The next day, Elena and Rebekah had found themselves wandering around the French quarter; they where searching for any clue on the whereabouts of the witch Marcel had saved from the harvest. Klaus, Elijah and Kol had gone in search of wolves that the hybrid could turn, he promised a safe and uneventful day as to ease her worry.
So far, there had be no sign of Davina; usually on these excursions, Elena liked being with Rebekah, she wouldn't instantly shut down all of her ideas in what to do next, she may not always be happy about it but the blonde original always saw the upside to them.
They where heading to Rousseau's next, Elena was sure that Rebekah just wanted a drink, she seemed somewhat bored but she remembered meeting Marcel there and a few of his inner circle vampires hung out there, it was worth a try.
When they walked inside, Elena had spotted the very same bartender that worked the night she met Marcel, she approached the bar and sat down on the stool, it was relatively quiet during the day, maybe a few tourists or locals having an early drink, nothing too suspicious.
"Hey, what can I get you?" The blonde behind the bar asked.
"We'll take two beers, love," Rebekah interjected, holding a 20 towards her, "keep the change."
"Coming up," she grinned kindly towards them both before scurrying of to fulfil the orders.
"Are you really that bored?" Elena questioned, slightly amused at Rebekah.
"You aren't? We've been walking around aimlessly all morning, at least it's noon and it's socially acceptable to drink!"
"Well, we're only having one then we're leaving, still got a lot of ground to cover," she exclaimed, the blonde vampire not at all happy about there venture.
"Here you go," the bartender placed the two bottles down, shooting them a kind smile, "if you need anything, give me a shout."
"Actually, there is something you can help me with, if you don't mind?" Elena asked pleasantly, putting on an innocent bystander act.
"Sure, what is it?"
"Well, I'm new to town and I came here in hopes of a historical visit, can you recommend anywhere to me? I'm totally lost," she spoke coyly, laughing slightly.
"Of course, it's a beautiful city, there's the old Ursuline convent museum, The Cabildo state museum and there's a jazz museum-"
"That's great, thank you for your help," Elena interjected, "that sounds like enough for one day."
"Well, I hope you have a great trip," just before the bartender could leave, Rebekah caught her attention, locking her eyes on hers and staring intently.
"Rebekah, what are you doing?" Elena whispered angrily, trying not to catch the attention of the other patrons.
"I'm bored of walking," Rebekah turned her full attention back to the bartender, her pupils dilating, "what's your name, darling?"
"Camille," she spoke, her voice empty and somewhat robotic.
"Lovely name," Rebekah paused for a long moment, "so, tell me why you're here in New Orleans?"
"I had to come," she was forced to speak the truth.
"Why is that?"
"My brother, he massacred 9 people at the church, my uncle is the priest there,"
Elena's brow furrowed out of confusion at her answer, both girls shooting a glance at each other, before Rebekah focused on Cami again, "is that St. Anne's church?"
"Yes, no-one visits there anymore, I only ever see the odd person go in to see my uncle," she was still speaking mindlessly, Elena always felt guilty when vampires compelled humans to reveal there personal business, it was a complete violation of privacy.
"You've been very helpful, thank you," she smiled kindly towards Cami, the bartender responding the same, "now, forget we had this conversation, you remember meeting us, giving us a beer and that was that."
Rebekah broke the compulsion and Cami continued on with her day, not even realising she had just shared probably one of her darkest secrets.
"Come on," Elena stood from the stool and Rebekah followed, "we need to get to that church."
"Elena, we don't know what to expect from there, if Davina is in there, big If, how are we going to be able to defend ourselves against a powerful witch?"
"We'll figure it out when we get there," Elena shrugged her shoulders lightly, spinning on her heel and walking down the street, Rebekah quickly grabbed her arm and stopped her in her tracks.
"This is too dangerous, we might need help," Rebekah took out her phone and began scrolling through the contacts; Elena quickly took the phone from her and locked the screen, "we can't phone the guys, they're busy and we don't exactly have many other friends here, we'll just go check it out, talk to the priest and feel the place out."
"So, recon mission?" Rebekah questioned, starting to get onboard with the plan.
"Exactly, you'll be able to hear if she's in there somewhere," Elena watched as she pondered her suggestion, eventually rolling her eyes and agreeing.
"Fine but if something happens, I'm blaming you."
"I can deal with that," Elena smiled as they both began walking towards the church, Rebekah was still cautious but if they where sneaky enough, no-one would know they where there.
"My brothers are going to kill you when they find out," Rebekah laughed slightly, taunting the young Gilbert.
"Well, I can always take my clothes off for one of them," she spoke, a small smirk curling up on her lips, "he won't stay mad for long."
"Okay, you win, that's disgusting," they both laughed as they continued to walk, nearing the church.
Elena walked inside first, her eyes scanning the area; it was empty and lifeless, she couldn't feel anything but darkness from the building. They walked further down the aisle, approaching the main alter.
"Can I help you?" She heard a male voice call out, walking in behind them.
