She awoke on the cold floor of the crypt.

Beside her, Damon was still desiccated. It was morning now, and she groaned, sitting up and going over to Damon, bringing out a blood bag from the air and shoving it into his mouth, her hand on his forehead as she murmured a quiet spell to revive him.

He shot up with a loud gasp, and downed the rest of the bag, growling as he sat up. "No way, he knocked you out, too?"

"Unfortunately," she muttered. "We have to find him."

"He gave Elena to Cade," said Damon, standing up and gesturing to the empty space where the coffin used to be. "Damn it..."

"How do you know he gave her to Cade?" said Beatrix, perplexed. "Also— fact check me if I'm wrong but I'm assuming this Cade guy is the Devil?"

"Yes, Arcadius or whatever his fucking name is. He came to me in limbo. Kai still has this dagger that can kill Cade, and he wants me to get it back."

Beatrix groaned and rubbed her forehead. Damon made a face, and when she looked down, she saw her hand was looking significantly worse. More black veins had gone down. She lifted up the hem of her jeans and saw it had spread to her legs. "I need to get this stupid shit out," she sighed. "I can't get him out of hell unless I'm in front of him, though."

"Let's go get Stefan," Damon said. "And let's hope that idiot didn't steal my car..."

Thankfully (for Damon), Kai hadn't stolen his car. They drove toward the Salvatore Boarding House, which felt considerably empty compared to how Beatrix recognized it. Damon beckoned her upstairs to where Stefan was packing several things into a bag.

"Careful, brother," said Damon. "I can hear you popping a hernia over here. Need a hand?"

"Nope, I'll manage." Stefan turned and saw Beatrix. He nodded respectfully. "Good to see you. Things have changed in New Orleans, I hear."

She bit her lip. "Yes, they have. But your help was much appreciated, and everything that transpired after wasn't your fault or anything, I hope you know that." She shifted on the balls of her feet. "Are you going somewhere?"

He nodded grimly and faced Damon. "Look, you're not gonna talk me out of leaving town so you might as well just save your breath."

Damon shook his head, indicating that was not what he was going to say. "Cade has Elena, Stefan."

"What?" Stefan said. "How?"

"Long story," sighed Damon. "Cliff notes: I had a nasty run-in with our old friend Kai Parker. Didn't end well."

Stefan looked appalled. "What're you talking about? Kai's dead."

"Eh, not as dead as he was four years ago," said Beatrix awkwardly.

"He's alive enough to screw me over and kidnap Elena's coffin," Damon noted.

"And he turned her over to Cade?"

"Apparently. But Kai being Kai tried to cheat the Devil. Kept an ace up his sleeve and now Cade wants that too."

"In exchange for... Elena."

Damon nodded. "Putting aside the fact that you were gonna blow out of town without having an epic bro moment, I hope wherever you're going can wait. 'Cause I need your help, brother."

Stefan nodded. "What's the game plan, then?"

"I'll try a locator spell on him," said Beatrix. "You find out if anyone's seen him around."

There was one thing about the modern world that Beatrix loved and it was the way that technology had progressed in order to make finding people much easier.

Kai had, of course, cloaked himself, and her first try at a locator spell had been a bust. However, she hadn't needed to finish trying a second time, because Stefan came into the room holding out his phone. "He's at a Karaoke Bar, and I know exactly where. I'll go in first and talk to him. He doesn't know I'm human yet, does he?"

"No, I don't think so," said Beatrix.

"Good. Beatrix, you can come with me if you think it'll help."

She winced. "Eh, I don't know how much benefit that'll yield but I'll go just so you're not alone in there."

"What do I do, wait outside?" asked Damon.

"Yes, wait for the right moment, snap his neck, and we get him out of there," said Stefan. "Everyone cool? Let's go."

"I'm driving," announced Damon as the other two followed behind him.

They found Kai mid-performance, with several drunk strangers watching him as though he was a famous singer.

