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Only Reviewer: Unfortunately we're still not done with Jules yet, and they still have many problems to deal with including her. And yes, Elena did do that...as well as some other things in this chapter... ;)

I'm sure some of you are going to love this opening, and I sure as hell enjoyed writing it! Tensions are still raising, so please let me know what you think on how the story is progressing. Every review is super helpful in knowing I'm doing something right and that you are all enjoying the story. So please, review and I'll see you next week!

Chapter 27: Crying Wolf

After a night of games and laughs, Sarah and her friends were all rudely awoke by a ringing phone. Caroline was the first to start groaning and moaning, followed swiftly by Scarlett and then the other three joined in. Up until the phone started ring, they'd all been in a blissful state between awake and asleep, all feeling comfy and none aware of their surroundings. The phone had shattered that illusion, and now they all realised just how uncomfortable they were.

"Elena, could you get off me," Sarah moaned as she whacked at Elena's foot that was hanging in front of her face. But no matter how much she whacked it, or how hard, it remained stubbornly in front of her. Sarah was just grateful that Elena cleaned her feet, honestly, she'd had much worse and disgusting feet in her face before.

"Shut up," Elena groaned out in return, before her head dropped down into a pillow that was between Sarah's legs. "I'm trying to sleep," Elena said into the pillow, her words muffled.

"Which would be a lot easier if some one answered their phone," Bonnie complained, rolling over to find Caroline who seemed to have Scarlett in a head lock. "Caroline?" Bonnie asked with a frown, the phone continuing to ring irritably around them.

"It's not mine," Caroline snapped defensively.

"Okay, but I was more wondering about what's going on between you and Scarlett," Bonnie said, lifting her brow at the situation beside her.

"See, Caroline," Sarah said as she slapped the blonde's shoulder. "Told you you'd get over Tyler soon enough."

"As if I'd date her," came the combined voices of Caroline and Scarlett, before both looked to each other and shouted, "Hey!"

"You'd be lucky to have a girlfriend like me," Caroline argued.

"Oh yeah, what's not to love, despite the fact you threatened to wire my jaw shut if you caught me eating in your room one more time," Scarlett replied angrily.

"That's because you were leaving crumbs all over the place and in my bed. And I was joking about wiring your jaw," Caroline said defensively.

"Thus why when I got up for a snack, you yanked me back down and put me in a headlock!" Scarlett pointed out, before she began to struggle, sliding from Carline's hold before giving her a shove. "Get off!"

"You get off!" Caroline snapped back before returning Scarlett's shove and sending her off the end of the bed.

A thud followed, before a seconds pause, then Scarlett drawled out an, "Ow."

"Yeah, well, you deserved it for leaving crumbs all over my bed," Caroline pouted as she rolled over towards Bonnie, treating her like a cuddly toy as she wrapped her arms around her best friend.

"I didn't leave any God damn crumbs in your bed!" Scarlett snapped, sitting up on the wooden floor as Caroline threw some dried up remains of a cookie at her face. With her statement proven wrong, Scarlett shut up, and fell back against the floor as the phone yet again rang. "Will someone get the damn phone already!"

"Since your down there, Scarlett, how about you answer it," suggested Sarah.

"Not mine," Scarlett answered.

"Then who's is it?" Bonnie asked.

"Mine," Elena answered, face still in the pillow as she lay on to of Sarah.

"Then answer it," Sarah groaned as she whacked away Elena's foot for the umpteenth time.

"Can't," Elena answered before lifted her head just enough to look back down and Sarah and grin. "Too comfy."

"I can fix that," Sarah declared before shoving Elena off of her and down onto the floor at the side of the bed. "Comfy down there?" Sarah asked teasingly, grinning over the side as Elena glared up at her.

"Hate you," Elena growled with a pout as Sarah rolled away to make herself comfy next to Caroline.

"No one cares," Bonnie mumbled, before Caroline and Scarlett before shouted out, "ANSWER THE PHONE!"

"All right, all right, all right," Elena repeated, still grimacing from the ache in her ears, as she made her way over to dresser where her phone was ringing. Grabbing it, Elena didn't even bother to look at who was calling before answering with a curt, "Hello?" This was then instantly met by all four other girl's groaning and moaning until she crawled her way over to the doorway so that she could leave her friends to rest while she talked.

"How was the slumber party?" Stefan asked form down the phone.

"Good, and much needed," Elena answered as she leaned against the wall separating Caroline's bedroom from the hallway. "When can you and I have one?" Elena then asked, a tad more flirtatiously.

"Never," Sarah called out from the bedroom, before the other three shushed her.

"Despite what my sister says, I'm sure we can arrange something," Stefan replied teasingly down the phone.

"No you can't," Sarah called out once more. "She's started snoring since she last stayed over, and she's far to loud to share a house with." Another thud sounded from Caroline's bedroom, and Elena looked in to find Sarah now on the floor, rubbing her head.

"You can come back in the bed when you shut up," Caroline declared before rolling back over to cuddle Bonnie as Scarlett jumped back up onto the bed. "Oh, God, your back," Caroline groaned as Scarlett began to bounce on her knees next to Caroline.

