Chapter 8
Katherine had to figure out what Lucifer's plan was. This wasn't an easy task as it turned out. He had been avoiding her questions with sarcasm and lame jokes and Katherine was still none the wiser.
'So…' She didn't really know what to say anymore. They'd been over the 'How', the 'what' and the 'who'-parts but getting the info on the possibility of the 'destruction of the universe'-part out of Lucifer was a bit more difficult. '..are you going to kill me or what?' She continued.
Ruby's eyes looked up at her. Lucifer gave her a wide grin like he had big plans for her…possibly before killing her.
'My dear, I don't plan on killing you!' Lucifer waved Ruby's hand. 'Unless you get in my way of course.' He walked over to the big wooden doors on Katherine's right.
She didn't say anything. She didn't know what kind of powers The Devil might have so she figured lying wasn't the best option.
Lucifer stopped about 5 feet in front of the church doors. With a slight wave of his, rather female, hand the doors swung open. The demons were stood next to each other in a row following the corridor again. Closest to Lucifer stood the one whom had spoken to Katherine earlier. He was looking straight forward, his breathing heavy. Katherine heard his heart beating faster than before. Well, the heart of the human he'd possessed at least.
'Nero.' Lucifer said. The man turned to him.
'My Lord.' Nero bowed down. 'Lilith requested me to find our foremost soldiers and gather them here to greet you.' He said all this while bowing.
'That's….great. I guess.' Ruby's hair hung in front of her face so Katherine couldn't see the expression on it.
That doesn't sound very…Lordy. Katherine thought. She'd been around her fair share of Lord's back in the day and a lord saying I guess wasn't very common. Which meant, she figured, that Lucifer hadn't been fully updated on Lilith's preparations.
'You can get up now.' Lucifer said to Nero. He obeyed.
'Excuse us for a moment.' Lucifer turned to me. He guided Nero outside. The door smacked shut behind him which left Katherine alone in an empty room with a giant hole in the ground.
For a second, nothing happened. For an excruciatingly long second, no one talked, no one moved, no one even breathed. The only thing Katherine could hear was the nervous shuffling of demons outside the wooden doors which was followed by a deafening silence. In the mean time Katherine's mind was racing, trying to figure a way out of there but she'd just had enough time to turn round to look for an escape route when the doors swung open.
Lucifer strolled back in like nothing happened and started up the conversation again.
'Now, where were we?' Ruby's body flickered like a hologram. A painful grimace revealed the bad condition his vessel was in. But it only lasted a second before he regained control.
Lucifer seemed as confident as ever and a cocky smirk came across Ruby's face. Kathy would never be fast enough to get out of there, even with Ruby's body about to burst. The only way she could incapacitate him at least for a while would be to draw the banishing sigil Castiel had thought her on the wall. She wasn't even sure something like that would work on him but since he was technically still an angel…. maybe.
Lucifer cleared his throat to get Katherine's attention.
'Well, if could possibly have moment?' Lucifer said. Katherine was pulled back into the real world.
'Uhh, yes. Sorry.'
'Great. Now that I have your attention..' Lucifer continued. 'I have heard a lot about you, Katherine Mikaelson. So I'm glad you decided to stick around.'
'I'm starting to have the feeling that I didn't have a lot of choice in the matter.'
Lucifer gave an unconvincing laugh but didn't correct her. 'I'll just come out and say it then.' The corners of Ruby's lips turned up as an attempt at a smile but instead looked like another painful grimace. His vessel flickering, threatening to explode.
'You know, we're not that different. You and me.' Lucifer ignored his failing body and continued. 'Both of us, stuck in a controlling family. Dictating our every move. Our fathers, both powerful but misguided. I'll give it to you though, your dad was a piece of work but he had a preference for his little Kitkat, didn't he?' Ruby flickered again and the faint red glow of fire started under her skin, making its way up her neck.
Wondering how Lucifer knew all this, she had to admit, he was right. Michael was cruel and vicious but rarely towards her. She was the only one who could stop him when his rage focused on the bastard son, without getting beaten herself. Most days he left Klaus alone, ignoring him and showering him with venomous looks. When they were children, Klaus didn't understand why he did this. None of them did. When he and Katherine were about seven years old, Klaus finally figured it out. He was not his father's son.
Katherine and Klaus had just returned from the woods with Elijah. Winter had come sooner than expected and game was scarce. They had caught a fatty pheasant nonetheless. The bird wouldn't be enough to last even two days but it was something. Disadvantage of having a big family to feed. Michael usually did the hunting together with Elijah but something had come up and he'd ordered Elijah to go alone. Fortunately, Elijah wasn't a "lone wolf" when it came to hunting so Klaus and Kathy got to come too.
Katherine was the best shot in the entire family, not that anyone would admit to that, but because this wasn't the 1970's, no girls were allowed on the hunt according to Michael. Elijah was already a bit of a feminist back then so he would always make an exception. Klaus had jumped at the first chance to finally go hunting. He had been waiting for it ever since Elijah had brought back his first kill. The pheasant wasn't Klaus's kill though. He had been out staged by his little sister. That's what he called her. Still does. They were only 10 months apart so they had the same age but Klaus had made clear that that still made him the older brother.
