Chapter 23
Elena was fuming. Her carefully laid plan to scare Ottilie away from the Salvatore brothers had backfired, and now the little witch was closer to them than ever. She'd done everything she could – leaving a blood bag out for Ottilie to stumble upon, dropping suspicious comments, trying to reveal Stefan's hard to control blood lust, and even stabbed herself, but to no avail. That horrible little girl still had a hold over her boys.
Ottilie, for her part, was growing stronger and stronger, practicing her magic whenever her busy schedule would allow, Bonnie and Kol were extremely impressed with her control; she was able to execute complex spells perfectly, although it seemed to take a toll on her small body. Damon was often called by a frantic Bonnie to come and collect the little girl after a particularly heavy spell.
Damon worried constantly for his little lady's safety regarding her witchcraft. Every time he got a phone call from Bonnie or Kol, he wondered if that was to be the one bringing him the news he feared the most – that she'd gone one step too far and her heart had given out. She was so young, he couldn't lose her yet. Not ever! But he knew that the magic was a part of her, and that learning to control it was best for her in the long run. And so, he kept turning up after each phone call, sometimes to sigh and pick up his unconscious daughter, sometimes to gently wipe the blood from her nose and hold her shaky frame steady as he led her to the car.
Stefan was trying to keep things going with Elena, although at this point, he wasn't really sure why. He was desperately trying to see her as she once was – a sweet, gentle girl who was kind and generous; not at all like the bitter, jealous woman she was now. It was for the older Elena that he kept seeing her – although it was always at her house that they'd spend time together, never at his. His heart ached for the what he thought was the love of his life. Perhaps it just wasn't meant to be, he mused as he walked to Elena's house one day, finding himself forcing a slower pace so as to postpone his arrival.
It was a Saturday evening and Ottilie and Damon were sat in the living room, talking animatedly about a book Ottilie had both read recently. Damon was arguing that reading was boring, and a waste of time, whilst Ottilie was adamant that reading was one of her favourite things to do.
There was a knock at the door, and Damon went to open it quickly. "Oh hello," he said, his face instantly turning to a scowl as he saw who the visitor was.
"Hi Damon," said Elena brightly. "Can I come in?"
Damon smirked and stood to one side, gesturing patronisingly that she should enter. "Stefan is out, spending time with Bambi" he told her, knowing that she would get his meaning.
Elena just rolled her eyes and glared back at him. "Actually," she pouted, "I'm here to talk to you."
He shrugged at her, as if indicating at her to get on with it.
"In private," she added, sending a glance over in Ottilie's direction, who's head was buried in a book.
"Fine…" sighed Damon, as if making out that she was asking the world of him, and he turned to go towards the kitchen.
"No," she said, gesturing towards the door that lead downstairs to the cellar. "Down here," she said, and he followed her down.
Minutes later, Elena came back up the cellar stairs and shut the door firmly behind her. "Where's Damon?" asked Ottilie, looking up from her book.
"Oh, he's just sorting something downstairs," replied Elena, keeping her tone of voice light, "He said he won't be long. Actually, he asked me to make you a drink. Would you like a hot chocolate?"
The little girl looked over her book, warily at Elena, wondering where this new found friendliness was coming from. "Um, yes please," she said, still a little apprehensive.
Elena disappeared into the kitchen, returning promptly with a huge mug of hot chocolate which she handed to Ottilie. "Here you go, Otti!" she said, "Enjoy!" Ottilie thanked her and took a sip of the drink, relishing it's chocolatiness, and noticing another, new flavour that she'd never had before.
"Thank you, Elena, it's really nice!" she said, smiling up at the older girl. "I've never had a hot chocolate like this before – it's tastes a little different to the ones I've had that Damon or Stefan has made?"
Elena nodded, "This one is made with darker chocolate – it's quite intense, isn't it!" She laughed, kindly. "Otti, I wanted to show you something that Stefan showed me ages ago when he and I first met. If you go up to the top of the house, you can see the stars really clearly through a skylight there – do you want to see? I thought you'd like it?"
