Kai woke up to breakfast ready for him.

"You cooked for me," he observed when Vivianna came up to him with a large tray of waffles, french toast, pork links, and eggs.

"For both of us," she corrected. "We have a one-and-a-half hour trip to Sacramento today, then we have to go to Davis... which is where my family was actually living on May 10th, 1994."

Kai just nodded, and started to eat, being extra dramatic with the moans of pleasure he let out. "Fuck, this Maria chick really taught you some good recipes. 'Cause I can't make eggs taste like that."

Vivianna half-smiled. "Yeah, she did know some pretty good recipes." She pursed her lips. "Why do you want to go to Portland?"

"When Bonnie put her magic away in that bear, it hit me that I missed something crucial, years ago. Jo tricked me, back in 1994. She said she'd Merge with me, but when we started the spell, I couldn't feel her magic. It was a trap. My dad shoved me in here. I didn't understand how her magic was just... not there. 'Til I realized she put it away. Your dark objects will hurt me if I siphon directly. But if I find the object she put her magic inside of and absorb that, I can do the spell to get us back. All Bonnie would need to do is give her blood."

"Maybe next time we see her, you shouldn't be all rough with her and making death threats? Just a suggestion."

He shrugged. "I can try. No guarantee it'll work. She annoys me."

"She's the key to getting us all out so maybe value her a little bit more."

"All we need is her blood. She's literally nothing but a blood bag to me."

Vivianna pursed her lips. "Malachai, there's something I need to ask you about. Something I once heard... that I'm not sure is true. But I need to know if you're aware of it or not."

Kai looked surprised to hear this. "Alright. Shoot."

"Do you know what would happen if you drank vampire blood and died?"

"Is this a trick question?" he asked. "Everyone knows what happens to witches when they turn. They lose their magic and basically go off the deep end 'cause they feel miserable without it."

"That's the thing, Malachai," she said quietly. "That wouldn't happen, in your case. Did you ever hear the story about the 1903 prison world?"

"Not really. I don't even know who the Gemini leader was at the time. My dad's dad wasn't in power. It was a whole other family until my dad and his twin were born, the first of their generation, and the only set of twins for like, two and a half decades. As soon as my dad won the position of leader, he married my mom, and popped Jo and I out within the year. I heard it was a whole group of siphoners, though. Must have been nice for them."

"It wasn't a group of siphoners. It was a group of heretics."

"What, those people who stray from religion?"

"No. Heretics are hybrids. Witch-vampire hybrids."

Kai's jaw went slack. "What are you talking about? That's impossible, Vivi."

"Not when it comes to someone born a siphoner," she said. "You have to siphon magic from other sources to obtain it. Normally, you wouldn't have magic. But if given vampire blood... if killed and set to complete the transition... you'd be able to siphon from your own vampirism. You'd have constant magic. They're not exactly the strongest hybrids, but they are hybrids. Still more powerful than regular witches, with heightened speed and agility and an insane bloodlust, from what I've heard. The Gemini Coven caught a group of them in 1903. There was one regular vampire among them, not even a Gemini, but they got locked up, too, for being an accomplice."

"Why would you tell me this?"

"I wanted to see if you knew. But you clearly didn't..." the look on his face was one of unbridled shock. He'd had no idea. "It's just something you should know, when you go to the real world. So you're never shocked if it ends up happening to you. I'm not encouraging you to turn. But it is... an option."

"Vivi, why would you risk me knowing that?"

"It's only fair," she said. "Eighteen years of your life were taken from you. Twenty-two years, separately, consisted of abuse. You haven't gotten to live, Kai. You may look twenty-two when you go back out there or you may look forty. No one is gonna know for sure. Compared to the years spent here, you're not gonna have much time to explore and be free and potentially... be better... unless you have the power to do so. With vampirism comes compulsion. Which can be the key to letting you explore the world without limitations. It could help you get the chance to live. But... it could also lead to an even bigger problem. Heretics are said to be similar to Ripper vampires."

"So you just thought to tell me something that might make me even more dangerous."

"Well, you're not exactly a threat to me anymore. I'd hope you would use the power to keep far away from the Gemini. Not to go after them. I know it's what you want but I just don't think it'll change anything."

"Look, Vivi. Chances are, my dad is still the leader, 'cause if you're right, and it's June 5th of 2012, then the twins' 22nd birthday is barely on its way. I highly doubt they'd Merge earlier. If I get out soon, I have a chance to find Jo, Merge with her, and become the leader I was always supposed to be. Then, if what you're saying is true, I can just take vampire blood and kill myself. I'll be reborn a heretic, and the rest of my Coven will die. It's alway 'coven before family' with them. So I'm gonna make them suffer."

