Hi guys! Sorry it's been a while, struggling with a bit of writers block at the moment. I hope you're all safe right now with all the craziness in the world. Hopefully this update brings a little smile to your face. If you have time I'd really appreciate hearing your thoughts on the story so far. Thanks to Kimmy for proofreading! -XOXO, Eden.

Song: Changes

Artist: Stars

This time in between the day and the night
The light kills my sense of life
So scared, I'll turn it on, turn it on, turn it on

It's dull, this dusk, this desk, this dust
My eyes adjust, I'll blow out the flame
Can you and me remain

"You were having a nightmare." Damon said.

"Oh." I sat up. "Sorry."

"What were you dreaming about?" He asked.

Fragments of my dream still stuck with me. Brandon was there, like always. So was Katherine; she had become a regular occurrence in my dreams since she had shown up. Caroline was a new addition; so was the man she had killed. I felt horrible for both of them.

"I don't remember." I lied.

"Today was a lot. I should've stayed with you; made sure you were okay." He said.

"It's fine." I shook my head. "Did you just get back?"

"Yeah." He nodded.

"And the bo-"

"Everything's taken care of." He said. "Come on, go back to sleep. We can talk in the morning."

I let him pull me into his arms and drifted back into a much more peaceful sleep. Unfortunately, morning came sooner than I anticipated when Elena came in to wake us up, pulling open the curtains to reveal the barely pink sky.

"Rise and shine," She said. "We have things to do today."

"Yeah, things like school," I groaned. "Which I need a good night's sleep to do well in."

Elena shook her head. "Alaric is coming over. We are going to figure out what's going on with the Lockwood family."

"You're in a good mood." Damon said.

"Stefan brought me back to the carnival this morning so we could go on the ferris wheel together." Elena smiled.

I pulled the covers over my head. "You two are disgusting."

"Says the girl who was cuddling with Damon when I came in." Elena replied.

I let out another groan. "Get out."

"Get up." She replied. "Be downstairs in five or I'm sending in Stefan and he won't be as nice."

I somehow managed to resist the strong urge to throw a pillow at her as she left the room. Maybe it was a good thing that we were separated at birth; I don't know if I could have handled growing up with a morning person.

"That was nice?" Damon asked.

"Apparently she thought so." I said. "Nice would've been letting me sleep for another two hours."

"Mm," He kissed me. "Good morning."

"Morning." I grumbled, and kissed him again.

"So does that mean you're not mad at me?" He asked.

"Mad at you for feeding on Caroline when she was a human and trying to kill her when she turned into a vampire?" I replied. "Nice try."

He groaned as I pulled away from him. "That is so not fair."

"Not fair will be the wrath of Elena if we don't go downstairs." I said.

He followed me downstairs, where I helped myself to a cup of coffee and sat on the couch next to Alaric. I glared at Elena, who somehow looked as awake as I did disheveled.

"Elena mentioned you needed my help?" Ric asked.

"Yeah, we were hoping you could help shed some light on the Lockwood family." Stefan said.

Ric looked skeptical, "Now why would I know anything about the Lockwoods?"

"Well you wouldn't." Damon said. "But your dead-not-dead vampire wife might."

"Isobel's research," Elena explained. "From when you were at Duke together."

"You said that she had spent years researching this town." Stefan said.

"Isobel's research here in Mystic Falls was rooted in folklore and legend," Ric sighed, "At the time most of which I thought was fiction."

"Like that amazing vampire story." Damon interjected, earning a glare from me.

Elena ignored him, "Aside from vampires, what else?"

"The lycanthrope." Ric replied.

"The what?" I asked.

"Wait, like, werewolves?" Elena asked.

"No way." Damon shook his head. "Impossible. Way too Lon Chaney."

"Is it?" Stefan challenged him.

Damon glared back at Stefan. "I've been on this planet a hundred and sixty some odd years and never come across one. If werewolves exist, where the hell are they?"

