Chapter 52: Whatever it Takes

Jeremy gripped Lottie's tiara so hard the metal dug into his palms, leaving indents. The tight chested feeling of anxiety clawed at him even as something dark brewed underneath. The happy, mingling crowd was a blur to him as he pushed through them, back towards Kol and the Hunter.

"Jeremy, what's wrong?" Elena asked, stepping in front of him. She'd never seen him look so angry, so…murderous.

"Not now, Elena," he said, stepping around her. "I can't deal with you right now."

She watched him cross over the bridge to the lake, his hands in fists, one gripping Charlotte's tiara. Had something happened to Charlotte? She gnawed on her lip.

Gregory smirked when he glanced over the Original's shoulder and saw the potential hunter stalking across the lawn towards him. The tense set of his shoulders, fisted hands, and flexed muscles told him Eoghan succeeded in getting the girl.

"I told you he'd be too late," Gregory said, his eyes back on the Original.

Keeping his grip on the Hunter's throat, Kol turned to see Jeremy returning. He didn't meet Kol's eyes, his gaze glued to the Hunter.

"Where'd he take her?" Jeremy asked, his jaw tense and his eyes narrowed.

"She's well beyond your grasp, now," he said with too much confidence.

Jeremy took a threatening step closer, and Kol held out his arm to hold him back.

"Not here, mate," Kol said. Turning back to the Hunter with a twisted smile he said, "We need to get him somewhere no one can hear his screams."

…

The teleporter didn't release his grip on Charlotte until the air stopped whirling around them and revealed what looked like a dingy, abandoned building. The floor beneath her was concrete, the walls metal, and the high ceiling had industrial looking metal beams making up the rafters. Rust covered most of the metal surfaces, and puddles collected on the ground where the roof leaked. There was nothing to distinguish where the teleporter had taken her.

"If you run, you won't get far," Eoghan warned, noticing how her gaze took in the warehouse.

"But it would piss you off," she said. As soon as her gaze fell on the large metal barn-like doors, she took off as fast as she could, kicking off her heels which slowed her down. She didn't even make it halfway when the teleporter appeared before her in a gust of wind that blew her tangled blonde curls into her eyes.

"Stop doing that," she muttered, pushing her hair out of her face and glaring up at him.

"Stop trying to run," he countered.

"You kidnapped me, now you get to deal with me and my escape attempts." She crossed her arms, staring up at him. "Why are you doing this? What do you want from me?"

Her wide blue eyes made her look so innocent. At sixteen, she was so young, but Eoghan knew better than to let his guard down. He'd heard the rumors of the High Priestess and if the girl really was her reincarnate, then she was a force to be reckoned with. Still, she couldn't have looked more innocent if she tried.

With a definitive crack, the girl's neck bent at an odd angle and her body slumped lifeless to the floor. Rolling his eyes, Eoghan turned around to find Celeste behind him, her dark hair pulled up into a painfully tight ponytail.

"That was unnecessary," he said glancing from Celeste to the girl.

"I didn't want her big blue eyes to get to you. You have a penchant towards sympathizing with children." She shrugged, sauntering forward until she stood beside him.

"Most people do. Children are innocent."

"She's not just a child though," Celeste said, using her magic to levitate the girl's body back to standing. Something that thoroughly creeped Eoghan out as her neck was still tilted at an odd angle where Celeste's magic had broken it.

"Doesn't make her any less innocent." Unlike Celeste, the girl hadn't used her powers to kill anyone. She didn't even know how to use them. If she had, he never would have been able to teleport them here.

Celeste shook her head at Eoghan's naivety. Pulling handcuffs from her back pocket, she secured the girl's hands behind her back and used her magic to move her towards the cage. She was sure Eoghan thought the cuffs were unnecessary as well, but she'd learned you can never be too careful. She let the cage clang shut, reeling in her magic, and the girl fell in a heap on the floor of the cage.

"Be careful," Eoghan said when the girl's head banged against the bars of the cage on her way down.

"She'll be fine," Celeste said, looking back at the girl. She couldn't help but think she looked like a broken porcelain doll in her extravagant dress.

…

"I think you owe me an explanation," Klaus said, watching as Kol and Jeremy secured the last chain around the supposed Hunter's ankles.

"I already told you, Charlotte's been taken by a teleporter and he's," Kol kicked the Hunter's foot, "the only one who can tell us where she is."

"But why was Charlotte taken? And how do you know he's a Hunter?" The man didn't have the markings on his arm signaling him a Hunter. And Charlotte was just a tiny, fragile human. What would a Hunter and a teleporter want with her?

Before Kol could answer, the girls came filing through the front door. His sister went to stand beside Klaus, and Caroline moved to stand by Jeremy and Kol. Liz Forbes stayed in the entryway, her eyes widening when she saw the Hunter chained to a vertical plank of wood in the living room of Klaus' opulent mansion.

"You're going to do this in the middle of the living room?" Caroline asked. She'd expected the mansion to have some sort of dungeon or basement dedicated to the sole purpose of torturing. It seemed at odds to do it in the middle of the hardwood floors, with the last rays of the setting sun bathing the room in an orange glow.

"I see you had the good sense to lay down covers over the floors," Rebecca nodded in approval.

"You do remember I'm the Sherriff, right?" Liz asked the room. "I can't condone torturing anyone."

"He helped orchestrate Lottie's kidnapping," Jeremy said.

Liz's eyes hardened.

"Where is my daughter," She said, pulling her gun from her leg holster and stalking towards the man.

"Woah there, Sherriff. I'll make him talk. Don't worry." Kol stepped between the Sheriff and the Hunter. Threatening by gunpoint wouldn't do anything and he didn't want the man dead before they found out where Charlotte was.

"Will one of you please explain what exactly is going on, in detail?" Elijah asked, strolling into the room with a glass of bourbon and taking a seat on the couch.

Caroline, Kol, and Jeremy shared a look.

"The Hunter's marks can only be seen by another Hunter or a potential Hunter," Jeremy said, choosing to focus on his supernatural proclivity instead of Charlotte's. "We know he's a Hunter because I can see his marks."

