Chapter 18: The Crone

The prison basement was damp and cold. No one spoke a single word for hours, with the exception of Mabel who would sob every once in a while. Their house had been invaded, and probably torn to shreds and Raven was missing. What gave it away? Catherine asked herself over and over again. Her coven had done everything right: They lived mostly normal lives, worked like anyone else, in the hospital and the apothecary and the market. They lived modest lives and paid their taxes to the collectors. They stayed out of politics and didn't raise any brows in public. They were just a bunch of widows and distant cousins who shared a house they inherited. They never did anyone harm. No one ever stole or slept with married men. They kept to themselves and lived quiet and peaceful lives. And before townspeople got too acquainted with their presence, they left and started over elsewhere. The next stop was going to be Nova Scotia up the coast, where some of Mabel's blood family had settled.

But from where she was sitting, they weren't going to make it past the next sunset. Luckily, Raven had escaped. She hoped her youngest sister made it to a place far, far away. Somewhere safe. Catherine knew Elijah Blackwood would put her in a good coven or maybe take her in - she never really understood why he didn't raise her himself. Maybe he was too busy governing. Or he was just a shitty father. Who knows? The man always gave speeches every Black mass about becoming better and rising above. About excellence. Maybe it was time he put his money where his mouth was. The five women sat in the filth, waiting for a miracle. Suddenly a shadow appeared in the hallway. Their necks turned.

"Et tolle animam tuam," the Bishop's voice cut through the dark.

A soft thump hit the floor. The two inmates in the cell next to theirs slumped over, their eyes were glassy, their mouths drooled, their lungs deflated their last breaths. The Bishop just used the death spell. May the Lord be kind to their souls. Elijah approached the iron bars and the five women stood up, shocked to see him there. Their miracle had arrived after all.

"Where is she?" The Bishop asked at once.

"I don't think they caught her, she was still at the ball when they came for us," Agatha told him.

"Master Blackwood, what are you going to do? You know we won't get a fair trial -" Harriet pleaded.

But Elijah shook his head and interrupted. "Has Raven ever used a killing spell?"

It was only then Catherine sensed something was wrong. Elijah had beads of sweat on his forehead and his pupils were dilated. His knuckles were white, closed in fists. He was nervous. Elijah Blackwood doesn't get nervous. The man always had the same stern expression on his face, even at the darkest hour. If he really cared so much about Raven, why make Agatha raise her?

"No, never," Agatha told him quietly.

"Not even with a small animal, or with a mortal she disliked?"

Death spells? Why does it matter? And of all things, why does such a mundane spell matter now? But Catherine knew better than to question a Bishop.

"No, I taught her killing curses were strictly forbidden," Agatha explained.

"What? Why?" Asked Violet.

"Good," Elijah ignored her. "So her vessel is still pure,"

"Yes," Agatha nodded.

"Agatha, what in heavens is going on?"

No one spoke for a moment. Agatha, for the first time in the centuries they have known her, did not give her - or any of them - the look. They all have been together through several human lifetimes, and they witnessed more the wildest writers could ever even dream possible. They survived famine, persecution, war, rebellion, uprisings, new worlds and old ones. And through it all, Agatha Beekman had been their rock. Their lighthouse through the fog. Catherine could always count on her High Priestess for guidance and safety, and assurance that everything would be fine. She had a look. But this time, Agatha refused to face them.

"You haven't told them?" Elijah asked Agatha but she just shook her head.

"Told us what?" Harriet asked. "Agatha, what in the Lord's name is going on?"

Agatha looked at the floor and at this, Catherine was taken over by fear.

"Raven was not born, she was created," Elijah said proudly.

The four women looked at each other, confused. What is he talking about? Raven was created? As creating a new being, that kind of creating? Witches and warlocks weren't allowed to do so, it was written in the Book of Shadows - the one he preaches with at Black Mass every solstice.

"I don't follow," Violet muttered.

"Marion and Elijah found a way to bring Lilith to this world," Agatha explained. "It required decades of studying old literature, studying magic circle architecture and reading old prophecies -"

"You created a vessel?" Mabel repeated.

"Raven, yes. Created in Her image." Elijah nodded.

"That is impossible!" Violet gasped. "The amount of power required for such dark magic-"

"Required a lot of sacrifices, yes,"

"Your coven didn't die in the Simmel Rebellion did they?" Catherine asked coolly.

