Damon hung up his phone after talking with Elena, who had tricked him and snapped his neck in the middle of the night. He sucked up his pride and called Stefan.
"So we have a problem," Damon said, not even giving Stefan a chance to talk.
"Damon, what did you do?" Stefan asked, expectantly.
"Let's just said two bitches just snapped my neck," Damon almost growled.
Stefan sighed, "Please tell me this isn't going where I think it is."
"The lead that I had on Katherine, Elena stole," Damon was shocked when Stefan didn't say anything, "if you're searching for the words to tell me how badly I screwed up, save your breath."
"I didn't stop the massacres," Stefan said flatly.
Damon was shocked, "Guess Silas has everything he needs, except a Phoenix and the cure."
"Yeah," Stefan agreed hesitantly and hung up, the longer it was taking Emma to appear, the more likely it seemed that Silas had her.
Stefan took his phone back out and called Matt.
"What's up?" Matt answered his phone, Stefan could hear the sound of the Grill behind him.
"Emma might be missing," Stefan got straight to the point, "have you seen her?"
"No? Wait what? Em is missing?" Matt was instantly alarmed.
"Yeah, I need you to get with the Sheriff and find her."
"What about Sam and Dean? Where is Damon?"
"I don't want them to get involved until I know for sure that she is in trouble."
"Uh, all right, I'll find her," Matt said with a small level of confidence.
"Thanks," Stefan said before hanging up and heading out to meet up with Damon.
Stefan picked up Damon on the side of the road just outside of New York City. Damon was grumbling as he got in.
"If they so much as even scratched the paint on my car..." Damon said threateningly.
"Well, just be grateful Sheriff Forbes was able to track down the car after you let them, ah," Stefan couldn't help but rub it in his brother's face for being outsmarted, "you know, steal it from you."
Damon rolled his eyes, "Remind me to send her some mini-muffins. Do we really need ten gallons of gas, or are you making me just lug this around as punishment?"
"Well, they ditched your car after it ran out of fuel," Stefan smiled, "you gotta fill it up. Got a hundred miles before we get to Willoughby."
"Yeah, well I don't remember that name from the list of places I got from New York," Damon shook his head.
Stefan smirked, "Oh, the list? The list they stole from right under your nose, after you let your guard down? They'll be there. Sheriff Forbes tracked down the car they stole after yours."
"Screw the muffins. I'll get her champagne," Damon began pouring the gas into his tank, "if Elena is wherever it may be."
Stefan shook his head slightly amused, "Willoughby."
"Right whatever," Damon sighed, "I take it Emma is still pissed at me."
"Ugh, probably, you left her with a lot of confused emotions," Stefan quickly passed the blame onto his brother to deflect in hopes that Damon would drop the subject, "I'm shocked she hasn't burned down the house yet."
"I gave her back the bracelet," Damon said as he hopped into the driver's side of his Camaro.
Stefan side-eyed his brother, "Does that mean that you are starting to remember her?"
Damon shook his head, "Not anything concrete, but I feel something; like I know she is supposed to be in my life somehow."
Stefan let his head fall and didn't say anything, he just quickly messaged Matt to see if there was an update on Emma's location.
"Anyway, Elena without humanity is a stone-cold bitch, and I won't trust her until we get the old Elena back," Damon started the car and took off.
"Look at that, we are finally on the same page about something," Stefan joked.
"Look at that."
As the men passed the sign for Willoughby, Damon shook his head, "Something isn't right, Katherine Pierce does not hole up in Hickstown, PA."
Stefan pointed at the Porsche Cayenne parked near a diner, "Well this is definitely the car they stole, we're in the right place."
Stefan's phone dinged, alerting him to a message from Matt, only saying that he had no luck tracking Emma down yet.
"Points to them for vehicle choice," Damon commented.
"Huh?" Stefan was pulled from his thoughts and brought back to the present, "Oh yeah."
"You're acting kinda squirrelly," Damon pointed out.
Stefan deflected again, "So let me ask you something. What happens when we find Elena? How do we get her back to Mystic Falls? I mean, she's not exactly gonna go quietly, and she has an Original vampire as her bodyguard."
"We do whatever we have to do," Damon shrugged, "I don't care if we have to throw Rebekah under a school bus and wrap Elena up in a burlap sack. We do whatever we have to do."
"I'm serious."
"I am, too. I don't care what Elena wants right now. She's this close to going off the rails for good and that ain't happening. She's a pain enough as it is."
"So what happened to the guy who thought Elena should embrace being a vampire, let the chips fall where they may?"
