Emma dug into her hamburger that she had ordered while Damon read over the paper, "'Faulty gas line leads to tragic explosion at Young farm'; really, that was the best they could do?"
"Better than 'Town council blown up, police have no suspects'," Sheriff Forbes said sarcastically while she sat next to Emma, "unless the perpetrator is right in front of me."
"I always take credit for the people I kill," Damon said proudly before sipping his drink, "seriously Liz, if I was going to kill twelve people I would have a dinner party, not blow them up."
"The spark came from the inside, it wasn't an accident," Liz explained.
"You say that like that's a bad thing, the council is dead, I see that as a win," Damon smirked.
"I've known some of the council since I was a kid, they were friends," Liz said angrily.
"Well, your friends tried to kill your daughter," Emma pointed out.
"And my girlfriend," Damon said almost possessively.
Emma smirked at Damon's tone.
"Who's the new guy?" Damon asked as someone approached the table.
"Excuse me Sheriff, I was wondering if I could speak with you for a moment about the explosion at the Young farm," the man asked.
"I'm sorry, Mr...." Liz started.
"Sorry," he reached his hand out to shake Liz's "Connor Jordan."
"Are you with the insurance investigators?" Liz asked.
"No," Connor shook his head, "no, I'm more of an independent contractor. Can we speak in private?"
"Sure," Liz smiled politely as she got up and followed Connor.
Emma turned to Damon as soon as they were gone, "Promise?"
Damon smirked, already knowing that she was asking if he had caused the explosion just before they left on their road trip, "Cross my heart, although I got to say, I'm impressed."
Emma rolled her eyes and popped a fry into her mouth, "You would be."
Elena abruptly sat down at their table.
"Did you do it?" She immediately accused Damon of the explosion.
Damon rolled his eyes and looked at Emma, "Am I wearing my 'I blew up the town council' t-shirt? Why does everyone keep asking me that?"
"Did you?" Elena asked again.
"No," Damon said sternly, "anything else?"
Elena didn't speak for a moment, "Yes...I can't keep any of the animal blood down."
Emma feigned shock, "Wow, who would have guessed?"
"I think I need your help," Elena said quietly.
"And I think I need a drink if I'm going to get through this memorial," Emma got up from the table and headed off towards the bar to swipe someone's freshly ordered drink.
"Of course you do, pick your meal," Damon gestured around the restaurant.
"No, no," Elena said panicked, "no human blood. Stefan is right, I have to at least try to get through this without hurting anyone."
Damon swigged back the remainder of his drink and grabbed Elena's wrist, "Fine, come on."
He pulled her into the bathroom.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
Damon bit into his wrist, "Giving you want you need, drink."
He held out his arm for her to take.
"What?" She looked at him confused.
"You're a new vampire, Elena. You need warm blood from the vein. Maybe this will do the trick, or not," Damon hesitated when he remember something, "but just, don't tell Stefan or Emma."
"Why?" Elena asked cautiously.
"Uh, because blood sharing is..." Damon sighed and started to back out, "personal."
"What do you mean it's personal?" Elena eyed him up and down.
"Actually, maybe this is a bad idea," Damon started to put his arms down, his brain almost completely made up to walk away when the smell of blood overtook Elena and she grabbed his wrist.
At first Damon fought against her, but as she began drinking a euphoric feeling overcame him. He lost all sense in who he was.
"Emma!" Caroline called across the restaurant before rushing over to Emma's side and giving her a hug.
"Hey," Emma smiled at the girl who had become one of her closest friends despite her being on the road.
They had spoken nearly everyday and Caroline was the one who made sure that Emma was staying on track with her school work.
"I brought one of my dresses for you for the memorial," Caroline held up a black dress on a hanger, "don't worry, I picked one that will go with your leather jacket."
"Good to see you are coming around to the dark side," Emma winked as she joked.
"I'm only condoning this dress because of the occasion Em, literally any other time I wouldn't let you near anything like this."
Emma rolled her eyes, "Fine, come help me put it on."
Emma hopped off her bar stool and Caroline followed her to the restrooms, Emma reached for the door knob and turned it, pushing the door inward. A sharp gasp escaped her and her hand flew to cover her mouth. All of the candles on the tables in the dining area brightened before extinguishing completely.
Inside the restroom she saw Damon pushed up against the wall with Elena in his arms, her mouth was on his wrist and her teeth were sunk in deep as she drank from him. A soft moan escaped his lips and his eyes were squeezed shut. Neither of them had noticed that Emma had opened the door. She backed out slowly and shut the door silently.
Emma turned and looked at Caroline, who was completely slack jawed at the situation, Emma took a deep breath before she spoke.
"You're house is just right around the corner, right?" Emma asked softly, forcing her voice not to break.
