A/N So sorry that I've been away so long! School's been hectic lately with exams and everything so I obviously haven't been able to get on much. I'm gonna try to get myself back on schedule so here's the next chapter- enjoy!
Chapter four- Taken by Surprise
Gwen didn't answer Elliot's question right away, in fact, she was uncharacteristically quiet. She pushed past the hybrid to the coffin closest to her and let her hand rest on the cold wood. She didn't speak but her mind was racing , connecting the last few pieces of the puzzle. Everything made so much more sense.
Now she understood Klaus's desperation , his obsession, with reclaiming what the Salvatore boy had stolen. It wasn't a weapon that Klaus desired, Gwen realized as she stared at the coffins, but she was almost disappointed that it was something so mundane; Klaus's family. Very useful as a bargaining chip but insignificant to her.
She tilted her head as she considered the new information. Three coffins meant three daggered Originals.
Finn, Kol, and…Rebekah?
Gwen looked down at the coffin she was touching hesitantly but she cut her thoughts off before a seed of worry could be planted.
Elijah was safe, he wasn't in one of these coffins, he was perfectly safe.
She sighed quietly, knowing that she was being unreasonable and logically there was a 50/50 chance that Elijah was in one of the coffins but she just couldn't let herself go there. If she did there was a chance she'd go mad. She had to believe he was somewhere else, somewhere safe.
Elliot cleared his throat, presumably to get her attention but she easily ignored him, stroking the dark wood of the casket she was beside, with an almost desperate rhythm. She took a deep breath to steady herself and clutched the edge of the casket tightly; Elijah wasn't in there, he was safe.
When Elliot come up behind her and jostled her shoulder, Gwen was literally knocked out of her thoughts and for a moment, she forgot where she was.
" Do you mind?" She snapped and shifted out of the way as the hybrid stepped in front of her.
He rolled his eyes and pushed up his sleeves. " Come on, we got work to do." He grabbed onto the end of the coffin and started to drag it towards the door before he realized that Gwen hadn't budged.
"Are you going to help me or not?"
Gwen tilted her head to the side as if she was considering her answer and she had to admit that she enjoyed the look of agitation on Elliot's face.
"Fine, I guess I can help." She wandered over to the other end of the coffin the hybrid was holding on to and easily picked it up.
"Right, let me know if I'm going to bump into anything." Elliot started walking backwards towards the stairs and Gwen wondered if she should let him know that he was a little too far over to the left. She shrugged to herself, he'd figure it out eventually.
Before she could take another step forward, there was a crash and the coffin dipped to the ground as Elliot slammed into the door-frame.
"What the hell?" He ground out and rubbed his leg, sending a glare in Gwen's direction but she merely glared back at him.
"Oh come on, that couldn't possibly have been painful. Now be a big boy and let's get on with it."
Elliot's scowl deepened but he didn't say anything, just mumbled angrily to himself as he picked up the coffin. This time he looked over his shoulder to make sure he was on the right path before he started walking.
Two coffins later, Elliot was in the cab of the tuck, revving the engine and Gwen was wiping the dust off her hands onto a towel that she discovered in the back of the truck. She couldn't help a delicate shudder as she gazed at the dust that now covered the towel.
She hadn't done manual labor in years, let alone touched something dusty and for a moment, she missed the centuries she had gone without having to lift a finger.
But her petty displeasure evaporated when she happened to look over her shoulder to see the abandoned house standing in the distance. She turned back to the truck with a grimace and pulled down the door and snapped it into place.
Gwen felt a chill run up her spin and the hair on the back of her neck stood up. She scoffed to herself, knowing her fear of a group of dead witches was ridiculous but she couldn't fight the bad feeling in the pit in her stomach.
Although, she had to admit, that she could see how the power radiating from the house would be captivating to a lunatic like Niklaus.
All of a sudden, one of the doors was slammed shut, causing her to snap out of her thoughts and back to reality.
Elliot appeared from around the side of the truck to stand beside her.
"Well," he told her cheerfully, "We're all packed up and ready to go!" He put his hands on his hips and turned to face Gwen, grinning with a new sparkle in his blue eyes, showing no sign of their earlier argument.
The vampire sighed and dragged a hand through her red curls absentmindedly as she was prone to do when thinking. She wasn't about to jump up and eagerly help Klaus but the faster she got away from this place, the happier she would be.
"Great!" The hybrid clapped his hands together eagerly, and Gwen briefly considered telling him where he could shove his annoying enthusiasm but figured that would just make things more difficult for her in the long run. And why make more trouble when it could easily be avoided?
He pretended not to notice the resentful look on Gwen's face and with a botched attempt at eloquence, the blond bowed and held open the passenger door like an old fashioned gentleman. "Ladies first."
Gwen drifted passed him silently, keeping her face blank. Elliot could be gallant all he wanted but it wouldn't change her distasteful opinion of him; she could hold grudges for centuries. After all, she had all the time in the world.
She still refused to talk to the vampire who'd drunkenly spilled red wine on a new dress at a ball three hundred years ago.
