TVD SEASON 6 – THE SOVEREIGNTY SAGA
The following chapters are a reimagining of Season 6 of The Vampire Diaries. All mythologies and canon elements established throughout Season 6 and beyond on television do not apply to this version of events. These events take place after the Season 5 finale.
"The kind of magic my mother practiced…it's unnatural. Witches don't even call it magic. We call it Expression. Channelling the power of human sacrifices calls on darkness that can't exist on this plane without swallowing it whole!" – Nandi LaMarche
PART 1
The Endless Reflections
Bonnie awoke, lying on a cold floor groggy, disoriented…and completely naked.
She looked at her surroundings. The ceiling, the floor, all four walls—they were all mirrors. She stood up and could only see herself reflected in all directions. She looked as she did when was on the Other Side, with her dark brown hair with subtle highlights tussled slightly, clinging lazily along the side of her face in the bob cut she had gotten before she started going to Whitmore College. Her smooth, unblemished nutmeg skin shone brightly in the room. She tried walking to one of the walls, her greenish, brown eyes quickly shifted as they tried to focus on her reflection, which was being reflected, which also was being reflected and so on and so on, for infinity. The multiple reflections made her stagger while walking. She paused and keeled, waving her arms and engaging her leg muscles to regain her balance. She looked around again and could see herself very clearly, as the room seemed to be very well lit, but when she looked up, she couldn't see a light source. No lamp, bulb, or anything.
"HELLO?!" she hollered.
There was no sound. Not even an echo. It was like the sound of her voice was immediately absorbed by the mirror walls.
"HELLO?! ANYBODY?"
She began to remember fragments of her last moments, when she and Damon were on the Other Side as it was collapsing and she was holding his hand as a bright light enveloped the two of them.
The thought of Damon prompted her to try and cover up her nakedness with her arms and hands.
"DAMON?!" she nervously queried, since he was the last person on Earth that she'd want to see her naked. "DAMON, IF THIS IS YOUR IDEA OF A JOKE I AM SOOOO GOING TO KILL YOU!"
Again, there was no sound. No echo. Nothing. The silence was off-putting, given how her image was being infinitely reflected, yet her voice wasn't.
She tried to walk to one of the mirror walls while trying to keep herself covered up, hoping to see if perhaps maybe the walls were some kind of two-way mirror or if there was an exit. Maybe this was some pervert's idea of a prank or something.
I swear Damon, I will stake you in the balls a thousand times over if I find out you're behind one of these walls looking at me!
A small part of her hoped he was there, since he would symbolize something familiar. She reached one of the walls and nearly touched it when she heard a sound coming from behind her.
"Bonnie!"
Startled, she turned around to see a figure standing in the middle of the room.
"Oh my God…Grams?!"
She looked the same as she did the last time Bonnie saw her on the Other Side, wearing a black knit cardigan and black slacks, her hair the dark brown, almost black and wavy style that Bonnie remembered. Her skin, however, was a shade lighter than the tortilla-beige colour that defined Gram's skin. Regardless, Bonnie immediately ran to embrace her, relieved at seeing a familiar and familial face in this bizarre room.
"What are we doing here, Grams? What is this place?"
Grams didn't move. Her arms remained at her side. She stared at Bonnie, emotionless, with her large, brown eyes burrowing a hole right through her.
"Grams? What's wrong? What's going on? Are we still on the Other Side? Are we dead?"
"I told you that I…I looked out for…you. That you'd…find…p-p-PEACCCE…Bonnie."
Bonnie looked at her quizzically. Grams appeared to have trouble saying the words, especially the word 'peace.' Bonnie felt like she said it derisively.
"But…you said that you found peace as well. What's going on? Where are we? Why am I naked? Did the Other Side collapse?"
"Oh, it collapsed. It's gone—finally gone! The barriers are down. We are free. And so many of you are with us."
Bonnie scrutinized Grams and then looked around the room again. She finally noticed that Grams wasn't being reflected in the mirrors. Wild eyed and resolute, Bonnie took a step back and faced the imposter.
"Who are you?! You're not my Grams! Who the hell are you?!"
Suddenly, a chorus of laughter descended upon the two of them. It was maniacal, twisted and menacing. It sounded like both men and women, adults and children, but then Bonnie found she couldn't distinguish the ages or gender of those laughing. The laughter came from everywhere—from above, below, and all four walls. It seemed to come from behind the walls, and yet it seemed to be coming from within the room itself. Bonnie couldn't pinpoint the source.
"Who is that? Who are they?" Bonnie asked, cowering as though the laughs were physically landing upon her.
"They are of the Sovereignty," said Grams. "They are of us. Like you are…and your Grams…and so many more. She promised that you'd find peace." The imposter took a step forward. "What an ignorant…arrogant…BITCH!"
The façade was over. Bonnie watched in horror as her Grams' face became cracked and a pasty, ash grey, her mouth twisting into a distorted, malevolent smile. But it was the eyes that scared Bonnie the most. The eyes reminded her of a Gecko lizard—a crooked, black slit in the center with a feint halo of blood red around it, with the rest of the eye a shimmering gold. The outside of Grams eyes became black and veiny, like those of a vampire, but even darker and more distinct than any vampire that Bonnie had ever seen. The black served to make her lizard eyes even more pronounced.
