Disclaimer: I have said this twenty five times before, on this fanfic, and I will say it again. I don't own The Vampire Diaries.

Chapter Twenty Five- The Book

He put a small box on the table, smirking. Stefan's hands grazed the surface, a twinkle of recognition shining in his eyes. He opened it to reveal several complicated engines.

- The Gilbert device. - He muttered.

Stefan turned the device over on his hand, examining every inch of the apparatus. He couldn't believe he was seeing it again, after the terrible experience he and Damon had had with it. But as he thought about it, he remembered a comment John had made about it. It could only be used once.

- But it only works once, right? - He questioned, his fingers still grazing the box's surface. - Then the spell wears off.

- I had a witch re-enchant it. - Elijah explained, a small smile forming on his lips.

With a short nod, Stefan put the device back on the table and closed its lid. He knew that it would come in handy, since the hybrids would most probably be affected by the device as well, but that didn't keep him from feeling uneasy about using it.

Elijah put a packet of earplugs beside the box. Stefan nodded, knowing very well what the earplugs' use would be. He could only hope that it would actually work, otherwise they were as good as dead, unless the device's effects lasted longer on hybrids. With a short sigh, he opened the package and gave each vampire a pair of plugs. As he put his own on, he was surprised by its quality. He couldn't hear the movements in the room or anything else, for that matter. The world became completely silent. Stefan had forgotten what it felt like to be able to hear his own thoughts. As a human, all he had to do was to distance himself from his house and soon he couldn't hear one single noise. During winter, not even the insects dared break the silence. But after he became a vampire, everything changed. The world revealed itself to be a cacophony of different sounds, and they were everywhere. With time, he adapted, but it was nice to remember the sensation of utter silence.

He nodded towards the door and, in a matter of seconds, the whole group was in Mystic Falls. They knew they couldn't risk running and attracting attention, so Damon put Elena on the floor and they marched towards the most protected place, the Town Square. Stefan believed that, if Klaus was trying to protect his secrets by hiding them in heavily guarded places, it made sense that he would put more security around that which he was attempting to protect.

They hid in the shadows, trying to sneak through darker alleys and use house's doors as means to cross a block, but soon they found that Mystic Falls was too small of a city for that to actually conceal them, so they were forced to play their luck and try to get to a building close to the Town Square undetected. They couldn't hear the hybrids approaching, which put them in a disadvantage, but going slowly and carefully, they managed to make their to the busy streets that surrounded the Square. A small house had been hastily constructed on the its centre, making it the perfect place to hide important things. Stefan could only hope he was right to assume it was there. They didn't have enough time to come up with another plan and put it to action before it was too late.

Closing his eyes and readying himself for the splitting headache, Stefan opened the little box and turned the top engine. He sighed in relief as he didn't feel any knives stabbing his head, but the hybrids fell to the ground, covering their ears as well as they could, apparently shrieking in pain.

Stefan signalized for the others to wait for him as he ran into the little house, grimacing when he felt as though it was going to fall apart on his head. He searched his surroundings, scanning the building's insides quickly, until his eyes fell on a leather bound book and a couple of parchment pages lying on a shelve. He grabbed them and hurried back to the group, waving the objects over his head to show them that they had succeeded. Katherine peeked over his shoulder eagerly as he arrived, her excitation and worry showing clearly on her movements. He allowed a smile to form on his lips and nodded towards the hills, trying to tell her that they should get out of there before the spell wore off and the hybrids started to seek their revenge.

Safe and sound on the hidden house, Stefan took off his earplugs and turned his attention back to the anxious group. He sorted out the book's pages before setting them on the table and gesturing for Katherine to translate the bulgarian for them.

The Petrova Curse

As the Petrova line became more and more powerful, with many strong vampires and witches of great wisdom, the Council, an organization that had as purpose keeping the supernatural world from becoming unbalanced or being discovered by humans, felt that it was necessary to put a curse to limit their power, similar to the Sun and Moon curse.

However, the Council had a rule they were forced to follow. Punishments could not be permanent. And thus they were forced to put a deadline to the spell, a deadline that would enable the Petrova bloodline to be as powerful as it once was, trusting that the centuries had taught them a lesson. After the second doppleganger reached maturity, the curse would wear off and an explosion of energy would happen at the girl's hometown as a signal of her newfound power.

But as time passed, the witches found a flaw on their plan. Such energy would be absorbed by the Petrova's blood, making it easy to harvested by opportunists. Each drop of the liquid would contain enough power for it to be replicated. Not only that as, if the doppleganger was killed, the power would come out of her and seek another host. If there happened to be another source of the Petrova blood, it would seek it out. The power would be passed on from generation to generation as well, of course, but it would become more incorporated to the person through the years, making the initial explosion the best time for it to be harvested.

Knowing that if knowledge of such opportunity leaked out to the supernatural community, which the Council knew that would happen sooner or later, they created a way of keeping that from happening, a counter spell. However, for it to work, the doppleganger will have to be bled to death. The origin of the blood, since the witches were well aware of the amount of magical creatures in the Petrova bloodline, is not important. Vampire and witch blood, as well as human blood, can be used on the counter spell. Once there is enough of the liquid to fill four medium pitchers, it is necessary to add something personal from the doppleganger, such as an article of clothing or even a strand of hair. Lastly, the mixture must be enchanted. The spell that has to be used by the witch is not know, as the grimoire of the old witches, the ones who cast the curse, is the only place that contains such information. It is possible, though, that it was passed on to her closest circle. However, researchers and alchemists have sought it out and failed to find any evidence of it.

The counter spell would not keep the energy from being absorbed by the doppleganger's blood, however, once it left her body, it would degrade and, in a matter of seconds, cease to exist. If the power's host is human, its adherence might be weaker, making it easier for it to detach if it feels the presence of more energy nearby. That being the case, it is recommended that the counter spell be cast with most care, as the power will not return to the Petrova's body.

- That's all? - Stefan asked, irritated.

- Yes. - Katherine replied, her expression unreadable.

They remained in silence for quite a while. Everyone had expected the book to contain all the answers they needed, but not even the author of the text knew the words to the spell. Stefan could almost feel the tension and frustration in the air.

- Bonnie's grimoire... Do you think it might be there? The counter spell? - Elena asked, frowning.

- Maybe. She kept it in her room, right? - Stefan replied.

- Yes. We have to go back to Mystic Falls.

Author's Note: Instead of writing two normal chapters, I decided to write a big one.

There you go, secret revealed. I hope you liked my idea! Please review and tell me what you thought of it!