An Offer He Can't Refuse

"Maybe we should get out of here, yeah?" Colin said, nervously looking around the darkened living room that was barely lit up from the burning wood in the steel drum that he and his date, Sara, had managed to drag into the room. They had ripped apart some of the paintings and furniture that had remained there to use as fuel for the fire.

"What the hell, dude? Scared?" Sara mockingly asked as she bent down close to the fire to light up a doobie, careful not to singe her hair that was sticking out from under her beanie.

"No, I'm not scared. It's…it's just—"

"It's just what?"

"Well, with all the news reports of people being killed in town lately, should we really be here?"

Sara stood up straight, inhaled deeply on the joint and let out a long stream of smoke towards Colin. "Well, we're not in town now, are we?"

"No. But you do know where we are, right?"

Sara looked around the room nonchalantly and then shrugged. "We're in a house! Well, a mansion by the looks of it."

Colin shook his head and sighed. "Not just any house. You've never heard of the Mikaelson Family?"

"The who?"

Colin pinched the bridge of his nose. "The Mikaelsons!"

"Dude, I just moved here like a couple of months ago. I don't know what the hell you're talking about. Who are the Michaelings?"

"The Mikaelsons! They're a family of—"

Colin looked away, unsure of whether or not he should bother continuing telling his date of the supernatural history of Mystic Falls.

Sara stood cross-armed, continuing to puff on her joint, staring at Colin with a hazy look already forming on her face. "I'm waiting!"

Colin took a deep breath. "They're a family of vampires. It's said that they used to live in this very house. My parents had even attended a ball they had here once, although they don't seem to remember much of it for some reason."

Sara started laughing. "Are you serious? I don't know if it's the Mary Jane or your stupid imagination, but that's the funniest thing I've heard yet! A vampire family? This is what I get for trying online dating in some backwater town!"

The freckles on Colin's face became more pronounced in the light of the fire as he looked down while shuffling his feet. His head snapped up as he heard a loud noise coming from another room of the mansion.

"What was that?!" asked Colin, startled.

Sara looked around lazily, exhaling a hazy puff of smoke. She looked at Colin with embellished eyes.

"Maybe it was a vampire!" she replied, smiling in sarcastic exaggeration.

"Well, to be fair, luv," Enzo said, appearing right behind her, "it was the werewolf who made that particular noise!"

Sara jumped as she turned around to face Enzo. He plucked the joint from Sara's mouth with one hand while grabbing her head with another. With his fangs already out, he viciously torqued her head to the side and buried his fangs into her neck, blood bursting like a dam into his open mouth.

Sara screamed while gripping Enzo's body, trying to push him away. Meanwhile, Colin momentarily stood paralyzed while staring in shock at Enzo sucking the blood from Sara's neck. He flinched forward, intending to help her, but ultimately decided to turn and run away. He ran a few meters in the dark before running into a hulking mass of black fur that seemed to appear from the darkness surrounding the room. He looked up to see a werewolf towering over him, its demonic eyes gleaming with gold and red and a black slit in the center, its mouth brandishing sharp canine teeth that were dripping with drool.

With a growl and a hungry resolve, the werewolf swiped at Colin's midsection with such quickness that Colin barely reacted. It took a few seconds for the pain to register in Colin's mind, and it was only the sudden feeling of warm liquid pooling around his waist that caused him to look down to see blood oozing out from four large scratch marks that appeared across the front of his body.

Mercifully, the full pain of the attack didn't last long. Like a basketball player with a ball in his hand, the werewolf grasped Colin's head with its massive claw and ripped it clean off his body. As the body fell forward, blood spurting out from the neck, the werewolf threw the head away and got on all fours. It sniffed the blood that was pooling from Colin's headless corpse before starting to lap it up. Eventually, the werewolf ripped the clothes off and began feasting on the rest of the body.

Death soon clouded over the eyes of Sara as her body went limp. Enzo pulled his blood drenched mouth away from her neck, grabbed the beanie off her head before letting her body crash to the floor. He wiped his mouth with the beanie and then threw it into the fiery drum before taking a puff of her joint.

"Last dance with Mary Jane," Enzo quoted as he let out a stream of smoke. "One more time to kill the pain."

Tyler shrieked as a searing pain in his thigh brought him back to consciousness. He thrashed around on the floor, tossing and pushing away the debris and rubbish that surrounded him. Finally sitting upright, panting and heaving, he clutched his left thigh which sported a fresh burn mark, the cloth of his jeans sticking to the bloody and burnt flesh that was still sizzling from the heated metal poker that Enzo had just jabbed him with.

"Good morning, sunshine! Welcome back to the land of the sentient," Enzo said smiling while throwing away the metal rod. "So sorry for the cattle branding there, mate. But we don't have time to let you sleep the night away."

Tyler's breathing started to slow as he leered up at Enzo. He looked around the room and immediately recognized where he was.

"This…this is the Mikaelson mansion," Tyler said.

"Very good, Tyler. Oh, I'm sure you're quite familiar with this place, aren't you?" Enzo responded. "With the Traveler spell dropped and by-invitation-only rules now fully restored in all the flats of Mystic Falls, I figured we needed somewhere more private and less occupied where we could chat. I didn't think you'd invite me in into your humble abode. And since it is the Mikaelsons that we're going to be discussing, I figured—why not here where anyone and everyone are welcome?"

Enzo motioned to the mutilated bodies of Sara and Colin. Tyler recoiled and dragged himself back and away from them until he was up against a wall. He looked at the bodies and then at Enzo, who winked at him. Tyler grimaced as he struggled to stand up, gasping and grunting as the pain in his leg made the task all the more difficult. He finally managed to stand though he leaned against the wall for support. He looked around the abandoned room of the mansion, memories of his time as Klaus' sired hybrid flashing in his mind.

