Mikaelson Mansion
November 21, 2010
A few hours until the full moon:
"Stefan? Now are you still paying attention? Good. As I was saying, I'm starting to think this particular instrument really needs to go in right over here," Elijah explained as if he were a teacher showing his young pupil the proper methodology of doing some task were attention to detail, was rather important.
Not that Stefan wasn't in any condition to refuse the Noble Original's personalized tutelage on the proper administration of torture devices to elicit the maximal level of pain. Elijah really did care what the younger vampire really felt about the lesson he was imparting on him. As for himself he needed to pass the time until it was time to leave for the Salvatore Boarding House.
"Now most such tools like these are designed for torture. However, when it comes to vampires it would in time be expelled on their own. With that in mind, this one here happens to be a product of my younger brother's creativity, adding an additional wrinkle into the equation. Would you care to guess?"
Stefan coughed up a blob of blood and spittle, before his newly regenerated eye sought the Original, holding a nasty-looking needle like device which had tiny extrusions that extend almost the entire length of the shaft.
"I don't know, but I'm guessing you don't really have need of a detailed instruction manual?" Stefan said weakly.
He got his answer when, with no warning Elijah drove the needle straight into his gut with one hand while he twisted part of the shaft with the other. Stefan frowned when he felt an odd pinching sensation, but then nothing more. Somewhat confused he managed to lift his heavy head aloft enough to see Elijah holding another needle just like the one currently sticking out of him.
"You see, by twisting this upper part a quarter turn allows the barbed hooks to deploy. When your body does get around to expelling the needle, it will tear at your flesh as it tries to push it out."
"You… You're a monster!" Stefan grimaced when a sudden wave of pain racked his body as his body started trying to push the offending object clear.
Elijah leaned closer, holding Stefan's chin up so his tormentor could look him straight in the eye. Stefan was expecting to be compelled again, but instead nothing happened until Elijah backed away. Confused and trying to distract himself from the tearing pain growing steadily worse in his gut, he continued to watch the ancient vampire.
"You're right, Stefan. I am a monster. I can admit that to you. It's taken me centuries to finally admit to that to my own self. However, I'm not like my brother who rather enjoys torturing people, just before killing them."
Stefan could hardly believe his ears. Maybe something had gone wrong when they'd started to regrow after being torn off one particular grueling session with this man.
"I find… that… that hard t… to believe," Stefan wheezed around the pain.
"It's true I would have sooner killed you than been done with the whole affair, but I made a promise to my Elena not to kill you."
Maybe it was the blood loss or an attempt to think about anything else but the excruciating pain, but his next few words came out as a challenge, almost daring the Noble Original to act.
"You've made promises to her before, and look how that has ended. Her Aunt's dead by your brother's hands. You weren't there, but I was, remember? I saw that look of betrayal in her eyes."
In a flash Elijah was griping Stefan's neck, making his tortured lungs struggle for every gulp of air.
"I know my own failing Stefan Salvatore, I don't need reminding by the likes of you, and here I thought you were the smarter brother. Don't worry we aren't going to kill you!" Elijah paused, taking in the sound of the younger man's heart spike. "Once we get our Elena back, you're free to go, but until then-"
With a quick flick of his wrist, Elijah easily snapped the younger vampire's neck. Gazing at the limp body of his wife's former boyfriend, Elijah resisted the urge to tear his now silent heart from its home. During her most recent visit in his dreams she'd made him promise not to kill either Salvatore. Today was the one time he actually cursed his own rules about keeping a promise.
Instead he allowed himself a small smile as he cleaned up his hands before pulling on the suit jacket he'd so meticulously folded before placing it on a nearby chair. He turned to leave, already well aware that during his session with the younger Salvatore he had gained a small audience of one.
She did not try to flee, which made him wonder if his brother had put another compulsion on the wily Doppelgänger. It almost pained him to see her face. His wife had been allowed to physically mature a little more before their parents had changed them, but their similarities in appearance were unmistakable.
"So it's true Klaus and you are going to let him go after-"
"After we get my Elena back? Yes Katerina. I meant every word which you no doubt heard," he answered her, deciding for now not to react with regard to how Elena's ancestor reacted to his wife's name. She was trying not to be obvious, but he had been an observer of people's behavior for far too long. Stepping past her, he started up the stairs before pausing mid step.
He knew that thanks to the compulsions layered on her psyche she wouldn't be able to free Stefan from his restraints, although she might be able to remove the instrument he'd left inside Stefan's body. Elijah felt indifferent about her removing it or not to be honest.
