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FLASH-FORWARD, THREE YEARS FROM NOW-- DALLAS, TEXAS, 2016[]
[Caroline, who is working as a producer for KQBC Channel 3 News in Dallas, is rushing around the stage while she gets everything organized for broadcast]
- CAROLINE: Okay, people. We go live in thirty, so I need that media package done fifteen minutes ago. Where are my graphics and b-roll?
[Caroline has a tablet in her hands and is checking a list, but stops momentarily when she sees a male employee passing her]
- CAROLINE: Jamie, we're good on music, right?
- JAMIE: Yeah.
[Caroline's PA, Tony, approaches her, looking nervous. Caroline keeps walking as he struggles to keep up]
- TONY: Uh, excuse me, Caroline.
- CAROLINE: Yeah?
- TONY: Uh, your fiancé just called.
[Caroline stops in her tracks and turns to face him]
- CAROLINE: What? He knows that I'm working.
- TONY: [sheepishly] ...That's why he didn't ask to talk to you. Um, he's being sneaky.
- CAROLINE: But, your paycheck comes from me, and you know how much I hate surprises. Spill.
- TONY: He's curious what your schedule is right before the wedding.
- CAROLINE: [confused] Why?
- TONY: I think he wants to plan a trip to Mystic Falls.
- CAROLINE: [worriedly] But he knows that we can't go back there.
[Tony gives her a confused look, which causes Caroline to realize that she's said too much. She smiles fakely to cover up her concern]
- CAROLINE: Um, I will handle this later. Thanks, Tony.
- TONY: Mmhmmm
[Tony smiles and leaves. Caroline pauses for a moment to recover from this news. In the background, other employees are preparing for the show]
TITLE CARD & OPENING CREDITS
PRESENT DAY-- MYSTIC FALLS BORDER, 2013[]
[Two college students, Amanda and Ryan, are standing outside the closed-off border of Mystic Falls and are filming themselves on a handheld video camera. There's a sign on the plastic fence that has been set up that reads "NO TRESPASSING. VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED]
- AMANDA: Are both cameras on?
- RYAN: First one's on, and second one is rolling.
[The two crawl under the fence and into Mystic Falls, where they end up right in the cemetery. The young woman giggles as the man turns the camera so it's facing him to discuss what they're doing]
- RYAN: So, a few weeks ago, the town of Mystic Falls was completely evacuated. The story is that some natural gas leak made it all uninhabitable, but there's been so many rumors, whispers, and just strange things happening in the night, unexplainable things.
- AMANDA: [sarcastically] Okay, tone it down, Blair Witch.
[The man turns the camera back onto the woman]
- RYAN: Let's see. What'd you bring me, huh?
[The woman starts pulling different devices out of her backpack]
- AMANDA: Full spectrum light, EMF reader, and a thermal camera, courtesy of Uncle Fred's graduation fund.
[The man turns on the thermal camera and starts recording her. She shows up on the screen as a bright yellow/orange/red light]
- RYAN: [jokingly] Look how hot you are.
- AMANDA: [rolls her eyes] You're hilarious.
[She holds up the EMF reader and starts waving it around]
- AMANDA: Okay, so this thing's supposed to beep if there's some spirit or something supernatural present.
- RYAN: [skeptically] You get this thing off an infomercial or something?
[They start walking toward a mausoleum, and once they get closer, it is revealed that they're almost at the Salvatore crypt, where Elena's body has been placed inside with a strong protection spell keeping anyone from being able to enter. As they get closer, the EMF reader starts to beep]
- AMANDA: Wait, it's working!
- RYAN: Whoa! It's creepy, but kind of awesome.
[The two approach the crypt, the EMF reader still beeping all the while, and Ryan attempts to open it]
- RYAN: It won't open. No lock. It's just stuck.
[They walk around to the window, where they find a window and look inside]
- RYAN: It looks like there's a coffin in there or something.
[He turns the camera back on Amanda, who is trying to fix her EMF reader, which has gone silent]
- RYAN: Amanda...
- AMANDA: It's not working.
[Ryan holds up the thermal camera and points it at her, and is stunned to see two people standing behind her and staring at the back of her head, causing him to gasp]
- RYAN: Amanda!
- AMANDA: What?
- RYAN: [panicked] There's something behind you!
- AMANDA: [suspiciously] Are you really trying to scare me?
[She turns around, but when they both look back, they don't see anything. Suddenly, Amanda is yanked upward and into a tree by an invisible force]
- AMANDA: AHHHH!
- RYAN: Amanda? Amanda!
[Suddenly, Amanda is suspended in the air, as though someone is holding onto her ankle. A female voice is heard laughing before Amanda is dropped onto the ground, wheezing loudly. The thermal camera picks up the warmth of her blood, which is covering the side of one of the tombs. Ryan rushes over to Amanda, and when he sees the wound on her neck, he immediately starts to apply pressure to it with her hand]
- RYAN: It's okay. I'll get help, okay? I'll be back. I--
[Before Ryan can finish, someone yanks him backward out of the line of sight of the camera. Screaming and slurping sounds are heard until someone else picks up the camera and holds it up to reveal that Mary Louise had attacked him]
- MARY LOUISE: [laughs] Much better than those blood bags!
[Ryan, still alive, screams in fear as he tries to pull himself away from them, but Mary Louise just glares at him]
- MARY LOUISE: No screaming, please!
[Mary Louise has picked up the video camera and points it at Nora, who has the other video camera in her hands and is pointing it back at her]
- MARY LOUISE: How do you know how to work that device?
[Nora flips the screen and points the camera at herself]
- NORA: I don't, but if these two could, I'm sure it's idiot-proof.
[Suddenly, a light is shined on the two girls just as the sound of a gun being cocked is heard. Mary Louise looks up in surprise when she sees Matt in his police uniform, pointing a rifle at them]
- MATT: Let him go.
- MARY LOUISE: Mystic Falls is ours now. So is any human who steps foot inside it.
- MATT: I said, let him go!
[Ryan, scared, sits up and scoots back away from them. Nora, amused, drops the camera and waves her hand to the side, which causes Matt's rifle to be telekinetically ripped from his hands and impaled in Ryan's chest, killing him. She then walks over to Matt, who yelps in fear and raises his hands defensively in front of his face]
- MATT: AHHH!
[The next morning, Matt awakens on the ground in the cemetery as the sun shines down on him. He's confused and blurry-eyed at first until he starts to remember the events of the previous night. When he looks down at his hands, he finds that his right wrist has been cut and bandaged with a tied handkerchief. He sits up in horror and groans, knowing this can't mean anything good]
WHITMORE COLLEGE[]
[Alaric is standing in front of his Occult Studies class at Whitmore and beginning his lecture for the day. Every desk in the room has someone seated in it, including Bonnie, who seems both amused and depressed by Alaric's choice of lecture topics for the day]
- ALARIC: I want to talk about death. More specifically, I want to talk about what happens after.
