forty-one. because
Whitmore Medical Center
Elena has just arrived, on a well-free Saturday, with two warm cups of bought coffee in which she gives one to Jo who is not that surprised, but rather relieved that her loyal vampire intern is present on that day.
"Yours is decaf." Elena stated, "I know what you're going to say: it's a Saturday and I don't have to come here and should just be somewhere else to study or help out with things back home, but I figured, why there when I can be here, helping out on the doctor who's about to have a baby?" She giggles and sips on her own coffee that the doctor rolls her eyes playfully.
"You know me so well, and thank you. But seriously--"
Elena stops her, "Hmm. No buts. I'm helping today and that's final."
Jo hums as the student starts to walk away, "Technically, you're not a certified doctor yet, so I am still holding the authority around here."
Elena laughs, "Well, somebody will have to take your place when it's time."
"Yeah. Another doctor, in a few more months." The woman asserted firmly.
"Technically, vampires are doctors, most of them are more ignorant, that is." The young adult mentioned, earning her a sigh, "I get it. I'm just trying to make you comfortable, and be by your side through all this, because this is going to be my future-- my life, and I'm determined to be just like you."
"Not sure what you see in me besides being a doctor as your role model, Elena, but I'm not anything to be proud of when it comes to family."
"Which family is that, exactly?" The young intern purposely voiced that Jo smiles and Elena assured her, "You'd be a great mom. I promise." Jo holds her belly, slightly thinking about her child's birth, happy but worried at the same time and Elena notices her expression, "What are you thinking?"
"I'm just, I think I have a, a phobia of that one perfect moment-- we're all happy and sunshine all around, and the next moment, the worst scenario can possibly happen, without hesitance." She shakes her head a little.
Elena shakes her head and holds the doctor's arms as she assured her, "There are no one else but friends and family surrounding you. Everything's going to be fine. We, as your vampire friends, will make sure of that."
The pregnant woman lets out a shaky nervous sigh, "I said it before, I'll say it again: the last thing this baby needs is an Uncle Psychopath."
"I thought you kicked him out of your life for good." The vampire retorted, earning her a look, "Listen, I've heard and seen of him. He's truly trying to be better, day by day, just for the sake of his girlfriend's well-being."
"His girlfriend." Jo repeated in initial disbelief.
Elena laughs slightly, "It's insane, I know, but the thing is, he's right. There's good somewhere in him, and he fell in love with somebody who actually believes that the moment she understood who and what he is." She nods.
"And, how is she doing now? Good, I hope."
A look of sympathy slowly washes onto Elena's face and she sighs.
****
Devon Residence, Kitchen
Bonnie is sitting at the main dining table, doing her homework while eating a fresh piece of hot toast for breakfast and Kai, who remains at his girlfriend's house anyway, is cooking a few eggs behind the stove, dancing around a little as he has the radio almost on full volume, annoying her.
The girl rolls her green eyes, "What does it look like I'm doing here?"
"What?" Her own frenemy playfully acted like he can't hear her, just for fun.
"Turn the music down!" Bonnie yelled in frustration, "Hello?!"
"Sorry, I can't hear you over the music. You're going to have to speak up!" The powerful merged witch purposely claimed as he tries to hide his smile.
"Lord, help me." Bonnie muttered and raises her hand; she magicks the radio to fall onto the floor, unplugging it from the socket roughly; she smiles in victory and the other laughs, "You're lucky Cass already took off to avoid that commotion you clearly started." Kai laughs even more. "Are those eggs ready or what? These toasts aren't really taking my hunger away--"
"Ugh, don't you ever stop judging?"
"No, so I would like to have my eggs now please, which hopefully can benefit the both of us — you don't have to hear me judge, and I don't get to hear you talk." His girlfriend's best friend told him with a sarcastic smile.
Kai rolls his blue-gray eyes playfully and serves her, his well-known frenemy as well, two scrambled eggs on a plate, "You're welcome."
"Good. Now, you can go back and play with Miss Cuddles."
"Yeah, like a twelve-year-old girl who has nothing better to do. Why can't you let me see her, Bonnie? What did I do? If I did something that bad, then say it to my face. Not going behind my back to tell other people about it. Come on. If anyone can visit her, why can't I do it too?"
"Because we're all just doing what she wants, which is firm and clear: Kai Parker is not allowed." The young adult revealed, "Until she's released."
"Oh wow, that seems fair." He scoffs sarcastically, "Why is that, exactly?"
"Sorry, but I can't tell you that." Bonnie said unsincerely and smiles.
"And I can't do anything that doesn't remind me of her. I mean, I'm literally in her house, for Christ's sake--"
"So why don't you move back into your apartment?"
"No." Kai quickly replied, earning him a look and he sighs tiredly, "It's boring over there. Like there's nothing for me to do, unfriendly neighbors--"
"Well, at least do something to distract yourself from missing her." The younger witch suggested in an obvious tone, "Like, getting a job or--"
The young man scoffs, "Okay, let's not get too crazy."
Bonnie rolls her green eyes, "Or would you rather be a student?"
"Yeah, sure. Oh wait." Kai snaps his fingers sarcastically, "I don't care."
"Really? What was the year when you dropped out of college? Right before you were sent to your own personal hell--"
"I wanted to be a chef, at first, but then I had another choice of being a photographer, only for me to turn out to be...the leader of my coven, which can't be right in the real world, so now I just couldn't care less, really."
"Try to earn some money to live, Kai. As a witch, you won't last long. So it's better to just make your life worth it. Or if you don't want to, then so be it." The twenty-year-old sophomore shrugs, "It's your choice."
Kai contemplates his own decisions while Bonnie returns to her work.
****
Mystic Grill Restaurant
Matt is wiping the crystal glasses clean and dry while he has been listening intently to Kai, who is sitting behind the main bar, talk about getting a decent job there at the local restaurant as a request in sudden desperation.
"Look, Kai, what's really going on here?"
Kai rolls his blue-gray eyes, "Did you not hear what I said? I need to work--"
"I heard you, loud and clear. I meant, why would you want to work on something that even a simple magic-less human can do?"
The older young man smiles, "Can't a guy try something new?"
An annoyed Matt gives him a look of pure disbelief and effortlessly concluded the merged witch's main purpose, "This is about Minerva."
Kai scoffs in denial, "Why would you say that?" He drinks on his cheap beer.
"Or Bonnie forced you to get a job so you actually have something to do to bide your time while Minerva is institutionalized. Emphasis on Minerva." Matt continued and the witch rolls his clear eyes, "You know I'm right."
"You're lucky there are people around. Otherwise, this thing will be jammed in your goddamn throat if you don't stop mentioning her name." Kai, with concealed annoyance in return, referred to the fragile glass in his right hand, filled with his half-finished cheap beer and a sarcastic smile on his face.
"You know it's not our fault you can't come visit her."
"Yeah, you're right, it's probably because you guys matter more to her than me. Who the hell do you think I am to her, Blondie? I don't see why crappy people like you can come and see her but I can't. The boyfriend, that is."
"Dude, give her some time. Instead of asking, why don't you shut the hell up and start thinking of the reason why she wanted this?" Matt snapped.
"Because she loves me. She's afraid of what our relationship is capable of hurting her in any way possible." The young man spoke in an obvious tone.
The twenty-year-old blonde covers up his genuinely sympathetic expression with pure exhaustion, "I'm not doing this with you, man."
"Great." Kai then roughly grabs the human's wrist in a tight hold, "Then you're going to get me a job here at the Grill, and I suggest the easy way."
"What?"
"Or would you prefer me to use force?" The coven leader effortlessly, without even moving a muscle, inflicts a slight aneurysm on Matt, who grabs his head with his free right hand in agony, "Oops, sorry. I already did."
"Okay, okay! I'll get you a job." Matt said in defeat, and Kai laughs slightly.
****
Gas Station
Stefan is filling up the oil tank of his Porsche while Isaac gets inside the shop. He examines the place if there is any trace of Caroline ever being around before he grabs a charger and heads over to the counter. He then compelled the man who is at the cashier, "Has a blonde woman stepped in here? She stands for about five feet eight, with gorgeous blue-green eyes."
"No." The young man replied honestly and hands him the paid charger.
