Chapter 13: Unfinished Business
AN: Alright, I know I've kept you all waiting, but a little over two months is not bad compared to a year. I hope you guys find this chapter worth the wait. In other news, we have reached over 10,000 views! Unfortunately, it was not at the end of April like I had hoped, we were 439 views short. But you know what, we've reached over 10,000 views so thank you! I hope you all enjoy chapter 13, I have several future chapters in the works so you shouldn't have to wait too long for updates, but I've said that before and now I'm saying it again. Sorry, you know, Life. Chapter 14 is proving to be difficult to write, but chapter 15 is nearly done so maybe if there are a few more reviews, even to just say that you want more, I'll do a double post next time. I posted this chapter the moment it was done as I was so thrilled to be done with it. Alright, remember to please review! Enjoy!
Also, side note. "A." = Talking. 'B' = Character thoughts. C= text messages.
x-TPOD-x
"You guys, I just had the best idea!" Caroline gasped as she grabbed the orange juice out of the fridge. It was 10am and everyone had finally dragged themselves out of bed at the smell of bacon being cooked and since then everyone was helping fix up breakfast.
"Well you know what they say, there's a first time for everything." Damon chuckled from where he stood leaning against the counter, a mug of hot blood in his hands. The pointed looks he received did nothing to wipe the smirk off his face.
"What's your idea Caroline?" Sara asked as she paused in her task of mixing pancake batter.
"We should make mimosas!" Caroline squealed as she put the jug of OJ on the counter and jumped up and down. "I'll go grab us a bottle of champagne!" she said before quickly dashing off to the basement to search one, not giving anyone a chance to voice their opinion on making the alcoholic breakfast beverage.
"Okay, she is way to perky this morning." Elena grumbled from where she sat at the table, waiting for her coffee to kick in. Wasn't one of the perks of being a vampire meaning that you no longer had to deal with hangovers? God, she couldn't remember the last time she'd been this hungover. Human or vampire.
"Okay, did you all used to drink this much before I showed up or is this just because of recent events?" Sara asked as she went back to mixing batter. There had never not been alcohol around this group since she met them.
"About the same really. No more, no less." Stefan said as he handed a blood bag to Elena.
"Well, I can certainly say that I haven't indulged in this much alcohol in years." Sara said with a shake of her head. Not that she was complaining, despite the danger hanging over them she was having one of the best times of her life. She couldn't remember ever having so much fun that really meant something to her. She knew she would always look back at this time with such fondness. True, happy memories were being made here.
"And once again Damon has corrupted yet another innocent doppelgänger." Katherine sneered as she came into the kitchen, making a bee line for the coffee pot. She was the only one not helping with breakfast.
Sara snorted. "Please, I was corrupted a long, long time ago." She said with a roll of her eyes.
"Yeah and if you think anyone here is possibly going to believe that I corrupted you, keep dreaming Kat." Damon scoffed. It was technically the other way around, Damon had been such a good boy before getting involved with the older vampire doppelganger. His human-self had been the complete opposite compared to his vampire-self, but times were different back then.
"Hey Sara, what's better; booze now or then?" Jeremy asked as he jammed a piece of bacon into his mouth.
Bonnie slapped him for talking with his mouth full. "What kind of stupid question is that? Of all the questions you could ask her and you wanna know about the progression of booze?" she snapped.
"Well it's not like things haven't changed or did you forget about a little thing called Prohibition, Bonnie!" Jeremy snapped backed. God, he was getting so sick of their bickering. It was like Bonnie wanted to pick a fight over every little thing.
"Ah, prohibition." Damon chimed. "Fun times, a lot of underground drinking. New York was fun." He said, trying to diffuse the tension between the two. It was too early for him to deal with their squabbling. Why the hell they were just putting off the obvious was beyond him. It was clear that their romantic relationship was over. Dead and six feet under.
"Chicago was better." Stefan and Katherine said in unison. Everyone looked at them like each of them had grown another head, except for Damon who glared at Katherine.
"You two were in Chicago together?" Sara asked, this sounded like a seriously messy back story.
