Mikaelson Mansion
November 1, 2010

Damon felt like throwing up, watching the two Original Vampires openly discussing their past differences and how in the long run their family was what counted the most. Feeling the vibration of his phone in his pocket, he extracted it and checked the latest message from Bonnie. It wasn't what he hoped it was, but did help ease his growing anxiety.

BB: Getting closer. Need more time.

He was tempted to text back a snarky comment about hurrying the hell up, but that could risk Klaus discovering that this entire dinner between them was simply a diversion. Although Stefan didn't seem to care less about their surroundings, Damon knew they were in the lair of a very dangerous predator. That is why he only told him part of the story, not the entirety. The brief eye contact he made with the Nobel Original only meant it was time for the second act of the performance.

"So, why don't we move this evening along and discuss the terms of this proposal?" Elijah asked, putting his now empty glass back onto the tablecloth.

Acting on his role as broaching the first offer of their fake negotiation with the homicidal hybrid in one corner and his more than broody brother, this should prove interesting, Damon thought objectively.

"That's very simple. Klaus gets his remaining coffin back, in exchange, he and the Original extended family leave Mystic Falls forever. Me, Stefan, and Elena live happily ever after. No grudges," Damon recited the bid he and Elijah had worked out in a meadow earlier that day.

Elijah's eyes shifted to his brother, masking his own emotions on the matter as he played his part well, too. "The deal sounds fair, brother."

"I don't think you understand. Elena's doppelgänger blood ensures that I will always have more hybrids to fight those that oppose me. I will never leave her behind," Klaus responded as if he was speaking to a naive group of children.

Everyone watched as Klaus stood and paced away a few steps before turning to face the three of them, he steepled his fingers tips in front of his lips before moving them away as if he needed time to consider his choice of words. Elijah had warned Damon about this, so it wasn't very surprising when Klaus shook his head ruefully in contemplation.

"Let's say I do leave her here, under your protection, what then? How long before one of you turns her into a vampire? Or worse, how long before she dies caught between your feuding? You see, each one of you truly believes that you're the one that can protect her, and that is simply a delusion. Gentlemen, the worst thing for Elena Gilbert is... the two of you."

Damon didn't expect Klaus's words to hurt as much as he expected, but they had, and it left an unpleasant taste in his mouth. It was something that he more than once thought about ever since finding her alone on the street talking on her cell phone with her Witchy friend. What now felt like a lifetime ago. Damon gave all of them a weak smile, not entirely feigned, then looked over at his brother.

"I'm gonna get some air." Not waiting for a response, he departed the dining room at a human pace. Elijah stood shortly afterwards, eying his brother.

"Let me deal with this," then he too departed as well. Leaving the former friends, now enemies, alone. As much as he preferred the Noble Original, his personality still annoyed Damon. Not surprisingly, Elijah quickly caught up with him and, somewhat expecting this next part followed him into yet another room. Elijah closed the door behind both of them.

Damon found a rather pissed off blonde original vampire glaring at them both. He wasn't too surprised to find her still in her dress she picked out for homecoming, based on the empty blood bag dropped carelessly onto the floor and the other partially drained, with Rebekah pulling the tubing from her lips to speak.

"Where is that backstabbing Dopplebitch?!"

Damon's body tensed, but Elijah held out his hands to his lips to silence his sister.

"Rebekah, your revenge on the Lovely Elena will have to wait. We have our brother to deal with first."

Rebekah finished her bag and made to leave, if Damon had to guess, in search of Klaus when Elijah caught her by the arm.

"Sister, we are going to confront him for his misdeeds and for lying to us for so long," he stopped when comprehension hit and she relaxed slightly. "This room is spelled so no one can hear you as long as the door remains closed, just as it was in our home in New Orleans once. I need you to inform our remaining brothers of my plans for Klaus. I've stockpiled blood as you discovered already to help them revive themselves."

"But Elijah?"

"Keep them from leaving this room until I come to personally collect all of you. If we don't do as I say, we will all end up daggered once more. I swear I will not let him do that to us, but I need you to keep calm until then. Do you understand?"

