The day after the tomb had been opened, Josie stopped by Stefan's locker after school. She told him that they should check on the tomb vampires, just in case, and he agreed, but dashed off, saying that he needed to get home to Damon. Not wanting to see Damon, Josie just smiled and said they could go to the tomb tomorrow, thinking they had plenty of time (hadn't it taken a while on the show for all the vampires to come out?)

The next day, Stefan and Josie made their way to the tomb after school and both of them were shocked that the tomb was empty. Josie was angry at herself. Her only consolation was that they'd all be dead by Founder's Day, which was fast approaching.

Josie and Stefan told Elena that night, but none of them knew what to do about the missing vampires. Josie remembered they were hiding in some lady's house, but couldn't remember any details, so that wasn't helpful. They decided they'd just need to watch and wait.

Some sort of spell was out of the question as Bonnie had disappeared after Grams' funeral. Josie forced herself to attend, sending up a silent prayer of apology for what had happened. Bonnie's heartbroken eulogy haunted her for a long time.

Damon started coming to her again a few days before the bachelor auction at the Grill. That day, Elena found out that her birth mother was also Alaric's late wife.

During the auction, Damon made some awful, incendiary comments about Isobel and she could tell from Elena's reaction that she'd figured out Damon had killed her mother.

When Elena went to confront Damon about killing Isobel, Josie didn't interfere, just watched the exchange. To his credit, Damon looked guilty afterwards. Josie was tired of him being such an asshole.

"What is your problem?" asked Josie, walking up to him. "You're miserable, so you have to make everyone else miserable?"

"I didn't know Isobel was Elena's mother."

"You knew she was Alaric's wife. Why rub it in his face that you killed her?"

"Because I'm a dick."

Josie scoffed. "Did you know her?" she asked, wanting to hear the truth. "It kinda sounded like you did. Before you…"

"Not well," he admitted.

"But you remember her?"

Damon nodded. "It's kinda hard to forget someone begging you to kill them."

"You turned her?" Josie was getting really good at her "pretending to be shocked" face.

"Yep."

"So she's still alive. Sort of."

"Could be. I haven't seen her since."

"Why didn't you tell Elena? Or Alaric?"

Damon shrugged. "They didn't ask."

Josie rolled her eyes. "Do you want everyone to hate you?"

"You don't hate me."

"I'm tempted to."

"And yet," he said, smirking suggestively. "I'm going home. Wanna join me?" He got really close to her and ran a hand down her arm. She shivered, hating that he had that effect on her.

"I'm driving," she said, despite her better judgment. "I'll see you there."

She went back inside to say good-bye to her friends. She tried to find Elena, but it seemed like she'd already gone. Jenna too. Finally, she went back outside and drove to the Boarding House.

When she arrived, she walked in on a horrific scene. Alaric was lying on the ground with Damon looming over him.

"Guess she wasn't happy at home, wasn't happy with life in general, wasn't happy with you," Damon said. Alaric lunged at Damon with a stake and Damon twisted out of the way and stuck Alaric with it.

Josie screamed, "No!" She ran over to them. "What did you do? Oh my god."

"He attacked me, if you didn't notice," said Damon. "Oh, sounds like I got a lung," he said, sounding unconcerned.

"So heal him," said Josie.

"So he can try and kill me again?" asked Damon. "I don't think so."

"What about our agreement?"

"I'm not allowed to defend myself?"

Josie bit her lip. He had a point. "What if he promises to not try and kill you again? I won't consider it breaking our agreement if you kill him then."

She really didn't want Alaric to have to use the ring to come back. She wanted him to avoid relying on it as much as possible.

Beside them, Alaric was struggling to breathe. "Please, Damon. The man just found out his wife left him to become a vampire. Can't you relate?"

Damon just looked hard at her. "You fucking jerk, I'm calling Stefan." She picked up her phone and started dialing. "He'll heal him."

"Fine," Damon spat. He went to stand over Alaric. "If you try and kill me again, I'll not only kill you, I'll find Isobel, wherever she is and stake her. And then I'll find the rest of your family and kill them. All very, very slowly."

Alaric just looked at him.

"Mr. Saltzman, please!" begged Josie, cursing the male ego. Isobel had begged to be turned, how mad could Alaric be at Damon for giving her what she wanted?

"Fine," choked Alaric, defeated. Damon bit his wrist and fed Alaric his blood. Quickly, the color returned to his face and he sat up.

Josie smiled. "Do you need help getting home?"

"I'll find my way out. You're not…" Alaric trailed off, clearly not really wanting to leave her alone with Damon.

"I'm leaving soon," she lied. "I came here looking for Stefan, actually. Elena left a book here and I was in the neighborhood."

Alaric nodded and left.

She went up to Damon and smiled. "So what can I do to properly thank you?"

At that, Damon smirked and grabbed her roughly. Oh and Damon made her pay. In so many delicious ways. By the end of the night, she was so sore she could barely walk. Damon pointedly didn't offer his blood to heal her until she agreed to spend the rest of the night with him.

Josie was at the Grill a few days later with Bridget, Tracy and Colin, shooting pool. Tyler joined them after a while and, after her friends went home, she enjoyed some one-on-one time with him. They'd been hanging out a lot lately. She was attracted to him and felt like maybe they could be more than friends, but so far, nothing had happened between them.

