Chapter 5: Kiss and Tell

Elena's little dinner experiment had started off well as far as information gathering was concerned, with Bonnie arriving first to help her set up. Before Stefan arrived, Bonnie had ranted a little about the awkward situation with Jake the exchange student, living in her house.

"So Jake is a girl?" Elena was surprised. Jeremy hadn't ever bothered to mention that, either. Then again, he probably didn't care. Even if he did, he wasn't one to talk much about it. Getting details from Jeremy was like pulling teeth.

"I'm not sure if Jake knows what Jake is," Bonnie complained. "Clearly, my dad had no idea either when he told me a girl was going to be boarding with us, because he didn't like me living alone at the house so often when he's away. Not that he's around enough to notice how unusual Jake is anyway, and it's too late for him to change his mind. I just wish he'd given me the option to decide whether or not I wanted any company first. Really, though, Jake isn't that bad. Actually, we barely even see each other. It's almost like just having a quiet nerdy guy in the house, only without any real ick factor. Aside from one time where I had one of my weird moments for like no reason at all, right outside Jake's door, like another premonition or whatever keeps happening to me."

"Wow, okay… and Jake is dating Hamilton Fleming, the boy who looks like a younger Damon Salvatore? I tried to invite them all tonight too, through Jeremy, so that I could meet the kids that are hanging out with my little brother. Also, because I thought that Hamilton had to be related to Stefan and Damon… I just wanted the truth. Stefan has been so sketchy about everything, and as much as I like him, I don't like the feeling that he's hiding so much. I need to know why."

"Well, that should make things interesting, all right," Bonnie stated.

Once Stefan arrived shortly after Bonnie, the two girls ended up having an enlightening little chat with him about Salem witches and how they related to Bonnie's heritage. He didn't make her feel dumb about the witch thing at all and it actually started to seem to them as if Stefan may actually be a good guy. Bonnie and Elena both felt themselves relaxing and enjoying Stefan's company, and Elena was second guessing herself again about why she'd been so worried in the first place.

Everything changed when Elena's other guests arrived.

Caroline showed up about fifteen minutes after Stefan, bringing a dessert along with her date, Damon, who'd driven them both to Elena's in his blue Camaro. Stefan started acting strange right away, and it appeared like he was trying to block his older brother from even entering the doorway to the Gilbert's house.

Immediately, Elena and Bonnie started feeling weird vibes from him all over again. Damon just acted all snarky and amused, as if Stefan's behavior was actually normal to him. Elena wasn't exactly getting any answers yet, but her and Bonnie kept exchanging looks as the questions and red flags continued to build.

Admittedly, Damon did seem to enjoy Stefan's odd discomfort to a certain degree, and Elena was starting to wonder if getting answers about these Salvatore brothers was even worth it… if Stefan was really worth getting to know, or if she should just stay away from him.

In fact, she was starting to feel a bit worried about Caroline's unexpected relationship with Damon too, until he had a chat with her in the kitchen when she began carrying away some of the dirty dishes and he'd helped to bring out a glass. It seemed that a lot of their issue with each other stemmed from their history with Katherine, who was apparently both of the Salvatore brother's ex-girlfriend before she'd died. Possibly at the same time.

It wasn't entirely clear which brother had dated Katherine first, or if she had been with them both simultaneously, maybe even playing them against each other, and then left their relationship in shambles after she was gone. If Elena had to hazard a guess though, Damon appeared to be the brother that was still hung up on the girl who'd tragically burned to death in a fire. The emotions in his face were so obvious when she told him that she was sorry for his loss, even as he tried to mask them. He seemed surprised that she would even care enough in the first place, and that made her feel a bit sad for him, lowering her guard a bit more.

Stefan just seemed to dislike Damon for no obvious reason, and Elena doubted that it was entirely about Katherine. Something else was certainly also wrong between them, but she couldn't figure out what. Even though he appeared more honest than his brother, Damon was rather cryptic as well. It often seemed intentional, like this was all just some kind of game to him. There were definitely huge pieces still missing from the puzzle, even before factoring in the mystery of how the younger Hamilton might possibly fit into their family.

When Jeremy suddenly arrived after everyone else was already done with their meal, Elena rushed over to greet him, "Oh, good, you made it! Where are your friends?"

"Uh, what's the deal, Elena?" Jeremy asked, looking around a bit warily. "Where's Jenna?"

