Chapter 58

No one could stop Damon running from the car into the boarding house in his desperate mission to see whether his daughter was alive, despite the fact that he could barely stand unaided. It would have been comical watching him stagger through the front door if not for the circumstance.

"Ottilie!" he shouted into the dimly lit room, unable to go any further as he sunk to his knees in exhaustion.

"Dad?"

His head shot up as he heard the little cry from another room, and the sound of footsteps getting increasingly loud as she ran to him, launching herself into his arms where he'd collapsed on the floor. He took her into his arms, holding her tightly to him, breathing in the smell of her hair, relishing the sound of her heartbeat.

"You died" he sobbed quietly, his voice muffled as he cried into her shoulder, holding her like she was about to ripped from him. "You all died, -Stefan and Lexi too - I felt you go,"

"I'm okay, I'm okay," she soothed, repeating it like a mantra as she softly stroked his head, just as he used to in order to comfort her.

"You died, every time, and I tried to save you but you kept slipping away in my arms,"

The other supernaturals who had gathered in the room, quietly left, unable or unwilling to witness the heart-breaking scene before them. It felt to them like they were imposing on something sacred, something pure, and that they shouldn't be there.

"It's okay, Daddy," whispered Ottilie, "I'm here, Stefan and Lexi are here, and we are all okay. Whatever you saw, it wasn't the truth – Kai was trying to hurt you. We are all fine."

"Don't ever leave me, sweetheart," replied Damon, kissing her forehead gently before wiping his eyes, exhaustion and heartbreak evident on his pale face.

"I promise," she said, holding his hands tightly in her own small ones.

They heard someone clearing their throat and turned from where they still sat on the floor to see Stefan and Lexi, each holding a few blood bags.

"Sorry to interrupt, but you need to replenish all the blood that you lost," said Stefan, throwing a bag to Damon who only just caught it, his reflexes diminished by being bled.

Ottilie looked at him in horror, "you're hurt?" she gasped, looking him over for injuries but finding none.

"Kai almost bled him dry," explained Lexi, seeing the girl's confused look. "He's had some blood to heal wounds but now he just needs more to regain his strength."

Damon smiled reassuringly at his little girl. "It'll take more than a few cuts to kill off your old man," he teased, ruffling his hair before biting sipping the bag, sighing in relief as he felt his strength begin to return to him, albeit slowly.

"So I guess Kai isn't dead," said Caroline, suddenly appearing at the door, having been filled in by the Mikaelsons who by now, Damon assumed, would be having a good look through his bourbon collection.

"Nope," replied Damon, popping the 'p' as he finished off his third bag since arriving back at the boarding house. "Nope, lovely Kai is very, very much alive."

"What do we do?" cried Caroline, throwing her hands up in the air in exasperation before flopping onto the sofa.

"I guess next time I kill him, I've just got to make double sure he's dead…" mocked Damon, his sarcasm returning with his strength.

"Not helpful, Damon…" sighed Stefan, rolling his eyes at this brother, although he was secretly pleased that he seemed to be back to his normal ways again.

"Well, Kai knows your alive, Damon, which means that he must know that the rest of us are alive despite being bitten by Marcel. Surely that means that Marcel now knows that Otti can heal his bite?" said Lexi, turning her head to one side as she tried to figure it all out.

Stefan nodded, "yup, although I don't know yet if that's a good or bad thing"

"It means that Marcel is going to have to try another method of getting to Ottilie," said Elijah, suddenly walking into the room, making the others turn to look at him. "He knows that she doesn't need him for a cure, so he's going to have to come up with another way of luring her to him, or kidnapping her."

"None of us are safe," added Klaus, "but especially Ottilie."

Everyone looked over to the little girl as she sighed heavily, the weight of the world seemingly on her shoulders. "Don't you think it would be best if I just go and see Marcel and get this over with?"

