To Fight or Not To Fight
Stefan shivered as sweat dripped down his face, his breathing becoming ever more laboured as he remained kneeling beside Damon, his arms tied to a beam that Damon haphazardly fashioned from a tree limb to prevent Stefan from taking off his Ambrosia ring and sparing himself the burden of struggling to keep his dark side at bay.
Both were near the town border in another part of Mystic Falls. Damon looked up at the night sky, chuckling under his breath and rubbing his hands while looking at the Traveler spell.
"Soon, brother. Soon we'll be out of here. Free to unleash war. Free to unleash death. Free to reshape this world in our image. Not that we've been waiting for that long, mind you. But I suppose to humans, two thousand years is a long time. But we see time as one unceasing moment."
Stefan struggled to stay upright as the weight of the beam across his back threatened to smash him face first into the ground. He eyes kept rolling back into his head while his torso swayed, eerily looking like he was being crucified.
"Vampires don't feel the effects of time either," Damon said, kneeling in front of Stefan, stroking his face while he re-positioned Stefan's gaze to fall on him. "You're soooo much like us. I can't tell you how proud that makes us. Especially you, brother. Especially you!"
With two hands, Damon grabbed both sides of Stefan's face, pulling the skin back like a child does when playing with their parents face, trying to get the face to look warped to achieve a comical effect. With his thumbs, Damon pushed open Stefan's droopy eyes, forcing them to look at him.
"Are you fighting, Stefan? Of course you are. It's what you've always done, isn't it? And perhaps you'd expect me to tell you not to fight, but to give in. Is that what you'd expect me to say, since I've always been the bad brother? Since I've always been the incorrigible brother? I know what you'd say to me. Perhaps some encouraging, inspirational nonsense to get me to never give up! But I'll play big brother for a bit and tell you to keep fighting. Keep fighting, Stefan! Keep fighting the effects of that ring!"
Damon touched his forehead to Stefan's and closed his eyes. Stefan's nostrils were inundated with the strange smell coming off of Damon. Being that close, Stefan could make out the skin on Damon's face. It looked like stone—lifeless and cold, as though Damon was desiccating before his very eyes.
"D-D-Damon!" Stefan barely whispered.
Damon's eyes shuttered open. He pulled his head back, narrowing his eyes with a snarl appearing on his lips.
"Keep fighting, Stefan. FIGHT!" Damon angrily sputtered, spraying spittle over Stefan's face. "Fight because eventually you'll grow tired and exhaust all your strength and you'll give in, like you've always done…Ripper! Like a pendulum that never stops swinging, yours is a pattern that is soooo easy to predict. For as much as you've tried to hold back our servant, the Ripper, from rearing his homicidal head, your efforts have only made your repeated falls from grace all that more glorious. Trust us, we know all too well what it's like to fall from such lofty heights!"
Stefan's eyes started to wander away from Damon. Damon violently shook Stefan's head to refocus his attention.
"But you can't fight forever, even though you've tried! Did you learn nothing from me little brother? Hmm? It's better to give in, like I did. Give in and live without conflict. Peace! Peace and prosperity. That's what you get when you give in—when you accept the hand you've been dealt and accept yourself for who you are. And you are the Ripper. Look at me, brother. I have it all. I have Elena, immortality, power. We have it all! And what do you have? What did aaaaaaaall your resisting get you?"
Stefan's eyes blinked rapidly as they became muddled with tears. He wanted to answer with something noble, like he had his dignity or his honour or something like that. Something that would just shove it in Damon's face and silence him once and for all. But his voice wasn't working. His mind went blank.
He pondered Damon's question. It hadn't been the first time he thought of that problem. In fact, he probably thought about that more times than he cared to admit. And each and every time, he didn't have an answer. Not then and not now. He didn't know why he kept fighting…only that he felt he had to.
Stefan's eyes once again began to wander away from Damon. Damon pushed back on Stefan's face, stretching it back so hard that Stefan could feel parts of his skin ripping apart.
"Get…get it over with, Damon! Go ahead…and tell me to turn it off! To turn off…my…humanity and let…the Ripper out," Stefan seethed as he scowled at Damon. "Because…*ugh*…because I will fight. I will keep—"
"YESSSSSS! FIGHT!" hissed Damon. "Because it's not about turning off your humanity anymore, little bro! Been there, done that! No, it's about ending this pathetic cycle once and for all. Turning off your humanity is only a temporary fix. Eventually, you'll turn it back on, because of someone or something insipid like love. You'll feel guilty, you'll be forgiven, and then you'll go on your merry way. And one day you'll turn it off, because of some other doleful excuse. Over and over and over and over and over and over—"
Damon's head kept circling around so much that Stefan honestly thought he was going to twist it right off.
