The Vampire Diaries

. . .

"You know you could have told me where we were going," Caroline muttered as they took the last flight of stairs into the cavernous Function Room acting as the centre of the Champagne Brunch, "I feel kinda under-dressed." When she'd left the house in jeans, ankle-boots and a cheque shirt she hadn't factored in the need to pack an evening dress and slacks for the event that Damon would whisk her away on a mystery hunt for an old friend Damon insisted they needed to look for.

"We won't stay long," Damon said under his breath, "that is assuming she doesn't already know we're here," they sailed through the door and he realized that she'd sensed them coming a mile off – at least introductions wouldn't be necessary, the slight frame and long-flowing brunette hair drifted through the crowd toward them clutching a glass of champagne tightly in one hand and arrived opposite them, glaring in a way that did not quite imply imminent death but did impress fear, "Katherine – how lovely to see you."

"Cut the crap Damon," she snapped, clearly vexed, "tell me what you and blondie are doing here," she shot a threatening look at Caroline, "before I have you thrown out – unless you know, you'd kill a room of New York's social elite in broad daylight?"

"We need information," Damon lead as he wandered further into the room, forcing Katherine and latterly Caroline to follow him, he made his way to bar and grabbed one of the shapes took one sip and put it down deciding against it, "I see that you're doing well for yourself – which idiot did you compel to marry you this time?"

"There was no compulsion needed," she replied seductively, "the only compulsion I needed was encouraging him to wave a pre-nup – his heart will solve the rest of it, and stop stalling Damon – tell me what you want."

"We want information," Caroline ventured, she knew she should have let Damon do the talking as discussed in the car but she wasn't in the mood to stay so close to Katherine when she knew the Vampire was probably considering ways to kill her without arousing suspicion, "about a blonde Vampire named Adrian, he recently came into Mystic Falls…took an interest in Elena…and we're worried about it – it isn't like a simple crush either, he's looked into her."

"So a Vampire's been watching her, he probably just wants some chow." Katherine dismissed playfully, downing the rest of her champagne – clearly the experience of talking to two Vampires was a very trying experience for her.

"He went to the trouble of enrolling in High School," Damon said and then grimaced at the thought of it, "and he's obviously researched her because he was perfectly comfortable sitting at a lunch table with a Witch, Werewolf and two Vampires – if that's just a Vampire wanting chow Katherine then you're a hell of a lot more naïve then I ever gave you credit for, come-on Caroline she isn't gonna give us anything." Damon turned to leave but Katherine cleared her throat, she grabbed a fresh glass of champagne and sipped at it.

"Describe him again for me." Katherine said, sipping at her glass again as Damon looked to Caroline to give an accurate description.

"Blonde, British, Stefan's height, piercing blue eyes," she had to control her speech to make sure she didn't come across as a love struck school girl, "he was also kinda tanned for a Vampire – had the whole room of girls crushing over him too."

Katherine sniggered a little.

"What's so funny?" Damon asked with the mad-eyed stare that Caroline found so unsettling, it was the look that said I'm about to rip out your heart and show it you as you die unless you pass on information – a look that to any sensible person inspired fear and usually caused them to give up whatever they're hiding. The only issue there was that Katherine was older than Damon and she was a lot scarier than he was. As if to demonstrate the fact she grabbed his arm and bent it until he was wincing slightly, she then relaxed her grip but her grin remained strong on her face and even broadened slightly.

"I know exactly who you're talking about," she made a whooshing noise, "but I'm not really the person you should be asking about – if you're really interested in who Adrian is I'm not the person to help you, we were only really acquaintances at best for a brief spell in the Forties – if my memory serves I think Stefan actually spent the whole of the Thirties with him, maybe you should ask your brother, now if you'll excuse me I have a brunch to get back to." Katherine grabbed her glass of champagne and left the two Vampires behind her, heading out toward her husband with the full intent of slipping a pill inside his drink that would contribute to his spiralling blood pressure – and then he would die and she would be rich. She sensed them leave and smiled once more to herself – not just for the benefit of her husband but also because she was reliving old memories – if only she could be there to see the delicious conversation between Stefan and Damon, unfortunately she was preoccupied and the Salvatores would need to take a backseat.

. . .

The boy's blood has been a particularly mouth-watering and had it not been for the need to keep a relatively low profile and his importance to their master Toby would have drunk until the boy dropped – alas that had not come to pass and he had instead concerned himself with opening the boy's eyes to the world that was available to him, what made it all the sweeter was that the boy had thought off by the compulsion by that point, he had given into the sexual ecstasy – as had been predicted – and Toby had taken him freely.