Damon jerked in shock, as if he'd just been slapped. "Um, no, no, and how about, no?!" He exclaimed, looking around for support from his friends, his displeasure evident on his face as he looked at his daughter. "How could you even think such a thing?!" he demanded, noticing that her own face was starting to show some annoyance at his reaction.

"Well because Marcel wanting me is putting all of you in danger!" retorted Ottilie, gesturing around the room. "Why should I put you in harms way?"

Damon was lost for words, his mouth opening and closing gormlessly as he searched for response with little success. Stefan took over, trying to reason with his niece.

"It's not right that you should be in danger either, Otti," he tried, "and if we can protect you, then we will."

"But you can't," said Ottilie, bluntly, wincing as she saw the hurt flash over his eyes. "I'm sorry, Stefan, but you can't – every time you try, you end up almost dying, and I couldn't live with myself if you did because of me."

Nobody seemed to have a response to that, and an awkward silence fell over the room as they all waited for someone to break it.

"Well it seems that we have met a stalemate," said Klaus, clearing his throat and smirking slightly. "Where do we go from here?"

"I believe that we continue on the same route as before," suggested Elijah. "Those who are happy to protect Miss Ottilie remain doing so, and Miss Otti must continue with her training to arm herself as best she can."

Ottilie sighed in defeat, knowing that nothing she could say would make them change their minds about trying to protect her, and even if she were to try and sneak out to go to Marcel herself, Damon and Stefan were sure to be on her case for the foreseeable future, making sure that she was always where she was meant to be. All she could do was keep training her magic so that when she finally got the chance, she'd be able to defeat Marcel and Kai once and for all.

The weeks turned into months and nobody heard or saw anything that might suggest that Marcel and Kai were looking for Ottilie. Despite this, everyone remained on the highest alert, waiting for the attack that never seemed to come.

It was a sunny day when Ottilie accompanied Damon and Alaric into the woods for yet another training session, already squinting in the hot sun. She huffed grumpily, grumbling to herself that Damon, being a supernatural being, wouldn't be aware of the heat, and human Alaric simply wouldn't care. The walk alone was tiring and she was irritable as they arrived in the place that Alaric had pinpointed for their session.

"Your magic might not always be enough," Alaric was explaining, his voice filtering through one of her ears and out of the other. "It's important that you can hold your own physically too – we don't know what Marcel is going to throw at you so you need to be prepared for whatever comes your way, defending or attacking."

They had stopped and put their bags down, and Ottilie took a long drink from her water bottle, pleased that at the very least, she was dressed for the weather, in her leggings and t shirt. Getting into a ready stance, she faced Ric, waiting for the physical onslaught that she knew was to come, although she was certain that he would never purposefully put her in serious danger.

They began, Ric attacking and Ottilie defending, their steps like that of an intricate dance, Ottilie trying her hardest to remember everything Ric and Damon had taught her so far. Damon refused to spar with her, adamant that he would demonstrate only with Ric in case he couldn't keep his strength in check and might hurt her properly, despite Ottilie arguing that she might perform better under that pressure, and that surely that would be a better example of what it might be like.

"Good," said Alaric, stepping back and nodding with satisfaction as he looked over his young prodigy, who looked just about ready to collapse with exhaustion. "This new ICD heart thing is good, hey? You can go all out for much longer!"

Ottilie nodded, smiling smugly as the sweat dripped from her forehead, "yep, no excuses now!" They laughed and took a short break before starting up again.

This time, Ottilie was attacking and Alaric was defending her advances, blocking each blow as it came, frowning as she felt that his moves were becoming a little firmer, but perhaps she was just getting tired.

"I need a break," she gasped, sitting down abruptly just as Ric's arm, his hand balled into a fist, flew across were her head had been.

"Woah, Ric!" said Damon, walking forwards to them, frowning, "calm down, buddy! You could have done some damage there!"

