Weeks of Stefan, Damon and me working for Cade. Stefan and I had turned our humanity all the way off to honor that deal.

We were sitting in an anger management group.

"Hi," Damon told them. "I'm Damon. And I have anger issues."

"Hi, Damon," everyone told him.

Damon waved sheepishly.

"I'm Stefan," Stefan told them. "I have control issues."

"Hi, Stefan," everyone told him.

Stefan nodded.

"I'm Kaylin," I told him. "And I'm really feeling the need to vent."

"Hi, Kaylin," everyone told me.

I smirked, winking.

"Why don't you tell us about what brought you to the meeting today?" the group leader asked.

"Well, I got my brother and sister this job," Damon told them.

"Actually, we asked for the job," I told him.

"Yeah, through my connections," Damon told us. He looked at the others. "Anyway, our boss gave Stefan and Kaylin new orders. And now, we're supposed to push people to make evil choices, and only then do we kill them and send their souls to the Devil."

"I thought we were going for like, a--a veiled analogy," Stefan told us.

"Oh, they're all compelled," Damon told us. "Clarity over cleverness. That's what I always say."

"You've literally never said that before," Stefan told him.

Damon looked at the others. "Anyway, since we got this new job, they've been difficult. Full of themselves."

I chuckled. "Okay. He's just jealous because we're better at finding new clients. For instance, who would you say is the worst person in this room? Huh? Meg or Elizabeth? You both have said some pretty awful things." I looked at Damon and Stefan. "I'm sure that, given the right opportunity, one of them would make an evil choice."

"Small potatoes," Stefan told us. "I don't even think they make the cut."

"Uh..." Elizabeth trailed off.

"Uh, Elizabeth, quiet," Stefan told her. "You, too, Meg."

I pointed at the group leader. "What about you? What if had to pick one person to die? Who would it be? Meg or Elizabeth?"

"Wait, stop right there," the group leader told us.

"What if it was between you and Meg?" I asked. "Would you want Meg to die?" Damon and Stefan both were curious as to where I was going with this. I compelled the group leader. "Answer the question honestly."

"Yes," the group leader answered. Damon and Stefan looked at him in surprise. "I would want her to die instead of me."

"Whoa," Damon told him. 

"What if both Meg and Elizabeth had to die, in order for you to live?" I asked.

The group leader looked between the two girls in regret, hating what he said. "Then I'd want them both to die."

"Okay," I told him. "What if we threw in everybody? Choose between yourself and these people."

"I want to live," the group leader told us. "I don't care about any of them."

The group reacted silently in shock.

I looked at Stefan and Damon, smirking knowingly, winking. "Mm."

Damon exhaled dramatically, leaning back in his chair. "Whoo."

"Wow," Stefan told us. "I think I've heard enough."

Damon nodded in agreement. "Yeah, me, too." I looked at the group leader, transforming, rushing closer, biting him on the neck, feeding until he died. Damon watched as Stefan killed everyone else in the group, unsurprised and unimpressed. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I thought we were only giving Cade the worst of the worst, like this guy."

"Cade can have him," Stefan told us. "These are mine."

Stefan dipped his fingers on Meg's neck, where blood was leaking out of her bite mark.

"What are you doing?" I asked. "Meditating?"

"It's called self-control, Kaylin," Stefan told me. "No dripping blood equals no temptation. I'm doing it right this time. Heads will remain intact."

"That's a very fine line," Damon told him. "Or a very fine neck membrane."

Stefan stood. "You know, your lack in faith in me is really starting to get on my nerves, Damon."

"I'm just saying, you have a Ripper history," Damon told him. "Are you sure you want to keep testing the blood-soaked waters?"

"That's why it's called history," Stefan told us. "It won't repeat. I'm all good."

Stefan knelt down to continue to feed from Meg.

Damon raised his eyebrows, nodding. "Yeah. I can see that."

********

The next day, Stefan, Damon and I were sitting at a table at an outside cafe, drinking coffee.

Stefan pointed at a rich woman tipping a waitress. "What about her over there?"

"That rich lady?" Damon asked. "Nah. If we sent people to Cade just for being bad tippers, there'd be no room left in Hell."

"All right, fine," Stefan told us. "Let's just go with the server, then. She looks angry already."

"We just did anger," I told them. "Besides, judging by the pool of candidates we have here, she's probably the only one that already worships the Devil. She's hardly a challenge, boys."

"You want a challenge, huh?" Stefan asked.

"Yeah," Damon answered. "Mm-hmm."