Damon thought she was going to refuse, so was surprised when she nodded and looked questioningly at Damon as if to ask why he was here.

"Don't look at me. I didn't remove your brother's dagger. I might have given the chance, but that dubious honor is all Katherine's."

"If it's not one Dopplebitch, it is another. Elijah, what is up with this crazy town?" Rebekah sighed. If Elijah had an answer, it was cut off when Damon watched as another Original gasped for air and promptly sat up. Whoever he was, he looked like a younger version of Elijah.


Once they left Rebekah to tend to the recently reawakened older brother, Damon and Elijah departed. Shutting the door behind them, they slowly made their way back to the dining room.

"Your brother sure likes to think and build big. I think we just passed what I can only guess is another dining room?" Damon asked, making small talk.

"Most likely, he gave me the tour shortly after waking up. I believe there is even a ballroom as well," Elijah responded in his usual reserved way. As they neared, Damon could hear Stefan and Klaus's discussion, based on Elijah's expression, he'd been listening in long before he could. He wasn't surprised to hear the noise of what only could be the sound of a body being dropped carelessly to the floor. He'd done the same thing a time or two himself.

"Delicious. Aged to perfection," Klaus drawled.

"Well, I guess the only reason you agreed to this evening, Klaus, is to drive a wedge between me and my brother," Stefan answered in response. Damon and Elijah were a few paces away when the mirth filled laughter of Klaus greeted their ears.

"Oh no, you're doing that well enough on your own. Because of Elena, you're gonna lose your brother and you'll only have yourself to blame."

Before Stefan could retort to Klaus's declaration, Damon and Elijah returned and both sets of brothers moved to stand next to their respective siblings. They returned to their prior seating arrangement. Damon took the lead, considering his brother was probably still fuming from Klaus's frank observation about his current relationship with Stefan.

"What do you say, Klaus? It's time for you to put something on the table. We've made our offer, now you counter," Damon asked in the most pleasant manner he could. Once again, Klaus steepled his fingers as Elijah warned him about, so he waited.

"Okay. I offer Elena's future happiness. You see, what she needs right now is to be rid of you lot," Klaus waved his hands dismissively at both Salvatores. "And to fall in love with a human, preferably someone of my own choosing. I have some suitable suitors waiting to make their acquaintance with my Doppelgänger. Who knows, I might even consider someone more familiar to her. Maybe that nice football player, you know the blond one?"

Damon wanted to ask what the hell he meant by the first part, but Elijah's warning glance made him change his response.

"Matt Donovan? Really?"

"Yeah, why not? If she does as I desire, and spend time with my other suitors and create another family branch or three. I'll grant them permission to marry, live a long and fruitful life, and pop out a perfect family of their own."

"And continue the Petrova bloodline along multiple family branches. Every few hundred years, you'll have a new doppelgänger to drain and never run out of hybrids, right Klaus?" Stefan summed up for the pair of them. Although Damon felt Klaus was hiding something else and he couldn't figure out why.

"Consider it a small return on my investment in her well-being. See, after you hand me back the coffin, I'll ensure her safety for the rest of her natural life and her descendants. You know it's what's best for her." Klaus explained, then stood up from the table and waited for Stefan to stand.

"So, what do you say, Stefan, hmm? Do we have a deal?"

Damon watched nervously as Stefan did the same and stood within arms reach of the Original Hybrid. He couldn't help himself when he blurted.

"What are you doing?"

But he could only sit there as Klaus extended his hand and Stefan accepted it. Klaus was smirking at his brother and he couldn't help to hold his breath as Stefan leaned closer to speak the word he just knew Stefan had been planning all dinner. He had said as much on the ride over.

"Nice try, Klaus. But no deal."

