I do not own TVD or TO.
Sorry for the long delay in updating. I've got some kind of bug, coupled with insanely busy work weeks that have kept me from typing. I'm hoping I'm back in the swing of things now though.
The polished ebony gleamed in the flickering light cast by the candles. The wood, according to Lexa, was perfectly balanced in energy and the five elements, and when attempting to imprison a malevolent spirit balance was exactly what they needed.
It had been easy enough to find and carve into four boxes. Runes decorated each side further representing the elements and glowed brilliant red, fueled by Elena's blood. If she hadn't known any better she would have said that the boxes had been inlaid with rubies; the runes certainly sparkled like precious gems.
Finding the wood had been easy.
Fashioning the boxes, that Elena had begun mentally referring to as Hope's hope chests, had been annoying but simple enough in execution.
Spelling the containers had given her ballroom flashbacks and left her thirst when all was said and done.
She had believed things would continue running smoothly. She knew it had been a fool's hope.
Three attempts had been made to extract the Hollow, and so far each had failed spectacularly. It was disheartening, but a tiny part of her, the selfish part reveling in the flow of their burgeoning relationship, rejoiced because he had sworn not to regain his memories until he was free of the Hollow.
She loved being wanted for her.
That small part made her feel sick.
There was a little girl missing her dad. He was missing his entire life, and what was she doing? She was wishing they would continue to fail so she wouldn't lose him.
It was sickening.
She offered Elijah a hand up as Lexa kicked over a candle; a line of wax created a semi-circle as it rolled towards her. She gave the white line a wry look before raising her eyes to the young witch.
"I'm going to assume it didn't work." It was only a small part that wanted them to fail.
"No," Lexa groaned. Rocking back she hugged her knees to her chest and pushed her fingers into her hair. With her eyes closed she began thinking out loud. "This doesn't make any sense. Extraction is basically an exorcism, and nobody could have resisted that last spell."
A few weeks earlier and they might have interrupted in an attempt to help, but time had taught them Lexa was not looking for conversation; it was best to leave her be when she began mumbling.
Elena moved into her small kitchen while Lexa lost herself inside her head. She was fast and quiet, returning to the living room a few minutes later with three mugs.
"It was almost out," Lexa shook her head, "something stopped it." Her eyes snapped open when she smelt the invigorating combination of ginseng and ginger. She sipped the liquid in a contemplative silence and felt her energy level slowly lift.
"Thank you," Elijah offered a small smile when Elena passed him a mug of warm blood. He doubted she would have batted an eye if he had chosen to retrieve something a little fresher, but in spite of the control he had managed to regain he still didn't trust himself around people; especially after one of Lexa's attempts that made the tiny whisper a deafening roar for violence, a battle cry for blood.
Elena was just raising her own mug when he drained his. Wordlessly she handed him her full mug; he needed it more than she did.
It was so quiet that when Lexa broke the silence the sound of her voice made Elena's heart jump.
"I need more."
"More what?" Elijah lowered the half-empty mug.
"Information," Lexa leapt to her feet. Moving to the kitchen she rinsed her mug and kept talking. "All the knowledge I've got to work off comes from second hand sources. I need to know more about the spell that put the Hollow in you and your siblings."
She came back through and tilted her head.
"Don't you have something to restore your memories?"
"I won't risk that until the Hollow is out of me," he shook his head. "It's too dangerous."
"Okay," Lexa nodded, "then I guess it's time to play Sherlock Holmes."
"Who?" Elijah's eyes narrowed.
"A famous literary detective," Elena smiled.
"I guess that makes her Holmes and you Dr. Watson," Lexa hummed.
"And why is that?" He cocked an eyebrow.
"It's elementary my dear Watson," Elena stifled her giggle. She had no idea where Lexa was taking this but she hadn't been able to resist the quip.
"She has more knowledge than you do."
"Not much more," Elena frowned.
"You know where to start," Lexa reasoned.
"You want us to go back?" Elena's eyes widened.