I looked in the distance toward an elderly woman and a younger woman standing next to her. "Let's go with that woman, right there."

"The old woman spilling stuff everywhere?" Stefan asked skeptically. "What are you doing, mercy killings?"

"No," I answered. "The doctor helping her."

We looked at the doctor that looked a little like Elena.

Damon reached into his pocket. "Well, how do you know she's a doctor and not some orderly?"

"Manicured nails," I told them. "Means she doesn't work with her hands. Medical pager means she's on call. Only in her 20s, and she's already a doctor? Huh. Must have graduated early. Really thrown herself into her work."

"Why do you think that is, Kaylin?" Stefan asked.

"I don't know, Stefan," I told him, starting to get an idea. "Maybe she had two brothers that bored the crap out of her."

"Or maybe, she's driven by something dark," Stefan told us. "Some sort of pain in her past."

"Not everybody's a big ball of angst like us, Stefan," Damon told him. "Maybe she's driven by something good."

"Those sound like some betting words to me, Damon," Stefan told him.

"Oh, really?" Damon asked. "Sounds like some winning words to me."

I smirked, reaching into either of my pockets, pulling out two syringes full of vervain. "Well, only one way to find out, right?" I injected the syringes into both Damon and Stefan's legs on either side of me. Damon and Stefan both started to get weaker instantly, giving me a confused look. I smirked smugly, putting my hands on the back of their heads to put them on the table as they fell unconscious. "Shh." I rolled my eyes, putting on the show of a humanity filled, worried girl, standing. "Oh, my God! Is there a doctor here?"

********

The doctor helped me take Stefan and Damon into a joined room in the hospital.

Stefan and Damon were in hospital robes, waking up in their beds, groaning.

I was sitting in a nearby chair, eating pudding smugly, smiling impishly.

Stefan looked at the IV bags they were being pumped with. "Vervain? Come on, Kaylin. Don't you trust us to play along with our attempt to corrupt the good doctor?"

"Well, I got to sell your hospital stay with a little bit of actual weakness, right?" I asked, taking out my phone. "I did some Internet stalking. So, it turns out that Tara's mom and dad were both killed in a car accident ten years ago. It was a hit and run. They never found the driver."

"I told you she was driven by something dark," Stefan told us.

"All I've heard is sad, Stefan," Damon told him. "I haven't heard dark. Maybe your spidey-sense is wrong about her, pal."

"Oh, my spidey-sense is doing just fine, thank you," Stefan told him, turning his head weakly to give me an annoyed look. "Despite the fact that I can literally taste the vervain in my system."

I smiled, looking at my phone. "Listen to this. Her parents were both organ donors, and their untimely passing saved other people's lives. That's why Tara went into medicine."

"Really?" Damon asked boredly.

"She even volunteers her time at an organ-transplant support group," I told them.

"That's a little morbid, if you ask me," Stefan told us.

I was getting an idea, shaking my head. "Actually, it's perfect."

********

Tara and I were standing in the hallway, looking into the hospital room where Damon and Stefan were pretending to be asleep.

"Well, no diagnosis yet," Tara told me. "Their blood works came back completely normal."

I nodded. "Well, I guess I always knew something like this would happen."

"Why do you say that?" Tara asked.

"It's just karma," I answered. "They've made a lot of dark choices in their lives. Hurt a lot of people along the way."

"I don't think you should be telling me this," Tara told me.

I turned to face her. "You know, I can't help but think that maybe this is all happening for a reason. I was on an organ donor website today, and I saw a list of all these people... these really deserving people... just waiting in line for a transplant."

Tara nodded in understanding. "Mm. And your brothers are organ donors. Yes, I saw that on their intake forms. Look, it doesn't do any good to speculate."

"Why not?" I asked. "I mean, I--I saw this one girl, she's all the way at the top of the list. Her name is Cassie Fowler."

"Yeah, I know her," Tara told me. "She's a patient of mine. She's a really good kid."

"Her profile says she wants to go to developing countries and--and build wells and get clean water," I told her. "It's not her fault that her kidneys are failing. So, what, Stefan and Damon get to waste their lives and she's not able to live hers?"

"I can't think like that, sadly," Tara told me. "As a doctor, every life has to be as important as the next."

I nodded. "Hmm. Even after everything that they've done?"

"Well, whatever you feel about your brothers' past..." Tara trailed off.

"What if I told you that they caused your parents' death?" I asked.

"What?" Tara asked. "My parents were killed by a drunk driver. Why would you say that?"

