It's THURSDAY 😊
I walked into the front door of Ric and Caroline's home before I made my way into the living-room to see Caroline and Stefan. "Hey. I compelled the sheriff to make this case their top priority. It should bypass some red tape." I stated and folded my arms over my chest.
"Where to first?" Stefan asked looking at Caroline who sighed.
"Uh, that's a question for Alaric, he's on the phone with Matt." Caroline replied and Stefan nodded before grabbing Caroline's bags.
"I'll go put this in the car." He stated grabbing it before she grabbed it back.
"No, stop." She stated and I rose my eyebrow at her confused before she sighed. "You're not coming." She added looking at him and he scoffed at her.
"What?" Stefan asked shaking his head at her.
"Mariana and I can handle it from here and if you really want to help then just stay with Matt and work with the police to find this bitch and the girls." Caroline stated before turning and packing another bag of stuff.
"Caroline, you can't be serious. The twins have been abducted by two sirens and you expect me to just hang back?" Stefan asked shaking his head at her before she angrily turned towards him.
"Damon is with them." Caroline replied and I nodded at her in agreement.
"Right. Which is exactly why I should come with you." Stefan replied shaking his head at her and I slowly shook my head.
"Let me be perfectly clear, Stefan. If Damon gets in between me and my girls, I am going to kill him." Caroline stated and I looked away from them. "So no.. You cannot come with me.." Caroline added before she slowly took the engagement ring off of her finger and gave it to him. "Don't ask questions.. Just listen." She added and Stefan slowly took the ring from her. "Until this is over, there is no us.. There is only me, my kids.. Their aunt and their father. They're all depending on me and I can't afford any distractions or compromises, especially when it comes to your brother." Caroline stated through gritted teeth before Ric came into the room.
"Matt has a partial trace on Seline's cell. Their near Oakwood." Ric stated and I nodded at him before Caroline grabbed the bags in front of her.
"Let's go." Caroline replied looking back at Ric before walking passed Stefan and I and I looked at Ric before I slowly nodded.
"Call or text me. I will be right behind you guys when I need to be." I stated before hugging Ric and he kissed my head lightly before he disappeared out of the house also. "She is stressed out, Stefan. Her kids just went missing." I stated not looking back at him.
"You lost them also. Freya was like your own. Why aren't you spiraling?" Stefan replied looking at me and I rose my eyebrow before I looked at him.
"When I get my hands on Seline or Sybil.. Then I'll be spiraling." I stated emotionless.
-Time Skip-
"Shouldn't there be more chatter from your cop friends?" Stefan asked as we stood in the Armory.
"I'm not exactly in the loop anymore but don't worry, tips are about to start flying in." Matt replied as he looked at his radios that he had sprawled out on the table near us before I sighed as we looked at the map in front of us on another table.
"Where the hell are they going?" Stefan asked as he looked at the marked dots on the map.
"You tell me, he's your brother." Matt replied before the Armory doors opened and I furrowed my eyebrows and looked towards them and saw Bonnie with Enzo around her as she held him up.
"I need help." Bonnie stated worriedly and I vamped towards them before I grabbed Enzo from her and quickly placed him on the couch as he groaned in agony and was sweating.
"It was Sybil." Enzo stated harshly and I rose my eyebrow at him. "She sang-she-she wormed her way back into my head." Enzo stated as he groaned again nad clutched onto the couch as he yelled and Bonnie appeared next to him. "Oh, god-the pain, it's moving and it feels like I've been cut open." Enzo said angrily and Bonnie put her hand on his chest.
"Can you see her? Can you talk to her?" Bonnie asked worriedly down at him.
"No." Enzo replied closing his eyes and clutching onto her hand.
"Sybil told us that she was able to manipulate Damon by invading his subconscious. If you can't see or feel her, she must be in yours." Stefan stated eyeing Enzo as he stood next to me.
"Ah, funny. Because consciously and subconsciously I want to rip her bloody head off." Enoz replied angrily before Bonnie stood and turned towards Stefan and I.
"You can get inside his head, right? Like you've both done in mine?" Bonnie asked eyeing us and I looked at Stefan.
