Present Day...

The Armory lay dark in the night, a looming building, chock full of supernatural artifacts, and the part that creeped Enzo out the most was its tomb-like facade. Every time he stepped into it, he felt like he was entering a crypt of the dead.

He concentrated hard so as not to allow his body to shiver as he walked down the hallway, neither looking left nor right.

"Cousin." Alexandria's legs were dangling from the table she sat on. But once he'd almost reached her, she hopped down and walked to close the gap between them.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" Enzo asked, feigning to check the time on his phone. "1:30 am is not exactly your usual time for a meeting…"

She smirked, tapped his jacket in a too familiar way. He swatted her hand away, but other than that didn't show any reaction.

"I have a job for you."

"You always have a job for me. But this one couldn't wait till morning?"

She ignored his jest. "Since my team is still out searching for…" she seemed to re-evaluate her approach and started again, "I need you to drive down south. There's a place called Winter's Cove. Find a woman named Maeve O'Reilly. She'll have a locket for you. I need that locket."

He raised an eyebrow, "What does it do?" He folded his arms in front of him, waiting, as she glared at him.

"That's none of your concern."

"Then I'm not going," he said firmly. His tone brokered no argument. "What a pleasure to meet you, Alex." He waved and turned on one foot, ready to head out the door. He started walking. They both knew it was all just a show, that he'd never just leave like that. Because she wouldn't let him. They both couldn't afford it to happen.

"We will eventually find her, you know that, right? You're not helping her, Enzo."

"I don't know who you're talking about." Of course he knew. And of course he knew she knew.

"Let's not play that game right now. Bring me the locket. It's… obviously, a magical object. It's supposed to have powerful magic. Dangerous magic. We need to keep the wrong people from using it."

"Right." He still had his back to her, but he'd listened to every word she'd said. "The wrong people, huh? Ingenious."

"You have until tomorrow. Then I'll need you back here to-"

"Finally tell me something about my family that's actually useful? Or will you just continue blackmailing me into doing more of your dirty work for you? Dangling that carrot in front of me, hoping I'm desperate enough to wait forever?"

"Aren't you, though? Desperate?" She questioned, and he whirled around to see her grin. He bit the inside of his lip, forcing himself to swallow down his anger.

"I'll see you tomorrow."

"Tell the witch I said hi…"

"So that Maeve woman is a witch," he said, already halfway to the door, "good to know."

"Very funny, Enzo. But yeah, she actually is, too..."

He shot her a glance, gauging, then sped out the door, leaving the door flying, allowing a burst of ice cold air inside that made Alexandria shiver uncomfortably.

She knew she was playing a dangerous game with a dangerous man. But she was used to danger...


Bonnie was spending her days alone in the cabin, busying herself with research, trying to make semi decent food for herself. And singing.

Right now, she'd bundled herself up against the cold and was busy cleaning the snow off of the doorsteps with a large broom. She didn't want to end up getting stuck in the cabin for real because a pile of snow blocked the entrance.

A magicless witch with a broom, she thought, and chuckled to herself. How much more ridiculous could her life get?

She was annoyed, though. Annoyed that she was all alone and he was out there. Living his normal life. As normal as it could be when you were a vampire with a dark past and a shady family that had lured you into their business.

She was seriously finding excuses for him now? She shook her head at the realization.

With a loud sigh, she stopped what she was doing and shook the snow off of the broom.

He'd really gotten under her skin. There was no denying that.

She glanced inside and over to where his guitar stood against the wall, unused, and she almost felt a bit of regret. He probably thought she was practicing when all she did was stare at the instrument and tell it, "maybe tomorrow." She simply didn't want to deal with the sore fingertips at the moment.

It was still cold, but thanks to a bit of handy work from Mr. Vampire, the newly insulated windows didn't let nowhere near as much of a draft in as they had done in the past. And she'd gotten pretty dang good at making a decent fire. Which helped, too.

She missed his company, though. She missed her friends, too. She hated being so out of the loop on anything going on in everyone's lives. But she knew she had to keep her distance. Couldn't get involved.

She set the broom down right next to the door, and went inside, leaving the cold out there.

Time for a little bit of singing, a big bowl of pasta, and then an unending slew of research material…

She got this.


Winter's Cove was as cold and snowy as its name promised. Enzo grinned to himself as he found himself thinking of Bonnie. She'd have loved to come on this little trip. She'd probably have thought the town was quaint and cozy.

She'd probably have changed her mind once she'd seen the dark staircase leading into nothing that he was getting ready to climb down now. He gritted his teeth at the thought.

He'd had to compel only a handful of people to glean information on Maeve O'Reilly's whereabouts. The last one had been the jackpot that had led him here. A remote spot in a clearing in the woods a little outside of the town. Not shady at all.

He'd sighed and straightened and gotten out of his car to do what needed to be done.

"Be careful, dude. She's crazy people. They all are," the last bloke he'd talked to had said and Enzo had frowned at him while pretending to have a beer in that little ramshackle bar.

"Crazy, how?"

"I don't know, man, just… real crazy. Like, howling at the moon and shit. Like they're, you know…" he'd lowered his voice considerably, "werewolves or something."

Enzo had felt the urge to punch something. Instead, he'd pretended to laugh and then compelled the poor fool to forget all about the stranger that had asked too many random questions.

Werewolves. Alexandria couldn't have mentioned that? Briefly he considered giving her the benefit of the doubt, then he shook his head. Nope. That bitch had known.

So here he was, at a place that was apparently their "meeting ground" and he readied himself to face whatever was down there. Why he even proceeded was another question, one he couldn't quite answer. Was it because he knew Alex would come after him if he didn't present her with the locket? Which, in turn, would mean endangering Bonnie? Or was it an intrinsic urge to tempt fate? He loved to challenge the world, after all, and with it his health.

