Chapter 8: Cross my heart and hope to die

"Tell me again that this will work. Please."

Bonnie was setting up candles all around the empty barn when Ric spoke up. He had been anxious all day as the plan to kill Julian and his men was put into action and Bonnie's continuous and uncertain glances in Enzo's direction didn't help reassure him that they all had this under control.

And it was also made worse by the fact that they were in the exact same spot where he had already lost his family once. Perhaps faith wasn't cruel enough to take it away from him here again? One could only hope.

"Yes." Caroline said as she finally responded to Ric's question. She glanced over at him and took his hand. "Bonnie's got this." she said, partly to convince herself. "And Valerie will be here the entire time."

Ric grimaced and turned his head to watch as Enzo once again shared an off look with the Bennett witch. "You've got this, right?" he asked seriously, making the two of them turn to him with wide eyes.

"Um…" Bonnie cleared her throat and nodded. "We have taken every precaution possible so there's really no reason why this shouldn't work."

"But you didn't answer my question." Ric pointed out.

She cleared her throat and glanced over at Enzo, making Ric's fingers twitch.

"Guys! Please stop with the secret glances and tell me what it is that you're trying not to say in front of me!" he demanded.

Before Ric's accusations were answered, Valerie walked into the barn with another candle, sitting down opposite to Caroline on the floor. "It's time." she said.

"Stefan?" Caroline asked with such a fragile voice that Ric couldn't help but flinch.

Valerie shook her head. "His flight arrives in New Orleans soon, and he won't make any contact once it does. We can't risk alerting Julian to his motives for going there."

"And the rest of the Heretics?" Ric asked. "Will they be able to keep Julian occupied long enough for Stefan and Damon to find and bring back Elena?"

"That is the goal." Valerie said with a breath. "Let's keep up our end of the deal and hope they manage to pull through on theirs."

"I suppose that means part 1 of the plan to exterminate Julian will finally begin?" Enzo smirked, walking up to Valerie with his arms crossed.

She nodded with a small smile. "Are you ready?"

"Oh…" he grinned. "I was born for massacres like these."

Valerie then turned to Caroline once more and gave her a questionable look. "And you? Are you ready for this?"

Caroline nodded and looked at the witch's hands as she held them up to her. "Let's do it."

Valerie took a deep breath and asked her to mimic it. "Try to focus on the twins." she said. "Feel the magic flow through you and into them. Strengthening them. Strengthening you." she guided as Caroline closed her eyes and listened. "Let it fill every cell of your being." Valerie continued, a glow starting to surround Caroline's hands. "Don't let it overtake you, simply allow for parts of it to be absorbed at the time."

A wind flew surrounded them, at the same time as the fire in the candles grew tenfold, making Caroline wince. "It's too much." she whispered.

"Imagine that you are peeling the different layers off the magic, one by one." Valerie tried but Caroline shook her head in protest.

"It's not working, I can't-" she then lost her breath as her face suddenly turned grey. She threw open her eyes and stared at Valerie, not being able to breath.

"What's happening?" Ric said and ran towards them. But he couldn't come closer than three feet without being knocked back again.

"The twins have tapped into the magic." Valerie explained. "Caroline, you need to focus. Don't let them take control." she said as she looked deeply into her eyes, but they were at that moment suddenly turning white.

Bonnie then walked towards them, but Valerie held up a hand to keep her away as well. "Don't interrupt her or the magic will consume her." she said and then grabbed onto Caroline's arms. "Let me help you, Caroline."

Caroline's breathing became frigid as her body was both absorbing the magic and losing it at the same time, not having any handle on what the twins were doing. She yelled out in pain as her body took turns desiccating and healing.

"Caroline." Valerie said and gripped her arms tighter, the candles around them suddenly blowing out and Caroline's eyes closing.

When she opened them again, her eyes were no longer white and the candles were lit once more. She looked at Valerie for a moment before speaking. "I-I think I did it."

Valerie let out a relieved chuckle and everyone around them joined in. "Yes, I reckon you did." She said with a short smile before turning serious. "Now with the easy part over with…"

"I'm on it." Enzo chimed in and nodded towards Caroline. "Stay strong, gorgeous." He said before flashing away.

Ric then looked at Bonnie with a nod. "Your turn." he said.

