"There is a war going on."
"Is there? Are we talking Afghanistan, Rwanda, the war on poverty? Or something more metaphysical?"
"There is a war going on between the witches here on the Other Side. Esther and her supporters are quite determined to wipe the entire vampire race from the surface of the earth. They want to send all of them here, and free humankind from vampire predators. And they already have their champion."
"My dear friend Ric."
"Yes. And they are winning. Staking Kol sent over a thousand vampires here in a single day. Even now Alaric Saltzman is closing in on his next prey. He is very close to finding Rebekah. Rebekah has over three thousand descendants."
"And you don't like that? Think there's going to be an overcrowding problem?" Damon asked, looking out over his expansive, empty field.
"There are many of us who do not see the world in such black and white terms. Many of us who count vampires among our friends, lovers and family."
"Ah, like yourself. You were well wrapped up in vampires and their issues when alive. And now there is Abby, of course." Damon looked at Emily. "I always wondered why, you know. You were obviously such a powerful witch, and yet you were Katherine's servant. With your power, it should have been the other way around."
Emily laughed. "I was a black woman in the 1860s American South, Damon. And I was with Katherine out of love, not servitude." She shook her head at his raised eyebrow. "Not that kind of love. She found me, recognized my power when no one else did. She took me away from a hardscrabble life. I was born free, but never treated that way until I met Katherine. She gave me a purpose, too. My life was interesting, exciting, and dangerous. It was what I wanted. And now I pay for that life."
Taken aback, Damon remarked, "You burn, too, don't you Emily? Not the knives for you, because you weren't a killer. But still, you burn."
Emily looked away. "Yes. You can't follow Katherine Pierce for that many years without blotting your copybook many times. And so, I burn. I told you, Damon, we witches are not in charge here. We have extra flexibility and responsibilities. But we are guests the same as you."
"Don't tell me that you are doing this because you still love Katherine. I don't believe that. She betrayed you."
"Oh, I know. I do know that. It doesn't erase my fondness for her. But no, I did not choose the side that I did because of Katherine. I chose it because of my descendants. Abby, Bonnie and Lucy. Lucy, especially. She has petitioned me to intervene."
"Lucy?" Damon wrinkled his brow in thought. "Katherine's witch from last year's masquerade?"
"Yes. Her partner in life is a vampire who descends from Rebekah's line. We have been in communication. All of the Bennett witches on the Other Side are together in this endeavor, with the exception of Ayanna. She has chosen to side with Esther. We also have the Martin line of witches on our side. They, too, have long been involved with vampire issues, as you put it, and have vampires among their descendants. The majority of the other witch spirits are either divided on the issue or remaining neutral. We have been having spirited discussions, as you can imagine."
Damon grinned at her. "Look at you, Emily. Making a pun. Well, this glimpse into dead witch politics is fascinating, of course, but where do I come in?"
"Esther has her champion. And now, so do we."
Damon laughed. "Absolutely, you do. So? Let's get to this. You know where Ric is, so send me there and I'll kill the bastard, and this whole thing will be over."
Emily shook her head. "Impatient, as always. It will take a good deal of power to send you back in a form capable of countering Esther's vampire hunter. The witches will need to confer. There must be an equal pull to our push, Damon. There will need to be a lot of power extended in the earthly realm as well."
"So? Get Bonnie on that. Oh, wait, you said 'a lot of power'. Have Lucy do it, then. Bonnie showed herself to be incompetent with the total fail of her last attempt to put Ric away. The one that got me killed."
"That was not Bonnie's fault. Her powers did not fail her."
"Oh, yeah? Who is to blame, then?"
"Abby did not want Bonnie to perform dark magic. When she told Bonnie the spell, she left out a step."
"You've got to be fucking kidding me."
"The agent needed to drink some of Bonnie's blood before making contact with the vampire hunter's heart. That is why the spell failed. There was no connection between the spell caster and you. Abby knew that having the spell fail might mean her own demise as well, but it was a sacrifice she thought worthwhile to rid the earth of vampires. She is afraid that her daughter is too caught up in vampire problems and drama. She saw this as a way to free Bonnie forever."
"I am fucking going to kill Abby. Again." Damon swore. He caught Emily's eye. "Or does that go against what we are doing here?"
Emily said, "Very much so, I'm afraid. Abby was just trying to protect Bonnie. If we send you back, you must promise not to harm her, or any witch."