"All he has to do it stay away from his siblings and his niece right?" She waited for the nod of confirmation. "His siblings scattered and his niece is at school. The only person of interest in town will be the witch that removed the Hollow. I want to know exactly what they did."
"Have I mentioned how much I detest poor weather?"
"Detest," Elena cocked an eyebrow, "really?"
"Word of the day," Lexa shrugged. "I thought it adequately reflected my sentiments towards Claudette."
"Words of the day?" Elena giggled.
The line inched forward.
"For the record," Elijah eyed the grumbling crowd, "I don't believe there is anyone who likes a hurricane."
Elena nodded. The tropical storm had forced their plane to land early and grounded all flights for the foreseeable future.
"Couldn't you use a little persuasion to get us through here?" Lexa smiled hopefully.
"I only compel when I don't have another choice," Elena shook her head.
"Just my luck," she sighed dramatically, "I get the vampire with a conscious."
Elijah chuckled and stepped forward in line. They were nearly to the front.
"I'm intimately familiar with the consequences of compulsion," Elena cast her eyes to her handbag, "I had it used on me often enough while I was human. Now I only use it on the rare occasion that I feed from a human."
Elena frowned when she looked up and found Lexa staring at her.
"What?" She tilted her head.
"You're just so…" she blinked, searching for the right word, "… refreshing. Most vampires I've met think of themselves as superior, a race apart, and entitled to whatever they want."
Elena wanted to say that her sample was skewed, but in her experience that superiority complex was quite common. Most had little to no regard for human life; vampires like Caroline, Stefan, Elijah and herself were the exceptions.
"Free will is free will," Elena shrugged. She couldn't take that from someone any more than she could have taken their life.
Despite their position near the front of the line by the time they reached the desk the last vehicle had been rented. None of them were overly upset about it, especially when they saw the young family the man returned to.
"I wasn't looking forward to driving through a hurricane anyway," Lexa shrugged, adjusting her bag. "A strong wind, or a turn taken too fast and I'd be dead."
"We wouldn't let you die, Lexa," Elijah smiled.
"Nah," she smirked, "you still need me."
"You're also good company," Elena snickered.
She had gotten more than a few strange looks when she said they didn't have to join the clamour for a place to wait out the storm. They kept it up in the cab when she gave the driver a residential address.
"You know someone in Georgia?" Elijah watched the scenery go by as they moved towards houses.
"My brother lives in Atlanta," Elena nodded to the blue house when they driver pulled up. She almost laughed when he subconsciously squeezed her hand.
If she hadn't known any better she would have said he was nervous. The way his jaw ticked certainly suggested it, but what could he possibly have to be nervous about.
"Are you alright?" She asked, stepping from the cab. It wasn't like Jeremy was packing white oak.
"What's he like?"
Then it dawned on her; he was about to meet the only family she had left in the world, the person who arguably meant the most to her. He was afraid of what Jeremy might think of him, or them. She had never seen the Original in such a position, so naturally she couldn't resist teasing him.
"He's evil incarnate," she deadpanned, struggling to keep a straight face when he gulped. "A happy homicidal maniac."
"Really?" He eyed the path to the door nervously.
"Mmhmm… no, wait a minute…" she tilted her head, "… I'm thinking of your brothers."
"Elena," he sighed. Reaching out he snagged her waist pulling her flush into his chest. "It's not nice to mock."
"Mocking and teasing are two very different things," she smiled sweetly. Stretching up on her toes she pressed a quick kiss to his cheek and succeeded in drawing forth a small smile. "Jeremy is very nice, and he always liked you."
"Did he now?" Elijah cocked an eyebrow. He found that hard to believe after what she had told him he and his family had done to her.
"Well, he didn't hate you," Elena's eyes twinkled.
"That was before I became entangled with his sister."
Elena felt a delicious shiver race down her spine at the word entangled; it was such an innocent word, but it held so much meaning. Her life had become entangled with his overnight, and very recently they had been entangled in sheets with their limbs intertwined so they took up as little of the queen sized bed as possible; she was looking forward to the next time they could be entangled like that. The smirk on his lips told her he was looking forward to it as well.
