Masquerade - Part 1
Damon slid the glass filled with blood across the table, passing it over to Caroline, who was curled up in an afghan, who had a haunted look in her eyes. "Here."
"You'd think after all the times we've come across her, I'd be over how freaky she is," Caroline murmured as she reached down and grabbed the glass. She murmured a little thanks before she shot the glass back. "I'm still shaking."
Damon grabbed the empty glass from Caroline and passed it over to Pearl, who was busy refilling her own glass with blood (left in a pitcher by the ever-so-kind Ms. Gibbons). As Pearl got to work refilling Caroline's cup, Stefan came rushing into the house. He tossed his satchel that he carried with him as a "backpack" for school (did any of these kids go to school anymore? It was going to be a miracle if any of them could graduate by the time that came around) onto one of the armchairs. "I came as soon as I could. What happened?"
"Give him the low-down, Blondie," Damon grunted, plopping down onto the couch next to her. He threw an arm up and rested it against Caroline's shoulders.
She eased into his embrace, tense but looser than she had been before. Stefan looked confused, baffled, and all-around disturbed by how comfortable Caroline was next to him (enough to be semi-cuddling with him).
Caroline ignored the fact that Stefan's world looked like it was collapsing all around him and explained, "At the Grill. I just stopped by to gawk and...quasi-stalk Matt."
"It's stalking, Caroline," Damon deadpanned. "You're talking to people who have all done it to somebody. No need to be ashamed."
"Anyways, I saw Matt but then blew it when he came over to talk to me. Then, I had to pretend to use the bathroom, even though I didn't really have to go, because I'm a doofus." She shivered a little and pulled the afghan tighter around her shoulders. Damon gave her head a little sympathy pat and chuckled at the face Stefan pulled because of that move. "Cut to Elena walking into the bathroom, except it wasn't Elena, because I know she's at the hospital, helping Jenna home."
Stefan planted his hands on his hips and gave a defeated sigh. "Yeah, I was just there. She's extremely lucky that Katherine told her to go for the gut. If she had angled it any different way, gone an inch higher or lower, she would be dead. I left Elena, Alaric, and Kelly with her, and then Ms. Gibbons and Harper went also to help them out."
"So, Katherine tells me that she needs me to deliver a message," Caroline continued.
"What was the message?" Stefan questioned.
Pearl answered this one, echoing the words flatly, and not at all like how Caroline had done it (Caroline had done a pretty impressive impression, one that Damon had to applaud. She had taken a bow and explained that it was just, "Talk like Elena but with Victoria's voice and my sass". An accurate depiction), "Tell Damon and Stefan that I want the moonstone or I will rip this town apart until it rains blood."
"Tonight, at the masquerade ball," Damon finished for her. "As much as I want to say that Katherine wouldn't dare hurt anyone close to Victoria, she got to Mason and hurt Kelly, and she just went for Jenna, so I wouldn't know for sure."
"She wants to do it in public," Stefan commented, biting his lower lip contemplatively. "Killing Mason threw her off guard." He sent Damon a fierce look.
Damon let out a frustrated groan and threw his head back. "Seriously, Stefan, how many times do I have to defend myself? I left the puppy alive when I left to go see Kelly. When I got back, he was dead. Drowned, except there wasn't any water left on the floor. How do you suppose that happens?" Damon let out a growl and pushed himself onto his feet, leaving Caroline off-kilter so the teen ended up flopping down with her face to the cushion. "Katherine's running scared. What she did to Jenna was desperate. She wanted Elena to pay. She's out of tricks."
"We can't underestimate her," Stefan hummed. "We have to play this smarter than her."
Caroline rolled herself over so she was lying down on the couch on her back, looking up towards the ceiling of the boarding house. "Stupid idea: can we just give her the moonstone so she'll leave, because that seems to be what everyone wants from her."
"No, Katherine's not getting dick," Damon barked back. "I've had it. No more nice Damon. I'm gonna go to the masquerade ball and I'm gonna kill her. Tonight."
