"So, how many vampires are there in this town anyway?" Brady asked Caroline. She was still trapped in the cage, crying. She didn't answer, so he shot her with a squirt gun filled with vervain. She screamed in pain.
"No?"
In response, Caroline kicked at the bars of the cage. "Why are you doing this to me?! Why are you doing this? Why?"
"You're a vampire." Brady shrugged. "Why not?" He used a blowgun to shoot wooden darts into her neck. Caroline screamed again.
"I'm sorry, what was that?"
"Let me out!"
"Excuse me? What was that?"
Caroline kicked at the bars again. "Let me out!"
Brady left the trailer and met Jules outside.
"Get it out of your system?" She asked.
"No. I'm just getting started."
"Brady, let's be smart about this. I just want the boy. It's our duty to help him. It's who we are."
"You want to talk about duty and honor? These are vampires. They cross one of us, they cross all of us. That's who we are."
Brady had gone back into the trailer and left Jules outside. She stood there for a moment before she heard something out in the woods. Stefan came into view with Tyler.
"Where's Caroline?" He asked.
"Locked up tight," she replied.
"Let her go and I'll release Tyler. It doesn't have to get any messier than it already has. I'm not your enemy, Jules."
"It's a little late to be waving the white flag, don't you think?"
"You need to leave town. No one else has to get hurt."
"I'm not leaving without Tyler."
"Tyler is free to make his own decisions, as soon as you release Caroline."
Damon arrived on the scene, followed by Toby, who had Mason's old hunting knife tucked in the back of his jeans in case he needed to use it.
"My brother, the peacemaker. Since Stefan got here before me, I'm gonna let him try it his way before I resort to my way, which is a little bloodier. So give us Caroline."
"Let go of Tyler."
"Give us Caroline. Without a full moon, it's not an even fight and you know it."
"I'm not so sure about that, tough guy."
Jules whistled and the rest of her pack walked out of their hiding places, armed with multiple weapons such as stakes, crossbows and even a flame thrower.
"Let's try this again. Give us Tyler."
Damon looked at Tyler and nodded his head in her direction. "You heard her. Go. Get over there."
Tyler left Stefan and walked over to Jules.
"Which one of you killed Mason?" Brady asked.
"Uh, that'd be me," Damon announced, raising his hand.
"You're really siding with the man who killed your father?" Brady asked Toby in disbelief.
"He killed my father to protect a friend. It's complicated."
"You know he'll kill you the second he gets, right?"
"If he wanted me dead, I'd be dead already."
"He's right," Damon agreed. "I'm really good at following through on death threats. Want to find out?"
"Boys, make sure this one suffers," Brady told the rest of the pack loudly.
"We can take them," Damon told Stefan and Toby, who looked at each other with uncertainty.
"I don't know about that.
"Well, then…"
Damon zoomed over to Jules, who was ready and flipped onto the top of the RV. Tyler had ran inside and away from the battle. The wolf with the flamethrower tried to burn Stefan, but he sped behind him, wrapped his arms around his neck and used the flamethrower to burn two other wolves who tried to rush forward. Another werewolf attempted to jump from the RV roof and onto Damon, but he easily ripped his heart out midair.
Inside the trailer, Tyler saw Caroline in the cage, who got up and started to point to the lock on the cage.
"Tyler, there's a latch on the door and I can't get to it."
Tyler hesitated.
"Tyler?"
Back outside, Stefan broke the wolf who had the flamethrower's neck and let him drop to the ground. A different wolf with a crossbow fired a stake at Stefan, who caught it. Toby came up behind him and stabbed him with Mason's hunting knife. The wolf went down with a cry. He felt arms wrap around his throat and for a second, struggled against their grip before making a move and stomping on his attacker's foot. They let go and he used this momentum to elbow him in the face. Then, he twisted his arm around and with a swift movement, broke it. He kicked the man down onto the ground with the one he'd just stabbed.
Stefan and Toby shared a look and nodded at each other in understanding. Somebody with another crossbow came out of nowhere and tried to shoot a stake at Stefan, but he caught it again and threw it back at him. It sunk into his neck and he went down.
Inside the RV, Tyler continued to hesitate.
"Tyler, please!" Caroline begged. "Tyler?"
Finally, he walked towards the cage, unlatched the lock and opened the door so she could get out.
Outside again, Stefan had just stabbed somebody with a stake, but someone else came up behind him and drove a different stake into his back. Stefan fell onto the ground with a loud groan, but before the wolf could attack him any further, Toby snuck up and stabbed him with the hunting knife he still had.
Damon was fighting with Brady and he was winning until Jules arrived and shot him with a couple of wooden bullets. He also fell to the ground. Caroline finally made it outside, but Jules grabbed her, pushed her face first into the RV and help her at gunpoint. Tyler came out behind her, saw Jules holding the gun to her back, but he didn't do anything.
