So I'm sad to say but this is officially the turniof point for my story. And there is a lot that will be revealed in this chapter!
But quickly before you skip down, please remember to tell me what you're thinking about the story, it's taking a huge leap from here. Trust me ;)
Okay go and enjoy and I'll look forward to reading your reviews.
Chapter 11 - "You Think You Can Handle The Truth?"
Elijah leaned against the wall of an old building in Italy, casually pretending to read the newspaper as he peered over the top.
He hoped that Klaus was taking care of everything at home; he couldn't afford to have to run back home when he was so close now. He spotted a sickly looking man across the road and quickly threw away his newspaper and followed as he turned around the corner.
"What do you think you're doing Elijah?"
The unwell looking man stepping forward as he came around the corner and stopped him in his tracks; Elijah stared at him, he looked…familiar somehow.
"Surely it hasn't been that long that you don't recognize me?" he questioned.
"Azazeal"" Elijah replied taking a step back in amazement as he nodded.
"Who can you be alive?" he asked curiously.
"I'm dying at the moment Elijah." Azazeal replied, "Come, if you have come all this way to see me then we must have a drink."
He started to walk off as Elijah followed behind him dumbfounded.
"Excuse me for saying so," Elijah said politely accepting the glass of wine, "But I don't understand how you're still here?"
Azazeal slowly sat down opposite him and took a sip from his own glass.
"Ah I'll always remember how real wine used to taste," he reminisced, "Before they started turning it into this.." he looked down at his glass, swirling it around unimpressed before looking to Elijah.
"Right, my life." He sighed getting back on topic, "I have been lucky enough to be blessed with the gift of magic, as you well know, and though this gift I found the ability to prolong my life indefinitely."
Elijah stared at his old friend and sipped his glass slowly.
"Yes I've seen plenty witches defy the natural ageing process before," he replied, "but never for this long."
Azazeal coughed uneasily and took a long sip of wine before speaking.
"I found a way to steal other's powers," he answered looking up, "Literally rip them from their masters and take them for my own; and it worked quite well at first."
Elijah stared at him wide eyes for a moment before swiftly regaining his composure.
"What happened then?" he asked curiously.
"Well it made me stronger and more powerful, but it didn't help me extend my lifespan any more than usual," Azazeal started to explain, "That was Eve."
Elijah faced him as his jaw dropped.
"But that's who you really came to talk about isn't it?" Azazeal stated calmly, "You were the moral one remember?" he smiled.
Elijah took a deep breath and laughed as his nerves left him feeling comfortable with his very old friend.
"So what's she up to these days?" he asked light-heartedly.
"Up to her usual tricks again," Elijah replied.
"She wants Niklaus again doesn't she?" Azazeal interrupted as he nodded getting to his feet.
"He has finally found a girl who is changing him for the better," he informed him, "But Eve has bitten her."
Azazeal sighed and put his head in his hands.
"Ah yes I had forgotten what she gets like when she is jealous." He said, "He would do well to forget this girl then."
Elijah took a step forward, "He won't let that happen unfortunately."
Azazeal took a deep breath and slowly got to his feet.
"Well then, we better go help before she starts killing everyone."
…..
Azazeal slowly walked into his study, hundreds of ancient books stacked high on every available surface surrounding him as Elijah followed behind; his eyes wide with shock for the second time that day.
"I need to grab a few things before we leave." Azazeal explained as he took a few books off a dusty shelf and blew on the covers before wandering over to another pile of books.
"Pardon me for being so forward," Elijah said politely, "But you haven't actually explained anything yet."
Azazeal stopped and turned around sighing deeply, before placing the book he was holding in Elijah's arms and huddled over to the nearest chair to rest.
"When I first discovered what Eve was I knew I would be able to siphon some of her limitless power for my own," he said gently, "But I didn't realize until it was too late, that it would cost me dearly."
"What is she Azazeal?" Elijah asked carefully and his friend started to bellow with laughter.
