When Alaric came to, the first thing he noticed was that he was chained up, in the exact same place that he had left Kai. Panic soon followed the realisation when he saw that the chains securely bound him to the chair. But when struggling became futile, he began frantically looking around for his daughter.
Alaric's eyes drifted around the room and he saw the werewolf, Diego still unconscious on the floor. Not too far away from him, Alexandria was out cold, leaned up against the bar. But there was no sign of Josie or even Kai.
"Josie?" Alaric called out and resisted against the chains with a grunt.
In the short amount of time that had passed, Diego had slowly healed and started to regain consciousness as well. Despite having been through the same process hundreds of times, it was disorienting for him. He groaned softly and his hand went to his chest to see a hole in his shirt, right above his heart with dried blood over it.
Diego turned around and saw a heart lying next to him. "Is that mine? Weird," he mumbled to himself before he pushed himself to stand. A familiar anger rose within him as he saw Alaric but it was tinged with excitement as he saw him chained up, defenceless. "Now... where were we?" a low growl came from his throat as his eyes glowed golden.
Diego began stalking towards him but was stopped when a voice called out, "Wait."
The voice commanded and the individual revealed themselves. Even though it was so long ago, Alaric remembered their face. The witch that he had banished to the prison world with Jade and Diego. A witch by the name of Wendy.
Diego slowly turned around to Wendy and almost rolled his eyes. Wendy slowly strolled over towards Alaric. While her expression remained blank, her eyes held a deep hatred.
"Don't kill him yet, D," Wendy told the werewolf as she studied Alaric's features. He had barely changed since the last time she saw him, but at the same time, the witch could tell that the years had worn him down.
Diego glanced towards Wendy. "Let me guess, you wanna burn him," he assumed as Wendy continued to stroll over to Alaric.
"Sure," Wendy didn't dismiss the thought, but she wanted to drag out his punishment. "But first I want to have a chat. Remember how he put us on trial and then abandoned us to this god-awful place?" Wendy reminded the werewolf as she glared at Alaric. "I think it's time for your trial... Alaric Saltzman," the witch declared, slowly pronouncing each syllable in his name as she tilted her head.
A smile grew on Diego's face and he let Wendy take the lead as he stood off to the side. If there was one thing that Wendy was known for back in her schooling days, it was her skills in controlling fire. It was her preferred type of magic. She loved how the fire would settle on her hands and prick at her skin.
With the slightest hand motion, a small fire was set ablaze. It coated the entirety of her left hand but it didn't hurt her one bit. She only felt the warmth from the small, controlled flame but the fiery rage in her heart was a stark contrast.
Wendy threateningly pulled her hand closer to Alaric but he maintained a straight face. "If you're planning on torturing me, you're gonna be disappointed. I can handle the torture," Alaric mentioned but Wendy didn't miss how his eyes never left the flame, almost afraid if it was to come any closer.
"How about... seeing your daughter being tortured?" Jade announced loudly with the suggestion as she revealed that she had Josie.
The Gemini witch's hands were bound behind her back and she had a piece of cloth tied securely around her mouth. Jade giggled as she pulled Josie by the arm and shoved her to the nearest chair. Josie let out a muffled grunt by the harsh treatment and looked up to her dad fearfully.
"Josie, are you okay," Alaric's voice wavered slightly as he tried to lean forward in his chair.
"For now," Jade answered for her. "What happens next is up to you. So, talk. 'Cause I've waited ten years for an explanation for what you did to us," the vampire chided, but her attention was taken away from the father and daughter when she heard quiet groans behind her.
Jade turned around to the source of the sound to see the girl that she had seen with Josie earlier that day. The vampire's interest was piqued as she saw her once again. Jade only wondered what her connection with the Saltzman family was.
Alexandria had only woken from Josie's sleep spell but when she regained her bearings, she realised what she had come back to. Her eyes darted between Josie and Alaric, but as she saw Jade and two others staring at her, she panicked. She remembered the other two names that Josie had mentioned earlier and could only assume that it was them.
Alexandria scrambled up to stand, but before she could make another move, Wendy raised her hand and recited, "Immobilus."
The hybrid was effectively frozen in her spot. No matter how hard she tried to will her body to move, it wouldn't. Alexandria couldn't even open her mouth to speak.
Jade sauntered over to Alexandria and began circling around her. Assessing her almost. "We meet again..." she said as she stopped to stand in front of her. The vampire glanced over to Wendy and Diego and nodded over towards the back of the bar. "Find something to tie this one up," she ordered and the two immediately went off to find something to hold her.
