Meanwhile, at the Salvatore Boarding House
"Damon's been missing for a while." Stefan brought to the group's attention. Not much of the group seemed to care about his brother's whereabouts, but with a powerful family, and a powerful witch in town, it was best to keep everyone accounted for.
"He's probably out harassing some sorority girls." Elena offered, rolling her eyes. Ric shrugged. He was Damon's friend, sort of. And that did seem like a plausible answer to his disappearance.
"No, no, no. Damon likes to bring sorority girls home, so he can rub his vampireness in my face. He wouldn't just go off somewhere, especially in the middle of this...whatever... we're in the midst of with the Originals. He would call, or text, or leave a note written in blood. No. Somebody has him. And I'm sure we know exactly who it is." Glances were sent throughout the members of the house.
"Maybe we could just leave him there?" Caroline offered.
"Caroline!" Elena chided.
"What? I know I wasn't the only one thinking it." She pouted.
"Listen. Damon's not the best guy. But he has come through for each of us at least once. We can at least formulate a plan to get him out of their clutches." Ric reasoned.
"Thank you, Ric." Sighed Stefan. At least someone else was looking out for his brother.
"What if we trade something of value for him?" Elena asked.
"Elena, you can't be serious." Bonnie contested.
"I am though! You were there! That witch they have on their side, Eris, she said that all vampires are connected to the Original that sired their line. One dies, they all die. The stakes are of no use to us anymore. We should use those to barter for Damon's return."
"Just because she said something doesn't mean it's true."
"Wasn't Death there too, validating this? Like, the Death." Jeremy chimed in. Bonnie rolled her eyes again, crossing her arms.
"How many witches do you know can just summon Death on a whim like that?"
"Well, I really only know one witch-"
"It was probably just an illusion. And even if she was right about the lines being connected, I'm sure I can find a spell in one of these grimmoires to break a sire line. I am a Bennett we're home free." Everyone looked to Stefan for a final say.
"We'll trade the stakes for my brother." He said, Elena brightened at her plan being used. "But that doesn't mean we have to trade them all." He amended, agreeing to Bonnie's plan as well.
"Sirius. Come on. You're meant to meet the other Mikaelsons today. We were supposed to be there a half hour ago."
"Pup. Please. What have I told you? You can't rush perfection." Sirius said, finally meeting her in the foyer, running a hand through this glossy black locks. Seriously. He was worse than all the girls she shared a dormitory with when it came to his appearance. Eris just rolled her eyes and grabbed onto his arm.
"Whatever, it's just going to get messed up again when we apparate."
"Wait! Hold on a minute! I didn't use a holding charm-" POP.
Teddy, Eris and a disgruntled Sirius appeared at the Mikaelson Mansion, before Eris even moved to knock at the door, Elijah was there, opening it for them.
"Miss Eris. Good to see you again. And young Teddy too." He nodded to Sirius. "And this must be your father. Please come in so that you can introduce us all."
They entered the house, and since Damon just happened to be still hanging out in the foyer, well, they passed by him too.
"Well, what's this here?" Sirius asked, quite interested, stopping in front of the chained up vampire.
"Oh, my apologies. My little sister decided that she'd rather torture our neighbor as close as she could get to public, rather than in our dungeon. This is not the correct environment for welcoming new allies. I'm terribly embarrassed." Elijah was embarrased that he hadn't thought to take Eris and her family a different way throughout the household, but he was also interested to see if Eris' father would react in the same ways his daughter did.
"So what did he do then?" Sirius asked. His question was answered by Rebekah herself, who was drawn back to her improvised torture area by a new voice.
"He seduced me into his bed, then tried to seduce a way to kill my family out of my mind. As if I'd let a baby vamp anywhere near secrets of that caliber. Rebekah Mikaelson, I don't believe we've met." She greeted, holding out a hand. Sirius, being the unabashed playboy he was, took it in his and kissed the back.
