Vaughn has Damon tied up to a tree with ropes soaked in vervain around his neck, waist, and feet. Vaughn crouches over a campfire while Damon struggles against his bonds, groaning in pain "Something botherin' you?"
"Would you believe me if I said mosquitoes?"
"Aye, I would. How does it feel when a relentless eating machine is draining the blood from your veins?"
Damon: Itchy.
Vaughn: Your friends from Mystic Falls think you're funny, Damon?
Damon: You obviously know who I am and where I'm from. Have you been spying on me?
"Aye, I have" he gets up "You and Stefan, Elena, Brianna, your witch, Bonnie. Do you need her to cast the spell written on your pal, Jeremy's hunter's mark" sits down again "the tattoo that looks exactly like this?" Damon looks at Vaughn's tattoo.
"You wanna know something, just ask"
"I've been killing vampires my entire life. Still, this thing refused to reveal itself to me. That was, until three days ago and it just magically completed for no apparent reason"
"Come on, man. Do I look like I know anything about tattoos? Look at my skin. It's flawless"
"Ah! You're not taking me seriously" he walks over to Damon "I don't blame ya. You don't know me" He holds up a pointy wooden stick that he's been holding over the fire "So let me introduce myself" he stabs Damon's neck with it "My name is Galen Vaughn, and you'd better start talking"
Damon is still bound by the vervained ropes, leaving him no choice but to walk with Vaughn through the forest "Mind telling me where we're going?"
" At the wishing well lies an entrance to a crypt. In the crypt lies Silas. And with Silas lies the cure, which will allow me to kill Silas, bring the mission of the brotherhood of the Five to an end. You're my leverage, Damon; I use you to get your witch friend to open the passage to Silas' crypt for me.
Damon: What a minute, you're using me to get to Bonnie Bennett? Whoa, brother, ha! You picked the wrong vampire. Here's the deal, Shrek. My witch friend will open the passage for you. No leverage necessary. We don't care about Silas. All we want is the cure, so you cut us in on your share, and we'll get out of your hair"
"You really don't understand, do you?"
Damon, still tied up, staggers into the cave with Vaughn behind him. They see the ropes that Shane, Bonnie and Jeremy had used to go down into the lower chamber "Well, here we are. Looks like someone beat us to the punch"
"That's a shame, Damon. I have no use for you anymore. Hate to kill ya"
"Ditto. You know, that pesky hunter's curse and all" Vaughn nods "All right. How do you want to do this?"
"I'll make it quick and painless" He pulls on the rope tied to Damon's neck. Damon resists and grabs onto the rope; the vervain in it sears his skin.
"Wish I could make the same promise" Vaughn cuts the rope at his end and flings it toward Damon. Damon pulls the rope off his neck, groaning in pain, and pulls off the ones tied to his wrists. Vaughn aims a gun at him "I'm gonna kill you. And then I'm gonna get to that damn cure, and I'm gonna give it to the girl that I love"
"Your attachment to your friends will be the end of you" They hear footsteps from the cave entrance.
Damon starts smiling You don't know my friends" Rebekah appears "Or my enemies"
Damon and Rebekah stand on one side of the cave, Vaughn on the other training his gun on them "Are we gonna dance or are we gonna play?"
"You know he can't hurt me, Damon, unless he's got the white oak stake"
"Oh, he doesn't, but he's got other toys" Vaughn shoots Rebekah 3 times. She vamp-speeds at him and grabs his throat, but Vaughn sticks something into her chest: it's a grenade with wooden spikes protruding from it. Rebekah looks down at it, Vaughn holds up the fuse that he's pulled out, and the grenade detonates, sending the wooden spikes into her body, all the way through to her back. She falls down, neutralized. Damon vamp-speeds at Vaughn, engaging him in hand-to-hand combat. Vaughn withdraws another weapon and fires it at Damon; this time it throws a lasso-like device covered in vervain, which secures Damon by the neck to a pole behind him. He groans and makes choking noises.
"Damon!" They hear Stefan's voice in the distance. Vaughn grabs onto a rope going down the shaft, slides down it quickly and disappears. Brie and Stefan enter the chamber just in time to hear Vaughn reach the bottom. Stefan tries to get the rope off of Damon's neck while Damon groans in pain, but the vervain burns Stefan's fingers as well, making it difficult.
" You're wasting time. Just get the cure. Go"
"We're not gonna leave you" Brie says trying another way to get the ropes off Damon.
"No, we aren't" Stefan turns to Brie "You need to go ahead. We'll be right behind you" Brie starts to hesitate "Go" Brie looks at both of them for a moment longer before she jumps down into the shaft.
