❪ 𝓢𝑰𝑿 𝓕𝑬𝑬𝑻 𝓤𝑵𝑫𝑬𝑹 ❫ ⚰️ ˖ ׁ ⁩ 𓂃
𝚃𝚅𝙳  ⸻  ✸ 🔮⭑.ᐟ
❝ 𝖱𝖤𝖰𝖴𝖤𝖲𝖳 𝖣𝖤𝖭𝖨𝖤𝖣 ❞

✦ ╮ 𝟔𝟖. ❝ 𝖠 𝖵𝖨𝖤𝖶 𝖳𝖮 𝖪𝖨𝖫𝖫 ❞ ── .✦

"𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗔𝗥𝗘 you?" Elena asked Bonnie, who was blowing up balloons in the gym for the school dance.

"I told Caroline that I'd take her place at decade dance prep, but none of the rest of you showed.

"I know, I'm sorry." Elena picks up a bag of chips from Matt's lap and puts them on the table in front of them as Matt and Jeremy played video games, "I had to, though. I have Jeremy under house arrest because Kol wants to kill him, and Klaus wants to take him on some vampire-slaying road trip. And since neither of them are invited in, it's the only place I can keep them safe."

"Why does it sound like you're under fire?" Bonnie asked her best friend.

"Apparently, I'm living in a fraternity house now."

"I'm training!" Jeremy calls out to his sister.

"Me, too." Matt smiles as the two boys look over their shoulders before turning their attention back to the TV.

"Train yourself to do some dishes, and put these weapons away before someone tries to use one on me." Elena says, and Matt gives her a thumbs up.

"Well, it's hard for me to look forward to this dance while you're trapped in your house." Bonnie tells her, "And Anastasia hasn't picked up my phone calls since she found out I liked Jeremy."

Elena swallows at the mention of Anastasia's name before she says what she actually called the witch for, "Listen, I have a plan to end all of this. I want Jeremy to kill Kol."

"You want Jeremy to kill an original? The very same original that Anastasia has been friends with since she turned?" Bonnie asked, "She'll kills us, Elena!"

"Think about it. Kol's sire line must stretch to the moon by now. If Jeremy kills Kol, every vampire that he's ever turned, not to mention everyone that they've turned, will die, which means the hunter's mark will be complete and we'll have our keep to finding the cure."

"I'm on my way, we'll figure it out." Bonnie pauses, "Do you think Caroline will notice if there's only eighty-nine red balloons?"

Elena laughs, "Actually, probably yes." She puts her hand under the water which burns her hand, causing her to gasps and drop her phone.

Jeremy and Matt quickly stand up.

"Elena!" Bonnie calls out, causing the vampire to pick up her phone.

"Sorry."

"What happened?"

"I don't know. There's something in the water."

₊˚.༄𖥸

𝗗𝗔𝗠𝗢𝗡 𝗟𝗢𝗢𝗞𝗦 up as he hears footsteps coming into the cellar, looking up to see his little brother, "You coming to snap my neck again? Because I woke up feeling completely un-murderous, and I'm pretty sure it's safe to set me free."

Stefan throws a vial of blood towards Damon.

"Oh man, really?" He asked, "You practically beld me dry. At least spring for a bag or something. I'm thirsty."

Stefan then sets a bottle of water between the bard on the door.

"Not exactly what I had in mind." He gets up with a groan, walking over to grab the water bottle, catching a glimpse of Klaus, Anastasia and Dylan on the other side.

"Hello, mate."

"What the hell are you doing here?" Damon asks the original.

Klaus smiled, "Babysitting."

"Oh."

"Give him a vial of blood every couple of hours, so he doesn't desiccate." Stefan hands two more vials of blood over to the original, "If he gets too much of his strength back, or if he just annoys you, bleed him out again."

"Silent treatment, huh? Is that your best shot?" Damon asked before looking at Klaus, "He's still pissed at me for sleeping with Elena."

"You sure about that?" Klaus smirks, looking over at Stefan, "'Cause I saw him trying to sneak out of Rebekah's bed this morning, which would suggest to me that he's moved on."

