A guest by the name of Aisha informed me that it has been four months since my last update and all I can say is that I'm so sorry! It doesn't feel like it's been that long for me because I've been so busy with church stuff and trying to find a job and deciding what kind of job I want. I just haven't been in the mindset of a writer lately. I'm sorry, again, and I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. I like it for the most part, I just still am not too crazy about the Caroline/Matt stuff. I try to put it in without having to have the actual scenes in it, because I do love Caroline.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Rebecca and Damon arrived at the Gilbert lake house about an hour before Elijah did. Rebecca assumed that meant that Elijah had to have gone to the Martin's to have them track Elena, or Elijah had had to feed to gain his strength back after having died, after having been killed.

Rebecca's phone had been ringing off the hook. Bonnie, Bonnie, Bonnie, Jeremy. She really didn't want to answer because she knew this Elijah thing was probably more important, but Jeremy had Chelsea at the moment, and if something was wrong she needed to know.

"Yeah?" she answered. "What's up?"

"Jonas Martin attacked Bonnie," Jeremy said.

"What?"

Rebecca looked at Damon and then at Stefan, the second of whom let Elena know what had been said.

"Is she okay?"

"She's shaken up. She was here, practicing her magic and –"

"Wait," Rebecca interrupted. "Is Chelsea okay?"

"She is asleep. Anyway, Jonas just slammed through the door and grabbed Bonnie and started chanting –"

Suddenly Bonnie's voice took over. "Becca, he took my powers!"

Rebecca's blood froze and her breath caught in her throat. If Bonnie no longer had her powers, that meant Bonnie was as unprotected as everyone else now.

"But you're okay, right? He didn't hurt you?"

"No, he – he said it was for my own good. He was mad about what we did to Luka, about what we found out. I offered to help him and that's when he took them."

"We will help you get them back. Okay?" Rebecca promised. "But right now we have an angry Original outside, and we need to deal with him."

She heard Bonnie sigh. It was almost a sob, actually.

"Be safe, Bonnie."

Then she hung up. She was glad she had, because at that moment the door was busted open. Elijah had thrown rocks at the door and they had hit so hard that the door had splintered apart.

Elena was telling them to leave now because she needed to talk to Elijah alone. None of them were okay with that. It was true that Elena had the dagger hidden on her person, but Rebecca didn't know if the girl had it in her to kill Elijah. Therefore, Elena would not be left alone.

"Guys, it's okay. He can't come in the house," Elena said.

"You know, I might not be able to enter this house," Elijah said, "but I am a very patient man. I'll wait you out."

Rebecca looked at Elena. Each girl nodded at the other, and Rebecca took Elena's hand. She let Elena lead her to the front door, but neither stepped outside. Rebecca wouldn't have given her presence away had she not been on the phone when Elijah had arrived, but he'd already heard her voice. There was no use in hiding now.

Elena started by saying, "They shouldn't have done what they did."

Rebecca followed Elena's statement with her own. "Elena knew nothing about it, and I told Damon not to do it. I never wanted any harm to come to you, and I'm sorry."

"But harm did come to me," Elijah answered swiftly. "The deal is off."

"I'm renegotiating," Elena said.

"You have nothing left to negotiate with."

Elijah climbed up to the porch and stood to face them. Rebecca noticed that Elijah had changed clothes. His shirt had neither a hole in it nor blood on it.

Elena suddenly pulled a kitchen knife from underneath the sleeve of her sweater. Rebecca assumed Elena had put it there while she'd been on the phone because she'd never noticed the brunette go to the kitchen.

"I'd like to see you lure Klaus to Mystic Falls after the doppelganger bleeds to death," Elena said, ice and steel in her voice.

"Stefan won't let you die," Elijah said.

"No, he won't. He'll feed me his blood to heal me and then I'll kill myself and become a vampire, just like Katherine did. So unless you want that to happen again, promise me the same as before. Promise me that you won't harm anyone that I love even if they've harmed you."

Rebecca felt a modicum of hope fill her. If Elijah said yes to Elena's deal, then he wouldn't have to be harmed again, and everyone could just get on with his or her own life.

"I'm sorry, Elena," Elijah said, and Rebecca's heart felt a small crack forming. "I'm gonna have to call your bluff."

It took only a few seconds for Elena to force the blade into herself. It took just as much time for Rebecca to react. She caught Elena before the girl could hit the ground.

Rebecca noticed that Elijah seemed shocked, and he'd reached the doorway now only to be stuck outside. Elena was not dead. The barrier had not yet been broken.

Elena pulled the knife from her abdomen and blood gushed out, staining her shirt.

