They had just descended down the back staircase and come to the bottom landing outside the dining room, when Damon came to a sudden halt, causing Kol and Rebekah to pile up behind him.
"Whoa…" Damon mused as he and the two other vampires took in the sight of the Chippendale dining table in the center of the room and the elaborate feast that lay out upon it as Jeremy filled the water glasses and Bonnie finished the place settings.
"Holy Sweet Baby Jesus on a cracker…" Misha spoke up from behind them as Caroline appeared from the kitchen, carrying two more salads in her hands.
"Oh, Hey!" Caroline smiled, taking in the sight of Kol, Rebekah, Damon and Misha on the stairs as she set the bowls on the table and adjusted one of the place settings as Bonnie rolled her eyes at Caroline's OCD behavior, "You guys are just in time for dinner."
"Dinner?" Damon quipped with a raised eyebrow, "Or the 'Last Supper'?"
"Good one," Kol commended out of the corner of his mouth and Damon gave a smile to show his pleasure with himself.
"Damon…" Bonnie chided
"You know," Caroline said, as her eyes suddenly moved to look down at the table, "Normally, I would scoff at your insensitive little quips, Damon, but, for once... you're right…" and her face suddenly fell in realization at the irony of Damon's words
"I am?" Damon asked, taken aback as he looked over his shoulder back at Misha, Kol and Rebekah
"Oh…boy…" Jeremy mused as he and the others watched Caroline's face turn to anger and frustration and he gently reached forward and pulled Bonnie back out of the line of fire.
"It's almost sunset, we are close to putting Chogun's plan in motion to kill our hunter nemesis..." Caroline started, her voice reaching a high pitch, "And I've been stress cooking and baking for the last three hours preparing what I thought would just be a nice meal together, but it turns out that it very well could be our 'last supper'!"
Caroline screamed in frustration, then covered her mouth in shock before she whispered, her eyes widening, "Oh, God! And, what's worse is that I used Klaus' good china to do it!"
"Don't worry, Blonde bombshell," Kol interjected, "I'm sure that china has seen worse dinners than this one."
"Not helping, Kol…" Rebekah reprimanded
"Well, it does make you wonder how many fancy dinners a murderous thousand year old vampire has put on over the years and how many of them ended with a slaughter," Jeremy chimed in, then took a frightened step back with Bonnie in tow as Caroline turned on him like a viper, her eyes glaring.
"Ah..Look, I'm sorry, Blondie," Damon suddenly spoke up, stepping down from the stairs and walking toward the table, in an attempt to rescue Jeremy and take Caroline's wrath for himself, "I shouldn't have even said anything. It was a really nice idea…china and all—"
"You're damn right it was a nice idea!" Caroline cried, lowering her hands from her face and now turning back to stare Damon down with angry eyes, "And, you know what?! I'm making a decision. Even if it is our last supper, we are going to enjoy every...last...bite...of it! Now, everyone…" she said, turning to the others in the room as her voice reached a fevered pitch, "Sit down and eat!"
# # # # # # # #
Klaus cried out in pain as he shifted on the bed and attempted to sit up, but fell back onto the pillows with a heavy sigh, looking down at the poultices on his chest and arms with a wince.
It was then that he heard the bedroom door open and watched as a tall, elderly Native American entered the room.
His eyes shifting around the room before they fell on Klaus laying upon the bed.
"You must be Chogun White Feather…" Klaus said as he studied the man standing before him, "I understand from Misha that you are here to help us."
Chogun nodded
"And you must be Niklaus Mikaelson, the hybrid…" the old man replied, stepping forward calmly and closing the door behind him
Klaus smirked
"Once, I was…" he said, "But, not anymore. It's a pleasure to meet you. I only wish I was in better condition to receive you."
Chogun narrowed his eyes as he slowly approached the bed, taking in Klaus' injuries as he came to the original's side.
"May I?" He asked, looking down and meeting Klaus' eyes with a soft gaze.
Klaus quirked a curious eyebrow, then shrugged and nodded, watching as Chogun stepped forward.