"I don't know, I've never got deeper than the surface." I replied and Stefan nodded in agreement before I knelt next to Enzo and he slowly shook his head at me.
"Congrats, Mar. You're about to have a tour of some very dark places." Enzo stated smirking slightly before I put my hand on his arm and closed my eyes.
Enoz screamed again as Sybil took apart his stomach piece by piece as he laid on a doctor's table and she stood above him in a lab coat. "I got to say.. You're a man with a lot of guts." Sybil stated smirking before Enzo yelled in pain again as she dug inside of him deeper.
"Why are you doing this?" Enzo asked weakly and she sighed at him.
"Oh, it's simple.. I'm punishing you. Nobody escapes me, not ever." Sybil stated as she smirked. "I can bend you to my will in one hand while I eat greasy diner food with the other." She stated and grabbed a scalpel next to her.
"I won't go back to being your lab rat." Enzo stated angrily as Sybil started cutting open some of his organs and he yelled in agony as more blood appeared on the floor and table.
"That's fine by me." Sybil replied laughing down at him. "I'm not here to win you back. I'm just here for the screams." She added before she jammed the scalpel into Enzo's chest and I widened my eyes.
I gasped and jumped back before Matt grabbed me. Everyone looked at me confused as Enzo and I breathed heavily before Bonnie replaced where I was on the couch and I slowly nodded at Matt before I stood on my own. "What did you see?" Bonnie asked looking at me worriedly and I turned to Matt.
"Matt, I need you to pull up a list of all the diners in Oakwood." I stated and He looked at me confused before walking towards his table.
"Why?" Matt asked doing what I told.
"Because Sybil is at one of them and she has no idea that we're onto her." I replied looking at Bonnie and Enzo who was still in pain.
~~~~
Enzo groaned before turning towards the floor and picking up the bowl before he started coughing and throwing up blood as my phone rang and I grabbed it answering. "Tell me you found them." I stated into it as I walked away.
"No but they were just here so whatever you're doing with Enzo, it's working." Ric stated and I looked back Enzo who was getting worse as Bonnie held an ice back to his head.
"Look, Sybil is mentally torturing him. I think my prying around is just making it worse." I stated running a hand through my hair.
"I don't care." Ric replied emotionless and I sighed at him.
"Look, I get that the girls are missing and I love them as much as you do. But if I turn Enzo's brain into oatmeal before we find the girls, that is going to be the least of my problems. We are doing everything we can over here." I stated tensely and looked back at Enzo and Bonnie as she looked at me. "I'll keep trying." I added before I hung up. I turned and looked at Bonnie before she got up from the couch and stood in front of me.
"What are we going to do? We have to help him." Bonnie stated and I sighed folding my arms over my chest at her.
"I can go inside of his mind again but I don't know if that's a good idea." I replied and she slowly nodded at me and she moved next to me.
"Do it." Bonnie replied before we both looked at Enzo who was breathing heavy breaths on the couch in front of us. "Just be careful." She whispered and I slowly nodded at her. I slowly walked towards Enzo again whose color was fading from his skin before I closed my eyes and put my hand on his arm again as he groaned in pain and started bleeding from his nose.
Enoz yelled out in agony as Sybil reached into his stomach and pulled out his intestines. "Where are the children? Tell me and you can have whatever you want with me, I don't care." Enzo said loudly before he groaned as she laughed.
"I'm already doing what I want with you." Sybil replied smirking down evilly at Enzo and taking out his kidney now. Piece by piece as she tore him apart from the inside out and Enzo screamed now. "You're dying, Enzo." She added laughing before she grabbed a saw from next to her and smirked about to saw him in half before I grabbed the saw from her and pushed her up against the wall and she laughed. "There you are. I was wondering when you'd shift from creeper to participant." Sybil stated smirking and I clenched my jaw at her.
"Where are the twins and Freya?" I asked angrily at her and she sighed.
"I'll make you a deal. You come with Stefan and I'll let Enzo live." Sybil replied and I eyed her before Enzo groaned from behind me.
"No, Mariana. You can't trust her." Enzo stated as he still bled out. Like I didn't know this already.
"He's right." Sybil agreed and I looked back at her. "But you're still going to come. With Stefan. Damon and I have an offer he won't be able to refuse." Sybil stated smirking and I furrowed my eyebrows.
