Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or Teen Wolf.

Chapter 4 – Blackwood's Agenda

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After Damon finished speaking, silence descended upon the room. Everyone stared down at the floor for a long moment, thinking about the story that the two Salvatore brothers had shared. Each of them felt a faint chill running through their minds, as they thought about the horrors surrounding this mysterious, shadowy figure, the legendary killer.

Suddenly, Stefan's phone rang. He blinked, snapped out of his reverie, and answered it. "Hello?"

"What the hell is going on?!" an accented, instantly recognizable voice snapped.

Stefan's eyes widened in surprise. "Klaus?"

All eyes turned to Stefan in astonishment.

"Klaus?!" Caroline hissed.

Klaus replied, his voice somewhat calmer. "My apologies, I should have started out simpler. Good evening, Stefan. Now, would you mind telling me if you have any idea why Jonathan bloody Blackwood was in my house about twenty minutes ago?!"

The room was completely silenced in an instant.

Stefan's eyes widened and his mouth worked for a moment in complete and utter shock, trying to form words. "Blackwood?"

"Yes, Blackwood!" Klaus snarled. "Don't even bother playing dumb; you know exactly who he is! Everyone knows who he is! He's supposed to be dead, my father killed him over a hundred years ago, and half an hour ago, he was standing in my living room! Now, I'm assuming you know about his symbol being found off Highway 41, so would you mind telling me what the hell is going on around here?!"

"Put him on speaker," Damon said. Stefan pressed a button, and Klaus's voice filled the room. "Well, Stefan? Any ideas? You usually have quite a lot of those."

Damon smiled. "Not really. We don't have any idea why Blackwood's here, much less what he wants."

"Damon too?" Klaus's voice sounded vaguely amused. "Well, this saves me the trouble of another phone call. Excellent. Now, let's get down to business, shall we?"

"Sounds good to me," Stefan said. "First of all, what is he after?"

Klaus sighed. "With Jonathan, you never know. It can be a certain goal one minute and a completely different one the next. Unless he's had a personality change in the past few centuries, I doubt we'll be able to make much sense of his actions."

"Okay, so what do we do about him?" Damon asked.

"There really isn't anything to do," Klaus said. "It's tricky enough finding Jonathan, let alone figuring out what to do with him. But trust me, if he's here, it shouldn't be hard to find out what he's up to. If he wants us to know why he's here, he'll tell us."

Suddenly, Alaric's cell phone rang, the sound loud in the room. He immediately terminated the call, but the damage was done.

"What was that?" Klaus inquired, his voice curious.

"Just Rick's phone going off," Damon said casually. "You don't mind if he listens, do you?"

"Not at all," Klaus said coolly. "By all means, listen in, Alaric. This involves all of us, after all."

"Okay, so what would Blackwood want?" Alaric asked. "Does he have some kind of overriding objective?"

"It varies, depending on what mood he's in," Klaus replied. "But he was always obsessed with power, strength. He wanted to be the best, and he was ruthless whenever someone got in his way."

"What do you mean by 'the best'?" Stefan asked.

"He wanted to… improve the vampire species," Klaus said. "His greatest ambition was to find a way to eliminate the weaknesses – sunlight, vervain, stakes through the heart – that made us vulnerable, still limited our powers. He wanted to find a way for us to become truly immortal, all-powerful; in essence, he wanted to become a god."

Damon's eyes widened noticeably. "Well, that doesn't sound good."

Klaus sighed. "No, it doesn't. I quite like being the only invincible being on this earth, so I had no interest in helping Jonathan… but my father saw his plans as a potentially dangerous threat, and began hunting him down. Desperate to escape, Jonathan did the only thing he could think of; he created a distraction big enough that it risked exposing all of us, forcing Mikael to focus on that instead."

Stefan locked eyes with Damon, an astonished expression on his face. "The vampire wars in Mexico."

"Precisely," Klaus replied. "Mikael slaughtered the entire vampire population of Mexico in an attempt to bring Blackwood down. He ended that irritating war with a single blow; wiped out all of the warring covens and their newborns, and butchered Benito himself. But, apparently, he missed his primary target."

"Blackwood escaped," Stefan said softly.

"It certainly seems that way, doesn't it?" Klaus said sardonically. "I'm growing tired of this. Call me if you find anything."