Before Bonnie could scream, a hand came over her mouth. Multiple hands and arms suddenly enveloped her body. She felt herself pinned against someone or something. She looked in the mirror walls, but could still only see herself.
"Shhhhh—calm yourself, child. We helped you once, remember? Tit for tat!" Grams voiced had changed. Like the laughter, it was genderless. But it was the palpable absence of love or concern in the voice that terrified Bonnie the most—a complete lack of humanity. Grams wiped away a tear running down Bonnie's face.
"Oh, no tears, please! It's a waste of perfectly good suffering. We don't need your consent. You gave yourself to us when you willfully—carelessly—immersed yourself in us. You used us. Used our power. And all for l-l-love!"
Bonnie tried to struggle, but the grip of the multiple arms over her was too much. She couldn't move.
"And now we will touch you. We will join and enjoy you. You will join and enjoy us. You will marry us," Grams leered. "Don't resist. It's so much easier when you don't resist. You've suffered so much, my dear Bonnie. The Sovereignty will make everything better. We enhance. We augment. We make YOU better!"
The room went dark.
Bonnie's muffled screams became lost in the chorus of malicious gaiety that rained upon her.
Patio Standoff
"Please, we're just looking for information," Caroline pleaded as her and Elena held their hands up. The Asian couple stood on their porch with the wife holding a shotgun while the husband was holding their growling Rottweiler back on a leash.
Elena and Caroline stood roughly five yards from the bottom of a porch at the feet of a quaint farmhouse just outside of Charlottesville. Amongst a vast area of neatly trimmed grass and shrubs on a cloudless afternoon, the soft wind blew Caroline's long, tussled blonde locks over her face, forcing her to drop her hand down to fix her hair, her ocean blue eyes desperately blinking as they tried to keep the threatening couple before her in her sights.
"Information or blood?" asked the husband. "We know what you are. It may be daylight out now, but Old Cong here knows the scent of vampires. Daylight jewelry, right? Now what kind of information do you want?"
Elena took a step forward, and the wife redirected her shotgun at her.
"Careful, young miss. In case you haven't figured it out, this shotgun will pump you and your friend here with wooden splinters. Can kill you in seconds. And in case you think you're fast enough to dodge it, then that is why my husband has his hand on that trigger!"
Waving a device in his hand that he was already depressing, the husband explained. "I let go of this and our sprinkler system goes off—vervain sprinkler system, of course. Surprisingly good for the grass too! It will be enough to slow you down until my wife kills you. You won't make it out alive if we don't want you to. Now, what do you want?"
Elena sheepishly bowed her head, her long, thick chestnut hair falling and shrouding her face as she heeded the warning, taking a step back.
"We were referred to you by some friends of ours. They said that you were…Archivists? That you record supernatural history," Caroline said.
"What friends? What are their names?" interrogated the wife.
"Liv and Luke Parker," responded Elena.
"Yes, we know of them. Twins, right? So what?" the husband asked.
"Well, we want to know what happened to all those people who were on the Other Side. We had friends there who we're concerned about," Caroline said.
"We all had friends on the Other Side. What makes you think we know what happened to them? Furthermore, why would we tell a couple of vampires?" asked the wife.
"Please, we just want to know if they're okay," pleaded Elena.
"And who are these 'friends' of yours?" asked the husband.
"Well, one of them is my boyfriend—" started Elena.
"—AND," Caroline interrupted, "another is our witch friend who was the Anchor and—"
"The Anchor? Bennett...Bonnie Bennett?" asked the wife.
"Yes, yes, that's her! How did you know that?" asked Caroline.
"It's our business to know," responded the husband coldly.
"It's also somebody else's business to know, Bruce," the wife said to her husband.
The wife put her shotgun down and went inside the house.
"Make it fast, Viv. I don't trust these two," said Bruce, still holding both the trigger and Old Cong.
Elena turned her head slightly towards Caroline and began whispering. "Now's our chance. There's only one of them now. We can take him. With the both of us moving, we're fast enough. You take out the dog, I'll take out the guy."
Caroline shot her a bewildered look. "We are NOT going to do that! What's the matter with you?!"
"What's the matter with you?! If we don't do something, they're going to kill us."
"If they wanted to kill us, they'd have done it by now. Just…just wait until the wife comes back. They obviously know Bonnie." Caroline looked up at Bruce and the dog and gave a reassuring smile. "Besides, why do I have to take out the dog?"
"Because I don't like the idea of hurting a dog."
"Oh what…and I'm suddenly Cruella DeVille?! And what about the guy? You don't mind hurting him?"
"We're in a desperate spot, Caroline. Desperate measures!"
"You have got to be kidding me! I can't BELIEVE you just said that. Ya know, you are becoming more and more—"
By that point, both Elena and Caroline had dropped their hands and were standing opposite each other, Caroline slightly towering over Elena, arguing loudly enough for Bruce to hear.
"Uh, excuse me, careless whisperers! Would you mind keeping your hands up, please? Thank you!" Bruce said, waving the trigger in his hand.
"Sorry," Elena and Caroline said in unison as they went to put their hands back up.
Elena began grinding her teeth, breathing heavily through her nose and blinking incessantly.
Damn it, Caroline! We need some answers! We need to get Damon back. This all could be over with if you'd followed my lead. Now we're stuck here.