"Sirius Black at your service, Lord of the Most Ancient and Pure House of Black. And can I just say, that it is a travesty that this young man seduced his way into your bed and wasn't content with just that. I know I would be." He winked at her. Rebekah was caught in between shock and embarrassment. Elijah cleared his throat, and narrowed his gaze.
"Enough of that Sirius. That is Rebekah. Nik and Elijah's sister!" Eris said.
"Ah." Sirius said, releasing her hand and looking over to her older brother. "I don't suppose we could just pretend that didn't happen then?" He smiled, dashingly. Eris rolled her eyes, fondly.
"Elijah, Rebekah. May I introduce my father. The dramatic, the charming, Sirius Black. Please forgive everything that comes out of his mouth. He can't control it."
"It's true, I've been tested." Sirius agreed, jovially.
"Where is everyone else?"
"They're just finishing up a light snack." Elijah said.
"Well if it isn't my favorite witch." And in walked Kol, as if he was summoned. "Back for more are you?"
"Oh I'm you're favorite now, am I?"
"For now." He shrugged, smirking. "And who's this?" He asked, turning to Sirius.
"Sirius, meet Kol. Kol, Sirius, my father."
"You cannot be serious." Kol said, lifting an eyebrow.
"Oh goodness. Here we go." Eris said under her breath.
"Actually I can." Replied Sirius, with a wide smile.
"I always did like puns. They're always funny no matter what century you're in."
"So you say." Replied Elijah. It was clear what his stance on puns were.
"Anyway, back to my victim," Rebekah interjected, enough of the conversation had passed without her in it, "in addition to what he did to me," she looked over at Eris slyly, "he also threatened Eris." The three vampires got to see a flash of lightening in Sirius' eyes, his smile turning from genuine to something a little more unhinged. "In front of little Teddy." His eye twitched. Kol's smirk turned into a grin. Elijah and Rebekah looked on calculatively.
"Is that so?" Sirius asked, turning to Eris, who sighed and asked the Gods for strength in this trying time.
"It was light irritation if anything. He definitely tried to threaten me. But you know us Blacks, it was almost too easy to put him in his place."
"Oh God. Not you again." Damon seemed to have awakened from his torture induced sleep. Right on cue. Sirius wasn't impressed.
"Oh, I know he isn't talking to you pup." He folded his arms, assessing the now awake vampire.
"Damon." She greeted. "You look, quite awful really. You should do something about that."
"Listen, if I wanted beauty tips from the evil bitch of the west, I would've asked for them. And what's this, you brought a friend?"
"Hmm. Kind of. Meet my father. He taught me everything he knows. And I have to admit, he's much more hands on that I am." She shrugged. Damon looked vaguely ill under the already sick pallor her was sporting. "Good luck with that."
"Rebekah dear, do you have any vervain on hand?"
And that's how Klaus met Sirius for the second time, cleaning Damon's wounds, with vervain water.
"You just can't show up to a lady's house all bloody like this." Sirius informed Damon.
"Your whole family's crazy!" Damon shouted through the pain.
"And this, Teddy, is an alternate approach of washing one's mouth out with soap." Eris told her giggling son as they watched her father work.
"You missed a spot, mate." Kol said, pointing out a rather large gash on Damon's ribcage.
"Oh, so I did. Thanks!" Sirius immediately rectified the situation.
"Hey! This is my torturing session. I found him and chained him up." Rebekah yelled. She was ignored. Elijah found himself in a lounge chair, reading, as he watched over the proceedings in the room.
"Elijah." Klaus whispered. "What the bloody hell is going on here?"
"Your paramour surely comes from interesting stock, Niklaus." He replied. "She'll fit right in."
"That sounded suspiciously like approval brother."
"Hn." Elijah flipped a page.
Sirius was having a grand time explaining his less than traditional torture techniques to an enthralled Rebekah and Kol, when the younger Salvatore arrived, bag in tow.
