Chapter 1
Chapter 1
“You mean to tell me, after all these years, Marcel is alive and well?” asked Rebekah over the phone.
“Quite.” Answered Elijah promptly. “Our brother seems to have wandered into a war zone. And I haven't been able to find him. Marcel, who Klaus sired and brought up beneath his own wing, now rules a menagerie of savage vampires running wild, killing in public for any human to come upon. Witches are held in subjugation. I doubt Niklaus had any idea what he was walking into.”
“Sorry, what was that? I stopped paying attention at ‘our brother’.”
“Rebekah.” He warned.
“Our hateful, traitorous bastard of a brother, who's negated any sympathy I once had for him by his repeated efforts to ensure neither you nor I know happiness outside of his own selfish universe.”
“Always and forever, Rebekah; that is what we once swore to each other.”
“Consider this me calling take-backs.”
“Well, you've called take-backs dozens of times over the centuries and yet when our father found us and chased us from this very city...”
When she cut him off, her voice was firm but they had spent so long together, so many centuries, that he did detect a strange undercurrent in her voice, even if he could not put a name to it.
“I may be old, Elijah, but I'm hardly senile. I know very well I stuck with Klaus, and not three years later he stuck a silver dagger in my chest and sent me into a magical slumber for ninety years. Do you know why? Because I had the audacity to try and live my life on my own without him.”
“Enough.” He cut her off this time, knowing well that if Rebekah got into a tirade over this she wouldn’t stop for a long while. “I believe our brother's in trouble, so whatever is going on between Marcel and the witches, it's dire enough that they'd risk bringing an Original back to town. The witches have lured him here, a feat if I know one considering the kind of search our brother has been immersed in until now, and I'd like to know why. Instinct tells me none of us will like the answer.”
With that, Elijah hung up the phone and sighed. For a moment, he closed his eyes and just breathed, trying to forget the soul-deep tiredness that he suddenly felt.
No, whatever it was that had pulled his brother’s attention back to New Orleans when he was so committed to finding the sixth coffin none of them had been able to find a lead on had the potential of being disastrous for them all. Nothing sort of that would have brought Niklaus here of all places.
HPTOHPTOHPTO
After easily getting rid of the two vampires terrorising the witch he was looking for, Elijah took out a handkerchief and cleaned up the blood in his hands, the witch staring at him with a bit of fear and weariness.
“I'm Elijah.” He introduced himself, now clean of the blood spilled to save her life. “You’ve heard of me?”
The witch nodded, still looking scared.
“Yes.”
“Good; then, why don't you tell me what business your family has with my brother?”
HPTOHPTOHPTO
Elijah stopped at the cemetery’s entryway, finding himself unable to enter as the witch turned to him. For a second, he wondered if her intention had been to lead him towards a place he could not enter so she’d be safe.
“This is sacred ground, which means vampires have to be invited in. But, since I'm desperate... Come on in.”
He was wearier than ever after hearing her words. He had learnt early on that desperation and witches were a dangerous mix. It was desperation and grief that pushed their mother to make him and his siblings into what they were, after all.
Elijah slowly stepped in and followed the Devereaux witch through the winding paths into a mausoleum lit up with candles.
“We can talk freely here.” She said then, turning towards him in the middle of the crypt.
“Then I suggest you start talking.” He asked, impatient. “What did your sister want with Niklaus?”
“Isn't it obvious? We have a vampire problem, and we need help. Marcel has an army backing him. The witches have been trying to fight back. We haven't had much luck, until my sister Jane-Anne found something, a secret, about your brother.”
“What kind of… secret?” he pushed, the disquiet he’d been feeling since he learnt his brother had been lured to the city growing.
“Apparently, the Elders made a spell, one that delivered a powerful source of power into our hands.” Started to explain the witch. “We didn’t know anything about it, in the beginning. And then Jane-Anne heard that your brother, Klaus, was looking for it.”