His stroll down memory lane was interrupted by the growling coming from the hulking werewolf that was crouched on the floor some distance behind Enzo. Tyler immediately tensed up and pressed himself against the wall, ready to bounce off of it if the werewolf decided to attack.

"Oh, don't mind him," Enzo said. "He won't hurt you…again. After all, from what I hear, you're family."

"What?" Tyler replied, confused.

Enzo smiled as he turned to look at the werewolf. "Do you mind?"

The werewolf began to shrink into himself, like a spider coiling up. The familiar sounds of cracking bones and shrinking muscles accompanied the slow disappearance of the black fur receding into the man's skin. He shrunk from the mammoth creature he once was into the size of an average man. When the transformation was complete, he stood up naked, breathless and sweating, grinning at Tyler. His mouth and chin were still caked with dry blood, making his smiling face all the more unnerving.

"Uncle Mason?!" Tyler gasped, staring incredulously at his father's brother, who was slowly approaching him. He was both surprised and confused by Mason's appearance, as he didn't look right. Even with the poor lighting, Tyler could see that Mason's skin was not its usual Caucasian flesh colour. It looked more like cigarette ash, all grey and cracked. And there was a sudden odour that wafted into Tyler's nostrils that he had never smelled before and couldn't identify.

"Well, not quite," Enzo replied. He casually lifted his hand, commanding Mason to stop his approach. "You see, your beloved uncle Mason is indeed in there, but he's not alone."

"Wh—what? What the hell does that mean?" asked Tyler, still reeling.

"Here's the thing. I'm not here to bombard you with codswallop. There's a war a-brewin'. And you need to pick a side."

"What war? What are you talking about?"

"You're obviously aware of the Other Side going down, yes? Well, that has allowed an opening into another—shall we say—world. A world where some rather restless spirits have been waiting to return."

Tyler tried moving himself away from the wall but the burn on his leg began throbbing as the fabric of his jeans scraped against it. He dropped to one knee, clutching at his thigh.

"Hey!" Enzo bellowed, clapping his hands as a teacher would while attempting to get the attention of an unruly class of children. "Let's focus here! We don't have time to be lollygagging around!"

"What the hell are you talking about? What other world?"

"A prison. Tartarus. The Abyss. It has several names in several languages. But now it's a place where all the inhabitants of the Other Side are calling 'home.'"

Tyler looked down at the floor, trying to put all the pieces together in his head with what Enzo had just told him. "Wait…so Damon and Bonnie…and my uncle Mason…they—"

"Alive and kicking! But as I said, they are not alone."

"What does that mean?"

Enzo glanced at Mason and smiled at him, with Mason likewise doing the same. "As I mentioned, there were some rather agitated prisoners occupying that world, itching to come back to this one. And some did, hitching a ride with the souls of Damon and Bonnie, and your uncle Mason here."

"What spirits? What are they?"

"Well, see now that would take some time to explain. In a nutshell, they belong to a group of…how shall I put this?" Enzo rhetorically asked himself. "Let's call them—personalities—that have existed longer than your puny mental faculties could ever hope to comprehend. They are called the Kingdom."

Tyler furrowed his brows, looking away, trying to process the information.

"Are you still with me, Tyler?" asked Enzo.

"So what's that got to with Bonnie and Damon and my uncle?" Tyler asked, looking back at Enzo. "And what's this war you're talking about?"

Enzo smirked and started pacing back and forth. "Some time ago, the Kingdom lost some members in the Abyss. While in that prison, they created their own community—their own 'kingdom.' They dubbed themselves the Sovereignty. Rather ostentatious name, don't you think? Now that they've returned, they don't seem to want to rejoin the Kingdom. Rather, they seek to usurp it. I'm here to stop that. And you're going to help me."

"What?!" exclaimed Mason suddenly. He turned his body towards Enzo with clenched fists, his face a horrible combination of anger and disgust. His blue eyes transformed to the eerie gold and red combination that Tyler had seen before. "Traitor! You said you were here to help us!"

Enzo slowly turned to face Tyler's uncle. As opposed to Mason's expression, Enzo's face was blank, though Tyler could see that he was clearly annoyed. Tyler flinched suddenly as he saw Enzo, in a literal blink of his eye, turn his own eyes like Mason's, glowing with gold and red with a black slit in the center.

Enzo stood about an arm's length away from Mason. His eyebrows began to furrow and a snarl appeared on his lips as he continued to stare intensely. Tyler flinched again as Enzo opened his mouth, letting out a deafening roar that caused Tyler to wince and turn away. He eventually had to put his hands up to his ears to dampen the volume. It was a roar that sounded unlike any animal Tyler had ever heard before, though the closest thing he could match it to was a pack of lions roaring in unison, with the sound of thunder being provided as a backdrop. The deep and intense rumbling rattled Tyler to his core.

He looked up to see that it also had an effect on his uncle as well, as Mason was submissively looking down and away, his eyes closed and his body relaxed. Enzo stopped roaring, and with another blink his eyes returned to their normal brown colour. He looked away from Mason in abhorrence and turned his attention back to Tyler.

"You—you're one of them? The Kingdom?" Tyler asked.

Enzo knelt down in front of Tyler, his expression soft and contemplative. "After Damon left me to burn and I was once again the unwilling guinea pig of the atrocious Augustine Society, I became desperate. I couldn't handle their torturous experiments anymore, or the thought of spending an eternity in their hands. I eventually cried out to—"

Enzo looked up, and for the briefest of moments, his face contorted to a look of absolute hatred and wrath. It looked similar to the face Mason had flashed just moments before.

"—to the High Enemy, as the Kingdom calls Him. Heaven didn't answer. But the Kingdom did. They offered their help and I accepted. They got me through those years of torture. Slowly, over time, I accepted their full support. We became one. We got—married—as it were!"

