It had been days when Elijah finally returned, brought home by Nik. I had been listening to Hayley and Rebekah jabber on about how Hayley was now one of the family. The door opened and Nik sauntered in.
"Nik, finally!" Rebekah grinned, but was stunned into silence when Elijah appeared behind his brother.
Elijah was smiling, looking at the three of us. He wore a navy blue suit with an olive tie and white shirt, no vest. I strutted up to him and slapped him across the face. He cracked his jaw and raised his fingers up to his cheek, touching it gently.
"What was that for?" he asked, not upset, only curious.
"You've been awake for days, but you didn't come home!" I hissed. "You didn't even try to contact me so I would know you're alright."
"My sincerest apologies." Elijah embraced me, wrapping his arms around my waist and gently kissed me.
When I was released, Rebekah ran up and hugged him. "Elijah, you're safe," she breathed. "Now that you're home, is your first plan to kill Niklaus?"
"Not yet," Elijah replied. "We need to talk." He gathered us all, including Hayley, into the study where he lost his jacket and tie and rolled his sleeves up to his forearms. "Everything that brought us here to New Orleans was a lie," he began. "The story that Sopie Deveraux fabricated, this struggle for control of the French Quarter, this war between vampires and witches, this wasn't over territory at all. This was over Davina."
As he spoke, his words never made it to my ears. I could only look at his strong hands and I imagined them running over my body and his fingers touching me. I crossed my legs trying to calm myself and pay attention. I looked at Elijah, wondering if he had noticed what I was thinking. His eyes met mine and he paused only for a beat.
"Eight months ago," he continued. "Sophie and her sister Jane-Anne lost everything. Now four months after, a young pregnant girl wanders into their restaurant. Suddenly, all hope is renewed. Jane-Anne actually sacrificed her life so that her sister could use you to find Davina. If Sophie Deveraux is successful in capturing Davina, she can return Jane-Anne's daughter back to life. We thought we came here to wage a war for power. This is about family. In order to return her niece to life, Sophie Deveraux will fight to the death. That makes her more dangerous than anyone."
In the morning, we were to revisit the Sophie/Hayley problem. Klaus sat on one of the sofas in the living room reading poetry, while Elijah sat across from him, thumbing through their mother's grimoire. Bach was playing in the background, but I didn't know which brother had put the record on. I reclined with my head on Elijah's lap. He wore a charcoal suit with a light blue shirt, but no tie. On the coffee table between us and Klaus was a young, dead girl, blood still pouring out of her.
"So this what you do the first time we're back together as a family?" Rebekah had walked in. "Vampire book club?"
"Reading edifies the mind, Sister," Klaus replied. "Isn't that right, Elijah?"
"Yes that's quite right, Niklaus," Elijah responded.
"And what's this business?" she motioned to the body.
"This is a peace offering," Elijah explained.
Klaus looked up from the page he was reading. "I assumed after so much time desiccating in a coffin, my big brother might be a bit puckish."
"I explained to my little brother that forgiveness cannot be bought. I'd rather see a change in behavior that represents contrition and personal growth, not this nonsense," he pointed to the girl.
"At least Liz knew better than to let her go to waste," Klaus chuckled.
I smiled and reached up to touch the side of my mouth, making sure I had cleaned off the blood. Elijah looked down at me from his book, a smile in his eyes as he tried to keep a straight face.
"Well I suppose I'll fetch the rubbish bin since she's staining a two hundred year old carpet," Rebekah sighed.
Elijah looked over his right arm, surprised to see that is sister was correct. "Well, yes," he murmured before returning to his reading until he heard Hayley moving about in the kitchen. I sat up, looking at him until he stood to go and check on her. I stood and helped Rebekah drag the body out of the house by way of the kitchen.
"The sooner she gets unlinked the sooner we can leave this crap town," Rebekah interrupted Elijah and Hayley's conversation.
My ears perked up, "Who are we killing?" I asked, excited.
"Probably no one," Elijah called as we walked by. "Alright, potentially everyone," he corrected himself.
Out in the backyard, I laughed.
Rebekah returned to the living room to scrub the floor and I stood behind Klaus, my hands on his shoulders. "Poetry about poisoned apples from dead trees?" she commented. "Looks like someone is worried about impending daddy-hood."
"Nonsense," Klaus grinned. "Elijah is back. In his presence all problems turn to pixie dust and float away."
"Strange, I don't remember any pixie dust from the darkness of the coffin I was forced to endure." Elijah had returned from the kitchen and pulled me off his brother to kiss my temple. He then returned to the grimoire and began tearing out a page.
"What are you doing with mother's spell book?" Rebekah asked.
"In exchange for my freedom, I promised the witch, Davina, that I would share a few pages from Mother's grimoire to help her to learn to control her magic. I thought we'd begin with a little unlinking spell," Elijah explained.
"Wait, you want to use her to unlink Hayley from Sophie Deveraux?" Rebekah cleared up.
"Sophie brought us to this town under false pretenses," Elijah continued, tearing out a page and folding it in half, put it in his inside jacket pocket. "She doesn't just want us to take down Marcel and his minions, she wants to take Davina back so she yoked her own cause to ours with magic threats and half-truths, well no more. As of now, our deal with Sophie Deveraux is null and void. Niklaus, I need you to come with me; I need five minutes alone with Davina and need to make certain I am not interrupted. You two can stay here and watch Hayley."
"Elijah, wait," I called and he returned to the living room. "Why can't I come with you?"
"Niklaus is more likely to listen to me than you are," he chuckled and kissed me before leaving again.
"How did I get elected supernanny?" Rebekah asked.
"More importantly, who put him in charge?" Klaus grumbled and followed his brother.
"At least you're personable," I groaned as Rebekah rolled her eyes.
Since it looked like Klaus and Elijah were in it for the long haul this time, I took it upon myself to officially move in and unpack my clothes. Elijah had already taken over the closet with his numerous suits, but luckily that left the dresser for my jeans and tshirts and dresses that don't wrinkle. I tried to take as much time as possible, forcing Rebekah to do the babysitting for as long as I could.
Smelling blood, I rushed downstairs and saw Hayley touching her neck.
"What the fuck happened?" I asked.
"Hell if I know," Hayley looked at the blood on her fingers. "It felt like I was being stabbed."
Rebekah took a look at it and helped clean off the blood. Hayley healed quickly and told me not to bother Elijah about it, but it didn't stop me from worrying.