Whitmore Boarding House
Mystic Falls, Virginia
September 1855
Hayley was not much surprised when both Mr. Lockwood and Mr. Fell paid her a call that evening.
"What a nice surprise!" Mrs. Whitmore gushed at the sight of the time esteemed citizens. "If I know you were coming I would have prepared something."
Mrs. Whitmore took the mens' coats, hats, and walking sticks and put them in the stand herself. It was hard for her to move with her gout but it had been some time since a prominent citizen paid her a visit.
"No need to go to any trouble, Mrs. Whitmore. Please, do not trouble yourself. Sit back down," Barnette Lockwood said robustly in his deep, baritone voice. His face was clean-shaven but his mutton chop sideburns crawled down to his jawline.
Thomas Fell agreed, looking around the almost shabby parlor, "Yes, Mrs. Fell warned me not to drink any spirits tonight as it does not agree with my constitution."
Mrs. Whitmore nodded, "Yes, if only we could get that evil saloon shut down for good. This place is not what it used to be like when my dear husband was alive. God rest his soul."
"He was a fine man, surely," Barnette confirmed. "But we have come to speak to the school mistress. It seems our boys had some trouble today."
"Oh yes, of course," Mrs. Whitmore said, getting up with difficulty. She ambled to the stairs and bellowed for Hayley.
Hayley appeared a moment later. "Gentleman, what may I do for you. I was just working on my lessons for tomorrow."
Mrs. Whitmore lingered a moment, unsure if it would be appropriate for her to leave the younger women in the company of two men. However, they were fine, upstanding businessmen, so she finally excused herself to give them some privacy.
"Now what may I do for you? I assume you got my note," Hayley started. She heard a sound up the stairs and wondered if Kathy was eavesdropping. Harriet certainly kept herself too busy to indulge in other folks' business.
"George said you thrashed him and Logan today," Barnette said dryly. "But he claims he was innocent."
"Mr. Lockwood, I may not have seen your son throw the rocks but several other students did. I assure you they not only were bullying other boys but they lied and then threatened them," Hayley said, taking a deep breath.
Her brown hair was still pinned up in a bun and she wore the striped skirt and white blouse she had taught in. Under her skirts, she hoped the men did not notice that she wore her slippers. Her feet ached from being in her boots all day.
"Was one of those so-called witnesses Kol Mikaelson?" Thomas asked, fingering his moustache nervously.
"So what if it was?" Hayley asked wryly. She was starting to get angry. No wonder those boys felt so entitled to attack the others. Their fathers' did not seem concerned about their behavior.
Their was another knock at the door. Harriet scurried out of the other parlor and opened the door saying, "Pardon me, Miss."
"It tis no matter, Harriet," Hayley replied. "I could have gotten that."
Harriet should not be acting as the maid, but Mrs. Whitmore had let the other staff go due to her finances waning. And as Harriet had been the maid, she did some of her prior duties out of habit.
"Hello, Harriet. Is Miss Hayley available?" Hayley heard a cultured voice say. Despite her resolve, her posture straightened and her eyes brightened.
"Pardon me, sirs. It tis Mr. Mikaelson," Hayley said, stepping quickly to the door.
"Ah, I apologize for my late visit, but I had some business to discuss," Elijah said, peering in. "I see you are otherwise engaged, though. I can come back."
"No, do not be silly. These gentlemen were just questioning my teaching," Hayley said with false lightness.
"Oh, that is interesting," Elijah said. Hayley gestured for him to enter.
"Elijah Mikaelson, you know, Mr. Fell and Mr. Lockwood," Hayley said.
"Of course, gentlemen, how do you do?" Elijah said, firmly shaking their hands. He gave Hayley a look to make sure Harriet was gone.
"What are you here for?" Elijah said slowly, compelling them to tell him the truth.
"We do not want our sons bettered by scum like the Maxwell boy. They will soon run this town," Barnette said in a hollow voice.
Thomas Fell looked shocked at the truth bubbling from his companion's lips.
"What did you do?" Thomas gasped.
Elijah turned to him. "What is your true motivation here?"
"With you and your family? To get you and your kind out of our town. We also wish to shut down that whore and her so-called saloon. We run things here, not you," Thomas repeated.
