Disclaimer: I obviously do not own The Vampire Diaries, and find the need to state it ridiculous.

Rated M for violence, adult language, and sexual situations.

This chapter is very obviously massively late. If you're reading this on QQ you know that the first draft was done by June 7th. Several people have reached out to me with two main concerns in PM's so I figured I'd address it here for anyone else wondering before moving on to the real reason this chapter is a month and a half late.

First people seem worried that negative reviews have siphoned my enthusiasm with writing this fic. I understand this concern as my last AN was a bit ranty and on QQ I have had several back and forths with people. That being said, the truth couldn't be further from the that. I personally love discussion and feedback whether it's negative or positive, even if the person is completely wrong in my opinion. If anything I probably enjoy arguing and debating with people too much so please don't take my difficulties with this chapter as a reason not to give your honest opinion.

The second major concern was over my health or work hours. I'm perfectly healthy and have had the time to write and edit roughly one chapter every week to week and a half like I thought I would.

This delay was entirely down to editing, my vexing habit of over writing scenes and something that I honestly can't explain. For the past six weeks I've been trying to edit this chapter down to my self imposed roughly 10k word limit. While difficult, I was able to get just over 50k words edited down to 12k words that I was initially satisfied with. During the proof reading process to make sure the edited version still made sense I ran into a huge issue.

The chapter felt off to me. I couldn't explain or articulate the issue. I was severely unhappy and off put while rereading it. I put it down thinking fresh eyes would solve the problem. It made it worse. After every read through I liked the chapter less, to the point of actively hating it. So I scrapped the whole thing and rewrote it. A grand total of 4 times for a combined 130k words. I still hated the edited version of each chapter.

A week ago I finally broke down and asked my girlfriend for an outside opinion, she read through all five versions and she liked them all just fine but thought the first was the best. She couldn't find the issue that I was but she did notice something I completely missed. Through all my rewrites, the first half of the chapter remained virtually unchanged. It's the second half where things went off the rails. To confirm this, I reread the edited and unedited first half of this chapter and had no issues with it. Absolutely loved it.

Then I read the second half and hated it more than I can honestly say I've hated any story I've ever read. It's not that it's technically bad or that there's anything fundamentally wrong with it. I don't have writers block and have been able to in fact write a lot, including scenes for future chapters. I honestly can't explain my issue with the second half of this chapter or why it's causing me to feel so much hatred towards it.

I then promised myself I would have a chapter posted Monday morning, July 27th no matter what. I got as far as uploading the document and going over the final preview on before I realized I was an idiot. Instead of posting a chapter I hate I can just post the roughly 30k words of it that I am happy with. So I pulled out my first draft, edited it strictly for grammar and missing words then got ready to post it again before I realized something else.

The final 10k words of the 30k works better as part of the second half material, and worst come to worst if I can't fix the rest of the chapter in a time frame I'm happy with I can always buy more time by posting that as a proper length chapter of it's own. So what follows is actually the mostly unedited version of 2/5 of chapter 12. Roughly what was supposed to be condensed to 4K words.

Chapter 12

-4AM 06/24/2009-

Elk Grove Village, IL

Sarah POV

"Our targets are 4 coffins currently in possession of Niklaus Mikaelson. Our witch will preform a tracking spell tomorrow. Once we've found the location, we'll stake it out and study any guard rotations. Assuming we determine infiltration is feasible, our witch will search for and if possible, break any magical protections and alarms. If we're still in the clear after that, we'll fall back to continue watching the location for any response to the magic usage and our presence."

"If we have a clear operating window, we'll move in on the night of the 26th. We can discuss our next steps in the morning. If you have any questions save them for tomorrow." Keisha and Derek clearly want to ask something but I hate having to go over things twice. And Keisha's a bitch.

"I really th-" I had a felling that Keisha wouldn't let this go. It's probably her youth mixed with the fact that I'm not much stronger than her. Her wolf is ready to prove itself and maybe move up in the pack. The alpha would probably have her on her back with her throat half torn out by now. Problem is, I doubt I can can win if anyone decides to help her. Still, I have to maintain control for this mission to be successful. My growl cuts her off well enough.

"What part of tomorrow was unclear? What part of the alpha's orders before we left were unclear?" I get directly in her personal space while I growl out my questions. Bringing up the alpha gets Keisha and Derek to flinch. I'll have to watch those two. This is going to be long trip if I keep having to do this. I swear I need a raise for this bullshit.

"Sorry." She's clearly not but her eyes are down and she's backed off so whatever I guess. I can always watch our alpha break her to pieces once we're home. It's not like he really needs a reason to discipline us. Really he just takes any excuse he can to dominate people. I hate that I find it so hot, but instincts are instincts I guess.

"It seems Keisha and Derek have volunteered to take the first watch. And the second watch. How kind of them. Wake up is 12 PM, go ahead and pick rooms now. If the day manger arrives while I'm asleep, wake me up. Here are the keys." Lisa Beth, Samantha and Luke come over and grab them. After Emily and I are alone again, I make sure she still has the one way soundproofing up and collapse on the closest bed.

"You shouldn't have let her get off so lightly." I'm honestly surprised when Emily speaks. Not because of what she said but because she's... well Emily. She rarely initiates conversations. And never about anything but Bonnie, the alpha and the baby. Mostly about how 'stupidly' Lauren and I are handling things with them. She's not entirely wrong though. About Keisha at least.

"We're in an enclosed space. Any punishment or fight would have led to blood and broken furniture. In other words, unnecessary evidence." I can see why our alpha does the whole lying with the truth thing, it's effective. I don't really need to, I doubt she can sense lies like Bonnie can. At least I'm sure the alpha would have told us if she could. Probably. I just don't want her to know I'm not confident winning against the other wolves if it came down to it. Our inner wolf's pride can really suck sometimes.

"Ty would be displeased with us risking discovery on this mission. Still, a disobedient hybrid is a much higher risk than a bit blood and a broken chair." True enough. Emily walks over to the bed and sits next to me. I feel her gently pull on my arm and I sit up like she obviously wants. Once I'm up I look over at her but she moves behind me before I can question things. I feel her legs go on either side of mine then her hands start massaging my shoulders. I really do need this, usually Lauren does it.

"Wha-"

"Lauren asked me to. She said you let your stress build up and then end up doing something stupid." I love my Mate. Thousands of miles away and she's still looking out for me.

"Thank you Emily... I appreciate this." I don't appreciate the guilt I'm feeling now though. Everyone is distant with her when she's in Shelia's body. I know she's been feeling neglected but I can't get over being intimate with a 60 year old. I really hope the alpha finds a way to get her in a younger body soon like he promised.

"Don't worry about it." Emily keeps giving me a shoulder massage and I find myself starting to get drowsy. Before I can get too far into my sleepiness, I feel Emily's lips on my neck, lightly kissing. At first I let myself moan and enjoy the familiarity of Emily's touch. When her hands snake from my shoulders to stroke along my abs however, the spell is broken and I pull away.

"Emily..." Standing up and looking at her, I catch a glimpse of hurt before her face closes off and she stands up brushing passed me.

"It's late, I need a shower before bed. Goodnight Sarah." That went well. Fuck. I lay back on the bed as I hear Emily start her shower. I feel like a bitch but I really don't know what else I could've done. I mean I care about her but she knows how Shelia's body makes me feel. I let my hearing focus on the other wolves and unsurprisingly find Samantha and Keisha in one room, Luke and Derek in another, and Lisa Beth by herself. Things are fine for now and I can deal with anything that isn't in the morning.

-7:15 AM 06/24/2009-

The sound of knocking wakes me up from a wonderful dream about ripping Keisha's throat and fucking my mate on her dead corpse. My wolf has some weird desires. A second of focusing my hearing reveals Emily sleeping in the bed next to mine and Luke, Lisa Beth, and Samantha all soundly asleep in their respective rooms. Derek is standing outside my room with the manager from last night and an unfamiliar person. I run over to the door and open it. When I capture the newbie's eyes, I start the brainwashing.

"When shift change happens in the Afternoon, bring the next manager to one of our rooms. While we stay here you are to ignore rooms 204, 205, 206 and 207 unless told differently. You will immediately forget the features of myself and anyone you see coming in or out of those rooms. If anyone comes asking about those rooms or anyone staying here you will deny all knowledge then report to these rooms."

When the walking snacks are gone I turn to Derek. He generally would be a loyal wolf that keeps his head down but some males act up when they're trying to a female wolf. Why he's trying to impress Keisha of all people I have no clue. It's not the cheating on his his wife part that I'm having trouble with, I've seen him and the other males do that plenty, I just don't get him chasing after Keisha of all people.

"Where is she." I can't hear Keisha's heartbeat or voice anywhere around us, and a van is missing.

"We were hungry, she just went to get some food." Most places wont deliver this early, if any. And a hungry wolf is a useless wolf. I get it. Still, they gorged on blood like the rest of us. They shouldn't be hungry at all. Though in fairness our wolf doesn't always care they we don't need human food anymore and still craves it.

"Next time one of you need to leave, you will report to me first." Derek nods and doesn't meet my eyes. I guess if we were human it'd be a sign of lying or disrespect. As werewolves if he tried to meet my eyes I'd have his bones broken and him on the floor, evidence be damned. He's no where near my level.

"Yes ma'am." Someone nearly 15 years older than you calling you ma'am is weird. I swear my life was so much simpler 4 years ago. Just me and Lauren against the world, the only thing we had to worry about was what we were going to major in. And our overly homophobic families. And getting through 4 years of college with no financial support outside of our scholarships. So I guess things may not have been so great pre-wolf, they were still simpler though.

With Derek going back to his room I close the door and head back to bed myself. I get a quick look at Emily's sleeping form and have to immediately crush the rising guilt I feel over hurting her. Pulling myself out of it I lay back on my bed and wait before going to bed. It takes 7 minutes for Keisha to pull up in the missing van, the smell of McDonald's breakfast trailing behind her. With all my charges now accounted for, I ignore the beginnings of my own phantom hunger and let myself go back to sleep.

-11:45 AM 06/24/2009-

The feeling a hand on my shoulder wakes me up and I grab the wrist attached then flip the person onto the bed and straddle them. The haze of sleep clears in a few seconds but my instincts and speed mean that I'm already crushing Emily's throat as she futilely tries to defend herself with magic. My speed also means that I have my bleeding wrist in her mouth before the lack of air gets dangerous.

"Fuck Em, I'm sorry just... don't wake me like that." I see Emily staring up at me while rubbing her throat, looking scared and hurt. I guess I would be too if I found myself suddenly powerless and at the mercy of someone bigger and stronger than me, outside of sex with the alpha. It's probably the first time she's felt as vulnerable as most women have to go through life feeling. Especially after nearly 150 years of not feeling powerless at all.

"I'm sorry for startling you Sarah. Please let me up." It's times like this when I really do hate my instincts, hate my wolf. Not just for hurting her, but for how good it feels to be in this dominate position over her. Her scared nervousness making me want to submit her, claim her. God being a werewolf is so fucked up.

"Emily I'm not going to hurt you. You just surprised me and I reacted on instinct OK. Just calm down, you're fine." I know I should probably just let her up. She'd most likely calm down easier. I just really don't want to. It's hard to push down my dominate urges, especially having a mate like Lauren. I love her of course but she's damn near as strong as me and our sex is more like a constant battle for control than the submission my wolf usually craves from a partner.

