No pairing
"We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell."
― Oscar Wilde
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Mikaelson Mansion
Freya and Keelin's Lab
Basement Level
Morning
"You're doing well," Freya said. "Put all the blood into the cauldron. Now, Jo, add the rosemary and the mugwort. Kai, did you grind that up enough?"
Freya was supervising her coven as they prepared for the spell on Caroline.
Bonnie peered into the mortar and pestle and sighed.
"It's okay. I'll do it," Bonnie said, grinding up the herbs a bit more.
Kai shrugged, "I helped get the blood from Elena! Need I do everything around here."
Dana punched him on the arm hard.
"You liar. Jo did that," Dana scoffed.
"Dana, don't hit him," Freya corrected. "The circle is sacred. Act accordingly."
Rachael snickered at her twin getting reprimanded and went to punch her also, but Rachael backed up.
Jo took the ground up herbs and added them to the cauldron.
"We'll let that simmer. The trick is going to be getting Caroline to take this," Freya fretted. "We might need one of my siblings to compel her to drink it. I'd hate to use the funnel."
Bonnie made a face. "Let me talk to her. Even in this state, she might listen to me. Or we can call Ric down here."
They were letting Caroline wake up. She was still in the containment cell, but she was hungry and enraged.
"Yeah, I'm sure he brought his school paddle with him," Kai snapped sarcastically.
"Maybe he should use it on you," Jo laughed.
Kai mouthed, "Fuck off."
Freya sighed and looked over the spell again.
"We have the candles ready and the sage. Oh, do we have the rue?" Freya asked, going to the table to check.
"Mom, it's right there," Rachael pointed.
"Good. Okay, does everyone know the incantation?" Freya asked, looking from Bonnie, to Rachel, to Dana, and then lastly to Kai and Jo.
"Yeah, we got it," Jo said. "But where's Davina? Want me to call her?"
Freya nodded, "Go ahead. We should be ready in ten minutes or so. We also should get some animal blood bags ready. Caroline is going to be hungry."
Bonnie put down the ancient grimoire she had been flipping through, frowning.
"Freya, how are we going to know if this really works? Caroline is a great actress," Bonnie asked. "I am not even sure Elena and I could tell if her switch is back on. Could she fake being upset about her victims?"
"One of my brothers will have to compel her," Freya said distastefully. "No vampire can resist an Original unless they are on vervain. Her blood should be free of that now," Freya said.
Bonnie bit her lip, "I heard that Caroline's dad learned how to resist being compelled. Did any of you know that is possible?"
"Anything is possible," Jo noted. "My worry is that she'll just flip her switch back off again..."
"The rue and the mugwort should prevent that," Freya determined. "But again, this is a new spell and magic on vampires is always uncertain. If this doesn't work, she'll have to come back the hard way."
Bonnie teared up. "You mean, we'll have to keep her in the dungeon and starve her?"
Freya put an arm around Bonnie.
"Yes, that's the only other way we know of. We'll have to appeal to her sense of humanity," Freya said lightly. "She's still in there."
"I know," Bonnie said, softly. She caught Kai staring at her and gave him a smile. "Thanks, guys, for doing this. Caroline's always been Elena and mine's best friend, but even as a human...she could be difficult."
"We got ya, Bonnie," Kai said with confidence. "Caroline is in the right place. We won't give up on her."
Freya smiled at her eldest son. "That's right, honey. We'll take care of Caroline and get her through this. But if this goes badly, I want Rachael, Dana, and Kai to siphon her. That will speed up the weakening process."
Rachael nodded, "We can do that."
"I'll go up and call Davina," Dana said.
Marcel and Rebekah's House
Morning
Hayley burped Mirabelle and everyone laughed as the infant let out a little burb.
"Ah, she likes you," George cooed. "I'm not a kid person myself..."
"Oh Georgie, you are getting the hang of it," Rebekah said, watching Georgie shuffled Annabelle. "But if you keep shifting Annabelle like that, she may puke on you."
Georgie grinned, "How do you tell them apart anyway? I mean they look exactly alike."
