They're Red Hot

Tyler brings them down into the tunnels below his house. Liv and over a dozen of the Gemini follow behind, tired from travelling so far but ready to follow Liv's leadership into the unknown.

"I don't get why you needed to bring the entire coven, Cinder-Spella. It's not exactly stealthy," Damon complains.

"We need to draw on a lot of power to send this many people to a prison world and this isn't nearly my entire coven," she boasts.

As they walk through the tunnels, Klaus gets an opportunity to observe her friends without her around to reign in his judgement. "Is it telling that I like the newest one and the wolf the most?"

"Likely only because they haven't had an opportunity to stand against you. Yet," his brother concludes.

Tyler keeps Liv at his back despite her being the stronger of the two every night besides the full moon. He's confident in these tunnels, having used them so much as an adult to find the best place for his monthly transformation. Bonnie and Damon walk side by side behind the Gemini. Stefan and Caroline are just behind them and Klaus notes Stefan's hand on her back hoping that indicates the saga of former love is over.

The tunnels are a twisting nightmare only making sense with Tyler's map and his experience. The earth gets colder as they descend further down. The path they are on begins to open wider and right before they make it to the cavern, a young teenaged girl with braided black hair cuts them off.

"Where's Elena?" she asks anxiously, looking past Liv and through the group. "She said she was helping."

Bonnie steps forward to Ava. "She is helping, but she had to stay behind. It's too dangerous for her to confront Markos again. She sent us instead."

The girl eyes her suspiciously and looks to Klaus, recognizing him from earlier. "Is that true?"

"I sent her home myself. She does want to help, but I still cannot allow her to get hurt."

Ava nods slowly like she's deciding if it sounds believable. She must trust them enough because she begins to explain the faction that's been developing among the Travelers since Elijah expelled her from Caroline earlier in the day. Sloan had been their leader for such a long time and she was well loved, willing to put the group before herself time and time again. Markos had shown them nothing on the same level of loyalty. His presence had already soured on the group, even more so after the murder of the doppelgänger's aunt.

They just wanted to have a home together, not revenge against the witches. A few of the Travelers were in their rightful bodies, some of the unfortunate townspeople had lost their lives when they had infiltrated the junkyard to rescue Stefan and Elena days earlier. Most of them though, were still lying on the floor of the cave.

Ava sits next to an older, unconscious woman and holds her hand as the Gemini surround them in a loose circle. Bonnie winces when Liv uses a knife to slice into her palm, collecting her powerful Bennett blood. Slowly, the witches start their chant, Liv holding the ascendant in her outstretched grip. The other, lying on Ava's mom's stomach.

The vampires stand back and watch, except for Klaus who walks a perimeter around the magic. His spine straightens when he spots Markos walking in from another tunnel, surrounded by a small group of his loyalists.

Klaus makes a beeline for Markos, but the swirling magic makes it difficult to cross the room. The witches are entranced and despite the danger, they press on only satisfied until a new world is created and the Travelers sent away. Tyler remains at Liv's side, defined by his resolve to watch over her.

With them preoccupied, it's up to the vampires to cross the room to confront the smaller faction. Caroline falls and slides across the ground which prompts Stefan to backtrack to help her. Damon is so headstrong and had been standing closer to Bonnie when this had all begun. He already has blood on his chin as he pulls back from the spurting neck of a burly man. He looks around wildly for another catch. Klaus is nearly there, Elijah at his back. When they reach the other side, Elijah joins Damon in eviscerating the few remaining people loyal to Markos. Klaus isn't concerned with lesser threats, he only has eyes for Markos. If he could spot him.

The ground moves and the earth swells, one by one the Travelers disappear. One moment Ava is smiling and the next she is gone. Liv stumbles into Tyler's arms and she clings to him, her body is spent after such a display. The winds eventually die down and Klaus turns around to find the cave empty save those he had descended it with. Without the magical suppression, Caroline stands up and looks around. "Where did he go?"

Jeremy drives her back home and while she knows it isn't his fault, she's not happy that he agrees with Klaus which makes her want to talk to him less. She doesn't wait for him to follow her, walking into the house on her own. Connor, Simon and Galen are lounging in the front room. Only Simon is friendly enough to wave to her. Connor can't help himself, glaring holes in her skull. Galen is the picture of indifference.

Her brother follows her upstairs, exasperated. "Elena, I'm just doing what he asked me to do."

"How can you agree with him?"

"After everything that happened with Jenna, I just want to be a little more careful okay? You don't have to like it, but we are just looking out for you. It's not a bad thing."

"Well, I don't like it," she replies, continuing to her bedroom. "Klaus and my brother deciding what is best for me. What's next, Jeremy? Are you two going to work out how to trap me in the tallest room in the tallest tower to keep me safe?"

"Come on! Where are you going?"

"I was thinking of taking a nap. Or am I not allowed to do that? Do I have to be in the room with the four of you?"

"No, you don't. I was just asking."

"I'm irritated, Jer. Can you understand that?"