"I'm calm. Please let me up now, I'm sure you'd rather not be so close to this body." I deserve that, and the rising guilt.

"Em, you know it's not like that, I just... can't with that body, you know I care about you. I'm sorry I keep hurting you, that we all keep hurting you but it's hard to get passed you looking like that." Emily relaxes under me then closes her eyes and sighs.

"I know that. But it's still the body I'm in, and you're all still constantly rejecting me. I can only ignore it so much." Fuck. I hate that I'm hurting her. I just... Fuck it, unattractive body or not she's still Emily. I lean down and softly kiss her lips, at first she stiffens but after a few seconds of me not pulling away, she relaxes and starts kissing me back. Her hands find the back of my head and I deepen the kiss, pressing firmer into her. When she tries to slip her tongue into my mouth, I start pulling away. I'm trying but I can only handle so much.

"Wait." Her hands hold me in place then pull my head down to the side of hers. I can easily break her hold but I don't want to hurt her again. Physically or emotionally.

"Do you trust me?" Emily questions me before I have the chance to ask her whats going on. Her hands remain on my head but she starts running her fingers through my hair, no longer holding me in place. I could easily move but this is my weakness, I wonder if this is something else Lauren told her.

"Of course I do Em."She's not just a really good friend that I have sex with and like dominating. She's also incredibly loyal to our alpha and the pack. She's making amulets that will basically make her powerless against us all. The only way I could ever see her hurting or betraying me is if our alpha ordered her. And if he did I'm sure I'd deserve it... or he was bored. Or horny. Or happy. He's weird like that.

"Good, let your magic protection down for a second, there's something I want to show you." I know I said I trust her. And I do, but damn that's a big ask. I let myself enjoy her hands running my hair while I think it over. Unless she's secretly working against the alpha, or he's somehow found out about Lauren and my talks with Bonnie, I can't see her doing anything bad. If she's against us, it's best I find out now before she gets back around the rest of the pack, especially the alpha, if this is punishment well it's best to just take it.

"OK Em." I close my eyes and mentally reach for the warm buzz the Amulet of protection radiates. It takes me several minutes to find the mental 'off switch' then another minute to actually go through with it. As soon as I flip it I feel the warmth fade and am overcome with a momentary emptiness. My eyes open when I fell Emily touch my cheek, but an image overtakes my mind before I can question her on it.

I see a beautiful light-skinned girl laughing freely in a blue old-timey dress and bonnet. As quick as the image comes, it fades and I hear Emily's voice again.

"You can raise it up again." Doing so is far quicker this time and I'm bathed in the now familiar warmth, within seconds. once the protection settles back in place, I pull away from from Emily to question her. When I look down instead of the Shelia's face I see the beautiful light-skinned girl from my head.

"Wha-"

"It's me, Emily. This is how I used to look, how I used to feel and sound. I needed you to know what I looked like for the spell to work. I know it's not a new body but... maybe it can be enough?" She truly is beautiful. She looks similar to how I imagine a lighter Bonnie would, though still unique in her own right. I reach over and put my had on her face, no wrinkles. I think I can handle things like this.

"You're beautiful Emily. I'm sorry if I made you feel so insecure that you needed to-" Our conversation is interrupted by knocking at the door... Keisha this time. The now cockblocking bitch. Or pussyblocking? I mean neither of us have a... and more knocking. I lean down and peck Emily's lips before getting off her and helping her to stand.

"We'll finish this tonight OK?" With her nod I move over to answer the door and am greeted to the annoyed face of the even more annoying wolf.

"It's 12PM exactly boss lady, we're here as requested." As she finishes I see the other wolves exiting their rooms and gathering behind Keisha. I move to the side and motion them into the room. Once we're all squeezed into here again, I get started on the briefing, ignoring any attitude from Keisha.

"As we discussed before, our current mission is to extract 4 coffins from a secure warehouse belonging to Niklaus Mikaelson. The contents of these coffins are 3 of his siblings and his mother. His siblings, Finn, Kol and Rebekah are currently being held in a sort of half death like stasis due to having a magical dagger sheathed in their hearts. It's imperative the the daggers remain in place until the Alpha decides to remove them."

"The Fourth coffin contains Niklaus' mother Esther. She's a currently dead witch who's body has been magically preserved. Under no circumstances at all is her body to be any way harmed. She is the priority, followed in order by Rebekah, Kol and Finn. Today our witch will preform a spell to locate the coffins using a necklace belonging to two of the Mikealsons. After we have a location five of us will head there and scout the area."

I still can't figure out if the alpha is a genius who set all this up, from recruiting a witch, tracking down down Esther's talisman with some random vampire who just happened to not only be in town but also basically run right in to him and me while we were 'saving' the Gilbert's. Or if it was just blind dumb luck that he happened to capitalize on. Still he would have to know that the vampire had the talisman in the first place, which just doesn't make sense any way I look at it.

"And then?" Right. Keisha. I'm really getting tired of her but I suppose I did kinda zone out in the middle of the run down. Still she's an annoying bitch, even when she has a point.

"Then the witch and me come back here and work out a specific plan to infiltrate while the other three keep watch of the location for any changes. Until we know the defenses at the targets location any specific plans will be meaningless. If we believe we can make a move on the location, we'll spend the 25th doing further surveillance to ensure nothing was missed, and we'll also have our witch try to locate any possible magical alarms. If everything is still looking good, we'll make our move on the 26th at whatever time of night looks most vulnerable."

"Why not just a smash and grab? And why are we watching this place for multiple days? We can just steal the coffins now and be back home by tonight, early tomorrow morning at the latest." Of course Keisha has a problem with this. I swear I need a fucking raise for this shit.

"Because, we have no clue what we are walking into or how fortified it is. On top of that we have strict orders from the alpha that I was just about to get into. If at any point we believe our chances of stealing the coffins and transporting them back to Mystic Falls is anything less than one hundred percent, we are to immediately withdraw from the city and make our way to the holding location then contact the alpha for further instructions."

"He Expects us to just run away and not even try? That makes no sense!?" I really tried to keep calm for the sake of our mission and group unity. When I took a step towards Keisha I told myself I was just going to get in her personal space to intimidate her. I was lying to myself. Luckily my new personal hero Emily had Keisha withering on the ground from the pain of near instantaneous aneurysms repeatedly bursting in her skull. After enjoying the sight for ten minutes, and growling at Derek when he tensed to attack Emily, I finally calmed down and gestured for Emily to stop her spell.

"The alpha doesn't expect you to do anything. He knows that you will do as he ordered and retreat if I say it's necessary. It's really simple, as of right now we know where our targets are. The last thing we want to do is spook Niklaus and have him move the coffins. Or worse, move the coffins and get one of his witches to block any attempts to track them. Its better if we know exactly where they are and what their defenses are. Still the primary objective is to steal them. Retreat is only a fall back."

I make sure I bend down next to the still recovering Keisha when I say this. Sure it's technically for the benefit of all the other wolves too but, I want to get this bitch to heel. Humiliation and getting separated from the pack, socially, is generally an effective tool when dealing with the more hot headed wolves like her.

"Anymore questions? No? Good. Keisha, Derek you stay here and guard our base. When the manager shift change happens I want you to compel the new shift manager as well. The rest of you get ready and meet us by the vans in ten minutes. And before any of you say anything, I don't want to hear it." I gotta say, the subtle threat of a witch frying your brain seems to be great motivation. Our room was empty before I could finish the last word.

"Are you sure its a good idea to leave those two together?" I turn my head to see Emily closing in on me and let her pull me into a sitting position on the bed when she does get next to me.

"Honestly? No. But there isn't much choice. As of right now I don't trust either of them to be in the field and not mess up out of spite. Besides while they may not be obedient to me directly, they wouldn't plot against me, and by extension the alpha." I hope. I mean I'm sure the alpha has taken measures to prevent that kind of thing. Right? Then again with how often Lauren and I find loopholes in his orders, he may not be th-

"I hope you're right then. I'd hate to have to kill one of the pack members without Ty's permission." I'm not sure If her seriousness right now about this topic should be worrying or comforting. Well I guess either way she's on my side so there's really no point thinking about it too deeply. Actually, speaking of being on my side...

"By the way, thanks for having my back with Keisha. I mean I didn't need it but still it's nice to know I someone on my side for sure." It really is, I'm not used to being away from Lauren for this long. You could almost say she's my own personal pack within the larger pack.

"If I let you handle it you would have killed her, and we just talked about how bad of an idea that would be given the secrecy of the mission. Besides, we both belong to Ty in one way or another. Even further outside of what the pack does as a whole, by the nature of that alone we're both on Ty's side." True enough. At the end of the day, my fate and my mates fate are tied to the alpha in a way no one else in the pack is besides Bonnie or Emily. If it came down to it the four of us would leave the pack to follow him.

"I guess being on his side is a far stronger bond then just being on each others. Sort of a higher purpose tying us together right?" Still it's a bit depressing to know that the only reason she has my back is because of loyalty to our alpha. I mean I thought we bonded or whatever.

"Yes, a higher purpose of sorts. Seems as a good a start to a friendship as most I suppose." Friends. Ha I knew she liked me. Probably how good in bed I am.

-12:30 PM 06/24/2009-

Watching the other wolves start to get into one of the vans I had to actively stop myself from face palming. On one hand I suppose I didn't tell them how we were getting there. On there other it should be pretty damn obvious that we wouldn't be taking a very noticeable vehicle on a mission that requires stealth.

"Not the van! We'll be looking for a minivan or a big enough SUV. Walk normally. No speeding, first to spot a minivan whisper to the rest of us." Honestly I shouldn't have to be explaining all of this, they got the special forces training I did. In fact they probably got more given that I've had to spend so much time guarding the alpha and Bonnie. Thankfully for my patience they're quick on the uptake and sheepishly split up to find us a vehicle.

"This is going to take a while, you know that right?" Instead of going on her own, Emily stuck with me as we started looking around. We ended up seeing a few big enough vehicles but they all had families in them and weren't what we were looking for.

"It's not. But if you're so worried can't you magic us up a minivan or something? Maybe disguise one of our vans?" The completely deadpan and blank look Emily gives lets me know just how stupid my questions were. Though I have no clue why I mean both of those things should work.

"That's just not how magic works. You do understand that right? I can't simply create a two ton moving object with intricate machinery out of nothing. I can't locate a random object without some sort of tie to track it with. And do you really think it's a good idea to drive around in a massively magically altered vehicle, when you and the alpha are specifically worried about magical alarms and detectors? That's if I could even do it." ...Emily kind of has this way of making you feel incredibly stupid that I've never fully appreciated until now. I guess I should have known all that... but it's not like magic education is taught in schools, or in the pack.

"Besides, you could have easily had one the hybrids find us a vehicle earlier so this wouldn't have been an issue." ...I could have. I blame Keisha for annoying me so much. I'm still wondering how and why a one hundred plus year old dead witch spirit knows how much a minivan weighs. Not to mention is somehow able to drive. Just when I'm about to question her on it I spot a young woman exiting a Krispy Kreme and heading to a blue dodge grand caravan. Perfect.

