A few hours later, Anna was still up in Jeremy's room. Suddenly, she heard something and went downstairs to find Elena with John. "What's going…" She fell silent when she realized there was another girl in the house. One who she was all too familiar with. She quickly disappeared back upstairs. She heard Elena run upstairs.
"Jeremy!" She entered the room, where Jeremy was sleeping. "Jeremy, please wake up."
"Elena, it's okay. He's just asleep." Anna told her. "Nobody's hurt him." Jeremy woke up and was surprised to see them both in there.
A few minutes later, the paramedics showed up and took John. Stefan showed up and headed upstairs to Jeremy's room. "What happened? Are you guys okay?"
"We think one of the vampires escaped and attacked John." Anna said. "I came because I was worried about Jeremy."
"Look, I'm fine."
"Jer, whoever did this was invited in." Elena pointed out. "They could be dangerous."
"Elena's right, Jeremy." Stefan told him. He sat down next to him. Anna was sitting on the other side of Jeremy. "We need to be careful here and right now, I don't think that having only your ghost friend is going to be enough protection, no offense."
"None taken." Anna said.
"Miss Gilbert?" A voice said.
"I'll be right there." Elena said.
"You need to be at the hospital." Stefan said. "I'll stay with Jeremy."
"What is this, house arrest?"
"Jer, please." Anna said. "We'll keep an eye on him." Elena left the room, wondering how things got so screwed up around her life.
"I hope he'll be okay." Jeremy said. "Even though he did some pretty awful stuff, he's still…"
"I get it, Jeremy. He's still family. My mother could be like that sometimes, too." Anna explained.
"How often have you been visiting him?" Stefan asked.
"I'm not here all the time." Anna told him. "Sometimes, he calls me in his sleep."
"That's weird. That usually doesn't happen unless…"
"Unless what?" Jeremy asked.
"Unless a ghost forms a connection with someone." Anna explained. "But I've only seen you for a couple days before that started happening."
"What does that mean?"
"I have absolutely no idea how any of this ghost stuff works half the time." Anna said.
A few hours later, Jeremy was asleep. They were both watching him when Stefan heard the door open. He headed downstairs. Anna stayed upstairs until she heard a crash. She instantly appeared in the living room, where she saw Stefan fighting…
"Katherine." Anna said. She was so angry at her for everything she did in the past. Imprisoning her mother, playing the Salvatore brothers and practically the whole town for that matter. Stefan threw her into the wall. The front door opened, so Katherine caught his arm and threw him to the floor before leaving. Anna wondered if she had seen her. Damon and Elena came into the house then.
"Stefan?" Elena went over to his side. "What happened?"
"Katherine happened." Damon told them.
"I'm going to get Jeremy." Anna said.
"I'm coming with you." Elena said. The girls hurried upstairs.
"Jeremy," Anna called.
"Anna, Lena, what's going on?" Jeremy asked.
"You know how I said there were ways the past could haunt us?" Anna asked. "Well, I think mine, and the guys', already are."
A few minutes later, she was back in the kitchen. She walked in to find the guys talking. "Hey, everything okay?" Stefan asked.
"Yeah, though they're still in shock." Anna told them.
"Understandable, considering those two are practically identical." Damon said.
"Watch it, don't think I don't know what happened out there." Anna said.
"What happened?" Stefan asked.
"Well…" Anna began. Elena came in at that moment.
"I told Jeremy. I can't lie to him anymore."
"Are you alright?" Stefan asked.
"No, I'm not alright. I thought that with all the tomb vampires gone things were getting better." Elena said.
"I know, we all did." Stefan pointed out.
"Guess our pasts have more than one way of haunting us." Anna said. "Just when we thought she was gone...she comes back. Why now, of all times?"
"Katherine was in this house, that means she's been invited in." Elena realized. "What are we gonna do?"
"Move." Everyone glared at Damon.
"Very helpful, thank you." Elena said.
"Katherine wants you dead, there's zero you can do about it; you will be dead but you're not." Damon pointed out. "So clearly she has other plans."
"Right, and we need to find out what those other plans are and not provoke her in the process." Stefan said. Anna nodded. She knew what Katherine was like when she was angry. "What happened tonight when you thought she was Elena?"
"To risk another front line encroaching on your very crowded forehead," Damon told them. "We ... kissed."
"And you thought it was me?" Elena asked.
"What do you mean you kissed?" Stefan asked.
