As I promised, a new chapter after just a week, don't get used to it. Have fun, I hope you like it!

As usual a Thank you to my Beta Senema that she is always taking the time to help me with my story. I changed a few things so all remaining mistakes are my own.

I love comments; they keep me writing. Tell me how you like this chapter, I had so much fun writing it.

Chapter 23

The Witches, who hadn't heard Charlotte's announcement, quickly realized that they couldn't cast their spells anymore, which meant they were utterly useless in a fight against the Originals. So, they attacked Lucifer and Maze, who they thought to be normal humans. Needless to say, they regretted this very quickly.

Maze was having the time of her life, fighting against the witches and killing people without Lucifer scolding her. And Lucifer fighting beside her just as fiercely, although he didn't necessarily share Maze's delight in bloodshed, but then again he wasn't a demon.

Finally, Maze had eliminated all of her direct opponents and was looking for new ones. The four Originals had separated and large clusters of werewolves had formed around them, though several bodies were already scattered on the ground around the groups.

"Amateurs", Maze sneered at Lucifer. "They're more likely to get in each other's way than hurt our friends."

No sooner had she finished speaking, a werewolf got thrown out of one of the groups and landed at Maze's feet. His gut was torn open, half of his entrails hang out and his eyes were broken.

"Like I said", she said with satisfaction. She let her eyes wander and saw Vincent, who was just about to flee. "Oh no you don't", she murmured, running after Vincent. She reached him before he could leave the warehouse and so regain his magic.

"Not so fast", she said and grinned at him. She pinned him against the wall with one hand and held her knife to his throat with the other hand. "I have to compliment you. Even as a demon I've rarely felt anything quite as twisted as this summoning circle."

"Demon?" Vincent asked, confused. This woman was much too strong for a normal human, yes, but a demon, he didn't believe it.

Maze saw his disbelief and showed him her true face. She enjoyed the shock and then the fear on his face more than a little. "Goodnight!"

She knocked Vincent's head rough against the wall, he sacked unconscious to the ground. Next, she searched for Lucifer but couldn't spot him, so she decided to stay by the exit. That way she could keep an eye on Vincent and prevent other escape attempts.

xxxxx

Marcel and Sofya rushed at full speed to the room where Freya and Davina were staying, while the werewolves distracted the Originals.

Now that Marcel was no longer the Beast, he needed to find new leverage against the Originals and taking Freya as a hostage was the perfect solution. He had no qualms about hurting her and her siblings would hesitate if they saw her in danger.

"You get a hold of Davina; she'll at least be leverage against Kol. But don't hurt her", he ordered Sofya.

Sofya made a face; Marcel's plan really didn't go the way she had imagined. She had no illusions about what that meant for her survival. "I'm not sure I can bluff our way out of this without hurting her, not against the Originals, not if we want to convince them that I'm deadly serious. I will have to hurt her at least a little."

Marcel hesitated, then abruptly nodded. "If you must, do it but don't kill Davina."

Marcel tried to fling the woman, who had loudly announced that the witches were now defenceless, aside with a casual wave of his hand. As his hand struck her, it felt like hitting a brick wall, not so different than if he had attempted the same move against an Original.

Charlotte laughed in amusement. "You are adorable." She mimicked Marcel's hand movement and Marcel got thrown across the room. Then she turned to Sofya, who had stopped, shocked at this surprising act. "If you want to try something, don't use brute force. It would be very boring."

"Thanks for the tip." Like Marcel, Sofya knew that capturing Freya was their only chance of survival. She couldn't avoid this fight if she wanted to save Marcel and herself. Strength wasn't the answer but maybe her skill at hand-to-hand combat was. She fell into a fighting stance, and as Charlotte confronted her, the two women began exchanging punches.

Charlotte was having a great time. Fighting humans would have been far too easy because they were so easy to kill but vampires were stronger and more resilient. Eventually, fighting Sofya got dull too, and Charlotte took her self-imposed task of protecting Freya and Davina very serious.