"My kind? What do you mean?" Elijah said, looking deeply at both men. They might have been in their middle years, but to him they were children.
"Outsiders can come here and work, but we will not tolerate your kind being in power. You have to go," Barnette replied.
Elijah exhaled, relieved that they had no knowledge of the supernatural. He looked at Hayley and smiled. "Allow me to clear this up, my dear. Kol and Rebekah mentioned what happened earlier."
"I smell something off on Mr. Lockwood. He may be a wolf, yet untriggered," Hayley whispered back.
Elijah was surprised, but focused on the task at hand.
"You will abandon your efforts to push my family out of this town. Spread the word to your friends that the Mikaelsons are here to stay," Elijah started, waiting for them to repeat his words.
"And you will leave the saloon alone. It is a legitimate business that brings tax revenues to this...town," Elijah said. Mystic Falls was not yet incorporated, but he feared these men were planning to take over and lead it soon.
"What about the council?" Thomas asked carefully.
"Council? Explain yourself," Elijah said.
"The Mystic Falls council. We aim to make this into a proper town within a decade. Mr. Salvatore was our leader, but he is not well. Things have faltered a good deal," Thomas answered.
Elijah looked at Hayley, this was not good news.
"Try to dissolve this council. The good people here are capable of running things. They do not need you men to take over anything. I will need a list who is on this so-called town council, as there is no official town here," Elijah clarified. "And you will go home and speak to your sons about their aberrant and unsociable behavior at school. You will discipline them properly so this does not occur again."
The men repeated Elijah's words. Then, Elijah noticed Hayley looked tired.
"Sit down, my dear," Elijah said. To the men, "You will apologize for your disgusting behavior to Miss Marshall. Then, you will forget me speaking to you or that you saw me at all. You had a pleasant chat with the teacher and found out your boys were naughty. Now, go home and do as I said."
The men apologized, albeit a bit confused as to what offense they had caused, and took their leave. They almost left without their hats, coats, and walking sticks, they were so hasty to go.
"Sometimes they sense I am not what I seem and it makes them feel uncertain," Elijah said.
But Hayley silenced him with a lip directly to his lips. Elijah deepened the kiss as Hayley backed him into the door. They lingered them a few moments, just drinking in each other's presence.
"I missed you," Hayley admitted.
"I missed you, too," Elijah answered, looking down in her eyes. "More than you know."
Hayley laughed, "Thank you for that. Those men were trying to bully me as their sons bullied poor Matthew Maxwell."
"They wish to run this land. It is ironic, them calling me an outsider when I was born right down the street from here 900 years ago," Elijah mused.
"Yes, but they are still dangerous, Elijah," Hayley remarked. "I smelled fear on Thomas Fell, but the Lockwood man was too bold, confident. He must have some kind of plan."
"Perhaps," Elijah agreed. "But it is interesting that their ring leader was Giuseppe Salvatore. He was not so feeble minded, I might be more worried. Come, let us sit on the porch. I have much to tell you."
Hayley followed him out into the cool evening air.
Kathy crept down from her hiding place on the landing.
"Harriet," Kathy hissed. "Hurry. Something odd is afoot."
Freya's Attic
Same Evening
Kol brought up the box of his magical items and plopped it down on Freya's work table. It was roughly made, but she said it would do nicely.
"And what it this, Little Brother? More eye of newt?" Freya teased. Kol had given her herbs and trinkets he had collected in his travels. Some were useful, some worthless.
"Nay, these are what we call dark objects," Kol explained. "Since I could not do magic, I had to use witched to make him items to do my bidding."
"Oh, you are a clever one," Freya praised. "But enough about magic for a bit. I want to hear about you. What do you like to do for fun?"
Kol grinned, "Well, in New Orleans, I used to have a great deal of fun. Sometimes Nik would even join me for some debauchery, but ever since he took in Marcellus...We do not get along like that," Kol confessed. "When I got too wild and annoyed him too much he would stick a dagger in my chest and pop me in a coffin."
Freya frowned, "I am sorry. That sounds awful. You seem to get along quite nicely now."
Kol shrugged, "He promised to not do that anymore, but they now treat me like a petulant child. It tis humiliating. They make me go to school while Marcel gets to stay home and run the place with them."
