Chapter 3: The Masquerade Revellers
In the early morning of Mystic Falls, Bonnie had stumbled out of bed and headed straight to the abandoned witch house. All night her ancestors were determined to plague her dreams with coffins and Originals, but she knew they were trying to help her. If what they were telling her was true, the locked coffin would be the key to killing Klaus once and for all. All four coffins were kept together with the locked coffin resetting closest to the wall. Standing before it, Bonnie closed her eyes as she recited the spell in Latin hoping this would be the one to open it. When she opened her eyes, she reached out to open the coffin, only to find that it was still locked.
In her frustration the young witch kicks the legs of the cart, rattling the coffin. "Why won't you open?!" she cried. Suddenly the coffins disappear. Bonnie pauses before looking around the room cautiously. "Hello? Someone there?" the witch called out.
The brothers head towards the house, Damon still too suspiciously happy for Stefan's tastes, coming up the porch steps. "You didn't say anything to Elena about the coffins, right?" Stefan turns to his brother.
"No, I said I wouldn't," Damon looks confusingly at his brother.
"I know what you said."
"Why are you asking?" he asks, joining his younger brother inside the house.
"Because protecting the location of Klaus' family is my number one priority right now. And the fewer people who know, the better," Stefan explains. Instead of responding to his brother, Damon stops inside the house and looks around thoughtfully. Turning back to his older brother, curious as to why he has been so quiet, Stefan stops and stares at him, "What?"
Bonnie walks slowly to the staircase, about to climb up the stairs when she sees Damon. Putting a finger to his lips Bonnie tries to be as quiet as possible, hiding in the corner. Damon heads back towards the source of the creaky floorboards.
A hybrid walks out of the house when he is intercepted by Stefan. Getting ready to attack, he vamps out but before he can bite Stefan, Damon comes up from behind him and rips out his heart.
"These hybrids, really bringing down the neighbourhood," the older Salvatore observed. Tossing the heart on the floor Damon looks to the side and sees another hybrid getting ready to run but before she can Stefan runs up to her and throws one of the loose floorboards at her neck, severing her head instantly.
Stefan heads towards the decapitated body laying on the steps of the house and looks back to his brother. "How did they know to look here?" Stefan demanded.
"About that, funny story."
In a small diner just outside of Mystic Falls Klaus and Olive sat side by side in the same booth, Olive's jeans covered leg resting on Klaus' lap with one of his hands playing with the hole in the material as they ate. On the rare occasions they got to spend the morning together they always tried to go out and try a new place to eat. Klaus had been the one to suggest this diner, he had a soft spot for classic American diners. He always thought they could either give you the best or the worst pancakes. It was a gamble but thankfully this morning he lucked out. Laid out in front of them, they got to choose from a variety of pancakes, waffles, assorted fruits and even some milkshakes.
"We sent out six teams of hybrids to look around the area the doppelgänger told us about in pairs." The couple were looking down at the map that was being held by Klaus. On it four buildings had been circled based on the likelihood of whether four large coffins could be stored securely. Abandoned houses, warehouses, even a large garbage dumb was being scouted by the hybrids. "10 have come back, seeing nothing useful," the vampire explained.
The other tables were filled with hybrids, all indulging in pancakes and maple syrup, happy to be rewarded with a delicious breakfast after a long morning of sneaking around.
"And the last team?" Klaus looked curiously at his partner.
"They're not back. They should have been here 15 minutes ago," she answered.
"So, we now know where Stefan is, and where he might be keeping the coffins," the Original mused. Olive hummed in agreement as she reached over to the table to take a bite of the blueberry pancakes in front of her before offering a piece to Klaus.
After being confronted with a headless hybrid, Bonnie headed off to school, eager for some normality to replace the gruesome death she had just witnessed. Meanwhile, Damon had the unfortunate job of having to tell his brother that Elena had partially sold him out and given Klaus a clue on where to find him. This predictably caused Stefan to lash out and go on a tangent of how irresponsible his brother was and why he wanted Elena out of this. His anger then caused Damon to become defensive and even more remorseful about the two betrayals against Stefan that had occurred yesterday.
Which is why Damon found himself fiercely hitting the locked coffin with a shovel, working off some of the stress.
"You're wasting your time. It won't open." Stefan had just returned from scoping out the perimeter for any more wayward hybrids only to find his brother denting the shovel against the unbreakable locked box.
"But it feels good," Throwing the shovel to the side, Damon turned to face his brother.
"Did you bury the body?"
"Yeah. Any sign of our little hybrid buddies?"
"Nope, just the dead one. But thanks to you and Elena we can look forward to more hybrids popping up," Stefan moaned. Facing away from his brother, Damon mouthed the words mockingly back at him.
"You know, this wouldn't have been a problem if you had just offered to help, Elena. She wouldn't have had to sell you out if you just thought things through," retorted Damon, tired of having to defend himself.
"I wouldn't have to if you had kept a better track of the one Original you had. I have four coffins and none of them have gone missing," Stefan boasted.
"I don't like this new confident Stefan. He's kind of a dick." Damon stared at his brother for a long time, observing this newfound arrogance that had come with tricking the hybrid. In return, Stefan gave a phoney smile back at him.
Stepping away from the wall Stefan came closer to the coffins, looking at them intently. "We need to move the coffins before Klaus finds out about this place."
"What about the house the tomb vamps kept you in? It's been abandoned ever since I killed that little old lady," Damon suggested.
"You want to hide Klaus' family in the house I was tortured in?" Stefan looked at his brother bemusedly.
"You got a better idea?"
