A/N: Holy crap, it has been forever since I updated this. Three years of a mental block will do things to you, but hey. I'm happy to be back with a chapter finally. It feels really good to write again and actually enjoy it. But yeah, I want to thank all of you who still read this and had faith in me after all this time. It truly means the world to me that you've kept the faith despite the challenges I had. With this chapter, I'm splitting this into two parts. I didn't want to go crazy with the word count. 7,000 was enough.
I will say this chapter is relatively one of the ones I preferred not to write. I will have to warn you that the scenes jump back and forth a lot between the groups of characters. I suggest taking your time reading through this.
Since it has been years since I originally wrote this, my style of writing maybe a bit different. I honestly don't know how to explain it. I'm just glad I'm over those mental blocks and overthinking when it comes to my writing. I'm just happy to be writing again.
This chapter is dedicated to Cindy (klaroline-fantasies) who has been my most devoted fan and biggest cheerleader when it comes to this story. Thank you, love, for cheering me on through this and your incredible insight. You've got to read her stories. She's good.
**Another dedication! This chapter is also dedicated to my old friend Katie (Doctor's Charlene)! She's been one of my biggest fans from the beginning of this monster of a story. Thanks for giving me the opportunity for adding an awesome character to my story! (Which is Charlene, HAHA!) Also, I totally recommend her stories for your entertainment. Enough said.
And well, here we go with another chapter. Enjoy the show!
Disclaimer: I do not own TVD or any of the characters. I only the characters I create.
Chapter 39: Don't Fear The Reaper Part I
Being tied up was usually the kind of fun Damon preferred to have in the bedroom. Oh, the vanity. Damon naked with his glorious body on his king-sized bed up for display and to behold. Silk ties were the best route and the added bonus of beautiful women made all the difference. Their eyes filled with lust and a hunger for infamous touch would spur him on. And oh, when the women had blood that tastes like a sweet red wine. ...it made Damon's mouth water.
That would have been perfect situation - scratch that - if Elena was the woman in that situation, it would be better than what Damon was doing now.
No silk ties. No sweet blood. No Elena.
Rough coarse rope. Drained of blood. Vervain burned skin.
Not Damon's fantasy, but reality.
He wasn't pleased at all. Weak, tied to a tree, and the vervain soaked burned into his skin was enough to put any vampire in a bad mood. Damon was tied up to a tree with ropes soaked in vervain around his neck, waist, and feet. Searching for his captor, he found the hunter from last night, his fangs itching to tear his neck out and escape. Dammit, he shouldn't have been so stupid.
He watched the hunter, crouched over a campfire while he struggled against his bonds, groaning in pain from the burning ropes.
"Something botherin' you?" a Scottish accent rang in Damon's ears.
"Would you believe me if I said mosquitoes?"
"Aye, I would," the hunter answered, casually chewing on a piece of cooked rabbit. "How does it feel when a relentless eating machine is draining the blood from your veins?"
"Itchy," the vampire retorted, scanning the area for anyone else that could be nearby.
All he could see was the damn hunter, and once more added him to his list of people that annoyed him. And possibly needed to kill to get the hell out of dodge. He hadn't forgotten about a certain witch he was at odds with last night. Not seeing any sign of her worried him, but he didn't show it. He wasn't going to give that satisfaction to Shrek.
Yes, that name suited to the pain-in-the-ass in front of him.
"Your friends from Mystic Falls think you're funny, Damon?"
Of course he was funny. Hell, he's the funniest of them all, not to mention the life of the party. Funny, but also deadly. Damon knew this hunter was different from the last one who tried messing with him. This one was smart. Shrek knew more than what he was letting on. "You obviously know who I am and where I'm from. Have you been spying on me?"
Shrek confirmed his suspicions. "Aye, I have," he answered, finishing off the piece of rabbit before facing Damon directly. "You and Stefan, Elena, your witches. Do you need them to cast the spell written on your pal, Jeremy's hunter's mark...the tattoo that looks exactly like this?"
Pulling up his sleeve, Damon caught a glimpse of the same tattoo Jeremy possessed etched into the hunter's skin. Not giving anything away, he showed his signature "Damon smile", flashing his white teeth in a mocking grin. "You wanna know something, just ask."
