Original Sin

Street
[It's night-time. Stefan is walking down a street at night. He looks very tired and can barely walk. He spots a bar and walks towards it. He walks towards the door which has a broken sign that reads "BA" (because the R is broken.) The bartender wearing the nametag "Jo" is wiping the bar and she turns around when she hears Stefan walking in.]


 * Jo: Hey, man. Last call was 4 hours ago. If you want some coffee, I could put some on, or...

[Stefan keeps walking towards her non-stop and bites into her neck. She screams.]


 * Jo: Ahhh! Ahhh! Ahh!

[Stefan stops feeding.]


 * Stefan: Run. RUN!

[Jo runs away. Stefan walks outside, still looking tired and weak, as the sun rises. He falls to his kness as his skin starts to burn and looks at his hand, realizing he does not have his daylight ring. He groans in pain.]

Salvatore Boarding House
[Elena suddenly sits up in bed, scared, as if from a nightmare and takes deep breaths.]


 * Damon: Uhnn...You must have restless sleep syndrome or something. It's like sleeping with a tornado.

[Elena closes her eyes as she passes her hands through her hair and takes more deep breaths. Damon looks at her and sees she's worried.]


 * Damon: Hey. We were up all night. You're exhausted. Come back to sleep.


 * Elena: I had a dream about Stefan.


 * Damon: Oh.


 * Elena: It was more than just a pit in my stomach this time, though. It was real. It was like I was there with him.


 * Damon: I know I said it didn't bother me that you have some psychic connection to your ex-boyfriend, but I don't need a play-by-play, Elena.

[Damon lies down.]


 * Elena: You're right. It's weird. Sorry.

[Elena lies down on her side, beside Damon. Damon decides to lie on his side and face Elena.]


 * Damon: Fine. Tell me. I'm sure whatever's in my imagination is ten times worse than what's going on in your subconscious.


 * Elena: It was just so vivid. I saw Stefan walking out of this bar. It had a red awning and this broken neon sign, and he was screaming in pain.


 * Damon: Well, should I go check in the attic, see if there's a crystal ball? Maybe you can conjure up an address.


 * Katherine: Route 29. Joe's bar.

[Elena and Damon rise from the bed to see Katherine standing at the bedroom door.]


 * Katherine: I think I had the exact same dream.

[Elena and Katherine exchange looks. Damon groans and buries his face in his pillow.]

[Downstairs, now dressed, Elena writes in a notebook, then pauses to pick up Stefan's daylight ring and look at it pensively. Damon enters the room.]


 * Damon: So I've found 9 bars along Route 29, and none of them are called "Joe's".


 * Elena: I had a feeling that there was something wrong all summer, and I ignored it. But I was right, Stefan was in a safe, and probably killed whoever it was that found him...I know it sounds crazy, that I'm following some psychic dream, but it's the only lead that we have.


 * Damon: It doesn't sound crazy—it is crazy. But I'm open-minded.

[Katherine joins them.]


 * Katherine: Shotgun. What? I get carsick in the back seat. Another charming, human side effect you stuck me with.


 * Elena: Please tell me that she's not coming?


 * Damon: Trust me, I have no interest in Katherine's well-being, but for some reason Silas wants her real bad, and if Silas wants her, I want her more.


 * Elena: Can't we just stash her in the cellar? Or maybe a deep, dark well with a pair of water wings?


 * Katherine: Do you really think that I wanna take a road trip with you, America's most boring, self-righteous vampire? Just remember, Damon wouldn't have to play bodyguard if you hadn't shoved that cure down my throat.


 * Elena: You were trying to kill me!


 * Katherine: I will admit, though, I take great pleasure knowing that you wasted your one shot at a human life on me.


 * Damon: All right, play nice, or I'm gonna revisit the deep dark well idea.


 * Katherine: I wanna find Stefan just as much as you do, and not just because I don't wanna be a pawn that you can trade off for his life. I care about him—I always have. And since we've been having the same dream...makes me think you care about him just as much.


 * Damon: Okay, train's leaving the station. Choo-choo!

Car
[Silas sits parked in his car, talking on the phone. The shots alternate between Silas in the car and Nadia at the Grill.]


 * Silas: You ever play the "What if" game? When you're calcified for two thousand years, you learn to entertain yourself with these little brain teasers.


