Chapter 2 - Witches

Author's Note: In Season 3 Episode 3 "The End of the Affair," Elena and Damon traveled to Chicago in order to rescue Stefan. This chapter takes place during the events of the following show, Season 3 Episode 4 "Disturbing Behavior."

Also, those of you who are well versed in your Vampire Diaries mythology might remember that the tree from the time of the Originals was a White Oak. However, since White Oaks are native to eastern North America, this doesn't really make sense. So, because of this and the fact that Ash wood fits better with the mythology of my story, the tree was an Ash tree in this version.

Enjoy, and don't forget to review!

Mystic Falls

When Nikola arrived in Mystic Falls, she was drooping at the wheel. Twelve hours of non-stop driving—five of those hours in murderous rage inducing rush hour traffic—is not any more fun for an immortal than a human. Consequently, she was tired, hungry, and really had to pee. She parked and rushed into the first place likely to have a public bathroom: the Mystic Grill.

A cute blonde waiter finished taking a table's order and started to walk by her.

"Bathroom?" She questioned.

Matt—she read his nametag—pointed. "In the back."

"Thanks." She headed in that direction, managing—just barely—not to take him with her. His blood smelled delicious…except for all of that pesky vervain. The odors that accompany a public bathroom cut off that train of thought, though. Sometimes super smell is not an enjoyable thing to have. Thus, Nikola made her trip as short as possible, seeing as she was too tired to suppress her olfactory sense.

She took a deep breath upon once again exiting the facilities. The air was laden with vervain, exuding from the people and their coffee.

Nikola sighed. So much for an easy breakfast.

She went to take a seat at the bar.

Matt was there as well. "What can I get you?"

"A screwdriver would be great."

Matt banged around under the counter until he reemerged with a Phillips head.

Nikola grinned. "Punny. Now how about some vodka and orange juice?" She pulled out her driver's license to show him she was of legal drinking age. It was true, after all—the laminate just was not terribly exact on how legal she was.

"Kind of early in the day for alcohol isn't it…" He looked at the license before returning it. "Nikola."

She tucked it back into her jeans pocket. "Nope, just a really late night."…And it helps me not to rip your throat out.

She kept that part to herself, opting for a friendly smile instead.

Matt mixed the drink and sat it on a napkin in front of her. "Do you want anything hot to go with your liquid diet?"

Blood. Blood. Blood. "Eggs and toast will be fine."

Matt wrote it on his order pad. "Coming right up." He left to give the ticket to his cook.

Several uneventful minutes passed as Matt came and went, taking orders and bringing out food. Nikola was halfway through her eggs—and more than half asleep—when she heard Damon enter the bar.

"One bite, Elena. Then you can get back to being horribly depressing." The young vampire quipped, concern hidden in his tone.

"I'm not hungry." A female replied, her voice that of a doppelganger. Nikola, curious, took a deep breath to confirm her suspicions. The human girl was, indeed, the one who had been with Damon near the campsite.

How odd, Nikola thought, coming out of her stupor. After Klaus broke his curse, there should not have been another doppelganger—ever. Yet, this girl was here and most certainly not a vampire or any other variety of superhuman. How is she still alive?

Having lived so long, the world barely surprised Nikola any longer. She was drawn in by the novelty of it and paid closer attention to the pair.

"Sure you're hungry." He pulled out a chair for the young lady at one of the small tables next to the bar.

She reluctantly sat.

"Why yes, Elena, I would love to join you." Damon took a seat across from her.

They sat in stony silence apart from giving their order to Matt.

"Are we really not going to talk about this?" Elena asked.

Damon's response was strained. "What's to talk about? Stefan's a martyr. There. It's about as useful and obvious as saying the sky is blue."

"Klaus…" Elena began loudly.

"Shh." Damon hushed her. "Sunday morning breakfast-teers are old, but even they can hear at certain decibels."

Hah, Nikola laughed to herself. Her age would skew the median on even this group of geriatrics—and her hearing was impeccable.

Elena did not share Nikola's amusement. Drawn in, the Original angled her chair in order to inconspicuously watch the pair.

Damon dropped the bravado and opted to squeeze the young woman's hand where it lay on top of the table. "It'll be okay, Elena."

