It's a beautiful day on an island, as I sharpen a knife. The others are still unloading the boat, as Shane approaches me. Elena, Stefan, Rebekah, Bonnie, Jeremy, Shane, and I are here to get the cure for vampirism. All of us want it, though. I hope there's enough to go around, or there's going to be a big fight between us. I don't want a fight just yet. I don't rightfully know if Shane wants the cure though. I think he's helping us for another reason, but I don't have any proof yet. I can't prove it, so I can't tell anyone about my assumptions.344Please respect copyright.PENANAtV0myWQ1qS
"Couldn't they have hidden this cure in Hawaii? Where the hell did you take us?" I ask him.344Please respect copyright.PENANAWoap0VHB2X
"Two hundred miles off the Nova Scotia mainland. If you recall, the whole point was to hide the cure on the world's most obscure, desolate island."344Please respect copyright.PENANAzEFdYOpCcL
"Oh yeah? I thought the whole point was that no one found Silas, the oldest, deadliest freak in the world."344Please respect copyright.PENANANajw3OJXrd
"Yeah, that too."344Please respect copyright.PENANAxaqsfa9NyR
Shane holds up sunscreen and looks at me.344Please respect copyright.PENANA8u34OYxJf8
"Sunscreen?"344Please respect copyright.PENANAYP1dAOp0Ms
"Is that a joke?" I ask him.344Please respect copyright.PENANANbscKjc5Re
"Right," he says, as if he just remembered that I'm a vampire and I don't need it.344Please respect copyright.PENANAH0IMvvsPK0
I look across the beach part of the island to see Stefan tying a knot some rope. Rebekah is supposed to be helping him, but is standing there glaring at Elena instead, as Elena walks past her.344Please respect copyright.PENANAbBcvCZuqrK
"You know, you're not really helping," Stefan tells her.344Please respect copyright.PENANAuYKnFWyeYZ
"You're perfectly capable of tying a knot," she answers him.344Please respect copyright.PENANAzmI36lH8OG
"You giving Elena the evil eye isn't really helping."344Please respect copyright.PENANA3pQj15FqAx
"She killed my brother, tried to get you to put a dagger in my back. She's lucky all she's getting is the evil eye."344Please respect copyright.PENANA64kcVh1BD3
"You know I can hear you, right?" Elena responds from a distance away.344Please respect copyright.PENANATNC8Cp0bmR
"You know I don't care, right?" Rebekah replies.344Please respect copyright.PENANAVpsmwHApJq
Elena stops walking, and uses vamp speed to rush towards Rebekah, grabbing her neck and pointing the White Oak stake at her chest. Rebekah flips her over and pushes her to the ground.344Please respect copyright.PENANAtTeIlxE2GK
"Go ahead, try and kill me. But then you'd have to face your real problems. Like the fact that Stefan invited me here, himself. I guess he likes me again."344Please respect copyright.PENANACk8Us1rdiV
Rebekah walks off and Stefan offers to help Elena up, but she ignores him and walks away looking irritated. Elena shoves the White Oak stake into her bag and I join her.344Please respect copyright.PENANA7YQKIh7Rg2
"Looks like someone forgot her team-building exercises," I comment.344Please respect copyright.PENANAlZF2TfhRp3
"I'm not apologizing for not wanting her here."344Please respect copyright.PENANABZbOrs3hx4
"You know Stefan just brought her here to make it seem like he's moving on. He wants you to think that he's over you, and he wants me to think that I can't get under his skin."344Please respect copyright.PENANA6SrNfuWN3e
"You know, you're right. With any luck, I'll only have to tolerate her for a few more days, and then we'll find the cure and I'll never have to deal with her again."344Please respect copyright.PENANAzo9VQh9aXt
