37: Let Me Light Your Fire.

"Jeremy!" Elena's cry rang through the dark tunnels with great pain. "Oh, no. No. No. Oh, god, no. Oh god…"

"Nova?" came groggily from Damon's lips as he came to first. He found the other ravenette instantly and pulled her into his arms. "Dolcezza…?" He jostled her around lightly, receiving no response. His breath caught in his throat, thinking of Lethia. "Nova!" He screamed, forcing the tears back in his eyes.

"This town would have seen you dead," Klaus whispered softly to Lethia's lifeless form as he pet her hair, "but I will have it your home alongside your best comrade."

As Elena gathered her only and baby brother into her arms she saw the Gilbert ring shimmer on his finger. A small flicker of hope crossed her. "It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. You're gonna be okay. The ring will bring you back…"

Nova wasn't breathing. Damon's grip around her had turned vice-like, clinging to whatever life may be left or attempting to return. He hunched over her, sobbing into her cold chest. He threw his head back suddenly and screamed to the sky, "Bring her back!" with tears streaking his face. His icy eyes had broken, the very fiber of his being crumbling. "Please! I don't care who's listening, I know you can't let Nova Vasile die! Not like this!"

"It's okay. It's okay. You're gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay, Jeremy. You're gonna be fine…"

"And every soul who wishes you harm will be struck down, just as sure as my blood now runs through your veins."

Damon rocked with Nova in his arms. "You are not dead…" He sobbed. "You two are not dead…"

"You must return to us, Lethia." Klaus bit his bottom lip, tears burning in his eyes. "Please…"

"How the hell did this happen?" Damon sneered when he finally saw his brother.

Stefan couldn't look his older brother in the eye. "It was Katherine. She must have been following us this whole time."

"I could have told you it was Katherine!" He shouted back. "Nova was barely hanging on before Katherine swooped in and finished her off." He gestured down to Nova who still laid on the ground. Stefan refused to look at her, so Damon forced his head to move. "She won't wake up, Stefan. Why won't she wake up?!"

Stefan had issues with Nova for a long time but staring down at her unconscious and not breathing with a bloody, half healed hole in her abdomen made even his heart ache. "I'm sorry, Damon," his voice broke.

He rubbed his face as he paced back and forth. "Lethia was stabbed in the gut with titanium."

The younger brother's olive eyes widened in horror. "What? What the hell happened?"

"Something about some demon, I don't fucking know. Point is she fucking died. Riel had to try a spell to turn her into a hybrid with Klaus' blood in Lethia's system. With Nova already weak, the spell must have zapped through to her. I haven't left Nova's side since I woke up after Katherine snapped my neck and made off with the cure. Where the hell is Bonnie?"

"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. Bring them here. I'll wait with her. With any luck Jeremy and Nova wake up relatively soon."

Stefan's eyes broke with pain as he watched his brother. "Damon, listen to me. Jeremy was one of the Five, a hunter. And we don't know the first thing about that Moore link, or what Lethia's turning would do, let alone it being by the whim of some spell and not even the standard way of making Klaus' hybrids…"

Damon stopped dead in his tracks. His face paled with the realization. "He's supernatural. The ring won't work anymore." He looked down at Nova and tears threatened to fall again. "She won't survive this. We need to get them back to Mystic Falls and find Bonnie. Maybe, at least, if Nova can come to she can help Elena before it's too late…"

Caroline was furiously scrubbing the kitchen floor of the Gilbert home when the front door opened. She jumped to her feet and cleaned herself off to greet them. Stefan walked in carrying Jeremy's body, Damon with Nova's. Elena stepped past them both with a countenance of indifference; she wasn't sure what she was feeling yet. She was numb. Clung to the thought of the Gilbert ring bringing Jeremy back and Nova waking when Lethia did. Because Lethia would. They wouldn't die so easily like that. They couldn't.

