A/N: Hi, everyone! How are you all? Good, I hope! :) I'm probably going to be too busy to post tomorrow, since I work at a grocery store that's super busy during the holidays, so I figured I'd post today! So here is my present to you, my beloved readers: Chapter 29! Happy holidays to you all! :D
And thanks as always to everyone who reviewed last time: ixistargirl89ixi,Goodwillwin1297, Savage Kill, willdawg992003, adela, FictionalBoysAreBetter, and bulldozed88. You guys rock! Bonus thanks to bulldozed88, who follows me on tumblr and reblogs my silly Inevitable sneak peeks, even though they're always irrelevant by the time my queue gets around to posting them. XD Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the interactions between Klaus and the twins in the last couple chapters! In this chapter, we have...THE TIME YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! ELIJAH IS BACK! REALLY, REALLY BACK! Hooray!
There won't be much Zolijah (Zoe/Elijah) in this chapter, regrettably, because Elijah did just get back and there's some stuff Zoe and Ezra need to take care of right now, but still! Elijah's back, and that's a step in the right direction. XD
Chapter 29
"Feeling lost, crazy, and desperate belongs to a good life as much as optimism, certainty, and reason."
I leaned back in my armchair, watching Rebekah and Hayley chatting as we waited for Klaus and my brother to get back from whatever the hell it was that they were doing.
"I don't care if we have to get you a leash," Rebekah was saying insistently, "that was your last trip to the Bayou. What is it with you and those wolves, anyway?"
"I feel like we're connected somehow. I don't know." Hayley gave a helpless shrug. "Maybe it's just some pipe dream that I have of finding any real family out there. But sometimes, when I feel like it's me against the world, it keeps me going."
Rebekah gave the pregnant woman a sympathetic look and poured her a drink of bourbon.
Hayley just gave her a look and rested a hand pointedly on her belly.
"Oh," Rebekah said, recalling that pregnant girls can't have alcohol, "right. Well," she went on, downing Hayley's bourbon in one go before pouring one for me and then another for herself, "if you ask me, family is a pain in the behind."
Hayley just rolled her eyes, saying nothing.
"And as for being in it alone," Rebekah continued, "how dare you? I don't ruin a perfectly fabulous pair of boots traipsing through the Bayou for just anyone."
"Not to mention the part where you and Ezra got shot," I felt obligated to point out, sipping at my bourbon and trying not to make face.
"And there was that," Rebekah agreed.
Hayley finally cracked a smile. It was tiny, but it was there.
Rebekah beamed back and downed her second bourbon.
Klaus came in a few seconds after she began pouring another round and she jumped in surprise, then let out an exclamation of relief. "Nik! Finally! What-"
Her question was cut off by the very welcome sight of Elijah strolling the door behind Klaus, wearing a wide grin that made his mood at returning easily apparent. Rebekah wasted no time in running across the room and tackling him in a fierce hug. Elijah returned it without objection, then released his sister, taking a moment to smile at Hayley, who smiled shyly back before quietly excusing herself from the room.
Well, I thought, isn't that interesting. I decided to ponder it at another time, however. "Welcome back to the land of living," I said in congratulations to Elijah. "Or living undead, at least," I amended, waving to my brother distractedly as he trudged in behind Elijah, looking worn out.
Ezra came over to me immediately and wrapped me in a hug, taking a moment in inhale my scent in a way that let me know how close to the surface his wolf was. I rubbed his back in steady soothing motions before kissing him on the cheek. "Welcome home," I murmured.
"What a day," was all he said back before pulling away and collapsing on the couch beside me. "If I never have to see Big Auggie's Bayou Bar again, I will die happy."
"A bar?" I repeated, puzzled. "Why were you at a bar?"
Ezra slanted a less-than-pleased look towards Klaus. "Ask our benevolent dictator," he grumbled.
I turned to face Klaus but didn't have a chance to ask anything because Elijah was coming over and my wolf-side was getting skittish underneath my skin.
"Zoe, wasn't it?" Elijah regarded with me a mixture of curiosity and gratitude. "I wasn't expecting to see you again, and certainly not under these circumstances, but thank you for all your help."
"I, uh..." I struggled to think of something to say. "You don't need to thank me," I said at last, trying not to look right at him because he was a little too handsome and it was distracting in the extreme. "I mean, Rebekah just asked me to help, and I said okay. It's no big deal."
"It is to me," he said simply, and then he was gone, headed in the direction Hayley had gone in. I wondered again what was there between the two of them. I hadn't been here from day one, but all everyone seemed to say was how devoted Elijah was to protecting Hayley and her baby. And yet Hayley was Klaus's ex-girfriend, and carrying Klaus's hybrid child. So where exactly did Elijah fit in, exactly? Was he simply dedicated to providing for his younger's brother's paramour and child? Or was it more...personal, for him?
In any case, once he finished saying whatever it was he'd needed to say to Hayley, Elijah gathered us all together in the study to re-hash everything everyone had learned in the past few hours.
"Everything that brought us here to New Orleans was a lie," Elijah said. "This story that Sophie Deveraux fabricated, this struggle for control of the French Quarter, this war between vampires and witches, wasn't over territory at all, this was over Davina."
