They arrived at the scene, Elena climbed out of the car and instantly felt an emptiness within her; there was vampires standing guard around the entire area and she could feel their fear, Marcel was on the phone calling in reinforcements and he emitted terror and confusion.
Klaus grasped her hand before she went to enter the bar and turned her to face him, "you may want to wait outside, Elena."
"I can't, I have to help and I have to find Camille," her voice was shaky but sure, he wanted to protest further but he wouldn't, all he could do was be there for her through this; he opened the door and stepped aside for her to enter, remaining by her side as did the others.
It was like something from a horror movie, her hand instantly went to her mouth to stop the screams and tears escaping; she looked around, the bar goers and partiers that came here tonight to have fun and be free where now dead across the entire room.
Some where savagely torn up, others had been in a frozen, statue like state with blackened faces and their eyes wide open from the fear and some hung from the light fixings on the ceiling and sprawled across the bar at the side. There was blood, trashed furniture and broken glass everywhere.
She closed her eyes for a long moment, taking a deep breath and attempting to compose herself the best she could given the situation she was in; she felt a hand on her lower back and she recognised it in a heartbeat, Elijah had finally joined her and wished he could protect her from the evil that was the Soul Eaters.
"Where have you been?" Klaus spoke lowly, as to not allow Elena to hear.
"He left the party ages ago, Nik, he told me he had errands to run," Rebekah covered for him and Elena heard it, she had to remember to thank her properly later.
"Can you see Camille?" Klaus asked, as he watched Elena walk around the room; her heart breaking for each and every one of the victims, she stared into the eyes of one of the statue like bodies and she felt a pull.
She knelt down beside him and hovered her hand over his chest, her eyes closing as she conjured the power from the earth to perform her spell; a slight breeze radiated around her as she whispered a short chant, she felt her skin tighten and her chest hollow as it started to take effect. A black shadow crept up her body to her face when a loud gasp escaped her lips and the spell ended.
"Elena?" Elijah asked, panicked at what he just witnessed.
"I'm fine," her voice was quiet and filled with sadness, "there's nothing, I can't feel anything but darkness and emptiness inside him, he died from a shadow."
"They took his soul and drained him of life until there was nothing left, not even a pulse," Kol figured, as they all looked around the area at the others who where frozen in that state; a sudden crash coming from the kitchen behind the bar made the siblings all flinch and appear in front of the double doors.
"Elena, stay here," Elijah stated before each of the siblings vanished into the room, but when did she ever listen? She ran in behind them with the intent to protect them but instead, she was met with a frantic and frenzied Camille, hiding at the back behind the ovens.
"Oh my god, Cami," Elena said frantically as she dropped to her knees in front of her but the therapist didn't utter a word, she only growled and bit out at Elena, there was no emotion within her that she could feel, only a savage instinct to survive.
"They got to her," Klaus said as he sped next to Elena; she was lashing out at them both, hitting and waving her arms towards them, she wouldn't let them help her so Elena did what she thought best, she placed her fingers on her forehead and she fell asleep.
"Get her back to house quick before she wakes up, we'll meet you there," Elena said before Klaus cradled her in his arms and disappeared with Kol into the night.
"Rebekah, stay with Marcel and help him here, call us if they make an appearance," Elijah requested as he helped Elena back onto her feet and took her in his arms.
"You got it," Rebekah said as she looked at them both, Elena locked eyes with him to find solace in his gaze before resting her head on him and she watched them disappear from the bar.
They arrived not long after Klaus and Kol and they already subdued her, they bound her hands and feet in rope and tied her to a chair, it was heartbreaking for Elena to see her like that but she was wild, even her growls and screams were nothing like her usual tone.
Elena quickly ran in front of her, kneeling down again and placing both of her hands on her cheeks, "I'm so sorry, Cami, I swear I'm going to help you."
But her only response was her trying to snap at Elena again, she moved her head back slightly and she dodged her attack, "Elijah, can you get me Celeste's necklace, please?"
He nodded his head and darted into his study, retrieving the jewellery from the same trinket box a top his book case and returned it to Elena; as soon as she grasped it in her hand she felt the power radiating from it but she didn't know what to do from there.