"You're a potential?" Rebekah asked, sizing Jeremy up.

"Apparently," he shrugged, slipping his hands into the pockets of his dress pants.

"That still doesn't explain why Charlotte was taken," Klaus said, filing away the younger Gilbert's nature for later analyzation.

Again, the three shared a knowing look, testing Klaus' limited patience.

"Caroline?" Liz prodded. With a sigh, Caroline met her mother's gaze. She hadn't wanted to keep it from their mom in the first place. Though she wasn't exactly thrilled about outing what Charlotte was in front of the entire Mikaelson family.

"According to some Occult Studies professor in New Mexico, she's something called an amplifier," she said, causing Kol to stiffen beside her.

He hadn't wanted his family to know about Charlotte. Even when he needed their help to find her, he'd hoped he could keep her non-human status a secret a bit longer. At least until Klaus and Elijah felt more kinship towards her that would limit their initial desire to use her for their own gain.

"Really?" Elijah asked, leaning forward in his seat. "I haven't come across one in centuries."

"What is an amplifier? What does that mean for Charlotte?" Liz asked, a little afraid to find out.

Caroline took her mom by the arm, leading her out of the room and towards the kitchen in the back of the house to explain it to her.

"I'm not asking for you all to help," Kol said, glancing around the room at his siblings. "I only ask you stay out of my way."

Elijah and Klaus barely knew Charlotte, and Rebekah may have spent a few days bonding with her, but he didn't expect any of them to care enough to want to find her.

"I'm helping you find her, whatever it takes" Rebekah insisted, stepping forward. Looking towards her older brothers she added, "are you two going to help?"

"Whatever it takes," Klaus concurred without conferring with Elijah first.

"Fantastic," Kol muttered, still not ready to trust any of his family had Charlotte's best interests in mind. "Then I'm going to set to work on our Hunter."

"I've got some antique hunting knives in my collection that may be of some help," Klaus offered. "One is particularly useful for skinning animals. Shall I fetch them?"

Kol nodded his head, shrugging out of his jacket and rolling up the sleeves of his dress shirt.

Elijah followed Niklaus out of the room, waiting until they were in his soundproof, waterproof, temperature regulated art vault before saying a word.

"You don't care about the girl's wellbeing. So, why are you helping find her?" He asked, watching as Niklaus used a crowbar to pop the top off one of the wooden crates with 'fragile' stamped across the side.

"Because, brother, she is a weapon in a potential enemy's arsenal. I want her in our arsenal." Amplifiers had proved useful in the past.

"She's also a girl, Niklaus. She has feelings, thoughts, opinions. She is not an object you can bend to your will."

"On the contrary brother, I find it's rather easy to bend people to your will." Pulling an old leather case from the straw within the crate, Klaus straightened and set the top back on the base. "You simply have to find the right motivation."

…

Something wasn't right. One second, Charlotte was standing in the drafty warehouse, the next she was in a church with wooden pews, stone walls, and stain glass windows. The sun shined through the windows at an angle that painted the seats of the pews in a mosaic of blues, reds, and greens. Padding barefoot down the aisle, the stone cold against her bare feet, she paused when she saw a woman sitting in one of the pews. Her long black hair hung straight down her back, contrasting with the red of her dress. A dress that, upon closer inspection, was a design Charlotte only saw on the History channel. Had she gone back in time?

"Excuse me," Charlotte said, stopping at the end of the pew. The woman didn't move, ignoring her presence as her fingers moved over the smooth wooden beads of the rosary in her hands. Reaching out to tap her on the shoulder, a shudder racked Charlotte's body when she made contact, not dissimilar to when she made contact with her own body after going to the Other Side.

Blinking her eyes, she stared down at the rosary in her hands. Any questions Charlotte had about what was happening and how she was holding the rosary now, were pushed to the back recesses of her mind as the woman's conscious took over. The woman had an inexplicable urgent need to focus on the wooden beads of her rosary. Rubbing the pad of her thumb and forefinger over the smooth surface, she felt a warming sensation spread from her fingers up her arms until it reached her center. She continued to run her fingers over each bead, around and around, even when the back doors of the church burst open.

"It is done," a man said. He slipped into the pew beside her, laying his hands over hers and stilling them.

Her fingers paused in their ministrations, and the heat slowly evaporated. When it was gone, exhaustion took its place. Leaning her head against his shoulder, her hands fell heavily in her laps, but she managed to move her left so it held his.

"They won't stop." Her whisper echoed against the stones and in the rafters. "They never do."

"Maybe this time will be different," he said, his hand squeezing hers.

"Maybe," she consented for him. She couldn't believe, couldn't even hope, it would be different. She'd made that mistake many times before, and it had all ended the same. It always ended the same.

…

"You can't kill me," Gregory reminded Kol when he stepped before him with a dark smile and a sharp knife. "The Hunter's curse will haunt you forever."

"True, but I can tear you apart, piece by piece."

Kol pressed the point of the knife against the Hunter's arm.

"Nerve by nerve."

Slowly, he slid the blade against the Hunter's skin, drawing blood and causing the Hunter to hiss.

"Until the pain is so severe your brain shuts it off to give you one tiny moment of blessed relief."

Moving the bloody knife parallel to his last cut, Kol sliced again.

"And then I'll heal you and do it again. And again. And again."

With every 'again' Kol made a new cut down the Hunter's arm. The blood from each cut dripped down, blending with the next line until his whole forearm was coated in it. And still, no cry of pain escaped his mouth. He wasn't going down without a fight.

"Bourbon," Kol said, holding out his hand. Jeremy's brows furrowed at his request, but Rebekah immediately fetched the bourbon from the liquor cabinet.

Taking a swig from the bottle, Kol relished the warmth of it on his throat before crashing the bottle on the Hunter's arm. The Hunter gritted his teeth against the searing pain of the alcohol and the alcohol covered glass embedding in his cuts.

The Hunter looked to Jeremy who stood behind Kol with arms crossed, hoping he might reign in Kol's insanity. He was a potential, after all. Deep down, his loyalties should lie with Gregory, not the vampires. Although, chances were, those instincts wouldn't awaken until after Gregory died.