"Ever heard of knocking?" Eris asked sarcastically, eyebrow raised. She was playing with Teddy on a blanket in the middle of the room, in full view of everyone. Klaus, who had just risen from his spot beside her, was now slightly in front of her, probably having heard Stefan's arrival.
"Stefan!" Klaus greeted, clapping his hands together with a grin. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" Stefan sent a glance over to his detained brother, the other inhabitants of the room, and then back to Klaus.
"I've come to barter for the release of my brother."
"Oh, have you now?" Klaus asked, grin still on his face. "And what, pray tell, do you have to trade that you think is worth your brother's life?"
"The last of the white oak stakes." Stefan said, causing everyone to watch him with more interest.
"Good one, Stefan, but I burned down the bridge last week." Rebekah scoffed, crossing her arms. Sirius stayed silent, for once taking in the tone of the conversation.
"Try again, mate." Klaus said, grin now a little more to the side of vicious.
"You forgot the sign." Said Stefan, tossing the bag closer to the group of Originals. Being the closest, Klaus grabbed it and opened it, revealing a bag of white oak stakes. His eyes flashed back to land on Stefan as he passed the bag to a silent Rebekah. Elijah set down his book and joined his siblings, while Sirius moved closer to Eris.
"Eight weapons that can kill an Original in exchange for my brother." Stefan said.
"And how do we know that there are no others?" Elijah asked, calm as you please.
"There are no others."
"Let's be certain about that, shall we?" Said Klaus. He walked over to stand in front of Damon, holding eye contact with the older Salvatore. "Leave." Commanded Klaus.
"No."
"Go on. Leave." He repeated.
"Nik. He's my plaything, not yours." Rebekah whined.
"See. If we just killed the Salvatores like I suggested, we wouldn't be in this mess." Kol said, eying Stefan with distaste. Eris nodded in agreement distractedly. In a flash, Klaus had Damon's throat in his hand. Stefan looked as if he wanted to interfere, but a slight movement on his part was met with a counter-movement from Kol.
"I said, go home." Klaus reiterated. This prompted Damon to start moving to the door, regardless of the beartraps he was connected to.
"Whoa." Said Teddy, who was more interested in the show than his toys at this point in time. This caused a quick twitch of the lips on Klaus' part. Eris ran a hand through Teddy's hair, smiling down at him fondly.
"Okay, okay. That's enough. Just wanted to make sure the vervain was out of your system so that I know you'll answer my next question truthfully." Damon stopped his struggling. "How many white oak stakes are there?"
"Eleven." Damon ground out, against his will. Klaus turned back to Stefan.
"Eleven? Really? Not these eight then?"
"You shouldn't have lied." Rebekah said, shaking her head.
"I'll get you the other three." Said Stefan.
"You should've had the other three in the bag with the rest." Kol muttered.
"Yeah. That'll be nice. Or maybe, since you lied, I'll just compel your brother to chew out his own tongue. How about that?" Klaus offered. Sirius nodded thoughtfully, imagining the scenario added to his own plans.
"What is wrong with you?" Stefan asked Klaus. Eris looked at him sharply, affronted by the question on her love's behalf.
"What is wrong with you?!" Klaus asked back, angry now. "Do you really have no appreciation for me? I have given you someone to hate, to loathe, a target for all of your anger, so you don't have to turn it on yourself. I have given your life purpose, as your friend." Klaus laughs suddenly. "I really think you should be thanking me." Stefan's upset face turns into a visage of anger and he decides to rush Klaus. Kol intercepts him. Elijah sighs and begins to let Damon go.
"This is getting us nowhere." Elijah says. "You're free. But those stakes need to make their way to us by," he checks his watch, "say, five this evening."
"I wasn't done making a point yet." Klaus huffs, but lets Stefan grab a hold of his brother.
"Well then, please allow me make a point then." Says Eris, standing up from the blanket and joining the conversation. She strolled toward the group of vampires and hybrid, casually, unhurried, leaving Teddy under the watchful eyes of Sirius. She ended up standing between the Salvatores and Mikaelsons, directly in front of Klaus, who placed a hand on her waist.
