Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to The Vampire Diaries, TV show or books. However I decided to have a little play around with the characters (I would definitely like to play with Damon).
Damon, Bonnie, Professor Shane and their blonde haired Scottish visitor got ready to get going to search for the cure as Professor Shane was leading the group with Bonnie beside him, a little further back was Damon, who had the magic rope in his hand which contained the unnamed hunter who was even further back.. However this newest turn of events had left him feeling uncomfortable. Kol was now dead, so if they were to go ahead with killing Silas, the job was going to fall to Damon himself, and he frankly didn't have a clue where to begin. He suspected he may be able to get Bonnie on side, as he knew that raising the supernatural dead, also meant messing with the Other Side, and after her experiences with Jeremy, Vicki and Anna, there was no way in hell Bonnie would want a repeat of that. This was why Damon felt he needed a little bit of bonding time with Bonnie, as he called her over to walk and talk with him.
"Yes Damon?" she grumbled, as she got close, making it clear she would have preferred being at the opposite end of the island, as opposed to walking and talking with Damon at that point. Damon put his finger to his lips to signal her to hush before glancing over to Professor Shane and behind him to check on the scruffy Scottish hunter. Professor Shane looked back at them suspiciously, but continued walking on whilst they followed.
"When we get to Silas, what are you planning on doing?" Damon whispered.
"We're going to get the cure. Why?" Bonnie asked, looking at Damon confused.
"I don't mean that." Damon explained. "I mean with Silas." he clarified, his voice low so Professor Shane and the hunter couldn't hear him.
"Well. Professor Shane wants to raise him so he can see his dead wife and child again..." Bonnie began.
"Do you want to raise him and interfere with the other side?" Damon whispered as Bonnie's dropped and she shook her head.
"I admit, I want to see Grams, but I don't think she'd would want me to do this." she admitted quietly.
"Good." Damon smiled as they continued walking. "We're on the same page." he told her. "Elena and I didn't just come out here for the cure." he admitted. "We came here to destroy Silas." he whispered. "We knew Kol would be coming because Elena was the one who removed the dagger when you and I went to get Connor." he whispered as Bonnie's eyes widened with shock. "One day we might want to take the cure, to have a family and stuff, but not right now." Damon said. "So we figured that we go with you guys, get the cure for when we're ready, in the meantime we look out for you and get to kill Silas whilst we're here, thus saving the world." he smiled.
"And how do you plan on doing that?" Bonnie whispered raising an eyebrow at him.
"Well, we had Kol all ready for the job, but Shrek killed him, so we need a plan B." he admitted.
"And what's that?" Bonnie asked.
"I need to talk to Shrek." he told her, cocking his head in the direction of the hunter. "But I need you to keep Professor Creepy occupied, whilst I find out more about our hunter." Damon said.
"How?" Bonnie shrugged.
"Talk to him about his wife and son. That might get him to open up about what he needs you to do." Damon suggested. "Either that or get him to tell you more about Silas." he said as Bonnie nodded in reply. "Or even better, find out why the hell your magic trail suddenly disappeared as well as our phone signals." Damon added.
"You think Professor Shane had something to do with it?" Bonnie whispered, sounding a little worried.
"Don't you think it's a little bit of a coincidence that once we're split up and Professor Creepy has everything he wants to get to Silas, that every trace of where we're going and every possibility of us telling the outside world where we are has suddenly vanished?" he whispered, causing Bonnie to frown.
"You think there's another witch involved?" Bonnie asked.
"I wouldn't out it past him." Damon replied.
"I'll go and distract Shane, whilst you get some information out of him." she whispered, nodding her head in the direction of the hunter. "I'll see if Professor Shane will admit to hiding us." she suggested as Damon just smiled and nodded, before Bonnie ran ahead to catch up with Professor Shane.
Elena, Stefan, and Rebekah had finally reached the beach, where they'd found that they had a slightly better phone signal which meant Elena could call Caroline, who answered almost immediately.
"Hey Caroline." Elena said. "How are you." she asked.
"I'm fine." Caroline replied. "I'm guessing something is wrong if you're calling me from wherever you are." she surmised.
"You're right." Elena told her. "Me, Stefan and Rebekah got separated from Damon, Bonnie, Professor Shane and Connor." she told her. "Plus the tombstone is missing." she added.
"Seriously?" Caroline shrieked.
