Hey guys, I'm back! August was a very crazy month for me. There was my grandma's funeral, and then my purse getting stolen on my last day of work (the cop caught the guy and I got most of my stuff back—including the writing notebook in which I had half of this chapter written, but at that point not yet typed), then painting furniture (which turned out really cute but took up the entire kitchen in my apartment for four days, in the same week as my new flatmates moved in), and then starting as a Graduate Instructor teaching English 1010 to the freshmen (with no prior teaching experience, so that was kinda scary, but it's been really good so far, though the university isn't going to pay me until freaking October), and the crazy mountain of readings my two graduate professors are giving me on a regular basis now...yeah, busy month. When I had time to write, I was mostly working on "All This Time" with Anglcdmn (we just posted two chapters in a row, and we're into the resolution of the whole story now, so you guys should totally check it out over on her profile if you haven't already been reading). But after all that, I've finally got another chapter of this one for you! Enjoy!

Many thanks again to my good buddy and beta, Anglcdmn. Y'all should go read her stuff. She took "Cheap Guitars" down for a while, but now it's back!

Elena's night was not the restful one she'd hoped for. She spent much of it tossing and turning, plagued with nervous energy, a headache, and thoughts that refused to stop racing. By morning, she'd gotten at best two or three hours of actual sleep, and as she dragged herself through getting ready for the day, she wished she'd taken her mom up on the offer to write her a note for school. It would be easier to make up her two tests the following week than to recover from bombing them with only two more weeks left in the school year. The only thing that sustained her was her urgent need to talk to Bonnie about the events of the previous night, and she simply could not wait until Bonnie was home from school for that.

When she got downstairs (exhausted though she was, she still managed to beat Jeremy), her mom was waiting for her in the kitchen. "Good morning, sweetie," she said.

Elena groaned and let her head thud down on the table beside her cereal bowl.

"I have something for you," Miranda went on.

Elena lifted her head reluctantly and saw that her mom was holding out a silver charm bracelet to her. "Isn't that yours?" she said, frowning.

"I want you to have it," said Miranda. "I put vervain in the heart charm."

"What's vervain?" said Elena, accepting the bracelet and clasping it onto her left wrist.

"It's an herb that protects you from a vampire's mind control. I've been putting it in the tea the last few days, but I'd rather you were wearing some at all times, just in case."

Elena nodded and reached for the milk carton. "He never did any mind control on me, you know," she said quietly.

"I know," said Miranda. "But it doesn't mean we can trust other vampires not to."

"Are there more of them in town?" said Elena with wide eyes.

"A few," said Miranda, "but they're trapped for now. Damon is going to help your dad get rid of them."

Elena raised an eyebrow. "Is that why nobody's said anything else to me about staying away from him? You guys formed an alliance?"

"Yeah," said Miranda, though it was obvious she wasn't thrilled about it.

"So why did he agree to help Dad kill a bunch of his own kind? Does that make him a good vampire?"

"Not quite. The other vampires are the ones we all thought burned to death in Fell's Church."

"But," said Elena, her brow furrowing, "but one of those vampires is Katherine Pierce."

Miranda nodded.

"Then she's alive?" said Elena.

"She's the reason Damon is willing to help us kill the rest."

Elena dropped her spoon into her half-finished cereal and pushed the bowl away. She suddenly didn't have much of an appetite. "Can you drive Jeremy to school?" she asked. "I want to get there early to study some more."

"Sure," said Miranda.

Elena got up and gathered her stuff, but her mom caught her on the way out the door and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Drive safe," she said, "and be careful at cheer practice."

"I will, Mom," said Elena with a tired smile, kissing her back.

X

Bonnie was already there waiting for her when Elena arrived at the high school. They shared a glance that was laden with meaning, then headed inside to their lockers.

"Grams swore you'd be okay," said Bonnie in a low voice, making sure none of the small clusters of chattering students around them was listening in, "but it's good to see that with my own eyes."

Elena gave a tremulous smile and wrapped her arms around Bonnie. Bonnie hugged her back tightly. "What happened after I passed out?" Elena asked when they pulled apart. "Mom only said that Damon used…" Here she, too, paused to check for eavesdroppers. "…That he used his blood to heal me."