"I don't appreciate you coming here, interrupting our family time with your poorly thought out threats." Eris started. "You didn't call beforehand, you didn't knock, and you just expect us to bow down to your wishes. And I for one, am not at all happy with your lack of decorum. You're exposing my son to bad manners, and I just can't have that." She walked closer to Stefan, heels clicking ominously, Klaus reluctantly allowed his hand on her to drop. "You see, Stefan, what we're dealing with here is known as an empty threat. The reason we're allowing you to leave is because there's nothing you can do with those stakes that isn't detrimental to your own well-being." She traced a finger down Stefan cheek, her black taloned nails a sharp contrast against his tan skin.
"Personally, I never make empty threats. It goes against my moral code. So here's a real one for you and your groupies." She moved her hand to grasp his face fully, fingernails digging into his face painfully. "As Elijah said, you have until five this evening to hand over these stakes. If even one stake is missing, or tampered with magically, you won't have to worry about the Original family. I will end you both myself. No tricks, no magic. You will die by my blade. And then, to remind myself of the good I did the world by removing you two useless souls from it, I will mount your heads on my mantle, and host dinner parties with the sole intent of recounting the story of your sure to be underwhelming deaths." She released a pale Stefan. "Do we have an understanding?" Both Salvatores nodded. She walked backwards into the embrace of Klaus. "Lovely." She smiled, sweetly. "You two have a wonderful day." The young vampires sped away.
Klaus bent so that he was level with her ear. She could feel his warm breath ghosting over her skin. "Love. I really didn't think it was possible for you to get anymore attractive, but you keep doing it." He said, huskily. Kol let out a low whistle.
"That was quite good." Kol said. "I know I said earlier we'd have to do some real damage together before you were in my good books but, um, your little speech there gave me chills so. Yeah, you're good." He walked away, whistling happily. Elijah gave Klaus a look thst spoke volumes, then followed his younger brother out of the room, pausing only to pick up his book.
"Pup." Sirius said, strolling over with Teddy in hand, "have you been practicing?" He smiled. "The Eris I knew would shoot first and make frightening threats after."
"I'm trying out new things. Being an adult, you know?" She smirked back, taking Teddy from him.
"Yes, yes. We all agree that was one of the better threats we've ever heard, but what am I meant to do now? Elijah just let my victim leave. Ugh!" Rebekah stormed off, muttering about brothers always ruining everything. Sirius regarded the young looking couple in front of him, deciding to finally let them be, and apparated back to the house.
"Stefan interrupted your playtime, didn't he Teddy-love?" Eris asked her child, who pointed back to the toys at the word 'play'.
"Well we can't have that, can we?" Klaus responded, guiding the little family back to the blanket.
"There's been a... hiccup in the plan." Stefan said to the people gathered in his living room. Damon was sitting in the room as well, going through blood bags as if they were going out of style but still looking worse for wear. "Klaus compelled the truth out of Damon and now the Mikaelsons are expecting the last three stakes in few hours."
"Okay. So we just need to buy some more time while we find out how to get rid of them with out killing you guys too." Bonnie said. "We can enchant a regular stake-"
"No can do, witchy." Damon interrupted. "Klaus' scary witch levelled up today." Bonnie crossed her arms.
"She probably not even that powerful." She dismissed.
"Even if she isn't, she's at the very least much more experienced than you. And I'm not gonna let your Bennett pride be the reason I die if she senses something off. So they're getting the stakes. All of them. No witchy woo added. Capisce?" Damon said.
"So what do we do now? Do they just win?"
"At least on the stake front. But maybe there's still a chance to immobilize them." Stefan thought aloud. "If every vampire they turned wasnt connected to them, then maybe..."
"They were linked, right? The way their 'descedents', so to speak, are linked to them? So what if we unlinked their sire lines?" Elena asked.
"I'd need to study the unlinking ritual." Bonnie said, thinking about it.