Alaric, his eyebrows furrowed in what seemed to be confusion, took a step back, looking at his hands as if they weren't his own. Shaking himself off, as if shaking away a spell, he smiled apologetically at Ottilie, who was looking up at him from the floor.

"Sorry, Otts," he said, "think I got a little carried away there!"

She shrugged, accepting the hand he offered to pull her up, and sighed as she readied herself for another round.

Only a few minutes later, Ottilie noticed a shift in Alaric's demeanour as a determined look came over his face, and he began to counter her attacks with more force, pushing her back with each one.

Damon watched as, almost as if in slow motion, Alaric suddenly wrapped his arm around his daughter's neck and pulled her back against his chest, holding her tightly, her frail life entirely in his hands.

"Ric…" began Damon, walking cautiously up to them, utterly confused by his best friend's actions.

"Don't come closer," warned Ric, fishing into his pocket and bringing out a knife he'd stashed there.

"Ric, don't do anything stupid," warned Damon, trying to keep his voice free from the panic he was feeling, his gazing shifting from his daughter's pale, terrified face to Ric's grim, determined one, before noticing the glazed look in his eyes. "Are you on vervain?"

Ric smiled, the evil grin spreading across his face as he watched realisation etch it's way across Damon's.

"Us humans are just so accessible, you know," he sneered, "I have a message for you, from Marcel."

Damon froze, watching the fear wash over Ottilie's face, in what he was sure was an exact mirror of his own, too anxious to make a move in case Ric hurt her.

"He's watching us, he's watching us all. He sees Ottilie training, working on her magic, and he's happy to let it happen because in the end, it will just make her more useful."

Damon couldn't help but shudder as the words tumbled from his friend's mouth, as emotionless as if he were reading from a script.

"He said he's going to be generous. You have until Ottilie turns 17, at which point, she will be at her strongest, and she must go to him. She must work on her magic and unlock the true extent of her power as the witches describe to him, or he will come sooner for her and force it from her himself."

Alaric held the blade of the knife to Ottilie's stomach, smiling nastily.

"Of course, if you'd rather just get it all over with and have her leave you now…But you won't let that happen, will you? Oh Damon, how he loves watching you suffer…"

He plunged the knife into Ottilie's body, and theatrically stepped back, his hands in the air as he let her slump to the floor, the blood already flowing from the stab wound.

"NO!" shouted Damon, running towards them, hitting Alaric so hard that he was knocked out cold in an instant, before falling to Ottilie's side, applying pressure to the deep cut on her stomach.

"You'll be okay, Otti," he soothed, trying to reassure himself as much as her. "You'll be okay, just stay with me, sweetheart. I'll get you to the hospital, they'll make you better."

She smiled up at him, almost sympathetically, and he knew that she knew that she wouldn't make it to a hospital at the rate she was bleeding out. Her eyes began to flutter closed and he panicked.

"Otti, no! Stay awake, keep your eyes open!"

He could feel her slipping away, just like she had in the nightmares that Kai had made him live through each night of his captivity, just like the reoccurring nightmares that plagued his nights even now. He looked around in vain for any help, knowing ultimately what it was he must do. She was stronger now, he reasoned, and her heart condition was under control, so if he could just keep her safe for the next 24 hours…

Without another thought, he tore into his wrist and held it, blood dripping, to her mouth, watching with baited breath as a few drops fell into it.

"Come on, Otti," he muttered, more to himself than her. He watched in anticipation as the stab wound began to knit back together, and he sighed in relief as he heard her weak pulse start to strengthen as she healed.

"You're alright, little lady," he whispered, gathering her unconscious body into his arms and holding her tight whilst fishing for his phone to call Stefan.

"Hello?" Stefan answered, wondering what trouble Damon had gotten himself into this time.

"Stefan, I need you to come to get Ric. You know where we are?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Someone got to him, compelled him to attack Otti,"

"Crap, is she okay?"

"Yeah, she will be."

"Okay brother, I'm on my way."