Chapter 29
"I don't like this, Nik." Rebekah muttered, keeping her eyes on the doors that her friends and date just disappeared through. "What if this is all some sort of trap that the Doppelbitch set up?"
"I understand, Bekah." Nik replied lowly, his eyes fixed on the door as well. "Caroline said she would call if she needed anything." He was clutching his phone tightly in his hand.
"What if she isn't able to call because something's happened?" Rebekah asked anxiously.
Klaus slammed his fist down on the table as he stood up, his eyes searching the gym. They finally fixed on the Salvatores who were talking on the other side of the room. He strode over to the brothers with purpose, hearing his siblings following behind him.
"Who was on the phone with Elena?" Klaus grit out, staring at Damon.
Damon stiffened at the sight of the three Originals. "What are you talking about? Elena went to the bathroom."
"Don't lie to me, Salvatore." Klaus said through clenched teeth. He shook his head at the genuine confusion on both brothers' faces. "It seems as though the Doppelganger is lying to her bodyguards. We all saw her walk out of the gym talking to someone on her phone, looking distressed."
"What are you trying to pull here, Klaus?" Damon asked, his eyes hardening.
Klaus was moving away from him before he was able to finish his question. Not really caring who saw him at this point, Klaus flashed to the doors of the gym and into the hallway where the four teens had gone. He heard his siblings and both Salvatores right behind him.
Klaus strode with purpose down the hall and turned the corner to see an empty corridor lined with lockers. He surveyed the space, his eyes taking in everything there, looking for some possible clue about what had happened.
"They're not here," He muttered. "I could have sworn I saw them turn this way."
"Nik?" Kol asked.
"They're not bloody here!" Klaus thundered, slamming a fist into the closest locker. The entire row of them buckled under the force of the blow.
"Nik," Rebekah spoke softly, trying not to show her own panic. "They might be somewhere else here. Another hallway or another classroom…"
Klaus shook his head, looking down to the phone that was still tightly gripped in his left hand. He immediately tried calling Caroline's phone, but it went straight to voicemail.
"No, something's not right. Caroline's phone wasn't off; she wouldn't have turned it off. She knew I couldn't hear into the hallway over the fucking music in the gym." He could feel his eyes rimming with yellow as his emotions started to spiral. "It's going straight to voicemail like it's off."
"Or broken…" Kol bit out, his own anger apparent.
They all exchanged looks at what that possibility could mean. Even the Salvatores looked concerned.
"Elena's not answering her phone either." Damon said in frustration as he returned his phone to his pocket.
"Nik, this isn't good." Rebekah said, her face hard at the thought of her friends in danger.
"We need to find them." Klaus said before whooshing off and out of the school.
Ester smiled as she watched her children panic as they realized that the ones the 'cared' for were nowhere to be found. She was happy that she had the foresight to set up an illusion spell as she watched the teenagers have their sappy reunion. She knew that her children wouldn't be far behind and wanted to be prepared for the situation.
She didn't want them to know about her plan just yet; it wasn't the right time. Meredith still needed to transition, and she needed Doppelganger blood to perform the spell.
Her smile grew as she watched Niklaus grow more agitated. With everything that he had done over the course of his long life, he didn't deserve happiness. None of her children did. After they turned Finn against her, she needed to readjust her game plan, and she could already tell that this plan was going to be much better than the last one.
She gave a little sigh of relief when her children and the clueless Salvatore boys went off to try and find the very people that were right under their noses.
Pulling out her own phone, she dialed the doctor. "Where are you?"
"I'm in the school parking like you told me." Meredith responded. "What do you need me to do?"
"I need you to come to the South hallway off of the gymnasium. We have some bodies to drag." Ester responded, looking down at the four teens lying at her feet.
"You killed them?" Meredith asked. "I thought we needed them alive for our plans to work…"
Ester rolled her eyes. "They aren't dead, Dearie. They're unconscious. Just get here quickly."
She hung up the phone and sighed. As conniving as the young doctor was, she wasn't the smartest. She would need some definite coaching after her transition if she was going to be able to kill Ester's children. Ester smiled at the thought of the world rid of the chaos that her kids always left in their wake.
