Immortal Diaries
Chapter 13
AN: HAPPY NEW YEAR! Now that we have that out of the way, firstly I want to thank everyone who reviewed or sent messages asking about the status of this story. I honestly can't believe it's been over a year since my last update for this, honestly thought it had just been a couple of months. That said I've been a bit busy in my personal life as of late however I'm going to try to keep up with my stories this year. That said here's the new chapter.
Start Now:
"So she was just there on the doorstep." Said Stefan as he Damon and Naruto moved down the stairs towards the doors of the Salvatore house.
"What the hell is she doing here?" questioned Damon.
"Nothing good, that's for damned sure." Said Naruto
"Whatever it is I intend to find out" said Stefan.
"Just don't let on to me being here." Said Katherine causing two of the brothers to look at her before she rolled her eyes
"It's better if she and John not know that I stayed in town after I got out of the tomb." Clarified the woman.
"You're the one in cahoots with them. You made a deal with John that almost got me killed." Said Damon.
"Not this again. It was part of the plan. We needed the dagger, John had one. I was counting on your mistrust of me to ensure that you didn't use it!" exclaimed Katherine.
"Don't bother. These two apparently didn't take hold to many of the lessons I taught them growing up. I have to retrain them." Said Naruto.
"Unbelievable." Muttered Katherine feeling a migraine coming on.
"Anyway, Damon why don't you call Ric and let him know his vampire ex-wife is in town. Stefan go to Elena." Said Naruto causing both brothers to do as told.
"How is it that every time one problem is solved another one just magically pops up?" questioned Katherine with a frown.
"I know it at least keeps those two busy. Meanwhile you and I need figure out what's going on." Said Naruto before his phone starting to ring.
"Hello"
"Hey, I've got a job, you interested?" came the voice on the other end.
"I'm listening."
"Take this down…" came the voice before listing off some directions.
"Right I'll be there." Said Naruto before hanging up.
"Change of plans, you handle the peanut gallery I have a flight to catch." Said the blond
"You have another problem to take care of before that." Said Katherine causing him to look at her confused.
"My poor pussy is feeling neglected."
At that Naruto smirked, that was one problem he was most eager to take care of. In an instant he'd picked her up and sped her back to his room before tossing her on the bed.
The morning found Naruto arriving on a motorcycle outside of a warehouse in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had changed his appearance slightly coming over in his adult form minus his face markings and aged so that he appeared to be thirty. He wore a pair of blue jeans, a pair of All-Star Melo M3's and a white and blue polo shirt over which he wore a black leather jacket. Having not wanted to draw any unneeded attention to himself he rode an all-black Ducati Streetfighter S and a rather tame black helmet. Glancing down at his watch he found he was right on time and as such slowly made his way inside. As he pulled inside it was just in time to see a man climb out of a taxi and make his way inside. He wore all back boots, jeans, shirt and leather jacket with a shaved bald head. The next to arrive did so in a car that made Naruto raise an eyebrow behind his helmet as they did so in a 1963 Ford Galaxie 500 XL.
"All hell nah!" said the driver as soon as he climbed out of the car.
He wore a blue polo shirt and a pair of grey pants with short cut black hair.
"I see they really scrapped the bottom of the barrel." Continued the man as he approached the first.
"I guess they did, since your ass is here." Said the first as he himself moved forward.
"When you gonna give Martin Luther King his car back?" questioned the first.
"As soon as you give Rick James his jacket back." Said the second.
The exchange given the two men smirked before they exchanged greetings with a shake and a hug. Their impromptu reunion however was cut short as another bike pulled in its rider soon enough becoming clear to be a woman. As the bike came to a stop near them and the rider got off the two men chose to move in closer
"Sexy legs baby girl, what time do they open." Said Roman
The response was immediate as he soon found himself looking down the barrel of a pistol.
"They open the same time as I pull the trigger. Want me to open them?" said the woman which produced a laugh out of Naruto finally causing the arrivals to turn to face him.
"You haven't changed a bit, Giselle." Said Naruto smiling and making his way over.
"I had a good teacher." Said the woman.
"That you did, how's Ziva?" questioned Naruto
"She's well last I heard. She's working for NCIS now in DC." Said the woman.
"I see you've all met." Called Dom as he approached with Brian and Mia in tow.
"You know when you called me to come to Rio I assumed it would be for something more exciting than this." Said the woman making her way to Dom before pulling him into a hug.
The two men meanwhile had approached Brian and exchanged greetings. Naruto was fine with that as it meant he got Mia all to himself and he took advantage by pulling her into a solid embrace.
"It's good to see you, thanks for coming." Said Mia giving her own tight embrace.
"Anything for you baby girl." Said Naruto absently listening as Brian introduced the other two men to Dom as Tej and Roman Pearce.
"Nice digs you got here." Said Naruto as he made his way over.
"Sorry, the Ritz was sold out." Said Dom.
"So what's this all about?" questioned Roman.
"Yeah man, why'd you drag us halfway around the world?" questioned Tej.
"We've got a job." Said Dom looking over the group.
"Alright so our targets name is Herman Reyes and he runs the drug scene down here. He's never been busted because he doesn't leave a paper trail." Stated Brian approaching a table with everyone else following.
"No paper trail means no banks, and no banks means cash houses." Said Giselle.