"Human Rebekah... I can't imagine her without fangs."344Please respect copyright.PENANAVcYYdJLN4e
"You know, you've never talked about what you'll do with the cure, once we find it. Will you take it?"344Please respect copyright.PENANAhBdkPLJGiQ
"I don't like to speculate."344Please respect copyright.PENANAOz664cxZRf
A few minutes later, we start hiking.344Please respect copyright.PENANAL67Z616oyi
As we hike through the woods parts of the island, Shane's phone beeps and he says, "Satellite phone lost its service."344Please respect copyright.PENANA2Qbtqp3yLn
"Well, that's a good sign," I say sarcastically.344Please respect copyright.PENANAdwsGBbY8qt
"Is anyone else a little creeped out?" Elena asks.344Please respect copyright.PENANAuOWldmzUj1
"So then leave. Out of everyone, your presence is the least necessary," Rebekah comments to her.344Please respect copyright.PENANAAgiqYprYVp
"Please don't start," Stefan tells Rebekah.344Please respect copyright.PENANABM7lnqFoUe
"I'm merely stating the facts. Jeremy has the spell on his body. Bonnie is the witch that unseals the cure. Shane is the human compass. You and I have the tombstone, which does God knows what. And Elena has no point," she tells him.344Please respect copyright.PENANAWTzVeYHOni
I could kill her right now just for everything she has done to Elena, if I could. But I can't. She's a lot older, which means she's a lot stronger and faster than any of us.
"What about me?" I ask Rebekah, curious of what she thinks of me.344Please respect copyright.PENANAXkAdnIVYD9
"You have a nice behind," is all she tells me.344Please respect copyright.PENANAxv4Kt04xh8
I smile at that, happy that I'm at least useful in one way or another to Rebekah.
By the time it's night, we're still hiking in the woods.344Please respect copyright.PENANALDBCJlTdHl
"Centuries after Qetsiyah died, there were these miners who were excavating a well on the island. Suddenly they went mad. They bled themselves dry. No apparent reason. So, the legend spread that these miners, in exchange for a drop of their blood, saw visions of their lost loved ones in the well they were digging. The word traveled and explorers sought out the well to see if the legend was true," Shane says.344Please respect copyright.PENANAuRSnNfVgP5
"So, the well was magic?" Bonnie asks the professor.344Please respect copyright.PENANA10SveBgN15
"Well, you know, some people believe the voices of lost souls were just a wind vortex whipping through the caves, and visions were caused by inhaling the island's poisonous plant life," he answers her.344Please respect copyright.PENANAVDU6bcliVG
"And what do you believe?" Elena asks him.344Please respect copyright.PENANAJSUpViUpai
"I believe in magic. My wife and my son died within months of each other. And so... I decided to try the well out for myself. I offered up my blood and waited. I saw my wife. I saw her eyes, her smile. My blood let me see her again," Shane answers my childe.344Please respect copyright.PENANAOFYyIJB9q3
"Yeah, got it. Don't eat the poisonous flowers," I comment to him.344Please respect copyright.PENANA9gclY5eAXo
We continue to walk a few more minutes, before Shane stops and says, "Wait. Stop. Stop! Stop."344Please respect copyright.PENANA1jqmRGOkY5
We stop and he says, "Is everybody paying attention?"344Please respect copyright.PENANA9sfevmjldL
He picks up a large rock.344Please respect copyright.PENANAJrpAsl4VdD
"Our first lesson in survival."344Please respect copyright.PENANAgEjlFSKLCK
He throws the rock and it triggers a net trap and it swings up into the trees.344Please respect copyright.PENANAVFtSzGnyQL
"Stay together. Keep your eyes open."344Please respect copyright.PENANAwv4Py8jRsR
We all continue to walk again.
