(1) The Phoenix (D. Salvatore)

Chapter Sixty-Four

At the Old Witch House, Damon enters the room with the coffins, there are candles lit everywhere, illuminating the darkened room. He hopes this works. He hopes that Daphne is right about this. The coffins are currently invisible. Damon stops in the centre of the room, then hears footsteps behind him as Klaus enters the room.

"What took you so long?" Klaus asks. "Hiding behind your witchy friends. And in squalor, no less" Suddenly the candles burn brighter and Klaus falls to his knee, clutching his head and shouting in pain. Damon smirks, amused. It's a lot more fun when it is happening to someone else.

"Insulting a bunch of dead witches...not smart" Damon comments. "I made the exact same mistake the first time I came in here" The pain subsides and Klaus speaks in a forced, strained voice.

"Well, you know, the funny thing about witches is, that living or death, they care about their own. A hundred dead witches have a thousand living descendants..." The pain returns. Klaus shouts out in pain. He then talks in a loud voice, addressing the room. "And I have no problem, killing every last one of them, if I don't get my coffins back. As we speak, my hybrid friend is prepared to end the Bennett line" The candles die down suddenly, and Klaus isn't in pain anymore. He again talks to the room. "Now...please...show me the coffins." Suddenly the coffins appear in the room. "Here we are" He then seems to realise that one is missing. He snaps his head around to Damon. "Where's the fourth?" He demands but doesn't even give Damon a chance to reply before he is turning his anger out on the witch spirits. "Show me!"

"Well, here's the thing. They can't. It's not here."

"What did you do?" Klaus growls.

"Well, the witches gave me a heads-up" Damon comments and then smirks victoriously.

"I will tear you, limb from limb. And only then, when you're a riving mass of blood and flesh, will I rip your heart from your chest" Klaus threatens.

"Sorry. The same rules apply. You know, leverage and all. I know you want your family back. But something tells me, you want what's in that coffin a lot more" Damon points out. They finally have a win under their belt. Daphne isn't wrong about that locked coffin.

.....

Elena, Bonnie, and Abby are sitting in the living room waiting on Daphne. It's still a little awkward. The realisation that Abby was going to betray her own daughter to save her adopted son. It's not a great feeling for Bonnie. Neither is the idea that Abby was going to do something for Klaus. She doesn't know what would have happened if Daphne was there to suss it all out. She supposes being a telepath has its advantages.

"Jaime's safe" Daphne offers as she walks into the room. "The hybrid undid the compulsion"

"Willingly?" Elena asks, Daphne snorts and looks at her.

"No" She answers. "But kid's safe so..." She and Elena share a look.

"And the hybrid?" Abby asks. Daphne motions over her shoulder and shrugs.

"Charred like bacon and buried out back..." She answers.

"And Klaus won't hit back at you for killing the hybrid?" Bonnie inquires.

"No, he won't. Klaus and I had a deal. He broke that deal when he had Tyler bite Caroline. The dead hybrid is just retaliation. Undoing my side of the deal" Daphne answers as she grabs her bag from beside Elena.

"You were willing to do all this for Jaime...and he's not even your family" Bonnie accuses of Abby.

"He is my family, Bonnie. I know, that might be hard for you to hear, but he is. But that doesn't mean that I don't care about you. I wanna help you" Abby admits.

"You can't. You've no magic and I don't trust you" Bonnie argues.

"When I put Mikael down...my magic didn't just leave me. It drifted away. The longer I stayed away from you the weaker it got. I think that nature was punishing me for abandoning you. Maybe you can help me get my magic back"

"I thought you said you didn't want it anymore?" Bonnie asks.

"I don't. But if it's what you want...I would do that for you" Abby assures her. Bonnie glances at Elena and Daphne, but neither of them can give her the answer here. She sighs and nods a little.

..............

Damon's standing in the front of the fireplace at the boarding house when Daphne apparates behind him. He glances over his shoulder before turning to face her. She smiles a little and he relaxes. Clearly, he's been worried about her.

"Take it everything went well with Klaus" She offers. "As you're still alive"

"Yeah, everything went to plan" He assures her. "Drink?" She hums and then nods. He moves to the little drinks set up and pours out a glass of whiskey.

"What about that other thing I text you about?" She asks. He smirks a little and turns, holding up a silver dagger. She lets out a breath.

"Hope you know what you're doing with this" He points out. "Waking Elijah might be more trouble"

"Maybe" She agrees. "But you said that Klaus went back on his deal with his own brother....that means that Elijah will be angry....that might just work in our favour" He grabs the glass and moves closer to her. He hands over the drink and looks over her. There is dirt dotted all over her clothes.

"What happened?" He asks, she tilts her head in question and he waves over the dirt patches.

"Oh," She realises. "I buried a body" He gasps dramatically.

"That is by far the hottest thing you have ever said to me" He teases, she smirks and then chuckles a little. "We're so close, Red" He offers. "I can feel it...we finally have a lead over him. One step ahead...." He lets out a breath. "And you" He points at her. "You are going to fix my brother..."

"I'm going to try" She corrects him. "We're talking about a spell that hasn't been used in centuries and likely never on a vampire...."

"But you packed up all your stuff, that must mean you are sure about it"

"I am..." She offers, but she still sounds unsure. She's never done this spell on a living specimen. And there is pressure here. Stefan is Elena's current love interest. Damon's brother. The people that she cares about are relying on her to get this right. "I know that I've tested it and tested it...but on his blood, not actually on him..." He shakes his head.

"Look, whatever happens, I know you tried" He assures her. She nods a little. But that still doesn't feel like she would have done enough. She should have been here from the start.