"Yeah." Elena explained. "Stefan and Rebekah were looking after Connor when someone cut the rope, and he disappeared along with the tombstone."
"Tell me you're not serious." Caroline sighed.
"I wish I weren't." Elena said sadly. "When we got back from looking for Connor, we found Damon, Shane and Bonnie were gone too." Elena told her. "Shane needs Bonnie to cast a spell on Connor's tattoo in order to find the cure, and we suspect he managed to sneak them both out from under our noses." she added, not telling Caroline the truth that she suspected Kol was the real kidnapper.
"Well, why was Damon with Bonnie and Professor Shane?" Caroline asked.
"He stayed to protect Bonnie after he found out what the Professor was up to." Elena told her. "He said he'd let me know if he left, but neither he or Bonnie have contacted any of us. Plus they didn't even to tell us where they went." Elena sighed.
"Meaning what?" Caroline asked.
"Meaning they probably left but couldn't contact us even though there was a weak signal, enough for a text." Elena replied.
"Do you think Shane has got other people involved, like witches?" Caroline pondered.
"I wouldn't be surprised. " Elena said. "He's not strong enough to take Damon on, even with the element of surprise. And there was no sign of struggle, so I'm guessing Damon went willingly. But for them to leave nothing to let us know where they were going seems a little off, which makes me think Professor Shane must have someone, or at least a few someones helping him." she added.
"I'm so sorry. I wish I was there to help." Caroline said sympathetically.
"Well, maybe there's something you can do from home." Elena suggested.
"Anything. Tell me." Caroline asked.
"So Shane's looking for the cure. We think we can find him. We have pictures of Connor's tattoo, but we just can't translate the map." Elena explained.
"Unless you get the Hunter's Sword from Klaus." Caroline added.
"Exactly." Elena confirmed.
"He'll never give up the sword." Rebekah piped up.
"Yeah, but if anyone's gonna get him to give it up, it's Caroline." Stefan told her.
"He will never give up the sword, not even for Caroline." Rebekah insisted. "He's terrified we'll use the cure against him to make him mortal, and even if he wasn't, he wouldn't want any of us to derive a moment's worth of happiness from being human." she added.
"Well, maybe he doesn't have to give it up. I mean, Klaus is stuck in Elena's house by Bonnie's spell. He can't go anywhere." Stefan looked at Rebekah. "There's only so many places you can hide a three-foot piece of metal." he shrugged.
"I'll find it, don't worry." Caroline reassured them. "Just e-mail me photos of Connor's tattoo. I'll find the sword, and I'll call you back." she added.
"I guess we'll just have to wait." Elena sighed as she walked over to a log and sat down. "Thank you, Caroline." Elena said, breathing a huge sigh of relief. "Before you go, how;'s Jeremy?" she asked.
"He's fine." Caroline told him. "I don't think he and Matt have moved from Matt's couch. They've been playing computer games and eating pizza since you left." she laughed.
"Good." Elena sighed. "If you see him, will you tell him I said hi?" she asked.
"I will." Caroline agreed. "Right I gotta go and find a sword" she said. "Bye." Caroline added as she hung up.
Once Caroline had finished her phone conversation with Elena, she knew she needed to find the sword and fast, Bonnie's spell would only hold Klaus for two more days at the most and then he'd be apoplectic and probably kill Tyler, Matt and Jeremy in revenge. On top of that her friends were stranded on an island in the middle of nowhere with no idea of how to get back. With that in mind, she grabbed her jacket and phone from the chair in Elena's kitchen and headed for the door to retrieve the sword.
"Need my help with anything, love?" Klaus smirked.
"Nope." Caroline replied stubbornly, suspecting that he'd more than likely send her on a wild goose chase. As soon as she got out of the house (without looking at Klaus) she thought proudly, she took her phone and called Tyler.
"Hey." Tyler said as he answered immediately.
"How well do you know Klaus's place?" Caroline asked as she walked over to her car.
"Pretty well." Tyler replied. "Why, what do you need?"
"It appears that something has happened on the way to getting the cure." Caroline explained. "I've no time to go through it right now, but we need the sword to decipher the map." she told him. "Do you have any idea where it would be?" she asked.
"I can think of a few places." Tyler told her. "Look, I'll meet you there and we can search together." he suggested.
