seconds stretched to hours while he and caroline were standing motionlessly waiting for the witch who seemed dumbfounded to respond
"you want me to do what ? " she asked , her face still wearing the same expression of surprise and confusion , it was obvious that she didn't see that one coming and stefan didn't know what to expect , this was it , he thought, she will either turn them down and kick them out or she will help them . He was praying that she will choose the latter
"we know that we are asking for too much " it was caroline who spoke , swallowing so hard that stefan felt sorry for her "but we really hope you'll help us ,I mean if you can, and as my friend said we are willing to give you as much doppelganger's blood as you want " for the first time , stefan realized how scared caroline must be , her voice was so hoarse and shaky and her hands that were resting on both sides of her body were clenched into fists the witch was clearly preparing something harsh to say , but before she could open her mouth stefan spoke
"look we are only asking you to see if there's a way to bring them ..."
"and if there isn't , then what will you do ?" the witch interrupted
"you'll never see us again we promise" caroline aswered "we'll give you the blood either ways , just please help us "
the witch remained silent for a moment , obviously thinking , then she slightly raised her head
"alright deal , but how can I be sure that you have the blood , did you bring a sample ?"
caroline patted on stefan's chest playfully and said
" you have the whole source standing right infront of you " once again , the witch was shocked
"you are the doppelganger ?"the witch said in wonder " have you ever met silas ? the first immortal witch? " her excited tone both surprised and confused stefan , how did she know silas ? why does she seem like his number one cheerleader ? those questions were storming inside his mind fighting their way to get out , but he cought his tongue . fortunately caroline sensed what was going in his mind so she asked on his behalf
"you know silas ? " she asked
"of course I do , all of the witches in our coven have listened to his story over and over , silas and quetsiah along with lucius are legends in our coven , we almost worship them" the witch explained
"Lucius ?" stefan asked before he could stop himself . He wondered what did this man commit to be placed in the same category as silas and quetsiah "He is the one who created our group of witches 2000 years ago , he left us his grimoire that contains all the knoweldge he gathered from travelling across greece " she paused for a minute , then she said , her lips shaping in a barely visible smile "I'm kira by the way "
"I'm stefan , and this is caroline" he said looking at caroline who gave a small nod in acknowledgment kira nodded to the four other witchs who were still standing there , their faces wearing a not so friendly expression and they went through the small door they came from earlier
"follow me " she said and she went in too , caroline and stefan had no choice but to trust her so they did what she said
Once they stepped inside stefan was shocked by the size of the place . It was a huge room filled with more shelves , only these ones looked older and dustier , their corners covered with spider webs , they contained more bottles and jars covered in dirt , stefan took a close look at one of them , a mummified eye popped out making his heart jump and he barely contained his scream . in the center of the room , a small table was placed , as they got closer , he could see a book and few lit candles next of it . The book was opened , its ends were uneven and its paper was closer to brown than to yellow . he knew it sounded rediculous but he could swear that the book scared him more than anything he has ever faced , there was this aura around it , like it was something out of time and space , something as old as the universe . the place wasn't empty , witches of various ages were there doing multiple jobs , some were filling bottles , others were reading books , some young girls were gathered around an old lady who was probably telling a story or teaching them something . unlike all other witches he saw in his life , who rathered to work alone , these witches built themselves an entire community , maybe that was the secret of their strength .
"I guess you two are aware of the other side's destruction ? " kira's voice brought him back to reality and he realized he must've looked like an idiot with his head rotating to check the place out
"yes we are , in fact one of our friends , bonnie was the anchor to the other side" caroline spoke and stefan cursed under his breath , caroline was giving informations too easily and it might put them at a weak spot
"then you know that your chances of finding a way to bring your friends back are so slim"
"yes we know that too " stefan said , starting to get annoyed with all the delay , he wanted her to start looking and get over with it
"alright , I'll see what I can do "
few hours passed , while caroline and stefan were patiently sitting on a pair of wooden chairs side by side , facing kira who was immersed into her work , flipping the pages every few seconds wearing a serious facial expression , her forehead frowned in concentration . stefan wished he could help her but the grimoire was probably the most precious thing these witches had and the last thing they'll want is to put it in a vampire's hands . he started to feel numb sitting on the uncomfortable chair but he didn't dare to get up and drow attention to himself , the witches were already glaring at him and caroline as if they were going to set them on fire , not that they couldn't .
