2 Months Later
12:13am and she was still awake, dividing her time between staring at the ceiling and the glowing numbers of the alarm clock. A minute ticked by followed swiftly by another and another.
She had tried everything short of a sleeping spell, and if she wasn't afraid of worrying Kol she would have woken him and asked. He probably would have done it after assuring her that she had nothing to worry about because for the first time in over a thousand years he and Klaus were on the same page; they would rip Dahlia apart before they let her take either child.
It was sweet.
It was also a shame that neither of them truly understood her fears. They couldn't grasp the concept that tearing Dahlia apart was not an option, nor could they seem to understand that Dahlia was stronger than Esther.
She couldn't shake the feeling that dear auntie Dahlia would destroy them all from the inside out to get to the children.
So on top of worrying about the baby and Dahlia she was worried about Kol and Hayley and shockingly Klaus as well; not to mention the rest of the family.
She rolled over and tucked her arm under the pillow, smiling softly as Kol moved with her. His hand slipped over her waist to her stomach, settling above the steady bump of their child's heart. He had told her he could hear it now, and she hadn't had it in her to say that she could feel it deep inside. She could feel that tiny heart thumping away, each ba-bump one less second that she could protect it from everything dark on the outside. She didn't know how to tell Kol that she feared bonding with the child she already felt was a part of her, or that if she lost that tiny miracle it would have been like losing a vital organ.
How could she tell him that she dreamed of a faceless woman ripping her heart from her arms?
The sad truth of the matter was that nobody truly understood what they were up against, not even Finn who had vague memories of his older sister being stolen away.
There was only one person who possessed the knowledge that could give them a fighting chance.
She glanced over her shoulder at Kol's smooth features. A layer of scruff covered his jaw lending a few years to his appearance. Silently she slipped out from under his arm and stood up, shivering as the cool air hit her naked skin. She pulled on a pair of slightly too tight jeans and a shirt that pulled around belly, and made a mental note to go shopping at some point in the near future.
Her eyes snapped to the bed when Kol shifted, but he was simply rolling onto his back. All she wanted to do was kiss him before she walked out the door, but he was a notoriously light sleeper, so she grabbed her jacket and left with one last look.
"Why exactly am I here?" Monique yawned, rubbing her eyes. A mountain of piled school work had kept her up late every night for the last two months, so she was not pleased at being woken at the midnight hour, not even by the woman who had finally managed to bring the Harvest through to completion.
"Because you volunteered," Elena tugged down her shirt; the material kept riding up.
"I didn't want to wake Aunt Sophie," she crossed her arms, blinking at an antique doll head. "She worked a double shift. Aren't you super powerful? Couldn't you have done this yourself?"
"I couldn't do this," Elena chewed her bottom lip. "One of your ancestors used a blood seal on this house. I could walk in, but without a Deveraux I can't walk back out." Elena stared up at the old cottage.
"So all Monique has to do is let us back out?" Davina leaned on the gate.
"You're going in there?" Monique gaped. "It's a mad house!"
"I can't let her go in alone," she shook her head.
"I can handle myself Davina," Elena's fingers twitched, tugging at her shirt.
"You shouldn't have to."
Elena watched Davina push open the gate and move up the path before she turned towards Monique.
"I shouldn't be any longer than a half hour."
"I'll be waiting with baited breath," Monique sighed. She stared at the closed door after they were gone; the spell in her hand crinkled.
Inside the house Elena sucked in a deep breath and spun in a slow circle. The entry hadn't changed much in her century of absence. The only additions were a pair of portraits leading into a study.
"Where do we have to go?" Davina interrupted her thoughts.
"I'm not sure," she admitted. "I'll be looking for a door that hasn't been opened in a century."
"We'll cover more space if we split up," Davina glanced towards the dusty portraits. "I'll start downstairs?"
"Okay," Elena nodded. "Do you remember how to make yourself invisible? You may have to if someone hears you."
