Thanks Black Star for your critique of the chapter yesterday. Sorry I got a little excited that after I picked the title that the exact word count for that chapter was 1,666 then posted it knowing that it wasn't quite right, but got tired of coming back and fixing it over and over again. Not gonna do that again, instead I will take more time over it.
I did want to hold off on Keira's wolf, but I felt that she needed that time to have the little bit of freedom where she could just have the time to be, and not worry about masters or revenge, etc. I am glad that you liked her bit of freedom!
When The Devil Takes Hold...
This time She decided to return the favor of yesterday morning when her mistress had come into her territory. She wanted made sure that terror was the first thing that Esther felt when she woke up. She crept into Esther's room, silent, deadly, and seated herself in a chair which she had quietly moved to be directly in line of Esther's sight once she opened her eyes. She waited, staring at her patiently, arms and legs crossed, until Esther's eyes fluttered open. It took a minute for Esther to realized what, or rather who, she was staring at.
"Hello Mistress." She purred, smiling at her innocently, but the malice shining from her eyes was quite clearly anything but innocent.
Esther drew back in fear. "Get out!"
"As you wish." She said, her smile growing into a smirk at the fear in her mistress' eyes. mission accomplished She thought.
She waited outside of the bedroom door until Esther came out, at the sight of The Cursed One Esther scowled but kept walking.
The morning wake up call was probably the reason why Esther spent her time doing whatever she was doing in the Lycée, away from The Cursed One, while She was ordered to spend her time just outside the door, guarding the entrance from anyone coming in. Of course Esther was not getting much satisfaction out of keeping The Cursed One out. She knew that her presence made Esther wary, giving her a wide berth whenever she needed to walk by to leave. Of course that meant that She got to walk close behind Esther, reminding her further of her fear. It was one of the few enjoyments that She allowed herself, smiling at Esther with a full on devil's smile whenever she had to get close.
Finn approached the door, looking as if he was in pain, though he did do a good job of bearing it stoically. She was familiar with him already since he had been at his mother's side off and on while she was tormenting Elijah. She supposed that Esther had filled him in on the magical ring because he never looked at her curiously like the wolves that did his and Esther's bidding. Instead She was mostly invisible to him. A tool that was necessary but until needed was out of mind. She had known masters like that before, servants were invisible to them, unless needed or the servants found themselves in trouble. There was also a barely concealed mutual dislike for each other between them. She supposed that it was for what She was, a freak and an abomination to nature. Her equal dislike of him was due to his utter servile devotion to his mother.
A little while later another man, well more like a boy, came to call on Esther. She had never seen him before but he walked towards her like he had purpose, and like the man before this one was also in pain. When he happened to move his arm just right She could see why, the runes looked painful, burned onto his flesh. She wondered if this was yet another Mikaelson that she would have the 'pleasure' to meet. His words to her seemed to confirm it.
"I suppose that you are one of those dogs that my mother has around?"
She smirked. "Something like that, I suppose that you are one of Esther's sycophant sons, coming to call on dear ol' mommy?"
He smirked back at her "Something like that, names Kol. What's yours beautiful?"
She arched her eyebrow, clearly not amused.
He shrugged. "Ah well, suppose that it was worth a try anyways." He winced as the pain on his arm seemed to flare.
She stepped aside to allow him to pass, figuring that Esther would have something to do with both of her sons' pain, and would have the solution to end it.
She listened as he and his mother talked, finding amusement in the fact that Kol and his mother did not get along so well. When Kol left She saw that he was holding a knife, a thoughtful look on his face. He wasn't so lost in thought that he didn't make one more attempt to learn her name.
"So, any chance of you telling me your name."
She just smiled, deciding to be amused at his antics this time, and shook her head.
"What is with all the girls lately turning down my charm?" He asked clearly confused.
"Maybe if you used less charm and more of yourself it might work on the right girl." She advised, normally The Cursed One didn't care, but she was bored enough just standing around a door all day, and he certainly provided a bit of entertainment.
"Huh." He said, raising an eyebrow, clearly taken aback as if the thought had never occurred to him.
"Of course one would think that a centuries old vampire would already know that."
He didn't say anything to that, choosing instead to send her a glare. She merely smirked at him, daring him to do something about it. He wisely chose not to try anything with her, instead he offered her one last saucy smirk and left.
She sighed and shook her head at this particular son of Esther, then went back to guarding a door.
