𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 | 𝐃𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐄 [𝟐]

𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

"And, let me guess— the witches don't know where Markos is." Damon bluntly glared toward the Parker witch.

"You guys said the visions are trying to draw Stefan and Elena together for something." Luke trailed off as if he was beginning to come to some sort of conclusion.

Elena took a sip of a tumbler she had filled with bourbon and then turned toward Luke. "For our doppelgänger blood. The Travelers need it for some prophecy."

"And, if the Travelers are the ones who need you blood, doesn't it make sense that you're not only being drawn together but also—"

"—being drawn to them." Riley finished off for the witch as she immediately twirled herself on her heel to face Elena.

"Well, this just keeps getting better and better." The Salvatore vampire let another sarcastic remark slip through his lips.

"Wait. I don't get it." Caroline furrowed her brows in confusion.

"If the visions are a road map, then we need more clues." Enzo concluded and then turned toward Caroline and Riley. "Break out the popcorn, Blondie, witchy. Elena's little sex romp isn't over yet."

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After Elena had another vision, she managed to find out exactly where Markos was drawing her and Stefan to. 4620 Walnut Drive. Which happened to be an abandoned house not too far from where they currently were. Damon, Enzo and Riley all made their way to the location.

The Salvatore pushed open the front door and waved his hand over the threshold to check if he could enter. "Huh, clear." The three then followed him inside the house, where all the furniture was covered by dust sheets.

"I wonder if this is where Stefan and Elena had crazy vision sex." Enzo muttered under his breath as he looked around the room. "Eh. It's probably the bedroom. Stefan's pretty vanilla. But, apparently that's Elena's favourite flavour."

"Enzo, do you mind?" Riley immediately sent the British vampire a look, which didn't seem to bother him at all. "Or, do you want me to make you choke on your own tongue?"

"Not in my house, please." A voice spoke out of the darkness. Their gaze was drawn to a man who was seated In a chair in the centre of an empty room in the house.

"Markos, I take it." The Salvatore vampire let his eyes follow the leader of the travelers as he slowly pulled himself up from the chair. "Well, I'm not Stefan and this is not Elena."

Marko seemed troubled by the fact that there were three supernaturals in his home, and they were not the doppelgängers. "Why are you here?"

"Funny. We were going to ask you exactly the same thing. Plus, what is it that you want and why are the doppelgängers having weird, freaky visions of each other?" The witch folded her arms across her chest as she narrowed her eyes toward Markos.

"First two are complicated. Last ones easy." Markos didn't even look up, he just stared into the fireplace. "I'm the reason Stefan and Elena are having visions of each other?"

"You?"

A blunt smile suddenly formed on Enzo's lips. "Well, would you look at that. I think we just met the universe."

"You mind telling me what the hell is going on?" Damon and his band of supernaturals all took a few steps closer to the leader of the Travelers.

"I'm afraid the doppelgänger lore's been misinterpreted over the ages."

"Misinterpreted as in there's no prophecy that they will fall in love with each other. Like happily ever after, you know." Riley raised an eyebrow.

Markos lifted his eyes from the fire and gazed at the three of them. "The prophecy is that the doppelgänger blood can help the Travelers. But, they're being drawn together because of a spell I cast fifteen-hundred years ago. I had no idea where they were, and it turns out the best way to get people to go searching for each other is the promise of true love. Is it stuffy in here? Why don't we take a walk?" Damon grabbed Riley's hand and headed straight toward the door, but Markos stopped the British vampire just before he could follow. "You stay here."

"Not bloody likely." Enzo retorted with a hardened, determined look on his face.

"You wanna find Maggie?" Enzo didn't respond, he just stared silently at Markos. He knew Enzo was desperate to find her. "You stay here." Markos then turned around to face Damon and Riley with a smile. "Shall we?"

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Mystic Falls is a beautiful town." Markos stated as he, Damon and Riley all walked through the town square. Riley was beside Damon, who cautiously kept her close in case anything were to happen.

"Oh, yeah. Picket fences. Block parties. Uncannily high death rate." The Salvatore sarcastically listed with a shrug.

"You take your homes for granted."

Riley turned her head to the Traveler, who clearly was just interested in talking about how beautiful Mystic Falls looked. "What's the point of this walk-and-talk, because honestly, I'm kinda getting bored."

Markos let a smirk dust across his face at the female's attitude before he took a breath. "Two-thousand years ago, Silas and Qetsiyah cast the spell for immortality. The created a schism in the Traveler community, giving rise to the witches. They tried to keep us scattered to make us forget how powerful we can be."

"And, thus began the war between the Travelers and the witches. And, it still rages on and on." Damon let a faux yawn escape his lips as he covered his mouth with his hand. "Sorry, I just nodded off."

"The witches put a curse on us that kept us from settling down as a tribe. Whenever we've tried to gather, disaster struck. Plagues. Earthquakes. Fire. Something inevitably wiped us out."

"Oh, right. And, you think that the special doppelgängers can fix all of your problems." Riley and Damon stopped in front of Markos. "Now that you know where they are, what's next?"

"We simply need their blood. But, we're not your enemy, and to prove that to you, I'm gonna stop their visions." Markos looked as if he were telling the truth. He nodded behind them where they turned and saw a human, sweeping the sidewalk. Then to their left, a deputy who nodded toward Markos. "The curse might prevent us from gathering in our own bodies, but we've found ways around that."

"Passengers." Damon looked around at the Mystic Falls residents who were now chanting. "So, how many of you are there?"

"A few. Here and there." They then looked around and there were dozens more of passengers that had turned out in the middle of the town square. "Shall I continue?"

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───