"Mother."

Esther turned from where she kneeled at the altar. Elijah recognized Ayana next to her - her gaze was suspicious. She reached forward to stop Esther but his mother stepped past her friend's grasp and stood to face her son. Isobel stopped next to him, her chin high. He was rarely intimidated but considering what was at stake he was glad to have her at his side. Her mind was cunning - that much he knew from past experience.

"Elijah," Esther greeted, an enigmatic Mona Lisa smile upon her face. He squinted as he regarded her, never quite able to read her mind. "Niklaus daggered you."

"Yes," he confirmed. "To find you."

Her mouth quirked, eyes fluttered, only for a brief moment. A sign that his mother still resided somewhere in this cold spirit's soul. "After everything you seek me out. Why? Do you not hate me?"

"Do you think I should, for your plot to end us all?" He noticed Ayana averting her gaze, confirmation to him of her involvement from the great beyond. "Punishment for your poor judgement. You can't abruptly end something that's been in existence for more than a thousand years." He stopped, taking a deep breath and sensing Isobel's reservation. This reaction wouldn't garner the outcome he was hoping for. He paused long enough to reign himself in. "But you are my mother. And nothing changes that. Nor your power to determine my destiny."

She looked perplexed now in the flickering candlelight. She was free of age here, wearing a long sea foam gauze gown, her blonde hair pulled into soft waves that spilled down her back. Her dark brown eyes that he shared shone with an ethereal light. She looked more alive now than she ever had, and his soul ached for their long-dead humanity, just for a second. "I control nothing of your life now, Elijah. I've been pardoned, if you will, once Alaric failed to finish what Mikael started. The witches realized nature was against them... Nature has accepted vampires and allows you to survive. I had suffered long enough."

"So you are at peace," he said quietly. This filled him with a strange sense of relief.

"As much as I can be here. But part of the arrangement is that I can no longer influence the side of the living."

Isobel stiffened nearly imperceptibly, a sign of her unease. But Elijah was undeterred. "Unless we approach you here."

"Yes," Esther confirmed. "Why?"

"Because I need your help, Mother. And if you have ever loved me as your son, you will help me with this."

oOo

They stood at the edge of the bluff, and there was snow in the valley below them. Elena could see her breath, and she wasn't sure she had the energy to trek any further. They'd traveled ten, twenty, thirty miles, maybe more, and it was the eerie violet twilight of winter that faced them now. The heavens looked ready to send more snowflakes down on them now, the clouds heavy with frozen crystals. If she were tucked inside her warm bedroom in her now-nonexistent home, she'd be happy to sit and watch the snowfall. But here, She feared she may freeze before they found Anastasia... though if she were destined to die, at least that outcome would ensure Silas's failure.

"Where is she?" he muttered to himself. He glanced at Elena, pulling her closer in surprise. "Dammit, Elena... you're nearly frozen."

"I didn't expect the arctic here on the other side," she managed weakly, instinctively curling into his warm body. "I'm not immortal anymore, remember?" Her eyes still flashed in resistive annoyance at him.

He sighed. "It's Qetsiyah. Any way she can prevent me from getting to Anastasia... humans aren't meant to exist on this side. The cold does nothing to the spirits of the supernatural."

"Or you?" she chattered grimly.

"Or me." He rubbed his hand up and down her arm to create friction heat and she closed her eyes. "Stay with me, Elena. We've got to get you warm... you won't do me any good if you die before we find her."

She didn't fight against him when he lifted her into his arms and carried her down the trail along the bluff, finding a cave below. She sat huddled against the dank stone wall while he ducked out again, wishing she had the energy to move to escape him. But once she stopped, she couldn't start again. Elena closed her eyes, trying to think of Elijah, to distract herself. She thought of the way his hands pulled her close the previous night, his lips moving over her form, exploring every inch of her. She gasped unintentionally at the fire lit in her soul, her eyes fluttering open. She was still alone, and she was relieved Silas hadn't been witness to her recollection of their intimate moment. But Elena couldn't stop the flood of images featuring Elijah's wounded gaze when he realized she might not spend eternity with him. She drew in a deep breath, resolving that it wouldn't be their last moment together. It wouldn't be their final memory of their relationship. She wished she'd promised him anything to make him happy last night... and she needed to fix that. He was her future, if she made it out of here. She would do whatever it took to stay with him... human, vampire... it didn't matter. All that mattered was Elijah.