"Found one. Converge on me but hang back a bit." I'm not too proud to admit that I'm using this as a way to move on from what just happened, at least to myself. Closing in on the woman I realize I was a bit mistaken, she actually looks to be in her early 30's just with a lot of makeup on. As I made it behind her I tapped her on the shoulder and watched as she turned around in confusion. As soon as our eyes met I pulled her into a quick compulsion.

"Stay completely calm and still. When I ask a question answer truthfully and completely. First, is there anywhere you have to be today? Is there anyone waiting at home for you today?" Her answer to both questions were luckily no. A bit more prodding revealed she's a single mother and her twin sons are currently at summer camp, on top of that she's a teacher and only works part time during the summer as a tutor. So far my earlier luck with the manager is holding.

"For the rest of the day you will obey my every order without hesitation or complaint. After today you will forget everything that happened after you left Krispy Kreme a few moments ago and instead remember spending the day at home doing whatever you normally would." That should probably work. Hopefully. I'm still getting used to the whole compulsion thing and unlike with the managers at the motel, I don't have the alpha's directions on what to say. Seeing her nod in agreement I waited a few moments for the rest of the wolves to arrive.

"OK guys, everyone in the minivan. The witch, Lisa Beth and me will be in the back row Luke and Samantha you take the middle." It's probably paranoid but the back windows are all tinted and the front windshield isn't. I'm sure the alpha wouldn't want anyone's face getting captured on camera. If something happened that is. Or I'm seriously over thinking things. God I hate being in charge.

After Emily nudged me out of my thoughts we all piled in and then she started the tracking spell. I may not be an expert on magic but the alpha told me that tracking spells usually involved a map. Instead Emily mutter a few words in Latin? Or Greek? I have no clue honestly but either way the necklace in her hand pulled taunt and then pointed at a forty five degree angle ahead of us, roughly southeast from our location. She gave me a quick nod to let me know it was done so I turned to the woman... I don't think I ever asked her name actually. Wow I'm getting way too used to just thinking of humans as walking blood bags if I'm disregarding them this much.

"Human start the van and drive forwards. Take the quickest route into Chicago, once we're in the city you'll get more specific directions." I should probably ask her name, but I don't want to seem weak in front of the others. Or wait, would that be seen as weak? Logically it's more efficient if I know her name and can direct orders to her right? But I could always just call her human and the others may think it's odd if I want to know a blood bags name. But I am the boss right now and can probably take them all if I needed to. Maybe. Probably not but it think Lisa Beth would back me.

As I watched the the scenery go past and watched the necklace subtly shift in relation to our changing position, I didn't ask the human's name. Not because I was afraid of how it would look, well not just because of that, but because it honestly doesn't matter. I need to learn to stop seeing humans as more than possible resources like the alpha keeps telling me.

It only took us thirty minutes to get into Chicago with the traffic and from there it only took us another fifteen minutes to get into the old Irving Park area in the northern part of Chicago. The necklace Emily was holding is pointing at a warehouse roughly two hundred yards up the road and to the left from where I have us parked right now. It's an three story old prohibition era brick warehouse that's fairly large looking at what seems to be roughly ten thousand square feet.

"So you're sure that's the building?" I directed my question to Emily who was in the process of ending her spell and putting the necklace away. The look she gave me once again did an amazing job of making me feel like a stupid child.

"No that's not the building. The real building is on the other side of the city and the necklace just pointed here to play a prank on you for disrespecting magic earlier." I know she's probably joking. That clearly doesn't make sense but... I really don't know if magic is sentient enough to do that and her deadpan is flat out impossible to read.

"Really-"

"No. Obviously no. That's clearly the building we're looking for. Magic in and of itself isn't sentient, it couldn't possibly have played a prank on you. How can you not know this." ….Right. Of course. I should know that but clearly our magic education has been severely lacking. I should probably mention it to the alpha. The other wolves are trying very hard not to laugh at me, the only thing that helps is that I saw how clearly worried they were at the possibility of magic itself pranking us a minute ago. I'm not alone. And Keisha isn't here. The bitch.

"... Lisa Beth head into the alley behind the building on our right. Once you're there leap to the roof and get in position to keep a lookout on the warehouse. Focus on cameras and guard rotations. Luke I want you to head two hundred yards past the warehouse, find a building and do the same. Samantha, I want you to head to the street the backside of the warehouse faces, find a building and do the same. The witch and I will stay here while she scans for any magical signatures in the area."

Admittedly I was probably trying to move on from the situation but regardless the wolves followed my orders and were quickly out of the van. Looking at Emily next to me I watched as she began speaking in some foreign language again, this time distinctly different than whatever language she used before. After a few moments her brown eyes began to glow slightly with a golden undertone. I'm assuming she's able to see magic now, if that's a thing.

"Human, drive slowly past that warehouse two hundred yards on the left. Then take the very next left and then the left after that. After we've completely driven around the warehouse, park back in this spot." As soon as I finished the minivan was being started and driven forward. As much as I want to ask Emily what she's seeing, I know she probably needs to focus.

It only takes us ten minutes to get around the warehouse and back to the spot we were parked in. When we have, Emily takes a deep breath, mutters a few more words and closes her eyes. After several seconds pass her eyes open again and they seem back too normal. No weird magic back lighting in sight.

"What exactly was that?" It probably isn't important. I probably don't really need to know, but I'm kind of tired of not knowing whats going on with the magic the alpha has basically forced into all of our lives. Judging by the smirk Emily is giving me, I think my motives are easy to read. At least for her. Which I guess could honestly mean anything given that she's a mysterious one hundred plus year old spirit that's probably been spying on humans that whole time.

"That was a little old spell that lets the caster see active magic. If you get good with it like me, you can even tell the type of active magic you're seeing." That sounds useful, too useful for witches to be so easily killed and contained like the alpha told us about in New Orleans.

"What language was it in? I didn't recognize it. If you don't mind me asking I mean." I have no clue if that was rude. I mean I'm sure witches keep their magic spells private right? But she's also part of the pack and we generally don't keep secrets unless for a super good reason, like stopping your alpha from going crazy and murdering the whole country.

"It's fine, we're on the same side right? Besides I'm sure you could eventually look it up yourself on Google translate, well you could get a general idea with it Google translate doesn't have dead languages. It's ancient Greek." ….How could she possibly know about how Google works? Cars are one thing, they're nearly a century old but like Google translate only came out like three or so years ago. And why does she use ancient Greek spells?

"...Um not to be rude but um how did you learn an ancient Greek spell? I mean I just assumed your spells would be like Voodoo or something like that..." It took until the end of my question for me to realize how potentially racist that sounds. It wasn't supposed to, my mom's family is Creole, that's why I assumed I guess. Luckily Emily doesn't look offended, she just chuckles a bit.

"Despite the color of our skin, you'll find that the majority of the Bennett Family spells come from the centuries our ancestors lived in Europe. Actually Europe is wear our family started. Though to be fair that wasn't exactly a spell found in any of our families Grimoires." I guess at some point someone in their family married a black person, and then so did their kids? Way too much of my magic knowledge must come from Hollywood if I didn't know there were non Voodoo black witches.

"...So Where did you learn it? Was there like some ancient Greek vampire you met or something?" I think Katerina said she comes from Bulgaria, and I know vampires are only supposed to be a thousand years old but the alpha says that's mostly a lie. Which come to think of it could mean anything really. I really wish my wolf didn't see questioning the alpha as a bordeline challenge, I end up never asking the things I really want to. Unless I'm mad, or horny, or happy. My wolf is so weird.

"Nothing so extravagant. Just something a dear friend taught me." It makes sense Emily used to have friends... I just never really thought of her as the friend type, she's usually so reserved and stoic. When she's not mad, or horny. Huh. I'm starting to get why she fits in so well.

"Right... a friend so uh what exactly did you see when the spell was working? Or is active a better word for it? Or is that confusing because the spell sees other active spells? Is there like universal term for when a spell is being used? Is it in ancient Greek?" ...I didn't meant to say even half of that. Like at all. I'm sure my cheeks are blushing super hard at this point and Emily's barely contained laugh isn't helping. Like at all.

"...Active is...fine to use Sarah. The only visible spell on the outside of the building seems to be a type of boundary spell. Though honestly it looked pretty unique. It doesn't appear to stop anything from entering or leaving. It also doesn't seem to have any alarm functions, well it doesn't seem to be tied into any other spell that could be used to send a message at least."...That means absolutely nothing to me. I guess she's saying it does something besides trap people like the basement or keep people out like some of the wolves' houses. But it also doesn't sound any alarm. At least any alarm she can see? Maybe?

"So do you have any clue what it does? If it doesn't do... that other stuff I mean. And should our Amulets protect us from that?" Emily must me amazing at reading me because her eyes are basically shining with amusement. Or I'm super easy to read. Honestly it's just confusing at this point.

"Well there's no way to be certain from this distance, or with that spell, but the most logical answer is it either catalogs everyone entering, or it's an alarm that is connected to a spell inside the building that I couldn't see from here. As for your amulets... no they aren't designed to protect you from something like this, and unlike Ty's they aren't powerful enough to cover forms of magic that they weren't designed for. " That doesn't sound too bad. Well the first one doesn't. If it's the second one and Emily can't take it down, that's an immediate mission abort. The third thing about the Amulets... is honestly a bit scary.

"Is there any way you can tell? Like with a different spell maybe? Or could you just take it down? Would it be able to know our names if it's the first one? And why can't the Amulets protect us from this." I guess I could have asked those a bit more spaced out, at least I think that's what the slightly annoyed look on Emily's face means. Or maybe she's hungry? Or mad? Or Horny? Well probably not horny.

"There is a spell, well ritual, I can use but it takes a while to prepare everything for it, and it's best performed at midnight. A sort of revealing enchantment. Temporary and relatively niche but if used with the spell to see active magic it should reveal the nature of the magic I'm seeing. The Amulets protect you from magic being cast against you, and only magic that would affect your physical body or mind. This Boundary seems to scan more of your aura than affect your body and mind." I feel like she probably should have had that already prepared. Proving once again that I'm apparently an open book to Emily, she cuts off my question before I can even start.

"The enchantment only lasts twenty four hours. A more permanent one would have to be done during the full moon and with more power than a single witch can bring to bear. And since there aren't a lot of obvious situations it can be used in, no one in our family has bothered to make a permanent one in centuries." I can think of a lot of situations something like that can be used in. It sounds dumb to have just disregarded it like that, the annoyance in Emily voice towards the end probably means she agrees.

"OK, we can do that tonight then and you can use it when we scope the warehouse out tomorrow. Any chance you can take the spell down? And would a cataloging spell be able to know our names?" I'm not sure why those were stupid questions, or why Emily didn't answer them the first time, but by the look on her face they are.

"Sarah... If I don't know exactly what the spell does, or what other possible spells it's tied to, how could I tell you if I can take it down? Or if it can tell your name? That's like me telling you there is a car next to us but not telling you the type. Then asking you how fast it goes, or if it has a CD player in it." ...That makes sense and in hindsight should have been obvious as hell. God I hate hate magic. Well I hate not knowing magic. Magic itself is actually kinda cool, if stupidly complicated.