"You mean to tell me you still haven't figured that out yet?" he chuckled as Elijah stared at the ground uncomfortably.
"That why I'm here talking to you isn't it? He replied as he leaned against the huge antique desk and watched his friend enjoy in his ignorance.
"You want to know the story of how Eve came to be who she is today."
…..
It started way back when time itself was measured in moon cycles, in an 'Age of the Gods' as they called it then; when God himself had banished Satan to the dark depths of Hell for the rest of eternity. But there was one loophole; Satan was allowed to spread his misery upon the earth and all it's creature, creating death and chaos everywhere he pleased.
Although there was one place that found a way to pacify the Devil, by sacrificing the purest virgins to him every full moon, they managed to subdue him into passing over their city.
But one day the Devil saw the Emperor's youngest and most stunning daughter, Evangeline, and became furious with rage that he was keeping such delights a secret from him. He threw all his ferocity into trying to break the city; they endured plagues of death, days of unholy temperatures, and nights of terror as they waited for the safety of the daylight to send Satan back into hell for another day.
Until one day the Emperor couldn't bear to see his people suffer for his inactions any longer, and on the next full moon he sacrificed his own daughter to the almighty Prince of Darkness. She screamed all the way down into hell as Satan took her and stole her away from her human life.
But the Emperor hadn't realized that his daughter had secretly been reckless in her youth and become friendly with one of the Golden Warriors, giving herself to him before marriage and disgracing her family.
When Satan learned this he grew even more enraged with the Emperor, but unable to harm the beautiful girl, he instead shared his own power with her. Her human life unable to contain the mass of power that he was flooding into her, that she died on the bottom of Hell, and came back as the Queen of the Damned.
Now when Satan finally released her and she awoke, she was back on the earth, furious with her father for his betrayal and thirsty for human blood. She soon realized the great power she had been blessed with and found she could do anything she wanted, anything was possible. She went on a rampage and massacred the entire city in revenge for what the Emperor had done to her. Unable to hold in her fury she went on to decimate whole civilisations, almost wiping humanity off the face of the planet before Azazeal found her.
Azazeal had been born the bastard of a fallen angel who had come to earth to have his fill of human women, unknowing that by doing so his holy power would be corrupted and would be imprinted into the child. He grew up learning of his amazing abilities and one day he accidently killed his mother whilst trying to steal her magic, and quickly flees his village for fear of punishment.
He found some ancient monks who taught him how to manage his powers, helping him to learn self-control and discipline as he grew up. But he was still drawn to the dark side of his abilities, deciding one day that he was tired of rules and regulations and stole the entire monasteries power for himself before once again escaping for safety.
It was whilst he was on the run that he bumped into Evangeline, fresh from killing the last city she just crossed in her mad haze.
She tried to go after him but he ran quickly recognising the eyes of Satan before him, and tried to steal the huge power he felt coming from within her. It worked and he became stronger but it didn't stop her, just made her snap out of the furious rage she was in and try again. So again he drew from her almighty power and felt no limits; growing hungry with excitement they fought like that for days; until finally Azazeal traded his human soul for Eve's trust and the two became the best of friends.
They travelled the world together, an unstoppable force to be reckoned with, leaving death and bloodshed in their wake. As the centuries passed and humanity grew, they learned how to hide in the shadows and help themselves to societies best and finest.
As they grew tired of the hunt they started to weave themselves into the history books, influencing humans wherever they went and causing great wars and destruction. Evangeline grew quite bold and went on to fool everyone by stating herself as Cleopatra in Egypt, leaving as she forced her to commit suicide after her love Julius Caesar was killed, she slept with Jesus and became referred to as 'Mary Magdalene', befriending his traitor Judas and causing his crucifixion. She continued to run for centuries and only stopped when she fell madly in love with King Henry VIII, disguising herself as Katherine Howard as they quickly married and she became Queen of England, but before too long she was once again on the road as her cover was blown as her name was killed. She came to France and posed as Marie Antoinette, becoming the life of the party as she had the time of her life, but as the Black Plague spread across Europe, she found the perfect way to escape and once more travel in style. Azazeal was always present in the background, growing wise with experience he preferred to stay out of the spotlight and look on as Eve had her fun.