"Katerina, at some point you are going to have to tell him how you really feel about him. If you don't, you'll regret it. Don't keep putting it off."
"I don't know what you mean," Katherine Pierce said, and he already knew she was lying to him, but he had other more important matters to attend to than worry about one Stefan Salvatore and his sire.
"Lying to me will not get you anywhere, but lying to yourself is even worse, Katerina."
Elijah made his way up the stairs, leaving the estranged once lovers alone.
Salvatore Boarding House
November 21, 2010
Jeremy clasped the vial in his hand as he took one more final sweep of the room. He hated that he had to do it, but now in his hands he held his sister's blood freshly extracted from her seemingly unconscious form before turning back towards the still closed bedroom door. He hadn't wanted anyone else to collect it from her, so he'd insisted it be him or no one.
To his own surprise the only person in their little group who had put up any resistance to his ultimatum had been Bonnie, while he originally had thought it would be Damon. But in retrospect, Damon probably thought too much of himself especially after he compelled Jeremy not to remove the dagger from his sister's chest. Not that it mattered. He still had no idea how she managed to break Damon's compulsion while she was by all appearances dead to the world, but she had and even when she was 'astro' projecting or whatever she called it. In the long run, it didn't matter. Jeremy knew enough to know that he had to get outside and wait.
Having a sudden feeling he was being watched by her, he quickly made his way out of the room, closing the door behind him.
"Did you have any trouble drawing some of her blood? I could have helped you, Jer. You know that, right?" Bonnie asked after he handed over the vial.
"Naw… It was a fairly easy procedure," Jeremy paused, taking in Bonnie's stunned expression. "You do remember my Dad was a doctor? Elena wasn't the only one he tried passing on his medical knowledge to."
"Oh! Jer, I-"
"Look I get it. I just want to get this over with, seeing my sister like that is hard enough as it is. Come on Bonnie, let's just go. Damon as well as the others are outside waiting for us."
Jeremy placed a hand on Bonnie's shoulder in reassurance, Bonnie returned a wan smile before they headed downstairs to where Damon and the others were waiting. Jeremy couldn't help to look back at the closed doorway to where his sister lay. He had done what she asked him to do; he just hoped the four pilfered bags of blood he managed to stash in the mini fridge were enough. Either way, his sister should awaken and be desperate for blood.
Only time would tell if this convoluted plan of his sister's actually panned out or not.
Mikaelson Mansion
November 21, 2010
"Aren't you paying any attention to me? Seriously rude, I've asked more than once. Do you think this fabric for the drapes matches the overall color motif we've planned out for the nursery?" the blonde exasperated Original asked Caroline.
"Mmm… " was all Caroline managed to say as she peered down at the tiny angel nestled in her arms. Unlike her older brother, Astrid wasn't a fussy eater.
"Caroline," Rebekah hissed, then looked up from her book of color swatches and samples of fabric and her expression changed at the sight of her niece.
"I'm sure whatever you and I pick Elena will be happy with. And not to nitpick, but I don't think either of these two angels really have much to say on the matter, do you little girl?" Caroline sighed, nuzzling Astrid's scent.
It had taken her a herculean effort to mentally dampen the awful smell of either twins' dirty diapers. She suspected that if neither she nor the other vampires living in this near-castle hadn't mastered that skill, none of them wouldn't be able to stand it. Although Finn and Kol did always make a hasty retreat whenever the call went out to change said diapers, she reflected.
Caroline's mother wanted her to stay with the Mikaelson's. From what she heard the founder's council was up to something and, sheriff or not, her mother was worried about her daughter's safety.
Surprisingly, they had welcomed her in and made her stay as comfortable as possible. Although it did somewhat annoy her that she currently lived under the same roof as Katherine.
"Children need visual stimulation and I don't want either of them to grow up without being given the chance," Rebekah huffed, but Caroline could see Rebekah's gaze never strayed far from her niece.
Little Eirik was on his back, gazing up at his new Fisher-Price Rainforest Music Lights Deluxe Gym Play Mat, courtesy of one of Rebekah's shopping expeditions.
Both vampires moved to join the happy baby boy who gurgled with a merriment that only a child can manage. Although feeling reluctant to hand over her best friend's daughter, Caroline did reluctantly pass Astrid to her aunt, then to distract herself peered down at the other addition to the Mikaelson family. Who, if she had to guess seemed more interested in the reflection of a curious pair of brown eyes seemingly peering down at him.
"I seriously don't think they are going to be lacking in visual stimulation, Rebekah. To them, everything around them is a new experience or wonder. I sometimes wish-" Caroline's voice caught. Rebekah looked over at her and somehow she knew what was on Caroline's mind.