"You didn't ask about your witchy friend yet. But considering how you and her at each other's throats and almost killed you, it wouldn't be surprisin' if you were relieved she was not here at the moment."
Hiding the concern, he shrugged his shoulders (as best as one could bound against the tree.) "Just a stroke of luck and a really bad day."
"Definitely bad from what I watched. However, that's not important."
"Would it be important enough to say where the witch could be?"
"Aye, she's safe for now," he replied. "I hid her in a shrubbery far enough to the camp, but not enough to attract danger. That much I can tell you."
"How very chivalrous of you." Damon snarked, struggling against his restraints once more. At least now with Charlene safe, there was a possibility of her getting help out of this mess. Though he highly doubted she would help him out of the goodness of her heart now.
Ignoring Damon, the hunter resumed talking, getting back to the task at hand. "I've been killing vampires my entire life. Still, this thing refused to reveal itself to me. That was, until three days ago and it just magically completed for no apparent reason."
"Come on, man. Do I look like I know anything about tattoos? Look at my skin. It's flawless."
"Ah! You're not taking me seriously. I don't blame ya. You don't know me." The vampire watched as the hunter took the wooden stick he'd been holding over the fire. The almost mirthful smirk on his face faded away, replaced by a thin line that indicated he was prepared and unrelenting. The Hunter meant business. And Damon knew this wasn't going to be easy to get rid of. The hunter holding the stick to his neck was a warning enough.
"So let me introduce myself." The hunter stabbed Damon's neck, inch by inch as a painful grunt escaped from his throat. "My name is Galen Vaughn, and you'd better start talkin'."
She couldn't stop the pounding in her chest. Ba-boom. Ba-boom. Ba-boom. It was now early morning, and there was still no sign of Damon or Charlene. And now, Shane led Bonnie and Jeremy away the others under their own noses. It was hard to keep focus on what they came here for when her brain was so wrapped on trying to find where the others were.
Sitting on the beach, her hands grabbing handfuls of sand, her brain kicked into overdrive trying to figure out what they needed to do next.
"Oh come on, you bloody useless thing." Elena could hear Rebekah grumbling under her breath. The blonde Original held her phone in the sky, trying to get any signal she could, but that effort was proving to be fruitless. "Well, this is useless. No damn signal."
Elena released a heavy sigh. "I've tried calling them already. No point in wasting the battery life."
"Well, thank you for pointing out the obvious once again," the blonde bristled.
The brunette having enough of Rebekah's snappy dialogue, she finally snapped too.
"Can you for once in your life stop being a bitch?" she exasperated.
"How about you stop being the cause for all of my problems and then I'll stop?"
"When is that ever going to stop with you blaming me for everything that goes wrong in your life?"
"Should I write everything on a chalkboard for you for you to finally see?" Rebekah took long strides towards Elena, getting annoyed with every step. "Whose blood was needed for every bloody spell? The doppelganger's blood, you. Guess who my brother needed to break his hybrid curse and his hybrid family over his own blood? You. Who was it that instead of killing twelve other vampires decided to do premedated murder on my brother just to unawaken the hunter's mark? You. And who was it that caused my other brother on his path of vengeance and how I'm losing him to his insanity and grief? Oh, that's right. Because. Of. You."
Stefan watching the commotion, he knew that this was going to get ugly if he didn't stop it now. He vamp-sped over to the girls, stepping in front of Elena of stop Rebekah's assault.
"Okay, Bekah. That's enough. Now, isn't the time to do this."
For a brief second, Rebekah hesitated. With the recent development between her and Stefan, it had been easier to rein back her temper, having happier moments instead of all the grief and destruction. Slowly taking a breath, she backed up a step, listening to him briefly in trying to calm down.
But that was over in an instant.
Elena shoved Stefan out of the way. "I don't need your protection, Stefan. I can handle myself with her."
"Elena, no-" he tried to stop her.
"You want me to admit it? Fine! Me and Jeremy killed Kol and his entire sireline. And you know what? It felt good." The brunette finally snapped, her eyes turning dark red with black spidery veins forming, the darker part of her vampire nature she'd been trying to fight coming to the surface. "I never asked to be the doppelganger. I never asked to be a vampire. I never asked for any of this nightmarish hell your family has done nothing, but brought to me, my friends, and family for so long. So yeah, Kol's dead. Get over it because as far as I'm concerned, we're even in killing each other's family. And if Klaus dies, he deserved it. Besides, from what I remember, it would be doing you a favor."
