Chapter 80: Because The Night
February 18, 2011
After she'd gone back to the boarding house, Ellie had ended up falling asleep in Stefan's bed. She'd come down from her rage as Stefan walked with her carefully. The exhaustion had hit her out of nowhere and she'd been so tired that she hadn't even washed off before she'd fallen asleep. When she woke, Stefan was gone. The blood was hard and crusted to her skin and as she stood it made her skin crawl.
In the light of day, her rage was a bit concerning, even to herself. She knew that she'd gone a bit overboard but she didn't regret it. Elena had tried to hurt Sheriff Forbes, the woman that had mothered them when they'd lost their own. She tried to hurt Sheriff Forbes after they'd sat through Caroline's grief after losing her father. The thought made her angry all over again.
She wanted to shower and get Elena's blood off of her. While she could have gone and gotten some of Elena's clothes, the thought of anything that was Elena's made her see red. She swiped some of Stefan's clothes before heading to his bathroom. The water was scalding as she scrubbed at her skin. Since they returned from the island and Ellie had learned of Jeremy's death, red rage had danced around her mind.
For so long, she'd pushed away her rage. It wasn't a new thing, but until she'd lost Jeremy that she'd lost control of it. Now that the balance had slipped out of her fingers, it felt impossible to get it back. The water, despite the way it was turning her skin a bright red, didn't feel hot enough. She could remember how worried Elijah and Rebekah were when she'd had her panic attack and she remembered the absolute horror on Caroline and Stefan's faces.
There was an odd sense of fascination that she felt as she watched the water run red, a violent contrast to the stark whiteness of the shower. Her violence worried her sometimes, if she were honest with herself. As the water ran clear, she finished her shower and stepped out and dried herself off. She dressed herself in one of Stefan's shirts that was large enough to go down to her mid thighs. It would be decent enough to consider a dress until she could find some decent shorts. It didn't take long for her to ransack his room until she found a pair of sweatpants.
Once she deemed herself decent, she headed downstairs. She could feel Stefan and Caroline's energy as she made her way down. Caroline was cleaning up what the cheerleaders had trashed and as Ellie entered, she paused slightly. "Hey…" Caroline greeted. "How are you?"
"I'm fine. I feel better since I showered." Ellie replied brightly. She didn't need Caroline to worry about her. She had enough on her hands dealing with Tyler and Elena. When Caroline didn't look like she believed her, Ellie smiled softly at her, "Care, I'm fine I promise. I was just having a really bad night. Elena tried to hurt your mom and I just snapped a bit. After everything that happened when our parents died and how your mom took care of us, humanity or not, it was out of line. And she was going to kill you. You're my best friend, you think I'd just let her hurt you?"
"Thank you for that, by the way. I don't think I would have been able to get her off me. She caught me by surprise and I just… I didn't think she would do that." Caroline admitted.
"Best friends are supposed to protect one another." Ellie replied simply. "And this looks like a dumpster exploded."
Caroline snorted. "Yeah, we had one hell of a time getting everyone out of here once you were asleep." She looked over Ellie's appearance and said, "You couldn't find anything else to wear?"
Ellie shrugged before admitting, "I didn't want to wear Elena's clothes."
"Fair enough." Caroline replied, thankfully not pushing the subject. "Wanna grab a basket and help me start cleaning? Stefan was helping but he had a phone call."
"Yeah sure." Ellie agreed. She could have used her magic to speed up the process, but the repetitive movement of cleaning eased her mind a bit. They'd been cleaning for a bit when familiar energies reached her magic. She felt her shoulders loosen from where they'd tensed up at the sheer thought of them.
She watched with mild disgust as Caroline downed a cup with an unknown alcohol that had been half empty. "Desperate times I take it?" Klaus asked curiously as he and Elijah entered the room.
"What are you doing here?" Caroline asked flatly, refusing to look at Klaus.
"Not judging you, for starters. Although if you are determined to get drunk, then perhaps I might recommend something a little more sanitary." Klaus suggested. Caroline gave him an annoyed look as she downed another cup before angrily tossing it into the basket. "Well, then, you showed me."
Ellie couldn't help her entertained snort at the two of them as Elijah walked over to her. "Shouldn't you be out chasing Tyler to the ends of the earth? Or are there still some hopes and dreams you want to crush around here?" Caroline asked.
"Depends. Do you happen to know where the young Brutus is?"
"I know where he's not, with me. He gave Matt the deed to the house so that no vampires could get in and hurt his mom, so he's gone for good." Ellie's heart flipped painfully at Caroline's pained expression.
Klaus walked over to her and explained, "Tyler made it his life's mission to kill me. You can't hate me for driving him away."