"Okay." Caroline smiled as she opened her car door. "And bring your laptop with you. We might need it." she added as she climbed in her car, before switching the engine on and setting of towards Klaus's mansion to meet Tyler and find the sword.
Damon slowed down to allow the new hunter to catch up and gently pulled the rope in so that they could walk side by side whilst they had a little chat.
"As holder of the rope, you're not allowed to attack me." Damon commanded as the hunter simply shrugged as they continued to walk a little bit behind Professor Shane and Bonnie who were discussing Professor Shane's wife and son.
"Why aren't ya walkin with yer friends?" the hunter asked Damon.
"I thought I'd walk with you instead." Damon smiled insincerely at the hunter. "Plus, they're not my friends, and you seem more interesting." he added as the hunter raised an eyebrow at him.
"Why?" the hunter asked. "Is Something botherin' you?"
"Would you believe me if I said mosquitoes?" Damon said sarcastically.
"Aye, I would." the hunter agreed before laughing. "How does it feel when a relentless eating machine is draining the blood from your veins?"
"Itchy." Damon complained, deciding to try and win the hunter's trust as well as he could by trying to be semi nice.
"Your friends from Mystic Falls think you're funny, Damon?" the hunter asked as Damon pricked up is ears, realizing the hunter knew a lot more about them than he'd assumed.
"You obviously know who we are and where we're from." Damon surmised. "Have you been spying on us?" he asked.
"Aye, I have." the hunter told him."You and Stefan, Elena, your witch, Bonnie." he said. "Do you need her to cast the spell written on the hunter's tattoo?" he asked curiously, clearly not aware of why Bonnie was so important.
"Why do you wanna know?" Damon asked suspiciously.
"I've been killing vampires my entire life. Still, this thing refused to reveal itself to me." the hunter explained. "That was, until three days ago and it just magically completed for no apparent reason." he said.
"Come on, man. Do I look like I know anything about tattoos? Look at my skin. It's flawless." Damon smirked, deciding not to reveal what he knew until necessary.
"Ah! You're not taking me seriously." the hunter sighed. "I don't blame ya. You don't know me." he shrugged. "So let me introduce myself. My name is Galen Vaughn, and I want to know what the fuck is going on." he demanded.
"Okay." Damon replied. "You tell me what you know and what your plans are, and I'll tell you mine." he offered.
"Fine." Vaughn said. "There's nothing to hide. There's a cave, and in that cave is a wishing well, and in there lies the entrance to a crypt." he told him. "In the crypt lies Silas. And with Silas lies the cure, which will allow me to kill Silas, and bring the mission of the brotherhood of the Five to an end."
"What a minute, you want to kill Silas." Damon looked perplexed. "That's what the purpose of the hunter is?" he asked. "Well it looks as though we want the same thing." he grinned.
"I guess we'll see about that." Vaughn said frowning.
"Here's the deal, Shrek. My witch friend will open the passage for you. All my friends want is the cure, and I'm more than happy for you to kill Silas. So you cut us in on your share, and we'll get out of your hair." Damon grinned. "Heck, I'll even help you kill Silas if you want." he added quietly.
"You really don't understand, do you?" Vaughn said, as Damon looked at him confused.
"No, I don't understand, so why don't you explain it?" Damon asked, eyeing Vaughn with suspicion, whilst glancing up ahead at Bonnie and Professor Shane who were still deep in conversation.
"Silas is immortal. I have to cram the cure down his throat in order to kill him." Vaughn explained.
"Yeah, what does that have to do with me and my friends?" Damon asked, realizing there must be a catch.
"I need to use the cure against Silas. Your friends, they can't exactly have it, now, can they?" Vaughn told him.
"So you use it on Silas, and we'll use it for whoever wants to use it." Damon offered, however Vaughn just smirked. "You don't want to share it with us do you?" Damon said thoughtfully.
"Even if I wanted to, I couldnae." Vaughn admitted.
"And why can't you share it?" Damon asked.
"So it is written." Vaughn said. "There is only one dose."
"Fuck!" Damon swore loudly as Bonnie turned to look at the two men before returning to her conversation with Professor Shane.
