New York City 1865
Damon frowned as The detective led him into the opium den. He had heard of such places but had never been in one. Even during his time at university he'd managed to avoid the opium dens. He'd found Miss Mary Hall's social club much more to his liking. According to Alexandra this was a waste of time. Derek Northrop was not the sort of man to frequent these places. But Kevin was right. It wasn't the sort of activity a man bragged about to a beautiful woman they wanted to impress. So here they were. Their fourth such place that day.
Kevin pushed his way past the curtain that separated the entry from den itself. Damon followed after him, both ignored the girl who rushed after them. This, he had been told, was the only non-Chinese run opium den in New York City. It was run by a middle aged american woman and her two daughters.
The air was thick, although probably less so for the very human nose of his companion. It was bittersweet, a rich undercurrent of scent masked by the smell of sweat and bile. Cots littered the room, with bunks along the walls.He gave a cursory glance at the faces on the cots and shook his head. "I don't know if he frequents opium dens but he wouldn't be caught dead in this." He waved around the room at the squalor.
Damon turned on his heel sharply and looked the girl who had been following them in the eyes. "Where are the upscale clients." He said. "Take me to the private rooms."
She blinked a moment and nodded. The girl stepped around him and walked past the copper to push aside a thin panel that passed for a wall and held it back for both men. The police officer let Damon go ahead of him,and took one last look around before following through the passage.
They were led up a narrow stair case. There were several doors along the hall, all closed, and one man stood as sentinel. He was tall, long blonde hair pulled back at the nape of his neck, clothing was well made and stylish.
"Sorry, this is a private party. All the rooms are taken." He said.
Damon frowned. "I'm sure. I'm looking for someone. I'll be looking in those rooms and then we'll be on our way."
The blonde smirked. "No, you won't. Neither will you officer. Not without a warrant."
"You got something to hide behind those doors," Kevin said rather than asked, although the only thing anyone was likely to take offense to was someone breaking the sodomy laws. Opium joints however weren't known for pandering to sex of any kind. Legal, illegal, paid or free.
"Just keeping my employers privacy … private." He looked pointedly at Damon. "I'm sure you know what that's like."
Damon's brow furrowed. "Hardly." He said. "I'm looking for someone. About his height, " He nodded his head toward his companion, "his coloring, better dressed, no offense."
"None taken." Kevin said with a shrug.
"Arrogant as hell," Damon continued, "Likely to be in a foul temper."
"Looks like you found him, "The blonde said pointing to Kevin.
"He did say better dressed." the man added stepping in closer.
Damon noticed the change a split second before Kevin did. The blonde, it seemed, was a vampire. He moved in swiftly shoving the irishman out of the way, only to be rewarded with a hand shoved into his chest. His eyes widened and for a moment he wondered if this was how and where he was going to die. The strange part of it all was that he realized he didn't really care either way. When did that happen?
"I said you're not getting into any of these rooms and I meant it, Salvatore."
"How di-" Damon was cut off mid question, feeling the other man's hand tightening around his heart.
"I said you're not getting into any of these rooms." He repeated. "Now the man you're looking for isn't here. Never was here. Doubt he's ever going to be here."
"Why should I believe you." Damon managed to get out. He wondered at how the man knew his name but there were more pressing (and squeezing) concerns at the moment.
"Because if he was, if he was who I was protecting, I'd have killed you both already."
Damon grabbed at the man's wrist as his attackers head flung sharply to the side, followed by the sound of the gunshot a split second later. "That's gonna hurt." He said looking at the large portion of missing skull. He took a deep breath as the man's hand relaxed and he was able to pull it out of his chest without his heart attached. "We need to get out of here now." he said firmly even though there was a slight tremble in his voice. It wouldn't take long for this vampire to recover and when he did, he'd be pissed.
"What the hell?" Kevin asked looking at the blood on the other man's hand and all over Damon's chest, the holes in his shirt and vest.
The sound of running feet on plank floors reached Damon's ears and he grabbed Kevin by the arm and sped them both out of the building and down the muck and mire filled alleyway.
He didn't wait for the man to speak once he'd stopped. He pushed him against the nearest building and held him there, looking into his eyes. "You will not be afraid. You will not tell anyone else what you've seen here. You will not try and kill me." He compelled.
Kevin blinked and took in a deep breath. "Fine. But you need to tell me what the fuck that was. "
"A vampire."
"A vampire that knows you." He wanted to disbelieve. He wanted to sign Damon up for a visit in the local asylum. But their faces… the way Salvatore moved… the blood and no obvious injury even though clearly there should be. It wasn't just the bastard in the hall that was a vampire.