"That's right. Ten of them to be exact spread throughout the city." Said Brian opening a map on the table which was marked by what was obviously the locations of the cash houses.
"And we're gonna hit em all." Said Dom bringing a moment of silence to the room.
"All of em?" questioned Tej incredulously.
"All of em." Repeated Dom
"Sounds crazy. You bring us to a whole other country so we can rob the guy that runs it. I thought this was business, sounds personal to me. Is that what this is? Look I got love for y'all but personal ain't good business. I can't do this homie." Ranted Roman before turning to walk away leaving Brian, and Tej smirking behind him.
"So what we're talking about is $100 million." Said Dom stopping Roman in his tracks before he'd even taken five steps
"You say what? A hundred…see sometimes I be over thinking things, man." Said Roman making his way back over and making everyone else share smirks at his expense.
"That's right $100 million and everything we take we split even." Said Dom.
"So for like 14 million a piece, I'm down." Said Tej
"14 million, sounds like a whole lot of vaginal activity to me." Said Roman.
"You can't pull off 10 heists on the same mark. You just can't. As soon as we hit the first one they'll do everything they can to protect the rest." said Giselle popping both of their bubbles.
Naruto said nothing merely looking over and sharing a look with Dom before they both smirked.
"Exactly." Said the two as one.
Not long later found the boys all armed to the teeth watching one of Reyes's safe houses. As the door was opened for the arrival of a carrier they rushed it faces masked and guns out. As the first guard toppled over from receiving the butt of a shotgun to the face the group rushed in making quick work of taking out the rather small number of guards in the place and ignoring the screams of the woman that were working inside. A few minutes later they had everyone gathered before them with the guards all on their knees and the women huddled up behind them. In front of the group was a dolly which they had stacked with all the cash they could find in the place.
"That's all of it." Said Brian his voice muffled by his mask as he put one last stack atop the pile.
"You are all dead men. You don't have a place to hide." Said one of the guards.
Dom responded by removing his mask an action the group copied though some more nervously than others Naruto noticed.
"We ain't hiding." Said Dom
"Are you crazy? Do you know whose money you are stealing." Said the same guard.
Dom responded again this time picking up a can and dumping its contents all over the dolly and the money.
"Who said we were stealing it?" questioned Dom pulling out a lighter and setting it all ablaze.
An hour later found Naruto sitting atop his bike outside of another cash house just as a black truck pulled up and several men hopped out and ran inside.
"Eyes on four." Said the blond speaking into a phone before putting it down.
Five minutes later he was following the truck as it pulled away from the cash house full of bags. He followed the truck at enough of a distance to where he never lost sight of it but it didn't appear he was tailing them before he got a call from Tej and turned in a different direction. Pushing the speed he soon found himself crossing the city and son enough he was on a roof just across from the police station with the rest of the team as the final truck pulled into the station.
"Well this job just got a lot harder." Said Brian.
"If he's moving it into a police station he's got some serious brass in his pocket." Said Roman.
"It changes nothing. I say we stick to the plan." Said Dom.
"This'll be fun." Said Naruto smiling at the thought of the challenge.
"Say what?! Man this just went from Mission Impossible to Mission In-freaking-sanity." Said Roman turning and walking off.
"I ain't scared; I'm just saying going in that building is crazy." Said the man with Brian quickly following after him.
"The beauty of public office's, public records." Said Mia as she approached the table rolling out the blueprints of the police station.
"This is where he's keeping the money. The vault in the evidence room." Said Brian pointing to the area on the blueprint.
"Um, yeah. Can I get everyone's attention, right here for a second." Spoke Tej successfully pulling the groups attention.
"We're talking about breaking into a police station. Is anybody listening to those words." Said the man speaking slowly and causing several people to close their eyes or look down.
"Anybody. Popo? Five-O, One-Time, Pigs, you know those people we don't like." Said Tej
"True but police stations are designed to keep people in, not out." Said Naruto.
"Which is why it's a stealth mission. We need to be in and out before they even know we were there." Said Brian
"Then we need to get eyes in there. At least to find out the make and model of the vault." Said Dom
"So who's supposed to do all this?" questioned Roman still studying the map only for every eye to turn towards him.
"Wh-What do you mean? Why me?" questioned the man.
"Cause you got the biggest mouth." Said Brian.
"That's for damn sure." Said Tej.
Meanwhile back in Mystic Falls things were also progressing which for Damon explained why he was now entering the Martin apartment alongside Bonnie and Jeremy. Sparing a look at the other two after pushing the door open Damon moved his foot forward and after passing the threshold with no resistance stepped through.
"Yup, everyone's dead." Said the vampire spying the dead body of Luka not far away.
"What are we doing here again?" questioned Jeremy.
"Packing up the grimoires. They spent years collecting them and I want to make sure they're safe."
"You know, we could just get another match and cremate him." said Damon motioning towards Luka's corpse.
"Don't be disrespectful of the dead." Said Bonnie.
"Fine guess we'll bury him." said Damon.
"So what do you need these things for anyway?" questioned Jeremy.
"According to Luka's dad, one of these contains a spell that'll let me harness the energy that's left behind when a witch dies violently."
"Didn't know you were so close." Said Damon.
