The next morning, Elena knocked on the door to the Boarding House. Damon answered.

"Hello, Elena."

"Stefan here? He called. He said it was important." Elena said.

"Right this way." She headed in at the same time Stefan showed up.

"Hey"

"What is this about?" Elena asked. Rose showed up then. "You."

"Don't worry, she's not here to kidnap you again." Another voice said. Elena looked around, but only saw the three vampires in front of her.

"Did you just…" Elena began.

"That wasn't me." Rose said.

"Oh, great. You're back?" Damon said.

"I'd say I'd haunt you till you die, but that could take a long time." The voice said. Elena turned around, seeing a familiar blonde girl.

"Lexi."

"Long time no see, Elena."

"How can I see you?"

"We must've connected that night, otherwise, I don't think you'd be able to." Lexi explained.

"Can we move this to the living room? We don't have time for this." Rose said.

"Right. I forgot." They headed into the living room.

"Okay, you have to understand I only know what I've picked up over the years and I don't know what's true and what's not true." Rose explained as the group sat down. "It's the problem with all this vampire crap but Klaus, I know he's real."

"Who is he?" Elena asked.

"He's one of the Originals, he's a legend." Damon told her.

"From the first generation of vampires." Stefan added.

"And they're a lot stronger than we are." Lexi said.

"Like Elijah?" Elena asked.

"No. Elijah was the Easter Bunny to Klaus." Rose said. "He's a foot soldier. Klaus is the real deal."

"Klaus is known to be the oldest." Stefan said.

"And the cruelest." Lexi added. Stefan turned to her. "What? There's no point in sugarcoating it, Stef. I heard he's really bad."

"Okay, so you're saying that the oldest vampire in the history of time is coming after me?" Elena asked.

"Yes." Rose said.

"No." Stefan said at the same time.

"Don't confuse the poor girl." Lexi told them.

"What they're saying is, I mean if what she's saying is true…" Damon said, attempting to interpret.

"Which it is." Rose said.

"And you're saying it so I don't kill you."

"Which I'm not."

"Then we're looking at a solid maybe."

"Look, Elijah's dead, right? So no one else even know that you exist." Stefan said.

"Not that you know of." Rose pointed out.

"That's not helping." Damon told her.

"Look, I've never even met anyone who's laid eyes on him. I mean, we're talking centuries of truth mixed with fiction." Stefan pointed out. "We don't know if he's real. For all we know he could just be some sort of stupid bed time stories."

"He's real and he doesn't give up. If he wants something, he gets it. If you're not afraid of Klaus, then you're an idiot." Rose said.

"Alright, we're shaking. You made your point." Damon said.

"Look, all this is doing is making her even more nervous." Lexi pointed out.

"Why are you even here?" Damon asked her.

"I've known Rose a long time, so you can believe me when I say you can trust her." Lexi told them. "When it's something this important, she wouldn't lie."

Elena got up. "Where are you going?"

"To school. I'm late." Elena pointed out.

"Let me grab my stuff, I'll go with you." Stefan told her.

"It's okay, I know where it is." Elena said. She left in a hurry, but Lexi felt like she was hiding something.

"She's in denial." Damon told Rose.

"Shut up, Damon." Stefan and Lexi said at the same time. They looked at each other.

"Guess we still think alike." Lexi said.

Elena was in the woods with Caroline. "I can't believe I'm agreeing to this. I'm a terrible liar."

"And keep Stefan busy. I don't want him to know what I'm up to." Elena told her.

"I'm even worse at duplicity and you know this."

"You managed to keep me occupied when Katherine paid Stefan a visit."

"Yeah, because she threatened me. Not that I'm saying that you should use that as a tactic, it's… Stefan's gonna see right through me." Caroline said.

"Caroline, as my friend, do you promise or not?"

"You had to break out the girlfriend code. Okay. I promise."

"Okay."

"Why don't you want Stefan to know?"

"Because he would never be okay with me doing this."

"I'm not sure any of us would be okay with this, Elena." She turned around. Anna was there.

"Look, I need answers. I know they said I could trust Rose, but we both know there's only one person who knows the real story." Elena pointed out. Anna followed them into the tomb.

