After getting the invitation from the rogue vampire groups in the city, Troy went to Sage's to inform her.
Entering the house, he sees Sage walk down the stairs to greet him. "Troy."
"Sorry to disturb you, but we have a bit of a situation," said Troy.
"It's fine. Finn's sleeping it off and is doing much better. I think he'll be fully healed by tomorrow," said Sage, descending the final step.
"That's good. We may need him," said Troy.
"Explain," ordered Sage.
The rogue groups have called a meeting and invited us, and they have supposedly captured a few of our men to force our willingness to attend," said Troy.
"Supposedly? You think it's a trap?" questioned Sage.
"Eh, caught that did you? Yeah, we suspect it was Marcel; he's been going around talking to people, and we already know he's deeply embedded with the Originals and has been seen conversing with the Strix. It more than reeks of a trap; he's playing the entire field to his advantage," said Troy, shaking his head.
Taking a moment to think, Sage walks to the living room, looking at the bloody couch still stained with Finn's blood.
"If the rogue groups are involved, I doubt the Originals will be. Gather the men, we'll go wipe them out and anyone who comes to their aid," said Sage resolutely.
"You sure that's wise? We could always ignore them and wait for a better opportunity to strike," Troy advised.
"The rogue group may be bait, but if we don't take this chance to eliminate them by coming in fast and hard, they will unite and likely join one of our two enemies. Gather the men, all of them. Tonight we go to war," said Sage firmly.
"Okay, you're the boss, but shouldn't we at least wait for Finn to be fully healed?" asked Troy cautiously.
"You heard me. It's time we show our worth," said Sage, tired of doing nothing of note while Finn took all the risks.
Troy sighed and started making calls.
Hearing most of it, Davina confronted Sage in the living room after Troy left. "I want to help too."
Sage looked at Davina's determined face, but shook her head. "No. I need you here protecting Finn while I'm gone. Can you do that for me?"
Looking a tad disappointed, Davina gave a nod. "Of course I can. I'll make sure nothing happens to him."
"Thanks," said Sage, heading for the door.
"Are you certain? I overheard you mentioning it was a trap; you might need my assistance. I've been practicing diligently and can help," Davina reiterated in a last-ditch attempt to go.
Sage grinned, spinning around. "You are helping me by staying here. I need to do this for myself. Come here," she said, pulling her into a hug and kissing her forehead goodbye. "I'll be back before you know it."
Davina blushed. "Stay safe. I don't want to see what Finn would do if anything happened to you."
"I don't know, I think I might," Sage laughed as she got into her car.
That night, Sage and her men set out early to make a statement.
Upon reaching the site, a warehouse with an open side facing the street, she positioned her men accordingly within the shadows and awaited the designated time before entering alongside Troy with a few others as a gesture of good faith.
When it looked like all the rogue vampires were there, one of them finally spoke up and asked, "Where is Marcel?"
Sage's eyes narrowed at that and signaled the attack, intending to eliminate them all before Marcel's plan unfolded.
With only a couple of scouts remaining behind, nearly 50 vampires swarmed the area from all sides.
"Enemy Attack!" cried one of the vampires from the back as Sage struck, speeding towards the bearded vamp who asked about Marcel, driving a stake through his chest.
While evenly matched against the many rogue factions, Sage's group had the advantage with organized battle tactics, allowing for short work of their enemies, slaughtering them all.
Elijah appeared outside as the sounds of fighting were wrapping up.
Troy got the call as they mopped up the last of the stragglers; his face paled as he hung up.
"Sage! Elijah's here!" Troy yelled as the Original himself walked in casually as if he owned the place.
Sage spun around as the man strode into the center of them, completely carefree, looking at her. All of them tensed as he approached.
"Sage, it has been a while," Elijah greeted.
"Elijah. What brings you here?" asked Sage nervously.
"I was here for the meeting, but it seems I was late. You wouldn't happen to have seen Marcel here by chance?" asked Elijah, looking around at all the corpses.
"Marcel? No, but I heard he set this up. Didn't expect you to play into it though," said Sage, eyeing her men as they slowly closed the gaps and surrounded him.
"I see," said Elijah, adjusting his suit. "Tell me, Sage, where is my brother?"
Sage sneered, "Don't worry, he'll find you again soon enough."
"You know it didn't have to be this way," said Elijah, disappointingly.