"Yeah, except in the 20's we thought Katherine was still sealed away in the tomb, but she was free as a bird." Stefan informed the Striga as he glared at Katherine. The way she had played them still stung when he thought about it, but he had Elena and Damon had Sara and that was all that mattered.
Huh, it was funny when he thought about it. Katherine had a relationship with them both, used them and they would later go on to fall in love with women who looked like her, but were better in every other way. They were both finally happy and Katherine was alone and as bitchy and miserable as ever. Stefan had to keep from laughing out loud as he mentally patted himself on the back.
"Ah yes, the whole 'let's pretend to be locked away in a tomb for 145 years, but still stock my ex-boyfriend from time to time' plan." Sara said with a nod before turning her attention to Katherine. "I'm gonna let you in on a little secret, Katherine. No guy falls the clingy, crazy stalker ex-girlfriend plan, Sweetie." She said with a mock smile causing Katherine to glare at Sara while the others laughed.
Damon laughed as he came to stand behind Sara, wrapping an arm around her waist. "Damn, that was good." He laughed. "Marry me?"
Sara looked back at him with an eyebrow raised. "Okay." She said with a shrug, looking away as she poured batter onto the griddle.
"Oh my god!" Shouted Caroline from down stairs before she came rushing back into the kitchen. "Damon! You don't joke about a marriage proposal!" she shrieked. "How could you do that to poor Sara!" she snapped as she gave Sara a pitiful yet apologetic look before fixing Damon with a glare. The man could be so inconsiderate sometimes it was painful.
"Caroline, it's fine." Sara laughed. "I found it rather funny and I knew he was joking." She smirked as she looked back at Damon who rolled his eyes at the blonde vampire. She knew he hadn't been serious, that was why she had responded the way she did. If Damon ever did propose and she seriously hoped that he would someday, she knew it wouldn't have been in the kitchen surrounded by their friends while they all cooked breakfast. At least she hoped not.
"Seriously, Caroline?" Damon sneered. "Do you think that I'm that much of a condescending ass? When I propose to Sara, it sure as hell won't be when any of you are around." He snapped. Now it was Damon's turn to be looked at like he had grown a second head. "What?" he asked as everyone stared at him. They had all picked up on that one little word that had made his entire statement mean something so much more. Instead of saying 'If' he had said 'When,' meaning he eventually did plan on asking Sara to marry him.
Breaking the silence, Bonnie cleared her throat. "So Caroline, where's that champagne?" she asked, changing the subject. She couldn't be the only one who was beginning to feel uncomfortable.
"What?" Caroline asked. "Oh, right." She said as she snapped out of her shocked stupor, shaking her head. "I was going to grab a bottle, but someone broke a bottle of wine and there's glass everywhere." She stated, as she looked around at everyone. "Who broke a bottle of wine last night and didn't bother to pick it up?" she snapped as she looked at her friends accusingly. She knew it hadn't been her and she was damn sure it hadn't been Sara or Damon seeing as they had gone to be bed long before they had stopped their trips back and forth to the basement. Who had been the last one to go down there last night?
"Who dared to commit alcohol abuse?" Sara laughed before making her way down to the basement to grab the champagne herself, handing pancake duty over to Damon. She found Caroline's accusations rather hysterical. The blonde vampire tended to blow things out of proportion and it was very entertaining. While everyone squirmed upstairs trying to remember who could've done it, Sara had located the mess. It just happened to be located right beside where a bottle of champagne resided in the rack. Sara shook her head as she grabbed the bottle, thinking Caroline could've at least brought it upstairs when the label from the shattered bottle caught her eye. Sara's eyes widened. "Who the hell broke a bottle of my Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Grand Cru?!" she shouted and everyone upstairs jumped. Someone had broken one of the bottles from Sara's French wine stock. Sinjin had only brought five bottles with him from France and they had opened two of them last night, while Sara had still been down stairs of course.
Damon paused in his task of pancake flipping and gave everyone an accusatory look. "Alright, which one of you miscreants did it?!" he whispered in a harsh tone, pointing a finger at everyone. Someone was going to die and better he did it before a pissed off Striga got a hold of whoever it was. When the basement door slammed shut everyone jumped once more.
