Stefan had come back from his walk when he saw Caroline sitting in the living room. Damon was sitting next to her, trying to calm her down.
"What happened?" He asked.
"It's okay, you can tell him." Damon told her gently.
"I saw Katherine today." Caroline said.
"Where?"
"At the Grill." Caroline said. "I stopped by to meet the girls, then I ran into Matt. I was still dealing with some issues, so I ran into the bathroom the second he turned his back. That's when I ran into her. As usual, she tried to pose as Elena, but I knew she was at home taking care of her Aunt."
"What did she want?" Stefan asked, sitting down in the chair across from them.
"She wanted me to be her messenger girl." Caroline told them, obviously still shaken from her run in with her. "She's still after the moonstone and she's basically threatening to go on a murder spree."
"What were her exact words?" Stefan asked.
"That she'll rip this town apart until it rains blood."
"And tonight's masquerade ball will be perfect for her to start unless we do give it to her." Damon pointed out.
"It's obviously a set-up. She wants to do this in public."
"Good thing Lockwood left town then."
"So, what are we going to do?" Caroline asked. "Can't we just give her the moonstone so she'll leave?"
"No. Katherine has become too dangerous." Damon told her. "We can't let her get the moonstone. I'm going to the masquerade and I'll put her down myself if I have to."
"You can't go after her alone." Stefan said. "You're going to need back-up."
"Not this time, brother. This is a solo mission."
"Which will be for nothing if she decides to kill you." Stefan pointed out. "If you're going to take on Katherine, not only do you need a plan, but you're going to need help. It'll take more than just the two of us to make it work." They looked at each other.
Meanwhile, Elena and Jeremy were supporting Jenna. Matt was helping them get her inside. "Easy. Grab the door Jer." Matt told him.
"Hey, stop fussing, I'm fine." Jenna said. And she was. Luckily, the knife had only left a scratch mark and nothing more. Elena was relieved, but still worried.
"You should take it easy." She told her.
"Elena's right." Jeremy said. "While it should heal in a few days, it's probably going to be really sore."
"I don't really understand how it happened." Jenna said. "How could I have cut myself there?"
"Maybe it fell facing that way." Elena said. She felt like an idiot just saying it. Even she didn't believe what she was saying.
"Hey, it happens. First day at the Grill I cut my palm doing the dishes." Matt told her aunt.
They set Jenna down on the couch. "You want me to talk to her?" Jeremy asked, looking at Elena. She looked at him, then she realized it. She had told him about Katherine getting Jenna off vervain.
"Okay, just make sure she remembers how she got hurt." She whispered to him. He nodded. Matt and Elena went into the kitchen.
"I have to ask, is that Grill story true or were you just trying to make her feel better?" Elena asked him.
"No, actually, that really happened." Matt told her. "Good thing Vic kept that first aid kit at the house."
"Yeah, how is she these days? I haven't seen her much." Elena said.
"She's been busy applying to schools, getting her grades up." Matt told her. "She still goes to some of these events, though not as much as before."
"Yeah, what do you think's going to happen with that?" Elena asked.
"She said she was thinking of going to community college." Matt said. "Figure out what she wants to do with her life."
"Yeah, I get it." Elena said. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do, either. In that moment, she wished she could be human again, that she would be able to have a normal life.
"Hey." Jeremy's voice snapped her back to the present. "Jenna's doing fine, but could someone keep an eye on…"
"Got it." Matt said. He walked out of the room.
"So, what are we going to do?" Jeremy asked her.
"Did everything go okay?" Elena asked, avoiding the subject.
"Yes. So what are we going to do about Katherine?" Jeremy asked. She sighed, knowing he would ask that. The problem was, what could they do about Katherine? She'd hurt her family just because she didn't listen to her, so who knew what she would try if they went after her?
"We're not going to do anything." Elena told him. Jeremy was surprised.
"She tried to kill Jenna. We can't let her get away with that." Jeremy pointed out.
"Hey, if it keeps this family safe, we can." Elena told him. He looked at her. At first he thought his sister had just given up, but he could see she was scared for what was left of their family. He felt the same way, knowing this was dangerous. But still…
"What if she tries something else?" Jeremy asked.
"She won't." Elena said. Even though she didn't know if that was true, she decided to go with it for now. "Katherine hurt Jenna because I didn't do what she said. Stefan and I are over now, so she wins."
"I know you want to protect them, but even for you, this is going too far." Jeremy pointed out.
"Hey, I don't like it any better than you do, Jer." Elena said. "But there's no other way to protect them right now." She started to head into the living room. "Did you make sure that she…"
"Told her never to take it off and slipped it onto her wrist." Jeremy told her. Elena walked into the living room to help Jenna. As soon as she was out of the kitchen, Jeremy rushed out the back door. If his sister wasn't going to try to stop Katherine, he was going to have to.
His phone started ringing. "Yeah?"
"Can you and your sister make it over here?"
"She's…" He hesitated, then decided to tell the truth. "I'm sorry, Stef. Elena's completely given up."
"I was afraid of that. How's your aunt doing?"
