Present Day

Rebekah watched Freya's apartment from across the street. It didn't take long and the front door opened, and Nik and Freya appeared. Nik walked towards her, while pulling Freya by her arm. Freya reluctantly followed suit and stumbled along behind him. Rebekah was surprised how quick Nik managed to get Freya out of the house. When they had planned the hostage they believed it would take much longer for Freya to give up her apartment, her safe space. As they walked towards her, Elijah appeared from the other side of the house and joined them as well.

"Nik, we talked about this!" Elijah said affronted.

"What?" Nik asked.

Elijah nodded towards the house. Nik only raised an eyebrow.

"No unnecessary casualties. It will just make things harder with her later," Elijah said.

"I'm pretty sure it's too late for that now," Rebekah said with a sigh.

Freya kept her eyes on the lantern in front of her, forcefully avoiding eye contact with any of them.

"I don't know what your problem is," Nik as he reaffirmed his grip on Freya's arm, "it took me like five minutes to get her out of the house. Being all nice would only have made the hostage situation unnecessarily longer. I did you a favour if anything."

Elijah rolled his eyes. "Nevermind, let's go."

Marcel and Davina appeared from a side alley.

"How good of you to join us," Nik said drily.

"I'm sorry that some of us have to walk at normal speed," Davina retorted.

"Common, we're like five minutes late. You said it was going to take hours at least. Obviously you didn't even need our help. What happened?" Marcel asked.

"Don't ask." Elijah waved him down.

Marcel laughed.

"Who would have thought she'd give up so easily?" He said light-hearted.

He looked at Freya, but her view was fixed on Davina. There was shock in her eyes. Rebekah still didn't know the full extent of what had happened between Davina and the coven. She knew that the coven must have done something terrible to drive Davina away. But apparently it still didn't sit well with many witches that she changed sides.

"Let's go then?" Rebekah suggested.

Elijah nodded.

They walked along the dark alleyway. Nik still holding onto Freya's arm. Rebekah walked next to them, and Elijah, Marcel and Davina followed. Neither of them spoke.

"Guys," Davina suddenly said after they had turned around a few corners.

Rebekah turned around and saw that she had stopped a few steps back. They others looked back too.

"Someone's following us. Witches."

They exchanged looks.

"We should stop them," Elijah said.

"I said I was coming with you. You said nobody's getting hurt! There's no need for a fight," Freya exclaimed.

Nik and Marcel exchanged a smile.

She turned to Marcel. "Marcel, don't you want to keep ip the truce?"

"I'm afraid that ship has sailed," he replied.

"We can't have them follow us," Elijah said as he looked in the direction that Davina pointed out.

"Rebekah, why don't you go ahead with Freya?" Nik said, as he was holding out Freya to her.

"Why am I always the one excluded from the fun?" Rebekah snapped back.

"I'll do it," Elijah said. "Just make sure they won't follow us."

Nik handed him Freya.

"Wait!" Freya shouted, trying to restrain from Elijah's grip.

But Elijah already pulled her along the street. Davina followed them.

The other three turned back and looked in the dark alley. They heard someone coming. They walked back around the last corner they had just come from. There stood the six people, four women and two men, who had been following them. The witches stopped dead still as they saw the three vampires.

"One last chance to negotiate?" Nik suggested to the two others.

Rebekah looked at him surprise. "Since when do you want to negotiate?"

"I figured somebody should at least say it when Elijah isn't here."

"Let me," Marcel said, and he stepped forward.

He turned to the six witches in front of them. "There's no need for violence. If you turn around now, none of you's going to die."

"It's you who's going to die," one of the witches spat.

"Oh, okay," Marcel replied unimpressed.

He turned back to Nik and Rebekah: "I tried my best, guys."

"You did great," Nik replied and gave him a clap on his back.

As he walked forward he added: "Let's do it then."

And then many things happened at the same time. The witches were obviously preparing for this. One of the witches threw something on the ground, some kind of cloth filled with something. As it touched the ground it exploded, and a thin mist immediately surrounded them. Another witch went to the back and sat down and immediately started chanting a spell. A sound like high-pitched cry went through the air that crumbled Rebekah's ears. She realized the mist from before was some kind of vervain mixture. It burned on her whole body. Together with the high-pitched cry that still drummed into her ears she had trouble staying on her legs. She saw that Nik and Marcel were struggling too. One of the witches hurried towards her, holding something like a spear. Rebekah fought with all her might against the pain in her head, to stay focused. Before the witch could reach her, Rebekah broke the spear in two and threw the witch across the street. From the corner of her eye she saw Nik fighting off two of the other witches. Suddenly a man appeared between her and Nik. He was holding a bat. For a second Rebekah wondered who would be so stupid to bring a bat to a fight against vampires. She didn't have time to contemplate at that thought though when the bat suddenly flew into her face. Just a second before it hit her she realized she had seen that man's face before. It was Louis. Pain shot into forehead and she stumbled backwards. While she caught hold on her feet, she saw how Louis managed to hit another blow at Nik. The spell really weakened their senses. Rebekah tried to grab him but only managed to push him onto the ground. That's when she felt a fiery new pain in her face. That wasn't just a hit with a normal bat. Something was sticking to it and now it was on her head.

