Chapter Twenty-Five: Desperate Times, Desperate Measures
A/N: So this is a thing.
Wow. I'm ashamed of how neglected this story has been. I am so sorry. I don't expect much but hopefully, anyone who's previously read this story will want to finish it with me. I can't leave this unfinished, so here it is!
Feel free to read the last couple chapters just to jog your memory. I know I had to.
Enjoy!
-x-x-x-
"That can't be good."
Noah peered over his dashboard before sharing a look with Jasmine. Quietly, he parked his car and came around to see the fallen lamp post across the entrance of the Salvatore driveway.
On the grass around the obstacle were tire tracks.
After talking to the council of witches in Detroit, he had convinced Jasmine to go ahead with him before they even made their decision. Whatever their decision, Noah knew he needed to come back sooner than later in case something happened. It had been over a week since anything major had occurred and it wasn't like his sister would wait around forever.
"It has to be Irina," Jasmine supplied, shutting the car door, "Let's go."
With a nod, he and the witch hopped over the fallen metal and dashed up the driveway. He stopped halfway, holding out an arm in case Jasmine wasn't paying attention and gestured to the trucks.
"Hunters?"
"Do you see anything?" she asked him, favouring his more advanced senses.
Noah shook his head, "There's no one out here but we need to be careful. They're probably all inside. Just follow my lead."
"When have I never? You've always been so bossy," she joked despite the situation.
The draugr just shook his head again, "Come on."
-x-x-x-
"Hey! Get back here! We're not done!"
Elena woke to shouting and rattling metal.
"HEY!"
The person who had been shouting grunted as they tried to pry something open before giving up and kicking what sounded like hard metal.
Blinking a couple of times, the doppelganger adjusted her eyes to the lack of light. She fought through the sluggish feeling of hunger in her veins trying instead to focus on gaining her vampiric sight.
"Elena?"
The first thing said girl noticed were the bars surrounding them like a prison. She found that the owner of the voice had a look of anger in her eyes, but none of it was directed at her.
"You're awake."
"Avery? Where are we? Why is it so dark?"
"Irina's secret lair I'm guessing."
Elena sat up and rubbed her neck, finding it not only sore but still torn from the immortal's teeth. She hadn't healed.
"Are we the only—?"
"No," Avery shook her head and looked over to the cell next to theirs. "There's her."
Elena half expected the figure that stepped towards the bars to be Katherine, but even though she looked like them the girl wasn't anyone she'd met before.
"Hey," the girl said a bit sheepishly. "My name is Amara."
Astonishment came over Elena's features as her vampire senses told her something she otherwise would've never noticed.
Her stomach turned.
She had to swallow back the sharp pang of hunger as she asked, "You're human?"
"A witch, actually, but yes," Amara breathed a humorless chuckle and gestured to Elena. "And that's probably why she didn't put us in the same cage."
Elena quickly turned away and willed the sudden veins around her eyes to disappear.
"She's the first doppelganger," Avery explained. Knowing her, she must've thoroughly questioned Amara already.
"The first?" Elena gasped in shock. "I know witches can slow their aging but two thousand years?"
"As a doppelganger, we can't die. Not unless we're murdered. Like Tatia was," Amara clarified. "I was born the second Irina took her first breath as the Immortal and I've survived since then."
"Even as a human, doppelgangers live unless we're explicitly killed," Avery reiterated, more fascinated than anything.
Amara nodded her head.
"You've never turned into a vampire?" Elena asked. Even witches had weaknesses.
"Being a vampire is just a different kind of vulnerable. But even then, I considered it. A lot. It definitely would've made some things a lot easier."
"And then Irina found you."
Amara took a deep breath, her eyes cast down as she answered, "Yeah."
Elena knew that look. If she could lose as many people as she did over just a couple years, she could only imagine what Amara must've gone through with two thousand.
"I'm sorry."
Amara shook her head slightly, responding with a small smile as a sad thanks.
After a moment, Elena turned to Avery and asked, "Who were you talking to?"
"Huh?"
"You were shouting at someone."
"Irina. She told me she took Mercer with us, but she won't tell me where he is."
