My Soul to Keep
Chapter 9: Map of Moments
Beta: PrincessofSilence
Disclaimer: I own nothing of The Originals. I only own my OCs.
"Make sure it's hanging straight, Giuliana!"
"I'm trying!"
"Well, you're not doing a very good job. Put it up higher!"
"Stop complaining, Rebekah! I'm a vampire, not a giant!"
The blonde vampire huffed as she watched Giuliana tilt uneasily on a ladder while trying to hang a Christmas garland along the gutter of the house. After snapping Elijah's neck, Rebekah followed Klaus' explicit directions to their safe-house. While on the run from Mikael, the Mikaelsons were able to hide out in a charming house in Arkansas. It had served as a haven for the siblings and where a lot of happy memories were created with them all being together.
Rebekah hung a festive wreath on the door just as Giuliana stepped down off the ladder to admire her work. The green eyed vampire was waiting for Rebekah to poke fun at the job she'd done with the garland, but she was pleasantly surprised when she received a warm and cheerful smile. Giuliana swore she hadn't seen Rebekah this happy in a long time. Perhaps the spirit of the holidays really did behold some magic.
"It looks positively charming!" Rebekah bounced happily on the balls of her feet. "Perhaps all of this decorating will lighten up Elijah's grumpy mood."
"You know he can hear you, right?" Giuliana tucked the now empty brown box that held the garland under her arm. "He's still mad at me for snapping his neck."
"Well, I won't have my mood be ruined by his." She opened up the front door and she and Giuliana entered the house. Rebekah took a bottle of wine from the wall rack in the kitchen while Giuliana disposed of the box in the garbage.
"Well, isn't this place rather nice!" The blonde pranced into the living room where she found Elijah leaning against the fireplace, deep in thought.
"Nik must have compelled a wine-lover to keep it up, because I found a 2005 Bordot!" She added and offered the bottle to her brooding brother. "Fancy a sip?"
"I appreciate the sentiment, Rebekah, but I do recognize when I'm being handled with kid gloves." The Original continued to stare into the roaring flames in the fireplace.
His sister frowned and put down the bottle. "How are you feeling?"
"Patronized." He grumbled and turned away from the fireplace to look at Hope who was laying down in her play pen. Her tiny hands reached for the stuffed animals that hung above her and she cooed softly.
"I am here to protect you." He said, his eyes not leaving his niece.
"I know you mean to, Elijah-"
"And yet, you find it necessary to render me unconscious before bringing me here?"
"Well, don't let Rebekah take all of the credit." Giuliana smirked from the doorway of the room, but it melted when he wouldn't even look at her. "Besides, you weren't yourself."
Rebekah's nervous glance passed between the pair. One so obviously reaching out while the other hid away in the shadows. "What happened back there?"
"I don't know." Elijah's jaw tensed as he spoke. "Niklaus sent me to protect Hope. My job is to keep her safe."
Sometime later, Rebekah had taken Hope outside in her carrier and she gently rocked herself beside Elijah who just stared down at her. The blonde Original continued to keep herself busy while Giuliana was pacing inside, unsure if she should approach Elijah. When they were in the house, he woldn't even look at her. It was like he was angry with her for treating him like a piece of glass and walking on eggshells around him. It pained her to see that the had gone backwards as opposed to going forward. He was retreating further into himself and Giuliana waned to take his hand and pull him into the light with her, but Esther's magic would dig it's claws into him to yank him back. She made a promise that she would help him and help him she would.
Deciding against wasting a sunny day inside wallowing, the green eyed vampire moseyed on outside and quietly leaned herself in the doorframe of the front door. She saw Elijah glance at her from the corner of his eye, acknowledging her presence in silence and nothing more. Hope's eyes immediately moved from her uncle to the female vampire and she gave a toothless smile. Giuliana wiggled her fingers at the baby and smiled back at her, all the while, Elijah remained quiet and stoic. The baby quickly turned back to her uncle, who hadn't moved and Giuliana raised an eyebrow at him. Hope was practically asking to be picked up and Elijah was...afraid, looking at his niece as if she had been spun out of the clearest glass.
"Well, are you going to pick her up or just stare at her all day?" Giuliana's cheeky voice made Elijah's gaze snap to hers. She was smiling at him, a sight he missed seeing while in his dark nightmares. He gave her a small smile back and reached down to scoop up Hope into his arms. He let her legs push up to stand on his lap and held her underneath her arms. Hope looked around, taking in the new scene of the porch from Elijah's lap.
"Hi, sweetheart." He greeted and Hope placed her fist in her drooling mouth. Giuliana moved Hope's baby seat over and plopped herself down in the chair next to Elijah. Out of the corner of her eye, she kept glancing over at him. She so badly wanted to speak, but she couldn't find the right words to say. I'm sorry for snapping your neck. You were really heavy to carry out to the car. Why can't you just talk to me?!
"Well, are you going to say something or stare at me all day?" His voice was just as cheeky as hers had been.
