Cora looked at the woman who was pushing herself up to her knees, everything in Cora was alert to the fact this was a very dangerous woman she was before. Her wolf couldn't decide to pull her mate back, because he was healing, or to keep herself between the cub and woman. The woman's blue eyes were bright and a bit unsettling to Cora because she hadn't seen a woman with eyes as bright as hers other than an omega's or the guilty's eyes. She was unsettled by it.
"Davina Claire," she introduced herself. "Now, who are you, and where the fuck are we?"
"Isaac," Isaac answered which had Cora growling, he growled back as he glared at her. She settled a little as she leaned against the bars where Rafael was. The cub was peering curiously at Davina Claire who was looking them over. Slowly the woman got to her feet, and the leggy brunette was surprisingly small; she was maybe Cora's height, and just a bit heavier. Davina Claire was not as lithe as Cora was, but she wasn't big, which had Cora's wolf settling enough to decide Davina Claire was not an immediate threat. The girl rather reminded Cora of Stiles actually, looking very mischievous and sharp.
"And why are you here, Isaac?" she asked. Cora was a bit miffed Davina wasn't turning her attention from Isaac.
"Why are you here?"
"Because my suitor's culture and belief in the Norn has him living to tell me I told you so, and so the fates can laugh in my face about my claims that I can protect myself," she muttered sourly.
Cora'a lips quirked a bit.
"Well, if you're not gonna tell me why you're here I'm looking for a way out," she muttered as she started moving around. Cora could hear the pain in the way the woman moved, and with how the chain rattled around her ankle as she tried to walk. "Ow," she muttered.
"Can I?" Isaac asked before Cora could pull his attention from Davina to keep him away from her, to keep him safe. Isaac was holding his hand out, and Davina looked at Isaac rather curiously as she looked up at him. "I'm here because they wanted werewolves to create a monster, and my Pack doesn't know I'm missing."
"Lousy pack you have," Davina muttered.
Cora snorted in agreement which had Davina again looking at her and Rafael. Isaac's lips quirked but he didn't agree or disagree. "I think they're broken, can't really fix that. This is Cora Hale, and Rafeal, they're part of my pack."
"Pleasure to meet you both, not under these circumstances though. And no, you can't always fix what's broken," she agreed with a grunt. "If you're a werewolf, why do they have you here?"
"They killed all the others," he whispered. "They need venom, I don't know why."
"Great," she muttered. "I'm a witch by the way."
"I guessed because of the runes," Isaac stated. Cora now noticed the tear in Davina's shirt, and the markings on her hip bone, the witch blushed but moved her clothing then so they couldn't be seen, which had Cora frowning a little at the woman's reaction.
"My Skulk will come looking for me."
"I thought witches had Covens," Cora finally said as she tilted her head in curiosity, skulks were foxes, not witches. Now Davina's lips quirked in a soft smile which was honestly interesting.
"Normally we do," she agreed. "But I'm not a normal sort of witch, and my suitor isn't either, so we don't run with a Coven."
"A Skulk though? Family of foxes?" she asked.
"I did not pick it," she chuckled. "Fuck! I'm going to kill that bitch when I get out here!" Davina snarled as she hugged her ribs.
"No one leaves here alive," Isaac informed her softly as he sat down. "We've been trying to escape since they nabbed me in Melle and killed the Hunters I was with," he murmured.
"Melle? France?" Davina asked.
"Yeah, why?" he looked up at her.
"You sound American," she muttered
"Californian," he replied.
"Lord have mercy, a Californian!? I couldn't be stuck with a Texan or New Yorker or Alaskan or something?" she chuckled dryly.
"I'm not LA Cali," he promised with a dry smile.
"Thank God for small mercies. I was in Melle... last year, my suitor and I were investigating a massacre at an old compound, looked like witches and vampires," she muttered. "We thought it was what we were looking for, but no leads, or answers, just a bunch dead mortals."
"I tried to stop them, but they were too fast, too powerful," he whispered. Cora reached for Isaac, her fingers brushing his hand, but she couldn't fully reach him without leaving the cub and that wasn't happening. Still Isaac turned to her and smiled tightly to reassure her.
"You couldn't have stopped them all on your own," Davina said softly. Cora and Isaac flinched at the witch's gentle words as they looked back at her. "Trust me on that, you're in way over your head thinking you could."
"You don't know anything," Cora whispered.
"Obviously, because that's how I got kidnapped; again, I can't believe this happened again!" she moaned as she closed her eyes and scowled.
"Happen to you often?" Isaac asked softly, a smile quirking his lips.
"I swear I just walk into it half the time," she muttered. "First there was the vampire doppelgänger, then there was hybrid, then there was the Travelers, we'll skip my Coven and the psycho aunt, because that's more of a family issue, and there was also my older self, and I think that counts because I did not put myself where I found myself."
"You're very confusing," Rafael stated innocently.
