GILBERT HOUSEHOLD

"Hey! It's Aella. So, haha funny story, my phone and I are playing hide and seek....aaannnddd...it's winning. I'll call you back as soon as I find it! Hey, before you leave that message, do you want to know something about me? I love jokes. You want to know something I hate? I hate long messages, so why don't you leave a short one and I'll get back to you. If you leave a long one, don't count on it."

Stefan rolled his eyes as he listened to Aella's annoying voicemail; it usually wasn't so bad, but now as this was his third time calling her, it was really annoying him. He'd be worried if Caroline hadn't confirmed Aella had just texted her, so instead of leaving a voicemail he knew she would never listen to, he hung up and sighed in frustration.

"We seriously need her to get a new voicemail," Elena smirked as she read the papers in front of her.

Stefan smiled lightly, and Elena could see he was beginning to worry, "Hey, she's okay. She's probably just busy tracking down Bonnie that she can't answer. We both know she can protect herself.

Stefan nodded and took his place next to Elena at the counter, but as he nodded, he felt something inside, telling him to run and protect his girlfriend. Just as he was about to stand up and go look for Bonnie and now Aella, Elena pointed to the papers in front of them:

"Here's a reference that he wrote about Emily," she pointed to a particular section. She started reading aloud, "The Fell family believed it should be I, not them, who protected the witch's spellbook. But I feared she would haunt me from the hereafter. They mocked my fear, but it was Giuseppe Salvatore who-" She paused and looked up at Stefan, "Is that your father?"

Stefan looked down at the paper and nodded, "Yeah." He took the documents from Elena and continued to read it himself, "-It was Giuseppe Salvatore who removed my fear. He told me he would protect the secret of the spellbook. He said he would carry it to his grave."

Elena looked to him, "Do you have any idea?"

Stefan's mind went back to the year, he had hoped to forget, but for once, his memories were helping him for the good. Stefan remembered that his father once told him that he would take all the real secrets to his grave, and now Stefan realized it was Emily's Grimoire.

If Jonathan Gilbert had given it to Guiseppe to protect, then Stefan knew precisely where his father had hidden away the Grimoire. A place Guiseppe knew that none of his descendants would visit because he had killed his only children when he had discovered their betrayal. Guiseppe really had taken his secrets to his grave.

Stefan turned to Elena, "I know where it is."

Emily's Bennett's Grimoire was buried with his father, Guiseppe Salvatore, and had been there for 145 years.

MYSTIC FALLS MOTEL

Aella continued banging on whatever she could get her feet in front of, smirking as Ben tore open the door again and snarled at her to stop pounding and being difficult. What did he think she was going to continue being kidnapped without fighting?

The only annoying part was the repetition of the word 'difficult.' Now that annoyed her.

"That's it!" Ben declared and ripped off the duct tape, ignoring Aella's cries of pain. "How can one 17-year-old be so difficult?!"

Aella heard the sound of water and hoped he would give her some to drench her parched throat. Ignoring her pain, she decided to continue to make Ben regret kidnapping her, "I don't know where all the crap about me being a 'difficult person' is coming from. I'm a constant freakin' delight!"

Ben growled and seemed to mix something together, "You're a constant pain in my ass that's about to become very sleepy."

Before Aella could question or object, Ben held her nose closed and poured what she thought was water until the powdery taste of pharmaceuticals entered her taste buds. Before she could spit the concoction out, Ben used his vampire strength to push her lips together until she couldn't hold her breath anymore, and she swallowed.

He let go of her nose and mouth, and she was quick to take air in, yet as she opened her mouth again to demand to know what he'd just forced her to drink, Ben placed the duct tape back on her mouth and shut away again.

Aella couldn't tell when she really passed out, due to whatever Ben had given her.

She wouldn't know that Damon met Anna just outside the hotel she was held prisoner in. Instead of betraying his brother when Anna offered to join up, he turned her down and returned to his brother.

She didn't know that Stefan called Damon and revealed Emily's grimoire was with their father, and together the two brothers dug up Guiseppe's remains. The vampire hating that still his father could try and get one over them, and secretly appreciate Stefan for keeping his promise.

She didn't know that while she was in that side closet knocked out, Elena would soon join her and her cousin in the same hotel room, each unconscious and tied up in different places.

And she didn't know the dilemma Stefan would be in as she continued to not answer his calls. So he chose to focus on Bonnie and Elena knowing Aella would be furious if he didn't make finding the two his priority.

