Well this was certainly an unwelcomed surprise.
Not that Leah had time to really take it in; everyone had started yelling at everyone else and the square was echoing with hostile shouts and hissed accusations.
Shut up, she wanted to yell.
Shut up.
Shut up.
Shut up!
It was Leah's life on the line, but as usual, everyone else had something to say about it.
Well, everyone except Klaus that is; he was still enjoying Davina's time-out in silence in the corner.
Elijah was able to silence the square only because he yelled the loudest; he certainly sounded the angriest for that matter.
"Davina, you will account for this witch Antonia, is what she says true—is it possible?"
Davina stopped yelling at Antonia mid-sentence to answer Elijah. Now that her ritual had been hijacked, she found herself needing Elijah on her side if she was ever going to get it back on track in time; the easiest way to do this was to use his affection for Leah, which wasn't at all hard, given the fact that if Antonia succeeded, Leah would be dead.
"Yes, it's possible, if Leah—"
"What," his voice rolled sternly, "does Leah have to do with this?"
Davina was in dangerous water. She needed to tell Elijah the truth; as she was learning of late, secrets and lies were a poor way to build trust.
The problem was, the truth would definitely only antagonize him further.
But she had to give it a try.
"The residual Harvest magic is," Davina began slowly, "it's in Leah. Gen and I—we found a way to take it from her and put it in her daughter. A hiding place, so to speak, until we might need it later. Without the magic in her, Gen was already dying when you got to her. But that was part of the plan too, we found a way to put the magic in Leah and then I would use it to bring her and Josh and Cami back, that was the original plan."
"Why am I not surprised," Hayley muttered loudly. "I'm actually starting to feel sorry for you, Leah, these witches sure like to fuck people over…even their own people it appears."
"Mom, stop, you're not helping," Hope whined, pulling her hand from her mother's at last. She turned to Leah with a sympathetic gesture.
"Leah, did you know this? Did you know you had Harvest magic in you?"
Leah barely had the energy for a sarcastic response; too exhausted to really care anymore, her answer came out flat and tired.
"Nope, I didn't know. Though I don't think anything can even surprise me anyone: if I'm actually a unicorn, spare me and just tell me that now too, please."
"You couldn't know, no one could-that's why I bound your powers, Leah, as soon as you arrived on our steps, or any powers you would have had. It doesn't matter now though—once you triggered your werewolf gene, you can no longer access the Harvest magic, even if you wanted to—you can't be both a witch and a werewolf at the same time."
Hope started to protest but then shut her mouth; it wouldn't have helped anyway.
Davina was still fuming at Antonia, who was now behind the altar redrawing the sacred designs on the stone table with a smug smile. She tried to smooth this over with Leah.
"Leah, it doesn't make me happy to have to tell you all of this, especially since there's no point in me telling you this anymore: Like I said, to all of you, I don't want to harm anyone—so I found another plan, I found a way around having to hurt you…"
"Hurt me? Davina, I'm an adult, you can use the big words: why did Antonia say I had to die?"
"I said it doesn't matter anymore, I found a way around it—"
Elijah's voice was so menacing it echoed like distant thunder.
"Tell her everything, Davina. She deserves to know everything."
While Davina was paralyzed under Elijah's gaze, Antonia took the opportunity to begin setting up for her new ritual. Having reworked the salt, she now polished Davina's blood off the large knife she had left on the altar.
Davina felt like she was on the witness stand; Elijah was a particularly aggressive advocate, not to say that was at all surprising: he was advocating for Leah after all.
"Tell her everything, Davina."
Objection! Bullying the witness.
Davina just wasn't sure if she was a witness for the defense or the prosecution.
Either way, she wasn't going to lie, not anymore at least.
"The original plan required that we…sacrifice you in order to access the leftover Harvest magic and be able to use it tonight, to bring back your mother. I'd use the residual magic to bring Gen back, then Gen would bring everyone back-Josh, Cami, and you."
Okay, maybe there was one thing that could still surprise her.
"Back from the dead?" Leah croaked. "That was an actual plan? Like, you sat down and planned this out and everyone at the table still thought it was a good idea?"
"But you would come back, Leah, we planned that too—"
"You and my mom wanted to kill me? Just so that you could bring back your friends, Davina?"
"And you mother."
"I don't want my mother back. I want my life back."
Davina knew Leah so well; she knew she was on the verge of tears because all the edge had left her voice.
In response, Davina lowered her own voice to a maternal hum.
"It took me twenty years, but I found a way to perform the ritual without having to hurt you, Leah, please believe me. That's what you're standing on, the triangle ritual—it's a substitution. If we use the power of the triangle, and the full moon, and the three supernatural species, and the three maternal bonds, then we don't need the Harvest magic. Even Antonia knows this, that's why she volunteered to help tonight—or so I thought."
