Stefan's POV

Things were tense.

Supposedly, Briana had kidnapped Elena and Rose had heard just enough to tattle-tale to Damon. Nobody bothered to tell me except for Jeremy, who only came to apologize for getting me stuck in here and just happened to throw it into the conversation. I'd been so shocked I hadn't asked more about it. Maybe I could have, if I wasn't stuck in the tomb of a woman who guaranteed my eternal life, sitting here, waiting, while she stared at me with the utmost curiosity.

And lust.

And smugness.

And, to my delight, the slightest, nearly unrecognizable hint of rejection.

My heart was practically breaking my ribs to figure out how everything was playing out, and just what the hell was going on. Hey, my ribs could have been breaking and fixing themselves and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Katherine obviously sensed my distress, for she became even more smug than before; her ego was becoming so smothering that I supposed it wasn't just the fact that I was underground in a tomb that made the air quite so stuffy and thick. I felt like I had plugged all the windows, door and openings in a bathroom and took a hot shower to the point where the steam clogged the air and made it difficult to breathe.

"I can't believe that you had one of your minion 'friends' boarding in our house," I complained, flicking a glance at her and then turning away. I could tell it frustrated her how I would barely give her a second look, let alone contemplate being attracted to her like she claimed she was to me.

"Annice- or Briana, whatever you call her these days- is hardly a minion of mine," she said, practically scoffing at the idea. My curiosity peaked, but I struggled to hide it, knowing she'd try to take advantage of it.

"Oh, really? Then what is she?" I fought to keep my interest tampered down, but she plucked it out of my sentence easily, like pointing out the elephant in a small room of mice. Her eyes sparked.

"You don't know?" she asked, though it was obviously not a question. "I wonder if she's told Damon. She seems to have quite an infatuation with him, wouldn't you say? Unlike Elena, she figures out what she wants and goes after it." It was an obvious jab at me.

"What-"

"That's why I killed her little boyfriend, you know, my old butler, back a a couple centuries or so. He was before Emily Bennett. I knew she'd do anything to get him, and so I made him inaccessible." Her eyes glittered with pride, as if she'd done a favor. Crazy bitch.

"So you think she'd tell someone as plainly disloyal and impossible to confide in as Damon a secret so big even you seem to find it rather important?"

A quick flicker of intuition told me differently. There was no way a girl so secretive and cunning would tell my brother something Katherine thought was big enough to hold as an advantage over me. She had to be smarter than that. A part of what she'd said crossed my mind.

"And what do you mean, 'unlike Elena'?" She pulled something very Damon-like and cocked her brow, a snake's grin breaking her face. "Because if you're implying she doesn't know if she is attracted to him-" I winced, both of us knowing who 'him' was "-then you're wrong. She hates him. She's told me and refused to even talk about him so many times that I find it a miracle she'd even consider being an acquaintance of his."

"Oh, please," she laughed, something like Elena's but burnt with hints of deception and condescension.

I could hear it. My voice had cracked, now questioning whether Elena really did hate Damon or if she just didn't want to talk about him in hopes of keeping anything she did feel for him from me. But she wouldn't do that! I was sure of it. Elena could have problems facing her problems, but she would never outright avoid the subject or lie to me just to make sure she knew she had no feelings for him. She was too easy to read to hide something of betrayal like that. And yet...

"Hmm, yes. You're finally questioning her faith," she assumed, and I let her. The more I tried to hide something, the more she would play on it. "Seeing as she is my however-many-greats granddaughter, maybe she'll have as much sense as me to simply have some fun with you both, and then leave you before it turns too serious. I mean, it worked out for me, didn't-"

"Yes, but she's nothing like you," I snarled, my vision going a little hazy and tinging red.

Instantly, I tried to calm my anger, but to no avail. It writhed inside me like some kind of beast and made my veins seem as if they were running with boiling water. My gums stung with an urge to unleash my fangs. This was all Katherine's fault. She had always been good into distorting things, including people's emotions. Yet another good reason to hate her.