"Elena!" Rebecca shouted and moved the girl's hands away from her body so she could cover the wound herself.

The smell of blood reached Rebecca's nose and she had to fight off her vampire nature just so she wouldn't bite the girl.

"Yes," Elijah said. "Yes, you can have your deal. Let me heal you."

"Give me your word," Elena screamed.

"I give you my word," Elijah said, and Rebecca noticed that he'd barely even hesitated.

Elena got up from the floor and stepped outside. She was walking better than she should have been, considering she'd been stabbed in the stomach. And why hadn't she just stayed put? Rebecca would've healed her had she been given a chance.

A pain-filled grunt came from outside, and it hadn't come from Elena. Had she . . . Had Elena used the dagger on Elijah even after he'd agreed to her terms?

"Elijah!" Rebecca called out, even as he was turning gray. She'd watched this man die twice that night. This time she really hadn't expected it.

Both Elena and Elijah fell to the ground. Stefan ran past Rebecca and hurried to heal Elena. Rebecca vaguely remembered that Stefan had wanted to become a doctor at one point. He would've been able to tell Elena exactly how to stab herself so she wouldn't hit an organ.

Damon stepped forward as well, but only far enough to reach Rebecca.

"Little tip," Damon said. "Don't pull the dagger out."

Rebecca crossed her arms over her chest and huffed.

"Was that really necessary? He'd agreed to your deal and now we don't have the dagger for when Klaus shows up."

She stepped outside onto the porch, and bent down beside Elijah. She touched his shirt near the dagger, where his heart was, where it should've been beating – slower than normal, but beating nonetheless – and just happened to notice a lump in his jacket pocket. She reached in gently and pulled out the moonstone.

"Guys . . ."

Damon, Stefan, and Elena, who was all healed up now, looked at her.

"Hm," Damon said. "Our little moonstone bar of soap."

"Soap?" Rebecca asked, knowing he was planning on putting it in the soap bowl in their bathroom. "That's a terrible idea."

"So that's it?" Elena asked. "I mean, as long as we keep the dagger in there, he stays dead?"

"Pretty much."

"Okay then," Elena said. "You know, you guys want me to fight, fine. I'll fight. But if we're gonna do this you can't keep anything from me anymore. From this moment on, we're doing it my way."

"Nope," Rebecca said automatically. "You'll get everyone killed."

"Becca . . ."

"No," she said firmly. "I'll work with you, but if you do something stupid, I'm not going along with it. I don't care what Damon and Stefan do. I mean, I shouldn't have gone along with killing Elijah in the first place!"

Rebecca stood up and tossed the moonstone to Damon and said, "I'm going home. I'm gonna go get the car and go pick up Chelsea."

Damon watched as Rebecca took off. He wanted to follow her, but he knew she needed space. She had liked Elijah for whatever reason and had had to watch him die. It couldn't have been easy.

"Is she okay?" Elena asked.

"She'll be fine. I think she just needs time," Damon said. "Anyway, we should definitely get going."

Stefan's and Elena's vacation was definitely over. Once Elena and Stefan had packed all of their things, they put it in the car. They had a little trouble getting Elijah in the trunk, but they eventually got him in there.

Damon decided to ride with Elena and Stefan to give Rebecca more time to herself, but once he got back to the boardinghouse he raced inside, hoping to find Rebecca back with Chelsea. No one was in the living room, but he could hear a shower running upstairs. He made his way to his room, wanting to make things right with Rebecca. She'd voiced her opinion on the subject of Elijah, of course, but he hadn't known just how upset she would be over his death.

He reached his room, where the noise was coming from.

"Becca? I thought you were goin' to get Chelsea," he said as he stepped inside.

The water stopped running as Damon reached the shower. The person standing there was definitely not Rebecca. This person had long brown hair, and her doppelganger was outside.

"Katherine."

The woman turned around and smiled. "Hello, Damon. Hey, do you have a robe?"

If Damon was being honest, he didn't know where to look. Katherine was naked and there was no denying she was beautiful, but that wasn't the reason he couldn't take his eyes off of her. Katherine was a manipulative little thing and she might kill him if he looked away.

"How did you get out?"

"I knew that if I begged you not to kill Elijah, that that's exactly what you'd do," Katherine admitted. "Little known fact? Originals can compel vampires, but as soon as they die the compulsion wears off."

"And you knew."

Damon realized then that he should've listened to Rebecca. Yes, Elijah had been a threat, but now they had an even bigger one in Katherine. He so owed Rebecca an apology.