Elena looked at Bruce and then looked at Old Cong.
I could run up to Bruce and wrap my hands around his hand that's holding the trigger. It will break the bones in his hands but…oh well! He won't die from it. King Kong, or whatever his name is, I may have to kill him. He won't stop attacking. I don't want to kill him, but we have to do what we have to do. Then when the wife comes out, I can take her out. The only problem is—
Elena gave Caroline a side look, shook her head and mouthed an expletive.
She closed her auburn eyes and began shifting most of her weight onto the ball of her left foot. She'd be using that as a launching point for her attack. Once she attacked Bruce, Caroline was either with her or against her. And if she was against her….
The front door suddenly swung open.
"It's okay, Bruce. Let them be. They won't hurt us. They've been vouched for," Vivien said as she came out of the house, carrying a tray with a tea pot and cups.
Bruce flipped a switch on his trigger and then let it go. He commanded Old Cong to sit down, who looked up at his master and then obediently followed the command, still weary of the vampires before him.
Caroline and Elena both looked at each other with nervous and perplexed smiles as they hesitated to lower their hands.
"Besides, I've been told these two have quite some history to tell us that will help us to update our records. That will help pass the time until our friend shows up," Vivien said. She began to set the tray on a table on the porch and pulled up two extra chairs.
"Well now ladies, what would you like in your tea?"
Hyde's Return
Stefan sat on an ottoman in the middle of the living room, glaring at the floor. He was wringing his hands, the smell of dry blood wafting up into his nostrils. There was dry blood spattered everywhere around him—on the floor, on the ceiling, on the walls. His mouth was masked by it, his shirt soaked in it, the fair skin on his face spattered with it, his short, tussled brown hair sprinkled with it. He always struggled to clean things up after a ravenous Ripper frenzy. Guilt and remorse always overcame him. Sometimes, he could clean up. Sometimes he couldn't.
He closed his greenish blue eyes, his thick eyebrows furrowed as he replayed what happened the night before in his head, trying to pinpoint when and why he lost control.
"Hi, I'm looking for Julian or Carole Plies, please?" he recalled asking as he introduced himself.
"I'm Carole. What can I do for you?" said the slender, elderly Caucasian woman in the white night gown who answered the door.
Stefan had followed up on various leads throughout Virginia for weeks prior to coming to the Plies house. Each time he started off by telling the truth, only to be shut out by people who wanted nothing to do with Traveler magic or vampires.
This house showed promise though. The elderly couple were former Travelers who had forsaken the Traveler life years ago. Stefan figured that perhaps they still knew of Traveler magic, the same magic that was preventing any kind of spirit magic from being performed within Mystic Falls. Liv and Luke suggested that they could try a warped version of a Locator Spell to find out where Damon and Bonnie and all the other supernatural beings had gone to when the Other Side collapsed. But they would need to be in Mystic Falls to perform that spell. This was Stefan's best shot so far at finding answers that would give all of them some peace of mind.
Damon.
For a brief moment, Stefan smiled inside. For all of his big brother's impulsiveness and recklessness, he had to admit that Damon didn't dawdle. When he wanted something, he did what was necessary to get it. It was to his ultimate credit sometimes but, at least for Stefan, most of the time it was to his ultimate shame as well. But Stefan felt that such tactics were needed in this situation.
"I would like you to invite me in," Stefan said while staring deeply into Carole's eyes.
"Yes…of course…come in," Carole smiled, stepping aside while Stefan entered the house.
As soon as he got in, a portly, elderly Caucasian gentleman dressed in his nightgown appeared in the hallway.
"Honey, what's going on? Who is this person?" said Julian.
"Hi, uh…my name is Stefan. I was wondering if you could help me."
Julian ignored Stefan and walked straight towards his wife.
"Why did you invite him in?"
Carole looked at Stefan and then back at her husband.
"I…I don't know. I just felt like inviting him in," she said.
"Damn it! You've not been taking your vervain pills. I told you to take your vervain pills!"
"Oh, Jules! I hate taking those stupid vervain pills. I take enough pills as it is. Why do I have to take those wretched pills?" Carole said as she belligerently waved off her husband and headed for the living room to return to her jigsaw puzzle.
"To prevent a vampire from doing what this vampire just did!"
"Please, I don't mean any harm. I'm just looking for some answers," Stefan pleaded to the husband.
"No harm, eh? Then why'd you compel my wife to let you in?"
"Because I'm a bit desperate at this point and I need your help. I understand that you and your wife are former Travelers. That you know about their kind of magic."
"Sorry, we can't help you. We don't know any magic. That was the deal we made with the Travelers when we left them. We can't perform any magic of any kind. Besides, if you're looking for Travelers, there's a bunch of 'em around. Why would you need us?"
"Because all of the Traveler's are dead. They died in a small town near here called Mystic Falls."
Julian looked over at his wife. Carole looked back at him and then went back to her puzzle.
"Can't say I'm upset, really. Them bunch of chanting hobos. That's why we left them 40 years ago. We had enough of their vagabond lifestyle and empty promises. We started fresh. Had a family. Started new lives for ourselves."
Stefan softly smiled. He envied them tremendously.
"Starting new lives meant zero magic. But we still remember the supernatural. That's why we take vervain. We have wolf's bane around. We still know about the dangers that are out there."