"I don't think I've ever been more scared in my life than when I watched you collapse," said Bonnie with a haunted expression. "After that, your dad ran over and punched out Zach Salvatore for shooting you."

"Serves him right," Elena muttered. "Then what happened?"

"When we looked back at Damon, he was holding you, and his face changed." Bonnie shuddered.

"What do you mean?" said Elena.

"The whites of his eyes turned red—like, blood-red—and he had all these dark veins going down from his eyelids, and fangs—we all thought he was going to bite you."

Elena frowned. She was having just as much trouble imagining Damon's face changing in the monstrous way Bonnie described as she was imagining he would hurt her.

"As soon as he did that, Grams hit him with a spell to stop him," Bonnie went on, but Elena interrupted her.

"Wait, what?" she said. "A spell?"

"Oh, right," said Bonnie. "I guess your mom didn't tell you that part. So, it turns out that everyone on my mom's side of the family…we're witches. It goes all the way back to Salem and beyond, and it's this whole connection to the earth and nature deal that I don't really understand yet, and…is that okay?"

"Wow," said Elena.

"I know," said Bonnie, grinning. "Do you want me to keep going, or do you need more time to process?"

"I feel like it's going to take me all summer to process all of this," said Elena dryly. "But I still want to know what happened."

"Okay," said Bonnie. "Well, Grams did that spell on Damon because she thought he was going to attack you, but he still wouldn't let go of you. He said he was just trying to help you. Grams and your dad argued with him—your dad wanted to take you to the hospital, but Damon said there wasn't time, and in the end your mom just told Damon to save you. He bit open his wrist and held it to your mouth, and I watched your wound heal in seconds. Then your mom took you home, Grams took me home, and your dad stayed to talk to Damon."

Elena digested all of this in silence. She wished she could've seen it for herself. It was all so incredible that even though she knew Bonnie, her mom, and her aunt had all told her the truth, it was difficult to comprehend it as more than mere words without having witnessed much of it herself.

"So what does it mean for you that you're a witch?" she said eventually, turning and starting to do her locker combination.

"Not much right now," said Bonnie, copying Elena's actions. "Grams said I'm just barely starting to come into my powers, but she's going to help me get the hang of them. I'm planning on spending a lot of time with her this summer."

"Are you still going to lifeguard at the pool?"

"Yeah," said Bonnie. "That'll only be like twenty hours a week, and witch or not, I have to do something to earn my own money now that I'm over sixteen and Dad decided that giving me allowance 'wasn't doing enough to teach me responsibility'." She rolled her eyes as she said this last bit, and Elena laughed.

"Yeah, I remember that. I'm just glad my parents haven't had the same idea. Not yet, at least." She pulled out the books she needed and shut her locker door again. "Cram session before first period?" she asked, holding up her history book.

Bonnie groaned, and they both headed for Tanner's classroom.

Distracted as they were, they didn't make much headway with studying before class. Caroline arrived at three minutes to the tardy bell and headed straight for Elena. "So," she said with an expectant grin, "I was promised details."

"Uh," said Elena, "he stood me up."

"Oh," said Caroline, her grin melting into a look of confused disappointment.

"Yeah," said Elena. She felt a small twinge of guilt for lying to her friend, but it barely registered against the hurricane of confused emotions she'd been fighting since the previous night. Caroline moved away and took her seat, still looking vaguely pouty.

X

Six and a half days left to live. Six and a half days left to live. The thought kept repeating in Zach's head. There was no way a vampire as ruthless as Damon would show mercy after an attempt on his life. The week-long grace period was already Zach's best-case scenario. And now he wouldn't even be able to slip quietly out of town, because after his little discussion with Stefan in the cellar last night, Damon had come to find Zach and inform him that any attempt to flee would be the last thing he ever did. He was trapped.

A knock on his door pulled him out of these unpleasant thoughts. "Come in," he said warily. He knew that Damon wouldn't wait for permission anyway, but it was best to give it. Thankfully, though, it was Stefan who walked through the door. "What do you want, Uncle Stefan?" Zach asked.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing," said Stefan.

"Your brother is going to kill me in six and a half days. How do you think?"

"He won't," said Stefan. "I won't let him."

"And how exactly do you plan to stop him?" said Zach, getting to his feet. "I know what happened to my grandfather. Did you give him the same empty reassurances you just gave me?"