Rebekah let out an angry screech, her rushing forward at Elena, slamming her against one of the trees. All she saw was red. Her blood ran hot, and the ferocity of her anger brought fire to her eyes, changing them into a combination of scorching red and blue. She shoved her hand into the brunette's chest, her fingers gripping tight around Elena's heart. The Original was almost too angry to enjoy the look of pain and terror on Elena's face as she squeezed, hearing her shouts of pain as she continued. Elena was done for.
"I should have killed you when I had the chance!" Rebekah yelled, finally losing it. "If it weren't for you, none of this of this horseshit would have happened!"
Ready to finally take the heart out of the murdering bitch's chest, Rebekah began to bring her hand out. But not before Stefan had anything to say about it.
Vamp-speeding again between them, he shoved the blonde out towards the water, leaving Elena falling down against the tree gasping for breath, and holding her chest in pain. On the other end, Rebekah fell within the lapping waves of the water, the freezing chill seeping into her bones, and the wet clothes sticking to her skin. Her anger running hot, she was about to charge at Elena again before Stefan pinned her down.
"Let me go, Stefan!" she yelled. "Before I kill you too!"
"No Rebekah, you need to stop! This isn't going to help anyone." He replied back in desperation, using all of his strength to keep her pinned. He was struggling.
"That's bull and you know it!"
"She shouldn't have goaded you, okay? She was wrong. I get that, but-" he continued to struggle in holding her down. "But you need to calm down."
And that was the worst thing to say to her right now.
"Why should I?!" the Original screamed. "Why should I listen to you after everything she has done?!"
"Because I'll promise to take the cure with you!"
With that statement, everything turned still. Hearing the words from Stefan's mouth, both of the angry girls faces turned to shock. Rebekah's mouth fell open, her red eyes turning to normal as the shock took hold. "What did you say?"
"If you stop this now, I promise to take the cure with you," he repeated himself.
She continued to stare at those forest green eyes of his, wondering if all of what he said was true. But glancing at Elena sitting against the trees brought her anger back and made her doubt the words Stefan spoke.
"Why should I believe you if all of this just sounds like your doing this for her sake and not of your own choice? What's the point?" she asked in an angry skeptical tone.
"I care about you. Remember last night?" He implored her, his tone dropping down as if it were to sooth a wild animal. "It was just you and me. I told you that I wanted you to be happy because it makes me happy when you are."
She remembered last night with perfect clarity. Ironically enough, being on the island with all the craziness, it was that still moment of being with Stefan that made her the happiest she had been in a long time. Just Stefan and her, skin to skin. It was only them, and that was all that mattered. And he cared for her. This may have started as quick one night stand to get over his hurt from a broken heart, but months of touches, honesty, and the circumstances thrown at them brought the vampires together in ways she didn't expect. It scared the living hell out of her, being so open. Rebekah had been unfortunate with love for a long time, and she didn't know what to do with these feelings. She felt like she cared too much. She was afraid of getting hurt again.
"And you would want that life with me? Have a human life with me?"
"Yes." Stefan answered, bringing a hand to touch the side of her face. "I promise you. When we get the cure, I will take it with you, and we'll get away from all of this once it's over. I want this for both of us."
It was Rebekah who finally came down from the high turbulence her storm of emotions had been released. The grief from Kol's death had resurfaced and now the anxiety of Klaus' situation hit her full force. Tears began to leak slowly from her eyes, Rebekah furiously blinking them so Stefan couldn't see them, but it was too late. With her anger fading, her other senses came back. Feeling the freezing cold water seep into her bones, her body shivered. Stefan helped her up from the ground and gathered her into his arms. He could feel her silently cry as he shushed her, comforting her as the tears stained his coat. She hid her face into his chest away from the world so no one could see her cry. She only wanted the world to know Rebekah Mikaelson, the strong Original who wasn't the bitch to be messed with. Not Rebekah, the lonely girl who cared too easily.
"But in order to get the cure, all of us are going to have to work together. I know that's the last thing you want right now, but just think about it for a second, please." Stefan finished suggesting, gently running his hand through the golden waves.