Caroline nodded and grabbed her friend's hand, leading her out of the back door of the Grill and towards her house. Both of them were silent as Emma changed in Caroline's room, but Emma could tell that Caroline was biting at the bit to say something about what she saw. Thankfully she stayed quiet while she pinned a few of Emma's strands of hair back and placed her curls perfectly on her shoulder.
"Hey Emma," Matt smiled at Emma as she approached him at the church for the memorial service for the council members, "how was the road trip?"
"Hey," she smiled back, she was managing to keep herself held together and put up a normal front, "good, eventful, but good. I'm ready to get back into the swing of things, or whatever it is we do here anyway."
They both let out a slight laugh, earning them several stares of anger when a group of people heard them. Elena came up to join them and Emma stiffened, standing almost ramrod straight.
Matt instantly became serious, "How are you feeling? A little strung out?"
"I'm fine. It's just my emotions are all over the place, everything is heightened. I mean," she opened one of the pamphlets that Matt had been handing out, "just the sight of all the names of the dead makes me want to cry for a week."
Emma bit her tongue to hold back a sarcastic comment.
"You didn't have to volunteer to help at the memorial," Matt offered.
"People I've known my whole life died, so yeah I did," Elena justified, she spotted someone behind Matt, "is that...?"
"April Young, yeah," Matt confirmed that Elena was seeing Pastor Young's daughter who had come home from boarding school to attend the funeral.
"I'm going to go say hi," Elena excused herself.
Matt handed some pamphlets to Emma and they both started handing them out to the people as they entered the church. Emma's heart felt like it was getting heavier and heavier with each passing tick of the second hand of the clock on the wall. She looked out the door and saw Damon and Elena standing outside talking, her hands tightened on the papers she was holding.
"Careful Emma," Matt gently took the papers from her, they were now slightly crinkled.
"Uh, sorry Matt," Emma looked down at her feet and started to walk away and take a seat.
Matt handed the papers to another volunteer and followed her as she took a seat next to Jeremy. He sat next to her and looked at her with concern written all over his face.
"Is everything okay?" He asked quietly.
Emma nodded, she knew that if she spoke she would lose what little control she had on her emotions at the moment.
"Okay," Matt didn't push her to answer, but stayed by her side for support.
Elena entered the church and sat down on the other side of Matt, Emma's hands clenched the hem of her dress as she tried to keep herself under control. Stefan sat next to Emma and it made her jump slightly.
"I have something to show you," he pulled out a cloth from his pocket and unfolded it, wooden bullets were inside, each of them had inscriptions carved into them, "Tyler Lockwood was shot with these earlier. They burn me if I try to touch them."
Emma picked one up and turned it in her hand, she took her phone out and snapped a picture of one of the emblems, "I've never seen anything like it, but I'll send this to Sam and see if he can find something in the archives. But it definitely looks like we have a hunter in town."
"Thanks," Stefan said gratefully.
Carol Lockwood, the new mayor, began her memorial speech at the podium at the front of the church by opening the floor to anyone who wanted to say a few words about the dead. No one moved. Elena suddenly stood, she was looking weak and pale as she made her way up.
Everyone heard the door in the back open and Damon sauntered inside, dipping his fingers in the holy water before making the sign of the cross on himself before joining the group and sitting down next to Stefan.
He smirked, "I don't know why that always amuses me."
Emma couldn't even look at him, she kept her eyes forward. She forced herself to focus on a single forget-me-not in an arrangement at the front.
Damon leaned over and whispered to Stefan, "Who is the new girl?"
Stefan followed his brother's gaze and saw him looking at Emma, "The new girl?"
Before Stefan could say anything more he noticed Elena start to stutter over her words and turned his attention to her. Damon rolled his eyes and glanced over to Emma, he noticed she was hyper focused on something and refusing to look his way. His brow furrowed.
"The worst day of loving someone, is when you lose them," Elena continued her speech.
Emma bit her bottom lip as the words struck her heart, images of her mother and father, her sister, and Alaric came flooding through her mind, mixed with images of her other fallen friends. Every hunter knew that the next hunt could be their last, but it was still never easy on the ones that they left behind. Although occasionally it was tough on the dead too, her Uncle Bobby had refused to leave them behind until Dean forced him.
But images of Damon flashed through her brain as well, she felt as if she had lost him, but her heart couldn't imagine her world without him in it.
"Do you smell that?" Caroline said from the pew behind them.
Emma looked as every vampire's eyes widened as they realized it was blood.
"No body move, don't turn around, it's a trap," Damon whispered for those that could hear him.
Stefan realized the urgency of the situation with Elena and rushed up to get her as she started tripping over her words as the smell hit her. He guided her back to her seat and held her close.