"If it helps. I've often wondered what motherhood might have been like for me," Rebekah said in a low sotto voice Caroline would have missed it if she hadn't been a vampire herself.
"Thank you Rebekah, there are few times I can just allow myself to forget for a bit. Like the obvious fact I'm technically dead or that I'm an eternal teenager who hadn't even made it to her eighteenth birthday before dying. At least Lena can pass for a college aged student with the years she matured stuck in the tenth century. I'll need to use makeup or alter my clothing style to appear older."
"Well, it was only a few weeks after my seventeenth birthday when my parents turned us into what we are today. I'm the youngest of my family and my brothers treat me like… Like I'm still a little girl." Rebekah sighed, peering down into her niece's brown eyes.
Carline watched as little Eirik sucked on his fingers as he looked at the world arrayed above him, before glancing over at her companion. They had worked well with planning for the nursery, and Klaus's hybrids had worked a miracle of getting everything in place for Elena's return.
"Rebekah?"
"Caroline, you can call me Bekah. Ella calls me that and she is the closest person I have as being a sister. I… I have so few friends."
"Uh… sure Bekah, In that case you can call me Care. Lena is like a sister to me too, so we have that in common as well." Caroline smiled, then paused, considering her next question. "Bekah, do you think this plan will work? I mean a lot of things can happen and as much as I want Lena reunited with her family. I also don't want my other friends, hurt."
"I know Ella doesn't want that to happen either, but when Damon Salvatore has his back against the wall there is no telling how he might react."
Astrid having finished her bottle, Rebekah positioned a cloth over her shoulder before she placed the tiny angel on top of it and started to gently tap in a rhythmic pattern on Astrid's back. Rebekah's efforts were quickly rewarded with a hearty burp from the now drowsy, tiny Mikaelson.
"He's always been unpredictable, especially when he isn't getting his way," Caroline said, avoiding making eye contact with her new friend.
"I hate to say this, but he sounds like my brother Klaus."
Caroline waited until Astrid's aunt had placed her next to her brother, before asking her the next question. She had never broached this painful topic with anyone close to her, and she wasn't entirely sure how the blonde Original would respond to it.
"Bekah, I know your brother has a habit of controlling others via compulsion. Do you know if he has ever…" Caroline paused, collecting herself. "Has he ever used it to have his way with a woman?"
Rebekah blinked as if trying to reset the world around her, before a look of betrayal spread over her features before sudden realization hit them, changing them to one of horror.
"No! My brother might be a monster, but he would never! Are you saying that Bast-" Rebekah broke off looking down at the two innocent children.
Caroline found herself wondering what her new friend might have said if she hadn't caught herself. Taking a chance, she drew in a breath, holding for half a beat before letting it go.
"When Stefan showed up in our little town, his brother must have followed him. I… I'm ashamed to admit that I was jealous of Elena; how people always seemed to flock to her. So when I saw this dark haired blue-eyed stranger staring at me one day at the Grill I thought this was finally my time. For a short time it was until he- showed me who and what he was."
"What did he do?" Rebekah asked in a measured tone. It took Caroline a moment to realize that her friend was trying to control her emotions.
"I shouldn't say with such tiny innocent ears listening to us, but it was bad."
"I… I'll kill him!" Rebekah seethed. Somehow she kept her voice low enough that Elena's children didn't react negatively to their aunt's outburst.
"Please Re… Bekah! Don't! Look maybe it was a mistake I told you. But I… I never told anyone else… not even my closest friends!" Caroline said.
"Why are you telling me? I mean, aren't Bonnie Bennett and Elena your closest friends?" Rebekah asked curiously.
"Because I think you'd understand better than any of my friends, the secret I've carried for over a year now. I knew then if I told Bonnie she would have made Damon's brain leak out from his ears. Around that time Elena was busy dealing with the revelation of her great-something grandmother, who was an exact copy of her, was trying to arrange her own freedom by offering Elena up for your brother's bloody sacrifice."
"Why would that have prevented you from telling either of them that Damon raped you?"
"Shhh! Remember, precious tiny ears present!" Caroline hissed.
Both vampires stopped and found Elena's children watching them with expressions that, at least for Caroline reminded her of Elena.
"At least tell me you haven't fantasized about what you might do to him?" Rebekah demanded, keeping her voice light.
"Oh! You have no idea, trust me for the first few days I thought of nothing else during my sudden copious amount of free time. I mean it wasn't like I did have anything else to do until Bonnie, at Elena's prompting, finally made me a daylight ring," Caroline said with a thoughtful expression.
