Chapter twelve
Bonnie frowned "I don't know what more you want. I've made Stefan as paranoid as I possibly can about the woman. I've even used magic to do it. He's driven Damon off. She'll leave soon enough."
"Damon hasn't run off. Damon is currently in my brother's basement awaiting a completely different necromantic ritual." Klaus said "Apparently my family has figured something is wrong as well." His tone was sharp and clipped.
"What do you want me to do?" Bonnie asked.
"Perhaps there is nothing left to do." He said looking at her intently."Perhaps it's too much for you to handle and it's just time to let the cat out of the bag."
"No." She said. "I won't do it. It's not time yet. It's not ever time."
"No, it's merely not convenient for you. If my brother's ritual goes off as planned, they will know I am alive and they won't keep it a secret." Klaus said.
"Then I have to stop that ritual." She said. "What will they use Damon for?" Bonnie asked.
"Its necromancy and they are looking for information. I don't know, they'll attempt to use him as a divination tool. Might be blood, might gut him and read his entrails, they might even cut off his hands and use his digits for reading the bones. I don't know. The imagination boggles." Klaus said. "Why the sudden concern."
"I'm not concerned about Damon. I hope they gut him before we get there. He deserves it and more. But Stefan will want to save his brother and make amends. "
"And thus will want to stop the ritual. Very good." He said, and turned to leave.
Stefan stood at the porch looking in Alexandra's door. "I just need to speak with Damon. I need to make things right." He said.
"I've told you once already." Alexandra said. "He isn't here. I haven't seen him since he went to the dance. What happened last night? Why did he call and have me relocated?"
"We had a fight." Stefan said. "I screwed up and he's furious with me. I just need to talk to him."
"No. I need more details than that. " She said. "He called me here to help him get his emotions under control so that he didn't have to leave and lose you again." She told him. "Is that what caused the problem ? The fact that you don't like what I am?"
"I don't even begin to understand what you are." Stefan said. "I just know that Damon isn't acting like himself, and you can enslave the dead."
"You thought I was enslaving Damon why? Because he was acting happy or not dancing attendance on Elena anymore or what? Maybe finding a life outside of the strange little drama you and your friends have created?" She gave him a look and shook her head. "You grew up in the old south. Tell me, did you ever see a slave that was truly happy? "
"No, but they were bound by chains, not their emotions. They weren't held prisoner by blood magic." Stefan told her.
"He's no longer bound to me. Whatever you may think I love your brother. I will tear this town apart to find him and just because I'm the white sheep of the family doesn't mean I don't know how to bring hell raining down on your head. Now you suck it up and tell me what happened last night. Every ugly detail, do you hear me Stefan Salvatore?"
Stefan looked as if he would rather eat razorblades but he told her in detail.
"You left him there defenseless with a known enemy?" Alex asked and stepped through the door way and out to the porch. "You left him there?"
Stefan nodded. "He was trying to kill me… I thought… I don't know what I thought. I don't know why I was pushing so hard to get information. I need to talk to him. " he said running his hands through his hair.
Alexandra slapped him, surprisingly hard enough to turn his head. "You don't know? " She said. "How often have you been in that witch house?" Alex asked.
"I don't know. A dozen times, maybe more. I was there a lot when we were storing the caskets there." Stefan said.
"And are there any other witches than Bonnie that you have been spending time with?" She asked.
Stefan shook his head. "No Just Bonnie but she's one of us. She's Elena's best friend."
"Damon is right about you." She said turning to go back into her house. "For a man with your past you are far too trusting. Start with your blonde friend. The one you left him defenseless against." She said sharply. "I'll do what I can from here."
"Thank you." He said.
"Don't thank me. If we're too late I'll be coming for you." Alexandra paused before closing the door. "Wear a sprig of Rowan somewhere. See if it clears your head any." She closed the door and went back inside. "Do you have any idea how many undead are in this town?" She asked Meredith and Caroline.
"No." Meredith said.
"There is no telling how many the Michaelsen's have called in." Caroline said. "Or made." She couldn't believe what Stefan had done to Damon. "I know you don't like Bonnie, and I get that it's kind of like Vampires and Werewolves not getting along. But I can't believe she would mess with Stefan's head like that. I know she hates Damon… but she loves Elena."
Alexandra clasped the girls shoulder gently. "You're a good friend." She told her. "I just hope it doesn't bite you in the end." She knew it was Bonnie. Not that she had proof but there was simply no one else that it could be. The girl would have noticed the signs of another witch in town and said something if she were blameless. But she couldn't blame Caroline for standing up for her friend. It was an admirable trait.
