The Killer

"Did you get the flowers I arranged?"

Lola smiles as she looks over to the bouquet from Klaus on her dresser, "Yes I did. Pink peonies, nice touch."

"Well I know they're your favourite. However I did think it would have been better if you were spending today where I am instead of Mystic Falls."

Lola smiles as she walks down the stairs, "We already talked about this. We both agreed it would be a better idea that I stay here instead of us both going to Italy." She reaches the bottom of the stairs and sighs, "God knows what would happen if we left Stefan here to sort this out on his own. Besides, today is just like any other day, Nik. It's nothing special."

"I beg to differ, after all it is your-"

"What the hell-." Lola mumbles, interrupting Klaus as she walks into the room to see Connor is nowhere to be found and a dead hybrid.

"Are you okay?"

"Connor's gone."

"What do you mean he's gone? Where's Nate?"

"Uh, he's here." Lola purses her lips as she nudges Nate's body with her foot, "Well most of him is. Hey, if you were a hybrid head, where would you be?"

Lola can hear Klaus sigh on the other line, "Now isn't time for your sarcastic comments, love. What's happened?"

Lola crouches down to look at Nate, "Well I'm no Sherlock Holmes but it looks as though somehow Connor managed to escape, killed Nate by decapitating him then taking his head with him as some sort of creepy souvenir."

"Where were you when this was going on?"

"Don't start with the interrogation, I'm not one of your hybrids." Lola snaps back at him, "You know where I was, I went with you to the plane then I came home and went straight upstairs. Clearly it happened between that time. What do you want me to do now?"

"Call Stefan."

"I don't think-"

"Call your brother." Klaus interrupts her in a calm manner, "He is the only other person who is aware of this situation, it needs to stay between the three of us. Please be careful."

"I will." Lola hangs up the phone and messages Stefan straight away that something has happened. Within seconds he responds back to say he is on his way.

A short while later, Lola opens the door to her younger brother who has an apologetic expression on his face, "I got your message, what's going on?"

Lola opens the door wider for Stefan to step in and heads towards the room where Nate's body is, "Follow me."

Stefan's phone rings but he screens the call straight away. Lola walks into the room fully but Stefan stays in the doorway looking at the hybrid's corpse in shock, "What's going on?" He asks Lola as he watches her walk across the room and picks her phone up passing it straight to him where Klaus is already on the other end waiting for Stefan's arrival.

"Stefan!" Klaus begins with a hint of amusement in his tone, "There you are. I assume you've seen what's happened?"

Stefan places the phone by his ear as he crouches down beside the corpse, "How the hell did Connor escape?"

"I'd blame mind numbing incompetence, but pointing fingers isn't going to help me, you're going to help me."

Stefan scoffs as he stands up straight, "Well, he could be anywhere now."

"Think, Stefan. He took the hybrid's head which means he wants werewolf toxin."

"Which means he plans to stay in Mystic Falls to kill vampires."

"Which is a pity, as I'm half the world away digging up a dead hunter, you'll have no access to my blood and therefore, the antidote." Klaus taunts, "Nevertheless, his tattoo is our only map to the cure, so your task is quite simple; find him, catch him, and above all, keep him alive. He's no good to us dead."

"Damon's been looking everywhere for him, if they cross paths..."

"You'll need to keep Damon in check."

"Be a lot easier if I could just tell him the truth."

"You trust Damon with the cure? I imagine he prefers Elena the way she is."

"Nice try, Klaus. But I trust Damon a hell of a lot more than I trust you."

"And the only person I trust is standing right next to you, no one else." Klaus says, making Lola and Stefan glance at each other, "Which is also why my sister is lying daggered in a box. The more who find out about the cure, the more who will go after it. Nations have gone to war over less. You mark my words, tell one soul and I will throw the hunter's sword in the Mediterranean and we can end this quest right now. Am I understood?"

Stefan doesn't respond, he passes Lola's phone back over to her when Klaus speaks up once more, "Lola love, make sure your brothers don't mess this up."

Lola hangs up the phone and as soon as she does Stefan's phone goes off. He glances down at the Caller ID but swiftly puts his phone back in his pocket. Lola looks over to him, raising her brow, "Do you need to get that?"

Stefan sighs, "No, I don't."

"Okay then, let's go."

Lola begins to walk out of the house until Stefan speaks up, "Lola, wait."

Lola turns around, waiting for Stefan to respond. There's a lot Stefan would like to say to his sister now he has the chance with neither Damon or Klaus lingering around. He wants to say he misses her, he hopes she's okay and most of all he wants to apologise but can't even put into words how badly he wants to say those things. Instead he softly smiles over at Lola and says two words he hopes may bring peace between them both,

"Happy Birthday."

Lola was taken aback by Stefan's comment, after all she isn't really on speaking terms with either of her brothers so have Stefan stand beside her wishing her happy birthday was a shock to her.

Truth is with everything that is going on at the minute, Lola hasn't even had time to think about her birthday this year until the likes of Klaus reminding her. Also Adrianna who was the first person to call Lola this morning to wish her happy birthday and to inform that she'll be arriving in Mystic Falls later that day.