"And I'm still here. I didn't run. I meant what I said, Damon. I'm going to help you. So . . . how 'bout that robe?"

It was at that moment that Damon heard a car door slam outside. He didn't even have to focus his hearing to notice Rebecca's heartbeat; even as a vampire hers was unique. The only reason he hadn't been able to tell who'd been in the shower when he'd gotten there was because of the water running and blocking out everything else.

"You need to leave," Damon said. "Get some clothes and leave."

Neither Rebecca nor Elena would appreciate Katherine being there. Knowing Katherine wouldn't listen to him, Damon decided the best course of action would be to at least warn the others.

He caught Rebecca downstairs holding Chelsea, who was halfway asleep. He grabbed onto Rebecca's arm and steered her back towards the door.

"Damon, what –"

"We have a problem," he said. "Walk with me."

He led her out to Stefan's car, where Stefan and Elena were talking. They hadn't removed their bags from the car, nor had they taken Elijah out of the trunk.

"Guys," Damon interrupted. "Katherine's upstairs."

"What? What is she doing here?" Elena asked.

"How is she here?" Rebecca asked.

Damon noticed that Stefan and Elena looked more upset than Rebecca did, though Rebecca had tensed.

"When we killed Elijah it broke the compulsion and freed her from the tomb."

An almost smug smile formed on Rebecca's lips. She had told them that they shouldn't have killed Elijah.

"How's that possible?" Stefan asked.

"He's an Original," Katherine said, appearing suddenly. At least she was dressed this time. "They have all sorts of special skills."

"I don't want you here," Elena said and turned to Stefan. "Get her out of here."

"You need me, Elena. You all do, we all want the same thing," Katherine said.

"And what's that?" Rebecca asked, switching Chelsea to the arm that was farthest away from Katherine.

"Klaus dead," Katherine answered. "Yet here you all are running around like chickens with their heads cut off."

"I don't need your help and I don't want it."

"And that's incredibly stupid of you," Katherine said. "Do you know where Klaus is? When he's coming? What he looks like?"

"If you know something, say it or leave," Damon demanded.

"Fine. Then I'll just go to the Grill and pick up some very early breakfast. Maybe Aunt Jenna's free for a bite."

Rebecca growled low in her throat. "We're done with your threats, Katherine. No one here cares whether you live or die now. If you cause any problems now, I can and will kill you."

"And yet . . ." Katherine said.

Rebecca rolled her eyes and turned to walk away. With a look between Stefan and Elena, Damon followed Rebecca and Chelsea. Neither vampire said anything until they reached their room.

"Damon, I'm with Elena. Katherine needs to leave. She's only going to cause more problems."

Rebecca placed Chelsea on the bed, where the girl automatically rolled over and began crawling around. Damon sat on the bed as well to ensure that Chelsea didn't fall off.

Rebecca quickly began filling an overnight bag with clothes for her and Chelsea.

"Where're you going?"

"I don't know. To my dad's or Bonnie's. Somewhere Katherine can't get in."

"Well, don't go to Bonnies. I can't get in there."

Rebecca paused in her packing and smiled slightly. She went to the bed and gave Damon a lingering kiss on the lips. She wrapped her arms around him and he pulled her down until she was sitting on his lap.

"You seem to keep forgetting that I would follow you anywhere as long as you wanted me there," Damon said.

"I want you. No matter where I am, I always want you."

"Good. I guess we're going to your dad's then."

Rebecca nodded. "We can come back in the morning, but I'm not sleeping under the same roof as Katherine."

The next morning found Elena being picked up and taken to school by Stefan. Elena hadn't stayed at the boardinghouse the night before either, but Stefan had. Someone had needed to keep an eye on Katherine.

"Why is she still here?" Elena asked. "She was free."

Stefan had wondered that himself and had come to the conclusion that Katherine must have been telling the truth the night before.

"She wants what we want. Klaus dead. Maybe she sees us as her only chance."

"Or maybe she's trying to lure you and Damon back into her web," Elena countered. "I want her gone."

"Yeah. So do I. But you're right. She stayed. Shouldn't we at least try to figure out why?"

"How? All she does is lie."

Elena and Stefan made their way through the student parking lot and towards the front doors of the school.

"Look, I hate it as much as you do, but she does make a point. We don't know anything about Klaus. She does."

"Right. But that doesn't mean that I want her shacking up with you."

Stefan stopped walking and turned Elena to face him. He didn't like the insecurity in her voice.

"Maybe we should stay at your place tonight. Maybe Damon and Rebecca had the right idea when they went to Robert's to stay."