 * Nadia: Look, Silas. This phone is prepaid, and I don't have a lot of minutes.


 * Silas: Oh, no, no, no. It's really easy. I'll go first. You know how much I hate Travelers, so to prove your allegiance to me, you killed your Traveler friend, Gregor. But what is it was all an act? What if he's still alive?


 * Nadia: You saw him bleed out. You buried his body yourself.


 * Silas: But what if Matt's tacky ring brought him back to life?


 * Nadia: If this is the game, it's boring.


 * Silas: If we're gonna work together, I need to know that you're on my side. So, find out if Matt Donovan's still alive, and kill him.


 * Nadia: Fine. Say Matt is still alive. What if he could help us to find Katherine Pierce? She's still your priority, is she not?


 * Silas: Yes, she is. So, get the information that you need, rip that ring off Matt's little finger, and make sure he doesn't cheat death again.


 * Nadia: I'll take care of it.

[Nadia watches Matt, who is working at the bar.]

Cabin In Woods
[Stefan wakes up to find a woman staring at him. He sits up quickly.]


 * Stefan: I don't want to hurt you, so get away from me before I rip your throat out.


 * Tessa: Hello to you, too. I brought dinner.

[Tessa holds out a blood bag. Stefan hesitates for a moment, then grabs the blood bag savagely and starts to suck it down.]


 * Tessa: A vampire doppelgänger who's burdened by a conscience. Now I've seen everything.


 * Stefan: You saved me from burning to death outside that bar this morning, didn't you?


 * Tessa: And I pulled you from the quarry before that. That is, I figured out where you were and told the former owner of this cabin to pull your lock box from the water. You thanked him...by biting off his head.


 * Stefan: How do you know I'm a doppelgänger?


 * Tessa: Because I've seen your face before on someone who wasn't you.


 * Stefan: Who are you?


 * Tessa: How much do you know about Silas?


 * Stefan: Huh...I know that he's a bloodthirsty immortal who's killed more people than I can count, and that was before he stole my identity, locked me up in a safe, and dropped me in the bottom of a quarry.


 * Tessa: You made it through.


 * Stefan: Barely. I came very close to flipping off my humanity switch, but I didn't because I knew if I ever got out, I wanted to be myself when I killed him.


 * Tessa: Strong words.


 * Stefan: He's a monster, and I'm going after him.

[Stefan stands up as though to leave.]


 * Tessa: Except you'll burn to death in the sun without your daylight ring. Silas wasn't always a monster.

Ancient Greece Two Thousand Years Ago
[Silas walks toward Tessa, who smiles.]


 * Tessa: [voiceover] He used to be a simple man in love with a simple girl...his soul mate. She was his one true love.

Cabin

 * Tessa: Heh. You know how that goes. They thought their love would last forever.


 * Stefan: How do you know all of this?


 * Tessa: Because I was there, in his arms.


 * Stefan: You're telling me that you were Silas' one true love?


 * Tessa: I would have done anything for him.


 * Stefan: That's impossible. How are you here right now?


 * Tessa: Love bends the rules of possible.

Ancient Greece Flashback

 * Tessa: [voiceover] Silas and I were the two most powerful members of a gifted people called Travelers. When we were engaged to be married, we decided to reach even further.


 * Silas: I don't ever want to be parted from you, even by death.


 * Tessa: [voiceover] We wanted to find a way for our love to last forever.

[In the flashback, Silas and Tessa almost kiss, but pause when they hear a sound. Silas looks over his shoulder, then back at Tessa.]

Cabin

 * Stefan: Yeah, look. I know the story. Everything was great for Silas until some witch named Qetsiyah or whatever came by and screwed him over, right?


 * Tessa: Wrong. You don't know the story. Silas convinced Qetsiyah that he loved her so she would make the immortality spell, but when she found out that he was just using her, she dumped him in a tomb with a cure, hoping he would take it and die, because she had created a supernatural limbo to trap his soul.


 * Stefan: Like any other sane, rational, well-adjusted woman would do.


 * Tessa: Which catches us up to today. Now Silas wants to destroy that supernatural limbo. Once the Other Side is gone, he can take the cure, become mortal and die, and finally pass on and find peace.


 * Stefan: Look, if you really are Silas' one true love and you're not dead, then why don't you just do us all a favor and run off into the sunset together?