"Don't look to me for help," Jeremy said, his arm muscles twitching. He'd stood by and watched Damon torture Mason Lockwood for answers on Katherine when she'd threatened Lottie. He had no problem letting Kol have at the Hunter if it meant finding her. "All I want is Lottie back. I don't care how it happens."

"I won't break," Gregory said, glaring up at Kol. He was a Hunter, he wouldn't show weakness to a vampire, Original or not. He'd remain calm and collected no matter what he did.

"You will," Kol assured him, setting the bloody knife on the table and grabbing the skinning knife. "Everyone does. But it's more fun when they fight it. Now, let's see how long it takes until you scream."

Liz stared blankly at the cup of tea on the counter in front of her after Caroline finished explaining what she knew about…everything. She thought she was well versed in the supernatural, she'd been a member of the council, but nothing prepared her for amplifiers and teleporters. Charlotte could be anywhere in the world, and even if they did find her, she could be whisked away again in the blink of an eye to another remote location they'd have to find.

"I wish she had told me," Liz said, gripping the mug tighter when a gut wrenching scream echoed from the front room where they were doing who knew what to the man who helped Charlotte's kidnapper. "If only someone had gone with her to the interview."

"If onlys and what ifs won't help her now. We need to look forward rather than backward."

"I don't even know where to start to try and find her." Liz let out a shaky breath.

"I might have a solution to that," Kol said, entering the kitchen. With a bloody hand he set the Hunter's phone on the counter. "See if you can find out who he's called and we might find out where she is."

"He's still not talking?" Liz asked, her eyes zeroing in on the dark blood covering his hand.

"Don't worry. He will," Kol assured her, turning on his heel to return to his hostage.

Liz wiped the phone down with paper towels before pocketing it. She needed to go to the station; her work computer was the only one with the software required to trace the numbers on the Hunter's phone. Still, a part of her was hesitant to leave and be left out of any answers Kol might get from the Hunter.

"Call me if Kol gets anything out of him," she told Caroline.

"Of course," Caroline said, pulling her mom into a hug. "We'll find her."

After her mom left, she grabbed the half-full tea mug and washed it in the sink. Needing something else to do to occupy her thoughts other than what could be happening to Charlotte, she dug around under the kitchen sink for cleaning supplies. With an old rag and some bleach, she began cleaning the counter and floors of the blood Kol tracked in. Klaus found her on her hands and knees, scrubbing the floor.

"You don't have to clean, I have people for that," he said.

"Yes, I do," she said, scrubbing harder. "I clean when I'm stressed."

Crouching down before her, he reached his hand out to still hers. Whatever she'd been cleaning from the floor was long gone. When she met his gaze, hers was frantic and watery.

"I'm helpless in this situation," Caroline said. "Being a vampire isn't going to help me find my sister."

She needed control over something. Klaus recognized the feeling of losing control. He'd killed enough people when he felt the reigns slipping from his grasp. In Caroline's case, cleaning was her way to cling to some semblance of control.

"Come with me," he said, rising to his feet and waiting for Caroline to do the same before leading her through the house to a back room he didn't let anyone in, not his hybrids nor his siblings.

Opening the door to his art studio, Caroline's eyes widened at the state of the room. Paint was splattered on the walls, floors, and furniture; much more than what probably made it on the canvas, and dust layered the dark furniture pushed up against the wall.

"Cleaning supplies are in the closet. Just don't use bleach on the floors," Klaus said. "I'll find you when Kol gets answers."

Closing the door behind him, he left her to clean in peace.

…

Celeste leaned against the cage, staring down at the unmoving blonde girl in the obscenely fancy dress.

"Are you sure you got the right girl?" she asked Eoghan. It'd been a half hour, and the girl still hadn't come back to.

"Gregory hasn't checked in yet," he said, ignoring her question. The girl had already come back to life after he shot her. She was an amplifier. He didn't have to prove that to Celeste.

Crouching down, Celeste traced her finger over the girl's forehead, pushing the hair out of her face.

"Boss wants me to mark her," she said, ignoring Eoghan like he'd ignored her. "Why don't we mess up her pretty little face a little."

"No," he said dismissively when his phone started ringing. Gregory's name flashed on his screen, and his finger hesitated over the answer button. He was an hour late for checking in, and he was supposed to do so via text. He knew Gregory had a penchant for improvising, but something didn't feel right.

"You're no fun," Celeste pouted, her eyes tracing over the girl to find an 'appropriate' place for the mark. "Behind the ear, or Inner ankle?"

"Ankle," Eoghan instructed, without looking up from his phone.

"You know, there's a reason we all have one," Celeste said, glancing up at Eoghan. As much as he claimed to hate Gregory, he was worried about his lack of contact. "Use it and stop worrying."

Eoghan didn't particularly like invading the other's privacy with his power, but he needed to make sure Gregory was alright. With his mouth, he was bound to get himself into trouble, and it was usually Eoghan who got him out of it. Stepping away from the cage and the girl, he allowed the air to swell around him, focusing on Gregory's anchor. Locked in, he felt the air swirling around him start to close in as he started his leap, only to be pushed back onto the warehouse floor.

"What the hell?" Standing up, he tried again, but he couldn't find Gregory.

…

Kol had to admit, the Hunter was a tough bastard. After peeling off sections of his skin, he still wasn't talking. Screaming, but not talking.

"I'm available whenever you want a break," Rebekah offered from the couch.

"I'm not stopping until he talks," Kol snapped. He wasn't used to it taking this long. Usually his victims were quicker to talk, and every second ticking by with no information was pulling at the back of his brain, reminding him it was another second Charlotte was at the mercy of the teleporter.

Surveying the Hunter's body for the next section of skin he'd slice off, Kol's attention turned towards his bound hands when the tattoo on his middle finger started to glow. The Hunter's eyes darted to it then to Kol, widening when Kol traded the skinning knife for the first one he'd used.

"Looks like that finger's next to go."

