the time on the laptop and her eyes widened.

"Oh wow! I can't believe I spent my whole day with people!"

She mumbles as the time read a little past 8 and Tyler snorts as he stands up and walks to the door.

Cherith immediately made a grab for her bag and her things.

Her stomach grumbled slightly and she cussed Tyler for being a pain in the ass.

But then again it wasn't really his fault, was it?

Now that she had a more in-depth knowledge of the curse… she could honestly understand why Mason had been so set up on getting rid of the curse.

If Cherith was going through something like that once a month… she'd have snapped a long time ago.

Heck, she went through her period every few days of the month and she was still surprised she hadn't killed anyone who dared to annoy her at those times.

"I must be getting better at controlling my rage issues…"

She idly said to herself, before remembering a bunch of things she'd done in a fit of anger and thought…

"Or maybe not…"

She chuckled to herself and walked towards the front door as Caroline and Tyler walked back in.

"Who was that?"

She asked curiously and Caroline answered.

"It was Matt..."

She answered, a disturbed look on her face.

"Ah, Matthew… it's been a while. For a moment I thought he traveled or something."

Cherith snorted before gesturing to her bag.

"So! I'll see you guys later okay? I'll meet up at the cellar and we can deal with this on a go."

Tyler sighed, running his hand through his hair.

"Are you sure it's a good idea?"

Cherith snorted as she walked to the front door.

"Oh Dante… you underestimate me. It makes me want to kick your ass. Goodnight!"

She called out and walked out of the house, towards her car and heading for the Grill.

She was famished!


Martin's Residence

Elijah stands in front of a window, staring out into the sky when Jonas enters the apartment and shuts the door behind him.

"Where's Luka?"

Elijah asked, not bothering to turn.

"Asleep."

Jonas told him, slight anger in his voice.

"Your shadow spell was successful. I was able to track that girl. However, I did have a little run in with one of the brothers that killed me."

"I assume he didn't live to tell about it."

Elijah turned.

"Actually, I spared him. He'd die before he'd let anything happen to her. They both would. She'll be kept safe."

"For now."

"Well, that's precisely what we need her to be. Safe."

Jonas doesn't say anything but something else came to the original's mind.

"What about the other girl? Her sister if I remember? Have you found out anything about her?"

He questioned.

He'd be an idiot if he said he hadn't been curious about the girl, especially the magic she carried in her.

He'd heard a lot about witch kind…And if she was what he thought…

Jonas nodded.

"You were right. There was something different about her. Her magic is intoxicating… limitless. And she just might be what you're thinking. There's no proof yet, but she does carry power."

"Fascinating."

Elijah murmured to himself but Jonas wasn't done.

"She's not easy to befriend though. In fact, I'd say she's sort of a grey area from what I've seen. So you be careful. Your charm might not work on her."

Elijah nodded.

"I'd like to meet her. She might be a great ally to have."


Gilbert Residence.

Cherith walked up the porch, rubbing at her back after a stressful day as she saw it.

Though she hadn't been with her phone all day, she didn't think anything had happened anyways.

Her siblings weren't stupid enough to cause any troubles. After everything they'd done.

As Cherith opened the door, she spotted Jeremy in the sitting room, watching TV, looking slightly out of it and a glass of milk in hand.

He looked up when she walked into the living room and his eyes widened as he stood up.

"Cherry?!? Where the hell have you been?!"

He shouted out and Cherith frowned.

"Where the hell have I been? What kind of stupid question is that? I've been around."

She grunts as she walks into the kitchen and opens the refrigerator, taking a bottled water.

"Cherry! I've been calling your phone all morning! We needed your help with the tomb!"

He shouted out exasperatedly and Cherith still looked unconcerned as she dipped her water.

"And who's we?"

"Cherry! Bonnie fainted! She overused her magic. I know you're stronger than she is and so I just thought—"

"That I'd do something I know absolutely nothing about?"

Jeremy sighed, pressing a hand to the bridge of his nose.

"Cherry, we needed the moonstone from Katherine—"

"What's that on your neck?"

