"Mystic Falls..." "I was born here." "This is my home." " And mine." " And mine." "For centuries, supernatural creatures have lived among us." "They were vampires, werewolves, doppelgangers, witches." "And even hybrids." "There are those who protect them..." "What's going on?" "We just need to ask you a few questions about your son." "You have no idea what you're up against." "And those who want them dead." "Friends, we are the beginning." "They are the ones we love..." "And the ones we've lost." "This magic is dark." "You made your choice." "Now they're taking it out on me." "I'm sorry, grams!" "No, no!" "Then there's Elena." "She's one of us now." "A vampire." "And I'll do anything to help her survive." "Hi." "Hi." "You're making a big mistake." "No, I'm not." "If I can get Elena used to animal blood right out the gate..." "You're reaching." "Maybe she'll be able to bypass all the things that we went through." "Delusional." "Maybe she actually has a shot at this." "Wrong." "You're just wrong, Stefan." "She won't be able to handle it if she hurts someone, Damon." "Her compassion is her Achilles' heel and everything is magnified right now." "Then you better hope she's not a fan of Bambi." "Close your eyes." "She needs human blood, Stefan." "From the vein." "Come on, you know what happens." "You name me a vampire who didn't kill at least one person when they were new." "You name me one who went on the bunny diet and didn't kill dozens." "If she kills someone, she will crumble." "How much pain do you think she can take before she shuts off her humanity switch?" "It happens to the best of us at least once." "We get over it, Stefan." "A hundred years or so." "Yeah, well, I think I'd like her to skip that part." "She can't learn to control the blood lust if she's never actually experienced the blood lust." "What are you doing?" "Knock it off." "It's like a cheat." "Like giving a kid a calculator before they know math." "I said stop." "Don't worry, he'll heel." "Bigger animals are more resilient." "Hey." "You did it." "I know it's hard." "But you can do this." "What's going on?" "We're just having a little disagreement about process, right?" "You're still not on board with the animal plan." "Nope." "I say rip off the proverbial band-aid and let it bleed." "You're a vampire, Elena." "Be a vampire." "You ready to go?" "Vampires eat people." "It's part of the natural food pyramid." "Trust me." "You're going to be miserable." "I can't do it." "All right, it's like the starting line of a race, right?" "So you just push off with every ounce of strength that you have, ok?" "I was a cheerleader." "I sucked at track." "Just concentrate, ok?" "You can do it." "I can't." "All I can think about is your hands on my body." "No, no, no, I didn't..." "I didn't say take them off." "It feels good." "Yeah?" "..." "What does it feel like?" "It feels like you're touching every nerve on my body." "Everything is heightened." "Taste." "The smell." "Sight." "Touch." "This seat's taken." ""Faulty gas line leads to tragic explosion at Young farm"." "Really?" "Better than "Town council blown up, police have no suspects"." "Unless the perpetrator's right next to me." "Well, don't look at me." "I always take credit for killing people." "Seriously, stop looking at me like that, Liz." "If I was going to kill ten people, I wouldn't blow 'em up." "I'd have a dinner party." "The explosion was sparked from inside." "This wasn't an accident." "You say that like it's a bad thing." "The council's dead, Liz." "I see that as a win." "I've known some of the council since I was a kid." "They were my friends." "Well, your friends tried to kill your daughter." "Who's the new guy?" "Excuse me, sheriff." "Hi." "I was wondering if I could speak to you for a minute." "It's about the explosion at the Young farm." "I'm sorry, mister..." "Connor Jordan." "Are you with the insurance investigators?" "No, no, I'm more of an independent contractor." "Can we speak in private?" "Sure." "Thanks." "Nice to meet you, too," "Mr. Busybody Guy." "So what are these again?" "They're paper lanterns." "Student council made them for after the memorial." "You line them up in honor of all the dead." "Nobody thought fire might be a little inappropriate?" "Yeah, I wouldn't make that crack in front of Elena." "How