Alaric, Damon, Kai and I were still in the hidden room of the Armory's vault, as we were trying to figure out how he was here.

"Is that weird or what?" Kai asked. "I mean, I can still touch stuff. I'm not a ghost. I'm more like a psychic imprint. Stuck between dimensions, thanks to Hell's Bell, one foot on earth, the other in Cade's nightmare world of hurt. On the run, off the grid, a renegade, relaying only on his wits." He walked past us, smiling, laughing. "A renegade. That's funny." We turned to face him incredulously. "I can still do magic if I siphon myself, but even then, it takes concentration." Alaric looked at the bone blade that was supposed to kill Cade. "It's like having cell reception on Mars." 

Alaric lunged for Kai, pushing him against the wall, putting the blade to his throat. "You murdered my wife."

"Ah, fiance," Kai told him. "It was mid-ceremony as I remember. But, yes, yes, yes, huge huge mistake. I see that now. I do." He held his hand toward Alaric, trying to siphon off of himself to use magic, but it wasn't working. "Motus." He sighed. "Okay."

"Are you having a hard time concentrating?" Alaric asked.

Kai rolled his eyes. "No."

I pulled Alaric away from Kai. "Ric, hey." I turned to Kai. "I have some questions. Starting with how the hell are you here?"

"Why don't you tell me?" Kai asked. "You guys rang some giant bell, and suddenly, I could see Mystic Falls, so I went for it. And here I am... sort of. Please don't tell Cade."

"You were in Hell?" Damon asked.

"Yeah, you killed me," Kai told him. "I think I'm on the wait list for Heaven, but they're not returning my calls."

"You said you had a better idea than killing Cade with this dagger," Damon told him.

"Find a way to get me out of Hell, all the way, and then I'll help you kill Cade," Kai told us.

"I think we can manage without you," Alaric told him, lunging for Kai.

Kai cringed back. "What if I brought back Elena?"

Damon stopped Alaric. "Let's hear him out, Ric."

  ******** 

Alaric, Damon and I walked out into the main room of the Armory to talk alone.

  "The kid's a sociopath, Damon," Alaric told him. "You're gonna get us all killed."

"Not necessarily," Damon told us.

"Then have at it, brother," I told him sarcastically. "And while you're playing little leagues with a Heretic, I'm gonna be trying to outsmart the Devil and find a way to kill him so that he won't be able to kill my daughter that I just got back in case I don't follow any of his orders. And until then, I have to kill evil souls so that she doesn't die... again."

"You know, you should probably barricade Rae in here with Lizzie and Josie, so that Kai doesn't get to her like he tried to murder the while they were still in utero," Alaric told me.

"Look, when I get out of him what I want, I will send him back to Hell in pieces, I promise you," Damon told him.

"Well, whatever you're gonna do, just do it far away from here," Alaric told him.

"How about a little faith, huh?" Damon asked.

Alaric scoffed. "Why don't you save that question for somebody who's never killed you?"

Alaric walked away.

I rolled my eyes, turning to Damon, sighing in annoyance.

  ********   

I was at home with Rae, looking at her in her crib, lifting her up to hold her for a moment, still stunned and completely in shock that she was actually here, and even though she was only here so that Cade could make me kill for him so that I wouldn't lose her... it was the only good thing that had happened to me in a few years. I sighed heavily, not knowing what to do, when I saw that she was starting to grow a little gray, like desiccation, but not actual desiccation because she wasn't a vampire, just psychic and growing immortal. I knew that it was because I hadn't killed anyone for their souls that either Rae or Cade could feed on, and that I had to soon otherwise I was going to lose her again, and I wasn't going to go through that again, not after I had lost practically everything and everyone else besides Stefan and Damon, and I hadn't completely forgiven Stefan yet for killing Enzo, so we were kind of on the outs right at the moment. I wasn't going to lose anyone else, sighing, knowing that I had to leave Rae with Alaric, Josie and Lizzie at the Armory so that I could do the job that Cade wanted me to do so that I didn't lose my daughter again.

  ********   

Damon, Kai and I were driving in my car.

Damon was in the passenger seat.

Kai was in the backseat.

Damon was calling Bonnie.

"What do you need?"

"Just calling to make sure you're okay."

"I'm not. But you left me nine messages this morning, so you obviously want something."

"No. I don't want anything. I'm just I'm here for you. Unrelated, um, have you made any progress getting Enzo out of Hell?"

"What?"

"I'm just saying, Cade got out. Why shouldn't Enzo?"

