Savior | Klaus Mikaelson

Chapter 44

They were found pretty easily.

Bonnie had done a Locator Spell using Damon and Maddy's blood combined, and had located Stefan and Elena in an abandoned house past Whitmore. According to them, they'd been snatched up by a group of Travelers who hadn't spoken a single word to them— they'd just sliced into their wrist, drawn blood, and called it a day.

"They just left you there?" asked Maddy, who was confused about how they could possibly be completely unharmed.

"Yeah," confirmed Elena. "Trust me, it was really weird for us, too. Whatever they needed with our blood... it seems to be over now. They didn't exactly give us a date for our next appointment with them."

"And you're feeling alright?" asked Damon, confused as to how they could be so normal after being kidnapped. "You're sure?"

"I was dizzy for a bit," admitted Stefan. "But now... nothing. There was this weird part though..."

"Oh, yeah," said Elena, as if she'd forgotten an important detail. "At one point, our daylight rings weren't working."

"I assume it was to keep us in the house," said Stefan. "Which we would have done if they just asked us with a 'please' attached to it."

"Well, yeah," said Elena, "but we only started to feel that the rings weren't working after our blood was already being drained. We had like a minute where we could have escaped, because I remember I was standing in front of the window and felt all was fine. They'd been chanting the whole time, since we came to."

Maddy just shook her head. "It doesn't make any sense to me. We need someone who knows a lot about the Travelers. Someone who can explain to us why they need your blood and why they need just one of each doppelgänger."

"Too bad Nadia's dead," said Damon. "Your boyfriend has absolutely no problem ripping people's heads off, and it shows."

"We've known that for ages already." She hummed. "Abandoned house... group of Travelers... blood in buckets... daylight rings... doppelgängers... is that all? No other thing you need to mention?"

Elena and Stefan shared a look. "That's all we remember," said Stefan. "We don't know how we got there. I'm sorry."

"No, Stefan, don't apologize, it isn't your fault. It's not like you asked them to abduct you. Are you absolutely sure you two are okay?"

"Hungry," admitted Elena. "But definitely alright. Excuse me, I'm going to get one of your blood bags." She walked past them and headed to the cellar.

"We need to talk," said Damon before Stefan could do the same. "About something called Augustine."

Stefan raised a brow. "I heard that in passing, I think Elena was telling Jenna something about the death of a boy named Aaron who had something to do with whatever 'Augustine' is."

"Aaron is Aaron Whitmore, and he comes— well, came, 'cause Klaus killed him too— from a very long line of vampire-probing, blood-testing, organ-removing freaks called Augustine."

"Technically the 'Augustine Society,'" said Maddy.

Stefan looked confused. "And why do you two know this?"

"Because," replied Damon, "we were their test subjects in the fifties."

"What do you mean test subjects?"

"Meaning we donated our bodies to science, except we were alive and it was against our will."

"It's a lot to explain," said Maddy. "Most of the details involve... going into memories of abuse that we're not comfortable with. We were in there for five years... from 1953 to 1958. The reason Damon turned off his humanity was because he couldn't save Enzo, a man who was in there with us. He'd been there for ten years before, and after we left... he was in there until yesterday."