The very kind, very nice, very helpful Peachie X was Beta on this chapter (and so much more...)

Not Caring, but Wondering

Damon arrived at the Bennett house barely noticing he had driven to get there. He had realized, sometime between dropping Elena off at her home and arriving here, that his original plan to have Bonnie use the button he ripped off of Heather for a locator spell wouldn't work now. Elena's friend could no longer be trusted.

He entered the yard looking for Stefan, hoping he would be outside, knowing they would have to find another way to track the witch, when he found himself suddenly caught up in a fight.

The vampire that Katherine had assigned to stay with Bonnie ran into the yard, chased by two others. Damon was tackled by one of them and slammed into Bonnie's front door.

He recovered quickly, not knowing who his opponent was, but not caring – though he did wonder where his brother was.

Getting Along

They were in Jenna's car, but Elena had insisted on driving. Sarah was next to her, Isobel and another vampire in the back seat. They were followed by two other cars, one with Jenna, Jeremy and two other vampires, the other was full of vampires. Marcus was in the car with Jenna and Jeremy. Jenna remembered him and remembered that he had done all he could to protect her and Elena. It was the only reason she had agreed to be separated from her niece.

"Human?" Sarah asked into her phone. She was speaking to Natalie, who had finally seen the picture and returned her call. "But still a relative?"

Elena couldn't stand just hearing just one side of the conversation. "Can you put her on speaker?"

The witch pushed the button and held the phone closer to Elena.

"Yes," Natalie replied. "sometimes humans can be used to enter homes with witches when vampires can't. They're usually muscle."

"Makes sense, I guess." the blonde witch agreed.

Isobel spoke from the back seat. "A vampire would have heard Damon's approach and been able to react. He had to be a witch or human."

"Sarah, you need to be careful if our family is involved." The older witch said. "Some of the witches are really powerful."

"I know Mom. Heather is here."

"Heather." Natalie repeated and hesitated as she recalled the person her daughter was referring to. "She's going against you?"

"No Mom, but she talked to Bonnie, tried to convince her that she shouldn't protect Elena."

Natalie hesitated before asking, "Is Bonnie alright? What happened?"

"I don't know. Damon said we should leave and we did. Now we're leaving town. Are there vampires with you?"

"In our yard – easily seen." Sarah heard her mother sigh. "This is not the way it's supposed to be."

"Sorry." Elena said.

"I know, Mom," The blonde witch added. "but until we're sure our cousins will leave you alone, I think we need it."

"Our house is protected, you know that. It's you I'm worried about."

"I'll be fine. We have a lot of vampires with us as well."

"Do you want me to go there?" Natalie offered hesitantly.

"No," Sarah said quickly, not wanting to bring her mother into it. "I'll call if I need anything else."

Sarah pulled the phone to her ear, removed the speaker and listened before disconnecting without speaking again.

"I'm so sorry about this." Elena told the witch as she put the phone away.

"It's my family," Sarah replied. "I'm sorry they got involved."

"I feel better knowing that you're with us." Elena told the blonde witch, smiling weakly.

"I don't." Isobel said from behind her daughter. "Those who have switched sides can easily switch back."

Sarah turned back to glare at the vampire. "We didn't switch sides. We left a bad situation."

Elena was glaring as well as she looked into the mirror at her mother's reflection. "Can't you get along with anyone? You fight with Damon and Bonnie. Please be nice to someone!"

Isobel shook her head and stared back into the mirror, hard expression still on her face. "Not when it's like this, Elena. Not when it's about you."

Now or Never

Stefan had managed to talk his way back into Bonnie's house, though he could tell she wasn't really happy about it.

"What do you want?" The witch asked him as she closed the door behind him. She didn't let him farther into the house.

He wasn't sure how to approach her or how to figure out what she was thinking, if she would continue to help. He decided to ask the favor Damon had hinted at. He opened his closed hand and showed her the button.

"We'd like to follow her – Heather. Would you do a spell to find her?"

Bonnie stared at him with a hard expression. "Follow her and what? See if she'll kill Damon?"

Stefan tried to sound reasonable. "Bonnie, they're after Elena. You know we can't let them find her."