Jeremy stops walking and falls behind us and says, "Ugh, I'm out of water."344Please respect copyright.PENANAXB1yk3W9ag
"Here. Take mine," Elena offers.344Please respect copyright.PENANAyCvq0BQvGF
"A magic well? Really?" I hear Jeremy ask.344Please respect copyright.PENANA0un34HLrJB
"I don't know. I mean... We've all lost someone. The chance to maybe see them again? I kinda get it."344Please respect copyright.PENANAK5hj3cOKZ5
Suddenly, I smell the scent of someone else that I don't recognize, a moment before I hear Elena yell, "Jeremy!"344Please respect copyright.PENANAgyunl6CoiL
I turn around to see Elena push Jeremy out of the way and an arrow misses them both. Then there's the scent of someone else that I don't recognize and the guy that tried to kill Jeremy gets an axe in the back and dies.344Please respect copyright.PENANAIAaQ1cXWY7
"What the hell just happened?" Jeremy asks, once he is beside her again.344Please respect copyright.PENANAfJwqHNgG5e
"Somebody just saved my life," she replies.344Please respect copyright.PENANArbXC6GT76p
They rejoin our group soon after, a few minutes after I do. They're okay, which I'm relieved about. Somebody saved her life and I don't know who, but there's one thing for certain. There are others out there.344Please respect copyright.PENANAZMbxtEi9Nb
We reach a clearing in the woods and Stefan asks, "What is this place?"344Please respect copyright.PENANAqYa7l2NGuo
"According to island lore, a group of college kids came here for spring break. A few weeks later, they were all found dead, completely drained of blood," Shane answers.344Please respect copyright.PENANA6cIK11aaN1
"Well, tragic for them, brilliant for us. Who sleeps where?" Rebekah asks.344Please respect copyright.PENANAXsZ2cn3Iug
Everyone starts to settle down around the site, while I talk to Shane.344Please respect copyright.PENANAeqHxficMV1
"Well, that's lovely. There's a mystery man with a hatchet lurking in the woods and we're just gonna camp?" I say to Shane.344Please respect copyright.PENANAGs7K44lYOi
"We're safer here than we are hiking in the dark."344Please respect copyright.PENANAzPxnbLG2qJ
"Let's just keep going. You know? Get the cure. Get in, get out. Where is it?"344Please respect copyright.PENANApE3kxMQom6
"How stupid do you think I am?"344Please respect copyright.PENANA00WvmhCFGk
"Stupid enough to raise an immortal witch, so I'd say... incredibly."
"You know, I'm shocked you even want the cure, considering you've got the most to lose once Elena's human."344Please respect copyright.PENANAFbrJ2l4PvT
I walk away from Shane.344Please respect copyright.PENANAavdYTBIiBa
Elena gets up and goes to talk to me.344Please respect copyright.PENANA4P57JDXVqh
"Shane doesn't know what he's talking about," she tells me.344Please respect copyright.PENANAZYJgqKzMxC
"Yeah, well we'll find out tomorrow."344Please respect copyright.PENANANWs7pwOuRE
"Do you really think that I'm gonna take this cure, break the sire bond, and fall out of love with you? "344Please respect copyright.PENANAgpg7QKr8jY
"No. I'm saying we don't know. And if we find it tomorrow, we will."344Please respect copyright.PENANAd9nIOIgM2W
"This cure is gonna change so many things. Jeremy's not gonna want to kill me anymore. We're finally gonna get rid of Klaus. Bonnie's mom isn't gonna be a vampire. And anyone who wants to take this cure is gonna have that option. Caroline, Stefan, you. If you want it."344Please respect copyright.PENANAb6aKkb7BZS
She smiles at me expectantly.344Please respect copyright.PENANAlKcnmPy4Mj
I know she wants me to take the cure so we can be together, but I don't want it anymore. Once upon a time, when I was a younger vampire, I would have given anything to be human again. But not now.344Please respect copyright.PENANAxhmRsMDLzm