The pastor proceeding over the memorial asked everyone to stand and turn to a hymn in their books, Emma and the group all followed what the crowd was doing.
"The blood Stefan, I can smell it. There's so much," Elena looked at him as if begging him to fix it.
"It's all right, just remember what we talked about; focus, push back," Stefan said encouragingly, "come on, you can do this."
"What's wrong with her?" Matt leaned over and asked.
"She's hungry," Stefan explained, "she hasn't fed."
Emma scoffed but continued focusing on the flower she had chosen.
"So get her out of here," Matt suggested.
"I can't," Stefan whispered, "there is someone watching us."
Damon looked at Stefan and smirked, "I'm gonna go rip his head off now."
Stefan scowled, "You do that and you risk exposing all of us."
"The threat is diminished, ya know, once I rip his head off," Damon reasoned.
"Stefan, I'm losing it," Elena pleaded.
"You have about ten-seconds before I go old school on him," Damon warned.
"Don't do it Damon," Stefan almost begged, "please."
"Three, two, one..." Damon counted down before he started to get up.
"Wait," Matt whispered, "Elena, feed on me. It's okay, everyone will think you are upset."
Elena cautiously moved Matt's collar before sinking her teeth into his throat. Matt grabbed Emma's elbow to steady himself and the touch made her jump slightly, the candles that surrounded the Alter flickered for a moment.
"Careful Emma," Caroline warned, understanding that Emma had very little control over her emotions at the moment, Caroline had heard Damon ask about Emma like he had never seen her before and was glad that Emma couldn't hear him.
Emma nodded and took a deep breath and shook her head. Damon's eyebrow raised as he watched her.
"Thank you," Elena said quietly as she pulled away from Matt and wiped her lips.
Emma handed Matt a tissue that she had in her jacket pocket, he used it to cover the marks on his neck and catch the blood before it got on his white shirt.
"The blood, I can still smell it," Elena pointed out, "it must be April; we have to help her."
Elena moved to leave but Stefan stopped her, "We can't risk it."
Just before Elena could protest more Tyler stepped up to the podium, "Excuse me, I just wanted to say a few words about Pastor Young."
The hunter hidden in the rafters recognized Tyler and a shot rang out. Tyler was on the ground coughing as the crowd erupted in panic.
"Oh my God!" Caroline screamed as she ran towards the front with everyone else.
Emma watched as Damon headed to the back, hunting down who ever was after them. She dismissed him and ran forward to help her friends.
"I'm gonna kill that bastard," Tyler said after Caroline pulled the stake out of him.
"Damon is way ahead of you," Stefan said, "I need to go help, you coming Emma?"
"What about April?" Elena asked.
"I got it, go," Caroline offered.
"Emma?" Stefan held his hand out to Emma.
She sighed but took it, she knew that if this was a hunter that she knew then she would be able to handle the situation better than any of them. She ran with Stefan out to the front of the church.
In front the hunter and Damon were fighting, the hunter managed to get out his pistol and shot Damon several times, knocking him to the ground. He pulled a stake out and started stabbing it downward at Damon's heart, but he was distracted by the sound of Stefan and Emma running towards them. He quickly got off of Damon and ran to his truck, he started it and drove away before they could get there.
"Damon?" Stefan said with a slight concern in his voice.
"Ow," Damon groaned as he got up.
Stefan started to help Damon get up, but before he was standing all the way, Stefan punched him square in the face, knocking Damon back to the ground.
"What the hell was that for?" Damon asked as he sat up on his elbows.
Stefan glared down at his brother, "You know what."
"Em, what the hell is going on?" Damon asked, still in shock that his brother had knocked him to the ground.
Stefan turned on his heel and walked away, Emma hesitated as she looked down at Damon; she started feeling a choking feeling in her throat, she decided to run to catch up with Stefan before her emotions could catch up with her. Damon watched her walk away, leaving him confused.
"Are you okay?" Stefan asked as he slowed down his gait so she could catch up.
Emma shook her head but diverted the conversation, "That hunter's name is Connor Jordan, he met with the Sheriff earlier at the Grill."
"Well, that's a start," Stefan shrugged, "but that doesn't explain why you're acting weird."
"I think we both know," Emma looked down.
"He told you?"
Emma shook her head, "I uh...walked in...on it. I don't think Damon even knows that I know."
"I'm so sorry Emma," Stefan said sadly.
Emma wiped a tear away before it could fall, "Yeah, the one and only time that I wish I didn't know that much about anything. I almost feel like it would have been less painful to walking in on them just kissing or something."
Stefan let out a half hearted laugh, "Yeah, maybe."