"You're not gonna kill her -"
"- Don't give me that goody-goody crap -"
"- You're not gonna kill her -"
"- Really -?"
"- Because I am," Stefan stated firmly. "We need to call a family meeting."
"Gah, we really need to come up with a better name for those," Damon hissed, shaking his head. "Sounds like we're all extended family, and I absolutely can't stand in-laws." He turned to Caroline. "Summon the masses. We're meeting at the Gilbert household. Now."
As soon as Mrs. Flowers exited the bedroom, Katherine flipped around and pinned the woman across the bedroom against the wall. She let her fangs drop and her eyes go red and she hissed hard enough that spittle flew from her mouth and landed onto the woman's cheeks.
The woman was not at all disturbed, just looked bored. "Oh, Kat, chill."
Katherine let her fangs retract and her eyes return to their normal brown color before she retorted, "Do not sneak up on a vampire." Katherine shoved her shoulders as she took a step back, folding her arms across her chest as she watched the woman brush her clothes down.
"Don't attack a witch," the woman retorted, giving Katherine a stern look. It dropped into a warm smile and she held her arms open. "It's good to see you, girl."
"I'm glad you made it!" Katherine agreed, puling her into a tight hug. "Really needed you by my side, Lucy."
"You called, I came," Lucy laughed, daring to reach up and ruffle Katherine's hair. Katherine let out an indignant squawk and pulled herself out of the embrace, giving Lucy a dirty look.
"Like you had a choice."
"Don't get all boss bitch on me," Lucy snickered. "I know you love me and vice versa." She sauntered over to one of the plastic bags that Mrs. Flowers had carried in and she reached in, pulling out a black lace mask. "Now, where on Earth does one wear this?"
"To a masquerade ball. Tonight," Katherine explained. "You want to be my date?"
Lucy sighed, shaking her body in an ill-concealed disgusted shiver. "You know I hate parties, but alas, you're lucky that I happened to bring a semi-fancy dress with me. I think I can make some spare time for me to come." She plopped herself down onto the bed as Katherine made her way over to the vanity in the bedroom. Katherine plugged in the flat-iron as Lucy added, "Hey, you were pretty shady with the details. Mentioned something about the moonstone and other business that you couldn't say over text."
Katherine froze for barely a second, but it was enough that Lucy caught it through the reflection of the mirror. In an instant, the witch was seated straight up and was pointing a finger towards Katherine. "You don't flinch. Not unless you're really hiding something you don't want people to know. What happened? Did you do something?"
"I didn't do anything," Katherine retorted, forcing herself to sit down onto the vanity bench so she didn't have to stand on shaking legs. Her whole body felt like it was on a highwire, and her stomach was doing somersaults in her gut. She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, blurting out before she could regret it. "She's here."
"Who's here?" Lucy asked in confusion, before she abruptly cut herself off with a gasp. "Shut up. You're lying."
"Not about this, Lu," Katherine confirmed, opening her eyes to see Lucy's gobsmacked expression through the mirror.
"Holy shit," Lucy breathed, her eyes wide with disbelief. "Holy shit. You did it. You found her. You found Lady Victory -"
"- Not exactly," Katherine interrupted, shaking her head. "It's more complicated than that." Katherine grabbed the manila folder that was on the vanity beside the flat-iron and tossed it back to Lucy, who caught it easily. "There's her information. You explain it to me."
Lucy gave Katherine a Look before she opened up the folder. The moment she looked down at the papers within the folder, Lucy just let out an agitated hiss. "Aish. Well, she's a dead ringer for Lady Victory, that's for sure. At least, the painting you've shown me of her, though...Victory's hair is more red and this..." Lucy trailed off, glancing at the top of the paper to get her name, "...Victoria...that's an uncanny coincidence...this Victoria's hair is more blonde."
