3.14 Initiation

PGChase: "I need a Resistance (Directors) advantage."

Deaver: "Do you remember Nikki?"
Rowan: "Yes, from two years ago."
Deaver: "Do you remember what happened?"
Rowan: "Yes."
Deaver: "She's standing in my living room."
Rowan: "... I'll be right there."

PGChase: "Do I get to say, 'I am disinclined to acquiesce to your request'?"

Deaver [sees rosary around Gabe's neck]: "Gabe – am I going to be struck by lightning?"
Gabe [grins]: "I'm not."

Stefan: "I'm in chains, and yet there's a dozen of you in here. Now how does that make you feel?"
Vampire: "Smart."

Chase: "You shouldn't have come here."
Gabe: "Yeah, you're right."

Gabe: "Maybe Deaver's still formulating a plan."
Deaver: "Right now, I'm on plan ZY."

Deaver: "Would you like to go to bed? We can find your spark tomorrow."

Stefan: "Why was she stroking you and calling you 'shiny'?"
Deaver: "I have no idea."
Stefan: "Ah. Then I assume it's not a pet name."

Geoff: "Chase is with Bannon."
Deaver: "So she's still there. A human."
Geoff: "Yes, but she agreed to be."
Gabe, Stefan, AND Deaver: "WHAT?!?"
Deaver: "Why??"
Geoff: "Because she's an idiot."

Gabe: "Assets?"
Stefan: "My strength. His brains. Your magic."

Simone: "I ... know a way down. But there will probably be vampires."
Gabe: "Really."

Simone: "Do you have any plan for what happens when we get down there?"
Gabe: "... It's a long walk, right?"

PGStefan: "Beaten, broken down, and acid-washed. Just like a good pair of jeans."

Chase: "You know, I'm actually a little offended. I got told that I was going to be the last member of the Alumni."

Stefan: "Less talky talky, more walky walky ..."

Rive barrels through a starry vacuum. The void spins around her. She suddenly smacks into something, hard. She hits the ground with a thump, and finds herself in the woods outside McKennit ... and outside the barrier.

* * *

Deaver looks on helplessly as Nikki sobs incoherently in the corner of his living room. Uncertain what to do but determined to restore her, he calls Rowan for aid. When Rowan hears that Nikki has returned and is most likely the Conrupti they requested, she quickly makes her way to Deaver's house.

* * *

Chase takes a deep breath. The only sounds she hears in the deafening silence are Geoff's erratic breathing and her own heartbeat. She's pretty sure everyone else there hears it, too. She slowly scans the torture chamber. Bannon still holds his hand out. Marie runs her fingers across Geoff's chest. The other vampires lounge around the room.

She asks Bannon what happens if she says no. He senses the change in her, but continues their business discussion -- per their initial agreement, she is free to leave if she chooses. It is a different story when she asks about Geoff, however. He has caused enough trouble in his four years in McKennit that the Alumni have unfinished business with him. He won't be going anywhere. She tries to convince Bannon to release him, but he advises her to forget about him and doesn't budge on the issue. So she finally offers to bargain. When asked what he wants in exchange for Geoff's freedom, Bannon gives her a simple choice. If she stays and accepts his proposal, they will release Geoff and get him safely to the hospital.

Chase looks sadly down at (a completely confused) Geoff for a moment, as Bannon watches her from the other side of the table. Turning her back on them both, she takes a shaky breath. "Fine. Get him to the hospital. And get me the hell out of this room."

* * *

Gabe continues to hunt through the library, searching for the entrance to the Alumni underground.

* * *

Rowan arrives, and Deaver takes her immediately to the living room, where Nikki mumbles on about her spark. He tells Rowan of the "spark" mentioned in Meg's prophecy. Unfortunately, Rowan's gifts of "sight" are on a different level than Meg's so she's not sure how to interpret Meg's words. Her best advice is to move Nikki somewhere comfortable and familiar.

