Got on a bit of a roll this morning and finished the next chapter quicker than expected. Enjoy! And please, please review! I love knowing what people think.
Rebekah remained in the floor, her eyes still glued to the safe.
"The business dealings I have with your brother are really none of your concern, Rebekah. You've barely said more than ten words to me since you got back into town and now I find you ransacking my house?"
"Hmph," Rebekah stood to her feet and turned to glare at him "If you can call this a house."
"It is my home," he walked closer to her "I would think you could respect that since you lived here with me for weeks. All the while I took care of you and protected you and..."
"Oh come off it Marcel," Rebekah rolled her eyes "Yes, you were a good friend to me but what you are doing teaming up with Klaus to hurt Elijah is disgusting. Elijah has always been fair to you."
"You should have seen him the night you left town the first time," Marcel's eyes danced with anger "Threw me up against a wall and told me he would give me a pass cause you loved me, then he kicked me out of the Quarter. Out of my home!"
"No less than what Nik has done to you! Yet you team up with him and go after Elijah. Why? Did Nik promise you something?"
"That's between me and your brother," he pointed a warning finger at her.
"Did he promise to give you the Quarter?" she followed him as he turned to walk toward the fireplace.
Marcel scoffed at the notion, as he opened a decanter of scotch.
"Nik told me before I left that he was willing to give you the city. Surely he mentioned it to you."
"Rebekah, stay out of it," he downed a glass and slammed it onto the mantle.
"You know what I came here for," she sighed, pushing her short hair behind her ears "Please Marcel. Please let me have Nik's blood."
"Uh uh," he shook his head as he poured another "I've only got one vial left and I'm saving it for myself. Never know when I might piss your brother off."
"Please!" she felt herself start to shake with urgency and frustration "My brother is lying somewhere suffering and I need to help him."
She moved toward Marcel, her eyes starting to brim with tears that she was forcing in order to garner his sympathy. She placed a hand on his warm forearm and watched him tense under the pressure. Their eyes met and she knew she had him.
"Please Marcel," she whispered hoarsely "I will replace it. I promise you...You know I would never let you die."
"Do I?" he raised an eyebrow at her "Coming into town with some new guy wrapped around your finger...How do I know I matter at all to you anymore?"
"How could you not?" she shrugged, pulling her hand away and she watched as he seemed disappointed at the loss of her touch.
He finished his second glass and placed it down far more gently on the mantle, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and drawing in a long breath.
"Marcel, despite the...unfortunate end to our relationship, you will always hold a special place in my heart."
"There's only one problem with that Rebekah," he turned his big brown eyes up to her "You hold more than one, small place in my heart...You know what you mean to me."
"Then help me then!" she was growing frustrated "Whatever deal you have with Nik is on you but please give me what I need to save Elijah from his torment. Just walk out this door and leave me to find it on my own. Nik doesn't have to know."
He stood there, staring into her eyes, wishing things could be different and realizing if he didn't give her this one request then things would never have the chance to go back to what they were. He had risked his life for her love before, why not again?
With that, he was gone.
Rebekah rushed back to the safe, slamming it into the floor over and over again until it broke open. A single vial of blood rolled out of it and a smile formed across her lips as she snatched it up and shoved it into the pocket of her leather jacket.
Now to collect Enzo and go search for Elijah.
"Nik!" Kol shouted, trying with all his might to pull his brother off Enzo but to no avail.
The two were rolling around on the floor, fangs bared, eyes blazing. The dining room table was broken completely in two, dishes and glass were shattered all over the hardwood.
"Nik, if you kill him, Rebekah will never help us!" Kol tried to reason with him.
It was odd for him, being the reasonable, rational one. It didn't set right with him at all. After a few minutes of trying to break them apart, he finally sat down on the only chair that was left intact and poured himself another cup of coffee. What did he care what happened anyway?
"You don't deserve her!" Klaus growled as he dived toward Enzo, instead Enzo pushed him into the wall.
"It's despicable the way you treat her!" Enzo shouted, as he dodged a swing from Klaus when he rose to his feet "She's your sister, not your property!"
"You know nothing about my family or my sister," Klaus' eyes flared again and this time, Kol knew what was about to come next.
"Nik don't," Kol protested from his seat half-heartedly, as he raised his coffee cup to his lips with his signature sly fox smirk.
When Klaus stood from the rubble, Enzo lay beneath him with his hand clutching the large bite wound on his neck.
"Now you've done it," Kol sighed, standing to his feet to be by his brother's side "Go on, give him your blood."
Klaus looked at him with amazement, Enzo's blood still slicked across his lips.
"I will do no such thing, Kol," he spat "Rebekah will learn one day that she need not go looking for love in all the wrong places."
Enzo winced in pain on the floor beneath them but his anger was still visible on his tortured face.
"I'd rather die than take help from you," he spat in response.
"You see there," Klaus smiled, pointing to his defeated opponent "We finally agree on something, don't we mate? We both want to see you waste away on this dining room floor until you're nothing but bone and ash. Leaving my sister to find a much more appropriate suitor."
"If you let him die, Bex will never forgive you," Kol tried to reason with him "She'll run off and we'll never see her again...Which means no mother for Hope...Do you really want to do this brother?"
"Let him die," Klaus cast another glance down at him "I will not be disrespected in my own home."
Klaus swiftly kicked Enzo who tried not to wince from the impact and then walked out of the room.