"Alright." The young vampire then steps back outside with a sigh and approaches Stefan, "Can I get the wheel now please? Figured you might want to take it from someone who might actually know where we're going."
The older one sighs, "Yeah, even when I'm on my death bed, you will never drive this car." Isaac watches as Stefan is just finished with the tank, so he gets in the passenger seat and Stefan sighs as he gets in the driver's seat, "This could never get any worse. Caroline's a hard one to track."
"Awh, quit brooding. It's not everyday we get to do this."
"I'd rather stay at home with my girlfriend rather than to spend another whole day following a dead end lead." Stefan retorted with a bitter smile.
"I get it. You're away from your girl who's left at home with her ex and your mommy and your attitude comes out. Talk about feeling insecure."
His older frenemy rolls his forest green eyes in annoyance, "This isn't about my relationship. It's about yours with Caroline, or should I say your obsession with her." Stefan starts to drive his own car again.
"Oh, so now it's my fault that she's run off? Thanks a lot. Hey, what about Enzo's obsession with you? Ever thought of that?" Isaac scoffs in reminder.
"I never trusted him."
"No, I never said you should trust him. Him and I were just a team for a little while and now you and I are too until we can find our emotionless blonde, hopefully sooner or later." Isaac spoke as he looks out the glass window.
"See, you said it. Thanks to Enzo, Sarah almost died the minute he brought her into town." Stefan contended, "And thank you too for pushing Caroline to switch her humanity back on when she made it clear that nobody should even try. As hypocritical as it sounds, I almost did the same for you too."
"Yeah, well, what choice do I have?"
"Well, you certainly turned your switch off for her. That's one." Stefan mentioned gratefully, "To save Sarah, so I can't not say thank you."
"Right. Two emotionless vampires on the loose equals bad news."
"So does that mean you actually have something going on with her--"
"No. I'm not doing this with you, Stefan. Not again." Isaac, with a stupid but sarcastic grin on his handsome face, reaches over to switch the radio on.
****
Mystic Grill Restaurant
Damon is sitting at the main bar in which he is served a glass of strong bourbon by Kai who just became the bartender, alongside Matt. The vampire looks at the witch with a suspicious expression, indicating about their first met when all the glass bottles of bourbon were vervained.
"Surprise. How do I look?" Kai said cheerfully, showing him his working uniform along with his own name tag and laughs slightly.
"Like an idiot who I should pass the service from." Damon simply replied.
Kai laughs again, "I didn't do anything to your precious bourbon, Damon."
"Am I supposed to believe you?"
"Sort of, yeah, considering I work here now."
"Vervaining the drinks so I can expose myself to everyone around here. Been there, done that." Damon sang playfully, "Should I care of why you're on level Mario Kart right now? So much for being the leader of the freaks."
The younger man smiles, "You can thank Bonnie for that."
Damon playfully acts like he finally remembers something and laughs slightly, "Ugh, this is actually more sad than funny, isn't it? Your sister technically kicked your ass out of her now happy new life, you will always be on the blacklist of Portland, Bon Bon's not really your friend, and now I'm guessing you used your own little magic trick on Donovan so he would be your friend while Little Caramel is still mentally institutionalized."
"At least I'm not begging for Mommy to give back what I should've kept by myself to destroy a long time ago after getting her back even when I was told by a then semi-sane person not to release her from that crappy place. And there's possibly nothing worse than a vengeful ripper like her if she doesn't get what she wants, thanks to you. Thank goodness." Kai scoffs.
Damon frowns and rolls his icy blue eyes as he sips on his favourite strong liquor, that is not vervained at all which earns him a smirk from Kai.
"What do you suggest we do?" Damon sighs.
"We?" Kai repeated, earning him a dark look from the vampire.
****
Mental Health Center, North Carolina
During recess at the private psychiatric ward, the patients are scattered everywhere near, and that they are allowed to do some physical activity around the clean backyard which is where Minerva and Giselle are, the latter revealed to be a banshee as well, though the pair's supernatural background would be kept secret by some specific aides in the asylum.
"We should watch TV." Giselle suggested after she gives up on blowing a bright red balloon like what a few other young patients are doing.
Minerva is not too far from her, blowing some bubbles as she hums an unfamiliar song. Giselle approaches her and repeated the suggestion.
"You go ahead. I'm staying out here." Minerva told her.
"It's not like you're doing any major physical activity." Giselle judged.
The Devon girl turns to her and remarked, "I never judged you."
"I'm just saying." The other girl sighs with a roll of her dark brown eyes.
In the distance, Bonnie just arrived who seems to be unnoticed by the aides and she starts looking for her best friend until when she did, she approaches Minerva who is still by Giselle's side. Giselle is trying to convince Minerva to come inside and do some indoor activities instead while the caramel brunette stares at Bonnie who greeted her kindly with a friendly smile, "Evening."
Giselle is confused to who she is, turning around to face the unfamiliar girl, while Minerva replied in a friendly manner, "Hi Bonnie. Good to see you."
"Good to see you too."
"We're not allowed to have any visitors during happy time." Giselle said.
"I won't be here long."
"Okay. I'll be with the cats if you need me." Giselle then walks away.
Minerva waves her a simple goodbye before she turns to her extremely loyal best friend with a genuinely curious question, "So how's the real world?"
"It's alright." Bonnie shrugs, watching as Minerva smiles and proceeds to blow a few more bubbles away, "Well, I'm not sure, actually. Your mom's working just fine as a professor, Elena's a self-volunteer aide for Jo and I'm just making myself busy with more courseworks. Sounds pretty good."
Minerva only hums and starts walking over to a three-seated bench which Bonnie only follows until they are sitting beside each other, "And...I should probably tell you that Caroline knows how to run and hide, which means nobody has ever heard a lot from Stefan or Isaac these past few days."
"He loves her, doesn't he?" Minerva predicted as Bonnie thinks about it for a moment, "It's okay. I want to know the truth, no matter how bad it gets."
"Well, honestly, I have no idea. But you're probably right."
"Anything else I should know about?"
"I, encouraged Kai to get a job. Which he did, thanks to Matt. So if you need a drink anywhere around town, the Grill will do. Just fine."
"Good for him." Minerva shrugs and blows some more bubbles.
"Yeah." Bonnie pauses for a moment, "The reason why I suggested him to do that is because he can't stop thinking about you, so what better way to stop thinking about someone than to distract oneself, right? But can't you just, like, give him a chance, maybe just once to come visit you? Here?"
"I thought I already told you not to let him come here." Minerva said calmly.
"You did, I listened. We all did. But he just kept bugging us, me especially to come here and see you, and it annoys the hell out of me. Seriously."
"Well, maybe he'll tone it down now that he's a bartender."
"You never actually said why you won't let him come here, Mins. But you can always tell me, you know? I'm right here for you, when you need to talk."
Minerva looks away from her and sets the small bottle down.
****
Salvatore Boarding House
Damon and Kai enter through the main front door, according to their plan in an attempt to retrieve the necessary mystical relic back from Lily. They find no signs of her anywhere in the living room until Rosie comes in instead.
"Damon?" She called out, frowning in the other's presence.
"Hey Princess. Where's Mom?" Her boyfriend's brother asked.
"She's upstairs. Uh, what is he doing here?" The girl mentioned.
"Long story short. I'll let Damon explain." The merged witch shrugs.
"Okay. Let's hope this stupid plan of yours will work." Damon said.
Kai hums, "Like your plans are any better. Let the professional handle this."
Damon rolls his icy blue eyes and walks over to pour himself a crystal glass of strong bourbon while Kai then climbs the main staircase and he finds Lily, who is about to leave her own bedroom, looking surprised of his presence.
"Oh. What a pleasant surprise." The woman awkwardly mentioned, smiling.
"Good evening, Lily." Kai greeted her, "Just the person I'm looking for." He then immediately walks into her bedroom in search of the item quietly and tries to be quick as possible while Lily, whose smile has turned into a frown, closes the door behind them shut and she faces the cornered witch.
"I should've known. You are a close friend of one of my sons, therefore you both have your hands itching to get them on the key, considering you're the all-powerful and I assume the fearless leader of the Gemini coven."