"That guy got his neck snapped in New York," Damon almost growled, "not to mention the fact that Elena knew all about Emma and I and still moved in. Any other time I would be pleased to have two women fighting over me, but..."
"It's Emma," Stefan finished.
Damon nodded, "It's Emma."
Damon led Stefan into a diner where he could hear the girls talking. Stefan walked up first just as Rebekah was crushing Katherine's arm.
"Ladies, playing nice?" He smirked at them.
Damon sat across from the girls and smirked.
"There goes the neighborhood," Katherine sat back and rolled her eyes with a huff.
"I see you got Katherine already," Damon turned to Katherine, "you're losing your touch, evil one."
Stefan pointed out the obvious, "Where is Elena?"
Rebekah crossed her arms, "So let me get this straight; I tell you where Elena is, you shove the cure down her throat, and then I end up in a box, right? I don't think so."
Damon noticed Katherine's cocky behavior, "What about you smiley? Do you know where she is?"
"I can give you a hint. Start by looking at the town morgue. She's probably dead," Kathrine continued to smile, "she went to meet up with a friend of mine. You may know him, an Original brother, impeccable taste."
Rebekah gasped, "Elijah."
"Elijah is here?" Damon wanted full clarification.
Stefan shot back at Kathrine's viciousness, "Well, you sort of have to question Elijah's impeccable taste if he's friends with you."
Katherine grinned, knowing she still had the upper hand, "Oh, when I say friend, I mean friend..."
Rebekah and Damon both groaned in disgust.
"It probably took him about ten-seconds to realize that she wasn't me, at which point he probably yanked her heart right out of her chest," Katherine looked pleased with herself.
"All right. Where are they?" Stefan asked, but Katherine remained stoic, "Rebekah, you do realize if something should happen to Elena, you have no chance of finding the cure, right?"
Rebekah relented, "Fine, they were supposed to meet at the gazebo by the park."
Damon opened his phone and tried to call Emma, but it went to her voicemail again, "Now would be a great time to have someone who Elijah has a soft spot for."
Katherine looked at Damon mockingly, "What's wrong? Your little bird fly the coop?"
Damon grabbed a fork off of the table and jabbed it into Katherine's leg, "Do you know something Kitty Kat?"
Stefan could see that Katherine's comment had not only struck a cord with Damon, but made him suspicious of Emma's whereabouts.
"I'll go talk to Elijah," Stefan announced as he stood up.
Rebekah nodded in agreement, "You go talk to Elijah, Kathrine will take us to the cure."
"No, she won't," Katherine sat up slightly, "the cure is the one chance to win my freedom back from Klaus."
Damon crossed his arms, slightly amused, "You're gonna broker a deal with Klaus?"
"No, she's gonna get Elijah to broker the deal for her. That's why you need your little friend, isn't it? Some things never change, Katherine," Stefan shook his head in disappointment.
"Nope," Damon agreed.
"Fine," Katherine finally agreed to their plan.
Once Damon, Rebekah, and Katherine were on their way to the house that Katherine had compelled for herself in the sleepy little town, Stefan pulled out Katherine's phone and called Elijah.
"Katarina?" Elijah answered, clearly concerned for the well being of the flighty vampire.
"Hello Elijah," Stefan smiled as he imagined the look on Elijah's face.
"Where is Katherine?" Elijah demanded.
"Where is Elena?"
"Safe, how long she remains so depends on you."
"Well, I supposed the same goes for Katherine."
"Oh Katherine can take care of herself against the two of you."
Stefan couldn't help but grin, "I think you mean the three of us. Your sister decided to join Team Good Guys for the time being."
Elijah's voice stayed calm but Stefan could hear the slight tone of anger behind it, "Put her on the phone."
"She isn't here right now. I left her with Damon and Katherine."
"Tell me where they are."
"Relax, no one's gonna get hurt as long as Katherine hands over the cure."
"Do you understand how much my sister despises Katherine?" Elijah reminded Stefan, "I assure you, Rebekah will end her the moment she ceases to be of use."
"Just like you'll dispose of Emma as soon as she ceases to be of use to you?"
"Emma?" Elijah's confusion was apparent, "I haven't seen her since last time I was in Mystic Falls."
Stefan wanted to make sure that Elijah was telling the truth, "Except you had an obsession with her ancestor that looked just like her. Are you sure you couldn't resist temptation to have a second chance at the past?"
"If Emma is missing I can assure you I had nothing to do with it," Elijah said cooly, "perhaps she got tired of your brother pining after Elena and decided to go back to North Carolina, maybe Kansas with those Winchester boys."
Stefan hung up the phone, the trail that led to Elijah was clearly at an end.