"What happened to him?" Damon asked as Siobhan carried an unconscious Matteo into the house, Elena right behind her.
"I have no idea." She frowned.
"Is it like the last time he was unconscious?"
"No. He's never had blood in his ears before. It's like-" she stopped herself.
"Like what?" Damon asked.
"Nothing." She put a hand against his neck, feeling for a pulse. She opened his eyelids, before slapping him, frustrated. Damon gave her a look. "It was worth a try."
"Maybe he just needs blood. Human blood heals vampires."
"No, I don't think that would work. I think he needs some rest." She said, tapping his cheek lightly. "Come on, Matty, please."
"You're scared for him." Damon noted.
"He's never been this way. There's something different." She said. "I don't know what."
"Hey, I'm here!" Caroline sympathised, walking into the boarding house. "Is he okay?"
"I hope so."
"How do you know about it, Blondie?"
"I told her." Elena said. "We were talking on the phone when we saw him."
"He was okay a few hours ago! Like two hours." Caroline said. "A little rattled but, okay."
"What do you mean?"
"He said he wanted to clear his head."
"Really?" Siobhan frowned, before turning back to Matteo. She brushed his curls from his forehead and leant down, whispering, "Come on Matteo."
"He wanted to talk to Bonnie too, do you think that's got anything to do with it?" Caroline asked.
"No, that's, I'm sure that had absolutely nothing to do with this." She said. "He wanted to tell me something, but I just blew him off."
"What was he up to?" Damon asked.
"Well, he went to go talk to the sheriff, but she won't have remembered anything, so that's pretty much a dead end." Siobhan said.
"He compelled my mother?!" Caroline looked taken aback.
"Not exactly, and he wouldn't have done anything without her permission."
"My mom would never voluntarily forget anything, so maybe she knows something."
"I don't think so, but you could go check." Caroline ran out of the room,
"What did he want from Bonnie?"
"Just some questions for Emily. It has nothing to do with this. This is about something else. I just don't know what happened." Matteo's eyes moved, and Siobhan muttered under her breath. "Matty?"
"What?" Damon asked. Matteo groaned and opened his eyes.
"About time!" Siobhan slapped his chest lightly.
"Ouch." He managed to say, putting his hands to his head. "What happened?"
"We were hoping you could fill in the blanks." Damon said.
"Hey, brother." Matteo said.
"How are you feeling?"
"Like I got run over by ten trucks. You?"
"Like my brother was carried unconscious into my house for reasons yet to be determined."
"I guess I win." Matteo coughed.
"What happened?" Damon had a serious look on his face.
"Um-"
"Don't you dare say you can't tell me."
"But I can't."
"No. You won't tell. There's a difference."
"I thought you'd accepted that there were things I couldn't tell you."
"Yes but not everything."
"I'm okay, Damon."
"What happened?"
"Uh-" Matteo suddenly fell back onto the couch, grabbing his head in pain, before his body arched unnaturally.
"Matteo."
"Give... me... a second." He gritted out.
"What's going on?" Damon asked again but Matteo ignored him. A minute later he fell back on the couch, panting.
"That hurt like a bitch."
"What happened?"
"I honestly don't know, so even if I could tell you. I can't." Damon just scoffed at his brother and sped out of the house. Matteo groaned, as he sat up. "I'm going after him."
"You can't even stand." Siobhan said.
"Hey, we've both been through worse, I'm fine, really." Matteo said. "But he's not. I have to go after him."
"Siobhan's right, Matteo. You are in no state to go after Damon."
"I'm going after my brother." He said, determined, and stood up, staggering to the door. He shook his head, and walked out. Elena thought for a moment before following.
"Elena, he has to do this. Matty's stubborn, he'll do this, but he needs to do it alone. He and Damon have a few things to hash out."
"But what if he collapses again?"
"Damon'll be with him. Trust me, I want to go to them too, but Matteo needs this. He can't just stand around while his brother's hurting."
"What did he mean when he said you've both been through worse?"
"Well, just that, really. I mean, we have a habit of getting into tough situations."
"I don't like this." Elena admitted.
"There's nothing we can do except wait."
"Do you know what it could possibly be? I mean he said he'd figured 'it' out, whatever 'it' is."
"I don't know. I suppose I could call Kaia and see if he told her anything. I mean that's what he would normally do." Elena nodded her head, and Siobhan brought her phone out and started dialling.
"Siobhan." Kaia greeted. "Are you with Matteo?"
"No," Siobhan frowned in confusion.
"Have you and Matteo have talked?"
"No, I was wondering if you had? He told me he had some.." Siobhan glanced at Elena. "an update."
"He said he'd call later, that he wasn't alone. Where is he?"
"I just found him, victim to a, uh- I think he found it. He had blood in his ears. Do you know anything about that? I mean it sounds like a-" she glanced at Elena again. "Do you know what might have happened to him?"
"No, I don't. Talk to him as soon as possible, and make sure he reports to me, when he can."
"Yes ma'am." Siobhan reluctantly hung up.
"What did she say?"
"That Matteo didn't tell her anything yet."
"Hey, Dames." Matteo said when he finally found his brother.
"What are you doing here?" Damon spat.