"Look, I understand your situation. All I'm asking for is some help. The Travelers left some kind of no-magic barrier around that town I mentioned. It's still there, even though they all died. I'm trying to figure out how to bring it down."
"Well, we can't help you, son. We've been out of the magical loop for so long, we don't even remember the most basic spells, let alone anything that sounds as complicated as that. That's a new one to me. Now, since we can't help…if you don't mind," Julian said, motioning Stefan towards the front door.
"He could go see Diafawl," said Carole off-handedly while putting a puzzle piece down.
"Who?" asked Stefan.
"Nothing! Don't mind her, she's not taking her pills. She doesn't know what she's saying. Now…you were leaving?" Julian said as he stepped in to block Stefan from approaching Carole.
"No, wait…who did you say I could go to? Please, just tell me and I'll leave you alone."
"I SAID LEAVE!"
Stefan vamp-sped past Julian and knelt before Carole. He gently grabbed her hand that had just put down another puzzle piece and waited until she looked up. He then looked deep into her eyes.
"Who should I go to for help?"
"He's a man called Dia—"
Before Carole could finish, Stefan reeled back from the make-shift wooden stake that Julian grabbed from the hallway dresser and had lodged into his shoulder.
"Damn it!" Julian cursed as he approached Stefan, reaching to pull the stake out and hit Stefan's heart with his second attempt.
Stefan pulled the stake out of his shoulder. However, as he did so, he inadvertently cut Julian's wrist when he got too close while reaching for the stake. A spatter of Julian's blood landed on Stefan's mouth when Julian himself reeled back.
Stefan licked his lips. The blood was still warm—delectable— succulent. He hadn't tasted fresh human blood for several months. Even though he had grown accustomed to drinking human blood from a blood bag, for a vampire there truly was nothing as euphoric like drinking from a warm body. And for Stefan, there was nothing more seductive.
Julian's blood was dripping heavily from his wrist. Stefan gazed at the rich, dark crimson liquid pooling on the floor. The aroma was filling his nostrils. He closed his eyes, trying desperately to keep his composure. He could feel his fangs extending in his mouth, his eyes becoming blood shot. He was becoming thirsty…so very, very thirsty. He opened his eyes to see Carole attending to Julian's injury.
"Please—GET OUT OF HERE!" Stefan bellowed, deliberately slowing his approach to the couple, closing his eyes again as he finally forced himself to drop to one knee. Unfortunately, he dropped at the spot where Julian's blood had amalgamated on the floor. The scent was intoxicating. It was too much.
Julian and Carole moved as fast as they could out of the living room. In an instant, Stefan was in front of them. He grabbed Julian's arm and clamped his mouth over the wound, imbibing the luscious, warm fluid pouring out of Julian's wrist. Julian cried in agony as he tried to pull away, his wrist almost being broken in half by the power of Stefan's jaw strength. Carole screamed in alarm, hitting Stefan on the back with her fists. Finally, from the hallway she reached for an umbrella with a wooden tip. Stefan heard the danger behind him and let go of Julian's wrist. He shoved Julian hard against the wall, breaking his pelvis as he fell to the floor. Stefan stopped Carole's attack by blocking her arm and snapping it like a twig. She shrieked in pain while Stefan bit into her neck, biting so hard that he almost bit her head clean off. He would be successful in that task later in the evening.
Stefan snapped himself back from remembering. He looked over at the bodies of Julian and Carole that he so meticulously put back together and posed on the couch in front of him. He ran his fingers through his thick brown hair, which was normally coifed back but was now simply messy and tussled. He stood up and kicked the ottoman across the room. The ottoman ricocheted off the wall, causing photos that were hung to fall. He picked one photo up, what appeared to be a family group photo. He saw Julian and Carole with several other people—young adults and little children. Their children and grandchildren, Stefan figured.
He turned to look at the couple. He was blinking rapidly—his vision became blurry from the tears welling up in his eyes. His breathing became shallow and halting. He cleared his throat, trying to rid himself of the pressure building up in his chest. He tightly gripped the photo, cracking the glass and frame that housed it.
"I'm sorry for ruining your new life," Stefan softly said to Julian and Carole. "You deserved a better ending than this." He placed the photo on the living room table and opted to just leave rather than clean anything up.
Suddenly, Stefan heard a car coming up the driveway. He ran towards the window and could see the car parking. Out of the car came a man and a woman. Stefan recognized them from the photo—either a son or daughter with his or her spouse. Stefan observed as the husband opened the back seat doors to let out two children, a boy and a girl who couldn't have been more than 10 years old each. The kids started to run for the front door of the house. Stefan instinctively thought of vamp-running out the back door until he realized the mess that he was leaving in the living room. The kids started ringing the doorbell.
Stefan waited, listening to find out what the family would do. The kids were soon joined by their parents at the front door, and they rang the doorbell again and waited. They rang a third time.
"They're obviously here. Their car is in the driveway," Stefan could hear the husband say. "You know what? Why don't you two go and check the living room and kitchen windows? You know how grandma and grandpa sometimes can't hear the doorbell if they're listening to the radio or watching TV. If you see them, knock on the window and let them know we're here."