"The bracelets," Rebekah said. "Those are their names. See?"
Hayley smiled and looked at Mirabelle's delicate silver bracelet.
"So tiny," Hayley said in awe.
Davina rushed into the living room area.
"Mom, hey guys, um, I have to go to the main house! Why didn't you wake me up?" Davina asked wildly, tossing her long brown mane.
"Hon, I did wake you up three times," Rebekah said firmly.
"Well, not well enough, now I'm late," Davina muttered.
"To defend your mom, she really did try," Hayley added.
Davina shrugged, "Whatever. We're going to try that spell on Caroline. Wish us luck."
Rebekah kissed Davina on the cheek and swatted her on the backside.
"Good luck, luv. Don't be there all day," Rebekah replied.
"Yeah, I know. I have to clean my room. Blah, blah, blah," Davina snarked, rubbing her backside although the smack hadn't hurt.
After Davina left, Georgie called over to the boys in the kitchen.
"Aaron, Silas," Georgie started, jostling the infant. To the ladies, she explained, "I think they had some shit to do at the house, too. Rebekah, they are loving your old bedroom. We hardly see them anymore."
Tommy came out to the living room right as Annabella spit up on Georgie. Rebekah rushed over with a burb rag and took the baby.
"Um, Tommy, get Georgie a wet paper towel, please," Rebekah asked.
Hayley cringed, "Well, Rebekah did warn you."
Georgie looked down at her t-shirt with horror. "Ugh..."
Tommy came back and handed Georgie the paper towel roll. "Silas and Aaron went back to the house to get another amp. Something is wrong with mine. When's Dad coming back?"
Rebekah looked at the clock. "I don't know, honey. When he's done in town."
"Okay," Tommy said, going back to the kitchen.
Hayley smiled, "Aiden is so grateful that Tommy is doing so well here. I think he enjoyed the academy, but some of the wolves there are tough. Even with Jack and Ollie on them constantly, they still manage to get into a ton of trouble."
Georgie mumbled that she was going home to change.
Rebekah settled the babies into their bouncy seats.
"How's my progeny Aurora doing? When I met her she was a countess and totally obsessed with Niklaus," Rebekah recalled.
"Good," Haylie shared. "But she has this weird off again on again thing with Lucien Castle. I don't get if they like each other or hate each other."
"That sounds about right. And is Lucien settling in?" Rebekah asked, sitting back and taking a sip of her now cold coffee.
"Yeah, I think," Hayley noted. "He also seems to listen to Jack the best. I know he used to be the leader of the Strix, but going to high school seems to have regressed him a lot. He actually at times seems just as goofy and immature as the other teens. Actually, if you will excuse me, I'm going to give Jack a call and check in."
"Sure," Rebekah smiled. "I'm going to just veg out here and watch some t.v. before one of these ladies gets hungry." Rebekah splayed her hands at the three infants near her and picked up the remote. She had never been into television before, but Davina had got her watching a few shows now.
Mikaelson Mansion
Second Floor
Kol stripped the younger boys' bed and wrinkled his nose.
"Ah, do they piss themselves every bloody night," Kol fumed, as he gathered up the sheet. Elijah had a process of washing the sheets and then putting the same sheets on the beds after they were done. Kol couldn't believe he had to do this. He tripped over a tower of blocks barely catching himself as Georgie walked in. Then, he found several plastic snakes falling out of the soiled sheets.
"What the hell are you doing?" Georgie asked. She had changed and thought she would find Kol on their floor. "I thought you said I couldn't have a snake!"
"What does it bloody look like? Elijah is 'too busy' so he tasked me with his miserable chores," Kol fussed. "And there's a lot of plastic creepy crawlies. Now wonder they are wetting the beds."
"Jesus, it stinks in here," Georgie complained.
"I know," Kol agreed. "But I can't chat, luv, I have to do the other rooms before Elijah...strokes out."
Georgie grabbed the overflowing basket. "You go, I'll get these to the laundry. Keep those snakes, we can use them for the wedding decorations!"
