Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or The Originals
…
"I'll be fine, Marcel," Davina smiled fondly.
Kira rolled her eyes.
"Are you sure?" He asked hesitantly. "I hate that you're all alone up here."
"My God!" Kira exclaimed, jumping off the bed with a flourish. "Why won't he ever just leave!"
Davina's lips twitched, trying to hold in her giggles.
A sly smirk curled up the right side of Kira's mouth. Moving quickly, she positioned herself behind the tall vampire that ran New Orleans' French Quarter and stuck two fingers up behind his head, wiggling them around.
"I'm sure!" Davina's suddenly rushed voice had Kira's grin widening and she raised her other hand behind his head. "Please, you're really busy and I don't want to hold you up. Go," Davina pushed, a tiny laugh escaping on her last word.
"What so funny?" Marcel grinned, obviously loving the mirthful sound coming from his young charge.
His head turned along with his body and Kira raised a single eyebrow at the dangerous vampire as he stared at the very space her body should be.
"Nothing!" Davina squawked, her hand coming up to push Marcel from the room. "Go, you'll be late!"
"Alright, alright," He laughed, the sound echoing down the corridor as he moved further away. "I'm going."
Folding her arms, Kira let her body fall backwards with what should have been a loud thump. As it was, when Davina finally turned around, her face pinched with a mixture of disapproval and unwanted amusement, none of the dust that should have moved at her actions, had.
"Did you really have to do that? I almost laughed in his face!"
"Oh, come on," Kira chuckled, fixing the girl with a twinkling gaze. "It was harmless."
"You're always getting me into trouble," Davina sighed good-naturedly, sitting down in the space beside her.
"That's where you're wrong," She corrected, holding up a finger in the air. "I'm not always getting you into trouble, I'm making sure you have fun. Like that little trip I convinced you to take with me down to the jazz club, remember how much you enjoyed it?"
Without permission, a huge smile spread across Davina's lips, her eyes retreating into the memory of the fun-filled night the two had shared a week ago.
"I guess you're right."
"Of course, I'm right," Kira announced, once again leaping from her sitting position. "You can't let the witches control your life, Davina. They have as much control over you as you give them. And they sure as hell shouldn't stop you from going out and living life, having fun!"
"I know, Kira," Davina nodded at her enthusiastically.
"Good."
"You must have been wild at my age, though, to come up with some of the things you do."
Adopting a mock offended look, she raised a hand to her chest. "'At my age'? Just how old do you think I am?!" Spinning around, she jutted out her hip, resting the heel of her hand there. "And I'll have you know that yes, I was somewhat of a wild child. Being able to effortlessly fill your days and use your time is a sure-fire way of knowing that you're making the most of your youth," She stated importantly.
Davina smirked, "If you say so."
Ginning, Kira reached forward, grabbing ahold of her thin wrist to yank her to her feet, revelling in the feel of human contact just like she did every-time.
"Come on, I've got the whole day planned!"
…
A pained groan escaped Elena's lips as the world slowly came back into focus.
Squinting against the blinding light streaming in through the window, it took her a few moments to figure out where she was. The steady movement of a car. The strange angle of her body.
The voice coming from the front seat.
"…I'm sorry, Katherine. He wanted the moonstone, and he wanted you."
She ended the call.
Panic gripped her tightly and Elena flew up from her laying position across the seats, her wide brown eyes fixed on the beautiful woman behind the wheel.
"Isobel," She breathed.
Black eyes, absent of any emotion, locked on hers through the rear-view mirror.
"You found him, didn't you?" It took everything she had to keep her voice steady. "He compelled you, forced you to betray Katherine."
"Even if he did, I couldn't tell you," Isobel sighed disinterestedly.
Elena felt her temper flare.
"So Klaus now knows where I am," She stated angrily. "Is that where you're taking me? To him?"
Wresting down her fear, Elena concentrated on her feelings of fury and betrayal as she stared at the back of her biological mother's head.
Without another word, they pulled into a large cemetery, the car coming to a gentle stop.
Isobel got out.
"If you don't come, I'll just compel you," She warned lightly, not even bothering to glance at her daughter over her shoulder to make sure that she was following.
Elena darted a quick glance behind her, chewing on her lip in indecision, knowing it was a bad idea, but following after the vampire anyway.
