The Sacrifice
(Yes, I skipped an episode.)
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Gilbert Residence
Amber awakens from her slumber when she hears a noise coming from inside the house. Her bedroom door is slightly ajar. She lays back down, turns over in her bed, and tries to go back to bed. Jonas appears in the doorway, looking at Amber. Amber is woken up, once again, when she hears a door slamming loudly. She sits up in her bed. Jonas has disappeared from the bathroom. Amber gets out of bed and slowly walks across her room. She quietly opens her ajar door and walks out.
Amber walks over to Elena's door to see it closed and then goes to Jeremy's slightly opened door, before she could look through it, she hears something behind her, making her quickly turn. She gasps but calms down once she realizes it's Ric. But... He's shirtless and in boxers. Ric also stopped what he was doing and looks at the blonde with wide eyes.
"Amber..." Ric clears his throat and lowers the bowl of ice cream he was eating.
"I heard something." Amber looks anywhere but at him.
Jenna walks up the stairs, wearing Alaric's shirt. She runs her hand through her hair, embarrassed as well, "That was us... Sorry." In Amber's bedroom, Jonas pulls out a handkerchief and collects some of Amber's hair from her brush.
"We didn't think anyone else was up," Ric says.
"But here you are." Jenna sighs.
"Chunky Monkey?" Ric holds out the bowl of ice cream. Amber shakes her head. Back in Amber's bedroom, Jonas also grabs some of Amber's jewelry and places it in the handkerchief. He folds the handkerchief and places it in his coat pocket. "Well, I'm naked... So... I'm gonna go." Ric quickly excuses himself. Amber quickly shivers in disgust.
Amber walks to her bedroom when Jenna's voice stops her, "I'm really sorry."
"It's okay, Jenna, don't worry about it." Amber chuckles.
"I know he's been staying over a lot. Are you- are you sure it's okay?" Jenna asks.
"As long as he treats you good."
"He is." Jenna smiles.
"Then I'm extremely okay with it." Amber winks.
"Don't think you and Tyler can do this." Jenna points.
Amber chuckles, "Who says we haven't?"
Jenna stands there with her jaw open, while Amber giggles and she shuts her door, going back to bed. Jonas waits to hear Amber's soft snoring and walks out of the room, down the stairs, and then out of the house, no one noticing.
Mystic Falls High School
Caroline and Amber were walking over to Tyler when Matt approaches them. Amber clears her throat and skips over to Tyler, taking the basketball from his hands. She then steps and shoots, making a score. She turns to see Tyler looking at her in shock.
"Who knew, Amber Lawrence could play?" Tyler laughs, walking to her.
Amber shrugs, "I can't play, just shoot."
Tyler shakes his head and kisses her, "You can play me."
Amber giggles and pushes him gently, "Get away."
Tyler gently grabs her wrists, pulling her towards him, "Never." They hear Caroline walking over to them, "Still on the outs?" Tyler asks, turning his head to the taller blonde but keeping his grip on Amber's waist.
"Looks like it. You realize there's almost a full moon?" Caroline asks, changing the subject.
"Vampires don't have enough problems, you want to take on mine?"
Amber softly hits his chest, "Be nice."
"Have you even thought about it? The whole...wolf thing? Do you know what you're gonna do?" Caroline asks.
"I have a plan." Tyler nods.
"Well?" Both girls ask.
"Kind of private."
"I'm student council vice president, head of the prom committee, not to mention I single-handedly organized this town's clean-up campaign. And you're really gonna turn down my help?" Caroline scoffs.
"And I'm your girlfriend, and probably the smartest person you've met. You're gonna turn down my help?" Amber raises an eyebrow.
Salvatore Boarding House
"Hey, sorry I'm late!" Amber says, walking into the house.
"It's fine." Jeremy waves her off.
"Can you guys do it?" Damon asks.
"We might be able to lower the tomb spell long enough for you to get in there and grab the moonstone from Katherine." Bonnie nods.
"I've been practicing a lot more." Amber nods.
"How? It took both you two and your Grams last time and look what happened to her." Jeremy scoffs, making Amber hit his arm, hard.
"I'm well aware of what happened. I've learned a few new things." Bonnie sternly says.
"Bonnie..."
"How will you get it?" Bonnie asks Stefan.
"She hasn't been feeding. She's weaker. We're not." Stefan says and Damon raises a glass of blood towards the witches.
"You wouldn't be underestimating her, would you?" Amber asks.
"It's a plan. Is it perfect? What plan is?" Damons scoffs.
