but oh what a year

[patrols]

Comments

[vampireboulevard]

Talk to you in a bit.

[Caroline hangs up and heads back to where she left Bonnie. She knows how she feels about Stefan right now so she won't lead with Stefan but she will lead with this:]

That was Damon. He might have a lead on how to deal with Cade.

[moralitypolice]

( Bonnie is - well, when she isn't catatonic, or crying, she is angry, or going on a run. Or, sitting on the floor of the shower. Tonight, Caroline has gotten her to eat. She did her part in trying to find Stefan, to save others but bowed out when it didn't work.

She straightens up. )

I take it, he found Stefan.

[vampireboulevard]

Stefan is in jail. Literally. The sheriff found him and has him locked up in one of the cells. Sounds like his humanity is back too.

[She knows Bonnie likely doesn't care about the personal Stefan stuff, but Caroline can read between the lines of what Damon is saying.]

But the big news was that they had a lead on how to kill Arcadius. Team meeting at the sheriff's office. We don't have to go, though, if you don't want to.

[Caroline is worried about her. She's worried about Stefan too, but other people can handle Stefan if Bonnie needs her.]

[moralitypolice]

( She doesn't react. Doesn't say anything yet. )

Caroline, we do. Arcadius is a problem we can solve. ( Stefan just happens to be there. ) And thanks to Stefan, and two dead sirens, I'm involved directly. I've been involved since Damon took Enzo on his world tour of blood and souls. So, we're going.

[vampireboulevard]

Okay.

[They can go to listen. And then they'll figure out the rest from there.]

But say the word and we can leave them to figure it out. It doesn't have to be our problem.

[If she needs more time, they can take more time.]

[moralitypolice]

Caroline. It does. Because, this is all our problem. And the sooner it is nobody's problem, then I will say the world. I'm not fragile. And I'm not going to do something I regret to someone that not too long ago was a friend. But, I can't not hate 'em. That's what I can give right now.

( And the more you try to shield and help, the more she will break. And she can't break. )

[vampireboulevard]

I don't blame you for hating him.

[Even if Caroline doesn't, even if it's complicated.]

It looks like he's not even going to be involved in the Cade stuff either.

[She won't elaborate on why, because that's not Bonnie's problem!]

I was just checking.

[Because Enzo's dead and she knows that eventually the grief is going to become too much to hold back and Caroline wants to be there to catch her when she's ready. But until then, off to the sheriff's they will go.

When they arrive, Tyler will probably also be arriving and Liv and Beck are making their way in. It's sad, in a way, how much of their team is missing. No Matt, no Elena, no so many other people who have been there for them.

Caroline pops out of the driver's side and squints at Beck.]

You brought the librarian?

[recrudesce]

( "Great," she says, trying to betray how much she does care. The contempt isn't going anywhere and it's exhausting. But, even if he is involved, the Cade stuff is the priority.

All cars converge at once, each taking a space nearby one another. All passengers see one another. It isn't often a mob of people descend on the sheriff's building. )

The librarian's a watcher.

( Which probably means nothing to her as Tyler leads Liv inside. Beck, smirks, turning back as soon as Caroline makes it up the steps.

"Beck Ford, at your service. Mild-mannered librarian. Occult expert by profession and by blood. And you're Caroline Forbes, a walking vampire success story. We have cautionary tales we tell the newbies, but you, you're a prime example. You're the paragon." )

[vampireboulevard]

Thank ... you?

[Caroline isn't sure what to do with any of that, because one, this man she just met seems to know a lot about her, and Tyler's calling her a Watcher which honestly seems kind of creepy with zero context, so she ends up looking at both Tyler and Liv for some additional information.

Liv sighs. "The sheriff is something called a Slayer. They're like ... mystically supercharged hunters but all women and basically professionals at stopping apocalypses. The Watchers are their informational arm - they handle research, speak a lot of dead languages, all that."]

Oh.

[Caroline takes a moment to process that.]

So are we in apocalypse territory now?

[Liv shrugs slightly. "Seems like it."]

Great. No big deal, just the end of the world.

[recrudesce]

Apocalypse now.

( But, he has it on good authority that slayers have stopped them before.

He holds the door open for Caroline, Liv, and Bonnie, whom he gives a quiet look. Her eyes say don't start, and he doesn't. )

[patrols]

[They all make their way inside, and Beck will be able to lead them down to the vampire cells. Stefan still hasn't moved from his spot, still hasn't put on his ring, but he does look over when the new footsteps arrive. His eyes meet Bonnie's briefly, holding her gaze and then letting his eyes drop to his knees again. Guilt radiates off him, but he's trying to pull it in.