She hadn't taken more than three paces before she realised where they were. Mystic Falls cemetery.
"Why are we here?" She asked stonily, her eyes darkening with anger as she saw Isobel approach three familiar tomb stones.
Grayson Gilbert.
Miranda Gilbert.
Kira Gilbert.
Elena swallowed dryly, coming to a stop three paces behind Isobel.
"I'm sorry that I was such a disappointment, Elena," She spoke to her but her eyes never left her sister's grave. "It was never my intention to hurt you."
She cleared her throat uncomfortably, not knowing what to do. This woman had broken her dreams, smashed all hopes she had about her real mother. She was a disappointment. But Elena couldn't pretend that a part of her wasn't fascinated by the woman. Wasn't constantly looking for similarities between them.
She just wanted to know her.
Unfortunately, Isobel never seemed to hold the same level of interest in her.
"I'm done?" The soft, relieved sigh was unexpected and Elena watched with a racing heart as a truly brilliant smile lit up her mother's face.
Isobel shut the phone, slipping it into her coat pocket.
Elena watched, her body tense and ready to run, as the vampire slowly raised her hand to run a finger along the top of Kira's tombstone.
"…I'd have liked to meet her," The words were so soft, so vulnerable, but Elena heard them. And they hit her like a tonne of bricks.
"K-kira?" She stuttered, her throat going dry.
"I've asked people around town what she was like. Something tells me that I would have liked her," Isobel smiled a small smile. "I've always been able to run circles around the people in my life. Getting what I want has never been difficult." She turned her neck to look Elena straight in the eye. "I'm sure you know what I'm talking about," She told her knowingly, making Elena look away.
Because she did know.
Perhaps Katherine was right. Perhaps it was the Petrova fire in them, but neither twin had ever had much trouble outmanoeuvring the people in their lives. Manipulation and cleverness seemed to be an inescapable strength and flaw in their bloodline.
Kira had been better at it though.
"I'm sorry you had to meet me like this, Elena," Isobel said strongly, for the first time showing real emotion in her black eyes. "That you had to meet the part of me that would betray my own flesh and blood, and not the part of me that dreamed for years of meeting her two daughters."
"…What?" Elena stumbled forward with shock, her eyes wide.
Isobel looked back at Kira's grave, her eyes on nothing else.
"I'm sorry," She whispered.
Before Elena had a chance to do anything, it was too late. Isobel yanked her sunlight necklace from her neck, her pale skin catching fire almost instantly.
"No!"
But there was nothing she could do but watch. Watch as the woman who gave birth to her let out an ear-piercing scream before going up in flames. Her ashes floating down into the grass covering Kira's grave.
She'd wanted to be with her daughter.
The thought alone had Elena sinking to the ground, tears pouring down her cheeks.
The one place in the world she chose to die, and it was with the daughter she'd never had the chance to meet.
…
Kira smiled as she watched Davina dance with the young man who had pulled her into the circle.
She'd found the small, rag-tag jazz party that happened here every Friday night last week. Small fairy lights hung in stings around the modest, cobblestone courtyard while a group of six musicians played in the corner. Random people who walked upon the scene had been joining in the festivities all night; and they were far enough from the Quarter not to be spotted by Marcel.
Leaning against the tree behind her, Kira couldn't help but laugh as she watched Davina stumble, unused to the old-fashioned dancing she was participating in. But the girl was having a ball. Throwing her excited glances every time one of the young men twirled her around, making sure Kira was still watching her.
Breathing out slowly, she tilted her head so that she could see the bright stars through the tree branches above her.
So much had happened in just three weeks.
Finding Davina had been simple. All she'd done was follow the incredible power that now existed within the tiny fifteen-year-old.
After all these months of hoping, wishing, dreaming of someone being able to see her, finally, someone could.
Davina had known the exact moment she'd stepped into that church attic. Her eyes lighting up with both awe and happiness at the sight of her.
They didn't need to be touching for Davina to be able to see her anymore, and Kira knew enough about magic to have realised why.
Together, Davina filling her in on details of the Harvest ritual she hadn't been aware of, they'd finally understood what had happened that night in the cemetery.
Linked as they were at that crucial, all-important moment when the power of the three sacrificed girls transferred to Davina, so too, had it transferred to Kira.
They were linked. In a way that wasn't meant to be possible.