They had come home sooner than expected and found their parents fighting inside the house, Rebekah crying in the background.
'Niklaus, Kathy, go wait inside the barn.' Elijah said with a stern voice. Not taking his eyes off his father through the window, he guided them towards the barn. Klaus knew his father's rage and complied, taking his sister's arm. But Katherine didn't move. Rebekah's crying grew louder in her mind and she remembered a day when she was in her position. Listening to the screams of her mother through the sounds of breaking glass, but no one had come to take her away. She pulled her arm out of Klaus' grip and started toward the door.
'Kat…'Elijah began but knew it was no use. Katherine flung open the door of their house, ignored her parents looking at her in anger and called out to her sister. She heard the quiet sobbing she recognized immediately coming from under a table in the far corner of the room.
'Come here, sweetie. Everything's fine.' Katherine squatted down before Rebekah who was curled up in a ball against the wall. Katherine reached out her hand and stroked her sister's hair. 'Come on, we caught dinner.' She said smiling, holding out her other hand. Rebekah grabbed it and let her sister pick her up from under the table. She buried her head in Katherine's hair and wrapped her arms around her neck, still sobbing. Not giving her parents a single look, Katherine closed the door behind her. Elijah watched her, holding up the pheasant with the arrow still stuck in its eye. Niklaus was nowhere to be seen.
That night, Rebekah was fast asleep on the ground next to her and Klaus was drawing something in the dirt with a stick. His tongue sticking out in concentration. Katherine sat upright staring at her hands, lost in thought, wondering what punishment she would get in the morning. Too nervous to sleep. Looking at her little sister sleeping peacefully next to her, she knew she didn't regret getting her out of there. Katherine turned her head and found Elijah staring at her through the darkness. His eyes flickering like stars through the light of the torch above his head.
He whispered something. It was so quiet that Katherine thought she might have misunderstood him. Why would he have to be sorry? She frowned.
'I should have gotten Rebekah. That's my job.' He answered her unspoken question. Katherine smiled and got up. She didn't bother standing up straight so she just crawled toward him and snuggled up beside him. He wrapped his blanket, together with his arms around her. 'It's our job.' She whispered. She felt his chin rest on her head.
The next morning went about quietly. Their parents acted like nothing had happened or they were too busy thinking about something else. Michael's mind seemed more occupied than usual and Esther didn't even show herself for most of the day. They didn't talk about it so neither did Katherine. Avoiding a punishment by pretending nothing happened was fine by her. The day continued as usual. Michael hunted together with Elijah and brought home two more pheasants. Klaus practised his sword fighting with Katherine and Katherine did some target practise with her bow afterwards. In the early evening she went by the house for her lessons with Esther who gave her her grimoire to read. This meant, she wouldn't actually be doing any witchcraft today. Which, for once, was fine with Kathy because this also meant less interaction with her mother.
After several hours of pretending to read, Michael came in and ordered her out of the house. A few minutes later they started fighting again but since none of her siblings were inside, she didn't really care.
Katherine found Niklaus sitting on the ground near the makeshift shooting range, drawing in the dirt with the same stick he had the night before.
'Are you out of parchment?' Katherine asked, sitting down next to him.
'Yes. Father doesn't think drawing is a useful skill so I probably won't be getting any more, any time soon.' He answered, still focused on the elaborate drawing on the ground. He easily made a perfect replica of Katherine's face. It was beautiful as always but she was a little annoyed by the thought of her having a face like dirt. A line formed between her brows.
'I can never get the eyes right. You do them.' Klaus handed her the stick. Drawing eyes was the only thing she was better at than her brother so Katherine always did them for him.
'I have some parchment left, If you want. You make better use of it anyway.' She said. The tip of her tongue sticking out as she concentrated.
'Really? Are you sure? Don't you need them for mother's lessons?' Klaus asked. Katherine knew it was just to be polite because he was already smiling before she had answered.
'I'm sure.' She said, leaning back to admire her work. 'Anyway, I have to read more than I have to write lately. You can have it.' She continued, giving back the stick.
'Thank you.' Klaus said, adding some pig ears to his drawing. 'Much better.' He smiled.
'Hey! I was being nice, stupid!' Katherine laughed, giving him a shove.
'What? I can't help it if you have pig ears!' Klaus said laughing, shoving her back.
Their laughter was stifled by the slam of a door in the distance.
'I'm going to go to sleep, Kat.' Klaus stood up and wiped away the drawing with one swipe of his foot. It was best if Michael didn't find it. 'I'll see you in the morning.'
'Goodnight.' Katherine said quietly but Klaus was already gone.