"I try, and I'm going to work on busting us out, right after I catch my breath," she chuckled dryly. Cora just looked at Isaac and he nodded slowly; perhaps they could get out of this, alive, and then... then they would figure out their lives.
~~~*~*~*~~~
They were on US Route 61 and heading for the Plantation which was the home address in the Nav unit. Elena was a bit irked that she had spilled news on the Siphoner Sociopath, who was now brooding ominously over her shoulder in the back seat. Elena didn't support Bonnie's lifestyle, but she didn't condemn her friend for her happiness. The rain was coming down heavier than she was used to.
The highway was surprisingly empty, and as she rounded the bend, she gasped. A dark figure stepped into the road, Elena swerved, and it felt like a powerful force hit the roof of the car as she was sent rolling over something crashing over the side, rolling down an incline, slamming into the tree. Elena didn't remember blacking out, but she remembered hanging upside down. Everything ached, and hurt, things she didn't know could hurt were singing and it felt like her ears were ringing.
"Elena!?" Stefan's hands were pulling her out as she was sliced out of her seat, carefully pulled from the wreck.
"We should move," Kai's voice was muffled, it felt like she was swimming through muck, her head was underwater, and she could see Stefan over her.
Kai's hands glowed and he was holding a dagger. There were muffled shouts and Stefan was hauling her up on her feet. Elena was wobbly as she stumbled with Stefan holding her up and they were running. A tree splintered, she screamed as she twisted around as a wall of fire erupted. A sultry woman walked through the fires towards them, and Elena tripped as she tried to back away, there was a look of absolute hatred on the woman.
"We need them alive!" a powerful woman walked forward, and Elena's head snapped over to see the tall, curvaceous woman with angular, lush features walking through the wreck, Kai was trapped in her grip, and Elena felt her heart racing.
"Shame," the sultry woman said.
"When we get what we need, we will help you with yours," an Asian woman with thick, Sandra Oh like hair walked through the rain.
"We... we aren't of use!" Elena strangled out.
"Doppelgängers," the sultry woman stated as she lifted her hand.
"Do not kill them," the Black woman ordered.
"I won't. What are we to do about the Siphoner? He knows me," the sultry woman stated.
"Then it is a shame to dispose of a fox, but foxes are classified as nothing more than pests," the Black woman stated.
Elena screamed, and Kai struggled, but she watched as the Black woman effortlessly snapped Kai's head around, his body stumbled then fell to its knees before falling lifelessly into the leaves.
"Light it on fire, make it an animal accident, we will take the doppelgängers," the Asian woman decided, and Elena got up only for something to be blown in her face, which had her staggering back as her world disappeared and she felt herself hit the ground hard.
~~~*~*~*~~~
Lydia still didn't know what she was seeing, but the moment Kol had brushed by her she had been overwhelmed by a power she couldn't identify, this sight of death. Lydia wasn't unsettled by death, as a whole she was rather used to the visions and the sights that came with being a Banshee. But no one ever seemed to take her seriously when she tried to warn them. Kol though wasn't looking at her though like she was crazy. No one outside of her Pack ever looked at her like this, he was giving her a rather curious, quizzical look as he raised a brow.
She could still see the woman's lips moving, the blood, the way it infected Kol, the way his killer was smiling as it seemed like her magic was infecting Kol through a link in the blood.
Slowly Kol removed his wrist from her grip as he looked at her.
"What do you know about the Cure?" he asked.
"It's what she wants," Lydia replied uncertainly because it was a focus of his killer's. The way the woman reached for his blood, bound and unbound.
"Who wants?" Freya, the blonde stepped forward. Kol was looking a little unsettled, but he didn't look at her like she was crazy, which had her continuing.
"She wants to undo what she did, break the line, break the dead, break Nature," she whispered. That's what she was seeing.
"That's not... possible," Kol's brow furrowed.
"Kol, what cure, what's this about?" other members of the Skulk were appearing, and Lydia blinked as she watched his death fading, because he was not committing to that choice.
"Silas," Kol answered as he looked at her. The name sent a shiver of fear down her spine for some reason she couldn't identify, but there was to be terror associated with that name.
"What about Silas, that was years ago," the newest witches said. It was the man who looked like Isaac, whose beautiful blue eyes widened.
"That's how you became mortal again, isn't it, you drank the Cure?" the druid stated.
"I thought you were destroying it!" the Black woman shouted. "You said the Cure wasn't a Cure, it wouldn't work, and that it wasn't the answer, you would never take it! Kol!"
"I didn't, intentionally take it," he grounded out. Kol sighed as he looked at the room. Lydia wondered what Cure he was talking about, and why the witches seemed a bit concerned, or upset, there seemed to be wide range of emotions they were expressing.