"Or so you thought indeed," Antonia chimed, setting the polished knife back on the table and placing Davina's tagged grimoire up next to it. "And I'm all for your no-kill, organic ritual Davina, but the truth is, if you want results, accept no substitutions."
Davina looked up at the moon; it had already begun to slip from its zenith. If she could keep Antonia talking, if she could keep Leah and Elijah taking, then maybe she could stall them long enough that the moon would pass its apex and render Antonia's disastrous plan null and void.
It would also mean losing the one chance she had to bring back Josh and Cami.
It was a hard but easy choice; she kept stalling for time.
"Leah, let's talk about this, how are you feeling right now? Confused? Betrayed?"
Aggravated by her sudden nonchalance, Elijah decided it was past time to end this charade.
"Davina, release us from this triangle."
"I can't…it's not my spell, it's Antonia's spell. So we might as well talk, because there's nothing any of us can do now…so Leah, I can understand if you are feeling hurt right now…"
"Don't try that mentoring shit on me, that train has left the station. But if you want to know, yeah, I am feeling a little hurt right now, because the woman who basically raised me had plans to stab me in the back, literally, so yeah, Davina, to say my feelings are hurt is the fucking understatement of the century."
It was hard to tell who was more furious: Leah, or Elijah.
"Are you telling me, Davina, that all those years she was at St. Ann's, you were raising a lamb for the slaughter? How is this possible? You yourself told me, if I ended the bloodlines the Harvest magic was finished, done, over... it could never be reaped."
"Not never…it would just delay it, so to speak, so yes, Elijah… I lied," Davina shrugged. "I lied to you and it was that easy and I'm not sorry I did. Gen wasn't a monster; she wasn't like Monique and the others. The ancestors forced her to take Hope; Esther forced her to do what she did. But you guys were just so wrapped up in the moment that you wouldn't listen to reason. It's always 'my way or the highway' with you people, the only morality you follow is your own."
"Are you telling me, you don't get what you want and so you throw a tantrum, is that what this is, Davina?" Hayley growled. "Like Klaus says, some people just don't have the sense to stay dead."
"Haven't you learned, Hayley, you're not the only person on this earth with a daughter. Everyone has a right to protect their child."
Hayley just shrugged, taking Hope by the hand again.
"And what, you think Esther's gonna 'protect' you lot once you've brought her back?"
Antonia cut in, still working on resetting the ritual.
"Esther is the only one strong enough to rid this city of you Mikaelsons—screw treaties and negotiations and begging for scraps of our dignity back. This is our town; this has always been the witches' town. And for that reason, I have stopped Davina's attempt to not hurt anyone, and I'm going to start the spell again, while the moon is still up, and this time, let's do it right, shall we?"
"I can't let you do this," Davina interjected. "If you want the Mikaelsons out of this city, then do it the right way, go to the Faction meetings and work – together - to make this a better place—for everyone. If you bring back Esther, she will kill them all."
"And...?"
"If you kill them, you kill every vampire, Antonia. Marcel—"
"Really, Davina? This is about Marcel? See this is why the witches would never follow you; you've entangled your life far too much with the vampires. You may have held the pieces in this game, but the vision was ours, Davina, and the witches of the Quarter play a long game indeed. Twenty years we have been waiting for this night, to finally complete the Reaping. You are still such a child, Davina, and you still think the small dreams of children. Use the magic of the Harvest to bring back your friends? What are friends compared to the needs of your family, Davina?"
Antonia slowly moved from behind the altar, dragging her hands along its smooth surface until her palm came in contact with the hilt of the knife.
She advanced upon Davina, one step at a time.
"'The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.' Do you know what that means, Davina? It means that although we are not sisters, you and I, we are sisters in magic. The witches are your family and you turned your back on them, to side with the Mikaelsons, to abandon us to suffer the sanctions of the treaty, to renounce magic for some childish wish to be a normal girl. But you're not normal, Davina, and you never will be."
Davina turned to retreat but Pablo grabbed her, pinning her arms behind her back.
"Antonia—"
Antonia raised the knife.
"Shh, don't worry, Davina. I will take this burden away from you. I will complete the Reaping, at long last, as it should have been done 21 years ago. You want to be with your friends, Gen, and Cami—and Josh? Okay, that's fine, then go be with them."
She plunged the knife into Davina's middle, pulling up violently before letting go of the hilt.
Leah screamed; Hope hid her face in her mother's neck; Elijah turned away.
Davina crumpled to the ground.
In a heartbeat, Antonia yanked the knife from Davina's body and grabbed Leah by the back of her jacket, pulling her away from and out of the bond of the triangle's magic.