She smiles faintly over to Stefan which he returns, neither one of them saying anything else but Stefan knew this was Lola's way of saying thank you even if she didn't say it out loud.

Lola clears her throat to continue their plan to find Connor, "Where do we check first?"

Stefan rubs the back of his neck, "I don't know."

Simultaneously, both of their phones go off. Lola frowns at her screen, "Why the hell is Jeremy Gilbert texting me?"

"He's text me too." Stefan says, he takes Lola's phone and holds both of their phone together to read the same text,

"Hunter at Mystic Grill with hostages. They all die at sundown."

Lola grabs her leather jacket and starts to put it on and she walks out of the room, "Well at least we know where Connor is, let's go."

"Woah, woah, woah, wait." Stefan stops Lola by gently taking hold of her wrist, "We need to come up with a plan first, we can't just go straight in it could be dangerous. This guy has experience, he probably has the entire place rigged with traps."

"And they most likely contain werewolf venom." Lola thinks out loud.

"And with Klaus out of the country we can't risk it."

"So what do we do?"

Before Stefan can respond, he gets another text,

"Lockwood's. Now."

"It's Damon." Stefan announces, "He's at the Lockwood's. Come on."

----------------------------------------------------

At the Lockwood's, Damon, Elena and Tyler are discussing a plan.

Damon is pacing around, "So, we each take a different entrance; hit them at the same time."

Lola and Stefan walk through, everyone turns to see them. All slightly confused seeing Lola of all people.

Elena runs over to Stefan and pulls him in an embrace, "Stefan!"

Damon frowns over to his brother, "Where the hell have you been?" His glare then goes to his sister, "What are you doing here?"

Lola smiles arrogantly over to him with her arms folding against her chest, "Hello to you too, brother."

"We've been coming up with a plan." Stefan says.

Elena pulls away from their embrace, looking confused, "Together?"

"Is that so hard to believe?" Lola taunts as she creeps up behind Elena making her jump, resulting in Lola getting a glare from her.

"Yeah, we have a plan." Damon announces, "The plan is I'm gonna rip Connor's heart out and I'm going to feed it to him."

"That's not a plan." Stefan says, "We need to be careful. Connor has Jeremy and who knows how many other hostages."

"Hence, the open heart surgery." Damon retorts.

"Damon's right." Elena interjects, "Connor's strong, but he's not going to be able to take all of us."

"I called in the hybrids to help too." Tyler speaks up.

Lola scoffs, "Because Nate was so helpful!"

Caroline walks in the room, "My mom put squad cars blocking the streets. They're saying it's a faulty gas main. We're good to go."

"Good, great!" Damon says looking over to Stefan, "No cops, no witnesses, no reason to wait around."

Stefan turns to face Elena and Caroline, "All right, hold on, you're not all going."

"He shot me like nine times." Tyler chimes in once more, "If we're killing him, I want in."

Elena frowns, "He's got Jeremy. I'm going."

"Listen, nobody is going anywhere until I figure out what we're walking into."

Damon narrows his eyes at his brother, stepping closer to him, "Until you figure it out? Is that where you've been all morning? Out buying bossy pants?"

Lola stands in between both of her brothers, "Shut up, Damon. This guy is known for setting traps, right? We'd be pretty dumb to walk into one, especially if he has werewolf venom."

"Does he?" Elena says in a shocked tone.

Lola and Stefan both share a quick knowing glance before Stefan shrugs, "He's had it before."

Damon soon grows irritated at this plan, "Fine. Fine, if you want to take some time to do recon, you get one hour. But we're gonna need some extra help. So, where the hell's the Wicked Witch of the West?"

Caroline throws her hands up, "She can't do magic."

"Really? Well, call her, tell her Jeremy's life is in danger; maybe that will bring her out of retirement." Damon storms out of the room, hitting Stefan with his shoulder on the way out.

---------------------------------------------------

It was finally settled that Caroline and Tyler would stay behind, but be on standby if needed while Damon and Elena go to Alaric's apartment to retrieve any weapons he had there. Elena watches through the blinds to see Lola and Stefan pacing around the town square.

"Do me a favour and call Klaus?" Stefan asks his sister, "We need him to be involved in this."

"How is he going to help when he's in Italy?"

"Not Klaus' help, his hybrids. They have more of a chance getting into the grill than us because they won't be effected by werewolf venom."

"Fine." Lola grabs her phone out of her pocket, "I'll call him but Klaus isn't gonna give a crap about a bunch of hostages, Stef." She dials Klaus' number before looking over to a stunned Stefan, "What?"

"You called me Stef."

Lola shrugs, "So?"

"Nothing." Stefan laughs awkwardly, "I just wasn't expecting it."

"What updates have you got for me?" Klaus says on the other end of the phone.

Lola passes her phone over to Stefan who begins to explain, "We've found Connor, he's barricaded himself in the Grill along with hostages. We need to get them out so could do with help from your hybrids."

"You expect me to care about bloody hostages?"