"...Um right. So uh I guess there's not much left for you to do here then right?" All Emily does is roll her eyes and nod. Every time she breaks the prim and proper attitude of living in the 1800's I'm still surprised. I shouldn't be at this point but she can just be so... olden timey? That the sudden modern sass and attitude, or even playfulness and bisexuality just always feels out of nowhere. When the slight surprise wears off I decide to do my job and be in charge again.

"As I'm sure you all have heard, our witch needs to perform a ritual tonight-"

"They can't hear you, I silenced the van before we even got into the city." Of course she did. After a pointed look she waves her hand and there's a brief... almost shattering feeling in the van, it's hard to notice and I only recognize it from the few other times I've been in a room where her soundproofing drops.

"Our-" Before I an get any further, I feel Emily's hand on my arm and then she waves and there's a brief consuming silence. She raised the spell back

"You probably shouldn't say anything supernatural related, or even act like people far away can hear you, We don't know if there's anyone with supernatural hearing in the warehouse." Fuck... that could have been so bad. I seriously owe Emily for that. She could have said that before she broke the spell though.

"Any suggestions on how I should let our wolves know that we're leaving? Besides me going around and physically telling each of them?" God I wish we had cell phones. I get the radio silence and not having identifiable items. I probably should have bought the prepaid phones like alpha suggested already. I planned to... but Keisha just threw me off my game, she's a bitch like that though.

"You can just pretend to be on a phone call, saying you have to leave so your girlfriend can get some supplies for the party tomorrow but that you'll be back to pick your friends up later tonight." That... works. She's a lot better at thinking on her feet than I am. I usually rely on Lauren for that, she's a really good liar. Not sure if that's something to be proud of your girlfriend for now that I think about it.

"That's a pretty good plan, especially since you came up with it so quickly." Emily for some reason just stares at me blankly.

"I didn't come up with it just now. Ty sent me a list of code words and phrases to use to avoid drawing any attention from people with supernatural hearing. He said he sent it to you and the other hybrids too." ...What the fuck? Since when was there a list like that? I certainly never got it!

"When the hell did he send you guys get a list like that?!" He specifically told me that he wasn't telling the other wolves anything about this mission to avoid any possible complications.

""Mmm. I believe it was at the end of May. There was an Email. The subject was Mystic Falls rules of conduct I believe. It was a relatively lengthy Email going over places and people to avoid, how everyone was expected to behave in public etc... the end of it had a list of code words and phrase to use when people with supernatural hearing could potentially be listening."

I kind of remember that email. I think I was reading it with Lauren and she said it was stupid during the part that went over not killing high school students in the middle of town for being annoying. Then she closed our laptop and we started having sex. Then I planned to finish it but Bonnie found out About Katerina being locked in the basement and that turned into this whole fucking headache of a situation. Fuck.

"...Yeah... that email, how could I forget. Um would you mind taking down the sound proofing again." Maybe I should swallow my pride and ask her or the code words later?

"I could do that. Of you could go outside for a moment and save me the trouble of having to drop then restart a spell just thirty seconds later." …I need to have a smart moment soon because at this point I'm starting to seriously doubt my intelligence with Emily around. To not somehow make things worse I just opened the door and stepped outside.

"Hey Luke, tell Lisa and Samantha that I'm sorry I had to leave and take my girlfriend shopping to pick up some supplies for the party tomorrow. Don't worry though we should be able to swing back and pick you guys up around 9 PM. In the mean time just keep studying for trivia night, we'll see you guys later." With my fake phone call over I got back into the minivan.

"That was pretty good. I like the part you added in." Emily seems to be sincere in her compliment. Though it could be pity I guess.

"Thanks. Um so should we head straight back to the room or are you hungry enough to need something to eat?" Eating has become such a weird thing since becoming a hybrid, it's still weird to think of myself as a hybrid. We can eat normal food just fine and even get hungry for it. Usually. The exception is when we're full on blood. We don't technically need to eat normal food at all, all we need is blood. And with how much blood the alpha had us gorge ourselves on, I don't think i'll need to eat for a week... at least. Despite my wolf giving me phantom food cravings. She can be a bitch. Still better than Keisha though.

"This body has gotten pretty hungry. I'll need to feed it soon." That has to be so weird. Like does it feel like her hunger? Or is it a muted distant feeling? How awkward is going to the bathroom for her?

"Human drive us back to the Krispy Kreme we left from." I just now noticed Emily rolling her eyes when I call the human...well human. I guess now that the other wolves can't hear us I could ask...but I shouldn't really care about her name right?

"I'm not stupid you know. I'm just having some stupid moments." It's been nearly thirty minutes and I still haven't asked the human's name. Part of me is staring to feel a bit bad but it's a much smaller part of me.

"I know you aren't stupid Sarah. I know why you're having these stupid moments as you call them. As strong as you are, as smart as you are, you're never the idea person in a group. Even when you're in charge, you're usually following an alpha's plan. When you aren't Lauren's always there to come up with a good idea before you can. You haven't had to think on you feet in a while, it's why Ty said he wanted you to lead this mission, without Lauren or a super detailed plan. He needs you grow and start putting that brain of yours to more use than just helping organize the pack."

I had no clue the alpha and Emily talked that much about anything but Bonnie, the baby and magic. Let alone me. It's flattering. Or worrying depending on what they say during their talks. Though it does make me wonder, if they're so close why hasn't she let the alpha know exactly what's going on between us and Bonnie. I guess family loyalty trumps her loyalty to the alpha?

"Thanks Em, I guess I never really thought of it like that before but It makes plenty of sense. So um do you and the alpha talk about me a lot? Or was it like just for the mission?" They honestly never seem that close to me. But I guess it's not like the alpha doesn't go off on his own whenever he wants. Despite the fact that me and Lauren are supposed to be guarding him. I guess he doesn't really need protection though.

"Not particularly about you no. Mostly the pack in general. Though you and Lauren do come up often when we talk about Bonnie. Bust the majority of our conversation just happen while we're doing something else. I'm not sure if you noticed but Ty has a habit of talking a lot when he's trying to avoid a specific topic." The alpha... talking a lot? Since fucking when? What the hell am I missing out on here.

"That makes sense I guess." It really doesn't but I can't keep going in circles thinking about this. As we get close to the area of our motel I decide to get my head in the game.

"Human, is there any large shopping centers in the area?" A moment later reveals that there's a Walmart just north of Elk Grove Village, and a Target just south. A quick order gets us headed to the Walmart for some much needed clothing and prepaid phones. Hopefully it's one of those newer Walmart's that has a Subway in it, if not then hopefully it'll have a deli that Emily and the human can eat from. As much as I can understand the reason for not taking potential evidence with us, I feel like clothing is just going too far.

I guess it doesn't matter what I think though and orders are orders at the end of the day I suppose. It only takes another fifteen minutes before we're pulling into the Walmart parking lot, which isn't overly packed surprisingly given the time of day. Now the only question is what to do with the human. On one hand leaving her could be bad if someone approaches her for whatever reason and she doesn't respond correctly. On the other we could take her with us and she acts blatantly weird. I guess I could always compel her top act normal.

"Human while we are inside Walmart you will act completely normal. Outside of that, follow me and only speak when necessary." I guess that should do it? Only one way to find out I though. When I step out of the minivan, the human does as well, followed shortly by Emily. So good so far.

Moving at human speed it takes us a couple of minutes to get to the deli counter. After handing Emily forty dollars to get her and the human food, I order the human to stay with her subtly and head to the clothing section. One of the better things, at least in this situation, that comes from pack full moons is being familiar everyone's clothing taste and sizes. It's also not the first time I've been the pack shopper. Though this is the first time I've shopped for Emily, still she's told me Shelia's sizes and I doubt style matters much to her.

By the time Emily and the human have finished eating, thirty minutes have passed and I have all the clothing and phones purchased, and for some reason a pair of reading glasses. Just to be safe I reorder the human to follow me as we exit the Super-center and make our way back to the Grand Caravan. I'm sure it's unnecessary but the last thing I need is an easily avoidable screw up. Once we're back in the vehicle, with the bags loaded, I order the human to drive.

"Drive to the Motel 6 in Elk Grove Village, park in the closest spot to room 204." As the van starts up I notice Emily is back to her quiet self, though this time she seems to be more...deep in thought? Usually she's just being all reserved and proper or whatever, I do wonder what's changed in the last thirty minutes though. Once we're close to the motel, I can begin to hear the unmistakable sounds of two werewolves, hybrids now I guess, having sex. And to think Derek's married. Even has kids. As far as Keisha... well she's a bitch, but I guess in this case it's her slut side showing.

Once we're at the rooms, I let the human into Lisa Beth's room and order her to stay there. With that settled, and while purposely ignoring the very loud, even to human ears, sex I make it back to the room in time to hear the shower starting, huh she beat me to it. Part of me wants to join her but as much as i may have promised myself to get over Sheila's body, that might be a bit too much. Even if she'll look like herself instead of a sixty plus year old woman.

Twenty minutes later the shower cuts off and I only have to wait another three to see a beautiful half dressed Emily exit the bathroom. As much as I want to pounce on her, Shelia's body under the visuals be damned, I haven't showered or changed my clothes since we left Mystic falls and I honestly feel disgusting. Still it was hard to push down my libido and just walk in to the shower. But it was so worth it. Forty five minutes of a long hot shower to wash off two days of the road and general filth was practically heaven.

Unlike Emily, I didn't leave the bathroom half naked. I just didn't see the point of getting half dressed when I planned on having Emily naked and withering soon. Though seeing how deep in thought she was made me pause and second guess myself, for about half a second before I saw her sitting on the bed in just her new under bra and panties. Instead of pushing her back and ripping those small offensive underwear off, I gently sat next to her and pulled her into a slow kiss.

I didn't expect to be almost immediately pushed away though. Looking at her she seems apologetic but not at all actually sorry. She's just looking at me, but clearly not seeing me. She's obviously still in thought I guess.

"Emily what's wrong? I thought after we got interrupted earlier you'd be all for picking things back up?" My voice seems to shake her out of her head and she takes a second, I'm guessing to remember what I said, before really looking at me and answering.

"Nothing's wrong, I'm just thinking. And I'm not sure it's a good time to be having sex, I mean we are on a mission after all. Plus it wouldn't be fair to do something without Lauren here." That's like a complete 180 from earlier. I have no clue where this is coming from but I guess she's right. Maybe? Probably not, I'm sure the alpha would encourage sex in virtually in circumstance.

"I guess I understand, so uh what are you thinking about... you seemed pretty preoccupied with it." Emily gives me a long...searching look. Then lets out a deep sigh and moves to get under the cover on her bed. Once she's fully cuddled with a pillow she answers me.

"The future. It's been almost all I can thinking about lately. Anyways can you wake me when it's time to go?" The future... does she mean she can see the future? Is that like a secret witch power like how Bonnie can throw furniture around with her mind? I swear every answer she gives me just leads to a lot more questions. I guess on the bright side she knows me well enough to know I wouldn't have let her stay here with Derek and Keisha give their current behavior. Or maybe she just doesn't want to listen to them fuck?

-10:00PM 06/24/2009-

The time during Emily's nap was relatively uneventful outside of the night manager being brought by, and setting up all the cell phones. I've been assured by him that we have all the managers we're going to run into during our stay here compelled. We left Derek and Keisha behind again, they unsurprisingly were still having sex. I'm going to need to discipline them tonight, the only reason I didn't earlier was I had plan to be having sex as well, and I'm not that much of a hypocrite. Most of the time.