He sensed the motionless body tingling on the bed, the room was darkened and the curtains drawn against the sunlight but even then he couldn't have been completely exhausted – Toby played hard but he hadn't worn him out the previous night, merely given him a good workout. The body rolled over with a groan and its eyes blinked a few times before he sat bolt up right in bed and looked around the room, Toby grinned at him and pulled the chair away from the desk, sitting facing Jeremy as the boy pulled the sheets up around him – as though he felt somehow as if he were protecting his privacy when Toby had seen everything the previous night. Of course Toby was perfectly comfortable in his own clothes and perfectly dominant in the situation, if Jeremy ran to the door he could stop him and if he yelled he could silence him.

"Would you like some water – it was a pretty big night last night?" quizzed Toby, turning his back on Jeremy to test how intelligent he was – he didn't run as Toby returned with the glass and handed it to him, he reached at his head as thought it pained him: that was probably the hangover kicking in, Toby hadn't plied him with booze but given him a little to get him suitably buzzed for the situation, "Do you remember anything?"

Jeremy shook his head and looked around nervously, and then he touched at his neck and winced as he found the fang-marks.

"Sorry," Toby interjected, grinning but not showing his fangs, "that was me – I suppose the question is did you enjoy it?"

Jeremy frowned as he tried to figure out what he was referring to, and then Toby watched as his brain began to register the parts of his body that ached, the parts of his body that had experienced pleasure and the parts of his body that were crying out for more of the same – and then saw him swear under his breath – denial. He watched as Jeremy's brain shut down all the possibilities and limited them to the ones where he had been compelled – he watched as a flicker past through Jeremy's eyes, he could remember being compelled at the bar and making out.

"You compelled me." Jeremy protested simply, "You made me do it."

Toby shook his head and laughed.

"You come from a stubborn family Jeremy – and there was residual Vervain in your system, if you think I could have compelled you to do that you're very naïve," Jeremy seemed to threaten to spit out his water mid-swallow, "you let me feed from you, and then you consented to sleep with me – it's in your nature, that little Witch you're dating isn't the one for you – you have a different calling to her, you might pretend to play the good boy or the compliant little brother but it isn't you Jeremy – you saw the real you last night, you let him out to play – and he was a lot of fun." Though it sounded innocent enough the use of the word fun sent a shudder down Jeremy's spine, it was disconcerting to be told he had behaved in a certain way.

The door flung open casting sunlight and a male was framed in silhouette and Jeremy felt his heart soar as he hoped that it might be Stefan coming to rescue him, when another Vampire, a blonde entered it sank lower than it had been before. The Vampire crossed to Jeremy and grabbed him coarsely by the face, forcing his head to the right so he could see the fang-marks, Jeremy felt the Vampire touch at them and then felt him get up and cross the room to Toby. Toby was taller than the other Vampire and a little older.

"I see you had fun." Adrian quipped, darting a glance toward Jeremy.

"It is what he asked." Toby reminded.

Adrian nodded, "We got a contact – we can expect another two tonight." Toby nodded as though what Adrian had said carried a particular weight, Jeremy frowned – he was trapped with two Vampires and they knew things about him that no-one else knew. He looked up at the ceiling hopelessly and flopped back onto the bed – defeated.

. . .

Bonnie braced herself, summoning her spells around her defensively and deflecting the introductory hexes that the Warlock sent her way as she approached him, she could feel his power radiating outward – he was strong magically but she felt assured as long as she kept up her shield, she drew up slightly short of him, surveying him to try and assure herself that she was safe. She stood her legs shoulder-width apart, her hands at her side – loose, ready to knock him down if he tried anything. He looked at her and she thought she saw him smile a little.

"I see I'm not going to be able to get the drop on you a second time." He murmured, "I imagine you know by now that I'm a Stewart – my name's Quentin, and I know exactly who you are, Bonnie." She didn't want to quiz him as to how he knew her name but presumably he had his sources just as she had hers, she didn't loosen her stance anymore though, she simply widened her senses to take in all her surroundings and ensure he didn't have any friends coming to help them. "Oh please, I'm not going to duel you in broad daylight, especially not in the middle of the town – that would attract far too much attention. How did you find me by the way?"

Bonnie iced over her expression, "A Raven showed me the way."

Quentin nodded sagely, "I suppose you have a lot of questions for me?"

"A few," she answered elusively, "like why you're family are carrying on this feud generations after it started – if we worked together I'm sure we could lift the curse that was placed on your family." Bonnie suggested warmly, almost allowing herself to break into the smile before receiving a mocking crack of laughter and a look that read as if she'd just said the stupidest thing imaginable – to Bonnie's mind it seemed sensible, combined there powers might be able to overcome the original incantation.

