NEW ORLEANS, LOUSIANA
"We've searched every damn stone Nik." Buffy exclaims as she and Klaus make their way through the crowded streets of the French Quarter, she was in full-on panic mode right now. Hours of searching and they had come up with nothing: no leads, not even a damn hint as to where Finn was or where he had taken the now vampire Esther. And as every second passed Buffy couldn't stop that horrid feeling in her gut, honestly she was petrified right now, with all the power that Finn seemed to have she was so scared that he would discover the very thing they had sacrificed so much to protect.
"We've searched the entire French Quarter what feels like a hundred times." Klaus tells Marcel as they speak over the phone while he and the blonde Vampire Slayer continue to maneuver their way through the crowds of people.
"Finn's poofed." Buffy yells loud enough for Marcel to hear through the phone "And not in a fun, dusty vampire remains flying through the air kind. The kind where we can't remove the barrier..."
"Until I have my hand around his throat." Klaus finishes as he glances at the blonde both of them sharing the same panicked look, just opening that damn barrier for 60 seconds had knocked her out and with this festival going on there was also the worry of what was going to happen once all these hungry vamps were suddenly released.
Everything had just gone completely shits up in a matter of hours.
"I was hoping you had a plan B."
Buffy and the hybrid glance at each other both of them speaking at the same time "Davina."
Klaus smirks slightly at the blonde enjoying the fact that the more time they spent together the more she seemed to start thinking like he did "She doesn't know it yet, but she's going to help us break his spell. Your job. Keep Kol alive. At least until we learn about Rebekah's whereabouts."
Buffy groans as she rubs her forehead zoning out of Klaus's conversation with his frenemy, slash adopted son honestly she wasn't too sure; it was very complicated. Sighing she glances around the quarter before reaching to grab her phone only for her eyes to widen as she remembers exactly where her phone actually was. In Klaus' art studio back at the damn compound "God I am so mentally challenged." She huffs in annoyance realizing that now she was not going to be able to find out if Elena, Xander, and Damon had been successful in bringing back Bonnie.
However, right now she would have to put that on the back burner of her mind, she hoped that they were able to handle things without her because she had a feeling that when she said she would only be in New Orleans a few days...that may not be the case anymore. Honestly, she wasn't sure if she would be able to keep running back and forth for much longer, she knew deep down she was going to have to make a decision on which family to choose and it was something she hoped never to have to do.
As Klaus suddenly stops in front of her causing her to crash into his back she groans "Klaus your break-lights are out." She jokes as she circles round to face him only to spot a horrified look on his face.
He doesn't even look at her as he closes his eyes and clenches his jaw at Marcel's words "I will get you my blood." At that Buffy's eyes widen connecting the dots, Marcel must have gotten bite during the confrontation with the wolves.
"I will get you out of that house, Marcellus. Whatever it takes." With that, he hangs up and Buffy grabs his wrist forcing him to look at her, she knew deep down how much he cared about Marcel, even if he wouldn't admit it. Still squeezing his wrist she sighs "We will get him, okay. No matter what. Even if I have to do that suck-y migraine thing again. We will find a way."
WHITMORE
Bonnie who was currently shooting a video of her new apartment to send to her mother spins around as she hears her front door open only to smile as she spots Caroline and Elena walk in "Hey guys say hi to my mom!" She says before pointing the phone at two of her three best friends.
The Banshee and vampire who were currently helping Bonnie move her stuff into the new apartment both smile and wave at the camera as they each place the boxes on the ground "Hi!"
Bonnie chuckles before turning the phone back to her "Buffy can't be here right now baby daddy drama you know. But Elena and Caroline are currently helping me move in before I start Post Grad classes at Whitmore. Doing guess what? Occult studies just like Grams! We will be having a party soonish when we are all together again though." As she spots Caroline pulling out a crate of beer and dancing with it the anchor chuckles in amusement before turning back to her phone "I miss you, please come visit, when you get a chance. I'll talk to you soon." With that she switches off the video and sends it.
As she does Elena turns away from where she was unpacking one of the boxes to look at the ex-witch curiously "Oh and by the way mom, I'm not a witch anymore. I died and came back from the other side."
"Yeah." Caroline chimes in with a smirk "Yeah, I'm the supernatural anchor that connects our two worlds together."
"Technically..." Elena continues as the two girls continue to teases the anchor "I'm a ghost, that people can still see and touch so..."
"Okay." Bonnie exclaims finally cutting off their teasing as she bends to lift one of the boxes and places it on the couch while she begins unpacking it "So I left out a detail. Or two. I'll explain when she visits."
Shaking her head the brunette beauty sighs before grabbing her phone and dialing Buffy's number only for the same message to pop up "Hi it's Buffy. If it's the end of the world. Beep me instead. Bye."
