Elena had killed Jeremy last night. But he had been wearing his Gilbert ring, so he came back. 

In the Gilbert house, I stood in the kitchen with Damon when Stefan walked in. 

Damon was cleaning the blood off the floor. "Where did Jeremy go?"

"School," Stefan answered. "Bonnie has him volunterring for some occult exhibit." 

"Or maybe he didn't want to linger in a house where his sister just jammed a knife in his neck," Damon said.

Stefan's phone rang. "It's Klaus." 

"Ooh, time to face the music," I said tauntingly. "Pay the piper. Dance with the devil."

"You know, I'm glad you find this amusing," Stefan told me. "If he finds out I told either of you about the Cure, he'll kill all of us." 

"Quit avoiding him," I told him. "That means shady. Shady people get outed."

Stefan answered the phone. "I don't want to talk about it." 

"Well, I can't imagine why, what with you ruining all my plans for a hybrid filled future." 

"Well, it wouldn't have happened if you hadn't sworn me to secrecy."

Stefan looked at Damon and me.

I nodded. 

"Well, life's full of ifs, Stefan. But let's accentuate the positives, shall we? The Hunter was one of the Five. We'll find another. It may take centuries, but we've got nothing but time, right?" 

"You're using your calm voice today. Who's getting killed?" 

"Not you, if that's what you're worried about. But I am concerned about your beloved. Have the hallucinations started yet?" 

Stefan, Damon and I exchanged a look.

Damon gestured for him to ask Klaus about it. 

"What do you know about that?" 

"I'll tell you. Where are you?" 

"I'm at her house."

"How convenient, so am I." 

There was a knock on the door.

I looked down the hall to look at the front door.

Stefan hung up, walking toward the door and outside. 

"You know, this would all be a lot more civilized if I was just invited inside," Klaus told him.

"It's bad enought I'm out here talking to you," Stefan told him. "What do you know?"

"I killed the original five hunters, remember? When one kills a Hunter, there's a bit of a consequence." 

"What kind of consequence?" 

"The Hunters were spelled by witches to kill vampires. If you prevent one from fulfilling his destiny, then he'll take you down with him."

"What do you mean? Connor's dead." 

"I mean, Connor's death won't prevent him from making Elena his final vampire kill. She'll need to come with me now. I'll lock her up, keep her away from any sharp wooden objects."

"She's not going anywhere with you." 

"Well, if we leave her alone, she'll take her own life before the day is out."

"She's stronger than that."

"Is she? Believe me, it's for her own good." 

I heard Elena upstairs in her room. 

"I wasn't myself. I was angry. You staked me. No!"

Damon was still cleaning. 

Elena walked into the kitchen. "Kaylin. . . Damon . . ."  Damon stood. Elena backed away, scared. "No!" 

Elena turned to me, but she seemed to see the same thing she saw when she had looked at Damon.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Elena ran to the front door. 

Damon and I followed her. 

"Elena!" Damon called. 

Klaus and Stefan were still outside.

Elena opened the door, running onto the porch, slowing to a stop.

Klaus rushed toward her, grabbing her, rushing away, leaving. 

Damon and I walked out onto the porch and saw Stefan standing in the middle of the yard by himself. 

"Elena!" Damon called.

Damon and I exchanged a look.

Stefan looked around, worried. 

****

Bonnie, Stefan, Damon and I were talking in the kitchen.

"You lost her?" Bonnie asked. 

"Well, lost is a very strong word," I told her. "We just technically don't know where she is."

"I'm more worried about what Klaus said about this Hunter's Curse," Stefan told u.s

"How does Klaus even know about this?" Bonnie asked. 

"How does Klaus know anything?" Damon replied. "Guy's like a billion years old."

Stefan looked at Bonnie. "He said it was a witch's curse." 

"You know if I could do anything to help, I would," Bonnie told us. "But I--"

"But nothing," Damon told her. "Wave your magic wand, hocus pocus, begone hunter ghostus, whatever." 

"The spirits won't let me do the magic I'd need to break the curse," Bonnie told us. "But I can ask Shane for help, he knows everything about everything."

"Great," Stefan told her, backing away toward the door. "You two do your thing." He looked at me. "You, do not go anywhere, I will need your help soon."

"No, not Klaus bait!" I complained. 

"Get used to it, Kay," Stefan told me. 

