"Do they call these council meetings at the most inconvenient times or what?" Caroline asked. They stood in front of the Forbes home after dusk. The streets were empty and Caroline was upset that they called her when she was catching up on the Real Housewives. She stomped her foot against the side walk but Klaus still tugged her along.

"Now sweetheart, we have to go. We need to know what the council is planning. If we want the ritual to go as planned," Klaus said in that slow tone that Caroline hated. She hated it because sometimes Klaus acted like she was a child. She was over five hundred years old. She was not a child.

"Yes, I know but why did I have to come along?" Caroline pouted.

Klaus pulled her close. They stopped walking and he pulled her under the roof of the Forbes home. He looked into her eyes and warmth pooled into her stomach. Caroline loved looking into Klaus's eyes. They were so expressive. Sometimes Caroline wished that she had half the artistic talent that Klaus had because she wanted to paint those eyes so she could stare into them forever.

Klaus smiled down at her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "You can go back and watch your shows later. This is very important to me. Can you just do this for me? Just for a little while?"

Caroline rolled her shoulders and sighed. "Fine. But only because I love you." Klaus smiled at her words.

The door opened and the Sheriff smiled looked at them. Her hair was a mess and she had what looked to be a coffee stain on her shirt. Caroline wrinkled her nose. Humans were so messy sometimes. This woman obviously needed someone to look after her.

"Klaus and…?" the Sheriff started.

"My precious wife, Caroline. Don't worry she knows about everything," Klaus said leaning in conspiratorially. The sheriff nodded her head and opened the door wider.

"Please come inside," she said. Klaus and Caroline smiled as she invited them in. They both stepped inside. The foyer was small and they walked their way to the back towards the family room that was teeming with people. Damon Salvatore sit in the armchair with a drink in his hand and Caroline fought the urge to roll her eyes.

From all the time that she had seen the other Salvatore brother all he seemed to do was drink. Did he not have any other hobbies? The Fells were the only ones in the room and when the sheriff walked into the room she was the representative for the Forbes family.

Only the Fells and the Forbes left, Caroline thought with a dark grin. Well they had whittled away at this council quickly. Damon Salvatore took a swig of his drink and placed the glass on the table.

"I think we all know why we are here," Damon started.

The sheriff nodded. "Richard Lockwood was compelled by a vampire to kill his wife."

The room gasped and Caroline did so along with them. Klaus squeezed her hand and she spared a glance at him. His face was that of complete shock. Caroline grinned internally happy that the two of them were playing their parts so well.

"How do you know he was compelled?" One of the Fells asked.

"He had no recollection of killing his wife. He said that it was like he was dreaming and then suddenly snapped back to consciousness," the sheriff said. Caroline looked at the sheriff with wide eyes. She squeezed Klaus's hand in quick pulses.

"So that means we have a compelling vampire and a murderous vampire on the loose," Damon remarked.

"How are you so sure that it is two different vampires?" The sheriff asked.

"Well if we look at the recent 'animal attacks' they are all random and without a thought. This is a new vampire running around. Someone that doesn't just became a vampire. Now in the case of the Lockwoods it was methodical. Planned. This person wanted Richard to kill his wife and they didn't care how." Damon said this as he poured himself and drink. He looked over the rim of his glass at both Caroline and Klaus before he downed his drink.

Caroline tilted her head. "Two vampires running around? I was told that there was only one."

"Like a nest of fucking rats," one of the Fells raged. "You find one then there is a whole litter of them in your fucking home."

"Two vampires is a little concerning. If what Damon says is true then that means we have a new vampire and an old one running around. Klaus I know that your family was tasked with catching the vampire but do you think that this is something that you could handle?" asked the sheriff.

Klaus let go of her hand to raise his in the air. "My family just got here. We don't know the lay of the land yet. One vampire we could handle but two? And an aged one at that?" Caroline nodded her head her eyes wide.

"We just moved here. And with me heading to Whitmore during the day, it'd be hard to track two vampires. And I am guessing the older one would know how to better hide his tracks," Caroline said.

The sheriff swore under her breath. "Damn Richard. I told him we needed to add vervain to the town's water supply and he didn't listen."

"Maybe we should call William?" A Fell asked. Damon tilted his head and Caroline did too. "He is immune to compulsion."