Elijah tensed. Could it be…? No. No, they’d have to be crazy… or suicidal… because if his suspicions were right…
It would explain everything. The only thing that could pull his brother’s attention from his search was a lead on the search itself.
“It took a while to confirm that our suspicions were right, but we finally did. Bring it out!”
At her shout, three witches come out, standing in formation as they rolled in a familiar coffin.
Elegantly carved out of ebony, polished until the black surface was almost mirror-like and shining reddish under the warm candlelight. There was a small bronze plaque on the top, with a name lovingly inscribed in Old Futhark, he knew.
Unconsciously, he took a step closer to the coffin that his younger brother had been desperately searching for since that traitorous Salvatore confessed it hadn’t been in his hands. He stopped as Sophie crossed her hands and warned him with her eyes.
“I’m not sure whether you are crazy, suicidal or stupid. Maybe all three.”
“I’m desperate.” She said instead.
Elijah looked at them carefully. He made sure to keep his face blank and void of all the fury he was feeling. These witches had in their power the single most important thing to his family, to his brother. As furious as he felt over where this was going, he couldn’t risk anything happening to that coffin and what it held inside.
“What, precisely, is it that you want?” he asked, as diplomatically as he could.
“We want to run Marcel and his vampires out of town. Klaus is the key. Everything Marcel knows about being a vampire, he learned from Klaus. Marcel trusts him, looks up to him, and he won't see the betrayal coming.”
Elijah held in the impulse to let out a bitter laugh. They were trying to control his brother to fight their war for them and they had found the only thing that could probably help them do that, but he doubted they could actually imagine a sliver of what Niklaus would unleash on them all for ever daring use this against him.
“Yes, well, as I'm sure you're aware, my brother Niklaus doesn't like to be told what to do.”
“That's why I brought you here.” Continued Sophie. “Convince Klaus to help us and no one will know of his little secret.”
His fury returned with a vengeance and it took all of the self-control he’d perfected through his millennia of life to hold it at bay, only a slight narrowing of his eyes giving it away.
“That sounds remarkably like blackmail.”
“Like I said, I'm desperate.”
“Oh, Miss Devereaux, there’s desperate and then there’s… this. Many people have believed themselves capable of controlling Niklaus and they have all regretted it in the end.” He musingly said. “But now that your coven has drawn his ire, I have a question: what prevents my brother from murdering you instead of cooperating?”
“The spell my sister performed? The one that got her killed? It didn't just confirm that this coffin was indeed the one your brother was searching for. It linked me to it and sealed it. So if I die, the coffin and its contents will burn to ashes in seconds. And only I, in complete good health and of my own free will, can unseal it. If you do not cooperate, I will ensure the coffin never falls in your hands.”
Elijah feigned being slightly amused, whilst inside he burned with the need to act, to teach these witches that nobody messed with his family and lived.
“You would dare threaten an Original?”
“I have nothing to lose.”
The grin disappeared from his face. So she had nothing to lose? He was sure his brother would have a good number of ideas on how to show her that she was wrong: there was always something to lose.
“Give me a moment, please.” He said nodding towards the casket and taking a step towards it.
But Sophie Devereaux had other ideas and stepped in between them.
“I don’t think so.”
Elijah raised an eyebrow at her.
“How am I supposed to trust that it isn’t just an empty coffin and this isn’t an elaborate hoax to get my family’s compliance?” he saw the witch hesitate at his words and pushed further. “Or could it be that you are lying about the spell and fear I would leave with the coffin before any of you could react?”
The witch glared at him, but he wouldn’t back down from a girl not thirty years old who didn’t truly understand what she was getting herself into. Not to mention her lack of any considerable power to back her up.
Finally, the woman stepped to the side and allowed him access to the coffin.
“Go on, then, try to open it. It should be easy, if I’m bluffing about the spell, right?”
Pressing his lips together, Elijah did so. Only the coffin’s cover did not budge an inch.
