2-09

"Your brother?" I said.

Jared shrugged, looking uncomfortable and tired. "It could be anything at this point," he said. He looked at his phone, stowing it in his pocket before running a hand through his hair. "He's angry. Angrier than I've ever seen in my life. I honestly don't think I can predict him."

"Unstable element in all of this," I said. Jared glared in my direction. "Sorry," I said. "I didn't mean that in a mean way…Just…" I looked at Jeremy for help and he just shook his head, his eyes bulging before raising his hands in surrender.

This was my problem and he wasn't going to help me in sorting it out.

"An uncontrolled and unpredictable variable?" Enzo suggested.

"Yeah, that," I said. "Opting on the side of caution, Andrew's going to betray us. Remove the hooks I've set on his brother and with how knowledgeable as he is with links it's dangerous having Jared with us."

"Also dangerous if I'm not," said Jared. "A ritual and he could imbue himself with a facsimile of the link I share with you guys. But then, something like that would require power he doesn't have."

"Power my father might have," said Luka. "For heavy rituals Dad's been having us pull power from Elijah. They could do this."

"We really need to get Luka's father out of the picture," I said. "The jails are functional. We haven't added the complexity which means his escape is eventual. But at least it means we don't have to worry about him drawing power from Elijah."

Luka shook his head. "You won't be able to take my Dad, even if you can overpower him," he said. "He's old and he has experience, with the accumulated grimoires of thirteen covens."

"But we have you," said Bonnie. "Jared did something once. Used his connection to his brother to put him to sleep before he could do anything. You could do the same to your father."

Luka shifted. "But…"

"It would be drawing a line," I said, interrupting. "Making it harder to show him in the future that you were doing all of this for him. But you don't have many choices do you? Make the sacrifice right now for the gain into the future."

A moment passed where he was quiet, his features scrunched as he thought. He could still be playing us, but like this, I was limiting options for him. Even if he would try to help his father along when it came to escaping, it still required effort, something that would be hard to do when we were watching. Added to all of this that I didn't trust that I wouldn't betray him once his father was out of the equation. There was just too much I didn't know here for my liking.

"I'll do it," he said. "I don't like it, but I'll do it."

"After he speaks with Andrew," I said. People were already arriving, a few of the families giving us waves as they passed. Claude walked through, fully adorned in his Sheriff's uniform, he quirked a brow as he saw us congregated. "Right now we need to deal with this, and we might need Lucy if this goes south."

Jeremy and Enzo got to work as discreetly as they could. This time we used vampire blood as anchors points. They were magical enough that a few drops could be visible when I was starting the boundary, and they weren't as obtrusive as mounds of salt.

We moved into the church, going into the large basement that, of itself, seemed to be another floor of the church. We positioned ourselves in the centre and got started on the spell, making sure that we first altered the room so we couldn't be heard by the vampires and werewolves that were arriving on the floor above.

It didn't take too many iterations before the boundary was complete, the barrier formed within my mind and a connection opened between me and the properties of the world within. With the boundary spell activated, I could feel every dimension within the space, feel the deviations of the wind from the outside, how heat fell on surface and it was dispersed, and I could feel the vibrations though they didn't make much sense.

I began working, pushing properties into the boundary on the physical and magical aspects of reality; walls, invisible to sight, were built, with the imagined property that they would severe threads connecting to the outside—power left me in a rush as the concept became reality. Another wall, but this one kept everything in. Another wall, and this one I put concepts behind it, people that wouldn't be allowed to enter and signals that were stopped.

When my eyes opened, Jared and Bonnie were no longer in the room with me, instead I was with Stefan and Enzo.

"It's done," I said. "Everything upstairs?"

"Everyone's arrived, speaking amongst themselves, most of them are antsy," said Stefan. "Claude is outside. He knew all of you were up to something the moment you disappeared."

"Trust him to be paranoid," I said and sighed. Our relationship had been strained since everything had started. My fault because I liked things my way, and his fault too because he liked things his way. Looking back, with the clarity of hindsight, I was beginning to noticed a trend where I was concerned.

If it wasn't manipulation, then I was drawing lines, making it hard for people to like me. Looking to what I'd done to Jared and Andrew I was hit by a sense of guilt. I put myself in his position, a person with knowledge of the future messing up my relationship with Bonnie. To make things worse, it wasn't because it moved a particular plan forward but because I'd been angry and scared, and he'd been a handy target.

I stepped outside, trying my best not to lash out as I saw his expression.

"What are all of you planning," he said, tone sharp and with a bite behind it.

It made no sense not to tell him, especially when we were about to do the same upstairs. I shared a look with Enzo, willing him to realise that I was going to tell him and with vampires and wolves upstairs, one of them being Dad, they would no doubt hear.

He disappeared.

"We have a mole," I said. "Elijah's got a person or people compelled in our group. He's been able to get information on our plans."