"I'm staying with you." Anna told her. "I want to make sure she doesn't try anything."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Caroline asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. She's the only one who knows the truth about Klaus." Elena said. "The only one who can tell me how to stop him."

"But you're asking for the truth from someone who's probably never given it. Are you sure about this?" Caroline asked.

"Yeah. I just can't stay back and wait. I have to know, Caroline. Please." Caroline opened the door.

"Katherine?" Elena called. She turned to Caroline. "I'll be okay from here." They heard something move and turned. Katherine showed up. Anna was surprised how bad she looked. If this weren't serious, she'd probably be laughing.

"Hello Elena. You come to watch me wither away?" Katherine asked. "Goodbye Caroline"

"As long as I stay on this side on the door, she can't hurt me. Please." Elena told her. Caroline left.

"Well, I'm surprised you're still here, Anna." Katherine said.

"If we didn't need you right now, trust me, I'd be happy." Anna told her.

"Stefan know you're here?"

"I brought you some things." Elena said. Anna looked at her. "Trust me."

"You came to bribe me? What is it that you want?" Katherine asked.

"I want you to tell me about Klaus." Elena told her.

"Hmm, you've been busy." Katherine said.

"Yeah, thanks to you, she was kidnapped." Anna said.

"Hey, it's not my fault the message came late."

"Like it's not your fault you're a liar?"

"Hey, we need the help." Elena pointed out. "I brought you this." She took a leather-bound book out of her bag. Anna noticed the word Petrova written on the side. "It's your family history. It says in here that the family line ended with you. Obviously that's not true."

"You think that if you brought me some family keepsake then I'd open up?" Katherine asked.

"Wait, that's your name?" Anna asked.

"You were a vampire. Haven't you changed yours over the century?"

"Touché."

"I also brought you this." Elena took out a bottle of blood. Katherine rushed to the doorway, but the barrier kept her from getting out. "You don't look so good. How long before your body shuts down? 10, 20 years? It must be painful to desiccate and mummify. I can't even imagine."

Katherine sat down. Anna looked at her. "Wow. You must be from the same bloodline." Elena poured the blood into a glass and passed it to Katherine.

"You have the Petrova fire." Katherine told her. "It's a long story, Klaus and I. it was all the way back to England, 1492, after I left Bulgaria or was thrown out."

"Thrown out?" Elena asked.

"My family, your true ancestors, they disowned me." Katherine explained. "My indiscretions were not tolerated at the time. I had a baby out of wedlock. A shame."

"It was kept secret?"

"My baby was given away. I was banished to England and I had to learn to adjust so I quickly became English." Katherine told her. "It was there that I caught the eye of a noble man name Klaus. I was taken with him at first until I found out what he was and what he wanted from me and then I ran like hell."

"Whoa." Anna said. "Mother said you were older than we were, I always thought it was a couple hundred years."

"One of the guys I'd befriended back then helped me escape." Katherine told them.

"So, what did Klaus want?" Elena asked.

"The same thing that he wants from you. He wants to break the curse." Katherine said.

"The Sun and Moon curse?" Anna asked.

"By sacrificing the Petrova doppelganger." Elena said.

"He wanted to drain every single drop of blood of my body." Katherine told her.

At the Boarding House, Lexi was comforting Rose. "Stefan told me what happened. I'm so sorry about your friend."

"It's alright. I should've known what we were getting into, making a deal with an Original." Rose told her. She brushed one of her tears away.

"Alright, Rosebud. I need some answers." They looked as Damon entered. "Oh please don't tell me you're crying 'cause your buddy Trevor lost his head."

"That's low, Damon." Lexi told him.

"You've always been this sensitive?" Rose asked.

"Full vampire switch for this very reason. Takes the emotion out of it." Damon pointed out.

"Yeah, you switch yours, I'll switch mine." Rose told him.

"Is that a dig?"

"It's an observation. Being in love with your brother's girlfriend must be difficult." Lexi looked at Rose.

"What?"

"I'm not in love with anyone." Damon told her.

"You're lying, Damon. I can feel it." Lexi told him.

"You want to try that again?" Rose asked him.