"Mercer?" Elena didn't have to think too hard to understand why Irina would take people other than her doppelgangers. "She wouldn't—"
"Use him for the Veil? She could and she would."
"This Mercer, he's your friend?" Amara leaned her forehead onto the bars. "What is he?"
"A werewolf. An alpha werewolf."
They fell silent.
"I'm sorry," Amara offered softly.
Avery clenched her fist but didn't say anything.
Elena shook her head. They couldn't just accept that Mercer would die. "We need to get out of here."
"There's no way we can get out. I've tried." Amara shook her head. "Nevermind that you have superhuman strength. These bars are infused with magic. You won't be able to break them."
-x-x-x-
"Whoa."
"Hey, Damon," she nodded to him, but Damon only looked at Bonnie in disbelief.
Sure, they were both dead, and both on the Other Side, but he never actually thought he'd see the Bennett. In truth, with all that was going on, he hadn't thought of their former resident witch, save for when they mentioned her offhandedly.
Her presence surprised him.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, coming down the stairs of the house Petrov occupied.
The former coven patriarch and Tatia were nowhere in sight right now but Bonnie was standing in the foyer like she'd been there more times than not.
"What am I doing here? I was here first. I could ask you the same thing, but I already know," Bonnie took a deep breath, some of the tension in her shoulders leaving. She smiled, "I never thought I'd be relieved to see you."
Maybe it was because he was no longer a vampire, or maybe he really was just that mushy deep deep deep down, but Damon reached over and gave Bonnie a hug.
They weren't friends, heck, they pretty much hated each other, but he had to admit, it was good to see a familiar face, "Likewise, Judgey."
"Have you seen Petrov? I have something to give him."
"He's in the kitchen," he said, moving to lead her there even though she probably already knew where that was.
"Bonnie," Petrov greeted once they came through the swinging doors, "I thought I heard your voice. Did you bring it?"
"Yes," she nodded, reaching into the bag slung over her shoulder. "The Streblorrhiza flowers. They were exactly where you said they would be."
"That's for the Veil?" Damon asked, peering at the wildflowers he'd only ever seen in pictures and glancing into the mixture the warlock was concocting.
"Yes," Petrov nodded, shooing him away from his work. Damon complied, not wanting to hinder anything that would help end all of this. "In the world of the living these are very much extinct in the wild. But much like the White Oak trees you will be able to find plenty of things on this side of existence that haven't been around since the old world."
"Okay cool," Damon said with a tight smile, stopping Petrov before he could say more. The last time he had asked something, the older man had given him a whole lesson about that topic. "Well, you bubble and toil here. I'll just get out of both your hairs."
Petrov raised a brow, not understanding the idiom or the reference but resumed his work rather than ask for clarification.
"Actually, Damon. Can I talk to you," Bonnie called, following him out the swinging doors.
"Uh, sure. What is it?"
Bonnie started, "Everyone needs to know that they can't trust Celeste."
"What do you mean?" his brows furrowed.
"No, Damon. She can't be trusted."
"Why?"
"She's working for Irina. She wants to bring down the Veil as much as that immortal."
He squinted, wrapping his head around the idea. They'd all worked together since Elena had been taken, trying to find anything they could to take down said Immortal. But then again, what easier position to spy on them than from the inside?
He looked at Bonnie and noted her serious expression.
"That conniving, little witch," he shook his head, but then grimaced. "I might be too late. We already made the cure, there's no way she and Katherine haven't gone back to Mystic Falls by now."
"You're right," Bonnie barely muttered, her thoughts trailing off at what they could do about it if Celeste had already betrayed her friends.
No matter how serious their conversation was, Damon couldn't help but grin. "I'm sorry, what was that?"
"What?" Bonnie mentally backtracked and then rolled her eyes. "No, Damon. I'm not repeating myself."
"I didn't seem to catch that."
"Well, you don't need to, it wasn't important," she chuckled, shaking her head. "Speaking of need. I need you to do something for me."
"Hm, depends."
She pulled out a folded paper from her pocket, "It's for Jeremy."
Damon wrinkled his nose, "Oh Bon, I'm far from prude but I don't want to be relaying sexts for you and little Gilbert."
