I don't own anything related to "The Vampire Diaries" which they belong to the LJ Smith and The CW.
I only own Eva Gilbert, Danielle Pierce, Thora Petrova and Cassandra.
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I wanna thank you to my girl, Gracie for all the help and support she is given me. Love you, girl. Read her story guys. It is great. Link for her story and her profile are on my profile and of course my friends outside the fan fiction world.
Graciiee: Thank you so much for your support in everything and for listening me asking questions and my ideas. Love you, babe! Best friend I could find in this world of fan fiction.
Luís, Thy Bia and GoGo: Thank you guys for all the support. Love you! Always here to support me in everything and anything. No questions asked. Even if you are not a fan of TVD, you still listening me and give your opinions, so thank you so much! : ) 3 Always there for me and you don't even ask what's wrong. Always there. Thank you, Luis, Thy, GoIs and Bia. Love you.
And thank you to everyone who favored the story and of course the reviews. Thank you so much. I hope you guys had a great Christmas and a New Years with your family and friends.
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Chapter XX
Blood Brothers
Stefan was still locked up in a cell in the basement of the Salvatore Boarding House, to help him gain the control once again. He is hallucinating due to the lack of the human blood that he wasn't drinking anymore.
Flashback
It was 1864 when the towns people was capturing all the vampires. Stefan and Damon wanted to save the Pierce sisters, Katherine and Danielle.
"We have to get to the church. They're waiting." The man said to the young Salvatore brothers.
"Circle around that way. I'll distract them. Go." Stefan said to his older brother. "Over here! There's another one! Quick! Help me!" He said to the other men.
"Arm yourselves." Jonathan Gilbert said to the men before they follow Stefan. Only one man was standing guard over the carriage containing the vampires. Damon hit him and knocked him out. Stefan returned to help Damon, who grabbed the keys out of the man's pocket and unlocked the carriage.
"We don't have long." Stefan said to his brother.
"Danielle. Katherine." Damon called them. When he found then Stefan lifted Katherine while Damon lifted Danielle out of the carriage. They untied the women and took off the muzzle that both had on their mouths.
"We're going to get you both out of here. Damon, hurry. Hurry." Stefan to his brother when Damon was shot on his heart. When Stefan saw his brother hurt he ran to him to help him. "No! No. Damon." He said in full panic now.
"Come on. Let's go." The group of men called each other.
"Uhh!" Stefan said after picking up a gun and got shot too.
End of Flashback
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
Stefan was still hallucinating about the past in 1864 and about present.
"Stefan. Stefan." Damon was calling him.
"Stefan." Eva called him too.
"I love you, Stefan." Katherine and Elena said that to him. On his flashback, Katherine was taken back into the carriage and her sister was taken too. Damon leaded the girls out in the present. Elena looked through the bars at him. She was worried sick about him and his state of mind.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
Elena and Eva were with Damon in the cellar. Elena was watching Stefan. He was very weak without the blood.
"It's so hard to see him locked up like this." Elena explained to him.
"You're the one who locked him up." Damon stated to her.
"You both helped." Elena told them glaring playfully.
"I couldn't have him running around chewing on people. While the town was looking for vampires, now, could I?" Damon said smirking.
"Lena, you know I did this to help him, right?" Eva asked her sister.
"It had nothing to do with you actually caring about him?" Elena asked Damon looking directly at him.
"Your thing, not mine." Damon stated to her and Eva looked at him shock her head knowing that Damon really cared about him.
"Right." Eva murmured and Damon looked at her with a smirk.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
Flashback
Stefan was hallucinating about 1864 once again. This time he was in a quarry, where he woke up with a start and when he opened his shirt, and saw that the bullet wound was gone. Then he looked at his hand and saw a ring there with the Salvatore crest and in the center the letter "S" of his name. As he examined the ring, Emily Bennett, the hand maid of the Pierce sisters, approached him with some informations.
"Katherine and Danielle had me make that for you weeks ago." Emily explained to him.
"Where am I?" Stefan asked her not knowing where he was.
"The quarry just north of town. My brother and I brought you here last night. We found you dead in the woods." Emily continued to explain everything to him.
"Where's Damon? Am I... Am I a...?" Stefan asked worried about his brother and then wanting to know if he was already a vampire.
"Not yet. You're in transition." Emily finally said.
"But how? I..." Stefan asked her because he never drank human blood.
"You had Katherine's blood in your system when you died." Emily explained to him.
"No. I never..." Stefan started because he knew he never had drink Katherine's blood.
"She's been compelling you to drink it for weeks, Stefan." Emily stated to him.
"And Damon?" Stefan asked worried about his brother.
"No compulsion was necessary. He drank from Danielle willingly." Emily explained to him about Damon's knowledge.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
When Stefan saw his older brother, he went to join Damon by the river, which he thinking deeply.
"I woke up last night. I didn't know where I was. I went to the church. And I watched them drag Danielle and Katherine inside. Then they set fire to it. And the whole church went up into flames. They killed them, Stefan. They are gone." Damon said with a sad look on his face.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
Damon was in the living room of the Salvatore Boarding House looking at the object which Pearl gave him with Eva beside him looking through some books, when Elena entered the living room.
"Did you ever figure out what that is?" Elena asked him sitting in front of her sister.
"Nope. Whatever it is, it doesn't work." Damon said to her.
"Pearl didn't say anything else about it?" Elena asked with curiosity.
"That's why I'm trying to see if tells something in these books." Eva said to her sister.
"She thought she was stealing his vampire compass, but that was a pocket watch. That Johnathan Gilbert was a crazy scientist. Have one you spoken to your dearest uncle lately?" Damon asked Elena.
"I've been avoiding him, actually. That, and I've been here most nights." Elena said to Damon with a serious look.
"Me too. That man gives me creeps, the way he treats me and Lena." Eva said to him.
"So, you both will be here again tonight?" Damon asked them.
