WICKERY BRIDGE
[Construction workers are restoring the Wickery Bridge, and townspeople are there for the restoration fundraiser. Alaric, Meredith and Damon arrive. Damon looks at Rebekah and Ash who are speaking to Carol Lockwood.]
Damon: Ash and Rebekah are up to something. They've been snooping around in places they shouldn't be.
Alaric: Tell me again, why are we here?
Damon: Ric, the world can't stop just because you're an accidental psycho killer.
Meredith: Do you have any tact whatsoever?
[Carol approaches them.]
Carol: Alaric, I'm glad you're here. Did you bring the sign?
[Alaric is confused.]
Carol: The restored Wickery Bridge sign. The history department promised me you'd have it today.
Alaric: I- I don't have the sign actually it slipped...it slipped my mind. I've been...busy.
Carol: Well, it's not an emergency. We'll just um- unveil it when the bridge is complete.
[Carol leaves.]
Alaric: Get me outta here.
Meredith: My pleasure.
Damon: I'm gonna stick around for a bit.
[Damon is looking at Sage who looks back at him and smiles.]
Alaric: Who is that?
Damon: Blast from the past.
[Damon walks over to Sage. Carol is making a speech.]
Sage: Damon Salvatore, my favourite student.
Damon: Sage, my hottest teacher. What are you doing here?
Sage: I'm just passing through.
Damon: Oh, come on, nobody just passes through Mystic Falls.
[Ash and Rebekah walk up to them.]
Rebekah: Look what the cat dragged in.
Damon: Easy there, Rebekah. You know she use to beat men for sport.
Ash: She always was quite common.
Sage: Rebekah. What a happy surprise. And Ash! Still shacking Klaus I see.
Rebekah: What are you doing here Sage?
Sage: Well, I heard Finn was finally freed from that casket your rageaholic brother Klaus carted him around in.
Rebekah: Mmm, Finn, you just missed him. He left town and didn't tell a soul where he was going.
Sage: He probably went looking for me.
Ash: Or quite possibly he forgot all about you.
Sage: I doubt that.
Ash: No? Cause he didn't seem to mention you. Sorry, you came all this way for nothing. Have a nice life.
[Ash and Rebekah leave.]
Sage: God, I hate that elitist Original bitch.
Damon: [Chuckles] Which one?
Ash [To Rebekah] Ugh, why is that obsessive original-lover bitch back?
WOODS
[Sage and Damon are walking together.]
Damon: Finn, really?
Sage: He's my one true love. He turned me so we could be together forever. Then Klaus daggered him and locked him away and I've been waiting ever since. Please don't tell me that you and Rebekah are friends.
Damon: Not unless you count hate sex.
Sage: Good, 'cause she, Ash and Klaus always treated me like some peasant whore.
Damon: Ah, she's just lurking around because she wants something from me. Can't figure out what it is though.
Sage: Why don't you get inside her head and find out?
Damon: Cause it's impossible. She's too strong.
Sage: I bet I could get in there.
Damon: Sage, she's an Original. It's not gonna happen.
Sage: Have you forgotten everything I taught you? Rebekah may be an Original, but she's a girl. You find her weakness and exploit it and I'll walk right in. That is if you want my help.
WICKERY BRIDGE
[Ash and Rebekah are walking past the catering table when Damon comes up behind them.]
Damon: Did I ever tell you you're sexy when you're bitchy?
Rebekah: We're talking now, are we? Cause you were quite rude the other day, using me to help you with Stefan and then shooing me away like a stray dog.
Damon: Oh, but that was brother business, you can't hold that against me. Besides I really did appreciate your help even if I don't show it.
Rebekah: You were mean.
Damon: You like mean.
Rebekah: No, I don't.
Damon: No? You didn't get a thrill back there pushing Sage down, crushing her dreams of true love?
Rebekah: Maybe a little.
Damon: See? Mean. Can Sage and I interest you in a drink back at the house?
Rebekah: Not a chance in hell.
Damon: Well, you know what they say: two's company, three's a party.
[Rebekah and Damon stare at each other for a while.]
Damon: Fine.