"Time to finish this once and for all, Leah. You know how this works. Do you believe in the Harvest?"
"Like hell I do! Let me go!"
Leah struggled and squirmed as Antonia dragged her toward the altar.
But in her haste to get to Leah, Antonia had forgotten one very important thing.
With Davina dead, the spell on the hybrid was lifted.
In two heartbeats, he had snatched Pablo from the sidelines, dragging him out into the open.
The others could not move, still glued to their spots, entangled in the magic of the triangle. They could only watch as speechless spectators as Klaus and Antonia squared off.
Klaus had the Pablo by the throat; his eyes glowed hybrid gold.
"Let him go."
"You first, sweetheart."
Hope looked at her mother desperately; Hayley hugged her close, trying to shield her from what was certainly not going to be a pretty ending.
Elijah was in agony; he did not know whom he was more concerned would ruin this delicate situation: Antonia…or his brother.
"Niklaus, listen to her, please."
"Negotiate with terrorists, brother? I think not."
All the paranoia, worry and wrath of the last month was crashing down upon Klaus. Pablo would die, that was a sure fact, he and every one of his Guerrera brothers.
But he would make Antonia suffer first.
Klaus tightened his grip and the werewolf howled in pain. He wasn't one to play games, any other situation and he wouldn't hesitate to strike the boy down, but this was different; the sound of his brother's wavering voice, his brother's desperate pleas, were causing slow hesitancy to creep into his hands.
This was an awfully unfortunate situation.
Antonia had Leah by the hair.
"Go on, kill her now, resurrect my mother, you will do so without the aid of your fiancé."
"Let him go, Klaus, let him go or I will kill her."
"It's your choice, little witch," he spat. "But tick tock, tempus fugit."
Klaus continued to goad her on.
"In mere minutes, the moon will be past its apex and you will have lost your chance to bring back our mother. And then I will kill Pablo here and you will have lost everything."
Antonia dragged Leah further back, keeping the knife aloft in her hand.
"How about this, Klaus. Let him go and I, on behalf of the witches of this city, will let you cut a deal, a plea bargain so to speak. Give Pablo to me, and you and your family can leave our town in peace. Just walk on out, and never come back."
"Not bloody likely."
"Deal's on the table; clock's ticking."
Antonia held up the knife; Leah was clutching at her head, straining to find her footing.
People respond best to displays of violence, Klaus had always believed.
And he stood by it even now.
"You cannot manipulate me, witch. This is our city, this is my city."
As the moon slipped away, Klaus dug his fangs into Pablo and ripped out his throat.
There was a lot of screaming, from Hope and from Hayley and from Elijah, it was hard to tell their voices apart.
But one of the voices was definitely Leah's as Antonia bought the knife down and across her throat.
Elijah knew that she was dead as he felt himself released from the triangle. Antonia didn't even have time to drop the knife before her heart rolled several feet away from her body. Driven by the compulsion of the sire bond, Hayley had Leah in her arms before she could hit the ground.
Klaus was wiping the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. He didn't really get what Elijah was going on about now in his ear.
"This is your fault, Niklaus—"
He'd heard that a million times before.
"How could you-?"
Eh.
"—and this is the result of you selfish scheming."
That's not new either.
Klaus looked down at Hayley holding Leah. Hope might have been crying; she was looking at him with the meanest scowl—it really confused him.
He turned back to his brother, gesturing to Antonia's heartless body.
"It's over, Elijah, good work there with that one-the threat that is our mother is now all but an irritating memory."
In three heartbeats, Elijah shoved Klaus into the side of a mausoleum; the cement cracked and fell away in chunks.
"All you had to do was stall her, Niklaus, delay her long enough for the ritual to be rendered ineffective, that's all you had to do to save her, to save Leah! Could you not, for once, for me... set aside your pointless revenge scheme and for once in your life, think through something before you acted on your…bestial impulses? If not for me, not even for Hope?"
Hope was bent low beside her mother, who was still holding Leah; she was desperately trying to tell Hayley something, pulling up her sleeve to show her mom.
Elijah still had Klaus roughly by the shirt.
"Hope was never in danger," Elijah spat out. "This wasn't about her, this was about Leah."
"Elijah, we've been down this road before, trust me, you'll get over it...her... whatever. Let's not lose sight of the bigger picture—we've won."
"No one wins with you, Niklaus, and this time—this time— I will not forget what you have done and I will run you out of this town myself if I must and that is not a threat, that is a promise, brother."
A dark smile was growing across Klaus' face; he slipped his free hand into his jacket pocket.
"Oh, I don't doubt you for one second, brother."
With an upward thrust, Klaus buried the silver dagger into Elijah's chest.
AN: Heyyyyyy, so….