Klaus doesn't even blink. Instead, he broke Stefan's arm in quick succession. He kicked Stefan's legs out from under him. Based on the breaking sounds emanating from his shin area, he had yet another broken bone there as well. At least he didn't tear off his limbs, Damon mentally commented. He learned the hard way during his stay with the Augustine Society that while vampires didn't regrow limbs, they could regain the use of severed body parts if given enough blood and time to reattach it. It had taken a lot of blood for his index finger and then his left hand to stop tingling with phantom pains. Worried that his brother was going to find out how he felt, he rushed over to stop Klaus, but Elijah easily intercepted him and pinned him against a wall.

"What are you doing?" Damon repeated, and this time he wasn't quite sure who he was speaking to. Was it Klaus or his brother Elijah? Weren't they supposed to be working together? Klaus dragged his younger brother over to the fireplace and thrust Stefan's arm inside the hot flames. Thanks to his senses, he could both smell and hear the flesh burning on Stefan's exposed arm.

"Stop!" He pleaded, almost begging for it to end. Why his brother had to be a jackass sometimes was beyond him.

"I'll get it."

Still holding Stefan's arm in the fire, Klaus glanced back at his older brother. "Go with him, brother. You keep him honest. And when you return, I will make good on my promise to you and I will hand over our family."


Elijah hated seeing how brutal his younger brother had become and, unfortunately, it seemed with each passing century, Niklaus was getting worse. If something didn't change and grant his troubled sibling redemption, and soon, he feared for his brother.

He had to stay focused and motioned for the elder Salvatore to follow him. They needed to check to see if his siblings were ready. He did stop long enough to compel the last remaining human servant to collect a silver tray and white linen drop cloth, then wait for him to return.

Afterwards, he opened the door to the room his siblings were waiting in. Seeing their familiar yet angry faces almost made him smile in response, but they still had work to do. He met everyone's eyes, starting with Finn, the eldest. Elijah felt remorse for not freeing him sooner than ending with his sister. Each one of them carried their respective daggers. Leading the way back to the ongoing tableau in the dining room, Elijah motioned for them to place the daggers on the tray. Once they understood his intent, they did as he asked. For now, he ignored the fact that Rebekah had kept hers instead of doing what he indicated earlier. It gave him time to listen to his brother's pontificating once again.

"Go ahead and kill me. I know you'll do it when he brings the last coffin," Stefan hissed in obvious pain.

"You really have given up, haven't you? Where's the fight? Where's the ripper?" Klaus demanded mockingly.

Clearing having enough of this vulgar display of his superiority, Elijah motioned for the remaining blonde female servant to follow with the tray. Damon was right behind him. Klaus must have been so focused on torturing the younger Salvatore he apparently hadn't heard their approach. So much the better, he decided. The look of confusion was almost worth it.

"Elijah... why haven't you left?" Klaus asked, dumbfounded that his order had been disobeyed. He needed to be corrected that he could do that to him or any of their siblings after everything he's done to them. Elijah smiled pleasantly at his brother, enjoying the worried expression growing on Klaus' face.

"Where are you manners, brother? We forgot dessert," he flipped the covering white linen off, revealing the two silver daggers.

"What have you done?" Klaus asked in abject denial.

"What have you done? You see, I've learned not to trust your vulgar promises, Niklaus. We're doing this on my terms now," Elijah declared. Taking that as his queue, Kol entered the dining room to glare daggers at his older brother. The last time either brother faced each other was during a Christmas party back in nineteen fourteen. When Kol was conspiring, among other things, to construct a dagger that would have neutralized their spoiled brother for change. Elijah wondered what might have happened if he refused to help dagger Kol back then. It was too late to change what happened then, but maybe now he could make it up to all of them.

"Kol," Klaus's voice stuttered as he backed away from the brother others had called, the more chaotic and unbalanced of them all.

"Long time, brother," Kol greeted coolly.

Finn had nothing to say. Instead, he spoke through action. Grabbing a dagger from the tray.

"Finn, don't!" Klaus had the nerve to say. Elijah watched unhumorously as forgotten memories of threats to kill Sage if his older brother left them returned. Not surprisingly, Finn hadn't apparently forgotten. Finn ignored the pleas and stabbed into Klaus's open palm, pinning his brother to the wall like a bug specimen.

