A/N: Hello again!

Chapter thirty three will be a bit shorter than my average chapter. To be honest, this was originally going to be one massive chapter, but I decided to break it into two parts instead. It became a bit too lengthy and in a way it worked better this way. Besides, now I can upload the next chapter relatively soon, so there's that^^

As always, a shout out to all my reviewers. The response to this new story has been great and your comments made my day, but I feel like I've mentioned that so often, you might have known already :)

Enjoy and like always, let me know what you think!

Cheers!

Anna

o.O.o

Chapter Thirty-Three, We'll Weather this Storm Together

Ivy and periwinkle covered the ground around and between the buildings. The sun hadn't risen yet, but the sky was flush in pastel pinks and violets; a tattering of bright orange on the eastern sky. It was a murky limbo between night and dusk and even the birds were silent. A lone grey Ford made its way down the road.

I watched the scenery flash by, from the passenger seat of Caroline's car, letting my eyes flit over the houses and their carefully tended lawns. The suburban neighborhood we'd been driving through was filled by rows and rows of houses with unpredictable shapes and different architectural whimsies.

"I wonder what she'll be like," Caroline whispered.

"She will want to help her daughter. I'm sure of it."

Caroline made an affirmative sound, and I resumed my outside staring again. The trees had started to thin out and soon the road we were on melded with another much busier one. Though the sun was just cresting the horizon, I could tell the day would be clear, perhaps even warm, and toyed with the hem of my sweater. Liz Forbes had come through in ways I could not thank her enough for and left us flipping thought the many files containing possible Abby Bennetts in the state of Virginia. When that didn't bring us the results I'd been hoping for, we riffled through the women with that name living in Carolina. By the time we found the right file, my eyes felt heavy, but my spirit elevated.

It was what had brought me on this road trip with Caroline (again). We figured — or I figured — that if the mad scientists were after Mikeal, Abby Bennett would be a good starting point. If only I understood what they wanted with the vampire-vampire hunter. It wasn't as if Mikeal had aspired to rid the world of all vampires, nor did he produce some kind of poison that would destroy them all. I doubted they thought getting rid of Klaus would be enough (although perhaps they hoped to catch the Hybrid and use him).

"What if they get to him?"

"What?"

Caroline gave me an irritated glance over. "What if the mad scientists— I don't know what do you think they want with your creepy original?"

I took a deep breath and began, choosing my words carefully. "He isn't mine, but he's very old. I'm sure he has superb skills. But— I don't really know."

"Hm, lovely," she grumbled and her eyes swept around our surroundings. Occasionally they would land on the car's GPS screen. We'd turned into a suburban neighborhood with more greenery and I let my eyes glide over the parallel rows of trees, bordering the almost identical houses on each side. I was unsurprised by the postage-stamp yards in front of them, each bisected by similar walkways leading up to the wooden wrap-around porches. The only differences between the houses and the well-kept yards, would be the cars, parked beside the sidewalk. Caroline steered the car away and on a dirt lane. Within seconds we were surrounded by trees crowding together at the edge of the road.

A few minutes after the analogous neighborhood had bled into green foliage, we encountered a small turn off, leading up to Abby Bennett's house. It was a cute wooden dark house with a wrap-around porch and it was made out of two wings and a central portion that stuck out in the front.

"That's it," Caroline informed me, needlessly at that, as the navigation system declared 'you've reached your destination' boisterously.

"Yeah," I agreed, staring at the house.

"She'll probably won't invite me inside—"

I shrugged, staring at the brightening sky for a moment. Soft rays of sunlight slanting through the early morning dew and I opened the door. I didn't look at the blonde vampire when I answered, "I'm sure I'll be fine," and unfolded out of the car.

Tucking my hair behind my ears, I walked up to Abby Bennett's house. Caroline was right behind me, her footsteps loud in the eerie quiet of the morning. Reaching for to the faux brass knocker, no one ever seemed to use, the door creaked and opened slowly. Caroline and I shared surprised glances.