"Oh, I can, and I do." Caroline shot back. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to spiraling, so go away."
"Actually, I asked him and Elijah to be here." Stefan confessed as he entered the room. "We need their help. I think Silas is in Mystic Falls?"
Ellie's attention shot over to him. "What?" Elijah's arm had settled around her waist and it pulled her back from being overwhelmed by the sudden rush of panic. "Why do you think that?"
"Do you remember the missing blood bags that we were looking into?" He asked. When she nodded, he continued, "Well, Sheriff Forbes called me after we'd left her. Apparently all of Grove Hill's blood supply was raided too. I think it was at least four towns total so far. Who else would need that much blood other than an immortal that had been fossilized for two thousand years?"
It made sense, much to Ellie's dismay. Were they ever going to catch a break? Klaus, however, seemed unbothered. He made his way over to Damon's bourbon and helped himself to a glass. "So some blood went missing from a few hospitals. What about Elena? Don't vampires with their humanity off tend to overindulge in human blood? Or were you the exception?" He asked.
"Niklaus." Elijah warned. He didn't need Klaus to act as unconcerned as he was, not if Silas was a threat to Ellie's safety.
"It's not Elena." Stefan assured him.
"How can you be sure?"
"She might be a bitch right now, but I was there when he asked her. She wasn't lying." Ellie confirmed.
Klaus still didn't seem to care either way. "Well, let's say for a moment that it was Silas. I'm struggling to see how this affects me." Klaus sassed as he passed a glass to Ellie before taking a seat.
"Look, Silas wants to die and be reunited with his one true love, but he's supernatural. So if he takes the cure and dies, he gets stuck on the other side." Stefan told him.
"How Shakespearian." Klaus commented.
"But if he destroys the other side altogether, he can take the cure, die, and pass on. But in destroying it, every dead supernatural being will return to our side."
Caroline jumped in and added, "That means every werewolf, every witch, every vampire. I wonder how many of those you personally killed. Care yet?"
"My interest is piqued." He admitted. Ellie downed her drink as her head started to hurt. "How do we stop him?"
"Bonnie said Silas needs to complete three massacres to do this spell. Before Professor Shane died, he convinced the pastor to blow up the council. Next, he had you kill your hybrids, and now he only needs one more massacre. So if he's here, that's what he's doing. We need to find him."
Ellie tried to relax into Elijah, but she felt antsy. Kol had been terrified of Silas. If he was here, they were all in danger. "Then where do we start?" Caroline questioned.
"Professor Shane's office would probably be the best place to start." Ellie suggested. "I should go home and get changed into something more fitting for snooping though."
Stefan nodded in understanding. "Yeah, that's fine. You go home and change while Caroline and I finish cleaning up and then we'll head over to Shane's in say… thirty minutes or so?" He suggested.
Elijah nodded. "That sounds like a good plan. We'll meet you in thirty minutes." He didn't say anything about Ellie dressed in Stefan's clothes. There might have been a lot of things that he didn't know despite being over a thousand years old, but Ellie's loyalty and faithfulness were not things that he doubted. She'd never given him any reason to doubt her and he wasn't going to just start now.
He led her and Klaus back out to the car as Klaus gave her a funny look. "What the hell is it, Klaus?" She asked once she finally got sick of his stares.
"You're wearing Stefan's clothes. Why?" He asked.
"Because I needed to shower and I didn't want to wear Elena's clothes."
"Why did you need a shower?"
"Because I was covered in Elena's blood." Ellie said simply.
"You what?" Elijah asked in surprise as he turned to look at her.
Ellie shrugged slightly. "Elena without her humanity is a bigger bitch than I expected her to be." When both Mikaelsons still looked shocked, she confessed, "She went after Caroline's mom and nearly staked Caroline. I kind of freaked out on her I guess. We got into a fight and I stabbed her… a few times."
Klaus grinned at her with pride. "Now that's my girl." He praised. "I take it you won the fight?"
She couldn't help but grin a bit smugly. "Maybe." She confirmed.
"Atta girl." Elijah watched the two of them with amusement. He could admit that he was both surprised and concerned that she'd gone so far as to draw blood from Elena. "Though, I must admit I'm surprised you didn't do it sooner. She can be quite annoying."
"Niklaus, let's just get her home so we can find out if Silas is in Mystic Falls." Elijah instructed, though he was smiling faintly. Ignoring the fact that it was her sister that she took on, she did just prove that she was capable of taking down a vampire on her own. That was something to be proud of. When they'd gotten home, Elijah had followed Ellie up to their room and as she changed, he watched her carefully. He appreciated the exposed skin, but now wasn't the time to get distracted. "Why didn't you want to wear Elena's clothes?" He asked carefully. It seemed odd to him that it was something that had bothered her.
