As Elijah, Celeste, and I emerged from the back room we saw that s customer was waiting. I grinned when I saw who it was, "Nadia!"
"Hello Stella, Celeste." She said in her thick European accent.
"You know each other?" Celeste asked.
"We do indeed, Nadia is one of the first friends I ever made. She lived near the school I attended in Scotland." I replied. "What are you doing here?"
"Another dead end in finding the whereabouts of my mother." She said. "Celeste, however has been able to find me some books on Travelers. Thank you for recommending this place, a rare find indeed."
"Anytime." I said with an easy smile.
Celeste handed Nadia the book and she headed out, saying goodbye. Celeste returned to work while Elijah and I bruised. Elijah turned to me and asked, "She's looking for her mother?"
I nodded with a grin, "Yes. She never met her mother, Nadia was taken away at birth. Her mother was sent to England as punishment for disgracing the family."
"You don't mean?" My father asked in shock.
"I do indeed. That was Nadia Petrova, Katerina's daughter."
My dad stared at me, "We didn't know that she had a daughter." He said.
"Turned out to be a good thing, didn't it?" I asked.
He nodded, "So why not tell her where Katherine is?"
"Because Uncle Nik will come to town and I don't want her to get mixed up in this. I know Katherine, she'll survive this somehow, so they'll meet eventually. I care about Nadia very much, like I said she was one of my first friends."
"How did you meet her?" Elijah asked.
"I was eleven, just arrived at Hogwarts, just got sorted into Slytherin, but hadn't really made any friends yet. So I set out exploring the Forest nearby, now known as the Forbidden Forest. I discovered Nadia living with a coven of vampires, we hit it off, kept in touch all these years."
Elijah raised an eyebrow and started to say something, when we were interrupted. "Elijah."
An African American man who appeared to be in his late 40's approached.
"Ah, Jonas," Elijah said stoically. "Thank you for joining us."
The man, Jonas nodded, eyeing me cautiously, but before he could saying anything, Celeste had spotted him. She came over with a smile, and a package.
"Hello, Dr. Martin, I wasn't expecting you until next week, but I have your books ready to go."
She handed him the package.
"Thank you Celeste," he said with a slight smile.
"No problem." She said with a smile. "Estelle, dear, don't wait so long before visiting me again. It was nice to meet you Mr. Mikaelson. Dr. Martin." She waved and disappeared into the back room.
"That was our cue to leave," I said with a grin. "Shall we move on over to Slater's?"
Elijah smirked at me, "By all means, lead the way my dear."
I led them down the street to Slater's studio apartment. "No one is here," I said as I stretch out with my magic seeking any form of magic hot spots. "We can wait, or come back later."
"Wait." My father said.
Dr. Martin stared at me suspiciously, "How do you know no one is there?"
"I have a gift of being able to sense magic." I said.
"But he's not a witch." Dr. Martin said.
"Everyone contains some magic, most of the time it is trace amounts, or untapped, with vampires though, the resonance of magic is stronger." My father explained.
"After all vampires only exist because of magic," I said with a smirk.
Elijah led us inside the apartment where we sat and waited for Slater to arrive. While we were waiting, we each pulled out our recent purchases and started reading.
"Um, I have something here that you should see, Elijah." I said softly, in a state of shock, casting a silent privacy spell over the two of us as I spoke.
My father obviously felt the spell and he looked at me with a raised eyebrow. I didn't say anything, just pointed out a passage. He leaned over, and looked at the passage I indicated. "What the devil?" He asked.
There in the hidden words of parseltongue was hidden a thousand year old secret. My grandmother, Elijah's mother had an affair with none other than Salazar Slytherin.
"Well, I guess now I know how I'm an heir to Slytherin," I said softly. "I had never figured it out, Hogwarts had told me I was, but I could never find the connection."
While that statement would have been odd to most people, my father knew enough to know that Hogwarts was a sentient being, so much Magic had been poured into her building that she had gained a sense of awareness. She looked out for her students, and she recognized her heirs.
