NEW YORK CITY
As Damon yammered on about his time with Lexi and how she had made it her mission to get him back to full emotional status, Rebekah rolled her eyes "Just how obsessed were you with my sister?"
"I wasn't obsessed." Damon countered, quickly cutting her off as he shot her a sharp glare "Why are you still here? You are not part of this bonding trip."
Bringing her cosmopolitan to her lips, Buffy just snorted as Damons obvious attempt at deflection. When it came to Mary he tended to get very defensive, she was almost positive he had been planning on ripping out Xander's throat for even daring to mention that he had an unhealthy attachment to the name Mary.
When Xander had straight up said she was his Drusilla, Damon had launched a bookshelf at his head.
"Damon back to this point." Buffy told him, her patience growing thin.
Clenching his jaw, he shot one more glare at Rebekah who just grinned smugly as stole his glass of bourbon and downed it. Grumbling under his breath, like a small child, Damon shifted his focus between the two blondes who had been making their way steadily through the liquor supply "She would ask about Mary. What she looked like at that point. Her real face, her you face-" He wiggled his fingers in front of Buffy's face tapping her nose teasingly "And how I felt about her. Bla-bla..." Slowly a wicked grin covered his lips "But, I may have done something a little mean to get payback."
For the first time in over an hour, Buffy was finally intrigued.
Grabbing one of the shots on the tray that Damon had compelled for them, Buffy's eyes lit up like a small child on Christmas morning. She was still a 22-year-old girl, she loved hearing gossip!
Especially when it wasn't about her.
"Gossip? Spill." She practically begged as she downed her shot before looking at him with big doe eyes.
Damon just smirked before wiggling his eyebrows suggestively as he tapped the top of the bar, knowing that she would get his drift.
Like a computer frozen as it tried to reconnect to the internet, Buffy stared at Damon silently for a good minute, her eyes getting bigger and bigger by the second as the reality of what he was hinting at started to settle into her brain.
Lexi and Damon.
OH MY GOD!!!!
"Oh my god!" She squeaked as she started laughing "Lexi touched you? Willingly? Did you blackmail her?" Now that was not something she never expected to hear. Lexi had hated Damon and had called him a literal pig and scum.
Given how shocked she was at the prospect of him actually being able to put the moves on Lexi, Damon couldn't help but sputter.
Why did Buffy always have to torture and take the piss out of him?
To be fair though, their entire friendship was formed on the basis of torturing each other.
Buffy removed her elbows from the bar in less than a second, almost like it had turned around and burnt her skin "You tainted the bar?"
EW!
"Not just the bar." Damon teased as he shot her a playful wink causing both her and Rebekah to groan "The stage and the roof too. It was a very long night."
"I can't believe I ever slept with you." Rebekah grumbled in self-disgust as she downed two shots in quick succession before focusing on Damon "Why was this woman so determined to fix your obsession with my sister?"
Damon ignored the snide reminder about Mary "She had a Mother Teresa Complex."
"You are no Lexi." Buffy stated as she downed another shot before grinning at Damon innocently.
Damon shifted in his chair as he spotted the black vine-like veins starting to flicker in and out across her face.
Not a good sign.
Buffy just continued to smile ever so sweetly despite the fact her eyes were filling with black as she focused on his stupid handsome face "Damon, you keep saying you like demon me. But bringing up Lexi of all people?" Lexi was the queen of getting vampires to turn their switch back on "Let me make myself clear, me going back to zepto facto grief-ridden Buffster? Whoopee, not! If you are trying to get my head back on straight, I WILL KILL YOU...and that wasn't exactly what I was intending to do to you on this trip."
She let the suggestive innuendo hang in the air for a minute before she downed the last shot on the tray.
Sure enough, she had taken Damon completely off guard and he started short-circuiting, only able to focus on her last statement "What are you planning to do to me?" He breathed suggestively as a smirk started to take form on his lips.
Rebekah groaned in disgust.
"You enjoyed it Blondie, don't deny it." Damon snarked yet didn't take his eyes off Buffy as she bit into a cherry.
Buffy smiled before biting her lower lip "Get me drunk and maybe I'll show you. Several times."
"Yes, ma'am." Damon grinned before moving to get the girls more drinks while Buffy and Rebekah pushed toward the crowd, eyeing the band which was now starting their set closely.
"How much did that kill you to say?" Rebekah whispered as she looped her arm with Buffy's, knowing that the echo of the guitar would keep Damon from overhearing them.
Buffy groaned, her stomach turning "I'm sure Damon is great in bed-"
"He is."
"But no thanks. I just needed to get him out of memory lane. Anytime Damon thinks about sex he forgets what he was talking about."
Glancing over her shoulder back at where Damon was subtly glancing down at his phone every few minutes, Rebekah smirked "I think he is ready to make his move."
Buffy smirked as they clinked their glasses together "Thank God. This place smells like a sewer."
WHITMORE, VIRGINIA
A Triangle.
Three points of the expression triangle.
"I thought you said Mary wasn't answering your texts." Stefan commented as he spotted Klaus staring down at the image his sister had texted him, following him sending her 200 text messages in the space of 30 seconds and spamming her phone with endless calls.