There's a knock at the door, and Stefan and Gabe are there. Deaver brings them in, too, to see Nikki. Apparently ending the spell didn't change EVERYTHING back to the way it was.

Nikki places a gentle hand on Deaver's chest, seeming to look almost through him as she talks about how bright and shiny he is. They coax her upstairs in hopes that the familiarity of Deaver's room will calm her. It works, at least a little, and they convince her to get some rest and tuck her in to the bed.

Gabe tells them about the ultimatum he received at the library. They can all either join Bannon or die horribly. Well, all of them except Stefan. He's going to die horribly regardless. Great.

About then, Deaver's phone rings. It is a frantic Simone. She demands to know what is going on - Geoff is in the hospital, and she was in Milan, and she doesn't understand any of this. Deaver tells her they'll explain when they get to the hospital and he, Stefan, and Gabe quickly take off to meet her there. Rowan agrees to stay with Nikki while they're gone.

The boys meet Owen and Simone at the hospital, and they retreat to an empty room to discuss the situation. They quickly fill the pair in on Queen Mab. Simone asks how Mab got through the barrier, but they have no answer for her. They tell her their (latest) theory - that Bannon got a hold of Geoff, and is the reason for his roughed-up condition. They tell her Chase is also missing. While Simone loves the idea of Chase getting munched by a vampire, she acknowledges that no one really deserves that.

The group goes to Geoff's room, where he's alert enough to answer questions. With Simone sitting beside him holding his (not broken) hand, he tells them confusedly that Chase is with Bannon and that she's been turned. Once he's been filled in on the Mab factor, Geoff realizes Chase is no longer a vampire, and that she's still down there with Bannon, and that she's agreed to become an Alumni to get him out of trouble. Crap.

Simone knows how to contact Bannon, but he's been unresponsive of late. She has no idea where Alumni headquarters are, other than "underground". Deaver mulls over the still-unsolved map puzzle while the others discuss potential ways to the underground. Simone admits that she knows where an entrance is from City Hall -- as a small girl, she found it by accident and went exploring. She agrees to take them there. Geoff tries to pull himself out of bed to go with them, but Deaver tells him to stay where he is.

Simone escorts them to the basement of City Hall and into one of the storage closets. Stefan helps her move a shelf aside. She finds a button up at ceiling level, and the back wall slides open. Dark stairs curve downward. Simone tells them she's not sure how far she got as a small child, but she was picked up by three Alumni pretty quickly. The group proceeds cautiously down the stairs, and in to an eerily lit tunnel ?

* * *

Bannon escorts Chase into a waiting room, filled with firelight and beautifully carved furniture. He is courteous and accommodating. She reluctantly takes a seat and asks for a glass of water. Bannon requests it from a vampire standing by, along with a bottle of wine.

They discuss Bannon's time-consuming woodcarving hobby, the nature of the initiation ritual Chase will undergo at dusk, the operation of the barrier, and the subset of the Alumni that are really in to night surfing ...

* * *

The guys and Simone progress down the hallway, when it widens in to a chamber filled with monolithic pillars. On closer inspection, the pillars are in fact beautifully carved wooden statues of deities from various mythologies.

They slowly continue around the edge of the room, hugging the walls. Suddenly, from nowhere, a group of vampires appears from behind the shadowy columns.

There are a lot of them. Stefan dusts one as Gabe sees motion behind another pillar. He reaches out a hand and the shadowy figure freezes. Unfortunately, someone else reaches out a similar hand, and Stefan is frozen mid-stroke.

Deaver uses the chemicals he grabbed from the janitorial closet and starts furiously spritzing some toilet paper. Ooh, scary.

With Stefan frozen and Deaver and Gabe at sword point, they decide that accompanying the vampires quietly is a good plan. After a few twists and turns, they enter a wood-paneled room filled with beautiful furniture and artwork. Chairs are gathered by a roaring fire.