The Hunter curled his hand into a fist, but Kol forced it open, spreading his hand and fingers flat against the wood he was bound to. In a blur, he chopped off the Hunter's middle finger, nicking the ones beside it in the process. The knife thudded against the backboard satisfactorily and the finger dropped to the floor, the tattoo no longer glowing.

Jeremy's phone ringing with a call from Sheriff Forbes had Kol and Rebekah turning to him, hoping for good news.

"Did you find her?" He answered, hope rising in his chest only to be deflated at Liz's answer.

"I tried calling some of the numbers on the phone, but there was no answer, and I can't ping a location unless someone answers. They're numbers to burner phones, but they were bought in a store in central New Mexico, and their area codes correspond to a few across the state. I can't get anywhere closer than that."

"Okay," Jeremy sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Where do we go from that?"

"I'll make some calls to law enforcement where the phones were bought, but it's a big reach. Is Kol getting anywhere?"

"Not yet," Jeremy said, meeting Kol's eyes. "Keep me informed on any updates. I'll let you know when we get something out of him."

Hanging up his phone, Jeremy chucked it into the couch. Fingers clenching, he wanted to hit something, or cry, or both. Everything they've tried so far had failed. They were no closer to finding Lottie.

"Why don't you go grab us a change of clothes, mate," Kol suggested, recognizing his destructive behavior, and wanting to give him something to focus on. "We might be here a while."

The night air was cool when he stepped outside with Klaus' car keys in hand. He drove back to their apartment with the windows down and the radio blaring one of the screamo bands Lottie hated. The car vibrated from the bass, and the silence that fell when he cut the engine was almost too much. Stepping out of the car, he rolled his eyes when he noticed Elena stepping out of a car further down. Stefan sat in the driver's seat, watching as she approached him.

Turning his back on her, he pulled his keys from his pocket and headed towards the door beside the shops that led up to Kol and his apartment.

"Jeremy, just talk to me, please." Her hand reached out to rest on his arm. "Stop leaving me out in the cold, I'm your sister."

"You haven't acted like my sister since mom and dad died," he said, yanking the door open. Without even a glance in her direction, he started up the stairs, but she followed him anyways.

"I'm sorry, but when all our family died you became my responsibility. I'm just looking out for you."

Looking out by compelling him to do what she thought was best. How could she not see how wrong that was?

"I can't do this now, Elena. I have bigger things to worry about than you feeling bad about the repercussions of your actions."

Unlocking his apartment door, he flicked on the light and made his way back towards the bedrooms. He shoved a few clothes in his duffle before heading to Kol's room to grab some of his things. Zipping up the bag, he shouldered it and made his way back to the front to find Elena barring the door.

"You're not leaving until we talk this out," she said, her gaze falling on his duffle. "Where are you going?"

"None of your business," he said, stepping around her and jogging down the stairs.

"It is my business." She chased after him down the stairs and out onto the sidewalk. "I didn't say anything when you moved out. I gave you space. That space is over. Now tell me, what's going on?"

Throwing his duffle into the back of the car he slammed the door shut and turned towards Elena.

"Fine, if it will get you off my back, I'm going to Klaus' house where Kol and his siblings are helping Caroline and me find Lottie." He yanked the driver's door open and pulled the car keys from his pocket. "She was kidnapped by some supernatural teleporter at the pageant today. And now that you know my mood has nothing to do with you, leave me alone."

Jeremy's voice rose until he was shouting at the end. Angry at Elena for sending him away and making him forget Lottie, which started them on the path that led to the teleporter knowing she was an amplifier. Livid that he had no idea where Lottie was. And pissed that he couldn't do more to help find her.

"Okay, Jer, maybe you should just take a minute and calm down," Elena suggested. She didn't like the idea of him driving while he was clearly an emotional mess.

"No, I'm not going to 'calm down,' Elena. Lottie is missing, teleported god knows where, with people doing god knows what to her." His voice choked on the last part. "I didn't say anything when you freaked out spending a whole summer trying to find Stefan when he went with Klaus and you'd barely known him a year. So, you don't get to comment on this."

"Jeremy," Elena said, but the dark look he shot her silenced her.

"I've known Lottie my whole life. I've loved her in one way or another my whole life. So, excuse me if my focus is on finding her and not making sure you don't feel left out because of the choices you made." Sliding into the driver's seat, he shut the door in Elena's face, peeling out onto the street.

Elena watched as Jeremy drove away, music blasting from the open windows of his borrowed car. She was speechless. She couldn't believe that was her brother. The Jeremy she knew wouldn't side with the Originals over her. He wouldn't trust them let alone live with one of them.

"Are you okay?" Stefan asked when she got back in his car.

"No, and neither is he," she said, chewing on her bottom lip. Jeremy was acting erratic, dangerously so, and it was all because Charlotte was missing. She couldn't imagine what he would do if he couldn't find her, or worse, if he found her dead. "Can you make him forget?"

Turning in her seat, she met Stefan's gaze.

"Elena," Stefan hesitated. "I'm not sure that's the best idea. He's still pissed at you for having him compelled the last two times."

"Please, Stefan. This is different. He won't stop looking for her, he'll risk his life to find her, and if she's dead, he won't ever get over that."

"Are you sure you want to risk losing him over this?" Stefan asked.

"Yes," Elena said, clicking her seatbelt into place.

…

Elijah stepped out of the car, pausing to button his suit jacket before making his way up the front walk towards the modest one-story house. Knocking on the door, he waited with his hands in his pockets until soft footsteps shuffled inside and Bonnie Bennett opened the door.

"Elijah," she said, taking a step back and gripping the doorknob tighter. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to offer you a chance to redeem yourself and earn Caroline's forgiveness."

Bonnie tucked her chin and studied the Original Vampire. Of all the Originals, Elijah was definitely the most civilized, but that didn't make him trustworthy.

"How?" She asked.

"Charlotte Forbes is missing. Help find her with no questions and no contingencies or ultimatums."

"Char's missing?" She'd just seen her earlier at the pageant. When had she gone missing? Who took her? Why hadn't Caroline come to her for help?