 * Tessa: Silas was my true love. I never said that I was his. I'm Qetsiyah, that sane, rational, well-adjusted woman you seem to know so much about.

[Tessa drags a finger along the wall, leaving a line of blue flames in its wake, which leads to the fireplace and ignites.]


 * Tessa: Clearly you've heard the man's version of the story, the one where I'm a back-stabbing lunatic who ruined everything for Silas, a raging bitch-witch whose obsession with vengeance created a whole new dimension of suffering in the afterlife.


 * Stefan: What are you doing here? I thought you were dead and on the Other Side.


 * Tessa: I was—for two thousand years. But I came back...for you.

Damon's Car
[Damon is driving his car, with Elena in the passenger seat and Katherine in the back.]


 * Damon: You sure you know what you're looking for? Last bar had a red awning and a neon sign.


 * Elena: I'll know when I see it.

[Katherine pops her head out between the front seats.]


 * Katherine: Me, too.


 * Damon: Didn't ask you.


 * Katherine: I'm just trying to make conversation. Anything to drown out the sound of eggshells breaking. So, Elena, I couldn't help but overhear. You've been dreaming about Stefan all summer? That must be really stressful on a new relationship, especially when you're having those kinds of dreams lying in bed next to his brother.


 * Elena: They weren't dreams. It was just a bad feeling, like something wasn't right with him.


 * Katherine: Oh, no, yeah, sure. I totally get it. There's still a connection between you two. Maybe deep down you know that he was your one true love and breaking up with him was a big mistake.


 * Damon: Ignore her. As soon as the vervain's out of her system, we'll compel her and we'll put her on mute.


 * Katherine: Or maybe Stefan's been trying to reach out to you all summer, but you've been too distracted with Damon to help him so he reached out to the person that he trusts—me.

[Elena turns a long-suffering look at Damon.]


 * Katherine: Nah. You're probably right. Elena and I had the exact same dream on the exact same night. Why would that mean something?

[Neither Damon nor Elena respond; Damon looks troubled.]

Mystic Grill
[Matt walks out the back door into the alley behind the restaurant. He looks angry when he sees Nadia; he throws the full trash bag he's carrying into the dumpster, then approaches her.]


 * Matt: What the hell did you do to me? Look, I know you and your creep-show boyfriend screwed with my head the other night, so who the hell are you and what do you want?


 * Nadia: I'm here to keep you safe from Silas.


 * Matt: Silas? What do you know about Silas?


 * Nadia: I know that he still wants you dead. You're going to need to trust me, okay?

[Matt lets her put her hands on either side of his face, then closes his eyes.]


 * Nadia: Vyjdou. [Come forth.] Gregor.


 * Matt/Gregor: [Czech] What the hell? YOU KILLED ME.


 * Nadia: Gregor, I'm sorry, but Silas was going to kill you. Doing it myself was the only way to salvage the deal. I need his trust.


 * Matt/Gregor: So you slit my throat?!


 * Nadia: You knew the stakes. It is why we put you inside the person with the invincibility ring.


 * Matt/Gregor: So now what? I am just a passenger that you can call out of Matt's head and put away whenever you want?


 * Nadia: I will find a way to make this permanent, Gregor, because I love you, okay? And I will do anything, anything for you.

[They kiss.]


 * Matt/Gregor: Tell me where you buried my body.


 * Nadia: Okay...but first, you will have to dial your friend Elena Gilbert and find out where Katherine is.

[She pulls out Matt's phone, holding it up to Matt/Gregor.]

Cabin
[Stefan is rifling through a bag when Tessa reenters the cabin.]


 * Stefan: Do you have a, uh, cell phone? I have to make a phone call.


 * Tessa: There's no cell reception out here. And remember, I made it safe for you in here, but I wouldn't go outside if I were you.


 * Stefan: Well, no offense, Qetsiyah. I'm having a bit of a hard time believing what you're saying.


 * Tessa: "Qetsiyah" sounds so...ancient timey, don't you think? How about "Tessa"? It's a little different, but not so different you wouldn't find it on one of those souvenir keychains.


 * Stefan: So, that's why you rejoined the land of the living...souvenir keychains?


 * Tessa: I'm here because the Bennett witch lowered the veil. I saw an opportunity to make myself a living, breathing mortal, and I thought, "Why not?" My hunters have failed in their task to kill Silas. I figured it was time to handle things in person.


