22: What You Reap is What You Sow.
"You're going to protect Elena and I'm going to help you stop the Travelers," Jeremy told Luke and Liv confidently and unwavering.
Luke rolled his eyes. "You realize this is an epic conflict of interest?"
Liv shrugged. "Maybe not. Jeremy's got hunter skills and he's not afraid to take a stand. If the Travelers are coming for his sister, or making a move on Mystic Falls, or both, he's going to see it coming before we do. So, what's the catch?"
"I'm going to need some help." From behind him came Tyler, Matt, and Zina.
"More townies," Luke spoke with great disdain. "No."
"They're part of the deal. Take it or leave it."
"How can we trust her though?" Liv questioned, nodding to Zina.
"I'm doing this for my sister," the ravenette replied as she stood beside Jeremy, "and our family. The Travelers were burned by Saskia Vasile centuries ago. We want to burn them both. Also, I'm psychic and have my own access to magic which are both highly useful to you both. Don't waste your time trusting me; trust what I can do and why I'm doing it."
Stefan and Caroline awoke at the Traveler's camp to the sound of their chanting. They peered out on the scene and found the group taking turns drinking what was Stefan and Elena's blood. They wondered why Sloan was nowhere in sight. Instead, someone else had taken up her position. The person took a lit torch after the blood had been drunk by everyone and set one of the Travelers on fire. Caroline gasped as they all went up in flames.
"This is it," Stefan whispered. "Time to go. Take my hand."
The pair sped away as the Travelers burned in their circle.
At Whitmore, Bonnie sighed when she got Jeremy's voicemail. "Hey Jer, um, I haven't heard back and I have a million questions, so… I miss you, and… I'm confused, that's all. Call me?"
She sighed and sat on her bed when Travelers gathered around her. She immediately jumped back to her feet. They chanted as they each touched her arm to pass through her on their way to the Other Side. She cried out each time. After so many passed through her, Bonnie collapsed on the ground. As she laid there, a shadow left her body and materialized into a man who walked out of the room. His face was hidden in the darkness. Bonnie laid on the floor of her dorm unconscious and unable to do anything.
Nova was rather thankful when Zarya called for a favor because it gave her a break from wanting to squirm under wedding plans. Why were there so many things to think of? "Do you have five minutes and know anything about the Styne family?" She asked the Romanian.
She was completely caught off guard by the name. "Yes I do, and who?"
"The Styne family," Zarya repeated, spelling it out that time. "The earliest record of them goes to about the 1800s when they just magically popped up. Then they went on to be some serious slime helping Hitler and shit."
"Fucking gods," Nova muttered. "How do you always manage to find these kinds of people, Zarya? The Stynes are the worst of the worst in Europe. Where do you think my parents got most of their techniques?"
"Seriously? So they do, like… torturous experiment crap like Whitmore?"
"It's their family specialty - bioengineering and surgical enhancement. That's exactly what my parents did to me. They wanted me to be superhuman but the Stynes… they take it even further. My parents experimented with supernatural adjustments while still keeping me human. The Stynes just add on for protection. Extra leg muscle, two hearts, you name it. They were one of Europe's oldest families."
Zarya gasped with the realization. "The House of Frankenstein… it's real?"
"And much worse than some man put together and zapped alive by lightning. Chaos breeds fear, fear breeds panic, and panic breeds desperation. They profit from desperation. Everytime some mess happens they swoop in and take care of it with their dark magic. They feed on the fear of the Earth. They're monsters even worse than us because they are still technically human."
The call dropped suddenly. Nova was partially tempted to fly out to the young woman when she got a text from Damon updating her that Stefan and Elena were having visions to draw them together for the Travelers. They were trying to find out where their leader Markos was and what he wanted from Stefan and Elena. She stared at the text while a rather bad and dangerous idea approached her mind; there was one person still alive who knew the secrets of the Travelers and what to do about them. With a sigh Nova retrieved the old grimoire from beneath her bed before venturing into the woods.
"Hey, it's Jeremy. Leave a message."
