Tyler became uneasy as he pulled into the parking lot beside Founders' Hall. There were far too many cars in the lot and that could only spell trouble. Founders' Hall maintained a small staff that consisted of an executive director, a curator, a historian, a receptionist, an events coordinator, and a security guard. He had learned a great deal about the staff and their respective duties during a tour of the hall. Previously, Tyler had never shown an interest in the council's activities. Frankly, he still did not care but he had accepted the invitation for a tour a few months ago. The council wanted a sizable donation and he wanted to understand how his family's funds would be used. The Lockwoods were by far the wealthiest founding family. Therefore, his family had helped fund the council since its inception. Ultimately, Tyler had consulted his family's accountant before making a donation.
He climbed out of the car and he walked up the front steps of the building. As soon as he walked into the building, his concerns were validated. The copper-y smell of blood permeated the air. Tyler took off his sunglasses and inhaled deeply. He moved over to the reception area and found a body behind the desk. Tyler crouched down and rolled the person over. The victim was the kindly old security guard that worked at Founders' Hall. There were puncture marks in the man's neck that looked like bite marks at first glance. However, the large puddle of blood underneath the man's body told a different story. A vampire would not have wasted so much blood.
He dipped his fingers into the pool of blood and found that it was still somewhat warm. Tyler inhaled deeply and determined that he could only detect a hint of decay. He concluded that someone most likely killed the guard a few hours ago when the hall opened for the day. Tyler stood up and grabbed a few tissues from the receptionist's desk. He cleaned the blood from his hand and then took out his phone. He typed a hasty message to Bonnie because this was almost certainly the work of the travelers. Tyler was regretting his decision to leave Bonnie out in the open. However, he was grateful that Klaus identified Bonnie as being part of his pack. If the travelers made a move on the Mikaelson Mansion the original hybrid's first instinct would be to protect his entire pack from the threat.
Tyler: Found dead people at FH. Going to find Matt and Caroline.
The hybrid put away his phone and raced downstairs to the vault. Tyler's heart was in his throat because he did not know what he would find. He had spotted Matt's Chevy parked outside. He could not think of any good reason why Matt and Caroline had not called to update them on the carnage there. The security guard was the first body he found but he could smell blood coming from other areas of the building. The old man was not the only victim here. Tyler just hoped that his friends were not among the fallen. They had all suffered enough loss to last them a lifetime.
Tyler breathed a sigh of relief when he reached the basement.
Matt was sitting on the floor drinking blood from Nadia's wrist. His injuries looked severe but he was already starting to heal.
Meanwhile, the members of Elodie's coven were chanting with their hands outstretched toward the vault's entrance. Two travelers were inside the vault trying to free themselves without much luck. Four more were lying dead on the floor outside the vault.
Tyler realized that he only recognized two of the travelers as Deputy Mayor Miles Fell and sheriff's deputy Tripp Fell. He walked over to Caroline who was covered in blood. Tyler looked her over for injuries but found none. He figured that she had already healed. He asked, "Are you okay?"
Caroline swallowed thickly and nodded at him. "I'm okay."
"What the hell happened here?" he asked.
Caroline said, "When we got here, the travelers were trying to leave with a bunch of stuff from the vault. We were expecting the travelers to be the people we knew were missing but they had possessed other people, too. They possessed two vampires and two werewolves. If Elodie's coven had not been here…"
Tyler pulled her into a hug. "I am glad that you are okay."
She nodded shakily.
He took a step back and looked at the two bodies on the floor. He could smell that two of the dead were werewolves. He asked, "I guess you didn't have a chance to use the knife on them?"
She shook her head guiltily. Caroline knew that the plan had to been to keep everyone alive but it just had not been an option. "It all happened too fast. It was dangerous especially with the werewolves involved. I was scared that they would bite us. Nadia and I killed them."
Tyler understood her concern. They could not count on Klaus being generous enough to offer his blood to them. Moreover, Tyler did not know if the hex Lucy put on Klaus had affected the potency of his blood. Nevertheless, the wolf inside him mourned the loss of his brethren.
He looked around the room and asked, "What is the plan here? I am assuming we can't trap them in the vault indefinitely."