"Well, it's a good thing I had a front row seat to the witch performing it." Damon said, moving on to describe the ritual.
"What about the words? Her chant?" Bonnie asked, excited at the prospect of finally getting one over on the Originals.
"Yeah. She said: Azarath Metrion Zinthos."
"Azarath- I've never heard that before. Must be their language from when they were human." Bonnie shrugged, thinking about how she could use this spell to their advantage. Jeremy, who had been quietly listening since the beginning, snorted.
"What's so funny Baby Gilbert?" Damon sneered.
"No. Nothing really. Except that spell is total bullshit."
"And what exactly do you know about spells?" Damon asked.
"Not a thing. But those three words, I do know. They're from a cartoon. You might've heard of it, called Teen Titans. They had a character on the show, who activated her spells with that phrase. Azarath Metrion Zinthos." He laughed, this time outright. "You just got trolled by the new witch in town." Everyone in the room looked at each other in silence for a moment.
"So, she completed this spell, while chanting nonsense? How do we even know it worked then?" Bonnie asked.
"The blood seperated and some candles lit themselves. The spell definitely worked." Countered Damon.
"Um. Guys. Maybe we're over our heads a little." Caroline said. "I mean, just hear me out. This lady, Eris. She's a different kind of enemy. She's on a playing field we've never seen before. And she's tightly allied with the Mikaelsons so maybe we should just, pretend like everything's fine and go on our way."
"What are you saying Care? They sacrificed Elena. They're the reason my mom is vampire."
"Yes." She allowed. "But Elena's still alive. And really, since the arrival of Eris, Klaus hasn't tried to get any blood from her. Hybrid activity has decreased on the whole, really. And Bon, if you hadn't have helped their mom try to kill them, your mom would still be..completely alive." Caroline said, uncomfortably.
"Who's side are you on?" Bonnie asked, betrayed.
"This side, obviously. But, it's not looking good if we go against them. They're older, stronger. And they've largely stopped being outright villians. Maybe it's time to let sleeping dogs lie." Caroline shrugged.
"I agree." Jeremy said. "We are completely outclassed. If anyone should be upset about impending Elena's death, it's me as her last living relative. As long as we leave them alone, I don't have to worry about burying my sister. What do you think Ric?"
"You two make a good point."
"You all are just scared!" Bonnie exploded.
"I never thought I'd do this, but, I agree with witchy." Damon said.
"Fear is healthy. It keeps you from doing things that are dangerous to your health." Countered Stefan. "I recall I wasn't the only one feeling this particular emotion just earlier today." He said, lifting an eyebrow at Damon. "Elena?"
"I say...we lay low for now. But if the opportunity presents itself... well..." she trailed off. Caroline, Jeremy and Alaric didn't seem to like the way her thoughts were headed, but Stefan, Damon and Bonnie nodded, the latter two agreeing reluctantly, wanting a more aggressive solution to their Original problem.
Eris felt a shiver down her back as she played with her son and boyfriend.
"What's wrong, love?" Klaus asked.
"I'm not sure. I'm getting the vague feeling of someone plotting my demise. Whoever it is, they aren't doing a very good job at it." Klaus looked at her strangely.
"You're getting all that from a 'vague' feeling?" He asked.
"Yeah. I can also sense that whoever it is is underestimating me. I hate being underestimated. It must be that, what do you call them? Scooby Gang. Their they only ones dumb, enough to still be plotting even though I just made them a promise."
"What can I say? They aren't the brightest group ever. But quite tenacious, and unnecessarily lucky." He frowned at the last part.
"I don't understand, I thought I was rather threatening."
"Oh, love, you definitely were. Very frightening. It was truly delightful." Klaus reassured.
"And they were conscious when I summoned Death and destroyed your mother, right?"
"Yes, they definitely were. You are a goddess among mortals."
"Hmm." She said, accepting her mate's compliments and turning her focus back to playing with their son.
So there we are. I was hoping for a longer chapter but, it is was it is. Lemme know what you think.
