𝟭𝘅𝟭𝟯 𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗟𝗗𝗥𝗘𝗡 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗔𝗠𝗡𝗘𝗗

content warning; light smut in the first flashback sequence of the chapter. (i don't write smut... like ever, sorry if it's bad.)

☆

Josephine awoke in one of the guest bedrooms of the Salvatore Boarding House to sun shining through the windows, due to her not closing the curtains yesterday night. She heard a knock at the door and let out a groan of annoyance as she stumbled out of the bed and across the room to the door.

The second Josephine turned the doorknob and opened the door, she was met with the bane of her existence.

Damon Salvatore.

"Ew." She commented before turning around and walking back to her bed, though leaving the door open so he could come in. Josephine laid back down under the covers and shoved her head into her pillow.

"Good Morning to you too, Little Miss Sunshine." Damon greeted with a smirk on his face as he plopped down onto the bed next to her, above the covers. "Get out of my room." Josephine demanded like a angsty teenager would to her overbearing parent, though her voice was muffled by the pillow.

"Actually, this is my room. It's my house." Damon insisted, lying on his back with his arms under his head. Josephine raised her head from her pillow, bed head extremely evident, "Actually, it's no one's house. According to Stefan, you killed Zach, the owner of this house." She spoke, with so much sass that it was like a slap to the face.

"I kill a lot of people." Damon said, almost sounding like he was defending himself, making Josephine's moderately annoyed look turn to murderous. "I heard you killed Lexi too, is that true?" She asked, glaring at the man lying beside her.

Damon looked nervous, as he proceeded to stutter out an answer, in very un-Damon like fashion. "Listen, Jo—" He attempted to explain, but was cut off by Josephine vamp speeding on top of him with one hand on his throat and the other invading his chest cavity and wrapping around his heart.

"I'd watch what you say, Damon. Wouldn't want you ending up like Noah, would we?" Josephine threatened, as her hands tightened around their respective places, his neck and his heart as Damon gasped in pain.

Damon tried to say something, but couldn't find the strength to, as his little brother's former best friend continued to tighten her fists around the organ he'd prefer to keep in his chest.

"Lexi was one of my best friends, but I'm not gonna kill you like you killed her. But I am gonna make you suffer... Death is too good for you." Josephine said, before she loosened her grip on his throat and his heart, before pulling her hand from his chest, finally letting the older man breathe.

Damon coughed in pain as Josephine grabbed a handful of his shirt to wipe her blood stained hand with. After she finished cleaning off her hand, she got out of bed, leaving Damon there in pain, and headed towards the bathroom, shouting over her shoulder. "Toss those sheets in the washer for me, please. It is your blood, after all. Thanks, Damon."

She made her way into the bathroom, which luckily happened to be connected to her new bedroom.  Though she wiped her blood-stained hand on Damon's shirt, her clothes were still splattered with his blood from the force her hand collided into his chest.

The first thing Josephine did when she stepped into the bathroom was turn the knob on the shower all the way to hot. After all of her years alive on this Earth, she had realized that nothing was better than a hot shower.

She grabbed a towel from the linen closet in the bathroom and stripped, tossing her clothes onto the floor.

When Josephine stepped into the shower and let the hot water run over her tired body, she finally started to fully wake up. Truth be told, right before she attacked Damon, she was half asleep.

She grabbed the shampoo bottle that was lying in the shower caddy, that was clearly one of Damon's one night stand's left behind belongings. Ew, Josephine thought to herself before she squeezed a dollop of shampoo into her hands and started running her fingers through her hair.

FLASHBACK!
Fell Residence, 1864

The steam of scalding water was practically drowning the bathroom of Josephine's family house. Though, Josephine's paying no mind to this, as she's more than enthralled by the sight of her beloved, Charlotte, as her lover's hands tightened her grip on Josephine's hair.

Josephine shifts, nudging with her lips and tongue to press her mouth more fully onto Charlotte's clit, wrapping her lips around it gently to suck, just for a moment. Just enough to hear Charlotte's groan as she arches off the shower wall.

Josephine swirls her tongue and opens her eyes carefully, feeling water drop onto her face, and peers up through the droplets on her eyelashes to try to meet Charlotte's eyes.

As if sensing Josephine's gaze, Charlotte tips her head forward to look down at Josephine. Their eyes meet, and Charlotte smirks. The fingers threaded in Josephine's hair tighten, very hard, and she feels Charlotte's hips rise in a slow grind against her tongue, and she whimpers.