A young witch/vampire shook her head. "We won't be able to keep this up for much longer. We are combating the travelers' magic and the spell that is protecting the vault."
Nadia walked over to Tyler now that she had finished healing Matt. "Well, I don't plan to continue waiting out here. I say we let them out of the vault and face them head on…"
The same young woman cautioned them, "We do not know what artifacts they have taken from the vault. It could be something they could use against us since we are all vampires…"
Tyler frowned because the girl made a good point. He had to assume that everything in that vault was meant to kill or incapacitate vampires. Since the travelers' vampire accomplices were already dead, they would have no incentive to show discretion. The hybrid mulled the problem over for a few seconds before he took off his jacket. He asked, "Where is the knife?"
Matt stood and walked over to his friend. He removed the knife from his jacket pocket and asked, "What are you going to do, Ty?"
"Well, I am the undisputed darts champion." Tyler moved closer to Elodie's coven and asked, "Can you drop you barrier on the count of three?"
The young woman nodded slowly. She didn't know if Tyler's plan would work. However, they were running out of options. The coven had been holding the travelers inside the vault for at least fifteen minutes now.
Tyler said, "1."
Nadia said, "Wait! This plan is ridiculous. If you throw the knife and miss, we will lose it for good!"
"2," he said without addressing Nadia's concerns.
Caroline looked concerned, too. "I can't believe that I am saying this, but Nadia is right. Maybe we should think this through more. Or we could call Bon. She'll know what to do."
Tyler huffed because there was no way he was calling Bonnie. She would surely want to come to Founders' Hall to help them. Tyler would do everything in his power to keep his mate safe. He said, "3!"
The coven lowered the barrier as planned.
Instead of throwing the knife like a dart, Tyler blurred into the vault and stabbed both travelers before they had time to react. The misdirection coupled with his hybrid-enhanced speed had allowed Tyler to catch them off guard.
Both men lost consciousness and dropped to the concrete floor. Beside them was a steel briefcase that looked too modern to belong in the vintage vault.
Tyler wrenched the knife out of Miles's ribcage and carried the man out of the vault.
Caroline walked into the vault and carried out Tripp. She looked at Tyler and asked, "What do we do now? The knife should have killed the travelers. That means we are back at square one."
Matt said, "Maybe not. When Gregor possessed my body, he could not keep it up 24/7. It took a lot of energy or something. Whenever he had to recharge or whatever, I woke up. Sometimes I woke in different places with no clue what was happening to me. These are council members that were raised knowing there were things that went bump in the night. They would be vigilant about losing time."
Nadia nodded. "Matt is right. The humans might have information that they can give us. Their phones and cars might provide information, too. We just have to hope that the GPS was enabled."
Tyler frowned and said, "First, we need to get someone to check them out. I know the knife is designed to kill the traveler but a stab wound could be deadly for humans. I doubt either man would be willing to drink our blood. I think we can all agree that it is better if they are alive."
Caroline said, "We can't exactly take them to a hospital without explaining what is happening."
Matt suggested, "What about calling Dr. Fell for help? I am sure that she would be willing to help her father and cousin."
"That is a great idea. We should be able to find her contact information in one of the offices upstairs. Meredith has a seat on the board of directors for the Founders' Association," Tyler replied.
Caroline interjected, "We don't need to hunt for Meredith's number. I will just call my mom. She and Meredith have been working together to plan the tree lighting ceremony. I need to call my mom anyway. We're going to need her help with the victims upstairs."
Tyler nodded with a sorrowful expression. He said, "I found the security guard in the reception area. How many more victims were there?"
Matt said, "Just one more. The travelers killed Mr. Perkins, too."
The hybrid hated that innocent humans had gotten caught in the crossfire. He felt somewhat guilty because their actions had pushed the travelers into a corner. The travelers had been content to possess humans to maintain their cover. The plan had obviously changed once they activated the wards. The travelers having black eyes meant they could no longer hide in plain sight.
Caroline asked, "Should I have Dr. Fell meet us here?"
He shook off the feelings of guilt because there was nothing he could do about it now. Tyler said, "No, we should take Miles and Tripp to my house. We will have some privacy there. We can leave soon, but Bonnie wanted me to grab a few things from the vault."