She squeezed his hand with a soft smile. "Let's begin."


Norah took Mary-Louise's hand with one of hers and squeezed Beau's arm with the other. "Are you ready?" she asked two of the people she had long considered family as they were about to help kill the third.

"This needs to be done." Mary-Louise said with a nod.

Beau nodded in agreement, making Norah gulp.

"Then let's make sure we bring him hell." she said and lifted the cloaking spell, shielding them from everyone in their environment. As soon as the spell was lifted, Damon Salvatore ran towards them as he had spotted them from a distance in the middle of Bourbon St.

"Stefan?" Damon asked, glancing over their shoulders in search for his baby brother.

"Present." the younger Salvatore's voice said as he showed up from behind him with a bag of syringes in his hand.

Damon grinned and shrugged his shoulders. "Let's go get some 400-year old Zombie Douche-Brain Boy Toy blood then." he said and began walking, leading the others to Julian's penthouse suite.


Capture. Draw blood. Kill if necessary. Move onto the next one.

These four steps were what Enzo and Matt had to follown as their part of the mission had already started. They needed blood from Julian's men, whether they donated it willingly or not. Meanwhile, Valerie and Bonnie finished setting up everything for the ritual as they waited for the other Heretics' approval to go ahead with the spell.

Caroline, on the other hand, didn't have any orders or directions to follow. All she needed to do was sit inside a circle of salt with some blood bags nearby for strength. They really had thought of everything, Bonnie and Valerie. Everything except for what Ric was suddenly about to say…

"I don't think this is a good idea after all…" he mumbled and met Caroline's eyes with a strained look. "Maybe we should reconsider…"

"The plan has already been set into motion." Valerie said with a nervous voice. "Almost all of Julian's men are dead or healing from severe injuries. We can't turn back time and undo what has been done."

"Val." Bonnie protested and looked over at Ric. "It's not too late to back out if that's what you want to do."

Ric nodded. "Maybe we should." he said as he paced the floor. "Maybe we should just pack our bags and leave and never look back. Julian isn't our problem."

His last words made Caroline flinch, she knew they were directed at her and shook her head immediately. "Yes, he is." she protested. "He is the reason that Stefan and Damon's mom is dead. He is the reason that Mystic Falls is overrun with vampires. He is the reason that all of this is happening in the first place… He is our problem."

"And that suddenly means my kids need to make the ultimate sacrifice?" Ric argued. "To clean up our messes? To save our skin? To protect a dead-beat town and to mend the Salvatore's broken hearts!?"

Caroline looked at him with an open mouth for a moment before she found her words again. "Ric…" she breathed. "This is the right thing to do."

He shook his head but she didn't stop at that; "We have to make sure we tried everything to take Julian down. Everything." she protested. "And this wouldn't even be an option if Valerie and Bonnie weren't sure they could make it work without hurting the twins. If everything goes smoothly –"

"Come on, Caroline!" he exclaimed, cutting her off. "When has anything ever gone smoothly with any single one of our plans!?"

"This would be the first time." Enzo said, walking into the room with Matt in tow and bags of blood-filled syringes in their hands. "But I say it's worth a shot." he smirked and handed over his half of the collected blood to Valerie before giving Bonnie a look.

"Did everything go okay with you two?" Bonnie asked, glancing between Matt and Enzo.

Matt shrugged. "Let's just get this over with." he said and handed over the last of the blood.

"Actually, I think we should reconsider waiting until the full moon." Ric said.

"We don't have time to spare, Alaric." Valerie sighed.

"Hey." Bonnie hissed at her and turned to Caroline with a soft look. "If you two want to rethink this then take all the time you need. It's a dangerous spell and we can't guarantee that everything will go the way we hope… But we don't have any other options either. And like Enzo said; this is worth a shot."

Ric met Caroline's eyes and took a deep breath. "Are you sure about this?" he asked, kneeling down beside her seat on the floor. "We could still drop everything and go. Just… get on a plane to Dallas and start over. It's not too late."

Caroline looked at him in silence for a long moment before she gulped and shook her head. "We can't drop everything. If we can do something, anything, to stop Julian then it's our duty to do so."