Their fun is sadly interrupted by a subtle knock on the bathroom door. Josephine feels Charlotte jump at the startle, and slightly moves her mouth away from Charlotte's clit. Only for her head to be move back to its previous position, as the heretic held her head in place.

"Yes?" Charlotte shouted to the unnamed person who had knocked on the door previously, as Josephine started to lay soft kisses on the inside of Charlotte's thigh. "Excuse me, Miss Charlotte. Miss Katherine and Miss Pearl are here to see you." Both women could hear Cordelia Bennett, Charlotte's handmaiden, speak through the door.

Josephine stared up at Charlotte's face as she moved her lips from the heretic's thigh and returned to her previous place with her tongue against Charlotte's clit, making the heretic gasp and tighten her grip on the human girl's hair once again.

Charlotte struggled to stutter out a response as Josephine's tongue picked up the pace against her clit. "Miss Charlotte, did you hear me?" They both heard Cordelia politely ask as Charlotte finally looked up from her gaze on Josephine.

"Yes, Cordelia. I will be down to see Katherine and Pearl in a few minutes, thank you." Charlotte answered, finally being able to form a sentence. Though Cordelia was well aware she had company at this point because of the frantic panting throughout her sentence.

The two heard Cordelia's departing footsteps and Charlotte looked down at Josephine with a pout on her face, "The fun's over, my love." Charlotte told the girl who was kneeling on the hard concrete of the shower, which is no doubt going to leave a bruise. "Are you sure? I can always be swift with it." Josephine asked, smirking from her place, still kneeling.

Charlotte chuckled from her place as she grabbed Josephine's hand and slowly lead the human girl to her feet. Charlotte leans forward and kisses her softly, wrapping her arms firmly around her, feeling Josephine's hands grip her back and shoulders.

Charlotte keeps the kiss slow for a moment, not wanting to get too caught up again, as she has duties to fulfill. After another long moment, Charlotte finally pulls away, leaving Josephine frowning in annoyance, which made the heretic sigh.

"I must go. I can't have the ladies believing I'm a harlot, they already give me plenty of flack. I don't need to add fuel to the fire, Jos." Charlotte explained, making the human girl pout but nod in acceptance.

Charlotte gave Josephine one last kiss and stepped out of the shower, wrapping her naked body with one of the towels laid out and makes her way quickly out of the bathroom and to the guest room of the Fell's property.

Josephine's family was gracefully allowing Charlotte to be housed in their home, likewise the Salvatore's were housing Charlotte's friend Katherine Pierce.

After a few moments, Josephine stepped out of the shower as well and decided to actually get ready in the bathroom instead of sneaking out towards her own bedroom.

☆

Fell Residence, 1864

Charlotte, now fully dressed, made her way down the stairs to see Cordelia, Charlotte's handmaiden, standing at the bottom, waiting for her. "Hello Cordelia." Charlotte greeted with a small smile, making Cordelia smile in return. "Hello Miss Charlotte, the ladies are outside waiting for you." Cordelia informed her.

"Thank you, Cordelia. Would you please tell Josephine that I'll be away for a while?" Charlotte asked as she stepped towards the doorway. "Absolutely, Miss." Cordelia answered before she moved to walk up the stairs to speak with Josephine.

Charlotte opened the front door, stepped out and closed the door behind her, seeing Katherine and Pearl chatting at the bottom of the porch steps. "Hello Ladies." Charlotte said as she walked down the steps to meet them.

"Let's walk for a minute." Pearl insisted, gesturing with her hand towards the yard around a hundred feet away from the house. "Pearl, is anything troubling you?" Charlotte asked, recognizing the seriousness in Pearl's face as she and Katherine followed her.

"Yes, there is." Pearl began before turning to Katherine, "How long do you plan on staying with the Salvatores? People talk, Katherine. You, carrying on with both brothers, doesn't help the situation." Pearl said, before turning to Charlotte.

"And you, with the Pastor's daughter, that's not helping either. I don't care who you decide to spend your time with, but the last thing we need is them finding out that you and their daughter are acting on deviant behavior. People are shunned for that reason, Charlotte. You must be more careful." Pearl informed the Cunningham girl.

"I've been shunned before, and I wound up becoming the "monster" these ignorant people are afraid of. They don't understand my kind, they never have." Charlotte replied, keeping her tone low to make sure no one overheard.

Charlotte was found to be guilty of witchcraft back in the 1600s. Though their assumptions were right, it didn't mean she deserved to be hung in front of her family and her peers. Luckily enough, one of her friends at the time, a vampire she met named Aurora, had slipped her blood before she was taken to her doomed fate. Whenever she had awoken and fed on human blood, she realized she somehow was still able to keep her magic.