She thought about lying. She thought about telling him that she just didn't like Elena's clothes, but it would have probably made him even more suspicious than he already was. Finally, she settled on the truth. "The thought of her clothes just made me angry, like they were another part of her that was just there to make me mad." She confessed. "It's stupid, I know-"
"It's not stupid." He cut her off immediately. His look was sharp as he cupped her face. "You're grieving." He reminded her. "And I know it's hard to talk about, trust me, I've had a thousand years to try and avoid it. But I don't want you to try and hide things like this from me, or try and pretend like you aren't feeling what you're feeling. When you're ready, you can talk to me."
She melted into him, moving forward to bury her head in the crook of his neck. "Thank you." She said gently. It meant a lot to her that he wasn't going to push her to talk about it. She wasn't ready to talk about it yet. Truthfully she didn't even know how. His hand traced soothing patterns on her bare back and she just wanted to crawl in bed and let him hold her, but as it usually was in Mystic Falls, everything was going to hell and they had things to do. With a pained sigh, she pulled away from him. She kissed him warmly before saying, "Let me just get dressed and then we can go meet Stefan and Caroline."
A few minutes later the three of them were off and Elijah followed Ellie's directions with ease as they drove to Whitmore. Stefan and Caroline were waiting for the three of them at the front door. "I don't know where his office is." The blonde confessed.
"That's ok, I do." Ellie replied. "I've been here before, though it was mostly when it was still Miss Sheila's office"
They headed upstairs and Ellie opened the lock with ease. Once they were all inside, Caroline asked, "What are we even looking for?"
As she closed the door, Stefan explained, "Well, if Shane really was working with Silas, chances are he was helping him plan his next move."
"Where? On his evil villain to-do list? Steal blood, perform three massacres, pick up dry cleaning?" Caroline sassed.
"Actually, not to nitpick, but we evil villains usually use minions to pick up our dry cleaning, that sort of thing." Ellie snorted as she gave Klaus an unimpressed look. He looked entirely too pleased with himself.
"Why is he necessary again?" Caroline questioned.
"Well, we don't know what Silas can do. So, if we have to go head to head with him, an Original hybrid who can't die might come in handy." Stefan replied.
Caroline gestured over to Elijah and said, "But we already have an Original vampire that actually has some manners. So why do we need him?"
"Two is better than one, Care." Ellie supplied.
"Besides, Stefan and I work well together or at least we did in the twenties." Klaus added.
Stefan countered and replied, "Well, granted my emotions were off."
"And that is why you were more fun. Just as Damon is probably relishing in Elena's emotionless company in New York." Klaus told him.
Ellie spun on her heel and gave Stefan and Klaus a dangerous look. "Elena is where?" She asked. "What the hell do you mean she's in New York?"
"You didn't know?" Klaus inquired.
"Stefan!"
"I didn't know until Damon called me this morning!" Stefan shot back as he tried to defend himself. "He knew I wouldn't have let him take her and so he and Elena left when I was trying to get everyone out of the house."
Ellie rolled her neck to let it pop before the tension eased at Elijah's touch. "I'm gonna kill that dumbass when they come back. Hell, I ought to go to New York and drag their asses back myself."
"He's looking for the cure and for Katherine. Apparently he had some buddy up there that helped vampires get fake IDs and figured that there was a good chance that he might know where she was." Stefan explained.
"First of all, why the hell did he need to take Elena to New York to do that? Second of all, literally both Bonnie and I are witches and despite Bonnie being kind of crazy because of Silas and all right now we're both entirely capable of doing locator spells." Ellie replied. "He had no reason to take her there."
Stefan sighed slightly before he told them both, "My brother knows what he's doing."
"Does he?"
Klaus asked it at the same time Ellie asked, "When does Damon ever know what he's doing?"
"Don't underestimate the allure of darkness, Stefan." Klaus added. "Even the purest hearts are drawn to it. Still, I'm sure it will all be fine."
There was a moment of awkward silence before Caroline broke the tension. "I, uh, I think I found something." She brought the book over to the desk where the others moved to look at what she was talking about. She read, "Symbolic Figures in the Dark Arts. Didn't Bonnie talk about Expression Triangles?"
"Yeah." Ellie confirmed.
Caroline flipped to a page and said, "Here."
Stefan moved forward and read, "In some schools of magic such as Expression, human sacrifice can be used as a focus for power. It's rumored that the addition of two supernatural sacrifices compounds the mystical energy, creating an Expression triangle."