Katherine sat there for a while. She was starving but didn't want to go home. After a half hour or so she couldn't wait any longer. She slowly got up and sauntered her way through the low hanging branches that surrounded her house. Katherine decided she might be able to sneak into the house for some bread if she went round back. She ducked under the window ledge to avoid being seen by her parents, not that they would notice. They were too busy shouting at each other. It seemed that Niklaus had had the same idea because when Katherine got there she saw her brother squatting under the windowsill. On her hands and knees, she crawled gingerly in his direction. He was too busy peeking into the house to notice her and startled when she dropped down next to him.
'What are you doing?!' He whispered angrily.
'Looking for food. What are you doing?'She ignored his tone of voice.
'Nothing. Just…..nothing.' He looked away.
'You were looking for food too, weren't you?' Katherine poked him in the ribs.
Klaus narrowed his eyes: 'Be quiet.'
Katherine smirked and got up so she could just see into the house: 'Let's just wait until they turn away so we can grab the bread that's on the table.' She said, ignoring her father's fist slamming into a wall.
Niklaus nodded. Katherine sat back down and the only thing they could do then was wait…and listen.
'Oh do not act as if I was the bad guy here, Esther!' Michael shouted.
'I am not but do not think for a moment that you had nothing to do with it.' Esther said. Her voice strained, trying not to burst into tears.
'Me?! How is this on me? YOU were the one who betrayed me!' Michael screamed. He didn't even try to hide his anger. Katherine lay her head on Klaus' shoulder.
'And haven't I apologized for this over and over again?!' Esther burst out. 'I cannot feel guilty for the rest of my life, Michael.'
'And I cannot accept someone else's son as my own!' Michael shouted.
Katherine lifted her head from Nik's shoulder and held his hand. Both of them, staring at a random spot in front of them. Michael hadn't named anyone but he didn't have to. The way he treated him…
The house was silent. The only thing that she could hear was the quiet sobbing of their Mother and Michael saying that he tried. That he had tried to treat him equal but that he just couldn't.
Niklaus let go of her hand and stood up. Not caring whether he was seen or not.
'Niklaus…' Esther's voice trailed off.
Klaus turned round and looked at her and then at his father. Or the man he thought was his father. His face was expressionless. He didn't look angry or sad. He just looked…blank. He glanced down at Katherine and walked away. Just like that. One moment and he wasn't the same ever again.
Lucifer's loaned body had started to fail. His movements were more forced and hastily. He didn't wait for Katherine to answer. It looked like he didn't have the time for it. He took a step forward. And another. And another until Ruby's face was just inches away from hers.
'Look, I get it. We all have daddy issues. Now I'll give you one chance and one chance only.' His voice was strong but steady. 'You, the freakishly strong vampire-lady either side with me, the Devil and not spend an eternity in hell or you defy me and decide to be the hero for once and well….then… of course…you will spend an eternity in hell…' He has such a way with words, Katherine thought. Lucifer smiled and stepped back. 'That came out wrong…but you get what I'm saying.' He held his arms beside him and held the palms of his hands up. 'Your choice.' He said, making his hands look like a scale.
Katherine was stumped. For a second, she didn't know what to say. She had been through a great deal of shit in her life including more than a few wars but she doubted she would be able to keep her supernatural powers in hell. Dean had been to hell for only a few months and it seemed like a piece of him died inside. Was she as strong as he was? Probably not, she decided. But that didn't mean she was going to be a coward and be the Devil's sidekick.
'I would rather spend an eternity in hell, than have the blood of more than 7 billion people on my hands.' Katherine blurted out. Should I have thought about this longer?
The expression on Lucifer's face didn't change. He just looked at her, the red glow inside of him growing stronger by the second. 'What a shame. You could have been a great asset. Unfortunately, you could also be a great adversary so my apologies if I'm not going to take any chances.'
'Nero!' He shouted. Within two seconds the doors swung open again.
'Yes, my Lord.' Nero looked a little less confident than before. His suit was ripped and there was blood on his hands. It seemed like he didn't even notice it because he kept trying to readjust his tie, making the blood smudge all over it.
'Our guest has not complied to my request.' Lucifer gestured toward Katherine. She stepped back and was ready to fight but Nero wasn't planning on fighting. He smirked and put his fingers to his lips. A sharp whistle.
A deafening growl came from behind him and he stood aside. Nothing came in though. At least that's what Katherine thought but then there was a faint smell of…wet dog? She didn't have time to question this because the next thing she knew she was lying on the floor. Blood gushing from her leg, arms and her neck were she could feel the hellhound's teeth bore into her flesh. Ripping off pieces of her skin along with some nerves. One of her arms lay motionless against the cold floor, her other one had a hold of the dog's soft fur, pointlessly trying to throw it off. The dog got tired of it and sunk its teeth in again. Lower this time. She could feel every bone and nerve in her arm break and rip until it was no longer there. Her vision became blurry and the last thing she saw was Lucifer's body exploding in a red glow. A blinding white light. The unbearable sound of an angel showing it's true form. But he was no angel. Nero's eyes burnt out and his body fell to the ground, releasing a black smoke from its mouth. The last thing she noticed was the gut wrenching smell of a hellhound's breath above her face. Then a last thought of confusion and despair followed by a scream she didn't realize was hers. But…I can't die. Can I?