"Damn, right," Scarlett declared before she began lifting up pillows. "Now where's that chocolate bar I hid?"

All of a sudden Caroline was sat up, glaring wide eyed at Scarlett as Bonnie now fell out the bed. "You put a chocolate bar in my bed!" Caroline roared.

"Several actual–" Scarlett got out before Caroline tackled her off the bed and proceeded to playful strangle her. Or at least Elena hoped it was playful. In any case, Sarah and Bonnie were already on the scene, separating the two as they continued to try and claw at one another from the floor of Caroline's bedroom.

"For the record our slumber party would not end like that," Stefan pointed out, apparently having heard everything.

"Shut up, Stefan!" Sarah shouted from the bedroom, before Caroline elbowed her in the face and lunged for Scarlett once more.

As the fighting seemed to be intensifying, with no signs of dying down either, Elena got up and made her way into the Forbes' living room for a little more privacy. "Sorry about that," Elena said with a chuckle as she sat down on the couch.

"It's fine," Stefan assured her, as Elena ended up pulling her legs onto the couch with her, leaning back against the surprisingly soft cushions. Maybe she should have slept out here instead of on top of Sarah. Though that had been an experience she wouldn't soon forget.

"Where you serious about that slumber party though?" Elena asked hopefully.

"Of course."

"Well, instead of having it at yours, could we have it somewhere else. Like somewhere outside of Mystic Falls," Elena suggested with a dreamy smile, letting her fantasy run wild in her head.

"You really want to leave, even with everything that's going on?" Stefan asked skeptically.

"It's because of everything that's going on, that I want to leave for a little while," Elena explained with a sigh.

"And you're sure this has nothing to do with dodging your father who just got into town?" Stefan asked, honing in on the real reason why she wanted to go away.

"Uh, this has everything to do with that," Elena admitted.

"Well, in that case, where would you like to go?" Stefan asked with a smile to his voice that made Elena smile too. She was about to answer when another thud, louder than the other ones, came from Caroline's room. The whole house shaking with it this time.

"Eh, can I call you back with an answer to that?" Elena asked sheepishly as she got back up to return to Caroline's room.

"Sure, speak to you later," Stefan said in farewell.

"Bye," Elena added before she hang up and walked in to find Sarah on the floor and against the wall, rubbing her head as bits of plaster floated down off the wall above her. Where there was now a decent sized crack in the wall.

"Great, now look at what you did to my room!" Caroline exclaimed as she went back to glaring at Scarlett.

"Me? It was you who threw her!" Scarlett argued.

"All right!" Bonnie shouted over them both. "I think we can all agree this has gone far enough."

"It's her fault," Caroline snapped, pointing at Scarlett, "She's the one who turned my bed into a picnic blanket."

"And you're the one who's so stuck up she can't stand a little mess!" Scarlett snapped back.

"And I'm the one-hundred-and-sixty-one year old vampire, whose decided she's had enough," Sarah declared as she stood up, still rubbing her head as she glared at the squabbling blonde and brunette. "So if you two want to have another around of vampires vs werewolves, you can do it without throwing me into a wall."

"Sorry," both girls mumbled, before they lowered their heads. Each still glaring at the other through the corner of their eyes.

"You know I think there might be some truth to that vampires hating werewolf thing," Bonnie teased, sharing a grin with Elena while Sarah rubbed her neck.

"I think it's just them," Elena said before she turned to Sarah. "You all right?"

"Fine," Sarah answered. "But I'm going home to take a bath. You coming?" Sarah asked as she looked over to Scarlett.

"I was thinking of going to see Jeremy," Scarlett answered, to which Sarah nodded. "Is it okay if you give me a lift?" Scarlett asked, looking to Elena who nodded in agreement.

"Sure, of course." After that the five girls began cleaning up their mess from last night. First the guests gathered up their own stuff, with the assistance of Caroline, before dumping it all in a pile by the door. Next, they all returned to Caroline's room, or as Scarlett dubbed, 'Ground Zero for the sleepover'. It was where they'd spent most of the night, and it was where most of the mess was. Including the fresh crack in Caroline's wall. With in half an hour, they had it all cleaned up though. Vamp and werewolf speed helped with that, even if the three using it were less than enthusiastic. For the crack, Caroline found an old poster from her childhood that she used to cover it up. Of course that had then lead to Scarlett teasing her relentlessly for five minutes, until Caroline literally threw her out the front door. The other three quickly filed out after that, shouting goodbye while also blocking off Scarlett entrance back into the house. Elena and Bonnie had then quickly led Scarlett to their car, each carrying a pile of their stuff under one arm each, before they drove off with Scarlett sticking her middle finger up at Caroline as they left. Sarah remained to make sure Caroline was all right, but once she assured her she was feeling a lot better, Sarah ran off at supernatural speed towards her home.

When she arrived, she found Alaric pulling to a stop outside the garage, where another car was already parked. As Alaric was climbing out, Sarah approached him, everything she'd taken to the slumber party tucked under one arm. He took one look at her and began to frown, unable to understand why Sarah would have things like a sleeping bag. "And what were you up to last night?"