"Mama wipe the blood off of my face," he sang dramatically. It seemed like he didn't have a care in the world. "'Cause I can't see through it anymore. I need someone to talk to and a new hiding place, yeah. I feel like I'm knocking on Heaven's door. Sing it with me, now," he gestured at the crowd, "I'm knock, knock, knocking on Heaven's door, yeah, sing it with me...." he looked up and saw that Stefan and Beatrix had taken a seat at a nearby booth and shot them a cheeky little wave before continuing to sing, more high-pitched and like he wasn't trying anymore, "Knock, knock, knocking on Heaven's door, wooo. Knock, knock, knocking on Heaven's door. Anyway you get the idea. Crushed it. Literal mic drop."

He promptly dropped the microphone and trotted to Beatrix and Stefan, arms outstretched as though he was greeting them without any ire. "Well, well, well, Stefan Salvatore and my favorite Original Heretic. Hey, how did you find me? Locator spell? 'Cause if that's how you did it, that's really impressive."

"Yelp, actually," said Stefan, holding up his phone. "CobraKai1972 wrote: 'grunge music selection weak, drinks even weaker.' Then, 30 minutes later, 'drinks getting better, love this place, microphone emoji, fireball emoji.'"

Kai batted his eyelashes. "Yeah, what can I say, I'm a sucker for second chances these days, which is why I haven't gone ballistic yet even though Beatrix is here. Ever since Cade gave me a new lease on life in exchange for your boxed-up ex-girlfriend— which I assume that's why you're here."

Stefan shook his head. "Actually, I'm here for what you didn't give Cade."

Kai drummed his fingers against the table and took Beatrix's hand, making her flinch as he ran his fingers over the blackened veins. "Hmm, yeah, I guess that's what I get for trying to put one over on a psychic. Listen, I'm sorry, Steven, but that dagger's my insurance policy in case Cade ever tries to send me back to that hot spot."

"You want an insurance policy?" Stefan asked. "How about this. You give me the dagger and I'll kill him."

Kai scoffed. "Cade's the Devil. I looked into his eyes when I was handing over Elena and I decided that it's not worth the risk. Why would I trust you?"

Stefan shrugged. "Because you're afraid of him. And I'm not."

"But that's not the only difference between us, is it?" Kai asked. "For example, me, I'm this all-powerful Heretic, right, and you, you're just a puny vampire."

He grasped Stefan's arm roughly and started trying to siphon, but was unable to do anything.

Stefan looked pleased. "You can't siphon me. I'm human."

Kai was shocked. "Are you serious? That is insane. That's like, like major life change. Wow. Oh, ok, um, I'll tell you what. Tell you what, I've changed my mind. You can have the dagger."

He brought it out and stabbed it right into Stefan's hand, making him cry out in pain. Beatrix got up, but Kai just started to laugh, which left her unsettled, and when she thought of a spell, she found that she wasn't able to perform it. "You two are funny, coming here, trying to convince me. For the record, killing Cade's not the only thing this dagger's capable of. Because when you kill the Devil, Hell goes along with it. Speaking of which, Stefan, any last words before I send you there myself?"

"Damon," Stefan croaked.

"Damon," Kai repeated. "Oh, that is so sweet! I'll be sure to tell your brother that you were thinking of him when you died."

Just then, Damon sped up from behind him and snapped his neck. Beatrix shook herself out of her daze and ran to pull the dagger from Stefan's hand. Gently, she put her palm over the wound and murmured some words softly, healing him up.

"What took you so long?" Stefan demanded as he looked at his brother.

Damon looked mildly offended. "Sorry, I went to put in a song."

He hoisted Kai up, and Stefan helped him. "He weighs a ton," Damon grunted. "How did you manage with this body on top of you, Beatrix?"

She groaned and rubbed her forehead. "You must know that it's different that way. I'm not going to bother answering that. Where are we going to take him?"

"The Armory," said Stefan. "It's the building of this organization that investigated supernatural artifacts. Caroline and Alaric should be there now."

"Perfect, let's go," said Beatrix, helping at least with Kai's legs as they pulled him to the car.

Of course, she'd had to ride in the back seat with him. She had awkwardly put her head on his lap, since she felt kind of bad just leaving him hanging off of the seat. He looked so innocent when he was just sleeping, but Beatrix knew that wasn't true.