[Damon puts his drink down on the table and leans in towards Rebekah and brushes his hand past her hip.]
Damon: Enjoy the rest of your day.
[He walks away, leaving Rebekah looking puzzled.]
Ash: The hell? Rebekah I have a bad feeling about him, just keep your distance.
SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE
[A man is playing the piano. Sage sits next to him, while Damon uncorks two bottles of wine.]
Sage: Remember this song?
Damon: All right Miss Master Seductress, where's our victim?
[Damon pours the wine into glasses.]
Sage: Patience. Between her craving for affection and her pathological fear of being left alone, our little get-together is too tempting to resist.
[Sage bites the wrist of the man playing the piano and feeds on him.]
Damon: Finn's gone, you know.
[Sage stops feeding.]
Sage: I choose to believe otherwise.
Damon: He strung you along for 900 years, didn't bother to call, he's gone.
[Damon hands her a glass.]
Sage: You know, the Damon I knew was holding out for someone too.
Damon: Yes, he was. Hope's a bitch, Sage. Get out while you can.
[Damon pours wine into her glass. The doorbell rings.]
Sage: The sweet chime of desperation.
[Rebekah enters the room with a bottle of wine and holds it up.]
Rebekah: I stole it from Nik who stole it from Ash who stole it from a Queen. Not sure which one. Well, this is depressing. What happened to the party?
[Sage gets up and walks over to Rebekah, taking the bottle from her.]
Sage: It just arrived.
[She breaks the neck of the bottle off.]
[Damon and Sage dance together. Rebekah watches them and sits down next to the man on the piano. She bites his neck and starts to feed. Sage gestures to Damon to go over to her. He does and Sage sits down on the couch.]
Damon: How bout a duet?
[Rebekah stops feeding for a second and looks at him. She goes back to feeding. Damon grabs the man's wrist and begins to feed as well. They both stop after a while and wipe the blood from their lips. Damon pushes the man, who is now dead, off the bench and moves toward Rebekah. He gently grabs her face in his hand and Rebekah stands up. They are about to kiss when Rebekah looks over at Sage.]
Rebekah: What about her?
Damon: I don't want her. I want you.
[Damon kisses Rebekah. Sage watches from the couch and smiles.]
[Damon and Rebekah are lying in Damon's bed together. They are both naked and draped in sheets. Rebekah is asleep, Damon is awake and sees Sage enter the room. He nods at her. She quietly walks over to the bed and sits next to Rebekah. She places her hand on Rebekah's head and gets inside her head. She smiles. Damon mouths "What?" to Sage and Sage puts a finger to his lips. She nods her head towards the bathroom and starts to walk over to it while taking her shirt off. Sage is in the shower and Damon goes in with her.]
Damon: I take it back, your plan is amazing.
Sage: I told you if you got her comfortable enough, she's an open book.
[Damon moves closer to her.]
Damon: Well, are you gonna torture me or are you gonna tell me what she's up to?
Sage: I'd rather show you.
[Sage kisses Damon. He sees the memories that Sage saw when she touched Rebekah.]
Rebekah: A white oak tree. There must have been a new tree to replace the old one.
[Damon gets another memory.]
Carol: It probably got cut down.
Rebekah: Do you happen to know who kept the milling ledgers during that period?
[Damon breaks off the kiss and looks at Sage.]
Damon: There's another tree.
[Damon is in the library looking for the logging mill records, still wet with a towel tied around his waste. Sage walks in.]
Sage: Milling records?
Damon: Our family made one of its many fortunes selling lumber. It's why Rebekah's been digging around about this stuff. That tree was on our land and milled by our yard. The ledgers will tell me where it was shipped. Business archives should be around here somewhere. Get upstairs, and make sure you keep her distracted.
[Sage goes back upstairs. Damon finds the milling archives and pulls out the one from 1912. He flips through it and finds where the tree was shipped to: the old Wickery Bridge.]
Damon: You gotta be kidding me!
[Damon is burning the milling record from 1912. Sage enters.]
Sage: Rebekah just left.
Damon: Happy, I hope.