It was as if he heard the inner workings of her racing mind and Giuliana blanched at him with her mouth wide open before relaxing back in her chair. She chuckled softly, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.
"I guess I deserved that one." She said, a slight blush creeping along her cheeks as she suddenly lost all will to think about what she wanted to say to him.
"I must offer my apologies for what happened in the diner." Luckily he had spoken before she had to chance to let the jumbled words fall from her lips.
"Your mother made you kill all those people in an attempt to draw Rebekah and Hope out of hiding."
"No," he shook his head. "I mean before that."
Her eyes met his and she recalled how he compelled her to leave the diner and not come back for him. In his own mad mind, he wanted Giuliana away from him as to not hurt her in anyway, however watching her leave in a hurry was as painful for him to witness and as it was for her to go.
"I wanted to keep you out of harms way." He continued. "Clearly in this state I cannot control my actions."
"It isn't your fault." She said. "It's your mother. She controls the magic. All of this is her doing."
"If I continue to tell myself that, then I am condoning my own actions which is something I absolutely cannot and will not do."
Giuliana frowned and watched as Elijah positioned Hope, so she was now sitting in his lap. She nestled into his suit jacket and cooed quietly, as if she wanted to give the pair some time to speak.
"She's wrong, you know. Your mother." Giuliana spoke. "When I look at you I don't see a monster."
Their eyes met again and Giuliana swore the breath had been stolen from her lungs. To see Elijah in such a state of struggle only made her want to get closer and fix him, but even she had her doubts that he was beyond repair.
"What do you see?" His question hung in the Arkansas air and she gave herself a moment before replying.
"I see a man who will stop at nothing to keep his loved ones safe." She told him.
Something within Elijah's dark eyes shifted, something that she just could not place, but it brought her a feeling of comfort having said that to him. He then gave her a lopsided smile before turning back to Hope who was pawing at his silk tie. Just then, Rebekah emerged from the woods, her arms filled with a pile of thick logs. Once she reached the house, she placed them down in a shallow hole in the ground by the porch and tried to arrange them accordingly , so they would all fit snuggly. Giuliana saw Elijah's eyes twinkle with a familiar memory.
"Is that what I think it is?" He asked her.
"It's bonfire season!" She proclaimed happily. "And I am reviving a family tradition! Especially since we're all going to be together."
"What is bonfire season?" Giuliana asked.
"I'll explain once everyone is here." The blonde swayed excitedly and looked to her brother with a sweet look in her eyes. "Oh, please, Elijah? Please, please, please?"
"Only because we're fleeing from one of our deranged parents." He agreed and Rebekah continued to gather wood and place it into the fireplace. "Another Mikaelson tradition. It's a peculiar thing- never to be tired, yet forever exhausted by the sameness of things."
His voice trailed off as Rebekah joined them on the porch. Hope smiled up at her aunt and Elijah watched her face light up the whole world. How could this little girl have been the cause for so much trouble within their family. It seemed as though the Mikaelsons were never in agreement with much of anything no matter how many decades had passed, they were always bickering and fighting. Elijah had grown exhausted from it.
"Why is our family always at war?" He asked his sister.
"I don't know." Rebekah shrugged and brushed her fingers along Hope's arm. "But, being away with her made me see things differently."
Giuliana looked upon Hope with nothing but love in her heart. "I can imagine."
"We're not so bad. We're not the monsters that our parents think we are." Rebekah spoke softly.
Suddenly, all three vampires turned their heads in the direction of a black SUV that approached the house. Its tires kicked up the gravel of the driveway before it slowed to a stop. Klaus hadn't even put the car in park and Hayley was already leaping out of her seat. She rushed to meet Elijah, Rebekah and Giuliana who had stepped down off the porch to greet them halfway. Hayley was rooted in her tracks as soon as her eyes laid on her daughter who had grown so much in the time she's been hiding away. Klaus finally caught up with her and he too felt himself completely moved to silence at the sight of his little girl. He fondly remembered leaving Hope in Rebekah's care and he was now looking at his beautiful daughter. Audrey was the last to join them, staying just off Klaus' right shoulder, not wanting to interrupt the sweet reunion between the them. She'd seen Hope mature from a baby to a toddler when she checked on her, but for Klaus and Hayley, they were seeing their daughter for the first time in months.
Elijah wasted no time, stepping up and handing Hope to her mother. Hayley took her smiling daughter in her arms and hugged her tightly, tears pricking at her eyes. Klaus joined Hayley, hugging Hope and peppering her soft skin with even softer kisses. Both parents were near tears as their daughter babbled happily in their warm embrace. It was as though they were holding their hearts outside of their bodies and watching it beat. Giuliana felt herself tearing up and so did Klaus' siblings, but not all shared the same sentiment. Audrey seemed to inch further away from embraced trio, her mind a siege of chaos. A complex mix of emotions waged war inside her, each vying to vanquish the others. She pressed her lips into a thin line, fearing she might explode in a mess of magic and she let the heel of her boot move over the gravel beneath her.