"—and over and over and over again…ENOUGH!" Damon exclaimed, his piercing blue eyes wide and resolute. He touched the Ambrosia Ring on Stefan's finger, caressed it before sliding his hand back onto Stefan's face. "It's ironic that you put on that ring to save Elena, because it will be the death of you. Not 'you,' but the Stefan Salvatore that always keeps fighting—that is always overwhelmed by guilt and remorse—that lets his humanity get in the way of being the Ripper. With this ring, you won't just turn off your humanity. Your humanity will ultimately die!"
Damon let go of Stefan's face and chuckled as he stood up, watching Stefan's head fall forward onto his chest. "Once and for all, the cycle will end. There will be no switch to turn your humanity on, because there will be no humanity left. Oddly enough, Stefan, we have no desire to overtake you. We'd much rather play alongside the Ripper. It would be our honour to play with our precious child. So keep fighting that ring. And when you've lost all your strength…we'll show you the way, the truth and the life!"
Damon turned his attention to the approach of Bonnie and the man who had crawled out of the pentagram.
"Well, if that isn't just a coinkidink!" Damon said, smiling upon seeing him.
"Isn't it though?" Bonnie replied. "We also have another recruit in Vicki Donovan. She's out catching up with her little brother."
Damon laughed as he patted Stefan on his head. "Siblings! Always a delight!"
He turned his attention to the man, walking up to him, looking him in the eyes. "I thought you were looking for redemption."
The man smiled and smirked at the same time. "This was…easier!"
Damon laughed as he patted the werewolf on the shoulder.
Bonnie glared down at Stefan, a slight grin appearing on her face as she observed him continuing to struggle. "You brought Stefan here. What about the other doppelganger?"
"Well, let's just say that Hero Boy here had to go and sacrifice himself while getting the damsel out of harm's way. But—" Damon reached into his pocket and pulled out the bloody handkerchief, "—I do have a sample of Elena's blood."
"That's it?!" Bonnie said, incredulous. She snatched the handkerchief out of Damon's hand and scrutinized it. "The Travelers had a bucket full of doppelganger blood. What the hell am I to do with this? We have two spells to do, not just one!"
Damon snatched back the handkerchief and glowered at Bonnie. "Well, maybe a witch with more talent could do more with so little."
"Are you seriously trying to make me jealous of that blonde bimbo? I think your host is starting to cloud your perspective."
"No more than your host's limitations are clouding yours! You have enough to do the two spells. So stop complaining and let's do this!"
Bonnie sneered as she recaptured the handkerchief. She walked over to Stefan and muttered something under her breath. Suddenly, Stefan's palm sliced open and began dripping blood. Bonnie soaked the handkerchief in Stefan's blood until it was completely red and then ripped the handkerchief in two.
"Let's begin, shall we?"
Brutality
Matt shivered as he cradled his bloody arm. Light headed and cold, Matt stared out into the night as the scenery flashed by him in a blur. He honestly didn't know if he was awake or asleep.
"Stay with me, Matt!" ordered Jeremy as he put more pressure on the gas pedal. The compact car had some kick to it which Jeremy rather liked.
"I think I need to see a doctor, Jer," Matt said, slurring his words. "My arm's really hurting. Maybe it's infected."
"I'll get you across the border and we'll see Elena or Caroline. Their blood will heal you. Just hang on!"
Jeremy slowed down to turn a corner. The streets were lifeless save for a few stragglers, who appeared to be running in one direction down the street that Jeremy had just turned onto. A small crowd had gathered up ahead, seemingly blocking off half the street.
As Jeremy drove closer, some of the people slowly appeared in his headlights, signalling him to move over. But in between them, Jeremy could see something lying in the middle of the road—several things lying, in fact.
Some people were standing around, pointing and shaking their heads, seemingly discussing the objects on the ground. A couple of people were kneeling by the objects, while others turned away. Both Jeremy and Matt could hear the faint sounds of sirens seemingly growing louder, coming to their location.
As Jeremy slowed down, he could make out the objects as four bodies. Three were lying along the side walk with one spread out between the sidewalk and the road. The onlookers were blocking his view, so Jeremy couldn't exactly make out who the bodies might belong to. But what he did see made him gasp and stop the car momentarily.
Two of the bodies had large gashes in the side of their necks. One appeared to have a large chunk of her shoulder ripped out, while the last one—the one lying on the road—had his head detached from his body.
"My God!" Jeremy exclaimed in a whisper.
Matt snapped out of his pain induced funk and craned his neck to look out of Jeremy's window. "D-did Vicki do that?"
Jeremy sped up past the scene as the ambulance and police cars rapidly rolled up behind him.
"I don't know, Matt."
Jeremy gripped the steering wheel as he pressed on the gas. He gritted his teeth as he seemingly was driving with more purpose than before.
"H-How is this happening, Jer? Vicki. What happened to her? Was she—"
Matt leaned his head back and breathed in deeply. The pain of his arm broke his concentration. His entire arm felt hot and yet numb at the same time. He shook his head to clear the waves of pain that kept lapping against his mind.
"She got sucked into a void, the last time I saw her. Over on the Other Side. And now, she's like this?"