He snickered as he looked down. The analogy seemed to greatly amuse him.

"So…you're possessed? By these Kingdom spirits?" asked Tyler, scrutinizing his face, trying to understand the nature of what Enzo had become.

"Oh, 'possession' is such a dirty description," Enzo replied casually while standing up. "I prefer the term 'symbiotic co-habitation!' But no matter how you slice it, the end result is the same. They help me, and I help them. And they make me better for it! And that's what the Kingdom seeks to do with you…if you're willing."

Tyler clenched his teeth as he stood up as well, but as he struggled, a strange feeling came over him. He found that his leg wasn't hurting as much as before. The pain appeared to be slowly subsiding. He felt different, yet it was a sensation that felt somehow familiar as well, though he didn't immediately recognize it. Tyler shook off the symptoms and focused on Enzo, looking at him with suspicion. "So what does that mean? I would have to accept possession too? Believe or not, I've been possessed before. By Klaus Mikaelson, no less. It's not something I want to go through again!"

"Nor will you," Enzo replied. "It's not the same as being possessed by some vampire or a witch. As I said, it's symbiotic."

Tyler raised an eyebrow when he looked over at Mason. "My uncle doesn't look like he's enjoying symbiosis to me!"

Enzo shook his head in disappointment. "You're focusing on the wrong thing there, Tyler. Look at what he can do now! He can control his transformation. The full moon has no power over him. His size, his speed, his strength, his senses…all have been augmented."

"And why would I want that?" Tyler asked.

"Are you asking me, or yourself?" Enzo asked in return. "After all, he has the power to take out an Original vampire now—even an Original hybrid!"

A spark passed through Tyler's eyes. His hands began to twitch, his eyes widened, with his lip involuntarily curling ever so slightly. Enzo analysed his face and chuckled.

"Ahhh! There it is! That's what I was testing to see. All those 'cheap horror tricks,' as you called them, back at your house? I wanted to see what was left in you, to see if you still had some fight left, some kind of fire! Or did Klaus beat it out of you and leave you permanently defeated when you fled New Orleans with your tail between your legs?"

Tyler scowled as he shoved Enzo away, who laughed while putting his hands up in a defensive position.

"Whoa! Easy there, mate. I'm not the enemy here. I want to help you take on the one who is!"

Tyler ran his hands through his hair. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. He remained still for a moment, trying to quell the war between his lust for revenge and his knowledge that it was a bad deal that Enzo was offering him. He snapped his eyes open and looked at him. "And why would you want to attack Klaus? This…Kingdom…that you talk about? They don't exactly seem like a bunch of choir boys. I would have thought someone like Klaus would be a fan favourite."

"Oh, he was," Enzo replied as he began pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back like a general lecturing the troops. "But like me, he too was helped by the Kingdom during his days suffering under the Hunter's Curse. But no settlement or marriage was required since he had done the Kingdom proud throughout the centuries all on his own. But now, he's gone soft because of that bastard child of his. That child, along with Klaus and the other Mikaelsons—they all could be major players in this contest between the Kingdom and this wretched Sovereignty."

"But why me? You can send my uncle Mason, or get another werewolf. Why me?"

Enzo grinned. "A job is done much more successfully when the worker enjoys what he does. Though you're not the sharpest tool in the shed, Tyler, you're indeed determined. Your hatred of Klaus will ensure that the job gets done, that you'll do what is required to subdue him or even kill him, if necessary. The sheer strength of will on your part to break the sire bond to him, and then to lead others to do the same…the Kingdom could use that kind of talent!"

Tyler turned away in resignation. He kept looking for a reason to decline because Enzo was offering everything that he could ever want, and yet something was telling him that there was a catch. There always is. He looked at his uncle and shook his head.

"No…no, I won't be a slave again, whether it's through a sire bond or through possession. I've been down both roads before and they both led to a bad end for me. The benefits aren't worth it."

Enzo closed his eyes and sighed. "You won't be a slave, Tyler. The relationship is symbiotic. It's cooperative. Your uncle? He's weak and therefore the spirits that reside within him have more control. But you and I? Do I look like a bloody puppet to you?! My will is too strong for that, as is yours. When you accept co-habitation with the Kingdom, you're not possessed. You're enhanced!"

"Let's say I believe you," replied Tyler, exasperated. "But I'm not a werewolf anymore. I'm still human. Do you really expect me to go out and randomly kill someone just to turn on my werewolf gene?"

Enzo chuckled and slowly walked up to Tyler. He leaned in to whisper into his ear. "How's the burn on your leg feeling?"

Tyler put his hand on his thigh to feel the wound, shocked to discover that it was gone as was the pain. He bent over to get a better look at his thigh and discovered his skin was completely healed. Other than the hole in his pants, no one could tell that he had been burnt just minutes beforehand.

"What?! How the hell—"

"Looks like you managed to activate your werewolf gene all on your own," replied Enzo, walking away from Tyler. "Tragic, really. That young man you attacked had such a future in football. What's even more tragic is that the hospital staff, as well as his family, was compelled to believe he didn't exist. That kind of neglect will lead to anyone's death, especially someone who needs care after serious head trauma."

Tyler leered at Enzo with wide eyes and an open mouth. "You killed Malcolm?"

"No, you did. I just made sure that it stuck."

Tyler looked at his hands. He rubbed his fingers together, clenched his fists and flexed his arm muscles, feeling the newfound energy within his body, along with the lack of exhaustion and pain that he had felt just moments before. He breathed in deeply, feeling revitalized and fresh, like he had just woken up from a good night's rest, ready to take on the world with focus and vigour.

*crack-crackle-crack*

Tyler looked at Enzo, who was cracking his knuckles.