Rebekah sniffled, trying to get her bearings and think through on what he said. After what felt like an eternity, she released a reluctant sigh and nodded. She'd leave Elena alone...for now.
Meanwhile, Elena could only watch in shock and horror. Seeing Stefan, her old love, being so caring and tender towards the one that she despised, still made her have pangs of jealousy. The more critical part of her berated her for feeling the way she did. She was supposed to love Damon! How can she still feel something for Stefan?
Soon enough, she came to the conclusion that she had been denying for a while. Elena never thought to see the tender care Stefan always had shown towards her go to someone else. To Rebekah Mikaelson, no less.
When the Stefan and Rebekah finally separated, Elena caught a glimpse of vulnerability in the blonde's face before it went back to glaring daggers once Rebekah spotted her. Elena was lucky Stefan was here. Otherwise, Elena would have been dead before even Klaus could reach her.
Stefan approached her, and she already knew what was coming.
"I know what you're gonna say, Stefan," Elena quickly stated, not in the mood to dwell on it. "I shouldn't have provoked her. I should have let it go because we have more important things right now."
"I wasn't going to say that. Yes, Rebekah could have kept the bickering to a minimum, but the same thing could be said about any of us."
"Well don't you see that I'm getting sick of her always going down my throat?!" Elena almost yelled, her frustration coming to the surface once again. Trying to get a grip of her heightened emotions, she swallowed hard and tried to keep herself calm. "I'm sorry, Stef. I'm just worried sick about them."
"I know," Stefan agreed. "What happened between you and Damon?"
"We had an argument. I thought he was just taking a walk. Charlene found me a little while later and tried to help me by following him," she explained. "But you and me both saw the signs of a struggle. Shane couldn't have possibly took them on."
"Yeah, Shane's not strong enough to take Damon on, even with the element of surprise. He must have someone, or at least a few someones helping him."
"But now Jeremy and Bonnie is with him too." Elena pointed out, still trying to wrap her brain around it. God, why did he had to be gone too? She released a heavy sigh. "I'm no use to anyone right now."
That was when Rebekah cut in. "That can change right now."
Both of the other vampires turned their heads to the blonde, eyes widening in realization of what she held in hands. The hunter's sword.
"You still had it?" Stefan asked in surprise.
"Of course I do. I am not as paranoid as Nik, but I like to be prepared." Rebekah holding the sword in her hands, she walked towards the pair, her blue eyes filling with focus and her mouth tightening to firm line. "Despite how much I loathe you and don't want you here, Stefan is right. We're going to have to work together, and you're going to be of use. You still have the pictures of your brother's tattoos, yes?"
"Yeah, thank God." Elena reached into her pocket for her phone, thankful for the good amount of battery life she had left. "What do we need to do?"
"Simple really. Since Shane's looking for the cure, we're going to find him using the sword."
"How does the sword tie in with finding Shane?" Stefan couldn't help, but ask.
The tight line in Rebekah's face turned up into a knowing smirk as if she already had the answers. "I was playing around with the handle last night just to see what would happen, and I found this."
She unwrapped the leather on the top of the sword, revealing some sort of turning device at the hilt.
"It's a cryptex. You turn the different sides to the different symbols to get the translation on the other side." Stefan surmised, his eyes observing the strange hidden characters in the hilt of the sword. "Can you read this?"
"Thankfully, I can. It's a dead language, but I can do it. Living a thousand years has some benefits including knowing a language that's been dead since biblical times." Rebekah handed the sword gently to Stefan, guiding him to how it needed to be held while she needed to go through the translation. "Elena, hold out your phone to me so I can see the pictures. Stefan is going to turn the cryptex."
Rebekah's eyes scanned over the hilt studying the contents. Despite how much she didn't want to, she could see the wisdom behind Nik's point in studying some of the old languages. They needed to keep their minds sharp for anything. At least, that was always her brother's reasons. And Elijah agreed to it, unfortunately. Going along with it just to make them quiet, she studied whatever languages that sparked her interest. Aramaic coincidentally was both an interest for both Nik and her, and they had bonded over it years ago. It was one of the few fond moments left she remembered with him.
Fondly, she remembered the words he spoke to her for the first time in the language, letting the words slip off her tongue in nostalgia. "In bas so-teen-too ara-ma-eet."
