"How are you so calm?!" Elena demands of her sister from beside her in her car, them having left Jenna's for Emily to retrieve later on.

"Because I knew," Emily casually replies, though her mood was far from a calm one, more like numb to the truth.

"God…Oh my god!" Elena suddenly exclaims, as if, just then, really taking it in. "What? How is this even possible?!" she insists.

"I don't know," Emily quietly humors.

Elena suddenly starts crying. Emily eyes her in sympathy. "Elena," she utters, reaching out and rubbing her shoulder, with her other hand still on the wheel.

"I…I was happy! I was…finally happy! And now…He's…Oh god!"

"…I know…I know…"

XXX

"Hey. Is everything okay?" Stefan asks, on the phone with Emily who'd called him.

"Yeah. Did you find him?" she retorts, sitting on her bed in her room.

"Not yet. I'm working on it…How's Elena?" he asks, tone concerned.

"…She's…processing," Emily quietly answers. Stefan meets her answer with uncertain silence. "Call me when you've found him, okay?" Emily tries to wrap up,

for there wasn't much more to be said.

"Yeah. Okay," he replies, then hangs up.

Emily sighs shakily, and rises from her bed. She changes into her pjs, and keeps her stake on the nightstand. She refrains from visiting Elena's room again, who'd told her she wanted to be left alone.

She makes for Jeremy's, hoping Vicki wasn't inside.

Thankfully, she wasn't. Jeremy looks from his video game, seated on his beanbag in the dark bedroom. "Hey," he casually calls.

"Hey," she tiredly smiles, making way to flop down next to him.

"Wow! Okay," he gives in, letting his arm rest over her shoulder. "You okay," he asks, unpausing his Call of Duty game and continuing to play.

"Yeah," Emily simply says, letting her eyes momentarily shut in the aura of semi-safety in her brother's arms.

XXX

"Elena, please. Can I just…I just wanna explain everything," Stefan says the next morning outside her house door.

"How can I trust anything you say?" Elena pleas in sorrow.

"Because you already know. There's nothing I can keep from you anymore, so just let me say it all. Let me answer all of your question."

"What's going on here?" Emily asks, climbing down the stairs and towards them at the door.

XXX

Stefan takes them both out to a café, where he starts to explain whatever they needed explained.

"Okay. So. How do you wanna start?" he says after they'd ordered.

It was hard to believe what they were there to do; ask a vampire questions about his being.

It was crazy,

but was what was happening.

Emily might as well make use of it.

"The sun," she says. "It doesn't hurt Damon, but it did when he tried to leave the house. That doesn't make any sense," she says.

"What house?" Elena asks. Emily rolls her eyes at the intrusion.

"I went to their house looking for proof, and found Damon trapped in a cell. I let him out cause he threatened to kill Stefan's uncle. How is he, by the way, your uncle?" she asks Stefan as Elena takes in every word.

Stefan's face falls grim.

"He's dead," he says. Emily's and Elena's eyes widen.

"What? But I-"

"It's my fault. I starved him, and when he got out, he sucked Zach dry," Stefan coldly explains.

"Oh my god…" horrifically utters Elena.

Not wanting to relive the previous night, Stefan resumes: "As for the sunlight," he raises his ringed hand. "Daylight rings. They enable us to walk in the sun," he says. The two take this in as well.

"Hi," calls the waitress, setting their orders down. "Here are your drinks." She then takes her leave.

"Thanks," retorts Emily in dismiss, then faces Stefan once more as Elena asks her own question.

"What about…I know you eat garlic," she says. Emily doesn't know how she knows this; probably when he was making her dinner.

"Yes," Stefan nods, his care to answer Elena's question clearly, and perhaps unintentionally, more than that with Emily.

"Crucifixes?"

"Decorative."

"Holy water?" she continues. Emily refrains from rolling her eyes at her sister's internet-based questions.

"Drinkable."

"Mirrors?"

"Myth."

"You said you don't kill to survive," Emily cuts in. "Blood bags?" she asks.

"No. Not even that. Animal blood keeps me alive, even though it means me being not as strong as Damon. I just, choose not to," he clarifies, as if desperate for their approval.

"He hurt Caroline. He could've hurt Emily, yet you let him get involved with her," Elena angrily says. Stefan's heart jumps at the serious accusation, but it wasn't entirely true.

"If he wanted to hurt Emily, he would've, but he didn't, because he knew he couldn't compel her," Stefan assures. Emily feels a sense of pride at that.

"Compel?" Elena furrows her brows.

"To…control her mind. Vampires can do that. He did it with Caroline, and that's why she's confused."

"Wait, so. Why couldn't he do it with Emily?" Elena asks.

"Because I'm wearing vervain, and so are you," Emily says, gently grasping her sister's wrist with the silver, charm bracelet on it.

"Vervain?" Elena counters.

"It's a kind of herb that protects its wearer from mind-compulsion," answers Stefan. "It's in the necklace I gave you too." Elena and Emily both look to her chest, spotting the necklace that Stefan had gifted Elena several days prior.