Damon leaned against the stone wall and rested his arms on his knees. "Well at least I'm not dangling by my wrists from bear traps this time. " He muttered, banging his head lightly against the wall before standing up and beginning to pace. Why had Stefan turned on him like this? He should have expected it. He'd just thought that was behind them.
The door opened and Damon stepped back. "You're Timon." He said, looking the man over.
"And you are Damon. It seems we have something in common." The man said as he stepped closer.
Damon moved away. "Yeah what's that?"
"Alexandra." He said amused by Damon's actions. "I'm not interested in a new pet. Be still. "
"Yeah well, she's not interested in you. You shouldn't go around scaring women if you want to steal their hearts." Damon said. "So what is it you want anyway?"
"I want you and me to come to an understanding." He said stepping closer. This time Damon didn't back away. "It is possible that you will survive tonight."
"Survive what?" He asked.
"That's not important." Timon said. " The point is that if you survive, it's in your best interest to walk away. To simply leave town, leave Alexandra. I have an understanding with her mother. "
"She's arranged for you and Alex?" Damon laughed "You obviously don't know the woman. It won't matter if I leave town, die, suddenly turn into a three legged carnival freak. She wouldn't hook up just to please her mother."
Timon grasped Damon by the throat and pushed him against the wall. Damon could feel his energy leaving his body. It was completely different than when Alexandra fed from him. "Do not mock me, " Timon said, and the words reverberated through him. "Ahh she has been gentle with you. You don't understand what we are." He laughed a little. "Perhaps I will see to your education, vampire."
"I understand enough." Damon said. "Killing me won't make her want you. " His limbs were growing heavy, and he could barely keep his eyes open. He could feel Timon's presence in his head, pressing against his consciousness tightly. He growled lowly fighting to keep his mind his own.
"Want has very little to do with such matters. I suspect that there are things that she will want more than she doesn't want me" He said letting Damon fall to the floor.
"Don't confuse how I feel about her, with how she feels about me." Damon said weakly, as he pushed himself upright and leaned against the wall. "Then again, no one likes their toys stolen. She might just kick your ass."
"The women of our species are weak. " Timon said kneeling down beside him. "I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you."
Damon laughed. "Yeah, okay, you keep believing that. So what are you going to do with me?" he asked. He knew there would be no eleventh hour rescue from his brother. Stefan had left him to Rebecca. With any luck, not that he had much, Meredith would take Alexandra somewhere safe. Somewhere far away. His only hope for coming through this was himself.
Timon smiled slowly. "I'm going to rip you open and read your entrails. But first I'll see to that education as promised."
Jeremy hammered the horse shoe into the fence post. "What do you think is going on?" He asked Matt who was doing the same on the next post. Damon had gone
overboard with his need to protect Alex. He'd ordered enough to cover the entire property.
"I don't know man. I never figured Stefan would abandon his brother like that. Not after what he did to save him from that wolf bite." Matt answered.
"Yeah I know. It doesn't sound like him at all. He drinks vervain every morning, so I know it's not that one of the other vamps compelled him. That doesn't leave a lot of options." Jeremy hammered the last nail in then picked up the bag of horseshoes and moved on to the next fence post.
"Damon was worried about witches obviously." Matt said.
"That's because Emily Bennett was on the property and nearly fried him." Jeremy said. Then he frowned. "But how did she get here? I mean I know she's a ghost and sometimes they can go wherever. But she usually needs something to carry her around. The first time it was the pendant that was supposed to let Katherine out of the tomb." Jeremy said.
"Right… then she possessed Bonnie. But that could be because they are related. A natural connection." Matt said continuing on with the work at hand. "I feel like we ought to be out looking for him."
"Yeah I know but I have no idea where to start. " Jeremy said. "My question is, how did she get into Alex's house?"
"You don't think Bonnie…" Matt said.
"Not intentionally no. " He said "But she didn't give Alaric the blood to finish transition willingly either. " He would never believe she could do that to him willingly. Jeremy just could not accept that.
"okay… so if she possessed Bonnie to come out here while Damon and Alex were out, she could have brought something with her to anchor her to the place. So she could come here whenever she wanted to."
"Which means the only person this will keep out is Bonnie." Jeremy said.
"Well the way she feels about Alex on top of the fact that Emily possesses her that's probably not a bad idea. I like Bonnie an all but we have to be realistic about this."
Jeremy sighed. "You keep hammering. I'm gonna go back to the house and see if I can find the… the… fetter I guess is the word." He was learning. But between school and work time with Alex had been shorter than he would have liked.