"The witch girl?" I asked, surprised. "Is she really that powerful?"
"She is," Elijah said with a nod. "But it isn't simply about power." He went on to explain the Harvest and what he knew of the Reaping that followed, and told us about the sacrifices the New Orleans conven had made, the murders of the three young witches. The Klaus pitched in with what he'd learned about how the witches had driven Camille's brother Sean insane in order to distract Father Kieran from interfering in the Harvest, and I couldn't help but notice the fury in his every word. Then Elijah took over again, and explained how one of the girls sacrificed had been Sophie's niece, Monique.
"Eight months ago, Sophie Deveraux and her sister Jane-Anne lost everything," he told them. "Now, four months after that, a young pregnant girl wanders into their restaurant. Suddenly, all hope is renewed. Jane-Anne actually sacrificed her life so that her sister can 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'd come 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."
"Not necessarily," Ezra countered. "She's not the the only one willing to fight to the death, and I can't help but notice that five out of the six people in this room can't be killed. That gives us a rather significant advantage, don't you think?"
"But it's Hayley who matters most to us," Elijah argued. "And it is her and her unborn child they will target to get to us."
"Not to mention the fact that Hayley and Sophie are still linked," I added, frowning. "A link like that can cause all sorts of trouble for us, since it goes both ways."
"We'll have to come up with a way to negate that bond as soon as possible," Elijah agreed. "For now, just be on the lookout for anything unusual."
Ezra snorted. "We're in the Big Easy, in the middle of a three-way supernatural war over a witch girl who wants nothing to do with any of it. 'Unusual' seems like a relative term."
Klaus rolled his eyes. "Must you debate everything?"
"Yes," Ezra replied easily, "I really must."
I smacked my brother on the arm before standing up and stretching. "Okay, well, we'll all keep our eyes open while we come up with our next move. Now, if no one minds, I need to go run a few errands. I'll be back in a little while."
"Errands?" Rebekah echoed, looking confused. "What errands could you possibly have, it's the middle of the night!"
"Just stuff," I said vaguely.
"Stuff to do with finding your kidnapper?" Klaus asked, arching an eyebrow at me.
I glared at him. "If you didn't want me to go looking for him," I snapped, "you shouldn't have made me those sketches."
Klaus shrugged. "I never said I didn't want you searching for him. But don't you think we have more pressing matters to attend to?"
"Like what?" I said, crossing my arms. "Sitting around and waiting for Marcel or the coven to make their next move? Face it," I insisted, "there's nothing we can do right now until we know more. I might as well put the time to good use and track down the asshole who tried to kidnap me."
"Technically," Rebekah pointed out, "he did kidnap you."
"And I escaped," I snapped.
She shrugged. "Still, his original attempt at abduction was successful. What makes you think round two will go any better for you?"
"Because I'll be on my guard now," I replied. "Besides, I'm also extremely ticked off over it, which gives me an edge."
"Wait a moment," Elijah interjected. "You were kidnapped? When was this?"
"The other night," I said, trying to play it off dismissively. "Whenever that street festival was, with the music. I was tailing Davina and suddenly some guy walloped me over the head and stuffed me into the back of a van."
"While you were following Davina?" He frowned worriedly. "It could be connected to the witches somehow. You should proceed with caution."
I rolled my eyes. "My God, people, relax. I'm not a toddler. I can look after myself." I turned to Ezra, who had spent some time with me going over the sketches Klaus had done; we'd eventually narrowed it down to one visage in particular. "Do you want to come?"
"I am not letting you track down your kidnapper by yourself," was his immediate response, and he stood up. "And this guy more than likely has nothing to do with the witches," he added almost as an afterthought.
"True enough," I agreed. "Could've been a whackjob our uncle hired." I shrugged. "In either case, we'll find out what he knows and then get rid of him. It's all pretty straightforward."
"Until someone clubs you over the head again, anyway," Klaus remarked with a smirk.
I resisted the urge to throw something heavy at him and headed for the front door, marveling at how completely annoying he could be. It was the little brother in him, I figured; he was so used to aggravating his siblings that it was second nature to him now.
"We'll be back in a few hours," I called over my shoulder and then Ezra and I were stepping outside and heading for the rental car Rebekah had picked up for us. It was a dark blue Chevy Cruze that looked completely unassuming and wouldn't draw much attention from anyone at all, which was exactly what we wanted.
I slid into the driver's seat and pulled the folded up sketch out of my pocket. I peered at it intently for a moment, then passed it my brother.
"I've already seen it a hundred times," was his instant response, but he took it and looked it over again anyway before handing it back.
"Any ideas for where to look first?" I questioned, folding the paper back up and putting it in my pocket again before starting up the car and pulling out of the plantation house driveway.
"Well," Ezra said after a moment of silent driving, "do you know how long he took driving after he snatched you? We could use that to get an idea for how far the warehouse was from the street fair."
I frowned, because it was true enough that I hadn't been able to remember where exactly the warehouse had been. I'd been walking for so long after escaping that I'd completely lost track of time and distance. "I'm not sure," I said uncertainly. "I think I was unconscious for part of it." Another idea occurred to me. "Where did you guys pick me up?"