He opened the door to his Porsche and offered to give Emma a ride back to the boarding house. She smiled gratefully and got in. Stefan sped off towards the house.
When they got back, Emma immediately raided Damon's bar and poured herself and Stefan a drink. She handed the glass to him before sitting in the chair across from him in the foyer, they both just stared at their drinks, stuck in their own heads.
Elena and Damon walked through the door together and Emma felt her stomach do a flip when she spotted them. She finished off the rest of her drink and started to get up.
"Em," Damon called out to her, he was shocked when she actually paused and looked up at him.
Elena walked over to Stefan and sat next to him like nothing had happened, he handed her his drink, "It helps with the cravings."
"You're mad," Elena said softly.
Emma hadn't broken eye contact with Damon.
"Yeah I'm mad, you lied to me, then you go to Damon for help," Stefan said coldly, "you fed on him, and that may not mean much to you yet, but it meant a lot to me; and I know that Damon knows the intimacy of it all."
Damon's eyes got wide as he continued looking at Emma, confusion was written all over his face, "What are you even talking about?"
"Don't play dumb," Stefan growled, "in the bathroom at the Grill, you blood shared with Elena. Emma walked in on you."
Damon turned back to look at Emma, now he could see the pain and betrayal she had hidden behind her eyes, "Em..."
"I made him do it," Elena spoke up, "he was going to back out, but I made him."
Emma finally snapped, "Yeah, that moan sure as hell sounded like him telling you to stop."
"For once, this isn't actually Damon's fault, he was trying to help me," Elena tried to explain.
"At least in the past he actually pushed you away," Emma turned to Damon now, "so what the hell changed?"
"Nothing," Damon took a step forward but retreated as soon as he saw Emma's eyes flash brightly, "Emma I don't know what is going on, I would never do that. I..."
"Did you know that when your brother killed me, he apologized first?" Emma started to walk out of the house.
"I'm sorry okay," Damon grabbed her arm before she could get past him, "I remember walking into the bathroom with her, but after that it's all a blur, up until the fight with the hunter."
"He's telling the truth Emma," Stefan stepped up next to her, "at the church he asked who the new girl was, while he was looking at you."
Damon pulled Emma closer to him, and to his surprise she let him and even looked right into his eyes, searching for answers to what was going on, "I'm sorry Em."
Stefan suddenly stood up from the couch, "Come on."
"Where are you going?" Elena asked.
"Just come on," Stefan rolled his eyes.
Elena was the first to follow. Emma looked up at Damon to see if he had an answer, he just shrugged and started walking outside behind Elena, he pulled Emma along with him.
Damon pulled his car into a parking spot at the high school and saw the group standing around, Stefan was holding lanterns and handing everyone one.
"What are we doing here?" He mumbled as he got out.
"No idea," Emma said as she walked up to the group next to him, her hands in her jacket pockets.
Matt, Jeremy, Caroline, Bonnie, Elena and Stefan all sat around the picnic tables.
"Stefan, what the hell are we doing?" Emma asked as she came to a stop next to Caroline and Matt.
"We are finishing the memorial we didn't get to have earlier," he said as he handed Emma a lantern, "we need to start healing we've all lost so much, especially recently. I think we're numb to it. We push it away, we make a joke out of it, ignore how we feel, we've never just let ourselves grieve."
"So we are lighting lanterns?" Damon crossed his arms as Stefan tried to hand him one.
"Yeah," Stefan said with conviction, "yeah, we need to do this."
"What we need to do is find out who this hunter is and what he knows about the death of the Council; we have more important things to be doing right now than this," Damon argued.
Stefan handed Emma a lantern, "Tonight we need to do this."
Stefan looked around and made sure everyone had their lantern, he pulled a lighter out of his pocket.
"This is for my Uncle Zack, and for my friend Lexi, and for Alaric," he said before lighting his lantern, he handed the lighter to Matt.
"This is for Vicki," Matt said sadly before handing the lighter to Emma.
She lit the lantern but didn't say anything before giving it to Caroline.
"This is for my dad, and Tyler's," she smiled as she thought back to a memory of her father and then handed the lighter to Jeremy.
He lit his lantern, "This is for our parents, for Vicki, Anna, Jenna, and Alaric."
Jeremy held the lighter out to Damon, "No way, I'm not doing that."
Damon walked away and to his car, Emma watched him go, knowing that his silence was just as powerful as hers. They were both thinking about Alaric, and it hurt like hell.
Bonnie took the lighter from Jeremy and continued the circle, "This is for my Grams."
"This is for my mom and dad, Jenna, and everyone we've lost, everyone this town has lost," Elena paused, "and for me I guess."
Everyone began to release their lanterns, they stayed quiet as they watched them dance towards the sky, the slight breeze making them sway slightly.