She'd known she could do it. When she was emotional and wanted it enough, Kira had known that she had the ability to interact with the world of the living in a way few other witches ever had the power to.
But even being as powerful as she knew she must be, that phenomenal ability to affect the living world took everything out of her for the most minute results. Whatever her ability to change the living world, it was small. And that wouldn't change. No matter how much she learned.
But that night, when her emotions and anger and power had all focused itself towards helping Davina escape her fate, she'd been able to link her magic to Davina's. Acted through her. Shaped and sculpted their combined power in order to run.
What they had done was something truly impossible. Because everything had to be right. Everything had to fall into place.
And it had.
Davina, as desperate, as powerful as her, had met her subconscious intention with determination. Their dual will and unyielding desire to fight had enabled them to make a connection that was almost impossible to achieve.
But they had.
And then, then luck had stepped in.
Because when half the power of the Harvest transferred to Kira, the link between them solidified. The power refusing and unable to leave the mortal plane.
She hadn't been able to do much. A spell there, a nudge here, but it was eons away from what she should have been able to do.
And when she and Davina pooled their powers, it was like she wasn't dead at all. The magic within her flowed and interacted with the world of the living as easily as any other alive servant of nature.
But for that to happen, she and Davina had to be in physical contact with each other.
Smiling to herself, Kira couldn't help the hum of happiness that resonated in her chest. The excitement of what had happened, the uniqueness, the second chance; it filled her with purpose and hope.
Hope that now, now her afterlife would get better.
That she wouldn't be alone.
Useless.
"You need to stop." The words were whispered in her ear and Kira spun around, shock invading her system as she realised that someone was talking to her.
Dark brown eyes, narrowed with anger, glared at her from within a face she recognised all too well.
"You," She quirked an eyebrow, folding her arms across her chest.
Standing in front of her, wearing the same ancient garb she had that night in Seattle, was the dark-skinned woman who'd locked eyes with hers before the both of them had been banished from the trio's house that night they'd tried to locate Silas.
"Yes," A dark, unamused smirk curled up the corners of her mouth as she regarded Kira closely. "Me."
"Nice to see you again," Kira inclined her head with a sarcastic smile. "You're looking much better than you were the last time I saw you." The barb was as obvious as it was pointed.
"If memory serves, you weren't doing much better that night yourself," The witch threw back at her sharply.
Remembering the suffocating pain of the banishing spell that had ejected her from the witches' property that night, Kira grimaced. Unable to stop herself from rolling her shoulders in the same way that she had when she was alive and hoping to loosen the tension in her muscles.
"Who are you?" She demanded coldly. Because she wasn't a fool. This meeting, however it was happening, was anything but a coincidence.
"You can call me Tessa," The woman said, her tone amused. "And before you ask, yes, I do have a purpose in speaking with you."
"I guessed," Kira smirked, looking over her shoulder to make sure Davina was still within her sights.
This was the first spirit she'd seen since she died. There must be others, she knew, but somehow, having to watch and observe the living without their knowledge wasn't punishment enough. You had to do it alone. Never seeing anyone. Never talking to anyone.
Alone.
Except this woman.
There was no confusion in her eyes. No surprise. She'd sought Kira out, and somehow, she could talk to her and be seen by her just because she desired it.
And that put her on edge.
"You know, in all my years watching over the world from the other side, no supernatural creature, be it werewolf, vampire or witch, has ever caused me trouble."
"Is that so?" Her tone was light, but her eyes were sharp, suspicious.
Tessa's face suddenly became stone, all friendliness melting from her features with a swiftness that immediately had Kira on guard.
Whoever this woman was, she was no friend of hers.
"You're causing me problems, Kira," Tessa informed her harshly. "Ones that, while I admit, weren't anticipated, I will correct if I have to."
Kira surveyed the woman closely, her eyes scrutinising. The power rolling off the witch was incredible, beyond her own, that was for certain. But Kira was anything but easily cowered. And she saw something in Tessa's eyes that she knew the ancient witch had had no intention of sharing with her.
Worry.
"Tessa…," She said the name slowly, letting the syllables roll slowly off her tongue. "Considering the…robe, that you're wearing," She waved a hand at her toga-style wrap with a condescending smirk. "Something tells me that that isn't your real name. Which, you have to admit, is very rude. Especially, considering the circumstances."