"Mm. I can't. I told Bonnie and Caroline that they could come over. Bonnie's freaked because she lost her powers, and Caroline's having Matt drama again. It's kind of a girl's night."

Elena scrunched up her nose and said, "Maybe Katherine can join us."

Stefan kissed her forehead, enjoying the sarcasm.

"Come on," he said. "Or we're gonna be late."

At the boardinghouse, Damon was trying to find a way to dispose of Elijah's body. They needed to find a way for Elijah to stay dead even if they took the dagger out. At the moment, he was using a flame thrower, but it wasn't doing any damage at all to Elijah's body. It was as if a shield was around him, because even Elijah's clothes weren't burning.

"Ooh, burning flesh," Katherine said as she came into the cellar room. "If you're trying to get the dagger back, you're wasting your time. He's indestructible."

"No kidding," Damon said and turned to her. "How do you know so much about Original vampires?"

"Spent five hundred years running from one."

"So when I told you my plan to kill Elijah . . . why didn't you warn me that I'd die if I used the dagger on him?"

"Oh, there's so many rules. It's all very confusing."

Damon could tell she was lying, but there wasn't really anything he could do about it.

"Did you know I would die?"

"Did Elijah tell you his plan?" Katherine asked. "Did he have a dagger to kill Klaus with?"

"Why're you still here?" Damon asked.

Despite the fact that Damon had been certain that Katherine would run away as soon as she were able, she hadn't. It couldn't just be because she wanted to help them. There had to be something in it for her.

"Because you haven't forcibly removed me."

Damon held the nozzle of the flame thrower towards her, but she basically only rolled her eyes at it.

"You wouldn't."

"Oh, I would," he said and moved closer. He felt a small jolt of pleasure when Katherine's eyes showed the beginnings of her fear.

"Damon, be smart. I want Klaus dead just as much as you do. More. If I wasn't being honest about helping, I'd be long gone by now. Okay?"

Damon glared at her as her words sunk it.

"You can hate me, but we want the same thing. And you know I always get what I want."

Damon lowered the flame thrower, and Katherine went past him, touching his chest on the way to the door. Once there, Katherine turned back around.

"I wanted out of the tomb. Didn't matter who paid the price. Of course I knew that you'd die."

With that, she walked away.

At the school, Stefan was filling Bonnie and Jeremy in on the Katherine situation. Nobody had informed them that she was no longer in the tomb.

"We're dealing with it. Just be extra careful," he said. "She's gotten a little too good at impersonating Elena."

Stefan had found the two at Bonnie's locker. Bonnie was putting a few books in her bag.

"With Katherine still around we've gotta find a way to get your powers back," Jeremy said.

Bonnie nodded, but she didn't seem to have any clue about how to go about doing that.

"Look, I want to try to get the Martin's on our side," Stefan said. "I want to figure out a way for all of us to work together now that Elijah's out of the picture."

"That's impossible. They hate us."

"It's either win them over or somebody's gonna end up dead. You think you can at least convince them to have a civil conversation?"

"I'll try," Bonnie reluctantly replied.

"Thanks. Keep me posted."

"Yeah, okay. I gotta get to class."

To be completely honest, Stefan had to get to class too, if only to keep an eye on Elena.

"See you guys later," he told them, and went off to find his girlfriend.

He met up with Elena in Alaric's classroom. They seemed to be discussing Jenna. Apparently the fact that he'd almost been exposed at the dinner Damon had held just to kill Elijah had opened Alaric up to wanting Jenna to know the truth about him.

"You think we should tell her the truth?" Elena asked.

"I'm saying I can't be with her and not tell her. It's not fair to her, and it's not the kind of relationship I want."

"Not to mention it's becoming more dangerous for her not to know. I just thought that we'd hold off at least until we've dealt with Klaus. You know, and even then . . . how do we tell someone what we know? How does someone hear that?"

Alaric, who had been pacing, stopped in front of Elena.

"Look, I'm sorry to put this on you. You know, but I feel that it's your decision to make, and whatever you decide to do I'll respect it. I want to be honest with her, but until then Jenna and I are done."

Stefan understood where Ric was coming from. When he'd first gotten with Elena he'd done nothing but lie. She'd eventually caught on and he'd had to be honest.

The best thing for Ric to do was tell the truth or stay away from Jenna. He was glad the man had come to Elena before acting on his feelings.

At the boardinghouse, Damon was going through the Gilbert journals that Elena had found and brought back from her lake house. Katherine was being annoying and he was trying to ignore her.

"How am I supposed to help you when you won't tell me what you're up to?" she asked.

"Can you tell me where a bunch of witches were massacred in this town a couple centuries ago?"