"Well, you should. Damon does. So does Caroline, Tyler, Elena. Even Lola does."

Lola presses her lips together, "Hm, not really."

"If any of them get to Connor, then you just wasted a trip to Italy." Stefan continues, "I can buy us some time, but Damon's getting antsy. So, if you want Connor alive, you better get your hybrids on board with my plan."

Without giving Klaus a chance to fight back, he passes the phone back over to Lola who places the phone against her ear, "Hey, when I ring you again in a second don't answer, okay?"

"What would be the point in that, love?"

"Please?"

"Very well, I'll speak to you soon."

Once Klaus hangs up, Lola redials his number before stepping away slightly from Stefan and begins to leave Klaus a message she has wanted to say to him for a while now.

Lola walks back over to Stefan afterwards who is trying to listen who is in the Grill, "Okay I can hear four voices, can you?"

Lola focuses on listening as well, "Yeah I can hear Jeremy, Connor and Matt." She scoffs, "Of course he's involved. Wait, who's the girl?" Lola looks over to Stefan who begins to stiffen, "Stefan, who is it?"

Stefan grabs his phone, "April Young."

"Am I supposed to know who that is?"

"You don't." Stefan says as he puts his phone against his ear, "But Elena does."

"What did you find out?" Elena speaks up from the other end of the phone.

Stefan begins to pace, "I can only make out the voices."

"How many hostages?" Damon asks.

"Three." Lola speaks up.

Stefan hesitates for a moment, "But Elena, it's Matt and April Young."

"What?!" Elena exclaims.

Damon scoffs, "Those two idiots, they're like danger magnets."

"We have to get them out of there."

"I just need a little more time."

"Well, the clock's ticking, brother." Damon responds in a bored tone.

"You know, I could do without the coloured commentary." Stefan remarks before hanging up the phone and walks off.

Lola catches up to Stefan and walks to his pace, "So what's going on with you and Damon?" Stefan gives Lola the side eye, she playfully hits him against his arm, "Oh come on, we may not be talking but I still know when you two are at each other's throats."

Stefan sighs, "It's complicated."

Lola starts to walk backwards to keep up with Stefan, "I can do complicated."

Stefan stops walking, "We can't agree how to help Elena."

"Right, Damon told me you were trying to get her hooked on Bugs Bunny." Lola says, Stefan glares over to her and starts to walk again so Lola follows, "What? You were!"

"Well that didn't work. She kept throwing up whenever she fed so Damon thought it would be a great idea to blood share with her."

Lola stops walking and looks over to her brother in shock, "Damon blood shared with Elena?!" She scoffs as she starts to walk again, "Wow, so she basically cheated on you."

Stefan looks over to Lola unimpressed, "Thanks for that."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. It's just that's an intense thing to do. You don't really walk around doing it with your brother's girlfriend."

"Exactly."

"Well I hope you got at least one good punch in." Lola looks over to Stefan who is trying hard to fight his smirk making Lola smile broadly, "You totally did, didn't you?"

Stefan mimics the same smile, "Oh, I totally did."

"I feel so proud." Lola's phone starts to ring, she laughs slightly before answering, "Speak of the devil, we were just talking about you."

"Somehow that doesn't even surprise me." Damon remarks on the other end, "We need you both to come up to Alaric's, I think we've found how to get in there using the tunnels."

-----------------------------------------

In Alaric's apartment, Elena pulls the blinds apart from the window again and looks down at the Grill when Damon walks over to her, "They're on their way. This will be over soon."

"Will it?" An anxious Elena retorts, "I mean, haven't we already been here before with Jeremy? Isn't this why we sent him to Denver?"

"Well, we'll get him out of this and we'll compel him down to the Bahamas." Damon teases, "Maybe he'll find an island girl."

Stefan and Lola both enter the apartment, Lola is the first to speak up, "Did you find the tunnel map?"

Damon shows his phone, "Got it. It was in his weapons drawer with seven stakes, some weird MacGyver crossbow, and the last remaining vervain in Mystic Falls." Damon smirks over to Stefan and Lola, "So how about we get this party started."

"Not yet. Klaus is sending one of his men." Stefan informs him, "He'll take the front, us three can take the tunnels."

"Since when did we team up with Klaus and the Lollipop Guild?" Damon retorts.

Stefan points between both himself and Lola, "Well, we already told you, Connor has werewolf venom. We need someone to draw his fire, the hybrids are immune to it so they're our best bets."

Damon narrows his eyes suspiciously to his brother, "Well, how are you sure that he even has werewolf venom? Why is Klaus involved, Stefan?" He fixates his eyes on his sister, stepping closer to her, "Or better yet, why are you involved, little sister?"

Lola shrugs, "Maybe I felt like helping out the community."

"You never want to help."

Lola flashes an innocent smile, "Things change."

"You were leaving." Damon says pointing at Lola, "So why come back?"

Stefan turns away from them both, picking up a vervain dart, "Stop being paranoid, Damon."

"Start telling the truth, Stefan." Damon demands, growing impatient, "Why is Klaus involved? Did he compel you?"

