Plot

At a fraternity costume party, Damon gives Elena a lesson in choosing a victim. Klaus reveals an encounter with a group of vampire hunters - flashing back to 12th century Italy.

Klaus and Damon use Jeremy's posthumous witches dimension to draw Connor's magically invisible tattoo. While a hybrid guards the slayer, Klaus explains to the gang that it belongs to the Five, the ultimate slayers brotherhood, which nearly wiped out the Originals in 11th century Italy, after Rebekah fell in love with member Alexander. The brothers agree to team up and trick Rebekah, who knows where the key to the Five's ultimate weapon is, an engraved sword. Meanwhile Damon escorts Elena, whom only Stefan can convince life as vampire is still worth living, to a fraternity party for a blood hunt lesson, and to the witchcraft course of professor Atticus Shane, ignoring he's a mortal enemy.—KGF Vissers

1110 A.D. A witch recites an incantation in the forest and when she's finished, she sets down her cauldron of flame and lets the spell travel up the arms and onto the bodies of five (shockingly hairless for the time period) strapping young men. It traces tattoos over their chests.

Present Damon brings Connor's things back to the house to go over them for answers, starting with: What are the Five? Damon gets a call from Sheriff Forbes, they didn't find Connor's remains at the explosion site. After Stefan assures Damon they're not fighting, Damon tells him he's taking Elena to college to learn "snatch, eat, erase."

Later, in the woods for "hunter defense class," Elena explains her reasons for going to Damon. She can't feed on animals or blood bags because they make her sick, Caroline is too good at self control to understand what Elena is going through and Stefan gets weird around that much blood. So it has to be Damon.

They're crashing Bonnie's trip to look at colleges. The professor who took over her Gram's classes invited her. Elena assures Stefan that he's the one getting her through this. He warns her it's easy to get caught up in feeding.

Rebekah brings Matt keys to a new truck to try to make up for things. "If that's your idea of an apology, you should probably give it to Elena. She's the one you killed," Matt says.

Klaus sees the interchange and tells her she's trying too hard. Rebekah is annoyed to see he's still in town. He tells her the Brotherhood of the Five still exists and wants her help. But she's not inclined.

Damon, Elena and Bonnie arrive on campus and join a class on witches. The professor knows about ghosts, vampires and dopplegangers.

Elena worries she's a Ripper. Damon helps her pick someone, a pretty blonde who's self-absorbed and who'll be easy to separate from the pack.

Back at his house, Klaus has Connor chained up on a rack. Stefan joins them, wanting to know about the Five. Klaus explains: the Brotherhood of the Five was a group of highly skilled vampire hunters from the 12th Century.

Flash back to Italy, 1114 Klaus and Elijah see one of the Five in a town square lecturing about vampires and opening a box to reveal one who promptly bursts into flames from the sunlight. Klaus is unconcerned, Rebekah flirts with one.

Connor is the first he's seen since then. Rebekah fell in love with one of them and got lots of information on him. Klaus agrees to give Stefan answers if he gets Rebekah to not to be mad at him anymore. "Trust me when I say that hunter in there is the answer to all your prayers," Klaus says.

At the Grill, Matt finds April in a booth waiting for Rebekah. He tells Rebekah he's keeping the truck. April ogles Matt, but Rebekah calls dibs.

Stefan joins the women and compels April to forget the conversation he's about to have. "Klaus wants me to make peace with you so you'll talk about the Five," Stefan says. Rebekah says he'll just betray Stefan, so Stefan offers to smooth things over with Matt and give her a clean slate.

On campus, Elena approaches the blonde Damon picked out. Elena compels her not to scream and is about to bite down when she sees a picture of the girl's little sister on her cell phone and loses her nerve. Damon is annoyed until Bonnie gives them a flyer for a Halloween frat party tonight.

Rebekah joins Klaus and Stefan for dinner. She wants an apology from him for breaking her neck, which he did after she wrecked his Elena blood. He apologizes.

Flash back to 1114 Alexander the hunter dines with Rebeka, Elijah and Klaus, not suspecting anything because it was daylight and they were protected by their rings. "We are but five men bound by fire and the last breath of a dying witch to a single cause: the destruction of all vampires," Alexander says. Alexander says they have a weapon that no vampire can survive.

Present Klaus explains the unseen tattoo is a map to the weapon. He has Jeremy brought in. Stefan tries to come to his aid, but Klaus removes Jeremy's ring.

On campus, Damon shows up as Jack the Ripper with Elena and Bonnie as his victims. Professor Shane is there and Bonnie goes to talk to him.

