but oh what a year

[patrols]

Comments

[geminated]

He didn't get to her. He got to one of the people protecting her.

[She exhales slowly as she tries to figure out how best to explain it.]

This friend of ours, Elena, she's under a Sleeping Beauty curse. She's human, but she also has the cure for vampirism in her system. My partner and I have been protecting her, but our friend asked us for access to her, because she wanted access to the cure. Around the same time, Cade offered both Stefan and Damon a deal - kill a hundred people or kill Elena. Stefan took option B.

[She swallows hard.]

Elena's okay, and so is our friend, but their boyfriend is not. He was a vampire and he wasn't invited in.

[And it sucks. Both for Bonnie and for Liv. It was nice having another outsider to commiserate with when the Mystic Falls clique got to be a little too much.]

[telegraphs]

Those are nasty. ( But, right. Listening. ) Significant, then. And another soul for Cade. Doesn't sound evil, either, so, much as the lore is saying 'worst of the worst,' it sounds like Cade is getting less discerning. Hard to find a hundred criminals in a short amount of time.

[geminated]

I don't think it was ever about people being evil. I think it was always about revenge.

[And Liv understands that, really.]

Spend your whole life caring for a community, only to have them turn on you in an instant? I would assume that everyone deserves Hell too.

[telegraphs]

Then where's the end.

( A sigh as he sets his book aside and grabs another, sitting back. )

Hold on, there's a passage here about hellfire. Apt, considering he created it. That it.

[geminated]

[Liv's eyebrows go up as she makes her way closer, aiming to read over his shoulder if she can.]

What about it? Other than it sucks and is intended for suffering.

[telegraphs]

Something that could be loosely translated to 'fight hellfire with hellfire,' but it's incomplete, like, it's only one of two components.

( He grabs a magnifying glass, then sits back, rubbing his lips. )

That doesn't make any sense. A king of Hell, which, fits, can be bested in fusion. In fusion of what. What and what. Is there anything in that one in English?

[geminated]

Maybe.

[She heads back to her stack, before her head tips up curiously.]

Stefan said something about a knife or a journal. Possibly related to the Maxwell Bell.

[She pulls out her phone and calls Tyler, putting him on speaker in the middle of the table. But while she's waiting for him to answer, she goes back to the stack of books she was digging into.]

Usually for a ghost, don't you need the remains of it? I know he's like ... a super ghost but technically still a ghost.

[telegraphs]

Yeah. For some. For certain kinds, burning the remains. But, what if burning his remains - created something.

( He pulls another book onto the pile and flips across a few pages.

Tyler answers.

"Hey, Liv," he says, knee deep in the Maxwell journal he'd found. )

[geminated]

Maybe. Or maybe we need to combine the two?

[But she'll distract from that question when Tyler answers the phone.]

Hey. I've got Beck here. He found something about hellfire in one of his books. Did you find that Maxwell journal?

[telegraphs]

( "Only that the bell was meant to protect from the supernatural, but the right influence could corrupt it. Maybe that's his interest in it?" Tyler asks, switching to speaker and setting it down on the desk. )

What if the two were already combined. There are creatures in every pantheon whose own parts are the only weapon that can pierce them. Arcadius is powerful enough for nature to balance out.

[geminated]

If only we had a Maxwell to ...

[ ... Oh. Liv grimace briefly, before addressing the question to Tyler.]

Do you think he'd talk to us?

[Peter Maxwell had fallen off their radar after Matt's death, but if they needed to dig into the history of the Maxwell Bell, he'd probably be the one to ask.]

[telegraphs]

( "He's not mad at us, long as we keep Damon out of it, I think he'd want to save... We're saving more than just the Salvatore's, right?" )

And, every soul Cade wants for himself, which, sounds like at one time was a hundred and that was in a day, so. Sounds like.

[geminated]

This doesn't feel like it's going to stop with just the Salvatores, or Mystic Falls even.

[Liv slumps slightly in her seat.]

I'm not really a signs girl, but I don't think a Slayer shows up for nothing. Not according to anything I've read.

[telegraphs]

Believe it or not, there wasn't some big cosmic reason. We don't have any midatlantic presence and this was a good central dot on a map.

( But, maybe there's more to it. Tyler pulls a file that's handed to him.

"Peter Maxwell had an old storage unit. It's in Matt's family's name. I can probably get us into it with the right credentials." Tyler says. "Or, yeah, we reach out to Maxwell. Explain things." )

[geminated]

We're at the library so we're not far. I can go talk to him.

[He doesn't think he'll really listen to her, but she'll try.]

Want to meet us there, or do you want to keep digging?

[telegraphs]

Was that to me or him?

( "She's talking to me. You're the librarian, right?" )

Beck.

( "Yeah, let me see if digging gets us anything else, and if I find it, I'll meet you there." )

[geminated]

Okay. Keep us in the loop and be safe.

[She hangs up the phone before looking up at Beck.]

Want to keep digging here, or want to go see a guy about a really old bell?

[telegraphs]

Maybe there are answers about that bell that could help a second round of digging.

( As, he stands. )

But, first, I must see a man about a horse.

( After stacking his books up and relieving himself, he meets her back in the doorway of his office. )

So where is this Peter Maxwell, anyway?

[geminated]

Not far from here. Down by the clocktower.

[She slides her hands into her pockets as she leads the way out to her car.]

His son was recently killed as part of all this, so I think he'll want to help. Just ... leave any mentions of the Salvatores out of this. I don't think he's feeling quite so charitable to them.

[telegraphs]

Check, we stay on topic. Watchers are good at that. Regimented.

( He follows her to her car after locking up for the day. )

[geminated]

[And off they go. They talk to Maxwell, who is able to provide more context about the bell, and how it could possibly be connected - and more to the point, that his ancestor may have crafted a weapon before he was sealed away by a Bennett witch.

Liv thanks him for the information, before heading back to the car.]

Okay. We need a team meeting. Get your Slayer on the phone and I'll call Tyler.

[telegraphs]

OK, I'll just get my slayer on the phone.

( Getting inside the car, he dials Lindsay's number again. )

[patrols]

[Her phone rings and she briefly glances at the caller ID before answering. Damon and Stefan aren't far, so they can probably hear, but she doesn't put it on speaker right away.]

Did you find anything?

[telegraphs]

Several somethings. A weapon made of Hellfire crafted from the bones of Arcadius. And a bell, that if fallen into the wrong hands, could unleash Hellfire on everyone we hold near and dear. So, it's just another Tuesday.

( Sometimes, it's nice to talk about the dire things with Lindsey. What's that about? )

Liv is calling for a team meeting. The station, I assume, with Stefan's continued refusal of sunlight protection?

[patrols]

Yeah, he's not going anywhere. I think he's worried that if he leaves Cade will take him back.

[And that's not what he wants, and Lindsay is inclined to respect that.]

But glad to here this may be a problem I can stab. I was starting to feel like I was spinning my wheels.