Anastasia mumbles, "gross" under her breath as Stefan lets out a sigh and Dylan tries to hide the amused look on his face.

"Well, well. Looks like my brother ripped out a page of my revenge-sex handbook."

"Well, why don't you two enjoy your little, uh, villain bonding time? Anastasia and Dylan are going to be here just in case. I'll let you know when I get the dagger from Rebekah."

Stefan leaves right after he stops to place a kiss on his niece's forehead, mumbling a quick "I love you" to her as he walks out of the basement.

As he's walking down the hallway, his phone starts to ring and he stops to find that it's Elena calling him. After a few moments of hesitation, he finally decides to answer it.

"Damon's fine. I locked him up with all the creature comfort he deserves."

"That's not why I called. Kol just tried to kill Bonnie." Elena tells him, "Was Anastasia with him?"

"What? No, she's here at the house with Dylan." Stefan rolls his eyes as he walks out the front door. "I don't like you accusing my niece of killing anyone. But Bonnie, is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's just shaken up." Elena tells him, "She managed to hold him off, but Kol seems pretty intent on murdering everyone who's looking for that cure."

"Yeah, Klaus has me trying to convince Rebekah to give up her dagger so he can take care of Kol." Stefan tells her.

"I don't want to just dagger Kol. I want Jeremy to kill him."

Stefan looks back at the front door, revving up his motorcycle to create enough noise to cover up the conversation, especially from his niece. "What did you just say?"

"Bonnie has all this crazy new power. She thinks she can hold him long enough for Jeremy to get a clean shot." Elena tells him.

"And then what, huh? Klaus and Rebekah, hell Anastasia, will kill every one of us out of spite." Stefan tells his ex-girlfriend, "They may be dysfunctional bickering lunatics, but they stick together no matter what."

"That's why you need to find the dagger and use it on Rebekah." Elena says, "She can't come looking for revenge if she's laying in a box."

"Yeah, I can't do that."

"I know you can't because vampires can't use the dagger, but Matt can. It's not like she doesn't deserve it. And Bonnie thinks she that she can get Klaus out of the picture, too, at least temporarily. Once we get this cure, none of this will matter because we can use it against them."

"Alright, fun. But we don't let word get back to Anastasia or Dylan, the two of them will try and stop us." Stefan says, ignoring the little part of him that felt guilty for plotting to kill his niece's best friend. "And how do you plan to lure Kol in?"

₊˚.༄𖥸

𝗞𝗢𝗟 𝗪𝗔𝗟𝗞𝗦 the dark streets, listening to music on his phone when it starts to ring, "Jeremy Gilbert. Nice to see I'm still on your speed dial, mate. Hey, you want to meet up at the batting cages in Denver?"

"Actually, it's Elena Gilbert." Elena says as she looks over at Jeremy and Matt as the two put the weapons that were on the table into a large black duffel bag.

"What a treat." Kol's voice holds boardom as he fights the urge to roll his eyes, "Yeah, I was just thinking of all the clever ways I could have your brother killed, but I'd settle for ripping off his illustrated arm instead."

"I need to talk to you -- in person." Elena tells him, "I wanna call a truce, in the name of Silas."

Kol stops walking, "You want to talk about Silas?"

"I'll meet you wherever you want. I'll come to you."

Inside the house, the three turn towards the door in surprise as the doorbell rings, Jeremy holding a shotgun in his hands as he points it towards the door.

"If you want a truce, open the door and invite me in." Kol says as Elena looks around with a flustered look on her face as she looks around, "I'm waiting. Let me in and let's talk truce."

Elena takes a blackboard down from the wall.

"Hello?"

"Wouldn't that be kind of stupid to invite you in?" Elena asked him as she started to write on the board.

"On the contrary, I can't kill your brother with my own two hands, or I'll suffer the hunter's curse and spend the next twenty years trying to off myself in some gruesome ways."

Elena shows the board to Matt and it reads, "Help Stefan find dagger". He leaves out of the backdoor.

"I can't take Anastasia to all the place I told her I would, if I'm trying to kill myself." Kol tells her, "And I've heard that vervain's back in town, so I can't compel you to kill him either. So, I think it's fair to say you're semi-safe, for now."