Caroline almost reeled back at that. A vampire hunter? Immune to compulsion? That was something that she was dying to see. She wanted to laugh but held it back. She nodded her head and looked concerningly over to the sheriff. Damon shook his head.

"There is no need to call William or John. We can deal with this on our own," Damon said hotly.

"But you just said that there are two vampires in town," Caroline countered. "Maybe one vampire hunter would help us?"

"No. Just put vervain in the town water supply. My family will deal with this," Damon said looking over to Klaus and Caroline with a stony glare. Klaus nodded his head and Caroline sighed and grabbed Klaus's hand.

"We will tell you everything that we know about the vampires," Klaus offered. Her and Klaus shared a look. "Come to our house to meet."

The three of them knew that there would be no such meeting, but appearances had to be made in front of the humans. The sheriff nodded her head and then they all began to file out of the room.

Caroline felt giddy. They had whittled down the founding families to this. It was only a matter of time until Klaus finally broke his curse. They walked hand in hand, the moonlight shining down on them.

"This month," Caroline whispered knowing that Klaus could her her.

"This month," Klaus agreed.

The waxing moon had never looked so perfect.

He knew all about the clandestine meetings that his brother was having with Katherine and Shiela. He did not known what was said during those meeting, but sometimes Stefan would give him a play by play of what was going on.

It wasn't hard either, to pick Katherine's number from his phone and dial the number himself. Now here he was waiting in some rinky-dink bar in the middle of nowhere waiting for her to arrive. There was a couple of billiards tables that people were playing at and couple canoodling in the booths. Damon had sat himself down at the bar.

The cheap bourbon that they had at the bar burned on the way down and not in the pleasant way. It was like battery acid burning his throat. And he would know how much battery acid hurt. The bar doors swung open and Katherine strutted in. She was in heels and a camisole and fuck me jeans that did wonders for the curve of her ass.

Damon could barely keep his eyes off of her as she walked over to him at the bar. Without a word she settled in beside him and then flagged the bartender down.

"I thought I told Stefan not to give you my number," Katherine said.

"Yeah well, Stefan is not the most secure with his phone," Damon countered.

Katherine said her order to the bartender, flashing her pearly whites all the while. They said nothing as the bartender made her order. Damon took careful swigs of his drink and tried not to wince with every hit.

Katherine settled into her seat with her order, a dirty martini and gave him an unreadable smile. "So tell me Damon, why did you call me?"

Damon took one last taste of his drink to finish it off. "I'm not as naive as Stefan. He may think you are doing this out some altruistic need to help your descendent but I am not buying it."

"Damon, I want to keep Elena alive. I don't want her to share the same fate as I almost did five hundred years ago."

"Yeah, yeah. That's bullshit and we both know it. You have never cared about Elena. Why all of a sudden do you want to protect her when you weren't even there when her parents went under water?"

Katherine took a long sip of her drink. The olive swirled around in her glass. Katherine was like him. She did not do things out of the goodness of her heart. She did things because there was something to gain. Something to win. She was doing this because she wanted something. He just did not know what the hell she wanted.

"I have a vested interest in this curse not going through Damon." She looked up at him from under her lashes. "I don't want her to suffer the way that I did."

Damon slammed down his glass. The sound reverberated over the din of the music and the chitchat going on in the bar. Damon rose to his feet and looked at Katherine his eyes heated.

"Stop lying to me!"

The bar paused. Everyone seeming to take a moment to look at the both of them. Katherine looked around the bar and sent them all a fake smile. The bartender lingered on the edge of Damon's vision and Damon could feel something hot in his chest. Katherine looked at him with a pout.

"This guy bothering you?" The bartender asked. His hands were in fist like he was ready to fight. Damon scoffed at the thought. Like someone like him could handle Damon at all. Damon whipped his head around and looked deep into the bartender's eyes.

"Get lost," Damon compelled. The bartender nodded and moved to the other side of the bar, far away from them both. Katherine sighed and put down her drink.

"Do you really need to make a scene?" Katherine asked. She reached over and pulled Damon down into his seat. Damon looked at his hand, he had felt the pain of the glass lance through him but when he looked towards his hand all there was was pink flesh healing.

Katherine swung her feet in the chair and picked up her drink again. "I'll be real with you Damon. Not because you've convinced me but because I know you'll be like a dog with a bone when it comes to this and I don't want you messing up what I have planned."

