Thank you to Senema for her Beta and her always constructive criticism, she really makes this story better.

Enjoy the next chapter. Sorry for the wait but I had two stressful weeks and no time to write. At least it is for my conditions a long one 'lol

Chapter 11

Dan watched tensely when Charlotte and Freya Mikaelson entered the interrogation room together. He had to use all his willpower not to follow Charlotte in there and get her out, now that he knew what Elijah Mikealson really was.

When he had seen the code on the bail-hearing permit, he barely believed his eyes. He had never seen a code with this kind of danger level belonging to a supernatural being before, and something told him he never would again.

He swallowed as he realized how close Chloe, he and the police officers had probably been to being compelled or perhaps even killed, when they had arrested Elijah. It was highly unusual for such an old vampire to allow himself to be arrested by humans.

On the other hand, during the whole evening Dan had not once suspected that Elijah was a vampire. Although he had spoken mostly with Lucifer, for such a rich guy he had been friendly and sociable enough with the rest of them. Dan wondered if the fact they spent the evening together was the reason Elijah had surrendered so willingly to them.

However, Dan now knew with absolute certainty that Elijah had not committed this particular murder. He snorted contemptuously, as if a vampire would kill someone with a knife.

But before he could go and take part in the interrogation, Dan first needed more information on Elijah, which he would never get through regular channels. His gaze sought Shelley, the secretary, who had been so clumsy when Freya had mentioned her name. He knew she was a council agent; she had taken over his position after he had to break off all contact with the council.

Dan sighed. Before he made his confession, he had sent a message to the council that he had compromised himself and would soon be under surveillance. The council's job of protecting ordinary people from the supernatural was too important. He hadn't wanted to whatever happened to him after his confession to affect this vital task.

Dan moved up next to Shelley, who stood at her desk sorting the files she'd dropped. "We need to talk now!" He whispered so that no one else could hear him.

Shelley swallowed and nodded. "At the usual place."

Dan walked on and took the slightly longer route until he reached a room where they could talk undisturbed. Shelley joined him only a little later.

"Who is Elijah Mikaelson?" Dan got straight to the point.

"A vampire, very old", Shelley replied reluctantly.

"You don't say", Dan said sarcastic. "I realized that too after seeing his code."

Shelley looked at him carefully. "What code?"

"The code on the bail hearing authorization", Dan replied mockingly. "However, I also noticed that this bail hearing was not initiated by the council."

Shelley turned pale. "A bail hearing authorization? But the council wants him to stay in prison, where he is in our power and we can regulate who can get to him."

Dan frowned suspiciously. "Well, then the council will have a big problem at 8 p.m. at the latest. An extremely angry vampire, who knows that someone has lured him into a trap, will go searching for those who did this to him. And now I ask again, who exactly is Elijah Mikaelson?"

Shelley swallowed. "He's one of the Originals."

Dan looked at her dumbstruck. He might not know much about the supernatural world, but even he had heard of the Originals. "Has the council gone mad? Do they honestly think that they can control an Original? If what people say about the Originals is true, Elijah can just walk out of jail if he feels like it."

"According to our informants he will play the human as long as he is not provoked or believes himself to be in acute danger." Shelley looked at him defiantly. "The council has a plan and powerful allies, who will help us with the execution."

"And what is this fabulous plan?" Dan asked through clenched teeth.

"You don't belong to us anymore. I have only answered your previous questions so that you know, what kind of monster you are going to encounter in this room." Shelley looked haughtily at him.

"And who is Freya Mikaelson, also a vampire?" Dan ignored Shelley's feeble attempt to frighten him.

"No, she's a very powerful witch and she recognized me as a witch too", Shelley replied a little more meekly.

"Perhaps you shouldn't have drawn her attention to yourself", Dan sneered. Why had the council sent such an incompetent amateur to his important police station?

Shelley looked at the floor, embarrassed. "I was so surprised to hear her name, she is a legend among witches. And she is here much too soon! Who initiated this bail hearing?"

"Charlotte's boss, Dennis Radern. It seems he owes Elijah's family some big favours so he put his best lawyer on Elijah's case", answered Dan calmly. "And he must have pulled a lot of strings to get this hearing so fast and on a Sunday."

"Damn it, we didn't know that the Originals had this kind of sway and contacts in Los Angeles. The council has counted on more time." Shelley looked chagrined.