Sage: Did you find what you were looking for?
Damon: Yep. 1912, the Salvatore milling company chopped down a forest, its most valuable wood came from an old white oak tree that was used to make the Wickery Bridge. These aren't public records, so Rebekah's gonna chase her tail for a long time.
Sage: So all the wood stripped from the underside of that bridge is basically a weapon that could kill an Original?
Damon: Yep.
Sage: You see how this could be a problem for me, right?
[Damon looks at Sage, gets up and starts walking over to her.]
Damon: Why? Because of your true love Finn? Let me tell you something, I met the guy, you're not gonna miss him.
[Sage rushes over to Damon.]
Sage: I will rip your head off in two seconds if you take one more step.
Damon: Alright, let's make a deal. You let me kill Rebekah, I consider Finn untouchable, you guys walk into the sunset together.
Sage: Is that a promise?
Damon: Yes. It's a promise.
Sage: I'll agree if I can kill Ash.
Damon: Fine
[A little while later. Damon enters the library.]
Damon: Sage, let's go, we have Originals to kill.
[Sage is not in the library anymore.]
Damon: Sage.
WICKARY BRIDGE
[Damon drives towards the bridge and sees Ash and Rebekah standing in front of a bonfire of wood from the white oak tree. Damon stops the car and gets out, slamming the door in frustration.]
Rebekah: Your grand plans always seem to get ruined, don't they? Sorry to disappoint you. Again.
[Rebekah walks away. Damon turns around and sees Sage by his car.]
Damon: You set me up.
Sage: No. I'm just looking out for myself.
[Damon walks over to her.]
Damon: I told you I'd save your creepy boyfriend!
Sage: And you lied to me, Damon! The Originals are linked, if one dies they all die. If I can get inside her head, don't you think I'd be able to get inside yours?
[Damon rushes toward Sage and grabs her by the throat, pushing her against his car.]
Damon: I should end you.
Sage: I'm 900 years old, Damon. You're not capable of ending me.
[Sage pushes Damon off of her and throws him down onto the hood of his car.]
Sage: Do you really think that I would risk Finn's life for one of your petty revenge fantasies?
[Damon gets up and moves closer to Sage.]
Damon: Let me tell you something, your long lost love has a suicide wish. Cause when mama witch linked them together in a spell he's the one that volunteered to die.
Sage: He wouldn't do that.
Damon: He didn't want to live. Not for you. Not for anyone. He doesn't love you, Sage. Now, when I do find another way to kill those Originals, I'll start with Finn.
[He gets in his car. He begins driving to the Gilbert residence. He sees a figure standing on the road, he slows down to a stop.]
Damon: Rebekah is that you?
[He is attacked from behind and thrown into his car door.]
Ash: You hurt my sister. Did you really think you could just drive away?
[She throws him to the ground]
Ash: You fucked her for your own gain. You went into her mind and searched through her memories. I can't kill you yet but I promise you, I will come back and I will end you.
[She speeds away. Damon slowly gets up and begins coughing. He quickly gets back into his car and drives off.]
SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE
[Stefan is in the library, drinking. Damon enters holding something wrapped in brown Kraft paper.]
Damon: Little early in the day for you, isn't it?
Stefan: Just having a little toast.
Damon: To what?
Stefan: Control.
Damon: If you're happy, I'm happy.
Stefan: I saw the marks on your car. Ash really did a run-in.
Damon: Yeah, yeah well I'll get her back for it.
Stefan: Why are you in such a good mood? Sage double-crossed you, the tree's a pile of ash, Alaric's got a psychopathic alter ego and Ash beat you up.
Damon: You know, Stefan, I'm a philanthropist, I make the world a better place. Restoring bridges, landmarks, and...
[Damon rips the paper off what he carried into the room. It's the Wickery Bridge sign.]
Damon: Historical signs made of the same white oak as the Wickery Bridge.
[Stefan gets up and looks at the sign.]
Stefan: They think all the wood burned.
Damon: I sold my rage. Whew! You should have seen me.
Stefan: We have a weapon.
Damon: The game's back on, brother. Let's go kill some Originals.