Plan B

The door of the boarding house was never locked. Jessica couldn't remember a time when it had been.

Apparently, vampires didn't need to lock doors.

She didn't like the boarding house. It reminded her of when she was Damon's blood bag, of when she was powerless and vulnerable. Of when she was human. She missed a lot of things that came with being human, but the vulnerability wasn't one of them.

The blood in her bag made Jessica's throat itch. It was for later, she reminded herself. If she drank everything then she'd be hungry later. And when she was hungry, it was much harder to refrain from drinking blood from the vein of a human.

"You're up early."

Jessica jumped. Even vampirism hadn't been able to get rid of her jumpiness. "Elena and Stefan woke me up," Jessica told him, cringing as she remembered hearing them in the room next to hers.

Damon cringed as well, but for a reason entirely different to hers. "The two love birds just couldn't stay away from each other, could they?" he said bitterly.

"Aw!" Jessica exclaimed. She pouted her lips and said in a baby voice, "Is somebody jealous?"

"Shut up," he muttered, as Jessica grinned. "What's in the bag?"

She moved the bag to behind her back, as though that could stop him smelling the blood. "Doughnuts from Walmart. For Caroline. Some comfort food that isn't fatal to someone else."

He raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Does Walmart make blood doughnuts now?"

"Well, you never know," Jessica said, causing Damon to give her another suspicious look. Even his suspicious look made him seem cocky. Jessica sighed. "I'm hungry, okay? Ever since I drank from the deputies I've had this unquenchable thirst. I'm hungry three minutes after I've ate, my throat inches and I want to bite every person I see on the street. Which is why I drove here."

"Sounds like a problem."

"No shit, Sherlock," she snapped as she rolled her eyes. Of course Damon wasn't going to help her. He only cared about himself... and Elena. And maybe Stefan, when he wasn't trying to kill him. God he was screwed up. "Is Caroline in the cellar?"

Damon stepped back and stretched his arm out towards the cellar. "Knock yourself out."

"You too," Jessica said. "Preferably literally."

She walked past him as he called, "Oh, come on, little J! You can do better than that!"

Her fists were clenched by her sides. Little J had to be the worst nickname in the history of nicknames. She wasn't little – she was of medium height – and the way Damon said it was like he meant to annoy her.

And, knowing Damon, he probably did.

She found Caroline leaving the cellar, a slight smile on her face. Her smile grew when she saw Jessica. "Hey, Jess."

"Hey. I brought doughnuts." She lifted up the bag, and then continued in a much lower voice. "And I have blood if you want it."

Caroline laughed. "I'm fine. I just ate. But doughnuts sound good."

They walked away from the cellar and into the Salvatore's kitchen. Jessica hadn't seen much of the house. It was huge, and nicely decorated, but there was a dark air about the house that Jessica couldn't quite explain.

"How are things with your mom?" Jessica asked once they were seated at the kitchen table.

"Good," Caroline replied. "Really good. We talked. Do you realise how much progress that is?"

Jessica smiled, genuinely happy for Caroline. She wondered if her parents would have eventually accepted that she was a vampire, or if they would have forever hated her.

"I'm happy for you, Care," Jessica told her. She bit into her doughnut as Caroline did, figuring out how best to phrase her next question. "Have you, uh, talked to Bonnie? She's ignoring all of my calls and I was wondering..."

"If she answered mine?" Jessica nodded. She wasn't sure if she wanted Bonnie to have answered Caroline's calls or not. If she had, it meant that there was a chance for her and Bonnie to reconcile their friendship. Her hope crumbled when Caroline scoffed. "As if. She's been ignoring my calls since that night. Why does she hate vampires so much? I mean, I know that we're blood-sucking monsters and all, but Elena's a pretty moral person and she doesn't hate us. She's even dating a vampire."

She shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe it's a witch thing. Maybe it's in their nature to despise vampires."

Caroline huffed. "Well, it's not fair. It's not like we asked for this or anything."

"Tell me about it." She heard the door opening upstairs. "Wait, listen."

"I need to talk to you."

"And why do I need to talk to you?"

She recognised the voices as Jeremy and Damon. Jessica scoffed and quickly stood. "Oh my God. I knew that he couldn't stay away from this!"

Did he have a death wish? She couldn't understand how a person could want to be involved in this. Even if he was a Gilbert. She stormed up the stairs and into the main hall, ready to scold that thrill-seeking, reckless brother of hers.