Katherine pouted, but her lip shook with the desire to curl into a malicious smile, and she murmured, "We both hope for the best." I rolled my eyes, a frown line encroaching on my forehead.

"Yes, however, I'm sure your 'best' differs from mine." I rolled my shoulders and attempted to find a comfortable way to lounge on these freaking rocks. A futile attempt, really.

"True. But which best is really best for her?" My brain contorted in hopes of seeing where she was going with this. She put both hands flat in the air to resemble someone unsure of which choice to make. A this-or-that situation, but she looked as if she already knew the answer. "If she does end up loving both you and your bad-boy of a brother, what would be best for her?

"He's everything you're not, Stefan. He's dangerous and sexy- not that you don't make a girl swoon-" she smirked again, "cunning and hiding that rather sensitive, overprotective, caring part of him under layers of what can only be described as irresistible. Plus, he can control his blood lust in a way that he distorts into something attractive. Alluring. The incarnation of the term 'tall, dark and handsome'." The corners of my mouth pulled down farther, possibly realizing what she was saying.

"What are you getting at?" I asked suspiciously, not sure if I was picking up what she putting down. She'd been lecturing me for at least two minutes, and my mind was still stretching to hear what she was saying. It was plain to see she still had more to say.

"You and him are the two ideal men. One: the smart, sweet, delectable golden boy," she tipped her still-flattened right hand down, "and two: the strangely seductive man, looks of an angel, heart of a demon." Her left hand tipped down a little lower than her right, but they both wavered with indecision. "You're the cliche characters everybody wants. It's like you're James Potter and he's Severus Snape, with both of you hoping for Lily Evans. Maybe Snape will do something terrible, like call her a mudblood and she'll hate him forever, or maybe- just maybe- he's going to something perfectly, deliciously right."

Okay, she just made a Harry Potter reference in the tomb of several unleashed vampires with her undead ex-boyfriend waiting for a witch to give us the chance to get out. Damn, that takes skill.

"You think Elena will resist Damon? Even though I really only loved you," my eyes rolled again against my will, and that snap of rejection fluttered in her eyes, "I remember every touch of Damon's feeling like a devilish, sweet sin. She's going to fall for him. And when she does, do you think it will be better to stick around, always going back and forth between you two? Tearing you two and herself up in the process? Or would it be better for her to up and leave you both like me?"

I knew she was only saying this to make me doubt myself and my relationship with Elena, but it wasn't another one of her twisted truths, wicked lies. This was the harsh and ugly truth, straight and blunt. It made my stomach crawl into my throat like a spooked child slithering into his mother's bed after a nightmare. My jaw clenched as Katherine dusted her hands together like she'd just finished a load of work. I hated to think about it, utterly loathed it actually, but what if Elena did fall for Damon? Even as a human, he had had a charm that made women flush from across the room and he knew it. They would flip up their fans and whisper words to each other about his hair, his smile, his silvery blue eyes, behind them. I was more resigned, and tended to hear more things than I should.

Jealousy grew in me like a rampaging bull going after the man with a red cape.

"You know I'm right," Katherine said in a low voice, and I looked away, which only seemed to delight her further. "Just something to think about."

Feeling like poking at her just for enraging me so much, making me consider everything, all the possibilities, I said, "If it really was better for you to leave us both, just forget us, than why did you come back?" Maybe I'd get a real answer.

She froze with her back to me, ready to walk out into the further hall, and I could hear her swallow thickly. She turned her face just enough to let me see the saddened frown, deceitful scowl, forming on her face. There was only the silence and the whisper of our breath in the dank, dirty cave.

"I have my reasons. And who ever said doing what was best for them made them want it? What was best for them was really best for them?" I felt like an out of shape jogger trying to keep up with a trained Olympic sprinter. "Among other reasons, I never stopped loving you, Stefan. I know you looked for the humanity in Damon. It turned out to be his love. Why can't you see the same in me?"

Her voice was the trembling dismay of a heartbroken damsel, and so tear-jerking that I almost believed her sincerity. Almost. Among other reasons. What does that mean?