"Hey maybe when this is all over you and I can go out for drinks just the two of us, and we can come up with ways to punish Damon?"
"Punish him? Why not just rip his bloody spine out of his body and then wait for it to grow back before doing it again?"
"Very tempting, but I don't think Damon is the most ideal candidate for torture." Caroline paused, then continued.
"Consider that torture is used to get information out of a person it really doesn't modify their behavior. Not to say I wouldn't mind stringing him up by his thumbs, but unless we or more accurately I kill him, chances are he will just go back to being the same person he is today."
"Then what do you suggest?" Rebekah asked.
"Seriously Rebekah, what are the chances that I'm the only one he has done this to in his entire immortal existence? How many other women have he treated like he treated me? Bekah, he messed with my mind to the level I couldn't even cry out for help. I was literally a prisoner in my own skull."
"I still think we should kill him. It could be a long painful death," Rebekah huffed. She reached and touched the tip of her niece's nose.
"There is always that option, but maybe you could help me find a better way of seeking justice?" Caroline asked hopefully. The Blonde Original, who had all but usurped her captaincy position on the Mystic Falls Cheer team, seemed surprised by her request. Rebekah smiled at her new friend.
"Hmm… I think between us girls we could come up with something appropriate? Would you want to involve Bonnie and Elena?"
Salvatore Boarding House
November 21, 2010
Elena was already feeling the faint pull of her body as if it were calling for her Astral Form to return to its rightful place. The first time she experienced that particular feeling had been the same day Elijah had been magically enticed to travel to Mystic Falls sometime in the late nineteenth century.
Not wishing to experience again the strange rather disconcerting feeling of being in two places at once when she wasn't under the enchanted influence of the Obsidian Dagger.
Gasping for air, Elena's body jerked upright, finding the offending weapon laying right next to her. Leaving it behind as she made her escape would only invite further trouble. Elena decidedly picked it up before she stumbled towards the mini fridge. She needed the blood Jeremy had strategically placed there at her request. Her mouth watered as she ripped into the first bag with her teeth, then poured its contents into her mouth. Chilled or not, she almost immediately felt renewed as the blood replenished her body.
As soon as the first bag was drained, Elena was already tearing into the next one. It wasn't until the third bag was half drained that she finally started to slow down.
Moving quickly, Elena gathered up the few possessions she had, there wasn't very much she wanted or needed. Putting on her jacket, she hid the dagger in the inside pocket.
Her magic reserves were returning, but it wasn't back at its full strength. Not willing to let that stop her she opened the final blood bag, this time using the built in straw.
Glancing at a clock, she had a few minutes to kill before the full moon. If everything went according to plan, her family will be waiting for her to make her escape.
At some point in the not so distant future, she really needed to talk with her childhood friends, preferably in a neutral setting. The Grill perhaps? It had been quite literally ages since she had her usual burger and fries menu selections. Even after ten centuries, she still missed the Grill's milkshakes as well. Bonnie, Caroline and she had spent hours there talking about boys and what life would be like after they graduated high school. Pushing aside happier memories of her life before the supernatural entered their lives, Elena Mikaelson noted the time and made for the door.
Finding a young man she had learned during her imprisonment here was Abby's own step son Jamie on the other side of the door with his arms heavily laden with assortment of typical junk food fare wasn't something she had expected. Cursing herself for not expanding her hypersensitive senses for such surprises, she watched as the human realized he was in too close proximity to an apex predator. Who also happened to have missed a rivulet of blood from the corner of her mouth.
Great, he probably thinks he is my next snack, Elena cursed herself for not being more careful while feeding.
The combined look of shock and terror on his face sent her body into motion before he could even move or utter a plaintiff squeak of alarm. Using her vampire speed, Elena pulled him and what Jeremy had more than once called Gamers fuel into her former prison cell and silently closed the door.
It broke her heart that the boy was trembling now and Elena did the only thing she could think of to keep him from having a full blown panic attack.
"Calm down Jamie," Elena said gently while she pushed the compulsion into his mind. His body relaxed, but his eyes said otherwise. "I'm not going to hurt you, I swear it."
"H… How did you…" Jamie stammered.
"That is something for me to know and for you to dot dot dot," Elena smiled conspiratorially at him.
"What are you going to do with me?" He asked surprised that he could ask such a question not realizing that she'd dropped her compulsion on him already.
"It depends, by all appearances it looks like you are getting ready for a little gaming session, is my little brother going to participate?" Elena asked, intentionally doing so to deflect possible recriminations against Jeremy for helping her to escape. Later she promised herself she would kick his ass for not telling her about said gaming session with Abby's step son.