"We're all gonna die." Matt said with a shudder, wondering on wither or not he should run through the back door. Would it even make a difference?
"Not if she can't find us." Jeremy said as he ducked underneath the table.
"Seriously, Jeremy! Hiding under the table!" Bonnie hissed.
"Shhhhh! Bonnie!" Jeremy growled. "She'll hear you and find me!" he whined.
"Oh my god, I can't." Bonnie groaned as she shook her head, placing it into her hands. How had she put up with Jeremy's childish behavior all this time?
"Dude, you're a hunter!" Matt shouted. He couldn't believe that his friend was acting like a scared child when it came to the immortal woman, but had no problem when it came to throwing shade at vampires.
"And she's a pissed off, immortal creature that can suck the life out of me in two seconds flat!" Jeremy's voice had gone up two octaves.
"Good point." Matt agreed with a nod. "Move over!" he said as he joined Jeremy underneath the table.
"Oh please." Katherine said with a roll of her eyes. "She's not that scary."
Caroline gasped as she stared at Katherine. "It was you!" she shouted as she pointed a finger at the older brunette vampire.
"What happened to innocent until proven guilty?" Katherine sneered as she glared at Caroline.
Damon snorted. "But you're not innocent."
"Shut up, Damon!" Katherine growled as she glared at Damon.
"Maybe we should leave?" Elena whispered to Stefan. The tension in the kitchen this morning was off the charts.
"Only if we want the kitchen to burn down." Stefan said before dashing over to the stove and turning off burners, the sausages and eggs they had been waiting on were now ruined. "Damon, check those pancakes." He warned.
"They're fine, Stefan." Damon said as he went back to flipping. Damon Salvatore didn't burn pancakes. Stefan was the one who was supposed to be overseeing the stove top.
"Jeremy! Matt! Get out from under the table!" Sara demanded as she came back into the kitchen, placing the bottle of champagne onto the counter. For a woman wearing only her balck silk negligee and matching robe with her hair tousled from sleep, she looked intimidating and sexy as hell storming into the kitchen like that. At least, according to Damon she did.
"How'd she find us?" Jeremy whispered.
"We can see you." Caroline muttered as she rolled of her eyes in agitation.
"Who broke a bottle of my wine?" Sara asked as she glared at everyone. Everyone looked around at one another unsure of who did it, except for Katherine who would look anywhere, but at Sara.
"So it was you!" Caroline screeched as she once again stared and pointed at Katherine.
"So what if I did, huh? It's not like it's as big of a deal as, oh say, Stefan feeding off Sara and becoming her mindless slave." Katherine said as she grinned, a look of triumph on her face. Originally she had planned on trying to get Elena on her own to talk to her, but this worked just as nice.
"What?!" Everyone shouted. Well, everyone except for Sara, Stefan and Damon that is.
"You did what?!" Elena shouted as she stared at her boyfriend with a look that Stefan couldn't determine if it was of shock or anger. Shanger? Angock? Nah, he liked shanger better.
"If you don't kill her, I will." Stefan said as he looked over at Sara before glaring at Katherine.
"Stefan! Why the hell would you feed off Sara? And Sara, what does she mean about Stefan being your mindless slave?" Caroline asked as she looked back and forth between the two supernatural creatures in question. Soon the kitchen erupted in shouts as everyone yelled at either Stefan, Sara or Katherine on what was going on.
"Shut up all of you!" Sara shouted, trying to get everyone to calm down and be quiet. When everyone finally quieted down did she start back up. "Now, will you allow for Stefan and I to explain?" she asked, calmly. She knew they should've told them all what had happened yesterday when they got back to the boarding house, but she'd been so lost in her own thoughts due to finding that chalice to even think about fixing Stefan's new blood slave status.
She was met with a glaring nod from Elena, a smirk from Katherine, and questioning nods from everyone else while Damon squeezed her shoulders in support. He was here for her, for his brother too, and would help smooth things over the best he could. If that meant digging the hole to put Katherine's body in, then so be it. "Thank you." She said before filling them all in on what happened back at the house yesterday.
