As soon as they were out of sight, my attention snapped back to the tomb's gaping maw. Elena terrified scream echoed off the cold, stone walls, and followed by the sickening sound of a struggle. I turned and descended. My senses already searching for the shadows.
I had barely taken two steps when Stefan blurred to a stop beside me. His chest was heaving and his face a mask of determination.
"I am going in." He stated and his voice was tight.
"No. If you go in, you won't be able to come out. The spell is altered." I snapped as I blocked his path, my hand raised.
"You said you altered it for a loophole." He said as confusion darkened his expression.
"I didn't alter it, Stefan! Sheila did!" I hissed, pointing sharply toward the entrance.
"She used a different, binding spell. One to seal the tomb permanently, not just hold it open briefly. Any vampire that walks in, apart from those under my specific protection, will never be able to leave."
"She set Damon up and you let her! We had a deal!" Stefan said and I can sense his frustration boiled over as the realization of the betrayal hit him.
"I was given no choice once she enacted it! Once the spell is done, there is nothing that I can do!" I cut him off, unflinching. My eyes showed how this situation was getting on my nerves and testing my patience.
"I am here for Elena. That is my end of the deal. You are a complication I don't need trapped down here." I met his gaze, letting my frustration and urgency burn in my eyes.
"Trust me now. Or regret it later."
"Listen to her, Stefan. It's true. The seal is powerful. She has a way out, you don't." Sheila stepped forward, her voice calm and authoritative, confirming the action.
"You want me to listen to you after the stunt you just pull?" Stefan said in anger.
"Then trust me. Elena is my best friend. You know I will not let anything happen to her." Bonnie said. Stefan looked between the three of us. He was torn between his protective instinct and the cold logic of the situation. He finally stepped back, his jaw clenched and his eyes never leaving the entrance.
"Every spell has a loophole and I created this one." I said, a faint humorless smile touching my lips. I looked at Sheila.
"Hold the spell, but do not lift the seal until I am out. No matter what you hear." I said, and my voice was commanding.
"I understand." She replied, her eyes steady on me. Without another word, I blurred past them, stepping into the darkness.
Inside the tomb, the air was thick with the scent of old blood and decay. I followed Elena's fading cries and my vampiric speed carrying me through the winding chambers.
Then I saw them. Anna and an woman, Pearl. She was dessicated but now regaining strength with Elena's blood. Pearl's fangs were buried deep in Elena's neck, who was limp against the wall.
My fury was pure and gold, and it surged through me. I launched myself forward, a blur of motion. I ripped Anna off Elena and slammed her against the cold, damp stone. The impact echoing through the chamber. Pearl stumbled back, momentarily disoriented by the interruption.
My hands closed around Anna's throat. My fingers tightening mercilessly.
"You dare betray me?" I hissed as the promise of death vibrating in my voice.
"I showedyou kindness for the boy, and this is how you repay it?" I said and Anna clawed weakly at my hands. Her eyes wide with terror. Before I could finish her, Pearl, now standing straighter, managed a weak but clear whisper.
"Natalia...Petrova...please..." She weakly whispered those words and I paused, easing my grip just enough for Anna to breath a little.
"Of course you know me. And yet you dare to betray my kindness."
"Katherine told me stories. Please. She didn't mean to. She is my daughter. She is all I have." Pearl gasped, her voice raw.
Before I could reply, Stefan arrived, having blurred down after me. He knelt beside Elena, checking her pulse, his face etched with concern. Then he stood, placing a hand gently but firmly on my arm.
"Natalia. Let her go. Elena is fine." Stefan said and his touch, his calm, steady presence, cut through the red haze of my rage. I was here for a mission, not revenge on a desperate child. With a sharp groan of frustration, I loosened my grip, and Anna collapsed to the ground, gasping.
"Get out. Both of you. And don't ever return to this town." I snarled, stepping back. Pearl nodded, tears in her eyes as she helped her daughter to retreat into the shadows.
"Thank you." Stefan said quietly, kneeling once more to gently gather Elena. I glared at him.
"Thank you? I am letting them go because of the binding spell, Stefan! They will be trapped here anyway, eventually. Do you have any idea how reckless you were to follow me? The spell is hard enough without you people causing more problems!"
"I couldn't leave her." He defended, holding Elena close.
"I know. That is why I came in. Now, we need to move. Where is Damon?" I sighed, running my hand over my face.
"We can't leave Damon. You promised." Elena stirred. Her voice faint and laced with desperation.
"I promised you a chance to save him, Elena, and I kept my word. What Sheila did was her own doing. But Katherine can't walk free. That was always the paramount concern. I will not compromise the safety of everyone else for your guilt."
"You said we could trust you." She insisted, her eyes filled with betrayal.
"And now I am telling you, I will not leave this tomb until we get Damon out too." Elena said, pushing herself up from Stefan's arms. She stared at me, unyielding. I returned her stare. I saw the familiar, stubborn determination that marked all of the Petrova's descendants. I let out a long, exasperated sigh.
"Fine. Let's go. But know this, you will regret saving him today." I said before we ventured deeper into the tomb and the air growing colder. It didn't take long to find Damon. He was on his knees, frantically digging in the cold dirt and his face was a mask of devastation.
