"Previously on The Vampire Diaries..." " I'm Sybil." " We are talking about a living, breathing siren." "Damon is completely devoted to me." "This thing, it was delivered with your vault inhabitant." "I think it was made in hell." "It's a tuning fork." "Damon, it's over." "You're free now." "I wish that were the case, Stefan, but my work with her is just getting started." "I really hoped that when we put Sybil down, it'd break whatever control she had over him." "But somehow, some way, she still has ahold of him." "What else is there to do?" "You still have too many attachments." "Too many people willing to fight for you." "We should work on that." "Lockwood." "Damon, wait!" "Sirens use mind control to lure their victims to their death." "Some say they're messengers of the Devil." "I suppose every story has to start somewhere." "Tell me a story." "What kind of story?" "Something happy." "A long time ago, in a village built on this very spot, lived a man." "Arcadius." "Cade, to his friends, of which he had many." "He was a gentle man, loved and respected." "But Cade could do something that no one else could:" "he could see into the minds of others." "He was psychic?" "The first psychic." "It was this power that gave him so much empathy towards others." "And it was this power that would cost him his life." "The thing you imagine, brother..." "It is impure." "It's forbidden." "If you allow me deeper into your mind, perhaps I can help quell your urges." "Cade had only wanted to help." "But he had overstepped." "And the men, fearing his power, turned even Cade's friends against him." "And it was then that Cade came to know the thing inside men that even his power had not been able to divine:" "true evil." "I asked for a happy story." "But it is, dear sister." "For in death, Cade was triumphant." "From that moment onward, evil men would be forever punished for their wicked deeds." "Cade had his revenge." "And someday, so will we." "Hey." "Hey." "For future reference, just because I spend the night with Bonnie doesn't mean you can't sleep in your own bed." "Right, yeah, no." "I-I crashed at the Armory." "I figured I'd give you two some space." "How's Bonnie doing?" "Glued to Enzo's side, despite all the awful things he's saying to her." "It's gonna take another day or two of starving him before she can get started with his humanity switch." "Well, if anyone can bring him back," "Bonnie can." "Hey, you know what," "I should probably get going." "Alaric and I have a little date with a siren." "Be careful." "You've seen what Sybil can do when she gets inside your head." "As long as this tuning fork is ringing, she can't." "Is there some sort of engaged person shorthand for "Good luck and..." "I'm with you in spirit"?" "Yeah, I think it's "I love you."" "I love you, too." "Hey, thanks." "Oh, thank the nanny." "She's the unwitting enabler." "Oh, hey." "Uh..." "I thought I told you not to come in today." "Well, I heard there was a coffee shortage and came running." "Well, actually, we're in the middle of a major project." "So why don't you take the day off..." "Major project?" "Sounds sketchy." "Got a girl tied up in the basement?" "Jokes." "Okay, I'll leave you to it." "I can only deal with one temptress at a time." "Anyway, any word from Damon?" "None." "And that's what worries me." "Hey!" "Hey!" "Earth to Planet Redneck." "Are you Peter Maxwell?" "No, Pete owns the place." "I'm just the hired help." "Name's Lou." "What can I do for you?" "I really need to talk to Pete." "Well, have it your way." "He should be back in a bit." "Hey, what exactly brings you out here?" "You know, it's hard to say." "To be honest, I'm not even the one that cares about finding your boss." "There is a woman..." "and I use that term loosely..." "Named Sybil, who wants to." "So, inexplicably, here I am." "Sounds like that gal's screwing with your head." "Oh, you have no idea." "You'd be surprised." "I've been married five times." "Oh, I take that back." "You do get me, Lou." "See, the catch is:" "Sybil and I had a thing, but it's done." "In theory, I'm a free man, but I still find myself doing whatever it is" "I think she'd want me to be doing." "Hell, between you and me," "I'd probably kill for her." "Pete'll be back soon." "I should get back to work." "No, you should do everything I say." "Just answer one more question for me." "What's the worst thing you've ever done?" "I murdered one of those wives I told you about." "Made it look like an accident." "Don't move." "Oh, damn." "I was rooting for you, Lou." "I really was." "Now, like you said... get back to work." "The all-powerful siren." "Imprisoned by a fork." "Says the man who can be killed with a stick." "What is it about this thing that hurts you so much?" "And why does it hurt my kids?" "And here I thought you had me all figured out." "Guess not." "If this dis upts your psychic ability, then why is Damon still your puppet?" "I