"As for me, the Salvatores have been kind to take me in. As far as everyone here knows, I'm a poor orphan girl from Atlanta, lost her family in the fires." Katherine commented, making Pearl raise an eyebrow. "A match you lit, no doubt." Pearl commented, making Katherine giggle and Charlotte roll her eyes.

The three women stopped at the end of the yard, and Pearl saw her daughter Annabelle walking up to a man and his horse, "Honey, please be careful!" Pearl shouts to her daughter, who turned around briefly and smiled at her mother before turning back around to pet the horse.

Charlotte smiled in the younger girl's direction. Though Anna was older than her by around a hundred years, she just reminded her of this young peaceful girl who hadn't truly began to have her own life. Charlotte saw herself, or an old version of herself, in the girl.

Both Katherine and Charlotte turned back around to look at Pearl and continue their conversation. "Josephine's mother came by the apothecary yesterday with a case of this elixir." Pearl said, retrieving a bottle of liquid from her bag and showing it to her fellow vampires. "She asked that it be sold at a reduced rate." Pearl added.

"I don't follow." Katherine stated, confused by the information just told to them, as Charlotte nodded in agreement. "Try it." Pearl insisted, handing the bottle to Katherine, who uncorked it and sniffed it before placing the rim of the glass on the palm of her hand and gasped as it burned her, shocking Charlotte as well.

"What in hell?!" Katherine asked, in shock as she grasped her hand in pain. "It's vervain." Charlotte said, more to herself than the other ladies. "Why is there ver—" Katherine began but stopped herself and shared a semi-worried look with Charlotte. "They know." Katherine finished.

"They're trying to find us and they're getting crafty about it." Pearl commented. "The townspeople ingesting vervain? Well, that's inconvenient." Katherine replied, handing the bottle of vervain back to Pearl.

"It might be time for us to move on again." Pearl said, making Charlotte shake her head. "No Pearl, I enjoy Mystic Falls. I've made friends here." Charlotte insisted, mostly referring to Josephine, she didn't want to leave her.

"Charlotte, you must be careful. You're living in the Fell's house, it's only a matter of time before they figure it out. I know you care about your friend, or whoever she is to you, but unless you turn her against her will, she's not going to come with us." Pearl informed her.

Pearl is correct, Josephine and Charlotte had many conversations where Josephine said that she never wanted to be a vampire. Charlotte had respected that, but with Josephine's family's suspicions rising, she didn't know how much longer she'd be able to respect Josephine's wishes.

"I'm not interested in leaving just yet either." Katherine said, agreeing with Charlotte, making Pearl sigh. Annabelle runs over to her mother and the girls, "Can we go, Mama?" Anna asked, before she noticed how all of the ladies were looking at her.

"Is something wrong?" Anna asked, nervously, sensing the tension between the three women as they look back at her, not saying a word.

END FLASHBACKS!

☆

Josephine had found herself walking through the town square, on her way to Anna's motel room when she noticed the bus-boy she had seen working last night at the grill sitting on one of the benches.

Might as well make all the friends I can in this town, Josephine thought to herself before she started walking up to the blonde boy. However, before she got there, he had gotten up from his spot on the bench, looking at his phone and started walking in her direction.

She noticed the coffee in his hands, and sighed. I liked this shirt too, she thought to herself before she pulled out her phone for an excuse and walked towards him and crashed into him, making his coffee spill all over her shirt.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry." Matt apologized frantically to the brunette girl, as she looked down at her shirt and put her phone in her pocket and moved her shirt from sticking to her stomach. "It's okay, it-it's fine." Josephine insisted as she looked up at the blonde boy.

"No, I'm sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going, it's my bad." Matt continued to apologize, making Josephine chuckle at him. "No, seriously, it's fine. I hated this shirt." She replied, clearly lying, making Matt laugh at her joke.

"I'm Matt." He introduced himself, making her smile at him. "Josephine, nice to meet you." She responded, which made Matt laugh. "I could think of nicer ways, I just threw coffee all over you." He joked.

"Yeah, I guess you have a point." Josephine replied, still smiling politely at the boy. "Are you new in town?" Matt asked, he was almost positive he had never seen her before because he lived here his whole life.

"Yeah. Actually, I was curious if you knew where I could find Stefan Salvatore?" Josephine asked. Obviously she knew where Stefan was but if she was gonna stay in this town, she had to have a backstory to fool the locals who don't know about vampires.

Matt looked confused at the question and followed up with his own, "How do you know Stefan?" He asked, curiously, but also almost in a protective manner. This must be the guy who dated Elena before Stefan, Josephine thought to herself before smiling at him.