"Fine," Damon grumbled. "But let's hope I don't actually have to see her again. I will ask you one thing, though. Why me? Why can't you send Kol? I'm sure he wants that evil bastard dead, too."
"Kol, Finn and Mikael belong to Esther. I cannot even access them."
"Bet they are having fun with mommy dearest. I'd take the knives any day."
"Besides, Damon, you have nothing to lose. If Alaric Saltzman kills you, you return here and you have lost nothing. We can even try again if we decide to. But if you kill him . . . well, then you will have gained a great deal, that I can promise."
"I like the sound of that. So what is the next step? What do I need to do?"
Emily stood. "Just wait, Damon. Like any good soldier, you just need to wait for your orders. Exercise a little patience, you need the practice, anyway."
Damon gave her a salute. "Aye, aye, cap'n. Can do."
Patience not being among Damon's virtues, he spent the next few hours concentrating on getting out of his field and back to the earthly realms to see Elena again. The burning, the night, the knives . . . none of that compared to the simple ache of longing he felt when he thought of her.
Again, just wanting to see her was not enough. He focused on Jeremy, instead. Hey, it had worked before.
And it did once again. Damon found himself in the Gilbert living room, sitting beside Jeremy as he played a video game on the television.
"Boo."
"Ay!" Jeremy gave a little jump.
"Did you say something, Jer?" Elena called from the kitchen.
"Um, nope. Just killing this guy. On the screen," Jeremy responded. He gave Damon a glare. Jeremy took a deep breath, but then Damon held up a hand.
"Nu huh. Not this time. I know you have figured out how to send me back, and that's super cool for you. But let me stay, just for a bit, okay? I won't bug you, I promise. Won't call you names. Won't even try to hit you. I will respect your choice not to tell anyone that you can see me." Damon gave him a look that was almost gentle. "Please, Jeremy. Let me stay. You don't know what it's like back there. Let me stay just for awhile."
Jeremy swallowed, and then nodded. He blinked back his tears. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "Sorry for before. Sorry it's like that for you."
Damon nodded, too. "It's okay, dude. You love your sister, I get it."
They sat there in silence, watching the characters on screen hit, kick, fight and die.
"How long has it been?" Damon asked him, quietly.
Jeremy held up two fingers. "Almost," he whispered.
"Almost two weeks?"
Jeremy nodded.
"Thank God, I thought you were going to tell me two months. I have no way of tracking time at all." Damon stood up, and flickered into the kitchen. He studied Elena's face, as she made herself a cup of tea. He could tell at once that she had stopped taking the medication that she hated. The color was back in her face, but her eyes were a bit swollen.
"I'm glad they are letting you feel again, Elena," He said to her, in a gentle tone. "It hurts me that you are hurting. But hurting is better than not feeling at all. Trust me on that." He stroked her cheek, even though he could not make actual contact.
Jeremy had turned on the couch, and was watching them.
Elena looked up at her brother. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," he responded. "Everything's fine." He turned back to his game.
Stefan came slowly down the stairs, and into the kitchen. Damon could tell he was tired. "Holding everything together, brother?" Damon asked him, equally as gentle with his brother as he had been with Elena. "Sucks that it all falls on you. And you actually do miss me, don't you? I can see that. It's etched on your face."
Stefan reached out for Elena, and she came into his arms for a long hug. "You had a rough night." Stefan said to her, stroking her hair and holding her close.
She pulled away, not looking at him. "Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm sure that I kept you up."
"It's okay. You know that."
"What about you?"
"What about me?"
"I haven't heard you cry. When are you going to grieve for your brother, Stefan?"
Stefan shrugged. "I have a job to do, Elena. Keeping you and Jeremy safe is all I can think about right now."
Elena gave him a long look, and then said, "It'll come. And when it does, when you start to feel sad, let me know. I'd like to feel sad with you."
Stefan nodded.
"Have you heard anything from Elijah?" Elena asked.
"He thinks Alaric is in Ireland. Which is not good, considering that's where Rebekah went. She's heading south, the last Elijah heard. Elijah is going to go to Europe to lay a trail to lead Ric away from Rebekah."
"Where is Klaus?"
"Klaus hasn't been keeping in touch with Elijah. I don't think there is much trust there."