The old man slowly and tentatively reached out a hand, closing his eyes as he placed his palm down first on Klaus' bare arm, then wrapped his fingers gently around Klaus' wrist.
Klaus' breath hitched as he felt a gentle, magical force move through him and he looked up to see Chogun's brow move in concentration.
After a few more moments like this, Chogun finally opened his eyes and released his hold on Klaus, taking a step back.
"What—what did you do?" Klaus asked, narrowing his eyes in bewilderment as he felt the magic still coursing through him and his pain disappear.
"I healed you," Chogun answered, then leaned forward and started removing the poultices to reveal healed and smooth flesh underneath. The veining pattern left by the earlier wolfbane poisoning was now completely gone.
"Thank you," Klaus smiled in stunned bewilderment and Chogun nodded
"We'll need a warrior like you in the fight to come. And from what I hear from the spirits, you still have a part to play yet."
"Really?" Klaus asked, intrigued, "I thought the spirits were done with me. Did they help you do this? How did you—"
"I used your life force to heal you—you have one now, you know," Chogun replied, placing the stack of medicinal patches on the bedside table then turned back to Klaus, "Now that you are human again."
Klaus took in a breath, then tried sitting up and finally finding himself successful
"Pardon me saying so," Chogun said, "But, I still find that notion unbelievable, given that you've been a creature of the supernatural for over a thousand years… I imagine that there is a long story involved?"
"The longest…" Klaus said softly and Chogun stepped back from the bed, giving the original room to move to sit on the edge, "And no one knows. Well, except you and Misha…"
"And you would like to keep it that way?" Chogun asked, finishing Klaus' sentence as moved forward again and reached over behind Klaus' right shoulder to remove the three poultices on his back, setting them with the others on the table.
"Yes…" Klaus replied, let out a steadying breath as he prepared to stand now that Chogun was finished, "If I may be so bold as to ask that of you."
Realization suddenly spread across Chogun's face and the man shook his head as he stepped back and took the original by the arm, offering to help him to his feet.
"And what exactly are you planning to do with your new-found humanity that inspires so much secrecy?" Chogun asked, his brow furrowing as he helped Klaus limp slowly to the leather chair in the corner of the room where a stack of clean clothes Caroline left for him resided on the seat.
"Why are you asking? Worried I'm hatching some evil plot?" Klaus asked jokingly, cocking an eyebrow with a smile as he slowed his movements and turned to the old man
"No," Chogun replied without missing a beat, "I sense no evil or malice in your intentions. Your soul is clean and I feel only honorable intentions coursing through your mind and body. I get the feeling that you only wish to keep you friends and family safe, but that you know something perhaps the rest of us don't and that is why you are volunteering to risk your now human life to stop this vampire hunter once and for all. Is that right?"
"Wow…" Klaus said as he leaned on Chogun again and they continued on their pace to the other side of the room, "And here I thought you were just a simple necromancer from the wild of Canada."
Chogun raised an eyebrow and Klaus smirked
"Oh," the original replied, "I know exactly who you are. When we lived here a thousand years ago, my mother knew your family—your father and your grandfather. She said that the magic they practiced was strong—rooted in the earth. I always thought she knew them because they were practitioners of the craft like herself, but it wasn't until years later that I realized she knew them because they knew my true father. He was a werewolf."
"Yes," Chogun replied, lowering his eyes as he continued to walk steadily next to Klaus, helping the original keep his balance, "We knew your father, Evian Lochvud. In fact, after the great war, when he and his brothers first turned, they came to my people seeking help. And though they had once been our enemies, with one bite, they suddenly became our kin. Such is the way of life and magic. I knew Evian for many years. He was my ally and my friend and the same magic that flows in his veins, flows in yours...I sense that about you."
Chogun fell quiet for a moment before he gave a heavy sigh, then continued, "When Mikael killed him and a large part of his family many decades later, I mourned him and my kin and I helped the surviving members of his clan flee this land forever. Now, as for what your mother said about us, she was right. My people believed that our powers were a gift from Wakantanka, the Great Spirit. For most of our people, they grant us a connection to the earth and our most pure selves by allowing us to transform into spirit animals—most notably the powerful wolf."