"We weren't. Naruto took that from his mind when he paid him a visit after he sealed my magic. So according to that info if we can find the spot in town, where the old Salem witches were burned, we can harness their energy to use if we need it." Explained Bonnie
"Great. We'll have to put that on our list of things to do today. Harness ancient dead-witch power." Said the vampire.
"Wait you know where they were burned?" questioned Bonnie.
"Did I forget to mention that?" asked Damon
"Do we seriously have to go through every one of these books until we find the spell?" questioned Jeremy sitting down a large heavy tome.
"No."
After saying this she closed her eyes and raised her hands arms folded inward so that her palms were open and facing her framing her face. She spoke several words in quick succession that neither of them understood before a single tome floated out of the pile and opened itself in front of her with each side of the cover resting on her arms.
"It's this one." Said the girl after opening her eyes.
"Neat trick" said Jeremy.
"Glad you liked it. Now load up the rest so we can get out of here." Said the girl.
Back in the base in Rio the group was once again in discussion. They had gotten eyes inside of the police station and thanks to the clever usage of a remote controlled car had determined what kind of vault they were dealing with which also meant they needed a duplicate just so they could practice cracking the real one. Regardless of that hurdle they were now discussing other particulars of the situation.
"So assuming you'll breach the same, how the hell do we get in?" questioned Mia as they hovered over the blueprint.
"Yea I've been thinking about that. The wall of the evidence room is alarmed so that's not happening. Then we got this one here, but there's a guard shack outside, so that's no good. But this one, this one shares a wall with the basement bathroom." Said Brian pointing out the area in question.
"So what about the money? That's going to be some heavy shit to move." Said Roman
"We're talking at least five ton cash weight." Said Naruto interested in where the former cop was going.
"Yeah, but that's the thing about the bathroom, it's got a vent that leads to the parking garage. All we gotta do is pop the vent then pass the money through to some waiting cars." Explained Brian.
"Looks like you're up." Said Dom looking at Naruto.
"Looks like it." Agreed Naruto smirking before heading out.
A few days later found Naruto making his way back inside with a power screwdriver in hand. His job had been quite simple as a usage of the Toton Jutsu (Transparancy Technique) had allowed him to literally walk right into the station and into the bathroom in question. A minor genjutsu had everyone avoiding the hall of said bathroom allowing him time to cut away a portion of the wall via wind chakra in order for him to place a tap into the system of the station. Once the tap was in place he placed the wall back into position and once again using his chakra sealed it back in place as if nothing had ever happened.
It was upon his return that he learned Dom and Brian had headed out to secure a car they could put through the mock track they'd built in the base. They'd already put a few cars to the test with all of them coming up short and somewhere along the way being picked up by the cameras. It was actually during a break from one of the run-throughs that he had stepped outside along with Brian and Roman. They'd come in with a large wooden box they'd had to use a forklift to bring inside. As the last screw was removed with Brian and Roman lowering the front Naruto moved up beside Tej.
"That what you need?"
"You're kidding me. Where in the hell did you get one of these?" Said the man his tone conveying surprise.
"Well I had a life before you met me." Said the blond shrugging.
"All right, I'll get to work on the electronic tumbler but there's another problem, the palm scanner. Without Reyes's handprint Houdini himself couldn't open this bitch." Said Tej.
"Right Giselle looks like you're up." Said Naruto causing several pairs of eyebrows to rise as the two of them headed out.
A few hours later after tracking down Reyes and spending some time on the beach the duo returned to the base to find Tej and Roman still working on the safe. It had been while they were out there that he had received a few calls informing him of the status of a few things. Bonnie had called and informed him that they had retrieved the grimoires from the Martin place and that Damon had taken her to where the witch burning site had been. He'd received calls from both Lucas and Nathan who had been instructed to call him by his mother as they needed advice on women of all things. Apparently Lucas was stuck between these two girls Peyton and Brooke who happened to be best friends and Nathan was going through a rough patch with Haley. All in all it had been typical teenage drama on that front.
He'd received a brief status report from Boruto regarding Hunt's mission which had turned into a success, as if anything else was feasible with that man. He'd also given him an update on the ongoing status of Nikita's mission to infiltrate Division which was apparently going well for the most part. Finally Katherine had called to let him know she'd tracked down Isobel and was going to pay her a little visit. By the time he'd finished all of that Giselle had finished up with Reyes having successfully acquired his handprint and was returning while Reyes himself was also heading out accompanied by his numerous bodyguards.
"You know I thought you were more of a thong man." Said Roman spying the bikini bottoms Naruto currently held in his hand.
"We got the print." Said the blond
"Where?" questioned Tej turning away from the safe.
He received his response from Giselle who rather than speak shined a blue light flashlight over the exposed portion of the bottoms showing the rather clear imprint of a hand.
"So did he just slap that ass or did he grab and hold on to it?" questioned Tej causing them to chuckle while Giselle playfully shined the light in his eyes.
A few moments later as they were wrapping up the conversation the revelry was destroyed by a call from Mia.
"Man the whole team just got burnt." Said Brian causing everyone to make their way over.
"Now we're all wanted." Said Mia turning back to the screen of her laptop which was showing face shots of everyone with the exceptions of Giselle and Naruto.
"How did this happen?" questioned Giselle.