"It was just a scratch, thankfully." Jeremy said. "I'm on my way over right now."
At the Boarding House, the others had started to show up. Damon and Alaric were talking over ideas, while Caroline answered the door. Bonnie had just arrived. "Hey, come on in."
"I got Stefan's message." Bonnie said. She was carrying her grimoire with her.
"Hey, you brought the grimoire, thank you." Bonnie looked around, noticing the weapons on the table.
"What's going on?" She asked.
"We're gonna kill Katherine." Jeremy said, entering the house behind her. She hadn't even heard him coming behind her.
"I can explain." Stefan told her.
"Please."
"We're gonna kill Katherine." Stefan said. They led her into the living room, where Alaric was explaining how one of the weapons worked.
"This works with compressed air. The trigger mechanism is up here." He told the group. "I have two of these in a different size. For you I recommend this. It feats nicely under the jacket sleeve. You use the trigger when you're ready."
"You always this prepared?" Jeremy asked, looking at the weapons table.
"What did you expect? He's a vampire hunter, remember?" Damon pointed out.
In the hallway, Bonnie was talking alone with Stefan. "I know you love Elena, but this plan is too risky. Too many people could get hurt." Bonnie told him.
"This isn't just about Elena anymore." Stefan explained. "What Katherine did to Jenna crossed the line. She has to be stopped."
"I don't know, Stefan."
"If I've learned one thing, it's that there's a lot of risk with trying something in public. If there was a way we could separate her from the crowd…"
"Maybe there's something I can do." Bonnie said. "A spell that could trap her, kind of like the tomb spell."
"That's a really good idea." Stefan said. "I know you don't like this, but you think you can help us?"
"I'll do it, but only because she's pushed my friends around for too long." She told him.
Back at home, Elena was talking with Matt. "You're free to stay if you want. Alaric's coming over. It's gonna be pizza and bad TV."
"I'd love to but I'm going to the masquerade party at the Lockwoods, aren't you?" Matt asked her.
"No. I don't want to leave Jenna here alone." Elena said, glancing back toward the living room. "Not to mention with the way things are with me and Stefan."
"I should go, there's something I need to take care of before the party." Matt said.
"Have fun." Elena said.
"Yeah. Me and a suit."
"You look good in a suit." Elena pointed out. She started to walk away.
"Hey," She turned around at the sound of Matt's voice. "You and Stefan will work it out, I'm sure of it."
"I don't know, Matt. There's so much about us that doesn't work." Elena told him. It was something she worried about more than any enemies they had. She knew she'd never be able to turn him and there wasn't any way to become human that she knew of. Even if Katherine left them alone, how long would they be together before figuring out they'd need to move on?
"Elena." Matt's voice brought her out of her thoughts. "No matter what's going on with you two, I'm always on your side." She held him close. Right now, he was the closest friend she had.
"Thanks, Matt."
At the Boarding House, everyone had gathered in the living room. "Are you sure you guys don't want me there tonight?" Alaric asked.
"No, I need you to stay with Elena." Stefan told him. "I don't want her to know about this."
"Okay. Well, I'll make sure she doesn't leave my side." Alaric said.
"Alright, if anyone wants to back out, I'll understand." Stefan told the others. Personally, he hoped no one would drop out of the plan, but he also knew if they weren't comfortable with it, they had a bigger chance of letting Katherine escape.
Damon apparently thought the same thing. "Yeah, speak now, cause I don't want anything going wrong if someone suddenly gets a panic attack." He turned to Caroline.
"I won't." Caroline said. "She killed me. As long as there aren't any werewolves involved."
"Mason's gone, he got out of here a couple days ago." He told them.
"Tyler's still human." Jeremy added. "As long as he doesn't kill anyone, he won't change into one."
"Bonnie?" Stefan asked. Everyone turned to her, nervous that she might back out.
"I'm in." She told them. "As long as no one gets hurt."
"Except for Katherine." Damon said. "Tonight, we end things with her."
At the Lockwood's place, the group had already spread out in the house. They had all dressed up for the Masquerade Ball. Damon and Stefan were outside in the backyard, looking for Katherine. They knew Elena would be at home, so there'd be no confusing them.
"Do you see her?" Damon asked.
"No." Stefan turned to him. "Are you sure you can do this?"
"Of course I can, she's a threat to the town, to our friends." He told him.
"Right, are you sure that's the only reason?" Stefan asked.
"I know when to put my job first, brother. That's the important thing." Damon said. He didn't want him to know that deep down, he was having doubts about Katherine. He knew he couldn't back down, though. Some things were stronger than his mixed feelings.
"Okay, just making sure."
Inside, Jeremy and Bonnie headed upstairs. He opened the door to an empty room that he'd passed by when he'd visited before. "I thought this room could work."
"It's perfect." Bonnie said. Jeremy picked up a stake and hid it under the sofa. He noticed Bonnie pulling out her spell book. She opened it to the page where she would be doing the spell.
"Are you sure this will work?"
"It's why I brought the grimoire." Bonnie said. Jeremy put the bag he'd brought with him in the closet. He noticed all the writing on the pages.
