And it's you and me and all of the people
And I don't know why I can't keep my eyes off of you
"Where has Rebekah run off to?" Klaus questioned Elijah as Talia arrived.
"It is not Rebekah that I am worried about, how can you be so certain Davina will come?" Elijah replied as Talia noticed Tim sitting up on one of the banisters playing a very melancholy tune.
"You of all people should know what it feels like to be in the grip of an all-consuming infatuation; she'll come," Klaus assured him.
"And what will become of the boy when she does?" Talia demanded making her presence known.
"Only time will tell, sweetheart," Klaus answered.
Elijah met her blue eyes, "He will not be harmed." Klaus said nothing but the smug look on his face did nothing to help the bad feeling in the pit of Talia's stomach. The brunette Original looked up at the violinist. "Are the theatrics absolutely necessary, Niklaus?"
The hybrid simply chuckled, "Fair point. Timothy, play something a little more upbeat, please, that's a good lad." Marcel then walked in. "Took you long enough to spread the word."
Talia smirked, "Have you met his nightwalkers, not the brightest bunch."
"All that matters is that I've got it covered. When Davina gets here you three need to let me do the talking," Marcel told them and Talia was inclined to agree, he'd known her the longest but he'd also betrayed her trust.
"Well, I'm sure you'll have your chance," Klaus declared at the small brunette witch enter the compound. "Hello, love. Silence is golden, Timothy, thank you."
The boy stopped playing and looked down at the teenage girl, "Davina?"
Davina turned to glare at Klaus, "You got me now let him down."
Talia made a move to go get Timothy down. "Don't even think about it, Talia," Klaus ordered making her freeze. "First we have to have a little chat about you returning to the fold."
Marcel stepped forward, "What did I say, Klaus? I got this. D what happened? Why'd you run? Talk to me. I can make it right."
"How?" she commanded. "By threatening my friend?"
"Actually that was my idea," Klaus claimed. "My apologies, I've been known to go too far to make a point."
Talia snorted, "Tell me about it."
Klaus ignored her, "But I do always get results."
Davina fake smiled at him, "You pretend to be so confident. But I know the truth; you're afraid everyone can see what you really are, an animal."
She stepped forward and used her powers against Niklaus, bringing him to his knees as he howled in pain. Talia could hear his bones breaking. Elijah started forward to come to his brother's aid. "Elijah, don't!" Talia warned but it was too late. Davina flung him and Marcel back and forced them to their knees as well. The female vampire crouched down to make sure Elijah was alright as Davina continued to torture Klaus.
"A beast. Why don't you show us your real face?" She was forcing Klaus to turn. "That's enough of you." With a wave of her hand Klaus was unconscious.
"Davina," Elijah called to her. "You don't have to do this.
"You," Davina growled as she approached him. Talia looked up at her warily as she forced Elijah to sit up. "You looked me in the eyes and lied to my face, pretended you wanted to help me. You call yourself the noble one but you're a killer, just like your brother. For a thousand years you fed on innocent blood, why don't you choke on it?"
Immediately, blood began to pour out of Elijah's mouth as he couched and choked. Talia gasped and held him to her trying to calm him down but knowing there was nothing she could do. Seconds later Elijah passed out and the blood stopped flowing.
Davina then walked over to Marcel, "And you, I trusted you, I loved you but you were just using me to stay in power." Marcel got to his feet and looked at her guiltily. "You don't care about me."
"You're wrong," Marcel denied and Talia could see he wasn't lying.
"When you lost to Klaus you handed me over like some trophy. Maybe I should boil you in bronze."
"I care. I took you in like you were my own blood." Marcel suddenly cried out as Rebekah stabbed him from behind.
"Come now love, don't tell me you were falling for that," Rebekah said as Talia stood up. "Isn't it time for us girls to have a chat."
"'Bout time you got here," Talia told the blonde.
Rebekah shrugged and took in the site of the three vampires on the ground, "Now that is impressive, and well deserved in my opinion. Now, before you turn on me and Talia, I have a surprise for you." The door opened and Josh, Klaus' former minion walked in.
"Josh what are you doing? Get out of here!" Davina cried but Rebekah zipped over to Josh and grabbed him by the jugular.
"What are you doing?" Josh gasped out.
Rebekah turned back to the witch, "Now if I were Klaus I would rip Josh's head from his neck and feed to a nightwalker and that would be the end of your friend." Rebekah released the young vampire. "But hurting people is such a boyish thing to do. Like how Klaus compelled your fiddler on the roof. And while I am many things, I am certainly not my brother."
They all glanced up at the poor boy above them. "It's okay Timothy you can come down, no one's gonna hurt you," Talia called to him.
"He told me I couldn't climb down off this beam," Timothy replied.
