Believer
Chapter 3: Keepers of the House : Part 2
Walking one a dirt path in the Bayou, Elena watches as Elijah touches a dream catcher hanging on a tree that was made of bone.
"So you told everyone to be on their best behavior?" Vincent asks him, giving the dream catcher a cautious look as he moves past it.
"Oh I told them. Now whether they'll be obedient is another thing all-together." Elijah replies with a smirk.
Elena stands more behind them, not really feeling like meeting the rest, especially Klaus, I have a right to feel nervous, considering last time we've seen each other I kind of killed his brother.
Bringing her barrier around herself in such a way that it was like wearing a jacket or gloves, she let out a sigh, "Maybe I should…hide behind a tree or something." She lets out, looking around, sensing the Vampire come closer.
"I wouldn't worry about Niklaus quite yet, he has bigger issues to deal with." Elijah measures her. Pursing her lips she nods at him, although not entirely convinced. Elijah walks toward his brother as he came down the path and asks, "Where is Hope?"
"Freya has her now, she's fighting it, whatever it is." Klaus answers irritant.
"The kids are attached to that spell, we save the kids we save your little girl. We've got some back-up to help." Vince says pointing to Elena who was trying her best to cover herself with her notice-me-not barrier, but since she got pointed out, I'm gonna strangle that man when I get the chance. She growls in her mind.
"And the sooner you all can be on your way." Marcel says, stalking out of the woods with Hayley behind him.
Klaus turns to the girl, whom he hasn't noticed until now, and raises his eyebrow, something familiar about her, until, his eyes grow wide and then without another thought he turns to Elijah, pointing at Elena, "What is she doing here!? Is this some sort of sick joke, brother?" Klaus asks in disbelieve.
Elijah lets out a sigh, "I promise you, Niklaus, that it is not. Elena, however, does seem to know a bit about the Hollow."
Lifting his chin up, Klaus glares at Elena, "And pray tell, how exactly would my now useless Doppelgänger help with the Hollow? Tell me, do you have something to do with it? Is your little group of misfits back at it again to ruin my life?" He says mockingly. Elena glares at him and steps forward, ready to tell him where to shove it when Hayley speaks up.
"Clearly we're skipping all the hugs and hellos. Vincent…Elena."
"Trail leads off this way, so I guess we follow the uh bread crumbs." Vincent says, walking to the trail.
Klaus says, "Take those savages are holing a ghost raging rave, best make sure it works for them. I say we-"
"We split up. Klaus you're with me, I'm not letting you out of my sight. Anyone got a problem with that, I don't give a damn." Marcel cuts off, and without another glance heads down a trail.
"Well, you can have him." Elena breaths under her breath, turning to eye Klaus she says, "You just have this tendency to bring out the best in people don't you." Klaus glares at her.
"And I see Damon's been rubbing off on you. Am I to be expecting your little boyfriend to show up anytime soon?" He sneers at her. Elena shrugs, face blank.
"Don't know, last time I heard, he was somewhere in Africa with Bonnie. Anyway, shouldn't we be going now?"
"Right, lets go, you can…argue after we find this thing." Vincent tells them. They nod at each other and head their ways, with Klaus catching up to Marcel and Elijah, Elena, Hayley and Vincent heading down the other trail.
"I assume you embark upon this journey from the kindness of your heart?" Klaus mocks at Marcel.
"There are kids in trouble. Yours included." Marcel states, walking in front of him.
"It's a bit late for you to suddenly care about my child, considering you left her fatherless for five years." Klaus argues, following him down a little path.
"Well, speaking from experience, I figured I was doing her a favor." Marcel throws back at him, looking at him for a moment.
"Careful, less your insults damage the already tentative peace."
"Alright, listen, I don't care about our peace alright? I care about finding those missing kids and whipping out the messed up people who took them. Rule out the problems, make them go away, thats what you do when you're the king." The darker man explains, slowing down so he was walking next to Klaus now.
"All I see is a petulant prince." The blond man states.
"Always with the insults, you never do learn. Like that girl back there? Seems like you've got some history there too." Marcel says, walking up ahead of him.
