Yes, this is an update; I'm not dead or abandoning the story. It's thanks to and her beyond wonderful review that I actually have the motivation and inspiration to update this. Just don't get too used to it, please; with school and other things I have less time to update this and other stories as often as I would like.

Chapter 7:

Elena noticed the looks Tony and Ziva shot her way on the way back, like they were trying to figure something out, causing her to resist the urge to fidget. She had a feeling Tony had shared his suspicions with Ziva and now the two were becoming suspicious of both her and the town; that, or they had somehow listened in on her conversation with Sheriff Forbes.

As soon as they reached the boarding house, both of her teammates quickly excused themselves. Tony and Ziva both headed upstairs, leaving Elena downstairs to find wherever Damon was so they could talk about things.

She found him sitting on one of the couches in the ridiculously large living room.

"So how'd the meeting go?" He asked when she sat down.

She didn't answer right away, reflecting herself on how the meeting between her and Sheriff Forbes had gone. The other woman has asked her how she'd been, and what it was like working for a federal agency before they really got down to business: discussing who the vampire may be.

"She wanted me to ask you if you knew who might be doing this," the brunette asked, stalling on truly answering his question. The meeting had unintentionally resurfaced memories she'd rather forget.

Damon just snorted. "What, does everyone think there's some sort of special vamp bar were we all hang out?" He asked. "No, I don't know. If I did, you would have known about it. Whoever this is, is being quite sneaky."

Elena nodded. "I had kind of hoped you would have an idea," she admitted, taking a seat opposite the dark haired vampire.

"The only two that come to mind are Katherine and Klaus," he replied. "And you know as well as I do we would have heard something if it was them by now."

"So, back to square one," Elena summed up, fighting back a sigh. She had been longing to get this case over with and leave Mystic Falls ever since Gibbs had announced she would be staying behind. It was wonderful seeing everyone again, but the brunette wanted to get out before she was dragged into the supernatural world again.

Damon suddenly got up and headed to the mini-bar situated behind the couch he had occupied and poured what looked like one of the many bottles of bourbon into two glasses.

He came back and handed one to Elena, who shot him a questioning look as she took it. "You looked like you could use it," he said nonchalantly.

Wordlessly, she thanked him and took a sip, finding the way it burned down her throat a welcome reprieve from the worries that had plagued her ever since she had found a vampire was causing the deaths. She also now knew why Damon and Alaric seemed to always drink it—it was an escape route, in a way.

-VD/NCIS-

"What did McGee say?" Tony asked the moment Ziva finished the conversation with their teammate.

"That he would look into it and let us know," the dark haired Israeli replied. "He seemed surprised that we asked him, but I told him we would explain later."

"Something tells me he wouldn't have that much trouble believing it once he saw evidence," he commented. "Gibbs is the one who won't."

"We do not even know if it is vampires causing the deaths—or if they even exist," his teammate reminded him. "I still do not believe it is actual vampires."

"A gang, then?"

"More possible than vampires," she told him before exiting the room they had ducked into to call McGee.

The agent had to admit Ziva had a very good point—the idea of vampires existing? Completely absurd, even with all the talking he'd heard about them via eavesdropping.

But there was a rapidly growing bit of doubt in his mind that combated his logical side.

Tony stood there for what felt like forever, his thoughts chasing each other in endless circles, when he finally decided he had to get out of the room before his thoughts drove him insane.

He walked through the boarding house aimlessly until he found himself standing in the doorway of a room that looked like it hadn't been used in years that was filled with ancient trinkets had books.

Assuming this was either Damon or the mysterious Stefan's room, he turned around to head somewhere else when a photo caught his eye.

Turning towards it, he was greeted with the sight of someone matching Elena's exact description with curly hair pulled back in a ponytail, wearing an old fashioned dress.

He wondered if this was something Elena had done back in high school—this town did supposedly celebrate it's founding back in the 1800's with festivals and whatnot he'd heard—but the scripture at the bottom right corner told him otherwise.

Katherine Pierce. 1864.

-NCIS/VD-

So…short, but I wasn't sure where to take it after here. Plus, it gives me a place to start the next chapter off with, which I will hopefully start soon. But I can't promise when that or any other updates for my other stories will be up—it depends upon muse, school, and a variety of other things.

Thank you if you've bothered sticking with me despite my shitty update times.