Jeremy's eyes widened when he saw her. "Jess, what are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? What are you doing here?" She placed her hands on her hips. "Elena and I told you stay the hell away from this. Do you have a death wish, Jeremy?"

"I think it's more of a reckless desire for excitement," Damon said, flashing her a smirk.

She glared at him, causing the older vampire to put up his hands in defence. Jessica turned back to Jeremy, with a look that made Jeremy wonder if it was his sister or his mother standing in front of him.

"I have important information," Jeremy said. "About Mason Lockwood. He's looking for a moonstone, a special rock connected to the werewolf legend. That's why he's here."

The moonstone. That god-damn rock caused more problems than it solved.

"A moonstone?" Damon repeated.

"Tyler said he had it and then it disappeared," Jeremy told them, and then looked at Jessica. "He said the last time he had it was before you came over."

Jeremy looked oblivious, while Damon turned to her, a knowing smirk on his face. "It was you," he said. "You did the dirty with wolf boy and then you took the moonstone."

Her face was reddening, no matter how much she tried to fight it. "Jess, is that true?" Jeremy asked.

She forced herself to look at him, even though she felt like a huge slut. "Yes. I got the moonstone."

The smirk disappeared from Damon's face all of a sudden, and was replaced with a look of utter seriousness that was rarely seen on Damon's face. "Please don't tell me you gave it to Katherine."

"No, I didn't give it to Katherine," she said, and Damon made a 'phew' sound. "I wanted leverage over her so she couldn't hurt anyone else. It's in a well on the Lockwood property."

"The well we used to play near when we were kids?" Jeremy said.

Jessica nodded. "That's the one. Bonnie and Elena will know where it is. But vampires can't go down there. The water has vervain in it."

"You obviously didn't trust Katherine much," Damon commented. "Smart girl. Since when were you smart?"

"Well, you were too busy feeding on me to realise," she shot back. "I'm gonna go find Bonnie and Elena. They'll need some strength to get them down and pull them up, not to mention that I want to get the hell away from you." Damon gave her an award-winning smile as she glared at him. "Come on, Jeremy. I'm dropping you home."

She went to leave, but before she could cross the threshold Damon gripped her wrist and pulled her back. "You're not going anywhere. Barbie is going to babysit you while I deal with Mason Lockwood."

Jessica gaped. "No, hey! I'm the one who put it in there in the first place!"

"Yes, you did," Damon said. "But you also worked for Katherine, and how can we trust you after that?"

Her jaw fell even more. "You can't be serious." He didn't say anything. "I'm not staying here. I've told you everything that I know, how can you not trust me?"

"Katherine manipulated you once, she can manipulate you again. Jeremy and I are going to find Alaric. Have fun with Barbie."

He left then. With Jeremy.

The traitor.

"What happened?" Caroline asked, having come from the kitchen. "Where did they go?"

Jessica spun around, seething. "Damon – Damon freaking Salvatore of all people – has decided that I am not trustworthy and that you are to babysit me. Because, apparently, I am too easily manipulated." She huffed. "You know what? We're not staying here. We are going to the Lockwood Mansion and we are going to help decorate for the Masquerade Ball."

Damon couldn't compel her anymore, and Jessica wasn't going to let him control her.

She noticed Caroline wasn't following her out and shot her a confused look. "You coming, or...?"

"I want to stay with my mom," she said. "If you don't mind."

"Oh, no," Jessica replied, shaking her head and smiling reassuringly at Caroline. "You're finally making progress with her. You should stay."

Caroline smiled gratefully and nodded before going back down to the cellar.

"Jessica, there you are," Jenna said, marching over to her niece. "Where were you? The decoration began ages ago."

She looked behind Jenna for Elena or Bonnie. "I got held up," she told her aunt distractedly. "Sorry."

Jenna's eyebrows furrowed as she surveyed Jessica. Was there something in her teeth? "You've been acting... different lately. We barely even talk anymore. What's wrong?"

In an instant, she snapped her eyes over to meet Jenna's. "Nothing's wrong. What made you think that? And we talk. We talked this morning, didn't we?"

"For two seconds," Jenna countered. "While you got a bag of chips to go. And your eating habits have gone down the drain! That bag of chips was the first time I saw you eat in a week."

"I told you, Jenna, I've been eating at Caroline's."

"And lunch?" Jenna asked, her hands on her hips. Just like Miranda Gilbert had done when she was mad or when she was scolding her children. "You haven't asked for lunch money, and you haven't brought a packed lunch to school. Jessica, are you having those issues again?"