Klaus pulled the dagger out of the damaged wall plaster and made to run when Rebekah blocked his escape.

"Rebekah!"

Her dagger clutched tight in her fingers as she stabbed directly into his heart, Elijah couldn't help to wonder if it had been intentional or not. "This is for our mother," Rebekah declared before pulling it out as Klaus fell back into Kol's and Finn's waiting arms. As they restrained him, Elijah finally looked at Damon and Stefan.

"You're free to go, just as long as you adhere to my terms. This is family business."

None of his siblings gave the two younger vampires a second glance all their attention was solely focused on the Original Hybrid.


Damon's Camaro
November 1, 2010
Destination To Be Determined:

Damon glared at his brother once they turned onto the road leading back into Mystic Falls. He'd made a promise to Elijah to return the last coffin if he in turn kept Klaus as far away as possible from Elena Gilbert. The problem was, he didn't know where Stefan had her and Bonnie wasn't very forthcoming with exactly where she'd taken it.

"What the hell were you thinking, baiting him like that? Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Damon demanded. He pulled out his cell and sent a text to Bonnie asking for her location. Not surprisingly, she didn't immediately respond, which was unusual since normally she was rather quick in her responses that were, for Damon, typically, filled with snark on most occasions, but not recently.

"Klaus wasn't going to kill me, Damon. He was only doing it to get what he wanted and no thanks to you and Elijah, he will," Stefan shot back, not looking at him. Instead, he kept his eyes fixated on the road ahead. He caught sight of a distant figure walking on the same side of the road heading in their direction, but even with his vampire sight couldn't tell much other than her blonde hair color.

"I can't believe that you're being so stupid! We had a plan, not a good one granted and not made by me, but Elijah laid out his terms. I had no other choice but to agree," Damon argued. He looked at his cell again and still had no response. He considered calling, but if Bonnie wasn't willing to text back, why would she bother picking up. Once they were on their way with no real destination, it was then Damon finally noticed the blonde-haired woman too, just as his brother had earlier, but he put her out of his mind. He had other problems to deal with.

"Well, any word from Bonnie on their attempt to open the last coffin before we need to hand it over, brother?" Stefan sighed.

"Other than they are making progress during our meal? No. Since then nothing, doesn't that sound strange to you?"

"What do you mean?" Stefan asked, curious.

"It seems that ever since Abby and Bonnie informed us they'd moved the coffin to a more secure location from vampires. So why exactly does it take them such a long time to respond to our calls or texts? Something just feels off about this Stefan. Any ideas?"

"Maybe, but for a hiding place that vampires can't enter almost sounds like a residence with a living human. I haven't heard of or been to any places where someone needs to leave the building just to use the phone. Come on Stefan, think!"

"Umm… I don't know- a tunnel or cave, maybe?" Stefan rolled his eyes in lame attempt at a sarcastic remark, but the smile that lit on his brother's features made him ask. "What?"

"I think I know where they are, hold on!" Damon smiled with a victorious grin plastered on his face. He would have hit the lone blonde woman walking as he gunned his prized Camaro if she hadn't already moved over to the opposite side of the road.

"Seriously, did you even look? Before pulling out back onto the road, you could've hit that middle aged woman, Damon?!" Stefan declared. He couldn't help the need to peer back seeing her growing more and more distant with each second his brother sped down the otherwise unoccupied roadway. Stefan, despite himself, wondered what her ultimate destination was when he got a better look at her features. The intense expression she wore had seemed to him, at least, that whatever her intention was, she was rather determined to get where she was going. With any luck, she should bypass the recently renovated mansion without drawing too much attention from the five pissed off Originals. Asking for a handout for the older woman right now might as well be a death sentence. Not that Stefan cared about his Vendetta against Klaus and now his family was enough for him for now.

"Have we fully turned our emotions back on, brother? Do I look like a careless driver to you? Relax, look, she was already moved over to the other side, anyway. Besides, I think she might be a little messed up in the head or something. Chances are she is just some homeless person passing through. Who the hell wears a long skirt dress these days while taking a walk on the outskirts of Mystic Falls? Seriously, it looked like she got the dress from a second hand thrift store."