"It's unlocked," she whispered.

"Yeah, asking to be burgled." I agreed and stepped inside, into the small foyer. "Hello?"

No one answered and I moved further into the house. Every few steps I stopped to listen intently, breath frozen in my lungs, eyes wide, but it seemed like no one was there. An archway opened into a hall directly opposite my entry point and I stole forward. I turned right into the kitchen and peered toward the French doors before turning back into the hall. Two closed doors to the left, and at the end a door stood askew. I licked my lips and tried again.

"Hello?"

"Hello?" A voice answered and one of the doors to my left opened, emitting a curvy, dark-skinned woman. I guessed her age to be mid-thirties and she stared at me for a long time, face devoid of expression. "Who are you?"

"My name is Elena Gilbert, I'm looking for your daughter, Bonnie." I forced and the woman's eyebrows furrowed together. "Me and my friend actually," I continued apologetically. She didn't look like she understood what I was saying and beckoned my head to the entrance, to where Caroline was still standing. "We're friends of her hers."

"Friends—" she echoed, cocking her head to the side, "—friends of Bonnie?"

"I— yeah, we are."

I averted my eyes, sucking my lower lip between my blunt front teeth. Sunlight streamed in through the windows, illuminating the dust motes flying through the air and dappled the wood-paneled floor around me. When I'd gathered enough courage to look at Abby again her expression was unreadable.

"Bonnie isn't here."

"Ah— No, we know." I agreed. "But she's in trouble."

"A bunch of creeps took her. We need to find out where the Original Mikeal is?" Caroline demanded.

"Caroline—"

"What do you mean?" Abby whispered.

I raked my hand through my hair and shook my head. "Can we discuss this inside?" I asked. "Can my friend come in? I know she's a vampire, but she only wants to help."

She nodded — surprisingly — and beckoned to Caroline. "Come in."

Without a word, Abby led us to the living room. It was small and quaint with a worn red couch on the right wall and a window filled the upper half of the wall opposite the door. The blinds were half open, letting in shining bars of light over the walls and the colorful rug beneath the coffee table.
I sat down on the sofa, letting my eyes quickly flit over the landscape hung above me and then around the room again. There were several jars with herbs on the windowsill and I averted my eyes, keeping them fixed on my joined hands in my lap.

"Would you care for a cup of tea?"

I smiled. "Sure."

Caroline muttered some kind of affirmative and Abby Wilson moved to the connecting kitchen, filling the kettle with water. The older woman had her back towards me, running a nervous hand through her hair and I exchanged a glance with Caroline. If it had been my daughter two strangers inquired about, stating that she was in danger, I wouldn't be so calm, nor being able to put a kettle on a burner. Caroline seemed to think along the same lines, a hard line having wedged itself between her eyebrows.

"So, I heard you weren't practicing anymore?" I asked loudly.

"What was that?"

"Witchcraft," I explained and Caroline stared at me with a frown. "I heard you didn't do magic?"

Abby hm'ed in retaliation as she took several cups from the cupboard and the kettle began to squeal. A moment later, she returned with a steaming teapot and matching cups. I watched her clatter through a drawer, before she pulled out an almost ancient box with tea, settling it on the table. I smiled when she poured me one and busied myself with adding milk and stirring.

"I haven't practiced in almost fifteen years."

"Why not?"

She waved her hand through the air and cupped her tea in her hands. "So, Bonnie?"

"It's a long story." I started slowly. "But— well, it started when the vampire attacks started again."

"Yeah," Caroline piped up awkwardly and I gave her a smile.

"Anyway, it was bad. Really bad, actually and Bonnie— Well, there is not really an easy way to say this, but Bonnie got turned into one."

Abby blinked owlishly. "Bonnie is a vampire."

"Yeah, since last Halloween." Caroline explained, having gone pale.