Pulling back into the same spot as earlier, we don't have wait more than a minute before the wolves are loading in the minivan. They all seem unharmed and mostly upbeat so I doubt there's anything that can't wait until we get back to the room. After confirming that nothing pressing happened, I order the human to get us back to the hotel.

The ride there was oddly quite. I'm not sure if they were nervous given the tension I've noticeably had with Keisha or if they just didn't want to talk about anything other than the mission. Probably a bit of both honestly. Luckily when we got back to the rooms, the sex fiends seemed to be done, or at least on a break. With her work done, I send the human home and repeat my previous compulsion about not remembering anything after leaving Krispy Kreme just to be safe.

"Derek, Keisha meet us in my room ASAP, we need to have a team meeting." And not just about the warehouse's security either. It took them a full five minutes to enter the room after the rest of us had already settled in. Just one more thing to discipline them about. God I hate being responsible. And Keisha. Mostly Keisha actually.

"First off, there are bags with clothing for you and a prepaid cell phone inside. I've already set them up and added in everyone's numbers with their initials, as well as the alpha's number in case any of you don't know it from memory. After this mission is over I expect all cell phones to be destroyed." It's probably overkill but there's no real down side to doing it. They all easily found the bags I gestured to and grabbed them quickly.

"With that out of the way, we'll go over the warehouse's security, Lisa Beth you go first." I'm sure Keisha and Derek will be a bit lost since they weren't there and didn't see the building but I just can't find it in me to care about them outside of how I'm going to punish them.

"Um right, well as you know I was on top of a building that had a good clear view of the front entrance of the warehouse and the right side. I counted six cameras on that section, one at each corner, one over the door, and two final ones hidden on the roof that had a good view of the entire street. That's all I could see, I assume there were more. There were two guard changes while I was watching, the first was at 3 PM. Four guards entered pulling up in a black SUV, then ten minutes later four more guards left in the same SUV."

"At 9 PM just before you arrived there was another guard shift, four more guards arrived and then four guards different than the ones earlier left. The only thing I can assume is that there are always at minimum of eight guards on duty. They moved at human speed but it's impossible to tell if they were human from that distance. There were no patrols of the outside of the warehouse during the time I was watching. The guards weren't carrying weapons while outside of the building but I was able to catch a whiff of gun oil so I assume they're armed while inside."

Hmm, the alpha said there should be at least one human guard but to assume that everyone we face will be a one thousand year old vampire just to be safe. The six of us should be able to take eight to twelve one thousand year old vampires on in wolf form, at least according to the alpha's estimations. If there's anymore than that, things could get a bit sketchy. Still so far things seem far more doable than I initially feared they would be.

"That sounds good. If we assume that there is a shift change every six hours, we should make sure to keep watch starting tomorrow at 9 AM till 9 AM the next morning, that should give us an accurate count of their numbers. We may even come up with a way to find out what species the guards are. Luke how was things on your end?" His report should be mostly the same given that he was also watching the front of the warehouse, though from a different side

"I also noted the same guard changes and six cameras, from the left side of the front entrance. The only thing I can really add to Lisa's report is that there seemed to be a hidden door on the left side of the building. It was practically invisible to even my enhanced eyesight but after a few hours I noticed the faint outline of the door. There wasn't a handle visible though so I'm unsure of how it opens." That's potentially interesting. Maybe a secret entrance just for Niklaus? Or a remnant of prohibition era Chicago?

"OK we'll definitely have to keep an eye on that entrance just to be safe. We maybe be able to use it in someway. At the very least we need to investigate it for magic. Samantha, how was the back of the building?" The back of the warehouse had a four door loading dock area with no trucks in sight when we first drove past.

"It was fairly uneventful. No trucks came, there were cameras on each corner, over each loading dock door, over a side back door, and two more on the roof that seem focused on the street. No one came or went from the back door at all." I'm not surprised that Niklaus isn't using the hiding spot of his daggered siblings as an actual functioning warehouse.

"OK so at this point we have a good idea of where all the camera are, the beginnings of a guard rotation, and a possible secret entrance we can use. These are all good things we can build on tomorrow during the day of surveillance. While the three of you are watching the building again, the witch and I will be investigating an active magic spell surrounding the building. Like today, Derek and Keisha will stay here and guard our vans and home base." That 'shockingly' drew a reaction from Keisha.

"You can't be seriou-" I've had it. I'm not proud of it but I'm honestly done with the back talk. I can accept I'm probably being unfair, but I don't care. My hand barely starts closing on Keisha's neck before she jumps back and away from me. A low growl comes from my right sounding like Derek, before I have to worry about him jumping in, I hear his body hit the floor and his whimpering.

This all took place in less than a second, and even as I'm taking everything in, I'm also starting a diving leap at Keisha. I shift in mid air and collide with her body though honestly it's more of her catching me. Two heavy blows slam into my ribs hard cracking them and filling my side with a sharp pain in the time it takes me to close my teeth over her neck. As she falls hard to the floor landing on her back I don't let go of my hold on her neck. We both know if she tries to shift, she'd be ripping her own throat out.

That still doesn't stop her from plunging her hand through my fur and into my broken ribs. As a searing pain spreads through my side, I clamp down and rip her throat out just as her finger tips brush the side of my heart in a truly disturbing feeling. Still I'm in a stupid amount of pain and Keisha's temporarily dead. The simple act of breathing is filling my entire torso with pain, and I can't heal with her arm in me.

"Hold still Sarah, i'll pull her arm out. Luke is going to get a couple of humans so you should be healed in no time." Lisa Beth's soft and reassuring voice does some good to calm me and distract me from the sick feeling of having Keisha's arm pulled out of my body. It only takes a few seconds for the searing pain to fade into a dull ache as my side in mostly healed, I have more than enough blood in me to handle an injury like this with out needing to feed but I appreciate the thought.

Even though I'm fine now I stay in place over her for a few more seconds before spiting her neck out and nudging it roughly back into place. Like me, she also has had enough blood to heal fairly quickly from those wounds. Before she can heal completely though, I shift back and snap her neck to put her awakening off a few extra minutes. With a bit of time to think I realize I fucked up. On basically every level.

I attacked out of anger. Without a plan. Ignored my advantages. Put myself in a vulnerable situation in the air. I underestimated Keisha's strength, stubbornness, and resolve not to submit to me. But even with all that I could have easily killed her before should could have gotten a hit in. My biggest fuck up was not immediately going in for the kill. I hesitated in biting her so she had time to break my ribs. I clamped down in warning so she had time to nearly rip my heart out. I fucked up bad and almost died for it.

With that bit of clarity, I look around the room. Luke is gone as stated, Samantha is staring at the scene wide eyed and nervous. Lisa Beth is on my side looking at me in concern. Derek is on the ground clutching his head and bleeding from his orifices while withering and whimpering. Emily is standing over him glaring down with a look I've never seen on her face. Pure hatred.

Walking over I bend down and snap his neck. The sudden action seems to break her out of whatever head space she's in and I shortly see her staring at me and blinking rapidly.

"You're OK?" Aww she cares. And she's apparently a lot better with that brain bleeding spell than I knew. A lot faster too given how rapidly everything happened. Still it's nice knowing she really does have my back. Lisa Beth too it seems. And potentially Luke. Even if I did over react a bit.

"I'm perfectly fine, thank to you. I really appreciate the assist." I pull Emily into a light hug and she doesn't resist. We're broken up a few minutes later by Luke arriving with three women in their late teens or early twenties.

"I figured you wouldn't want to feed from any one person enough to risk killing them so I brought extras." He's right, the last thing I want is to leave a bloodless body behind. And while I may not need the blood, he did go through all the trouble of getting it, and honestly the women look absolutely delicious.

"Thanks Luke I appreciate it a lot. Why don't you three head back to your rooms. We can take care of the problem children. I want you all up by 6 AM. One of you will need to get us another minivan, and breakfast. I want to be at the warehouse by 8:45 PM at the latest so you can observe the guard change." I get three quick nods before they leave, though I do get lingering looks from Lisa Beth.

"So what do you plan on doing with them?" Seeing Emily gesture to Keisha and Derek, I re-break their necks before sighing and looking at the motionless women in the room.

"Not in front of mixed company." Call me paranoid but I'd rather not risk the chance that stronger vampires like Niklaus could potentially break through the erased memories I'm going to end up doing to them. It only takes me a few minutes to drain a pint from each girl and compel them on their way with their wounds healed. Before I finally address Emily's question I make sure to snap Keisha and Derek's necks again.

"For now? I'm going to beat them into obedience. Once we get home, well thats up to the alpha but personally I'm hoping whatever he does it'll be particularly brutal. Speaking of brutal, when they wake up would you mind holding Derek under that same spell again?" I get a short nod from Emily and we set in to wait for them to regain consciousness. It takes seven minutes but when Keisha's eyes open, I'm over her and squeezing down on her neck.

"You seem to be having an issue understanding a simple thing little pup. YOU. ARE. BENEATH. ME. You will always be beneath me. You will learn to obey me, even outside of alphas orders do you understand me." This is truly the root of our problem. She's close enough to me in pack hierarchy that she thinks she's as strong. She's not. But we've also never had a reason to fight for dominance before, for me to prove that to her.

At first she seems a bit taken back by my growled words and hesitant, probably remembering having her throat ripped out. Still like the hot head she is it only takes her a few seconds to shake it off. I see the slight tense before she moves and have the speed to catch and break her arm in an instant. With as loud as she howled in pain I'm honestly glad the room is soundproofed..

"You don't seem to understand me little girl, but you will. One way or the other." I didn't wait for her to respond or make a move. The time for talking is long over by this point. What followed was a slower and more methodical version of the punishment the alpha loves to use. Though where her prefers breaking every bone in a persons body through powerful hammering strikes, I held Keisha down then bent and snapped every bone in her body one by one over and over for an hour until her voice was to raw to even scream.

"The next time we have to have this lesson little pup, you wont survive it." The last thing she saw was my heel brutally slamming down to cave in the front of her skull. Turning to the other wolf in the room, I see his body contorted into a back arching position. His mouth open in a silent scream. His eyes burst and blood pouring out from his ears. It seems his disciplining has been taken care of. For now. I send a quick text to Luke to come get the pair and put them into one of the rooms.

It only takes Luke thirty seconds to arrive and when he sees the condition of his pack mates his whole body goes still in what I guess is shock. It takes a growl from me to snap him out of it. Once he is, he quickly gets to work, carefully keeping his eyes down while radiating fear and submissiveness. I'm not used to leading through fear and honestly it's leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

"Well, I don't think we'll have anymore trouble from those two for the rest of this mission. Good job." Emily looks to be sincere but it doesn't help the guilt of torturing my pack mates, even for a good reason. I know it's the more human side of me. The side I've noticed has been rapidly dying, especially since becoming a hybrid. The sense of pride and strength I feel surging from my inner wolf reminds me that vampire side or not, I would have still done and enjoyed that. Though maybe not so fucking easily.