The young witch/vampire asked, "Would you like my help?"
Tyler said, "Thank you…I'm sorry. I don't even know your name."
"Oh, my name is Zoe," she replied. Despite her young appearance, it was obvious that she was the leader of the coven in Elodie's absence.
Caroline lifted Tripp so that she could carry him out of the basement. She could call her mother from upstairs where the reception was better.
Nadia did the same with Miles. She was eager to get back to Tom and her mother. She did not trust Jeremy Gilbert to protect them.
"Zoe, I would love the help but I don't think you will be able to enter the vault. Bonnie and Damon said that the founding families hired a witch to spell the vault to keep out vampires. The only reason that I am able able to cross the threshold is because I am a member a founding family. The spell recognizes my blood and permits me to enter," he explained.
She smiled and said, "When a witch casts a spell this intricate he or she leaves behind something like a magical signature or a fingerprint. I do not know the witch that cast this spell but I can tell that she was a Bennett witch. I doubt that a Bennett witch would cast a spell this powerful without leaving a loophole for her own bloodline."
Tyler's eyebrows drew together when he listened to Zoe's explanation. He shouldn't have been surprised that a Bennett witch was responsible for the vault spell. For better or worse, it seemed as if the Bennett bloodline was inextricably linked to this town. In fact, the Bennett bloodline's connection to the area stretched back even farther than any of Mystic Falls' founding families did. He took out his phone and showed Zoe the list. Tyler recognized some of the items as being inventions created by Johnathan Gilbert. He had learned from Bonnie that the man's inventions would have been useless without Emily Bennett's magic. He wondered just how long this town had ignored the contributions made by the Bennett bloodline.
Zoe studied the list briefly and then nodded. "Let's see what we can find."
Tyler walked into the vault and looked around for the first time. The room reminded him of a bank vault where safety deposit boxes were kept. He now understood the string of numbers and letters beside each item in the text message. Perhaps finding everything would not be as difficult as he anticipated. However, his gaze swung around the room and he noticed that some of the drawers were open. The travelers had already plundered the vault. They just had to hope that this was the first time. He said, "I am going to check the briefcase first."
Zoe glanced around the room and nodded. "Good idea. Perhaps the travelers have already down our job for us."
He picked up the briefcase and carried it over to an antique mahogany table. He opened the case and started pulling out objects that made little sense to him. The good news was that someone had tagged each item with a distinct code.
Zoe opened a medium sized wooden box. Her hand hovered over the crystal inside the box. It reacted to her immediately. She smiled faintly. "Well, this will come in handy."
Elodie hummed to herself as she dipped her finger into a large pot. She was pleased to find that the liquid had cooled. Elodie picked up a funnel and carefully distributed the bright red liquid into two glass bottles. Afterwards, she corked the bottles to ensure there were no accidents. The ingredients for the potion were not easy to find. In fact, it was sheer luck that she had brought some of the rarer ingredients with her. Elodie had packed a variety of peculiar items in her steamer trunks because she did not know what to expect. The Original Hybrid biting one of her nieces certainly fell into the unexpected category.
She was waiting for Damon and Bonnie to arrive. Now that the potion was finished, someone needed to deliver it to the Mikaelson Mansion. Elodie was stranded at the boarding house without a car. She was beginning to regret leaving her car at home. However, it was probably better that she was did see Klaus in person. Damon seemed certain that they needed the Original Siblings' assistance. She did not share that belief. Elodie had heard enough horror stories about the Originals to be wary of their 'help'. Unfortunately, Damon was the only one with any reason to trust her right now. She would have to prove herself to Bonnie and Lucy. Elodie hoped that this potion would be a step in the right direction.
Sarah walked into the kitchen with a basket of flowers. Earlier, she asked Elodie if she could do anything to help. Sarah was still in the dark about the situation. However, she did know that everyone was in danger. It was the reason that Stefan wanted her to stay at the boarding house for now. Her uncle believed that it was the only way to keep her safe. She placed the basket on the counter. "I hope that I picked the right thing."
The witch glanced at the basket and smiled approvingly. "You most certainly did. Thank you."
"You are welcome. What do we do now?" Sarah asked eagerly.