"US Diplomatic Security Service issued the warrants. Agent L Hobbs." Said Mia getting Brian to frown.
"Hold on one second." Said Brian before pulling up a picture.
"Hey Dom, is that the guy you saw in the favela?" questioned Brian
"Yeah."
"Hobbs is the leader of the elite task force for the DSS." Said Brian.
"So he's good." Said Tej.
"When the FBI wants to find somebody that's who they call because he never misses his mark. This guy, he's Old Testament. Blood, bullets, wrath of God. That's his style.
"And right now he's hunting us?" questioned Mia getting an affirming hum from the former cop.
"Can you make this disappear?" questioned Dom turning to Naruto.
"Wait you can do that?" questioned Tej in surprise.
"Naruto can do many things, the safe was just the tip of the iceberg. He has contacts in government agencies around the world." Said Gisele.
"I could but I won't." said Naruto after a moment getting shocked looks from the group.
"Truth be told we've had our eyes on Hobbs and his team for a while now. We can use this to get a closer look on how he operates." Explained the blond.
"But what does that mean for us?" questioned Roman.
"Nothing changes. If we're caught, we'll disappear once we're inside the prisons, however I'd like to avoid all that if at all possible." Said Naruto
"Can you make our records disappear as well?" questioned Roman.
"No. I have contacts in the agencies but I'm not a part of any government agency. I don't have the power to make criminal records disappear, it's why Dom, Mia and Brian are here in the first place." Explained the blond.
"So what we just move up the timetable?" questioned Tej
"How, this thing's already been difficult without Wyatt Earp on our asses. If anything we need more room to breathe." Said Roman
"Roman's right, I think we need to get some fresh air." Said Dom after a few moments.
A few hours later found the group with the exception of Mia and Gisele returning to the base after their latest mission. They had spent the last hour out and had been gathered in the center of a crowd all of which were part of the local racing scene. Of course this wasn't the first time members of the group had been there Naruto himself had gone previously and won a 2011 Subaru Impreza WRX STI. Regardless they had only been there a short time when sure enough Hobbs and his group of tagalongs had shown up. While the confrontation was taking place Tej who wasn't with the group had used the distraction to place a tracking device on Hobbs car. It had been quite the show put on culminating with the group of racers turning guns on the Feds who had no choice to back down, and all it had cost them was the return of the cars they had won, which they had no use for anyway.
Of course they had used the outing for more than one purpose. They had put all the cars to work on the mock track and had determined that the window was simply too small as all of them had gotten caught by a least one camera. As such they had agreed that they would need cars that may as well be invisible. That had led to them taking a trip to the police station and making off with a few of their Dodge Charge PPV's. Roman following that had proposed a quarter mile rice where each put up a million dollars' worth of their cut from the job which Brian managed to win.
"Good race O'Connor." Said Dom as he walked passed
"Thanks Dom." Said the former cop smiling as he turned to Naruto and Roman who were approaching.
"Man you know how long I've been waiting for that shit." Said Brian.
"Told you he didn't see it." Said Naruto
"Your man right there, he let off the throttle at the line. You didn't do nothing, he let you win." Said Roman instantly killing the smile.
Back in Mystic Falls things were going quite differently for the group at large. Bonnie for instance had been rewarded with another success. Damon true to his word had led her to the site of the witch burnings where they had found an old abandoned house. The spirits of the witches had made themselves known by first freezing Damon in his place and then turning off his daylight ring causing him to begin burning. Eventually she took pity on him communing with the spirits who stopped messing with him and allowed him to leave. Damon a while of waiting had gone back to town before heading to the Lockwood Mansion after a call from whom he had thought was Elena.
Upon arriving he had been greeted with the corpse of John Gilbert who had been the victim of a vampire bite before being tossed down the stairs. Unfortunately he was wearing that freaky ring of his and as such was likely to survive. After schooling the sheriff about the particulars of John's ring he'd gotten out of there leaving her with the task of coming up with an excuse while he dragged away the body. Unfortunately upon arriving home he'd found the moonstone missing which only worsened his mood. Stefan meanwhile had quickly confronted Katherine about Elena's whereabouts only to be stabbed in the neck and having a syringe full of vervain pumped into him.
All of this leads us to now were a car was pulling into the Grove Hill Cemetery. After the car pulled to a stop and the engine was killed the driver got out and went to open the back driver's side door. Climbing out of the car Isobel took a few steps before glancing back at the still open door.
"Just because you can't be compelled doesn't mean I can't force you to come with me." Said the vampire.
For a few moments there was neither sound nor movement before Elena climbed out of the car. She was obviously not in a good mood judging by the scowl on her face of course considering her current situation it was to be expected. She had been at the Lockwood Mansion to accept a check going towards her mother's scholarship fund when Katherine had surprised her and knocked her out only for her to awaken in the backseat of that car next to the last person she had wanted to see while she was on the phone.
"So is that what happened? You were compelled to betray Katherine?" questioned the girl.
"If I was, I couldn't tell you." Said Isobel
"So you lied. You did find Klaus, didn't you? He knows where I am now. Are you taking me to him?" said Elena firing off her barrage of questions.
Isobel said nothing, instead she moved over to a nearby tombstone and crouched in front of it.