Stefan began envisioning the kids peering into the living room to see all the blood everywhere. He began to envision the husband and wife discovering the horribly mutilated bodies, the effect that such a discovery would have on them and their kids. He envisioned the grief, the shock, the pain, the psychological torment that this family would endure. No doubt other families of Stefan's past victims had faced the same thing. But Stefan had always left the scene long before his victims were discovered; out of sight, out of mind. But now, he was left with the concrete knowledge that someone would suffer anguish over what he had done.
His eyes were darting side to side and his hands were fidgeting. He started thinking about what he could do. Compulsion was the obvious solution. But what would he tell them? What could he tell them? How would he explain his own presence in that house? How would he explain his blood soaked appearance?
He vamp-sped his way to the front door before the kids could follow their dad's instructions.
With a deep breath, Stefan turned the handle and opened the door.
Good Jeremy Hunting
He had the vampire in his sights.
He fired his crossbow.
The shot wasn't even close.
The vampire vanished in an instant.
Jeremy reloaded his crossbow while looking around. He squinted to focus his brown eyes through the darkness.
Where's Matt?
He lost sight of Matt five minutes prior when Matt caught a glimpse of the vampire and recklessly went to go kill it. He never returned.
They'd been in the woods outside of Mystic Falls for a half an hour, and even though the moonlight was shining radiantly, Jeremy was still having trouble getting used to seeing at night. The abundance of trees and foliage didn't help either.
With his crossbow finally re-loaded, Jeremy continued forward.
He cross-over stepped slowly while scanning in all directions. He was trying to filter out his own footsteps so as to hear the noises in the forest. There was no animal life. No birds or crickets chirping, no little critters scurrying in the underbrush. A soft breeze blew across the woods, sifting through Jeremy's dark brown, floppy hair, carrying the sounds of rustling leaves and swaying branches.
Jeremy's heart was beating in his ear, thumping so deep and rapidly that it was becoming a distraction. He knew he had to get his anxiety under control. If he could hear his own heart that loudly, so could the vampire.
A twig snapped and Jeremy immediately turned around and pointed his crossbow at the direction of the sound. There was nothing there. His muscles were tense. His heart was beating faster than ever. His breathing became heavy yet rapid. He had a feeling that someone was nearby. For a moment, he laughed inside, thinking that this is what it must have felt like to be Spiderman with his Spidey-Senses.
Jeremy turned around again to look behind him and almost pulled the trigger. But again, there was nothing there. He kept looking everywhere but saw only trees and darkness. The hairs on his skin were electrified and standing up. His nerves were tingling. His instincts were screaming at him that he was being watched, that his life was in danger. But after scoping his surroundings a third time, Jeremy finally lowered his crossbow.
A series of leaves crackling and branches breaking could be heard from above him. He looked up to see a dark figure falling from the height of the one of the trees. It must have been about five stories high! The figure landed right in front of Jeremy.
Jeremy raised his crossbow to fire but it was too late. The vampire blocked and threw away the crossbow and shoved Jeremy to the ground. Jeremy reached for the stake in his coat pocket, got back up and lunged for the vampire.
Despite Jeremy's muscular frame, the vampire was much too strong and fast for him. In one swift motion, the vampire caught Jeremy's hand, disarmed him of the stake, and flung Jeremy against a tree that was roughly ten meters away.
Jeremy's back and head slammed against the trunk. But before he could even bounce off the tree to hit the ground, the vampire was there in front of him. He caught Jeremy and held him up against the tree with one hand. Being already taller than Jeremy, the vampire held up Jeremy until they were both at the same height, with Jeremy's feet dangling in the air. Jeremy could barely make out the bluish-grey iris' of his attacker's eyes being overwhelmed by the blood-shot effect of his vampire transformation. The vampire's lightly stubbled face inched closer to his, finally cranking Jeremy's head to the side with his other hand to expose Jeremy's neck. The vampire bared his fangs and went in for the kill.
Abruptly, the vampire stopped. He looked down towards his chest.
Jeremy stood wild eyed, shaking and a little woozy. He watched as the vampire slowly fell to the ground, grasping at the two arrow tips jutting through his torso.
Jeremy looked up to see a figure walking towards him. As the figure got closer, the silhouette blocked out the moonlight. His short, dirty blonde hair created an almost halo effect that Jeremy, in his dizzied state, was taken aback by. Finally, he recognized the strange outline as belonging to Matt, holding his crossbow, smiling at him. Matt moved closer to Jeremy, keeping his crossbow trained on the vampire.
"You okay, Jer?"
"Yeah…yeah, I'm fine. What happened? I thought I lost you back there when you split off from me."
"I was almost toast! Thankfully, I had a vervain grenade in my pocket. Threw it in his face as he approached me. Then I ran off and was trying to find you. Looks like I found you just in time when he got the jump on you, literally!"
Jeremy legs were shaky and he lost his balance. Matt leaned over to prop him up when the vampire suddenly started to stir on the ground.
"That was good, Matt. That was very good," said the vampire as he got up, standing head and shoulders above both Matt and Jeremy. "Not bad for someone without any supernatural Hunter powers." He pulled the two composite arrows out from his chest and threw them away. "But you Jeremy…what were you thinking? You knew I was around. I could tell. And yet you lowered your weapon? And where's your side arm?"
Jeremy turned his face away from Alaric's blue eyed, interrogative gaze.
