Our day did not get much better. Rebekah was now confirmed missing when the person she was supposed to body jump into called up wondering the hell who Elijah was and threatening to call the cops if he didn't stop calling her. Any attempts I made to locate the real Rebekah were sketchy at best, because every time I tried I only located her physical body whilst her soul remained hidden somewhere I couldn't quite pinpoint. The best I could tell was that she was somewhere in New Orleans. It was a start, but that was just the first cause for concern, the second being that Elijah's episodes had suddenly come back, and they were getting worse, especially around Cami. When he got some bourbon on his sleeve whilst they were playing a questionnaire game, he went totally germophobic with trying to scrub himself clean and he was weird thereafter. At one point, he almost went for Cami out of bloodlust, trapped in the throng of his visions of past memories and I had been forced to throw him out of the house to make sure he didn't go for Cami. For safety's sake, I transmuted some metal with magic and made it into a silver necklace with a Christian's cross, then steeped it in a special concoction of herbs, dried flowers and oils in order to enchant it with protective properties that would keep vampires away from her neck.
"It'll repel them. Vampires when they attack usually go for the throat and neck because that's typically where they can access the most blood, so as long as you wear this, it'll keep them off you." I explained to her, helping put the necklace on before then going to find Elijah to calm him down and making sure that he was back in control.
"I apologise. I…I do not know what came over me."
"I get it, Eli. I do."
"No I do not think you do understand, dearest Ophelia. I am…I feel…"
"Powerless? Lost? Confused? Angry?" I began to list off and Elijah turned to me then, looking somewhat desperate for help and more than a little pitiful, but I kept my expression from appearing sympathetic as best as I could. "I don't think you realise just how much I've come to understand you and your family, Elijah. I know that you guys fight, you argue, sometimes you come within inches of killing each other, but at the end of the day, no one matters in this world other than family. And now that Bekah is missing, and Nik is trying to take on your brother Finn all by himself, you feel like you should be right there by his side. I do understand. I really do, but Eli…you're not well. You need some time to deal with what your mom did to you, to figure out where you stand in all of this. For centuries you've displayed yourself as the noble, upstanding brother, but now you have to come to terms with the things that you've done in your past." Taking hold of his hands in mine, I pulled him closer and wrapped them around my back as I then placed a kiss on his cheek before settling into him. "You shouldn't be afraid of our feelings changing towards you because of this, Eli. We all love you just the way you are."
"What did our wretched family do to deserve someone as wonderful as yourself, dear Ophelia?" To this I had no answer, merely grinned up at him before we then separated. Elijah and I returned to the house where I took over watching Hope so that Elijah and Cami could talk. We'd done the magic part of the recovery, and there was nothing more I could do for Elijah so now it was up to Camille to work her type of magic. I could hear them from time to time from the other room, entertaining Hope whilst Cami talked with Elijah who was now finally allowing us to help him. It was only when I heard a stumble and Cami calling out Elijah's name with worry that I gathered up Hope and hurried into the front room to see Elijah passed out on the floor.
"How much did he have to drink?"
"It's not that, he just suddenly went white as a ghost and passed out, I can't wake him up!" Cami worried so I passed Hope to her so that I could take a look, gripping Elijah's shoulder and murmuring his name but I could already feel magic taking its hold on him. It focused around his mind, drawing him elsewhere in a type of representational magic as, when I focused my own magic at his temples, I saw the image of a stag flash through my head.
"Someone's playing with witchy voodoo here. My guess will be Finn." Getting him up into a chair so that he would at least be comfortable, I delicately delved a little further into the magic that had hold of Elijah, being careful as to not accidentally put too much strain over his already fragile state of mind. "In witch lingo, this is a chambre de chasse. It's kind of like a mental place where witches will psychologically destroy their enemies." Pulling away from Elijah, I frowned deeply as I tried to think of the best way to help.
