In the garden, M.G helps Josie look through the herb garden. Josie reveals that she is looking for an herb that speeds up the time something takes to bake, citing that she has a study date with her new lab partner, Finch. M.G, cautious about the illusion spell wearing off and exposing the ascendant, asks if the herb would work to fix the spell, but Josie remarks that it probably won't work. Nonetheless, when Josie tries one of the plants to test if it is what she is looking for, it is revealed to be the truth herb, causing Josie to make rude remarks about M.G's cooking.
They were met with Eli, who tells Josie that Finch is a werewolf and that if someone were to see her turn, they'd either expose her or she kills them while in primal mode. And urges Josie to tell Finch that there's a place for those like her.
At the bank, Alaric is surprised to meet the employee who will be considering his application for a loan to save the Salvatore School: Dana Lilien's mother, Vera Lilien. The two talk and Vera explains that after Dana's death she and her father split ways and she now works at the bank instead of the pharmacy. She takes Alaric through to her office where the two discuss his application.
Back at the Salvatore School, things become increasingly hostile as the effects of the leprechaun are felt more and more by the students and visitors.
And even though the student have enough money to pay off the debts, Hope realizes that her magic is not working on the leprechaun, therefore the only reasonable way to proceed is to let the leprechaun go and follow it to the portal. Cleo believes this to be a bad idea, but Hope says that if they can find The Mailvore portal, they can not only know here the monsters are coming from, but if there's a chance to bring Landon back, Rafael will have his brother back.
Alaric is surprised and angry when his application is denied by Vera, and cites that they should not be allowing a grudge between their daughters to be affecting his eligibility, but Vera remarks that he simply doesn't meet the criteria and she is not willing to risk the application.
Alaric asks if anything can be done to persuade her, and she closes the blinds of her office, propositioning Alaric in return for accepting the application.
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Vinny managed to... persuade the bank to accept the money. And now with the school's debts cleared, Eli, Hope and Cleo follow the leprechaun to a large car park in the center of Mystic Falls. They decide to split up, and scream if anything out of the ordinary happens. Or in Eli's case, howl. As the three do, Cleo bumps into Alaric, who has heard news of the leprechaun and come to investigate. Cleo tells him that it is a long story he probably won't like, but the two are interrupted when the leprechaun attacks Alaric.
Cleo is reluctant to use her magic to aid Alaric, remembering that Hope wants the creature alive, but has no choice when the creature is seconds away from strangling Alaric. She casts a spell that causes the creature to explode, much to Hope's dismay. Though it didn't bother Eli.
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Meanwhile, with aid from Ethan, Josie goes to the square to talk with Finch, whom she had stood up for their dinner date earlier that day. She tells Finch that she was so nervous that she got high, but the joke about the magical weed is lost on Finch. Josie tells Finch that she wants to go on a real date, not a study date, and Finch agrees to plan a time during their ride home together. But Jose goes on to tell Finch that she knows of her werewolf heritage and that she tells that she should think about attending there.
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Alaric and Kaleb talk about their efforts during the day to raise money for the school. When everything seems bleak, Vinny reveals that he paid off the money and that the leprechaun did have a pot of gold inside it after all and split it with school and his family.
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Meanwhile, Cleo talks with Hope about her anger over the leprechaun. She tells her that she didn't want to kill the leprechaun but saving Alaric is worth more than finding the portal. The two talk, and Cleo tells Hope that all of her family were murdered and that she is the only one left; it is why she hates violence.
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Several days later, Landon returns, though Eli is suspicious of him. Even concerning his behavior. But he merely keeps an eye on him. All the while going on dates with Hope, training the school's pack and doing private harsh training with his uncle, Vinny. That and he's been learning more about his ancestor, Lycaon, as well as Nikolaos.
Derek grows in power as a witch and psychic. And he's been learning cool spells from Sarah Ravencroft, though Derek can sense something more about her, but his psychic powers can't get a read on her. But regardless, he takes part in teaching other witches and has also been going on dates with Janet.
Right now though, they are doing some more research on Aurelius. They're trying to figure out how he's immortal as they find it hard to believe that he simply placed his soul in an object. I mean anything is possible, but it didn't feel like that for Derek. He's more sensitive to magic and he can tell that it's very dark. Or something more.
And they can't seem to locate Aurelius.
So Derek figured the only way to find him is to ask a certain being where he might be or at the very least, tell him and Janet what Aurelius might be. And the only simple they have is the one he got from her. Surprisingly, Derek commented that the instructions on how to reach her isn't a summoning spell, but rather like calling her.
Regardless, the entity that took the form of a hooded figure, a woman, must know.