Stefan's brow furrowed. "He was already dead by the time I got here. There was nothing I could do."

X

Against all odds, the history test didn't seem to go as horribly as Elena thought it would. It was even kind of a relief to have something else to focus on for an hour. But the craziness was back in force as soon as she left Tanner's classroom, and with Bonnie headed to her own second period class on the other side of the building, she no longer had anything to ground her. Her head was so full of thoughts of vampires, witches, and hundred-and-forty-five-year-old secrets that she didn't even see Matt until she bonked right into him near her locker.

"Sorry," she said automatically. She was about to attempt a convincing smile and "How are you?" when Matt cut across her.

"I'm not in the mood right now, Elena," he said.

"What?" said Elena, bemused.

"I know you feel bad and you want to be friends, but I can't just flip a switch and go back to how things were before, like you seem to be doing," he said.

"Matt, I—" she began, but he interrupted her again.

"Just leave me alone," he said, and then he walked off.

Elena made a noise between a whimper and a groan and thudded her forehead against her locker. She hadn't even been trying to give Matt another "let's put this behind us and be friends again" speech! Now she was going to have Matt guilt on top of all the vampire insanity.

X

Damon withdrew his fangs from his victim's neck, reveling in the familiar rush of power that always accompanied fresh blood. The woman stared blankly at him. "Was that everything you needed?" she asked, a polite, vacant smile on her face.

"It'll do for now," said Damon. His wrist was halfway to his mouth when he hesitated. A wicked grin split his lips. "What's your name, sweetheart?" he said.

"Jeanine," said the woman.

"Well, Jeanine," said Damon, "As a matter of fact, there is something else I need you to do. As soon as you get back in your car, I want you to forget you ever met me. And about your neck, you should really get that wound looked at. Why don't you go see Dr. Gilbert in his office on Main Street?"

"Yeah," said Jeanine. "Yeah, I will. He'll know just what to do."

"That's right," said Damon. "Drive safe, now."

He watched her walk back to her car where she'd stopped it so she could see if the man lying in the middle of the road needed any help. He smirked as she started the engine and drove off. If Grayson Gilbert wanted Damon to behave and not kill anyone in Mystic Falls, then he would appreciate this opportunity to personally oversee the recovery of Damon's leftovers.

A small flock of ravens took flight from a tree at the bend where Jeanine's car had just disappeared from sight. Damon watched them, his smirk widening as another idea occurred to him.

X

The French test did not go as well as the history test. Elena felt she'd be lucky to have scraped a C on it. Her head was still pounding, and her temper was shortening as a result. Why hadn't Damon told her the truth about himself? What gave him the right to show up out of the blue and work his way into her life like that when he was really only in town to retrieve his long lost love? Why had he led her to believe that Katherine was dead?

So many questions swirled in her mind, with no answers to follow. Not once did it occur to her to feel afraid—she was too angry for that, and the idea of real live vampires was still too abstract in her mind to produce any fear.

The rest of the day was extremely fidgety, restless, and unsettled. Elena had never skipped class before in her life, but now she could barely suppress the urge to get in her car and drive straight to the boarding house to give Damon a piece of her mind, her last three periods be damned. The moment that tested her the worst was when, in the middle of a capture the flag game in sixth period gym class, she saw a large raven flutter over to perch on one of the light poles surrounding the soccer field. Maybe she was imagining things, but the raven looked like Edgar, and the way his head was angled, he looked like he was staring directly at her.

She didn't care if she was risking life and limb by skipping cheer practice; as soon as the final bell rang, she grabbed her stuff from her locker and headed straight for the parking lot, peeling out before anyone else had even exited the building.

X

When Elena reached the boarding house, she did not bother to knock, but pushed the door right open (it was really heavy, so she couldn't quite succeed in making it bang off the inside wall like she wanted to) and strode inside. "Damon!" she said loudly.

Before she could take so much as a step farther into the entrance hall or say another word, a figure appeared at the foot of the staircase down the corridor to her left, making her jump. It wasn't Damon, or even Zach; it was a young man, roughly the same height as Damon, but with a slightly larger build and lighter hair that was gelled so it stood up a full two inches off his head in messy spikes. He was staring at her exactly the same way Damon had when they first met on that deserted road last Friday—as though he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Katherine?" he said. Elena opened her mouth to correct him, but he didn't give her the chance. "You're alive?"

