Chapter Fourteen: Fool Me Once
Elena groggily awakens. She spots Ben sitting in a chair by the end of the bed, sleeping. She gasps and sits up frantically. Elena looks around for a way out and stares at the front door. She looks from Ben to the door, estimating if she can make it without waking him. Quietly, she slides off the bed and slowly steps over Ben's outstretched leg. She slowly backs up to the door, keeping an eye on Ben. Elena unlocks the deadbolt on the door, looking back at Ben occasionally. She turns the lock on the door and prepares to open it.
"I wouldn't." Ben says, making her gasps and spins around. Ben inches towards Elena and uses his compulsion on her.
"Don't try to escape. Don't even move. Do you understand?"
"I understand." She feigns.
Ben scoffs and turns around to get a bottle of blood out of the mini fridge. Elena opens the front door and bolts out, but Anna blocks her escape. Anna grabs Elena by the hair and pushes her back into the motel room. "Seriously?!" She asks.
"I told her not to move! I did that eye thing that you taught me!"
"And forgot the lesson about vervain! She dates a vampire, Ben. Duh!" She pushes Elena up against a wall and opens the bathroom door.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Elena asks.
"Does it matter?" Anna forcefully pushes her into the bathroom and shuts the door.
Elena flips the light switch and calmly searches the room for another exit. She looks over towards the bathtub and sees Bonnie lying in it, unconscious. Elena rushes over to her. "Bonnie?" She lifts her friends head up. "Oh my god!"
Damon is in the study, reading through Emily's grimoire. Stefan enters the room with an anxious look on his face. Damon does not look up at him.
"Anna took Elena." Stefan tells him.
"Yeah, I got that from your 600 voicemails."
Stefan strides across the room towards Damon. "Damon, all night long, every single street in town, I've been searching. Trinity's going around town trying to find a scent. What if your blood hasn't passed out of her system?"
"Well, then at least you know you'll see her again."
"Please." He sits down on the sofa, next to Damon. "What do you know? You were with Anna; you must know where she living. Just tell me where I can find her."
He looks up at Stefan. "Nope. You can go. Really."
"You know, all I can remember is hating you. There might have been a time when that was different, but your choices have erased anything good about you." Stefan tells him. Damon lays the grimoire down and gives his attention to Stefan. "But see, I also know you have just as much reason to hate me. This all began with me. Katherine got taken away from you because of me. And I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted."
"So please, just tell me what you know."
"Huh."
"It's Elena, Damon." He pleads. "If you know something, tell me."
Damon stands up and Stefan mimics him, looking at Damon with anxiety. "I mean this sincerely." Stefan nods, anticipating his answer. "I hope Elena dies." He says before walking past him and leaving the room.
Elena wets a cloth in the sink and places it on Bonnie's forehead. Bonnie slowly opens her eyes. "Bonnie?" She asks.
"Elena?"
"Oh, you're okay!"
"My head…"
"Come here." Elena pulls her upright.
"Oh my god! Ben is a-"
"Shhhh." Elena gestures at her ear and points toward the door. "They can hear." She gets up and turns on the tap. She kneels back down next to Bonnie.
"I'm so stupid!"
"No, he had all of us fooled!"
"What's going on? Why are we here?"
"It must have something to do with the tomb and Emily's spell book."
"Spell book?" Bonnie asks.
"Damon said it could be used to open the tomb."
"Why didn't I know about any of this?"
"I was trying to keep you out of it, hoping it would never come to this."
"Come to what?"
"They need a witch to break the spell and let the vampires out."
"No way!"
"I know." She says. Suddenly, Ben bursts through the door. Elena grabs Bonnie's shoulders protectively. He turns the tap off.
"You're wasting your time. I'm not gonna help you." Bonnie tells him.
He smiles devilishly and grabs Elena. Bonnie reaches out to try to pull her back, but Ben manages to pull Elena away from her. "That's why she's here. Motivation for you to behave. You know, you shouldn't be so desperate. You made it too easy." He pushes Elena out of the room, roughly. Bonnie gets up from the tub. Ben shuts the bathroom door. "She wants to talk to you."
Elena stumbles into the motel room. Anna leans against a table, looking at Elena. "Well, well. Elena Gilbert. You really are Katherine's doppelgänger. You must have the Salvatore boys reeling."
