Later, Ellie, Elena, and Jeremy arrived home Ellie and Elena stared at the dining room table, seeing all the weapons set out...
"Jeremy, it's over. You can put all this away." Ellie said.
"Klaus still wants me to finish the mark. He's not gonna stop." He said, cocking a gun.
"Well, Damon's going to be back soon. We can figure something out." Elena says.
"Seriously? You still trust Damon?" Jeremy asked.
"He saved your life." Said Elena.
"No, he saved the map to the cure. He couldn't care less about Jeremy." Ellie said.
"Right." Jeremy says, nodding in agreement.
"Well, we care about you." Elena said.
Ellie rested her hand on his arm and he knocked it off.
"Don't. Whatever's inside of me that makes me want to hunt, right now it's in overdrive. And I don't want to hu..." Jeremy said.
"Jeremy!" Elena shouted and gasped.
Ellie looked down at the stake in Jeremy's hand that was near her stomach.
"Remember, find the detour." Elena said.
Jeremy lifted the stake and backed away from Ellie. Jeremy blinked and placed the stake back down on the table.
"I'm sorry. I don't know why I grabbed that. I know what I have to do, Ellie. I really want to get that cure for you... but I just- I don't know how I'm gonna do this."
Back with Stefan and Rebekah, they were still in Shane's office...
Stefan paced and Rebekah watched him.
"She'll be fine, you know."
"So much random crap in here." He said.
"Crap, maybe. Random, no. Looks like Shane has a bit of an afterlife fetish. Hopi prayer feathers, a Han Dynasty soul vase... and that is a Polynesian sacrificial knife. Brutal way to die, but at least you appease the gods."
"Since when did you become an artifact expert?" He asked.
"I enjoy other cultures, Stefan. I know that might be hard for you to understand... considering you're dating a child who only thinks about you and herself."
He looked down and growled, throwing a knife at her, and she caught it inches from her face.
"Okay, that was a little mean. It took me a thousand years and hundreds of betrayals... to realise that love and caring ruins you. Well, for me. Not you and Ellie."
"Well, that's awfully bleak." He said.
"Quite the opposite. It's liberating, actually."
She ran her hand up his chest and he grabbed it, removing her hand and dropped it.
"I know what you're trying to do. Not gonna work." He said.
"You know why we had so much fun in the '20s, Stefan? Because we didn't care. We just did what felt good. Drinking... feeding... sex."
"I think mine and Ellie's sex is pretty amazing, actually. She's crazy in bed. Crazy sex is always good."
She leaned in closer, and he shoved her back.
Shane's office door opened, and Stefan and Rebekah sped away to hide somewhere.
A man looked around and walked in. The man started searching for something.
He walked over to a bookshelf, removing some books and knocking on the back, and he opened it up. Finding the headstone
Ellie walked into the room, seeing him.
"Oh. You found it. Thank God. Saves us the trouble of looking for it."
The man turned around and saw Ellie standing there.
"Who are you?"
Stefan and Rebekah came out, and Rebekah grabbed the man by the throat.
"The funnier question is, who the hell are you?" Asked Rebekah.
Later, Elena opened the door, seeing Damon there...
She looked at him and walked out of the house and over to him.
"What happened? Are you okay?"
"Kol happened." He says.
"Thank God you both got away. If Kol had taken Jeremy-"
"Is he here? I just wanna talk to him real fast." He said.
"He's at the Grill. He wanted to check on Matt."
"Well, I should go apologise to him. I was... I was a little tough on him today." He tells her.
Back with Shane, he was still in a police station...
Bonnie walked back in.
"I told my Dad to give us a minute. The camera's off. You can talk." She said, switching the camera off.
He pointed to another camera in the corner of the room.
"Are you sure about that?"
"Yeah, I don't lie. I'm not you." She said.
"I was always gonna tell you the truth. I just kept putting it off, I was worried how you'd act."
"Bad. That's how I react to murder." She tells him.
"I'm not a killer, Bonnie. Pastor Young was depressed-"
"I've heard this. Skip to where you convinced him to massacre 11 people." She said.
"It wasn't a massacre. It was a ritual. It was something necessary to raise Silas and get the cure your friends desperately want for Ellie."
"Don't put this on Ellie. If they knew people had to die-" She said.
"It doesn't matter if they die. Silas will bring them back."