tinkered with the deepest reaches of his subconscious." "If Damon's still serving me, it's because deep down, he wants to." "Why are you doing this to him?" "It's all Damon, Damon, Damon." "Aren't you even a little curious about who I am?" "No, actually." "All I care about is how to save my brother." "Well, fortunately, the answer to your question is... a story." "About me." "You like stories, don't you, Professor?" "I prefer nonfiction." "Well, then you'll love this one." "A long time ago, in a little Mediterranean village, there was a girl." "As she came of age, the village girl began to manifest psychic abilities, a trait that had been forbidden in her land for as long as anyone could remember." "Help me, please!" "The fate of psychics was exile." "Which is how our poor, innocent, forsaken village girl ended up on a raft..." "The current carrying her into the rocks of a cold and distant shore." "But abandoned though she was meant to be, alone she was not." "There she met the girl of the island." "Exiled together, connected in psychic ability, two sisters in everything but blood, destined from that moment to one day become the sirens." "So you see, Stefan," "I understand why you would do anything for your brother." "Because my sister will do anything for me." "Will do?" "Present tense?" "Oh, did I forget to mention there are two of us?" "Me in here." "And her out there." "Ugh!" "Would you please stop doing that?" "It is complete overkill." "What do you mean, two sirens?" "I thought you were a scholar." "Every single mythological interpretation of who I am mentions sirens... plural." "Well, those same myths also say that you should have the lower half of a bird." "Well, luckily for us all, you can't believe everything that you read." "Enough." "Who is she?" "Patience, Stefan." "I promise you'll find out soon enough." "Oh, crap." "Oh, yes." "Don't move, or I call the police!" "Oh... it's the intern." "Oh... the nanny." "It's Georgie, right?" "Do you break into houses often?" "I got to get into Alaric's bed somehow." "Uh, okay, the boss man just asked me to bring this journal back to the Armory, and like a dumbass, I didn't think to ask him for the keys." "I just figured I'd save myself an embarrassing call." "Well, the call I'm about to make is probably even more embarrassing." "Okay." "Maybe you better stay put." "Maybe you should stick to naps and snacks." "Okeydokey." "Calling Ric." "I really wouldn't do that if I were you." "You must be Peter Maxwell." "Who the hell are you?" "Damon Salvatore." "AKA... the guy that barbecued your little grease monkey over there." "No offense, Pete, but I don't think that extinguisher's gonna work." "Lou's got a date for an eternal burn." "Uh, before you make that phone call, I want you to ask yourself one question." "If I just murdered your faithful manservant in cold blood, why would I have any problem murdering you?" "Good boy." "But that was a trick question, Pete." "I can't actually kill you... yet." "Well, that's comforting, I guess." "You ever meet a girl named Sybil?" "About yay high, hot as hell." "Face rots off when she doesn't feed on human flesh?" "You're insane." "I'm gonna take that as a no, Pete." "Then again, you could be lying to me." "Now tell me the truth." "Do you have any idea" " what I'm talking about?" " No." "Everything you're saying sounds crazy." "Damn it." "I'm gonna make this as simple as I can." "You have something Sybil wants," "I'm gonna deliver it." "You can take whatever it is and just go." "That's not an option, Pete." "I don't exactly know what I'm looking for." "Then how are you supposed to find it?" "We, Pete." "We." "Here's the deal." "All I consciously know is that it's a Maxwell family heirloom." "But subconsciously, I'm pretty damn sure" "I'll know it when I see it." "Okay?" "So where should we start looking?" "I-I have no idea." "Look, the only family I have is my son." "I need you to think real hard, 'cause your life depends on it." "A couple years ago, my grandmother died, all right?" "She left me a box of stuff." "Sounds promising." "What kind of stuff we talking about?" "I don't know." "I never opened it." "Family's a bit of a sore spot with me." "Trust me, I know the feeling, man." "Where's this box, Pete?" "It's somewhere in the storage room." "My son was looking for it a while back." " Maybe he found it, all right?" " Oh, good." "Call Junior." "Get him over here." "Now." "It's Seline." "You got this?" "Yeah." "Seline?" "Suspicious name." "Very siren-y." "How about we just focus on you and your sister?" "I think I'll just wait for Alaric to get back." "You're stalling." "Who is she?" "You think hurting me is gonna speed this up?" "Thank you." "Now, despite enjoying each other's company, the girls had another constant companion... hunger." "The one who had survived on the island this long had a plan." "Call out to them with me." "They will never hear us." "Raise your