"We'll talk about this later. Now take down the privacy spell," Elijah said.
I obeyed, and immediately got slammed with questions from Dr. Martin. "Who are you?!" He asked. "You are a vampire, yet you do magic. That's impossible." He said wide eyed.
"Not impossible." I said.
"Estelle." My father warned, looking at me sternly. I obeyed, falling silent. "Estelle is my daughter, half vampire, half witch. He explained quietly."
"That can't be. Vampires can't procreate and a half vampire, half witch is preposterous." He said.
"Not impossible." I said again.
"Estelle Marie Malfoy Mikaelson not another word." He warned again.
I stared at him, I knew I was on thin ice I knew but I had to know, "How do you know my middle name?"
My father sighed, "I picked out your name. No I didn't know about you, but before I left your mom randomly asked me if I had children what I would name them. For a girl I said Estelle Marie. I guessed she had given you the middle name I picked out since she had given you the first name."
I nodded, I was not going to push him right now, so I didn't say anything. Plenty of time for testing boundaries later. My father turned to Dr. Martin.
"You should know by now there are all kinds of magic, and anything is possible with magic. Estelle is not a witch of nature, she doesn't get her power from nature, rather her power comes from inside. As such her types of witches can procreate with Vampires."
Dr. Martin, still looked unconvinced but we didn't have time to continue this line of conversation as Slater walked in.
"Stella?" He asked as he spotted me. "What's going on?"
I waved, but didn't dare say a word, I could tell I shouldn't push Elijah right now. My father stepped over to him. "Hello Slater. I have something I want you to do for me."
Recognition passed over his features, "Elijah, what an honor. I thought you were dead?" He said nervously.
"You thought what I wanted you to think," Elijah said stoically. "Now Call up Rose-Marie and tell her they can destroy the curse if they get the moonstone."
"Why would I do that?" Slater asked.
"Because I said so," Elijah said impatiently. He leaned over, looked Slater in the eyes and compelled him to do as he said. He gave him the exact same instructions.
Slater took the phone and did as Elijah said. I could hear both sides of the conversation. Watching as Slater's hand shook with fear. Everyone who knew about them knew you didn't cross an Original.
"Hello?"
"Rose?"
"Slater? Are you okay?"
Slater nodded and said, "Yes, I took off, I'm sorry, I was frigging freaked."
"No, I'm sorry to have involved you."
"Look, I want no part in any of this but I did some digging." Slater said, when Rose asked what he found he replied. "You can destroy the curse but you need the moonstone."
"How? What do you mean? I don't follow." Rose asked.
"Can your friend get the moonstone? You need it." Slater replied. When Rose replied in the affirmative Slater told her. "You need a witch. Get the moonstone, a witch should be able to figure out the rest. Good luck, Rose." He hung up.
"Very nicely done." My father said.
"Thanks, I have a degree in theater. How can you compel me? A vampire can't compel another vampire." Slater said shakily.
"I'm a special vampire."
"What, because you're an Original?" Slater asked.
"Hmm, now I want you take this and drive it through your heart." He gave Slater a stake.
Slater took it. "But that would k-kill me forever."
"I know." Elijah compelled Slater again. "But it's necessary."
I watched, wincing a little, as Slater drove the stake through his heart. He fell on the floor, dead. I had expected this outcome, you didn't cross an original without paying the price, and their favorite way of making vampires pay was with their life.
"Was it, really?" Dr. Martin asked, coming up behind him.
My father turned and looked at him. "It had to be done. He delivered his message. Won't be long now." A shiver ran up my spine, a shiver of fear, terror, excitement? I wasn't sure, maybe all three, but a shiver none the less as I saw my father's eyes, they were hard, cold.
He turned to me, "Let's go pick up the car, Estelle." He addressed Dr. Martin, "I'll be in touch tomorrow, Jonas."
I stood up and approached my father, he took my arm and steered me out of the studio apartment. We found our way to the alley way and after checking the coast was clear I apparated us to near where we had left the car. We approached the car in silence, got in and took off, not saying a word