"Who are you?" Elena asks.
"I'm Anna. Your brother may have mentioned me." She says. "I mean, we're like, practically dating."
Damon knocks on the front door.
Sheila opens it. "Yes?"
"Hi there. I'm, uh, looking for Bonnie."
"She's not here."
"Oh, well do you know when she-" He starts but she cuts him off.
"Never."
He chuckles. "You have quite an opinion for someone who doesn't know me."
"You got some nerve knocking on a Bennett witch's door and asking her for anything."
"What'd I do?"
"Spirits talk, Mr. Salvatore, and so does my granddaughter. You are no friend to us. Now get off my porch."
Damon takes a step closer to Sheila. "Step outside and say that."
Sheila stares at him. Suddenly, Damon feels an exploding pain and groans, holding his head. Damon starts to back up and Sheila steps out onto the porch. "I am not Bonnie. You don't wanna mess with me." She says before going back into her house, slamming the door shut. She leans against the closed door, breathing heavily.
Anna peers out the curtain, looking outside.
"Bonnie's not gonna open the tomb." Elena tells her.
"Oh, I think she will."
"Do you really want Katherine out that bad?"
Anna looks over at her. "Trust me. No one I know wants to see that girl again. Except Damon, the love-struck idiot."
"Then what is it? Or who is it?"
"My mother's in there." She says, walking closer to Elena. "Katherine couldn't help herself. She just had to toy around with both of the Salvatore brothers. And when she got caught, so did my mother. I watched Jonathan Gilbert take her away."
"I'm sorry." Elena tells her, sincerely.
"You really mean that, don't you?" Anna chuckles. "Yeah, I think we'll skip the dead mom bonding so you can start serving a purpose."
"Which is what?"
"Leverage. This belong to you?" Anna holds up Elena's phone. Elena tries to grab it from her, but Anna pulls it away. "Ah-ah!" She walks across the room, dialing a number on the phone. The phone rings and Stefan picks up from the other end.
"Elena? Are you okay?" He asks.
"She's fine. For now. Tell me you have the grimoire and she'll stay fine."
At the boarding house, Damon enters the room and leans against the doorframe.
"I can get it." Stefan says.
"Which means your brother has it. And I have the witch. So one of you had better meet me in the very public town square in 30 minutes so we can safely discuss how fun it's gonna be to work together." Anna hangs up.
Stefan looks back at Damon who sighs. "Go ahead. Grovel again. Oh, wait no…I don't care." He says before leaving the room.
Trinity walks into the Mystic Grill and scans the crowd. She heads to the restroom and stops when she catches a bitter scent. She looks around, trying to find the source. Walking closer to the bar, she only sees humans. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, the scent is still there. She looks around before leaning over the bar, seeing an apron. She reaches over and takes it in her hand before rushing out of the Grill. She steps outside and presses the fabric to her face; her eyes darken as she breathes in the scent. She takes out her cellphone and dials Stefan.
Anna knocks on the bathroom door. "I'm leaving." She calls. Ben opens the door to the bathroom and leads Bonnie out. "Keep them buttoned down. Compulsion won't work. Just use violence."
"Right. I got that." He says, watching her leave. He pushes Bonnie onto the bed. "Sit. Behave." He leans against the dresser. "So you're the key to this. Literally. The one who opens the door. Tell me, how long have you been a witch?"
"Is there anything to drink here?" Elena asks.
Ben gets up and walks over to Elena. "Are you offering?" He asks only to be met with a black stare. "There's water on the night stand."
Elena picks up the glass of water and starts to take a drink.
"Hey. Can I have a sip?" Bonnie asks.
Elena pulls the glass away from her mouth, understanding what Bonnie plans on doing. She hands over the glass. Bonnie takes it and tosses the water on Ben. Bonnie turns the water into flames. Ben yells and pats the flame down on his arm. Elena and Bonnie get up and run to the door. Bonnie makes it to the door and opens it, ready to run out, but Ben grabs Elena before she is able to make it out.
"Come back in! Shut the door!" He orders.
Bonnie slides back into the room. "Don't hurt her!"
"Don't make me!" He growls. Bonnie shuts the door behind her. "Lock it!"