After over a month of silence, she had finally responded.
Sending him some notes and telling him to find the third point in the triangle.
"Kol and Mari were paranoid of Silas together. Letting her know that not only is Silas awake, but is intending to commit another sacrifice which might end up being her niece managed to wake her from her cocoon for a moment." Klaus admitted with a sigh, trying to force down the memories of his brother's death once again before they could completely consume him.
Truthfully, he had been avoiding Marianna because of how close she was with Kol.
She blamed him.
Klaus wasn't an idiot, he knew a part of Mari would blame him for Kol's death. For not taking her warning the first time he muttered The Five to her all those months ago.
She had told him that nothing but death led down the path of The Cure, she had told him to back off...and he hadn't.
Now her favorite brother was dead.
As Klaus continued to draw along the map, starting to form the two possible locations for where the sacrifice may be happening, Stefan glanced down at his phone "Joy is still with Caroline, no sign of Silas."
"Then we can assume that he is going with his original place. Another sacrifice of 12."
Stefan gulped "The Coven, Bonnie's dad called her mom. A coven of 12 is in town to strip the Expression out of her."
Another set of 12 supernatural creatures.
Humans, Hybrids, and now witches.
"Which would explain why he has decided against using my daughter." Klaus gritted out through his teeth "Your friend's father just offered him a slaughter on a plate. Either way, The Other Side falls, my enemies come for her."
Ripping the map in half, he threw one side to Stefan signaling without words that they had to split up.
They had to go now because if they didn't stop this sacrifice, it wouldn't be long until The Other Side was done...and all hell broke loose.
**
NEW YORK CITY
"Are we breaking every one of Lexi's rules tonight?" Buffy teased with a giggle as she grabbed a shot of tequila off the newly filled trap.
Damon just grinned from beside her, his fingers tapping her bare shoulder teasingly as he gestured to the now very awake club around them. There were humans everywhere, screaming along to every song at the top of their lungs. Loud guitars and drums mellowed in with the drunken cheers.
In less than an hour Billy's had become the hostess place in town.
The underground, of the underground.
"Lexi thought the only way I would turn my emotions back on was if I started enjoying my life again."
Rebekah, who was sitting across from the pair, raised her shot glass, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion as she tried to remember the details about the 70s that Buffy had managed to fill her in on.
Klaus and Elijah hadn't exactly been a lot of help when it came to catching up. They had simply skipped straight to the 21st century, tossing her an iPhone and explaining vaguely what the internet was.
After 90 years in a coffin, the internet was still a little daunting for her. She had literally broken her phone into pieces when that voice piped up from her phone asking her if she would like help.
She had honestly thought it was a magical prank like the ones that Kol and Marianna used to play on her as children.
"Did she make you listen to Bon Jovie?"
Damon shook his head, his nose scutching up "No. Wrong decade."
"Way off." Buffy added as she tapped Rebekah's hand supportively "I will add the correct music to your list."
"You're a saint."
Buffy playfully winked "Nah, more a demon." She laughed before downing her shot in one swift movement. Not once coughing violently as the harsh liquid rushed down her spine. Almost two years back from the dead she could finally handle doing a shot without gagging like a small child at the taste.
As she reached for another shot, making sure to grab the salt first, Buffy just nudged Damon when she spotted him raising a teasing eyebrow in her direction "5 months with no booze!"
She had found out she was pregnant when she was already two months along. She had been on her summer vacation, going out drinking all the time with the girls and she had literally almost drunk herself to death out of guilt for her Summer of Sin.
Hopefully, it didn't cause long-term damage to Joy.
"I haven't had booze since October!"
Spotting that adorable pout starting to form on her face, Damon barked out a laugh, holding her lime for her as she licked the salt off her wrist before downing the shot. Placing the lime between her lips, he grinned; playfully licking his fingers before grabbing his own shot "So Lexi was not allowed to feed with Stefan. I didn't have that problem. And since you don't drink blood. Neither do you." He reminded her before holding his hand out toward Buffy.
Shaking her head in amusement, Buffy just dodged him, planting a teasing kiss on his cheek before sidepacing him and grabbing Rebekah's hand yanking her toward the dance floor "Sorry Dame, she is hotter!"
"You think I'm gonna complain?" He snarked back, his eyes filling with slight glee as he watched the two good-looking blondes move toward the dance floor, jumping up and down along to the beat of the rock music filling the walls.
Two hot blondes, all fuelled up with tequila.
It was any man's fantasy.
Yet, the fantasy would have to be put on hold as Damon finally spotted his chance. The girls were drunk and too busy dancing which meant this might be his only chance.
Unfortunately for Damon, as he slipped away, he had no way of knowing both girls had already slipped out of the crowd.
**
"So Silas is appearing as Professor Shane." Damon breathed in shock as he balanced his phone against his ear while he dug through box after box in Will's old office. Still in search of what he hoped was a file for one and only Katherine Pierce.
Yet so far, he'd had no luck.
"Wouldn't be my first choice."
If Silas could look like anyone, why not be someone cool, or remotely more likeable?
"Well, it would be if you needed to brainwash Bonnie into committing a massacre." Stefan pointed out bluntly.