When they arrived, the two brothers yanked Kai out, and Beatrix walked in front to open the door for them.

Alaric and Caroline clearly hadn't been expecting visitors. They looked down in shock as Kai was dragged in, thankfully still unconscious.

"Sorry," said Damon loudly. "This place had the nearest holding cell. Little help?"

Caroline sped down, but Beatrix noticed she hardly acknowledged Stefan. The two women helped Damon take Kai down a series of hallways to a cell, shoving him in carelessly before exiting and watching him through the window.

"So," Damon said to Caroline. "You just opted to help me with this homicidal lunatic instead of spending a moment with your fiance. Care to elaborate?"

Caroline pursed her lips. "Given what you've just dragged in, I think you should be the one explaining."

"Sorry, Blondie," Damon said almost apologetically. "Probably safer if you don't get involved."

Caroline looked exasperated. "Great. Another Salvatore brother freezing me out. Stefan told me that he needed to go on some spirit walk to God knows where, figure out if he wants to be with me."

"Hmm, well in his tiny human brain I'm sure he thinks he's protecting you. He doesn't believe he's worthy of someone like you, Caroline."

"You felt that way about Elena. I need Stefan just as much as she needed you. And Lizzie and Josie need him too."

There was a groan, and the three saw Kai had woken up. "Ugh. Enough about Stefan, already. What you guys need is someone who can explain to you what's going on with your Gemini Coven twins. Huh, sure there's someone around here who could help with that but I can't quite put my finger on him." He made a buzzing sound and moved his finger through the air before pointing at himself. "This guy."

Caroline let out a frustrated groan and walked away, and Damon followed. Beatrix crossed her arms and glared at him. "Really? You can do better than this, Kai. I know that you have more potential. You have a good side and I remember that you were a really sweet guy."

He sat back on the chair that'd been allotted for him. "Well, you're the one who made me want to be good, Trixter. But I was alone in Hell. And even now, I know I'm not good enough for you. Compared to Klaus... no, I'm nothing. How can I compete with that? This is going to turn into a terrible three-way tug of war between Elijah, Klaus, and me. I don't feel like ending up dead again."

"Then you should care about redeeming yourself," she said pointedly. "Things are complicated but that doesn't mean I want to leave you behind forever."

He narrowed his eyes. "Do you love me, Beatrix?" he asked. "I mean, you mentioned turning off your humanity, and you're clearly very intent on making me be a decent fucking person. Tell me. Do you love me?"

She looked down. "A person doesn't just forget how another made them feel. After all these years... even Klaus knew that I would never fully lose feelings for you, especially not when I lost you that way. I loved you. I didn't get a chance to say it to you when you were alive. And I will always care for you because you were my solace in that prison world. You were the only one I had."

"But?" he prompted. "You're hesitating to mention something."

"But I want to move on, too," she said honestly, looking back up at him. "You were mean to me for a long time. And the worst of me was brought out around you because I thought it was okay— if we were going to be bad together, then it was the best way to let my dark side out. But the things we said and did, and the plans we created— it wasn't right, and I don't want to revert to that. I have been hurt so many times because I got attached where I shouldn't have, with people who hurt me. I'm not officially with Klaus because he hurt me, and over the years, I've learned that I really do deserve better. I'm not perfect, and neither is anyone else, but we all need to strive for better. And I don't know if better means you if you're going to be cruel. I'm a doctor again, Kai, and I don't want to take lives. I want to save them. And I want to help you, if you wish for me to do so. If you want to be better, if you want to redeem yourself and find your passion and life your life without damaging anyone else's, then I will support you. I will be your rock and I will help you through any obstacles. Because even you deserve to enjoy life."

"But not if I'm going to hurt people," he finished for her. He wolf-whistled. "You've changed a lot. I guess being evil isn't as fun when you're terminal, huh? You grow bored because you haven't got much time yet. And well, I assume now that you know how shitty Hell is, you don't want to end up there. Wow... what happened to you, huh?"

