Chapter 33
New Orleans, 1887
Rebekah gasped as she opened her eyes. Quickly she sat up, her whole body was aching. What had happened?
"It's about time," Nik's voice snorted. "I was bored waiting."
Rebekah felt weak and she was shaking, but she forced herself to look at her brother. He was sitting on an armchair, carelessly toying with the dagger in his hand. The dagger… She remembered now. He had daggered her after he had caught her and Marcel kissing. Bastard.
"But I did so want to see your face," he continued smiling. "And it is indeed priceless."
"You bastard," Rebekah hissed. "What day is it?"
"Sunday," he replied, still smiling.
"I've been daggered for a whole week… Marcel!" she gasped. "What have you done to him?"
"It's 1887, Rebekah," Nik stated, clearly enjoying himself. "You've been daggered for 52 years."
Rebekah stared at him disbelievingly.
"What?"
"And don't worry about Marcel," he continued cheerfully. "I presented him with a choice. He could choose to undagger you and live out the rest of his human days with you or…"
"No," Rebekah murmured, her eyes were watering up.
"…I could turn him instead as he's always wanted in exchange for giving you up," Nik finished smiling.
"No," Rebekah sobbed. "No, he wouldn't do that to me."
"Oh, but he did."
Rebekah looked up as she heard the door opening. Marcel was standing in the doorway.
"No. Please… Please tell me it's not true," she pleaded.
Marcel didn't reply, he simply bowed his head.
"See now, sister," Nik hummed. "I was right all along…"
"Get out!" Rebekah shouted. "I hate you! Both of you! You can burn in hell!"
"Careful now," Nik stated.
"Go to hell!"
"Niklaus," Aurora's voice said from the door. "Let me talk to her alone."
"Fine," Nik huffed and stood up. "Welcome back, sister."
Rebekah burst into tears and sobbed hopelessly as her brother left the room, followed by Marcel. Aurora sat on the edge of the bed and wrapped her arms around Rebekah.
"There, there," Aurora hummed. "You'll find someone better…"
"Why didn't you do anything?" Rebekah murmured. "You were there when he daggered me, why didn't you help me?"
"You know I couldn't," Aurora replied. "You know how obsessive Niklaus has been after Kol's disappearance…"
"He still hasn't found Kol?" Rebekah murmured.
"No. And believe me, he has looked. It seems that Kol simply vanished."
"Who could blame him," Rebekah muttered bitterly. "Bastard… He just hates to see me happy."
Aurora was quiet for a moment before replying.
"He didn't even hesitate. Marcel, I mean. He didn't even try to negotiate with Niklaus."
Slowly Rebekah looked up.
"What are you saying?"
"I think that Niklaus was right about one thing. Marcel doesn't deserve you."
Rebekah didn't reply, she felt completely defeated. Once again, her brother had taken someone she loved. Or maybe she deserved it.
"I need to ask you something," she murmured. "Have you heard anything about Tristan, Lucien or…her since we left Marseille?"
"No," Aurora replied sharply. "Why do you ask?"
"I…"
"Rebekah," Aurora sighed. "I thought we are over this. How long are you going to torture yourself? What happened is literally ancient history already!"
"I know, I just… I want to be happy."
"You will be," Aurora assured. "You'll find someone worthy of you…"
"And then Nik kills him or daggers me. Does that sound fair to you?"
"I know how difficult he can be," Aurora replied. "Believe me, I do."
"Why have you stayed with him?"
Aurora smiled.
"Because he belongs to me. I've known that since the moment we met. I'll never let anything, or anyone come between us."
Rebekah didn't have time to say anything when the door opened.
"Rebekah?" Elijah's voice called. "May I come in?"
Aurora stood up and touched Rebekah's hair.
"I'll see you later."
Elijah gave her a brief nod as she walked past him. They had never been close, but Elijah had always tried to be polite to her.
"Rebekah? How are you feeling?"
She shook her head.
"Not good."
He sat beside her without saying a word and wrapped his arms around her.
"I'm so sorry," he sighed.
"Hmm. If anyone knows how I feel it's you. I'm sorry about that."
"You have no need to be sorry," Elijah assured. "You have never done anything to me."
Except that she had. Elijah had planned to marry that girl. It didn't matter now. The girl hadn't deserved Elijah, not after toying with him and Kol. Rebekah had done the right thing. She had no need to feel guilty. Yet a part of her still did.
New York
Lucien crossed his arms as he looked at Fay. She was in her huge bedroom, sitting at her desk. Drawing again. The whole floor was full of her drawings. Some of them were nice, others very violent. Not that violence bothered Lucien, but he was worried about Fay.
"Mr. Castle?" a timid female voice called.
He turned around and saw one of Fay's maids. He couldn't recall her name.
"Yes?"
She was clearly nervous, although she tried to hide it.
"Will the mistress join you for the ball tonight?"
Lucien had forgotten the whole thing. Another meaningless gathering for the elite. The society of New York was extremely selective, they didn't let new people in easily. There were old families who had ruled the society for decades and now there was also "new money", people who had made their fortune with steel or railroads.
Tristan had felt right at home socializing with the elite, but Lucien hadn't managed to fit in just as easily. Not that it mattered, he was still too rich to be ignored, even though his reputation was somewhat questionable. These rich people just loved to gossip.
Fay had been one of their favorite subjects before Lucien, Tristan and Kol had fixed that with compulsion. No one said anything disrespectful about Fay anymore, even though she was an unmarried woman who lived with men who weren't related to her.
Sure, they could have said that Fay was their cousin or something like that, but Lucien had refused to do that. He never wanted her to think that she should be ashamed of herself. Humans knew nothing about real love. About real family.
"I'm not sure," he replied. "I need to ask her."
"Yes, sir." The girl paused and hesitated for a moment before continuing. "Shall I wait before cleaning her room?"
"Yes. I'll tell you when you can clean."
"Yes, sir."
Lucien rolled his eyes at the girl's nervousness. Clearly, she was new.
"Fay?" he called as he entered her room.
She didn't reply, she was completely concentrated on her drawing. Lucien frowned when he saw what she was drawing. Nik and Rebekah. She was laying on the bed and he was sitting beside it. There was a dagger in his hand. She had drawn Nik, Rebekah and Elijah before. Usually, those drawings were always violent.
"Fay?" he repeated and placed his hand on her shoulder.
She startled and dropped her pen.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart," he said quickly. "I didn't mean to startle you."
She stared at her drawing for a moment before turning to look at Lucien.
"My dream," she murmured. "I can't remember…"
"It's alright," Lucien assured and gently rubbed her back. "These are just dreams."
She nodded and leaned her cheek against his hand.
"Would you like to do something fun tonight?" he asked. "We were invited to a ball."
"I would like to dance," she replied.
"Then it's settled, I'll tell the driver to prepare our carriage." He paused and kissed her cheek. "I'll also send your maid here."
"She's afraid of me," Fay murmured absentmindedly. "She doesn't have to be."
"No, of course not. If you want me to find you a new maid…"
Fay shook her head.
"I like her. I hope she'll like me too."
"Of course she will, who wouldn't." He paused and glanced at her drawings on the floor. "How about I gather these on your desk?"
"Okay."
Lucien picked the papers up one by one. There were drawings of him, Tristan, Kol, some of Fay's former pets, sceneries, some strange monsters, symbols, bloody corpses… Fay had said that she drew what she saw in her head. Lucien touched her face and gently kissed the top of her head. He was determined to make sure that she would only see nice things tonight.