Klaus goes to catch up with him, "On the contraire, my time in my dungeon cleaified my priorities, my concerns are with my child, and that doppelgänger is nothing but a useless enemy that has come to haunt me all they way from Mystic falls. And as for you I can Imagine no better revenge then leaving you to the endless struggle to prove yourself my better, you're welcome by the way." Klaus proclaims as he moves past him.
Marcel stood still for a second before narrowing his eyes and starts to walk again calling out, "Oh by the way, that girl that you're calling useless saved Vincent and I's life yesterday. For someone so useless, she seems to have some pretty strong powers in her. I've never heard of anyone being able to teleport before."
Klaus stops walking as he hears this, and his eyes widen for a split second,before shaking his head, not saying anything else, they continue to walk on.
"So you knew this Crescent girl?" Elijah asks Hayley as they walk a little behind Vincent and Elena.
"I did, but that wasn't her, she said something about blue light." Hayley says looking at Vince with that last part.
"Yeah thats what the legend of New Orleans says, the spirit presents itself in a bright blue ball of light." He tells them.
"That explains my visions." Elena says out loud, rubbing her temple.
"Visions?" Elijah asks, raising an eyebrow. Elena nods, pushing a branch out of her way.
"Yeah, they come in flashes, usually when something bad is about to happen…kind of like a radar. They usually don't hurt, but ever time I had one about the missing children and the Ouroboros, there was the blue light, and it hurt like hell. It makes sense now." She explains to them.
"Huh, that's interesting. So you rely on those visions a lot?" Vincent asks interested
"Well, considering they've helped me save a lot of lives over the last two years, yeah I do." She replies. Elijah leans forward as he listens to the two of them talk, This certainly is a new development. Hayley leans into Elijah as she walks and asks quietly,
"I guess Kol was right then, she really saved them then?"
Elijah glances down at her, before turning back to Elena, who turned her head a little to look back at the both of them, her lips turned downward slightly.
"He saw me?" She asks bewildered.
Elijah purses his lips, "He recognized your voice, is what he told us. We all thought he was crazy, but I've learned not to underestimate you." Elena nods her head at him, her eyes still held a hind of worry in them, "Perhaps now is a good time to thank you for saving both my brother and sister. Quite frankly, you are the last person I would have expected to do such a noble act, after all we've put you through."
"Someone once wrote to me that my compassion was a gift and to carry it with me. I figured after the way I've treated them in some events, the least I could do is keep true to those words." Elena smiles softly. Elijah sends her one of his own smiles before praising,
"The writer seems positively gifted, I'm sure he meant what he wrote."
"I'm sure he did, which is why I'm glad I found it again, even after my house burned down." She tells him, a little smirk forming on her face as she looks away from Elijah, not seeing the look in his eyes. While Hayley held feelings for Elijah, she knew that whatever just happened, was something between the two of them. She sensed the lingering emotions between them, although it did make her slightly uncomfortable, since she was in love with Elijah, but count allow herself to act on it anymore, then she already has.
"So Vincent, how do we kill it?" Hayley asks him, breaking the silence.
"We'll find out soon enough." Vincent answers her, going up the path.
A while later, the sky grew dark and Elena stops walking and looks around, her eyes narrowed.
"Something wrong?" Hayley asks her, lifting an eyebrow. Looking to her side, deeper into the woods, Elena nods her head.
"You guy's head on without me, I'll catch up." She tells them. Elijah frowns at this, and steps forward.
"What is it, Elena?" He asks her.
"From what I'm sensing about…a dozen people…followers, posing as a distraction to slow us down. It's okay, really, I've handled more then that on my own before. Go save those kids." She tells them, not leaving any room to argue. Elijah pulls his lips in a line, not used to this Elena, but at the same time, she hasn't really changed too much. Nodding his head, he looks at the other two.
"I suppose it's alright, lets go then." He takes a few steps away from her, before lowering his head and tilting it her way, "Please be careful."
Elena smiles at him, "Always am." And without, the three disappeared from sight leaving Elena alone. Letting out a sigh, she pulls her dagger from her inner jacket pocket, just in time for the followers to show up.
"Aw, look at the little girl and her knife! What makes you think you can take us all down?" One of them mocks. Elena smirks at him and shrugs.
"I have a feeling."
"Well, I have a feeling, and it involves you, dead, on the ground, me covered in your blood." Another one tells her. The former Vampire watches as the mans eyes flicker black and her smirk grows wider.