"Is that a problem?" Elena asked him looking up at him.
"Yes. You're a complete nuisance." He said turning to Elena and then turned to Eva looking at her. "You, Eva in the other hand are always welcome here." He said smiling.
"Heh. See you later." Elena said picking up her school bag. "You coming Eva?" She asked her sister walking to the front door.
"Yeah, I'm coming. See you later Damon." Eva said picking up her school bag and kissing next his check and followed her sister.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
Jeremy was walking into the direction of his class when Anna joined him smiling.
"Hey. Surprise." Anna said to him smiling.
"What are you doing here?" Jeremy asked her surprised to see Anna.
"Picking up this." Anna said showing him her schedule.
"A class schedule?" Jeremy asked smiling.
"Starting tomorrow, I'm officially a student here." Anna said smiling at him.
"You're kidding me, right?" Jeremy said smiling widely.
"No. I finally beat my mom down." Anna said with the smile that Jeremy had on his face.
"Heh. But why would you want to go to high school? It blows." Jeremy said remembering that she could do anything because she was a vampire.
"Do I really need to answer that?" Anna asked him sarcastically.
"You'd suffer through all this just to hang out with me?" Jeremy asked her still unconvinced that she wanted spend more time with him.
"Yeah. I would." Anna said smiling at him.
"That's, um..." Jeremey said not knowing what to say.
" Stupid? Pathetic? Old lurky me?" Anna said laughing.
"It's awesome. It's awesome." He said to her and then they kissed each other.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
Damon sill was on the Salvatore Boarding House and went to the basement take a bottle of animal blood to Stefan.
"Brought you something to eat… 100% Stefan diet approved. You know what will happen if you don't eat. You'll get all rotting and crusty." Damon said jokingly.
"I'm not hungry." Stefan said weakly.
"Of course you are. We're eternally hungry. Take it." Damon said to his brother and threw the bottle inside the cell. "The human blood should be gone by now. You want to explain why you're still in here. Feeling sorry for yourself? Come on. Drink up. Fine. Starve. What do I care?" Damon said leaving.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
When Damon entered the living room his cell phone rang.
"Hello?" Damon said into the phone.
"Hey, it's Alaric Saltzman." Alaric said from the other side.
"Before I hang up, how did you get this number?" Damon asked him a little surprised.
"Ah, it's a mystery. Listen, I've, uh, been doing some digging on Eva and Elena's uncle, are you interested?" Alaric asked him knowing that the vampire would be.
"What kind of digging?" Damon asked him interested.
"I've got an old friend from Duke. Who studied criminology when we were there together. Let's just say he's become a very proficient digger." Alaric explained to Damon how he got that information.
"Well, did he find anything?" Damon asked him more interested.
"Well, I had him run a track on John's cell records. He was getting a call from a number... The same number that Elena dialed to get Isobel. And then the number was disconnected." Alaric continued to explain.
"Isobel knows John. Whatever. We knew that." Damon stated already knowing that information.
"Right. Well, after that, he started getting calls from a new number. And I had my friend run a geo track. Got the address. It's... It's an apartment in Grove Hill." Alaric said to him hoping that would stick.
"Isobel's in Grove Hill?" Damon asked him surprised.
"I don't know. I thought we could take a look and see what we find." Alaric said to him hoping that they could go.
"Perfect. Give me the address." Damon demanded to him.
"Oh, so you can go without me? No. I don't think so." Alaric stated to him.
"I'm not going with you. You tried to kill me." Damon said to him like it was obvious.
"Yeah, well, you did kill me." Alaric remembered him.
"Hold on." Damon said when he heard another call coming in. "What?" Damon asked after seeing that it was Elena.
"I'm just grabbing some clothes, and then I'll be right over and Eva is doing the same thing. How's Stefan?" Elena asked him.
"Extra broody. Hold on." Damon said to her and then goes back to the conversation with Alaric. "You drive. Pick me and Eva up in an hour." Damon ordered to him.
"Done." Alaric said he hang up the phone.
"He won't eat anything." Damon said to Elena when he returned to talk with her on the phone.
"He has to eat what's his favorite... Kind of, um..." Elena tried to ask Damon what favorite type of blood Stefan liked.
"His favorite kind of what?" Damon asked her already knowing what she was trying to ask him.
"Type of animal blood that he prefers?" Elena finally asked him.
"Ewwww. Gross." Damon said because he didn't like animal blood.
"Heh. Your joking doesn't help." Elena said with a scowl.
"Helps me. Now, hurry up. I can't baby-sit all night. I have things to do." Damon stated because he wanted Eva to come with him and Alaric. He thought in that way he wouldn't kill Alaric or Alaric wouldn't kill him.
"I would say, drop dead but..." She said into the phone.
"Ha, ha, ha. Stefan likes... Puppy blood... Little golden retriever puppies with cute, floppy ears. That's his favorite." Damon said sarcastically.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
At the Gilbert House, Elena hanged up the phone call on Damon, scoffing at him. She closed her closet door and John was standing behind it.
"Sorry." John said to Elena.
"Uncle John. I didn't see you there." Elena said to her uncle.
"I thought we could talk. We haven't had a chance to catch up." John suggested to Elena.
"I'm actually just heading out and Eva too, so..." Elena said because she really didn't want to talk with John.
"Lena, are you ready?" Eva asked her when appeared at her doorway with her phone on the end. Eva had finished talking with Damon.
"Yeah, I'm done." Elena said and went to leave her room.
"Eva, glad I see you too. I want to talk with you two." John said to the girls.
"We are going to head out. We can't talk with you now." Eva said looking at John.
"Well, it won't take long." John said trying to convince them to stay.
"What did you want to talk about?" Elena said finally giving up.
"Well... I know you know." He said to the girls.
"Know what?" Eva asked him playing dumb.