"It makes me nervous not knowing where Klaus is. I know it's wrong of me, but I can't be too concerned about Ric stalking Rebekah. She's not connected to anyone we know."
"It's not wrong of you, it's understandable. Caroline is going to come over, okay? She wants to know if Bonnie can come, too."
Elena stared at the floor. "Yes, it's okay."
"It wasn't Bonnie's fault," Jeremy interjected. "You can't keep on blaming her."
"I know, Jer. I don't. I just-" Elena sighed. "I keep replaying it all in my head. If the spell had only worked, if we had hit Ric with more vervain bombs, if we had invited him inside instead of Damon going out onto the porch . . . if I had just turned myself over to him at the high school in the first place. Things could have been different. Damon would still be here."
Jeremy's eyes went to Damon. "Yeah, I get it. But it happened the way that it did. No going back."
Damon rolled his eyes at him. "No need to be so obvious, Gilbert. It's not like I don't know where you stand on this."
There was a knock at the door, and everyone froze.
"That's not Caroline's knock," Stefan said. He held a finger up to his lips, and moved to the door. He paused in front of it.
Damon thought himself on the Gilbert porch and flickered there. There were three women standing in front of the door.
He flickered back into the living room. "It's not Ric or Klaus, no worries. Although, I think one of them might be a vampire, so no invites, okay?" He told Jeremy.
Jeremy started to nod, and then caught himself. He looked at Elena and then Stefan, to see if they had noticed. "You said Ric was in Ireland, right? So it should be okay. Probably girl scouts."
Stefan opened the door, but just a crack. "Yes?"
The woman who had knocked on the door gave him a smile. "I'm Lucy Bennett." She indicated a woman behind her, "This is Leslie." And then a teenage girl standing with them. "And this is Grace. Emily Bennett sent us."
Elena gave a start, and then walked up to behind Stefan's shoulder. "Emily sent you?'
"Yes. I think you need our help. I know that we need yours."
"Would you like to come-"
"Elena, no," Jeremy said quietly, coming up behind his sister. "No offense."
"Oh," Elena ran a hand through her hair and smiled apologetically at Lucy. "Sorry, we have to be careful."
Lucy nodded. "Understood. Leslie can stay out here, if you like. She's the only vampire among us."
Stefan gave Leslie a hard look, but said politely, "If you don't mind."
He stood aside, and let Lucy Bennett and the teenage girl enter.
"Please, sit," Elena said, sitting down on the couch. Stefan sat on the other end of the couch, so Damon also sat down, right in between them.
Once everyone was situated, Grace's eyes grew large and she gave a little wave towards the couch. "Oh, you must be Damon Salvatore."
Stefan, confused, shook his head. "No, sorry. I'm Stefan. Stefan Salvatore. Damon was my brother."
"Not you," Grace said, with a little shake of her own. She pointed at Damon. "Him."
Jeremy gave a little groan. "Oh, shit."
Garce looked over at Jeremy. "You must be Jeremy, then. I thought you could see him."
Jeremy was embarrassed. "Yeah. Um-"
Elena turned towards Jeremy. "I don't understand." She looked at the spot beside her on the couch. "Damon is here? Jeremy?"
"Tell Elena not to blame Jeremy," Damon said to Grace. "Don't let her get angry with him. He's just a kid who loves his sister. A stupid punk ass kid. But just a kid."
"Damon says that you shouldn't be mad at your brother. Elena, right?" Grace gave Elena a smile. "Jeremy was trying to protect you, I guess."
"I didn't want you to love a ghost the rest of your life," Jeremy mumbled. He didn't look at his sister. "I'm sorry. But you were so sad, and you weren't letting go."
Elena eyes filled with tears. She turned towards Damon and reached out her hand. "You're here? Really here?"
"Not as 'really' here as I would like," Damon responded. He reached a hand out to meet hers, desperate to make contact, but couldn't. "Nowhere near what I would like."
"He's there," Jeremy replied. "And he's trying to hold your hand." Jeremy looked away again. "God, this is awful."
"How long has he been here, Jeremy? How long have you been seeing him?" Stefan asked, quietly.
"He's been here a couple of times. Last week, and then again today. It's not like he's been hanging around here all of the time since he died, I swear."
"No, I've been too busy enjoying the delights of the Other Side. And it's not easy to get here, I can tell you that," Damon remarked. "And staying is even more difficult when you've got a teenage wiseass kicking you out whenever he gets the chance."