"To be fair, I wasn't trying to spy on you, I was leaving Jeremy's room through the window when I saw it happen." Anna explained. Before she could say anything else, Stefan rushed over to him.
"Don't be obvious, Stefan." The girls put themselves between them, Anna used her powers to throw them apart slightly.
"Stefan wait, he kissed Katherine, not me." Elena said. She turned to Damon. "I wouldn't do that. We don't have time for this guys."
"Seriously, if we're going to face Katherine, the four of us have to work together." Anna said. "And we might want to get Bonnie on our side, too."
"John must know something. There has to be a reason why Katherine tried to kill him." Elena said.
"She's Katherine. She loves to play games and you're fooling yourself if you think you're going to find out what she's been up to before she wants you to know." Damon said.
"No, actually Elena's right, John could know something through Isobel." Stefan said. "Your mother, she was in touch with Katherine so maybe we can go to the hospital and talk."
"I hate to say it, but I'm actually with Damon on this one." Anna told them. "That girl is manipulative and smart, a deadly combination."
"I've got a better idea." Damon said.
"What's that?" Elena asked.
"I'm just gonna ignore the bitch. See you." He turned to leave.
"Is that smart?" Elena asked.
"If Katherine thinks she's being ignored it will lure her out, she'll make a move." Damon told them.
"Okay, now we're not on the same page."
"Well, what are you gonna do, ghost girl?"
"Don't call me that." Anna growled. "I'm going to try and stay out of her sight and wait for an opportunity to attack."
"Yeah? And then what?" Stefan asked.
"Stake her; rip her head off, something poetic. We'll see." Damon said. He left the room.
"I think I'll be staying with you guys for a while. I don't like the idea of leaving you two alone with Katherine around." Anna told Elena.
"We'll go talk with John." Elena said. "Just make sure Jeremy stays safe." Anna nodded.
The following day, she was at the Lockwood's for the funeral. She was surprised how many people were there. "Hey, I'm surprised you're here." Damon told her.
"Well, I feel kinda responsible. After all, it was partly my fault the tomb was opened." Anna pointed out. "I hate it when an innocent person dies."
"I spoke with Bonnie. Apparently, the device effected the mayor and his son, Tyler Lockwood."
"But they weren't vampires."
"I know, that's the weird part."
"Maybe I'll ask if she knows about this." Anna said. She left and found Bonnie in another room. She was on the phone.
"Elena? Where are you?"
"Bonnie, I know I'm late." Elena said on the other end. "I'm getting in the car now. I'll be there in five." Bonnie seemed to be in shock.
"Bonnie, what…" Anna began. Then she froze in shock. Bonnie turned around and saw Katherine standing behind her.
"We haven't officially met. I'm Katherine."
"I know who you are." Bonnie said.
"Of course you do. You're the best friend right?" Katherine said. "I've been putting all the pieces of Elena's life together. Isobel told me it was a bit of a puzzle. I do know who Jenna and Jeremy are and I met that delicious ex-boyfriend Matt, who was sweet on Caroline, and then there's you, the vampire-hating Bennett witch. Did I do good?"
"Leave her alone, Katherine." Anna said.
"Well, well. If it isn't little Annabelle." Katherine said. "Tell me, did they hide your body or are you just living at the Gilberts' for the heck of it?"
"So you can see me." Anna said. "And you're going to be sorry if you hurt any of these people." Bonnie tried to use a spell on her, but it didn't work. The next thing she knew, Bonnie was up against the wall with Katherine holding her.
"Bonnie, looks like we could use some back up here." Anna said. Bonnie got what she meant and used her powers to open the door, exposing them to everyone.
"Nice." Katherine said. Stefan noticed them.
"Katherine."
"Stefan."
"Leave her alone."
"Okay." Katherine left the room. Bonnie and Anna looked at Stefan.
"You better deal with her. She's gotten a lot trickier since the last time we met." Anna said. Stefan left to deal with Katherine.
"Oh, my God. Are you okay?"
"That was so scary. It was like they were identical." Bonnie said.
"I know." Anna said. "We better find the real Elena before this all gets blown out of control."
"Anna, wait." Bonnie said.
"I'll be right by your side the whole time. I promise, I won't let Katherine near you while we're here." Anna said.
"Thanks." They headed out into the hallway. Anna found Elena talking with Damon. He left and they went over to her.
"Elena!" Bonnie said.