With a smirk, the witch walked to the other side of the casket and opened it with no difficulty.
Immediately, Elijah’s eyes fixed on the body revealed to him after centuries of not setting his sights on it.
She looked just as he remembered her, he marvelled, except for the newer white dress covering her body and the black kerchief wrapped around her delicate neck.
The sight of her, lying there so still, brought him back years into the past, to a time when his family had been happy and the events that led to one of the night’s he regretted most deeply…
He could see the familiar clearing where his small village stood, the air in his lungs burning in a comforting way as he darted around his brother. Sword fighting with Niklaus, no matter if they were only training, always demanded undivided attention.
His blond brother was skilled like none of them in the art of the sword. He might not be the strongest physically, but he was no slouch either and he made up with wit and cunning for what he lacked in raw strength. Elijah never understood why their father wouldn’t see that.
Niklaus ended the spar with a twirl followed by a sideways stroke of his sword that cut Elijah’s belt, making it fall to the floor. In other circumstances, the same move would’ve opened up his belly.
A light giggle grabbed their attention and they turned to their audience with smiles.
Rebekah stood there with a bright smile of her own. Their only sister had always been more like a Valkirie than a gentle Lady, running to watch them at the merest whisper of a spar.
Henrik stood beside her, a clear contrast in colours but his expression the same. Their youngest brother was always in awe of their skills, dreaming of the day when he’d be able to fight like them.
The third watcher stood between their siblings, holding onto Henrik’s hand. Despite the age difference, the two youngest members of their family spent a lot of time together, getting into mischief that was bound to give Elijah grey hair soon.
His grin growing, Elijah watched as Niklaus dropped his sword and opened his arms wide, still kneeling on the floor. The little giggling girl didn’t hesitate to run into his arms, dark blond curls flying behind her.
“You were so great, father!”
Elijah watched with a fond grin as his brother basked in the little girl’s praise and attention.
“I see my own performance didn’t deserve even a mention.” Muttered Elijah, feigning being wounded.
“You were great too, Uncle ‘Lijah. Father was just better.” She said with a giggle at his antics.
“That’s my princess.” Said Niklaus sending him a smug teasing grin.
But their peace and happiness was not bound to last as tragedy hit their family, precipitating the events that would lead them to this moment, a thousand years into the future.
The sight of his brother running into the village the day after the full moon with Henrik’s mauled body in his arms, tears streaking down his face and calling desperately for their mother to help, would stay with him to the end of his days.
As did the consequences when their father forced their mother to perform the magic that would turn them into rituals.
He could almost hear the sobs as Mikael forced Rebekah to drink the blood of that village girl before turning his attention to the young girl tightly held in Niklaus’ arms.
“Please, father, she is too young. She’s only six, please…”
But Niklaus’ pleas were ignored as Mikael backhanded him and tore the young child from his arms, dragging her towards the fresh blood spilling from the sacrifice.
As scared by the ritual they were taking part in as all his siblings, Elijah had watched as his niece drank and then scrambled away and back towards her father, who held her tightly to his body and whispered words of comfort, caressing her untidy curls and ignoring the blood staining her chin.
And then they discovered the truth of Niklaus’ parentage, of his new dual nature, after he made his first kill led by their new insatiable thirst for blood. That was the night his family broke, even if he hadn’t realised it at the time.
“Elijah! Elijah, hold him down!” ordered Mikael, struggling to hold his younger brother as he tried to bind him to a cross.
“Brother, please! Don't let them do this!”
His brother’s pleas tugged at his heart, but he was scared. Scared of Mikael and scared of Niklaus, of what he was.
“Do it now, boy! Now!”
And Elijah did. He rushed forward and held his brother as his father finally tied the shackles around his wrists. As Mikael blurred out of sight, his eyes met Niklaus’ blue-green ones.
“Help me.” he had whispered.
But Elijah hadn’t.