"It won't change anything," she shook her head.
"What if it does?"
"Well, then," she hummed, "the worst he can do is shoot you."
"Is that all?"
Elena didn't get a chance to reply before Lexa called from the steps.
"I don't think you need to worry about that," she pushed the doorbell again, "he's not home."
"Not a big deal," Elena shrugged. Reaching into her purse she pulled out a ring of keys and marveled for a moment over how many keys she had amassed during the last few years; there were keys for her family home, the lake house, the Boarding school, Bonnie's house, Caroline's house, and Jeremy's house.
She strode up the path and located the key she wanted. When the door swung open she stepped over the threshold and pulled out her phone; it connected on the third ring.
"Well, well, well," Jeremy tsked, "if it isn't the prodigal sister finally returning my calls."
"Sorry, Jer," she blushed, "I've been busy, and out of the country." She had kept up an email chain telling him about the places she had seen while leaving out the specific details for her sudden European excursion; all Jeremy knew was that she had been helping out a friend.
"It's fine; just promise me next time you flee the country to call more. I don't like having an email relationship with my sister."
"You got it," she smirked.
Thunder rumbled in the distance as storm clouds rolled in. she eyed the darkening sky from the safety of the house and heard the first pings of rain on the roof.
"Listen Jer, my plane was grounded because of the hurricane and I'm at your house, but I need you to invite someone in for me." She switched to speaker phone.
"Sure."
"Just like that?" A line appeared between Lexa's brows.
"Unlike some people, who shall remain unnamed, I trust my sister's judgement. Come on in."
"Thanks Jer," she grinned when Elijah stepped inside. "Where are you anyway?"
"Running an errand for Ric," Jeremy grunted, "I should be back soon."
Elena hung up and closed the door on the downpour.
The rain was coming down in sheets when he pulled over outside the old diner. Even with his enhanced senses it was hard to see, but he knew when the other car pulled up that it was him. Nobody else was crazy enough to be out in a hurricane.
He glanced into the backseat and adjusted his hood before stepping from the vehicle.
"You got them?" Alaric raised his voice to be heard over the wind and rain.
"I got 'em."
Alaric squinted into the backseat where two children slept slumped against the leather.
"Which one's which?"
Jeremy nodded to the skinnier of the kids with a mop of straight brown hair. It was hard to separate the image of the peaceful child with what he had seen a few hours before.
"That's the werewolf," Alaric frowned, "he's so young. What happened?"
"You know what kids are like," Jeremy shrugged. "They push and shove. He just happened to push at the top of a hill."
"It was an accident?"
"It was an accident," Jeremy nodded.
"And the other one?" He glanced at the other boy. His unruly curls fell into his eyes.
"He was too close when the shift happened and got hurt," water dripped from his nose. "I had some vampire blood on me, but he saw some things."
"So, I'll take him back to the school and have Caroline or Stefan compel away his traumatic experience."
"Not necessary," Jeremy shivered. The cold was starting to get to him. "Elena's in town, so there's not need to abduct two children."
"It's only abduction until I locate the parents," Alaric rocked back on his heels.
"Orphans," Jeremy eyed the boys, "they were in some sort of group home."
"Then it's only until the paperwork goes through," Alaric pushed his wet hair back from his face. His eyes were glued on the distorted image of the boys. "Elena…" he whistled. "Are you sure about this? You know how she feels about compulsion."
"These are extraordinary circumstances." Jeremy opened the door and shook the sleeping werewolf gently. "I think she'll make an exception."
Jeremy watched Alaric's car after making the introductions until it became completely obscured by the rain. Shucking off his wet jacket he took one last look into the backseat before pulling out of the parking lot.
"How long do you think we'll be at a standstill?" His smooth voice broke the calm that had settled over them like a warm blanket.
Elena turned her gaze from the dark world beyond the window, it wasn't like she could make anything out beyond the rivulets on the glass, and leaned into his side with a small shrug. The arm he wrapped around her shoulders warmed her from the inside out.
