After my rather interesting encounter with Qetsiyah, I continued my massacre. I lost track of time but the results spoke for itself. Silence reigned in this supernatural purgatory. Of course witches weren't the only inhabitants of this dimension, the other creatures were spared. Who knows when I'd need them.
Even then, the weight of what I did was apparent. The ever present pressure of Nature had relented by a tiny fraction, I'd almost missed it. Whether it was due to the realization of its inefficiency in suppressing me or something else was unclear but I have a theory. I'll look into that later.
At some point I'd gotten bored of running around tearing them apart like ants and simply spread out tendrils of my magic to do the job while I toured the realm. The Other Side spanned a range that covered the whole planet at least if I'm not mistaken. I don't have enough patience to spend a long time on a witch spirit hunt of that size so I settled for clearing out the witch spirit population of Mystic Falls and a few miles beyond.
Qetsiyah was pulled along for the ride during all of this, watching in amazement and a tiny amount of what I suspect to be reverence. Again, crazy woman.
Satisfied, I tugged on the metaphorical string that connected me to my physical body, pulling myself back into my body with a sharp breath.
"Well, that was fun." I muttered, taking a moment to appreciate the feeling of my actual body.
Other than mystical genocide, this trip had the reward of all the knowledge I'd reaped along the way. While it would have been nice to have their grimoires to add to the collection, I'll settle for this.
I pause, feeling something at the edge of my senses that brought a smile to my lips. Sheila is back in town, perfect.
-[Sheila]-
If she was worried before, she was now terrified. Witches had a connection to nature and through that connection, she could feel the struggle it was going through. Perhaps that was more of a side effect of being so close to the center of the cause.
Scrambling for her purse, she reached for her phone to call Bonnie and find out where she was, only to stop when a sharp pain rang through her head. She only barely managed to stop the car from swerving as she attempted to pull herself back together.
"Don't even think about it." A familiar voice rang through her mind. Immediately looking around, she found nothing.
"Don't bother, there's nothing there." Nathan's voice said, clear in her head.
"How are you doing this?" She asked, hands trembling on the steering wheel.
The chuckle that rang through her head sent chills down her spine. "Wouldn't you like to know."
"What do you want?" Her mind drifted to Bonnie, trying to think of where she would be. Hoping she wouldn't be with this bastard.
"Now that's not very nice." He said, causing her to go still. "But I'll let it slide this once. Don't worry about Bonnie either. She's in good hands, so long as you comply."
Images were forced into her mind. Images of Bonnie unconscious on the floor of Nathan's apartment, bruises all over her body. She could only let out a gasp.
"What did you do to her?"
"Nothing permanent, yet. You have ten minutes to get here. If you attempt to call anyone, I'll kill her along with anyone you made contact with. If you're not here by then, well…you don't want to find out." With that, along with another mild spike of pain, he was gone.
Her hand shakily hovered over her bag for a moment before dropping it back to the steering wheel. There was truly nothing she could do. The police wouldn't be able to do anything. Even if they did, at what cost and how long could they really stall him. Bonnie's friends would also be of no help, Nathan could manhandle the Salvatore brothers with ease.
With heat in her eyes and a trembling in her body, she pushed the pedal further, speeding through the streets towards Nathan's home.
-[Nathan]-
Mindfuckery is quite fun. If Voldemort was able to mentally torment Harry from miles away, what's stopping me from being able to do the same? As for Bonnie being in danger, she wasn't even here. A few conjured up images were enough to send Sheila into a panic.
It didn't take long for her to appear, at the 7 minute mark to be precise. She hesitated for a moment at the door before bursting in. She found me waiting for her in the living room, lounged on the couch.
"Ah, there you are. I was beginning to wonder when you'd arrive." I said, a cruel smile on my face.
"Where is Bonnie?" Sheila asked, a little quake in her voice just barely covered up by the steel facade she was trying to put up.
I gestured for her to take a seat opposite me. She had no choice but to comply, quietly doing so. "Care for a drink?"
With a wave of my hand and magic materialization, a bottle of whiskey appeared on the table, an empty cup beside it. I love magic, it's good for theatrics.
"We had a deal. I did everything you asked. Why are you doing this?" She asked quietly.
"Well, I thought about it and it didn't seem all that appealing anymore. Why should I honor a deal that does me no favors? Whatever I need from you, I can take. You are alive because I decided it. I can just as easily rectify that." I said, my eyes not leaving hers.
"Have you no shame?" She spat out, glaring at me. "All this power at your fingertips and yet you use it to toy with everyone around you."
Rather than getting offended, it actually caused me to laugh. "For your information, yes. All this power, as you so elegantly put it, is mine and I will do with it as I please. Whether it be saving kittens from trees or inflicting plagues onto nations. You're free to try and stop me, if you can."
"You're a monster." Hatred is too mild a word to describe how she looked at me.
Getting on my feet, I moved across the room, now standing behind her chair. "Oh I know. I've known that for a long time. Unfortunately for you, I've grown bored of you."
Her eyes widened but before she could react, my magic took hold of her, forcing her to stand as well. Turning her to face me, the panic and fear is palpable. "For the record, Bonnie is just fine. She's over at Elena's house playing nice."
That was the last thing she heard before I ripped out her soul from her body. Rather than destroy it, I drained it of everything, essence, memory, magic. From the depths of myself, I pulled out Qetsiyah's soul which I had grabbed from the other side and poured it all into her.
It wasn't a merge. I fed Qetsiyah Sheila's soul and felt her soul pulse stronger than before. With that done, I turned my attention to Sheila's body which I was still holding in the air, integrating Qetsiyah into it. The process wasn't a long one.
Keeping her unconscious, I got to work with biomancy, reshaping her into her original appearance. I'm vain enough to make a few minor adjustments in some places for my visual pleasure. I'm now skilled enough that it doesn't take too long to finish up and with a spark of magic, I woke her.
Eyes snapping wide and a small gasp leaving her, Qetsiyah woke in the land of the living for the first time in two thousand years.
"Welcome back from the dead. You and I are going to have a lot of fun."