"Yep. We have no choice, by the way, so I'm sorry to cut your 'family' reunion, 'cause it's not happening any time soon. It's against the rules that Heretics-- abomination of Nature, should be kept imprisoned behind bars." The young man upholded as he's busily searching, "Where is it?"
The repressed ripper is silently angry and upset as she stares at the powerful coven leader, "Do you think I haven't been told of that for weeks now?"
"Good. You're informed. So just give me it." Kai faces her who stays quiet, "Okay. I get why you want to say no, and I don't want to talk about this whole family stuff with you 'cause I know it's going to be like 'Hey, you're delusional. Your actual family is really just your two remaining vampire sons', and you're going to be like, 'No, they're not 'cause I left them back in the old days, so they don't count', and so just, name your price. Now."
"Wouldn't you rather do something that's worth for the rest of your life?" Lily ratified, earning her a suspicious look, "As in, you don't have to send your regards when you can have the one thing you've always wanted."
Kai scoffs, "No offense, Lily, but you have no idea who I really am. So don't even try tricking me into letting you release your family of crazy pants."
"I'm not, because fortunately, you're not the only witch in town. But I guess I can just assume the one thing you've always craved to be right, and that's an eternal happy life with that one girl you missed dearly." Lillian nods.
Kai almost instantly frowns, "Don't you dare say anything about her."
"Apparently, I can. Let's put it this way: I can give you what you desperately want that none of your other vampire allies will, and in turn, you'll help me release my family from that prison world. All you have to do now is make your choice: either your coven or the love of your life." Lily implied.
Kai starts to think it over while Lily smiles at the thought of the bargain.
****
Mental Health Center, North Carolina
It is recess time around the asylum where Minerva and Giselle are in a room where the television is playing a cheerful movie that only some of the patients are watching. The two banshees are seated separately at the end of the room, discussing about their abilities and how to improve them.
"So, the premonitions can evolve to visual so that it's easier to interpret what's trying to be told, and my mom forgot to tell me." Minerva surmised.
"That's because you have to astral project it, which is probably a lot for your mom to teach you, considering she's already a teacher and all." Giselle said.
The certified genius scoffs, "Never stopped me from teaching myself."
The younger banshee smiles, "I know you can, one day."
"Thank you. So, I heard something about a, connection." She brought up.
"Mmhm. The harbinger connection. Why?"
"I am not much of a pro when it comes to it." Minerva admitted.
Giselle laughs slightly, "Ditto. That's because it's an advanced ability, where banshees can communicate with each other no matter how far away they are. Unlike basically sensing death, we connect consciously."
Minerva nods a little, "You got all that from your grandmother?"
"Who else?" Giselle shrugs, "Unlike you-- the original banshee, right?"
Minerva tries to hide her smile at the error, "No, not me. Melissa, you mean."
"Oh yeah. Her. I thought she was a witch?" The younger one recalled.
"You're right, she was, until the witch Agnes turned her into the very first banshee as the travelers' highest priority — the Original banshee."
"Hmm. Agnes being her mother." Giselle continued from the legend.
Minerva nods a little, "She was a powerful woman, just like Alexandra."
"Yeah. But you're lucky to be related to them. They're legends."
The Devon girl smiles in ridicule, "There's more of us than you think."
"Hmm. You see, I can sense when another banshee's around. We all can. I felt it when you and your mom stepped in here, and whenever she came to visit. I already know what she is and that leads me to believe the rest of your great ancestors are banshees too. You just got to pay attention." She spoke.
"Well, my mom was a banshee. She's around forty now."
"That's normal. Our powers will deactivate when we reach our--"
"Late thirties, I know." Minerva nods, "It's what my mom said."
"Well, I bet you don't know that we can deactivate them ourselves."
The older banshee frowns in utter surprise and confusion, "How?"
"Ever heard of the banshee dagger? It's the one lethal weapon that can permanently kill a banshee. But no one knows where it is." Giselle spoke.
"The gold one, yeah. You said it's for killing a banshee--"
"It is, but not just that. It can strip us from our powers if it remains jammed inside of our heart with a certain amount of time." The younger one stated.
"But, wouldn't that, kill us?"
"Again, with a certain amount of time."
"Oh God. So where is it?"
Giselle sighs, "I'm sorry, but I have no idea."
****
Nine days later, the doctor and staff of the mental health unit have already finished in regularly reviewing Minerva's behavior, and have ensured that she is safe and not a harm to anyone, including herself. Therefore, she is finally allowed to leave the hospital on the first day of April, Sunday. The caramel brunette hugs one of the closest aides she was with when staying at the ward before a few of the nurses wave her goodbye as she walks to her mother who has already packed her things inside of her dolphin gray Mazda's trunk to which she gets in and driven back home to Mystic Falls.
Once home, Cassie helps to bring her daughter's things inside that when they both step in, Bonnie and Elena surprised Minerva with a 'Welcome Home' chocolate ice cream cake and a few decorations in the living room. The three girls giggle and embrace themselves in a victorious group hug.
"Oh my God. I can't believe you're back!" Elena said.
"Well, believe it, Gilbert, because here I am."
The trio laugh and face Cassie, who clears her throat purposely. Elena offers the cake to her which the woman only shakes her head a bit at their joy of finally being reunited as a trio of best friends again, clearly and purposely leaving Caroline out of the picture for the sake of Minerva's happy mood.
"I'm bringing this upstairs." Cassie gestured to the luggage which she does so as she walks past the three young girls, who wave at her playfully.
Elena giggles and sets the cake down on the coffee table to cut and serve it while Bonnie and Minerva sit on the three-seated sofa of the living room; Minerva sighs in relief as she looks around the room, "It's good to be back."
Bonnie hums, "It's getting real dull around here without you, you know?"
"Not to be a party spoiler, but you really got to change from that dull uniform. It looks like you just got out of prison or something." Elena voiced.
The Bennett girl laughs slightly at the remark, "Don't be mean."
"Just being honest, Bonnie." The Gilbert girl sang.
The young banshee gets up, "I should really change, she's right."
Elena raises her eyebrows shortly and Minerva excuses herself to climb upstairs alone. She is awed and surprised of how tidy and clean her bedroom is now, alongside a really good lavender smell. Cassie is still there next to her big queen-sized bed after leaving the luggage near her study table, where two wrapped presents are seated which she stares at.
"They're from Bonnie and Elena, as your welcome home presents." Cassie reported, "Bonnie clearly has a very good memory when I said you'll be home in three weeks." She chuckles as her recovered daughter only smiles.
Minerva then embraces her lovingly as her mother returns the gesture while she continued as the girl then slowly pulls away, "Actually... your boyfriend did all of this. I just added the smell because lavender is your favourite."
"This is amazing. Thank you so much."
Cassie hums and hands her daughter her cell phone back as she retorted, "You can have this back now too. Enjoy, and don't speak to any bad guys."
The younger Devon laughs slightly, "I can't believe you just said that."
The older one makes a playful look toward her and mentioned in a sweet tone, "Change into something vibrant, sweetie. And have some cake."
"I will." Minerva chuckles before her mother leaves the room.
Once the door is closed shut, Minerva switches the device on and presses for Kai's location to find out that he's currently at his apartment near Whitmore, indicating that nobody has told him about her return. Perfect.
****
Kai Parker's Apartment
Kai is lying down on the three-seated sofa in his living room, being online in Twitter that he is scrolling the news feed in boredom. When the doorbell rings, he sighs in relief as he sits up, expecting his two ordered boxes of pizza to finally arrive and he jumps to his feet. He rushes over to the front door and opens it, only to find a very familiar girl who stands at five feet two, her caramel locks tied up into a ponytail, wearing a gray plaid shirt over her navy blue t-shirt with denim jeans and her black combat boots, along with her satchel. His jacket is over her left shoulder and she is holding a container of the chocolate ice cream cake, with a friendly smile on her face.
Oh my God. "Hi." He awkwardly greeted her, feeling dumbstruck.
"You miss me?" She mentioned, smiling in a teasing manner.
****
Salvatore Boarding House
Isaac is discussing his own master plan on how to switch Caroline's humanity back on with Damon, Rosie and Stefan. The couple is trying to be comfortably seated really close together on the three-seated couch with a crystal glass of bourbon in Stefan's hand. Damon is standing by the minibar with his own glass of strong bourbon while Isaac is standing opposite him.