"No," she quickly said, and loudly too. She glanced around, not wanting anyone to hear her. "I haven't had those sort of issues in months, Jenna. And my eating habits are perfectly normal, I swear. I'll even weigh myself if you want. I'm the exact same weight as I was; no more, no less."

Jenna's hazel eyes narrowed. "Fine. But you are eating dinner with us every night from now on. And a proper breakfast. And I'm making you lunch. Understand?"

"But Jenna-"

"Understand?"

Blood filled her up enough, but she couldn't tell Jenna that. Human food still tasted good – just as good as it had before – although all the blood that she'd been drinking lately left little room for other food.

The stern look on Jenna's face made it clear that she wasn't about to drop it. "Alright, fine. But I'm eating enough anyway."

More than enough. Her intake of food was abnormal at this point. She wondered how much blood a vampire drank before she or he became a ripper. But Jessica hadn't killed someone because she was hungry since the night she turned.

"It's what your mother would have done," Jenna answered.

She found Matt outside, hanging up lanterns. The last time she talked to him was the night Caroline and Matt broke up. She felt bad, having been one of the reasons for their break up. But Caroline told her that she wasn't the only reason, and that she had attacked Matt in the woods when she lost control.

Matt looked back at her. She felt tempted to look away. What she was doing defied the girl code, and she had just gotten back on good terms with Caroline. But Matt had been her boyfriend first. What was the girl code for that?

Jenna followed her line of sight to Matt, and smiled knowingly at her. "Oh. Young love." Jessica smacked her on the arm, grinning despite herself. "You should go get him. If you know what you're doing."

Jessica nodded. "I think I do."

Matt's eyes didn't leave her person as she walked over to him. Jenna's eyes were on her too, and Jessica knew that Jenna was probably going to eavesdrop on their entire conversation.

"Hey," she said. The previous confidence that led her over to Matt was gone. She stumbled for words as she looked up at Matt. "How's the weather up there?"

She could hear her aunt Jenna sniggering as she sorted the masks. Play it cool, she told herself before she went over to Matt. Play it cool.

Play it cool.

Even though it was the lamest introduction or 'joke' in all of history, Matt still laughed while Jessica resisted the urge to face-palm. "Good. Mrs. Lockwood didn't trust me and Tyler with the furniture, so here I am. Oh, and she also made sure that we were at opposite sides of the garden."

Jessica smiled. "That sounds like her," she commented as Matt climbed down the ladder. "You and Tyler sure do make a mess of things."

"Hey!" Matt said, his hand on his heart. "That's offensive."

She giggled for the first time in months. Giggled. And she wasn't even ashamed of it. "Well, it's true."

"I suppose it is," Matt replied, chuckling. When the laughter stopped, Matt looked down at the ground with a serious expression, his thumbs hooked in his pockets. "Have you talked to Caroline since that night in the Grill? She's been ignoring my calls."

"Yeah, I have," Jessica told him. She ignored the feeling in the pit of her stomach. She had no right to be jealous, or disappointed that Matt mentioned her. She might have dated him first, but Caroline was Matt's more recent girlfriend. "Don't take it the wrong way, Matt. Caroline's been busy. Her mom's sick and Caroline's taking care of her."

Matt nodded. On the other side of the garden, Jessica saw Tyler glaring at them. She felt horrible, having led him on by sleeping with him. The most she felt for Tyler was physical attraction, but with Matt... it was real. It wasn't just his amazing body and his perfectly sculpted face and his baby blue eyes – although they did play a part – it was also his personality, and the way he made her feel loved and safe before they broke up. She wanted that back.

"We haven't hung out in a while," Matt said. Jessica snapped her eyes back over to him. "We should watch a movie or something. If you want to, that is."

She smiled from ear to ear. "I'd love to."

God, his eyes were so blue. She just wanted to kiss him, right then and there, and she almost did. The gap between them grew smaller as they pulled together. Their lips were inches apart, almost touching...

Damon.

She jumped away from Matt, cursing Damon silently in her head. Matt looked awkward as he ran his fingers through his blond hair. She had to get away from there before Damon saw her. And just then, he did.

"Shit," she whispered. "Shit, shit, shit, shit."

"Jess, what is it?" Matt asked worriedly. "Why are you freaking out?"