"What does that mean?" the brunette asked in confusion.
"'If only you spoke Aramaic.'"
Elsewhere on the island…
It had been hours since Charlene was put to sleep. The rays of sunlight streamed through the trees and the little chitters of what little animals could be heard nearby. However, the one thing that still hung around was the heavy magic that lingered on the island and crackled with power. And the heaviness in the air made it hard to hold back the nausea always trying to climb up her throat.
Waking up with a massive headache, the witch used her strength to push herself up, leaning against the tree for support. The stinging pain from the dart still lingered now only dulling to mild pulsing one. She tried to use a healing spell for the pain inside her head, but only a bit of the pain was alleviated. The magic around this island was too powerful and overwhelming to remove all of its effect. Scanning the area, she found no one within the area. No Damon. No one.
She was completely alone.
All she wanted to do was go home, but that wasn't happening any time soon.
"God, what I am going to do?" she muttered to herself, looking up to the sky almost helplessly for answer. She wasn't going to get any.
Sighing, Charlene took a deep breath. Bending down to one knee, she placed one hand on the earthy floor below her, and let her magic seep into the ground. Remembering the fiery aura of Bonnie's magic, she felt her magic spread in all directions, looking for Bonnie's location.
Not south...not east or west...north. Yes, north. Northern...coming towards…
Her!
"Charlene!"
Whipping around, the blonde witch's eyes widened at the sight of Bonnie a few feet away. She was unharmed. She was okay!
"Oh, my God! Hey!" Charlene replied in excited relief. She rushed towards the other witch, crushing her against her chest in a hug. Bonnie was okay! She was alive! "I'm so glad to see you."
Bonnie was relieved too, but was a little shocked by Charlene's behavior. "I'm glad to see you too. I was starting to worry a bit once you didn't come back to camp. I assumed you wandered off."
"If only that were the case," the blonde replied. Before she went any further, her eyes caught the sight of three more people behind Bonnie. Charlene remembered Jeremy Gilbert, Elena's little brother and the hunter with the mark. But her eyes narrowed in suspicion at the last two approaching them.
Shane and someone else.
He has very long dark brown dreadlocks and equally dark eyes. His appearance was made more distinct by the white tribal markings painted on his face. She could tell that he was a witch.
His magic marked him as one of them, but that wasn't what chilled her to her core. Her magic was reacting vehemently to him. His magic felt sickening and heavy much like the magic emanating from the island. He was closely tied to the source of magic on this island, and his magic made her want to keep her distance from him. The nausea was getting worse.
That's when she put things together. Bonnie and their group went out on their own with Shane leading them. They were on the path towards Silas, and there was no stopping them. And with what Shane knew about her, she didn't want anyone else to find out about her. Rebekah already knew. And now, Shane.
"Who's he?" she asked directly, her blue eyes narrowing at the marked stranger.
"He is Massak," Shane explained. "He's our guide to the caves."
Massak eyed her warily, observing her as she kept her focus on him. It was almost that he knew that she knew of what he really was. Who's magic was really tied to.
But Charlene had no choice. She knew she had to go with them. With her strength getting weaker, it would be stupid to try to provoke a bad situation.
"Is there a problem?" Shane asked, his dark eyes drilling into hers.
"Unfortunately, yes." Charlene answered, weighing her words carefully. "There's someone else on the island."
It was then that Jeremy finally spoke up. "What do you mean someone else is on the island?"
"After I went to talk to Damon, someone attacked us. They shot me with a dart and knocked me out. I was out before I could see it who it was."
With the new factor of someone else on the island now, it raised concerns. Charlene and the rest of the group knew what that meant. Besides the original people they came with, there was another added now in the race for the cure. As far as Charlene was concerned, the cure didn't matter to her. She was only doing this to finally escape Klaus and make things right. Finally having an advantage against him would be a major victory, but it wasn't worth it if it meant waking a two-thousand year old immortal.
But her case didn't matter. Not with this group. She made a promise to help, and she will. Maybe there was a way to get the cure without waking Silas up. There's always a chance, right?