"If you wish to help, Caroline and Jeremy are at Klaus' abode looking into other avenues of finding her." Turning he started down the walkway.

"Why do you care about finding her?" Bonnie called after him, causing him to look back at her.

"Because she's an innocent, and she's important to my brother," Elijah said. "I really hope you decide to help."

Bonnie didn't stop him when he turned to leave that time. He hoped she took his suggestion into consideration. It would be a lot easier to find Charlotte with a witch, and though they could call on another witch, Bonnie was geographically the closest to them. And since she currently was not on the best of terms with Caroline, if she helped them in order to earn Caroline's forgiveness, him and his family would owe her nothing for her services.

Returning to the mansion, Elijah found a bloody mess in the living room. Kol and Rebekah lounged on the couch discussing torturing tactics, waiting for the Hunter to heal before setting in again. They'd both changed out of their formal wear and their new clothes had yet to be splattered with blood. Jeremy entered the room with blood bags wearing casual wear as well. He tossed a blood bag to Kol and took a seat on the chair across from the couch.

"I'm starting to think he won't talk," Jeremy sighed. He didn't know what he would do if the Hunter didn't break.

"We've yet to exhaust all our efforts," Elijah said, moving to sit on the other armchair across from the couch. "And it is not the end of our trail if he doesn't."

"And where have you been?" Kol asked, tossing the empty blood bag to the side. Elijah's eyes focused on the second one Kol quickly drained. He'd never known Kol to drink from anything other than a warm vein.

"I've been recruiting," he said, resting his ankle across his knee.

"What does that mean?" Rebekah asked just as the doorbell rang, reverberating off the high ceilings of the foyer.

"You're about to find out," Elijah said with a small smile. Rising from his seat he went to answer the door and came back with Bonnie Bennett trailing after him.

"Bonnie?" Jeremy said when she stood in the archway to the room with hunched shoulders, gripping her grimoire to her chest.

"I want to help you find Charlotte," she said, shifting her grip on the book.

"I'll call Liz to fill her in," Jeremy said, pulling his phone from the pocket of his sweatshirt.

As soon as Liz arrived, they all gathered around the kitchen counter as Bonnie spread a map of New Mexico across the marble. Intimidated didn't begin to explain how she felt with the whole Original Family watching and waiting for her to do the locator spell. Kol with his bloody hands, Rebekah with a disapproving scowl, Klaus with cold indifference, and stoic Elijah calm and collected in his suit. All of them terrified her in their own ways. And Jeremy and Caroline just stood beside them looking completely unaffected by their nearness. How could they voluntarily be around them without constantly fearing for their life?

"I need familial blood," she said, breaking the silence and turning to Liz.

Liz offered her hand to Bonnie without hesitation. Using one of the kitchen knives, she made a shallow slice across Liz's palm, letting the blood drip onto the map. She clutched her grimoire closer as she recited the spell. The blood vibrated on the map with each word, but something was pushing back, hard.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Rebekah asked when the blood didn't move.

"Something's blocking me," Bonnie said.

Tightening her grip on the grimoire, Bonnie pushed against whatever was fighting her, using everything in her to break past it. The blood vibrated harder before exploding across the whole map. A second later Bonnie was on the floor, unconscious.

…

With a gasp Charlotte was pushed out of the black-haired woman's body, landing on her butt on dirt covered ground and sending a cloud of dust up around her. Fighting back a cough, she shielded her eyes until the dust settled and she stared out into the desert. What the frick was happening? Standing up, she wiped the dirt from her backside and turned in a circle to take in her surroundings. The setting sun painted everything in an orange glow. To her left was a two-lane highway and behind her was a large metal warehouse with a rusted sign advertising oil changes for 45 cents per quart. There were no other buildings or people in sight.

Turning her back to the warehouse, she started towards the road. She only made it twenty feet before she hit something solid that flung her backwards to the ground and knocked the air out of her. Stumbling to her feet, she reached out her right hand and inched towards the road again. That time she felt the push of air against her palm, ready to force her back once more if she tried to move forward.

With a sigh she looked back at the warehouse. It looked like there was only one place left to go, because she wasn't about to wander the desert so close to night. The doors to the warehouse squeaked something terrible when she pushed them open. The teleporter stood across the interior beside a woman with tight dark curls. Their attention was on the cage before them, and she had a sinking feeling she'd find her dead body in that cage.

"She can't be the reason you can't find Gregory. She's not even conscious," the woman said. "And I'm still not convinced she's what you and the boss think she is."

"If it's not her, then Gregory is dead. And he can't be dead," Eoghan said. He'd left Gregory behind. If he was dead, it was Eoghan's fault.

"Don't blame yourself for Gregory's impulsiveness. And he's more resilient than you give him credit for," she said. "It could be your fault you can't connect to him. You've made several long journeys in a short matter of days. It's bound to take its toll."

Easing around the two, Charlotte looked down at herself. It was still weird seeing herself dead. Her neck was turned at an awkward angle. One of them must have snapped it. Taking a deep breath, she leaned into the cage until she touched her arm. As much as she didn't relish being trapped in a cage, it was inevitable. When she opened her eyes, she stared at the teleporter and the woman through the bars. Using the bars to sit up, she pulled her knees up to her chest, huddling on the far end of the cage.

"You're alive. Guess you really are an amplifier after all," the woman said. "Why don't you go tell the boss his newest toy is whole again."

"Don't break her again while I'm gone," Eoghan warned. With a lingering glance at Charlotte, he pulled out his phone and headed for the metal doors that Charlotte now knew led to nothing but desert and an abandoned highway.

"Who's the boss?" Charlotte croaked out, her throat feeling like sandpaper. How long had she been out for?

"Don't worry. You'll meet him soon enough."

"Who're you?" she tried again. The more she knew about the people holding her captive, the better chance she had of escaping them.

"Celeste." The woman stared down at her with emotionless, dark brown eyes.

"I'm Charlotte." She held back a cough. Talking irritated her dry throat. "Do you have anything I can drink?"

"Maybe the cage didn't clue you in, but this isn't a charity or a hotel. You want food, or water, you're going to have to earn it."