Bonnie made a face but shoved the paper into his hand, "Just give it to him, will you?"
Damon made to open it but she snatched it right back.
"Don't read it!"
He laughed, "Okay okay," he held up a hand like he was swearing an oath, "I promise I won't. Not that my word holds a lot to you, but you don't really have a choice."
Bonnie huffed but handed it to him anyways.
"Hey, you guys," Lexi appeared from the kitchen door, gesturing them back. "Petrov's calling you."
Bonnie was the first to head back. Lexi lingered, nodding for Damon's attention.
"Hey, I know that Petrov's said you'll die not long after your resurrection, but knowing you and Stefan, you'll find some kind of loophole to exploit. Take care of him, will you? Be less of a dick, if that's even possible."
Damon raised an eyebrow, "Great pep talk."
He began walking away but Lexi persisted, "I'm serious, Damon."
Stopping at the swinging door, he turned back, "No need to worry about Stef, Lex. Even when it doesn't seem like it, he's always got me."
-x-x-x-
Avery brushed away Elena's hair as she examined the teeth marks on her doppelganger's neck. She placed cautious fingers on the open wounds and the vampire winced away.
"You're not healing," Avery concluded with a frown. After losing too much blood that's to be expected.
"I'll be okay," Elena insisted, ducking her head and gently pulling away.
"You really need to feed," Avery said, suggesting the obvious. Her doppelganger laid back onto the concrete floor with her eyes closed. Her diaphragm rose and fell irregularly as she tried to control her hunger.
She couldn't blame her, even without Irina feeding from her, she was feeling more than a bit hungry herself.
"I'll be fine, I promise," Elena breathed. "Just let me gather my strength."
Avery sighed, looking around the dark room. She hadn't even been a month in Mystic Falls and already the Immortal had captured her and her doppelgangers while her evil plan moved along like a well-oiled machine.
"What're you thinking of, Avery?"
The younger girl turned to Amara who, understandably, was sitting just out of arms reach from the bars that separated them.
"Irina is going to break the Veil using only one witch. Unless she plans on using you."
Amara shook her head, indicating the amount of leverage the Immortal had on her. None.
"Okay, good." Avery confirmed as she narrowed her eyes. "I mean, we all know Qetsiyah did it all on her own, but Celeste is not Qetsiyah. And the Veil is much more powerful now than it was when it was made, hence the need for more witches."
"What're you saying?" Amara asked but Avery had a feeling she already knew the answer. She was just encouraging her to come to the same conclusion.
"Celeste would need power, something that would greatly augment her spell. And that's where we come in, right? All of our blood pooled together for one powerful spell."
She looked at Amara for confirmation and when she got it, she sighed again.
"But she wont be able to use all of us."
"She needs to keep at least one of us safe. In case we all get killed," Amara said.
"I mean, there's four of us altogether. The last one, Katherine, seems like she was left behind."
"Mhm," Amara nodded, going along, but this time she didn't look too sure where Avery was headed with this.
"I'm saying she can drain all of us and we'd be safe. So long as Katherine is still alive. They'll have a lot of power to use for the spell. A double-edged sword."
"I see."
"Killing us means they won't have the power to revive us. Not until they get Katherine. When we die, they can't take our blood."
"Where are you going with this, Avery?" Elena asks.
"If we kill ourselves, we can cut the power source they need in order for Celeste to perform the spell."
"You want to delay the ritual?" Amara draws her brows together.
"Yes."
When Avery had woken up, Irina had been there. She hadn't offered any threats, but she had said words that cut deep because she could see into her mind.
"You sealed his fate the second you decided you didn't want to venture out on your own."
It had been her worst fear; that she had led Mercer into danger neither of them would be able to handle. If it wasn't for the fact that she knew her best friend and that, no matter what, he would've never left her to face all this alone, she could easily take all the blame for his impending death.
No, she didn't solely blame herself for that. What she could blame herself for is if she had the chance like this, and she didn't at least try to delay the seemingly inevitable.
"Irina would need doppelganger blood to revive us," Avery laid out. "That's not exactly something you can buy off a corner store."