is she?" "I guess she's fine... considering." "If there's anything I can do, you know, short of giving her a ride, you'll let me know, right?" "I'm only alive because she told Stefan to save me first." "She's a vampire because of me, so I'd like to pay it back or forward or whatever." "Yeah." "Jeremy?" "Picture an emo pixie cut and braces." "April?" "Yeah." "You look great." "Do you remember April?" "Elena used to..." "Elena used to baby-sit you, yeah, I remember." "Yeah, before I got shipped off to boarding school by my dad." "Your dad." "My God," "I am so sorry about your dad." "Thank you." "I guess." "I sort of don't know how to answer when people say that." "Your dad was Pastor Young, right?" "He of the faulty gas line." "Sorry." "I haven't figured out what to say about that yet, either." "Wow, I am being a freak." "I'm just, you know, not much for grief, I guess." "I have to go register..." "Or something." "I think." "Hey, care, it's me." "I'm back." "I," "Can you call me?" "I've been having some... adjustment issues." "Hey." "Hi." "Well, what's that for?" "This is from the year you were born." "I think we should celebrate." "Celebrate what?" "Your first feed." "I know it was disgusting and traumatic and it was horrible." "But you did it anyway." "You survived it." "Well," "I wouldn't say I survived it." "It actually kind of made me sick." "Listen, I choked it down for a month before I could stomach the taste." "It gets easier." "This, on the other hand, will go down like silk." "You're so cheery." "Yeah, because you're here." "You're... alive." "Ish." "And, you're going... you're going to get through this." "So, would you like to do the honors?" "Ok." "My God." "Cheers." "Ah, perfect timing, Damon." "Yeah, we just got back." "What?" "Did you do it?" "That seat's taken." "But there's no one here." "Did you do it?" "Well, I'm'st going to pretend like there's someone there." "Because the alternative's just too damn depressing." "Did you set off the explosion that killed the town council?" "Am I wearing my "I blew up the council" t-shirt?" "Why does everybody keep asking me that?" "Did you?" "No." "Anything else?" "Yes." "Something's wrong." "I can't keep any of the animal blood down." "Well, there's a shock." "I think I need your help." "Of course you do." "Pick your meal." "You got Asian fusion, Mexican, what about some good old American comfort food?" "No." "No human blood." "Stefan's right." "I have to at least try to get through this without hurting anyone." "Fine." "Come on." "What are you doing?" "Giving you what you need." "Drink." "What?" "!" "You're a new vampire, Elena." "You need warm blood from the vein." "Maybe this will do the trick." "Just don't tell Stefan." "Why not?" "Because blood sharing is kind of... personal." "What do you mean, it's personal?" "Just drink!" "This is wrong." "A bunch of people died and we're having sex." "Grief sex." "It's healthy." "It's selfish." "It's natural." "Besides, if we stopped having sex every time somebody died in this town, we'd explode." "We need to be more sensitive." "Tyler." "Come on." "I love you." "How's that for sensitive?" "I love you, too." "Who the hell is that?" "May I help you?" "Good evening." "I'm hoping I can help you, actually." "I spoke with sheriff Forbes earlier." "My name is Connor Jordan." "Carol Lockwood." "I know who you are, Connor." "And I believe the sheriff made it clear that the tragedy at the farm house was an internal matter." "That's one way of looking at it, I guess." "Although I prefer the term "cover-up"." "Do you mind if I come in?" "You know, I really don't think that's a good idea." "Excuse me!" "Thank you." "You're aware that it wasn't an accident." "Any rookie fireman could tell you that." "What are you, the press?" "Not exactly." "So 12 council members are dead." "You're the mayor." "Why weren't you at that meeting?" "It wasn't official town business." "What was it, then?" "Mom?" "What's going on?" "Is there something I can help you with?" "Maybe." "How you doing?" "I'm Connor." "Tyler!" "My God!" "Tyler, run!" "Please tell me that's the last one." "These were specially carved." "The length, the width." "If you were a normal vampire, you would be dead." "This guy knew what he was doing." "His gloves must have been steeped in vervain." "He was