"Humans, that was the council fire. Demons, Klaus' hybrid failure."
"Well, I wouldn't exactly call it a failure."
"Niklaus." Elijah warned.
Klaus ignored him and asked, "What's the third?"
Caroline's eyes widened in horror. "Oh, no."
"What is it?" Ellie asked worriedly as she moved to read for herself. Her stomach felt like it plunged to the ground.
"Eleanor?" Elijah's hand was on the small of her back again, trying to ground her.
"Witches." Ellie whispered softly. "If Silas is in control of her, he's going to get her to kill twelve witches." She reached back for Elijah and her hand latched onto the edge of his jacket's sleeve. She didn't want to think that Bonnie was capable of actually helping someone commit a massacre, but she no longer had any idea how far gone the other witch actually was. "I'm gonna go to Bonnie's house to try and talk to her."
"What if Silas is there?" Caroline asked worriedly.
"I'll go with her." Elijah assured her. "Why don't the rest of you try and find out where the next massacre will take place? If you find something, call us and let us know."
Stefan had been digging around the office before he said, "Care, can you and Klaus take care of that? I'm going to swing by the professor's house to see if there's anything of use there. He lives close by so I shouldn't be gone long."
Caroline didn't look thrilled, but she nodded. "Alright, just get back soon you guys and be safe."
"Will do." Ellie promised.
Ellie was a ball of stress and anxiety the entire way back to Mystic Falls. Even Elijah's firm knee on her hand couldn't stop her endless fidgeting. After every person she had lost, she didn't want to lose Bonnie too. She was also worried about how, or if, Bonnie would be able to recover if she got twelve witches killed. When they arrived, Mr. Hopkin's car was thankfully in the drive. She knocked on the door sharply and waited nervously for him to open the door. "Ellie?" He asked as he opened the door. He spared a look at Elijah curiously before asking, "What are you doing here?"
"Is Bonnie here?"
"No, she's getting help." Mr. Hopkins replied.
When she noticed the uncertain looks he kept shooting at Elijah, she explained, "He's a vampire. He knows that Bonnie is a witch. I'm really worried about her. What kind of help is she getting?"
Since he had no intention of inviting Elijah inside, which was understandable, he stepped out onto the porch and told them, "She asked me to call her mom earlier. It seems like she finally realized that her Expression magic was getting out of control and she needed help. Apparently the witches can remove the Expression magic from her. She just wants to get help and be freed from the mess Shane got her into."
"Wait, she's getting witches to help her remove her Expression magic? How did she even know that she could do that?" Ellie asked.
"I guess Shane finally felt bad about risking her safety and her life with that type of magic and he gave her an option so that she could save herself." Mr. Hopkins replied.
Ellie's heart stopped. It was such an aggressive thing that it felt like it was going to rip itself out of her chest. "Professor Shane?" Elijah questioned cautiously. "You've seen Professor Shane lately?"
Not understanding why he was even asking, Mr. Hopkins nodded. "Yeah, he's been here practically all day with Bonnie trying to help her get her control back."
"All day? He's been here all day?" Ellie was horrified and sick.
Mr. Hopkins could see the color drain from Ellie's face and felt worry creep up his spine. "Yes. Ellie, what is it?"
She looked over to Elijah for help, unable to say the words herself. "Mr. Hopkins, are you aware that Bonnie and her friends, including Professor Shane, went on a trip to try and find a cure for vampirism?" He questioned.
"Yes. Bonnie said that she was going so that she could save Elena. Why?"
The other man was starting to look nervous. Clearly, he could sense that something was wrong. "On the island where the cure was, an immortal named Silas was resting, asleep and fossilized for two thousand years. My brother warned us that we would all be in danger should Silas wake."
"What does that have to do with Shane being here today?"
"My sister was one of the ones on the island. She found Professor Shane. He died on the island, though we don't know how he died."
His denial was immediate. "No. No, that's not possible. I talked to him today. I shook his hand." Mr. Hopkins denied.
"Mr. Hopkins, since we all got back to Mystic Falls, the entire blood supply from our hospital, Grove Hill's hospital, and three others have been completely raided, not a single bag left behind. We think that it's Silas trying to regain his strength." Ellie told him.
"We don't know what Silas is capable of." Elijah continued. "It's very possible that he's appearing as Shane, either with or without your daughter's knowledge to continue manipulating her."
The other man looked like he didn't know how to process what he was being told. Given, she didn't really know how to process the sheer amount of information Elijah had told her when she first met him either. It was always an overwhelming thing. "What would he want with Bonnie? He asked as his concern for his daughter's safety grew.