"I get that, I do…" he said and grabbed her hand, squeezing it firmly. "But listen, Care… We don't have to save the world right now. We can wait until the full moon. Give you some time to recover from everything… Bonnie and Valerie will be stronger then. The spell won't be as risky as it is now… We could keep an eye on Julian and remain on the down low until it's time to strike… All I'm saying is; that we don't have to do this today."

Ric could see the thoughts running wild across Caroline's eyes. He could sense that she was going to say something but was cut off before she even opened her mouth as Valerie suddenly gasped aloud and clutched her chest.

"Now." Valerie breathed out. "They have Julian but we need to act fast."

Bonnie looked at Caroline and Ric and waited for some kind of reassurance, some kind of sign… Caroline met Ric's eyes and nodded, giving him an answer to his own question as well as Bonnie's.

"Do it." Ric said bitterly as he knew the decision was final and the time for discussion was over. "Do the spell."

Valerie and Bonnie immediately began chanting over a bowl of the blood from Julian's men. Ric couldn't make out what they were saying, all he could focus on was Caroline and her wide round eyes as the two of them both seemed to have the very same thought in that exact moment;

I hope to God this is the right call.


"Who is Caroline?"

Klaus fought hard not to flinch as Freya mentioned the name he'd been trying to keep out of New Orleans ever since he had arrived. He looked away from the blank canvas he was facing, accepting defeat as his momentary surge of creativity had passed for the time being.

"Pardon?" he said, glancing over at his sister as she leaned against the doorframe to his studio with crossed arms over her chest.

Freya shrugged. "Your lack of reaction surprises me since you nearly jumped out of your skin when the Salvatore mentioned her last night."

"Yes, well. You shouldn't misinterpret everything I do, dear sister." he said with a smirk. "Sometimes I act on impulse and with lack of ration, as I'm sure you've noticed by now."

"That's still not an answer, Niklaus." she noted.

He swallowed hard and ducked his head. "She isn't to be mentioned again." he said shortly and turned away from her, pretending to be busy as he grabbed a brush and dipped it in a jar of paint.

"I remember her, vaguely… From when I channeled you and Elijah during my spell to eliminate the threat of Eva Sinclair… I saw some flashes. She is clearly important to you. My question, however, is: is she a threat?" she asked relentlessly. "Is she someone we should be worried about with the prophecy looming upon us?"

"No." he said firmly and glanced over to her. "She is no enemy to this family."

She nodded shortly. "Still, the prophecy didn't exclude friends from your past."

He whooshed over to her with a clenched jaw. "Enough." he threatened coldly. "I don't want to hear you speak of her again in this city, is that understood?"

"Yet, when the Salvatore said her name you were ready to put everything on hold to help him." she pointed out and shrugged. "You had me locate his lost love, make sense of those risky spells he had stumbled upon as well as hand over a bracelet to help us locate him to ensure he doesn't linger in New Orleans for longer than he promised."

Klaus didn't have the chance to threaten Freya again because Hayley suddenly entered the room with Hope in her arms as she looked around in search for something.

"On the windowsill." Klaus said as he remembered having seen Hopes favorite toy laying around in the studio.

Hayley nodded and walked to go fetch it. "Who are we talking about?" she asked curiously when she found it and handed it over to a surprisingly calm Hope. She usually became very upset without her little chess piece, a copy of the one that Klaus had made for Rebekah as a child. The original one had been turned into white oak bullets and placed into Aurora's possession due to the mistrust of Camille and her dear witch friend Vincent…

Klaus gave Freya a grim look but something flickered in her eyes, telling him she wasn't going to keep their conversation to herself. And he did understand her reasoning in the end; his sister had gone a thousand years without her family and she refused to let anyone tear them apart now that they had all finally reunited. Still, he wished she wouldn't push the subject further since it would mean actual danger to the young woman she was so carelessly asking about.

"Someone named Caroline." Freya said, making Klaus close his eyes momentarily. "Do you by any chance know who she might be?"

"Caroline?" Hayley said slowly. "Oh! Right… Yeah, Klaus had a thing for her. Doesn't surprise me that he'd drop everything to be at her beck and call…"

He growled lowly and directed his hybrid eyes at Hayley in warning.

She shrugged at him, apparently, he was losing his touch since neither of the women actually believed he'd act out on his anger… He grunted in frustration and walked back to his canvas to distract himself and take his feelings out on something.