Kol stood there a minute, staring down at his sister's new love in so much pain. There was nothing he could do to help him, even if he wanted to. The truth was, he thought Rebekah was better off without Enzo. However, without Rebekah's help Klaus' plan would go down in flames. Kol would not be tied down to baby feedings and diaper changes...He'd rather get stabbed with the white oak stake all over again.
Enzo groaned as he tried to stand to his feet, but fell back down again on a pile of glass shards.
"Sorry mate," Kol sighed down at him, "He's right though, you know? You're just not good enough for Bex."
He followed Klaus out of the room, leaving Enzo in a mangled heap on the floor. Liquor and wine and blood pooling all round him as he forced himself to hold back the howling moans he wanted to let escape his lips as the venom spread throughout his body.
Rebekah slid back through the window of Hope's nursery to find Anna rocking her peacefully in her chair.
"Did you get what you were looking for?" Anna inquired, as she re positioned the baby in her arms.
"Yes," Rebekah smiled confidently "I did. Any word from Klaus?"
"Haven't seen him," Anna shook her head "But I did hear some arguing downstairs. It sounded like glass breaking."
"What?" Rebekah's brow furrowed with worry, "Stay here with the baby. Remember our plan."
She darted out of the room and raced down the hallway until she ran into a another vampire at the top of the stairs. He had dark eyes and brooding features, she was sure she had heard his name in passing but couldn't remember it.
"Have you seen my brothers?"
Before he had time to respond she heard Nik and Kol's chatter as they walked into the courtyard.
"She'll never forgive you for this," Kol warned him in a sing song voice.
"She will in time. I have done much worse," Klaus reached for his jacket "Come on, we have to meet Marcel."
"And what will we do if she comes downstairs and finds him there, huh? Pretend we have no idea what in the bloody hell happened?"
"Rebekah has been warned to stay with Hope," Klaus stared him down "She will not cross me."
"As you have never crossed her?" Kol bit back, before following him out the door.
When she heard the barred door lock with a crash, she bolted down the staircase and into the dining room. She immediately felt all the blood drain from her face when she saw the disaster there. Their beautiful dining hall was destroyed beyond all recognition.
"Lorenzo?" she called out.
Furniture, doors, so much covered the ground it was hard to see where she was walking. Then she heard his sputtered breathing and was by him in seconds.
"Lorenzo," she whispered hoarsely, cradling his head in her lap.
Blood was running down the side of his face, his skin was gray as the venom worked its way through his system, his eyes looked glassy.
"Rebekah," he managed to spit out, along with some blood that trickled down his chin.
She then saw his hand was clutching his neck and she took in a sharp breath before moving it aside. The bite was large, oozing and deep.
"Oh my God," she gasped.
"That...son of a...bitch left me...here...to die," Enzo gasped in between deep agonizing breaths.
Rebekah immediately stuck her hand into her jacket pocket and pulled out the vial. It had been intended for Elijah. It was to ensure his sanity and help him get well so he could help her understand what was going on, but her brother would not die from his bite. Lorenzo would.
She pulled the top off the vial with her teeth and tossed it to the side.
"Here," she brought the bottle to his lips "Drink this."
Enzo turned his head sharply.
"I'd rather die...than drink his...blood," he sputtered, coughing so hard that his whole body heaved in her arms.
"Drink it you fool!" she spat, pressing it again to his mouth.
He kept his lips tightly shut, his eyes transfixed on hers. She watched as he struggled to stay conscious, struggled to breathe, sweat pouring down his forehead.
"Please," she begged "Lorenzo, I can't do this without you. You wanted a damsel in distress, well you've got one...I need you here with me...Please."
She watched as his eyes softened and his shaking hand reached up and took the vial from her. He brought it to his mouth and dumped the contents down his throat as if it were a shot of whiskey.
She breathed a sigh of relief as she continued to cradle him in the floor. Minutes and minutes passed. She watched as slowly the color began to return to his face and his heaving stopped. The bite slowly started to disappear from his neck. He began to still in her arms to a more natural breathing and his eyes cleared up.
"I am so sorry," she sighed, running her hand over his forehead "My brothers will stop at nothing. I told you..."
Enzo finally managed to sit up with her help so that they were staring into each other's eyes.
"Your brother is mad as a march hare," he had found his voice again "But nothing will stop me from being near you."
Rebekah smiled softly, as he reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear, his hand lingering to delicately caress the side of her face with his blood streaked fingers.
"Please, don't antagonize him again," she whispered hoarsely "We are both surely going to be on his bad side once he discovers I saved you."
"That was for Elijah, wasn't it?" he motioned to the empty bottle on the floor.
"Yes but you needed it more," she responded quickly.
"You didn't have to give it to me," Enzo sighed "You've been so worried about Elijah and..."
"I gave it to you because the thought of you no longer existing in this world, just didn't set right with me," she smiled "There is so much I don't know about you Lorenzo. You can't leave me before I've discovered it all."
He grabbed her face and kissed her, devouring her mouth with more strength than someone in his condition should have. When he finally pulled away, she saw a smile on his lips that she had never seen before.
"No one has ever cared for me as you have Rebekah," he informed her "I intend to return the favor. Whatever we have to do to save Elijah and take down Klaus..."
"We only have one option left," Rebekah sighed "We have to go see my sister."