Never had she felt so out of place in her entire life; so stuck between wanting to be involved or to take off running.
"Curse on the first-born?" Rebekah questioned. "What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?"
The siblings all gathered around the unlit bonfire and hashed out all the Esther had said about Freya and their Aunt Dahlia. Hayley had put Hope down for her nap and anxiously paced while Giuliana and a still very quiet Audrey stood next to one another.
"Well, according to Finn, our sister Freya didn't die of plague. She was taken as payment by our aunt Dahlia, who then cursed all Mikaelson first-borns for eternity." Klaus explained.
"Is any of this true?" Hayley asked, her voice laced with concern and she stopped her pacing.
"It is if we are to believe Finn, who learned it from the bastion of truth-our mother." Elijah said.
"Well, no wonder Finn hates us." Rebekah frowned. "He lost the sister he adored, and instead got a judgy pack of siblings who found him unbearably dull."
"Well, it's not your fault for finding him dull." Audrey piped up and Klaus quietly smirked back at her, happy to hear her voice join the conversation. "I sat with him at dinner and even I can tell you, he is about as intriguing as watching paint dry."
"That's very true." Giuliana nodded. "But what does this all mean?"
"Yeah. Is there any chance of us running into your loony aunt Dahlia any time soon?" Hayley wondered.
"The fable's over a thousand years old. Dahlia is long dead." Elijah replied.
"So were Esther and Mikael." Giuliana glared. "Look how that turned out."
"I'll do some more digging, but I agree with Elijah. I'm sure Dahlia is dead and gone." Audrey said. "I think Esther is just trying to bait us and draw us out."
"No one's going to hurt Hope, because no one's going to find her." Klaus promised, silencing all forms of doubt within the group. His gaze then travelled to Rebekah who was still working with the wood and shook his head. "There's enough wood, Rebekah. You'll burn down the whole bloody state of Arkansas."
"Well, we're just missing a key ingredient!" She said and rubbed her palms on the legs of her jeans.
Klaus immediately gave his sister a sigh and a roll of his blue eyes. "No, we're not."
"Yes, we are, Nik! Back me up, Elijah!" Rebekah gleamed at her brother.
"I suspect Niklaus would rather choke on the ashes." Elijah chuckled heartily.
"What are you all talking about?" Hayley asked.
"Well, before we light it, we write down our wishes for each other to burn for luck. It was Kol's favorite part when we were kids!" Rebekah explained excitedly.
"It's further evidence as to why we should ignore it." Klaus grumbled.
"Hope's first bonfire season." Hayley mulled the idea over in her mind before a wide smile pulled at the corners of her lips. "I like it! We're doing it! Come on, ladies"
Hayley rushed inside to grab some paper while Rebekah smirked smugly at her less than enthusiastic brothers. Giuliana and Audrey followed the hybrid mother into the house and began to look inside the study for some paper. Hayley placed Hope down in her play pen who had started to whimper softly. All three continued their search, however Hope was not happy that the attention was suddenly off of her. Her whimpers became a little louder and she was pouting, her blue eyes shifting between the three women in the room. Hope then started to cry and little tears dribbled down her chubby cheeks.
Hayley frowned at her daughter. "She's probably hungry. You guys keep looking and I'll get her bottle ready."
"You got it." Giuliana nodded while still looking for the paper. She pulled out a stack from a high shelf and started ripping it into stacks as Hope's cries got louder.
"Oh, come now." The green eyed vampire tsked. "Mommy will be back soon."
Audrey moved further and further away from Hope as she cried. Not having a lot of children in her family, she didn't exactly know what one does with a crying baby. She hoped that eventually when Hayley came back with a bottle that she'd stop, but what on Earth do you do with the baby in the meantime? Should it be left alone? Should it be coddled? Perhaps she was the reason why her parents only had one child. Maybe she was too difficult as a baby. She watched in horror as Giuliana waltzed over to the pen, scooped up Hope as if she weighed nothing and cradled her in her arms, shushing her quietly.
"There, there." She sang to Hope. "There's no need to cry."
The witch kept her eyes down on the shelf and her fingers moved around frantically. Where the hell is the damn paper?!
"Giuliana! Can you help me with something in here?" Hayley's voice called from the kitchen.
"Sure!" The vampire then moved to Audrey who was on edge. "Do you mind holding her?"
"I...uh," Audrey was stammering, an action that was foreign to her.
"Here, just hold her." Giuliana extended her arms with Hope in tow, but Audrey shifted back a step.
"I...I don't know how." She wrung her hands nervously in front of her.
"Giuliana!" Hayley called again.
"Coming!" Giuliana shouted. "Here just take her. I'll be two minutes."
"But I never held a baby before." Audrey said. "And what if she keeps crying?"