"I think I found something " kira said sending a surge on electricity into stefan's body , in a blink of an eye both of him and caroline were standing behind kira , not minding the fact that they used their supernatural speed in a place full of witches , kira winced twice startled then she composed herself "look at this " she pointed at the words written in the book with an almost fading ink , he couldn't understand a word , it was in a diffrent language
"we don't speak latin " caroline said finally making kira sigh
"it's not latin , it's greek" she said " alright , it says that lucius visited a secret temple hidden in the mountains , a group of priests there showed him their most precious treasure , a holy book that explained death and origins of life and they allowed him to read it .it says that all creatures must die one way or another , but they don't all go to the same place . for humans it depends on their deeds , if they do good they go to eden and if they do bad they earn a journey in hell ,nice and comfy , however all other supernatural creature are sent to a diffrent place where they have to earn their peace " she paused for a second to catch her breath and stefan wanted to ask her what does that have to do with anything but he cought himself "this place is an entire diffrent dimension , inhabitated by the sprits of supernatural creature that lived on earth , it's completely seperated from the earth's demention , however there's a bridge between the two dementions which is used to transport the souls of the dead from earth " and it clicked in stefan's mind , he looked at caroline and he saw that she got the idea too so he spoke a little too excited
"so they can pass trough that bridge to come back here right ?" he looked at kira who shook her head
"no they can't , or else why don't we see dead people walking down the street and buying ice cream , the bridge lead to one direction only , once you're in you can't go out , it says here that the guardians made sure of that "
"the guardians ? " stefan and caroline spoke at the same time , it was getting weirder for both of them
"creatures of light , solders of god . they cast a spell on the bridge so that creatures trapped there won't use it to escape " she explained stefan's mind was spinning in all directions , how are they going to break the spell ? and how are they going to tell his brother and the rest that they can pass through the bridge ?
"is there a loop hole that can break the spell" caroline asked " there's always something that can break the curse "
"yeah " stefan added " like when the witch dies her spell..." and he stopped right in the middle of his sentence looking at caroline who sensed the line of his thought and terror washed over her face .
"no , no , no, no ,no ,no ,stefan ,NO we are not killing guardian angels "
"you wish" interrupted kira " the guardians are immortals , undestructible and blessed by god you can't just kill them "
"so what choice do we have " stefan was adressing to both of them
"we can't break a spell we don't know " suddenly kira's face lit up
" maybe we don't have to" this got stefan's complete attention
"what do you mean ? "
"it says here that lucius found spell to create something like a temporary link to the other dimension " the witch raised his head to look at them , her face filled with excitement . stefan's heart skipped a beat , there was a way after all , he could see his brother again , but he still didn't dare to raise his hopes too high , he knew there's always consequences and rituals and sacrifice and all that bullshit that led him and his friends to the situation they are in now
"but ..." caroline said prolonging the word , once again he felt as if caroline was invading his mind and reading his thoughts
"but only a powerful witch like lucius can perform it " kira said carefully and stefan didn't know what was the problem
"so we look for a powerful witch " he said with a shrug making kira release a small laugh
"yeah and maybe you can grow wings and fly , for two thousand years not a single witch or traveller ,even quetsiah and silas were able to beat lucius , he is the father of magic , he taught the world every thing he knew about magic ,you can't find someone with that power even if you went to the moon to look for him " stefan knew they can do it , they can bring them back , they had the spell and enough knowledge , but like always there was something missing , there has to be a solution , he only needs to think hard enough . and then an Idea popped into his mind , the most awful and horrible idea in the history of awful horrible Ideas , but he knew it can work
"what if we ask lucius himself for help " he asked and kira rolled her eyes
"and how are you going to ..." and she stopped in the middle of the sentence "no you can't" she said , blood draining out of her face "why can't we ? " stefan asked " it's the only way "