"I'm not proud of it but it had to be done. There was only so much I could let her get away with before she challenged me. And she's enough of a hot head to do it during a mission too. It's better she was put in her place now when it was relatively safe to do so." I'm not to proud to admit I collapsed on the bed in exhaustion after saying that, though the exhaustion wasn't physical. It can be hard to accept you're changing against your will into a person you don't recognize.

Instead of pushing me to talk Emily just started going about her preparations for the ritual she needed to perform soon. At this point we only have twenty minutes before midnight. She starts by taking out the glasses I bout her then reaching into a small bag that I didn't know she brought. It's technically against what the alpha said but if she needs it for magic he may have made an exception. She pulls out a small knife then reaches back in to pull out a braided and bound handful of dried looking plants that smelled of sage and lavender.

I watched her prick her finger with the knife then trace a symbol on the lenses in her own blood. After that she glared at the bundle and it caught on fire. Once lit it gave off a beautiful and soothing smelling smoke. She kept waving the smoking bundle around the lenses in some sort of pattern that I couldn't tell the significance of. As soon as the the night stand clock showed midnight, she began muttering in the first language she used, the one that isn't ancient Greek.

The muttering only continued for a couple of minutes before she stopped. Looking at the glasses again, the blood was gone and the lenses were smokey. She put them on then looked around the room and smiled. I guess they work.

"What language was that? Do the glasses work like you want?" The first question may not be important but I'm tired of not knowing these things, especially since magic users are becoming such a huge part of my life.

"It's Latin, pretty standard for a lot of spells. The glasses work perfectly, they'll be enchanted for the next twenty four hours so we should be good." Good to know. Both parts that is. With the ritual successful we both headed to bed in preparation for having to be up in just six hours. Before that though I just had one question.

"Do you mind if I test the glasses out? I wanna see what exactly they reveal." I'm kinda hoping it's like X-ray vision, that would be awesome. Or wait would I see through Emily's disguise and see Shelia's body underneath? One second though I hope they aren't X-ray vision.

"I'm sorry but what these glasses can reveal just isn't safe for most people to see." I'm not sure if it was the tone she used or the way her face shut off, but for some reason I didn't believe her. Not entirely at least. What she's saying may be true, but it doesn't feel like the real reason. It's not really something I can push about though so I just nod and accept it. For now.

-11:00 AM 06/25/2009-

After getting back to the warehouse, this time being driven around by a compelled Mexican lady who had to be at least 60, I sent Lisa Beth to the building Luke was on, Luke to the building Samantha was on, and Samantha to the building Lisa Beth was on originally. While I'm confident in their abilities, I'd still like a fresh set of eyes to make sure nothing was missed yesterday. Sadly due to us being down two people, they'll have to be here for the full twenty four hour surveillance without any breaks.

As hybrids, we're perfectly capable of doing it, the real issue will be boredom. To help combat this, I'm having them rotate locations every four hours, so they should stay sharp, if tired by the end of things. As for Emily's side of things, well things got a bit complicated. After the wolves left Emily put on her glasses, muttered her ancient Greek spell and we drove around the building twice. The problem came when she took the glasses off after and told me that apparently the glasses had a distance they worked at best and it's a lot closer than I'm comfortable with going.

Still for the sake of the mission we drove roughly a mile from the warehouse and started a 'casual' walk down the street. We circled a roughly one mile section of this street, that let us get within ten feet of the warehouse at times. Sadly having any kind of magical disguises up would run a chance of messing up the spell, something about magical bleed off and how the glasses and the spell, could end up seeing the magical bleed off as part of the boundary.

"So, were you able to get a good look at the spell this time?" I of course waited until we were back inside of the soundproof vehicle this time. Which I have to say was a lot harder than I would like. The entire mile walk back from the warehouse all I wanted to do was ask about how successful she was this time.

"I was, and while I'd like to do this again later on to be sure, I'm confident I know what the spell does. It logs the species of everyone who crosses the boundary, it also acts like a magical lie detector. Or I guess intention checker. It appears to also log each persons intent towards something. Most likely Niklaus if I had to guess. The best thing I found is that the boundary isn't attached to any other spell. Though sadly I can't tell you much about the magic inside building outside of it existing."

"The problem, outside of the building walls and distance, is that there is a lot a of active magic concentrated in the bodies of the original vampires, as well as the powerful spells persevering Esther's body. To put it simply, there's too much high powered active magic to tell it apart at this distance and with so little time to study it. As for taking the boundary down, I can but there's a chance that if the witch who cast the spell is powerful enough and still alive, they would feel the spell failing."

That's a fairly mixed bag of news for this mission. On one hand there's no alarms on the outside of the building, and we can get around the issues of cameras easily enough. But the entire inside of that building is a mystery. What's worse is that we may not be able to risk coming back, I'm sure Emily and I were captured on video and there is a chance someone could recognize Shelia's body, she's relatively famous in certain circles I'm told.

"Can it tell things like our names or age? Is there anyway to get through besides taking it down or letting it catalog us?" The alpha would be absolutely furious if we ended up leaving our names in the hands of Niklaus after we robbed him.

"That's getting a bit too specific to be certain of. I don't think it does but even with a second look I can't give you a definitive answer, as for getting around the boundary, I should be able to create a temporary hole in it, though I will need a couple of things I don't have on hand. We should be able to easily get them at the lake." While I would prefer to know for sure what the spell does, I suppose that if we can get around the boundary it's a moot point.

"That's good news then. Any idea on identifying the species of the guards inside?" That's the big question left. Well the question we actually have a chance to answer at least. A lot changes depending on what species the guards are. Especially if the worse case scenario is true and there's sixteen guards at a time.

"Well I could do a weaker variation of the spell they used. I could set up a boundary down the road in the direction they arrive. I should be able to tell the species of the guards as they're coming and going so we'd get eight at a time. The only down side is that I would have to be here to tell if the people passing are the guards or just random humans, vampires, werewolves, and witches that live in the city." While that would tie us here that's not so bad. We know when the shift change will happen so it's not a huge deal to leave and come back.

"That sounds good, i'll get the details we need from Lisa Beth. After we'll go and finish up the last bit of preparations for tonight. Tell me what you need from Lake Michigan and i'll send the idiots to get, if it's something they can recognize. They should be able to be trusted with at least that." A quick text to Lisa Beth tells me that Guards came from the east towards downtown Chicago and that they drove away down this road for well over a mile before turning off.

"All I need is two smooth black stones roughly the size of hockey pucks. Just have them bring back as many stones as they can, i'll pick the most suitable from them." ...Interesting. Another, much longer and authoritative text should have Keisha and Derek swimming to the bottom of Lake Michigan to get two backpacks full of smooth black hockey puck sized rocks, after buying backpacks of course. Emily didn't say she needed that many, or that they needed to be from the bottom of the lake, but honestly...fuck Keisha. She deserves the extra work.

"Are you going to set the spell up now?" It makes the most sense to get it out of the way now. At least in my opinion but then again I have no clue about all the magical intricacies of this situation. I should probably be asking how the fuck she knows what hockey is, let alone how she's familiar enough with the sport to use a puck as a reference, but I'm seriously trying to ignore things like this until I can talk to the alpha about it, this shit is getting super suspicious.

"No. To make the spell weak enough to be virtually unnoticeable it wont have the power to last for more than an hour. Besides I don't want several hours of human identifications flooding through my head while the boundary is up." I'm assuming that's not how the spell around the building works cause that would have to suck, and she said there was no alert feature.

"Sounds good, i'll get you back here thirty minutes early to set the spell up. In the mean time more shopping." We have a few more supplies to pick up from a sporting goods store for tomorrow night. I get a nod from Emily and turn to address the new human.

"Human drive us to the nearest Dick's Sporting Goods store." I do actually know this human's name. Luke told me it was Carmen. But, if I use it now after not using the humans name yesterday, everyone will know that I didn't know the humans name and was too embarrassed to ask. Also I shouldn't care about humans anymore. Right.

The closest Dick's turned out to be twenty minutes away closer towards the heart of Chicago. Or at least that's the closest one Car- the human knew of. I gave her some cash and compelled her to buy seven sets of black ski masks, thermal shirts, cargo pants, sneakers, and football gloves. It's not my preferred clothing or color, but anonymity and looseness in case we have to shift is the top priority. While going as wolves would give us the advantage, especially against old vampires, I doubt the alpha wants Niklaus to know he was robbed by werewolves. Or worse, somehow figure out we're hybrids.

I also had her buy a dozen wooden baseball bats. Time to make some stakes. If possible, I'd like to seem as human as possible to avoid leading Niklaus back to us. While the human was busy doing our shopping, I started looking around the parking lot for another person with a minivan. I don't want to show up in the area of the warehouse three more times before the heist In the same vehicle, that's practically suicide.

After fifteen minutes and several false calls with people, they were expected other places later on, I strike potential gold. Walking towards a minivan by herself is a cute teenage looking girl. She appears old enough to drive but I doubt she's a day over twenty. Walking up to her I catch her eyes and start my compulsion.

"Stay calm and still. Answer all of my questions honestly and fully. Do you have anyone expecting you anywhere in the next few hours? Who's minivan is this?" I should only need her until 4 PM, after that i'll get another minivan for the 9 PM shift change.

"No my parents know i'll be gone all day breaking in my new cleats. I do have a party to go to tonight though, but it's not until 10:00, so I didn't plan on showing up before 11:30. It's my moms van, my car's in the shop getting the brakes fixed." Perfect, we should be able to get her back on her way well before she needs to be anywhere.

"And whats your name? How old are you?" Neither question is really necessary but I'm honestly curious.

"My name is Laura. I'm seventeen." Ha. I called it. After ordering the normal obedience and secrecy into Laura, the human exited Dick's carrying several bags. A quick compulsion of the same kind on the other human from yesterday had her leaving to continue her life as normal with no memory of what happened today. After loading the bags into the back of Laura's van I got in just in time to feel Emily soundproof it.

"Someone must really be missing their mate." The last thing I expected was Emily's teasing voice. Especially about something so random.

"What in the world are you talking about?" Of course I miss my mate. This is the longest I've gone without her since we met. It's also the longest I've gone without sex in years. I still have no clue what that has to do with anything though.

"A cute blond haired, blue eyed girl named Laura? Who's clearly sporty and fit. Roughly 5'4 with nice curves. Talk about an obvious replacement." What does her name or being a cute blond have to do with anything?

"What-" Lauren. Fuck she's basically a knock off Lauren. How the fuck could I not see that? I can't be missing her so much that I'm literally drawn to the closest thing I can find to her am I? That can't be a thing. Let alone the coincidence of her lookalike being named so similarly. My libido can't be so strong it's changing the whole universe to drop this girl into my lap, right? Then again there are a lot of average height, blond haired Laura's in America so this is probably a coincidence.

"She was just the first person I found that fit what we needed is all." It sounds good but honestly even I'm having trouble believing it.

"Oh sure, that's why you asked her her name and age, and you aren't even calling her human."...I have no good response to that so I just order Laura, damn it, the human to drive to the closest gun store. After all we can't go around ripping out hearts and snapping necks while trying to play human. Plus we know there are at least some guns inside, we wouldn't be able to get close to them at human speed. It doesn't take long for Laura to get us to a fairly well sized gun shop and range. Once inside I head for the front counter, noticing the store is fairly empty, though I can hear six distinct weapons firing in the range.