Mikael had returned dragging his niece with him, then. He was shocked. He was… he shouldn’t have really been so surprised, but he was.
“Father…” he had whispered.
“Please, don’t!” shouted Niklaus, struggling fiercer than ever. “Father, don’t! Brother, don’t let them do this; brother…”
“Father, is this really necessary…?”
“She will be a danger to everyone. A monster the likes of those that killed your brother Henrik.” Had growled Mikael.
The ritual was fast, not dragging on too long. But it hadn’t seemed so at the time, as he held his struggling brother and watched his young niece weep. She didn’t really understand what was happening, he knew, but just the sight of her father raging and crying and begging for her told her that it wasn’t anything good.
To this day, Elijah was surprised that his brother hadn’t killed him for the part he played in that night’s events. Maybe the only reason he hadn’t was because he knew that Elijah would do anything to atone for it.
He often wondered if they would’ve still survived and fled together if he had opposed their father that night, if he had stopped him from hurting his family as he had.
But it could not be changed now. The only thing he could do was give his family back what he’d helped Mikael steal that night. And now that the curse was broken, it was within his power to do so.
He reached out towards her face, looking so peaceful in her unnatural slumber, but the spell stopped his hand from touching her.
Sophie closed the lid of the coffin again and his face became a stoic mask.
‘This time, I won’t fail them.’
HPTOHPTOHPTO
He found his brother rather easily, so it was obvious he wasn’t even trying to hide his presence in the city. But of course he already knew that. Out in a balcony, watching over the partying city below, it didn’t take him more than a second to recognise his presence.
“Evening, Elijah.”
“Niklaus.” He greeted.
“What an entirely unwelcome surprise.”
“And what an entirely unsurprising welcome.” He bantered back, well used to his brother’s moods. “Come with me.”
“I'm not going anywhere, not until I find out the truth about the rumours that brought me here.”
Elijah sighed.
“Rumours about the witches knowing something of the mysteriously missing sixth coffin?”
His brother’s blue-green eyes snapped towards him.
“What do you know?”
“Come with me and you’ll know as much as I do.”
Immediately Niklaus straightened and narrowed his eyes at him. He knew it had been dangerous to even mention its existence out in the open, that his brother could lash out at any moment now, but this was too important. If Niklaus thought he was hiding something from him… Not even Elijah wanted to face his very justified wrath.
“But you must promise me something first, brother.”
There was a cold fury brimming in those eyes, growing with every second they stood there, but Elijah didn’t falter.
They were so close… they couldn’t risk everything because Niklaus acted rashly, not knowing all they would lose. All he would lose.
“You must not kill, or otherwise hurt, the witches. No matter what they say. No matter how furious you get.”
His brother rolled his eyes at him.
“I am being serious, Niklaus. We could lose everything if you do! Promise me, brother. Promise that you won’t kill them; not yet.”
His words made Niklaus pause and stare at him, right into his eyes, for half a minute. Whatever he saw, made him nod.
“I promise.”
HPTOHPTOHPTO
Klaus and Elijah were back at the cemetery along with the witches Elijah had talked with already. From where he stood beside him, he could feel his brother’s mounting fury at every second he was denied access to the coffin.
“You dare keep her from me!?” roared the Hybrid and would’ve launched himself at the witch if his brother hadn’t placed a hand on his shoulder and stopped him.
“Brother, no, wait. Listen!”
“My sister gave her life to perform the spell she needed to confirm this.” explained Sophie. “Because of Jane-Anne's sacrifice, the fate of this coffin and the girl it contains is now controlled by us. We can keep it safe. Or we can destroy it. If you don't help us take down Marcel, so help me, you will never get your hands on this coffin ever.”
Elijah wanted to grab her and shake some sense into her. It was clear this witch had no true idea of who they were dealing with or she’d have approached this more tactfully. Instead she was issuing a direct threat.
“How dare you command me, threaten me, with what you wrongfully perceive to be my weakness.” Hissed his brother, his jaw clenched so hard he was surprised it didn’t snap.