Toby started towards Jules, but she cocked the gun when she saw him walking her way.
"One more step and she's dead."
On the ground, Brady grabbed a lone stake that was next to him and was about to thrust it through Damon's chest when suddenly, all of the werewolves present except for Tyler and Toby started to scream in pain and all fell to their knees, covering their ears with their hands.
"What's happening?"
"What the hell is going on?"
Were Caroline and Tyler's respective questions.
Elowen, Josiah, Esmeralda, Jonas and Eliana all came into view, each of them chanting a spell under their breath. Stefan and Damon both got up from the ground. They all stopped the spell when it was obvious that all the werewolves were unconscious.
"Elijah made a promise to Elena," Jonas explained as everyone's confused stares. "I'm here to see that it's upheld. You need to go. Get out of here. Now."
Everyone else but Jonas started to leave. Toby stopped for a moment and turned back towards Tyler.
"You coming?"
When Tyler didn't move, Toby sighed, but nodded. He followed after Elowen, who wrapped her arm around his shoulders in comfort. Jonas looked Tyler dead in the eye.
"When your friends awaken, give them a message. They need to get the hell out of this town."
xxxx
Stefan, Josiah and Elowen were all walking Caroline up to her doorstep.
"Is your mom home?" Stefan asked when they reached the door.
"No, she's at work."
"We can all stay here with you, if you want," Elowen offered, but Caroline shook her head.
"I'm fine, you guys."
"If you think I'm leaving you alone after what happened tonight, you're wrong," Josiah stated as a matter of factly, making Caroline smile a little. "You don't have to pretend with us. Anybody would be upset after what you went through."
"I'm okay. I swear. I'm not girly little Caroline anymore. I can handle myself. Look, I just really wanna shower…"
Elowen nodded. "Okay. We'll leave you to it. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
Stefan and Elowen left Caroline and Josiah alone as they entered the house and closed the door behind themselves.
xxxx
"Why are you here again?" Damon asked Toby, who was sitting in the living room.
"Because I'm covered in blood and if I go home looking like this, Carol would flip. Just gimme some clothes and I'll get out of your hair. I don't want to be here anymore than you want me to be."
Damon came to stop in front of Toby and handed him a drink. Toby looked at it for a moment before taking it and sipping on it.
"Y'know, you didn't have to come tonight."
"Yes, I did."
"Because of Elowen?"
"Tyler's my cousin. I'm still holding out that he'll make the right decision."
Damon poured himself his own drink and decided to stay standing.
"You can admit it."
"Admit what?"
"Admit that you're in love with her."
Toby set his drink down and shook his head. "I'm not in love with her. Not anymore."
"So you admit that you loved her."
"Loved. As in past tense."
"And you're positive you don't still have feelings for her? She's quite the keeper."
"Why are you so bent on this? It's like you want somebody else to be in love with your girlfriend."
Damon paused at the word 'girlfriend' for a moment, but opened his mouth again.
"I just want to make sure that you know you don't stand a chance anymore."
"Noted."
Another string of silence passed. Damon finished off his drink and went to pour himself another.
"I guess…. You've proved that you're worth not killing. Thanks for tonight, wolf boy."
Toby raised his glass and downed the rest of his drink. "Can I get some clothes now?"
Damon rolled his eyes, but started towards his room anyway. He came back with a fresh shirt and jeans and threw them at Toby.
"Now leave."
"Can I at least change first?"
"Whatever."
After Toby had changed, he headed for the door, except when he opened it, John Gilbert was standing on the other side.
"Oh. Damon, you've got company."
Damon walked to the door and groaned at the sight of John. "What do you want?"
"We didn't finish our conversation."
Damon shrugged.
"I'll bite."
Damon reluctantly let John in and Toby closed the door. He was curious what John was here for and decided to stick around. Damon noticed had to stop himself from rolling his eyes.
"I've been thinking," John started to say. "Personal feelings aside, Damon, I think you and Stefan will do all you can to protect Elena."
"For the record, we're only doing it to protect Elowen. I don't know about Stefan, but I don't really care what happens to your daughter."
"Regardless, I come bearing gifts."
John set a piece of cloth on the table and unfolded it, revealing a silver dagger and a jar full of ash.
"What is that?"
"This is how you kill an Original. In this vial is ash from a white oak tree that dates back to the genesis of the Originals. The dagger must be dipped into the ash and then plunged into their heart."
Toby carefully took the dagger from John to inspect it. Damon eyed it suspiciously.
"How do you know all of this, John?" Damon asked.
"Isobel. She's very good at finding out things. But, of course, you know that."
"Where is Isobel, by the way?"