"No, I get it. Everything changes tomorrow. It'll be all unicorns and rainbows."344Please respect copyright.PENANAfL0UeM5bDm
"No, not everything. That's what I'm saying. Damon, not my feelings for you."344Please respect copyright.PENANAiyj97ZoJWV
She kisses me.344Please respect copyright.PENANASYYw7eJyYq
We depart and she touches my face.344Please respect copyright.PENANABTZGKjL0yX
I put my arms around her and we embrace.344Please respect copyright.PENANA5FVKW1UWgM
344Please respect copyright.PENANAAY1geR14yF
I'm going in search of where Shane and Bonnie went to, looking for Shane specifically, when I hear them in a shed.344Please respect copyright.PENANA6VzH1pwz9B
"And I'm just supposed to trust you?" I hear Bonnie ask him.344Please respect copyright.PENANAFEKajE9tDz
"Bonnie, listen, I taught you Expression so that you could access the cure. I'll be right there with you the whole time, I promise," he answers her.344Please respect copyright.PENANAj56EfuJSCR
I enter behind Bonnie.344Please respect copyright.PENANAn7C90Q0lUM
"You didn't answer the trust part."344Please respect copyright.PENANAT4v7QjESsJ
"All right. Let me put it this way. You need me to help you through it, Bonnie. Because as you've demonstrated, Expression can get messy. Believe me when I say I've seen it get a lot worse."344Please respect copyright.PENANANRPVGzVYte
"How much worse?" I ask him.344Please respect copyright.PENANABRFiMKJJTW
"When we lost our son in the car accident, my wife kind of lost it. She tried to resurrect his body using magic," he replies to me.344Please respect copyright.PENANAOq4BM4BFgz
"Your wife was a witch?" Bonnie asks him.344Please respect copyright.PENANAXLMyUjdEAP
"She was a powerful witch. And incredibly undisciplined," he answers her.344Please respect copyright.PENANAUWZF2sxi8n
"And you never thought to tell me?" she asks him.344Please respect copyright.PENANAb24IAWBKYm
"I just didn't want to scare you. The truth is, she tried to bring our son back using Expression, and it overwhelmed her, and she died."344Please respect copyright.PENANACA5oKgw1yu
"You taught me the same magic that killed your wife?" Bonnie angrily says.344Please respect copyright.PENANATOkV3ota9W
"Yeah, but look, the upside is I've learned the warning signs, all right? I can keep Expression from consuming you."344Please respect copyright.PENANAGSUEohQABz
"Downside is, you turned her into a bomb that only you can dismantle," I tell him.344Please respect copyright.PENANA3Y2P9DTl6d
"Don't you think I know how this ends? I came here to raise Silas so that he could bring back the dead, but you're never gonna let that happen. The second I point to a cure, you're gonna kill me. Now Bonnie has to keep me alive so I can keep her alive," he says to me.
The next day, we're all going in search of Little Gilbert.344Please respect copyright.PENANASsU3KJ3n7S
"Jeremy!" Elena calls. She then says to Bonnie, "Did you find anything?"344Please respect copyright.PENANA30uD01oSBk
"He's not on the trail," she answers Elena.344Please respect copyright.PENANALuW0vwl55m
"His gear's still here," Shane says, holding up a bag.344Please respect copyright.PENANAJ5ATulVtiu
"He's not at the quarry, either," Stefan says, as he and Rebekah enter the clearing.344Please respect copyright.PENANA7xz8athpHW
"Let's split up," I suggest.344Please respect copyright.PENANAMb6qjNPsSq
"I'm gonna stay and try a locater spell," Bonnie announces.344Please respect copyright.PENANAoRIzBNrUUq
"Okay. I'll stay here. I'll make sure she's safe," Shane tells us.344Please respect copyright.PENANAtOJs1ntWxP
"I'll stay here and make sure you're not lying," I tell him.
Elena looks at Stefan and Rebekah, and they look at each other.344Please respect copyright.PENANAkcWnRexIyX
"Fine. We'll keep searching the island," Elena announces.344Please respect copyright.PENANA9rzzjQWBJn
I nod and walk off.
