10. After School Special

"Carol Lockwood always said that togetherness, in times of tragedy leads to healing" Liz said, addressing the assembly held for Carol at the school gym, "That one community is stronger than a thousand of its members, but how does a community stay strong after losing its leader? And Carol was so much more than just a mayor, she was an open-minded friend", Liz glanced at Tyler who was sitting with Caroline, Bonnie and Elena, "And a concerned mother, taken us from too soon, by a terrible accident".

"Screw this" an emotional Tyler said, standing up and leaving the gym, he hated everyone calling Carol's death an accident, he knew it wasn't an accident, it was a murder, it was revenge what he did.

"Tyler, tyler wait" Caroline called out, but Tyler didn't listen to her.

"Please join me in observing a minute of silence in her memory" Liz continued.

Elena, who was looking in the direction Tyler walked out in, suddenly frowned when she saw Rebekah walk in with Lily by her side, both having smirks on her face that had screamed trouble, Elena quickly shook her head and looked in the direction again, only to see no one there this time.

"You okay?" Bonnie asked her best friend.

"I'll be right back" an extremely confused Elena said, standing up and walking in the direction she thought she had seen Rebekah and Lily in.

"Thank you very much" Liz said, as Elena walked out the gym, "In the wake of this tragedy, the town has selected an interim mayor, many of you may already know him, please welcome Mr. Rudy Hopkins".

"Thank you sheriff" Rudy said, walking up to the podium and shaking Liz's hand, "Carol Lockwood put this town first and that's why I'm here to talk to you guys".

Meanwhile, Elena walked down the empty hallway of Mystic Falls High when suddenly the sound of someone crying reached her ears, she quickly followed that sound that led right to April Young, "April?" a worried Elena called out, walking over to the crying girl, "What's wrong?".

"Nothing, I'm fine" April assured.

"But you're crying" a confused Elena pointed out.

"It's just the whole mayor thing, you know, it's bringing up stuff with my dad" April admitted, Elena nodded her head in understanding, "And I know you're a vampire".

"Wait, what?" a shocked Elena asked, wondering how did April know that.

Before April could answer, Rebekah appeared behind Elena and snapped her back.

"Was the necessary?" a terrified April asked as Rebekah let Elena's body fall to the ground.

"She didn't do it because it was necessary" Lily said, walking over to the two girls.

"I did it because it was fun" Rebekah finished, as identical smirks formed on her and Lily's face.

This morning, when Lily woke up, she walked down to the Mikaelson living room where she saw Rebekah, who informed her about Klaus daggering her, resulting in Lily being furious at Klaus and agreeing to Rebekah's suggestion of not talking to Klaus for the entire day and spending the whole day with her torturing Elena, much to Klaus's annoyance, but he couldn't argue with Lily knowing she was already angry with him and he didn't want to make her more upset so he agreed to let Rebekah steal Lily, but only for one day, he anyways had something to take care of, something he knew Lily would not be interested in.

***

An unconscious Elena slowly woke up from her snapped neck and was immediately confused seeing herself in the library.

"The assembly's over" April informed, walking over to Elena as she slowly stood up from the ground.

"What the hell is going on?" an extremely confused Elena asked, wondering who brought her here.

"The school will be empty soon" April continued, ignoring Elena's question, "How many times did you compel me? Don't--just don't lie, Rebekah and Lily say that you lie".

Elena immediately shook her head, "Rebekah and Lily are not what you think they are, April".

"What?" April asked, "Rebekah's not a thousand year old original vampire? And Lily's not a werewolf?".

"Listen, we can figure this out, but we have to get out of here" Elena insisted, grabbing April's wrist, Elena tried to drag April away but before she could, Lily and Rebekah blocked her way.

"Sorry, you need permission to take an exist" Lily stated, a taunting smile on her face.

"She's right" Rebekah said, before walking closer to Elena and starting to compel her, "Why don't you take a seat? The rest of the class will be here shortly".

***

Rebekah called Stefan to inform him about her keeping Elena hostage at the school library, not mentioning that Lily was helping her, which is why Stefan, who was already in a mood after finding out from Caroline that Elena slept with Damon, decided to enlist Caroline's help in driving the white oak stake through Rebekah's heart, which is why Caroline was currently roaming the empty school hallway with the white oak stake in her hand, looking for any sign of Rebekah.

She looked through a door of classroom and after realising it was empty, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and messaged Stefan.

2nd floor clear.