"I've known him and Damon since we were kids, he moved here after his parents died." Josephine explained, making Matt nod in understanding. "So, are you a friend or are you a friend?" Matt asked, making her chuckle before he continued.

"I'm only asking because his girlfriend is... she's one of my best friends." Matt finished, which made Josephine smile at him in sympathy. "Let me guess, you dated Elena before Stefan did." Josephine asked, well, more stated.

Matt chuckled before speaking, "Am I that obvious?" Josephine laughed in return before nodding, making Matt laugh once again. "But to make you feel better, Stefan and I are just friends, he's like family." Josephine said, being truthful for the first time in this conversation.

"Noted." Matt said, nodding at the girl, before remembering the fact that he spilled coffee on her. "Again, I'm so sorry about that." He apologized, gesturing towards her shirt, making her smile at him.

"Seriously, it's fine, Matt." She began, which made him nod before she continued. "Sorry, did you know where I could find Stefan though?"

"Yeah, he'll either be at the Salvatore Boarding House, and if he's not there, he's probably at Elena's house. Elena's address is 2104 Maple Street." Matt informed her, making her grin at him. "Thank you so much, Matt. I appreciate it."

"Are you staying or are you just visiting Stefan?" Matt questioned out of curiosity, "Um... well, I was also looking for either my aunt Meredith or my uncle Logan, I kind of need somewhere to stay." Josephine lied, knowing full well Damon killed Logan. Though she knew Meredith was still in town.

"Meredith and Logan... wait, are you a Fell?" Matt asked, as realization flooded over his face. "Yeah, I am." She said, nodding, making Matt chuckle. "Got it, okay, um. From what I know, Logan's out of town, but Dr. Fell is probably at the hospital, so you should try and find her there."

"Thank you, Matt. I appreciate that." She said, smiling at him a final time before moving to walk away from him. "Sorry about your shirt again." Matt shouted after her, apologizing one last time, making her turn around and laugh while shaking her head in amusement before continuing to walk away from him.

After a steady two minutes of walking, she made her way to Anna's motel room and just barged right in, not even attempting to knock. Suddenly a guy winced in pain as his skin started to burn when she opened the door. Josephine chuckled at the sight of him vamp speeding under the bed to avoid the sunlight and tauntingly held the door open for a few seconds before closing it.

She turned her gaze from the healing vampire on the floor to Anna who was sat on one of the beds, judging her but was amused at the same time. "Josephine." Anna scolded, while grinning, though her grin faded when the vampire got out from under the bed.

"Who the fuck is this?" Josephine asked, incredulously, referring to the half naked vampire with the towel around his waist, who was still panting and angry from the sunlight. "This is Ben, he's helping us with the tomb." Anna explained, making Josephine shake her head.

"Hmm, no. He's helping you with the tomb, like I said, I don't want anything to do with this." Josephine said, totally lying, while she sits down on the end of the bed, but she needs to get Anna to offer up killing Charlotte, just like Stefan and Damon had. Just so that way, she had her reasoning whenever this eventually blows up in her face that she was working on both sides.

A girl likes to be prepared for fallout when she lies, sue me, Josephine thought to herself.

"Come on, Jo. I get my mother out, you get a chance for revenge against Charlotte. It's a win-win." Anna said, trying her best to convince Josephine to help her. Though, Josephine didn't need any convincing, as Anna just told her exactly what she wanted to hear.

Josephine smirked as she pretended to think about it, before she turned to Anna and smiled, "You got a deal, Annabelle." Josephine replied, making Anna grin in victory before she got up from the bed and walked over to the mini-fridge.

She takes a bottle of blood and walked back over to Ben, who was now sitting on one of the bed's and handed him the blood. "Here. Drink. I don't want you getting itchy around the witch. She can sense if you're weak." Anna said, referring to Bonnie Bennett, Josephine gathered.

Ben uncaps the bottle and gulps down the blood and his face scrunches up as he examined the bottle. "When can we go hunting again? This tastes old. I want fresh blood." Ben said, making Josephine roll her eyes at the boy.

Young vampires... always so arrogant and annoying. Josephine thought.

"When we get that tomb open, you can kill anyone you want. For now, just stay focused on Bonnie while Josephine and I try to get the journal back from Jeremy's teacher." Anna stated. "You need two people to get a journal?" Josephine asked, confused, though Anna ignored her question.

"Why did you choose me?" Ben asked, making Josephine roll her eyes in annoyance. "I needed someone in a position to be my eyes and ears. Small town bartender fit the bill." Anna said, while looking through the journal that was on her bed.

