I do not own TVD or TO
I'll give you a little hint. The people hanging around outside... not qetsiyah
Elena had expected chains and knives, blood and gore, maybe even a rack or an iron maiden; after all, it was Klaus' cellar. She had not expected the cozy little sitting room with it's leather sofa, antique desk, crackling fire and shelves of rare wine.
She knew nothing of wine but she was certain that every bottle was excellent and from a good year. Knowing Klaus and Elijah each one probably cost a few thousand at least.
"Expecting dust and cobwebs?" Kol paced in front of the fire place. His body hummed with nervous energy.
"No," she froze in the process of shaking her head when he gave her an incredulous look. "Yes… and a medieval torture chamber."
"That's in the dungeon," he smirked.
"I can't tell if you're joking," she tilted her head.
"It's Nik, darling."
He resumed his pacing while Elena lowered a slumbering Hope into the portable crib they had brought down from the library.
Elena draped a blanket over Hope and straightened up. Turning around she watched his long strides for a moment before reaching out and grabbing his sleeve.
She could feel the tension in the knotted muscles of his arm.
"What's wrong?" Her hand slid up his arm until she was holding his cheek.
"There's an angry witch threatening my family," he took her hips in a tight hold.
"Are you telling me that in the last thousand years something like this has never happened before?"
"This particular situation did happen once, two thousand years ago," he inhaled slowly, rubbing small circles into her hips with his thumbs, "and I feel as useless now as I did then."
Elena's hand slid up his stomach.
"For a thousand years I've had the enhanced abilities of a vampire, and before that I was a witch. Only now, thanks to Qetsiyah I'm nothing; I can't protect you like this."
Her grip on his face tightened as she forced him to look at her; she hated the dejected look in his eyes.
"Don't ever say that again." Her whispered voice rang with authority. "You're not nothing, or useless."
"I'm powerless, Elena," he shook his head.
"I'm not," her brows lowered.
"That's it darling, rub it in," he managed a teasing smile.
"That's not…" she flushed, mouth popping open. "I didn't mean that the way it sounded."
"I know," he murmured. Leaning forward he pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead and pulled her into a tight hug. "You always had more power than anyone."
"Maybe I just knew a different way to access it," she whispered.
Wrapping her arms around his back, she closed her eyes and felt the vibrations running through him, but before she could mention it a loud creak came from an ajar door beyond the shelves.
"Oh bloody hell!" Klaus cursed and froze when he stumbled. He might have cursed again if not for the vision of what he had tripped over.
Crouching down he pressed the tip of his finger to the prominent veins and traced the symbol carved into his dry brow.
He felt his blood boil.
His eyes darted from his brother to her skin as smooth as marble; she could have been a statue from ancient Greece.
His head snapped up at the sound of chanting behind Elena's closed door. Flashing into the room he wrapped his hand around the witch's throat and pinned her to the wall.
"Perhaps you didn't get the message, love," his eyes flashed gold as he bared his teeth, "nobody harms my family."
"Notice must have gotten lost in the mail," Qetsiyah rasped around his constricting grip. "I'd think about your next move very carefully."
"The only option I see is your swift demise."
Qetsiyah narrowed her eyes.
Pressure built in his head, blurring his vision. He grabbed his head and fell to his knees. Through the roaring of his blood he heard the fury of her voice.
"I channel the power of two immortal beings," Qetsiyah advanced. "One of them is the first doppelganger. You can't beat me."
She gasped as her neck was wrenched to the side. There should have been a snap but there wasn't. She reached up blindly and twisted her head back around.
"What the…?" Caroline struggled to breath. She felt like every drop of blood had been drained out of her.
Klaus moved in a blur and threw Qetsiyah across the room into the wall. Plaster rained down on the witch.
"You need to run," Klaus grabbed her elbow. He pushed her through the door. "If she tries to channel you again it will kill you."
Caroline took one look at her grey skin and veined arms before nodding. The only reason she had gotten as close as she did was because Qetsiyah had been distracted.
"What about you?"
"Go," he pushed her into the hall. "I'll be right behind you."
Liar, Caroline thought as she flashed into the kitchen.
"Caroline!" Rebekah caught her when she stumbled. "Are you alright?"
She shook her head and told her what was going on upstairs.
"Maybe splitting up wasn't the best idea."
"You think?" Caroline muttered around the blood bag.
"Did you hear that?"
Elena twisted around to stare at the wine racks, squinting at the dark spaces for any signs of movement beyond.
Kol felt the slight tremor as it raced down her spine. Taking hold of her elbows he began rubbing the gooseflesh from her upper arms.
"I didn't hear anything," he kneaded her shoulders, murmuring against her hair. His nose wrinkled when it was tickled by a stray feather.
Elena was going to nod because she wanted to believe him, but a second sound like fabric dragging over rough stone sent a jolt through her.
She stiffened.
"I heard it," her right hand caught his left where it rested on her shoulder. "Please tell me you heard that?"
Kol tilted his head. From beyond the door to the basement he made out the distant rustle.
"It's probably just a rat," he shook his head, "gotten into one of Rebekah's old trunks."
He kissed the top of her head before letting go and walking around her. Telling her to stay put and to watch over Hope, he pulled open the basement door and flipped on the overhead light.
"What are you doing?" She grabbed his arm when he took the first step.