"I, uh..." She searched for a good excuse. Matt would worry if she told him that the cause of her 'freak out' was Damon. "...I forgot something in my house. I'll call you later, Matt."

"Jessica, wait!"

She didn't turn around, and walked as fast as she could, without causing a scene and turning heads, towards the Lockwood Mansion. Maybe Damon would think that she was Elena. With curly hair. Or Katherine, even. But then he'd probably try to kill her.

There was a whoosh, and then Damon was in front of her.

Vampire speed was only cool when she did it.

"What are you doing?" Damon asked furiously, with an anger in his eyes that used to terrify Jessica. It didn't frighten her as much anymore, though it still startled her. She made sure not to flinch. "I told you to stay in the boarding house."

"I'm not a dog, Damon," she told him with a huff. "You can't compel me, which means that you can't control me. Just go back to what you were doing and leave me alone."

She spun around and made to walk away. Damon grabbed her wrist and pulled her back."Oh no you don't."

"What is up with you and my wrist?" Jessica exclaimed, trying to rip her wrist out of his grasp. "Let go of me!"

"Not until you agree to go back to the boarding house with me," Damon said in a low tone. The room was empty, luckily for Damon, but there were people in the room next to them.

"I'm not getting into a car with you. I'm going to stay here, and you're going to do whatever it is Damon does on a Wednesday." She tried to pull her hand out of his grip again, but to no avail. "Seriously, Damon. Let me go!"

"I will throw you over my shoulder if I have to," he whispered roughly. "Because I happen to have very important things on my schedule today. Like torturing a werewolf – who happens to be in the trunk of my car – for imperative information in regards to America's least favourite vampire-slash-doppelganger."

"And why can't you just leave me here?"

"Because, like I said before, you're easy to manipulate."

"I am not easy to manipulate."

"Oh, really?" He seemed amused, and Jessica wanted to slap him. And she would have, if one of her hands wasn't out of order. "And how did Katherine convince you to do her dirty work before?"

Jessica rolled her eyes. "Fine. But no talking in the car."

Damon grinned. "But you're such amazing company."

"I'm not easy to manipulate."

It was bothering her. A little too much, perhaps. Jessica knew that she wasn't perfect, and she had accepted that fact, but being a vampire gave her a backbone that she hadn't realised she was in possession of. It made her stronger. Being told that she was 'easy to manipulate' made it seem like some sort of illusion. Or lie. It made her feel like the weak girl she had been before she became a vampire. The girl who made Jessica cringe to think about.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Damon smirk. "I thought that you didn't want to talk. If I remember correctly, you demanded it."

"I did," Jessica said, folding her arms. "I just... Nevermind. It doesn't matter."

Mason Lockwood's body rolled around in the trunk of Damon's car. She didn't want to see him getting tortured, but he was working for Katherine, and something told Jessica that he wasn't about to give up his information easily.

Damon sighed beside her. "You're not that easy to manipulate, but threats work well on you. If I wanted to get you to do my dirty work, I'd threaten Jeremy. Then you'd do whatever I said."

"But you wouldn't threaten Jeremy," Jessica pointed out. "Because then Elena would be mad at you."

"What makes you think I care if she's mad at me?"

"Because you do."

"No, I don't."

"Sure," Jessica said, smirking. "It must suck, being in love with your brother's girlfriend who will never love you back because you keep killing her brother and terrorising the people she cares about."

He looked over to her. "Maybe you were right. We shouldn't talk."

Jessica's smirk grew. She knew that she had affected him, and that gave her an immeasurable amount of joy. "Didn't Katherine prefer Stefan as well?" Damon's eyes were narrowed and his face was twisted in an angry scowl. "It must be hard living up to someone like Stefan. Even when you try to be the good guy, you end up being a dick."

"I suppose you'd know about being second best next to a perfect sibling," Damon shot back, forcing a smirk on his face. "We should start a club!"

She scoffed. "I wouldn't start a club with you."

"We're very similar, you and I," Damon said, and Jessica made a face. "You can deny it all you want, but you know I'm right."

"The only difference is that the people I'm around actually like me, while they only tolerate you." Damon's expression darkened again, his smirk fading. "How are things with Elena going? You know, since you broke my brother's neck?"

And... the smirk was back. "Sorry about that. Had to prove a point."

"And now Elena hates you," Jessica said.

"I wouldn't say hate."

"Fine. She dislikes you. Passionately."

"Exactly," Damon responded as he pulled into the driveway. "We're here. Ready to torture a werewolf, little J? I know I am."