"Bring me seven Glock 21's with two extra mags for each. I also want three, one hundred round boxes of HP .45 ACP." Obviously I was compelling him. There's no way I could buy these guns legally, though even if I could I'd never leave that big of a paper trail. The Glocks aren't the best guns but they're reliable and we've trained on them. HP .45 ACP rounds wont pierce any body armor but our senses, reflexes and training make head shots easy so that it's not an issue. Besides hollow points have a great way of blowing the back of a skull out.

While I was waiting for the guns and ammo I had a sudden idea and started looking over the body armor, knives and holsters. If we're going full human for this we may as well play the part as best we can. When the store owner came back I added seven class IV bulletproof vest, tactical holsters for our Glocks, a set of magazine holsters that had a space to attach a knife as well and seven tactical Bowie knives. Everything is similar enough to equipment we've trained so it shouldn't be an issue. Well outside of Emily that is, but she still needs to look the part.

My total come to just over nine thousand dollars total. It's a lot more than I planned on spending on this trip but I'm glad the alpha supplied us with so much cash. Still the initial twenty grand is well over half spent. The bright side is that there's only a little over a day left and not much more spending should happen. After paying and taking our equipment, I compel him to erase any security footage for the past three months and then to stop recording for the next year.

On top of that I have him remember filling out all the paper work for the sale of the guns three months ago, then 'accidentally' loosing it. There's a very real chance this could cause serious problems for him in the future but it's honestly not my problem.

-9:00 PM 06/25/2009-

After our shopping was done and Emily had lunch, we headed back to the warehouse, this time five hundred yards east of it. It didn't take Emily more than a few words to set up her boundary spell. When 3 PM came, a black Chevy Suburban rolled past and Emily said it contained three humans and one vampire. Ten minutes later, the same SUV rolled past us going in the other direction and Emily confirmed it contained three different humans, and one different vampire.

With that settled, we went back to the motel room and started the boring and messy process of turning twelve Louisville Slugger's into twelve long handled and sharp stakes. Each came out to just under twenty four inches when done, two for each wolf. Our only interruption was Keisha and Derek coming back from the lake soaking wet and practically radiating submissiveness to me.

Once they were gone Emily let me know that almost every one of the nearly two hundred rocks was usable not only for this spell but also for a wide variety of others. Of course after she picked out two I loaded the rest into one of our vans to take with us, no point in wasting good spell ingredients.

Still after our time at he room, and dinner to feed the dead witch spirit's mortal body, we found another vehicle, this time a thirty year old human male driving a gray Dodge Charger. Since we weren't picking up the others it made way more sense to change things up and take a vehicle different then anything else we've taken to the area. As an added precaution, I had us park a mile away from the warehouse this time since we knew what the SUV looked like. Like clock work the black Chevy Suburban drove past, then ten or so minutes later drove back past us.

"Same as before, two separate groups. Each with three humans and a vampire. None of them are the same people as earlier." Just like Lisa Beth said, that's a minimum of eight guards at a time inside, possibly as many as sixteen especially if the vampire is compelling them not to care about twenty four hour shifts. Compelled alertness and caffeine could easily see them remaining sharp and focused the whole time.

"So no surprises. Good, I guess we should go ahead and take that second look at the building now." Our walk is uneventful and mostly consisted of small talk until we got close to the building and Emily had to concentrate. It took just over forty five minutes to walk there and back at our casual pace, though Emily looked a bit winded towards the end. Once we reached the car and got in the back I ordered the human to drive us back to the room.

"Nothings changed from earlier accept I'm even more certain as to what the the boundary spell does. It catalogs the species, name and intent of anyone who crosses it. There also seems to be a sort of magical imprint it leaves on anyone that crosses it with negative intentions to a selected person or thing, again probably Niklaus." Good. That's doable and honestly not as bad as it could have been. I guess the first line of defense, and the strongest, for Niklaus has been anonymity. It's probably fair to assume that powerful active magic defenses would draw too much attention.

"Are you still sure you can make a hole in the boundary for us?" Everything depends on that. If she can't this is an instant abort, there's no way in hell I'm having our names, species and intentions given over to Niklaus. The alpha wouldn't hesitate to kill me if I ruined any future plans he has that much.

"I'm certain, i'll enchant the stones tonight at midnight. We should be able to walk straight through." OK, as long as nothing drastic changes during the next two shift changes, I have a fairly solid plan forming to pull this heist off without implicating the alpha or Mystic Falls in any way.

Once we were back in the room we took turns in the shower then I watched as Emily got the ritual ready. It was somewhat similar to the last one, this time drawing multiple different symbols around the edge of each stone in the exact same place on both, then pulling out the bundle of kinda dried plants and lighting it. The patterns she traced with the smoke were also different this time and they looked far more complex. When midnight finally came she started muttering a different and much longer string of what sounded like the same Latin as before. This time it took her over five minutes to finish.

"It's done, i'll place these stones into the boundary roughly five feet apart and it'll make a temporary hole for about an hour or until we remove them." Perfect. That's more than big enough and long enough to get in, kill everyone and steal the coffins. I may have been a bit over enthusiastic about my happiness because, I soon had Emily on her back and kissing her. Which she is great at by the way, at least it was great for about ten minutes until she pushed me away apologetically.

"I'm sorry Sarah but we talked about this, now really isn't a good time for things to happen between us." Right. That. It looks like i'll be spending some quality time with my hand tonight instead. It's probably an asshole thing to do, but I don't wait until she's asleep to take care of myself. Instead I just strip, lay on my back at the head if my bed and slowly start rubbing my clit. I can feel her blatant staring and honestly it's just making the whole thing hotter.

-10:30 AM 06/26/2009-

After waking up around 7 AM and getting a minivan and Emily's breakfast, we arrived in plenty of time to set up one last boundary spell and confirmed the species of the group was the same as before. Though we did get a bit of news. The group that entered at 3 PM yesterday was now leaving the warehouse. That means twelve guards at a time on eighteen hour shifts. The only thing left to decide now is when to attack.

There are three primary choices. During shift change, just after shift change, in the middle of the shift. I don't want to attack too close to the end of a shift and get surprised by the next group of guards. During shift change, we could take out the arriving guards as they approach the building, then I'd assume the leaving guards will be close to the front entrance so we should be able to surprise and quickly kill them. That would only leave us with hunting down eight guards, though it would mean initially having to fight an extra set of guards.

Just after shift change could work well. We wait till just after a group pulls off then enter while the new guards have there backs to us and surprise them. We should easily be able to kill that group leaving us only eight more guards. The problems come if there's any kind of alarm inside that alerts the just leaving guards who could make it back during the time we're removing the coffins. It might get difficult to pretend to be human if they catch us in a 'vulnerable' situation.

Attacking in the middle of shift gives us the lower amount of twelve guards. It also doesn't have a significant risk of returning guards interrupting our heist and potentially exposing our supernatural abilities. That being said it's technically the hardest since we'll be facing twelve alert armed guards that could be spread out in any configuration inside the warehouse. Regardless of what we choose, physically getting in will be the easy part, after all with our eye sight, all three wolves had seen the door code by now. I just gotta think, what would the alpha do?

Just after the SUV drove by with the old guards inside, the wolves started arriving at the minivans location that I had texted to them earlier. Once everyone was inside I had the human drive us to the motel then compelled the entire night from his mind when we arrived. After getting settled into my room with the wolves and Emily, I began the debrief.

"Lisa Beth why don't you start us off again. Did anything of concern happen? Anything extra you noticed? Were you able to determine the length of the guard shifts?" I have a good idea of how long the guard shifts are and their numbers but I don't want to risk the group leaving after eighteen hours simply being a fluke.

"Nothing as to the building or it's cameras were different today and no one unexpected visited, just the guard rotations. I also noticed the same door as Luke did. Once you know were to look it's obvious though like him I didn't see a way to open it from the outside. I did get a good count of the guards though. They arrive in groups of four and stay inside for eighteen hours before being replaced. There's twelve guards at a time inside, except during shift change when there's sixteen."

"Shift change is every six hours at 3 AM, 9 AM, 3 PM and 9 PM. There were still no visible firearms but every group of leaving guards smelled like gun oil and powder despite not arriving smelling like that so it's safe to assume they are armed inside. The back door near the loading docks also doesn't have a handle or lock on the outside so realistically, unless we want to make a lot of noise, it's better to enter through the front. The door code is 3792 and it was used by all of the guard squads entering."

That verifies everything I assumed and locks our choices pretty firmly in place. This should be well with in our capabilities. The best part is the cameras in my opinion. Generally we were taught they're an obstacle, except for certain circumstances. Primarily for goose chase or false flag missions. All the video should show is a seemingly well funded human paramilitary, possibly government sanctioned, organization with witch contacts slaughtering guards and stealing high valued targets. We should be free and clear thanks to their own cameras.

"Do either of you have anything to add to Lisa Beth's report?" Two shakes of the head no is my answer. While more Intel would have been preferred, I have enough to move ahead with this and I can't blame them for not picking up on anything that the best tracker in our entire pack couldn't.

"OK in that case I have a plan. First we'll be dressed in full black clothing head to toe along with tactical gear and bulletproof vests I purchased. We'll be using guns and stakes, pretending to be human. We'll be running a modified false flag mission so keep anything supernatural in check unless absolutely necessary. Our witch has discovered the make up of each four man guard squad. Three humans and one vampire. There is a boundary around the building that catalogs anyone who crosses it."

"Our witch however has a way for us to make a temporary hole in it. We'll take our vans to the warehouse and park them about fifty yards down the street to the west of the building. All four drivers should have a decent view of the front entrance from there. When they get to the door all drivers will shoot a target, in the order you're parked. Closest van shoots furthest guard, except for me. Our witch will determine and alert me to which member of the squad is a vampire then she'll give him an aneurysm to hold him still long enough for me to get a clean head shot."

"After I fire, you'll take out the remaining guards. Obviously a bullet wont kill the vampire so after firing we'll all go through front entrance and i'll stake him before he can heal and awaken. Then we'll enter and shoot anyone on the other side of the door, hopefully it's a full squad waiting to go home. At that point we'll have alerted the guards to our presence so we can expect to get rushed by the remaining two vampires. Our witch will give them both aneurysms long enough to get shots off."

"Lisa Beth I want you shooting the vampires with me, you take the one closest to the left side of the hallway or room we're in. Once they're down we'll all stake the six fallen bodies to ensure we get the three vampires. All of us outside of the witch that is. From there, six human guards should remain. They'll most likely be located along the path to, or guarding the coffins. We'll need to move fast, human fast, and eliminate them ASAP. If we don't see all six by the time we reach the coffins, I want Luke and Samantha on search and destroy."

"After we have the warehouse cleared, we'll make a show of the six wolves carrying the coffins to the vans one by one. Our witch will hang back behind us during this entire mission playing the roll of 'team leader' for the cameras and collecting our stakes. Once the coffins are loaded, we'll head directly to our holding point in Dallas and wait twenty four hours to ensure we aren't being followed before driving home to Mystic Falls."

"This means we of course wont be coming back to the motel so I expect you all to scrub your rooms clean before we leave. I don't want a single trace of our existence here. Are there any question on the plan I laid out?" Keisha and Derek have their eyes down in submission not daring to speak up. Luke and Samantha are equally quiet though it seems more because they genuinely don't have any questions. Seeing no one else speaking up, Lisa Beth decides to.