Stefan paused before suggesting, "What about the caves? No vampire can get in."
"Newsflash Stefan, we're vampires. What if we have to move them again?" Damon argued.
"How about we separate them. Two in the caves, two in the torture house." This would give them an advantage over Klaus. On the off chance he found their hiding space the other two would be safe.
The older Salvatore nods in agreement before looking over the coffins once again, circling them slowly. "Alright, Klaus has 6 siblings. Rebekah, who we can assume is with Klaus now. There was that one dead kid in the old world, one in the new world, which leaves Elijah and two others. Three sleeping Originals, four coffins. So, who is in the locked box?" He slaps said coffins gently, overwhelmed with curiosity as to what secrets lie inside.
"No idea. But whatever is in here, Bonnie seems to think will help us kill Klaus. So, the sooner she can get this open, the sooner we will know if she's right." Stefan comes up next to his brother.
"Oh, you think the spirits of a bunch of dead witches that can make coffins invisible would have figured out how to open one." Damon looks up at the ceiling expectantly, waiting for their so-called allies to help them out. "Fine, don't help," he grumbled. What was the point of having 100 dead witches at their disposal when they couldn't seem to offer much aside from making the coffins invisible?
"You know, none of this is gonna do us any good if Klaus' hybrid friends find our hiding place, right? Thanks again for ruining possibly the best place to hide the coffins," Damon rolls his eyes dramatically, looking back at his incessant brother.
"Find a new thing, brother. Besides, we can't forget about that nosey Olive. She managed to get Rebekah from under our-"
"-Your," Stefan interjects.
"-noses and has a reputation for being resourceful." Glares at his brother for the interruption. "We need to be smart about this."
"No, what we need is for these hybrids to get out of the way."
"Oh yeah, that's a great idea Stefan. Why don't you just ask them to pack their bags and take a long rest while we are at it. How about you try and keep the peace?" he scolded. "Don't attract attention to the real thing we are trying to hide." He gestures to the coffin at the back, mocking his brother's lack of self-preservation.
"Well, I'm not gonna play defence when I have what Klaus wants. He does what I say, or I dump his family to the bottom of the ocean," he retorted, smirking evilly.
"And then he kills you and everyone you know, like I don't know...me!" Damon exclaimed.
"No, he's bluffing. His family means more to him than anything else."
"Are you sure about that? He has Olive and by default an army of devoted vampires ready and willing to die for her," Damon squints at his brother. "If it was me, I'd let you spend a few decades at the bottom of the ocean to command a willing army."
"Well, I don't know Damon. I mean, I guess there's only one way to find out, right? Call his bluff."
"The only way to call someone's bluff, Stefan, is to be willing to lose everything if you're wrong."
Without another word Stefan stares his brother down and makes a dramatic exit, ready and willing to take on the hybrid and his pretty little girlfriend.
Returning from their impromptu breakfast, Klaus was focused on having his new home finished before the rest of the furniture arrived. So far Klaus was ahead of schedule, by this rate the mansion would be done by next week. Staring down at the finished plans for the kitchen, he turned his head as he noticed the annoying presence of the younger Salvatore brother standing in his partially built doorway.
"I'm surprised you're still in town. I gave you your freedom, you could have gone anywhere," the hybrid commented.
"I live here, Klaus," Stefan replies, stepping further into the room.
"Well, if we're playing this game, then...I was here first. For 26 years in fact. You were only here for 17. So, another point to me."
"You know, I don't like your hybrids. They're everywhere, kind of like fleas. I want them gone."
"Really? Well, I kind of like having them around," Klaus remarked, picking up his glass of red wine resting next to the blueprints. "I must say, I'm quite disappointed in your attempts to be intimidating. Where's the Ripper? Where is the fire? Right now, you're like a Disney villain. I feel like I'm being threatened by Cinderella's stepmother," the Original says into his wine glass, taking a well-deserved sip.
"If you want the Ripper out so bad you could always compel him out. That's what you do right? Compel your friends and strip them of their freedom."
Klaus finishes taking a sip from his glass before disclosing, "Please, Stefan. We were never friends. You were a tool. An instrument I welded that served its purpose before I used it up and tossed it away," Klaus smirks at the sight of the aggravated vampire before him. His shoulders had tensed, having trouble stopping himself from lashing out at the Original. The only thing stopping him was knowing that Klaus was just trying to get under his skin so that he could drop his guard.
"Klaus, get your hybrids out of Mystic Falls or I will remove them myself." Stefan steps closer to the hybrid.
"See, that would have been a more effective threat if I took you seriously. What's stopping me from simply burning this entire town to the ground and just finding them in the rumble unharmed?" Klaus challenged.
"Do whatever you want, I don't really care. Or you know what? Maybe I do care. May I care so much that I'll drop Elijah in the Arctic."
"Do you really think threatening to dispose of my brother," he points at Stefan, "who recently teamed up with you to try and kill me, is going to change my mind? You could drop them all into the bottom of the ocean. You could send them into space if you wanted to and I would still get them back. That's the beauty of being immoral," the Original proclaims.
"Klaus, get your hybrids out of Mystic Falls or I will remove them myself."
"Do it. See what happens." Klaus takes another sip from his nearly empty wine glass.
In the middle of their stare down, Mindy walks in after hearing Stefan and Klaus arguing. "Is everything ok?" she asks tentatively.