Stefan also spoke and gave his experience on everything and while he had been angry with Sara at first, he had been more confused than anything. When Sara had filled him in on what was happening and why, he forgave her because she had saved him from the Travelers and from himself. It was the safest way for them to get out of there without Sara losing her control while knowing that if he was to go into full blown Ripper mode, she'd be able to stop him with a single command. It was the safest thing for everyone involved and it had been easily reversed.
"So, you guys shouldn't be angry with Sara. She did the right thing, plus she didn't exactly want to do it. It was the quickest way to save me and had she not done it, who knows what would have happened. The bastard had come back down to torture me some more and quite frankly that was painful enough the first time, I don't know how well I would've endured a second." Stefan said as he looked around at his friends before his gaze fell on Elena. He hoped she would understand and not fall into Katherine's obvious plan of turning everyone against the Striga. He still didn't understand what Katherine's issue was with her.
Elena looked from Stefan to Sara and sighed. As mad as she wanted to be with the woman who looked like her, she also wanted to throw herself at her feet and worship her for saving her boyfriend from these people that wish them all harm. "How can you be so sure that Stefan's in control now?" she asked, looking at Sara skeptically. "How do I know that you're not still controlling him and he's just telling us what you told him to say?"
"My blood's addictive properties disappear when death occurs in vampires or in your case, a simple snap of the neck." Sara stated. "I've given you no reason not to trust me during the time we've spent together, but if you don't believe me, perhaps you'd like to experience it for yourself?" Sara offered.
Elena wanted to be angry and skeptical of what she was saying, but Sara did have a point when saying she'd done nothing to sway their trust in her. She had forgiven her for the whole Jeremy kidnaping incident and Sara had been nothing, but a friend to them all since bringing him back. Katherine on the other hand couldn't be trusted for as far as you could throw her. Still, Elena didn't like the idea of becoming some mindless slave even just for a moment. She had always been afraid that she'd become a ripper like Stefan, what would happen if she were to become under Sara's control?
"Sara, you did this because you knew how he'd react and you knew how to get rid of it, right?" Bonnie asked. This was all very fascinating. She wanted to know more of what the Striga could do, but at the same time she was afraid to ask. She felt that she should be angry with the woman for what she had done, but Bonnie had done things in the past that she knew she shouldn't have in order to save those she cared about. She understood why Sara had did what she did.
"Stefan was not the first vampire that I had ever infected." Sara informed them. "I knew what I was doing. I'm am sorry, but at the time and under the given circumstances, it was the only way." She said as she gazed at everyone with an apologetic look before it turned to an icy glare as her eyes landed on Katherine. The woman was starting to get on her last nerves.
Elena nodded, forgiving the Striga before she glared at Stefan. "How could you not tell me?" she hissed. She'd yet to forgive him.
Stefan looked like a deer caught in the headlights as Elena turned her wrath onto him. "I was going to. I wasn't sure what was going on last night till Sara and I talked. When I came to after Damon snapped my neck I had planned on letting you know. I…"
"Wait a minute! Damon knew too!" Elena shouted before glaring at the raven-haired vampire.
"Thanks a lot, Stefan." Damon growled. "Yeah, Elena I knew." He snapped. "I found out last night when I over-heard them talking. I get why you're mad Elena. I was angry too, but it made sense. Sara apologized and Stefan forgave her. She knew none of us were going to like what she had done if we found out, but she did it anyway to save him. We had no idea where they were and we trusted Sara then to protect Stefan from the Travelers and she did just that!" Damon said as he defended his girl, his arm wrapped protectively around the Striga's waist.
"Look Elena, if I had had any other option I would have taken it. But they planned for this! These people know what I am and knew that Stefan was a danger to my control otherwise they wouldn't have locked us up together. They knew I wouldn't do anything to Stefan if I could help it. Why do you think that they didn't come after you as well when they want you for the same reason they want Stefan and they just left you locked inside the car?" Sara pointed out.