"And why should we let you know anything we find?" Damon asked coolly.

"Because Jonathan is extremely dangerous. He's hundreds of years older than the pair of you, which means he's much stronger and far more skilled. For him, fighting you two would be like fighting children. Now that Mikael is dead and Rebekah is gone, I'm the only one in this town who's capable of killing him. So, if you want to get rid of him, you'll need my help. We may not have much time, so I suggest you choose quickly." There was a click, and Klaus was gone.

Damon sighed, sinking onto the couch. "Well, that throws a wrench into things," he muttered.

Stefan nodded. "As much as I hate to say it, Klaus is right; we'd be no match for Blackwood on our own, if this is really him. Klaus is the only one in this town who could take him on."

"What about me?" Tyler countered. "I'm a hybrid too, and this guy Blackwood isn't an Original. One bite from me and he's dead."

"Yes, but you don't have the skill to keep up with him," Damon countered. "Not even close. You've been a hybrid for a couple of months; he's been a vampire for centuries. It wouldn't even be a challenge for him." He shook his head. "No, Stefan's right; as much as I hate Klaus's guts, he's the only person we know who could take on Blackwood and win."

"Are you two forgetting that Klaus wants you both dead?" Elena asked incredulously. "Stefan's still holding his family hostage! There's no way he'd cooperate with us without turning on us!"

"Of course he's going to turn on us," Damon replied casually. "He's Klaus, it's what he does. But I get the feeling that we would have a truce until Blackwood's been dealt with. He's the priority for both of us, judging by how freaked out Klaus was after just seeing him."

Tyler scowled. "Fine. But I don't like it."

"No one does," Stefan replied reasonably. "But if we have to fight Blackwood, we'll need Klaus. Once Blackwood's been dealt with, it'll be back to business as usual."

Tyler nodded reluctantly and sat down on the couch.

"So what do we do?" Caroline asked. "Should I tell my mom what's going on?"

Alaric considered. "Not yet. Remember, this guy Blackwood hasn't done anything to hurt anyone here yet. Having the police start hunting him won't accomplish anything at this point. Plus, this guy's supposed to be extremely dangerous; if the human cops went after him, they'd just be getting themselves killed."

Jeremy nodded in agreement. "He's right. We can deal with this ourselves; there's no reason to involve the police yet."

Damon looked around the room. "All right, then. Let's get started."

.

"So what's the plan?" Elena asked as she walked up to the front door of the Salvatore house, accompanied by Stefan, Damon and Caroline.

"We start by finding him," Damon replied, "which is going to be our first problem. I mean, the guy outran Mikael for hundreds of years; he's not easy to catch."

Stefan nodded, opening the front door and leading the way inside. "We need to move fast, though. Klaus said Blackwood was erratic, very changeable; that means that he probably won't wait for very long."

"Why is he here?" Caroline asked curiously. "I mean, it sounds like Blackwood's been running from the Originals for centuries; why would he come to a place where all of them are located?"

"No idea," Damon said cheerfully, walking ahead of them. "But really, that's not a newsflash; the only one of them who's currently alive and mobile is–" He came to an abrupt halt as he walked into the living room, eyes wide in surprise.

Klaus sat in a chair by the fireplace, a faint smile on his face. "You were saying?"

"Klaus," Damon finished sourly. "What are you doing here?"

Klaus chuckled. "I'm here to offer my help. Face the facts, mate; you need me. Against Jonathan, you three," he continued, indicating Damon, Stefan and Caroline with a sweep of one hand, "wouldn't stand a chance. I'm the only one who can beat him in a fight."

"Sorry," Damon said. "I don't trust you. I mean, no offense, but you have tried to kill us all… multiple times."

"Not to mention that you did kill me," Elena snapped.

Klaus shrugged easily. "That was necessary; and, to be fair, you didn't actually die." He smirked at Damon. "And as for why you need my help… I know more about Jonathan than anyone else. We were friends once, so I have all kinds of information you could use."

"Oh, really? Like what?" Damon inquired skeptically, raising an eyebrow.

Klaus grinned. "How about the fact that I know why he's here?"

Everyone instantly focused on Klaus, who smirked calmly. "I was Jonathan's closest friend once. He told me about the overriding goal of his life, his purpose… what he believed was his destiny. And, obviously, that's the reason he's here."