But as the time started to pass them and their friendship grew stronger, Eve confided in him that she was lonely and longed for someone similar to her, as she was unable to procreate herself.
Azazeal tried to change her mind by stealing the soul of an unborn child from a pregnant couple that lived nearby, leaving the baby stillborn. But still Eve continued to ask him for other like herself, until finally he gave in.
They moved to the New World and found the couple that Azazeal had crippled of their firstborn, he has grown to feel guilty for so much innocent life taken and watched over them as they settled into dangerous werewolf territory and grew into a large and dysfunctional family.
Their names were Esther and Mikael and they had six more children, Elijah, Finn, Niklaus, Kol, Rebekah, and little Henrik.
Azazeal helped Esther establish her magic and Evangeline grew jealous as she watched Elijah and Niklaus fall deeply in love for a village girl called Tatia.
So when Henrik was accidently killed one night while sneaking out with his brother, Niklaus to watch the men turn into werewolves, Esther rushed to Azazeal begging him for help to protect her family from anymore heartache. He agreed and planned with Evangeline to turn them into something she could relate to.
"He took some of Eve's blood and told Esther what to do. She had to make sure they all drank the blood before dying and binding their life to the immortality of the white oak, causing them to transform into equals of the werewolf.
But when Niklaus made his first kill he also triggered his werewolf side, revealing his mothers affair with the neighbouring villagers, and sending his father, Mikael furious with rage that he went and slaughtered the entire village, sparking the start of the fight between vampire and werewolf.
Esther who was panicked by the huge imbalance in nature she had just unfurled, came once again to her mentor Azazeal and begged him for his help. He told her of how to create the curse and gave her the moonstone to bind it, but unbeknownst to Evangeline, he used the blood of Niklaus' love, Tatia to seal it.
When Eve learned of what had happened she grew furious at Azazeal's betrayal and killed Tatia instantly, before running after Niklaus as his father, Mikael promised to kill them all after he killed his mother in anger.
Evangeline stayed with the rest of the family and taught them how to survive, finally happy in the company of her own kind. But the rest of them bickered miserably and failed to control their hunger for blood, almost exposing them several times and they travelled around together. Until one day they scattered when a witch learned of their existence and created the Five to hunt them all down, almost succeeding except for the fact that they didn't kill Niklaus, who awoke to slaughter them all; Undaggering all his siblings except Finn and beginning the start of the Hunter's Curse.
Evangeline tried to help Niklaus as he self-destructed but unable to watch him anymore she ran away to find Azazeal for help to no avail.
So she continued to hide in history, playing her little games with humans and roaming the New World freely, discovering that the Original vampires she had made could create others easily; although they were weak copies of herself, they were overpowered by their lust for blood and burnt in the sun. Not exactly like her but close enough.
She came back into contact with Niklaus in England 1492, as he had freed himself from the Hunter's Curse and found the loophole to his own. One of his friends, Trevor brought him the doppelganger called Katerina Petrova and he now had everything he needed to finally break free from his curse. But as Katerina joined the household so did the old feud between Niklaus and Elijah over her beauty. Evangeline knew this and once again grew angry with jealously, only keeping quiet as Niklaus explained that she must die in order to break the curse.
But before he could sacrifice her for his own gain, she escaped with the help of his friend Trevor, who had also stolen the moonstone from Niklaus. Hiding Katerina with his good friend Rose, she knew she why she was there and quickly committed suicide after feeding from Rose's blood, causing her to turn into a vampire and go on the run for the next five hundred years.
Niklaus was enraged when he found out his chance at breaking the curse had escaped with his moonstone and travelled with Evangeline to the Petrova's homeland, Bulgaria; where they tracked down her family and killed them all for revenge.