"Yeah alright." Matt said nodding.
Jeremy jogged back to the house. "I ahm… think we need to search the house. Look for anything that doesn't belong. I think that's how Emily Bennett was able to get in here. I think she possessed Bonnie to bring her here."
Alex raised an eye brow, "Good thinking." She said. She had been pouring over several maps, modern and old of Mystic Falls. Caroline was tracing the locations of old cemeteries and places of death for her to superimpose over the new map.
"You two keep working on the maps and rowan, Jeremy and I will search for Emily's fetter. Jeremy look for anything you recognize as Bonnie's, I will look for anything I don't recognize. With Emily being a witch it wouldn't have to be anything particular to her. She could have created the bond herself to something new, but she would likely have used something of Bonnie's for convenience." She said quickly as she started searching through the living room.
"I knew Bonnie wouldn't do anything like that on purpose." Caroline said, as she continued working.
Alexandra didn't share her conviction. But then again she didn't even completely trust her mother. It was hard to say if that was because her mother was a manipulative bitch, or if it was because she was a witch. She loved her, but she didn't trust her. Witches believed that they knew what was and was not natural but they could be as blinded by prejudice and rhetoric as any other human being on the planet.
They would find that the personal tragedies that everyone else had to bear were too much, and it was too easy to make things 'right'. She didn't blame them for that. What she blamed them for was the fact that as they grew more powerful they became more arrogant, more judgmental and controlling. She often thought that witches found themselves embroiled in vampire problems because it was nature's way of keeping them from becoming an uncontrollable evil.
It was also why she rarely used the full extent of her own abilities. Some, including her sister thought that it made her weak. Perhaps it did to some degree. She preferred to think that it kept her from becoming like the witches she despised.
Jeremy frowned and entered the bedroom. He felt like a snoop but under the circumstances that was how it was going to have to be. He looked under the bed and dresser. He blushed as he rifled through the drawers, still finding nothing.
He lifted the lid of a jewelry box and sifted through the necklaces inside. These he figured were keepsakes as he had never seen Alex wear any of them and they all looked like antiques or something from a movie set during the civil or revolutionary war. All except for one. It was a simple chain with a simple heart shaped pendant that had been buried beneath all the rest. He could see on the back where some of the electroplate had begun to wear away from resting next to the skin.
"Alex?" he called out taking it with him to the main room where she was sifting through decorative boxes with apparently much the same idea he had. "Is this yours?"
"no." She said coming closer to look at the necklace. "Definitely not." She took it from Jeremy and walked into the kitchen.
Alex took a jar from the cupboard and filled it with water. She poured in a measure of ink, added several drops of her blood , a sprig of rowan and then the necklace.
"I think this is probably the fetter. Unfortunately Damon isn't here to test the theory." She told them. "Take this out to my work shop please. " She had no illusions that she had contained the ghost herself. She had just rendered the fetter unpleasant for her. She would have to take more permanent actions later.
"On it." Jeremy said and hurried out the door.
Stefan looked over at Bonnie, who had just stumbled forward as if she were about to swoon. "Are you alright?" He asked reaching out to steady her.
"Here, come sit down." Elena said as she helped her friend toward a kitchen chair. She then went to get her a glass of water. She said. "Drink this."
"I'm alright. I was just… "She laughed a little "Felt like someone walked over my grave I guess. Never used to understand when Grams would say that. Now I do."
"The Originals are tied in with the second necromancer. "Stefan told them as he continued to pace. What had he gotten Damon into? Why had he trusted Rebecca and left his brother there defenseless? He should have taken him with him when he left. Normally he would have. He couldn't help but look at Bonnie with a little suspicion now. Were they caught in the middle of some Witch- Necromancer war?
"I don't know as much about them as my grandmother did. Abby knows even less than I do. She just remembers being taught that they were bad news and to be avoided. But I do know that they use the dead in powerful rituals. Vampires rate high on the list of spell components. It all depends on what they are after."
"The spirits that were hounding Jeremy were looking for Tyler ." Elena said. "The only thing that could stir them up like that would be a necromancer, right? Maybe they are looking for Tyler for some reason."
"But why? Tyler is dead. All of the hybrids are they have to be. Damon and Rebecca both saw Klaus destroyed. " Bonnie said.
"It doesn't matter why." Stefan said. "They have my brother and I'm getting him back. Their reasons can be damned."
"Unfortunately you're going to need to get more information from Alexandra." Bonnie said. "I've been told the property out there is being made witch proof so you'll have to ask the questions."