"You realize if I die of thirst, I won't come back." She could only come back from death at the hands of a supernatural. She didn't think a supernatural keeping her from water counted, but maybe it did. She didn't exactly know all the rules to her so called 'powers.'

"I think you'll cave and use your powers like the boss wants before you become that dehydrated."

"That's doubtful, since I haven't got a clue how to use them." She'd never intentionally used her power save for when she fought Esther for control so she wouldn't shoot Jeremy. And she was starting to think that was just a happy accident.

"I think you're bluffing." Celeste didn't buy the whole innocent act. The girl knew more than she let on.

"If I was bluffing, I wouldn't be here. I'd have stopped Eoghan from teleporting."

"Then I hope you figure out how to use them sooner rather than later. No powers, no sustenance."

With one last withering look, Celeste turned and stalked away towards a stairwell in the back corner.

…

"Bonnie!" Liz crouched down beside her, taking her pulse and breathing easier when she felt a steady beat.

"Well, either our witch is defective, or they have one of their own," Rebekah said, staring down at Bonnie sprawled across the kitchen floor.

"Bonnie isn't defective," Caroline said, crouching down to lift her in her arms. As mad as she was at Bonnie, she didn't want her to get hurt. And it was actually decent of her to offer to help find Charlotte. "Can one of you show me to a guest room so she can get some rest?"

Klaus volunteered first, leading the way to the front of the house and up the marble staircase to the second floor.

"Looks like it's back to option one," Kol muttered, moving back towards the living room. "Let's see if our Hunter is awake."

Jeremy stayed behind in the kitchen with Liz, grabbing paper towels to help her with her hand. He'd seen enough torture to last him a lifetime, and Kol could continue without him.

"I keep thinking of all the ways I could have prevented her from being taken," Jeremy said, tossing the bloody paper towels in the trash. "If I'd told her and Caroline about the Hunter before going off with Kol to confront him she'd be aware of the possible danger. If I'd let Kol go after the Hunter alone and stayed with her, I would have gone to the interview with her."

"Don't do that to yourself, Jeremy," Liz said. She'd walked that path too many times today, even when she knew she always told parents in similar situations there was no guarantee doing anything different would have resulted in a better outcome. It did nothing but cause more grief.

"Easier said than done." Especially when he had nothing to distract him from his thoughts.

"I need you both in the study," Caroline said, poking her head into the kitchen. "I have another idea to help find Char."

They followed Caroline through the house to the study. It was all dark cherry wood bookshelves and furniture, and maroon curtains from ceiling to floor covering the windows. Caroline sat at the desk in front of a laptop. The glow from the screen illuminated her face and her fingers flew over the keyboard.

"I contacted the photographer I hired for the pageant and got him to send me his files from today," Caroline said, opening a file of attachments from her email. "I figured Jeremy could identify the teleporter if he was caught on camera, and after a reverse image search, mom could do a background check on the guy."

"That's brilliant, honey," Liz said.

"He has red hair, so he should stand out." Jeremy pulled a chair up beside Caroline and settled in.

They flipped through over a hundred photos. The first fifty were focused on the décor rather than the guests and looked to be taken before most of them arrived. When Caroline landed on a photo of Jeremy and Charlotte dancing, their gazes locked on the other, both smiling, he reached out a hand to stop her from clicking on. Just for a moment. Caroline studied Jeremy out of the corner of her eyes, waiting for him to collect himself and tell her to continue before she clicked to the next photo. Another dozen photos later, and Jeremy stopped her again.

"Wait, go back," Jeremy said.

Caroline clicked back to the previous photo.

"That's him," he said, pointing to the redhead in the corner of the shot. He wasn't the subject of the photograph, but he was in focus enough to perform the image search.

"Eoghan O'Donnell. If that doesn't scream Irish, I don't know what does," Jeremy said when Caroline found his name. He didn't have much of a social media presence, so she turned the name over to her mom and let her work her own type of magic with the system.

"Back to the station it is," Liz sighed, grabbing her purse.

"We'll keep you informed," Caroline promised, hugging her mom.

Moving back towards the laptop, she paused when she saw Jeremy staring at the photo of Charlotte after winning the pageant.

"I'm thinking about making some coffee," Caroline said, making him look away from the screen. "Do you want some?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure." He'd need the caffeine. He wasn't resting until he found Lottie.

Taking one last look at the photo, he moved to close the laptop, pausing when black ink magically appeared across the back of his right hand.

…

Kol stood back, studying the Hunter with his bloody knife propped in his hand not dissimilar to Klaus' paintbrush when he painted.

"If I cut off his balls and feed them to him, he won't be able to talk," Kol commented as he thought through his next move.

"I've got a better idea," Rebekah said, handing him the sewing kit from the junk drawer.

"I don't want to stitch him up. As much pain as that might cause him, I like the look of him covered in blood."

"Must I be the only one with imagination?" Rebekah asked. Grabbing a needle from the kit she carefully slid it under one of the Hunter's nails and the Hunter let out an ear-splitting scream.

"I'll raise you one better," Kol said, using the edge of his knife to pop a nail off.

He'd successfully removed seven fingernails and had pins in the exposed flesh before the Hunter relented.

"Stop!" he shouted as Kol moved to his left thumb.

"Not until you tell me something worth stopping for," Kol said, digging the knife under his nail one centimeter at a time before ripping the knife up and prying his thumb nail off. "Where is she?"

"Some warehouse in New Mexico," he panted, chest heaving.

"I'm going to need you to be more specific," Kol said, digging the point of his knife into the skin where his thumb nail used to be.

"I don't know, it's in the middle of nowhere. I don't know addresses or coordinates. The only one who does is Eoghan. He'd teleport us there when need be." Gregory released a whimper when Kol removed the knife from his finger.

"How convenient," Kol muttered. "What do you want with her?"

Sweat dripped down Gregory's face, stinging his eyes.

"What anyone else would want with her. To control her."

"How?" Klaus asked, making Rebekah and Kol turn towards him when he stepped into the room. "How do you plan on controlling her?"

The Hunter shook his head.