Just as Caroline sent that text she suddenly felt a presence behind her, causing her to turn around and the moment she did, she let out shocked gasp seeing her sister, "Lily, what the hell, you scared me".

"And you hurt me" Lily retorted.

"What?" a confused Caroline, wondering what her sister was on about.

"No questions, today I ask the questions and you answer me, today you and I are finally going to decide, are we on the same team or separate" Lily stated.

***

Rebekah dragged an annoyed Stefan into the library, where everyone, including Caroline was, Lily having dragged her here.

"Stefan" a shocked Elena whispered, standing up from her chair.

However before she could fully stand up, Lily placed a hand on her shoulder and shoved her back on to the chair, "No one allowed you to move".

"Class is in session" Rebekah announced, "You've all been compelled, you know the rules", Rebekah compelled Caroline before leaving to find Stefan, "Answer mine and Lily's questions honestly, no disobedience, no one leaves, April my sweet, take notes, this is how you get answers in this town".

"Why are you part of this?" a confused Stefan asked Lily once he had taken a seat.

"I've been hurt" Lily said, "And I need to make sure that my sister and best friend weren't part of the reason I got hurt".

Stefan frowned, "Lily, I would never hurt you, I learnt my lesson, I swear".

Lily observed Stefan, she then looked at her sister who looked really guilty, "You might not, but my own sister might, right Caroline?".

Stefan looked at Caroline, confusion evident on his face, wondering what was Lily on about, "Lily" a guilty Caroline whispered.

"Not now" Lily interrupted, "First it's Rebekah's turn to ask questions, I'll start mine later, go on Rebekah, start the interrogation".

"Thanks Lily" Rebekah said, "Now, let's start with a little quiz, in the year 1114, my brother learned, thanks to yours truly about a brotherhood of vampire hunters with tattoos that grew with each kill, these tattoos revealed what, Elena?".

"A map" an annoyed Elena answered.

"Which led to, Caroline?" Rebekah asked.

"A cure for vampirism" Caroline answered.

"Perfect, so we're all caught up" Rebekah said, before turning to Stefan, "Stefan Salvatore, the last time we saw each other, you had a vampire hunter, but in order to decode the map, you needed the location of the hunter's sword which you got out of me using some very dirty tricks, assuming you found the sword, you also found the cure and yet you're all still vampires, which means something went wrong", Rebekah then looked at April who was writing something in her notebook, "What are you doing?".

"Oh, you asked me to take notes" April reminded, making Lily let out an amused laugh.

"I wasn't being literal, darling" Rebekah said, "But now that you mention it, a flow chart would be nice, which means index cards and push pins, go fetch".

"You're wasting your time" Stefan stated, once April had walked out the library, "We don't know anything".

"So you just gave up?" Rebekah asked, having a hard time believing that, "I thought you'd do anything to save Elena, even if it meant taking the cure yourself so you could grow old and die with her", Elena looked at Stefan in shock, "Why do you look so surprised?" a confused Rebekah asked Elena, but both Elena and Stefan stayed quiet, "I'm missing something, what is it?".

"Stefan never told Elena about him wanting to grow old with her" Lily finally blurted out.

"Why?" a confused Rebekah asked.

"Because they broke up, okay?" Caroline snapped, "Now let us go".

"Broke up?" an amused Rebekah asked, ignoring Caroline's demand to let them go, "Wait, I'm confused, I thought Elena was your epic love Stefan", Stefan didn't say anything, just stayed quiet, "I asked you what happened, you have to tell me".

"She slept with Damon" Stefan revealed.

"What?!" a shocked Lily asked, while Elena looked at Caroline with a betrayed expression on her face, she knew Caroline was the only one who could have told Stefan that.

***

Jeremy, who was with Damon at the Gilbert lake house, sat on a bench and loaded the gun Damon gave him with wooden bullets before handing the gun back over to Damon.

"Good" Damon said, before taking the bullets out again, "Now, do it like your life depends on it, because it does".

"Don't act like you care about my life" Jeremy snapped, standing up from the bench, "You care about the hunter's mark and curing Elena so she's not sired to your ass".

"Both require you to be alive" Damon pointed, "Which is why I've updated our relationship status to, it's complicated", Damon hesitated for a moment, "Have you talked to her at all? Elena?".

"Maybe" Jeremy simply said, "Why? Running out of voicemails to listen to?".

"I'm sorry, did I interrupt playtime?" Klaus asked, walking over to the duo.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Jeremy asked.

