AN: Um okay so I was beta-ing this chapter, and I was like "you know what? this trash can't actually be salvaged." So yeah, this chapter sucks, but I think, two short, kinda crappy chapters in one evening is alright. A fair deal, you know? Whatever. Enjoy the update of Katherine/Markos. -Izzy x
Chapter Eleven – The Originals 3x12
December 27th
New Delhi, India
Fiora Petrova worked the bar every weekday evening. She knew exactly what she was, but pretending to be a human, working every evening, was in incredible way to avoid attention. She'd heard the stories about doppelgangers being used for sacrifices, or specifically brutal blood-letting. And after eight hundred years of vampirism, she's managed to avoid those particular problems. But it was time to be found. One night, at work, she attracted the attention of a beautiful blonde woman, who just kept ordering drinks from her.
"This one's on the house," Fiora told her, on her fifth cocktail.
"Are you buying me a drink?" The blonde asked, smirking. "And here I was thinking I was sat here, wasting my time, for nothing. I'm Rebekah Mikaelson."
The morning began to Elijah with a surprise visit from tall, Eastern European man, claiming to be the person, he and Nik had supposedly dropped to the bottom of the ocean.
"Katerina took my body with her when she left," Markos explained, accepting a drink from Elijah, very graciously, "and a week or two before you drowned Tristan, she made the switch to talk to me. I was tired of thinking I was Tristan, so I stayed in this body." He gestured proudly to the skin he was in, jokingly arrogant about it. "But we parted ways very soon afterwards."
Elijah nodded as he listened to the story, and poured himself another drink. "I have heard information about the danger she's in," he told Markos, trying to conceal his worry. "Is she… did she survive?"
Markos paused, putting his drink down on the counter before it could touch his lips. "I'm sorry, Elijah," he muttered. "I haven't spoken to her in weeks. I wouldn't know if she was alive or dead. I hope she's okay, but your guess is as good as mine. That being said: she is a survivor. And I would really doubt she got herself caught."
Elijah tapped his fingers and took a deep breath. He didn't know anything for sure. Not yet. He just needed to keep calm and find out something solid before concluding the story of Katherine Pierce.
"Katerina once explained to me her debt to you," he claimed, thinking back to when Katerina first explained who Markos was to her. How true she had been in that moment. "I never had any intention of keeping you under the sea forever. I planned on freeing you when I could."
Markos smirked and waved away the comment. "Thank you for your morality. But you won't need to save me, as it turns out."
"Indeed," Elijah mused. "Katherine did that for me."
Markos thought to himself for a moment, before smiling. "The debt to me," he mused. "Katerina is the mother of my child. That does create a sort of… alliance. Whether you want it to or not. We had a partnership. She owed me in the same way I owed her." He spoke of her very fondly, and with a glisten in his eye. He must have cared for her further than he was letting on. "But the two of you… you are something very different. You're in love. So much so that it ruled over you for five centuries. You are the definition of star-crossed lovers."
Elijah even managed to chuckle at this. "It has caused more heartbreak than one could imagine," Elijah claimed, thinking back to every time he wanted to be with her, but couldn't. He could not identify a numerical value to the sentiment, however.
"Trust me, I know the feeling," Markos claimed. "Eventually I would like to meet my daughter. And then I shall happily die. But for now, I need to focus on staying alive long enough for that to happen. Katerina has a plan. I don't know what, but she said we'll be free forever."
Elijah sure as hell hoped so.
"What do you know about Cade?" He asked Markos, thinking back to his encounter with the man. "Who is he?"
Markos shrugged. "He is exactly who he's claimed to be." When Elijah looked doubtful, Markos told him the story.
"He lived in a village, thousands of years ago," Markos told him. "He was born a psychic. He has many, many friends. He was a gentleman; kind to everyone. But, as a psychic, he could see into the minds of all his friends. It gave him empathy, but it also cost him his life. He scolded those who thought ill. He only wanted to help, but he overstepped. And fearing him, the men turned even his friends against him. They tied him to a stake, threw food at him, started trying to burn him. And Cade saw the thing inside men that his power was not able to define. True evil. He became triumphant in death. He created magic that would punish men in death for their wicked deeds. The place now interpreted by men as hell."
