AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.
Fearfully, Veronica's brown eyes looked around at the almost pitch black forest that surrounded her. It was actually slightly unsettling to be in the woods this late, the dim light of the stars and the moon high above them and the distant light of the party that was being held on perhaps the worst of evenings, giving them just enough light to see what they were doing. "Ronnie?" Her sister's quiet voice brought the younger Bennett witch out of her studying of the woods as she turned to look at her twin, noticing the small flickers of worry that were held within Bonnie's eyes. "Are… Are you sure that you want to do this?" Almost instantly, Veronica gave a nod, hoping that the immediacy of her answer would make her seem confident that she could perform this spell. She didn't want her sister to worry about her too much, she would far rather that Bonnie be worried about making sure that this spell didn't have too much of a negative effect on herself.
Before Bonnie had a chance to speak once more, the two twins, and their grandmother who was stood a short distance away all had their attention stolen by Stefan as the vampire clambered up from the hole in the ground that lead down to the tomb. The vampire's eyes temporarily went to Dana, who was stood on the far side of the seemingly endless pit in the ground that led down to the tomb, apparently picking up on the slightly bored expression that was worn on the female's expression as he held the worn metal shovel that he was grasping in his right hand out to Dana. "Oh, thanks. It must be Christmas." Dana commented dryly as she took hold of the wooden handle in her hand, idly twirling the shovel as though she were a majorette holding some form of baton. "And why are you giving me this? Do I look like I'm in the mood for some casual digging?" Stefan rolled his eyes slightly at the female's sarcastic comment.
"Just for once, Dana, can you take something seriously? I don't really think that any of us are in the mood for your deadpan humour." Stefan requested softly, earning him a small look from Dana, with her expression implying that she was silently questioning if the male was serious before she softly scoffed upon realising that he was. "It's for you. You're going to be our lookout here, Dana. Anna's not going to let us burn her mother alive, she will show up at some point."
"And you want me to hit her over the head like we're in a really bad comedy film? Wow, thanks, Stefan." Dana spoke in her usual dry manner, causing Sheila to shoot a small glare at her, Dana's form noticeably tensing as she did so. "Alright, calm down, Sheila, I kind of need my head!" Dana instructed between gritted teeth and a look of clear anger on her expression, causing Veronica to soon realise that her grandmother was performing a spell that she had taught both her and Bonnie, the one that caused vampires to have extreme headaches and experience an aneurysm. Veronica went to get involved and tell her grandmother to stop hurting the female vampire, when her grandmother's expression noticeably softened of its own accord, causing Dana's form to finally come out of its tensed state and her fiery blue eyes to look over at the elderly witch. "You know, you're lucky that I'm not allowed to kill you." Dana commented, as she took a small step away from Stefan. "Fine, I'll play guard dog for you. Although, I don't need this. You've seen me rip people's hearts out before they could even blink, people more than twice my height, but I appreciate your concern for my safety, Stefan."
Stefan allowed a noticeable sigh to fall from his lips in response to Dana's comments as she casually threw the shovel down on the forest floor, before the green eyes of the male vampire looked over at the group of three witches who were stood a short distance away from him, with a weak smile pulling at his lips as he apparently noticed the look of combined sympathy and awkwardness that was worn on Veronica's expression. "I… I've cleared the debris away and set up the torches like you told me to." The vampire commented softly, with a small gesture in the direction of the pit in front of him, before he took a few steps away from the pit and allowed a hand to rake through his messy hair to presumably try and calm himself down. "We can go down there now."
"What's that?" Bonnie asked, with it taking a few moments for Veronica to follow her sister's eyeline, the dimly lit area that they were in causing her to struggle to make out what the object that her sister was looking at actually was. However, as her eyes focused on the two large canisters of what was presumably gasoline or some other form of flammable liquid, due to her believing that gasoline was stereotypically stored in bright red tanks, she soon realised that this was some kind of makeshift flame thrower and not in fact the random mess of tubes and tanks that it had initially appeared to be.
"It's everything I need to destroy them." Stefan answered simply as he picked up a small flashlight that was no bigger than his hand and approached Sheila, handing the torch to the elder woman.
"Will they feel it?" Veronica's voice softly inquired as Stefan stayed close to the three witches, whilst Dana kept her distance as always, staying to her usual anti-social mannerisms. "Wh-When you burn them, will it hurt?"
