AN: You guys have got to stop guessing plotlines in the reviews because some of your ideas are actually right. Just so you know, I had those ideas too, okay? I'm not just taking them from you. I've already written them all up. Your psychic ability is cray-cray. -Izzy x


Chapter Sixteen – The Originals 3x17

The forest was too light and breezy, too full of chirping birds, to perfectly match Freya's situation. She was tied up by the wrists, and being dragged along by Lucien, following Cade and Malachai. She didn't know exactly where she was, and she'd been knocked out for most of the journey. So she was really just glad she was awake.

"After all that flirtation," Freya grumbled, "this is your idea of a first date?"

Lucien laughed at the remark. "Some might call it a date with destiny," he mused. "Although, I admit. Four is a bloody crowd." He looked over to the two men in front and scowled.

"Okay, I get that Cade is the big boss guy," Freya said. "But who's that Malachai? What's his purpose?"

"Well, for the moment Kai's here to keep you in check," Lucien replied. "He's a young witch. Slash vampire. I'm not really up to speed on his story, I'm afraid." As he spoke, Kai turned around to wiggle his fingers at Freya, winking. "All I know is, he's a little mad."

"How did you get Vincent to help you?" Freya demanded. She could care less about Kai. She just wanted to know how many allies were going to turn against her family back home.

Lucien smirked at that. "When I arrived in New Orleans, I made a deal with the witches. I got full access to their Regent, and in exchange, I would take down the Originals. It didn't take much convincing. They do despise your family. I may regret it one day, but it is a necessary doing."

"Is it?" She demanded. "Why? Why are you plotting to destroy my family? Did Klaus hurt your feelings by stealing your girlfriend?"

Lucien blinked, looking at Freya with regret and almost confusion. "Dear Freya," he mused, his voice dropping to a murmur. "You say that as if I have a choice."

"Lucien!" Cade scolded. "I thought we agreed upon a need-to-know basis?" He stopped in his tracks and took Freya's arm. Lucien let go of her, and Cade led her ahead. "I do apologise, Miss Mikaelson. My minions are elected via power and cunningness. Not on their thoughts or remarks."

"My thoughts are perfectly clean!" Kai exclaimed, sounding offended. "Of Freya, anyway. Am I allowed to make a personal visit in M- where we're going?" He cut himself off after almost revealing where they were going to Freya. M. Something beginning with M.

"We'll see," Cade replied. "Ah. We're here." They slowed down at a collection of boulders, one particularly tall one holding something like a stone bowl.

"Where is here?" Freya asked, looking around.

Lucien looked between a confused Kai to a confused Freya. "Two witches who cannot tell when they are stepping on hallowed ground," he mused. "How utterly disappointing."

"Welcome," Cade said, instead of trying to be mean, "to Mystic Falls. The place where it all began. This is the very spot where Esther Mikaelson created the spell to turn her children into vampires. I mean to replicate that spell."

Freya turned to him and scowled. "You want to become an Original?"

Cade seemed amused by this. "Well, the people that I am facing, they are almost truly immortal. All of them together could overpower me. And they are all together again. So, I mean to up my power. But nonetheless, there shall be an upgrade to the Original model."

"I'm not going to do any spell for you," Freya told him, stubbornly.

Cade smirked again. "Kai here, will be doing the spell," he told her. "We're going to need something… a little more intimate from you. Lucien?"

Lucien stepped forward and pushed her sleeve back. He leaned down and bit into her wrist, forcing her to cry out in pain.


With the extension of Katherine in their little rescue squad, Finn and Elijah were forced into taking the big car. They sped along the empty roads, but grew frustrated at the immediate stops to allow trucks to slowly drive past.

"Of course," Finn groaned. "Mystic Falls."

"I like this little town," Katherine mused, leaning on the shoulders of their seats, from the back. "It feels like home. I think I'm going to visit my friends while we're here."

Elijah blinked. "They hate you," he reminded her.

"All my friends hate me," she reasoned. Elijah turned around to see Katherine making adorable, loving eyes at him, biting her lip as she winked at him. "Like you," she added, poking his arm.

Elijah only raised an eyebrow at her. "Is that what you think?" He asked, curiously. "That I hate you?"

"Eugh," Finn said, at the pair of them, making Elijah hide a smile as he awkwardly tapped the steering wheel. "Mystic Falls is the founder of our sorrows. Are we going to drive around this miserable town, just hoping to bump into our sister before Lucien murders her?"

