Chapter 45
Sophie Deveraux could be called many things but as she watched Stefan Salvatore walking down the Quarter with his abominable daughter Lilly, she was incensed.
Her whole life was basically her being a witch and to bring the name 'Deveraux' back from the shadows so when her beautiful older sister Jane-Anne got pregnant out of wedlock and the father wanted nothing to do with the child, she tried to do her parents right but it always turned out to be crappy so when she and Marcel began to sleep with each other, she was basically telling her parents that she didn't care for them. She ended up winning over Rousseau's from the original owner in a poker and drinking contest, she hired those that she knew that she would never truly trust-Camille being one of them (the girl was trying to become a damn therapist) and her sister (the one who didn't know when to close her legs).
Now, though, as she walked through the tombstones in Lafayette Cemetery, she was feeling rather proud of what she was going to do.
Looking over at her accomplice, she grinned.
"Do you know a good time to strike them?" The accomplice asked, as the person tapped their heeled foot.
"Who do you want to go after first?" Sophie asked.
"I want Stefan and Lilly. Just bring him to me and I'll do the rest."
Stefan knew that Sophie was up to something when she wanted to talk to him with Lilly and no one else. He could feel it in the pit of his stomach and as she led him through the cemetery where Davina died, that feeling of dread came back full force. Holding Lilly closer to his chest, he knew that they were going to enter dangerous territory.
If it wasn't the wolves howling, it was the witch's chants on lighting a path but each one could be seen as coincidental but having watched crime shows and channels, he knew that he was either going to his death, his daughter's death or something else entirely.
What he wasn't prepared for was when he saw her standing there, in a pair of light grey leggings and a beige sleeveless tunic with a studded belt around her waist. Her feet were clad in heels that have seen better days and her hair was pulled back into a French braid.
"Rebekah."
"Hello Stefan." She smiled and touched Lilly's cheek. "She's grown so much." Her eyes turned back to Stefan's and they were hard. "You'll never forgive me for doing this." Taking Lilly in her arms, Sophie snapped Stefan's neck.
Time was going to be running out for her brothers soon enough…especially with their fiancées in such perilous danger like she was about to have them in.
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"Hey has anyone seen Stefan?" Damon asked later that evening. "He went out with Lilly early this afternoon..." "I haven't heard anything," Elena said while Bonnie and Caroline indicated they hadn't either.
"Are you sure?" Katherine asked, hoping that Lilly was okay. She really liked that little girl.
The girls from Mystic Falls nodded again.
"We haven't seen him at all."
Rebekah was bottle feeding Lilly with a smile on her face as one of her accomplices appeared beside Sophie who was lugging around Stefan's body.
"Be gentle with him!" Rebekah shouted at her. "I need him to be conscious for what I will end up doing and I also need him free of vervain."
"What is your evil mastermind plan?" The accomplice asked, her eyes darkening.
"Make him try to kill the girls." Rebekah then looked completely cold. "Their children as well Gia." The accomplice-Gia-looked quite pleased.
Sophie, who heard the plan, knew what to do and how to stop it. Pretending to still be onboard with all of it, she smiled at Rebekah.
"I'm pretty sure that I saw the girls in the Quarter when I went to get Stefan." She smiled at her quite evilly as well. "Why don't you go and get them?"
Handing Lilly over to Sophie, Rebekah flashed away to the Quarter when Gia stared at her.
"What are you up to?" Gia asked.
It was that moment when Stefan woke up but before Gia could snap his neck, Sophie killed Gia with her magic and turned to Stefan.
"Take Lilly and get back to where the others are," she whispered. "Tell them that Rebekah plans to kill the girls and their children."
Stefan nodded but gave her some of his blood, as a precaution in case she died.
Stefan made all haste to get back to the compound.
"Kol's suite now!" he bellowed the second he entered. Stefan never issued orders so the others assembled quickly.
"Rebekah is back," Stefan said quickly, "Rebekah plans to...to kill the girls and the babies." Kol and Elijah immediately went ballistic. Klaus growled angrily and his eyes turned amber.
"How do you know this?" Elena asked as she placed a hand on her bump. He looked and shook his head.
"Sophie told me. She's the reason I was able to escape." The brothers felt a bit of gratitude towards the witch who helped him and Lilly escape. "I gave her my blood in case something happens to her and she dies."