Elijah paused for a moment, drinking this in. "And he's coming for Katerina," he finished.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Elijah showed Markos to the study in the compound and filled him in on the problems emerging in the French Quarter. "So a baby vampire carries the weapon, and you refuse to kill her because…?"
"Niklaus feels he owes her," Elijah explained.
Markos nodded, pacing around. "Okay, then what's the plan?"
Elijah looked up at the traveller, back in his original body and eager to help. "Why?" Elijah asked him, pulling something out of the desk. "You have no loyalty to my family or I, why insist on aiding us?"
Markos paused, looking confused as if the answer were obvious. "You mean a lot to Katerina," he explained with a slight shrug. "And after some thought, I've decided that she means a lot to me. Now, explain to me the plan."
Elijah nodded, thoughtfully. "Niklaus shall deal with Camille," he claimed. "In the meantime, I shall keep Aya distracted." He walked out of the room and Markos stopped him.
"And what's the reason behind not killing her?" He asked.
Elijah paused, turning back around. "She and I have history," he told Markos. "It's unimportant. Come along."
-0-0-0-0-0-
Elijah and Markos followed Aya to a huge house a little while out of the city. They eavesdropped on the conversation for all of a few seconds before Elijah decided to intervene.
"My witches have made a discovery," Aya informed the group of vampires as she paced around the parlour. "Whatever it was, Elijah clearly wants it to remain hidden. We can only assume a weapon is in play and all our lives are at risk. We will not rest until that weapon is under our control."
Elijah stepped into view at that moment and grinned. "Hello, everyone," he greeted, looking around the room at the familiar faces. "Wonderful to see you all. This is Markos, a friend of mine. Aya!" He approached the vampire joyfully and spoke down to her. "Don't we look very comfortable indeed, leading Tristan's little circus? Unfortunately, one cannot simply ascend to the role of leader. There must be my consent." He touched her shoulders and she flinched. He moved on, simply. "You'll recall that I am the founder. I'm the one who chooses the leader." He looked around the group, confidently. "Fortunately for you, I have an excellent candidate in mind."
A few head perked up, and some people tried to speak, but they were cut off when Markos performed a spell to silence them.
"You see," Elijah mused, "today is the day I take back what's mine." He looked around the room as Markos lifted the spell and smirked. "Do I hear any objections? No? Well, my offer is simple enough. You follow me, and I will return you to greatness."
"You really just going to come in here and start making demands?" Marcel asked, doubtfully.
"Sh, sh, Marcel," Elijah interrupted. "The grown-ups are talking. Aya, how long has it been? Eight, nine hundred years since you saw this?" He revealed the thing he'd bought with him, a wooden ornament. "The charter of the Strix," Elijah announced, holding it up. He unravelled it skimmed it over. "Written by… oh yes. Me." His eyes flicked over the parchment as he read. "In the absence of a worthy leader, the role shall be returned to Elijah Mikaelson."
Aya stepped forward and smirked. "The unworthiness of the current leadership has yet to be decided," she claimed. "I know the rules. I helped you write them. And so, I challenge you to a duel. Do you accept?"
Only a few minutes later, the group were walking into Marcel's church, crowding around the wrestling ring as Aya and Elijah prepared themselves inside.
"We're the oldest society of vampires in the world," Marcel informed them, "and yet, we settle our disputes like kids on the playground after school."
"My thoughts exactly," Elijah replied. "Aya seems to disagree." He held his hand out to help her onto the ring, but she ignored him.
"I could order my brethren to fight on my behalf," Aya claimed, looking around the vampires. "Such as their loyalty. And you could get your little warlock to help out." She scowled at Markos. "But we both know this is between you and me. Leadership must be earned. And one way or another, I will have that charter."
Elijah just smirked and straightened his cuffs. "Come get it."