Matt stared up at the car ceiling, a tear running down the side of his face. He couldn't be sure if it was from the pain of his arm or the pain of seeing Vicki as she was.
"Her eyes," Matt mumbled. "They weren't even vampire eyes. They were like something else. Something…alien."
"I don't even know if that was really her. At this point, I don't know what to believe anymore," replied Jeremy.
"First Bonnie…and now Vicki. It's got to be something to do with the Other Side going away. That's the only connection. They had to have gone somewhere else. Somewhere really bad if they came back like this."
"We don't know for sure that it's them!"
"Who could it be then? Damon, Bonnie and Vicki…they all acted like they knew us. They knew details about us."
"That doesn't mean anything!" snapped Jeremy. "Besides, Damon is still acting as his usual, dickish self. So it's not like we can say that it's truly Bizarro world right now."
Thinking about Vicki and the way she looked and how she was attacking Matt, it reminded Jeremy of when she first became a vampire and how uncontrollable she was, going so far as to attack Elena. It was Damon who turned her. For no reason at all, other than because he felt like it. Jeremy gripped and twisted at the wheel.
"Whether it is or it isn't them, they're not being subtle about their feeding anymore. They're not bothering to hide their tracks. They don't care!"
He reached into his pocket and pressed the speed dial and put the phone on speaker.
"Hello?" answered Tyler on the other end.
"Ty, forget the car. We're going to need a bus. Maybe a couple of buses. Can you arrange to get us something like that?"
"Buses?! What…you think I'm tight with the manager at the local Greyhound or something? How am I going to get a bus?!"
Jeremy shook his head and pursed his lips. "Never mind. You've given me an idea though. But do something else for me. Get on the Internet and see what you can find about the Other Side and anything about after worlds for supernatural creatures. Anything at all, no matter how bizarre."
"Uh…okay? Wouldn't Alaric be a better person to research this?"
"We're going to need Alaric and Elena and all of them to help us evacuate the town. So get a hold of them and tell them to meet us at the border," Jeremy said. He looked over at Matt and glanced at his arm. "We're also going to need their vampire blood ASAP!"
"What? Okay, what the hell is going on, Jer? Evacuating the town and needing vampire blood?"
"I can't explain now. Just…just do it, Tyler! Once I get a bus we'll swing by to pick you up."
Tyler's sigh could be heard loud and clear. He agreed and then hung up the phone.
"We're evacuating the town?" Matt asked, sounding as though he wasn't sure if he had dreamt Jeremy saying that or if he actually heard him say it.
"We don't have a choice anymore," Jeremy said, staunch and stoic, like a general realizing he has to make a strategic retreat in the heat of war. "They're going to massacre this entire town if we don't get these people out here!"
Break the Walls Down
Damon knelt on one knee before Bonnie. Closing his eyes and bowing his head in reverence with a slight smirk on his face, he waited as Bonnie held one half of the bloody handkerchief on her palm, holding it up as though it she were sacrificing it to her gods. With her own eyes closed, she murmured a spell under her breath. Despite turbulent winds suddenly picking up, the handkerchief never blew off her palm. When she finished, she opened her eyes and folded the handkerchief repeatedly until it was a small red square.
Damon smiled as he opened his mouth and allowed Bonnie to place the square on his tongue. He closed his mouth and summoned copious amounts of saliva to drench the handkerchief, attempting to wash out all the doppelganger blood soaked into it. Bit by bit, he swallowed the combined elixir.
Bonnie slapped him hard across the face. "Don't suck all of it out! I need some for the second spell."
Damon spat out the handkerchief as a soft pink, drenched square onto the ground. "There! Left some," he snarled.
Bonnie held up the other half of the blood soaked handkerchief. Closing her eyes, she began muttering under her breath the spell to undo the magic of the Traveler spell.
"Zapet parvit ezol ehmit onklet etun… zapet parvit ezol ehmit onklet etun… zapet parvit ezol ehmit onklet etun… zapet parvit ezol ehmit onklet etun… zapet parvit ezol ehmit onklet etun—"
The handkerchief slowly began to rise into the air. Once again, the wind picked up considerably and yet the handkerchief's trajectory was not affected. It continued to rise straight up directly above Bonnie.
"Zapet parvit ezol ehmit onklet etun…ZAPET Parvit ezol ehmit onklet etun…ZAPET PARVIT ezol ehmit onklet etun…ZAPET PARVIT EZOL EHMIT onklet etun…ZAPET PARVIT EZOL ONKLET ETUN…ZAPET PARVIT EZOL ONKLET ETUN… ZAPET PARVIT EZOL ONKLET ETUN…. ZAPET PARVIT EZOL ONKLET ETUN… ZAPET PARVIT EZOL ONKLET ETUN—"
Bonnies raised both hands as she continued to shout out the Traveler incantation. The handkerchief stopped floating upwards and stayed in place. The blood in the handkerchief suddenly began to dislodge from the fabric, particle by particle, and began to spread out into the air. The particles themselves broke apart into even smaller particles to the point that the blood turned into a light mist, like a cloud hovering in the air.