"I'll be fine."
Elena blinked slowly and took a deep breath before taking off up the stairs.
Davina moved towards the portrait as if pulled by an unseen force. Her fingers dusted the plaque, but the letters were too worn down to read, however the gentle motion dislodged the frame. A small envelope dropped onto the floor.
She bent to retrieve it, pulling the paper inside free without thinking about it when she saw the name: Mary Alice Claire.
Christmas, 1914
It was a happy time for New Orleans, the skies were clear, liquor flowed, but then something changed. After the Original vampire Klaus Mikaelson woke his brother from an eighty year slumber, curse after curse befell the city. War threats, the bubonic plague: signs of a war waged between two factions of witches: those who aligned with Klaus, and those of us who placed our bets with someone else.
Kol Mikaelson taught us a new kind of magic that he had learned on the shores of the Red Sea. Kemiya, he called it.
Using a perfect paragon diamond to focus our power we created a bracelet to force obedience, a rosary to drive men to madness and shackles to halt a witches power; all a means to an end. His main goal was to create a weapon that would work on Klaus and Klaus alone, so we began our quest to create a weapon laced with so much power it would plunge the infallible Klaus Mikaelson into a magical slumber.
I trusted Kol, despite his reputation as a mad cap trickster.
I would pay dearly for it.
Everything was fine until she showed up.
We toiled tirelessly, driving ourselves half mad in the process, while his attention shifted all at once to the doppelganger. I did everything he wanted, but he chose her.
Davina's eyes narrowed; her mouth formed the word, but it was a moment before she remembered where she had heard it. When she did summon up a memory of Klaus using the term to address Elena her eyes widened.
Whoever had written the memoir had known both Kol and Elena, and it was pretty clear the woman didn't care for either of them.
Our efforts were in vain though as the diamond in our possession was too small, but there was another located in this house.
Davina forgot about searching the house and slid to the floor as she devoured the neatly written pages that slowly slipped into madness.
Upstairs Elena tested the last door in the hall. It swung towards her on silent hinges revealing stairs covered in a thick layer of dust. She had seen horror movies – Caroline, despite her perky nature, had a thing for them; she could practically hear herself and Caroline screaming at the stupid heroine not to go into the attic of a mad house.
She didn't listen.
Her feet left the first footprints in however many years as she ascended and found another door. She bent, blowing the dust from the doorknob and sneezing as it hit her nose.
She tried the door and found it locked up tight.
She attempted a spell that failed miserably.
Then she placed her palm over 'the bump' and closed her eyes. She lifted her wrist and bit down, letting a few drops fall on the knob. The door swung open with ease.
The attic was all but empty save for a long pine box elevated on a table and topped with grimy glass.
"Why is every member of this family so morbid?" She sighed, grumbling about stupid Vikings and their burial habits.
A little more blood on the coffin lid broke the seals.
Elena lifted the glass away and closed her eyes, murmuring the spell she had been mulling over for weeks until she heard the slowly beating heart speed up.
Freya released a sleepy groan, turning her head away from the moonlight coming through the attic window.
"Come on," she murmured, leaning over the open lid. "Nap time is over; it's time for the forgotten to be remembered."
"Elena?" She croaked, blinking up blearily. "What are you doing?"
"I came for you, sleeping beauty," she smirked. She lifted Freya and placed her on her feet – a part of her tensed, waiting for Kol to teasingly scold her for heavy lifting, but then she remembered he wasn't there; he was at the compound sound asleep. "I need your help again."
"Can I wake up first?" Freya rubbed her eyes.
"As long as you walk while you do it," Elena nodded. "We've got to get outside."
She led the way downstairs, keeping one arm around the blonde's waist as she stumbled. At the bottom of the stairs she paused, eyes finding Davina. The teenager's head snapped up; an unknown emotion swam in her blue eyes.
"Is it true?" She stood, holding up a handful of yellowed pages.