Even if Bonnie had hated Shane following what he had done to Buffy, it didn't change the fact that he had made her reliant on him. Shane had purposely made himself her anchor so that none of her friends could kill him without Bonnie herself being consumed by the magic.
It was a smart plan at the end of the day.
It made a lot of sense that Silas would choose that face.
Damon sighed in frustration as he tossed another useless box to the ground "You need me to come home?"
"No, we got it. But Damon...if we fail...if The Other Side is destroyed? Joy is in danger."
Sure enough, Damon straightened up.
Those annoying cute innocent teal eyes flashed through his mind for a moment. Damn, his little niece for being too cute to just abandon!
And damn him for actually caring!
He hated his life!
"Just tell me you've gotten closer to getting The Cure? Or at least getting Buffy to start feeling again. We can't help her protect Joy if she sees us as the enemy too. The longer she is like this, the more she turns on everyone. She will kill all of us and then have to face all those newly brought back dead by herself."
Given that her daughter was the only thing keeping her centered right now, it wasn't hard to imagine that the longer Buffy went with nullifying her emotions, the more paranoid she would become. She had gone straight to murder eyes around Caroline of all people.
It wouldn't be long till she deemed everyone...including The Originals a threat to her baby.
Launching another empty file across the room, Damon let out a frustrated huff as he yanked on the ends of his hair. He knew how important this was and now they were out of time. Joy's little life was on the line.
No one was hurting Bubbles Jr.
No way!
"No, not yet. Buffy just wants to torture everyone and she invited Rebekah here for her birthday weekend. The two are all Bonnie and Clyde. I don't like it. Me and Buffy are Bonnie and Clyde. Actually no, I do not like that given the whole crazy Bonnie thing. Let's go with..." He paused thinking for a moment before another famous duo popped into his brain.
Well, slightly less famous, but still as diabolical as ever.
Or more diabolical given that pirates were more fun and murderous.
"She can be the Anne Bonny to my Calico Jack Rachham."
Nothing but silence.
Damon groaned at his brother's very confused silence "The pirates?" Still nothing "You suck brother."
"Yeah, I get it your friendship is unbreakable." Stefan snapped sarcastically making Damon wince.
Clearly, joking was not the way to go here.
The angry reaction probably meant he should never mention that Demon-Buffy was hitting on him, and he was kind of turned on by the way she was willing to drop bodies like snowflakes.
Yep, never telling Stefan.
He would take this weekend to his grave.
Talking about it would probably cause more fights than they had time for.
"In addition to my buddy being a brilliant identity thief, he's also a hoarder." Damon shifted the subject back to their main focus as he walked over to another row of boxes.
Will's organizational skills sucked!
"What are you trying to find?"
"Will had a repeat customer 5'4 raven-haired girl who said she was a runner." That had been a tough pill to swallow once he had realized just how this girl was "And often when he got that order there was a 5,7 brunette in the mix too."
"Mary." Stefan breathed.
Damon just grumbled unpleasantly "And where there is Mary, Katherine is never far behind. The two are sisters, lovers whatever is going on there. Kind of hoping lovers."
"Damon focus." Stefan hissed in annoyance; now was not the time for Damon's perverted girl-on-girl fantasy of Katherine and Mary.
Damon pouted in disappointment, his brother could be such a bore sometimes.
No fun that one.
"Turns out I was helping Mary run from me. Ironic." He admitted before sighing "The problem is that his filing system goes by birth date, but I can't for the life of me remember Mary's or Katherine's."
Truth be told, Mary hadn't even been sure of her own birthday. She had taken a wild guess because the calendar repeatedly changed after so many centuries so it made it almost impossible to keep track.
Stefan paused for a moment before sighing "Mary... December 3rd 990 or 993, not too sure. Just something in the 900s. Katherine's was June 5, 1473."
Damon couldn't help but whistle at the reminder of how old his first love was. Even with Rebekah here being a constant reminder that Mary was technically older than her (even if it was only by a few months) it was still so hard to imagine.
To put it simply, Mary was freaking old.
"And that, brother is why you are the better boyfriend."
Given that Mary was older than pretty much every vampire other than the Originals and maybe some early people they had sired, Damon moved to the oldest boxes. Will hadn't been turned till the 1700s, it was likely Mary had found him way before he had gotten popular with the younger crowd of vampires.
Sure enough, there was a wooden box in the corner of the room.
The oldest there, the wood practically rotting away given the age.
"Geez. Little Witch was probably Will's first client." He breathed as he brushed the dust off the largest file in the room "Mary M. Prince." He whispered before chuckling as his eyes scanned the most recent update "Would you look at that..."
There was a list of all of her former addresses from the past five years, with the initials KP and MP written beside most of them, including the most recent address.
With Kol dead, Mary had clearly stepped right back to avoiding her family.
Katherine and Mary together again.
"It's all of their former addresses, including a couple from the last month. One right after another Original went kapow. AKA: When Mary stopped being the Mikaelson go to witch again. I mean they're mostly PO boxes. But hey it narrows the search."
The click of the door caused Damon to tense up; quickly hanging up on his brother without another word.