Damon made a face. "I don't know him." He said. " I have no idea how he knows me. But I'm sure as hell going to find out. "
tvd
"So that's how you met him. " Josh said "Any idea who he belongs to?" He asked, pouring more of the willow sap into the 5 gallon bucket of paint.
"No. I found out that he belonged to a necromancer eventually but I had no clue who he belonged to. Things were ...crazy… back then. Sasha and I were fighting, it was at the end of the war and I was a former confederate officer staying with a former Union officer… who occasionally forgot that he wasn't really a major any longer."
Joshua chuckled. "You two have been together a long time." He said.
"Off and on since I guess a month after my transition." Damon said. "Sometimes when we're together I'm bound to her, sometimes I'm not. Usually its because I need her to do it. Certain people don't understand that."
"Periods when your beast is out of control?" Joshua asked. He could understand that. At Damon's core he was a good person. He didn't want to believe it. So he went out of his way to prove that he wasn't and hated himself for it. Josh could see how being bound would be oddly comforting for a man like Damon. Then the niceties and the monstrosities are both someone else's fault. "I think I can understand."
Damon studied him a moment and decided he believed him. He was the first to get it. If he actually got it.
"Did you ever find out who or what this Edmund fellow was guarding?"
Damon sighed and stretched before grabbing another 5 gallon bucket of paint to adulterate. "Yeah. " He said. "Stefan."
"Stefan? In an opium den?" Joshua asked dubiously.
"He wasn't there for the opium. He was there because of an addiction to necromancy."
"One of your other brothers?" Josh asked.
"I never could find out. But it seems likely since Edmund is here and hanging with the family." Damon took the top off of the bucket and stood back as Josh poured in the mix of vervain and Willow.
"So what happened?"
"Not much to tell. Kevin and I went back and found him, got him out of there." He shrugged. Some things were better not talked about.
"Did Alex rewire his memories or something?"
"No. Sasha doesn't know anything about it. Neither does Stefan. I want to keep it that way." He said pointedly.
"What did you do?" Joshua was now worried. He had learned enough about his distant uncle to know that if he wasn't willing to talk about it, it meant trouble or a good deed, one extreme or the other. Somehow he didn't think it involved an act of kindness.
"It was a long time ago." Damon said.
"Long time ago or not, I think its come home to roost. Don't you?" He asked."It's going to come out. Better it comes from you than Edmund. Or worse the necromancer he belongs to."
"I'll handle it." Damon scowled.
TVD
Cesare stared out at the lake as he sipped his morning coffee. He smiled as Antonia sat opposite him.
"You look thoughtful." She said taking a drink of her breakfast, served up in Jeremy's favorite mug.
"Something is out of sync with this situation." He said. "It's more than just the Sauveterre situation. Giuseppe puzzles me."
"He's always puzzled me." Tonia said with a smirk. "Which part of him is perplexing now?"
He chuckled softly at her comment. "His existence. She has been up and moving for months now. If he did all that apparently Damon thinks he did, why has she not devoured him? "
"She needs him for something." Tonia suggested. "I can't imagine letting a man who betrayed me live for any other reason." Life and death… so interchangeable in certain circles.
"And you have a much more forgiving nature than she." Cesare said with a thoughtful nod. The problem was, what did Madelena need Giuseppe for exactly and was his brother party to it. "The Sauveterre woman has forbidden me to speak with my nephew." The word came hard when connected to a vampire, but, he would have to change his thinking a little where the converso was concerned. "I want you to seek him out. Tell me what you think of him."
"Is it wise for me to leave you?" She asked. "We don't know how dangerous it is here." She knew it wasn't safe at all. That was a given. But they did not know where the danger was coming from.
"Vincenzo will remain here with me." He said with a shrug, smiling faintly at her concern. "You need not worry."
Antonia scoffed, but said nothing more on the subject. "Where am I likely to find him?" She asked.
"There is a boarding house in town that he and his brother own. Currently in the hands of a Joshua Salvatore. A descendant of Giuseppe's not from his wife. Beyond that I have no idea."
She got to her feet and nodded, nearly bowing, and was gone.
TVD
"Sasha, go home." Damon said as he hauled the large bucket of paint into the sheriff's department.
"I'm fine." Alexandra said.
"You nearly passed out when we were mixing the Willow extract into the paint. If you try and help us with this you'll be napping uncomfortably on the floor, probably covered in paint." He pointed out.