"Everything is fine, Mindy. Stefan here was just realising that he still doesn't have the upper hand." Klaus replies as he refills his glass with the bottle of Bordeaux resting on his planning station. Stefan looks to Mindy before grabbing the saw from the worktable next to him and slicing her head clean off before she can blink. Her head stumbles towards the Original's feet. Rather than the shocked look of indignation he was expecting, Klaus simply rolls his eyes. "You always did have a flair for the dramatics," he complains into his wine glass.
"One down," he boasts daringly at Klaus, waiting to see a crack in his poker face.
"I can see that. I'm impressed, you picked the one hybrid that I cared the least about and was planning to kill anyway. Excellent argument."
"I will kill all your hybrids," Stefan threatened.
"And I will make more. You can show yourself out." Klaus points to the door before striding back to his plans.
A fuming Stefan throws the bloodied saw on the table, landing it on top of the finished plans before he stomps out of the mansion already planning his next move.
That night Klaus and Olive made their debut in Mystic Fall at the founder's party, chatting up the locals and flashing money at those eager to fund the bridge restoration project. As they made their rounds together, Olive was left to listen to one of the council members riveting stories about his rock collection as Klaus was reluctantly pulled away by the Mayor.
"You know Carol when I think of a Mayor I think of an old fuddy-duddy, but you really have changed my perception," Klaus observes, turning on the charm.
"Oh, thank you." Carol smiles bashfully, glad that someone has seen her value in taking her husband's place after his tragic passing.
Walking past, Damon had heard the unmistakable voice of the ever so arrogant Original talking to Carol. He quickly comes to join the duo, keeping a close eye on the Original and the hybrid, Daniel, standing guard near him. "Look what the cat dragged in. Nice vest," Damon quips standing behind Klaus.
"Thank you very much, good to see you, Damon." He turns to see Damon with his signature bourbon in hand. "Carol and I were just discussing whether you would be the other big benefactor," the Original questions.
"What do you say Damon?" Carol looked at Damon, her hopeful eyes meeting his guarded ones. "Klaus has made a very generous pledge. You know how we're chomping at the bit to begin the renovation," the Mayor explains.
"Carol, don't take this the wrong way," Damon begins, the Mayor turning her head to listen to her dear friend, "but you do realise that you've been kissing the ass of an immortal hybrid who has ruined your son's life?"
"Oh, come now. Some would say that I saved it from all that nasty full moon business." Klaus turns back to Carol, eyes shining with understanding. "I've never had to go through it myself more than twice, to be honest, but still, I'm very sympathetic," he confessed.
Carol smiles and nods gratefully, her mind returning back to that fateful night when she was forced to watch Tyler endure endless agony. He was too young to have to experience such pain. And now, he wouldn't have to. If that met, he would have to listen to the Original..., wasn't it worth it? Do not break every bone in your body month after month. "Klaus promised to protect Tyler, Damon. And our town."
"From whom? His hybrids are the ones the town needs protection from," the vampire huffed.
"Well, I'd have no use for them if your brother would kindly return to my family," he added.
"Not gonna happen."
"That's what I thought, which is why I've come to an agreement with the Mayor. You and the council stay out of my hair, I stay out of yours. Your town gets protected, my hybrids get left alone and everybody will be happy. All you have to do is get Stefan to stop decapitating my friends and return what is mine," the Original advised.
"Please Damon, just get your brother under control, or the council will be forced to take action against him," Carol begs, tired of the police department finding decapitated bodies in shallow graves.
"You've got to be kidding me!"
"Oh, come on, mate. Give peace a chance. If you two would excuse me," he began, looking apologetically at the Mayor who returned her well-crafted smile back. "I have to get back to my date before she thinks I've abandoned her."
"When do we get to meet the lovely Olive?" Damon draws sarcastically.
"You'll be meeting her soon enough, mate." Klaus claps the young vampire's shoulder and grips it tightly inciting a pained grunt to escape Damon's mouth. With that ominous threat Klaus left to recuse Olive from a dull conversation with Daniel following close behind him.
As the night progressed Damon found himself wandering around upstairs, trying to get a glimpse of the elusive Olive. He's snooping paid off as he found Klaus standing in one of the rooms with a long blonde-haired woman in his arms. Her face was turned away from him so he couldn't make out her face but the council member they were speaking to couldn't seem to take his eyes off her. Just as he was about to interrupt the couple, Damon spotted Stefan sneakily wandering into one of the other rooms. Curious, he followed him.
Stefan had come up behind Daniel, stabbing him in the stomach with the knife he had stolen from the kitchen downstairs. He pulled his head back exposing his throat, ready to decapitate the hybrid but was thwarted when Damon came flying at him, slamming him into the wall.
"What are you doing?" Damon's wide eyes dancing with confusion.
Stefan frees himself from Damon's grip, causing the elder to step back. "Sending a message!" he exclaimed.
"Not here! Not with a room full of vampire hating human's downstairs. You have to control yourself or we could lose everything," Damon chides.
"That doesn't matter anymore, Damon. I told Klaus to get rid of his hybrids, he didn't listen so I'm going to say it louder."
"You don't think that Klaus won't make twenty more just to send a message? Have you forgotten about Elena's part in all of this? Or do you not care if she is a human blood bag for the rest of her life?" the older Salvatore fretted.
"Protecting Elena is your problem now. See, I'm not compelled by Klaus to do that anymore," Stefan smirks at his agitated brother.
"Don't give me that no-humanity crap, you can't just flip your switch! Your switch is fried, Stefan," the younger Salvatore chuckled lightly at the irony, "just like your brain! You wanna take Klaus? You wanna beat the villain? You've gotta be smarter."
"To beat the villain, Damon, you have to be the better villain."