Anna is walking through the Town Square.
Jeremy sees her from the Grill and runs over to her. "Anna! Hey-uh, what happened to you last night?"
"Sorry, I had to leave. I told your sister to tell you." She says.
"I haven't seen her."
"Well, I gotta run, so…" She turns to leave.
"Hey, do you wanna go to a party tonight?"
She turns around. "Go to what?"
"Oh, the guy who's throwing it is a total douche, but it's supposed to be fun. I figured, you know, safety in numbers."
She chuckles. "So, you're finally ready to go out with me, are you?"
"It's been a while since I've been to a party, and I kind of want to get back out there. And not be such a-a loner. And, uh, I like you. You're fun, and you're also kind of strange and lurky but, uh, I guess I like that, too. So, yeah, you should come to the party. With me. It's in the woods by that old cemetery."
Anna looks interested. "Oh. It's there, huh? That sounds cool. Uh, I'll meet you."
"Oh. Okay! Great." He smiles. Anna starts to walk away. Jeremy watches her. "Cool."
"Ok."
She glances back at him and Jeremy leaves. Anna sits down on a bench, waiting and looking around.
Suddenly, Damon appears next to her, sitting on the bench. "Got a hot date or are you just plan on nabbing the entire Gilbert family?"
"A party, right next to the old cemetery. Isn't that nice of them? Lots of warm bodies for starving vampires."
"I told you. I work alone."
"Yeah, so do I. But you're minus a witch and I'm minus a spell book. So what do you say?"
"Stefan will come after you, you know that. For messing with Elena."
"Then he won't be too happy if I kill her when I don't get what I want." She gets up and starts to walk away.
Damon scrunches up his face and sighs. "When do you want to do this?"
Anna smiles and turns around, laughing at Damon. "God, it's like 1864 all over again. You Salvatore's are truly pathetic when it comes to women. Tonight. After sundown. Meet me at the church." She tells him before leaving.
Elena and Bonnie have resumed their seats on the beds. Ben paces in front of them. "Witches don't have eternal life, right?" He asks. "So you guys can die."
"Yep. We can die." Bonnie tells him.
"Ah. That sucks." He says. Suddenly a long screech sounds against the window. Ben looks at it. "What was that?" Bonnie and Elena shrug, moving away a bit. Ben cautiously looks at the window when the door bangs open, revealing Trinity with Stefan behind her, who rips the curtain open. Ben screams and ducks between the beds, hiding from the sun.
"Stefan!" Elena says as she and Bonnie dash out the door.
"Let's get outside!" He ushers them out. Trinity stares down Ben as she walks closer, claws out. Stefan gently grabs her hand and leads her towards Elena and Bonnie. "Stay with them, I'll deal with this." He tells her before walking back into the room. He looks down at Ben. "When the sun goes down, leave town. If I ever see you again, I will kill you." He says before leaving.
At Sheila's house, Bonnie and her Grams sit at a table, conversing.
"I'm sorry. About all of this." Bonnie tells her.
Sheila smirks. "Not as sorry as they're gonna be."
Stefan, Trinity, and Elena enter the room. "So what do we do now?" Elena asks.
"Well, for now, you need to stay here." Stefan tells them.
"A prisoner, in my own home?" Sheila shakes her head. "I don't think so."
"We can't protect you if you leave the house." Trinity says.
"We'll protect ourselves."
"We need to let him have Katherine back." Elena says. "He's not going to stop until he gets her. If we help him, maybe that ends it."
"No!" Bonnie says. "He doesn't deserve to get what he wants."
"What other choice do we have?" Elena looks up at Stefan.
"Witches being pulled down by vampire problems. As much as we tried to do to stay out of it." Sheila comments. "I'll open the tomb. You get your brother's girl and destroy the rest with fire. Then this will be all over."
"We still have to get Damon to agree." Stefan tells her.
"He already agreed once." Trinity says.
"Yeah, and then we double crossed him. So now he's angry."
"He's hurt. There's a difference. I think I know what I have to do." Elena says, looking at Stefan.
Anna walks back up to the motel room. She sees that the door is wide open and Elena and Bonnie have escaped. "You've got to be kidding me." She walks in and looks over at Ben, who is still crouched between the two beds, his hoodie over his head.
