Interlude: Luka Martins

"I mean no disrespect," said Luka. The Original turned towards him and Luka stopped, the words momentarily lost. The man was looking at him with a curious gaze, so much behind it that Luka couldn't even imagine the thoughts in that old head.

Here was one of the oldest being in existence…well, still living being at any rate, but Luka had never really interacted with the spirits. Here he was and Luka was going to speak against him, speaking against his plans, he had the gall.

Even so he had to continue forward.

"But, was it the best course of action to reveal yourself?" he said, pushing the words forward even though the baser part of him felt scared. Luka doubted it was magical, but there was a weight that ran off Elijah and bore down on him, forcing him to watch his words.

Elijah smiled a little, moving his eyes from Luka to his father who watched his son with a small amount of fear in his eyes.

"Rest assured, Mr Martins, that I have a plan in mind," he said, his words a slow drawl. He fixed himself up, buttoning his blazer and giving Luka his full attention. "I know how Mr Bennett will react, how the others will move around him, I think we can use their movement to better facilitate our ends."

"He's clairsentient, though," said Luka and he hated his mouth for pushing the conversation forward. "How do we know that he hasn't accounted for all this? Any move of failure on his part might be lulling us into a false sense of security."

Jonas was the one who spoke, forcing Luka to shift his attention to him as he shook his head. "That can't be true of his ability," he said. "He was surprised, attacked and almost died were it not for dumb luck. His ability is limited, it's unfortunate that we don't know what this limit is."

"Or it could be part of a greater plan," said Luka, a hint of desperation in his voice. "I've seen him, talked to him, but more importantly I've seen how the others act around him. He's manipulative, to the point that his friends constantly have to wonder if anything he's saying is working towards a particular end or just an honest conversation."

"Even so he's still human," said Elijah. "He has a human memory, which means the amount of plots he's able to put in action any one time are limited. The same cannot be said for me." Elijah smiled and Luka's stomach dropped, twisted and then churned. "Fret not, I have this well in hand."

"What's required on our end?" asked Jonas.

"More information on the wolves," said Elijah. "About their plans in town and particularly their clairsentient. Would she be open to working for us?"

Jonas shook his head. "She's headstrong, too used to being in power, to being the smartest person in the room. The same could be said for our Mr Bennett because the first time they met they butted heads. To work under someone would be nearly impossible for her."

"Not mentioning that wolves can be stubborn," said Elijah. "If I threaten her, she'll ally with Mr Bennett and they might actually stand a fighting chance against me. What does she want, do you know?"

"To find a way of countering the curse on her specie," Jonas answered. "They heard about Tyler and they've been working with Micah in some old ritual that will transfer the magic on Tyler to their greater pack. They're still in the testing phases."

"Do you think you would be able to do a better job?" Elijah asked. "Streamline the process?"

He shook, running a hand through his beard. "No, but Luka might. You've been looking at the problem haven't you?"

"I've been interested in it," said Luka. He shrugged apologetically. "It's hard not to get taken in by them, between Jared's enthusiasm for magic and Micah's…I don't know what it is, but he can reach inside of you and pull out a wider view of the world."

"You're enamoured," said Elijah.

Luka frowned, feeling a sense of resentment building. "It's hard not to be," he said. "I'm not used to people like this. Dad's pushed me into using magic, high level stuff, and then I meet other witches that are…petty in their use of magic. Children in a way. Then I come here and I find people that think bigger than I do."

"We have a mission here," said Jonas. "Remember that, son." The man put his hand on Luka's shoulder but it was harder still to push back the resentment: His mother had died and the moving had started, and then his sister had ran off and the moving had gotten fiercer. Now they were working with a vampire of all things to find her against a more ruthless vampire.

What was worse, Greta didn't want to be found.

"I know," he said, shrugging off the hand. He took a breath. "I think I might be able to streamline the process if I understood what they do. They're using a vampire, Stefan Salvatore, as a battery, which doesn't make sense. Where would a vampire get that much power? Enough to keep an unstable form from… You know," said Luka in realisation.

Elijah looked surprised by those words.

"It's similar to the look Micah gets when things click and his mind starts working. It was the same way when he looked at Matt and had the idea that we start building him his knife. You know why he's a battery."

"Yes, I do," said Elijah. "But I don't understand. It's something I'll put some effort into looking into it. But for now, it's safe to assume that Mr Salvatore will be able to sustain Mr Lockwood's transformation. Start working on ideas on how to streamline the process, if it's possible, a way that won't need Mr Lockwood's permission."

Luka nodded, though his stomach churned, more so when he looked at his father's placid expression.

"There's also the matter of an attack," said Elijah. "The details haven't been well planned out yet. But a witch is on her way here, of the Bennett line. Suffice to say they might take you down in an attempt to limit the number of witches I have in my employ, forcing me to use them."

"They'll outnumber us," said Luka. "How do we survive that?"

"By being smarter," said Jonas. "What weaknesses do they have? Anything we can use?"

"They're inexperienced," said Luka. "For all that they experiment it's more out of necessity than anything else. They're tightknit, which is a plus for them, but there's one outlier: Andrew, Jared's brother. He doesn't like Micah, doesn't like the influence that Micah has on his brother."