Bonnie closed her eyes and pulled her hand up to her head like she had a headache. "I don't know that. I know they don't have her and I know that you'll get yourself killed if you try to go against them."

"We'll be careful, Bonnie." The vampire's eyes were pleading. "You can come with us, help us."

Bonnie glared at him again. "I'm not sure you would want me with you."

"We would," Stefan asserted, trying to sound like he believed it himself. "I trust you, just like Elena trusts you."

"Not the best time to bring her up."

Stefan sighed. He knew he was losing. "You can't believe everything you hear, Bonnie. You know Elena."

"I know Heather didn't lie. Elena did what she said – just like I wrote."

Stefan's face did harden then. "Yeah? Well she left something out, Bonnie. You know that if Damon had died, you would be dead now. Elena kept that from happening, and it cost her a lot."

The witch was still glaring at Stefan when they heard something hit the front door behind the vampire. He turned his attention from the witch and opened the door. Damon and Katherine's vampire were fighting with another two vampires.

Stefan quickly went through the door to help his brother. He and Damon combined were able to take out Damon's attacker. Then they moved to destroy the other hostile vampire.

Katherine's vampire spoke quickly then. "Two vampires, two witches. The vampires chased me - much faster than the witches. The witches are coming and could be here anytime."

They all moved quickly to the door, which was open, Bonnie standing just inside the house as she watched them. Stefan stood in front of Bonnie and held an arm out to keep his brother from entering.

"We need to come inside."

Bonnie glared at him. "I'm not so sure."

"Vampires and witches were sent to your house, Bonnie. You know why. You need to decide if you want to face them alone."

Bonnie's eyes were closed, she was thinking. She opened them to Damon's voice.

"Let her be in there alone with the witches if she wants." Damon said to his brother, though glaring at Bonnie. "We can burn them all at the same.."

Stefan interrupted his brother. "They're here Bonnie. Now or never."

The witch shook her head and continued to scowl, but whispered. "Come in, all of you."

The vampires entered and closed the door behind them. Within seconds, the doorbell rang.

"Bonnie Bennett?" It was a woman's voice.

Never Happy

"She might need Sarah," Elena argued. "We can't get too far away."

Elena was outside of town, but very close. She had stopped to argue with her mother.

Isobel glared at her daughter. "You know Katherine wants you as far away as possible."

"I know what she told me. Keep my phone on, keep our phones on because she might need us."

"Things have changed. The safest place for you both is as far away as possible. They don't know where you are."

Elena shook her head forcefully "The safest place for her is where Sarah can reach her if needed. Reach all of you. I'm not going any farther."

"Your family is behind us." Isobel's tone was getting icy now.

Elena didn't flinch. "So take them farther out of town. Sarah and I are staying."

"You would risk the witch as well as your family?"

Elena knew this wasn't helping. She tried to control her voice, if not her expression. "You won't let anything get to us. I know that."

"Katherine isn't going to be happy…"

"Is she ever happy with me?" Elena interrupted, losing control of her voice again.

Isobel actually seemed to calm down a little. She sighed. "You've always lived before. We can't just sit here, we need to keep moving."

Elena knew she was right. She turned her face to the road ahead. "Yeah." She nodded as she started moving, followed by the others, though she had no idea where she was going.

Catching and Chatting

Alaric wasn't happy when Isobel left him with an unknown vampire. She had left with little explanation, saying something about Elena and Katherine. He didn't really understand her words, but assumed he was being driven to Katherine, as he sat next to a vampire, bag on his lap.

He did have his hand in the bag, holding a vervain dart, just in case. He was nervous, never having been with other vampires without Isobel or Katherine with him.

He was glad when they were out of the car, on foot, him holding a dart in one hand, bag in the other. He was relieved when he saw Katherine standing, her back to him.

She didn't turn around as she spoke. "Welcome, Mr. Saltzman. Thank you for coming."

He moved to stand next to her, relieved again when no one tried to stop him.

"Yeah. Now what?"

Katherine didn't turn to him. She spoke softly, as if just thinking out loud.

"Now we see if we can catch one of them and have a chat."