"Slumber party at Caroline's," Sarah explained, watching as Alaric began to smirk. "What? You think I can't do slumber parties?" Sarah accursed with a tilt of the head as she gave Alaric a wide eyed look.

"I never said that," Alaric quickly responded. "It just won't have been my first guess."

Deciding she no longer wanted to talk about it, Sarah opted to move the conversation along, jerking her chin in the direction of the car parked next to Alaric's. "You know who's car that is?"

Alaric looked back, eyes going to the license plate before he shook his head. "No."

"Well, this could be interesting," Sarah said dryly as she made her way towards the front door with Alaric following her lead. As usual, the door was unlocked. However, unlike normal, Sarah found Damon with a woman, sharing a big long kiss between their lips. "Eww…" Sarah said with an exaggerated shudder, as Damon and his lady friend pulled away from each other. "Now I've got another reason to take a bath."

"Grow up," Damon said with a lazy smile and roll of the eyes.

"Already have, you should try it some time," Sarah snipped back with a perky grin before looking at the woman whose lips had been locked with Damon's not a second ago. "Andy, right?" The woman smiled and nodded. "Nice scarf," Sarah then said pointedly, eyes examining the scarf around her neck before look to Damon who smiled back at her. "We should totally have you over for dinner–"

"Great idea, Sis. We'll do it when you're at you next sleepover," Damon said smugly, before lightly pushing Andy's waist towards the door. "And you, are already late," Damon said to Andy before they shared a quick kiss.

"You're right," Andy agreed, kissing Damon again before beaming back at him. "See you later. Great seeing you again Sarah."

"Like wise," Sarah said with a smile as the woman bounced on by.

"Oh. Hey, Alaric," Andy said, as if just noticing him while she strode out the house, flashing them all one last smile before she headed over to her car.

"New girlfriend already?" Sarah asked, turning to her brother with a questioning look.

"Well she's on Action News, how could I say no?" Damon replied smugly, deflecting like he always did. It was another distraction, Sarah could see that. But to be honest, as long as he wasn't killing her, messing with her mind too much, and shared her blood if it was good – then Sarah was fine with it. If this was what he needed to do to get over Rose, so be it.

"It's not called action news," Alaric pointed out as he and Sarah gave Damon odd looks.

"I know. I just like saying it, come on in," Damon said, waving Alaric in before he closed the door. While Damon lead Alaric into the living room, Sarah took the stairs towards her room. While the slumber party had been fun, having Elena lying on top of her throughout the night had not been. That combined with a cramped bed and everybody elbowing one another through the night had left Sarah with a rather tense and sore body. Now vampire healing had relieved her of most of that, but a nice bath would help wash away what remained and any lingering negativities of her fun night.

Once in her privet bathroom, she drew her bath, stripping down and throwing aside her old cloths. While the bath was running, she prepped what she would wear that day, nothing outside of the ordinary there. It was a long grey green top with thin straps that would be hidden under her leather jacket and blue jeans. After that she returned to the bathroom, her cloths laid out upon the bed.

She went through her morning rituals, brushing her teeth and so on, before tying her hair up in a bun and sinking into the warm soapy water. A natural sigh found its way out of her lips, before they then closed and she submerged them beneath the water, so that only the top half of her head remained above the surface. She lay like that for a while, letting the hot water work its magic. Her muscles loosening, knots untying, and all while she blew out bubbles right beneath her nose.

It was nice to finally catch her breath after everything that had been going on. She'd genuinely thought things might quieten down after Katherine. But then Elena had been kidnapped by Rose, they found out about the curse, then they made the deal with the Originals – or rather Elena made a deal and Sarah was keeping quiet about the specifics – and then the werewolves had come into town. It was all exhausting, and more than Sarah had been expecting after locking Katherine away.

She smiled, like she always did when she thought of Katherine locked away in that tomb. If there was ever proof of karma, that was it. She was finally getting what she deserved, after everything she'd put Sarah and her family through. She was rotting away, alone, in the dark, and would soon be forgotten by the rest of the world. Give it a few centuries and Sarah was sure that she'd be able to completely rid Katherine Pierce from her mind, and that, would be her final victory over The Bitch.

As her mind began to run wild, thinking of all the ways in which Katherine was suffering – her relaxation took on a new level. Apparently she'd gotten a little too comfy, as her supernatural hearing slipped out of her control. She began to hear the sounds of the forest outside, the cars in the distance passing by. It could easily happen to any vampire when they got a little to comfy. It was like a muscle Sarah and every other vampire had to constantly keep under control. Lose your concentration for just a second and suddenly every sound for a mile can fill your ears.

Trying to get it back under control, Sarah began sorting through the sounds, a simple way to regain control, to focus on one sound and push the others away. She focused on her breathing and the bubbles that rose from the water with a pop. The usual sounds went by, fading into the distance. Tweeting birds, snapping twigs, rustling leaves, car engines. The radius of hearing slowly shrinking back in towards her bathroom. It was all going swimmingly until she caught the sound of fast running water.

Sitting up in the tub, she began to frown. The running water continued and Sarah began to look around. Like she'd thought, she'd turned off the water to the bath. The shower wasn't on either and the sink was off too. But it was definitely coming from inside the Salvatore house.