I enter the shed where Shane is trying to get a signal with his phone.344Please respect copyright.PENANADUjyVo1NhR
"Thought it didn't work," I say, coming up behind him.344Please respect copyright.PENANArFAKvz9IxD
"Yeah. I'm just- just checking the signal."344Please respect copyright.PENANACZeRrGjPJy
"So you can call someone? Like whoever took Jeremy?"344Please respect copyright.PENANAF2xzmqtwRM
"This place has a habit of getting to you, doesn't it?344Please respect copyright.PENANAnrQHzCQZqV
He shoves his phone at my chest and says, "See for yourself."344Please respect copyright.PENANAaiaFmyOjYq
"I'm done trusting you," I reply to him.344Please respect copyright.PENANAmBpUJdQC8f
At vamp speed I push him into a chair.344Please respect copyright.PENANAyyHwxctJyM
"Where's the cure?"344Please respect copyright.PENANALQZe3wRV9n
"You know that magical well I was telling you about? Silas and the cure are buried deep below it," he replies to me.344Please respect copyright.PENANA7Cc6H02lQ5
"So, you've seen it?"344Please respect copyright.PENANA1TvAvH2ZA0
"No. But you could say I heard it from a reliable source."344Please respect copyright.PENANAdNgWOJYTEk
"So you have the rock, Hunter, Bennett witch. What about the dozens that died in a sacrifice? Where do they fit into all this?"344Please respect copyright.PENANA3YNARd7ynb
"As you can imagine, that was not an easy pill to swallow," he says.344Please respect copyright.PENANAof4wpXDjjt
"Which is how you manipulated the pastor to blow up a farmhouse full of people."344Please respect copyright.PENANANavgZ5w8YZ
"He just wanted to see his wife again."344Please respect copyright.PENANAeCiNidWGqo
"We need three massacres. Fire at the Young farm. Holiday hybrid slaughter. What mass blood-letting am I forgetting?"344Please respect copyright.PENANAfVAaR3Qh1B
"You're not."344Please respect copyright.PENANAFGu3Yibeyr
"You're not finished. Is that why you brought us all out here in the middle of nowhere? To complete massacre number 3?"344Please respect copyright.PENANAvDLc3p1fIP
"It doesn't work that way, Damon."344Please respect copyright.PENANAvkzim7eHNF
"I think you need to tell me where this magical well is."344Please respect copyright.PENANAzX0cn0PVtY
"You know I can't do that."344Please respect copyright.PENANAlMtKqpC7LG
I look over at some rope on the floor.
"Oh, I know. I know."344Please respect copyright.PENANAU7k2oxTCRj
I slap Shane's shoulder and walk away.
Later, I continue to interrogate Shane in the shed.344Please respect copyright.PENANAMBjpTY8G0M
"Where's the cure?"344Please respect copyright.PENANAraCg9eEB1e
"Does it matter? I think we both know you'd rather just torture me. Torture gives you a sense of control, especially with your relevance slipping away."344Please respect copyright.PENANAbD8uyVjsoM
I calmly break a metal rod in half.344Please respect copyright.PENANAfWN8SwuoqM
"And look at you. Here you are, hours from Elena breaking her sire bond. You're starting to freak out a little bit. Listen, you want my advice? Leave. Go. Don't put yourself through this," he continues.344Please respect copyright.PENANAgweiiCth3d
I whack Shane with the halves of the metal rod.344Please respect copyright.PENANA6n9sroW3bo
"Agh! Fine. Okay. Let's say her feelings for you are real. How does that end? She's human. You're a vampire," he continues. I strike him across the face with the rod and Shane groans in pain. "It's doomed, Damon. See, you're not torturing me, man. You're torturing yourself by helping them find the cure."344Please respect copyright.PENANAD5IuZPXcrR
"I could kill you. Then no one would find it," I reply.344Please respect copyright.PENANA9w1D2PtuvW
"We've established that you can't kill me without sending Bonnie off the deep end. You can leave the island. Have a modicum of self-respect. Don't stay here and watch Elena walk away from you."344Please respect copyright.PENANA68CfJLrYxz
"Right. Because if I'm not here, then I can't get in between you and whatever you're planning with Silas. Well, I'm not that easily manipulated, professor. And there is one flaw in your logic."344Please respect copyright.PENANA6RDkstnhF3
I bend down to talk in Shane's ear.344Please respect copyright.PENANAnRX9ubSgPe
"I don't give a crap about Bonnie Bennett."344Please respect copyright.PENANAUw9pcPFUt7
I grab Shane's head like I'm about to snap it, but suddenly Elena runs in at vamp speed and pushes me away from Shane.344Please respect copyright.PENANAjYRw2EVEMV
"What is wrong with you?" she says angrily.344Please respect copyright.PENANAAtldjG8kP9
I walk out of the shed without answering her.344Please respect copyright.PENANAHqWeez2wcx
"What did you say to him?" I hear her ask him.344Please respect copyright.PENANARkHIiuJHun
"Your boyfriend's a maniac, Elena."