"In Mystic Falls, obviously." I chimed in.

I may have only lived here for a short period of time, but if there was one thing I knew, it was that the name Mystic Falls was a little too on the nose. If a supernatural creature existed, it probably would find its way here eventually.

"Why do you suspect the Lockwoods?" Ric asked.

"Because vervain didn't affect the mayor on Founder's Day but the Gilbert device did." Damon replied. "And it affected his son, Tyler."

"And at the school carnival his Uncle Mason exhibited inhuman behavior when he fought one of the carnival workers." Stefan added.

"Not to mention he kicked your ass in arm wrestling." I said.

Elena glared at me but Stefan chuckled. "Yes, that as well. It suggested some sort of a supernatural entity."

"We were hoping Isobel's research could help us figure out what it is." Elena said.

Clearly she was referring to herself and Stefan, as I don't remember being involved in any sort of conversation about Isobel's research.

"Well, all of her things are still at Duke. I mean, her office is there." Ric said. "She's technically still missing."

"So can we get access to it?" Damon asked. "Ric, we need to know what we're dealing with. If this wolfman thing is true, I've seen enough movies to know it's not good. It means that Mason Lockwood is a real life Lon Chaney, and that little Tyler punk may just very well be Lon Chaney Jr. Which means Bela Lugosi, meaning me, is totally screwed."

"Let me just make a phone call, see what I can do." Ric said before stepping out of the room.

"So," I said. "Vampires . . . witches . . . werewolves . . . what's next, unicorns?"

"We don't know for certain that Tyler's a werewolf." Elena replied.

"Yet." Damon pointed out. "And given how this week is going so far, I'm not liking our odds."

"What's that supposed to mean, exactly?" Stefan asked him.

"Let's see, John Gilbert set off a device that could have killed both of us, Katherine decided to show her face after a century and a half of being god knows where, Mason and Tyler Lockwood are some unidentified supernatural creature, and now blondie is running around as a newbie vamp." Damon shot back. "Am I missing anything?"

"Right." Stefan nodded.

"Of course, I could easily take care of one of those problems if the rest of you would face reality and accept that Caroline as a vampire does nothing but add to our troubles." Damon said.

"I'll help her." Stefan spoke before Elena and I could protest.

"If you want to play Saint Stefan and babysit blondie, be my guest." Damon said. "Just don't make it my problem when you realize she can't handle it."

Stefan glared at him. "I said I'll help her."

Truthfully, I didn't know much about being a vampire, but if there was anyone I trusted to handle any situation, it was Caroline. I'm pretty sure she could organize the Oscars with only twenty-four hours notice given the chance. Caroline Forbes was an unstoppable force when she had her mind set on something. I could only hope that Stefan's guidance would be enough.

"Alright," Ric walked back in. "Let's go."

"What, right now?" Elena asked. "Can we stop at home first?"

"Yeah, but let's make it quick." Ric nodded. "It's almost a three hour drive and who knows how long we'll be there."

"Hold up," I said, "Isn't it going to be just a little suspicious if all of us don't show up to school today?"

"Oh, I think I can take care of that." Damon smirked. "I heard there's a nasty stomach flu going around. Spread like wildfire at the carnival last night."

"Right, I forgot you just compel away all of your problems." I said.

"I'm sorry, would you rather go to school while we go uncover the earth's secrets?" Damon asked.

"No." I sighed.

"Thought so." He said.

"Perfect." Ric clapped his hands together. "Damon will stop by the school, and we'll all meet at Elena's in half an hour, how does that sound?"

Changes, I've never been good with change
I hate it when it all stays the same
Caught between the gold and the gain

Changes, I've never been good with change
I hate it when it all stays the same
Caught between the cold and the wave
My heart beats up again

Thirty five minutes later, we were all piled into Ric's car (sans-Stefan, who elected to spend the day with Caroline), and on our way to North Carolina. Ric seemed tense, and I couldn't say I blamed him. This research was probably the closest thing I'd ever get to getting to know what Isobel was like as a human, and I'm sure it wasn't going to be any easier for him to look at it.

