The screams of the town people came to a halt and Jasmine was thankful that Lucien had already made his way out of town with Alexis as she dragged Elena alongside her. There was no doubt in her mind that the Salvatores would be waiting for her with Isobel.

Elena tried to keep her pace with Jasmine, but was struggling to do so as the vampire walked as if her life depended on it, "I don't think we came up with any good ideas."

"That's a problem for another day."

"But your friend said it could happen at any moment, why aren't you taking this seriously?"

Jasmine tugged at Elena's hand as the doppelganger attempted to slow down, "because, Elena! We don't have a solution at the moment! Right now, we have to go meet up with your mother. I'm sure she's told Damon and Stefan that we will be meeting."

"Are you going to get rid of the compulsion you placed on me?"

Jasmine staggered to a stop as she turned to face her, "oh, right, forgot about that." She grabbed Elena's head and looked into her eyes, compelling her, "you will forget everything that was said while Lucien was around. Now, you can have your free will, whatever you want to call it."

Elena scoffed as Jasmine handed her the vervain necklace. She wasted no time on putting it on as Jasmine announced they were at the town's square. Three figures stood in the middle as groups of people began piling out of the Grill.

"You're late."

"You're just early. What's that about?"

Isobel turned to look at what she was referring to before rolling her eyes, "the Salvatores and their little blonde friend took it upon themselves to round up everyone who was here tonight and compel them to forget about my little rampage. Anyways, like you requested—" She then dropped a bag to the floor, which its contents spilled out, "fifteen hearts before the clock chimed."

Jasmine smirked as she kicked the bag aside, "never doubted you. Very good."

"Now, give me what I want."

Jasmine grabbed Elena's arm and nudged her forward slightly, "do you mean the device or Elena?"

Without hesitating, Isobel responded, "both."

Jasmine clicked her tongue as she tilted her head, amused, "sorry, you can only have one. So, what's it going to be? The vampire-killing device or your daughter?"

A figure then emerged from the shadows and stood to the right of her, "Jasmine."

Her amused smirk turned mocking as she looked at her green eyed best friend, "Stefan, what a very expected surprise. I was wondering when you were going to pop up. Now, where's your other half? On this side?" Jasmine pointed to the left side of her and smiled when she saw Damon emerge.

"It's hard to pull a fast one on you, huh, Jas?" Damon kept his stance rigid as he took in Elena's appearance, a wave of relief flooding through him when he noticed she was unharmed.

"Not true, you're just both irritably predictable. Whilst you're here, Damon, why don't you be so kind and hand Isobel the device I know you keep in your pocket?" Before Damon could argue, Jasmine held her hand up, "before you decline, let me add that once Isobel gets the device, you'll get Elena back, safe and sound."

Elena rolled her eyes, not believing the self centered vampire would take the deal, "he's not going to do it, Jasmine. You're wasting your time."

"Of course he will." Isobel took a look at Damon's expression as he listened to Elena's doubt and knew instantly.

Elena scoffed at her undead mother, "why would you think that?"

Jasmine slung her arm around Elena's shoulders and leaned in to whisper in her ear, "because—spoiler alert—he's as in love with you as you are with him, which means your life kind of means something to him." She was tempted to laugh as Elena's eyes widened, but instead she looked at Damon, "so, Damon if you will."

Damon looked at Jasmine's arm around Elena before heavily sighing. It hurt him to know that Elena doubted him, but he was determined to let her see how much he actually cared for her by starting with this. He handed Isobel the device and gestured for Stefan to take Elena to safety as Jasmine released her.

The brothers glanced at Jasmine, not knowing whether she would retaliate, before speeding off with Elena. Isobel stared at the place where her daughter once stood and then began walking away.

"Before you leave... tell John that he can't use that on the remaining tomb vampires."

Isobel stopped in her tracks, "you know."

"It's common sense on why you two suddenly want it. The vampires could have been a danger to Elena."

Tired and wanting to get home, Isobel rolled her eyes, "are you going to give me an explanation?"

"I killed all the tomb vampires recently. So, the only vampires it will affect are my friends and I, so if John suddenly has a death wish then I suggest he rethink his plan. Goodbye now."

Jasmine sped off as Isobel stared at the now useless invention in her hands.

----

Midnight rolled around once Jasmine decided to head home after getting a much needed meal. The prophecy lingered in her mind and thoughts of how exactly she was going to tell her friends swirled alongside it. She took off her coat once she entered the Salvatore Boarding House but stopped beside the door when she noticed three figures standing in the hallway.

"Good, you guys are still up. There's some—"

She was cut off by Stefan crossing his arms, "we need to talk."

Jasmine laughed lightly as she looked at all three expressions, "aw, are you guys breaking up with me? Cute, but really, I have some news—"

Next was Damon to interrupt her, an amused smile on his lips, "yes we are. We went too fast in this relationship. We should have known how uncontrollable you were before we asked you to move in. It's not us, it's you."

Jasmine crossed her arms as she realized they were being serious, "what changed all of a sudden? My hobbies weren't a problem before—"

Lexi let out a breath, she loved Jasmine like a sister, but this was too much even for her "Jasmine, you had Isobel kill fifteen people! Exposing us to the humans! You threatened Elena on multiple occasions! God knows how many people you've killed in the past three months!"

"Two hundred and eighty-seven." Jasmine scoffed at their reactions before running a hand through her hair, agitation sinking into her, "they weren't all from here, damn, I have some common sense to hunt somewhere else."

Stefan took a step forward, his eyebrows furrowed with anger, "you know how important Elena is to me, yet you went ahead and put her life in danger. I'm sorry, but I cannot have someone like you in her life, which means you can't be in mine."

It seemed Stefan had a way to rip into her with so little words lately. Jasmine took a staggering step back, her features falling. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion as her emotions jumbled up inside of her. This was it—the one thing she feared.

Anger pushed itself to the front of her mind as Jasmine scoffed, not wanting them to see how saddened she was of their decision, "so you're choosing her—someone you met a couple months ago—over your best friend, who you've known for over a century? That's just great. And you're both going along with this?"

Lexi shrugged her shoulders and kept her stare on the floor knowing if she looked at her, she'd beg Stefan to reconsider letting Jasmine stay, "you know how I feel about discretion."

Damon glanced at his brother before nodding, "you know how I feel about her."

The raging heretic barked out a laugh at his statement, "oh, please! You're both just tied up with the idea of her, you're not actually in love with her! And how is that going to work exactly? Hmm? You can't both have her."

Stefan sighed and met his brother's glance, "we talked it out and agreed to give her some space to decide who she wants to be with."

"You're... pathetic. Absolutely pathetic."

A buzzing noise filled Jasmine's ears as she began pacing the small space between them. Her breathing was coming out ragged and her nails broke the skin of her palms. She knew they had every right to kick her out, but that didn't stop her from reacting negatively about it.

"Maybe so, but that doesn't change the fact that we want you out of here by morning."

"Why wait?"

With that Jasmine walked out the door, anger flooding her veins, as the Salvatore brothers and Lexi closed the door behind her.