"Where did you come from?" Kol growled out.
"Lafayette cemetery." When it looked like the brothers were going there, he shook his head. "She sent her to the Quarter after saying that she saw the girls there."
Klaus had a wicked idea.
"Elijah, you come with me to the cemetery in case Rebekah returns there and Kol-you take Damon with you to the Quarter with a wooden stake. Once she is in sight, stab her with the wood or snap her neck. Elijah and I will do the same before placing a dagger in her."
Kol nodded. The two of them made an unlikely team but they quickly made for The Quarters. Damon decided to employ one of his tricks and began to use the pigeons indigenous to the area to look for her. Suddenly he snapped back into focus and took off with Kol in tow. They spotted her but then they saw something that made both their blood run cold. Elena was standing on the opposite corner and apparently scanning the crowd.
Rebekah couldn't believe her luck. She hurried across the street. As she reached Elena though Caroline grabbed her. She was going for the neck but Rebekah was far more powerful. Suddenly though she began to drop to her knees and that was when Kol spotted Bonnie up on the balcony.
"Pull out Care!" Kol growled and Damon hurried Elena out of harm's way. Rebekah's eyes registered a little shock and then anger right before Kol snapped her neck and then gathered her into his arms. "Elijah and Klaus are going to be livid!" Kol growled to Elena and Caroline. He looked at Bonnie with dark, angry eyes.
"I couldn't let her hurt you," Bonnie said.
Elena ended up feeling sick and puked. Damon rubbed her back but she ended up collapsing but he steadied her when he noticed a needle in her arm and when he pulled it out, he sniffed and realized that it was a concentrated version of vervain and it was mixed with a few herbs that would make her faint.
"What herbs are these? I can only smell the vervain." Damon said once he passed the needle to him. Sniffing, his eyes turned black.
"This mixture won't kill her but she'll be out of it for a week at the least but the longest would be a month." Kol snarled. "Vervain and juniper-those are the smells. The other herbs are gentle and would make her sleep for a few hours."
"But as they were mixed..." he suddenly paled, "That's not going to be good." He groaned. "What's the cure?"
"We could try Original blood." Kol suggested and as he gave her his blood, nothing happened. Damon furrowed his brows together before shaking his head.
"Maybe we need Elijah's blood."
"No time like the present," Kol said and the group hurried along.
"She shouldn't have been able to get through," Bonnie worried. "I was protecting her..." When they were safely back in the compound Bonnie and Davina erected a protection spell with necklaces as the key. She spelled the ones Klaus and Kol already wore and made one for Elijah and the others.
"Elijah I'm so sorry. I should have stopped her but she was determined to go so I just tried to protect her as best I could," Bonnie tried to apologize.
"It's not your fault." He sighed and as he saw her sleep, he moved some of her hair out of the way. Slitting his wrist, he placed it to her lips when he felt her fangs go into the wound.
She was waking up a bit, it seems. Extracting her fangs, her eyes were still closed but she spoke.
"I had to protect you...I had to...I didn't want her to dagger you..." he managed to get her into his arms before taking her back to their room.
"I almost lost you both." He growled. "Lovely-I would have killed my little sister if I had lost you."
"I know that sorry is one of the easiest words in the dictionary but I really am." She murmured out sleepily.
"What were you thinking?" Kol blasted Bonnie, "do you know what that did to see you so close to her? Right there in harm's way? If she had hurt you I would have ended her Bonnie." "Well now she's safely daggered in her coffin," Bonnie said; her voice small against Kol's anger. He wanted to throw something when she felt her babies start kicking. Putting a hand there, she began to smile at her two little miracles.
Grabbing Kol's hand, she placed it on her bump.
Kol closed his eyes and placed his forehead tenderly against hers. For a long time he just stood there so grateful to be feeling his babies' movements.
"Do you know what this means to me? What you and these babies mean to me?" He rasped out. "You're everything to me Bonnie."
"You are everything to me as well." She whispered. His lips crashed down atop hers and he drew her as close to him as he could. He kissed with all the love he felt for her; kissed her like neither had to breathe and truly they didn't. She was kissing him back with both arms wrapped around his neck and their children getting active between them.