"Because you need an opportunity," I answered. "Here's what you believe." I compelled her. "Damon and Stefan are drunk drivers. They were in the car that killed your parents."

Tara looked absolutely upset.

I walked into the hospital room, closing the door behind me.

Damon and Stefan opened their eyes to give me a look.

I smiled.

"Stack the deck, why don't you?" Stefan asked.

"Cade never said we couldn't take a shortcut," I told them.

"I told you she'd be a challenge," Damon told us smugly. "Hmm."

"What are you so pleased about?" I asked, walking closer. "You're supposed to be on task."

"All I'm saying, is maybe some people can't be corrupted," Damon told us. "Maybe she's just plain good."

Stefan chuckled. "Mm. No one is just plain good. You'll see."

I injected more vervain into Stefan's IV bag.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Damon asked.

"Oh, just upping your vervain intake," I answered.

"What?" Stefan asked. "No."

I injected more vervain into Damon's IV bag. "I need to create a medical emergency in order for the rest of the game to play out."

"Can you stop cheating for just one second?" Damon asked.

I turned to them smugly, smirking. "I work for the Devil, and I fell in love with another. I don't have to play fair."

Stefan and Damon tried to fight the amount of vervain in their systems, but they passed out.

The machines they were hooked up to started to beep rapidly.

I smiled smugly, swinging my arms slightly.

********

Tara was checking on Stefan and Damon, who were awake now, barely so. "Their blood pressure's bottoming out. They barely have a heartbeat."

"Tara, listen to me," Stefan told her weakly.

"Please don't talk," Tara told them.

"Come closer," Stefan told her. "Please. Look at me." He tried to compel Tara, but with the vervain in his system, he was too weak. "We were never... drunk drivers."

Tara gave them a look, walking away.

Damon frowned. "Oh."

I walked toward them. "Sorry, brothers. You're too weak to convince her otherwise." I smirked smugly. "Mm."

"Tara," Damon told her weakly. "Show them I'm right about you. Give us a chance to redeem ourselves."

"No matter what you do, her parents will still be gone," I told them. "Your mistakes can never be undone."

"Our lives are worth something," Stefan told us.

I gave them a look of fake sympathy. "So are your deaths. Think about how much good you would do for the people who actually deserve to live."

I upped the vervain intake.

Tara turned to me. "I--I think you shouldn't be in here."

I turned to face her. "Their hearts are already failing. Maybe we should just wait it out."

"I took an oath to help people," Tara told me.

"I understand, I do," I told her. "But here's what I can't stop thinking about. You fix their hearts, you get them back up on their feet again. Then they go back to drinking. The one night, they go out on the road, cause another accident. Someone else's parents die. Or maybe, this time, it's a couple of kids."

"We can't predict the future," Tara told me.

"I know, but we can judge the past," I told her. "How many times do Stefan and Damon have to show us who they really are before we actually believe them? I understand your struggle, I really do. Trying to be perfect for everyone when all you want to do is make a choice for yourself."

"This is not about me," Tara told me.

"Yes, it is, because you are in charge," I told her. "So, follow your instincts, and do what you think is right."

We both looked at Stefan and Damon.

Tara took a deep breath, looking at me. "I--I think you should leave. Now."

I nodded, walking toward the door, grabbing Stefan and Damon's belongings, walking out into the hallway.

I could hear them in the room, still.

"Tara, I'm sorry," Damon told her. "Did you hear me?"

"I..." Stefan trailed off. "Tara... It's... I... I'm sorry for what we did."

Tara walked toward the door, looking out of the window to look at me, closing the blinds so I couldn't see what happened in there. "I appreciate you saying that, but it's just not enough."

"Uh..." Damon trailed off. "No. I wish we could go back and change it, but we can't."

"I'm so sorry for all that we've done," Stefan told her. "No, listen to me. Killing us won't change the past."

"No, but it'll change your future," Tara told them.

"No," Damon told her. "Don't do it, Tara."

I could hear the flatlining of their machines, looking up from going through their stuff.

I could hear Tara. "Time of deaths... 2:47 PM."

I smirked knowingly, chuckling, pulling Elena's necklace out of Damon's pocket, realizing that was why Damon was holding back, sighing. "That figures."

********

I was standing outside of the hospital next to Damon's car.

Tara walked outside toward me.

"Hi," I told her. "I just wanted to say goodbye. I know you tried to help my brothers."

"Sorry for your losses," Tara told me.

"Oh, don't be," I told her. "Joke's on you."

"Okay, I know you must be in shock," Tara told me.