[He takes a lot around at the over-full classroom and chuckles]
- ALARIC: Now, I'm not going to pretend like my good looks are the reason this class is so full.
[The students all laugh]
- ALARIC: I've heard the same stories you have about Mystic Falls. Ghost sightings, poltergeists...
[A male student calls out to him]
- STUDENT: Zombies!
[Alaric and the students laugh]
- ALARIC: Now, let's talk about it. What's behind all of these stories? Now, almost every culture has the lore of a creature or being that cheats death. Why do our brains insist on inventing the most unbelievable things?
[Bonnie, seated in the middle of the room, seems slightly worried about Alaric as he continues his lecture]
- ALARIC: It's because the reality of death is actually the most unbelievable thing of all. Now, the most terrifying thing that you're going to encounter in Mystic Falls is a trespassing ticket, okay? So, everyone just stay out.
[After class has been dismissed, Bonnie walks up to the front of the lecture hall to talk to Alaric]
- BONNIE: So, the Great Mystic Falls Evacuation Plan isn't going as well as everyone hoped...
- ALARIC: [chuckles] Heh. Well, they turned it into a ghost town. That part worked. Unfortunately for us, ghost towns are like amusement parks for college kids. The Heretics have killed ten people already. Two last night-- idiots looking for a ghost selfie.
[Bonnie looks at him with concern]
- BONNIE: Are you okay?
[Alaric sighs, and Bonnie hesitates awkwardly before continuing]
- BONNIE: ...Damon told me what you were doing in Europe.
- ALARIC: [sheepishly] Losing my money and my sanity to a series of con artists?
- BONNIE: [smiles weakly] Yeah.
- ALARIC: Don't worry, I'm over it.
- BONNIE: [sympathetically] It's okay if you're not, Ric. Heck, I'm a little offended you didn't come to me first!
- ALARIC: [sarcastically] What, you wouldn't think it's weird that I'm trying to contact my fiancée, who's been dead for months?
- BONNIE: [shrugs] Honestly, after everything we've experienced? It'd be weird if you weren't.
[She smiles at him and goes to leave, but Alaric, getting an idea, stops her]
- ALARIC: Hey, Bonnie? Have you ever heard of the Phoenix Stone?
MYSTIC FALLS SUBURBS[]
[Stefan is driving down the abandoned streets of one of Mystic Falls' residential areas as he leaves Caroline a voicemail]
- STEFAN: [on the phone] Caroline... haven't heard from you. I'm starting to think that maybe you're just using me for random, hot make-out sessions... which I'm not entirely opposed to. But, uh, give me a call.
[He hangs up the phone and puts it in his pocket, but when he looks back up at the road, he sees a man standing in the middle of the road and slams the brakes to avoid running him over. It's Beau, who is glaring at him. Stefan parks the car and gets out to see what he wants]
- STEFAN: [confused] Can I help you...?
[Beau, as usual, remains silent, and after a moment, Stefan rolls his eyes]
- STEFAN: It's okay. I speak mute. Just communicate what you want with a series of grunts...
[Beau, unamused, casts a spell that creates a high-frequency noise that causes Stefan to fall to his knees and clutch his head in pain]
- STEFAN: AHHH!
[After a moment, Lily appears behind him]
- LILY: You'll have to excuse Beau-- he's not in the mood for glib jokes. None of us are, actually.
[Lily looks at Beau, who reluctantly releases Stefan from the effects of the spell. They both continue to glare at Stefan as he gets back on his feet]
- LILY: I thought we had a deal.
- STEFAN: [annoyed] Yeah, we do. Otherwise, I would be at home, not out patrolling the streets to keep humans out of your minions' fangs.
- LILY: [bitterly] We found Malcolm in the town square last night, his heart removed.
[Stefan's eyes widen in surprise, which leads Lily to realize he wasn't involved]
- LILY: You didn't know.
- STEFAN: No, I didn't, because we didn't do it.
- LILY: [sighs] I'm not here to blame you, Stefan. I came so you'd understand why we did what you had to do.
- STEFAN: [growls] What did you do?
SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE[]
[Caroline has awakened in the boarding house cellar to find that she's in a wooden chair, where Enzo, wearing thick gloves, is binding her wrists and ankles to the arms and legs of the chair with vervain-soaked ropes]
- ENZO: Sorry, love. It will only hurt for a second.
[He grabs another soaked rope from the bucket and wraps it around her wrists, and Caroline groans in pain]
- CAROLINE: What the hell is wrong with you?
- ENZO: Someone killed Malcolm. Lily need to retaliate.
- CAROLINE: Strange. You don't look like Lily.
- ENZO: [sarcastically] Yeah, well, it's all in the lighting, darling. Look, be happy I'm the one who grabbed you. I don't want to think what would happen if the others did. I am the closest thing you have as a friend in here.
- CAROLINE: Well fun tip, friends don't really like being tied up with vervain ropes!
- ENZO: Hush now, deep breath.
[Enzo finishes tying her up, and she hisses as it burns her skin]
- ENZO: There you are.
[Enzo turns to leave, and Caroline, panting for breath, calls out after him]
- CAROLINE: Enzo, please! This hurts really, really bad.
[Caroline's eyes are full of tears, and she bites her lips from pain. Despite his actions, it's clear he feels bad, and after a moment, he turns back toward her]
- ENZO: Oh God, I hate whiners.
[Enzo kneels down and loosens the ropes that connect her wrists and keep them bound to the arms. Caroline's panting stops, and she starts to scowl at him, causing Enzo to realize she tricked him, though not quickly enough to stop her. Breaks out of her restraints and uses the vervain rope to choke Enzo before head-butting him so hard he falls onto the floor. Once he's down, she quickly flips backward, breaking the wooden chair into pieces. She quickly hops to her feet, grabbing one of the broken chair legs to use as a makeshift stake]
- CAROLINE: [mockingly] Now... deep breath!
[She stabs him in the thigh with the stake and vamp-speeds upstairs. However, before she can reach the door, she is blocked by Mary Louise]
- MARY LOUISE: Leaving so soon?
[Caroline grimaces and turns to vamp-speed in the opposite direction, only to be blocked by Nora]
- NORA: I'm wearing your jacket! Though, it's a little large on me...
[Just then, Enzo appears in the doorway, looking annoyed]
- ENZO: It's all right, you two. I've got her.
- MARY LOUISE: Do you? Because it certainly doesn't look like it. What's that expression? "Finders keepers?"
[Mary Louise mouths an unintelligible spell and flicks her wrist, which magically causes Caroline to be knocked unconscious and fall onto the floor. Mary Louise and Nora smirk at each other in satisfaction while Enzo just looks frustrated]
LOCKWOOD MANSION[]
[Damon and Stefan have just walked into the Lockwood Mansion together. Damon is carrying a bag full of his things, which he dumps onto the nearby couch in the living room]
- DAMON: [smirks] Just so we're clear, I'm taking the master bedroom. Carol Lockwood and I had a little thing. I think she'd want me to have it.