"We'll see about that."
Klaus and Marcel arrive at the ritual site, with a fire burning in the middle, just in time to watch Will walk up to a large, chubby man who was wearing a cloak.
"Now that you've returned, brother, we claim our power, our rightful place, and lay waste to all who will deny our master. Are you prepared to proof your loyalty to the Hollow?" Just as the man asks this, Elijah, Hayley, and Vincent walk up to where the other two are hiding. Elijah spots the children, warped in cloth and tied up, as if they where already dead.
"I know what I have to do. I'm not afraid." Will answers to the man in the cloak.
"We should begin." He says. Elena arrives next to Elijah, who turns to look down at her, his jaw clenches as he sees she's covered in blood. Noticing his eyes on her, she looks at him and his stare, ignoring it, she turns back to watch the chubby man pull out a long blade.
"Enough with this circus of Sadists." Klaus whispers, Marcel looks and watches him break off a piece of the branch next to him, and throw it into the chubby mans chest. Gasping for air, he falls to the ground, dead. Hayley and Vincent gasp in surprise at Klaus's action. Without another thought Elijah, Klaus, and Marcel make their way at Vampire speed, killing the other followers around the ritual.
"We gotta get the kids! Get the kids!"Vincent orders. Hayley, Vincent and Elena ran to the children grabbing them. As one of the followers attacked Hayley, she snapped his neck, throwing him to the side and taking two of the children. Two more followers came at Elena, but she pulls her bloodied knife out and stabs on in the throat. The other goes to grab her from behind, but her barrier makes him unable to touch her, so she turns and stabs him through the stomach, letting him fall to the ground, pulling her dagger out of him. Seeing one child left, she goes to run to them, just as Vincent gets to the kid first, Will takes out his talisman from earlier and starts to chant.
"Will! Will! Come on man!" Vincent begs his friend, "It's over!"
"Not all of 's only just begun." His friend states, pointing the pendant at him, pushing Vincent away, but he still manages to take the last kid, bringing him to the rest of them. Klaus moves, grabbing Will by the neck and lifting him up. "You can't stop whats coming." Will breaths out, a sick smile on his face. Without another though Klaus snaps his neck, and Vince watches from afar as his best friend falls dead to the ground.
"Nooo!" Vince shouts out, watching horrified.
Elena,not far away from where Klaus was, took out one of the last followers, then looks at the dead man and then at Klaus. Narrowing her eyes, she follows his transfixed gaze to what looked like a crocodile head with antlers. Suddenly she feels the agonizing pain in her head, from the visions, "Ahhh!" She grunts out, holding her head in her hands as she falls to her knees. It stops after a few seconds, and she opens her eyes and looks around her.
It seemed that she, Klaus, and Marcel where all surrounded by a circle of fire.
"Elena! Can you hear me?" Elijah says worriedly though the barrier. Turning she looks at him and nods her head. She walks up to him and raises her hands to the barrier, pushing on it with her powers, she feels it shake.
"The barrier wont let us escape. You need to unlink the kids from it, it's the only way to stop it!" Elena rushes out, "Go! Save those kids, damn it, I'll try and see if I can get them out of their trance."
Turning around to the two men, she walks up to them and shakes Marcel slightly, but he doesn't budget. Growling she tries with Klaus, who let out a groan. At lest one of them isn't totally taken by this.
Placing her hands on each of their shoulders, she closes her eyes. Elena opens them after no luck of getting into their minds, Five millines, figures you wont budget. She thinks. Glancing up at the crocodile skull, her mind blanks for a moment and she blinks coming back from whatever that was.
Her eyes grow, there was blue light everywhere, it surrounded her, as if it was trying to consume her, but it never actually touches her. She raises her hand, expecting it to be her barrier, but a violet light surrounded her…It feels so…gentle, calming almost, The girl wonders amazed. Snapping her eyes away from herself, she feels movement and moves her head to the side, seeing Klaus and Marcel again, only Klaus seems to be saying something to Marcel, "Don't look at the blue light." She heard. Frowning at the blue light, she puts her hand back onto both mens shoulders and closes her eyes, Maybe…maybe I can do this. Alister said to trust my instincts, my instincts haven't failed me in two years. I can do this. Her thoughts full of determination, she thinks about pushing her light onto the other two. Slowly, it creeps onto them, but then repels. Letting out a sigh, she tries again.