"Not for long." Stefan responded, although Veronica wasn't entirely sure if he was being fully truthful with his answer and was instead just merely trying to comfort the young witch that they weren't about to just give a lot of people a very violent death, based off the small gap of time in-between Veronica's question and Stefan's answer. "Burning is perhaps one of the quickest deaths a vampire can experience, so don't worry about them feeling too much pain, Ronnie." The vampire concluded, causing Veronica to softly nod. She felt somewhat reassured in his answer, grateful that they weren't about to commit a horrible act by burning all these vampires and causing them significant amounts of pain, although they were supposedly already in a large amount of pain due to them desiccating. Perhaps they were saving them from being forced to experience that pain for the rest of eternity. That was a better way to think about it.
It didn't take long for Veronica to be brought out of her thoughts once more, as her grandmother inquired in her usual bold manner, "Are you sure that Damon will come back with her?" With her question, she was, of course, referring to Elena. The young Gilbert girl was being brought here by Damon, with the clearly doubtful vampire wanting her with him to guarantee that this time around, Stefan wouldn't try and betray him. As always, Elena was the key to all of this, and that only made Veronica more nervous that something might go wrong.
The sound of a loud, slightly high pitched whistle came from behind the witches causing Veronica to almost immediately spin around, her fear receding just a tiny bit when she saw Damon approaching them with the grimoire tightly held under his arm, Elena trailing a short distance behind. "Brother. Witches. Dana." Damon's usual cold voice greeted the group, earning him a small eyeroll from Dana and a glance from Stefan, whose attention almost immediately went to Elena as she approached him.
"Everything okay?" Stefan asked softly in response to the look of both anger and partial sadness that Elena wore on her face, clearly feeling very concerned about the woman that loved, a gesture that caused a weak smile to pull at her lips. She wished that one day, someone would worry about her that much. Stefan and Elena were adorable to her.
Elena simply nodded at the male's response once she'd reached his side, her eyes looking up at him. "I just want to get this over with." She admitted softly, with Veronica not really blaming her for having that opinion. Truthfully, in her eyes, the sooner that this was over and done with and she could head home, eat ice cream and read a good book, the better. "Are we ready?" Elena soon asked, looking over at the three Bennett witches as she asked her question. Bonnie almost immediately responded with a weak nod.
"I guess so." She responded, with Veronica giving a gentle nod of her own, lightly placing one of her hands on her sister's upper arm in attempted comfort, her brown eyes soon going to Elena as she soon gave a gentle answer of her own.
"About as ready as I'll ever be."
Veronica's eyes watched in intrigue with Bonnie directly by her side as her Grams walked around, an old-fashioned lighter held in her grasp, wondering what she was doing for a few moments. She'd never had to do this sort of preparation for a spell before.
Although, she supposed that this wasn't just an average spell.
"Air." Her Grams spoke, lowering the lighter that she was holding and igniting one of the torches that was directly in front of her, the torch almost instantly igniting. Everyone that was gathered around stayed in complete and utter silence as she soon approached the torch opposite the one she had just set alight. "Earth." She added on, turning to face the final unlit torch and using her lighter to ignite that one too, resulting in a small triangle of lit torches. Finally, the witches were able to see what they were doing, something that Veronica was grateful for. She knew that she was more likely to make mistakes in the dark.
"Water." Bonnie spoke soon afterwards, causing Veronica to look over at her twin as she soon raised an ordinary looking water bottle, which was about half full with clear water that they had gotten from the tap before they'd left the house to do the spell. Their Grams lightly took hold of the bottle of water and poured it out, sprinkling the dry ground in an oddly precise manner, a gesture that apparently earned some confusion from Elena.
"That's it? Just water from the tap?" The young Gilbert girl asked as the elderly witch continued to sprinkle water on the dusty ground beneath her, causing a slightly amused look to form on Veronica's and Bonnie's grandmother's expression.
"As opposed to what?" The elderly woman inquired as the bottle soon became empty, and Sheila handed the bottle back to Veronica, with the youngest Bennett witch carefully placing it down on the ground near her feet.
"I just figured maybe it would have to be blessed or mystical or something." Elena responded, causing the smile on the elder witch's face to widen and a small laugh to fall from Veronica's own lips.
