Chapter 25
"Where the hell is she?" Damon growled, pacing the floor like a caged animal and slammed back his fifth shot in the past ten minutes.
"Where did you send her again?" Bree asked, wearing a long sleeved black shirt with black jeans, black boots and black jacket, well rested after her five hour slumber.
"To Mystic Grill in town to pay my tab." Damon answered for the umpteenth time, rubbing his temple. "We can't wait for her anymore. If we don't go now, it'll get too late."
Bree agreed, having a sinking feeling something happened to Ebony, but she was keeping her thoughts to herself. "Do you have the crystal?" She asked, grabbing the bag with her grimoire in it, heading for the door.
"No." Damon answered honestly, one of the main reasons he was worried about Ebony and scrubbed a hand down his face. "I gave it to Ebony for safe keeping. I looked through her bag already, where she put it before we left to pick you up, and it's not there. So she must've took it with her." He hoped anyway.
Heaving a sigh, Bree couldn't help the next words that popped out of her mouth. "What if she betrayed you, Damon?" It wasn't that far of a stretch considering what Ebony did to Damon before they left Georgia. "I mean, you did sleep with me and left her high and dry basically…"
Electric blue eyes flashed as Damon suddenly stood in front of Bree, running a rough finger down her cheek. "If she did, I'll rip her heart out and take the crystal from her cold fingers." He whispered, looking demonic and deadly dressed all in black with his leather jacket. "Let's go."
Bree swallowed hard, following him out of the mansion without a word, hoping for Ebony's sake she had a very good reason for being this late.
A soft groan escaped Ebony's lips as her eyes slowly fluttered open, pure darkness surrounding her and wondered why her head felt like a fifty pound weight was on it. Ebony felt extremely weak and could barely push herself up, looking down at the iron shackles around her wrists. Her grey eyes trailed from them down her legs to the matching shackles around her ankles, fear starting to slowly consume her. Hearing something behind her, Ebony turned around and instantly gasped at the huge stone before her with a black engraved pentagram on it.
"Hello!" She called out faintly, coughing and felt as though her throat was on fire, wondering what was going on.
"No need to shout." A voice sounded behind her, watching as the raven haired woman slowly turned her head to look at who it was.
"W-Where am I?" Ebony demanded, recoiling when the small petite girl –she honestly looked like a child- squatted down to be eye level with her.
The woman-child smiled coldly, her brown eyes cold and devoid of emotion. "The place where the tomb will be opened, of course." Hadn't Damon shown her the progress he made in digging it up from beneath the church. "I must say, dear Damon did a decent job in making this extremely easy for me. Remind me to thank him later."
Ebony swallowed hard, not understanding what was happening and slowly looked around, seeing five torches surrounding her, all spaced apart. "You know Damon?" She couldn't help asking, wondering if he knew about this and yanked at the shackles, but her strength had been completely drained.
"Yes and don't bother trying to break free, you've been injected with enough vervain to keep you weak for a while." The woman-child informed her coolly, standing up when her accomplice finally arrived and shoved someone else down on their knees in front of Ebony. "What took you so damn long?"
"I'm sorry, but she's not exactly easy to snag, being a witch and all." The man growled, glaring down at the girl he brought here. "Is everything ready?"
"Look, what is this about?" Ebony recognized the girl beside her instantly, which was Bonnie Bennett, one of her old classmates and Elena's best friend. "If this is about opening the tomb, you're not the only one who wants to do it."
The woman-child snorted, rolling her eyes. "Duh I already know that. I know all about you, Ebony. I've been watching you slowly fall for a man who will never want you. Typical Salvatore, always wanting their cake and eating it too." She informed Damon's little friend calmly, holding her hand up when the guy came toward the women. "Leave them alone, the witch won't give us problems, unless she wants her friend to die."
"She's not my friend." Bonnie immediately stated, already knowing all about Ebony because Elena had filled her in.
"I wasn't talking about her, witch." Snapping her fingers, someone else was suddenly shoved inside the area in the middle of the torches.
Ebony's eyes shot open at the sight of Elena Gilbert beside her, looking completely terrified and immediately looked up at the woman-child and boy, eyes narrowed. "What the hell does she have to do with anything, child?" She demanded angrily, feeling completely helpless against the iron shackles, wanting to rip this little bitch's throat out.
"Insurance policy, just like you." The girl replied, laughing at what Ebony just called her and shook her head. "I think YOU are the child, Ebony. I am over five hundred years old. Don't let my appearance fool you for a second." Wrapping her hand around Ebony's throat, she lifted her up until her feet left the ground, eyes flashing dangerously. "And the name is Annabelle, but you can simply call me Anna."
