The Red Dragon
Liv stood at the bar, drying up the last of the beer mugs she just washed with a small towel, preparing the bar for the usual Friday evening rush of students. The afternoon sun shone in through the massive windows in the campus bar, adding to the warm atmosphere as various students mingled around tables, some isolated in the easy chairs near the window, some studying, some not. One particular student that Liv kept looking towards was Tyler Lockwood. He was sitting in the corner, his chair pointing outwards towards the window, so that Liv could only get a side profile view of him. That suited her as she was careful to make sure he didn't catch her staring at him those numerous times that she was. She couldn't help but let out a small laugh when Tyler would take a sip of the gin and tonic that she had specially prepared for him. He would recoil at the taste, as though it had singed the inside of his mouth. He was obviously unprepared for the strength of the gin that Liv had put into it.
She placed the newly dried mug under the bar and looked up again to stare at Tyler when a lean young man with greenish eyes, dirty blonde hair and a slightly stubbly face blocked her view.
"Well, look at that! She's alive and well after all," said Luke mockingly.
Liv sighed, at both her twin brother's unwanted presence, and at her view of Tyler being blocked. "What are you doing here, Luke? I told you not to bother me while I'm working."
"Working? I didn't know that staring at Mystic Fall townies was considered working! Pray tell, what kind of training does one need for a career in stalking?"
Liv gave a sardonic smile. "Is this all you came for? To give me grief?"
"You haven't been answering your calls."
"Is there a reason why I should at this point? All I ever get is phone calls and text messages from Elena and her goofy friends asking me about when you and I are going to break that spell over Mystic Falls. And then I have mom and dad calling and texting. No doubt the coven wants us to go and kill another doppelganger…or not. They've certainly flip flopped about that more than a dying fish on land."
Luke sat down on a bar stool and whipped out his phone. "I can't blame you for being annoyed with all of that, but the messages from mom and dad weren't another assignment. Someone has been looking for you…desperately looking for you!"
"Who?"
Luke scrolled through his messages and finally found the one he was looking for.
"Her."
"Nisha?" Liv exclaimed after scrutinizing the messages on Luke's phone. "Is she back from Rome?"
"Apparently so, and she's been very, very eager to get in touch with you. So eager, in fact, that she hunted me down and forced me to bring her to you!"
"Wait—she's here?"
"Getting something out of her car as we speak. So tell me, sis, what's this all about?"
Liv was about to admit her ignorance when her attention was drawn to the main entrance. Like an outlaw gunman, wanted dead or alive, strolling into a saloon, all eyes in the bar soon turned to the exquisite, middle-aged beauty of Indian descent that broke the main entrance threshold. Bearing the looks of a Bollywood celebrity, with her long raven locks, piercing brown eyes and tan skin, dressed in black boots and black tight jeans, a black leather jacket and red dress shirt, with a black leather knapsack flung over her shoulder, she was the example of sophistication and sultriness. As soon as she locked eyes with Liv, her stare did not deviate until she reached the bar. Walking towards her with a purpose, a slight smile appeared on Nisha's face as excitement electrified her dark irises.
"Hello Olivia! Good to see you again. It's been a long trip so if you don't mind whipping me up a Mimosa, we can get down to business," Nisha said, sitting down on a bar stool next to Luke.
"Uh…sure. It's good to see you again too. Sorry about not returning your calls. Had I known it was you who was looking for me, I'd have answered my messages sooner," Liv said, grabbing the champagne and orange juice.
"Well, it's been five years since you last studied with me. I don't expect you to be at my beck and call," Nisha said curtly. "Yet your parents should have said something."
"So what is this all about? After five years spent in Rome, why come back here looking for us?" Luke asked.
"I wasn't looking for you," Nisha said, in a manner similar to that of a parent coldly telling their delusional child that Santa Claus wasn't real. "Sorry, Lucas, but this isn't for your eyes and ears. Thank you for helping me to find her. Now if you don't mind, I need to speak with Olivia alone please. Girl talk!"
"What? Hey, wait a minute. If this is coven business that involves my sister, then it involves me!"
"Lucas!" Nisha exclaimed, her bold brown eyes piercing him with a blazing stare of a thousand suns that immediately made Luke's eyes turn away. It was a stare that both Luke and Liv, in their childhood, had learnt meant sombre consequences if they pushed their luck with Nisha. They dubbed it her 'solar stare.'
"Okay, fine. I have to go get ready for a date anyways. I'll see you later, sis?" Luke asked, flashing her a look signifying that he fully intended to be told what her and Nisha's conversation was all about afterwards.
After Luke had left the bar, Liv placed Nisha's drink in front of her. "Ever the disciplinarian!"
"Just because you're no longer my students doesn't mean you have to stop listening to me," Nisha said, taking a sip of her Mimosa. "Hmmm…nice! I always said you were multi-talented. Never figured mixing drinks would be one of them."
"So why did you come back from Rome just to find me?"
"It's begun."
"What's begun?"
"The Revolution."
"What revolution? What are you talking about?"
"You cannot be this blonde, Olivia," Nisha responded, frustrated. She took another sip of her drink before continuing. "What is it that I've been teaching you ever since you became my student?"
Liv crossed her arms and began staring towards the ceiling as though she were being asked to recite conjugated Latin verbs that she had learned by rote. "Some future moment when other spirits will take over the ones we know and all magic will be changed, or something apocalyptic like that. Honestly Nisha, I kind of always thought that was you being just a bit paranoid about some kind of made up prophecy."
"It isn't paranoia or made up. It's real. That's why I've been in Rome and other parts of Europe studying up on history. Witch history. And it's all coming together. What happened with Markos and Mystic Falls was the tipping point in my investigation."
Liv shifted in her place. "Mystic Falls? You know about that?"
"The Other Side went down, Olivia! That's not something that goes unnoticed in our circles," Nisha said before taking another sip of her drink. "The Other Side has existed for two thousand years, and all of a sudden, it implodes. You don't think that would have had some—prophetic—significance?"
"Prophetic? There was never a prophecy about that."
Liv was about to turn away to grab another mug to dry when she felt an iron grip around her arm, pulling her in close.
"Oh, but there was, Olivia," Nisha said sternly, her solar stare burning into Liv's eyes. "I chose you over your brother to share those prophecies. Because I knew you were different. Your brother, he's strong—very strong, but strong in conventional ways. You Olivia, you're strong in unorthodox ways. And it is that quality that made me choose you. This is your birthright. This is your destiny!"
"Look, if you're going to be quoting Star Wars and stuff about the dark side, we're done here!"
"This is not a joke, Olivia! They are coming. As I have foreseen. And only the truly strong can manage them. That's why I'm giving you this."
Nisha let go of Liv and reached into her knapsack. She pulled out a very old leather bound book. On the front were various carvings and drawings, but the one that stood out was that of a red dragon.
"You—you found it?" Liv asked, astonished.
"It took a while, but we finally managed to steal it from the Vatican Secret Archives. Replaced it with an exquisite duplicate. This is what we—what you'll need—to survive what's coming."
Liv ran her hand over the front cover once she received it, caressing the outline of the dragon. A slight smile appeared on her face.
"It's powerful, Oliva," Nisha said, "like you. Learn from it. Absorb it."
"I've read copies of the Red Dragon Grimoire online before. It's nothing but a bunch of incantations that don't work."
"This is the real thing. Not some Dungeons and Dragons crap that some wanna-be warlock posted online."
"But why give this to me? If the Red Dragon Grimoire is as powerful as you say, why don't you take it? If they are coming, then why aren't you protecting yourself?"
"We all have a role to play. My role is clear. Yours will be—in time."
"Whoa! Now that is an old and ugly book!"