Chogun paused again as they finally made it to the chair and Klaus groaned as the old man released his hold on him, leaving Klaus to lean on the back of the chair and rest.
"As for my family, we are something different. Our powers allow us to have a basic connection to the souls and spirits of our fellow man and to keep the balance of nature and help those who do not have a voice, living and dead. You were right to say that I am a necromancer. It's true. I speak for the dead. I bring life and can take it away—I can control and speak to souls and life forces and bend them to my will if need be. I don't seek them out. Souls find me. But, what I do with my gift must always be only for the good of human kind, for you see, if I ever use it for ill, I live in the knowledge that Wakantanka will take it from me. Now, I knew of Esther Mikaelson, but, I never met her myself. It was common knowledge among my people—among the spirit warriors— that there was such a strong witch in our woods. In fact, if I remember correctly, she was the one who arranged for my grandfather to rescue Kaspar upon his exile from the village and for him to live with us. And when your family turned immortal—we sensed that too. We followed your journey for many years, especially you, Niklaus, and your brother, Ioan. We knew that deep inside you, you were one of us like your father before you—a wolf. And your brother, Elijah…well, he's special, too. Though for many centuries he didn't know it."
Klaus closed his eyes and sighed, his voice low with reverence, "He was always special to me... That is why I am going to save him and everyone else by being the human sacrifice in the ritual."
Chogun cocked his head with interest, "Misha did tell me that the ritual requires a human sacrifice for the scales to balance and Dominic to be sent back through the portal which he first came, but I sense there is something more…"
Klaus nodded solemnly, a memory coming to the forefront of his mind...
# # # # # # #
Denmark, 1045 AD
Elijah woke with a start, the irises of his dark eyes widening as he bolted upright in bed, unsheathing the small knife he always kept on his person and gripping it tightly in his fist, ready for a fight.
After looking around the empty, candle lit boardinghouse room for a few moments, he blinked tightly and breathed out in relief, tossing the knife toward the end of his bed and sliding to the edge of the straw mattress.
After rolling his shoulders, he swiftly stood up and walked over to the water basin on the table in the corner of the room and splashed water on his face several times before reaching blindly for the towel hanging on the edge of the stand.
When he pulled it up to his face, he opened his eyes and let out a startled cry, dropping the towel onto the floor.
It was tattered and completely soaked with dark blood that had dripped into a puddle on the floor and left his hands stained red...
The blood that was not his own.
"And here I thought you would like my gift for you..." a familiar voice sounded from behind him and Elijah turned immediately on his heel to come face to face with Dominic.
He was dressed in a leather hunting outfit, looking every bit the same as the day Elijah had taken his life.
But, his eyes were completely black and there was a bleeding slit across his throat and a bleeding chest wound that appeared through his open shirt.
A tense beat of silence passed between them before Dominic chided with a small smirk, "What troubles you so? I thought you liked blood."
He then looked down to the towel on the floor.
"Oh, don't fear...it's not mine. It's Liliya's..."
Elijah's eyes widened
"You do remember Liliya, don't you? Your sweet fiancee. The one you allowed your brother to kill right in front of you...and then you forgave him because you are a weak, sentimental fool..."
"You're not real..." Elijah whispered, shaking his head as he turned his back on the vampire hunter he had killed the year before
"Oh, but I am real," Dominic said from behind him, "And I'm going to very much enjoy our time together..."
Then suddenly, there was a brush of wind and Elijah gasped as his knife flew past his head and landed blade first into the wall in front of him.
Elijah turned back
"Shall we begin?" Dominic smiled wickedly
"Elijah!" a voice suddenly called and the original turned to his right as Klaus soon appeared in the doorway of his bedroom, carrying a light and wearing only his trousers and boots with Rebekah in a nightshift right behind him.
Klaus looked to his stunned brother, then to the knife still embedded in the wall.
"Brother...are you alright?" he asked, his worried eyes returning to Elijah
Elijah swallowed, not meeting his gaze, but staring straight ahead into the emptiness of his bedroom.