voice, and your mind will soar out to meet it." "Help!" "Over here!" "Help!" "Help!" "Help!" "Please." "Over here." "Help!" "Here!" "They heard us." "The ship is coming our way." "We are saved." "Over here." "But the girl of the island knew better." "She had done this before, called out to passing sailors with her mind." "But no matter how keen her psychic reach, the shoals around the island were sharper." "So you beached the ship." "Try annihilated." "Dashed upon the rocks, dooming its sailors to death." "But, silver lining, their sweet, sweet provisions would soon wash up on shore." "The tides were not in our favor today." "This is all that washed up." "You knew this would happen?" "The island is barren, save for berries and wild boar." "This way is easier... and more fun." "Sister, do not weep for them." "Those sailors were from our village." "The same men who banished us here to die." "Never again." "If we cannot live off of what God has provided for us, then we are not meant to live at all." "Promise me?" "Stop me if this sounds familiar." "One good sibling, determined to live like a monk, and one selfishly evil sibling, willing to murder to satiate their hunger." "Oh, come on, you get it." "The parallels are too good." "Our story is your story, Stefan." "So now here's the test." "Which girl are you?" "So, uh, what do you think?" "I think it's a hood ornament, Pete." "Vintage Rolls-Royce." "Aah!" "I also think that you're in danger of losing a real life." "I'm doing what you asked." "Oh, are you?" "I compelled you to find what I needed." "You keep bringing me a bunch of junk." "Where'd you get that watch?" "My son gave it to me." "What difference does it make?" "Considering that it's a family heirloom, quite a bit..." "Hand it over." "Aah!" "You're on vervain." "I don't know what you're talking about." "You lied to me, Pete." "And you know what happens to liars." "They go straight to hell." "Donovan?" "Dad." "Don't move, don't move." "Let me see it." "All right, look, it's not that bad, okay?" "Just keep some pressure on it, you're gonna be fine." "Don't lie to me, Matt." "Look, you're gonna be fine if you do exactly as I say." " What are you doing?" " I need you to drink his blood." "Why?" "I'll explain later, but right now I need you to trust me, okay?" " Drink." " N-No..." "Wha-What?" " What just happened?" " I told you I'll explain everything." "But first I need to understand why Damon was trying to hurt you." "Wait, you're telling me you, you knew this guy?" "I'm telling you that I know him." "He's not dead." "Not exactly." "I know." "None of this makes any sense, and I know." "I tracked you down a few months ago and I didn't tell you about any of this." "Okay, I'm sorry, but I promise, if you go to the truck right now, I'll explain everything." "I just don't want you to see what happens next." "Look, I..." "I feel silly calling." "It's probably nothing." "Why, what's going on?" "Well, your intern Georgie, she broke into the house." "Wait, she what?" "And she took a book." "Some dead guy's journal." "Said that she was bringing it back to you?" "Well, are you okay?" "Are the girls?" "Yeah." "Why?" "Should I be more worried?" "I mean, she's just a little weirdo, right?" "It's, uh, it's fine." "Hey, thanks for calling." "I-I gotta call you back, okay?" "Hello?" "Georgie?" "I'm here." "Sorry." "Wait!" "Look, we don't have to be enemies." "Damon and I had nothing to do with the Armory until you possessed him." "If we're enemies, it's because you chose this path." " I didn't ask for any of this." " God." "You sound just like her." "A victim to the last." "She insisted the island would nourish them." "And when it didn't, her faith was shaken." "God did not provide." "That was up to her sister." "The other side of the island was the wild boars' domain." "It was dangerous, but she knew she must hunt." "And behold." "God was good." "Or maybe there were no boars on the island." "You kept luring ships into the rocks." "Killing for provisions." "And do you want to know the sickest part of all?" "There were no provisions on the ships." "Only sailors." "And so, an innocent girl became a monster." "All because her older sibling forced her to adopt her lifestyle, even if it meant killing and eating men to stay alive." "So, I ask you again." "Which girl are you?" "Here's all you need to know." "Whatever Damon and I have done to one another in the past, it has been forgiven." "He is my brother, and there's nothing you can do that will ever change that." "I think you've overestimated your sibling." "And clearly, I have underestimated mine." "Hey, sailor." "What did you do to me?" "I'm in your head." "Well, our head, kind of." "My memories, your noggin." "Your silly fork stopped ringing." "There's nowhere to run." "So walk with me." "Oh, so is this where you attack my psyche?" "Try to break me down?" "Normally, yes." "But the boss has other plans for you." " The