𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐔𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐅 𝐎𝐍𝐄
oh don't get too close to her, she's not as quiet as she seems. she is a fierce storm of hellfire and you wouldn't survive a brush of her lips
THE NEXT MORNING, Elena walked up the stairs carrying breakfast for Alaric and knocked on his door only for Damon to answer it, "Morning, sunshine."
"Hey, how's Alaric?" Elena asked in concern as she moved to enter the apartment, but then Damon closed the door slightly to block her way.
The vampire shrugged while making a face. "Indecent, but fine."
She looked at him suspiciously. "So then, does that mean there were no issues last night?"
"Nope." He shook his head then smiled widely at her. "Slept like a baby. Woke up Alaric. No headlines about dead Council members."
"Then why do I feel like you're hiding something from me?" She asked him with an unamused expression.
"Well, maybe because you're being all paranoid and control freaky." He smirked then spotted the bag in her hands. "What'd you bring me?" Damon then snatched the bag from her and sniffed it. "Ooo, chocolate muffins. You know what they say; a way to a psycho killer's heart is through his stomach."
Elena grabbed the bag back from him. "They're not for you."
"Fine." He huffed before grinning widely. "But sadly, Ric's gonna have to miss Elena time today. You know lockdown and all."
"Just take it and give it to him and tell him that I miss him, okay?" She ordered in frustration and handed Damon the bag of muffins.
"With pleasure." He smirked at her and started to shut the door on her. "Have a great day, thanks for coming by."
"Dam—"Then doppelgänger began, but he closed the door and walked over to Echo, Ric, and Stefan, who were standing by a miter saw with the Wickery Bridge sign.
Damon then listened to Elena leaving. "Walking down the stairs, opening the front door, and she's gone."
Alaric nodded and turned the saw on, lowering it to begin cutting the sign.
It was a a couple hours later and they were making stakes from the Wickery Bridge sign.
Stefan suddenly looked at one of the stakes that Damon whittled. "This needs to have a sharper point." He handed the stake to Damon.
"I got it," the older brother said in an annoyed huff.
"We finally have our own stakes to kill an Original. I'm not gonna miss because you can't whittle." Stefan gruffly snapped at him while the hunters rolled their eyes.
"I said I got it. Stop micromanaging," Damon sneered then sharpened the point of the stake. "I still haven't forgotten what you did to Echo, so do you want one of these in your heart?"
Stefan picked up the stakes that Echo had whittled and showed them to Damon. "See? Her's are perfect."
Echo scowled at Stefan and yanked her stakes from him. She then turned to her boyfriend — they actually haven't become official yet — and smirked. "Ha! Mine are perfect." She stood up and approached him from behind, wrapped her arms around him. "Do you need some help?" She started kissing his cheek and neck, making him pause his whittling.
Alaric groaned before standing up, shoving his jacket on. "Looks like you guys have got this under control. I'm gonna call the Sheriff." They all turned to look at him in confusion. "I want to turn myself in."
Echo was quick to stand up and approach him. "No." She crossed her arms and scowled at him. "That's not happening."
"I have a homicidal alter ego. Unlike some people in this room, I would like to take responsibility for the people I've killed," Ric snapped, taking a jab at them.
Echo pursed her lips. "First of all, I have taken responsibility of all the people I've killed or did you not read the books that have pretty much half of my life in them?" She hardened her glare. "Second of all, I've been through this before. My father had the Mark of Cain and he pretty much had a homicidal alter ego. My uncle had no soul at one point. I've had no soul, and I've been possessed which is basically the same thing you're going through right now. You don't have control of your actions." She sighed and ran a hand down her face. "I know that—"
"I killed Caroline's father!" Alaric snapped at her which made her clamp her mouth shut. "I almost killed Meredith, and I did kill you," he told her angrily before letting out a sigh. "Everything has changed now. I cant—"
"I've been killed before." Echo simply let it roll off her shoulders. "You had no control. You didn't even know you were doing it. Trust me, there is a different between you killing me and Stefan killing me." She looked over her shoulder at said vampire, still thinking of ways to make him suffer for what he as done.
"Look, you're not turning yourself in. Bonnie's herbs are working and we have Originals to kill," Stefan ordered sternly with his arms crossed over his chest causing the other three people to look at him in shock and confusion.
Damon glared at him, and then rolled his icy blue eyes. "His morals get very questionable when he has revenge on the brain."
"Klaus needs to die," Stefan sneered at him sternly. "We finally have the chance to kill him, so you are not turning yourself in."
Echo sighed before slipping the Gilbert ring off of her finger. She knew it wasn't going to help her, but Elena had wanted her to wear it, so she did so without fighting back. "Put it on," she told him softly.
The hunter quickly shook his head in denial. "That ring is the reason I've killed people."