"Most hurricanes last between twelve and twenty-four hours," she murmured. She choked down her hum of approval when his fingers threaded through her hair. "There was one that lasted nearly a month when I was… two… I think."
Her eyes drifted shut; the combination of the rain and the soothing motion of his hand lulling her into a light slumber.
Lexa glanced up from the tablet in her hands and caught the moment Elena nodded off. The sight of Elijah adjusting the throw over her body sparked a distant feeling of envy; it had been a long time since someone had looked at her the way he was looking at Elena, since someone had held her like that. There was a quiet level of intimacy between them that she longed to feel herself.
It was almost laughable.
She had felt the darkness in him and sensed the light in her. They were a pair she never would have imagined together if she had met them separately, but they somehow worked; they had a connection.
He was drawn to Elena, and it had very little to do with the fact that her light seemed to temper the Hollow.
Lexa shook herself from her thoughts and turned her attention back to her tablet. She had loaded the grimoire collection from Niamh and added it to her own; the result was nearly sixty grimoires and close to a thousand reference books and journals. It still baffled her that she could hold so much knowledge in the palm of her hand.
Her eyes stared to follow the neat lines of printing, the account of a man forgotten to all who knew him, when the sound of gravel crunching under tires drew her head up.
"I think someone's here." Her voice broke the silence at the same moment the garage door opened.
Elena sat up as the slight vibrations traveled through her body. She blinked away the sleep and turned with Elijah in time to see Jeremy freeze in the door; his wide eyes flickered from his sister to Elijah and barely registered the blonde when she stood.
Lexa was pretty sure he was questioning his sister's judgement when he swore loudly and was surprised when his voice didn't wake the child in his arms.
"What are you mixed up in now?" Jeremy pulled the door shut behind him, closing the sleeping child off from the coming conversations.
"Me?" Elena gave him an incredulous look and nodded to the door. "What are you involved with baby brother?"
"You know technically I'm older?" He tilted his head.
"Only physically," she smirked. "I'll still be calling you baby brother when you're seventy."
"In my line of work?" Jeremy clamped his mouth shut when he realized what he had said.
"Your line of…" her brows furrowed. "You're a teacher…" Her mouth popped open as she followed him back into the living room.
"Jeremy," indignation dripped from her tongue, "you're still doing it, aren't you?"
"Doing what?" Elijah frowned. He had done his best not to eavesdrop on the siblings when they had gone down the hall.
"Hunting," Elena crossed her arms.
"Hunting?" Lexa's eyes snapped to Jeremy. "You're a hunter?" She bit her cheek when he nodded. "And your sister is a vampire?" She just held in her laugh because it really wasn't funny.
She turned her attention back to Elena.
"You forge the strangest relationships."
"You should have seen my Thelma and Louise routine with Rebekah," her eyes sparkled with amusement.
"Doesn't count," Jeremy crossed his arms, "you didn't have your humanity; the second you got it back you went straight back to hating her."
"I don't hate Rebekah," Elena met his eyes, and was unsurprised to find it true. She had been unable to summon any feelings of animosity for the blonde since she showed up in New York and asked that she take care of Elijah.
"Fine," he sighed, "what are you doing here?"
An unspoken question hung between he Gilbert siblings, but Elena knew what it was when she sat with Elijah on the small sofa. He wanted to know what she was doing with him.
She shot Elijah a questioning look and saw the confirmation in his eyes. With their fingers interlocked she met Jeremy's eyes and filled him in on the highlights of the last few months, trailing off towards the end for Lexa to explain the basics of the spell they were attempting to perform.
Jeremy was silent for several long moments after the trio had finished; he was busy wondering how many years it would have taken his sister and Elijah to come together if the whole mess hadn't happened. He knew it had been inevitable because of her unspoken connection with the Original but he had been holding on to hope that he would be six feet underground of decorating the mantle in a fancy urn before she took the plunge and tied herself to the Mikaelson family.
"What do you need from me?" He might not have liked the choice she had made, but she was still his sister.