Caroline gasped as she woke up, her neck aching. She tried to remember how she got in the middle of a clearing in the woods that was lined with torches. Her eyes fell on the older blonde woman who was in the middle of a salt circle on the ground. Ester.
Her gaze moved to her left and saw Bonnie and Matt next to her; their eyes closed and hands and feet bound. She tried to move over to them, but felt a searing pain in her wrists and ankles. Vervain ropes. Bitch, she thought as her eyes flicked back to Ester.
Movement to her right caught her attention, and she saw Meredith Fell dragging an unconscious Elena into the circle where Ester stood. Her eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the doctor.
Ester's eyes immediately fell to hers, and a cold smile curled her lips. "Oh good, you're awake." She waved her hands towards Bonnie and Matt, and the two teens slowly began to stir. "I want all of you to be witnesses to what happens tonight. As for you," she crouched down next to Elena, "you will be of great use to me." She moved her hand through the air above Elena's head, and the younger girl's eyes opened slowly.
"What the hell are you doing?" Caroline shouted at the witch, hoping to distract her.
"There'll be time for that later." Ester said, barely sparing her a glance.
Caroline watched as Meredith joined Ester in the circle, putting her hand into the witch's. Elena, who was more awake at that point, slowly tried crawling her way towards her friends.
Ester rolled her eyes at Elena, "You cannot exit the circle, the spell won't allow it." The older woman focused her attention on the doctor.
Ester gripped Meredith's hand in both of hers and began to chant. Meredith's eyes rolled back into her head as the witch continued her spell. With one hand, Ester reached towards Elena a few feet away. Elena yelled out in pain, and Caroline could smell her blood in the air. Ester, keeping one hand on Meredith, reached out and grabbed Elena's wrist, holding her bleeding hand over a small bowl on the ground. Once a good amount of blood had dripped from Elena's cut into the bowl, Ester released her and picked up the bowl.
Meredith's eyes were back to normal now, and she accepted the bowl that Ester handed her.
"Drink, Dear." Ester smiled at the younger woman. "Drink and all we discussed will come to pass."
Meredith returned the smile before taking a long drink from the bowl. "Now what? Is it done?" She asked Ester.
"Not quite," Ester said, before snapping Meredith's neck.
"No!" Elena screamed.
"What are you doing?" Caroline yelled out. "Bonnie, what did she do?" Caroline turned her friend to see if she had any answers.
Bonnie's face was furrowed. "She just turned Meredith…"
"I thought you needed vampire blood in your system to turn?" Matt asked.
"Meredith will become a very special kind of vampire." Ester began, apparently ready to talk now. "We have a little while before she wakes, I'll fill you all in. You stay there, Elena, I'll be needing a bit more of your blood before the night is through." Ester reinforced her spell that was binding Elena in the circle. "You see, my husband failed in his task to rid this world of the abominations I created, so he needs to be replaced. For one final time, I'm going to tap into the dark magic I used a thousand years ago. Meredith will become just like my children, but faster, stronger. She will be the newest Original vampire whose sole purpose in life will be to end all other vampires, starting with my children."
"You can't do that," Bonnie shouted, "the spirits won't allow it."
Ester turned to the younger witch with a cruel smile on her face. "Fortunately for me, I made a few acquaintances on the other side who are willing to lend me their powers. I don't need the spirits' approval."
"How can you be so sure that Meredith won't turn out like your kids?" Elena questioned.
"She'll have my tutelage to help her through and guide her on the right path." Ester said simply. "Had Niklaus not savagely murdered me, I would have been there to control my own children and ensured that they did not turn into monsters."
"You're insane." Caroline muttered, her eyes narrowed at the old witch.
"Yes, I was wondering when you would chip in, Caroline." Ester turned her full attention to the blonde. "You, who has so captured the attention of Niklaus. You call me insane, yet you are the one who has believed all of his lies. Love?" Ester let out a cruel laugh. "Niklaus is incapable of love."
"You know nothing about him." Caroline retorted fiercely.
