Going down into the creepy Garden place where Marcel had that unsettling hobby of burying vampires to let them dry out like dying plants wasn't exactly on my list of things that I wanted to do, but since Bekah had told me that Tyler was down there, I just couldn't leave him. She was there with me, both of us carefully picking our way through until we found him walled in and looking exceedingly thirsty. "Hey Tyler." I spoke first, lifting the torch to shine on him so that I could see. He was pale, practically grey with visible black veins beginning to show around his neck and jaw.
"Lia?" He blinked in confusion, barely able to stay awake as I stood before him. "What are you doing here?"
"We're here to let you go, silly." Bekah answered, a pickaxe in her hand which she now showed Tyler. "My brother is feeling rather generous recently, and some news from your quaint little backwater town has put him in an excellent mood. Apparently, Katherine Pierce is human and now she is dying." The news had come from Damon Salvatore himself, probably the one person other then Nik who was glad to see Katherine dying.
"So what? I'm allowed to go just because Klaus is in a good mood?"
"Hey, he could have just left you down here to rot." I pointed out, folding my arms and giving him a look. "I warned you to stay away from him, Tyler. The one time I actually asked Nik for a favour to let you go free, and you blow it. Dumbass move. Just be grateful you're still alive, what would your mom say if she finds out you came looking for trouble? At least now you can go home to her." Stepping back I gave a nod to Bekah who then got to work pulling down the wall that Tyler was trapped behind. We gave him blood from a bag, then he, Bekah and Nik went back to Mystic Falls.
I took this opportunity to go home to my parents for a while, needing some time away from New Orleans. Of course I had to use magic to make an illusion around myself so that I didn't look pregnant, because otherwise that would have opened up a whole lot of questions that I didn't really want to answer and my mother would never have let me go again knowing I was going to have a baby, even if it wasn't mine. It was just easier this way. It felt good to be with them again and even though they asked me about New Orleans, I had to figure out ways around their questions without lying since my dad was exceptionally good at knowing when I wasn't telling the truth.
Everything just felt so normal being home again, part of me thinking maybe I wouldn't even go back but then, the little one was still with me and there was no way Nik was going to let that happen. Ever since the whole Davian thing…we hadn't talked much. More to the point, I had been avoiding him. I was still overwhelmed with anger towards him with everything he'd done, but I still couldn't help but have these feelings towards him. It was driving me crazy, so I thought that maybe some distance would help me get it under control, make them go away so I could just go back to thinking he was a jerk with a little charm, that we could get along civilly and that would be it.
Problem was, I had no idea if it was working, and in fact I think it was having the opposite effect. My anger was subsidising and the other feelings I felt towards him didn't vanish like I'd hoped, making me feel even worse about myself. I lost hours of sleep over it, sometimes going the entire night unable to even close my eyes so I'd just sit and draw or read or something to try and divert my mind elsewhere. I figured I wouldn't have long with my parents, so I tried to spend as much time with them as physically possible, but then Elijah called with both good and bad news. "Eli? What's up?"
"There has been a…development, of sorts." He told me, and the tone immediately conveyed that something was very wrong. "I think it best if you continue to stay with your parents for a little while. New Orleans might not be the safest place for you at the moment. There have been disturbing changes, a witch sacrificing vampires in a bid for power. I have only seen this type of magic once before, many years ago. If this witch where to get hold of you…or the child…I dread to think the consequences."
"If you're having witch problems then I should be there. If even vampires are being killed, a druid might be your best shot at keeping them in line." I reasoned but Elijah would hear none of it, telling me that I had to consider my own safety first. "Okay, but at least tell me what you know. What's happened? Are Bekah and Nik back?"
"Yes, they have returned, and before you ask, this was my brother's idea for you to stay where you are." That wasn't anything like what I was expecting to hear. "A rather shocking revelation, I agree."
