Luke was the first out of the entire motley group to feel the disturbance-and he knew instinctively what it meant.

"They've found the door-and gone through it," he told the others, not bothering to keep the excitement out of his voice. The moment was getting nearer; he and his siblings knew better than anyone how big of a deal this was.

On his left, Jo smiled at his announcement as, slowly but surely, she began to feel it, too. In her mind's eye, she saw the elder Salvatore and his partner descending into the Chrysalis' resting place after making the final sacrifice and the Chrysalis guiding them toward their destiny. An immense sense of satisfaction filled her: all the pieces had finally come together just as they were supposed to. All that was left was the unlocking.

"That means it's time," Jo stated, letting out a soundless breath. She turned her gaze to Alaric. "This is your part, Ric; Damon and Enzo will awaken the Chrysalis, but you need to get them started."

Alaric met her piercing stare, a slight crease forming on his forehead-but he didn't decline to help-instead, he just took a deep breath and asked, "What do I have to do?"

The three Parker siblings all shared a brief, meaningful glance before the eldest explained.

"You have to hunt down a creature of the night. It can be any kind-vampire, werewolf, witch-but you have to get them here before nightfall, or at least some of their blood."

Alaric raised one of his sand-coloured eyebrows. That wasn't at all what he'd been expecting.

"That should be easy enough," he said confidently, and without a single trace of hesitation. "I happen to know where a couple of vampires are right now-and I happen to carry the means of subduing them around with me at all times."

Jo's smile widened, both at his words and at the complete lack of reluctance with which he spoke them. She'd been concerned that Alaric's humanity would make him object to his task; she'd never been so glad to be proven wrong. "Excellent."

Without waiting for any more encouragement, Alaric tossed her an answering smile, then departed, heading in the direction of Caroline's house-where he knew she and Elena currently were.

He felt like he probably shouldn't be so willing to do this-most of the supernatural creatures in this town were, after all, people he knew and cared about-but, for some reason, he just didn't feel like it mattered at that moment. Damon, Enzo and the members of the Gemini coven were, it went without saying, off-limits, but Caroline, Elena, Stefan-he didn't feel at all opposed to going after any one of them. In fact, they were the first candidates he thought of.

It didn't occur to him at all that there might be something wrong with that; he barely gave it a second thought.

no turning back

It did take him a little while to reach the Forbes' on foot, but, fortunately, it was early in the day, so Alaric didn't have to worry too much about the time crunch.

He just had to worry about how he was going to get one of the female vampires' blood back to the nexus.

Deciding to cross that bridge when he actually had the blood, Alaric composed his features into what he hoped was an appropriate expression for the circumstances and knocked on the front door.

He saw Caroline come out of the living room through the glass, Elena trailing behind her, obviously also wanting to know who was there. Both their gazes widened when they saw Ric, and Elena raced ahead of her friend, wrenching open the door and throwing her arms around him.

"Ric! Where have you been? We've been calling and texting you for hours!" the female doppelganger exclaimed, sounding equal parts relieved and annoyed at finding out that he was okay.

Alaric's lips twitched slightly at her emotional tone, and he gave her an apologetic pat on the back. "Sorry, Elena. I was with Jo and had my phone off. I just got all of your messages."

"That's what I thought," Caroline pointed out from behind them, leaning against the wall and putting a hand on her hip. "Did you hear the part about Damon?"

Alaric nodded as Elena finally released him.

"Yeah, you said that he came back and he tortured Stefan?" the history professor said, shaking his head in feigned incredulity, as if he didn't already know all of that firsthand. "I can't believe that Damon would really do that."

"Well, believe it," Elena piped up seriously, tone becoming much direr. "I saw him myself a couple of days ago and, not only did he dump me, but he acted like I was nothing to him anymore. IF he could do that, then he would definitely torture Stefan. And, apparently, that wasn't all he did; he also let some witches put a spell on Stefan and somehow managed to break the spell that was keeping us all out of Mystic Falls without killing either of us. So, there's that, too."