Before Stefan could disappear, Damon managed to shove him into the wall again, holding him by his jacket. "I get it. You're pissed that Klaus took away your freedom and turned you into a Ripper. But this revenge fantasy of yours isn't going to make things better," Damon points to the door he just came in from, "I just saw Olive with Klaus. Remember her? She just put a bounty on our heads," Damon's eyes darted back and forth, pleading for his brother to understand how reckless he was being.
"He is not taking us seriously Damon. He thinks this is all a game so I'm going to make sure he understands how serious I am, even if I have to kill every hybrid running through this town," Stefan sneered.
"Klaus has maybe 30 hybrids that are sired by him. But Olive has 100s of vampires that worship her. This is not a fight you're going to win," Damon looks at his brother desperately asking not to go on a suicide mission.
"Yes, I will," Staring his brother down he snaps his neck unceremoniously on the ground next to the passed-out hybrid.
The insistent chatter was starting to bore Olive. She didn't mind schmoozing up to people at fundraisers like this, that's what they were made for. No, it was Mystic falls. Being in this room made her feel claustrophobic. She had spent the majority of the night clutching Klaus' arm as if he was a lifeline. Unfortunately for her, she needed to go to the one place Klaus could not follow. The bathroom. Well, he could but it could cause a bit of a scene if they were caught like last time.
She whispered in Klaus' ear that she was going to the bathroom and handed him her glass of wine, smiling graciously at the councilmen as she excused herself. As she walked to the bathroom, she noticed in the reflection of one of the antique cabinets that someone was following her.
Stefan.
He really was relentless. Before leaving the house, this evening Klaus informed her of the vampire's visit and how he had killed Mindy. As a precaution, Klaus asked her to always remain vigilant. It seemed Klaus' instincts were right.
Curious as to what the younger Salvatore had planned, she placed her purse outside on the table next to the bathroom door, rearranging the contents inside slightly, before walking alone. The bathroom was silent as she walked in, her heels clicking on the marble floor. Walking closer to the bathroom stalls she heard the door swing open again and long quick strides coming towards her. She felt him wrap his head around her mouth and felt a sharp pinch in her neck followed by a light burning.
Vervain.
She let herself slump into Stefan's arms, careful to make sure that her hair covered most of her face.
"What are you doing Stefan? Who's back there?"
Inside of Stefan's flashy red car, Elena is staring confusingly at her former lover who refuses to say anything to her. He hadn't said a word to her since he abducted her from the cemetery, she had to buckle her seat belt not long after she was shoved in the car when she saw how fast the vampire was driving.
Looking in the rear-view mirror from the passenger seat she notices an unconscious woman laying across the back seat. Her face was turned towards the seat, she looked familiar somehow, but Elena didn't recognise her.
Digging out her ringing phone from her pocket she moves to answer it only to have Stefan snatch it away without a word.
"Hello Damon, she's a little busy right now," he said.
"Why the hell do you have Elena's phone?" Damon asks, puzzled as he hears his brother's voice rather than Elena's, pausing as he comes down the stairs.
"I'm making my next move. Let me ask you something… what will Klaus do if he can't make any more hybrids?" Stefan inquires.
"What?" Damon barely manages to stop himself from yelling and drawing too much attention to himself. "Stefan, leave her out of this. You are not thinking clearly."
Foregoing a response, Stefan chooses to roll down the window and throws the cell phone out of the car.
"What are you doing?! Stefan left me out of this car. Do you hear me? Let me out of the car!" Elena screeches.
Rather than answer her, Stefan continues to drive through the dark roads. Elena looks around the car frantically, searching for a weapon or something that she can use to pry the door open with. Glancing at the back seat again she begins to fear what horrible plans Stefan has for this mystery woman.
"What now? You pulled me away from a fascinating conversation about landscaping the town square," Klaus ponders.
Damon had come in quite abruptly and pulled Klaus away without a word into the adjacent empty room, leaving a very confused and offended guest behind.
"Stefan just grabbed Elena," the vampire announced.
"Well, he's getting desperate," the Original remarked.
"He's gonna try and use her against you. Do what he says, get rid of your hybrids."
"Or what? Stefan would never dream of killing her."
"Are you sure about that? He just tried to behead someone in the middle of a council party. He's operating on crazy right now," Damon stressed
"Well, crazy or not, he's whole reason for stealing from me is to ultimately free Elena. I made him hurt her, so to make up for it he must save her from the ultimate threat. Trust me, he's bluffing," Klaus insisted.
"Maybe he is, maybe he isn't but if you don't want to believe him, believe me. I know my brother better than anyone, and right now, I don't have a clue how far he is willing to take this. So, if he says blink, I suggest you blink and quit with the psychobabble," Damon urged, his blood levels rising with each passing minute he didn't hear back from Elena or his brother.
"Forgive me for not entrusting you with your judgement of a man that fell for Katherines charms and promised his brother 'an eternity of misery'," Klaus commented smiling. "Enjoy your evening."
Klaus left the seething vampire outside as he headed back inside with the others. As he walked through the entrance one of the other hybrids, Lucy, who had been keeping watch interrupted Klaus. "Sir, we can't find Olive. Her purse was on the table next to the women's bathroom, but it was empty when we checked inside."
Handing the Original the purse Klaus looked through the contents. Without looking up he asked, "Did you look inside her purse?" The hybrid shook her head and Klaus nodded thoughtfully. "Look everywhere you can, but I have an idea where she might be." the hybrid commanded, pulling out a single sweet pea flower and twisting it between his fingers.
The hybrid quickly scurried off and went to alert the others.