Ottilie grinned at her, genuinely thrilled that Elena was being so kind to her – maybe this was a new point in their relationship! She took a big gulp of her hot chocolate which was at the perfect drinking temperature now, and Elena chuckled,
"Just bring it with you, Otti – you'll make yourself feel ill if you try and drink it all now!" She teased, taking the little girl by the hand and leading her up the stairs. Ottilie felt her heart starting to speed up, and put it down to excitement about going somewhere in the massive mansion that she'd never been before. Up and up they climbed, up the main staircase, then a smaller, more rickety one, before finally, Elena told her to put her empty mug down as they needed to go up a ladder.
Elena went up first, pushing open a window that opened straight up onto the roof, and pulled Ottilie up behind her before shutting the window firmly. "I didn't know we'd be up on the roof," said Ottilie, a little nervous. She was starting to feel a little unwell now – her hands were feeling clammy, she was finding it hard to catch her breath, and her heart was racing, not from excitement now, she was sure.
"Oh don't be a wimp," said Elena, suddenly back to her sneering voice, and she pulled Ottilie along behind her, treading carefully along the uneven roof, and standing her on a particularly precarious point next to one of the chimneys before leaving her there and retracing her steps back towards the window.
At that moment, Stefan appeared from his time hunting, and stopped as he heard a whisper, "Perfect timing!" that sounded a lot like Elena. He scanned around him, looking for her, when his hearing honed in on the sound of a terrified, racing heartbeat. Otti… he thought, suddenly panicking.
"Don't think about moving," came a nasty, sneering voice that sounded so cold and menacing compared to the voice of the one he used to love. "It's time to choose, Stefan."
He looked up and saw Elena, standing dangerously close to the edge of the roofline of his house. "What are you doing, Elena?" he asked carefully, "Where's Otti?"
She shrugged, "She's around," she said, nonchalantly. "Like I said, it's time for you to choose. Soon I'm going to jump off this roof, and Otti, who is currently enjoying a huge caffeine rush, is going to probably have one of her attacks and fall too. And you're going to choose who to save." She smiled triumphantly and Stefan took a step forwards, "nuh-uh, Stefan, you wait just there or I'll use this little knife here, and then we will see how well you control that pesky blood lust, shall we?"
Stefan stopped in his tracks. "DAMON!" he yelled.
"Oh Stefan, your brother is vervained and tied up in the basement, and I broke his neck for good measure. He won't be helping you any time soon." She laughed.
"Why are you doing this, Elena?" Stefan asked through gritted teeth, staring at her whilst still trying to keep an eye on Ottilie who was deadly pale and shaking, gasping for air.
"Because I love you, Stefan," she replied, "and you love me. We're meant to be together, I know it. We have so much together, and she's in the way. She's distracting you from the most important thing in our lives – us." Elena looked at Ottilie, and seeing that the little girl was on the brink of passing out, stepped right off the roof.
Stefan's stomach lurched and he took a step towards Elena, just as he saw Ottilie start to slip. He could only save one of them – he knew that his diminished vamp speed from consuming only animal blood would stop him from vamping to them both. But before he had to make his decision, Elena was suddenly hovering in the air, no longer in freefall. Stefan stared open mouthed before catching sight of his niece holding on to a jutting out part of the roof with one hand, the other hand held out towards Elena. He realised that she was slowly lowering Elena to the ground and watched in awe as she did so.
Stefan suddenly felt a whoosh of air next to him and he turned to see Klaus and Elijah next to him. "You can let go now, love," called Klaus gently up to Ottilie. The little girl shut her eyes and Elena fell straight down into Klaus' arms. He sped off with her into the house, taking her down to the cellar.
Ottilie, exhausted from the magic and in the grips of a huge tachycardic episode, passed out, lost her grip and began to fall, gracefully and lightly, her tiny body limp and lifeless. Stefan caught her gently in his arms and lowered her onto the ground, quickly accompanied by Elijah who fell to her side. "How did you know," asked Stefan, checking Ottilie over for injury.
"Damon sent us a message that Elena had attacked him and left him in the cellar. We feared she might be planning something so we came over at once." Elijah replied, taking the tiny child's wrist and feeling for a pulse. "This isn't good, Stefan, I've never felt it going this fast before."
