The next week, life continued in Mystic Falls. Her Toronto witch lead had turned out to be a bust, but on Friday, she skipped school because she'd finally tracked down the Ohio witches to a Cincinnati suburb. After she got an even worse welcome than before, though she'd tried to be more tactful, she decided to give up the search for a while. She had no more leads anyway. Bonnie was going to be a real witch soon, she'd just have to be patient.

She was just thankful she hadn't had a vision since the one of Lexi in Brazil. Though being Josie Gilbert was becoming second nature to her, she didn't think she'd ever get over the creepy, invasive feeling she got when she had a vision.

Still, she was angry and disappointed about her hopeless situation. She stayed in her room the entire weekend, not even coming out for meals, saying she was sick and wanted to be left alone. Ironically, Damon didn't come to her either.

She soon found out why when Stefan called her in a panic. He explained that he and Elena had found Emily's Grimoire. Damon had it, but Elena had been kidnapped by Anna. Anna, who was a vampire that was trying to get her mother, Pearl, out of the tomb.

Wow, she'd missed a lot while she'd been moping in her room.

"Can you talk to Damon?" asked Stefan.

"About what?" Josie asked. "You think he knows where Elena is?" She couldn't remember if Damon knew what motel Anna was staying at or not.

"He's talked to Anna. He may know where she's living."

"Why don't you talk to him? He's your brother."

"I didn't exactly tell him when Elena and I found Emily's Grimoire."

"So you lied to him when you told him you were helping him."

"I… Yes."

"And you think he'll tell me where Anna is?"

"Maybe. You and he are…" Stefan trailed off.

"We're having sex, Stefan. We're not in a relationship. We're… maybe friends? But, he's not going to tell me anything if he thinks you betrayed him."

Seriously, has Stefan met Damon?

"I've been searching all of Mystic Falls since last night, but I don't have a lead or anything." He paused. "Will you at least try?"

Josie sighed. That's what the dark-haired woman in the suit had said in her dream last night, begging for Josie to help her. 'Will you at least try?' Josie closed her eyes, trying to focus on the issue at hand, not the woman haunting her dreams.

"Of course," she told Stefan. Even though Elena should be fine, she figured she'd try.

When she got to the Boarding House, she didn't bother knocking. She just walked in and found Damon in one of the sitting rooms, reading the Grimoire.

"Here to pump me for information?" he asked, not looking up.

"You know?

"That Elena's been kidnapped. Yeah, I got the 600 voicemails from Stefan."

"Do you know where she is?"

"Nope."

"Are you lying?"

"Why would I tell you if I were?" asked Damon dismissively, still not looking up.

"I didn't betray you. I didn't know Stefan wasn't really helping you. It wasn't fair of him." And it was true. She'd forgotten that detail.

"Your sister was in on it too," said Damon. "She lied right to my face when I asked her if Stefan was on the up and up."

"Then that wasn't fair of her either," said Josie, sighing. "Please, Damon."

Damon scoffed and shook his head. "I hope she dies."

It took a few seconds for his words to sink in. When they did, Josie was furious. She had begun to think of Damon as a (sort-of) friend. That he was finally coming around. That he'd stopped being a complete dick. Clearly, she didn't remember this season as well as she thought.

"Fuck you, Damon," said Josie, taking a nearby glass and throwing it at him.

He caught it and put it down. "Don't do that."

"Do what?" asked Josie, picking up another glass. "This?" She threw it at him again, still livid.

He caught it for the second time and used vampire speed to shove her roughly against a nearby wall. "I told you not to do that," he growled.

"Get off me!" she shouted, banging on his chest. "I can't believe I thought for one second you could actually be a decent person. That every fucked-up thing you did was for love. For Katherine."

Damon didn't reply, but released her from his iron grip.

Josie rubbed her arms where he'd gripped her. "But now I see… you're just an asshole. You hope Elena dies?" she repeated, stomping toward the door. "I hope Katherine never gets out of that tomb," she said, voice dripping with venom. "I hope you spend the rest of eternity missing her. It's no more than you deserve."

She felt a little guilty when she realized how true her words actually were, given where Katherine had been all these years.

Damon appeared in front of her, blocking the door. "Big talk from a little human," he growled, eyes darkening and veins appearing under his eyes. "I know you've stopped drinking vervain. I can't smell it on you anymore."

Josie gasped. It was true. Ever since Elena had handed out vervain trinkets to the whole family, she'd stopped putting vervain in the coffee. Her small plant could only produce so much, so she'd been conserving her resources.

Josie reached into her purse and held out her vervain sprayer. "Get out of my way, Damon," she said with a lot more courage than she felt.

"Or what?" he asked, blurring in front of her and throwing her sprayer to the side, fangs still out.

Josie must have looked terrified because Damon sighed an instant later and stepped back, apparently taking pity on her. "Just leave," he said in a low voice. "And tell my brother to go fuck himself."

She ran out of the house and drove home. She called Stefan on the way, letting him know that she didn't get any information out of Damon.

She wasn't sure what to think. Damon was obviously hurt by Stefan's betrayal. She couldn't blame him. Maybe she would have gotten farther by sympathizing instead of lashing out in anger. It wouldn't be the first time her temper had gotten her in trouble.

The next day, she got a series of texts from Stefan, updating her on his search for Elena. When he said he was going over to Bonnie's Grams' house, she decided to join him.

Josie watched as Grams performed a locator spell (which was really cool) and then she drove with Stefan over to the motel where Elena and Bonnie were being held. He saved them and Josie hugged Elena fiercely, surprised by the amount of relief she felt when she held the older girl.