Stefan was still driving madly as Elena continued to question her ex-boyfriend's plans.
"So, what's the plan, Stefan? What's the big move you're making?" Elena demanded.
"I took Klaus' family to make him suffer. I'm not gonna let him make himself a new one," Stefan warned.
"So, what are you gonna do, huh? Are you gonna lock me in some cave and keep me hostage?"
"Maybe. Maybe, I'll just turn you into a vampire," the vampire threatened looking daringly back at her.
"Stop the car, Stefan! Stop the car, Stefan," the doppelgänger shrieked.
Ignoring the terrified girl currently pulling at the locked door handle, Stefan pulls out his phone from his leather jacket and calls Klaus on speakerphone.
Back at the Lockwood house Klaus looks at the caller ID on his phone before stepping outside for some privacy in what will undoubtedly be an exhausting conversation full of pointless demands. "Stefan, how nice to hear your voice," Klaus remarks.
"Tell your hybrids to get out of town, Klaus."
"Well, that's not going to happen. Is there anything else you wanted?" the Original mused.
"Ok, well then I'm gonna drive your blood source off Wickery Bridge along with your girlfriend," the vampire snaps.
The doppelgänger's eyes widened in shock as she looked towards the back again. Who was in the backseat? Stefan had kidnapped Olive. So why did he even bother taking her? Surely one of them would have been enough. She could barely think straight with all that was happening but the one thing she was sure about was Stefan and completely lost his mind.
"I have trouble believing you, Stefan. Besides, Olive is more than capable of surviving a car crash," Klaus proclaims.
In a last-ditch effort to prove to Klaus that he was serious, Stefan bit into his wrist, blood dripping from the wound down to his lap before being unceremoniously shoved into Elena's reluctant mouth, muffling her cries.
"No! No! No! What are you doing?" the young girl moaned, struggling to speak around the metallic liquid invading her taste buds, tears filling her eyes when the wrist was finally taken away. She tried to spit as much of the blood out of her mouth but knew deep down that her efforts were in vain. He was going to kill her.
"Let me guess, you've just fed her your blood." Klaus looked calmly around his surroundings, beckoning a nearby hybrid standing on the end of the property with his free hand.
"No more hybrids if she's a vampire. Once Elena is dead, I'll take your little girlfriend and chop off her head and deliver it to your door," he threatened.
"You won't do it," Klaus announced.
"Really? Try me because your coffins are next to go. Say goodbye to your family, Klaus," he sneered.
"When I say you won't do it, I guess I really should be saying you can't do it. Glaubst du nicht, es ist Zeit, dass du aufwachst?" Klaus noted, a small smile gracing his lips.
Before Stefan could say anything else an arm suddenly came up from behind him, putting him in a chokehold. Stefan reached one arm out to try and pull his assailant's arm off his neck so he could breathe again but was having trouble doing this and trying to prevent the car from driving off the road.
"Oh my god! What are you doing?" Elena cried.
The young Salvatore managed to get a grip on her hair and felt something rip but that only seemed to make her press harder against his neck. His vision started to get dark, the black spots growing as he felt his lungs burn from the lack of oxygen. The last thing he heard before passing out was the terrified screams of the woman he loved.
"Stop the car! Stop the car!" Elena yelled frantically, frozen to her seat as she watched the bridge barrier get closer and closer to the car.
Olive reached down and pulled the emergency break between the seats, the wheels screeching on the pavement as the car stopped abruptly. Elena shot forward in the car, one hand pressing against the dashboard and the other gripping the car roof handle, her hands turning white from the force. Her seat belt pressed painfully against her chest, rising up and down as her harsh breath moved it. Once the car stopped Olive broke Stefan's neck and reached over to the panicking doppelgänger to pick up the phone.
"Alles erledigt," she assures, stepping out of the car she took it off speaker phone and broke the driver seat window with her elbow, inciting a scream from the girl as she quickly covered her face. "Come and send a car to the bridge, would you? I don't feel like walking in these heels." She pulled the unconscious Salvatore out of the window, letting his leather coat and jeans get ripped by the shards of glass.
"I'll send Daniel to you, love," Klaus smiles gently on his end, before hanging up the phone.
Olive throws the phone in the backseat after hanging up and looks over at the crying doppelgänger. Elena was struggling to undo her seat belt, hands shaking and tears blurring her vision didn't make it easy for her. They were so close to the edge. So close to dying. Suddenly, Elena's car door opened, inciting a shocked gasp from the doppelgänger. Turning to stare at the vampire who had ripped the door off she expected to see an evil glint in the vampire's eyes, a cruel grin laughing at her pain before taking her away. Instead, the vampire peered thoughtfully at the girl and helped her unbuckle her seat belt, moving back so that Elena could climb out of the car. The doppelgänger watches the vampire warily, waiting for her to attack, but she heads to the car again and rips off the driver's car door.
"What-what are you doing?" Elena stuttered.
"He pissed me off. So, I'm going to destroy his car," Olive huffed, removing his tires and puncturing them with the heel of her shoe.
"You're her, right? You're that vampire. Olive," the young girl asked, staring warily.
"Heard about me, have you?" Olive turned away from removing one of the tires and watched the doppelgänger with an inquisitive smile and raised eyebrows.
"Damon," the doppelgänger uttered quietly, hoping that she hadn't said something to upset the vampire.
"I'm not surprised he heard about me. He slept with most of my friends," she commented, rolling her eyes as she went back to the driver's seat and pulled off the steering wheel, tossing it next to the car door.