Everyone realized that Sara had just answered the question they had all been asking themselves as they had tried to come up with a plan. Why take Sara, but not Elena? It wasn't a case of mistaken identity because they never snapped Sara's neck, they knew who and what she was from the beginning and went after her anyway. This strange Master didn't want Sara; he had told the Striga herself that much. It was the Traveler's themselves that had wanted her. The reason for why was still unknown to everyone, but Katherine who wasn't going to fill them in anytime soon.
"Why did they take you Sara?" Caroline asked.
"I don't know. They weren't exactly forthcoming with any information when we came too and by the time we got out of there, I wasn't exactly in the mood for asking questions." Sara said with a shake of her head. "I still don't really understand what they did to me to cause me to pass out either." She was still really pissed about that.
"Well then. Sara, I… uh…I forgive you." Elena said. She wasn't angry anymore, confused and maybe still a little bitter about the whole thing, but Sara seemed apologetic. Elena didn't think that she would have offered her blood without fear of getting caught, so she decided to forgive the immortal creature. She had saved her boyfriend, returned him to normal (with Damon's help) and apologized for the extreme measures she had taken.
"What? Elena, are you insane?!" Katherine shouted.
"And here we go again." Jeremy groaned before he crawled back underneath the table. This wasn't going to end well; he just knew it. He was still nursing quite a terrible hangover himself and wanted no part in any of this.
"Katherine, I know this isn't the first time you've heard this, but here me out. What the hell is wrong with you?!" Elena shouted. It was now time for the two of them to fight it out it seemed.
"Well, I'm just gonna go…." Sara said as she made her way out of the kitchen. "Maybe if I'm not present you guys can get them to calm down faster." Referring to the argument between the two doppelgangers who were currently yelling at one another.
"Easy for you to say." Bonnie muttered. "Can't you just, you know, compel them? Make them stop fighting?" she asked sweetly, but the look on Bonnie's face showed that she was joking.
"I think we've had enough of my controlling abilities in the last 24 hours." Sara laughed as she walked out of the kitchen, leaving the two bickering doppelgangers to the others.
"Katherine, how did you know about all this anyway?" Caroline sneered as she advanced on the woman. She was tired of the brunette's attitude. With Caroline's question, everyone else also turned their attention to Katherine, allowing Sara to leave the kitchen.
"Were you spying on us last night?" Stefan accused as he too turned on the older vampire.
"Well…I…Uh…" Katherine stuttered as she tried to put some distance between them and her.
"So it was you in the basement! You broke the bottle of wine!" Caroline shouted. The sound of everyone groaning the blonde vampire's name was the last thing Sara heard coming from the kitchen as she made her way to another room in the boarding house.
x-TOPD-x
As the other's interrogated Katherine, Sara found herself in the room where they had placed all the items they had taken from the house the Traveler's had set up in. As Sara looked through some of the boxes, she realized that the Travelers must've been in town for longer than they realized if they had time to transport all this stuff and set up the makeshift cells in the basement. And what about those vents in the walls? Had they installed those as well or had the house already have them? 'Who the hell installed vents like those into a residential home?' Sara shook her head at the thoughts that came to mind. On second thought, she didn't want to know.
Sara had hoped that by sorting through some of the papers she would find out what the Travelers wanted with the doppelgangers. Unfortunately, all she found was information already known about doppelgangers. "God damn it!" she growled in frustration. "How the hell are we supposed to find out what they want if no one knows?!" She was beginning to wonder if the travelers even knew what this Master of theirs had planned in the first place. No doubt they were just following blind orders.
'Find the doppelgangers. Observe them. Capture Stefan, but not Katherine or Elena. What was the point?' she thought as she recalled everything that had already happened. 'Why did the travelers want me when their master made it clear that he did not? Why does nothing make sense?!' Sara was tired of feeling so useless. She was the one who was supposed to have all the answers and yet she was in the dark just as much as the rest of them.