"Stop messing with my friends," she tells him.344Please respect copyright.PENANAGSnX4TabcI
I hear Elena leave the shed and follow me.344Please respect copyright.PENANAKdZADHmXYH
"Shane is the only thing that's keeping Bonnie safe, and you try to kill him? And you wonder why Bonnie hates you," she tells me.344Please respect copyright.PENANA4tTdXCxX9K
"I don't wonder, Elena, because I don't care. I don't care about her. I don't care about some lame-ass cure for vampires, either."344Please respect copyright.PENANAbyiZwpqS57
"How can you say that right now?" she asks me.344Please respect copyright.PENANAJYwFsgWLAX
"Because I don't want you to be cured."344Please respect copyright.PENANAiw5yy3pBcR
"I'm not fighting with you about this anymore. Being human isn't gonna change my feelings for you."344Please respect copyright.PENANAQDuxkiYuDz
"Fine. Say they're real. Say you've become human and you still love me. Then what? You grow old. You die. I stay a vampire. Face reality, Elena. We don't work."344Please respect copyright.PENANAWGe3xfWtOI
"So, things aren't easy and you're just gonna push me away now? That's what you do, Damon. You think that you don't---- you don't deserve something, so you ruin it. I'm not gonna let you pull that this time."344Please respect copyright.PENANAh6k0ZspcSp
I turn around and start walking away.344Please respect copyright.PENANAsOrULJEXO4
"Take the cure with me," she says.344Please respect copyright.PENANA5f7G2MJGpb
I stop.344Please respect copyright.PENANA2grN0kPaYX
"That's how much I know this is real. That's how certain I am that I'm going to love you even after this is all over. Take the cure. Be human with me. We can be together. Grow old together. This doesn't have to be hard anymore," she continues.344Please respect copyright.PENANAixJOqOe3df
"That's not me, Elena. That's Stefan. You know, I used to miss being human. Now I can't think of anything more miserable on earth," I say, my back still facing her.344Please respect copyright.PENANA2QZbUu8MjY
I walk away.
I'm walking in the woods, when an arrow shoots through the trees and lands in my arm.344Please respect copyright.PENANAL4TjyaxDHR
I groan in pain and pull it out, tossing it to the ground.344Please respect copyright.PENANAHAWs2UHKs1
"You gotta be kidding me," I comment.344Please respect copyright.PENANA6emyrvnHsX
Suddenly, a man jumps me and throws me to the ground.344Please respect copyright.PENANANiLMRpJGcx
We both get back up and go at each other. I manage to pin the man down, straddling his back and pulling at his head. I notice the man's hand on the ground has the Hunter's mark on it.344Please respect copyright.PENANAcfgpuQuJOe
"You're one of The Five," I say.344Please respect copyright.PENANAHO1m5w8XCc
The man gets free of my choke hold, flips me over and snaps my neck.