"Let me guess, Sharon Cosby isn't in the know about your little plan either. By the way, shouldn't it be your job to make sure that no supernatural being stays in prison longer than absolutely necessary?" Dan looked at her full of contempt.

Shelley had a dark expression on her face. "There are more important things at work here. And our plan is good."

Dan snorted derisively. "Have you never heard that no plan ever survives the first contact with the enemy?" He checked his watch. "Damn it, I have to go back! I don't want Chloe alone in the room with a vampire, who might feel backed into a corner. She doesn't know what she's dealing with.

I now know that Elijah is innocent, he didn't murder Darren Warwick. The council better hope that I will never find evidence for their involvement in this murder. I will also blame the council for the death of any other innocent person who will get killed because of their machinations."

Dan turned and left Shelley standing. He would do everything he could to keep Chloe unaware of the monsters, who lived among humans and he counted the witches as such too. Sometimes he wished he had remained as ignorant as she was.

As a young police officer, he and a colleague had turned into the wrong alley one night and they had surprised a female vampire feeding on a young man.

Fortunately, his colleague had known what he was facing. As Dan had later learned, he always carried a small crossbow with him. His colleague hit the vampire with a wooden arrow in the heart before she knew what was happening to her.

Next, his colleague brought the shocked Dan to his home and explained to him what he had seen. He told Dan that he was a vampire hunter in his spare time and then put him in touch with the council.

For the next ten years, Dan informed the council whenever he found out that they had arrested a witch or a werewolf. However, never in this time had a vampire been under the arrested.

There had been a couple of cop murders over the years, where everything indicated for Dan that they had surprised a feeding vampire. Either the vampire had been too surprised or too uncaring to simply compel the police officers and let them live.

Dan smiled grimly to himself, even Malcom had never known what Dan was doing on the side.

Dan hurried back and saw Chloe impatiently waiting for him outside the interrogation room. "Excuse my tardiness."

"It's okay, we still have time." Chloe eyed her ex-husband. "Are you okay, Dan? You look a little agitated."

"Everything's fine", Dan replied with a smile. He wasn't going to rob Chloe of her innocence even if he had to lie to her.

Chloe looked a little doubtful but accepted his answer. "I made a few inquiries about Elijah Mikaelson His permanent residence is in New Orleans, by the way. No previous convictions, no particular abnormalities.

The New Orleans authorities have been very helpful. They consider Elijah Mikaelson a respected and valuable citizen of New Orleans, who supports and helps his community. I also asked about enemies but apparently he doesn't have any they know about."

Dan grinned inwardly. As if the New Orleans authorities, who had to know about Elijah, would dare to say anything else. "Well, then we have to ask him directly."

Elijah Mikaelson probably had so many enemies that he didn't even know where to start but he wouldn't answer their question honestly anyway.

Chloe looked at her watch. "Their time is up."

They entered the interrogation room and Dan immediately noticed that Elijah looked at him differently. Apparently, his supposed sister had told him that Dan knew about them.

Chloe sat at the table to start the interrogation while Dan leaned against the wall and listened. He just hoped that Elijah would have the patience to continue his charade at playing human, so that at least Chloe could remain in the dark. Judging by Charlotte's too knowing eyes with which she looked at him it was already too late for her.

xxxxx

Seeing Freya coming through the door let something in Elijah finally breathe a sigh of relief. Although he had already heard her voice beforehand from the outside, it was much better to see her in front of him. Moreover, the fact that she saw with a glance how close he was to the edge calmed and comforted him too.

As much as he would have liked to rip the blood bag out of Charlotte's hand, he didn't want to startle her. And the restrained way he drank from the blood bag was because of her too. She might be a goddess, but she was also partly human. In addition, humans who saw vampires drinking blood for the first time often felt disgusted.

When Freya then held out the mug of coffee to him, he really wanted to hug her, but that had to wait. Elijah grabbed the mug and Freya let go of it with a knowing smile.

The first sip of coffee made him smile with satisfaction. Freya had taken the trouble to buy him really good coffee and of course she had ordered it exactly as he preferred.

With one ear, he heard Freya making fun of him and his addiction to coffee.

"You know that I can hear you, sister, do you?" Elijah asked amused.

With the cheeky grin that he loved so much about his sister, Freya approached Elijah. "I am aware of that, brother."

Elijah took her in his arms and hid his face in her neck. He hadn't dared lose control since last night because he never knew exactly where surveillance cameras could be at the police station.