"I forgot my side arm."
"You forgot your side arm," Alaric echoed, nodding disapprovingly.
"Give me a break, Ric! You came from the top of the trees. What is this, Twilight? What real vampire is going to do that?"
"Really, Jeremy?! Not to sound cliché but ever hear the expression 'expect the unexpected?' With everything that you've come across with vampires and werewolves and hybrids, you're seriously throwing that out as an excuse?"
"Look! You're practically an Original vampire. You're faster and stronger than any vampire out there, possibly even Klaus! Cut me a little slack."
"No, I won't cut you a little slack. Matt survived and he's in the same situation as you are. Actually, he's worse off than you because he's just a human. You? You're stronger and have better instincts. You've been supernaturally blessed with the tools needed to hunt vampires. And what if you do face an Original again? What then?"
"I did kill Kol!"
"With Elena's help! Don't think I haven't been watching, Jer. I know what's been going on."
Jeremy shook his head and started to walk away. Alaric grabbed his arm and pulled him close.
"HEY! You wanted this, remember? YOU came to ME! You wanted to train to prevent what happened before to you and Bonnie from happening again."
"Yeah, and do you remember who almost killed me for that second time? Oh, yeah! It was your good buddy, Damon, with his good buddy, Enzo! Do YOU remember that?"
"I haven't forgotten, Jer. And believe me, I'll have something to say to Damon when we find him."
"IF we find him. Elena and them haven't found anything yet that could possibly help us to find out where Bonnie went to, much less bring her and Damon back. And they never will. So it seems your little pep talk to Damon will never happen. Not that it would've happened anyways, right? You'd probably toast a drink to him while you both chug back a few and laugh the night away."
Jeremy wrestled his arm free from Alaric's grip. He looked at Matt and then back at Alaric. "I changed my mind. Forget this. I'm going home." He turned and walked away.
Alaric lowered his gaze to the ground. Matt put his hand on his shoulder.
"I'll talk to him, Ric."
As soon as Matt left, Alaric raised and shook his head.
"Twilight?!" he spurted out incredulously.
Alaric's hearing suddenly picked up something. He looked upwards towards the top of the trees. The sound was gone, but Alaric kept scanning. His hearing was so enhanced that he could hear an ant walking up a tree from five yards away if he wanted to. He definitely heard something that resembled the sound of human movement, but it was coming from the top of the trees, which meant that it was something supernatural. Whatever it was, it was gone, and Alaric's focus was broken when he heard Matt talking to Jeremy in the distance.
Jeremy was a few meters away when Matt hollered out to him.
"Hey, Jer! Wait up!"
"Leave me alone Matt."
Matt caught up to Jeremy and turned him around by his shoulder.
"Listen, dude. I get why you're upset. I miss her too. But until Caroline, Elena and Stefan find something to go on, we've got to keep our minds on something else. Like Ric said, with everything we've been through, we have to be prepared. You can't give this up. You've been blessed with a gift. Use it!"
"I didn't ask for this 'gift.' It doesn't matter anymore. Silas is dead. The Travelers are dead. There are no more supernatural creatures in Mystic Falls. So there's no need for a Brotherhood of the Five Hunter," Jeremy said, distancing himself away from Matt and shrugging his shoulders. "So I'm free! Besides, you seem to be better at the job than I am. Alaric thinks you're the greatest!"
"I'm better because I put in the effort. Damn it, Jer! Why does it have to be like pulling teeth to get you to do anything?"
Jeremy waved Matt off and continued on his way.
"Ya know…I never understood what Bonnie ever saw in you," Matt called out. "You quit school. You quit your job at The Grill. You quit being a Hunter. I've known Bonnie for most of my life and I know she's never been into quitters! Because sooner or later, she figured they'd probably quit on her too!"
Jeremy stopped. With wide, ocean blue eyes trying to absorb as much light as possible, Matt watched as Jeremy turned sideways with his fists clenched and his face downcast with a scowl that the darkness partially hid. While Matt did not possess the same supernatural strength of a Hunter that Jeremy did, nor was he as muscular, Matt's athletic physique and sporty quickness was sufficient to at least give Jeremy a run for his money in a one-on-one fight. Matt's anxiety softened as he saw Jeremy finally look up towards him, sneer, turn around and leave.
As he passed by a tall cedar tree, his Hunter senses went off again. He stopped and searched his surroundings. He could feel a pair of eyes on him.
"Piss off, Ric! I'm done with the training. Go and stalk someone else!" Jeremy huffed. He continued his march towards Mystic Falls.
A shrouded figure stood near the top of the cedar tree, maintaining a balance on the extremely flexible yet flimsy branches, even as the wind swayed the tree back and forth. The stranger observed Jeremy walking alone and thought about jumping down and killing him then and there. But the stranger was also aware of the close proximity of the vampire, Ric—an unexpected threat. The vampire Ric seemed far more dangerous than any other vampire the stranger had faced in the past. There could be no interference. The stranger observed Jeremy finally pass into the borders of Mystic Falls. It was too late. Vengeance would have to wait. Besides, the stranger wanted both Gilbert children together. They both had to suffer.
The stranger leapt off the cedar tree and disappeared into the dark of the night.
The Endless Reflections II
Damon awoke.