"To what reason is this timid little congregation holding place in here?" Elijah asked as he came to stand beside Freya at the doorway, making Klaus glance over at him with a sigh.

"Well…" Hayley began but Klaus growled again, making her finally hold her tongue. Instead, Freya spoke up…

"I was merely asking Niklaus about this unknown woman that he seems prepared to drop everything for." Freya explained.

Elijah raised his eyebrows and met Klaus' eyes before he looked back at his canvas and began drawing up angry strokes of color onto it.

"I assume you are not discussing his therapist?" Elijah said making Klaus nearly snap the brush in his hand.

"No, not Camille." Freya corrected.

"Caroline." she and Hayley said in comical unison.

"Caroline?" Elijah echoed in confusion, reminding Klaus that his brother may not have officially met the blonde little vampire… They had never had any proper introductions at least…

"Interesting." Freya said. "Not even your brother recognizes the name, yet the mother of your child seems to know all about this Caroline."

"Well, I snapped her neck once. And that pretty much sums up my relationship with her." Hayley muttered, making Klaus throw another glare in her direction. "Anyway, I'll go put Hope to bed now." she announced before leaving the room.

"Niklaus?" Elijah asked expectantly. "Who is this woman?"

He really did break the brush this time and threw the separated parts on the floor. "What, pray tell, do I need to do to make all of you shut up!?"

"Fine." Freya huffed. "Assure me that she isn't a possible threat to this family and I won't bring up her name again."

Klaus glanced over at her and Elijah and shook his head. "She isn't involved in any of this and I wish to keep it that way." he said lowly.

His siblings shared a look before Freya nodded at him and left the room.

"Elijah…" Klaus sighed, knowing a further interrogation was in store.

"Niklaus…" he said with a serious tone and narrowed eyes.

Klaus grunted and headed towards the door. "I will not encourage this discussion any further." he gritted out at his brother as he passed him by and whooshed out of the mansion.

He stopped at a street near the Mississippi and sighed as he sensed Elijah's presence behind him. "Tell me you aren't risking the survival of our family because of some woman you haven't even bothered to mention before." Elijah demanded.

"I assure you, brother, I am doing no such thing." Klaus sneered and faced him with a shrug. "Furthermore, I haven't mentioned her because quite frankly; I hadn't realized she was unbeknownst to you until just now. Rebekah certainly wouldn't ever stop going on about it once anyone brought her up."

"Wait…" Elijah said with a surprised smile. "You don't mean Ms. Forbes? The girl you brought to mother's ball?"

Klaus clenched and unclenched his fists, glancing around them in hopes that no one was overhearing all of these uncalled for details…

"Intriguing." Elijah said and nodded slightly. "I remember Rebekah mentioning the young Donovan-boy having a friend by her name…" he continued thoughtfully. "And apparently Hayley has an acquaintance with her of some sorts… So what exactly is she to you, Niklaus?"

Klaus pressed his lips together firmly, refusing to continue the conversation and ready to tell his brother just that when a flash of red hair made his skin run cold.

"Oh, please…" the feminine chuckle came from behind Elijah, drawing both of their attentions. "Do not tell me that precious Camille is still a current subject of discussion in the Mikaelson household!"

"Aurora." Klaus gritted out. "Would you care to offer me a reason to not rip out your black and withered heart this instance?"

"Because it would be the last thing you do." another voice said from behind Klaus.

"Aya." Elijah said in confusion as he and Klaus stared at the woman holding the weapon with the world's only white oak bullets.

"I am getting so tired of having that vile weapon pointed at me." Klaus hissed.

"May I be so bold as to ask what exactly you two had planned next?" Elijah asked mockingly. "Surely you didn't rely fully on us being unable to outrun a bullet?"

"No. But you certainly won't be able to outrun yourselves." Aya said with a smirk before a searing pain suddenly filled Klaus' head.

He groaned and started falling to the ground, his brother following suit next to him. Like shadows emerging from the dark night, a group of black coats stood around them in a circle, chanting something he couldn't quite catch through the aneurism he was experiencing. "What is this!?" Klaus exclaimed just as Aurora's laughter echoed through the chanting witches.

