It took several weeks to perfectly accomplish everything that needed to be done. Micromanaging everybody involved, I soon felt exhausted mentally from all the bickering, complaining and bad blood between the lot of them despite the fact that deep down, they were all devoted to one another. Everybody was mad at Damon for bailing out on them for three years after he couldn't take being separated from Elena any longer, but that was nothing new since most of the time people were mad at him anyway. Caroline, despite still being in love with Stefan, was angry with him because he also bailed on her, and then the brothers were also at odds…it was like trying to run a day-care nursery with a bunch of hyped up, super strong toddlers.
I was glad as hell that Lucan didn't give me this much trouble. He was my life's greatest blessing. Of course Caroline and Bonnie both thought that he was the cutest little guy they had ever seen as I had introduced him to them over a video call when they had happened to be around, where his cherubic smile and angelic curls made their hearts melt. Caroline wanted to get our kids together since they were the same age to make friends, to which I answered that they would all be close friends in the future anyway. Just give it time. I had to admit it was weird being back amongst the old crew after so long, but after getting over the awkwardness and using the first twenty four hours or so to just talk and catch up, I found myself remembering how much I had liked Caroline and Bonnie before, and I liked them even more now. Maybe after all this, we could all remain real friends this time.
Anyway, with the gang all together once again, I destroyed the Phoenix Stone after waking Rayna up, then promised if she told us where every last vampire had gone using her connection to them, I would take away the Huntress Curse on her and with Caroline's help, set her up with a new life somewhere quiet and peaceful anywhere in the world so that she could finally be free. It didn't take much persuading since the endless voices and visions in her head from the thousands of vampires she had hunted over the courses of her life soon became too much for her, so she agreed to the bargain.
I kept nothing back from everyone, telling them exactly what needed to be done and why, because unless I gave them a very good reason to do something, I knew that they wouldn't trust me. The Phoenix Stone was too dangerous an artefact to be left upon this earth anyway, so destroying it was necessary, but also by releasing the vampire souls, I needed to bargain with the Armoury to get them to help so that Bonnie would be able to go back and open the vault so that I could get to the monster inside. Lorenzo had immediately protested against this, refusing to allow Bonnie anywhere near the Armoury and his distant cousin, Alexandria, but I promised him that Bonnie would be safe. "I've already cured her from the poison in Rayna's blood, and I'm not going to let anything else happen to her. Bonnie is the only one who can open that vault since it was sealed by a Bennett witch, not even I can get to it, and I need to deal with what's on the inside. I know you have no reason to trust me, but I give you my word that everything will work out in the end if you just follow with my plan."
Enzo was reluctant, but a few gentle words of persuasion from Bonnie allowed him to concede, whereby he threatened to rip out my heart if anything happened to Bonnie whilst under my watch. I smiled to him then, and assured him that if anything did go wrong, he could rip me to pieces all he wanted, but I wasn't the kind of person to make rookie mistakes. I preferred Enzo to the Salvatore brothers, and thoroughly approved of Bonnie's choice in her love of a lifetime. Anyway now that everyone was on side, everybody set out taking down the souls of the vampires that had been released from the stone with Rayna directing us all, writing the names on a long list of numerous scraps of paper as Damon bartered with the Armoury to get them to help.
The deal was done and afterwards, I performed the ritual to release Rayna from being the Vampire Huntress, and leaving her linked to the final shaman so that she could life this life to the fullest. It was then up to Caroline to get her everything she would need to become an upstanding member of society, covering everything from getting her a social security number, a digital footprint, a home up in Alaska where she wanted to live in solitude for a while and pretty much everything else to make it look like Rayna Cruz had been born in this century and not a few hundred years ago. Now that she was human and mortal, I even had Caroline compel her to accept the past as it was and to forget about her drive to hunt vampires to instead live her life the way she wanted to, to explore, find freedom, fall in love, anything she desired, so long as she did it whilst living life to the fullest. When Rayna left, I was satisfied that this part of the story was now closed, confident that I had done everything necessary to ensure that Rayna would at least get a happy ending after centuries of being driven by a curse to hunt vampires for the rest of her days.
Now came the increasingly difficult part. With the vampire souls laid to rest, we had to deal with the vault in the armoury which only Bonnie could open. I went with her, the both of us managing to persuade everyone else to at least hang back so that we could deal with the monster in the catacombs below without risking anyone else getting hurt or taken over by the siren's influence. Especially Damon and Enzo, who were at this moment at the greatest risk. Bonnie was completely on my side after I'd told her what would happen if that creature got a hold of them, and took charge of the situation to make sure both Damon and Enzo, who loved her tirelessly each in their own unique way, stayed put.