She frowned. "You're crazy."
"I'm not crazy. I'm just passionate."
"You're full on crazy. Caroline and Ellie warned me about you." She said, walking towards the door.
"Do you remember our first session? It was about your grandmother. You thought every time you did magic, you were causing her pain. Aren't you curious about what's happening to her now? Wouldn't you like to see her again?"
She closed the door and looked at him.
Back at the Grill, Matt was working when Damon and Elena walked over to him...
"Don't you ever take a night off?" Damon asked.
"I took two days off to help you out at the lake house, remember? I almost got killed. And we're no closer to getting Ellie that cure." Matt says.
"Where's Jeremy?" Asked Damon.
"He's in the back, I think." Matt says.
Damon walked away and Elena stayed with Matt.
"Look, finding this cure for Ellie... you don't have to get yourself killed for it. Ellie wouldn't want that. Are you doing okay?" She asked.
"Yeah. But it's my fault she's the way she is and now I also ruined their epic love."
"Caroline." She said, signing softly.
Jeremy walked out of the back, seeing Damon across the room.
He saw the veins under Damon's eyes and saw him charging towards him, and Jeremy backed away.
"Damon." Elena said.
Damon turned around and looked at her.
"Are you all right? What's going on?"
Damon looked to see the window closing and Jeremy gone.
Jeremy stepped into the back room and grabbed his gun, cocking it and pointing it at the door.
Jeremy then looked at the opening where Matt and April had used to escape the last time they were trapped in here.
Damon walked away from Elena and walked into the back, finding it empty. Elena walked in.
"What is wrong with you?"
"It was Kol. He must have compelled me. If I find Jeremy... I'm gonna kill him." He said.
He saw the hole in the wall and sped down there and ended up in the tunnels.
A few minutes later, Jeremy was walking down the tunnel holding a flashlight and a gun...
"Jeremy. Get out of here. Do you hear me? Don't stop. Kol compelled me. There's nothing I can do. You can't hide in here, Jer. If I find you, you're dead. Jeremy, are you listening to me? You'd better run. I am coming to kill you. You need to go. Now!" Damon shouted.
Jeremy looked around and walked away.
Damon sped off in a direction.
Back with Rebekah, Ellie, and Stefan...
Rebekah had tied the man to a chair and was cutting his leg with a knife.
The man groaned.
"All you have to do to make it stop... is tell us who sent you." Rebekah said.
Rebekah placed her finger to her mouth and she tasted his blood.
"You're full of vervain. I know you haven't been compelled." Said Rebekah.
"Or maybe somebody compelled him before he ingested it. Can that actually happen?" Ellie asked, looking at Stefan.
Stefan nodded.
"He was after the headstone. We need to know who sent him." Rebekah says.
"Okay, fine. So, we'll take him home, wait till the vervain is out of his system... and then we can compel him and get whatever information we want." Stefan said.
"That's not a bad idea." Ellie says.
The man started choking and blood poured from his mouth, and Ellie grabbed his head.
"Ew. He just bit off his own tongue." Ellie tells them.
"So he does know something." Rebekah said.
He grabbed the knife from Rebekah's hand and stabbed himself in the neck.
"He definitely knew something." Ellie said, pulling the knife out, staring at the blood.
"I guess he was compelled." Stefan says, looking at Ellie.
Veins appeared under her eyes and she looked at the knife. Stefan takes it from her.
"Was it my bastard brother or yours?" Asked Rebekah.
"Maybe it's option number three. There's another team in the race. We gotta be quicker."
Back with Bonnie and Shane...
"You're saying if I help you raise Silas, you can bring my Grams back? Don't play on my guilt, Shane."
"I'm not playing on anything. This is the truth. You told me what happened. Your reckless use of magic is the reason-" He says.
"Don't."
"Is the reason those spirits are torturing her on the other side." He said.
"Don't."
"Hurting her, again and again and again." He tells her.
"I said don't!"
He started groaning and held up his hand.
"My hand. You can't stop, can you? All this power that you're feeling... you actually like it, don't you?" He asked.
He groaned and screamed, looking at his hand and the bones cracked.
"Look at yourself, Bonnie. Look at yourself, Bonnie." He said.
The door opened, and her dad ran in.
"Bonnie. What are you doing?" Rudy asked.
"Get..." Bonnie says, tipping the water onto the floor. "... out of here."
