3rd Person P.O.V.
Jessica Carter had convinced Vivianne and Eric to convince Elena to not have Alaric erase her memories of Damon. It was a difficult task but she had an even more difficult one, she needed to go see Esther while Finn was distracted by Cami. While Carter and Vivianne had their tasks, Meredith went with Elijah, who needed to see Marcel.
At Marcel's loft, he has yet another group of humans, hoping that they can become vampires. He had gotten one recruit, Gia. She had come back and Caroline had explained things to her before going with Josh to wait in Marcel's loft when Elijah and Meredith showed up. Marcel finishes his speech before turning to the well-dressed original, trying to avoid his companion that reminded him too much of the friend he had lost. "Elijah. Didn't expect to see you and your girlfriend on this side of the river."
"Didn't expect to see you assembling a new vampire community. I guess we're both full of surprises?" Elijah returns.
"What can I say, I've been rebuilding the vampire population. I would call it my army but I made a recruit who refuses to let it be called that and despite her age, she is very strong."
Caroline walks over with Enzo and Josh trailing behind her and snorts, hearing Marcel's comment. "What can I say, Jessica always said that you can be more powerful than anyone if you can manipulate your emotions," she says with a contagious smile ,while Meredith laughs.
"I think what she said was that she's more powerful than anyone because she can manipulate everyone else's emotions," she jokes and everyone chuckles, knowing that they both sound like something Jessica would say. After a couple of beats, Meredith turns to Caroline. "Hey, can I talk to you?" Caroline nods and Meredith kisses Elijah's cheek. "I'll be inside." He nods before turning to Marcel.
Caroline waits until they are far enough away that the vampires won't hear before turning to Meredith. "What's wrong?" She questions, having seen the same look on Jessica whenever something was bothering her.
"I don't know," Meredith sighs. "Maybe it's all in my head but it feels like now that Hayley is a hybrid, Elijah cares more about her than me. He spends all of his time with her. I had to push and push and push to convince him to let me tag along. Plus I've been talking to Davina about a way to get Jessica back but she says she doesn't know and now she's being distracted by this Kaleb guy. Oh and let's not forget that Stefan gave up the search for his brother and my sister and Elena is trying to have Ric erase her memories of Damon."
"What?" Caroline questions, shocked that Elena and Stefan would do something like that.
"Don't worry, Vivianne is in the process of talking Elena out of it as we speak. As for Stefan, there isn't really much that we can do about him," she begins but Caroline cuts her off.
"Enzo and I can bring him here. Stefan can't just abandon his search. I won't lose Jessica," Caroline states, determined. "As for Elijah, he's a nice guy, he probably wants to help Hayley out because Klaus isn't exactly the best role model." Meredith frowns at this and Caroline becomes apprehensive. "What?"
"Nothing, it's just, Klaus has been acting...off. I mean he lost his daughter and I get that that would change someone but he's not handling it in an 'I'm going to murder every person that crosses me' kind of way. He's handling it in a Jessica way, which is weird since he can't remember her, but he's done this before. It's like Jessica's words are coming out of Klaus' mouth. This morning, Elijah told him to help Hayley out and he said that he's going to take her to the bayou to help her reclaim her place as queen of the wolves because that might help with her growing anger."
Caroline looks shocked. "You're right, that does sound more like Jess than Klaus. What's Cami got to say?"
"Klaus won't talk to Cami. But Vivi has a theory that his love was stronger than Genevieve's spell and he doesn't want us to know since Jessica's dead anyway. She decided to test the theory. She's heading to the bayou-" Her phone cuts her off. It's a text from Vivianne saying that she talked Elena out of it and telling her about the herbs Caroline had gotten her off of. "Now," she continues. "She talked Elena out of it so she's off to talk to the wolves. I think that she just hopes that she can convince Ollie to join our side again."
"How's she doing with all that?"
"Better now that she has Eric to talk to about everything but she loves Oliver and he betrayed her. I don't think that's ever happened to her before. She's always been the one in control, like Jessica."
"Okay, well I'm going to get Enzo and head out to find Stefan. Don't give up on Elijah just yet." Meredith sighs but agrees before finding her boyfriend to leave.
Meanwhile, Carter makes it to the cemetery a few minutes after Klaus to discover that he was just now finding out that Cassie was making the moonlight rings for the wolves thanks to Oliver, who Vivianne has decided to try and get on their side, which is proving difficult now that she is a tribrid. Carter stands outside the tomb listening to the conversation between mother and son and can pinpoint the exact moment that Klaus figures it out. As soon as he leaves, she takes his place.
"He's figured it out, you know," she states, knowing that Esther will see through her spell.
"You're supposed to be dead," she gasps and Jessica smiles before looking in her eyes.
"You're right, which is why you won't tell anyone you saw me."
"Why are you here?" Esther snaps and Jessica smiles again.
"When purgatory was falling, I got a chance to talk with Nature. You know how close of a relationship I had to it before, but with my death came a stronger connection. I have solidified my place as the balance, or at least I will soon," she says, eluding to when she combines her souls again. "You acted against nature when you tried to kill you children, along with me, to appease the spirits and your relationship with the ancestors of New Orleans, and their abominable magic, angers Nature further. I know why you have come back Esther and I am here to offer you a deal."