As Freya put her arms around him too and hugged him tightly to her, he finally let his ironclad control go. Freya didn't even flinch as she felt his face change and his fangs pressed at her neck without breaking the skin. To feel her absolute trust in him soothed his beast more than coffee or blood ever could.

"We are all here, Elijah", Freya whispered in his ear. "Klaus, Rebekah and me. And we're not going to stop or give up until we find out who is behind this. "

Elijah closed his eyes and took on his human appearance again.

Elijah finally took a step back from Freya, put his hand on the side of her neck and touched her forehead with his. "I am glad you are here!"

The greeting and reunion with his sister finished and his inner beast appeased for now, Elijah turned to Charlotte and smiled at her. "Hello Charlotte, forgive my lack of manners."

"No excuse necessary, your reactions are perfectly understandable under the circumstances." Charlotte waved him off and sat down at the table. She took out the second blood bag and pushed it across the table.

Elijah and Freya sat down across from her and Freya snuggled up to Elijah while he drank the second blood bag much more slowly.

"My boss was able to organize a bail hearing. The judge knows about the supernatural and will grant your bail", Charlotte said. "But first we need to discuss our course of action during your interrogation."

Elijah finished the second bag and put the empty blood bag with the other one.

Charlotte took out a plastic bag and put the empty blood bags in before slipping it all back into her briefcase. "I guess Chloe will want to go through the whole evening again to catch you in a lie. You should stick with the style you used yesterday before I arrived. Have you thought about what to say in the rest of your interrogation?"

Elijah nodded. "I'll stick to what I said when I was arrested, just a little more elaborated."

Charlotte looked at him carefully. "Do you want to appear more emotional or more composed?"

"I leave the emotional and uncontrolled responses to my brother Niklaus." Elijah chuckled softly before looking at her seriously. "I trust he behaved himself?"

"Don't worry, Elijah, Klaus was quite restrained under the circumstances", Freya replied for Charlotte and laughed softly. "And the look on his face when Charlotte gave him your message was just divine."

Elijah smirked. "It's a shame I couldn't see it."

"Don't worry, brother, you'll definitely see it again. There is nobody better than you at putting Klaus in his place", Freya said mischievously.

"Have there been any special incidents since yesterday I should know about? Could you sleep?" Charlotte asked next.

Elijah hesitated visibly before briefly glancing at Freya. He knew how protective his sister was towards him. She would no doubt respond to what he said now. "I was in a shared cell with three thugs from the Russian Mafia."

Charlotte jerked her head up and Freya stared at him in shock.

"Could you repeat that please?" Charlotte said dangerously low.

Elijah smiled slightly. "Don't worry, Charlotte, nothing happened. After slight personality adjustments they were very friendly and polite."

"And what would have happened to you if you weren't a vampire?" Freya asked quietly. Her eyes sparkled in a way Elijah had only seen, when Freya was at her most angry and ready to hand out just punishment to their enemies.

"Best case you would visit me in the infirmary now", Elijah answered blankly.

Charlotte pressed her lips together. "Tell me exactly what happened."

Elijah did her the favour and the rising anger on the faces of the two women told him everything he needed to know about how they felt about what they were hearing.

"I got the impression the sergeant disliked Chloe. I mean, I believed him that he didn't have a solitary cell, but the allocation of my cell was sheer malice on his part. You should have seen the disappointment on his face when I left the cell completely unharmed the next morning." Elijah smiled thinly.

"Oh, I can imagine", said Charlotte. "I suppose you don't mind if I bring this up."

"No, of course not", Elijah replied calmly. "I have the skills to protect myself. What about others?"

"There's something else you should know, Elijah", Freya said seriously. "Rebekah came to New Orleans before we could inform her of your situation. Marcel disappeared a few days ago and was on a business trip in California when Rebekah last spoke to him."

Elijah's face remained motionless as he thought about Freya's words. Finally, he sighed. "I wish I could say it's unlikely that Marcel is behind this, but I can't. He has proven to be unreliable, fickle, ungrateful, and disloyal.

And where he would perhaps hesitate to take action against Rebekah and Niklaus, this does not apply to Kol, you or me." He shrugged indifferent. "His hatred of me is still strong, even if he would never admit it.

I once said to him that I have never forgiven myself for what I did. Now I can't forgive myself for not killing him sooner when I had the chance. I granted him mercy because of Niklaus and Rebekah far too often, although he didn't deserve it and I now deeply regret this fact. In retrospect, it would have been kinder to Rebekah if she had simply mourned him even if she had never spoken to me again."