Sighing she glances over at the banshee and vampire in worry "Have either of you talked to Buffy I've been trying her all night to you know let her know I'm alive, she keeps going straight to voicemail. And we can't have the party without her."
Elena frowns in confusion and slight worry as a shiver goes up her spine Buffy wasn't the type not to answer her phone in case something really bad was going on "I'm getting worried." She admits.
Caroline who was putting the beer in the fridge nods in agreement "Damon said he's been trying all night to get ahold of her but nothing."
"Maybe something went wrong." At Elena's words Bonnie runs a hand through her new short hair in worry "Well rest assure she hasn't show up on The Other Side."
At her attempt at humour Elena rolls her eyes in worry "Not funny."
Caroline shrugs stifling her own laugh before running a hand through her long blonde locks "It's Buffy she probably broke her phone again. She is stuck with Klaus she probably threw it at his head or something Buffy-like."
Buffy sighs as she sits on the bench in the weird ass church Klaus had dragged her to where they were waiting for Davina to hurry along and find Finn. Groaning as she watches the teenager move salt along the floor to form a symbol Buffy flops back and stares up at the ceiling "In the time we've been here I could have flown my favorite witch out from Cleveland. And I could have ordered a damn pizza."
Klaus merely sighs at the blonde's humor before glancing in annoyance at the still silent teenager in front of them "Yes this taking far too long. Haven't you found Finn yet?"
Buffy rolls her eyes before leaning forward and glancing down at the floor "What's with the scribbles, I've seen a lot of tracker spells. This just seems like overkill."
Davina groans in annoyance as she places the glass of salt down and glares over at the blonde who merely smiles happily at her, the young witch could barely stand being around Klaus but being trapped with both Buffy and Klaus was a hell of a lot worse. They just bounced annoying comment after annoying comment off each other.
"Finn is blocking my locator spell." Davina informs them with a sigh "So I'm trying something new, but I need to concentrate. It would help a lot if you two would shut the hell up."
Klaus rolls his eyes before moving to sit beside the blonde vampire Slayer "No need to be testy love. All three of us have the same goal."
"Really?" Davina exclaims as she pulls out a match and lights one of the candles as she speaks "Because my goal is to get Kol out of your house alive. Seems to be about number 10 on your list."
Buffy arches a brow at the teenager's sass "You remind me of someone I knew once. New witch lot of power. Lot of smugness."
Davina scoffs at the vampire Slayer before arching a challenging brow at her "And where is she now?"
Buffy snorts as she crosses her arms "Dead." At that Davina's face falls while Klaus snorts as the blonde continues "Well first she turned herself into a rat for like 5 years cause she couldn't control her magic. Now I'm pretty sure she's dead. But you know who isn't dead Bekah. And I wanna find her. So can you break through Finn's magic or do I have to call a witch more powerful?"
Davina scoffs at the blonde's words clearly insulted in Buffy's lake of faith in her, shaking her head she begins chanting while the blonde vampire Slayer sighs, to be fare normally she would be nicer but right now she was worried about everyone else she didn't have time to worry about an inexperienced witch.
"I saw glimpses of him." Davina says suddenly "He's combining sacred objects. Totems. Representational magic."
Buffy couldn't help but gulp at that, she stands and begins pacing while Klaus stands turning to Davina with the exact same worried expression on his face that the Slayer had on hers.
"Where?"
Davina closes her eyes again as imagines of Finn begin to fill her mind "Lafayette No. 1. The Lyonne tomb."
Buffy frowns in confusion while she may be close with witches this was magic she wasn't familiar with "These totems what are they?"
Davina closes her eyes again before slowly a confused and horrified expression crosses her features making both immortal creatures sit up straight as she turns looking directly at Klaus "He's channeling your parents."
Klaus couldn't help but smile at the irony of her words "And here I thought I was the poster child for least-grateful offspring."
Pausing Klaus holds out his hand to Buffy "A bit of violence luv?"
"Always." She chuckles before taking his hand however suddenly both of them freeze, as a lightness runs through them both, and before either of them could take another step Klaus drops to the ground; Buffy followed shortly after the two immortals laying side by side while Davina stood over them in shock and confusion.
MYSTIC FALLS, VIRGINIA
"What did Katherine do to you?" Stefan breathes as he pulls the broken windshield off of Buffy's jeep before circling around the vehicle examining it closely, it was barely scraps now, not even recognizable to the old Summers jeep it had been, but right now he needed a distraction from the pain and fixing Buffy's mother's jeep was the only thing he could think of.
Crouching down he climbs underneath the jeep to get a good look at the damage only to sigh as he hears his brother enter the room. He was in no mood for more worrying right now, he got enough of it from Elena last night.
"So apparently the welcome Bonnie back from the dead party has been put on hold." Damon tells his brother as he looks down to where Stefan's legs were popping out from underneath the jeep.