"Bonnie is a descendant of Qhetsiyah, the woman who made the original immortal spell as well as the other side, the place all supernatural creatures go after death. He wants to use Bonnie to destroy the other side so that he can die and be with his one true love. But he can't do that just yet." Ellie replied.
"Why not?"
Ellie didn't really want to tell him, but Bonnie and the witches were in danger. "Because he needs her to commit a massacre first and he wants her to kill witches. I need you to tell me where the witches were taking Bonnie. If he has control of her, he's going to want those witches dead sooner rather than later."
He looked like he was going to be sick. "Ellie, what do I do to help her?"
"You need to tell me where she is." Ellie insisted.
"I don't… I don't know. All I know is that they were going out to the woods so that they could have privacy to do it safely."
"We're gonna find her. I promise." She swore. He nodded before Ellie practically dragged Elijah off the porch. "I'm going to call Klaus and Caroline. We need to find out the location and we need to find it now." As they piled into the car, she hastily called the two of them.
"Hey, was Bonnie there?" Caroline asked as she answered.
"No, but I think we found Silas." Ellie told her.
"What?" Klaus asked.
"Mr. Hopkins, Bonnie's dad, he said that Professor Shane had been here with Bonnie all day. He said that Bonnie had gone to the witches to get help. We need that location and we need it now." She repeated. "Chances are that it's most likely that Bonnie has already lured them to the spot where she's going to kill them."
She could hear Caroline rustling about. "Ok, there's two possible locations for her to take them. The best thing for us to do would be to split up and get to both at once."
"Yeah, listen. Elijah and I can go to one and you can go with Klaus to the other. Having an Original in both locations would probably be our safest bet." Ellie told her.
"I'm sending you one of the locations. Klaus, Stefan, and I are on our way. We might split up to try and make sure that we get to both places in time." Caroline said.
Ellie's phone buzzed with the incoming image. "I've got it. We're heading there now." Once the call disconnected, Ellie tried to ignore the sick feeling in her stomach.
"Are you ok?" Elijah asked worriedly.
"I feel like I'm gonna throw up." Ellie confessed. "We have to hurry." Elijah sped through the streets to reach the woods. They had no time to spare. Neither of them knew how long it would take for Bonnie to get the witches to link. Elijah took her phone to look at the map that they sent her. She found herself to be immensely grateful for picking out a pair of tennis shoes to wear instead of something else.
"We're going to get to her in time." Elijah promised.
They'd been rushing through the woods when a familiar energy brushed against her magic. She whipped around, hand held up to defend herself before Stefan appeared. "It's just me. Klaus and Caroline are headed to the other spot. I didn't know where the two of you were at so I figured it would be best if I went to this location."
Ellie nodded. "Let's go." She instructed. The three of them made their way and it wasn't long before she could feel a strong wave of magic brushing against her own. "They're this way. I can feel them." She explained.
A scream pierced the silence and a chill ran down Ellie's spine. That was Bonnie's scream. "Yield to the spirits, Bonnie!" A woman screamed back.
Elijah didn't hesitate to sweep Ellie into his arms as he and Stefan used their vampire speed to get there faster. "Stop!" Stefan shouted. "Stop it! It's not what you think."
"This is no place for a vampire." The woman hissed.
"She's working for Silas." Stefan told the woman.
Her eyes went wide in fear. "Silas?"
"He brainwashed her to kill you." Ellie told her. "He needs your death to complete his Expression triangle."
The witch produced a large knife from somewhere. "Wait. What are you doing?" Stefan asked.
"If Silas has her, she's lost. We can't save her." The woman explained.
"Wait!" Stefan tried to rush forward, but the witch held up her hand, dropping both Stefan and Elijah to their knees in pain.
"I have the power of twelve witches. You don't stand a chance!" They even went after Ellie, and when she let out a cry of pain, Elijah grabbed her and the three of them retreated to the trees.
"My love, look at me." Elijah begged as he tilted her head up as blood dripped from her nose.
"I'm ok. I'm ok." Ellie assured him as she wiped her nose clean. She muttered a healing spell under her breath and let out a sigh of relief as the pain disappeared.
"Ellie, are you ok?" Caroline asked worriedly.
"Yeah."
Stefan told them, "They're linked. Bonnie's gonna kill them."
"Not if the witches kill her first." Klaus replied.
"Klaus!" Ellie shouted.
"Klaus, we need to save her." Caroline demanded.
He didn't look away from where he'd pinned Stefan to the tree. "How? The only way to stop the witches is to kill them, and then Silas gets what he wants."