Stefan's guilt isn't Bonnie's problem.

Lindsay looks at the group, rubbing her hands together.]

Okay. What have we got? Are we ready for me to actually stab something yet?

[telegraphs]

( beck catches that. as a watcher, he's always eyeing human (and demon) behavior. )

We got something you should be able to stab him with. Made from hellfire and his own bones.

[geminated]

["Now we're talking." That's a step in the right direction.

Liv moves to lean against the bars.]

We went to talk to Peter Maxwell. Apparently Ethan Maxwell, back in the 1790s, created the Maxwell Bell with Beatrice Bennett. He also reported in his journal being enticed by Sybill and Seline in order to try and corrupt the Bell but here's the catch - they wanted to use it to kill Cade. Apparently if he's summoned to this plane, he has a corporeal form, and that is a form we can kill, with the bone knife Beck mentioned.

[telegraphs]

We do need to find the bone knife. And pull him into this world so he's not in Stefan's mind.

( Or, Damon's. Or, anyone's. )

[geminated]

I think the Armory has it.

[She glances over at Tyler.]

Remember that skeleton we found in the vault where the sirens were? I think that was Ethan Maxwell. According to Peter, Beatrice Bennett sealed him in with the sirens when they tried to use Ethan to keep her from interfering in their plan and summoning Cade. I think he had the dagger.

[telegraphs]

( almost on cue, Liv's phone rings, Alaric on the line. )

That's one.

( "How are we going to bring Cade to this plane? Is it the bell that does it?" Bonnie asks, keeping her distance and staying close to Caroline.

[geminated]

Yeah. Seems like the bell getting rung a certain number of times pulls him more and more onto this plane.

[She pulls out her phone, and exhales when she sees it's her brother-in-law.]

Hang on, it's Ric.

[She answers the call and hits the speaker button.]

Hey, Ric, you're on speaker.

[daydrinker]

Hey, I went through Dorian's office and Georgie, my other intern, catalogued something she found in the fault.

( he puts his phone on speaker, setting it down. )

Dagger of unknown origin.

[geminated]

Any chance it looks like it was made of human bone?

[Because that seems like it could be their weapon of choice.]

[daydrinker]

( Ric picks it up from the red cloth it was wrapped in. )

More like, forged from human bone, in high temperatures.

[geminated]

[She snaps her fingers.]

That sounds like our weapon. So we have that and we have the bell, we just need a plan.

[And that's where she may be falling a little short. She glances over to Lindsay.]

If you're the one who's gonna stab him, I can cloak you. But that's not going to do much against a psychic, even Gemini style. We need him distracted.

[daydrinker]

Bell?

( "We'll fill you in," Damon says. "Any chance you can whisk yourself away to the sheriff's department?" )

Just say, bring it to you.

( "Fine. Bring it to us."

"He's already fixated on Stefan," Bonnie says, having stayed silently until now. )

[patrols]

[Stefan's eyes glance to Bonnie, and something akin to discomfort shifts across his face because she's not wrong. But there's something of a wild card still in terms of how much control Cade still has over him.

Lindsay glances over to Bonnie before nodding.]

That's one of the things we're worried about. Stefan says Cade let him go because he wasn't in a place to be useful, but he's worried that if we let him out, Cade will take him back.

[And they don't want that. Lindsay doesn't want to have to stake a vampire today on top of killing the devil.]

[moralitypolice]

( Bonnie looks away, hugging herself, and wandering over to look at a bulletin board of things that don't matter. She did bring that attention onto herself.

She thinks about the new tether she feels. Enzo in the background somewhere else, the power and grief she used to create what she did. She doesn't want to make any more sacrifices. But, what's their alternative. )

He won't show himself when he knows he's invulnerable from his realm. It's why he used emissaries. Sisters and brothers to do his dirty work. But, I can feel him.

[somanyadjectives]

Then maybe we should give him what he wants.

[The worlds feel so heavy as he says them, but everything feels heavy right now. He's so tired. Tired of being the pawn in someone else's game, a blunt weapon intended to cause carnage and destruction, to twist the knife into someone else.

Maybe it's long past time he be taken off the board.]

Use me to draw him here. If he takes me back, there's people there who can stop me before I hurt anyone else.

[And Caroline, despite her being fully Team Bonnie, still can't help but see right through that wish. Still can't help the sharp "Absolutely not" that flies from her lips, looking to Damon for some kind of solidarity on this point.]