boss?" " Mm-hmm." "What are you talking about?" "He thinks you're worthy of hearing the whole story." "Shall we continue?" "For years, my sister and I lived as cannibals." "One willingly, one blissfully ignorant." "Until I discovered this." "Where my sister had buried the sailors she had murdered." "Only visible at low tide." "It was the perfect hiding spot." "You discovered?" "You're not the girl from the island, are you?" "You're the village girl." "I tried." "I tried so hard to be good." "My sister forced this existence on me." "What, you expect me to have sympathy for you?" "After everything you've done?" "Maybe, maybe not." "It all comes down to the same question:" "which siren is your spirit animal, Stefan?" "Oh, come on, man, drop the act." "We both know you're not gonna kill me." "Why not?" "That seems to be your solution for everything." "Maybe I should give it a shot." "I'm sorry, Matt, I know this is supposed to scare me, but fear is an emotion, and ever since I flipped my switch," "I'm kind of operating without them." "All I'm getting from you is desperation." "You're right, Damon, I am desperate." "And for once," "I don't care about your drama." "I don't give a damn if you shut your humanity off." "All I want to know is why you tried to kill my father." "Look, man, in my defense," "I didn't know he was your dad." "I always thought you were a bastard." "Shut up, I'm done playing games." "Well, Tyler Lockwood is gonna be very sad to hear that." "Because if you don't play along, he dies." "Maybe you care about that?" "Not even you're that stupid." "Humanity or not, nobody'd forgive you for that." "Especially Elena." "Well, that's the whole point, you idiot." "Apparently, you've been out of the loop for a while, Matt, so allow me to bring you up to speed." "Elena and I are through." "In fact," "I've been seeing another woman." "You're lying." "Last time I knew, Tyler was up in, uh..." "In New York?" "Am I lying or being completely truthful when I tell you that I ripped into Tyler's throat last night?" "And then I took him on a road trip." "Left him bleeding in the back of a green Mustang at the Park 'N Go off I-20, right across the border." "Now, is that too specific for a lie?" "It's your move, Matt." "Ticktock." "If you hurt Tyler," "I swear to God, I will kill you." "Well, you can swear to God all you want." "He's not the one listening." "Hey, uh..." "Stefan." "Or Caroline." "I guess this is my modern-day version of a dead man's journal." "P.S. I believe Georgie is the second siren, in case you haven't figured it out." "Ironically, Georgie is how I know the way out of here is through a tunnel system behind one of these walls." "Anyway, to find that wall and pass through it," "I have to deprive myself of sight and sound." "Now, while blindfolding myself is easy... the hearing part, it's gonna be tough." "Anyway, nothing a little vampire blood can't fix on the "B" side." "At least that's what I keep telling myself, so, on that reassuring note... over and out." "I couldn't believe it." "All those years, my sister tricked me into eating human flesh." "But I had to hear the truth from her mouth, so I confronted her." "You should've seen the look on her face." "Oh, wait, you will." "Here she comes now." "No." "Stefan, you've met my sister." "Seline." "Get it tucked in for you." "Oh!" "One second, chickadees." " Hello?" " Alaric is trapped." "Why did you make me do that?" "Just pull over wherever you are and stay there, I will find you." "We'll talk about it then." "Will you tell us a story?" "Sure, sweetie." "What kind of story?" "Nothing sad." "Hmm." "Okay." "I know just the one, but we'll have to keep it between us." "No telling Mommy or Daddy." "It is called" ""The Legend of Arcadius."" "Hello?" "Little help in here." "Guess it's time for plan B." "The bad news..." "Plan B always sucks." "Hello, beautiful." "I've been looking all over for you." "Don't ask me how I know this, or what the hell you're supposed to do, but Sybil's gonna be very happy to see you." "Seline is the other siren?" "What's more shocking?" "That she secretly fed me human flesh?" "Or that she's now masquerading as a friggin' nanny?" "Get out of my head." "Now." "Why, so you can go warn Alaric?" "You're assuming that I'm gonna let you remember this when you wake up." "Sorry." "Orders from above." "Well, below." "What did you do to me?" "You tell me." "What do you remember?" "You confronted your sister." "She turned you into a cannibal against your wishes." "And who exactly is my sister?" "I don't know." "How frustrating." "Why are you still here?" "I was out cold, you were in my head." "Why didn't you escape?" "And leave you with such a dramatic cliffhanger?" "I'm not that evil." "I was about to answer your question." "How you can save your brother." "But for the last time, I need to know:" "are you an island girl or a village girl?" "Wait!" "Answer me, Stefan." "This is