Elena holds the board up again for Jeremy, "Get out. Get Bonnie."

"I'm the only one that can invite him inside." Jeremy whispers to his sister.

"He's right, obviously."

Elena walks to the door and opens in.

"You think being alive for over a thousand years would teach me some manners, but I couldn't resist stopping by." Kol says as he wraps the headphone around his phone.

"If I let you in, my brother goes." Elena tells the original, "You're not getting near him."

"Fair enough." Kol rolls his eyes, "Besides, I told Anastasia I wouldn't touch her little human ex."

"You can come in." Jeremy invites the original inside just before he leaves out of the backdoor.

"No gold medals for bravery, I see. You know the thing I love about the modern age is...music, anytime you like." He puts his phone and earphones into his pocket, which gives Elena a view of the white oak stake, which is stashed in the inside pocket of Kol's jacket. "So...this is the part where you offer me a drink so we can have a proper chat."

Elena nods and makes way for Kol to walk inside, closing the door behind them.

₊˚.༄𖥸

"𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗞𝗡𝗢𝗪, none of this would be an issue if you'd have just done your job properly." Klaus walks around the cellar as Damon lays on the bed, tossing something up in the air. "I was perfectly willing to let you train Jeremy."

"No, you weren't. Are you kissing? You got there day two." Damon scoffed, "Do you know how hard it is to get these Xbox brains to focus?"

"And then when I turned a room full of barflies into vampires for him to slaughter, you let Kol kill them."

"Your brother problem, not mine, buddy."

"And whose bright idea was it to saddle Jeremy with a conscience, hmm?"

"Well, we couldn't have him trying to stake Elena in her sleep, now could we?"

Anastasia shrugged, "I would've let him. Just one more person that I wouldn't have to deal with."

Dylan chuckles, "Why is death always your solution?"

"Why isn't it yours?" She raised an eyebrow at him

"Ah, yes, for the love of Elena. How is it that she manages to overlook every horrific thing you've ever done? Is it willful ignorance, or perhaps something more pathological?" Klaus asked, chuckling at the bickering going on between Anastasia and her vampire.

"Some people are just more capable of forgiveness than others. But you score about a negative five hundred in that realm." Damon tells him.

Klaus smiles, "Oh, come on. There must be a secret. It can't just be the sire bond. What is it? Compulsion? Manipulation?" Damon doesn't answer him, "What is it you say to her."

Damon catches whatever it was he was throwing and sits up, "I think this has something to do with a certain blonde vampire. I think you murdered Carol Lockwood, and I think you're worried that Caroline's never going to forgive you."

"You've done worse."

"Debatable. See, I don't mind being the bad guy, because somebody had to fill that role and get things done." Damon says, "You do bad things for no reason. You do them to be a dick."

"Debatable."

"If you're gonna be bad, be back with a purpose. Otherwise, you're just not worth forgiving." Damon says with a shrug before he lies back down and sighs.

₊˚.༄𖥸

𝗞𝗢𝗟 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗬𝗦 the video game that Matt and Jeremy had been playing as Elena walks up behind him with a bottle of alcohol.

"Sorry, I had to dig up the old people alcohol.

Kol pauses the game and turns around, walking over to the kitchen, "Yeah, that's the problem with people today. They have no drinking imagination. Turn-of-the-century New Orleans -- now, they knew how to make a drink."

"You lived in New Orleans?" Elena asked the Original.

"We all did, even Anastasia when she was with my family, til Niklaus shoved a dagger in my heart." Kol replied.

"Why? What did you do?"

"What makes you think I did anything?" He asked, "Had your alliance with my brother softened you to his horrors?"

"I don't have an alliance with Klaus. We had a mutual interest in finding the cure -- that's all."

"Had?" Kol tilts his head to the side a bit.

"Yes. And I'm willing to give up looking for it if you promise to leave my brother alone." Elena says but the original doesn't answer her so she picks up the mixer, "Now, can you teach me how to make this?"

She smiles slightly at him and Kol takes the mixer.

"I'll get some ice."

