Jasmine wandered around the library in the Salvatore house. She always enjoyed being surrounded by books. The writing, the thoughts, the places it takes you always captivates her, how every book is different and unique in its own way. She skimmed through a current favorite of hers when she heard the nearing footsteps. From the giggling on the other side of the house, she was certain Damon was still preoccupied.

She smiled once she realized who it was, "Stefan." Jasmine laid the book back in its place before turning to face a brooding Stefan.

"Jasmine, hey. Have you seen my brother?" Stefan kept glancing at his phone a if he were expecting a call soon.

Jasmine nodded her head and walked towards him, a smile still lying on her lips, "he was outside with company when I left him, he should still be there."

Before Stefan could turn around and continue his search for his brother, Jasmine sped towards him and laid a hand on his shoulder, "hey, it feels like I haven't seen you in forever. I miss you."

Furrowing his eyebrows, Stefan took a step back from her, "what do you mean? You just saw me yesterday?"

"No, I mean I miss hanging out with my best friend. You always seem to be hanging around Elena and her friends." Jasmine rolled her eyes when the doppelganger's name fell from her lips, "come on, let's go get something to eat together."

Stefan's expression hardened, "you mean go hurt and potentially kill an innocent human being. I'm not like that anymore, Jasmine. I don't have time to humor your carelessness about humanity. I can't be Ripper Stefan all the time, I mean that's the only reason why we still get along, right?" He took a step towards her, a judgmental stare boring into her eyes, "the only reason we are such good friends is for the sole fact that you enjoy being around Ripper Stefan. Sorry, but I don't plan on being that way anymore."

Stefan saw Jasmine's expression falter, a saddened look was quick replaced by a stoic one. She pushed past him and began walking out of the library, going to go look for a way to let her anger out. All these years and not once had Stefan ever accused her of only being his friend because of his demons. It hurt her that he would even think that.

She turned around to face him once more, "you seem to forget that I was your best friend long before you even knew about vampirism. I became friends with the side of you that cherishes humanity, not the side that seeks to destroy it. Ever since I came back to Mystic Falls, since I saw you with Elena... I question if that boy even exists anymore."

Stefan's eyes darted to the floor. He sighed before deciding to turn around to apologize. To explain that things with Elena's past seems to be getting more complicated because his brother is involved. He didn't mean to snap at her and say things that were harsh and untrue. Stefan turned to face her, but was met with an empty room.

▪▪▪▪

Jasmine had joined Damon when she had left the library. She currently sat between two of the girls Damon had brought home. She ignored their attempts to engage in actual conversation and she pushed both their hairs off their shoulders, intending to drain every drop from their bodies. Stefan entered the room with a sullen expression, he glanced at Jasmine, who made sure to not make eye contact with him. Sighing, he looked at his brother and turned the light on, causing everyone to groan.

"No! Buzzkill Bob." After his eyesight adjusted, Damon blearily looked towards his brother, "greetings."

"Can we talk?"

Damon tightened his hold on the girl who had been feeding on with a smirk, "yeah."

Rolling his eyes, Stefan glanced at all the girls his brother had been obviously feeding from, "without the Tri-Delts."

"Anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of them. They're really good at keeping secrets."

Growing irritated, Stefan opened his mouth, but was interrupted by an annoyed Jasmine, "just go, Damon. I'll keep the girls occupied while you have a chat with your brother."

Both brothers turned to look at her, feelings rising from both of them. Guilt, disappointment, and plain sadness swirled around Stefan's mind while Damon's mind filled with amusement, hunger, and lust. Jasmine already had her mouth attached to one girl's neck, greedily drinking as the other girl attached her own lips to Jasmine's neck.

Smirking, Damon looked at his brother, "I've really missed feeding with her."

Stefan tore his gaze away from his best friend to stare at his brother, "how are you doing? Honestly."

Chuckling, Damon took a swing from the bottle he held tightly in his hand, "you're worried about me. That's nice. Don't be. There's no need, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be? I spent the last 145 years with one goal: get in that tomb. I succeeded. Granted, Katherine wasn't in there to be rescued, but why dwell? You know, it's so liberating not having a master plan, because I can do whatever the hell I want."

"That's kind of what I'm afraid of." Stefan said as he turned away from him, resting his hands on the wooden railing beside them.

"Relax. I haven't killed anyone in," Damon sighed as he recalled, "too long."

Not believing him, Stefan looked back to the girls, "those girls?"