"I am telling you the truth." Stefan snaps back, "This is the best way to get everyone out."

Lola steps in front of Stefan as she glares over to Damon, "You really think I'd let Klaus compel him after what happened last time?"

"I don't know if you realised yet, Lo, but I never know what you're gonna do anymore. Starting off with you actually helping us."

Lola steps closer to Damon, anger beginning to build up, "Maybe I don't want to be holding onto the past."

Damon steps closer to Lola this time, glaring at her, "Maybe I don't believe you."

"Okay, what is with you three?" Elena speaks up, "We're wasting time."

"You know what, she's right. Screw your plan. I'll kill Connor myself." Damon says as he and Elena start to walk towards the door. Stefan rushes at Damon and stabs him in the back with a vervain dart.

"Stefan!" Elena shouts out in shock.

Damon begins to lose consciousness as Stefan grabs hold of him and drags him over to the couch. He grabs Damon's phone out of his pocket and sends himself the maps of the tunnels.

Elena looks over to him, dumbfounded, "Why are you doing this?"

"Damon had the right idea with the tunnels." Stefan says as finishes sending the maps to his own phone, "But, I'm not gonna go in there if I can't count on him to do it my way."

Stefan passes Damon's phone over to Lola. She quickly takes a picture of herself beside a passed out Damon before throwing his phone onto his unconscious body.

"If you can't count on him?" Elena retorts, "You just vervained him."

Lola steps closer to Elena, "Do you really think he cares about this April girl or Matt?"

Stefan nods in Lola's direction, "Lola's right. He'll get Jeremy out for you, but then he'll go right after Connor, no matter who gets hurt."

"Then I'm coming with you." Elena demands.

"Oh for the love of god." Lola mumbles to herself, rolling her eyes then walks towards the front door.

Stefan steps closer to Elena, "You're not coming with us, Elena."

"You need my help, Stefan."

"What if Connor attacks and you have to defend yourself? And what if you kill him? The guilt will wreck you."

Elena starts to panic, "You don't think that I – I- I'm afraid of that? Of course, I am. Stefan, I'm barely holding it together. If Jeremy gets hurt..."

Stefan cups Elena's face with his hands, "I'll get Jeremy out, okay? I promise you." Elena starts to panic more, "Elena, listen to me, listen to me. This is the most important thing that I have ever asked you to do. I just need you to trust me. Please."

Elena hesitates for a moment, wanting to argue back with Stefan but she stops herself. She slowly nods in agreement and Stefan pulls her into a kiss.

Lola clears her throat as she stands beside the door, "Ahem, PDA isn't really gonna make this plan happen. Stef, come on." They both then vamp speed out of the apartment, leaving Elena and a passed out Damon.

"Is that payback for you walking in on Klaus and me?" Lola mocks Stefan as they make their way down the stairs out of the apartment complex.

Stefan shrugs his shoulders as he begins to walk a few steps ahead of Lola, "Possibly."

----------------------------------------------------

Lola and Stefan are walking through the woods to get to the tunnels that lead to the Mystic Grill, carrying a pick axe and a shovel.

Lola notices Stefan dialling a number, "Who are you calling now?"

"The grill." Stefan answers, "Jeremy's phone is out of service which can't be a coincidence."

"I'll do it!" Lola snatches the phone out of Stefan's hands and puts it on speakerphone.

"Lola, wait."

"We're closed." Connor bluntly responds on the other end.

Lola sighs, "Oh, shoot. I was hoping to get a burger and some fries, are you not even doing take out?"

Stefan rolls his eyes as he takes the phone off his sister, "I want you to free the hostages."

"I'll free them as soon as you give me what I want. You and everyone like you dead."

"What? So your hunter's mark can grow?" Stefan retorts that causes Connor to go silent on the other end, "Yeah, I know all about that. What it means, what you are." Stefan passes the tools towards Lola, "Listen, if you free the hostages then you and I can have a little chat. I'll even tell you about the Brotherhood of the Five."

Connor scoffs, "That's a weak move. You must be desperate."

"Think about it, Connor." Lola taunts as her and Stefan descend down the Lockwood cellar's stairs, "Klaus saved your life. He needs you alive. Aren't you the least bit curious why?"

Connor hangs up the phone as the pair begin to walk through the tunnels. There's a comfortable silence before Lola speaks up, "We should hang out more, we make a good team when we're against Damon and when you're not plotting against Klaus."

"We're not against Damon, we just have different priorities to him."

"Mhm, like his priority is to let Elena drink his blood."

Stefan sighs, defeated, "Can we not talk about that again?"

"This reminds me of old times though." Lola begins to reminisce, "The three of us always up to something, it's like we're the three musketeers again."

Stefan smiles at the memory, "We used to always call ourselves that."

"We're more like the three chaotic musketeers now, the things we get involved in now slightly trump sneaking into father's office."

"Guess this isn't how you were expecting to spend your birthday, huh?"

Lola shrugs as they both continue through the tunnels, "Oh, I don't know. Didn't really have a plan. I am surprised you remembered it was my birthday though."