"Exactly. This will leave our last doppelganger in danger of Irina actively seeking her out in order to get us back. What if she finds her?" Amara rebutted. They needed to think through any plan they considered doing. Especially one that sounded this dangerous. "And what if Katherine is already dead?"
"Then Irina dies and all this goes away. I don't want Mercer to die because of me."
Avery sees Elena's gaze bounce to her as well.
"And if Katherine is alive and well," Avery amends, thinking optimistically, "at least this way, maybe Stefan and the others will be able to come up with something in time to stop our immortal original."
"The basis of this plan rests on whether or not the last one of us is alive."
"I highly doubt Katherine is dead," Elena cut in.
"And yet, you're not 100% positive that she is," Amara refuted.
Avery shook her head, "It's either we delay this ritual or Irina is stopped altogether. If we don't do anything, she's going to be able to tear down the Veil. I don't think we have much of a choice."
Amara pursed her lips and glanced to see if Elena would offer any other input.
The younger girl raised her brows.
"Are we sure about this?" Amara voiced.
"If it stops this burning in my veins I'll take it," Elena breathed.
"It's our only choice," Avery assured. Turning to Elena, she continued, "I'm going to kill you and Amara, and then I'll find a way to die myself."
Elena propped herself up on her elbows. Despite the insanity of that sentence, she nodded in agreement.
"Alright," Amara conceded.
Getting a hold of her shoulder, Avery wasted no time and jabbing her hand into Elena's chest.
Through a mesh of muscles and veins, she found the organ she was looking for.
Gripping her heart, she pulled.
-x-x-x-
A tight knot formed in Katherine's chest and unconsciously, her hands curled into a fist.
She sighed deeply, attempting to get rid of the sudden tension.
She knew this feeling.
"Stefan," she interrupted the odd discussion circle that had formed in the study.
The fact that they were discussing in the study wasn't the odd thing. It was the people involved. The last time hunters had been in the Salvatore mansion, the Scooby gang had been defending themselves against a full assault.
She leaned forward as she spoke, "Help me out with something."
The younger Salvatore was standing just in front of her and he turned to make eye contact.
Everyone else turned as well, but Stefan nodded without a second thought.
"Hold on, what is this?" Issac interrupted Josiah's spiel, stopping them before they could go to another room.
"Nothing that concerns you," Katherine waved but a hunter stood in her path as she turned to leave.
"We have an alliance, don't we? No need for secret meetings."
"Seriously? I wasn't aware we were on lock down," Katherine rolled her eyes at Issac. "I'm starving and in need of a nice hot shower. Unless you want to join me, I didn't think it had to be public knowledge."
Jeremy snickered in the corner, but the other hunters still glanced at each other uneasily. They didn't say anything further.
Without regard of their concern, Katherine grabbed Stefan's arm and walked out of the study. She let go of him once they got to the hall and began heading to the basement.
She hadn't been lying about being hungry.
"What's going on, Katherine?"
"I felt something," she began, opening the fridge with all the blood bags. "It's the same feeling I got when Elena died on our way back here."
"When you kidnapped her?"
Katherine rolled her eyes. "Yes, when I kidnapped her, and Irina stuffed us in a dingy cave. Potato, po-tato."
Stefan rolled his own in response.
"It's this sudden flash of…" she continues, trying to find the word, "uh, I'm not sure how to explain it."
"Emptiness?"
She sipped on the blood bag like a juice box, taking a second to think over whether or not he was supplying the right word to her feeling.
Stefan chuckled, "Look, Katherine, I know Elena isn't your favourite person, so feeling "empty" regarding her might be a little foreign, but it does exist."
She pursed lips and narrowed her eyes, "How do you know what I'm talking about?"
"Elena told me about meeting Irina at that rock formation on the outskirts of town. When Irina killed you. So that must mean…"
"She's dead," Katherine said bluntly.
"Is that all? Did you get any flashes or anything?"
Katherine shook her head, "That's it. Now, if it's just Elena or Avery, I can't tell…."
She trailed off, feeling her skin crawling up her shoulders, mimicking the earlier feeling. A hand came to her chest.
"What?"
"The other one. She just died… That or I'm suddenly getting chills for no reason."
"Why are they being killed?"