[Damon stops and takes a look around the room before wrinkling his nose]
- DAMON: Let's open some windows, too. It reeks of dog in here. Which is impressive, considering Tyler's been with Jeremy for months.
[Stefan finally joins him in the living room and shoots him an angry glare]
- STEFAN: You killed him, didn't you?
- DAMON: Tyler? No. Jeremy? Once. But are we really bringing that up right now?
- STEFAN: [unamused] The Heretic, Malcolm. Lily came by earlier. She found him in the town square without a heart.
- DAMON: Oh, did she want that back? I mean, I think I packed it somewhere, alright?
- STEFAN: [coldly] You know, Lily and I had a deal.
- DAMON: [scoffs] A bad deal.
- STEFAN: She took Caroline.
- DAMON: [stunned] What?
- STEFAN: To retaliate for breaking our "bad deal," she took Caroline.
- DAMON: [horrified] But you weren't the one that did it...
- STEFAN: Yeah, I know I wasn't. You were. Which is why you are gonna go over there, and you're gonna fix it.
SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE[]
[Lily opens the front door of the boarding house to find Damon standing on the doorstep with a sly smile]
- DAMON: Hello, Mother.
- LILY: [coldly] May I help you?
[Damon looks over her shoulder and notices an unfamiliar woman vacuuming the foyer]
- DAMON: Couple things-- A) Who the hell is that?
[Lily turns around to glance at the woman before facing Damon again]
- LILY: Who, Lucy? She's the kind woman I've hired to clean up this house that you let fall into disrepair.
[Lily raises her voice to talk to Lucy, but doesn't take her eyes off of Damon]
- LILY: Oh, Lucy, darling, could you come clean the welcome mat, please? This man was just leaving.
- DAMON: [exasperated] B) No, I'm not.
- LILY: [unamused] Excuse me?
- DAMON: I think there's been a bit of a mix-up. See, last night, I was in the town square, minding my own business, when I tripped and accidentally ripped Malcolm's heart out.
- LILY: [rolls her eyes] Deflecting. Of course. You never could admit when you were wrong.
[She goes to close the door, but Damon stops her]
- DAMON: Okay, wait-- I admit it. I killed him. I killed him in cold blood, just like that. Stef and Caroline had nothing to do with it, so if you'll just kindly let her go...
- LILY: [suspiciously] Malcolm was a very powerful Heretic, Damon. I have a hard time believing you acted alone.
- DAMON: [shrugs] Well, I'm pretty awesome... In fact, so awesome that I'm such a better hostage than Blondie, so if you'll just swap us out...
- LILY: I'm afraid my family finds you much less awesome than you do.
[Lily once again tries to shut the door, and Damon, desperate to get Caroline back, attempts to stop her]
- DAMON: Wait! Li-Lily, uh--
[He tries to run into the house to catch up with her, only to be blocked at the threshold. His eyes narrow in confusion and suspicion]
- DAMON: That's odd. Why can't I walk into my own house?
- LILY: [coldly] Because this is no longer your house, and I have the deed to prove it.
[She runs her fingers over a large stack of papers that have been binder-clipped together on the side table]
- LILY: Now, if you don't mind, I have to get ready to go bury my son.
[Lily shuts the door in Damon's face, leaving him overwhelmed by this new information]
WHITMORE COLLEGE[]
[Bonnie and Alaric are sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace in Bonnie's dorm room, surrounded by lit white candles, where Alaric has pulled out the Phoenix Stone and is showing it to her]
- ALARIC: An old contact of mine at Duke told me about it. It's supposed to have... resuscitative powers.
- BONNIE: [stunned] Rususcitative as in it can bring somebody back from the dead?
- ALARIC: And that's why I didn't tell you, because I was avoiding that look.
- BONNIE: Where did you find it?
- ALARIC: Well, you remember that night in New York?
- BONNIE: [giggles] Yeah, the night you passed out on the floor of the bar?
[Alaric gives her a look, and Bonnie realizes that was a lie]
- BONNIE: The night you pretended to pass out on the floor of the bar?
- ALARIC: Right. Well, I snuck into the maritime museum because it was on display there.
[Alaric gently sets the stone in Bonnie's open hands, and she stares at it for a moment as she concentrates on it]
- BONNIE: It's certainly pretty. I don't feel any magic emanating from it.
- ALARIC: [chuckles] Well, you are officially more honest than anyone I saw in Europe.
[Bonnie closes her eyes and starts to quietly whisper an unintelligible spell under her breath]
- ALARIC: [confused] What are you doing?
- BONNIE: Sometimes witches will conceal a powerful talisman or relic by hiding the magic inside of it.
[Bonnie continues trying to sense the stone's power, and after a moment, the fire in the fireplace expands in a huge plume of flames, startling Alaric. Suddenly, Bonnie gasps in fear as she's overcome by visions of people who are covered in blood screaming in agony. Bonnie becomes so afraid that she snaps out of her vision and drops the stone onto the floor, scooting away from it with tears in her eyes]
- ALARIC: [worried] Bonnie, are you okay?
- BONNIE: [gasps] Aahhhh!
- ALARIC: Bonnie, what happened?
- BONNIE: [shakily] I don't know. I saw something... People dying. There's something wrong with that stone, Ric. Something evil.
[Alaric sighs in disappointment, and Bonnie realizing he knows more than he's telling]
- BONNIE: But your friend from Duke told you that, didn't she? Which is why you waited until you were flat-out desperate before you told me about it.
[Alaric looks mildly embarrassed to be caught, but Bonnie gives him a deadly serious look]
- BONNIE: You can't mess with that magic, Ric. We have to destroy it.
[Alaric sighs and frowns unhappily]
LOCKWOOD MANSION[]
[Stefan is looking at maps and blueprints on Richard Lockwood's desk, and doesn't even look up when Damon walks into the room]
- STEFAN: I only hear one set of footsteps.
- DAMON: And I only hear righteous "I told you so's." Look, I offered myself-- Lily declined.
- STEFAN: Huh. Well, looks like nobody wants you around, do they?
[Damon notices what Stefan is looking at on the desk]
- DAMON: Ah, planning a little midnight raid through the tunnels? Might a little tiny problem with that.
[He pauses awkwardly, clearly not wanting to share this news]
- DAMON: We no longer own the house-- i.e. we can't get in.
- STEFAN: [appalled] What???
- DAMON: Have no fear! I have a call in with the registrar's office, and I will find out who, exactly does own the house in a matter of minutes, at which point we kill said person, storm the castle, and save your damsel.
[Damon collapses onto the nearby couch with a smile, and Stefan rolls his eyes in annoyance]
- STEFAN: You're really enjoying this, aren't you?
- DAMON: [shrugs] I've got sixty years to kill.
- STEFAN: Hmmm.
- DAMON: [smirks] Having an enemy, a nemesis, a maniacal villain with maniacal villain motives? You kidding me? That's not the worst distraction in the world.