Freya frowned. "This statement comes as a bit of a surprise to me."

Elijah smiled bitterly. He glanced briefly at Charlotte, but then shrugged. "I have a couple of friends in New York who keep an eye on Rebekah and Marcel for me. Marcel is cheating on her constantly and you know our sister."

"She doesn't want to acknowledge it", Freya muttered softly. "She loves that bastard, but he's always just taken advantage of her."

"Exactly! He chose to be a vampire over her love. He used her to call Mikael to New Orleans so that he could rule. He used Niklaus's and Rebekah's love to remain alive while all of his children died around him, knowing full well that he would never share their fate. He blamed us for all the deaths even though it was he, who started the war."

Elijah smiled brittle at Freya. "So tell me, sister, how far have your plans come to teach Marcel a memorable lesson? For my part, I am no longer willing to allow him to use my love I once had for him against me."

Freya returned Elijah's smile in the same way. "I have everything I need with me. When Rebekah told me of Marcel's disappearance, I quickly packed a few things just in case." She hesitated. "But it won't kill him."

"That's alright for me." Elijah shrugged. "I'll give Rebekah all the evidence I've gathered of Marcel's infidelity. Let her decide his fate. But if I should find out that he not only broke my sister's heart, but is also behind what is going on here, I will tear his heart out a second time and this time he will not come back to life."

"And Niklaus?" Asked Freya.

"Will have to live with Rebekah's and my decision", Elijah replied laconically. "By the way, does Kol know what's going on?"

"Damn it, I knew we'd forgotten something", Freya said, snapping her fingers.

"Warn him as soon as possible in case someone is after him too", Elijah calmly ordered.

"Should he come to Los Angeles too?" asked Freya.

"I doubt he will come for me", Elijah said indifferently. He had no illusion about how little Kol felt for him. He regretted it, but it couldn't be helped anymore. He understood Kol's reasons for his indifference but on the other hand, Kol had never bothered to ask for his point of view. Well, they had time, Kol had matured a lot, maybe they'd have this conversation one day.

"Besides, I think it would be better if Davina didn't hear about our plans. Her affection for her 'adoptive father' has diminished a lot now that she is older. She can finally understand how much he really used her for his own gain and how much he let her down, but I don't want her to be put in an awkward position."

"So she will not be tempted to warn him", added Freya, nodding. She looked a little unhappy. "But I still think Kol would come to your aid."

Elijah inclined his head. "Maybe, maybe not! Let me put it differently, he would come more willingly when it would be you, Niklaus or Rebekah in trouble."

For a moment, Freya looked as if she wanted to argue, but then she just sighed. "There is more. I suspect Detective Espinoza knows about the supernatural world." Freya looked over at Charlotte. "His reaction to the code at the bail hearing authorization was evident to me."

"He does?" Charlotte looked intrigued. "No wonder I find him so interesting."

"Well, last evening he definitely didn't know what I was." Elijah was sure of that.

"There's also a witch here." Freya laughed softly. "She was so shocked when she heard my name that she dropped everything."

"Shelley, the secretary?" Charlotte asked, amused. "Interesting that she is a witch, I always thought she was a little simple-minded."

Elijah snorted. "Believe me, these two things are not mutually exclusive." He grinned at Freya. "Witches are generally very narrow-minded, not particularly smart or flexible. Of course, those present are excluded from this assessment."

Freya rolled her eyes. "When I think about how many times I've saved your life, I don't feel addressed anyway."

Now it was Elijah's turn to laugh. "Touché. What do you think, can you make her talk?"

Freya smiled maliciously. "Just leave her to me! What about Espinoza?"

"We'll let him take the first step", said Elijah calmly. "He should be aware that we know about him. But as long as he doesn't say anything in the presence of Chloe, we too will keep our silence about the supernatural."

"As you wish, Elijah", Freya replied promptly. She noticed how Charlotte was staring back and forth between the two of them. She smiled. "Elijah is the family head. As much as we usually do what we want, when it comes to something like this, we listen to him, even Klaus."

"Your family dynamics must be fascinating", said Charlotte partly amused and partly sad.

"That is one way to put it", said Elijah laconically. He tilted his head, listening. "Chloe and Dan are coming now."

"Then let the show begin", Freya said resolutely.

"Well said, sister", said Elijah and grinned. The door opened and everyone turned their head towards the detectives.