Dominic was gone.
"I-I don't know..." Elijah whispered, then walked over and sat down on the end of his bed.
# # # # # #
"When we re-instate Dominic's soul with the ritual and kill him before sending him back through the portal, the hunter's curse will still be upon him and will inflict itself on any supernatural being that takes his life."
"A curse?" Chogun asked, narrowing his eyebrows, "I've never heard of that…"
"Only those who have killed a hunter know it exists," Klaus continued, bringing his hands together over the edge of the back of the chair as he look down to them, "Apparently there was a curse placed on the original hunters and it is one that has been passed on to generations since."
"You mean there are more?" Chogun interjected
"Oh, yes…" Klaus said, looking up, "Scores more. Luka, Dominic's brother, has been quite the busy bee over the last thousand years—creating secret societies and passing on his legacy to rogue hunters alike to extinguish us and those we have sired over the centuries. I've personally encountered many over the years and even killed one or two…"
"You were afflicted?" Chogun realized, "You were afflicted with the hunter's curse."
"Yes," Klaus replied, "For nearly sixty years it nearly drove me to the edge of insanity—unseen pain and torture, even visions and apparitions that spoke to me. But, by the time I was afflicted, I knew what it was that plagued me—knew that it was going to happen when I killed those hunters."
Then, after a moment of silence, Klaus sucked in a breath and straightened himself to stand up right with a grimace at his still sore muscles, "But, it was all because I had seen Elijah go through it…You see, he was the first to suffer. In the months after he killed Dominic, the curse began to consume him. It was torture to watch, especially when we didn't yet know what it was or what had caused it. But, luckily I had some witch friends to help us on that front. That is why, when the time comes, I intend to be the one to kill Dominic. No other supernatural being can do it without inflicting the curse upon themselves—not werewolves, not witches or warlocks, nor doppelgangers and vampires…not even little Jeremy Gilbert since he's died and come back so many times with his family's enchanted ring. It has to be me. Since I am human again, I will kill Dominic once and for all and then I will finally die myself."
When I was a child, I heard voices,
Some would sing and some would scream…
Klaus paused for a moment to share a gaze with Chogun, then continued, "But, I'm guessing that kindness, morality, loyalty, bravery or now knowing that my brother is a survivor of the 'Hunter's curse' are not the only reasons you deem my brother 'special'."
"No," Chogun said with a smile, then realizing what Klaus was about to do, leaned forward and plucked a clean t-shirt from the pile on the seat of the chair and handed it up to the original, watching him unfold the shirt with weak hands.
You soon find you have few choices,
I learned the voices died with me…
"Thanks," Klaus said before Chogun spoke again.
"Niklaus, your brother was a supernatural being long before you and your siblings ever became vampires—he was born that way, with his own brand of magic. He's an important element for the balance of nature and one that we will need to take down Dominic. It's good he is coming here since Dominic can't exactly leave town. Elijah will need to be protected if we are to perform the ritual—"
Suddenly, Chogun stopped when he sensed Klaus staring at him intensely
When I was a child I'd sit for hours,
Staring into open flames…
"What is it?" the old man asked
"Oh…" Klaus gasped, then tossed the t-shirt over the back of the chair hastily and started walking forward
Something in it had a power,
Could barely tear my eyes away…
Chogun quickly followed, taking a hold of Klaus' shoulder to help him out the sitting room attached to the original's bedroom.
"Niklaus?" Chogun asked
But, Klaus didn't answer him. Instead, he squinted as they walked into the late afternoon light spilling in from the large walk through windows that led out onto the attached second story veranda.
"He's not out there is he? He's not yet come," Klaus finally said, his eyes looking out through the glass to the large front lawn of the Mikaelson mansion as they got closer.
All you have is your fire...
