Everyone was looking for the twins, and Stefan and I found out that Damon had been set free from where we had chained him to the coffin in the cemetery, knowing that both Sirens, Sybil and Seline, had Damon and Lizzie and Josie.

Stefan and I met up with Caroline at the Forbes House to try and find them.

"Hey," I told her. "I compelled the sheriff to make this case a priority. Should bypass some red tape. Where to first?"

"That's a question for Alaric," Caroline told us.

"He's on the phone with Matt," I told her.

Stefan attempted to take Caroline's luggage. "I'll go put this in the car."

Caroline stopped him, looking at both of us. "No. Stop. You're not coming."

"What?" I asked.

"Ric and I can handle it from here," Caroline told us. "And if you really want to help, then just stay with Matt and work with the police."

"Caroline, you can't be serious," Stefan told her. "The twins have been abducted by two Sirens, and you expect us to just hang back?"

"Damon is with them," Caroline told us.

Stefan nodded in agreement. "Right. Which is exactly why we should come with you."

"Let me be perfectly clear," Caroline told us. "If Damon gets in between me and my girls, I am going to kill him." I looked at her incredulously, stunned, though I knew that she had no chance at killing our brother. "So no, you cannot come with me." Caroline took her ring off, giving it back to a perplexed Stefan. "Just don't say anything. Just listen. Until this is all over, there is no us. There's only me and my kids and their father. They're all depending on me. I can't afford any distractions or compromises, especially when it comes to your brother."

Alaric walked in. "Matt has a, uh... a partial trace on Seline's cell. They're near Oakwood."

"Let's go," Caroline told him.

Caroline and Alaric walked out of the house, leaving Stefan and me alone.

********

Matt, Stefan and I were in the Armory.

Matt was going through the police radio channels.

"Shouldn't there be more chatter from your cop friends?" Stefan asked.

"I'm not exactly in the loop anymore, but don't worry," Matt told us. "Tips are about to start flying."

I sighed. "Where the hell are they going?"

"You tell me," Matt told us. "He's your brother."

Stefan gave Matt a look.

I was beyond annoyed. "Everyone needs to stop saying that like everything that Damon's doing is because of us. It's not. And in case you've forgotten, Damon's not the one pulling the strings. Sorry. Just with everything going on..."

"It's a lot," Matt finished. "Yeah, I know."

Bonnie helped Enzo inside. "I need help."

********

Enzo was laying on a couch, groaning in pain. "It was Sybil. She sang. She--she--she's wormed her way back into my head. God, the pain is moving, and it feels like I'm being cut open."

"Can you see her?" Bonnie asked. "Can you talk to her?"

"No," Enzo answered.

"Sybil told us she was able to manipulate Damon by invading his subconscious," Stefan told him. "If you can't see or feel her, she must be in yours."

"Funny," Enzo told us. "Because consciously and subconsciously, I want to rip her bloody head off."

Bonnie looked at me. "You can get inside his head. Right? Like you've done with mine?"

"I don't know," I told them. "I've never gone deeper than the surface."

"Congrats, Kaylin," Enzo told me. "You're about to have a tour of some very dark places."

We all exchanged a worried look.

I sighed, kneeling next to Enzo, placing my hand on his arm, closing my eyes, focusing to get into his mind.

In his head, I could see Sybil and Enzo in a room like one of Augustine's labs, where Sybil was dissembling and torturing him, making him scream. "I gotta say, you're a man with a lot of guts."

"Why are you doing this?" Enzo asked.

"It's simple," Sybil told him. "I'm punishing you. Nobody escapes me. Not ever. Bend you to my will with one hand, while I eat greasy diner food with the other."

"I won't go back to being your lackey," Enzo told her.

"Fine by me," Sybil told him. "I'm not here to win you back. I'm just here for the screams."

Sybil stabbed a scalpel blade into Enzo's eyes, making him scream.

I was forced out of his head as he succumbed to the pain.

"What did you see?" Stefan asked.

"Matt, I need you to pull up a list of all the diners in Oakwood," I told him.

"Why?" Matt asked.

I sighed, standing. "Because Sybil's at one of them, and she has no idea that we're onto her."

********

Enzo was puking blood into a bowl on the floor from Sybil's mental torture. 