"What if I'm not?" I asked. "What if it was all a game, and I was just giving you a morality test?"

"That would be insane," Tara told me. "And cruel."

I pushed away from the car, walking toward her. "Either way, my brothers would still be dead."

Tara looked horrified. "Oh, God."

"But they died from natural causes, right?" I asked. "You called me in after the fact, so nobody knows what you did on your own."

"You wanted them dead," Tara told me. "You tricked me."

I shook my head. "No, no, no. I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you the opportunity. And you lived up to your potential."

Stefan and Damon walked toward us.

"Oh, Kay-Kay," Damon told me, waving.

Tara turned to face them, in shock. "You're... dead."

"Technically, you're not wrong," Stefan told her.

"Thought you'd be sleeping off a vervain hangover, brothers," I told them.

"Oh, fortunately, we got a little pick me up from these orderlies that came to get our bodies," Stefan told us.

Damon looked at Tara. "Thanks for nothing, by the way."

"You were in on it?" Tara asked.

Stefan turned Tara to face him, compelling her. "Be quiet. Don't try to escape. You already failed the test."

"You really think Cade's gonna want her?" Damon asked. "She's not even evil."

"She's done evil things," Stefan told us.

"Maybe she deserves a second chance," Damon told us.

Stefan sighed. "You know, I gotta say, I'm disappointed."

"Well, that's your resting state, Stefan," Damon told him. "So what?"

"Now, I can see why you're confused," I told him. Damon reached into his pocket, but he realized what was missing. I held up Elena's necklace. "Missing something? I found this in your pocket. You've been carrying it around for weeks, haven't you?"

"So what?" Damon asked. "It's a re-gift from Caroline. I forgot I even had it."

"You sure about that?" I asked. "Ever since we hit the road, something's been off."

"Yeah, my emotions," Damon told us.

"No, no, no," I told him. "Your sense of fun. Why do you think I picked Tara over here for our little game, hmm? She remind you of someone? Interest of medicine, brown eyes, brown hair, orphan by tragedy. She reminds you of Elena." I held the necklace up for Damon to see. "And so does this necklace. It triggers your conscience. It's holding you back, Damon."

"No, it's not," Damon told us.

"Well, if that's true, I think she's ready to meet the boss," Stefan told us.

We looked at Tara.

********

Stefan, Damon, Tara and I were on the road in Damon's car, with Damon driving, Stefan in the passenger seat, and me and Tara in the backseat.

Stefan looked at Damon. "I think I figured it out. It's not that you're trying to screw things up."

"Thanks," Damon told him sarcastically.

"It's more submerged," Stefan told him. "It's more subconscious than that."

"What are you talking about?" Damon asked.

"Despite your best efforts, your humanity keeps flickering through because of this..." I trailed off, taking out Elena's necklace. "Little reminder."

"Reminders cause problems," Stefan told us.

"I told you it doesn't mean anything to me," Damon told us.

"And I don't believe you," I told him.

"Why not?" Damon asked.

"You seem troubled," I answered. "You're not enjoying our work."

"Kaylin, why do you seem to be in such a hurry to finish this?" Damon asked. "Hmm? Why are you taking shortcuts? Why are you being such a bitch about this?"

"Because bitches get things done, and I wanna get this over with," I answered.

"And why is that?" Damon asked. "Because even with your humanity off, your subconscious is telling you that you have get back to doing something, isn't it? Something to deal with a certain family that you've been trying to save other than your own?"

I rolled my eyes. "You're so full of crap."

Stefan took the necklace from me, holding it toward Damon. "Fine. Both of you prove me wrong. Prove that the past is behind us. Prove to me that you don't care."

Damon took the necklace from Stefan. "I don't." He rolled down the window, throwing the necklace outside, rolling up the window, continuing to drive. "Happy?"

"Almost," Stefan answered, looking at Tara. "You forgetting something?"

Damon looked at Tara through the rear view mirror, sighing. "Fine, fine."

Damon stomped on the breaks, pulling the car to a screeching halt, getting out, pulling Tara out of the car, transforming, biting her on the neck viciously, making her scream, feeding on her.

I looked away in boredom.

Stefan watched in approval, drawn to the blood, transforming briefly, returning to normal.

********

The next morning, I walked into the hospital hallway to see that Stefan had killed many of the hospital employees and patients, having ripped their heads off. 

Stefan was transformed and covered in blood, looking up at me.

I sighed, knowing that Stefan had become the Ripper again, and having seen this coming, I tilted my head in boredom, shaking my head, completely unsurprised but amused.