 * Stefan: Well, two thousand years is a hell of a long time to hold a grudge.


 * Tessa: You have clearly never been left at the altar.

Ancient Greece Flashback
[Tessa's present-day voiceover plays over the scene of her and Silas' wedding location.]


 * Tessa: [voiceover] Like a lovesick idiot, I created an entire garden for our wedding, and I made a spell that would keep us alive forever, an immortality spell so we would never have to part. Silas and I were going to drink the immortality elixir as part of our wedding ceremony, but then everything around me started to die...my wedding flower, the garden trellis, our harvest. And then I realized why. Silas had already used the immortality spell. He was already drinking the elixir somewhere else. He took what he wanted, and then the bastard abandoned me.

Cabin

 * Tessa: So, call me a woman scorned or a vindictive bitch or whatever label suits your story, but I thought I was his one true love, and he ripped my heart out.


 * Stefan: I'm sorry.


 * Tessa: I deserved a chance to look him in the eye and make him understand how much he hurt me. So, I found him in the wilderness with the woman he gave my immortality to, the woman he chose over me...

Wilderness Flashback
[In the past, Qetsiyah spies on Silas and his lover.]


 * Tessa: [voiceover] And just when I thought his betrayal couldn't cut any deeper, I learned that his actual true love was someone very close to me...my handmaiden.

[In the flashback, Qetsiyah watches as her handmaiden exits a tent, a headscarf obscuring her face. Silas exits after her.]


 * Silas: Just as you are mine, I am yours forever, because when I look at you...Amara...all I see is an angel.

[Silas removes the scarf from Amara's face, revealing a girl who looks exactly like Katherine and Elena.]

Cabin

 * Stefan: So, Silas was the first version of me, and your friend was te first version of Elena?


 * Tessa: Amara was hardly a friend. When they drank the immortality elixir, they violated the natural law that all living things must die, so Nature found a balance by creating mortal shadow selves.


 * Stefan: Doppelgängers.


 * Tessa: Like you, and Katherine, and Elena, all caused by the ripple effect from Silas and Amara's sin.

[Tessa, who has been busy arranging something over the fire, places her metal bracelet in a pot over the flames. It immediately begins to melt.]


 * Stefan: You want to tell me what the hell you've been doing this whole time?


 * Tessa: Silas stole your daylight ring. You're going to need a new one. When this is ready, I need your help to take down Silas once and for all.

Joe's Bar
[Damon pulls his car into the parking lot at Joe's Bar, and he and Elena quietly get out of the car—Katherine is asleep.]


 * Elena: Are we really just gonna leave her in the car?


 * Damon: The only time she shuts up is when she's sleeping, and I didn't want to disturb our peace and quiet.

[Elena stops walking toward the entrance and Damon turns back.]


 * Damon: I thought you said this was the one.


 * Elena: It is. It looks exactly like it did in the dream. Isn't that a little freaky?


 * Damon: Yeah. It's a lot of freaky. Let's go see if Stefan's inside.

[They walk in and see the girl the Stefan attacked, working behind the bar.]


 * Jo: Can I get you something?


 * Damon: Yeah, sure. [compelling] Why don't you tell me what happened to your neck, Jo?


 * Jo: Some sicko attacked me, bit me, told me to run, so I did, and when I looked back, he was on fire.


 * Elena: [to Damon] The sun must have come up. He doesn't have his daylight ring.


 * Damon: [to Jo] And then what happened?


 * Jo: Some woman shoved him into a truck, drove away.


 * Damon: Did you know this woman?


 * Jo: No. She was driving Cam Peterson's truck. He lives about ten miles down that dirt road out back. Here. Look like you could use one of these.

[She pours Damon a shot.]


 * Damon: Hmm. I could. Thank you.

[He throws it back, swallowing. Suddenly he starts gagging and coughing, his mouth and throat sizzling.]


 * Damon: [hoarsely] Vervain!


 * Elena: What did you do?

[Nadia enters from the back room.]


 * Nadia: I told her to pour him a drink or I'd kill her.


 * Damon: Who the hell are you?

[Nadia raises a gun at Damon and Elena. Katherine enters the bar, not realizing what's going on until it's too late and Nadia sees her. Nadia points the gun at Katherine and Katherine stops and puts up her hands.]


 * Nadia: Which one of you is Katherine Pierce?


 * Katherine: [pointing at Elena] She is.