"What deal?"
"I want you to forsake your spirit magic and learn the nature magic I practice. But before I can do this, you must be pure. You must give up your task to destroy the vampire race as that is not Nature's will. If you make one more move to do so, after this point, that will end my task given to me by Nature. My mission was to kill you to protect a species," she reveals.
"Then why am I still alive?" She demands and Carter frowns.
"Because 1000 years ago, you were like a mother to me. I didn't understand what it was to have a mother and you were kind to me. For that reason, for that connection, I have convinced nature to allow me to salvage you. If you practice nature magic you can bring the bodies of you and your two sons back, allow the witches to have their bodies once again, and be a family with your children. When you have made your decision, if it is the right one, you will be led to me. If not, I will be led to you and I will be forced to go through with what nature demands." With that, the blonde gets up and leaves Esther to ponder her offer.
Meanwhile, in Savannah, Georgia, Caroline and Enzo arrive at Stefan's house to find that he has had this new life for a while. They have dinner together with Stefan and his girlfriend before Stefan tells them that he has to move on because Damon and Jessica are dead and they are never coming back. "If it were you, Damon would never stop looking for you. I used to tell him that you had to love him, you were his bother, but I was wrong," Enzo snarls, disgusted by Stefan.
"And Jessica, who doesn't even like you, would find a way to get you back, yet you are so content to leave them behind. They aren't dead Stefan. I would feel it if she were really gone and she isn't, so get your crap together," Caroline demands before storming out of the house into Enzo's car. She begins to cry unable to believe that Stefan, her Stefan that she was beginning to fall for, would give up this easily. Enzo follows her to the car and upon seeing her tear-stained face walks back in and threatens Stefan before turning his girlfriend and heading back to New Orleans.
While Stefan deals with his supposedly dead girlfriend, Jessica Gilbert has to deal with yet another argument between Bonnie and Damon. She feels odd, she has yet to use any of her powers, except for the mind-reading that she can't seem to help at the moment, and it's beginning to take its toll on her. This is why she slips out of the house while the two friends, who pretend they aren't, argue yet again.
She walks into the woods and wanders around, feeling her connection to nature that soothes her, when she feels a presence behind her. "I was wondering if you'd ever show your face, Malachai Parker," she says, turning to him slightly.
He laughs, not expecting her to know he was there. After all, he spent about three and a half months spying on them and Jessica was merely human. "I'm surprised you knew it was me. I mean Damon's a vampire, Bonnie's a witch, albeit a pretty useless one for now, but you, your nothing more than Damon's little toy. Although I do see why he enjoys you," he says in a flirty tone.
Jessica throws on a seductive smile and walks towards him. "And you're Malachai, the boy who had a rough upbringing all because he was a siphoner and decided to take it out on his siblings, murdering all but three before getting banished here," she states, watching the smirk fall from his face. "That's right Malachai, I'm far from useless," she whispers in his ear before taking the stake that she had been holding behind her back and staking him through the heart. She watches him die before picking him up and carrying him back to the house.
When she arrives, Damon and Bonnie are now fighting over whether or not there was somebody else there with them since Damon had decided that whoever's prison this was had gotten out, something Bonnie had agreed with. "Hey, dipshits, I found our other companion," she states and they immediately stopped talking and walked into the living room to see that he had been staked.
"Jess, babe, great job on finding him but how can he tell us where he hid the key if he's dead?" Damon wonders and Jessica smirks.
"Come on Day, you don't honestly think that I'd kill 1/4 of our population, do you? He's bound to this world, meaning he can't die. Plus, he followed me into the middle of the woods because he thought I was human and was planning to kidnap me to try and jumpstart Bonnie's powers. I got a little pissed."
"So how do we wake him up," Bonnie asks, wanting to get back on track.
"He'll wake up," Jessica answers pulling the stake out. "But we'll need your magic, mine's too unstable," Jessica lies. "For now, I'm going to look at the grimoires I have been collecting while you two were too busy fighting to notice my absence," she says with a grin before leaving. Bonnie watches her before turning to Damon.
"I'm telling you, Damon, there's something different about her. She more distant, colder."
"One problem at a time, Bon-Bon," Damon says as Kai begins to wake up.
Back in New Orleans, Elijah helps Marcel track Davina to Rousseau's after discovering that she has the white oak stake. When they arrive, they receive a shock when they see Mikael, who grabs the stake and goes after Elijah, only for him to drop, clutching his head in pain more powerful than a normal aneurysm. Elijah looks up to see Meredith enter. Davina takes the chance to put her bracelet back on and orders Mikael back to the attic.
Elijah looks up and notices Kaleb behind the bar. "Is there something you wish to say?" He demands and Kaleb is quick to shake his head.
"No, I didn't see anything. Nothing at all," he claims. Elijah nods his head before leaving with Meredith. Marcel notices all the wolves and wonders who Davina managed to piss off. He leaves and finds Gia, giving her his blood and snapping her neck before taking her back to his loft, hoping that Caroline is back to help bring his mood up. When he arrives, he sees that she is back but also notices that Josh and Enzo are comforting her and is quick to join the effort, learning all about her affections for Stefan Salvatore and the big mistake he had just made.