looking for a vampire and he didn't hesitate for a second when he found one." "These etchings..." "Are the bullets spelled?" "I don't know." "They're something." "How are you feeling?" "You look a little, strong out." "I'm fine." "It's just my emotions are all over the place." "Everything's heightened." "I mean, just the sight of all the names of the dead makes me want to cry for a week." "You didn't have to volunteer." "People died." "People we've known our whole lives." "So..." "Yeah, I did." "Is that..." "April Young, yeah." "Wow." "Hey there." "Hey." "Long time, no see." "Not since..." "My parents' funeral." "Yeah." "Are you going to survive this?" "They want me to speak." "I guess all the kids who lost somebody can." "What am I supposed to say?" ""I'm sorry my dad didn't fix the gas line."" "But if I don't say anything, then..." "I mean, what if nobody does?" "I mean, my dad and I didn't always get along or anything, but everybody still deserves to have nice things said about them at their own funeral, you know?" "I mean, for my mom's funeral, everybody said some really nice things." "I..." "You say what you want to say." "Or you don't say anything at all." "And don't worry about your dad." "Everyone in this town loved him." "Yeah." "Until 2 days ago." "Even still." "I'm sorry, I..." "I have to go." "Bonnie?" "Bonnie, I know you're in there." "I can hear you breathing." "Bonnie, please, it's important." "Hey." "Are you all right?" "Can I come in, please?" "Hey, hey." "Shh." "My grams, it was like she was dying all over again." "Just because I didn't listen to her about not doing black magic." "Well, you're dealing with the other side." "It's not reliable." "Witches were probably just messing with your head, trying to teach you a lesson." "Well, it worked." "I tried to do a basic nature spell this morning just to clear my head, and..." "It just brought it all back." "Like it was happening all over again." "I'm sorry." "I'm a mess." "I've been holed up in here, avoiding everyone." "I've completely blown off Jamie." "You came here 'cause you needed something, right?" "Yeah." "But it can wait." "Come on, Stefan, I'm ok." "Come on." "You're not exactly a drop by kind of guy." "If something's wrong, tell me." "All right." "These burn to the touch." "Could just be steeped in vervain, but this writing... have you ever seen anything like this before?" "No, it's not magical writing, if that's what you're thinking." "Where'd you get these?" "I think we have a new vampire hunter in town." "That's bad timing." "I'm here, I'm here." "Where are you?" "I'm in the basement bathroom." "Is that you at the door?" "Not yet." "I'm sorry, there's someone in here." "Damon, hurry." "You again." "Stalking small town funerals?" "Damon." "Thank God." "Sorry, I spilled coffee all over my dress." "We have not met." "I'm Connor." "Jordan." "Damon." "Germaphobe." "Everything ok in there?" "Just a minute!" "So what brings you to Mystic Falls?" "Bible salesman?" "No, no, actually I'm in, environmental clean-up." "Heard you had a bit of a pollution problem." "Well, I was unaware." "I breathe pretty easy." "I'm so sorry that took so long." "No problem." "Well, enjoy your stay." "We love visitors, and the scenery is to die for." "Funeral parlor." "Too soon." "Sorry." "Sorry, you scared me." "I was just practicing my speech for later." "Did you bring the blood bag?" "Do you want to say that a little louder?" "Elena!" "No, I can't." "It tastes like..." "What's wrong with me?" "I don't know." "Maybe it's your doppelganger blood, you're rejecting the transition." "I'm dying, aren't I?" "No, you're not dying." "You just need to drink from the vein." "No." "No, no." "I can't risk killing anyone, Damon." "Maybe I'm better off dead." "Don't even think like that, Elena." "You'll be fine." "Ok?" "I have to get back inside." "Great." "What's in the bag, Damon?" "Mid-service snack." "Church always gets me hungry." "The whole blood of Christ thing, you know." "I brought it for Elena." "You're really that intent on having your way?" "It's not my way, it's the only way." "If she hurts someone, she'll be desperate to turn the guilt off." "Maybe even desperate enough to shut off her humanity." "What, and become a ripper?" "We can't let her be anything like me." "Or God forbid she's