Freya was sympathetic. "That sounds frustrating. You do look young. Why was Marcellus not made a vampire until he was older?"
In truth, Freya did not think Marcel looked that much older, but she did not want to make Kol angrier.
"See, Niklaus never wanted this life for Marcel. But Marcel always wanted to be a vampire, from the time he was a lad. Then, one day, Marcel went back to the planation that his father, the governor, ran. He tried to defend some of the people enslaved there from abuse and the man, his own father, shot him. Nik could have healed him, but Marcel begged to be made one of us. He was ready to die for it, so Nik gave in him. He has a soft spot for his 'son,'" Kol finished bitterly.
"Are you envious?" Freya asked softly. "I do not think you need be. He loves you, too."
Kol shrugged, "Aye, but Marcellus comes first. We learned to get along or else. But Sister, now that you are here, perhaps you will speak to Nik for me. Elijah also goes along with him, right or wrong."
Freya smiled and patted Kol on the arm. "I will, Kol, when the time is right. I am afraid that Niklaus does not seem to trust me much. I understand why but it still pains me."
Kol smiled, "Well, I best tend to my chores or Elijah and Nik will pain my backside a great deal. They accuse me of fooling around when I am trying to teach Damon to control his magic. Plus, why cannot the servants do my chores? It is folly!"
Freya laughed, "I am not touching that one. Yet, I can help train Damon and even the child, Solomon. It saddens me but I may yet need their help. Without it, I will fall back into my magical slumber in a few months. I would not awaken until the year 1955 or so."
"We will not let that happen," Kol promised. He kissed Freya on the cheek before leaving.
"I hope not," Freya said, looking around her new space. She really did feel at home here. She decided to cast a boundary spell to only let the people in the home in. She was used to doing her own chores.
Klaus' Study
Klaus leaned back in his chair and looked at the map of the world. He was waiting on Marcellus, but instead Finn came in.
"Let me wager a guess, Elijah ran off to town?" Klaus suggested.
Finn grinned, "He did. See, now that my wife is here, I can stay home. Though we needs to tend to business at the saloon on the morrow. I thought Marcel was going to meet with us to discuss the accounts."
Klaus shrugged, "I would wager he is off somewhere with Rebekah. I should catch them both and give them a good hiding. They think they have me fooled..."
Finn took the guest chair and looked at the map.
"I am not sure they care much," Finn quipped. "What is the map for?"
"I was going to see if Freya could try to locate Father. If we knew he was at least far off, we could at least put his mischief out of our minds. This aunt, though, that troubles me," Klaus said.
"I am not that worried," Finn stated. "You have not produced a child and we are not sure you even could. I do trust Freya that this Dahlia is dangerous, but are we not well-protected here?"
Klaus tapped the map. "We are, but we still have weaknesses. What is the one thing that can kill us, Finn?"
"The white oak stake," Finn said. "But you said it was all destroyed."
"We also did not know we had a sister out there, still living. What else do we not know?" Klaus started. "We have to think as our enemies do. I have only survived this long by thinking that way. Of course, that has also produced many other enemies."
Finn squinted at Klaus, muttering, "There is something you are not telling me. What is it, Brother?"
Klaus signed and got up. He went to the corner of the room and raised up the edge of the carpet. Using his fingers, he popped up a board and hefted a stake.
"There is some white oak out there," Klaus said. "We thought it prudent to keep a bit in the instance that we may need it."
Finn was aghast, "Does Elijah know? Do not answer that. Of course he does. Destroy it now lest it fall into our enemies' hands."
Klaus shook his head. "Think of it, Finn. There is much worse than the true death. And perhaps Freya can use it in a spell to locate more."
Finn exhaled, "You have secrets upon secrets, Niklaus. I could live with you another few centuries and barely scratch the surface."
"I am sure I am not the only siblings here with secrets," Klaus retorted.
Finn opened his mouth to defend Freya, but Sage burst in.
"I am sorry for the bother, husband, but Damon and Elena are missing," Sage exclaimed, breathlessly.
"What?" Klaus said, turning to return his stake.
Finn stood, "Why it is dark out? They should have been home ages ago."