Ester was about to respond, but her attention was drawn to a sharp intake of breath behind her. She turned to see Meredith sitting up, rubbing her neck.
"What the hell happened?" Meredith asked.
Instead of answering, Ester moved towards Elena, grabbing her wrist again and examining the cut on her hand. "I'm afraid I'll have to make this a bit deeper; such is the cost of being the Doppelganger I suppose." She focused on Elena's palm, and they all watched in horror as the cut grew and began bleeding freely again.
Caroline flicked her eyes to Meredith, whose eyes were fixated on the blood dripping from Elena's hand.
"Not yet, Meredith," Ester spoke sharply, drawing the doctor's attention away. "You cannot feed from her directly; we need her alive as a way to lure my son here."
Ester grabbed the bowl and held Elena's hand over it again letting even more blood collect.
Caroline looked around, desperately searching for something she could use to cut the ropes binding her. Her eyes landed on Bonnie, and she could have slapped herself for not thinking of it sooner. "Bonnie," she whispered, keeping one eye on Ester, "Can you use your magic to untie us? We can't just sit here while all of this is happening."
Bonnie looked to her with a determined expression. "Try to stall," she whispered back before closing her eyes and chanting under her breath.
"Meredith!" Caroline called out. The doctor's eyes snapped to meet hers. "You don't need to do this. Whatever she's threatened you with, we can help. We can find a way to save you and get you away from her."
Meredith shot her a look of confusion, "You think she threatened me into joining her?" Caroline felt all of the blood drain from her face at Meredith's next words. "I want this. I'm going to be the most powerful doctor in the world. I can save millions of people with my Original blood. I'm going to be honored; everyone will know my name."
Klaus slammed through the doors of his house, his mind racing at all of the possibilities of where they could be. He ripped the tie from around his neck and threw it aside. He heard the others follow him inside, Rebekah was on the phone with Elijah, updating him.
"He'll be here soon." Rebekah spoke to him after hanging up.
"What are we missing here?" Kol asked, his own anger bleeding into his voice. "Who would have taken them?"
Klaus closed his eyes trying to think. Things had been so calm and peaceful for the past few weeks; there hadn't been any threats besides the Salvatores, which he hardly deemed significant. Everything had been fine ever since they had gotten rid of…
"Mother." Rebekah gasped out causing his eyes to snap open. "We forgot about her still being out there. After Finn joined our side, we said we would keep an eye out for her or anything suspicious, but there was nothing suspicious. There was no constant reminder of the threat she posed."
Elijah walked through the door at that moment, his face grave. He had obviously heard the tail end of what Rebekah had said. "She'll have them in the cemetery." He said, his eyes meeting Klaus'.
Klaus nodded. "That's where she'll be most powerful."
"What? Why?" Damon interjected.
"Because that's where I killed her." Klaus replied. "She's drawing on the power that was infused into that location from her death."
"So what are we waiting for? We need to save Elena." Damon asked impatiently.
Even Elijah seemed annoyed by the eldest Salvatore. "We need to make a plan to save everyone. Unlike some, we think our actions through to ensure they are a success."
Damon rolled his eyes. "Well, what do you suggest then?"
"No matter how powerful our mother is, she cannot stop all of us at once." Kol spoke up, looking to his siblings. "There are four of us and only one of her. We can take her down. For good this time."
Caroline was shocked at what Meredith was saying. "You're doing all of this just so you can have access to vampire blood?"
"Please," Meredith sneered at her. "I've done far more than this to use vampire blood in my work, including eliminating those who posed a threat to reveal what I was doing. You should know that better than anyone, Caroline."
Caroline felt like she had been slapped in the face. "You killed my dad?"
Meredith rolled her eyes. "You really are a natural blonde aren't you?"
"But you had an alibi for the night Alaric got attacked." Caroline was able to get out. "You were in surgery."