"Cade used the Maxwell bell. Which is kind of a nonstarter now, unless you want to risk nuking Mystic Falls again. I'm not a practicing witch anymore."

"But you're also not a quitter, Bonnie."

Kai reached up to turn the radio on. 

I slapped Kai on the hand, whispering so Bonnie didn't hear me. "Stop it."

"You know what? Why don't you call me back when you're not--"

Damon sighed. "Whoa, whoa, n--n--n--no. Wait, wait, wait. Don't hang up. Bonnie, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude. I just, um I was just hoping you had a solve for Enzo, because I might need a solution for someone else, too."

"Someone else like..."

"Let's just say I had a semi-ghost situation. Someone halfway in our world, who really wanted to stay here for real."

Kai whispered to Damon. "Let me say hi." Damon shook his head. "Let me say hi."

"Shut up," I whispered.

Damon ignored us, returning to his phone call. "This is all hypothetical, Bonnie, but what if there was a way to unlink your life from Elena's? And what if the very small price to pay was us freeing a soul from Hell?"

"First of all, by 'us,' you mean me.Second of all, it's crazy, because the only person who could break that link is Kai, and he's been dead for years. Who's sitting next to you?"

"Kaylin."

"Who else is there?" 

"Nobody."

"Really? Because I just had the weirdest feeling." Kai exhaled on his window to create condensation to draw a heart in. "There's someone there with you. Someone you don't want me to know about."

I pulled over.

"Look, let me be clear. Even if there were someone else here with Kaylin and me, I wouldn't want you to know, because of a certain mind-reading Devil that's on the lookout for escaped souls. And what you don't know can't hurt us."

Damon and I got out of the car. 

"Oh, my God. Tell me you're not talking about Kai Parker."

I looked back at the car to see Kai struggling to get out of the backseat, rolling my eyes.

Damon continued to speak to Bonnie. "Of course not. Why would you even say that?"

Kai got out of the car, closing the door, waving to us.

"Because I know you. And because I have this incredibly strong feeling that I can't explain."

"Everything okay, Bon?"

"Damon, before my Grams helped me tap into my witchcraft, she told me I was psychic. Which would explain how I know you're hiding something. And why I can still feel Enzo."

"Great. Fine. Can your new psychic powers help someone get free of Hell?"

"I have no idea. But Cade would know the answer. I'm gonna ask him how to save Enzo."

"No. Bad idea, Bon... Mm."

Bonnie had already hung up.

I sighed heavily, looking around.

Kai looked at Damon and me. "Did it sound like she missed me?"

I shook my head.

  ********   

We went back to the Armory, but Kai stayed outside.

Damon and I were with Alaric, Lizzie and Josie, walking into the infirmary with them to see Rae in a small crib. 

"How is that, Kaylin?" Lizzie asked.

"That is my daughter, Rae," I answered.

Josie smiled. "You have one?"

I smiled at how cute their reactions were. "Yeah, now I do."

"Where'd she come from?" Lizzie asked.

"That is a long story, meant for older girls to hear," Damon told them. "Okay?"

Josie and Lizzie nodded. 

I turned to Rae, picking her up.

Alaric walked toward us, looking at his phone. "Care to explain why Twitter just notified me that CobraKai1972 is tweeting for the first time in four years?"

"Better question, why are you still following him?" I asked.

Alaric gave me a look. "Kaylin--"

"Don't worry," Damon told him. "Bonnie's on it."

"Oh, good, you roped her in, too," Alaric told us sarcastically. "I was hoping you'd maximize the collateral damage."

I rolled my eyes in annoyance. "Hey, I'm not the one that roped her in. Damon is."

"And we should be currently babysitting a psycho," Damon told us.

"Yeah, and I will have to go with you to make sure that the psycho doesn't kill you, brother, in case Cade doesn't bring you back this time," I told him. 

Lizzie and Josie ran off into the other side of the infirmary to play with their toys, far enough away from the conversation.

Damon looked at Alaric. "We just came here to check on the girls."

"They're fine," Alaric told us. "Yeah, even Rae, who stopped turning gray for the time being, leading me to believe that you killed someone to feed their soul to her and Cade."

"You have any other ideas to make sure that Cade doesn't take her away from me again?" I asked. Alaric gave me an exasperated look. "They're evil people only, Ric. Murderers and thieves. Trust me, I'm not turning good people evil anymore."

"Yeah, and to keep Rae alive, you, her mother, is killing people to do so," Alaric told me. "Great example to set, Kaylin."

I gave him a sarcastic look for his sarcasm. "Okay, fine, you want me to let murderers to roam free and kill other people?"