"Lethia is in the guest room?" the brunette asked softly. Caroline's voice failed her. She could only nod. "Alright...then we'll put Jeremy on his bed and Nova on mine." Caroline bit her lip to keep from tearing up. Elena looked up to Damon before he reached the stairs. "Would you stay with Nova so I can stay with Jeremy and if they're still not awake in a couple hours then we'll switch?"

Damon couldn't help but look the girl in the eye as she spoke. He could see the hope she clung so desperately to in her chestnut eyes. After a moment he forced himself to nod. "Yeah, sounds like a plan." He didn't have the heart to tell her the truth. He instead clung to his own hope that Nova would awake before Elena could realize. God only knew what Nova would even be like if or when she did wake up.

He placed the raven haired Romanian on Elena's bed delicately, petting her frozen cheek. With no prying eyes nearby he dropped to his knees beside the bed with her cold face in his hands. "Dolcezza please," he begged in a whisper, "you need to wake up. You also need to wake up first and I beg of you not to go feral. Elena needs you more than ever right now. I need you more than ever right now. Please, baby, come back to me…"

Stefan couldn't bear the sight of Elena sitting at Jeremy's bedside. He excused himself downstairs and made a call to Meredith Fell. Right after he hung up he bumped into Caroline. "Can I ask you kind of a random question?"

He arched one of his thick brows. "I suppose, sure."

"If any of your research of the Vasiles, had you come across the name Clara Vasile anywhere?"

Stefan was perplexed by her question but humored her. "I couldn't find much, only that she was born around 1889 and a second born twin like Zina. Her older sister Natalia migrated to America shortly after Clara's accidental drowning. Why?"

The blonde shrugged, something lightly vacant in her baby blue eyes. "I heard the name somewhere and I couldn't figure out why."

"How long has she been unresponsive?" Meredith asked Damon quietly.

His eyes didn't look away from Nova's body. "At least twelve or so hours," his pained voice replied.

"Would you mind if I took a look at the girls?"

"Can you tell me why or if they'll wake up?"

"I can try."

After a moment Damon got up and stood at the end of the bed. He watched Meredith search for a sign of a heartbeat or breathing before checking on the wound in her stomach. She dashed off to the adjacent room to do the same procedure to Lethia before returning to Elena's bedroom. "It's incredible," she breathed. "They're stigmatic."

"How about grieving fiance English?"

"They're both the same - their wounds are in the exact same spots, harming the exact same organs in the exact same ways. But, the wounds are also healing at the same rates even now as we speak."

"How can they still be healing if they're both dead?"

"Well, today the legal definition of 'dead' is braindead. A person can be on machines keeping them alive as long as they still have brain activity."

"Then why would Klaus just leave Lethia here if she was already healing? Why wouldn't he take her and run?"

"Because the spell required Vasile vampire blood," Caroline admitted timidly in the doorway. "Riel had to use Daciana's. It's Vasile and linked to Klaus."

Meredith took a breath. "Then it might require Vasile blood to wake her up. Perhaps even so specific as to be the very Vasile blood she's actually bound to."

A groan escaped Nova's dry lips as her eyes pried themselves open. When they focused, she found herself staring up at the sky through the trees. She was on the forest floor in Mystic Falls, but everything was greyer. She forced herself to her feet and checked her abdomen; she was perfectly fine. Her ears picked up feet running at full speed towards her. Human speed, but full speed. Out of instinct she reached to her boots for her sai blades but found herself completely unarmed. Gritting her teeth she balled her fists and prepared for a hand to hand battle.

Her eyes widened when she saw Jeremy's mess of dark hair coming at her. She instantly stood down, surprised when the little Gilbert threw his arms around her. Feeling his panic, she opted to return the gesture and hugged him back tightly. Something wasn't right. She decided to take the chance before she never got the opportunity again. When they finally let go of one another he grabbed her arm and quickly rushed her into town without a word. Nova took in the surroundings as they ran, finding everything greyed and a lack of people. Something really wasn't right. She wasn't really in Mystic Falls, was she?