She sighed. "Fine I'll go home." She grumbled. "Don't forget the rowan and the horseshoes. There's a witch working with them. I just don't know who yet."
"I'm not worried about it. We've got three." Damon said with a shrug. He set the buckets down and kissed her forehead. "Its going to be alright. We'll get this set up, once the paint is dry and everything is in place she'll arrest him and the rest of us will keep watch until the state police show up to take him away."
"That's when it gets difficult. No we don't have extra strength or speed and unless the cops are undead we can't control them but they'll be attacked on the road if they aren't attacked here."
"We'll take it as it comes. No choice. If Liz doesn't pick him up she'll end up in trouble and the state police will just do it anyway and it'll happen sooner. On the bright side however it goes down this will keep my mother distracted."
"Or enraged. He's her favorite. There are so many ways this could go badly." She said.
"And that's why I want you to take the kids and get out of town. I'll catch up when this is over."
"I can send them somewhere safe but I will not abandon you." Alexandra said firmly.
"We'll fight about this later." Damon said once more kissing her brow. "Go home. Its toxic for you in here."
She sighed. "Fine. I love you." She told him.
"You too." he said and headed inside with the large bucket of willow and vervain infused paint.
Matt took the paint from him "Jeremy and I got this." It wasn't just Alex this stuff was toxic to. The vervain made it equally devastating to the vampires. "There's some horse shoes over there. Maybe you could plant them around the grounds or something." He suggested.
"I've got Rowan detail." Stefan said with a chuckle, gathering up the sprigs of rowan tied with blood red thread.
"Lets get to it, Brother." Damon said with a smirk.
TVD
Liz Forbes looked around her station and coughed. "Do you think it will work?" she asked. The paint was still wet and the smell hung heavily around them.
Josh led the way outside. "It won't hurt." he said. "Anything that weakens him and keeps the vampires out of here will help. "
"It keeps those that would help us out of here too." She pointed out as they walked outside for some fresh air.
"They'll be outside. Which is just as good, and you'll have Avril and her wife inside. I wish you would let us go with you to arrest him."
She shook her head. "No. This is police business. I know what Vittorio Sforza did is all tied up with what Damon's mother is planning but I have to draw the line in the sand somewhere. I have to be able to say that what I am doing is not attached to that. It's simply that he has a warrant for his arrest. I can't do that if I have you there with me. Somehow I think she'd see through that."
Joshua smiled "I suppose you are right. I could apply for a job." He suggested.
"You have no desire to be a cop." She said laughing. "You're a psychologist. I can handle the arrest. They're not stupid. They will know that if I fail, the state police will show up and while their vampires might not die from a gun fight, they will."
"It sounds perfectly logical. If you were dealing with logical people I think that it might even work. Unfortunately you are dealing with a mad woman. " Josh said.
TVD
Kol struggled against the bonds that held him to the table and stared wide eyed at the necromancers that surrounded him.
"Relax. Its obviously survivable." Madelena said with a hint of amusement to her voice. "You forced my son to cooperate with this very ritual. I must wonder why the two of you are so at odds. Not that it will matter for much longer."
Kol glared at her. He gave up struggling as the others surrounded him. He couldn't escape this any more than he'd been able to escape anything else she'd done to him. He drew in shuddering breaths as they prepared the blade and lit the candles.
"He will kill you. My brother will kill you all."
"Which brother is that dear? The one that is trapped in a soul stone? Or the one that thinks you've left town on your own?" Madelena said as she placed a hand on Kol's forehead.
He screamed as the blade pierced his skin, certain that it pierced his soul as well. Kol tried to control his thoughts, to maintain his will, his sense of self as both were ripped away from him in those moments.
Madelena focused his essence, all the magic in him that made him a vampire was focused on one purpose, finding the book of rites. As his mind flew and she rode with it. One hand on his forehead and the other buried deep within him. Everything else was at her fingertips. All of it. She needed that damned book.
Kol's struggles stopped and his screams faded to little more than gasps. His eyes were glazed with the milky film of the dead. He no longer saw the world around him, but his eyes were far from blind. They were filled with images of rooms and boxes and furniture until finally his vision was filled with a single book at the bottom of a hastily packed box.
He gasped as his presence was pulled from the box, back from the room, back into the main house and finally back to reveal a building he recognized. The Salvatore Boarding house. Finally there was relief as first the hand was removed from within and Madelena's mind left his own.
"Good. See that he's sewn up and given enough blood to heal. " Madelena told Vittorio. She looked to Gian and Pierro. "You know what to do… It's time." She had her own matters to attend to.