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Well this is the first birthday I've seen you since we were humans, 145 birthdays later I didn't think you'd remember."

"I written you cards, you know?" Stefan admits as he stops walking, he looks over to Lola, face riddled with guilt, "Almost every birthday."

Lola looks at him confused, furrowing her brows, "You did?"

Stefan nods, "Every year, except when I was all ripper-y. I never sent them though, one of the reasons being I never knew where you actually where. But the main reason was because I didn't want to come in between you and the new life you made for yourself. It sucked at first, knowing that you had this new life and it sucked even more when I found out this new life was with Klaus." Lola goes to speak up but Stefan raises his hand indicating he isn't finished, he has a genuine smile on his face, "But I just knew deep down you were happy, so I was too. I've missed you, Lo. Honestly, I have."

Lola mimics the same smile, "It's understandable, I'm a delight." They both continue walking but stop when they can hear hammering, "What's that noise?"

Outside, Dean approaches the entrance to the Grill. He places his hand up to his ear piece, "There's no sign of anyone."

"Stefan and Lola are coming at him from the other side." Klaus informs on the other end of the call, "They'll free the hostages, your job is to get Connor out alive. And use caution, mate. He favors booby traps and ambushes."

"Understood."

Inside the Grill, Connor finishes setting up the werewolf venom bomb. Jeremy sees a stake gun and slowly walks towards it.

Connor notices even with his back to Jeremy, "You may be a potential hunter, but if you make one move, I'll break all 27 bones in your hand."

"They're not all bad, you know." Jeremy speaks up, trying to reason with him, "Some of them, they're my friends."

Connor scoffs, "Your friends, huh? Yeah, I had a friend like that once. She got turned by this vampire I was hunting. He thought it would be ironic."

"What happened to her?"

Connor hesitates for a moment as he loads a gun, "I didn't want to hurt her. She promised that she would keep it under control, but...a vampire's like a loaded gun. Eventually it's gonna go off." He shows Jeremy his tattoo, "That's why I got this."

Jeremy looks down at the piece of his tattoo near the crook of his elbow, "So, you killed your own friend?!"

"Listen, if you're gonna be like me, you need to understand. Vampires kill humans, hunters kill vampires." Connor and Jeremy both hear a noise coming from outside, Connor pulls Jeremy down to hide behind the bar, "We've got company."

Connor turns off the lights and turns on the music very loud, then crouches behind the bar beside Jeremy. Dean opens the front door and carefully inspects the doorway. He looks down and sees a tripwire. He looks right and sees a loaded bomb. He carefully steps over the wire and onto the mat. A light goes off under the mat and the bomb is activated. He closes the door carefully behind him. When he lifts his foot from the mat the bomb goes off. Dean goes flying through the air due to the force of the explosion.

Matt and April are still in the back and are startled by the loud noise. Matt looks at the scene unfold in shock, "Oh my God."

April starts to back up and runs into Stefan. She turns around and gasps, Stefan covers her mouth and places his finger to his lips, telling her to be quiet, Lola approaches behind Stefan quietly.

Outside of the backroom, Dean slowly starts to get up. He is covered in nails, blood, and shards of glass. Connor approaches him with a gun. Dean raises his hands in surrender but Connor still shoots the gun and blows a hole clean out of Dean's chest. Dean falls to the ground, dead.

In the backroom, Stefan hands Matt his phone, showing the map of the tunnel, "Follow this map, get out of here, take her to Caroline so she can..." Stefan motions to his own eyes to indicate April being compelled.

Matt nods, "Okay." Matt takes April and starts to walk away. He stops to speak to Stefan again, "Stefan, that guy is armed. If you go out there, he's gonna kill Jeremy."

"No one's killing anyone." Stefan assures him, "Go."

They both stay standing there, Lola glares over to them, "Go!" Both Matt and April go out through the panel in the wall. Lola notices a tray full of forks, she hits Stefan against the chest to get his attention, "Hey look!"

Stefan takes Lola's arm gently, "Now is really not the time, Lo."

Back in the front of the Grill, Jeremy walks over to Connor. Connor takes off his jacket and sees that the tattoo is growing.

Stefan and Lola slowly and quietly come out from the back. Connor sees them and grabs Jeremy. He points his gun towards both Lola and Stefan. They both vamp speed across the Grill behind the bar and Connor shoots the gun at them multiple times but misses.

Stefan looks over to Lola, mentally asking if she is okay, Lola nods back at him. Connor pushes Jeremy aside. Jeremy steps on another mat with a switch that activates another bomb. Connor walks around, keeping the gun pointed to where Stefan and Lola are.

"Connor, you don't have to do this!" Stefan shouts out from behind the bar.

Jeremy slowly looks up from the mat he's standing on, trying to stay calm, "Stefan!"

Stefan and Lola can hear the beeping of the bomb that will go off if Jeremy moves. Stefan speaks up once more, in a more stern tone, "Connor, we can end this right now! Just put down the gun and come with me!"