"A few things," Elena leaned forward and felt Elijah's thumb brush over her knuckles. "We need a spot to wait out the storm."
"Stay as long as you need."
"I also need my car; airports won't be up and running again for a while." She had left the vehicle with her brother when she moved to New York.
"It's in the garage."
"Wonderful," she tilted her head and dropped her voice. "Now I need to know what you were thinking."
"I'm not hunting Elena," he met her flashing gaze. "I do recruitment sometimes for Ric and Caroline."
"The kid?" She twisted towards the fall where his heart beat.
"Got on the wrong side of a werewolf."
"He looked fine," Elena frowned.
"Curtesy of new clothes and a few ounces of your blood," Jeremy glanced towards the hall. "I was going to send him with Ric so Stefan or Caroline could compel him, but you were in town so…"
"You want me to compel a child?"
"He saw a kid change, was chased through the woods and attacked; he's going to be traumatized."
"And yet he's sleeping soundly," Lexa cocked an eyebrow.
"A potion from Bonnie," he pulled a green phial from his pocket. "He's sedated. Will you do it, or do I have to put him in the car and drive to Mystic Falls in a hurricane?"
Elena frowned. She hated using compulsion, but there were circumstances that warranted it.
"I'll talk to him when he wakes up. What's his name?"
"He didn't really say much after watching his skin knit back together."
Jeremy was mildly impressed with how long they managed to avoid the confrontation. It was hours of busy work while the storm raged on but eventually the child woke up and they lost their buffer; up until that point Elena had been between them, either talking or ensuring he had a store of her blood for emergencies. He hadn't admitted to hunting but he knew she knew when she drew several bags of blood and stored them in his fridge.
Eventually she had left them to deal with the kid.
"You disapprove."
He looked up from the pile of papers he had been attempting to grade while trying not to weep for the state of the public education system.
"Am I that transparent?" He set the unmarked essay aside.
"No," Elijah chuckled, "but I can't imagine you're thrilled with her decision to… help me." He could hear the distant sound of Elena's heart beating down the hall.
"Elena…" Jeremy sighed, shaking his head. "She's going to do what she wants, it's taken her a long time to get to the point where she could, and I'll be damned if I try to stop her."
"You still disapprove." He sat at the table and gave the young man a questioning look.
Klaus had killed her. Finn had used her. Rebekah had turned her. Kol would have killed her.
"Involvement with the Mikaelson's has always been hazardous to her health," Jeremy tilted his head and smirked softly.
"So I've heard," he met his eyes.
"She's my sister," he shrugged. "I want her to make choices that will keep her out of trouble, but she cares too much about other people for that to ever be a possibility; luckily she's a little more durable these days."
"I keep waiting for her to come to her senses and run as far from me as possible." He picked up a pen, turning it over in his hands.
"That's unlikely to happen," he shook his head. "She cares, and when she cares she does everything in her power to help. I've never once seen her abandon someone she cares about."
Jeremy reached for the essay again. He was halfway through the third page when he paused and looked up.
"Elijah?" He knew he had the Original's attention when he nodded slightly. "Just…" he drew in a deep breath and released it slowly, "… just don't let her get hurt."
"I'll do everything in my power to ensure she never comes to harm," he met the hunter's gaze. "I give you my word."
There was a quiet intensity in the Original's eyes, but Jeremy still wondered how much weight the vow carried now that he was without his memories.
She closed the door behind her and approached the child on the bed.
He sat with his knees drawn to his chest peering through the window pane at the lightening sky; rain still poured from the heavens but the sun was rising behind the clouds. Every once in a while his eyes would dart to the corners of the room.
He jerked up when he saw her and watched her warily.
"Hello," she smiled softly. "My name's Elena. What's yours?"
"Landon," he blinked slowly.
"Do you remember how you got here, Landon?" Elena sat carefully on the side of the bed leaving some space between them. She caught his gaze. "You were lost in the woods and my brother found you; luckily you weren't hurt. He brought you here."
Her eyes grew round when he didn't nod along with her. It had been a little while since she'd used compulsion, but she was certain she'd done it right.
