Chapter Seventy-Two

                                    

                                          
Noon comes around faster than Damon would like, but it does come around. He and Cassandra walk through the woods heading to the location that she left in Elijah's mind. Their morning was uneventful as he planned. They had coffee. Watched television. Had breakfast. Watched some more television. Took a bath. It was as relaxed as he could make it without them knowing what is going on with her. Elena is talking to them on speakerphone. She's been informed by Sheriff Forbes that her fingerprints were found on a weapon used to kill the medical examiner the night of the Wickery Bridge fundraiser.
"So you're the prime suspect, huh?" Damon asks.
"She doesn't think that I did it" Elena defends. "She's just trying to find out why somebody used one of our family weapons to kill a council member"
"Well, why don't you just ask Ric if his dirty little doctor had access to the weapons" Damon comments.
"You're on speakerphone, dick" Alaric counters. Cassandra smirks a little and shakes her head.
"I'm just sayin' first suspects usually the right one. Don't get so defensive" Damon defends himself.
"Brian Walters was killed days ago, alright?" Alaric counters. "I didn't show Meredith this stuff until last night!"
"It wasn't Meredith" Cassandra points out.
"But Brian Walters was her ex-boyfriend and Ric saw them fighting that night" Damon reminds her.
"It's not Meredith, okay?" Cassandra nudges him. "I refuse to believe that your luck with women is that tragic" She adds for Alaric.
"Who else knows about your secret little slayer stash?" Damon asks.
"Who doesn't?" Alaric answers. "Got weapons everywhere, here, the school, my loft, your car"
"It's Klaus" Damon offers. "It has to be, he's screwing with us"
"What if it was Stefan," Elena asks. "He was crazy that night. And you know he was trying to get underneath Klaus's skin, he was capable of pretty much anything"
"Ahh, make's me nostalgic for the time when Stefan was a bunny snacking pacifist, anyway got to go, you'll know more later"
"Hey, where are you two?" Alaric asks them.
"Tea with an old friend" Cassandra answers and then turns around as Damon hangs up. Elijah is now standing behind them. Damon reaches for Cassandra when he turns too.
"Elijah. My favourite Original, back from the dead. Clean up nice" Damon teases slightly.
"You left something in my head," Elijah tells Cassandra, she tilts her head and nods.
"Dear Elijah, let's get together, plot the destruction of your brother. Love, Cassandra. XOXO" She teases a little. "And I even left you a little map, I'm nice like that" Elijah gives her a look.
"Cassandra" He warns.
"Was I right to undagger you or are we going to have a problem?" She asks him, holding her hand out at her side and collecting red mist in her palm. He glances at it and then back at her face.
"I'm here, let's talk" He points out. Cassandra hums a little and shifts closer to Damon.
"Actually, I'm going to leave you in his very capable hands" She touches Damon's arm, and Elijah raises an eyebrow at her. "I have witch business to attend to" Damon nods, understanding. "Try not to kill each other before we've dealt with Klaus" She warns teasingly before she vanishes from Damon's side in a puff of red mist. Damon turns to Elijah.
"I'll start with an easy question" Damon starts. "Any idea what kind of Klaus-killing weapon could be magically sealed in a mystery coffin?"
........
Cassandra waves her fingers at Bonnie as she and her mother walk towards the witch house with Stefan. Him being here is not part of the plan, but she can manage it. Make adjustments for him. Nothing is going to get in the way of them opening that coffin. Abby and Bonnie walk into the house followed by Cassandra, and then Stefan, but Stefan finds that he can't get in. He's blocked and he knows who done it. He glares at Cassandra.
"Sorry, Stefan" She offers, not at all apologetic. "Witches only now" He gives her a look and then walks away from the house. Cassandra leads Bonnie and Abby through the house. She moved the coffin to one of the upper levels, now that she's stopped anyone that's not a witch from coming inside, it is a little safer from Klaus and his hybrids. The locked coffin sits in the centre of the room, surrounded by lit candles.
"That's the one that's sealed?" Abby asks, Cassandra nods and picks up the spellbook from the side.
"Yep" She answers.
"This is a bad idea" Abby points out, turning to give Bonnie a look. Bonnie frowns a little and shakes her head.
"Here" Cassandra holds out the spellbook to Bonnie who takes it to look over the open page. The one that Cassandra believes is the key to opening the locked coffin. "This is the page I keep getting drawn back to" Bonnie nods a little as she reads through the spells on the page.
"Wait...Do you see this?" Abby asks, noticing something on the page, she points to a spell on the opposite page though.
"It's a sealing spell" Cassandra answers. "We're trying to open something...Not seal it shut"
"No" Abby argues. "Right here. On this side" Cassandra turns to look at what she is pointing out. "It's a chaos knot...which makes sense" Abbey looks at Cassandra. "Given that you are the Scarlet Witch...."
"Okay, so...what does the chaos knot have to do with the spell?" Cassandra asks.
"It means to bind and unbind it you need two chaos witches"
"But...Cas is the only one" Bonnie argues and looks at her friend. Cassandra realises. Sophia. If they can contact Sophia through the spirits. She's been to the house before. She could do it again. She could manifest here and help them. And she is not the only one who gets there. "This is what she meant" Bonnie whispers. Abby frowns a little. "This is why she came to me, why she pushed me to teach you magic...." Bonnie turns to Cassandra. "Sophia knew this was coming....she wants us to open the coffin....she wanted you to be powerful enough to do this spell with her...." There is a slow applause that echoes around the room, causing Abby, Bonnie, and Cassandra to turn around to find that Sophia is sitting on the top of the coffin, looking rather proud of them actually. They got there in the end.
"I couldn't do this myself" Sophia admits. "Chaos knot. You are the first that's come this close, Cassandra"
"You were in contact with the others?" Cassandra asks. "With Ally?" Sophia nods.
"I spoke with all of them" She admits. "Throughout the years....watching them, waiting to see what fate had planned for them....not a lot it turns out. Murder. Betrayal. Loss. Vampirism. A cycle they all go through" She gives Cassandra a look and then slides off of the coffin. "Think of this knot as two keys to a safety deposit box...."
"This book says it was locked using stolen chaos magic, that Ayana locked it up, that's why I thought it had to be a Bennett witch..." Cassandra explains.
"Oh, we still need a Bennett witch, but not in the way you think...Ayana and I locked the coffin, and yes, she did use stolen chaos magic, but channelled through conduit because Astrid was already dead by that point....sacrificed in the hybrid curse....two sources. We feed the spell, we feed the knot with chaos and the traditional witch is who casts the spell that binds it...or unbinds it in this case...."
"So...unbinding it, would reverse the spell" Bonnie inquires, Sophia nods. "Unseal it. If we did it together....you, me, and Cas"