Elijah was constantly telling her she needed to learn how to give people a fresh start but of course, she never listened. She just gave him a kiss on the cheek and told him she would think about it.
Gwen shook her head and sighed as she climbed into the cab of the truck, leaning back into the leather seat. She tried to clear her head by focusing on the landscape outside; the tall, uncut blades of grass and the night sky that always gave her a feeling of freedom but she couldn't stop thinking about Elijah or the three Original vampires in the back that were, for all intensive purposes, just sleeping.
Gwen was still staring out the window when Elliot climbed back in and started up the engine, this time whistling under his breath.
She glared at him out of the corner of her eye before she turned away. Honestly... He wasn't worth the argument.
"Are you gonna tell me why you got so mad before?"
Gwen looked over at him incredulously, wondering how it was possible that one person could be so stupid.
And he could have just stopped talking but no! He just HAD to keep going, " I mean I just the said guy's name, it's not like I-" Gwen whirled around in her seat and Elliot recoiled from the strength of her glare.
"That's exactly the problem, you are talking about things that go completely over your head. Don't you understand? You have no place running your mouth off and asking all sorts of questions that are of no concern to you! You might think that you're special or significant but like I said before you are dispensable! You won't last long because one day, someone like me is going to get fed up with all your questions and just like that-" she snapped her fingers to demonstrate, "you'll be dead!" Finished with her rant, the redhead raised her eyebrows at the hybrid, just daring him to speak.
Elliot sat in his seat, still a little wide eyed with his hands resting on the steering wheel and despite her annoyance, she couldn't help being amused. But when he showed no sign of moving, her impatience made a reappearance and she snapped, "Well are we leaving or not?"
Elliot blinked and stepped on the gas, finally driving away from the witch house. He glanced over at her nervously but she just sighed and let her eyes drift shut, tuning out the rest of the world.
When Gwen reopened her eyes, Elliot was gone and the truck had stopped moving. She sat up quickly and jumped out of the truck, into the night air . The grass under her feet cushioned her landing and when her head snapped up, she came face to face with Elliot.
"I was wondering when you were going to wake up," The hybrid grinned at her and Gwen straightened up and glared at him.
"Well why didn't you wake me then?"
He shrugged and started walking to the back of the truck. "I figured I'd get more work done without you complaining the entire way."
Gwen snorted indignantly but didn't protest. He was right, she certainly wasn't going out of her way to make things easier for him.
"Anyway I figured that you could help me with the last one." Elliot told her as he pushed a wooden trolley in her direction. Gwen eyed it with distaste and raised her eyebrows at the smirking hybrid.
"And what exactly do you want me to do with this?" There was no way that she was going to lift one of those coffins AGAIN! In her opinion, she'd done enough manual labor to last multiple lifetimes.
Elliot rolled his eyes and Gwen bristled, "Really? Just load the last coffin onto the cart and I'll wheel it in." Wheel it in? For the first time, Gwen actually looked at her surroundings and realized they were back at Klaus' mansion. Though she wasn't entirely sure where else she expected them to be, of course he'd want to have his family close to him after what happened the last time he trusted someone with their location. She'd be paranoid too.
Gwen pushed up the sleeves of her coat and jumped onto the truck in one clean movement and not for the first time, she was grateful for the gifts she was given as a vampire. Otherwise, she'd be a whole lot crankier and a whole lot sweatier.
"Alright let's just get this over with." She wrinkled her nose and gripped the edge of the wooden coffin and pushed, moving it easily like there were wheels on the bottom. Once part of it was resting on the trolley, Gwen swiveled the large box around and gave it one last push. With a thud it landed perfectly on the trolley and despite herself Gwen smiled proudly.
"There I helped." She announced and jumped off the back of the truck and started wiping the dust off her hands onto her coat. "Now run along and Take whoever's in this box back to Klaus."
Elliot rolled his eyes and began dragging the wooden trolley carrying the final coffin towards Klaus' mansion but Gwen stopped him with an outstretched hand.
"But before you go, since I've been so helpful, I think I deserve a reward, don't you?" She gave him the sincerest smile she could muster but his eyes narrowed and gazed at her suspiciously.
"And what kind of reward did you have in mind?" Elliot asked warily, already edging towards the mansion.
"Well since you asked, I was wondering how much you knew about Elijah's whereabouts." Gwen watched him intently, much like a cat studies a mouse just before it attacks. All she had to do was just be patient and eventually he'd crack. Even now, his frown deepened and he licked his lips nervously.
"I don't know!" Elliot snapped angrily but his brave facade cracked a little and Gwen pounced.
"Look, we're on the same side here," She doubted threatening the boy wouldn't work, so she would just have to be a little more persuasive. "We're working towards a common goal,the two of us," Seeing his doubt she added, " And i already helped you get the coffins."
Elliot still looked skeptical but Gwen held onto her charming smile. "I'd say you owed me one." Elliot snorted and turned around, making Gwen's disappear instantly. Within a blink of a human eye, she blurred between Elliot and the cart, sending him stumbling backwards. All pretenses of being friendly were gone and her pale face seemed to glow in the moonlight.