"That's an old picture, actually," Katherine explained as she checked the flat-iron once more. Finally hot enough. She started to section off her hair, moving the iron to start dragging it across her curls. "As of December 8th, 2009, her hair is identical to Lady Victory's coloring."
"Okay," Lucy grunted, shutting the folder. "Okay, okay, okay. So she looks identical to Lady Victory, but she's not...Lady Victory?"
"I don't know whether I can confirm or deny that," Katherine huffed in disappointment. "There's too many details that it gets...hinky."
"Sexy word," Lucy stated offhandedly. "So what's her story? What do you know about this girl, because I'm assuming you've known about her for ages."
"Well, for one, and this one you'll like, she's a LeBlanc witch, daughter to another LeBlanc witch," Katherine mused, cackling as she saw Lucy's face light up through the mirror.
"Katherine Pierce! You cannot just drop that onto me with no warning!" Lucy squealed, clapping her hands together excitedly. "They're like...like...celebrities in the witch world! Like how the Bennetts are. It's us Bennetts and LeBlancs, celebrity witches against the world! Do you think I would be able to meet them? Or at least the eldest LeBlanc witch? She must have some tips and tricks I could learn from."
"I'll try to arrange an appointment," Katherine chuckled. Her happier demeanor began to fade and she let out a big sigh. "Now, don't hate me for this -"
"- Kat, how could I hate you? This is literally the best day of my life -!"
"- Victoria is the Immortalis."
It was like somebody had sucker-punched Lucy right in the stomach and she staggered to her feet, shouting, "What?" Katherine gave her a glare and jerked her thumb towards the door, reminding her guest that there were other ears that could hear them if they were too loud. Lucy winced and then quieted her voice, though it was still in a harsh whisper, "What? Were you buttering me up by telling me that she was a LeBlanc Witch first so I wouldn't want to kill her when I learned she's the Immortalis?"
"You can't kill Victoria," Katherine warned her, but Lucy was on a rant and didn't look like she was going to be stopped soon.
"Katherine, it might as well be written in all witches' DNA that we need to kill the Immortalis," Lucy continued, throwing her arms around in a dramatic fashion. "They are an abomination against nature. They die and come back. That's not how it's supposed to go." Lucy's eyes widened as a thought seemed to run past her mind. "Wait a minute. Did Grandma Sheila know her? And does her own mother know about her?"
"To the first one, how do you think Sheila's dead?" Katherine explained, giving a look to Lucy that clearly said to not dig deeper into it. Once Lucy nodded her head in understanding, only then did Katherine continue, dragging the flat-iron through more of her hair, "Kelly LeBlanc cares more about her daughter than anyone else I know. She's fighting back against everything she's been taught and is helping her daughter rather than trying to kill her."
"Damn," Lucy breathed, finally sitting back down onto the bed. "Mama LeBlanc's got more guts than I do. I don't think even I would be able to stop myself." She clapped her hands together. "Okay, so am I on protection duty with the baby LeBlanc or what?"
"More like potential restraining," Katherine grumbled darkly. "Lovely Mason Lockwood -"
"- the surfer werewolf dude, right? The one who tried to force himself on you, right -?"
"- Anyways," Katherine loudly interrupted, giving Lucy another look. She was just earning all the looks today, wasn't she? "He spiked a park day get-together's lemonade two days ago with a concoction of some sorts, wyrmwood probably being a major factor in it, that Baby Bear drank. She went ballistic, caused an earthquake that registered something like 6.1 level on the Richter scale. In addition to being shot in the head by the local sheriff that the Salvatores managed to take care of, she's gotten another round of amnesia, something that she's already faced, except that she's forgotten about the last six months -"
"- And given how severe your tone makes it sound, she became the Immortalis in the last six months."
"Correct."
"So she may not even be in touch with her powers right now," Lucy thought aloud. "Which means who knows when she will and if she'll have control over them." Lucy nodded her head firmly. "I'm on it."