"And where are you going?" I asked.

"I'm gonna get her back," Stefan answered. 

Stefan turned around, walking away, leaving.

I gave him a look that he didn't see. 

****

 At the Grill, I saw Klaus sitting at the bar, drinking a glass of wine.

I walked toward him, taking off my leather jacket. "Place looks pretty good considering your hybrid got blown up in it." 

"Kaylin," Klaus said.  "To what do I owe the pleasure?" 

I stood next to him. "I want you to give Elena back."

"You mean your brothers want Elena back, and they sent you to sweet talk me," Klaus told me. "Well, good form, but I'm afraid I can't do it."

"Why not?" I asked. 

"She needs my help," Klaus told me. I scoffed, rolling my eyes. "Look, I'm not gonna burden you with the gory details."

"What makes you think that I don't already know?" I asked. 

"Well, maybe you can tell me what you think that you know over the drink that I may or may not be offering you," Klaus told me. 

I rolled my eyes, sitting down next to him. "Okay. Sure." 

Klaus smiled.

****

I looked at my phone. I had gotten multiple messages from Stefan telling me that Elena had escaped, and he didn't know where she was. I looked at Klaus, tilting my head and smiling innocently. "So, here's the thing. I didn't just come here to try to get you to release Elena." 

"You don't say," Klaus told me.

"I came here to distract you so that Stefan could go to your house and break her out, which he did," I told him. "And, don't get mad, but then . . .he lost her." Klaus stood in anger, starting to walk away. I stood, turning after him. "Klaus." 

Klaus turned to face me. "Kaylin, you're beautiful, but if you don't stop talking, I will kill you."

"Thanks," I told him sarcastically. Klaus turned around and started to walk away. "They figured out how to stop the hallucinations." 

Klaus turned to face me. "Okay, you have ten seconds to tell me."

The Potential Hunter had to kill a vampire to become an actual Hunter.

And that Potential was Jeremy.

He needed to kill a vampire.

And we didn't have many volunteers. 

****

Well, Klaus had served up one of his runaway, unsired hybrids for Jeremy to kill and become an actual Hunter.

Elena was okay.

Tyler was pissed about one of his friends, that he had promised to help after he had helped us, being dead. Caroline was unsuccessfully trying to get him to calm down.

I was sitting at the bar at the Grill.

Damon sat next to me. "You're in the wrong seat."

I nodded understandingly, standing, walking around him, sitting down on his other side. 

Matt had seen us.

I looked Damon. "You're not exactly a ray of sunshine, are you?'

"Like you can do any better," Damon replied. "Oh, by the way, good job with getting Klaus to serve up one of his hybrids for Jeremy to kill, Goldilocks. How did you do it?" 

I looked down reluctantly, making a face. "I agreed to go on a date with him." 

Damon turned his head toward me in surprise.

I pressed my lips together awkwardly, tossing a shot back.

Damon looked at the bartender. "Bourbon." He looked at the seat he had made me move out of. "Make that two." 

Matt walked up to us. "You're still saving a spot for Mr. Saltzman, huh?" 

"I'd say I'm in the market for a new drinking buddy," Damon told him. "You're not qualified." 

"I know that you don't like me," Matt told him. Damon moved one of the bourbons in front of the empty seat next to him. "But I dug up some stuff about the explosion at the Young farm. I kind of need to tell someone about." I gestured for him to go on. "So, April mentioned that her dad knew that Professor Shane guy. Which wouldn't be creepy, except, he had all that info about the Hunter's Curse, and we live in a town where, you know, anybody who knows stuff is creepy until prove otherwise."

"Matt, you're on the verge of impressing me," I told him. "Drive it home." 

"I got the Sheriff to dig up the pastor's phone records," Matt told us. "Turns out, he made, like, a call a day to the same number the last month he was alive. And on the day that the Council got blown up at the farm, he called it ten times. The office of Professor Atticus Shane." 

I looked at him, impressed. 

Shane was the guy that had been helping Bonnie with her magic, had her obsessed with practicing it so she could use her powers again. He had told Damon and Bonnie how to break the Hunter's Curse. 

Matt was right. 

Shane was creepy, and with the information about the call logs, I thought that Shane could have been the one who caused the explosion. 

Like Matt said, we lived in a town where anybody who knew stuff was creepy until prove otherwise.