"I do have one question. It's about the beginning of your plan. When we shoot the guards outside the warehouse, wont that alert everyone inside and ruin the timing you wanted?" Ah someone noticed. Though it's not surprising it was her. She is the most observant, and one of the most intelligent pack members.

"Normally yes, however our vans will all be soundproofed by our witch so they shouldn't hear a thing. If there are no other questions, I want Derek and Keisha to head to the warehouse. Derek pick a building roughly five hundred yards in front of the warehouse with a good view of the entrance and watch it. Keisha you do the same with the back. We'll arrive at 8 PM and the two of you will have time to change into your gear."

While I don't trust either of them, they are in a particularly submissive mindset to me and worst case scenario if the guards in the warehouse have been alert to our presence at all in the past two days they'll be the ones paying for it. They also haven't been seen in the area either. Most importantly the other wolves need sleep and those two have done virtually nothing on this trip.

"For the three of you about to head to bed, I want you awake by no later than 5 PM. That should give you plenty of time to shower, clean the rooms, and change before we leave at 7 PM. Dismissed." That got them quickly grabbing the bags containing their gear and shuffling out of the room and off to follow orders. Once they were gone, Emily decided to chime in.

"That was hot." I'm not touching that. At all. Especially since it probably wont lead anywhere and i'll be stuck fingering myself for two hours again. God I miss Lauren.

-9:00 PM 06/26/2009-

Waking up and getting ready for the mission went pretty seamlessly. We were all showered and in our tactical gear, minus ski masks, with the rooms scrubbed of evidence and probably cleaner than they've been since this place was built. I don't even want to think about some of things I had to clean. We arrived at the location fifteen minutes before eight and I sent a text to the wolves watching the building to meet us. Emily also had time to set another boundary spell so she'll know who is the vampire in the arriving group.

It took them twenty minutes to get to the vans and another five to get geared up. The only snag we had so far was with the stakes. Mainly there being nowhere to put them. My solve was to put a stake in each of our thigh holsters, or to be specific, to put a stake on each thigh and strap the holster around it. It was uncomfortable but it didn't affect our movement and the holsters are both connected to a belt so them suddenly being looser wont be a major problem.

9 PM on the dot the now familiar black SUV pulled up and parked in front of the warehouse. When everyone started getting out I rolled down my window and aimed at the tall man that Emily pointed out to be the vampire. He was dressed just like the humans in the standard security guard uniform and looking pretty bored. Once they were all fully exposed Emily tapped my shoulder and the man hesitated in his walk, before I saw that though, my finger was already squeezing the trigger.

A fraction of a second after he hesitated with a burst aneurysm, the back of his head exploded from my hollow point round. The other guards barely had time to turn their heads to him before their skulls met a similar fate. What followed was the plan that I laid out, executed perfectly. We quickly exited the van and were at the boundary in thirteen seconds. Emily pulled out both stones and placed them. Four seconds. I quickly pulled out a stake and shoved it into the vampires heart. Two seconds.

Luke entered the door code and pulled it open. On the other side. Was a guard squad roughly thirty feet away and walking closer. Their eyes widened, and Keisha's Derek's, Lisa Beth's and my gun barked out and for more heads were hit. Three seconds. We entered in that order, with me on the right and Lisa Beth on the left, with Emily trailing behind us and Luke bringing up the rear. Two blurs shot out from around the right corner of hallway about fifty feet away. Emily was ready and they jolted.

Both their heads were shot from Lisa Beth and my guns. Four seconds. Seeing the direction they came from we speed walk over to the fallen bodies and stake them all. Eight seconds. Getting to the corner I put my Glock around it and fire off two shots before peaking around and seeing no one. Seven seconds. The right path leads into the main part of a large warehouse, the ceiling reaching the full three stories of the building's height. My hearing reveals only six heart beats left in the building all in the center of the warehouse.

We speed walk to the center of the warehouse space ready to shoot at any movement. When we reach it we see six huddled guards all looking around frantically with their guns drawn. Each of the wolves including myself take a single shot and all six fall. Twenty nine seconds. Seventy seconds, just over one minute and all sixteen guards are dead. Niklaus should have have hired better and not relied on anonymity and three vampires that he probably compelled. Part of me is annoyed for how much I was worried at what turned out to be amateurs.

But if my training has taught me anything it's that it's far better to overestimate than underestimate your enemies. We quickly open each coffin to identify each person. The alpha has given me a very good description of each and it doesn't take long to recognize them. Eleven seconds. There is a fifth empty coffin bu like the alpha said, it's empty. We start with Esther's coffin and begin running her out of the warehouse keeping our eyes peeled and are ears open for anyone incoming. Thirty four seconds. During this time Emily is trailing us and removing the stakes.

Each consecutive trip there and back took an average of fifty two seconds, mostly because we had to pretend that the coffins were slowing us down. On the last trip Emily removed the stones and handed out our stakes. We each got back in the vans that were left running with the lights off since they were silenced. Sixteen seconds. A total of four minutes and foty seven seconds to kill sixteen people and steal four high value targets while pretending to be human and tricking our victims. Not bad but I was hoping for under four. Still we did good for our first real mission.

-1:00 AM 06/27/2009-

Outside St. Louis, MO

On our somewhat frantic drive from Chicago to Dallas, we're sticking to the back roads hoping to further confuse anyone that's potentially tracking us. Though I don't see how they could be. We're silenced, our odors have been magically erased and Emily even has an obscuring spell or something on each of the vans. She says it can't stop all forms of magical tracking since that's nearly impossible to do on moving objects. Especially for a solo witch, but it should stop any scrying on anything contained in the vans or the vans themselves.

I keep replaying the events in my head, I can't see a single point of evidence we left behind but I have this bad feeling in my gut. The closest thing to evidence we left behind were the stakes but those were made from generic looking wooden bats that I didn't buy. We collected and reequipped them so all they have is video. Our rooms were scrubbed clean. The guns and bullets can't be traced to us. The vans' license plates had disguises on them. There's absolutely no way anything can lead to us.

I hope I'm just being paranoid. I look over at Emily next to me and she seems to be lost in her own world. I look in the review mirror and see the other three vans trailing me just fine. Lisa Beth directly behind me with Rebekah's body. Luke and Samantha behind her with Kol's and finally Keisha and Derek in the rear with Finn's.

It's while I'm looking back at the vans that I hear something very unexpected. Loud and violent cursing by a male with a British accent, and the low tones of an American woman chanting in Latin speeding towards us in what sounds like a very fast sports car. If I had to guess, I'd say they're maybe thirty miles behind us. I slap Emily's arm and pull out my phone and dial Lisa Beth while speeding up to as fast as the van will go.

"We're being followed by a witch and an unknown male, that is most likely Niklaus. Speed up as fast as you can." I repeat the call to Luke then Keisha though with her I change it a bit.

"While you're speeding up I want Derek to remove Finn's dagger then throw his coffin out of the back of the van." I hung up instead of waiting for a response. The alpha said there's some hatred among the Mikealsons. Hopefully this slows Niklaus down long enough for me to come up with a plan, maybe Finn will even fight him.

"Is there anything you can do Emily? Anything at all?" She stares hard at the road for a moment and shakes her head then gasps suddenly.

"If Niklaus is tracking them with a witch it's most likely by the blood connection he has with his family. I can block it on the coffin in our van, and maybe in Lisa's if she gets close enough but unless we stop I wouldn't be able to get the one in Samantha and Luke's." It's better than nothing and we don't have a lot of time. The second he sees us Niklaus wont need his witch and he'll be able to use his full speed running. We'll be dead in a second.

"Do it now!" When I say that Emily jumps into the back and I smell blood then I hear loud yelling in what I think is ancient Greek. A quick call to Lisa Beth gets her to pull next to us, our vans practically touching, after another minute I hear the yelling stop and Emily's hand smacking into the coffin. A wave of burning feeling magic washes over me and before dissipating. The amulet protects me from it but it leaves a sickening feeling still.

"It's done, I was able to get the coffin Lisa's driving as well." That's something I guess, for now at least all we can realistically do at this point is hope Finn attacks Niklaus. Lisa Beth drives he van back in line behind us.

My hopes were dashed roughly an hour later when I heard the sports car speeding after us again, this time with someone running next to it. At this rate Niklaus, and I guess Finn, will be on in just a few minutes. There's only one thing I can do in this situation. I pull my phone out and call Luke.

"Samantha, pull up next to us. Luke when she does I want you to get in our van and take over driving. I'm going to create a distraction, I should be able to buy you some time, as soon as I'm out of sight Samantha I want you to get back in line then use your speed to throw Kol out of your van. Don't pull the dagger out and try not to crash. As soon as you guys can turn off of this road." I call Lisa Beth and repeat the plan. As soon as I hang up I'm met with Emily's voice.

"I coming with you, and before you say anything, I'm not alive, I can't die again and I may actually be able to keep you from dying." I really don't have time to argue this and if she can hold one or both of the originals for even a fraction of a second with those aneurysms I might actually be able to pull this off.

"Fine but hold tight, I'm going to be running next to the vans." With that Samantha pulls next to us and I see Luke's door open. I grab Emily and do the same, then I hop out of the van and within a half second Luke is driving like nothing happened. As I hear Niklaus closing in Samantha gets back into line and I realize I should probably tell Keisha and Derek whats going on. When I have my phone out I turn back and see the form of Finn carrying his coffin running ahead of a red Lamborghini.

Instead of Dialing Derek I hit the alphas number on accident. I didn't want to call him and risk potentially exposing the entire pack. Fuck! As the phone rings for the third time I see Finn throw his coffin right at the van Keisha and Derek are in, crushing the cab and casing the engine to explode just as the alpha answers.

"Wha-"

"Alpha! We're headed to holding. Big Bad on us. Derek an-" Before I can finish and tell him that Derek and Keisha just got killed, there's a sharp painful searing in my hand. Looking down I see a rock sized hole in my hand and no phone to be found. Looking back I see Finn speeding towards me so I stop and set Emily down just in time to be tackled right off my feet.

And that's the long version of what was supposed to be the first half of chapter 12. In canon Klaus's warehouse is way more under guarded compared to what I depicted. Only one guard is shown and he's a human. There are no mentions of any sort of magical protection in place. Stefan was also able to easily steal the coffins from their new location after they were moved implying that for whatever reason Klaus isn't big on security.

I tried to make his virtually nonexistent security somewhat realistic and give a motive for why it wasn't stronger, but in my opinion it's one of the show's biggest plot holes so I'm not sure if I was successful. I suppose he also depends on his reputation to keep thieves out as well.

As I stated earlier, this part of the chapter, even when edited, and the next part, the fight scene, I'm perfectly happy with. It's the aftermath that just feels off to me and seems wrong. It drove me to so many rewrites it's crazy. I'm honestly have no clue why it's so off putting, and it contains plot pivotal scenes so I can't just start writing the chapter that would happen after that. Still I'm going to work on it and get it out when I'm happy with it.

I apologize if this chapter feels like the scenes drag or that some scenes aren't needed. They probably do drag or weren't actually needed and you normally would have never read them.