But that's because she wasn't there. And even if she was found, she still wouldn't be with them because her magic had taken hold of her.

Her magic; the ancestors, and the people who protect her now and in the future had taken hold of her mind and spirit to protect her as it had done all her life.

She wouldn't remember her magic coursing through her body, repeating the words, "Phasmatos Salves Nas Ex Malon, Terra Mora Vantis Quo Incandis, Et Vasa Quo Ero Signos."

She wouldn't feel a warmth in her body as her second elemental power produced itself for the first time.

"Phasmatos Salves Nas Ex Malon, Terra Mora Vantis Quo Incandis, Et Vasa Quo Ero Signos."

She wouldn't understand that it was Emily, her mother, and father that showed her the consequences of only Sheila and Bonnie removing the spell to open the door to the tomb. Followed by the spell barrier spell on the Tomb, one inexperienced and one too weak to stubborn to reveal.

"Phasmatos Salves Nas Ex Malon, Terra Mora Vantis Quo Incandis, Et Vasa Quo Ero Signos."

But she would remember a conversation between her kidnappers, a conversation she shouldn't have been able to hear due to her unconsciousness but was able to recall clearly. A conversation that would change the relationship between Damon and Aella as she thought only for him and his feelings.

"What's so good about this chick, Katherine, everyone sounds so obsessed with her?"

"Trust me, she's not good, she's just good at manipulating everyone around her. My mother and I were one of her puppets at one time."

"So why are we helping her get released from the Tomb?"

"She's not in the tomb. She never was in the tomb. She manipulated the guard, and he let her go. Damon has been looking for her for 145 years, and she's known exactly where he was and has chosen to stay dead."

"And you know this how?"

"Last I saw her was in Chicago, 1983. She doesn't care about him. Only herself."

"What about when Damon finds out Katherine isn't in the tomb?"

"We'll be long gone with my mother by then."

And as the day turned to night, Aella woke with a gasp, her eyes glowing brighter than they ever had before. Her mind, body, and soul, screaming at her to do three things:

Escape

Run

Save a life.

A burning smell entered her nose, and before she knew it, the rope around her wrists fell. She quickly removed her blindfold and untied the ropes around her legs and mouth. With no second to spare, she dived from the floor of the closest and ran out of that small motel room, but not before she glanced back and saw the rope that had held her hands, now burnt to a crisp with not a single burn on her wrists.

"Phasmatos Salves Nas Ex Malon, Terra Mora Vantis Quo Incandis, Et Vasa Quo Ero Signos."

Ignoring this new development, she ran. She ran hard. She ran with her heart, knowing if she didn't make it to the tomb, someone she loved would die.

"Phasmatos Salves Nas Ex Malon, Terra Mora Vantis Quo Incandis, Et Vasa Quo Ero Signos."

And that wouldn't happen under Aella Bennett's watch.

MYSTIC FALLS WOODS

Aella ran through the woods as fast as she could possibly run.

The flashes of her Grams dying and the consequences of her death rattled through her bones.

She ran as though she were gazelle being chased to her death by a cheetah, and survival was the only thing on her mind.

"Phasmatos Salves Nas Ex Malon, Terra Mora Vantis Quo Incandis, Et Vasa Quo Ero Signos."

The spell that had pushed her to consciousness echoed around her mind as she jumped a fallen tree, and turned at the large willow tree that split the path into two. Her magic was leading her, and she knew it would not lead her astray.

..............................................

..............................................

"What do you mean she wasn't with them!" Caroline exclaimed on the phone to Stefan.

She looked over the many heads at Duke's ten-keg party, and when her eyes met Jeremy's, she could only shrug at him. Stefan had found Elena and Bonnie, but Aella was still missing."

"Bonnie said she wasn't with them," Stefan sighed, and Caroline could hear the frustration in his voice.

"But her car is still at the Grill, and Matt said she left with Ben. Isn't that enough evidence that Ben took her?" Caroline was already worried as three of her best friends had been kidnapped. But now her person was even more lost, and she didn't know what to do, "Why don't I help?"

"No," Stefan immediately told her. "Duke's party is too close to the tomb, and if anything happens, they'll be the first to feel the effects. It's better if you and Jeremy just keep an eye on things, and if anything happens..."