Neither Liv nor Nisha noticed Tyler's approach until it was too late. Liv attempted to hide the grimoire but knew that it would only serve to incite Tyler's curiosity even more. She pushed it aside, trying to distract Tyler's view from it.
"What is that anyways?" asked Tyler.
"This? Uh…this—this is something for Occult Studies. I'm doing a paper on ancient manuscripts," Liv replied.
"Well, certainly looks ancient enough. What is it? A coven grimoire or something?"
"Uhm…soooo, how was the G & T?"
Tyler shook his head while letting out a small chuckle. "You weren't kidding when you said it would kick my ass! But it was good. Can't wait to try out some of your other concoctions!"
"Play your cards right, and maybe you will," Liv said, locking eyes with Tyler, running a couple of fingers through her hair while giving a wry smile.
"Well, I didn't mean to interrupt your conversation," Tyler said, nodding at Nisha while picking up his bag. "I have to head on out for football practice. So, I'll see you later?"
"Football? They let you come back?"
"Yeah! I guess I wasn't as bad as I thought I was. I just have to keep the momentum going, ya know?"
"Well, good luck. If you need anything else for a pick-me-up, you know where to find me."
Tyler smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I do. I'll see you later."
As he walked toward the front entrance, Liv kept her gaze on him before turning her attention to Nisha, who seemed unimpressed.
"Well, that was cute," Nisha said in a monotone voice, taking a final sip of her drink.
"Don't get your makeup all messed up over this, Nisha. He's just a friend. Nothing more."
"Don't start getting any funny ideas about love and romance now, Olivia. You can't afford such frivolous distractions. I'm giving you this book because I believe you're committed to the cause. If you're not, tell me now, and—" Nisha reached over and grabbed the grimoire. "—I'll find someone else who can get the job done."
Liv pulled the grimoire away and held it close to her. "I said I'm fine! You can count on me."
"I should hope so. They don't take kindly to failure, especially for something as insipid as love." Nisha closed her knapsack and flung it over her shoulder. She turned to leave but gave one final glance back at Liv. "They will be in touch soon. They will be looking for you. Study that. You will need it to hold your own with them."
Liv wanted to ask who 'they' were but knew that if Nisha didn't tell her, that she wasn't going to. Nisha's approach had always been a 'need-to-know-basis.' Once Nisha left, Liv once again stroked the cover of the grimoire, tracing the outline of the dragon. She licked her lips as she eyed the old book, eager to uncover its secrets. She suddenly let out a small laugh, realizing how similar her reaction to the book was to her reaction to Tyler.
Former Glory
Tyler stayed poised.
His knees bent, with one hand on the ground, the other at his side.
He looked forward.
Waiting.
Waiting for the call to move.
To bolt.
To show everyone that he still had it.
The quarterback finally made the call.
They snapped the ball.
As the guards and tackle players all collided with the defensive players, Tyler started his run.
He was immediately shadowed by Malcolm again. This time, Tyler was able to shake him, if only momentarily. He smiled, the irony of being able to out distance the guy who made it all possible for him to do so was not lost on him.
Tyler managed to create distance from Malcolm. He looked back towards the quarterback, who saw him and threw the ball a couple of yards down, just as he had done before. This time though, Tyler found the sprint to catch the ball exquisitely easier to accomplish. The equipment seemed to work with him rather than against him. The strength in his legs felt potent and invigorating, as though he was plugged into an electric current that was constantly feeding energy into his veins, giving him the speed and power he needed to catch the ball.
Once he caught the ball, he rushed forward, his face cutting through the air, the sound of wind rushing past his ears, his vision bouncing as he panted, singularly focused on the uprights and the eventual touchdown. Tyler soon realized that this was the closest he had felt to feeling like a wolf again. Eyeing his target in the distance, his nose directed to the wind, singularly focused on one goal, his mind and body working in full unison with the Earth as an ally to get what he wanted. Despite the excruciating transformation process that werewolves endure to achieve their wolf form, the intimate union that was achieved with Nature once in wolf form was beyond any experience a human could ever have. Feeling truly in sync with Nature was an involvement most humans could not touch, as humans constantly feel like an outsider to Nature, even those who somehow manage to find some small symbiotic relationship with it. Constantly trying to change Nature and make it submit whenever Nature, in all its power, refuses to harmonize, humanity could never experience a true bond with it.
For the werewolf, it was the other way around. Nature made them submit, and the reward was an invitation to become a part of the primitive, pure and divine existence of Reality itself. The wolf felt the nuances of Nature that is beyond the human ken, the multiple sensory perceptions that the human mind had been excluded from since their creation. It was the absence of trying to live in peace with Nature that rewarded the werewolf because there was no 'try.' Wolves just naturally were a part of Nature. It was a reward that made the painful monthly transformation almost worth it. Almost.
Tyler was so enraptured in the near sensation of experiencing his werewolf side that he flinched when Malcolm grabbed his shoulder, trying to drag him down. Tyler desperately tried to wrestle him away with his free hand, but Malcolm showed incredible strength that was more than capable of stalling Tyler's tactics. Likewise, Malcolm found it much harder than he initially thought to bring Tyler down.
Still grabbing at Tyler's jersey, trying to slow down his pace, Malcolm grew impatient and began grabbing at the facemask instead. Once he got a firm grasp, he started slowing down his run, torqueing Tyler's neck to the far right in the process. Tyler was quite experienced at getting his neck snapped and knew exactly what it felt like. He found the same sensation occurring at that moment, albeit a lot slower. He realized that if he tried to fight against Malcolm's pull, which was not letting up, his neck would indeed turn to the point of serious injury. Tyler relented and slowed down, turning his body into Malcolm's pull, eventually tumbling to the floor while dropping the football. Malcolm reached for the ball and turned around to run it as a fumble, but the coach blew the whistle on the play.
Tyler immediately bounced back up, ripped his helmet off and hurled it at Malcolm's chest. "What the hell, man?!"
"Whoa! Take it easy, bro! It's just part of the game," replied Malcolm, throwing his own helmet down.
"Part of the game?!" spat Tyler. "Pulling at my facemask and almost snapping my neck? That's part of the game?!"
"Gee, exaggerate much?" Malcolm scoffed. "I think you're just pissed because I still owned your ass despite your 'performance enhancement.'"
Tyler shoved Malcolm in the chest. "What the hell did you just say to me?"
"Oh, 'roids make you deaf too? Step off, Lockwood, or you'll be drinkin' that juice through a straw for the rest of the year!"
By this time, Malcolm and Tyler were joined by their teammates and eventually the coach.
"Alright, break it up! That's enough from the both of you!" bellowed the coach.
"Hey, don't look at me, coach. It's Lockwood here. Boy's been juicin' and he's upset that it ain't helping him any!"
Indignation began percolating within Tyler, drawing from a source that Tyler had thought been dormant since he returned from the Other Side. Though his werewolf gene wasn't activated, it felt as though something had tapped into it, drawing his animalistic fury to the forefront of his emotional response. Breathing in deeply, trying to quell the tidal wave of wrath that was threatening to overtake him, Tyler muttered "That's not true!"
"Isn't it? You couldn't blow past me at the last practice, and now you're keeping pace? Just like your days at Mystic Falls High, right? All natural!"
Tyler noticed the other players snickering and whispering to each other, directing their view in his direction. That only poured fuel on the inferno that was seeking to burn his self-control to ash.
"Go ahead, coach. Test him. Let's see if it doesn't come back positive!"
Tyler sneered. "Yeah, why don't we both go and get tested!"
"Fine by me!" Malcolm said, shrugging. "Unlike some people, I have natural talent. I don't need no enhancement. Not like some washed up chump who doesn't have what it takes anymore!"