"No, they did not. Creating a vessel for Her required more than I bare to give most days, but I still would do it again, Catherine,"

"But how?" Catherine asked. "It's against the rules! How in the world did you do it without the Circle of Mages finding out? Why haven't they taken you to trial?!"

"Bishops cannot be taken to trial," Agatha told them.

"What?!" They all exclaimed in unison.

"How is that fair?!"

Elijah spat the words with a clenched jaw. "You want to talk about fair? I will have to kill my only child to save us-"

"No," Catherine defied him. "You are killing your child to save yourself-"

The Bishop banged on the cell door, making a loud noise. "Raven will save us all. You'll see! She will clean this earth of everyone and everything that wronged us. Our kind won't have to fight for our right to exist anymore. We won't have to live in the shadows,"

"That's what you said when you dragged all of us to move to the New World! But mortals still hunt us, Elijah! How many hundreds have died in Salem this century alone?! How many more will have to die?!"

"Five." He said cooly looking at the women standing at the cell. "I have gone too far to only come this far. We are so close to salvation. After tonight, we will be free."

"Tonight?" Mabel asked.

"Yes, I believe the prophecy will fulfill tonight," his blue eyes shined in the dark as he recited the words.

"Prophecy? Says who?!" Harriet asked.

"It is written in the Book of Prophecies,"

This nightmare only gets worse.

"Are you mad? That book was written by a bunch of drunk idiots trying to make a name for themselves centuries ago! Literally not a single one has ever come true. They might as well just be lullabies."

"At cold Moon, when the blood of Her covenant is spilled, an immortal shall take Her vessel to the light and She will rise again."

"No," Violet protested. "You are mad!"

"This one is true," Elijah barked. "It has to be."

And then Elijah disappeared. He was a mad man. How could Agatha be stupid enough to believe this man? No one said a word for a moment, taking in what the man outside their cell just told them. Catherine felt a wave of deep anger burn her chest. She spent most of the evening scared of the trial at mortal court, fearing she wouldn't get a fair judgement but this whole time - her whole life - she had already been sentenced to death by the very person she admired and trusted most in the whole world.

"Is this true, Agatha?" Violet broke the silence.

"Yes," she confessed, looking up for the first time since Elijah arrived.

"You took in the child, knowing she was a vessel?! You made us take a blood vow to form this coven knowing we would all die because of it?" Harriet asked, angry.

"I did," her voice raised to her normal, stern speaking tone.

"And you never thought of telling us?!" Mabel asked, crying again.

"Raven needed to be protected, and raised correctly,"

"Raised correctly?! What does it matter if she's just a meat bag?" Violet roared.

"Your sister IS NOT A MEAT BAG!" Agatha yelled back, angrier than they had ever seen her. "Raven needs to be a strong and intelligent woman, so I needed strong and intelligent women to raise her! Raven needs to be, if she is going to survive this-"

"Survive? Mortals can't handle low-grade demons in their bodies and you think scrawny little Raven can be a vessel for Lilith Herself and survive?!" Catherine exploded. "And have you thought at all of what we wanted? I didn't join this coven to-"

"You joined this coven to serve all God deities, including the Dark Mother, and this is exactly what you will be doing."

They argued for what seemed like hours, but it was useless. Agatha was dead set on what she had done. She loved Raven like it was her own daughter. It was hard to believe that she had primed her for this of all things. But apparently, Agatha had given Raven a 'key'. A key to what, she didn't know. Poor Raven lied to her whole life. How would she know what was real, and what was not? They were still in an iron-bound cell, fighting against time, a rigged trial and a prophecy. Eventually, the words ceased and everyone went back to sitting on the filthy floor, defeated. Mabel cried more tears than Catherine thought it was possible for a person to cry. Harriet prayed quietly. For what or whom, she didn't know. Finally, footsteps approached the basement door and the heavy metal bolt unlocked it. Two men dragged a small body down the steps and threw it on the cell across from them. Great, another drunk.

"Agatha!?" a familiar voice cried into the darkness.

"Raven!" They exclaimed. It was not a good sign that she was caught too.

"What the hell happened!?" Raven asked. "Why did they take us? Do they know we are-"

"Shhh," she heard Agatha. "The guards could hear you."

The prophecy not being true meant Raven would probably die too. The anger inside Catherine knew it wasn't going to be the case. They were going to die instead. Lilith would rise and then… Who was to say what was going to happen?

"Have you called my father? Maybe he-"

That made Catherine's blood boil. Elijah Blackwood was a coward. He abandoned his own daughter to another coven because he didn't care to be sacrificed in his own damned prophecy - but he was glad to have his own coven, his wife and his daughter to die instead.