Either way, he was going down there. He felt the darkness surround him, and it took his vampiric eyesight a moment to adjust before he could make out walls carved into rock. It was an underground cave he had walked into.

His fingers traced the crude walls, guiding him. Was the woman really down here? And would she even have the locket? He felt odd marks under the palm of his hand and looked a little closer. Lines. Like those a big animal's claws might leave.

Fantastic, he thought. The kid hadn't lied when he'd called them werewolves. Enzo rolled his eyes and pressed his lips together, but went on. No going back anymore.

The cave was narrow at first, almost like a tunnel, but soon it opened into a wider, almost roomlike cavern. He could finally stand up to his full height again, a small relief.

He scrutinized the place. It was pretty barren, except for a long altar of sorts that stood close to the back wall, and there was another hole to the side, small. Dark. But it might fit a person.

He rolled his eyes in annoyance. He'd have to climb in there, didn't he? Of course…

He sped over to it, peeking in briefly before stooping down to walk inside. He almost backed away and out of there as quickly as he'd entered.

There was the woman, or so he assumed, because she was in the middle of transition.

She'd been chained - or had she done it herself? - to the low ceiling, and her limbs were writhing and making breaking sounds under his gaze when suddenly, she looked straight at him out of wide amber eyes. A hiss escaped her, a growl. And he held his hands half up, as if in surrender.

"I didn't meant to interrupt," he said, his voice sounding hoarse and hollow, "You keep on… doing your thing, and I guess I'll just keep on doing mine up there," he pointed, then waved her goodbye, but suddenly his gaze fell on something shiny around her neck. He cringed. "That would be my luck," he muttered to himself and a loud howl droned out his thoughts for a moment. The woman was far gone. Probably too far to still be coherent.

"You're Maeve, aren't you, love? I'd say I'm pleased to meet you, but that would be a blatant lie, and I think you deserve better than that." He did what he always did in the eye of danger. He chatted. "I'm sorry, I really am, but I will need to take that pretty locket you're wearing around your neck." He pointed and she followed his finger with her intense gaze, but didn't say anything. Instead, she gave another growl.

"Please do us both a favor and don't try to bite me, alright? I'm really not here to hurt anyone. Or get hurt," he added, then lunges forward and tore the necklace off of her.

A piercing howl escaped her that made him hold his hands over his ears. He didn't linger much longer. With a last "It was a pleasure," he sped out of the hole, and out of the cave, her animalistic noises traveling with him.

He'd almost made it over to his car, the locket tucked away deep in his pocket, and had started allowing himself to think he might just make it out of there alive and well, when a huge dark shadow dripped on him from out of nowhere and a heavy weight pulled him down.

He fought, he bared his fangs. Then the… thing moved and the next thing he knew, it sank its teeth into his shoulder and he heard his collarbone crunch as if it was as brittle as an old branch. The pain was so startling, so great, that momentarily, he lost all senses. He couldn't see, or hear, or smell. He couldn't even feel the pain. He just knew it was there and that it would explode into something truly awful any second.

He let go. He'd lost the fight. It was as if he was in a vacuum and time stood still. Was this really how it was going to end? After everything? A freaking werewolf?!

Bonnie was alone in that cabin. She relied on him…

As soon as he'd thought that thought, the pain shocked him like a million volts of electricity. It shook his body, he couldn't control any of it, and for some strange reason, the beast suddenly yowled and let go of him as if it, too, had been hurt.


He had no idea how much time had passed. But when he came to, the day was starting to dawn. He blinked against the light, and tried to assess the situation. He was laying slumped against his car, his head and neck at an awkward angle that alone would have caused any normal person to get a nasty headache. He sighed, but the slightly deeper than before inhalation sent new waves of pain through his body and his breathing automatically turned shallow.

He tried to look down to where the werewolf - because it had to have been one - had bitten him, and flinched. Blood. So much of it. And bone. He could see parts of it sticking out of him as if he was a broken puppet. Definitely not good. Not good at all. Absently, he patted his side pocket and felt the slight bulge of the locket in there. He noticed bite marks in his jacket, right above it. He closed his eyes. If he didn't know any better, he'd assume the locket had protected him from a worse fate. At least that was something.

Then again, he was pretty sure he was dying. So there was that. And it was not pretty. He was in agony. Alone. He'd been there, done that too many times. He closed his eyes again.

Bonnie was still in the cabin. If he didn't get her more pills, Alex would eventually detect her. Lock her up. Do something else with her.

If Alex got to him - or he went to her in his current state, she'd probably find Bonnie even quicker.

He clenched his jaw painfully hard. He had to get to her. He couldn't be found like this. He couldn't endanger her.

He grappled with his hands on the floor, trying to get them in a good position. His left arm, his whole left side felt like liquid fire as he did.

With a huge effort, he forced himself upright, and almost immediately slumped back against the car, panting. At least he was sitting now…

It took him another ridiculous fifteen minutes until he could finally close the car door behind him and drive off. And not a minute too early for right then he saw a movement in the corner of his eye. The woman, for she was a woman now, ran up out of the cave and came stumbling toward him, yelling something, he couldn't understand what.

He made the wheels screech out in protest as he backed away and went on his way, leaving Winter's Cove behind him, and hopefully forever.

...

The way back to her went by in a strange feverish blur. It was a bit of a miracle that he didn't just pass out and drive into a ditch on the way, but the thought of her alone made him focus and hang on.

Until, at last, he saw the cabin…

...