"I didn't think that was possible," Caroline said from the doorway a couple of minutes later as she saw the position Kol and Bonnie were in.
"Sure it is," Klaus grinned and he hiked Caroline's knee up before dipping her into what definitely looked like a gravity-defying position and began to kiss her senseless as well.
Damon shook his head and went over to Stefan to gauge his reaction as to how he's doing.
He saw that Katherine was there and holding Lilly in her arms while Stefan was looking depressed.
"Maybe this time when she wakes," Damon was telling him with a smile, "she might be the girl that you remembered from the 1920s."
Stefan stared down at Rebekah's sleeping form in her coffin. He heaved a long sigh.
"I wish that you would be right," Stefan said; for the sake of their daughter and his heart. Damon nodded.
"You're not the only one who thinks that." Damon sighed.
"Here, she needs her Dad," Katherine smiled and passed Lilly to Stefan. He smiled as he cradled his daughter in his arms.
"I love you little Lilly," Stefan smiled. The baby giggled at him and smiled.
"She loves you too." Damon said as he tickled the baby's feet.
"Between all of us I hope we can be what she needs," Stefan sighed. "Bringing her up right is my life now. She's going to have everything she needs."
Meanwhile Bonnie was seated next to Elena and refused to leave. She was determined to watch over her.
"How is she?" Caroline asked.
"According to Elijah-she's doing good, just asleep for the moment." Bonnie sighed.
"It's not your fault BonBon," Caroline said gently.
"I wish everyone would stop saying that when I know it is." Bonnie said with frustration. "I could have stopped her but I didn't because I was so worried about Kol that I wanted it to be over."
"She wouldn't want you to beat yourself up about it." Caroline told her sternly. "She was in the same boat as you-she wanted it over and she was truly worried about everyone."
"Thanks Care. I'm sorry I feel like we've been so crazy I haven't had time to ask how you're doing with your pregnancy."
"I'm doing good," she said warmly. "Katherine and I just need an infusion of Klaus' blood every few hours; to help with the pregnancies."
Bonnie frowned, "why does Katherine? I can understand you. You're a vampire growing a hybrid. The baby's blood is toxic to you but why her?"
"Damon." She answered. "He wants to make sure that his son is healthy and that Katherine is strong enough to give birth."
"Okay that makes sense though I can't believe Klaus is willing. They've really changed," Bonnie smiled. "I mean he intended to kill her for five hundred years."
"After hearing her whole story-from baby out of wedlock to now-he decided that she lived the same life that he did and gave up the pursuit." Caroline said with a sharp nod. "He didn't want her son to grow up without her-like Lilly's going to grow up without Rebekah."
"How long will this punishment last?" Bonnie asked. "The last one was for only six years-is this one going to be the same or will it be longer?"
"Considering that she had tried to kill us and one of her accomplices did indeed kill Sophie-who transitioned-I believe that this time, her punishment will be very long." It was about that time Elijah walked into the room with a glass of blood and cherries that had been blended before being added to the blood.
"It's for Elena when she wakes." He said. "It turns out that the cure is Original blood-specifically, mine." He would have turned red if he could. "I had that same thing in me when I was a few months old because of Finn. I'm immune to it now."
"I knew you two were made for each other," Bonnie smiled to Elijah. He smiled at her.
"You want to know Rebekah's punishment?" At their nods, he shrugged. "It's up to you all to figure it out-you, Elena, Caroline and Stefan."
"How about we start trying on Lilly's sixth birthday?" Elena suggested.
"What if we woke her each year for Lilly's birthday but if she doesn't show any remorse then she's daggered again until the next year," Bonnie suggested.
"She tried to kill us and our unborn children, I say let her rot!" Caroline growled.
Stefan sighed. "I want to go with Bonnie's suggestion but I'm also torn with Caroline's."
Elena looked thoughtful. "Maybe...after the third year mark and she still shows no signs of remorse, let her rot until at least Lilly's in her teens and if by that point, there is no regrets, we keep her daggered until Stefan and Lilly leave New Orleans."
"Let's sleep on it I guess," Bonnie sighed. "She's hardly going anywhere." One by one, all of the girls went to sleep, trying to figure out a better punishment for Rebekah. The brothers-Elijah, Klaus, Kol, Damon and Stefan-were planning on whether or not Damon and Katherine should stay in New Orleans and live in the Compound with them, like one big happy family.