"It was Stefan and some other chick. There was nothing I could-"
Anna holds her finger up at him. "Shut up! Stop talking." She drags a hand down her face and takes a seat. "Without the witch, we don't have Damon or the grimoire. Damon's not gonna stop. He'll find a way in. And we're gonna be there when he does."
Damon puts on his jacket, preparing to leave. Elena enters the room and removes her scarf. Damon looks up at her. "I'm gonna have to change the locks. You stage a jailbreak?" He asks, picking up the grimoire.
"Stefan and Trinity." She tells him.
"Ah, brother. Ever the white knight. Along with his noble steed."
"I convinced Bonnie to help you."
"I doubt that."
Elena walks around the edge of the study towards the stairs, leading to the sunken part of the room where Damon is. "I'm not gonna say that I'm sorry we got the grimoire without you last night, because I'm not really."
"Well, at least you're honest."
"I was protecting the people I love, Damon. But so were you, in your own, twisted way. And as hard as it is to figure, we're all on the same side, after the same thing." She walks down the stairs.
"Not interested." Damon starts to leave.
"Yes you are, because you were willing to work with us yesterday."
He turns around. "Fool me once, shame on you."
"Okay, when we were in Atlanta, why didn't you use your compulsion on me?"
Damon places the grimoire on a table and walks towards Elena, crossing his arms. "Who's to say I didn't? Trinity watching us the whole time."
"You didn't. I know you didn't. But you could have. You and I…we have something. An understanding. And I know that my betrayal hurt you, different from how it is with you and Stefan, but I'm promising you this now, I will help you get Katherine back."
He groans, unconvinced. "I wish I could believe you."
Elena unclasps her necklace, takes it off, and holds it in her hand, showing it to Damon. "Ask me if I'm lying now." She places the necklace down on a table and waits for him to respond.
"You know Anna won't stop, by the way, no matter what I do." He tells her.
"Then we'll deal with it."
He picks up Elena's necklace and clasps it back around her neck. "I didn't compel you in Atlanta because we were having fun. I wanted it to be real. I'm trusting you. Don't make me regret it." He says before walking away.
Elena and Damon arrive at the woods and see over a dozen students drinking and chatting. "The Duke party. I forgot. I hope they stay clear of the church." She tells him.
"Your hope, not mine."
Matt and Caroline walk up to them. "Elena, hey!" He greets.
"Elena! Oh my God, where have you been?" Caroline asks intertwining her fingers with Matt's. Elena acknowledges this action.
"Long story, no time to tell it." Damon says.
"I wasn't talking to you." She glares at him.
"Sure you were." He smirks.
"We haven't met. I'm Matt." He holds out his hand for Damon to shake.
"Matt, there's a reason we haven't met. You and I are going that way." Damon grabs Elena's arms and starts dragging her away.
Elena looks back at Matt and Caroline as she's being pushed along. "Ah, I'm sorry, guys." Matt and Caroline watch them go.
Stefan and Trinity climb up from the tomb with shovels in hand. "Cleared the debris away. Set the torches like you asked. We can get down now." Stefan tells them. He takes Trinity's shovel and sets them against a rock.
Cans of gasoline lie nearby and Bonnie looks at them. "What is that?"
"It's everything I need to destroy them." Stefan hands Sheila a flashlight.
"Are you sure that Damon will come back with her?"
Damon whistles. They turn and look at him. "Brother. Witches. Lassie." He says as he strides past them with the grimoire, Elena trudging along behind him. Damon descends the stairs into the tomb.
Elena walks over to Stefan. "Everything okay?" He asks.
"I just want to get this over with." She says before turning to Bonnie. "Are we ready?"
"I guess so."
Jeremy walks around the party; he turns around and sees Anna standing behind him. He is startled but chuckles. "Thank God."
"Weird hello but, okay. What's the matter?" She asks.
"Uh, nothing. Nothing, just…" Anna crosses her arms over her chest and looks at Jeremy, unconvinced. "It's nothing."
"Come on, let's walk." Jeremy and Anna walk off with their arms around each other.
Sheila is lighting the torches. Bonnie stands next to her. Trinity, Stefan, Damon, and Elena watch from the entrance.
"Air. Earth. Fire." Sheila says.
