•

"Hell is empty.

All the devils are here."

The Tempest

-William Shakespeare

Georgie was surrounded by dark.

There was no one. There was nothing. All that was real was the pain.

The guilt that drowned out everything else. Or maybe there was nothing else to drown out. Maybe this was all that ever was.

But suddenly she knew that wasn't true. There was more.

There was something before...

Suddenly she heard something. Not exactly a voice but another awareness.

Another somebody.

Because she was somebody. Wasn't she?

And just as suddenly as she had heard the voice she felt her body, she wiggled her toes and fingers and tried to stand.

It took a moment, she felt like she was at the bottom of a swimming pool, something weighing her down. But she could push away that weight now, it was only anchoring her instead of crushing her.

Hello? She called out and realized it wasn't exactly her voice but something else.

She started walking, following the other awareness.

Eventually she came to stand over another person. This close she could here the words that weren't words that seemed to echo around him in half conscious rambles.

Killed him. It echoed. Killed my brother. Killed her, damned her, selfish, so selfish.

Georgie looked at him for a moment before she kneeled next to him. She set her hand on his forehead.

Who are you? She spoke once again in the soundless words.

Killed them, killed her, he continued. Couldn't save her, couldn't protect her. Killed him

Georgie felt it, his pain, his guilt, and memories suddenly assaulted her. Not her memories but his, his sister being dragged away and him being helpless to stop it, holding his brother still while his father lashed him, his first kill blood spilling across his tongue...

Monster, the one word seemed to reverberate through the emptiness that was both endless and closing in on her.

She pressed her palm to his head. More memories, but these were different, not tinged with so much self hatred, he looked up at the moon, his fingers threaded with hers, he could hear her breathing, her heart beat, and for the first time in weeks he didn't feel like a monster. She propped herself up on her elbow to look at him, her red hair pulled back from her face in plaits clasped with iron and clay beads.

"What are you thinking?" She asked, her voice alone calmed him.

"That I could spend forever with you," he closed his eyes and felt her rest her head on his chest.

"I'm unsure forever would be long enough," she whispered.

Georgie pulled her hand back. His silent voice was quieted for a few moments.

For a few moments remembering brought him peace instead of torment.

For a few moments he wasn't in hell.

•••

Selene watched Josie and Lizzie sleep.

They were perfect, strong and beautiful, and young enough that she could shape their minds to her purpose.

They were going to make wonderful sirens.

She hummed softly and felt their minds.

They were dreaming of the lake just outside Mystic Falls, their minds sharing the vision through the psychic link.

She changed the dream slowly, she showed them the village, Arcadia and the evil in humanity.

They saw the injustice done to their kind and she felt it, the first blossom of bitterness and understanding in their young minds.

Yes, they were going to make perfect sirens.

•••

Ric stumbled through Mystic Falls, he had to find someone to heal him... Had to get to Josie and Lizzie.

Lizzie and Josie, panic started to set in. Selene didn't know about Georgie, Selene didn't know about anything! How could he have been so stupid as to leave them with a human?

He stumbled across the road, he saw the headlights and turned to see a truck come to a sudden halt only a foot away from him, thank God, getting hit by car hurt so damn much.

The drivers side opened and someone walked towards him. He squinted to see passed the glare of the headlights and the face finally came into focus.

Matt?

He took a step towards him but paused clutching his head, stabbing out your own eardrums hurt way worse than he had thought it would.

Matt walked towards him, his mouth moving soundlessly.

Ric tapped his ear.

Matts face changed, understanding crossed his expression.

He pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to him.

Its content was thick and red. He wasn't about to ask where it came from he just pulled the lid off and downed the coppery liquid.

Slowly but steadily his hearing started to come back, like turning the volume on a TV up.

"What happened?" Matt said.

"I got trapped by a siren in an underground valt and the only way to get out was through sense touch so I had to gouge my eardrums out."

He stared at him for a moment. "Do I want to know the rest of this story?"

"Not really, no," he shook his head.

Matt sighed. "Does it have anything to do with Damon trying to kill my dad?"

"What?" Alaric nodded. "I mean, yeah, I'm not sure why but that's definitely something he's capable of right now."

He took a deep breath, pain clearly written across his face. "Tyler's dead."

"What?" He shook his head. No, Tyler was in New York. He was safe.

"Damon ripped his throat out, and left him in the trunk of a car at a rest stop," he swallowed hard, clearly trying to keep his pain at bay.

Alaric set a hand on his shoulder. "It's not his fault-"

"No, it's never his fault. There's always someone else to blame, someone else always pays for his mistakes," Alaric could see the anger overshadowing the pain in his eyes.

"He's being controlled by a siren," Alaric said. "And apparently she's the devils servant."

Matt sighed, scrubbing his hand over his face. "I hate this goddamn town."

"You want to save it one more time?"