A few werewolves had finally realized as well, that they needed a new edge against the Originals and had split from the clusters around the Originals and made their way to her. They knew how protective the Originals were of each other and that Freya, as their hostage, might get them out of this warehouse alive.

Charlotte put Sofya in a headlock and unceremoniously broke her neck. From what she'd gathered from the conversations, it would only kill a vampire for a short time, as long as she didn't rip her head off. She then dragged her into the room with the others. "Danny, as soon as she wakes up, break her neck again."

"With pleasure", Danny said grimly. He kept himself between Sofya and his charges.

Charlotte went outside to meet and fight against the werewolves. To her disappointment, they weren't nearly as challenging as the vampire but they were still stronger than humans.

xxxxx

Lucifer had watched Charlotte's dealings with Marcel full of amusement. He strolled over to Marcel and looked down at him. "My mother is quite strong. She kind of surprised you there, didn't she?"

"Who the hell are you?" Marcel asked angrily. These strangers had derailed all his plans. Because of them, the Originals were once again stronger and he was without chance against them just as it was before he became the Beast.

"Your question is funnier than you realise." Lucifer laughed and looked at the clusters around the Originals, which had thinned noticeably. "Looks like Elijah and his family will soon have time to devote their full attention to you. Vincent is already out of the game and Sofya will join him soon. What do you want to do now, escape or help your friends?"

Lucifer saw Marcel's eyes flicker and knew his answer was escape. No doubt, he intended to lick his wounds somewhere and eventually ambush the Mikaelsons again. This man needed a lesson. "Wow, Elijah was absolutely correct about you not being capable of feeling any loyalty." He scoffed contemptuously. "I'll make you an offer, fight me and if you win, Maze will let you go."

"OK." Marcel shrugged and attacked with all his speed.

Lucifer dodged him easily, laughing at Marcel's bewilderment. "You didn't think it would be this simple after encountering my mother, did you? Elijah knew immediately that we were something other than normal humans."

"I would be careful about considering Elijah a friend. He'll betray you cold-heartedly when it comes down to his family or you", Marcel warned. He wanted to distract Lucifer and perhaps drive a wedge in this worrying alliance.

"I wouldn't expect anything else from him." Lucifer shrugged, this time accepting the attack instead of dodging it. He had to admit that Marcel wasn't bad as a fighter, someone had taught him well, but he wasn't good enough. He couldn't compete with Lucifer's strength, experience and speed. Lucifer eventually followed his mother's example and snapped Marcel's neck. Then Lucifer dragged him to Maze, who still guarded the exit and Vincent at the same time.

"Did you have a good time, Maze?" Lucifer asked curious.

"Yes, it was very therapeutic", Maze replied. "I was finally able to get rid of a lot of my frustrations about living among mortals."

Lucifer laughed. "That's good to hear. I'm here now and can guard these two. If you want, you can vent a little more of your frustration."

"Oh, I'm quite satisfied, especially with the entertainment. Elijah and his siblings have finally thinned out their enemies enough that I can compare their fighting styles." Maze nodded to the various clusters of werewolves.

Lucifer followed her gaze and had to agree, it was very good entertainment.

Rebekah, who didn't have the bulk of her brothers, used her agility against her opponents. Of course, it also helped that the werewolves didn't seem to take her seriously. However, once she had outmanoeuvred her opponents, she was no less ferocious and brutal than her brothers.

Kol was like Rebekah in that he relied mainly on his speed and preferred to outsmart his opponents. It was evident too that he enjoyed killing as brutally and as bloodily as possible once he had his opponents at his mercy.

Klaus surpassed his two younger siblings easily in ferocity and savagery. He relied utterly on his superior strength and invulnerability. Lucifer could see that he enjoyed going in close combat with his opponents and didn't mind giving them the opportunity to hit or bite him, which Kol and Rebekah clearly wanted to avoid.

When Lucifer finally turned his attention to Elijah, it was a complete contrast. Elijah fought with skill and precision, there was not one move too much or wasted. Still, Lucifer could see that Elijah was furious, there was sometimes a little too much force or violence behind his punches or movements.