After Tyler dropped her off, she ran into Jeremy in the kitchen.

"What happened to your hand, Jer?" asked Josie, grabbing a glass of water.

"Was just making a sandwich with Anna and it got cut," he said.

Josie paused. "You cut your hand in front of Anna?"

"It was an accident."

"How…" Josie hesitated. She didn't want to give anything away, but wanted to know if Jeremy knew. She decided on a different tactic. "Did Anna help bandage you up? Because it looks like a toddler put it on," she laughed.

"No, Anna didn't like the blood."

"Well let me help you put the bandage on properly," said Josie, grabbing the first aid kit.

"No, it's fine."

"It could get an infection if you're not careful. Let me do it."

"I'm fine," said Jeremy, more forcefully. And with that he left the kitchen.

Josie sighed. He knew. There must be a bite mark from Anna he's trying to cover up. She made her way up to his room and knocked.

"Give it up, Jo," called Jeremy.

"I'm not going to attack you with the first aid kit. Let me in."

Jeremy opened the door a few seconds later. She went in and closed the door.

"So you know," she said, sitting on his bed.

"Know what?"

"Know that Anna's a vampire. That vampires are real. Did you cut yourself on purpose?"

Jeremy looked shocked. "I wanted to be sure. How do you know?"

"Jonathan Gilbert's journals. I mean, at first I thought it was crazy, but I saw Stefan compelling someone the first day of school. The rest just fell into place."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Josie shrugged. "I didn't know if you'd believe me. Some things have happened. Dangerous things. I just wanted to protect you."

Jeremy still looked angry. So Josie told him everything. The Salvatores, tomb vampires, Katherine, etc. She left out the part about Anna's revenge and how Josie sent Vicky out of town, but told him pretty much everything else.

"So Elena knew all this time too?" asked Jeremy.

"Yes. We were both just trying to protect you."

Jeremy scoffed, clearly angry. She couldn't blame him, really. She hated when Elena was overprotective.

"Did you find out Damon was a vampire before or after you started sleeping with him?"

Josie's eyes were wide with genuine surprise. "What?" exclaimed Josie. "Oh god, does everyone know?"

Jeremy shrugged. "I don't know. No one has talked to me about it. Though I guess no one has talked to me about anything," he said, bitterly. "But we share a wall, Jo, so I know you've been sleeping with someone. I saw Damon sneaking in through your window a while ago."

Josie sighed. "I know it's stupid. I just… it's not complicated, which is nice."

"I don't need to know the details," said Jeremy, grimacing.

"And what about you and Anna? Does finding out she's a vampire change how you feel about her?" They had talked many times before about how Jeremy liked Anna.

Jeremy shook his head. "No. It almost makes me like her more. I like that she's different."

Josie smiled. She was tempted to ask more about Anna. To figure out where she and her mother were hiding the other tomb vampires, but decided against it. Using Jeremy's connection with Anna just didn't feel right.

"So if you're sleeping with Damon, does that mean all the rumors about you and Tyler aren't true?" asked Jeremy.

"You know we're not going out," said Josie, frowning. They'd talked about her and Tyler just being friends before. "I wouldn't keep secrets about that," she said, shaking her head. "But…"

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. "But what?"

"I wouldn't say no if he asked me out. I know we went out before and it didn't work, but, I don't know. I think I might like him." She paused. "Is that weird? I know you two don't get along very well."

"I like a vampire," said Jeremy, smiling and shaking his head. "I'm not gonna judge."

"Thanks."

"Hey, do me a favor and don't let Elena know we had this talk?" asked Jeremy.

Josie was confused. "Why?"

"I just need time to process."

Josie shrugged, but agreed. She wondered if Jeremy was worried about the Salvatore brothers causing trouble for Anna. Either way, she respected him enough to honor his wishes. At least for now.

Josie smiled back and pulled him in for a hug. She was glad there weren't any more secrets between them. Or at least none that she wasn't keeping from everyone else. She knew they weren't actually twins, but they'd become close over the past few months. She'd hated lying to him.

They talked for a little while longer before they each went to bed.

When Damon came to her that night, he told her about his confrontation with Pearl and Anna. As well as Frederick and Bethanne. Pearl and Anna had caught him coming out the house, since they couldn't enter without Zach's invitation. Frederick and Bethanne had done the same with Stefan as he was seeing Elena off.

Damon clearly didn't trust any of the vampires and was surprised when Josie expressed support for them over the Council. At least Pearl and Anna. She did think Frederick and Bethanne's unprovoked attack was uncalled for.

"You'd choose a couple of vampires over the Council?" he asked.

"Not all vampires are bad, Damon. If they want to live in peace, we should let them. The Council let their prejudices get the best of them back in 1864. Plus… Jeremy likes Anna. Elena loves Stefan. The Gilberts are just a bunch of vampire-lovers in this century."

Damon smirked. "And you?"

"Guess I'm the odd one out," she teased. He just smirked again and rolled on top of her. She moaned when his lips trailed down her neck and they didn't speak for a while after that.