"Everything went okay at the school, I take it?" Ric looked in the rearview mirror to ask Damon.

"Yep." Damon said. "I even made a few changes to your transcripts. You're both straight A students now, you must be so proud!"

I stared at him. "Tell me you didn't."

He smiled. "Oh, but it would be so like me to do that. Maybe I was bored and wanted entertainment."

"Do not use my own words against me." I said.

"Am I missing something?" Ric asked. "I thought you two made up."

"They did." Elena sighed.

"Damon wants to kill Caroline." I said, at the same time.

Ric glanced at Damon. "Please don't kill my students."

"Why not?" Damon asked. "Less papers to grade."

"Less things Caroline can expose you for is more like it." I muttered.

Elena turned around to face us. "Do I need to separate you two?"

"Be my guest." I said.

"Oh please. Your lips are saying one thing now, but they were telling a very different story this morning." Damon winked and blew an air kiss at me.

Ric sighed. "Oh boy."

After three hours, one coffee stop, and a whole lot of driving through fields, we arrived at Duke. It was actually quite a beautiful campus, with gothic buildings that were probably older than Damon. Ric led us inside one of the buildings, explaining to us that Isobel worked for the Anthropology department.

"Excuse me, hi. I'm Alaric Saltzman." He introduced himself to a girl who was digging through a file cabinet. "I called earlier."

"Yes, of course. I'm Vanessa Monroe, research assistant, comparative folklore." She shook his hand and then looked at the three of us, eyes lingering on Damon. "Let me just grab Isobel's keys."

"I'm sorry, these are my friends Elena, Lucy, and Damon." Ric introduced us. "I hope this isn't too much of an imposition."

"Please. Isobel's office is right through there. Isobel was one of my first professors- I'm a grad student. She was brilliant. One of the reasons I went into folklore." Vanessa paused. "I have to ask . . . has there been any news?"

"No, no I'm afraid not." Ric answered. He was a good liar.

Vanessa nodded. "It's right this way."

We followed her into Isobel's office, which was a lot bigger and a lot less dusty than I expected. There were tons of bookshelves and objects all over the room; I had a feeling we were going to be here for a long time.

"I'll grab the light. Feel free to look around. It's fascinating, isn't it?" Vanessa said.

"Alright, what exactly are we looking for?" I asked, joining Elena by one of the bookshelves.

"Where'd she go?" Damon asked.

"She said she-"

Elena gasped, cutting me off. I turned and she was facing the doorway, where Vanessa was standing aiming a crossbow at Elena. I tried to step in front of her, and Damon sped across the room to shield both of us. He grunted as the arrow hit him, and fell to the ground.

"Damon!" I yelled.

Ric slammed Vanessa against the wall. "Alright, time to answer some questions."

I crouched by Damon's side as Ric dragged Vanessa out of the office. Thank god, he was still breathing. The arrow didn't get his heart.

"Damon are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, just pull it out, I can't reach it." He groaned.

I grimaced at the blood. "Elena you do it."

"Oh my god." She rolled her eyes, but pulled the arrow from Damon's back. I watched as the wound closed before my eyes, leaving nothing but a ripped, slightly bloody shirt behind.

I stood up, eyeing the door. "What the hell was that?"

"I don't know, you tell me." Damon said, standing next to me. "Do you often go jumping in front of things that could kill you?"

My eyes narrowed. "Says the guy who just jumped in front of something that could kill him."

"I'm a vampire." He shot back.

I crossed my arms. "Yeah, and last I checked a piece of wood to the heart can kill a vampire."

"Last I checked a piece of wood to pretty much any major artery could kill a human." He replied.

"Well, then I guess it's a good thing she has bad aim." I said.

"Guys." Elena cut in. "Lucy, as much as I hate to say it, he's right. She could have just as easily hurt you as she could me. Why would you do that?"

