Disclaimer: If I owned TVD don't you think I would have thrown in a LOT more sexy times for Damon and Elena than what we got after they got together? Yeah, exactly. So I'm just borrowing the characters and no need to sue.

Chapter 23: Masquerade Part 2

Damon twirls the stake in his hands, already bored out of his mind.

He's been sitting here for at least fifteen minutes since Stefan called to inform him of Katherine's latest tantrum. Bonnie has already put up the barrier spell and he's pretty much stuck here...waiting.

Honestly, he isn't shocked at all that there's already a body count. He had pretty much been expecting it.

What he hadn't expected was for Stefan to take so freaking long to get his ass up here so they can finish this already! Damon would have already dumped the body in a ditch somewhere and been done with it. It shouldn't take... he glances irritably at the time displayed on his phone. Fifteen minutes and twenty seconds now.

At last he hears footsteps and looks toward the door

"Look who's finally come to join the party," Damon raises his glass of bourbon in salute.

Stefan is as brooding and guilt-ridden as ever as he crosses the barrier and starts pacing.

Damon sets down his drink, rising to his feet.

"Hey," he asks, concerned. "You okay?"

"I put the body in the trunk for now," Stefan sighs, still pacing.

Damon shrugs nonchalantly. "We'll dump her when we get back."

Stefan frowns, shaking his head.

"This is exactly what I didn't want, Damon."

Damon resists his urge to roll his eyes. Of course; now that there's a small snag in their master plan, Stefan is getting cold feet! Typical!

"Stefan, it's collateral damage."

"Right," Stefan agrees, "Which is why we need to call it off."

Damon scrunches up his face in disbelief. "What?!" he looks questioningly at Stefan, confused. After all, hadn't Stefan been the one earlier today with all that bravado about how he was going to be the one to kill their ex? Wasn't Stefan the one who had been acting all sanctimonious earlier and telling him not to hesitate?

"Who's hesitating now?" Damon points out. He moves forward to look Stefan in the eye. "Hey, don't do this to me! This woman ruined our lives. She destroyed us. Tonight it ends."

For a moment Damon can see that same unsure and timid little boy from their youth. The frightened child that was always afraid of Father's temper whenever he had done something wrong. He always protected his little brother, not just back then, but always. Even when he didn't deserve it, and even when Stefan didn't know about it. Right now, he knows that he has to be the strong one (again) because if Stefan pulls out of this...well, Katherine is already painting the town red and that little tantrum of hers was nothing compared to the real damage she could do. Particularly now that she's been invited into Elena's house...

"We can do it together," Damon says, placing his hands on his shoulders firmly. "I got your back, alright?"

Stefan nods. "Okay," he says.

Damon pats his arm and smirks, lightening the mood. "Good," he says. "Now how about we have a toast to Katherine's future demise at our hands before the party begins?"

Stefan crosses his arms, leaning against the door casually. "Is this really about us finally getting revenge, or is there another reason you're doing this?"

Damon pours another glass of bourbon, his back to Stefan. "What do you mean? Of course it's revenge! Look what she did to us! She deserves everything she's getting tonight and I can't wait to send her to Hell where she belongs."

"I mean..." Stefan moves to take the glass from him, taking a sip before speaking. "Is there someone else you might be doing this for?"

Damon frowns. "Don't go there, Stefan," he warns.

"I just think that maybe the reason you're so determined to kill Katherine has less to do with us and more to do with protecting her," Stefan points out. "And that maybe once Katherine is gone and no longer a threat, that you'll somehow have the excuse to leave again knowing that Elena is safe."

"I said I didn't want to discuss it," Damon takes a sip of his drink, feeling the liquid burn on the way down. Carol always did have good taste in liquor.

"Look," Stefan says carefully. "I'm not going to tell you what to do here, but I do think that leaving her is a mistake."

"Wow, it's a really good thing we're not talking about this," Damon rolls his eyes.

Stefan puts his hands up in defense. "Okay, we don't need to talk about this," he agrees.

"Thank you!" Damon takes another sip of his drink. There's an uncomfortable silence in the room. He can feel Stefan's eyes on him. He keeps pacing.

Damon rolls his eyes, exasperated. "Fine..."

"Look..." Stefan runs a hand agitatedly through his hair. "This is kind of weird since we both love her, and I technically had her first, but the truth is...she's happier with you. When I first met her she wasn't really herself. She was still healing after her parents died. But after Georgia...actually even a little before that, there was just something that was different when she was around you. And it's not just her...you're-"

"Shut up," Damon says quickly.

"No, you need to hear this," Stefan continues, oblivious.

Damon rolls his eyes. "No, seriously," he says exasperated. "Shut. Up. Listen."

Stefan focuses on the sound coming from down the hall and his eyes widen in realization.

Damon grins, picking up his crossbow. "Showtime!"

Caroline frowns, wishing she could be anywhere but here right now.

Normally she loves parties because it means a chance to dress up and let loose for the night. Plus with her ability to compel pretty much any guy she wants, well...she could easily find a way to have a good time.

Who knows? It might even get her mind off her current mess of a love life.

Stefan has been nothing short of confusing with all his mixed signals over the last few days. Sure, they've had some pretty hot make-out sessions, but then they always seem to get interrupted or otherwise the mood is killed in some other way.

Not to mention he acts like he cares one minute, then the next he's pushing her away again.

Like last night, when she'd offered to stay with him and he'd told her that she didn't have to and that he would heal soon enough. That had stung more than she had wanted to admit.