No one should have been this good at hiding from her or her sources, no one that hadn't been around for a long time that is. Was this new enemy, perhaps someone very old then? It seemed fitting. First they had dealt with Katherine coming back, she was over 500 years old and good at lying low. Then came Klaus and his family was about 1,000 years old and were quite good at covering their tracks and starting up in new areas. After them was Silas, Amara and Qetsiyah and they were over 2,000 years old, but they all had to be brought back of some sort. Silas had been revived, Amara as well and Qetsiyah, well she brought herself back from the Other Side when she saw the chance to. God, wouldn't she love a chance to talk to that bitch. Going off the timeline of enemy age, did that mean that this new enemy was even older than them? Older than her? Sara didn't think it possible, she was supposed to be the oldest living creature on the planet now, wasn't she?
Sara slammed her fists down on the table in anger and frustration, causing a few items to topple over and off the table. "Shit." Sara muttered as she picked up fallen papers, relics and a couple of the smaller boxes. "What a mess." Sara said as she scolded herself. She forgot how strong she could be when angered. God forbid her creature side came out, no telling what she'd do then what with her shitty control as of late. She didn't have as great superior strength as a vampire did, but it was still stronger than the average human's. She didn't have to rely on strength as much as she did everything else, though she knew how to fight off enemies by means of physical combat. She often relied on her ability of compulsion to get out of sticky situations. At least those she couldn't talk her way through. Ripping out hearts also came in handy that way too.
Sara placed the fallen items back on the table. What did the travelers intend to use all this stuff for, anyway? Certain items like the spear she had seen came to mind. What could that do? And then she thought about her chalice. How on earth had they found that? Sara quickly located the box that held the chest that the chalice resided within. It had been the only item that had been kept separately from everything else. Whatever they wanted it for, it had to be important. She removed the chest, setting it on top of the table and opened it. As old as it was, the chalice was still in decent shape. Not as pretty as it used to be, but for Sara, she still saw the shiny silver cup with sparkling gems. It seemed they only had one from the set, of that though, she was not surprised. This must have been the chalice that she thrown that night, it must have escaped the fire. By that point in the night, she had already been cursed and unaccustomed to her new abilities, unaware of her increased strength. Well, that explained how it had survived the wrath of the flames, but not why the Travelers had it. Well, whatever the reason was they weren't going to get it back. This chalice was rightfully hers and as such, she could do what she wanted with it. With the chalice gripped tightly in her hand, Sara left the room and made her way out to the main living room. As Sara made her way through the boarding house, she noticed that the arguing seemed to have stopped. The smell of breakfast being cooked filled the air as she neared the kitchen.
"Hey Sara! There's some food ready if you want it!" she heard Jeremy call to her. Right now, she couldn't even think about food. Her appetite gone like her good mood from this morning.
"No thank you, Jeremy." She said as she passed by. Despite her mood, she had a sort of soft spot for Jeremy and tried to be as kind to him as possible. She didn't know what it was about the boy that made her maternal instincts kick in, but since the night she had taken him back to her hotel she held a sort of fondness for him.
"Cool, more for me." Jeremy said as he piled his plate high with seconds. "Ow! Damn it, Elena!" he yowled as he rubbed the sore spot on his arm from where Elena had hit him.
"You've had more than your fair share." Elena scolded as she glared at her brother. They may not have all required the need for food, but it was still a luxury that anyone of them refused to give up. Jeremy had already eaten most of what had been prepared and some of the food that had been burned from before. No need to have more go to waste or down the bottomless pit that was Jeremy's mouth. Some of them, those who had been preparing the food, had yet to eat anything.
"Jeremy, you're cut off." Stefan said as he placed the last few pieces of bacon onto a plate. There was enough left for everyone who had yet to eat and that included Sara's portion.
"Oh c'mon!" Jeremy whined. "I'm a growing boy."
"Yeah, and unlike us, you have to watch how much you eat or you'll start growing in a direction you don't want to." Damon said as he moved the extra food away from Jeremy. He then began to set up two plates of food, one for him and one for Sara when she was ready to eat. He knew she'd need food at some point. Breakfast was usually the meal she had the most of, rarely had he seen her eat lunch and dinner, depending on the occasion, was usually 50/50.
"Really, Jeremy. You're already putting on the pounds." Katherine said from where she sat perched on the counter top, cell phone in hand.