Vincent runs up to Elijah, just as Elena seems to be going in a trance herself and looks horrified.
"We've got this all wrong. It wanted us here!" Vincent exclaims with fear.
"Why?" Elijah questions, looking at the three.
"They want to channel your power and anchor the Hollow to the living world." Vincent tells him. Elijah looks at him, his mouth opening a bit, but words didn't come out.
Quickly they made their way up to the kids and unwrapped them from the cloth and ropes.
"Elena mentioned that we need to unlink the children from the ritual, or the barrier wont come down." Elijah tells Vincent, who nods in agreement, "How do we stop it?"
"I don't know! It's a sacrificial ritual, I cant break it unless I kill one of the kids!" Vincent tells him, looking up at the Vampire.
Hayley shakes her head, "No..No! There has to be another way." She tells them, standing up from where she was kneeled at next to a child. Elijah stands next to her and then looks at the kids, he purses his lips, thinking. Hayley frowns at the look on his face.
"Okay, umm, so these kids are powering that ritual, but there might be a loophole if I link it to you." Vincent says in a hurry and panic, pointing to Elijah.
Elijah steps closer to him with narrowed eyes, "Are you suggesting we take my life?" He asks appealed at the idea.
"I'm suggesting we stake you, with wood, you die temporarily, and that might be enough to break the spell." Vince explains to him. Thinking about the idea for a moment, Hayley speaks to him.
"It might be the only other option Elijah." Nodding at her he turns to the witch and reaches out his hand. Vincent takes it and puts his other hand on the shoulder of one of the kids and closes his eyes and starts chanting.
Elena furrows her brows as she pushes her light onto them for what felt like the millionth time.
"It's too late." A hissing voice whispers. Shaking her head she growls. "You can't save them now." It says again.
"Shut up." She grunts at it in her head. The voice laughs at her pain.
"So young…so foolish. I could teach you. I could show you all the things that you are capable of." It cooed. Huffing in annoyance, she continues to push the light, it was bright, and paler compared to earlier, she knew it wasn't nearly as strong as it was when it only surrounded her.
"I don't think I want to learn from some psychotic old N-"
"You should respect your elders…after all…aren't we cousins in the way of our heritage my dear." It sneers at her.
"You're no relative of mine." She thinks at it, with one final push, her light pushes onto Klaus and Marcel and everything grows bright.
Vincent continues to chant, and Hayley breaks off one of the branches of a tree. Going up to Elijah she stabs it through his chest, he falls to the ground and she catches him. Time seemed to stop for a moment.
Hope wipers in her sleep and Freya turns to look at her. Stepping toward the little girl she feels something pull her to the little girl.
Looking around, Hayley looks at the circle the fire out, "Did it work?" She asks Vince.
"Apparently." He answers her.
Putting Elijah gently to the ground, she stands to walk over where the three where at.
"Klaus…Marcel…Elena?" She asks cautiously. Klaus and Marcel blink and look around them, then to their shoulder, where Elena still had her hands. Suddenly Elena gasps for air and takes in a deep breath, opening her eyes, blinking at her surrounding. Seeing her hands still on their shoulders, she pulls them back, as if she touched fire.
"You stopped it?" She asks Hayley weakly, who gives her a nod, "Good." Trying to stand up with shaky legs she lets out a groan, "I'm going…I think I'm gonna…oh no…" She continues, her voice weak and breathy, when she feels her knees buckle and vision become blurry and then everything went black.
Klaus's reflexes moved fast enough to catch the Doppelgänger and he let out a sigh, looking down at her, "Suppose I'll play the knight in shinning armor this once." Marcel looks down at the unconscious girl with wonder, before Klaus asks Hayley, "What happened?"
"Well, we saved the kids, we saved you, but the Hollow wanted you…three I guess…to be here tonight. It wanted to anchor itself to you, so whatever it did to you all, I think its best to have Vincent look you over, make sure your alright." Hayley tells them.
Marcel nods in agreement, "Yeah, although, I think this one might need it more. Whatever she did, she tried to keep the Hollow away, I think."