"Really? You'll help me? You are a gem, my girl. You can have as many pets as you want when we get back in our home," Kol said, "And did you put on that tight shirt to taunt me? It looks lovely."
Kol leered at Georgie, but she just grinned and carried the basket closer to the door. Kol noticed Georgie's hair was in a pony tail, he liked her brown hair down.
"Nah," Georgie announced. "Your sister's baby puked on me."
"Lovely," Kol said dryly. He noticed something by his foot. He picked it up. It was a plastic spider. Odd.
"Are you okay? Your face looks red," Georgie observed.
"Just got hided by my big brother again," Kol snarked. "I was trying to help Ric with his alcohol problem, but Elijah saw fit to wail on my bum with a bleedin' sandal."
"Ah, let me see," Georgie purred, putting down the basket. "I'll kiss it and make it better."
"No time, luv," Kol groaned. "If this doesn't get down the old man will probably come after me with his cane. I swear he looks for any excuse to thrash me when he own kids are going wild over here."
Georgie kissed Kol and massaged his rear through his pants.
"Poor baby," Georgie cooed. "I'll make it up to you later. Best get to it then..."
"I'm going," Kol said, heading to the next room. He was going to have words with his brother. This time, Elijah had gone too far.
Georgie carried the load to the elevator and clicked the button for the basement level laundry room. She had only been down there a few times.
She got off the elevator and heard chanting.
"Fuck, wrong floor," Georgie said, as the door shut. Then, curiosity got the best of her. She put down the basket and walked to the entrance of some sort of cell. She hadn't been on this floor since she turned and everything looked updated. What was going on?
Georgie vamped to the glass window and saw the coven of witches chanting. Their circle was outside the glass cell and Caroline was writhing in the middle.
"Sa vas est cure est vos facultas..." they were chanting over and over again.
Georgie felt a wave a nausea and weakness. The only thing that kept her from passing out was the burning of the symbol on her abdomen. It was the symbol that was burned on her after she woke up from Hell.
Georgie looked again at the scene beyond the glass. She saw the same symbol on Caroline's head. It looked as if it was a burn.
Georgie pounded on the glass and screamed, "She didn't flip her switch! She's possessed..." But the room was soundproof and no one heard her.
Georgie faltered and fell to the ground. Then, she was back in Hell.
Basement Level
Kai saw Georgie's distress out of the corner of his eye, and stopped the spell. Elijah was off to the side observing and ready to compel Caroline. Ric and Elena were waiting off to the side, also ready to intervene if needed.
Elijah ran to the door.
"It's Georgie," Elijah noted, opening the door.
"Wait!" Freya said, but Caroline woke up. She was restrained but broke the metal cuffs and roared. Elijah pivoted back and held the struggling young vampire.
Georgie groaned as Rachael and Dana lifted her.
"Georgie, what's going on?" Rachael asked.
Georgie coughed, "Are you real? Am I really here?"
"Yeah, you're at the house. In the basement," Dana replied. She looked up at Freya again and saw that she was putting Caroline deeper into a sleep.
They helped Georgie into the room.
"She's not flipped, Caroline has been possessed," Georgie announced. The symbol was fading now, but Georgie realized she was the only one that could see it.
Elijah frowned, "How do you know this, Georgie? Please, tell us."
Georgie surveyed the room. She wasn't sure if they knew much about her past. She felt strange speaking about this, but they probably already thought she was nuts. Elena and Bonnie were giving each other looks and Davina looked annoyed the spell was interrupted.
"When I was in college, my best friend and I were coming home from a party. She was too wasted to drive, so I took her keys. I didn't realize that I was too drunk. My cell rang and I went to get it and we wrecked," Georgie started. "We didn't make it. Before we died, I saw a symbol. It's the same symbol I just saw on Caroline's forehead. It's the mark of Arcadius. When I came to, the paramedics had revived me and brought me back to life. I had this mark on my stomach. It's burning now."
Georgie lifted up her shirt and showed the assembled group the mark.
Alaric came forward. "May I see that closer?"
