You are my Freedom

I captured your pawn

Damon had been extra territorial with Clara the last few days, it was very hypocritical because he was a hopeless flirt with everyone but hearing she found another man attractive had him taking every opportunity to remind her how good it was with him. He wasn't taking any chances that setting this wolf trap would turn her head or any other part of her delectable body away from him.

Clara didn't mind the extra attention but was very thankful she was a vampire and could quickly heal otherwise she might be too sore to move with how... enthusiastic her husband had been with her lately.

Elsewhere Caroline was a nervous wreck having to keep spying for Katherine so she didn't suspect any moves against her. Stefan and Elena were helping by pretending to fight but she couldn't wait until this was all over- she hated this double agent crap and was constantly afraid she'd mess it all up for everyone.

The town was all gathering for this charity picnic thing and the gang decided it would be the best chance to try and get Mason on his own. Bonnie had made it very clear she wasn't going to cooperate if it involved killing or hurting him and Clara regretfully realized if she intended to keep her promise to the witch that it would mean she might have to make some moves against her husband.

It's the Mystic Falls Historical Society Volunteer Day.

Preparations are underway, Carol Lockwood is giving a speech.

"This is all part of the historical society, continuing efforts to give back to the community. Thanks to the generous donation of the Fell family. We are now standing on the sight of our newest public park. Thank you to everyone who has shown up today to lend a helping hand. Thanks."

Mason is removing boxes from his trunk as Stefan walks up

Mason notices Stefan nearby watching him, "Stefan right? One of the Salvatore's?"

"Yeah I was hoping to extend an olive branch." Stefan explains,

"Not interested," Mason says brushing him off.

"Look, my brother acted impulsively... telling Tyler about, you know..." Stefan says trying again.

"You think that's why I don't wanna bro down with you?" Mason asks condescendingly

"You have family here and us being at each other's throats is eventually going to end in someone innocent getting hurt, I can't imagine you'd want that. So what do you say we just quit the whole alpha male fighting thing and call a truce?"

Mason thinks for a moment and then agrees, "I suppose there's no need to go starting some age-old feud that doesn't even apply to us."

"Thank you." Stefan offers Mason his hand and begrudgingly he shakes it.

Stefan moves to take his hand back but Mason squeezes it crushing a bone or two and pulls Stefan in close

"If you or your brother makes a move against me..." he warns

"That won't happen," Stefan assures him, Mason nods his understanding and lets go of Stefan's hand.

Stefan walks back to Damon and Clara who are helping set up refreshments,

"Any luck on lowering his defenses?" Clara asks, Stefan holds up his hand with two disfigured fingers from Mason's killer grip.

Damon whistles out mocking his little brother's pain, "I'm gonna take that as a no... so plan B?"

Clara and Stefan agree, "Plan B."

Clara walks away to make the call to Bonnie.

Elena passes Clara as she walks over to join Stefan for another one of their "fights" that they hope satisfy Katherine enough to keep her at bay.

"Do you still care about Katherine?" Elena asks

Stefan acts annoyed, "Don't do this. Please don't turn this into something that it's not."

"So this is not for discussion. That's what you're saying?"

"No, I'm saying that this isn't up for discussion right now because we have ears on us."

"Okay, when?"

"I don't know."

"I saw her Stefan. It's like we are the same person. How could you hate her and be in love with me?"

"You're reaching. I'm not...I'm not Damon."

"How about we don't bring Damon into this right now?"

"You know, I can't...I can't do this anymore, Elena." Stefan says invoking their secret code.

Elena fights a smile, "Fine, Stefan. Whatever."

Clara walks back over to Damon who just refused a little girl offering him something to drink, distracted by listening in to his brother's "fight"

"Hey, so is she on her way?" Damon asks

Clara nods, "Yeah everything's all set."

Damon studies her for a second, "You okay... you seem nervous?"

"Yeah I'll... I'll be fine." Damon narrows his eyes at her not quite believing everything is A-okay but decides to let it go for now.

She starts walking away to get in position when the little girl who tried and failed with Damon comes up and offers her a drink. Clara kindly accepts it and takes a big sip- Vervain is burning her throat but she doesn't flinch, she lowers the cup and smiles at the girl whispering under her breath for only Damon and Stefan to hear that the drink was laced and they need to move on Mason now.

Liz and Mason stand watching from afar, they watch Clara take a sip of the vervain tainted lemonade, when it doesn't seem to affect her Liz's suspicions are put to rest.

"I guess you were wrong, I told you we can trust the Salvatore's." She tells Mason

Mason grins and nods secretly inside fuming that his plan failed.