"Damon?"

"What? Oh… Whatever, getting back on topic, do you recall how Mason Lockwood's ghost showed up in town and, after torturing me for a few hours, took me on a little side trip?" Damon asked, not slowing his car as he peaked over at his brother. He wasn't disappointed that he'd stunned his brother yet again. Finally, he worried that broody Stefan wouldn't be able to put the pieces together just as he had. Bonnie Bennett was one clever witch, he'd give her that.

Stefan's expression would have been funnier if not for the urgency to get there and find out if Bonnie and her mother were successful or not.

"What the hell are you looking at me for? Damon, drive!"


Old Lockwood Cellar
November 1, 2010

Katherine absolutely relished in being a vampire. Her kind didn't need a pesky flashlight like all humans needed in dark places, such as the caves under Mystic Falls. She'd heard about them on her first visit to Mystic Falls, but that had been over a century ago. Isobel had been a thoughtful ally for researching more about the caves as a contingency plan if she needed to escape detection from Klaus and his minions. As much as she disliked holding out somewhere in the labyrinth underneath the naïve residence of this miserable little town, being captured by him wasn't an option. Unfortunately, it ultimately hadn't become necessary when she was unexpectedly betrayed by Isobel, of all people- by her own blood.

Since she could see every trip hazard as she made her way through the darkness, she was a creature of the night after all; it had taken a little guesswork, but catching young Gilbert buying feminine hygiene products had stuck out like a red flag. She tried to follow him but lost him when the Mayor stopped her to talk about her ordeal of being missing for weeks. She would've compelled her to go away, but by the vervain odor she absolutely reeked of, that hadn't been an option.

Fortunately returning to the Gilbert Residence, she lucked out finding Elena's history teacher alone. She easily overpowered him, though it took removing his Gilbert Ring. Then all it took was threatening to snap his neck in front of Jeremy once he returned sans ring. As expected, he folded and explained where the coffin and the Bennett witches were. The fact that two Bennett witches were there surprised her, but she made preparations for that contingency as well. It helped that he accidentally messed up telling her that the chamber had a boundary spell keeping vampires out, so naturally she planned for that as well.

As promised, she even gave Ric back his ring, then afterwards she broke both of their necks to keep them from warning the brothers. It had been so easy; it was hardly a challenge anymore.

As she approached the cave network entrance, the telltale flicker of a light from a smartphone screen made Katherine stop, then watch as Bonnie Bennett finished typing in a message before she turned to head back to where she assumed the coffin was waiting. Not a vampire to look a gift horse in the mouth, she followed, keeping just far enough back so her prey wasn't aware of her presence.

"Abby, I managed to find a decent spot to send a text to Damon. He wants us to- Mom!" Bonnie cried out. Katherine moved closer to observe Bonnie as she rushed into the odd cavern. An older woman, who she assumed was Abby, was slumped against an open coffin.

"Mom! Are you okay?" Bonnie pleaded. Then, after a pause, she added in a more anxious tone. "Mom, tell me you're alright!"

"I'm fine Bonnie, just feel sort of drained," she paused, rubbing her neck. Bonnie didn't see anything amiss, but Katherine had been around much longer than both Bennett witches many times over, so she detected the telltale scent of fresh blood. It was then she heard a confusing cacophony of heart beats echoing off the interior of the cave chamber.

"Did… Did you see?" Bonnie started, Katherine wasn't listening. Instead, her eyes were sweeping what she could safely spot from her vantage point when a whimper came from a far corner. She spotted the source of the noise and the additional heart beats and Katherine could hardly believe what her eyes were telling her. The same face she wore sported a terrified expression as her own eyes darted between the two witches before glancing at the two infant children she was carrying.

"ELENA?!"