Despite everyone's eyes on the both of them, no one saw the cues to Tyler's attack until he had already speared tackled Malcolm in his mid-section. As Malcolm fell back, his head awkwardly smacked against his own helmet on the ground. By the time Malcolm's head hit the grass, he was completely knocked out. Seeing only the blazing red of indignation, Tyler mounted on top of him and launched three haymakers, one of them breaking Malcolm's nose before the other players grabbed and pulled Tyler off of him.
"LET GO! GET THE HELL OFF ME!"
As Tyler struggled to free himself to continue his assault, the coach bent down over Malcolm. He put his index and middle fingers to Malcolm's neck, held his hand under Malcolm's bloody nose, and then attempted to lift up his jersey and football equipment to get better access to his chest.
"CALL 911 NOW!" the coach ordered as he began administering CPR. One player immediately ran to the bench to get his cell from his bag. As the coach looked up to see if his instructions were being followed, he glowered at Tyler. "AND CALL CAMPUS SECURITY FOR HIM!"
Tyler stopped struggling, though he was still being held by the other players. A rapid heartbeat and nervous tingling circulating throughout his body signaled his anger morphing into fear and apprehension as he watched the coach perform CPR on a seemingly lifeless Malcolm, all the while mentally praying that Malcolm would wake up at any moment, alive and well.
Payback
"Wait, I think you have the wrong people!" Jeremy pleaded as he and Elena held their hands up.
"The Gilbert brother who's a member of the Brotherhood of the Five and the Gilbert sister who's the Petrova doppelganger," Istas snapped. "Yup, I got the right people all right!"
Elena stared at the pistol in Istas' hand, and Istas smiled. "Oh, don't worry, Princess. Wood tipped bullets. They will kill you just fine!"
"Why are you doing this? We have no idea who you are," Elena asked.
"And you never will. Seems fitting if you ask me," replied Istas. She pointed her gun at Elena's chest and rested her index finger on the trigger. She started to put pressure on it when her eyes darted to her right, her focus being broken by the sound of someone approaching from behind her—someone approaching extremely fast.
Istas spun around as quickly as she could to point her gun at the approaching threat, but Alaric proved to be much too fast, even for her impressive vampire speed. He grabbed her right forearm that held the gun and lifted it skyward with his left hand, making sure that she did not have a direct line of fire at him. He squeezed her arm until she finally dropped the gun on the ground. However, as soon as the gun dropped, Istas rotated her right arm clockwise until Alaric's palm was facing upwards. She grabbed at his pinky finger with her left hand and bent it back towards him. He immediately let go and stood on his toes, trying to alleviate the pain of his pinky finger being twisted backwards. Istas then performed a thai leg kick, slamming the shin of her right leg into Alaric's upper left thigh. Alaric bent over slightly, contorting as his leg gave out. Istas followed up with a front kick to his gut, forcing Alaric to bend forward. That allowed Istas to lunge forward, raising her left knee, drilling it into Alaric's right eye, cracking the orbital bone around his eye socket. Alaric flew backwards, with the back of his head crashing against the ground. He clutched his eye, writhing on the floor partially dazed.
Istas was about to reach into her pocket to grab her wooden knives when she sensed Elena approaching her. Despite using her vampire speed, Elena was far slower than Alaric and thus Istas had no problems timing her reaction. She waited until Elena was in range when she performed a spinning hook kick, driving the heel of her left foot into Elena's left temple. The hit was an instant knockout, causing Elena to tumble to the floor unconscious.
Surveying the bodies before her, Istas looked up to address the last threat. However, Jeremy had gotten the jump on her, already pointing Alaric's gun that he produced from behind his back. Knowing Jeremy to be a Hunter, Istas couldn't risk fighting him head on. She ran away in an instant before Jeremy could pull the trigger.
Jeremy cursed under his breath and quickly went over to Elena and Alaric. He beseeched the both of them to get up when he suddenly felt a presence standing right behind him. A far more experienced Hunter would have created some distance at that point. A more experienced Hunter would have tried something unconventional so as to ensure that the threat did not keep the advantage on him.
However, Jeremy was not an experienced Hunter.
He amateurishly spun around, hoping that he was fast enough to get another shot at Istas. She easily blocked his attack and caught his arm, driving her left fist into the triceps area just above his elbow, snapping the bone. Jeremy screeched in pain while Istas grabbed him by his lapels and judo-threw him over her hips and onto the ground, cracking two ribs on his left side.
"Ya know, I've actually fought a Brotherhood of the Five Hunter before. And I gotta say," Istas murmured to Jeremy while picking him up off the ground, "you really suck for a Hunter!"
She launched Jeremy through the air, throwing him 20 yards away from her. He slammed face first against a tree, breaking his nose and cheek bone, and then plummeted to the ground unconscious.
Istas looked around for her gun and saw it on the ground behind her. As she went to retrieve it, she noticed Elena's unconscious body, but not Alaric's. Her realization came too late as Alaric appeared behind her, surprising her once again with an incredible speed that she had never encountered before, even amongst the oldest of vampires that she had fought. Alaric wrenched her left arm and pinned it to the middle of her back, and looped his right arm under hers and resting his hand on the back of her head, putting her in a half-nelson.
"Alright! Now, suppose you tell me why you're trying to kill my friends," Alaric interrogated.
She struggled against his hold, trying to free her left arm from behind her back, but Alaric put more pressure on it, causing a painful strain in her elbow and shoulder joints. Her head was being pushed down as her right arm remained dangling in the air.
"Quit fighting! I'm stronger and faster than you'll ever be!"
"Maybe—you are," grunted Istas. "But—you are—*ungh*—you are still—just—a man!"
With her right hand, she reached for Alaric's hand that was pressing down on the back of her head. She grabbed at one of his fingers and pulled it back, causing Alaric to break the half-nelson to avoid his finger being broken. Simultaneously, Istas shifted her hips to the right, allowing her left arm to push forward instead of being pinned to her back. As soon as that happened, she broke free from Alaric's grip, reached down and grabbed at his groin and squeezed with everything she had.
Alaric's eyes and mouth widened as he tried to let out a scream, but barely led out an audible groan due to his inability to breathe. His face turned red and his eyes filled with tears as the pain of his testicles being crushed like grapes in a winepress coursed from his groin to his lower abdomen, continuing up all the way throughout his entire torso. He collapsed to his knees, grasping at his groin, trying to breathe in but having incredible difficulty doing so. Istas stood triumphantly over him, reached down, grabbed his head and snapped his neck.
Smirking as she stared at Alaric's motionless body, Istas was too enraptured in her own victory over a vastly stronger and faster vampire to notice Elena sneaking up behind her, muzzling Istas' own gun into the middle of her back.
"Now THAT was a low blow," Elena snarled. "But I think you should answer his question. Why are you trying to kill my brother and me?"
With her hand raised in a surrendered position, Istas smiled at the false advantage that Elena thought she had. Moving at human speed, Istas could easily manoeuver herself out of danger with Elena being able to counter if she was skilled enough. At her vampire speed however, Elena had no chance. Istas simply turned her body so that she was standing perpendicular to Elena and safely out of the line of fire. Elena pulled the trigger but hit nothing but air. Istas slammed her palm into Elena's face. Elena dropped the gun as her hands went to tend to her broken and bleeding nose. Istas then delivered a powerful side kick to Elena's left leg, right above her knee cap, causing her leg to bend in the wrong direction. Elena collapsed to the ground, screaming from both the pain and from the shock of seeing her own leg bent in such an unnatural position. She desperately tried to pull herself along the ground, away from Istas, who had already reached down and picked up her gun, cocked it and was pointing it at Elena.
"Why—*aggghhh*—why are you—why are you doing this?" Elena wailed, clutching at her leg as a waterfall of blood filled her mouth from her nose.