Jessica scrunched her nose in disgust. "You're horrible."

He looked... proud of it as he grinned charmingly at her, baring his teeth like the wolf in the back of his trunk. "I know."

"Here's the bag, as requested," Jessica said, dropping his bag onto the couch as Damon placed Mason's limp body into a chair near the fire.

"Okay, grab that corner," Damon told her, bending down to pick up a corner of a blanket.

Jessica's brows furrowed as she glanced towards the blanket, only obliging when Damon gave her a look. "Why are you covering a rug, which is used to cover the floor?"

"Because it's an expensive rug," Damon answered slowly, as though she was a child with little capacity for new knowledge. "And blood happens to be difficult to clean."

"Then why don't you torture people outside?" Jessica asked once they had pulled the blanket over the rug.

He rolled his eyes. "Because then the neighbours could hear their screams."

"So you haven't compelled your neighbours yet? Well done, Damon!" He flashed her an irritated smile and bowed sarcastically. "But why don't you torture Mason in the cellar?"

The look on Damon's face told Jessica that he hadn't thought of that. "I'm done playing twenty questions. I've got a werewolf to torture, and probably kill."

He slapped Mason across the face in an attempt to wake him. "You can't kill Mason, Damon," Jessica warned, making Damon huff. She knew that he hated being told what to do. He was reckless, and impulsive. "Damon, seriously!No matter what he tells you, you can't kill him. Katherine-"

"Katherine's dangerous." He waved his hand dismissively through the air. "We've grasped that, sweetie. If you're finished shaking in your boots at the mention of Katherine's name, then feel free to join the fun. If you're not... then find a room. There's more than enough of them. But if you want to be a real vampire with a backbone, here's your chance."

Jessica glared at him. She wasn't afraid. And she had to make sure that Damon didn't kill Mason. Even if she was... wary of Katherine, killing Mason would be a very stupid move. "I'm not leaving."

"Good," Damon said. "The more the merrier."

He punched Mason, though the wolf's face stayed stoic. Jessica winced. If the recipient of the punch was human, every bone in their face would have been broken.

Jessica's phone buzzed against her thigh. She had three unread messages.

Caroline:Helping Bonnie and Elena with getting the moonstone. Can you come?

She looked up at Damon, who was continuously punching the unconscious werewolf. She typed back a reply quickly, saying that Damon still had her on a leash. She opened the other two messages. One was from Tyler and the other from Matt.

Tyler:1 minute you're sleeping with me and the next you're flirting with Matt? What's going on Jess?

Guilt rushed through her. She shouldn't have flirted with Matt in front of Tyler. And she shouldn't have slept with Tyler because now he thought she had feelings for him. Jessica was sure that any feelings she had for Tyler stemmed solely from physical attraction.

She open the text from Matt, which was much kinder than Tyler's. He asked if she was alright, and inquired as to why she freaked out. Jessica replied and said that she was okay, and had only forgotten to do something at home.

When she looked up from her phone, Damon was on his hunkers and heating a poker in the fire place. Jessica stared wide-eyed at him and the poker. "What are you gonna do with that?"

"Roast marshmallows," he replied, his tone laced with sarcasm. "What do you think?"

"I was just asking. No need to be mean about it," Jessica muttered.

When he woke, Mason, who was bound to the chair by chains, struggled to get out, rocking the chair back and forth. Damon looked over his shoulder, the poker still held in the fire. "Someone's feisty," he commented.

Because of Mason's struggling, the chair fell backwards. Damon stood over him, with the iron poker in his hand. The tip of it was blazing red, and Jessica's features twisted in disgust. She knew exactly what he was going to do with it.

"What?" Mason snapped, his wolfish temper getting the best of him.

Damon smirked as he drove the hot iron poker into Mason's chest, causing the werewolf to scream in pain. Jessica, though she knew in advance, muffled a squeal by covering her mouth with her hands.

"You can hurt, good to know," Damon said. "I was afraid you were gonna be some beast mass with no affinity for pain." He pulled down Mason's collar to inspect the wound. With time, the wound completely healed. "Oh, but you heal quickly. Not good. Guess I'll just have to keep applying pain."

He pulled the chair upwards so that Mason was sitting upright, and then went to the fireplace to heat the tip of the poker again.