The heat in his chest lessened. Damon flagged the bartender and order another drink, but not bourbon this time because the bourbon that they had was shit. The bartender left to make his drink and Katherine crossed her dainty little ankles and looked at Damon in the eye.

"I have a…let's say vest interest that this ritual work. It would mean a lot to me if the ritual went off without a hitch." Katherine took a sip of her drink.

"Why can't you just come out and say that? Why play all these games?"

"Damon when you have been alive as long as I have everything is a game. And I play to win."

Damon looked at her face. It was the same face that he had fallen in love with so long ago. He could remember her in that mint green dress when she first entered into their lives. She was magical then and she was still magical now. Damon slid a hand forward. It wrapped around Katherine's hand that was sitting prone in her lap.

"Katherine. Let me help you," he said looking into those dark brown eyes.

"Damon…"

"Seriously, let me help. I love you Katherine, you know that. Let me help you get whatever the hell it is that you want and then we can go somewhere together. Just the two of us like we planned all that time ago."

He remembered when she told him that she was a vampire. She had trusted him, not Stefan or anyone else. She had trusted him, Damon Salvatore and he kept her secret. He knew that she did not love him. But time changes all things and with some time even the apathy or whatever the hell it is that she felt for him would change.

Besides she had felt something for him in the past when she played with his heart. She had to find him handsome or charming or something in order for her to give him her blood. Katherine looked down at his hand and then sighed slipping her hand from his.

"Damon…" she started.

"No, I know. I know I'm not the one you love but that can change. You must have something for me once, yeah? A long time ago when we first met. Katherine I'm not asking you to love me now. I'm asking for use to start over. We can begin again when Elena dies. It'll just be you and me against the world. The way we talked about back then. Don't you want that Katherine?"

Katherine sucked in a deep breath her eyes closed. When she opened them she put her drink down and ran her finger around the rim of the glass. The olive sat alone in the empty cup. It was nothing more than the dregs of the martini.

She looked at him with honest eyes that had a flickering flame in them. Yes, something. He wanted her to look at him with something! Damon could work with something. Katherine brushed her hair over her shoulder.

"Damon, I've told you before that I never—"

"Yes I know that you never loved me. I know that it was never me, but I'm not asking for then I'm asking for the future."

"Damon…There's someone else."

"What?"

"Damon I can't be with you because I intend to be with someone else. It is that simple. I am not going to run away with you because I don't love you. I love someone else."

It felt as though the world fell from underneath him. The words resounded in his head but they never landed. Someone else. Someone else. There was somebody new in the picture. And they had dome something that Damon could never achieve in all his years of being alive.

"Oh," was all Damon could say. Katherine rose from her seat.

"Yeah."

Katherine stood there looking at him and Damon dared to glance at her. She plucked the olive from her glass and popped it into her mouth.

"I'll see you around Damon." And then she walked out of the door.

Damon sat at the bar just staring at where she sat. There was someone else. Someone else who she loved and wanted to be with. Damon meant nothing to her. He nodded his head.

Fine. There could be someone else. He would make sure that Katherine never got to be with them though. He was going to ruin that ritual if it was the last thing he did.

He thought of Elena with her doe eyes and straight hair. Heh, she was kind of cute now that he thought of it.

Bonnie stood with rubbing her hands together as a brisk wind passed by. She knew she should have worn gloves, but she was just so excited. She pressed the doorbell once and waited. A thumping could be heard coming from the door and then the door swung open.

Aunt Jenna's smiling face appeared as she opened the door. The blonde looked tired, but she had a drink in her hands even though it was only five in the afternoon. Bonnie grinned and waved at her best friend's aunt.

"Hey Jenna. Is Elena around?" she asked. Jenna nodded her head and waved her inside. Bonnie rushed in happy to get away from the brisk wind that was hipping at her fingers. Bonnie smiled when she felt the warmth of the house seep into her hands and face. God, there was nothing better than a warm house.

Jenna nodded her head to the stairs that were right next to Bonnie. "Elena should be up there. She hasn't come down since she came back from class."

Bonnie nodded her head and turned to walk up the stairs. She jogged up the steps, passing photos of the Gilberts on family vacations. Something in her heart wilted at the sight of the photos. Elena lost her parents so long ago and they still had the photos up. How could she bear to see them after everything that has happened.

She shook her head. She was here for a reason, she resettled the backpack on her back and made her way down the hall and to Elena's room. The door was open and Elena was sitting on her bed writing in her journal. Her brow was furrowed and she was writing slowly in the book, like she was making sure that each and every word made sense.