He was on laying a floor groggy, disoriented—and completely naked.
He looked around and noticed that the ceiling, the floor, all four walls—they were all mirrors. He stood up to see himself reflected in all directions, and his reflection reflected and so on and so on, for infinity. He could see himself very clearly, as the room seemed to be very well lit, but when he looked up, he couldn't see a light source. No lamp or bulb or anything.
Damon noted his naked condition.
"Ooookay! Not the first time I've woken up naked in a room filled with mirrors. Las Vegas, New Year's Day, 2000 baby! Hell of a way to start the new millennium with a bang. Several 'bangs' actually."
Damon walked over to one of the mirror walls, teetering slightly from the disorienting effect of the multiple reflections. He finally got to one wall and began posing in front of it, checking out his body's side profile.
"Should probably lay off the liquor a bit," he muttered to himself, running his hands over his stomach which was still sporting a six-pack though not as pronounced as it used to be. Regardless, Damon looked over the rest of his body, admiring his muscular, athletic form that he didn't have to work too hard at maintaining. His bluish-diamond coloured eyes scrutinized his white skin, feeling a sense of pride over how flawless it truly was. He ran his hand through his messy, jet black hair before turning around and looking at the rest of the room.
As he began to wander around the room, his memories of the final moments on the Other Side began coming back to him. He remembered holding hands with Bonnie while a bright light enveloped the both of them.
"UH…HEY, BON BON?" Damon hollered. "ARE YOU IN HERE? IF YOU ARE…UH…DO YOU HAVE A TOWEL OR TRENCHCOAT OR SOMETHING? NOT THAT I MIND THE PUBLIC DISPLAY BUT I DO LIKE BEING WINED AND DINED BEFORE SHOWING OFF THE MERCHANDISE!"
Damon noticed that his voice wasn't echoing off the walls at all. It was like the walls absorbed his voice rather than reflected it. Damon's brows furrowed as he tried to process this new and disturbing sensation.
"Hello, Damon."
Damon half jumped, startled by the voice of a woman standing behind him.
"Elena?"
"Tsk, tsk, Damon. After all these years you still can't tell the difference, can you?"
"Katherine!" Damon snarled.
She walked towards him, wearing a black blazer and short, black skirt, dressed the same as she was the last time Damon remembered seeing her when she possessed Elena's body. Though her hair was much more wavy and fuller than Elena's, a key difference between the two.
"Oh, don't pretend you're not happy to see me."
"I'm not pretending."
"Well, I'm certainly happy to see you. ALL of you!" Katherine said, running her hand down Damon's abdomen until she got to his groin.
"What are you doing here?" Damon asked, forcibly removing Katherine's hand from his body. "Is this your idea of a joke, with the mirrors and stuff? Where's Bonnie? Where are we?"
"Oh, poo!" Katherine pouted. "What happened to you? You used to be so much fun. Don't tell me you've stopped craving me. You've desired to be with me for over 150 years. That doesn't go away overnight."
"I'm over you Katherine. I've been over you for a long time now. So deal with it! Now, answer my question. What's going on?!"
"Ooooo, I've liked you more ever since you grew a backbone," Katherine said, replacing her hand on Damon's groin. "You're over me? Why? Because your precious Elena accepted you? It's funny how you've fallen for a woman, a vampire no less, that looks and acts exactly like me."
"Elena is NOTHING like you," Damon said, again trying to remove Katherine's hand.
"She's my doppelganger."
"She's AMARA'S doppelganger!"
"Please! A distinction without a difference. Besides, we're more alike than you realize. And if you don't believe me, ask her," Katherine motioned to Damon to look behind him.
Standing on the opposite side of the room was Elena, dressed in a black blazer, lace black top and black jeans, exactly how Damon remembered her when he last visited her in the Salvatore tomb before the Other Side collapsed.
"Elena!"
"Hi Damon," she replied, giggling.
Damon extricated himself from Katherine and went to hug his girlfriend.
"Elena! What's going on? Is this real?"
"Yes, Damon, it's real. Absolutely it's real!"
Elena kissed Damon passionately, aggressively. After a while he actually had to pull himself away because she was getting almost violent about it.
"What's going on? You're not dead. This can't be the Other Side."
"No Damon. It's not the Other Side. This place, it's a magical place—a place where dreams and fantasies and desires all come together."
"And what about her?" Damon asked, motioning to Katherine.
"It's okay, Damon. I know you still have feelings for her. Like she said, you don't get rid of that overnight. And she was right about something else."
Elena walked over to Katherine and reached her hand out to her while Katherine did the same. Once their hands touched, Elena pulled Katherine into her and began kissing her.
Damon stood motionless with his mouth gaping open and his eyes transfixed. He could see their tongues wrestling against the other, their hands groping and feeling the other's body. It was passionate, chaotic, seductive, and intense. They began tugging and ripping at each other's clothes. Damon didn't feel aroused. He felt almost disturbed. Not with the idea of two women making out, but these two women in particular. He knew neither Katherine nor Elena would ever act like this.
"Then you never really knew us, did you Damon?" Elena breathlessly asked, breaking away briefly to look at Damon, and then continuing her passionate kissing assault with Katherine.
"No…no…this…this isn't…this isn't real," Damon stammered, tripping backwards over his own feet, falling onto the floor.