"Elijah's already been here Raven," Agatha told her. Really? She's not going to tell her? There wasn't going to be much more time to do so. When she finds out, would her sister hate them? Would she forgive Agatha or her father?

"What's his plan then? Has he gone to talk to the Selectmen?"

The basement fell silent. Catherine could just scream. His plan was set in motion centuries before Raven was even here. The Selectmen were just a pawn in his plan for salvation. Catherine wondered if it was the Bishop who tipped the mortals of the presence of witches.

"He does have a plan to get us out of here, right?" No one could even bear to look at their little sister. "Agatha? He's getting us out, right?"

"There's nothing he can do," Agatha lied.

"No, yes there is!" She cried. "He's Elijah Blackwood! He has a duty to protect us!"

"No Raven, I had a duty to protect us."

And you failed Agatha.

"Then what are we going to do?" Raven asked, cleaning the tears off her face with her dress sleeve.

"There will be a trial," Agatha said after a moment.

"And then they will release us, right? We didn't do anything wrong!"

Agatha turned around and sat down on the floor, not being able to look Raven in the eye and lie any longer.

"Okay, so how about this," Raven got up, ready to formulate a new plan. "We summon,"

Something inside Catherine exploded. "Raven shut your mouth,"

"No listen, we can try-" she insisted.

"There's no we Raven, it's over."

There never was a 'we'. There was us, and then there was you.

"Catherine!" Warned Agatha in a threatening tone.

"It's not over! We can get out of this!" Cried Raven.

If she could kill Raven right now and stop all of this, she would - Good God. This is what her final hours had come to: thinking about killing her own sister to save herself. She felt deep shame on top of the anger.

"It's not her fault Catherine," Agatha whispered. "She didn't choose this."

"I didn't choose this either, Agatha," she spat through her teeth. I didn't choose being sacrificed for what Elijah Blackwood thinks is the greater good.

"So that's it, then?" Raven asked, but no one answered. "We are just going to lie in this filthy prison and do nothing, just wait for our deaths?"

"Don't you get it, you foolish child?" Catherine said, looking at Raven, anger boiling in her blood. "We are already dead."

They all quietly entered the main reception of the Authority - it was eerily empty. The conference room doors were closed and the reception desk was unattended. Raven motioned for Jesus, Sookie and Tara to go to the levels below, straight to Bill Compton's room.

"Jesus," Raven whispered before he disappeared down the hallway. His pretty blue eyes looked back. "Be careful. Take this,"

She handed him the box of silver bees, and he took it. She could tell he was scared. She was too.

Jesus put a small kiss on her forehead. "Catch you on the flip side," he told her before running off after Sookie and Tara.

Eric got ready to open the conference room door, with Raven and Pam holding their guns up high. Elijah created two fireballs, one on each hand. Finally, Eric swung the doors open only to reveal that the room was in fact, also empty.

"Where the hell is everyone?" Raven asked Eric, but he just shrugged.

Raven B-lined to the wooden doors, and as soon as she pushed them open, the whole room trembled. Sirens started to blare through the room, along with flashing lights. The Authority's security knew it had been invaded. Fuck, it's too soon.

"I'm gonna tear them all new assholes. What the fuck are they doing?" Pam yelled over the alarm, looking at the security feed on the big TV screen by the long conference table.

Sookie, Tara and Jesus had taken the wrong corridor and entered the cell room. They now seemed to have freed about a dozen human prisoners from the cells, setting off the security alarms. For fuck's sakes. Raven had to hurry. Save their asses now, kill them later. Raven pushed the big heavy doors, and the first thing she noticed was the empty case in the middle of the room. The blood was gone. Were we too late?

"Shit," Eric whispered, realizing the same thing Raven did. "Well, next item on the list - Nora. Then mass murder, let's go."

The four of them ran through the oddly empty hallways of the bunker, which vibrated through their loud alarm. Their plan had worked - sending everyone away had left them with very few guards. They encountered only a few, and Eric's fighting skills were much more developed than anyone else's. It was like he trained his whole life this. The Viking warrior ended up tearing the heads off all Authority guards and officers they encountered, leaving nothing but blood splatters on the wall and ceilings, and puddles on the floor. Elijah looked absolutely disgusted by the piles of thick goop and muck Eric left behind.

"We cannot leave without finding Lilith," Elijah told Raven.