Buffy stepped into the room with a bottle of tequila in her hands, stumbling slightly as she struggled to remain on her feet. As her eyes focused on him, Damon swallowed in a mixture of panic and nervousness as he subtly shoved the list into his pocket before focusing on her with a lazy smirk.
He hadn't been as subtle as he thought though.
Buffy grinned over at him as she downed the last of the bottle "Hey... I was looking for you."
Damon Adams's apple bubbed slightly at the suggestive sensual look in her eyes.
Oh-oh.
"Yeah?" He breathed, as he tried to maintain his composure, which wasn't exactly easy. He had spent five years in love with this girl and not once had she looked ready to rip his clothes off like he did her. Everything about her demon side he would have jumped at not too long ago.
"What about?"
Speeding over so that she was standing right in front of him, Buffy bit her lip before glancing up at him and pressing her hands to his chest pushing him back until his back connected with the brick wall. Moving into his personal space, she pressed up to her tip toes, and just as her lips hovered an inch within his own...she made her move.
In less than a second, she had grabbed his arm, snapping it in half causing Damon to howl in pain and crumble to his knees in shock.
"Bubbles, if you wanted to seduce me, there are nicer ways to do it." She twisted her fingers around his arm, causing him to grit his teeth as his bones started grinding against each other painfully, pieces of bone grating off and splintering through his skin cueing blood to start dripping onto the floor "This is kinkier than I thought you'd be into, to be honest."
Buffy just rolled her eyes before pinning him up against the wall by his throat "Damon..." She tutted like a kindergarten teacher having to yell at a small child "You like to think you know me better than anyone. But newsflash you never have. Plus hello, bringing up Lexi? You already told me this story of how she got you to express emotion. God, you're chatty when you're wasted."
Damon let out a loud scream as she twisted his arm again causing his elbow joint to puncture through the flesh "I am not some newbie Vampire you can manipulate." She hissed "I am an Original. Do you honestly think I came to you for fun? If I wanted to have fun, I would have screwed Klaus again. Hayley was at my house, you idiot. She mentioned New York; then you killed her attacker. Coincidence? I think not. I just needed you to reveal your cards." She reached into his back pocket snatching out the list of locations and tossing it over to Rebekah as she stepped into the room, wiggling her fingers teasingly at him.
They had played him.
Incredibly too easily.
As her nails started digging into his throat drawing blood, Damon clawed desperately at her hand but it was useless. She was a thousand times stronger than him. He had always been weaker than her and now her power was ten times stronger than it had been before her resurrection.
The only person who could beat Buffy Summers...was Buffy Summers.
"Buff-" He croaked out weakly as dark spots started to invade his vision "I am trying to look out for you. All the bad stuff you did, to those cheerleaders, to Stefan, to me... it's going to come back and it's going to suck."
There was a long beat of silence as Buffy tilted her head slightly before once again, dark veins spread across her cheekbones, black swallowing the green in her eyes and the black tips in her hair slowly started to spread up her hair again.
This time leaving Buffy with all of the underneath of her hair completely black.
One ponytail and sure enough it would be obvious that her hair was now completely half blonde, half black.
"You know the best way to avoid all that?" She breathed into his ear, her lips lightly grazing his earlobe "To get rid of you all."
With that, she slammed his head against the brick wall, shattering his skull and causing a large bone to start sticking out of his forehead. His own skull had cut through his forehead and sliced right through his brain.
Safe to say, Damon would be taking a few hours to heal up.
Lowering down to her knees beside Damon's temporarily dead body, Buffy just smirked as she slid his car keys out of his back pocket "I don't need any of you. Once the cure is gone, I am taking my daughter, and anyone who tries to push me will die. Out of sight out of mind."
With that, she twirled around and strolled over to Rebekah, the pair of them looping their arms together as they made their way through the bar.
"Road trip."
**
MYSTIC FALLS, VIRGINIA
Stefan had found the witches first.
Both he and Klaus had taken the two different options for what might be the final spot for the expression triangle. Sending a text to both Caroline and Klaus to let them know where he was in case he needed backup, Stefan froze as he finally got a good look at what was going on.
12 witches were circling Bonnie, trying to perform what looked like an old-fashioned exorcism on her.
Trying to rip the expression right out of her bones.
Given how loud Bonnie was screaming, it sounded like pure torture.
"Stop it! He yelled, quickly speeding into the middle of the circle "It's not what you think."
The head of the coven, the elder, shifted her gaze off Bonnie, her eyes narrowing dangerously as she focused on him "This is no place for a vampire." She hissed before scoffing as she caught the mix of magic rushing off his clothing "Especially, not one involved with protecting the destroyer."
Stefan frowned in confusion.
The destroyer?
What the hell did that mean?
As Bonnie let out another loud scream, he quickly refocused "She's working for Silas."
Sure enough, that was the wrong thing to say and definitely not the right way to phrase that Bonnie was being manipulated.
The witch in charge froze, her eyes widened in horror "Silas." She breathed, her hands starting to shake around Bonnie's head.
Stefan just nodded, hopeful that she was finally listening. He could stop all of this and then Joy and the rest of them would be safe "He brainwashed her to kill you."