"Yes, but only after the ritual my mom and Bonnie are performing is concluded. It was a spur of the moment really. I think I caught him by surprise as he was heading outside with the others," Jamie explained sheepishly.
Elena found herself smiling at the growing friendship between Bonnie's step brother and her own. A feeling of melancholy only reminded her that she needed to talk to him about a few things about their true familial relationship.
"I see. Jamie, I will be honest with you. I just want to be reunited with my husband and my babies. I could compel you not to tell anyone that you saw me, but I don't want to. Can you keep silent until after I make my escape?"
"They will try to stop you," Jamie cautioned, and she didn't need to ask which they he was referring to.
"They will, but it won't be enough, and before you start I'm not going to hurt any of them," Elena soothed before he could start his desperate pleas for her not to hurt his mother or anyone else. Inwardly she felt slightly depressed that her friends thought such possible things about her.
"Do you promise?" He asked, both sounding hesitant to trust her but also hopeful that she would keep her promise.
"I'm a Mikaelson and we don't break our promises. I promise not to hurt any of my friends, or your mother, for that matter. I will do my utmost to keep anyone from my family from doing anything as well, I swear."
"Your family? How do they know you are going to escape?"
His question momentarily surprised her. How did he know that her family was going to assist in her escape?
"That is for us to know… Listen, I need to leave. Can I trust you not to interfere?"
"Okay, I won't do anything to hinder you," he said finally and Elena released her hold on her breathing she hadn't realized she'd had until then.
"Thank you Jamie, I'm in your debt."
Elena, without another word, opened the door and watched Jamie with his cache of junk food disappear into the room he and her brother had been playing video games for the last several days. Shaking her head, she made her way down the boarding house stairs. She was about to make her way towards the foyer when she froze. Not wanting to be surprised again she'd opened her senses for others still in the house, but she had mistakenly assumed everyone else was outside. The faint, slow heartbeat from an obvious vampire in the den was unmistakable.
Not wanting to but feeling she really didn't have any other choice she entered the den to find, as expected, a lone vampire sitting on the couch with a tumbler of bourbon partly raised in salute to her. Puzzled, Elena wearily approached him.
"Hello love, I see that you somehow freed yourself. I guess congratulations are in order. I'm Lorenzo St. John, but my friends call me Enzo," Enzo's British accent washed over her like the ebb and flow of the gentle cascade of waves. There was something strangely familiar about it, but she couldn't quite place it.
"So… are we going to have a problem with you seeing me up and about, Lorenzo?" Elena asked cautiously. The vampire hadn't moved from the couch he was still seated at. In fact, he seemed to make a show of relaxing himself into the cushion. Not that it really mattered; like him Elena could move faster than human senses could even track.
"No, love and you can call me Enzo, by the way. I have something for you I don't know what it means but Damon seems very keen on deciphering its hidden secrets."
"Alright Enzo, you can call me Elena. So, what do you have for me?"
Elena didn't move as Enzo finished his drink and carefully stood up and motioned for her to follow him to the large ornate wood table she had spent a good number of days at studying for her classes. With some reluctance she followed him, already well aware of the need to get outside, but there was something about Enzo that was bringing back memories she'd forgotten about. Elena just didn't exactly know how to focus in on them.
On the table was a single bankers box. Moving the lid off, Enzo started digging inside before pulling out a manila folder then holding it out for her to take. Not sure what his game was about, she opened the folder and almost dropped it after recognition of the contents had finally wormed its way through her brain.
"I thought I destroyed all of them! Enzo, this is very important. Do you know if there are any more copies?" Elena asked. Somehow she kept her voice even.
"Um… I'm not sure where Damon got them, He and Stefan have been trying to decipher the pictograms themselves I don't think either of them are very good at such puzzles."
"Okay. Well, things could have become rather disastrous for all of us if they somehow had."
"How?"
"Enzo, I'm not going to say what in the pictograms is the threat. I don't want to give you too much. But thanks to the death of my late father-in-law who was a Original himself. We… We learned that when an Original dies permanently their entire sireling within a few hours does the same."
"All of them!?"
"Yep, It was pure luck that we found out, which is why it's so important that this information is never accidentally leaked out."
"Why not tell Stefan or Damon? On second thought, Damon was a blockhead back then and by all accounts still is-"
It took a moment to realize that he was staring into her eyes as if he were searching for something.
"What?" Elena asked, feeling suddenly self-conscious of her appearance. Or had she been more of a messy eater than she realized when she downed all those blood bags upstairs?
