Devil's Backbone by idkxwriting (ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN)

CHAPTER 6

Cami stormed into the compound. "What happened?" She demanded. She hated the world she was in now; that she couldn't do anything to stop her friends and family from being sucked into the darkness that surrounded her.

Elijah paced back and forth like a caged animal, ignoring Cami's presence.

Freya watched him carefully. "Y/N was attacked by a vampire," she explained.

Cami nodded. "I got that much. Marcel filled me in about Ben. Why didn't you compel her to invite you in?" She addressed Elijah.

"She's been compelled not to."

"Then how did Ben get in?" She demanded.

Elijah pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "He entered her home as a human first, she had no reason to think he was a threat," he explained. He had spent time wondering himself, it was the only explanation. Though he still couldn't figure out who would compel her and why.

"Where is she?"

Elijah's eyes darted to the foyer upstairs and Cami understood, quickly making her way to her friend.

Elijah continued to pace.

"Brother," Freya began.

He stopped, his eyes darkening with anger as he glared at his older sister. "Don't," he hissed.

She approached him cautiously. "Elijah, what did she see?" He said nothing so she pressed further. "I know she entered your mind, brother. I need to know exactly how much she saw." While it had only been Y/N that invaded his mind, Freya had been connected to her through magic and sensed pieces of what had happened, she just couldn't put them together.

There was no use lying to his sister.

He felt a tear roll down his cheek and wondered when he had started crying. "Everything," he whispered.

Freya shut her eyes in defeat. "Elijah," her voice was enough to make him snap.

"You will tell no one!" Before he registered what he was doing, his hand was upon her neck, pushing her back into the stone pillar behind her. The veins under his eyes dancing angrily.

Freya's eyes widened in shock and she struggled to breathe in.

"Enough!" Rebekah's voice shouted before Elijah was thrown back.

Elijah looked between his sisters - looks of disappointment and fear on their faces. He straightened himself out. "Forgive me."

Rebekah held onto Freya, comforting her sister, while addressing her older brother. "I expect this from Niklaus, but you, Elijah?"

Klaus approached, chuckling. "Seems I'm rubbing off on you, brother," he stated casually, fixing himself a drink.

Elijah nodded. "Forgive me, sister," his eyes softened when he looked at Freya.

She rubbed her neck, soothing the bruise she could feel making its way to the surface. "Elijah, you've put us all at risk. I know you care for her..."

Niklaus cut her off. "What do you mean 'put us all at risk'?" His voice had gone from amused to anger.

Freya looked between her siblings, and just before she spoke, her eyes begged for Elijah's forgiveness. "The weapon, we've found it," Freya said quietly. She cleared her throat.

It's what she had sensed while she used her magic to stabilize Y/N. A hunter had awoken. Though Freya had not sensed the evil she anticipated, she had sensed danger and very real fear. If they weren't careful, Y/N would be the end of all of them. Elijah knew it, too.