"No."

"Then you can't help."

Katherine reached for one of the journals and Damon slapped her hand away as if she were a child reaching for something she wasn't supposed to have. She slapped him back and then their arms were wrestling with each other's. Damon fought to pin her down on the nearest flat surface, which ended up being a table, and wrapped a hand around her throat.

"If it's any consolation, I'm glad that you're not dead," she said, and reached her hand up to stroke his cheek.

He pulled away from her and she grinned as she got to her feet.

"Emily Bennett told me about the massacre," she admitted. "It was a big deal in witch folklore. When a witch dies violently, they release a mystical energy marking the place of their death with power."

"Elijah wanted to know the site of the massacre."

"What was he gonna do when he found it?"

"I don't know."

At that moment Stefan came through the front door. Damon knew that Stefan had been trying to set up a meeting with the Martin's after school. Stefan wasn't dead and he didn't appear hurt. That could only be a good thing.

"Why isn't she gone?" Stefan asked, looking at Katherine, "or dead yet?"

"For the last time, I'm here to help."

"Hm. So . . . what did Papa Witch and Baby Witch have to say?"

"Elijah had no weapon to kill Klaus with, but he believed that if a witch could channel enough power, they wouldn't need one."

"Like the power you get from a spot marked with a hundred dead witches?" Damon asked.

"We just need to find it."

Rebecca was at Elena's house, having been invited over for a girls' thing. Chelsea was with her, mostly because she hadn't wanted to leave her with Robert, but also because Chelsea loved the girls. Caroline was her favorite, but she loved Bonnie and Elena too.

"So . . . Chinese or pizza?" Caroline asked.

Everyone agreed on pizza and Bonnie ordered it.

"Do you believe that Jonas is being sincere?" Elena asked.

"I don't know what to believe," Bonnie said. "I think he's at a loss. He doesn't know who to trust, but he doesn't wanna trust us."

Rebecca hadn't been at the Grill when Bonnie had met with the Martin's, but Bonnie had described what had happened well enough to know that Jonas hadn't been very receptive to their offer of help. The only reason Jonas had agreed to meet was because Luka had asked.

"Well, what're we gonna do about this movie situation? What about The Notebook?" Caroline asked and the others groaned.

"How many times have you seen that movie?"

"That is not the point!"

Jenna walked into the kitchen then. She looked . . . . not happy.

"Hey," Rebecca said. "What's up?"

"Ric broke up with me."

"What?"

"Yup."

Jenna took the last available seat at the table and slumped onto it.

"Well, we're here if you wanna talk," Elena offered.

"Yeah, because we're all winners when it comes to successful relationships," Caroline quipped.

"I am, at least," Rebecca teased.

"I feel Ric is hiding something from me." Jenna sighed. "Sometimes he evades."

Caroline scrunched up her nose, as if she agreed with Alaric's methods.

"Not to play devil's advocate, but maybe there's a good reason why he's not telling you. Maybe he just feels like he's protecting you. Sometimes the truth is hard and not pretty."

"That's not his call to make," Jenna argued. "I deserve the truth."

The pizza finally arrived and they all ate their fill. Rebecca even let Chelsea have a small piece. Chelsea liked the cheese and the sauce, but she wasn't crazy about the crust.

After eating, Caroline decided that instead of watching a movie they should go to the Grill. There was going to be a live band that night and it would be fun.

Everyone agreed aside from Rebecca. She had Chelsea with her; plus she really wanted to see Damon.

Damon and Katherine were reading when Rebecca walked in. Damon was on the couch and Katherine was seated comfortably on a chair. Rebecca wasn't planning on staying long, so she'd dropped Chelsea off with Robert. He could watch her for an hour – two, at most.

"I'm bored," Katherine said and got up so she could read over Damon's shoulder.

Emily Bennett was taken by the Council today. They kidnapped her from her home and took her to the same location her ancestors were burned a hundred years ago.

"So Emily died on the site of the massacre, too. Does it say where?"

"Nope." Damon turned to Rebecca then. "Hey, thought you were with the others."

"They wanted to go out. I didn't."

Rebecca plopped onto the couch close to Damon.

"Haven't found anything useful?"

"Mm-mm. I'd say use Diana, but she's tried to get both of us killed so . . . no."

"I'm hungry," Katherine said.

"You're the unwanted houseguest," Damon said, causing Rebecca to grin. "Go feed yourself."

Katherine scoffed and walked away. Rebecca assumed she was heading to the basement.

Rebecca quickly kissed Damon's cheek. "I missed you this morning. I'm not used to waking up without you."