The clattering of wood falling on the stone floor startled her from her daydream, though she was too lethargic to do more than gasp weakly.

"Sorry," Silas said, kneeling to organizing the branches and boughs into a sizable stack near the wide mouth of the cavern.

"Did you bring... flint too?" she asked, and he smirked at her sarcastic jab.

"Now what kind of witch would I be if I couldn't start a fire?"

She shrugged, wrapping her arms back around herself as she watched him hover over the wood, his eyes squinting and his arms spanning across, palms down. She almost willed the flames up for him as the minutes passed, no longer able to feel her feet or hands.

He cursed under his breath and she frowned. "I'm losing power," he explained as he glanced back at her. "I need human blood."

She gamely offered up her wrist without a second thought. Her base survival instincts took hold - anything to be warm again. He looked around, taking a sharp edged rock as he kneeled in front of her.

"What are you doing?" she rasped, before gritting her teeth against the scraping pain.

"I'm not a vampire, just an immortal witch who lives on blood. And normally I could use mind control to get someone to slice open her veins for me... but I can't control you. Nor are there any convenient blades around. So..." He paused as a trickle of blood finally bubbled forth. "This will do, even if it's a bit crude."

She winced at the sting when he sucked at her wrist, the raw edges of the wound especially sensitive where nerve endings had been severed. He fed until she started to feel dizzy; he must have sensed that the sparkly grey dots were dancing at the edges of her vision.

But it was only a few seconds more before a blaze illuminated the stony space, well worth the price of her blood. The blast of heat against her frozen cheeks reminded her of coming inside the warm house for hot cocoa after playing in snowbanks for hours with Jeremy. Elena moved closer to the fire once she could feel her limbs again. The pins and needles in her feet and hands were painful and she hoped that the damage wasn't permanent. She didn't think Silas would be wasting any of his blood to heal her; she didn't even bother to ask. He intended to sacrifice her shortly anyway... it didn't matter to him if she were injured or impaired. He eyed her where she stood with her hands outstretched, and her stomach rumbled.

"Sorry," she muttered. All of these human issues she'd forgotten... now that she was warm, hunger was setting in. Add in the anemia secondary to an immortal traveling companion, and...

"I don't know if you should come with me." Silas had his arms crossed, and she almost found him attractive with the way the flames illuminated the auburn highlights in his hair and gold flecks in his eyes. "I think the rest of this journey may kill you before I find Anastasia. So... I'm binding you to this cave. I'll make sure the fire lasts until I return, but you can't leave."

Elena's mouth fell open in surprise. "What if I die of hunger before you come back?"

He smiled. "You won't. We have at least a few days before that happens. Besides... you don't need to be healthy for Anastasia. She just requires your blood. And the weaker you are, the less you can fight." He glanced outside, as if something had caught his attention. "But somehow I don't think she's far..."

He stepped outside, chanting as he walked, and Elena moved to follow him. But she met an invisible barrier at the edge of the cave, and he smiled again as she hit her hands against the air.

"I'll be back soon," he promised. Then he disappeared into the falling night.

She slid back to the floor, hot tears running against cold skin as she clutched the bloody stone in her hand. This was now officially hopeless.

oOo

Her green eyes were her most striking feature. It was as though they were lit from within, and Elijah found the coincidence mildly amusing as she beckoned him and Esther forward. Isobel stayed behind, near the large doors, as he crossed the immense room.

Qetsiyah narrowed her gaze at him. "It's not a coincidence," she said.