"Did I tell you that I helped Damon and his pals kill all the Travelers?" she said softly, causing Kai to falter.

"Not really."

Vivianna's lip trembled. "I was so angry. So angry that that stupid leader, Markos, felt he had the authority to get us all to sacrifice ourselves. He was just gonna let my brother die. Maria died, then Julian was killed right in front of my eyes, and I snapped. I said, 'fuck it,' and I helped lure the Travelers into a building that later got blown up. I sliced my own neck to end up on the Other Side and perform a spell that would keep the Travelers from getting back out. And then, I performed a spell to ensure that a few choice people could make it back before the Other Side collapsed. But that stupid little blonde witch they recruited stopped the spell, and since Silas hadn't stuck around to actually help, I couldn't handle it, and neither could Bonnie, and we all ended up here.

"And I realize now that I don't feel any better. Killing the Travelers didn't bring my brother and my sister-in-law back. It didn't lessen the pain I felt, seeing my brother fade away before my eyes. Now I'm alone. This is it. Every single Traveler came to Mystic Falls to help with that spell, and I was the only one who walked out. I'll never know if that community might have been more accepting of me, because I offed them all before I could find out.

"Killing the Gemini Coven might make you feel better. I'd definitely encourage you to kill your dad, as wrong as it is. But the entire Coven? What'll you have, then? You'll be the last one. You'll be alone. And people will just be afraid of you, Kai. No one will respect what you did. They'll add numbers to your body count and judge you for it. It won't erase the time you spent in here. Their suffering won't equate to yours. It's just a waste. Take it from someone who betrayed her own people and didn't get what she wanted at the end of the day. It feels like shit, honestly."

Kai nodded slowly. She had a point. He wanted to kill so that it would make him feel better. But what was the point of killing if it wouldn't bring him that? He didn't care about the Geminis. However, if their deaths wouldn't bring him pleasure, what was the point?

"You mentioned a blonde witch," he said. "How come she stopped?"

"The stupid bitch couldn't handle it cause her idiot brother didn't want to help. They told me that she'd been pretending to be a newbie witch but turned out to be pretty experienced. So when they told me she'd be doing the spell with me, I figured we'd be okay. Turns out she was weaker than anyone thought. They blackmailed her into doing it by killing her brother and it was a whole deal. She and I never got along, not that she really knew I was... well, me. I'd been going to Whitmore College and had her for a few classes, but she always had her resting bitch face, and her brother was just annoying, always trying to be a goody-two-shoes. He did help me once, though, when my roommate needed some medicinal herbs and I couldn't get them without blowing my cover. I just mentioned it really loud nearby him and well, he offered his help."

"I don't get why siblings go to the same college, to be honest. Like, if you're not gonna study the same thing, why even bother? Jo went somewhere on the East Coast while I stayed in Portland. It was nice, not having to be around her."

"These ones were twins. Damon called them 'Blond and Blonder.' I have no clue what they were majoring in. Honestly, it didn't seem like they cared about school. They were in the same boat as me. Taking whatever fucking class I felt like just to pass the time. Not sure why they bothered to come to Whitmore, they said they were from..." her jaw went slack. "From Oregon."

Kai tensed. "What were their names?"

"Liv and Luke," she muttered. "Liv and Luke... Olivia and Lucas."

"Holy fucking shit," said Kai, putting his hands together and covering his mouth. "This is fucking perfect. The twins are right there. Right in McKinley, which is right by Mystic Falls."

"Wait a minute," she said. "You said Jo wanted to be a doctor?"

"Yes."

"And she went to college on the East Coast?"

"Yes."

"Was it Whitmore?"

"I don't know. My dad just said she was studying where Sheila Bennett taught and didn't tell me anything more."

"Sheila Bennett taught Occult Studies at Whitmore College, Malachai. Your sister... if you're forty... she would have already finished her studies by now. I remember the picture I saw of her. She didn't look familiar, but... well, one time, I had to take someone to Whitmore Hospital, and there was this lady working in the E.R., named Dr. Laughlin. When we saw her, she said we could call her 'Jo.' And she looks... kind of like the girl in that picture with you. The one that was in your room in Portland."

"My remaining siblings all went to Whitmore," said Kai in disbelief. "It has to be it. Do they even know—?"