Katherine and Elena stopped kissing and walked towards him. Damon reached his hand out defensively while crawling backwards, away from the approach of the doppelgängers.
"Shhh! Don't be afraid, Damon," Elena said, straddling herself over top of his groin. "This is what I want. This is what she wants. We want it because we know you want it. We're here to make you happy."
Elena began gently gyrating her hips back and forth while slowly removing her top. Meanwhile, Katherine revealed her fangs and bit into Damon's wrist, sucking his blood. She stopped and with her mouth covered in Damon's blood, went to passionately kiss Elena. Elena's own fangs appeared and she began to slowly lick the outside of Katherine's mouth and lips, lapping up every bit of Damon's blood that was there.
Damon started to become aroused. He knew it was wrong. He knew that this shouldn't be. It was a fantasy that he had never had about either of them, but it was a fantasy that he welcomed. Damon rested his head back and stared up at the ceiling. It was then that he finally noticed something strange—he was the only one being reflected in the mirrors. Neither Katherine nor Elena was showing up in any of the reflections.
But before he could react to his discovery, Elena's face suddenly blocked his view.
"Stop fighting this Damon. Just say 'yes.' That's all you have to do," Elena said, kissing him. Damon could taste his own blood still mingled with Elena's and Katherine's saliva. She stopped kissing him and looked at him, stroking the side of his face. "This place is magical. We will make things better for you. But we need your consent. Just accept us. Just say 'yes!'"
Damon looked over at Katherine, who began taking her clothes off too. He looked back at Elena, who was smiling that smile that always reassured him that everything was okay.
"Yes," Damon said. "Why the hell not? This must be heaven. Yes!"
He moved his head forward to kiss Elena again but she moved her head back. She started giggling. The giggling turned into laughter. The laughter turned into maniacal glee. Soon Katherine started laughing the same way too. They were soon both doubled on the floor, laughing uncontrollably.
"What—what's funny? What's going on?" Damon asked quizzically.
"I told you he would be an easy one."
Damon looked over to his right to see a familiar person standing on the other side of the room—naked.
"Stefan? What…what's going on?"
It wasn't the shock of seeing his little brother in that room. It wasn't the nudity that stunned Damon. It was the eyes. Stefan's eyes reminded him of those of a dragon that he once saw in a kid's picture book. A black, narrow slit, with a feint halo of red, with the rest of his eyes an iridescent, hypnotic gold. The outside of his eyes were dark and veiny, vampire-like but much darker.
"You always were the weak one—always giving into temptation so willingly. It's why we adore you so. It's why you will make the perfect delegate."
Damon noticed that Katherine and Elena had stopped laughing. He looked over to them to see the both of them horribly disfigured. Their skin had become cracked and ashen grey, their eyes exactly like Stefan's. Their mouths twisted into a demented smile.
"Alright! If it's a fight you want, I'll give it to you," Damon sneered, attempting to get up off the floor.
"There's no need to fight, brother. We've already won."
At that moment, Damon felt himself being lifted off the floor by some invisible force. He was powerless to move as he was turned over in mid-air and then smashed face down onto the floor. As soon as he landed, multiple hands morphed up from the mirror surface, grabbing at Damon and holding him down.
"Of course, to join a delegation, you must become a member. And to become a member requires initiation rites," Stefan said, walking over to Damon. "Don't fight. It's so much easier when you don't fight."
Damon struggled to get up off but it was futile. The power of the multiple hands was too much. He suddenly felt Stefan lying on top of him.
"No! NO! GET OFF OF ME! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! LET ME GO! I DON'T WANT THIS!"
"You humans. You witches. You werewolves. You vampires. All of you—our children—flirting with us as though you can walk away and not enter into our orbit! You flirted with us, remember Damon? In New Orleans, 1942, when you touched us. Such a tease! You did well. Sacrificing twelve humans for the Triangle…all to break your little sire bond. It wasn't much. Just enough to graze us—to allow us to mark you for future use. Like Bonnie, you bypassed so much! With you, we just needed an agreement. Consent! Your blessing! AHA HA HA HA HA! Congratulations. Because here we are, ready to seal the deal!"
Stefan clawed at Damon's back and then licked at each claw mark that he made while Damon clenched his teeth, his eyes blazing as he continued to spit out his objections. Damon could hear Elena and Katherine begin to laugh again. But soon their voices changed. They became genderless—neither male nor female.
"GET THE HELL OFF OF ME! I SAID NO!"
"Your lips say no, Damon," Stefan whispered into his ear. Then in a voice that matched the laughter coming from the doppelgangers, Stefan shrieked: "BUT YOU'VE ALREADY SAID YES!"
Stefan pulled on Damon's hair, licked the side of his neck and then dug his fangs into his flesh. He bit him multiple times as he grinded his body against Damon's.
He stopped and with a blood soaked mouth breathlessly whispered again into Damon's ear. "We will revive your taste for death. We will banish this disgusting goodness you have cultivated! We will drive—DRIVE—it all out. Better…we will make you better! We will enhance. We will augment. We will be with you forever—forever—we will be with you forever! We welcome you, Damon…into the Sovereignty. And you will welcome the Sovereignty…into YOU!"
The room went black.
Triumphant, delirious merriment soon drowned out Damon's cries of protest.