Bonnie whimpered in agony, blood starting to drip from her nose as soft mutters echoed from her lips "Buffy..." She whispered weakly through her cries "My person. Need my person."
The witch instantly narrowed her eyes and raised a blade causing Stefan's eyes to widen in horror, not that she cared. Her eyes were glued to the traitor of their kind "You protected the death of our race." She hissed "Now you work for Silas, Bennett. Your grandmother would be ashamed."
No, she wouldn't.
Shelia Bennett was one of the few spirits on The Other Side currently defending the existence of Joyce Mikaelson.
The second he spotted the blade being moved over Bonnie's heart, Stefan rushed forward, his eyes filled with panic. This wasn't what was supposed to be happening. Witches weren't supposed to kill their own! Especially not witches that Abby had trusted to help her daughter!
"Wait! What are you doing?"
"If Silas has her, she's lost. We can't save her."
The darkness in her tone caused Stefan to go into panic mode as he clicked what she meant. They weren't going to help Bonnie...they were going to kill her.
Without hesitation, he sped forward only to let out a cry as the head witch raised her hand, easily sending him flying across the forest floor while simultaneously causing him to scream in agony as familiar needles filled his head.
"I have the power of 12 witches." The Elder hissed "You don't stand a chance."
Stefan groaned in agony, he needed to find another way. Speeding away he moved as far as he could till the pain stopped.
Grunting in agony, he rolled onto his knees a loud cry escaping him as he clutched his head.
He hated this spell!
A second of relief managed to fill Stefan as he spotted a familiar face speeding over to him. For the first time in his life, Stefan was actually grateful to see Klaus Mikaelson of all people.
Helping Stefan up to his feet, Klaus froze as he allowed his eyes to focus on the ritual going on around them.
"They're linked. Bonnie's gonna kill them." Stefan explained.
Klaus paused for a moment before glancing back over at the ritual happening. Yes, he was thankful for the help Bonnie had provided, and while he had originally planned to honor their treaty, if it came down to his daughter or the Bennett witch, he knew which choice he would make.
Bonnie was the only living Bennett powerful enough to break The Other Side.
If she was dead, then there would be no breaking The Other Side. Even if Silas tried to kill Joy, he wasn't a witch, he needed a Bennett witch to break the barrier between the two worlds and if Bonnie was dead, he would lose his chance.
If Bonnie was dead then it was over.
Silas needed her, without her there was nothing he could do.
"Not if the witches kill her first." Klaus hissed before turning his glare on Stefan only to let out a loud howl as a wooden log was sent flying right at him, impaling his leg.
As Klaus howled in agony, piece after piece of wood impaling him, Stefan momentarily found himself frozen as he spotted the witches momentarily shifting their focus to Klaus rather than Bonnie.
"Where is the child?" The elder hissed as she climbed up to her feet, using one hand to keep Bonnie down while the other kept launching stake after stake at Klaus's back, loud furious growls echoing through the woods.
Stefan froze as he clicked why they had shifted their focus.
At the end of the day, Silas may be able to raise the dead, but the witches had been focused on one thing for centuries. Preventing the Prophecy from coming true. Preventing the birth of the child that was predicated to doom their entire race to the ground.
"She is a child!" Stefan snapped as he glared at the elder who merely narrowed her eyes causing him to cry out as more needles started to piece the inside of his skull, causing blood to pool from his ears. But he didn't let that stop him.
No one was touching Joy!
"An innocent child!"
"That child will destroy us all!" The elder screamed as she launched Klaus across the field before twisting her wrist causing his knees to snap as his eyes started to glow yellow.
She was triggering the werewolf transformation.
The only true time a hybrid was weak...was during the transition.
"That baby will bring death to us all. She will reign blood far more than every member of the dead on The Other Side."
If it came down to stopping the other side from collapsing and destroying Silas or killing Joyce Summers-Mikaelson...the witches would end the life of the Demonic Tribrid.
The direct threat to their existence.
"Mention my daughter and I will-" Klaus's threat was cut off as his throat sliced open, causing him to choke on his own blood as his bones continued snapping loudly, the cracks echoing off the trees.
Coughing up the blood that was quickly filling his lungs, Stefan struggled forward as he spotted the witches now completely focused on Klaus. Intent on ripping through his mind to find Joy.
When it came down to it the biggest threat wasn't Silas...it was Joyce-Jenna Summers Mikaelson.
The witch who had been able to perform magic within her mother's womb, the one-day werewolf and vampire...filled to the brim with demonic blood and the ability to tap into a Slayer's dreams.
If Joy turned...she could destroy everything and they were not willing to risk it.
It was almost funny that somehow despite 2000 years of fear, Silas was losing on the power scale to a one-month-old baby girl who could barely hold up her own head up. She couldn't even roll over yet but she was the more taunting threat.
Joyce was literally the first witch in history to be able to practice magic from the womb, the demonic blood in her veins just doubling every aspect of her. Making her more powerful than every creature that had come before her.
But she was still a baby!
Her path was not set!
