Caroline came to the house with great news. (sarcasm, wink, wink.)
Now, she was sitting on the couch as I gave her a glass of blood. "Here."
Caroline took it. "I'm still shaking."
She started to drink when Stefan walked in. "What happened?"
Damon looked at Caroline. "Go ahead, tell him." He looked at Stefan. "You're gonna love this."
"I saw Katherine today," Caroline told him.
"Where?" Stefan asked.
"At the Grill. I just stopped by to gawk and . . .quasi-stalk Matt."
*
"Skip the teen drama and get to it," Damon told her.
"Then I had to pretend to use the bathroom even though I didn't really have to go because I'm a doofus."
*
Katherine had found her and told her to tell Stefan, Damon and me that she wanted the moonstone or she would rip Mystic Falls apart until it rained blood.
"Tell him the rest of it," I told her.
*
Tonight, at the masqerade ball.
"She wants to do it in public," Stefan said. "Killing Mason threw her off guard."
"She's running scared," I said. "What she did to Jenna was desperate. She's out of tricks."
"We can't underestimate her. We have to play this smarter than her."
"Can we just give her the moonstone so she'll leave?" Caroline asked.
"No, Katherine's not getting dick," Damon said. "I've had it. I'm gonna go to the masquerade ball and I'm gonna kill her, tonight."
"I'll help you," I told him.
"Neither of you are gonna kill her," Stefan disagreed.
"Don't give us that goody-goody crap," I said.
"You're not gonna kill her," Stefan repeated.
"Really?" Damon asked.
"Because I am," Stefan told us.
We both smiled little smiles, all of us, for once, on the same side of the same argument.
Katherine would die tonight.
*
Caroline and Stefan had let Bonnie in, Alaric and Jeremy already here.
Alaric was showing us a weapon. "This works with compressed air. The trigger mechanism is up here. I have two of these in a different size. For you, I recommend this. It fits nicely under the jacket sleeve. You use the trigger when you're ready."
He faked killing a vampire. Damon, Stefan and I looked at each other.
"You wanted me to show you how to kill a vampire."
*
Everyone was in the living room now.
"Are you sure you guys don't want me there tonight?" Ric asked.
"No, I need you to stay with Elena," Stefan answered. "I don't want her to know about this."
"Okay," Ric said. "Well, I'll make sure she doesn't leave my sight."
"All right," Stefan said. "If anybody wants to back out, I'll understand."
"Yeah," I said. "Cold feet speak now. I don't want this going wrong if someone chickens out. Caroline."