"Why, you ask?! You want me to tell you why? Yeah, I suppose I should be the bigger person here and extend to you the one courtesy that you never extended to any of those countless vampires that you and your brother casually decided to murder!"
"Wha—what are you—*unngghhh*—what are you—talking about?"
"You and your brother killed Kol Mikaelson, did you not?"
Elena's grimace immediately turned to a stunned look of uneasiness. Istas smiled at the change.
"I'm going to take THAT as a sign of guilt—the guilt that you and your brother should carry for purposely killing off scores of vampires who you didn't even know. Vampires like my sister, Angie. All to complete a tattoo that would lead to Qetsiyah's Cure, right? What happened to the Cure, by the way? Obviously YOU didn't use it, since you're still a vampire. So, what happened to it? What did my sister and all those vampires die for? Did they die for something noble, hmmm? Something heroic? Did you bother asking any of them if they wanted to die for your cause before you went ahead and killed them all? Did you? DID YOU?! ANSWER ME YOU STUPID BITCH!"
Elena said nothing. She continued to sluggishly drag herself away from Istas, who slowly kept walking towards her, pointing her gun straight at Elena's heart, her face contorted into a look of pure disgust.
"I've waited a long time for this moment. On behalf of my sister—on behalf of all those vampires who died because of you, here's hoping you rot on the Other Side!"
Istas' eyes and then her head suddenly shifted to her left. She could hear two people rapidly coming towards her. She pulled her gun back, stuffed it into her pocket and sneered at Elena.
"I'll just be a moment, Princess. Excuse me."
She vanished, blazing forward towards the oncoming approach of Stefan and Caroline, who had hoped to catch Istas by surprise. Instead, their parallel running only allowed Istas the means to dispose of them even quicker. As soon as she got in between them, she performed a jumping split kick, with each of her feet smashing into the sides of the head of both Caroline and Stefan, the impact torqueing their necks to the point of snapping.
As Istas landed and looked over the unconscious bodies of Stefan and Caroline, she heard someone else in the distance approaching the area where she had left Elena. She vamp-sped to Elena's position and found Abby kneeling beside her.
"Abby? What—what are you doing here?" Istas asked, pulling her gun out again. "Did—did Nancy send you here to stop me?"
Abby rose up from Elena's side and walked over to Istas. "No, Izzy. I came here to Mystic Falls to find my daughter. I called Nancy last night to let her know and she asked me to watch out for you, but I wasn't sent here to confront you."
"Good! Then you won't get in the way of my mission."
Istas raised her gun to point it at Elena but Abby stood in the line of fire.
"Get out of the way, Abby!"
"I'm not letting you do this. You're not killing this girl."
"You knew the Gilbert siblings this entire time you were with my tribe and you didn't tell me?"
"Considering how you always talked of revenge, can you blame me?"
Istas moved to her right to get a clear line of fire on Elena. Abby moved with her, blocking her shot.
"I told you to get out of the way!"
"You're not killing her, Izzy!"
"And why not? She killed my sister. She recklessly killed an untold number of vampires. You could've easily been one them. And all for what? No…I'm going to get my revenge. I just hope Angie is watching all of this from the Other Side. This one's for you, sis!"
Abby cocked her head slightly sideways, her mouth gaping faintly open as she stared sorrowfully at Istas.
"You don't know, do you?" Abby asked. "Nancy didn't tell you."
"Tell me what?"
"About the Other Side."
"What about it?"
"It's gone, Izzy. It collapsed. I confirmed with Nancy last night. That's why I'm here. Because my daughter was the Anchor to the Other Side and now it's gone and I don't know where she is. All those people went somewhere and we don't know where!"
Istas' hand began quivering. "Gone? Wha—what do you mean gone?!"
"It's not there anymore. I don't know what happened. But this girl and her friends do. That's why you can't kill them," Abby said, her voice cracking, "because they're the only hope I have left to find my daughter!"
Istas frowned as she began intentionally pointing the gun at Abby. She blinked rapidly as tears muddled her vision. "You're—you're lying! Nancy told you to say this to stop me. Angie isn't gone. She can't—SHE CAN'T BE GONE!"
Istas moved to her left to get another shot at Elena. Abby once again got in her way.
"DAMN IT, ISTAS! IF YOU KILL HER, WE'LL NEVER KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO MY DAUGHTER AND TO YOUR SISTER. THEY WILL BE GONE…FOREVER!"
Istas wiped her eyes with her forearm. She lowered the gun as she began breathing heavily, her lips quivering as she thought about Angeni. She looked at Abby, who was also wiping away tears from her face.
"Okay, Abby…okay," Istas said, nodding. "Have it your way."
She vamp sped to her right before Abby could react, raised her gun and shot Elena.
The Revolution
The last, fading rays of sunlight disappeared over the horizon. Bonnie walked into a clearing within the darkened woods some distance away from the center of Mystic Falls. She stopped and stood, smiling, at the foot of a fading shadow on the ground, the remains of a large pentagram. This was the place where her supposed cleansing from Expression magic was supposed to have occurred, a cleansing that instead ended with the massacre of twelve witches. Under the influence of Silas, Bonnie had managed to convince her mother's friend, Aja, and her coven to perform an exorcism of sorts to rid her of the dark magic's influence. But thanks to the interference of Caroline, Stefan and Klaus, it only resulted in the third and final sacrifice needed to complete the Expression Triangle and to bring the veil to the Other Side down. And now Bonnie stood in the same place, with an altogether different yet similar purpose in mind. The irony was not lost on her—on them.
She outstretched her hand, feeling the power that still emanated from the spot where the witches died. The latent darkness was fueled by the foolish decision of both Caroline and Klaus to bury the witches' bodies nearby. More so than either of the other two other points in the Triangle that she and Damon had visited, this location was the more darker and powerful. This was the spot where the spirits had lost to them and their brand of magic. This was where the cracks in the walls between realms began to appear—the cracks that eventually the Sovereignty would rip wide open, allowing them access into the Other Side. This was where the doorway from the Abyss into the living world would be created.
Bonnie was about to begin chanting when she turned around, alerted by the snapping of twigs and leaves, the approach of Damon and two women mindlessly following him.
"Your compulsion works?" asked Bonnie.
"Within close proximity," replied Damon. "There's about a 50 yard radius where I can't keep the compulsion in effect and they snap out of it. That's why I was able to compel these two from town. We hijacked a car and I was able to stay in the trunk until the sun went down. They're a bit—mellow, right now. Heh, heh, heh! What about the spell?"
"I haven't tried yet. But I'm certain it will work. And once it does, we—"
Bonnie and Damon's attention were drawn to a couple approaching them from out of the woods. They were a tall, middle aged, bald Caucasian man and a younger, shorter, slender Hispanic woman. Both were dressed in business-like attire, looking like two corporate executives having just come off from a long day at the office.
"Well, well, well! The welcoming committee arrived after all!" Damon mocked.
"It's an important event—your return from the Abyss," said the gentleman in a monotone voice. "Welcome back."
"Thank you," replied Damon, bowing sardonically. "Now, let me guess…CEO's?"
"Yes, of a pharmaceutical company. This one," the gentleman said, motioning to his female companion, "is a corporate lawyer with one of the biggest law firms in the country."
"Typical!" snapped Bonnie. "You never did have much of an imagination."
"They serve our purpose."
"And what purpose do you serve now, gracing us with your…presence?" asked Damon, raising an eyebrow.
"We are here to deliver a message," replied the gentleman.
Bonnie chuckled. "Messengers! How utterly—angelic—of you!"
"Cute. His majesty is reiterating his previous warning. His order, actually. You will cease with your campaign and return to the Kingdom."