"Knew you could handle it," Katherine said. It was good to have allies who actually new what they were doing. She used the flat-iron to iron out another one of her beautiful curls and she frowned. She hated playing Elena, with her stupidly flat hair. Whoever told teenage girls that flat hair was in was lying.
"What's with the hair?" Lucy asked, noticing Katherine death-glaring the flat-iron through the mirror.
Katherine let out a frustrated sigh. "I'm impersonating my dull-as-dishwater doppelgänger, Elena. She has the worst taste."
"Except in men," Lucy mused, having already read the multiple texts Katherine had sent her throughout her journeys. "Isn't it a risk, pretending to be her in front of the entire town?"
"When someone's as boring as she is, it's quite easy. I've gotten quite good at it, actually, and everyone's gonna be in masks. It's for something involving charity." Katherine set down the flat-iron, having successfully finished with her hair, and flipped around to give Lucy her best "Elena with the doe eyes" look and impression. "It's for a good cause, Lucy."
"Hmm, okay," Lucy chuckled, nodding her head. "That's good. Well, have you actually seen the moonstone before? I always thought it was some made up legend."
"I have seen it and I need you to help me get it back," Katherine said.
Lucy snorted. "Oh yeah? What are you gonna do with it?"
Katherine shifted uncomfortably in her seat and Lucy just kind of wilted in on herself. "You want me to break the curse."
"Let's just get it first," Katherine grunted, flipping around so she didn't have to see Lucy's worried and disappointed face. "All I really need from you is backup. I can't imagine that Damon and Stefan are just gonna hand it over without putting up a fight."
"Okay, so we have everyone here, right? Well, everyone except for Victoria and Elena?" Stefan asked, glancing over everyone in the small living room (had Jenna not been previously stabbed the night before, then it would have been at the boarding house, because in the Gilbert-Sommers household, it was a tight squeeze).
On the long couch was Jenna, who was lying down and had her legs stretched out onto Alaric, Jeremy, and Amber. Alaric was keeping a sharp on the bandages wrapped around Jenna's stomach, while Jeremy and Amber were having quiet conversations between the two of them (which Stefan was trying to purposefully ignore, because it was rude to listen into other people's conversations).
Lexi and Lee were cuddling on one of the armchairs, while Pearl was perched in the other, one of her legs pulled up and tucked tightly against her chest. Zach sat down at the foot of Pearl's chair, and her other leg was on his shoulder, her foot tilting back and forth lazily. Kelly (surprise, surprise) was seated next to Zach on the floor, but there was still a respectable distance between them and also between her and Jenna (though Stefan did notice the two women sending each other glances once everyone was settled). Damon was seated in front of Lexi and Lee, though he was closer to the coffee table than the chair. He was fiddling with his phone, but what he was doing, nobody asked. Caroline was there too, sitting in front of Amber and Jeremy and looking exhausted.
They had pulled some dining room chairs in front of the fireplace, so that was where Ms. Gibbons, Harper, and Bonnie were all seated. Stefan had a chair there too, in between Bonnie and Lexi's and Lee's chair, but he was standing for the moment, not yet seated.
"Give me one more second and then we'll have everybody," Damon murmured, tapping rapidly some more onto his phone. He suddenly let out a cheer and pumped his fist. "Haha! Got it!" He placed his phone onto the table, screen up, and Stefan could make out that it was a phone call, and it had been set to speaker. "Thomas! How are you doing?"
"Brother, is it good to hear your voice or what?" came Stefan's voice through the phone, though it was more Southern than Stefan's ever had been.
Lee's face broke out into a grin. "Nondenominational. Good to hear your voice again."
"Baptist. It's been what? Two, three days, maybe, since we last saw each other? Damon already tells me that you guys have had crazy adventures without me."
"Damon, why am I hearing Uncle Stefan's voice coming through the phone right now?" Zach asked curiously, looking at the phone with some concern.
"Zach, meet Tom Avery, a doppelgänger, we think, of Stefan. Tom, meet Zach Salvatore, our way-long off, reanimated from the dead, baby nephew and Victoria's kind-of, sort-of dad!" Damon introduced, smirking at the awkward silence that radiated between the two.