Bonnie looked at the half of the handkerchief that Damon had just spit out and levitated it into the air. The remaining blood left on there too began to dislodge and become a mist, joining the cloud of blood suspended in the air.
"ZAPET PARVIT EZOL ONKLET ETUN!"
The blood cloud glowed like neon dust before dispersing completely into the atmosphere. Bonnie lowered her arms and her eyes ceased to glow. Both she and Damon looked around and into the night sky.
"Impressive! Doppelganger blood is incredibly potent, especially when they are combined," Bonnie said.
"I don't see the wall anymore," Damon said.
"Nor do I," Bonnie replied.
"Then it's done. We're free!"
Damon grinned before looking at the town border. He vamp-sped towards the border…and was immediately knocked semi-unconscious when he ran into Luke's boundary spell, knocking him backwards and tumbling onto the ground.
"NO!" Bonnie exclaimed as she walked up to the border and stared at the salt line that indicated the boundary spell limits.
Damon blinked and shook his head, clearing the cobwebs as he slowly got up. "What the hell is that?"
"A sad attempt at a failsafe, that's what!"
Bonnie lifted her left hand towards the salt. "Merabas Hic Libatal, Confremun Signas. Omus Quisa Tentum Exalis, Merabas Hic Libatal. Confremun Signas. Omus Quisa Tentum Exalis."
The salt didn't move and the boundary spell did not come down.
Bonnie screamed into the air as her demonic eyes blazed with a fury hotter than a nuclear explosion.
"Who could they have gotten to do this?" Damon asked as he stood beside Bonnie.
"There is only one witch who could be powerful enough to erect a spell strong enough to resist me."
"Goldilocks! Well, let's play the Three Bears and rip her apart, shall we?" Damon said as he began marching away from Bonnie.
"Wait! We can't kill her."
"Why not? Killing her will bring the spell down!"
"Not exactly. She's blonde but she's not stupid. I seriously doubt killing her would bring the boundary spell down. That would be too easy. Besides, if she used the power of the Red Dragon grimoire to do this, then we're going to need that grimoire to bring it down. Or—"
Bonnie glanced at Stefan and remained pensive.
"—or we stack the deck even further in our favour," she continued. "Doppelganger blood could be the ace we need."
Damon marched back to Bonnie and glowered at her. "YOU have the power, do you not? Why do we need that book or doppelganger blood to overcome a book devised by our former Master?"
"You stupid moron! None of us know what he put in that book except him and his chosen few, of which we are not among! We need something else in our favour."
Damon turned away in disgust and paced back and forth. He looked at Stefan, who was continuing to struggle, and then looked at their new werewolf cohort. Damon looked at him and then smiled, with the man smiling in return.
"Well then! Perhaps that 'something' is to swell our ranks. We just need to convince young Miss Parker to cooperate. And what better way than taking a page out of John Milton's book and hurt the ones she loves the most."
Damon walked up to the man and put his hand on his shoulder. "Love! Such a splendid thing!"
"Looks like I arrived just in time then, eh?"
The voice of an Englishman startled them. As the originator of the voice approached them, Damon cocked his head to the side in astonishment.
"Enzo?"
"The one and only!"
Dressed in a black overcoat, grey dress shirt, black slacks and shoes and his black hair slicked back, Enzo appeared as normal as he ever did when Damon last saw him on the Other Side. His skin and texture were flawless and alive. Damon walked up to him and grabbed his face.
"You accepted the Kingdom!" Damon said with astonishment as he peered into Enzo's eyes. "The Kingdom is in you—perfectly in you!"
Enzo smiled and patted Damon on the cheek. "It's amazing how unimaginable suffering will cause a person to plead to a higher power for relief. Thanks to you, mate! And I did. And only one side answered!"
"And yet you never said anything."
"Why would I? You lot wouldn't have believed me anyways. Besides, there wasn't a point to it, until now."
"So if you're with the Kingdom, why are you here?" Bonnie asked suspiciously. "We mean to bring the Kingdom down."
"That's the reason, luv! The Sovereignty's crusade has been the talk of the Kingdom. And while many side with the Master, some can see the vision that you have. A vision that, if realized, will bring a Renaissance that the Master has never promised and would never boldly pursue. It's a vision of Paradise that is very…appealing."
Bonnie and Damon smiled at each other.
"So our sympathizers within the Kingdom are increasing?" Bonnie asked.
"Enough that the Master is getting nervous," Enzo responded. "But then again, you are outnumbered two to one!"
Bonnie looked skyward as she noted the other obstacle in their way. "Odds are meant to be beaten! We will not be denied."
"But we will be delayed," Valene said as she and Vicki approached the group. Both of their mouths were smeared with human blood.
"Vicki Donovan! Well, if this isn't just a parade of my greatest hits!" Damon said, jubilantly.