"Hey, hey," Jessica said before Damon could torture him with the poker. "I think he gets the point, Damon. How about we just ask him, hm?" The way Damon looked at her... one would think that Jessica was an alien. She spun around to face Mason. "So, what's Katherine up to? How do you know her? Why does she want the moonstone?" Mason didn't reply and Jessica sighed. "You do know that he's just gonna torture you if you don't answer? Or are you a masochist?"

"She loves asking questions," Damon told Mason. "Talking to her for an hour would be worse than having this-" He held up the poker. "-driven threw your chest for a whole day."

Jessica smacked him on the head. She wasn't that bad.

"I'll tell you one thing." Jessica almost jumped with glee. She shot Damon a satisfied look that shouted 'I-told-you-so.' Mason pointed his finger, though his hand was still restricted by chains, at Jessica. "She's one of Katherine's minions. And she has the moonstone."

Damon huffed. "We already know that, idiot." He stuck the poker back into the fire. "This game of good cop, bad cop obviously didn't work out. Let's stick to torture, shall we?"

Mason spat on the floor. He really was an idiot. And the fact that he was willing to throw her into the fire made Jessica less enthusiastic about helping him.

"I have all day," Damon said, and pierced Mason's skin with the red hot poker.

"When did you two meet?" Damon asked, holding the poker over the fire. Jessica groaned, her head resting on her folded arms as she was forced to listen to Damon's jealousy-fuelled questions. "Did she seduce you, tell you she loved you? You're supernatural so she can't compel you. I'm sure she used her other charms. Katherine's good that way."

Mason didn't answer him. Something told Jessica that it was probably best. Damon wasn't stable when it came to Katherine.

"How is this helping, Damon?" Jessica said desperately. "Does it really matter if Katherine told Mason that she loved him or not?"

He smiled sardonically. "I like to know the details."

"No, you like to rant," she corrected. "And you want Mason to say no, don't you? That Katherine never told him that she loved him." Damon's eyes were narrowed dangerously at her. "This is partially because of jealously, isn't it?"

"I preferred you when you were quiet," Damon said snappishly.

"She's right though, isn't she?" Mason asked with new-found confidence. "You're still in love with Katherine. Well you know what, Damon? She loves me now."

Damon smiled a strained, forced smile. "Funny. I almost feel sorry for you."

The poker was inches away from Mason when Damon saw Jeremy come in with a box. Jessica followed his line of sight.

"Jeremy?" she exclaimed, looking towards Damon accusingly. "Did you invite him here? To watch this?" She gestured to a tied up Mason. "You sick bas-"

"Hey, hey, hey," Damon said, and held his hands up in defence. "Claws down, she-wolf." He turned to Jeremy. "I thought I told you to go home."

"I found something in Ric's box of stuff," Jeremy said, setting the box on the table.

"Ooh, what is it?" Damon asked and walked over to him as Jeremy took out a plant from the box.

"I did a search on my phone," he told the vampire. "It's a plant. Aconitum Vulparia. It grows in the mountainous areas of the northern hemisphere. Commonly known as aconite, blue rocket... and wolfsbane."

Damon opened the cloth, uncovering the wolfsbane. It was a purple plant, and actually looked quite beautiful.

"Aconite..." Jessica drawled, glancing up towards Mason. Boy is he in for it. "Like the poison?"

Jeremy nodded. "Exactly. Every source on the web said something different. One myth said that it causes lycanthropy, which sounds bogus. Another one said that it protects people and another one said that its especially toxic to werewolves."

Mason groaned, bringing a smile to Damon's face. "I'm guessing toxic." He took the plant and approached Mason. "What's Katherine doing in Mystic Falls?"

The werewolf pursed his lips together, choosing not to reply. Damon dragged the wolfsbane across Mason's cheek, causing his cheek to burn and Mason to cry out in anguish. Jeremy seemed uncomfortable as he cringed at Damon's methods of torture.

"This has been my entire day," Jessica told him, leaning into his ear. "Because you left me, you traitorous bitch."

Jeremy smiled sheepishly, but his eyes went back to the torture scene before him. She felt the urge to cover Jeremy's innocent eyes with her hands, to protect his childish innocence and naivety. But when her hands went up, Jeremy pulled them back down.

"Why is she here?" Damon questioned, having finally pulled the wolfsbane away.

"She's here with me," the idiot replied. Did he even know Damon? "Why do you ask? You jealous?"

"How rude of me. You know, I just realised, I didn't offer you anything to eat." In his anger, he stuffed the wolfsbane into Mason's mouth, making the wolf groan and grunt in pain. "Yummy!"