At the moment Niklaus was utterly unpredictable and Elijah was ready to spring into action at the mere indication that he’d react with violence.
“What guarantee do I have that you’ll keep your part of the deal?” he growled.
“Guarantee? I don’t think you understand the situation. You see, we’re the ones with all the cards right now. The truth of the matter is that you can’t hurt us. You’ll get the coffin, I swear it, but only when you fulfil your part of the deal.”
Niklaus stared. He glanced between the Devereaux witch and the coffin and seemed to finally come to a decision.
“Enough of this.” he whispered. “You want Marcel dead? He’s dead.”
And with those words, his brother blurred out of the room, not even listening to the desperate denial that left Sophie’s lips.
“I thought that was what you wanted.”
“Yes… No! Not yet! Not like this, we can’t! We have a clear plan that we need to follow, and there are rules. Marcel can’t die yet!”
“Maybe you should’ve made that clear in the beginning.” He frowned, trying to figure out what their endgame was.
“We have a deal. This is part of it. Stop Klaus before he kills Marcel or our deal is null and void.”
Elijah stared at the woman with hidden distaste, but he still nodded.
“No one touches it.” He said signalling to the coffin. “I'll fix this.”
HPTOHPTOHPTO
“Niklaus. Niklaus!”
“What!?”
“Stop.”
Niklaus froze and turned to him ever so slowly.
“Stop? You ask me to stop when I’m so close to what I’ve spent centuries waiting for?”
“I’m asking you to stop before you lose it.” He corrected. “The witches are threatening to go back on their deal if you kill Marcel now.”
His brother growled and kicked the wall, leaving a good sized hole.
“They said-”
“I know, but they want us to play by their rules first and they don’t involve Marcel dying so early in the game.”
“It's a trick, Elijah. They’re playing with us!”
His brother was obviously angry that things wouldn’t be resolved that easily, but… Elijah knew what Marcel had meant to Niklaus. He knew that his brother had to be feeling some relief over not being forced to kill him like this.
“No, brother. It's a gift. We now have time to figure out what they truly want from us. And we will.” He said, maybe a bit more forcefully than he usually would. “But we need to be smart about this. We can’t rush, you know it better than me. Right now, more than ever, this family needs your usual controlling, cunning and highly manipulative self. So pull yourself together, brother, and let’s plan.”
The struggle in the younger Mikaelson’s face was obvious. There were so many emotions in his eyes… He didn’t think he’d seen his little brother this emotional since… since the last time they had opened that coffin.
“We need to win more time.” Muttered Niklaus, leaning back against the stone wall with his hands clenched into fists.
“I’m listening.”
“We need to give the witches something that they want, something that’ll reassure them that we’re committed to following their… rules.” His brother spat with clear distaste. “And we need to find out how Marcel controls them.”
Elijah remained silent for a few seconds, thinking, until an image came to the front of his mind. A recent memory, in fact.
“The witch, Jane-Anne. Marcel has her body and they want it.” Shared Elijah. “Apparently, she will not rest until her body has been consecrated to the earth.”
“Then we’ll get it for them.”
“Marcel won’t give it up easily.” Cautioned Elijah.
“Oh, he will. We only need to do what we do best.”
“Which is…?” he prodded, honestly curious.
“You will negotiate with Marcel.”
“And what will you do?” the vampire hummed in question.
His brother’s smirk was positively devious.
“I’ll be the villain that gives you something to negotiate with.”
HPTOHPTOHPTO
Whilst his brother went off to procure the means for the negotiation, which involved creating a situation where Marcel would suddenly find himself in need of the Hybrid’s blood, Elijah called his sister.