Before Raven could tell him no fucking shit, they heard a sound. From a distance, they heard a scream that maybe had been Tara's. Suddenly Pam had run away in that direction, looking for her progeny at once. Raven felt extremely nervous about the group separating.

"Where the hell are all the Chancellors?!" Raven yelled over the siren. "Or the blood!? I can't hear it over this damn alarm!"

"Time to start hitting the lower floors. I bet if we find Salome, we find Nora and the blood," Eric told them.

The trio took the emergency staircase down a floor, and that's when the stabbing pain hit Raven right in the chest. Her legs gave out underneath her, and all she could do was hold herself on the railing, not gracefully sitting on the stairs. Something was wrong. She felt a deep, very familiar sharp ache in her chest. Eric stopped at the bottom of the stairs, but ran back up and helped her get up.

"Now it's not the time to faint, let's go!" He told her.

"Jesus," Raven whispered to him. "Something… Something's wrong," she could barely breathe.

"We'll find him as soon as we can, but we have to finish the mission first! They've probably already realized we created a diversion and are on their way back,"

"Dad?" Raven called out, looking at her father who had a sombre look on his face, from the bottom of the stairs. "What's-"

"We must hurry!" It's all he told her.

Raven had to force her body to get up. Eric pushed her along down the hallway and she had no idea where he was taking her. However, she trusted him to know the place. Elijah set three guards on fire and exploded another one. Raven knew something bad had happened, and the look on her father's face confirmed it. What if… Jesus had died? Raven felt the same chest pain when her family died 200 years ago. The feeling she was about to pass out was fading away and she could pick up the pace. She should have never brought Jesus along. He wasn't ready. This was dangerous, what the hell was she thinking?!

Then, she heard the ringing. "There!" She pointed at the third door on the right, to a room she had never been before. But she felt the vibrations on her bone. It called her strongly.

"Salome's room," Eric told them, and he kicked the door down.

They all barged into the bedroom at once. In it, however, were only Bill Compton and Salome. But there was something wrong: Salome was crawling on the floor, while Bill sat on the bed all content watching the woman writhe in pain on the floor. No sign of Sookie, Jesus or the others. Their plan was spiralling out of control.

"Sorry to interrupt," Eric told them. "But we came to kill you all."

Salome Agrippa however, looked like she was half dead already.

"Eric! So Lilith delivered Her message to you as well," Bill greeted him happily.

"Fuck Lilith," Eric hissed at him.

Bill chuckled, ignoring him. "Well, thank you for bringing Raven back to us, I really appreciate it," he said with an evil grin. "Are you ready to turn vampire, Raven?"

"Over my dead body."

"I can make that happen," Bill's fangs clicked out.

"You," Salome gasped for air, reaching for Raven's feet. "Will die, if-" her voice trailed off, not finishing the sentence.

It was too bad really, that Salome wouldn't be able to put up a fight. Raven's eye caught on a fancy wooden stake sitting on Salome's vanity. "Accerso", the stake flew across the room and right into her hand.

"And you," Raven told her, kneeling beside the dying woman, who rolled on her back, facing Raven, finally. "Will go first."

Raven plunged the stake right into Salome's heart. Her body instantly froze and turned a dark shade of grey. At once, Salome's body exploded. She felt her cold blood splatter on her legs and arms. It felt… Magnificent.

For Agatha, for Catherine, for Violet, Harriet and Mabel.

For Godric.

For Eric.

Elijah looked at Raven and nodded pleased.

"And where would the rest of our friends be, Bill?" Eric asked.

"Oh let's see, Nora killed Harris, I killed Kibwe… I started to kill Salome and Raven finished her."

The Chancellors had turned against each other? The ringing grew louder. She could feel it on her skin.

"Kibwe- You- What? Where's Nora?!" Eric asked, confused.

"I had a revelation, Eric," he told him, admiring a little glass bottle in his hand. "Lilith chose me to finish her work."

The ringing was deafening. That was it. The bottle in Bill's hands was IT.

"Bill!" Sookie cried, entering the room in her little lace black dress.

Bill Compton stood up at once and went paler than his usual self. He looked like he had seen a ghost. Ghost of True Death future. She knew the dress would bring out memories of the vision she showed him. But before Sookie could do or say anything, another voice spoke.

"Accerso!" Elijah roared, and she felt a tug on her neck. The amulet went flying across the room and into Elijah's hands. Before Raven could protest it, Elijah continued. "Eric Northman," the green light pulsed across the room and Eric stood a little taller, his expression softened a bit. "Take Raven to the light."