"We're just looking around, we're on holiday," Elena extended arm towards the priest, offering her hand, "I'm Elena."
"I'm Father Kieran," he took her hand and shook it gently, returning her smile, "I run the church now, we don't get many visitors so I was slightly surprised by your presence."
"Why doesn't anyone visit? It's beautiful," she continued to look around, distracting the priest whilst Rebekah silently snooped around.
"Too many bad memories," she noticed his gaze had flickered to the floor for a long moment, regret in his demeanour.
"Oh, I think I heard that something happened here," Elena tried to stall, she looked over the priests shoulder and found Rebekah walking towards the back of the church, her ear pointed towards a door hidden away from the public eye; she listened in for a few long seconds before raising her thumb up to Elena.
"Yes, well, we don't like to talk about that," he tried to end the subject as quick as it started.
"I understand, of course," she smiled towards Rebekah when she joined her at her side, "well, the church is beautiful, thank you for showing me it."
"Sure, anytime," he waved slightly as he watched them walk out, they kept there pace slow enough to not raise suspicion until they where outside.
"So, there's definitely someone in there, a young girl, the door wouldn't open, she'll be protecting herself with magic," Rebekah stated, they kept walking as to not raise suspicion of there presence there, "we're best telling my brothers first, then we'll come and get her."
"Maybe we should just go," Elena spoke abruptly, her frustration apparent, "Marcel could move her before your brothers get here."
"The door was locked, we'd never be able to get in," Rebekah responded.
"Maybe it's just spelled against vampires, I'm human, it might work and if not, compel father Kieran to open it, he must be able to get in considering it's his church."
"It's risky, Elena, we can't, we need my brothers."
"Your brothers aren't here, we don't know when they'll get back and we can handle it without them, you're just as strong as them, Rebekah," her voice turned soft as she appealed to the kind nature in the blonde vampire, she knew they'd be fine, she just had to convince her, "they'll be more angry if we found her then lost her."
Rebekah knew that part was true, she hated disappointing her siblings, especially when they where all getting along so good for the first time in a thousand years; she reluctantly nodded her head and sighed slightly, "fine, let's go."
Elena stood by the church entrance as Rebekah entered, Father Kieran was still stood by the altar; she waved her hand towards him, gesturing for him to come nearer, "hello again, I'm sorry to be a pain but do you have a phone I could borrow? Mines just bloody died on me and I have no idea where I'm going, we've only been here a couple of days."
"Sure, of course, there's one in the office," Father Kieran held his hand out towards the side of the church and she followed his direction.
Elena watched as they walked away from the main room and quietly snuck in behind them, walking as quickly and as quietly as she could towards the door at the back; she wrapped her hand around the handle and took a deep breath, she twisted it slowly and it unlocked.
She pushed the door open and walked up the stairs quietly, she was surprised the church had an attic, she couldn't even fathom why Marcel would keep her locked away up here, especially if she was only a child. There was another door at the top of the stairs, she pushed it open gently and peered her head around, seeing a young girl standing behind an easel with a paintbrush in hand.
"What are you doing here?" The young girl spoke frantically.
"It's okay," Elena spoke reassuringly, "is this not part of the church tour?"
"No," Davina said, folding her arms across her chest.
"Oh, my mistake," Elena smiled innocently, taking a step over the threshold and entering the room, "what are you doing up here? Shouldn't you be at home?"
Davina watched her moves carefully as she entered the room and started edging towards the sideboard where her phone lay, "I know who you are."
"Then you know why I'm here," Elena spoke, her tone of voice completely serious, "you shouldn't be locked up here."
"It's for my own protection," she got closer to her phone, her eyes flickering to the device and back to Elena.
"Let's talk," Elena suggested, catching Davina's movements and seeing the phone, "if you call Marcel, he will kill me and you know I'm human, I couldn't come in here if I was a vampire or a witch."
Davina was silent, contemplating her next course of action; she couldn't be found by the witches, they would kill her and if she called Marcel, he would definitely kill Elena, maybe she could use this to her advantage.
"I'm not going to hurt you," Elena took another step closer, watching the witch carefully.
"Everyone says that, the only person who hasn't hurt me is Marcel," she exclaimed, slight annoyance in her tone of voice.
"No, he just locked you up here and used you for your magic," Elena spoke coldly.
"He's protecting me, if the witches find out I'm here they'll kill me, Marcel makes sure no-one touches me and in return, I track when they're using magic in the quarter," Davina explained, her voice full of emotion, she owed her life to Marcel.
"I'm guessing he hasn't told you about Esther? Or the original family?" Elena wasn't trying to sound abrupt but she had to make her see sense, "or how they're basically all at war with each other?"
Davina remained silent for a long moment, her eyes flickering to the easel beside her; she walked towards it and gazed at it for a long moment, "is that Esther?"
She picked the canvas up and turned it around to show Elena, the painting was done in black and charcoal grey and it appeared to be a rough outline of Esther, "yes, that's her, so you do know about her?"