They got back to Gram's house where they discussed opening the tomb. Josie wished she could tell them that Katherine wasn't even in the damn tomb, but she wasn't ready to share her secret yet. She didn't think they'd believe her anyway. Damon certainly wouldn't.

"We need to let him have Katherine back," said Elena. "He's not going to stop until he gets her. If we help him, maybe that ends it."

"No!" said Bonnie. "He doesn't deserve to get what he wants."

"I'll open the tomb," Grams finally said. "You get your brother's girl and destroy the rest with fire. Then this will be all over."

Elena was right. Damon wouldn't stop until the tomb was open, not unless they staked him. But if the tomb opened, Grams would die. So that was the choice: Damon or Grams? And she hated it, but her silence said it all as the others planned to go ahead with opening the tomb.

Elena managed to convince Damon that were really going to help him this time and they all headed to the church.

Bonnie and Grams lit some torches, spread water, started chanting, etc. and the door was open. Josie had to admit real magic was a lot cooler in person than in the show.

Events progressed as they had in the show: Damon dragged Elena along as leverage so he wouldn't get shut into the tomb, Anna came and entered the tomb, and then Grams explained how the barrier was still up.

A minute later, Josie heard a scream from the ground above. She raced up, saw Ben on fire and Jeremy lying on the ground.

"Oh my god, what happened?" asked Josie, running over to Jeremy. "Is he okay?"

"He should be," replied Stefan, before vanishing back down the stairs to the tomb.

Josie stayed with Jeremy. To her relief, he was breathing and seemed okay. She got her vervain spray out just in case and used her scarf to try and staunch the bleeding on his head.

A few minutes later, everyone came back up the steps, including Damon, who looked distraught. Elena bent down to check on Jeremy and quietly whispered to Josie that Katherine wasn't in the tomb and that the seal was back up, keeping the rest of the vampires trapped inside. If only that were true, thought Josie. Still, they had some time, she was sure. Best to come back in daylight to deal with them.

Jeremy groaned.

"You okay?" Josie asked, brushing a hair away from his face.

Jeremy nodded. "My head hurts."

"Yeah, you might have a bump for a few days."

Jeremy was looking at something behind her and she followed his gaze to see Elena and Damon hugging. Josie smiled. She had always thought Elena was good for Damon. Or maybe it was the other way around?

Josie and Stefan helped Jeremy to the car. She couldn't look at Grams as they drove away. Maybe she couldn't have stopped it, even if she'd told the truth. She supposed she'd never know.

After they were home and Elena and Josie had talked to Jeremy (who remembered nothing), Josie went to the bathroom and got ready for bed. She took a long hot shower and tried not to think about Grams.

When she emerged from the bathroom in her robe, she nearly screamed. There, with a bottle of whiskey in his hand, sat Damon. She felt bad for him, but she hadn't forgotten their argument the day before. He'd threatened her. Wished Elena were dead. She really didn't want to see him right now.

"What's up, Damon?" she asked, tightly. "I thought you'd be halfway to Ibiza by now."

Damon just took a long pull from the bottle. No snappy retort. He must be really depressed.

"If you came here for pity, I suggest you go down the hall," she continued, uncomfortable with the silence. "Elena's last door on the right. But I suppose you already know that."

Josie blinked and all of a sudden Damon was standing right in front of her.

"I'm not here for pity," he whispered. He tried to kiss her, but she pushed him away.

"I'm not in the mood," she said, though her hands remained on his chest. His arms circled her waist and she felt excitement pool between her legs, even though she hated herself for it.

"You're always in the mood for me," he smirked, lowering his head again, this time to her neck.

"Seriously, Damon. Stop!" Josie said, trying to keep her breathing normal. She hated how easily she melted against him.

"Why?" he nearly pouted, running his hands up and down her back.

"You threatened to kill me yesterday, for starters. You were going to let my sister die."

After seeing how scared Elena had been in that motel room, she was even more angry at Damon for just letting her rot there.

"Elena was fine," Damon said, dismissively. "Anna wasn't going to hurt her. And I wouldn't have killed you. Not really."

Josie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right."

"I'm serious," he said, pulling back to look her in the eye. Seeing the look on his face, she almost believed him. "Now let's stop talking."

"Wait!" she said, sensing an opportunity. "If I… forgive you, are we even then?"

She almost felt a little bad. He was really vulnerable right now, having just been betrayed by Katherine. But the future favor she still owed him had been lingering on her mind more and more lately, since it seemed she was stuck in this world for the time being.

Damon shrugged. "Sure. Nothing matters anymore." And with that, he kissed her. And she let him. He didn't waste any time divesting them of their clothes and fucking her roughly. Afterwards, he rolled off of her and brought her close to him.

They laid there in silence for a while.

"She knew," he whispered finally. "She knew and she never came to me. Not once in 140 years."

Josie cringed. "Yeah, guess she's kind of a bitch." She figured insulting Katherine was better than telling Damon how sorry she was. He fell silent for a while before took her again.

In fact, he didn't leave that night. He took her at least half a dozen times before it was morning. He fed her blood to heal her, otherwise she would be raw.

When her alarm clock went off, she was dead tired, having barely gotten any sleep that night. She started to get up, but Damon stopped her.

"I have school, Damon."

"Skip it. Come back to the Boarding House with me. We can break out that vintage bottle of Jack I was telling you about."

Josie rolled her eyes. "I'm not skipping," she said, thinking about how much she'd skipped already. "You're gonna have to party without me."

Damon groaned.

Josie just shook her head. "This is not an exclusive thing, Damon. If you need to drown yourself in sorority girls and booze for a while, you should feel free. As long as you abide by our agreement: Catch, Compel, Release."

Josie went to take a shower and when she got back, Damon was gone. She breathed a sigh of relief.