Bonnie knocked lightly on the doorway. "Hey," she said. Elena looked up and the wrinkles on her brow smoothed out as a grin spread on her face. The brunette rose from the bed and enveloped Bonnie in her arms.

"Hey. You didn't tell me that you were coming over," Elena said.

"I didn't plan on it but I have something to tell you," Bonnie said.

"Well what is it?"

Bonnie shifted from one foot to the other. She did not know how to say this. With everyone coming out of the woodwork it felt only right for Bonnie to tell Elena what she was. It felt bad keeping a secret from her best friend. It felt wrong. Bonnie sucked in a breath. She was just going to say it.

"I'm a witch," Bonnie said all in one breath. Elena looked at her with her wide doe eyes and nodded her head.

"Okay."

Bonnie paused. "You're not surprised?"

"Well vampires and werewolves are real. And Stefan told me that your ancestor was a witch so I kind of assumed."

Bonnie sighed out. "Well then that makes this a whole lot easier." Bonnie slung off her backpack and placed it on the bed. She unzipped it and pulled out the grimoire that she had found. "I found this when I was snooping through Gram's things."

"What is it?" Elena asked, coming closer. It was a large, thick book that had papers, stickie notes, and all manner of things jutting out of it. The cover was a plain leather binding that looked worn with scratched and marks that it gained over time. Bonnie smiled at her friend.

"I think this is Gram's grimoire, her book of spells. I think there is a spell in here that could help you." Bonnie flicked through the book, looking for the spell that she had saw earlier. Elena watched as Bonnie's hands fluttered over the pages. "Ah-ha!"

Bonnie pointed down to one of the spells in the book. "Here it is a spell of protection. I was thinking that I could cast this spell on you and nothing could harm you. You since…well, you know."

Elena looked at the woods. They were written in latin and Bonnie had tried to decipher it earlier using Google Translate but she could hardly make out what the words meant. All she knew that it was a protection spell and that it would help her protect Elena.

There was no way that she was going to allow her best friend to be murdered by the Mikaelsons. Grams was right about them. Nothing good could ever come from them. Her heart banged when she thought of Kol but she quickly discarded the thought. They were coming for Elena and she had to make sure that they could not get to Elena.

"Do you think it will work?" Elena asked.

"There's no harm in trying," Bonnie said. The girls settled in on Elena's bed, the book between them both. Bonnie grabbed Elena's hands and looked down at the book. "Okay. So the book says that we have to be holding hands and then I just say the words."

Bonnie looked to Elena and the brunette nodded her head. Okay, so they were doing this. This would be the first time that Bonnie preformed magic since absorbing the magic of the witches in that burned out house. And it would be the first time that she did magic without the supervision of Kol or anyone really. This had to work. She needed to protect her friend. And prove that she was a capable witch.

She could do this.

Bonnie closed her eyes. She said the words. She felt the power from the words wrap around her. She could see the deep well that was her power, supplemented by the power that she received from the dead witches. Yes, it was working.

She felt her power rise up and escape her and then. Nothing. She felt absolutely nothing. Bonnie was hoping that she would feel something with the spell but she felt nothing. Bonnie stopped saying the words and opened her eyes. Elena was staring at her with a quirked eyebrow.

"Well, did it work?" she asked. Bonnie leaned forward and pinched Elena. The girl gasped at the slight sting and pulled her arm away. "What the hell Bonnie!"

Bonnie frowned. "I guess not. Sorry Elena." She frowned. She had felt her power leave her. She had felt it well up inside of her the way that Kol had taught her to feel when she was doing a spell.

"You want to feel the magic swell inside of you," Kol said with a rakish grin. "You want to feel it like a tidal wave wash over you and then through you." She had done everything right. Why hadn't the spell worked.

Bonnie rose from her bed and shoved the grimoire back into her backpack. Maybe she needed the guidance. She needed someone to guide her through this magic shit. But there was no way that she was going to go back to Kol or ask her Grams for help. Grams did not even want her to practice magic and Kol…well, she was done with him for good.

Elena sighed and then smiled at Bonnie. "Hey, at least you tried something right?" Bonnie smiled and nodded her head.

"Yeah. At least I tried."

Author's Note: Thank you everyone for your support of this fic. I am happy that you are all enjoying it.