"And how do you know that?" he asked. I didn't have time to answer before he said, "We have our own mole. The boy most likely. You seem to work better with the emotionally impulsive."

"And there's that secret gone," Stefan muttered. "Luka will be in danger now. We don't know the countermeasures the two of them have and they might have a direct link even with our measures."

Claude opened his mouth to speak but I shook my head, cutting him off. "Let's go upstairs, alright? I don't want this repeated twice and if I'm reading this right there'll be a lot of similar questions to the people upstairs."

Claude nodded and the three of us scaled upstairs to the first floor. People were already sitting, with Dad, Pastor Young and Bonnie at the front speaking amongst themselves; that they would speak like that made me think that they had enchantments to ensure they couldn't be seen.

I moved to sit beside Jeremy, Claude separating towards other members of the Allied Council.

I looked about and all the leaders of the Founding Families were here: The Lockwoods, comprised of the Mayor and his wife and Tyler, though he was sitting with us. The Maxwells, with Alicia Maxwell and her daughter sitting beside her, Cassandra, and the girl's cousins Troy and Dianna; as an extended member of the Maxwell family Claude sat in their midst. Then there was the husband and wife pair Patrick and Alicia Maxwell.

Looking for the first time, I was struck by how large the Maxwell brood was, and the amount of power they had when it came to voting.

Mr Fell, the sole member of his family still in town, sat beside Jenna. Beside them were Elena, Stefan and Caroline, along with Caroline's fathers and her stepsister. She looked shocked by everything, but I'd sort of included her in everything by showing her magic.

Then there were the people with enough influence to be in the council even if they weren't members of the founding family. Brody Shield, a member of the first black families to reside in the town, his daughter, a girl that was in her late twenties sat beside her father looking at everything with excitement; then there was Rebecca Ashton, a member of the Sheriff's office; Michael and Claire Rigby, who had ties to the Smallwood family, and thus honorary founders; and a few other members of the Sherriff's office, the teachers and principal from the various schools and some doctors from our hospital.

Murmurs were being shared before Pastor Young cleared his throat.

Their conversation done up top, Bonnie moved and sat in an open seat next to Elena and Caroline.

"My apologies, everyone, for calling another meeting after we've just completed discussions on a weighty subject," he said. "But," and he sighed, "new information has come to us. I'll leave Rudy to explain."

Dad walked to the dais and said, "Everyone is cognizant of the fact that the Original threat has already arrived. But we've received information that's particularly disheartening in our efforts to take him down…We have a mole in our midst," Dad said gravely.

Murmurs immediately broke out before a voice said, "How?" I looked in the direction and it was Alicia. "We've all been drinking Vervain. That shouldn't be possible." Her tone warped as she said that, her head moving a little towards her daughter.

Beyond having seen the effect of Vervain, Jeremy had described it to me as I'd watched him take one of his daily doses, saying it was akin to gulping down boiling water. To have to do that every day must have been excruciating, especially since Cassie wasn't in the middle of all of this, only forced into vampirism through Damon's machinations.

"Vervain isn't fool proof," Dad explained. "Which is the reason why we ask you to drink it daily. I've asked and it functions by running its course through the blood. If you drain someone's blood enough, the effect of Vervain ceases."

"So that's what happened?" said Claude. "To one of us? How do we stop it?"

The doors opened in that moment, dramatic and forcing everyone to look back, me joining them. Beyond stood Lucy and three coven mates; two of them were woman, with the last being a tall guy with curly red hair, tanned skin and the most interesting features.

"That's where we come in," said Lucy with a massive grin.

I couldn't help but frown, that didn't make sense, had she been waiting outside all that time? She and her group were walking forward, she winked in my direction when she was close enough. Her coven-mates found seats behind us while she moved ahead.

"Hey," I said turning back, hand extended at the red-head. "Micah."

"Jasper," he said. "And Amber," he said gesturing at a tall woman with olive toned skin and dark hair, "and Vivian," this time to the short woman with a brown pixie cut. He took my hand at shook it.

"You going to introduce us Mike?" said Jeremy and he wore a massive grin.

"Later," I said. "How did she do it? The whole dramatic entrance thing?" I asked Jasper.

"You are so much like her," he said with a small smile. "She said you'd appreciate it, and that it would drive you crazy not to know."

"So you won't tell me?" His grin got wider, playful, with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Fine. I'll figure it out anyway." I sat forward, listening as Lucy started to speak.

"It could either be magic or compulsion," she said. "To those that don't know, the Martins are working for Elijah which is harder for us but doable. There are spells to see threads and we'll sever them, but if it's compulsion, the answer is brutal."

"But there is an answer?" said Michael Rigby.

"Yes," she said, "and you can thank Micah for that. Got the spell from New Orleans. I've been told the pain is unbearable as we strip the compulsion from you. Brute forcing the process of doing away with mental commands."