And now he knew too, from whom Marcel had learned to fight but Elijah was on a completely different level than Marcel in terms of skill. In addition, Elijah seemed to prefer his kills quickly and viciously where his siblings liked to toy with their enemies.

"I believe I'm in love", Maze said admiringly. "I just have to fight him."

Lucifer sighed. Sometimes Maze really had a one-track mind. "I'm sure if you'd ask him, he'll surely agree."

"I think so too, after all he owes me a favour." Maze grinned. "And you are right, I still have frustrations too vent. The witches were a little too easy to kill; maybe werewolves are more of a challenge."

"Have fun", Lucifer replied, shaking his head.

Maze plunged into the fray again, and he wasn't surprised when she began stealing opponents away from Klaus. With the rapid pace at which the Originals were disposing of their last enemies, Lucifer didn't expect the fight to last much longer.

xxxxx

Elijah usually detested fighting werewolves, too much brawn and not enough brain. They weren't as strong as vampires and relied more on numbers then skill but now those qualities helped him to vent his shock and anger. It felt good to focus just on fighting and reacting without having to think too much.

As little as he had shown to his siblings, this room and his intended fate had shocked him deeply. It had reminded him too much of what Esther and the Hollow had done to him. It had been so hard to control himself but his siblings had come too close to losing control completely.

Moreover, if that had happened, the deaths in the warehouse would have been just the beginning. In the mood his siblings were in, they would have razed Los Angeles to the ground out of revenge. And he didn't think that Lucifer would have allowed that. He might not care about witches or werewolves but the fate of humans was another matter.

He turned to the nearest werewolf and recognized him as the man, Rebekah had identified as having been in the alley. At the last second, Elijah softened the force of his punch enough to only knock him out and not kill him. Maybe he could still be useful.

Eventually, no one attacked him anymore and the first thing Elijah did was check on his siblings and allies. Judging by the huge grins on their faces, they had been having a great time. Although their clothes and faces were covered in blood, Elijah didn't think that much of it was theirs.

Maze stood next to Klaus and they compared their kill counts to find out who had won. Elijah just sighed when he heard their conversation.

Charlotte was still standing in front of the door, where she had protected Freya and Davina. Several dead werewolves lay around her and she waved at Elijah, who waved back.

Elijah turned around and saw Lucifer standing guard by the exit, the bodies of Marcel and Vincent lying on the ground next to him. Elijah nodded at Lucifer und he returned it.

Elijah listened and registered several heartbeats, meaning there were still survivors. This wouldn't do, so he began examining the bodies around him, killing the few that were still alive. The only exception was the werewolf, whom he had knocked unconscious. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his siblings and Maze doing the same.

Finally, Klaus and Kol went to Lucifer, they picked up the still unconscious Vincent and dead Marcel and brought them to the middle of the room. Elijah, Rebekah and Maze had made some space there by shifting the bodies aside.

By now Freya, Davina and Danny had also come out and joined the others along with Charlotte. Danny carried Sofya and placed her with the only three survivors.

"Daniel, please inform Gwendolyne that her hostile takeover problem is resolved. Ask her if she would like to be present at the punishment."

Elijah looked down at his captives, his expression indecipherable. There was a huge gap between what he wanted to do to them and what he would probably do eventually. After all, he had to think about the reactions of Rebekah, Davina and Klaus. His revenge wasn't worth destroying his relationship with them.

"That's a big pile of corpses", Freya murmured in dismay. "How are we supposed to dispose all of them?"

"Danny, ask Gwennie if she can bring us a lot of gas for a little fire. And drugs if she can get some, also machetes and knives with rough blades that leave jagged wounds." Klaus grinned. "We're going to fake a little drug war."

"I wonder if someone cleaned up the council meeting place too?" Rebekah asked pensively.

"A good question." Elijah looked at Danny who was already on the phone. He waved to show that he had heard their exchange and asked the question shortly afterwards.

Eventually Danny hung up. "Gwennie says you can start without her, she's too busy with diplomacy." Danny grinned. "The other factions have asked her for peace talks in order to improve their relationship again. She will send several vampires over here with everything we need for our cover story. They will arrange the bodies and do everything to make the story plausible. You can leave everything to them. She is of the opinion that the Originals have done enough for one night and should lay low for a few days. She'll also send someone to clean up to the council meeting place."

