soulmark | e.mikaelson (revised)

head floating in water

AT LEAST THE ROOM IS NICE. The carvings on the wooden bed felt expensive. There are no curtains, no windows. Instead, the space is used up by a column of shelves, filled with books ranging from fiction to academia. Her fingers grazed upon the numerous titles once her original panic subsided. Nothing sparks her interest, not unless there's a book somewhere titled 'How to escape a kidnapping: For dummies'

The bracelet filled with vervain that Damon gave her was gone, along with Bonnie's amulet. She didn't need it to avoid compulsion. Still, she missed the comfort it provided. Alyssandra's gaze catches to the dreamcatcher on her wrist. It was the only magical thing that Elijah hadn't taken off her, most likely because it looked like an ordinary girl's jewelry (or maybe it was the glamor Sheila added on).

She knows it's at least been a day since she was teennapped and she wonders just how her friends and family are doing back in Mystic Falls. She wonders if they were trying to find her.

Alyssandra hadn't expected to get kidnapped, of course, yet here she was. She could still see Trevor's head rolling to the side and Rose's panicked expression on seeing her partner of a little below a millenia, die. She feels her panic rise once again and pushes it away.

Alyssandra rushes to the left side of the bed as the door is unlocked. Fear rises up to her throat, causing the top of her chest to shake and wither. Her jaw clenched, knuckles white as her fingers strained in its hold to the bedpost.

The door opens and reveals her captor. Elijah stood tall with broad shoulders and suit perfectly tailored to the monster wearing it. His eyes were sharp as he stares her down. He remains on the other side of the room, giving her ample space. Yet Alyssandra knew it was nothing but an illusion of safety.

He looks different from the day before, when he took her from the abandoned warehouse and into his car. He's more relaxed- in control now that there were no brothers attacking him out of nowhere. He's already won. He has the doppelgänger.

She tugs on her bloodied sleeve, pulling the fabric down to her palms to cover her wrist. He can't know the truth.

Alyssandra swallows thickly and forces herself not to shake. She speaks first, "Where are we?"

"Somewhere your friends can't find you." His voice is smooth and velvety, a clear octave. Her mind plays a trick: She's in a world where they are together. They sing in perfect harmony. She pushes the thought out of her mind. The same train of thought was the reason she ended up there in the first place.

Her lips pursed and she summons the same bravery she used as a child to go down the stairs at night. "Don't hurt them. Any of them."

Elijah's brow rises with a ghost of an amused smile and mild irritation in his eyes. "And what makes you think you're in position to make demands?"

"Because you need me for something." Alyssandra remembers Katherine's warning, the story of how she was hunted. An old tale of vampires and werewolves. The sun and moon curse. Bat your eyes and look pretty, she'd say, They love it when we're pretty. "I have the power to take that all away."

Elijah's eyes narrow. "Make no mistake," he murmurs dangerously. "The power is all mine."

He doesn't speed towards her like she thought he would. Instead he takes a couple steps closer to meet her eye. Slow. The sharp thump of his shoes came in time with the rattle of her heart, her lips parting in fear as he walked closer, only stopping when he was a foot away. She wills herself not to shake, trapping the feeling by her ribcage. It's pointless anyway.

Her eyes start to glisten, the faces of all her love ones flashes in her mind one by one. Even Elena's damned bunny. She shudders through a breath. "Rose said you gave her your word," she says. "I'm gonna end up dead anyway, can't you extend that courtesy to me?"

"Are you negotiating with me?" He almost sounded coy.

"My friends." Alyssandra repeats firmly, "My family. I'm already here. You leave Mystic Falls alone, and I-" she swallows thickly, a panicked bile rising out from her gut. "I'll do what you say."

She could hear Damon's voice in her head 'What are you doing, parasite? That's exactly what you shouldn't do. Get the hell out of there.' She ignores him.

"What do you know?" He wonders.

"I've met Katherine. I know what you did to her," she says shakily. "D-Don't hurt my family."

Alyssandra knows that she's grasping straws. But she also knows that when a vampire turns, everything else about them gets amplified. Alyssandra reminds herself that he gave Rose his word and let her go. Surely...

"Please." The bird in her ribcage fluttered harder against its confines. "Please. You already have me. You don't need them- don't hurt them."

Elijah remained quiet, studying her. The silence is broken when her stomach rumbles. Her cheeks flush in embarrassment, and she realizes that the last time she ate was the night before.

"Dinner will be ready in an hour," he alludes. He breaks space by taking a step back.

"You were human before," she says boldly. The mark on her wrist proves it- not that he knows that. "You must know what it's like to have a family. Please-" her voice is quiet, she's sure the only reason he heard it is because of his super hearing. "Please don't hurt them."

He lingers by the door, hand held firmly on the doorknob. Elijah is devoid of emotion despite her pleas. His face remains a cool mask. "I'll see you in an hour, Elena."

The door snaps shut.

•

The vampire hunter trainee flicks the blonde locks of her hair aside. Caroline waits impatiently in the Bennett Family's living room, eyeing Damon and Stefan Salvatore a little too heatedly. Jenna is pacing back and forth by the window, her eyes looking red from tears and a stuffy nose. Elena is there too, a sudden change. Normally she didn't bother with the other witches because of how they treated her and Aly.

"Sheila will help us." Jenna said to convince herself. "Right? The spell will work and she'll be home by tonight."

"How could you have even lost sight of her if you were together, Elena?" Caroline says in panic, her nerves alight.

"What are you even doing here, blondie?"

"I asked her, Damon," Elena snaps. The other twin helplessly fiddled with her fingers, sending Caroline a sad, wide-eyed, look. "We'll find her."

Caroline didn't need supernatural hearing to know that Bonnie is doing one hell of a case against Sheila. The older Bennett wanted nothing to do with Salvatore's or any of the other vampires in town. She made it perfectly clear when she locked the vampires away in Fell's Church.

But this is Aly they were talking about. She may be a siphoner, but Sheila wouldn't just turn a blind eye as she went missing. No. The main problem here is that there's a curse surrounding Aly and Elena, and the missing ingredient was taken away by their evil triplet.

Bonnie comes out of the room first, ashen. She moves to the side as Sheila follows her out. The elderly witch looks tired, and the displeasure on her face was evident as her gaze shifted towards the Salvatore's.

"Well, Grams?" Jenna's voice is a tremor away from a whisper. "Did you find her?"

Sheila's lips turn flat. "No," she says gravely. "I couldn't."