Damon argued the most, not trusting me with the life of his best friend as he reminded me on the many occasions where I had let them down by either not stepping up or withholding vital information that could have saved them a whole lot of trouble. He had a point, but since he still persisted in calling me 'carrots', I just set him on fire again. By this point, it was almost a way of showing affection between us. Of course I didn't actually hurt him, just singe his jacket a little but it only pissed him off more as I casually stood there, arms folded, and completely nonplussed about his distrust in me. "Look, I'm anxious to get back home to my kid, so if you're done being a mistrustful ass, we have to get going. Face it Damon, you need me on this one, and besides Bonnie is more than capable of looking after herself. She's got more power than even she knows."
"I do?"
"I'll tell you about it on the drive over, trust me you'll love it." She grinned at me then, and settled with Damon that she was still mad at him about him choosing to walk out on her without even a proper goodbye, so he didn't deserve to be so worried about her now. With her word being final, she and I left together as Caroline and Stefan started to finally face the facts about their feeling, though I felt bad for Alaric considering he'd wanted to marry Caroline himself since she had helped him raise his twin girls. If all goes well, I should be able to remedy that as well. As I promised, I told Bonnie how even though she was a witch – and a powerful one at that – she was also psychic. I told her about her powers, about the devil man Arcadius, and how he and the siren sisters came into being.
It was a lot for her to take in, but she accepted it all without question since it was me relaying the information from visions I had seen of the future that was bearing down upon us. The Armoury was exactly as I had envisioned it, though the tense atmosphere made everything a little cold as I walked through the main doors with Bonnie to face Alexandria St John. "Welcome. It's good to see you again Bonnie Bennett, and I see you've brought a friend with you. Ophelia Martin-Jones, am I right?" My eyes narrowed as I felt a surge of underlying rage boil underneath the surface, but I hid it with a poisonously sweet smile.
"That's right. You people live up to your reputation. I'm guessing you know exactly who and what I am?"
"The last druid that walks this earth today. My people have been looking for you for a long time after we heard rumours of your existence. I'm glad we could finally meet." Alexandria returned my smile with an equal measure of venom as we each reached out and shook one another's hands, Bonnie watching us cautiously as my mind slowly worked through the next sequence of events. I announced that I was merely here as a spectator out of curiosity, and to also ensure that after Bonnie had complied with the Armoury's wishes, she would walk out of here freely to which Alexandria promised that no one would stop her once she had released the seal on the vault. We looked at one another then, Bonnie's intelligent eyes agreeing with mine that we still needed to remain vigilant, but followed Alexandria all the same.
Bonnie made short work of the vault's seal whilst I remained in anticipation for what was going to happen next, and the moment the barrier was down I was ready to leave. "It's done." Bonnie was bleeding from her nose, the strain of using magic being a little too much having recently been weakened by the poisonous pills she had been taking and her body had not yet fully recovered, but she remained resolute and firm as she turned to look at Alexandria.
"Thank you Bonnie. You are your friend are free to go now." With Alexandria now completely focused on the vault and the open door, Bonnie and I took this opportunity to run and get the hell out of there. We raced all the way through to the main entrance of the Armoury where we were then faced with multiple men with tranquiliser guns.
"Guess we're not so free to leave after all." Bonnie spoke wryly, lifting her hands ready to cast a spell as we naturally stood back to back.
"Actually I think they want to collect me. Druids are a rare commodity after all. Don't worry, I got this." Letting Bonnie take a rest, I yelled as I released a forceful wave of magic which knocked every single person off their feet, disengaging their weapons so that Bonnie and I could run for the doors and once outside, the both of us immediately worked together to seal it. I channelled magic into Bonnie, giving her the strength that she needed to seal the entire building so that nobody could get in or out, trapping the siren inside with everyone belonging to the armoury. "Good job Bonnie."
"It was nothing." She laboured for a breath a little, gripping her side as if she'd caught a stitch or something. "What I don't get is if you're planning to fight that thing in there anyway, why trap it in the first place? Why not just let it out then deal with it right now?" At her question my face became dark and stony, listening as the screams of men and women being slaughtered started to creep up from the depths of the tunnels below but despite the blood curdling sound, I felt no remorse.
"Because they all need to die." My words shocked Bonnie who looked at me quickly, her mind recalling that in the past I had been strongly against taking life. "If Alexandria and the Armoury survive, they will hunt me down to the ends of the earth…and my son. If they survived, they'd come after Lucan and they'd hurt him. I don't care about anything else other than protecting my son's future, so I'll use the hand of that monster to get rid of anyone who'll threaten him and once she's served her purpose, I'll use her to lure out her sister, then deal with them both in order to get to my main goal." For a moment Bonnie contemplated my words, considering if she felt sickened by my rather brutal ruthlessness before seemingly deciding that it didn't bother her at all.
"I'd do the same thing, if it were me. Besides, I made a promise never to let that thing out into the world. This way, I keep it." She told me, and even reached out to give my hand a squeeze to reassure me as the screams of terror and the dying began to fill the air and the voice of Alexandria St John begging to be released rattled against our ears. "Let's get out of here."