"The hospital log said I was in surgery." Meredith corrected her. "You don't think I have friends in the records office? It was an easy task to forge the logs. Now, your mother sniffing around was definitely an inconvenience, especially when I found out that she was there the night I killed Vanessa Lockwood. You see, Vanessa found out about me using the blood and threatened to out me to the Council, just like your dad. She needed to go. Had I known that the Sheriff was at her house too that night, it would have been a double murder."
"I'm going to kill you!" Caroline screamed.
"We'll see about that." Meredith said, stepped towards the blonde, but was stopped when Ester grabbed her by the wrist.
"Stop with the nonsense." Ester snapped at her, before taking a deep breath. "You need to complete the transition." She handed Meredith the bowl, now full of Elena's blood.
Meredith shot one last look at Caroline before accepting the bowl. Her face changed at the scent of the blood as she began to drink. Her vampire features grew more prominent as she threw her head back in euphoria. She drained the bowl and tossed it to the side. Her eyes looked wildly around before they fixated on Matt.
Meredith flashed over to him and drew his head back as she plunged her fangs into his neck. Caroline and Elena screamed out in panic. Bonnie faltered in her spell as she took in the scene beside her.
A blonde blur flew out of the forest and knocked into Meredith, forcing her off of Matt. Rebekah hovered over the doctor, pinning her to the ground, but clearly struggling to keep her down.
Caroline's eyes flew to the treeline where she saw Elijah, Kol, Damon and Stefan walking into the clearing. Her eyes continued to search the trees around the clearing, looking for Klaus.
"Go, Caroline!" Bonnie yelled. "The ropes are loose!"
Caroline immediately tore through the ropes binding her and rushed over to help Rebekah restrain Meredith.
"No!" Ester cried out, raising her hands to start a spell.
Pain shot through all of their heads as the aneurysm spell took effect. Meredith leapt to her feet and aimed a kick at both Caroline and Rebekah. She flashed to Stefan and Damon, snapping their necks in quick succession.
Bonnie rose to her feet, her ropes falling away; she reached her hands out towards Ester and sent a force of energy that caused the older woman to stumble backwards, breaking her spell. Kol and Elijah met Meredith head on as she started towards them. They seemed taken aback at the power she had; it was taking both of them to hold her off. Rebekah had moved over to Matt, trying to feed him her blood, but he was unconscious.
That's when Caroline saw him. Klaus was moving silently around the outskirts of the clearing behind Ester. Unfortunately, Bonnie's spell had shifted Ester's position so that Klaus was right in her line of view.
Ester extended her hands in Klaus' direction and began to chant. Klaus' bones immediately began to snap, and he dropped to one knee in obvious pain. He tried with all of his power to keep moving towards Ester, but was unable to.
"Finally," Ester exclaimed. "I can dispose of all of you!"
Caroline watched in horror as Klaus was dropped further to the ground. She acted before she fully understood what she was doing. She sped at Ester and knocked her to the ground. She started towards Klaus, who was trying to snap all of his bones back into place.
She felt a hand grab her ankle and tumbled forward, falling to the ground. She turned to see Ester standing above her, a tree branch in her hand.
"You're nothing," the Original witch spat, approaching, clearly intent to stake her. "Just a fly that needs to be swatted away. You think pushing me down will stop me?"
"No," Caroline looked up at her definitely, "but it did distract you…"
Ester whirled around to see Klaus right behind her. He shoved his hand into her, gripping her heart. "Say 'hello' to Mikael on the Other Side." Klaus said, his voice cold. "You both have failed to kill us; you should have plenty to talk about."
Ester smiled up at him maliciously, "I'll be sure to tell your little brother all about the monster you have become."
Klaus' eyes widened a fraction, "Your lies are not enough to save you. Goodbye, Ester." He pulled her heart from her chest, letting her body fall to the ground beside him. He dropped her heart next to her before his eyes met Caroline's.
They stared at each other for several seconds before the sound of fighting brought them back to reality. They turned to see Elijah run a piece of wood through Meredith's chest. All of the Originals watched in shock as the doctor staggered back a few steps before ripping the makeshift stake out of herself. She swept her eyes around the clearing, momentarily lingering on Ester's dead body before she zoomed away, leaving all of them with the chaos she had helped to create.