When Stefan doesn't answer Damon chuckles "Yeah I don't care either. We got enough booze here anyway."
As his brother speaks Stefan doesn't even register the worlds as he clenches his eyes shut images of being trapped in that safe forcing their way through his mind once again. Making him feel so completely paralyzed that he could barely speak or move.
Suddenly he gasps as he finds the board he was on being pulled causing him to roll out from underneath the car. Gasping slightly he inhale tightly before looking up only to spot the concerned face of his older brother looking down at him "Stef? You okay."
"Yeah." Stefan breaths before finally climbing back up "I'm fine." He whispers before moving over to the toolbox beside the car "So why was the party cancelled?" He asks hoping to get the topic off of his meltdown right now. When Damon merely stays silent and looks at him awkwardly Stefan arches a brow "Whose avoiding things now brother?"
The elder of the two rolls his eyes before raising his glass to his lips "Just don't go all crazy Silas killing psycho on me?" Downing his drink in one gulp he then shrugs "Bonnie doesn't want to have the party till Buffster is back. And given that she's not answering her phone...could be a while."
Stefan's eyes widen at that, Buffy never skipped calls unless something really bad was going on and right now she was honestly the only person he wanted to talk to. He helped her with her PTSD after she had been trapped in her coffin and had to claw her way out...she was probably the only person that would know what to say "Where is she, Damon?"
"I don't know." The elder vampire admits his own worry for the blonde seeping through "I've been trying all night. Her phone's been going straight to voicemail."
At that Stefan clenches his jaw in worry before something occurs to him, something Buffy had told him back when they were still in Sunnydale. With one last glance at his brother, Stefan speeds out of the house disappearing leaving a shocked and confused Damon in his wake "Well that's not good."
Buffy groans as she feels her body finally returning to the land of the not so knocked unconscious, forcing her eyes open she frowns in confusion as instead of being in the creepy church with Klaus and Davina she found herself in some sort of weird ass cabin. In the center of the room were five green chairs, each chair positioned under what looked like a dead animal's head "Great I'm back in hell." She mumbles before she frowns as she hears a familiar voice call her name.
Spinning around she sighs in relief as she spots Klaus staring at her with just as much as much confusion as she felt, moving over to her quickly he cups her face in his hands quickly scanning her for injuries "Nik I'm fine." She whispers before frowning "Okay I'm been to hell and the other place. Color me confused."
Before Klaus could speak however another voice spoke up making the pair spin around "Niklaus. Buffy."
Buffy frowns as she spots Elijah stood on the opposite side of the room before all three of them turn only to spot Kol now on one side of the room staring at the three of them in confusion.
"You three? What is this?" Pausing Kol turns to look at Buffy "You. You've been to the hell is this it? Sure feels like it."
Buffy rolls her eyes in annoyance before shaking her head "No hell has two bedrooms and...more people with whips."
At her words, Kol frowns and glances in-between his brothers "It worries me that I can't tell if she's serious or not."
Buffy ignores the youngest of the Mikaelson as she moves to stand in the center of the room "What's with the hunter fetish?"
The witch frowns curiously at her words before stepping forward looking towards the animal heads, however quickly his eyes widen "It's a chamber de chasse. A hunt room. It's where witches bring their prey for mental target practice. Our bodies are in the real world laid on the floor...whilst our minds are in here, represented by these creepy animal heads."
Buffy groans as she looks in-between, The Wolf, The Fox, The Stage, The Boar, and The Lioness on the walls "I'll raise your creepy for nightmarish. Cause ugh. I'll admit I've decapitated a lot of things in my years but this is...ew. It's like they're staring at me."
At her words, Klaus places a hand on her arm pulling her back to his side as he quickly begins to piece together the little facts of what had to have led them here. Or more accurately the witch that had forced them here "Let me take a wild guess as to who's the author of this nightmare. Finn, show yourself!"
Suddenly the door behind them opens and Klaus yanks Buffy behind him as he glares at his elder brother moving to grab him by the throat he quickly gasps as he finds himself barely able to move.
Finn merely rolls his eyes at his younger brother's display "Save your strength." He says as he moves into the center of the room "In here I am untouchable. My magic. My rules." Pausing he glances at Buffy "Your little magic resistance thing is a pain in the ass you know. Almost killed me dragging you in here if it wasn't for this..." Slowly Finn pulls out a silver ring from his pocket, at the sight of it Buffy's face pales. She hadn't seen that since it went missing during her time in Italy. Finn smirks at the look on the Slayer's pale face enjoying the fact he was able to make someone so powerful so horrified "Your beloved Angel gave this back to you and lucky for me, it's one of the few things you own that you wore before you became a demon. Told you I could find ways around your little tricks."