I gasped opening my eyes and breathing heavily before I slowly stood towards Matt and Stefan. "I have an address. Stefan and I will go. I'll send it to you when we're on the road." I stated nodding at Matt before Stefan and I walked towards the doors.
"You're not sending them the address are you?" Stefan asked me as we walked outside and I slowly shook my head at him.
~~~~
Stefan and I got out of the car after we parked in the parking-lot and stood in front of a motel before my phone rang and I sighed answering it. "I'm sorry." I stated and shut my car door.
"You have no right to cut me out of this, they are my kids." Caroline stated angrily on the other line and I sighed at her.
"And I'm their Aunt, Stefan is going to be your husband, Ric is our friend and Damon is our family. We are going to fix this and make it right for all of us." I stated before Stefan and I slowly walked towards the motel. "That's exactly what I'm going to do." I added before I hung up and looked at Stefan before he nodded and we walked towards the door and cautiously into the motel. It was dark and the place was pretty sketchy.. Very sketchy actually.
"So where was this meeting supposed to be held?" Stefan asked sarcastically next to me and I rolled my eyes before Stefan groaned and I looked at him to see a pole sticking halfway out of his chest with a guy behind him before another man appeared at the end of the hall.
"Something tells me we aren't going to get to the meeting." I whispered before I turned to the other end of the hall and saw more men appear with weapons in their hands.
"Mariana." Stefan sighed as the men closed in on us and I narrowed my eyes at them.
"Yeah, yeah. I shouldn't have trusted Sybil." I stated in annoyance before a man, who held a wooden handle that was broken in half, launched forwards and I grabbed the handle from him before I threw it to my side. I punched the guy in the face before I took his feet out from under him, knocking him out and he fell to the floor as Stefan took out the guys behind me. I ducked under another guy who had a bat and I kicked him away from me. He groaned in anger at me before coming at me again and punching me in the face hard. I groaned before I flung my hands towards the bat and it caught into flames. The men yelled in pain as it burnt his hand and I vamped towards him and grabbed his head, hitting it hard against the wall next to him before I watched him fall to the floor. I grabbed the bat and swiftly turned and swung at a big fat dude as he came up behind me. I let him drop in front of me and I took a deep breath before I looked at Stefan who had thrown a guy threw a window, of one of the motel rooms, locked another one in a room in the hallway and had one passed out below him, which I am guessing had something to do with the hole in the wall. I sighed in relief at him and dropped the bat on the floor in front of me before I heard heavy footsteps. I looked in front of Stef and I to see a big guy carrying another baseball bat in his hand and I sighed in annoyance at him. I wiped the blood from my mouth as the guy walked towards me.
"Quite the moral dilemma." A voice stated and I turned to see Damon leaning against a wall behind Stefan. "What's it gonna be, Mar? You going to take the high road or the low?" Damon asked and I eyed him carefully.
"Don't do this, Damon." Stefan stated staring at him and Damon scoffed.
"It's already done, man. Big boy was hired to kill you just like the rest of 'em. Somehow you managed not to kill any of them so far. Piece of advice, Stefan. Kill him before he kills you." Damon stated and I slowly shook my head at him. "And another piece of advice. Turn around. NOW." Damon stated and Stefan did before the guy took the bat and swung at Stefan in the face and I clenched my jaw at the guy. I walked towards the guy before Stefan groaned on the floor not getting up because of how weak he was.
"Mariana, don't." Stefan said and I furrowed my eyebrows at him before I watched the man break his bat in half and throw the top half apart as he still held the handle that was now as good a stake as ever.
"Stefan, if I don't kill him, he'll kill you." I stayed worriedly clenching my fists at him. The guy got on top of Stefan and shoved the handle into his stomach and I widened my eyes.
"Come on, Stefan. Don't be so stubborn." Damon added in annoyance as he knelt down next to Stefan as the guy was still on top of him. Stefan groaned in pain as he tried pushing the guy off of him but he couldn't. "Kill him, already." Damon added and Stefan groaned at him.
"Why are you doing this?" I asked angrily looking at Damon before he looked up at me.