She started a fire and Rudy backed away a little.
"Bonnie, stop!" Rudy shouted.
"You can't reason with her. She's lost control." Shane says.
"Bonnie, baby. Baby. Please. Do something!" Rudy shouted, glaring at Shane.
"Bonnie. Bonnie, look at me. Now take a deep breath. I'm right here with you. You are in complete control. That's it." Shane said.
The fire went out and Shane looked at his hand and Bonnie had a tear fall down her cheek. She then walked out of the room.
"Your daughter is a prodigy. With my guidance... she'll be one of the powerful witches in the world. But without it... she's a time bomb." Shane tells him.
Later, Stefan, Ellie, and Rebekah...
"Is there a reason we're still standing in Shane's office?" Ellie asked, and her phone rings.
She takes out her phone, seeing Elena calling her.
Rebekah went to take it when Ellie backed away.
"What are you doing?" Ellie asked.
"Back off, Rebekah." Stefan said, stepping in front of Ellie.
Ellie: "Hey. What's up?"
Elena: "Listen. I know you're busy doing whatever it is you and Stefan are doing, and you probably don't care, but Kol compelled Damon to kill Jeremy. They're somewhere in the tunnels. It's one giant maze down here, and I can't find them. Maybe you could come help."
"Just hang up, Ellie. What sort of twin even says that? That's just plain out heartless. Of course Ellie cares, that's her whole existence." Rebekah said.
Elena: "Is that Rebekah? Are you and Stefan with Rebekah now?"
Ellie: "You know what, Elena, I'm sick of the way you're treating me as if I'm some monster. I'll find him myself. I don't need your help."
Ellie hung up and signed, looking at Stefan.
Back with Jeremy, he removed his jacket...
"Did you miss the part where I said I'm compelled? Don't stop." Damon says.
Jeremy took out a flip knife and cut his hand.
"Seriously? You're being hunted by a vampire, and now you're bleeding?"
Damon sped off and found Jeremy's jacket on the ground and looked around.
Jeremy came up behind him, wrapping his arm around Damon's neck, and Damon bit into his arm.
Damon flung Jeremy onto the floor.
"Don't move, Jer. You can't fight me in close quarters." Said Damon.
"It's worth a shot."
Jeremy takes out the gun and fired at him.
Damon screamed and fell to his knees, and Jeremy got to his feet.
"You're gonna have to shoot me, Jeremy, in the heart. I'm not gonna be able to stop myself. Jeremy, you are a hunter. You know you want to. Do it. Do it!" Damon shouted, getting to his feet.
Jeremy fired the gun.
Later, Damon sat up and groaned, pulling the bullet from his head...
"He shot me in the head." He said, throwing the bullet on the floor angrily.
He looked around, finding Jeremy gone.
"Stupid, idiot, borderline brain-dead moron. That was dumb, Jeremy. You should have killed me when you had the chance." Damon said, walking towards the exit, seeing blood droplets.
Later, Rebekah and Ellie find Kol...
"Going somewhere? I would if I were you. If Damon kills the hunter, Nik will not be pleased." Rebekah said.
"I told Nik I wouldn't touch the kid. I didn't."
"Well, isn't that clever? I'm sure he'll really appreciate it." Said Ellie.
Kol walked away from them when Rebekah held a dagger to Kol's back.
"You'd really dagger me?"
"If I do, Damon's compulsion ends and this is all over." Rebekah said.
"And then you're no better than Niklaus, daggering siblings when you disagree with them."
Ellie looked at the dagger, then at Rebekah.
"Look at what this family has become. I mean, Elijah won't even show his face; he's so disgusted by our bickering. This cure has ruined us, and it hasn't even been found yet. Just imagine what would happen if it was."
"This family was ruined long before we knew about the cure." Rebekah says.
Kol spun around with the white oak stake, and Ellie grabbed his wrist, preventing him from stabbing Rebekah.
"Kol." Rebekah said.
"I won't let you raise Silas."
Klaus arrived and threw Kol against the door.
"Enough with this foolishness. Put it down, Kol." Said Klaus.
Kol sped out of the room, leaving them.
Rebekah looked at Ellie, her eyes wide.
"He was going to kill me. If it wasn't for Ellie." Rebekah says.
"Well, then, I think you need a lesson in how to properly dagger a sibling." Klaus said.