 * Nadia: Katherine is a compulsive liar...but I need her alive.

[Elena vamp-runs at Nadia, throwing her against a table.]


 * Elena: Katherine, run!

[Nadia's eyes vamp out.]


 * Nadia: You really do look exactly alike.

[She straightens up and throws Elena against the wall with vampire strength, then vamp-runs out of the building. Damon helps Elena up.]


 * Damon: Wonderful. Now we've got a vampire bounty hunter to deal with. Let me guess: Euro-bitch was not part of the dream?


 * Elena: I've never seen her before.


 * Damon: Yeah. Well, whoever she was, she wants Katherine, which means she's probably a Silas spy.


 * Elena: I'll go chase after her. You find Stefan.


 * Damon: Wait, what? No. She almost killed you.


 * Elena: We don't have time for a detour. Damon, Stefan's hurt. Find him.


 * Damon: Wait. No. Stop. Just wait. Any sign of trouble, you let her go, do you understand me? I don't care how bad Silas wants Katherine. She's not worth the hair on your head. You got me? Okay? Kiss me. Go.

[They kiss and part ways.]

Cabin
[Stefan watches Tessa work at the hearth.]


 * Tessa: Hovering actually slows down the process.


 * Stefan: Ah. Got it. So what's your, uh, plan? Take the cure and shove it down Silas' throat? Kill him?


 * Tessa: You're skipping ahead. We don't stand a chance against Silas with his mental powers.


 * Stefan: You took him down before, right?


 * Tessa: A long time ago. That was before he could compel masses, and two thousand years of consuming dribbles of blood from thousands of people...It's allowed him to hone his skills. It prepared him to escape from the tomb I put him in.


 * Stefan: Is that where Amara is right now, locked away in a tomb?


 * Tessa: No, Stefan. Amara is not locked in a tomb.

Wilderness Flashback
[Silas approaches Qetsiyah outside the tent, who is crouching at a bucket of water, wringing out a cloth.]


 * Silas: What are you doing here?


 * Tessa: I brought you two gifts. The first is the chalice from which we were to drink at our wedding.

[She holds it up to show Silas—it is covered by a cloth.]


 * Silas: I know you must be very angry with me.


 * Tessa: I was...for a time. But then I realized it was within my power to forgive you by creating this, your second gift—a cure for immortality.

[She opens the small chest and lifts out the cure.]


 * Silas: That's not possible.


 * Tessa: I promise you, it works. I just used it on someone else immortal.


 * Silas: [Nervously.] What did you do?

[Silas runs to the tent and finds a large quantity of blood staining all the cloth inside.]


 * Silas: Amara. No. Amara—no—Amara—no! NO!

[Qetsiyah follows him into the tent.]


 * Tessa: She couldn't speak after I cut her throat...but I could tell by the way her heart was beating...she knew she was going to die.

[Qetsiyah lifts a bleeding human heart out of the chalice, blood dripping from it.]


 * Silas: I will kill you. I will kill you!


 * Tessa: You will not come near me unless you take the cure and give up your immortality.

[She uses magic to disable Silas, who falls to his knees, groaning in pain.]


 * Tessa: Take the cure, Silas. We can live long human lives together.

Cabin

 * Tessa: Can't say I didn't give him a second chance.


 * Stefan: That's what you call a second chance?


 * Tessa: I'm a complicated person. But Silas remains a simple man. I created the Other Side as a supernatural barrier between Silas and the peaceful afterlife he craved. The. I dropped him in that tomb with that cure, thinking eventually he would take it and kill himself to be with Amara, just so he could realize that he was caught with me for all eternity.


 * Stefan: How's that working out for you?


 * Tessa: He's been a little stubborn.


 * Stefan: I take it you're not really making me a daylight ring, are you?


 * Tessa: Do you really think I'd give you the one thing you need to walk out of here?


 * Stefan: All right, listen. We're on the same side. I want Silas gone as much as you do—


 * Tessa: Have you not been listening to me? I have trust issues. I'm controlling, and paranoid, and a little crazy.

[She uses magic on Stefan, who falls to his knees, grasping at his head and groaning in pain.]


 * Tessa: And that's working out just fine.

Woods
[Katherine runs through the woods, stumbling through overgrown plants until she comes to a stop, crouching and looking over her shoulder. Suddenly someone grabs her and she spins around, standing up to find Elena, and she sighs in relief.]