"Katherine, she's not here." He mumbled and his voice cracked with disbelief.
"She's not here." He said again.
"What do you mean she's not here? The screaming I heard..." My own blood run cold as those words escape my lips. It was a trick. Katherine Pierce was never in the tomb. The screams were a cruel joke, a lure. She was always one step ahead.
But how?
"We need to go, now!" I snapped, my calm shattered. As much as I want to dwell more in my anger, I cant. We are in a dire situation. My feelings and anger need to be put aside for a moment.
"She didn't use the spell I gave her and Bonnie and her can only hold the seal for so long. Katherine is free, and if we don't leave, we will all be trapped in here."
Stefan tried to pull a broken Damon to his feet, but he resisted. My urgency overruled courtesy. I grabbed Elena, throwing her over my shoulder without a word. I vamp speed toward the entrance, calling bag to Stefan.
"Drag him out! Now!"
Stefan, galvanized by my panic, grabbed Damon and pulled.
The ancient stone door groaned, sealing shut with a final, echoing thud that shook the damp earth. The last remnants of Sheila and Bonnie's magic dissolved into the cold air. It was a faint, mettalic scent like ozone and old iron. The tomb, a gaping wound a moment ago, was not just a mound of sealed stone. A permanent prison for the unfortunate souls trapped within.
I took a deep breath as the cold night air sharp in my lungs. My focus instantly shifted. I scanned the immediate surroundings. My enhanced senses reaching out into the thick darkness. Anna and Pearl were nowhere to be seen. They were gone.
"Sheila." I called, turning sharply toward the older Bennett witch. My voice was low, cutting through the residual tension of the moment.
"Did you let them out? Did you alter the spell again?" I asked.
"Bonnie didn't want her friends trapped inside. I didn't have a choice." Sheila nodded slowly. Her face was a mask of exhaustion and grim acceptance. Her shoulders slumped with the weight of the power she'd just expended.
"Friends?" I repeated the single word dripping with ice.
"Are Anna and Pearl truly Bonnie's friends? Do I have to remind you that if its wasn't for me, your granddaughter would have been killed by Anna." I added.
The way Sheila met my question with silence was answer enough. She hadn't liked the decision, but her loyalty to her granddaughter, and her belief that she was protecting Bonnie from the dark magic she sensed in my spell had won out.
"Cut my Grams some slack. She made a mistake in a moment of weakness. She was holding the spell up alone." Bonnie interjected. She stepped protectively in front of Sheila as her eyes blazing with exhaustion and defiance. I looked from Bonnie to Sheila, then back to the defiant young witch.
"That is why you were the Bonnie. To assist her! To give her that extra strength and energy that she needed. Is it my fault that you fail to lend your grandmother a hand? Are you that crazy to go put that blame on me?" The question was not a condemnation, but genuine astonishment. Did these mortals truly understands the creatures they'd just released?
"Did my five minutes of kindness froze your mind from remembering what am I, or why those vampires are sealed in that tomb in the first place?"
"I will not allow my granddaughter to use the spell you gave me. It contains traces of dark magic. It may be a small amount, but it is still dark magic." Sheila said, her voice was strained but firm.
"If you really wanted to keep the vampires inside, and you are so powerful, why didn't you use your magic to keep the spell up? Why rely on us at all?" Bonnie pressed on, her exhaustion fueling her boldness.
I felt a familiar, ancient well of anger begin to boil in my chest. A frustration that transcended the immediate crisis. I took a slow, deep breath, struggling for control. Lashing out would gain me nothing but a trail of bodies and a higher profile, which was the opposite of my goal.
"Because little Bennett, the seal on this tomb is bound with the witch's blood. Only witches who shares the same blood as the one who cast it can undo the seal." I finally said, my voice was dangerously soft.
"But yes of course, I can unseal it myself. With two conditions. One. All of the witch's bloodlines are dead. Two. If I want to use that much raw power, the kind that can hold a seal on a century old prison, to cast out the blood blinding spell, I need a lot of blood. Not from blood bags, but fresh from the vein. And not just from one human, but many." I said with my eyes bore into hers, as I take a step closer each breath.
"Now. Do you really want me to go on a killing spree in this town?" I asked.
"Natalia, enough." Stefan's voice was the quiet, grounding force that cut through the escalating tension.
"I don't understand. The books said you are very powerful." Bonnie insisted, looking confused rather than cowed.
"None of your business." I hissed through my gritted teeth. Bonnie was about to say something when Sheila hold her arm, stopping her. What she saw when she touches me back then played inside her mind. She knows why I choose not to use my power and drinking human blood, but she also knows that I wouldn't want anyone else knows. She she keep quiet, keeping that secret to herself.
I consciously pulled back, forcing the rage down. I needed clarity. I needed to be calm. The situation was what it was. Anna and Pearl were out. I could deal with them. Pearl, unlike Katherine, had a weakness. Her daughter. And Anna, in turn, was driven by a single desperate goal. They were not the unpredictable, world ending disaster that was Katherine.
What mattered, the single, binding fact that dominated all others, was that Katherine Pierce was not in the tomb. She was still out there, free. She had played us all like puppets in her century long game.