"It's really silly to keep pretending. What do you think your mother would say. If she knew you were dating a vampire?" He asked to Elena and then turned to Eva. "And your involvement on and off with a vampire too?"
"Which mother?" Elena asked him sarcastically and both girls left the room, leaving a surprised John behind.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
Eva was picking up some clothes and putting them inside of a bag to take to the Salvatore Boarding House to company her sister while Elena took care of Stefan. When she saw that she had everything she wanted to take, her phone started to ring.
"Hello?" Eva asked into the phone.
"Hello, Miss Gilbert." Damon said into the phone flirting with her.
"Damon, everything is okay?" Eva asked worried to him.
"Yeah. I wanted to know if you are coming with Elena." Damon asked her.
"Yeah, I'm gonna with her. I don't wanna stay in the same house my uncle is. I don't like him." Eva said into the phone and picking up her bag.
"Join the club girl." He said laughing.
"So, you need something?" Eva asked him closing the door of her room and going to Elena's room.
"Yeah. Alaric discovered something about your uncle. Do you wanna join me?" Damon asked her with hope on his voice.
"Sure. I wanna know everything about him." Eva told him smirking.
"Good. See you soon." Damon told her and hanged up.
"See you soon." Eva said and hanged up too.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
At the Salvatore House, Stefan continued on his cell still sitting on the floor of the cell and still remembering the night or the day he became a vampire.
Flashback
Stefan was getting a pail of water and brought it over to where Damon was sitting watching the water. They were washing out their shirts with the water to remove the blood stains.
"I bet Johnathan Gilbert has told father by now. Wonder how he took the news that we're dead." The human Stefan told Damon.
"As if he cares. He betrayed us." Damon stated with hate.
"He thought he was protecting us, Damon and he thought he was protecting this town from the vampires." Stefan tried to defend Giuseppe.
"God. This sun hurts my eyes." Damon said when he looked around.
"It's part of it. The muscle aches, the sick feeling... Emily says it's our bodies pushing us to feed, to complete the transition." Stefan explained to Damon.
"That's not gonna happen." Damon said to his brother. He wasn't going to feed to became a vampire.
"Is that your choice, then? To die instead?" Stefan asked him surprised.
"Isn't it yours? This was all to be with Danielle. But she's gone. I want it over." Damon said to him. He was still in love with Danielle.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
When Elena arrived at the Salvatore House, she went down to the basement to see her boyfriend while Eva went to talk with Damon on the living room.
"How you are feelin'? Damon says you need to drink that. You need it, Stefan. Can't survive without it." Elena said trying to convince Stefan.
"I don't want to survive." Stefan said to her still a little lost on the past.
"What? Don't say that." Elena pleaded with him.
"I'm sorry, Elena. No more. After what I've done, it has to end. I just want it over." He said to her and Elena left to upstairs with a concerned look.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
While Elena was downstairs, Eva and Damon were in the living room talking. He was updating her about what Alaric discovered about her uncle.
"Are you sure he is hiding something?" Eva asked him without surprise that John was doing something shady.
"I am and I want you to come because if something happens Alaric and I don't kill each other." Damon stated chuckling.
"Okay. When are we going?" Eva asked him with curiosity.
"In an hour." Damon told her and leaned in to kiss her when he heard Elena coming up stairs after leaving Stefan alone. "Your sister is coming." He said and then Elena appeared at the doorway.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
After coming upstairs, Elena was sitting in the living room with Damon and Eva, and talking to them about Stefan's refusal to eat.
"He's just being dramatic. He's not gonna starve himself." Damon stated to her.
"Why would he say that?" Elena asked him worried.
"He feels bad about hurting that girl the other day. It's a very typical Stefan martyr stuff. It will pass." Damon said already knowing how his brother acted.
"Will it? Because he seemed to be in a lot of pain." Elena said with worry showing on her face.
"Yeah. Well, that will pass, too, once he eats." Damon explained to her.
"I didn't mean physical pain." Elena stated looking at them picking up their jackets.
"I know what you meant." Damon said to her and nodded at Eva that he was ready to leave for their meet with Alaric. "Look, are you gonna be okay here if I and Eva have to run out? We have to go to an errand with the teacher." Damon asked her.
"The teacher? Alaric? Are you two friends now?" She asked surprised that Damon was going take care of something with Alaric and Eva.
"I don't have any friends, Elena." Damon said to her but corrected when he saw the glare he was receiving from the other Gilbert. "Sorry, besides Eva, of course." He said smiling at her.
"I better be!" Eva said with a mocking glare destined to Damon.
"Right." Elena said sarcastically.
"You should, you should stay up here. You shouldn't be down there by yourself." He said to Elena.
"I'll be fine." Elena said reassuring her sister and Damon.
"Are you sure, twin?" Eva asked Elena worried.
"Yes, I am." Elena nodded at her sister.
"You know... You're very trusting of him, given the circumstances." Damon said to her, not knowing how she could be around him now.
"So are you. Otherwise, you wouldn't be leaving." Elena stated to him already knowing that he was showing his feelings.
"We won't be long." Damon said leavin the house with Eva right behind him.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
At the Mystic Grill, John Gilbert was waiting for Pearl to come to join him, for them to talk about the place she wanted to buy. He was drinking something, when Pearl finally arrived and joined him at the table.
"Hello, Mr. Gilbert." Pearl said to John sitting down in front of him at the table.
"Pearl. What a pleasure. I must admit, I'm surprised that you came." John said surprised that the vampire came.
"Jenna tells me that you wanted to discuss the sale of the building in person." Pearl said to him wanting to know what he wanted.
"Still, revealing yourself to me like this, it took quite a risk." John said to her coming to another subject, the vampires in town.
"I'm not stupid, Mr. Gilbert. You knew who I was when you requested the meeting. So, Damon tells me that you're looking for the device I took from Johnathan. I'm sure you realize I have no intention of giving it to you." Pearl said to him simply because she wasn't going to give him that device.