"Why?" Caroline asked. "What does he want?"

Klaus smiled, leaning back nonchalantly in the chair. "Have any of you ever heard of an ancient artifact called the Amulet of Kronos?"

All four shook their heads.

Klaus's smile widened. "The Amulet was a legendary artifact, created thousands of years ago in ancient Greece. According to myth, it was forged by the gods themselves, and imbued with enough power that the person who wore it would be granted the power of Kronos himself, the king of the Titans; power akin to that of a god among men. It's said that those humans who wore it were the greatest kings of their era; they were invincible in battle, and their power was beyond any other. Ironically, that power tore their kingdoms apart, as wars were fought over possession of the Amulet and the kings fell into ruin. Eventually, a powerful group of witches stole the amulet and concealed it, so no one could ever use its power for evil purposes again."

Klaus glanced around the room, looking at Stefan, Damon, Elena and Caroline in turn. "That's what Jonathan is after. He wants the Amulet for himself, believing that it will allow him to overcome our kind's inherent weaknesses – sunlight, vervain, physical injury – and become perfection incarnate, an ultimate, immortal, all-powerful being."

"If a human who wore that Amulet was given that much power…" Stefan said, his words trailing off.

Klaus nodded. "Then what would happen if a vampire as powerful as Jonathan wore it? Precisely. Which is why I abandoned his insane scheme. Jonathan was my friend once, but his plan could have destroyed us all. Especially," he added darkly, "since only the one who wears the Amulet can possess its power. Jonathan had no intention of sharing his power with me; he only wanted a powerful ally who could help him find it."

"So, that's why he's in Mystic Falls?" Caroline asked nervously. "He's looking for that amulet?"

Klaus considered for a moment, then shook his head. "No, that's not why he's here. Jonathan doesn't know where the Amulet was hidden. It was sealed away using a powerful spell, somewhere he could never find it. The only way he can break the spell and find the Amulet is with a very special… ingredient."

"What kind of ingredient?" Damon asked.

Klaus didn't reply, but merely glanced up at Damon, a faint smirk flickering across his face. "Do you want my help or not?"

"Fine," Elena said. All four of the others turned to face her. Stefan, Damon and Caroline had incredulous expressions on their faces, while Klaus looked mildly amused. Elena took a step forward, nodding to Klaus. "Yes, we want your help. Now please tell us what you know. What is Blackwood looking for?"

Klaus looked up at her and smiled. "He's looking for a witch. A Bennett witch."

Once again, all eyes turned to Klaus. He reclined casually in his chair. "A Bennett witch cast the spell that sealed the Amulet away, so only a Bennett witch can break it. Classic case of the supernatural having only one weakness."

Klaus stood up and walked over to the fireplace, gazing into the flames. "There were only two surviving Bennett witches when the Amulet was sealed away. Jonathan massacred the rest of their family in search of it, but the two survivors – young women, sisters – fled to opposite sides of this country. One of them – Emily Bennett, whom you are no doubt familiar with – met Katerina Petrova and joined her for protection and to hide somewhere Jonathan wouldn't find her. She was eventually betrayed by Katerina, of course, and was burned at the stake. Quite a messy affair."

"Yes, we know that story," Stefan said coolly. "We knew Emily very well."

"I'm aware of that," Klaus replied. "What you don't know is that Emily had an older sister, Elizabeth, who fled to California with the Amulet. Unfortunately, Jonathan soon tracked her down. He was quite angry; he massacred the entire population of a mining town to get to her, and then tortured her until she revealed that she had used a spell to seal away the Amulet forever, in a place where he would never find it. Jonathan, understandably, didn't take this very well. He killed Elizabeth, and has apparently spent the next hundred and fifty years searching for the rest of the Bennett line. Now, had Emily been able to evade him and die of old age as Elizabeth had planned, he would have been truly foiled – with no surviving Bennett witches, no one would be able to find the Amulet or break the spell shielding it." He glanced back at them, his face set grimly. "Unfortunately, Emily started a family and had children before she died, and so her descendants lived on, continuing the Bennett line and Jonathan's only way of finding the Amulet and fulfilling his plans. Continuing it all the way down to…" A faint, deadly smile curled his lips.