"Can you do all the spells that are in there?" Jeremy asked her. He'd known for a while that she was a witch, but this was the first time he'd seen her so focused.
"It takes practice." Bonnie said. "I've only practiced small spells, the ones that only do good. I don't want to know too much about this stuff. It's not exactly fun for me."
"True, but you have to admit it's cool that you're a witch." Jeremy pointed out. And he meant it. He had always been impressed by her abilities. He was there when she'd prevented the fire from burning him in his father's old basement.
"It's not cool at all." Bonnie told him. She was glaring at him. "Did your family's journal tell you what happened to Emily, my ancestor? Or what happened to my Grams?" He did know. He'd read about what happened to Emily in the journals and pretty much everyone knew about what happened to Sheila after the tomb incident.
"It doesn't end well for people like me." Bonnie said, turning to her spell book.
"If you feel that way, why do you keep helping us?" Jeremy asked her sympathetically, sitting next to her.
"Because I don't want anyone else getting hurt." Bonnie explained. "And I don't know how to stay out of it." She added. She turned to him. "You should probably stand outside the door. If this plan's going to work, I don't want to trap you here." Jeremy nodded and headed out of the room.
At home, Elena was sitting with Jenna. "I feel like an invalid." Jenna said.
"That's because you are invalid. At least, temporarily." Elena pointed out. "Where's Jeremy?"
"He already left for the Lockwood party." Jenna told her.
"He went to that?" Elena asked, surprised. Then again, she hadn't seen Jeremy since that afternoon.
"Yeah, I'm glad. He needs to have more fun." Jenna pointed out.
"I'm gonna get some napkins." Elena said. She went into the kitchen and found Alaric. "Hey, what's going on?"
"What do you mean?"
"I haven't heard from anyone all day. It's like everyone's been avoiding me." Elena said. "And now Jeremy's at the party? He hates stuff like that."
"I don't know what to tell you, Elena." Alaric said.
"So then it'll be okay if I just head down, try to meet up with everyone." Elena said.
"Wait." Alaric grabbed her arm.
"What are you hiding, Ric?" She asked. She knew she was starting to get angry and was close to vamping out.
"Stefan asked me to keep an eye on you, in case Katherine showed up while he was at the party." Alaric told her.
"Wait, he's at the party, too?" Elena asked. "He'd never go to the party for himself." She knew something was up, first her brother, and now Stefan? She had to figure out what was going on.
"Just let this one go, okay, Elena?" Alaric asked. Elena realized she'd have to sneak out later, when they went to bed.
Back at the Lockwood's, Bonnie and Jeremy were headed downstairs. " We need to let Stefan and Damon know the room's ready." Bonnie was saying. She stopped suddenly. "Do you feel that?"
"Are you cold or something?" Jeremy asked her. He figured it was probably one of her witch senses, but he didn't want to press the issue since she made it clear she wasn't into it, so he'd asked her the first thing he could think of.
"Uh, no." Bonnie said. He watched as she walked away. She came back a few minutes later.
"Are you okay?" Jeremy asked.
"I just got a weird vibe. Let's find Damon." Bonnie said. He nodded and they headed outside to find him.
Stefan was looking around the dance floor outside. He thought he'd seen Katherine in the distance, but he couldn't tell if it was her. Suddenly, he felt someone tap his shoulder. He turned around and saw Katherine. By now, it shouldn't have surprised him, but somehow, it still did every time a vampire came up behind him.
"You've got to stop doing that." He told her.
"Fine, I'll stop sneaking up on you on one condition." She said.
"And what's that?" Stefan asked.
"You dance with me." Katherine said, smiling. He had no idea if she was serious or not.
"Are you kidding me?"
"Honestly? No." Katherine said. He knew when she used that tone she was being serious. He reluctantly led her out to the dance floor. "It's really nice out tonight, isn't it?"
"Can we please not make small talk?" Stefan asked her. He really wasn't in the mood for any of her mind games.
"How's Jenna doing?" Katherine asked, changing the subject. "I didn't think she'd survive, but I suppose it's lucky she did. I don't like taking lives, but sometimes it's necessary now that I'm...you know."
"If you hurt anyone else…"
"I don't plan on hurting anyone." Katherine explained. "Unless you don't hand over the moonstone."
"Here's the thing, I don't have it with me." Stefan told her. This was part of their plan. "But I have an idea of where it might be. How about you help me look for it?"
"I have better idea. Why don't you try to find it and I'll try not to kill anyone."
"It doesn't work like that, Katherine."
"I can't believe I was ever attracted to you." She told him. One of the girls ran over to them.
"Hey, have either of you seen Matt?" She asked. "Elena, you look beautiful."
"Thank you." Katherine said. "I love your necklace."
"Thanks."
"Hang on, it's twisted." Katherine said. "Let me help." She walked behind her. Unsurprisingly, she snapped her neck from behind and threw her into Stefan's arms. "See you later."
Stefan held onto the girl and called Damon and Caroline for help, then walked off the dance floor, holding the girl close as they ran over.