-23-

New Orleans

"The punishment for magic in the quarter is death."

Vera was dumped face first without ceremony onto the dusty wood floor in the attic of a church. The sign at the front called the place St. Annes, Vera had noted while she made herself seem as unassuming as possible. Refraining from rolling her eyes at whatever taunts the Vampires were throwing at her.

The man in the beret crossed his arms while Vera rolled over onto her back to face the vampires. Never one to let the enemy stay behind her for long. "Lucky for you Marcel is interested in your story, so we're keeping you alive for now." The vampire said.

"She's old," a young brunette witch with powerful and unstable magic radiating off her in droves said, appearing from around an easel in the corner of the large room, "powerful, too."

Footsteps, self-assured and strong, floated up the stairs with near feline grace and into the room. The handsome dark skinned vampire entered the room with a shit eating and arrogant little grin that made Vera want him knocked off his pedestal.

"You sure, Davina? She barely looks older than you." The newcomer asked, scrutinizing Vera on the floor.

The girl, Davina, looked unconvinced. "She's too strong to be my age, Marcel."

Vera scoffed, making a show of wiping blood off her mouth with her sleeve. It was hard to keep herself injured when her entire being wanted to heal the wound. "Young or old, powerful or not, I'm not in the business of harming children, my dear. You're perfectly safe in a room with me." She turned her head to glare at the vampire 'king' of the quarter. The one who caused the problems she's read reports about for decades now. It was good to finally put a face on the vampire. "Your friends, however, may not be so fortunate by the time all is said and done."

Marcel moved to stand in front of young Davina, that arrogant smile becoming a malicious glare. "So you're going to threaten us? In your position I wouldn't recommend that."

Vera raised a brow, pushing herself against the wall and crossing her legs, elbows on her thighs and hands folded under her chin before answering. "I didn't threaten."

"Well I should hope not," Marcel looked her down and back up in a way that made Vera's skin crawl, "as I said, you're not in a great spot for making threats. What's your name?"

"Vera."

"Vera," he repeated, folding his hands behind his back and stepping around the young witch, closer to Vera, "meaning faith?"

"Or truth," Vera smirked at him, eyes not leaving his form as the one in charge of the whole operation, "and you're Marcel. Tell me, do you give your namesake the devotion he deserves or is it just a name for you?"

Marcel scoffed and his arrogant smile was back. "Mars? The Roman god of war?" He looked at his friend in the beret who smiled at Vera's expense along with his boss. Pointing a thumb over his shoulder at her, Marcel scoffed. "She's joking, right?"

"Just a name then." Vera mumbled. Davina was staring at her with confusion and intrigue at war in her expression. "But names have meaning and we are beholden to them, whether we choose to be or not. Mars. Ares. Horus. They're the same god. You're named after him. I wonder what he'd think of you."

"Nobody believes in gods anymore."

Vera's brows both shot up and she smirked and looked around the church attic pointedly. Recognition began to dawn on Davina's face and she locked it back down almost immediately. By the slight prickle of old magic in the air, Vera assumed the young witch had been communicating with the ancestors - or the crones had been sending her something the last few minutes.

Marcel smiled with a laugh and genuine amusement, the first hint of truth Vera had seen on him. "That ones on me. I set the bar too low. You know I meant. The polytheists. Pagans. As they were once called."

Vera just shrugged. "In anycase, it doesn't matter. What is it that's keeping you from killing me for violating your 'no magic' rule?"

Marcel narrowed his eyes at her abrupt change in subject. "Reminding me that I'm supposed to kill you? Not very smart."

Vera just waited.

"Marcel," Davina began, glancing at the vampire and just a little too eager but Marcel didn't seem to notice, "you can leave her here. I'll find out what you want to know. She said she won't hurt me and if she tries I'll stop her."

Marcel whirled around, all the concern of a father written over his features for anyone to see. Interesting tactic, Vera thought, to be powerful and show off your vulnerabilities so easily in front of a probable enemy. Marcel gripped Davina gently by the arms, lowering himself to make eye contact with the teen. "You sure, D?"

Davina nodded and with a few final words from Marcel, the vampires left.

Again, Vera waited.