"That's why I wanted to meet you. I'm planning on changing your mind." John said trying to use his charm.
"Really? How so?" Pearl asked him knowing what his plan was.
"With my Gilbert charm. I know that you have a weakness for it. May I buy you a drink?" John asked her trying to charm him.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
At the Gilbert House, Jeremy and Anna were talking in his bedroom. She was telling him about the life in 1864 and her story to Jeremy.
"So, your mother was in love with Johnathan Gilbert, and he betrayed her?" Jeremy asked her surprised by that.
"Yup." Anna said to him popping the "p".
"Now my uncle John wants this invention device thing that she gave to Damon." He said to her trying to understand what she was explaining.
"That's pretty much it." Anna said to him smiling.
"John mentioned there were more Gilbert journals. I bet that's how he knows everything." Jeremy said to her because he was interested on his heritage.
"Do we have to talk about this all night? I've told you everything. I probably shouldn't have, 'cause that could get us both in a lot of trouble." Anna said to him hoping he wouldn't tell him that to John.
"I'm not gonna say anything." Jeremy said that to assure Anna.
"Your uncle John wants us dead." Anna stated to him knowing what some people thought about the vampires.
"Oh, you don't know that." Jeremy tried to defend his uncle.
"Yes, I do. He's a hater, Jeremy." Anna tried to tell him.
"Well, I'm not." Jeremy said to her smiling.
"No. You're something else entirely." Anna said chuckling at him.
"Oh, yeah? What would that be?" Jeremy said flirting with her.
"My weakness." Anna simply said to him and they lean in where they start to kiss each other while taking off each other clothes off.
"I don't want Jenna to walk in on us." Jeremy said stopping the kiss.
"Jenna's in the kitchen. She just opened the refrigerator." Anna said to him using her vampire hearing.
"Wait. You can hear that? That is so cool." Jeremy told her smiling at that and went back to kissing her.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
After Damon and Eva got inside Alaric's car, they went to an apartment in the Groove Hill. When they reached it Alaric pointed the door at Damon and Eva.
"This is the one here. The records show is was paid 3 months in advance." Alaric explained to them.
"This is where it gets tricky. I may or may not be able to get in." Damon said to them.
"Damn it." Eva murmured already remembering what he had explained to her after she and Elena discovered that both Salvatore brothers where vampires.
"Yeah, how does that work? You always have to be invited in?" Alaric asked Damon with curiosity.
"By the owner or the person of entitlement. Short-term rentals and hotels are a bit of a gray area. You kind of gotta play it by ear." Damon explained to Alaric.
"Heh. Could we not kill anyone tonight, please?" Alaric to Damon.
"For me, fine. But if a vampire tries to kill me because I look like Danielle, I'm in a favor to kill him." Eva said to both men.
"You mean, you just brought me along for my company?" Damon asked him while opened the door.
"It doesn't look like anyone's home." Alaric said after not hearing noises from the inside of the apartment.
"Yeah. I'm good. No permanent resident, apparently." Damon said after trying to put a feet inside the house. Then he went to the fridge and found some blood bags. "Uh, Ric, Eva, we have company." Damon said when a man jumped on Alaric's back. Alaric stabbed him with a wood knuckles while Eva tried to look for some wood to kill the vampire. The same man seeing that tried attack them once again when Damon threw him off Alaric.
"Boys, boys, that's enough." Damon said and then turned to vampire recognized him from 1864. "I know you." He stated.
"Damon?" The man asked him which recognized Damon too.
"Your name is Henry. You were in the tomb." Damon stated to him.
"Yes, sir. What are you doing here?" Henry asked him and then saw that Eva was with him. "Miss Danielle?" Henry asked thinking that Eva was Danielle Pierce.
"I'm not her. I'm human." Eva tried to say to him.
"How?" Henry asked still a little nervous.
"Try to hear her heartbeat." Damon said and when Henry heard he looked so surprised by that that he didn't had words.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
Stefan was still at the Boarding House on his cell and lost on his memories of 1864 when he and his brother turned into vampires.
Flashback
At the Salvatore Manor in 1864, Stefan was approaching his house. When he was close to the window, he heard Johnathan and his father talking.
"May I offer you a drink, Mr. Gilbert?" Giuseppe asked to Jonathan.
"Thank you, Mr. Salvatore." Jonathan thanked him.
"This won't take much longer." Giuseppe said to Jonathan thinking about the vampires that they caught earlier.
"I want to make sure the founder's archives are accurate." Jonathan said to Giuseppe because they didn't want to the next generations know about the vampires.
"Be sure you document the loss of civilian life in the church." Giuseppe said him giving him like it was an order.
"They were hardly civilians, Mr. Salvatore." Jonathan said about the vampires.
"As far as anyone needs to know, they were. As the record keeper for the council, what you write will be passed down through generations. Certain details should be kept only between you and me." Giuseppe explained to Jonathan.
"For example?" Jonathan tried to know what he was trying to say.
"My sons. They will be remembered as the innocent victims of the Battle of Willow Creek, not for their shame." Giuseppe stated to him.
"Certainly, Mr. Salvatore." Jonathan agreed with Giuseppe.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
At the Salvatore Boarding House, Elena walked back to the cell to know if Stefan had feed or not. She was worried about him.
"You know, Damon hasn't fed me vervain in a while. I could be at those bars in a flash, and you'd be dead." Stefan said to her to make Elena leave.
"Yeah, you could. But you won't." Elena said with conviction.
"Please just go away. I don't want you here." Stefan said while Elena entered the cellar to join him on the floor. "What are you doing? Get out of here." Stefan said to her with fear that he would hurt her.
"No." Elena said with a strong voice.
"You're taking a stupid risk. I could hurt you." Stefan said with a cold voice.
"Then I'm stupid. You need to drink this." Elena said picking up the bottle of blood.
"Elena, get out of here, or you'll regret it." Stefan tried to advise her one more time.