"You have no idea who you're messing with, little girl," Tessa growled at her warningly.
"True," Kira nodded, smiling sunnily. "But I also know that whatever it is about me that has caused you these…problems; you wouldn't have bothered coming to speak to me personally if the solution was as simple as you imply."
"You foolish girl!" Stalking froward, Tessa's brown eyes blazed with fury as she stared her down. "You are involving yourself in forces that are beyond you!"
"Is this about the Harvest?" Kira asked lightly, her casualness so at odds with Tessa's thunderous expression it was almost comical. "Have I done something to mess up the 'oh so convenient' afterlife that all supernaturals are subjected to?"
"The other side has existed for more than two thousand years-!"
"Then I'd say it's about time that there was some change," Kira interrupted icily. All humour gone from her voice. "Wouldn't you agree,…Qetsiyah?" The dark-skinned woman slowly drew back, surprise clear in her eyes. "Don't look at me like that," She tsked disapprovingly. "After I found out that I was living in hell all because of a woman once scorned, well, I wanted to know as much about you as possible."
Tessa smiled darkly, her confidence returning with a vengeance.
"I see," She nodded slowly, tilting her head to the side as her dark eyes ran over Kira's slim figure calculatingly.
"I have no wish to make your petty, idiotic spirit-world easier for you, Qetsiyah," She hissed, doing nothing to hide the anger that was simmering inside of her. "I don't give a damn about Silas, or you. Your time is long over."
"As is yours," Tessa chuckled, eyes gleaming. "I'm more powerful than you, Kira. If you do not stop interacting with the living world, I will crush you. I promise."
"And as I said before, if it were that simple, Qetsiyah, you would have done something about it already."
Impatience flashed across brown eyes. Her impertinence and arrogant scorn causing Tessa to make, what Kira would later understand to be, the worst miscalculation of her existence.
"Your thoughtless actions have almost caused you to rip a hole in the other side, you stupid girl! Linking yourself, your magic, to an actual living person, is causing the weaves I have created to loosen! Your magic is neither living nor dead and it is wreaking havoc on the rules governing the Other Side!"
Kira's mouth dropped open, her eyes wide as she stared in complete silence at the fuming, menacing figure before her.
Of course.
…She'd thought, knew, that it had to be something like that. It was the only explanation she had for the difference in her powers. In her ability to influence the living world. But Qetsiyah's words had inadvertently answered any lingering doubts she'd had.
A tear.
Linking with Davina, sharing the power of the Harvest, casting spells from the other side with far more success, it was all connected! It was all working together!
A slow, brilliant grin stretched across her lips. Sapphire eyes blazing with light.
"You're afraid," She breathed with sudden, all-consuming realisation.
Qetsiyah jerked back as if struck.
"If I keep doing what I've been doing; casting magic,...those weaves…, they're going to loosen further, aren't they?" She asked eagerly, her mind running a mile a minute.
"I won't let that happen," Qetsiyah told her darkly, eyes completely serious.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll give it your best effort, Tessa," Kira laughed without humour. "But, see, I don't want to stay here. In this prison you constructed. And something tells me, when those weaves loosen enough, they'll tear. And when that happens, you'll work like hell to close it back up again. Only problem is, if you close it before I slip free, I'll just tear another hole in the fabric somewhere else, and you'll have to do the same thing all over again."
"…You're smart," Tessa smiled cruelly. "And while that may indeed be true, I think you also know that if you did that, others might also slip through that tear before you got to it, and before I could close it. Are you really that selfish?" Her voice was almost like a dare, a challenge.
She didn't think she'd do it.
"Those that you let back into the world will be confused. If they're vampires, all the people they kill after their resurrection will be your fault…Can you really live with that?"
Long seconds of silence passed as the two stared each other down. Neither willing to budge.
Kira slowly lent forward.
"Yes," She whispered.
Disbelieving, bone-jarring shock fluttered across Qetsiyah's face as she read the truth of Kira's answer in her eyes.
It wasn't long before murderous rage took its place.
"If you dare-!"
"Oh, I do," Kira smiled thinly, cutting her off. "And when that tear happens, Qetsiyah, you'll have to make a choice. Let me go, and close the hole behind me. Or spend the next however many years of your existence desperately chasing after me, terrified that this time, you'll be too late."
...