"Bonnie, what happened?"
"Your vampire doppelganger happened." Anna explained.
"Oh, my God. Are you okay?"
"She really scared me." Bonnie said.
"I'm going to let you guys talk it out." Anna said. She disappeared.
"What did she do?"
"She tried to attack me. If Stefan hadn't arrived, I don't know what I would've…" Bonnie couldn't finish her sentence. She held back a sob.
"Bonnie, everything's going to be okay." Elena told her.
"I know, it's just…" Bonnie took a breath to try and calm down. "I saw her last night, Elena."
"Who?"
"Grams. I saw my Grams." She explained. "I felt like a failure after everything that happened on my way back from the hospital. Suddenly, she showed up. She told me she was proud of me. I was surprised, since one of the bad ones got away, but she explained that he wasn't our enemy anymore." She looked at Elena. "What happened when I was gone?"
"It's a long story." Elena said. "Come on, I'll explain while we try to find the guys."
Anna went into the hallway and saw Jeremy leave a room. "Hey. How are you?"
"I'm still in shock over a lot of this, but fine." Jeremy said. "I just spoke with Tyler." Anna gave him a confused look. "He's the mayor's son and someone I go to school with."
"Yeah, I think I heard of him." Anna said. "How's he doing with all this?"
"How would anyone?" Jeremy asked. She remembered that he lost his parents, too.
"I'm sorry." Anna said. "If I knew them, maybe I'd be able to find them."
"Speaking of finding things, any luck with Pearl?"
"No, but I've been too focused on the Katherine problem right now." Anna said. She felt someone calling her. "I have to go. See you."
She found herself outside. Elena was sitting on a bench with an injured Stefan. "Oh, God. What happened?"
"Katherine again." Elena explained as she cleaned the wound. "It must've been. He was like this when I found him."
"Good thing you guys heal fast. What were you thinking?"
"I was trying to figure her out. I was playing along and let her get to me." Stefan said. Just then, Damon showed up.
"I tried to track her but she's gone." He told them. "Ouch, cover up Fabio. You have a crazy ex on the loose." He turned to Elena. "You better watch out, looks like Katherine is trying to steal your guy."
"It's not what's happening"
"Isn't it? I mean it's only fair since I went after your girl."
"Okay, so not getting involved." Anna said, disappearing.
"I'm gonna go check on Jenna and Jeremy. Let me know when you guys are done." Elena told them. She left them standing there.
That night, Anna was trying to track Katherine down without being seen. Suddenly, she felt Jeremy calling her. She was at the Gilbert house in an instant. "Jeremy?" She called. She heard Elena and went into her room. She was holding Jeremy in her arms and crying.
"Elena, what happened?" Anna asked.
"Damon killed him." Elena said.
"What?!" Anna looked at him. "But I heard him call like a second ago." Elena looked down and noticed something. "What is it?"
"The ring. He's wearing John's ring." Elena said. "He's going to be okay."
Anna looked at the ring on is hand, not sure if she could believe her or not. Still, she decided to stay around in case he did wake up. A few minutes later, Stefan showed up. "I heard about what happened. Are you two okay?"
"I'm fine." Anna said. "Just a little surprised, that's all." She couldn't believe Damon tried to kill Elena's brother.
"I can't believe he killed him." Elena said. Stefan sat next to her. Anna was sitting across from them.
"He saw the ring that's why he did it, he knew." Stefan told her.
"He didn't see the ring."
"It's Katherine. She got on his skin, she undid everything that was good about him."
"There's nothing good about him. Stefan, not anymore." Elena told him. "He just decided what he wants. He just don't want to feel, he wants to be hated, it's just easier that way. He got his wish. I hate him, Stefan."
"I know." He said. He kissed her shoulder.
"I've already hated him." Anna said. "No offense, but even when he was human, I didn't like him very much."
"Hard to believe he was even human once, considering what he did." Elena said. She heard a gasp and looked. Jeremy woke up. "Stefan, is he okay?"
"He's okay."
"He killed me!" Jeremy was in shock. "Damon killed me!"
"Oh god" Elena wrapped her arms around him.
"Thank goodness you're okay." Anna said. "Sorry I didn't get here earlier."
"Hey, you're here now. It's fine." Jeremy told her.
"Okay, yeah, this is awkward. I should go now." Anna said. "I'll check in with you tomorrow, make sure you're still okay." She faded, wanting to give them time alone.