Vicki seductively walked up to Damon and passionately kissed him. Damon ran his tongue around her lips, lapping up the half-dried blood left on there.
"Not the greeting we were expecting," Damon said as he broke off the kiss.
"Things change," Vicki said, smirking.
"Sometimes not for the better," Valene interjected. "Why don't you tell them of your failure with Vicki's little brother?"
Vicki let out an exasperated sigh. "That wasn't our fault. We were interrupted."
"She failed to kill Matt Donovan," Valene reported.
"My precious virgin conquest, Jeremy Gilbert, interfered. He's gotten quite tenacious since the last time we saw him."
Damon pushed Vicki away. "As I said…siblings!"
"So where are they now?" Bonnie asked, impatiently.
"We don't know. We…needed to feed. Matt and Jeremy got away."
Bonnie turned and looked towards Mystic Falls. "Jeremy IS becoming tenacious. He will attempt to warn others. That little snip never knew what was good for him! And now with the Traveler spell gone, his Hunter powers will return. Knowing him and Matt Donovan, they're probably going to try and evacuate the town, and employ his idiot sister and Alaric and all of them to do it. We need to act fast."
She turned back and looked at Vicki and Valene. "You…take Stefan back to the mansion. We have plans for him. Enzo? You will take our new recruit and test out his werewolf powers on Tyler Lockwood. I'm sure young Lockwood will be more inclined to join our side if family is involved. Perhaps that will help turn Liv's sympathies and then she can be kind enough to bring down the boundary spell."
"Recruit Tyler Lockwood? What for?" asked Enzo. "He's human now, isn't he? He bloody can't do squat for us."
"True, he's human…for now," Damon mused. "Before you go, perhaps you'd do well to visit a friend of his in the hospital. Amazing how word gets around in this quiet little town. Everyone is always in everyone else's business! I assume you have a phone?"
Enzo pulled one out of his pocket and handed it to Damon. Damon searched and finally found the information he was looking for. "It seems Tyler's anger management issues led to a rather nasty confrontation. That's who you'll be looking for. It would be a real tragedy if his adversary was to ultimately succumb to his injuries, no?"
Enzo grinned as he took back the phone from Damon.
Damon walked over to Stefan and knelt down in front of him. "And as for you, little brother, we have the length of eternity to wait for you to lose the war to that ring. And when the Ripper emerges, he is going to get hungry, as will the rest of us. And since Little Gilbert is going to need some…official…help in getting people out of town, perhaps it's time to say 'hello' to an old friend and perhaps see if we can get even more to hop onto Team Damon!"
He kissed Stefan on the forehead before Vicki and Valene took him away while Enzo and the werewolf headed for the hospital.
Standing beside each other, watching their crew walk off, Damon telepathically talked with Bonnie so as not to let Enzo hear them. "Are we really going to take Enzo into our confidence? Rather interesting timing that he should show up right now. He is of the Kingdom after all."
"Trust but verify," Bonnie responded. She stretched out her arm and a screech owl flew in from the darkness of the night and landed on it. She stared into the owl's eyes, with both her and the owl's eyes glowing in unison. The owl flew off in the direction of Lockwood mansion.
"That's taken care of. I'll go and see about the gateway and see if the Traveler spell being brought down has affected it at all," Bonnie said, walking away.
"And I'll go see about taming a wild cougar," Damon said, snickering as he headed towards the Sheriff's office.
The Haunting
Tyler yawned as he stretched out his arms above his head, his eyes burning from staring at the laptop screen for the two hours. Clinking link after link after link that led to websites that purported to explain other realms in the afterlife other than the Other Side itself, all of them ultimately led to ridiculous theories, none seemingly rooted in fact. Some were of religious cults and sects—alien conspiracies—some spoke of prison worlds where the same day repeated itself over and over again—one spoke of a world created by a psychic who thought himself the devil—all them made of ridiculous and nonsensical material. The entire exercise was proving to be far more boring and tedious than anything he did while at Whitmore College.
He glanced at the time in the lower right hand corner of his laptop screen and sighed. The empty mug of what was his third cup of coffee somehow did not signal how long Tyler had been at the research assignment handed to him by Jeremy. Tyler gulped the last bit of coffee left at the bottom of his mug and swivelled in his chair. Once his chair came to a full stop, he leaned back and let out another sigh. He sat staring at the ceiling for a moment, wondering why he was even putting in such an effort into Jeremy's request.
Jeremy didn't explain what had happened, or why he suddenly needed to know about what was beyond the Other Side. The news of Damon and Bonnie wandering around Mystic Falls while the Traveler spell was up was certainly unnerving, as was their encounter with another vampire. But something new obviously happened, enough that it prompted Jeremy and Matt to suddenly ask him to secure them a bus and decide they'd evacuate Mystic Falls altogether.
Tyler resented the fact that he had to be confined to the house, forcing him to miss all the action that Matt and Jeremy were obviously experiencing. While telling Alaric on the phone about Jeremy's plans and all that had happened, it only drove the point home how much out of the action Tyler had really been missing.