"Is what true?" Elena frowned. She left Freya leaning against the table and went into the study.
"What Mary Alice Claire wrote about you?" Davina followed after her towards the window. "What she wrote about Kol?"
Elena stiffened. That was a name she had never wanted to hear again in her life, but she supposed eternity was too long to go.
"She essentially calls you a two faced boyfriend stealing bitch," Davina waved the pages. "That you planned to trap her in this house."
"If she said that then she truly lost her mind in the end," Elena pushed the curtains aside. Her eyes narrowed as she stared towards the empty street. "Where's Monique?"
Hayley paced the length of the study, fingers drumming over her swollen stomach. Every few seconds she checked the time on her phone.
"Will you relax?" Rebekah snapped, flipping through a magazine a little too fast to support the illusion that she was actually reading it. "Elena is fine."
"She should have been back by now," Hayley crossed her arms.
"Elena is fine. She is strong and she's smart," Rebekah's foot jiggled, "she will be back before we know it."
"She said she'd be back in an hour."
"She's fine."
"Now look me in the eye and say it," Hayley cocked an eyebrow. She didn't understand why Elena hadn't wanted Kol to know where she was going in the dead of night; he would have gone with her. He would have done anything to make her happy.
Rebekah bit the inside of her cheek. Two hours had passed, and it wasn't like Elena to go over time without calling or checking in somehow.
"That's what I thought," Hayley rolled her eyes. "I'm waking him up."
"No," Rebekah snapped. In the blink of an eye she stood in front of her.
"Are you going to stop me?" Hayley placed her hands on her hips, fully displaying her pregnant belly. "Because I will fight, and then you're fighting with a pregnant woman; not exactly classy."
Rebekah sighed, shaking her head. "Wait here," she pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'll wake him up."
"Why don't you want me to do it?"
"Because he's gonna be pissed off," she sighed before racing up the stairs.
In the bedroom she tilted her head and considered for a moment before nodding to herself and bending over to flick his ear.
"What's going on?" He jerked, sitting up. His wide eyes darted around the room, empty but for his sister by the bed and Hayley in the door.
"Elena went to the Fauline cottage," Hayley crossed her arms.
"She what?" He snapped, wide awake.
Rebekah easily held him down with a hand on his shoulder. She was definitely enjoying the superior physical strength she possessed.
"Don't be an over-protective wanker," she dug her nails into his arm. "She's perfectly capable of handling herself, and there is no remaining trauma from when she died there."
"She died there?" Hayley's eyes widened.
"Drove a knife through her own heart," Rebekah glanced back to the door. "She's never looked back on it though, and mentally she can handle it, but she's not back yet, and she said she'd be here an hour ago."
"Let me up, Bex," he seethed.
"As soon as you promise not to yell," she met his eyes.
"I'm not yelling," he snapped.
"I don't mean at me," she rolled her eyes. "You've been ridiculously over-protective of Elena since finding out about the baby. She didn't tell you because she knew you wouldn't want her to go."
"Of course I wouldn't…"
"Shut up," Rebekah slapped her free hand over his mouth. "She's freaking out, and she doesn't need you yelling because she did something foolish; what she needs is someone to help get her out of the nuthouse. Now, promise you won't yell."
"I'm not going to yell, Rebekah," he gritted his teeth.
"Good," she let him go, "because if you make her feel bad, even unintentionally, I will break your neck and find a witch to make a dagger that will work on you."
She was trembling. She never trembled, not even when she was ending her human life; her hands had been steady then, but now they shook. They shook so badly that there was no possible way she could actually read the writing on the pages the young witch had relinquished.
"We're stuck," she muttered, again and again. "She left. Why would she leave? Why would she leave?" Her voice grew steadily shriller until the girl she had called Davina had to shush her.
"Elena, calm down," Freya gasped. The pins and needles were slowly fading and she was starting to feel her limbs again.