"Davina and I had found the tomb of Silas, and we had a vague plan to kill the bastard before he could really do damage. We had deduced he fed on blood, and we knew he had powerful psychic abilities to manipulate people; at the time, Davina was both Davina's and Big and Little Davina would not fall for the illusion. Silas lead us straight to him, the use of psychic illusions on Davina at the time did not work in Silas' favor as she saw someone who was not... not yet created, and is not created. When we found Silas, Davina shoved the cure down his throat as I pinned him. There was a point where he went for Davina, and I did not think about what I did, I just reacted, I drained the fucker with no thought to the Cure," Kol admitted.
"So that's how..." the Black woman started.
"My family believes that if it is common knowledge that I consumed the Cure then vampires like Elena at the time, would come for me, and they also believed if it was common knowledge that people would attempt to take it for themselves. I don't know what the Cure was, as I had no intentions ever taking it," Kol confessed. "No one outside my family knew about this though."
"She wants to undo what she's done," Lydia informed him. She could see the vile witch still, could feel the magic swirling and trying to reach Kol.
"Who?" Kol asked her.
"She created it, she wants to uncreate it," Lydia elaborated, because now the vision was vanishing. Kol frowned as he looked around the room.
"That's not possible," the Black woman said.
"It is if she, like Finn came when Davina broke the veil, we never really dug into what came through the break," Kol admitted.
"Why?" Lydia asked.
"We were a new Coven, new people, trying to build lives, trying to save our Skulk, save the Mikaelsons, and just in general, nothing disastrous seemed to happen, so we didn't look too far into it," Isaac's lookalike stated.
"Nothing disastrous happened so there was no point in digging into what came over and what didn't when the Other side is thousands of years old, I was looking for Davina, not other cross overs," Kol admitted.
Lydia blinked a few time at that confession as she looked at Kol.
"If Qetsiyah did come over, she's after Amara, and Silas is no more as it stands, so it it unlikely she could draw on him, but if she's after her Cure," Kol started.
"We'll protect you," Isaac lookalike stated.
"No," Kol said softly. "She's after me, and she has Davina, if she wants the Cure I'll give it to her, if she can take it," he decided threateningly.
"In the meantime, we're doing playing nice, and playing their game, we're dismantalling the Sisters," Isaac lookalike stated. "You find Davina, the Skulk will handle the Sisters, and we'll leave Strix and the Trinity to your siblings, but we're ending this now."
"Yes, I will draw up the spells to find the sisters," Freya decided.
"I will help find Davina," Lydia offered softly. "Stiles and I will help you," she looked at Kol as things seemed to shift. The man gave her a serious look before he nodded. "I'll call Stiles."
"I'll get Henrik, having a mortal law man will help," Kol muttered. "When I get Davina back I'm putting a tracker on her!"
"No you're not!" all the witches shouted.
"Bloody woman can't go ten years without getting kidnapped!"
~~~*~*~*~~~
Madison hated dealing with the dead, and she hated that Cynthia was making her do that. They had finished moving the wreck, and they were now going to retrieve the dead useless witch. He had been strong, but the moment they had separated him from a strange talisman of some sort, it looked like a fox... or a wolf? She couldn't tell. It looked Celtic or Norse in origin. It wasn't her sort of magic, which was why she didn't recognize. Slowly she stood from where she found the amulet and looked at where the body had fallen.
There was nothing which had her blood freezing as she looked around. This was unsettling. Standing she looked for where the body might've rolled to, but she didn't see any indication that the dead man was anywhere.
"You know, that really, really, really hurt," a voice sneered behind her which had her whipping around as she scrambled back from the bloody man. He cracked his neck as his and his lips curled. She didn't get to scream as fangs sunk into her throat, she couldn't even breath as it felt like the life draining from her, she felt everything disappear from her life.
~~~*~*~*~~~
Kai stared at the bloody scene of two witches, and the flaming car as he look around. Everything... everything was too much, so much, he couldn't... it felt too much! He could smell the must, moldy, damp scent of the swamp around him, the storm, the smoke, the burning metal which was screeching and twisting in the gnarled as the heat warped them. His ears were ringing, the metal was gnarling and the birds were loud, frogs chirping, the winds through the trees.
He could also feel the roar of unfiltered dark magic coursing through his viens which was startling as it robbed him of breath and life, he felt dead. There was nothing alive about him, and yet he was alive, and he could feel the same magic as before. It was so much more and so much less all at once... he didn't feel a need to pull on magic that was around him for a source, he felt like a source.
~~~*~*~*~~~
Kol stood outside for a minute as he stared out at the Plantation. He had never actually thought about the Cure, he hadn't, but the way the Banshee had looked at him... he couldn't shake that look. It was like all those centuries ago when a Banshee had whispered, she awaited his end, when the sword dug into his back and through his heart, she waited for his death for it would be his ruin. Kol had laughed at her, but alas, she hadn't been wrong.
His father had driven that sword though Kol's back and heart before he could react, and he'd been dead.
Looking at his hand he snarled as he felt the impulse to lash out, he needed to find Davina.