"Why do you want the moonstone?"

Mason, whose mouth was red from the wolfsbane, looked pitiful as he said "screw you" to Damon in a weak voice.

"Ahh!" Damon shouted, making the noise of a TV game show buzzer. He got more wolfsbane from the box. "Wrong answer!"

"If he was going to say something, he would have already!" Jeremy exclaimed, fearfully glancing between Mason and Damon before looking urgently to his sister. "How can you let him do this, Jessica?"

She felt horrible, seeing Mason Lockwood like that. He wasn't in town a lot, but he seemed kind and friendly. His only flaw was his relationship with Katherine Pierce. Which would prove to be his downfall.

Swallowing heavily, Jessica replied with a voice ridden with guilt. "It has to be done, Jeremy." She grabbed his arm and pulled him away from them. "Even if it is horrible."

"I'm taking your eyes now," Damon warned the wolf, holding some wolfsbane in front of him.

"You know where it is," Mason said desperately. "What more do you want?"

Damon sighed. "As I have said, I want to know what it does and why you want it."

"I'm getting it for Katherine."

"Why?"

"She's gonna use it to lift the curse," he said.

"Of the moon?" Damon exclaimed, as though it was the most improbable thing in the world, which is probably was. "Now, why would a vampire help a werewolf break a curse that keeps them from turning whenever they want?"

"So I wouldn't have to turn anymore!"

He pressed further. "Why?"

"Because she loves me!"

Pity flashed in Damon's eyes first, and then hysteria as he laughed uncontrollably. "Now... now I get it. You're just stupid. Katherine doesn't love you. She's using you, you moron."

"I'm done talking," Mason said, looking defeated as his eyes filled with tears.

"Yes, you are." He handed Jeremy the wolfsbane. "Time to take a walk, Jeremy."

"I'm staying."

Something told Jessica that shit was about to get real, and that what Damon was about to do would scar Jeremy for life. "Jeremy, go," she said, watching Damon worriedly. "Please, go."

Jeremy too was watching Damon. There was a glint in his eyes that frightened her. It looked... murderous. "Damon..." Jeremy said warningly.

In a blink of an eye, Damon had sped over to Jeremy. He grabbed his throat and lifted him into the air as her brother struggled to breathe. "Damon!" Jessica shouted, and vamped over to them, trying to pull Damon off Jeremy.

"You wanted to be apart of this, Jeremy?" Damon said, pushing Jessica away from him. She steadied herself with the chair. "Well, here it is! Kill or be killed! The guy is a werewolf, he'd kill me and your sister the first chance he got! So, you suck it up or leave." He removed his hand from Jeremy's throat. Her brother coughed as air returned to his lungs. "He wants me to kill him anyway. Don't you, Mason? It really is a curse, isn't it?"

"Leave, Jeremy," Jessica told him sternly. "Seriously. Go."

Jeremy glanced uncertainly between her and Damon, but he finally decided to leave. She touched his shoulder before he went, and gave him an encouraging smile which Jeremy didn't return. Did he honestly think that she could do something about this?

"Take care of Tyler," Mason said to Jessica when Jeremy left. "Make sure this never happens to him."

She didn't see the villain Damon was torturing for information. Or Katherine's boy toy. She saw Mason Lockwood, Tyler's uncle. He would be devastated if his uncle was killed.

"Damon, please don't do this," she begged, grabbing onto his arm. "He'll leave town. He won't hurt us. Please, Damon!"

He shrugged her hand off his arm, and grabbed her shoulders so that she could only face him. "He is the enemy. Remember who your allies and foes are, Little J. Or else you're lost." He let go of her then, and walked towards Mason. "Like him. You know, Mason, when I look at you I see myself. A less dashing, less intelligent version."

"I love her," Mason responded.

"Oh, I know!" Damon exclaimed. She could see then that a part of him didn't want to kill Mason. But the majority of him wasn't bothered with the effort of keeping him alive. "I've been where you are. But Katherine will only rip your heart out. Let me do it for her."

He drove his hand into Mason's chest and ripped out his bloody heart, causing the wolf to grunt before his head fell as his eyes became lifeless and empty. Jessica winced at Damon's brutality. How many more people did he have to kill until he felt safe? Was Tyler next?

When Damon turned around, his only response was, "It had to be done."

She handed Caroline a mug filled with blood as she came out of the cellar, having heard the conversation between her and her mom. Her cheeks were tear-stained and her eyes were puffy and rimmed with red from crying.