Meanwhile in the lower cave, Brie is running through a passage, looking around for any sign of Jeremy or Bonnie. Suddenly she hears a rock fall in the distance and she looks around wildly. "Stefan?" Her voice echoes. She hears another rock thud to the ground "Hello?
"Brie" she hears and looks around the cave but cant see anyone. She hears the whoosh sound of a vampire speed-running. She walks a few steps, then turns around and sees whoever said her name.
"No!" Brie says growling. The person attacks her and she falls to the ground.
In the cave, Stefan finds Shane still lying on the ground "Hey, I don't suppose you'd want to share a little of that vampire blood" Shane says in the stop, Jeremy and Bonnie left him in.
Stefan looks about the cave "Where are Jeremy and Bonnie?"
"I have no idea"
Stefan grabs Shane by the collar "Stop lying!"
Shane starts gasping "I'm not lying...But if you help me, I will take you the rest of the way, I promise"
Stefan pushes Shane against the rock he's leaning up against "Did you know this whole time that there was only one cure?"
Shane become weak "What? No. How could I? I've never seen it" Stefan lets go of him and backs off" Look, everything I ever said and did was just to bring back my family, I swear"
Stefan nods "Well, then you know what it's like to have hope, and now you know what it feels like to lose it" He gets up and walks away.
Meanwhile, in the lower cavern, Bonnie and Jeremy approach a side chamber containing Silas's tomb. It is shaped like a human figure lying on a table, covered in vine-like decoration. Its hands are holding a small box on its chest.
Jeremy notices the box "Is this it? This is the cure? How is that supposed to cure every vampire in the world?" Jeremy starts trying to wrest the box out of the figure's hands "It's stuck. Help me move it"
She joins him and they both pull as hard as they can " It's, like, fossilised in place. It's like trying to bend stone" They give up. Bonnie realises something. "Oh, my god"
"What?" Bonnie backs away, looking at the entombed figure "What, Bonnie?"
"He's been frozen like a vampire statue for 2000 years. There's only one way we're gonna get the statue to unfreeze"
"How's that?" Jeremy asks.
"We have to feed him our blood" Jeremy turns around to look at her "If we want to get the cure out of his hands, we have to wake him up"
Stefan is walking through the passage, flashlight aloft. He finds a wall glistening with blood, then sees Brie sitting against a wall, her head bloodied up. Stefan runs up to her and kneels down next to her "Brie. What happened?"
"She's here!" Brie starts whimpering.
"Who?"
At Silas' tomb, Katherine, who Jeremy thinks is Elena, gazes at Silas's tomb before turning round to look at Jeremy, crouching over Bonnie.
"Elena's here now, okay? Everything's gonna be all right"
"We did it" Bonnie says weakly.
"Come on. We gotta get you up" Katherine says helping Jeremy up.
"You have to help Bonnie. The hunter stabbed her. You have to feed her"
"Okay. I just need to make sure that you're okay first"
"I'm fine. What are you doing?"
Katherine starts gesturing at the tomb behind he "The cure. Jeremy, after everything we've been through, it's right there"
" It'll be there after we help Bonnie" He crouches down to Bonnie again.
Katherine stars rolling her eyes and sighs "God, I forgot what a brat you were"
Jeremy looked back up at her "What"
"I'm done playing nice" She grabs Jeremy and vamp-speeds him over to the tomb, slices open his wrist and holds it over the stone figure's mouth.
Jeremy realises who it was "Katherine"
lIt's been too long, little Gilbert" Silas' body starts to move "Sorry. Family reunion is gonna have to be cut short"
She pulls him up again and sinks her fangs into his neck, then forces a screaming Jeremy down again, his bleeding neck over Silas' mouth. Silas' arm swings up and holds Jeremy in place. Katherine sees the box containing the cure, freed from Silas' grasp, and takes it, vamp-running out of the chamber. Silas grabs Jeremy's throat, strangling him before snapping his neck. Jeremy falls to the floor, his eyes open but lifeless. Bonnie lies nearby, unable to move.
Elena is in the woods still trying to find Damon. She comes across the cave. "Damon?" Her voice echos in the cave. "Are you here?" All she hears is her voice echoing through out the cave. She walks into the cave in searching of Damon or anyone in the matter. Elena finds Jeremy's body in the cave. She holds him in her arms, talking frantically and crying "Jeremy! Oh, no. No. No. Oh, god, no. Oh god" She checks his hand; the Gilbert ring is still on his finger" It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. You're gonna be okay. The ring will bring you back. It's okay. It's okay. You're gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay, Jeremy. You're gonna be fine" Brie walks in and looks on in shock.