- STEFAN: You know, it's funny that you think that she's the villain when you're the one who killed one of her loved ones.
- DAMON: [offended] You're taking her side?
- STEFAN: No, but I'm definitely not taking yours.
[He smiles fakely at his brother before walking away]
SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE[]
[Caroline wakes up in one of the bedrooms to find that she's suspended painfully from the ceiling from her wrists, which have been chained together and to the rafters. She looks around the room and sees Mary Louise sitting at one of the desks in front of her, putting on makeup in a small magnifying mirror]
- CAROLINE: Ughhh, what did you do to me?
- MARY LOUISE: What Lorenzo should have done-- vervain.
- CAROLINE: Oh, it hurts.
- MARY LOUISE: [nods] Yes. My family ran a slaughterhouse when I was growing up. It was all well and good until the found out I was a Siphoner freak of nature. Then, they were more than happy to hang me with the cattle.
[Mary Louise smiles fakely at her]
- MARY LOUISE: So, been there, sister. Just be happy I didn't hang you by your feet like we do with the cows.
- CAROLINE: [frustrated] What do you want from me?
[Mary Louise finally turns in her chair to face her]
- MARY LOUISE: We have a burial to go to. My girlfriend thinks her outfit has to be fashion-forward. I disagree. What do you think?
[She turns and calls out toward the bedroom door]
- MARY LOUISE: Nora, show us!
[Caroline looks panicked and sways by her arms as she looks around]
- MARY LOUISE: Help us, and perhaps I can find a small stool for you to stand on.
[Nora calls out from outside the room]
- NORA: I feel silly.
[Mary Louise stands to her feet]
- MARY LOUISE: I'm sure you're beautiful, my love.
- NORA: Nobody wears this anymore!
- MARY LOUISE: You wore that dress to Queen Victoria's funeral! It's stunning!
[Just then, Nora comes in wearing a full-length, long-sleeved black funeral gown that looks as though it's from the turn of the 20th century. She also has a black hat perched on her head, and she looks very self-conscious as she walks over to the full-length mirror to see how she looks. Caroline, unable to help herself, snickers quietly, and Nora looks over at her, visibly mortified. Mary Louise looks back at Caroline as well, clearly unhappy with her reaction]
- NORA: [to Mary Louise] See?
[Near tears, Nora stomps out of the room, and Mary Louise sighs before turning to glare at Caroline, who is trying to keep from laughing. Mary Loouise picks up an eyeliner pencil from the vanity and storms over to her]
- MARY LOUISE: [angrily] I asked for advice, not mockery!
- CAROLINE: [weakly] Yeah, well, you should listen to your girlfriend, because that dress...?
[Caroline, realizing she's only getting herself into more trouble, sighs]
- CAROLINE: Look, my best friend used to live here. She had good style, and I'm sure that a couple of her dresses are in a closet somewhere.
[Mary Louise, only mildly satisfied, holds up the eyeliner]
- MARY LOUISE: I'm curious-- what do you think of this color?
[Caroline tries her best to be nice while covering up her concern]
- CAROLINE: It's great, actually. Super vivid. It'll totally make your eyes pop.
[Mary Louise takes the pencil and holds the extra-sharp point only centimeters from Caroline's eye]
- MARY LOUISE: Do you think it'll make your eyes pop?
[Caroline holds as still as she possibly can and tries to prepare herself for an imminent injury. When she pulls the pencil away, Caroline sighs in relief and relaxes slightly]
- MARY LOUISE: [coldly] If you ever embarrass my girlfriend again--
[Mary Louise angrily stabs Caroline in the shoulder with the pencil, and she screams in pain]
- CAROLINE: AHHHH!
[Downstairs, Enzo, clearly upset by the sound of Caroline suffering, pours himself a glass of bourbon from a decanter in the parlor. Moments later, Lily walks into the room and joins him as Beau follows quietly behind her]
- LILY: Lorenzo, I assumed you'd be watching over our house guest.
- ENZO: [unhappily] Yeah, that was the plan, until she wrapped a vervain-soaked rope around my neck and ran away.
- LILY: [worried] She escaped?
- ENZO: Yeah, temporarily. Mary Louise and Nora managed to catch her. Now it's a "No Boys Allowed Zone."
- LILY: Hmm. How unfortunate for her.
[Enzo takes a large gulp of his drink before speaking]
- ENZO: [bitterly] You promised she wouldn't be hurt.
- LILY: [calmly] After you promised she wouldn't escape.
[Lily pauses for a moment before she continues]
- LILY: We're leaving for the cemetery in a few hours. I'm sure she can survive until then. I'd invite you, but we need someone to stay here at the house.
[Caroline is heard screaming from upstairs, and Lily rubs his shoulder affectionately before walking to the front door with Beau dutifully following her out. Once they're gone, Valerie appears in the doorway and looks at him sympathetically]
- VALERIE: I know it's not quite fair, but Lily usually lets Mary Louise and Nora get away with murder. You can still get what you want. You just have to go around her.
- ENZO: [rolls his eyes] Spare me the family politics.
[Caroline screams in agony again as Valerie walks toward him]
- VALERIE: You chose your side. Right or wrong, there's no going back.
- ENZO: Oh, so I should condone someone I care about being tortured?
- VALERIE: No. You should just stop caring about her.
[Enzo laughs bitterly and mockingly before raising his glass to her and slamming it into her hands before he leaves. Once he's gone, Valerie smiles]
WHITMORE COLLEGE / LOCKWOOD MANSION[]
[Bonnie, still in her dorm room, hears her phone ringing on her desk and walks over to answer it. It's Damon, who is still sitting on the couch in the study at the Lockwood Mansion]
- DAMON: Oh, Bonnie Bennett, Destroyer of Dreams. So, I take it things didn't go well with Ric?
- BONNIE: [sighs] He wants to bring Jo back to life with a stone that's filled with evil incarnate.
- DAMON: [chuckles] Yup. Sounds about right. So, about how long do we have before this evil engulfs the world? Just trying to plan my week.
- BONNIE: I convinced him to drop it in a vat of acid, so I think we're good. How are you?
- DAMON: [sighs] Oh, you know, just trying to figure out how to break into my own damn house. I no longer own it. Lily signed over the deed.
- BONNIE: [confused] Why would she do that?
- DAMON: [hesitates] ...Probably because she didn't want us to rescue Caroline.
- BONNIE: [alarmed] She took Caroline? When? Why didn't you tell me?
- DAMON: Because I'm going to get her back, and I didn't want you to do the very thing that you're about to do.
[Bonnie looks both horrified and guilty by this confession]
- BONNIE: It's because we killed Malcolm...
- DAMON: [rolls his eyes] Yup, there she goes.
- BONNIE: This is all my fault.
- DAMON: Listen to me-- killing Malcolm is classic-Damon and has nothing to do with you. Everybody knows that.
- BONNIE: [confused] You're covering for me?
- DAMON: Because I need your head in the game, Bon. I have a mission for you. It involves the person who owns my house...