"Because you were the cruel, manipulative bitch since before I met you. But you are the one who made Damon like this. Stop bothering yourself trying to make me believe that you actually give a damn about anyone, especially another man that at one time succumbed to your..."

"Many charms?" she finished, her voice sounded strangely watery and tight. "Yeah, you can see it that way, but at least one of us knows the truth. I'm gonna be out by the door if you want me." Want me, not need me. I noticed the distinction.

"Whatever, I'm going to take a nap," I grunted, confused about- well, everything. She disappeared around the stony, gray wall.

"I'm a crafty, lusty bitch remember? You might want to chain me down just so I don't rape you in your sleep." I opened one eye to see her poking her head back around the corner and grinning like the Cheshire cat. It seriously creeped me out.

When I was lying there, eyes closed, I think I finally got what Katherine was saying. I finally understood one of the million problems I had with her. I was the better choice, the one that was best for Elena. But if she stayed with me, there was the chance that she'd fall in love with the ever-following Damon. Hopefully not, but if she did, it would be better for her to just leave us both and live out her human life vampire free. And the what was best made them want it, made it the best. That- I think- told me that it was best for Elena to leave me, for Katherine to leave me. But Elena would never want it, even if it was best, and it was so painful that it made it an inconceivably bad choice.

Or did Katherine think it was one of the worst choices she's made? Did she really regret leaving me and my brother behind?

No, that was impossible. Katherine had no emotions, let alone regret. Especially for something as simple as leaving another one of her admirers. Or two. But I had to consider. She said it was best to leave, but it was so terrible that it wasn't? She came back, among other reasons, for me? I can't even think about it. I had decided long ago that Katherine would never look back on her decision, that she always decided with absolute certainty, and that we weren't worth waiting for. But apparently I was wrong.

With a groan, I turned my thoughts back to Elena. I knew that she would never give up on me, and if she- gulp- fell for my brother, her Gilbert stubbornness would kick in and she would be unable to let go of him either. We'd all be torn apart from jealousy, anger, love, and it would end up that Katherine would be right. It would be best for her to just leave us both. But because it was best, would that make Elena want to do it? Would it hurt her? No and yes. I was positive. Life was going to be a big what-if and hopefully-not from now on.

Sleep eventually reached me, and, hours later I was still feeling like I'd had no sleep. When I cracked my eyes open, Katherine was shrugging out of her dress. I thought vaguely about her rape comment and moaned internally.

It was going to be a long while in here, and if it wasn't, it still couldn't pass fast enough.

Briana's POV

If I was lucky, Damon had lost whatever feelings he had for me.

I... felt for him, but I was going to die sometime soon, and neither of us should lose one another and go on in the angst of loss. I would no doubt be put in the in-between, the limbo, for vampires for all the terrible things I've done. It was the reason for ghosts, supposedly, some for being plain horrible and having to watch in silence forever, and some for unfinished business. I know which category I would be sorted into, and if I'm going to have to stand around and watch in an unending purgatory, I'd rather watch Damon be happy and not linger over unresolved feelings.

After I had snapped the poor finch's neck- something I really didn't want to do- I had come inside and sat on the couching, positively downing the cheaper liquor of the house. Damon had burst in and stormed upstairs, betrayal and fury masking his beautiful face. He reminded me of the Phantom of the Opera, Erik, who shielded himself behind an angelic voice- or in Damon's case, his angelic face and charm- but was really depressed and pained and needing acceptance inside. Maybe even a little insane.

The thing is, in the movies and the book, the Phantom had always been my favorite character.

Rose walked in, a worried, cautioned look on her face, and I glared at her. How could she have done this? She had absolutely no bond to him, and therefore no reason to tell him anything, and I had been her friend for years. Unless she-

wait a second.

"You slept with him didn't you?" I accused, and her face went slack. Guilt pushed her lips into a frown. "That's why you're all buddy-buddy, partners in crime, isn't it? You've been here, for what, a week? And you've already crossed me." I clutched the glass in my hand so hard it exploded and shattered all over me, a fine spray of the leftover whiskey over the room.