"How'd this happen?" Damon says in shock.
"It was Katherine. She must have been following us this whole time" Brie sighs and starts getting frustrated as they were so close to finding the cure.
"What about the cure, or Silas?" Damon questions, raising his eyebrow.
Brie shrugs her shoulders " If there was anything in there at all, it's all gone"
"Where the hell is Bonnie?" Damon said, sounding like he started caring for the witch.
"I have no idea. She went looking for Jeremy last night. She never came back. Damon, Elena is in there waiting for the Gilbert ring to bring Jeremy back to life"
"Okay, fine. I'll wait with her" Damon starts walking toward the well opening but Brie puts up a hand to stop him.
"Damon, listen to me. Jeremy was one of the Five, a hunter"
"He's supernatural. The ring won't work anymore" He pauses for a second "She won't survive this. I'll find Bonnie. You get Elena off this island"
Back at the Gilbert Residence, Caroline is scrubbing the floor when the door opens and Elena and Brie walk in, Stefan behind her carrying Jeremy's body.
Caroline: stands up "Hey, you're home. I was trying to clean the burn mark where Kol" She sees Stefan carrying Jeremy, his body wrapped in a blanket "I couldn't get the spot out"
Brie shakes his head a little at Caroline.
"Come on. Let's get him upstairs" Stefan follows Elena while Caroline stands immobile, shocked. Upstairs, Stefan lays Jeremy on his bed. Elena sits down beside him and holds his hand.
Brie walks into the room "Can I get you anything?" She says watching Elena stroke Jeremy's cheek.
Elena shakes her head, still looking at Jeremy's lifeless body on the bed "No. I'm fine. I'm just gonna sit here and wait with him until he wakes up. Let me know if you hear anything about Bonnie, okay?"
Brie nods her head "Yeah, sure" Elena spreads a blanket over Jeremy and resumes holding his hands on top of his chest. Stefan and Brie leave the room.
Over an hour later, Elena is still sitting with Jeremy, smoothing her hand over his face and holding his hands. Downstairs in the kitchen, Caroline is dumping a bucket of water into the sink and talking to Brie. "How long has she been like that?"
"Ever since we found his body. She hasn't said anything except that she's waiting for him to wake up"
"But he's not going to wake up. She knows that, right?" Brie holds a finger up to her lips to silence her. She walks over to the sink and runs the tap, using the noise to cover their conversation.
"Look. Deep down, I think she has to, but we're talking about Elena here. She feels grief more powerfully than anyone else. I think her denial is the one thing protecting her from letting it all in"
"But she can't stay like that forever"
" I know, but I don't want to be the one to break her out of it, not until we know that Bonnie is safe, not until we get Damon over here to, you know"
"Use the sire bond to convince her that everything is okay?"
Brie nods but then Elena joins them in the kitchen "I'm not in denial" Brie turns off the tap "I know that he was supernatural, but did you see? His tattoo is gone. The tattoo had the spell that opened Silas' chamber. Maybe it being gone means that he's fulfilled his supernatural destiny. Maybe he's back to normal. It's possible, right?"
"Elena—" Brie starts but gets interrupted by Elena.
"It's possible, Brie. There's a chance. It may be minuscule, but it's hope and I'm gonna hold on to that hope with everything that I've got because there's no way that my" she pauses "There's absolutely no way that my brother is dead" she nods and shakes her head a bit "I'm not in denial"
She turns and leaves the kitchen. Caroline and Brie share a look "I just can't believe after all that, the cure is just gone"
"Yeah. I mean, talk about denial. In my head, I was thinking there was no way Elena was gonna stay a vampire forever...And now without any family"
" Well, we can't think about that right now. We need to make plans, lists. We need a funeral or a cover story, or a funeral and a cover story. I should go tell my mom. I guess she'll know what to do"
"We should get Matt over here" Brie suggests.
Caroline nods her head "You're right. I will do that. I will call Matt, and then I will go tell my mom, and then I will make a list or a casserole or don't know whatever people are supposed to do or make in these situations" she pauses "What's that smell?"
Brie looks inside through the open front door. Caroline looks like she already knows the answer "It's his body. He's starting to decompose. Tell your mom to get Dr. Fell over here"
Meredith pulls the blanket over Jeremy's face and leaves the room. Brie is on the staircase landing, adjusting pictures on a shelf on the wall, while Meredith adjusts the thermostat " I'm bumping the A/C. We're not gonna be able to leave him in there for much longer"
"Yeah, I know" She starts walking up the stairs and sitting down on the top step "You'd think with the amount of people that I've seen die, it would hurt less each time. Never does"
"No. No, it never doe" she sits beside Brie. " I see this every day. Sometimes I think that denial is the worst part for people like us, because we know the truth. We can see they're on a collision course with it, and all we can do is brace ourselves for impact"
Brie nods, then his phone rings. She takes her phone out her back pocket and see's that Damon is calling her. "Did you find her?" She answers.