Finally, Tom cleared his throat and murmured, "Yeah, ain't gonna touch that with a ten foot stick." Louder, he added, "Nice to meet you, Sir. So, Damon caught me up on some things through text. Red doesn't remember anything?"
"Victoria just remembers the Before," Jeremy interrupted, pausing in his side-conversations with Amber to talk to Tom. "Everything before Wanderer Victoria came to Mystic Falls."
"Got it," Tom stated. "Okay, continue with the conversations as if I was just sitting there quietly."
"Perfect," Stefan said, trying not to reel at how weird it was to follow up his voice talking with his own voice. Weird. "Bonnie, you brought the grimoire, right?"
"Yep," Bonnie confirmed, patting her backpack that was seated in front of her legs.
Kelly patted the backpack that was stuffed full on her lap. "Bonnie also reached out to me and I grabbed all the LeBlanc grimoires that I could find. Hopefully they'll add a little something extra." She bit her lip and then asked, "Though I am curious...why did you call all of us here?"
"We're going to kill Katherine," Damon announced, and the reactions to that announcement was a bit of a mixed bag.
Damon, Ms. Gibbons, Alaric, Kelly, Caroline, and Bonnie all seemed satisfied with that answer, though Bonnie didn't seem too excited about murder. Meanwhile, Pearl and Amber looked paler than before, both of them looking uncomfortable with the idea of killing somebody. Lexi and Lee both were neutral, though the duo were sending each other looks that implied they would be having a quiet conversation with each other later.
The concerning looks came from Harper, Zach, Jeremy, Jenna, and the verbal scoff that came from Tom.
None of them seemed thrilled at the idea of killing Katherine.
That was...concerning.
"Nope," Tom stated, firmly and clearly, his accent coming on harder than before (he was much like Lee in that regard). "No, no, no, no. Did I mention no?"
"Tom, I get that you're confused, but we've been dealing with Katherine for way longer than you've seen her and -" Stefan began, but Tom was quick to cut him off.
"- When Red's dad died, Katherine was the only lead any of us had to his killer, and you just want to kill her off because of some history?" Tom argued. "Katherine actually went out and did things while everyone else was too busy."
Pearl flinched again at the mention of 'killer' and her eyes looked like they were starting to water, but Zach was quick to clear his throat and pipe up, "Um, actually, we're past that so we can stop bringing it up." Then, he added politely, "Please."
There was just a disappointed sigh from Tom.
"I can explain," Stefan attempted to say.
"Please," Harper sniffed, waving his hand forward.
Stefan licked his lips as he tried to think of a way to explain their plan that would appease everyone. In the end, he couldn't think of anything, so he just sighed and parroted, "We're gonna kill Katherine."
"I-I can't," Pearl whimpered, pulling both of her legs up close to her chest. Her whole body let out a violent shiver and Pearl hid her face in her knees. "I-I...S-She's my creator. She saved m-me and Anna. No matter h-how much I despise her for w-what's she done, she's done too much for me for me to fight back."
"She's our creator too, and you don't see us bitching about it either," Damon sniffed haughtily, and Zach shot his uncle a death glare.
"Watch it, Damon," Zach snapped. "While some of us don't have the best relationship with our creators, a lot more of us do." He gestured harshly to himself and then pointed to Lee. "Pearl was a companion to Katherine for hundreds of years longer than any of us were alive. The two have more history with each other than either of them do with us. Asking her to move against Katherine would be like asking Stefan or Lee to move against Lexi, or you, Uncle Damon, to move against Victoria."
"I would never!" Damon growled, sitting up in a fit of anger.
"Exactly, so show Pearl a bit of respect," Zach spat, sitting up straighter to as he and Damon started to have a glare-down.