"It's also the reason you're alive," Damon pointed out, "You're going vampire hunting, Ric. Wear it."
"It's not going to do me any good, anyway," Echo told him before grabbing his hand, and placing it on his palm. "It's all yours."
IN THE WOODS, Caroline and Elena were talking as they met up with Matt when suddenly, Echo, Stefan, and Damon showed up.
Stefan looked at everyone then furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Where's Bonnie?"
Caroline and Elena turned around to look at him. "I texted her, too."
The blonde hesitated for a moment before answering. "Um, Bonnie's mom bailed on her. Again. So, I think we should leave her out of this one."
"I.e. leave her alone, Stefan." Elena looked up at him with a stern glare.
"I know she pretty much lost her mother, but do you ever see any one of us not showing up to save countless people after losing someone?" Echo asked harshly. There has been times when she was beaten to a pulp and watched the people she cared about die, but she continued to do her job and protect people. For Bonnie to just 'take a vacation' in the middle of all of this was kinda selfish. You gotta keep fighting the good fight until the bitter end.
"Echo..." Caroline trialed off but then paused as she remembered catching up on the Supernatural books. She knows how much Echo has been through. And the thing was, the books barley showed half of her life. They all know she has been through a lot more than the books said, and there was a lot of things she still didn't want to talk about. And deep down, she knew Echo was right. They have all lost something, but continued to do their 'job' in all of this chaos.
"What are we doing here?" Matt questioned in annoyance.
"We found some more white oak," Damon answered, "Long story, wait for the movie."
"And here's the best part," Echo said slowly before throwing down a duffle bag which held the stakes. "We each get some." She smirked as she looked at her sister and best friend. "Klaus has always been one step ahead of us, but now we have the advantage. We're all armed and they are all linked, meaning we only need to kill one of them. We need to seize the best opportunity, which means we need to prepare for every opportunity."
"Scenario number one." Damon grabbed Elena and moved her over. "You get to play Klaus."
"Okay," she mumbled, uncertain.
"Rebekah is our target so we distract her and catch her off guard. To do that we need to keep Klaus separate and occupied." Stefan looked directly at the blonde. "Caroline."
"Why do I always have to be Klaus bait?" She asked, scoffing.
"Because he's obsessed with you," Damon said and walked over to her. "But for right now we need you to play Rebekah. We use the quarterback to distract her. Just keep her talking."
"How?" Matt questioned incredulously.
"Act interested. She's lonely, desperate," Damon explained quickly.
"Clearly." Echo rolled her eyes. Out of all the siblings, Elijah was probably the only one who hasn't gotten on her nerves yet.
Damon sighed and turned to Matt. "Hm. Beefcake holds bombshell. I come up from behind her." He walked behind Caroline, grabbed her arms, and put them behind her back. "Grab her arms like this."
"Ow!" She whined.
Then Stefan came up with the stake in his hand, and imitated stabbing Caroline. "Gives me time for one shot." Damon let go of Caroline and walked away from her. "Got it? Good. So we all have one stake, we keep it hidden and we look out for any opportunity we have."
"No last minute attacks of pity for any of them," Damon said, looking directly at Elena.
She shook her head quickly. "Don't worry about me. Not after what happened to Bonnie's mom."
"And Alaric," Echo added. "If it wasn't for Klaus' hybrid running him over, he wouldn't be in this predicament."
Damon nodded then moved on, "Barbie?"
"Oh, I'm ready. Anything that will free Tyler from his sire bond to Klaus," she answered angrily.
"Busboy?" He asked looking at the blonde.
"Do I have a choice?" Matt questioned with a sigh.
Damon smirked at him. "Good point." He then looked at Echo and paused, his eyes filling up with admiration and love. "I'm not going to even ask you, little warrior. You've gone up against a majority of the Originals, so I know you're in."
She smirked up at him with a nod. "Hell yeah."
"We have twelve stakes, twelve shots at killing one Original. We can do this. Alright, let's try another scenario. Elena grab a crossbow," Stefan instructed everyone and handed Elena the weapon. "Matt, you play Klaus." Then Elena aimed the crossbow.
ACROSS FROM THE GRILL, Elena was on her phone, leaving a message for Bonnie. "Bonnie, we're starting to worry about you. Call me back or call Caroline. Just call someone, please." She hung up and walked up to Caroline, Echo, and Matt.
"Mr. Saltzman was like the most normal guy in town," Matt said suddenly, attempting to make conversation.
"Yeah." Caroline agreed, slightly upset.
"Is it weird that Bonnie's not returning my calls?" Elena asked them in worry.
"Is it weird that Klaus' brother is in the middle of town square?" Matt asked randomly in response and they all looked over to see Finn with Sage.