"Hey, Jeremy. It's me Bonnie Bennett, your girlfriend, just in case you need reminding, which I'm happy to keep doing until you call me back. So call me." She sighed heavily, then a breeze brushed by her face. She smiled when she saw her grams standing nearby. "Hey, Grams."
She smiled mournfully to her granddaughter. "I heard the Travelers did a number on you last night."
"Did you read that in the Other Side newsletter? Grams, you don't look right…"
"Something's wrong over here, Bonnie. Some of the witches think that the Travelers tried to overwhelm you so that someone could get through."
"As in come back?"
"Whoever it is, he's hiding from us; and now this place is-" There was a loud rumble and crack across the plane.
"That wasn't creepy. What's going on over here?"
"I don't know, but whatever the Travelers did and whoever managed to get through… it's got the witches worried. You need to stay away from those Vasiles; they bring trouble wherever they go. And to top it off, the worst of them has been at war with the Travelers for centuries."
Bonnie's face paled. "Saskia."
Grams nodded. "Her tale involved Silas and Qetsiyah primarily, but she resided within the Traveler community for some time. She knows who came back, I'm sure, and it's not going to end well."
"The Travelers are here," Liv explained, "and our goal is to get rid of them. But, before I put my faith in the three stooges and a Vasile back from the dead, I need to make sure that none of you are harboring a passenger."
"So, you want us to stab ourselves?" Matt deadpanned.
The blonde shrugged. "This knife is the only thing that will get rid of them."
"Again: you want us to stab ourselves?"
Jeremy chuckled. "Just do it so we can get on with this."
"Says the hunter with the Traveler-proof head."
"I'll do it," Zina sighed and rolled her eyes. "I highly doubt one of those losers could get into my skull, but I'll give the witch some amusement."
"And the vampire back from the dead, who heals," Matt muttered.
"Dude, you have a magic ring that brings you back from the dead." Tyler teased. "Quit bitching."
"Well, isn't this an unexpected surprise." Saskia smiled sadistically.
Nova stared blankly at her projection she summoned. "The Travelers are here."
Her brows raised curiously. "And so you call to me. What for?"
"You know who they are; you lived among them and double crossed them as a tribe, not just Silas and Qetsiyah. They did some spell to bring their leader back last night and now he's trying to get Stefan and Elena together. What for?"
Saskia's face became gravely serious just then. "The information I can give you does not come for free, Nova."
"What the hell could you possibly want?"
"I want you to kill me."
Nova's breath caught in her throat suddenly. A gust of wind blew her slowly growing hair about her shoulders as the setting sun reflected in her emerald eyes. "Why the fuck do you want that suddenly?"
"My reasoning is none of your concern. Do you agree or not?"
"I don't even know how to kill you, Saskia. Or where you are."
"When I deem the time to be correct I will give you what you need to know. For now, if you want information, you must agree. And if you fail to uphold your end of the bargain when it is time then you best prepare for a great plague."
She bit her lip then sighed. "Fine, I agree. Tell me what you know about the Travelers and what they're doing."
"Their leader is Markos. The man is a snake even worse than Silas. He knows of our clan, but not where our power and lineage was born from. He fought so hard to get that information out of me but I refused. I have no doubt he's been terrorized by our deceased on the Other Side when he was not tormenting the weaker of us. If he's bringing Stefan and Elena together with visions then there are no more doppelgangers of their line and he seeks to use their blood and power."
"To do what, though?"
She shrugged. "If I had to guess I would assume something against the witches and their magic. I advise you to tread lightly as you are one who comes from the witches' lineage while boldly residing in Mystic Falls. The Travelers were exiled against the witches; no doubt they seek vengeance and to claim dominion so they no longer have to 'travel'."
Nova's eyes widened with horror. That was it: the Travelers wanted Mystic Falls. It was home of magic - witches' magic. She had to warn the others before it was too late, but she still had no idea what they could even do against the Travelers.
"He knows of our clan, but not where our power and lineage was born from."
Saskia smirked at the Romanian when realization sparked in her emerald eyes before vanishing in a cloud of black smoke. Nova rushed off back towards her house; she had to find Remiel's Stone.
"Mystic Falls is a beautiful town," Markos told Damon.
"Oh yeah. Picket fences, block party, uncannily high death rate." The vampire shrugged.