"Water." Bonnie holds up a water bottle and Sheila takes it, sprinkling the water on the floor.
"That's it?" Elena asks. "Just water from the tap?"
"As opposed to what?" Sheila asks.
She shrugs. "I just figured maybe it would have to be blessed or mystical or something."
Sheila smirks at Elena. Damon pulls out a blood bag and unravels it.
"What's that?" Stefan asks.
"It's for Katherine." He says. "Gotta have something to get her going. Unless your girl's offering a vein to tap." He looks back at Elena, who looks at him, un-amused. Stefan sighs and Damon whispers his next sentence to him. "Admit it…you can't wait to get rid of me."
Stefan chuckles. "I can't wait to get rid of you."
"Hmm."
Bonnie looks up at them from the ground. "We're ready."
Jeremy is leaning against a tree.
Anna is standing in front of him. "This place is wild."
"You kinda like dead people, huh?"
"I'm strange, remember?" She says. Jeremy squirms a bit. "You okay?"
"Uh, yeah. Yeah. This place makes me think about someone."
"A dead someone?"
"No, no, just…someone I used to know. So, uh, hey." He chuckles. "We made it all of what, 37 minutes, in that party?"
"Not your scene?" She laughs.
Jeremy pushes himself into a standing position. "I'm not really sure what my scene is anymore. So what do you say? You, uh, you wanna be part of my non-scene?"
"I would happily be a part of your non-scene, except, uh, I'm leaving."
"Wait, what?"
"Yeah. My mom and I are moving away."
"Oh. Uh…that's-that's a bummer."
"Yeah?"
"Well, yeah."
"So, guess this is goodbye."
"I guess it is." Jeremy and Anna lean into each other and kiss. She pulls away, her face transforming. Jeremy looks at her, alarmed. "Anna, your face!"
She turns around. "It's nothing."
"It didn't look like nothing." He says. Ben hits Jeremy from behind. He falls to the ground, unconscious.
Anna sighs. "You didn't have to hit him that hard."
"Yes, I did."
"Grab him and let's go. I'm taking him to meet my mother."
Bonnie and Sheila are reciting a spell, their eyes shut and hands interlocked.
"What are they saying?" Damon asks.
"Sounds Latin." Stefan says.
Elena shakes her head. "I don't think it's Latin."
"I recognize a couple words." Trinity says. "It might be Latin."
After a few more seconds of the witches reciting the spell, the torches flare up. Elena grabs onto Stefan's arm. "What's happening?"
The door to the tomb creaks open. Sheila and Bonnie stop chanting and look up. "It worked!" Bonnie says.
"Of course it worked." Sheila tells her.
Damon looks at Stefan. "We have some fires to build."
Stefan looks back at Elena, gently touching her shoulder. "I'm gonna go get the gasoline, I'll be right back."
Elena nods and Stefan ascends the stairs out of the tomb. Damon looks from Trinity, Bonnie, and Sheila to Elena. "You ready?"
"What?" Elena asks.
He looks at Bonnie and Sheila. "You think I'm gonna go in there by myself so you can seal me in?" He grabs Elena.
"Don't take her in. I'll bring the walls down." Sheila tells him.
"You'll bring the walls down if I don't. You think I trust you?"
"As much as I trust you."
"Enough. Both of you." Elena says. "Look, he needs leverage. He needs to know that you're not going to shut the door when he gets inside. I get it. I'll go."
"I'll go with you." Trinity says.
Damon grabs a torch from the circle. "May I?"
Elena nods at Sheila and Bonnie, reassuringly, and follows Damon into the tomb, Trinity beside her.
Stefan runs over to the gasoline and starts to gather the cans up.
Suddenly, someone speaks to him. "Dark down there?"
Stefan straightens up, looking at Ben. Jeremy, unconscious, lies at Ben's feet. "Thought I told you to leave."
"I considered it. Then I thought, screw you."
"Hey, hero." Stefan turns around and sees Anna. "I'm going down there to get my mother."
"I can't let you do that." He tells her.
"Well, Ben's about to make a main course out of Elena's little brother. So, you can stop me or him. Your choice." Anna flashes into the tomb.
Damon, Trinity, and Elena are down in the tomb, searching for Katherine. They hear whispers throughout the tomb.