Jeremy pulled her into the Grill and locked the doors up tight before turning to her. He smiled when she started going off with a thousand questions. "What the hell is going on?" Nova shouted first, running her hands through her thick hair. "Where are we? Where is everyone else? Like, everyone?"

He took a breath, knowing he had to tread carefully with Nova. She was too crucial and they didn't have a lot of time. "We're on the Other Side, Nova." He watched as she started to break through her emerald eyes. Damon had been right - you could see the whole world in Nova's eyes if you knew how and where to look. She was still a young woman, and one who felt very deeply.

"Oh my Gods…" She breathed. "Does that mean that I...am I...are we...are we dead…?" Her voice cracked a little. A hand flew to her mouth and she took a few steps back, shaking her head. "Thea...where's Thea?" When Jeremy didn't answer her breath caught in her throat. She nearly choked. "Where is Lethia?!" She screamed what she thought was English, but ended up coming out Romanian.

He ran up and grabbed her by the upper arms, holding her still and making her look at him. He never realized (neither had she) that they were basically the same height. "Nova, please, I need you to focus, okay? Zina is also over here. I've already ran into her. She knows you're here."

"So how the fuck do we get back?" She was holding back a sob, every ounce of calm and cool she had right out the window. "Everyone must be losing their shit right now. Lethia was stabbed with titanium. We need to find her and get home, Jer!"

"I know, I know. Just listen to me, Nov." He took another deep breath. He didn't want to look her in the eyes and tell her but even through the greyness of the Other Side did her emerald shine through with great pain. "It's just you going back." He watched as more broke in her eyes.

"And you?" Her lips quivered.

He licked his dry lips, unable to look away from the agony in her eyes. "I was a hunter, Nov. The Brotherhood of the Five is supernatural. The Gilbert ring only works on humans…"

Nova hadn't been bombarded by such emotions since she was human. She felt weak, helpless, broken. She'd made her ties to people other than Damon and Lethia and it was crushing her almost as badly. "Elena…" She breathed, knowing her progeny would take a worse hit. Jeremy was her baby brother whether by blood or not. Nova at least stood a chance of being reunited with Lethia.

Jeremy gave a small squeeze on her arms, forcing a sad smile. "I know you promised Ric to take care of us, but you're gonna need to focus on Elena, alright? You didn't break your promise to Ric because I died. We didn't plan for Katherine, that's not on you. But Elena might not be able to survive this without you."

She reached up and grabbed his arms comfortingly too, desperately biting back tears. She nodded quickly. "What do you need me to do?"

"Anything you can. I don't care. Elena has felt too much grief in too short a time. I was the only blood she had left from her human life so it's up to you to show her that her vampire blood family is there too. Even...even if it means shutting it off like you have." Her eyes widened, the tears threatening to fall when she did so. "Just stay with her. Please?"

Nova nodded and pulled the young Gilbert into her arms. She rested her chin on his shoulder as her eyes grew blurry with hot tears. "You have my word, Jer."

He smiled softly and gave her a squeeze. "Good. Because that's not even the half of it…"

She pulled away quickly, staring at him with wide eyes. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

As if on cue the back doors flung open. Nova spun around and had to grab a chair for support. Two dark haired women were hauling Lethia in carefully, laying her across the bar. Nova nearly choked on the air when she saw Alina Vasile as one of the women. "M-mamă…?" Her eyes darted to the dark haired woman beside her; likely a Vasile, but with a softer face. She reminded Nova of Zarya Deighton. She spun and stepped back so she could see all of them and no one was behind her. "What the fuck is going on?"

"Auriel Cressida used Daciana and Klaus' blood in a nature based Moore spell to turn Lethia," Alina replied slowly. She took a cautious step towards her daughter. She was no longer in her old black gown, but black slacks and a grey blouse. "It gave her body a nasty shock after being hurt with titanium."

The latter woman who reminded Nova of Zarya stepped forward with a gentle smile. "She'll be okay, I assure you. Your blood is what needs to wake her up since the Vasile line is so special, especially as vampires. The Originals' sire link doesn't even affect us. You need to die in order to go into transition anyways. We were expecting you both."