He stalks off into the woods on "trash duty" really just needing to blow off some steam.

He throws a few punches at a tree when Clara comes up and interrupts him.

"Katherine must really think I'm weak if she thought that little trick was gonna work."

Mason turns around, "That was all me actually."

"Oh so you don't deny being her little b***h, does she even make you wear a collar in bed?" Clara asks testing him,

Mason growls angrily and stalks towards her but she quickly pulls out a dart gun and shoots him with horse tranquilizer.

"Don't worry I'm nothing like you or your master, you're just gonna take a little nap," Clara whispers to him as he loses consciousness.

Damon and Stefan come out and load Mason into his jeep and make their way over to the Boarding house.

"Looks like Bonnie's already here," Stefan says as Clara looks down guiltily but it goes unnoticed by Stefan or Damon.

They start to carry Mason inside but Damon and Stefan aren't able to enter their home they look at each other confused. Clara takes Mason and delivers him to Bonnie waiting inside. She goes back over to explain to them what she did.

"I had Bonnie put up a barrier spell, it will only last 2 hours. She only agreed to help if I promised no harm would come to Mason and this is how I am keeping that promise."

"You went behind our back?" Damon asks completely thrown

"I'm sorry, I feel awful, I do... but your too hot-headed. Just please let me do this my way." Clara begs hating being put in this position.

"What if something happens, I won't be able to get in there to protect you!" Damon shouts.

"Bonnie and I have it handled Mason is trapped in a circle, another barrier spell he won't be able to get out. I'll be safe we're just going to have a conversation."

Damon starts to walk away from the door, "I can't believe you did this." he shakes his head still shocked by his wife's betrayal.

Stefan takes over, "Do what you have to do, we'll be here."

Clara nodded and went back inside trying to ignore the sick feeling from seeing Damon so disappointed in her.

Inside Mason was coming to, he was sat in a chair surrounded by salt, he tried to leave the circle but he wasn't able to.

Clara walks back in "Want to know the reason you're little vervain trick didn't work on me?" Mason turned towards the voice staring daggers at her,

"It's because for one hundred and forty-five years I was in constant excruciating agony so now it's a little harder to get me to wince, just ask Bennet over here." She said gesturing to Bonnie who now came into the room.

"Relax, I meant what I said before- I'm not like you or Katherine, I'm not going to torture or trick you. I am going to tell you the truth and then I will let you go and anything that happens next will be up to you." Clara explains to Mason,

"Spoiler... it involves you dying. What makes you think I would ever believe anything you had to say." Mason says back.

"Another reason Bonnie is here, see she is a witch and she hates vampires, I'm not too sure her stance on werewolves..."

"Jury's still out," Bonnie remarks,

Clara turns to Mason, "Hear that, I'd behave you're representing a community here. Anyway there is no love lost between us, and the spell she will do will show you my memories, they will be completely authentic."

Mason looked to Bonnie for confirmation.

"Its true." she tells him.

but Mason is still not convinced, "why should I believe you're not just covering for her."

Bonnie shrugged, "I set her on fire once."

"Yup, fun times... lets get started- the boundary spell will only last another hour and a half," Clara says.

Bonnie moved to stand between the two of them and Clara stepped inside another circle that was connected by a line to Mason's circle.

Clara's Memories:

1864 Clara is bruised dirtied and bound to a chair in an unknown location. She starts coming to, when she sees she's tied she starts to panic, Katherine saunters in.

"Well, well, well, so this is what Damon Salvatore was trying so hard to stay faithful to, frankly I don't see the appeal, not when you could have all this." She runs her hands over her body proudly and seductively. "I suppose to each their own tho, to tell you the truth I'm more interested in Stefan anyway, but no one has ever turned me down before so now it's become a challenge, and Katarina Petrova never runs from a challenge."

Katherine makes her way over to Clara and removes her gag.

Clara takes the deep breaths she's been struggling for but stays silent not playing Katherine's game.

"Well go on, beg for your meager pathetic life."

Clara still keeps silent- frustrating Katherine.

"You know I'm curious, what exactly did it take for a servant to marry a Salvatore? I would have guessed you were pregnant but clearly not... so what was it you had that he just couldn't say no to?" Katherine asks after yet more silence she grows angry,

Katherine grabs her face roughly causing a whimper to escape Clara, "You will answer me!" She compels her.

Clara finally answers not being able to deny the vampire's compulsion, "I was his best friend. He trusted me with everything he couldn't tell to anyone else, we accepted each other and never tried to change one another, we found the freedom we so desperately were seeking... within one another."