"After which we discuss our plans to move forward," said Dad, regaining control. "How we move forward with the information we have now that we have the power to do something."

"What about those that aren't here?" asked Brody Shield. He looked around. "Staying here too long might alert the Original to the fact that we're planning against him."

"There's not much we can do against that," said Dad. "All we can do is focus on the people here."

"But it works in our advantage," I said. Eyes moved in my direction and I saw a long suffering sigh held back by Dad and Claude, though the latter looked like he'd been expecting this.

"Right now Elijah's on his way to making deals that would disadvantage us," I continued. "I don't think he'll succeed but that's not the point. Right now, he can't investigate our meeting and the people on the outside will only tell him that there's a meeting. We're all on edge enough the people he's compelled in here won't have opportunity to send a message."

"Except through magic," said Alicia Maxwell.

"They've already thought of that," said Claude. "They were scheming when I got here and the three witches disappeared. No doubt there's a Boundary spell around this place."

The looks in my direction turned to accusation.

"We have a mole," I said. "What did you expect? Me telling you all the nitty gritty of the plan so it could be countered?"

"Less accusation," Jeremy whispered beside me. "It's wrong that we didn't tell you, sure," he said. "But he's got a point. There was too much risk of leak. Something we can all agree that we can't have. This made the most sense with a limited amount of time."

"It's odd that we have a mole and yet we don't consider the obvious suspect," said Deputy Rebecca Ashton. "The boy who was here."

"Apparently Micah turned him," said Claude. "In either case we should be moving this along. I don't like leaving so many new recruits alone in the office."

Lucy gave a nod at that. "We'll start with the circles, luckily there are six witches in the room which means—" She didn't finish, instead she lurched, a shocked expression on her before the crack hit us.

Dad was quick enough to catch her but the bullet had landed and there was blood in a room that was filled with vampires. Cassandra was the first to act, lunging towards Lucy before she was stopped by Stefan who slammed into her, changing her momentum and both landing beyond a crowd of people.

Caroline was next, getting to her feet and starting towards Lucy before she stopped herself, her eyes scrunched shut and muttering to herself what looked like a mantra. She quickly whipped around and was about to lunge at the Maxwell clan sitting behind her when Mr Fell took hold of her neck and pulled. Caroline manoeuvred, reversing the hold, grabbing Mr Fell by the neck and twisting with a sickling crunch.

All of it moving too fast with too much happening and people were panicking. The Maxwells tried to scatter, while five separate people had their guns out which made it harder to pinpoint where the initial gunshot had come from; the Salem coven, as one, had gotten to their feet and were in the midst of singing a spell together before a canister flew through the air, spreading smoke as it moved.

"Motus," I said focusing on pushing the canister back and the world shook, edges of darkness encroaching on my vision. The thing had enough magic empowering it that trying to move it had required too much magi.

Jeremy moved into the fray, passing through the smoke while I was grabbed and found myself at the edges of the room with Enzo beside. Enzo disappeared and grabbed one of the benches. He pulled and the thing splintered, he positioned it as a shield before he put it in front of me.

I tried to focus, but the hit had been too much and it was hard, the entire picture around me coming up disjointed.

The smoke was just starting to reach the Salem Coven and they were starting to falter, but they pushed kept on singing until all at once seven forms were on the roof holding their guns and unable to let go. Vivian was the first to fall, getting into a harsh coughing fit before she toppled over. Enzo appeared beside Jasper and Amber, taking both by the waists before he had appeared beside me.

Traces of the smoke hit me and they hit harshly against the back of my throat. My concentration slipped and the greater image of the room changed: There was now more smoke permeating the room but also everyone vampire was on the floor, screams coming from a few sources.

I took a breath and with the gas so spread out I got a whiff of it. The image jumped and there were a few people in the room with gas masks on walking around, three in total. I looked at Lucy and she was still on the ground breathing shakily while Dad writhed beside her, his expression of pain.

One of the masked people walked towards me and the Salem Coven. The woman pulled out a few zip ties as she moved closer. She didn't start with me, instead moving to Jasper and Amber, tying them together before she reached and pulled out a piece of duct tape, slapping it over their mouths.

She quickly followed up with me, pulling the things until the dug against my wrists. Beyond the mask I couldn't see who she was, but she moved with confidence as she walked within the smoke again.

This is Elijah you're dealing with Micah, I thought as I sat, watching as the image jumped to when there was less smoke, my thoughts coming easier this time.

Not Anna, not Catherine. As smarter as you think you are, he's smarter. Now get everyone out of this alive.

888

AN: Wrote this chapter before I learned that Matt was a Maxwell and the role that the Maxwells play in Mystic Fall's history. This is one of the infuriating thing about writing fan fiction about a story that's still going on but I'll make do.

The last chapter ended somewhat anti-climatically, so this is this is a climax, or at least working towards one.