The witch called out, "Spirits! Take her soul! Free her from darkness."
"Stop it!" Ellie screamed. As the woman tried to plunge the knife down, Ellie's magic stopped her as if she hit a brick wall.
"You don't stand a chance!" The witch screamed back. "This is the only way to save her!"
"I won't let you kill her!" Ellie demanded. "There has to be another way." She could feel the power of the witches shift so that it was focused on her. They began to chant something that felt dark and sinister and pain exploded in her mind. Her scream was sharp, mixing with Bonnie's as her knees weakened.
She could feel Elijah touching her, but her vision was swimming as she fought against the assault from the other witches. "We have no choice! Silas has her." The witch tried to reason. "Either get out of our way, or we'll take you too."
Ellie could feel the blood running out of her nose as her vision started to fade. It danced between black and white with the red flames flickering it and out of sight. Her magic felt like it was wavering, but if she gave in, Bonnie was dead. "Let her go!" Ellie begged, though she couldn't really see anything anymore. She was blinded by the pain and the blood. Pain erupted from her stomach as an ear piercing scream tore from her throat.
The others watched in horror as a large branch impaled the witch. "Eleanor!" Elijah caught her as she collapsed.
Instinct took Caroline over. As Elijah hastily pulled out the branch and fed Ellie his blood, Caroline rushed forward as the witch tried to bring down the blade into Bonnie's chest. She forced the knife into the witch instead, piercing through the lungs as she cried out. "No!" Klaus shouted.
Ellie's vision returned just in time to see each of the witches drop one by one, the torches going out as they did. "Oh my god." She said shakily as she watched the horror on Caroline's face grow.
"Bonnie." Caroline said softly as she dropped down beside the witch. When Ellie saw how they'd tied Bonnie down, she pushed away from Elijah, practically crawling to get next to her friends. "Bonnie!" She shouted.
The Bennett witch was unmoving and had Ellie been unable to feel the magic still pulsing around her, she would have been terrified that the other girl was dead. Like Ellie, she had blood smeared on her face from where her nose had bled. Bonnie opened her eyes and Ellie flinched back in shock at the girl's white eyes. She'd never seen anything like it. Bonnie was completely calm as she whispered, "The triangle is complete."
Just as quickly as she'd woken up, she collapsed again. Caroline and Ellie shared a look of horror before they untied her. "We need to get her home." Ellie instructed.
"We need to bury these new bodies." Klaus retorted.
She glared darkly at him as Caroline curled in on herself. "Not the time."
"I'll take her home." Stefan replied as he walked over to the girls, carefully picking Bonnie up.
As they all stood, Ellie told him, "I'll go with you. I want to make sure she's ok. We have no idea how she's going to react when she wakes up."
Ellie glanced over to Elijah and he nodded. "Take care of your friend." He agreed before telling Stefan, "Keep her safe."
"I will." He promised.
When they arrived back at Bonnie's house, Mr. Hopkins was still sitting outside. He was on his feet the moment he saw them. "Is she ok? What happened?" He let them inside and Stefan carefully placed Bonnie on her bed. Mr. Hopkins was waiting for them when they came out. "Please, Ellie, is she ok?"
"I don't know." Ellie confessed. "But the witches… the witches are dead."
He looked horrified and afraid of the answer as he asked, "Did Bonnie… was she the one that killed them?"
"No. I tried to stop them but when they overpowered me Caroline killed them to protect us." She explained. "Either way, the Expression triangle has been completed and as far as we know, Silas now has everything he needs to have Bonnie destroy the other side." He sat down at the kitchen table as he stared in the direction of his daughter's room. "If it's ok with you, could Stefan and I stay until she wakes up? We have no idea how she's going to act once she wakes up and we want to make sure that she's ok, and that no one is in danger."
"Of course, of course." Mr. Hopkins replied immediately. "Thank you for trying to look out for her, and for trying to save her."
"She's my best friend." Ellie said with a shrug. "I'm always going to look out for her."
Mr. Hopkins gave her a kind smile. "If the two of you need anything, please let me know. I'm just- I think I should go call her mom and let her know what happened."
They didn't stop him as he left and instead made their way back to Bonnie's room. "Everything's about to go to hell again isn't it?" She asked Stefan quietly as she curled up in Bonnie's armchair.
"I think so." He confirmed. "If he's been showing up at Bonnie's house as Professor Shane, that means none of us have any idea of what he looks like. He could be anyone." It was a horrifying thought, to know that none of them were safe.