"Well, this just got a little easier or harder for us. I just don't know yet," Echo stated before turning to Caroline who pushed her blonde hair out of the way, and listened in on Finn's conversation.
Once the vampires walked into the Grill, Echo followed but took the back entrance. She quickly moved to stand behind the bar as though she was working and spied on Finn and Sage, who were sitting at a table together.
"You've never had tequila before?" The redhead asked the Original in confusion.
Finn shot her a look and shook his head. "Mm-mm." So, Sage poured salt on Finn's wrist before licking the salt off her wrist and shooting back the tequila, then Finn did the same. "Happy now?" He questioned her in annoyance.
Stefan had moved to sit at the bar, listening in on them as Echo pretended to serve him alcohol.
Sage handed him a lime and he sucked on it. When he pulled away, he grimaced. "I'm truly awed by the evolution of mankind."
She laughed as a man approached their table. "Hey Sage."
"Hey, Troy," She greeted him with a smile. Then, Troy nodded at Finn and left.
"You know him?" Finn questioned her curiously once he was gone.
Sage nodded slowly before answering, "I turned him."
Finn's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "You turned him? Why?"
"Because I'm in enemy territory," she whispered harshly. "When your brother and sister called, I thought I might need a little back up. You can't trust anyone here," she explained and Matt passed their table so she grabbed his wrist tightly. "Two more tequilas?"
He nodded slowly and Sage let go. "Yeah, cool, I'll let your waitress know."
Stefan pushed a tiny bottle of vervain to his side across the bar, which Matt grabbed along with a coffee cup. Echo watched the vampires curiously while Stefan listened.
The waitress then placed two tequila shots on Finn and Sage's table. The latter of the two sighed in relief. "Finally."
Stefan got up from the bar and left while Echo snuck out the back.
"Oh, thanks," Sage said to the waitress, who left quickly, and raised her shot glass in a toast. "To living life to the fullest."
Finn raised his shot glass and clinked it against hers. "To living life."
Sage laughed and they both drank their shots. Suddenly, they spat them back up and started choking. "Oh, what the hell?" She groaned in a raspy voice.
"Vervain," Finn gasped and turned his head. He and Sage saw Stefan leaving, who stopped and stared at them, then walked out the door. They both furiously stood up and went after him.
OUTSIDE THE GRILL, Stefan hid around the corner.
When Finn and Sage exited the Grill, Stefan moved to stab Finn, but Sage grabbed him and threw him down on the ground causing the stake to fall down the stairs only to land in front of Echo's combat boot adorned feet.
"Finn, the stake!" Sage yelled desperately.
Finn ran down the stairs to grab the stake and was about to grab the stake, when Elena and Matt ran out the back door. Elena shot Finn in the stomach with the crossbow, and Echo quickly grabbed the stake and harshly stabbed him directly in the heart.
"No!" Sage rushed down the stairs to Finn's side.
Echo was quick to grab Elena and rush back into the Grill, Matt following shortly behind them.
IT WAS LATER when Echo walked up to Alaric's apartment, and smiled when she saw Damon knocking on Ric's door. She quickly ran up to him and jumped onto his back just as Alaric answered the door.
"Well, hello there." Alaric grinned, amused. He then scowled at Damon. "Oh, you're still alive."
While Damon scoffed, Echo chuckled before hopping off his back as they walked into the apartment. "Yeah, for now. I need your stake."
Ric nodded before moving over to a shelf and pulling back some books. "It's right behind these books here."
"A bookshelf, really?" Damon remarked incredulously. "At least I was trying to be clever about it."
"But you failed so..." Echo commented with a smirk causing him to glare at her.
Ric was still looking but began to panic. "Where the hell is it?"
"Ha ha ha," Damon said sarcastically. "Look harder, Ric."
"It's not here, Damon," he answered honestly and they all began to search through the other shelves.
"Maybe you just forgot which shelf you put it on," Damon said attempting to remain calm.
"No, I didn't forget. It's – I – I put it right here!" Ric said going into a full on panic. "A stake doesn't just vanish into thin air!"
"Who else did you tell, Ric?!" Damon snapped while Echo knocked the whole bookshelf down.
Ric turned to look at him with wide eyes. "I didn't tell anybody, Damon! I'm the only...." He trailed off in realisation.
"What?" The vampire asked uneasily.
"I'm the only one who knew about it," Ric explained slowly, and Damon and Echo quickly realized what he was talking about.
"No," Damon whispered then raised his voice to a panicked, afraid yell, "Are you telling me that your vampire hating alter ego has a stake that can kill an entire line of vampires, possibly mine??"
Ric nodded and gulped before meeting his eyes again. "That's exactly what I'm telling you."
"We are screwed..." Echo remarked slowly, swallowing thickly.