"Well, we need to dry the flowers so that we can grind them into a powder. Normally, we would let the flowers dry naturally but we don't have time for that. We will have to speed up the process by using the oven. We are going to need a couple baking sheets," Elodie explained.
Sarah moved around the kitchen looking through cabinets. She found two large baking sheets and placed them on the counter.
Elodie showed Sarah how to arrange the flowers in a single layer on the baking sheets. Afterwards she moved to the stove to start a new potion. However, she stopped short when she heard a car arrive. Elodie would recognize the purr of that engine anywhere. Damon was home.
Damon frowned when he walked into the kitchen. "What's going on here?"
"Hi, Uncle Damon," Sarah said cautiously.
Elodie heard the edge in his voice. She said, "Sarah has been helping with a little potion making."
"She's not a witch," he said.
The sudden tension in the room made Sarah shift in discomfort. "I was just bored. I wanted something to keep myself busy."
"Then go watch TV or cat videos on the internet like everyone else your age does," Damon ground out.
Sarah nodded meekly and quickly retreated from the kitchen.
Elodie put her hands on her hips. "What the hell was that about?"
"Stefan does not want her involved in all of this," he snapped and motioned to the witchy ingredients that had invaded his kitchen.
Elodie was unfazed by Damon's attitude. She knew the vampire was truly angry at his younger brother and himself. She said, "Yes, I know your brother's plan to protect Sarah. Well, his brilliant plan got her kidnapped by a psychopath. She did not know that vampires existed nor how to protect herself against one. Neither of you are doing Sarah any favors by keeping her in the dark. She is a Salvatore and that will always come with risks."
Damon knew that Elodie was right. He did not approve of his younger brother's solution. Yet he understood why Stefan decided to shield Sarah from the supernatural world. Unfortunately, she was an adult now. Stefan would not be able to protect her from all the threats in the world.
"Enzo is dead now. Sarah won't have to worry about him coming after her again," he replied.
Elodie said, "You and Stefan have several lifetimes' worth of enemies. It was only a matter of time before someone found the girl. I guarantee that it will happen again. Unless you and Stefan plan to be Sarah's shadow, she needs to learn how to protect herself-fast."
Damon groaned. He did not see how any of this was his problem. The girl called him 'Uncle Damon' but it wasn't as if he knew her. He didn't have a responsibility to keep her safe or unaware of the supernatural world. Damon couldn't remember having ever liked a single one of his descendants. Most of them had been as self-righteous and judgmental as Giuseppe had been. However, there was this little voice in the back of Damon's mind that said he owed Sarah something for murdering her mother and father. The little voice in his head sounded a lot like Bonnie. It was the reason he refused to discuss the situation with her. Damon knew that she would convince him to do the 'right thing'.
Bonnie ran into the kitchen but stopped short when she noticed the strange standoff happening. She said, "I'm sorry to interrupt whatever this is but we have a serious problem."
"When don't we have serious problems?" he asked with an exaggerated eye roll.
Bonnie shook her head. "This is a different sort of serious. It is DEFCON 5."
"You mean DEFCON 1. One is the most severe and five is the least severe," he explained.
"Really?" she asked with a perplexed expression. "That doesn't seem right."
He lifted an eyebrow and said, "Just trust me. You had some dire news to share with the class?"
"I just talked to Tyler. Sheriff Forbes and Nadia watched the surveillance footage for Founders' Hall. Nadia recognized Markos. The footage was from last week so it is possible that Markos left town before we put the wards in place."
Elodie tensed and added, "But it is also possible that he is still right here in Mystic Falls. That would be very bad for us. Markos being inside the city limits means that he can destroy the wards protecting us. He would just have to find the hiding places."
"I am still trying to understand how traveler magic works. Can he feel the wards' power like a normal witch would?" she asked.
Eodie shook her head and said, "Fortunately, traveler magic is much different than what we practice. They can't interact with nature and the world around them the way that we do."
"Because the curse turned nature against them?" Bonnie asked.
"Exactly. We can use the travelers' impediment against them, but we are going to need Lucy's help. You two have to get this potion over to her. Tell Lucy that they both have to drink every drop for it to work properly," Elodie explained has she handed the two bottles to Bonnie.