"You're serious? Your control freak brother Nik, is happy with me being out of his sight and reach whilst I'm carrying his and Hayley's baby?" Somehow, I just couldn't bring myself to believe it. "Why didn't he call me himself?"
"Because you have yet to answer or return any of his calls, so Niklaus thought it better that I be the one to convey the news and suggest you stay with your parents a while longer. No one knows where you are, and even if someone did come after you, you will have a better chance protecting yourself without having to worry about anyone else. I imagine you have already placed protective wards over your parent's house, so I doubt anyone will be entered your property without your permission anytime soon."
"Well yeah, but still if you guys are in danger…"
"We will be alright, Ophelia. This is not the first time we have dealt with such magic, and until we are certain of what is going on here, we wish for you to stay safe. Hayley also agrees that this is for the best right now. So please, stay where you are and wait until you hear back from one of us." Agreeing after a few moments of consideration, I couldn't help but worry about them all. "And Ophelia? If you could find it in your heart to grant Niklaus but a moment of your time, I would be very much indebted to you."
"And why would I do that?"
"Because my brother, impulsive and infuriating as he is, is able to recognise when he has made a grave error. I have not seen him this distressed and anxious since…ever, I believe. Whatever effect you have on him, it is becoming apparent that Niklaus is incapable of thinking of anything else other than you even in the wake of this disturbing new development, and I do not believe it is because of the child. He cares for you, deeply. I would even venture to say that he loves you." Hearing those words was both the best and worst moment in my life. My body naturally soared at the idea that Nik would have such feelings for me, but then the reality of them came crashing down on me and a horrible acidic taste filled my mouth as a heavy lump rose in the back of my throat.
"You and I both know that love means very little to Nik. He can love and still serve his own self-interests first and foremost. Even if Nik did have those kind of feelings for me…it wouldn't matter. You've known him centuries longer than I have, when has he ever broken the cycle and actually done something outside his usual character?" To that, Elijah could not deny that Niklaus had always been the same, and it was uncertain if he would ever change.
"That aside, in the past thousand years, he had yet to meet you, Ophelia."
"But I'm not anything special, Nik only wanted me at first because I was a druid and therefore useful. Right now, he's probably just anxious because his child is far out of his reach, and that I'm not conforming to his rule."
"Can you at least tell me if there is any hope that you will one day forgive my brother?" Elijah asked me and I couldn't help but sigh deeply, sitting myself down somewhere in order to lean back my head as I stared upwards, wondering if I could forgive Nik. To be honest, it wasn't that I couldn't forgive him, it's just that I felt he didn't deserve it right now.
"You should know as well as anyone that it's almost impossible to completely abandon Nik, no matter what he does. I'm starting to understand why you always go back to him, why you haven't given up on the hope that someday he'll become a better person. It's that hope which keeps on pulling us back, and now I'm stuck in that same loop with you. I don't know why it ended up this way, but now…I just can't imagine my life without any of you in it." Taking another deep breath, I felt like everything was just spiralling out of control, and that scared the hell out of me. "Keep me in the loop of what's going on, let me know when it's safe to come back or you guys need a druid to wade in and save the day. I'll be on hand. Take care of yourself, Elijah." Having nothing else to say, I hung up before Elijah could start plying me with questions.
I just wanted to be left alone, to be honest, though I guess with the little one I wasn't really alone. That in itself was comforting, since even though I didn't want to be near people, I still had the presence of someone with me. Rubbing my stomach, I lay back for a while in order to contemplate what was going on in New Orleans. Waiting for news was agonising, not knowing what was going on until finally Rebekah called. "Finally! What's going on over there?"
"Nice to talk to you too, darling." Bekah responded with sass as I started to pace about my room. "Well things have not improved much since Elijah called you yesterday. We found the culprit to the sacrifices, unfortunately we were wrong in suspecting that it was a new witch, but rather it was the same guy we dealt with back after the war, only he'd come back from the dead. Papa Tunde. Rather disagreeable fellow, used me in one of his rituals to siphon my power but thankfully, Hayley and Elijah got me out."
