"Oh, you got to be kidding me." Damon was currently chained to a chair with a fireplace stoker in his chest. "Oh, Stefan." He immediately thinks it's Stefan as he is a ripper now. "Low blow, Stefan. Low blow."
Stefan appears in the room.
"What the hell happened to you?" He looks at Damon weirdly. "Whatever twisted ripper game this is, leave me out of it."
"I didn't do this." Damon glares at him, "Quit screwing around!" Damon yells at Stefan fed up of his games. "I didn't. He checks the chains that are wrapped around him. It's pretty messed up though, isn't it?" He begins to take out the hot stoker as Damon yells out in pain. "Yep." He stops untangling the chains and leaves. "Yeah, not to worry. I'll just untangle myself."
The curtain opens and the light burns Damons skin as he screams in pain.
---
Valerie and Elena are currently walking into the Town Square to meet Alaric and Jeremy. "Hey, sorry we're late, what did we miss" Jeremy shrugs his shoulder "you didn't miss anything"
Jeremy laughs under his breath, "what's so funny?" Valerie and Elena give him a weird glance, he just points towards the podium.
Valerie looks over to the side to see Caroline and Bonnie hanging up decorations, Caroline meets her glance and waves her over. Valerie walks over to find them talking about Jeremy and his ghost girlfriends.
"So when you did the spell to send Vicki away, did that get rid of Anna, too?" Caroline questioned Bonnie, "I wish. All I did was block the magic that was helping Vicki get a physical foothold here. Jeremy's still got a direct line to the other side, and as long as he wants to see Anna and she wants to see him, she's still here."
"Okay, you don't think I can actually resist commenting on that." Valerie rolled her eyes at Caroline. "There. You commented." Bonnie copied Valerie's actions. "Bonnie..." Caroline voice trailed, "What do you want me to say, Caroline? I went against the balance of nature when I brought Jeremy back to life, and now I'm paying the consequences."
"Well, I want you to say you're not okay with it." Valerie wondered why Caroline wouldn't let it go, but thought she was just trying to be a good friend. "I'm a thousand times not okay with it. I just don't know what to do about it."
Damons car pulled up with him sat in the front seat, "Greetings, blondie. Witchy. Eh, I'll think of a name for you. Think you got your voodoo wires all crossed when you got rid of Vicki Donovan." The girls turned to each other sharing a confused look.
"What do you mean, why?"
"Because I'm pretty sure I just got spit roasted by Mason Lockwood's ghost." Valerie's eyes widened in shock. "What?" Bonnie asked her question first. "And why would you think that?"
"Maybe because he chained me to a chair and shoved a hot poker in my chest. Let's just say I'm having déjà vu." Caroline looks at Bonnie, directing her question to her. "I thought you said that ghosts couldn't physically interact with people." She furrowed her brows in confusion. "They can't."
"Yeah, well, I don't have time for a vengeful Lockwood. When I kill someone, they're supposed to stay dead. Whatever you screwed up, fix it." Damon then drove off leaving the girls in shock.
---
Elena, Valerie, Alaric and Jeremy are seated outside of the Grill. "Hey, Jer, I need you to help me with something." She had Stefans journals in front of her. "What's up?" Valerie didn't really want her younger brother getting involved with the supernatural stuff, but he would disagree.
"I've been going through Stefan's old journals. Every single time that he's gone off the rails in the past, his best friend Lexi's been the one to bring him back." Valerie vaguely remembered Stefan going over how Damon staked her. "So where is she now that we need her?" Valerie sighed knowing what she was going to ask.
"She's dead." He looks at Elena, knowingly. "And you want me to try to reach her, don't you?" Elena nodded, "I thought if I knew how she did it, maybe I could help him."
"I don't even know if she's on the other side." Valerie raised her eyebrows at the name, the other side. It was very simple. "Is that what it's called?" Valerie questioned.
"That's what Anna calls it. There's not like an official brochure or anything." Valerie made a noise which sounded half way between a laugh and a scoff.
"So what is it, like some sort of supernatural purgatory?" Valerie loved Alarics comments almost as much as Damons. "Well, Anna said it's like being here with all of us, only we can't see her or hear her. And she can't interact with anyone. She's all alone."
"Vicki could interact. She blew up my car." Valerie thought back to that event which scared the crap out of her. "Vicki had help from a witch on the other side. Anna...She's doing this all by herself."
"I'm just saying, maybe we learned our lesson about summoning dead people." Alaric decided being an adult figure was best right now.
"Do you think it's even possible to contact Lexi?" Valerie didn't believe in ghosts, she thought it was the one thing that wouldn't be true. "I don't know. I didn't have an emotional connection with her. I never even met her." Neither. "Can we just drop it, please?" Alaric didn't understand the big deal about Lexi.
"No, I can't drop it, Ric. I don't know what else to do." Valerie tried comforting Elena knowing she could break any moment. "Don't you think we have a few too many dead vampires in our past to be sitting here thinking of them watching us?" Alaric knew he was right.
"I don't think all supernatural spirits go to the other side. I think some of them find peace." Only Jeremy could hear Anna, he looks at her but all that Elena, Valerie and Alaric can see is an empty chair.
"Is Anna here right now?" Elena wished she wasn't. "Don't tell her I'm here. She won't like it." Jeremy did as told "No, no. I'm going to go, uh, check my work schedule." Valerie doesn't believe him but plays along anyway.
He gets up and leaves. Stefan arrives and sits down where Jeremy's was just seated.
"Hey, guys. Who forgot to invite me to the family summit?" Valerie scoffed and answered "everyone" Stefan brought his hand to his heart. "Ouch" Valerie just rolls her eyes. He sees the journals and takes one and looks through it. "Hmm? Wow. All these words. I forgot how much I used to care."
"I didn't." Stefan looked at her "You know, Elena, it's probably best you not torture yourself with memories from the past. It's best we both just move on and accept things as they are." Everyone at the table rolled their eyes.
"You don't have to be here, Stefan." Valerie silently agreed with Alaric. "You know what, Alaric, you're right. I don't. But Elena's here, and I look out for Elena. Besides, there's going to be people everywhere tonight. So there's going to be lots to eat." Elena looks at him, shocked but he laughs. Valerie wonders what happened to him.
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Loosen up."
He gets up and leaves. Elena looks at Alaric. "I can't drop it, Ric." Valerie nods her head in agreement.
Valerie's phone started ringing in her pocket. She excused herself and looked at her phone seeing it said 'unknown number.'
She shrugged her shoulders and answered the call. "Hello?"
Why was someone calling her? "Hello, love" she paused her body froze. Why was he calling her. "How did you get my number!" She was furious. "I have my ways, sweetheart." Her voice spoke with disgust "why are you calling me?" She had to admit, her heart beat a little faster when he called her sweetheart.
"Stefan hasn't been answering my calls, I decided to see what's happened." She scoffed, "maybe you should come see your pet slave yourself." She hung up, blocking the number immediately.