"It'll only take like, half an hour," Katherine replied, making Elijah laugh in response. Elijah? Laugh? Crazy! "Twenty minutes, if you floor it," she added, poking Elijah in the ribs. He swatted her hand away like a misbehaving child in the back seat.

"Kol has a plan," Elijah said to Finn, simply.

Finn shook his head. "Kol and his ridiculous plans," he said with a sigh.

"Nine hundred years in a box," Elijah mused, "and zero patience." That, in return, made Katherine smirk.

Finn, however, looked shocked. "It's all a joke to you, isn't it?" He asked. "Nine-hundred years in a box just rolls off the tongue with you, as if the time went by without consequence. I assure you, it did not."

"What are you suggesting?" Elijah asked. "We never even experienced anything. Least of all, the passage of time."

"Being daggered for decades, and being daggered for centuries, are very different things!" Finn snapped. Slowly, Katherine leaned back into the dark backseat to remove herself from the line of fire. "It starts off as a dim pinprick of light," Finn continued. "Growing darker, year after year. The slow consciousness that I was paralysed. Entombed in my own mind. That despair, that utter loneliness… all amplified and made endless."

Elijah's face clearly fell, but he didn't reply. He just turned back to the road.

-0-0-0-0-0-

As soon as they parked, they took their own preferred methods of leaning on the car. Elijah rested his elbow on the roof, Finn sat atop the hood, and Katherine leaned against an open door.

"How and when will we know if this magic trick of Kol's will work?" Finn asked, looking around with distaste. He walked these exact streets with Sage. They had died together, not fifty feet away. Well, Sage had died across town, but her fate was sealed with Finn.

"Kol said we'll know," Elijah replied, simply. He looked around the town with nostalgia in his mind. "It is strange. The birthplace of all our misfortune, right over that very hill. Do you recall the first time we fled together, Finn? We were but children. Nothing but the clothes on our back, the uncontrollable desire, and our father, hellbent on wiping us from the Earth."

"The first of many times we ran together over the next two hundred years," Finn claimed. "Until you all left me in a tomb for nine centuries."

"You deserved it," Elijah replied, simply.

"I did, did I?" Finn asked, scoffing.

"Hey!" Katherine called over, reaching into the car and grabbing her back. "As much as I would like to stay and talk this through with all of you, I have an appointment to make." She tossed Elijah a sad look. "Talk to me if you need to," she instructed, before turning away.

"Where are you going?" Elijah called. When she didn't stop walking, he flashed in front of her and raised an eyebrow. "I asked where you were going."

She rolled her eyes. "I told you. I need to go and visit some old friends.

Elijah and Finn exchanged a look over her shoulder, before Elijah turned back to her. "Why?" He asked. "You want my trust, Katerina? Earn it."

Katherine paused, sucking her lip as she made up her mind. "Okay, fine," she relented. "Elena Gilbert's in a little coma, not sure if you've heard the sad news. More news: her blood is the cure. I was thinking about stopping by, leaving a card, and taking a hit."

Elijah narrowed his eyes. "Why would you want the cure?"

Now she rolled her eyes again. "Aren't you supposed to be the clever brother? Think about it. Cade's going to figure out I'm still around eventually. I'd like a fair fight."

Elijah nodded, slowly, as this began to make sense. "Do you require any assistance?" He asked her.

She just scoffed. "Please," she said, stalking off on her own. She never needed any assistance. She was Katherine damn Pierce!


Kai's whole body shook with power as he leaned over the bowl of blood, performing the spell. He chanted loudly, and dropped the bullet into the bowl. A fire erupted but he ignored it, keeping on with the magic. The fire blew high into the air, waving around like a blow torch. When it fell back into the bowl with a bang, Kai dropped to the floor and panted, heavily.

Lucien kept an arm in front of Freya on the ground, to keep her out of harm's way, almost.

Cade stepped towards the blood, laughing slightly. He poured himself a little vial of the magic and held it up to admire it. Freya just shot him a terrified look. Instead of drinking it, however, Cade pocketed it, and made another vial. But that one, he lifted to his lips.

"I can't let you do that," Freya said, raising her hands. She tried to snap his neck, but the second she made a move against him, her skin began to burn.

It felt like she was disintegrating. Turning to ash in front of them. She cried out and lowered her hands and the burning stopped. Cade smiled as he turned towards her. "Should I retaliate, Lucien?" He asked, opening the vial and downing the mixture inside.

Lucien didn't reply.