A staggering array of emotions flashed over his features, so quickly that Elena felt disoriented just watching him. In the space of about two seconds, he went from surprise to happiness to confusion to suspicion, and at last to anger. She had barely recognized that final emotion before he was rushing at her at an impossible speed, and the next thing she knew, he was slamming her against the door, which closed behind her with enough force to produce the shuddering bang she'd failed to achieve when she opened it.

The throbbing of the back of her skull where it made contact with the door and the pain of her throat where his hand clenched around it barely registered against the terror Elena felt as his livid face transformed before her. It was just like Bonnie had described. The whites of his green eyes had turned blood red, thick dark veins spiderwebbed down from the lower lids, and his lips peeled back to reveal a set of wickedly sharp fangs.

"If you've been alive this whole time, then why the hell did you abandon us for all these years? How could you turn me and Damon and then leave us like that?"

His words were starting to get lost in the ringing in Elena's ears. "Please," she croaked, trying to pry his fingers away from her throat, but even with both hands, she couldn't get so much as his pinky finger to budge as far as millimeter. But just when dark spots were starting to pop across her vision and her hearing was becoming lost in a haze of strange buzzing sounds, her attacker was ripped away from her and hurled across the entrance hall. He landed with a crash on the floor of the parlor.

Blood rushed back into Elena's brain so fast that she felt dizzy, but a pair of strong arms steadied her. Her senses clearing, she looked up at the face of her rescuer. "Damon," she said hoarsely. But he wasn't looking at her. He was glaring daggers at the vampire he'd just thrown across the room, who was already back on his feet, looking, if possible, even more murderous than before. Elena gave a squeak of fear and clung to Damon, her previous anger at him forgotten.

"What is she doing here, Damon?" he demanded.

"You know one of the biggest signs of malnutrition in a vampire, little brother?" said Damon, his tone harsh and mocking. "Having senses so dull that you can't tell the difference between a human and a vampire even when you're choking the life out of her. Especially considering she just walked through the door without an invitation from Zach."

"What are you talking about? Katherine is a vampire! You know that as well as I do!"

"I'm not Katherine!" said Elena loudly as she massaged her throat with her hand.

"Stefan," said Damon, "meet Elena Gilbert. A very human native of Mystic Falls."

Stefan's vampiric features melted back into human ones, an expression of utter bewilderment on his face. "How is this possible?" he asked. He took a step forward as if to get a better look at her, and she automatically moved even closer to Damon.

"Your guess is as good as mine," said Damon. "Now, if you'll excuse us, I believe Elena wanted a word with me."

"I'm not going anywhere," said Stefan, his hands clenching into fists at his sides.

"Then I guess I'll have to make you," said Damon, stepping in front of Elena to face his brother squarely.

"She's human, and I'm not leaving you alone with her," said Stefan, standing his ground.

"Just go," said Elena. Her fear was draining away, and a bit of her anger was returning.

"I don't know what my brother said to you, Elena," said Stefan, fixing her with an earnest gaze that only annoyed her more, "but he's dangerous. You can't trust him."

"And I should trust you?" she said incredulously. "I met you ten seconds ago and you tried to strangle me! I think I'll take my chances with Damon, thanks."

"You heard the lady," said Damon, sounding amused. "Now run along. I'm sure this is cutting into valuable hair-styling, Bambi-killing, self-flagellation time." He wiggled his fingers at Stefan in a shooing gesture.

"Just remember what I said," Stefan muttered, his eyes still on Elena. Then, reluctantly, he walked away.

Damon turned to face Elena, and she opened her mouth to speak, but he held a finger to his lips, glancing over at the place where Stefan had disappeared from view. She looked around at the spot too, then back to Damon, slightly perplexed, but after a few seconds, he lowered his finger and looked at her again. "Okay," he said, "what can I do for you, Elena?"

She shifted awkwardly where she stood. "I'm told I owe you my life," she said. "Twice now, I guess."

"You saved mine first," said Damon seriously. He gave her a funny look. "Why did you do it?"

"Zach was going to kill you, and I was the only one who saw him," said Elena simply.

"But you could've died," Damon insisted. "Why would you risk it?"