Georgie nodded and gasped, "In the last file, Dorian sent me. There was a picture of that. Elijah, do you still have it?"
"Yes," Elijah said. "I recall it now. Who is this Arcadius and what would he want with Caroline?"
"That's what we need to find out," Ric said. "Let's go to your study. We need to talk to Dorian."
Freya remarked, "And I didn't see anything on Caroline's head, but the spell wasn't working. Even with Elena's blood, we couldn't cleanse what was in Caroline. Did the rest of you feel that?"
"Yes," Jo said in a low voice. "It was an unstable and wild magic. Mom, it scared me."
Bonnie put an arm around Jo, shuddering, "Me, too, Jo. Whatever is in Caroline, it's not...natural."
Georgie felt a chill and wrapped her arms around herself.
"One second in Hell is like an eternity. I was out for a minute and I swear that I was back there. I think I know what Arcadius wants...I just hope I am wrong."
Davina stepped forward and took Georgie's arm. "Georgie, I was dead once, too, after the Harvest ritual. I know what you may have felt...the cold, the darkness, the nothingness. Come sit over here."
Davina led Georgie to a small couch on the side.
"For me, Hell was fire and pain," Georgie admitted. "There was a man there. I guess, Arcadius...This was years ago, but it is starting to make sense. He screamed at me,'I want my staff back...I want my staff back."
Freya told her children to secure Caroline back in the cell.
"I have heard that in different dimensions, time is different," Freya noted. "Ric, you guys go find out more from Dorian. I'm going to go speak to the Sheriff and Tyler, see if they know who might have come into contact with Caroline."
Mikaelson Mansion
First Floor
Kol gathered up all the various creepy crawlies and set them on Elijah's desk. He didn't want to get any of the younger kids into trouble, but he was also sick of his brother acting like parent of the year all the time. With a little digging, he had found several bags of prank objects.
Just as Kol was leaving, Elijah and Ric walked in.
Kol rolled his eyes and sneered at Elijah, ignoring Ric for the moment.
"Kol, I thought you had some chores to do," Elijah said firmly.
"Georgie is helping me. But don't worry, they will get done. I found this mess in the boys' room. Do you think they could be framing the girls? I mean, it looks like they were literally holding the bags," Kol smirked. Then, he looked at Ric and remembered the scene out by the pool. "Sorry about earlier, Ric. No hard feelings."
Ric nodded, "Forget about that, Kol. We just had an incident downstairs. Georgie is down there..."
"What happened?" Kol asked in alarm.
Elijah said, "Georgie saw the witches performing the spell on Caroline and noticed she had a symbol on her forehead. None of the rest of us could see it, but I did see her symbol. It was glowing for a moment."
"I need to see her," Kol said, vamping away.
Ric sat down and dialed Dorian at Crescent Academy. He put the phone on speaker.
"Dorian, hey man, it's me," Ric started. "I have Elijah Mikaelson here with me. You're on speaker."
"Oh, so you don't want me to talk about that time you passed out in an alley," Dorian's voice carried from the phone.
Ric laughed, "No, Dorian. Sadly, we're having some issues and need some clarification of that file you sent. Can you tell us about that Hell symbol."
Dorian paused, "Yeah, I can. But Ric, if that's what you are dealing with, it's bad news. Tell me what happened first..."
Ric explained about Georgie, Hell, the symbol, and the staff.
"In legend, Arcadius' staff is said to be the devil's pitch folk. I don't know much, but it may be some kind of dowsing rod, like the the kind folks use to find water or gemstones," Dorian commented.
"Right. That was popular in the 16th century. The church banned it for being divination, but people would fashion together twigs and look for water," Elijah said. "Is that what we may be looking for?"
"Something like that. Let me do some research here and get back to you. Thanks to you, Mr. Mikaelson, this library here is excellent and has plenty of ancient volumes that I can use," Dorian said.
"Call me Elijah, Dorian," Elijah smiled. "I told you that before."
"You did, sir," Dorian replied. "Ric, I'll be in touch."