"Get used to that sound again," Enzo said snidely. "You're going to be hearing that every month now too!"

"I've endured the pain before. I know what it's like."

"I'm sure you do," Enzo replied. "But why suffer needlessly? I know what it is to endure pain as well. The Kingdom endures it for you, so you don't have to. It's a win-win, Tyler. You get the power and the chance for revenge, they get a home. Tell me, where's the downside?"

Tyler looked at his hands again. He could abstractly feel the painful memory of his bones breaking, tendons and ligaments being stretched, and his muscles being ripped as part of the werewolf transformation.

He looked up and around the room. He thought of Klaus. He thought of Caroline. He thought of his mother. He looked over at his uncle. He thought of his pack that was slaughtered. He thought of Matt and Jeremy. He thought of Elena and Stefan. He thought of Damon and Bonnie. He thought of Malcolm. He thought of Sheriff Liz. He looked at his hands again and clenched them while closing his eyes.

"So what do you say, Tyler?" asked Enzo, extending his hand out to him. "Are you in?"

Tyler opened his eyes and stared at Enzo's hand.

He had made his decision.

Mystic Falls' Lot

"How's that feeling?" asked Istas as she tightened the makeshift sling around Liz's neck.

"It's—*ugh*—it's okay. I can actually start to feel something in my fingertips."

Istas continued to adjust the sling on Liz as she sat against the back wheel of the chicken bus. Alaric turned the corner from the back of the bus and knelt down beside the Sheriff.

"How are you feeling, Liz?"

"Still sore. Caroline's blood helped but it's taking its sweet time to alleviate the pain."

"It's going to take a while for you to get full function of your arm and hand," Istas said as she made some final adjustments. "But you'll be alright soon, ma'am."

Liz softly chuckled. "Look, I may be a bit older these days but I'm not quite ready for the 'ma'am' club just yet! You can call me Liz."

Istas let out a soft chuckle of her own. Alaric involuntarily smiled upon seeing Istas' stone face suddenly become soft. Istas looked at Alaric smiling at her and immediately checked herself, returning her visage to the stoic and disciplined mask that she was used to wearing.

"Try not to move your arm too much. It'll take time for the bones and ligaments to reattach and regenerate, so the less you move it around, the better," Istas instructed.

"You seem to have some experience with this," Alaric commented.

"I've endured similar injuries over the years," replied Istas. She glanced at Alaric and quickly returned her gaze to Liz's arm. She did a final adjustment before helping Liz to stand up.

The bus doors opened and Caroline appeared, turning her head towards them. She got off the bus and approached the trio.

"You okay, mom?"

"Yeah, I will be soon. How are Andrea and Tom doing?"

"They'll be alright. A little vampire blood helped heal their injuries. I've compelled them to take a bit of a nap until we decide what we're going to do. Are you sure you're okay?"

Liz looked over the job that Istas had just finished. "I will be, according to the good doctor here," she replied, nodding towards Istas.

Istas flashed a soft grin and nodded in return before turning away and leaving the group. Caroline watched as she walked away and hesitated for a moment before running up behind her.

"Hey," Caroline said lightly.

Istas turned around, a look of annoyance or exhaustion—Caroline couldn't tell—greeted her.

"I just…I just wanted to thank you for helping my mom. You have no idea how much I appreciate that," Caroline said, giving Istas a gentle smile.

The cold demeanor faded from Istas face as she looked behind Caroline to Liz. "Don't mention it. Your mom is a remarkable woman. She's very strong. She reminds me of someone I once—"

Istas looked down and cleared her throat. She closed her eyes as she attempted to inhibit a balloon of anguish that seemed to be expanding from her heart, threatening to break her down into a display of grief that she didn't want to show anyone, especially Caroline.

Without looking up again, Istas turned and walked away. She passed by Elena, who was attending to Matt. Elena watched as Istas walked by, mildly curious as to what Caroline had said since she wasn't paying attention to them. She returned her attention to Matt.

"Feeling better now?" Elena asked him, looking at his arm.

"My arm is better. Can't say the same for what I'm feeling inside," Matt replied, a look of depression covering his face as he stared away into the distance.

"I can't believe Vicki did this. Are you sure it was her?" Elena asked in disbelief.

"I don't know, Elena," Matt replied, shaking his head in exasperation. "If it is her, then something obviously happened to her. When she got sucked into that…void…or whatever it was when she was on the Other Side must have taken her somewhere. Maybe the same place where Damon and Bonnie went to. Who knows where she went and who or what got to her?"

Elena glared over at Alaric who had moved over to talk to Jeremy who was being attended to by Abby. "Maybe we know someone who does."

"How's the leg feeling?" Alaric asked Jeremy.

"It's better now, thanks. Abby's blood helped a lot," Jeremy replied somewhat curtly.

Alaric nodded and felt like saying something more, but for some unknown reason felt at a loss for words. Both stood looking at each other, caught in the midst of an awkward pause. Jeremy finally piped up as he gave Alaric an impatient look.

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Aren't you going to give me a lecture or something? About how I screwed up? How we shouldn't have gone after Damon and those other vampires?"

Alaric heaved out a heavy sigh. "Jer, I'm not here to lecture you. Believe it or not, I'm actually kind of proud of you. If you and Matt hadn't done what you did, Liz wouldn't be here right now. You saved her as well as her deputies. And you held your own against a very powerful opponent. How could I be mad about that?"

He gave a smile of approval as he put his hand on Jeremy's shoulder, further expressing his praise. Jeremy smiled and breathed in deeply, a sense of giddiness and pride slowly creeping outwards from his chest as he revelled in seeing Alaric, or anyone, expressing such satisfaction in him.

Alaric turned around and looked at the bus. "Though I think you could have chosen a better mode of transportation. Where did you two get this thing?"