Stefan's phone rang. He picked it up. "Tell me you found them."

I heard Alaric's voice on the other line. "No, but they were just here, so, whatever you guys are doing with Enzo, it's working."

"Look, Sybil is mentally torturing him, and I think Kaylin prying around his head is making it worse."

"I don't care."

"Ric..."

"I'm serious, Stefan. Enzo's the best chance I have at getting my kids back, so if you have to turn his brain into oatmeal, that's what you do, understood?"

"Let me talk to Caroline."

"Now's not a good time."

"Just make sure she knows we're doing everything we can."

"Yeah, well, do more."

  ********  

Bonnie was blotting the sweat on Enzo's forehead away, turning to Stefan and me. "What are we gonna do? We have to help him."

"I can go inside his mind again," I answered. "But I don't know if that's a good idea."

Bonnie sighed, obviously worried. "Do it. Just be careful."

Matt was talking to Alaric on the phone. "A state cop called in the minivan's plates from that location."

"They were here," Alaric told us.

"What did they do to him?" Caroline asked.

"You don't want to know," Alaric told us. "What about Enzo?"

"Nothing yet. He's unconscious. Kaylin's still trying."

  ******** 

I went back into Enzo's head.

Sybil was still psychically torturing Enzo, making him scream in pain.

 "Where are the children?" Enzo asked. "Tell me, and you can do whatever you want with me, I don't care."

"I'm already doing what I want with you," Sybil told him. Enzo continued yelling, as his real body was deteriorating. "You're dying, Enzo." She picked up a metallic metallic. I rushed toward Sybil, slamming her angrily against the wall. Sybil smiled in amusement. "There you are. I was wondering when you'd shift from creeper to participant."

"Where are the twins?" I asked.

Sybil chuckled. "I'll make you a deal. You and Stefan come alone, and I'll let Enzo live."

"No, Kaylin," Enzo told me. "You can't trust her."

"He's right," Sybil told me. "But you're still gonna come with Stefan, and only Stefan. Damon and I have an offer you won't be able to refuse."

  ********  

After dark, Stefan and I went to the motel where Damon, the twins and the Sirens were, the White Cedar Motel.

Stefan's phone rang. He answered to talk to Caroline. "I'm sorry."

"You have no right to cut me out of this. They are my kids."

"And you're going to be my wife and Kaylin's sister-in-law, and Ric is our friend and Damon is our brother. We have a chance to fix this for all of us, so that's exactly what we're going to do."

Stefan hung up. We walked inside.

  ******** 

Stefan and I walked down a dark hallway in the motel.

I sensed a man running up behind me, turning to face him just as he tried to hit me with a broom handle, catching it, using it to hit him in the head, making him fall unconscious.

Stefan turned to face me worriedly. "Kaylin?"

A man came up behind Stefan to drive a broken piece of wood through his back out of his chest while he had been distracted with me.

I helped Stefan pull the makeshift stake out, throwing it into Guy 2, making him fall unconscious.

Many other men and women walked into the hallway to surround us.

  ******** 

Guy 3 tried to attack me. I grabbed him by the jacket, slamming him into the wall, making him fall.

Guy 4 tried to hit Stefan with a baseball bat. Stefan ducked, making him hit a breaker box on the wall instead, punching him in the face, making him fall.

I elbowed Guy 5 in the face behind me, spinning to kick Guy 6 in the head, knocking him out and making him fall. Guy 5 tried to stake me. I caught the stake, twisting it out of his hands, breaking his wrists, making him fall.

Stefan kicked Guy 7 in the stomach, making him fall. Guy 8 stabbed a broken piece of wood into Stefan's back. Stefan turned to face him, pushing him from wall to another, throwing him out of a window, making it break.

Guy 9 ran toward me. I grabbed him by the back of the head, pulling on his hair hard to make his head tilt back, looking at him angrily, turning to slam his head on the wall, knocking him out, throwing him to the floor.

Guy 10 stabbed Stefan in the stomach. Stefan pushed him through a doorway into another room, making him fall, turning to punch Guy 11 in the face, pushing him into the other room with Guy 10, using a piece of wood to lock the doors they were behind to keep them from attacking us again.