"Does it matter? Somethings happening over there and whatever it is, we should probably hurry before I'm the only one left and those G.I. Joes upstairs find out and try to kill me."
"You're right. I'm going to go back and get everything settled before they become even more paranoid about working with us."
After Stefan left, Katherine had the same feeling once more, leaving her confused.
Another one? There's another doppelganger out there?
Was.
There was another doppelganger out there.
Whatever was going on, Irina most definitely was not the one behind it. Be it another foe, or some haphazard plan, as scary as being the only one left, it meant that time had been bough for them.
Stefan didn't need to worry about losing Elena, they had Katherine's blood handy, but that would mean Irina was out of doppelgangers. She would no doubt head straight to finding Katherine in order to get back on track.
She shook her head.
Nothing she could do about her doppelgangers now. The odd group of hunters and the Mystic Falls gang was getting their plan ready and it wasn't like Irina could just storm back to the boarding house that quickly.
Downing the rest of the blood, she threw out the bag and headed upstairs.
Katherine didn't bother going back to the study, rather, true to her word she headed to the second floor to get herself cleaned up. It wasn't long before she was walking down the hall, a clean towel, and a pair of running shoes she'd stolen from Avery's room in hand.
She passed by a couple of doors before she stopped and turned to look at Damon's closed door.
A grin spread on her face.
Whether she was feeling mischievousness or not, everyone knew that the best bathroom in the boarding house was in Damon's room. What better place to take a shower?
Katherine was already halfway across the room before she noticed that Damon was on his bed.
She stopped short, staring at his lifeless form in perplexity.
It made sense that he was in his room but Katherine honestly just assumed that he would be in Stefan's room where his brother could keep an eye on him when he awoke.
The younger Salvatore had pulled the covers over his brother's chest, effectively hiding the gaping hole that was still there.
He was pale, sure, but his expression wasn't in agony and if Katherine was delusional enough, she could pretend he was just sleeping.
She adjusted the crooked blanket and realized she had inched closer without thought.
She shook her head.
How had he not woken up yet?
The last time only took a couple hours, and it had been more than a day now. It was almost getting frustrating that the stupid ring wasn't doing its job.
Maybe this was it. Maybe for some reason or another, the Gilbert ring had run out of juice. Or there were some rules they had overlooked as to how and when the ring could be used.
Katherine's eyes narrowed in thought.
She almost jumped back when Damon, suddenly, heaved a dry cough. He jerked awake, doubling over on his side, and he would've fallen over his bed had she not been in the way.
"You're awake!" she would've exclaimed, but instead she was left speechless. Just when she thought he was done, he continued coughing and heaving, clutching his chest as if he was still in pain. "Damon!"
He breathed deeply, curling up with a whimper.
"H—heal me," he broke out, showing her his damp hands from his gradually bleeding chest. She hadn't noticed till then but the red spot on his shirt was slowly beginning to spread.
"Why aren't you healed?" Katherine asked before she could stop herself.
Do now, ask later.
"Please," he pleaded so softly she would've done a double take if she could.
Biting her wrist, Katherine pulled Damon closer, placing it to his lips. She couldn't remember the last time he'd sounded so small. No, that was a lie, she could recall the a time he sounded so helpless. She'd never admit it out loud, but she didn't like either situations.
Katherine tightened her fist as Damon's hands gripped her forearm.
Pulling away, Damon placed a hand on his chest. He felt the healing effects of vampire blood stitching his wound close.
"My god, Damon, what happened?" she asked as he fell back onto his pillow. "The ring's supposed to heal you before it resurrects you."
"Long story," Damon answered as he realized where they were. "My room?"
"Where else?" Katherine questioned, rubbing blood off her wrists with his sheets.
He slapped her hand, momentarily distracted, "Don't do that?"
"As if the rest of your sheets aren't bloody already?"
"Doesn't mean you have to add to it."
The doppelganger rolled her eye, "You were saying something about a long story?"
"Yeah."
Damon sighed.
"I met Petrov on the Other Side. And ah," he held up his hand, shushing her, "before you ask any questions, we should get the others. They need to hear this too."
"I hope you weren't expecting a full house."
"Huh? Has Irina come back already?"
She nodded, "With Celeste help, apparently."