"Well, that wasn't exactly the plan," said Elena. "I was just going to get to you first and then, I don't know, push you out of the way, or something. Either way, here we both are." She felt flustered, and it was making her angrier. She wasn't about to admit that she'd heedlessly risked her life for him because she cared about him more than should be possible after just one week. But did she even still feel that way now that she knew the truth? He'd saved her life, yes, but everything she'd thought she knew about him before was just part of a façade.

"Why didn't you tell me what you are?" she said. "Why did you make me think Katherine Pierce was dead and not the reason you're in Mystic Falls?"

"I never said she was dead," said Damon, raising an eyebrow. "I only said she didn't make it out of the fire, which is true. And it's not my fault you thought I meant 'asocial' when I said 'anti-social'. Or that you didn't listen to your parents when they warned you about me."

"If you really wanted to be my friend, then you owed me the truth!" said Elena. "Not misleading suggestions and sneaky little word games."

"Excuse me?" said Damon, his expression hard as flint. "Do you go around spilling your darkest secrets to brand new acquaintances?"

She opened her mouth indignantly, but had no words for a retort.

"I didn't think so," he said in a biting tone. "So I didn't attach a 'by the way, I'm a blood-sucking fiend' disclaimer when I introduced myself; I still gave you several opportunities to walk away. You chose not to take them. I didn't owe you anything. In fact, you know what my first instinct was the night we met? Well, my second instinct, actually, because my first would've been to sink my fangs into your neck."

Elena swallowed. As angry as she was, she was also beginning to appreciate that Damon was just as dangerous as his brother. "What was it?"

"I was going to compel you to forget meeting me," he said. "And I really should've done it, especially after you told me you're a Gilbert, because your dad and Sheila Bennett are now making my life unbelievably complicated. But no! You had to be all intriguing and make me lose sight of my priorities."

He looked so annoyed that she couldn't help the burst of laughter that escaped her. This was a mistake. His eyes narrowed and he stalked towards her until his face was mere inches from hers. "You want to know what I was even doing out there that night?"

"What?" she said, hating the way her voice quivered, the way her pulse hammered in her ears, the way it was all she could do to not take a step backward.

"I was lying in wait for some hapless human to stumble into my path so I could feed on them," he said, his voice low. "Because that's what I do."

"Then why didn't you do that to me?" she asked.

"Because, by some freak coincidence, you look and sound exactly like Katherine, and it caught me off-guard," he said, his eyes flaring on the last word.

"Would I still be alive right now if I didn't?"

"I don't know, Elena." His expression was unreadable, but somehow what she saw in it made the fear drain out of her.

"Well, it doesn't seem to be throwing you off anymore, so why not attack me now?" she said, standing up straighter. In the absence of her fear, her anger was coming back in such force that she felt like she might cry.

Shock flashed briefly over his face before it hardened again. She didn't move a muscle, not even when his hands locked in an iron grip around her arms just above the elbows. As she watched, veins darkened and erupted on the skin beneath his eyes, the whites slowly turned red, and his eyeteeth lengthened into razor-sharp fangs. He leaned even closer, and she could feel his breath on the side of her face, then on her neck. She expected to feel the sharp sting of those fangs any second, and she shut her eyes tight. But the pain never came. Instead, she heard his voice in her ear. "Don't tempt me."

The next second, he was standing five feet away from her, facing the other way. Elena let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"Yes, I did want to be your friend," he said, "but I knew there wasn't a chance in hell that you'd still want anything to do with me after you learned the truth. Since the game is up now, there's the door. Unless there was something else you wanted to talk about?"

Elena stared at his back. Without taking her eyes off him, she reached for the door handle and pulled it open, then slipped outside and, after backing to the edge of the porch, turned around and sprinted to her car, her heart hammering wildly.

X

After being banished from the entrance hall by his brother and the impossible girl, Stefan went straight up to Zach's room. This time, he barged right in without knocking. Zach had been working at his desk inside the room and jumped to his feet at Stefan's entrance.

"I know this house doesn't belong to me," he said in as angry a tone as he dared, "but since I do live here, I would appreciate it if you respected my privacy, even if Uncle Damon doesn't."

Ignoring this, Stefan said, "Can you explain to me how it's possible that there's a human teenage girl downstairs who looks just like the vampire who turned Damon and me in 1865?"

"What are you talking about?" said Zach, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Elena Gilbert, Zach," said Stefan. "She looks exactly like Katherine Pierce."