Until Davina dropped to her knees with wide, awe-stricken eyes. "You're the Priestess. The chosen."

"Yes, child." Vera's eyes glittered in the candle light. "I am the Priestess. You may call me Master Vera."

"Are you going to help me?" Davina's eyes filled with tears.

"Sweet girl," Vera whispered, reaching a hand out to brush a tear from the young girl's cheek, "I'm going to help all the innocents in this city. Though they are few.."

Mystic Falls

Isolde

Off the phone with Emeric, Isolde let herself breathe. Deep and slow. In and out. One of the kittens, Order, mewled and hopped into her lap, settling down and purring against her. She smiled down at him for a moment.

Then the monster growled from deep within and it was the first time since she met the Mikaelsons that Isolde felt it rear its head. She breathed deeply. He was reacting to all the stress that Isolde was under as things began to pile up around her.

Meeting her bonds, easily the best stress to be under at the moment, she was glad to have met them despite the chaos that came attached with them. Actually, if she were being honest, helping them sort through their shit and developing her relationships with them was easily her favorite way to spend her time at the moment. She didn't think she would ever tire of them.

But a possible insurrection within the Shade - that was quite the mood dampener. Having to return to Italy knowing that she had a house to clean, especially knowing that at least Kol (she wasn't sure who else was willing to uproot their lives - she would never ask them to) would be following her and she had to worry about his protection and safety along with Yasu and her innocent people.

And losing Vera, even temporarily. Unacceptable. The rage that was building inside of her was no small fire, and Isolde knew that very little of the supernatural community of New Orleans would survive her and her brothers' ire.

Speaking of. Now there was Emeric to deal with. Well before she was ready to present her newly formed bonds to him. He could run them off. He could ruin this, this fledgling thing she's building with them and by the gods she wanted it, whatever it could be with the Mikaelsons. She wanted it and Emeric could ruin it.

So yes, the monster was coming close to the surface now… and though she had told him she would give him time to stretch soon, that time had not yet come.

'Patience,' she reminded him, even as he growled and snapped and snarled.

His patience was wearing thin. He wanted blood, and Isolde knew just where might be a good place to allow him to have it.

A whisper through her body - her portion of the Consciousness. So quiet she almost missed it - taken aback by the impossibility that the monster suddenly had the ability to speak, to make their intention known with a language that wasn't grunting and growling.

Soon. He said, Soon.

She gripped whatever was in her hands much tighter. A sudden awareness, a question she forgot that she'd always wanted the answer too resurging. Desperate, she called out to the monster. 'What are you?'

But she didn't catch the answer, only the faint echo of a deep chuckle.

"Isolde?"

She opened her eyes to meet Elijah's and he flinched ever so slightly, his hands struggling to flex intertwined in her tight grip. The breath out of his nose puffed as the room had plummeted in temperature and that was all it took for her to know her eyes were golden and her control was slipping. She closed her eyes again, turning away with deep breaths to reign herself in and put the monster away, despite his protesting.

"Sorry," she released his hands like she'd burnt them, frowning deeply as her eyes shot open and she stared outside and watched slanted rain pelt the earth and another crash of thunder sounded in the distance. Order hissed and jumped down from her lap, sauntering over to his food bowl just as Chaos slid into the room and smashed herself against the bottom of the cupboards where her food bag was hidden. "I just need a minute."

Isolde felt Elijah's warm hand encircle hers once again, his thumbs brushing over her wrists.

"Look at me," he commanded softly. She turned back to him, albeit reluctantly.

His face was sincere, eyes holding a softness she'd only caught glimpses of the last few days. Elijah leaned forward slightly over the table, one of his hands lifted to brush some hair out of her face. Isolde's mouth went dry when his fingers brushed behind her ear and those beautifully dark eyes were steady as they dipped from her eyes to her mouth and swept back again.

"Forgive me, I am not afraid of what lives inside of you. I simply didn't expect it to be so close to the surface without warning." He lifted the hand he still held to his mouth and placed a long kiss to the back of it.

Isolde swallowed at his intensity. This was much, much different from Kol's carefree (intense in a slightly different way) way of romancing her and she didn't realize how underprepared she was for Elijah's pursuit. It was a good reminder that all four brothers had quite different personalities and approaches to life, it would be best to never lump them all in the same category.