"I'll call Klaus." Cami announced, juggling Hope and her phone before calling, however instead of Nik answering, it was Davina. "Davina? Why are you answering Klaus's phone?" As they talked, I smoothed Elijah's hair back and neatened him up a little, knowing that he preferred to look presentable at all times and the fall had rumpled his appearance a little. "What? Elijah collapsed too. What's going on?" I kept quiet since Davina couldn't know that I was alive, and when Cami came off the phone, she didn't look too hopeful.
"No joy?"
"No, Davina doesn't know what to do."
"Hm…well, the only way to break representational magic like this is to destroy the image that represents them. However, to do that I'd have to actually go into the chambre myself, and that would tell Finn that I was still alive which I can't do. I promised Nik that I would stay dead for as long as necessary so that I could protect Hope." We were in the bind, and all I could do was pace around trying to think of a loophole. There was no other way of destroying the magic that held Elijah and the others, but I was worried about what Finn could want with them other than a little more mental torture. I thought and pondered, until finally I theorised that there might be a way for me to at least send a message through.
"Did you think of something?" Cami, who had up until now been studiously watching my expression, recognised that I had just been struck by a genius thought.
"If I can hijack Finn's spell, then I can send through a message to Nik and Eli through my own representation." I began to explain, hurrying to grab my bag which was full of herbs, powders, roots and ingredients for all kinds of druid rituals and spells. "I'll use an owl. Owls are traditionally very wise creatures and were often associated with druids in the past. This should do it." Pulling an owl feather from within the bag, I set up the spell with a circle of salt as well as some of Elijah's blood, apologising to him as I did. "Since it's Finn's magic, Elijah's blood should help me link into the spell since they're brothers, even though Finn is in someone else's body. Magic tends to recognise the soul of a person more than the body…it's complicated, I'll explain more after I'm done." Nodding her head, Cami watched with fascination as I set everything up before murmuring the words for the spell, having written a note in my hand which I had folded into an origami owl.
With the feather swirled into the blood, I felt myself being pulled into the chambre but instead of projecting myself, I projected the little paper owl which I had tucked into Elijah's pocket in order to send it to him and hoped that he found it before Finn did, carrying a simple message. Undermine the representation. It was all I could do for now, and briefly I saw an image of the three brothers together in a hunting lodge, where I was momentarily present in the form of an owl. Thankfully it was behind Finn's back, but both Nik and Elijah saw me before I then vanished, and all I could do then was hope that Elijah got the message. Cami and I waited together, watching with worry as I cleaned up the spell I had used. Eventually he awoke with a start, and the moment he was awake we were both on our feet and demanding to know if he was alright. After a few moments to straighten his thoughts, Elijah reached into his breast pocket where he then pulled out the little origami owl. "I received your message, dear Ophelia."
"I'm glad it worked. Great job." Leaving Elijah to call Nik I took Hope so that I could feed her then decided to give her a bath as a means to keep myself occupied. Hope loved the water and the bubbles, giggling and splashing in her little tub as I made the bubbles change into different shapes and animals with magic so that they moved and acted around her. She especially loved that part of bath time. She was just so adorable, making me laugh and beam every time she made a cute noise or smiled at me until she was as clean as a whistle and ready to be changed. "One day I'll teach you how to make bubble animals yourself, then you can make them all you want." I said to her as I got her dressed into something comfortable and soft to sleep in. "Considering you're the first witch of the next generation, you're going to be a very powerful one, so I'm going to have to make sure to teach you early on so that you don't go around accidentally making chaos everywhere. The last thing we need is you setting people on fire or something, hey kiddo?" Hope giggled at me so I laughed and kissed her head before bringing her to Elijah and Cami so that they could say goodnight.
The next couple of days were fairly routine with a visible improvement on Elijah's mental condition, however any time he came into contact with blood, he immediately spaced out and went elsewhere. It happened when I accidentally cut myself with a knife in the kitchen as well as when Hope pulled down an ornament on her own head, both incidents drawing blood and Elijah almost went for me the first time but stopped himself the moment he had made a step towards me. It concerned both myself and Cami, but we were prepared to do anything to help Elijah get back on track, and after a little discussion, we decided that he needed something to occupy his mind other than the fact that he had endured such mental trauma.