MYSTIC FALLS SUBURBS[]
[Out in the derelict residential neighborhood where Lily and Beau confronted Stefan earlier, Matt, in his deputy's uniform, is standing in the middle of the street. He has his police handgun out and is practicing his marksmanship by shooting liquor and beer bottles that are perched on the roofs of the various cars that have been left abandoned in the streets, and a fresh bandage is visible on his right wrist from where the Heretics injured him earlier. After a moment, Bonnie appears behind where he's standing and greets him]
- BONNIE: Hey.
[Matt, startled, turns around quickly, aiming his gun at Bonnie. Bonnie, scared, puts her hands up defensively, and when Matt realizes he's not in danger, he shoots her an annoyed look before lowering his weapon]
- BONNIE: [alarmed] Hey! Whoa! Hey. Not a Heretic.
- MATT: [sheepishly] Sorry. Rough day.
- BONNIE: [grimaces] Not to be the bearer of bad news, but it's about to get rougher...
[Matt gives Bonnie an exasperated look. Then, the scene cuts to after Bonnie has explained to him what she's learned from Damon's research]
- MATT: [shocked] So, I own the Salvatore house?
- BONNIE: It's pretty brilliant, really. They drain the vervain from your blood, compel you to sign the deed, compel you not to let Stefan and Damon in, and compel you to forget any of it ever happened. And bingo, the house is an impenetrable fortress, and vampires can't rescue Caroline.
- MATT: [sighs] Great. So, the only way to break the seal is for me to die.
[Bonnie looks at the ground, clearly uncomfortable, and Matt's eyes widen in alarm]
- MATT: Bon, please tell me that that's not the plan...
- BONNIE: [hesitates] Well... what do you think about letting me use magic to stop your heart?
- MATT: [incredulously] So you're gonna kill me?
- BONNIE: Temporarily.
- MATT: But won't it reset when I wake up?
- BONNIE: No. Once you die, the threshold spell is broken. If they want to reseal the house, they'll have to sign over the deed to someone else.
- MATT: [annoyed] So Damon screws up, Caroline gets grabbed, and I end up dead? Doesn't it ever feel like we're fighting the wrong enemy?
- BONNIE: [guiltily] We don't have time for a debate, Matt. Caroline needs us. You in, or you out?
[Matt, visibly torn, sighs in defeat]
SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE[]
[Caroline is still swaying by her wrists in Mary Louise and Nora's room when Valerie walks in to see her. She winces when she sees the various pencils and scissors that are currently impaling Caroline's shoulders and abdomen]
- VALERIE: Ouch. Nora or Mary Louise?
- CAROLINE: [sighs] Mary Louise.
- VALERIE: [examines her] Hmm. Lucky. She's the nice one.
[Valerie picks up a large book from the desk and carries it over to Caroline]
- CAROLINE: [groans] Yeah, not if you laugh at Nora.
- VALERIE: [gives her a look] You didn't.
- CAROLINE: I couldn't help it! Ugh, that dress...
[Valerie puts the book under Caroline's feet, giving her arms and shoulders a break from dangling for so long, and she sighs in relief]
- VALERIE: [laughs] The Queen Victoria one? Oh, you shouldn't have said anything. It would have been hilarious.
- CAROLINE: [chuckles weakly] What, you don't get along with them?
- VALERIE: Once...
[Valerie pulls a pair of scissors from Caroline's stomach, and Caroline hisses in pain]
- VALERIE: ...I made a snide comment about Nora's hair...
[She removes a second pair of scissors from Caroline's abdomen]
- VALERIE: ...and Mary Louise poisoned my food for a month.
[Finally, Valerie removes the eyeliner pencil from Caroline's shoulder and examines it for a moment]
- CAROLINE: [in pain] Mmmm!
- VALERIE: They're the worst. But, I can help.
[Valerie holds up her hands in front of Caroline and begins to cast a spell]
- VALERIE: [chants] Phesmatos extandas lomiano...
[Suddenly, Valerie is interrupted by the sound of Mary Louise's voice as she enters the room]
- MARY LOUISE: Why the hell are you in here?
[Valerie spins quickly to face her and holds up the eyeliner]
- VALERIE: Just looking for this. See, I heard of this new fashion trend called "hooker chic." I figured you'd have something. Thanks!
[Valerie leaves before she and Mary Louise can get into a fight, and Mary Louise gives Caroline a suspicious look]
- MARY LOUISE: What did she say to you?
[Caroline remains silent, and Mary Louise notices the book under Caroline's feet before angrily kicking it out from under her and grabbing her roughly by the arm. However, Caroline's skin burns her as soon as she makes contact with it, and she groans in pain before removing it]
- MARY LOUISE: Agh!
[She glares at Caroline before grabbing her again, and when she once again gets burned, she looks at Caroline murderously. Caroline, however, seems briefly relieved to find that Valerie helped her by making her unable to be touched]
- MARY LOUISE: [furiously] That bitch!
[She stomps over to the table and picks up a syringe full of vervain before returning to Caroline]
- MARY LOUISE: Good thing I don't need to touch you to do this.
[She stabs the needle into Caroline's arm and injects the vervain into her, causing her to moan in pain once again. Just then, Nora comes in, this time wearing a modern dress that was once Elena's]
- NORA: Chop, chop. Let's go. Lily's waiting.
- MARY LOUISE: [angrily] What about Oscar?
- NORA: [shrugs] He's not back yet, and apparently, his errand is too important.
- MARY LOUISE: [bitterly] Of course it is. Meanwhile, we're stuck here until he's done.
[Mary Louise furiously stomps out of the room, and once Nora has finished packing up her purse, she looks over at Caroline. Caroline recognizes the dress Nora's wearing, and her face softens as the vervain takes effect]
- CAROLINE: [smiles weakly] ...Cute...
[Nora looks surprised at this compliment]
- NORA: Hmm. Thank you.
ABANDONED HOUSE[]
[Bonnie and Matt are on the porch of an abandoned near where Matt was doing target practice. Matt is laying on the floor on his back as Bonnie kneels next to him. She pulls out her phone and sets her timer for six minutes and shows it to him before pressing start]
- BONNIE: Six minutes. That's how long your heart can be stopped before anything bad happens to you.
- MATT: [anxiously] Which doesn't matter, because you're only gonna stop it for ten seconds, right?
- BONNIE: [worried] Matt, if you don't want to do this...
- MATT: [sighs] No. It's fine. It's for Caroline. Let's... let's just do it.
[Bonnie gives him another worried look before stacking her hands on top of each other over his chest and begins to cast the spell]
- BONNIE: [chants] Phesmatos sanguine infundare cura. Phesmatos sanguine infundare cura.
[Matt's heartbeat starts to slow down before it finally stops]
THE WOODS[]
[Meanwhile, Stefan and Damon are in the woods near the boarding house, where they're waiting for news]
- STEFAN: [about Matt] Look, he's never gonna agree to it.
- DAMON: [scoffs] Donovan knows that Plan B is I just simply kill him.