"What is this?" Elena once again went unanswered verbally, though her question was answered when she moved closer and could see the tombstone and what it said.
In loving memory - Isobel Flemming - Jan 18, 1978 - May 4, 2007
"My parents, your grandparents, they put it here when it became clear that the police weren't gonna find my body. They visit every week, and they bring flowers, even though there's no one buried here. The Isobel they knew is dead. So maybe there's a part of me that's buried here, the-the human part, the part that I abandoned when I-when I choose to become a vampire, the part that used to dream about the day that she'd know her daughter." Said Isobel not looking up from the grave.
"What?" questioned the teen in surprise.
"Unfortunately, instead you got to meet the other part. The part that would betray her own flesh and blood." Said the vampire before her phone rang.
Picking it up she said but a few words her tone turning surprised and relieved by the time she was finished and hung up.
"Who was that?" questioned the girl.
"I'm so sorry, Elena. I was such a disappointment to you."
As she finished speaking she removed her ring and dropped it at her feet. Immediately she began to burn in the early morning light before her body burst into flame, the area echoing with her screams before they abruptly cut off as she turned to dust leaving a shocked Gilbert girl behind.
Back with the focus of our narrative the group was currently gathered in a rather festive mood. Things had started off tense when Mia had returned with an additional body, a guy by the name of Vince one of Dom's childhood friends. As it turns out Vince was the reason for all of them being in Rio in the first place. He had been living there for a while and had accepted what he thought was an easy job and invited Brian and Mia to tag along only for things to go south and spin out of control with Dom's arrival while they were mid-job. Whatever the case Vince had spotted Mia in the marketplace and gotten her out of there just as Reyes's men came storming the place looking for her. That story told Vince was welcomed into the place with open arms.
Naruto himself was currently manning a barbeque pit where he was putting his culinary skills on display. He'd already made a couple burgers and links but his addition of steak and ribs had really gotten mouths watering. Mia had helped him out preparing corn, mashed potatoes, greens and an assortment of other goodies to add to the meal earlier in the day. Now the rest of the group was more spread out with Tej and Roman not far from Naruto allowing him to both hear and engage the duo in conversation. Roman's reaction to Tej's plan to open up a new garage with his money was actually the highlight of the night so far.
"Are you serious right now!" exclaimed Roman catching the blonds attention and making him look away from Giselle.
"Is that the reason you let him beat you in the quarter-mile?" exclaimed Roman turning to Dom. "That was a baby gift." Finished the man.
"No, that's messed up." Said Brian immediately as the rest of the group came over to offer their congratulations
"Toast." Called Dom after a few moments causing the group to gather around him with their drinks.
"Money will come and go. We know that. The most important thing in life will always be the people in this room. Right here, right now. Salute mi familia." Said Dom raising his bottle an action copied by the rest of the group.
The next day found the group sitting in the center of the room as Tej went to work on cracking the safe. Naruto himself could be seen sitting slouched in a chair, his head leaned back and his eyes closed. It had honestly been a long day that had honestly gone to shit very early. It had started when the group was departing to get to their positions leaving just Mia, Brian Dom and Vince in the place when Hobbs and his team had made themselves known driving in through a wall and with Hobbs purposely driving his mini-tank into Dom's charger. Obviously a fight had taken place and while Dom had beaten Hobbs he'd stopped short of finishing him because of Mia's presence.
Naruto however had left his own little birds in place to watch over Mia and as such had immediately been alerted to the situation when one of them dispelled. Tracking them hadn't been hard however by the time he'd found them they'd been in the middle of an ambush by Reyes's men and Hobbs had already lost all of his team. The situation had forced him to get involved which he did by taking out the biggest threat which was the guy with the RPG. From there he had turned his attention to the rest of the ambush party taking out ten before Dom, Vince and Brian also began to help out. With Reyes's closest minions taken care of they had retreated back to the car only to discover that Vince had been hit in the side, he died in transit.
After they had regrouped at the base Hobbs who they had saved during the firefight had decided to lend them a hand, at least until he could get his hands on Reyes. While some members of the group had been all ready to pack up and get out of dodge they had continued with the job. Determining that the time for sneaking around was over they had rushed the police station with Hobbs leading the way with his Gurkha to punch a hole in both the security surrounding the station and the wall that separated the safe from the garage. Brian and Dom had led the police force on quite a chase as they dragged the safe behind them doing a massive amount of property damage in the process.
During the chase he and Roman had lent a hand clearing out space demolition derby style and effectively carved out a ten second window for the two. From there they had driven into a tunnel sliding the safe into the back of a dump truck Gisele was driving and having the fake attached to their cars in the front before speeding off with no one outside of the group aware of the switch. After a bit more work which had led to Reyes being killed by Hobbs, Brian and Dom had been allowed a 24 hour window by the man on the condition they leave the safe behind which they had no problem doing at this point.
This of course led them to now where the group were watching anxiously as Tej went to work. His skill however was soon rewarded by a loud click that echoed through the silent room. At the noise he froze and after turning to look at them for a moment moved to open it. The silence in the room was deafening for a few moments as Tej turned the handles on the door before finally pulling it causing money to come tumbling out.