"Werewolf venom!" Rebekah shouted.

"Pretty clever, isn't it?" Louis gasped, when he was getting up from the ground again.

Nik was about to strike him, when two other witches attacked him. He grabbed one of them and threw onto the balcony of one of the nearby houses. A glass behind the balcony shattered, and the witch didn't get up anymore. Then he grabbed the other and snapped her neck. Finally Marcel managed to get to the last witch that was chanting. He pulled her out of her protection circle and smashed her head onto asphalt.

Suddenly Rebekah heard a growl behind her. Before she had the chance to turn around she already felt the beast ripping through her shoulder. The pain shut through her body. There was no time to let the pain get hold of her. The only thing she could do was pulling it off her and throw it across the street. It took her a moment to realize what was happening. Then she registered the four werewolves that were amongst the witches.

The next one was already heading towards her. But this time she was ready for it, and before it could reach her she had already ripped out its heart. She turned around and saw that Nik had already taken care of another two.

Then she heard a scream. She turned around and saw Marcel on the ground in agony. The fourth werewolf had just half of his chest open. Nik was there before her, and pulled away the werewolf. When Rebekah reached them she ripped out the werewolf's heart.

Behind her she heard footsteps leading away from them. She turned around. The last two witches took flight.

"Shall we go after them?" Rebekah asked.

Nik hesitated. Rebekah knew that his initial response would have been yes. But then he turned to Marcel: "Let's look after the more pressing matters first."

Rebekah felt her shoulder hurting as well. Bloody werewolf venom.

Slowly overcoming her pain, she absorbed the bloody street before them. It was truly a field of mayhem.

"Let's get Marcel home then," Nik said, as he lifted off Marcel by his shoulders.

"Wait," Rebekah said.

Something wasn't right. She looked at the bodies again, searching.

"Someone's missing."

"Who?" Nik asked.

"The one with the bat."

Nik looked around as well, his face hardening.

"I'll get him," Rebekah shortly and went off into the direction where Elijah, Davina and Freya had gone.

It didn't take long and she caught up with them. She saw Elijah and Davina hurrying further down the street. By now Elijah was carrying Freya completely, apparently having decided that it was quicker that way. Then she saw Louis as well. He was lurking along the building walls in the darkness, in safe distance.

Within seconds she stood next to him. She grabbed him by the head and threw across the street.

Through the noise the Elijah and the others turned around. Louis was lying on the ground in a crouching position, grumbling with pain. He tried to get up. Rebekah pulled him on his head again and threw him on his back. Then she grabbed him by his neck.

"Don't kill him!" she heard Freya shouting from behind.

Rebekah considered her for a moment. She seemed above all terrified.

"Just compel him! He won't remember anything later!" Freya pleaded.

"It won't work," Davina immediately replied. "All the witches in the coven drink vervain tea. They're not idiots."

"We don't have time for this!" Elijah interrupted.

"Well, then..." Rebekah began.

"Don't!" Freya shouted.

Rebekah hesitated for a second.

"Fine," she decided. And she smashed Louis' head over the curb. He didn't get up. Rebekah could still hear his heart beating. He was unconscious but fine.

"But you owe me big time."

1750, Northern France

"You're going to unstake Finn? Can I come with you?" Briony blurted out. They followed Nik down the entrance stairs. Elijah still didn't fully believe that Nik was actually going to do it. He'd only believe it when he saw Finn in front of him.

"No." Nik replied with a matter of fact-ness.

"Don't you always say you want me to figure out more about vampirism?" Briony pleaded. "This would be a great opportunity, don't you think?"

Why on earth is she shouting about vampires, Elijah thought. There are at least five people in possible earshot.

"You unstake them and they come back to life. That's it. There's not more to know about it," Nik replied.

Don't endorse this conversation, Nik. Elijah closed his eyes and forced himself to take a deep breath.

"Except that tidbit that it's pretty painful for the one being staked," Kol weighed in and glared at Nik. "But you wouldn't know about that, would you?"

Elijah couldn't believe it. Why would Kol want to pick a fight right now? When Nik agreed to unstake Finn?

Nik stopped and glared back at Kol.

"Let's get back into the house," Elijah said quickly, and grabbed Kol's arm.

Then he turned to Nik: "And you get on your way."

Kol resisted for a moment, but then gave in with a grumble. Elijah gave Nik a last nod and pulled Kol back into the house. From the corner of his eye he saw Nik hesitate too and watch them go back inside. But then he picked up his walk down the stairs.