"There are plenty of bartenders to choose from. Why me?" Ben asked, again, making Josephine roll her eyes, again. "You were sad, Ben. You lacked purpose. You needed me." Anna replied, honestly, making Ben's face drop and Josephine laugh.

"Anna, can I borrow a shirt? Some kid threw some coffee on me by accident when we bumped into each other." Josephine asked, making her friend nod and get up from the bed to look through her bag of clothes.

"Yeah, I may have eavesdropped, but the flirting made me want to gag so I stopped listening." Anna joked, and she picked out Josephine a navy blue long sleeve from the bag and held it in her hands. Josephine gasped in an offended manner, "I was not flirting, my game is certainly much better than that."

"Then, what were you doing talking to him?" Anna questioned with a raised eyebrow. "I was gaining intel on this place and my "family" at this time. You've got to have a cover if you're a hundred year old vampire just coming into a place that was once filled to the brim with them. There are still people that remember, there's a council, Anna. I need as many friends in this town as I can to survive." Josephine explained, before turning towards Ben.

"And by friends, I don't mean turning innocent depressed bartenders who have nowhere to go in life." Josephine said, making Ben glare at her. "No offense. Obviously." Josephine added.

"Then why are you talking to Matt? He's a bus-boy." Anna pointed out, making Josephine laugh in annoyance. "I like him, he's normal and he's nice. He seems like he would be a good friend. An actual friend, not some puppet who just wants to get in your pants." Josephine replied, shooting another dig at Ben, who gets up from his spot on the bed to defend himself.

"I wouldn't. I've got almost 200 years on you, sit the hell down." Josephine threatened before he even had a chance to say or do anything to her. Ben glares at her from his spot, only stopping when Anna tells him to sit down. Josephine sends a fake smile his way before she grabs the shirt from Anna's hand and storms into the bathroom to change.

☆

Anna and Josephine made their way into the high school, on the search for the Gilbert journal. The plan was for Josephine to distract Alaric while Anna grabs the journal from his classroom.

Josephine can see Alaric walking out of one room and back to his classroom with the journal in his hands. "Get the journal when he comes out." Josephine said, before vamp speeding down the hallway by his classroom, catching Alaric's attention.

"Hello?" She hears the older man call out, as she hid behind a wall, waiting for him to come out. She can hear him come out from the classroom and go out into the hallway to look around. "Someone there?" Alaric asked, before turning towards the direction Josephine was, giving Anna the chance to vamp-speed to his classroom.

Alaric hears this and immediately walks off to the teacher's lounge. Josephine sees Anna coming out of the classroom with the journal and they give each other a thumbs up before Anna vamp speeds out of the high school.

Josephine sees Alaric exit the teacher's lounge with a gun that she can see has a wooden stake in it. Holy shit, he's not fooling around, Josephine thought to herself with an impressed look on her face.

She then feels the presence of another vampire here, but before she can do anything, Alaric cocks the gun and walks back towards his classroom. She can hear the shot being fired but she heard the target catch it. Before Alaric can re-arm, Josephine vamp-speeds into the classroom and puts Alaric into a headlock, before noticing it was Stefan that he shot at.

She quickly masked her shock with annoyance as Stefan looked at her with the same look she gave him for a quarter of a second. "Josephine?" Stefan questioned, before his face turned annoyed. "Are you following me?"

Josephine took the excuse he had practically given her and nodded. "Well, it's a good thing I did. Based on the fact that the little vampire hunter right here could have killed you." She lied, before taking the gun from Alaric and pushing him towards the students desks, knocking him over.

Alaric scrambles up from the floor, ready to fight, making Josephine scoff. "Give up and take a seat, you're not gonna win against both of us." She said, before she walked past him and sat on Alaric's actual desk.

Alaric hesitates, but Stefan points at a chair, insisting that he does as Josephine said. Alaric sighed and sat down at one of the desks as Stefan examined the gun Josephine handed to him.

"What is this, compressed air?" Stefan asked, and Alaric doesn't respond. "Did you make it yourself?" Stefan asked another question, which Alaric still didn't answer.

"Who the hell are you?" Josephine asked, moving closer to Alaric, who flinches, making Josephine chuckle. Stefan steps in between Alaric and Josephine, "We're not going to hurt you...unless you try that again." He said, making Josephine roll her eyes and sit back down on Alaric's desk.

Stefan hands Alaric his gun and he takes it from Stefan slowly. Stefan pulls one of the desks upright that Josephine had knocked over and sat on top of it, looking at Alaric. "Now...who are you?"