"And we reiterate our previous objection. Why should we?" Damon challenged.
The gentleman sneered. "Still forgetting your place? There is a hierarchy in the Kingdom, remember? You're not powerful enough to challenge that!"
"We have not forgotten our place!" Bonnie hissed. "It is because we remember our place, our lowly place on the totem pole in relation to you and his majesty that we seek to change it. We created a new hierarchy while in Tartarus. There, WE are the Sovereignty!"
"You are no longer in Tartarus. But you could be, if you challenge us again."
"Dubious threat!" replied Damon. "If you don't want to join us, then leave! His majesty's time has come and gone. He had his chance. Now it's OUR turn!"
"There is no deadline to his dominion, imbecile! You are in no position to make demands!"
"Why should we follow a failure? 'εἰπὸν ἵνα οἱ λίθοι οὗτοι ἄρτοι γένωνται (Tell these stones to become loaves of bread.),'" Bonnie mocked in ancient Greek. "The one chance he had and that was the best he could do?"
"Insolent maggots," replied the gentleman, dispassionately. "So be it. You risk war on two fronts yet again. And you will fail as before."
The gentleman reached into his blazer and pulled out a pistol and nonchalantly shot the heads of the two women that Damon had compelled.
"NOOOO!" Bonnie screeched.
Damon vamp-sped to the gentleman and grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground. "Do you have ANY IDEA what I can do to this PATHETIC, FLIMSY VESSEL YOU CALL HOME?!"
Though gasping for breath, the gentleman's expressions remained stolid and commanding. "Indeed, I do. Just—as—*ack*—you know—what I can do—to YOU—outside of it!"
Damon gritted his teeth and then begrudgingly released his grip. The gentleman dropped to the ground, coughing and gasping momentarily. When he finally recaptured his breath, he straightened up, fixed his tie and blazer, glaring scornfully at both Damon and Bonnie.
"Remember, there is always the hierarchy. Do not allow your delusions of grandeur to let you forget that!" warned the gentleman.
"Well, maybe that's a lesson you will learn. You have no doubt noticed the spell that is cast over this quaint little town," Bonnie replied, motioning with her finger skyward. "We don't know how you came in, but unfortunately, you are not leaving. You're trapped here, like us. So you had better get used to the new hierarchy!"
"How utterly—human—your faulty powers of reasoning are! You indeed have forgotten what it means to be so high in the Kingdom, to be so close to the Brilliant One. To be of intelligence and power that only the High Enemy can match. I can get out just fine."
"What? How?" probed Bonnie.
"It is obviously beyond your ken. Continue on with your foolish campaign. As we said, you will fail, whether we interfere or not."
The gentleman turned and took a couple of steps out of the clearing when he noticed his female companion remaining where she stood.
"Coming?" the gentleman asked.
"No," the lady replied.
She stepped forward towards Damon and Bonnie, shifted her hair away from her neck and tilted her head. "I wish to join you. To make us a forever home, so that we never have to pass through the arid places again."
Damon laughed while Bonnie flashed a smirk at the gentleman. Damon grabbed the lady's face and began kissing her passionately, violently. He stopped kissing, grabbed her hair and cranked her head back, and then bit into her neck. She cried at first, then pressed against Damon's head with her hand, encouraging his feeding, entering into euphoric bliss as her life drained away from her. He disengaged before killing her, bit into his wrist and let her suck from him. She eagerly lapped and sucked away at the blood that oozed out from his vein. Damon pulled her hair to stop her feeding and looked at the puncture marks on her neck. To his delight, they slowly started to close.
"Well, now," beamed Damon, cradling the lady's head against his chest, caressing her hair, "it seems that there is a revolution stirring. His majesty and the Kingdom may oppose us, but others won't. Continue on with your foolish obstruction. We will succeed!"
Damon then snapped her neck.
The gentleman's expression did not change. He continued walking into the woods as Bonnie briefly followed, hollering at him. "YOU TELL THE BRILLIANT ONE ABOUT THE REVOLUTION! THE SOVEREIGNTY IS HERE! THIS WORLD IS OURS NOW!"
With her demon eyes blazing brightly, Bonnie stretched her hand out towards a random tree. The tree snapped in two at its midpoint when Bonnie clenched her hand into a fist. The top of the tree fell towards her, but Bonnie waved her hand, sending the tree crashing through the forest. She marched back to the clearing.
"Head back into town and grab a couple of more people," Bonnie commanded Damon. "Our new recruit is going to need human blood to feed on when she wakes up. Meanwhile, I will initiate the spell to bring the barrier down and open the gateway to the Abyss. We will definitely need more reinforcements now that we are fighting two fronts."
"Some of the majesty's acolytes may follow us, but others won't. He may draw alliances through coercion from some old friends. We will need some more power on our side."
"Agreed. Go!"
Damon vanished while Bonnie levitated the two dead women that the gentleman had just killed. She began a chant that would eventually rip their skeletal structures straight out of their bodies. Bonnie figured to use their bones to further enhance her spell to open a gateway to the Abyss.
The revolution had begun.
Curiouser
It was as though someone kept jamming an ice pick into the side of her head, the throbbing pain was practically unbearable. She hadn't felt such a headache since she hit her head after slipping on some paint in her old house. Ironically enough, it was that injury that led to her becoming a vampire. Now, as a vampire, she was once again experiencing that pain, but due to drastically different reasons.
Elena could hear voices all around her, albeit faintly. Muddled and indistinct, like trying to hear a conversation in the next room through a concrete wall. The constant ringing in her ear didn't help in her trying to decipher the sounds either.
"Elena!"
The voice was male and familiar. She opened her eyes but her vision was foggy and vague.
"Here, drink this."
She suddenly felt the familiar sensation of a nozzle from a blood bag being put to her lips. She automatically clamped down and started sucking. The blood was cold, almost giving her brain freeze. But as she kept sucking, like a foggy windshield on a damp cold morning rapidly clearing when the dashboard heat is turned on, her surroundings soon came into sharp focus.
Matt was kneeling before her, taking the deflated blood bag from her when she had finished. Elena looked around to see Caroline and Abby tending to Alaric, while Stefan was wandering into the clearing with Jeremy propped up on his arms. Her little brother's face was painted with blood and bruises, while he clutched at his side, wincing with each deep breath that he took.
"Jeremy! Ow!" Elena almost toppled over after to trying to stand, her left leg not responding to her commands. She looked down, relieved to see that her leg was no longer bent in an unnatural position. But she was still having a hard time putting any pressure on it.
"Whoa! Take it easy, Elena," Matt advised, holding her up as she once again tried to walk. "Stefan just finished resetting your leg. Jeremy is going to be okay. Stefan already gave him some of his blood."
"Wha—what happened, Matt?"
"I came here to meet you guys and found you with a wooden bullet lodged in your head and the rest all laid out. After talking with Abby, I went back to town to retrieve some blood bags while she helped you guys."
"Where—where is—?" Elena groggily asked.
She didn't need vampire hearing to pick up on Istas shouting into her phone from a few feet away. The voice of the woman, whose violent introduction nearly cost Elena and Jeremy their lives, immediately put Elena and everyone else's senses on high alert.
"WHAT THE HELL, NANCE?!...THAT'S SUCH…NO, YOU OWED ME THE TRUTH!…AND SHE'LL LIVE FOR AS LONG AS I SAY SHE LIVES!…I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THAT, NANCE!…"
All of them turned their gaze over to where Istas was standing and yelling into her phone. They then all looked at each other, a similar expression on each of their faces, conveying the uncertainty of staying where they were while allowing this dangerous assassin to be so close to them.