Alaric did his best to pretend like this was all new information to him-and to keep Elena and Caroline from noticing as he withdrew a couple of vervain darts from the pouch he had sewn inside his jacket. Apparently, he was successful because they didn't seem to suspect a thing.

"Well," he said in a suitably concerned tone. "Why would he do all of that? What do you think is going on?"

Elena lifted her shoulders in a clueless shrug.

"I have no idea. Stefan went to the boarding house to see if Damon was there to try and get him to reveal what he's planning, but it's been quite a while and we haven't heard from him." She cast a glance back over at Caroline, then added, "I'm starting to think maybe we should go and check on him."

"Oh, I don't think you need to do that," Alaric interjected abruptly, stepping forward and raising the darts behind his back. "You see, there's something else I need you for."

When the two women looked toward him, he whipped out the darts and launched them at his students, being sure to use extra force so that they would penetrate the skin.

Against all odds, he was able to hit both vampires in the neck, and the vervain was almost instantly discharged into their systems, knocking them out so they collapsed to the floor.

They weren't going to be out long, Alaric knew, so he hastened to complete his task before they woke up and figured out he was no longer on their side.

He'd come to that bridge; he needed something to either get Caroline's entire body-or at least her blood-back to where the witches were waiting soon. Since he didn't really fancy dragging her unconscious body around town, obviously the blood would be easier and faster, so he went into the kitchen to find a jar or something to put it in.

Luckily, the kitchen seemed to have an abundance of containers, so he was able to locate an empty bottle within a matter of seconds.

He took it out of the cupboard and headed back into the entrance hall, where he knelt down next to the blonde vampire while simultaneously twisting the cover off the plastic bottle.

Once it was open, Alaric set it down on the floor and lifted Caroline's arm so her wrist was directly above it. Then, he detached the swiss army knife that was hooked to his belt, flicking it out and using it to sever the vein in Caroline's wrist.

Crimson fluid streamed thickly from the fresh wound-even as the skin instantly began to knit itself back together-and Alaric repositioned the limb so that it dripped into the bottle.

Jo hadn't specified how much blood he needed, but somehow, he just knew, and he waited until the bottle was nearly half full before releasing Caroline's arm and putting the bottle's cap back on.

Tucking it into the side of his jacket, Alaric got back to his feet and turned to leave.

"Sorry, girls," he said in a low, uncharacteristically cold tone, casting one final look at his students before walking out the door. "This had to be done. You'll understand when this is finished."

He didn't know where the words came from, but he liked the sound of them-even if they probably wouldn't turn out to be entirely true.

And, with that, he walked back out of the house, sending a text to Jo as he did so, letting her know that he'd done what she told him to.

She didn't respond, though-not until he returned to where she and the rest of her coven were still standing.

"So, what now?" Alaric asked, drawing her attention as he came to stand in his previous position.

At the sound of his voice, the dark-haired woman's eyes brightened.

"You did that much quicker than I expected," she commented admiringly; then, she paused before actually answering his question. "Now, you, Julian, and Luke use that blood to help your friends complete the final step."

Luke threw back his hood and stepped out of their formation to move closer to Alaric.

"Now, I get a chance to show off my full power," he added excitedly, tugging off his gloves and rubbing his hands together before beckoning Julian and the hunter to join him.

The other warlock removed his hood as well as he came to stand beside his partner. Drawing a bronze switchblade, he turned to face the human.

"We need your blood in the same container as the vampire's," he said, holding out his free hand pointedly.

Alaric withdrew the plastic bottle from inside his jacket, unscrewing the lid before giving it to Julian, along with his own hand.

Bloods of the hunter and the hunted

Julian held open bottle beneath Alaric's hand, then cut his palm, tilting it to the side so his blood joined Caroline's inside the plastic receptacle.