Bonnie looked back towards Damon and the hunter after she'd just heard Damon swear loudly, which meant he wasn't happy about something, although Bonnie noted that if Elena wasn't around, Damon wasn't exactly a barrel of laughs. Bonnie had already spoken to Professor Shane about his wife and Silas, which he hadn't revealed much apart from something about Silas's older brother, Antipatros, who had put a curse on Qetsiyah herself so that she would suffer for all eternity on the other side watching Silas and Amara falling in love over and over again throughout history, until Silas rose and the curse could be broken. And if it was true, Qetsiyah herself could also rise as there was another way to destroy Silas. However Professor Shane wasn't clear about what parts of the curse were true, and how else Silas could be destroyed, suggesting it was just a myth to encourage the Five to feed Silas the cure. Bonnie made a mental note to keep in mind that there might be an alternative way to destroy Silas, should they need it. As she'd now gotten Professor Shane to talk a little, Bonnie decided it was time to probe him on their mysterious disappearing trails and phone signals.
"Am I the only witch on this island?" Bonnie suddenly asked.
"Why do you asked that?" Professor Shane said curiously.
"I dunno." Bonnie sighed. "Disappearing phone signals..."
"Clouds?" Professor Shane suggested, interrupting her.
"Maybe." Bonnie shrugged. "But the trail I left for Elena, Stefan and Rebekah also disappeared." she told him. "Only another witch could do that." she frowned.
"Has Damon been filling your head with ridiculous theories?" Professor Shane asked. "Let me tell you this, the minute we grab that cure he's going to want me dead. In fact I suspect Rebekah would also want me dead." he told her. "If I try anything on Damon whilst the others are around, then I'm a dead man walking." he added.
"So you do have a witch." Bonnie asked looking carefully at Professor Shane for any reaction, however he just looked on ahead.
"C'mon. We're nearly there." he said stopping, as they came to the top of a cliff overlooking a lake and what looked like a cave on the other side.
"Why are we stopping?" Damon asked as he and Vaughn caught up with Professor Shane and Bonnie.
"That's where we're going." Professor Shane told them, pointing towards the cave on the other side of the lake. "Follow me." he said as he began climbing down what looked like a small path along the cliff face. Bonnie set off down, following Professor Shane with Damon behind her whilst he pulled Vaughn behind him on the rope.
Caroline and Tyler returned to the Gilbert house after only about an hour. Caroline carried a laptop in her hands whilst Tyler had the sword wrapped in a blanket. Both items at the ready to decipher the hunters mark and point their friends in the right direction. They began to set up the laptop as Tyler typed in the laptop password, all the while Klaus was sat on the living room coffee table, watching on with interest.
"Well, if it isn't little orphan Lockwood. Come to show how laughably impotent you are against me?" Klaus taunted Tyler as Caroline flopped down on the dining room sofa.
"I'm just trying to help my friends find the cure." Tyler responded. "Found this in your attic." he said as he unwrapped the blanket from the sword.
"And you think finding the sword brings you closer to the cure?" Klaus asked, raising a knowing eyebrow.
"You tell me. I was playing around with the handle on the ride over, and I found this." Tyler replied with a smile, as he unwrapped the leather from the hilt of the sword, revealing a turning device, prompting a fascinated Klaus to get up and walk over to Tyler, to get a closer look.
"And what do you think 'this' is?" Klaus asked, smirking.
"It's called a cryptex." Caroline told him as she got up and walked over to him, whilst Tyler looked at her, impressed by her knowledge. "I've seen The Da Vinci Code." Caroline grinned. "You turn the different sides to the different symbols to get the translation on the other side." she grinned as she turned to the table which housed the laptop. "And with the magic of the internet, Elena sent over these." she told them as she held up print-outs of Connor's tattoo. "So now all we have to do is cryptex away." she grinned smugly as she sat back down again. "If you happened to want to help, we wouldn't stop you." Caroline suggested to Klaus, deciding if she made him feel inclusive as opposed to isolating him, he might be more amenable and helpful.
"Right. Well, might I suggest using the magic of the internet to purchase an Aramaic-to-English dictionary from your nearest retailer." Klaus smirked.
Tyler turned to look at Caroline. "What's Aramaic" he asked confused.
"It's a dead language. It hasn't been used since, like, biblical times." Caroline frowned.
"Qetsiyah's native tongue, I'm guessing." Klaus suggested, "You know, even if you had the best dictionary in the world, it could take days to translate." he sighed as he sat back down on the coffee table. "Perhaps weeks. "In bas so-teen-too ara-ma-eet."" Klaus said, feigning sympathy.
"What does that mean?" Caroline asked, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.