"Elena, there is no written account of any of the Soul Eaters victims surviving the reaping of their souls, this could be extremely dangerous, you're attempting to fight immensely ancient and dark magic and it could consume you, even kill you," Klaus warned her, his tone of voice grave and his eyes gave her the impression he would stop her if she attempted it.
"I don't care," she said, a small tear rolling down her eye at the sight of Cami, "she's my friend and she doesn't deserve this."
"Her soul has been consumed, Elena, it exists only as food for the Soul Eaters now," Elijah spoke to her with a voice filled with compassion and sorrow, he didn't want to hurt her but he couldn't lose her either.
"I'm not just going to leave her," she locked her gaze onto his, looking at him with reassurance and love but he couldn't take it, "I can feel the power of every ancestor inside me and they'll help me guide her soul back."
"But it could kill you in the process," he was barely able to say the words.
"If I don't do this, I'll never forgive myself," she spoke with a finalisation to it; she slowly turned from Elijah and looked at Kol, "Can you run to the compound and get me some things from Davina?"
"Text me what you need," and he was gone, Elena loved how loyal he was to her and his family, there was nothing he wouldn't do for them and he loved them deeply.
"Klaus, I know you're, for all intensive purposes, dead but the werewolf side to you is fully alive, you're in a limbo like state and I need you to anchor and guide me through the planes," she requested of him but he didn't appear to be having any of it.
"I can't allow you to do this spell, Elena, my brother is right, you will die and you're far too important, I won't let you sacrifice yourself for a human," he was completely detached and returned to his usual demanding like self; she looked at him with disappointment and hurt, and he hated it but he had to be the bad guy to make her see sense, even if it meant they would fall out.
"Do you not know me at all?" Her temper grew but mainly out of hurt, "I'll do it with or without you."
"But then you could become lost in the planes, not an option," Elijah spoke and she was growing tired of arguing, so she just left the room and went into his study to take a minute; all of a sudden, she felt a strong urge within her and she heard a voice in her mind, it guided her to the bookcase opposite her.
She waved her hand across the shelves and one slid out hastily, she caught it and opened it; it was a grimoire but it didn't belong to Esther, it belonged to the ancestors of New Orleans and she hadn't seen it before.
Placing it on Elijah's desk, she hovered her hand over it again and the ancestors moved through her, guiding her magic to the page she needed most; they turned rapidly until they settled on a spell that could conjure so much power, she would be able to hop through dimensions in her mind.
She pulled out her phone and took a picture of the ingredients listed and sent them over to Kol, all she could do now was wait.
After a short while of being alone with her thoughts, she exited the study and re-joined them in the living room, she could hear Camille screaming and growling with more force but when she scanned over her, she appeared to be in no pain but her body was failing her, she just couldn't feel it.
Elena put her to sleep again, just to ease her suffering for a little while longer until she could perform the spell and hopefully reinstate her soul; it baffled her that souls actually existed, she knew something did, those emotions and feelings had to come from somewhere but to have actual confirmation was amazing to her.
"So, are you just not going to speak to us then?" Klaus spoke, his patience thinning.
"I don't see the point right now, we're not going to agree and if this spell does kill me, I'm not going to spend my last couple of hours left in a screaming match with you both," she tried to be strong but her voice broke a bit at the thought of never seeing them again, never seeing Elijah again.
And then it hit her.
There's a very high chance that she could die and her and Elijah had just spent an amazing night together, she opened herself up completely and she was ready to spend the rest of her life with him and the thought of never being able to see him, touch him or kiss him again brought a level of pain she had never experienced before.
A silence filled the room for a while until Kol returned, ingredients in hand and much to Elena's surprise, Davina was by his side, "you didn't think I'd let you do this spell on your own, did you?"
"I can't let you do this, it's so dangerous, if anything happened to you,-"
"It'll be less dangerous with two of us," Davina grabbed her hand and they both smiled, there was an incredible bond between the two witches, not just magical but sisterly.
"How about 4 of us?" A familiar voice spoke as she appeared in the hallway, Elena grinned when she saw Kimberly and Anna come to join them, "the ancestors are with us, neither of you are alone, not anymore."