"I know. I didn't like leaving you, but the quicker we get this done, the quicker Katherine can leave."

"Well, plus side of things . . ."

Damon kissed her this time, properly, on the lips. It wasn't a long kiss by any means, and it was chaste – no promise of more to come.

There were footsteps on the stairs. Rebecca recognized the tread as Stefan's. She pulled away to see the other Salvatore brother holding a few journals – how many were there altogether anyway?

"There's nothing in any of these," Stefan said. "Find anything?"

"Nope," Damon said, but he nodded and gestured for Stefan to come over. He handed the journal to Stefan so he could read.

"That's too bad." Stefan looked at Rebecca. "Hey."

"Hey yourself. I thought I was gonna have to shout for attention."

"Sorry. Distracted. Where's –"

"Damon!"

That was Katherine. She sounded alarmed – genuinely alarmed. The three vampires in the living room rushed down to the basement and found Katherine there, a stake in her stomach – near her chest but not the heart. She was in the process of pulling out the piece of wood. It appeared to have once been a leg of a chair that was now broken. What had happened? Had Katherine stabbed herself to gain sympathy or something?

Then Rebecca saw what was happening. Some force was removing the dagger from Elijah's body. How was that happening? She knew it had to be magic, but as far as Rebecca knew not even the Martin's knew where Elijah's body was. In fact, Rebecca hadn't even known until just then. She hadn't stuck around long enough the night before.

Suddenly Damon picked up the flame thrower he'd been using earlier and began shooting flames around Elijah's body.

"What're you doing?" Stefan shouted.

"Shutting down a crazy psychic witch attack. Get over there and do something about it. Now!"

Stefan left, and Rebecca watched as something human shaped stood up from near Elijah's body. It looked teen-sized. She hoped that this wasn't really happening to the physical form of this person.

Despite her better judgment, Rebecca helped Katherine upstairs and onto the couch. Katherine hadn't healed yet, so Rebecca assumed that meant that she hadn't fed properly in a few days.

"Thank you," Katherine said, sounding sincere. "You know I would've left you there."

"Yup, and that's why I'm glad I'm not you. And that's also why you have no friends."

At that moment Damon came back, stake in one hand, bag of blood in the other. He handed Katherine the blood and then drove the stake into her already wounded stomach.

"Damon!" Rebecca exclaimed even as Katherine shouted, "What the hell?"

"That's for not telling me the dagger would kill me," Damon said. "Next time it goes in your heart."

"Is that how you treat someone who is trying to help you?" Katherine asked, removing the stake. She barely flinched as she pulled it out.

"You wanna help? Start talking."

"I'd love to, but you're not going to like it."

"He wouldn't have liked dying," Rebecca said.

Of course Katherine had known what would happen if Damon had used the dagger. He had even mentioned the dagger when he'd talked to her about killing Elijah.

"Isobel has connections with the Watcher's Council. Namely your ex-Watcher. She found out about them when she was researching vampires. Isobel knew that killing Elijah would get me out of the tomb, so she found a way to get the dagger into your hands. Well . . . I could've had her give it to Stefan, but . . . I could only save one of you."

"And you chose Stefan," Damon concluded.

"You wanted the truth. Would you rather I lie?"

"Get out," Rebecca said. "Go away."

Rebecca wasn't even mad. Not really. In Katherine's own way, she loved Stefan, and so she'd chosen to save the one she cared about. If Rebecca had been given the choice between Damon and Stefan, she wouldn't even hesitate to choose to save Damon and to kill Stefan.

No, Rebecca wasn't mad, but she still didn't want Damon near her. Katherine was always so ready to cut him with her words.

Damon's phone vibrated then and he pulled it out of his pocket. Apparently it was just a text message because he looked at the screen quickly and cursed.

"Luka Martin is dead. His father's going after Elena."

"She's at the Grill," Rebecca said. "Maybe we can beat him there."

"I'm coming with you," Katherine said.

"No, you're not," Damon said. "I don't want your help. I don't need it."

"Uh, actually, it's better to work with her," Rebecca said sheepishly. "At least we'll know what she's doing."

As it was, Jonas beat everyone to the Grill. Rebecca met Stefan at the entrance, and Damon hadn't even gone to the Grill. He'd taken Katherine to Elena's house. They hoped to lure Jonas there. Maybe he wouldn't cause too much damage.

Inside, Jonas was talking to Bonnie, who seemed to be trying to talk him down.

"My son is dead," Jonas said. "They killed Elijah and they killed Luka, and my only shot at getting my daughter back is if I have Elena."

