Chapter 40
They spent the rest of Saturday night planning. Rebekah called Finn and Sage so that they could hear the plan and give input as well. The couple would arrive sometime the next day to finalize everything together.
Klaus and Caroline spent the majority of Sunday training. Rebekah came in to help and observe the last hour or so and said that she thought that Caroline was ready. Klaus agreed, albeit hesitantly. Caroline had managed to drop him four separate times that day, so he believed that she could take on Meredith if she really had to, not that he had any intention of letting Meredith anywhere near her.
Kol and Bonnie spent Sunday looking in Ayanna's last grimoire for the spell to bring Henrik back. After finding it, they practiced her skills so that she would be strong enough for it and the spell to take down Ester's ward. During the planning, everyone agreed that it was probably best that Bonnie save her energy for those two spells and the transference spell instead of weakening Meredith.
Sage and Finn arrived in time to have dinner with everyone else. Dinner was a much more somber affair than what Caroline had gotten used to when eating with the Mikaelsons. Everyone was tense and nervous, and the conversation didn't flow as naturally as usual. They all turned in pretty early that night. All of the teens decided that they wouldn't be attending school the next day in order to keep training.
Monday was spent in the same manner as the day before; everyone was training and brushing up on their skills. Caroline overheard a serious discussion between Matt and Rebekah about whether or not Matt would be joining in the fight when it came time to face Meredith.
"Matt," Rebekah said in a quiet voice. "I don't want you getting hurt. She's too strong."
"I've been in worse fights, Rebekah."
"Not like this one. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if something happened to you."
"I am not just going to let my girlfriend go into a battle with a psycho that wants to kill her!"
"Girlfriend?" Rebekah breathed out in surprise.
Matt took a deep breath. "Yes, my girlfriend. I care a lot about you, Bekah. I want to be there for you and your family. I'm going to the fight."
Caroline smiled as she backed away from the doorway, knowing that her friends were going to be alright.
Late that night, Katherine Pierce slipped out of the Mikaelson house and moved towards the woods that lined the edge of the property. She moved silently through the forest, using her 500 years of experience to ensure that she didn't make a sound. She slowed her pace and checked over her shoulder as she came to a clearing. Once she was sure no one had followed her, she entered the clearing and looked up at the sky.
"It's about time you showed up, I've been waiting here for an hour already."
Katherine shifted her eyes to stare at the brunette that joined her in the open space. "For someone who wants my help, you sure are demanding about when you get it."
Meredith rolled her eyes. "Well, since I can only come out at night, that puts my training schedule on a bit of a time crunch."
Katherine smirked. "That's why I told you to practice everything I've been teaching you in the warehouse where you've been shacked up for the past couple days."
"Whatever. Let's just get started already." Meredith replied, clearly impatient. "The sooner I'm strong enough to take the Mikaelsons down, the sooner I can be the most powerful being."
"Trust me, no one wants to see that family dead more than me." Katherine snapped, her eyes cold. "Why do you think I've been helping you since Saturday night?" She took a deep breath to calm herself. "I thought we'd try something a little different tonight; you're ready to try an actual fight."
Meredith raised her eyebrow and looked around in interest. "Who did you have in mind?"
Katherine smirked. "I hear you have some issues with the good Sheriff of Mystic Falls; and I have it on good authority that she's on a night shift, all alone at the station."
"What about her deputies?"
"They just received an anonymous tip about a break in all the way across town…"
Meredith's lips twisted into a cruel smile. "What are we waiting for?"
She was about to flash off, but Katherine's voice called for her attention. "There is one teensy, tiny little issue…" At Meredith's raised eyebrow, the older brunette continued. "The Big Bad has a hybrid guard stationed outside the department to protect his beloved's mother."
Meredith rolled her eyes. "Please, I think I can take one measely little hybrid. I managed to drop you at least half a dozen times last night, didn't I?"
Katherine grit her teeth in annoyance. "You did."
"Are we going to do this, or what?"
"Lead the way."
The two women flashed off in the direction of the police department and stopped when they were in view of the building. Katherine pulled Meredith into an alleyway to provide some cover. They saw the hybrid on guard, leaning against the side of the building so that he had a view of the main entrance to the station.
Meredith snorted. "That's the almighty guard that Klaus sent to protect the Sheriff?" Her eyes were fixed on the hybrid, who was currently typing away on his phone. "He looks more interested in Angry Birds than protecting anyone."
Katherine smirked. "Good help is hard to find these days, even for an Original, I suppose." She pulled Meredith back into the alleyway as she continued to talk. "Now, we can't kill him yet because that would just tip off the Mikaelsons that you're in town; same with the Sheriff. You need to get the upper hand and compel them. They can be our eyes and ears on the inside."
"Brilliant." Meredith grinned.
Katherine rolled her eyes. "Obviously, I'm Katherine Pierce. Let's go."
The two women flashed across the street and appeared in front of the hybrid. "What the hell?" was all he was able to get out before Meredith punched him in the throat, effectively silencing any other noises he could make. Katherine snatched the phone out of his hands and pocketed it as she watched her trainee.