She suddenly cut him off as she saw the white plastered off side of his neck and Jeremy placed a hand to it subconsciously.

"What. Happened?"

She gritted out, eyes narrowed and Jeremy sighed.

"Look. I knew Bonnie wasn't powerful enough and so I thought I could go into the tomb after incapacitating Katherine but—"

"But then you realized your plan was stupid when she sank her fangs into your neck!"

She spat out, anger building up in her and Jeremy sighed.

"Cherry, I had to—"

"Oh shut up Jeremy! Every single time, it's always 'I had to'… 'I had to'… 'I had to'! You don't think, you just do! And you expect to be saved at the end of the day. You're just as annoying as Elena!"

She shouted, walking away from him, about to head towards the stairs when Elena angrily walked in from trying to visit Stefan who was now stuck in the tomb but unable to see him because of Damon.

She spots Cherith and her anger grew as she stood in front of her.

"Where were you Cherry?! Where did you go?! You could have stopped all this!"

She shouted out, tears in her eyes and Cherith was already on her last nerves.

"Excuse me?! What the hell is going on here?!"

"Stefan's stuck in the tomb! Please you have to help him Cherry!"

Elena begged her sister but Cherith was already done with this pity party shit.

First was her brother trying to protect Bonnie, then there was Elena with Stefan.

"You know what?? I don't care! You two are obviously fucking out of your minds! I told you I wasn't interested in any of your dramas! You're trying to take the moonstone from Katherine? You obviously need it and I don't so deal with it yourself!"

She shouted at Jeremy before turning to Elena.

"Stefan's stuck with Katherine?? Well he's not gonna die if he stays there for a few hours! As for me… I'm tired, I want to go to bed and sleep for as long as possible."

She turned to walk away but Jeremy ran up and held her hand.

"Please Cherith… Stefan's stuck in there because of me."

She yanks her hand away from him.

"Well maybe you should have used your brain before walking into the tomb, thinking that vampire bitch isn't strong. God! I am so disappointed in you, Jeremy! Maybe that's why I'm not so mad at you having been fed on! What you sow you obviously reap brother! Now goodnight! I might be open to discussing with you two tomorrow. But for now… stew in your bloody problems!"

She spat out, throwing a middle finger and walking up the stairs.

Her bed was calling.


Hey guys!

New Chapter here...

So I fell sick 2 days ago

I couldn't write much I seriously felt my life force fading away... Lol, I can laugh about it now cause I'm resting up and feeling better though I'm still sick.

So I've just been lazing about and reading fanfics...

Especially Harry Potter fanfiction.

Do I have any Potterheads here or nah?

It's been a while since I've read ones that actually are fun, you know... So I've been going through my own stories as well and i was overcome with the urge to write one...

Pretty scary lol, seeing that the idea has not gone from my head and it's been days so I just might do that.

Don't worry, this work isn't going anywhere... I feel like if I dared abandon it I'd have people on my ass... besides, we want to see Cherith evolve anyways (spoiler alert)...

So don't worry, it's all good.

Which brings me to a question... Which do you prefer... Vampire Diaries or Harry Potter.

Anyways... Next chapter, Tyler will indeed be changing into a wolf. Painful but yeah... We can't help him here.

But it's nice to have friends for him, don't you think?

He used to be an ass in the first season but they really did develop his character, similar to Caroline as well who went from slightly ditzy blonde with neurotic tendencies to badass Blondie that could steal your man if she wanted to.

(Literally! She had Damon, Matt, Tyler, Klaus, Stefan!... She's a queen... Even if she can be annoying at times, lol.)

If you noticed right from the start, Cherith gets along better with the side characters, even if she thinks they're all bloody idiots. She and Caroline developed slightly the same humor... Then there's Tyler who she's having all these frenemy and bromance moments with. She also has no hard feelings against Matt... Compare her feelings to the Salvatore brothers who she'd rather let burn... Well...

Anyways!

Happy late new month guys!

I Purple You!!!!!!!