"I don't know anything about that," said Zach. "She's just a girl. I've known her parents since before she was born. Though lately I sort of wish I'd never met them."

"Why?" said Stefan. "What do you mean?"

"Grayson and Miranda were here last night, interrogating Damon for information about why he's back in Mystic Falls—"

"Wait, they know what he is?" Stefan interrupted.

"They know that and pretty much everything else! And they do not take threats to their family kindly."

"What did Damon do to them?" said Stefan anxiously.

"Apparently nothing," said Zach. "I'm the one in their black books now, not him."

"How come?"

"Because when I tried to fire a crossbow bolt through Damon's heart, Elena jumped in the way, and it hit her instead."

"Then how is she still alive?"

"Well I'm not sure, because Grayson knocked me out at that point, but I'm guessing it's because Damon healed her." Zach paused and closed his eyes. "So she is okay, then?"

"Yeah," said Stefan. He didn't mention that she would probably have some handprint-shaped bruises around her neck in a few hours. He shifted his weight uncomfortably from one foot to the other at the thought. "She's fine."

"Thank God," said Zach.

"What does Damon want with her?" said Stefan.

"Why would you think Damon has told me his plans about anything?" said Zach, firing up again. "He's going to kill me in six days; we aren't exactly in each other's confidence."

"I told you, I'm not going to let him kill you!"

"Save it," Zach spat. "You're just as powerless against him as I am. The only difference is that for me it's not a choice."

X

Zach's words rang in Stefan's head long after he left his room. His nephew was right; being powerless against Damon was a choice for him. He'd been alternating between appeasement and avoidance with Damon for the better part of a hundred years, but it hadn't deterred Damon from taking every opportunity to make him miserable. Maybe it was time he tried a more offensive strategy. He was no match for Damon physically, but there were ways to get around that.

But before he tried anything against Damon, he had to do whatever he could to make sure there would be no collateral damage. Elena Gilbert was in danger as long as she was on Damon's radar. He was probably drawn to her because she looked like Katherine. Or maybe he'd deliberately searched her out because of it. Either way, her parents were in way over their heads if they thought they could go up against him without help. So that would be Stefan's first stop.

It was easy enough to find Grayson Gilbert's office. All he had to do was ask the first person he saw in town, and they pointed him straight to it. As he approached the indicated building, he frowned a little. If he wasn't mistaken, it was an updated and remodeled version of the same building where Miss Pearl and her daughter Annabelle had kept their apothecary.

He walked inside. A kind-faced woman sat behind a desk in the reception area, and she looked up as he entered. "Can I help you?" she asked.

"Yes," he said, "I'm looking for Dr. Gilbert."

She frowned. "I think he was just about to leave. Did you have an appointment?"

"No, no," said Stefan, "I just needed to speak with him for a moment."

"Oh, well, he's just through there," she said, pointing to a door that led deeper into the building.

"Thank you," said Stefan, and he headed on back.

When he entered Grayson's actual office, he found the man sorting documents into an open briefcase on his desk. He looked up, and Stefan was startled by his resemblance to Johnathan Gilbert. Still just a normal family resemblance, though—nothing like his daughter and Katherine.

"Hello," said Grayson politely, "did you have—"

"No, I don't have an appointment," said Stefan. "Dr. Gilbert, my name is Stefan Salvatore."

Grayson's entire demeanor changed in an instant. His whole body tensed up, his expression now one of alarm and anger. In quick movements, he reached under his desk and came back up with a loaded crossbow, which he pointed at Stefan's heart. Maybe he'd underestimated this guy's ability to go toe-to-toe with his brother after all. He couldn't even smell so much as a trace of fear off him.

Stefan raised his hands in surrender. "I didn't come here to hurt you," he said quickly.

"Yeah, because I'm going to take your word for it," said Grayson dryly. "I got your brother's message. The girl's fine, but I'd appreciate it if he refrained from doing that in future. This is an interesting development, though. Zach said you and Damon weren't working together."

"I'm not working with Damon, I came here to stop him!" said Stefan, feeling indignant.

"Well then I'm afraid we have a problem," said Grayson, "because I already made a deal with Damon that serves both our purposes, so if you're looking for someone to help you sabotage him, I'm not your man. It's nice to know you're not the ace up his sleeve, though, so thank you for that."