"I think they should stay," Stefan smiled, "provided they can continue to be peaceable."
"We can be." Damon promised. "We're not going to get into any trouble."
"I don't care one way or the other," Kol said.
"I'm fine with their staying," Klaus said.
"Damon, Katherine we invite you to stay with us. Just be aware that no guests are allowed here," Elijah said.
"Seriously who would we invite?" Damon asked. "She and I burned through our contacts already."
"It's just a solid rule in case you should make any new acquaintances in the future," Elijah said.
"I understand." Damon told him with a slight smirk. "Though there is no one that we would invite here anyway."
"Well then you may furnish your suite however you like," Elijah invited.
"I will but I've been wondering about why you were muttering about green paint?" Damon had a smirk on his face as Elijah's eye twitch.
"Elena thought two different greens would be good for the baby's nursery." He grumbled. "Next thing that needs to be added are the crib and the bedding for the crib."
"Do you know a good color for my son's room?" Damon asked, knowing that he would have to paint the nursery.
"I vote for a celestial theme," Katherine voiced. They all turned to see her standing there, smiling. Damon got up and went over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"Then I will pick up the paints for it tomorrow." He told her.
"I give it a year before that doesn't strike me as odd," Klaus said.
"I give it six months before Elijah stops seeing Elena for half a second instead of Katherine," Kol said. Elijah glared at Kol before he stood up and stalked off to where Elena was asleep, where their son was nestled. Going over to her, he ran a finger down her cheek and kissed her on the forehead.
"I have always loved you Elena." He whispered.
"She has loved you from almost the first moment she saw you. Caroline didn't believe me but I could see it in her eyes. After that Stefan became a loyalty thing and a way to ward off Damon," Bonnie said.
"Tell that to your fiancé." Elijah told her. "He still thinks that I see Katerina in Elena and vice versa." Bonnie's eyes were narrowed.
"Oh he and I will have some words." She told him as she found her way to him and she had her hands on her hips.
"You and I have got a lot of talking to do-mostly about what you said about Elijah and his love for Elena!"
"I didn't mean it!" Kol told her.
"He's loved her for a long time and she loved him for that same amount of time Kol!" Bonnie told him. "Did you even see how broken she was when Rebekah and Hayley did what they did and said to her? Caroline said that she nearly shut it off!"
"Cara Mia, it was a joke," Kol said gently. "I only intended to tease Elijah."
"It wasn't funny!"
"I see that," Kol said.
"Did you just use Italian on me?"
"It slipped out."
"Mm...I like a man that speaks foreign tongues," Bonnie purred.
"Let me show you some foreign tongue," Kol said in a husky voice before they were kissing passionately.
"You got a room so use it!" Klaus, Stefan and Damon shouted at the two. "I don't want to get nauseous!" Damon added.
They pulled back and Kol glared at Damon.
"It's not like you don't do the same thing to Katherine!" He snapped.
"You really don't want to know what we do." Katherine said. "It might make Bonnie here blush."
"It would definitely make Bonnie blush," Kol grinned, "but that's my job so why don't I go fill her in on the details." He grabbed Bonnie's hand and they flashed for their suite. Shortly afterward Klaus swept Caroline into his arms and whisked her away to their suite.
Stefan snorted.
"Have fun you two!" Stefan called out to his brother and future sister in law. Going back to his room, he passed Lilly's nursery where Davina was rocking the baby girl and Jeremy was watching this.
"How is she guys?" Davina looked and smiled.
"She's now happy that she hears your voice." Davina said smiling brightly at him.
"Thank you for looking after her for a while. It's good for her to get a mother's touch," Stefan said wistfully.
"I love helping with her," Davina smiled and Jeremy was looking at her like she was the blood he required.
"Still...thanks Davina." He smiled at her. "It really means a lot to me."
"You're very welcome, why don't you get some sleep tonight and we'll take her with us," she offered.
"Thanks but I think I'd like some time just the two of us," Stefan said. Davina nodded and passed him Lilly before she and Jeremy left. Stefan lay on the bed with a book and he laid his daughter on his bare chest. She stared at him for a couple of minutes and he started reading the book aloud. Soon her eyes drifted closed and she was asleep.
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