"Apparently? Where were you?
Katherine narrowed her eyes at him, "Why aren't you more surprised about Celeste than I was?"
The girl had given you a spiel on how she hated the Immortal, and vampires in general, because of what it'd done to her family. Having her turn might not be shocking in the long term, but it sure was shocking initially.
"I know not to trust some people."
She regarded him with heavy skepticism. If anyone could claim the title for Most Distrustful Individual Just Shy of Paranoia, Katherine would take home the prize.
"Okay," he frowned, "maybe Bonnie Bennett was on the Other Side too, and she told me."
"That makes more sense."
Damon sagged to the side, groaning and then suddenly shooting up to his feet.
In a second, he was across the room and in the open space that was his bathroom. He hovered over his toilet as all the blood he'd consumed came up.
Damon hated this part. Even if vampire blood healed him, it felt like he was regurgitating poison soon after it settled in his stomach.
He felt a warm hand on his back as he clung onto the edge of the toilet. Thank god, he was one to keep his place clean.
He shivered when he was done heaving.
"Damon."
Stefan stood at the door of Damon's room with disbelief all over his face.
"Hey, brother," Damon offered, trying for his signature grin. It didn't have the same effect, hunched over the toilet.
Stefan sped to them and helped his brother to his feet.
"You're alright?" he asked, running his eyes over Damon. He felt the place where the elder man had a gaping hole last he checked. "You're okay?"
"For now."
"For now?"
Damon shook his head, glancing at both Stefan and Katherine. "I'll explain in a second, is everyone here? Noah?"
"Uh, still in Detroit, but in the meantime, Irina did attack us."
Damon sighs and the other two share a look, "Katherine told me."
"I didn't get to the good part," she said sarcastically.
"Celeste betrayed us," Stefan shook his head.
They had spent days with the Bennett, and she turned out to be a traitor all along.
Katherine frowned, "If we knew, it would've spared us from kidnapping her and convincing her to make something she planned on making anyways. Come to think of it, wasn't she the one who came across the spell for the Veil?"
"She nudged us in the right direction to do all the dirty work. And probably how Irina knew to attack us as soon as you three got back in town," Stefan laid out. "She finally had everything that she needed. All that was left was to take the doppelgangers she'd let come together, most likely, for safe keeping."
Katherine muttered something to herself and Damon glanced at her with an unspoken question.
"She impersonated me in order to get in without detection."
"And she took Elena, Avery, and Mercer with her. If it wasn't for some hunters, we'd honestly all be dead."
Damon blinked, astonished, "Hunters? Why would they help us? No, scratch that. They want Irina dead. But she took Elena? And the others?"
Stefan nodded; his eyes full of regret.
"Well, normally I wouldn't be so opposed to that," Katherine cut in, "but seeing as Irina needs us, I'm disappointed too."
Stefan glared at her and Damon rolled his eyes.
"We've made a truce with the hunters."
"A truce? Cause that worked out well last time."
"We have a real common goal now. We gave them the cure in exchange for sparing any and all doppelgangers," Stefan explained. "The hunters are downstairs, Damon. I think we should hear your message before we decide to relay any of it to them."
"Right, but before that, is there any way Noah is heading here any time soon?"
"Well, yeah. We do need his help."
"No, I mean soon soon."
Stefan frowned, "Why?"
"I don't know how much time I have here. I'm dying… again, and if I don't find a way to stay alive, I'm going to be gone for good."
"You want him to turn you?" Katherine surmised.
"I don't know if it'll work, but there's only two types of immortality that I can tap into and since original vampirism is out of the picture, then…" he shrugged, "I need to at least try."
"I'll call Noah then," Stefan turned, pulling out his phone.
"If you don't know how much time you have, why don't you tell us what happened?" Katherine said.
Damon nodded, looking to Stefan who had his phone to his ear but was also paying attention.
"When I died, I woke up on the Other Side. Lexi was there," Damon stated, eliciting a meaningful glance from his brother at the mention of his best friend. "But more importantly, Petrov was too. The barrier between the Veil and other afterlife planes isn't in great shape right now, and was able to cross over. Long story short, he was able to bring me back here because I didn't die conventionally. They were able to tap into the Gilbert ring's resurrecting properties so that I could relay their plan."