When they were back inside, he gave Kol a slap over the head.

"You're a bloody moron, Kol."

"I just stated a fact. I didn't know you are all pro-staking siblings now, Elijah."

"I'm not. That's why you might wanna keep your facts to yourself until Finn's here."

Kol grumbled but didn't reply.

"He left," Briony said. She still stood at the door looking down onto the driveway. "Have none of you ever tried to follow him? To the coffins?"

"Sure," Kol replied, his face lighting up again. "But that usually had the opposite effect of what we're hoping. He just got pissed off more."

"And you just let him do that?" Briony said skeptically. Then she looked back outside. "This is ridiculous."

"There you are!" Rebekah suddenly appeared in the hallway.

Elijah turned to her. She was rushing towards them. It was clear that she didn't mean him, but Briony. Rebekah walked over to her and grabbed her by her arm and pulled her to the door that led to the garden terrace. Kol eagerly trailed after them. They disappeared as quickly as Rebekah appeared. Elijah wasn't in the mood to follow them and slowly made his way to the living room. He didn't get far before he heard steps behind him. Part of him already feared that it was Nik who changed his mind. When he looked up he saw it was Flora.

"Have you seen Rebekah?" she asked.

Elijah nodded towards the window. Outside Rebekah and Briony stood at the rail of the balcony and laughed. Whatever story Rebekah was telling must have been absolutely hilarious.

Flora hesitated. She watched them for a moment through the window and then turned away.

"You don't want to go outside then?" Elijah asked.

"Nevermind," Flora replied. "I feel like I'd be interrupting something."

Elijah couldn't resent her for not wanting to go outside. He studied her face. She looked back at him with a slight surprise. But she didn't look like she didn't enjoy being looked at. So far he hadn't much chance to talk to her alone. Until now he had the impression Flora was shy, a bit untalkative. But maybe he was wrong about that. Maybe she was just quiet.

"Do you look forward to the party?" he asked.

She smiled. "Of course."

Flora didn't elaborate on her answer, which somewhat confirmed Elijah's theory about her. The following silence didn't seem to make her in any way uncomfortable. It was a nice change for once, the silence. Being with his siblings all the time reminded him that none of them could ever shut up. Either it was bickering about something or telling the same story for the millionth time. Even Nik had trouble not telling his opinion about every possible thing. And since Briony joined them, there was even a person more who made sure the general sound level stayed up.

The days that led up to the infamous birthday party were uneventful. Elijah was surprised how relaxed Rebekah was about the preparations. After she had told them how important the event was for her, he had expected her to take it much more serious. Although she looked carefree there was something that made her tense. He knew that she was bothered by something that wasn't the party. Nik still hadn't returned with Finn. Elijah didn't know if Nik would keep his word and actually unstake him. And if he did, could he persuade Finn to come with him? It was one thing if Finn could forgive Nik. But could he also forgive the others for not doing more to keep Nik doing it in the first place?

Rebekah and Kol didn't seem to be worried about that. Their focus of worry was on Nik actually going through with his promise.

It was the evening before the birthday party and they still hadn't heard from Nik. Rebekah had been grumpy the whole day, snapping at all of them. Kol kept telling her that he "knew all along that they wouldn't show up in time," which only made her angrier. Elijah resigned from meddling and theorizing with them and decided to just wait it out. There was not much they could do anyway.

It had already become late and everybody except Rebekah, Elijah and Kol had gone to bed. They didn't speak it out loud, but each of them apparently made the decision to just sit there until they heard from Nik. They had been sitting in one of the living rooms in a half circle. Neither of them spoke. Elijah stared at the door. He had been staring at the door for such a long time that he was sure he could remember all the door's details for the rest of his life. Nothing happened. He looked over to Kol, who absent-mindedly looked into the fire burning in the fireplace. He turned to Rebekah. She sat half hidden in one of the sofa chairs, her arms crossed.

When she saw him looking at her she said with gritted teeth: "He only had this one thing to do."

Elijah didn't know what to reply. It was true. Nik only had one thing to do. But there were so many things that could go wrong with that one thing.

Kol turned to them and opened his mouth. Elijah figured he was going to tell them again that he knew all along, but he didn't. Instead he readjusted his pose, and resigned back to looking at the fire with a grumble.

"This is useless," Elijah eventually said and got up.

He didn't want to be the one who gave up first. But he knew if he didn't leave, the others would sit there as long as it took. Even if it took days or weeks. As he got up, he was expecting protest from his siblings. They didn't say anything. He turned to Rebekah. She sat up straight and stared at the door.

"Someone's coming," she said with suppressed excitement.

The door slowly opened.

Nik came inside. Elijah couldn't read his face. They all stared at him with anticipation. Then with a swift step to the side he moved away from the door. A second man appeared. It was Finn.