"I'm still looking. How is she?"
"She's losing it, Damon. We can do what we can to delay things here, but we've got to get Jeremy to the morgue before it gets ugly"
"Damn it. I can't just leave her behind. I can't show up without Bonnie"
"I think you have to. At this point, the sire bond is probably the only thing that's gonna keep Elena together. I can go back to find Bonnie"
Damon nods on the end of the phone " I'm on my way. He hangs up. Damon turns around as he hears footsteps. Bonnie emerges from behind a treeI could actually hug you right now" They embrace "Where have you been? How'd you find me?"
Bonnie pulls away "Shane led the way. He told me what to do, Damon. I know how to bring Jeremy back"
It's night-time. Caroline is in her car, talking on her phone. As she's talking she gets out and walks round to stand in front of the Gilbert house "Tyler, it's me again. So I was thinking about it, and you probably ditched your phone, which is the smartest thing that you could do. So I don't know when you're gonna get this, but things were looking kind of bleak for a minute, and- I don't know- maybe they're starting to turn around. So when you get this, call me back, and I'll tell you everything"
She hangs up as Damon's car pulls up and Bonnie gets out of the passenger side "Thank god. We were so, so worried" They hug.
"I'm okay" Bonnie says hugging Caroline tightly.
Damon: Could you get Stefan out here?
"They said that she knows what to do"
"Caroline, I need to talk to my brother" Damon says sounding serious, not hopeful like the others.
"What's wrong?" Damon's eyes move slightly to gesture at Bonnie.
Bonnie, Elena, Caroline and Matt are sitting at the kitchen table. Outside the house, Damon, Brie and Stefan are talking.
"She's out of her mind. The nutty professor's got her totally brainwashed. I mean, the whole flight back home, all she could talk about was how she's the one that can drop the veil between this side and the Other Side"
"Drop the veil? What does that even mean?" Brie asked as she tried to think about what Bonnie was talking about.
"What it means is, the myth about Silas being able to raise the dead is not just one, or some. It's every supernatural being over there"
Brie eyes widened "Which means every supernatural being over there is gonna back with a vengeance" Damon nods, as she was starting to understand.
Inside the house, Bonnie was telling the gang what the plan was and Caroline thought she was going mad "Bonnie, you are talking like a crazy person. You are not killing 12 people, and you sure as hell can't invite every monster who has ever died back into this world"
"Caroline, I think she knows that" Elena stares straight ahead as the others continue to argue.
"I can do it. I have the power. We can bring everyone back; Jeremy, Alaric, Vicki" Bonnie said trying to convince them.
"Bonnie, stop it. You can't just say these things"
The phone rings, breaking Elena out of her reverie and ending the conversation "I'll get it" She gets up and answers the phone as Damon, Brie and Stefan come back inside. "Hello?"
"Elena? It's April Young. Um, I was looking for Jeremy, his cell phone keeps going straight to voicemail"
"Jeremy can't come to the phone right now. He's not" she pauses "I'm sorry. He's dead" She hangs up and walks out of the room, while the others look at each other. Upstairs, Elena slowly enters Jeremy's room, where his body lies under a blanket. She approaches the bed, and reaches to lift the blanket from over his face with a trembling hand. Upon seeing his face, she backs away, breathing heavily.
Brie was standing at the door "Elena..." she began
Elena spun round to look at her, tears streaming down her face "He's dead. He's dead. Brie, he's dead, and he's been dead this entire time, and I" her hand flies to her face over her mouth "Oh, my god" turning to look at Jeremy "I can smell him" she turns round to Brie "How long has he smelled like that?"
Brie walks closer to her " Hey, talk to me. I can help you"
"How? How are you gonna help me? How?" She sniffles and wipes her hand over her face. "Okay. Okay. We have to take care of his body. Bring him downstairs"
Brie shakes her head "We shouldn't"
"Just carry him down, please" She leaves the room, leaving Damon looking reluctant. She hurries down the stairs. "Where's Bonnie?"
Stefan turns around "We told Matt to take her home. We thought it'd be best"
Elena nods her head "Okay. I guess we're gonna have to do this the old-fashioned way"
"Do what?" Caroline asks.
Brie comes downstairs with Jeremy's body. Elena turns to Damon, "Put his body on the couch" She goes into the kitchen and starts opening and closing cabinets.