When the morning came, Stefan and Ellie sat silently as they waited for Bonnie to wake. Mr. Hopkins had left early, comforted by the fact that his daughter wouldn't be alone as he went to speak with Bonnie's mom in an attempt to try and find a way to save her. They'd sat in relative silence, which left Ellie with little else to do, except to think about what was to come if Silas had his way. The thought of destroying the other side was a conflicting one.
On the one hand, it meant that every single tomb vampire would be back for vengeance. It meant that everyone that Klaus and the rest of the Mikaelsons had ever killed would be coming back to return the favor. Thousands if not tens of thousands of threats back from the dead. But it would mean that Jeremy was back as well. It meant that she could hold her little brother again and protect her from all the big bad monsters that she'd failed to protect him from the last time.
It meant that Alaric was back. That Luka and Dr. Martin would be back. Isobel would be back… she could have her mom back. She'd never had a chance to know what Isobel had really been like. The closest she'd come was when she'd been able to see her and the others for that one day. The longing she felt to have a mother back. Ever since she'd lost all of her parents, that ache had never really gone away.
Miss Sheila would be back and she could meet Emily. Finn and Kol… Mason and Vicki. Names and faces and voices and memories all danced around her mind, taunting her with longing and pain. Despite what she would give to have her loved ones back, how many would die with the return of all of the other supernatural beings? There would undoubtedly be psychopaths on the other side. After two thousand years, who knew how many were over there. The world would go to absolute chaos to have that many people back on earth. No matter what she wanted or how badly she longed for it, letting Silas bring everyone back was never going to work. The last thing she wanted was to deal with Esther and Mikael all over again. "Stefan." Ellie said gently as Bonnie stirred.
He turned to look at the other witch as Bonnie sat up slightly. "Hey. How are you feeling?" He asked.
Bonnie looked at the both of them in confusion. "What are you guys doing here? How'd I get here?"
"What do you mean? I… we brought you home. The witches almost killed you." Stefan replied.
"What witches?" Bonnie asked, confusion written all over her face.
"You don't remember?" Ellie asked worriedly as she moved to stand beside Stefan.
Bonnie just gave them a look. "Whatever the witches did must have messed with your memory." Stefan deduced.
"How did I get off the island?" Bonnie questioned.
Ellie shared a panicked look with Stefan before he carefully asked, "Wait, Bonnie… what's the last thing you can remember?"
"I guess I remember being in that cave, and Jeremy was trying to pry the cure out of Silas' hands." Ellie flinched at the mention of her brother. "Please tell me he got it." Ellie's heart felt like it was getting pulled against a grater as Bonnie asked, "We didn't get it, did we?"
"Bonnie, there's something you need to know about Jeremy." Stefan said softly.
She looked up at Ellie with fear. "Ellie, what happened? Where's Jeremy?"
Ellie started to cry, unable to look Bonnie in the face. "Bonnie, Jeremy died on the island." Stefan told her.
"No." Bonnie denied. "Ellie please, please tell me it's not true. Tell me he isn't dead."
"I wish I could." Ellie whispered. "He died on the island. Silas drained him."
She dropped down to hold Bonnie as they both dissolved into tears. "No, no, no…" Bonnie sobbed. "I was supposed to keep him safe. We were just together. I was with him just a minute ago."
"Bonnie, I'm so sorry." Ellie replied. "I'm so so sorry."
The Bennett witch looked like she was going to throw up. "What happened after the island. What did Silas do to me?" When Ellie looked reluctant to explain, Bonnie told her, "I need to know. Ellie, please."
Caving, she explained, "He got into your head. Convinced you that he could bring Jeremy back if you killed twelve witches to complete his Expression triangle. We thought that you were ok, but when we came to check on you it was too late and you were already with the witches. Stefan told them Silas was manipulating you and they were going to kill you. Caroline killed them instead to save you."
"And by saving me, she completed the triangle." Bonnie realized. "So what happens now?"
"Now we hope to god Silas doesn't get his hands on the cure, because if he does… it's going to be hell on earth."
Author's Note:
We got to get Ellie against twelve witches and she might have been able to over power them had they not impaled her. But now Silas is one step closer to destroying the other side. As always, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a review and let me know your thoughts.
To LucifersAlleyCat: Lol I know right. It's always very satisfying to write. There's definitely a lot of feelings all over the place with them taking care of one another. It would be kind of interesting to see them scared of her don't you think?
To IrisTurner: It would definitely be an interesting thought. It's even more curious since he was there in canon for this and didn't bother to do that. But she should definitely have to face the consequences of her actions.
To xenocanaan: Yeah, I know what you mean. But if you think about it, until most people realize how toxic the situation is, they let people get away with a lot because they care about them. It's why some people stay in abusive relationships so long. And I know it's fantasy but part of the reason why I wrote Ellie the way I did was to root it a bit more in realism which means her making stupid judgement calls even when we know better. But her ruthlessness is quite fun to write.
