A/N - Hey guys. I'm so sorry this is a week late. I just got really busy and then all of a sudden, it was next week. Well, anyways, I think I should be able to keep on time for at least the next couple of weeks because I will have more time after I go on Christmas break.

I would like to thank my wonderful new beta, juxtaposed92, for reading this chapter over and giving me some suggestions. I'm already learning things about my own writing that I never noticed before.

As always, I love reviews and feedback, so let me know what you think of this new chapter, or what you think might happen next.

Bonnie slipped into the booth where Matt had been a moment earlier. Jeremy hesitated a second before grabbing a chair from a nearby table and sat down with the others. He had been kidnapped and threatened. He had seen Bonnie do something that looked an awful lot like magic, and then escaped after watching her stab their captor in the gut with a wooden chair leg. So, at the very least, he figured that he at least deserved an explanation.

Elena and Caroline threw another glance at Jeremy but they seemed to decide that the reason for his being there was not the most important thing to discuss at the moment.

"Where have you been Bonnie?" Caroline asked again, slightly frantic. "We've been really worried about you."

"Klaus had me." Bonnie answered. The group seemed to grow even more solum, if that was possible. Bonnie turned to Jeremy. "And him."

Stefan spoke up. "Why did Klaus have Jeremy?" Jeremy couldn't help but feel a little happier. Even after all this, Stefan, the junior who had always made sure he felt welcome, was the one who was worried about him.

"For leverage." Bonnie replied. "He made me do a spell for him. If I hadn't, he would have hurt Jeremy. Or worse." Jeremy knew that the man had been using him for leverage. Until this point, he was still holding on to the possibility of the "magic" he'd seen been a hoax. But no one else seemed phased. No one even raised an eyebrow at the word "spell".

"What spell did he need you to do?" Elena asked. Jeremy didn't know Elena very well. He knew that she was new in town a few months ago, and her last name was Pierce. He figured maybe she was a long lost relative of the original founding family of Pierces. He also knew that she was dating Stefan, although from the look of it, their was something coming between them. They were both sitting a little too far away from each other to be an average, lovely couple, and Stefan hadn't looked directly at her in at least a few minutes.

Bonnie began to explain about the guy, Klaus, needing to talk to a dead person about another spell. She told them how he needed the blood of the doppelganger, and they started discussing how exactly they were going to keep a girl named Max safe.

As the conversation progressed, Jeremy started to get a feel that Elena seemed to know the most about what was going on. She was the leader. Whatever was going on with Klaus, she knew him the best and she was worried.

Finally, Jeremy had had enough. He was tired of listening to conversations that only half made sense.

"Guys." He said. The group all turned to him, as if they had forgotten he was there. Great. That made him feel so much better. "Is anyone going to explain to me what is going on? Who is Klaus? Why does he need this 'doppelganger's' blood? Why do none of you seemed phased by the mention of spells and magic?"

The four of them looked around at the rest of the table, obviously debating whether or not to tell him anything.

"Look." Bonnie said. "He was kidnapped because of me, and he has already seen me do magic, as well as drive a stake into Klaus."

"We could always compel him to forget." Caroline suggested. Jeremy wasn't sure what she meant by 'compel' but he was pretty sure he didn't want it done to him.

"No. Bonnie's right." Stefan said, standing up for Jeremy as always. "I think he needs to know what's really going on in this town."

"I'll explain everything to him." Bonnie volunteered. "We are pretty much done here anyway and I don't think it would be a good idea for you three to be here when he learns what you are." Jeremy could tell that Bonnie was trying not offend them or scare him, but she failed at both. What could she possibly mean what they were?

"Okay." Elena said after a second. She looked over at Stefan and the two of them quickly got up from the booth. "I guess I'll head over to the Boarding house with Stefan, check up on Max."

Bonnie stood up and motioned for Jeremy to do the same. He obeyed. The two of them headed towards the door, followed by Caroline who headed her own way as soon as they were outside.

Bonnie pulled Jeremy towards her car, motioning him to get in.