"Drink." Elena said giving him the bottle.
"I said get out!" Stefan yelled at her and knocked the bottle of blood from her hand with his vampire face.
"No." Elena said once again with determination.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
Damon, Eva and Alaric were still talking with Henry, the vampire that was on the tomb, on the apartment in Grove Hill. They wanted information from him.
"So, how do you know John Gilbert?" Henry asked them.
"Well, I've known him for years. He's a good friend. How do you know him?" Damon said to Henry.
"And he is my uncle." Eva supplied.
"I met him right after I got out of the tomb. He's been helping me out." Henry explained that to them, trying to show that John was a good guy.
"Helping you out how?" Alaric asked with curiosity.
"Adapting. It's a whole new world... Cars, computers, . There's so much to learn. He helped me get this place." Henry explained to them.
"So, do you live here alone or is there someone else here?" Alaric tried to get more information.
"That's my friend's very... Passive-aggressive way of asking, uh, do you know a woman named Isobel?" Damon asked to Henry.
"Uh, no. No, I don't know an Isobel. I know John. He's my only real friend. He really showed me the ropes... how to use a microwave, separate my whites." Henry said once again to defend John.
"Right. He would do that." Eva said sarcastically.
"What else do you do for him?" Alaric asked him again.
"I help keep an eye on things… You know, with the others." Henry said to them about the others vampires that were inside the tomb too.
"The others?" Damon asked not understanding what he meant.
"From the tomb. They're still pissed at the Founding Families for trying to burn them alive. I'm cool, but those tomb boys, they want revenge." Henry explained to them.
"What does John want with them?" Alaric asked him worried about the town's people.
"He's just keeping an eye on them, you know? Trying to make sure they stay out of trouble." Henry said like it was obvious.
"Well, that's John. Heh. He's such a do-gooder." Damon said smirking sarcastically and looked at Eva and Alaric.
"Heh. That's John now." Henry said when saw his phone ringing.
"Oh. Hey, let me talk to him." Damon said asking for the cell phone.
"All right. Yeah. Are you gonna answer that?" Henry asked Damon looking up at him.
"Am I gonna... answer that?" Damon asked and looked at them while Alaric shock his head saying no.
"What's going on?" Henry asked suspicious of something and then seeing that they lied to him, Henry ran at Alaric while Damon grabbed him and Alaric stabbed him a stake killing the vampire.
""Let's not kill anyone tonight." Your words. Just pointing that out." Damon said sarcastically and then turned to Eva. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Eva said to him nodding.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
At the Mystic Grill, Pearl still was talking with John. She was waiting that he would come back to the table.
"My apologies." John apologized when he returned to the table.
"No apologies necessary. So, tell me, Mr. Gilbert, why should I let you have the device?" Pearl asked him interested.
"Because I can help you. I'm connected around here. The town council's eating out of my hand. They do whatever I say. And I know that you just want to live your life. Complete with a white picket fence, and I can help you do that." John said trying to bargain with her.
"But the device doesn't work. Why would you even want it?" Pearl asked him with curiosity lacing her voice.
"It's a family heirloom. Call me sentimental." John said trying to charm Pearl.
"Johnathan was ahead of his time." Pearl said that to defend Johnathan Gilbert.
"I read his journals. They're very extensive. He actually wrote about you. You were his one regret. He loved you, and he hated himself for what he did to you." John said to her in hopes that she would give him the device.
"You're lying." Pearl stated to him not believing him.
"No. On his last days, he wrote how sorry he was. You were the only woman he ever loved." John said to her but seeing the emotions crossing her face he started to smirk at her for starting to believe in him. "Good God. You vampires... you're so emotional people. Johnathan Gilbert hated you. His only regret was that he didn't drive a stake through your heart himself." John stated to her.
"I gave it to Damon." Pearl said to him not caring anymore.
"What?" John asked surprised to hear that.
"I gave your device to Damon. Why don't you ask him for it yourself? I'm sure he'd be delighted to give it to you. And then, Mr. Gilbert, may you rot in hell." Pearl said pissed at him and left him alone on the table.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
At the Salvatore Boarding House, Elena was sitting in the cellar with Stefan. She was trying to make him talk with her.
"Talk to me, Stefan. Why are you doing this?" Elena asked him worried.
"I'm making the decision I should have made years ago." Stefan said to her remembering the night he had turned.
"What are you talking about?" Elena asked him with a worried face.
"You have to feed in order to complete the transition." Stefan explained to her about the transition again.
"I know that." Elena said to him that she already knew about the turning.
"It was a choice I shouldn't have made." Stefan said to her and starting to remember when he went to see his father and turned himself.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
Stefan started to tell Elena how he had completed the transition into a vampire that night after leaving the quarry where he and his brother were after they had woke up.
Flashback
It's 1864 and at the Salvatore Manor, Stefan entered on his father's office where he writing on his journal.
"Dear God." Giuseppe said after seeing his son alive.
"Even in our death, you only feel shame?" Stefan asked his father surprised that his father would say something like that.
"You're one of them now." Giuseppe said with a disappointed look.
"No. Father, I came to say good-bye." Stefan said to his father because he wasn't planning to complete the transition.
"I watched you die." Giuseppe said still surprised to see Stefan.
"You were there when we were shot?" Stefan asked him surprised that his father did nothing to help him and Damon.
"I pulled the trigger myself." Giuseppe stated to him with hate on his voice because his sons decided to join with the vampires.
"You killed your own sons?" Stefan asked him even more surprised that his own father killed him and his older brother.
"You were both dead to me the moment you sided with the vampires. I only thank God that your mother isn't alive to see the disgrace you've become." Giuseppe said to Stefan disappointed with them.
"I haven't turned yet. I don't want to. I'm going to let myself die, father. Please." Stefan said to Giuseppe pleading with him.