"Then you rock her gently." She said and handed a crying Hope to the witch who continued to protest despite her arms reaching out to take Hope. "Good, now make sure she's supported."
"Please just take her back!" Audrey was as tense as ever and on the verge of tears.
"I'll be back in two seconds!" Giuliana countered.
"She hates me. See, she's still crying. Children don't like me." She rambled, looking very out of place with a baby in her arms. "I told you she hates me."
Giuliana was about to retort, but in the midst of Audrey's panic, she realized that Hope's cries had quieted significantly. The baby had her eyes locked on Audrey and she sniffled as she calmed down. Audrey caught onto Giuliana's shock and was sent into her own. She and Hope stared at one another in silence and even Giuliana was in awe of what happened. As good as she was with babies and children in general, she was never able to quiet a baby that quickly. Audrey's nervous eyes flicked between the baby in her arms and the baby vampire.
"What do I do now? She stopped crying. What do I do?" Audrey was now frantic again.
"Just relax. You're doing fine." Giuliana cooed. Hope was now fully calm and sucking her fist into her mouth. "She likes you."
"How can you tell?" Audrey asked. "She didn't even say anything."
"She stopped crying, right?"
The witch blanched, but that quickly faded to a small smile that could have easily been missed. Audrey looked at Hope again to see she was smiling now too, her tears had dried and she was in a much better mood. She'd never gotten to see Hope in person after she was born because Klaus sent her away with Rebekah at the first opportunity he could. Audrey would check on her from time to time to make sure Esther was nowhere to be found, but to see Hope now was something she could never had prepared herself for. Hope smelled of baby powder and freshly washed linens. Her small hands reached up toward Audrey's face and the witch recoiled slightly, but Hope brushed her fingers along the witch's cheek. Audrey froze at the soft touch, unsure of how to receive it, but her fear slowly melted away looking into those sweet blue eyes that Hope shared with her father. For four months, this baby was hers to watch over until such time Hope could meet with her mother and father. Audrey never felt a more fulfilling feeling in her life than looking down at the child in her arms that she helped to keep safe.
"Hi there." She spoke softly, fearing that speaking too loudly would upset Hope. The baby's hand reached for the tendrils of black hair that rested at the nape of Audrey's neck. The witch recoiled slightly, but Hope's small fingers gently caught her hair, cooing as the strands brushed against her skin like a raven's feathers.
"I figured it out. It's all goo-" Hayley stopped in her tracks seeing both women standing in silence with Hope in the middle. Audrey partly tensed up again, unsure of how Hayley would react to her holding Hope, but she didn't seem upset in the slightest.
"Everything alright?"
Audrey opened her mouth to reply, but she was stopped by the front door opening and Klaus entering the room. His stare was immediately focused on Audrey and Hope, the latter gurgling happily seeing her father coming towards them. The witch, however, was still slightly in shock that Hope had managed to stop crying so quickly.
"There's my two favorite girls." Klaus kissed Audrey on the lips and Hope on her forehead, making her giggle even more. He took Hope from Audrey, who was quite happy to give the child up, however she found herself wishing to take Hope in her arms seeing her look over her father's shoulder as they left the room. Hayley followed Klaus with the baby bottle in hand while Audrey remained rooted to her spot, looking after both mother and father.
Giuliana gently touched the witch's shoulder. "Hey, you okay?"
The witch blinked a couple of times. "I don't know."
As the sun began to set against the Arkansas sky, everyone had written down their wishes for one another and gathered outside to cast them into the bonfire. Audrey kept unfolding hers, reading it over and folding it tightly again and again. The brothers talked with Hayley, each smiling down at Hope while Giuliana stood off to the side, enjoying the calmness that surrounded them. The safe house was secluded without a soul in sight. Woods dressed with tall trees hid the house from view and Giuliana knew why the Mikaelsons chose this house to escape to. She could almost picture them sitting inside around the fireplace or having a quiet meal together and hoped that they would be able to share more moments of that nature when Esther and Mikael were taken care of.
She then stole a glance at Audrey who was nervously crumpling the ends of her wish between her nimble fingers. She normally wouldn't have noticed it, but the sounds of the paper being crushed and smoothed out again were cutting through the sounds of the crackling fire. The entire day Audrey had been quiet, reserved, uncomfortable. It was so unlike Audrey to act this way. Giuliana tried to peek at the wish, but she couldn't do so without being obvious.
"Hey! Look what I found!" Rebekah called excitedly and waved an item that was clutched in her hand. It was a bulky Polaroid camera that had been stashed away in one of the closets upstairs. "I wonder if it will work."
"Oh, bloody hell." Klaus groaned, not wanting to partake in this.
"Come on, let's try it!" She joined the group and handed it to Klaus. "Hey, Nik, do you think you can cram us all into a selfie?"
"Oh, Niklaus is a virtuoso at cramming his siblings into confined spaces." Elijah chortled.
"Well, I'm just glad I traveled hundreds of miles to visit my mentally ill brother, only to have him insult me to my face!" Klaus grumbled.