The hybrid didn't take long to gather himself after the initial punch and lunged at Meredith, who quickly sidestepped him and landed a hard jab to his back with her elbow. The hybrid launched further forward, but didn't fall. His quick reflexes allowed him to use the momentum from her hit to spin towards her and land a punch of his own to her gut.
Meredith steeled her abdomen muscles as Katherine had taught her and absorbed the punch. She used the hybrid's apparent surprise that she didn't react to his punch and landed her own straight to his nose. His head jerked back from the force of her blow, and his vision was temporarily clouded with pain and blood.
Meredith seized her opening and pushed him against the wall, grabbing his chin with one of her hands and forcing him to meet her gaze. "You will stop struggling, be quiet and do everything I say." She smiled when the hybrid immediately stopped moving against her hold. "Much better. You are going to ignore any noises or cries for help that you might hear from inside the police station, and you won't let anyone inside after us. You will forget that you saw us, and report back to Klaus that it was a normal, boring night. You no longer work for him; you work for me now. Spy on him, his family, his girlfriend and her ragtag group of misfits. Then everyday just after sunset you will meet me by Wickery Bridge to update me about everything you heard throughout the day."
Throughout her compulsion, the hybrid quietly murmured all of the directions back to her. Meredith glanced to Katherine, who nodded, so she released the hybrid. "We've got an appointment with Liz Forbes."
The two women crept towards one of the side doors, but found it locked. Meredith looked to Katherine, who rolled her eyes and removed a bobby pin from her hair. "Rule number 12: learn how to pick a lock, newbie." Meredith scoffed, but raised her eyebrows in surprise as Katherine had the door open before the sound fully escaped her lips.
Katherine smirked at her with a raised eyebrow, daring her to make a comment. Meredith averted her eyes and pushed through the door. The two cautiously walked into what looked like a storage room. Meredith shot a glance down at Katherine's five inch stilettos, and couldn't help but be impressed that the woman was able to move so silently while wearing them. She smirked to herself, proud that she had picked such an experienced vampire to train her.
They moved quietly into the main room filled with desks, and saw the door was open and the light on in the Sheriff's office in the back. The women inched forward and peered into the room. The chair behind the large desk was turned with it's back to them. They could see Liz's blonde hair just over the top of it.
Katherine caught Meredith's arm and held up three fingers. Meredith nodded, and Katherine put down one of her fingers. Meredith tensed and moved to be on the balls of her feet as she watched the other brunette lower another finger. When Katherine pointed towards the office with her last finger Meredith charged into the office, spinning the desk chair around to face her.
"Long time no see, Sheriff." Meredith spat out triumphantly, before her eyes narrowed in confusion.
"That's quite rude; I happen to be much better looking than the good Sheriff." Kol said as he removed the blonde wig from his head. "No offense, STBSIL."
"You're both good looking, just in different ways." Caroline chuckled from her spot next to Matt behind Klaus, Elijah and Rebekah in the doorway of the emergency exit in her mom's office.
"What the hell?" Meredith yelled at their sudden appearance. She whirled around to the door she had just come through to find Katherine, Finn and Sage blocking the remaining way out. Her eyes focused on Katherine. "You tricked me!"
Katherine smirked and rolled her eyes. "I'm Katherine Pierce; it's what I do."
-Flashback-
"She wanted Katherine to help her, right?" Caroline addressed the room during their planning session Saturday night. "Well, let's have Katherine help her. She's the best liar and manipulator we know, but she can use those powers for good this time."
Katherine smirked as she caught on to Caroline's idea. "I'll 'train' her for the next couple of nights in the forest to earn her trust. I can show her some skills that she can hone, nothing too major, and then I can lead her to a trap."
"That's bloody brilliant!" Kol exclaimed. "Give Meredith exactly what she wants, but it will only be her downfall. You know, STBSIL, if you're little gang ever let you plan the attacks on our family, you all might have actually stood a chance."
Caroline rolled her eyes at him. "We need to have Katherine lure her to a controlled environment, somewhere that has limited exits so Meredith can't just escape and vanish again."
"If Katherine is training her in the forest, won't it seem suspicious if she wants to take her somewhere else all of a sudden? There has to be a reason for why she brings Meredith to another location." Klaus weighed in, also impressed with Caroline's plan so far.
"What about the grill?" Bonnie suggested. "We can wait until after they close, and have Katherine lead her there."
"What would be the reason for them to go there?" Kol pointed out.
"What about the police station?" Matt suggested. "We already know that she wants your mom, Care. Your mom could have the place cleared out for us, that way no one from town gets hurt."
Caroline nodded. "That could work. Mom works the night shift on Monday and Tuesday this week. She could make any of the officers or deputies go out on patrol, and she could go with one of them. The building itself has several emergency exits, but her office only has two ways in and out."
"That would be easy to cover." Elijah agreed.
"With our help," Finn said from the cell phone, "there could be at least three of us at each door."
"One of my hybrids will be at the police station those nights anyways to watch over Liz." Klaus continued the discussion. "I can have Josh there, and he can alert me when Katherine and Meredith arrive." He turned to Katherine. "You will not allow her to kill him under any circumstances."