Suddenly all the light bulbs in the building exploded, leaving everything in relative darkness. The people began panicking and Rebecca wondered what kind of story the town would come up with to cover this up. Power surge, maybe?

"Go find Elena," Rebecca told Stefan. "I'll do damage control out here. Get her out when you find her. Don't take her home until I call you. Damon and I, uh . . . Katherine had a plan. A good one."

Stefan nodded and took off while Rebecca looked around, trying to figure out what she should do first. Most of the people had already made for the exit, but the others weren't able to get out. Jonas was holding the door shut with his powers.

The bottles behind the bar exploded and the alcohol burst into flames. When Bonnie tried talking again Jonas touched her forehead and she fell unconscious. She fell to the floor then, and Rebecca knew what she needed to do. First, she needed to put the fire out while making sure the flames didn't hurt anyone. Second, stop Jonas from doing any more damage.

Matt, who was with Caroline, rushed over to Bonnie to watch over her, and Caroline made for Rebecca.

"Elena got out," she whispered. "Stefan has her."

"Good," she said, "Help everyone get out."

Rebecca stepped forward, towards Jonas and captured his attention.

"Dr. Martin? I'm sorry about your son. He didn't deserve to die and you didn't deserve to lose him, but we can still help you."

"Elijah was going to do that, and you killed him!"

"I didn't, though. I never wanted him dead. I didn't agree to have him killed."

Jonas couldn't be reasoned with. He had just lost his son, so why would he be? But he couldn't be allowed to hurt anyone else – not that Bonnie was really hurt. Still, Rebecca rushed at him when he began setting more fires and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Stop," she yelled. "You're supposed to believe in the sanctity of life, and you're risking every life in here!"

Rebecca was shoved onto the floor near the bar. She could feel the heat from the fire and she quickly moved away.

"Hey!" Matt yelled and tackled Jonas to the floor. Rebecca wondered if Matt had figured out what was happening. He'd heard them talk about Bonnie being psychic and about her being a witch, but he'd never taken it seriously. She wondered if he was thinking differently now.

Jonas picked up a broken bottle and stabbed Matt with it. He aimed for and struck Matt's neck. Blood splattered everywhere. The scent hit Rebecca's nose before she even registered the fact that Matt had been seriously wounded.

Jonas pushed Matt off and he hit the floor. Matt was already unconscious.

"Matt!" Caroline exclaimed and rushed to his side.

Rebecca was caught between staying with Caroline and going after Jonas, who was now leaving. Caroline was feeding Matt her blood now, so Rebecca decided to stay and make sure he healed correctly.

Bonnie was awake now, sluggishly moving toward Matt and Caroline. She was okay, at least, and Matt's wound was healing fine.

Rebecca had to go. Bonnie needed to come with her. If they could reach Jonas in time, maybe he could be reasoned with. He hadn't wanted to hurt Bonnie.

Before leaving she called Stefan to let him know they needed at least an hour, and she texted Damon to let him know that Jonas was probably on his way to Elena's house.

She hoped the plan would work.

After Rebecca's text, Damon had made himself scarce. Katherine needed to be able to pull off being Elena. Having him around wouldn't help that image at all.

Jeremy hadn't liked having Katherine in the house, but when they'd explained why she was there he'd relented. He obviously liked Jonas even less than he liked Katherine at the moment.

Jonas had found Katherine in the bathroom upstairs. He'd tried to grab her, but Katherine took a big chunk out of his neck.

"You didn't have to kill him!" Bonnie exclaimed when she and Rebecca got there.

"Yes, we did," Katherine said calmly.

"He wouldn't have stopped, Bonnie," Damon said from behind them.

Damon had come back when the two girls had arrived. Stefan and Elena were downstairs, as was Jeremy. Jonas was on the bathroom floor, Katherine standing over him, Bonnie kneeling beside him.

Bonnie tenderly touched his face. Jonas startled everyone when he awakened and grabbed her face. She screamed and he started chanting.

Instinctively Rebecca rushed forward and grabbed Jonas's head, twisting until she heard his neck snap. It wasn't until his body slumped down back to the floor that she realized what it was that she had done.

A hand flew to her mouth and she gasped.

"Good job," Katherine said.

A sound much like a whimper came out of Rebecca's mouth and she continued to stare at the dead man on the floor.

"Shut up, Katherine," Damon said. "Clean the blood off your face and get rid of him. Burn the clothes."

Sure, they were Elena's, but there was blood all over them. She wouldn't want them back.

"Jenna might be home soon," Rebecca said. "Need to hurry."

Damon grabbed her by the shoulders and led her out of the bathroom and downstairs, where the others were.