Elena watches as Kol begins to make the drink, opening the refrigerator and pulls out her phone as she checks the reply from Jeremy to her own text, "He's got the stake. Where is B?', 'Trying to find her. Keep Kol there'.

She grabs the ice from the fridge and closes the door, only to get startled to find Kol standing there. "Here you go." She holds the bowl of ice out to him.

"Would you like one?" He asked.

Elena hesitates for a moment, "Sure, why now?"

Kol puts the ice into the drinks.

"You're really good at that game." The doppelganger looks towards the TV, "Definitely considering you've been locked up in a coffin for a hundred years."

Kol smiles, "I'm a quick learner. Speed reflexes. It's not much like the real thing, though, is it? You've killed, haven't you?" He asked as she looks up, "Or are you one of those Mary Sue vampire?"

"I've killed. Once. I'm guessing your number's a lot higher than mine."

"You lose track over the years. So, are we going to talk about Silas, or just jibber-jabber?"

Elena gestured to the living room and Kol walks over as she pulls her phone out to see a text from Matt, "No dagger yet. Need time."

₊˚.༄𖥸

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗟 drinks from his glass, leaning against the couch.

"Nobody else seems to think Silas exists, so why do you?" Elena asked him.

"I used to run with some witches. Africa is the fourteenth century, Haiti in the seventh century, New Orleans in the nineteen hundreds. Anastasia." Kol smirks at the mention of the Salvatore girl, "They all knew about Silas -- besides Anastasia, I told her all about him -- that he needed to stay buried. I actually hold witches in high esteem."

"Yeah, but why Silas?" She questioned, "Why are you so afraid of him?"

"They said if Silas rises, he'll unleash hell on Earth. I happen to like Earth just the way it is." Kol spoke to the brunette standing in front of him.

"That's pretty biblical."

"Well, that's the other problem with people today -- they've lost faith. And in that loss, they no longer know who they should fear."

₊˚.༄𖥸

𝗞𝗢𝗟 𝗛𝗢𝗟𝗗𝗦 a framed picture of Elena and Jeremy joking around, staring at it unil Elena approaches him, carrying a bottle of wine.

"So we're out of gin, but I think this is a good year."

"What if I said I don't believe you?" Kol keeps his eyes on the framed photo of the siblings.

"Okay, you caught me. I don't know anything about wine."

Kol sets the picture down, turning to her, "It just seems odd that you'd be so willing to give up something you want so much."

"I would do anything for my brother. And if what you're saying about Silas is true, what does it matter what I want if it puts everyone else in danger?"

"Well, this has been enlightening. Thanks for the drinks. I'll take your request for a truce under advisement."

Elena panics as Kol moves towards the front door, taking a step forward as he pulls the wooden door open. "Is there any chance that you could be wrong about Silas?"

"Trust me, Elena. Some things are better left buried." Kol says just before leaving as Elena lets out a sigh.

˚.༄𖥸

𝗝𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗠𝗬 𝗪𝗔𝗟𝗞𝗦 cautiously into his house, holding up a gun thats loaded with wooden bullets. He closes the door and hears a noise. Getting ready to shoot, he stops when he sees that it's just Elena.

"I'm sorry. He left. I mean, I -- I tried to stall as long as I could." Elena tells her just before the doorbell rings.

"That's Bonnie." Jeremy tells her, "She was right behind me."

Elena opens up the front door but instead of Bonnie being behind in, Kol is standing there.

"I've considered your request for a truce. Request denied."

Elena slams the door in his face.

"I'm sorry! I've already been invited in!" He shouts just before kicking the door open and walking inside; Elena and Jeremy are nowhere in sight, "Hide and seek? Fine by me."

₊˚.༄𖥸

𝗗𝗬𝗟𝗔𝗡 𝗟𝗔𝗬𝗦 his head back against the cellar wall as Klaus holds his phone in his hand, Anastasia having gone up to take a shower just a few minutes before.

"Your brother's lack of communication is infuriating." Klaus tells Damon.

"It's one of his trademarks, like his brooding and his hair." Damon smirks as he sits on the bed, the palm of his hand holding his head up.

"I don't understand what's taking so long. I mean, how hard is it to steal a dagger?"