"Ugh how boring," Katherine replied rolling her eyes

There was a knock on the door and Katherine immediately stuffed Clara's gag back in and went to check when she came back she told Clara she was off to the founder's ball, where she would command her husband to do any and everything she wanted.

As soon as Katherine was gone Clara broke down into tears until she eventually passed out from exhaustion.

Over the next two months, Clara was barely kept alive only for Katherine to come and torment her with stories of her and Damon trying to see the girl break and beg for her life, but Clara always kept silent unless compelled otherwise.

"it's so much fun having the both of them, maybe next I'll have the both of them at the same time, what fun would that be? Did you ever fantasize about it?"

Katherine flashed in front of Clara "Answer!" Compelling her.

"No." Clara answers honestly

"Hmm, why is it you went for Damon over Stefan, I understanding going for both of them clearly but choosing Damon over Stefan... so what was it? Come on you were never curious about Stefan? You know Damon is longer but Stefan... he has more girth plus when he looks at you..."

Clara looked up at Katherine realizing something, "You... love him."

"Ooh, look she can speak when not commanded to," Katherine said avoiding Clara's observation.

"But you'll never have him not truly, you'll never be happy, you'll always be trying to win but whatever prize your playing for... it will never be yours." She tells Katherine.

"Ugh, and what would you know?"

"I know if you wanted to truly be happy, if you were even capable of it you would stop playing with Damon and just be satisfied with Stefan."

Katherine shrugs "Why settle for one when I can have both?"

"You don't have both, you don't even have one... They have no idea who or what you are, no one will ever love you, will ever choose you, you are a sad... terrified little girl who wants all the boys' attention because she can't be alone... not for a second, because not even you can love you..."

"Shut up!" Katherine yells

But Clara keeps going finally seeing a way to hurt the one who has been torturing her, "I bet your family didn't want you either, did daddy not give you enough attention, did he throw you away? Is that why you won't allow yourself to be vulnerable to truly settle and be happy with just Stefan, afraid he'd discard you as well?!"

"Shut up!" Katherine backhanded Clara so hard she flew still attached to the chair across the room scrapping her face open over the jagged floorboards.

"You want to see terrifying you annoying little cunt?" Katherine walked towards her menacingly showing her vampire face.

"I am going to keep both brothers for as long as they're still interesting to me and you, you will live forever all by yourself- in constant torment. and the whole time I'll be enjoying your husband any way I want, maybe I'll even compel him to marry me." She grinned evilly and bite into her wrist shoving it into Clara's mouth and violently snapping her neck.

Clara's next memory showed Katherine talking to George Lockwood making the deal for the moonstone and sticking Clara in the tomb in her place. It showed a sped-up version of the first 40-50 years of inside the tomb and eventually, Mason was pulled out of Clara's head and back to the present,

"Present"

Mason was silent for a while, not liking seeing that side to Katherine, but eventually, he pushed down whatever sympathy Clara had managed to pull from him,

"That was a long time ago, she's not like that anymore."

Clara rolled her eyes and asked Bonnie to step in again, she showed Mason what Katherine had said when she had been in the Salvatore's basement, about only being back for Stefan.

"She was playing him," Mason said trying to not show any doubt or weakness.

"No! she is playing you. she gave your ancestor something in exchange for her freedom and now she is back for it, the only reason she has you around is because she must need you to get it for her, the second you stop being useful or interesting to her she will kill you."

Mason shook his head still in denial, "No, you're wrong."

Suddenly a thought occurs to Clara... "How did you meet Katherine?" she asks,

Mason squints, "What? Why does that matter?"

"Curiosity..." Clara mutters,

"She helped me, alright, that's all she's ever done. I had just turned and-"

Clara interrupts him, "Wait, how did you turn."

"You have to kill someone-" He starts to explain,

"No, how did you specifically turn?"

Mason looks down, hating reliving this story but still tells her, "My buddy was drunk, he kept coming at me he thought I was cheating with his girl."

"Were you?" Bonnie asks,

"No, I wouldn't do that." Mason denies emphatically.

"And he just kept coming?" Clara asks,

Mason nods, "Yes, he wouldn't stop... I didn't mean to, it was an accident."

Clara's eyes widen as the realization hits her, "Like he was possessed, couldn't hear you, just like someone had compelled him?"

Mason sees the dots she's trying to connect but fights it, "What? No! Your wrong she didn't even know me then."

"How soon after that did you meet her?" Clara asks

Mason thought on it and was getting more and more worried Clara might be on to something, something had been off about Jimmy that night but he didn't want to believe it, that all this time he was just a pawn to Katherine in some sick game she was playing. Turning into a wolf had ruined his whole life and the only good thing that came out of it was finding her... but what if it had all been a lie?