Elena's eyes widened in horror. She looked around to Caroline, who had an equally horror-struck expression on her face, and then to Stefan and Damon, both of which looked shocked.

"Oh, my god…" Elena whispered.

Stefan spoke up. "Bonnie."

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Bonnie glanced around as she drove down the street.

Beside her, Jeremy sat in the passenger's seat, relaxed, leaning back with his eyes half-closed.

"Thanks for driving me home," he said softly.

"No problem," Bonnie replied with a faint smile.

They continued in silence for a few minutes, until Jeremy's phone suddenly buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket and checked the screen.

"Huh. Text from Elena." He tapped the screen, read the message, and froze.

"Jeremy?" Bonnie asked. "What's wrong?"

Jeremy read the text, his voice unsteady. " 'Klaus says Blackwood's after Bonnie. Get her to our house NOW. No vampires can get in. Wait for us there.' "

Bonnie felt a chill of fear run through her. She turned to look at Jeremy, her eyes wide. "He wants me?"

"Apparently, yeah. Drive, we have to get to my house. He can't get in there." Jeremy held her gaze for a long moment. "Bonnie, I swear, I will not let him hurt you. I promise."

Bonnie looked back at him, her eyes softening at the determination in his gaze. It was obvious that he believed every word he was saying. He would do anything to protect her.

No. No. You can't feel that way. It didn't work. He couldn't get over Anna. It's not worth it.

But, at the same time, it did feel like it would be worth it. If she could just get over the past…

Her voice soft, she whispered, "Jeremy… I…"

Jeremy was about to reply when something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head to look through the front windshield, and then yelled, "Bonnie, look out!" at the top of his lungs. Bonnie turned just in time to see a dark figure standing in the road, right in front of them, and then her entire world turned upside down as the car slammed into the figure and flipped over, rolling twice before crashing to a halt. The car was standing upright on all four tires, but all of the windows were broken, and both Bonnie and Jeremy had multiple cuts and bruises.

"What the hell was that?!" Jeremy groaned, clutching at his head where it had slammed against the window.

"Oh, my god, we hit someone!" Bonnie cried, looking into the rearview mirror. Sure enough, the body of a man who'd obviously been hurled into the air when the car had slammed into him was lying crumpled on the road, about ten yards behind them.

Then the man's arm moved.

Bonnie's eyes widened, and she leaned closer to the mirror. As she watched, the man's entire body began to twitch and spasm, popping his limbs back into place.

"Jeremy, we have to run," Bonnie snapped, undoing her seatbelt and yanking at the door handle. It didn't work; the impact had obviously broken something in the mechanism. "Come on, Jeremy, we have to run!"

The man was already back on his feet, and started walking slowly towards the car.

Jeremy stared into the mirror, his eyes wide in shock. "Oh, god…"

"Jeremy, go!" Bonnie yelled, wrenching desperately at her door handle. "Get out of here!"

"I'm not leaving you!" he yelled back.

An instant later, the glass on Bonnie's window shattered inwards, and a hand reached through, grabbed the metal, and pulled. Instantly, the door was ripped off its hinges and tossed aside, landing with a crash. The hand reached back in, grabbed Bonnie by the shoulder and yanked her out of the car, dropping her to the ground. Bonnie looked up, gasping for air, her eyes wide in terror.

Standing over her was a young man, physically in his twenties. His face was handsome and sharply defined; his eyes were a cold, light blue, and his hair was black and hung to his shoulders. He smiled down at her, reached down, and lifted her effortlessly to her feet.

"Hello, Bonnie Bennett," he said casually, as if they were old friends. His voice was accented; the tone was cultured, perhaps British. "I've been looking for you for a very long time."

Bonnie could only stare at him in shock, her mind numbed by fear. So this was him; the famous monster, a vampire's worst nightmare, the madman who had torn Mexico apart in a war between vampires that had killed countless innocent humans.

Her lips trembled as she whispered the name.

"Blackwood."

He smiled. "Very good. I thought you might know me."

"Leave her alone!" Jeremy, who had crawled across to the driver's side, ran at Blackwood, raising a wooden stake that he'd drawn from his wrist-mounted sheath.

"Ah, the little human wants to play hero. Delightful." As Jeremy lunged, Blackwood grabbed the wrist of the hand holding the stake before the blow could connect. With the other, he grasped Jeremy's throat, lifting him off the ground.