"From a vampire who's been stabbed as many times as your sister, I'd say difficult."

Klaus sighs and tosses Damon a vial of blood.

"Sweet."

"You disappoint me, Damon. You're not trying very hard to get out of here." Klaus said to him, "I expected more the daring escape artist, less the cell potato."

"Well, I'm compelled to kill Jeremy, so I figured it's probably smarter to sit here and chit-chat with you and Dylan than bust out of here like the Hulk."

"How do you think Elena felt about that, by the way? Your inability to overcome Kol's compulsion for a single moment even though it meant saving the person she loves most in the world?"

"She's met me. She knows impulse control's not my strong suit."

"It must be hard trying to live up to Stefan." Dylan doesn't take his eyes off the brick wall as he speaks, "Like the fact that he's been a better father to Anastasia in the last a hundred years."

Klaus smirked at his words, "I remember when I compelled him to feed off Elena. He fought it so hard, he actually managed to resist. Now, that's love."

"What do you know about love?" Damon asked the original vampire.

"We know that you're in love with Elena." Dylan responded for the british male.

"But I think you're afraid of what might happen when we find the cure at the end of the rainbow." Klaus says, "Personally, I don't see a fairytale ending for you. All I see is Stefan and Elena. I think you see the same thing."

Damon doesn't say anything as Klaus' phone rings, Kol on the other ends.

"Well, if it isn't the happy homicidal maniac."

"Did you know that your darling former blood bag and her brother are trying to kill me?" Kol questions as he looks around the Gilbert house.

"What?"

"Don't pretend like you're not in on it." Kol tells him. "Your obsession to find the cure clearly trumps any sibling loyalty you once felt."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Klaus truthfully tells his little brother as Dylan stares at the original hybrid in shock, the color draining from his face.

"I'm going to rip off Jeremy's arm and kill Elena just for sport. Then, I'm coming for you." Kol tells his brother, "And so help my God, if anything happens to Anastasia, I will burn this town to the ground. Do you hear me, Niklaus?"

Hanging up the phone, Kol keeps walking. Elena stands at the top of the staircase with a crossbow in hand as she shoots Kol in the leg.

He groans out in pain as she disappears upstairs with her vampire speed. Kol pulls the arrow out of his leg, going after her.

₊˚.༄𖥸

𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗔 𝗣𝗨𝗦𝗛𝗘𝗦 her dresser in front of her door, but struggles as Kol pushes back. He manages to shoe the door open and Elena falls to the ground. With vampire speed, she runs into the bathroom and shuts the door behind her and locks it.

Kol kicks the door open, only to find it empty. He punches through the other door which leads to Jeremy's bedroom, finding both Elena and Jeremy standing there.

Jeremy shots Kol with the stake gun, but Kol catches it.

"Missed!"

Jeremy shoots again, but Kol also catches that one with the other hand. Elena fires a pistol at him, shooting him multiple times."

"Go!" Elena yells to Jeremy.

₊˚.༄𖥸

𝗔 𝗚𝗔𝗦𝗣 leaves Anastasia's mouth as she suddenly feels pain rush through her, "Kol, what the hell are you doing?"

₊˚.༄𖥸

𝗝𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗠𝗬 𝗥𝗔𝗡 out of the room as Elena continued to shook at the original. Kol throws one of the stakes in his hand, hitting Elena in the thigh and she cries out. Looking up, Kol is gone.

Jeremy runs through the hallway when Kol appears and punches him. Back in the bedroom, Elena pulls the stake out of her leg as Kol throws Jeremy down the stairs and the hunter groans out in pain.

Elena jumps on Kol's back and he tosses her against the wall before ripping out one of the posts from the railing and impales Elena through the stomach, pinning her to the wall. She gasps in pain and shock, completely immobilized.

Kol walks over to Jeremy, who is still grunting in pain on the stair landing, "Now....about that arm."

₊˚.༄𖥸

𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗔 𝗞𝗘𝗘𝗣𝗦 trying to get the stake out of her stomach, but it doesn't budge. Improvising, she braces her hands against the wall and pulls her body off of the stake.

