Chapter nine

Help

"Esther," Kassandra said cautiously, her eyes flickering between Finn and his mother. She knew that Finn was practically Esther's bodyguard, but that she didn't really need his protection. Both would be more than capable of killing her if they needed to do so. "Nice of you to just let yourself in."

"I need your help, Kassandra," she repeated, ignoring her words. "Can you help me?"

"Depends, Esther, what do you need?" she asked, keeping her distance from them.

She knew what she needed, though. Esther was still trying to kill her children. For some reason, Finn was okay with that. He was helping his mother kill him and his siblings. They had failed the first time, and now Esther needed some of Gabriella's old things.

Even if Kassandra hadn't just slept with Elijah, even if she hadn't grown to like him and genuinely didn't want him to die, she wouldn't have helped Esther. She hated Esther, always had. Besides, the odds were more in her favor of dying if she went against the originals.

Still, she couldn't exactly say that to Esther right then and there, especially with Finn looking like he was preparing himself to rip out her heart. Then her odds of dying would be increased to a hundred. Kassandra had to be very careful of what her next words were, of how she got herself out of this. But she wasn't a very careful person to begin with.

Esther looked like she was choosing her words carefully as well. Kassandra knew right then that the only thing that kept Esther from having Finn kill her was the fact that she needed Gabriella's spell book, and only Kassandra would know where that was.

"I need your mother's Grimoire, Kassandra," Esther said after a few beats of silence.

"Yeah, I figured that, but why?" she asked, daring Esther to tell her the truth with her eyes.

"Why do you need my help?" she continued, taunting the old, powerful witch almost. "What did you do, Esther?"

Finn frowned suddenly at her, speaking for the first time. "Why do you smell like Elijah?" he asked her, taking a step towards Kassandra.

Her eyes widened and she took a deep breath. "I don't know you're talking about," she lied, taking three steps back.

"She's been around Elijah?" Esther demanded of her son.

"More than just been around him, I'd say," Finn replied, as Kassandra debated making a run for it. "And recently, too."

Esther stared hard at Kassandra. She knew what Kassandra and Elijah had been up to, Kassandra just knew it. And the funny thing was that, even though she was planning to kill all of her children, Kassandra could still see the disapproval on the wicked witch's face. She was trying to kill Elijah, and she still didn't think that Kassandra was good enough for her son.

"She is not going to help us, mother," Finn told Esther. "We need to leave."

"But-" Esther tried to say, but Finn cut her off.

"Now, mother. We cannot risk Elijah finding out that we're here," he said. Then he turned to face Kassandra, who was just about to run.

Finn grabbed her arms, not allowing her to leave. Then he looked into her eyes, his pupils dilating. "You will forget that we were ever here," he compelled her.

"I'll forget you were ever here," Kassandra repeated against her will. She blinked, and they were gone.

Her eyebrows furrowed. What had just happened? She had walked into her apartment and… Sh had been doing something. She just couldn't remember. Why couldn't she remember? Kassandra tried her hardest to remember, and then gasped as she clutched her head in pain. It hurt, to try to remember.

What had happened to her?

~SYH~

"Elijah. I was sure that you would be too busy to answer your phone."

Elijah frowned as he pressed number three in the elevator, and the doors closed. "What are you talking about, Kol?"

He could practically hear his brother smirk. "Oh, what with the identity crisis you're having right now and all. It really must be time consuming, changing your entire personality in the course of three days."

Elijah frowned. He was confused. "I still don't know what you're talking about."

"I stopped by your apartment this morning. You weren't there, a real shame. You missed the half-naked woman. She was very sexy, as well."

He stiffened. Kassandra. Kol had run into Kassandra. Just thinking about her made him flash back to the picture of her completely naked on his bed. He could hear her moaning out his name, and he wanted her so much at that moment. He was in an elevator for Christ sake.

Was this what it was like to be Kol? Elijah shuddered at the thought. He was not Kol. He was the anti-Kol. They looked alike the most out of all their siblings, but their personalities were polar opposite. He was not turning into Kol.

"I wouldn't know what you're talking about," he said finally, as the elevator doors opened.

"Oh, come on, brother! Don't play dumb with me! New York has changed you! You're out drinking during the day and shagging random women at night! You're turning into me!" Kol exclaimed. "Rebekah wants to have an intervention. I, on the other hand, am enjoying this new you. As long as it isn't permanent. I mean, if you're not going to be responsible and a stick in the mud, who is? Who am I going to make fun of?"