She lounged before them in her gilded throne upon an opulent altar decorated with luxurious fabrics and sparkling garlands of gemstones. She looked down at them.

"Have you heard a more powerful story of envy? My eyes are remarkable enough to be forever associated with that deadly sin."

She settled back, regarding them with a sour expression. He drew in a deep breath, bracing himself to plead his case to this most scorned and mercurial witch. The one who held Elena's fate in her hands.

"Why do you bring your son before me, Esther? Has he perished?"

She continued to eye Elijah curiously, and his mother shook her head. "He's been daggered... he'll only be here for a short time."

"Ahhhh." She smiled at him then. "The daggers burn like hell, don't they? The price of immortality. Your mother was nearly as powerful as me. It's still an amazing feat that she created vampires singlehandedly, even with the blood of that doppelgänger. I heard you fell for that face as well. Never trust that face."

He raised an eyebrow. "I come to ask that you pardon the latest woman who wears that face. Elena."

"Never," she spat. "Again? What power does she hold over you?"

"More power than her predecessors... she's a pure soul, Qetsiyah. She's attempting to take down Silas but he has her here on the other side."

Her eyes flashed and she stood. "He's risen?"

Elijah nodded. "They were hunting down the cure for vampirism... Silas tricked your descendant Bonnie into locating him. Now he's free, and he's forced Elena into taking the cure so he can free Anastasia as well. I need your help to save her and to stop him. The veil is open. It's only a matter of time before he escapes."

She frowned as she contemplated all of the information. "You realize you may be trapped here when all is said and done," she said finally. "It's a dangerous spell to close the veil - it may sever your tie to your physical form. And he clearly has power if he was able to cross the veil without me noticing. I've been on alert for centuries waiting for him. He almost succeeded one thousand years ago, until your mother intervened."

He nodded solemnly. "I imagined there would be risks. But Elena can't perish here, and he can't escape. I promised her the safety of her friends and family... not to mention my remaining siblings."

"You would die for her," she said. And he felt Isobel's gaze on him from where she stood.

"Yes," he answered simply. "I've lived for centuries, and I've no intention of perishing now... but for Elena, I would."

They stared at each other, her bitterness apparent. He didn't dare swallow or show any other signs of weakness - he'd never encountered forces older or more powerful than himself but he wasn't about to buckle now. Elena needed him, and he needed her. He wasn't leaving without her.

"Fine," Qetsiyah allowed, and for a second he thought her gaze softened. "If you are that dedicated to her, then she can live and cross the veil. But you must help me ensure that Silas is trapped here."

"Whatever you ask."

"Then we need to locate him. And her. If I had her blood..."

Isobel stepped forward, calling across the great hall. "She's my daughter. Does that help?"

There was an edge of desperation to her voice that cut to his soul, and Elijah looked down, ashamed that he'd failed them all. He'd failed to protect her.

He felt Esther's hand on his shoulder and he turned to look at her. "No more blame, Elijah," she whispered. "You did everything in your power... but you're dealing with an immortal stronger than you."

He didn't say anything, not even that he appreciated her reassurance. Their relationship was too strained for that. And it would likely be for the rest of eternity. But it felt ever so slightly less dysfunctional knowing that his mother recognized what they were facing, that they were doomed to be overpowered from the start. Damon Salvatore and his snark be damned... forever the thorn in his side.

"Locator spells are the same on either side," Qetsiyah explained as she held the blade of a dagger against Isobel's palm. He was intrigued by the silver that flowed from the cut. "Her soul."

They watched as it spilled on the mosaic map of the other side under their feet, twisting and swirling and curling, loops and loops, until it gathered back in one spot.

"The far caverns. I last encountered Anastasia not far from there. It wasn't pretty." Qetsiyah's mouth tightened, but she lifted her hand and the silver molten liquid of Isobel's palm resealed the cut. "It will take us the better part of a day to journey there." She looked at Esther. "Tell Ayana her presence is necessary. And meet us back here by midnight. We will travel then."