anything like me." "That's really what you're thinking." "She's going to go off the rails eventually anyway, Stefan." "So the faster we can make it happen, the sooner we can get her back on track." "She's strong." "If we help her, she can survive." "She's starving, Stefan." "She hasn't been able to keep blood down for days." "What are you talking about?" "She told me she was fine." "Well, she lied." "Your four-legged protein shake was a bust." "The juice box was a no-go." "She can't even keep my blood down." "She drank from you?" "Oops." "Did I say that out loud?" "Are you ok?" "Hey, April was looking for you." "She wanted help with her speech." "Where is she?" "I don't know." "What are you doing here, Tyler?" "Being sensitive to the community's loss." "With a hunter out to get you?" "I'm not letting a hunter stop me from where I'm supposed to be." "Also, if she shows his face, I'm going to kick his ass." "Before we begin the mass, we'd like to open the floor to anyone who would like to store a memory about our late friends on the town council." "I know that April Young wanted to say a few words about her dad." "April?" "April?" "Are you still here, honey?" "Is there anyone else who would like to share a recollection or a memory about Pastor Young?" "Come on up, Elena." "Don't know why that always makes me smile." "She doesn't look so good." "Maybe you should have told me she was rejecting all food sources." "Jealousy's beneath you, brother." "Bite me." "I, when I talked to April earlier, she was kind of nervous about coming up to speak, and..." "Now that I'm up here, I'm kind of nervous, too." "The worst day of loving someone is the day that you lose them." "Do you smell that?" "Blood." "Nobody move." "Don't turn around." "It's a trap." "I," "It's ok." "It's ok." "I got you, I got you." "Please turn to page 42 in your hymn book." "Let us join together in song." "Hey, hey, hey." "The blood." "Stefan, the blood, I can smell it." "There's so much." "It's all right." "It's all right, just remember what we talked about." "Focus, push back." "Come on, you can do this." "What's wrong with her?" "She's hungry." "She hasn't fed." "So get her out of here." "We can't." "There's somebody watching us." "I'm going to go rip his head off now." "You do that, Damon, and you risk exposing all of us." "Well, I think the risk will be slightly diminished when I, you know, rip his head off." "Stefan, I'm losing it." "You have 10 seconds before I go old-fashioned on the new guy." "Don't do it, Damon, please." "3, 2, 1, bye." "Wait, wait, wait, Elena." "Feed from me." "It's ok." "Everyone will just think you're upset." "Feed from me." "It's ok." "You're ok." "I'm here." "Thank you." "I'm ok." "But the blood, there's so much." "It's got to be April." "We have to help her." "Elena, we can't risk it." " Then I'm going to do it." " Excuse me." "I just wanted to say a few words about Pastor Young." "What do we do?" "Back in first grade," "I was a brat who couldn't be bothered with team sports." "Didn't care much about anything that didn't affect me." "But he was the one who made me understand how important it is to be part of a team;" "A community." "Of giving yourself up for the sake of..." "My God!" "I'm going to kill that bastard." "Damon's way ahead of you." "Stay here, I have to help him." "What about April?" "I got it, go." "I have to call an ambulance." "No, he's fine!" "The whole town just watched you get shot." "I'm calling an ambulance." "Elena?" "Damon!" "What the hell was that for?" "You know what." "Ah." "April!" "She's not dead, but if you feed on her, you will kill her!" "Let go of me!" "Look at her!" "Look at her, Elena." "It's April." "April Young." "She's not a warm body for you to feed on." "She's your friend." "She's an orphan, just like you." "And she's scared..." "Just like you were." "Please!" "Don't hurt me, please!" "No one's going to hurt you." "No one's going to hurt you." "She needs you." "You can make her forget all of this." "Why did he do this?" "No, I..." "I can't, Caroline, you have to do it." "No, the only way you're going to learn is if you do it yourself." "No, I can't..." "Yes, you can." "You just need to believe what you're telling her." "April, listen to me." "Everything's going to be ok." "You're going to get through this, just