""If only you spoke Aramaic."" Klaus grinned smugly.
Back on the island, Elena and Stefan were sitting on a log together, looking after their bags, whilst they watched Rebekah raising her cellphone in the air to try and find a signal, however it was clear there must have been no service as she soon gave up.
"And once again, everyone's life is in danger looking for this cure because poor Elena can't deal with being a vampire." Elena sighed.
"No. Everyone's here because they want to be." Stefan told her. "Not just for you, but for themselves too."
"Stefan, why didn't you tell me that you wanted the cure for yourself?" Elena asked.
"I mean, why wouldn't I want to take it?"Stefan replied. "I've seen every side of vampirism there is. The power...the misery, the guilt. In the long run, even the good parts kind of suck, too."
"Yeah, I mean, I know why you would want to take it, but what I'm saying is...why didn't you tell me?" Elena asked again.
"Because it had nothing to do with you." Stefan explained. "I mean, you know how much I wanted a human life with you. Being human myself, being normal...that's something I've wanted since long before I met you." he told her.
"Well, I'm glad you told me now." Elena smiled.
"Yeah, what's a deeply buried personal secret between friends, right?" Stefan joked.
"Between friends?" Elena nodded. "I like that." she said smiling at Stefan before reaching for his hand as a gesture of friendship.
"Come on." Damon pulled on the rope. "Hurry up." he complained as they got to the bottom of the cliff face, opposite the cave.
"And you'll what? Threaten me? Sorry if you're upset about the cure, Damon, but we've got rocks to cover." Vaughn smirked.
"I don't care about the cure. In fact, I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to be a vampire." Damon shrugged. "You know what? If I wasn't a vampire, then I wouldn't be able to do nine of the things I'm gonna do to you when we're done here." he complained as Vaughn tugged against the rope. "Make that ten." he growled.
"Right." Vaughn sneered as Bonnie turned around and glared at them both.
"All right, I admit it, okay? My friends want the cure, and I want them to have it, and I get very upset when I can't provide for my loved ones." Damon declared. "But tell me something, Vaughn, if all you're worried about is Bonnie the teenage witch, then who the hell made the magic trail disappear? Shouldn't you be worried about them too?" he asked, deciding to see if Vaughn might be either linked to Professor Shane, or have anything to do with covering their tracks.
"And why would I do that?" Vaughn asked.
"Oh I don't know." Damon sighed. "The magic trail Bonnie left behind suddenly disappeared when we found you, who happened to manage to stake an Original vampire on their first attempt. Do you expect me to believe that's a coincidence?" he asked.
"I've no idea what you're talking about." Vaughn told him. "I just saw the fancy stake and was looking at it when this vampire showed up, so I staked him." he explained.
"We're on a remote island. There's you, me, Bonnie and Creepy over there." Damon said, pointing to Professor Shane. "You expect me to believe that you took out an Original vampire without the help of a witch?" he asked.
"I'm telling you, it was-nae me." Vaughn insisted. "I didn't make your magical path disappear." he said as Bonnie and Professor Shane stopped in front of them, looking at what appeared to be a body on the ground.
Damon turned the body over with his foot revealing a man who'd had his throat slashed and was clearly dead.
"Was that you?" Damon asked turning to Vaughn.
"No." Vaughn shook his head before looking at Damon. "You?" he asked.
"No" Damon replied.
"Your friends?" Vaughn suggested.
"Rebekah would never use a knife." Bonnie chimed in.
"She'd use her fangs instead." Damon grinned.
"Well, I reckon there really is someone else on this island." Vaughn agreed, glancing up at Damon and cocking his head slightly in the direction of Professor Shane.
"I think you could well be right." Damon nodded as the four of them set off to climb the rocks to the cave where Silas was buried.
Caroline was sat with Tyler in the Gilbert dining room with the pictures of Connor's tattoo and index cards of the Aramaic symbols scattered across the table, trying to decipher their meaning.
"Okay, this is it." Caroline announced. "We've translated all the symbols on the tattoo. This one says "Passage inside...requires a young senator, and a pretty flower."" she said frowning. "Okay, none of this makes sense!" she huffed.
""Requires a powerful witch and a hunter in full bloom."" Klaus corrected her.
"What are you doing?" Tyler asked Klaus suspiciously.