Sarah assumed it was just Damon are Alaric getting a drink of water, but then she realised two things. One, Damon was never going to be drinking a simple glass of water – at least not in a house filled with bourbon – and two, the water had been running far too long for a simple glass of water.

She waited a little while longer, seeing if the running water would stop, but it never did. And in a house full of people with supernatural hearing, that meant one thing. Damon was trying to keep something privet.

And just like that Sarah's relaxing bath came to an end. With a displeased look now permanently plastered onto her face, Sarah rushed through the cleaning process and then dried off as fast as she could. Once done, she threw on her cloths and marched down the stairs to confront her brother. She found both Damon and Alaric in the living room. One smiling away with his usual mischievous look about him and the other looking not so confident with his hands on his hips.

"Why did you have the water running, Damon?" Sarah wasn't wasting any time beating around the bush. She could tell something was up, and with Damon involved, it was hardly going to be anything good.

"Paranoid much," Damon scoffed, rolling his eyes as he went to take a sip of his drink, only to then see it vanish from his hand as Sarah snatched it.

"With a brother like you, it's hard not to be," Sarah replied, setting the drink down on the coffee table before sitting herself down on it, now opposite Damon. "Now, tell me what you're planning."

"Who says I'm planning anything?" Damon cut back.

"You're always planning something." At that Damon smirked, as if taking it as a compliment. "Plus you have him over," Sarah pointed out, nodding towards Alaric who was stood behind her. "And since you're not really the social type, I'm going with, 'you're planning something'," she summarised, staring at Damon and waiting for him to fess up.

"I am to the social type," Damon said in mock defence, before straightening up. "In fact, I'm going to the Historical Society get together at the Lockwood's today."

"Why?" Sarah asked instantly.

"Well, to socialise obviously," Damon said as he stood, now looking down at Sarah. They locked eyes, battling through them before Damon then broke away to pick up his drink. He took a long sip, pondering what he was about to say before then pointing to his younger sister. "You know, you should come with. Jenna's gonna be there with Alaric and it'll give you a chance to introduce me properly to Elijah and Amelia."

Thinking she had his game figured out, Sarah said, "I'm not introducing you to either of the Originals."

Damon shrugged. "Fine. But I would have thought it'd be easier to keep an eye on me if you came with me," he pointed out, much to Sarah's annoyance. He was obviously trying to manipulate her. He wanted her there with him, for some reason or another – which probably had something to do with Elijah and Amelia. But he was also right in saying that it was the easiest way to keep an eye on him. That's what made it all so irritating. He was right, and making her do exactly what he wanted.

Seeing that he'd won – even if Sarah wasn't vocalising it – Damon turned to walk away, only to find his sister had appeared in his path. "You know I don't like being played, Damon," Sarah growled.

"Then don't make it so easy," Damon teased back with a grin.

"I mean it Damon, try anything–"

"You already used all your threats up last night with the werewolves," Damon cut in. "I tried the whole playing nice thing. I'm done with that. Now, we're doing things my way." He finished off his drink then strode past Sarah, placing his empty glass down on the small bar by the couch. "See you later, Ric. You can show yourself out. And you–" Damon said before looking back and pointing to Sarah. "–Put on something a little more appropriate."

Sarah rolled her eyes, masking how annoyed she was with him. He'd won this round. But she did have an idea of what he was up to now because it had something to do with the Originals. The most obvious was that he was planning on killing them, but since they all knew that didn't work he had to be working another angle. But what? There was only one way to find out. So once Alaric left, Sarah phoned Jenna to see what this Historical Society get together was really about.

It was a tea party which Carol Lockwood had put together, and the reason for it was to do with Elijah and Amelia. Or rather Mr and Ms Smith, as was their alias. Apparently they were doing research on the area around Mystic Falls and had asked if there was anyone in particular they could talk to. And since the Historical Society comprised mostly of Founding Family members – like most social groups in Mystic Falls – they were all more than happy to gush over their town and its history.

Sarah would admit she was curious about what Elijah and Amelia were up to, but she wasn't about to go up and ask them. Their deal was that they would take care of everything before then calling on Elena to help them draw out Klaus. Elena, Sarah and everyone else was to have nothing to do with the prep work, which, while it hadn't been clear, was heavily implied. So Sarah was keeping her nose out of it…by following Damon's nose in so she could pull it out.

She was starting to feel like this was going to end badly. But then again, when didn't these things go wrong for her and her family?

After her talk with Jenna, during which she'd asked what would be appropriate, she decided she was fine with the outfit she had on. Sure it would tick off Carol Lockwood, but there were far worse outfits she could show up in. Besides, she'd never say anything openly. With these kinds of people it was all about talking behind your back, and Sarah honestly didn't care what they said behind her back. She was younger (looking anyway), smarter and more capable than any of them. She'd like to see any of them wrangle in two brothers like hers and defeat their archenemy by locking her away in a tomb for the rest of her life.

She had set the bar rather high.