"Where are we going?" He asked, still not quite sure why Bonnie couldn't just telling him what she was going to tell him in The Grill.

"I'm taking you to my house. No one is home and we need a place where we can be sure not to be overheard." She threw him a sympathetic glance. "Your world will never be the same again."

Liz sat down next to Damon at the bar, throwing a quick glance at his drink. He turned to her, a questioning look on his face. "How can I help the best sheriff in the state today?"

She smiled slightly. "Well, first you can buy me a drink."

He raised his eyebrows, but motioned the bartender over anyway. Once she had the drink in her hands, she turned back to him. "I need your opinion on something."

"Okay, shoot." Damon said, before taking a drink.

She lowered her voice. "It's about the council."

He put his drink down and slowly turned towards the sheriff, suddenly much more interested than he had been seconds before. "What's up?"

"There's been another murder."

"You mean," Damon leaned in closer. They were now only a few inches apart. "A vampire murder?"

She nodded. He pulled away, taking in the information. "And you want my opinion . . ."

"Yes. Look, you seem to know quite a bit about vampires. Normally I would tell the council, but . . ."

"But you don't trust them." Damon finished her sentence.

"Not really. It's John Gilbert." Damon tried to remember the man. Damon had immediately disliked him. "I've never trusted him. He has too many hidden agendas and knows how to manipulate the council into doing whatever he wants. If he knew that there had been another murder, well, I'm just afraid of what he would do."

"So you're telling me because you want me to give you advice on what to do about the murder?"

She nodded. "You don't seem the type to be easily manipulated and you know about all this stuff. I think you are the only one I trust right now."

Damon couldn't help but think to himself. "Well. if there really is a vampire out there, and it is killing people then we need to stop it. Keep the people on vervain, and I'll look into it. I might also be able to get some wooden stakes and then we can go on a vamp hunt. Don't worry. We'll catch it."

She finally gave him a real smile. "Thank you Damon. I knew I could count on you."

"No problem."

"Hey Damon?" she said, now in a less serious tone.

"Yeah?"

"I'm inviting a whole bunch of mine and Caroline's friends to my house for dinner tomorrow. I was hoping you would come." She handed him a piece of paper that looked like a formal invite.

Damon took the paper and tucked it into his pocket. "Of course Liz." He gave her one of his award winning smiles. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Damon made his way back into his own house, which seemed to be a fact that the majority of his acquaintances seemed to have forgotten, as they never seemed to leave. Elena, Caroline, Stefan, Max, and Lexi were all sitting around his living room, discussing something they probably thought was important, but stopped when he arrived.

"Well don't stop talking on my account." He said.

Elena was the one to speak up, as always. "We were just trying to figure out what we were going to do about Max, now that we know Klaus needs her blood to create new hybrids. He may not know that she is alive right now, but I don't think it will be too long until he figures it out."

Max sighed and threw her hands up in the air. "I hate all this hiding. Why can't we stand and fight?"

Stefan turned to her. "You know why. We aren't strong enough to take on Klaus."

"Not without help." Katherine said from the doorway. Damon was surprised by how easily she had snuck up on the group of vampires with sensitive hearing. He guessed it was because of her age. She had been around long enough to perfect the art of sneaking up on people.

Katherine walked up to the back of the couch next to him. His body stiffened. It was strange being so close to her, but not with her. He tried keep a straight expression, as if everything was normal. He didn't want Elena or Stefan to know what had been going on with him and Katherine. Luckily, Elena didn't seem to notice anything.

"If you want to take on Klaus, you'll need my help." She said.

Lexi stood up to face Katherine. "And why is that? Elena knows just as much as you about him."

Katherine shook her head. "While Elena spent the majority of the last fifty years running, I spent quite a long time trying to figure out a way to take him down. For good. Plus, he let me go. He won't suspect me of trying to make a move against him now that he gave me my freedom."

There was a silence in the group. Finally Elena spoke up. "Fine." She said. She seemed to hate this even more than she did letting her sister 'join' their group. She must have felt that she didn't have any other choice.