"Sometimes, Elena, magic really is that simple." The youngest witch commented, earning her a gentle grin from Elena and a slight scoff from Dana, who was stood at the very back of the crowd of vampires that were lingering on the steps that lead up back into the darkened woods where they had been standing mere moments ago. It was clear from her expression and her lack of constant sarcastic comments that Dana did not really care about being here nor did she really care about getting Katherine back, but at the very least, she wasn't complaining about it like Veronica would have expected her to do.
She strongly doubted it, but perhaps Dana was finally beginning to learn that she couldn't always make sarcastic comments about every situation she was in. Perhaps she really did have a serious side that she just didn't allow to come out all that much.
After shooting a gentle smile in the direction of both Elena and Damon, the youngest Bennett witch knelt down with her elder sister and grandmother, with their attention now being focussed on the open grimoire that held the spell that would enable them to open the tomb. Thankfully, it didn't seem to be too complicated, or at the very least, the incantation was simple. She was unlikely to stumble over her words or get it wrong. Bonnie shot her a small glance once she had finished studying the spell for a few moments, giving her a weak grin, with it seeming as though the both of them were attempting to convince the other that everything was going to be okay and that they would be able to perform this spell with no issue. Bonnie seemed to be trying to convince her to have confidence in herself and her magical abilities, with confidence being something that Veronica had always lacked.
Admittedly Veronica knew that she was probably reading far too much into this and that it was probably just a gesture of affection and comfort, but regardless of what it was, Veronica appreciated it all the same. With one last glance in the direction of the aged spellbook to make sure that she had entirely gotten the spell down, Veronica allowed herself to at the very least try and believe that she could do this with little to no mistakes. This was going to be her moment, she was determined that it was, this was her moment to prove to her grandmother and her sister that she was a capable witch and that she was worthy of having the Bennett name.
She wanted to prove that she wasn't just a waste of space or a waste of time as she had perceived herself to be all her life. She was a powerful witch capable of doing almost anything with her family by her side, and now was when she was going to prove just that.
"We're ready." Bonnie's voice soon spoke, as Veronica took a small glance over at the three vampires and Elena that were stood a short distance from them, giving a small nod to confirm that she too agreed that they were ready to do the spell. Slowly, the group of three got onto their feet once more, with Sheila soon taking hold of Bonnie and Veronica's hands, and the twins soon linking their spare hands. Presumably this would be the thing that would combine their magic and make it strong enough to open the tomb, as the mere moment that her hands joined with her sister's and grandmother's, a weird sensation of power ran through her. It was an unusual sensation, one that took her a few moments to get fully used to it. After giving a small look in the direction of her two family members to make sure that she was still doing everything that she was supposed to, Veronica allowed her brown eyes to slowly close, focusing solely on the sensation of pure magical energy racing through her veins.
"Phasmatos Salves Nas Ex Malon, Terra Mora Vantis Quo Incandis, Et Vasa Quo Ero Signos." The incantation to the spell fell easily off of Veronica's lips, as she chanted it at the same time as her other two family members, her quiet and gentle voice being easily drowned out by the much more confident and powerful voices of her sister and grandmother. Both of them were clearly much more powerful and self-assured in their abilities than Veronica was. A gentle exhale of breath fell from Veronica's lips once she had finished the first recital of the incantation, with it not being long before she repeated the exact same fifteen words, knowing that the three of them would have to repeat the same set of words multiple times before anything actually happened. The distinct sounds of Damon, Elena, Stefan and Dana's voices reached her ears, asking what it was that they were actually saying but she forced herself to push that thought to the back of her mind, beginning to repeat the set of words for the third time. Her voice got slightly more audible as she did so, becoming more convinced that she was doing something based off the dramatically increasing sensation of power that was racing through her.
As she got about halfway through her third recitation of the spell, a sensation of almost overwhelming heat hit her body, implying that something was happening to the torches as a result of their magic. The witch's breath hitched in her throat and her body slightly tensed for a few moments in slight fear, however, she soon finished her repetition of the spell upon hearing that neither her Grams nor Bonnie stopped reciting the spell. A short while later, there was a slow sound of what Veronica perceived to be rock, slowly scraping against the ground, resulting in the younger Bennett witch's eyes quickly opening. Her brown eyes widened in shock as she saw the heavy stone door that lead through to the tomb beginning to slowly open, revealing the pitch-black insides of the tomb. "Oh my God." Veronica spoke breathlessly, with her soon realising that her family had also stopped chanting shortly after she herself had done and that they too were looking in the direction of the tomb, with Bonnie clearly sharing her awe for what they had just done.