And the place you need to reach -
"Dominic? No," Chogun replied, confusion in his voice, "Misha said that Kol and Damon have been taking turns patrolling all day, but he's never come. My warriors are out there now, but I don't think even they have sensed his presence—"
"That doesn't make any sense…" Klaus whispered, looking down in thought
Don't you ever tame your demons,
But, always keep them on a leash
"How so?" Chogun asked
"The night he rose from the ground, he did what he was created to do—he hunted vampires," Klaus said, "He found the Salvatore House right away and attacked Damon and Stefan. He stayed with us for most of the last week…prowling outside the house…waiting…watching…But, it finally explains why he tried to take the compass from us in the cemetery that night the Salvatore house burned and we decided to take our chances and leave town to find Elijah. Misha later told me in confidence that he couldn't figure out why he would attack us in the mausoleum and demand that we hand over the compass without having any way of releasing the soul inside...and also why he would kill Kaspar, a necromancer, who he probably knew would be instrumental in getting his soul restored. It was strange..."
When I was 16 my senses fooled me,
Thought gasoline was on my clothes…
"He was desperate…" Chogun immediately realized, his eyes widening
I knew that something would always rule me,
I knew this sin was mine alone…
"Because he knew couldn't leave town to follow us if we left" Klaus replied, surprise in his own voice, then turned to face the old man, "He's bound here. Kaspar saw to that centuries ago when the hunter died—he consecrated the ground in Stephens woods where he was buried…I can't believe we didn't realize it before now. He never could have followed us to Elijah—that is why he really trapped us in that house as bait. When Elijah wasn't among us and when he didn't find him in Mystic Falls, he knew he had to wait for Elijah to come to him. And now that our original plan to leave Mystic Falls failed, Elijah..."
All you have is your fire...
And the place you need to reach -
"Has to come here to perform the ritual…it's almost a sure deal..." Chogun suddenly said, finishing his sentence "Oh, my God…Niklaus, that why Dominic's not here!"
"He's waiting for Elijah." Klaus whispered in fear
Don't you ever tame your demons,
But, always keep them on a leash…
Chogun and Klaus exchanged a meaningful look before Chogun let go of the original and Klaus fell forward, catching himself on the windowsil as Chogun turned and sprinted from the room to warn the others.
# # # # #
When I was a man I thought it ended,
Well I knew love's perfect ache…
Elijah smirked, keeping one hand on the wheel as he reached over to touch Elena's shoulder and she looked up from the Sudoku puzzle she was working on her phone.
"Look sharp, we are almost home," he said and Elena smiled as turned and looked out the window at Stephen's Woods and the town of Mystic Falls that slowly appeared on the hill in the distance, glowing under the light of the setting sun.
Suddenly, the Elijah's phone rang and the original retracted his hand from Elena and absentmindedly reached down to the cup holder where his phone rested and hit the blue tooth button on the screen.
But my peace has always depended,
On all the ashes in my wake…
"Hello?" Elijah answered, looking out onto the road
"Elijah…Thank God!" Misha said, his voice panicked as it came through the car's sound system, "Where are you, Boy?"
"Misha…calm down," Elijah replied, swiftly interjecting, "We're just outside the town limits, what's—"
"No!" Misha cried, "Elijah, listen to me... You can't come into town! You have to turn back right now!"
All you have is your fire,
Elijah looked over to Elena, her face suddenly falling with worry, then quickly reached down and picked up the phone, taking his eyes off of the road to hit the blue tooth button again and pick up the call on the phone speaker.
And the place you need to reach…
"Elijah! Watch out!" Elena suddenly screamed and Elijah looked up to the windshield, just in time to see a tall, dark figure appear in the middle of the road just past the town line.
Elijah immediately hit the brakes, throwing his arm across Elena's chest to keep her from flying through the glass as he tried to maintain control of the car as it skidded to a halt, it's headlight's suddenly illuminating the face of his former apprentice and nemeses, Dominic DeVaraux.
Don't you ever tame your demons,
Elijah let out a startled breath as he met Dominic's eyes through the windshield and the hunter smirked, raising his hand in a little wave.
But, always keep them on a leash...
((Sorry to stop at the best part! AHHHH! See you next chapter. Song: "The Arsonist Lullaby" by Hozier. Anne:)))