Nova was reeling. She was desperately trying to calm her breathing before she started to hyperventilate. "Wh-what the fuck are you talking about? Who even are you? Why do you look like Zarya Deighton?"

"This is Siya," Alina explained. "Siya Clarke-Vasile. She's Zarya's birth mother." Nova's knees started to buckle and Jeremy ran up behind her to keep her from falling. "Felix, your father, was a conman, Nova. He was a prince of a neighboring country that wanted my hand in marriage. I was young and being yelled at to marry for politics. I refused and spat on his feet. I wanted to rule my country, my clan myself."

"So what the fuck went wrong?"

Alina looked her daughter in her eyes. Her beautiful emerald eyes she had always been jealous about. "Felix had me compelled." Her daughter's eyes widened in horror. "That was why he was always experimenting; that's what the Mihais did. They were sick. And their line continued to this day. I fought so hard against Felix," her dark eyes started to tear up at the memories. "He just kept having me compelled. I started to play along before he tried a lobotomy. The compulsion wouldn't work when I was pregnant. I knew then that I beared the curse of the twins. I never wanted any of this. I never wanted to have children because I didn't want to damn and condemn them. Felix sent Zina away somewhere he could retrieve her when she was old enough to poke at too. He hadn't counted on Katerina Petrova. The day you came back to kill us I was so thankful, îngeraș." She smiled with pride and tears in her eyes.

Siya put a warm hand on her back and looked to Nova. "Those who know about the Vasile line and history will always be hunted as a priority. To be what we are and have the knowledge of it is far too dangerous for a lot of bad people out there. My Zarya is getting nosy and she's getting close. I found out about our lineage and tried to keep it from my husband but those hunting the Vasile blood found us first. He had already outran his family and mine ended up killing us. I don't care to thank Lucifer, but he saved my baby girl that night. She's still here because of him."

Jeremy turned her to look at him. He saw the astonishment and alarm in her eyes. "There's more Vasiles, Nov. Alive and walking the Earth, not just over here. The Vasiles are the guardians of Rem's Stone. You need to find them before they're all over here but you've got to make it home with Lethia first. You've got to fight, Nova."

Large stones and bricks came flying at the windows, shattering them piece by piece very carefully. "I know you're in there, soră mai mare!" Zina shouted. "Come out and play!" She laughed boisterously, a sound that would make someone cringe.

Jeremy saw the look in her eyes change in a split second as soon as she heard Zina's voice. Veins appeared beneath Nova's darkening eyes, her fangs extending over her lip. She moved towards the door but Jeremy grabbed her arm again, stopping her and causing her face to return to normal. "You need to get back home to your body and take Lethia with you."

Alina walked up behind her and kissed her temple lightly. "We will handle Zina, îngeraș. She is also my flesh and blood and not your battle right now."

Now grit her teeth and took a step away from them. "How am I even supposed to get back to our bodies? We don't have fancy rings that bring us back. We've never truly died. The one time I did, the night Stefan drowned me, I knew I had Damon's blood in my system. I knew if he didn't pull me out in time that all it would be is a cold, wet nap. I don't even know how this happened! I mean...how much else of my life has been a lie? I've been alive long enough. Over a century by Damon's side and because my blood accidentally turns Elena Gilbert in a hit on her life we find out I've been sired to Damon this entire fucking time?! I'm descended from fucking angels, including but not limited to fucking Lucifer, and Gods only knows who is and has been hunting the family for, oh gee, eons?! What's the point in finding the handful who might be left? They've clearly done well enough in hiding to still fucking be alive."

"You need to find the remaining women because the women are the foundation of the clan," Alina told her, her tone becoming more motherly and slightly demanding. Nova was pushing her buttons. "Felix wasn't the Vasile. He was a Mihai. I held the backbone of the blood until Felix stole it from beneath me for his sick projects. His family was twisted. Half experimenting on the supernatural to learn enough to wipe them out forever, the other half experimenting on enslaved supernatural to make themselves stronger without becoming beasts themselves. You are my first born daughter, eldest of cursed twins, and a Vasile woman. You have angel blood, you are a vampire by Salvatore blood, and Felix's butchered science put you ahead of the game. You are fully capable of what we need you to do and then some. As your mother and still your technical head of clan, I am giving you this mission."