"What is that?!" Elena asks.
"They can sense you. Now, where is she?" Damon walks away, leaving them behind.
"Damon!" Elena calls. Trinity places a hand on her arm.
Anna descends the stairs into the tomb.
Bonnie looks over at her. "Hey, you're not going in there!"
"You think you can stop me?"
"Bonnie…" Sheila says. Bonnie steps aside. Anna grabs a flashlight from the ground and runs into the tomb.
Bonnie turns and looks at Sheila, angered. "Why did you let her go in?"
"Because she isn't coming out, baby. None of them are."
Above the tomb, Stefan and Ben are in a tense conversation. "Do you really think that she cares about you? Hm? You're disposable."
"I don't care. She already gave me what I want."
"Are you going to say 'eternal life'? You really that stupid?"
Ben moves closer towards Stefan. "You know, I've heard about you. You don't feed. You're not strong enough to beat me." He rushes at Stefan who thrusts his arm, easily knocking Ben to the ground. Stefan picks up the hose connected to the gasoline can. Ben gets up and looks at Stefan. "Is that all you got?"
"No. I got this." Stefan ignites the torch and sets Ben on fire. Ben screams and flails around, before finally falling to the ground, dead.
Elena and Trinity still searching for Damon. "Damon?" Elena whispers. "Damon!"
They continues to hear the whispering around Them. Startled, she falls; pulling Trinity down with her. Elena quickly gets back up. Her flashlight beam lands on one of the mummified vampires. As she walks around the room, she sees more and more vampires.
"Elena, no!" Trinity says. As she gets to her feet.
Panicked, Elena falls down next to one of the mummified vampires, her beam lands on him and she gasps in shock. The vampire's eyes open and are bloodshot with hunger. Elena screams loudly and gets up, looking around for an exit. Her beam of light lands on Anna who is standing right behind her.
Stefan walks back down into the tomb and looks around. "Where's Elena and Trinity?"
"Damon took them inside." Bonnie says.
"What?!" Stefan runs towards the entrance of the tomb.
Sheila grabs his arm. "Stefan! If you go in there, you won't come out."
"What did you do?"
"Opening the door didn't remove the seal, it just opened the door."
"What's the seal?"
"Some seals keep vampires from entering. This one keeps them from coming out."
"Elena's human. She can leave. Anna and Katherine can't. Damon can't. What about Trinity? Would she count?" He looks at them. "You were never planning on breaking the spell, were you?"
"I told you. I will protect my own. It's a spell for vampires. Elena and Trinity can get out. That's all that matters."
Anna steps towards Elena, shining her flashlight on her. "You must have a taste for it. You scream and shriek and even bother to escape, but then you just come right back to it."
Trinity growls and leaps towards her. She tackles Anna to the ground and they roll around, struggling for an upper hand. Anna shoves her hard into a wall. Trinity grunts in pain and falls to the ground.
Elena walks backwards as Anna stands from the ground and bumps into Pearl. Anna sees her mother and kneels down next to her, caressing her arm. "Mother! Mother. Your boyfriend did this, you know."
"His father did."
Anna stands up and faces Elena. "And Jonathan Gilbert. I made a choice a long time ago that it would be Gilbert blood that brought her back to life. I had Jeremy all ready to go but…" Elena gasps and turns around, bolting from the room, but flashes in front of her, grabs Elena by the wrist, and bites down. Elena screams loudly. Trinity roars and bounds towards Anna, separating the two.
In the ante-chamber, Stefan hears the commotion echo through the tomb, he dashes in.
Bonnie chases after him. "Stefan!" She calls. Sheila blocks Bonnie from entering the tomb. "You can't just leave him in there, Grams!"
"He made his choice!"
"No. Here." She picks up the grimoire and looks desperately at her Grams. "Just show me what to do. I'll do it."
"We are not strong enough. Even if we were able to bring the seal down, there's no guarantee that we could get it back up again."
"You said it yourself; many things can fuel a witch's power. Help me or I'll do it alone."
Trinity stands in front of Elena; guarding her. She growls at Anna as her body shifts its features. Her nails turn into claws and her teeth lengthen.
Anna steps back in shock. "What the hell are you?" She asks.