"From what you're saying, and assuming with Damon not here, this is a person that was able to go against you with no problem. They must have had prior knowledge about how to incapacitating you and had true skill to take on a vampire." Shane explained, running through the facts in his head. "I don't believe this a vampire's doing unless they decided to take up a hobby in weapons. This person did their homework in working against you. It's got to be a hunter."
"Will they be a problem?" Bonnie asked in concern.
"Maybe, maybe not. The only thing we can do is be prepared and keep going. And now that we have Charlene, our odds are better."
Charlene raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Better for what?"
"One witch is not enough to open the entrance. It's going to take two to open it."
Tailing after a group wasn't much of a challenge, but staying within hearing range and remaining undetected? That brought its own challenges.
They were watching from the shadows. Two pairs of eyes. A pair of sly chocolate eyes and another pair of determined copper ones.
One pair of eyes was solely focused on the hunter and his close witchy friend. Watching the close bond between them made her want to gag. It felt like she was watching a too happy rom-com. She had been tired of observing them and the others; their group always scattering and squeaking away like mice trying to get away from the deadly game of cat and mouse. It was entertaining at first, but at some point she got bored.
Besides, she already mastered the game and got away enough more times than anyone could count.
Still, it didn't hide the fact that she needed help.
And that's where the other pair of eyes came in.
The pair of hyper-focused copper eyes solely watched the only blonde within the group. Nothing else mattered than her. Finally able to get away, the blonde's safety was her main priority. Tied to a chain she couldn't break on her own, she had to do her best to bide her time until she could break. Hell, she was still waiting. But when the witch left with them, things went to hell. She knew she had to get her back. She needed to be safe. Despite all the hell, she would stop at nothing to get her back and keep her safe.
Family is family.
This partnership between brown eyes and copper eyes was based on one rule: no one interferes with each other's endgame.
Both of them agreed. And they knew, one way or another, blood was going to be spilled.
Something was wrong.
Everything about this place was wrong.
They should turn back. They should go home. This was too dangerous.
The heaviness of the magic in the air increased tenfold as they finally entered the darkness of the caves. The pressure pressed against Charlene's body, making it harder to breathe. She didn't know how much longer she could take this. As they traversed silently deeper into the cave, she could feel how close they were to the source of his tomb. They approached the cave entrance, a deep hole in the cave floor that went a long way down. Coming closer now to the source, her stomach churned again painfully with a vengeance, the pain rendering her down to her knees now.
"Charlene!" Bonnie stopped to her side, supporting her as the other witch threw up the contents of what little food she had been eating the last two days. She kept her hand on the blonde's back, rubbing up and down in an effort to comfort her. "Are you okay?"
Charlene shook her head. "Not really, but I'll manage. I don't know how you're not affected by this place. You got some witchy power I don't know about?" she cracked a joke painfully.
"Shh, just hush now. We can take a break right now." Her green eyes shifted to the others, getting a nod of approval from Shane.
"Yeah...five minutes should be fine for me."
Finally sitting down, Charlene leaned against the cave wall, the nausea and magic still making her head spin. Approached by Jeremy, he bent down to her level and gave her one of his bottles of water. "Here." He unscrewed the cap for her. "You're going to need to some fluids to get your energy back up."
Surprised by his kindness, she gave him a small, but grateful smile. "Thank you, Jeremy."
He nodded at her in acknowledgment before turning to Bonnie. "You're doing okay?"
"I'm fine, Jer." Bonnie reassured him. "You don't need to worry about me."
"Someone's gotta protect you. Might as well be me."
Meanwhile while the three conversed, the guide - Massak - finally spoke up. "This is as far as I go."
Professor Shane gave Massak a surprised look. "We're on the brink of a monumental event in human history. We're going to raise the most powerful immortal creature that ever was. Come on, our work's not done yet."
If Charlene thought Shane was crazy earlier, she was wrong now with the gleeful obsession for Silas coming through. God, this gave her a bad feeling all over.
"Mine is. You said get the kid and the witch. I did. You didn't say anything about the other witch and the other risks now posed on the island. I wanna get paid now."
Sighing, Shane opened his bag and pulls out what the tombstone. Three pairs of shocked eyes watched as he walked over and handed it to Massak. Massak sent Bonnie, Jeremy, and Charlene a sympathetic glance at the three of them.
"I'll say a prayer for your souls."
Charlene scoffed. "Like any good that would do," she muttered to herself.