- STEFAN: [rolls his eyes] It's good to see your morality is holding up in Elena's absence.
- DAMON: [changes the subject] So, are you and Carebear, like, a thing now? Hmmm?
- STEFAN: [shakes his head] I'm not doing this with you, Damon.
- DAMON: I'm just saying, when a guy's willing to let another guy die so his girl can live, there's usually something-- [He clicks his tongue]-- cooking in the kitchen. You know what I mean?
- STEFAN: I am not willing to let Matt die.
[Damon's phone suddenly buzzes when he gets a text, and when he checks it, he smirks upon seeing that Bonnie has stopped Matt's heart with magic]
- DAMON: Yeah, well, you just did, brother. Seal's down. I'll take the front door. Enjoy the tunnels.
WHITMORE COLLEGE[]
[Alaric is in his lecture hall at school, where he's wearing gloves and protective eyewear as he pours acid into a glass beaker. Once he's done, he picks up two stones-- the Phoenix Stone and a regular rock-- and hesitantly drops the rock into the acid to test it. The acid immediately starts disintegrating the rock until it turns into foam, and Alaric seems both surprised and disappointed]
- ALARIC: [mutters] Wow. That works. Good to know.
[He picks up the Phoenix Stone as though he's about to drop it in as well, but when he glances over to the side of his desk, he sees something that distracts him and sets the stone down. He pulls out a photo of himself with Jo that was sticking out of a drawer and stares at it sadly for a long moment]
ABANDONED HOUSE[]
[Bonnie is keeping an eye on both the timer on her phone and on the technically-dead Matt on the porch of the house, and after a moment, she puts her hands on his chest in order to restart his heart. However, before she can begin to chant the incantation, she gasps deeply as she's overcome by visions very similar to the ones when she touched the Phoenix Stone earlier. She sees flashes of a man with a bloody mouth and face who is screaming in agony as he applies pressure to a wound. As he screams and writhes around, a cross-shaped wound is bleeding on his chest, much like the one Beau has on his neck and Stefan had on his chest in the flash-forward from the previous episode. Suddenly, Bonnie is so overwhelmed by these visions that she falls unconscious next to Matt's still-dead body]
SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE[]
[Damon has just rang the doorbell and is standing on the front step when Enzo answers the door. Damon smiles, but Enzo doesn't seem at all pleased to see him]
- DAMON: Hello there, old friend.
- ENZO: [unamused] You'll have to excuse me for not responding to that particular endearment. May I help you?
- DAMON: Actually, you can. I don't know if you know this, but last night, Lily kidnapped Caroline-- not very cool. So, I know we've had our issues, but I also know that you're not like Lily's Crazy-tics, so I was thinking-- help me get her back?
- ENZO: That would be foolish of me, considering I'm the one who kidnapped her.
[Damon is visibly stunned by this revelation, but quickly covers it up with humor]
- DAMON: Wow. You know, I never thought I'd see the day when you'd choose to be Lily's errand-boy over us, but...
- ENZO: [coldly] I chose you and your friends many times. Many times, you and your friends chose each other over me. Let's just say that Lily and I have similar views on loyalty.
- DAMON: [skeptically] You know she abandoned her entire family once. Who's to say she won't do it again?
- ENZO: [annoyed] She didn't abandon her family-- she abandoned her relatives. There's a difference.
[Damon, frustrated, takes a step into the boarding house, which surprises Enzo]
- DAMON: Yeah. One is a permanent blood tie, a name, a legacy.
- ENZO: Well, in her eyes, Malcolm was more a Salvatore than you ever were. Why else would she bury him in the family crypt next to Elena?
- DAMON: [smirks] That crypt is sealed shut.
- ENZO: [feigns surprise] Oh, right. Oh, well, then it's a good thing that she's mother-bear to a group of magic siphoners...
[Damon's eyes widen in alarm when he realizes that they'll be able to get in the crypt where Elena's slumbering body is being held, and immediately rushes away to go to her without another word, leaving a torn Enzo behind]
MYSTIC FALLS CEMETERY[]
[Lily, holding an urn full of Malcolm's ashes, leads Beau, Valerie, Nora, and Mary Louise toward the Salvatore crypt. They stand and look at it for a long moment before anyone speaks]
- LILY: [quietly] It's a little gaudy. Pull out Elena's coffin and dump the body in the river under the Falls. She can spend the next sixty years of her life underwater.
[The others do as their told and head toward the crypt, easily opening the front gate and walking inside]
ABANDONED HOUSE[]
[Bonnie has finally just awakened after the Phoenix Stone visions knocked her out, and once she's come to, she bolts upright and looks at the timer on her phone, which indicates that Matt's heart has been stopped for five minutes and forty seconds of the six minutes she had to awaken him without risks to his health]
- BONNIE: [panicked] Oh, no! Oh my God.
[She quickly places her hands over Matt's heart and starts to cast the spell to restart it]
- BONNIE: [chants] Phesmatos sanguine infundare cura. Phesmatos sanguine infundare cura.
[When Matt still doesn't wake up, Bonnie becomes even more worried]
- BONNIE: Come on, Matt! Phesmatos sanguine infundare cura. Come on, Matt!
[Finally, Matt awakens with a gasp, and Bonnie sighs in relief]
- BONNIE: Thank God!
[Matt, still gasping for breath, sits up and leans against the railing of the porch. When he glances down at Bonnie's phone and sees that it has just hit the six minute mark, he gives her an angry look]
- MATT: Awfully long ten seconds, Bon.
[Bonnie gives him an embarrassed and guilty look as Matt continues to try to catch his breath and recover]
SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE[]
[Caroline is still hanging by her wrists in one of the upstairs bedrooms, fading in and out of consciousness, when she hears footsteps approaching. After a moment, Stefan walks in the door, and she looks both relieved and confused by the sight of him]
- CAROLINE: [weakly] Stefan? Is it you, or am I hallucinating?
[Stefan looks at her with concern as he examines her restraints]
- STEFAN: What'd they do to you?
- CAROLINE: You mean before or after the gallon of vervain they injected me with?
- STEFAN: I'm going to get your out of here. Just hang on.
- CAROLINE: [weakly] Already doing that...
[Stefan breaks the chains binding her wrists, but she's so weak from the vervain that she crumples onto the floor and groans]
- CAROLINE: Ugh...
[Stefan kneels beside her to check on her]
- STEFAN: Looks like I'm gonna have to scoop you up and carry you out of here.
- CAROLINE: [chuckles weakly] Ha! Well, the feminist in me says no, but...
[Stefan smiles and goes to pick her up, but as soon as he touches her arm, his hand sizzles, just like Mary Louise's did earlier]
- STEFAN: Oh...
[He touches her again, and his hand burns once more, making him even more confused]
- STEFAN: It's like your skin is vervain.
[Caroline suddenly realizes what is going on and looks at Stefan worriedly]
- CAROLINE: Valerie's spell...