important." "Who are you in this story?" "The victim, who tried for years not to feed on human blood, only for his selfish brother to blow into town and ruin it all?" "Or are you the monster, who sealed his brother's fate the day you forced him to turn into a vampire?" "Who doomed his brother to an eternity of misery because you were afraid of being alone?" "There you go again." "Old history." "You'd be surprised how fresh it is in Damon's mind." "Answer me." "Who are you?" "I'm both." "I was wrong about you, Stefan." "You are worthy." "You're ready for the truth." "When I learned the truth about what my sister had done for me," "I did the only thing a decent person could do." "I threw myself off the cliffs." "As I lay dying," "I prayed." "For mercy." "For love." "For forgiveness." "Oh... help... somebody help..." "But God never answered me." "Instead, he did." "My beautiful, broken children." "Who are you?" "You know." "Arcadius?" "Everyone calls me Cade." "You are supposed to be dead." "Rest assured." "I am." "My sister." "Can you help her?" "Yes." "But... there is a price." "Anything." "My sister..." "She made a deal with Cade." "Immortality, beauty and youth, for the two of us... if only we served our new Lord and master." "We feast on the flesh to keep us beautiful, and he collects the souls of the wicked." "In hell." "Hell?" "As in, literal hell." "Come on." "Just tell me the truth." "Who's Cade?" "What is he?" "He's the answer to all your problems, Stefan." "You want to save your brother?" "All you have to do is kill the Devil." "I don't believe you." "Which part?" "We covered a lot of ground." "Hell." "The Devil." "None of it exists." "Did you believe in vampires before you fell in love with one and became one yourself?" "That's the trouble with facts, Stefan." "They're true whether you believe in them or not." "I promise you, just as my sister promised me." "There was a man named Cade." "The people he loved damned him." "And only at the very end did he finally give up on them, only when the smell of his burning flesh was searing his nostrils, did he see them for what they really were." "Monsters." "Just like you and me." "So, Cade damned them in return." "With his last breath, he let loose a psychic blast so powerful that it created its own world." "Call it hell if you want." "It doesn't matter what name you give it or whether you believe in it or not." "Either way, that is where Cade feeds on the souls of the damned." "It's where he waits for you, Stefan." "Stop making this about me." "I'm trying to help my brother." "Oh, but this is about you." "Did you really think all your pathetic attempts at atonement would save you from the fate that, deep down, you know you deserve?" "A fate befitting the glorious Ripper of Monterey?" "No." "That was almost 100 years ago." "I'm not that person anymore." "It doesn't matter, Stefan." "That stain will always be on your soul, no matter how hard you try to wash it away." "So, stop fighting." "It's easier that way." "Maybe I do deserve it, but Damon doesn't, because I made him what he is." "So, if it's my fault, damn me." "Not him." "Damon's fate is already sealed." "I reached into his mind and gave him a look at what awaits him, and even that little spoonful was enough to make him flip his little humanity switch." "He chose to serve Cade for all eternity, rather than experience another second in that kind of torment." "Damon believes in hell." "And soon you will, too." "Because you're just as doomed as he is." "So Mystic Falls is overrun with supernatural creatures, and... vampires are real." "They feed on human blood and can even control people if they want to." "Okay, so why couldn't Damon compel me, then?" "It's because of that watch I gave you." "It's full of something called vervain." "A glass of vervain every day keeps the vampires at bay." "Yeah." "How'd you know that?" "Something your great-grandmother used to say when she was making tea." "She was senile at the end, and... leaving her behind, that was the hardest part about leaving Mystic Falls." "Look," "Matt, I don't expect you to forgive me for abandoning you." "I had my reasons at the time." "They don't seem good enough now, not even to me." "Honestly, we all should've got out of that town when we had the chance." "Hey, listen, Matt." "Why don't you, uh..." "You know, why don't you take a walk?" "Let me do this." "Ah!" "The intern." "Where is my sister?" "I tried." "I tried to free the girl in the cell, just like you asked." "And?" "And, um, she told me to tell you to piss off." "She doesn't need your help." "Well." "I tried." "Look," "I'm sorry to have to involve you in this, sweetie." "It's just that, in this case," "I really do have to kill the messenger." "By the way." "That girl you killed in a car accident a few years ago?" "Kind of a deal breaker." "Send Cade my regards." "What...?" "What are you doing?" "What's happening to me?" "!" "No!" "No!"