Nova's eye twitched and she sucked her teeth with irritation. "That was cheap."

"Get married then," she quipped back. "Once you marry Damon I assure you it will make things easier. You're lucky you picked a man with royal blood."

The younger Romanian bit her tongue and approached Lethia. She touched the blonde's face gingerly, whispering something in her ear, before wrapping her arm around Nova's shoulders. "Fine. Two questions; where am I going, and am I looking for anyone in particular?" She scowled. "Stefan and Damon have been searching for months and haven't found dick. Especially Stefan since he's a nosy prick."

"Find Carina," Siya told her. "To the best of my knowledge she was turned by Kol Mikaelson sometime in the early 1900s. She needs to be found before the Mikaelsons find her."

She sweatdropped, her eye twitching slightly. Fucking of course Kol turned her, she thought with a fiery annoyance. Because the Mikaelsons are permanent thorns in my ass.

"What the hell are we dealing with back home anymore?" She asked with half a sigh. "Angels, Lucifer, demons, titanium blades; this is way out of my paygrade. Vampires, werewolves, witches, even fucking hybrids are whatever. Angels and demons? Wouldn't that mean Heaven and Hell exist…?"

Alina looked to Siya, Jeremy glancing between both women himself. He knew there wasn't a lot of time for Nova to get answers, but he definitely would be later. After looking back at another glass panel shattering, Siya sighed. Zina was just playing games. "There are angels and demons. A lot of them. Quite frankly, angels are dicks and demons are douchebags. Rumor has it the Vasile line began when a poor woman named Runa Vasile was on her deathbed. She was visited by the fifth archangel - a sister, with hair and eyes as dark as the night. Angels and demons alike seek to end our blood."

Nova jumped slightly when she felt a warm hand on her shoulder beside Lethia's cool arm. Jeremy offered her a half smile. "Go to my house. I don't have a doubt that that's where Elena has us all for safety. Please, Nov?"

Her eyes and expression softened. She looked to the unconscious blonde she held firmly at her side before back to Jeremy's dark eyes. Finally, she nodded and hurried off out the back with the blonde. She took one last look behind her, watching as Jeremy broke off a chair leg for a makeshift stake. A last second thought crossed her mind; Rem's Stone grants her the ability to use Necromancy.

Don't worry, Jer, she thought as she ran in the shadows towards the Gilbert house. I won't let you stay over here. You're my friend too.

Nova launched up in Elena's bed gasping for air, emerald eyes bug wide. She looked around quickly, finding color and herself alone. Everyone's voices were downstairs. "There is absolutely no way that my brother is dead," she heard Elena. Without a second thought she flung herself out of the bed and across the hall with the help of the walls. Her fangs extended without changing her face as she bit into her wrist, eyes focused on Lethia on the guest bed.

"It's called an Expression triangle. I need to complete it for Silas." Bonnie's voice echoed lightly in her ears.

Not happening, Bonnie, she thought as she held her bleeding wrist in her blonde best friend's mouth.

"She's out of her mind, Stefan," came Damon. "The nutty professor's got her totally brainwashed."

"Bonnie, you can't kill twelve people!" Matt argued.

"Damon and Nova did in an attempt to break the Moore link. I know it sounds crazy, but it's the only way to get enough power."

Nova pulled her wrist back and wiped a stray drop of blood from the corner of her mouth before kissing her cheeks lightly. "Jocul este pornit, sora. A trezi."

As everyone finally noticed the gentle footfalls upstairs, they started to scurry wondering who was awake. Nova turned and started to stride down the stairs, her emerald eyes blank and cold. Stefan and Damon made it to the base of the stairs when they saw her. Damon looked relieved as all hell, but Stefan? Stefan could see the malicious yet protective look in the girl's eyes. Something about her damn eyes was always setting him on edge. The house phone rang as Nova stood on one of the last couple stairs and gave Damon a kiss. She walked briskly past Stefan just after Elena answered.