"Don't get on my bad side." Damon warned.

"Then show me your good side." Rose said. Lexi looked at them.

"Wow. I never met anyone who could match Damon like that."

"How do I find Klaus?" Damon asked.

"You don't find Klaus, he finds you." Rose told him.

"Are you insane? Do you have a death wish, Damon?" Lexi asked. "If he finds you, he will kill you."

"So what? I died before. I got over it." Damon told her. He turned to Rose. "Come on. Somebody's got to know somebody who knows where he is, right?"

"Add another two hundred somebodies to that and you're still not even close." Rose told him.

"Humor me. You got in touch with Elijah, how did you do it?" Damon asked.

"Through a very low somebody on the churching poll." Rose explained. "A guy named Slater in Richmond."

"He's still around?" Lexi asked. "I thought he left years ago."

"No, he pretty much spends all his time underground."

"Perfect. I'll drive." Damon said.

"No. You forget not all of us can do sun." Rose said.

"Then you drive." Damon said. "Come on."

"Wait for me." Lexi said. "There's no way you're going alone."

"Don't you trust Rose?" Damon asked.

"Of course I do." Lexi said. "It's you I don't trust." Rose smiled as she left the room. "Not one word."

Back in the tomb, the girls were still talking. "What does the Petrova blood line have to do with Klaus?" Elena asked.

"Yeah, I see why you faked your death all those years ago. I just don't get why he was after you to begin with." Anna said.

"It's really tedious but," Katherine took a drink of blood. She looked more like herself again. "The curse was bound by the sacrifice of Petrova blood. Witches are crafty with their spells." She explained. "The doppelganger was created as a way to be able to undo the spell. Once the doppelganger reappeared, the curse can be broken."

"So you ran before he killed you." Elena said.

"Something like that." Katherine said. She explained how Trevor had given her directions to Rose's safe house and that she had planned on bringing her back to Klaus that evening.

"Rose never ended up taking you back to Klaus, did she?" Elena asked.

"No but not because she had a change of heart." Katherine said. "I tried to stab myself, so she gave me her blood to heal me. Then Trevor showed up and when her back was turned, I decided to end my human life."

"You killed yourself?!" Elena asked. Even Anna was surprised.

"Klaus needed a human doppelganger. As a vampire, I was no longer any use to him." Katherine told her.

"Still, killing yourself?" Anna repeated. "Not that you didn't have a good reason to turn, but that is one of the worst ways to do it. I saw one of my friends attempt it. Didn't end well."

"But it didn't work. You didn't really escape, you've been running from Klaus ever since." Elena pointed out.

"I under estimated his peered for vengeance but leaving with a suitcase is better than dying so you can have your blood spilled over some silly little rock." Katherine told her. Elena looked at her. Anna took her hand. "What's wrong? Afraid, right? You don't want to die? There's another way out." She cut her wrist with her nails. "Better hurry. Your opportunity is going, going, going and gone." It healed quickly. "I made the other choice."

"Rose and Trevor spent the last 500 years running because you used them." Elena said. Now she seemed angry. "Trevor just got killed."

"I never thought he would last for that long." Katherine said. Anna was angry at how indifferent she was.

"You don't even care that you ruined their lives." Elena realized.

"I was looking out for myself, Elena. I will always look out for myself. If you're smart, you'll do the same." Katherine told her.

"Yeah, sending my mother and twenty-five others to their supposed deaths was a good way to look out for yourself." Anna said. "All this just to escape one psychotic vampire?"

"You don't get it, do you?" Katherine turned to her. "They were tracking me. I had to get them off my trail. If I had stayed here, chances are they'd all have died anyway. Them and likely everyone else in town at that time."

"I had to leave because of what your stunt did!"

"Look, if you're going to haunt me for eternity, go ahead. Not like I'm dying anytime soon."

"Anna." She turned to face Elena. "This isn't helping. I know that you're mad at her, believe me, we all have a reason to be, but we need to figure out what to do about this mess she's gotten us into."

"How can we trust her?" Anna asked.

"You're the one who can sense if she's lying, right?" Elena said.

At the Grill, Stefan was with Caroline. "Okay, now I'm leaving."

