Damon and Alaric walked up the street towards the diner at a fast pace. Once they saw the illuminated sign that read "Granny's Bed and Breakfast." they turned and walked into the diner. The place was mostly empty with a few people sitting here and there at booths eating calmly and had probably not yet heard about the dead woman by the restaurant. In a booth at the far end of the diner sat Elena, Caroline and Stefan whispering worriedly to each other. Caroline looked up whenever she saw Damon and Alaric approach.
"Finally!" she exclaimed. "Have you seen Bonnie and Jeremy?"
"No. They're not here?" Damon asked sliding into the booth beside Elena, Alaric followed his lead still looking very pale.
"We haven't seen them."
"Rick?" Elena said looking at him. "Are you ok?"
Damon and Alaric exchanged a look. Damon opened his mouth attempting to find a way to tell her that Rick had been the cause of the woman's death that he had lost control and fed, that he had become a monster, but he couldn't find the words.
"He's fine." Damon told them. "Just a little shocked." Alaric threw him a glare but was in no position to explain his own fault any better so he stayed silent.
"I wonder what happened, I mean who could have done it?" Elena began quietly whispering while Stefan looked back and forth from Damon to Alaric. The bell that signified the door to the diner had opened rang and Bonnie and Jeremy walked in. They noticed the group in the back corner and walked up.
"Hey, sorry we're late." Bonnie told them just as Alaric began to get up.
"I'm tired I think I'll head off to bed. You can have my seat." Alaric told them and made his way upstairs alone. Bonnie and Jeremy squeezed into the booth where Alaric had left an empty seat. She began to frown as she noticed their expressions. "What happened?"
Everyone looked at each other and began to recount what had happened to Bonnie and Jeremy in low voices.
"Someone died?!" Bonnie exclaimed. "I thought the whole point of coming here was so nothing like this happened again."
"It was." Stefan told her. "But there is something else going on around here have any of you noticed anything else strange lately?"
Damon and Elena exchanged looks remembering the scene with the mirror.
"Yeah," Bonnie replied. "Jeremy and I were by the beach and we saw something."
She began to recount how she had seen something off in the distance how they had watched it come closer and saw that it was a woman swimming to shore. "The strange thing is I swear that I saw a tail before she walked up on the beach."
"A mermaid? Really?" Damon joked and looked around but no one was laughing. "Ok, Elena and I saw something too. That mayor is not all as she seems."
He told them about the man in the mirror and how he had suddenly reappeared then how she had plunged her hand into his chest and brought out a glowing object.
"It looked like a..." Damon began.
"Heart. It looked like a glowing heart." Elena finished.
"And the man was still alive?" Stefan asked. "That's impossible. Are you saying this woman is some kind of witch?"
"That's what it looked like to me." Damon replied.
"Now we know this town is not normal." Caroline spoke.
"We need to find out what we're up against." Damon said.
"Hold on, we haven't been too discreet here as it is. By what you've mentioned they've already noticed that we're not normal. What we need to do right now is lay low." Stefan told them.
"And what? Wait for them to surprise us?" Damon asked.
"Damon's right. After that woman died we can't really be discreet; we have to find out what's going on." Elena agreed.
The store bell rang behind Mr. Gould as he stood at the counter tidying up his counter.
"You know, I'm getting a little tired of you barging in to my shop Mr. Mikaelson." he said as he turned around to face Klaus. "The sign does say closed."
"Judging by your sarcastic demeanor I take it you've found something." Klaus replied smiling.
"What about your end of the bargain?" Mr. Gould asked.
"I told you the name of the doppelganger and the fact that she is currently in town. I believe my end is already upheld. Now, did you find anything?"
"All you told me was her name and even though I deal in names she is not listed in any of the town's records." Mr. Gould told him.
"You think you'd be more resourceful. I never said she lived here." Klaus continued to smile in a knowing manner then became real serious. "So, have - you - found - anything? Don't make me ask again."
Mr. Gould looked at Klaus for a minutes hesitating on whether to divulge his information. Eventually he decided to speak.
"Yes." he replied and waited for another moment. "There is no singular cure for vampirism other than the one that you've told me has already been used. However, I don't deal in potions and such. My expertise are spells, and there is one in particular which may accomplish what you seek."
"Go on" Klaus told him interested.
"All supernatural creatures: vampires, werewolves etc. have a singular root. Magic. These creatures such as yourself were created through the practice of magic by a certain type of person."
"Witches." Klaus inserted.
"Yes witches and their practice created these supernatural creatures so in order to reverse a process you need a witches power. There is a spell that is similar to the one placed on your hometown that has the power to withdraw magical influences upon the supernatural. This spell is different because it is more controlled and will only work temporarily but it will take away any magic in the town to a certain extent. So for any vampire in the town it will take away their supernatural abilities without killing them for a period of time. In a sense they will briefly be human again. During that time the magic making them vampires will be weakened you will have a window of opportunity for your witch to cast a spell to make Elena Gilbert permanently human." Mr. Gould explained.
"This all sounds very good and all but wouldn't I also be affected by this spell?" Klaus asked warrily.
"Not necessarily. There is a sort of vaccine that can be created prior to the spell which protects against it's effects. Otherwise I wouldn't have suggested the spell because I too would be powerless."
Klaus thought over what had been proposed to him. Once Elena was human again he could compel her to do whatever he wanted and could recreate his hybrid pack that had been taken from him. He could return to New Orleans with an army large enough to take the city and keep it he would finally be able to protect and create a home.
"So mate, how would we create this spell?" Klaus asked.