"Don't do that," Alaric told me. "Don't twist this around. You're doing this so that you don't have to lose anyone else, on top of Klaus, Enzo, someday Stefan. But Rae isn't even supposed to be alive, Kaylin, and you're killing to keep--"

I rolled my eyes, turning to walk away with Rae before he could finish so I didn't have to listen to him anymore, starting to put Rae back in the crib when I noticed that her nose was bleeding.

Damon noticed the same thing, walking closer in concern. "Oh, no. That's new."

Rae was starting to fuss and cry, gasping for breath in pain, starting to turn gray again.

Alaric walked closer. "What's happening to her?"

"Take a wild guess," Damon told him. "Cade doesn't like the fact that Kaylin's slacking in the job, so he's taking it out on Rae."

"We have got to find a way to kill this bastard soon, so that I can stop killing for him just to keep Rae alive," I told them. I sighed, placing Rae down, looking at Alaric. "Until then, just watch her along with your girls. I have a job to do." 

Damon and I walked out, leaving.

    ******** 

Kai was following Damon and me through an alley toward a butcher warehouse.

"Well, I hope Bonnie finds something good," Kai told us. "Because if I go back to Hell, so do your shots at happiness. I can't go back there. You're on fire all the time, and ghosts from your past come back to pull your skin off, and occasionally, on really bad days, you go face-to-face with Cade, who is basically torture incarnate. This is all metaphorical. Except for the fire, which is literal."

"That sounds rough," Damon told him.

"Wait, wait, didn't you go there?" Kai asked. "I know that Damon used to work for the Devil, Kaylin, but don't you still?"

I rolled my eyes. "Takes a lot to convince me to do this, believe me."

"My job with the Siren was my way to escape the real deal," Damon told him. "Kaylin's deal with Cade is a lot more complex."

Kai sighed. "Sirens. Man, were they hot?"

"Sure, if you're into cannibal divas," Damon answered.

"I think I am," Kai told us.

"But the second you stop feeding them evil people, things get ugly," Damon told him. "Also literal."

"So, Kaylin, you have to keep going," Kai told me. "Why?"

"None of your business," I told him.

"And you have to kill evil people?" Kai asked.

"Mm-hmm," I answered. "Hell is fueled by evil."

"So, you can secure your deal with the Devil and whoever else by killing a really bad person just like those sexy Sirens did?" Kai asked. 

"What is this, twenty questions?" Damon asked in annoyance.

"No, I'm just trying to figure out what leverage the Devil has over your sister to turn her into a servant of Hell, Damon," Kai told him. He looked at me. "But you have also been very bad yourself, so maybe you could have a high status in Hell, too. Like, I don't know, princess, queen... I mean, your fate is sealed, and you are super deep in the karma hole. I mean, they called you queen of torture since the '20s for a reason, right? Your taste in men that drove you to do even worse things did not help at all, so it's got me wondering what the Devil could possibly have over you to make the rebellious, free spirit Kaylin Salvatore into his slave."

"Shut the hell up," I told him. "Listening to you talk makes me wanna die and go to Hell. Or I can just send you back there myself."

"Ah, so I hit a nerve," Kai told me. "And let's face it, you're not gonna kill me, because your brother here, Damon, needs me, if he ever wants Elena to wake up without Bonnie dying."

"Why are we here, Kaylin?" Damon asked.

"Because there's a killer here, right inside," I answered. "Tracked him down so that I could kill someone that deserved killing and not any low lives that we killed while we were working with Stefan. Just one seriously bad person that will make everyone happy."

"Okay," Damon told me. "Sure. Why not?"

  ********   

I had found the killer in the backroom of the butcher warehouse, biting him on the neck, feeding on him until he died, relishing the taste for a moment or two, letting him fall.

Kai and Damon were watching.

"Well, at least no one can say that you don't take pleasure in your work," Kai told me. He looked at Damon. "Is it bad that watching your sister kill someone kind of turned me on?"

I glared at Kai in annoyance, rushing toward him, pushing him against the wall. "Shut up. I don't kill for kicks anymore. I'm only doing this because I have a job to do. So if you say one more word about me, my past, or my present, I will turn this room into your own personal hell."

Kai tried to remain serious, but started to laugh. "Sorry. But since when is Kaylin Salvatore ever this serious? Something bad must have really happened to you. Which, I'm sad to have missed."

I slammed Kai against the wall, glaring.

Damon pulled me away. "Hey, hey, hey. I get it. He's been antagonizing the hell out of you since he got back, and you want to shut him up, but I just need him around a little while longer."