"Maybe I should go." Elena said looking at Stefan.
"We'll both go. But whatever she says or does you stay out of it." Stefan told her.
"What do you think she'll do?" Elena asked.
"I don't know but whatever it is I deserve it." He turned to walk out of the house.
Elena exchanged a look with Bonnie.
"He's feeling guilty right now. That's all. Just keep an eye on him and don't let him do anything stupid that I have to save him from later. "Bonnie said. "I'm not up to fighting a necromancer."
Elena hugged her friend briefly and hurried out to join Stefan in the car. "It's not your fault." She told him. "You were just trying to help."
"That doesn't make it not my fault, Elena, just means I didn't intend it to turn out like this. It's still my fault he's in trouble. I don't even know if he's still alive, still in town, did they give him to the necromancer, is Rebecca torturing him… " the list of possibilities were endless and they kept playing over in his head so much that he couldn't think straight. "No wonder he hates me again."
"Damon doesn't hate you. He never has. The one thing I have been sure of is that you two love each other more than anything."
Stefan shook his head as he started the car. "Not anymore. I betrayed him. I let an enemy know that he was vulnerable, asked her to exploit that weakness, and forced him to give information about the woman he loves in front of Rebecca. How does anyone forgive that? "
Elena reached over and put her hand on his. "He'll forgive you. You went to a former lover for help to find out if he was being controlled. That's all you did. "
"And then I left him there, unconscious, with someone who hates him and has the power to break his will. " He shook his head. "I just left him there."
Elena's brow furrowed. This was almost as out of character as the fact that he had left his brother behind at all had been. Stefan worried, he brooded, but he didn't fret. What was going on? "We'll find him." She was worried about Damon, but now she was starting to worry about Stefan as well.
Elena spotted the horse shoes on the fence posts, and saw Matt in the distance nailing more into place. She supposed that meant her friend had chosen Team Alexandra. That thought gave her pause. Had there really been lines drawn in the dirt? Was there a Team Bonnie as well? Is that how the others saw her, she wondered. How had it gotten this far?
Was there some third party manipulating them all from the shadows? Playing on the natural hatred between witches and necromancers? Playing on the weaknesses in the Salvatore's relationship? Was that paranoia? Was it just that she didn't want to believe that her friends would divide into an us vs. them mentality so easily on their own?
"okay, done." Caroline said setting aside the pencil and looking at her work on the nearly transparent velum.
"Excellent "She said.
"So, now what?" Meredith asked looking over Caroline's shoulder.
"We put this over top of the other map. If the vampires that have him are working with Timon, they will either be keeping him at or taking him to a ritual site. For us that means a place with a lot of dead energy. "
"Like a cemetery or where a lot of people have died?" Caroline asked.
"Correct. I hope that by knowing where these places are I can make an educated guess where he is vs an uneducated one." She picked up the bowl of colored sand and put a little grave dust into it. Alexandra mixed it in and said two words over it in archaic French before pouring it out over the map.
The colors in the sand separated and spread across the map clumping densely in some places, loosely in others. But there was thin film of white dust scattered all over the map. Alexandra looked it over frowning. "This whole town is a powder keg waiting to go off." She said "here is where we are. " She said indicating a cluster of various sands on Fell's Church road. "Red is vampire, black is necromancer, white is spirit of some sort. And we have more vampires here than I see in the room. Meredith, would you open the door. Do not invite them in though. "
"Alright." She said going to open the door to see Elena and Stefan standing there. "We're busy at the moment. " Meredith told them. "you'll have to wait.
Alexandra pointed out the various cemeteries "I assume this is what Jeremy calls the witch house?" She asked indicating the green and white mix of colors. "Green is for witch. Gold is werewolf… I thought you said that all the hybrids were dead." She said noticing several points of red and gold sand tightly clumped together.
"They have to be. Klaus is dead." Elena said from the doorway.
"Do you see where they have Damon?" Stefan asked.
Alexandra over to the door and leveled a steely glare at Stefan who fell silent. "There are two locations with both necromancer and vampire. There are locations with hybrids, there are locations with just vampires, and the town is overloaded with more spirits than are local. If He is with Timon then I know where he is, if he is being kept somewhere else I don't know. This isn't a rite designed to pin point people it's designed to show me what's in a city. " She righted herself and walked to the door. "What do you want Stefan?" She asked tightly.
"Bonnie says- " He began "Wait no please-" Stefan pleaded as Alex started to close the door. "Please Alex."
She stopped. "What does your witch want? I found the fetter she put in my home to allow her ancestor in. That won't be happening again."