"I don't know." I shrugged. "I just saw that she was aiming for you and I was scared. I didn't want you to get hurt."

"Sisterly love, how touching." Damon glared at me. "Don't do it again."

I just stared back at him. I wasn't going to lie to him, but I knew that if it came down to it, I would do it again. As much as he and Stefan fought, deep down he had to understand. It was instinct.

"Who the hell keeps a crossbow in their office anyways?" I finally said.

"I don't know, but that bitch is dead." Damon said.

"No, no, no." Elena and I both moved to stop him as he tried to walk towards the office door.

"I'm sorry, did she not just try to assassinate Elena, nearly taking Lucy out in the process? Or am I missing something?" Damon asked.

I crossed my arms. "You can't just go around killing people every time they inconvenience you."

"We don't even know why she did it." Elena said.

"Oh, so there are acceptable reasons for murder, just not when it comes to me." Damon commented.

Elena shrugged. "I'm just sa-"

"Wait, wait, shhh." Damon tapped his ear and motioned towards the door; he was listening in on Alaric and Vanessa's conversation. "She knows who we are."

"What?" Elena asked.

"Well, she knows who I am. She thinks you're Katherine." Damon said. "Someone's been studying up on Isobel's research."

"We have to clear this up." Elena said.

"Wait," I grabbed her arm. "Are you sure it's a good idea to go in there? What if she tries again?"

"You said it yourself; her aim was pretty bad. I think we'll be fine." Damon said.

I rolled my eyes, but followed Elena out of Isobel's office with Damon in tow. Vanessa was sitting at her desk, looking only slightly more subdued than when Ric had dragged her out of the room.

"I'm Elena Gilbert. Isobel's daughter and a descendent of Katherine Pierce." Elena re-introduced herself. "And this is Damon Salvatore, who you just shot."

"I'd be extra nice to me right now." Damon said, and I elbowed him.

Elena sighed. "Look, we need your help, okay? We need to see all of Isobel's research, anything related to Mystic Falls."

After a long pause, Vanessa finally nodded. "Okay. But I'm keeping an eye on you."

Damon flashed a sardonic smile. "Oh honey, the feeling is mutual."

Vanessa led us back into the office. "This shelf contains information about vampires, so naturally there's a bit about Mystic Falls in there. This box tracks Katherine's arrival to Mystic Falls in April of 1864."

Elena eyed the box that Vanessa set down in front of us. "Is that all there is about her?"

Vanessa nodded. "All that I'm aware of."

"Well, it's a box of information on our good old great-grandmother that we didn't have when we walked in here." I said, thumbing through the box.

"Your great-grandmother?" Vanessa asked.

"We're twins." Elena explained. "Separated at birth, long story."

Vanessa eyed us. "So you're both descended from Katherine?"

"Apparently so." I said.

"Interesting." Vanessa mused.

"Why?" Elena asked. "Why is that interesting?"

"No reason." Vanessa replied. "Just another thing to add to the notes on Katherine."

"Speaking of . . . any luck?" Damon asked.

Elena shook her head. "There's nothing in here about Katherine that we didn't already know."

"Hey guys, check this out." Ric called us over.

"There's no record of werewolf mythology in Mystic Falls but here are some records of some of the lesser known legends. Everything from scandanavian skinwalkers to the Marechel de Retz." Vanessa pointed to the book Ric was looking through. "'Tonartsliitsii Metslii', which roughly translates into 'the curse of the sun and the moon'"

Ric nodded. "It's native American."

"Aztec." Vanessa said. "It explains one origin of the werewolf curse traced through Virginia. The short story: 600 years ago, the Aztecs were plagued by werewolves and vampires. They terrorized the countryside, made farming and hunting impossible until an Aztec shaman cursed them, making vampires slaves to the sun and werewolves servants of the moon. As a result, vampires could only prowl at night and werewolves could only turn on a full moon. When the full moon crests in the sky, who's ever unlucky enough to fall under the werewolf curse turns into a wolf."