"It worked!" Bonnie's voice spoke, voicing her wonder for what they had just done as her eyes looked back at her sister and grandmother for a few moments, just in time for a small laugh to fall from Veronica's lips. She had done it. She had actually been helpful for once. Her brown eyes twinkled as she looked over at her sister, another small breathless noise of amazement falling from her lips as she did so.
"Of course it worked." Their grandmother answered with her usual self-assurance, apparently not sharing her grandchildren's energy for what they had just managed to do.
"Don't you have some fires to build?" Damon spoke to his brother, as his blue eyes looked away from the tomb before him to look at Stefan, something that Dana also did.
"I'm gonna go and get the gasoline, I'll be right back." Stefan commented softly as he lightly placed a hand on Elena's shoulder in an apparent comforting manner, a small smile pricking at his lips as he did so. Elena softly nodded at the vampire's response, as Stefan took a few steps towards the set of stairs that would lead him out of the tomb, his green eyes soon going to Dana. "Look after her." He spoke softly to his cousin, earning a small eye roll from the female, something that Stefan apparently ignored as he almost immediately headed up the old and ruined steps to get the gasoline.
"Sure, I'll babysit, that'll be a lot of fun." Dana commented bitterly as she rested against one of the crumbling stone walls, but Veronica's brown eyes were soon brought away from the female vampire when she was aware of Damon slightly staring at her and her family. The witch's head tilted slightly, wondering what he was up to, before his eyes went back to Elena and he partially held out a hand for her.
"You ready?" Damon's voice inquired, causing a look of clear confusion to form on Elena's expression and Veronica's entire body to tense in fear once more. She didn't like where this seemed to be going.
"W-What?" Elena asked in uncertainty, her eyes nervously going to the Bennett witches and then surprisingly to Dana, almost as though she were seeking help. Veronica, in a moment of bravery attempted to try and move forwards in order to get between her friend and the vampire, but Bonnie prevented her from doing so, holding her arm out protectively in front of her younger sister. Thus, she was forced to just stand there, hoping that Dana would get involved as Stefan had told her to do although she strongly doubted it. This was Dana, she wasn't exactly known for her overprotective nature when it came to Elena.
Damon's blue eyes went to the three Bennett witches stood before him, a look of slight anger and questioning worn on his expression. "You think I'm gonna go in there by myself so you can seal me in?" He inquired, raising his eyebrows as he did so, soon grasping hold of Elena by the thin material of her jacket and forcefully pulling her towards him, keeping his arms around her so that the young and defenceless Gilbert girl wouldn't be able to break free.
"Don't take her in, I'll bring the walls down." Sheila answered in anger, apparently not approving of Damon using Elena as a bargaining chip once more with Elena's large dark coloured eyes looking over at Dana once more, a pleading look in her gaze. Instead of making any form of effort to help the young woman, Dana merely pushed herself up from the wall that she was leaning against and slipped her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket.
"You'll bring the walls down if I don't. You think I trust you?" Damon responded coldly to the elderly witch's question, as Elena looked up at Damon, apparently realising that she wasn't getting anywhere with Dana. Veronica's heart pounded fearfully in her chest, not wanting her friend to be hurt as her own eyes went to Dana with desperation in her eyes, wanting her to intervene or at the very least try to help Elena.
"As much as I trust you." The elder witch snapped back in aggression, with Dana's blue eyes finally looking up from the ground that she had been rather intently looking at for the past several moments to look over at the group of three Bennett witches, and Veronica was truly rather surprised that she didn't seem to be holding even the slightest look of guilt in her eyes. Did she truly not feel guilty for allowing Damon to do this? Elena could quite easily die if Damon decided to feed her to Katherine. Was she truly that averse to being human and showing any form of emotion that wasn't cold hearted sarcasm? Veronica turned her attention away from the female vampire that stood a short distance away from her, her brown eyes settling on Elena and Damon once more.