"Let's just say, if she accomplishes what she's attempting, Klaus will never step foot in Mystic Falls. Where Elena's concerned, you and I are on the same side."
xxxx
Elowen walked up to the front door of the boarding house and sighed. Damon had texted her asking her to meet him and she almost didn't show. She hesitated, thinking over her decision to come, before reaching out and opening the door.
"Damon?" She called out into the empty house. Toby and John had left hours ago. She closed the front door behind her and ventured up to Damon's room, where he was pulling a clean shirt over his head, having just took a shower. She stopped in the doorway when she saw him and crossed her arms.
"What do you want?" She asked. "This better be important. I'm supposed to be on my way to Caroline's house for a sleepover."
Damon looked at her for a moment before walking over. He stopped in front of her and reached out to brush some of her curls from her face, but Elowen shied away. Damon sighed.
"I wanted to apologize. About Jessica."
"Apologies mean nothing unless you actually change."
Damon took a deep breath before responding.
"After you left last night, I got really drunk and then I got really angry after I stopped feeling guilty. Angry at Jules, angry that Rose had to die, angry at the world. Just... really angry. I needed to take it out on something."
"And Jessica just happened to be the poor, unfortunate soul you picked out of a hat."
"Yeah. I wasn't thinking clearly, but what I could think about was how upset it would make you if you found out, and there was this little voice in the back of my head that was telling me not to do it, to let her go, and I almost did."
"Then why didn't you?"
Damon searched for the right words. He hated opening up to people and being vulnerable, but if anyone deserved to see this side of him, it was Elowen.
"I do this thing where... I sabotage every good thing that comes into my life because I feel like I'm not worth it. You're one of the best things to happen to me in a really long time, and the thing is, I don't deserve you. But Stefan does. So I killed her, because I didn't want to feel like I had to live up to anyone's expectations. I can't be who you want me to be, Wen. I can't be good, because then that's what people want me to continue to be, and it's just so much easier for people to hate me."
Elowen sighed.
"Is that what you're trying to do? Make me hate you?" She reached up to touch Damon's face. "I've never asked you of anything other than to stop killing people. That might change later on down the line, or I might tack more things onto the list, but I understand that people can't just change overnight. I believe that you can change and grow, Damon, but I won't stick around for people who don't want to change or grow, and right now, you're giving me signals that you don't want to do either. I don't want you to do it for me. I want you to do it for yourself. You need to stop running. There's nothing wrong with feeling things. You gave me this same speech last night, and I hear you. You're afraid of what people will think of you if you screw up, but that's part of being human."
"But I'm not human, Wen. I'm a vampire. I don't do human. Not anymore."
"See, that's the attitude I'm talking about." Elowen shook her head. "I'm not going to surround myself with people like that. Not anymore. I used to try and justify why my dad acted the way he did and did the things he did to us, and it got me nowhere. I'm not going to do that with you. Until you show me that you want to make changes, I can't stick around. I'm sorry."
Elowen turned to leave, but Damon quickly reached out and grabbed her hand.
"Wait. Just wait."
Elowen faced him again.
"I love you, Wen, and I don't deserve you, but I don't want to lose you forever. If... I try to do this, try to be more like Stefan-"
"That's not what I meant. You don't have to try to be like anyone else but yourself. Sure, I guess you can use Stefan as an example, but when I say I want you to change, I don't mean become someone you're not."
Damon frowned.
"I'm not following. You don't want me to act like the good guy?"
"I'm not saying that, either. You can have character development for the better without turning into someone else. Stefan is Stefan. You're you. All I'm asking from you at the moment is to stop killing innocent people and to do the right thing. And if you're going to kill, if you absolutely have to, do it with reason, not just because you want to kill someone and disregard human life like you used to. Like tonight. You killed Jules's pack because they were going to hurt Caroline. It wasn't exactly the 'right' thing to do, but if you didn't fight back, you would be dead. I'm not asking for a lot, Damon. I'm not asking you to completely change your personality. I'm just asking you to at least try, to not give up. Can you do that?"
Damon paused as he thought this over. Elowen was looking up at him hopefully and after a few moments, Damon gave in and nodded.
"If it's what makes you happy, then I'll do just about anything."
"Careful, I might take you up on that offer."
Elowen and Damon smiled at each other. Damon cupped Elowen's face in his hands and leaned down to kiss her.
"Okay, I seriously need to get to Caroline's," Elowen said as she pulled back. "I'll see you later."
As she tried to leave, Damon pulled her back and gave her another quick kiss.
"Okay, now you can go."
With an endearing shake of her head, Elowen left Damon's room with a smile on her face.
xxxx
Caroline was picking out the wooden darts that were in her neck. Josiah made a face as he watched on.