"I'm going to check," he twisted around and cupped her cheek, "and if duty calls I shall kill the savage beast," he smirked.
"Don't kill the poor little thing," she bit down her smirk.
"Relax, darling," he smiled, "I'll just go and confirm that it's some rodent making a nest in one of my sister's favorite dresses, okay?"
She gave a nervous nod, hesitant to separate from him for even a moment.
The quick kiss he pressed to her cheek caught her breath. She stood at the top of the stairs watching him descend and turn a corner while crossing her arms to ward off a chill.
His surprised voice came at the same moment she called down in a whispered yell that she highly doubted he had heard.
"You're not a rat."
Kol's eyes were wide when he saw her bent over the side of an open coffin. She had been staring at the door when he walked in, her attention drawn up by the light and his voice.
"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?"
She yanked her arm back so the blood soaked silver glinted in the gloom and dropped the dagger on the floor.
"I'm doing what I'm supposed to do," she uncorked a slim vial of crimson liquid.
He saw the path of her arm and darted around the side of the coffin with the intention of knocking the liquid away, fearing the retribution of his big brother. He'd made it nearly to her when she lifted her gaze and sent him flying back into the stone wall.
He slumped over with a groan and squeezed his eyes shut. Taking ragged breaths, he winced at the pain in his ribs and looked up; the rapid pounding he had taken to be his own heart was Elena.
She fell to her knees beside him, gasping as the rough stone scraped her skin. She ignored the welling blood in favour of her panting husband.
Finn jerked up with a gasp. His throat burned and his fangs extended. The smell of fresh blood had the veins beneath his eyes darkening.
He was out of the coffin in an instant and advancing on Elena, deaf to all but her pounding heart.
"No!"
A spark of anger ignited Kol's entire being. It traveled he length of his arm as he threw his hand up. His eyes widened when his brother was tossed across the room into the opposite wall.
Davina stared from Kol to Finn, but before she got a chance to ask how he had done it without a talisman strong hands grasped her shoulders.
Her blood ran cold, freezing her in the grip of icy terror, but it still flowed through her veins drawn upward by the sharp pulls until her muscles went slack.
The last thing she saw was the horrified expressions of Kol and the sharp turn of Elena's head before everything went dark.
For a moment all she knew was the blackness, but then the room came back into sharp focus and she spun in a slow circle taking in the unseeing eyes of her the humans. It seemed an eternity before she made the full turn and came face to face with the light; her murderer, she realized when she followed his shifting eyes to the prone body at her feet.
Her hand came up of its own accord and delivered a hard slap.
The red haze over his vision faded with the pain of her death. Before following Davina to the compound he had felt an unnatural bloodlust, but he had done his best to keep it in check; ignoring the little voice telling him to sink his fangs into her neck because she was a child, but now she was dead at his feet and that little voice had gone silent.
Elena got to her feet carefully, helping Kol to stand with her.
Kol eyed his eldest brother as he stood over Davina's body. Aside from a slight tremor and a look of horror in his eyes he seemed physically fine. Finn had always detested taking life though; it was one of the reasons Nik had wanted to leave him in the box so long. Kol was fairly certain Nik had thought Finn might even be happier not having to struggle with their nature.
It was safe to say that the spell he had done with Freya had fixed the tear in the veil though; if it hadn't Finn would have been doubled over screaming.
"Why would she wake you up?" Kol swallowed. Part of him wanted to back as far away from Finn as possible, the other wanted to keep his body between Finn and Elena.
"It's not as if I can ask her," Finn wiped a shaking hand over his mouth, catching the line of blood running down his chin.
Elena took a step closer and felt Kol's grip tighten around her arm. She gave him a look and squeezed his hand before turning back towards Finn.
He backed away when Elena approached; wanting to put space between her and him in case the red haze flooded his vision again. He frowned when she crouched and carefully removed a necklace from Davina's cold throat. She couldn't shake the feeling that she had seen it somewhere before.
A soft cry from Hope drew them all back upstairs.
Elena was just bending over the crib while Kol kept a wary eye on Finn in case he were to strike when the door opened with the softest of whispers and they were joined by Rebekah, Freya and Caroline.
"What happened to splitting up?" Elena frowned.
"We've got a problem," Freya's eyes darted to the door.
"Qetsiyah's channeling power," Rebekah cocked her head, listening for anything from above. "She's got Elijah, Amara and Nik."
"And that," Caroline pointed to the talisman around Elena's fingers.
I love getting reviews; they motivate me to write more and more.
Also I'm starting a new story; I've already written the first chapter for it. It begins at the end of season 5 of TVD and based off my headcanon when I first saw the episode. I theorized that when Tyler came back human it was possible for Elena to as well since she was born as a doppelganger and a traveler. Basically she drowns before Damon's car crashes into the grill. Then it jumps ahead a bit. Eventually she's going to end up in New Orleans. I haven't worked out the final pairing yet but I do know of at least one encounter that's going to happen. It's gonna be a rewrite of season 3 and 4 of the Originals and possibly season 5.
As soon as I finish Tabula Rasa, which will be soon because I don't want to lose momentum now that I'm in the home stretch of chapters (2-3 more), I'm going to start typing that one. It'll be like DWTH in that I'm going to hand write each chapter first.