"You take your homes for granted."
"I'm sorry, are we walking so I don't fall asleep?"
"Two thousand years ago, Silas and Qetsiyah cast a spell for immortality. It created a schism in the Traveler community, giving rise to the witches. They tried to keep us scattered to make us forget how powerful we can be."
"And thus began the war between the Travelers and the witches, and it still rages on and on. Sorry. I just nodded off."
"The witches put a curse on us that kept us from settling down as a tribe. Whenever we've tried to gather, disaster struck- plagues, earthquakes, fire. Something inevitably wiped us out."
"Let me guess - the doppelgangers can fix this. So you found them. Now what?"
"We simply need their blood. We are not your enemy, Damon. In fact, we do share one common goal."
"Yeah? And what would that be?"
"The death of Saskia Vasile. But in order to accomplish that, I need doppelganger blood, and the truth about the Vasile lineage."
Damon scoffed. "You wanna know where the Vasiles come from? A raging psychotic fifth archangel. Good fucking luck, man."
"Tell me you have ten minutes."
Nova sat on her knees surrounded by Damon's letters over the years when he called her. "I could. What for?"
"Remember in 1960 when that woman tried to vervain me so I choked her head off and you punted it down the street?"
She chuckled lightly at the memory. "Of course I do. It was election night. We both had shut it off then. I think I might still have the shoes with blood on the tips still. Why?"
"Because her name was Maggie. Enzo's Maggie who got away. Now he thinks Stefan was in his Ripper years and he was the one to kill Maggie so he's got Stefan and Elena for revenge."
Her eyes widened with each word. "Oh fuck…" Her voice came out in a hoarse whisper. She remembered the night so vividly. It wasn't even anything like Stefan's Ripper days. Part of her wanted Stefan to take the fall anyways. She had her own issues with him and, to top it off, if he died then the Travelers couldn't do what they wanted. Yet of course Damon wanted to protect his brother, and of course Nova bent to Damon's wishes.
They both hustled to the Whitmore dining house where everyone was. Damon walked in the front boldly upon hearing Enzo talk about Augustine. "Well, this is depressing. Stadium seating really necessary? These people are starting to creep me out."
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say this is going to be a veiled attempt to get me to release the damn hostages. I'll even bet Nova is somewhere in the shadows."
"Nah," came the Romanian casually from behind the bar suddenly. "Right here, Brit Boy." She poured herself a glass of whiskey. "Was our entrance veiled? I'm sorry; release the fucking hostages."
"Whose side are you two on?" He exclaimed angrily.
"There are sides now?" came Damon.
"You were there with me in Augustine!" He directed at Damon. Then he turned to Nova to add, "They even got you and you got to first hand witness what your precious lover never had the bloody guts to talk about! Don't tell me you've forgotten what it was like to cling onto the one thing that kept you from feeling pain!"
Damon and Nova exchanged knowing looks. Through everything they always and still had each other. Damon knew Nova was on the outside of his cell and fought every damn day to make it back to her. He shut off his humanity and abandoned Enzo all for Nova. Even though he had still been searching for Katherine, it was the thoughts of Nova that kept him going. Even while Nova felt absolutely nothing under the sadistic care of Wes Maxfield she thought about Damon. She thought of how hard he continued to fight for her no matter how hard she fought against him. At the end of it all they still had each other. No matter what trauma and abuse they sustained, they still returned to one another. They were able to.
"Enzo," Damon began cautiously, "I get it. The prospect of seeing Maggie again was your safety line to the outside world. The one thing that kept you from shutting it off."
"There's probably a chapter in Elena's psych book about it," Nova commented.
"The thing is… I didn't know she was your Maggie."
"We didn't know she was your Maggie."
Enzo looked between the two of them a couple of times. "What are you two talking about?"
"She didn't tell us her name when we met. She… didn't exactly have a chance to." said Nova.
"And when exactly was that?"
Damon sighed. "November 8, 1960. I'd gotten a message at the house saying a lady wanted to buy me a drink. Naturally, I was curious and Nova was laughing her ass off."
"When he went to meet her, I followed behind just a ways." Nova continued. "We had a lot of enemies thanks to my name and the things we did."