Well, this just got interesting, Katherine thought. Her interest was more than piqued by this latest development. Katherine was still trying to piece together what she was witnessing. It didn't help when Elena's witch friend tried to approach her Doppelgänger, but to Bonnie and to some extent Katherine's surprise, Elena backed away from the advancing witch.

"What's wrong with you Lena? Where did you come from?" Bonnie paused, then gasped. "And whose children are those?" Bonnie asked, but Katherine also noticed that her Doppelgänger didn't seem to really understand her friend. It was like Bonnie was speaking a completely foreign language to her friend.

When her twin finally did speak, it didn't really make too much sense to anybody. Katherine, for some reason, thought she should know but wasn't sure with what she heard so far. The language sounded familiar, however, a few words weren't enough to help her narrow down her suspicions. Whatever happened to her dull as dishwater twin must have been a spell or something related to magically alter her ability to speak. The bible story about the Tower of Babel, her beloved mother used to read to her before bedtime, came to mind and she had to resist the urge to smile at the memory.

"Please Lena, we just want to help you," Bonnie pleaded, holding her hands up. But Katherine's double continued to edge away from Bonnie's persistent pursuits of her. It has been a while for her, but if memory served her well enough, the bible story had been something about the world's peoples being cursed by God who confounded their speech so only groups of people could understand each other. Maybe there was the answer.

Katherine stood as far inside as she could, pressed against the invisible barrier and cleared her throat, drawing everyone, specifically Bonnie's, attention back in her direction.

"I don't think poor little Elena Gilbert can understand you, Bonnie, let alone you understand her. I believe that someone cast a Babel spell on her," Katherine chided. She was still trying to figure out how Elena had ended up down here. She would have to draw her Doppelgänger out and fortunately, she might have brought with her the right tool for the job.

"Katherine, what are you doing down here? Babel Spell?" Bonnie asked. Her gaze shifted from Elena to her mother and then back to Katherine.

"Same as you, well maybe not quite the same, but in exchange for my freedom I promised Klaus I'd let him know where his remaining coffin was and his Doppelgänger as well. I don't know how you managed it, but thanks for putting them both in the same place for me to collect. Now if you please just go grab little Elena for me, I will be on my way," Katherine said sweetly. She even smiled pleasantly at the three mortals. She ignored the second of Bonnie's two questions.

"What? No! You… You can't come in here. There is a boundary spell!" Bonnie threatened.

Katherine laughed at Bonnie's weak defiance of her demand. "Bonnie, Bonnie, Bonnie, do you think I wouldn't come prepared for this little contingency?" Katherine chided.

"What? NO!" Bonnie cried out, but it was already too late for her to react. Alaric should have locked up all his vampire hunter weaponry. Before leaving the Gilbert home, she found the one thing that would ensure that no one was beyond her reach even behind a pesky boundary spell. Moving faster than human eyes could track, let alone react to, Katherine lifted Alaric's pneumatic stake weapon and fired three bolts off in quick succession, two of them struck her intended target and the third went wide, much to her annoyance. To add insult to injury, she even tossed the now depleted weapon inside the chamber.

Katherine smirked as Bonnie rushed back to her mother's side and as Elena disappeared deeper into the chamber. Bonnie's mother had been struck with two modified stakes courtesy of Alaric Saltzman, one in her abdomen and the other just barely missing her heart but based on the red foam coming from her mouth and nose, a lung shot, nonetheless. She wouldn't survive very long without medical help or a helpful vampire and as far as she was concerned, she was the only one of her kind around for several miles.

"MOM! YOU BITCH!" Bonnie snarled, her concern for her fallen mother and for the vampire that caused her mother's pain was too much. Although Katherine had thought herself prepared for the attack, the pain exploding behind her eyes actually did drive her to her knees. It seemed that the little witch's powers had only grown since their last encounter at the Lockwood Estate.

"Bonnie, if you want me to help, giving me a brain aneurysm isn't the proper motivation for some like myself." Katherine grimaced under the pain. Thankfully, the pain almost stopped immediately. Bonnie looked down at her mother, then glared at Katherine.

"How?" Bonnie demanded. Somewhere in the dark, the faint crying of the first infant quickly followed by the other started.