To her surprise, Damon then came to get her when it was time to go, and he drove them both over to the Lockwood estate. The 'party', if you could call it that, was already in full swing when they arrived. Sarah was grateful for that, made it easier for them to slip in without having the spotlight shone down on them. If that had happened, she would have lost Damon quickly in the dramatic hellos of the other Founding Families, and until she could speak to Amelia or Elijah herself, she preferred to remained by her brother's side. Obviously just so she could keep him from doing something stupid, it wasn't like she enjoyed the pleasure of his company. Or rather she wasn't enjoying it, since he'd won their last fight for dominance over one another.

Smart ass.

Walking out of the main hall after a few pleasant hellos, Damon led Sarah into what appeared to be the main room of the Tea Party. Both started looking for the Originals the second they stepped through the doorway, but quickly stopped when Jenna stepped towards them.

"Sarah? What are you doing here?" Jenna asked, smile mixing with a confused frown as she greeted her friend.

"Babysitting," Sarah answered with a 'what can you do' shrug.

"Babysitting who?" Jenna asked, even more confused than she had been.

"Him," Sarah answered, jerking her head towards her big brother as a smirk broke out across her face.

Jenna chuckled and Damon slapped on his cocky grin as he pretended to laugh along. "My sister the comedian," Damon said dryly.

"So what's the baby dragging you here for?" Jenna asked casually, as if Damon really was a baby incapable of understanding her.

"For your information, it was my girlfriend who dragged me here. She's just here for…" Sarah was curious to see how that sentence was going to end, but Jenna cut in luckily for Damon with a question of her own.

"You have a girlfriend? Since when?"

"Hi. You came," came the grateful of Andie, as she strode up to join the small group, notepad in hand.

"Hi," Damon greeted sweetly before sharing a short kiss with Andie. Once they broke away Damon turned back to a wide eyed Jenna, smug smile returning. "Thanks for introducing us, Jenna," Damon said, eyes motioning to Andie as his eyebrows bounced up and down for a second. "Now, if you two fine ladies will excuse us, me and my sister have some prearranged mingling to do." With that, Damon placed his hand on Sarah's shoulder and directed her towards the two Originals across the room, who were talking to Carol Lockwood. Fighting the urge to sigh, Sarah allowed her brother to push her in their direction, before looking back and waving bye to Jenna.

"I'll catch up with you later." Frown once again lining her forehead, Jenna waved after her friend, before she turned to Andie to find out what had been going on behind closed doors. Of course, she'd only find out what Damon allowed Andie to tell her, but knowing her brother, Sarah was sure that he'd let her share some of the dirty – none supernatural – bits.

"Damon," Carol greeted when she saw the two Salvatore coming her way.

"Carol," Damon replied, slightly pushing his sister so that she was at his side when he leaned off to kiss Carol on the check.

"And, Sarah, how are you?" Carol asked, turning her ever happy housewife smile on the youngest Salvatore.

"Fine thanks," Sarah said, offering her a smile that didn't reach her eyes. Carol didn't seem to notice though, as she quickly moved the conversation on.

"Oh, Elijah, Amelia, I want you both to see Damon Salvatore, and his younger sister Sarah." The two Originals turned, both wearing the same cloths that they always seemed to wear. Elijah in his suit and Amelia in her raincoat, both presenting friendly smiles as if they'd never ran into either of the Salvatores before. "Their family is one of Mystic Falls' founding families," Carol Lockwood continued, happy to blabber on about anything Founding Families related.

"Such a pleasure to meet you," Damon said, not so charmingly as he locked his blue eyes with Elijah's brown.

"No, the pleasure's ours," Elijah replied appropriately, shaking Damon's hand with a firm grip. Damon then went on to greet Amelia in the appropriate manor, kissing her cheek while she kissed his before all three parted and Sarah let out a silent sigh of relief. Things seemed to be going well so far, or at the very least they were all remaining civilised. But Sarah wasn't a fool. She knew it wasn't going to last, much to her annoyance.

Walking into the Grill, Scarlett quickly spotted Caroline sat alone in one of the booths. The blonde vampire had texted her an hour ago, asking if she could help her and Bonnie deal with Luka, who was the son of the witch that had saved her and the others from the werewolves the other night. Apparently Bonnie had been meeting members of her own kinda just like Scarlett had. She'd even been getting along well with Luka, from what Scarlett had been told, until he stole the moonstone from her. Now Bonnie was looking for some payback, in the form of using Luka for information, which Scarlett was down for helping with.

She'd admittedly been feeling a little guilty over her lack of support or involvement on the Originals matter, but she had had her hands full with Tyler and the other werewolves. And there was that other thing that had been weighing down on her conscious…that thing she continued to ignore even now. It was becoming surprisingly easy to ignore. Almost scarily easy. Before she couldn't even be in the same room as Jeremy without thinking of what she'd done. Now she was holding hands with him, walking through the Grill without a grey cloud in her mind. She tried not to think about how bad that sounded.

"You brought Jeremy?" Caroline asked, a little surprised as Scarlett and her boyfriend slid into the seat opposite her.

"He saw the text," Scarlett said simply. It hadn't sounded that dangerous anyway, at least from what Caroline had told her, so she saw no reason to get into an argument with Jeremy over it. Letting him come was just simpler, and it made him happy, to know that he was helping his sister.