"Sure. Come out." Connor still aims the gun towards where both Salvatores are hiding, "I'll hand the gun over."

"Think about this. No one has to die. I'll tell you everything you need to know!"

"I don't make deals with vampires!" Connor raises his voice.

"Listen to me." Stefan continues, "If you die right now, then your whole life, all that killing; it'll all be for nothing."

Elena approaches one of the entrances to the Grill. She pushes her hair behind her ear and listens to Stefan talking to Connor.

"I can give you the truth. Just put down the gun and let Jeremy go!"

Elena opens the front door and enters the Grill, "Please!" Connor turns to the entrance where Elena is standing with her hands up in surrender, he aims the gun towards her, "Don't hurt him."

Lola groans as she bows her head, "Son of a bitch."

Connor points the gun on Jeremy, "You come any closer, he's dead."

"Elena, get out of here!" Jeremy shouts at Elena.

"He's the only family that I have left." Elena begs, "Just – just let him go."

"You hear that?" Connor shouts direct to Stefan as he continues to aim the gun towards Jeremy, "Your girl is watching. I will shoot the boy right in front of her! On the count of three! One! Two!"

Stefan and Lola both nod at each other, knowing what to do. Lola stays down as Stefan stands up and raises his hands in surrender. Connor now directs his gun towards Stefan. Lola gets ready to jump out but before she can Elena vamp speeds to Connor, throwing him to the ground but upon impact, Connor shoots Jeremy in the stomach. Elena grabs Connor by the throat and starts choking him.

Lola stands up from behind the bar, she sees Jeremy bleeding profusely and clutching his wound. He begins to lose his balance on the mat he's standing on. Lola vamp speeds over to him, grabbing him then throwing herself and Jeremy over a table just as the bomb explodes.

Elena looks up in shock, "Jeremy?!"

In her moment of panic, Connor manages to rip her hand off his throat and tosses her to the side. He rolls on top of her and grabs her by the hair. He goes in to stake her, but Elena grabs his wrist and fights back. Stefan rushes at Connor and knocks him off Elena. He kneels down next to Connor, grabs him, and rushes off, Lola soon following her brother leaving Elena and Jeremy inside the Grill.

Stefan is leading Connor through the tunnel system, he has Connor's arm twisted by his back and pushes him forward. But he stops when he sees Damon inside the tunnels, blocking there path, "Good work, brother."

"It's over, Damon." Stefan says still gripping onto Connor, "I have him."

"Not after what I just went through." Damon says as he looks down at his hand that's missing his daylight ring, "I had to punch through a boiler room basement into a septic tank to get into this stupid tunnel. But it'll be worth it."

"I'm taking him with me."

"That's the thing, you're not. I don't know what you're up to or what Klaus has over you, but even if I have to go through you, I'm gonna kill him."

Damon moves closer towards Stefan and Connor, Lola stands in between them all, "You better back off, Damon."

Damon scoffs, "Why? Because your boyfriend wants him alive?"

"This has nothing to do with Klaus." Lola says sternly.

Stefan steps forward still clutching onto Connor as he stands beside Lola, "You're just gonna have to trust us on that."

Damon takes a step closer, "I don't want to. I don't have to." And another step closer, "Not gonna. Now, give him to me, brother."

"Run as fast as you can!" Stefan says as he pushes Connor away.

Connor runs off and Stefan rushes after Damon then pins him to the wall. Lola looks over at her idiotic brothers, "Seriously?" She then rushes after Connor.

Lola hides in the darkness, "Psssst." Connor looks around for a second when Lola runs out of the shadows, hitting him across the face with a shovel making him fall to the floor.

Connor tries to sit up and then he sees Lola standing in front of him, he looks up to see her smiling down at him, "Hey there." She throws the shovel up in the air slightly, then catching it looking at it proudly, "It's funny, first I hit you with a book and now a shovel. Huh, I wonder what object I'll use next. I don't wanna brag but I can be pretty lethal with a fork."

"If I didn't know you were a Salvatore, I definitely do now."

Lola frowns pretending to be confused, "What gave it away? Was it my charm or my good looks?" She places her hand against her mouth and gasps dramatically, "Was it the leather jacket?"

"Maybe it's because you're the first one at the sign of trouble, it's like you're all begging to be killed." Connor retorts.

Lola laughs as she raises up the shovel, "See...that's the thing." She slams the shovel into the ground right in between Connor's legs, making him flinch slightly, "You're not going anywhere near my brothers to kill them. We may hate each other's guts sometimes but at the end of the day they're my family and no one touches them."

Connor snatches the shovel out of Lola's hand, throwing it to the side as he comes to his feet, "You won't be able to protect them once I kill you."

Connor punches Lola in the jaw, she steps back hiding her face. Silent for only a second before bursting out laughing, she narrows her eyes to Connor, "Come on, you think I can't handle a punch?" She points to her jaw, "Go on, do it again."