"Oh, come on, just take the picture!" His little sister rolled her eyes and everyone squeezed in close. Audrey was on the outside of Klaus, a dainty hand placed on his chest. Hayley and Hope were on the other side of Klaus followed by Rebekah, Giuliana and Elijah. The green eyed vampire smiled sweetly for the camera, but her breath caught in her chest feeling Elijah's hand snake around her waist. She cast a sideways glance at him, but he continued to look at the camera, so she did the same. Klaus held up the camera and everyone smiled as his finger pressed down on the button. The camera made a sound and the film came out of the bottom, which Rebekah took out of the slot and waved it in the air. Slowly, the picture developed and they all looked upon their smiling faces.
"Aw, see?" Rebekah grinned and studied the photo. It really was a good picture of all of them. Everyone was looking at the camera lense and no one's eyes were closed. "I wish that it could always be like this."
"If wishes were horses..." Elijah murmured.
"Beggars would ride." Klaus sighed ruefully. The group continued to gaze upon the photograph, but it was the immortal hybrid's smile that soured first.
"You realize we'll have to burn it." It was the thing no one wanted to hear, but Klaus was right. Everyone's smiles suddenly melted into drawn long stares. "You want me to make a wish for the family, Rebekah? I wish it didn't have to be like this. But, it does."
"We can't risk it falling into the wrong hands." He handed the photo to Hayley who reluctantly took it between her fingers. As much as she didn't want to admit it, Klaus was right. If this picture got to any of their enemies, Hope would be in immense danger and that was a risk she was not willing to take. Hayley took one more long look at the photo before letting it fall into the bonfire and turning away from it. She couldn't bare to watch the faces of the people she called her family burn and char into nothing.
"No! This isn't right!" Rebekah cried sadly. "We deserve this. We've earned this. I won't let it slip away. I know what to do to stop Esther."
"Rebekah, no-" Elijah tried to interject, but his little sister's mind was made
"I'm going to take her deal," the blonde vampire said. "And when I do, I'm taking her down with me."
"This is madness." Klaus' gruff admission sent a shiver up Audrey's spine. She pulled her jacket tighter around her body as the pair slid through the thin opening of the metal gate to the cemetery. A hooting owl sat perched up in the hollowed hole of a towering tree and crickets played their eerie song against the backdrop of the night sky.
Despite everyone's protests, Rebekah would take Esther's deal in the hopes of putting her down once and for all. Her siblings fought her tooth and nail, but Rebekah was unmoving. Her time spent with Hope really made her remember what it was like to be a human and to feel alive. She swore when she rocked Hope to sleep that she would give up anything to have that feeling back again and she was finally presented with the opportunity. By taking Esther's deal to become reborn as a human, her siblings had to think of a way to bring down their wicked mother once and for all. It was risky, but they had to try.
"Of all the idiotic things my sister has done over the years, this is the worst."
"Rebekah is a grown woman, Klaus. She must make her own choices." Audrey told him.
Klaus jogged forward a bit to catch up with her quick strides. "Normally you'd be one to agree with me."
"Can't a person change their mind?" She chuckled. Her hybrid counterpart zoomed ahead and stopped right in front of her. Audrey halted, almost slamming into his chest.
"You've been quiet; distant." He mentioned and she stayed silent, keeping her eyes locked with the ground.
"It's nothing. Just a long day." She tried to sidestep him, but he was quick to stop her again. He placed his large hands upon her shoulders, holding her in place so she wouldn't continue on without him. A hand under her chin made her blue eyes meet his own and Klaus searched for an answer from her that would explain her odd behavior.
"Klaus..." Trepidation reflected in her icy gaze and her voice shook as if she'd been left out in the freezing cold.
"Audrey, please." He had become worried now. Never had she been so hard to read. While Audrey was a powerful witch and a force to be reckoned with, her features would always give way to how she feeling. Standing before him now, she looked like a blank canvas, void of any color.
"I just realized," the witch broke his stare and dug her hand inside the pocket of her jacket. In between her fingers was a small folded piece of paper which she extended out to him.
"I never told you my wish." She watched as he weighed the paper in his hands. Her heart rose up to sit in her throat, waiting for him to speak. She thought about her wish long and hard all day, but as soon as she held Hope in her arms, her fingers didn't hesitate to scrawl the words onto the paper. Klaus' fingers slid under the fold, just seconds away from opening the paper, but shouting from further within the cemetery made them both stop and listen.
"Mother, please! You can't do this." Rebekah cried.
"I must. The spell has already been started." Esther reassured her in a calm voice.
Klaus cursed his family's impeccably bad timing, pocketed the wish and he and Audrey rushed through the cemetery, following the voices. Soon they were at the very same alter where Hope was to be sacrificed by Genevieve and her coven. Esther stood near and alter with Kol by her side and Rebekah across from them. An overturned hourglass sat between them on the alter along with a sharp athame.