"No Jenna tonight, just some friends. I was just hoping that we could all get together and share a meal. That's why I told you to bring your friends too. Are they coming?" Elena tried peaking behind him, but no one else had followed him in.

"Jake had to drop me off first, the bike's too small for three riders. They'll be here in another ten or so. Are you sure there's enough food?" Jeremy gave her a funny look. Elena noticed that he looked completely sober though, and in a better mood than usual. In truth, he just wasn't sure what to expect from Elena and was concerned that she might embarrass him again.

"Well, we already ate the main course and I was about to put it away to set out the dessert, but there should be enough left for you three. I made enough with everyone in mind," Elena answered, as he sent out a quick text confirming the food status to Hamilton, who was still waiting for Jake to come back and pick him up next. The two person bike situation was a bit of a hassle sometimes, but it was still faster than walking.

"Jake just pulled up, B there in 20" Hamilton had texted back. Apparently the two lovebirds were going to make out for a few minutes before they decided to show up for dinner.

Jeremy chuckled at his phone, right before Stefan Salvatore came flying around the corner with a troubled look and wide eyes, whispering in a panic, "Did I just hear you say that your friends are coming here. Now?"

"Uh, yeah, dude, and you're kinda freakin' me out," Jeremy took a step back away from Stefan, looking at him like he was nuts, before glancing at Elena with a 'wtf' hand gesture.

"Seriously, Stefan, is there a problem that I should know about?" Elena was also now looking at him like he'd grown an extra head. Perhaps she was finally about to get some answers after all?

"Oh, hey, everything alright?" Damon walked around the corner too with a raised brow, smirking at Stefan, wondering what had his brother acting so strangely this time. He'd heard the whole conversation as well, and it sounded to him like Stefan was, indeed, acting rather conspicuously, although he had no clue why.

"What the… Hamilton!How'd you…? You're old!" Jeremy looked at Damon in shock, his brain trying to process how his friend had suddenly appeared, dressed differently and looking possibly ten years older.

"Hamilton? Old?" Damon laughed awkwardly, quirking his eyebrow, "Uh, no, I'm Damon. Salvatore. Stefan's brother? You're Jeremy, right? Elena's brother?"

Jeremy just stood there staring with his jaw hanging open, like he'd seen a ghost or an alien. Maybe Hamilton had been right about aliens?

"I'm so sorry, Elena. Thank you for dinner, but Damon and I need to leave. Now. Damon, let's go," Stefan was definitely in a panic now. He was envisioning a scene in his mind where Hamilton walked in the door and Damon proceeded to kill everyone in the house who'd ever looked upon the two of them.

"Is everything okay?" Bonnie walked over, followed by Caroline, who seemed strangely oblivious to anything being unusual.

"Of course! Elena was just making introductions?" Damon responded gleefully, still trying to figure out why everything had gotten so weird, and ignoring Stefan.

"Uh, Elena? This is Stefan's brother?" Jeremy asked, still stunned.

"I'm sorry, but no, everything's not okay. Damon! I need to talk to you at home, we need to leave now!" Stefan really couldn't see any way that this wouldn't end in bloodshed, and didn't care anymore what people thought of him, as long as it got Damon to leave before Hamilton arrived and all hell broke loose.

"Well, Stefan," Damon was taken a little aback by Stefan's uncharacteristic behavior. "We are definitely going to be having chat about this, little brother," Damon grinned crookedly, extremely confused. Nearly laughing, but baffled. "Ladies. Caroline, apologies for my brother, but it looks like you may be riding home with Bonnie tonight."

"What? Why are you leaving?" Caroline pouted.

"I don't know. Stefan? Care to elaborate?" Damon prodded, amused, and looking back at the humans, flabbergasted, as Stefan attempted to pull him out to his own car by his jacket sleeve. Damon blinked in astonishment by Stefan's behavior, but went along with it to avoid having his favorite jacket damaged. He could easily take down Stefan at any moment, but wasn't ready to have everything ruined with these people, yet. Jeremy's behavior had been bizarre, as well. He'd, at the very least, be getting some more answers from Caroline later tonight. After he dealt with Stefan.

"Let's go, Damon!" Stefan called out, getting into the car.

"Somebody's sure wearing bossy pants, tonight," Damon turned back to look at the others, one last time, making another dramatically confused face while shrugging, "I'll be right back if possible, just after Stefan fills me in on whatever seems to be the problem..."