Connor punches her a second time and Lola doesn't even flinch this time. He punches her a third time making Lola laugh in a half-suppressed manner, "God, you're weak! Seriously you hit like a little girl." Lola kicks Connor in the stomach, causing him to crash into the wall behind him, bits of rubble falling off it, "Oh dear!"

Connor pushes Lola against the wall with his forearm pushing against her throat. She laughs again, "I didn't know you had it in you. Good for you!" Lola twists his arm around to his back, making Connor scream out in pain, "Still not good enough though."

"Lola!"

That's all it took.

That one split second that Lola gets distracted hearing Stefan calling out for her.

That's all it took for a Connor to grab the stake from his pocket.

It's as though everything is happening in slow motion as he turns around to face Lola and stabbing Lola directly in her heart. All air escapes Lola's lungs, grasping for air, she tries to focus her vision as she looks down to see the stake sticking out of her chest, she looks up at Connor who has an evil look in his eyes before swiftly running in the other direction.

Lola steps back losing her balance when she looks over to see both her brothers standing in shock at the state their sister is in. Lola faintly smiles as her balance is completely gone and her legs become weak.

She falls to the floor but Damon catches her, "No!" He grabs hold of his sister, holding onto her as he falls to his knees and rips the stake out of Lola's chest, "No, no, no, you do not get to do this!" Damon moves Lola's hair out of her face as his hands begin to shake. She looks up at him being unable to speak, eyes feeling heavy as one single tear falls down her face, "Hey, look at me. Look at me, Lo. Focus on my voice." Tears fall down Damon's face uncontrollably, watching the light slowly leave his little sister's eyes.

One last glimmer in her eyes as she breathlessly says, "It's okay."

"No, you're not dying, not today! Do you hear me?" Damon protests, anger flushing his face, but it's too late. Lola's eyes slowly close as the darkness overpowers her, skin turning grey with dark veins covering her. Silence surrounds them when they can no longer hear Lola's heart beating. Damon sits up slightly, still gripping onto his sister, he begins to shake her, attempting to wake her, "No! We aren't done fighting yet, you still need to kick my ass a couple more times! Open your eyes!" But nothing happens, "LOLA!"

Stefan watches his brother cradle their sister, unable to move in shock. This can't be happening. Stefan attempts to step forward but the shock is too much, his legs cannot hold up his now frail posture. He falls to his knees beside his brother and sister as Damon lets out a gut wrenching scream.

Damon rocks back and forth slightly, his grip becoming tighter on his sister as though if he lets go she'll disappear. The anger in his tone disappearing as his voice begins to break, "Don't leave me, sister. Don't leave us, please. You need to wake up." Damon looks over to his brother, desperate with his shakiness seeping through his words, "Stefan, she's not waking up. She's not waking up, Stefan!"

Stefan slowly moves his shaky hand towards Lola's face to wipe away the single tear, "Hey, Lola, listen to me." He begins to laugh nervously, "The joke is over, okay? You need to wake up!" He bows his head as he takes hold of Lola's hand, his knuckles turning white, "Please. Please wake up." Lola remains still as her body begins to get cold, Stefan tries to catch his breath between sobs, "Don't do this, please. We need you."

But it's too late, their sister is gone.

-----------------------------------------------------

At the Lockwood house, Tyler and Hayley are hugging each other as they come to terms that their friend, Dean was killed at the Grill.

Tyler pulls away from the hug first, "I am so sorry."

"I can't believe Dean's gone." Hayley practically whispers, "We could have saved him."

Caroline steps into the room, the pair noticing and stepping away from each other further. Caroline glares at them, "I apologise. Am I intruding?"

Tyler shakes his head, "Caroline, it's not like that."

"I keep waiting for you to make up some dumb story so at least I can call you a liar. Is that now?"

Hayley looks between the pair awkwardly, "I'll let you two talk."

Caroline glares at her, "Thank you. How big of you." Hayley glances at her and walks out of the room.

They both watch Hayley leave the room then look at each other before Tyler speaks up, "You have to understand..."

"No, you don't tell me what I have to do." Caroline snaps as she steps towards him, pointing her finger at him, "I went through hell when I thought you died. I cried like an idiot and this whole time you've been keeping a secret from me about falling for some werewolf in the Appalachians!"

"I never fell for her."

Caroline scoffs, "Oh, please."

"Caroline, she saved my life. I almost died trying to break the sire bond. Hayley was there for me, she helped me get through it, but nothing else happened."

"Then, why would Klaus think that?"

"Because I'd rather him think that then know the truth." Tyler admits, Caroline looks at him confused. Tyler sighs as he steps closer to Caroline, "There are other hybrids that need to be set free. Hayley and I can help them. But if Klaus found out about what we're trying to do, he'd kill us all."

Caroline's phone rings before she can say anything else to Tyler. She walks away from him and answers, "Hey Stef-" But then she stops when she hears what Stefan has to say. Her heart drops as shaken up Stefan tells Caroline what's just happened. Caroline holds onto a table to keep her balance as she slowly lowers herself onto a chair, "Oh my god." Tyler looks over to her confused, he walks over to her and stands in front to see Caroline's eye fill with tears. She clears her throat and nods to herself, "Yeah, I'll find her."