Elena stamped down on her left leg again, testing it to see if it had healed enough for her to put her full weight on it. While there were some pins and needles sensations running throughout her calf and foot, the leg was able to support her. She began limping towards Jeremy and Stefan.
"Jer, are you okay?"
Jeremy winced again as he breathed in, though seemingly with not as much intensity as before. The deep black and purple bruises on his face were slowly becoming lighter. "I think so. Stefan's blood seems to be doing—"
"Alright, Princess! Suppose you tell me what you did to make the Other Side go away!"
Istas appeared instantaneously before them, pointing her gun at Elena's temple. Fresh from suffering an emotional mixture of both grief and anger, her feral eyes raged through Elena that signaled to Jeremy, Stefan and Matt that she had no compunctions whatsoever with killing her on the spot.
"I wasn't responsible for the Other Side going away," Elena replied, bringing her hands up instinctively in a defensive position. "Just…please…can't we—"
"That's enough, Izzy." Abby's voice was calm and slow as she grabbed Istas' gun and gently took it away from her. "You're not helping matters."
"Okay, what is going on? Who is this person? And why is she trying to kill Elena?" asked Caroline.
"Allow me to introduce Istas. Her family is from an Indigenous tribe that I've known for years and have been staying with for the past few months. She and her sister, Angenie, are vampire hunters. I've been staying with them, trying to—"
"Hold on," Alaric interrupted excitedly. "Istas and Angenie—the Snow Angels?"
"You've heard of us," Istas confirmed, spinning around to face Alaric.
"Only through folktale and legend. Two indigenous sisters who roamed the plains, sometimes urban areas, meting out justice and mercy to thieves, murderers, kidnappers, child and wife abusers, and the occasional unfaithful husband. Legend had it that even the mere thought of infidelity brought the Snow Angels to the foot of a man's bed, where they would seduce him to test his loyalty to his wife and would either kill him or leave him alone. But I never heard of you being vampires who hunted vampires."
"Look, if you want to know the history, I'll be happy to refer you to my Wikipedia page. Right now, I just want to know where my sister is and how I can bring her back. And you lot seem to have all the answers. So where is she?"
"They don't know, Izzy," Abby interjected calmly. "That's what we're trying to figure out."
"Where could she have gone, Abby? Where did all the inhabitants go? Could they have gone to another spirit world?" Istas asked.
"Perhaps. Your ancestors reside in a different spirit world. Consecrated witches end up in yet another world. Witches precede the Other Side, so if the Other Side isn't there anymore, it's reasonable then that all those who were in it might have gone on to another spirit world."
"How many spirit worlds are there?" asked Caroline.
Abby shook her head. "That's tough to say. Some believe the different spirit worlds are actually the same world, just partitioned. It was the Other Side that seemed to be a world of its own. If they don't go to the Other Side, then it's possible that witches now are free to go to any other spirit world that exists."
"But that's for witches. What about other supernatural creatures like vampires and werewolves? Where do they go?" asked Istas.
"I don't know, Izzy!" Abby said frustratingly, feeling the pressure of being the only one with witch knowledge among the group who they were all looking to for answers. "This is all new to me too. I have no idea."
Matt sheepishly approached Abby. "Are these other spirit worlds supposed to be like heaven or something?"
"Why do you ask?" Abby asked perplexed.
"I was over on the Other Side before it collapsed. I was trying to save my sister, Vicki, and I couldn't. I saw her get pulled away by some force into nothingness. I couldn't even see where she went. It was like some black hole opened up in the sky and dragged her inside."
Stefan nodded in agreement. "It's true. I was about to get sucked away into…something…as well, before Lexi—" Stefan cleared his throat and stared at the ground for a moment before resuming. "—before she saved me. It was like someone switched on a massive vacuum, sucking everyone into oblivion."
Istas nodded and shifted impatiently. "Ok, I've heard enough! I don't care where my sister is, what I do care is about finding her. So where do we start?"
"We can't do anything until we can get to where it all started. Liv told me that the Travelers initiated a spell that brought their leader, Markos, back to life. It occurred in Mystic Falls and that's what led to the Other Side's collapse," Elena responded. "Until we can get into that town again, there isn't much we can do."
"Well, what a defeatist attitude you have, Princess! I suppose when it involves getting some cure for vampirism for yourself, you'll move heaven and earth and kill a bunch of innocent people, to get it!" Istas chastised. "But saving a bunch of those innocent people on the Other Side, many that you helped to put there, is obviously not high on your priority list!"
Elena's lips curled into a snarl. Her eyes widened, her fingers and feet tingling as the blood rushed from her extremities to her face, indignation quickly overwhelming any fear that she may have had about Istas.
"Now you listen to me, Snow Angel!" Elena retorted, marching towards Istas until she was nearly standing toe to toe with her. Like a bull, she was breathing in through her nose, her eyes adopting the same feral look that Istas had just moments before. "Me…they…all of us have someone that we're trying to rescue from the Other Side as well. It's not just you!"
Istas closed the gap between them so that they were almost nose to nose, though Istas was slightly taller than Elena. Her closed mouth morphed into a slight sneer, her eyes re-acquiring the savage look from before, mixed in with both admiration and insult at Elena's pluck. Her fingers began wiggling in anticipation of action, her weight shifting to one foot to give her attack an explosive and unstoppable dynamic. She was already planning on how to eliminate them all in quick succession if any of them attempted to interfere in her killing of Elena.
Alaric studied Istas' face and recognized the warning signs. He quickly got in between the two and pushed Elena back, standing in her place in front of Istas.
"That's enough! We're not doing this again," commanded Alaric, looking down at Istas. "You want to get your sister back? We want our friends back. So we have to work together on this, not spend the rest of this time fighting. Agreed?"
Istas looked up at Alaric. Her smirk twisted into a bitter smile, one that instantly conveyed to him an agreeing to his proposal, but not because she was afraid of him but because it suited her—and only because it suited her. That unnerved him somewhat. Istas shot a quick glance at Elena before turning around and walking away from Alaric, breathing in deeply and shaking her hands to expel the charge of adrenaline that had prepared her for combat.
Elena turned around to gather herself also, her blood pressure and heart beat slowly returning to normal. She wiped the trickle of sweat running down her forehead and began delicately shaking, realizing how reckless she had been to stare death in the face and challenge her to blink.
Exhaling in relief, Alaric turned to the others. "Okay, so let's figure this out. We know that vampires and witches can't enter Mystic Falls—"
"Uh, I don't know about that," Matt interjected.
"What do you mean?" asked Alaric.
"I saw something last night. Or I should say…someone."
Stefan stepped forward towards Matt, scrutinizing him momentarily. "You saw a vampire, didn't you?"
Matt peered at Stefan, partially stunned. "How did you know that?"
"We only learned of this a while ago when we met up with my mom," Caroline chimed in. "She got a call from one of her deputies. They found a couple of dead bodies in a dumpster near the Grill. One of the bodies was drained of blood. She went into town to confirm but it seemed like a vampire attack."
"Not just any vampire, Caroline. I saw—" Matt replied, shaking his head. He looked at Stefan and then at Elena. "—I saw Damon! It was Damon!"
Elena's entire body went numb for a moment. She stepped toward Matt, disbelief and confusion permeating through every pore on her face. "What do you mean you saw Damon?!"
"It was him, Elena. Him and—," Matt looked apologetically towards Jeremy and Abby, "—Bonnie."
Elena shook her head and ran her fingers through her hair. "Okay! Matt, what are you talking about? You're not making any sense now!"
"I'm telling you, I saw them. They killed two people in the alley behind the Grill. I even took a photo of them with my phone."
Matt pulled out his phone and searched for the photo that he took. He handed the phone over to Elena who analysed it, enlarging the photo with her fingers, trying to bring the image into focus.