"She is a baby!" Stefan growled out as he let those little giggles echo through his brain, his eyes narrowing dangerously at the witch who was still focused on trying to rip through Klaus's mind "An innocent baby! The daughter of a woman who saved the world. A woman protected your kind over and over again!"
The elder clenched her jaw tightly a slight look of hesitation in her eyes at the mention of the mother of the all-powerful child before letting out a shaky breath, regret starting to fill her eyes.
Yet, her determination never faltered.
"Joyce Mikaelson will be our downfall." She breathed as she tossed Stefan aside before summoning Klaus to her, her hands slowly moving toward his temples "She is a Mikaelson. Joy cannot be allowed to live-"
The second the name Joy was uttered into the air, Bonnie let out a loud scream, one distorted word ripping through her throat desperately "INCENDIA!" An earthquake ripped through the air causing the elder to scream in agony as fire started to spread up the earth and over her flesh.
All 12 witches started to combust into bright blue flames as Bonnie continued to scream. A part of who she was at her core breaking through the manipulation.
At that moment, as the witches burned around her...Bonnie kept her promise.
To destroy all those that threatened Buffy and her god-daughter, burning them to the ground.
Body after body combusted into flames until finally...the triangle was complete.
**
Silas officially had everything he needed to break The Other Side.
There was only one piece of the puzzle missing other than The Cure and that was the spell Bonnie would need to perform to lower the borders.
The echo of Bonnie gasping loudly cued, Stefan to finally glance away from his phone.
After Rudy had invited him in when he had arrived with an unconscious Bonnie in his arms, he had been staring at his phone. Waiting to hear from Damon. After his abrupt silence a few hours ago, Stefan was starting to get worried.
Shooting up in her bed, Bonnie couldn't help but furrow her brows in confusion as she glanced around the familiar wallpaper of her bedroom. As she focused on a photo of her and Buffy from High School her confusion only started to grow.
How the hell did she get home?
"How'd I get here?"
Her question definitely had Stefan stumped for a moment, she looked so confused. Like she had no idea how the hell she was in Mystic Falls "What do you mean? I—I brought you home. The witches almost killed you."
Bonnie's brows just grew more confused at his statement.
What the hell was Stefan talking about?
"What witches?"
Stefan froze, dread starting to form in his gut "You don't remember?" He whispered only to let out a nervous breath as she shook her head.
If she didn't remember the witches what else didn't she remember?
"Whatever the witches did must have messed with your memory."
That was the most reasonable explanation.
Bonnie just grumbled as she rubbed her head and pushed up onto her elbows rubbing her exhausted head. Weirdly though, despite how tired she felt, she almost felt like her mind had been cleared.
It was free.
"How did I get off the island?" She questioned before her eyes widened in panic "Buffy and the baby? Are they okay? I need to start getting the cabin ready with Willow..."
Stefan's stomach dropped at her words.
She had no idea what had happened. No memories of what had happened over the past month. No memory of what happened on the Island, of Buffy going into early labor, of Elena falling into a coma...and no memory of Jeremy's death.
She didn't remember any of it.
"Wait. Bonnie...what's the last thing you remember?"
Bonnie frowned for a moment digging through her brain and trying to remember back to what had happened "I guess I remember being in that cave, and Jeremy was trying to pry the cure out of Silas' hand."
Letting out a heavy sigh, Stefan leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he prepared to tell her everything that had happened "Bonnie there's something you need to know...not just about Buffy and the baby, but about Elena and Jeremy."
**
The Lockwood Manner.
A place Klaus had hoped never to see again, but alas given that no vampires were invited in other than Caroline Forbes and Willow Rosenberg had supplied half the town with protection charms, it was a safe place for Joy to be stored away.
At least while he had been handling the witches and Buffy was dealing with The Cure.
However, the expression triangle had now been completed.
Klaus wanted his daughter with him, he wanted her safe and she was the safest when she was in the arms of him or Buffy.
He trusted no one else with Joyce other than Buffy.
Walking up the steps he quickly spotted Caroline pacing back and forth in the doorway as she continued to rock a sleeping Joy in her arms. Clearly too paranoid to risk stopping her movements after what had happened the last time Joy had screamed in her presence.
Caroline clenched her jaw as she spotted him before letting out a heavy sigh as she focused on the baby girl in her arms. She couldn't focus on Tyler every time she looked at Klaus, especially not while holding Joy.
Her own feelings toward Joy's father should not affect the little girl.
She would not be the person who made Joy hate her own father without truly understanding why. By whispering in a child's ear before their brain was fully developed, it was just manipulation. If she talked badly about Klaus to Joy, it was manipulating her to believe that her father was nothing but a monster.
Yet, this monster did care for his daughter.
"She's okay." Caroline whispered as she slowly approached the doorway being cautious not to wake Matt who was passed out on the couch clutching the storybook he had read to Joy for an hour straight on his chest.
It had taken a human heartbeat to calm Joy down after Klaus had rushed off. The supernatural beat of a vampire's heart just seemed to send her into paranoia mode.
She was her father's daughter in that regard.
"She drifted off to Nerf Herder of all things." One of Buffy's favorite bands "Pretty sure Buffy used to play it when she was pregnant."