So Derek forms a circle of blue fire and says this in Latin. "Visus sum in oculis bubonis magni, et audivi clamorem canis. Ego sum, cuius essentia est in omnibus, de celo et celo usque ad terram. Ego sum vas, ex quo scientiae et sapientiae dona descendunt. Ego sum lux, quam cernis per cuniculum uteri, et lucem quam invenis in fine." A minute past after Derek finished those phrases and then the blue fire grew intense, causing Janet to stand behind Derek, as the flames died down and revealing the hooded women, whom they can barely see her face.
"Derek Bennett. It's been awhile. Months to be exact." The women's hood and robes were as black as night, and she radiated with power that has Derek and Janet feeling pressure all around them. Like the ambient energy is acting strange when she entered the physical world. Whomever this was, they were careful to choose their words more carefully.
"Hey lady. Umm we need your help." Derek asked in a polite manner.
"You want to know how to defeat Aurelius, to cripple Lycaon's efforts to dominate this world."
The two witches were taken aback by that. Considering that they'd assume she wasn't aware of what's been going on. "How did you know we were..."
"All that matters is that I help you. Never mind how I know these things." The woman coolly replied. "But tell me: what do you two know about necromancy?"
This time Janet answered. "Only that it was practiced in ancient Egypt, Babylonia, Greece, Rome, Persia, and Chaldea. And it's still being practiced to this day."
"Plus it's difficult to say who the first practitioner of necromancy was. But what does this have to do with Aurelius?" Asked Derek.
"Listen very carefully. Because what he is will require outside help and a lot of power."
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Eli, Hope, Kaleb and the rest of the super-squad were called in for an emergency meeting. Wondering what Derek discovered. "D, what's up?" The former asked when the Bennett Witch came in.
"Guys, you're not gonna believe what Aurelius is. He lied to you, Eli. He's not an immortal witch. He's a Lich."
This takes people by surprise. Mostly Eli, because he's studied all sorts of creatures and beings throughout mythology. But never did he considered Aurelius to be a Lich.
"I've never heard a Lich." Hope stated.
Eli of course? Answers. "Often such a creature is the result of a willful transformation, as a powerful witch skilled in necromancy who seeks eternal life uses rare substances in a magical ritual to become undead."
Derek nods. "Correct. Unlike zombies, which are often mindless, liches are sapient revenants, retaining their previous intelligence and magical abilities. And they are often depicted as holding power over lesser mindless undead soldiers and servants."
"So they're not like Lizzie's crazy ass uncle?" Kaleb asked.
MG shakes his head. "Nah, I'd imagine they'd be scary as hell."
Derek continues. "A lich's most often depicted distinguishing feature from other undead is the method of achieving immortality; liches give up their souls to form "soul-artifacts" (called a "soul gem"), the source of their magic and immortality. Many liches take precautions to hide and/or safeguard soul-artifacts that anchor a part of a lich's soul to the material world. If the corporeal body of a lich is killed, that portion of the lich's soul that had remained in the body does not pass on to the next world, but will rather exist in a non-corporeal form capable of being reconstituted or resurrected in the near future."
"However, if the lich's soul-artifact is destroyed, then the lich's only anchor in the material world would be the corporeal body, whereupon destruction will cause permanent death." Eli finishes. "Now the easy plan would be to find Aurelius's souls gem and destroy it. Problem is, we don't know where he hides it. For all I know, he can either have them in any part of the world or he can have it on him at all times."
"My dad knows a coven of witches that live in Russia. They've been secretly practicing necromancy and there are at least five older Liches. My dad will invite one of them to the school to see if there's a way to find Aurelius's soul gem." Derek said.
"I can't imagine it would be easy to destroy." Hope voices her thoughts.
"There is a weapon. That I heard of." All looked at Janet. "My dad told me about it. It's called "The Knife Of Hekate." It can cut through any enchantment. Whether their object or a person. A living being. If we get that, and get Aurelia's soul gem, we'll finally kill him and Lycaon won't have any outside help."
Eli finally breathes a sigh of relief. Finally they have a lead on something. Something that will kill that undead fucker for his mother's death. But there's two things he wants to address. "There's still Malivore and Lycaon to deal with. We need a good plan to deal with them."
"Well there's only one way to kill Malivore for good." Said Hope as her boyfriend and the others looked towards her. "I have to become The Tribrid."
"By activating your vampire side." Eli said, knowing that if Hope does, her emotions will be heightened. Never mind that she will be born with a level lower few could even dream. "And me? Unless there's an older Lycan out there, and unless they will voluntarily give me their hearts, I'm not sure if I have the strength to match Lycaon's."
"One battle at a time, Eli."
Derek was right. He hopes that if they kill Malivore quickly, they'll deal with Aurelius and Lycaon.
A Golem. A Lich. And The First Lycan.
All the super-squad can do is hope that they'll come out on top. But something tells Derek that their troubles will get worse once they dealt with the three people they've mentioned.
[Author Note]
So Aurelius is a Lich. That means he's gonna be even harder to kill. And I will be moving things a bit quickly. So stay tuned.