"You compelled my brother," Elena accused, "I had to send him away because of what you did to him." Her eyes became daggers as she watched the vampire pull off the door handle for the backseat car door. The adrenaline coursing through her veins gave her just enough courage to confront the psychotic vampire.
"You probably should have had him ingesting vervain rather than wearing it." The vampire shatters the side windows without flinching with the door handle. "It was too easy. I felt cheated," she shrugged, peering over her shoulder to see the disgruntled doppelgänger clenching her fists in fury.
"You're sick," Elena spits.
"I'm the sick one? Your boyfriend just tried to kill you," Olive pauses from destroying the chair seats and points to the dead Salvatore, slightly insulted that she was somehow the sick one in this scenario. "I was just sending a message," she declares frowning at the doppelgänger, "one I wouldn't have had to send if you just returned the coffins back to Klaus."
Elena watches with hatred as Olive goes back to taking the car seat out like it was nothing. Just as she was about to make another scathing remark, she noticed something strange about Olive. "Your hair…" Elena questioned slowly.
The vampire stops and focuses on the doppelgänger again. "What?" She reaches up to touch her head and feels a tear in the front of the wig. Rolling her eyes, she pulls it off, letting her short brown hair tumble out gently above her shoulders. "Fucking, Stefan. I liked this wig," she grumbled. She looks up to the doppelgänger gawking over her, puzzled by this reveal. Olive reaches over to the back seat and retrieves Stefan's phone and hands it over to Elena. "You should call someone to come and pick you up."
Elena hesitantly takes the phone from the vampire's outstretched hands and thumbs through the contacts until she finds Damon's. Eyeing the vampire fearfully, she dials Damon's number and sits down on the ground too exhausted to stand anymore, watching Olive destroy the car, ignoring her completely. "Damon?" she croaked.
"Elena! Are you alright? Did he hurt you?" Damon questioned frantically.
"I'm alright. He didn't hurt me," Elena mumbled, picking the loose thread on her jeans.
"Where are you?" Damon asked gently, hearing the pain in her voice, getting his keys, and heading out the nearest door.
"I'm at Wickery Bridge. Can you come get me?" she sniffled, rubbing her nose with the back of her hand.
"I'm on my way," he said, already in his car and making a hasty exit.
Elena hung up the phone and looked back at the mysterious woman in front of her. She seemed so cruel when she first heard of her. Seeing what she had done to her brother, she imagined someone like Katherine was responsible. Some leather clad woman that played on people's emotions and manipulated them to suit her needs. Someone that cared so little for human life like Isobel had. Instead, what she found was a young woman in a black and blue dress with a large orange heart on the front; Elena certainly hadn't expected that when they met for the first time.
She had kind eyes strangely and seemed genuinely concerned about her. But she was sure that that wasn't true. It wouldn't make sense for someone on Klaus' side to be compassionate towards her, anyone on his side must be cruel, ruthless, and completely devoid of any humanity. She was looking for something that wasn't there. She had done the same thing with Isobel. She wouldn't make that mistake again.
But she just couldn't shake the feeling that she might be wrong.
Olive tossed the last tire from the car and stacked them on top of each other. She stared down at the broken car in distaste. "Who would buy this car," Olive exclaimed. It looked like the kind of car 50-year-old men bought when they had a midlife crisis. The flashy red paint and tiny seating space was something Olive always despised in cars. You could barely move in them.
"It's Stefan's favourite," Elena answered quietly. The last of the adrenaline had finally left her system and the shock over what had just happened was starting to set in. If she wasn't sitting down, it was likely that she would have passed out by now.
"Was his favourite," Olive countered. "What happened on this bridge?" She looked back at the young girl, watching as she tried to compose herself.
"What?"
"This bridge, there has to be a reason that Stefan chose to use this bridge. He was obviously trying to play up your emotions. Not to mention how he threatened to turn you into a vampire and immediately called Klaus after," the vampire concluded. "So, what happened?"
"My parents died going over this bridge. I almost died," Elena croaked, her eyes filling up with new tears that threaten to spill down her cheeks. "And he knew. He was the one that saved me."
"God, he's more of a shit then I remember." Olive muttered.
"You know him?" Elena asked, her head rising from her knees as her curiosity spiked.
"Intimately," she laughs hollowly, stepping away from the well demolished car.
Glancing down at the torn wig that Olive threw beside her, Elena pondered, "Is that why you wore the wig?"
"That and I just like wearing them." Olive takes off her heels and walks barefoot towards Elena and reaches into her dress pocket and pulls out a handkerchief. She hands it over to her, gesturing to the girl's head, where there was a small cut but thanks to Stefan's blood there was only a wet trail left behind. "Besides, I wanted to avoid the 'how are you here?' question for as long as I could," she confessed.
"You knew him when you were human. You knew them both." Elena deduced, using the handkerchief to wipe away as much blood as she could. Now that Olive has taken off her heels Elena realises that she is much shorter than she thought. Even with the heels she only just reached the doppelgänger's height.
"You're observant," she complimented. Elena was thinking everything over when she heard a car approaching. She saw a man climb out of the driver's seat and stand there with his hands together in front of him. "That's my ride. Are you going to be ok on your own?"
Elena hurriedly rises and steps closer to Olive, her curiosity overriding her self-preservation. "Wait, who are you really? You found Rebekah, you compelled my brother, you stopped Damon from killing Klaus but then you saved me from being turned into a vampire. You're being nice to me and let me call Damon-" Elena rants.