The rest of the day passed slowly for her, and it reminded her of when Keira used to spend days guarding Francesca. If Keira could have died from sheer boredom then that would have been the time. Thankfully She was released from her guarding duty by Esther, who apparently had enough of The Cursed One's presence anywhere near her, and sent her off to check on Klaus' father's progress at trying to persuade Klaus to give up his vampirism, while they walked together through the bayou. She stayed long enough to see how how they were getting along, and where they were headed, then sped back to report to Esther. After that there was nothing else she to do other then back to guarding Esther.
She would say that guarding Esther was not a complete lost, She had the extreme pleasure of watching the witch collapse at the sight of her old lover, impaled on a large steak. It was no doubt the actions of Klaus, and oh, did She love that. The act was beautiful in its brutality and the message that it clearly sent. She wished that she had the time and means to paint the picture before her, the horror on Esther's face, and the blood on the gift would provide such a lovely splash of color to offset the darker earth tones of the crypt.
She went up to the body, lifted it off of its 'perch' and brought it to the feet of Esther, just so that Esther could have a close look at the gift her own son had left her. For the moment Esther did not move, but only stared at the body in horror. Then insanity seemed to creep into her eyes, and She could see the rage build up behind the madness. Esther stood up and ordered some wolves to take care of the body. She ignored The Cursed One completely as she left the cemetery to where She did not know. The Cursed One followed, curious to see just what Esther was up to.
Eventually they arrived at a bar that was clearly closed, but Esther did not seem to care and stormed right in.
It seemed that Esther needed this particular bartender for a spell, but She could see that it was more than that. Esther seemed particularly bent on making this one particular woman suffer, and using her to make someone else suffer, who due to the message received that evening She had a pretty good guess just who it was that Esther was sending her own message to. She relished the look of pain and anger on her mistress' face, overjoyed that a master was feeling such pain. She only wished that she could be the cause of so much more of it, but alas she could not directly do that. Oh well, it's the simple pleasures of life.
When Esther spelled the woman into unconsciousness she ordered The Cursed One to pick her up, then they both walked back to the Lycée. Once there Esther started working a spell on the woman with a vengeance, She almost felt sorry for the woman. When the spell was done She was ordered by Esther to take the woman to her own home where she could wake up in her own bed, unaware of what had happened.
She slipped in the woman's home, deposited the woman on the bed, then left unnoticed. The deed done she had some time to herself before getting back to Esther, so instead of speeding on her way she walked leisurely down the streets. Looking at the different homes, the families tucked safely inside, and wondered for a moment, just what would it be like to have a family to come home to. To rest during the night, secure that there were no enemies seeking to kill you in the middle of the night. Or to wake up and see the face of a lover in the bed beside you, and to see that person staring back at you. She knew that she normally did not have these thoughts, hers were more often about revenge with a nice dash of torture thrown in, but Keira must be closer to the surface than she realized.
She found herself on a rooftop overlooking The Mikaelson Manner, it was quiet and dark with only slight movements here and there. She could feel Keira, moving around, trying to open the door, but She knew that it was still not safe. Esther was still their mistress, and for the time being Esther feared The Cursed One. If She let Keira out now Esther would be back in control, and would have a powerful weapon on her side that might tip the scales into Esther's favor. It might even be enough to cause the Mikaelson's ultimate defeat, and while that would certainly bring the rest of the world relief, yet it would mean that Esther would be victorious, and The Cursed One would still be enslaved to her for the unseeable future.
"No!" She snarled, reinforcing the door even more, Esther would not have her victory! The Mikaelsons were her best chance of defeating Esther, She would not let anything stand in the way of her mistress' defeat.
She had been enslaved to a few witches before, and each time all she had known at their hand was agony as they used physical and magical means to try to break her. What they didn't understand was that she had already been broken before, and the one that had done it was The Master. None of these witches came even close to him. She had endured them, played her games with them to driving them nearly mad, thus weakening them, much as she was doing to Esther now, and when the opportune moment came she ensured that they paid with their life. Esther might not match them in their level of cruelty yet, but she was a witch who had dared to hurt Keira. Using the same pain as The Master had before, causing Keira to remember her time under his expert hands, and for that She would make sure that Esther would pay the ultimate price.
She headed back to where Esther was staying, certain that the Mikaelson siblings were planning to make a move against their mother soon. She had to be ready for whatever that might be. One way or another Esther's rule over her would end, She would make certain of that!
The title today is from lyrics taken from Jen Titus' Oh Death
Note: I am not happy with the shortness of the scene between Keira and Kol nor too the scene itself, not gonna lie but I kinda like Daniel Sharman so I wish he had a bigger and better part in this, but the Muse just wouldn't give me any more than that...sorry!
Please leave a review and tell me what you think!