Jeremy chuckled as he stared at the bus. "You don't want to know. It was the best we could find on such short notice. We were hoping to get as many people out of Mystic Falls in one go. We saw what Damon and the others were doing, killing people without care, leaving dead bodies on the streets like trash. I've never seen anything like it. I figured the people in Mystic Falls were in real danger."

"They are," Alaric agreed ominously. "With the Traveler spell down, Damon and them are free to roam in the daytime and at night. Their compulsion powers are at full force. The only thing stopping them from wandering out of Mystic Falls is Luke's boundary spell. But they have a whole town to feed on. Plus, I'm concerned about Vicki Donovan showing up all of a sudden. That's something I wasn't expecting."

"You seem to be expecting quite a bit, Ric," Elena said as she approached the trio, followed by Matt. "You know something about what's going on and I think it's time that you told us."

Caroline and Liz soon joined the crowd as they all gathered in a circle, looking at Alaric for answers. He took a deep breath and looked down for a moment to collect his thoughts. He finally lifted his head and looked at them all.

"What I'm about to say, I'm not 100% sure about, but I think what we're dealing with is a bizarre case of demonic possession."

Everyone looked at each with confusion and uneasiness.

Caroline shook her head in disbelief. "Demonic possession? What…like Linda Blair and green pea soup possession? You can't be serious, Ric."

"When my wife, Isobel, became a vampire, I spent a ton of time going over her notes and research on the supernatural and the paranormal, trying to find out what had happened to her. Some of that research included demonology and I became familiar with the signs and symptoms of possession. What Damon, Bonnie and Vicki have been exhibiting, it points to them being possessed by demonic spirits."

"What symptoms? How do you know it's not some coven of witches or vampires that possessed them?" Matt asked.

"You've been possessed by a Traveler witch. I've been possessed by Klaus and Elena's been possessed by Katherine, both vampires. At no time did we ever exhibit what Damon and Bonnie are exhibiting. The weird eyes…the strange smell…the way their skin looks…the enhanced strength and powers. I held a crucifix to Damon when I fought him in the Salvatore mansion and he recoiled from it."

"But possession is possession, isn't it? Why are they showing these symptoms?" Jeremy asked.

"Witches, vampires and werewolves, they all have a human soul. Demons are not and have never been human. It's like if a gorilla were to move into your house versus just an ordinary human being. In time, the house is going to look a lot different under the care of the gorilla than it would under a human! It's the same with a demon versus someone who has a human soul inhabiting a human body."

"But that other woman who is with them, the one who said she knew Liv Parker. She doesn't look like the rest of them." Matt pointed out.

"She could be perfectly possessed," replied Alaric, pensively. "That's when a human has accepted full possession from a demonic spirit. Their spirits become one. After that, they look and act normal. No one knows that they're possessed unless the possessing demon wants to reveal itself. She could be one of those."

Elena interjected. "You say you're not 100% sure though. Why?"

"While they seem to be exhibiting some of the symptoms, it's not the same as what I've read. Usually it takes months, perhaps even years, to get to where Damon and Bonnie are. Furthermore, demonic possession happens to people in this world, and has happened for hundreds of years if you believe the accounts. I can't figure out where or how Damon and Bonnie became possessed so quickly outside of our world, and why it's affecting only those who were on the Other Side."

"Look, this is all very interesting," Liz said as she walked into the center of the circle and looked at Alaric. "But that doesn't change what is happening in Mystic Falls. Whatever has happened to Damon, Bonnie and Vicki, it's made them more dangerous than ever before and they threaten the whole town if we don't do something right now to stop them."

"So what's the plan? Do we start evacuating the town?" Jeremy asked.

"Not without some preparations. Damon's powers have been enhanced to where even I can't beat him. With that other vampire and with Bonnie's magical powers being enhanced too, and given that they have Vicki and who knows who else may have joined them…we could be at a serious disadvantage," Alaric replied.

"We don't have time for preparations, Ric," argued Liz. "I saw what they were trying to do back at the station. They're not just feeding. They're also trying to turn people into vampires. This whole town could become Salem's Lot by the time the morning comes!"

Alaric looked at the bus and shook his head. "Even if we were to take this bus to evacuate the town, it could take hours! Half the town could be turned or dead by that time. We need to slow them down somehow."

"Wait a minute!" Caroline exclaimed. "If the Traveler spell is gone, then everything is back to normal. That means that vampires can't enter homes without being invited in, right? If people were to stay inside, that might protect them."

"How do we get a whole town to stay in their homes?" Jeremy asked.

"I have a solution. Caroline, hand me your phone," Liz said.

Caroline gave her mom her phone. Liz pressed some buttons and began typing a message. She hit the 'send' button and returned the phone back to Caroline.

"I've just sent out a town-wide alert for the people to remain in their homes until further notice. After that business with the Travelers, I created an alert system to reach everyone's cell phone and e-mail addresses in case I ever needed to evacuate the town again."

"Smart! That should protect most of the townsfolk," Alaric said, nodding.

"But will people follow that?" Jeremy asked.

"There's no way to know, but it's the best we can do right now," Liz replied.

"That slows Damon and them down, but the people are still susceptible to compulsion. How do we protect them from that?" asked Abby.

Liz looked at Abby and smiled as an inspiration came to her. "Rudy!"

"What about him?" Abby asked, wondering why Liz was bringing up her ex-husband.

"When he was mayor of Mystic Falls, he tainted the drinking water with vervain to ensure that people couldn't be compelled or bitten. We might be able to do the same."

"Can you get enough vervain to do the job?" Alaric asked.

"He kept an ample supply of vervain near the town's water supply. I never removed it because I figured we might need it someday. Looks like that day has come!"