"Come on, D. I'm not going to leave you to be out here all alone. Or have you forgotten?"
"Why can't you tell me what's going on?"
"I'm trying to protect you, Dames. I mean the reason I wasn't ever allowed to see you, was in case you tried to figure out every aspect of my life. Do not prove them right. Because if you find out, everyone in this town will suffer. Including you and your friends. Including Elena."
"It's like every thing you say is cryptic. Every thing you do is a secret, and I just want my brother, Matty. I want my brother back."
"And I am here." Matteo took a step closer to Damon. "I love you Damon, you're always going to be my brother. My family. And sure I'll have a few secrets, but we can get past them, because my secrets aren't who I am. You know who I am. I will always be your big brother."
"What about when you go?"
"No matter where I am, whether or not you can see me, I will be watching over you, okay?"
"Fine. We should get you back home."
"I'm fine." Matteo said. "Besides, I've almost fully healed by now."
"So what had you so rattled earlier?"
"I can't exactly tell you that either. But it's not a big deal." His phone rang.
"Is that Kaia again?"
"No, it's Stefan. Would you like to talk to him?"
"He calls you?"
"He doesn't have a choice." Matteo laughed and picked up. "Hey, Stef. You okay?"
"Yeah, just checking in. How are you?"
"I'm fine." Damon snatched the phone.
"That's a lie. He just collapsed and had blood coming out of his ears." He said.
"What?" Matteo heard Stefan yell.
"I'm fine, Stefan." Matteo took back the phone. "Also Damon said hi."
"Are you okay? What happened?"
"Brother won't tell us." Damon snatched the phone again. Matteo took back the phone and put on loudspeaker.
"Why not?"
"Okay. This is not what we are talking about. Stefan, you're the one spending time with a psycho. How's it going?"
"I thought he was your friend?" Damon frowned.
"So did I." Klaus must have taken the phone from Stefan. There was some noise as the phone must have been snatched back and forth, and it went silent.
"You're on speaker." Stefan finally spoke up.
"How goes the hunt for wolves?"
"We can't find any yet."
"Matteo, you know some wolves. Care to tell me where they are?" Klaus asked.
"Absolutely not."
"The sooner we find wolves, the sooner I make hybrids, and the sooner your brother comes back home to you. Surely you want that. That is if he wants to."
"You killed his girlfriend. That's not something you easily forget. And anyways, I haven't come across another wolf in a few decades. Half of them are dead, and the other half have moved a few times. You know wolves. They never stay in the same place."
"Okay."
"So Stefan, how dreadful is your road trip so far?" Matteo asked.
"I don't know how you were ever friends with the hybrid dick I'm forced to spend time with." Stefan replied.
"How exactly did the two of you become friends?" Damon asked. "I mean, you said he tried to kill you."
"Well, he tried to kill me, and I thought he was a dick."
"And..?" Stefan added, waiting for an explanation.
"Oh, that's really it. I mean he couldn't kill me, and I don't kill, so we decided to just be amicable towards one another instead."
"So what's with him and Siobhan?"
"That's an interesting question. Matteo, you should ask Siobhan."
"I know why she hates you, Klaus. It's because you're a control freak dick."
"What happened to being amicable, Matteo? Don't tell me you'd be willing to throw it away for some girl?"
"Siobhan isn't some girl, and you know that."
"You really think the hybrid dick would know anything about love?" Damon scoffed.
"You're okay." Siobhan smiled softly as Matteo walked into the room, where she sat on the bed.
"Of course I am." He walked over to her. "I'm sorry I worried you."
"What happened?" She asked and he shook his head.
"Damon's probably eavesdropping."
"I called Kaia, earlier. She wants you to call her."
"I should do that." He reaches out a hand to her and walked her to the balcony. He opened the window and they both stepped out, willing the winds to carry them above. It had become a thing for them. To fly above for their more private conversations.
"So what is it?"
"I love you." He stated. "And I always will. No matter what."
"You're scaring me."
"I ran into the banshee today. Turns out, Caroline Forbes was supposed to be it's original host, but it sensed that she'd be turned into a vampire, and it knew if she screamed her own death, she wouldn't become one. So it's been waiting all these years and it still holds the power, but it's not supposed to. So it wants to transfer the power into Caroline. She won't be a banshee with the scream, but she'll hold the power she was always meant to have. I believe it. It was sincere. And I feel really rude calling it an 'it'."
"So what happens to it after the power transfer?"
"It dies. Each husk, transfers the power to one human."
"You need to update our lore books on banshees."
"I know." He said. "The thing said it would give me the answers I seek before it screamed."
"What do you think that means?"
"I don't know, maybe it was some kind of memory transfer or maybe it meant we'd find out? I don't know, I don't feel any different."
"We could go find it?"
"I think we should go to Caroline. I want to make sure it doesn't go after her until we're certain she'll be fine with the power transfer. She might be too old. I've never heard of a banshee who received her powers after she was seven. There's a reason they don't go higher than that."
"Okay." They smiled at each other and flew off to Caroline's place. She was sat in her bed, with Tyler next to her. Matteo and Siobhan found a tree and perched atop it, so they could see if anything came after Caroline.