"I don't need to tell you my reasons." Klaus told Tyler. "Caroline. Bring my sword over here." Klaus commanded as Caroline took the sword over to Klaus, close enough for him to read the cryptex.
""Silas rests on the far side, the means of his destruction at hand."" Klaus said, glancing at the pictures of Connor's tattoo on the computer screen. "Turn the cryptex to the right." he told Caroline, who happily complied. "Stop." Klaus commanded. "The top of the hilt reveals a key to a nautical map. Turn it to the left." he said as Caroline did as he asked. "Now turn the other piece." Klaus told her. "There's something else." he said frowning, before reading it and smiling to himself.
"What does it mean?" Caroline asked but Klaus just continued to grin. "Klaus, what does it mean?" she demanded.
"Nothing much." Klaus shrugged and smiled. "It's just part of the map." he told her. "Call Rebekah back." Klaus ordered as Caroline picked up her phone and called Rebekah.
"Hello?" Rebekah said, answering the phone immediately.
"Hey, it's Caroline. We have the translation of the tattoo." Caroline told her. "We're emailing you pictures of the map and instructions right now." she said as she clicked on the send button on Tyler's laptop.
"Got it. Thanks." Rebekah said after a few moments, sounding almost grateful.
"Actually, it was me." Klaus called out.
"Nik, you helped?" Rebekah asked, sounding shocked at this new piece of information.
"You sound so surprised, little sister." Klaus shrugged.
"Shouldn't I be? I mean, you don't want me to be human. You don't want any of us to be human. Why would you help us find the cure?" Rebekah asked suspiciously.
"Maybe I finally realized the longer I stand in the way of what you want, the longer you'll continue to hate me." Klaus suggested. "Perhaps I want my sister to finally know happiness." he smiled.
"Fool me once, shame on you; fool me a hundred times." Rebekah said sarcastically.
"No more fooling. No more games. I hope you get to live, and die, as you wish." Klaus said, his voice sounding almost sincere.
"So do I." Rebekah sighed.
"There is one more thing, Rebekah." Klaus began as Caroline and Tyler looked up, realizing Klaus was going to reveal the important information he'd been withholding from them. "There is only one dose of the cure." Klaus said quickly. "You need to find it first and take it. It's the only way you'll..." Klaus tried to finish, however Tyler rushed to end the call.
"So that was the 'nothing much'?" Caroline asked, folding her arms as Klaus smiled back smugly.
Damon, Bonnie, Professor Shane and Vaughn, entered the cave which led to Silas's crypt only to find a man with a painted face, waiting inside for them.
"I see your disappearing spell worked." Professor Shane said to the man.
"So the reason the path behind me..." Bonnie started.
"Magically disappeared?" Professor Shane nodded and smiled. "You can thank the talents of Massak. He's a witch. Should you try to escape, he'll ensure that you never find your way back." he warned them. "So, the gang's all here. Silas awaits." he smiled.
"This is as far as I go." Massak told him.
"We're on the brink of a monumental event in human history. We're going to raise the most powerful immortal creature that ever was. Come on, our work's not done yet." Professor Shane insisted, excitedly as Bonnie, Damon and Vaughn watched on, fascinated by this exchange.
"Mine is." Massak told him. "You said make sure nobody followed. I did. I wanna get paid now." he said, as Professor Shane opened his bag and pulled out the tombstone they'd taken from Kol. He walked over and handed it to Massak, who, after taking the tombstone looked over towards Damon, Bonnie and Vaughn.
"I'll say a prayer for your souls." he said and quickly left, leaving just the four of them, prompting Bonnie to turn to Professor Shane in anger.
"That's what the tombstone was for?" Bonnie said angrily. "To pay off a mercenary?"
"The core of that tombstone is made up of Qetsiyah's calcified blood." Professor Shane explained. "In some witch circles, that stone's more valuable than the Hope Diamond." he said
"I'd prefer the Hope Diamond." Damon muttered, earning him a snigger from Vaughn and a glare from Bonnie, as they walked on a few more steps, with Professor Shane leading the way. Suddenly they reached what looked like a large hole in the ground, as Professor Shane knelt down to look inside before turning back to face the others.
"You know, you don't have to come with us." Professor Shane told Damon. "We only need Bonnie and the hunter..."
"Galen Vaughn!" Vaughn interrupted him the professor who rolled his eyed. "My name is Galen Vaughn."
