A life in the shadows

58

Matteo kept jogging to keep up with Siobhan's fast pace. He guessed a small part of her had hoped that maybe Esther would redeem herself this time around. The walked up to the mansion and Matteo grabbed Siobhan's arm slowing her down.
"Hey, you don't want to go in there guns blazing."
"Yes, I do. Because I am done with her bullshit. And we don't have time to calm down. Not while she's up to her old tricks." She ripped her arm away from Matteo and stormed in. He walked in after her. Elijah was the first one they saw. Siobhan ignored him and headed for the stairs.
"Who are you looking for?" He asked.
"Esther." She said. "Do you know where she is?"
"Why?"
"Damn it, Elijah. I have no patience nor time for manners right now. Where the hell is Esther?"
"I don't know." He shrugged. "She left this morning. Why?"
"Because she's an evil bitch, that's why." Siobhan took a deep breath before trying to sense her energy. She wasn't in the house. Siobhan turned around and walked back out. Elijah sent a questioning look to Matteo who shook his head before following Siobhan.

"She's in the woods." Siobhan finally sensed her.
"Just cool down for a second." He replied. "Be smart about this, not angry."
"How about you be smart, I'll be angry?"
"How about no?" She tried to sidestep him but he blocked her again. "Hey, come on. Okay? Calm down. What Esther is doing is wrong, but you need to calm down before you find her."
"I can't calm down. Matty, I won't."
"Yes. You will."
"I can't."
"You think I want Esther to go through with her plan? We both know what'll happen if she does. But we need our heads on straight otherwise she'll win, and this world will be a lot more empty with no vampires."
"There's not enough time." She insisted, and Matteo shook his head.
"We can't do it like this. So, we're going to send Kaia a message, get Olly and Jessamine, and then go after her. Okay?"
"Kaia won't let us."
"We have to tell her. If we go behind her back, we'll be sending a bright neon sign to the elders that she can't keep us in line. We can't do that to her. She shouldn't have to take the rap for us all the time."
"Fine. We'll do it your way." She crosses her arms. Matteo nodded and got his phone out.

"No. No, no, no, no, no." Kaia said. "I can't allow it."
"Kaia. These are our families. Actual lives at stake. It's a mission. We are qualified enough to do this." He said into his phone.
"The last time Siobhan went up against her, she almost died."
"I won't let that happen."
"No, you'll just sacrifice yourself, and we could lose you."
"It's better than not trying and letting thousands die."
"I'll send someone else."
"Kaia, logically Siobhan and I are the best for this job. We're already familiar and already here, and we're the best you've got."
"You're too close."
"We won't let Esther do it." He countered.
"The elders will never go for it."
"Just try. Please."
"I'll ask." She sighed. "I'll call you back."
"Thank you." He hung up his phone.
"Now what?"
"Now we move to plan B. No doubt Esther's put some warning spells up to alert her of our arrivals."
"How do we get past them?"
"We don't have to." Matteo concentrated on conjuring Emily like he did last time and she appeared.
"You've heard of Esther's plan?"
"Please tell me you're not on board with it?"
"Esther's plan is to rid the world of all vampires. That kind of magic, it would have more consequences that she sees. Not all of them are bad. But, Esther is drawing power from our line. Abby and Bonnie's involvement in her resurrection allowed her to siphon our magic. Even now, my talking to you is risky."
"Is there any way to cut the connection?"
"If the connection between Bonnie or her mother and us is severed, we can break free."
"How do we do that?" Siobhan asked.
"Matteo, this is where you come in. You need to take one of the witches beyond the veil."
"But won't I risk exposure?"
"If you can get into the witch house undetected, I can cast a spell to knock Bonnie and Abby unconscious. It's a harmless spell. And you don't need to be long."
"You're sure it'll work?"
"Yes. When you go past the barrier to the dead, you're temporarily one of them. Spirits. That's how we can cut the connection."
"Okay. Thank you."
"I have to go now. I'll do the spell when I see you." She disappeared. Matteo looked over to Siobhan.
"This should be more than enough to get Kaia to agree." He told her. "If Esther already knows of our powers, then we can use them on her."
"But we don't all have your banshee side."
"She doesn't know I have a banshee side. She'll think it's a fae thing."
"How do we get in?"
"We'll need-" Matteo paused. "Why are my brothers here?"
"I don't know. Let's find out." She said and they started walking in their direction. They were in a car.
"Matt." Damon said in equal parts surprise and guilt as he got out of his car. "Siobhan."
"What are you two doing out here?"
"Elijah got to Elena. He took her and left her with Rebekah, with orders to kill Elena if we don't help him stop Esther." Stefan got out of the car. Matteo and Siobhan exchanged glances.
"Do you think-?" She started.
"He'd be perfect." Matteo finished.
"And you two are starting to creep me out so I'll look elsewhere." Damon turned on his heel.
"Luckily for you, we have a plan to stop Esther."
"What?"
"You expected us not to?"
"What's your plan?"
"That is down to us. But we need to get close to Esther to do it."
"So get close to her."
"Last time Esther tried to murder a bunch of people, Siobhan managed to stop her. Esther's going to account for our arrival. I think she's going to use representational magic, to keep us out. There's going to be something that she can use to represent Siobhan and me and use it to trap us out of it."
"I only understood half of what you said, but sure."
"You need to go to the witch house and destroy it. Think of it like this. You've been in the witch house before. Find what doesn't belong there and smash it." Matteo explained.
"You know, Elijah also mentioned the only way to stop Esther would be to break her link to the Bennett line. And the only way to do that would be to kill one."
"Yeah, well, I have a better plan that doesn't involve anyone dying."
"How do you know it'll work?"
"Do you want Elena to hate the two of you for not even trying to help her friend?" Damon shrugged. "What about Lacey? She's already pissed enough at you."
"Lacey's already realised I'm the bad guy."
"You weren't always. And you don't have to be the bad guy. Look, Lacey likes you because you showed her who you really were, not the whole stone cold killer act you put on."
"I thought you didn't want Lacey and I to get together."
"Stop being a dick, Damon. I just didn't want her to get hurt. And I didn't want you to get hurt. And look what's happened. I just want the both of you happy. So after this, you're going to apologise to her and then work on how to be better."
"Let's just do this before time runs out." He sighed. Matteo nodded, getting his phone out. He sent a text to Kaia telling her the details of the plan, before calling her.
"Kaia. Did you see my message?"
"Okay, fine. It's a good plan. Just make sure-"
"Got it." He said. "I gotta go now. There's only a few minutes left so I should hurry." He hung up.