"Yes, you are." Giuseppe said while got a stake out and tried to stab Stefan. He younger Salvatore threw him against the wall not knowing his own strength. The stake has impaled on his father. Stefan rushed towards him to help. "Uhh!" Giuseppe said after feeling the pains.
"Father, I didn't mean to." Stefan said trying to help him.
"Get away from me." Giuseppe ordered to him.
"No, let me help you. Please." Stefan pleaded with him and removed the stake from his father chest. He saw the blood on the stake and his fingers and he licked his fingers not resisting the call of the blood. He touched his father's wound and licked more blood from his fingers then his eyes start to transform into a vampire.
"Ohh. Ohh." Giuseppe said seeing that his son completed the transition.
"Uhh. Uhh! Oh, God. What's happening to me?" Stefan asked to himself not knowing what was happening when he felt his fangs growing inside of his mouth.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
At the cellar in the Salvatore Boarding House, Stefan and Elena were still talking on the floor. She was still worried about him.
"How can you even look at me right now?" Stefan asked her after finished telling her how he had turned that night.
"You need to be able to talk about these things, Stefan. I need to hear them. Come upstairs. We can talk about it more, and we'll keep talking as long as you need." Elena said to him hoping he would come with her.
"You're so sure I'm ready." Stefan said to unsure what to do.
"And when you feel the same way... I'll be upstairs." Elena said while pulled out his daylight ring and placed it on the cot next to him.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
Damon, Alaric and Eva were still at the apartment in Grove Hill. Damon was searching for any information just like the others.
"Find anything yet?" Damon asked them.
"No, nothing." Eva said to him.
"No, I looked everywhere. The place is... The place is clean." Alaric stated to him.
"Well, I found this. Behind the blood in the fridge." Damon said showing them the hematomas.
"Oh, man, this was a real dead-end." Alaric commented disappointed.
"I wouldn't beat myself up over it, man. What did you think you were gonna find, huh? Isobel with a cigar and slippers?" Damon asked sarcastically at him.
"Damon!" Eva said slapping his arm for what he said to Alaric.
"Oh, man. I... I gotta stop this. I can't... I can't keep searching for her." Alaric said disappointed that he would never find Isobel again.
"Really? After only 2 years? That's actually... Moderately healthy." Damon commented to him about Isobel.
"What are you going on? 146?" Alaric asked him in the same tone about Danielle.
"Men!" Eva said pissed at them. "Always after women who don't want them and who love play with emotions." Eva said even more pissed.
"Well, I figure the 200 mark is probably a good stopping point." Damon said to him not really listening what Eva had said.
"Ahh. I mean, no answer is enough. I keep thinking I wanna know why, when, you know, the precise moment. When my wife decided life with me wasn't enough." He explained to him.
"She charmed me, your wife Isobel. She talked a good game, man. She was smart. She had this excitement in her eyes. I probably should have known there was something different about her, some tie to Katherine and Danielle. There had to be some reason I didn't kill her." Damon tried to explain to Alaric.
"That's enough, Damon. I don't wanna hear anymore. I just don't want to waste any more of my life. Searching for answers that I really don't want. I'm through with Isobel. I... I'm done with all of this. Yeah." Alaric said leaving the apartment.
"I'm sorry but I agree with him. You should do the same with Danielle." Eva said to him and left after Alaric leaving Damon to some of his thoughts.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
Pearl was still living in the Gibbon's House with her daughter and Harper, she was packing her things with the help of Harper. Anna entered in that moment and saw them packing everything.
"Hey. What's the matter?" Anna asked worried.
"I need you to pack your things. We're leaving." Pearl stated to her daughter.
"What? No." Anna refused because she didn't want to leave Jeremy.
"I was wrong to think that we could make a home here. It's time for us to move on." She explained to her daughter not telling her the real reason.
"But I don't want to move on. I want to stay." Anna said to her mother trying to convince her to stay.
"We can't stay. There's too many people here who know the truth about us… Too much history." She said to Anna trying to make her see that Jeremy would never care for her just like Johnathan Gilbert did to her.
"So, what, you're just gonna give up, pack us up, and move us out?" Anna asked her mother starting to get mad at her.
"It's not safe here. You know that." Pearl simply stated to her.
"Please." Anna pleaded once again.
"Is this is about Jeremy?" Pearl asked her already knowing the answer.
"No. It's about me finally getting to build a life for myself. Please, mama." Anna still pleaded once again.
"You gave me my life back. I am just trying to protect yours. I can't force you. It's your decision." Pearl finally said to her daughter hugging her.
~~~Eternal~~Flame~~~
Elena was writing on her journal in the living room of the Salvatore Boarding House when Damon and Eva entered the room.
"Ugh. God. You're still here?" Damon asked when he saw her.
"Hey!" Eva said slapping his head for saying that to her sister and he smiled at her.
"Were you expecting anything else?" Elena asked him after seeing Eva slapping Damon on his head.
"No. Ahh." Damon said and picked up Eva's legs and sat down on the couch with a glass of bourbon and then he placed her legs over his lap while Elena watched everything that was happening between them.
"So, how was the "errand"?" Elena asked them from the love seat.
"Futile. Although, I think I witnessed the teacher having an existential crisis. Has Stefan eaten yet?" Damon asked her interested.
"Damon don't say that about Alaric." Eva scolded Damon and he only shrugged his shoulders.
"I thought you didn't care." Elena stated to him.
"Chalk it up to morbid curiosity." Damon said masking his worry about his little brother.
"I think he's getting there. But he's got a lot of guilt that he has to deal with. And it doesn't help that you've spent the last 145 years punishing him for Katherine and Danielle getting caught." Elena stated to him.
"This is my fault now?" Damon said with a outraged voice.
"No, it's no one's fault, Damon. I'm just... saying you're not exactly innocent. You've made it your life's mission to make him miserable." Elena said defending Stefan.