 * Katherine: I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm really glad it's you. My leg is cramping and I'm freezing. Do you mind if I, uh—can I borrow your sweater?


 * Elena: Let's go before she doubles back.

[Elena turns to go, ignoring Katherine's request.]


 * Katherine: Why didn't you kill me?


 * Elena: If Silas wants you, that means you're leverage.


 * Katherine: No, I mean, after you shoved the cure down my throat. I was trying to kill you. Why didn't you finish me off?


 * Elena: You think that because we share the same dreams and both care about Stefan that we're alike, but we're not. I value my humanity, which is why I let you live—to give you a chance to find whatever shred of humanity's buried underneath five hundred years of bad behavior.


 * Katherine: Or maybe you thought that being human was punishment worse than death for me.


 * Elena: Nah. That was just a happy accident.


 * Katherine: Well...thank you. I'm glad to know that you care, even if you are a condescending bitch.

[Suddenly Nadia appears behind Elena and breaks Elena's neck. Elena falls to the ground, unconscious.]


 * Nadia: Do I have to knock you out, too?


 * Katherine: Not necessary.

[Nadia grabs Katherine and man-handles her away.]

Cabin
[Stefan sits bound to a chair by vines and is surrounded by a circle of herbs on the floor. Damon opens the door and Stefan looks up.]


 * Damon: Stefan. You couldn't call a brother?


 * Stefan: Nice to see you, too, Damon.


 * Damon: What the hell is going on here?


 * Stefan: Well, Silas' ex-girlfriend decided to come back from the Other Side.


 * Damon: Qetsi-whatever?

[Damon is trying to untie Stefan when Tessa shows up behind him, holding a flower.]


 * Tessa: It's Qetsiyah. [to Stefan] Do you see why I want to change it? You won't be able to break those vines. The spell won't release him until I get what I want.


 * Damon: Well, I guess the rumors are true. You are a ray of sunshine. Question—why is my brother wearing your compost pile?


 * Tessa: I'm going to link Stefan to Silas. Casting a spell on his doppelgänger will neutralize Silas' mental powers. Once he's weakened, I will force him to take the cure.


 * Damon: Well, that's a great idea, force the cure down his throat. The cure is gone, done, it's ingested.


 * Tessa: Katherine, you mean? I'm aware of her condition. She was supposed to be with you.


 * Stefan: Wait. Katherine took the cure?


 * Damon: We have a lot to catch up on, Stefan. Wait a minute. What do you mean supposed to be with me? Did you plant those dreams? What is it, some kind of, like, witch party trick?


 * Tessa: So where is she?


 * Damon: We ran into a little snag.


 * Tessa: Then I'll get started without her.

[Tessa chants over a bowl.]


 * Tessa: Adatu Khan Leala Ghan Breatvis Shemil.


 * Damon: Okay, well, thanks for the hospitality, but we should really get going if we want to beat traffic.


 * Stefan: Yep, yep. He's right.


 * Tessa: Probably don't want to get on my bad side.


 * Damon: You realize you're not the only one with a bad side, right?


 * Tessa: Aren't you brave. Without Silas' mental powers, he is an immortal nobody. We can defeat him. Isn't that what you want?


 * Stefan: Just do it, all right? Just get it over with. Do it.

Road
[Nadia drags Katherine out of the woods and across a road to a car parked near an overpass.]


 * Katherine: Sorry to sound like a broken record, but I like to know the identity of my kidnappers. Who are you and what do you want?


 * Nadia: Ask me again, and I'll sew your mouth shut.

[Silas approaches them and leans against the car.]


 * Katherine: Silas. Of course it's you.


 * Nadia: What are you doing here?

[He removes a small device from under the car.]


 * Silas: GPS tracker. It's even better than a locator spell.

[Cut to the house in the woods: Damon watches Tessa dip her fingers in the hot molten metal in the bowl, then approach Stefan from behind, chanting. She presses her fingers against the sides of Stefan's head, and he gasps.]


 * Silas: Thank you for working so quickly, Nadia.


 * Nadia: I'm not ready to hand her over yet.


 * Silas: Oh, that's right. Your fascinating unfinished business I don't care about.


 * Nadia: Get out of my head.


 * Katherine: What are you two talking about?


 * Silas: Let go of her arm.