"It's a trigger." Cami said to Elijah as I held Hope as he placed a very cute cupcake band aid on her head which I had already cleaned for her. I wanted to heal her with magic, but I was hesitant about it since she was so young and my magic, even a small dose of it, was very strong. Too strong for an infant for such a tiny cut, and may cause her to have a fever later. It's better if it just healed by itself, though I felt physically sick to not be able to do anything. "You pulled yourself back, which is an improvement for sure, but we can't ignore that your mind clearly went elsewhere. It's very common in traditional PTSD patients. We've done the work to face your atrocities. The truth is, it's just going to take some time to settle."
"And you believe you have the power to resolve this." Elijah responded, having finished treating Hope and had now climbed back onto his feet.
"It's not that easy. There's no…" She snapped her fingers to emphasise her point before continuing. "…and you're fixed. In cases like yours, sometimes not dwelling on the problem is more productive than examining it through the minutiae of therapy. Staying mentally busy instead of physically. This house, though charming, is completely falling apart."
"Time to put those muscles to good use Eli, you and I are going to completely revamp this place. No pun intended there." I laughed as I got up whilst Cami handed over the list of chores that needed to be done around the house. "I've recently developed some handyman skills, so we can jump right into the action."
"So, this is your solution? Mend the home, mend the man?" To this Cami smirked as I handed Hope over to her, where she offered that instead we could all go fishing and she could talk about the summer where she lost he virginity, but Elijah was quick to reject that suggestion. "I'll mend the home with Ophelia."
"I'll spend the day with Hope! And you spend the day not thinking. And fixing the heater, because this place is freezing at night." So with our tasks in hand, Elijah and I went through the list and began to delegate tasks between the two of us. I was also eager for something to do, and physical labour was something I had found enjoyable in the early days of looking after Hope, as Bekah and I had redecorated our house exactly as we had wanted it, all the way to the white picket fence. I missed that place, and could only imagine the dust that will be there whenever we got a chance to go back. If we ever did. The house was in my name anyway, so I actually owned it, and was the only person who could invite people inside. It was the precaution we took to make sure that no vampires could get in.
After several hours of work, Cami took off with Hope to the market in order to get some food for us whilst Elijah focused on the outside, fixing the fences whilst I stripped the walls of the front room as the paper was peeling and riddled with damp, so I started on fixing all that up, using a little magic to help pull the moisture out of the wall and set things straight again. I was so focused on my task that for a while I didn't notice anything different about the house until gradually, the sense of something probing at my boundary made me freeze. Someone was here, someone who wasn't meant to be. The magic had been so subtle, so discreet that I had almost failed to notice it, but by then it was too late. They were already here. "Elijah!" Crying out in order to warn him, I started to run for the door in order to go find him, however when I flung it open, I came face to face with a person I had never met before. "Who…?"
"The druid." The stranger spoke with a distinctive Louisiana accent, pegging him as a New Orleans man and I could tell that whoever he was, he was a powerful witch and channelling dark magic that made my skin crawl with a shiver. "Ophelia, right? You're supposed to be dead. Perhaps I was wrong, perhaps there is no child, and it's you they've been hiding all along. But for what reason?"
"Finn." It didn't take me much to guess who this stranger was, as I could sense something familiar about him after I had recovered from the initial shock. "You're Finn Mikaelson."
"Indeed I am." He stepped inside and I instinctively began to back up, already planning out my strategy. I could neutralise Finn easily, however with the dark energy he was channelling, I doubted he would go down without a fight. "Though from the looks of things, perhaps I was right about the child." Finn murmured, spotting the baby toys dotted about the place and I could have kicked myself for being so careless. "Where is she?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." I responded stubbornly, clenching a fist at my side. "What do you want, Finn? Where's Elijah?"