"I'm a teacher." Alaric answered, which made Stefan roll his eyes and Josephine laugh. "We know that, Mr..." Josephine trailed off before looking at the mini name plate on his desk. "Mr. Saltzman. We just want to know why your personal hobby is vampire hunting."

Alaric looked at her in confusion, knowing before this moment, he had never seen this girl before. "Oh, I'm Josephine, by the way. In case you were confused." She said with a genuine smile on her face, making Alaric more confused. "And you are?" She asked, with a raised eyebrow on her face but still with the same smile.

"I'm also a historian. And while researching Virginia, I--made a few discoveries about your town." Alaric explained to both of them, making Josephine nod. "So you show up like Van Helsing... Come on. Tell us the truth." Stefan insisted, making Alaric sigh.

"My wife was a parapsychologist. She spent her life researching paranormal activity in this area. It was her work that led me here." Alaric admitted, which made Josephine nod in acceptance. "And where is your wife now?" She questioned. "Dead. A vampire killed her." Alaric answered, looking deeply troubled by the statement, making it clear that his wife's death was fairly recent.

"Where's the Gilbert journal?" Stefan asked, catching Josephine's attention, before her gaze went to Alaric. "What do you want with it?" Alaric asked, making Stefan shake his head. "Where is it, Alaric?" Josephine asked, inserting herself into the conversation even though she knew damn well it wasn't here.

"It's on my desk." Alaric answered, making Stefan immediately respond. "No, it's not." Alaric looked over at his desk, where Josephine was, and saw that the journal was missing and looked back at Stefan. "It was on my desk."

FLASHBACK!
Apothecary, 1864

Katherine and Charlotte were looking through various perfumes and Charlotte turned to Katherine with one she had found, "This one smells fantastic, I think you'd like it." Charlotte smiled, innocently, making Katherine take a whiff of the perfume and she gags lightly at the smell, making Charlotte laugh.

"That is awful, Char." Katherine commented, which made Charlotte giggle more. "I know." She replied, smiling mischievously, making Katherine smack her on the arm.

The thing about Charlotte and Katherine is... they were genuinely friends. Of course, Katherine was always worried about herself and no one else, but Charlotte was also selfish in her own ways as-well. They both understood each other in ways no one else could. They had both felt the feeling of losing their child and their families right along with it. And that bonded them more than anything else ever could.

"Have you thought any more of what I've said?" Charlotte and Katherine's foolishness was interrupted by Pearl, who was more focused on getting out of Mystic Falls.

"We'll leave soon, Pearl, I promise. I need to take care of a few things first." Katherine insisted, making Charlotte nod. "And I have to do some convincing of my own." Charlotte added, making Pearl narrow her eyes at the two women.

"You're going to turn the three of them, aren't you?" She asked, keeping her tone low, so no one else hears. Katherine looks at Pearl, smiling mischievously, while Charlotte almost looks guilty. "I hope not to, I hope I am able to convince Josephine to run with us."

"You two... please, be careful." Pearl begged. "We'll all be safe, I promise." Katherine said, before she looked over Pearl's shoulder and sees Johnathan Gilbert entering the apothecary. "Mr. Gilbert's coming. Quick, your cheeks." Katherine said, before pinching Pearl's cheeks and grinning. "Perfectly rosy!" She said, excitedly, while Charlotte smiled at Pearl.

Out of the corner of Charlotte's eye, she could see Annabelle, Cordelia and Emily Bennett smiling as Johnathan stood by the entrance and Pearl turned to look at him.

"Miss Pearl. May I have a moment?" Johnathan asked, making Charlotte raise an amused eyebrow at Pearl's daughter, making Anna giggle. "Yes, Mr. Gilbert. I'm still waiting for you to explain that comet in the sky." The two leave the apothecary as the ladies watch them leave.

"I see your mother has an admirer." Katherine said to Anna, smiling from ear to ear, making Charlotte chuckle, while Anna and Cordelia smile in return as Emily put her hand on Anna's shoulder.

☆

Josephine, Stefan and Alaric were still conversing in Alaric's classroom in the high school. Josephine was still sat on Alaric's desk while Stefan questioned him. "How long have you been aware of me?" Stefan asked.

"I learned just of you recently." He said before turning to Josephine, "I didn't know you existed until about five minutes ago." He said, honestly, making Josephine chuckle, before he turned back to Stefan. "What about your brother?"

"You met Damon." Stefan stated, making Alaric scoff. "Who do you think killed my wife?" He answered, making Stefan look conflicted. "Are you certain it was Damon?"