"Can they control the transformation?" Damon asked.

"If it were a choice, it wouldn't be called a curse." Vanessa said. "Werewolves will attack humans but instinct and centuries of rivalry have hardwired them to hunt their prey of choice: vampires."

Damon perked up. "Well, if werewolves were hunting vampires, I would know about it."

"Not if there aren't that many werewolves left alive." Vanessa shook her head. "Hundreds of years ago, vampires hunted them almost to extinction."

"Why would they do that?" Elena asked.

Vanessa sighed."To protect themselves. Legend has it that a werewolf bite is fatal to vampires."

"Ooh." Damon said. "That's not good."

"Oh my god." Elena gasped. "I need to call Stefan."

"What?" I looked at her. "He's been living in Mystic Falls for how long without any issues? He'll be fine for another night."

"Lucy you don't understand," Elena said. "Tonight's a full moon."

"Elena wait!" I tried to follow her out of the building, but Damon grabbed me.

"She'll be fine. Let her talk to him alone." Damon murmured. "So, hypothetically speaking, if this werewolf bite is fatal to vampires, is there any way to stop it?"

"Not that I know of." Vanessa said.

I reached for Damon's hand that was still resting on my shoulder and squeezed it; partially to reassure him and partially to reassure myself that he was still here.

"Well then," Damon cleared his throat. "Let's hope you're wrong."

"Find anything interesting over there?" Ric gestured towards the box Elena and I had half looked through, sensing the need for a change in topic.

I shrugged. "Just a run down on Katherine. Came to Mystic Falls in 1864, stayed at the Salvatore boarding house, wreaked havoc, et cetera."

"Yeah, don't need a run down on that." Damon said. "I lived it."

"Would you like to contribute your diary to the research box?" I teased.

Damon scoffed. "I don't keep a diary. That's Stefan's thing."

"Stefan keeps a diary?" I asked.

"He does." Elena answered behind me.

I turned to look at her. "Everything okay with him?"

"Yeah, he said he'll be careful." She nodded. "But I'll still feel a lot better once we're back, so let's get through the rest of this."

"Right." I agreed.

The box seemed to be filled with any fragment of information on Katherine that Isobel could find. There were journal entries and letters from townspeople that had even just a single sentence about her. I pulled out a very faded photo of her, and held it up next to Elena's face.

"That's never not going to be creepy." I shuddered, comparing the two of them.

"Tell me about it." Elena snatched the photo, and turned to Vanessa. "Hey, have you done any research on doppelgängers?"

Vanessa looked up. "Well, the word means a lot of different things to different cultures, but typically a doppelgänger is a living, breathing double of oneself."

"Did Isobel have anything that explained the link between me and Katherine?" Elena asked.

She shook her head. "That's all she had on Katherine, unfortunately, but I can tell you that doppelgängers usually torment the people they look like, trying to undo their lives. It's not exactly uplifting."

"Wow, imagine Katherine trying to undo Elena's life." I said. "That would be so unlike her."

Elena glared at me. "I just . . . I want to know why we look alike."

"Head scratcher, isn't it?" Damon said.

"Do you know something, or are you just being yourself?" Elena asked.

"Well, if I know anything, I'm not gonna tell you, not with that attitude." Damon smirked.

I crossed my arms. "Damon."

"Relax, I don't know anything." He said. "You two are so easy to mess with."

"Are not." Elena and I replied.

"No comment." Ric said, after exchanging a glance with Damon. "Look, if that's all that's in there, we should really get going. It's getting dark and I should get the kids back."

"Damon will be fine." I said. "If we're out past his bedtime he can always nap in the car."

"I was talking about the kids with families that will send out a search party if I don't return you at a reasonable hour." Ric said.

"Aka, you two." Damon said.

"Yeah, I'm ready to go." Elena put all the papers back in the box before pushing it towards Vanessa. "Thank you so much for all your help."