 "We can't trust him, Damon," I told him. "He's gonna turn on us the second he gets."

"He wants Cade gone as much as we do," Damon told me. "Why would he turn on us?"

"I don't know, because he's Kai," I answered with honest sarcasm. "Come on, Damon, you're smarter than this."

"I'm desperate, okay?" Damon asked. 

"And an idiot if you think that Kai's gonna keep his word," I told him.

"He is gonna keep it," Damon told me. "You know why? Because you and I are gonna make sure of it."

I rolled my eyes, sighing, turning away, knowing that he wasn't going to listen to me anyway.

  ********   

I was disposing of the body in the outside dumpster, setting it on fire.

Kai had his wallet, chuckling softly. "All right. Let's see what we got here." Damon waled toward us. "Oh, hey. Another fishing spot for us. A law office just a few blocks away. Talk about bang for your buck. Am I right? I'm right."

I took the wallet from Kai, throwing it away. "Forget all these random kills."

"Wasn't done with that," Kai told me. 

"We know how to save you," Damon told him. "But we're under a bit of a time crunch. See, the boss found out that you're here. Cade's coming for you."

"Wait, he's--he's on his way right now?" Kai asked anxiously. 

"We don't have an exact E.T.A., but you know how impatient he gets," I told him.

Kai put his hands to his lips, looking around. "Oh, okay." He turned to us. "What do we do, what do we do? What do we do?"

"I know what to do," Damon told him.

"Okay, tell me," Kai told him. "What do we do?"

"We find a way to redeem you," Damon told him. "So you don't have to go to Hell."

"What are you talking about?" Kai asked.

"I'm talking about atonement," Damon answered. "I'm talking about a giant, noble gesture of selfless generosity."

Kai winced. "I hate this already."

"You need something that's gonna push you over the edge in the eyes of Cade," Damon told him. "Something to make up for all the pain that you've caused."

"And what does el jefe have in mind?" Kai asked.

"It's not up to him," Damon told him. "It's up to me. People do forgive. And when they do, redemption is possible. I know that. Which is why, if you want my forgiveness, you're gonna bring Elena Gilbert back to life. Right now."

I sighed, knowing that it was a mistake to trust Kai, but Damon was desperate to get Elena back, annoyed, knowing that I was gonna have to go with them to make sure that Kai didn't kill my brother when he double crossed us.

  ******** 

Damon, Kai and I walked into the Salvatore Mausoleum where we had moved Elena's coffin back to after what happened with Stefan, Enzo and Bonnie.

"How do I know you won't kill me as soon as I do this?" Kai asked.

"You don't" I answered smugly. "But if you want out of Hell, it's either trust us or run from Cade forever."

Kai ran his hands over the coffin. "Man, this thing has some miles on it." He leaned over the coffin to whisper to Elena. "Hi, sleepyhead. Remember me?"

"Clock's ticking, creeper," Damon told him. "Just reverse the damn spell."

"Uh, it's--it's complicated magic," Kai told us. "I need to siphon more power first, 'cause otherwise, I might slip away in the middle of the spell, and well, that'd be messy."

"What is it you need?" Damon asked.

Kai tried to grab Damon from behind. "You." 

I rushed toward Kai, pushing him against the wall. "Don't you dare lay a hand on my brother."

Kai shrugged. "All right, fine." He siphoned off of himself to give both Damon and me a pain infliction spell, making us both groan in pain and agony, gripping me by my throat to siphon magic off of my vampirism to give him more power. "Magic takes energy. If I'm gonna do this right, I need to drain the biggest, baddest battery of all."

I tried to push him off, but with the pain infliction spell on top of him siphoning my strength made that nearly impossible. 

Damon was on the floor from the pain infliction spell that Kai caused him, horrified and in agony. "Kai, stop."

Kai lowered me to the floor when I started to fall, kneeling next to us. "I've been in Hell long enough to know that there is no such thing as redemption. There are only promises and bargains and tricks we play on ourselves to make us believe that we're good people. I'm not a good person. I own that. And if I'm going down, I'm going out with a bang." I gathered enough strength to push Kai off of me toward the coffin, making him laugh in amusement. Kai put a hand on Elena's coffin. "Invisique."

Kai disappeared with Elena's coffin, leaving before Damon and I could stop him.

Damon was stunned and horrified. "No!"

Kai had siphoned enough magic out of me to kill me temporarily, as I was desiccating and falling dead, but I knew that I would be back because of the deal with Cade.

And the only thing that I could think about as I slipped into death yet again was that Damon should always listen to me, and that I was always right, and that he was always wrong.