She glared at him. "I was kidnapped. Tortured. Tormented. I watched the people I care about die and there was nothing I could do. You. Jackson... Cami... Davina... Marcel— even if he returned... and I'm sick of it. I'm sick of people getting hurt. I will not contribute to someone else's pain, not when I've felt it like this. Slowly, I've been coming to terms with the fact I have been a monster in the past, and I don't want to do that anymore. I don't want to be unhinged and give my niece a reason to fear me. I want to be well enough to help Klaus be a better father. I want to be a good doctor. I hated who I was before I turned my humanity off and I hated who I was while it was off. I have tried to be better because I know I don't have many years left. At most, I know I'll have a decade before things get bad. I don't want my last years to be miserable. I don't want to perpetuate the cycle we experienced in our youth, with all the violence and being accustomed to blood and death."

He sighed. "Trixter, you're too hopeful. I was never meant to be a good person. And after experiencing Hell, I can't be good, not even for you. What we had... that was special. But I'm not going to give up my nature for anyone. Not even you. If you're not going to be okay with me killing who I want to kill, we can't be together."

She swallowed hard, blinking away some tears. She wrapped her arms around her middle, feeling more pains in her side. The past twenty four hours had been too much, and she felt weaker.

Caroline walked up beside her with a stern look on her face, standing on the other side of the glass. Beatrix nodded respectfully and began to walk away.

But she only made it to the entrance hall when she heard the sound of glass shattering. She sped back and found Kai kneeling over an unconscious Caroline, 'booping' her on the nose. Her phone began to ring, and Kai picked it up. "Caroline's phone," he answered.

"Kai?!" came Alaric's voice. "What have you done? Where's Caroline?"

Kai looked down at her. "Yeah, she's taking a neck snap nap. Those kids really wore her out."

"Look, you escaped," said Alaric. "Why don't you just leave, find somebody else to terrorise?"

"Oh, because you have got two Gemini coven offspring running around here somewhere and you know how I just love Gemini for destroying my life. Who better to terrorise?"

"I'm not going to let you hurt them. I'm coming for you."

"That's cute, and all, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to find them before you do but, oh what the heck, it's no fun without a little fire under your ass, right? Come get me."

"Yeah, well, where are you?"

"Just making my way to where kids like to hide. I tried to kill them once already. If at first you don't succeed, well. Try, try to kill them again."

He hung up and started to walk. Beatrix felt weakened, but she followed, trying to come up with a solution in her head, because he had not made to attack her, leaving her with an upper hand. When he grabbed an axe from a nearby rack after exiting into the main room, she had an idea.

"I'll bring you fully back from Hell," she said loudly. "No price. I'll do it— even if you're not going to be good. I can do the spell in minutes, and it will give you full access to your magic."

He turned to her and glared suspiciously at her. He sped to her and gripped her by the throat. "And why would you do that, naughty girl?"

She gulped. "B-Because I don't want to fight you," she whispered.

"Lemme guess, you realize you don't want to turn your back on me," he sighed. "'Cause once you get rid of that dark magic, you can be evil again without repercussions..." He squeezed her throat. "Do it. Now. Before I kill those little twins."

He released her and she put her hands slowly on his chest. She had to bring him back in order to kill him properly, and though it was a risk to give him his magic back at full potential. She began to chant, "Iirjae peklo solvo huriya, navrat aljahim uvolnění libertas infernum."

Kai let out a loud groan and put his hands on her shoulders, holding her as if thinking he'd drag her to Hell with him if this was a trick. "Iirjae peklo solvo huriya, navrat aljahim uvolnění libertas infernum. Iirjae peklo solvo huriya, navrat aljahim uvolnění libertas infernum."

He gasped loudly, and his eyes flashed reddish-black. He released her and cracked his neck, flexing his fingers and smirking. Beatrix nearly crumpled down, feeling a huge weight leaving her. She glanced down and saw her arms were back to normal, and all that lingered was a pain in her side.

"Whew!" he said, shouldering his axe. "Wow, that feels great. I almost feel like kissing you."

She half-smiled and raised her hand, pointing it at him. "Infernum fakhi peklo captionem aljahim siphon."

He stared blankly at her, and then began to laugh. "Let me guess. You let me come back so you could attack me properly and stop me from killing those twins. But now— surprise! Your magic is weakened from the spell. Boo hoo. You didn't leave a single fucking mark on me. Now I have my powers back fully and I can fight back just as strong as you can."

