EXCLUSIVE IMAGES OF "THE HERETICS"

• The Heretics are a group of Vampire/Witch hybrids originating from the Gemini Coven.

They were originally six Siphoner witches, all of whom were exiled for their inability to perform magic unless it was siphoned by another source, such as a supernatural being or a magical object. They were considered an abomination by the coven and were ultimately exiled sometime between the mid-late 19th century and early 20th century.

After being rejected by their coven, they were turned by Lillian Salvatore, a vampire and known Ripper, at some point prior to 1903, and, as vampires, they were revealed to have fallen into a loophole in Nature's laws that allowed them to not only retain their ability to siphon magic, but to channel the magic of their own vampirism, which essentially gave them a limitless source of power. This transformation and subsequent discovery proved that Siphoners were the only known beings who could be both witch and vampire.

In 1903, Lily and her den set sail from England to New York, where they intended to find and destroy the Gemini Coven in revenge for exiling them. On the way there, Lily also turned a sick young man she met at the shipyard into a vampire to save his life. Lily left Enzo behind after he died so that she and the Heretics could go after the coven, believing they could return to them afterward when he awakened as a vampire. However, the Geminis found them first and cast a powerful spell on them using an Ascendant, which banished them to a prison world where they were trapped in a snapshot of November 1st, 1903 for over a century.

Lily was eventually found and freed by her son Damon, his girlfriend Elena, and their best friend Bonnie, but she was distraught when she learned that Bonnie wasn't strong enough to bring the Heretics, who had been desiccated for decades due to the lack of blood in their Prison World, with her. However, Lily managed to feed Malcolm before she left, and Bonnie, who sought to get revenge on Kai Parker for everything he had done to her in the 1994 Prison World, left Kai behind with the Heretics, who fed on his blood to replenish their strength. Kai then helped the Heretics free themselves and return to the living world, where the Lily fed him her blood to allow him to turn into a fellow Heretic. Though Kai was eventually killed, the rest of the Heretics were reunited with their leader Lily and settled into Mystic Falls so they could get used to the modern age.