"So, what is it?" Katherine asked.
"It seems like everyone's resigned that Irina will be able to open the Veil. So, when it does fall and Irina tries to summon Qetsiyah, we need to let her."
Stefan's brow furrowed, "Why?"
"Noah did say she probably planned on using it on Qetsiyah before exacting her revenge. Petrov wants us to let her turn that old witch human, because once she does, she'll be distracted enough for us to make our move. And then he needs our cooperation to banish her. She'll be stuck wherever we put her and she'll never be able to harm the land of the living again."
"Noah won't pick up. And no, we can't do that," Stefan replied.
"What?"
"Didn't you hear us, Damon? Irina took the others. Mercer included. There's only one reason she took him and if we let her break the Veil that means he and the three others are going to end up dead."
A wolf, a human, a vampire, and a draugr. The latter two fits right in with her doppelgangers.
Katherine wondered if Irina would be stupid enough to use them.
"Hold on, Elena's a vampire and Avery's a draugr…" and that last chill she had felt earlier could be another doppelganger. Human?
Could she use them? If they could be revived anyways, why not? Irina would still have Katherine in case their deaths were permanent.
She raised her brows and Stefan read it.
"You don't think…?"
"I mean, it's possible."
"Huh, what am I missing here?" Damon interjected.
"Apparently, along with that neat little resurrecting trick, doppelgangers now get notified when one of us dies."
"Notified?"
Katherine nodded and rolled her eyes.
"The only question is, if she could, would she risk it?" Stefan voiced.
"Isn't it that your blood is more valuable as a spell augmentation rather than just an ingredient?" Damon reasoned. "I'm sure it's easier to collect a vampire and a draugr, than weaken her defenses by killing even one of you."
"You're right, but we can't know for sure," Katherine cautioned.
"I am right," Damon grinned suddenly, "You're the second person who's said that to me."
"I guess if you don't hear it often, it is worth grinning about," she replied, and he frowned. "So, we've either been bought time, or we're already too late."
"Let's hope it's the former. But what I said stands, we can't just listen to Petrov and let Mercer die. Or anyone for that matter."
"Better than the entire world being ravaged by people who should already be dead," Damon persisted.
"Noah is coming with enough witches to cast the banishing spell before Irina can even think to destroy the Veil. We don't need to turn her human, she'll be out of our hair either way."
"Okay," Damon sighs. Whether the Veil is destroyed, or it stays intact, they had a plan to deal with both situations. Irina would be gone in the end and that was all that mattered.
Well, that and, for Damon, whether Noah would get here today or next week.
"Question: you aren't stupid enough to tell this to the hunters, right?" Katherine voiced, asking both Salvatores.
Stefan just about shook his head when a loud crash caught the attention of the trio.
Simultaneously, they all turned to where they could hear a commotion coming from. Stefan was out there quickly, speeding off with supernatural speed.
With Damon beside her, Katherine only caught a glimpse of a hunter hovering against the fireplace while the others pointed their weapons towards their two visitors.
Stefan stood between them, his hands in the air.
"Stop! We're all on the same team! Noah, please tell your friend to put him down."
"What's going on, Stefan?" the draugr asked, eyes white and cautiously denying his request for now.
"Irina came. They saved us. And now we're going to work together to get rid of her."
Katherine could only tell that Noah had glanced around at the hunters because he'd moved his head in their directions. He hesitated but nodded, listening to Stefan.
His eyes turned back to their normal green and he negotiated, "Tell them to put their weapons away and Jasmine, here, will let their friend go."
"Guys," Stefan turned to the hunters. They looked at each other, not completely trusting the vampire, and since Josiah wasn't present there was no one to tell them to cooperate.
"They easily outnumber us now," one of them piped up.
"Not to mention they're all vampires," another added.
Surprisingly, Issac gave a nod to his fellow hunters.
"Josiah made a truce. Weapons down," he commanded and they all reluctantly obliged.
Jasmine did the same, slowly bringing the hunter she had pinned back to the ground.
"So, who are these two?" Issac demanded, stepping up to the newcomers.