"We, or more aptly put, you don't have time to get into a lengthy discussion."
"I could compel you to tell me, you know," Elena's lips quirked in wry amusement only to turn a frown by the strange expression her new friend wore.
"I think compelling me is not an option either, but we can talk about that later."
"Well, give me something to whet my appetite, then?" Elena prodded.
He gave her a considering look before he finally relented. "If you insist, I knew it was you by your eyes. They haven't changed since the time I saw you as a little girl."
"What?" Elena asked dumbfounded. She didn't remember meeting this vampire before now.
It wasn't like she spied on herself while growing up all the time. Sometimes it was necessary, but other times it was just too painful to experience yet again.
"I promise we will talk about it later. I think you need to focus on what is important right now," Enzo chided her and for once in a very long while she felt like a little girl again.
But oddly, she didn't hold it against him for making her feel that way.
"I'll hold you to it and you're right. However, first things first," Elena exclaimed then held up the offending stack of photos she prayed where the last copies and started her spell incantation.
"ignis ardeat!"
The effect was instantaneous as the entire stack of photos ignited in flame.
"You're going to have to explain to me how a vampire can perform magic," Enzo muttered in amazement.
"I would if I could, but you just had to remind me of other pressing priorities," Elena teased.
Salvatore Boarding House
November 21, 2010
They all had wisely decided to exit their caravan of SUV's far enough away from the Boarding House, so as not to alert Elena's friends of their arrival. Despite his promise to her that no harm would befall anyone, he didn't quite know what he would do if Damon Salvatore stood in the way of getting his wife back. The part of him which still clung to the shredded remains of his humanity acknowledged by human standards, but the predator side of him was more primal and that part also needed his mate back.
It bothered him how readily he allowed the predator to take the lead in punishing Stefan Salvatore for his part in keeping him from his Elena.
Seeing his children need their mother only heightened his need to get her back.
"Brother, calm yourself. Trust that we are going to get her back," Kol spoke softly so only he heard him. It was then that Elijah noted the custom Louisville Slugger Kol had ordered a few days ago. Based on the amount of inlaid gold and silver decorating on it, a custom made order made and delivered in a few days would have cost a small fortune.
"We are, but I don't think we will need to resort to using your latest purchase."
"Maybe so or maybe not, but being a good boy scout I'll go by their motto of 'always ready.' After the stunts they've pulled I'm not going to miss a chance of kicking that pompous upstart vampire's arse."
"Kol, for one thing, let's not escalate things and secondly, you were never a boy scout and their motto is 'Be Prepared.' Now shall we join the others?"
Kol seemed momentarily surprised that his older brother hadn't ordered him to put his new baseball bat back in the vehicle. Until a huge grin split his face.
"Come on, let's go get your wife and my sister back then."
Shaking his head, he followed behind his youngest living brother over to where Klaus was conferring with his witches. His remaining hybrids were busy guarding the house where Tatia and everyone else not involved was waiting for their return.
"Is everything in order, Niklaus?" Elijah asked only after the coven leader of Klaus's witches finished explaining.
Klaus's coven were prepared to block any attempts of the Bennett witches restoring the barrier they already have in place once they realize they can harness the full moon to recast a far stronger barrier ward.
"Yes brother, Marcus has just informed me that all the keystones placed just outside the barrier will absorb all the ambient magic from their corresponding segment of the salt circumference. No matter how hard they exert themselves or try calling upon the moon, they will never be able to erect the barrier in time," Klaus said, giving Marcus a look that any person knew promised trouble if they failed to deliver.
To this day Elijah still had no idea how Klaus managed to attract willing witches or warlocks to his banner.
Klaus wasn't playing around either enchanting a keystone was expensive and the number they needed to encircle the boarding house would have been almost a hundred of them. Kol had once explained to him that the reason they were so expensive was not the actual construction of them but the actual decanting of the magic safely back into the environment was highly dangerous.
Thanks to Kol's reestablishing his own contacts with his former compatriots. If rumors were to be believed, the Hurricane Katrina which had devastated the gulf coast back five years ago had been the direct result of an ill advised hasty attempt to decant some keystones discovered in a recently deceased witch's belongings. Keeping a keystone that had absorbed them full of ambient magic was like walking around with a bottle of nitroglycerin in one's pocket on a very hot day. Nature had its way of reclaiming what was lost to it no matter the cost. Which was why Elijah paid very close attention to the Warlock's reassurances that the keystones would be decanted hundreds of miles away in the Nevada desert.