"First step: Convince her that my humanity is still off, obviously. I'll tell her that my run-in with mommie dearest had no effect on me, and I want to keep the party going." The youngest one in the room drinks his own liquor.
"Sounds good." The former ripper simply commented.
"Ah, look at that! Isaac Newton has a plan. Let me guess-- whoever's holding the kitten gets to talk about their feelings?" The oldest one, amused, spoke.
His vampire brother looks up at them, "Torture her until she breaks. Right?"
Damon is truly impressed when he senses the confirmation around, "Sold!"
His reasonable ex-girlfriend spoke up from her comfortable seat next to her lover, "So, do I need to remind you guys that the last time Caroline thought that we were trying to flip her switch, she went on a killing spree?"
"Well, she's not going to find out this time." Her doppelgänger's vampire cousin picks up the phone to dial a number with a mischievious smile.
"See? He'll be convincing." The older vampire brother assured her.
"Hmm. Fine, say she believes you-- How do you know she's going to even want to see you again?" The only girl in the parlor room questioned.
Her boyfriend's brother smirks in amusement, "Oh, she'll want to see him." He shares an all-knowing goofy smile with his own brother at that.
The youngest one in the room does absolutely nothing to poorly conceal his embarrassed demeanor when it comes to that, "Shut up, Damon."
"I mean, it's a bit of a tricky bet for you, isn't it, Newton? She's going to expect a lot." The icy blue-eyed one teased him in a gleeful manner.
When her cute lover chuckles, the puzzled girl spoke up cluelessly with a genuinely but desperately curious frown, "Okay, what am I missing here?"
Her boyfriend's frenemy quickly cuts in, "Nothing."
She gasps in realization, "Oh my God. Wait. Did you and Caroline--"
Her regularly smug but attractive ex-boyfriend is so amused that he's dancing by swinging his left arm around and rocking his hips, "Do it? Yep!"
Rosie fortunately manages to conceal her shock for now, "Oh. Oh wow, okay." She notices his look of total utter humiliation, "Never mind..."
"Carry on." Her impatient lover urged before he sips on his own bourbon.
"Okay. Sore subject. Understood. So, what do we do once you earn her trust?" The ex-ripper's impulsive brother continued to ask his friend.
"We drain her of her blood, make her weak, and then bombard her with everything she used to care about-- memories of who she was, her friendships, her mom." He turns to the girl on the couch, "Did you bring it?"
"Hard to forget." His cousin's vampire doppelgänger pulls out a white envelope, as a temporary bookmark, from a book and hands it over to him.
"What is that?" Her best friend asked with a clueless frown.
"Caroline got rid of everything from her former life. Her mom had sent this letter to her dorm, intending for it to arrive after she died, which it did, but Caroline had already flipped her switch and Elena fortunately kept it." Stefan explained where the letter comes from and how it comes through.
His youngest frenemy shrugs, "It could work."
"Sure. Unless she wants sexy-Icy-time instead of an assault on Memory Lane." The regularly smug oldest vampire in the room reminded them.
Isaac declared in a determined manner, "I'm not going to let that happen."
****
Bed and Breakfast Room, Grove Hill, Three Days Ago
Caroline and Isaac enter the room, she picks up a glass angel off the shelf, "Aw...An angel." She tosses the angel to him, "How cute is this place?"
"Adorable." He tosses the angel over his left shoulder carelessly, where it shatters on the floor right before he shuts the door of the room.
The younger one turns around to face him suspiciously, "Okay, so I'll bite. So, you hunt me down in a bar-- where I am perfectly content feeding on the wait staff-- so you can whine to me about how your mom is a bitch--"
"What kind of mother doesn't love her own children?" He reminded her.
Caroline seductively approaches him, "Ohhh...Duh." She wraps her long arms around his neck, gazing into his emerald green eyes and smiling.
Smiling lazily in return, Isaac picks up the phone on the nearby table.
"Who are you calling?" His emotionless best friend mentioned curiously.
"Hey. Can I get some towels set up to the room, please? Thank you." He hangs up and turns to the lovely blonde vampire with his constant smile, "I'm hungry, so I figure we can eat whoever brings them up. Duh."
Isaac begins to pour mini-bottles of strong vodka into two crystal glasses on the table. Caroline comes into his personal space, wrapping her long arms around his waist and resting her head on his left shoulder, more curiously.
"Now what are you doing?"
"Just making us some drinks."
She hums happily, "Such a gentleman."
"Mmmm..."
Caroline kisses the left side of his face affectionately until she hears the knock at their room door, "Dinner...I'll get it."
She turns and walks over to the door and opens it, though she's completely and truly stunned to see Damon standing in front of her, holding two folded clean dry towels in his hands and smiling patronizingly, "Towels!"
He holds up the two folded towels in one hand, and in the other, he holds up a vervain dart-gun, which he uses to shoot Caroline several times in the torso; Caroline gasps in surprise and falls, weakened, unconscious to the floor. Once she's passed out, Damon walks into the room and approaches Isaac, who looks truly guilty, before tossing the clean towels onto the floor.
"Sure you want to do this?" The older one asked.
The younger one sighs, "Let's just get it over with."
Damon shrugs before shooting Isaac with the vervain dart-gun as well; Isaac gasps in discomfort before he's also weakened, passing out on the floor.
****
Whitmore College
Bonnie and Minerva are walking down the busy main sophomore hallway and they both stop in their tracks when they intercept with Damon on the way, who hands them both each their own bought cup of warm coffee.
"Hello." He greeted as the they take one coffee for their own.
"Hey. This is a surprise." The busy sophomore mentioned.
"Well, you know, I was just in the hood. I thought I might stop by and bring my friends a little morning pick-me-up." He retorted, "You're welcome."
The equally busy junior hums in question playfully, "Suspiciously odd since you don't really consider us as your friends besides in 1994, but okay."
"Yeah, we're more like friends with benefits." He teased her with a smirk.
"Have you seen Kai? He's supposed to be here to come see me just like we promised." The mentioned young man's girlfriend looks around for a little.
"He's already here. We split up. He's probably hungry." The vampire shrugs.
"Good, 'cause until then, you're still mine." The witch in the middle mischievously told her best friend, who giggles as the girl follows suit.
They continue talking as they are walking down the main hallway.
"And thanks for the coffee. What is this?" The older girl asked.
"Uh, it's a mocha-latte-frappi-somethin'." Their frenemy replied, which earns him a look of amusement from the two and he shrugs awkwardly.
"Sprinkled with feelings of concealed love." The youngest one teased.
Their best friend's vampire boyfriend smirks, "I dont know-- I guessed."
"Clearly." Bonnie and Minerva spoke in unison.
"Huh. How we just missed your commentary, Little Midget." Damon said.
Minerva grins anyway at her miraculous recovery, despite the casually official nickname regarding her short and petite frame, as Bonnie spoke, "So Elena told us that you guys found Caroline, which is great. Funny enough, she didn't mention anything about a cure for vampirism?"
Minerva makes a surprised look, remembering from what Bonnie informed her that she retrieved the cure from Silas' tomb cave when she was still trapped in the 1994 prison world alone, while looking for Silas' tombstone.
"Please don't tell me you said anything." Damon uttered in concern.
"I didn't! Apparently, neither have you." The twenty-year-old predicted.
"Well, yeah. Look. I've been busy with Stefan and Rosie, you know? My mom's in town. We had to vampire-proof a B and B. Do you have any idea how many people we had to compel to make that happen?" He asked.
Bonnie shrugs while Minerva replied, "Quite a few, I am assuming...which makes me wonder how you had time to bring us coffee. Hmm?"
"She has a point." Her reasonable best friend raises her eyebrows.
"You two ever hear of April Lyrids?" The vampire suddenly brought up.
Bonnie stares at him, clearly puzzled and clueless, while Minerva hums in reply as an indication of yes, causing the two to turn their focus onto her.
"Of course you would." Damon scoffs in ridicule.
"It's a comet." The certified knowledgeable genius stated.