"Wait!" Caroline said.

"No, no, no, Caroline, you have two seconds to come clean." Stefan told her.

"What do you mean?"

"I'd believe your whole innocent act a little bit better if I didn't know how good you are at providing a distraction on demand. Where is Elena?"

"I can't tell you." She admitted.

"You can't tell me? Are you kidding me?"

"I'm sorry but I… I can't tell you."

"Caroline! Elena was kidnapped, she could have been killed and you're seriously not gonna tell me where she is?"

"She's not in any danger. I would not have let her put herself in danger." Caroline told him.

"Put herself in danger where? What do you…? She's with Damon isn't she?"

"Ew, no."

"Then where… where is she? Listen, if you're my friend like you've been pretending to be all day, then you'll tell me where she is."

"Stefan, I am your friend but I'm also Elena's friend and I'm sorry but I'm not going to tell you where she is." Caroline said. "But here's one thing I will tell you, those ghost friends of yours would never leave her alone."

Back in the tomb, Anna was still sitting with Elena outside the cave wall. "So how much of your little story is true?" Elena asked.

"I have no reason to lie, Elena. I have no reason to do anything but sit here and read and rot." Katherine stated.

"She's not kidding." Anna said. "It sounds like everything she's told us is true."

"That's the reason why you came back isn't it?" Elena said, putting the pieces together. "Because you wanted to be the one to hand me over to Klaus."

"Five hundred years on the run, I figured maybe he'd be willing to strike a deal." Katherine said.

"You low life bit…" Anna began, but Elena cut her off.

"So you got Mason Lockwood to find you the moonstone." Elena said.

"Right again." Katherine said.

"What else do you need to break the curse?" Elena asked.

"Hmm, look who's getting smarter." Katherine said.

"Wait, I think I see what you're up to now." Anna said.

"It's not just me or the stone, is it?" Elena said. "Otherwise that you'd be no reason to trigger Tyler Lockwood's werewolf curse."

"Witches and their spells: so many ingredients, so many people to sacrifice." Katherine said.

"So you need a werewolf." Elena stated.

"Believe it or not, they're hard to come by."

"I'll say. I didn't even know they existed until now." Anna said.

"What else?" Elena asked.

"A witch to do the spell." Katherine said. "Mine bailed but Bonnie will do just fine."

"Haven't you learned your lesson about messing with the Bennett witches?" Anna asked.

"In my defense, I had no idea they were even related." Katherine told her.

"What else is needed to break the curse?" Elena asked.

"A vampire."

"That's why you turned Caroline!" Anna realized.

"It could have been anyone I suppose but I like the poetry of Caroline." Katherine said.

"So you were gonna just hand us all over to be killed?" Elena asked.

"Better you die than I." Katherine said. She headed back into the tomb.

"Why you sneaky little lowlife bitch, I'm gonna…" Anna tried to go into the tomb, but Elena grabbed her arm.

"Anna, wait!" Anna turned and noticed Elena looked scared. She forgot about Katherine and went to her side.

"What is it?"

"If her plan worked, would we end up…like you?"

"I don't know, Elena." Anna said. "Not all people, human or supernatural, become ghosts. Some of them just…" She stopped there, not wanting to make it worse, but it seemed like she had already gotten the message.

Elena sat down on the ground. "Elena, listen to me." Anna told her. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you guys. Not if I can help it." She looked at her. "The one advantage of being what I am is that no vampire can hurt me."

"Thanks, Anna." Elena said. Anna sat down next to her. She had no idea how much time passed before Stefan showed up.

"Elena."

"Stefan, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question."

"Caroline told you." Elena guessed.

"No, she kept your secret but it didn't take long for me to figure out what was the important that you'd have to keep it from me." Stefan told her. He turned to Anna. "I should've known something was up when you didn't appear."

"I promised to stay with her." Anna said. "Seriously, even ghosts like me are bound to commitments." He turned back to Elena.

"Listen to me, whatever she said to you is a lie. Do not listen to her. She's a liar, Elena."

"What if she isn't? You didn't hear what she said." Elena pointed out.

"And she wasn't." Anna said. "I could sense it. She was telling the truth the whole time."