"So where is this Luka guy?" Jeremy asked, looking around before Caroline had another chance to critique his involvement in their latest plan.

"Over there, with Bonnie," Caroline said with a subtle nod towards the direction of the pool table. Scarlett and Jeremy both looked over, spotting Bonnie with another dark skinned boy her age with really short hair. He was too busy talking to Bonnie to realise that the couple were staring right at him, getting a good look before they turned back to Caroline.

"He doesn't seem so tough," Jeremy said casually, trying to sound tough himself and almost making Scarlett laugh. It came out as a snort though, and Caroline giggled herself. "What?" Jeremy asked innocently.

"It's just…cute, when you try to sound tough," Scarlett answered, fighting to keep her smile from growing as she looked to Jeremy.

"Well…" Jeremy said slowly, before looking back over to Luka. "He's skinny," he said, as if that justified his claim at being able to take Luka in a fight.

"And has witchy powers," Caroline pointed out.

"Even we would have a hard time against him if he went full out," Scarlett added, waving a finger between herself and Caroline.

"Although…" Caroline said, leaning over to get a better view at Bonnie and Luka. "I don't think we'll have to worry about that now." Scarlett and Jeremy turned too, watching as Luka began to stagger, leaning on the table as if suddenly dizzy. While Bonnie helped him remain up, she looked over to her friend's table and nodded. "That's our cue," Caroline declared, grabbing her bag as the three left their booth.

They quickly strode across the restaurant and over to the pool table where Jeremy and Scarlett got to Luka before he could fall over. Taking him from Bonnie, they each slung one of his arms around their shoulders before carrying him towards the exit. As they moved past the pool table, Scarlett saw the milkshake Bonnie had given Luka. She could only just smell the herbs that Bonnie had added to it, and that was with her sensitive nose, but had she not been looking for it, she probably wouldn't have even noticed it.

"What kind of witch roofie was that?" Jeremy asked, apparently feeling the weigh of the 'skinny' Luka on his side.

"A strong one," Bonnie said smugly as they walked out, evidently a lot stronger than Scarlett had realised. And while she was glad Bonnie was on their side, she'd have to watch out for the witches that weren't in the future.

With the small talk concluded, and Carol Lockwood having moved on to converse with some of her other guests, the two Salvatores and the two Originals moved into the study of the Lockwood house to continue their conversation in privet. Despite Sarah's subtle objections, Damon had unsurprisingly ignored her and the two Originals didn't seem to mind further talk about the deal they had with Elena. Of course Sarah knew her brother didn't want to talk about the deal, he'd never reveal his intentions so easily to his enemies, which made Sarah worry all the more about what he was really after. She was in a delicate situation, and she had to be smart. Smarter than both her brother and two Originals.

"So what would you like explained, Damon?" Amelia asked pleasantly, not a hint of condescension in her voice as she and Elijah stood side by side. Sarah was behind them, having been the one to close the doors and Damon was near the desk, watching his enemies closely.

However before he could ask any questions, Elijah cut in. "Before we get to that though, I'd like to know the whereabouts of Elena."

"I bet you would," Damon replied, challenge in his eyes as he met Elijah's.

"She's with Stefan," Sarah answered, trying to defuse the situation before anything…uncivilised occurred.

"Laying low," Damon then added. "You know, bit of a werewolf problem."

"Oh, yes, we heard about that, didn't we Amelia?" Elijah replied, smugness seeping into his voice as he grinned. Amelia did not reply, remaining still with her hands in her raincoat pockets, observing much like Sarah was from behind her. Did she suspect something? Was she aware of what Damon was up to? Would she kill him for it? Sarah wondered, before remembering that it would break their deal with Elena. Then again, Sarah was also certain the two Originals would only take so much back talk before they reconsidered their deal.

"I'm sure you did, since it was your witch that saved the day," Damon said, continuing the conversation when Amelia failed to, or rather chose not to.

"You are welcome," Elijah replied, with the same smugness again.

"Although," Damon said, face tightening in mocking thought as he waggled his finger. "While I am grateful, I can't help but wonder why you're here," he said as he leaned back against the desk.

Elijah's brow lowered slight, enough to let Sarah know he wasn't happy, or appreciative of Damon's questions. Luckily he didn't get a chance to say anything more on the matter, as it was Amelia who spoke up next. "Now, Damon, I understood that you asked us in here to talk about our deal. That question has no relation to the aforementioned deal with Elena, and therefore we do not feel obliged to answer it."

"Well, I'd appreciate an answer anyway," Damon said with a playful shrug.

Amelia smiled politely, but there was a darker warning behind it, while Elijah continued to mildly scowl at her side. "Like I said, we're not obliged to answer, nor shall we." Damon's playful smirk vanished as he scowled back unhappily. "So, if you have no other questions to ask about our deal, we'll just be leaving," Amelia continued as she turned leave, although Elijah remained where he was, eyes still on Damon. "You can rest assure we'll do everything in our power to stop Klaus once and for all."