"Do you remember that, hon?" She tried once more for good measure.
"What about the animal? I think it was a dog." He shook his head. "It scratched my arm." He pointed to the spot. "And these aren't my clothes. The man that found me shot the dog with something. What happened to my friend?"
Elena could do nothing but stare for a moment as he fired off rapid questions. She knew she was missing some very crucial information when he kept going and resisted her third attempt to compel him.
At least he doesn't seem traumatized, she cleared her throat, and maybe he didn't see the shift.
"What are you Landon?" She countered his question with one of her own.
"What do you mean?" He tilted his head. "I'm a foster kid."
"That's not what I meant," Elena smiled softly. Holding up a finger she stood and walked to the door. Poking her head into the hall she motioned Lexa over and dropped her voice to a whisper.
"He's resisting it."
"Did your brother give him vervain?" Lexa glanced into the room when Elena shook her head. "He's been out for hours; any vervain that might have been in his system would have bled out in the woods. Only supernatural being can resist compulsion."
"Are you two talking about me?" Landon leaned over on the bed to get a better look at the woman in the hall.
"Of course," Elena smirked over her shoulder.
"What are you sweetie?" Lexa stepped into the bedroom with Elena.
"I already told Elena," he sighed. "I'm a foster kid. What's your name?"
"Lexa," she smiled. Glancing over her shoulder she breathed in a voice only Elena could hear. "At least he's not traumatized."
Elena shrugged one shoulder.
"That's not quite what she meant, Landon," Elena leaned against the nightstand.
"Then what do you mean?" He frowned.
"You're not human," Lexa smiled softly.
"Of course I am," his eyes narrowed suspiciously, "what else is there?"
"Well…" Elena and Lexa shared a look.
"There are many other things," Lexa reached for a book on the nightstand. Setting it on the bedspread she held out her hands and slowly rolled her wrists around in a lifting gesture.
The novel rose a foot above the mattress.
"Woah."
Lexa smirked and motioned with her finger tips, turning the pages. She took it as a good sign when he didn't scream.
"People can be different things Landon. I'm a witch." She nodded to Elena. "She's a vampire, and her brother's a vampire hunter."
"Aren't vampires supposed to be evil?" Landon turned to the brunette.
"Do you think I'm evil?" Elena countered.
He shook his head after looking into her eyes.
"You're too nice to be evil."
She couldn't stop her soft laugh. She sobered a moment later when she remembered the severity of the situation.
"Do you remember what happened to your friend?"
"Not really," he shook his head. "Everything's kind of fuzzy," he crossed his arms. "It happened really fast."
Elena perched on the edge of the bed.
"Your friend is a werewolf…"
"Why exactly are you telling him that?" Lexa frowned, dropping the book. It was one thing to reveal themselves, but another to bring up potentially terrifying memories.
"Because," Elena turned to the blonde, "he can't be compelled and he's not on vervain. That means he's supernatural, and that he can't go back in the system."
"I'm not like either of you," he shook his head. The thought of never going back into the foster system made him feel warm inside but he didn't think it would last.
"Maybe not like us," Elena smiled, "but you are something, and there is only one place that's safe for kids like you. I can't let you go there without knowing about your friend because your friend is there and it will be better for you to understand before you get there what happened… so you're not scared."
She saw the flicker of fear in his eyes when she explained gently what had happened to him.
"You want to send me there?" His eyes were round when he shook his head. "That doesn't sound safe."
"Listen, Landon," Elena placed a hand on his shoulder, "it's perfectly safe, I promise you that. What happened in the woods was an accident. Your friend didn't know what he was. He knows now and he'll have a safe place to wait out the full moon in the future. You'll be perfectly safe there. You won't be moved from one place to the next ever again, and I've got some friends there who will help figure out just what you are."
"What makes you think I'm anything?" He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes.
"Because you can't be compelled," Elena stood up.
"And only supernatural beings can't be compelled," Lexa added.
"Mmhmm," Elena nodded. "Now come on," she held out a hand. "You've got to be hungry."
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