"Mother, think this through. You gave birth to this body, you can't destroy it!" The blonde pleaded.
"I am only destroying its flesh! Your beautiful soul will live on in the body of another." Her mother smiled. "I have chosen well for you. A beautiful girl. Strong."
"Mother! Stop the spell!" Klaus bellowed from the top of a roof of mausoleum. Audrey then appeared from beside Kol and used her magic to make him drop to his knees.
"You and your traitorous son." The hybrid added, his eyes glaring at Kol.
"Nik, I didn't know anything about it, I swear." Kol gritted through his teeth.
"Sure you didn't, you coward." Audrey squeezed her hands into tight fists, making Kol sink further into the dirt.
"Oh, good. I'm glad you two boys are friends again." Esther said, finally realizibg that Kol had betrayed her. "I did wonder what you'd been up to in your time away. Now, I know."
"Stop the blasted spell!" Klaus growled.
"I'm afraid that's impossible."
"Anything is possible." He said before stepping in front of his little sister. "Take me instead."
Rebekah blanched, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Nik, no!"
"If only you'd taken my offer when it was still mine to give! Unfortunately, you've left me no choice but to make a deal...with Mikael."
"Mikael?" Rebekah shrieked.
"When Finn and Kol went missing, I needed a new ally. All he wanted was the right to kill you." Esther explained and trailed off to glare at Klaus, but quickly turned her attention to a writhing Kol.
"Kol, I would ask you to deliver the stake to your father, but it seems your loyalties have been compromised." Esther sighed in disapproval.
"Soon, he will be compromised when his head is detached from his shoulders." Audrey threatened.
Esther glanced over at Audrey and her murderous expression faded to a somber one. "Pity. You'd so easily kill someone's child."
"And you wanted to kill your own granddaughter, so what's the difference?" The other witch hissed. Clenching her fists, Kol shouted out in pain and doubled over on himself.
"You seemed to be very protective over a child that isn't yours." She frowned.
Audrey turned an extended hand to Esther, imparting her powers on her as well. The elder witch wavered on her feet, but held both hands, flexing her fingers toward Audrey who flinched, but kept herself split between both Esther and her snake of a son. Klaus let out a feral growl, launching himself at his mother, but she was quick to restrain him with her magic.
"You hate all of your children." Audrey gritted. "That's why you're giving them an ultimatum. You can't even love them for the disservice that you've done to them. The way I see it, you're the monster."
"They've become monsters on their own accords." The elder witch protested. "It's a shame you can't see that."
"Stop the spell, Esther!" Klaus shouted, his muscles contorting against his mother's magic.
"No, it's okay, Nik." His sister consoled him. "I can do this."
"Rebekah, step back." Audrey warned her. Esther was quick to act on her opponent's distraction. She threw Audrey into a large headstone, her head cracking loudly against it. The skin on her forehead split open and ruby red blood painted her pale skin. Esther chanted over her weak body and just as Klaus was ready to burst, he heard the one word he'd been waiting to hear from Kol.
"Now!"
In seconds, Klaus' plan was set into action. The sand in the hourglass had almost run out and with Esther's focus on Audrey, he was free to move. He flashed to the altar, grabbed the athame and stabbed Esther in the neck, digging the sharp point in her. His mother fell to the floor of the cemetery, finally dead, just as the rest of the sand left the hourglass. Klaus backed away from her lifeless body, stunned at what he had done while Kol tended to Rebekah's unconscious form. He then peered over at the bloodied tombstone to see that Audrey was gone. Panic flooded him, knowing that there was no way she could have gotten away and found cover so quickly. He called her name loudly, but was met with silence. Even Kol admitted to not seeing her. His angry eyes fell to his mother and within moments, her body was flung over his shoulder and he disappeared into the night.
Emerald eyes twinkled in the light of the fireplace as they scanned over the yellowing pages of the book in her lap. Giuliana had been amazed at how many books resided in the modest library inside the living room of the Mikaelson house and since no one was occupying it besides her and Elijah, she decided to save herself from impending boredom and forget about the world around her for a spell. With Rebekah, Klaus, and Audrey gone to deal with Esther and Hayley and Hope strolling about the outskirts of town, Giuliana was so enthralled in the silence of the house that she almost didn't hear Elijah's footsteps approach the archway of the room. He'd kept his distance from her all day, but that was mainly because there were more people in the house to distract him. Now he was alone with the only person who seemed to know him better than he knew himself at the moment.
Giuliana lifted her gaze from the book, her index finger keeping her place and she smiled at the Original. She'd hoped he wanted to talk more about his current predicament, so she wanted to thaw him out slowly.
"Can't sleep?" She asked him, shifting her position to let her crossed legs hang from the armchair.
Elijah was hesitant at first, but he took her bait. "I'm afraid so."
The young vampire kept her eyes trained on him for a few more moments before going back to reading. A few moments had passed before hearing Elijah step further into the room. As much as she was bursting that he was opening up to her, she knew she had to be patient with him.