"Nothing to forgive," Isolde smiled and gave his hand a squeeze before pulling back from him. He was intense. So very intense and she needed a minute to breathe. To regain herself after the stress of all that had already happened while the day was still young. "I should be the one asking for forgiveness… I just remembered something that I need to take care of. With everything happening I likely won't get the opportunity to do it unless I go now. Will you come with me?"

If Elijah was taken aback by the abrupt change, he masked it well. "Of course."

Isolde stood, and Elijah followed her. She pulled the kitten's food bag out from under the sink while Chaos tried her best to trip the woman as she took the necessary steps to refill the bowl. Elijah placed the coffee mugs in the sink and was rinsing the pot out when Isolde returned to put the bag back.

"What is it we need to accomplish?" Elijah asked, taking the bag from her hands and replacing it under the sink. He turned back to her and grabbed her hand, gently tugging her to his body and wrapping his free arm around her.

Isolde smiled at his use of 'we.' It was a simple way of verbalizing that he wanted her to include him in her life, something she was happy to do now that she knew he wanted that. She was glad they'd gotten this opportunity to talk and spend some time with him.

With the monster now fully tucked away and her anxieties beginning to settle she leaned into him and ran one arm up his chest and around his shoulders to return his embrace, fingers of the hand he held played with his absentmindedly.

"I may have misled everyone at dinner the other night. I need to right a wrong, I thought I had more time to do it but time is becoming a commodity I am running out of."

Elijah's forehead crinkled and his eyes narrowed. Isolde put a finger to his lips. "I'll fill you in the car." Her finger slid away and she leaned forward and slid her lips over his for a chaste kiss that he returned with fervor.

Elijah

They pulled up to a house Elijah had never been inside but he knew that it was Sheriff Forbes' home. He wondered what exactly Isolde had in mind but the larger portion of his mind was occupied with what Isolde had disclosed to him during their trip after she'd had a brief call with another person on his phone and spoke in a new language he'd never heard with a very male person on the other end of the line.

(He wasn't jealous, just curious. Really.)

A potential mutiny. Among the Shade people. And a legion turned against her.

For this reason, and the suffering her people would have to endure in the winter months with the rampant corruption that has pervaded the Shade Nation, she would be returning to Italy in a month.

All Elijah knew was that he would not allow her to return to Italy and into a hostile situation, without him being right beside her when she did.

He wondered how much of a task it would be to convince his brothers and sisters to come to Italy as well.

Irritated with this change in the plans that he'd started making for them all, but trying not to show it, Elijah stepped out of Isolde's car. 'So much for Theon's 'Isolde has the most loyal people - rarely has a mutiny.' He scoffed internally. He supposed a few phone calls would take care of everything on his end. He'd need to make a few arrangements but Isolde was his family now, and her safety was just as important as the rest of theirs.

Luckily, Elijah and his family were well versed in the complexities of court. Figuring out who can and cannot be trusted, who was worth the alliances and who needed to die immediately. What laws could be exploited to justify their actions.

That was another issue Elijah needed to remedy with haste. He needed to learn the laws that the Alexander's had created in their world. He needed to know them all, and he needed to have them memorized before he set foot in Italy.

'We are heading into a war that we aren't prepared for.' He thought to himself as he opened Isolde's door for her and placed a hand at her lower back while they walked up the steps, knocking lightly on the Sheriff's door.

It was Bonnie Bennett who opened it, with unsurprisingly wide and terrified eyes mirrored by her friend Caroline who stood just two feet behind the young witch.

"I haven't done anything else." Caroline defended, her voice trembling but still she stood. Her eyes were hard despite her clear anxiety.

"Sorry, to pop in on you and your friend, dear." Isolde said, looking at Caroline with a pleasant smile before she redirected her attention to the Bennett witch. "I'm glad you made it out of the woods earlier today. Barely noticed you leave, actually. I would've gotten you a ride home had you waited."

"I know my way around." Bonnie said with a hard, defiant look. Then her eyes widened as Elena Gilbert came around a corner in the house just within Bonnie's peripheral vision. "Elena, we've got this."