I couldn't lie to myself. I was insanely jealous. How could it be that I forgot the first problem Damon and I had? He had used his charisma and beauty to get the truth out of me, and now that he has a shiny new toy named Rose, he's completely forgotten about me and slept with her.

Or has he not forgotten, rather than try and get over me? That's what I've been trying to get him to do. Than why did it hurt so much now that he actually was?

"Look, Briana," she said, splaying her hands out on the top of the couch, her eyes darting around wildly like the answer to our problems will be printed on the wall, "I hadn't planned on it. I didn't even like him at first but he just- just got to me and I didn't mean for-"

"It to happen?" I finished calmly. Rose was blabbering now, and for some reason, it made me so furious that I could hardly move, couldn't raise my voice.

She nodded. "Look, I'm sorry," she forced out, which was mighty unusual considering most vampires were too arrogant to apologize for anything, let alone having sex with someone else's lover.

"Rose," I asked sweetly, rushing to her and grabbing her around the throat and lifting her in the air. She coughed and spluttered, clawing at my hand. "Who first brought Trevor to you, knowing you would take care of him?"

"You," she gasped, "Please, wait-"

"And who hid you from Klaus after he came for you for turning Katherine?" I could hardly see straight, my anger was distorting things- including me, making me a monster.

"You!" I dropped her on the Persian rug, and she rolled onto her side, massaging her neck and spitting.

"That's right, me. And did I ever cross you? No! But this damn town, it does things to people," I muttered and stormed off towards the stairs, sprinting up to my guest room. Damon's door was closed.

I began throwing my things into my chest in the most delicate fashion I could muster, folding the blankets into a lumpy square, placing the most durable items at the bottom. Rose ran to my side, but took a hesitant step back, as if I might choke her again. She laid a hand on my shoulder, but I shrugged it off.

"Y-you're leaving?" she said quietly, and I nodded minutely.

"Yup. And then you and Damon can go back to, er, 'accidentally' sleeping with each other without the threat of me ripping your heart out and beating you over the head with it." I turned my head long enough to give her a sugary smile.

When my trunk was full, I picked it up and shot myself to the front door, setting it down and slinging my purse over my head. I heard the soft pitter-patter of rain outside and jerked my black hoodie over my tank and grey miniskirt, my leather boots rubbing against the powder blue and white striped fabric of my stockings. I scowled and closed my hand around the strap on the side of my trunk.

"Why is this so important, Briana?" called Rose, jogging after me while her spikes of beautiful black hair brushed over her beautiful cheekbones and fell in her beautiful freaking dark eyes. "You've never cared so much over a man like this before! We always shared them if we were ever both infatuated with one. Don't you remember?"

I did. Specifically, I remembered an adorable blonde boy with a shy smile and sparkling blue eyes. Rose and I had met him at a gathering and decided him likable. She and I avoided each other the entire night, switching between dancing with the boy- Bradley? Erik?- and glaring as the other girl danced with him. At the end of the night, we'd promised that it was only a human and we had no need to fight over him. It was decided that we would share him. And it's not like he objected.

"Yes," I said quietly, "I do. But that's not the case anymore." I pulled the door open, the cool, damp night blowing a gust of refreshing wind into the room. There was a loud slam, and Rose was standing in front of me with her hand on the closed door.

"Tell me." I glowered at her behind an unneeded pair of thick, wide sunglasses. The light of the fire reflected onto the walls over the sequins on the side. "Why is it so important?"

I clenched my jaw even tighter and turned to take the back door, but she put a hand on my collar bone and pressed me back into the door. With careful slowness, I turned to look at her. I could rip her head off with one move. Fifteen years of friendship. That's what we'd had. I guess the five hundred years in between had made us distant. Distant enough where I wanted to murder her. I hissed and towered over her, casting my shadow across her face.

"Get off of me," I growled, and she pressed harder. "Now!" She didn't move.

"Tell me why it's so important all of a sudden!" she screamed back.