"I will take care of her. Klaus if you would be so kind as to hand her over." Elijah says as he emerges, dusting off his now bloodied suit. Klaus raises an eyebrow before rolling his eyes.
"You always did have a fascination with the Petrova bloodline." Klaus mumbles, placing Elena into his brothers arms.
Vincent walks over to them, "Hold on, I heard something about her trying to keep the Hollow away?"
"I don't know, it was just a feeling." Marcel tells him. He looks over at the ground and sees the dagger he's seen Elena with. Going over, he bends down and picks it up, inspecting the bloody knife, before walking over and handing it over to Hayley, who looks at it with hesitance.
"She might want this when she wakes up." Vincent raises an eyebrow at Marcel's action," What? You've seen her blow that gate off like it was nothing. Also, I don't wanna know what she did to get covered in that much blood. I don't want to end up on the sharp side of that thing." He shrugs, and without another word going up to where the kids where at.
Freya feels herself snap out of her trance, and suddenly Hope jumps up, sound and awake. She goes and hugs the little girl, "Hope, are you alright?" She asks.
Hope smiles into her aunts shoulder, "We're not cold anymore." She says.
Arriving back at the Compound, Hayley holds the door open for Elijah as he walks through with a still unconscious Elena.
"Elijah, are you sure it's good idea for her to be here? With Hope, I'm not sure…" Hayley says to him, fiddling and eyeing the girl.
"I would drop her off at her current residency, but I have no idea where that is, and a hotel seems quite wrong in this situation." Elijah replies to her, "I will put her in my room to keep an eye on her until she awakes, there is no need to worry Hayley."
"Alright." She sighs out," I'm going to go check on Hope. No doubt, Klaus is up there already." She teases and speeds up to her daughter.
Elijah made his way to his old room and laid Elena onto the bed carefully, before looking at her, one hand pushing her hair out of her face as he studies her, making note of a small scar by her ear, reaching up to her temple on the left side of her face. Tracing the scar, her whispers out, "You've changed more then I've ever imagined, lovely Elena."
Pulling back, he takes off his suit jacket and places it on the chair not far away from the bed and rolls up his sleeves, letting out a tired sigh as he inspects his bloodied shirt where Hayley stayed him with the branch. Sending one last glance at the sleeping girl, he made his way back downstairs and into Klaus's old study before going to take a seat on one of the old benches, deep in thought.
"How is our sleeping guest?" Klaus asks in his mocking, yet half-genuine tone.
"Still sleeping, she probably wont wake until a few hours. How is my niece?" Elijah asks his brother.
"Also sound asleep." The hybrid answers him. Elijah lets out a chuckle, pulling out a bottle of bourbon, showing it to Klaus.
"I've managed to find an old friend…or enemy, I can never really tell," He takes a drink from the bottle, "here's to a wretched day." Elijah toasts.
Klaus looks at his brother with concern, before taking the bottle from his hand and saying, A wretched day indeed." And taking a large gulp from the bottle.
"As soon as Hope is better, well leave, whether that girl is awake or not. Hope is all that matters." Klaus tells him with a firm tone. Sensing Hayley walking up behind him slowly, he hands the bottle back to Elijah, walking away.
"Hey." He says as Hayley walks up to him with a somber expression.
"I wanna ask you something." She says careful and hushed. Elijah looks up at her, when she kneels before him so she can look him in the eye, "In the woods…If Vincent hadn't found that loophole… what would you have done to those kids?"
Elijah looks away from her, putting down the bottle before looking at her in slight hesitance, as his expression matches hers and in a shaky voice he replies, "Whatever I had to do."
Hayley's gaze drops from his as she blinks at his words," We have got to stop making it a habit of putting our families lives ahead of others. I don't want that for myself, I don't want that for Hope." Standing up she places her hand on his cheek and looks at him, "We have to do better." Letting go, she slowly turns and leaves him sitting, as he watched her leave, his eyes glistening almost and mouth open.
Vincent sat in a now empty bar, as Marcel walks up to him and takes a seat.
"I know today was rough for you." Says Marcel, "At least we put an end to it."