Two more guys ran closer. 

Guy 12 tried to grab me. I spun out of the way, turning to face him, kicking him in the face. 

Guy 13 held a crowbar up to Stefan's neck from behind to choke him out. Stefan kicked into the wall in front of him to make him back into Guy 13 and slam him into the wall behind him to make him let go, both falling to the floor.

Stefan started to cough.

I walked toward Stefan, helping him stand. "I know that you don't want to kill or hurt these guys, Stefan, but that was pathetic."

Stefan gave me a look.

Damon walked toward us. "Quite the moral dilemma." We looked at him. Guys 12 and 13 stood behind us. "What's it gonna be? You gonna take the high road or the low?"

"Don't do this, Damon," I told him.

"It's already done, Kaylin," Damon told me. "Those bad boys are sirened to kill you, just like the rest of them. Somehow, you've managed not to kill any of them so far. Piece of advice, Stefan, for both of you. 'Kill them before they kill you'. And another piece of advice, 'Turn around. Now'."

Guy 12 used a baseball bat to hit Stefan, trying to hit me with it, but I caught it before he did.

  ********  

Stefan was on the floor.

Damon was holding me back from helping him and stopping Guy 12 from hurting him.

Guy 12 broke the baseball bat over his knee, handing the other half to Guy 13, standing over Stefan, driving the stake toward his chest, but Stefan caught it before it could impale his heart.

"Come on, guys," Damon told us. I struggled against Damon angrily while Guy 13 walked closer to try and stake me. "Don't be so stubborn." Stefan continued to groan in pain as Guy 12 attempted to shove the makeshift stake into his heart. "Kill them already."

I broke free from Damon's hold to duck in time to make Guy 13 miss my heart, punching him in the face, kicking him in the chest, making him fall, looking at Damon incredulously. "Why are you doing this?"

"What's really important is why you're doing this," Damon told us. "Want to save the twins? I can help you do that, guys. But first things first." Guy 13 tried to come at me with the stake again. I rolled my eyes in annoyance, snapping his neck, letting him fall to the floor. Stefan dug his finger into Guy 12's eye, turning the stake around on him to stab him in the neck, sitting up, horrified with what he had just done. I looked at Guy 13's body, feeling a little guilty, but not as devastated as Stefan was. "Ouch. That's gonna leave a mark. On your souls. Don't worry. I got a get out of Hell free card right here in my pocket."

Stefan stood. "Where are the girls? I won't ask you again."

"I'll be happy to take you to them," Damon told us. "Just need you to agree to a few terms first."

  ******** 

We heard Seline, Sybil and Cade in the pool room of the motel.

 "So, you want your freedom in exchange for these two sweet girls?" Cade asked.

"I told you he wouldn't go for it," Sybil told her.

"Actually, I'm intrigued," Cade told them. "What do you think?"

"Seline says you're nice," Josie told him.

Cade laughed. "Well... I am, little one. With time and guidance, there's no telling what you two can become."

"Cade, do we have a deal or not?" Seline asked.

"What if I can offer you a better one, here and now?" Sybil asked.

"What are you talking about?" Seline asked.

"Two brothers, one sister, three of history's most prolific killers, three powerful, immortal vampires," Sybil told him. "They'll be much more potent weapons for you than these helpless children. Seline and I are simply Sirens. Trust me, you'll be trading up."

"Are you serious?" Seline asked. "There's no way..."

Stefan, Damon and I walked into the room.

"We'll do it," I told them. "Just let the girls go."

Cade looked intrigued.

  ********  

Stefan and I were taking Lizzie and Josie to Alaric and Caroline in the main lobby.

"Mommy!" Josie told her.

"Daddy!" Lizzie told her.

Alaric and Caroline ran to hug the girls tightly.

"Hey," Alaric told them. "Hey. Ooh. Oh, my gosh. Oh. Oh, my gosh. Oh, it's so good to see you."

"Thank you," Caroline told them. "It's so good to see you. I missed you too."

Alaric and Caroline looked at Stefan and me in relief and gratitude.

Stefan and I nodded, knowing that it was the last good thing that we could do in a long time.

Because tomorrow, Christmas, was the last day of freedom for who knew who long.