Naruto's return to the Salvatore Boarding House and thus to Mystic Falls was done as always in a swirl of golden orbs. While he often enjoyed mundane travel methods, his schedule in this instance would not allow it. After splitting up their cash the groups had all gone their separate ways, he himself had made a couple of stops the first of which was to the IMF facility to see the Banker. The Banker was in charge of all funds related to the banking of any member or affiliate of the IMF and could create accounts with any bank in the world. He left there 14 million lighter and stopped in Tree Hill gifting Lucas and Nathan with a pair of debit cards informing them of their new accounts and the particulars regarding them. Nathan had looked incredibly relieved upon receiving the card, apparently his bank account had been frozen with Dan's pending murder trial and as such he was in desperate need of funds for his bills.
With that done however he had opted to spend a few hours with his mother before heading home. That said after his arrival he'd taken the chance to change up his appearance scaling down his age and throwing on an outfit more appealing to someone of his supposed age. Sitting on his bed he dispelled the disguised clones he'd had watching over the group in his absence and took the times to review and sort the memories that he'd gained as a result. After going over the memories he found his annoyance with Damon, Stefan and Elena rising once more. Bonnie, Caroline, Matt and Jeremy had all done well in keeping their heads down and staying out of trouble. Elena however had gotten herself kidnapped yet again while Stefan and Damon had been up to their usual standards allowing their opponents to outmaneuver them with ease. As things were the only threat that had been eliminated was Isobel and she'd killed herself. Elena had been released mostly because she was used as a distraction so Katherine could be taken and they'd even lost the moonstone.
Sighing at the incompetence of the three he wondered just how it was that he would be able to manage them going forward. Stefan was thankfully slowly coming along thanks to his sessions with Cordy so at least that was a work in progress. Still he needed to get Damon to do some serious growing up and soon as the rashness was now starting to seriously irritate him. Elena needed to do some growing as well as her naivety was going to end up getting her and many others killed in the long run if left unchecked.
Leaving the confines of his room after he had sorted all of the memories and roused himself from his thoughts he made his way through the halls of the boarding house somewhat aimlessly. His wanderings eventually found him entering into the library where he found Bonnie hunched over and surrounded by a rather large pile of books.
"Have I ever told you how sexy you look when you're reading?" questioned the blond lowly causing her to tremble in her seat.
"Not that I can remember." Said Bonnie slowly.
Naruto smirked as he wrapped his arms around her from behind and she instinctively leaned back into his embrace.
"God I've missed you." Said the girl as the familiar scent enveloped her senses.
"How is the research coming?" questioned the kitsune.
"It's coming, though I may have to get my mom involved to get anything done. All of it is beyond me." Said the girl
Naruto's grimace thankfully went unseen by the girl. To say that there was a chasm between Bonnie and her mother would be an understatement. She had gotten used to her mother not being there and had apparently resigned herself to the thought her mother had died some time ago. However for that to have not been the case, and instead for the woman to have abandoned her, marry someone else and raise his son, it had broken Bonnie's heart. After Sheila's death her great aunt Agatha had taken over as pseudo-head of the family until Bonnie came of age. Unfortunately when it came to personal magic projects Agatha felt that Abby should be the one that Bonnie would contact, though she would help Bonnie with anything else.
Sensing the negative emotions his youngest lover was beginning to emit Naruto took it upon himself to provide her with a bit of a distraction. Turning her face to his he wasted no time in claiming her lips and engaging in a passionate kiss. Breaking the kiss and finding her in a slight daze had him smirking as he pulled back and waited the near minute it took for her to come back to her senses. Standing back to his full height he grabbed her hand and helped her from her seat leading her out of the library and to the back of the boarding house. Out in the open air she took a deep breath before releasing an relaxing slightly something he was happy to see.
"I have a gift for you." Said the blond causing her to perk up.
Over time she had come to really appreciate her man for his gift giving. While he didn't do so often when he did decide to do so it was usually something that she would like, appreciate and use often. Naruto smirked at the sight before fishing something out of his pocket and handing it to her, accepting it Bonnie felt her eyes widen as she found herself looking down at an ornate ring. The ring itself was a small two-fingered one made of bronze and covered in small runic markings.
"You got me a Sling Ring!" exclaimed the girl in shock
Of course she had reason to be shocked. The Sling Rings were rare pieces with the power to create and sustain portals between any two points on the planet.
"Willow insisted. She wants you to come and study with her every Wednesday and Sunday night going forward." Said Naruto causing her to perk up.
Truthfully he was quite pleased with Willow for taking Bonnie under her wing as ever since Prue's departure the girl had been working mostly on her own. Of course she was a fast study but that doesn't change the fact that magic was dangerous and could be corrupting and Willow was actually the best person for Bonnie to have as a teacher at this point.
"Do you know how to use it?" questioned the blond.
"Prue taught me the theory but I've never actually used one." Said the girl slipping the ring onto the index and middle fingers of her left hand.
"Well creating a portal is like teleportation. The first thing you need to do is visualize, look beyond the world in front of you and see the destination in your mind. With that established and channeling your magic into each hand you will use your right to trace a circular pattern in front of you while focused on that destination." Explained the blond moving behind her and positioning her so that he left hand was held straight ahead of her.
"Right now we'll start with places you should be very familiar with so I want you to focus on your bedroom."