"What the hell are you?" Freya demanded. Cade just turned to Lucien and performed the same spell on him that he did on her. He cried out in pain, his skin turning red and peeling away. "Stop!" Freya pleaded. "Stop. No one has to die today."

As a response, Cade passed Lucien a third vial of blood, which he drank hungrily.

"Oh, sweet Freya," Lucien mused as the pain began to subside. "Today is the beginning of an awful lot of death." He got to his feet and pulled Freya with him. "Starting with yours, I'm afraid. I do apologise. I wish there was another way to go about this. But it's what must be done. And to think. You and I could have been quite the thing."

"Lucien!" A voice scolded. They turned to face Elijah, and Lucien's hand wrapped itself tightly around Freya's neck. Finn was with him, as well as some blonde human boy with a gun.

"Just in time for the party, lads." Lucien grinned.

"Welcome," Cade greeted, holding his hands out to greet them. "It's a pleasure to meet you again, Elijah Mikaelson. Tell me, how much have you told your siblings?"

Finn turned to Elijah, confused. "You know him?"

Cade grinned. "Do you think you can reach your sister, before Lucien tears her throat out?"

Finn grabbed the human's gun and shot through Freya. Lucien's skin turned grey and veiny, and he fell to the floor, dead. Freya dropped down, weak and injured, and Cade just laughed. "He'll be back," he claimed. "And I? I have business elsewhere. So I shall see the pair of you later."

Finn tried to attack him, but Elijah stopped him, insisting he let Cade go. Instead of chasing after him, Finn let him go, and ran over to Freya to heal her. Elijah took out his phone and messaged Katherine. 'Cade is here. Where are you?'

"That's Kai Parker," Matt exclaimed, noticing the unconscious body on the ground. "He harassed Bonnie for months. He's supposed to be dead."

"You would have thought you'd be used to resurrections by now," Elijah mused.

"He was working for Cade," Freya filled them in, pulling away from Finn as she healed. "Him and Lucien were his lackeys. Who is he, Elijah?"

He paused, studying Kai and then turning to Lucien. If the former had 'harassed' Bonnie Bennett, then surely, he'd wind up in hell on account of his death. With Cade. But now he was alive, working for him.

To find Katherine. That's what all of this was about.

"He's the devil," he said after a short pause. "And these are his servants."

Almost as soon as he spoke. Lucien arose, getting to his feet and snarling. He had visible veins to his chin and his eyes turned red. "He drank the serum," Freya whispered, terrified. "Cade wanted to turn him."

"Into an Original," Elijah finished for her. "Katherine was right."

The blonde human guy shot Lucien a thousand times in the chest, but it didn't even slow him down. Elijah and Finn came at him, but Lucien had them decked in seconds. "Poor show, lads. This new power suits me, no?" Elijah kept coming for him, but Lucien pinned him to the ground. "I am not your enemy."

"You kidnapped our sister," Finn contradicted, running over to push Lucien off of him. "That makes you an enemy in my books." Lucien responded by biting his neck, hard.

"It was her life or mine," Lucien snapped, straightening up. "And I'm not bloody going back to hell. All of this? I had no choice. I want out. I want to leave town. So focus your hated on the man who made all this possible. Even he can't touch me now."

As soon as Lucien flashed away, Elijah pulled his phone back out and called Katherine. Freya got Finn to his feet and Kai began to stir. Elijah kicked his head so that he fell back unconscious.

"Hey, honey!" Katherine said, as she picked up her phone. "I got your text. Can't say I'm too surprised."

"Lucien bit Finn," Elijah informed her, inspecting his brother's bite quickly. "It seems to some sort of werewolf bite. I can't understand if he's now a hybrid, but you were right. Cade and Lucien… they're both stronger. Not quite Originals, but something worse. Have you got the cure?"

"I'm working on it," she replied, simply.

Elijah shook his head. "I need you to work faster," he claimed. "We need to get Finn to Klaus as soon as possible. If you don't have it by now, we'll have to come back for it."

"We can't!" She insisted, aggravated. "They're stronger than you, right? Elijah, this is the only chance we have of killing them. Killing him. This can't wait."

"Neither than this!"

There was a pause as Katherine sighed. "Go home then," she ordered. "Go back to NOLA and I'll meet you there. Damon, Stefan, Bonnie, they're all out of town. It's now or never."

"That's not-"

"Elijah!"

They bickered for a moment before he took a deep breath. "I'm not leaving you again," he decided surely. "Where are you? We'll get it quicker if I help."