To Guest: A Damon confrontation would definitely be nice. I haven't gotten anything left that's prewritten, so I have no idea if that'll happen or not. And same, there's something about her using her hands rather than her magic that makes it so much more satisfying. Klaus might be a lot of things, but he does love Ellie so I would say there's a definite chance that he would give Katherine her freedom. Katherine at Ellie's graduation would be amazing.
To BecomingFearless1F: We all hate Elena lol. She's definitely going to deal with the Petrova hot-headedness for a bit, but she's not going to lose herself entirely. Katherine should be back soon don't worry. 1) Yes, I'm hoping for Statherine though no promises right now. 2) Yes, she will. 3) Not that I'm aware of yet. They'll honestly be in NOLA before too much longer. We just have to get Ellie to graduate. 4) No, I actually like Hayley though she didn't always make the best decisions she loved her daughter. Hayley has a lot of potential and I hope to make use of it.
To Chusii: She definitely does. She'll feel better eventually but it's going to take time. I definitely plan for her to get back to Katherine soon and then hopefully we'll find out what happened to Jer.
To Blu3b3rryT3a: No, Qhetsiyah isn't influencing her, Ellie is just losing her grip on her composure after going through so much trauma because of Elena. We'll find out what happened with Katherine soon though.
To mrs. morgan 35: I also see her going to Ellie for help. I absolutely believe that she'll see Ellie as another mother. She has so much love for her family and she's definitely going to see Hope as her family.
To skyellebaby: She is, but don't worry, she's not going to do something she regrets. And yes we stan Stefan and Ellie. I've noticed that too. It's more like they just suppress their pain but can still feel positive emotions, even rage. Yes Stefan is Silas' doppelganger. And from what I understand, every doppelganger comes in pairs, which means there was a Silas double for Katherine and Tatia like how Tom was the double for Elena. Which means there was an Amara double for Stefan. They live at the same time but they don't always meet.
To Guest(2): It's definitely hard, but she needs it. Describing her as a teapot that's finally whistling is a good way to put it. Elijah is definitely going to help her cope, but sometimes she just needs to let go a bit before someone can bring her back. And I agree, actually knowing what happened to Jeremy will most likely help her. Elena and Damon don't deserve the cure. Her kicking the crap out of Damon would definitely be nice. I don't think she's going to go so far as doing something that she regrets, but she is going to be a little more willing to dish out what people deserve.
To lolistarkiller: I don't see her betraying them either. And you're absolutely right, by being Ellie's family that Ellie loves, that will get her a long way, but after being terrified for five hundred years, her actions are a bit understandable, but she wouldn't hurt Jeremy.
To Guest(3): I'm not mad at it either. After everything that she's put up with, she deserves it. He absolutely tried to get it so that Ellie would be the one that died instead of Elena. She really didn't care about the others no matter what she said. Oh Elena's going to be pissed and the thought makes me so happy lol.
To Crazy Devil Girl: Period. No Humanity Elena gets on my nerves and deserves every ass beating that she gets.
To RiaChan: You'll find out what really happened to Jeremy soon, I promise. I don't know if he would fall in love with Ellie because of how loyal he is to Amara, but I can see her causing him some conflict honestly. I don't think Care would take the cure because honestly, she prefers herself as a vampire.
To Gucciisoverrated: It's not that he can never pull her back, it's just that it's overwhelming her. Like once part of her pain just kind of pops, he can pull her back. But she had to let some of that rage go for him to be able to do that. Agreed, Ellie Petrova would be an absolute baddie and it would still be her being connected to her family. Jenna and Cami are definitely very similar and I think Cami could definitely use a human friend to relate to. Sometimes I am just as clueless as you guys. There are certain things that I have mapped out that I've known I wanted as a certain since the day that I started writing this over two years ago, but other things, I am completely in the dark. When I write, I just let the characters spill from my brain onto the page. I don't really make the decisions, they do. I'm absolutely watching the story unfold with you for the most part. I don't have any more prewritten chapters, so I have no idea what's going to happen next. Because I assure you I never planned for Ellie to be stabbing Elena until she was just doing it. I know it's just a few hours sometimes but I have anxiety and I'm a people pleaser lol.
To Qewbix: They definitely will, just needed to let off a bit of steam first. Honestly, I'm always so conflicted on Damon because I don't totally hate him, I just hate who he is with Elena. And Elena deserves every bit of what she gets for sure.
-Madame Magic
Posted: 7/31/21