"She said she wanted to interview me for an article she was writing for the Whitmore College Alumni Gazette. I said I spent a lot of time at Whitmore and she asked if I remembered the fire of '58. Of course I did - I caused it." He shrugged. "She said I was being 'a little glib' for the Gazette so I told her I have this switch in my brain that I can shut off and not feel anything."
"That was when she called him a monster and tried to stab him with a vervain needle that had the Augustine emblem on it. She was going to take him back. So he killed her." She crossed her arms over her chest as she boldly stared Enzo in the eye with no expression.
"How did it happen?" Enzo snarled at the raven haired Romanian. When Damon started to speak, Enzo held his hand up to silence him. He wanted to hear it from Nova.
Without so much as blinking she coldly told him, "Damon squeezed her stupid little neck until her head popped off and both parts fell to the ground. I kicked her skull down the street like a soccer ball. We came up with the idea to put her head back and make it look like Stefan's Ripper M.O. so I kicked her skull back towards her body and Damon set it right. Happy?"
Enzo's mouth was agape as he looked between the pair several times. "You killed Maggie… you even desecrated her bloody body…"
"We didn't even bat an eye. Our switches were off, Enzo." Damon explained. "We didn't do it to make your life miserable from every angle. We did it because we didn't care. It was someone trying to attack us so we fought back. You want to kill me? You wanna hate me? Do it. This is between us."
"I'll beat your ass right now if you want me to," Nova shrugged.
Enzo was still for a long moment. Memories flashed before his eyes, making his chest heavy. His eyes closed slowly.
"Our switches were off, Enzo."
They all realized what was happening just then. Damon rushed to his best friend and tried to shake him. Nova, however, remained where she was and sipped her whiskey. Another one bites the dust, she thought as she finished the glass and walked out. Enzo was the least of her concern. Why was it such a recurring theme for vampires to be fixated on one person through their eternity? At least Nova could partially blame it on her bloodline. She took out a cigarette as she walked, lighting it up. Her mind raced with each word of each letter trying to decipher where Damon hid Remiel's Stone.
It had to be somewhere sentimental; that was the whole point of the letters. He was trying to get her to remember something, but what? As her thoughts darted to every memory across her brain, the sounds of a scuffle caught her attention instead. Walking closer she could smell gasoline leaking. Rounding the corner gave her a sight of Enzo and Stefan. Enzo had punched a vehicle causing the gas leak, and Nova watched Stefan retaliate by shoving his hand into Enzo's chest. She took a long drag of the cigarette while leaning against a telephone pole.
"My brother," Stefan started, "he sees something good in you."
"Don't you?" Enzo mocked. "Isn't there a part of you that thinks I can be redeemed?"
"Not with your emotions off. You won't stop going after Damon and Nova. And I think we all have a general idea of how Nova will handle it."
Enzo's eyes flicked behind Stefan and found the ravenette finishing her cigarette. He smirked as he looked back to Stefan. "Better yet, wouldn't it be a sweet piece of revenge when Damon finds out you killed his best friend? Have fun sorting this out with your brother when his sweetheart is right there."
With one swift shove Enzo pushed away from Stefan whose hand had been threateningly holding his heart. As Enzo shoved himself to the ground it left his heart held in Stefan's hand. Nova's cigarette butt fell to the ground just as Enzo's lifeless body did. His head turned slowly and indeed did find Nova watching him intently. Her expression was cold and blank which frightened him much more than if she showed anything.
His lip actually trembled as he dropped Enzo's heart beside his corpse. "Nova…" She remained silent and unmoving. "Nova, please don't tell Damon… I-I wasn't trying to kill him. You saw that."
Finally, her head tilted to the side. Her emerald eyes were still made of ice. "But the question is: do I care?"
"So, that tacky little trinket of yours really can see over here."
Zina looked up slowly from the book in her lap to find Enzo. One of her brows arched. "Yes it can. Who did you in?"
"Ironically enough, Stefan. With your menace of a sister conveniently watching the whole thing."
"So you've come to see me because why?"
"Never let go of a good vendetta, darling. And this one is just getting started."