Vincent takes a drink from his glass, "Kenny's dead." He says blankly, "But the thing that they idolized, the Hollow. Marcel, it wanted us there. It wanted to come into our world by anchoring its self to one of us. So it makes me wonder; did we end it or is it just getting started?"
xxxxx
Hope lay in her bed, when she opens her eyes slowly, turning her head, she smiles as she sees a plate filled with donuts. Getting up, she takes one from the plate and makes her way out of her room.
xxxxx
Marcel looks down at Vince, "You think it's gonna come after me?"
"Marcel, I wonder man, if it hadn't already got to you." Vincent implies pointing at him for a second then crossing his arms on the bar, "What did you see when you were in the circle?"
"Nothing…not a thing." Marcel tells him, shaking his head in thought.
"That girl..." Vincent starts.
"I told you, it was just a feeling. I felt a pull, warning me, but never actually saw or felt anything other then that." Marcel tells him.
xxxxx
Walking through the compound with her sweet, Hope takes a step up the stairs. Hearing the buzzing of a light flicker, she stops and turns to look at it. Slowly turning back, she starts walking back up the stairs
xxxxx
Taking another glass, Vincent places it in front of Marcel and fills it up with bourbon, " I hope you're right." Getting out of his chair to leave, Vincent turns back to Marcel and pats him on the shoulder once with the back of his hand, then looking and having his hand in a pointing motion, "That's the funny thing about this city though Marcel; Nothing ever stays buried."
Marcel shoots him a lob sided smirk, before it vanished as he throws back the bourbon. Holding the glass, the lights start to flicker. Marcel grows still.
xxxxx
Hope looks in the hallway curiously as another light starts to flicker.
xxxxx
Marcel looks at his glass in curiosity, when a blue light reflects in it. Careful putting the glass down, he turns his head to look behind him and stands up and he sees the broken mirror, shattered in a circular shape, a blue light reflecting upon it like water. He walks toward it with narrowed eyes.
xxxxx
Stoping at the end of the Hallway, Hope looks up to see her father with his back turned to her, as he looks over the reeling and over the compound, a light flickers behind her, and she smiles at him.
Marcel looks into the broken mirror, when it suddenly shatters more, into the image of a snake eating its own tail. He stares at the mirror in shock and disbelieve, with a bit of a glare.
xxxxx
Hope walks closer to her father, when he suddenly turns around with a blank expression, his irises glowing blue. Hope takes a step back,fear in her eyes, and her mouth falls open in a scream.
Hopes opens her eyes, waking up from her dream of her father, eyes scared as she looks up at the ceiling, "No no no! It's here, the Hollow," She breaths out, "It's here."
xxxxx
Elena's eyes snap open, irises giving of a deep violet glow. Sitting up from the bed, she gasps for air, looking around the room in a panic, Where am I? .…Was I actually asleep? What the hells was that…dream? Getting up from the bed, she senses the Originals within the house, she suspected that meant she was in their house. Without thinking, she teleports away and slides down the door of her apartment, breathing heavily.
"This is only the beginning." The voice whispers into her mind it's hissed tone.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It seems like I'll have to update what was originally one chapter, into two separate ones, because FF won't let me update 12,000 words at once or my internet sucks that bad, idk, so Authors Notes will be on the second part of the chapters.
I know this one is one week late, but please understand that my college has to come first, so updates are a little shaky, especially in the coming weeks; finals are coming! Fuuuunnnn….not! And I'm also going on Vacation back home in Germany, so I'll still update, just not on a schedule! I will be working on the next one as much as I can this week (finals!) and next, my fingers can only take so much typing in a day w/ research papers :)
So, moving along! You guys are really great! I hope you know that! I really enjoyed reading your theories, so keep those coming please! X) But thank you all for reviewing and following and favoring! And I'm glad that some of you are getting Elena's personality, because this story is going to be mainly about her and her self-discovery. As for romance, I'm going to try to give a little of both Elejiah and Kolena, but I'm going to try to keep out of the love triangle area.
If you like listening to music while you read, the song that played during the last scene's in the actual episode was : diminuendo (lawless feat. britt warner), it just helps make the scene.
Please leave your thoughts and/ or theories, on this chapter in a review if you'd like!
P.S: This story has no beta, so pleas excuse any misspellings, forgotten words, bad grammar, and bad diction, run on sentences, the works.