"My brother is indisposed at the moment, and is likely to stay that way for some time. What I want, is for you to tell me where that child is. You do not understand what is at stake, the danger that child poses to our survival. I must bring her back with me before it is too late." To this I replied with fiery defiance, refusing to allow Finn anywhere near Hope and was immensely grateful that Cami had taken her away from here. It was a pure stroke of luck, and with both Cami and Hope out of the house, I didn't have to hold back.
"Go to hell, Finn." Thrusting out my hands, I threw Finn against a wall with so much force that he went through it, meaning that I'd have a lot more to fix later than what I'd started with, but I didn't care. I strode after him, hair flying around me like coiled flames as I then beat the crap out of Finn with my magic, not giving him a moment to recover himself as he started to bleed from his nose as I choked him and squeezed on his head. "You put one finger on that little girl then I will destroy you. I did not carry her, deliver her then die at the hands of witches just to hand her over to you so you can offer her up as a sacrifice!" Finn coughed and spluttered, struggling to hold himself upright before suddenly flinging his hand out with a spell, causing the walls of the hallway to explode either side of me.
Splinters were soon embedded into my arms as I ducked and covered my head, blood now dripping from the open wounds as Finn then flung me backwards, taking hold of the situation. His magic was so strong it even overcame my resistance to witch magic, the dark energy he channelled allowing him to fight back on even ground with me as we clashed against one another. "You cannot stop me, druid! I am more powerful than I have ever been, more powerful than the likes of you!"
"We'll see about that, you son of a bitch." Letting go of the last shred of control that I had, I felt my magic burst around me in a visible cascading cloak of fluctuating light as I then began to grow tree roots up through the floor in order to grasp hold of Finn's ankles and pin him down before they then reached his wrists, holding him still before drawing him to be trapped against a wall as he yelled and struggled against them. With another spell, he set fire to the roots in a bid to burn them away but they just kept on growing, forcing him to think of alternate means to take me out. He crippled the flood underneath me, making my feet drop through before then using bits of the wall to send them flying at me, plaster and wood coating me until I was entombed underneath the debris. "You asshole!" Furious and completely pissed off, I forced the debris off of me just as Finn broke free and Elijah simultaneously appeared, throwing a knife directly at Finn which slammed into his gut.
I coughed, pulling myself free though Elijah gave me his hand in order to assist me, I could tell that he was struggling because of all the blood that I was covered in. At that moment in time, Finn suddenly bellowed in pain having already pulled the knife out of his gut, and I looked at him sharply as I sensed the dark energy he channelled overflow. It condensed so thickly that I reared away from it, naturally made sick from so much dark energy before all at once, Finn released it before it could kill him, meaning that he no longer had so much power backing him. "He's no longer channelling so much power." I murmured to Elijah quietly as the dust settled around us like a thick, grey veil. "He's not as strong as before."
"Excellent." Elijah, who was still struggling to keep himself under control, was barely able to hold himself in check as he stared at his now blood covered hands, rubbing them together in a bid to clean them but only made it worse. Finn laboured for breath on his knees as he gripped his stomach to keep from bleeding out, but then staggered to his feet towards us whereby I naturally stood in front of Elijah with a glare in Finn's direction.
"I told you that you were no match for me. Druid beats witch every time." Scowling at me, Finn rose to my baiting but instead of listening to him I focused on Elijah who still staring at his hands. I shook his arm lightly, however with a minute movement, Elijah told me not to say anything. Our eyes met as the smell of gas began to permeate the air and, after studying his face for a few intense seconds, I began to guess at what he planned to do. Nodding in understanding, I gripped hold of his arm in order to anchor myself next to him and, behind my back, prepared a magic spell to protect us as Finn rambled on, seemingly in triumph.
