Chapter 25

The backup plan

North Dakota 1991

"Nathan!"

Nathan was awake immediately. He jumped up and ran to the bathroom. Lucilla was sitting on the floor. Her whole body was shaking violently. Nathan kneeled next to her.

"Honey what's wrong?" he asked worried.

"A vision…" she murmured.

"What kind of vision?" Nathan asked calmly.

He knew what to do in these situations. But he couldn't remember ever seeing Lucilla so upset.

"Something bad?" he guessed.

She nodded.

"Zora…"

"You saw another vision about Zora?"

She nodded again. Nathan could saw tears in her eyes.

"Hey, come here", he said and wrapped his arms around her. "It's ok, we can work it out."

Lucilla shook her head and started to sob.

"I don't know if we can."

"What do you mean Lu? How bad was it?"

"Bad. She might become a monster."

Nathan pulled away and looked at her disbelievingly.

"How can that be? What about your first vision about her? You said she is meant to do great things."

"Yes and I've never had two visions about one person. I don't know which one I should believe."

"How could she become a monster? We have bound her abilities…"

"That doesn't mean that they couldn't be unbound. She could cause more terrible destruction than you can ever imagine."

"What are you saying then?" Nathan asked tensely. "That we should kill her?"

"No! No, of course not. Just let me think…"

Nathan took her hand and helped her up. They both went to Zora's crib without saying a word. She was sleeping so peacefully leaning to a teddy bear Nathan had bought her from a gas station. They were staying in yet another motel room. Zora have never had a real home. Nathan hoped that she could have one some day. The thought of this small innocent creature becoming a monster was just… Nathan couldn't believe it.

"Her choices", Lucilla said quietly.

Nathan raised his head.

"What?"

"It's all about her choices. If she will make wrong ones…"

"She won't", Nathan said determinedly. "You and I can teach her. There's so much light in her."

"I know but if that light turns into darkness, we are all lost."

"What should we do then?"

"We must have a backup plan", Lucilla said calmly. "In case things go wrong."

"What kind of backup plan?" Nathan asked cautiously.

"Devotio mori."

Nathan's eyes widened.

"You want to do that to a child?"

"I don't want to do that but we have no choice. We must have a way to stop her if she ever crosses the line."

Nathan looked at Zora.

"No, I'm sorry Lu but I can't…"

"Look at me", Lucilla said firmly. "Do you really think that I want to do this? I don't. But if you would have seen what I saw…We must do this. Just in case."

"But what about your first vision? Doesn't that mean anything?"

"Of course it does but as I said it's all about her choices. We can guide and teach her but we can't make her choices for her. Not the ones that matter."

Nathan was quiet for a long while. He didn't want to admit that Lucilla was right.

"If we do this… She can never know", he finally said tensely. "About this or the other vision. We'll tell her about the first one, that's it."

Lucilla nodded.

"I agree. But we both must also take an oath that we won't hesitate to execute the curse if it comes to that."

"You mean we won't hesitate to kill her?" Nathan said emotionlessly.

"Yes, we both know what devotio mori does. If we place the curse on her now it will only have to be activated and she will be dead. It won't matter if she has her abilities or not."

Nathan didn't like this at all. Cursing a child… It felt wrong in every possible way.

"What are you doing?" he asked when he saw a knife on her hand.

"It must be a blood oath", Lucilla said calmly. "Otherwise we might back down. We both love this child but this is about more than that. Shall I do it or…?"

"I'll do it", Nathan forced himself to say.

He knew it would haunt Lucilla for the rest of her life. It would haunt him as well but he would do it to spare Lucilla. Nathan took the knife and tried to prevent his hands from shaking. Lucilla lifted the blanket and exposed Zora's bare stomach. He had to get this done as quickly as possible. Then Zora opened her eyes and looked at him. Nathan almost dropped the knife. He forced himself to calm down.

"We'll heal her as soon as it's done", Lucilla said quietly. She turned her head away.

Nathan felt sick. Zora was looking at him so trustingly. He knew he would never forgive himself when he cut her stomach. She started to cry heartbreakingly. One, two, three cuts. Then Nathan cut his and Lucilla's hand. They joined their hands together and started to chant. Zora was crying the whole time. When it was over, Lucilla picked her up and took her outside. She would heal but that wouldn't erase what he had just done to her. Nothing would.

...

California 2010

"Nathan!"

Zora ran to him and hugged him tightly. "I've miss you so much!"

"Hi kiddo", Nathan said smiling. "Are you ok?"

Zora nodded.

"How about you?"

"Well, let's see… I've been playing chess with Elijah; he cheats by the way, and I've watch more silent movies than I care to remember. Apparently vampires have never heard about this new invention called the sound. Otherwise I'm great."

"Good, good. I hope you didn't worry about me."

"You were somewhere alone with Klaus. How could I not worry? Did he hurt you?"

Zora bit her lip.

"We… worked things out."

"What does that mean?"

"Oh, I have to show you something!"

Zora took some paper from her bag. It was a very well made drawing of two of them.

"Isn't it great?" Zora said excited.

"Yes, it's very nice. Did you draw this?"

Zora laughed.

"You know I can't draw even a stick man. Klaus made this."

"Hmm, how nice of him."

Apparently Zora didn't pick up his sarcastic tone.

"Yes, it was. I realized that there are no pictures of you and me. We should definitely take some family pictures!"

Nathan didn't remember even seeing Zora like this. There was something different about her. She was laughing and smiling, like there was not a care in the world.

"Well you're certainly on a good mood", he said.

"Yes, something amazing happened", she said smiling.

"Really? Please do tell."

"I can fly!"

Nathan's eyes widened.

"What?"

"That ceremony… I can do amazing things now. I can show you!"

Nathan was speechless. No, no, no…

"Zora, listen to me very carefully", he said tensely.

Zora looked at him confused.

"What's wrong Nathan?"

"You must be very careful with these abilities, you can never misuse them. Do you understand?"

"What do you mean misuse them?" Zora asked.

"That kind of power can be intoxicating; you can never lose control, never. If you use your abilities to hurt someone…"

"What are you talking about? I would never do that!"

She looked offended and confused. Nathan took a deep breath.

"That's good, just keep that in mind, ok?"

"Sure. But I don't understand…"

Klaus' arrival interrupted her.

"Hi daddy", he said smiling. "Sweetheart, would you like to have some dinner with me?"

"That sounds great", she replied smiling. "Are you hungry Nathan?"

"No, I think I lost my appetite", he murmured.

"Ok, we talk more later", Zora said and kissed his cheek.

"Sure. Later."

Nathan watched her walking away holding Klaus' hand. Shit, shit, shit! He knew he had to be very careful now. Nathan wasn't exactly religious but in that moment he prayed that Lucilla's second vision would never come true. How could he do that? How could he kill a girl who was like his own daughter? Nathan could only pray that he would never have to.