She shrugged. "It wasn't meant to leave a mark." She raised both hands and wordlessly sent the axe flying beside her head, lodging into one of the walls behind her. "And by the way, next time, you should respect your elders. You're a baby Heretic. Me? I'm the Original one. I've got three hundred years on you and... now I'm free of the dark magic that was consuming me. So, last chance. Back down, or you're going to have to fight me."

His eyes flashed darkly. "Fine. I always knew we'd end up fighting it out like this. I won't feel any remorse when I kill you. I'll be sure Klaus gets your head wrapped in tinsel."

He flicked his wrist, but nothing happened. He looked down and saw she was waving her index finger in circles. "What the hell did you do to me?" he snarled.

"Oh, darling," she sighed. "I made you. I can corrupt your magic anytime I want."

She thrust both hands out and sent him flying back into the nearest wall. He got up quickly and sped toward her, but she was faster, and caught him, flipping him and pinning him on the ground. He kicked underneath her and flipped them so he was pinning her down, but she simply flexed her wrists, and he was thrown back once more, hitting the opposite wall harder than before, and making him let out a groan.

He grabbed another nearby sword and threw it at her. She let out a whisper and pushed her hand to the side, causing the sword to shatter into a million pieces before flying at him, stabbing him like a million smaller shards of glass and making him hiss in pain as he staggered back, clawing at his face.

"Give up yet?" she said. He growled and she wove her hands in arcs beside her body, causing him to yell out this time, clutching his head as he sank to his knees. He collapsed on the floor and writhed, unable to counter her magic in any way. He was nowhere near strong enough to pose any sort of threat to her.

Alaric and Bonnie came running in from one of the back rooms as Kai kept yelling. Bonnie gasped in surprise, seeing him there. "Knock him out," she said to Beatrix. "I can make an Ascendant, and we can send him away."

"No," said Beatrix. She let up the curse, leaving Kai groaning still, curled up in a ball. "No... I care about him too much to let him suffer in a prison world again. It's too dangerous. There will always be a chance for him to get out of a prison world. However, he won't escape Hell."

"Yes, I will be able to!" Kai said weakly. "Cade's dead, but Hell isn't! It's never been in better hands."

"What are you talking about?" Bonnie demanded.

He sat up, though he looked dizzy, and let out a weak chuckle. "Think... of the only person worse than Cade. The person who knows where all your weak spots are. Who wants to hit you there over and over again. Who will stop at nothing to make sure that you and everyone you love, suffer. The one who wants revenge for what you did to her. The myth, the legend, the baddest bitch of all. Katherine."

Bonnie and Alaric both froze, but Beatrix simply let out a sigh. "Kai," she said, crouching in front of him. "You won't be able to get out. That spell I did? It's to made sure you can't escape Hell if I send you back there."

He looked up at her and shook his head. "You're not going to do it," he said coldly. "You wouldn't kill me."

He tried to get up but slumped back, still in a lot of pain. She put her hand against his cheek. She was crying, knowing what she had to do. "I loved you," she whispered. "And I gave you so many chances because I know how good you can be. I know that deep down, you're not bad. I saw it so many times and that was the man I fell in love with. But you just went back to wanting to hurt those little girls. I'm not going to let it happen, not when I fought so hard to bring them into this word. And if you're not going to make the effort to leave them alone... then I have to let you go."

He looked up and just chuckled weakly. "This is it, then," he said quietly. "Yours is the last face I'll be able to see here."

"You have only one last chance," she prompted.

"No," he said firmly. "No. I don't want to be good."

She nodded slowly, tears rolling down her cheeks. She sat on the floor and brought him to lay on her lap. He coughed and looked up at her. "I have to let you go," she repeated as she brought a hand to stroke his hair. "I have to. Goodbye, Kai."

She leaned down to kiss him as she plunged her hand into his chest and tore out his heart. She pulled away, one of her tears falling onto his lips as his body turned completely gray.

Bonnie and Alaric were silent as Beatrix began to sob.