"Look, feed off Vicki all you want - I really don't care, just don't kill her. She may not be my favourite person in the world, but she is still a person."

"How can you be so callous about this?" Stefan asked with a disapproving drown.

"I can't stop Damon from feeding, but I can stop him from killing."

"And what makes you so sure you can?" Damon sneered, coming to stand by his brother. I glared, enjoying his groan of pain as the vessels in his brain burst over and over again.

"I think he gets the picture." Stefan crossed his muscled arms over his chest. I blinked, ending the spell.

"You're a real bitch, you know that?" Damon snarled, flashing his fangs.

I rolled my eyes, "I know. Get used to it." I straightened my stance, holding my head high. "Damon, I know you want to get into the tomb under Fell's Church, and I'll help you."

"And why is that? What's in it for you?" He quirked his thick, dark brows.

"The Bennett bloodline will no longer be indebted to you - the deal you made with Emily." He nodded as if to say 'fair point', waving his hand for me to go on. "In return for you getting what you getting inside that tomb, you will not harm anyone, lethally, in this town. Kill who you want beyond our borders, feed and compel, but kill anyone within town limits and there will be hell to pay."

"I can work with that." He conceded surprisingly easy, which made me a tad suspicious but hey, a win is a win. Stefan the poor boy looked so confused.

"Please, whatever you do, don't turn Vicki. I cannot cope with her as is, I don't need a crackhead vampire running about."

"Yeah, yeah. Eat, compel, no killing. I get it." He rolled his eyes.

"Great. Bye then." I turned on my heel and fled inside, leaving Damon to explain what just went down to Stefan.

Next step; Get Emily's crystal from the Lockwoods. Easy peasy.

Bonnie, after a full night of begging and puppy dog eyes, managed to convince me that letting Elena know that something was going on with Stefan was the right thing to do. We compromised, her agreeing not to say anything outright about Vampires and the like, if she could warn Elena.

"Look, I'm not saying don't date the guy, I'm just saying take it slow." Bonnie said from between me and Elena as we meandered outside school.

"You were the one who said to go for it." Elena argued, brushing her hair back behind her ear.

"Now I'm saying take it slow."

"You're a fish." I pointed a finger at Bonnie. "Flip flopping between opinions." She smacked my finger away, glaring at me.

"Why the about-face?" Elena asked, completely ignoring me.

"It's not an about-face." Bonnie defended, "You're single for the first time in your entire high school career. It's the perfect time to play the field."

"Oh, because I'm so that girl." For once, she was making sense. "Seriously, what are you not saying?"

"It's stupid." Bonnie played it off, looking down at her feet as we came to a stop.

"Bonnie..." Elena urged.

"What?"

"Spit it out."

Bonnie sighed, "I accidentally touched Stefan." I snorted, feigning pain when she socked me in the arm. "...and I got a really bad feeling."

"Is that it?" Elena asked, disbelief colouring her tone. "Bonnie."

"It was bad bad!"

"Is this the whole witch mojo thing again?"

"You know what? I'm just concerned. This is me expressing concern about my best friend's new boyfriend."

"And I love you for it, I do. But I feel good. It's been a hard year, and I'm starting to kind of feel like things are getting back to normal again." Boy, she was in for a wild ride. Everything about Elena's existence was abnormal, and things would only get weirder from here. "And you know what? Stefan is a big part of that."

I found Jeremy in the stoner pit behind school. He wasn't smoking, thankfully, just listening to music through his earphones and sitting languidly on the stone steps. I tapped him in the shoulder, snickering when he slipped down a step in fright. He yanked the earphones from his ears and stood with a glare.

"What was that for?" I shrugged, hopping down the steps to stand beside him.

"I just felt like it." I stuffed my hand in the pocket of my jacket, fingers finding a leather cord. "Here." I hled it out to him. He took it with a confused look, admiring the thin cord of leather with a small, silver bead in the centre. "It's for protection."

I took it from him, tying it securely around his left wrist. "Thanks?"

I rolled my eyes, "Humour me, okay? Promise you'll never take it off."

His dark eyes searched my face, seeing nothing but complete seriousness. He nodded and I relaxed, giving him a quick hug before telling him I'd catch him later and dashing to homeroom.

"World war II ended in...Anyone got anything? Miss Juan? 1945." I perked up, lifting my head from where I was using my textbook as a pillow to actually pay attention. Salvatore v Tanner was about to begin.

Elena and Stefan were whispering to each other about the football team when Tanner called dout Elena." Pearl Harbor." His dark, creepy little eyes narrowed in on the brunette, "Miss Gilbert?"

"Hmm?"

"Pearl Harbor?" He grinned maliciously, loving that he'd caught her off guard.

"Um..."

Stefan to the rescue. "December 7, 1941."

"Thank you, Miss Gilbert." There was a reluctant laugh from the class, most unwilling to admit that Tanner made a funny.