"Anyway, there were these people." I tried. "They took her, and we think they're looking for Mikael. Which would be a bad idea, wouldn't it? Because he's— I don't even have a good word to describe him, but it would be bad and I know you desiccated him and—"

"What Elena means to say, is that we need to find out where he is." Caroline interrupted me.

"Yeah, because I think they'll try and use Bonnie to awaken Mikael." I quickly interceded and licked my dry lips. "I'm not sure why they would use her. It's not like they can't use anyone else once they find the location—" I continued. It wasn't like Bonnie was the only vampire around.

"To awaken Mikael," Abby echoed and Caroline made some sort of strangling sound.

"That's what she said," she agreed and I gave her an irritated look. "Can you help us?"

Abby hummed, noncommittal and flicked her eyes over to her hands. "Mikeal is dangerous."

I nodded. "Exactly! That's why we need to do something. Before they use Bonnie to awaken him."

"Use Bonnie?"

"He only drinks vampire blood. I don't know, he's a weirdo. To be honest, I don't even know why they want to awake Mikeal. It makes absolutely no sense." I said.

"They can't awaken him just like that," Abby said and I frowned. "He is sealed in with magic."

"What do you mean?" I asked, blowing air on my cup of tea before taking a small sip.

I'd never been quite sure if I was being purposefully misdirected or simply lied to. Ever since I'd gotten here I'd had to double-check and weight peoples words and ever so often doubt would creep in. However, I knew Abby wasn't entirely truthful now. Katherine had been able to open Mikeal's casket. Had been able to awaken him with blood and there had not been any magical intervention needed. Of course, I couldn't quite say that and mulled over my next words.

"I mean, did you use magic to close his— prison?"

"No, there was no need and moreover, I couldn't."

"Why not?" Caroline demanded.

Abby pursed her lips and my nostrils flared. Gritting my teeth, I turned to glare at the scowling blonde for putting her foot into her mouth. "Care—"

"I mean, why would you not put some kind of protection on it? If he is so dangerous?"

"I couldn't," she started, her tone implying her unwillingness to talk about it.

"You don't have to explain," I tried, taking another sip of my tea, "but it would make all of this easier to understand."

"Do you know why I desiccated Mikeal?"

'Yes,' I thought but shook my head instead, setting my cup of tea down on the coffee table and pushing it slightly away from me. "Erm, not exactly."

Abby got to her feet and wandered slowly to the glass sliding door. I watched her eyes glaze over as she stared lovingly into her backyard. "He came to Mystic Falls fifteen years ago, looking for you," she explained, "looking for the newest doppelgänger. Looking for her to kill her—"

I nodded deliberately in what I hoped was surprised understanding and watched Caroline's expression from my peripheral vision. I wondered when she would realize that every bad thing, ultimately, was Elena's fault. Or girls with Elena's face— I mulled over that thought for a moment and realized, it wasn't even this face which was at fault. It was Esther the Original Witch who used Tatia to turn her children and husband in vampires and who cursed her middle child. Who'd created a curse that needed that same blood to undo it. And it was Qetsiyah's fault, the witch who'd created the immortality elixir and who, inevitably started the reappearance of Elena's face every few centuries.

"I don't understand," Caroline said, her voice cutting through my thoughts like a knife, "why would you interfere?"

"Miranda and I were best friends. Elena is Miranda's daughter. I couldn't help but interfere."

"Okay," Caroline agreed, "I get why you'd want to help your friend, but why did you stay away?"

"I never wanted any of this." Abby explained slowly and I gave Caroline a look. The last thing we needed was to alienate the woman who knew where Mikael was being kept. "I never wanted to be a witch. My mother was always so much better at that and when I dealt with Mikael— I stayed away."

"What did you do?" Caroline asked, her eyes wide. I understood. Taking down an Original, that was virtually impossible. Of course, she would want to know how to take one down. I would like to be able to take Klaus down— but, to what cost?