Stefan is heavily manacled, and Gabe is clapped in the anti-magical hardware he's already familiar with. Even Deaver is flanked by guards. The guards eye them all intently. Rasmus appears suddenly, stepping out of the fireplace. "Welcome to the home of The Alumni. You are surrounded by over 3,000 vampires, many of which possess an extra trick or two. Going along will make for quick deaths. Fighting will make for slow ones while the remainder of you watch. Don't forget, we also know where Miss Whelan, her mother Ms. Whelan, Miss Kellinger, and Dr. VanGarren are. They won't be hard to acquire. So sit tight."

Bannon enters the room, flanked by Marie and several other vampires. "Welcome. Please, have a seat. Have. A. Seat." The guards shove the prisoners into chairs.

Bannon moves in front of the fireplace. "As you all know, I have Miss McCallum. We have an arrangement, and she will be staying with me. A wise decision on her part, even if it took a bit of persuasion on ours. Now. Monsieur De Reigner elected his fate when he killed Zachary. Should you keep silent, Monsieur, your death will be tournament style, and not execution style. I believe this would be to your preference, yes?" Stefan gives him a scornful assertion. Bannon continues. "It would be to ours as well. Dr. Deaver and Mr. Marelli, you have a choice. You will become vampyre -- that is not the option. You may, however, choose to be full vampyre through a willing ceremony, or you will become Turokoi - a strong but stupid race of vampyre that do our bidding. What say you?"

It doesn't take Gabe long to agree. Deaver delays a bit longer, but ultimately agrees to the ceremony, hoping to buy them all some time.

Gabe asks Bannon for a word. He agrees, and Gabe is escorted out of the room. Stefan and Deaver are each escorted to separate chambers to mark the time until dusk.

In private conversation, Gabe manages to convince Bannon that Deaver is of no use to them. He presses the notion of a watcher being less of a threat with a young slayer-in-training, and that by the time Rive poses a true threat, it will be far too late to matter. Bannon is also actually concerned about initiating so many at once into the Alumni - as it is a magical binding that is meant to be performed on only one person at a time. Gabe, who appears to have Bannon's respect, recommends that he continue with the one-at-a-time approach, as spells can go nasty if pushed beyond their intended limits. Bannon agrees.

A slightly tipsy Chase (who has been left alone in her chamber) tries to "go exploring" and is rewarded with a trip to prison for her efforts. Bannon apparently has his doubts as to her sincerity ...

Stefan, Gabe, and Deaver are brought down to the prison to await the ritual. Deaver and Stefan are placed in the same cell. Further down the row, Chase sits in a different cell, with a grim expression on her face. Gabe is placed in the cell with her. Once inside, the vampires remove his anti-magic manacles through the bars. Before Gabe can rejoice and rain mojo, the captors inform him that the cage is warded against magic, and that nothing he casts will make it out of the cage. The vampires leave them, and they're plunged into darkness.

Inside the pitch-back cell, Chase feels a cold touch on her shoulder. As she slips into unconsciousness, she hears Gabe whisper, "I'm so sorry. Then again, no I'm not."

Chase is the first one escorted out of the prison. Before opening the cell door, they put the manacles back on Gabe. They walk her down the hall.

As Chase walks past their cell, she locks eyes with Deaver. He hears Gabe's voice in his head, and the quiet "snick" of the cell lock. "The door's open. Wait ten minutes, then get everyone the hell out of here."

* * *

The doors in front of Chase open, and she's escorted into a large, cross-shaped chamber. Vampires sit in rows in the crossbars. In the center of the room, a large, rust-colored circle mars the floor. In the center of the circle is a cushioned lectus and a table, both intricately carved with figures of angels and demons. A human and a vampire are the central figures on each side of the lectus. On the table is a crystal and pewter chalice and a silver athame with a cross shaped handle. Torches burn at each of the corners, and a candlelit chandelier lights the room from above.