"Anytime." Stefan smirked slightly

Tanner took the bait. "Very well. The fall of the Berlin wall."

"1989. I'm good with dates, sir."

Tanner wasn't convinced. I grinned to myself, leaning back to watch. "Are you? How good? Keep it to the year. Civil Rights Act."

"1964."

"John F. Kennedy assassination."

"1963." Tanner was steadily growing more and more irked

"Martin Luther King."

"'68."

"Lincoln."

"1865."

"Roe vs. Wade." Tanner took a challenging step forward, glaring under his heavy brow at Stefan who kept his face completely blank.

"1973."

"Brown vs. Board."

"1954." The whole class was invested, leaning in to get a closer look at Tanner's well deserved ass kicking.

'The battle of Gettysburg."

"1863."

"Korean war."

"1950 to 1953."

Tanner looked triumphant, snapping his fingers, "Ha! It ended in '52."

Stefan shook his head, "Uh, actually, sir, it was '53."

"Look it up, somebody. Quickly."

I pretended to do so, looking at Tanner with a saccharine smile. "Stefan's right. It was 1953." There was a song of complete and utter joy in my heart at the look of defeat and anger on his face.

I walked to the boarding house, Bonnie staying after school for cheer practice which meant that the car was staying with her.

"Damon!" I yelled, voice echoing in the cavernous foyer. They really needed to start locking their doors. The wind shifted around me as Damon appeared. He smirked,

"What can I do for you, witch bitch?" I crossed my arms over my chest with an unimpressed look.

"Well, I was going to be nice and offer you a chance to get under Stefan's skin a little, but..." I pouted, "You called me a bad name."

"Oh," He mock gasped, placing a hand over his heart. "I do apologise. I meant to say, Wicked Witch of the East."

"Funny." I deadpanned, "Since I'm in a giving mood, Elena is having a little get together at her house with Stefan and Bonnie - should be the perfect opportunity to slip a little doubt in Elena's small brain about her relationship with your brother."

Damon's raised his eyebrows, "and why could you want that?" I shrugged and turned on my heel, heading to the door. "I like a little drama." I said over my shoulder.

"Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait. Let's be honest here. In the past, we used to let other teams come into our town and roll right over us!" The crowd booed. "But that is about to change." Cheers so loud that my ears began to hurt. It was the night of the big football game, and the night Tanner would be killed by Damon. Oh well, can't say he didn't deserve it.

"We've got some great new talent tonight starting on the offense, and I'm gonna tell you right now, it has been a long time since I have seen a kid like this with hands like these. Let's give it up for Stefan Salvatore!" Stefan waved with a humble little smile. "That have been waiting for us to put a check in the win column, I have only one thing to say to you...Your Timberwolves are hungry."

I found Jeremy sitting on the bed of someone's truck, sipping at a beer. "Hey," I hopped up beside him, snagging his beer and taking a long drag.

"Gross. I don't want to taste your spit." I shoulder checked him, shrugging and chugging what was left in the bottle. "You suck."

"That's what all the boys say," I grinned as he gagged, pretending to throw up.

"Please, don't ever say anything like that again." I snickered, laying my head on his shoulder.

Tyler stalked towards us, glaring solely at Jeremy. Despite Vicki being a non-issue, it seemed the two still had their grievances. I sat up straight, ready to jump in.

"If it isn't wanna be Jeffrey Dahmer," Tyler smirked, arms folded over his chest. "I bet it was you who killed your parents. Did a little tampering with their car?" I had no hope of stopping Jeremy as he launched himself at Tyler. Not that I wanted to. They traded blows, each of them getting a couple of nasty hits in. Having enough, I stood and forced myself between them, putting a bit of magic into it as I forced them apart.

It didn't work for long. Tyler shoved me out of the way and I was barely able to keep from falling. Stefan and Elena came rushing over, Stefan grabbing Tyler's wrist forcefully as the boy went to hit Jeremy whilst he was down. Tyler retaliated by punching Stefan in the stomach, who had zero reaction to the blow. Way to be subtle, I rolled my eyes.

Jeremy grabbed a broken bottle, charging and slashing at Tyler. Stefan intercepted, receiving a nasty gash on his palm. "Jeremy, no!" Elena cried, like that was going to help any.

"Tyler, that's enough." Matt stepped in, wrapping his arms around his friend and leading him away. I ushered Jeremy away before Elena could get her hands on him. I sat him down on a bench, taking off my overshirt and scrunching it up, pressing it to his bleeding nose. He hissed, trying to pull away.

"Suck it up. You wanna fight like a big boy, you've gotta take the pain like a big boy." He grumbled something inaudible, letting me out pressure on his tender nose. It wasn't broken, but he'd have some gnarly bruising.

Jeremy and I stayed hidden away until a commotion had us heading curiously in that direction.

Tanner was dead.