"May I...ask you something?" His speech caught her off guard, but she quickly covered it up and nodded.
"Of course." She closed the book with a soft thunk and placed it down on the coffee table. Her attention was now solely on him and while it was something he desperately wanted, it made him even more anxious as she stared into him with her emerald eyes.
"How did you manage to break my compulsion?" He asked her. "You're a young vampire and that compulsion should have lasted till the end of time or until I revoked it; none of which had happened."
Giuliana breathed in deeply and pushed herself up from the couch. She walked to meet him, with one hand in the pocket of her jeans. She'd already mulled over the words in her head, knowing she'd have to come clean sooner or later.
"I figured you'd ask." She admitted before retrieving a gold orb from her pocket. The outer layer was decorated quite elegantly with swirls and curves on the outer layer. Rather than explain herself, Giuliana placed the sphere in Elijah's open palm. He rolled it around and examined it closely. His thumbnail flicked the latch on the top open and he brought it to his nose to smell. He recognized the scent immediately, a dull burn registering in his nostrils.
"Klaus gave it to me before you and I left to meet Rebekah." She said hesitantly, unsure of his reaction to her having vervain in her pocket the entire time. She watched as he closed the latch and handed it back to her.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but...Klaus was worried that I was going alone with you to the diner." She explained while trying to read his expression.
"No need for apologies." He shook his head, finally meeting her eyes. "After my indiscretions last night, I cannot be trusted."
"Do you really think I believe that?" She asked him. "Elijah, there is no one I would trust more than you."
The Original held up his hand, a low ember of anger in her naivety. "Do not say words you do not mean, Giuliana."
"But I do mean them. Every word." She stressed. "The only reason I came to New Orleans was because you told me that you would keep me safe."
"And it seems I have gone back on that promise." He replied gruffly.
"Not of your own free will!" The vampire protested.
"Giuliana, please-"
"Please, what, Elijah?" She threw her hands in the air frustratedly. He remained silent and turned his back on her, his gaze was now trained on the glowing embers in the fireplace. "When will you see that I would follow you into the darkness and follow you out? What will it take for you to see that?"
A gust of wind brushed against her cheeks and Elijah was standing toe to toe with her. He stared her down, his rage bubbling beneath the surface even with his attempts to calm himself. In his rush, she flinched and that further added to Elijah's guilt, but he kept that part of him hidden away beneath the shadows. He met her deep green gaze and he watched her swallow thickly before he continued speaking.
"If you plan to do what you say you will, then you will meet your own end." Wisps of dark veins pulsated along his cheekbones while his dark eyes seemed to grow impossibly darker and became tinged with red. She knew why he was showing her this part of him. He was hoping to frighten her away like he had done at the diner, but in a surprising act of bravery, she stepped closer to him and gently placed her hands upon his cheeks. His veins throbbed violently against her fingertips until she softly brushed them into nonexistence. Slowly, she watched him revert into the dapper Original she knew; the man she had fallen in love with.
"Look at me." Her request was a simple one, however he did not follow it. In every effort, he tried to avert his eyes, but she held him firmly in place. When his eyes finally did meet hers, she ran her thumb along his tightened jaw line.
"When you look at me, what do you see?"
It was the same question he had asked her just hours earlier and her answer was still on repeat in his mind despite what his wicked mother had done to distort it. Her words echoed like a beacon of light in the dark, guiding him back to the man he wanted to become. Looking in her eyes now, he could see nothing but warmth and light, both forces he wanted nothing more than to gravitate to. He felt the entire world fall away from under him. He could hear nothing, but the crackling of wood in the fire place. He could see nothing, but her; the woman he had fallen in love with.
In a rush, Elijah had Giuliana's back pressed against a tall bookshelf at the opposite wall of the room. Her body slammed against it with such force, that some books shook and fell from their place on the shelf. His lips fused to hers and Giuliana's arms came up to snake around his neck. Her nails raked through his locks and a gruff growl erupted from his chest. He pressed her back harder into the bookcase and hiked her legs up around his waist. Giuliana locked her ankles tightly together and purred against his lips feeling his hardness nestled between her legs. Her nimble fingers fiddled with the buttons of his dress shirt before becoming frustrated with them and ripping it down the middle. The crisp sound of the stitches severing from the fabric was heavenly and in close competition with the sucking noises he made with his lips against her throat. His tongue traced her heated skin and she whimpered while mapping out every taut muscle on his chest. Blissful sighs fell from her like water from a fountain and she let herself become enveloped in the very essence that was Elijah Mikaelson.