"Oh, Nik…" she said, appearing before him with a dagger in her hand, it was glistening of a golden color that made Klaus' heart stop with recognition. She grinned and patted the tip of the weapon against her cheek playfully.

"This, my love…" she sighed victoriously as she bent down to his eye level, taking his chin in her hands. "Is justice." she said before snapping his head with one swift move.


Julian was thrown across the room by the Salvatore brothers after quite a long round of punches. Even for a four-hundred-year-old vampire, the two brothers and three heretics were slightly too much to handle. Especially since they had caught him off-guard.

Of course, Julian should have known the little Mystic Falls' gang would come after him once word got out that Elena Gilbert was under his captivity. However, he hadn't expected to see his past friends stand by his enemies.

"Beau…" he coughed up in desperation. "Mary-Louise… We're supposed to be a family."

"Don't try to manipulate them." Norah gritted out before holding her fist in the air in front of her, bringing excruciating pain to Julian's brain.

"You guys got this?" Julian caught one of the Salvatore's ask in the distance as he tried to focus on something aside from the aneurism he was currently experiencing.

"Yes, just go!" Norah yelled out, loosening her touch for a moment. Long enough for Julian to be able to spot a black bag under the living table.

He was just about to reach for it before Mary-Louise threw herself at him and pinned him down on the floor, plunging a syringe into his neck and drawing blood.

Julian grunted out and tried to fight back, but Norah's spell was now being empowered by Beau and its effect thereby multiplied.

"Do it now, Mary-Lou!" Norah yelled out.

Catching something in Mary-Louise's eyes, Julian furrowed his eyebrows as he momentarily expected her to actually let him go. To actually take his side. To actually help him. He saw it, the consideration and the deliberating. The arguments and the protests. But Norah's voice was clearly louder than her own inner ones and she soon got off of him and stood up straight. She stroked her palms against each other with the syringe in between, her eyes closed as she said a few words until the syringe had suddenly disappeared.

No. Julian thought in terror as he realized what they were doing. His blood, his plan… It was all being used against him. That realization brought an anger to him that made the spell on his brain numb just slightly, and just enough for him to grab the bag under the table in the blink of an eye. As the three Heretics began chanting something together, their concentration was wavering and Julian managed to get his hands on a magical object from inside the bag and throw it at them.

The object was a weapon, designed to absorb all magic from a close range. But all it did on the Heretics was make them aware of his suddenly new-found strength and concentration. However, he had more toys in store for them and as he threw a skull-shaped stone at them, he knew he was seeing the last of whom he had once called his family.

The stone broke onto the floor in front of them and a smoke emanated from it, surrounding them and making them cough. They let go of each other, after having held hands for power, and soon they all stumbled down to the ground with their hands hitting their chests in an effort to breathe.

"Sorry, children." Julian said, grabbing the bag and standing up freely now that he was no longer in pain. "But I cannot let you kill me, and I also cannot let you live after you have betrayed me."

"Julian…" Mary-Louise coughed. "Please."

He studied them for a moment as they slowly started desiccating, their magic being sucked out of them by the toxic smoke. And suddenly he felt remorse, a singe of sadness and regret over having written their fates. But this was how it needed to end. They had brought it upon themselves…

Or so he told himself as he flashed out of the penthouse and ran straight towards the graveyard, where he knew he'd find the Salvatore's. Since it was where he had been keeping Elena Gilbert's coffin.


"She's desiccating!" Ric exclaimed in panic as Caroline's skin began to change color. "Why is she desiccating!?" he directed the question towards Valerie but bit his tongue when he saw blood coming out of both hers and Bonnie's noses.

"The connection to the Heretics' magic is gone… We are losing power." Bonnie breathed and lost her balance for a moment.

Enzo caught her and held her up. "Stop the spell!" he commanded.

"No." Valerie grunted out and reached for a candle, throwing it towards Caroline and hitting the salt circle around her. The circle caught fire and flames shielded her from the rest of them as she suddenly collapsed on the floor.

"Stop!" Ric yelled as he stared at the unconscious young woman carrying his children.

"We can do this; we just need to focus!" Valerie protested and grabbed onto Matt's shoulder. "I need blood." she gasped, her face changing.