"wait what's going on , what are you two talking about " caroline said , confused , she obviously wasn't at the same page
"your precious boyfriend wants to kill you both so that you can ask lucius to bring your friends back " caroline's mouth fell open , she was so shocked that she forgot about the statement kira made about stefan being her boyfriend , stefan wanted to convince caroline , it was an awful idea he admitted , but what other choice do they have
"listen to me caroline , it's our only shot , we can do this , we can ask him to bring us all back afterwards " he paused for a second to swallow " you don't need to go if you don't want to , it's your choice , but I'm going " caroline fell silent , she was obviously thinking , but kira was shaking her head in disaprovement
"you can't kill yourself for something that you're not even sure that it's true " kira started " if lucius was able to do the spell , wouldn't he be here with us , maybe they took his power , and how do you know if he's going to accept to help you , your chances are too slim , you'll kill yourself in vain " her tone carried so much intensity and she was persuasive , however stefan needed to dig further in the subject to see if there's something that will help , so he asked her
"did you find the spell that creates this link ? what do we need aside from the powerful witch ? " kira flipped few pages looking for the spell , then she stopped at one page and kept staring at it for few minutes while stefan was unpatiently waiting for his answer
" it says that they need , the power of a shooting star that comes once every 3000 year , lucius used it for his experiment 2000 years ago which means you'll have to wait another millinium my friend " kira said , her voice carrying a hint of sarcasm
"so that's why lucius couldn't bring himself back " stefan was thinking " isn't there anything that has the power of this shooting star to replace it in the spell "
"what if we use the blood of one of each supernatural species including the doppelganger as a source " caroline offered "it worked before " , but once again kira shook her head
"the doppelganger's blood maybe powerful , but one doppelganger's blood can't do anything on its own , and the blood of other creatures isn't powerful enough " kira explained
"what about two doppelgangers " stefan asked "still not enough , after all two doppels have identical bodies and thus they share the same blood , it'll be like spilling an extra amount of blood " kira was obviously growing tired with this
"but the blood of two doppelgangers of diffrent people can do it right " stefan asked , a plan already forming in his head
"I guess yes but how are you going to find this person " kira said, skeptical about the whole thing
"stefan are you gone mad , you can't ask elena to bloody kill herself what if we couldn't make it " caroline said raising her voice
"I wasn't talking about elena , caroline , calm down " stefan said in his best reassuring voice "I was talking about katherine , I mean she's already there "
"and is she going to help you after you killed her ? " caroline questioned not so sure about the whole plan , even stefan wasn't sure about it either even if he tried to sound confident , there was too much risk
"I guess if we offered her an opportunity to get back to life , she'll accept , I mean you know her , she would make a deal with the devil if he had something she wanted bad enough " stefan replied with a shrug and then he adressed to kira
" alright now we know the source of the power and the witch , what else does the spell need ?" he asked
"object of four elements , earth , air , fire and water plus iron , the ashes of a plant , the blood of an animal and of a human all to represent the earth demension, and you'll need this " and she she pulled a silver neckless hidden under her shirt " this neckless belonged to lucius , we give it to the leader of our group and it was passed from a generation to another , it has great power " she paused for a minute " and there's no way in hell I'm giving it to you "
"you don't need to , it's not like we can take those things with us when we die , remember " caroline said and stefan realized that even though she didn't say it , caroline has accepted to go with him , he needed to think of a solution for this problem too , he can't just steal the neckless and even if he did it will do him no good , and once again an idea appeared to him , he wasn't so sure about it but it sounded logical
"caroline , remember when I died " he didn't expect her to answer but she did anyway