She pulled her hand back from his. "How is it going to be okay? We are the furthest thing from okay, right now."

"We're both alive." He retorted, leaning back in his seat. "So far our plan has gone better than expected."

"That's not funny."

The amusement swept from the young vampire's face. "No, it's not. It's just true." He responded, face intense. "The fact is that Stefan isn't coming home because of a fuzzy hearted intervention. Either you and I have to be dead or Klaus does. And let's face it, drinking the kool-aid is the easiest option here."

Nikola recognized her cue and took out some money to put on the bar. "It's not the only option, though." She interjected.

Damon's eyes snapped to the Original, mild recognition flitting across his face. Elena turned to see who was speaking. Taking her drink, Nikola moved a chair to sit with them.

"Elena, go." Damon was tense.

"Who is thi…?"

"Just go." He interrupted.

Elena hesitated before grabbing her purse, Damon sliding the keys across the table to her. Nikola waited politely for her to leave.

"I wouldn't have hurt the doppelganger." She commented as the door closed. "After all, I didn't even kill Katherine."

"What can I say? Caution is my middle name." He put on his charming—yet strained—smirk.

Nikola shrugged, turning her attention to Matt as he brought out the food. "I'm sorry, but the young lady left. Do you think you could put her food in a to-go box?" She cast a knowing glance at the young vampire. "I'm sure Damon will make sure it finds its way to her."

"No problem." Matt's countenance was not as carefree as before, though. He turned to Damon for confirmation. The vampire nodded, sending the boy on his way.

Nikola raised an eyebrow at Damon. "Good to see this town is still hyperaware of vampires. I wouldn't want our interspecies war to go the way of the dodo bird."

"If you don't like it, what are you doing back here?"

She sighed theatrically. "It seems to be my unending task to keep young vampires such as yourself from drawing Klaus's notice."

Damon plucked the glass from her fingers and drained it. "Really? So you're not another member of Klaus's family hell bent on vengeance?"

Nikola smiled, eyeing him. "Intelligence and beauty."

"You don't want any of this, honey." Damon answered her gaze. "The way Originals keep popping up around here, though, I wouldn't be surprised if Klaus's stash has run out by now."

The ancient vampire froze. "How do you know about that?"

"Easy." Damon said, responding to her less than jovial mood. "I heard it from Klaus. Elijah was about to rip his heart out until he cut him a deal—completely screwing the rest of us, by the way. So you can imagine why I'm not thrilled about another super-vampire sidekick."

Nikola ignored the sidekick jab, excited at the prospect of reuniting with her favorite brother. Elijah was trying to kill Klaus? It's about damn time. It took him long enough to figure out what a bastard our brother is.

"Where is Elijah now?"

"Hey, why is it you have an American accent when the rest of the Originals have those nifty British ones?" Damon avoided the subject.

"Some of us weren't around during the rise of the British empire." She answered deadpan. "Now, what happened to my brother?"

"He's dead. Klaus stuffed him in a box." Damon stated bluntly. He added an apology as an afterthought. "Sorry."

Nikola ran her hands through her bright red locks, a habit ingrained over millennia. "Okay, I'm fine." She shook her head at her word slip. "I mean it's fine. We couldn't have counted on him anyway."

"There isn't a we…" Damon began.

Nikola interrupted, head in her hands and elbows on the table. "—just a you, who is less than two centuries old, plus a human with suicidal tendencies."

Damon looked like he was about to give a heated response. She cut him off with a wave of the hand. "Listen, I'm not asking for us to be besties and braid each others' hair. I'm only asking that you allow me to hang around."

"That's all?" Damon asked, sarcastic and skeptical. "For a second, it sounded like you wanted the juvenile vampire and suicidal human to help you kill an invincible hybrid. My mistake."

"A place to stay would be very welcome, as well." She suggested with a smile that managed to be pleading, confident, and warming all at the same time.

Damon picked up a fork and began to eat his food, giving himself time to think. He powered through a breakfast steak and large order of hashbrowns before looking back up at Nikola.

When he did look back, he stared straight into her eyes, a thing most vampires would avoid. Nikola returned his gaze with a questioning tilt of her head.

"I'm not going to compel you, if that's what you're thinking." She said, somewhat offended.