"That's all I know. I swear," he exhaled slowly, every fiber of his being alight with pain. Raising his eyes to meet Kol's he managed to twist his mouth into a taunting smirk. "My advice, let her go. She won't be in any condition worth saving when they're done with her."

Kol's eyes turned black, veins appearing beneath his eyes, at the Hunter's taunt. He wanted to hurt him, but he'd already hurt him as much as he knew how, and the Hunter still had the audacity to smirk and threaten Charlotte. Lightning fast, he had his right hand around the Hunter's throat and his left hand plunging into his chest. Ripping his heart out, holding its still twitching mass in his hands, feeling the hot blood of the hunter dripping down his skin, had him smiling.

"Kol!" Rebekah scolded, stepping forward. "What have you done?"

He stared down at the heart in his hand, realization dawning and the veins retreating until his face was back to normal.

"Kol," Jeremy said, rushing into the room, Caroline hot on his heels. "What happened?"

He reflexively looked to Jeremy's right hand. He couldn't see the mark, but he knew it must be there. And it was all Kol's fault.

"I'm sorry, mate. I didn't think, I just acted."

"Impulsive as ever, little brother," Klaus chided. "Have you forgotten about the curse?"

"I'll be fine. Just a few decades of solitary. Or you could have mercy and dagger me."

"No one's daggering anyone," Elijah said, entering the room. "We just got our family back together; we'll find another way."

"Did you get anything out of him?" Caroline asked.

"A warehouse in the middle of nowhere. Might as well throw a dart at the state map," Rebekah filled her in. "It'd be just as effective as the failed locator spell the witch tried."

"I didn't fail," Bonnie said, making them all turn towards the main foyer. "There's just another witch blocking me. Probably with a boundary spell."

"Sounds a lot like failing to me," Rebekah said.

"And what have you done to help find Charlotte?" Bonnie asked, propping her hands on her hips.

"Can we focus on finding Lottie instead of placing blame?" Jeremy asked, stopping whatever retort Rebekah prepared. "Bonnie, when Lottie was looking for me, a witch did this sort of astral projection of her in the park I was in. Could you do something like that to get us close to the boundary and give us a visual of where she is?"

"I'm not familiar with that spell," Bonnie admitted.

"Shocker," Rebekah muttered.

"I am," Elijah said, stepping back into the living room. "The spell is in one of Jonas Martin's grimoires. You'll need a picture of Charlotte and a lock of her hair."

"I'm on it," Jeremy said. "Just get everything ready on this end."

He used his spare key to unlock the Forbes' front door. Charlotte's brush was on her vanity and he pulled one of the more recent photos of the two of them from her bulletin board above her desk. It was one of many they'd taken before the sixty's decade dance. A whoosh of wind drew his attention away from the photo and he started when Stefan stood in front of him.

"Stefan? What are you doing here?" His gaze slid over Stefan, focusing on his hand which gripped Jeremy's leather vervain bracelet. His expression hardened, but Stefan had the back of his neck in a tight grip before he could say or do anything, forcing him to look Stefan in the eyes.

"What your sister thinks is best," Stefan said, his pupils dilating. "Charlotte's not coming back. You aren't going to look for her or worry about her. You're going to miss her, but you know it's for the best."

Reaching for the desk behind him, Jeremy's fingers brushed Charlotte's stake knuckles. He slipped his fingers through them, gripping it tight, before punching Stefan hard in the stomach.

"I guess I can't be compelled anymore," Jeremy whispered in Stefan's ear when he doubled over in pain. "You can tell Elena she's dead to me."

…

Sitting for hours on the cement floor had Charlotte's butt going numb and the metal bars of the cage dug into her back as she leaned against them. Moving meant finding another uncomfortable position and was made difficult with her hands still bound behind her. The metal cuffs dug into her wrists whenever she fidgeted. No one had bothered her in hours, which was a blessing and a curse. She'd hoped Celeste was joking about the water and food situation. But she hadn't been given any food or water since she got there. The dry heat of the afternoon stripped her mouth of any moisture and made her throat scratchy, while the chill in the night air made goosebumps trail up her bare arms.

The moon filtered in from windows too high for her to see anything but the night sky from. With no light pollution she could make out dozens of stars, and the moon illuminated the room like a spotlight. Not that there was much to see. The place was empty other than her cage. At least on this floor. Who knew what or who lurked in the rafters?

Trying to distract herself from thinking about lurking shadows, she replayed the events leading to her being locked in the cage in the middle of nowhere, where no one would hear her scream for help. Everyone had to know she was missing by now. Her mom would freak, especially when she found out they'd kept so much from her. Caroline and Jeremy would probably blame themselves somehow. She wished she could tell them it wasn't their fault. She wished she could go back and not even go to the stupid interview.

Leaning her head back against one of the bars, she subconsciously started tracing the metal links connecting her handcuffs. The repetitive movement helped her relax. Synching her breath with her movements, a spark of warmth heated her fingers and had her fingers twitching away from the chains. She opened her eyes, turning her neck to look behind her, but couldn't see her hands, and her fingers no longer radiated warmth.

Memories of the woman with the rosary in that mysterious church surfaced. The same warming sensation, like warm water flowing under her skin, had started when she'd focused on her rosary beads. Hesitantly, Charlotte touched her fingers back to the metal. Closing her eyes, she once again matched her breaths with the movement of her fingers along the links. After a few moments, the same warmth sparked to life in her fingers, traveling up her arms until it filled her whole body with a delicious heat.

...

Jeremy slammed the front door to the opulent mansion shut, rattling the glass pane, and sending a thundering echo through the downstairs. Blood dripped from the wooden stake knuckles, leaving a trail of dark red on the white marble floor.

"What happened?" Caroline asked, eyeing the bloody stakes when Jeremy set Charlotte's hairbrush and picture on the coffee table.

"Elena had Stefan compel me to stop looking for Lottie, basically making me accept that she's gone for good or dead," he said, finally loosening his fist and dropping the stake knuckles to the tarp covered floor. "Good news is, I'm apparently immune to compulsion now."