"Fine!" he snapped. "We only need Bonnie and Galen to get into the tomb." Professor Shane explained.
Ah, no can do." Damon laughed. "Did you really think I'd fall for that?" he asked. "Firstly the moment I let go of this rope, Shrek here is going to have this insatiable urge to kill me. Right?" he asked turning to Vaughn, who nodded profusely in response. "And secondly, I don't trust you to keep Bonnie safe. Ergo, she goes, I go." Damon smiled.
"Okay." Professor Shane sighed. "So...so who wants to go down first?"he asked.
"I'll go down with first with Shrek here." Damon said getting a flashlight out from his bag before picking Vaughn up. "I'd close your eyes if I were you Shrek." he grinned as Vaughn huffed at the nickname, however he obeyed and closed his eyes as Damon jumped down the well.
"I'll go next." Bonnie offered, as she fixed herself to the rope and harness, carefully lowering herself down into the lower chamber of the cave below. Suddenly she lost her grip and fell the rest of the way down, however Damon managed to catch her, preventing herself from getting hurt.
"Thanks." Bonnie said, shaking a little from the scare of falling.
"You okay?" Damon asked, his voice full of concern.
"Yeah, I just slipped." Bonnie smile. "I'm just a little shook up. I'll be okay in a minute." she reassured them taking in deep breaths to calm herself down, before unhooking the rope for her harness.
"Hey, guys, I'm coming down." Professor Shane called down from above.
"Hey, Bonnie." Vaughn said quietly."What do you think is gonna happen once you cast a spell on my tattoo and there's nothing in between Shane and Silas?" he asked.
"Do you trust me?" Bonnie asked, looking at Vaughn and then at Damon.
"Yeah, sure I do." Damon replied, whilst Vaughn simply raised on eyebrow suspiciously.
"Then trust me when I promise I won't let Shane raise Silas." she whispered to the both of them, as they suddenly heard noises from above, prompting them to look up before Damon turned back and lowered his mouth to Bonnie's ear so Professor Shane couldn't hear.
"Just don't do anything stupid okay? Shane is the only one that could help you keep it in control if the witchy juju starts to get too much." he whispered.
"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." Bonnie reassured them. "But if Shane tries to lift a finger on his hand to hurt any one of us...I'll kill him myself." she whispered.
Shane finally joined Damon, Bonnie and Vaughn in the new chamber, as they all of held flashlights, shining them around, taking in their new surroundings.
"It's just amazing, isn't it?" Professor Shane said excitedly to the others. "Once we raise Silas, all of our sacrifices will have been worthwhile, we'll all have what we want." he said.
"Or he'll kill us all." Bonnie shrugged.
"Listen, you're going to see I'm right. Just so you don't get any ideas, remember, anything happens to me, something a lot worse will happen to you." Professor Shane warned Bonnie.
"All right Professor Creepy, where is this mystical passage that needs opening?" Damon interrupted him.
"Just look for anything that looks out of place, all right? Anything not occurring in nature like a...like a drawing or an inscription." Professor Shane explained. "Or a...geometrically perfect circle!" he said slowly, grinning as he crouched down on the ground and brushed away dirt and debris and revealing a circle carved into the ground.
"This is it! This is the spot." Professor Shane cried out, slapping the ground.
"So what now?" Damon asked, as he, Bonnie and Vaughn all looked at each other nervously.
"Bonnie needs to draw the spell from Galen." Professor Shane explained.
"And how exactly does she do that?" Vaughn asked with a puzzled look on his face.
"She needs to feel the spell part of the tattoo." Professor Shane told them.
"And where is that.?" Bonnie asked.
"It's on my chest." Vaughn said. "Does that mean she's going to have to touch my chest?" Vaughn asked, turning to Professor Shane, who just nodded. Sighing, Vaughn managed to partially remove his jacket and shirt revealing his bare chest. A task which proved difficult considering his hands were still bound by the magical rope. "Go ahead, do your worst." he smiled, walking up to Bonnie and standing in front of her as she placed her hands on his chest and closed her eyes.
"You're doing it, just breathe, all right?" Professor Shane told her reassuringly. "Focus on what you can do. Don't be afraid of what you can't." he went on. "That's it. It's just like drawing breath. Now just pull the power into you." he added as the tattoo from Vaughn's chest began to slowly disappear, when suddenly the ground started to shake and rocks began raining down upon them.