"Damon, please!" Stefan pleaded, his fear breaking through his voice, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Wow, Stefan. You've really outdone yourself this time," Damon laughed, as stumped as he was irritated, as he climbed into his car and slowly pulled away from the curb, taking his time, and Stefan tipped his head forward until it rested on the dash. As they rode down the street, passing a small motorcycle that had two young passengers wearing helmets, Stefan let out a sigh of relief.

That relief ended about ten seconds later when Damon pulled off the side of the road in an unpopulated location and yanked Stefan out of the car by his collar, smashing him up against a tree in the dark.

"What. The hell. Was that?" Damon's vampire face glared ferociously at Stefan's. How dare Stefan make such a scene in the presence of all of those humans?

"I… Um. We need to talk. Back at the boarding house..." Stefan begged, more or less, trying to stall. It definitely had a bit of a whimper.

Damon reached up and snapped a branch from the tree above them, before stabbing Stefan in the gut with it. "I don't think so. I don't trust you. I have a better idea," he growled as Stefan gasped in pain, failing to shove Damon away.

Before Stefan could stop him, Damon squeezed his brother's throat and head dived into Stefan's recent memories. He saw glimpses of everything that had happened between Stefan and Elena and the other high school kids, including Bonnie's chat about her witch ancestry at dinner, and finally broke past Stefan's resolve and saw Hamilton being compelled by Stefan at the school.

"Heroic examples of individualism and non-conformity…" Damon snorted mockingly, "Interesting, and you really shouldn't have tried hiding any of that from me, brother. Now I'll have to go back to your little cheerleader's dinner party angry," Damon announced, before snapping Stefan's neck. He wasted no time tossing the body into the woods far enough from the road where it wouldn't be seen by any passing cars before Stefan re-awoke. Damon then got back into his car and did a u-turn, heading right back to Elena's.

Now he was the one feeling shocked, after having seen what Stefan hadn't wanted him to ever know.

Damon knocked on the door, smiling brightly when Elena rushed to open it.

"Damon, you're back? Where's Stefan? Is everything okay?" Elena allowed Damon to enter and he followed her through the kitchen back to the living room area. Caroline and Bonnie were sitting in there still, talking to Jeremy and his two friends.

"Oh, Stefan will be fine. He just gets a bit paranoid whenever he forgets to take his meds. I'm truly sorry for that little scene earlier, and I do hope that Caroline wasn't too upset with me for bringing Stefan home, brother's keeper and all," Damon attempted some damage control, at least up until he got his first real look at the kid that was sitting next to Jeremy.

Hamilton stopped chewing his food and stood up in shock, "Uh, Jere, when you said that he looked like me, I didn't know you meant that he's like my clone!"

"Holy shit!" Jake stammered. "He doesn't look like Hamilton, he's a mirror image?!"

"Oh, yeah, that's a little weird, isn't it Damon?" Caroline stated, matter of factly, spooning up another bite of dessert, "Especially since this morning, when I asked you why you looked like your little brother, you acted like I was crazy to think that you had any resemblance at all. So, are you back to take me home now, because I need to do my homework and prep for cheerleading tomorrow."

"Really, Caroline?" Bonnie was used to Caroline being self-absorbed, but lately it was like her mind was almost taken over by some kind of android.

"So, Damon, I'm so sorry, but I had really thought that you and Hamilton were also brothers... but is that not the case? It's just, you look so much alike and Stefan kept trying to pretend that you weren't related for some reason," Elena tried to explain.

"We haven't met. In fact, this is the first time I've ever seen him," Damon tilted his head, still trying to decide what his best course of action was. It was one thing if Katherine had a human lookalike, similar enough in age for one to pass as the other, and he'd been looking forward to seeing her reaction once he freed her from the tomb.

This, however, presented a multitude of problems for Damon, right here and now.

Unfortunately, it was already a bit too late for Damon to easily erase the problem. Even if he mind-wiped the entire room to forget that Hamilton had ever existed, which he'd do in a heartbeat, making a kid with his own face disappear would more than likely backfire. Whether missing or dead, the last thing Damon wanted was Hamilton's face plastered all over the news. It would be like posting his own face all over town as well. It was quite the conundrum, really.