Damon exhaled, annoyed. Finally, he pushed back his chair to stand up and leave money on the table. Nikola remained seated as he walked away, sure that her best link to Klaus was disappearing before her eyes.

"You coming?" Damon called over his shoulder.

Nikola smiled as she followed, appreciating the view.

Seeing as Elena had taken the car, Damon was forced to ride with Nikola back to his home. When he followed Nikola to her car, though, she simply slid the driver's seat all the way back and handed him the keys.

"I'm too tired to follow directions." She stated, getting into the passenger side and leaning the seat back. She promptly closed her eyes.

Damon spun the keys around his finger, hesitating before getting into the tiny, enclosed space with a much older vampire—even if he was beginning to like said vampire. It would be almost impossible for the now sleeping Nikola to look less threatening, though. So, he got in and started the car.

The next thing Nikola knew, Damon was scooping her out of the car and cursing its miniature size. "—cking Tonka toy." He kicked the door shut, denting it.

"My hero." She said groggily, flicking his ear.

Damon blurred up the steps of the porch and dumped her on the swing. "Oww." He complained.

"Don't be a baby." She responded unsympathetically.

"Look, Nikki," Damon retorted with the ungodly nickname, causing Nikola's nose to wrinkle in displeasure. "You stay here. You're not invited in, and Elena and I have a party to go to."

"You want me to stay on the porch swing?" She asked, incredulous.

"'Don't be a baby.'" He quoted back to her, his mouth set in an annoying grin.

Nikola responded by rolling over and going back to sleep.

Nikola's Dream – Takes place as Klaus's witch attempts to find the necklace

In her dreams, Nikola's husband and daughter were still alive. She watched them through the window of the place that had been their home together, the memory as sweet and warm as mulled wine.

In reality, she had only stopped for a moment before rushing in to join her loved ones. Here in her head, though, she could only watch from afar.

It was enough just to see their smiling faces and exist again, if only for a moment, together in the same world.

She did not keep track of how long she stayed there in her one sweet dream, but she knew the exact moment that it changed, tilting and dimming. A cloud of darkness washed by her. Fear made her look around, taking her eyes off of her family. As she did, her home disappeared, leaving her alone in a meadow by the woods.

The sun in the sky above shifted, turning morning to twilight and making the world colder and more dangerous. She followed its path with her gaze, and when it stopped along the horizon, she saw a single barren tree silhouetted against its dying rays.

"No." Her breath puffed out in a cloud.

She began to run toward the hill, the ice covered snow cracking open to slice her bare feet. Brutal cold lanced through her legs. Her pace seemed human, and her eyes squeezed shut with the effort to keep going.

When they opened again, Nikola found herself transported to the top of the hill as the most terrible battle of her life waged around her. She jumped as Rebekah smashed into the ground at her feet, digging a crater into the earth and sending out a spray of soil. The immortal clumsily rolled with the force of the blow into an upright position, a missing arm unbalancing her. The statuesque blonde screeched the war cry of a Valkyrie—blood, pain, and death avowed in her piercing tones.

The rest of Nikola's immortal family did battle with an ancient goddess, a winged deity whom the Greeks would one day call Nemesis.

Nikola's family, however, called her Creator. The Original Witch. And now, on this day, they intended to destroy her.

"Help us!" Rebekah turned her furious command upon her younger sister.

The air crackled around Nikola. Were her magic not entirely centered upon keeping Nemesis from controlling their free will, she would have smote her sister into a charcoal smear mark.

"Deliver me the scourge." The witch's voice thundered through her sister's heart and bloodstream. "And I will rip out her heart and bathe in her entrails."

Under any other circumstances, Rebekah's responding fierce snarl may have intimidated her younger sister. Today, though, Nikola had officially run out of fucks to give. She returned the death glare with interest as Rebekah rushed back into the fray.

Despite her magical burden, Nikola lurched closer to the battle. The tiny simulacra of her family clutched to her chest felt like the weight of a thousand suns, and a branch from the tree of life burned her skin where flesh and wood touched.

The twig came from the ash tree on this very hill—the source wood of Nemesis' scourge and, thus, her power. Drawing upon the tree's magic in tandem with her own, Nikola was almost evenly matched in strength with her Creator. It was just enough to allow the witch to ensure her family's free will while keeping Nemesis trapped on the hilltop.