Matt gave her a terrified look before he reached for a blood bag and gave it to her. She drank it up quickly and let go of him, throwing the empty bag away, instead holding onto Bonnie and nodding.

"Keep chanting." she said and took a deep breath before continuing the spell, pointing a hand in the direction of Caroline as they attempted to continue drawing power from the twins.

Bonnie nodded and followed her lead, except she kept a hand on Enzo's arm and anchored her power from him.

Ric watched as the scene unfolded in front of his eyes without being able to do anything. He couldn't stop the spell. He couldn't help them keep going. He couldn't even go past the high flames surrounding Caroline to ensure she was alright.

Everything was spiraling out of control, and he couldn't do anything about it.


She's alive.

Damon exhaled deeply as he and Stefan finally located Elena's coffin, after four dead vampires and a lot of searching. He rested a hand over the smooth tree and smiled in relief. "I've got you, babe." he said.

"Thanks, sweet-pea."

The brothers jumped at the voice and turned around with wide eyes when they spotted Julian. "How are you not dead?" Damon asked, discreetly positioning himself in front of the coffin to protect Elena.

Julian shrugged. "You all seem to forget a very important detail about me, mate…" he said with a wild grimace. "I am far too resilient to be put down by the lot of you."

He suddenly threw a rope against Stefan, which circled itself around his neck tightly.

"Garh!" Stefan grunted, trying to free himself from the choke-hold of the rope.

"Moreover…" Julian snickered. "Now that I have collected a few of my old friend's magical objects, one might even say that I am untouchable." he said before raising his hand to throw something else but falling to the ground abruptly, his hands pressing against his head.

Showing up behind him was Norah, half-stumbling and half-desiccated with both her fists raised into the air – keeping Julian down. "Go!" she exclaimed. "Get out of here!"

Damon didn't need to be told twice, he took Stefan's arm and slung him over his shoulder while grabbing onto the coffin. "Thank you." he said sincerely to Norah before vamping off.

Norah lost her powers once more and fell to the ground in panting breaths.

Expecting Julian to kill her, she was surprised to see him lying limb with his head turned to the side… His neck had been broken.

Two hands suddenly landed on her shoulders, a familiar scent enveloping her as a smile spread across her lips. "Mary-Lou?" she said, turning around to see the love of her life having come to her rescue.

Mary-Louise grinned with a weak look in her eyes as she nodded towards her. "I've got you, babe." she said, bringing a short laughter out of the two of them.

"Don't start celebrating so soon…" a grumbling voice said, making the two of them snap their heads over to Julian's body as he had already woken up from his temporary death.

"But… How!?" Norah stuttered.

"I picked up a few tricks in New Orleans." he said as he stood up and walked towards them. "And unfortunately…" he said, grimacing before grabbing onto both of their heads at the same time and snapping their necks at once. "I'm not up to sharing them." he said and studied their bodies as they fell down next to each other.


Marcel entered the Mikaelson manor with a grim expression on his face and Josh in tow behind him. They hurried inside and soon found Freya and Hayley standing around an unconscious Lucien.

"Got any information out of him yet?" Marcel asked as he circled the chair Lucien was currently chained to and studied him closely, half expecting him to jump up and kill them all at once.

"He's still weak from having been vervained for so long." Freya explained as she crossed her arms over her chest. "But hopefully he'll wake up soon enough and help us find wherever Aurora took my brothers."

"And you're sure she's the one who took them?" Josh asked as Marcel squatted in front of Lucien.

"Considering our search for Klaus and Elijah lead us to an abandoned warehouse filled with her scent… Yeah, pretty sure." Hayley said and turned her head warily to her side. "Let's wake this son of a bitch up already so we can find the father of my child." she gritted out.

"On it." Marcel said and grabbed Lucien's hand, breaking his wrist with a loud crack.

"Bloody…" Lucien hissed as he flinched at the pain. His eyes shot open and landed on Freya. "Well, this is quite the unorthodox wake-up call." he muttered as he studied the chains holding him to the chair.

Marcel stood up straight, crossing his arms and looking down at him with a grim face. "Tell us everything you know." he ordered. "Where did Aurora take Klaus and Elijah?"