"I witnessed it." Alaric answered, making Stefan sigh. "If you're here for revenge, this is going to end very badly for you." Stefan said, more of a warning than a threat.

"I just want to find out what happened to my wife." Alaric said, making Stefan and Josephine share a confused look, "Wait, I thought you just said that Damon—" Josephine began, before Alaric cut her off.

"Yeah. I saw him draining the life out of her. He must have heard me coming. He just...disappeared. So did her body. They never found her." Alaric explained, making Josephine and Stefan sigh and nod.

"I mean, it's not that hard to believe, Damon killed Lexi, and Zach, and that other history teacher. And Logan, but apparently you helped with that one, didn't you, Ric?" Josephine pointed out, sending an annoyed look to Alaric, before she turned to Stefan. "It's not exactly hard to believe your brother would have killed Alaric's wife, so stop acting like it is." Josephine said to Stefan, with the same annoyed look she sent Alaric earlier.

Stefan sighed before turning back to Alaric, "Damon can never know why you're here. He'll kill you without blinking." Stefan told Alaric, making Alaric sigh in annoyance. "I can take care of myself." He insisted, making Josephine scoff.

"Oh please, anyone who says that is practically asking to be unpleasantly surprised when they're suddenly dead and in the ground. Trust me, you can't take care of yourself." Josephine informed him, making Stefan nod. "We can help you, if you let us." Stefan offered, making Alaric stare at him and Josephine in frustration and clenches his jaw.

☆

Stefan and Josephine had just vamp sped from the high school to Elena's neighborhood, so that way they could have a chat before Stefan convinces Elena to invite Josephine into her house. "Why were you following me?" Stefan asked, tapping her arm with his to get her attention.

They were best friends once, maybe they could get that back. Just maybe.

"Look, I haven't seen you in, like... 20 years. I guess I just wanted to make sure that you were still the same old Stefan, and that you weren't just with Elena because she looks like Katherine." Josephine said, making up the best lie she could on the spot, as they continued walking to Elena's.

"Jo, I'm not an idiot. Did you take the journal?" Stefan questioned her, making her stop and stand still. "No, I didn't." She answered honestly, as her former best friend stared at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Do you know who did?" Stefan asked, making Josephine break eye contact with him and start walking again. "Who took it, Jo?" Stefan demanded, grabbing her arm, making her brush him off. "It's not important! we have the copies of it from Alaric. It's not important, Stefan. They're not gonna hurt Elena or her brother." Josephine told him, making him scoff at her explanation.

"I would not let them do anything to hurt anyone you love, they have their own reasons for wanting that tomb open!" Josephine insisted, yelling, making Stefan sigh, as she started walking away from him again. "How long did you think you were gonna continue to play both sides, Jo? You don't even want the tomb open!" He yelled back, following after her.

"I didn't! I wasn't playing both sides at first, not really. I came back when they asked for help, not knowing what they were after. I stayed because I wanted an excuse to see you! And then I found out Damon killed Lexi, and I wanted to stay to make him pay." Josephine admitted, making Stefan sigh in frustration, when they stopped in front of Elena's house.

"And killing Charlotte is an added bonus." Josephine joked, which made Stefan attempt to hide his smile. "Trust me, I get wanting revenge for Lexi, but killing him is not going to help anything. Do you remember how you reacted after you killed Cordelia?" Stefan mentioned, referring to Charlotte's handmaiden.

"Well, I cared about Cordelia. I don't give a shit about Damon, and neither should you." Josephine snapped in return. "Who else is trying to get into the tomb?" Stefan asked, changing the subject back to the topic at hand.

"Hmm, no. I don't think so. You seem to also be keeping secrets. Are you even planning on showing Damon the copies of the journal?" Josephine asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That's not the point, Jo!" Stefan replied, making Josephine scoff. "It's exactly the point, Stefan. I'm keeping secrets, you and Elena are keeping secrets. Hell, even Damon's most likely keeping secrets! No one is being truthful here, so stop giving me shit!" Josephine yelled in return.

"So can we just agree to keep our secrets to our damn selves?" Josephine suggested, making Stefan look at her with annoyance.

"Okay?!" Josephine yelled, "Okay!" Stefan yelled back.

"Fine!"

"Alright!"

"Great!"

"Fantastic!"

"Awesome! Can we stop yelling now?!" Josephine yelled again. "I think that's a great idea!" Stefan yelled back.

They stand in awkward silence for a minute before Josephine breaks it. "So you wanna go tell your girlfriend to invite me in?"