She doesn't know specifically at what point she'd let herself fall for him.

Maybe it was when she'd first become a vampire and he'd promised her that she'd get through it.

Or maybe it was after she'd broken up with Matt and he'd been there for her as a friend.

Or maybe it was when she'd watched Elena fall for Damon and she saw how much that had been hurting him, and she couldn't seem to understand why Elena would let go of such an amazing guy...

Whatever it was, she is starting to hate these feelings she has. They're way too intense, and they're confusing the hell out of her too because...Matt.

He's there, standing a few feet away and looking so good in his tux, and she feels that pang of sadness again.

She had to let him go though. He doesn't know about their world and it's better that he doesn't anyway. He'll be safer if he doesn't know.

And there's Tyler...she feels bad for him too. If his curse gets triggered..."

She doesn't have time to think about that. Matt has spotted her. He gives her a half-hearted smile. For a moment she thinks he might come talk to her, at least. But then he turns and walks into the crowd. She sighs and closes her eyes.

Her phone buzzes and she looks down.

Jeremy's message flashes on the screen.

Your turn

She purposefully walks down the corridor and is immediately slammed against the wall.

"What are Stefan and Damon up to?" Katherine inquires, pressing her head into the wall.

"What do you mean?" Caroline asks, pretending to play dumb.

"I've got Jeremy Gilbert luring me out to the lake," Katherine snaps. "What's going on?"

"I don't know," Caroline squeaks out innocently. "Nothing."

Katherine spins her around, grabbing her neck in a chokehold and slamming her back against the wall violently. Caroline winces at the impact.

"Don't lie to me, Caroline," she growls. "They're up to something. What is it?"

If she needed to breathe Caroline would probably have passed out by how tight Katherine's grip is on her throat. She tries to say she doesn't know again, stalling for time.

Katherine's fury rises in her eyes and she grips tighter.

"Wait...No, no no! Okay!" Caroline cries out.

Katherine releases her grip just enough to let her speak.

"They're trying to kill you," Caroline tells her.

"I figured as much," Katherine snaps impatiently. "Where's the Moonstone."

Caroline casts her eyes to the ground. "Bonnie has it," she says softly.

Katherine tilts her head to the side. "And where is Bonnie right now?" Her voice is back to that soft but deadly tone; the one that shows her patience is wearing thin and she's itching to kill soon if she doesn't get her way.

Caroline stares her dead in the eyes. "I don't know." She says firmly.

Katherine grabs her throat again, lifting her up high on the wall by her neck. Caroline whimpers as her feet leave the floor and her head feels like it could be pulled from her body with how hard Katherine is squeezing.

"Okay! She's upstairs! She's upstairs!"

Immediately Katherine's hand leaves her neck and Caroline crumples to the floor. This part of the plan...seriously sucked. She'd known that it would. That was part of what had surprised her...that Stefan had gone along with it at all.

Of course, it had to be her. Katherine still thinks she has the upper hand and with their altercation in the bathroom earlier today it was just the most obvious thing to do.

Damon had said as much, but then Damon does have this annoying way of being both a selfish dick and being right at that same time.

So as Katherine half drags her by her hair up the stairs and down the hall, she continues to play her part.

"Why do you keep dragging me into this?" She whimpers. "I don't want any part of this!"

"Shut up!" Katherine growls, tugging on her hair painfully. "Which room is it?"

Caroline looks down, ashamed and defeated, nodding toward the parlor. "It's that one," she says softly.

Katherine walks right through the doors without hesitation, leaving her behind.

Caroline smiles to herself. It's done.

Stefan and Damon are already hiding and to all casual observers, the room is empty.

"Where is she?" Katherine asks, realizing that Caroline has led her to the wrong room.

She laughs, feeling a wave of relief, amusement, and triumph.

"I did it!" Caroline says gleefully! "I really didn't think I've be able to fool you, but I did it!"

Katherine rushes at her, murderous. Caroline watches with satisfaction as she bounces back, as if she just ran into a glass wall.

"What the-?"

Caroline places her hands on her hips, smiling still.

Katherine sighs as she realizes this was the trap all along.

"Stefan." She sighs, irritated.

Stefan steps out from hiding, holding a stake in his hands. "Hello, Katherine," he drawls.

"Goodbye, Katherine!" Caroline says cheerfully. And with that, she walks away and heads back downstairs to the party and to find Matt.

Author's Note: Okay, so this was NOT easy to write because how the show did this episode was so freaking messy in terms of breaking up the timeline. There was a lot of things that I'm pretty sure happened simultaneously and others that are obviously simultaneous with what we know Miss Katherine has done. But I did my best to split things up as I needed to and add my own filler and timeline alterations.

Be gentle, I haven't done this in years and I'm still remembering how I used to write TVD fic.

Anyway, I absolutely 100% promise this WILL be finished and I also 100% promise a Delena reconciliation and lemon. In fact, I've already started writing that scene for endgame, I just have to tie up these loose ends first.

After Masquerade the events of Rose are going to follow with an even faster pace, as Damon rushes to the rescue. And then it's back to my own way of tying things off.

Staroline fans (I have my own ship name because I feel they were written in the stars and DID have a June wedding)…you're not getting any smut in this story. Sorry. I love the S/C epic friendship and Caroline needs to work through her drama with Tyler and Stefan needs to lick his wounds a little. It wouldn't be right to just throw them together, so this is mostly Delena reunion and it's gonna be epic because I am me and that's what I do.

I love you so much for reading this story and leaving love in the reviews.

~Love,

TemptressKitten17