So instead, Damon decided to play friendly for now, to try and get more information. He had no idea how this was possible in the first place, so he'd avoid doing anything drastic until he knew more. After what he'd pulled from Stefan's head, he was also fairly certain now that Bonnie was a Bennett witch, and putting himself into a situation where he'd need to kill her tonight too wasn't ideal at all. He would probably need to compel everyone else individually, when they were alone, to ensure that they all followed his instructions, but at this point, a massacre would only hinder his plans.

So, Damon schmoozed amongst them all for the next half hour or so, until suddenly there was another knock on the door, and Elena walked back into the room with a rather dirty, haggard looking Stefan.

"Dear God, brother, you look worse off than when I brought you home," Damon smiled up at him, from where he was sitting in the middle of the couch, Bonnie over on one side and Hamilton and Jake squished tightly into the other, with Caroline perched on his own lap due to lack of seating. Jeremy sat next to them on the chair, and Elena walked over to sit back on the arm of it.

Damon then used his deeply concerned, older brotherly voice, "Please tell me that you took your medicine at least? You probably should have stayed in for the night. Did you walk here? Should I call Zach to come and get you?"

Stefan's mouth hung open in shock. Were they playing Jenga on the coffee table? Damon was playing Jenga with his look-a-like, as if there were nothing amiss? No one was dead, yet? What was Damon up to this time? After what had happened in the woods, Stefan had rushed directly back to Elena's, already fearing that he would find the worst possible outcome and be too late to stop it.

"Yeah, you really don't look well, Stefan," Caroline piped up.

"Is that blood on your shirt, dude?" asked Jeremy.

"There's a huge rip, too, Stefan. Are you sure that you didn't hurt yourself?" Elena looked over at Damon, asking with her almond doe eyes wide opened, "Does he need to go to a hospital?"

"No! I'm fine. Damon, what's going on here?" Stefan wondered, not taking his eyes off of his brother.

"Well, I mean, aside from the fact that it's not every day that a guy meets his younger clone, we've all just been bonding," Damon chuckled, happy with Stefan's distress. "Did you know that young Hamilton here was born in Mystic Falls, before moving to Connecticut over a dozen plus years ago? It's very curious that he shares the same birthday with me as well, June eleventh, just not the same year, and, obviously, not the same parents. Very, very curious, wouldn't you say?"

"Hey, Stefan! Damon looks exactly like me!" Hamilton announced, fulfilling the part of the prior compulsion to alert Stefan to the fact that he'd seen the guy that looked the same.

Clearly that other part where he'd been told to try to avoid contact had failed, and now he just looked confused as to why he'd announced the obvious aloud.

Squeezed in next to him, Jake nodded, "Yeah, Stefan, He looks like Hamilton, and it looks like we caught his attention."

Jeremy, Elena, and Bonnie gave each other weird looks, but Caroline didn't seem phased. Damon raised an eyebrow at Stefan.

"He's been seen all around town, Damon, and at school. Hundreds of people have already seen him," Stefan pointed out, hoping that would prevent Damon from believing that he could get away with killing the boy. Damon rolled his eyes.

"Yes, so I've heard, Stefan," Damon replied, "Although so far, we've been unable to derive a single familial connection between the Flemings or the Salvatores."

"There's no way that this is a simple genetics thing," Jake spoke up, after remaining mostly quiet and observing both of the look-a-likes for a while, "Hamilton and Damon both have the exact same face, even the same freckle spot on their noses. That's even more identical than most identical twins. It has to be clones."

"Hmm," Damon fluttered his eyes back up to meet Stefan's, "Isn't it quite the crazy coincidence, Stefan? Two cases of exact look-a-likes, in the same town? First her, then me."

Stefan's face paled. Had Damon already told Elena about Katherine?

"I mean, what kind of explanations did you come up with Elena, when Stefan told you about… oh, right, never mind," the corner of Damon's mouth quirked just a tiny bit, and only Stefan caught it.

"Told me about what?" Elena asked, because Stefan hadn't been upfront about anything. "What explanations should I have?"

"Oh, oops, well do you want to tell her, now Stefan? Or should I?" Damon tilted his head, and the others looked around confused, once more.

Until Stefan had arrived, they'd all just been sitting around trying to figure out why Hamilton and Damon could look the same. So far, the leading theory was that someone had somehow cloned Damon during his early childhood and Hamilton's parents had received one of the potential results. Why that ever would or could have happened was still extremely unclear. Damon had obviously not admitted his status as an immortal vampire, making that theory completely impossible.

"What is he talking about, Stefan?" Elena turned to the younger Salvatore with her hands on her hips.