"I'm simply appreciating the sights and smells of nature" Klaus said, "Neither of which presently include rotting vampire flesh, so I'm a bit concerned, how many vampires has he killed?".

"If we throw Jeremy out into the world right now, he's chum" Damon said.

"Yeah, see, that's not a number" Klaus said, "Twelve, that's a number, that's how many of my hybrids me and my little luna had to slaughter, three, that's how many days it took to quell the urge to kill your brother after he knowingly watched as I walked into a death trap, one, that's the number of purposes you serve,", Klaus started walking closer to Damon, "You are here to grow Jeremy's mark, so I'll ask again, how many vampires has he killed since he's been here?".

"Zero" Damon finally revealed.

Klaus let out a chuckle, "That's a pity" he said, taking a few steps away from Damon, "I'm gonna need that cure sooner rather than later, hybrid shortage and all, how can I help?".

"You know" Damon started, picking up the gun and loading it with bullets, "Now that you mention it, Jeremy, watch and learn", suddenly Damon shot two bullets right into Klaus's chest, "That's for Carol Lockwood".

***

"So vampire Elena is a trollop who likes bad boys which explains why Stefan reeks of alcohol" Rebekah taunted, "But what it doesn't explain is why sweet, loving, innocent Elena could be so heartless towards Stefan", Rebekah looked at Stefan, "How could she hurt you like that? Answer, please".

"She didn't know it at the time, but she was sired to Damon" Stefan revealed.

"A sire bond?" an amused Rebekah asked, taking a seat between Elena and Stefan, "That's fascinating, and what do you think about that, Elena?".

"I think you're sad, and bored" Elena said, "And in desperate need of a hobby".

"You're hiding something, fess up" Rebekah compelled.

"I didn't sleep with Damon because of the sirebond" a compelled Elena said, "I slept with Damon because I'm in love with him".

Stefan, Lily and Caroline looked at Elena in shock, Lily then looked at her best friend in worry, she a feeling this wasn't going to sit well with him.

"What does any of this have to do with the stupid cure?" Caroline asked, hoping to change the subject.

"You're right, we got off the point" Rebekah realised, "Stefan, how do I find the cure? Unless you'd rather talk about Damon and Elena all day".

"There's a professor, he knows where the cure is" Stefan informed.

"Thank, and where do I find this professor?" Rebekah asked.

***

"Alright, now that Rebekah's questions are out of the way, it's time I ask mine" Lily said, sitting infront of Stefan, "Don't worry Elena, you won't be asked anything because what you say is highly irrelevant to me, so do me a favor and don't interfere in this", Lily turned to Stefan, "I'm not going to beat around the bush, did you know? About Tyler's plan to put Klaus down?".

"I didn't know" a compelled Stefan answered truthfully, Rebekah compelled everyone to answer not only hers but also Lily's question honestly, "I had no idea what Tyler was planning, when I found out about it, it was too late, both you and Klaus had already killed the hybrids".

Lily let out a relieved sigh, "Thank god" she whispered, "I was so scared".

"Lily, I promised you I wouldn't do anything to put our friendship in jeopardy, and I'm gonna stick to my promise" Stefan assured.

Lily gave her best friend a small smile, before she turned to her sister, "Even though the look on your face tells me everything, I'm still going to ask, did you know about Tyler's plan?".

"I knew" a guilty Caroline whispered.

"Since the beginning?" a teary eyed Lily asked, while Stefan let out a disappointed sigh.

"Since the beginning" Caroline confirmed.

"Okay" Lily whispered, she took a deep breath before turning to her sister, "Clearly your love for Tyler overpowers any sisterly loyalty you feel towards me, hell I don't even know if you feel any sisterly loyalty towards me because let me tell you one thing, after what I just heard, I feel nothing towards you".

"Lils--".

"Don't call me that" Lily snapped, "You have no right to call me that, you wanna pick Tyler and your friends over me? Fine, you do that, but don't get angry when I pick the Mikaelson's over you", Lily looked Stefan, "Congrats Stefan, you are officially the only other supernatural person I care about in this morbid town, looks like we both are in the same boat, huh? Neither of us can trust our siblings, only difference is, your brother is your biological brother, who doesn't show it, but in his own twisted way, he does love his brother, me, I'm adopted, my sister has never loved me the way I loved her".

"No Lily, that's not true" Caroline cried, "I swear that's not true".

Lily looked at Caroline, "But it is" she said.

"Lily?", Lily looked up from the table and immediately the tears started falling down her face harder when she realised who it was.