"Can we move on to other more important topics?" he said, walking down the hallway to his apartment. He had been hoping that Kassandra would still be waiting for him when he returned, but he knew that she fled as soon as she met Kol. He knew Kassandra enough to know that his family intimidated her. And when she was intimidated, she fled.

"Now, what could be more important than your day drinking and shagging of strangers?" Kol said dryly, and Elijah gritted his teeth. He drank once with Kassandra during the day, and his brother was never going to let him live it down. And Kassandra wasn't a stranger, not anymore.

"Esther and Finn are in New York City," he replied. "That would be more important."

This affected Kol, he could tell. Though his brother tried to pretend otherwise, there was an edge in his voice the next time he spoke. "And?" he replied. "I would appreciate details, Elijah."

"I received a call this morning, saying that they were here. But when I went looking for them, I couldn't find any trail that would lead me to them. They're being careful. They're hiding from me. Esther knows-"

"That the next time you see her will be the time you rip her heart out," Kol finished. "I'm already on my way back to Mystic Falls. Do you need me to come back?"

"No, I don't think that will be necessary," Elijah said, as he walked into his apartment. "I'll let you three know if I manage to track Esther and Finn down."

"Will you manage to fit time to search in between your drinking and shagging?" Kol teased, already returning back to his normal self.

Elijah sighed. His younger brother gave him a headache. "Goodbye, Kol," he said firmly.

"Do behave yourself, Elijah. I would hate to have you bring shame to the Mikaelson name," Kol said sarcastically.

Elijah hung up on his brother before his headache turned into a migraine.

~SYH~

Kassandra took a deep breath and ran a hand over her face. Something was wrong. Her memory had been tampered with, she just knew it. There was an unexplained period of time lost to her, and she couldn't remember it. She contributed knowing this to being a witch in her human life.

What could cause her brief loss of memory? Compulsion would be the obvious choice, but a spell could also be responsible. Kassandra paced her bedroom, thinking about all of the options.

The only people who could compel her would be an original. Elijah wouldn't dare. Besides, what would be his purpose? Kol, maybe. The only thing that could give her answers would be what went on during the five minute gap of memory that was taken from her. But that was lost forever.

Or was it?

Kassandra needed help. She knew that. But, usually, the only person she ever turned to help for was herself. But now Kassandra had Ruby. Ruby could cast a spell or two, maybe, to try and figure out what had happened.

But Kassandra knew who she really wanted to call. And, during her frantic state, she allowed herself to do so.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, Kassandra put her blonde hair in a ponytail and went to get her cellphone, only to remember that she had left all of her things at Elijah's. So she had to use her landline instead. She never used her landline. Ever. Hell, she only used her cellphone to text Ruby and play Temple Run.

After two rings, he answered. "Hello?"

"Elijah," she said, sitting down on her bed.

"Kassandra." There was a beat of silence between them, not necessarily awkward, but it wasn't that comfortable either. It was we had hot, wild sex last night silence, in which neither knew what to say, whether or not to reference what had happened between them last night. Then Elijah cleared his throat. "What do you need?"

"Can- can you come over? Something happened, and I think you can help me figure out what," Kassandra said.

"Of course," he said easily.

Kassandra smirked suddenly. "Oh, and Elijah?" she said innocently.

"Yes, Kassandra?"

"Would you mind bringing my things with you? I was rather fond of that bra."

~SYH~

"What happened?" Elijah asked as soon as the door opened.

"I'm not sure," Kassandra replied, taking her things from Elijah and setting them down on a random table.

"What do you mean?" Elijah asked, frowning.

"I mean there's a gap in my memory somehow. I remember leaving your apartment. I remember going to Ruby's. I remember walking towards my apartment. And then I was standing in the middle of my living room, and it just felt as though something had happened. It felt like time had jumped," she tried her best to explain.

Elijah frowned as Kassandra led him into her living room. "It sounds like-" he stopped suddenly, stiffening.

"What?" she asked, frowning up at him.

"Finn," he said. "And Esther. It smells like them in your living room."

Kassandra's frowned deepened. "I don't remember them," she said.

"Of course you don't. My brother compelled you to forget." Elijah grabbed her suddenly, tilting her chin upwards so that their eyes met. "Remember," he compelled her, eyes dilating.

Kassandra blinked and her memory came back to her. She narrowed her eyes. How dare Finn compel her? It made Kassandra want to tear his heart out.

"Can you explain now, what my- Esther and Finn were doing here?" Elijah asked patiently.

Kassandra nodded and ran a hand over her face. "Your mother wanted me to help her kill you."

~SYH~

A/N: thank you to: Guest, Lady Wesker, Hachikoo, and SomebodyWhoCares for reviewing!

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~Abby :)