"Run for cover." Professor Shane cried out as Damon pushed Bonnie and Vaughn out of the way, leaving Professor Shane among the falling debris.
As quickly as the rocks had began to fall, they suddenly stopped, allowing Damon, Bonnie and Vaughn to stand back up.
"Is everybody okay?" Damon asked.
"Hey, guys, I think my leg's broken." Professor Shane called out.
"Best to stay off it, then." Bonnie replied sarcastically, earning her a smile from Damon, as she looked around at the rubble and debris before noticing something out of the corner of her eye, prompting her to shine her flashlight at it. "Look! It worked!" she cried out, pointing towards where the light was shining, revealing a new tunnel which wasn't there before.
"Well, lets go then." Damon suggested as the three of them set off down the passage to find Silas.
After their call with Caroline, Rebekah, Elena, and Stefan set off walking across the island to the location of the cure according to the map which Klaus and Caroline had translated from the sword. Rebekah hadn't revealed to her fellow cure hunters that there was only one dose, as there was no point. The only person she'd have considered giving it to was Stefan, however she suspected he'd only give it to Elena, which she had a problem with, not because it was Elena, but because he was wasting his time. Elena had told him time and again that she was in love with Damon, everyone could see it was only Damon and likely to ever only be Damon, and even if she became human, that was not going to change, so why use it on the wasted hope of someone falling back in love with you when it was clear that the only way that would happen is if the person was forced to by some form of magic. As a result, Rebekah had decided upon her course of action, even if it did make her feel a little guilty, but sometimes one had to be selfish.
"What did Caroline say?" Elena asked, breaking Rebekah's train of thought.
"I don't know. We lost the signal." Rebekah told her. "Come on, this way." she added as they reached the edge of a cliff and came to a stop. Rebekah held up the phone to cross reference their location and the instructions Caroline had sent them. "We need to get down and across. Advantage, vampires, all we have to do is jump." she smiled at Stefan and Elena.
"Wait, wait. Um...maybe you should leave the map behind. In case you fall, you don't want anything to happen to the phone." Elena said nervously. Although she knew she was a vampire and wouldn't die, the thought of jumping down off the cliff terrified her as it must have been at least a couple of hundred feet high, and she was still new to the idea of herself being immortal.
"Are we doing this again? I thought we were a team?" Rebekah sighed in frustration.
"Guys, we don't have time for this."Stefan interrupted them before the row escalated. "Elena, you go first. We'll be right behind you." he suggested as Elena hesitated for one moment before taking a running leap off the edge. Even though the fall had been huge, Elena had still managed to land on her feet, stumbling only slightly. She looked back up the cliff, proud of her achievement and waited for Stefan to jump down and join her.
Once Elena was firmly down below, Stefan got set to jump, but Rebekah wanted to know if her suspicions about what Stefan would do with the single dose of the cure were correct before she did what she needed to do, so she threw out her arm to stop him from jumping.
"There's something you should know about the cure." Rebekah told him.
"What is it?" Stefan asked frowning.
"There's only one dose." Rebekah told him.
"You're kidding me." Stefan's shoulders dropped.
"That's what Klaus said." Rebekah said.
"So you're sure that Klaus is telling the truth? That there's only one dose of the cure?" Stefan asked as Rebekah gently nodded in reply. "Well, I guess that's what happens when you're dumb enough to hold out hope." he sighed.
"There's still hope for one of us. But even if I felt pity for you, if I wanted to ease your pain, so I gave you the cure to take for yourself, you'd give it to Elena, wouldn't you?" Rebekah asked, but Stefan's lack of reply, only confirmed her suspicion. "That's what I thought." Rebekah said sadly. "Well, I'm sorry that it couldn't work out the way that we all wanted it to." Stefan looked at Rebekah confused, before she snapped his neck and his body fell to the ground. Elena watched on in horror from the bottom of the cliff as Rebekah, put her bag down beside Stefan.
"Need to be careful with that ash, don't want any spilled. I'm sure you'll look after it for me, not that it'll be of any use to anyone trying to off me once I'm out of the cave." Rebekah said to herself as she jumped down to join Elena.
"No hard feelings eh?" Rebekah smiled as she walked over to Elena and snapped her neck, not giving the doppelganger chance to fight back, as she set off towards the cave to find the cure, whilst another set of prying eyes were watching the scene unfold with interest from the top of the cliff.
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