13 vampires in robes stand just inside the circle. Bannon and Rasmus stand at its center.

Chase is led into the chamber, vampires flanking her entrance. Another vampire is haplessly dragged along in her wake. At the edge of the circle, Rasmus asks her: "Come you here of your own will, with full intention to join our ranks?"

Chase mouths off, but she can only hold out for so long in a room full of vampires. She grudgingly agrees and is led into the circle...

* * *

Deaver wracks his brain for the solution to the map mystery. Stefan continues to hammer on the bars. Deaver remembers seeing a carved wooden mural that depicted Charon the ferryman, who also appears on the Alumni coins that offer the bearer some kind of favor or protection. Pulling out his penknife Deaver slices his hand open and holds it over the map.

"I want to cross the river with Charon."

The map glows in the darkness, and suddenly a three-dimensional version of the tunnel system springs to life. Deaver turns to Stefan. "It's time to go." He pushes open the now-unlocked cell door. Stefan, incredulous, follows him out.

* * *

Each vampire in the circle goes game face. They all draw blood from their own wrists, which flows freely and reforms the murky circle on the ground, forming a moat around the casters.

The unwilling vampire is tied to the lectus. As he's being secured, Rasmus moves to each cardinal direction and mutters unintelligibly.

Bannon says: "Lilith, first wife of Adam, ye who left to find the power your world denied you, goddess of night and mother of vampires, be with us at this solemn occasion."

Rasmus chants in Latin. As he starts to repeat it, the other casters pick up the chant.

Bannon hands Chase a stake and motions towards the bound vampire on the lectus. Big-eyed, she looks desperately around the chamber. She hesitates long enough that Bannon forcibly walks her over to the vampire and places her hand over its heart. Looking away, she stakes the vampire and is then forced to collect and scatter his ashes in each of the cardinal directions, where it drifts downward into the moat of blood...

* * *

Stefan and Deaver move down the row of cells to the one where Gabe lies passed out on the floor.

* * *

Chase is shoved backward onto the lectus. Rasmus keeps intoning. "We leave you unchained, a symbol of the choice you make."

She laughs out loud at that bit.

Bannon holds up the athame, grasping the cross. "Welcome descendents of St. Saul, you who are freed from the chains of our past." Using the athame, Bannon collects a drop of blood from each of the vampire casters, then from Rasmus, into the chalice. Finally he slits his own wrist, and fills the chalice to the top. He kneels before Chase.

"With this kiss, you join my family." Bannon embraces her, and bites her on the neck ...

* * *

Stefan reaches down to try to wake Gabe. Suddenly, it is no longer Gabe lying there on the cell floor -- it is a very groggy Chase instead.

* * *

Bannon releases Chase and puts the chalice to her lips ... when suddenly the illusion dies. Chase is no longer Chase, but Gabe, who gives Bannon a pained but victorious smile. Locking eyes with the vampire, Gabe manages a choked chuckle, and says only one thing:

"Rachel permutandi est pro me."

Bannon looks up at Rasmus with a furious glare. "Finish it. And FIND THEM."

With the blood running down his face, Gabe seizes the chalice with both hands and forces to his own lips. Releasing it, his breathing quickly fades to nothing.

* * *

Chase demands to know where Gabe is. Realizing what's happened, she refuses to leave Gabe for dead (even though they all know he already is), and Stefan throws her kicking and screaming over his shoulder as they make quickly for the exit.

Using the map Deaver has activated, they work their way up towards the surface. A small group of guards tries to stop them, but with most of the Alumni at the ritual, Stefan and Deaver quickly fight their way through.

The guys shove Chase into the back seat of the car and start driving. They decide they need to get in a private residence and quickly. About that time, Stefan gets a phone call from Rachel. She sounds worried and bewildered. Deaver drives straight to Rachel and Chase's apartment and they drag Chase to the door. Rachel answers their knock ... and she's completely restored...