It's not anything new though, is it?
Once again, he felt left out—isolated from the group and from what everyone else was doing. Alaric, Caroline and Elena were outside of Mystic Falls, while Matt and Jeremy were inside doing their thing. Even Bonnie and Damon, despite whatever was wrong with them, were doing it together. And here he was, alone in a mansion, doing research all by himself.
Tyler stared at the floor for a moment, caught up in the echoing silence and all that it represented. He glanced at his coffee mug and thought about refilling it. He paused and contemplated getting something stronger, something with more kick to it. He gave a soft laugh as his mind zeroed in on Liv's gin and tonic that she had served him at Whitmore. A happy smile appeared on his face as Liv's face flashed in his mind, with a warmth coursing through his entire body. He thought back to the last time he saw her, in the bar talking with that woman while holding a weird looking book. He felt giddy, excited, and alive. He looked at the clock on his laptop again and wondered if it was perhaps too late in the evening to give her a ring.
She's probably busy though.
Or maybe she wasn't. Frustration started fizzing up inside of Tyler like a fermented drink, threatening to just explode if some of the pressure wasn't released. He didn't want to be alone in this. He looked at the computer screen again and saw one final link on the search page that he wanted to try. Realizing that he didn't know how long he might be talking to Liv, if she indeed was free to talk, he thought it better to check out that one last link before calling her up.
Maybe she can help me out with this Other Side research. She is a witch after all. That's as good a reason as any for why I'm calling her at this late hour.
Tyler smiled again at coming up with a reasonable excuse to give her a call, as well as at the thought of talking to her again. He turned back to his laptop and clicked on the last link on the page.
The page was completely black and empty save for a small message at the center of the screen, in red:
THE OTHER SIDE CLOAKS THE TRUE POWER OF THE UNIVERSE
Tyler ran his pointer over the text and realized that it was another link. He clicked it and the message was replaced by another:
HAPPINESS LIES BEYOND THE OTHER SIDE
He again ran his pointer over the text and clicked on it, with the message again being replaced by a new one:
THE OTHER SIDE IS THE PATH TO EXCRUCIATING BLISS
Tyler sighed as he hit the back button on his browser, realizing that he was simply going to be met with a different message each time he clicked on the text. However, when he hit the back button, the message didn't go back to the previous one, but instead was replaced by a brand new one:
DEATH IS POWERLESS BEYOND THE OTHER SIDE
Tyler hit the back button again, and again a new message appeared:
THE ABYSS IS THE NEW HEAVEN
Tyler kept clicking the back button but was not returned to the search page but was greeted with a new message each time. He then opened up the history tab on his browser, only to see each line that should have shown each website he had recently visited be replaced with lines similar to the ones that he had just read:
TARTARUS HAS PUNCTURED THE OTHER SIDE
THE ABYSS IS THE NEW BLISS
SALVATION LIES IN TARTARUS
He closed the history tab and opened a new window while closing the current one, trying to start his search anew. But the new window was black and empty like before with a message in red in the middle of the screen:
FROM THE ABYSS WITH LUST, RICHARD AND CAROL LOCKWOOD
He remained stupefied for a moment as he read the message on the screen. His body went cold and his hand remained numb on the mouse as he continued to stare at the message. He shook his head and blinked rapidly, recovering from the shock of what he had read. He closed the window and the browser and opened up his anti-virus program.
"Stupid anti-virus—it's supposed to stop these damn pages from infecting my laptop," Tyler muttered to himself.
The anti-virus program opened and Tyler clicked the button to 'scan drive' to scan his laptop. The program started scanning and Tyler got up to go to the kitchen and get another cup of coffee.
However, the computer immediately beeped to signal that the anti-virus program had finished its scan.
"What the hell?" Tyler said, turning around to look at his laptop. "It couldn't have scanned the entire drive that fast."
He sat down again and clicked on the link within the program to see the results of the scan. A new message appeared:
FROM THE ABYSS WITH LUST, RICHARD AND CAROL LOCKWOOD
Tyler jumped up out of his chair, his mouth left agape as his heart began to beat a little faster than before. He kept staring at the message, unsure if what he was seeing was actually real or not. Tyler stood back, almost afraid to even approach his laptop as though he would provoke it or something, as though it were somehow alive. He forcefully grabbed the mouse and closed the anti-virus program and decided to re-boot his laptop. He pressed the power button…but to no effect. The laptop did not shut off. Suddenly, a new window appeared by itself. It was all black and empty save for a message in red in the middle:
FROM THE ABYSS WITH LUST, RICHARD AND CAROL LOCKWOOD
Tyler frantically pressed the power button but the laptop would not shut off.
"Damn it!" Tyler muttered. Two streams of thoughts were running concurrently through Tyler's mind. On the one stream, he figured it was a really bad virus that he had downloaded from that site and he simply needed to flush it out with an anti-virus USB stick. Either that or a hacker had somehow hacked into his laptop and had taken control. However this stream of thought was one he was forcibly trying to focus on so as to rationally explain what was going on and to calm his mind to avoid accepting the other stream.