Katherine held up her hands in a sign of innocence. "Alright, alright! We'll have to let her compel him then so she doesn't get suspicious."
Klaus nodded. "I will provide him with some vervain and explain how to act compelled."
Rebekah, who had been silent thus far, finally spoke up, glaring at Katherine. "You all realize that at the center of this plan, there is a lying, traitorous slag, correct?"
Elijah looked to his sister pleadingly. "You said you would give her a chance, Rebekah."
Rebekah scoffed. "Yes, I did, but there's a difference between 'giving her a chance' and giving her the power to screw us all over!"
Katherine leveled her gaze at the Original sister. "Listen, I know what I have done in the past to your family has been terrible. I know that I'm a lying, manipulative bitch, okay? But I'm done with that; I love your brother, Rebekah, and I'm willing to do whatever you need me to do in order to prove it. Let me do this for him, for all of you."
The room was silent as the two women stared at one another. Finally, Rebekah gave a single nod. "If you are lying, you will regret this very much."
"Then it's a good thing I'm not lying." Katherine replied evenly.
"We'll need a decoy sheriff." Sage's voice from the phone broke the tension in the room. "Meredith will need to see that the Sheriff is in her office to be fully convinced."
"I've always wanted to be a blonde," Kol said with a smirk on his face. "I've heard they have the most fun…"
Meredith felt two jolts of pain shoot through each of her shoulders as Kol stabbed her with a White Ash Dagger at the same time that Matt shot her with a wooden bolt from his crossbow.
She cursed as she tore both of them out of her skin before she lunged at Kol, who caught her with an uppercut to her jaw. She quickly shook off the pain and changed tactics, instead turning on Katherine with the wooden bolt in hand.
Meredith struck out at the Doppelganger with the bolt, and was surprised to see that Katherine was no longer where she thought she was. She felt a tap on her shoulder and spun around, surprised to see Katherine behind her, smirking.
"Aww, did you really think I taught you all my tricks, cupcake?" Katherine teased her.
Meredith growled, but before she could make a move, she was stabbed in the leg with another dagger by Rebekah.
Whirling on the blonde, Meredith spat. "Now I know why your mother never liked you; you have terrible aim. I assure you, mine is better." She pulled the dagger out of her thigh and moved to stab Rebekah in the heart.
The dagger fell to the floor as another uncomfortable pain shot through Meredith's stomach. She looked down to see another wooden bolt from the crossbow sticking out of her abdomen. She pulled it out with a sigh as she looked at Matt, who had now moved into one of the corners of the room. "You surely live up to your jock stereotype; I'm an Original, dumbass. These don't hurt me."
She vamped over to Matt, who was trying to load the crossbow for another shot. Just as she was about to sink her fangs into the quarterback, she was knocked into the wall by a blonde blur. She turned around to see Caroline, her vampire features on display.
"That was for ruining my dance." Caroline spat at her before punching her square in the face and knocking her legs out from under her. "And that was for my mother. You will never hurt her or anyone else ever again."
Meredith rose to her feet as she smirked at the blonde. "And how are you going to ensure that, huh? Those stupid daggers clearly don't have any effect on me."
"That's because we haven't gotten you in the heart," Kol rolled his eyes. "And she fancies herself a doctor."
"Even if you did get me in the heart, I'd still be alive. I would rise again one day and kill all of you!" Meredith shouted.
"Then it's a good thing I have this." Klaus' deadly voice rang clearly throughout the room as he removed the White Oak Stake from his jacket. He flashed at Meredith at the same time that Elijah, Kol, Rebekah and Finn launched themselves at her as well, each of them grabbing one of her limbs.
Klaus grabbed her around the neck as his siblings secured her arms and legs.
"Now, Bonnie!" Kol yelled.
Bonnie sprang out from under the desk with Elena's necklace in hand. She raised her other hand out towards Meredith and began to chant. All of the lights flickered as they all saw a black energy of mist leave Meredith and go into the necklace.
"What are you doing to me?" Meredith screamed as she felt herself being drained of power. "No! Stop!"
"Done!" Bonnie yelled, nodding to Kol.
"Please! Don't kill me! I just want to use my blood to help people!" Meredith pleaded.
"Is that why you killed all of the Council members that discovered your method of helping people?" Klaus spat into her face.
"I won't come after any of you! I swear! Please!" Meredith continued to struggle against them.
"Please," Katherine rolled her eyes. "As a professional liar, I can tell you you really need to work on being convincing."
"She'll have plenty of time to practice on the Other Side." Klaus smirked. "That is, if Ester doesn't punish her for failing."
With that he thrust the White Oak Dagger into her chest. The rest of the Originals moved away as Meredith's body began to desiccate as it fell to the floor. They all watched as the stake ignited and the body caught fire.
As soon as the body turned to ash, the blast of a fire extinguisher put out the remaining flames. They all turned to see Katherine holding the red device. "What?" She raised an eyebrow at all of them. "I didn't think Caroline would want her mother's office and department to go up in flames. You're welcome."