Downstairs, Kol has Jeremy strapped to the counter in the kitchen by his arms. Jeremy struggles against the bods as Kol pulls a cleaver out of the kitchen block.

"Now, like I said, I don't fancy the hunter's curse, so I'm just going to chop off your arm. But don't worry, I'll heal you right up with a bit of blood after." Kol says, holding Jeremy's head against the counter. "Sorry about the sting. Now, which arm is it? Is it left, or right? I'll just chop off both to be safe."

Jeremy closes his eyes as Kol raises the knife over him. Suddenly, Elena appears and grabs Kol. The cleaver misses and instead slices through one of Jeremy's restraints.

Elena slams the cleaver into Kol's chest, shoving him against the counter. Jeremy quickly pulls his other arm out and rushes to the sink. He grabs the hose and sprays Kol with the vervain water.

Kol cries out in pain as the water hits him and Elena moves away. Jeremy keeps the water pointed towards the vampire.

Elena takes the white oak stake from Kol's jacket, throwing it towards her brother, "Jeremy, now!"

"No, no, if you kill me, you kill Anastasia!" Kol's words cause Jeremy's to faulter in his movements as he catches the stake thrown his way by Elena. "You'll kill Anastasia!"

"Jeremy! Don't listen to him! He's lying to you. Kill him!" Elena begs her brother, "Kill him, Jeremy!"

Jeremy takes a deep breathe, ignoring the pleads from the Original to not kill Anastasia, and stakes Kol through the heart with it. The original screams as he bursts into flames and he continues to scream as he staggers through the kitchen before falling to the floor, dead.

Elena looks from the burning body to her brother who is looking at something from behind her so she looks to find Klaus standing at the open front door an upset and angry expression on his face.

"What have you done?" Klaus questioned the two, angrily.

"We didn't have a choice. He was trying to cut off Jeremy's arm!" Elena says as she motions to Jeremy.

"Lies!" Klaus talks through clenched teeth, "He never would've gotten inside if you hadn't have set a trap for him!"

"You said you were going to put him down too."

Klaus is furious, "I was going to make him suffer on my terms! I'm going to burn this house to the ground. And then, when you try to flee for your lives, I'll kill you both without blinking."

"You kill us, you'll never get to the cure." Jeremy tells him, "You'll never be able to make more hybrids."

"You really think I care for an instant about my blood hybrids? I want the cure so I can destroy it. I would've killed you all the second we dug it up, but now I'm just gonna watch you burn instead." Klaus said to the two before he falls to his knees crying out in pain.

Bonnie walks past him and into the house, "Invite him in."

They look at her in confusion.

"Do it!" She exclaimed as Klaus stands up.

"Come in." Jeremy invites the hybrid into the house as Bonnie magically pulls him inside and immobilizes him.

"Living room. Go!"

Elena and Jeremy run through the living room and into the kitchen. Klaus follows the four, but he can't get into the kitchen. He punches at the air, but there's an invisible barrier.

Jeremy pulls the white oak stake out of Kol before him, Elena and Jeremy rush out the back door.

₊˚.༄𖥸

𝗔𝗡𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗦𝗜𝗔 𝗪𝗔𝗟𝗞𝗦 out of her bathroom, towel drying her hair before she picks up her brush and begins to run in through her hair. A look of pain crosses her face as her hand begins to go numb.

Looking down, she gasps as her hand slowly turns a sickly grew color, veins growing up her arm as she gasps for any ounce of air that she can get into her lungs. The hairbrush falls from her hand just as she falls to her knees, bringing her hand up to clutch at the t-shirt right where her heart rested.

A loud thump rings throughout the room as the rest of her body crashes to the ground, her eyes soulless as she looks up at the ceiling and takes her last breath as her chest sits deathly still as she lays there, dead.

₊˚.༄𖥸

𝗝𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗠𝗬 𝗣𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗦 the living room in the Salvatore house, staring at his bare arm as Elena and Bonnie sat on the couch, "It didn't work."

"It took time for Finn's line to die off, remember? It'll work." The witch tells him.

"What if it doesn't?"

"Where's that Gilbert optimism?" Damon asked as he walked over to Elena. "Hi." Smiling, Elena hugs him, "Sorry I missed all the excitement."