"There better be no mistakes with your preparations both during and after tonight's events," Klaus growled.
"There will not be, I swear to you," the warlock gulped.
"You should know that my family puts great weight in others' promises to us in light of how we value our own. Do your job and I will help keep my brother's promise to you," Elijah said with no trace of malice or threat like his brother was fond of expressing in such exchanges.
The warlock nodded in understanding and moved away to confer with his coven. By his animated hands Elijah and his brother didn't need to listen to them; not that he could considering they were muffling their voices with a silencing charm. Elijah's mother had done the same thing when they were growing up.
"They will get the job done, Elijah," Klaus promised him.
"I know, brother, I have no doubt. Come let's catch up to Kol before he starts threatening them with his Louisville Slugger."
"I can't believe I gave him his own credit cards," Klaus groused as they walked together.
"It was that or have him keep borrowing yours."
By the bright grin on Kol's face, they both knew he had heard them clearly. Before he vamp sped away for the driveway of the Salvatore home.
With a growl of annoyance, Klaus and Elijah followed their little brother to find him, as expected, taunting Damon Salvatore and, based on Elena's witch friend's dour expression, he was shamelessly flirting with Bonnie Bennett. Jeremy Gilbert was in the spell circle with his friends.
"Bonnie just ignore him. Instead come help me finish up this spell circle," Abby said, trying to draw her daughter away from Kol's attempt to distract them.
Even Elijah had to admit that Abby Bennett was a wise woman not to fall into the trap of being distracted by his younger brother. Damon Salvatore, on the other hand. Nor did he miss the slightest hint of a nod from Elena's brother as if in greeting, but his seemingly innocuous action had been pre-arranged beforehand.
"What the hell are all of you doing here? Where is my brother!?" Damon demanded.
"I would think the first should be obvious, but as a brother myself I would have led with the later question, don't you think Niklaus?" Elijah said, keeping his voice pleasant.
"Most definitely, brother! After all, family is important… Well at least to us. I can't really speak for Mister Salvatore here. That reminds me, have you located Stefan yet?" Klaus answered innocently and even Elijah had to cringe inwardly. His half brother was anything but innocent.
"You bastard! We know you have him give him back!" Damon yelled.
Elijah spoke first before either of his little brothers could. "There is no need to be rude, Damon. Right now, Stefan is a guest of ours, and that won't change until we can come to a gentlemanly arrangement between our two parties."
Damon looked like he wanted to run one of them through with something sharp; not that it would ultimately amount to anything as all of them knew that already.
"A Gentlemanly arrangement? I can't believe I'm hearing this," Damon huffed, throwing his hands up into the night air. Unperturbed by the debate happening in the world below, the moon moved around its partner in a dance going back to the dawn of their solar system. By its position in the sky, it was almost to its apex, Elijah estimated by the angle from the horizon.
"Do you mean a similar arrangement such as you made with Elena all those months before? Last time I checked your brother is still upright and breathing, but two of Elena's loved ones are dead. Would someone care to explain that?" Damon jeered back. Elijah was about to respond when one of his brothers responded before he could.
"I regret that I was the cause that took her aunt and her birth father from her. If I had known what my siblings and I know now, things would have been far different," Klaus said. His statement stunned almost everyone present, even Bonnie and Abby stopped their spell preparations. Before Abby urged her daughter to continue their collective work.
"If… If you think that makes up for-" Damon spluttered.
"I'm afraid we are straying off topic. I will make this promise to you and your friends. If you give me my wife back right now, we will release Stefan and cease any further retribution or retaliation. Unless we are so provoked in the future," Elijah said firmly.
He highly doubted that they would actually accept his offer, but all the same he would honor it. If by some miracle Damon Salvatore finally recognized they were in a no-win situation. Keeping his anger in check was a feat of will, but he too had promised his wife as well.
"Well I'm afraid you're too late!" Bonnie's voice broke the odd silence that had descended upon them. From the corner of his eye he watched as Klaus sent a quick text to who he could only guess were the witches under his employ.
Bonnie and her mother joined hands and immediately the very air around them came alive. Elijah made a mental note to have a talk with Kol about the appraising looks he was giving his wife's witch friend. Nothing good can come from it and had been the main reason he'd spent the majority of the twentieth century with a dagger in his chest.
"Lunam invocamus ut in auxilio nostro opus sit ut ab omnibus quaerentibus introitum muniat formidabile impedimentum!"
Pulling on the full moon, the magic started to infuse the salt line perimeter the salt itself started to glow with a blue light that at first started to grow in intensity the harder the two witches chanted.