"Then we'll use him," said Jonas. "Promise him that we can give him his brother back. Do you think he'll be amenable to the offer?"

Luka shrugged. "I don't know much about him," he said. "The few times I've talked to him I thought he was being too uptight. There might have been history I've been missing, a greater context, but it always looked like there was something more I was missing."

"I'll talk to him," said Jonas. "You'll stay here in the house, feel out for any errant connections and re-layer the boundary spell, looking for any chinks."

"I'll escort you," said Elijah and the two of them left the apartment, leaving Luka on his own. He took a breath, feeling a pit settle in his stomach. With how fast things were moving it would only be so soon before they were forced to move again.

All this for someone who didn't even want to come back.

Luka closed his eyes and felt out his connections, he grabbed the second firmest and took a breath; the power rushed into him and he drove it into the connection, muttering the Tracking spell under his breath and moving along the line. In the real world he moved to a table and grabbed a notepad.

He hit a barrier but it caved and he passed through, met by the image of his sister's sleeping form, a large man sleeping next to her. Luka shuddered at the thought of what he might have seen were he a few minutes earlier.

Greta started awake, instantaneously a line moving parallel his own until the spell slammed into him. He saw Greta let out a relieved breath. She grabbed her sheets, covering herself while she rummaged for a pen and pencil.

What's up, little bro? Missing me?

Yeah, he returned. We're going to move soon. I can feel it.

You look like you're not enjoying that one bit, Greta wrote.

Luka let out a sigh, sifting through his feelings before he started writing. I met a guy that's actually interesting, he wrote. I was starting a relationship but, like I said, Dad.

You could just do what I did, she wrote back. You, better than even me, know Dad's tricks. If you wanted to, you could hide from him. Maybe come to me until you settle.

You won't even tell me where you are, Luka wrote back.

That's because I'm not sure if you'd tell Dad or not, she wrote. I know him, he'd probably drag me back if I found out where I was.

He would. Luka shook his head. It would break him if I left too. He'd be all alone, Nature knows what he would do then.

He couldn't hear it, but he saw how Greta's shoulders moved, the slight sag and the expression of anguish. It's something you'll have to realise, little brother, that we can't keep living for Dad. You can't keep living for anyone but yourself. This is one of two lives, but the next has major restrictions in what we can actually achieve. It makes more sense to live this life to its fullest.

Even if that means abandoning family? Luka asked.

Even if it means abandoning family, Greta replied. The man beside her stirred. I have to go before he gives me away, she wrote. It was good talking to you little brother.

Luka gave her a nod and severed the connection. Greta had been gone for about two years, and for about a year and a half Luka had been in contact with her. It had been his first secret from his father, more bred because of wanting to keep a connection with his sister than anything else.

But time had passed and his father's search for Greta had gotten almost obsessive. At some point, though he hadn't consciously realised it, Luka had started fearing the prospect of his father ever finding out about his being in contact with Greta, about what how he might react and what he might do.

Luka knew his father wouldn't hurt him, not physically, but as he'd seen time and time again through his moves there was other ways to hurt someone.

I can't trust Dad in all of this, he thought as he looked over the warding magic in the house. But I also can't trust Greta. I can't trust Elijah or Klaus or anyone which doesn't leave me much options.

There was Micah, but then that was hard to gauge, harder still because it all could have been part of his master plan. There was Bonnie, but he hadn't actively worked on her as he'd worked on Micah. She was an unknown and with the Bennett coven knowing about him and his father, being wary, it was unlikely that they would be willing to spend enough to around him for him to learn.

Maybe the new clairvoyant? Luka shook his head, Elijah was already thinking in the direction and Luka didn't have any smarter plays where she was concerned. The more he thought about it the more he was lost.

Break it down. What do I want?

My father to be happy, which means bringing Greta back.

My sister to be happy, which means her staying with Klaus.

Me happy, which means staying in one place and building a home.

But how could he get all of that? His mind started moving, drawing the lines and trying to connect them: First it was Klaus getting what he wanted and then being convinced to stay; then it was Greta staying with Klaus; then his Dad staying with Greta; and finally him growing his roots in this town.

All of it started with Elena Gilbert, once he had her, he could bargain. But it was getting her that was the problem.

Micah would surely know she was an important piece and thus she would have protection. Bonnie would be close to her and she would protect her with the backing of her ancestral power, even alone she would be hard to face. Unless he blindsided them.

But could he blindside them? Especially when everything could be part of the master plan of a clairsentient?

"Anything and everything I do could be a part of the plan," he muttered under his breath. "It therefore makes the most sense to pretend that Micah's ability is a non-factor."

It was thin, but it was the only way he would actually be able to move forward. Luka stood. He couldn't play this in a frontal assault, even with all the experience he had he didn't have their raw power.

So he needed to get on their good graces, which meant…

He pulled out his phone and called.

"Luka," said Bonnie on the other side. "What do you want?"

"To help you get Elijah," he said.

888

AN: I started writing this a couple of weeks ago, but then finals started late because of unrest in universities and then I got a labour intensive job for two weeks that didn't allow me any rest—exaggeration but true enough. I'm back, though, and I'm on holiday which means updates.