He rolls his mesmerizing icy blue eyes, "Yeah, a stupid comet that my mom thinks she's going to use to pull her friends out of the 1903 prison world."
"Okay, but we're not letting her people out." Minerva remarked in worry.
"She's right. Jo, Kai, and apparently, the entire Gemini coven confirmed that." The Bennett witch added on, deeply concerned as well.
Damon grimaces uncomfortably, "Well, I may have reinforced that possibility...when I gave the ascendant to her for safe-keepings."
Minerva almost forgot about that when Damon and Elena revealed about it to her and Kai while they were with Dr. Jo Laughlin at the medical center.
"Oh my God." The young banshee mumbled.
"You what?" Her best friend asked, angry and stunned by the revelation.
"Wait. Kai never told you about this?" Minerva asked her with a frown.
"Wha-- you know about this and you didn't tell me?" Bonnie argued back.
"Well, you aren't part of the Gemini--"
"Yeah, well, I'm the Bennett witch qualified to travel into prison worlds--"
"Hey." Damon shushes them with an unconcealed nervous expression when they are almost on the verge of raising their voice in the middle of the busy hallway and pulls them into an unoccupied classroom in order for them to speak privately, "Come here." He shuts the door behind them.
"Great job, Damon." The younger one sarcastically snapped.
"Damon, you were the one that said her friends are vampires who can do magic." Her intelligent best friend surmised as a mainly nagging reminder.
"I think he knows he messed up, Bon Bon." Minerva reads his expression.
"I think the PC term is 'witchpire'." Their best friend's lover professed slowly.
"The term is 'freaks we've never dealt with before'." Bonnie testified.
"The actual term is 'Heretics', for Christ's sake." Minerva revealed.
"But it doesn't matter, because she still needs you to do the spell to open up the door to 1903, Bonnie!" The mentioned woman's son enunciated.
"Oh. So, that means she's going to come looking for her!" Minerva concluded angrily, in defense, while her best friend is now clearly furious.
"So we stall her--"
"See, this is why we can't ever be friends with you." Minerva snapped.
"Oh, and like you're the most friendly person on the planet." Damon snarled right back at her defensively, who sighs in frustration and looks away from him who continued in reassurance, "Okay, look. Lily's like a bill collector. You dodge her calls long enough, she'll leave you alone."
"No, eventually they shut your power off!" Bonnie angrily turns away from him and heads to the door, listening to Minerva's final word of defense.
"You better fix this before she becomes our problem. And don't ever show up here pretending to care about either of us again!" Minerva then turns around and leaves the classroom angrily after Bonnie, and Damon sighs.
****
Bed and Breakfast, Grove Hill
The loud sound of rattling metal is heard from the room. Elena mentally prepares herself for dealing with Caroline that she inhales deeply and exhales the deep breath. In the private prison cell, the blonde uses all the strength that she has rattling the bars on the windows, but it is no use. She groans and growls in frustration as she shakes the bars to no avail.
"They vampire-proofed a B and B. How did they even know we were here?" Caroline uttered, panting heavily from her significant effort to get herself free, clearly out of breath from trying so hard to break free. She turns back to Isaac, who is laying back on the couch, "Why are you so calm? Help me."
"Because I already tried. You're wasting your energy." He claimed.
She whines loudly in a physically exhausted manner, "Ugh! Every move I make feels like sandpaper rubbing against my veins."
"They're drying us out. First they drain our blood, then they starve us."
"I know how desiccation works, Isaac!" The younger one feels truly annoyed and she picks up a mini-bottle of vodka from the table and opens it.
"Ah-ah. I wouldn't do that if I were you." Her best friend warned her.
The blonde rolls her tired eyes, "I can literally feel my cells shrinking."
"Okay, you do realize that vodka to a desiccating vampire is like salt water to a human?" The twenty-two-year-old vampire reminded the girl.
"What's with the lecture? Just shut up and let me enjoy this." She drinks the entire mini-bottle of strong liquor in one gulp and sighs in relief.
After a moment, Elena appears on the other side of the locked door as it's her turn to watch them after Alaric and Jo's shift together, "Knock, knock."
Caroline and Isaac turn their attention to her at the sound of her voice. The younger former clearly does not look pleased by the presence, and the latter does a great job of playing the part of an angry, humanity-less vampire.
"Elena. Let me guess-- Humanity Police was your idea."
Elena opens the small window on the door to the room and speaks to her best friend through the metal bars, "We really want you back, Caroline."
Caroline leisurely lays on her left side on the big queen-sized bed with her head propped up with one hand, "Remember that time Jeremy died and you turned off your humanity and tried to kill the prom queen, AKA your best friend Bonnie? I forget. Isaac, I did tell you about this, right? So, was that before or after she killed some waitress for no reason? You remember?"
Isaac smirks at the reminder, "I think it was after."
The stone cold blonde laughs at her own self-depreciating humor at the irony, "Heh. You see. Isaac and I are just finding it a little ironic that you think you're qualified to tell us how to deal with the death of a loved one."
"I'm not here to preach to you, Caroline. I just came to show you this." She holds the envelope up and slips it through the bars; Caroline looks up at her, and Isaac gets up off the couch to take the letter and examine it curiously, "This letter from your mom arrived at our dorm just a few days after her funeral. Apparently there was something she wanted to tell you."
Caroline sits up on the big bed suspiciously as Isaac walks over to her to hand her the letter in an indifferent manner, "Does this look real to you?"
She stands up and examines it, "Her impeccably perfect handwriting? Yep. I remember when she taught me how to write my name in cursive." In that moment, it almost seems like she's feeling some type of emotion as she stares at her mother's handwriting on the white envelope, but when she looks back up at Isaac, her soulless eyes say it all, "So, what, am I supposed to read this and snap back to sad, pathetic, motherless Caroline? Burn it!"
He's unable to maintain his poker face with a horrified frown, "What?" No.
"Did I say, 'Stand there and look stupid?' No. I said, 'Burn it!'"
Elena is equally horrified at the great possibility of his obedience.
"Well, maybe I should read it first." Her 'emotionless' best friend suggested.
The Forbes girl frowns at him in confusion, "Why do you care?"
"I mean, what happens if eventually you get your humanity back and you hate me for destroying the last think your mom wanted to say to you?"
"Did those words seriously just come out of your mouth? God!" She grabs a match book off the top of the old unlit fireplace and lights the match in frustration and stubbornness, holding it up to her friend, "Burn it! Now!"
Elena, looking visibly panicked, tries to whisper to him desperately as the letter seems to be the only hope that they have left, "Isaac, don't! No!"
Isaac, having no choice in the matter if he wants Caroline to continue to believe he has no humanity, reluctantly lights the white envelope, from Liz Forbes, with the lit match. Elena desperately grips the bars on the door.
"No!"
"Sorry." I'm so sorry. The young man walks over to the table, remaining in his easy stone cold character, and drops the flaming letter in the ashtray, "But if you want us back, you're going to have to try a lot harder than that."
The letter burns in the ashtray, and Elena looks clearly devastated by the outcome, but Caroline looks gleeful at having beaten them at their game.
****
In the privately necessary-locked room currently serving as a prison cell, Caroline and Isaac are both weak and on the floor. The former is restless and she groans loudly, "Ugh. Like, actual torture. Elena and Damon talking about their future together. Ech! Just...I want to die."
Her best friend scoffs, "They'll make a mistake eventually. And, when they do, we will pounce and drain the first person we can get our teeth on."
"Oh, my God. What I would do for just a sip of human blood." She puts her right hand on his right leg and sighs in a tired manner, "You know when you're feeding on someone's neck--" She runs her hand up his leg and leans toward him, "--and their artery's still pulsing? I really love that." She leans in to intimately kiss him, but a determined Isaac doesn't seem to be into it.
"I thought your veins felt like sandpaper." He reminded her weakly.
"They do. So take my mind off it." The blonde leans in to kiss him.
Suddenly, she pulls away and gives her weakly reluctant best friend a look, but before she can say anything, Damon appears at the door's small window to taunt them by opening the window on the door, "Bored yet?"
"Go away, Damon." The emotionless one remarked.
