Chapter 36

Not my time of dying

Something was wrong with Liliya. Even though Kol didn't really have the echoes of her feelings anymore, now he certainly felt something. She was about to die. Kol didn't think anything; he simply zoomed towards her chamber, passing Joanne and few other running women on the hallway. Kol yanked the door open and froze; Nik was holding her in his arms, feeding her blood from his wrist. No! Before Kol even realized what he was doing, he had zoomed to the bed and yanked the girl from Nik's arms.

"What the hell are you doing?" Nik shouted, but Kol wasn't listening, he had to somehow undo what his brother had done. She was his, no one else's, his! The girl was barely conscious, but her eyes were open. There was blood all over her face and she was wheezing, her eyes widened in fear when she saw his vampire face. Nik was shouting something, but Kol had already bit his wrist and placed it onto her mouth. He had no idea what he was doing, the girl tried to push his wrist away.

"Kol!" Nik shouted furiously and tried to grab the girl. She was coughing when he removed his wrist and stared at her, still unable to understand what had just happened. Joanne and the other witches came in running, Joanne had the elixir. Nik seemed beyond angry when he carefully picked Liliya up from Kol's arms, Kol didn't try to stop him.

"We will certainly discuss about this later," Nik hissed and turned around, carrying Liliya to the bed. She looked confused to say the least, Nik sat down on the bed, placing her on his lap.

"It's alright," he muttered, stroking her hair. "Give me the elixir; I do not think the blood will help her for long."

"We did not have time to complete the testing," Joanne said calmly. "The results were good so far, but…"

"Is there a risk that the elixir can kill her?" Nik interrupted her tensely.

"No, but we have not managed to study the side effects, if there are any."

Nik pressed his lips together, looking at the girl who seemed exhausted.

"Give it to me."

Kol didn't say anything, he didn't even move when Joanne handed Nik the bottle. The thought of Nik giving the girl his blood was still making him angry, although he couldn't understand why. He didn't like this at all.

"I need you to drink this, sweetheart," Nik said gently and placed the bottle on Liliya's lips. "It will make you feel better."

She looked at him tiredly and shook her head.

"Liliya," Nik said more firmly. "You will drink this. Otherwise you will wake up as a vampire."

That did the trick, despite of her exhaustion, she looked frightened and desperate. Nik removed the bottle in order to allow her to speak.

"What…is…this?" she asked.

"It is a medicine," Nik replied. "It will cure you."

She looked confused.

"Will…it…hurt?"

Nik looked up, Joanne shook her head.

"No, it will not hurt. Now drink."

She didn't resist when he placed the bottle on her lips and helped her to take small sips until the bottle was empty.

"Good girl," Nik said stroking her hair. She sighed and closed her eyes, falling asleep almost immediately.

"She must rest now," Joanne said. "The elixir will fix the damage in her body, but I do not know how long it will take before she will fully recover, our two test subjects are still very weak."

"As long as she stays alive," Nik huffed. "Keep observing those test subjects."

Kol stayed in the room when the witches walked out, Nik placed Liliya carefully on the bed and tucked her in before turning to his brother.

"What the hell was that?" Nik asked angrily.

That was a good question. Kol shrugged, trying to look careless.

"It seemed that you needed a hand, the girl was dying."

Nik frowned.

"Yes and as you could see I was helping her, I did not need any help from you."

"Fine," Kol huffed. "There goes my good deed of the day."

Nik crossed his arms, looking at his brother suspiciously.

"You know what, brother, I think you are lying."

Kol rolled his eyes.

"Believe what ever you want, I do not care."

Nik observed Kol for a moment, then his eyes narrowed.

"I thought I have made it clear that she belongs to me, if you dare to even think about using her as your toy…"

"No!" Kol snapped. "It is so nice that all my siblings think so highly of me…"

"What?"

"I might be many things, but I do not touch children," Kol snapped and marched out. Damn it… That had certainly been unpleasant. He had no idea what to do now.

1 day later

Elijah walked determinedly towards Liliya's chamber, Bridgette was next to him, but she hadn't said a word to him or even looked at him, not after he had compelled her. Although she had agreed to the deal he had offered her, it was more than a fair deal considering the circumstances, she probably still hated him. That didn't really matter to him, at least so he kept telling himself. She had lied to him and tried to use him, why should he care about her feelings.

The only reason why he hadn't simply handed her to Niklaus was that in some way he understood what she had tried to do and a part of him respected her courage and her efforts to protect Liliya. However none of that changed the fact that betrayal was something he didn't take lightly. Silently he opened the door to Liliya's chamber and allowed Bridgette to enter the room first. The whole chamber had been cleaned and the sheets, blankets and pillows had been burned while Liliya was downstairs being examined by the witches. She had slept ever since drinking the elixir, but it seemed that she was getting better. Bridgette walked slowly next to Liliya's bed, looking for something.

"Her doll…" she muttered. "Did you have to burn that as well?"

"Yes," Elijah replied. "Everything she had touched. Fortunately we have managed to stop the disease from spreading. Now let's get to the point shall we."

Bridgette clenched her fists and started to gather all kind of objects around the room. She took something under Liliya's mattress, from the chest, from a hidden hole on the wall, from a drawer of a dresser, from a vase next to the fireplace and so on. Elijah waited until she had gathered them all on the dresser and observed each object. Most of them were small bags, those he certainly recognized.

"Silence spell?"

She nodded.

"Yes."

"Hmm, what else can you do?"

"Not much," she replied tensely. "I am not very good of a witch."

"Was your mother a witch?"

Bridgette seemed even tenser; she really didn't like to talk about her mother. Well, no wonder.

"No, I would guess that my father was," she muttered. "Whoever he was."

Elijah concentrated on the objects again and picked up a stone necklace with some symbols.

"What is this?"

"An agate amulet. Liliya had nightmares, this should help."

Elijah looked up.

"Did it help?"

"Not really."

"And this?" Elijah asked picking up a little bigger bag.

"Sleeping powder," Bridgette replied tensely.

"Ah. Have you used it?"

"Not on myself if that is what you mean."

Elijah couldn't help but to smile, this little maid was quite something. Carelessly he looked at the small bottles of vervain.

"Is this all the vervain you have here?" he asked.

"Yes."

Elijah was just about to move on to the next object when he thought of something.

"Do you have more of it somewhere in this castle or anywhere near it?"

Bridgette pressed her lips together, but she had to reply.

"Yes."

Elijah made a mental note to himself to choose his words more carefully; obviously there was a loophole in his compulsion. She couldn't lie to him, but she didn't have to tell him what he didn't specifically ask. Perhaps he should fix that later.

"Please…" she said quietly. "If you take the vervain, Liliya will have no way to defend herself, anyone can tamper with her mind."

"And what do you think my brother would do if he would find out about the vervain?"

"That is Liliya's choice to make," Bridgette said firmly. "How would you like your free will being taken from you?"

Her tone was piercing; obviously she wasn't just talking about Liliya. Elijah raised his eyebrows.

"If you feel that our agreement is unfair, there are other options…"

"No, that is not what I meant," she said quickly. "I am at your service…master."

Her tone was still far from friendly, but obviously she tried very hard to control herself. He didn't doubt that she would stab him in the back immediately if she would have a chance, but he wasn't planning to give her that chance. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, he was sure that she would be useful. Besides, she was important to Liliya, the poor girl had already lost too much.

"Good. We will go and get the rest of that vervain after we are finished here and then the tailor will take your measurements."

"Why?" she asked cautiously.

He smiled.

"I cannot let my new mistress to walk around in rags, can I?"

She smiled too, but her smile certainly wasn't warm.

"My lord is too kind."