[Silas uses his mental powers, and Nadia complies.]


 * Silas: Now I want you to pull out your gun...and aim it at your heart.

[Nadia obeys. Cut to the house in the woods: Tessa continues to chant over Stefan, who groans in pain. Cut to the road: Nadia lifts the gun and points it at herself.]


 * Silas: Good. Now, pull the trig—ugh!

[Tessa continues chanting; suddenly Silas groans in pain and sinks to his knees, grasping his head. Nadia's arm falls, and the women watch Silas.]


 * Katherine: Seriously, what is going on?

[Nadia pulls Katherine toward the car.]

Cabin
[The circle of herbs surrounding Tessa and Stefan have ignited into flame.]


 * Damon: What are you doing to my brother?


 * Tessa: I'm frying Silas' brain. No one said it would be pretty.

[Both Stefan's and Silas' eyes begin to bleed. Soon Stefan's head rolls to the side and he loses consciousness.]


 * Damon: All right. We're done here.


 * Tessa: You're right. We're done. It worked.

[Damon takes Stefan's head in his hands, propping it up and shaking it slightly.]


 * Damon: Stefan. Stefan! Stef. Damn it. Whatever you did to him, undo it.


 * Tessa: Relax. I just burned through his conscious mind. He'll wake...eventually. You sure you want to take him home? You and Elena were doing so well without your guilt getting in the way.

[Damon starts undoing the vines holding Stefan to the chair.]


 * Damon: Spying on us from the Other Side?


 * Tessa: Don't flatter yourself. It was like watching a soap opera, except boring and with no volume control. You know, there was one thing worse than being on the Other Side and watching Silas resist the cure.


 * Damon: Oh, yeah? What was that, realizing that your plan totally sucked?


 * Tessa: Century after century, I watched versions of Stefan and Elena find each other, like magnets, always the same story—conquering all, falling in love. You didn't think your brother was Silas' first shadow? Destiny has been trying to get the doppelgängers together forever.


 * Damon: Look here, Miss Crazy, why don't we just dial down the destiny talk a notch, okay?


 * Tessa: You don't want to hear it, but the universe is working against you.


 * Damon: If you're trying to downplay your reputation as being a psychopath, you might not want to say you're spokesperson for the universe.


 * Tessa: You and I are the same, Damon...the obstacle standing between two fates. Silas had his true love, and Stefan has Elena. We're merely the conflict that makes it interesting.


 * Damon: So, what are you suggesting, I leave him here with you while I run off and live happily ever after with Elena?


 * Tessa: I'd keep him safe.


 * Damon: You have a bad track record with men.


 * Tessa: I want to keep him safe. Now that he's linked to Silas, Silas can't mess with our heads, and as long as Stefan's in the way, you will never be with Elena. Take it from a woman who's had front row seats for two thousand years.


 * Damon: No one would have to know?


 * Tessa: No one has to know.

[Damon pauses, seeming to think it over.]


 * Damon: Or you could just go back to hell.

[He grabs Tessa's throat; she struggles and manages to cast a spell.]


 * Tessa: Ah Sha Lana

[Damon releases her, grabbing at his head. Tessa throws Damon off, and he falls to the floor. Some time later, Damon hears Elena calling out.]


 * Elena: Stefan!

[She runs in the door and sees Stefan. She runs to him, touching his face. Damon watches from the floor.]


 * Elena: Stefan! Hey! Oh, no. Stefan, hey. Stefan, can you hear me? Stefan! Wake up. Oh, god.

Bedroom
[It's night-time. Katherine is rifling through Nadia's bag when the door opens and Nadia returns. Katherine clumsily turns around, backing away from the bag.]


 * Katherine: Fine. I was snooping. Trying to find a passport, or a business card, or maybe even a parking ticket, because you won't tell me who you are.

[Nadia walks closer, then shoves a bag of chips into Katherine's hands.]


 * Nadia: You said you were hungry.


 * Katherine: For food, not packaged poison.


 * Nadia: Suit yourself.

[Nadia's cell phone starts ringing. She answers it. The shots alternate between Nadia and Katherine in the room and Silas sitting in a car.]


 * Nadia: Silas the betrayer. Someone lived up to his reputation today.


 * Silas: Where are you?


 * Nadia: Wouldn't you like to know?


 * Silas: You know, I may not be able to read your mind anymore—


 * Nadia: It's too bad you lost the one thing that made you interesting.