" yeah and how can I forget , julian ripped your heart out of your chest " stefan shivered remembering the pain he felt that night , it wasn't enough that he was kidnapped with elena and was drained of blood for four day , but he was forced to relive the details of his first death and he and his friends had to run from mystic falls to survive the traveller's plan , and before he could lay one foot outside of the town julian who was furious after learning about his wife's death ripped his heart out of his chest , which is why damon did what he did to bring him back to life and he died in the process . he shook the memories away and focused on the present
"well when I went to the other side , I had my cloths , the same ones I died with and even my ring even though they weren't the real ones , they were like the other version of them made for the spirit world so .." he didn't need to complete , because he knew from the light that flickered from caroline's eyes that she got it
" so if I wear the neckless when I die , then I can have a spiritual version of it , and after that kira can have the real one back , everyone wins " excitement in her voice brought back hope to stefan . now they have a plan , a dangerous , reckless , awful plan , but a plan neverthless
"we can also take the rest of the elements with us as we don't know anything about this demension " stefan suggested and caroline nodded "this is stupid you know" kira said shaking her head "you don't know what will you find there "
"it doesn't matter , as long as there's hope , we'll do it " stefan replied , and for the first time it hit him , they were going to kill themselves , they were going to travel to another dimension and they may never see their loved ones ever again , they were crazy "thanks for your help kira " caroline said with a soft tone and kira's face softened then she stood up and said
" alright I'm going to gather everything you need for your vacation " she paused for a minute then she said to stefan "and about the blood , bring it when you come back from the dead " and she left them alone . stefan and caroline sat there awkwardly silent
"so we're going to die " said caroline breaking the silence , looking shocked as if she wasn't able to process the whole thing
"I guess " it was all he could reply
"but how , take off our rings and burn " he didn't really thing about it , the way they were going to die , but he guessed they didn't have many options , being a vampire means you only have couple of ways to die , and all of them were painful
"I guess we might need them in the other dimension , who knows ? what about we rip out hearts out " he suggested
"you make sound like we're choosing what to eat on dinner , but yeah it's a good idea " they both released a nerveous laugh , but there caroline's face changed , she was terried and stefan's heart fell
" does it hurt " she asked
" a little at first , then you feel nothing , it's not as bad as it seemed " he lied , it was a torture ,the pain , the emptiness , the feeling of life draining out of his body but he didn't want to scare her she jumped out of the chair in excitement , and clapped her hand
" alright then it's settled , each of us will rip the other's heart " stefan couldn't help but laugh , it there's anyone that would make ripping hearts sound like a goodnight kiss , it was caroline kira was back , carrying a small bag made of tissue
"alright , I gathered everthing you need and put them in bottles , objects representing the elements , blood of both animals and humans , iron and the ashes of a plant , put them in your pocket and hope for the best " stefan took it and shoved it in his jacket's pocket , it suprisenly fitted there , kira adressed to caroline
" here wear this " and she gave her the neckless " wear it now , I'll take back as soon as you die " caroline took it and stefan helped her wear it while she pushed her hair aside out of his way . kira took a step back
" any last wishes before you two do whatever stupid thing you're about to do "
"just take care of out bodies after we die " stefan said "burry them or burn them ,I don't know "
"alright , got it " kira said with a smile
"I won't say goodbye , I'll see you later , and don't forget that you owe me the blood "
"thank you so much kira " stefan said sincerly , and then he turned to face caroline they both took a deep breath , and then looked into each other's eyes "ready ?" he asked
"ready"
and in a split of second , each one of them reached the other's heart , he felt hers in his hands , warm and beating so fast and and pulled it out , at the same second as he felt a sharp pain in his own chest followed by emptiness . his vision became blurry , but he could still see caroline's flesh turning to grey , her mouth shaped into the letter O . his legs were failing him , and he collapsed on the wooden floor , he heard another voice of something hitting the ground , but he couldn't see anymore , the world around was fading to black , and darkness was surrounding him . he felt life slipping away from him , draining from his body and enventually , everything went silent , and darkness envelopped him .