"Lunam invocamus ut in auxilio nostro opus sit ut ab omnibus quaerentibus introitum muniat formidabile impedimentum!"
While they were focused on the spell, Elijah stepped closer to the barrier and pressed his hands on to the invisible barrier. Which was now taking on the same bluish glow, but then the light started to flicker not in any noticeable way at first but started to grow more in frequency.
"Lunam invocamus ut in auxilio nostro opus sit ut ab omnibus quaerentibus introitum muniat formidabile impedimentum!" Both witches cried out, calling on the moon, but now even Damon who until the spell had started had a smug expression that too started to falter.
Pressing his hands harder into the barrier, he felt it give slightly. Now encouraged Elijah continued to press harder into the barrier; to either side his brothers were doing the same.
"What are you doing?" Damon yelled. Elijah and his brothers ignored him.
"Bonnie! Stop them they are breaking through!" Damon cried, splitting his attention between the three originals and the two Bennett witches. Who were starting to show fatigue.
"Som… Something is wr… wrong!" Abby cried as she and her daughter fought to keep the barrier from failing entirely. Both witches' arms were still tightly clasped together, but they were swaying on their feet. Elijah felt admiration for their efforts; he had seen Bonnie as a fairly new witch channeling the power of dead witches when they were trying to take down his brother. Her skills have obviously improved since then, he noted.
"Love, don't strain yourself. The situation is hopeless," Kol suggested. Neither of the Bennetts took his suggestion.
"Bonnie stop!" Jeremy cried.
"Don't listen to him!" Damon urged.
"My brother is right. Abby, Bonnie, please stop this before you hurt yourselves."
He was so focused on them and his own effort to push through he hadn't noticed her. Even though she still wore the same clothes she had when she tried to make her first escape. She still looked as beautiful to him as when he first laid eyes on her. Elena Mikaelson stood like a regal queen watching her royal court bickering amongst themselves. He had never loved her more in that moment.
"Ella! Nice of you to finally join us," Kol beamed.
"Not now Kol!" Elena hissed at her brother-in-law.
"How?"
"No- we- can still- do this!" Bonnie hissed.
"Bonnie please!" Elena cried. Her lower lip trembled, and he didn't need to ask to know she was worried about her friend or her mother.
The one flaw about their overall plan was if neither of them stopped. Elena had told him that they might truly harm themselves, she had said she had a means to bring it down, but it was of the last resort. By her resigned expression, he knew she had already reached the same conclusion he just came to.
"Bonnie, Abby Bennett, as I am the last of the Petrova line I call upon you both to uphold your familial oath to me. Cease this at once!" Elena cried, not bothering to hide her tears.
It happened so fast even his vampire enhanced senses missed as the barrier collapsed completely along with the smaller one that had been erected around Elena's friends as a secondary barrier, just in case of utter failure.
His arms were enfolded around his newly reunited wife as she sobbed softly into his shoulder, all the while he soothed her by whispering in the same language he and she had exchanged their vows a millennium before.
"How did you… It was you, damn it!" Damon roared.
Elijah looked up from his attempt to comfort his wife to see both witches had collapsed into each other's arms; they were still breathing heavily from their ordeal. But that wasn't what had drawn his attention. Damon Salvatore was holding Jeremy Gilbert, his wife's only living relative, in the air by his neck.
"YOU… YOU FUCKING TRAITOR!"
"DAMON DON'T! JEREMY!"
To even his own surprise, Elijah winced at the audible crack; he stood numbly for a mere microsecond before he too was in motion like everyone else. Still Elena beat him to the crumpled body of his fallen brother in law. His heart broke to see his Elena, Elena Mikaelson, amongst one of the strongest immortal creatures of this world, now looked so helpless as she cradled Jeremy's still form to her chest, her cries of anguish rocked the very earth itself. As his wife rocked on her hunches with his body, her wail of near loss only intensified when she finally noticed the familiar Gilbert Ring still thankfully on his finger. He will live that much he understood. Glancing at his youngest brother Kol who, was already reacting to seeing his sister's pain, was trying out his new Louisville Slugger on the upstart vampire. A dark part of him wanted to break his promise to his wife in which no harm would befall anyone. For once, he actually considered ignoring his own rules. No one hurts his family, not even if they were just extended family members like Jeremy Gilbert.
The sound of his wife's heart wrenching sobbing plus the welcome rhythmic notes of polished wood impacting on flesh with metronome efficiency echoed through the night air. The moon hanging above them all, still oblivious to the event unfolding below, silently continued to move on its path as it had for countless ages.