She opened her mouth to try and speak, although she knew that Damon would probably just find her pleading for him to let Elena go unharmed more amusing than anything else, but she was soon cut off before she had a chance to by Elena. "Enough!" She spoke with a slight confidence to her voice that Veronica knew she almost definitely wouldn't have had if she was in her situation. "Both of you. Look, he needs leverage. He needs to know that you're not going to shut the door when he gets inside. I get it." Elena commented, oddly causing the slightly smug look that Damon had been wearing on his expression during his conversation with Sheila to noticeably falter slightly, although there was still a light of victory held in his eyes that Veronica could quite easily pick up on. "I'll go." Almost immediately, Damon released his grasp on Elena and leaned forward to pick up one of the brightly lit torches that the elderly woman had lit at the beginning of their ritual, lightly grasping hold of the wooden base. His blue eyes looked up at the three witches, a look of almost seemingly genuine curiosity held in his expression now.
"May I?" He inquired, and when none of the witches gave an answer, he picked up the torch regardless and turned back to walk towards the tomb opening, holding the flames above his head as he did so. Veronica's brown eyes made contact with Elena's eyes as Damon brushed past her, a clear look of fear held in the witch's eyes as she did so. Elena gave her a small nod as their eyes made contact, almost as though she were trying to reassure her that everything was going to be okay, as Veronica softly spoke.
"Please be careful." Damon completely ignored her words as was expected, but Elena gave her a small and gentle smile in response, before she slowly followed Damon into the dark abyss that was the tomb. Almost immediately, Bonnie looked over at Dana with a look of slight frustration held in her eyes.
"He told you to look after her! You're the only one that stands a chance against him physically, why didn't you get involved?" She demanded to know, causing the female vampire to sigh in slight annoyance, her blue eyes lingering on the elder Bennett twin.
"Because it's Damon." Dana responded simply to her question, her hands still placed casually in her pockets, her tone being almost monotonous. "From the moment he took hold of Elena, he was going to take her in there. I learned a long time ago then when it comes to Damon, there's no point in fighting. He's like me, he does what he wants, when he wants and he doesn't care about the consequences." The female vampire answered, a small exhale of breath soon falling from her lips. "And besides, sometimes it's easier to be the cold heartless bystander than to be the dashing hero. You'll learn that one day, Bon Bon." She commented, her eyes temporarily meeting Veronica's as she spoke her words, but before anyone had a chance to respond to Dana's comments, someone came down the steps and stood before them. Veronica's breath caught in her throat as she realised that it was Anna stood before her, her eyes soon going to Dana as the vampire turned to face the other vampire, a look of confrontation worn on her expression.
Bonnie's attention also went to Anna, as she turned to face her fully. "Hey, you're not going in there." Bonnie instructed, as a small scoff fell from Anna's lips in response to the witch's demands. Her dark coloured eyes went between the female Salvatore and the elder Bennett twin, before she commented,
"And who's going to stop me?" Anna questioned, her eyes finally settling on Dana. "You try and kill me, Ben will hear it, and he'll kill Jeremy without even thinking about it. You might not care about whether Jeremy lives or dies, but you'd care about the fall out." The female spoke, her eyes almost immediately looking over in Veronica's direction, a cold look held within her eyes. The Bennett witch's eyes narrowed slightly in confusion, not fully understanding why Anna always felt the need to bring Jeremy into this and put him in danger. She also didn't understand the implication of Anna's words, whereas from the look on Dana's expression, it seemed as though she did. "What's more important to you, Dana? Keeping up your bad bitch persona or not being hated by the one person who didn't want you dead from the moment that you met for all eternity?" Anna questioned, causing Dana's emotionless blue eyes to darken and a small growl to come from her throat, with her hesitantly taking a step backwards to enable the female vampire to get to the tomb. A small smirk soon pulled at Anna's lips, as Veronica went to take a step forwards, with her soon being kept back by her grandmother.
"Ronnie." She spoke softly to the youngest witch as she held her back, causing the young girl's brown eyes to look down at her in slight confusion, before she softly sighed and gave up. She didn't fully understand why her Grams was so willing to let the vampire into the tomb, but she figured that she wasn't going to question it. The elder woman probably had her reasons. She was more experienced at this sort of thing than Veronica herself was.