Ebony was dropped like a bad habit moments later, coughing as she curled up in a ball on the ground, trying to regain her breathing. "Are you okay?" She whispered to Elena, already doing a cursory once over to make sure she wasn't harmed physically.
Elena nodded, not understanding what was going on and tried pulling her hand out of the tight ropes that bound her wrists together, but it wasn't happening. "What are you doing here, Ebony?" She whispered back while Anna and her little accomplice talked in the corner.
"I was coming here later with Damon, but was taken after running away from you in the woods." Ebony explained quietly, eyes looking over at the boy and gritted her teeth. "Who is he?"
"That's Ben McKittrick. He recently moved back to Mystic Falls and now apparently has been turned into a vampire." Elena turned to Bonnie, worry in her brown eyes. "Are you okay, Bonnie?"
Bonnie nodded, not saying a word, scared out of her mind right now.
"What do they want with us?" Elena whispered, directing that question to Ebony since she seemed to know everything.
"They want what Damon wants." Ebony answered softly, slowly pushing herself back up in a sitting position. "They want to open the tomb and release the vampires that have been locked in a mystical holding cell for the past century and a half."
Elena's eyes shot open, her jaw dropping and slowly looked over at Bonnie, shaking her head. "No…Bonnie can't…"
"Don't worry Elena, relax." Ebony assured her, having a secret advantage Anna didn't know about, her eyes begging Elena to trust her.
All Elena could do was nod, scooting closer to Bonnie and hoped they got out of this situation alive.
"They're here." Anna announced, looking over at Ebony and stalked over to her, ripping her up by her black tresses, glaring over at Ben. "Keep them quiet or else."
Ebony stumbled because she was still incredibly weak, being shoved up the stairs that Damon had apparently dug up on his downtime. It made sense now that Ebony thought about it. He would often be gone during the day, saying he had business to attend too, but Ebony never asked him what it was. He'd been here every day digging beneath the church to find the tomb that held Katherine.
Damon could see someone in the distance and immediately stopped, holding his arm out to stop Bree from going further, eyes narrowed. "Who's there?" He called out, squaring his shoulders as he stepped over a tree limb, knowing the way to the tomb site by heart.
"Damon Salvatore." A familiar voice called back to him, sounding darkly amused. "I should've known you'd be the one to do this." The girl gestured with her hand to point back at where the tomb site was, holding onto her leverage with the other hand. "I have something you've probably been looking for."
Thick black eyebrows furrowed as Damon slowly walked closer, grabbing Bree's hand, refusing to let anything happen to her at least until the tomb was opened. "And what might that be?" The closer he got, the clearer his vision came until he was standing about ten feet away from a girl he thought he'd never set eyes on again. "Annabelle."
"Very good, you remembered me." She yanked Ebony back against her, loving the sound of her soft whimper and had a wooden stake in her free hand. "Missing something? You really should keep your pets on a tighter leash, Damon."
Aquamarine orbs flashed through the darkness, cutting right through it as Damon growled, the sight of Ebony in shackles pissing him off to no avail. "Let her go right now, Annabelle." He ordered in a deadly voice. "Before you end up dead."
"As if." Annabelle laughed, petting Ebony's black hair almost affectionately before suddenly holding the wooden stake up right over her heart. "You even try killing me and I'll end her, Salvatore. Don't think I won't either."
"Damon…" Ebony whispered, hissing out when Anna started pressing the stake a little into her chest, tears shining in her eyes and closed them.
"Don't." Damon held his hands up, releasing Bree's and knew he had to regain control of this situation before Ebony ended dead. "Listen, we're on the same side and want the same thing. We both want that tomb opened. I know your mother is in there. Pearl. So let's do this together. I have a witch here that is going to open it and I got the crystal. Let's work as a team and no one has to die."
Anna eyed him almost shrewdly, wondering if he was telling the truth and looked down at Ebony thoughtfully, slowly pulling the stake away from her heart. "Fine, but I'm keeping her with me until I have my mother back. Then I'll hand her over, are we clear?"
"Crystal." Damon agreed, his eyes locking with Ebony and told her silently it was going to be alright, knowing she had the crystal on her.
"Come on." Anna didn't turn her back on Damon and wrapped a tight around Ebony's throat, dragging her right back to where the tomb site was.