"Are you really that daft? My blood can heal your mother, but you better hurry. A gut shot might not be immediately fatal, but a lung shot can be. Your mother will either die from blood loss or asphyxia," Katherine explained, studying her fingernails.

Bonnie screamed in response but helped her mother to stand and started moving for the chamber's only exit.

"Uh… Uh… Uh… Not so fast, Witchy. Go find where little Elena disappeared to and bring her out first, then I will heal your mom. Anything else and your mother will die here in this very chamber," Katherine warned.

"But-" Bonnie cried, her face twisted in conflict. She needed to save her mother, but the only way she could was by doing just as Katherine had instructed.

"Go… Bonnie, get Elena. I will start making my way over to the entrance," Abby coughed. She couldn't stand, but she could crawl, which she slowly started doing before her daughter could protest.

"Mom?!"

"It… It's the only way, sweet… sweetheart," Abby gasped from either the pain or from her exertion to move closer.

Bonnie looked helpless at her mother, then shot daggers at Katherine. "You win, Katherine, but I swear I will kill you one day," Bonnie snarled and went off in search of Elena.

Katherine considered a possible retort but decided she had said enough. Although Abby was injured, it seemed she had plenty to say.

"You betrayed… My… my family again. First it was Emily… Now us. Did it ever occur to you that the Bennetts and the Petrovas have a connection?" Abby questioned as she dragged herself along the rocky floor. Katherine could smell the blood and, based on its intensity, the older witch would expire soon.

"I did what I had to do to survive. Emily was just an unfortunate casualty. Do you think I liked leaving her behind like that?" Katherine said, with no trace of malice in her voice. She meant what she said. It bothered her sometimes how easy it had been to leave the vampires she befriended, in some cases sired, and then there was Emily. But the dying witch's comment about the connection between the Petrova and Bennett bloodlines hit true. She didn't know why, but she always had counted on Emily and then Lucy's assistance.

"Our families have…. connected for… two thousand years Katerina Petrova," Abby gasped, rolling on to her back, gasping for air. Her clothing was coated in blood. Katherine's breath caught as she heard the sounds of a thready heartbeat. Abby was fading faster than she planned and a dark voice commented in the back of her mind that maybe it was a good thing the third shot had missed.

"BONNIE You better hurry. your Mom isn't going to make it!" Katherine pleaded. And she realized that she didn't want the woman's death on her hands. She already had more than enough innocent blood on her, and this just felt wrong to her. She started to pound her fists on the barrier, praying that it would work. Abby's breathing had slowed way too much.

"BONNIE! NOW! Before it's too late!"

"We're coming! We're coming!" Bonnie cried. Katherine looked up from her gruesome vigil and witnessed Bonnie not quite dragging an obviously terrified Elena behind her. The crying infants accompanying them only added to the confusion.

Katherine pounded on the barrier one final time, and to her surprise, as to Bonnie's startled gasp, her fists passed easily through. Before she could react, Katherine Pierce tumbled inside, landing in a heap only scant feet away from the now still Bennett witch. Jumping to her feet, she moved to the prone woman and bit hard into her wrist, not waiting for permission. She shoved her wrist into Abby's mouth.

"Thank you! How did you? What?" Bonnie cried all in the same breath. Katherine looked up and didn't want to utter the words she knew would upset the Bennett witch.

"She… She isn't drinking my blood, Bonnie. I can… can't hear her heartbeat."

Her words broke Bonnie Bennett. And the pain she felt earlier was nothing compared to what she felt exploding inside her head now, but that wasn't what did her in. The sound of her neck bones breaking was the last thing she heard before her body crumpled to the rocky floor. If she'd been conscious, she might have been tempted to thank whoever had just broken her neck.


Old Lockwood Cellar
November 1, 2010

Damon looked down at Katherine's body with grim satisfaction and somehow resisted the urge to grin. Part of him wanted to relish because finally he managed to turn the tables on not only the infamous Katherine Pierce, but on this occasion he wasn't on the receiving end of a broken neck.