"Kol" Lily whispered.

"Who do I have to kill?" Kol asked immediately after seeing the tears in Lily's eyes.

Lily didn't say anything she just stood up from her seat and ran over to Kol and hugged him, "I'm so glad you're here".

"Clearly I came right on time" Kol said hugging Lily back and glaring at Caroline, Elena and Stefan, knowing one of them were the reason as to why Lily was crying.

Stefan looked at Caroline and shook his head, he knew Caroline supporting Tyler and not Lily just pushed the Forbes werewolf further over to the Mikaelsons, he wondered how much more pushes would Lily need before she completely abandons Mystic Falls and it's people.

***

Once the sun had set, Damon sat infront of the fire, carving out wooden bullets, when he felt a presence behind him, "If you're here for payback, go for it, because you'll be stuck babysitting the little hunter that could".

"You know" Klaus started, taking a seat next to Damon, "If you adjust your angle a little bit, you'll find the sharper edge".

Damon gave Klaus an are you serious look, "I know how to whittle, thanks" he said, "Now I know why those hybrids hated you, you are annoying".

"Actually, I'm just perplexed, as to why Jeremy hasn't killed any vampires" Klaus admitted.

"Darwinism, Klaus" Damon retorted, "He needs to be able to protect himself before we hunt down his first vampire nest".

"And here was I thinking you were the fun brother" Klaus taunted, "Let's play a little game, shall we? Jeremy needs more victims and there's a whole town of people down the road just waiting to be turned into vampires for the slaughter".

"You don't think that occurred to me, Klaus?" Damon asked.

"The tragedy is Damon, it did occur to you and yet you chose to ignore it" Klaus said, "My guess is you did it to impress Elena, somehow, to honor her, you'll find a way to spare innocent lives and walk Jeremy down the moral high road, that's why I've already made the necessary corrections".

A confused Damon faced Klaus, "What'd you do?" he asked, wondering what mess did Klaus create this time.

***

Kol shoved Shane, who he had brought along with him, into a supply closet and Rebekah and Lily followed him in.

"Kol and Rebekah Mikaelson" a fascinated Shane realised, "Two members of the original vampire family, this is such a trip".

"Where's the cure?" Rebekah asked, trying to compel answers out of Shane.

"Compulsion won't work" a smug Shane revealed, "It's a little trick I picked up in Tibet".

"Right, well, we'll just have to do this the old-fashioned way" Rebekah realised, "Beat him until he tells you where to find it".

"I wanna help" Lily told Kol once Rebekah walked out, "I have some of my own frustration that I need to take out".

Kol smirked, "After you then, darling".

Lily looked at Shane a dangerous look in her eyes as she approached Shane and punched him in the face, immediately causing the professor to fall to the floor while a smirking Kol watched on.

***

"Come on Shane, just tell us where the cure is" Lily said, shoving Shane's head into a tub of water just as Rebekah entered the room again.

"Where is the cure?" Kol asked, once Lily had brought Shane back up for air, when Shane decided to stay silent, Kol gave Lily a small nod, with a smirk on her face, Lily gladly shoved Shane's head back into the water.

"You're human, why do you want it anyway?" a confused Rebekah once Lily pulled Shane out of the water again.

"That's the beauty of this, you can have it, I just want Silas" Shane revealed, immediately causing Kol's playful demeanor to change.

"No!" Kol said, grabbing Shane by his collars, "What do you know about Silas?".

"He's the world's first immortal being" Shane informed, "Who just so happens to be imprisoned with the cure, and I want to free him".

"No!" Kol yelled, shoving Shane's head back into the water, this time to kill him.

"Stop!" Rebekah yelled before Kol could actually kill Shane, "He's no use dead".

"Did you not hear what he said?" Kol snapped, "Silas will kill us all, sister".

"Who the hell is Silas?" a confused Lily asked.

"Silas does not exist" Rebekah stated, "He is a fairy tale made up to scare children into eating their vegetables".

"Didn't people think the same thing about the original family?" Lily asked.

"Whose side are you on?" an annoyed Rebekah asked.

Lily quickly put her hands up in surrender, "All I'm saying is, we shouldn't ignore a threat just because we haven't seen it, assuming Silas is a threat".

"Silas is very much a threat" Kol insisted.

"And he is very real" Shane added, "I know where he's buried, and soon I'll have the spell that wakes him".

"Wait a second, you're lying" Kol stated, "You can't get to him".