"Brought you some real light reading from the 'True Crime' section." Damon then tosses some printed pictures clipped to crime files into the room; the files are all of the people who Caroline has killed since turning off her humanity, mostly the victims from Whitmore, "Curious...which one of you idiots attacked a stadium security guard and stuffed him in a laundry cart?" He tosses a few more pictures clipped to crime files into the room.
"That would have been me." The Forbes girl admitted.
Isaac and Caroline get up to their feet.
Damon shrugs, "Nice technique. Although, it's probably good that your mom's gone because that would have been a hell of a cover up."
Isaac walks to the locked door and picks up the crime files.
"Why are you guys only picking on me? Isaac's in here too. Annoy him."
"Because Isaac didn't snap a bar-back's clavicle in half." He ratified, "You know, it's really quite sad actually. I can see Liz right now--" The mentioned woman's daughter rolls her tired soulless eyes, "--Calling the parents, breaking the news, wondering where she went wrong as a mother..."
He throws the rest of the report files into the room through the window.
"She got cancer, okay? That is where she went wrong." Caroline professed.
"Oh! Blame her. Healthy attitude, Caroline." Her ex sarcastically voiced.
"You know what? You're right. I should really just be more like you and Elena, just play make-believe about the future that I can't have, because that's healthy." Caroline sarcastically snapped back, starting to mock them just as her mentioned best friend approaches the door to join Damon.
"Maybe I'll pretend I can actually give birth to babies and have a normal family, and I can get a job without having to move and start over every five years. I can operate on my patients without wanting to feed on them." Caroline continued that her ex-boyfriend is clearly not pleased by the fact that the blonde is making his truly envious vampire girlfriend feel so badly.
"You're a real bitch when you're hungry." The blue-eyed one commented.
"I'm curious, Damon. How does it feel to know that you can't give someone the life that she really wants?" The emotionless Forbes girl taunted.
"Shut up, Caroline!" Elena angrily told her with her arms folded.
"I'm just stating the facts, Elena. You didn't want this life. You can play fantasy-land all you want, but in this life, the one where you're a vampire, you'll always be settling, and it's just so sad." A satisfied Caroline mocked.
"I can't listen to this." The Gilbert girl looks away from the open window.
"Elena." Her boyfriend began in genuine sympathy.
"I don't want to hear it, okay?" Elena walks away from the locked door.
Caroline scoffs with a roll of her eyes and Damon closes the window.
****
Kai Parker's Apartment/Bonnie's Prius
On the road, a frustrated Bonnie is driving her car when she receives a phone call from Minerva, who remains at her boyfriend's place with Kai himself, and she answers it, "Hey. Kind of busy right now, Mins."
The Devon girl sighs, concern dripping in her tone, "Are you still at--"
"I can't find it."
Minerva turns to Kai for a moment, who is not too far away from her as he eats from a packet of pork rinds, "You sure you checked everywhere?"
"Of course I have." Her anxious best friend replied in frustration.
"Wh-- so does that mean--"
"Either Lily brought it with her or somebody else took it before I do, yeah."
"Okay, nobody's going to carry that junk everywhere they go in a purse--"
"Maybe someone desperate like Lily would." The young witch reminded her.
"Come on. Don't just jump to conclusions--"
"That's easy for you to say. You're not the one who has a ripper on your tail, who's going to force you and possibly threaten you to free her friends."
Minerva rolls her big eyes, "I'm sorry. But what if, somebody else took it?"
Bonnie scoffs, tired of her current predicament, "And who would that be?"
"Someone who's equally desperate as you are."
"Again, I ask you, who would that be?"
"I can't just state the specific name of the person, Bonnie, okay? Because that could possibly lead me to accuse people." Minerva snapped back.
Bonnie sighs, "I spent an hour searching for that thing and I almost got caught, thanks to Enzo, by the way." She rolls her eyes at the thought.
Minerva turns to Kai, almost suspecting him as the one who took the ascendant, hinting by their conversation about his deal with Lily earlier.
Meanwhile, Bonnie continued to complain on the other line, "Matt can't even do his task right to stall her. I mean, what's the point? As long as Enzo's around, he's going to ruin everything. Every plan set up, he'll ruin it."
"Yeah, well, that's why he and Damon are a perfect match." Minerva said.
Her best friend scoffs, "Don't say that jerk's name again. I got to go."
"Okay, I'll see you later. Be safe." She hangs up the quick phone call and Kai slowly nears her. Once the device is back in her tassel braid crossbody bag on the coffee table somewhere in the living room, Minerva looks up at him.
"She's got to be real funny when she's mad." Kai laughs, "I mean--"
"What's your deal with Lily?" Minerva cuts him off, clearly in no mood to joke around in her best friend's time of need as she fixes her grave gaze on him, trying to read his shady expression, remaining calm nonetheless.
Kai scoffs, "I told you: she won't give me what I need--"
"Oh, and what's that? More magic? Since you're so desperate to be the most powerful witch in your coven, then you should--"
"You're assuming." Kai stopped her, finally turning serious now.
"Yeah, you're probably right." His suspicious girlfriend nods, "The ascendant's probably a real gem for Lily to carry it around like a souvenier, or somebody probably took it from her while she's out of the house."
The two stare at each other for a moment before Kai spoke again in offense, "What, so you're saying it's me?" His own lover looks away from him, not knowing what to say and he scoffs at her in disbelief, "Look, it's understandable that you don't get the whole bargain Lily and I agreed to, but I'm telling you, it'll work out in the end. I just, can't tell you--"
"We promised to no secrets." She reminded him as she folds her arms.
Kai sighs, "Not this time. Okay? This secret's a big one."
Minerva takes a step back from him and scoffs in disbelief, "You know, maybe deep down, I'm right. Maybe I've just been gone for too long that makes you get close to people you shouldn't even deal with."
"Seriously? Minerva, you should know better than that--"
"At least it gives me some kind of closure than just hearing the complaints of a friend who's going to get hunted down and it becomes her problem--"
"Bonnie's going to be okay." Her boyfriend assured her breezily.
"No, she's not. You're only saying that with the intention to cheer me up, but the truth is, all you ever care about is your happiness with me. You don't care about anything else that doesn't relate to me." Minerva snapped.
"Come on. You know that's not true--"
"Oh, it's not?" She scoffs in disbelief, "Let's see: you could care less about my mom wherever she is, you harmed my best friend more than once whenever I'm not around, ensuring a friend of mine to stay far away from us as possible because you're too damn paranoid that he's going to take me from you even when I made it super clear that him and I are just friends--"
"Wow. Write a complaint letter to me, why don't you?"
"You know it's the truth!" Minerva raises her voice, silencing him and she sighs in a tired manner, "I've been holding my patience on you for too long now, Kai. But it's just, I can't go on with a selfish relationship like this--"
"Everything I did was for you." Malachai expressed, meaning each word.
Minerva frowns as she stares at him, "No. Everything you did was for your own happiness. What's the point of being given empathy when you don't use it? You're using it for yourself, not me. You. Okay?"
"So you want to break-up?" Kai tries to hold his tears back.
Minerva sighs, "Kai, come on--"
"You're right. I am selfish." Kai expressed, "But it's because I'm selfish is why I get to stay with you, be by your side, because you are my happiness. But what's the point of doing all of that when you don't appreciate it--"
"Because I don't abandon the people I care about, okay? And I certainly don't kill them or anyone at the matter if I don't get what I want. I appreciate your efforts to keep this thing going between us, Kai, but I really just, can't do it. I'm sorry." Minerva expressed in return, "I'm really sorry."
She grabs her crossbody bag from the small table and walks out of the apartment, to leave immediately, sadly while he remains inside and she almost bumped into an unknown neighbor, who awkwardly apologized as she is about to walk past, making the banshee roll her big eyes, annoyed.
****
Bed and Breakfast, Grove Hill
Caroline and Isaac remain locked up in their room. The tired latter sits on the side of the big bed, looking through the crime files, while the stone cold former lies on the bed and groans, "Ugh. It's like a million degrees in here."
"Tell me about it." Her best friend closes one of the files.
The blonde sits up as she looks at him, "He speaks. You were so quiet earlier when I was tearing into Elena. I was scared you were feeling sad for her." She stands up before sitting down beside him on the edge of the big bed.