"Yeah, thanks for the help, Vanessa." Damon said. "Just so you know, if you breathe a word of this to anyone, I will find you, and I will kill you in your sleep."

"Damon!" I yelled. "He's kidding. He can't even come into your house unless you invite him inside."

Damon smiled. "I can always compel her."

"No, you can't." Elena said. "I gave her vervain."

He recoiled. "What? When did you even have time to do that?"

"When you were too busy staring at Lucy to pay attention to anything else." Elena said.

"Ookay," Ric tossed Damon his car keys. "Why don't you guys head out to the car, I'll help Vanessa finish putting everything away."

I couldn't help but smile at Damon as we walked out of the building. As angry as I was with him about Caroline, it made me blush to hear that he was watching me as I went through Isobel's research.

"What? I wasn't staring at you." He mumbled when he caught my eye.

"Yes you were." Elena's voice rang out from a few feet in front of us.

I just laughed and slid my hand into his. Werewolves and research assistants with crossbows be damned, he was here. With me. I could handle anything else that came our way.

"Hold on a sec," Damon stopped and looked back at the building once we reached Ric's car. "I have something for you guys."

Elena eyed the large book he handed her. "Petrova? I saw this on a shelf."

"What?" I glared at him. "How did you even-"

"I have my ways." He smiled. "Katherine originally came from Europe. Petrova was her real name. Katerina Petrova, to be exact."

"So you did know something." I said.

"How did you even know that?" Elena asked.

"Back when, I saw it engraved on an old heirloom." He shrugged. "Anyways, I figured you guys would want to hold on to it. Seeing as she's your family and all."

"You can't just steal from people." I said.

"If you want to go return it, be my guest." Damon gestured vaguely towards the Anthropology building. "Didn't think so. Besides, it's not like Isobel's going to miss it. You two can pour over it at one of your sleepovers or whatever it is you do."

"Thank you, Damon." Elena said. "That'll be great, won't it, Lucy?"

"Yeah, just not tonight." I said. "I don't think I can keep getting away with school night sleepovers."

"Then you should take it." Elena held the book out to me. "It's too dark to read in the car, so you can look at it when you get home and let me know what you find tomorrow."

"No, no, you should take it." I pushed it back towards her. "You're the one who looks like her, you deserve to know about her the most."

I looked up at Damon, waiting for him to agree with me. He nodded, and Elena sighed but wrapped her arms around the book tightly.

"Alright, let's get out of here." Damon unlocked the car. "Should I go check on Ric? See if Vanessa decided to break out the crossbow again?"

Elena laughed as she climbed into the car. "I think he can handle himself."

"True, I should probably stay here with the danger magnets." He said, nudging me.

I rolled my eyes, but couldn't deny the statement. There was no shortage of danger in our lives, and with the possibility of werewolves inhabiting Mystic Falls, it didn't look like that was going to change anytime soon.

After a few more minutes, Ric finally came out to the car, looking as tired as I felt. I whispered to Elena to make sure that he didn't see the book before he got in and Damon handed him the keys.

"Took you long enough," Damon said. "I thought maybe Vanessa decided to use you as target practice."

"Careful Damon, for a moment there it almost sounded like you were worried about me." Ric said.

Damon rolled his eyes. "Yeah, worried that I'd have another body to take care of."

"Nope, just making sure that Vanessa sticks to her research and doesn't go any further. There's too many people involved as it is." Ric started the car. "Now, ready to get out of here?"

"Please." I yawned.

I leaned my head against the window and stared at the fields as we drove by until my late night and early morning finally caught up with me, and I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.

Once said, words make a world of their own
I misread, I can't get you back on the phone
So tired, I'll turn it off, turn it off, turn it off

How's that last week we were whole
You're far away and I hardly know
Can you and me delay

"Lucy, wake up." Damon nudged me. "We're here."

"Hmm?" I yawned. "Where are my keys? Need to go home."

He handed my keys to me. "You're already home."