Suddenly, the Original found himself seated in the armchair closest to the fireplace with a disheveled Giuliana atop his lap. He leaned up to place his hands on her waist, but Giuliana pressed him back down into the cushions with a smirk painting her swollen lips. Her shirt joined his tattered one on the floor and she bent down to press kisses along his neck. Her hands immediately went for his belt, weaving the expensive leather off from around his waist and depositing it onto the floor despite his wriggling beneath her. He let out a loud gasp when he felt her fangs brush against a vein in his neck and one of his hands found her long tresses, knotting them around his fingers. He yanked whenever her teeth nipped at his skin, his nails digging into her aching scalp. She was purring against him, her body writhing to meet his own. She pierced the flesh of his neck and Elijah groaned loudly, his pleasure amounting to unreachable heights as she daintily sucked the blood from his veins. The hand in her hair slid back to the base of her neck and gently squeezed, making her unlatch her fangs and peer down at him.
She smiled, her supple lips painted with his blood and he leaned up to kiss the ruby red paint away. Giuliana squealed against his lips feeling him stand and lift her up by her rear with him, but kept her lips fused to his. Elijah then carried her to the coffee table in front of the fireplace and laid her down on top of it. He yanked her pants off roughly and snapped her panties to the floor with a flick of his wrists. He crouched down over her naked body, his hands squeezing and tugging and kneading her olive flesh as if to imprint himself onto her, so she would never forget how his skin felt against hers. With her feet, she managed to push his own garments down his legs and finally, blessedly, their naked bodies were nestled together. His hand reached between them, palming his rigid length before roughly sheathing himself deep inside her. The back of Giuliana's head connected with the mahogany coffee table and a long, loud moan tumbled from her lips.
Elijah's forehead pressed into hers, his hot pants tickling her breasts as his thrusts kept up a steady pace. Giuliana pulled him closer to her, her hands desperately searching for something to cling to, so she settled her digging her nails within the skin of his strong back. She could feel the sinew and muscles shifting with each buck against her. His lips were at her ear now, his gruff moans only spurring her arousal even further to her much needed fulfillment. The heat of the fire played along the backs of his legs and tickled her lower body, adding to the many sensations that were going haywire inside her. Elijah's thrusts abruptly quickened, his hips snapping harshly as he sensed her tightening around him. Giuliana raked her nails down his back, beads of red emerging from the skin appeared as swiftly as they disappeared. Her moans grew louder and she thanked the gods that no other homes were in the area. She was losing herself in him and part of her wanted the whole world to hear it.
"Elijah..." His name sounded like a sweet honey on her lips and that only made him more ravenous. In one movement, he gripped her wrists, extracted her nails from his back and pinned them down on the table. He stared down at her, bare and wantonly his. Elijah's fangs were now present and he flashed them at her, holding her down and pounding into her until the right moment. It didn't take long, for her eyes rolled back in their sockets and her mouth opened, breathy pleas of him to join her fell upon his ears. The Original buried his fangs within her neck and Elijah was certain her shrill screams could wake the dead. Her body convulsed only as much as Elijah allowed it and she rode the waves of her orgasm while drank, moaning into her skin while spilling himself inside her. Giuliana let her body shake before falling limp and Elijah drank till he was drunk off her. He extracted his fangs and lapped up the closing wounds with his tongue. He watched her eyes dance behind drooping eyelids and he delivered one final kiss before they both succumbed to the darkness from the final embers in the fireplace dying out.
*kicks down door* Sorry for the late updates everyone. It's been hectic with the school year finishing up, graduation and rehearsals for a musical that I am in this summer. I hope everyone has been enjoying their summer.
Looks like Esther is up to her old tricks again. What do you think she did with Audrey? Klaus never got the chance to open Audrey's wish, what could she have wished for? Do you think Elijah and Giuliana's newly budding romance will stay strong? Or will Elijah's demons force Giuliana out of his arms and into another's? Let me hear what you think!
BrittStar1199: Thank you so much for reviewing! I think Audrey's fear is very real. It was explained a bit more in this chapter, however we still do not know what her wish for the bonfire was. You will find that out in the coming chapters ;) Davina is probably my least favorite character on the show because she is immature like a child. Don't get me wrong, Danielle Campbell is absolutely GORGEOUS (seriously, she's one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen), but Davina still has a lot of growing up to do. Hehe, you asked for smut and you got it! I wanted to keep the tension between Elijah and Giuliana going the entire chapter. I hope you enjoyed reading it.
NicoleR85: Thanks so much for reviewing Nicole! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far :) I hope you liked this chapter! Which couple do you like better? Klaus and Audrey or Elijah and Giuliana?
CarlyLynn: Thank you for reviewing Carly! It makes me so happy that you're loving what you're reading! What do you think Audrey's wish was?
xJenzaFreakx: Hello my friend! Thank you as always for leaving a solid review :) It makes me sad that people stopped watching both shows. I'll admit, I fell off the wagon a bit and have been using the summer to play catch up. I will continue to write as long as I have material to write with, so no worries there! I am over the moon that you feel my OCs fit in so well with the story. I find that's a more difficult aspect of writing with original characters. I want them to become so blended that a newcomer can't tell which is which. You're awesome! I hope you have been enjoying your summer :)