“Are you out of your mind? Have you learnt nothing from our past? Elijah, whatever tangled up situation he has gotten himself into with those witches is not our problem. Come home and let’s forget-”
“Rebekah.” He cut her off. “I can’t. We can’t. What’s brewing here is bigger than you imagine…”
“Look, Elijah, if you want to get into his messes again, I’m not going to stop you, but count me out of-”
“They have the sixth coffin.”
His only answer was a deep unsettling silence and then...
“Are you sure?” whispered his sister.
“I saw it with my own eyes. Rebekah, they have her.”
“I’m on my way.”
HPTOHPTOHPTO
They could hear the witches talking long before they saw them. Sophie’s voice was familiar, though not the voice of the witch that answered her. They listened as they approached the mausoleum.
“Marcel and his vampires are out of control. Something had to be done.” Said Sophie in a clearly defensive voice.
“And the solution is to bring in more vampires?” retorted the unknown witch.
“These aren't just any vampires, Agnes. They're the Originals.”
“What makes you think you can control the hybrid?” asked the witch now identified as Agnes.
His brother decided to make their presence known then.
“She can’t. Nobody can.” Said Klaus, a half-smirk tugging at his lips as he strode in. “But, I am open to a good fair deal.”
“And we bring proof of our intent to help you: the body of your fallen friend, which I procured from Marcel himself.” Said Elijah, slowly lowering the linen-wrapped body onto the ground.
“Jane-Anne.” Whispered Sophie Devereaux, kneeling next to the body as the rest of the witches congregated around them.
“May she be granted peace.” Muttered Elijah, feeling a small touch of sympathy that he quickly squashed as he thought of what these two sisters had and were still doing. “We agree to your terms.”
Sophie’s head snapped up towards him.
“But I have one condition.” Said Niklaus, and Elijah looked at him in confusion, having no knowledge of this.
“Brother…”
“Hand the coffin over into our custody.” Demanded Niklaus, shrugging off the arm Elijah placed on his shoulder.
The older Mikaelson didn’t protest anything after hearing the condition. It was truly a reasonable demand.
“No.” answered the other witch, Agnes.
There was a moment of silence, everyone in the crypt tensing up as the air charged up with an unnameable energy.
“No?” repeated his brother in a low silky voice. “No? You dare deny me this? After threatening me, trying to manipulate… you expect me to cooperate when you won’t even grant me this simple request?”
The witches seemed confident in their idea that they had all the cards here, but even if they did at the moment, the brothers would never let it show. Things changed fast in this city and they had just arrived: they could gain the upper hand still. They would.
“The coffin will not leave the cemetery.” Stated Sophie, looking almost remorseful as she sided with the other witch, and talking fast before any more protests could be uttered. “It is safer here, where no other vampires can get to it.”
“I thought no one but you could open it.” Sneered Klaus.
“They can’t, your brother can attest to that. But someone could still take it and hide it.”
“Not if a witch cast a spell to hide it.”
“No witch will do so. We can’t practice our magic under threat of death, remember?”
Niklaus glowered at her, but she stood firm. They wouldn’t let the coffin out of the safety provided by the cemetery’s sacred grounds.
Still, Elijah sensed there was more to it and he filed it away for later perusal.
“Even so, we still have no proof that you will hold your own part of the deal.” Gritted out Klaus.
“You will have to exercise a bit of faith, then.” Intervened the dark-skinned witch he’d met earlier, Sabine.
Niklaus’ face contorted into a furious visage and he scoffed angrily before storming out with one last look towards the coffin in the corner.
“For now, accept the deal.” Said Elijah, looking straight at Sophie, the one and only here that really had anything to negotiate with them. “The coffin and the girl inside remain unharmed or Klaus will you.”
Elijah turned to leave after his brother, but paused to add one last warning:
“And I will help him.”
HPTOHPTOHPTO
Elijah sat on an armchair drinking a glass of scotch in the luxurious suite he’d gotten upon arriving in the city. He was immersed in his own memories as he waited for Klaus to get back.