"I'm not sure, but I think if Liv and Luke had a sister who was a doctor at the nearby hospital, they wouldn't be telling people. Just remember what I said, Kai. Killing them might not end up making you feel better. Wouldn't it be nice if... instead of killing your siblings... you could repair your relationship with them?"

"Might be nice, sure. But it's unrealistic, Vivi. I'm a sociopath. It's confusing enough that I'm somewhat caring about you. I can't care for them. They never did anything good for me."

"Maybe Jo's too far gone for that. She helped in the abuse, even if she was just a bystander. But the twins, Malachai? They're my age. We were all four years old in 1994. Do you think they did anything with malice? They were children, the youngest of the bunch, they understood nothing. It isn't their fault that they were born. Your parents were the ones that kept conceiving. It might be difficult for them to forgive and forget since you were, despite being eighteen years older than them, chasing them with a knife. But whatever they've learned from your dad... it was without you actually being there. You have a chance to prove your dad wrong. To rub in his face that you came out of here better, not worse. Imagine how much more infuriating it will be for him to see that you're trying to be kinder. He'll lose his mind."

"And what if he kills me, Vivi. What then?"

"I'm not letting him hurt you. I won't let him get near you. We just— we need to figure this all out, and then, we can see. If we manage to break the Traveler Curse and the Gemini Merge Curse... your dad will lose power either way. The Geminis will tear each other apart. You'll be free to do literally anything else."

Kai sighed. "I don't know, Vivi. Maybe. Maybe not. Just... can we stop talking about this for awhile? Thinking about being nice to my remaining siblings is kind of putting an icky taste in my mouth."

They ended up leaving right after breakfast. For two hours, Vivianna drove them to Sacramento, where they were able to gather a few more dark objects (some very strange pencils for writing dark magic spells) before they turned back West briefly and made their way to Davis.

Kai had noticed a change in her immediately.

They'd pulled up to a small house, with a red car parked in the front. A kiddie pool was laid out, filled with water and bubbles. As they walked up to the door, Kai could see two hula hoops and four soccer balls lined up on the porch beside the swing, which had clothes laid out, as if to dry.

She'd slowly opened the door and stepped inside, finding her home exactly as it had been on May 10th, 1994.

"Vanna," her mother had said that afternoon. "You won't be allowed into the pool if you don't eat first."

"But I don't wanna eat," she whined as she came down in her bathing suit. "Julian said I'll explode if I go into the water after eating."

"Julian is being silly," said her mother plainly. "Eat, or no pool. Just wait an hour after the food and nothing will happen." The woman looked up as her son walked in. "Julian, don't be lying to her, you know she believes it."

"That's her fault, not mine," an eight-year-old Julian said. "Papa said that if she believes it, it's on her."

"She's four, Julian. You were four, too, and you believed that you could touch the clouds if you jumped off a tree. Your father and I had to risk using our magic to heal you." She shook her head. At the time, they just couldn't afford to have any medical procedures done. It would have drained their bank accounts.

Vivianna, who'd been sitting at the table, starting to eat the soup her mother made her, stuck her tongue out at Julian. "Bitch," she mouthed.

"Mama!" snapped Julian. "She said it again!"

"That'll teach you to listen when I tell you not to use those words with other people. They start to believe it's okay to say it back."

"Like you said, Mama, she's four, she shouldn't be saying the B-word."

"Well, I'd very much like for her not to say it, but you taught her the word. You have to deal with the consequences of what your lessons might bring. Don't teach someone something if it can be used against you."

Julian stuck his tongue out at Vivianna, who was still mouthing 'Bitch' over and over.

"Vanna," said Valeria sharply. "Did you like it when Julian said that word to you?"

"No," she said honestly. "It was annoying."

"Do you want to be annoying, too?"

"No."

"Then don't say the word."

"Yes, Mama." She then got up and squealed. "Papa's home! I heard his red ladybug!"

"It's called a car," said Julian as Vivianna abandoned her soup to run to the door. "Idiot."

"Julian," said Valeria in a warning tone.

"Sorry, Mama."

Vivianna wasn't paying attention. She'd giggled as her father walked in, scooping her up and kissing her cheek. "Look at you in your bathing suit, you look like a little clown!"

"Mama said the stripes make me look pretty," said Vivianna, patting his chest so he could put her down.

"An ugly little clown," whispered the younger Julian under his breath.

"Julian," said their father as he set his daughter down. "What did we say about making comments on people's appearances?"