Elijah clenches his jaw and takes a step towards his elder brother neither he nor Klaus happy with Finn forcing the Slayer's involvement "Let the girl go Finn. She is not apart of this."
"No." Finn laughs "Of course she is. Her and Nicklaus's life have been in-twined for centuries. Hell, she's part of the reason he was so obsessive for 1000 years. So she stays. Make yourselves at home. We're gonna be here for a while."
"Wait evil Professor/Dr. Wes turned Caroline's maybe fling into a vampire?" Xander asks in shock after Elena who was currently digging through Caroline's fridge for blood bags for the newly turned vampire had explained everything to him.
"Yep. Jessie locked Wes in his lab, so I'm gonna call Damon to help look might be better for you to stay at the Salvatore's tonight. He's new so until Caroline can help—"
"Keep delicious Xander blood away got it. Just be careful. Go all out banshee if you have to."
Elena smiles sweetly at his concern as she shuts the fridge and balances the two blood bags in her hands before heading out of the kitchen "I will. I love you."
"Love you too."
With that, the brunette hangs up before walking over to Caroline and Jessie handing Jessie one of the blood bags "Here this should help. How are you doing?"
Jessie frowns as he takes the bag before glancing at Elena "Are you a vampire too?"
"No." She laughs as she takes a seat opposite them "A banshee." When his eyes widen in shock she smiles awkwardly, she felt for him he had just turned and now was finding out all of this crazy stuff "It's a long story."
Jessie chuckles in amusement before taking a sip from the blood bag, as he does Elena turns to Caroline "And Aaron?" She asks curiously knowing that Jessie had accidentally attacked him before Caroline had stopped him and brought him here.
Caroline smiles "I showed Jessie how to heal him. And compel him. He's fine."
Jessie chuckles remembering back to the little lesson Caroline had given him back at his place with Aaron "It was insane."
"Thanks again, Mark." Xander mumbles into his phone as he sits in the Grill going through the last of the designs for Buffy's Gallery as well as his own project "Now that the Gallery's base work is done I have a bigger project I need some guys on."
"Sure I'll talk to the guys see whose near the area."
"Thanks man." With that Xander hangs up before glancing down at the picture Caroline had given him to help with the baseline, honestly, she had been so helpful in keeping this project a surprise for Elena, which shocked him given how bad everyone told him she was with secrets.
"You!" A voice exclaims from behind him making the human frown only to turn and spot Katherine drunkenly stumbling towards his table with a bottle of whiskey in her hands "You are the human boyfriend right?" She asks as she takes a seat opposite him "Ergo the only other person I know in this town and since I can't find Buffy or Stefan, you get to spend your day with me."
Xander arches a brow at the newly human Katherine "You tried to kill my girlfriend, you killed her brother...and yeah no this is way too weird." Moving to collect his things Katherine groans "Oh come on..." She practically begs making Xander sigh and glance back at her begging face, which unfortunately made him soften a little given it was the same face the girl he loves had "Please just have one drink with me. Please. Alexander, I have had...a bad year, really. And it would be nice to have a friendly face. And since I've never done anything directly to you..."
Xander arches a brow at her, honestly, he couldn't help but feel for her, she was a lot like Faith before Faith finally came around; admitted her wrongdoings, and started to do better.
With one more hesitant glance at the exit, the human groans sitting back down "Why not...I'm stuck in town anyway for the night. Your face is all pitfall."
Katherine grins happily before handing him one of the two glasses and pouring them both a drink "See, this face always works. Even you fell for it, little eyepatch man." She chuckles before downing her shot.
"Hey." He argues "This is a battle wound, you're talking to a guy that has saved the world. I saved the world with talking. From my mouth. My mouth saved the world. What have you done?"
Katherine snorts as she pours herself another drink "Ran from an immortal hybrid for 500 years. Then been forced to be human by a damn Banshee." She says simply before downing her shot.
Xander sighs as he leans back in his chair watching the human "Being human isn't all that bad you know."
"What's so great about it?" Katherine asks sarcastically as she attempts through her drunken haze to pour herself another drink "Other than the joint pain, receding gum...and the fact that I have to pee every five minutes. Yeah so great. But hey enough about me...why are you all alone?"
Xander sighs as he glances at the wasted former vampire before sighing and gesturing to the blueprints in front of him "I'm working. You know a job. To pay bills."
"Ugh...sounds boring..." Pausing the brunette beauty groans as she spots a certain vampire walk into the bar "Alexander...I'd like you to meet Nadia Petrova." She says gesturing to the now very furious vampire stood beside Xander's seat. The human couldn't help but groan, could he not have one day without supernatural scooby doo high jinks? "And she is?"
Katherine sighs before downing her shot "My daughter."
Xander groans and drops his head to the table, this day officially sucked "Never leaving the house again."