Grace asked, "And you pay a price, don't you? Every time you come and then go back?"
Damon gave her a look. "Smart kid. You know stuff. Yeah, there's always a price to pay. But please, don't tell them that."
Grace nodded.
Jeremy opened his mouth, but then closed it.
"What's he saying? Jeremy?" Elena asked.
Jeremy just shook his head. "He misses you, that's all."
Elena's face began to crumple. "I know he does. I miss him, too. It seems like an inadequate thing to say, though." She choked on a sob. Stefan reached over, as thought he was going to pull her closer to him on the couch, but then hesitated, looking at the space where his brother supposedly was.
"Oh, don't mind me, Stef," Damon said. "Go ahead and reach right through me to hug on my girlfriend. Doesn't bother me at all."
"Yeah, don't," Jeremy said to Stefan. "It would be weird."
Stefan nodded, and pulled back. He looked at Lucy. "Is that why Emily sent all of you? So we could make contact with Damon?"
Grace answered for her, "No. Emily sent us so we could bring him back."
Elena gave a soft exclamation, and her eyes began to shine. "When? Now? Is he coming back now?"
Lucy gave Grace a look, before saying, "Let's not jump ahead. It's not that simple. And please, don't start thinking that he's coming back for good, or to stay, or that he's ever going to be alive again. It doesn't work like that."
Damon groaned. "Seriously, people. If you don't stop saying that, I'm going to scream bloody murder at all of you."
"Why would Emily Bennett, of all people, want to send Damon back here, even if it's only temporarily?" Stefan asked.
"Because she needs a champion," Lucy explained. "Emily wants what we all want, she wants to stop Alaric Saltzman from wiping all vampires from the earth. Many of the witches on the Other Side want that. Sending your brother after him makes sense. We will use magic to make him stronger and more durable than he was in life. And if he can't take the hunter down, and he gets killed again, we can simply pull him back and start all over."
"Like a video game," Jeremy interjected. "You know? Like, we just hit the reset button every time Damon gets killed until he finally manages to defeat the boss." At everyone's else's look, Jeremy mumbled, "Okay, not very many video game players here, I guess."
"How do you even know about Ric?" Elena asked her. Her hand convulsively stroking the area of the couch where she thought Damon was sitting. He couldn't feel it, of course, but just the fact that she couldn't stop trying to make contact with him made Damon very happy.
"Leslie, my girlfriend, had a very good friend named William, who was turned by Kol Mikaelson over two hundred years ago. Kol was visiting Will last week in Kansas City, when Alaric Saltzman found him and staked him. Will was dead within the hour. He was actually on the phone with Leslie when he died. He was telling us about this crazy man who had come into the apartment, spouting nonsense about killing all vampires with only a few blows, and about how this guy was somehow fast enough and strong enough to pin Kol down and kill him. Kol was supposed to be invincible . . . he'd always told Will that he was. And then our friend just . . . just died. It was horrible. But we knew nothing about the whole plan and scope of things until Grace called us."
Elena turned to Grace. "I don't understand. How can you see Damon?"
"I died," Grace said, "almost a year ago. I was at school when it happened, in the school library. The librarian has always been a friend of mine. She brought me back." Grace added, matter of factly, "We're both witches, you see. I didn't even know I was a witch until she told me. She caught me setting a trash can on fire with my mind, and she's been helping me learn how to deal with my powers ever since. So when I died, she saved me."
"Nobody else in your family is a witch? They couldn't help you?" Elena asked.
"Well, I was adopted from China when I was just eighteen months old. I don't know who my birth family is. My parents adopted me and brought me to the US because I was a heart baby." She explained, "That just means I have a heart condition. Tetralogy of Fallot. I've had fourteen open heart surgeries. Good thing my dad is a cardiac surgeon. Anyway, I was supposed to be more or less cured, but I guess I sprung a leak. And after Mrs. Lee brought me back to life, I started seeing dead witches all the time." She looked over at Damon. "You're my first dead vampire, actually. Can I say, I'm kind of impressed? Emily didn't tell me you were ridiculously hot."
Damon gave her a wink. "I like you. Finally, a witch that I like."
Grace giggled. Elena smiled at her, amused. "I have no idea what he just said, but I should warn you that he's a flirt, Grace."