"Then don't climb, silly," Rebekah said. "Am I the only smart one in the room? Jump." The blonde Original marched over so she was just below him. Slowly and timidly Timothy jumped down and Rebekah caught him.
Timothy panted before turning and hugging Davina. "Davina, how did you do all that? How did I even get here?" he asked.
"I'll explain everything I promise," she told him before hugging him once more. Davina looked back and forth between Talia and Rebekah. "Why are you doing this?"
"Seems to me you're the one holding all the cards and you don't know who to trust," Rebekah answered. "I've just proven that you can trust me and Talia. And now I'd like to show you one more thing, it won't take long. You can bring your friends."
"Bekah, I'm gonna stay here until the three amigos wake up. Maybe I can keep them off your tail for a little while and keep them from hurting any of you," Talia told the Original. Rebekah nodded and disappeared followed by Davina, Tim, and Josh. The dark haired vampire summoned up a glass of blood and took a seat to wait. It didn't take too long for the vampires to regain consciousness. Klaus was awake first and demanded Davina's location. "She's with Rebekah," was all Talia told him.
Elijah woke up next and looked at Talia questioningly. She merely gave him a look to say she would tell him later. The brunette vampire then went over to Marcel who was beginning to wake up as well. "Well isn't this monumentally awkward," Elijah offered the younger vampire his hand and helped him to his feet.
"Rebekah where are you?" Klaus demanded into the phone.
"I'm with Davina and she is dying because of your treachery," Rebekah answered stonily from the other end. Talia looked up confused about how this had happened.
"Well, I tried to talk to her out of respect for Marcel but she made it quite clear she is not our friend, my apologies if you thought she was yours," Klaus said with a smug expression.
"Just tell me how to cure her, vampire blood isn't working." Talia shared a panicked look with Elijah.
"No, it wouldn't. See the poison I compelled Timothy to feed her is quite potent." Both Marcel and Talia started for Klaus angrily but Elijah held them back. "It's only a matter of time for her."
"For both of them, you diabolical bastard!" Rebekah corrected her brother. "They're children. We could've dealt with them fairly."
"There is no dealing with those who threaten us. Davina sealed her fate when she stood against me; it was her choice, not mine." Klaus hung up and turned to see the outraged expressions of the other three vampires. Talia's head was spinning with pure hatred. All the pity she had ever felt for Klaus flew out the window; this time he'd gone way too far. And the bastard hybrid just chuckled. "Oh come on, the stench of your judgment is overwhelming. Need I remind you that Davina just bested the lot of us, except for Talia, which I do not yet understand why?" Talia did nothing but glare at him. "I did what had to be done. Don't worry, Elijah, I remain as redeemable as ever." The blue eyed girl wasn't so sure of that anymore.
"So you compelled that boy to poison Davina without consulting Marcel or myself?" Elijah summed up incredulously.
Klaus shrugged. "You know what the worst part is?" Marcel spoke up. "Is that you're so predictable that I had to make an alliance with your brother, who I don't even like."
There was a beat of silence as Klaus stared at Marcel, "Judging by your expression you have something you'd like to share."
"Damn straight I do," Marcel admitted. "I got a call from Kieran earlier, right after some witches almost got their hands on Davina first. Sabine was still alive, she'd cast a protection spell on herself so she would come back if she died so I convinced her to do the same spell for Davina."
"So when you slipped away to allegedly check on your nightwalkers, you were in fact colluding with a witch. Very clever. I suppose I should be proud," Klaus surmised.
Marcel shrugged, "Yeah, just wanted to make sure I had a failsafe just in case, as Elijah suspected, you started acting like you."
"Except that now you've involved the witches who last time I checked were enemy to us all," Klaus pointed out angrily. "To everything we have and to our family."
"Davina is Marcel's family or did that somehow slip your mind as you tried to take her life?" Talia protested stepping toward Klaus only to have Elijah pull her back once more.
Elijah narrowed his eyes at his brother, "You will call Rebekah, you will tell her that Davina will recover. I do wish the same could be said for that boy." With that Elijah waltzed out of the courtyard and upstairs, Marcel following moments later. Talia however stayed.
Klaus quickly texted Rebekah before noticing Talia standing there, "Well go on, sweetheart, levy all my crimes against me."
"I plan to," Talia said harshly as she used her powers to fling him back into the concrete wall. "How dare you! They were innocent children! Timothy didn't know anything about this world and he died because of you and your stupid lust for power." She flung him into another wall and then to the floor and then back into the wall, by now he was bleeding a little. "Maybe Davina's right and you are a monster. Do you have any idea how much pain you caused her? Simply because she stood up to you and didn't want to be treated like a pawn?" With a twist of her fingers his bones began to snap. "I have tried to look the other way and forgive you for the horrendous things you've done to me, to Elijah…but you just keep making it more and more difficult. I'm drawing the line here, you dare harm another innocent person and I will find a way to make sure you live a long, lonely and tortured life."