Angry and wanting an explanation, Bonnie got up from the cave wall, and marched over to Shane. "That's what the tombstone was for? To pay off a mercenary?"
"The core of that tombstone is made up of Qetsiyah's calcified blood. In some witch circles, that stone's more valuable than the Hope Diamond." Shane answered.
"Still doesn't change the fact you stole it from Rebekah Mikaelson, of all people," Charlene pointed out. "If you think you're going to get away with that, you've got another world of trouble coming."
"By that time we reach Silas and wake him up, she'll be the least of my problems." Shane retorted back, confident within himself...for now at least. He peered down into the dark well of the cave below, speaking out on what was on everyone's mind. "So...so who wants to go down first?"
Rebekah fully jumped into the task of translating the images of Jeremy's tattoo. Her previous anger and fury turning into dominating focus into doing whatever it took. She had taken the Elena's phone and the sword with her, busying herself with the translation while Stefan and Elena sat back and waited. Surprisingly enough, Rebekah hadn't been throwing daggerlike glares at the brunette while she wasn't that far from them on the beach. You gotta love the supernatural hearing of vampires.
"Once again, everyone's life is in danger looking for this cure because poor Elena can't deal with being a vampire." Elena remarked bitterly, her hands messing around with a piece of rock before throwing it across the water.
"No," Stefan corrected her. "Everyone's here because they want to be. Not just for you, but for themselves too."
Elena forgot that sometimes. She had been so wrapped up with everything. Hell, she'll even admit that she has been a bit self-absorbed. It's not hard to be with everyone else fussing over her like a broken doll that needed to be fixed. It was so easy to believe that everyone wanted to get the cure for her, but that wasn't reality. Everyone had their own goals when it came to the cure, Stefan included.
"Do you think Caroline would have wanted the cure?" she asked out of the blue.
That answer would take a while to answer. Stefan being so focused on the cure now, it still shocked him to his core that one of his dearest and best friends was dead. He remembered, though. He remembered how scared she was, struggling with that new life. However, he also remembered how she blossomed, taking to being a vampire like a fish to water. As much as he would have liked to say no, he couldn't.
"No, she wouldn't." He finally answered. "She cared about you too much to take the cure. Being human was your dream, not hers."
"She still wanted the human life though. She was going to do that before she got turned."
"It doesn't matter though now. Caroline wouldn't want you to dwell on this. She would want you to be happy, anyway."
After asking that, that brought Elena to the question what she'd been wanting to really ask him. "Stefan, why didn't you tell me that you wanted the cure for yourself?
"I mean, why wouldn't I want to take it?" he replied with a bitter tone. "I've seen every side of vampirism there is. The power...the misery, the guilt. In the long run, even the good parts kind of suck, too."
"That's not what I meant." Elena corrected him. "Yeah, I mean, I know why you would want to take it, but what I'm saying is...why didn't you tell me?"
The answer was simpler than Stefan had thought.
"Because it had nothing to do with you. I mean, you know how much I wanted a human life with you. Being human myself, being normal - that's something I've wanted since long before I met you."
Despite the pang that Elena felt in her chest from hearing that answer, she willed herself to accept it. Stefan was moving on with his life now, and he had every right to make his choice. And, this one was something he wanted way before he met her. It also didn't matter if he was moving on with Rebekah or someone else. Despite everything that's happened, it was good to have some semblance of hope.
"Well, I'm glad you told me now." She willed herself to get the words out of her chest.
"Yeah, what's a deeply buried personal secret between friends, right?"
"Between friends? I like that."
"If both of you are finished making up, that would be lovely." Rebekah interrupted them. "I finally have a translation."
Both vampires watched as the Original sauntered over towards them with Elena's phone and sword in hand. "Now that we have a translation, we really get down to the real work."
"What does it say though, Bekah?" Stefan asked.
Rebekah spoke in Aramaic before translating to English. "Requires a powerful witch and a hunter in full bloom." Before she went any further, she barked out instructions. "Okay, you hold the phone…" With whatever good amount of skill this trollop supposed had, the words that wanted to spill out. "...while you Stefan hold the sword. I'll tell you which way to turn the cryptex."