"I wish there was a way to help you," he said. Caroline look at him through the mirror.
"You just being here is enough."
Josiah and Caroline shared a smile. The moment was ruined when there was a knock on the door. Josiah got up to answer it and stopped short when he saw Tyler through the glass window. Anger filled him as he ripped the door open.
"You've got a lot of nerve to show up here."
"I know. I just wanted to make sure Caroline was okay."
"She's fine."
Josiah glared Tyler down, who shifted under his gaze.
"Josiah?" Came Caroline's call from down the hall. "Who is it?" She came around the corner, saw Tyler and stopped. "Tyler."
"I had no idea they would come for you."
She approached the door slowly and stopped just behind Josiah. "I got this." When Josiah looked at her in disbelief, she stood her ground. "I said I got this."
Josiah stepped aside and let Caroline take his place.
"Do you know what they did to me?"
"I'm sorry, but it's crazy now, okay? I don't know who to trust. You guys lied to me."
"Then why are you here?" Josiah snapped. Caroline turned around with a look that read, 'Stand down'. He quieted down. Caroline turned back towards Tyler.
"I lied to protect my friends. I lied to protect you. Don't you get that?"
"Caroline…"
"You just stood there when they were going to kill us. You just stood there! You didn't do anything!"
"I didn't know what to do!"
"You help your friend. That's what you do."
"I'm sorry."
"No, it's too late, because we're not friends anymore. And what happened to me tonight, that will never happen again. So, you take that back to your little werewolf pack and you get the hell out of my house."
Caroline slammed the door in his face, grabbed Josiah and walked off.
xxxx
Elowen knocked on Elena's door. She answered it after a few seconds.
"Elowen. Is Caroline okay?"
Elowen nodded her head. "Physically, yeah, but mentally and emotionally, no. Stefan had an idea that I fully agree with. Josiah's there with her now, but he suggested that we get Bonnie and have a girl's night. Are you down?"
Elena nodded her head. "Sure. Lemme go grab some things and then we'll get Bonnie. I need to get away from John anyway."
Elowen waited outside for Elena, who had changed when she came back outside. She closed the door behind her and locked it. Elowen finally noticed that Elena's eyes were puffy and she furrowed her eyebrows. They both piled into Elowen's car, but she didn't say anything until they were away from the house.
"Did something happen? I mean, I know we're technically not friends, so if you don't want to talk about it, no big deal, but if you do… I'm willing to listen."
Elena sighed deeply. "It's just… John gave me this bracelet. It belonged to my mom. Not Isobel, but my mom, Miranda. He gave me this big speech about how he meant nothing to me and that he lost a brother that day and I just… I don't believe him. I refuse to. Not after everything he's done."
Elowen nodded, but kept her eyes on the road. "I get it. I wouldn't trust anyone who tried to kill my friends either."
Elena felt a question she'd been burning to ask come to the front of her brain. She contemplated asking it, hesitated when she decided to, but finally worked up the courage. "Your dad did the same, when he came with John."
Elowen tightened her grip on the steering wheel. Elena swallowed, but continued on anyway.
"That must've been hard, right? I mean, your parents divorced for a reason-"
"Can you just ask the question, please?"
The tone of her voice startled Elena a little bit. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth. "What happened? Why did they split?"
"Luis isn't a very good person," Elowen replied tightly. "He was abusive."
"Oh… I'm sorry you had to go through that." Suddenly, everything made sense to Elena. She almost felt bad for asking.
"Me, too."
They pulled up to Bonnie's house and got out of the car. Of course, Bonnie was all for it, which is how they found themselves driving to Caroline's. Elowen knocked on the door when they arrived.
Josiah answered the door, followed by Caroline, who was standing in a bathrobe. He slumped when he saw them and started to whine.
"Oh, no fair! You guys are turning this into a girl's night, aren't you?"
"Sorry, little bro." Elowen reached up and ruffled his hair. "Unless you wanna sit through gossip and mani-pedi's?"
Josiah actually thought this over for a long moment. Caroline, Bonnie, Elena and Elowen all laughed at this.
"Wait, you're serious?" Caroline asked when he still hadn't said anything. He shrugged.
"You guys can braid my hair. It's long enough for that, isn't it?"
"Well, regardless, we're gonna slumber it!" Bonnie stated. "Last time we did this, Elowen and I were possessed and it ruined the whole thing."
Suddenly, Caroline sniffled and started to cry. "I love you guys."
All of them hugged Caroline, who started to cry harder.
"We all love you, Care," Elena said. "Now, how about braiding Josiah's hair now?"
The girls laughed while Josiah grabbed at his hair.
"Just don't make me look ridiculous."
"Don't worry, we won't," Elowen cooed. They laughed again as Josiah grumbled and closed the door.