Her insult was ignored by the hunter; it was clear that she was still sulking from failing to turn everyone against Sara. Everyone had made it clear that Sara was a friend and was more welcomed here than she was and if she had a problem with it, she could go off on her own and risk being abducted by the Travelers. Unfortunately, this big, bad Master still needed her soul for his plans and she needed to learn all she could about Sara in order to help Nadia put her soul in the Striga's body. So, she was stuck. And speaking of Nadia, Katherine noticed she had several missed calls and a few text messages from the woman. As Katherine went to open some of the messages left from early that morning a new one pinged in.
Please tell me you have the Chalice?! – Nadia
Katherine rolled her eyes at the message. Of course they did. They had cleared out the entire house of all that Traveler mystical mumbo jumbo. She quickly sent off a reply.
Yes. Apparently, it belongs to the Striga's family. She removed it from the house herself. – Katherine
'Stuck up bitch.'She thought as she sent the message. Another message quickly followed.
Do not let anything happen to it! It's IMPORTANT! – Nadia
Why? what does it do? – Katherine
It's the Key. - Nadia
"Sara? Baby, what are you doing?" Damon called, causing Katherine to look up from her phone. She watched as he and some of the others went in the direction the immortal woman had just gone. What was she doing?Katherine quickly hopped of the counter to see for herself, like hell did she think any of these idiots would tell her.
Everyone wandered into the living room, the room still needed to be cleaned up after last night's binge session, to find Sara standing by the fire place. Stefan had made sure that the fire from last night had been properly put out when he went up to bed, so he was certain that Sara must have just started this one. But why? With poker in hand, Sara shifted the logs inside as the flames grew higher and higher, the logs crackled and popped.
"What's with the fire, Sara? It's not that cold in here." Jeremy said. Despite it being early March, the morning weather had been quite warm as of late. They had had a very mild winter and the snow had been gone for weeks. In fact, when he thought about it, the snow had been completely melted by the time Sara had arrived in Mystic Falls.
"Just taking care of some unfinished business." Sara said as she tended to the fire. Fire really had been her way of dealing with any unfinished business lately. Oh, dear. Had she reached her arson phase? Oh, who was she kidding. She'd been setting fires long before this century and she'd still be setting them in the next no doubt. At least this time she wasn't setting the entire house on fire. This chalice should've been destroyed back when her human life had ended, yet it was still around. This thing was a reminder of everything that had gone wrong in her life. Now there would be nothing left that could physically haunt her of her past except for the ghosts that resided within her. No Pelicarpo, no family chalice, no nothing.
She would always be dealing with her inner demons. Most of which she had learned to control and deal with over the centuries, but now it would be a little easier since she would no longer be alone. When all of this was said and done, maybe then she could stop running. She would always wander, staying in one place for too long tended to get boring when you had for all eternity, but now she had friends. At least she hoped she did, should they succeed. Oh for the love of … well no need dragging in some higher power she did not believe in, but for her sanity, let them all make it through this alive.
x-TOPD-x
'What the hell was that supposed to mean?' Katherine wondered as she peered over the others to try and get a better look at what Sara was doing near the fire place. Eh, whatever it was, Katherine doubted that it was important. As she turned to exit the room, it clicked. She looked down at her phone to the open text conversation with Nadia concerning the chalice. Katherine quickly sped to the room with all the items taken from the Travelers and found the chest that was supposed to house the chalice empty. "Shit!" she swore before flashing back to the living room. She appeared next to Sara to see the chalice in the middle of the wood pile. She would've reached down into the fire to save it, but it had started to spark as the silver metal began to glow. The fire wasn't hot enough to start melting the old metal, so she knew it wasn't due to the heat of the flames. Sara could feel a familiar aura being given off as the chalice hissed and crackled louder than the fire itself as the glow it gave off turned into a purplish hue.
"What the hell is going on?" Damon asked as he and the others stepped forward. They too could feel something coming from the fire.
"It's magic." Bonnie stated as she felt its familiar presence wash over her. Oh, how she missed it. If only she could still practice, maybe then she wouldn't feel so useless some times. Being the Anchor was a huge responsibility sure, but she could see why Amara went crazy. If it weren't for her friends she was sure that she too would've lost her sanity and she had only been the Anchor for the last few months, while Amara had been it for over 2,000 years.