When they arrived back, Diego was holding a bundle of chains. The two took Alexandria and chained her to another chair, separated from Alaric and Josie. When they were sure the chains were secure around Alexandria they moved back to their original spots and Wendy lifted the spell.
Alexandria let out a gasp and shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She inspected the chains and thought that she could easily get out, but as Alexandria's eyes met Jade's, she immediately discarded the thought. The vampire smirked and placed a hand gently on Josie's shoulder as a silent threat. Alexandria's eyes drifted over to Wendy who stood not too far away from Jade. The witch's eyes narrowed and she slowly shook her head. The hybrid sighed, knowing that if she made just one wrong move, Josie could be hurt. But even if she was fast enough, it wouldn't matter because all it took was one word from the witch's mouth, and she would be rendered useless.
Alexandria shifted uncomfortably in her seat but her body went cold as she felt the uneven metal of the shackles against her wrists. For a split second, Alexandria thought she was back in the Lockwood Cellar. She felt her throat close up on her as a familiar anxiety crept up her back.
"Before we get on with your trail, I want to know who you are..." Jade began quietly, bringing the hybrid out of her trance. "Name," she demanded louder and in a clear tone. When Alexandria didn't answer, Jade's hand went closer to Josie's neck.
"Alexandria Sinclair," she answered quickly and Jade's hand went back down to Josie's shoulder.
The three former students looked between each other but none of them knew of the name. Jade looked back to Alexandria and sighed as she squeezed Josie's shoulder. Josie flinched and tried to pull away from her, but Jade held onto her firmly.
"Why are you here with Alaric and Josie?" Jade questioned.
Alexandria's jaw clenched as her eyes bore into Jade. "I don't know. We were all tricked by a witch and somehow I got sent here as well," she lied through her teeth but Jade could tell she was lying from how tense she had gotten.
Jade just shook her head. "I don't believe you. Try again," she threatened as she glared at her.
Alexandria's face contorted to one of anger. Her eyes shifted between everyone in the room. Josie was scared for her life as a tear rolled down her cheek, while the three former students seemed excited almost. Alaric on the other hand, had a pleading look in his eyes as he struggled out of his chains to help his daughter.
Jade started to become impatient and slowly her vampiric features appeared on her face. She bared her fangs and inched towards Josie's neck. The witch cried out and tried to pull away but Jade held her in place.
Just as the vampire's fangs were about to sink into Josie, Alexandria gritted her teeth. "Wait!" Alexandria yelled and Jade stopped. She pulled back and her face returned to normal as she waited for Alexandria to continue. "You were all sent here as punishment by Dr. Saltzman. He wanted to do the same thing to me. I'm guessing the witch who sent us here must've wanted me to see it for myself. Some sick joke to see what I would do to him, trapped with the rest of his unwanted students," she revealed as she gritted her teeth and a mischievous smile grew on Jade's face. "I'm just some collateral for his punishment," Alexandria spat as she sneered at Alaric.
"See how easy it is just to cooperate. Surely you can follow in... Alexandria's footsteps," Jade said as she glanced over to the hybrid who hung her head low.
Josie's eyes widened as her head whipped around to her father. But she was shocked to see that he wasn't surprised by the accusation, rather defeated by it. When she called out to him, it became muffled behind the cloth but as he looked at her, his expression showed shame.
Jade was certainly amused by the exchange. She and her friends were banished to the prison world ten years ago. Just a week ago, she found out about the vampire, Sebastian, who shared the same fate. And now, Jade was presented with yet another student, who still wasn't able to escape it.
"Some would say that people change with time... but it seems you haven't changed one bit, Dr. Saltzman," Jade remarked with a scoff, bringing the conversation back to Alaric's 'trial'.
"What other choice did you leave me?" Alaric proposed to the three. "Five people were dead, brutally murdered. Fed on, ripped apart, dismembered, burned to cover it up," Alaric listed off as he raised his voice and clenched his fists in his lap. "And not one of you showed any remorse or even admitted what you had done. I couldn't let any of you stay at the school. I wasn't gonna unleash you into the world," he justified his actions with an angered expression.
Diego could feel his own anger rising as he listened to his former Headmaster. "So you sent us here... forever. Is that how you help your students," the werewolf criticized.
Alaric looked directed at Diego. "No... I made a mistake," he mumbled before he broke eye contact with him. "I should've killed you," he said with a straight face. His voice didn't tremble or falter, he truly believed what he said.
Alexandria felt her fingers dig into her palms but she didn't raise her head. She kept her gaze trained down on the floor as she heard Alaric's words. All she could think about was if Alaric felt the same about her.