"What?" Stefan said. "You're going to put your trust in Katherine? She's already betrayed you once, and that resulted in my death!"

"I believe her, Stefan." Elena replied defensively. "She is my sister and, like she said, why would she betray us now?"

This just seemed to upset Stefan even more. "I don't know. Maybe because she is your evil twin and can't be trusted?"

"Look, you don't know her like I do." Elena continued. "I have known her for over one hundred years. She wants to help."

"I agree with Elena." Damon found himself saying. He wasn't sure why he was siding with Elena, but he did think his brother was being a bit ridiculous. And as much as he knew that Katherine was manipulative and a liar, he also believed her. She didn't have any reason to betray them this time, and it didn't seem to far of a stretch for Katherine to want revenge for whatever Klaus had done to her in the past.

Stefan's glare turned towards Damon. Damon realized that he had just pissed off his newly vampire brother. For the first time in his life, he was afraid of Stefan. Damon didn't move. Stefan was standing in the middle of the room, his breathing heavy. Damon recognized the look in his eyes as filled with anger and self-hatred. "You what?" Stefan asked calmly, although it was obvious to everyone in the room just how mad he was.

"I think Elena's right." Damon said, standing his ground despite the possible threat to his life. He glanced quickly at Elena, and then Katherine. "Katherine has no reason to betray us, and she is our best chance to take down Klaus, whether you like it or not."

Stefan was fuming now. "Damon. She is the reason I'm dead."

"Yeah. And now you are stronger than ever before. You're a vampire Stefan! That's not a curse. That's a gift. You get to live forever and you could probably kill me right now if you wanted too."

"Yeah." Stefan said coldly. "I could."

Elena stood up and tried to get between the brothers. Lexi and Max were watching from the side, trying to stay out of the way. Caroline's anger was obviously only directed at Damon and Katherine seemed amused by the whole affair, as if it was some sort of circus act.

"Stefan. Damon." Elena said. Damon noticed how calming her voice sounded. How sure she was of her control over both of them. "Please." she pleaded with them. The two brothers backed down. She turned to Stefan. "We need her. I trust her, but if she betrays us again, I'll kill her myself." She threw a glance at her sister, letting her know that she meant what she said.

Katherine shrugged. "I want Klaus dead just as much as you." She looked straight at Stefan. "And just for the record, I wasn't the first sister to betray the other."

Stefan didn't seem to know what to say to that. From the look on Elena's face, Damon suspected that Katherine wasn't lying. These two sisters definitely had a much more of a history then Damon knew.

"What's that?" Caroline asked. The whole group turned to her, wondering what she was talking about. The blonde was pointing to Damon's pocket where the invite to dinner was sticking out.

He pulled it out. "What, this?" he asked, confirming that it was what she was talking about. "This," He said, thankful for the change of subject, "Is an invite to dinner at your house. Your mom said she was inviting a bunch of your friends and her friends, which includes me, over to dinner. She wants to get to know everyone better."

"Oh yeah," Elena said, "I got one of those in the mail. I totally forgot about it until now."

"I got one too." Stefan added.

"So she's really going through with that?" Caroline asked. "I was hoping that that idea would just die down, but I guess not."

Elena turned to Damon, a little confused. "You're her friend?"

Damon smiled. "I do have a social life, despite what you might want to believe."

Elena rolled her eyes before turning to the rest of the group. "Well. I guess we should go. We don't want the Sheriff to start asking hard questions about us."

More then you think. Damon added in his head. If Liz Forbes caught on to the fact that Elena was a vampire, that would be bad for all of them. Not to mention the fact that now, even her own daughter was one.

As he looked around at his group of vampire friends, Damon remembered what the Sheriff had said about another vampire attack. He didn't know if there was a new vamp in town or if one of them had done it, but he was starting to get his suspicions, and he didn't like it.

One thing was for sure. He was going to figure out who was attacking and killing those people. Their recklessness was putting the people he cared about at risk, and he was going to stop them.