Unstoppable | The Vampire Diaries

101. A Thousand Lifetimes

"First step: convince Caroline that my humanity is still off," Stefan suggested. "I'll tell her that my run-in with our mother had no effect on me, and I want to keep the party going."

In actual fact, seeing his mother for the first time in however many years had instantly made Stefan turn his humanity back on.

"Then, I'll torture her until she breaks," he continued.

Riley frowned. "Remind me... the last time you tried to make her flip the switch, what happened? Because I'm pretty sure it ended with Matt in the hospital."

Elena nodded in agreement. "If you're gonna do this, Stefan, then she can't find out that you have your humanity back."

"She won't," Stefan promised. His guilt at being one of Caroline's triggers amplified when he thought about the things they'd done together while both of their humanities had been off.

"And how do we know that she'll even want to see you?" Riley wondered.

Damon smirked at his brother. "Oh, she'll want to see him."

"Damon, shut up," Stefan warned his brother, avoiding eye contact with the two girls, who looked at each other suspiciously.

"Are we missing something?" Elena asked, watching as Stefan's face got redder and redder. She stared at him for a moment, until she figured it out. "Hang on a second... did you and Caroline-"

"Do it?" Damon interrupted. "Yep."

"Ew!" Riley exclaimed. "Are you gonna be my brother-in-law someday?"

Stefan rolled his eyes. "Can we just drop it?"

"Sore subject, understood," Damon allowed, getting back to the task at hand. "What do we do once you earn her trust?"

This, Stefan was more than happy to talk about. "We drain her of her blood, make her weak, and then bombard her with everything she used to care about: memories of who she was, her friendships, her mom." He looked at Riley. "Did you bring it?"

Riley nodded, handing him the envelope that her dad had given her before he went out of town that morning. He was more than due a vacation from work, and Riley didn't want him in town if they failed to make Caroline flip her switch.

"What is that?" Damon asked curiously.

"A letter from her mom," Riley answered. "My dad was supposed to give it to her after the funeral, but she flipped her switch before he could."

Stefan held up the envelope. "This could be the key to her humanity."

They all smiled at each other. If anything was going to make Caroline turn her humanity back on, it would be Liz. And the letter was all they had left of her. It was the only shot they had.

***

Stefan had led Caroline to a Bed & Breakfast in Grove Hill. Elena was outside the room, taking the first watch, while Riley and Damon sat in a coffee shop not too far away, talking.

"Tell me about Lily's companions," Riley instructed. "You know, the ones that are still trapped in 1903."

Damon sighed. "My mom fell in with a group of witches back in the day. But not Bonnie-witches, Kai-witches. Siphoners. Then, she turned them."

"She turned them?" Riley frowned, using her cup of hot chocolate to shield her mouth from any prying eyes. "So what does that make them? Witches, or vampires?"

"Both," Damon answered. "They're witches that only have magic when they siphon power from another source. Once they became vampires, they had a permanent source. According to Jo, they're called 'Heretics'."