Stefan shook his head, "This isn't the time or the place for that discussion, Damon."

"I disagree, little brother." Damon had decided that anything that would lessen the attention on his own situation, diverting it back to little Miss Gilbert, was in fact the perfect discussion to have right now. Also, it would further ruin Stefan's chances with Elena, since she'd certainly conclude that he'd kept it a secret for too long already while trying to pursue her. "She has the right to know. Either you tell her or I will. Somehow, I think that she'd prefer to hear it from you."

Stefan watched in dismay as a dangerous glint flickered in Damon's eyes. He wasn't going to have a choice; Damon would probably start killing people if he didn't ruin everything with Elena right here and now. Finally, he began with, "I didn't want to have to tell you this way, Elena, and it's really not something that I thought you'd have wanted everyone to hear like this."

"If there's another big thing that you haven't told me yet, then I agree with Damon. I'd like to hear it now. Please, Stefan." Elena couldn't believe that Stefan was still trying to hide things. Did he somehow know all about the clone thing? What else did he know, and apparently also keep hidden from his own brother?

Damon narrowed his eyes at Stefan, warning him not to attempt any more diversion. Stefan sighed, "Okay, fine. Elena, we knew another girl that looked exactly like you, but she's gone now."

"Exactly like you, Elena. Right down to the little beauty mark above her temple," Damon tapped the right side of his head next to his eyebrow with his finger, and Elena's eyes widened as she touched her own head in the same spot.

"Katherine?" Elena asked, but she already knew. "Oh my God, I need some air!"

"Elena, are you okay?" Bonnie hopped up and followed Elena out to the porch, and Damon allowed Caroline to get up and go out to the other girl too, sending her on her way with a nod towards Elena and a light slap to her behind.

Stefan glared at Damon, angrily.

"Dude, my sister has a clone too?" asked Jeremy, "What the hell is going on around here?"

"Had," Stefan corrected him. "Katherine is dead."

"I take it that Katherine meant something to you people?" asked Jake.

"Oh, very much so," replied Damon, holding Stefan's gaze, "She was our ex-girlfriend, before Stefan set his sights on Elena."

"Wait, what? ...but that would be like if something happened to Hamilton, and then I tried to date you!" Jake made a shocked face at Damon, then looked back at Hamilton, who scrunched his face at the idea. Hamilton hated the thought of Jake dating anyone else, especially if Jake ever dumped him for an older looking clone!

"No wonder she's so upset! I think you should leave, Stefan," Jeremy stood up, no longer looking so friendly towards Stefan.

Stefan closed his eyes, shaking his head before glancing back at Damon, "Please, don't cause any more damage, Damon."

"Me? None of this is my fault, Stefan. All you had to do was be honest with everyone from the start. You heard Jeremy, little brother. He wants you to leave, and I'm fairly certain that Elena feels the same way. Maybe, you'll have a better chance at school tomorrow, after she's had some time to let it all sink in," Damon held back a grin. Pretending to be the good brother at Stefan's expense was turning out to be a lot of fun, even if he was still rather shocked by the entire situation.

Stefan didn't want to leave, but no one trusted him at all and Damon had all of the advantages right now. There was nothing else that he could do, except for hope that they'd all still be alive tomorrow. Right now, he believed that as long as he didn't make Damon angry, then his brother might let them live for at least the moment. If he was lucky, maybe Damon would even erase their memories, but he doubted that very much at this point. Damon was enjoying this.

As Elena walked back inside, flanked by Caroline and Bonnie, she stormed past Stefan, before stopping, turning back around, and slapping him in the face without another word. Then she ran upstairs, and Bonnie followed her up, glaring at Stefan.

"I think I'm going to stay here tonight, Damon, if you don't mind?" Caroline asked, looking at Damon for permission. He'd compelled her to be a good date, but it was a bit vague, and her mind was warring with whether or not she could still be a good date and a good friend to Elena at the same time, so she needed Damon to clarify.

"Of course, Caroline! Please, go be with Elena and Bonnie, I'll see you tomorrow, I'm sure," Damon stood, and sweetly kissed Caroline on the corner of her closed mouth, for show, before declaring, "Come on, Stefan, I'll take you home now, brother. See you around, Hamilton! Jake. Jeremy."

The three younger teens nodded as Stefan finally followed Damon out, looking back at the others regretfully.