When they finally arrived back in New Orleans, Finn was looking worse for wear. He was clearly in a lot of pain, crying out all sorts of curses. They lay him down on the couch and tried to make him comfortable as he begged them not to leave him. "We won't brother," Freya promised. "We're here. You are not alone."

Kol strutted into the room and flung himself down on another couch, quickly observing Finn without even a little care. "Well," he mused. "He looks awful. Wolf bite, huh? That's got to hurt. So Lucien's a bloody hybrid now?"

"We don't know what he is," Elijah claimed, as he restrained Finn, the hallucinations beginning to hit him. "The venom seems to kick in twice as fast."

"That's good," Freya whispered. "It can work through his system twice as fast."

"Or it's twice as lethal," Kol mused.

"Kol," Katherine scolded. "Feel free to help. He's your brother too."

Before Kol could reply, Rebekah and Caroline stormed into the compound – panicked, blonde and synchronised. "What the hell happened?" Rebekah asked, moving over to join her family. Katherine and Caroline backed up to the corner, to give them some space.

"Klaus should be back soon, to feed Finn his blood" Freya explained, crying as she held Finn's hand. "Lucien bit him. He's even more of a monster now. Him and the devil himself." She turned to Elijah, her breathing shaky and uneven. "What are we going to do?"

"Hey," Finn called, drawing attention from all of his siblings. "Thank you."

"For what?" Elijah asked.

Finn coughed, and Kol sat up to hear it. "Today, I saw a glimpse of your pact. Always and forever. And because of that loyalty… I'm happy."

Before anybody could reply, Klaus joined them at the compound. He studied Finn in the couch for a second before moving behind him and biting into his wrist. He fed Finn his blood as Rebekah took his other hand.

"How do you feel?" She asked.

Finn coughed and sighed. "I feel…" He mused. "Strangely euphoric."

"I've been known to have that effect on people," he mused. He walked around the couch to face Rebekah and kissed her cheek, giving her a quick hug. "Welcome back, sister."

"Yeah, you too," she replied with a nod.

"What a lovely family moment," Kol said, clapping sarcastically. "Excuse me while I go and gouge out my eyes with a hot poker."

"I thank even you, Kol," Finn said, weakly. "Your little witch actually came through." He tried to say something else, but was interrupted by his own wheeze. He coughed and spluttered and left a pool of blood from the floor.

"Finn!" Klaus called out, steadying his brother.

"What's wrong with him?" Elijah asked.

Freya looked dumbfounded, but she responded nonetheless. "His body is dying," she claimed, reaching forward. "It didn't work!"

"How did it not work?" Rebekah asked. "It's not possible!"

"Hey," Freya whispered to Finn. "It'll be okay. I promise. You'll see." She turned to Elijah and spoke hastily. "Elijah get my pendant!"

Elijah turned to the other room, but Kol called after him. "It won't work," he claimed. "No spell can help him now."

"Well what else is there?!" Freya demanded.

There was a pause as they came to the same conclusion. Finn was going to die.

One person, however, seemed to come to a very different conclusion than the rest of them.

"Elijah!" Katherine called. She reached into her bag and pulled out a little vile, throwing it over to him. It was filled with blood, and made the other siblings frown in confusion. "It'll work," Katherine promised. "Use it."

"Katerina, no," Elijah insisted. "We can't. This…"

"If that's a cure," Freya said, looking pleading, "then please use it."

"It's the cure," Elijah answered, looking around his family. "Yes, it will save Finn, turn him human so the bite won't take effect him. But it's the only cure. We won't be able to strike Cade or Lucien."

Rebekah was the one who chimed in next. "Elijah, we need to protect this family," she told him. "Bottom line. This is it. Always and forever."

Nobody argued with her, and so, Elijah popped open the vial and poured the blood into Finn's mouth. He coughed and spluttered and fell unconscious. Instead of turning grey and veiny though, colour returned to his cheeks and his bite healed. He slowly turned human. Just as he wanted.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Everybody backed up a second and took a deep breath, considering everything that had happened that day. Rebekah helped Freya get Finn upstairs, Kol left to find Davina, and Elijah followed Katherine out. Klaus and Caroline turned to each other, meeting each other's eyes from across the room, for the first time since he left town.

She practically ran into his arms. She wasn't seeking comfort or anything. She'd never even hugged Klaus before. She just missed him. He was a surprisingly good hugger. He was somehow soft, and warm, and held her tightly in his arms.

"Where's Hayley?" She asked as they pulled apart from each other.