"What?" Raven muttered as she watched Eric. He took the stake from the puddle that was once Salome Aggripa and lunged himself at Bill, stabbing him in the leg, burying the stake through his thigh and lodging it deep into the bed's wooden footboard. Bill let out a scream of pain, and Eric tore the bottle from his hand. Sookie screamed, running to Bill, trying to get the stake out of him. Eric turned around and looked at Raven, and the look he gave her could freeze water itself. The man standing there wasn't Eric. He walked calmly towards her and got close, real close. "What are you doing?!"

A blue light appeared in a circle, and she saw Elijah hesitating to go through. I hope you can forgive me, she thought she heard him say before he disappeared through the portal, taking their only exit strategy with him. But right now, she had a bigger, taller, vampire Viking problem in her hands. Raven stepped away feeling scared, but Eric followed. Raven felt the stone wall behind her, she was cornered with nowhere to go.

"Obstupefacio!" She yelled, and for a moment Eric's body froze in place. The next moment, he pushed against the spell with such a force that she felt all the air around her squeeze her body like a fist. It wasn't long until he broke the spell and towered over her. The second Eric's hand grabbed her jaw, her heart rate spiked to a million a minute. She saw the glimmer of the blood so close to her face. He was trying to feed Lilith's blood to her.

"Eric, no!" She moaned. His hand squeezed her face harder, hurting her. She started to punch his shoulders and push him away. "Eric, no! Stop!"

His thumb flicked the cork off the bottle, she jerked her neck free and turned away. "Eric, don't do this!" She begged, but it was useless.

"Nunc Adsum, Ego autem non sum," her words barely made it out of her mouth, and suddenly she was standing across the room, free of him for a moment. But it was futile. Before she could even blink, Eric was pressed against her again, trying to force-feed the Blood to her with more determination than before. Take her to the light? What the hell does that even mean?

"Eric!" Sookie yelped and she tackled the Viking but he quickly threw her across the room.

"Sookie, get out of here!" Raven cried. "Get Bill and GO!"

Bill managed to free himself from the stake, and he went to aid Sookie. Sookie managed to convince the vampire to leave with her. Another explosion happened far away, shaking the walls, making dust rain from the ceiling. This whole place was going to cave in with them in it. Anger started bubbling through the fear. What the fuck had Elijah done? They came here to destroy Lilith, not take her. And why Raven? If he wanted this all along then why didn't he drink this shit himself? She felt angry at herself for letting him so close to her and discovering the amulet. Damn her for letting her guard down to the one person in the world who was supposed to protect her - but he never did. Damn her.

"No," she cried as her body started to fail.

Raven glanced at Sookie, but she and Bill were gone. It was just the two of them now.

Eric was way stronger than her without even trying. All Raven could hear now was the ringing from the blood, vibrating so loud, so close to her face. He twisted her head back, facing him. He pressed the cold bottle on her lips and she clenched her jaw and pursed her lips together with all the strength her face had. He locked her body in place against the wall with his own body, making it harder and harder to breathe. Then, with his free hand, he pinched her nostrils together, blocking her breathing altogether. Raven felt the pressure in her body rise, air not getting in or out of her lungs. Her heart was pounding in her ears, her mind racing to come up with an exit strategy. Teleport again, but this time go up - not so high as the last time. Runaway. But what about Jesus? Was he okay? Was he really dead? She could never forgive herself if he died down here. The look on Lafayette's face... And even if they all somehow got out, what then? Would Eric hunt her across the world with his mission? Would the spell break after some time, or only after he completed what was asked? His eyes were dark and his face was expressionless. It was like there was nobody in there. He was just a body being puppeteered by magic. Having to look at Eric like this was a nightmare she wished she could wake up from. His expression was blank. He did with no remorse. He was given an order no bone in his body could fight. Was his consciousness awake? Would he remember this? Was he trapped in a body he couldn't control? If she ran, would he stay like this forever? Raven couldn't bear letting Eric stay in this zombie state any longer. Her hand was stuck between them, her fingers jammed right over his heart. My rings! She could activate it, and her nails would pierce right through his heart.

All her memories of him flashed through her eyes. Only good ones came to mind. She knew damn well she wouldn't do that. She couldn't.

Resistance was futile. Fighting him never worked out well for her. For a second she took solace in knowing she was at least in his arms. She looked in Eric's eyes one more time, despite barely recognizing who looked back at her. Raven relaxed her body and parted her lips. The cold liquid washed in her mouth and

a.n: gasp