Mistress of Death Amongst Immortals

Date Night

Date Night

The small town of Mystic Falls was a peaceful, quiet town.  Kind of like the quiet before a storm. 

Hermione was sifting through all the books she had acquired through questionable means about doppelgangers, when she came across a detailed drawing of their origin.  Once she recovered from the shock, she set the book on the table in front of her in the library and went to go find Lei.  Hermione found Leilani with Fred and George hovering over a cell phone.  The cellular device had several runes that were carefully carved into it to harness magic instead of being attacked by it. 

Fred picked up the device in one hand and had his wand in the other, "Lumos."  The tip of his wand lit up, but his attention was on the cell phone.  When it didn't glitch or start smoking, Fred canceled the spell, "Nox."  The cell phone had survived.  George brought out a second cell phone and started carving the same runes into it while Fred did the same for a third one.  Hermione got Lei's attention, "It seems you three have figured it out.  However, I need to borrow Lei for a bit."

Both witches left the twins working on the rest of the cell phones.  Lei followed Hermione to the library, "What did you find?"  Lei surveyed the various open books on the table and noticed they were grimoires, "How did you get these grimoires?"  "Well...I may or may not have modified Madam Pince's spell for retrieving overdue books.  Instead of the books appearing here, the spell sends me an exact replica of whatever book or grimoire I'm trying to retrieve.  All of these are grimoires that speak about doppelgangers," Hermione was shutting some of the grimoires, so she didn't see Lei smile.  "That explains all the books that I know were in the Ministry and Hogwarts library.  So?  What did you want to show me?"  Hermione handed Lei the book she was reading.  Lei's eyes widened before she set the book down, "I'll be back."

Damon was the first one to the front door, followed closely by Stefan and Enzo.  He opened the door, his signature smirk adorned his face, "Hello, Lei.  How are you this fine afternoon?"  Lei tried to smile but it came out as a grimace, "Can you guys come over to my place?  There's something you need to see."  Damon nodded as Stefan gave a verbal response, "Of course.  Is there something wrong?"  Lei ran a hand through her hair, "Um, I'm not sure as of yet.  It's something you have to see for yourself."  The three vampires grew worried, so they went with Lei back to her home.

Inside the library, Hermione and Lei were explaining what they found.  "When Lei told me about the conversation with Elijah about Elena, I did a little more research.  And I came across a particular grimoire that speaks about the origin of doppelgangers," Hermione had the book opened to the explanation with the drawing on the next page but was holding it to her chest.  Lei took over for a moment, "What we're going to show you may upset you."  She was looking directly at Stefan.  He sat up straighter in his seat, "Why is that?"

Hermione took a deep breath, "There's more than one doppelgänger."  She set down the grimoire in front of Stefan, who read the entry out loud, "Doppelgängers, also known as Shadow Selves or Mortal Shadow Selves, were a supernatural occurrence that were created by Nature.  After Silas and Amara became true immortals by consuming Qetsiyah's immortality elixir, they violated the natural law that all living things must die.  Nature found a balance by creating mortal shadow selves that could die.  For this reason, doppelgangers have existed for as long as immortals, having been born and died in the place of Silas and Amara."  Stefan turned the page and just stared, wide-eyed, at a picture of two people who looked identical to his ex-girlfriend Elena and himself.

Damon and Enzo leaned over to see what had Stefan frozen in shock.  Damon read further into the entry.  He voiced out loud what he comprehended, "This Markos guy talks about how Silas' and Amara's doppelgangers are spelled to always find each other."  Damon sat back and thought about what happened to Stefan earlier that day, "That would explain your need to see Elena."  Stefan swallowed the knot in his throat.  He didn't know how to feel.  Stefan felt angry, as well as hurt, knowing that his feelings for Elena may not have been real.  He had woken up that morning with the urge to knock on Elena's door and talk to her, like he had every day since he broke up with her.  But Elena proved to be more like Katherine than he and his brother care to admit.