A low growl came from Diego and Wendy tried to mask the hurt she felt. But Jade, on the other hand, couldn't contain herself as she began laughing. The two looked at the vampire with confusion.
When Jade had calmed down, her face dropped back to a glare. "Ooh, doubling down in the face of imminent death. Ballsy," she commented.
"I knew you were killers... that you wouldn't change. It was Caroline who talked me into showing you mercy," Alaric mentioned.
From her seat, Alexandria finally raised her head and looked Alaric dead in the eye. "This... is mercy?" Alexandria questioned him and Alaric briefly glanced over to her.
However, he didn't spare her more than a look. Alexandria felt the anger slowly build in her core. She wanted answers, she wanted to make him hurt and slowly the line between her and Alaric's other banished students started to blur.
"Enough talk. Let's kill him," Diego interrupted them but Jade quickly pulled him back.
"No," Jade demanded and Diego slowly turned back and almost challenged her with a brief look but she paid it no mind. "I want him to suffer first. You two go check on Kai. He has all the pieces to get us out now. Make sure he doesn't leave us behind," she instructed both Wendy and Diego.
Wendy was hesitant. While she hated Alaric for what he had done to them, she didn't share the same desire and hunger for torture. But she spun on her heel and exited the door as she would rather escape than watch anything else unfold. Diego scowled at Alaric but soon followed Wendy outside.
When the two left, Jade sighed. She patted Josie on the shoulder before she moved closer to Alaric. "You're so sure you're right. How about I tell you what actually happened that night?" she suggested.
Alaric glanced over to Josie with a hint of fear in his expression. He never wanted his children to ever find out about what he had done, but now he had no choice.
"Inez invited me to a party in the woods. We'd been flirting for a few months, I thought it was my chance to finally see if she was into girls or not. Wendy really wanted to come and she was trying to get Diego to notice her, so she talked me into bringing him too," she began her story. Josie and Alexandria listened intently as they wanted to know just what they did for Alaric to send them to a prison world. "It was a freak party. Seeing who could get the biggest weirdo to show up. Yeah, they took one look at us and they just... they knew we were different," Jade continued on. While her expression remained neutral, Alexandria could pick out the slightest hint of sadness. "It should've ended there. I could've stopped it, but I froze. Maybe I didn't want to prove them right about us being different. Or... maybe a part of me wanted it to happen. Everything after that's a blur. I did find something out that night. I'm a ripper," she revealed.
Alaric remembered the moment that he was called by the Sheriff. The moment he saw the remains of the scene. The more that Jade went on, the more it started to make sense to Alaric. Before, he was given no explanation for the murders but thought the answer was clear enough.
He was told that the bodies that weren't burned or dismembered were instead drained completely of blood. The thought had crossed his mind that Jade may have been a ripper, but he didn't debate on it for long before he sent them away.
"That was the worst moment of my life. You think I didn't feel any remorse for what happened, but I did. Shame, guilt... panic. I couldn't bear feeling all of it anymore. So... I decided not to. I shut off my humanity that night. I was screaming for help, you just couldn't hear it," Jade added and then it finally clicked with Alaric. The reason why Jade specifically showed no remorse.
The vampire moved back and stood behind Josie, her gaze shifted to Alexandria momentarily and saw that she still hadn't made any move to try and escape, instead decided to hear Jade out completely. A thought crossed her mind but she turned back to Alaric for the meantime.
"Being here, where you sent us. I've killed Kai, Diego and Wendy thousands of times. So maybe you're right after all. Because I've finally become the killer that you thought I was," she suggested as she tilted her head.
"I'm sorry I didn't recognise the signs," Alaric apologised, although nothing from his expression to his body language showed that he felt even a hint of remorse.
"Too busy protecting your daughters," Jade said as she started to play with Josie's hair. The witch tried to pull away as her breath quivered but Jade continued. "You're good at that. Let's just see how good," Jade went on but instead, Jade moved over to Alexandria.
The vampire stopped in front of her and saw how Alexandria glared at her but Jade knew that girl's anger wasn't directed towards her, and instead directed the man behind her.
A smile tugged at Jade's lips and she leaned down to level with Alexandria and moved closer to her ear. "I see that look in your eye. You want to hurt him just as much as I do. Alaric wanted to wrong you the same way he wronged me," Jade spoke in a whisper so neither Saltzman could hear their hushed conversation. "How about you join me for a little... 'fun'," Jade proposed and Alexandria's eyes widened ever so slightly, but she didn't give any other reaction.