"Elena? Elena, you need help finding something?" Caroline says walking into the kitchen, walking her frantically searching for something.
Elena takes a bottle of lighter fluid out of a cabinet and squirting it over the counter "Got it" Caroline stands in astonishment.
"What are you doing?" Brie asks as she watches Elena pouring liquid around the room.
Elena continues to squirt the fluid everywhere "We need a cover story, right? You think I didn't hear you guys talking earlier? Well, what are we gonna say animal attack, tumbled down the stairs? No. We burn the house down with him inside of it" She's made it to the living room and squirts the couch.
"Elena, stop it" Stefan says, raising his voice.
"Why? Because you want me to not be in denial? You want me to face the truth? This is the truth, Stefan. I don't want to live here anymore. I don't want these sketches" She sprays them with lighter fluid and kicks something "I don't want this Xbox" she throws down the empty bottle and reaches into a cabinet "Not gonna need this bourbon anymore. Alaric's not here to drink it, I mean, unless you guys are willing to bring back every supernatural creature on the Other Side to get him back" Elena turns to Damon "Would you? I know you want your drinking buddy back" she starts walking toward him "Would you, Damon? Because I wouldn't" she walks over to Jeremy's body and splashes bourbon over him "I don't know, I mean, does that make me a bad person? I have no idea" she pulls the Gilbert ring off of Jeremy's finger and tosses it to Damon "He's not gonna need that anymore"
Elena, stop it. You're scaring me!" Caroline screams.
Elena starts taking down a picture frame from the fireplace mantle "What else are we supposed to do with the body, Caroline? I mean, there's room in the Gilbert family plot" throws the frame down on the floor and the glass cracks "Jenna and John took the last spots" She throws the empty bottle of bourbon against the wall and it shatters, then grabs a match from the mantle and lights it.
"No, no, Elena. Stop"
Elena starts shouting " There's nothing here for me anymore, Stefan. Every inch of this house is filled with memories of the people that I love that have died- my mom, my dad, Jeremy, and Jenna and Alaric, John, even John. I mean, they're all dead. Everyone is dead. So what am I supposed to doI mean, how am I gonna, I can't even. There's nothing left for me- aah!"
The flame had burned down on the match and started to burn Elena's hand. She drops the match but Brie vamp-speeds over to catch it before it can ignite on the lighter fluid everywhere. Elena sobs and starts to crumble.
Damon walks toward Elena "Elena, I need you to calm down"
"No, no, no, I can't. I can't. I can't" She falls to her knees, immeasurable pain and grief distorting her face. She grabs at her head. "No. It hurts. It hurts. Just make it stop. Please make it stop. It hurts" She continues sobbing loudly.
"Damon...Help her" Brie says looking distraught as she walks Elena have a breakdown.
Damon crouches down next to her and pulls her to him. "I can help you. I want you to let me help you" Elena shudders as Damon touches her face. She sits up, pulling away as Damon gently caresses her cheeks and smooths her hair back "I can help you"
Elena looks up at him as tears roll down her face "How?"
"Turn it off." Damon simply said, Brie and Stefan looked at each other shocked.
"What? No, no"
Damon holds up a hand to stop him from intervening "Just turn it off, and everything will go away. That's what you have to do. It's what I want you to do. Just turn it off" They watch as Elena's tear-stained face turns utterly expressionless and still. The light leaves her eyes, as though something inside her has died.
Elena picks up a broken picture frame, looks at it expressionlessly, and a piece of the glass falls to the floor. Out on the porch, Brie and Damon are talking "It was a mistake"
"It wasn't, and you know it. This is the only way she's gonna survive. We'll help her, keep an eye on her. When she's ready, I'll use the sire bond to bring her back"
"Her humanity, Damon, that was all she had left" Brie said becoming anger with Damon.
"Humanity means nothing when you don't have anyone to care about, Brianna"
"She had you" she simply stated.
"She lost her brother. I'm not enough, not this time"
Inside, Elena puts down the frame. Still expressionless, she crosses the living room to grab and light another match as Damon and Brie come back inside.
"Elena, don't do this. We can find another cover story"
Elena starts shaking her head "This is the best one. No one'll ask questions"
"Look, if you burn down the house, it'll be gone. What if one day when this is all over, you want to come home again?" Brie said trying to convince her to not burn the house down.
Elena watches the flame, then looks up at Brie "I won't" She tips the match out of her fingers and the floor immediately ignites. The three casually walk out of the house together, Elena leading. She and Damon turn to their left and continue down the street while Brie pauses and looks back at the house before following after them. Inside, Jeremy's body is engulfed in flames, along with his sketching, Elena's converse sneakers, and her journal.