"Will end up with headaches, think they blacked out. Business as usual." Damon smirked as he thought about pushing it a bit further, wanting to tease his brother on the fact that he basically called his own best friend a monster, "though, I can't say the same for the girls that Jasmine currently holds in her possession."

Jasmine detached her lips from the other girl's neck to look at him with a scowl, "screw you, Damon."

Damon smirked as he gazed at her, "oh, you did... many, many times the past couple weeks."

Stefan furrowed his eyebrows as he crossed his arms over his chest, "wait, you two have been together, together?"

"I'm surprised you didn't hear us, we were pretty loud." Damon laughed as Stefan's face scrunched up, not wanting to picture the two of them together.

Jasmine stood from her spot, grabbing hold of the first girl and began to set her on the floor, "correction: you were loud."

"I like to verbal when I'm having mind blowing sex." Damon tilted his head to the side as he looked at the now dead Tri-Delt on the floor. He rolled his eyes as he turned back to Stefan, "back to you, we both know you didn't pull me over just for a pep talk, so spill it, brother."

"There was a woman you may have known a few years back named Isobel in North Carolina at Duke."

Damon groaned as he looked at his brother, "you wanna discuss the women in my past right now? Seriously?"

"You killed her."

Jasmine sighed, seeming to grow bored of the circling questions, "Just get on with it, Stefan."

"I just--just wanna know if you remember anything about her." Stefan's eyes darted to look at Jasmine before returning his gaze to Damon, who shrugged his shoulders.

Damon didn't even try to remember the specific girl. Truth be told, there were a couple handfuls of girls from North Carolina that have or have said to attended Duke that he had killed. Granted, he didn't remember their names, but nonetheless, the name didn't seem to be significant, "oh, it's like a needle in a haystack, Stefan."

Stefan's expression hardened as his patience was beginning to thin, "well, think hard. It's important."

Damon grasped his shoulder and shook it gently before leaning in to whisper into his ear, "nothing is important, not anymore." He clapped Stefan on the shoulder and pulled away from him, grasping the bottle from Stefan's hand, "great chat. Jasmine and I have to go and exploit some women in the name of my own grief, which I'm sure you understand. 'TTFN,' said the Tri-Delt."

Stefan cast another apologetic stare at Jasmine, who rolled her eyes and sped towards the stereo to turn the music back on.

▪▪▪▪

Laughter and chatter filled the vampires' ears as they walked into Mystic Grill. Jasmine's eyes immediately began looking for the only person she tolerated in this town, but she frowned when she didn't notice him. One person she did notice was a certain secret vampire hunter sitting at the bar, sipping bourbon. Nudging Damon, they both started walking towards him and took a seat beside him.

"Bourbon." The bartender nodded his head and proceeded to fill two glasses of bourbon for them.

Jasmine sent a smile towards the teacher who tore his gaze away from them as she looked at him, "Mr. Saltzman, what a surprise. Actually, no, it isn't. Being a teacher must be really stressful and like I always say, 'the majority of things in life are more fun with a buzz.'"

"Cheers to that. Sober's depressing." Damon lifted his drink up then downed the entirety of it. Jasmine followed suit and laughed when Alaric attempted to do the same, but ended up spilling half of it down his chin. He grabbed a handful of napkins and quickly wiped the liquid off.

"You don't strike me as someone who gets depressed."

Damon shrugged and then narrowed his eyes at Alaric, "you say that like you know me."

Alaric nervously chuckled as he turned his face away from them, "nope, just a hunch."

Damon stared at him, trying to figure out what exactly Alaric's game was. Before Damon could break him, Alaric stood and pulled out his wallet, setting two bills on the counter, "you have a good afternoon."

Rolling his eyes, Damon tipped back the newly filled cup and emptied its contents into his mouth, "not likely."

Sensing that Damon wasn't going to be in much mood to do anything, but wallow, Jasmine stood up and put down one bill before patting Damon on the back, "I have somewhere to be, so I'll see you later."

"You're seriously going to leave me here, by myself?"

Furrowing her eyebrows, Jasmine outstretched her arms beside her and gestured them around the full grill, "um, no? There's a lot of people here, go make a friend. Or eat one, I don't care."

With a wave, Jasmine walked out of the grill and began walking. A destination was in mind, but she wasn't sure what to do once she got there. She pulled out her phone to make use of the GPS she never seems to use when several notifications popped up. Jasmine groaned when she noticed Stefan's name on the majority of them, but wasn't surprised when she also noticed Lexi's name.

She stuffed her phone back into her pocket, deciding to just find the house by herself. Guess she wasn't ever going to finally use that GPS after all.