"I can as long as you understand that it is a nice thing to have someone worry about your safety, even if it is Klaus. You keep trying to get everyone to see how much he loves you. Well, this is part of loving someone." His logic only further annoys her, making it harder to actually go to sleep. Harder, but not impossible. It has been difficult for her to sleep through the night and most days she's been taking multiple naps to try catching up. Despite the excitement and annoyance of the day, she does manage to drift off.

The sudden weight on top of her startles her awake and for a moment she thinks it might be Klaus. But the eyes glaring back at her are brown and angry. Markos's hands reach down for her neck and she feels cool, metal against her throat. She grabs his forearms, doing her best to dig her nails in.

"What have you done? What have you done with my people? Is this some kind of trick?" he seethes. His knees on either side of her lock her in and no matter how hard she tries she can't move.

She struggles, trying to pull his hands off her neck as she coughs out air. She drags her nails down his arm, rivulets of blood pooling and spilling down. He winces, distracted, but not enough to let her go. She takes a chance and inches her feet up, doing her best to get her heels as close to her butt as she can. She shoves her fingers back into the scratches and launches her hips up, over to the right. The motion destabilizes Markos just enough for him to topple over, though the box cutter in his hand delivers a superficial blow. She scrambles out from under him, holding her neck and runs into the bathroom.

She locks the door as quickly as she can and a fraction of a second later, Markos is pounding at the door. He's slipped into his native language, yelling what she can only guess are obscenities and threats. She slides down the door, shaking and hoping her weight will help keep the door in place. There are no windows to escape out of here, her options are terribly limited.

Over the pounding, she can make out Jeremy calling out for her. And just like that, the shaking door is still again. She freezes as she listens to the footsteps recede out of her room and down the hallway.

She keeps telling herself that Jeremy is more than capable. Him and the rest of the Five. She says it like a mantra in her head that keeps her hiding inside the bathroom. It's the sound of crashing furniture that dissipates her resolve to stay locked away. No matter what, she can't let Jeremy get hurt.

She cracks the door open inches at a time so she can look around the room first, her hand still firmly pressed to the shallow wound. Only when she's satisfied that she's alone does she run out to grab her phone from her night stand. Klaus is her first and only call.

Ring – "Come on, Klaus."

Ring – "Please, please, please pick up."

Ring – "Fuck! Pick up the damn phone!"

His phone goes to voicemail and it's the automatic, pre-set one. Elena is kicking herself wishing that she had forced him to make it more personalized. She needs to hear his voice in this moment. Just in case.

"Klaus, please listen to this as soon as you can. Markos is here. I think he's downstairs and I'm worried something awful happened to Jeremy. I need you. I don't know what will happen, but I have to make sure my brother is okay," she finishes and takes a deep inhale. "I'm so glad you stalked me that day in Sicily. It was the creepiest, best thing that ever happened to me. I love you. I'll always love you." She hangs up and pockets her phone. She slips off her socks before she peeks around the corner to walk out of her bedroom. It's a path she's walked now countless times, down the stairs and to the front room. Only now she's acutely aware of the danger she's in. Ironic now that all the vampires have left the house.

Jeremy and the other men are sprawled out in various positions. It's unsettling to see such strong men so prone on the floor. Jeremy looks like he was blown back as he retreated from the staircase. Connor is slightly on top of Simon, as if he was protecting the shorter man. Galen seems like he was the only one who managed to do anything, the knife in his hand tinged with blood.

Markos is nowhere in sight, a spotty trail of blood leading into the adjoining room. She hurries to Galen's side to grab the knife. It's laughable, her trying to take on Markos when he managed to overpower the Five. But she doesn't need to take him on. She just needs to hide long enough for Klaus to get her message, long enough for him to rescue her.

"I had been led to believe you were the sort who accepted your fate. A person who wouldn't fight back." Markos stood in the archway between rooms, holding his upper arm tight.

"Not a person, remember?" she reminds him, backing away.

"What is it with you newer doppelgängers? Why fight against nature? Against the inevitable?"

"You?" she laughs. "Are you the nature I'm fighting against? You're just a sad man whose best isn't good enough. You shouldn't have come back. Your people are better off without you."

"I fight for my people!" he screams out. "I had to use the last of your blood for the spell to subdue your brother and the others. Once I get more, I will get them back."

"Looks like Galen managed to take a piece of you before you did," she taunts, trying to wind him up.

"Yes," he peers down to his arm. "Even so, I imagine I'll still be able to take on a little girl." He walks slowly towards her and she gives him a wide berth as he does. "Everything I've done since coming back has been for my people. Surely even you can understand that? The sacrifices you might be willing to make for those who share your blood? For those you love? I'm willing to shed the blood of two insignificants for the greater good. That is a burden I'll bear so that the rest can live the life we all deserve."

"If that were true, then you wouldn't have killed Jenna. You can dress it up in pretty lies, but we both know that you do everything out of self-righteous anger. Your vendetta has nothing to do with justice."

"What have you done with my people?! Where have they gone?" he yells out enraged and he lunges forward toward her.

A/N: Thank you for reading! The Travelers at large have been taken care of, promise. We just have Markos left.