It seemed as though Elijah was winning in the battle for power. He had plenty of built-up anger that he unleashed upon Aya. They argued as they fought, but nobody paid them any attention until Marcel broke in there and stole the charter himself, claiming that if they did not find him before midnight, he was in charge.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Only three minutes to midnight left, before Elijah finally called Marcel. "Well, this little escapade has been very cute indeed," Elijah mused. "Why don't you come along? Give me the charter?"
Marcel sounded very amused on the other end of the line. "Hm… no. No, I'm fine right where I am. I got about three minutes until I'm the new grand pooper. Until then, good luck trying to find me."
Marcel hung up the phone and Elijah almost put his away when he received a text message from Markos. I found Marcel. In the bayou, where you would meet Hayley.
Elijah nodded to himself and tucked his phone away back into his pocket. Using his vampire speed, he was there in an instant, to the little alcove between trees, a space for a picnic. A happy place. But he fell back a step with what he saw. Marcel wasn't there. Instead, there was the three people he least expected to see in one place.
Leaning against the back of a nearby car stood Cade, his arms crossed as he watched Aya, who was pacing back and forth with Markos's phone in her hand. And the Traveller was sat against a tree, looking calm, but sad.
"What is this?" Elijah asked, looking between the occupants of the bayou. "Where is Marcel?"
"I don't know," Aya claimed, ceasing in her stride to face her ex. Her hands rested behind her back as she spoke. "I didn't figure it out in time. So, considering this is my last few minutes as the leader of the Strix, I wanted to take care of one final act of business. A debt we owed to an ally." She gestured towards Cade, who stood up straight and faced Elijah.
"Arcadius," Elijah greeted, coldly. "What is happening?"
Cade didn't look cheery or optimistic anymore. He looked stone cold and aggressive. "A few months ago, two evil souls escaped my damnation," he explained, stepping a little closer towards Markos. "I'm here to take one back. I wanted you to bear witness, Mr Mikaelson, so you understand the severity of the situation before you."
Elijah blinked. He took a deep breath as he looked to Markos, who met his eye and even managed to smile. "You want me to know what you're going to do to Katerina," Elijah whispered. After little thought, he flashed towards Cade, but the Aya intercepted him and pushed him back. Elijah slammed Aya to the floor and ran at Cade, but the psychic stopped him. Elijah's skin began to sizzle, and he saw steam arising from his hands. His flesh was burning, melting like he'd been standing in the sun for too long. He heard a growl in his ear, like a gigantic hellhound was approaching him. He stopped in his tracks, falling behind in pain and crying out as loudly as possible, screaming in the agony.
And then, the pain was gone, as soon as it began.
"My magic cannot kill you," Cade claimed. "But as long as you behave, I'll spare you the torture. As the devil himself, I am quite skilled in that department, after all." He seemed perfectly at ease, unlike all witches who performed such a powerful spell. "I told you it would do you good not to underestimate me."
Elijah paused for a long moment before deciding to retreat, backing away from whom he finally believed in. Nobody could be so powerful. No witch or vampire, or werewolf. He looked towards Markos and tried to apologise without saying a word, but failed. Cade gestured towards the traveller, clearly giving Elijah the opportunity to speak to him.
So, Elijah knelt down in front of Markos and tried to offer a comforting smile. When that didn't work, he skipped straight to the matter they both cared about. Saving Katerina.
"Markos, what do I do?" He asked him, barely more than a whisper.
Markos just shook his head, clearly lost for words. There was nothing they could do. "Don't be upset, Elijah," Markos pleaded. "These cowards aren't worth the emotion." The pair of men looked over to Cade, who grinned, and then to Aya, who hung her head in shame. "Tell Katerina," Markos begged, "she's done right. And if she ever brings back Nadia, then tell her, I never met her. But I love the bones of her." His voice caught then, and for the first time, he seemed to regret whatever it is he did, that had him sent to hell in the first place. When he spoke again, he could barely get the words out past a sob. "I'm proud to be a part of her."
Despite Marko's final demands, Elijah could feel himself getting emotional again. This man, the father of Katerina's child, had her on his mind in his final moments. He trusted Elijah with her in his dying wish. He respected this man more than he could possibly begin to explain. They were alike. Two souls in love with Katerina Petrova. And one of them was being dragged to hell.