"No. It was just hard to get a word in, that's all."
Caroline strips off her jacket and sighs in relief, "Much better. I highly recommend it." She tosses her jacket at him, and the young man laughs.
"I'm good. Thank you."
"Are you sure? Because I can give you a hand if you want." She stands in front of him and tries to remove his jacket, but he grabs her wrists and stops her.
"I said I'm good."
"I heard you. You know what else I hear?" Caroline angrily said and leans forward toward him, and the young man looks uncomfortable by her closeness, "Your heart. And it's racing." She moves in closer to him as though she's about to kiss him and whispered, "Am I making you nervous?"
Isaac looks even more uncomfortable as he pulls away from her, which seems to confirm her suspicions, "Caroline..."
I knew it. "When did you flip it back?" The Forbes girl angrily snapped.
He tries to cover up his panic, "Heh. What are you talking about?"
"Your humanity's been back on this whole time, hasn't it? Damon and Elena knew where to find us because you told them, and that's why they were only picking on me." She figured, "And I bet Stefan and Rosie know too."
Her best friend tries to play it cool, "You must be having heatstroke."
"How dumb do you think I am, Isaac? A few days ago, you tore my clothes off. Now you don't even want to kiss me? What's wrong, hmm? What, you don't want to take advantage of me? You don't want to ruin our nonexistent relationship?" Caroline seductively wraps her jacket around his neck.
"Please. Stop."
"Relax, Isaac. I don't really feel like kissing anymore." Caroline then quickly yanks on the sleeves of her jacket, twisting it so that it breaks his neck.
Isaac grunts in pain before he falls unconscious onto the bed. Caroline sighs and smiles before she walks toward the door. She summons up all the strength she has and starts violently kicking the door, which, like the windows, is reinforced with iron bars. On the third try, she kicks the door right off the hinges and walk through the threshold and down the hall.
****
Whitmore College, Bonnie, Caroline and Elena's Dormitory Room
Bonnie sits on the floor, surrounded by a map with a drop of blood on it and a few of lit white candles as she chants a locator spell to find the ascendant with little success to no avail, hinting that whoever took the mystical relic had a witch, possibly a Gemini one, to perform a cloaking spell on it.
"Phesmatos tribum nas ex veras..." She then senses Damon's presence and sighs in frustration, "Do not take another step." The young man looks unhappy to see that the ascendant is nowhere to be found, "I can't find it."
"Thought it'd be you." Her best friend's boyfriend shrugs.
"The worst part is, it's cloaked." The young witch continued.
Damon contemplates the statement over, "You don't think that, a slick and faster Gemini took it before you even stepped in the house, did you?"
"That's my exact conclusion." His best friend proclaimed.
"They're geniuses when it comes to cloaking spells, desperate enough to destroy the only thing keeping Lily's friends trapped in that magic box--"
"I know." Bonnie interrupted him, "It's Kai."
Damon scoffs, "No, the creeper's been spending his time all day and night with Caramel. There's no way he has that time for some stupid ascendant."
"Or maybe he asked one of his people to do it for him." Bonnie turns around to grimly face her best friend, "He is the leader, right?"
"Well, he didn't say anything about it. Not even his girlfriend knows and now their relationship is going downhill. He doesn't know what he's doing, Bonnie. None of those Gemini freaks do." He shakes his head in denial.
"Their goal is to destroy that thing to keep their prisoners trapped, so I think they know exactly what they're doing. They're protecting me." Bonnie stands up and faces him, "For the first time, some people puts me first."
"Look. I'm all about girl power, but we have to get the damn ascendant back, and I promise you, those witchpires will not get out. Okay?"
"Oh. You promise me? Is that supposed to mean something? This isn't about those Heretics anymore. The people that that thing would free are a million times stronger than Kai and us, and don't get me started on the fun they would have with a newly-human Elena." The selfish witch snarled.
The anxious vampire sighs, "My mom has the cure, Bonnie."
"What are you talking about?"
"If I don't bring her that, she's going to destroy it." He informed her.
"So your own mother is leveraging you? Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. And besides, what can I do? It's not with me." Bonnie shrugs.
"Then you need to help me stop those Geminis."
"Sorry, but you're going to have to reach Kai for that."
"Damn it, Bonnie." Damon then vamp-speeds toward her in an attempt to grab the witch, but she uses her magical strength to throw him off her.
"If you are given the ascendant, I am sacrificing myself. Again. I'm risking my life, again. I could end up dead, again!" Bonnie raises her voice in anger.
"You don't want to push me, Bon Bon."
"What do you want? For Elena to have a human life, to be happy, to grow old without you? If that's what you really wanted, you would have given her the cure by now. Am I wrong?" Bonnie exasperatedly mentioned, No. Damon, knowing that Bonnie is right, remains silent, "I said, 'Am I wrong?' I know you, Damon. I spent four months with you, day in and day out. We went to hell and back again-- literally-- and you're more scared now than I have ever seen you before. It's not about what happens if you don't give Elena the cure. You're scared about what happens if you do." She stares up at him.
She picks up her jacket and wears it, indicating she will help him find it, "If you think you can handle it-- free a bunch of people who will want to kill me and anyone else who tries to stand in their way-- then you can spend the next seventy years watching Elena grow old and die. If that's what you want, let's get to Kai and make him return it. Now, if we have to."
Damon stares at her, both scared and angry, pressured by the minute. After a long moment, Damon walks out of the room without another word, and Bonnie seems only mildly impressed as she watches her friend leave.
****
Bed and Breakfast, Grove Hill
Caroline gasps awake, from a dream, in bed to find that her vampire best friend is sitting above her, watching over her in obvious concern, "Isaac?"
"Huh. What do you know? It's working." He mentioned in relief.
"What the hell are you doing?" The younger vampire snarled in anger.
"Yeah. The pain you're feeling, let it in." The older one nods as a support.
"Starve me, bleed me out, put visions in my head?" The Forbes girl furiously gets up in vamp-speed, away from him, "That was your plan all along?"
"You need to come back now, Caroline." The young man sternly advised.
"Just get away from me." She continues to distance herself from him.
"I want to show you something. Just take my hand." Isaac reaches his right hand out to her as an offer so the emotionless blonde can grab it.
"Ugh!" Caroline pulls a sharp piece of the shutter off the window and points it at him in a threatening manner as a stake, "I said get away from me."
"I can help you if you let me. Just please, take my hand. Please, Caroline." Isaac began to plead for his childhood best friend back desperately.
Caroline sighs, lowering the dangerous makeshift stake and reaching out as though she's going to take his offered right hand. Isaac nods reassuringly at her, while the blonde smiles. Although, Caroline manages to quickly jam the broken shutter in his stomach; Isaac groans loudly and sputters in agony.
"I don't want any of your help. I just want you to die. Your heart's racing again, Isaac. Let me fix that." Caroline stabs him again, and he yelps in pain.
"Caroline, please stop." He grabs hold of Caroline's hand, which is wrapped around the makeshift stake, and uses his vampire telepathy to show her a memory; when she starts to see the memory, she stops what she's doing.
Isaac is in the middle of the Forbes' living room — the same place in which he used to grow up as a child around his loved ones. He looks down at a familiar white envelope sitting on the coffee table-- the same envelope that Caroline had him burn earlier at the Bed and Breakfast. Liz comes down the stairs with a sewing kit in hand, "Okay. Needle and thread, as requested. Do I want to know why you suddenly decided to take up sewing?"
Her beloved daughter's closest childhood best friend laughs, "Well, Caroline and I spent the entire day digging in the woods to find a Teddy bear, and now she wants to repair it. She's very task-oriented." He nods a little.
The woman chuckles, "Yes, I'm aware." She hands him the box.
The young man notices as Caroline looks puzzled and horrified that the blonde gasps in shock, "What the hell is this?" Her friend gasps in agony.
Isaac answered her, "It's a memory, a real one."
Isaac takes the sewing kit from his friend's mother, "Thank you. You, uh, should have seen the look on Caroline's face when that bear fell apart."
"You're a good friend to her, Isaac. I hope someday you'll be more than that." Liz pauses when she sees the young man's truly shocked face, and she smiles, "I'm dying. I'm allowed to be blunt. It's a time-saver."