Elena shakes her head.

Things were going too well, and that felt wrong.

Stefan was not in any way an 'okay' guy.

"You let him hurt Caroline," she says. Emily sighs tiredly.

"Forcing Damon not to do something is much more dangerous," he tries.

Emily's heart clenches at that,

Damon.

The man who'd tried to hunt her down and most likely would've killed her.

The charmer who just a few days ago, she was fluttering like a happy butterfly, dancing in his arms, lost in his eyes.

She frowns deeply, upset with herself for being played.

Elena shakes her head again. "That doesn't make it okay," she says, snapping Emily out of it.

"No. No, none of this is okay, Elena. I know that," Stefan confesses heartedly. Elena inhales from tension.

"Are there any others, aside from you and Damon?" Emily asks off the top of her head. Stefan locks eyes with hers.

"Not in Mystic Falls; not anymore," he says.

"Not anymore?" Elena asks. Stefan nods.

"There was a time when this town was very much aware of vampires, and it didn't end well for anybody. That's why it's important that you don't tell anyone."

"We can't promise that," Elena quickly retorts. Emily shuts her eyes tiredly.

Last time she told Damon she'd do that, he assured her it would be of no use,

and though she was not one to easily give in,

Damon genuinely scared her, and in a moment of horror, she truly believed he was capable of anything.

"Elena, give me today. I will answer any questions that you have and when it's over, you can decide for yourself what you wanna do with what you know. It'll be your choice," Stefan persists.

XXX

"Stop here," Stefan says to Emily as she drives.

"Here?" Emily asks for conformation, for 'here' was nowhere in particular. They were down a dirt path in Mystic Falls' lush, green forests.

"Yeah," Stefan nods. She parks, and he exits the car. Emily follows after him, and Elena from the back.

"What are we doing here?" Elena asks with suspicion equal to Emily's. Stefan stops to face the sisters.

"I wanna show you something," he says.

"In the middle of nowhere?" Elena retorts.

"This didn't used to be nowhere," Stefan retorts, smiling calmly at the memory. He faces a short, red-brick pillar. Ivy snaked around its form, and a white, ceramic ball on top, coated in dust. It seemed to signal an entryway of sort. "Used to be my home."

The girls wonder at this as he walks down the path, and they follow, shortly presented by red-brick ruins invaded by greenery and trees,

and age.

The sun shone down through what spaces in the sky, highlighting dust particles floating in the warm air. "It looks so…" utters Elena, stopping on one side of Stefan, while Emily on the other.

"Old?" Stefan finishes for her. "It's because they are." Elena's brows furrow.

"Wait. How long have you…" she draws. Stefan catches her meaning.

"I've been 17 years old…since 1864," he answers. Emily's jaw parts at that.

"Oh, my God," breathes Elena.

"You said you wanted to know," he glances at both of them. "I'm not gonna hold anything back," he points this statement at Elena.

Then,

he begins.

"Half-century before the boarding house was even built, this was my family's home. Damon and I we were both born here. The Salvatore brothers, best friends." Emily can't seem to even imagine that.

"You knew Katherine in 1864? Damon made it seem like-" he cuts Elena off, disturbed by the mention of the nowadays version of his brother: cruel and reckless.

"Damon was trying to make you think that I was still heartbroken. He saw that I was happy with you and he wanted to ruin it."

"All because you loved the same woman," utters Emily as if in disappointment. Stefan faces her.

"She wasn't just any girl," his gaze falters, not wanting to relive the memories. Regardless, he does, for Elena. "She was full of life and laughter, and she was beautiful. We both fell for her…" he says. Emily's heart pinches at that strangely, as if the statement bothered her. Her sister had the exact same reaction. "But…she chose me," he continues, and Elena's state of discomfort ascends. "I escorted her to the ball at the original Lockwood mansion."

"The first Founder's Party," Elena notes. He nods.

"Where you and Damon signed the registry," says Emily. He nods again, then turns to Elena, resuming down his original, more important point.

"I didn't care that I had gotten something that my brother wanted. I didn't even care if it hurt him."

She hadn't thought of it that way. Emily. Neither of them did.

Well, that wasn't entirely true.

Back when she drank his every word like wine, she did.

She wondered when she'd suddenly dismissed the point.

When he tried to kill her, when she found the truth, and his every past statement was a bad dream, not to be believed.

But, alas…it seemed he hadn't lied about Katherine.

"I only knew that I wanted her. And, you see, the thing about Damon. He doesn't get mad. He just gets even. What Damon wants, Damon usually gets," Stefan continues, causing the sisters to tense in concern. "Now, I didn't know it at the time, but turns out, that night, Katherine was with him too." The siblings cock an eyebrow at this. "But it wasn't, exactly a matter of choice…for either of us…She could, control my mind, and Damon's. And she compelled each of us to keep the secret from the other. She wanted all of us to be together, forever," he says.