"You don't have to worry, I'm not gonna let anything happen to you." Stefan told her.

"That's the problem, you won't but you'll die trying. How's that any better?" Elena pointed out.

"There's nothing you can do, Stefan." The group turned around. Katherine was back. "I haven't even told you the best part of the story. He killed them, my entire family just to get back at me for running. Whatever you do to escape Klaus, he will get his vengeance on your friends, your family and anyone that you've ever loved."

"I'm beginning to see why my mother was suspicious about trusting you." Anna said.

"No, look at me. No, do not listen to her, okay?"

"Always the protector but you must realize that she's doomed." Katherine pointed out. "There's nothing you can do to stop it unless of course you have this." She held up the moonstone.

"What?"

"Are you kidding me?" Anna said. "How's that stupid rock going to help us? It's nothing but trouble!"

"You spun this whole thing so that we would have to get the stone from you, didn't you?" Stefan asked her.

"I didn't spin anything, Stefan. It's the truth." Katherine said. He turned to Anna. She nodded.

"No, let me guess. You want to trade that stone for your freedom, you manipulative, psychotic bitch."

"My freedom? That's where you're wrong, Stefan." Katherine said. "I don't want my freedom because when Klaus shows up to kill us all and he will, I'll be in the tomb, where no vampire will enter because they can't get out. I'll be the safest psychotic bitch in town." She headed back into the tomb.

"I never thought I'd say this, like ever, but for once, I'm glad I'm dead." Anna said. Elena and Stefan looked at her. "Uh, yeah, let's get out of here. I've had enough of this place for one day."

At the Boarding House, Lexi was with Rose. "Man, that was crazy. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Lexi. Just a little shaken up."

"I can't believe someone almost blew up the place." Lexi said.

"You're telling me." Rose said. "Good thing we were the only two there that could see you."

"Yeah, we were lucky we got you out of there. I'm just glad it sunlight doesn't effect me like that."

"True, but doesn't it make you transparent when it reflects through the window?"

"I've only been a ghost six months. I don't think we can turn invisible, Rose." They headed into the living room, where Damon was sitting.

"I'm sorry about today. I didn't know that was gonna happen." Rose told him.

"I believe you." Damon said.

"I wish we could save Elena. I know that you want to."

"And I will."

"So will I." Lexi said. "I may not like you very much, but where Elena's concerned, that's where we're on the same page."

"You remind me of Trevor." Rose said.

"Why him?" Damon asked.

"Because he always talked big game, always working on angle but underneath all this, he was the best friend anyone could hope for." Rose explained. Lexi was smiling. She remembered Trevor pretty well.

"And where did that get him?" Damon asked.

"Dead." Rose said, grimily. "And my loyalty to him almost got me dead too."

"I haven't seen him, but I'm sure he's with the rest of us here somewhere." Lexi told her.

"That's good to know." Damon handed her a glass.

"To friendship."

"You're right to fight it, how do you feel about her." Rose said.

"And why's that?" Damon asked her.

"Because if you want to survive, you need to not care about anyone." Rose said.

"Caring gets you dead, huh?"

"You would know." Lexi pointed out. "You're the one who killed me when I came to visit your brother."

"It might just be time to turn the switch off on your emotions."

"I will if you will."

"Okay, I'm outta here." Lexi said. She walked out into the hallway before fading, not that they noticed.

Outside, Anna and Stefan had taken Elena home. Anna wanted to make sure Elena was okay, given how their day went.

"Elena."

"I can't talk about it, Stefan."

"You have to." Anna looked at him.

"I don't know if this is a good time." She told him.

"Don't shut me out. Elena, please."

"I wanted to know the truth, Stefan and I got it. It's not just me that's in danger. It's Caroline and it's Tyler and its Bonnie. They're all part of breaking the curse." Elena told him. "I can't blame anyone else anymore because it's not because you came into town or because you and I fell in love. That's not why everyone that I love is in danger. It's because of me, everything is because of me."

Stefan held her as she cried. Anna looked at them. She knew she was going to help them deal with this problem, but she also knew when they needed privacy. She faded away into the night, wondering how they could find a way to help.