With an almost obvious nervousness to her actions, Anna soon picked up the electronic torch that Stefan had given to her grandmother earlier, looking at each of the witches and the solitary Salvatore vampire before she quickly dashed into the tomb to find whatever it was that she wanted in there. The mere moment that she had disappeared from sight and had been enveloped by the darkness, Bonnie turned to look at their grandmother with flickers of anger evident in her eyes. "Why did you let her go in?" She demanded to know, her eyes going back and forth between her grandmother and Dana. For once, Dana stayed silent, her eyes lingering on Veronica's expression with what the Bennett girl could only describe as a look of guilt in her eyes. Veronica couldn't quite understand why she had done what she'd done. She didn't care about Jeremy, just like she didn't seem to care about anyone else in this town with the exception of Veronica herself and perhaps Damon, so why hadn't she attacked Anna?
The mystery surrounding Dana only seemed to get greater with each action that she took.
As Dana had chosen this moment in particular to stay silent, it was down to their Grams to answer in her usual calm and confident manner, but her answer earned a horrified look from both Bonnie and Veronica. "Because she isn't coming out, Bonnie. None of them are."
Veronica's heart dropped within her chest at the revelation that none of the people that had entered the tomb would be able to get out, her dark coloured eyes filled with nothing but pure confusion. "W-What?" Her voice shakily questioned, her heart racing in fear as she nervously glanced back at the tomb doorway behind her before her eyes returned to her grandmother. "Bu… But what about Elena?"
"You're joking, right?" Dana's voice angrily questioned, causing both Veronica and Sheila to look over in the direction of the female vampire, her eyes still darkened with fury. "If you're not joking about that, then… You're freaking lucky that I'm not allowed to hurt you." Dana spoke in a threatening manner, causing the youngest Bennett witch to look at her with slightly sympathetic eyes. Sheila looked back at the angry young woman, completely unfazed by her spitfire like tendencies.
"Opening the tomb didn't remove the seal, it just merely opened the door." Sheila explained calmly, her dark coloured eyes soon looking back at the clearly very worried granddaughter, giving her a weak smile in comfort. "Elena will be able to get out. The seal only applies to vampires, she will be fine. It's Damon who won't be able to get out." She promised, a sensation of slight relief running through Veronica's system at the promise that her friend would be okay.
"So, was the next part of the plan to tell me to go in there to get Elena?" Dana's voice once again interrupted in irritation, causing the elder woman to look over at her. An unusually cold look was worn on her expression as she did so. "I mean, I'm honestly surprised that you didn't push me in there the first chance that you got and seal me away for all eternity."
"I've told you before, Dana. I want you to stay away from Veronica, and I will do whatever is necessary to make sure that you do that." Sheila responded simply to the vampire's comments, earning a small look of bemusement from Veronica and an eyeroll from Dana. "The moment that you tried to attack me just proved that you can't be trusted with her safety. I will protect my own above all else, you should know that by now, Dana. So, whilst I wasn't planning on pushing you in there, I would not be especially heartbroken if you were to do so." Dana scoffed in response to the witch's question, although the look of venom that formed in her eyes as she approached the elder woman suggested that she wasn't really amused.
"You don't know anything about me." Dana spoke coldly, resulting in Sheila raising her eyebrows slightly. "From the fact that Veronica isn't asking what happened, I'm presuming that you've told her that I attacked you. I would just like to remind you that the reason that I attacked you was because you tried to tell me what to do. I've spent my whole life being controlled, I grew up during the early 1900's, it was sort of the thing at the time. Only difference is that now I know how to stick up for myself. So, Sheila, stop acting as though you have any form of authority over me. I do what I want, when I want. If I wanted her dead, I would have done it by now." Dana responded, her blue eyes briefly going to Veronica, with the young witch almost swearing that there was a hint of genuine hurt as a result of the elder woman's plan held within her gaze, with it being deeply buried behind the typical Dana Salvatore anger that she seemed to always allow to take over her face.
Veronica's previous expression of bemusement and concern faded as her brown eyes met the blue ones of the vampire, with her truly wondering what had happened to Dana in the past that had resulted in her being so determined to do things her own way. In her human life, what horrible thing had happened to the female that had made her so certain that she had to push away almost everyone and refuse to let anyone in? The two kept eye contact for a little while longer, before the sound of someone else coming down the steps caused her to look over in the direction of the steps.
It was Stefan.
His green eyes looked around in clear confusion upon seeing that Elena wasn't stood with them, as his eyes soon went to Dana. "Where's Elena?" He questioned the person that he had entrusted with looking after her, causing Dana to sigh softly.