Jade slowly pulled back and stood straighter as she looked Alexandria up and down. Alexandria couldn't deny that she was angry at Alaric. Alexandria thought that after she came back to the Salvatore School, her quarrel with the Headmaster was over. But as she sat in the bar, chained to a seat, Alaric in a similar situation on her left, Josie gagged with her hands tied behind her back on her right, the hybrid realised it was far from over.
While she and Alaric have had their conversations and moved on, the anger that Alexandria felt towards him never really vanished. Instead, it was continuously shoved down, in the deeper parts of Alexandria's mind and was slowly built on over the months. And hearing Jade's story only solidified it.
"So, what do you say?" Jade asked expectantly.
Alexandria lip's formed a tight smile. "I'm in," she answered and broke her shackles with one swift movement.
The metal fell to the ground with a loud clang and Jade eyed her with amusement. Josie's pleads were muffled. She had no idea what was happening but the way that Jade and Alexandria spoke to each other scared her.
The Sinclair untangled the chains as Jade walked back to Alaric and broke off his shackles. Alexandria stood up from her seat and rubbed her wrists rather harshly. She didn't even notice how rough she was being until she heard more muffled cries from Josie. But the hybrid never met her gaze.
Alaric was beyond cautious of what the vampire was insinuating and could only assume the worst as Alexandria did nothing to stop or even subdue Jade now that she was free as well.
"Come with me. There's a game I wanna play," Jade announced with a wide grin.
~ * ~
"And this is the fun part," Jade giggled as she shoved Alaric forward.
Jade had brought Alaric deep into the woods near Mystic Falls. The man kept silent, quickly exchanging glances with Alexandria who followed behind silently. But the hybrid didn't stop Jade as she led them all deeper into the forest. She ignored the pleading look in her Headmaster's eyes because all she could feel was contempt for him.
"It's what we do with Kai. Basically, it's hide-and-seek. You run and hide..." Jade began as she shoved Alaric another time. "And we seek," Jade explained as she gestured to herself and Alexandria.
Alaric stopped in his tracks and whipped around to the two girls. "No," he said firmly.
"Uh, yes. Or I'll just kill you now," the vampire challenged as she placed a hand on her hip. "Come on, it's supposed to be fun. You know what? We'll even give you a five-minute head start. And if you can survive for twenty-four hours, I'll let you go with your daughter," Jade suggested.
Alaric's jaw clenched as he worried about Josie getting caught up in his mess. "Fine. Let's play," he relented but just as he turned back around, a loud crunch and gasp was heard.
Alaric snapped his head back to see that Alexandria had ripped out Jade's heart. The man's eyes widened with shock as the hybrid carelessly kicked Jade's lifeless body onto the ground and dropped her heart next to her.
Alexandria held no identifiable expression which confused Alaric greatly. She only wiped her bloodied hand on her uniform pants.
"You lied..." Alaric noted as his eyes shifted between her and Jade.
Alexandria resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She wanted to accuse him, hurt him, confront him about the prison world. Ask him why he wanted to banish her instead of helping her. But Alexandria knew that her feelings shouldn't be what she should be worrying about when they were all trapped. A part of her thought that Alaric wouldn't even care with how he spoke about his former students.
"There seems to be a lot of that going around, but who am I to say anything?" Alexandria retorted, pleased as she saw Alaric's shoulders slouch in shame. But Alexandria sighed as her eyes drifted over to Jade. "I suggest you get to running. I'll drag this one's body somewhere far and give you a proper head start," she explained as she kicked Jade's arm.
Alaric shook his head as he tried to comprehend what was happening. "And what are you gonna do?"
Alexandria glared at the man for a moment, her eyes narrowing. "Find your daughters. It's because of you, that we all got dragged into this mess. In case you haven't realised, Lizzie is missing," she spat, her voice low.
Alaric nodded stiffly and turned around without another word. Alexandria stared at him for a moment, anger bubbling as her fist clenched at her side.
"One more thing," Alexandria called out, stopping the man from continuing.
Suddenly, Alaric felt a hand on his shoulder and he was forcefully turned around. For a split second, he saw Alexandria's angered expression with her fist barrelling towards his face. But he had no time to react as the hybrid's fist collided with his jaw, causing him to stumble back. Pain shot through his face as blood collected in his mouth. He choked out as he brought a hand to his face. His eye twitched from irritation but he was wise to keep his mouth shut.
"Sorry, couldn't help myself," the half-hearted apology came out slurred and ingenuine as Alexandria didn't bother to fight off the smile that formed to her lips.
Alaric let out a huff but the hybrid didn't stick around for long as she picked up Jade's lifeless body effortlessly and vamped away, unable to be in the man's presence for even a second longer.