Ric hung up and looked at Elijah intently.
"You better reach out to all of your contacts," Ric stated. "If now the very devil himself is involved with these angels, we are in over our heads."
Elijah nodded, "I'll get Niklaus and Marcel in here. Ric, you go with your boys. We'll talk later."
Ric nodded, "I wonder instead of fishing, the boys would rather head to the Whitmore College archives with me?"
"I doubt it," Elijah smiled. "Take them fishing. The fresh air will be good for you all. Thank you for all of your assistance. I will admit this is all new territory for us to deal with. What I wouldn't give for an old-fashioned land dispute or simple battle with the Nine covens of New Orleans."
"Yeah, now they are your allies," Ric offered, getting up.
Elijah tapped his gold pen on the dossier.
"Who knows? Maybe we can make a deal with these celestials? Hmm, something to think about. Go, enjoy what's left of the day," Elijah ordered.
Ric sighed, "I could use a drink right now, but Kol's hand on my bare ass will remind to lay off the sauce. That's for damn sure."
Elijah cringed, "Allow me to heal you. It's the least I can do."
"Nah, it will be a good reminder for me of what's important," Ric confessed. He and Elijah shook hands. "But I did enjoy him getting it with my flip flop."
"Yes, that was unforeseen," Elijah remarked.
Lockwood Mansion
An Hour Later
Klaus pulled up to the house and parked his black SUV. He had made Tyler visit his mother and said he would pick him up when he had news of Caroline.
"Dad, how'd it go?" Tyler rushed out. "Is she better?"
Klaus' heart torn. "Ah, son, it did not go as planned but she is fine for now. I swear it. Is your mother here? I will tell both of you."
Tyler's face fell. "Yeah, she's in the living room-working."
Klaus had been invited in before and was able to step over the threshold with ease.
Tyler led Klaus into the living room where Carol Lockwood was on her laptop on the couch.
"Hey, Klaus," Carol said. "How's Caroline? Have a seat."
Carol poured Klaus a cup of tea from the service on the coffee table.
"Ah, I'm afraid I have some disturbing news," Klaus said. "There is a chance that Caroline is...This is difficult to say, possessed."
Tyler, who had been standing there, balked, "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Son, calm down," Klaus said heavily. "Allow me to explain. Sit down."
Tyler folded his arms and defiantly remained standing.
"Tyler, sit down right now," Carol snapped.
Tyler huffed, "Fine."
Klaus continued, "Carol, I don't know how to ask this, but have you noticed anything odd happening around town?"
"No more than usual," Carol stated. "Aside from Caroline's attack, there haven't been any 'animal attacks' or anything out of the usual bar fights and such. I just spoke to Liz Forbes this morning and she gave me a report."
Klaus leaned back with his tea. "That's a relief. It seems that Caroline may have been touched or infected with some hell spawn named Arcadius. We think he may want some ancient staff or artifact. Do you know anything about that?"
"Hell spawn," Tyler repeated, paling. "Dad, what happened with Care?"
"Nothing. Georgie saw a symbol on her forehead during the spell. Needless to say, the flip reversal spell was not a success. Aunt Freya put her back into a deep sleep. She's fine."
"Fine," Tyler said, standing up abruptly. "She doesn't sound fucking fine! She's possessed? Are you kidding me?"
Klaus put down his tea and went to Tyler.
"We'll figure it out," Klaus comforted. "She is safe now."
Carol tapped on her keyboard.
"Wait a minute," Carol interrupted. "Have you ever heard whispers of the Armory?"
"I think so," Klaus said, rubbing Tyler's back soothingly. "Ric has mentioned it. It's a research group of artifact hunters founded in the 19th century. I thought it was defunct."
"That's what they want you to think," Carol intoned. "I was getting town artifacts ready for the Founder's Ball. I came across an old journal and I started flipping through it. There was mention of a Maxwell bell and it said that the tuning fork was housed as the armory, but the bell has been gone for decades. That's what I was looking for."