"How am I supposed to calm down?" She sobbed, wrapping her arms around her midsection and sinking to the floor. "We're stuck in here, sitting ducks. I can't be in here. I can't be trapped. I can't be trapped. I can't be trapped."
"She's freaking out," Davina turned to the older witch.
"What an odd expression," Freya tilted her head. "But I understand your meaning." She stumbled when she tried to walk and leaned on the wall for support. She slid down to kneel beside the brunette who had begun to hyperventilate; nothing she said got through to her.
"Okay," Freya murmured, "I was hoping to be more awake before I did this, but…" she stood up and made her way slowly towards the double doors. She flattened her palms over the wood, ignoring the approach of dozens of feet.
"Destuccive glas stav enfala. Destruccive glas stav enfala. Apne en vrata, repo oma dal most."
Davina pressed herself against the wall as the doors blew outwards off their hinges and dozens of witches raced out into the night, several of whom were laughing maniacally.
"That might not have been the best idea," Davina worked with Freya to get Elena back on her feet. "How did you do that anyway? I thought we were sealed in."
"I could have gotten out at any time," Freya admitted, guiding Elena outside, "but I wanted that barrier in place."
She helped Elena sit on the curb and then pressed her palm to the brunette's sternum, murmuring a spell under her breath that forced her to calm down.
"Take some deep breaths," she instructed before turning her gaze on Davina, "why was that a bad idea?"
But Davina's attention had been stolen.
"Deep breath in," Freya slid her hand down to Elena's stomach. A jolt of energy raced up her arm as she lowered her gaze to the bump she hadn't seen.
"Elena!"
Freya twisted on her knees, eyeing the family she had spent centuries in search of as they came to a stop. Kol barely spared her a glance before kneeling and all but shoving Davina out of the way.
"Are you alright?" He held Elena's shoulders.
"I'm good," she nodded.
"She was 'freaking out'," Freya tilted her head, testing the phrase on his tongue.
Kol gave her a questioning look.
"I…" she lowered her eyes, "I may have had a small panic attack."
"Which is the very reason I didn't want you coming here-"
"Kol," Rebekah snapped.
"I'm not yelling," he closed his eyes, inhaling slowly. "You shouldn't have had to come back here," he gestured to the house, turning his attention to Elena.
"I wasn't freaking out because I died here, Kol," she grasped his grasped his elbows. "I was freaking out because we were stuck inside of a house I didn't think I could get out of, and she could have easily found me in there, but your sister broke us out."
"Sister?" Kol's brows lowered.
"Yes," Elena nodded, "Freya. I told you that."
"No you didn't," he shook his head.
"Yes I did," she crossed her arms. "We were in Greece and I was telling how I turned and…" Her voice trailed off as the full memory of the night came back.
"And then you didn't say anything beyond my name for the rest of the night," he cocked an eyebrow.
"And whose fault is that?" She tilted her head. Though she had to admit, not knowing that Freya was his sister helped her understand why he hadn't taken the Dahlia threat as seriously as she did.
"Could you two focus on what's important?" Rebekah sighed. "Like the sister Elena just woke up two years early."
"You woke me up early?" Freya leaned back. "Why would you do that?"
"I think you already know," Elena leaned back, tucking her hair behind her ear.
Freya's eyes dropped to Elena's stomach where she had felt the connection, and then lifted darting from Kol to Elena, stomach dropping as the brunette nodded.
"Okay," she closed her eyes and shook her head. "I need to wake up and then you can explain how this happened."
"Full disclosure," Rebekah cleared her throat, "Elena's not the only one pregnant."
"Okay," Elena sighed, falling back against the couch, "that's the house, how I turned, Freya, Mary Alice and Astrid… I think that's everything…" her eyes cut to Rebekah.
"Well, everything of importance," Rebekah hugged her legs and did her best to avoid her brother's eyes.
"Alright," Kol nodded slowly, "I just have one question. What happened to my house?"