"But that's impossible." Sara whispered. She had never known the chalice to contain magic. Yes, her family knew about it, but they had all been human. She only knew of Amara having any connections pertaining to magic, but even she had been human. Amara had run off at a young age to join the Travelers, her family had been poor and she had hoped for a better life that had been promised to her by the group of witches. No doubt she had run off to be with Silas even though he had promised himself to another, posing as Qetsiyah's handmaiden and friend. However, magic itself was not something that had appeared in her family line until later when her familial descendants had settled in Bulgaria around the time of when Katherine's father had been the family patriarch. "This doesn't make sense." She said as the fire cracked, the flames grew and began to lick at the edges of the fire place causing everyone to step back. The magical aura given off intensified and the purple hue of the heated chalice darkened.
Bonnie's eyes widened as the feeling in the pit of her stomach grew. "Everyone get down!" she shouted just as the fireplace exploded, the magical blast knocking everyone that had been in the way to the floor. The entire house shook from the intensity of the magical blast.
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After a few moments, the thick purplish gray smoke cleared from the room, revealing the chaotic mess in the living room. Everyone coughed either due to the smoke or from having the wind knocked out of them. Some furniture had been knocked over due to the magical blast or from someone crashing into in when trying to run for cover. Thankfully, nothing seemed to be ruined and the soot from the fire seemed to have been contained to the fire place. Despite the blast, the room had not been messed up any more than it had been from the previous night.
"It everyone alright?" Stefan coughed from where he had landed. He was amazed that there wasn't a scratch on him. Despite the ringing in his ears, he seemed fine. Even with being knocked to the floor and hearing the sickening crack his head had made when it collided with the hardwood.
"Raise your hand if your dead?" Jeremy shouted as he slowly sat up near one of the chairs that had been knocked over. He was soon overcome with a case of the giggles.
"Some of us are dead, dumbass." Damon grunted as he got up from the other side of the couch. With Bonnie's warning, he had tried to make it to Sara before the blast hit, but he hadn't been successful. He got as far as the couch and was amazed that the blast hadn't knocked it over along with him. He quickly looked himself over to find nothing wrong with him except for a few cuts that were healing quickly.
"What the hell happened?" Caroline shouted as she, Elena and Matt came running in from the kitchen. They had stayed behind to clean up from breakfast instead of going with the others to see what Sara had been up to. They had heard the explosion and felt the house shake from the blast.
"Is everyone okay?" Matt asked as he helped Bonnie up.
"I'm fine. Seems like everyone else is too." She groaned. She was a little sore, but otherwise she'd live. She wasn't sure how long Jeremy had, what with his smart mouth and all.
"Speak for yourself, Bonnie." Grumbled Katherine as she stood from her place against one of the walls. She and Sara had been the closet to the blast and as such, had been sent the farthest. She was fine in the physical sense so no one gave her too much attention. Katherine was just glad that she hadn't landed on the antique hutch beside her. Wood and vampires didn't mix.
"Where's Sara?" Elena asked. Everyone looked around and saw that she was no longer in the room.
"Sara? Baby?" Damon shouted as he looked around. She wasn't on the floor or against one of the walls like Katherine had been. No windows had been broken and as far as he could tell the blast had not extended to outside of the living room. Nothing had been damaged and the room was still very well in tacked despite a few knocked over chairs. So, where was Sara?
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A/N: Okay, that's chapter 13. I hoped you liked it, I tried to offer plenty of comic relief to help break up some of the seriousness. Originally this was going to be longer, but I felt I was able to break it up nicely between the morning events and what takes place next. I'm trying to not overload you guys with too much at once. Please be patient for chapter 14. I'm trying to get it finished, but I don't want to force it because I don't want it to completely suck.
Why was Sara not aware of the chalice's magical properties and why did the Travelers have it in the first place? Now that's gone, does that mean that Nadia's and her Master's plans are now over? And where is Sara? Was she sent farther back than everyone else or is she missing? Could the magic from the chalice be responsible for it?
Be on the lookout for answers in upcoming chapters.