"Step back," Aya ordered him. She looked apologetic already, but Elijah could only hate her. He did as she commanded, knowing he would be forced to do as he's told in this situation. He took a few steps backwards, but he could barely feel his legs. He was going numb.
"Turn around, Elijah," Markos told him. Not because it would pain Elijah too much to see Markos die, but because they were doing to him the same as they would do to Katerina, and he couldn't bear to watch that. "Turn around."
When Elijah was about ten feet away from the poor man, he did so, very slowly shifting, turning to face Cade instead. He heard Markos cry out as they stabbed him, and he flinched. They were going to do that to her…
He couldn't save Markos. He couldn't help him. He couldn't stop Cade, or even Aya. Katerina was going straight back to hell, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Then followed the slight explosion, and the roaring fire, taking Markos's body up in smoke. Elijah's breathing began to get ragged and uneven, and he couldn't remember ever feeling so helpless, so scared. And yet, he needed to hide that. He needed to put on his usual mask of confidence and authority to lead his siblings through their dark times. He was expected to always be strong, and always be brave, so they didn't have to.
Elijah hadn't even noticed that he was kneeling until Cade approached him, still smiling. He must have sank to his knees at the explosion, weighed down by the situation.
"You once asked me what I knew about Katherine Pierce," Cade mused as he looked down at Elijah. "I know that to her, you are just a little boy. Just like all the other little boys. And she has no need of you anymore. And you never had any need of her. She is a fox. Just like all the other foxes." Then he began to kneel down, facing Elijah at eye-level. "And even if you managed to tame her, you would not have needed each other. You would not have been unique to each other."
"That just shows how little you know," Elijah muttered, his throat dry.
"Perhaps," Cade answered, smirking. "But I do know this: Katerina Petrova was killed in Mystic Falls last night," he claimed, without filter or remorse.
Elijah felt as though the breath was sucked out of him. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't think, and he couldn't feel. Everything was numb. And that feeling left as soon as it came. It was replaced by burning. Like his veins were on fire. His muscles ached and he tried and failed to stifle a sob. "Oh, God no," he begged, his raggedy breathing showing clear through his words. His pain showing itself even clearer.
It hurt so bad that Elijah couldn't remember a time he wasn't in pain. He couldn't remember life without the ache, or without the burn, or with the ability to breathe. And when Cade turned away, Elijah screamed again, in a whole different kind of pain.
Christmas Night
Rebekah's body hadn't been hard to find. Elijah had been too upset to try too hard, and so he'd put her into the nearest storage unit and called it a job done. But after he left, Rebekah got a little visitor.
Hands pulled the dagger from Rebekah's chest and then reached up to her temples. A voice softly began chanting. Then the visitor left a phone next to Rebekah's hand, and left. "Veet," said an unwelcome voice before following the visitor out.
As soon as Rebekah woke up, her eyes went black. She blinked once and they changed back to normal. The phone started ringing, and she answered it, beginning to get to her feet, unsteady on the new legs.
"Did it work?" Came the voice of Tristan de Martel.
"Of course it worked," Rebekah's voice answered, with an American accent. "I'm Katherine Pierce. Do my plans ever fail?"
"Caroline, are you sure about this?" Bonnie asked, worried. "You just got back."
"And realised I was stupid," Caroline added, his foot hitting the gas as she pelted down the highway. "I know what can save Stefan, Bonnie. I have to Try."
She heard Bonnie sigh on the other end of the line. "Where are you?"
"I just got on the 9-20," Caroline answered, steering with only one hand and holding up her phone with the other. "I'll call you when I get there."
"Care, you haven't even told me where you're going," Bonnie reminded her.
Caroline paused, sucking her teeth before sighing. "To New Orleans," she informed her, keeping her eyes determinedly on the horizon, speaking words she didn't ever think she would. "To visit my friend."
AN: Don't hate the player, hate the game.
And FYI, next chapter is one of the most emotional chapters I've ever written. Will definitely be up over the weekend.
Feel free to put that old review box to good use. With love, Izzy x