"She stayed to help some wolves," he told her. "The ones Lucien has been experimenting on."

She nodded, and mused to herself. "Kai Parker," she said. "He was a sociopath who had a thing for Bonnie. They were left alone together for months. He hurt her, I know that. If he's alive again, then… I might have to go home. Or call Bonnie here. I don't know. Apparently Cade poured three of those serums. One for Lucien, one for himself. The other one must be for Kai. I can't let Bonnie deal with that alone."

Klaus narrowed his eyes for a moment. "Kai didn't take one," he said. "Elijah told me that Cade took one, Lucien used one and ran off with the other."

"Wait, wait," Caroline said, looking lost. "So who's going to drink the third one?"

There was a brief pause as Klaus figured it out. "Aurora."

The two of them arrived at her tomb only seconds later, facing the broken brick wall with rage and fear. "She's gone," Caroline whispered. "She's gone, and she's some evil hybrid thing."

"Shit," Klaus whispered.


"You cured my brother tonight," Elijah mused, walking into Katherine's bedroom at hers and Caroline's condo. He had just walked her home, and she practically flew into bed, kicking off her heels and letting her shoulders slump. "You helped to save my family, as a great personal cost."

"You don't need to keep reminding me," she told him, scowling. She stood up to face him and looked pissed. "Trust me, it's all I can think about."

"All?" He asked. His hand reached up to gently stroke her bare arm, creating goose-bumps along her skin. She turned her head to look at his hand without a very impressed expression, and he pulled away, clearly sensing her hesitance.

Before he could turn away, however, she grabbed him by the tie and pushed him onto her bed. He sat down and she pulled his blazer off, throwing it to the floor. He reached up for her leather jacket but she swatted his hands away, sending a very clear message.

She was in control now.

He watched her as she undid his tie and threw that away too, before even touching her own clothes. She kicked off her jeans and jacket before climbing onto the bed with him, straddling his lap. She pulled him into a deep, passionate kiss. Her nails scraped along his neck as she held him there. The second he tried to control the kiss she pulled away and grabbed his shirt, ripping it open and flinging buttons across the room. She smacked her hands into his chest and pushed him into lying down.

She leaned down to kiss his neck, grinding against the ever-growing bulge in his pants. He grinned as she played, and reached up to rip her shirt off. Instead of undoing her bra, he snapped the elastic, making her screech as it whipped her skin. He threw the broken lingerie across the room as Katherine bit his neck as a punishment.

He removed his belt and place it to one side before undoing his pants. She reached down to stroke his free member, teasingly.

"Hurry up, or I'll take over," Elijah warned her. Katherine just giggled until he picked his belt back up and whipped her ass with it, making her cry out before finally sinking down onto his cock.

He groaned in pleasure and she just grinned, breathily. She started riding him, grinding around him. He reached down and flicked her clit, making her moan and grow wetter as her heat rushed to her core. He rubbed between her folds, gently encouraging her to pick up the pace. He reached up with his other hand squeezed her breath, rolling her nipple between his fingers and pinching, mixing the perfect amount of pain with pleasure.

"Oh God!" She moaned as she came around him, her nails scraping down his chest as they did his neck. She slowed down as shocks rolled through her body.

Elijah flipped them over, holding her legs open wider and pumping into her faster and harder, building her up for another release while seeking his own. He leaned down and kissed her neck, hitching her legs further up his waist.

The next time she came was with him, in unison. They paused in a mess of groans and moans before he pulled out of her and rolled over, lying next to her and panting slightly.

"So, er…" Katherine mused, waiting for her bones to work again, "I guess we're good?"

Elijah nodded slightly. "We are really good," he answered. Katherine laughed but placed a finger to her lips when she heard the front door go.

Caroline's home.

Katherine sat up and put her kimono around her shoulders. She got to her feet and shook her curly hair out, flipping it as she turned back to face Elijah. "Make yourself comfortable," she said. "I'm going to step outside and get some fresh air."

She stepped out on the porch in her bare feet, and the cold air hitting her felt like somebody stabbing her in the stomach. She'd been holding it in for hours. The pain, the worry, the torment even. But with the rush of emotions she faced with Elijah bought everything back.

She was doomed. With no hope of escape.

There was no more cure. Cade was stronger than ever. He was coming for her. And there was nothing she could do to protect herself anymore. Nowhere to run. No way to survive.

She curled up on the steps of the porch and finally, silently, allowed herself to cry.


AN: Hours to write, seconds to review! -Izzy x