Elena's eyes were over filled with tears and her throat bobbed as she stepped up to the gathered group. She clenched her fists and grit her teeth, taking an additional three steps until she was standing at the threshold, nearly pushing Bonnie out of the way and standing toe to toe with Isolde.

Such a bold girl, Elena Gilbert. Elijah had liked that about her, still did. But he wouldn't defend her from his mate, should it come down to that.

Her voice was raw, and beyond angry when she hissed at Isolde. "What could you possibly want here?"

Elijah moved his hand from Isolde's back to circle around her waist. He wouldn't stop her from attacking Elena, if that's what she wanted to do, but he did want to ensure he had some leverage on his mate should Bonnie decide to use her magic for one reason or another.

He made sure to have enough of a slight grip that he could get Isolde away quickly.

"Samael?" Isolde called out, and suddenly one of the Hidden that Elijah hadn't officially met from the night before was beside them, dumping a gagged, bound, and very much alive and unscathed Matthew Donovon on the end of the porch that was hidden behind the landscaping.

Isolde nodded to the rather creepy, lanky, unhealthy looking Shade. This may have been the man she'd been on the phone with at the start of their drive here. "Thank you, Samael. I appreciate it. You may make your way back." The Shade's black-as-coal eyes flashed in understanding before he faded away right in front of them both with a slow nod.

"Matt?" Elena cried, astonished. Without a second thought she went rushing across the threshold to her friend, working to release him from his binds. "Matt?" She asked again as the young quarterback's eyes snapped open.

Bonnie and Caroline then also came out of the house to help and together they all removed Matt's bindings quickly.

Isolde leaned into Elijah and he tightened his grip a little bit more as she wrapped an arm around him, too. Such a simple reciprocation of his embrace but it drove him nearly mad with a sudden desire to take her to the manor, since it was just a few miles away, to ignore his family's likely argument, and ravish her against the wall of old books in his rooms.

Because as much as he'd been ignoring it, Isolde smelt like Kol and Niklaus. Elijah wanted almost nothing more than to rid her of their scents.

"Matt survives, but Alaric Saltzman and Damon Salvatore are truly deceased." Isolde's voice snapped the happy teens out of their reunion and they all scrambled to stand with Bonnie out front, hand raised. Elijah prepared to get Isolde away. Isolde's next words were sharp. "Bonnie. I would advise against it."

Bonnie's arm lowered slightly, the glare from earlier still in place and she walked in front of her friends, arm still out in a threatening manner while the three other teens ran back inside the house. Bonnie, too, stepped back inside while never turning her back to Isolde and Elijah.

"Tell us what you want." Caroline said through her tears, one hand on Matt's back, pushing him further into the house with Elena, and the other on Bonnie's shoulder like she wanted to pull her further back into the house just in case.

"It would be easier to have a discussion inside. But I won't force my way in." Isolde began, looking at each of the kids with a heat in her eye that reminded Elijah of being scolded by his own mother when he was a boy. "I think as of now you understand the severity of your actions and your involvements in a world you've only just dipped your toes into. You need to be fully aware that you are hopelessly outclassed."

"We got the message." Elena snapped from where she was helping Matt stay upright. The young teen leaned most of his weight against a wall to relieve Elena of the burden.

Isolde nodded at her. "That's good. However," shadows swirled around her, dropping several manila folders into Isolde's waiting hand, and handed them over Bonnie's shoulder - to Caroline, the young vampire's arm shook when she took them. "It's completely up to you, but in that packet is information that you might find useful. I've informed the admittance officers that I'm offering a full sponsorship. You won't even have to speak to me again, ever. But I will pay for you to attend. All four of you."

Caroline was flipping through the folder with wide eyes and looked up at her friends. She butchered the pronunciation when she spoke, in breathless awe. "University of Bologna. This is like.. the oldest university in Italy… how?"

"It's the oldest University in the world, actually. I founded it." Isolde stated, pride in her voice, and Elijah quirked a brow at her. "Well, my brother Theon and I founded it. Vera trained the first staff members and keeps it up to date. Emeric paid for it to be built and has ordered most of the maintenance and repairs over the years."

