"I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE THAT SHE STABBED JENNA," Charlie breathed out when Jeremy told her and JJ the story at the Salvatore Boarding House. Katherine had impersonated Elena a couple nights before, and she had stabbed the Sommers woman. She had to go to the hospital, but she was fine.

The Lockwood girl was not happy being in the same house as Damon after what he did to her uncle, but she had decided that it was best to just try not to be in the room with him unless she absolutely had to. Plus, if she tried to kill him, there would be plenty of people to stop him. So, she was sitting in another room with her girlfriend and the Gilbert boy. He nodded. "Yeah, I know."

"How's she doing?" the Martin girl questioned with a concerned expression. She had only seen Jenna in passing, but she seemed like a nice enough woman. "Is she coming to the ball tonight?"

"No, but she didn't really want to anyway. So, I think she was glad to have an excuse," he answered with a small smile.

JJ nodded. "That's good."

"Yeah," the brunette girl agreed. Then, they all perked up when they heard a knock at the door and someone opened it. She stood up and straightened out her jeans while the other two did the same. "That must be Bonnie." They walked into the front room where Damon, Stefan, Caroline, and Alaric were setting up and looking at the weapons that the teacher had brought.

"What's going on?" the Bennett girl questioned, looking around at all of them in confusion.

When the blonde girl and the brunette boy and girl walked past her, that just shocked her more. She had the grimoire in her hand, and Jeremy informed her, "We're gonna kill Katherine."

"I can explain," Stefan told her when he saw her eyes widen because of how unsure she seemed about it all.

She nodded toward him for him to continue. "Please." He paused for a moment like he was not prepared to reply, which he was not. So, he just said it as clearly as he could.

"We're gonna kill Katherine," he told her, repeating what Jeremy had said to her.

"​​This works with compressed air. The trigger mechanism is up here. I have two of these in a different size." He looked at Damon and held up some wrist strap that had wooden stakes in it. "For you, I recommend this. It fits nicely under the jacket sleeve. You use the trigger when you're ready." He pulled the trigger and one of the stakes shot out. He grabbed it and thrust it forward like he was stabbing a vampire. They all looked at each other, not sure how to react. "You wanted me to show you how to kill a vampire. Okay, now, JJ and Charlie, I have something for you two."

"Oh, yay, presents!" the blonde girl exclaimed excitedly, clapping her hands, and the brunette girl giggled at her.

Alaric also smiled at her before pulling two guns out of his bag and handing them to them. Both girls' eyes widened when they grabbed them because they were going to be armed at a town event. He explained, "They shoot wooden bullets, so if you hit a vampire in the right spot, you could kill them."

"Can I practice on Damon?" the werewolf asked with a small smirk. It made sense that he was giving them weapons since both of them were utterly defenseless against vampires. Well, Charlie did have enhanced abilities, but none of them compared to those of a 500-year-old vampire.

"Feel free," Mr. Saltzman responded, causing the Salvatore man to glare at both of them. Then, he looked at all of them, mostly Stefan. "Are you sure you guys don't want me there tonight?"

"No, I need you to stay with Elena. I don't want her to know about this," Stefan told him because they had kind of been keeping this from the Gilbert girl so that she did not freak out about everyone, especially her brother, being involved in killing her doppelganger.

The man nodded, confirming that he understood. "Okay. Well, I'll make sure she doesn't leave my sight."

"Alright, if anybody wants to back out, I'll understand," Stefan let all of them know, carefully examining each of their faces for any sign of doubt. Charlie had no objections because although she had never met Katherine, the woman seemed like a pain in the ass.

"Yeah. Cold feet speak now. I don't want this going wrong if someone chicken's out," his brother added in agreement before looking pointedly at the Forbes girl. "Caroline."

The girl rolled her eyes before insisting, "I won't. Look, she killed me. Fair's fair. As long as there's no werewolf running around." She glanced at one of her best friends that happened to be one of those creatures with an apologetic look. The brunette girl just waved her off, not particularly offended.

"Oh, I took care of Mason," Damon announced, and all of them winced as the Lockwood girl tried to lunge toward him. She was stopped by JJ, Jeremy, and Caroline all grabbing her and holding her back.

Once she settled down, the Gilbert boy informed them, "As long as Tyler doesn't kill anyone, he won't turn."

"You guys do realize that we only turn during the full moon, and there's no full moon tonight, right?" the werewolf asked them, looking between them in confusion. Werewolves were not going to be a problem when there was no freaking full moon. If there was, then they could just lock Katherine in a cage with Charlie, and she would not last a minute. When no one answered her, she just nodded slowly and looked at the ground. "No? Okay."

"Bonnie? Are you with us?" Stefan asked when he saw the far away and hesitant look in the witch's eyes.

After a long pause, she finally answered, "But no one gets hurt." Damon nodded in assurance, even though it was not very convincing coming from him.

"Except Katherine. Tonight Katherine gets a stake through her heart."

☾❄☽

"HERE'S THE ROOM," CHARLIE INFORMED HER FRIENDS as she led Bonnie, Jeremy, and JJ into one of the empty rooms upstairs at the ball. She pulled off her mask so that she could see better, and the rest of them did the same. "I thought it could work because no one ever comes up here. My mom makes sure of that."