"What?" I looked around. Sure enough, I was sitting in the passenger seat of my car, in my driveway. "Oh."

"You must've been really tired." He chuckled. "You barely even moved when I picked you up."

"I was." I said. "Still am."

He smiled. "Go inside."

"Will you come to my room later?" I asked.

"Of course." He kissed my cheek. "Now go."

I glanced at my phone as I walked inside and saw that it was a little past ten. I was surprised to see that my mom was still awake, reading on the couch, when I came in.

"Hi honey," She looked up at me. "How'd studying go with Elena?"

I shrugged. "The usual."

As if I'd even had time to think about school in the past twenty-four hours. Maybe I would need Damon to compel me better grades.

"Is everything alright?" She asked. "You look tired."

"Long day." I said. "I'd better go to bed."

"Try to keep it down; your father's already asleep." She said.

"Will do." I nodded. "Night, mom."

"Goodnight, honey." She smiled. "I'm glad I stayed up, I feel like I barely see you lately."

I felt a lurch of guilt in my stomach as I walked up the steps. She was right; I was barely home anymore. It was even worse that I was lying about my whereabouts half the time. If I wasn't telling my parents I was sleeping at Elena's when I was really at the Salvatore's, then I was telling them we had a study date when we were actually in another state. I'd have to make more of an effort to spend time with them in between digging into the supernatural secrets of Mystic Falls.

Damon was sitting on my bed when I got out of the bathroom. Part of me just wanted to crawl into his arms and go right back to sleep, but I knew I couldn't do that just yet.

"Any news on Caroline?" I asked.

"Right, you missed the run-down from Stefan." He said. "She did . . . fine."

"You hesitated." I sat next to him. "What happened? Is she okay?"

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna kill Caroline." He said. "I promise we will talk about that tomorrow. What was that earlier?"

"What was what?" I asked.

"You jumping in front of Elena when Vanessa was aiming at her." He said.

I sighed. "Didn't we already talk about this?"

"No, you dodged my questions about it earlier." He said. "What were you thinking?"

"I don't know. I wasn't thinking." I admitted. "I didn't have time to. I just saw that Elena was in danger and I can't . . . I can't lose her."

"I know." He wrapped an arm around me. "But I can't lose you."

"I just wanted to protect her." I whispered.

"Look at me." He grabbed my face. "You do not need to worry about protecting her, or anyone. I will protect her."

"Promise?" I asked.

He nodded. "I promise."

I leaned into him and kissed him, wrapping my hands around his neck. I inhaled sharply as I felt the comforting force of his lips, and caught the familiar smell of leather that always clung to him. At that moment, I just wanted to forget everything that was troubling us and melt into him. To my disappointment, he pulled away from me and kissed my forehead.

"As much as I would love to do this all night," He traced a finger down my face. "You've had a long couple of days. You should get some sleep."

"I slept in the car." I mumbled.

He let out a small laugh at my obvious disappointment. My eyes wandered to the window, where I could see the street illuminated by the glow of the moon. The full moon. I didn't want Damon going back out there.

"Will you stay?" I asked.

"Of course." He pulled me further onto the bed, and I nestled beneath the blankets and into his arms.

I looked at him and saw that his eyes were drooping as well. "Damon?"

"Mhmm?" He replied.

"What if a werewolf bite really is fatal to vampires?"

He sighed. "We don't even know if Isobel's research was correct."

"She was right about you." I said.

He squeezed me tighter. "If, and only if, we find out she was right about werewolves too, we will take every precaution necessary."

I knew that every precaution necessary included killing Tyler and his uncle if they turned out to be a threat. Hopefully it didn't come to that. But I already knew after today that I was willing to do anything to protect the people I loved.

"I can't lose you either." I whispered.

Changes, I've never been good with change
I hate it when it all stays the same
Caught between the gold and the gain

Changes, I've never been good with change
Troubled when it all stays the same
I'm caught between this cold and the wave
My heart beats up again

Are you my trouble?