Abby licked her lips. "When he came to town, when Mikael came to town, no one could stop him. I lured him to a crypt, where I desiccated him. It was a difficult spell and it took all of my powers and nearly killed me. They never came back after that."

"But even without magical power, Bonnie needed you." Caroline whispered.

"Bonnie was better off with her Gran than with me—"

"Yeah," I mumbled, wanting to groan in frustration, "I'm sure. Where did you desiccate him?"

Abby twisted her fingers together, "I lured him away from Mystic Falls, before leaving him in a cemetery in Charlotte. He's still there as far as I know." Reaching for the notebook on one of the cabinets, she scrawled down what I assumed was the cemetery's address. "There, this is where I left him."

I smiled taking the paper, my thumb drawing circles over the neat looping scrawl and nodded. "Thank you."

"Yeah," she agreed absently. "There was a crypt. Baraqel was watching over him. It seemed fitting."

"Of course," I agreed and exchanged curious glances with Caroline. "So a crypt with a guardian?"

"An angel," she specified.

"In Charlotte— okay, we can work with that," Caroline whispered.

"We can." I smiled. "We can wait for them there. Set up a trap." I decided.

"What if they don't bring her?"

Bonnie's mother got to her feet and crossed her arms over her chest. "They probably will. That vampire was an odd one. It was said he only fed on vampires."

I stared at her with a frown. Hadn't I just said that? Honestly, what was she on? Abby Bennett turned to stare out of the window and I shared a subtle look with Caroline.

"Perhaps we should get going?" She tried slowly.

"Yeah, Charlotte is quite a drive, isn't it?"

Caroline nodded, pursing her lips. "It is."

"Please get my daughter and make sure she's safe." Abby whispered.

"Wouldn't you want your magic back?" Caroline suddenly asked, almost delicately for her doing.

"Living without magic is the only way I know to survive," Abby explained. "I can't interfere…"

I nodded, getting to my feet as well. "We're not judging you." I murmured. "Anyway, thank you for the tea. It was wonderful. We'll get going now."

Early afternoon sunlight was streaming into the living room when we left. I felt Caroline's eyes burning into my back as I stole forward, past the closed doors to my right, toward the hall and the front door. Stumbling off the porch, I made a straight line to Caroline's car. The grass was damp and the air was slightly chilly. A soft breeze stirred the grass and the wisps of new foliage shivered. Caroline caught up to me easily.

"You're not judging?" She demanded hotly. "How can you not judge that?"

"Caroline, I didn't want to alienate her. I'm sure she cares for Bonnie— in her own way."

"In her own selfish way."

I nodded. "Right, in her own selfish way."

Caroline let out a long, angry sigh and eased her fingers around the steering wheel. "I just— I don't get it. I mean I understand why my mom was wary of me at first, but Bonnie's mom just doesn't really care. I mean, not in the way Bonnie should have been cared about."

"I know," I agreed. I'd never understood how Abby Wilson could abandon her daughter like that. How she could have left her in a town that attracted danger like light attracted moths. I recalled she though herself to be an unfit mom, telling Bonnie that she thought Sheila did much better, but— Bonnie was her daughter. What child would not feel inadequate when your mom walked out on you and never return again?

To be continued…

A/N: Abby Bennett is really hard for me to write. She was the absentee mom who couldn't handle the situation dealt to her in life, but she still left her only daughter to fend for herself. I can't really judge it, since I have never been in even a slightly similar situation, but I don't understand it. Either way, I wasn't sure how to write her, but know that she's acting off for more reasons than one.

Since I get this question often, yes, Klaus will return. However, that will be after the final arc of this story will be set in, and that will start in about three or four chapters. I've finished outlining this story and now the only thing left is checking and fine-tuning. However, that takes time, lots of time since I find myself sometimes a bit incapable finding my own mistakes.

Next update will be in two days or so. Stay tuned (I always wanted to say that^^) and I'll see you next time.