"Let me ask you a question. In all this important soul-searching and cleansing of the demons of Stefan's past, did you ever manage to get the rest of the story?" Damon asked her getting up from the couch.
"He said there was more." Elena said to him.
"Yeah. That's an understatement." Damon said ready to get another glass of bourbon for himself. Eva got up and went to him to try calm him.
"Damon... Damon. Tell me." Elena pleaded with him.
"Yes, Damon, tell us. I want to know what happened." Eva said giving him puppy eyes.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
Damon sighed and looked at the girls. He sat down on the couch once again and Eva to give him support, squeezed his hand.
"Do you really wanna know?" Damon asked them.
"Yes." Elena said and Eva nodded her head in confirmation.
Flashback
Stefan returned to quarry where Damon was waiting for his death to come. He had come back with a girl for his brother to drink.
"What are you doing? Who is that?" Damon asked Stefan after seeing the girl.
"I brought her for you. She's a gift. Have a seat, please." Stefan said to his brother.
"What have you done, Stefan?" Damon asked to him surprised that he had turned into a vampire.
"Damon, I've been to see father. He came at me. I didn't know my own strength. There was blood everywhere. He was dying, and the blood was too strong. I needed it. I had to have it." Stefan explained to Damon how he had turned into a vampire.
"You fed." Damon stated already knowing that his brother was a vampire now.
"Yes. And it's incredible. My body is exploding with power, Damon." Stefan explained the effects of being a vampire.
"No." Damon said once again. He wanted to die to join Danielle.
"I can hear things from far away. I can see through the darkness. I can move, like it's magic. And the guilt, the pain... Damon, I can turn it off. Like a switch. Katherine and Danielle were right. It's a whole another world out there, Damon." Stefan continued to explain the good things about being a vampire.
"Danielle and Katherine are dead, Stefan. There's no world without them." Damon said to his brother.
"No. You can turn that off, too. You don't have to feel that pain anymore." Stefan said to his brother trying to convince him again.
"I don't want it." Damon said once again.
"You're weak. You'll be dead soon. You need this." Stefan said to him.
"No." Damon refused once again.
"You'll die." Stefan said to him. He wanted his brother with him.
"No. I can't." Damon said refusing again.
"Please. I won't let you die." Stefan said and bite the girls neck and threw her into his brother.
"No. I can't." Damon said not wanting to give him.
"Don't fight it. We can do this... together." Stefan said to his brother and then he finally drank from the girl to finally complete the transition.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
Damon finally finished telling them what had happened in 1864 when the brothers completed the transition.
"From the moment Stefan had his first taste of human blood, he was a different person and I suppose I should thank him. It's been a hell of a ride. Heh." Damon said drinking another glass of bourbon.
"Oh, my God. He said he wanted to die. That's why he won't feed. Now I understand why, but..." Elena finally said realizing something.
"My God. You didn't want to become into a vampire and he forced you?" Eva asked Damon surprised with Damon reveled to them.
"Yeah, it's true." He said to Eva and then turned to Elena. "His choice. If he's stupid enough to make it, so be it." Damon finally said.
"Don't do that. Okay? Don't pretend like you don't care." Elena said to him because she knew that Damon cared about Eva.
"Where are you going?" Damon asked her when he saw that Elena was leaving the living room to talk with Stefan. When she opened the door, she saw that he was gone but the ring was still on the cot. Elena picked up and ran out of the cell.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
Jeremy was asleep in his bed when Anna joined him on the bed. She was going to tell him what happened with her mother.
"Hey." Jeremy said with sleep in his voice.
"It's getting impossible to sneak up on you." Anna said laughing at him.
"Nice try, though." Jeremy said smiling at her.
"Sorry I woke you." Anna apologized to him.
"That's okay. You only woke me halfway." Jeremy said to her explaining.
"So, listen. I..." Anna said to him massaging his hair.
"That feels good." Jeremy said to her.
"Good-bye." Anna said kissing him.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
Damon and Eva were still talking in the living room while Elena went to the cellar and ran out of the house. When Eva saw her sister ran out of the house, she looked at Damon with an eye brow raised.
"She went after Stefan." Damon said shrugging his shoulders.
"Are you sure?" Eva asked him worried.
"Yeah, I think that she already knows where he is." Damon said and sat down beside Eva and started to read a book while Eva took out her song book and started to write a new song for the next gig on the Grill.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
Stefan was at the quarry where Damon turned. He was remembering what happened after his brother completed the transition.
Flashback
Stefan and Damon are both vampires now. Stefan turned to his brother trying to know how is mood was.
"How do you feel?" Stefan asked his brother.
"You were right. It is a whole new world." Damon said agreeing with Stefan.
"We can explore it together." Stefan said to him.
"You got what you wanted... You and me for all eternity. But here this, brother. I will make it an eternity of misery for you." Damon said with so much hate.
"Damon!" Stefan called his brother when he saw him leaving.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
Emily found Stefan after was turned.
"You've transitioned." Emily said approaching him.
"You'd have rather found me dead?" Stefan asked her.
"Katherine and Danielle saved my life once. I owed them. That doesn't mean I'd wish their curse on anyone." Emily explained to Stefan.
"It feels more like a gift." Stefan said not knowing what he was saying.
"That will change." Emily said to him already knowing what was going to happen in the future.
"Why is that?" Stefan asked her worried.
"Because even in death, your heart is pure, Stefan. I sense that about you. That will be your curse." Emily said to him and left.
"Emily, wait." Stefan called her but he didn't see her anymore.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
Stefan was still at the quarry. He was still weak because he hadn't feed the bottle that Damon got for him. Elena approaches him after seeing him alone watching the river.
"Stefan. Damon told me the rest of the story. I thought I might find you here." Elena explained to him.
"I should have died that night, just like I had chosen and I should have let Damon die, too." Stefan said with so much regret on his voice.
"But you didn't. And if you die now, it's not gonna change what happened." Elena said to convince him.