"Well, I don't think the timing is right for me and Caroline right now, with everything going on." The vampire shrugs at the well-thought.
The woman laughs slightly, "Oh, blame me, why don't you?"
"No, I just mean if I'm going to start something with Caroline, I want it to be perfect...No loss, no pain, no grief." Isaac expressed truthfully.
"You might be waiting a while."
"I'm a patient guy." Her daughter's best friend turns to the white envelope on the small table, "Hey. Do you want me to mail that out for you?"
"Oh. No, thanks. I'm still working on it." The single mother picks it up, "I'll mail it out tomorrow. I have an idea of what I want to say. It's just...I guess I want it to be perfect, too." She nods a little, smiling at him.
"You're a good mom." He smiles at her in a warm manner.
"I hope so."
Isaac is starting to desiccate from the small part of the sharp makeshift stake that is rubbing perilously against his significant heart at the moment. Caroline quickly realizes what is happening and pulls the stake out immediately in alarm, allowing the darkened veins to fade away. Isaac gasps in relief, and Caroline steps away from him, looking emotional.
"I want to see the rest." The poor Forbes girl requested in a sense of loss.
Isaac gasps as he recovers from his staking, and Caroline impatiently rushes over and forcefully grabs his right arm once again, "Let me see her!"
Isaac is on the main front porch of his childhood best friend's family home, and he smiles as he walks away. Liz smiles back in return and closes the door, just as Caroline rushes up the front porch steps to see her mother, "Wait, wait. Mom! Mom! It's me! It's Caroline." She emotionally knocks on the door desperately, "Just come outside. I want to talk to you."
Her mother walks away, unable to see or hear her, and since Isaac had left, there was no more of the memory for Caroline to see the rest.
"I want to read your letter! Please. Mommy!" The girl desperately pleaded and continues frantically knocking on the door, "Mom, please. Come back." She cries and turns around to find Isaac, "Make her come back!"
Isaac is watching sadly, and reluctantly in pure sympathy, as his best friend is pleading with him desperately in a pathetic manner, "I'm sorry. I can't."
Caroline starts to cry, "No. Just show me the vision again, okay? I...I want to see my mom, Isaac. I...I need to know what she said in that letter. Please."
"I already gave you the letter." He reminded her of the truth.
Caroline finally realizes what she did, in pure horror, and frantically rushes over to the ashtray, only to find that the letter has been completely burned, "No. No. No!" She starts to sob, "What do you think she wanted to tell me?"
"Whatever it was, it's gone." Isaac shakes his head in even more sympathy.
"No. I did this. This is all my fault." She drops onto her knees on the floor.
"Caroline--"
"No. I tried to kill you, Isaac, and then I made you turn it off, and then we... Oh my God." Caroline ignores him, who tries to calm her down at this moment; she becomes overwhelmed with repressed emotions, and her extremely loyal best friend is looking at her sadly and tries to console her.
"It's okay, Caroline. It's okay." Isaac advised for nothing but solace.
It's not. "I'm so sorry, Isaac. I ruined everything. I ruined everything."
****
Isaac is in the main upstairs hallway, in which he's finishing off a fresh blood bag served just for him and Caroline once his task is finished to switch her humanity back on. After a moment, Alaric approaches him and the young vampire sighs in great relief before he gulps down the last of the blood.
"How is she?" The Occult professor watches closely as the young man stands up, looking as though he's desperate to leave, "What are you doing?"
"I'm going home for a shower and a stiff drink, of course."
The older man frowns in confusion of the matter, "What about Caroline?"
The vampire avoids eye contact as he replied, "She doesn't want to see me."
"Isaac, every emotion she's been pushing away just came racing back at a hundred miles an hour." Alaric pointed out in a deeply concerned manner.
"Yeah, I don't really need a lesson on how the humanity-switch works, Ric. Trust me. She doesn't want to see me. Don't make me say it again."
Josette joins them and squeezes her lover's right warm hand in her own, "Maybe you should let Caroline decide what she needs."
The pair walk down the hallway together to leave, and Isaac sighs in fear; the fear of losing Caroline all over again depending on her next alternative. In their former jail cell, Caroline sits on the big bed, where she's looking at all of the police crime files and clipped photos regarding the people she killed over the past few days. She sighs defeatedly, visibly overwhelmed with emotions about the acts she's committed. She closes the files and stands to her feet as she returns to the ashtray, still full of the ashes of the letter she never got to read, which makes her start to cry over her loss again.
Isaac hesitates before entering the room to see her, "Hey..."
"Hey." The Forbes girl still doesn't want to look at him, out of guilt.
"Caroline..."
"Don't...Don't."
He frowns deeply in concern and sighs as he watches her, "You okay?"
"How can I be okay after everything that I ruined?" He only looks at her sadly out of pure pity for the poor girl, not knowing what to say, and she shakes her head, "Just don't worry about me. I'm not going to turn it off again, but you...and...us...this...I just really need to get out of here."
She walks past him quickly, and he turns to watch her go.
****
Devon Residence
Minerva finally arrives home at night, where Cassie and Kai are in the kitchen, seemingly waiting for her. The caramel brunette walks in to find him sitting at the dining table, clearly showing that he has no appetite.
"Hey." He mentioned.
"Hi." The nineteen-year-old replied awkwardly.
"I'll leave you two to it." Her mother excuses herself out of the kitchen.
Minerva scoffs as she looks away, "You told Mom about us. Shocker."
"She's worried about you when you didn't come home with me."
She folds her arms, "I'm sorry, did you say 'home'? As in, our home?"
Kai gets up from his seat and slowly approaches her, "Look. I know I should've just left you alone after what happened today between us--"
"Keep going, why don't you? As if a depressed friend of mine hasn't been enough trouble for a day." Minerva sarcastically snapped at him.
"She switched it back on." He finally comes to realization.
"Don't act so surprised. If you don't care, then so be it. I don't want to ask you to do things you're not even willing to do."
"Okay, you're still mad at me, I'm aware of that." He nods a little.
"Yeah, so why'd you show up here?" Minerva snapped impatiently.
"Because I want you to know that you're right. This is my first time after eighteen years of isolation that I finally get to be in love again, if that's even possible, I can't even believe it myself. But I want you to know, that I fell in love because of you. You helped me to become the person that I am today, despite that I'm a lunatic who holds everybody's hatred toward me. I didn't expect someone would actually care, the moment I realized what you were trying to do since you first met me." Malachai expressed, true to his words.
"I was afraid of you." Minerva admitted without hesitation, "Of what you're capable of. I was, guarding and keeping my emotions in check the whole time when you showed up for the first time because, I was scared that you'd hurt me. It's really not a surprise that you did, multiple times, but I chose not to say it because I didn't want to ruin us." She releases a shaky sigh.
Kai sighs, "You should've said something--"
"Well, I'm saying it now. You've actually ruined it the moment you started having feelings, all thanks to your dead brother. He did it because he loves me, and his sister. But when you started to feel those emotions, you feel them almost, mostly depending on me, thinking you can harm everyone around me and I would be okay with that. The thing is, I don't. I care about people: my family, my friends, and those are the people that you lost in your lifetime, but that doesn't mean you can just be selfish with your compassion when it comes to other people now that you're back in the real world."
Kai looks ashamed of himself as he looks down, trying to avoid her gaze before he spoke again, "I'm sorry. I-I should've known that this would hurt you, and I only cared about my own needs, but I--" He sighs and finally looks into her teary eyes, "No one said your first love would be perfect, right?"
"Yeah." Minerva nods a little.
"So--" His voice breaks as he is about to cry, "I-Is that it?"
"I was wrong too, you know. I should've, given you more time to think, and calm down before making a decision to be together, but I let my emotions take the best of me, like always." Minerva sighs and shakes her head a bit.
"So what are you saying?"
Minerva stares up at him and slowly leans in for a short kiss before she told him lowly, "I'm letting you go, because in the state that we're in now..." She shakes her head in denial of the truth, "...we're not going to last. I'm sorry, Kai, but this isn't working out for me. So I think, I think you should just go."
They share a moment of silence, just staring at one another before Kai walks out the front door, slamming it behind him, making Minerva wince.