"It's perfect. Thanks," the witch assured her as she reached into the bag that Jeremy brought with them for her grimoire so that she could start the spell.

As the Gilbert boy and the other girls took their weapons out of the bag, Charlie and JJ tucking the guns into their waistbands, they all looked over at Bonnie curiously. Jeremy asked, "Is that the spell book I read about in my family's old journal?"

"It's my ancestor, Emily's. The spell I'm doing here is similar to the one that sealed the vampires into the tomb," she explained, sitting down on the couch while he put the bag of guns and stakes in the closet but not before grabbing one of the wrist band things for himself just in case.

The Martin girl peered over the Bennett girl's shoulder to look at some of the spells as she flipped through the pages. "Can you do everything that's in here?"

"I mean it takes practice," she answered, glancing up at her as she sat down next to her. "I've worked on some small spells. Spells that only do good. I don't want to know too much. I don't particularly enjoy any of this, in case you haven't noticed."

"Yeah, but you're 100% witch. That's so cool," the brunette boy exclaimed while the Lockwood girl checked the room for anything that Katherine might be able to use against them. She could not see anything, at least not yet.

Bonnie shook her head. "It's anything but cool. Did your family journals tell you what happened to Emily? Or what about my Grams? It never ends well for people like me."

"If you feel that way, why help?" Charlie questioned curiously. If Bonnie knew that it was not going to end well for her, why would she help out a bunch of vampires that she hated?

The other girl shrugged in response. "Because I don't want anyone else getting hurt, and I don't know how to stay out of it."

"That makes sense," the werewolf responded with a nod. She then took a deep breath and informed them, "All right, now, my mom wants me to actually make an appearance tonight, so, JJ, put your mask on, we're gonna dance." She pulled her mask on, and her girlfriend did the same before they turned to the other two. "We'll let you know if we see Katherine."

The two then went downstairs and started dancing and waiting for something to happen. They spotted Katherine on the dance floor with Stefan, so Charlie took out her phone and sent a message to Jeremy to let him know. In a couple of minutes, both he and Bonnie were down there and waiting for Damon to give him the signal.

"Okay, when Jeremy goes over to talk to her, you're going to be facing them. If she sees me watching them, then she'll get suspicious. She doesn't know you yet. So, you're gonna be the eyes, and I'll be the ears, all right?" the Lockwood explained.

JJ nodded in understanding. "All right." After a second, she tensed up under her girlfriend's arms. "Wait, wait, wait. He's going over. She's talking to some lady."

"Hey, sorry, could I talk to my sister?" the Gilbert boy questioned who Charlie assumed was whatever woman the vampire was speaking with. She had just started listening in using her super hearing.

The blonde girl watched intently, keeping the werewolf updated on what was happening visually. "Okay, the lady's leaving."

"What is it, Jeremy?" Katherine asked, trying to sound like Elena, and she got it pretty much spot on. If the girl listening in did not know any better, she would have assumed that it was the Gilbert girl.

"I have a message from Damon," Jeremy announced to her. "He and Damon want you to meet them at the edge of the lake by the woods. They brought the moonstone."

The vampire raised her eyebrows at the boy. "And why are you their little messenger?"

"Because they know I'm not afraid of you," Jeremy answered boldly, and Charlie was a litt;e shocked that he would speak like that to someone that could snap his neck in less than a second.

"Hmm, you Gilbert men, so courageous," she mused, taking a step toward him the brunette girl was informed by JJ. She then taunted, "How's John by the way? Were they able to sew his fingers back on?"

There was silence for a moment, and Charlie looked up curiously at the girl who was watching them, and JJ told her, "She's stroking his tie. I don't know if it's supposed to be flirting or something, but it's weird." The Lockwood furrowed her eyebrows at that. "Okay, so she's leaving....Oh crap. Elena's here."

"What?" Charlie exclaimed, whipping around to see the Gilbert girl in her normal clothes, holding onto her brother's arm and dragging him off to the side. "Oh, no. She's gonna kill all of us for letting Jeremy do this."

It was Caroline's part of the plan next, so the werewolf took out her phone and texted the Forbes girl to let know because Katherine had disappeared and was most likely on the way to find her spy for more information. She got a text a couple moments later that told her that Katherine had fallen for their trap and was now in the room with Stefan and Damon.

She felt another buzz, and she looked down at her phone, expecting it to be another update, but it was not. It was text from Caroline in all capital letters, begging her to come to her father's study for some urgent reason. Confused, she furrowed her eyebrows. JJ asked, "Is everything okay?"

"I have to go check on something," the brunette told her, and she knew it sounded really weird and really suspicious, but she really did not care. She pulled away from dancing with her girlfriend and ran toward the house. She pushed her way past the crowds of people and to her dad's office where no one had been allowed.

She swung open the door and gasped at what she saw because it changed absolutely everything. She had almost been expecting anything but that, and even though she did not have the whole story, she could piece the pieces together. She breathed out, "Tyler, no."

On the ground was Sarah, one of the girls that went to their school, and she was dead. And it was all Tyler's fault.