Klaus fought back a smile as he watched his daughter snuggle into Caroline's arms, her little feet kicking out for a second before she buried her face into Caroline's neck, a soft whimper escaping her "She did. Always the same song on repeat for hours."
Stroking Joy's back softly, Caroline kissed the top of her head before moving to hand her over only to freeze as Klaus suddenly tensed up.
Something was wrong.
Klaus clenched his jaw tightly as the hairs raised on the back of his neck. Turning his head, he let out a shaky breath as he spotted a familiar face slowly approaching the Lockwood house.
Shane.
AKA: Silas.
"Run." He whispered under his breath knowing that Caroline would hear him as he quickly shut the front door tightly "Take her and run."
While Silas had gotten what he wanted, it didn't change the fact that Joyce was one of a kind.
For all they knew, Silas could kill her instead of getting the Bennett witch to break the spell lowering The Other Side. They had no idea of knowing just how much power Joy would release with her dying breath.
For the first time in his life, Klaus had someone in his life he would rather die for than be harmed or even put at risk.
There was a sharp gust of air.
Klaus sighed in relief as he glanced through the window of the house.
Caroline and Joyce were gone.
She had taken the baby and run like hell.
"Thank you." Silas declared drawing his attention "Of the 3 massacres the witches was the one I was dreading. Ironic though, how killing 12 witches was easier than just one little witch."
Klaus clenched his fists, his claws starting to take form digging into his palms as he glared at the immortal with the Professor's face.
The figure that had wanted to slaughter his daughter on an altar just like the witches that had tried.
"Silas, I presume."
**
TRENTON, NEW JERSEY
Letting the air rush over her as she and Rebekah continued down the highway, Buffy let herself relax for a moment. Music was blaring loudly from the radio which had her bobbing her head to the beat peacefully. They had been on the road for hours and while her body was stiff as a board, she was just thankful that this was almost over.
The sooner they found Katherine, the sooner they had The Cure and she could get back to Joy.
As Klaus's phone went straight to voicemail again, Buffy let out an aggravated huff "You're brother seriously needs to get with the program." She told Rebekah "Or I am getting him a damn beeper and a dog collar."
They had a kid together, he couldn't just ignore her calls.
It sent her mind into paranoia mode that something had happened, leaving her body shaking with terror over Joy's safety.
Spotting a familiar name pop up on her phone, Buffy couldn't help but snort, her mind momentarily distracted from the overwhelming panic rising up inside of her the longer she was away from Joy.
"Morning Damon." She answered cheerfully.
"You locked me in a dumpster! I woke up in the city dump!" Damon exploded cueing both girls to start giggling madly.
Compelling the garbage men to begin work earlier before Damon returned to the land of the living had definitely been worth it. Buffy could practically imagine the horror on Damon's face as he woke up surrounded by nothing but the trash of the city.
"Clearly, you woke up on the wrong side of the dump." She teased playfully as she took a bite of her bagel "Oh, were you on the ferry? I know you like to swim."
"You little bitch."
Buffy laughed "Thank you. "
Damon just growled as the echo of clothes being tossed away, probably beyond ruined and covered in crap, filled the line of the phone, just further adding to Buffy's overall amusement "Where are you? "
Glancing down at the list she and Rebekah were about to start making their way through, Buffy placed her feet up on the dashboard "Me and Bex are having a little road trip. Hey, you don't mind if we eat in your car do you?"
"You're in my car?! "
Given what had happened the last time Rebekah had driven his car, it was only fair that Damon was panicked. The drive back from Nova Scotia to Mystic Falls when Buffy had been in labor had left his car almost beyond repair. The side doors had been covered in scratches, the windows had all been blown out, the left door missing and the hood completely dented.
How he had gotten it fixed so quickly, Buffy had no idea.
Though she suspected he begged Stefan to fix it.
"Well duh, you think I was going to walk in these shoes?" Prada was made for beauty, not function "These are my favorite shoes, Damon. They are too pretty to be walked in. Plus, do you really expect two blonde bombshells to take the bus?"
Something like glass shattered which Buffy assumed was him launching a fresh bottle of bourbon at the hotel wall in a fury.
If she had resorted Damon to destroying bourbon, then he was on his last legs, the blood vessels in his forehead were probably about to implode.
"You should have heeded Sage's warning Damon." Rebekah taunted as she turned up the radio.
"Buffy- "
Buffy didn't let him finish his sentence "Sorry Dame but this friendship has come to an end. But you know...we all grow...well most of us. Now, best be going, it's girls' day out. Bye-bye."
**
MYSTIC FALLS, VIRGINIA
Damon had lost Buffy.
Stefan was ready to completely lose it at the reveal that his ever-so-confident brother had promptly been tricked and dumped in the New York City dump.
Though, he had to give the girls props for ingenuity.
If he wasn't so panicked, he would have laughed at the image of Damon having to crawl through literal feces.
Damon winced through the phone "Okay fine, I was wrong the fun route, not the best plan happy?"
"Happy?!" Stefan sputtered in disbelief as he grabbed a bottle of scotch off the bar and raised it to his lips "Nothing about this brings a smile to my face Damon!"
"Look, if you're searching for the words to tell me how badly I screwed up...save your breath."
