Chapter Three:

Sacrifices.


Mystic Falls; Mikaelson Mansion

2012

Elena Gilbert found the Original witch in a private study on the top floor of the Mikaelson mansion. She was not alone, her son, Finn, perched in the corner of the room, was sharpening the dagger in his hand. Esther herself stood at the large mahogany desk, burning incense, weaving the smoke through the air of the room.

The smell was musky and sweet, with a hint of something decayed.

Elena knocked on the door, slipping through the threshold.

This was why she had come to the ball to begin with, and she would not let her feet fail her now.

Damon was just downstairs, Stefan too, and she was safe.

Esther glanced over her shoulder and excused Finn, who strolled by Elena without a single glance her way, shutting the door with a resolute click behind him.

Then it was just them, Elena and Esther, alone in an old room in an older city.

Esther nodded towards the incense in her hand.

"It's only sage. I've spelled it so we can speak freely without fear of being overheard. You must have a million questions for me, Elena. Please, go ahead."

Gesturing to the sofa, Esther took a seat after Elena stole the other side.

A million questions was right. Where to start? The beginning, perhaps, was best.

"How are you alive? Are you a ghost or…"

Esther smiled.

"Not exactly. When I died the witch Ayana preserved my body with a spell. She was a close friend of mine, an ancestor of your friend Bonnie."

Elena nodded.

"So that's why only Bonnie and her mother could open up the casket."

Esther leant back in her seat, relaxed, calm.

So different to the other Originals.

Just as terrifying.

"They complete the Bennett bloodline. I drew power from them and their ancestors who were with me on the other side."

Elena fiddled with the corsage on her wrist.

"You've been on the other side for a thousand years?"

Esther's gaze grew distant, faraway.

"Nature's way of punishing me for turning my family into vampires. But there is a way for me to undo the evil I created."

Here it was.

The heart of the matter.

Exactly what Elena had been drawn to this room for.

Hesitantly, she asked the loaded question dangling just above the two women.

"You're going to help us kill Klaus, aren't you?"

Esther met her eye across the way, sharp and keen in a soft face.

"Me? No. Not me… But I know what can."

Elena blinked owlishly.

"There's a weapon out there that can kill him?"

Esther stood from the sofa, heels clicking on the hardwood as she made her way to the largest window of the room to gaze out into the night, up to the stars and moon glimmering in the black.

"Not a weapon either… I've spent a long time looking for this, Elena, and even longer to get it where I needed it to be. You must understand that. My time in the other side was not wasted idly, and it took a lot of power and planning to contact those I needed to without a corporeal form. But I found it, and I have it safe within reach… And here we are. The time is now upon us. We can end this... Together."

Elena joined the witch by the window.

The night seemed particularly dark that day.

"Found what precisely?"

Esther smiled, closed lipped, not exactly warm, but not hostile either.

"I need your help, Elena. I know where it is, but I cannot… Awaken it, so to speak."

Elena took a step back.

It always came back around to this, didn't it?

"You need my blood."

Esther laughed, bright and shrill.

"Oh, no, dear girl. Not everything revolves around you. But you are close to the Salvatore brothers, are you not? They listen to you? Do what they must to protect you? At least, that is what Finn has informed me."

Elena frowned deeply.

"Damon and Stefan? What do you want with them?"

Esther waved her hand dismissively.

"The Petrova line has always had a certain... Charm in getting what they want when they want it. I doubt you are any different. I need their blood. Just a few drops. Damon's to be exact… And I need it soon. The longer she is left slumbering, the hungrier she will be once she is awakened."

Blood, hunger, awakened…

None of this sounded… Pleasant. None of this sounded like anything Elena should remotely get involved in.

And yet, what other option did she have?

A life under thumb of Klaus Mikaelson? Always watching the shadows for the day he dropped by for a pint of her blood? Waiting for the day he decided to take more than she could give? For the day he used Jeremy or Bonnie or Caroline against her again?

No… No.

Maybe it was selfish, but didn't she get to be selfish every now and again?

"This… She… She's not going to hurt anyone, is she?"

Esther slipped in close, bracing her hands upon Elena's small, frail shoulders.

"Not anyone that does not deserve to be hurt. Mortals will be perfectly safe around her. They are not in her… Dietary requirements."

Elena wavered.

"And you need Damon's blood for…"

Esther patted her shoulder like one would pat at a puppy.

"Just to wake her up. As only Bonnie and her mother could open my casket, only the blood of her fath-… She is, in a way, sleeping, Elena. Only Salvatore blood, Damon's, can wake her up, and we only have one shot at this. She can only be put to sleep and awakened once. If we fail in this, we will not get another chance."

Do or die then.

That was something Elena was used to.

"And she won't hurt my friends?"

Esther's hands slipped from her shoulders, leaving her skin cold and barren.

"I would keep Bonnie and Caroline… At a distance. Particularly Caroline. Vampire blood will… Tempt her."

Was this really the only way to-

Esther cradled her face between gentle hands.

"Don't you want to be safe, Elena? Don't you want Mystical falls, your home, to be safe? Your friends too? This world will never be if we do not do what we must and end the needless bloodshed my mistakes have caused. Please… Help me."

Elena broke.

"I'll talk to Damon… Make some excuse of… Wanting a backup plan or something if I'm ever cornered. I should be able to get a vial or two."

Esther grinned, all bright pretty teeth.

"Good. Good. You won't regret this, Elena."

Elena nodded, oddly… Afraid, anxious perhaps.

She left not long after, Finn once more joining his mother in the room.

"Is the girl going to do it?"

Esther nodded.

Finn glanced down the now empty hallway.

"She doesn't know she's going to be the first feed, does she?"

Esther turned away from her son, back to the window, back to the stars above.

"Sacrifices must be made by all if this is to end, my son. An All-blood will only drink from those of it's own ilk, touched by death or magic in ours case, and Doppelgangers, beings formed from cycles of death and rebirth, will do just fine. If not, there are plenty of vampires in Mystic falls to pick from, and if needs must, a witch or two."

Finn faltered.

"But how can we be sure this will work? There has never been an All-blood. They're mere myth. How can we truly know that thing is actually what was foretold in the Necronomicon-"

"I know."

Turning, Esther faced her son dead on.

"Now go and retrieve the sarcophagus."


A.N: Thank you all for the lovely response to this fic. I hope you liked this chapter, and if you can, don't forget to drop a review. Hopefully, I will see you all soon.