"It can hurt their feelings."

"And?"

"Cause inse... inse... what's the word?"

"Insecurities."

"Insecurities. And make them do bad things to themselves."

"That's right. Vanna's at that age where she's going to take what you say very seriously. It may not seem like it, but she looks up to you. You have to teach her good things. One day... your mother and I won't be here. And it'll be up to you to have each other's backs." He clapped his hands together. "Now, who wants to go to the store to get the special glasses so we can watch the eclipse?"

Vivianna traced her hands over the countertop, where she'd sat that morning, eating her soup, and feeling excited at the prospect of sitting in her little pool with her funny glasses and clown bathing suit to watch the eclipse overhead.

She stopped in the doorway of her old room, kneeling down to pick up a small doll she'd left on the floor. She stepped inside, finding the mess her four-year-old self had left.

Behind her, Kai followed silently, seeing the way she looked at every single object that reminded her of her time there. He stopped a bit behind her, picking up a photograph of their family. Her mother and father, holding the two children while about to board a ferris wheel.

He heard a sniffle, and slowly approached the room, seeing that she'd sat on her old bed and started crying. He found her holding a tiny stuffed rabbit. When she squeezed it, he heard a familiar melody, and the voice of a man and a woman saying, "Happy birthday dear Vanna, happy birthday to you."

"Your birthday," he commented. "You turned four almost exactly a month before this day."

She nodded, quickly wiping her eyes. "I lost this rabbit somewhere in Arkansas, when we were living around there. I just... it didn't even work anymore, the voice box broke because Julian stepped on it one day when he was trying to catch me after I fell off of a jungle gym in Arizona."

She then stifled a sob. "My parents would be so disappointed in me. If they knew Julian and I chose to become mercenaries after they died. They always tried to teach us better than that. They worked odd jobs everywhere. Anything but that. But when they were gone, we didn't see anything more consistent than the kills. So we went for it, and it became... our life after that."

He didn't know how to comfort her. He went to sit beside her on the little bed, and just sat with her, which seemed to be enough. She rested her head on his shoulder, continuing to cry while she hugged the small rabbit.

"I don't think they'd be disappointed," he muttered. "Other Travelers were doing it. You did what you had to do to survive. You killed to save your life. I killed to take lives and just... cause problems. That already makes you better than me. I think they'd just be proud that you didn't enjoy the kill. They'd be... happy, I guess, that you and your brother stayed together as long as you did."

"They would have loved to meet Maria," said Vivianna. "She and my mother both loved to cook. It's why I love to cook. It makes me feel like they're still here. It's funny, though... I never really got to cook for anyone else until I got here."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I eat a lot when the food is good. And you should notice that I always eat every single thing you put on my plate when you cook."

"Aw, Malachai, are you complimenting me?"

"Shut up, Vivi, I'm just saying your food is tolerable."

"Why do you like cooking?"

"It's the one thing my dad ever taught me. Measuring by eye, seasoning by taste. He knew I loved to eat, so I guess he didn't think I'd be stupid and burn the house down. We never really went out to eat dinner, so cooking at home was the next best thing. I watched cooking shows like a madman, learning recipes. I liked impressing people that way. If I wanted someone to ah... well, you know... get them in my house by promising a good meal."

She blushed. "It's a good strategy. You're pretty good at cooking. That's how you give a compliment."

"Oh, I'm sorry your highness. How about I say... your food is greatly up to par with the selectiveness of my taste buds."

"I feel like I like that better than 'I eat everything you put on my plate.'"

Kai could see the longing look in her eyes when she turned away from him, looking back around at her room. She didn't want to leave. She hadn't had enough time to feel relaxed anywhere. Constantly moving, afraid they'd be caught. This home meant something to her, he could see it.

"I feel like I'm way too tired to start heading to Portland," he said casually. "It should be my turn driving but I'm exhausted, and you probably are too, 'cause you've been driving for days already. What do you say we stay here? Explore Davis. This time you can be the tour guide, and I can be the complainer."

Her eyes were shining. "We don't have to stay here because of me, Malachai."

"We're not staying because of you," he lied. "I want to rest at least for the rest of the day. Let's just spend the night here. It's afternoon, we have a few hours. We can start going to Portland tomorrow morning. It's just nine hours of driving, I'll manage it easily with a proper good night's sleep."

"Thank you," Vivianna said gently as he got to his feet, holding out his hand to help her up. "Really... thank you."

"Don't mention it," Kai said awkwardly before walking out of the room.