"Elena? It's April...Young. Um, I was looking for Jeremy, his cell phone keeps going straight to voicemail."

The doe eyed Gilbert locked sight with her emerald eyed sire. Her face was also blank, but she was trying harder not to fall apart. "Jeremy can't come to the phone right now. He's not…" She trailed off, her facade crumbling.

Nova walked over to her with a royal regality to her strut and slid the phone right from her hand. Without breaking eye contact, while the entire house fell silent, she finished for Elena. "I'm sorry," her tone came out cold and emotionless. "He's dead." Her thumb immediately hit the 'end call' button and she put the phone on the counter.

Tears started to form in Elena's eyes as she stared up at her maker. "He's dead," she breathed. "He's dead and...and he's been dead this entire time and I…"

"It's fine," the ravenette cut her off. "It's all going to be fine, Elena. I'm going to take care of everything."

"We can't kill twelve people to drop the veil and get Jeremy back! I mean, unless you guys are willing to bring back every supernatural creature on the Other Side to get him back. Would you?" Her head darted towards Damon. "I know you want your drinking buddy back."

"I was just on the Other Side," Nova informed her, gaining her attention again. In fact, she had everyone's full attention. "I saw Jeremy. Hell, I even saw my mother and found out some stuff about my family. But I also saw Zina. We're not dropping the veil. I'm going to tend to you while I work out the details but I have an idea to bring him back. I already intended to and I don't intend on doing anything that benefits Silas."

Elena was about ready to break and cry. "You saw Jer…?"

She offered the smallest but warmest smile to her progeny. "He asked that I take care of you. By any means necessary."

"Nova, what-" Stefan started.

"We have to take care of his body," Elena cut him off. "Can you bring him downstairs…?"

She nodded and hastily made her way back upstairs, sure to bump shoulders with the younger Salvatore on the way. She stopped in to check on Lethia first; the blonde was still unconscious but Nova could hear the faintest of heartbeats and color returning to her cheeks. She smirked before grabbing Jeremy's sheet wrapped corpse and gingerly walking him down the stairs. Amongst the arguing Elena, who was also viciously searching through drawers and cabinets, told her to put him on the couch.

"Elena?" Caroline asked timidly. "Elena, do you need help finding something?"

"I got it," she answered, standing up with a bottle of lighter fluid.

Stefan noticed the same ice beginning to form in her eyes that Nova bared. "What are you doing?"

"We need a cover story, right?" She started spraying the fluid all over the counters and walls. "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 made her way to the living room and started dousing the couch.

"Elena, stop it!" He argued.

"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 angrily sprayed the books. "I don't want this Xbox." More fluid. She grabbed Jeremy's ring off his finger and tossed it to Damon. "He's not gonna need that anymore."

"Elena, stop it, you're scaring me!" Caroline cried.

"What else are we supposed to do with the body, Caroline? I mean, there's no- there's no room in the Gilbert family plot. Jenna and- and John took the last spots."

Nova's head cocked to the side. "Are you certain this is what you want to do, Elena?"

"There's nothing else we can do! Not when so many bad people are already on the other side like Zina and Kol." She lit a match and held it in her hand.

"No, no, Elena, stop," Stefan started to panic.

"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- I mean, how am I gonna- I can't even- There's nothing left for me- aah!"

The fire had started to burn too low and scorched her hand. Before she could drop it and light up the entire house, Damon caught it in his hand. He looked to Nova wondering what was possibly going through her mind. Her expression was so cold and unreadable.

"What if I tried Necromancy with Rem's Stone?"

Damon swore his eye twitched. "What if, hell no!" He objected. "You weren't even using that hoodoo on the island and Zina almost made you!"