MYSTIC FALLS CEMETERY[]
[Damon has just arrived to the Salvatore crypt to find that no one is around, so he calls out to see if anyone is hiding nearby]
- DAMON: Hello? Anybody burying somebody nobody cared about?
[He sees that the crypt door has been ripped off, and his eyes widen in horror and anger as he rushes toward it]
- DAMON: No...
[Damon enters the crypt to find that it's completely empty, save for a stone bench, a table, and a few lit candles, and he begins to freak out]
- DAMON: No. No...
[He groans loudly and finally loses his temper, flipping over the bench until it flies into the far wall]
- DAMON: No, no, no, no...
[Lily suddenly appears behind him, looking both annoyed and mildly amused]
- LILY: You always did throw the worst tantrums.
[Damon turns and approaches her, glaring at her furiously]
- DAMON: Where is she?
- LILY: That's the fun of cloaking spells, Damon. She could be right next to you, or she could be a million miles away, and I'm the only one who knows where she is.
- DAMON: [overwhelmed] You want to punish me for what I did? Fine. Punish me. Torture me. Kill me, for all I care, but leave Elena out of it!
- LILY: [calmly] Do you remember when you broke my grandmother's vase?
- DAMON: [exasperated] What?
- LILY: You were young. Ten, maybe. You denied it, even when your father made you cut a switch from the yard. Even when he beat you with it until you were bloody. Still, you denied it vehemently. Hmmm. You were sitting there, playing with your little toy soldiers, bloody and bruised, so I switched tactics. And, the next morning, when you woke, your room was bare-- no toy soldiers. No toys at all. And you cried, and cried. Admitted everything.
- DAMON: [horrified] She's not a toy soldier!
- LILY: And Malcolm was not a vase.
[She turns and leaves the crypt, and when Damon follows her out, he finds Beau, Valerie, Mary Louise, and Nora waiting outside for her. Lily joins them before turning to face Damon with her Heretics surrounding her, and Damon looks furious, devastated, and annoyed by everything that has happened as they all address him]
- LILY: Malcolm was a vital part of this family. He meant something to each of us.
- MARY LOUISE: He found me on the streets. He was kind to me, something I hadn't felt in years. He's the one who convinced me to meet with Lily.
- NORA: My family wanted me dead. Malcolm made sure they didn't succeed.
- VALERIE: I hadn't seen Beau in a decade. Malcolm reunited us.
- LILY: He was my sounding board, my confidante, my eldest son. Ironic that you took him from me.
- DAMON: [rolls his eyes] All right. Tell me what you want.
SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE[]
[Stefan and Caroline are still discussing what is going on with her in one of the upstairs bedrooms as Stefan finds a jacket for her]
- CAROLINE: One of the Heretics was torturing me. The other one said that she would help. I just thought it would only burn them...
[Stefan helps her put on the jacket]
- STEFAN: It's alright. When we get out of here, we'll call Bonnie. There's got to be a way to get rid of this. As for now, we have to... avoid skin-to-skin contact.
[Stefan helps her stand to her feet]
- STEFAN: I know that's gonna be extra-hard for you.
[Caroline giggles weakly]
- STEFAN: I'm gonna call Damon and tell him that we're ready.
[Suddenly, the house starts to rumble, and Caroline looks alarmed]
- CAROLINE: [panicked] Stefan, do you feel that?
- STEFAN: [confused] What's happening?
- CAROLINE: I dunno. I feel like every molecule in my body is being pulled--
[Just then, Stefan is yanked backward by an invisible force and flies out of the house through the nearby window, scaring Caroline]
- CAROLINE: STEFAN! Stef--
[Before Caroline can finish speaking, she's yanked in the opposite direction, sliding down the hallway and tumbling down the stairs, where she finds an emotionless Enzo and an amused Lucy standing at the bottom of the staircase]
- ENZO: Okay, invite her in.
- LUCY: [smiles smugly] Caroline, please come in.
[Caroline finally stops being pulled and realizes that ownership of the house has been changed from Matt to Lucy. When she realizes that she's once again stuck, she sighs in defeat]
- ENZO: Sorry, love.
MYSTIC FALLS ROAD[]
[Matt is driving his deputy cruiser down the streets of Mystic Falls. Bonnie, sitting in the passenger seat, looks at him with concern]
- BONNIE: I think we should go to the hospital, just in case.
- MATT: [sarcastically] And say what? "My friend used magic to stop my heart for six minutes. How's my brain?"
- BONNIE: [guiltily] Matt, I am so sorry. I got hit with these visions--
- MATT: [cuts her off] This isn't your fault. This is all happening because of Damon.
- BONNIE: [even more guiltily] That's the thing, Matt... It's... It's not.
- MATT: [confused] What?
- BONNIE: What you said yesterday? You were right. The Heretics are here because of me, and when I saw our town-- our home-- like this, I helped Damon kill Malcolm. When I found out they took Caroline, it was my idea to stop your heart. I refuse to stand by and let them do whatever they want.
[Matt, looking frustrated and a little upset, remains silent for a moment before responding]
- MATT: I drive up and down these streets every day. Streets that, for my entire life, were filled with families, kids... And now, I pray that I see empty parks, and empty playgrounds. I pray that I don't see a soul, and I hate that. I hate them.
- BONNIE: [determinedly] Then why don't we stop fighting and do something about it?
[Matt, clearly torn between maintaining the peace and fighting for the town, sighs in frustration, but says nothing]
LOCKWOOD MANSION[]
[A stone-faced and visibly upset Damon is standing in front of the lit fireplace in the parlor with a glass of bourbon in his hand. After a moment, Stefan comes home, looking furiously at his brother]
- STEFAN: [coldly] You left. I could have gotten her back, but you left.
[Damon remains silent, and Stefan starts to get angrier as he walks closer to him]
- STEFAN: What, no comeback? Hmmm? No funny reason?
[Damon still remains silent, and Stefan finally loses his temper, grabbing Damon by the front of his shirt and slamming him against the wall at vampire speed]
- STEFAN: ANSWER ME!
- DAMON: [bitterly] Better get it out while you can, brother. I'm not gonna be here much longer.
- STEFAN: [confused] What the hell are you talking about? Where are you going?
- DAMON: I believe Lily's exact words were, "As far from Mystic Falls as humanly possible." Now, I'm no Google Maps, but I'm thinking that's pretty far away.
[Damon gulps down the rest of his drink and stares bitterly at the fire. Stefan, looking stunned by this information takes a step back until Damon finally explains himself]
- DAMON: She has Elena. She's making me leave town, dude. For good.
[Stefan, stunned by this admission, closes his eyes and sighs. Damon presumably gives him the rest of the details during the break, which they discuss once the scene returns]
- DAMON: If the roles were reversed, what would you have done?
- STEFAN: [furiously] She has Caroline.
[Stefan takes a large sip of his own drink and groans]
- STEFAN: She has Elena. She has our house. She has this whole damn town!