Luke took it from him once it was full, holding it in both hands and shaking it slightly so that the bloods would mix. As they did so, he closed his eyes and gradually began to tip it over, whispering in a language that no one but he could understand.

Alaric could see that that surprised his fellow coven members; apparently, they hadn't expected him to do that.

When the blood touched the ground, instead of just splattering everywhere, it formed a single crimson tendril that slithered over the charred earth like a snake, twisting into a sort of curved, multifaceted symbol.

Luke's chanting suddenly got louder, and his eyes snapped open, and they-as well as the symbol on the ground-lit up with an unearthly glow, like the sun reflecting off a sheet of ice. Then, he dropped the bottle, and the plastic exploded, the shards freezing in midair, stained red and-strangely-white.

"Rivlare," Luke uttered a final word, and the entire expanse of ground that had once held the Mystic Grill gave way beneath them, allowing something else to rise in its place.

It was a tower, carved out of onyx with a twisted spire at the top and icy-blue lines crisscrossing all over the base. Right then, it looked out of place among all the other buildings in the town-but it wouldn't for very long.

The mark of the new world

The blonde warlock waved his hand, and the suspended shards of plastic merged into what looked oddly like a staff-a staff with a glowing black and blue gem in the center.

"That tower is the first thing that is needed to unlock the Chrysalis," Jo explained for Alaric's benefit, taking the staff and gesturing with it toward Damon and Enzo's current location. "This will help reveal the rest-but it will be up to Damon and Enzo to figure out what that is and how to get it done."

The next step is disaster

Darkness.

At first, that was all the two vampires could see when they dropped through the trap door; but then, as their night vision abilities slowly kicked in, they were gradually able to make out more of their current location.

They were in some sort of narrow cavern, deep beneath Matt Donovan's house-deeper than even the basement-and clearly underground. The rock walls and floor were lined with stalagmites, and carved into them were all sorts of convoluted designs, like words or characters of an ancient language or something.

This is where it's all been leading

This is the Chrysalis

Damon cast a critical eye around at their surroundings, his free hand retreating into the pocket of his coat. Though this place appeared to be empty at first glance, he could sense that that was just an illusion. The thread was more visible here, meaning that the Chrysalis had to be close. He could feel it stirring nearby, and it felt almost…primordial.

"Damon," Enzo's accented voice interrupted his musing, sounding-as it had before they'd entered the cavern-equal parts wary and excited. His expression was barely visible in the darkness, but Damon could sense what he was feeling through their connection. "Do you feel that, too?"

Damon inclined his head, even though he knew Enzo could probably sense his answer as well.

"There's something alive down here-and I'm betting it's the Chrysalis," he stated aloud, bottom lip catching between his teeth.

Similarly, Enzo's tongue came out to wet his lips as he peered further down the unlit passageway, trying to make out what lay ahead. "I can hear it calling out to us, I think; it wants us to find it so it can be set free," he paused, placing a hand one of the walls, then beginning to walk deeper into the shadows. "And I think I know where it is."

The elder Salvatore's forehead creased slightly at that declaration, but he followed his partner, anyways, trusting that he knew what he was doing.

Enzo lead them through the icicle-lined tunnel, the transit widening more the further they went, until it opened into a circular chamber, where the walls were carved entirely out of ice.

In the center of the chamber was a marble cradle, filled with a pulsating, iridescent white-blue light that was so powerful, it seemed to be making the whole room tremble-almost like it was a living thing.

The second Damon and Enzo laid eyes on that light, they knew without a doubt that it was what they were searching for; the thread they had been following ended there, and they could both hear that voice-the one that had been leading them all this time-emitting from within.

Enzo exhaled sharply, feeling his heart race as the effects of being this close to a force of this magnitude for the first time hit him like a bolt of lightning. "It feels like it's magnifying all of my powers, like all of them-vampiric and not-are being supercharged by something."

He didn't have to ask if Damon felt the same way. He knew he did.