"Stefan, watch over Katherine. We gotta go."

Outside, in Rebecca's car, Damon let himself hug Rebecca. He knew Rebecca hated killing people and had only let herself kill one other person.

"I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to let Bonnie talk to him."

"That probably wouldn't have worked."

"I know. Still . . ." Rebecca shook her head. "You should see the Grill. He almost burned the place to the ground. With people in it. He almost killed Matt – stabbed him with a bottle – and he almost threw me into a fire."

"Well, then I would've killed him anyway," Damon quipped.

"Yeah." She allowed a small smile to grace her lips. "I just . . . really wanna go get Chelsea. And call Caroline to see how Matt is."

Inside the Gilbert house Stefan and Katherine were getting ready to remove Jonas's body from the bathroom. They needed to get the body back to the boardinghouse until they could get Luka's body from the Martin's apartment.

Elena had already gone to her room, and Bonnie and Jeremy had gone to his. Bonnie had talked to Elena at the Grill that night and had told her that she liked Jeremy. She wanted her blessing to be with him. Elena, of course, had given it. If Bonnie made Jeremy happy then they should be together.

"I can't believe they're dead," Bonnie said. "I couldn't do anything to help. I felt useless. I hated it."

"I'm worried about you," Jeremy said. "The only witch that could have given you your powers back is dead. I'm here for you no matter what, and –"

Jeremy broke off as Bonnie put her hand on his chest. The lights flickered and Bonnie smiled.

"Uh . . . unless I have powers I don't know about . . ."

"When Jonas grabbed me he gave me my powers back. And he gave me something else. He wants me to kill Klaus."

"Did he include a how?"

"Yeah, he did."

They spent the next few minutes going over what she'd found out.

Later that night Damon stopped by the boardinghouse to pick up some stuff for Rebecca and Chelsea. He had to come back the next day, but that didn't mean they had to. No, Damon didn't like Chelsea staying with Robert, but it was safer than having her around Katherine all the time.

"How's Rebecca?" Stefan asked when Damon came downstairs. Stefan and Katherine were seated on opposite sides of the living room.

"She'll be okay." To Katherine he said, "You know what I can't figure out?"

"What's that?"

"How the town knew Emily Bennett was a witch. I mean, because according to Jonathan Gilbert, he was the only one who knew. I know he didn't turn her in."

"Rebecca knew," Katherine said.

"Yeah, but she wouldn't have said anything," Stefan said, catching on. "I mean, she kept your secret and she hates you."

Katherine shrugged but said nothing.

"I should have figured as much."

"Oh, she was a loose end," Katherine said. "I like mine tied up. You know what I can't figure out?"

"Do I care?"

"Why you won't tell me where to find the site of the witch massacre."

"Because I have no clue."

"You stayed in town after you were turned. You would've seen or heard something, and yet you have no idea where Emily was killed? Who's the liar now?"

Damon rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I'm goin' to Rebecca's now. Have fun with the psycho, Stefan."

At the Forbes house Caroline was trying to reassure Matt that, no matter what he'd seen, she wasn't a threat to him. He had woken up in her house, blood all over his shirt, and he'd remembered Caroline's face. He'd also remembered drinking her blood.

"You were dying. My blood healed you."

"What d'you mean it healed me?" he asked and sat up straight on the couch. "How can it heal me?"

"Because that's what vampire blood does for humans, and that's what I am." Caroline was sitting on a chair across from him. "I'm a vampire, Matt. But it's all gonna be okay, because I am going to tell you everything, and you're going to understand why I had to keep it from you, and we're gonna be fine."

"We'll be fine?"

"Yes, because we're together and we love each other."

She hoped he was okay. They had been having a rough patch, but she'd let him know how much she loved him that night. She'd even sung him a song. Not even two hours ago they had been kissing, full on making out in the girls' bathroom at the Grill.

Matt stood up and took a second to get his balance before going towards the front door.

"I need to get out of here."

"No, I can't let you leave. I cannot let you leave."

Nothing seemed to break through to Matt's brain. Caroline was scared to touch him, he seemed so fragile at the moment. But she couldn't let him leave until she was sure he wouldn't tell anyone what she was.

Okay, so I know that in the show Stefan is the one who ends up snapping Jonas's neck, but I felt that Rebecca would've done it just for the fact that he was messing with Bonnie - she didn't know Jonas was giving Bonnie her powers back. Plus, I want to play around with what will happen if or when it catches up with her that she's killed someone else - this time without thinking about it. She doesn't really have time to let it hit her right now because everything else is going on, but . . . yeah, we'll see.