"Every single person that's been hurt... Every single life that's been lost, it's because of me." Stefan said with so much guilt.
"The night that my parents died... I and Eva blew off family night so that we could go to some party. Eva saw Tyler cheating on her with Vicki and left early. She went home early and our parents never knew that we had left for some party, it was only me and I ended up getting stranded, and they had to come pick me up. That's why we ended up in the car at Wickery Bridge. And that's why they died. Our actions are what set things in motion. But we have to live with that." Elena explained to Stefan about the night that her parents died.
"I made a choice, Elena. Because of that choice, a lot of people were hurt." Stefan said to her.
"You also made a choice to stop, to reject the person that the blood made you. You made a choice to be good, Stefan." Elena said to him trying to make him remember the good actions he did as a vampire.
"No. Please don't do that." Stefan pleaded to her.
"That's the person who jumped in the water to save the family whose car had driven off the bridge." Elena said to him because he was the one who saved her and tried to save her parents.
"Please. Don't make this all okay." Stefan pleaded once again.
"That's the person who saved my life." She continued saying to him.
"You don't understand, Elena." Stefan said once again not caring anymore.
"Then tell me." Elena said to him to tell her everything he was feeling.
"It hurts me. It hurts me, knowing what I've done, and that pain... That pain is with me all the time. And every day, I think that if I just... If I just give myself over to the blood, I can make that pain stop. It would be that easy, and every day, I fight that. And I am so terrified that one day, I'm not gonna want to fight that anymore, Elena. And the next time I hurt somebody... It could be you." Stefan said with pain in his voice.
"There will be no next time." Elena said with a sure voice.
"You don't know that." He said to her looking up at her.
"Maybe I don't. But what I do know." Elena said to him. "Is that you can take this, throw it in the quarry, and let the sun rise. Or you could take this ring and put it on and keep fighting." Elena said to him and showed him the ring. Then she gave him and finally kissed him on his mouth. "It's your choice." Elena said and walked away.
"Elena." Stefan called her and then putted his ring. Then he ran to her and kissed her passionately.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
Harper was preparing the luggage of Pearl. They were leaving the town forever. They were going to protect themselves.
"Thank you, Harper." Pearl thanked Harper.
"You're welcome." Harper said to her.
"Annabelle should be back in a minute. You know, you don't have to come with us if you don't want to." Pearl said to Harper because she didn't want him to go with them by force.
"This was never my home, Miss Pearl. I was just a soldier who was left to die. You saved me. I'm coming with you." Harper explained to her.
"Let me help you with these." Pearl said to her and opened the front door when she received a stake on her heart. Harper caught her before she fell on the floor.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
Damon and Eva were in the library doing their own things when Elena and Stefan came home after their talk on the quarry.
"Little boy lost." Damon asked him when he heard them coming inside the library.
"I'll be upstairs, okay?" Elena said to Stefan.
"Okay." Stefan said to her.
"I'm gonna be upstairs okay?" Eva said to Damon.
"Yeah. I will there in a few minutes." Damon said to Eva because he wanted continue to talk with her and see her new song.
"Good night, Damon." Elena said and went upstairs.
"Good night, Stefan." Eva said the same thing and went after her sister.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
Upstairs, Eva went with Elena to Stefan's room for them to talk after Elena went after Stefan at the quarry.
"Everything is alright with Stefan?" Eva asked her worried.
"Yeah, he is fine." Elena said smiling.
"I'm glad. Now, I'm gonna to Damon's room, he wants to talk with me." Eva said to her sister smiling.
"Okay and be careful." Elena advised her sister.
"I will and you too." Eva said the same thing for her sister and left the room.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
Stefan and Damon were left alone and they heard the girls were already upstairs, the brothers finally looked at each other.
"Thank you." Stefan thanked Damon for what he did for him.
"No, Stefan, thank you. You're back on Bambi blood, and I'm the big badass brother again. All is right in the world." Damon said smirking to him.
"I mean it. Thank you. For... helping her take care of me." Stefan thanked Damon once again.
"You brood too much. Everything on this planet is not your fault. My actions, what I do, it's not your fault. I own them. They belong to me. You are not allowed to feel my guilt." Damon said to his brother drinking another glass of bourbon.
"Do you feel guilt?" Stefan asked his brother.
"If I wanted to, it's there. Emily waited till after I turned to tell me she'd been successful in protecting Katherine and Danielle with her spell. She didn't want me to know about the tomb. She thought it would impact my decision." Damon explained to Stefan.
"She didn't want either one of us to turn. She said it was a curse." Stefan said to his brother.
"Witches... Judgy little things." Damon said sarcastically.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Stefan asked his brother with hurt on his voice.
"'Cause I didn't want you to know. 'Cause I hated you and I still do." Damon finally confessed to him.
"I know." Stefan finally said to him.
"But not because you forced me to turn." Damon said to him.
"Then why?" Stefan asked him wanting to know why his older brother hated him so much.
"Because they turned you. It was just supposed to be me, Stefan... Just me." Damon said to his brother. "It was supposed to be me with Danielle. Katherine wasn't going with us in the end. She was supposed to die in that tomb." Damon finally confessed to him and then left to his room.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
When Anna arrived at the Gibbon's House, she found her mother and Harper, staked in the heart.
"I'm back." She said and then found the bodies. "Oh! Mom! Mama! Uhh! Please don't leave me again. No. Please wake up. You have to wake up. No." Anna said crying when she hugged her mother's body.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
John was still on the woods and decided to call Sheriff Forbes to tell her that he had found and killed another two vampires.
"Sheriff Forbes, it's John Gilbert. Sorry to call so late. I have an update about the vampires." He said into the phone.
~~~Eternal~~~Flame~~~
At the Grill, Alaric was sitting at the bar, drinking alone. A woman approached him.
"Hello, Ric." The woman said to him.
"Isobel." Alaric said to the woman recognized her has his wife.