Nikola vomited blood from the strain of the working. Wiping the bile from her mouth, Nikola forced her eyes to focus upon the life or death fight before her.

Nemesis successfully kept the Originals just out of arm's length by quickly and viciously dealing with any that ventured too close. As Nikola watched, her brother made just such a mistake. Elijah, though not the closest in age to Nikola, was her most beloved sibling. She choked on the bitter tears of rage and uselessness as Nemesis prepared to rip his head from his body.

Esther, mother of the immortals, screamed in fury to see her son in the hands of their Creator. She lunged with abandon at the goddess's back, parting a wing from her body and beating her with it. The Original Witch's cry shook the sky and made the heaven's thunder.

Using the moment, Elijah wrested the ashen scourge from the Creator's hand. The other immortals, seeing it come free of her grasp, made a suicidal leap upon Nemesis, burying her with their bodies. Limbs and gore flew from the crush.

But the damage was affected. Elijah blurred over to Nikola and put the flay into her hand. "Let it be done, little sister."

Nikola nodded solemnly, as much importance in the ritual as in the object. "I swear it shall be so."

With her words, Nikola felt the ash tree's power withdraw from Nemesis. The others who were still fighting felt the slack in the Creator's attack. They moved away with hungry, expectant eyes, clearing a path for Nikola.

Gore tinted the Original's hair a darker red and slicked her steps as she moved. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, she stood over the broken Creator. It was not a time for loquacity.

"Never. Again." She stated simply, looking into the goddess's empty black eyes.

In a rush of movement, Nikola jerked the Original Witch from the ground and sent her sailing into a foreshortened branch of the tree of life. The slender but sturdy limb slid through her heart until her body met the trunk of the tree.

Grey lifelessness spread in from her extremities as the goddess spoke her last words, each immortal hearing a different message. The Originals stood helplessly transfixed as the Creator spoke to each of their darkest fears, poisoning their minds.

To Nikola, she said: "All of your family will leave you, little one. And, when all have become either corpses or betrayers, it will be I who rescues you. Thereafter, we shall have a reckoning."

Nikola shivered, her voice coming out as a whisper. "Burn."

The tree burst into glorious violet and green flames, illuminating the night sky. Immortal kin crowded in to stand beside each other and soak in the warmth of hard earned victory.

Did Nikola imagine that they stood farther apart, more cautious than they were before? She pushed these thoughts from her mind.

Knowing her time was short, Nikola worked quickly to make from the earth rings and other jewelry to ensure her family's freedom. So long as they wore them, no witch would ever be able to track or control them again—not even Nikola herself.

Metals and gems wove together until finally the fire burned low. Nikola, finished, tossed the last remaining boughs from the tree of life into the flames. They lit up in a last, intense burst of light as Nikola scooped Nemesis' burning ashes into a locket and slammed it shut.

Much to her surprise, the pendant only became hotter, searing her hand until she dropped it.

"No!" The witch called out as Rebekah stooped to pick it up.

The blonde Original was unfazed by the warning or the pendant, and she slipped it around her neck—having reattached her other arm, at some point.

The witch gaped in disbelief before recovering her composure.

"Keep it safe." Nikola cautioned. "It's one of the few, true magics remaining after what we've done."

Rebekah smiled widely now that her war lust was sated. "Fear not, sister. I would sooner part with my life."

Nikola nodded. Having no choice but to accept the arrangement, she slipped the bracelet intended for Rebekah onto her own wrist.

Nikola woke up gasping and clutching at her bangle, the very sign of her freedom. Once awake, her conscious mind could process the message of her dream.

Nemesis, true to her promise, was looking for a way to return.

Author's Note: It's getting kind of exciting now, huh?

If you liked it, and you want to read more, please leave a review. Your sweet, sweet praise is the only compensation I get for writing 3,000+ words a week!

Also, I want to thank ThePianoGuys from youtube for giving me plenty of inspiration. I played "Nearer My God to Thee" and their cover of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" to a degree that I would characterize as "a shit ton." Stay golden, guys!

Thanks for reading,

ChaosAthena