 * Silas: But that won't stop me from killing you if you don't hold up your end of the deal. Now, whatever twisted fantasy you're playing out with Katherine is your issue, but she stays alive.


 * Nadia: We'll see.


 * Silas: It wasn't a question. As you mentioned earlier, Katherine is still my priority, and since I lost my psychic abilities, that can only mean one thing. My ex-fiancée is alive again, and she's on her way to Mystic Falls.


 * Nadia: Well, maybe you two will get back together.

[Silas laughs. The shot cuts to Tessa in the cabin, surrounded by hundreds of lit candles, slicing her hand open and dripping the blood into a bowl.]


 * Silas: Reconciliation isn't really her thing. She hates me as much as I hate her, and if you think that I don't play fair, wait till you see what she's capable of, because Qetsiyah and I have some common ground—neither one of us will stop until we get what we want, and both of us want the cure.

[Katherine grabs the phone from Nadia.]


 * Katherine: Enough with the games, Silas. What do you want with me?


 * Silas: You know, it's funny. The love of my life looked exactly like you, and yet the mere thought of your face makes me want to vomit.


 * Katherine: I don't know what you're talking about, but if I'm nothing but a gag reflex to you, why not cut me loose, and then we could call it a day?


 * Silas: Because the cure still exists, and I still want it. It's just running through your veins right now. Your blood is the cure, Katherine. Does that clear things up for you?

[Katherine looks horrified. Nadia grabs the phone from her and ends the call.]

Lockwood Mansion
[Matt is lying unconscious just inside the open door of the mansion. He is awoken by his phone ringing. He sits up slowly and answers it. The shots alternate between Matt at the Lockwood mansion and Elena at the Salvatore boarding house.]


 * Matt: Hello?


 * Elena: It's me. I just wanted to let you know that we found Stefan. Unfortunately, we lost Katherine along the way. Hey, are you okay? You sounded weird on the phone earlier. I was worried.


 * Matt: Wait. We talked on the phone today? When?


 * Elena: You called and asked me if we'd found Stefan, and if Katherine was safe. I told you where we were headed. You don't remember?

[Matt glances down at his boots, caked in mud. There are muddy footprints leading inside through the wide-open door.]


 * Matt: Yeah, yeah. I remember. Um, can I call you back tomorrow?


 * Elena: Okay.

[Matt hangs up and reaches into his pocket. He withdraws a strange knife from his pocket, mystified as to how he got it.]

Salvatore Boarding House
[Stefan lies unconscious on the sofa, Elena sitting at his side. She lifts his hand and puts his daylight ring back onto his finger. Damon enters the room.]


 * Damon: Well, he's got his daylight ring back. We're all set for a picnic.


 * Elena: He's lucky he has a brother who looks out for him. Otherwise, you might have pawned it for a pinball machine.


 * Damon: Hmm.


 * Elena: You're suspiciously quiet. Tell me what Qetsiyah said back at the cabin.


 * Damon: She told me that we don't stand a chance.


 * Elena: And what does she know about us?


 * Damon: Well, she told me a very interesting little story about the history of doppelgängers, how they're fated to fall in love with each other. Basically, the universe programmed you to fall in love with Stefan, not me, which means...We're a lost cause no matter what we do. I'm paraphrasing.


 * Elena: The universe?


 * Damon: Her words, not mine.


 * Elena: So, she's crazy?


 * Damon: Maybe. Maybe she's not.


 * Elena: Look. I know I spent the last couple days focusing on trying to find Stefan, but that has nothing to do with how I feel about you, and I'm not gonna let Silas' two thousand-year-old ex-girlfriend screw things up between us.


 * Damon: What, you think I am? I mean, no one tells me how I live my life, no one tells me who I love, especially not some vindictive prehistoric witch, and definitely not the universe. And I'm not gonna let someone else's idea of destiny stop me from loving you or being with you or building a future with you, because you are my life.

[Elena, touched deeply by his speech, leans in to kiss him right when Stefan starts waking up on the sofa. Elena turns to see Stefan sitting and standing up.]


 * Damon: Welcome back, brother.


 * Elena: Stefan...we missed you.


 * Stefan: Uh, I'm sorry...I—I have no idea who you people are.

[Elena's smile falls, and she looks from Damon to Stefan, in shock.]