"This—this doesn't show anything, Matt!" Elena said indignantly. "That could be anyone."
Jeremy took the phone from her and had a look before passing the phone around. Caroline was about to take a glance when her own phone started buzzing.
"It's my mom. Maybe she's discovered something," Caroline said, walking off while mumbling into her phone.
"Look, I know what I saw," defended Matt. "It was Damon and Bonnie."
"Or someone who looked like Damon and Bonnie," Stefan offered.
"What?" asked Elena.
"Think about it. Someone obviously killed and fed on that guy the deputies found. We know that vampires still can't venture into Mystic Falls. Caroline and I verified that this afternoon. So it can't be Damon. Not if he's still a vampire. The only other being who ever needed to drink blood to survive was Silas. He wasn't a vampire like us. He was an immortal. And Silas was a Traveler who could appear as anyone. So he could exist within Mystic Falls. It's possible that somehow he was able to come back."
Elena shook her head, trying to make sense of it all. "But…Silas became a witch, and he died a witch. Why would he come back as a blood drinking immortal? Didn't he take the Cure?"
"And if it is him, why would he appear as Damon? Did either of them see you Matt?" Jeremy asked.
"I'm pretty sure they didn't."
"So it wasn't to fool Matt. There's no reason for him to appear as Damon to anyone," Jeremy concluded.
"Look, I'm just taking a guess here. Silas is the only blood sucker we know who could survive within the town. And he coerced Bonnie before, so he might have done it again. But we won't know anything until we get into Mystic Falls and investigate. And that means bringing that spell down."
Elena whipped out her phone and immediately began punching in letters. "I'm texting Liv and Luke to meet us at the border. Something is obviously going on and we have to get in there."
Caroline returned to the group, a mask of concern covering her face. "The sooner, the better. My mom just told me that four more people have been reported missing. Two women from the other night who were supposed to show up for work but didn't. And a couple who were just reported. My mom said witnesses last saw them talking to a young man, with dark hair, black jeans and a black leather jacket."
Stefan and Elena exchanged knowing glances. Both experienced and shared the contrasts of hopefulness and despair colliding and exploding into a tangled mess—the desire of seeing Damon alive and returned to them contesting the fear that he had returned as his former self.
"We have to get in there now!" Elena mumbled, attempting to bring the quivering of her hands under control in order to complete her text message.
And Curiouser
It was euphoric.
The warm, exquisite crimson life juice spewing out of the man's neck and into her eager, waiting mouth. The trembling but paralyzed body of her victim growing cold, the faint gurgling sound that emanated from his open mouth, signifying the sound of pain and death overtaking him, it all added further enjoyment to the experience. Valene bit further into his neck, trying to encourage more blood to flow out. But she had pretty much drunk him dry. She began vigorously licking around the open wound, like a child licking her plate clean of every last delicious remnant of sauce. In frustration, she ripped the man's arm off, brought the bloodied and amputated limb to her mouth, and began sucking on the stump. But it was no use. The blood was already going cold and was not flowing as abundantly as before.
"More!" Valene growled at Damon, the bottom half of her face bathed in blood.
"There is no more. But don't worry, sweetheart. You'll get all—"
"More! NOW!"
She vamp sped to Damon and began licking around his mouth. Like her, he had just finished feeding on the female victim, the other half of the pair that he had kidnapped from town. As she began licking, he began kissing. But she pulled away, her demon eyes wildly burning, searching everywhere for fresh blood. Valene's heightened senses suddenly picked up Bonnie's scent. She turned to her, growled and vamp sped towards her new victim.
Bonnie stood at the base of the pentagram on the ground. With one arm crossed and the other propping her head up, a finger curled under her chin, like The Thinker statue come to life, she remained pensive and silent. Valene's approach was lightning quick, a mere split second in time. Yet Bonnie casually lifted the hand that was under her chin and Valene's approach ceased immediately. She was frozen in place, unable to move. With another motion of Bonnie's hand, Valene suddenly began to levitate off the ground. Like a helium balloon slowly soaring skyward, Valene was powerless to stop her ascent. She spewed out curses and profanities, but in a language that no human could ever understand. Her ascent suddenly stopped and she hung in the air like a parade float, helpless and incensed.
With another casual wave of her hand, Bonnie launched Valene through the air, covering the length of a football field. Bonnie monitored Valene's trajectory, realizing that she would hit the Traveler spell wall at some point. Indeed, Valene did—and bounced off of it. Almost comically, she came down, crashing through branches and tree limbs, hitting the ground, breaking one arm and puncturing her lung. She remained motionless on the ground for some time.
"Hmm!" Bonnie sounded, as someone who saw a curious, yet insignificant thing.
"A bit harsh, don't you think?" Damon asked, walking up behind Bonnie who resumed her contemplative pose.
"I thought that it was perhaps those of us from the Abyss who could not bypass the Traveler spell wall. Seems we were wrong," Bonnie said. She glanced over at Valene's body in the distance and then returned her gaze to the pentagram. "Get her under control, will you? We don't have time for such distractions."
"I keep telling you, you don't know what it's like. The sheer bliss of it all."
Bonnie turned to Damon and faked a smile. "I am well aware of it. But we need this body alive and as a witch to get what we need to get done. I'm leaving it to you to control our new cohort."
Damon turned his head towards the new sound that he had heard. He picked up Valene recovering, snapping her bones back into place, her lungs rapidly healing themselves. "Speaking of which, she is not supposed to be the only one. Why isn't the doorway opening to the Abyss?"
"It's this Traveler spell. It's creating too much interference. The doorway is unstable."
"We made it through."
"Barely. But there seems to be another factor. Another—force—appears to be influencing the Abyss. Our former Lord, maybe?"
Damon looked skyward. "Which one? The High Enemy or—"
"I can't tell. But only one of them can influence Tartarus," Bonnie replied, also looking skyward. "The one who created it for us."
Valene returned and stopped right beside Bonnie. Bonnie glared at her, and Valene hung her head in seeming submission. Bonnie didn't need to lecture her on her mistake.
"And now," Bonnie said to her, "what do you call yourself?"
"This body is addressed as Valene," she replied in the woman's voice.
"Valene. So be it. How did your—companion—the pharmaceutical CEO get out? What was his power?"
"I don't know. I was not privy to such knowledge."
Bonnie sneered. She turned away from Valene and back to the pentagram.
"But, if you're seeking magical help," Valene offered, "we expect it to arrive any day now."
"Magical help?" Damon asked.
"Your arrival has been expected and anticipated, and your plans from two millennia ago were not forgotten. There are those of us who have sought to help you, even before your return. And in that, we have secured the daughter from the line of Elymas. The Sorceress will come."
"Excellent!" exclaimed Bonnie. "And what of others like you who have found a home. Will they join us as you did?"
"We cannot say. Anticipation has caused dissension. And you know that the Master does not tolerate that."
Bonnie chuckled. "No, he does not. When does the Sorceress come?"
Valene bowed her head in apparent guilt. "I don't know."
"Well, you don't know much now, do you?!" Bonnie replied, crossly.
"Okay, enough!" Damon intervened. "What about the Abyss? Can we bring any others over?"
"We can perhaps bring one or two possessed at a time. The doorway won't allow for any more than that. Until the Traveler spell is brought down the doorway may be erratic, at best."
"Then we'll be selective as to who we bring over," Damon responded. "In the meantime, let us see to bringing this spell down. We need to find Elena and Stefan. The problem is, they could be anywhere outside of Mystic Falls."
"How do we go about finding them? We cannot escape this town," Valene asked.
"There are other ways." Bonnie extended her arm. A few seconds later, a screech owl fluttered from out of the darkened trees and perched itself on her forearm. Bonnie's demon eyes shined intensely into the owl's eyes for a few seconds, after which the owl flew off into the darkness of night.