"This is the source of our powers," Damon declared in a hushed voice, releasing Enzo's hand so that he could move closer, eyes wide with unconcealed awe. He reached out, inching his fingers toward the center of the cradle, wanting to know what it would feel like to touch it.

He let out an involuntary gasp when his hand made contact, and his vision suddenly exploded into a myriad of lights and colours. He saw the world expand around him into shapes and textures and their individual lines. He saw every molecule that made up the walls of ice that formed the chamber and the marble surrounding the Chrysalis. He saw things he'd never seen before, even when he'd first become a vampire. It was, in a word, intense.

And, as he delved deeper, he found the answer to the final question: how to unlock the Chrysalis and change the world forever.

"Enzo," he called to his partner, beckoning him with his free hand. "You need to siphon off some of my powers like you did when yours were first awakened, and then you need to transfer them into the Chrysalis. That is how we unlock it."

Under other circumstances, Enzo would have thought that Damon had lost his mind or something, but, at that moment, knowing what Damon was seeing and hearing the Chrysalis' voice in his head, he knew that Damon was right. That was indeed what he had to do.

He stepped away from the wall, joining Damon in front of the Chrysalis' cradle ad laying a hand on his partner's arm. Inhaling deeply, he concentrated his powers on drawing out Damon's, placing his other hand in the center of the cradle to act as a conduit.

He saw sparks of electricity crackle around his fingertips as his ability activated, and he felt the surge of ice in his hand as Damon's power began to seep into his body. It was a shock to his system-but not a bad one-and it only lasted a second as the cold traveled through him into the Chrysalis.

A layer of frost began to creep over the marble, then, encasing it-and its contents-bit by bit as more ice poured out of Enzo's hand.

This is your destiny

When the Chrysalis was completely covered by frost, a wave of blue light suddenly burst out of it, washing over everything they could see-and everything they couldn't.

The walls of the cavern shook, and Damon and Enzo were pulled into the depths of the Chrysalis' power, their minds becoming consumed by visions of all of the changes that were being wrought by their actions.

The house above them crumbled to dust, as did other buildings in other towns in other cities. Blackness filled the skies, and the sun grew dark-not totally, but enough that there wouldn't be much heat to look forward to ever again.

In the ruins of the Donovans' residence-and the Forbes'-the two doppelgangers awoke to see the shadows and ice overtaking every inch of their surroundings and they were simultaneously awed and horrified at the display. Their hometown was being destroyed and restricted before their very eyes-and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

Outside Mystic Falls, other witches and vampires and werewolves felt the shift and knew that they no longer had to feign being human. They were the ones in control now, and they never had to act like they weren't again.

The Gemini coven, and Alaric felt it as well, and they knew their goal had been accomplished.

Of course, not everything changed all at once-there was centuries of human privilege and construction to destroy-but it would happen, make no mistake.

The two vampires jolted back into reality abruptly, eyes flying open as they pulled back their hands and locked gazes.

"Wow, that was-that was amazing. We actually did it." Enzo exclaimed, voice slightly breathless with exhilaration. His lips curved into a smile as the after-images of what they had just seen danced inside his head, and he exhaled sharply. "What happens now?"

Damon chuckled quietly. "Amazing" was an understatement for what had just happened.

"I suppose whatever we want," He paused, pondering a moment before adding with a grin of his own, "How do you feel about finally taking that trip to Cape Horn?"

By way of a response, Enzo turned toward Damon and pulled him into a fierce, triumphant kiss. He couldn't believe they'd really done this-or that Damon had stuck by his side through all of it. He'd never imagined that he'd be lucky enough to get Damon to choose him over Elena; but not only had he done that, but now, because of Stefan's own failings, they no longer had to worry about him, either.

And now, they'd made an entirely new world where they didn't have to hide where they were, and could do what they wanted-and they had the rest of eternity to explore it all together.

and that is LE END. Kind of a rushed conclusion I suppose, but I couldn't think of how to make it less so. Thanks to everyone who read/followed/reviewed. Hope you all enjoyed.