Damon huffed because of course the travelers' leader was lurking somewhere in the shadows. He was suddenly worried that they no longer had the element of surprise against what was obviously a powerful enemy. They definitely needed Elodie to complete the ritual that would protect them from possession. The travelers could find and destroy the wards at any moment. He hoped the looming threat would be enough to get Klaus to see reason. Unfortunately, the original wasn't the sanest person even when they only had to contend with his vampire side. Damon did not know what to expect from the werewolf side.
Bonnie asked, "What happens if Lucy is the only one that drinks the potion?"
Elodie frowned. "Do you have reason to believe that Klaus won't follow suit?"
"I don't really understand what is going on between them. I don't really want to know. Anyway, he seemed uncertain about letting Lucy leave even after I told them about the potion," she explained.
Elodie frowned because that wouldn't do at all. She needed her niece away from the hybrid before something terrible happened. She said, "Maybe I should come with you. I have been known to be quite persuasive."
Damon lifted an eyebrow at Elodie. He knew her powers of persuasion but they weren't something she could use on Klaus. "Uh, someone needs to stay here on babysitting duty."
"Babysitting duty?" She laughed. "Your niece is a grown woman and a college student. She hardly needs someone watching her every move."
"There are travelers wandering around town. It isn't safe to leave her here alone. There will be no end to Stefan's brooding if I let something happen to the little urchin," Damon groused.
"Then she comes with us. Either way I need to speak with my niece." Elodie turned off the oven since everyone would be leaving the boarding house.
Damon rolled his eyes. He was not in the mood to argue with Elodie. He was already frustrated with Stefan. He did not want to take his anger out on her. The last time the friends had a disagreement they were estranged for well over a decade. Stubbornness and immortality were not a great combination. "Fine. I'll go find the girl."
Elodie smiled. "At least I am not teaching her to make potions now."
He walked out of the kitchen with a shake of his head. Damon didn't have to go far to find Sarah. She was standing by the fireplace in the living room. He frowned upon realizing that she was warming her hands. "Is the house too cold for you?"
Sarah looked up with wide eyes. She hadn't heard Damon enter the room. She nodded a little and said, "But I am used to it. The cabin was cold, too."
Damon frowned. It wasn't often that they had human guests at the boarding house overnight. Bonnie had stayed over in the past but she despised being hot. The witch usually wore large sweaters and stole Damon's socks on the rare occasion when she felt cold. He said, "Next time just turn on the heat. There is a thermostat in the hallway."
Sarah was confused by Damon's sudden mood change. "Okay. Thank you."
He said, "In meantime, we need to make a trip across town. It isn't safe to leave you here alone."
"Oh, okay," she uttered.
Damon turned around and started walking towards the front door.
"You don't like me very much, do you?" she asked in a quiet voice.
Damon wouldn't have heard the girl if he wasn't a vampire. He stopped but didn't bother turning around. There was a biting reply on the tip of Damon's tongue but he stopped. "No. None of this is your fault."
She asked, "Is it because you killed my biological mom?"
Every muscle in the vampire's body tensed at her innocent question. Damon slowly turned around to look at Sarah. He was struck by how much her creased forehead resembled Stefan's. He stuffed his hands into his leather jacket. "You know?"
She nodded. "Enzo told me."
"Then why aren't you running from the house screaming?" he asked.
Sarah picked at her sweater's sleeve. She shrugged. "Maybe I have Stockholm Syndrome."
Damon lifted an eyebrow. "Your decision to burn down the cabin seems to suggest that you don't."
She looked down at the floor with a frown.
"Are you planning on burning down the boarding house?"
Sarah's head snapped up and she said, "No."
Damon looked into her wide eyes and said, "If you decide you want to kill me, you get one free shot. You probably shouldn't miss."
Bonnie gasped, "Damon!"
Elodie was giving Damon an unimpressed look, too.
He shrugged. "I am just being practical here."
"Practically an asshole," the younger witch muttered under her breath.
He feigned a surprise and said, "Bon-Bon, you wound me. Can we leave now? We should probably get that potion into your cousin before she and Klaus make the beast with two backs again."
Bonnie looked disgusted but agreed with his sentiment. She had personal experience with how unpredictable the mating cycle could be. "Fine but we are so talking about this later."