"...I'll pull an Aella, don't you worry about that," Caroline nodded, she was still deciding on whether to shout she saw a wolf or another mountain lion. Mountain lion was winning at the moment as wolves in Mystic Falls was just not believable at all. "I just wish I could help. Aella wouldn't be at a party if I were missing."

"Aella would want you far away from the danger," Stefan explained softly to Caroline. "You and Jeremy are helping by keeping everyone safe there."

With a nod, she agreed with Stefan, "Okay, keep me updated."

Jeremy reached her as Stefan ended the call, "I will."

When she put her phone away, Jeremy raised his brow at her, "What's happened?"

"Stefan found Bonnie and Elena," Caroline smiled tightly at him, feeling a little happy when Jeremy's worried eyes lessened that his sister was free.

But his eyes furrowed when he realized that she had only mentioned Bonnie and his sister, "And Aella?"

Caroline shook her head as her throat closed up. Her eyes started to water as worry filled her entire body, Jeremy didn't even blink before he pulled her into his arms and rubbed her back in comfort, "She's going to be okay. If there's anyone that can fight their way home, it's Aella."

Caroline pulled back, nodding as she wiped away the tears, "I know. I just feel so helpless."

"Join the club," Jeremy puffed. "But if babysitting drunken teens is what we can do to help cause everyone else less stress, then let's do it. Okay?"

Caroline fixed her makeup, and with a sharp nod, she looked to the younger Gilbert, "Okay."

..............................................

..............................................

Sheila lit the torches at the tomb as Bonnie stood next to her. Stefan, Damon, and Elena watched from the entrance, Damon with a blood pouch ready for Katherine, and Stefan with the gasoline prepared for the remaining vampires.

"Air. Earth. Fire..."

Bonnie held up a water bottle to her grandmother, "Water."

Sheila took the bottle and began sprinkling it on the floor.

"That's it?" Elena raised her brow. "Just water from the tap?"

Grams simply continued pouring the water, "As opposed to what?"

Elena shrugged unsurely, "I just figured maybe it would have to be blessed or mystical or something."

Sheila smirked between Bonnie and Elena, "I can see why you two are best friends. Bonnie asked the same dumb question then."

Bonnie scoffed at Sheila's choice of words, "And I suppose Aella automatically knew."

Sheila's brow raised at Bonnie's attitude towards her cousin, and she could see from the slight shock on Elena's face she was too, "No. There's not a word for that granddaughter of mine in the English language. The damn child stole holy water from a church."

..............................................

..............................................

Aella breath came out in sharp punches as she saw fire through the trees ahead and ran towards that direction. Something in her heart was telling her to go there, and she realized why when she saw a familiar blonde-haired girl drinking alone.

A sob fell out her tight throat as she called out her best friend's name, relieved at least she was safe, "Ca-Caroline."

Caroline's body had never turned so quickly when she heard the weak but familiar voice of her best friend. The drink in her hand fell to the floor, and her body flew to Aella's and wrapped her in a tight hug as Aella exhaustedly fell into her with a sigh of relief. "Oh my god, you're alive!"

Aella chuckled into her best friend's neck, tearfully, "You think they could really take on me?"

"Never," Caroline shook her head sharply. As much as she worried, she knew Aella would always find her way home. Caroline pulled back and examined Aella, noticing her raw lips and tired eyes, "Where were you?"

"Ben and Anna."

Caroline frowned, Stefan said Aella wasn't with them, "No. Stefan rescued Bonnie and Elena... they were with Anna and Ben."

Aella tiredly smiled, "They locked me in the closet, all tied up and knocked me out with sleeping pills. They couldn't risk my powers. It's not Stefan's fault he missed me."

"Yes, it is!" Caroline exclaimed, not happy that Stefan hadn't rescued Aella. "Don't you have some connection where he can freakily find you?"

Aella snorted, "He's not a bloodhound, Caroline." She hugged her best friend again, so happy she was able to be calmed down by her eccentric person before she ran on. She knew she would have to leave now to make it. "I have to go."

Aella began pulling away, but Caroline held on furiously, "No! I just got you back."

"I have to finish this, C," Aella smiled into her shoulder. "I've been shown things, things that only I can do. I'll be fine. Trust me."

Caroline finally nodded and let the brunette go, "Okay. Be safe."

Aella smiled at the blonde for a moment, and before she turned and ran towards the tomb, she winked at Caroline, "I will."