"I don't know what Damon's planning, Dr. Gilbert, but I do know that wherever he goes, death and destruction always follow."

"I'm well aware of his track record," said Grayson. "And I'm also aware of yours. I wouldn't trust Damon as far as I could throw him, but at least he didn't swagger into town pretending to be the good guy. Now, you might want to leave this office before my trigger finger gets tired. It might seize up."

"Please, Dr. Gilbert, you have to listen to me!" said Stefan urgently. "I think Damon might be planning something to do with your daughter."

Grayson pulled the trigger. At such close range, Stefan didn't have time to react, and the crossbow bolt struck him about an inch and a half below his left collarbone. He yelled in pain and surprise and fell to his knees, his right hand flying to the few inches of wood protruding from the wound.

"That was a warning, Stefan," said Grayson. "I shot you between your first and second ribs. Your heart is behind ribs two through six." He spoke in a calm, clinical voice. Stefan stared up at him in horror, hissing the air through his teeth as he pulled the bolt back out centimeter by centimeter.

"The next bolt goes between three and four," Grayson continued, and he'd already reloaded the crossbow and taken aim. "I witnessed Damon save my daughter's life while under threat of torture and death himself. What have you done that I should take your side over his?"

X

"So I met Damon's brother today," said Elena.

"Based on your tone, I already know I'm not going to like this," said Bonnie.

"He thought I was Katherine and promptly tried to strangle me," said Elena. She switched her phone to her other ear and stretched out on her bed.

"Sounds like being someone's double is getting really inconvenient."

"Tell me about it. Damon got there in time to pull him off, but I've got a huge goose egg on the back of my head and I'm probably gonna have to wear scarves until the end of the school year."

"Maybe I can convince Grams to teach me the spell she was using against Damon, and then I can go kick his brother's butt for you."

Elena laughed, then winced and gingerly touched the still darkening bruises on her neck. "I think I'll probably be avoiding all three Salvatores from now on."

"Why?" said Bonnie. "What did Damon do?"

"It's all just really complicated," Elena sighed. "Maybe after finals are over and I have a chance to think…."

"Yeah."

"Well," said Elena, stifling a yawn. "I should get ready for bed. I missed today's practice—"

"Yeah, and Caroline was not happy about that."

"I figured. So I have to be there bright and early for tomorrow."

"Okay," said Bonnie, "I'll see you then. I love you!"

"Love you too, Bonnie," said Elena. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

They hung up, and Elena slid off her bed, grabbed her pajamas off her dresser, and headed into the bathroom. Jeremy was just closing the door on the way back to his room when she entered. "Goodnight, Jer!" she called.

"G'night, Elena," he called back.

It took her about five minutes to do everything she needed. She pulled the door open, rubbing her eyes as she walked back into her room. When she dropped her hand, she jumped and barely managed not to scream. Damon was standing just inside her window, his back to her, his hand braced against the wall.

"What the hell are you doing here, Damon?" she hissed, quickly closing the bathroom door.

He turned around and eyed her up and down. "Snoopy and Woodstock," he said. "Good choice."

Elena stared at him in utter confusion for a second before realizing he was talking about her cartoon print pajama shorts. This did nothing to cool her rising temper. "What are you doing here?" she repeated, as loudly as she could without risking anyone else in the house hearing.

"I just needed to say one thing to you," he said, holding his hands up in front of him and walking a couple of steps closer. "After that, you'll never see me again if you don't want to."

Elena folded her arms. "Fine," she said.

He looked her in the eyes. "Look, I don't know if you'd still be alive if you didn't look like her," he said quietly. "But just for that, I'm glad you do. I'm glad I didn't attack you that night, and no matter how much trouble it's getting me into now, I'm glad I didn't compel you to forget. I had a lot of fun with you this week, so…thank you."

Elena was at a loss for how to react. "You're welcome," she said automatically.

He was standing very close to her now. "Good night, Elena," he said. He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. Then there was a gust of wind and a slight rushing sound, and he was gone.

Stefan did not have a very good day, did he? Grayson is pretty much my favorite. And yeah, Damon's kind of going into self-destruct mode a bit, with pushing Grayson's buttons by sending in his "leftovers" and scaring the crap out of Elena. Hopefully he'll get over it.