"I saw her in a dream," she spoke quietly before placing the canvas back on the easel and turning her attention back to Elena, "who is she?"
"She's the original witch, born a thousand years ago, she's very dangerous," Elena tilted her head to the side, slightly surprised how oblivious Davina was, "what else did you see in your dream?"
"She was drawing in magic, a lot of it," she spoke, her voice dire and serious, "and blood everywhere."
"You should come with me, Davina, I can keep you safe, a lot safer than Marcel can," she took another step closer to her, feeling slight pity for the young witch, she was barely 15 and locked away in an attic with half of the city out to kill her.
"I don't know anything about you, you could be trying to kill me," she became defensive.
"My name is Elena, I'm not actually from here, I'm from a small town called Mystic Falls, I came here with the original family, they're the first vampires in all of existence, they where here 3 centuries ago and they want to live here again," she explained briefly, trying to keep the more personal details to herself, "I came across the original witch once before, she kidnapped me and wanted to use me for my blood, then she would have just killed me like it was nothing."
"Wow," Davina didn't know what else to say.
"Esther is trying to take over the quarter and kill all vampires, she wants to complete the harvest and take all the power for herself, if you don't believe me, question Marcel, see how he reacts," she paused for a long moment, reaching into her pocket after feeling her phone vibrate, "I have to go, I'll come back tomorrow, just be careful; Marcel isn't good, he'll hurt you in the end."
Before Davina could respond, she left, walked down the stairs and back into the main room, it was completely empty, maybe Rebekah and father Kieran where still in the office, she went straight for the exit and closed the door behind her.
She took out her phone and scrolled through the numerous missed calls and texts; mostly of Klaus, a couple of Elijah and Rebekah trying to find her, she dialled her number and pressed the phone to her ear, she could hear the ringing without having the phone pressed to her ear; she walked around the corner and saw the blonde vampire standing a short distance away from the church.
"Elena," she called, walking quickly towards her, "are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, we need to head back, I have so much to tell you."
-w-
Back at the plantation, the entire family had returned; they where all sat in the kitchen, the men where covered in blood and dirt from trekking around the woods all day and Rebekah was eager to learn about Davina.
Elena had hold of a cup of coffee and sat at the table with the rest of them, there attention completely on her.
"I don't even know where to start," she paused for a long moment, her eyes flickering between the siblings before finally landing on Klaus, "we did find Davina, she doesn't know anything about the vampires or witches, she has no clue we're even here in New Orleans, Marcel has been keeping her in the dark."
"So, you learnt nothing?" Elijah questioned, slightly disappointed by risking Elena's life for no information.
"She's been having dreams about Esther," she looked back to Klaus, watching as his facial expressions changed as he remembered.
"Of course," Klaus murmured.
"Well, share with the group," Kol spoke sarcastically and impatiently.
"The night Esther took me, I had a dream about her and Finn standing outside the mansion talking to me, it felt so real that it woke me, it was like it drew me too them and I went outside and they where there; when we where in the crypt, she told me she planted the visions in my sleep."
"And you think she's doing the same to Davina?" Rebekah spoke.
"Yes, it makes sense, if she wants Davina to complete the ritual, then what better way then to lure her to her," Elena explained, sympathising with Davina as she spoke, "if Davina keeps getting these visions, she may follow them one day and walk straight into a trap."
"We must get her, now," Rebekah stated, "if our mother kills her and completes the ritual, she'll take all that power for herself, no-one in New Orleans will stand a chance."
"We can't get her yet, she doesn't trust me, I told her to talk to Marcel and I'll return for her tomorrow, she has to see for herself that everyone lies to her and we're her only hope of survival."
"And what if she doesn't want to go with Marcel?" Rebekah questioned.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Elena paused for a long moment, she had a few back up ideas but she wasn't willing to share just yet, they may not approve, "let's change the subject, how did it go with the wolves?"
"It was a success," Klaus started, his attention on Elena completely, "although, we did learn something today, when we ventured out to the Bayou, we couldn't find any wolves."
"What do you mean?" Elena asked, her brow furrowed.
"After a while of searching, we found them but they where in wolf form," Klaus paused for a long moment, "we had to escape the Bayou and go out of town to find another pack of wolves, when we did eventually find some and I turned them into hybrids, they informed us of a curse placed on the crescent wolves."
"What kind of curse?" Rebekah interjected abruptly.
"Marcel made a witch curse the wolves back in the 1900s, so they could only turn human on a full moon and that's all we know."
"And it's the least of our problems, brother, we'll handle the wolves after we win this war," Elijah stated, his frustration apparent, "it's been a rather long day, is there anything else we need to discuss?"
"I don't think so," Elena shrugged her shoulders, her eyes flickering from Klaus to Elijah, she noticed how exhausted he looked, "maybe we should all rest up tonight, go over the plan tomorrow?"
"I can get onboard with that," Kol smirked before leaving the room, quick enough so no-one could change there mind, Elijah and Rebekah followed closely behind and then Klaus and Elena.