"I'll go do that." Stefan said before walking away from her and knocks on Elena's front door. After a few seconds, Elena opens the front door with Damon directly behind her. "I heard yelling, is everything okay?" Elena asked, concerned.

"Oh, everything's peachy." Josephine said from directly behind Stefan, who jumped at the sound of her voice. "Jesus, I thought you were on the sidewalk!" Stefan shouted, making Josephine laugh.

"I got quiet legs. Can we get a move on, bunny muncher?" Josephine said, making Elena look at her with disbelief, and Damon smirk in amusement. "Take that smirk off your face, you used a crow to stalk Elena when you first got here." Josephine pointed out, making Damon's smirk drop and Elena gasp.

"How did you know that?" Damon asked in shock, while Elena turned to face him. "That was you?!" She yelled, making Josephine laugh. "Well, I didn't actually. You just told on yourself." She said, while Stefan tried to hold in a chuckle.

"Anyway, my dear Elena. Could you please invite me in so I can smack Damon for you?" Josephine asked, politely, with a smile on her face. Elena looked at Stefan for a moment for reassurance, and when he nodded, she turned to Josephine with a smile on her face and invited her in.

Josephine immediately pushed her way in and jumped on Damon's back and put him in a headlock, making them drop to the ground. At the sound of commotion, Jenna ran in from the kitchen and stared at the sight of Damon on the floor being smushed by an unfamiliar teenage girl.

"Uh..." Jenna trailed off, looking at Elena and Stefan in confusion as Josephine tightened her grip on Damon's neck, making him tap her arm twice in a message to let him go. "Alright, let him up." Stefan told his best friend, and grabbed her arm, pulling her off the floor.

Damon sat there for a minute, looking winded, before glaring at Josephine. "You're a child." He told her, with no real heat to his words. "Takes one to know one, Salvawhore." Josephine replied, before remembering Jenna was in this room.

"Hi, I'm Josephine, sorry for the disturbance. You have a lovely home." Josephine said, smiling at the young woman. "Um... Jenna. Nice to meet you... I think." Jenna replied with a light smile on her face before turning to Elena in confusion.

"This is Stefan's best friend, she's visiting town and I thought it would be nice to invite her to family night so she can get to know some people besides Stefan and Damon." Elena lied with a smile on her face, causing Jenna to nod in acceptance. "Alrighty then." She said before heading back to the kitchen.

"Let's go back outside." Elena said, not wanting Jenna or Jeremy to overhear. The others nodded and made their way out of the house.

"So, where's the journal?" Damon questioned, making Josephine and Stefan share a look before Josephine turns back to Damon. "Somebody took it from Alaric's classroom before Stefan and I could get it." Josephine said, making Elena sigh in frustration, "That's great." She said, sarcastically.

"Who took it?" Damon demanded, causing Josephine to scoff. "I don't know, Damon, you want us to just pull facts out of thin air?" Josephine said, making Stefan side-eye her, though Damon and Elena didn't notice.

"You know what, it's that teacher. There's something really off about him." Damon theorized, making Stefan shake his head. "No, he doesn't know anything. Somebody got to it right before Jo and I could." Stefan stated, partly lying.

Damon looked at Josephine in suspicion, "And why were you there?" He asked, making Josephine turn to look at him. "Stefan told me, we agreed to meet at the high school." Josephine lied without skipping a beat, causing Elena to look at Stefan in surprise. "You didn't tell me that." Elena said, looking at the two in confusion.

Stefan looked at Josephine with a look that basically said, "what the fuck?" before turning back to Elena. "It was a last minute thing, she called me right before I got there and asked what the plan was." Stefan lied to both his girlfriend and brother as Josephine whistled cause of the awkwardness.

"Okay." Damon said, looking at Josephine and his brother suspiciously but moves on, "Who else knew it was there?" He asked, making Stefan look through the window at Jeremy, but he doesn't say anything.

Damon looks towards where Stefan is and sees Jeremy, then he begins to walk back into the house, making Elena turn to follow him. "No. Damon, leave him out of it!" Elena begged.

"Why, what's the big deal?" Damon asked, incredulously, as he made his way to the front door. "Damon, knock it off." Josephine said, before Damon walked into the house, leaving the two vampires and the doppelgänger looking at each other in disbelief.

to be continued...

☆

Josephine's Outfit Of The Chapter

the top Matt spilled coffee over:

the top Anna gave her:

𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙭 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙨!

sorry it's been so long since the last update, i just started a new job and have been getting used to the rhythms of things and haven't had much of a chance to write.

part two coming soon (genuinely, not bullshit lol)