"Alright, I've only put up with being nice about this for your benefit, so since you aren't being cooperative, we're going to be doing things my way."
Gwen's fangs lengthened and she advanced towards the blond hybrid and the veins around her green eyes pulsed.
Elliot gulped and a predatory smile appeared on Gwen's face. As much as she resented Klaus as a person, she had to admit that his methods were effective.
It was far easier to get information out of people when they were afraid.
And as she sauntered towards Elliot, she could see in his blue eyes that he'd finally realized what he was dealing with- a centuries old, pissed off, vampire. But before she had the chance to grab his throat and shut the idiot up forever, the porch light went on, bathing her in an unnatural light.
She whirled around and saw Klaus standing in the doorway. He didn't seem upset, which worried Gwen, in fact he seemed rather amused.
"Guinevere, if you could restrain yourself from decapitating any more of my friends, I'd be quite grateful." With that said, he turned around and called over his shoulder, "Come along Elliot, why don't you show Kol to his room?" The Original disappeared into his mansion and Gwen scowled at the empty doorway.
So she stood there practically spitting out fire while Elliot straightened his coat and shouldered past her to get to the coffin laying on the trolley.
"Oh," He looked back at her with a cocky grin on his face that made Gwen's expression darken. Of course he was brave now that the big bad Klaus had appeared. "And I was telling you the truth back at that witch house, you won't get Elijah back if you don't help Klaus."
Gwen didn't give him the satisfaction of responding, instead she stared past him at Klaus's new mansion. Elliot turned his back on the redhead and ealked off and it took every ounce of her strength not to attack while his back was turned. But as she watched him disappear, she made it up to herself by deciding that one day, she'd tear his heart out herself when he didn't have Klaus watching over him.
That made a grim smile creep onto her face but that smile vanished when she realized the severity of her situation. She'd gotten involved with Klaus, and she'd helped him get his family back so she could only hope that if she chose to undagger them, they wouldn't be too forgiving of their brother.
And after all her efforts, she still had no idea where Elijah was. She didn't even know if he was in Mystic Falls.
Her mind traveled to the three coffins she'd seen but she crossed that option out as soon as it entered her brain. The image of the man she loved laying pale and still inside a coffin nearly made her sick to her stomach.
There was no way in hell Elijah had gotten himself daggered; she had known him for almost one millennium and in all that time, she'd never met anyone as brilliant as him. He'd always been one step ahead of the game.
Despite her bitterness, a ghost of a smile appeared on Gwen's face as she remembered all the times he'd beaten her at chess- his favorite game. She'd always have a perfect plan figured out, it would seem flawless and every single match, she'd think that this would be the time where she'd finally win, but he always outsmarted her.
He wouldn't lower his guard that easily, Gwen thought as she chewed her lip anxiously, so there was no way he could be in one of those coffins. But then, where was he?
Klaus never told her the whole truth about his brother and she'd been stupid to assume that he would just hand over any information, but as she thought about the coffins, a plan began to form in her mind.
Perhaps one of the other Originals would be able to help her find him, or at least give her a starting point. Her green eyes brightened and the hopelessness in them disappeared. She gazed at Klaus' mansion with a new appreciation.
They were family after all and one thing she'd learned about the Originals was that in their own twisted way, they were loyal to their own. Surely they'd help her find their brother.
Well... Rebekah would and possibly Finn but Kol was a shot in the dark.
But she couldn't get ahead of herself, she'd have to undagger them first. And to do that, she'd have to get past Klaus.
Gwen looked up at the mansion and while she took a step forward, she tuned in to the conversation going on between Klaus and was just in time to hear Elliot's voice ask,"What are you going to do know that you've got your family back?" That peaked Gwen's interest and she picked up her pace as she jogged towards the mansion, realizing that this could be her only shot to get some information.
Her hand was on the iron door handle when she heard a gasp and a horrible tearing sound, one she was very familiar with. A heart had just been ripped out of someone's chest.
She paused and tilted her head against the door, trying to get a better grasp on what was happening. From the lack of a heartbeat and the obvious fact that not even a hybrid could kill Klaus, she knew it was Elliot that had just been killed.
She felt a little sad but not out of grief for the young man but more out of regret that he'd died before Klaus answered his question. And that she hadn't been able to kill him herself.
Gwen shrugged to herself and and opened the door, surprised to see no signs of a struggle. As she walked out of the foyer and slowly turned the corner, she focused on ignoring the tiny part of her mind screaming at her to run. If Klaus was killing his OWN hybrids, he probably wouldn't think twice about ripping out her heart.
But when she stopped at rhe end of the hall, it wasn't Klaus she saw standing over the body of the blond hybrid. The blond Original was standing far away from the dead man and in any case, his hands were clean and devoid of blood. Gwen's green eyes traveled away from the body and what she saw made the breath rush out of her body and, if she'd been human, the shock of it all would have caused her to faint.
"Elijah?"
The brown haired man standing over Elliot blinked at her, the strength of his stare causing butterflies to stir in her stomach. The frown that darkened his face lessened as he took a deep breath and she leaned forward, desperate to hear the deep voice that she'd been missing for six months.
"Gwen?"