"I guess I'm not getting paid for this session of babysitting, huh?" She questioned, once again returning to her previous sarcastic state, turning and taking a few steps away from the group of witches. A look of pure confusion formed on Stefan's expression as he turned to look at the three witches before him, anxiety being written on his face the mere moment that he saw Veronica's sympathetic expression.
"Dana, what does that mean? Where is she?" He demanded to know, his eyes soon going back to the female vampire.
"Damon took her inside." Bonnie answered, causing Stefan's eyes to widen as his attention went to the older Bennett twin. Veronica's heart sank within her chest upon seeing just how worried Stefan was about the Gilbert girl, wishing now more than anything that she would have been allowed to get involved and help to keep Elena safe.
"What?!" Stefan questioned, voicing the panic that he was feeling as he began to quickly head over in the direction of the tomb, causing Veronica to almost immediately spring into action. She called out the vampire's name, begging him to wait. Thankfully, before he had entered the tomb, Stefan turned back to face the young Bennett witch, his eyes wide with confusion.
"If you go in there, you won't come out." Sheila spoke before Veronica had a chance to, soon beginning to explain the situation in the exact same way that she had done with Dana. She explained that doing the spell to open the door had merely opened the door, and hadn't actually brought down the boundary spell that prevented the vampires from coming down in the first place. Damon, and the other vampires that had entered since the door had been opened wouldn't be able to come out, but Elena would.
A clear look of guilt formed on Veronica's expression as Stefan took in the words that meant that his brother wouldn't be able to get through the seal that kept the tomb vampires in. Admittedly, she'd had no idea that her Grams had been planning this, but she still felt incredibly guilty that she hadn't been able to figure out that her grandmother wasn't planning on allowing Damon to have his happy ending with Katherine quite that easily. She would try and bring down the seal by herself, but she knew for definite that she wouldn't be strong enough to do it by herself and there was no way that either her Grams or Bonnie would help her release Damon for Stefan and Dana's sake.
The young woman was soon brought out of her thoughts when the sound of a loud female-sounding scream reached her ears, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up as soon as she recognised the scream. It was Elena. As an expression of pure horror formed on her expression, Stefan almost immediately turned on his heel and dashed into the tomb, his desire to save Elena and keep her safe overwhelming anything else in those moments. Bonnie let out a loud cry of the younger Salvatore sibling's name as he disappeared into the tomb, going to dash forwards and follow him before their Grams got in the way. "You can't just leave him in there, Grams!" Bonnie exclaimed, as Veronica slowly walked forwards, approaching the tomb opening to go after Stefan and make sure that Elena hadn't been hurt before the sound of her grandmother's stern voice caused her to stop.
"Veronica Abigail Bennett, don't you dare take one step further." Her grandmother instructed as the witch got within feet of the tomb opening, causing her to slowly turn back to face her two family members and Dana, who was awkwardly hanging back. "He made his choice, there's nothing that we can do!"
"No." Bonnie insisted in clear defiance, as she soon turned back and picked up the grimoire from the floor, and looked up at the elder woman and her sister as she did so. "Here. Just show me what to do, and I'll do it!" She exclaimed with desperation clear in her tone, her large dark coloured eyes looking up at the elder witch before her.
"We are not strong enough." Their Grams insisted in response to Bonnie's pleading, as Veronica took a small step forwards, approaching her sister and grandmother as she did so. "Even if we were able to bring the seal down, there's no guarantee that we could get it back up again." She commented, causing Veronica to approach her sister's side, standing there securely.
"Well, we'll never know unless we try, right? We can't leave Stefan in there, Grams, and you know it. It's not fair to him, he was just trying to do the right thing. He's our friend, and friends help other friends when they need it, right?" The younger Bennett witch questioned softly, her compassion and desire to make everyone around her happy overruling her common sense that was telling her to leave Damon in there. Bonnie's dark eyes looked over at her twin as she spoke, giving her a small grateful smile upon hearing her words, before her attention returned to the elder witch stood before her.
"I'm with her." Bonnie spoke with confidence, taking hold of her twin's hand with the hand that wasn't holding the grimoire. "Either you help us, or we'll do it alone."
AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you very much for reading! I hope that you enjoyed! Please let me know what you thought of this chapter and I'll see you on Friday for the next update!