Sage scoffed, "We both know that's not true."
Elijah calmly took another look around at all the vampires surrounding him. "I offer the rest of you amnesty; all I want is Sage. The rest of you are free to go."
"Not a chance," said Troy, standing by her side.
"I see… Gentlemen, shall we?" said Elijah, inviting them to make the first move.
"Attack!" Sage yelled with a scowl.
...
Earlier that night, across the street from where the meeting was scheduled to take place on the flat rooftop of a building, stood Tristan, Aya, Lucien, and Marcel with The Sisters flanking them on either side.
"I see she came without Finn. That won't do," said Tristan upon spotting Sage's group.
"It'll make killing her easier if nothing else," said Marcel, not seeing an issue.
"It's not about killing her, it's about making him suffer for what he's done!" Lucien growled, displeased with how things were shaping. He wanted to see the look on Finn's face when he found out."
"Agreed," said Tristan, turning to Marcel, "I want you to go and invite him here, let him know what is happening."
Marcel's head snapped towards him. "Wait, you know where he lives?"
"I do, but it has since become heavily warded. I suggest compelling a human to invite them out," offered Tristan.
Putting off his initial feeling of anger at not being told sooner, Marcel left to rescue Davina.
Outside the designated boundary, he sent a compelled man in.
Davina jumped in surprise when someone knocked on their door.
They lived off the beaten path, and she ensured the place was more than secure, making it impossible to find by any normal means, which meant anyone at the door was potentially dangerous.
When the knock came again, she prepared herself for anything and peeked outside the window at the unknown man.
"Hey!" waved the man as he saw her. "Are you Davina?"
She frowned.
"Who is it?" came Finn's voice from the top of the stairs.
"Ah, you're awake," she said, moving to the bottom of the stairs to see how he was doing. "It's just some man. I'll see what he wants," said Davina, walking to the front door.
"Hello! Can I talk to you? Marcel is waiting!" yelled the man, causing Davina's hand to freeze at the door handle.
Finn walked down. "Let me," he offered, opening the door in her stead.
"Hi, Marcel sent me since he couldn't. He's waiting out there for you," said the man, pointing back from whence he came. "Says he has something important that you'll want to hear and that you should both meet him before it's too late."
"What do you think?" Finn asked her.
"I don't know, but the fact that he found this place means Troy was right about him being in league with the Strix," said Davina.
"Troy?" questioned Finn. "Did he come by?"
"Uh, yeah, while you were sleeping, he and Sage went out to take care of things," Davina said, unsure if Sage would want her to tell him.
"Things?" questioned Finn with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm not sure she wants you to know, or to help, but she went out with her group to wipe out another vampire group, it was this whole thing, something about a potential trap, and Marcel was apart of it or something," Davina started breaking down everything that happened while he was asleep unable to keep it from him.
"Okay, let's go talk to Marcel and figure things out," said Finn, leading the way with a worried Davina following from behind.
"Great, I guess I can go now," said the forgotten man.
Marcel was pacing back and forth when they arrived, his eyes landing on Davina with a grin, relieved at finally being reunited.
"Davina!" he exclaimed, his grin losing a bit of its luster as she scowled at him. "How have you been? Has he been treating you right?"
"Better than you ever did!" Davina spat bitterly, thinking of how he saved her life only to imprison it for his own gain.
Grimacing at her remark, his eyes move towards Finn.
"You came for a reason. The man said something about before it was too late," said Finn in a tone that promised nothing but pain and death should the delay cost him anything.
Marcel smirked, "I suggest you hurry to the abandoned warehouse district if you want to save Sage from Elijah."
Finn's face contorted into an ugly scowl as he took a threatening step forward, intending to end him before saving her.
Reading his mind, Marcel took a defensive step back. "You're wasting time. Do you think you can kill me before he kills her?"
"I do," said Finn.
However, Davina quickly cut him off. "Go already, I can handle Marcel."
Finn looked back. "Are you sure?"
"Yes! Go save Sage," said Davina somewhat frantically, and he was gone.
"Davina…" Marcel started only to falter and fall as a wave of pain hit him.
"Feel that? That's your blood boiling," said Davina, turning a heated glare upon him, looking down at him with nothing but contempt in her eyes.
"Davina, please," Marcel begged.
"No! I don't want to ever hear from you again!" shouted Davina, feeling angry and hurt, hurling him away with her magic.