Before anyone knew it time had flown by and a few weeks had passed with the end of April now looming ahead. It was within a plain of pure white that a single building could be found with endless stretches of white spreading out in all directions from it while a pair of giant hour glasses could be seen on each side of the building. It was here that Naruto could be found seated calmly in a meditative position just inside of the building while Caroline could be seen just ahead of him on one of the rather long steps. She currently wore a black fighters gi with a sleeveless top held closed with a dark blue sash underneath which was a sleeveless dark blue undershirt. The legs of her pants were tucked into a pair of dark blue boots with an orange stripe running down the center and the sole and she finished the look with a pair of dark blue wristbands. The boots, wristbands and undershirt also all served a purpose for her training in the fact that each item weighed fifty pounds forcing a total of 250 pounds of added weight onto her. In her hands she held a sword, nothing special just a simple katana that she was currently using to train with. She was covered in sweat and her arms shook from the weight of the sword. for
"Enough."
Hearing the call the blonde stopped mid-swing or at least tried to and once she'd regained control of the blade turned to face him. Not even bothering to open his eyes he motioned for her to come before him. Doing as bid Caroline moved so that she stood before him before dropping to her knees and soon slipping into a seiza position.
"Tell me girl, do you know where we are or why I brought you here specifically?" questioned Naruto.
"No." answered the girl having wondered exactly that.
"This room is a void, but it is more than that. This space sits within a fold between dimensions and as such the concept of time works quite a bit differently. As such while we are only booked to spent 24 hours in here for us a year will have passed before we leave this room. Furthermore, you will find that once you take a step outside of the boundaries of the building that the gravity will increase substantially, and it will increase at intervals as you traverse further away from the building. The temperature will fluctuate the further you go and the air will become denser as well." Explained Naruto causing her eyes to widen.
"How far out does it go?" questioned Caroline as she could see nothing but white as far as her eyes could see.
"It's infinite. Despite this no matter how far you go out this structure will always be visible so that no one can get completely lost."
Meanwhile at the IMF facility in New York within a room on a lower level a briefing was taking place. At the head of the room stood Buffy Summers while out in the crowd seated before her were several people who would be working on this mission with her. In the front row was her field partner, a fellow Slayer and one of her sisters in Naruto's harem who went by the name of Faith Lehane, and Willow Rosenberg also in attendance were a small number of other slayers, Jax, Boruto, her old mentor Rupert Giles a who she could see in the back among several others.
"Everyone is here, good let's get started." Said Buffy before pulling up an image of owl onto the screen.
"Back in the Middle Ages an organization was started by a young Elijah Mikaelson with the intent of gathering great minds in an effort to build a better future, it was called The Strix. They are an elite group and as such seek out only the most talented of individuals. Their numbers include artists, politicians, warriors, leaders and people talented in many other areas. They also have numerous vampire soldiers under their command."
Here she paused and changed the picture to one of an average looking white male with dirty blond hair who wore a three-piece suit.
"This is Tristan de Martel born sometime in the 10th Century and the son of the Count of Marseilles of the time. Tristan is the first vampire to be sired by Elijah as well as the second and current leader of the Strix. Under his leadership the Strix have become a worldwide force and to quote Elijah a collection of ego-maniacal sociopaths." Said Buffy getting a few chuckles.
Pulling up a new picture revealed a was a gorgeous, young-looking woman of African descent with natural black short hair, dark brown wide eyes and full lips.
"This is Aya Al-Rashid, one of the organizations founders and Tristan's second in command. She is a very highly trained fighter and as a vampire with over 900 years of experience under her belt is not to be engaged in singles combat under any circumstances."
The next picture to come up was of a man with short, clean-cut black hair and dark, brown eyes that were indicative of his Asian heritage. He had a stern and intelligent face that also looked aristocratic and like Tristan was clad in a dark suit.
"This is Shen Min who was at one time the torture consultant for Genghis Khan sometime in the early 1200s. Shen was infamous for his cruel love of inflicting pain on other people, earning himself the name "The Red Sorrow" even before he was eventually turned into a vampire"
The next was a picture of a group of what looked to be teenage girls.
"These are members of a group known as The Sisters. They are a powerful dark coven of 'lost souls' witches that aid as the personal coven of The Strix. These are outcasts witches without a proper coven or a family who joined The Strix as consultants and personal witches, providing them with spells and predictions. As with all witch matters Willow will be in charge of all matters dealing with them.
"That's just the bit we've been able to gather so far most of which was shared with us by Elijah. Make no mistake this is an elite society of vampires that under the leadership of Tristan de Martel has expanded into one of the most powerful organizations in the world, responsible for countless wars, assassinations, and plagues throughout history. This will be a big operation that will require more than simply taking out the leadership in order to stop them. As such for right now our only priority is gathering intel on the organization and its goals." Said Buffy before shutting off the projector.
As the meeting came to a close Elijah stayed behind and soon found himself in a small conference that consisted of the two Slayers Buffy and Faith, the young witch Willow, Boruto and Jax.
"I'm surprised you made it today." Said Buffy as she eyed him.
"Yes well it seems young Elena has realized that as well intentioned as her friends are, they cannot save her in this instance and would if left to their own devices only succeed in getting themselves killed." Said Elijah.
"So she turned to you." Stated Faith frowning.