The front door opens and Stefan walks in carrying Silas' tombstone. He closes the door, "Looks like I didn't miss much. Got the Silas headstone."

"We're just waiting for Jeremy's mark to grow." Elena tells him as Stefan sets the stone down on the table while Damon watches him warily. "Klaus is trapped in our living room."

"Temporarily. I drew on the new moon to bind the spell." Bonnie says, "We've got three days to find that cure -- four, max."

"If we don't, we might as well look up Katherine Pierce and see if she wants some company in hiding, 'cause he will come after us." Jeremy said.

"We'll find it." Elena replied, "Now that we've got Rebekah taken care of, all we need is Professor Shane, and then we'll have everything we need."

"Yeah, I didn't, uh....I didn't dagger her." Stefan looks down with his hands in his pockets.

"What? Why not?" Elena questioned.

"I didn't need to. She's on our side."

"On our side? Did you really just say that?" She asked him in disbelief.

"Yeah, she handed over the headstone." He said, "I mean, she wants to find this cure more than any of us."

"Why would you possibly think that we could trust her?"

"Let me guess, she pledged her allegiance to her while you were naked in the sack?" Damon asked, causing everyone to grow silent as Elena looked at Stefan in shock.

"I bet you were just dying to get that out, weren't you, Damon?"

"Oh, was that supposed to be a secret? Maybe you should have made that a little clear while you and my daughter were bleeding me dry in our cellar."

"Yeah, to keep you from killing, Jeremy."

"Stop it, both of you."

"Now, why don't you tell her to calm down, Damon?" Stefan never looks at Elena as he looks at his brother, "You've managed to use that sire bond pretty well so far, haven't you?"

Damon punches Stefan in the face, knocking him down. Stefan gets back up and is about to hit Damon back when Jeremy starts screaming.

Jeremy rips off his shirt as the mark grows, "It's happening."

Elena looks on in shock, "Oh, my God....,"

"You can see it?" Jeremy asked them.

Elena nods her head slowly as they watch the mark continue to grow up his arm and across his chest.

"Here we go."

Suddenly, the door is knocked off its hinges as Dylan kicks the door open, "Where is she?"

"What?" Damon looks at him in confusion, "Dude, you're paying for a new door."

"Where is Stassie?!" Dylan roars in anger, veins appearing under his eyes as he uses his speed to slam Damon to the ground.

"Dylan! Dylan!" Stefan pulls the vampire off of his brother, "What's wrong?"

"You idiot killed Kol?!" He looks between the others in anger, "Do you have any idea what the hell you have just done?!"

"We got the map for the cure." Bonnie tilts her head at the vampire, "That's what we wanted."

"You guys wanted the map for the cure!" Dylan glares at the witch, "Do you want to know what you just let happen?! You killed Stassie!"

Damon shrugged, "She's not really dead. Yes, Kol is dead, but she's not a part of his bloodline. My daughter will be alright in a couple of hours."

Dylan chuckles dryly. "That's what you think? Back in the 90's when they first met, She and Kol made a deal. If she helps create a dagger that could put Klaus down for good, then he'll teach her how to do things only originals can do. He promised to protect her so that nothing happened to her. In order for her to do that, she bound their lives together."

"What -- what does that mean?" Stefan asked, his throat going dry.

"If Kol dies by that of the white oak stake -- which you dumbasses drove through his heart -- she dies as well. Permanently."

Stefan disappears from the room, now standing in the open doorway of his niece's bedroom, "No. No, no, no! Anastasia!"

Damon and the others rush into the room as Stefan drops to the ground, moving Anastasia's limp body into his lap.

"Hey, hey, wake up. You're okay, you're okay." Stefan cries over her body as he rocked them both. "Anastasia, come on, baby, wake up. Wake up!"

"Stefan...," Elena breathes out in shock as the others stare at the scene in sadness.

Behind them, standing in the hallway leaning up against the wall watching the scene fold in front of her was Anastasia's ghost.

"She's dead."

Dylan scoffs loudly, "Congratulations, not only did you dipshits kill an Original...you killed Anastasia."