"We get it, boys, you both care deeply about your girlfriends, now please settle the hell down!" Ms. Gibbons interrupted, her voice booming loudly. Everyone's head snapped towards the woman in question (and Stefan did notice his fellow Salvatores were looking a little pinker around the cheeks; Pearl looked pink too and was refusing to look anywhere near Zach). "Act with some decorum and respect, please."
Stefan sighed and folded his arms across his chest. "I will consent that not everyone may be comfortable with this plan, given how Katherine has been...semi-helpful -"
"- Semi-helpful, my rear-end -" Tom grunted angrily underneath his breath.
Stefan did his best to ignore that remark and continued, "- So, in the sake of respecting boundaries, something I know many Salvatores don't do well with -" Damon just rolled his eyes. Stefan did his best to ignore him as well. "- If you are not comfortable with moving against Katherine, you can leave. Plausible deniability. If Katherine finds you and tries to compel you or torture you for answers, you know that you won't have any." With that, Stefan stepped aside and gestured towards the door, trying to steel his nerves for whoever may or may not step out. "Know that you leaving does not affect our trust in you."
"I'll believe that when I see it," Zach sniffed, rising to his feet. He offered a hand out to Pearl, who grabbed onto it immediately, rising up to stand beside him.
Jeremy stood too, and offered a hand out to Jenna, who grabbed onto it. Alaric looked at Jenna with some confusion and asked, "Jenna? You too?"
"She forced me to stab myself in the stomach all because she's pissed off against Stefan and Elena," Jenna remarked, shaking her head as she painfully pulled herself up. Pearl appeared on her other side and offered out an arm, which Jenna took with a grateful nod. "There's no need for me to put myself into direct danger. I need to recover. Not all of us have superhuman healing."
Harper pushed himself up so he was standing, his crutches firm in his grip. "Ms. Pierce and Mrs. Zhu were my companions for many years, and it was only through Mrs. Zhu and Ms. Zhu that I was able to readapt to the modern-world. I cannot fight back."
After a quiet moment, Lexi and Lee both stood up from their chair and Stefan tried not to let his heart sink in his chest. "Lex? Not you."
"From womb to tomb, Stefan," Lexi stated firmly, nodding her head. "That will never change, but this." She gestured to the assembly. "This is a not a family meeting. This is a war room. We can't stoop to Katherine's level. We can't."
"She's threatening Elena -" Stefan tried to plead.
"- She's threatening a lot of people, Stefan," Lee interrupted. "I get it. If she was doing this to Lexi, I might be in the same boat, but while you may be too blinded to see it, Katherine has done a lot to help us. Finding Victoria when none of us could, helping her through her trauma and struggle when we were all floundering ourselves, offering to find Pearl in the first place, and yes, Zach, I know we're past it now, but it needs to be said. Plus, I don't want to be on the side who has to try and explain to Victoria why Katherine, somebody Victoria seems to like pretty okay, is dead. You know Victoria doesn't like assholes."
"Well, she likes Damon, so your point is kind of null and void," Kelly huffed.
Another second later, and Amber stood up, though it was with less fanfare. It made sense to Stefan. She was a tender soul, much like how Pearl was now.
"Not-so-dead nephew, take me with you," Tom announced, which would have been hilarious if the circumstances were different.
In the end, it was Lee, Lexi, Harper, Zach, Amber, Jeremy, Jenna, Tom, and Pearl for Katherine's survival, versus Stefan, Damon, Alaric, Kelly, Bonnie, Ms. Gibbons, and Caroline for Katherine's demise.
A house divided.
Amber watched as the group of vampires, humans, Empath (herself), and honorary human member-via-Damon's-stolen-phone clambered into Lexi's and Lee's house, her home-away-from-home, since the Founder's Day incident less than two weeks ago. They all looked exhausted, both physically and emotionally, and the day had barely started it felt like (true, it was more like one in the afternoon, but still).