Elena had spent the last hour telling Kol everything she could think of with one glaring absence. Rebekah doubted Kol would care but if Klaus overheard she'd at the very least get a dagger in her heart, and at worse the last piece of white oak driven through her heart; knowing her brother's legendary temper it would be the latter.
"It burned in 1919 when father came to town," Rebekah sighed, hoping he'd leave it at that. "Do you think Freya's awake yet?" She blurted before Kol could counter with how Mikael had found them. "I'll go and check."
She strode out of the room, narrowly missing Davina on the way in.
"Have I missed something?" Kol glanced after Rebekah's hasty retreat.
"Don't worry about it," she whispered and laid her hand on his leg, "everything turned out fine." Her eyes sought the young witch. "I didn't realize you were still here. Did you need something Davina?"
"Answers," she held out the paper. "You didn't give me one aside from her being out of her mind."
"What are you talking about?" Kol frowned; he reached for the papers, frown deepening when he read the date in a familiar handwriting. "Mary Alice Claire," he shook his head. "What has she said?"
"Not going to read it yourself?" Davina crossed her arms.
"I have no desire to hear that woman's voice again, not even in my head." He tossed the pages on the coffee table. "I assume she's made some allegations that you would like confirmed or denied, so go on; you have until Freya gets here."
Davina crossed her arms, watching the pair of them with narrowed eyes. "She says that you used her for your own selfish purposes, seducing her and tricking her into doing what you wanted. Then you completely ignored her for Elena." Her blue eyes cut to Elena accusingly. "She said you plotted to trap her in that cottage forever."
"Leave her out of this, little witch," Kol's voice dropped to a growl. "Mary Alice Claire was trapped in that cottage by Klaus' witches, and then she betrayed me."
"You're really gonna blame the jilted ex?" She scoffed. "You left her there after she went to help you!"
"I had no way to get her out of there, and she should have known it, perhaps even accepted it, but she couldn't." He got to his feet, towering over Davina. "She sent a letter to my brother, condemning Elena – a woman who had done nothing to her – to death in exchange for her freedom."
"She died in that house, so she clearly didn't get it," she glared up.
"Of course not," Elena shook her head. "I had no choice Davina. I had to turn in that house."
"You could have given her back her freedom," she shifted on her feet.
"If I had done that," Elena folded her arms over her stomach, "if I had let Elijah take me from that house then Klaus would have found the moonstone and broken his hybrid curse a hundred years ahead of a schedule, and who knows where we would all be right now. There was no choice Davina; I was backed into a corner that she forced me in. Without Freya's help history would have altered drastically."
"But you did use her," Davina turned her gaze back to Kol.
"I never once lied to her," his brows lowered. "I never treated her like anything other than the witch she was. It was always about putting a stop to Nik, and maybe having a little fun in the process."
"I didn't need to know that," Elena grimaced.
"Sorry love," he glanced over his shoulder, "but if it helps it never meant anything," his eyes turned back to Davina, "and I never pretended that it did, especially after Elena fell through the time. She dropped into my life and everything changed, and I drifted towards the bright light that she is."
"It's not my bloody fault that your ancestor had to be seduced to work with me. Not that it mattered in the end since we both failed. She couldn't make me love her, but Elena did, and without even trying. I'm thankful every day that she fell into my life, and do you know what? You should be eternally grateful to her as well because without Elena Gilbert you would be lying dead in a tomb in Lafayette and half this city would be right there with you."
Davina dropped in an armchair, watching as Kol held Elena's hand, giving her a soft look. She tilted her head, attempting to catalogue the information from the letter and the rumors from the Cauldron with the vampire she was starting to know.
"Is that the long winded way of saying I did steal you from her?" She chewed her bottom lip.
"The moment I laid eyes on you I was taken," he kissed her palm.
"Really?" She smirked. "The moment you laid eyes on me? Because for me it was later… much later…" she broke off in a laugh when he pulled her into his lap and started tickling her side. She managed to get hold of his hands and held them away from her skin so she could focus her attention back on Davina. "Does that answer your question?"