"Let me do it. I've got my ring. I can get in, get out, no spells necessary." Jeremy interrupts.
"No!" Amber shakes her head.
"Gee, thanks, you 16-year-old child. Why didn't we think about that? Why are you even here?" Damon looks at Jeremy.
"Maybe I can help better the plan. Do you have anything that belongs to Katherine?" Amber crosses her arms. Damon looks at Stefan.
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Stefan re-enters the parlor room where the group waits for him. He has the picture of Katherine in his hands. He hands it to Amber, "This belonged to Katherine. Found it with her things after I thought she was dead, but it was hers."
Bonnie places the portrait in a ceramic bowl. Amber dips her fingers in a glass of water and lets the water droplets drip from her fingertips into the bowl. Flames sprout from the bowl. The two shut their eyes and began to chant a spell in Latin.
"What will this do?" Damon asks.
Bonnie and Amber open their eyes to watch the picture burn, Amber looks at the raven-haired man, "I can turn the metal into ash. Blow the ashes on her, and it'll incapacitate her for a minute or two. Long enough for you to get the stone and get out." Suddenly, Bonnie's nose starts to bleed. Bonnie raises her hand to her nose and wipes it away before anyone notices but it was too late. Amber saw. Amber grabs Bonnie's arm and leads her outside, "What the hell was that?" Amber asks.
"Leave it, Ammy." Bonnie says, "They're going to hear."
"I put a spell around us, they can't hear."
"I'm not that strong yet."
"Then you aren't doing it." Amber shakes her head, "I can do it alone. I'm stronger Bonnie! I am not having you risk your life for something like this." Amber raises her eyebrows at the Bennett girl.
Bonnie sighs, "Please... Just let me help. I'll have help." Bonnie shows Amber the dog tags.
Amber sighs, "Fine, but if anything happens, promise me you won't do magic unless it's with me."
Bonnie nods, "I promise."
The girls embrace.
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Amber pours the ashes onto the table while the Salvatore brothers enter the room.
"Still gotta get the torches," Stefan says.
"Alaric's stake gun's in my trunk. Bonnie? Ammy?" Damon looks at the girls.
"Go ahead. I'm almost done." Amber nods.
Stefan leaves. Damon packs a few more things in a bag and follows Stefan out of the room. Jeremy waits until they are unable to hear him before he speaks to Bonnie, Amber leaves the room to let the two talk. She grabs her phone and calls Caroline.
"Hey, Ammy!" Caroline answers the phone.
"Hey, is the plan good?" Amber asks.
Caroline grits her teeth, "It's Tyler, but it should be."
"Okay. I'll try and help but I'm in the middle of something right now." Amber sighs.
"Hey, it's okay. We both get it. Just be careful and don't tire yourself out." Caroline demands, nodding at Tyler who was listening in.
"No promises."
"No! Promise me. You need to keep yourself healthy, Ammy." Caroline says.
"Amber Lawrence, listen to us," Tyler says.
Amber sighs, "Fine. See you guys later?"
"Always." Caroline smiles and hangs up.
Woods
Bonnie and Amber approach Stefan and Damon who are waiting in the church ruins by the entrance to the tomb. "Sorry, we're late. We stopped by my house to grab my grimoire." Bonnie apologizes.
"Jeremy couldn't take the pressure, huh?" Damon smirks.
"He said he'd be here." Bonnie shrugs. Stefan, Amber, and Bonnie descend the stairs to the tomb. Damon starts to follow but stops abruptly when his cell phone rings. Once they reach the end of the stairs, Stefan drops his bag and starts rummaging through it, but something catches his eye. He sees the moonstone lying nearby.
"What the hell?" Stefan mutters.
"Is that the moonstone?" Bonnie asks.
The trio rush over to it, and Stefan picks it up. Katherine, lips drenched in blood, comes to the entrance of the tomb, "I hate to interrupt, but today has just been full of surprises." Katherine pulls Jeremy out from behind the wall. Jeremy's eyelids flutter and the bite mark on his neck oozes blood. Stefan rushes over to the entrance and Bonnie looks on in horror.
"I'm sorry. I took some powder." Jeremy looks at Bonnie.
"Don't worry, I know that he's wearing his ring, so no matter how many times I kill him, he'll just keep coming back for more. So, I'm going to be in the back playing with my new little toy. And you guys just give me a holler when you've got the tomb open."
"I swear I'll kill you, Katherine!" Amber goes to rush in but Stefan grabs her. "Let me go!"
Stefan carries her to Bonnie and slowly sets her down, "Let's do this." Bonnie nods at Amber.