Tentatively (and very cautiously), Amber sent out a gentle calming wave of emotions. It was a technique that Lexi and Lee had been patiently trying to teach her to do, given how anxious most of their group was, they figured it would be a helpful trick to learn. She hadn't been able to sustain it long, but there was a deep satisfaction that came to her soul as she watched everyone's shoulders ease up. Pearl sat beside Harper and once the emotional wave reached her, she sank her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes. When Amber caught Lee's eye from across the living room, he gave her a subtle thumbs-up and a mouthed, "Good job, Doc." Amber smiled underneath the praise.
"They're going to get themselves killed!" Jeremy suddenly blurted out, and it was so sudden and unexpected that it made Amber flinch, causing her to drop the emotional wave she had been sending out. The tension returned to the room and Amber frowned. I had just gotten good at that too.
"Easy there, Jeremy," Lee warned, resting a hand on Jeremy's shoulders. "Tensions are high. Don't wanna say something you'll regret."
"I don't want to watch my friends and friends-of-my-friends die just because some brothers are pissed off at a vampire bitch!" Jeremy insisted, flipping around to look at Lee. "Isn't there something we can do?"
"Something that won't inevitably piss off my lookalike and his brother off? Unlikely," Tom snorted via the phone (which had been conveniently placed onto the coffee table).
Jenna, who had been put onto the couch, shook her head and let out a defeated sigh. "Well, I guess we'll just have to do something that'll piss them off." She turned her head and sent Jeremy a look. "Make the call."
Jeremy's face paled and he even took a step back. Amber could see Lee and Lexi narrowing their eyes at the teen boy and Amber could feel the waves of anxiety rolling off of him (more than the typical amount that came from teenagers). "Jenna..."
"For the ones we love..." Jenna began, purposefully trailing off and giving Jeremy a stern look.
Jeremy was silent for a minute, giving his aunt pleading looks. When she just raised an eyebrow at him, he sniffed and replied softly, "We do stupid shit."
He pulled out his phone and quickly typed in a number. He froze before dialing it, and then turned it to speaker and placed the phone on the table.
A semi-familiar voice filtered in from the phone, "About time, Jerebear. I'm guessing that the Scooby gang is planning some sort of coup against me."
"Kind of," Jeremy stated, glancing worriedly around the room.
Amber could feel a wide variety of emotions coming off of the group. Pearl looked ready to faint and had the worst feeling of fight-or-flight (heavily leaning towards flight), Zach, Lexi, and Lee all just looked stunned (and felt the same way), while Harper seemed at ease (and she couldn't tell how Tom was feeling).
"Jeremy Gilbert, I'm hearing a lot more breathing than just you and sweet Aunt Jenna, so unless you want something to happen to sweet Aunt Jenna, you need to explain right now," the voice said in a sickly-sweet voice, one that made Amber's skin crawl.
Lexi just scoffed and rolled her eyes before taking a step forward and announcing. "Give up the threats, Katherine. It's just us."
"I like some excitement in my life, sue me," Katherine laughed, though it still didn't seem normal to Amber. "So, if I'm to guess, I'd say that in this living room are Jeremy, Jenna, Lexi, Lee, sweet Amber Bradley," Amber flinched at the mention of her name, "and I would daresay that Zach, Pearl, and Harper joined you too. Caroline's not there, but she's got a specific role to play in this next part. How'd I do?"
Tom spoke from his line and hummed, "Well, Katherine, you forgot one more."
Katherine's voice when she spoke next betrayed a thin level of surprise. "Thomas Avery. Color me surprised. I assume you're calling from down south?"
"Right, as usual," Tom hummed, and Amber shot Jeremy a confused look, mouthing to him, "Are they flirting?"
His solemn nod was all the response she got.
"Oooh, all my minions and their blackmail in one little room," Katherine chuckled. "Now, if we only had Victoria, it's be like a blackout in Bingo."
"All your minions?" Jenna questioned, her brow furrowing in confusion. "And their blackmail?" Jenna's head whipped up and she looked at the group. "It's not just me and Jeremy?"