"What?! Are you okay? What do you mean you got used in a ritual?"
"It's nothing to worry over, that ritual sacrificing necro-maniac is already gone. He used me in his sacrificial ritual in order to channel me to make himself stronger, but of course being an Original I could not die. We found him this morning in the courtyard in one of his own magic circles, but that's not even the end of it. After Papa Tunde died, one of the girls from the Harvest woke up. Sophie's niece, Monique." This made me stop pacing in order to listen.
"One of the girls came back?"
"Yes, it would appear so. The witches are acting like it's the second coming, and now I am playing host to a bunch of wolfy relatives of Hayley's over at the plantation house. A real kegs and cheap beer party." Bekah said to me as I started to rub my neck, trying to process everything that Rebekah had revealed so far. "Lia? You still there?"
"I'm here, just…processing." Rubbing my neck with worry, I couldn't help but feel a deep, unsettling feeling in my stomach from all this. "So one of these witches died, and a girl from the Harvest comes back. Sounds to me like we know where that power went now. If four girls were sacrificed, then that has to mean there were four resurrected elsewhere. If this Papa guy is dead, that leaves three left and somehow, I don't think they started with their best player. Sounds to me like they're gunning for you vampires, more specifically, your family. Be careful out there Bekah, what else can you tell me?" Rebekah filled me in on everything she knew, which wasn't much more except that Marcel believed he knew one of the resurrected witches, they both did.
Rebekah told me everything about Genevieve, the witch that she had pretended to get close to in order to get a favour from her. Being completely open and honest with me, Bekah actually told me her greatest secret, which was that she and Marcel conspired to bring Michael to New Orleans in order to chase Nik away so that they could finally be together openly, and they used Genevieve to send her dad a message, only she then realised what a terrible mistake she made and tried to rectify it, but it had been too late. In order to keep Genevieve quiet, Bekah told me she'd infected her with the deadly typhoid disease, as well as her other witch friend as she had walked in on them as Bekah had been in the act.
For a while I didn't know what to say. I mean, I knew Bekah was no saint, but I'd never thought she would do something like this, especially to Nik. Then again, a thousand years is a long time to be trapped under someone's shadow and domineered over. I can't exactly blame Bekah for acting out like that. "You're disappointed in me." Bekah worried, reading my long silence as disgust towards her actions.
"No, no it's not that. Surprised more than anything, and a little touched that you trust me with that kind of information." I admitted, unable to help but smile a little. "As much as I hate to say this, but if it's true Genevieve is in New Orleans, then you need to get rid of her. If Klaus finds out about this, then I doubt he'll be particularly forgiving. If he had the white oak stake, he would probably use it on you."
"Of that I have no doubt. I will admit it is a comfort you hold all the cards on that front. Considering you are the only person in the world with the capability of killing us, I'm glad that you are on our side." Agreeing with a soft hum, I tried to relax for a minute and think, wondering if there was anything I could do. "I can practically hear you worrying about us. Don't. We'll be fine. We've dealt with these witches one way or another before, and we'll do it again. You just concentrate on keeping yourself hidden and safe for the time being. Hopefully this will all be over soon."
"Still, just be careful." Still feeling uneasy after saying our goodbyes, I resumed pacing around my room, rubbing my neck and stomach. "I don't like this little one. Something doesn't feel right." It had been a long time since I'd allowed myself to have a vision, and I was hesitant to reach back to that part of myself, but if my gut feeling was right, then something really bad was about to happen to Bekah, Elijah and Nik. I couldn't let that happen, so apprehensive as I was, I closed my eyes and allowed the feeling of serenity to wash over me. Sending up a hopeless prayer, I breathed evenly as I focused on that part of me that connected me to my ancestors and shared their vision until all at once, there was a blinding white flash and everything came flooding in all at once, leaving me gasping for air as I stared into the vast expanse of vision and knowledge that engulfed me.