Sage frowned, "The younger children were covering for them. We looked everywhere. I am starting to get worried!"
Finn put a reassuring arm around her. "Fear not, Niklaus will sniff them out like a bloodhound."
Klaus growled, "Or maybe your new sister could locate them with her lauded magic?"
Mikaelson Property
Damon's spell had gone awry. He had begged Elena to help him look for the Virginia bluebell. He thought he could use it in a love spell or just finally tell Elena how he felt.
He had grown nervous the farther they walked, chattering, "It is a phlox cousin. Very pretty. My mother loved them. She used to tell us stories about the gnomes that lived under them."
"I did not know you were so into botany," Elena remarked. "But I really should be getting back. We did not do our homework. You know we are supposed to do it directly when we arrive home."
"We shall not be long," Damon vowed. He wanted to take her hand, but did not get the courage until they climbed a rocky hill. He could at least show her the view.
"Thank you," Elena said. "Oh, tis beautiful up here. But I may have turned my ankle a bit on that rock!"
"Oh no, let me see," Damon gushed. His bright blue eyes were filled with concern and guilt. He did not want her to get hurt.
Elena flushed and let Damon examine her ankle, after she worked off her boot. It was not proper to let a boy see your ankles, but it was swelling up a great deal.
"Oh," Damon hissed, "That looked painful. I can heal you!"
"Heal me?" Elena said in confusion. "Are you a doctor? My father would have said to stay off it and apply some ice or cool water."
"We are far from the spring house," Damon said. He put his hands on Elena's foot and concentrated. Nothing happened.
"Please, just help me up," Elena begged. She pushed back a strand of her long dark hair, her brown eyes pleading.
Damon looked at the beautiful girl with admiration.
"I can do this," Damon promised. "It worked when Stefan got stung by a bee last week."
Elena frowned, "I am not sure that bee actually got him...but the redness did go down."
Damon recalled the spelled and blurted out, "Venez sanguis. Venez sanguis, Venez sanguis la force de la bête à moi."
Elena's eyes fluttered and she slumped to the ground with Damon barely catching her.
"Blood hell...bugger!" Damon cursed, repeating words he heard Kol use. "Elena, wake up! Elena!"
Damon tried to pick her up and stumbled himself. He sat down on the hill and started to cry. "Elena, please!"
Damon must have fallen into a deep sleep himself. He woke up hearing voices calling his and Elena's name. He jumped up and shouted, "We are here. On the hill!"
Klaus got to them first. "Damon, boy, are you alright?"
Damon wept in relief and said, "I am fine, but Elena is not. I tried to heal her and she will not wake up."
Freya and Elijah followed.
Freya knelt down and felt Elena's pale brow.
"She twisted her ankle and...," Damon sniffed.
Elijah got him stood up. "Tis alright. We are here now. What were you doing all the way out here?"
Damon watched Freya examining Elena and admitted, "Looking for Virginia bluebells...I made her come with me. I wanted to tell her that I fancied her."
Klaus cut in, "Damon, those only bloom in the Spring. You should know that."
Damon sobbed, "I suppose I did. I was not thinking clearly. Please, help her."
Freya looked up. "She is in a magical sleep. Damon, this is important. Can you tell me the spell you used?"
Damon repeated the words the best he could.
Freya asked Klaus to carry Elena.
"I can reverse it, but you put her in a deep sleep. She will not awaken without intervention," Freya noted. "But I believe she will be just fine, though she may need to stay off that ankle."
Klaus asked, "Our blood could heal her. Would it break the spell?"
"No, I do not think so," Freya determined. "Let us get her back to the house."
Klaus picked up Elena and used his vampire speed to get her back to safety with Freya following.
Damon hung his head. "This is all my fault."
Elijah put an arm around him and said, "Come on, we will discuss it at home."
Next Chapter Poll:
*Who should handle this? Eliah? Klaus? Finn?
*Should Elena be punished? If so, should Freya or Sage do it?
*Where were Rebekah and Marcellus? Should they be in trouble for running off and losing track of time?
*Should Mrs. Whitmore caught Kathy and Harriet listening and spying?
*Please feel free to add: pairings, implements, positions, and severity