Jeremy grunted in pain, struggling, but Blackwood's grip was like a vice. Blackwood smiled and tightened his hold on Jeremy's wrist with his right hand. Jeremy lost his grip on the stake, which fell harmlessly to the ground.

"You have heart," Blackwood acknowledged, looking into Jeremy's eyes for a moment and then glancing away, looking him over. "But you can't be compelled for some reason; there's vervain in your system, isn't there?"

Jeremy's silence was answer enough.

Blackwood sighed, disappointed. "Oh, well. You might have been useful to me, if I could have compelled you, but there's really nothing else for it. My apologies." He casually twisted his hand, just once, and snapped Jeremy's neck.

"Jeremy!" Bonnie screamed, running forward, but Blackwood released Jeremy's arm and dismissively batted her aside with one hand, knocking her to the ground. She watched in horror as Blackwood dropped Jeremy's lifeless body to the ground, then turned to her. Once again, he bent down and lifted her to her feet.

"Now, as for you…" He smiled, looking into her eyes. Then the smile faded slightly. "Ah, of course not. Well, that's good; you've clearly inherited your ancestors' gift of magic."

"You can't compel me," she spat. "And I'd never help you."

"Even if I threatened to kill everyone you care about?" Blackwood asked simply, with another friendly grin. "I could kill, say… this boy's sister, Elena Gilbert? Or your other best friend, Caroline Forbes? Matt Donovan, Tyler Lockwood, Stefan and Damon Salvatore… there's really no end of people I can use as leverage against you." He smiled calmly, the look in his eyes turning dangerous. "Now, either you help me, or everyone you care about in this world dies."

Bonnie stared back at him, horror keeping her frozen to the spot. Finally, she nodded slowly. She couldn't sacrifice the lives of all of her friends. Not even for this.

"What do you want me to do?" she whispered, looking back down at Jeremy's body – and noting, with a flash of joy and relief that she managed to conceal, the familiar presence of the Gilbert ring on his finger.

He's alive. Or he will be soon, anyway.

"Well, as it just so happens, there are a couple of rather important spells I need to break," Blackwood replied. "And I need a Bennett witch to do it. You're the last of them, so I tracked you down. Now, let's get moving. I'll take you by your home to pick up your grimoire, and then we'll be off. And don't worry; do everything you're told, and not only will I spare all of your friends, but I'll return you home safe and sound." His smile widened. "You have my word."

Bonnie looked back at him. He certainly didn't seem overly threatening. But she remembered the horrific stories Stefan and Damon had told about him, his threat to everyone she cared about, and how he'd just killed Jeremy as casually as if he were swatting a fly.

And, looking into his cold blue eyes, she was more afraid than she'd ever been in her life.

"Okay," she said softly. "Where are we going?"

"California," Blackwood said calmly. "I'm not sure exactly where yet; that's part of your job. Now let's get going."

"How?" she snapped. "You wrecked my car."

Blackwood pointed to a spot a short distance down the road, to where a sleek, midnight-black Lexus that she hadn't noticed before was parked.

He looked back to Bonnie and smirked. "My car's faster."

Blackwood turned and started leading her back towards his car, calling back, "Come along, Bonnie, there's no time to lose. We have a destiny to fulfill."

A/N: Well, now things are moving along pretty quickly. We finally find out why Blackwood was in Mystic Falls, Klaus and the Salvatore brothers have temporarily teamed up to deal with him, and on top of that, Blackwood has kidnapped Bonnie and killed Jeremy! Hopefully, this'll leave all of you clamoring for the next chapter! Well, don't worry, I'll have the next chapter up as soon as I can. ;)

Also, for those of you who want to know Blackwood's appearance, I gave a basic description of him in this chapter, but just in case some people aren't really sure what he looks like; if Blackwood were a real character on The Vampire Diaries, he would be played by Tom Hiddleston, who plays Loki in the two Thor movies and The Avengers. In case anyone wants to see what he looks like in this story, I've uploaded a picture of him as the cover image for this story.

As always, I really appreciate reviews, so if anyone has a comment or question about this chapter or the story as a whole, please review! (No hate, please).

Hope you enjoy the chapter, and I'll see you all next time!