"Without his tombstone?" Shane finished, "And dozens to die in a blood sacrifice? Believe me, I know, I've done it, those massacres are a pain to engineer".

"Massacres?" a confused Lily asked, her eyes suddenly went wide when she realised what Shane was talking about, "The council, that wasn't an accident was it? That was your first massacre".

"It was a noble sacrifice" Shane defended, "And temporary, because once I raise Silas, Silas will raise the dead, he will bring back every last soul who died on his behalf".

Lily shook her head, "You can't bring back the dead without some horrible consequence attached to it".

"Lily's right" Kol said, before grabbing a pole and stabbing it in Shane's stomach, causing the professor to fall to the ground, dead, or that's what the trio thought at least.

***

"You should be thanking me" Kol told his furious sister.

"You killed my only chance at finding the cure" Rebekah snapped.

"Silas on the loose would be hell on earth" Kol retorted, "And frankly sister", Kol pulled out the white oak stake he had stolen from Klaus from his jacket pocket, "I don't think you could handle it".

"Woah Kol" Lily said, quickly standing between the two siblings, "Let's talk this out, no need to resort to violence so quickly".

"How did you get that?" a shocked Rebekah asked.

"Way too easily" Kol replied, before walking out the room, Rebekah quickly followed after him and after shaking her head at the two, Lily also followed, the three completely missing Shane waking up the moment they left the room.

***

After Kol had disappeared, Lily found Rebekah in a classroom with Stefan and Elena.

"Leave her out of this, this is between me and you" Stefan told Rebekah.

"How could you still protect her?" an annoyed Lily asked, glaring at the doppelganger infront of her.

"Must I rip your bleeding heart from your chest and show you the scar tissue that is Elena Gilbert?" Rebekah asked, as she poked Stefan's chest, she then walked over to Elena, "There's a solution to all your problems, you know, I could compel him, erase every memory he has of you, every day you've spent together, every kiss, every lie, every ounce of pain, I can take away every bit of love he has for you, give you both a clean slate, just say the word, and I'll make you and all that misery you've caused him disappear".

"Stefan forgetting Elena, isn't Elena's choice" Lily retorted, taking a seat on top of a table, "It's Stefan's memoires, meaning it should be Stefan's choice".

"Do it" Stefan told Rebekah, making Elena look at him in shock while Lily simply shook her head.

Rebekah faced Stefan, "Excuse me?".

"Erase it all, every memory" Stefan said.

"Stefan, no" Elena protested.

"You no longer have any say in his life" Lily snapped at Elena, before she turned to Stefan, "Erasing Elena from your heart isn't going to erase the emptiness".

"I said, do it" Stefan told Rebekah, ignoring both Elena and Lily.

Rebekah stared at Stefan for a moment, she took a step forward almost like she was going to compel him when she suddenly started chuckling, "No" she said, shaking her head in amusement, "That would be far too easy, I refuse to make you forget her the way Klaus made you forget me", Rebekah turned to Elena, "But at least you know how he really feels", Rebekah turned back to Stefan, "Consider your eternity of pain my revenge Stefan, I've used you for all you're worth, so now you're all free to go".

A smug Rebekah walked out the room, Lily jumped off the table she was sitting on, she gave Stefan's should a tap before walking out the classroom and leaving Stefan and Elena alone.

***

Klaus was sitting at bar, drinking away when he heard the door open, "I was beginning to worry you boys wouldn't find the place" he taunted, seeing Jeremy, Matt and Damon enter the bar.

"What the hell?" a shocked Matt said, looking around at the bar full of dead bodies, "Did you kill all these people?".

"Not exactly" Klaus clarified, "They're in transition", Klaus looked at Jeremy, "Killing them is your job".

"You said you were gonna convince Klaus to do this another way" Jeremy snapped at Damon.

"Well, I thought about it" Damon admitted, "And then I realised his idea was better".

A smug smile formed on the original hybrid's face before he downed the drink that was in his hand while Matt and Jeremy exchanged worried looks between, both wondering how were they getting out of this.

***

Presenting 3x10 of Fire & Flame!

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Lily and Rebekah trapping Elena in the library?

Thoughts on Lily doubting that Stefan and Caroline were part of Tyler's plan to put Klaus down?

Thoughts on Lily helping Kol torture Shane?

Thoughts on Lily trying to make sure Kol and Rebekah don't kill each other?

Thoughts on Klaus turning a bar full of people into vampires for Jeremy to kill?