Elena watches as a frat guy roofies a girl and she has her target. She takes him into another room and compels him, then chomps down. Damon has to remind her to pull back, but she feels good. "I want more," she whispers in his ear.

Jeremy sketches Connor's tattoo. Connor explains meeting a guy years ago who was a hunter and had the tattoo. He lost track of him and then one day the tattoo showed up on him, first in pieces and then more with each vampire he killed.

1114 AD Rebekah breaks off making out with Alexander the hunter to ask about his tattoo. He says the sword is the key to reading it. She agrees to leave town and follow the map with him when he goes. He tells her about a special dagger he has for "a special kind of vampire." He goes back to kissing her, then stabs her with it.

In the present, Klaus explains that the Brotherhood of the Five came after all of them in their sleep that night.

1114 AD Rebekah comes back to life to see Klaus covered in blood and Alexander skewered on the wall.

Present Rebekah explains that Alexander told her what the weapon was to convince her to leave town: He said there was a cure. Stefan doesn't believe them. Klaus explains that when he killed the Brotherhood that night, the tattoos disappeared from their bodies so they couldn't look for the cure.

Rebekah wants nothing to do with it and concludes Klaus only wants the cure for Elena so that he can make hybrids. He brought Stefan in because he knew he'd want to save her, too. Klaus needs Stefan to get information on the sword to decipher the map from Rebekah.

On campus, Professor Shane shows Bonnie some of the things he has of her grandmother's. He asks if she practices. She tells him she doesn't any more because she lost control and there were consequences. He tells her there are other ways to practice.

At the party, Damon and Elena dance with unsuspecting college kids, chomp down and don't even wipe the blood off of their faces because it's Halloween. Bonnie comes back to the party and her look of judgment snaps Elena out of her blood bliss.

Klaus checks on Jeremy's drawing of the tattoo. He knows it's incomplete, so Jeremy mentions what Connor said about it spreading with every vampire he kills.

Klaus leaves one of his hybrids to guard Connor. Connor chomps on the kid's ear, biting out his ear barbell. Now he has something to pick his locks with.

Back on campus, Elena feels bad for experiencing everything with Damon instead of Stefan. Damon says that what makes him different from Stefan the Ripper is that he can revel in feeding on people and make it fun, as it should be for vampires.

Rebekah goes over to Stefan's after he calls. She admits she wanted the cure back then. Stefan wants it for Elena to save her before she kills someone and loses her humanity. He worries she'd never get it back.

Rebekah envies the love they have for each other. Alexander promised to marry her, they even picked out a church. "I know you want my help Stefan, but I just can't do anything that lets my brother get what he wants," she says.

He answers her question, if he could have children with Elena and grow old with her, he'd take the cure. Rebekah says that even after everything, she buried Alexander in the place where they were to be married.

After she says it, she realizes what she's said. It's what Stefan wanted to know. She buried him with his sword. Klaus joins them, carrying a dagger that he dips in something. She tells him she'd rather live her life than his, the man whom no one loves.

Stefan says he's sorry, but clearly he isn't going to stop Klaus. Klaus stabs his sister.

Klaus hurries to catch a plane to get the sword. He tells Stefan to put Rebekah's body somewhere where no one will ever find it and compel Jeremy to forget everything. He gives Stefan Jeremy's ring back. Klaus reminds him no one, not even Elena and Damon, can know about the cure.

"If this gets out it could mean all our deaths," Klaus says."It's just you and me in this, Stefan. Some secrets are stronger than family."

Damon brings Elena home, chastened. She tells him she believes his version of what a vampire should be, but it scares her. "You don't want to be like me," Damon says.

Stefan opens Elena's front door, explaining he had a few things to talk to Jeremy about. He says he has no news on Connor.

Elena tells him she learned out to feed but it was awful because she got caught up in it. "I can't live like this. I'm feeling things that I don't want to feel. I'm becoming someone that I don't want to be. I don't think I'm going to survive this," she says. "Yes you will, I promise. You just have to hold on," Stefan says.

Nate the hybrid calls for reinforcements for Connor. But as soon as he gets off the phone, Connor is free and he's choking him out with a barbed chain. He squeezes Nate's head clean off and his tattoo spreads into a pentagram. Cut back to campus, where the same symbol hangs on Shane's wall.

Connor walks in to his office. "Shouldn't you be in Mystic Falls killing vampires?" Shane asks. "Why the hell did you send me there?" Connor asks.