"I had already made a deal with her, and if nothing else I am a man of my word. If I were any other member of my family her friends would already be dead for their actions and she would be sitting snug in a cell until she was needed after which her carcass would be left to rot." Said Elijah his tone calm as if he were discussing the weather.
"Just for the record I still don't like this." Said Willow before handing over the moonstone.
As he held it Elijah realized in that moment he held Klaus's future all his wants and desires in the palm of his hand. He could crush the stone without effort and only a few months earlier he didn't know if he'd have even hesitated. Now as he held it he realized that the family really had changed they had come together in a way they hadn't been in ages. Pushing the thought aside he tucked the moonstone in the inner breast pocket of his jacket and bid his goodbyes to the group before he and Boruto vanished in a flurry of golden colored orbs.
Not long later found Elijah sitting on the couch within a rather large apartment as he finished draining a blood bag, his fifth since his release. Standing he made his way into the kitchen where he tossed it in the trash can just as the ringing of the doorbell echoed through the place. Moving to answer the door he found Elena standing outside of the threshold and stood aside before motioning for her to come in.
"Nice place." Said the girl as she entered.
She looked a lot better than she had after their last conversation no longer having a look that screamed shell-shocked after he revealed to her that Klaus was his brother earlier in the day.
"Indeed it was a nice find." Said Elijah motioning her over to the couch.
In truth the apartment was a safe house that Naruto had given him when he had come to town. It boasted two bedrooms and full baths and was on the fifth floor of the complex. It was decorated enough to give a lived in feel but the lack of pictures and personal touches would clue people in that it wasn't a place that saw regular usage.
"So you were saying that there's a whole family of Originals." Stated Elena restarting their conversation from earlier in the day taking the offered seat while Elijah settled across from her on a chair.
"Indeed. My father was a land owner in Eastern Europe. Our mother bore seven children." Said Elijah.
"So your parents were human?" questioned the girl in surprise.
"Our whole family was. Our origin as vampires is a long story just know we are among the oldest vampires in the world. We are the Original Family and from us an entire breed was created." Stated the vampire
"But if Klaus is your bother how could you want to kill him?" questioned the girl.
"I believe you could ask young Stefan the same in regards to his brother." Said Elijah, a point Elena would have to concede to him.
"Now as you've seen, nothing can kill an Original. Not the sun, not fire or even a werewolf bite. Only the wood from one tree, a tree my family made sure had all been burned the world over." Said Elijah.
"That's where the white ash from the daggers comes from." Said the girl in understanding.
"Indeed, Nature doesn't really want anything truly immortal roaming the Earth. Every creature needs to have a weakness in order to maintain the balance." Said Elijah.
"So if the sun can't kill an Original why is Klaus so obsessed with breaking the sun and the moon curse?" questioned the girl.
"The curse of the Sun and the Moon, it's so biblical sounding don't you think." Said Elijah a smile gracing his face his mind flashing back to old times where he and Klaus discussed his creation of Roman depictions, Aztec drawings and even African carvings detailing the curse.
"Wait I don't understand Klaus drew the sketches?" questioned Elena in shock.
"Indeed, Roman scrolls, Aztec sketches, African tribal drawings and any other culture and continent we put it in." revealed Elijah.
"But why?" questioned the girl clearly not getting it.
"Because the easiest way to discover a doppelganger or recover a long-lost moonstone is to have every single member of the two warring species looking for it." Revealed Elijah.
"So if it's not an Aztec legend what is it?!" questioned the girl clearly frustrated.
"Don't you get it, the Curse of the Sun and the Moon is fake, it doesn't exist." Said Elijah pouring himself a glass of wine from the bottle he'd had sitting on the table.
"WHAT!" exclaimed the girl.
"Klaus and I, we faked that thing almost a thousand years ago." Said Elijah
"But if there's no curse…" started the girl only to be cut off.
"Oh there's a curse, it's just not that one." Said Elijah absently.
"What are you talking about?" questioned the girl her tone showing serious confusion.
"This curse, the real one Klaus has been trying to break for a thousand years." Said Elijah
"So what's the real curse?" questioned the girl
"My family was quite close, but Klaus and my father did not get on too well. When we became vampires, we discovered the truth. Klaus was not my father's son. My mother had been unfaithful many years before. This was her darkest secret. Klaus is from a different bloodline. Of course, when my father discovered this, he hunted down and he killed my mother's lover and his entire family. Not realizing, of course, that he was igniting a war between species that rages until this day."
"A war between the species?" questioned Elena slowly
"Indeed, the vampires and the werewolves. That is how the hatred between the two started." Revealed Elijah.
"So Klaus' real father was from a werewolf bloodline? What does that make Klaus? A werewolf? Or a vampire?" questioned the girl.
"He's both, half vampire and half werewolf. A hybrid and as such deadlier than any werewolf or vampire. Nature would not stand for such an imbalance of power. Therefore, the witches, the servants of nature, saw to it that my brother's werewolf side would become dormant."
"And that's the curse he wants to break." Said Elena her face pale as the implications hit her.
AN: That's it the chapters over. It took far longer than I thought to get to just this chapter and just finishing it was a chore in a half, but it's done and I'm happy with it. Thank you all sincerely for sticking with me for all this time. That said please leave a review. Till next time, LATER.