Trinity growls louder as fur begins to appear. She takes a step towards Anna when Stefan runs in and over to Elena. Trinity, seeing that he's there, flashes over to Pearl and hold her around the neck.
"No!" Anna screams. Trinity lifts her hand up, claws at the ready. "No! Please no!"
"Trinity!" Elena calls from Stefan's arm. Trinity hesitates. "It's her mother." Elena tells her. "She's the only one she wants." Trinity growls again. "Trinity, we all know what it feels like to lose a parent. Would you really wish that on someone else?" Trinity growls again, lower this time. "Come back to us…please." Elena begs.
Trinity puts her hand down and lets Pearl go. She backs away from her, looking cautiously at Anna as she goes to stand by Stefan and Elena.
Anna rushes to her mother's side and dips her fingers into the drops of blood from Elena's wounds. She presses them to her mother's mouth. "Come on." She whispers, repeating the process.
"Anna." Pearl groans after a minute. Anna caresses her face in her hands and crying happily. "Annabelle."
Bonnie and Sheila are looking through the grimoire when Elena and Trinity; back to her human form, exit the tomb. "Elena, Stefan…" Bonnie says.
"He's right behind me." She says. Bonnie and Sheila look at the entrance to the tomb. Elena and Trinity turn around and see Stefan standing in the doorway. Elena walks up to him, worried. "Stefan, what are you doing?"
"It's gonna be okay. We'll fix it." Bonnie tells her.
"What is it?" Trinity asks, stepping closer.
"I can't." He says.
"Can't? Can't what?" Elena asks.
"The spell's still up. We can't get them out yet." Bonnie says.
"You went in there not knowing if you could come back out?" Elena looks at him. Stefan looks down, not answering. "Oh, my God."
"I heard you guys."
"We can't leave him in there. We promised him. Both of us."
"I know."
"Even if we're able to break through the seal, we won't be able to hold it for long." Sheila tells them.
Stefan goes back into the tomb to find Damon.
Damon is still searching the tomb for Katherine. Frustrated, he kicks the dirt on the floor. "She's not here."
Stefan walks up to him. "Damon."
"She's not here."
"What?"
Damon pulls out the blood bag. "She's not here!" He throws it at the wall, the blood splatters across it. He looks at Stefan with anguish.
Sheila and Bonnie are reciting the spell to lift the seal as Elena circles around them, Trinity stands anxiously by the entrance of the tomb. The torches flare up and Elena looks towards the tomb. "I think it's working."
Anna exits the tomb with Pearl, who is still weak. A growl build in Trinity's chest. "I just wanted my mother back. Jeremy's fine. He's outside. I won't touch him." Anna tells them before leaving.
The torches begin to falter. "Bonnie, keep going!" Sheila urges before turning to Elena. "They better hurry."
"Stefan, they can't hold it much longer!" Trinity calls. The torches extinguish themselves. Bonnie looks faint and Sheila doesn't look much better. Elena and Trinity run back into the tomb.
"Damon, we need to get out of here." Stefan tells him.
"It doesn't make sense. They locked her inside." He mutters to himself.
"If we don't leave now, we're not getting out."
"How could she not be in here?"
"It's not worth spending all of eternity down here. She's not worth it!"
"No!" Damon angrily pushes Stefan away.
Elena and Trinity rush into the room. "Damon! Please." Elena cries. He looks at her for a minute before moving.
Bonnie and Sheila are still chanting the spell to keep the seal down. Bonnie stops for a moment, gasping for air and keeling over. "Oh my God. I can't!"
"Yes, you can."
They continue chanting. Damon exits the tomb first, followed by Elena, who turns around and embraces Stefan when he exits. Trinity is the last to leave. The door to the tomb closes and the torches die out.
Stefan, Trinity, and Elena exit the tomb and run over to Jeremy, who is waking up.
"He's okay." Trinity says. "I can hear his heartbeat."
Elena and Stefan kneel down next to Jeremy, who groans.
"He's all right." Stefan says.
Damon exits the tomb, looking completely miserable. Elena gets up and walks towards him. She wraps his arms around him and places her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."
Sheila walks unsteadily to her room.
Bonnie gently grabs her arms to guide her. "Hey, let me help you."
"Oh, I'm fine. You don't need to coddle me, baby."