After they reached the boarding house, and the moment that they'd walked in the door, Damon pushed Stefan up against a wall, making it very clear that if Stefan tried to do anything at all to thwart Damon in any way, from here on out, he'd make Stefan regret it.

There was nothing that Stefan could do to stop him, and anything that he tried would result in the deaths of each and every one of Stefan's new 'friends'. Not that it appeared that any of them still wanted to be Stefan's friends right now. Damon had managed to twist everything around on him so easily tonight, that Stefan was still stunned by how the night had ended.

Unfortunately, Stefan also believed Damon's threat, and retreated to his room to write in his journal about what a hopelessly dire situation he was in. He hoped desperately that deep down there may still be a shred of humanity left in his older brother, but pondered what he could possibly do to bring it out of him.

In a way, the fact that no one had been killed tonight was enough cause for Stefan to consider that the possibility to redeem his brother may yet still exist. He could hear that Damon was in his own room, so he figured that he was safe for tonight, at least. He planned to give Elena an old necklace filled with vervain in school the next day, as an apology gift, and he hoped that she'd accept it.

At least she still didn't seem to be aware of the existence of vampires.

Everyone was still alive, and none of them knew about vampires. Stefan closed his eyes and prayed to the universe that it stayed that way.

Damon, however, had left his shower running before whooshing out the window, returning to spy on Elena's house just in time to hear the girls talking about how bizarre and screwed up it was that Stefan had tried to date Elena without even telling her that she might be an actual clone of his ex-girlfriend!

Damon laughed, because not only was all of their ire centered on Stefan, but also now they were less focused on his own, extremely inconvenient situation.

He watched when Hamilton and Jake left the house, bidding Jeremy farewell. They were definitely more concerned with the whole Damon and Hamilton problem, and he followed them to the house where Jake dropped his own younger mirror image off.

He watched from the darkness as Jake hopped off of the motorbike and pulled Hamilton closer for a deep kiss where they stood on the front lawn. Damon was slightly impressed when the boy quickly took control. The teens' mouth's clashed and Jake tugged hard on Hamilton's hair before they finally both stopped to breathe. They didn't seem to have any awareness that they were being watched by a deadly predator. Damon was actually becoming a bit uncomfortable for once. It was like watching himself, in a weird way, and he wanted Jake to leave.

Hamilton smiled at Jake, whispering, "God, I love you," before forcing himself to turn his back to walk towards his cousin's house. Damon got ready to ambush him, but annoyingly, Jake grabbed him first, pulling Hamilton back for another kissing session.

Now Damon rolled his eyes and was getting a bit bored, since the two kids went on for at least another minute and a half. It gave him too much time to contemplate murder. All he had to do was snap both of their necks in the dark, then find somewhere along the road to dump the bike and bodies nearby.

Sure, Hamilton and Jake's face may hit the news for about a day or two after their tragic motorcycle 'accident', but they'd be forgotten fast enough that Damon's face could show up in town again in time for the heritage display at the founder's party. Maybe? Then he could just take off with Katherine and let the other vampires that were also in that tomb clean up the rest of his little townie dinner party mess that Elena and Stefan had caused. It was what he wanted, wasn't it? It'd be so easy… although it would have been even easier three minutes ago... if he'd just thrown the damn tree branch that he'd been holding, right into the bike's front wheel when they were still riding past him. Damon still wasn't sure why he'd hesitated and wasted that perfect moment. The crash would have been fun to watch, and they could have both been dead already. No one except for Stefan would have ever been able to have pinned it on Damon.

Finally, Hamilton's perfect moment ended too, as Jake let him go, whispering, "I love you too, boy," standing in the yard and biting her lower lip while inhaling deeply through her nose.

"I'll see you in the morning, unless, maybe, you want to try… sneaking in? I can distract Roger and he won't hear if you climb up that tree…" Hamilton looked so hopeful, but Jake shook her head.

"Sorry, Hamilton, not tonight, I'm just not quite ready, and if I go up there with you now…" Jake shook her head, "No, I'm sorry, Hamilton, you'd better go in and I'll see you tomorrow morning!"

Hamilton stood there slightly disappointed, waving goodbye, as Jake quickly jumped back on the bike and rode away. He wasn't paying attention at all when he slowly went to enter the house and Damon intercepted.

"Hello 'Mini Me', let's have a quick chat, shall we?" Damon grabbed Hamilton tightly by his shoulder and pulled the boy around the back side of the house and into the darkness.