She walked towards the door, Sarah ready to move aside until Damon appeared between her and the Originals. He was right up in Amelia's face, forcing her to stop in her stride as he leaned in towards her. "Not good enough," Damon said in a low voice only to then find himself behind the desk and shoved up against the wall by Elijah who had him by the throat.

After the initial fright of the sudden attack, Sarah went to assisted her brother, only for Amelia to raise a hand in front of her. That hand alone was enough to stop Sarah, who then looked over to the Original's blue eyes and saw a clear warning. Do not intervene. Sarah decided to heed that warning, and stood down as Amelia turned to face Elijah and Damon, Sarah now at her side.

They both watched as Damon tried to fight back, grabbing Elijah's throat in turn. It did nothing to him though, as he merely lifted his free hand and ripped Damon's hand from his throat with superior strength – and while still holding Damon against the wall. "Young vampires, so arrogant," Elijah said, irritation thick in his voice as he released Damon's hand from his hold. "How dare you come in here, mock us, challenge us?" Elijah snarled, tightening his grip on Damon as he slowly choked him. Sarah was almost tempted to intervene, but could tell that if she tried the same thing would happen to her, at the hands of Amelia.

"You can't kill me, man. It's not part of the deal," Damon croaked out, knowing he wasn't going to die.

"Silence," was all Elijah replied with, before grabbing a pencil from the desk and jamming it into Damon's neck.

"Elijah!" Amelia snapped, although her voice was mildly drowned out by Damon's yelp of pain. At his sister's voice however, Elijah released Damon, letting him stumble towards the desk as he yanked the pencil out of his neck, still groaning in pain.

"We are Originals," Elijah said, wiping his hands with the handkerchief from his pocket, moving on as if he hadn't just be scolded by his sister. "Show a little respect," he said, holding out the handkerchief for Damon to take. He snatched it, placing it against the still healing wound on his neck without so much as a thank you.

Amelia then stepped forward towards the desk, while Elijah stepped back, moving into the spot where his sister had been next to Sarah. Taking over her watch while Amelia now had a word with Damon. "I must apologise for my brother," Amelia said as she began subtly rearranging the desk before her as she spoke. "He does tend to get a little over excited sometimes. Although in this case I think it's helped make our point." Done with her rearrangement of the desk, she looked up, her own blue eyes locking with Damon's as he hunched over the desk. "So, just to make sure we absolutely understand one another, I'll remind you. The deal is, we allow Elena to live her life as normal, provided she assists us in killing Klaus. In return, we'll protect all her loved ones, and make sure none of you die. However…"

She paused, leaning in towards Damon like he had with her before, only now she was in the position of power. "If you should continue to provoke me or my brother with these tiresome little games of yours, we might just have to renegotiate our deal." Both Sarah and Damon, caught the threat in her tone. "So if you like the current deal, you'll do well to do what we say, and stay out of our way." With that she pulled away, straightening up before turning to leave. "Sarah, a pleasure as always," she said in parting before striding out of the room along with Elijah, leaving Damon and Sarah alone in the study.

Once the doors shut behind them, Sarah turned to see her brother glaring after them. "So, should I say I told you so, or…?" Sarah said before Damon let out a growl of rage as he threw the handkerchief across the room, his wound having now healed. All things considered though, it hadn't nearly gone as bad as Sarah thought it would. But knowing her brother, he was far from done, and this little incident had more than likely just aggravated him even more. It was a never ending stubborn battle, with Sarah and her eldest brother.

"We only have, like, an hour or two before my mom gets home – and these were all I could find," Caroline announced as she walked back into her living room, two armfuls of candles cradled in each of her arms. They were scented bathroom candles, Scarlett could tell, but Bonnie seemed happy with them so the werewolf kept her mouth shut. Even if the things did stink in her opinion, and they weren't even lit yet.

At Bonnie's order, Scarlett got up from the chair she'd sat down on when they first entered Caroline's house, and took two candles from Caroline. Jeremy took another two, leaving Caroline with the last couple, before the three set them around the room according to Bonnie's instructions. While they did that, Bonnie remained on the floor next to the unconscious Luka, who was in the centre of the circle they'd created with the candles.

"So, how does this work?" Jeremy asked, eager to learn as he placed his last candle down, looking to Bonnie who nodded to confirm he'd done it right.

"I'll put him in a trance and ask him questions. It's like hypnosis," Bonnie explained, before gesturing to the candles as she continued. "The candles are to help me, I'll be able to draw power from the flames."

"Oh, matches," Carolines said, as if suddenly remembering.

"I got it," Bonnie said as Caroline turned to leave. She then closed her eyes, and the candles were alight before Caroline had even turned back. Unfortunately for Scarlett, who'd been leaning right next to one of the candles, she got singed on the elbow.

"A little warning next time," Scarlett groaned as she pulled at her arm, trying to see the burnt part of her elbow.

"Sorry," Bonnie said with a sheepish smile, though the burn was already healing.

"I'll get you something for that," Jeremy said, making his way into the kitchen before Scarlett could point out there was no need.

"While your in there, could you grab me a bowl of water too?" Bonnie called after him.

"Sure," Jeremy shouted back, before Bonnie once again closed her eyes and began to mumble foreign words to herself.