"I heard," Jessica said, offering a small, sympathetic smile. She rubbed Caroline's arm comfortingly. "You couldn't have trusted her, Caroline. Not with this."

Caroline nodded and tried to regain her composure. She wiped her eyes and straightened her face, before crumbling again, tears falling from her eyes like a waterfall. Silently, Jessica wrapped her arms around Caroline and let her friend weep on her shoulder.

"We were getting somewhere for once," Caroline sobbed, her voice muffled by Jessica's shoulder. "We talked about things, and she understood. I actually felt like her daughter for once. Not some girl she had to take care of. And she said I was strong, Jess. And that she was proud of me. I know that it was the right thing to do, but I feel so, so horrible. I compelled my mother! What person does that!"

"Hey," Jessica said, pulling away from the hug. She laid her hands on Caroline's shoulders. "You are not a bad person, and you did the right thing, you know. If your mother kept her memories, how long would it be until she decided that Stefan, Damon and I were too dangerous to live in Mystic Falls? And that she wanted us gone? We're apart of this now, Care. By being vampires, we've been pulled into this vampire pack thing. Which means that we have to protect each other to protect ourselves."

"Even Damon?" Caroline asked, a hint of a smile appearing on her tear stained face.

"Ugh," Jessica exclaimed in disgust. "I suppose so."

They were both overcome by a fit of girlish giggles. It felt like years since Jessica had a light-hearted conversation with one of her friends, and she only realised then that it was long overdue.

She heard the door upstairs open and close, and after saying goodbye to Caroline she went upstairs to see who it was.

"Did you get the moonstone?" Jessica asked Stefan once she saw him.

He showed her the moonstone which he had stored in his left trousers pocket before smiling teasingly at her. "Very creative hiding place, by the way. A well of vervain? Perfect for keeping vampires out."

Jessica returned his smile. "Well, I didn't want Katherine to get it, did I?" Damon was texting on a phone that wasn't his. "What's he doing?"

"'Carol, big opportunity in Florida, I'm gonna be gone for a long time. Will send for my things once I get settled. Much love, Mason.'"

Stefan rolled his eyes. "Let's get rid of the body."

Damon's eyes lit up as he looked through Mason's phone. "Oh, last number dialled. I wonder who that could possibly be?"

As he pushed a button on Mason's phone, Stefan lunged at him and tried to grab it. "No, no, no! Don't provoke her!"

"What are you on about?" Jessica asked, bewildered. Then it dawned on her. "Sweet baby Jesus, Damon! What the hell are you doing?"

"Mason, you should have been here an hour ago," said the voice of Katherine Pierce. Jessica felt her stomach sink. "And why do I hear Jessica Gilbert's voice?"

Stefan tried to grab the phone from him again, only to be pushed back by a smirking Damon. He slapped his head with his hand and stormed away in frustration. "Wrong boy toy," Damon said. "But Little J is here if you want to talk to her. She's done a little bit of a switcheroo, you see. She changed sides when she saw that we were winning."

There was forced, cackling laughter on the other side of the phone. Jessica glared venomously at Damon. "Winning? Oh, please. I haven't even got the big guns out yet. Jessica, if you can hear me, sweetheart, I hope you know what you've done. Heads are about to roll. Now, where's Mason?"

"He's right beside me!" Damon said cheerily, not a hint of regret on his face for betraying her. "Although, his heart's across the room."

"You shouldn't have."

"I've had a very busy day today. I killed a werewolf, found a moonstone, kept an innocent young vampire away from your wrath. Did you know that your little minion hid the moonstone in a well full of vervain? To think we underestimated her, eh, Kitty-Kat?" He winked at Jessica as he moved towards the werewolf's dead body and hunkered down beside it. "I'm standing right beside Mason's body now. Poor guy. He really did love you. Hey, where are you? Because, you know. I could bring him over. Last goodbyes and all that."

"Stealing my minion, killing Mason... this sounds a declaration of war, Damon. You have no idea what you've started."

"Aww!" Damon said mockingly. "Did I put a kink in your master plan? I'm so sorry."

"Did you honestly believe that I don't have a plan B? And if that fails a plan C, then a plan D, and... you know how the alphabet works, don't you? Send my love to Stefan!"

"Oh shit," Jessica said once Katherine had hung up. And by the look on Stefan and Damon's faces, they were thinking the same thing.

Author's Note: Hope you liked the chapter!