Both girls start setting the candles in a circle and then lighting them. "Where the hell is Damon?" Stefan sighs.
"We can't wait, we have to get him out of there," Amber whispers.
"She's fed, she has her strength back."
"We still have what's left of the ash," Bonnie says hanging Stefan the envelope filled with the ash.
"Do you think you can get close enough?" Amber asks.
"I don't have a choice." Stefan takes the ash.
"It's gonna take us some time," Bonnie says.
"How long?"
"Don't ask us that." Amber scoffs.
"Just get me in there as soon as you can." Stefan nods.
Bonnie and Amber grab hands and nod before closing their eyes and start chanting a spell in Latin. Bonnie holding Luka's dog tags in between their hands. The girls chant louder, and the flames flare up. Katherine, dragging Jeremy behind her, comes back towards the entrance, "Ooh, something's happening."
"Bonnie, no!" Jeremy yells, Stefan looks at the witches, alarmed. "You have to stop her. She's not strong enough, Stefan!" After he says that, the flames flare up more.
"Maybe she is," Katherine smirks.
Bonnie and Amber's noses start bleeding but they stay chanting and holding each other's hands. Stefan, concerned, walks over to them, "Bonnie. Ammy."
"You have to stop them!" Jeremy yells.
Katherine elbows Jeremy in the face and he falls to the floor. Stefan looks back at Jeremy and sees he's okay. He looks back at Bonnie and grasps her arm. "You have to stop. Both of you!" The girls don't listen, "Bonnie!" Suddenly, Bonnie faints as Stefan catches her. "Bonnie. Bonnie, wake up, please. Bonnie, wake up. Bonnie." Everyone looks over to Amber whose nose was bleeding even more. She continues to chant the spell, holding Luka's dog tags.
"Amber! Please, stop." Jeremy begs.
"Ammy!" Bonnie wakes up and gasps.
Forbes Residence
As Tyler and Caroline were researching Mason's things, Caroline suddenly feels pain. She gasps in pain and tries to catch her breath.
"Caroline?" Tyler asks, "What's going on?"
Caroline points to her phone, not being able to breathe, "A-" Just then the pain stops and she can breathe.
"Caroline!" Tyler kneels in front of her, "What the hell was that?"
"Amber... Goddamnit." Caroline growls.
Fell's Church Tomb
Amber finally drops the dog tags and faints, Stefan quickly catching her. Bonnie rushes over, both trying to wake the blonde up. Jeremy notices Katherine's worried gaze on Amber. Jeremy furrows his eyebrows but looks over at Amber as well.
Amber finally groans and opens her eyes, everyone sighing in relief, "It didn't work." Amber shakes her head. As Stefan and Bonnie helped her to her feet.
"We're not strong enough. Even with help." Bonnie hugs Amber.
"Ahhh, that's too bad, I'm still hungry." Katherine shrugs. She grabs Jeremy's shirt and pushes him up against the wall. She extends her fangs and prepares to bite Jeremy's neck. Stefan vamp-speeds into the tomb, grabs Jeremy, throws him out, and restrains Katherine against the wall
"Go!" Stefan yells at them. Jeremy falls onto the ground and Bonnie kneels and wraps her arms around him. The three look at Stefan as Stefan looks back at them. Katherine looks up at Stefan with a smug smile.
"Stef." Amber trails off.
"I'll be okay." He says.
Forbes Residence
Amber gets out of her car as Matt walks past her. She furrows her eyebrows before she gets tackled in a big hug by Caroline. "What the hell did I say?!" Caroline pulls away, gently slapping Amber's arm.
"I know! I know, okay! But I had to help." Amber sighs.
"It was weird. I could feel your pain..." Caroline sighs, "Like I couldn't just tell your emotions, I actually felt your pain."
"So... We're bonded?" Amber mutters to herself, but Caroline hears.
"I guess." Caroline sighs before pulling Amber back into a hug.
"I was so scared, Care." Amber sobs.
"I know. I know." Caroline rubs Amber's back.
Tyler watches them from the porch, his heart breaking hearing Amber's sobs. He walks down the steps and walks to the girls. Amber opens her eyes and makes eye contact with her boyfriend. She pulls away from Caroline and runs into Tyler's arms, breaking down more. Tyler kisses her head and rocks them back and forth.
Caroline watches them with a small smile on her face. She knew Tyler would be good for Amber but for some reason, she felt like Tyler wasn't the one for Amber. She felt like there was someone else that's Amber's soulmate.
Little did she know, she was right.
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Word Count: 2,304
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