"Bonnie, what the hell happened here?" Stefan demanded, standing behind his older brother and surveying the scene. The veins under his eyes darkened as he caught sight of all the blood and he quickly turned away to regain control.

"We… We managed to almost open the coffin, but when I went to find a place to send a text message and I came back, I found an empty coffin and my mother leaning up against it with some stone dagger in her hands," Bonnie sobbed, still clutching her mother's dead body to her chest.

Damon frowned and picked up the stone dagger that, if he had to guess, had been clutched in the now dead witch's hand and studied it. It was a black stone dagger alright, with runes etched along its surface. Hefting the blade to gauge its weight, Damon took an educated guess based on that and the somewhat dull finish, deciding it was made from Onyx. Acting on a hunch, he tucked the stone dagger into a pocket on his favorite jacket, thinking it would best to take it with him just in case it was a possible weapon against an original.

"Elena?" Stefan's voice cut through Damon's concentration and reflexively his gaze shot up and found Elena standing nearby trying to comfort two crying infants. What the hell?

"How?" was all Damon could manage. This day just kept getting weirder and weirder, he thought.

"I don't know? It's like she just showed up as if out of thin air. Then Katherine shows up and threatens us that if we didn't hand Elena over to her, she'd do something we'd regret! We… I mean, I thought we were wrong!" Bonnie cried. "Somehow she found Alaric's pneumatic stake weapon and shot my mother twice with it. Told me that if I wanted my mother healed I had to give her Elena."

"Then what happened?" Damon asked, shifting his gaze between Bonnie and Elena, who looked ready to bolt for the exit.

"My mom told me to go, and I did… I found her in a whole other chamber that wasn't there before now, I managed to bring her back despite her not wanting to come with me and that is when I found that Katherine had somehow broken the barrier down. She was trying to save my mom with her blood but- but." Bonnie answered.

Before Damon or Stefan, who'd managed to regain control, could formulate a question, Elena did as he figured and bolted for the door. Well, as best as she could with two infant children, Damon easily intercepted her. He grabbed her on her upper arm and Elena started to speak rapidly at him and he found that he couldn't understand her.

"What the hell is going on? Why doesn't she make any sense?" Stefan asked for them both.

"I don't know. She's been like this ever since we found her. Katherine said something about a Babel Spell, whatever that means?" Bonnie explained.

"Tower of Babel? What does? Never mind, we need to regroup and think of a plan. I'll take care of Elena with whomever these kids she insists on carrying. Stefan, pick up Abby we're getting the hell out of here," Damon ordered.

Bonnie watched as Elena tried to move away from him but he held firm, although Damon was careful enough not to break her upper arm as he peered into her brown eyes. There didn't seem to be any hint of recognition in them, and that bothered him. What the hell did she get into now, he wondered as he compelled her to calm down. Thankfully compulsion was more mental than verbal, he reflected absently as she immediately calmed down and became more pliable.

Stefan held Abby's body in a bridal carry when he looked over at his older brother. "Okay, what now?"

"First question, Bonnie I know you've been through a lot and I hate asking this, but can you craft a boundary spell for us? Like the one that was here?" Damon asked, still coming up with their next move.

"Umm… I think so… Abby, I mean my mom and I were discussing it when we were taking breaks from opening the damn coffin of yours!" Bonnie stopped to collect herself, succeeding only partially before she continued. "It will take a lot of salt, though, depending on the size. Why is this so important now and where are we going to do this?" Bonnie asked, flustered.

Damon looked at everyone and, after a brief curse under his breath, explained his grand plan and the reasons for the drastic move.

"Listen, we are going to fort up at our place. We have half a dozen bags of rock salt for the driveway that might work. We need to have gotten there like oh… five minutes ago. Call everyone on our list. Jeremy, Alaric, Caroline, and hell, even Matt, for all I care. Tell them to bring whatever they can. As to why, we now have to contend with not just one or two Original Vampires. We have a grand total of five now."

"Wait, what?" Bonnie asked.