The New Original

IOU and I Told You So

October 4th 2009, today's the day. Scratch that, today is going to be a day.

~~~~~~~~~

First, I had to borrow Damon's car, not only to grab my toys for the night but to stash the supplies for my follow up plan. If I also snuck into Damon's room to pack him a bag of his own, well he can be annoyed with me later.

Then I had a meeting with Bree and the Bennets to iron out some final detail. I sent out a text to Anna to let her know we'd be starting at ten after six when the moon reached it's apex.

And finally, it was game time. Sheila made a show of handing me two daylight rings, for Lexi, and shooed me off to stand between Damon and Anna. After seeing me with a bag of two dozen stakes and a gas can this morning, Stefan decided to keep Elena and himself away for the night. Sheila put on Emily's amulet and began to chant, Bonnie and Bree joing in as they each grabbed one of her hands.

Can nothing ever go to plan in this town?

The chanting stopped abruptly and Sheila turned to look at me. Only it wasn't Sheila.

" I can't let you do this."

Klaus said it, ' dead or alive, witches are a pain in the ass'.

" Really, Em? This is where you choose to interfere? This is where you draw the line?" I asked the deceased Bennet witch, incredulously. " You forget how well I understand the Otherside. I know you've been watching. I know you know my plans. You didn't say anything in '94 and that had to have been worse than this. I'm not unleashing a bunch of vengeful vampires, I'm putting them out of their misery." I reasoned.

" I do know." She stated firmly. " I know who you're helping, they're abominations against nature. He's an abomination."

" Bullshit, and I will saying this as many times as I have to, to as many witches as I have to. Nature created the balances it required and allowed them to exist. If Nature had a problem with vampires, the magic that made them wouldn't have worked. Just because some old as dirt witch is angry that her spell was stolen, again, and another is angry that the spell she stole had the consequences she ignored warnings about, doesn't mean Nature has been disrupted. It's been over a thousand years, nature has adapted. And you can tell your dead witchy friends I said that. Now give me back Sheila. Nature wanted a wolf and I'm inclined to give him to her. Who knows, maybe I'll kill his predecessor while I'm at it."

The possessed witch's eyes took on an even older look and I suddenly got the feeling that I was being assessed.

" I just might hold you to that." Great.

Sheila jolted back into her body and gave me a decisive nod before she continued to chant. The door opened before Damon could question me and he and Anna went in. I wouldn't enter until I had seen at least one vampire walk out. From where I stood I could hear Damon's hope giving into frustration and then sorrow, and smell the freshly opened bag of Jeremy Gilbert's blood I had procured for Anna. Revenge was probably the only form of poetry I understood.

Anna and Pearl came out first with Harper stumbling behind them.

" What do I owe you, really?" The younger girl asked me suspiciously.

" Nothing, but I am leaving town for a few weeks, I'd like to speak with your mother when I get back." I answered her.

The woman in question nodded and the trio left just in time for Damon to scream I anger and despair.

" Time to get to work."

I shoved a stake through the heart of every vampire I passed, only skipping Fredrick whose throat and veins I filled with vervain. Once the party really starts, it'll be handy to have a disposable vampire lying around. Eventually, I made my way to the back of the tomb where Damon had already given up. Sitting on the ground with his back against the wall and his head in his hands , he barely acknowledged my presence.

" She's not here." He croaked. " She was supposed to be here."

" I know."

He looked up at me. " Why isn't she here?"

" Because the whole thing was her plan. " I explained softly. " She has some very powerful enemies, that she has been running from for a really long time. So, she faked her death and if everything went how she wanted it to, she would have killed anyone who could rat her out."

" What?"

" The only part she didn't plan, was your interference. She had an out the whole time because she's the one who tipped off the council. She orchestrated the whole thing, she even sold out Emily. All of it was Katherine."

" Did she ever love me?" He begged.

" Not the way you want her to." I pulled him up. " Now let's get out of here before Sheila changes her mind about letting us." I dragged him, stopping only to grab Fredrick, and gave Bonnie the signal once we were clear of the door.

" Incendia." The little witch focused on the trail of gasoline leading into the tomb and over the vampires.

" Who's this?" Sheila motion to the body lying limply over my shoulder.

" A gift for a friend." Seeing that she understood, I turned my attention to the two younger witches. " Bonnie, you get her home and make sure she rests. Bree," the last witch looked to me, " your debt is paid, you'll be left out of our business from here out, that is, unless for some reason you see fit to act against us. Then you will be dealt with."

" Of course."

I took Damon to my home and settled him onto the couch with a bottle of bourbon I stole from his room, before moving to the basement to set Fredrick up in his cell. It was werewolf proof, so I wasn't too worried about leaving him there until Klaus came.

" This is mine." Dame said as I came up.

" I knew you'd need it."

" 145 years. She stole 145 years of my life." He looked up at me. " You know I only wanted to be a vampire to be with her?"

" I know, but I also know how much you've grown to enjoy it. Speaking of which, " I handed him a pair of his own sweat pants to sleep in, " you and I are going to take a few weeks on the road to remind you of that."

" What?" He asked, dumbfounded.

" Your car's already packed, we leave in the morning. First stop, Whitmore College. We, have a friend to pick up."