"You really are naïve – it's a blood-curse Bonnie, one that passes down through generations, you can't break a curse like that, their designed to be unbreakable, that's why they are so deadly," he clued-up, talking to her as though she were in kindergarten, "besides the fact that it was a White Magic Curse," Bonnie gave him a quizzical look, "surely you know about White and Black Magic? White is superior to Black at least in some matters, such as curses like the one placed on my family, Black Magic draws on everything evil which is why it can't undo evil, it can only inflict it, White Magic draws on light which is why it can combat evil but cannot reverse its effects once inflicted. I'll admit Bonnie that what my family did was wrong in Salem but the Bennett's are the ones who escalated it with that act – that was overkill."

Bonnie paused as she tried to consider it, she couldn't really defend her family honour over something like this but nor could she admit that the Stewart's were blameless in this, "So you want to kill me?"

"My mother gave birth to triplets," he deflected, "she was the first Stewart woman to do so, she didn't even get to hold us in her arms before she died, my father raised us until he was killed…when we were young, we had our powers unlocked when we were in Salem by someone…needless to say from what we know from our history and from what we need to do that yes Bonnie, it is my intention to kill you, to avenge my mother – but not yet."

"Well thanks," she replied sarcastically, "who are you working for – you said that you need to kill me, besides acting on our shared history – what do you mean?"

Quentin grinned at her and Bonnie felt her stomach turn uneasily, she summoned her powers further, preparing to pre-emptively strike at him but she stopped as he looked her in the eye and his smile subsided.

"It'll all become clear in time Bonnie, that's all that you need to concern yourself with," he said as he walked past her, heading toward one of the General Stores, "and Bonnie," he stopped walking for a moment, "watch your back, we'll duel again."

She watched him go as he walked away and dwelt upon his words – he was working with someone and she didn't know why, but he also intended to kill her – and since he'd mentioned he had triplets he was presumably with at least two others, which meant that they in theory outnumbered her. However she had the power of a hundred deceased Witches at her fingertips – something they didn't know about, and she also had for a limited time at least the knowledge of her Grams and Emily to draw upon, at least as long as she continued to see them.

. . .

Alaric stood at the edge of the bedroom as Elena circled the bed for the fourth time, feeling underneath the pillows, searching fruitlessly under the mattress and rummaging in the draws as if she was vainly hoping to find a notebook labelled "My Cult" and discover that he'd run away and joined a Cult that sacrificed Goats to Pagan Gods, though he reminded himself that was probably a better alternative than the one being proposed toward them at present – that Adrian had taken Jeremy, though Alaric doubted that, he had no reason to take Jeremy as a hostage if he was interested in Elena, there was no need to force her into it when he could just go directly to her and kidnap her outright, without the need for the messy business of hostage negotiations.

"Elena I'm afraid you aren't going to find any clues here – Jeremy left her of his own volition, he was probably bored," Alaric mused aloud, keeping his voice sensitive to avoid upsetting her, he could tell Elena was holding back a rising amount of panic building within her, "look we should call Stefan and he can help us track down Jeremy, because at the moment we don't know where to look – maybe Tyler too, if his senses are as…advanced as they seem he can probably track him just as well if not better than Stefan."

Elena shook her head, "Alaric…when you studied Mystic Falls…when you were trying to find out about Isobel…and what happened to her – did you ever find any references to a darkness…something evil that was tied to the Gilbert's?"

"Like a prophecy?" he enquired, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"Not exactly…well sort of…more like a shared myth or legend…something happened yesterday that just…have you read anything about it?" Elena probed pensively.

Alaric frowned, "It's not exactly a prophecy about darkness but it's an account that I came across the belonged to one of the servants of the Forbes's in 1864, around the time that the Church Vampires were killed, people did die in that Church fire Elena, and Jonathan Gilbert was responsible – you've been brought up with the idea that there were only Five Founding Families but…have you ever heard of a Sixth Family?"

Elena's brow furrowed in confusion, "Alaric what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that…that there was a cover up orchestrated by the Founding Families that has been forgotten, the Johnson's were harbouring a dark secret Elena, something darker than you can even imagine – I wish I could tell you what it was but the Servant wasn't exactly privy to the intimate conversations…but regardless in 1864 an entire family were wiped out and stricken from records, the family disappeared from all recorded town history, their land became a part of the Lockwood Estate and their Servant's became members of the Gilbert Household. They were killed in cold blood." Alaric clarified gravely.

"But why haven't Stefan or Damon told me?" Elena demanded.

Alaric bit his lip momentarily, "I wish I could say it was because they didn't know Elena, that they'd been conditioned to forget it Elena, but did you ever consider that they haven't told you everything that ever happened in their lives?"

. . .

Hope you enjoyed Chapter 4,

Acrobat,

Reviews welcome,

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