Dropping down onto the couch, the bottle still tightly wrapped up in his hands, Stefan just let out a heavy sigh. The truth was he knew it wasn't Damon's fault. At the end of the day, Damon had never been able to play Buffy. Even when she was human, she had always seen his games. She hadn't trusted Damon when she met him, she had literally declared him wiggy and creepy.
Just because Damon thought he could play her, didn't mean he could. At the end of the day, Buffy always won and now that she was willing to leave bodies in her wake, she was just all the more untouchable.
Plus...Damon wasn't the only one who had lost today.
"I didn't stop the massacre." He admitted wearily as he downed another gulp of the harsh liquid, praying for it to erase his memories of today "The witches turned on Klaus. Wanted Joy more than they wanted Bonnie or Silas...the second they threatened Joy, Bonnie killed them all."
Once again, today proved just how strong the love between Bonnie and Buffy was.
Truthfully, Stefan was almost positive Bonnie would be the trigger to get Buffy thinking again, to start opening herself up to all of her old emotions. It would explain why Buffy had avoided going near Bonnie since her demon side took over.
There was a long beat of silence on Damon's end before finally, he let out a heavy sigh, the echo of his own bottle of whiskey being opened filling the space between them "Guess Silas has everything he needs."
Stefan let out a shaky breath at the declaration "Everything but The Cure."
The front door slamming open, shook Stefan out of his self misery and the upcoming dread of what might be the end of the world as he spotted the frantic figure rushing into the room.
Caroline had sped into the house, clutching a now sobbing Joy in her arms, her eyes wide with fear as she focused on him "Silas showed up." She revealed as she desperately tried to get the little girl in her arms to stop crying.
With Buffy handling The Cure with Rebekah and now Klaus presumably with Silas, Joy was distraught.
Just as the lights started to flicker, Stefan sighed quickly scooping her up onto his arms letting her cry into his shoulder as he focused on the shaking Caroline "Klaus?"
"Told me to take her and run."
Everything was getting worse by the second and Stefan had a feeling that this was just the beginning.
Once Silas lowered the veil...all hell would break loose.
**
Silas.
The man whose mere existence had driven Kol to desperation and had ordered Caleb to rip his unborn daughter from her mother's stomach. Even if the New Orleans witches had gotten to Buffy first, Silas and The First had been the ones to speed up the pregnancy, fulling intent on killing Buffy, taking Joyce then sacrificing her on an altar as an alternative to sacrificing 12 witches.
"So, where's The Cure?"
Klaus just shrugged at the question, mockingly taping his pockets as he continued to distract the immortal, trying to buy Caroline some time to get Joy somewhere safe and as far away from Silas as possible "I'm sorry mate. Don't have it."
Letting out a small amused puff of air, Silas, still wearing Shane's face which was a little disconcerting just smirked "But you know who does. You sent The Slayer after it did you not?"
The all-knowing smug tone had Klaus clenching his jaw, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
If anything, the fact that Klaus looked ready to rip his head off just had Silas all the more giddy "Look you and your little girlfriend are smart when it comes to the idiots in this town, I'll admit that. And I admire the way you both want to protect your kid. You and her want The Cure gone so it can't be used against you, leaving poor little Jocyey all vulnerable. I can ensure it won't be. Get your girl to bring it to me."
Which would mean snatching it away not only from Katherine but rushing off before Rebekah could get near it.
Plus, this supposed offer, still ensured that The Other Side was destroyed, bringing back all of the defeated enemies who would just add further threats to his daughter.
Sure enough for Silas, Klaus's stubborn silence and harsh glare, spoke louder volumes than any threats could. Letting out a loud whistle he slowly approached the Hybrid "Ah, you're worried about your daughter. Rest assured, those witches are dead, I have no further use for a demonic tribrid."
Klaus couldn't help but scoff, he didn't trust a word out of the immortal's mouth "So my daughter lives only to get hunted by all of my dead supernatural enemies from the other side. You know you don't scare me Silas, or, Shane, or whoever you are."
Silas smirked slightly at the very in-character overconfident response.
Klaus was easy enough to see through, there were very few things that scared him. Losing his daughter was one of them but there was another...
"How about as an incentive..."
The second he spotted The White Oak Stake in Silas's hands, Klaus froze, his eyes widening in a mixture of panic and horror.
Only he and Buffy currently knew where the stake was being stored, how the hell had Silas managed to get to it?
It wasn't possible!
"Now where did you get that?"
"Well, let's just say your sister is nosey and her mind is a little easier to read than yours. So do we have a deal?"
Desperate to get the one weapon that could end his family back, Klaus dived forward intent on ripping it out of Silas's dead hands, only to let out a horrifying scream as in less than a second...the stake was driven into his spine.
Silas tauntingly shoved the stake up through Klaus's flesh causing him to howl as it started to close in on his heart "I'm not trying to kill you, not just yet." He whispered darkly before snapping the stake clean in half.
Leaving Klaus with half of the one object that could kill him still resting inside of his body, splinters moving through his flesh closing in on his heart piece by piece.
"Just a little something to remember me by. Get me The Cure. Or I will add your daughter back to my list."