"Sort of," she blinked.
"Mary Alice probably did go mad in there," Elena shifted so her back was braced against Kol's chest. "I was only in there an hour when I started losing it."
"Yeah, but you're pregnant and hormonal and terrified of a thousand year old witch stealing your baby," Davina rolled her eyes.
"She's not taking our baby," Kol tightened his arms around Elena's middle.
"She will take the baby," Freya's voice came from the door. She strode into the room, taking a seat in an oversized armchair and arranging her nightgown around her legs. "Dahlia will come and she will take both children," her eyes darted to Hayley who was entering the room with the rest of the family. "She will take them because she believes she is owed them."
"If she comes we'll kill her," Klaus swore.
"Is that your first instinct, little brother?" Freya lifted her chin. "Dahlia has spent her life becoming all but immortal; she can't be killed, at least not easily."
"But there is a way?" Elena felt hope rise in her chest.
"I've been plotting to kill my aunt for centuries, and I have come up with a spell that will make her mortal again."
"How do we do that?" Kol tilted his head, listening to his child's heartbeat. He would bypass the question of why she had lied to him in 1914 for the time being.
"By exploiting her weaknesses," Freya pushed her messy hair over her shoulder. "The combination of her three greatest weaknesses when bound by magic will make her mortal."
"And what would those be?" Finn leaned against the wall. Every time he looked at the time hardened woman he saw his golden haired sister being carried away.
"Sacred soil from her homeland, the ashes of her oppressors and the blood of the witch who broke her heart," Freya took a deep breath. "If you can get me soil from Norway and Viking ashes I can take care of the rest."
Rebekah shoved her hands in her pockets and rocked back on her heels, watching with a bemused expression as Elijah gestured. The hand movements were familiar after a thousand years; they hadn't changed since the first time she and Kol had gotten in trouble as a children and it had fallen to him to discipline her.
"What were you thinking letting Elena go there?"
"Have you ever tried to stop Elena from doing something?" Hayley crossed her arms. "It's not possible when she's set her mind. You should know that better than me; I've only known her a few months."
Rebekah snickered, ducking to hide her face. She couldn't help but laugh when Elijah looked so taken aback; it was such a rare occasion that he was made speechless.
He recovered quickly.
"You two should have spoken up sooner, or ideally stopped her from going," he turned his attention to Elena, gesturing with his hand again. "You never should have gone there alone."
"I wasn't alone," Elena shook her head.
"A moody teenage witch is not a proper escort for you," his eyes narrowed.
"I'm a 115 year old Original hybrid," fire flashed in her eyes, "I rebuilt this city from the ground up and put the mighty Klaus down," she held up her hands in a clearly sarcastic wave, "I don't need an escort."
"You are carrying the next generation of this family," he motioned to her belly, "a child that is under threat. You, and you," he turned back to Hayley, "shouldn't be traveling anywhere alone. And you shouldn't be encouraging them."
"They're big girls and they can take care of themselves," Rebekah tossed her hair over her shoulder.
"Why aren't you two more upset about this?" Elijah spun on his brothers.
"Hayley was never in immediate danger," Klaus shrugged.
"I was threatened by Rebekah with swift retribution if I yelled," Kol cleared his throat, "and we now have answers."
"From a sister we do not know," Elijah gestured to the stairs where Freya had for one of the bedrooms. "I don't trust her."
"In all honesty neither do I," Klaus glanced upstairs, and then towards Kol.
"I don't care if you trust her or not," Elena snapped, "because I do. Freya turned me. Freya got me out of that house, and Freya pushed towards the resources that allowed me to stay hidden. She hates Dahlia for stealing her childhood and she'll do whatever it takes to keep another child from suffering her fate. Hayley?"
"I don't know Freya," she shook her head, "but I trust you, and if you trust her that's enough for me."
Next up the Hope's birth and the return of Caroline