Fire in the Water (Book 1)

Through the shadows to the edge of night

In a Road blues shack somewhere in Louisiana, Stefan and Rebekah were dancing and felt like they were transported back to the 1920s. The band played 'The Man I love' and they swayed to the music like two lovers that never want to part. 

On the Plantation, Elena and Elijah were sitting on a bench on the porch, she comfortably nestled her head on his chest. She wanted to hear about far away places and how their future would look like when all was done and so he started telling her about some of his favourite places. She fell asleep at one point. He now listened to her heart and  looking up to the clear night skies wondering about the future.

In the house, Katherine wiped Damon's head with a cold cloth, thinking of her the days when she had just turned sixteen and how she felt she would find herself a rich man to take her away and provide her with a good living. She now placed a kiss on Damon's lips and he opened his eyes and muttered faintly-

"Don't..."

"Why... do you think I will get infected or..."

"Don't want pitty..."- Damon said.

"I didn't kiss you because I pitty you... that I would never do... you know me.."

"Know...you?...you wanted him... not me..."

Katherine now sighed and she knew in her heart that she should finally say what was truly in it.

"You probably won't believe it...but it has always been YOU..."

"Stop..."- he gasped and started coughing.

"Here... have a bit of blood..."- she now helped him drink a bit of Sophie's tonic mixed with her blood.

He took a sip. She then wiped his mouth clean and straightened the pillow to make him comfortable. She looked at him for a little while listening to his heavy breathing. Her dark heart seemed to have gotten colour again in the recent weeks, and like a curse, all the good emotions seemed to have been rushing back as if she had them especially switched off and the Cure pulled them out of a hidden place in her soul.  She remebered how it felt when she was just a girl, again.

"Katerina Petrova loves you... me... the real me... loves you..."- she said and kissed him again.

His blue eyes shone at her and strangely his soul knew that it was true. His heart always wanted to hear that. It was ironic that it was now on his death bed. Love was beautiful and cruel at the same time.

She layed down nesteling up to him. Her soul strangely was finally at peace as well.

Upstairs in one of the many bedroom, Caroline tossed and turned not being able to settle and then got up. Her thoughts were with Klaus, all the good and the bad.

In the little room next to the kitchen, Kol held Sophie in his arms as they layed in the small servant's bed.

"Do you think that one can really change... ?"- he asked.

She looked up at him slightly surprised by the question that seemed to come out of nowhere.

"Maybe it is the rabies talking, right?... "

"You were mad before.... first class monster apparently..."- she said.

"That's what was written about me?!"- he said- "what witch wrote it?"

"You should know!"- she teased him.

"I have a certain charm, otherwise you...wouldn't have kissed me..."

"Maybe...maybe not... maybe I have just seen for who you really are..."- Sophie said.

"Or maybe you have something in that cocktail of herbs you've been injecting me with..."

"Or you just decided to embrace more of the humanity in you..."- she looked at him now serious-" and you think there is nothing bad in me?... there is good and bad in all of us... the human race has done more harm then good...you should know...you've lived through famine, wars, illnesses... exploiting mother nature absolutely...I believe that we need to learn to subdue the bad and try and let the good take more... work on it every day...it's easy to sucumb to the lust of power...be reckless..."

"Power...I think about Klaus... all the time...the witches could have killed him..."

"They could have... but...there must be a reason why they let him live... or they want him to pay severly for all he had done. Death would be too easy... but maybe he will trully show that he repented all his actions..."- Sophie said.

"Maybe...it's a completely different picture now that we are fighting for our survival... and now that we are not so invicible..."- Kol said.

Matt, Tyler, Jeremy and Liv spent their time with the hybrid leaders talking about the pending fight against the Hundings.

Some time as the sun rose, Katherine woke up and Damon was no more. 

"Sleep now..."- she whispered as tears were falling down her face. She covered him up and kissed his dark lips.

Then she got out to look for somebody and found Elena and Elijah in the kitchen.

"Katherine...?"- he said concerned as she came in.  They could see that  she had been crying.

"Damon died."- she said in a low voice.

Elena looked at her and then at Elijah. Kol and Sophie joined them as they heard her, and they all went to the room where Damon's body lay.

Sophie examined the body and confirmed that he had passed away.

Everyone in the room was quiet. It didn't matter about all the differences they used to have, all that had happened, sadness descended. One of their own was gone. It was too late.

Elena offered to tell Stefan. It was one of the hardest things she had to do. Rebekah and him returned from a glorious night of newly discovered love and passion to this harrowing news.

They decided to bury him under an oak tree not far from the house. Everyone gathered to bid him final farewell. 

After that they all gathered in the kitchen where Sophie finally had all rhe strategies prepared. She showed them on the map where the Hunding's strongholds were. It was a very elaborate plan, and failing was not an option.

"You will have to seek them out and confront them directly. There are five leaders who carry the sign of the Hunding fang on their chest. That is the fetish that connects them to the witches. In every place you will meet a witch who agreed to help us. They know exactly when you will be able to challenge them. The magic they use is conected to their anceszral lines on the spirit world and until Lexi opens the passage with the Silveri druid witch to them I will not be able to direct the magic to sever the line from here. We will all have to work in sync otherwise we will not manage to defeat them."

Everyone looked at Sophie as if to draw some special power from her. She then looked at Elena and Jeremy.

"You two will go with me."- she said.

Elena looked at Sophie  shocked.

"Rebekah and Tyler will go with Liv...Elijah and Kol will meet Agnes in Canada...Matt and Lori will go to Scotland...Davina will wait for you there. Stefan and Caroline will go to Germany- Genevieve will be there...."

Everyone was surprised at the way she decided to pair them up.

"There... the way distribution of strength and power in each of you is drawn from the signs shown in the Grimoire. It is not to be contested."- Sophie said.

All of them now gathered in a fine circle. 

"Always and forever"- they all said in one voice.

They now set out to stand shoulder to shoulder as once their ancestors did.

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