Chapter 10

Problems

When Elijah returned to the compound, his first thought was to make sure that everything was alright with Brie. He would have wanted to come back sooner, but there had been issues with the witches that had required his attention. Rebekah had been with him, but she hadn't returned to the compound with him. She had mentioned that she had some plans.

Elijah hadn't asked what those plans were, but he suspected that they had something to do with Marcel. That was none of Elijah's business. Unlike Klaus, he didn't feel the need to control his sister's personal life. He barely managed to enter the compound when he heard Klaus' voice.

"That's enough, Kol!"

"You stay out of this!" Kol's voice shouted.

How wonderful. Elijah rolled his eyes before zooming towards the voices. His brothers were standing in the middle of the hallway, ready to attack each other. Brie was standing behind Klaus' back, she looked terrified.

"You have no right to touch this poor girl!" Klaus snarled.

Kol's eyes widened before he burst into laughter.

"Are you kidding? What kind of game are you playing, Nik?"

"I'm hoping to show her that we're not all some savages."

"You're the one to talk…"

"Alright, enough," Elijah cut in firmly. "What is going on here?"

Neither of his brothers looked at him, they were glaring at each other. Brie looked at him, Klaus and Kol in turns, clearly she was unsure of what to do. Elijah gave her a calming smile before focusing on his brothers.

"Niklaus, Kol?"

"It seems that our brother doesn't quite know how to treat a pregnant woman," Klaus stated coolly.

Elijah's eyebrows furrowed.

"Kol…"

"And it seems that as usual, Nik has no idea what he's talking about," Kol snapped.

"Really? Are you saying that she's not bleeding? And I didn't just catch you scaring the poor thing half to death?"

"I haven't hurt her! And even if I would have, that's none of your bloody business!"

"Oh, I think it is." Klaus paused and crossed his arms. "She's under my protection."

Kol's eyes narrowed.

"What?"

"You heard me. Anyone who touches her will have to deal with me."

"You can't be serious…"

"I'm very serious, believe me."

Kol clenched his fists and looked at Brie over Klaus' shoulder.

"What did he want from you in return for his 'help'?"

She kept her eyes on the floor and blinked nervously.

"Believing a word he says will be the biggest mistake you'll ever make."

"Ignore him, love," Klaus stated sternly. "He won't hurt you again, I promise you."

"He… He didn't hurt me," she said quietly.

"It's alright; you don't have to lie for him…"

"No, I… I don't…"

"Brie," Elijah said gently as he stepped in front of her. "Can you tell me what happened?"

She hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"I… I dropped the vase. I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"It's alright," Elijah assured and placed his hand on her shoulder. "It was just a vase; we can easily get a new one. What happened then?"

"I tried to clean up and I think… I think I cut myself. Kol helped me up."

"Why were you so afraid?" Klaus asked sharply.

"I… I thought that he was angry because of the vase."

"Alright, may I take a look at your wound?" Elijah asked.

Again she hesitated for a brief moment.

"I guess…"

Very gently he took her hand and saw that the wound wasn't deep.

"We need to clean this," he said.

"I'll do that," Klaus stated and stepped next to Brie. "Come on, sweetheart."

Elijah frowned, but didn't say anything when Klaus wrapped his arm around Brie's waist and started to lead her towards his room. Why was he so concerned about her? Elijah knew his brother, Klaus wasn't a selfless person. He wanted something from Brie. Apparently Kol was thinking about the same thing, he was clenching his fists.

"What is he doing?" Kol murmured tensely.

"I don't know," Elijah replied and looked at his little brother. "How about you? What are you doing?"

"What are you talking about?"

"That girl is carrying your child…"

"We don't know that," Kol snapped. "We don't know what that thing is. We don't even know what she is."

Elijah crossed his arms and looked at his brother harshly.

"She is an innocent girl who has been through a lot. She deserves to be treated kindly."

"Why don't you tell that to Nik. Or are you buying this white knight act of his?"

"No, I'm not," Elijah replied. "And I do intend to have a word with him."

Kol didn't comment on that, he seemed tense.

"What is bothering you?" Elijah asked.

"Is that a joke?" Kol snorted. "What do you think is bothering me?"

"Well… Guilt perhaps?"

Kol frowned.

"What? I have no reason to feel guilty."

"Hmm. Have you talked with that girl? I mean really talked with her?"

"Yes, I have," Kol snorted. "So what?"

"I believe you know what I mean," Elijah replied harshly. "After all you… how did you put it again, deflowered her."

"She came to me," Kol snapped. "How was I supposed to know that she's some kind of…whatever she is."

"I have no desire to argue with you about that. What I want to know is how are you planning to fix this?"

"Fix what? None of this is my problem."

Elijah shook his head.

"You can't really believe that…"

"Well I do. I don't care what happens to her."

"Then you are nothing but a fool," Elijah stated coldly. "Do you have any idea how many vampire would give anything if they would have what you are willing to just throw away?"

"What I have? We don't know what she or that thing is…"

"She's a vessel," Freya's calm voice cut in. "And "that thing" is a living, breathing child. So mazel tov, daddy."

"What?" Kol and Elijah said almost simultaneously.

"What is this…vessel?" Elijah asked.

"She was conceived by magic," Freya replied. "Designed as a fertile vessel. Able to procreate with anyone."

Elijah stared at his sister disbelievingly.

"Designed… Is she a human?"

"She has a human body. And I would say a human mind, although someone has gone through a lot of trouble in order to shatter her mind. I have seen a lot of disturbing things, but this… I can't imagine who could do something like this."

Elijah didn't know what to say, the whole thing was turning out even uglier.

"Does… Does she know?" he finally managed to ask.

"I don't think so," Freya replied.

Kol turned around and walked away without saying a word. Elijah sighed and shook his head. Apparently trying to reason with his brother was completely useless. Kol simply didn't care.