"He definitely is. I think this is going to be fun. Anyway, Emily wanted me to come here. So I told my parents I was going to cello camp, and here I am," Grace replied.
Elena stood, and walked over to the door. She opened it. "If you'd like to come in, you can," she said to Leslie.
Leslie followed her into the house. "I appreciate that," Leslie said, quietly. She sat on the edge of the arm of Lucy's chair, and Lucy reached over and took her by the hand.
Elena sat down on the couch again, her hand reaching over towards Damon once more.
"Leslie can trace her line directly to Rebekah Mikaelson. Grace called us because Emily asked her to. We didn't know each other at all. And I didn't even know that one of my ancestors had been watching me, and cared enough to contact me. Emily just wanted to let me know what was going on," Lucy bit her lip. "So Leslie and I could say goodbye if we needed to. But I couldn't let that be the end of things. So, through Grace, I asked Emily for her help. And Emily said she could send us a champion, someone to take down the vampire hunter and recover the stake. But that we would have to make it happen on this end. I don't think it's going to be easy."
Elena said, "We should call Bonnie."
"We are definitely going to need my cousin Bonnie's help. But there are other things we need, too," Lucy said.
"We have to have three anchors," Grace added. "Two of them are right here."
"What are they?" asked Stefan.
"You and Elena, actually. A blood anchor, that's you, because you are his brother. An emotional anchor, that's obviously Elena. Somebody has to want him to return as badly as he wants it."
"I do," Elena said, quietly.
Grace rolled her eyes. "No duh. Anyway, the third anchor is a physical one. Something Damon owned or wore."
Elena pulled a chain out from underneath her sweater. At the end of the chain was Damon's daylight ring. "This would work."
Stefan gave her a look. "You went to the crypt."
"I did."
"You weren't supposed to leave the house."
"I know."
Stefan looked away from her.
Grace shrugged. "Well, those are the anchors. We also need this other thing. It's a pendant that used to belong to the witch Ayanna and then later to the witch Esther. Emily said we could use it to channel a tremendous amount of energy, and it can block Esther and Ayanna if they are trying to block us. Do you know where that is?"
"Yes," Elena responded. "It's in a cave underground. The one vampires can't enter."
"I can get that," Jeremy said. "Just show me the easiest way down."
Grace said, "Good. And now we need time and place."
"Once Jeremy comes back with the necklace, then why not here and now?" Elena asked.
"I'm good with here and now," Damon interjected. "Super good with it, actually."
Grace shook her head. "Nope. The best place would be where he died, and around the same time of day or night, too."
"That was here," Stefan said. "On the porch. At around seven o'clock, I think."
"Oh, no, sorry. I meant, where he died as a human," Grace corrected. "I assume this house wasn't around back then."
Stefan looked flummoxed. "Where he died as a human? Oh."
Damon poked him in the side. "Dude. The dirt lane where daddy shot us both in the back? It's near a big stupid empty field that I'm already deathly bored of. Pardon the pun."
Jeremy piped up, "Damon says it was a lane next to a field, and that your dad shot you there. Really, your own dad killed you? That sucks."
Damon turned to him, and said, "Yeah, but Stefan ate him the next day. So that kind of made us even."
Grace's eyes got big, and she looked over at Stefan. "Wow."
"I know where that was in 1864, of course. Might take awhile to figure out where it is now, though." Stefan furrowed his brow.
Elena said, "Jenna had a bunch of old surveyor's maps of Mystic Falls. She never returned them to the Mystic Falls historical society. They are probably in a box in the garage."
Lucy said, "Actually, the second best place would be a spot Emily told Grace about - a place where a lot of witches were killed in this town? If we can't channel the energy from his death spot, that would work, too."
Stefan nodded and then stood up. He hesitated for a second. "I'll get the maps first. So . . . we are going to do this? Definitely?" He made eye contact with Elena.
Elena just looked at him. "Is there really any doubt, Stefan?"
Stefan just shook his head, and then left.
Elena turned to Grace once Stefan was gone. "Can you . . . can I talk to him?"
Grace shrugged. "You don't need me to talk to him. He can hear you. He's sitting right beside you, looking at you like you are the greatest thing to ever walk the earth."
"She is," Damon said to Grace with a smile. "You don't know her yet, but she totally is."