Caroline hangs up and begins to cry, her shaky hands run through her hair. Tyler crouches down looking concerned for his girlfriend, "What is it?"

Caroline takes a deep breath before looking up at Tyler with a tear stained face, "It's Lola. She-She's dead."

"What did you just say?" Hayley speaks up from the end of the room, who was eavesdropping the entire time. Both Tyler and Caroline looks over at Hayley confused who slowly starts to step out of the room while breathing heavily.

Hayley rushes out of the house, hand covering her mouth to conceal her sobs. She attempts to calm herself down to then grab her phone out of her pocket and dialling the number of the one person she thinks needs to hear about Lola, "It's me, something's happened."

------------------------------------------------

In the middle of the woods, Elena is digging up dirt with a shovel as Connor's deceased body lies next to her. She weeps uncontrollably as she continues to dig, Connor's blood stains her chin, the guilt overwhelming her from killing for the first time.

Caroline slowly appears towards her, glancing down at Connor's body, "Elena."

Elena looks up at her friend briefly before continuing to dig, "I need to bury him. I killed him, I should – I should bury him."

"Hey, hey, come on." Caroline steps towards her, gently taking hold off her arm but Elena pushes Caroline away. Caroline sighs, "Elena, Stefan called and-"

"Don't!" Elena snaps, "I heard Stefan talking to him. He's making some secret deal with Klaus. Stefan said he was going to protect Jeremy!" Her voice breaks as she looks down at Connor, "Keep me from this. He said I could trust him! Where is he now?" Elena's anger begins to seep in, gesturing around the woods, "Neither of them are to be seen!"

"Elena, it's complicated." Caroline says softly, as she tries to fight back her own tears after hearing about Lola, "But, something else has happened."

"No, it's not complicated, Caroline! You want to know why? Because - because he's dead now. Damon told me to kill him, so I did." Elena starts to cry harder, "I –I killed someone. I – I killed someone."

Caroline grabs both of Elena's arms, making Elena look at her, "Elena! It may be hard to understand right now but this isn't the biggest thing to happen today!"

Elena pushes Caroline off her and gestures down to Connor, "What could be bigger than this?"

Caroline hesitates for a moment, trying to bring herself up to saying something she's never wanted to say once, let alone twice. She looks over to Elena with a tear stained face,

"Lola's dead."

-------------------------------------------------------

Stefan runs his hands through his hair to then have his hands remaining at the back of his head as he tries to come to terms with losing his sister. He paces around her room, not wanting to look at her lifeless body laying on her bed because if he does then he has to come to terms that everything that happened today was real.

The hope inside him that maybe him and Lola could be on good terms once again. That hope he could have his sister back again that is now crushed.

Stefan stops pacing, still with his back to Lola. He takes a deep breath to steady himself before slowly turning around to see Lola. But then the heartbreak floods straight back.

He slowly pulls a chair up beside Lola's bed, with a shaky hand he takes hold of Lola's hand as his other hand moves some strands of her away from her face. His bottom lip begins to quiver trying to hold back tears but it's no use, both of his hands now take hold of Lola's limp, cold one, he bows his head as he sobs uncontrollably, "I am so sorry, this is all my fault."

Stefan keeps hold of Lola's hand as sits up, "There was a moment today I thought I got you back, I thought I had my big sister back. The three chaotic musketeers were back together pretty much." Stefan laughs ruefully as he looks at his sister with sorrow, "We spent all these years fighting, avoiding each other and then when you came back here all those months ago I never fully appreciated having you here again. 145 years since we became what we are and yet the time we spent with each other was so short. Despite everything that's happened, you spent your last moments being there for us and we took it for granted. I never thought-" Stefan voice breaks, he takes a deep breath and sobs, "I never thought I would lose you again."

Damon stands in the doorway, hearing everything Stefan has said. Damon closes his eyes tight as he too tries to fight back yet more tears, clenching his fists until his knuckles turn white. He calms himself down only for a moment before clearing his throat, "Brother."

Stefan wipes away the fallen tears on his cheeks and stands up, "I'm okay." Stefan avoids Damon's gaze, he looks down to the floor and frowns, "I, uh, I need to tell Klaus what's happened." Stefan swiftly leaves Lola's bedroom, slightly pushing past Damon to get out.

Damon watches his brother walk away then he slowly moves his gaze over to his sister, he breathes heavily with a helpless and sorrow look on his face.

It's impossible for Stefan to stay still so he paces up and down the hallway outside of Lola's bedroom waiting for Klaus to answer the phone.

"Stefan!" Klaus finally answers, sounding happier than he usually does, "I hope you're calling with good news."

Stefan chokes up, trying to fight his voice from breaking, "I wish I was."

It's like Stefan can hear Klaus' heart drop at Stefan's tone soon making Klaus' cold and harsh manner appear once more, "Put Lola on the phone."

Stefan sighs as he looks into Lola's bedroom, seeing Damon standing over her, running his hand through her hair as he quietly sobs.

"I can't do that."