"Necromancy will solve as much as an Expression Triangle right now," came the silky voice of Lethia Kross in the doorway. Everyone jumped, eyes wide as they looked her over. Something in Lethia was just as cold as it was in Nova and slowly creeping its way into Elena. She looked Nova in the eye boldly, her arm crossed over her chest. "You know what is best for the both of you right now."

"You were literally just dead," Caroline started to lose it. "What the hell are you talking about?"

On the other hand, Damon looked between the three blood tied women cautiously. He had a feeling where it was going.

A sly smirk crept its way onto the new hybrid's face. "Use the sire bond," she offered as Elena fell to her knees sobbing.

Stefan and Caroline exchanged more positive looks; the sire bond, yeah that could work, right? Damon looked away to all the lighter fluid drenching the house. Was it the best option? Maybe it could help her control the stone so they could eventually use the Necromancy… The only sound that echoed through the house was Elena sobbing painfully. After a moment of that Damon looked back to Nova, who was already eyeing him for his opinion. She could see the hurt in his icy eyes, but he nodded anyways. Something in her eyes cracked, surprising him. She didn't actually want to…

Nova approached Elena, getting down on her level and pulling her into her arms. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes before she started to sing.

"I'm so tired of being here
Suppressed by all my childish fears
And if you have to leave
I wish that you would just leave
'Cause your presence still lingers here
And it won't leave me alone
These wounds won't seem to heal, this pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase…"

The ravenette had started to tear up, feeling her progeny's pain ringing through her own body and aching in her chest.

"When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears
And I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have all of me…"

Caroline had to look away. Stefan couldn't take his eyes off for fear of whatever Nova might do. Damon had to look to her and nod again for reassurance. She blinked back her own tears and forced Elena to look at her, brushing some of her brunette hair out of her teary face. Elena sniffled, trying to steady her breaths. "It hurts. It hurts. Just make it stop. Please make it stop. It hurts."

"I can, kiddo," Nova whispered unintentionally. "I can if you want me to and you let me. "Opreste-l."

Stefan turned to his brother first, knowing he knew enough Romanian that came out of his fiancee's mouth. "What the hell does that mean?" His eyes flicked to Lethia, who also clearly knew the meaning.

Nova's heart was pounding in her chest as she held Elena tightly. Ignoring his brother, Damon approached the girls and knelt down. He could still see the argument going on in Nova's mind. He touched the ravenette's cheek and kissed her forehead tenderly. "It's okay to break our promise this time, dolcezza. I'll keep you both safe."

She took a deep breath and nodded before resting her chin on her progeny's head as he stepped back. Both girls closed their eyes and Nova gave her one more squeeze. "Turn it off."

"What?" Stefan exclaimed. "No, no!"

Caroline smacked his chest a few times, directing his attention to Lethia. The blonde had leaned against the doorframe with her eyes shut as well. "Just turn it off," Nova spoke breathlessly, "and everything will go away. That's what you have to do. It's what I want you to do. Just turn it off."

All three young women opened their eyes simultaneously, with equally horrifying looks on their faces. Each of them looked cold and empty, as though the light had died from deep within them. They were hollow, but it didn't take long before the malevolence set in. Nova got to her feet first, gently pulling Elena up after her. Caroline gave way to a frantic sob and bolted out the door. The ravenette reached into her inner jacket pocket and took out a silver zippo lighter, flicking it open and igniting the flame for doing so.

"Elena, don't do this," Stefan argued. "We can find another cover story."

She shook her head, eyes vacant and icy as she slipped the lighter from Nova's hand into her own. "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?"

"Build a new house," Lethia sarcastically offered with a smirk. "Nova even modeled hers off of old memories. It's super easy."

Elena looked from Lethia to Nova, who nodded, and back to Stefan. "I won't." She stared him boldly in the eyes as she dropped the lighter.

Nova and Lethia escorted those remaining out of the house as it started to catch fire. The three girls walked out first, something different yet equally disturbing in each of their eyes. Lethia hadn't even had her first feed as a hybrid yet. The blonde and ravenette smirked at one another as they walked away from the burning house. This would be fun.