"This says it was established almost a thousand years ago?" Bonnie said, skimming the packet she now held in her hand. "That is…"

"Vera didn't tell you much about us, did she?" Isolde asked rubbing her hand up and down Elijah's spine, and he realized she was doing it to soothe herself more so than she was doing it for him.

Bonnie shook her head, leaning back against the doorframe. "We talked about magic, mostly," the young witch said absentmindedly, "But the girls filled me in on what happened here. I'm surprised to see you didn't kill Matt."

"I'm not in the business of harming children. Despite whether or not they may have deserved it." Isolde said.

"No - you'll just torture us and make us eat…" Elena gagged and tears filled her eyes once more.

"I didn't, actually." And this Elijah's head fully turned to Isolde as the four teens' heads snapped to attention. Isolde's face was carefully blank. "Feed you Damon's brains, that is. I tortured you. Mentally. I shouldn't have, what I did was quite wrong of me, and utterly hypocritical as I would have flayed my siblings for torturing kids. For that I am sorry. I hope you accept the full ride scholarships up to and including doctoral education as a token of my apology and genuine hope for your futures."

"You still had Alaric and Damon murdered." Matt choked as he spoke, his own eyes were red and he pushed against Elena so he could stand at his full height. "I was there, we almost made it to the fucking creek you told us to cross. Your lackeys swooped us up and killed Alaric and Damon."

Isolde nodded, her face grave. "You were not meant to make it, luckily Samael knows me well. Sam is my second oldest Shade. They knew I would regret your death and therefore they made the judgment call to spare you."

"Monster." Elena whispered.

Elijah opened his mouth to reprimand the doppelganger and Isolde gently smacked her hand against his back.

"I am," the goddess nodded, " in truth I am worse than a monster," her face hardened and her eyes glittered dangerously, "but don't mistake me children. I will happily right whatever wrongs I know I have committed. Yet in the end, when it comes down to protecting my family from those who would do us harm, I will not hesitate. I will never allow the insolence. I will trample over every moral I have and I will do so without guilt. Your adult friends do not receive mercy from me. You are fortunate that Stefan Salvatore still breathes. And you best hope he chooses his battles far more discriminately in the future should you choose to remain in each other's lives."

"And what if Stefan gets strong enough to get revenge?" Matt asked, raising his chin in defiance toward Isolde.

'Young and foolish.' Elijah thought. 'But I already knew that.'

"I would gladly see to his destruction myself." Elijah said, finally deciding he'd had enough of listening to these insignificant whelps speak so disrespectfully to his mate. "As one of the originators of the vampire species it is up to me how I see fit to handle my people. Law. Order. Those things can be established. He will fall in line. Or he will fall. Mr. Salvatore can choose which side of the fence to land on."

Isolde beamed up at him and without hesitation she pushed herself up on her toes and planted a kiss on his cheek. He felt jubilance race through his body at such open affection and he held onto her a little tighter as she pulled away with pride shining in those green eyes.

"I'm beyond glad to hear you say that, Elijah." She turned from him and glanced at the children once more. "The university will be waiting to hear from you. It is up to you, should you wish to attend. Again, you'll see no further involvement from me whether you wish to utilize the opportunity or not." She turned to Bonnie. "Vera will be in touch at some point to discuss with you whether you'd like to continue training with her, be advised that she will only offer once."

She detached herself from Elijah with one last squeeze and began to walk back toward the car. Elijah didn't move.

Instead, he looked all four teenagers in the eye. One by one, allowing the tension to rise.

"Had it been up to my family and I, you would all four be dead." He said in a tone that left no room for argument. "Isolde is merciful. You would do well to never cross any of us again. Least of all her. I will not stop myself or any of my brothers from destroying you and everyone you love for the simple infraction of looking at Isolde incorrectly." He lifted a finger in front of him to drive his point home. "Are we clear?"

Their frightened nods were all he needed.

I wanted to have a section in this for Freya's reunion with Esther but it didn't fit this chapter, since I had that interaction between Isolde and the scooby gang planned and it had to be done before New Orleans. Sooo we'll have the Esther/Freya confrontation in chapter 24.