They pulled up on a dirt road to a large, dilapidated mansion with distressed white paint and falling shutters. The girls followed Caroline, Phylicia pausing momentarily to look over her shoulders straight toward the clearing. Damon pulled Elena to him and they watched as the teenager turned back to the group and entered the house.
"Do you think she saw us," Elena asked.
"No, but that doesn't mean she doesn't know we're here," he squinted his eyes and cast out his senses. "Can you hear them?"
Elena opened up her ears to hear what was going on inside the house.
The moment the girls were inside the house they felt an almost tangible connection to the building. The calls started out as whispers, gradually increasing in volume as they ventured deeper into the home. The cousins shared a glance. "I hear it too," Denny shared with her cousins.
Caroline was pleasantly surprised when there was no agonizing pain. Apparently the witches were okay with her being there or she would know differently. Before Damon had made it his mission to bring down Klaus the spirits had rejected him from this space, something of a holy site as it was the location where a hundred witches had been burned at the stake. Watching the girls, she looked for any signs that they were actually witches but they were acting completely normal as they moved from room to room, asking questions about the house.
Denny stood behind Caroline and threw her hands up while the blonde still had her back turned to her. "Okay," the teen witch said when the blonde froze, "anybody have any idea what's going on here? This place is packing some serious mojo."
"There are a lot of spirits here," Phyl responded. "And they're all talking at the same time. It's hard to differentiate between them."
"Have you gotten any premonitions off the place," her twin asked.
"I haven't really tried, all though I definitely got a weird feeling outside; it was like we were being watched." Moving over to an old oil lamp she place a hand on it and called up a premonition.
A hauntingly beautiful man with pitch black hair and crystal blue eyes stood in the house with another man with dirty blond hair and strong jawline. "Alright, Klaus has 6 siblings. Rebekah is now with Klaus. There was one dead kid in the old world, one dead kid in the new world, which leaves Elijah and two others. Three sleeping originals, four coffins. So who is in the locked box?"
"No idea. But whatever is in here, Bonnie seems to think that it will help us kill Klaus. So the sooner she can get this open, the sooner we will know if she's right," the James Dean knockoff replied.
"Oh, you'd think spirits from a band of dead witches that can make the coffins invisible would have figured out how to open one. Fine, don't help," he bit at spirits he couldn't see.
"You know that none of this is gonna do any good if Klaus's hybrid friend find our hiding place, right? They need to go away."
"Oh yeah, great idea Stefan. Why don't you ask them just to pack their bag and take a long rest while we are on it. How about to keep the peace? Don't attend to the real thing we are trying to hide," his words dripping with sarcasm.
"Well I'm not gonna play defense when I have what Klaus wants. He does what I say or I drop his family to the bottom of the ocean."
"And he kills you and everyone you know like, I don't know... me!"
"No, he is bluffing. His family means more than anything else."
"You're sure about that?"
"Well I don't know Damon. I mean, I guess there's only one way to find out, right? Call Klaus's bluff."
"The only way to know if someone bluffs, Stefan, is to be ready to loose everything if you're wrong," Damon reminded his brother.
"What did you see?"
Phylicia turned to her sister with a concerned look. "This is sacred space. The spirits are witches who were killed here. They showed me two brothers who were hiding four coffins here from someone names Klaus, who they were trying to kill or get rid of or I don't know. There was talk about originals and hybrids but nothing concrete."
"The spirits didn't say what they want us to do?" Denny looked back at their guide to make sure she was still frozen. Phyl shook her head and Payton gave Denny the okay. Holding up one hand the enchantment was removed and Caroline began talking exactly where she had left off.
Damon and Elena shared confused looks. The girls were definitely witches but how did they know about Klaus? Groaning, Damon let out a curse before pulling out his phone.
"What's the matter," she asked as he waited for the person on the other line to pick up.
"One of them sees the future; they were talking about premonitions, which means it is very possible that they know about us or could know about us in the near future." Hearing someone greet him over the speaker, he turned his attention back to his phone. "Brother," he returned the greeting, "I think it's time for a reunion. The rest of the gang is already here. Meet us at the Boarding house," and ended the call.
"What do we do now?"
"Now we wait until we can get Caroline away from those little witches. It's time to call a meeting."
Sheriff Forbes hung up her phone and turn her desktop off before leaving the office for the day. The council had pretty much gone extinct as the hope for a vampire free community died with the realization that at least one of each of the founding families was a supernatural being. Their families were becoming much more tolerant and as such a new council had formed with a different mission; to ensure that the supernatural residents of the town were held accountable for their actions or face the consequences. Unfortunately that also meant enforcing the Hybrids laws. Klaus might be in love with her daughter but Liz knew that wouldn't protect either of them if Klaus found there were witches in his hometown.
Making her way to the Boarding House, Liz saw she was the last one to show up and took a seat next to Caroline. "Okay, so what do you know," the police officer got down to business when they heard a door open and close. A modern day James Dean walked in and smiled.
"What'd I miss," he asked, before being assaulted by hugs.
The girls returned to the witch house around 11:30 that night after making sure they weren't being followed. Caroline had offered to hang out with them the next day and help them do research in the local library and they had agreed, telling her they would head back to their hotel and meet her the next day at noon.
Going into the trunk, Payton retrieved a duffle bag and slung it over her shoulder. Entering the house, they found the old melted candles flickered life into the wick all by itself, flame springing forth with no aid from them. They descended the stairs down into what would be the basement, setting up their supplies and forming a circle as they knelt on the ground. Holding hands, they called upon the spirits to send someone forward and tell them what they needed to do.
"Hear our plea; hear our cry, spirit from the other side. Come to me, I summon thee; cross now the great divide," and the vision of a young girl arose from the light of the candle.
"Blessed be," she greeted with a sad smile. "My name is Bonnie."