"I'm Olive," she interrupted. "Questioning my methods or what I'm capable of is pointless. So, I suggest you re-evaluate your priorities before it gets you killed." Her eyes flicked towards the road before taking a deep breath and met Elena's intuitive eyes again. "Save yourself and all your friends or save the man that chose to emotionally manipulate and scar you as a power move," Olive advised. The young girl peered over the vampire thoughtfully as a car pulled up next to hers. "That'll be your ride. Good night, Elena."
Olive backs away from Elena and proceeds back to the still dead Salvatore and pulls him closer to the end of the bridge and tosses him into the cold running water below. She managed to walk past the older Salvatore without problem as he was too preoccupied with checking the doppelgänger over for injuries to even pay attention to her, nothing new there.
"Are you alright?" Damon gently touched the dried blood on the girl's head that she missed. "Your head," he mumbled.
"I'm fine, Damon. Promise." Elena held his hand in hers, smiling softly at his concern. Glancing past the vampires concerned, Elena sees the hybrid open the door for Olive. Just before she can get in Elena calls out, "Wait." The vampire in question turns her head to the couple, allowing Damon to finally see this elusive woman's face. "Thank you, Olive." Elena nods gratefully at her.
"You're welcome," Olive says timidly.
The light from the headlights illuminated her face more clearly in the dark, allowing Damon to gaze upon her more clearly. Blue eyes met green, causing Olive to inhale sharply as Damon uttered, "I know you."
She quickly turned away from the pair and got in the car, slamming her door. The hybrid quickly jogged back to the driver's seat, ready to take her back to Klaus who was undoubtedly waiting impatiently for her return. The car sped off the bridge and into the night, leaving the young vampire to stare at the spot Olive once stood curiously. Shaking his head, Damon peered over to Elena to see her staring down at the water.
"Let's get you home," Damon instructed.
They started to head back to the car when Elena abruptly stopped. Damon stared back at her confused. "Wait," Elena blurted, looking down at the handkerchief still in her hands. The doppelgänger quickly headed back to the damaged vehicle, grabbing the door handle that Olive had ripped off, she smashed it against the still intact windshield. Shards of glass flying everywhere urged the vampire to quickly cover her. Pulling away from Damon she threw the door handle back onto the hood before turning back to the shocked vampire. "Now we can go."
Long after the cars pulled away from the wreckage did the vampire manage to pull himself out of the water and onto grass. The cold breeze swept over the vampire making him shutter as he laid there panting as he tried to sooth his aching lungs.
So close. He was so close. Perhaps if he hadn't gotten over ambitious and only grabbed Elena instead his night would be ending on a high note, rather than him soaked laying on the grass with bits of debris stuck in his hair.
After a period of quiet contemplation and seething he stumbled back towards his car, only to find that it had been nearly ripped apart. The doors were off its hinges next to the car, the handle on one side no longer attached to the door but resting on the car hood. Parts of the roof were no longer intact, instead it looked as if it was attacked by wolves. The car seats were yanked out of his car and carelessly left on the pavement with the leather barely hanging on to the seat. This was his favourite car. This Porsche felt like an extension of himself, he had had it, cared for it for so many years. And it had been left so carelessly on the road, damaged beyond repair; well, he hoped it wasn't. Stefan could barely look away from what had presumably only been a taste of what Olive did when she was mad.
He walked towards the car slowly, hoping that this was a mirage from having his neck snapped and waking up drowning, alas, this was reality. He bent down and placed his forehead against the damaged car roof before he started slamming his hand against the car over and over, denting it; though it was difficult to see. After taking several deep calming breaths Stefan looked out at the damaged car parts spread across Wickery Bridge. There was a lot he had to do. But before he could even start to think about his next move, he spotted something in the road that wasn't from his car.
Was that hair?
Upon closer examination Stefan realised that it was a blonde wig next to the steering wheel, more specifically the blonde wig that Olive must have been wearing tonight.
He fucked up.
He pissed off two extremely powerful vampires and he didn't even know what one of them looked like. When he was putting Olive in the car, he wasn't too concerned with what she looked like, he only had so much time to get her out before someone noticed she was gone.
A phone ringing interrupted his thoughts. Looking back at his Porsche Stefan found his phone resting in the backseat, undamaged thankfully. He answered it grudgingly, wig still in hand. "What, Bonnie?"
"Stefan, did you move the coffins yet?" Bonnie asked frantically.
"What? Yeah, Damon and I moved them a couple hours ago. Why?" Stefan inquired.
"I went back to the house so that I could try and ask the other witches for help, but it was gone!" Bonnie exclaimed.
"The witches left?" Stefan asked, confused, having trouble hearing the witch through all the noise coming from her end.
"No, Stefan. The house is gone!" Bonnie shouted, trying to hear Stefan over the sound of the sirens. "Someone burned it down. There are firefighters hosing down the house right now."
"Fucking, Olive," Stefan chuckled humourlessly, hanging up the phone without another word and tossing it in the backseat again.
He glared at the wig in his hand before something in him snapped. This was different from when Klaus gave him back his free will. There was determination that came from that feeling. A clear plan. But with Olive? He knew next to nothing about her. He didn't even know what he looked like for Christ's sake. But he knew deep down that he would win. He would not rest until Klaus was dead and Olive's heart was in his hands.
He started to rip the wig until it was a tangled mess of uselessness, releasing a primal scream into the sky.
Fuck.
Fuck!
FUCK!