Elsewhere on the island, the Salvatore was still bound by the vervained ropes, leaving him no choice but to walk with Vaughn through the forest. The hunter knew that Damon was still pissed that he had to play follow the leader with him. And he had a pretty good idea on what Damon wanted to do with him if he ever got free.
Vaughn had to be careful, especially now.
"Mind telling me where we're going?" Damon asked impatiently, interrupting the blissful silence that Vaughn slightly had hoped to have during the trek.
The hunter sighed heavily, tired of explaining the same tale to people. He explained it in a way only a child would understand, insulting the vampire in the process. "At the wishing well lies an entrance to a crypt. In the crypt lies Silas. And with Silas lies the cure, which will allow me to kill Silas, bring the mission of the brotherhood of the Five to an end."
"Okay! Okay!" Damon snapped. "I get it. Silas is the key to all of this crap. At least do me a favor and actually tell me about my upcoming doom like an adult instead of a drooling four year old."
"Whether you like it or not you're my leverage, Damon; I use you to get your witch friend to open the passage to Silas' crypt for me."
"What a minute, you're using me to get to Bonnie Bennett?" the vampire asked in shock, almost insulted. "Whoa, brother, ha! You picked the wrong vampire."
"Not the witch I was talking about, but I guess we'll see about that," the hunter replied. Almost too casually for his own good.
It was then the hunter could see it. The electrifying blue eyes of the vampire suddenly froze in thought. Vaughn knew. Damon knew. Both of them knew.
"There's no use in hiding it, Damon. I know about you and her."
Damon was still going to hide and deny it, anyway. Flashing his white smile, he might as well have one more last ditch effort. "You're gonna have to be more specific, buddy. There's too many ladies to count in my book."
"You know exactly who I am talkin' about, Damon." The Scottish brogue coming through. "You can drop the act."
"What act, brother? There is no act."
Vaughn never thought to go the manipulative route, but hey? Whatever helped him to meet his goal in ending Silas.
"The kind of arguing that you and your witch were having last night...that's not the kind of argument that happens with someone you supposedly don't care about. The words spoken between you two were too intimate. The way you were concerned about her wellbeing earlier, it gave enough indicator."
Damon was done with the charade. "Even if that were true, what difference would it make?"
"It does because "as you say", you wouldn't care if Bonnie was in danger. Now if Charlene were in danger by me...different story."
The dark veins around Damon's eyes emerged with the hunter's last statement. His mouth formed into a thin line as the vampire tried to keep himself in check.
"She could hold her own against you," Damon almost growled.
"Oh trust me, I know." The hunter replied, almost knowingly, giving him a smirk that Damon wanted to punch off his face. But catching the knowing look in his face, the vampire was suspicious. The hunter knew something else.
Damon would have to save that tidbit for later.
"Here's the deal, Shrek." The vampire almost growled. "Either way, one of the girls will open the passage for you. No leverage necessary. We don't care about Silas. All we want is the cure, so you cut us in on your share, and we'll get out of your hair."
As if getting the cure would be that simple.
"You really don't understand, do you?"
"Okay, Elena, bring up the picture of your brother's upper arm."
Elena obeyed, swiping on her phone to get to the picture, showing it to Rebekah as she studied between that and the sword. "Silas rests on the far side, the means of his destruction at hand."
All Stefan and Elena could do was watch and listen as Rebekah moved through her own pace. While Stefan held the sword steadily, the other female vampire couldn't stop shaking her legs, the slight anxiousness beginning to come to the surface.
"Stefan, turn the cryptex to the right." Rebekah said. "Stop."
"What else does it say?" Stefan asked.
"The top of the hilt reveals a key to a nautical map. Turn it to the left."
Stefan followed her instructions.
"Now turn the other piece."
Turning the other piece of the hilt unlocked another mechanism. Rebekah's eyes scanned the piece further. "There's something else."
As she read further, her blue eyes widened. "It can't be. It bloody can't be."
Her stuttered in Aramaic in shock, processing the new piece of the revelation that was going to change everything now.
"Rebekah, what does it mean?" Elena asked in concern, but the Original only ignored her. She watched as the blonde took a few steps back, turning away from them to hide away her shock.
"REBEKAH!" Elena called out, breaking her out of her state. "What does it mean?"
After what felt like a century, Rebekah finally spoke. "There's only one dose."