Stefan shook his head. "Let's get her inside," he said, and scooping her up, ran straight for the house. He set her once again on the rug beside the fire, and tilting her head back, made sure that her airways were clear.
Klaus appeared from the basement, supporting a weak looking Damon who was sipping at a blood bag. "Ottilie," gasped Damon, quickly putting down the blood and running to the little girl lying lifeless on his living room floor.
"The bitch gave her a load of caffeine," said Klaus, watching the little girl carefully.
"Well that's not good!" Damon almost shouted, taking her face in his hands and stroking her cheeks. "Come on, little lady, wake up please!"
Just then, Ottilie's muscles began to stiffen, and her entire body started shaking uncontrollably. "Shit!" swore Stefan, "she's starting to seize – she's been having this attack for too long," he continued, holding her head carefully to the side and instructing Damon to move the furniture away from her so that she couldn't injure herself.
"Klaus, call an ambulance. How long since the attack started?" asked Elijah, urgently.
"At least 10 minutes," answered Stefan grimly, "I think it must have started as soon as she drank whatever concoction Elena made for her. Damon, in the medicine cupboard, there's a defibrillator that Elijah made me get. Fetch it, please."
Damon sped off, looking like he was going to be sick at any moment, and returned with the small box. Elijah took it from him and knelt with Stefan next to Ottilie. Klaus handed Damon a glass of bourbon which he downed shakily, before kneeling next to his daughter, whose seizure had stopped but was now lying eerily still.
Elijah starting unpacking the defibrillator, and put the two pads in right position under Ottilie's shirt. Pressing the 'on' button, the machine whirred on and started searching for a pulse. "Shock advised" came the chilling, computerised voice.
"Everybody stand back," instructed Elijah, and Klaus pulled Damon away from holding his little girl. Elijah pressed the button on the machine and Ottilie's tiny body lurched as the shock was administered.
"Analysing heart rhythm," said the machine. It was at that point that Elijah and Stefan noticed that Ottilie had stopped breathing.
"Stefan…" began Elijah.
"No, no…" gasped Stefan, leaping into action and tilting the little girl's head back, giving her a rescue breath.
"Pulse detected, shock advised" stated the machine again. Once more, Elijah instructed everyone to stand back before pressing the button. As soon as the shock had been delivered, Stefan continued breathing for Ottilie, grimacing as her heart showed no sign of slowing or evening out.
The ambulance arrived one more shock later, and the paramedics jumped out of the vehicle urgently, knowing that a young child was on the brink of cardiac arrest, and was already in respiratory arrest. Elijah quickly told them about Ottilie's medical background whilst Stefan kept giving Ottilie breaths until the medics took over. They loaded her carefully into the back of the ambulance, and sped off, leaving the four men to shakily get themselves together and form a plan of action.
"We'll drive you to the hospital now," said Klaus, grabbing Damon's shoulder and leading him to his car. Getting in, they sped off, following the ambulance all the way.
It was 30 minutes before they were allowed to see her, and walking in to her hospital room, Damon thought that he would break at any moment. Ottilie was lying in a bed, surrounded by tubes and wires connecting her to machines that Damon had never seen before. Her eyes were closed and her skin was grey. Stefan took hold of his hand, firmly, letting him know that he wasn't alone and he smiled slightly at his brother. "She'll be okay," he heard him whisper, so quietly that he knew that only he would hear it.
The nurse who had followed them into the room starting to speak, "Well she's doing surprisingly well, although it may not seem like it right now. When she arrived, she wasn't breathing for herself, and it took another two shocks and some medication to reset her heart to beating normally. But we think she's through the worst of it now. Do you have any idea what might have brought on this strong of an attack?" she asked, gently.
Stefan spoke up. "We think she accidently had some caffeine," he explained, careful to leave out the magic part of the event. Damon's eyes narrowed at the word, 'accidently'.
The nurse nodded, "well as you know, it's imperative that she doesn't consume caffeine. For someone with her condition, it could be fatal." The two brothers nodded grimly and she left them to it.
Taking one of Ottilie's hands each, the sat by her bed as she slept, both of them willing her to wake up and smile her sweet little smile at them.