[Stefan angrily throws his glass at the wall, where it shatters into tiny pieces]
- DAMON: [quietly] She has all of our toys. Stefan, whenever I did anything wrong as a kid, she took my toys... but she also took yours. All of them. And you'd cry like a little baby. I'd do anything-- anything-- she wanted to shut you up.
[Stefan processes all of this new information for a moment]
- DAMON: This is her plan. She's slowly taking away everything we care about. She wants us to be mad at each other.
- STEFAN: [sighs] You're right. You and I fight...
- DAMON: ...While her and her family of freaks live in our house, getting closer and closer.
- STEFAN: [frustrated] Fine. Then we don't let her fracture us.
- DAMON: Or, we do. You complain to Lily about your worthless brother that left town... All the while, I'm doing a little fracturing of my own.
- STEFAN: [confused] How're you gonna do that?
- DAMON: There were four Heretics at the funeral. Dead Malcolm makes five. But, in 1903, there were six, which means there's one more. And I'm gonna find him, and I'm gonna negotiate a trade.
[Stefan seems intrigued by this plan, and Damon looks slightly hopeful as he considers it more]
- DAMON: We're gonna get them both back.
WHITMORE COLLEGE / WHITMORE MEDICAL CENTER[]
[Bonnie, who has just returned to her dorm room at WHITMORE COLLEGE, is on the phone with Alaric to check up on him]
- BONNIE: Did it work?
- ALARIC: [sighs] Yeah. Hello hydrofluoric acid, and goodbye Phoenix Stone.
- BONNIE: [relieved] Good! See you in class tomorrow.
[Bonnie hangs up and Alaric hang up their phones. However, Alaric has the Phoenix Stone in his hand, and examines it for a moment. When the camera pans out, we can see that Alaric is at WHITMORE MEDICAL CENTER's morgue. He's about to open the drawer 3, which has a tag that reads "J. LAUGHLIN," but stops as he pulls the handle. He looks back at the table before walking over to it and folding down the sheet over it, revealing the upper body of a young man who has just been sewn up following his autopsy. Alaric takes a deep breath and holds the stone over the man's chest, eventually setting it right over his heart and letting go of it. He stands back and waits a moment, and just when he's sure the stone doesn't actually work, the man's hands start to shake before he gasps, having been revived from his previously deceased state. He starts to gasp for breath, and Alaric, alarmed, yanks the stone off of him, which causes him to fall still again. He then looks around nervously to make sure no one saw him as he sighs]
SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE[]
[Enzo is sitting in front of the fireplace, playing a beautiful piece on his guitar for several long moments. Lily eventually comes into the room and watches him play with a sad expression on her face until he finally addresses her, revealing he's known she was there the entire time]
- ENZO: How was the burial?
[Lily sighs and walks over to him]
- LILY: As lovely as a burial could be, I suppose.
[Enzo continues to play, and Lily pauses for a moment before continuing]
- LILY: I noticed Caroline is still being held in the girls' room. Would you like me to speak with them about letting her stay with you?
- ENZO: Oh, I don't need you to advocate for me. She made her bed. Perhaps she should lie in it.
[Lily sits down next to him]
- LILY: What about your bed? Have you decided which room you'll take?
[Enzo hesitates for a moment before he stops playing and turns toward her]
- ENZO: Do you consider me a part of your family? Like the others?
- LILY: [surprised] Why, yes. Of course. I care for you as much as I do them.
- ENZO: [sighs] And therein lies the problem-- I'm not here to be one of your children, Lily.
- LILY: [confused] Then why are you here, Lorenzo? Why did you choose us?
- ENZO: Well, there was no "us" in my choice. I chose you.
[He brushes a lock of hair off of Lily's shoulder, which visibly shocks her]
- ENZO: I'm here because of you.
[Lily is stunned into silence, and after a moment, Enzo stands to his feet and heads toward the staircase]
- ENZO: I'm taking the guest bedroom in the east wing. Goodnight.
[Once he's gone, Lily looks overwhelmed as she processes this information. However, after a moment, she smiles weakly and touches her hair where he had caressed it earlier, clearly affected by Enzo's confession]
[Upstairs, Caroline is pacing around a different bedroom when Nora comes in to speak with her]
- NORA: Don't get cocky. You're still spelled into the room, but I figured you could use some space to stretch your legs, and maybe give this a read.
[She tosses a familiar-looking brown, leather-bound journal onto the table, and Caroline looks at her with confusion]
- CAROLINE: What is it?
- NORA: I know you think Valerie was doing you a favor, that she's the nice one. And trust me, she's the worst of all of us.
[She gestures toward the journal]
- NORA: It's Stefan's. She never goes anywhere without it.
- CAROLINE: [even more confused] What is Valerie doing with Stefan's journal?
- NORA: It's the first thing she looked for when we realized we were trapped in 1903. The entry for July 15, 1863 should tell you why.
[Nora turns and leaves the room, and Caroline, too curious to resist, picks up the journal and turns to the entry Nora instructed her to read. Stefan's voice narrates the entry in voiceover as we see the handwritten page for ourselves in the journal]
- STEFAN: [voiceover] JULY 15, 1863-- I just had the strangest encounter outside the county fair. I met someone, a girl. We only spoke for a moment, but her name is Valerie, and she may be the most wonderful girl I have ever met.
[Caroline, confused and a little upset, frowns after she finishes the entry]
FLASH-FORWARD-- DALLAS, TEXAS, 2016[]
[Three years from now, Caroline's news show has just cut for the day, and she's in the middle of finishing up last minute details]
- CAROLINE: And we're out!
[Caroline claps loudly in celebration]
- CAROLINE: Great show, everyone! I will catch you at the Grapevine in a bit. I got first round!
- MALE COWORKER: Great! I'll be there.
[Caroline turns around to speak to her assistant, Tony]
- CAROLINE: Okay, so let's call my fiancé back and talk about this Mystic Falls business. And don't worry, I'm not gonna tell him that you told me.
- TONY: [laughs nervously] Heh, no. Uh, actually, you got another call during the show. Someone named Stefan Salvatore? Uh, it sounded urgent.
[Caroline's smile falls, and she suddenly looks very tense]
- CAROLINE: Well, if he calls back, tell him that I'm not here, and I never want to hear the name Stefan Salvatore ever again. Got it?
[She walks past him, but after a few steps, she stops, realizing that she wasn't very nice and feeling guilty about her tone. She sighs just as a wooden comes whizzing out from nowhere and hits Tony in the neck, causing him to whimper in pain. Caroline, thinking he's upset, turns to apologize]
- CAROLINE: [sighs] Ugh, I'm sorry. That was a bit harsh.
[She turns to face him and immediately begins to panic when she sees the stake sticking out of his neck]
- CAROLINE: Tony? Tony! Tony!
[Tony falls to the floor and bleeds out. Before Caroline can react any further, the mysterious shooter shoots another stake, which embeds itself right below her ribcage. Caroline groans in pain and falls flat on her back onto the floor behind Tony's body]
END CREDITS
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