"You think that you have won? You may have power that I can never hope to wield, but you are just as mortal and vulnerable as I, and there are ways to kill a druid without needing to dirty my hands. After all, my brother's hands are already covered in blood, are they not? Look at you, brother. You're a mess. And, as we both know, untidiness is your undoing. Tell me, do your soiled clothes serve as a reminder of your filthy memories? Your many sins? Are you having bad memories now, brother? Perhaps of the innocent Tatia? Or any one of the other poor souls who met their fate at your hands? It's a shame, really, because, in a way, the child is just another one of your victims. Had you the will to stand against me, you might've saved her. But, because she was left under the protection of a druid who cannot kill and a wretch, a beast that basks in the blood of others, she…will…die." My body tensed instinctively. "I suppose your little niece never really had a chance. I'd ask for a response, but I wouldn't want to taint myself with the vulgar refuge that must, even now, be flashing through your mind."
"Let me assure you, my mind is quite clear." Having had enough of Finn's ramblings, Elijah now lowered his hand in order to give his older brother a wry look. "Much like the gas that has pervaded every single room in this home whilst you've been rambling like the lunatic that you are." As Finn's expression dropped, Elijah then gripped hold of my hand for a brief moment, giving my fingers a squeeze to warn me to be ready. "You have disgraced this family for the last time." All at once Elijah pulled off his daylight ring before thrusting his hand into a stream of sunlight which, upon contact, caused his hand to burst into flame as I cast a protective spell around myself and Elijah, leaving Finn completely exposed. "Goodbye, brother." The moment the fire came into contact with the gas, everything burst with a white flash all at once. Elijah buried my head into his chest to shield me, his strength keeping us from being propelled from the force of the explosion as the entire house went up in flames though my magic extended to everything outside of the hallway we were standing in.
The fire burned and licked away at everything and thankfully, the noise overrode the scream of Finn's dying breath as I shielded my ears though the heat, which should have been unbearable to bask in, did not feel as hot to me as it should have. Perhaps it was my magic protecting me from it too, and so after the initial explosion had ricocheted through the house, Elijah lifted me up and vamp-sped outside with me in his arms to get clear of the fire, carrying me a safe distance away before putting me down carefully in order to inspect my wounds and begin pulling the splinters of wood free. "I'm alright, you don't have to worry."
"Unfortunately I will worry whether you want me to or not." Elijah replied as he focused on his task and did his best to ignore the blood. "I am sorry that my brother hurt you."
"It's not as bad as it looks, really, and judging from what I can see, it looks like you came off worse. You're covered in blood and your clothes are torn." I pointed out before frowning. "But how did he get in? There's no way he should have been able to find this place. I covered every possible detail, you can't even see the house from outside the barrier, he shouldn't have found us!"
"He mentioned something about having help from a sister, however the sister he alluded to was not Rebekah. Perhaps Niklaus will have answers for us, but for now, we must tend to your injuries." Sighing deeply, I agreed that we needed to prioritise what we were going to do and considering that the house was on fire, I decided that getting our stuff was top of the list. "You cannot go in there, Ophelia. Everything will have been burned to ash by now, it is too dangerous."
"My magic protects the rest of the house and I can walk through fire just fine. Don't worry, but Hope needs her things and I've left some items in there which are irreplaceable. The only room that was affected was the one that Finn was in. once I'm done, I'll lift the spell and the house can burn to the ground for all I care." I sighed, rubbing my face tiredly and trying to dust off the ash from my singed and slightly crispy clothes. "This sucks, all the work we did today has been made completely irrelevant. I'm pissed." Stomping back into the house I walked straight into the fire which naturally peeled aside for me and allowed me to walk straight through where I gathered Hope's things together in her bag, nothing having been burned as my magic continued to everything before I climbed the stairs in order to get mine and Elijah's things as well as Cami's phone which she had left behind.
Most importantly of all, I made sure to gather my sketchbooks all filled with drawings of Hope, as I was still yet to give them to Hayley and Nik, as well as my clothes, precious stones and my ingredients bag which had numerous rare and unique objects that I would not be able to replace easily. This took me about an hour with Elijah waiting anxiously outside, and once I was done I dragged all the bags out of the house and shouldered them before I then looked back, sighed deeply, then lifted the protection spell which took immediate effect. The house groaned as it was eaten away from the inside, and taking one last look I then allowed Elijah to lead me away to go and find Camille, the roaring flames gradually fading from sight and mind.