"Great! Caroline, can you and your mom take care of that? Meet us back here when you're done," Alaric instructed.

"You bet! Okay, mom. We don't have a car so we're going to have to go on foot. Just tell me where to go and hold on tight when I start moving," Caroline warned her mom.

Liz looked at her nervously and shook her head as she and Caroline departed from the group.

"What about the rest of us?" Elena asked.

"There is still one factor that's bothering me, and that's Bonnie. She's not a vampire and her magical abilities could easily nullify all of our efforts, including a way to bring down Luke's boundary spell. We have to contain her somehow," Alaric said.

"Contain her? You mean 'save' her," Abby retorted.

"And not just her, but Damon too!" Elena added. "And don't forget that they have Stefan. We have to save him too."

"And Vicki! I'm not leaving her to being possessed by a demon!" Matt further argued.

Alaric ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. He paced back and forth as he closed his eyes while his hands moved from the back of his head to cover his mouth. He stopped pacing and looked at the group with sorrowful eyes.

"Look, I'm not going to lie to you. Exorcising someone of demonic possession doesn't happen with a wave of a hand and a prayer. The fact that Damon and Bonnie and Vicki are exhibiting symptoms at all is a positive sign, since it means that possession is not complete and that they're fighting somehow. But that doesn't mean that we can—"

"Just stop right there!" Elena interrupted. "Not saving them is NOT an option! So whatever plan you have in your head, Ric, it will NOT include leaving them to live or die under possession. We're going to save them, end of discussion!"

Alaric breathed in deeply as he looked skyward and closed his eyes. He then looked at Elena and nodded in resignation. "Alright. But let's be clear on this—we might not be able to save them all at the same time. First thing's first and that's keeping them contained and keeping them from massacring Mystic Falls. That's easier to do with the vampires than it is with a witch, so I think that our first priority is to somehow separate Bonnie from the group. If we can do that, it means we won't have someone with magical abilities fighting against us."

"But what about Damon and—"

"THAT is the plan, Elena! First Bonnie, and then we figure out a way to subdue the rest and once we've stopped them from being a threat, we find a way to exorcise whatever is inside of them!"

Elena crossed her arms and rolled her eyes before looking off to the side like a child who was told she couldn't have dessert because she didn't eat her dinner.

"So how do we do this?" Abby asked.

"Somehow, we need to isolate her," Alaric said, pondering. He turned around and looked at the bus and nodded to himself. "We'll need to set up a distraction, and maybe we can start hitting two birds with one stone."

He turned to Matt and Jeremy. "Once Caroline and Liz get back, you two along with Liz and Elena, will start evacuating the town. Get as many people on the bus as you can."

Elena's eyes narrowed. "Why do you want me to go with them?"

"Because I'm hoping that perhaps you and Matt can draw Damon and Vicki to you. I'm trying to 'thin the herd,' so to speak. If it works, it will isolate Bonnie. Abby, Caroline and I will head to the Salvatore mansion and see if we can't subdue her somehow. There's just one problem."

"What's that?" Jeremy asked.

Alaric turned and looked all around. "Where's Istas?"

Lone Wolf

Istas opened the bag on the end of her bike and began re-organizing the weapons and other materials inside. She put her handmade kunai blades into the bag, figuring she wouldn`t need them on the drive back to her tribe's reservation since she didn`t anticipate encountering any trouble on the road. In the midst of putting the blades in the bag, she turned her head, picking up the sounds of someone approaching her at vamp-speed.

"Izzy! There you are," Abby said as she slowed her approach. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going back home, Abby. There's nothing left for me to do here. I figure I have a better chance of finding out what happened to Angie if I go back to the reservation and consult with Nancy. Since she seems to have some idea of what's going on, I'm thinking she can perhaps commune with the Spirits and find a way to get Angie back from wherever she is."

Abby walked closer to Istas, scrutinizing her face with what little light the moon was providing, trying to gauge as to what was really going on.

"Do you think that Nancy can really help you with that?" Abby asked, a tone of concern clearly lining her question.

"We'll see, won't we? Good luck in finding your daughter, Abby," Istas replied, flashing a smile and rubbing Abby on her arm before securing her bag to her bike.

She brushed past Abby and mounted the motorcycle. Before she was able to turn the ignition key, Abby covered Istas' hand with her own.

"Wait!" Abby exclaimed. "What's going on? You were hell bent on getting revenge on Elena and Jeremy and then determined to find out what happened to your sister. Now, you're leaving all of this on the chance that Nancy might have an answer?"

With her other hand, Istas gently grabbed Abby's hand and removed it from hers.

"Yeah!" Istas replied straightforwardly before turning the ignition and revving her bike. When she switched the lights on, she suddenly saw Abby standing ahead of her.

Istas revved her bike again, trying to signal to Abby that she was driving ahead whether she moved out of the way or not. Abby crossed her arms and stood with her legs wide apart, resolute and determined to stay in place.

Shaking her head, Istas turned the ignition off and pushed the kickstand out.

"Ya know, you've been pushing your luck quite a bit with me ever since you got here, Abby!"

Abby uncrossed her arms and walked over to Istas. "Izzy, I'm not here to make your life difficult. I'm here to find my daughter. And I know you want to find your sister. And we both know that it all starts here. I also know of the mandate that Nancy gave to you in finding the doppelgangers."

"And I found the doppelgangers. Check that off the list. Now I'm following my own mandate and trying to find Angie."

"So why are you running away from this?"

"Running away?!" Istas asked, looking at Abby incredulously. "Is that what you think I'm doing?"

"It's what it looks like."

"Looks can be deceiving."

"Yeah, they can be. Which is why I know there is more to you leaving than what you're telling me."

"I don't answer to you and you don't know me well enough to judge my actions, Abby."