"It was a big spell, Grams. I could tell it took a lot out of you."
"I'll be fine." Sheila continues to walk unsteadily towards her bed as Bonnie looks on with worry.
Elena carries a glass of water and an Aspirin into Jeremy's room and hands it to him. "How's your head?"
"Uh-it's alright. I just…I wish I knew how I passed out. I didn't drink that much, I swear."
"And you don't remember anything?"
"The whole things pretty cloudy. I just…I know how this looks. I'm-I'm sorry." He says.
"No, Jeremy, don't be sorry. You didn't do anything, okay?"
"Yeah, okay."
"I've got to head on over to Bonnie's for a little bit, but is there anything that you need?"
"No, I'm just…I'm gonna crash."
"Okay, well, Jenna's here and I'll be back soon." Elena leaves.
Jeremy gets up from his bed and goes to his computer. He googles the word 'Vampire'.
Stefan walks Trinity to her porch. "Are you gonna be alright?" He asks.
She turns to him. "Yeah." She says. "At least this is over and done with. Now I don't have to worry about hulking out everyday…at least for a little while. When it starts to get worst…" She shakes her head. "I don't know what I'm going to do."
"I'll be there." Stefan tells her. "I always will."
She brushes her hair away from her face. "I feel bad for Damon. He dedicated his life to find the girl he was in love with and…she just wasn't there."
"Yeah." Stefan sighs.
"Go to him." Trinity tells him. "He needs you."
Stefan nods and gives her a hug before leaving.
Pearl and Anna go back to the motel room. Anna turns on the light and gets a shock when she sees Damon sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. "You knew Katherine wasn't in there." He says.
"You wouldn't have helped me." She tells him. He flashes over to Pearl and grabs her by the throat. "No! No!"
"Why do you get a happy ending?"
Anna rushes towards him. "Damon, please! You wouldn't have helped me, you know you wouldn't have!"
Damon grabs a hold of Anna, restricting her movement. "Why do you get it and I don't?"
"The guard." Pearl whispers, bringing their attention to her. "The one at the church. The one who locked us in. She promised to turn him. He was obsessed with her. She had him under her spell, like everybody else. He let her go."
Damon releases Anna and Pearl. Anna wraps her arms around Pearl and looks up at Damon. "Last I saw her was Chicago. 1983. She knew where you were Damon. She didn't care." She tells him. Damon is utterly hurt by this new piece of information. "Sorry." She embraces Pearl while Damon leaves the motel room.
Elena is at Sheila's house, talking on the phone with Stefan, who is at the boarding house. "I just got to Bonnie's."
"Everything alright?"
"Yeah. How's Damon? Is he gonna be okay?"
"I don't know. Can I call you later?"
"Yeah, of course."
Stefan walks into the parlor. Damon is sitting down, staring blankly at the fire. Stefan sits down next to him. They sit together in silence.
Bonnie enters Gram's room carrying a cup of tea for her. "Here you go, Grams." She places the tea on the nightstand and pulls the covers up over Sheila. She looks down at her Grams and gets the feeling that something is wrong. "Grams?" Bonnie sits down on the bed and starts to shake Sheila. "Grams! Grams, wake up! Grams! Grams!" She sobs. "Elena!" Elena dashes into the room, bewildered. "Help! Wake up! She's not breathing! She's just not breathing! Please, wake up!" Elena runs out of the room and grabs the phone, dialing 911. Bonnie gets up as well. "I'm gonna fix it! It's okay, I can fix this!"
"Yes, I need an ambulance to Oak Street. It's an emergency, quick." Elena says into the phone. Bonnie grabs the grimoire and flips through the pages, trying to find a spell to bring her Grams back. Elena walks back into the room and gently grabs Bonnie's shoulders. "Bonnie…Bonnie."
"No! No! I can fix it! Grams, I can fix this!"
"Bonnie! Bonnie! Bonnie." Bonnie continues to sob as Elena wraps her arms around Bonnie, trying to comfort her.
Down in the tomb, the blood bag that Damon threw drips down from the wall. A vampire sits below the pool of blood on the wall and it drips down towards him. The vampire gets up, opens the door of the tomb, and is able to walk out. He looks up at the ceiling, finally free.