Lucien looked around the room and tilted his head to the side, still weak it seemed. "Apologies, but I don't possess the answer to your question. Aurora didn't involve me in whatever plan of hers this is." he said with a shrug.

Marcel sensed there being more to the story and squinted at him. "She must have told you something. Speak up."

He scoffed in response and shook his head. "Yes. She was quite fond of sharing her little revenge fantasies… However, when she mentioned White Oak bullets and daggering Nik, I realized just how far off the rails she had truly gone and decided to save my own skin by not letting her kill the sire of my bloodline…" he assessed his shackles with a tug of his arm and sighed before looking back up at Marcel again.

"All of which resulted in the love of my life shoving me inside a locker and pumping me full of vervain, so surely you can understand that I'm not quite as updated on her change of endgame as you may have first hoped."

"Wait…" Freya said with a furrow. "She spoke of daggering Niklaus? Did she have any means of doing so?"

"Not exactly." Lucien grimaced.

With an irritated huff, Hayley stalked over to him with a glare. "How about you give us something concrete to go on and we don't let one of those chair legs end up inside your chest?" Hayley threatened. "Or would you prefer my teeth in your neck?"

Lucien chuckled and let out an eased sigh. "Oh, darling. You need to polish up on your seduction tactics, I'm really not into the sort of kinks that include being on the verge of death." he joked with a wink.

His smug expression was immediately wiped off and turned into a pained scowl as Freya chanted a few hexing words.

"Alright!" he grunted out, making her stop as he took a few deep breaths. "There is a weapon." he told them.

"What weapon?" Marcel asked.

"The kind that works the same way as those used to incapacitate the other Originals." he explained. "A golden dagger laced with ashes of the White Oak tree."

Hayley froze at the words, meeting Marcel's eyes as she glanced over at him knowingly.

"Wait…" Josh said carefully. "How is that even possible?"

"It isn't." Freya insisted. "The dagger was destroyed by Dahlia months ago."

"Yes well, no one said anything about it being the only one." Lucien muttered. "Now, would you mind untying me so that we can begin actually searching for Klaus or do you prefer conversing with me for the rest of the night while Aurora does who-knows-what to my sire?"

"How did Aurora procure another golden dagger?" Freya asked, ignoring Lucien's suggestion. "I was under the impression that Kol was the only one capable of creating a weapon of the sorts."

Lucien sighed and tilted his head back in defeat. "She is most likely to have stolen it."

"From whom?" Marcel said impatiently.

"Me." Lucien confessed. "She must have taken it from me."

The room went silent for a long second as his words sunk in.

"What!?" Hayley breathed out as she was the first one to speak.

"So, you're saying…" Marcel shook his head in disbelief. "That you've had a weapon capable of putting Klaus to rest this entire time and you haven't used it already?"

"The same rules still apply as to any ordinary silver dagger." Lucien told him. "Only an Original can use it on Klaus without being affected themselves." He suddenly lifted his head up with wide eyes. "Unless…" he whispered.

"Unless what!?" Freya said restlessly.

"Unless Aya found a way around that little… Hurdle." Lucien thought aloud.

"Aya?" Marcel echoed and looked up at Josh shortly. "How do you know she's involved in all of this?"

"Because Aurora wouldn't have been able to apprehend two Original vampires on her own, even if she brought the gun with White Oak bullets with her." Lucien noted.

"The Strix coven…" Freya sighed, drawing Marcel's attention as he stared at her in confusion. "She must've planned this all along… Her witches were most likely prepared for this and the prophecy could have been fabricated… Only to have us all on enough of an edge to become distracted! That way we would never have seen the attack coming from them."

"That's not true." Marcel protested. "If it were then that means Davina –" his voice died down as he looked at a frowning Freya. "No." he said and looked over at Josh again.

"Davina knew about this." Josh said, finishing his thought for him. "She helped them…" he shook his head in disbelief. "But why?"

"Why do we ever do anything without regard of morals or ethics?" Lucien said dramatically and nodded towards Marcel. "Love."

"Kol." Marcel said with defeat in his voice. "Aya promised to help her bring Kol back, this must've been the price."

"We need to stop her, Marcel." Freya said pleadingly.

He nodded in agreement. "Good news is I know where they are. Bad news; I have a plan." he said with a grimace. "And it's as far from a 'safe bet' as possible."