Abby exhaled deeply and nodded. "Maybe I don't. But I know when someone is running away from something out of fear but pretending that everything is alright, because I've done it."

Istas let out a hearty laugh. "Afraid?! You REALLY don't know me! I'm not afraid—"

"Spare me the 'I'm not afraid of anything' line. We all fear something."

"I don't! You have no idea the experiences I've had, the training I've done, the trials I've endured. I've been trained not to be afraid!"

"And yet you're running away."

Istas dismissed Abby with a wave of her hand. "Believe what you want, but I know what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. I don't need this wanna-be Goonies gang, I don't need this town, and—sorry to say it like this, Abby—but I don't need you either!"

She kicked back the kickstand and steadied her bike and put her hand to the ignition key. Abby once again covered the hand with hers.

"But maybe we need you. I need you!"

Istas looked up into Abby's pleading eyes. She reached for Abby's hand to take it off hers again but paused momentarily. She looked off to the side as she contemplated the decision before her.

Had it been anyone else asking her, she would not have even considered the option to stay. But ever since she first met her, she had felt a kind of kindred spirit connection with Abby. Istas tried her best to keep that connection at bay since she never felt comfortable getting close to anyone, but at the same time, the connection was alluring. When she learned of Abby's story, about how she abandoned Bonnie after Abby's encounter with Mikael, how she later became a vampire and became separated from the natural world as she knew it, Istas could relate. Though her own experiences weren't exactly the same, there was a thread of experience that she could empathise with and she felt that Abby somehow could empathise with her in a way that no one else, no one since Angie, could ever do.

But along with that empathy came a sense of knowing that, indeed, Istas was not telling the truth. Istas hated that Abby could tell. And yet, she was also oddly relieved, as she was carrying this burden of fear inside of her ever since her fight with Valene at the Salvatore mansion. It was a fear that she didn't want to admit to anyone, let alone herself. It was a fear of a man who first taught her what fear tasted like.

She desperately wanted to tell someone and have that person tell her that she was just imagining things. She wanted to tell someone and have that person tell her that she had nothing to fear. She wanted to tell someone and have that person tell her that the chilling voice of her ex-husband, Chris, coming out of Valene was a mere parlour trick and it meant nothing.

Istas closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. She slowly opened her eyes again and looked at Abby, about to tell her what she was feeling when she picked up the sound of someone else approaching at vamp-speed.

"She's right, ya know," Alaric said, slowing down as she approached the pair. "We do need you."

"Oh, great! The Ken doll is here!" Istas muttered derisively.

"Excuse me?" replied Alaric.

"Ya know, I was thiiiiiis close to changing my mind," Istas said, motioning with her thumb and index finger. "But now?"

Istas cleared Abby's hand from hers and started her bike up again.

"Izzy!" Abby replied exhaustedly.

"I'm serious, Istas. We do need you," Alaric said loudly, trying to get his voice over the sound of the engine.

"And why's that?" asked Istas coldly.

Alaric looked downward and shuffled his feet momentarily until he lifted his head up again and smiled kindly at Abby.

"Abby, I'm sorry but do you mind if I speak to Istas alone, please?"

Abby gave a look of surprise before she nodded in acquiescence, looking at Istas one final time before she quietly left the scene and returned to the bus.

Alaric waited until he felt that Abby was out of hearing range before he continued. He smiled at Istas and then looked at the bike, raising his eyebrows, silently asking if Istas could be so kind as to turn the engine off.

Istas puckered her lips while turning the ignition off. She leaned back on her bike and crossed her arms, waiting for Alaric to say his piece.

Alaric turned his head and motioned towards the direction that Abby had just gone to. "She cares about you a lot."

"Yeah. Sometimes she cares a bit too much, but that's family for ya."

Alaric's eyebrows furrowed. "You're related?"

"Somewhat. We're like distant cousins, a thousand times removed or something like that. That's what I've been told. But she takes that connection to heart."

"More than you do?"

Istas breathed in and then exhaled deeply. "Is this what you wanted to talk about in private? About me and Abby?"

Alaric walked towards Istas. "No. I wanted to say that you were right."

Istas beamed a smile. "Really? Must've been hard to admit that."

"Not really. You see, my ego isn't so big that I can't admit when I'm wrong."

Istas nodded while smirking. It was a decent shot that Alaric made.

"But as I said, you were right."

"About what?"

"About me being somewhat of a hypocrite. Back at the mansion, when I wouldn't kill Damon or let you kill him. It was true—I couldn't do what I said for you and Caroline to do."

"Well, I'm glad that you can admit that. But you didn't ask Abby to leave simply for a private confessional. So what do you want?"

Alaric shifted his hands into his pockets and began pacing back and forth.

"What we're up against is something that threatens more than just Mystic Falls. It's bigger than anything that I've ever faced, and I'm willing to bet it's bigger than anything you've ever faced as well."

Istas confirmed Alaric's assumption with a sigh. "I'll give you that. I overheard your little pep talk to the troops. Demonic possession is no joke."

Alaric stopped pacing. "You've dealt with it before?"

"Not me, but my tribe's medicine woman, Nancy. She's participated in some cases here and there. She has a friend in New Orleans—a Catholic priest who will often call on her whenever he has what he suspects is a case of demonic possession."

"Do you think she'd be willing to help us here?"

"No need to twist her arm. I'm sure she already knows what's going on here and will probably be making an appearance soon, if not for that then to check up on me," Istas replied somewhat contemptuously.

"You don't care much for her?"

Istas eyebrow lifted. "I love her. I've known her ever since she was born. And I'm not about to explain my many relationships to the likes of you so get the point—what do you want from me?"