"A bell," Klaus pondered. "I'll have Ric look into it. Thanks, Carol. Just be on high alert, for anything, well, stranger than usual. Now, I'm going to take this guy home. I trust until now, he behaved himself."
"As much as can be expected," Carol said cooly. "Tyler, listen to Klaus. Caroline will get through this. You need to hold it together for her. I love you."
Carol offered her cheek for Tyler to kiss and she patted his shoulder.
"Okay, Mom," Tyler said glumly.
"Come on, you can drive," Klaus offered, tossing Tyler the keys.
"I drive every day," Tyler snapped.
Klaus and Carol exchanged a look and Carol mouthed "Good luck."
Klaus nodded and put an arm and guarded Tyler outside.
Salvatore Boarding House
Outside
"There, you got it," Ric encouraged Damon. "Now, just swing it."
As promised, Ric had gotten Elena and Bonnie home and then took out just Stefan and Damon to the lake deep into the property.
"Is Enzo mad that we didn't bring him?" Damon asked, casting his line into the still waters. Ric wasn't even sure if there were any fish, but he wanted some time to talk about what's been happening at school.
"No, I'm going to do something just with him tomorrow. He wants to visit that toy store at the mall," Ric shared, eyeing Stefan.
Stefan cleared his throat, saying, "We actually wanted to talk to you about what's been happening at school. Damon, you're not in trouble, but can you tell us what is going on?"
Damon shrugged, "I hate fishing. Ric, if we caught one, can we just throw it back."
"Sure, buddy," Ric said. "I thought you liked fishing."
"I used to. You know, before," Damon said remotely.
Stefan moved closer to his now younger brother.
"You mean when we were human before. Damon, are you remembering things?" Stefan asked, putting down his fishing rod and any pretense of trying to catch something.
"I'm having bad dreams," Damon said.
Ric nodded, "Everyone does from time to time. Are you having nightmares of this boy who is bothering you at school?"
"He's not bothering me. It's the teacher. Mr. Whitcomb," Damon mumbled.
Stefan looked at Ric, "Is he mean to you? Giving you a hard time. You never talk about him. Enzo likes him."
Damon threw his fishing rod into the water.
"He looks like the bad man! I hate him," Damon yelled.
"What bad man?" Ric asked, turning to look into Damon's pale face and deep blue eyes. "Did someone hurt you?"
"Yes," Damon cried. "He burned me with a cigar and made me eat my pet turkey! Mr. Whitcomb looks just like him!"
"Father?" Stefan breathed. "He reminds you of Father? Oh, Damon, why didn't you tell us it was coming back to you?"
Stefan got up and paced by the water, rubbing his face.
Ric looked up. "Did those things really happen, Stefan?"
"Yes," Stefan replied with emotion. "Guisseppe was an abusive...man. He was always hard on Damon and took it all out on him. Damon always protected me from him as much as possible."
Ric pulled Stefan into his lap. "Just to be clear, Mr. Whitcomb never hurt you right?"
"No, he yelled at me when I got in that fight, but he never touched me," Damon confirmed. "But Father said I stole the money! Ric, I never stole it. I swear..."
Ric exhaled with relief and rocked Stefan.
"Sorry, buddy. Guisseppe has been dead a long time, but I know that is no relief. He can't hurt you anymore," Ric soothed.
Stefan came and knelt down in front of Damon, wiping away his tears from his face.
"I wish you would have told me sooner," Stefan whispered. "I dream of him, too. And Mother, she stole the money to get us away from him. Then, she got sick. He can't hurt anybody anymore. He's long gone."
"Okay," Damon said in a small, weepy voice.
Ric held Damon and rocked him until he cried himself to sleep.
Ric whispered, "Maybe we should check this guy out anyway?"
Stefan agreed, "Good thinking. Who knows how many bastards my father had out there. He could be a descendent or something."
"Right," Ric replied. "We'll ask Bonnie to make Damon a sleeping tea. He can't go on like this, he's exhausted."
"If he is remembering, maybe Enzo is, too," Stefan said.
"Yeah," Ric said. "Let's get him home."