Talia released him and turned to leave. Klaus suddenly zipped in front of her looking absolutely murderous, "I could just kill you now and save myself the trouble."
Despite her fear of that vicious look in his eye, Talia stood tall and met his cold gaze, "Go ahead, you've already killed your brother's love once I'm sure he'll forgive you yet again, especially after everything you've done tonight. He may still think you're redeemable, Niklaus, but I'm not so sure anymore."
Just then the sounds of footsteps reached them. The two turned to see Rebekah carrying a sleeping Davina. Marcel appeared and raced to the two girls. "Is she okay?"
"She's devastated and exhausted," Rebekah answered honestly. "Where's her room?"
"I got her," Marcel insisted. Rebekah hesitated but handed over the small girl. Talia went upstairs to Davina's room to check on her.
"…never surrender the fight to reclaim that trust," Elijah told Marcel as Talia entered the room.
"You just have to show her you truly care," Talia added.
Elijah turned to her and kissed her forehead before noticing some peculiar artwork on an easel. "These drawings, what are they?"
"She drew those the whole time she was in the attic," Marcel explained. "She said they're different than what she draws when she senses magic. These ones, she called them evil."
Talia looked up at the Original, "Elijah, what do you see?"
"I'm not sure," he admitted turning to Marcel. "May I look at these?" Marcel nodded and Talia and Elijah left him alone with Davina.
"I'm gonna go take a shower I'll meet you later," Talia told Elijah. He nodded and kissed her cheek as he went off in another direction. After a nice long shower and some fresh clothes, Talia journeyed to find Elijah. She found him amidst Davina's drawings, studying them like puzzle pieces in one of the many lounges. "You okay?" she asked as she entered.
He looked up and met her blue eyes with a smile, "Better now." With a grin Talia strolled over to him and wrapped her arm around his neck and gazed over the pictures.
"Hey," a voice called to them. It was Haley.
"Hey, how was your day?" Talia greeted her.
"Killer," Haley replied. "What's with the artwork?"
"They're Davina's sketches. I wonder if they represent some kind of premonition," Elijah stated as he began to move the pictures around. Something was beginning to show up, an image of some sort. "They seem to suggest something's coming. Something sinister." Elijah removed one of the pages revealing a face all three of them knew. Celeste.
"Oh my God," Talia gasped glancing up Elijah who was frozen in pure shock and confusion.
"Isn't that?" Haley questioned. Talia nodded unable to move. What did this mean?
Talia zipped up to her and Elijah's room as fast as her vampire speed could take her. The tension that had overcome her and Elijah was unbearable. She leaned against the door for several minutes trying to unscramble her thoughts.
Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. "Talia," Elijah called and with a sigh she opened the door. "May I come in?"
Talia stepped aside, "Of course, it's your room too."
"Talia, we need to talk," Elijah began as he closed the door behind him.
"There's not really much to talk about. Davina's drawing your dead witch lover that she called evil and there's nothing I can do about it."
"You know that were Celeste alive or not my feelings for you would not change," Elijah assured her.
Talia met his brown eyes, so full of emotions near impossible to be deciphered. She hesitated, "I know. Look, we've both had a long day, we should just get some sleep."
Elijah nodded and Talia disappeared into the bathroom to change into some pajamas. If she were being honest with herself, she didn't truly believe Elijah would feel the same if something happened that had to do with Celeste. She'd felt his love for her and that kind of love isn't easily forgotten.
After she finished changing she slipped back into the bedroom as Elijah switched her places to change into his own pajamas. Talia curled up under the blankets on one side of the bed and faced away from middle, effectively creating as much space between the two of them as possible. She felt the bed dip when Elijah returned but she did not look up at him. The tension in the space between them was nearly tangible and Talia was sure she'd crack soon.
Elijah suddenly rolled over, "Talia, I do not wish for this to come between us." Talia was silent for a moment, desperately trying to hold on to her resolve but it crumbled.
She turned over to face him, "Nor do I. But it is something, Elijah. Something looming over us that we don't understand yet and it scares me."
Elijah looked at her seriously, "I promised you when you were an infant that I would protect you from every supernatural creature that dared to harm you, that has not changed though you are now a supernatural creature as well. I will always protect you." Elijah then kissed her firmly to solidify his promise. Talia managed to smile a bit and snuggled into Elijah's warm embrace but her anxiousness could not be eased.
*15 years later*
"Wait, that whole Celeste drawing makes no sense," I told her confused.
"It will," she assured me, a strange mix of jealousy and pain crossed her features.
"And damn, you gave Klaus a piece of your mind," I said appreciatively.
Talia smiled a bit but it wasn't a full blown smile, "Well he deserved it and I think good actually came of it eventually."
"Meaning?"
"Well..."