"Perfect. Thank you, Daniel." Elijah heard groans and looked down; it was Vincent and the werewolf who started moving first. Shortly thereafter, Marcel and Sofya opened their eyes as well.

With just a few glances, Elijah, Klaus, Kol and Rebekah communicated with each other to discuss their next steps. Rebekah pulled Sofya up, Klaus grabbed the werewolf and Vincent while Kol took Marcel.

"We will need a place to deal with them. This is not a matter for us to rush. And once Gwendolyne sends her people here, we'll just be in the way." Elijah looked at Lucifer. "Do you happen to know a place in this city where we are undisturbed, even if it gets a little noisy?"

"Why are we not going to mine?" Lucifer grinned mischievously. "The club will open soon and then it will be noisy. And nobody will disturb us at the penthouse."

"It could get bloody", Elijah said uncomfortably. "I don't want to ruin your apartment."

"Oh, we have a room suitable for this, in addition it is soundproofed and comes with some toys too." Maze smirked. "Although I usually use them for other games than murder."

Kol smirked. "Naughty demon. When we get the occasion, you can tell me more about it." Davina cleared her throat meaningfully and Kol flinched. "Or not", he hastily added.

Davina scoffed with little amusement as she glared at Kol with a raised eyebrow.

"Then let's go to your penthouse before Kol digs himself a deeper hole with his big mouth and gets in even more trouble with his wife", Elijah said sardonically. "Rebekah, you compel Sofya. Kol, you do the same with Marcel. Make them follow us and obey our every command." Elijah smiled wryly. "I doubt any of them thought of taking Vervain before confronting us."

Rebekah and Kol obeyed and of course, Elijah was right in his assumption that neither of them was on Vervain.

Kol laughed as he saw the helpless anger in Marcel's eyes as he watched Rebekah compel Sofya. "You've been the Beast for too long, Marcel. You've forgotten what it means to be a normal vampire. And now you're getting a refresher course on what it means to have us as enemies." Kol's face grew cold. "And this time neither Bex nor Nik will be on your side and help you."

Klaus chuckled and didn't contradict Kol, he watched satisfied as the latter gave Marcel the same orders as Rebekah had given to Sofya. He then tightened his grip until Vincent moaned in pain. "What do we do with him? As soon as he leaves the warehouse, he has his magic back."

Freya smiled in the same manner as Elijah, marched over to Vincent and knocked him out with a brutal right hook. "I've wanted to do that since I first saw this room." She shook out her hand.

"Glad to see that my self-defence lessons weren't wasted", Elijah said dryly and couldn't help but grin proudly.

Klaus dropped Vincent to the ground, grinning at the impact. "He's out cold. I'm impressed, sister." He took the werewolf in a chokehold until he passed out too.

"Then we can go", said Elijah and looked around. "I'll be glad to leave this place."

The Originals and their allies left the warehouse with their prisoners.

Elijah stayed behind alone for a moment and looked at the door where, if Vincent and Marcel had had their way, he would not only have died in agony but also would have taken his whole kind with him.

Elijah shuddered to think what would have happened if he had triggered Vincent's and Marcel's original trap for him. He would have disappeared without a trace and his siblings wouldn't have missed him until it was way too late, not only for him but for them too.

Elijah would never have thought it possible at the time but it had been great luck too, to allow himself to be arrested without resistance. Only because there had been four cops, who had been too far apart and he would have had to kill them, which he didn't want to do. Because he had beforehand met Chloe and Dan through Lucifer and didn't want to hurt them either, and because he knew, how much it would have hurt Lucifer to lose Chloe. After losing Hayley he couldn't do that to someone he liked.

Elijah smiled musingly. In hindsight, even the night in prison had been a stroke of luck, otherwise he would never have met Charlotte. His family would never have come to Los Angeles to stand by him, which caused Lucifer and Maze to get involved so much more. Without them, this whole night would have gone very differently.

Life was sometimes really funny that way.