They continued to travel together, killing as they went and slowly falling deeply in an all-consuming love. Evangeline was as happy as she could be in life, but Niklaus wouldn't stop looking for another doppelganger as he became obsessed. Finally one day Azazeal found her and convinced her the leave to help him, as he was sickly and unwell. But as soon as he was closer to Eve his power started regenerating and he grew back into his normal self once again.
Once again they travelled together, until one day Azazeal recognised a woman who looked exactly like Katerina Petrova, playing between the Salvatore brothers and living in a little town called Mystic Falls, erected exactly where they had found the Original family, all those centuries ago.
She was going by the name of Katherine Pierce now and Eve knew that she had to watch her closely to try and kill her, slowly helping the town expose vampires as monsters in a bid to try and get them to kill her. But she was too smart for that and managed to escape as they rounded up al the vampires and burnt them in the church. Not before getting the Salvatore brothers killed and turned into vampires, Eve sent Azazeal after Katherine and stayed in Mystic Falls to watch the brothers rampage through the town, each fighting their own demons.
After the blood crazy one called Stefan tore through half of the founding families, his brother, Damon split and went off on his own way. Eve was split about which one to follow, but knew that Damon had willingly drunk from Katherine's neck, so the choice became obvious.
It was then that she became a mentor again, teaching him all the rules of being a vampire, and then showing him how to break all those rules. They lived a crazy vampire lifestyle together, until Damon found out that Katherine hadn't died in the fire all along, that she was trapped in the tomb underneath the church; and pulled all his efforts into trying to free her.
Eve grew enraged at another man ignoring her for the face of the doppelganger and left in a hurry, feeding her frustrations out on humanity as Klaus found her easily again, making amends for his behaviour as they travelled together.
They stopped at a little place called New Orleans and helped it grow into a bustling city as the years flew by, reigniting their romance and picking it back up where they left off.
But wherever he would travel, his father Mikael would not long follow behind; still obsessed with the promise he made years ago, to end Niklaus' life. And he found them in New Orleans, almost catching them before Evangeline stepping in to help fight him off, as Klaus and his siblings ran off in fear. Mikael left to pursue his family as Eve helped Klaus' best protégé, Marcel to take care of the city they had helped build, before running away herself.
Now Rebekah quickly fell in love with a vampire called Stefan in Chicago in the 1920's, which at first her brother Klaus despised; but they soon grew to be like brothers. Until once again Mikael caused them to abandon their lives and go on the run.
Fast forward until a few years ago when Stefan and Damon discovered the new Doppelganger, Elena Gilbert and the whole past started repeating itself once again. This time Klaus becoming successful in breaking his curse and transforming into the Hybrid he truly is. Discovering how to sire himself more of his kind and raising tensions between the Salvatore brothers again, as his sister causes the latest doppelganger to turn into a vampire.
Which is where Eve tracks Klaus back down to finally go back to the happiness she once knew.
…..
Elijah sits back looking stunned and unable to find words to respond.
"It's quite a story isn't it?" Azazeal asks looking up to see his shocked friend process what he has just been told.
Elijah swallows hard and looks at the pages before him, proof of the story he has just heard.
"Like Ernest Hemmingway once said to me 'All things truly wicked start from an innocence'," Azazeal muttered as slowly got to his feet.
"So… is there anything that can stop her?" Elijah asked finally finding the words to respond.
"There is no material object in this world that can end her life," he replied, "I'm not even too sure she can die, but every curse has to have a loophole somewhere."
He huddles around to his pile of books and placed them into a suitcase before shutting the lid and turning back to his guest.
"I may require your assistance, I'm…" He asked looking down at his frail body.
"Of course," Elijah said as he walked forward to pick up the heavy suitcase.
Azazeal quickly stabbed him with a syringe and pushed the amber liquid into his system, causing him to instantly collapse and become unconscious.
"I'm not that weak." He spat as he kicked his head with his foot to see that he was well and truly out of it.