Alaric nodded and continued pacing. "Two things. First, we need you because we need your skills. You're highly trained, and you've proven your worth in a fight. And we can use that. But more than that, I need your ability to—"

He stopped pacing again and looked off into the night sky. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply before he continued.

"—to do what I and the others cannot do. You said it yourself, you don't know Damon. You don't know Bonnie. You don't know Vicki. Out of all of us, you're the only one that can kill them if that's what it comes down to."

Istas uncrossed her arms and sat up straight. "You want me to kill them?"

"As a last resort!" Alaric snapped. "I want to do everything we can to save them and exorcise whatever it is that's inside of them. But I recognize that whatever they're doing in Mystic Falls is just a small glimpse of what they will do in the rest of the world. They're more powerful than any supernatural creature that I've ever met. They make the Mikaelsons look like the Partridge Family in terms of the potential for brutality and bloodshed. The world has suffered tremendously under the threat of vampires. It will not survive this!"

"That's quite a gloomy picture you paint. Other than the moral obligation and righteous duty on my part to help you save the world, what's in it for me? As you can tell, I don't play well with others, especially with the two who helped kill my sister! So why should I put up with any of you?"

"Vicki Donovan is a recent addition to the scene. She's Matt's sister, turned into a vampire by Damon and was later killed. She was a resident of the Other Side but was sucked into some kind of void before the Other Side collapsed, as did a bunch of other people. Now she's back and seemingly possessed. That means that those who were on the Other Side are potentially being subjected to the same process of possession."

Alaric walked closer to the front of Istas' motorcycle and leaned in over the handlebars. "Which means that for all we know, your sister may very well show up in the same condition!"

Istas leaned forward until her face was mere inches away from Alaric's. "Watch it there, Ken doll! That's my sister you're talking about!"

"My point exactly. If she shows up possessed, then you're going to want to save her. And even if she doesn't, she's still trapped in some unknown dimension. If we can somehow save Bonnie, Damon and Vicki, they might be able to tell us where she and others like her are. I doubt you'll get that kind of intel anywhere else. Isn't that incentive enough?"

Istas' eyes shifted as she digested Alaric's words. She leaned back on her bike again and glared at Alaric cynically.

"You're obviously the one everyone looks to for leadership, but I don't. If you think I'm going to start taking orders from you, you better think again."

Alaric leaned back from the handlebars until he was upright and sighed. "This isn't the military. I'm not looking for soldiers, I'm looking for partners. I'm not looking for your subservience, I'm looking for your cooperation. Just like we've been doing this whole time."

"You got in my way when I was trying to kill Damon before. That wasn't cool. How do you expect me to do what I'm supposed to do if you or the others get in my way?"

Alaric's expression became brooding. "I don't apologize for doing that. For all the things that Damon has done, from turning my wife into a vampire to snapping my neck to everything else, he's still a friend that I'm going to go to the ends of the Earth to save. All I ask of you is to take into consideration that these are people who mean as much to us as your sister means to you. Put yourself in our shoes before making that killing blow."

Istas stared down at her bike, drumming her fingers on her thigh, weighing the pros and cons of the offer that Alaric had put before her.

"You said you wanted two things. What's the other one?" she asked.

"You and Jeremy were the only ones unaffected by Damon's compulsion when we first met them at the town border. Jeremy is a Brotherhood of the Five Hunter and therefore is magically imbued with that ability to resist compulsion. How did you gain that ability?"

"Some stuff I learned while in Tibet. Why?"

"Is it complicated? Can you teach the rest of us?"

"It would take time—time that we apparently don't have. Besides, why not use vervain?"

"I'm skeptical if that will work," Alaric replied, beginning his pacing again. "It might, but Damon's powers have been enhanced to such a degree that I'm worried that vervain might not be enough. I'd rather have something that's been proven to be effective."

"Well," Istas said, shrugging her shoulders. "I don't know what to tell you. Vervain is the best chance you have because I can't teach all of you how to do it."

"Maybe you can," Alaric said, stopping his pacing and facing Istas. "I can read your mind and extract the experience and the technique. I could then implant that technique in the minds of the others."

Istas' face hardened as she whipped her left leg over her bike and dismounted before marching towards Alaric.

"You will MOST CERTAINLY NOT GET INTO MY HEAD!" Istas fumed. "THAT IS COMPETELY OUT OF THE QUESTION!"

"Like you said, we don't have time. We can't go in against Damon and the others while being vulnerable to compulsion. This is our only option."

"Think of another! You're out of your mind if you think I'm letting you into mine!"

"It's not what you think. I won't read the entirety of your life. You just have to think of the experience and the technique specifically, and that is the only thing I will extract."

"Says you! You can kiss my cooperation and my help goodbye," Istas replied, turning on her heel and marching back towards her bike.

"Istas, please!"

"Stop pushing it, Alaric!" Istas warned with her back towards him, raising her hand to accentuate the threat. "Otherwise, you're going to start eating concrete!"

Alaric took a step forward towards her. "Istas, I'm pleading here. Let me—"

Istas pushed off the sole of her left foot and flew backwards, twisting her body clockwise at the same time to give her right fist even more power. She swung at Alaric's head with a back fist that would have floored an elephant.

However, despite her impressive speed and the efficiency of her technique, Alaric was ready. Using his superior speed, he ducked Istas' swinging arm and immediately checked it with his left hand after he was in the clear. He rammed his right hand, which was carrying a vervain dart, into her stomach.

She was already following up her first attack with a left haymaker punch but it started to lose steam quickly once she looked down at the dart sticking out of her stomach.

"You son of a biiiii—" Istas slurred as her eyes rolled back and finally closed, her body becoming limp and falling forward into Alaric's arms.

"I'm sorry, Istas. But you're not leaving me much of a choice here," Alaric said to her unconscious body. He hoisted her over his left shoulder and made his way back to the bus to join the others.