Lee looked uncomfortable and swallowed heavily, looking down at his feet. Lexi spoke up for him. "Lee wasn't lying when he said that Katherine was threatening a lot of people."
"If she hadn't been, maybe we would've joined Stefan," Harper concluded.
"Turns out, funny enough," Katherine cooed. "The whole lot of you can be convinced to swing to my side with just threats against one person."
At that, everyone's head whipped around...
...to face Amber.
It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what they were implying.
"Me?" Amber squeaked. "She was threatening me?"
"An Empath is a supernatural being that is just as valuable, and as hunted, as an Immortalis, despite the fact that your powers are vastly weaker," Lee quoted. "You don't have a failsafe like the Immortalis does, though. You got the one life. That's it."
"I can't speak for Mr. Ledger, Ms. Branson, Mr. Gilbert, or Ms. Sommers, but Ms. Pierce has threatened to reveal your existence to the rest of the supernatural world," Harper announced, and Amber's eyes widened in disbelief. "The revelation of your existence is on par with the revelation that Victoria is the Immortalis. It is not something that can just be lightly shared."
"And, of course, I just got Zach and Tom to help me out through my pure charms," Katherine purred. "And Pearl by association."
"So now that we know everyone got duped by Katherine and are now her pawns," Jenna grunted, wincing as her moving pulled at her stab wound. "I just want there all to be witnesses as I tell her that she's a big bitch for making me stab myself!"
"It's all for the drama, Jenna dearest," Katherine replied. "I live for it. Now, tell me, why did you call and why did we have this beautiful revelation?"
Zach moved closer towards the phone, a dark look in his eyes. "My uncles are focusing on the wrong sort of things. They want to kill you tonight but I'm more concerned about Victoria."
There was a moment of silence, and then when Katherine's voice came back on, she sounded more serious. Her voice dropped a note and she hummed, "So, you noticed something was off too, huh?"
"In the sake of honesty, yes," Zach explained. "Bonnie touched Victoria yesterday and had a vision. Since coming back to life, let's just say I'm a little more connected to Victoria and I knew something was off the minute she woke back up in the boarding house. Bonnie confirmed it. While my uncles can only see you as the biggest bad that there is, my gut tells me that whatever is happening with Victoria now is far worse."
"Glad to see we're in agreement there, Zacharoo," Katherine sniffed. "I would assume that you have a plan?"
Lee just did a chuckling scoff, shaking his head in disbelief. "Sweetheart, Zach's had a plan since the moment he entered this house. Hell, he's had a plan probably since this morning! The man lives on research and plans. He's never without one."
"Yes, I do," Zach said, giving Lee an exasperated look. "It's going to involve a lot of espionage."
"My specialty," Katherine giggled. "Give me the details."
"First off, we're going to need masks. Lots of them."
A/N: Hello! I am alive, nobody panic.
I really hit a bad writer's block where I just didn't want to write anything and so, well, I didn't...for six months. Yeah, not my finest moments, but to be fair on myself, I've also had a ridiculously busy last six months.
So, I completely missed the second anniversary of Immortalis. That is 100 percent my bad and I apologize greatly for it.
BUUUUUUT!: as some of you may know, I do theater and a lot of it and this last fall I got to play my first title lead character in a musical production. It was something that I had never done before, and the character was so like myself personally that it was so much fun and challenging! Then I also got sick for a month and a half, my grandpa got really sick and is still really sick, and I had to work double the time I normally do at my job last week and I was supposed to do that this week but hey! I didn't cuz of the snow.
So I had this chapter written for the last six months and never posted it. I just finished the next chapter, and will put that out next Wednesday, and I'm hoping that with my copious amount of free time, I can get back into the swing of things. I don't want to ever put this story down because I love it dearly and I love all of you dearly, but sometimes the brain does what the brain does, you know?
Anyhoo, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I love Katherine's little nicknames. Very Damon-esque, but make it Katherine.
Until next time,
Stay healthy and stay safe!
BecomingFearless1F