"Burn in hell."
"Ellie, let's go." Rebekah said, walking out the door.
Ellie smirked and followed Rebekah out, shutting the door behind her.
Back with Jeremy, he ran through the woods, his arm badly bleeding...
He fell against the tree and sat down on the ground.
With Damon, he walked through the woods and Elena found him...
"Damon, stop. Please? I know you don't wanna hurt Jeremy. So please stop."
He turned around to face her.
"I can't." He said.
"Yes, you can. You're strong enough to resist the compulsion. I know that you are."
"Why, because Stefan did for Ellie?" He asked.
"Because I love you. Because you love me. You'd do anything for me, so please... do this for me."
He heard Jeremy's blood dripping onto the floor.
Jeremy was still leaning against a tree, and he breathed heavily.
Jeremy still held the gun in his hand and looked down at the arm Damon bit.
Back with Damon and Elena...
"I'm sorry, Elena." He said, speeding off.
"Damon." Elena said, and ran off after him at normal human speed.
A second later, Damon appeared behind Jeremy and Jeremy cocked his gun with his shoulder...
"Jeremy."
Jeremy's head snapped behind him, seeing Damon, and he pointed his gun at Damon and stood up.
"Shoot now."
Jeremy fired and Stefan arrived, pinning Damon against a tree.
"Hey, brother. Long time no see." Said Stefan.
Elena stopped running, and she breathed heavily and saw Stefan snap Damon's neck.
Stefan then looked at Jeremy and fed him some blood. His eyes turned to Elena.
Stefan panted softly.
"You're welcome. And next time you upset Ellie, you're gonna see a side of me you won't like. Do you understand, Elena? She does care about you and Jeremy. Doesn't matter what she is."
Jeremy looked at Stefan, then at Elena.
"You two are the only family she has left. She does care." Said Stefan.
"I'm sorry." Elena said.
"Not me, you should be apologising to. I couldn't care less. It's Ellie. You need to say sorry to her. That's who I care about." Stefan says.
Later, Stefan puts Damon's body in a cell in the boarding house basement...
Stefan looked down, seeing Damon's hand moving. Damon grunted and lifted his head off the ground.
"Easy there, buddy. You lost a lot of blood." Stefan said.
"So you bled me out?"
"Yeah, I didn't have much of a choice. Kol's compulsion is still in effect, so you need to stay locked up. We don't have any vervain, so this was the only way I could weaken you." Said Stefan.
"Shouldn't we be going after Kol? Make him de-compel me."
"Yeah. Yeah, sure. That sounds easy enough, Damon. Ellie and I will get right on it." Stefan says, scoffing loudly.
Damon tried getting to his feet and fell back, and he coughed.
"At least let me see Elena."
"Come on. You know you can't do that. She'll let you out. It's better for Ellie and Elena if you stay here. At least until we find the cure." Stefan says.
"It's you and Ellie that are sired, Stefan. Not me and Elena. Anyway, I don't care what you and Ellie do."
Stefan walked towards the door.
Stefan, wait. Stefan."
Stefan shut and locked the door.
"Ste-"
Stefan walked away and walked upstairs, seeing Elena walking around the corner...
"Going to see Damon?"
"I need to talk to him." She says.
"You can't. You'll just let him out."
"I won't let him out." She said.
"That all? Because I'm a little busy."
"Stefan, what are you and Ellie doing with Rebekah?" She asked.
"What are you suggesting?"
"She tried to kill Ellie and me."
"And this will be the second time that Damon tried to kill Jeremy."
She looked at him.
"So I guess nobody's perfect, right? He's no good for you. Once he hurts you, and he will, it's only a matter of time."
She glared at him.
"You can do whatever the hell you want, Elena, I really don't care, but you aren't letting Damon out. I'll let him know you stopped by."
She stared at him and walked to the front door, where she opened it, seeing Ellie standing there.
"Ellie-"
"I really don't want to talk to you right now." Ellie said, walking into the boarding house.
"Hey." Stefan smiled. "You're still alive?"
"Obviously. Can you believe I actually saved Rebekah's life?" Ellie asked, looking at him.
Elena looked back at her twin sadly and walked out.
"How?"
"I stopped Kol from white oak staking her. I really wanna help her, Stefan. I want to get the cure for her." She said.