Ezra chewed on his lower lip. "Somewhere on Almonaster, I think? I was still pretty out of it myself," he added apologetically. "I didn't snap out of it until Rebekah almost ran you over and said 'oh, hey, isn't that your sister in the middle of road?'."
I gave a snort of laughter. I couldn't help it. The mental picture his words conjured up was too amusing. "Wish I'd been there."
He rolled his eyes. "Technically, you were."
I just shook my head and focused my attention on the traffic. It was the middle of the night so it wasn't too bad in some places, but certain parts of the city were closed to cars after dark so I had to take a few detours before finally making it to the general area where they'd found me. Since Almonaster was a ridiculously long avenue that stretched across the city, pinpointing a specific spot could be tricky.
"Over there," Ezra said at last as we passed a spot that looked familiar. "I remember that signpost. We passed it just after we found you."
I pulled a quick u-turn and pulled over onto a nearby sidestreet and parked the car, making sure to set the alarm in case any enterprising young car thieves thought a blue Cruze was good pickings. Ezra double-checked to make sure he had his daggers in easy reach under his jacket before stepping out and looking around.
"The scent trail's going to be pretty faint." he remarked worriedly as we walked back to the main street. "A lot of people have come by since then."
"But all in cars," I pointed out. "Most people aren't on foot in this part of town. So hopefully my scent is still lingering around enough for us to track it back to the warehouse." Werewolves, while not exactly bloodhounds, still have very highly developed olfactory senses. We were planning to locate my scent from when I'd been wandering around and follow it back to where I'd been coming from, the warehouse.
I wasn't sure what exactly we'd find once we located the warehouse, but I couldn't deny that there were quite possibly any manner of clues just sitting around. I was beginning to suspect that the oil on the gag rag had been deliberate, in an attempt to mask my sense of smell, which meant that my kidnapper's own scent was distinctive enough for him to go to the trouble of masking it. Even knowing I was a wolf it was a significant measure to take; most people's scents are unique, but in small, subtle ways. Identifying one out of the almost four hundred thousand people in New Orleans would have been virtually impossible. Which led me to conclude that his scent was so unique that I couldn't possibly mistake it for anyone else. So if I could just find something in the warehouse with his scent on it...well, it would make finding him that much easier.
In any case, we managed to locate my own scent easily enough. Well, Ezra did, at least. Werewolves have trouble identifying their own scents, and I was no particular exception. I knew we were in the right spot, but that was likely because it looked familiar, whereas Ezra took a few careful measured sniffs then nodded. "It was here," he said, then started off down the road.
The problem with our plan, I mused as we trekked down the road, was that it involved hoofing it all the way across town until we found the warehouse. The downside of tracking by scent was that it's not really something you can do while in a car. It's a boots-on-the-ground sort of thing, I suppose. We spent almost two hours following my trail back from where Ezra had picked it up. Eventually, what felt like years later, we reached an intersection that looked more familiar than the rest.
"Down this way," I said, turning onto a smaller deserted street that according to the street sign was called Chickasaw. "It's over here."
We went a couple more blocks, then paused behind an anachronistic telephone booth.
"There," I said, pointing across the street to an ordinary-looking warehouse. "It's that one, I'm sure of it."
Ezra squinted at it. "I can't make out the sign," he said at last, shaking his head. "Paint's too old and faded."
I shrugged. "I doubt it still belongs to the original owner, anyway. And even if it does I wouldn't be surprised if the dude who grabbed me just broke in and made himself at home. He seemed like the type."
Ezra considered that, then nodded. "What do you want to do?" he asked after a moment of contemplative silence as we watched the warehouse.
"Break in and kill him?" I offered hopefully.
"Thought we were supposed to find out who sent him," Ezra remarked dryly.
"Oh, sure, we can ask him," I replied easily. "So long as I can kill him after, I don't care what we do beforehand."
Ezra snorted. "You're spending too much time with Klaus," he muttered, before unsheathing a dagger and moving to cross the street. "Alright, let's do this."
A/N: Okay, so it ended up being more of a Storme twins chapter than a Zolijah chapter even though Elijah finally returned to the story. Sorry! The plot just drags me along sometimes, I can't help it. XD You're all eager to find out who kidnapped Zoe, though, right? Well, you'll get to find out in the next chapter! :D Although, at this point it's not so much of a question of 'who was it' because they're an original character not from the show, but more of a 'who sent them'. Still! It'll be fun. :)
Anyway, thanks for reading! Drop me a review if you've got a second; feedback makes me deliriously happy. ;D Also, happy holidays to everyone! I love you guys! :)
Also, before I go, if any of you are interested in reading an Originals AU oneshot involving a Lucien/Cami pairing, I've written one! No, really, I did! It was my holiday present to xKittyPetrovax3, and I somehow pulled it off despite being an incredibly intense Klamille shipper. XD Anyway, if you guys are interested in a little bit of holiday romance AU-ness, it's called Under the Mistletoe, and you can find it on my profile page. XD
Okay, I really am going now. Thanks, guys! See you next time! :)