"It was she who turned you. Both of you?" Emily asks.

"…Yes," Stefan says. "Didn't work out though. But, Damon and I," he kneels down near one of the fallen foundations, and takes something from the floor. "looks like we're stuck with each other. Like it or not," he comes up with a piece of cloth, frowning as he uncovered it. Emily's eyes widen.

"That's Damon's. Isn't it?" she asks. Stefan looks to her as she approaches him and takes it from his hand.

"I took it from him. I have to give it back." Emily caresses the ring's jeweled surface, uncertain what to make of it.

"No. Don't, Stefan. Keep it hidden," Elena says, approaching the two as Emily also well glared at Stefan's words.

"Elena, if I don't give it to him, he'll retaliate in the only way that he knows can hurt me," Stefan anxiously says.

"And how is that?" Elena carelessly asks, but Emily already knows the answer.

"By hurting you," he replies. Emily inhales from extreme tension.

The only way she'd let Damon get to her sister would be on her own dead body.

When she came to think of it thought, that wasn't a very far-fetched possibility.

"Okay, wait. Let's just think about this carefully," Emily says. Stefan grows impatient. There was no 'careful' with Damon. "If you give it back to him, he'll be able to walk in the sun again. There'll be nothing keeping him from 'hurting Elena', or anyone, for that matter." Elena nods enthusiastically at that. Stefan shakes his head.

"You don't understand. If I don't give him what he wants, he will hurt her," Stefan pushes. Both girls are stricken with fear by this. "But, if I do-"

"What, you think there's a chance he won't?" Emily rejects.

"Look, I can handle Damon," he lies, not wanting to explain why Damon wouldn't hurt Elena if he didn't have to. "You have to trust me, Emily. Please."

The siblings glance at one another.

Emily blows frustrated air from her nose.

She hands him the ring.

XXX

"What's going on?" Emily demands, rushing into her living room to pick her brother off the floor, against the couch. Behind her was Stefan and Elena, and opposite Jeremy was Matt and Vicki, nearer to the kitchen entrance.

"She's really messed up," Matt replies, referring to Vicki.

"I'm fine," Jeremy shrugs Emily off him, not wanting to be helped up by his sister.

"Elena. Back up," Stefan says to Elena, who was approaching Vicki in concern. Emily turns at his statement warily.

"Vicki. Look at me," he says, cupping her cheek. The group eye him strangely. "Focus. You're gonna be fine. Everything's gonna be fine," he quietly says. Vicki nods slowly at his words.

The sisters discover what he was doing.

He was compelling her.

Their eyes widen in both curiosity and shock.

"Guys. Take her up to bed. Shut the door," he faces Matt and Jeremy. "She's gonna be okay. Come on," he guides her towards them, they who comply and take her up the stairs.

"You know what's wrong with her?" Elena asks as Stefan faces her and Emily, who were inside the kitchen then.

"Yeah," Stefan warily nods.

"Well?" Emily pushes. Stefan clenches his jaw from tension.

"She's transitioning," he reluctantly declares.

"Transitioning to what?" Elena furrows her brows.

Emily's eyes further widen.

"Oh no," she utters. Stefan glances at her, and gives one sole nod.

"A vampire," he confirms. Elena is taken aback. Emily swallows nervously, eyeing about in uncertainty.

"What?" Elena breathes.

"Damon must have gotten to her," he continues. Emily snaps back at that.

Damon.

Was he the core of every new problem?!

"But she's new. She hasn't completed her transition yet," he assures.

"And how exactly would she do that?" Emily angrily demands. Stefan debates telling them. He hated being the bearer of bad news.

"…She has to feed on human blood," he gives. Emily cups her lower face, turning away in disbelief. She hears her sister ask from behind her:

"And…If she doesn't?"

"…She'll die," Stefan confesses.

Emily turns to him again from the kitchen counter at that.

The room grows a grim silent.

"…How long-" Emily swallows to make wet her suddenly dry throat. "How long does she have?" she asks.

"…Maybe a few hours," Stefan replies.

"Oh god," Elena breathes. "She's upstairs with them right now!" Elena exclaims, rushing to go there herself. Stefan grasps her upper arm to stop her.

Emily doesn't wait. She rushes up there herself. "Emily, wait! She doesn't know what's happening yet," Stefan follows after her.

"Well, I'm not waiting till she decides my brother is her next meal!" Emily retorts, climbing up the stairs. Stefan lets her as Elena follows too.

Just then, the door to Jeremy's opens, and Vicki pushes past them all to run outside the house, ignoring everyone's calls.

Matt heads out first,

and has zero visual on his sister.

XXX

It had been nearly three hours since Stefan had went out to look for Vicki. The Gilberts, minus Jenna who was out, were all in a state of panic, Jeremy the only one in the dark, and fairly confused as to what had happened to his supposed girlfriend.

The doorbell rings, and Emily, from the kitchen, with her siblings, heads to answer it.

She opens,

to find Damon.

XXXXX