A few seconds after Bonnie began, Caroline made her way around the two witches and over to Scarlett who was stood near the wall, having taken a few steps away from the candle that singed her. "Hey, can I ask you something?" Caroline asked once she was next to Scarlett.

"As long as it has nothing to do with last night's sleep over, sure," Scarlett said with a grin.

Caroline rolled her eyes, a laugh mixing with a sigh before she went quiet. Quiet enough to let Scarlett know that whatever she was about to talk about was bothering her. "Have you heard from Tyler at all?"

"You mean since his new besties kidnapped you and we got caught up in a vampire vs werewolf grudge match?" Scarlett asked sarcastically, before earning herself a pointed, serious, and concerned look from Caroline. Scarlett readjusted her approach after that. "No, I haven't," Scarlett sighed, looking to Bonnie who was lost in her chanting while Jeremy continued searching for the unnecessary first aid kit in Caroline's kitchen.

"I had a run in with him at the Grill. He bumped into me and I kinda…bit his head off," Caroline said, to which Scarlett's head swung around to her. "Oh! No, not like that! No. I just snapped at him is all, no fangs," Caroline explained with a halfhearted laugh at the end.

"Still mad at him then?" Scarlett asked.

"Definitely," Caroline said in a pouty manor, but Scarlett was sensible enough not to make a joke about it at a time like this. "And him pestering me isn't helping."

"If he keeps it up send him to me," Scarlett said before changing her mind. "Or maybe just ask him to call me. If he comes by the house Damon might rip his head off. That's if I don't do it first." This time it was Caroline who sharply turned her head to frown at Scarlett. "Kidding," Scarlett exclaimed. "Mostly," she then muttered, earning a wide eyed glare from Caroline. In her defence though, he had turned against her and all their friends. At the very least he deserved a stern talking and a kick up the backside.

There was then a moment of silence, as Bonnie continued with her chanting. The only other sound was the occasional one that came from the kitchen as Jeremy finally found the first aid kit. Having what he needed from that, he then went to collect the bowl of water Bonnie had asked for. It was only when he turned on the faucet that Caroline then spoke up again, asking a question that Scarlett didn't think twice about.

"Have you told Jeremy about Mason yet?"

"He already knows Mason's dead," Scarlett pointed out casually, as if it were common knowledge at this point, which it basically was. Plus Jeremy had been there when it happened anyway, which further confused Scarlett about why Caroline was asking her this.

"No, I mean about the other thing," Caroline corrected, frowning when Scarlett looked her way. And for a split second, Scarlett hadn't known what Caroline was talking about. But then it hit her and she remembered what she'd done with Mason. However, what was more horrifying now, was how easily Scarlett had forgotten about it. How when Caroline had brought up the matter, Scarlett had genuinely thought she was talking about something other than her betrayal.

The realisation of how easily she'd managed to forget about it was what scared her. Did that mean she was okay with it, that she'd found a way to live with what she'd thought would burden her for the rest of her life? Would she be able to so easily keep lying to Jeremy, even when she'd sworn she'd tell him? Elena hadn't been talking to her recently, too busy with all the sacrifice and Original stuff to worry about her little brother's girlfriend. But that wasn't an excuse, she shouldn't have needed anyone to pressure her into telling the truth, she should have done it by now. It had been over a month and she hadn't said a word to him. She'd just been burying the fact inside her mind, until this moment when she'd forgotten about it and that it'd even happened.

And it had all been so easy. She'd just needed time to get over it. But she shouldn't have gotten over it, she never should have felt guilt free. But she had. And that was why she was facing Caroline, with her mouth hung open, shock and worry consuming her face as Caroline stared back, realising she'd scared her friend in some way. She backed up, apologising for bringing up such a sensitive matter.

Scarlett had no voice to respond. She was to busy trying to swallow the lump that had reformed in her throat, the lump that had reappeared stronger than ever and was quite literally choking Scarlett.

She was still speechless when Jeremy returned, plaster and bowl of water in hand. He handed the bowl to Bonnie who thanked him, moving to the head of Luka as Scarlett stared towards Jeremy, still in a state of shock.

It was only when he finally spoke to her, that she snapped out of it, practically jumping at the sound of his voice. "Here you go, I found this for you," Jeremy said, removing the cover from the blue plaster before taking Scarlett's arm and carefully applying it on the once burnt area of Scarlett's elbow.

"You…You–You didn't have to do that," Scarlett mumbled out, some how managing to hid the shame in her voice.

And Jeremy, he just smiled. Like nothing was out of the ordinary as he took Scarlett's face in his hands. "I like doing things for you," Jeremy said sweetly, before planting a kiss on her forehead. She didn't have the heart to point out that her elbow had already healed. Instead she just lowered her head into his chest, hiding her self hating eyes from him, until she was able to get a grip of her self.

Once she did, they all gathered around Luka, Bonnie sat at his head – which was held in both her wet hands. Scarlett felt Jeremy's hand slid into hers, but she didn't dare look at him, instead watching Bonnie as she started the spell, and all the candles around the room flared. She could only hope that whatever it was Bonnie was doing, would prove more interesting to Jeremy than her. She didn't need him noticing how distraught she was.