The walk up the porch was silent, just like the car ride there, both too lost in their thoughts. Elena couldn't understand how someone she loved, someone she trusted with everything would do this to her. Was Olive, right? Did he seek out to exploit her most traumatic experience to deceive Klaus? How could someone be so cruel? She would have walked to the ends of the earth to protect Stefan and he had so callously used her parent's deaths against her. It made her question everything she thought she knew. It didn't help that the woman that had been terrorising her brother was kind when her boyfriend was cruel. It should be the other way around. The days when the world was black and white seemed further and further away. The comfort of knowing exactly what you should and shouldn't do, what you should and shouldn't feel. Now everything was grey and burned.
Besides her, Damon was having a mini crisis of his own. It was driving him crazy not knowing how he knew Olive. But he knew he had seen her face before, he just couldn't place her.
"Thanks for picking me up," Elena said to the vampire standing next to her.
"Anytime. You gonna be, ok?" He looked over the doppelgänger, eyes crinkling with worry.
"I'll survive. Somehow, I always do."
"You know, Stefan was just trying to win. He was trying to push Klaus to the edge, and it almost worked," Damon implored.
"That's cause his method sucked," Elena responded.
"He needed to be the better villain and if Olive wasn't there…. he might've stood a chance. He's gonna unravel when he eventually washes up," Damon revealed. He was not looking forward to seeing Stefan again, he was barely hanging on before everything went to shit. This revenge fantasy of Stefan's was never going to work unless he learned to control his rage and thought things through. Not doing things half cocked.
"About Olive, she told me something." Elena confessed, looking down at the keys in her hand.
"What?"
"She said that she knew you and Stefan when she was human." Elena watched as he began to frown before looking up at the ceiling, giving her a strained chuckle.
"I think I have an idea," he replied, still looking at the ceiling.
"What?"
Rather than answering her he glanced over her tear-stained face, gently caressing her cheeks. "Really, tell me, are you gonna be, ok?"
"You can't kiss me again." Elena said, eyes flickering between his eyes and lips contradicting her words.
"I know," Damon whispered
"I can't. It's not right." Elena reminded the vampire.
"It is right. Just not right now. Good night." He gave her a tight smile before striding down the stairs without another word. He had something to do.
"Good night, Damon," she whispered at his back, unlocking her door, and entering the safety of her home.
At the Boarding house Damon was not enjoying a glass of bourbon by the fireplace like one would expect after a long night like this. Instead, he was on the couch looking through photographs. Four large cardboard boxes had been opened with their contents all strewn about the coffee table. The picture and papers flooded the table and the floor around it as Damon searched for something he couldn't name.
As he thumbed through a stack of photographs, tossing the rejects on to the floor, he finally found what he was looking for. His hand shook as he took it out of the pile and brought it closer to his face.
He was right.
He had never been so disappointed to be right.
Damon wasn't sure how long he had been staring at the picture, caressing their faces, his eyes filling with unwanted tears. By the time Stefan had stumbled in wet and dripping all over his hardwood floors holding his steering wheel the tears had been streaming freely down his face. He couldn't bring himself to wipe them away.
He was right.
"We need to kill Olive. We can't do anything until she's gone." Stefan announced, not realising that his brother had just made a life changing discovery, too focused on his own pain to even see his brothers.
"We can't kill her," Damon whispered, never looking up from the photograph.
"Why not? She ruined everything!" In his frustration Stefan threw the steering wheel into the wall making a large hole in the foyer. "I had Damon! I had him right where I wanted him and she fucked everything up," Stefan exclaimed. All his anger came back at him at full force. He had just spent the last two hours collecting all the parts of his car before dragging it to the nearest body shop, compelling them to fix it. Each part that he collected, every step that he took, it only moved to cement his hate for her all the more. Pacing up and down the foyer, still not noticing Damon's anguish, he continued to rant, "I just got a call from Bonnie. She went back to the witch house, and it was on fire, Damon! She burned it down!" Stefan bellowed.
"We know her, Stefan," Damon announced.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Stefan had stopped pacing and moved closer to his brother on the couch. Standing beside him, he finally saw the tears streaming down his brother's face, along with the various photographs covering the floor and table. Stefan had only seen his brother cry twice in his life. Even then Damon was ashamed that Stefan saw him crying, always wanting to be strong for the both of them. But this…. Damon wasn't even hiding his tears. "What's going on?" Stefan gulped.
The older Salvatore finally wipes his hand over his face with his free hand, sniffling in the process. He slowly extends his arm out to his brother, fearful of his reaction. Stefan cautiously took the photograph from his brother's outstretched hand, silence filled the room as Stefan took the photo frowning, not daring to look at the image until his brother told him what was going on.
"I think that's Olive," Damon finally croaked out. He put his hands together and pressed them against his mouth, almost praying that he was wrong.
Stefan frowned as he turned the photo over. It was a portrait of a beautiful woman; her long dark brown hair had been pulled back so that you could see her heart shaped face. Her porcelain skin made the lipstick she wore that much brighter, despite the photo being black and white. She had a soft smile in the photo, gentle and lovingly staring in the camera that could never do her justice and capture her beauty. The speckle of green wasn't visible in the photo, but Stefan remembered it, he would always remember seeing it shine brighter as she would walk through the garden, her wavy hair gently swaying in the wind.
He hadn't looked at this photograph in years. Neither brother had. They had an unspoken agreement to never talk about her. It was too painful for them to remember her. Even after all these years. It was best to pretend she never existed, putting her away in boxes far out of reach so they wouldn't be tempted to relive the past.
Unrelenting tears quickly filled Stefan's eyes as he finally met his brothers, seeing the anguish on his face that he knew mirrored his.
Aurora Salvatore, 1867
German:
Glaubst du nicht, es ist Zeit, dass du aufwachst? - Don't you think it's time you woke up?
Alles erledigt - All done