"I'm going to speak to Rebekah... how about you grab a blood bag and wait in my bed for me?"
Back with Bonnie and Rudy, they were at the Grill...
"I owe you an apology."
"No. You don't owe me anything. I'm not happy to be right. I'm gonna get you some help." He said.
"Help? Dad, I'm okay."
"Are you kidding me?" He asked.
"I got angry, I admit, but I knew what I was doing."
"You lost control. And Shane said that..." He said.
"Didn't we just established... that we couldn't trust him? He's trying to get under your skin."
"The only thing that got under my skin is what I saw... which was my daughter using dangerous magic. And the fact that you don't think you need help means you need it even more." He tells her.
Later, Klaus walked towards the Gilbert's household and knocked on the door...
Elena opened the door, Elena and Jeremy find Klaus standing there.
"Good evening, Gilbert clan. Oh, wait, one's missing. Oh, the one that's important to me."
"What do you want, Klaus?" Asked Elena.
"And the one I want is right there. I've come to fetch my hunter. Seeing as my brother's become a liability, Jeremy will be safer with me."
"I think I'll pass. I've killed enough people for you today." Jeremy says.
"You think you're safer here? Hmm. You don't know Kol. He'll stop at nothing to get what he wants. So strange as it may seem, I'm your best bet."
"I'm sorry, but I think we'd rather take our chances." Elena says.
Klaus stepped closer, but he hadn't been invited in, so he couldn't go any further.
"Fine. But when Kol does come, and he will come... be sure to let me know. Preferably before he burns your nice little home to the ground. As for you, hunter... there's no shortage of people to turn or loved ones to threaten, so sleep well. We'll plan to finish our work tomorrow."
Jeremy pulled the phone from behind his back and Elena shut the door.
Later, Rebekah was in a room, and she took a sip of her alcoholic drink...
Her door opened and Stefan walked in.
"Sure, just barge right in."
"I thought not knocking was your thing. I thought I'd show you how annoying it can be. You didn't dagger Kol." He said.
"Ellie. And I supposed she bragged about saving my life. Of course, she did. Little bitch, you're girlfriend, you know."
"And she also said she wants to help you get the cure." He says.
"She does?"
"Hmm. Not so little bitch anymore. So, now you know she doesn't wanna stab you in the back. What about you, huh? You gonna stab us in the back?" He asked.
"I just want the cure, Stefan. I suppose I could share it with you two. I do believe my brother Kol has finally lost his mind."
"That's all right. Jeremy is still alive, and I took care of Damon. Anyway, I'm not here to chitchat. I've got my girlfriend at home waiting for me. Where'd you put it?" He asked, staring at her.
"The headstone? Some place safe."
"That wasn't really our deal." He said.
"Well, I believe Ellie wants to help me find the cure, but considering that you've betrayed me twice... and I've betrayed you never, I think I'm acting prudently. Especially since we have no idea why that guy was looking for it."
"Just make sure no one finds it. It's our only hope. And I've told you plenty of times, I want that cure." He says.
Later, Stefan arrived in his bedroom to see Ellie sat in his bed in her underwear, sipping from a blood bag and holding her phone to her ear...
She held her finger up to Stefan and gave him a smiled.
He smirked and lay on the bed beside her, and he kissed her legs.
Jeremy and Elena stood in the kitchen and the phone was set on the table on loudspeaker.
Jeremy: "Ellie, this is never gonna end. If Kol doesn't kill me first... then Klaus will just force me to kill more innocent people."
Ellie: "Mm. I know what you're saying, Jeremy."
Jeremy: "How many is it going to take. Ten? A hundred?"
Ellie's eyes widened.
Ellie: "That's it. If you kill one Original vampire, their entire sire line will die with them. That's thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of vampires."
Elena: "Kol compelled Damon to kill you. You're gonna kill Kol instead."
Ellie: "I'll help. Just let me call you back later, Jeremy."
Elena: "Ellie, we need to-"
Back with Ellie...
Ellie hung up and she looked at Stefan.
"Okay. I'm all yours."
"Mm." He said.
She got up from the bed, and she pulled him up using her speed.
He looked down at her, his eyes filled with pure lust. He smashed his lips against hers, and she removed his clothes quickly, leaving him in his boxers.
His hands rested on her hips, and he sped them to the bed, where they continued kissing.
They both moaned.
Song: Skin, Zola Jesus