Damon followed, all four of them arriving at the tomb site and looked back at Annabelle, hoping she kept her word. He wasn't even concerned with ripping her heart out and killing her, more worried about Ebony's wellbeing than anything. They headed down the stone steps and Annabelle shoved Ebony back down with Elena and Bonnie, looking back at Bree.
"You two," She paused, gesturing to Bree and then Bonnie. "Will work together."
"The hell I will!" Bonnie growled, refusing to help vampires unleash evil in this world, shaking her head.
Annabelle stormed over to Bonnie, ready to tear her throat out, but Damon stopped her. "Bree can do it on her own." He stated, looking over at Elena and could see the confusion in her eyes. "She knows the spell, we don't need the Bennett witch."
"But their power together will insure that." Anna argued, yanking her arm out of his grasp and glared over at Bree, snorting. "Fine, do it, but we're keeping the other witch here in case she can't do it alone and needs help." Her eyes moved to Bonnie, suddenly ripping Elena up by her hair. "And YOU will help or she dies."
Bonnie's eyes widened, shaking her head frantically and looked up at Damon, not believing he was going to allow this to happen. "O-Okay, alright!" She agreed shakily, breathing a shaky sigh of relief when Elena was shoved back down beside her.
"Good, knew you'd see things my way, witch."
"We need to get all of them out of the center." Bree instructed, pulling her grimoire out of her bag and walked over, watching as Annabelle grabbed Ebony and Elena, while the boy that was apparently working with Annabelle grabbed the other witch, shoving them all against the wall harshly. "Air, Earth, Fire…" Bree began lighting the torches, already having a bottle of water in her hand that was from the nearby lake. "Water."
Damon pulled out a blood bag from his leather jacket while Bree began chanting in her tongue, the flames instantly flaring on the torches. Ebony watched while still trying to break free of the shackles, swallowing hard when all eyes were suddenly on her. Her eyes locked with Bree's and then Damon's, knowing what they needed to open the tomb…the crystal, which she had on her currently.
"What?" Anna demanded, folding her arms in front of her chest, growing very impatient. "Why are you all looking at her?"
"Because I have what they need." Ebony stated, managing to push herself up against the wall, grey eyes defiant. "And I'm not handing it over until these are off of me."
"Get them off of her." Damon ordered, watching as Anna's eyes narrowed. "You can't physically take it from her, she has to willingly give it up." That was a blatant lie, but Annabelle didn't need to know that. "Look, I'm RIGHT here and we're opening the tomb. There's no need to keep her locked up like an animal."
Anna grumbled, finally nodding and walked over with the key to Ebony's freedom, standing right in front of her. "If you try to run away, just remember you won't get far because the vervain is still fresh in your system." She warned before slipping the key into the shackles, hearing them click free moments later.
"I'm not going anywhere." Ebony assured her coolly, looking past Annabelle to stare at Damon, sighing with relief as she tossed and kicked the shackles to the side, walking over to Bree. "Here."
Pulling out the wrapped amber crystal, Ebony dropped it in her hand and stepped back as the flames instantly shot up about four feet in the air, the wind picking up around them. Damon was beside her instantly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and was glad she hadn't betrayed him. He did a cursory once over on her to make sure she wasn't injured, overhearing what exactly Annabelle did to her and vowed to make the little bitch pay for it.
"Are you okay?" He whispered in her ear, watching her nod once and turned his attention back to what Bree was doing.
The amber crystal suddenly glowed a bright yellow and made a laser like beam directly on the pentagram on the door, turning it into a deep molten gold that almost hurt everyone's eyes. Suddenly, the ground rumbled like a mini earthquake as the pentagram stone door slowly began pushing open on its own, Bree reaching a deep crescendo with her chanting. Damon and Annabelle couldn't believe this was happening, looking at each other, knowing they were about to get the people they loved back. Releasing Ebony instantly, Damon walked toward the door, but didn't cross the threshold yet, the door slowly coming to a halt.
"It's done." Bree stepped away and lifted the amber crystal in her hand, tossing it back to Damon. "The seal is broken."
Damon nodded, eyes practically glowing with happiness and looked over at Annabelle. "Why did you kidnap the other witch and Elena?" He demanded, folding his arms in front of his chest.
Anna shrugged, looking over at the puny pathetic human and witch. "Leverage in case your witch didn't pull through and Elena was to make sure she cooperated." She made it sound so simple, the most natural thing in the world to do. "They're free to go."
Hearing that, Ebony flew over to where Elena and Bonnie were, immediately beginning to undo the ropes around their wrists and ankles. "Run." She whispered, knowing as soon as the vampires were released, all hell was going to break loose.
"ELENA!"