The other stream was one that he wouldn't let take full form. For all of his encounters with the supernatural and the most vile and cruelest personalities in the history of the world like those found in the Mikaelson family, Tyler figured there was nothing that could scare him anymore. No ghost or poltergeist, no vampire or werewolf, no witch or warlock could rattle his nerves since he had faced them all. Hell, he was once a mixture of two of the most frightening supernatural creatures ever.
And yet, his nerves were being rattled—shaken like a snow globe with his confidence and courage dispersing everywhere but where he needed them most. He wanted to believe it was a mere virus or a hacker, since that would be something 'normal'—something that he could face in a normal way in his normal, human form. But Jeremy and Matt's story of their truck being destroyed by a vampire who, by rights, should not exist in Mystic Falls and the same anomalous existence of Damon and Bonnie served to throw Tyler's sense of normality into disarray.
He slammed the laptop closed and grabbed his mug again. He marched into the kitchen and poured himself another cup of coffee.
I'll have to find that anti-virus USB stick. Or maybe Liv can bring over her own laptop. It's another reason to give her a call.
Once again trying to immerse himself in the stream of thoughts that returned his world to normal, Tyler returned to his laptop. Suddenly, the laptop flew open by itself and multiple windows started opening up on the screen, all of them with black backgrounds and red letters displaying the same message:
FROM THE ABYSS WITH LUST, RICHARD AND CAROL LOCKWOOD
Tyler dropped the coffee mug, which shattered as a curtain of hot mocha liquid spread itself onto the floor. The second stream of thought started to take over in his head, causing his heart to beat faster and his skin to tingle along his arms and neck and his hands to go numb.
Abruptly, the multiple windows disappeared and the entire screen went black. Music started playing from the laptop, a tune that Tyler wasn't sure if he had heard before. It sounded very old, perhaps from the 1950's, with scratching and popping sounds typical of a sound recording from that era. The music sounded both upbeat yet sluggish, like a Disney tune that had been slowed down.
Children have you ever met the Boogeyman before?
No, of course you haven't for you're much too good I'm sure.
Don't you be afraid of him if he should visit you.
He's a great big coward so I'll tell you what to do.
Hush, hush, hush…here comes the Boogeyman!
Tyler rushed over and to close his laptop, but the laptop slid away on its own to the other side of the table out of Tyler's reach. The song continued playing to the end, with a buoyant and jovial DJ that sounded from the same era coming on at the end of the song:
"And that was 'Hush, Hush, Hush, Here comes the Boogeyman' by Henry Hill, by special request for a special listener—Tyler Lockwood! Tyler, your mom and dad send their love from Hell! And here's another song by request for Tyler Lockwood, from his friends in his hybrid pack who he left to brutally die at the hands of Klaus Mikaelson!"
A low hum started coming out of the laptop speakers. It wasn't a tune as much as it was just a low hum, like a radio signal coming from outer space. The hum was interrupted infrequently by cymbals clashing. There was no rhythm to it.
A voice suddenly interrupted the chaotic duel between the cymbals and the hum. It was a low voice, almost whispering. At first, Tyler couldn't hear it, but the voice got louder and louder.
"You—are—nothing—to—me!"
It was Klaus' voice. It was the very last thing Klaus had said to him when he last saw him in New Orleans. The moment flashed in Tyler's mind, after a one-on-one fight with Klaus, he had lost and Klaus had spared Tyler his life only because he felt Tyler would suffer more alive than he would dead.
Indignant rage began replacing the fear that had paralyzed Tyler up until that moment. The feeling in his hands returned and he began to clench his fists, grating his teeth as he continued to hear Klaus' voice repeat itself over the strange noise.
However, the buildup of rage was interrupted by a new stimulus. The laptop screen began flashing before it finally displayed an image which appeared to be a video. It was black and white, grainy with no audio to it. Tyler could make out a naked man on all fours, seemingly howling like a wolf beside a woman sitting in a chair. The woman was dressed in what looked like a big and fluffy wedding dress.
As Tyler got closer to see the laptop, he made out that it was actually his dad and mom that were in the video. His mom remained seated in the chair with his dad on all fours beside her like the family dog. A shadow appeared behind Carol. It was undefined at first but then it took the shape of a man dressed in black. He crept up closer to Carol, with something that appeared long and sharp in his hand. When the man's appearance finally became clear, Tyler recognized him as Klaus. Klaus' eyes were transformed into his hybrid eyes, his werewolf teeth visibly present as Klaus grinned while he gently caressed Carol's face. Carol looked lovingly up at him before turning her head away, seemingly offering her neck to Klaus. But instead of biting her, Klaus took the object in his hand—that Tyler recognized as the indestructible white oak stake— and plunged into Carol's chest.
