I do not own vampire diaries; I just own this plot bunny.
Chapter Eleven
The witching hour was drawing closer.
Tessa had waited until the others had fallen asleep. Davina had persisted, wanting to be awake when it happened. She couldn't let that happen. Whether she liked it or not, Davina was compromised when it came to the task her aunt had planned.
She would have faltered at the first part of the spell. She wouldn't have been able to do a damned thing, because the moment she looked at Silas's face she wouldn't see Silas.
She'd see Stefan. She'd see the shy sixteen year old she slept with after a week of puppy love. The young man she found years later at a Bon Jovi concert and shared a night of passion. Tessa wasn't stupid. She had kept tabs not only on Bonnie and her line, but her niece and brother-in-law as well.
Davina would throw a wretch in her plans and she couldn't allow that.
The curse needed to end.
Amara needed to be killed. She had already given Henrik the order.
Silas needed to be out to rest.
And once he was gone; once she was free of him, she could live. She was tired of the ghosts. Tired of the story of a jaded woman who killed her former fiancé's love in an act of scorned love.
She was tired of Qetsiyah, the evil sorceress.
She missed being who she once was. She missed being the eldest daughter of her coven elders. She missed being the one who watched her brothers and sisters grow in their magic. She missed watching her sister grow and learn.
She missed being Qetsiyah; the sister, the aunt and mentor. The one who didn't have to worry about a Hunter's Curse and a cure.
The one who found a dying ten year old and raised him.
The one who could smile and it wouldn't be biting. The one who enjoyed a good laugh.
She would do away with the vengeful spector and live as a new Qetsiyah. A mix of her old self and who she would become.
And when the dawn broke, she could make her fresh start.
She made her way down the stairs, towards Silas's cage. He was waiting for her when she came down.
"Greetings Qetsiyah."
It was over quicker than he would have liked. But as Henrik knelt before the side of the falls, wiping the blood from his hands, he couldn't find himself able to care.
Travelers had brought about the end of his family. His wife had died and been reborn. His daughter spent centuries without her mother; and then almost twenty years without her father.
He couldn't blame them for his mother's misdeeds, but he could dream.
After all, she had been following him since he left Bonnie. His father was still standing guard in case she awoke. He found their tactics laughable.
Niklaus he could see doing this. Elijah as well, but then again who else would they get the tactic of divide and conquer?
"You can come out, mother."
Esther removed herself from behind the cover of the trees, her eyes catching the blood he was wiping off along his pants. "You murdered that girl."
"That girl had been suffering two thousand years," he said. Amara had even thanked him with her dying breath.
"Thank you. They're gone. I can see...Silas...thank..." she had trailed off and her eyes closed. He didn't need enhanced hearing to know her heart had stopped then.
"I didn't raise you to be a killer like them." Esther's voice cracked.
"You hardly raised me at all," he shot back. He shut his eyes and drew in a breath. There was no point in loosing his temper with her. "You and father were so hellbent on keeping us safe. On teaching us that the world was cruel and would ruin us that you didn't even notice you were also doing the same."
"I was never cruel to you."
"But you were cruel to Nik," he countered. "You never owned your mistakes and Niklaus paid that price dearly. I was there whenever father struck him. I was there when he would scurry off and cry over his wounds."
"If it wasn't for him, none of this would have happened."
Henrik's nostrils flared. "No mother, if it wasn't for your actions, we'd all have died years ago. I wouldn't have been marred by wolves and left for dead. But I have to thank you. If it weren't for you and father, I wouldn't have met my wife. My daughter would have never known her uncles and aunts. I wouldn't know her great-aunt was on her way to kill her and absorb her magic to keep herself alive."
Esther looked angry. "You-- you ungrateful--!"
"Child? I haven't been that in years mother." Henrik's voice was cold. "Perhaps you should stop looking at us as children and mistakes and see us for what we are: your blood. Your grown, adult and immortal blood who are allowed to make mistakes and learn from them. Who understand we are cruel and cold and our name draws fear."
"This isn't what I wanted for any of you," Esther sounded so broken.
"But it's what you gave us."
The residences of the Salvatore Boarding House awoke to the next morning. All of them could feel the magic that clung in the air.
But it was Davina who found the cause.
Tessa looked years younger. She could have been mistaken for her older sister instead of her aunt. She was wrapped in an old cape, battered and tornand shielding her from the cold.
A funeral pyre raged on. The magic that sparked its embers felt old. In her aunt's hand was an empty vial.
"I thought..."
"You know I like to keep a few secrets, Davina."
She nodded and moved to sit down beside her on the wet grass. Her pajama shorts soaked instantly but she paid them no mind.
"Did he go in peace?"
Tessa shook her head. "He tried to plead with me. Called me every name in the book. But he finally gave in the end, after I poured it down his throat. I let him see her."
If she caught the quiver in her tone, Davina said nothing. "At least one evil has been laid to rest."
Tessa snorted.
"He wasn't evil,"
She almost jumped when she felt Bonnie's arms around her shoulders. Her sister's magic was warm and a comfort. "You didn't have to deal with him after he woke up."
"I could have."
Bonnie hummed. "How?"
"What?"
"How come he wasn't evil?"
Davina peered at her mother and aunt through her hair. She was curious as well.
"Because he was haunted," Tessa said, watching the embers burn away the bone. His flesh had melted away hours ago. It didn't make sense to the others but they nodded.
Their moment lasted a few minutes more before Damon came storming out the house complaining about his grass burning. Davina left her mother and aunt to go inside to change and see about breakfast.
She made her way past the living room and towards her room. But she paused at the sight of Stefan. He smiled sheepishly at her.
"Hi,"
"Hi," she parroted.
He shifted on his feet. "Can we talk?"
"Is it necessary?"
"Well..."
"Because if it isn't, you're in my way. I need to get dressed and then eat." Davina moved to go around him when he grabbed ahold of her wrist.
"1863," he said quickly.
"What about it?"
"I..." he paused. Why had that date come to mind?
She yanked her hand back. "Look, I don't have time for this."
"Bon Jovi." She stopped at those words. "You were there. I remember you being there. I remember..."
"No I wasn't," the young witch hissed and stormed off.
Stefan watched her go. Maybe Lexie had been wrong when she came to him in his dream last night. Maybe it wasn't her.
But he wasn't going to give up on figuring out why Davina Bennett called to him.
Mystic Falls was quaint.
That was the only good thing she had to say about it. Quaint and a supernatural hotspot.
She found it laughable that this was were her niece would run to. And Freya had decided to make it easier for her by bringing little Hope with her.
Dahlia laughed to herself.
This was going to be so easy.