Elena stepped in between the two of them. "I love him too. Alright. I love Damon too. I want to find him as much as you do. Please, just hear us out."
Alex looked at the teenager and sighed. "Alright. What is it you know or need to know." She didn't look at Stefan.
"We know for a fact that the Originals are working with the other necromancer. And they are looking for Tyler Lockwood for some reason and can't find him. I was told that not everyone is trapped on the other side that sometimes people go on to find peace. "
"They do. But a powerful enough necromancer can bring them back temporarily. I suspect that is why they brought in Timon. " Alex said.
"Bonnie said that vampires are high on the list of spell components for necromancers."
"Yes they are." Alex said with a deceptive calm, like a teacher dealing with a room of unruly students. "Especially for divination. It mixes necromancy with haruspicy, and provides a powerful connection because the subject is both living and dead. " her hands trembled a little and it was hard for Elena to tell if it was worry or rage that caused it. Stefan assumed and looked away.
Elena swallowed. "W-will it kill him?" She asked breathlessly.
"It depends on which organs Timon is reading. As long as they leave his heart alone he should live, but it will be painful and healing will be slow. " She knew of necromancers that kept vampires prisoner for just that purpose and no other.
"We have to stop it." Elena said.
"That is what I am trying to do." She said impatiently.
"Alex!" Caroline called out. "The sand is moving again."
Alexandra turned on her heel and rushed back to the table. "Timon is moving." She said "And there are several vampires with him."
"How many." Stefan asked from the door.
"Four." She answered.
"There are only three of the michaelsens left." He told her. "Let me help. I'll do whatever you need me to do to prove you can trust me." He had to make this right. Had to. The desperation of it all came through his voice.
Elena looked at him again. Sure she expected that there was that desperation there to save his brother, but Stefan was usually much calmer than this. She gave an uncertain look to Alexandra. Something was going on.
Alex spotted the look and nodded to her. She went into the kitchen and poured a pale reddish liquid into two glasses. She paused a moment and sighed before going to retrieve her bone shaft. She removed the tainted blood and put it in her pocket and put another small glass vile in its place.
She handed each of them a glass. "If you want to be part of this, then drink." She said. "it's rowan and angelica root. I don't know if it will break any past spells but it will keep new ones from being cast. Including the lovely witch induced migraines."
"The rowan will destroy the spell on the ring." He said staring at the liquid. Not that it mattered he'd drink it if he had to in order to stop the ritual."
"Who told you that?" She asked. "Damon's still works and he drank this many times in the past."
Elena drank and gave a look to Stefan who hesitated a moment longer, not believing that it wouldn't curse him to live in darkness again.
"One last thing." Alexandra said and stepped out onto the porch. She grasped Stefan by the shoulder and plunged the bone into his stomach, then pushed him back from her as she turned to go inside before either of them could retrieve the item. "If you betray him again, I have your blood. I will use it." She told him.
"Are you okay?" Elena asked.
Stefan nodded. "I feel strange." He said sitting down. He looked up as a blood bag landed in his lap.
"That's the rowan. " Alex told him. "Someone has been messing with your head, Stefan. Drink up. We need you back to full strength for this. " She looked over her shoulder."Meredith, watch the sand. Keep an eye on the other black mass, not mine. Call us when it stops. We need to be closer in so we can stop this quickly."
Caroline followed Alex out the door, and toward her car. "Do you think you can trust him?" She asked as they got in the car. It was strange to be asking that of Stefan instead of Damon.
"No." Alexandra said. "But he is driven to save Damon. I'm not above using that."
Caroline nodded. "I'm beginning to see why you and Damon work so well together."
"Does it bother you?" She asked.
Caroline thought a moment and shook her head as she started the car and drove off the property. "No. Sometimes ruthless is what you have to be." She said finally. "I wish I knew what they wanted from Tyler… or how they managed to make more hybrids. Maybe it's because they still have Elena's blood and now all they need to do is turn a werewolf and give them her blood during transition. Maybe something is wrong and they want Tyler because he was the first."
"I don't know, honey, but we'll make sure they leave him at peace." She told her.
Elena was driving while Stefan drank and healed. "Are you feeling okay?" She asked.
"My head is clearing." He said, although the guilt wasn't alleviated just because he had been magically influenced. "It's like I've been looking through a filter these last few weeks where Damon is concerned."
"Well, it was probably Emily Bennett." She said. "I mean she's possessed Bonnie before, made her do things before."
"We'll sort it out. Right now we need to find Damon… and hope he hears me out before he tries to kill me again."