Tyler stood horrified and stammered as he watched Klaus repeatedly stab his mother in her chest. However, it was more Carol's reaction that lined the scene with a thread of repugnancy. His mom started thrashing around, but Tyler couldn't honestly tell if she was in pain or in ecstasy as she seemed to be orgasming with each stab of the stake into her chest. There was no audio to confirm either way since that disturbing harmony of the hum and cymbals and Klaus' voice kept playing over and over again.
With the last stab, Carol finally stopped moving, her lifeless eyes left wide open with a disquieting smile left on her face. Klaus pulled the bloody stake out of her chest and threw it to Tyler's dad. Richard Lockwood excitedly licked and chewed at the stake like a dog finally receiving a spare bone from his master's table. The video zoomed in on Klaus who stood laughing and pointing, seemingly at Tyler himself.
With a fury unlike anything he had ever experienced before, beyond anything his werewolf gene could ever conjure up, Tyler grabbed the largest piece of the broken mug off the floor and beamed it at the laptop, knocking it off the table. It fell to the floor, dotted with the remnants of the coffee still in the mug, the screen cracked but the eerie sound kept playing on. Tyler rushed over to the other side of the table and stomped on the laptop, finally picking it up and ripping the screen apart from the keyboard, bringing an end to the sound.
Heaving in deeply, wiping tears of anger and grief from his eyes, his adrenaline and heartbeat quickly coming down from the tornado of rage and fear that he had just experienced, Tyler was startled to hear the creepy hum and cymbals sound coming from his living room. He rushed over to see the video playing on the big, flat screen TV. The video was playing from the beginning, with the 'music' playing louder than before.
Tyler didn't wait to see the video repeat itself. He rushed over to the fireplace and grabbed an iron poker, returned to the living room and hurled the poker like a javelin, punching a huge hole in the middle of the TV, bringing both the video and the sound to an end.
Someone began knocking on the front doors of the mansion. Tyler flinched at the sudden, unexpected rapping. The knocking was polite and casual at first, but soon turned into a violent banging, with someone seemingly bent on entering the house as they were aggressively struggling with the front door knob.
Tyler went and pulled the iron poker from out of the TV and slowly approached the front door. He tried to see who or what it was that was trying to get into the house by looking out through the windows, but the background of the night made it difficult to make anything out. The doorbell suddenly started ringing incessantly. The barrage of different chaotic noises bombarding Tyler's ears started turning whatever fear and anxiety he was feeling into anger and irritation. Somehow, he knew there was someone messing with him for the sake of messing with him. They were trying to scare him and he made the decision then and there that he wasn't going to play along anymore.
As he got closer to the doors, he raised the iron poker, ready to strike whatever it was that lay beyond the door. The double doors flew open, a huge gust of wind invading the house that almost sent Tyler stumbling back. He turned his face away, holding up his arm up to protect his eyes from the blustery onslaught. When he lowered his arm, he saw nothing at the front door.
"C'MON!" Tyler shouted at his invisible enemy. "ENOUGH WITH THE CHEAP HORROR TRICKS! COME OUT AND FACE ME!"
The wind died down and Tyler's challenge was met with silence. He paced back and forth around the open front doors, turning and gripping the poker in his hand, seething and anxious, listening for any sound that would point to the whereabouts of his guest because he knew that it wasn't over. Someone or something had come to visit and they weren't putting on a sound and light show for nothing.
When he figured there was nothing more happening at the entrance to the mansion, Tyler went back into the dining room to investigate. Once he turned the corner, a huge, black grizzly claw grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground. Bug-eyed and stunned, Tyler flailed the poker around but his arm was immediately brought under control by the monstrous black shape, shaking lose the poker from Tyler's grip. As Tyler focused his eyes on the black shape, he could see two vicious glowing golden eyes with a red center and black slit in the middle. The shape was growling and snarling at him while holding him up, finally carrying Tyler over to the entrance where the double doors remained opened.
The shape flung him through the open doors and onto the front lawn. Tyler's body easily cleared ten yards. Crashing and tumbling across the lawn, Tyler finally stopped, coughing and trying not to think about the pain flashing throughout his body. He looked up at his attacker standing at the entrance of his mansion and lay dumbfounded as the entirety of the monster came into view. The beast looked similar to Hugh Jackman's werewolf monster in the Van Helsing movie, standing at what Tyler figured was easily eight feet tall, covered from head to toe with black fur, with two massive hands with equally impressive claws at the end of each finger. The mouth jutted out like that of a normal wolf, with two white, long, gleaming incisors dripping saliva, like a rabid dog salivating at its first meal in days.
"Impressive, isn't it?" said a voice from above Tyler's head. Tyler was so taken with the monstrous werewolf that he didn't notice Enzo standing over him. Tyler frantically sat up, shocked to see Enzo of all people standing in Mystic Falls, considering he was a vampire that shouldn't be able to exist within the town.
"Listen man," Enzo said, crouching down and looking pensively at Tyler. "We need to talk."