The Red Queen | Lucien Castle & Tristan de Martel

Chapter 10

She tossed them into the living room, striding to the fireplace and taking one of the burning logs, pressing it to the walls and letting them ignite. "You have two options," said Vivalda, walking to the doorway. "You can either burn in there or die out here. You choose."

Elena stared at her hatefully, but not nearly as hatefully as Vivala was looking back. "Sweet little would-never-hurt-a-fly Elena orchestrated all of this," she said, holding out her arms. "You killed my brother to get a cure you supposedly didn't want. I suppose I can't fault you for not wanting to admit it. You being selfish isn't the problem. It's the fact you'd use my family as collateral damage for your cause. Congratulations, darling, you're just as much of a monster as the rest of us. I imagine Klaus is to blame for all of this. Yes, you'd love to punish him, wouldn't you? Unfortunately you'll never get a chance."

"Let my brother go," pleaded Elena weakly, coughing as smoke began to fill the room. "I made him do it. You're right, I'm selfish. Kill me but please, please, don't hurt him."

Vivalda pouted. "Oh, come here my dear." She waited for Elena to get closer before reaching out to grab her shoulder. She took her arms, cutting in with a knife and letting her bleed on the floor. "I want you to say that to me without any vervain in your system."

It was a glorious wait. Bonnie wheezing, Jeremy coming to and trying to save her, Elena bleeding and truly believing that Vivalda would let Jeremy live. As soon as the vervain was gone, Vivalda gripped her face. "Now, darling," she whispered, "rip out his heart."

Elena cried the whole time. Bonnie couldn't watch. As soon as Jeremy's body fell dead, she walked over to Elena. "There, now I'm satisfied! A brother for a brother. An even trade, don't you think?" She noticed the girl's horrified expression. "Don't think so? Well, we can add something to the deal." She swiped out her hand to decapitate her.

"Last but certainly not least," said Vivalda, coming back to Bonnie and removing the sword, pulling her out of the burning house. "I technically don't need to kill you if I just get rid of that little professor you mentioned. Shane, was it? Yes, that was it. He needs to die so he can't lead anyone to the cure. You won't manage anything without him whispering in your ear. Which means, you get to live. Aren't you lucky? All in exchange for a small favor of lifting the spell on the Gilbert House to allow me to take my brothers away and never set foot in this godforsaken town again."

"I'll lift it," Bonnie croaked.

"What was that, darling?"

"I'll lift it!" she cried. "I'll lift it. I'll lift it..."

"Good." She bit into her wrist and fed Bonnie her blood. "Go do that. My brothers better be free when I come back from killing Shane."

She left the Professor's head behind on his desk an marched back to the Gilbert House, where Klaus was already waiting for her outside, holding Kol's body.

She sank into the porch swing, breathing growing erratic as she reached out to hold him. His eyes were lifeless, skin a dull grey with bulging veins all over. This wasn't Kol, it couldn't be. It wasn't fair, why did it have to be so?

"I need to be the one to do the cremation this time," said Vivalda weakly, hugging him to her chest, burying her head in his shoulder and stifling a sob.

Klaus nodded. "I need to find our sister. Will you be returning to the mansion?"

"I don't plan to. I don't want to set foot in this town ever again."

She was waiting for the ashes to be processed when Tristan called her.

"When I first heard the reports, I feared something had happened to you," he said. "And then Antonella told me Riccardo had passed. I knew it to be Kol. My darling, I don't even know what to say..."