"We'll be alerted to their location soon enough," Bonnie said, cocking her head to the side and grinning maniacally. She suddenly started snapping her fingers in slow tempo and began to sing.
"Reunited and it feels so good…"
Under Pressure
The distant sound of the Mystic Falls clock tower striking midnight preceded the multiple sounds of engines descending upon the sleepy town. It was the headlights that shone brightly on him that stirred Luke awake, causing him to nearly topple over while leaning on the Mystic Falls Welcome sign. As he regained his balance, he rubbed his eyes and yawned, clearing the sleepy haze from his consciousness. He noted a car, a pickup truck and a person on a motorcycle slowing their descent. As soon as all the vehicles stopped, multiple people, Elena being the first, got out and began to approach him. He couldn't help but feel somewhat uncomfortable, as though he was a Salem witch caught up in the clutches of an angry Puritan mob.
"Where's Liv?" Elena asked, looking around.
"Wow! No—'Hey! Thanks for coming out in the middle of the night on such short notice to meet with us. Yeah, we know it's a bit of a drive and that we've been pestering you non-stop about this, but really, thanks for coming out!'— words of greeting?" Luke asked, unimpressed.
Elena sighed and shot him a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry Luke. We do appreciate you coming out. But there's been a new development and we need that spell brought down, ASAP! Have you and Liv figured anything out yet?"
"No. Why? What's happened?"
"There's been some people disappearing in town, "Stefan said. "We think it might be supernaturally related. So we need a solution and we need one now!"
"Why do you think it's supernaturally related, these disappearances?" Luke asked.
Elena glanced at Stefan and the others, silently agreeing that they didn't want Luke to know too much about what Matt had seen. "We—we just have a hunch. So have you got anything?"
Luke shifted uncomfortably in his place. "I'm sorry, but Liv and I have looked over old grimoires, we've asked the eldest in our covens about Traveler magic, we've asked nearby covens as well and nobody knows anything that could help bring that spell down."
Elena turned around in frustration, rubbing her hand against her forehead. She briefly looked up and saw Abby.
"What about any dark magic?" Elena asked, turning around to face Luke. "Do you or your coven know anything about that?"
"Elena!" Abby cried.
"I'm sorry, Abby, but we're out of options and out of time," Elena pleaded. "You said that Traveler magic might run along the same avenues as black magic. That might be our only way to affect this spell and bring it down!"
Abby shook her head and looked away, a mixture of disapproval and displeasure painted across her face.
Alaric noted her irritation and spoke up. "She's right. We have no other options."
Abby looked back at Elena and then turned away, resigned to knowing that her voice was not going to dissuade anyone.
"So what about it, Luke? What about using black magic or something like Expression to bring the spell down?" Elena asked.
"Expression?! Oh, sure…good luck finding a practitioner who isn't dead or exiled by the witching community to come and do that for you," Luke replied. "Because those two fates have awaited any witch stupid enough to follow in Silas' footsteps!"
"If not Expression, then something else," Stefan said, "because we think it might be Silas himself who is wandering around Mystic Falls, kidnapping people and feeding on them. If it is him, then he has to be stopped!"
"Look, I want to help, I really do," Luke said, throwing his hands up in resignation. "But I don't practice that kind of magic. Neither does Liv. And we're not going to start now. And I don't know of anyone who—" It was for a split second at most, the pause in his speech, as if he suddenly remembered someone, but he finished his sentence hoping that no one had noticed. "—might know anything that dark."
The pause did not go unnoticed.
"Wait, Luke. Do you know anyone?" Elena interrogated.
"No—no! I don't, I—"
Istas vamp sped to Luke, grabbed him by the front of his jacket and lifted him off the ground with one arm. In a tone that wasn't threatening or aggressive in the slightest, as though she were merely asking him for directions, Istas calmly spoke to Luke. "Let me ask you something, pretty boy. You're an intelligent young man, aren't you? And you realize that it's very difficult to walk without knees?"
Abby stepped forward to interfere but was waved off by Alaric. Everyone else nervously stood by as they watched Luke dangle in the air by Istas' hand.
"My—*gak*—my former—teacher—she—she might—know—"
Istas had heard enough and dropped Luke, who crumpled to the ground. He stayed on all fours for a few seconds, his coughing and panting joining the nighttime choir of sounds, from crickets chirping to small rodents foraging in the grass and shrubs, to a nearby owl hooting before flying off into the night. The others stood by silently, unsure whether to help Luke up or leave him as he was.
Luke finally stood up and glared at Istas, then at Elena and then Caroline. "Well, it's nice to know the Bully Club has inducted a new member! Can't tell you how happy that makes me!"
Caroline and Elena guiltily looked away while Istas crossed her arms and grinned. Elena finally stepped forward to talk to Luke. "We're really sorry, Luke. But we're desperate now. If there's people missing in Mystic Falls, we can't just stand idly by and do nothing. This former teacher of yours…do you think she could help?"
Luke dusted himself off and gave Elena a glance of both sympathy and annoyance. "I don't know. She's been in Europe for the past five years. She's one of our coven's most versatile witches, and specializes in the study of ancient magic so she might know something. Emphasis on the word 'might!' I'm not promising anything."
"That's okay. That's—that's fine," Elena replied smiling, sensing that they had pushed Luke as far as he was willing to go. "Whatever you can do."
Luke straightened his jacket and pulled out his cell phone. "Hopefully, she hasn't left town yet." He walked away from the group, dialing Nisha's number.
"So what do we do in the meantime?" asked Caroline. "Are we just going to sit here and wait outside of town?"
"Jeremy and I can go into town and start investigating," Matt said. "See if we can find out who or what is causing these disappearances and find out if it is Silas and Bonnie. Maybe we can help free Bonnie from his control."
A look of worry appeared on Elena's face. "I'm fine with you going into town and investigating, but I don't like you trying to save Bonnie on your own."
"Hey! I can handle it," Jeremy retorted, stepping forward. "I am a Hunter after all!"
"Not inside there you're not!" Elena argued. "You lose your Hunter powers the second you cross that border. And that means losing your ability to keep Silas out of your head. We have no idea what powers he still has. If he has the power to control other people, you two are going to be seriously outnumbered!"
"She's right, Jer," said Alaric. "You shouldn't try to engage Silas until we can come in and help you."
"I said I can handle it! Who knows if Luke's teacher can even help us? Matt and I are the only ones who can go into Mystic Falls and do something about Silas, right now! You guys can't! You have to trust me."
Alaric and Elena exchanged knowing glances at each other.
"We don't, Jer," replied Alaric. "You haven't given us a reason to."
Jeremy shook his head in disappointment and disbelief. "Okay, you know what? Both of you can go and f—"
"We'll stick to investigating," interjected Matt while placing his hand on Jeremy's shoulder, sensing the oncoming atmosphere of hostility. "We'll call up Tyler too and see what we can find out. We'll keep a low profile and won't engage Silas, we promise."
Alaric glared at Jeremy, and then looked at Matt and nodded his approval. "Let us know the instant you discover something about what's going on."
"Go and see my mom while you're at it," said Caroline. "She might have discovered something new as well."
Matt nodded and he and Jeremy headed towards Matt's truck. They almost made it until they heard Istas pointing out something in the distance within Mystic Falls.
"Hey! Do you guys know those three coming up the road?" Istas asked, pointing out two women and a man walking towards their group.
For a time, the trio walked within the shade of the trees so that they looked almost indistinguishable from the shadows the trees were casting. As soon as the trio stepped out from the shadows and into bright moonlight, approaching ever closer to them all at the border, the group stood in collective disbelief.
"Damon!?" Elena gasped.