This meant something completely different to Davina, when she fled from the harvest, the witches had shunned her, banished her from their coven and hunted her for months, to be accepted by them and the ancestors again filled a void within her.
"Thank you," Elena was overwhelmed, she knew sister witches within a coven were close but they barely knew her, and to risk there lives to help her and save Camille was something she had never expected.
"We must perform the spell now, before Camille is taken by the darkness completely," Kimberly said, as she started doing the preparations.
"No, no," Klaus spoke with a huff, his finger pointing towards Kimberly, "we don't know you and I certainly don't trust you with Elena, you could mean to bring her harm and dest-"
"I'm sorry, Nik," Elena said with a twinge of heartache in her tone of voice but she twisted her wrist and snapped her fingers, his head shot to the side and broke his neck; Elijah knelt down beside him when he hit the floor and turned to look at her but he nodded his head, urging her to continue.
They started to draw a circle of salt around Camille, placing 5 black candles around it and natural items within it, including a bowl of salt water, kindling for fire and dirt scattered across the floor for earth, each of the elements would harness there power for good and resist the temptation of darkness.
Davina and Anna where mixing the more intricate ingredients in a large brass bowl on the table, Kimberly was reworking the spell to fit Cami's situation, Klaus was still dead on the floor and that meant this was her only chance to talk to Elijah again before they began.
She quickly took his hand and lead him outside, closing the front door behind them for a bit of privacy; she instantly wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a tight and loving embrace; he reciprocated, holding her by the waist and smoothing his hand through her hair, she just wanted this, a moment of bliss, for it to just be them two without a care or problem in the world.
"I beg you, Elena, it's not too late to stop," he had to try at least once more, he had too but when she didn't speak a word, only kissed him with such an intense heat and passion, he knew it was futile.
"Elena, I,-"
"No, don't say it," she pressed her forehead onto his, her eyes welling up with sharp tears that she fought so hard to keep back, "if you do, I might not go back in there."
"This might be my last chance too," she shook her head slightly at his words, the tears escaped and her heart snapped in two; he brushed his fingers along her cheek, catching the loose strands of hair and tucking them behind her ear as he gazed intently into her eyes.
"It's not, I know I can do this, you have to trust me," she pleaded with him, her hands slid from around his neck and onto his face, pulling him in for one last kiss and she poured everything into it; she placed her hand on his chest, hovering over where his heart lay and projected her feelings for him within him, "when I make it back, you still owe me a dinner date."
He felt the surge of emotions she sent to him and it overcame him, he was clueless as to how she truly felt but this was epic, "I'll take you anywhere your heart desires."
"Promise?"
"Always," he smoothed his hand down her arm and caught her hand in his, raising them so that they where in between there chests.
The front door opened and Kimberly emerged from behind it, "I'm sorry, Elena but it's time."
She nodded her head and returned her gaze to Elijah when Kimberly returned inside the house, she placed a soft kiss on his cheek and pulled away from him but just as she was about to walk inside, she felt a sudden urge to run, anything but to leave him here without her and she was internally panicking, a frantic wave of dread washed over her and she knew in that moment, he was right, she couldn't go, not without telling him.
She spun around, her heart racing as she saw him, and she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that he was the one to truly capture her heart and she was his.
"Elijah, I love you."
His lips parted and he exhaled a sharp breath, he could feel a single tear collect in the corner of his eye at her words; he sped towards her, taking her in his arms and placing a forceful and passionate kiss on her lips, the whole world stood still for a moment, and there was only them, "I love you, Elena, with every fibre of my being."
There lips crashed once again and she was completely taken by him, everything within her was his and she would spend the rest of her life with him; she slowly pulled away and rested her forehead on his chin, "I have to go, I'm sorry."
"Ensure you survive this, Elena," he spoke, kissing her softly on top of her head, "come back to me."
It took every ounce of strength she had to separate from him, his words hit her like a tonne of bricks to the chest and she had to survive; she nodded her head once before spinning on her heel and entering the house, returning to the witches and readying herself for the spell.