When the door opened, he didn’t look away from the amber liquid in the glass as he asked:
“Is it done?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. Our underhanded deal worked quite well. Marcel was only too happy to accept my blood even as he accepted my heartfelt apologies. His man, Thierry, yet lives and I remain a welcome guest in the French Quarter. My only concern now is this coven of impudent witches…”
…and the invaluable girl they held in their possession, but that needn’t be said.
“Yes, they have been hardly forthcoming.” Hummed Elijah. “Marcel obviously has something that they need. They don't want him dead. There must be a reason why.”
“I hate being manipulated.” Growled Niklaus, pacing the room.
“So they're manipulating you ―us. So what? With them, we can get her back.”
“And then what?”
“What do you mean?” asked Elijah, looking utterly confused.
He saw his brother pause before walking out onto the terrace. With a sigh, he poured another glass of scotch and followed him onto the cold night air.
Niklaus was leaning on the railing, his face looking out onto the lit up city below with a pensive expression, lost in his thoughts until Elijah handed him the glass and leant next to him, sipping at his own glass slowly.
“Do you remember what it was like? Before we left this place with Mikael chasing us? Remember what we achieved?”
“I do.” He nodded, wondering where this was going.
“I was so close then, brother… So close… I still thought any chance of breaking the curse was gone with the end of Katerina’s line, so I turned my attention to other solutions. There was a spell, not unlike the one these witches claim to have used but much more complex, that a witch was perfecting on my orders. If she had succeeded, I would’ve been able to take the strain the curse had on her body and mind onto my own. I would’ve been able to wake Svala…”
His heart clenched at the thought. He hadn’t known. If what his brother was now confessing was true ―and he didn’t doubt that it was― he hadn’t been dealing only with the loss of his city and Marcel when they had to flee from Mikael that time.
“I didn’t know, Niklaus.” He whispered, the guilt he sometimes still felt over not having stopped Mikael when he had the chance returning with a vengeance.
“Of course you didn’t. None of you did. I didn’t want to get your hopes up, in case it didn’t work. And it didn’t: the spell was lost in the fire, along with the witch that worked on it.” Muttered Niklaus taking a sip of his scotch. “This town was my home once, and in my absence, Marcel has gotten everything that was ours. Power, loyalty, family. I made him in my image, and he has bettered me. I want what he has. I want it back. I want the home that I built for her, Elijah.”
And Elijah understood. And agreed. For when ―and never if― they got her back, Svala deserved to have a place she could call home.
“Then this is your chance – it's our chance to start over. To take back everything we lost, everything that was taken from us.” He said, placing a hand on Klaus’ shoulder in support. “This is us, the Original family, and we have a chance to fulfil the vow we all made: to stay together as a family, always and forever. I’m your brother and I will help you and stand by you. We will build a home here again.”
By the end of his words, Klaus had brought his own free hand up to his neck in a brotherly gesture. Niklaus breathed out shakily.
“Thank you, brother.”
“There is no need to thank me. We are family.”
They smiled at each other lightly for a moment before Klaus looked out over the city one last time and turned to leave the balcony and enter the suite.
“In addition to the secret weapon he uses to control the witches, Marcel has assembled a small army of vampires. Working together, we can destroy them from the inside. The witches will be pleased.”
“And what of Rebekah?” asked his younger brother. “Has she stopped her pouting long enough to join the fun? Or is she still throwing a tantrum over being daggered and shoved in a box one too many times?”
“Rebekah may surprise you yet. After all, we all swore the same vow.” He answered in an almost chiding tone. “She made her disinterest quite clear in the beginning, but once I explained what is at stake she immediately agreed to come.”
“Oh wonder of wonders. Well then, let’s get down to business then, shall we?” exclaimed Niklaus taking a sat on the armchair opposite of which he’d sat before and leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees, looking at Elijah with burning intent eyes. “But let me be clear on one thing first, brother: whatever deals we make now with these witches… I’m gonna kill them all.”
“I expected nothing less, brother.”