"Noah meet Issac. Issac, Noah. You briefly met each other when you tried to attack us not a long while ago," Stefan introduced with a bit of malice.
"This is Jasmine," Noah nodded, introducing her to everyone.
The hunters grumbled among themselves, scattering but keeping an eye out on the supernatural group that seemed to keep growing.
Noah greeted them but his eyes landed on the elder Salvatore who was quickly making his way into the circle, "Damon, you're awake."
The draugr had been kept up to date. Especially with the news that Damon and their rebellious trio had successfully made a cure.
"Yup. Hey, old buddy, old pal, I need a favour. Can I speak to you over here?"
Noah frowned but followed him out.
Issac looked between each supernatural being in the room, cautious as always.
"I don't suppose that's relevant information either."
Stefan stopped him from following, "It's not. Don't worry about it."
"Then what is it? Cause saying things like that just makes us all the more curious."
"Paranoid, aren't you?" Katherine asked with a tilt of her head. "Don't worry, we can tell you one thing for certain, they're not out there talking about you."
-x-x-x-
Elena gasped, her eyes opening as she jerked awake.
She looked up, not surprised to find herself away from the dungeon she'd previously been at but confused as to the setting.
Last she checked, the Other Side did not consist of a long table for six, set with plates and utensils in the middle of a modernly lavish dining room.
She sat at the edge of the table and frowned when she noticed that Avery and Amara were both slumped against their chairs on either side of her.
Katherine had mentioned going to Purgatory when she died, and Elena wondered that if they died together, did that mean they all ended up on the same plane?
"Hey!" she reached over, coughing through her dry throat and shaking them both. "Avery, Amara! Wake up!"
Her voice was raspy and it hurt to speak.
They did not stir, but the pale complexion both seemed to possess due to their death seemed to slowly be giving way to a more "alive" looking skin tone. That was good, but it didn't add up with the feeling of consciously just being on the Other Side. It was almost like they were still on the living side of the plane.
How could she tell if they were in a supernatural purgatory rather than in the land of the living?
"Unfortunately, that experience is uniquely reserved for the four of you," Irina entered the room, coming from the kitchen. "I would not be able to answer it, even if I wanted to."
"Irina," she breathed through a parched lips, swallowing her fear. No wonder she felt that familiar pang of hunger when she woke. They hadn't died.
"Actually, the three of you were successful."
"But… how?" Had did she revived them? How had their plan failed?
"Tell me you did not actually think it would be that easy?" Irina mocked.
Celeste appeared as well, pulling out the seat next to Avery and placing a small pyramid object on the table.
Elena felt herself become heavy, sinking back into her chair.
She glared at the witch and Irina before glancing at the other two who had yet to wake up.
"It was clever, yes. But you underestimate me," Irina continued, "Your disadvantage is that I've been at this far longer than you have. I've had two thousand years to think of every possible scenario that I could fathom and, truth is, my doppelgangers committing suicide were one of the many commonplace outcomes."
Avery gasped suddenly, waking up as well.
Her gaze darted around the room, understanding the situation without explanation.
"I understand self-sacrifice all too well," Irina finished. "Unfortunately, martyrdom is not written in the stars for you. Not while I am around."
Avery tried pulling at the invisible weights that held her arm to the armrests of her chair.
"How did you revive us?" Elena asked, ignoring the pain of her fangs threatening to elongate.
She was starving.
"Why, I had siphoned some blood from dear Amara over there long before I captured either of you. It's quite convenient that I may be able to use her blood post-mortem. Unfortunately, her own blood cannot revive her, and as you can see, she still slumbers."
Elena caught Avery's eye, and they look to Amara who was still slumped over in her chair.
"Cheer up, you two," Irina encouraged, delight in her voice. She had all that she needed and not even her own doppelgangers could kill themselves to delay, much less stop, her. "This is not the end."
That's exactly what Elena feared.
Food was served by a couple of humans that didn't (or couldn't) respond to anything Elena tried to say to get their attention.
Irina merely smiled.
"Now," she said, picking up a champagne glass, "before we eat, I would like to propose a…? A drink, what do you call this? A toast? A toast. To our supper. May this be the first of many for eternity."