"What's more important is why you're doing this. If Stefan wants to save the twins, the first thing he's got to do is.." Damon said leading off before I looked at Stefan who clenched his jaw and stuck his thumb in the man's eye. The guy groaned as Stefan pressed harder, making the guy bleed from his eye before Stefan grabbed the handle from his stomach and plunged it into the man's neck. "Man.. That's going to leave a mark." Damon said looking at the now, dead man. "On your soul." He added looking at Stefan as I helped him up. "Don't worry, brother. I have a get out of jail card in my pocket." Damon added nodding and I slowly shook my head at him as I saw Stefan's eyes that were glazed over from killing the man.
"Where are the girls?" I asked through gritted teeth at Damon. "I won't ask you again." I added and Damon slowly nodded.
"I'll be happy to take you to 'em." Damon replied emotionless and I narrowed my eyes at him. "I just need Stefan to agree to a few terms first." Damon added and I furrowed my eyebrows.
"Terms?" Stefan asked shaking his head at his brother.
"Sign our souls over to Cade, and the twins are free.. As well as Sybil and Seline." Damon stated and I scoffed shaking my head at him.
"You've got to be joking." I stated folding my arms over my chest. "This is such bullshit." I stated and looked at Stefan before I slowly shook my head. "The girls will be fine, the sirens will be free but you won't be, Stefan. There has to be another way." I stated shaking my head at him before Damon smirked.
"So.. We got a deal?" Damon asked narrowing his eyes at his brother.
~~~
"Two of histories most prolific killers, two powerful, immortal vampires. They'll be much more potent weapons for you than these helpless children. Seline and I are simply sirens. Trust me, you'll be trading up." Sybil stated as we walked towards the pool doors.
"Are you serious? There's no way they'll-" Seline started before Stefan walked into the pool area and all heads turned towards us.
"I'll do it." Stefan stated before I came in after him and sighed in relief as I saw the girls holding hands with Seline. "Just let the girls go." Stefan added looking at a man who was standing with Sybil and Seline.. He was tall, handsome and in a suit.. He must be Cade.
"Mari!" Freya said happily before her and Josie and Elizabeth ran towards me. I grabbed all three of them in my arms and looked at them individually.
"My girls." I whispered looking at all of them. "You're fine.. You're all okay." I whispered smiling at them before I hugged them again tightly. "Everything's okay." I whispered and kissed their heads.
~~~
"Mommy-Daddy!" Josie and Elizabeth said as they ran towards Caroline and Ric who sighed in relief once they saw them.
"Hey. darlings-Hi." Ric said as he grabbed one of the twins as did Caroline.
"I missed you so so much." Caroline stated and looked towards Freya who was still holding my hand. "Baby, come here!" Caroline said happily and Freya shook her head at Caroline before she looked up at me and Caroline furrowed her eyebrows before I knelt down towards Freya.
"Frey, go say hi to your mom." I said gesturing at Caroline but Freya shook her head angrily.
"She's not my mommy. You are." Freya stated and I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at Caroline who looked away as Ric eyed me with so much pain and emotion in his eyes. I slowly sighed and looked back at Freya.
"I'm not you're mommy, Frey." I whispered and she furrowed her eyebrows as my eyes glazed over. "But I would love nothing else than to be." I said and Freya hugged me quickly and I held her against me.
"Don't cry." Freya said in her sweet voice and I smiled and closed my eyes. I slowly pulled away and cupped her face in my hands, running my thumbs over her cheeks.
"You know how much I love you right, Freya?" I asked and she nodded at me. "And how much I love your sisters?" I asked and looked at Elizabeth and Josie who were still being held by Ric and Caroline and Freya nodded again. "And you know I would do anything to protect you, right?" I asked and Freya slowly nodded again. "Well, to do that.. I need to know that you're safe." I said and smiled at her. "And for you to be safe.. It might be not seeing me a lot." I said and Freya looked at me confused. "I will always be here, okay? I'm not going anywhere.. Ever.. This will just be for a short time, okay?" I asked and Freya slowly nodded before she hugged me again.
"I love you, mommy." Freya said and I let a tear escape my eye as she said it. I was her mommy. I took care of her after Jenna died. I took care of her after Joe. I took care of her. She was mine. She always will be.