"Elena did what now?" Caroline screeched. "What the frick is her problem?! She had no right to try and have you compelled, again. And she's just labeling Char as dead now rather than try to help and find her? I swear to God she's just asking for me to kick her ass."

"Easy love," Klaus said. "One problem at a time. Let's find your sister first, then worry about kicking the doppelganger's ass"

They turned toward Bonnie, who set the page from Jonah Martin's grimoire beside the items Jeremy brought on the coffee table.

"The spell seems straightforward enough," Bonnie said.

"Says the witch who couldn't do a simple locator spell," Rebekah said.

"I'm ready whenever you are," Bonnie pressed on, ignoring Rebekah. "Who am I projecting to find Charlotte?"

Jeremy and Caroline looked to the other.

"Caroline," Jeremy said. "Lottie's her sister. She should go."

"I think it should be you," Caroline said after a long pause. "You're the artist. We know we won't be able to see or talk with her about her location thanks to the witchy boundary spell. You can sketch what you do see and give us a visual of where she might be."

"Are you sure?" Jeremy knew how stressed Caroline was. He didn't want to take away something that could help her cope with her stress.

"Yes, you're Char's best chance."

Kneeling across the coffee table from Bonnie, he held his hand over the picture and Lottie's hair as Bonnie instructed. He winced at the sharp sting of the knife slicing his palm. Warm blood trickled from his cut onto the picture as Bonnie began chanting in a foreign language he didn't understand. A pins and needle sensation spread up his arms the more she chanted, until his whole body felt almost numb. In the blink of an eye he was no longer in the living room with Bonnie, Caroline, and the Original family. He was standing feet away from a metal cage. Inside, Lottie sat with her eyes closed, her arms twisted behind her.

A/N: Hello everyone! I'm so excited to share this chapter. I worked so hard on it. I hope you don't mind the scene breaks, but there were a lot of location jumps from Lottie and those still in Mystic Falls so it was unavoidable. I'll be posting more fun videos to Instagram, so keep an eye out for those if you're interested. Thanks to everyone who reads/favorites/follows/reviews. It means so much to me that you're enjoying the story as much as I enjoy writing it.

Onto Guest Review Responses

To the guest who hopes Lottie isn't hurt or tortured or turned: The ones who took her have use of her, so they won't kill her (permanently). But if she resists doing as they asked, they could use other means to convince her to cooperate. But I agree, Charlotte most definitely doesn't deserve to be hurt.

Starlight: Haha, I'm glad you loved the fluffy parts of the last chapter where everyone bonded and all was right with the world. I wish I could tell you where to find a Kol, but I'm not quite sure myself. As you can see, Bonnie is trying to redeem herself for her past transgressions. And I would love to see you fight Tyler and his 'wereslut.' Your reaction to the trailer is priceless. I agree, Elena never learns. I may be exaggerating her character a bit, but as the seasons progressed I did notice how she ALWAYS thought she was in the right and how nothing she did was horrible while everything her 'enemies' like the Mikaelson's did was. I'm so happy to hear this was your favorite chapter, and that so far every new chapter is your favorite. That means I keep improving and I'm keeping it interesting. Yeah, I'm loving the evolution of the Original Family's interaction and relationship with Caroline, Jeremy and Charlotte. I love the Original Family in general. Jelottie's wedding will be epic. Yeah, I could see both Vincent and Liz walking her down the aisle. Mama Forbes will definitely cry.

Oz: I love long reviews, so thank you so very much. You are correct in assuming the version where Jeremy escorts Charlotte is canon. That is what I intended to happen, but reviewers on the other site wanted to see Kol escort her and since it wouldn't change anything plot wise for the story I obliged them that time. I am very…satisfied that you have been rooting for Jeremy and Charlotte since you started reading, as that was the whole point of me writing this story. I loved Jeremy and Charlotte so much and I hoped people would root for them to get together. Thanks for suggesting the photobooth scene, I didn't even have to work to incorporate it. It just fit in with what I had planned. I'm LOVING writing the Original family individually bonding with Charlotte, Caroline, and Jeremy. It's so much fun to write their evolving relationships. Don't worry, Elijah will be popping up more now. He was absent for most of the fourth season, but he won't be in this fic. Bonnie is trying to redeem herself a little this chapter. As for Elena, she's desperate to get her version of her brother back and a lot of her actions stem from fear of losing her last piece of family even though ironically what she's doing is pushing him further away. It won't always be a thing where she bothers Jeremy and co. She'll be irrelevant to this plot soon so she might not even come up much anymore. I haven't decided exactly how to deal with her from here on out or if her arc will include her getting her head out of her own butt. The reason Elena and the Salvatore's were at the pageant was because they are founding family members, and Elena wanted to try and get Caroline and Jeremy back on her 'side.' Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I tried to do each and every character justice. I tried hard to figure out how their characters at this moment would try and help find Lottie so it would be as realistic as possible. It made me really happy to hear you say the last chapter was one of the best ones. I'm always trying hard to improve so it's nice to hear the chapters are getting better.

Mimi: I'm so glad you loved the bonding moments! They are seriously my favorite scenes to write. I always felt bad for Rebekah not having any friends even though she desperately wants to be loved (both romantically and platonically) so I couldn't help but have her bond with the Forbes sisters. And adding Elijah into the mix is going to be fun. His character will be a good juxtaposition to the others. And I think you got your answer in this chapter about Elena and the others: they are definitely nosy. To their own detriment.

To the guest who liked the trailer and wants Jeremy to change his surname: I haven't thought about Kol adopting Jeremy as his brother. Not in an official way at least. I'll have to think on that. It is intriguing.

To the guest who pointed out Alaric was Jeremy's guardian and he's old enough to make his own decisions: Here here. I agree. Jeremy is allowed to have independent thoughts and opinions that don't mirror his sister's.

Jules: I always update on a weekend, usually Mondays (Monday is part of my weekend) but sometimes earlier if I've taken several weekends to write one chapter, like this one. I do most of my writings on weekends and such sometimes It takes a few weekends for me to get longer chapters out.

Rach

xoxo