like I got through it." "And I'm going to help you." "I promise." "I'm going to be ok." "You're going to help me." "You watched the funeral from up here so that you could grieve alone." "It was a beautiful service." "People said really nice things." "That was insane." "How do you think they'll cover this one up?" "An assassination attempt on the mayor's son." "Altar boy goes postal." "Hey." "What happened there?" "Girlfriend went a little overboard." "Nice ink." "What ink?" "You didn't see his tattoo?" "It was huge." "He didn't have a tattoo." "Yeah, he did." ""Dear April," ""I'm sorry for what you're going through." ""What I did was a necessary sacrifice," ""and I'm afraid it's only the first of many more sacrifices to come." ""There's always been an evil that spread through Mystic Falls," ""but now a greater one is coming." ""My death is but the first in the war ahead." ""I will see you again when we all find our salvation." "Until then, I love you." "Dad."" "Helps with the cravings." "You're mad." "Yeah, I'm mad." "You lied to me." "I didn't lie, I just didn't tell you..." "Come on, Elena, you lied to me." "You were just so happy that things were going well, and..." "You think I'm happy?" "I just didn't want to ruin it for you." "You're in hell, which means that I'm in hell." "And then you go to Damon for help." "Yeah, because I thought that he would understand." "You think I don't?" "Stefan, please..." "You fed on him, Elena." "You fed on him." "I know that may not mean much to you, but it means a lot to me." "And I know it certainly meant a lot to Damon." "I didn't want to hurt you." "I'm..." "I'm sorry." "Look, I'm really, really sorry, I..." "Why am I crying?" "I am so sick of crying." "Your emotions are a bit heightened right now." "I feel like I've been crying since the day that my parents died." "My life is..." "It's like a never ending funeral." "We keep burying people, Stefan." "You want to know what's heightened?" "It's grief." "I can't stop feeling everyone's grief." "All the hurt, I feel like it's trying to explode out of me." "Hey, hey." "Come on." "Come with me." "Where?" "Something we need to do." "What are we doing here?" "I don't know." "Ask Stefan." "Stefan." "What are we doing?" "We're finishing the memorial we didn't get to have earlier." "We need to start healing, Damon." "We've all lost so much, especially recently." "I think we're numb to it." "We push it away, we make a joke out of it, ignore how we feel." "Time to just let ourselves grieve." "So you're lighting lanterns." "Yeah, yeah." "We need to do this." "What we need to do is find out who this hunter is and what he knows about the death of the council." "We have more important things to be doing right now than this." "Not tonight, we don't." "This is for my Uncle Zach." "My friend Lexi." "For Alaric." "This is for Vickie." "This is for my dad." "And Tyler's." "This is for our parents, for Vickie..." "Anna, Jenna." "And Alaric." "No way." "I'm not doing that." "This is for my grams." "This," "Is for my mom, my dad, and..." "Jenna." "Everyone that we've all lost;" "Everyone that this town has lost." "And for me." "I guess." "They're floating lanterns in the sky." "Can you believe that?" "Japanese lantern is a symbol of letting go of the past." "Well, here's a newsflash... we're not Japanese." "You know what they are?" "Children." "Like lighting a candle's going to make everything ok." "Or even saying a prayer, or pretending Elena is not going to end up just like the rest of us murderous vampires." "Stupid, delusional, exasperating little children." "I know what you're going to say." "It makes them feel better, Damon." "So what?" "For how long?" "A minute?" "A day?" "What difference does it make?" "Because in the end, when you lose somebody, every candle, every prayer is not going to make up for the fact that the only thing that you have left is a hole in your life where that somebody" "that you cared about used to be." "And a rock." "With a birthday carved into it that I'm pretty sure is wrong." "So, thanks, friend." "Thanks for leaving me here to baby-sit." "Because I should be long gone by now." "I didn't get the girl." "Remember?" "I'm just stuck here fighting with my brother and taking care of the kids." "You owe me big." "I miss you, too, buddy."