Black Castle 🖤 E. Mikaelson

Chapter Seventeen. Live & Let Die

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Arabella walked into the gym and was instantly surrounded by what looked to be extremely skilled vampires. Quite a few were dressed in workout gear, while others were dressed in suits. Arabella looked down and smiled at their alertness. She assumed that this group might have been a fraction of the organization that Elijah mentioned. They all dressed just like him.
Marcel walked through the surrounding circle and grinned from ear to ear when he saw it was Arabella, living, and breathing. He was convinced she was actually dead, but then again, she couldn't die. He hoped for a while, that she did, and that she could.
"Arabella Mikaelson, what can I do for you?" He asked as he became smug, the circle around them didn't light up around her either.
"I've come to talk to you about joining your gym." She stuck her chin in the air as her feet planted themselves firmly on the ground.
"This gym doesn't welcome werewolves. Especially your kind of werewolf." He pointed a finger at her. Arabella was sure that the whole city knew who she was by now, but that didn't bother her the least bit.
"Ouch, and here I thought that you of all people, would be the one for integration. Taken your background and all." She rolled her eyes at Marcel's ignorance. Even she thought that he wouldn't be one to judge someone based on who they were.
"This has nothing to do with integration, Hell! Not even segregation. This has to do with werewolves being lethal to vampires. I'm not taking a chance. So, you can go." He was in her face now, but Arabella's expression never faltered as everyone else watched.
"I can go, but before I do. I'm going to need that key you've been holding on to." her right eyebrow raised.
"What key?" Marcel knew of the key she mentioned, but no one else knew. And he would like to keep everyone else clueless about its existence.
"Oh you know, the key that belonged to Father Kieran the day he died. The one you took." Arabella was through with the run-around she was receiving. She was fed up with the games. And she knew that Marcel knew. "Yeah, Camille caught me up with all of the gory details."
"And what makes you think I would give it to you?" His smile widened. There was no way he was going to give it to her that easily, he didn't know whether she had plans to use that key herself or give it to someone. So for that, he was extra protective over it.
"Would you rather Camille come in here and get it from you? Because she's on her way. She's supposed to meet me." Arabella turned slightly in the direction from which she came and poked her thumb out as if Camille would walk in any moment.
"You're bluffing." He narrowed his eyes.
"Am I? I can call her if you'd like." She grinned shortly after she pulled out her cell phone. "Or you can hand over the key and I'll be on my merry way."
"I don't think so." His smile returned, only, it wasn't from being amused. He really didn't like Arabella. He didn't have to be nice, but he had to respect her, she was the most feared in all of New Orleans. And he really didn't feel like dying by her hands.
Never thought he would have to think that. Arabella is more terrifying than Niklaus Mikaelson.
"Fine, then how about I take on your best fighters for it?" She asked, which she closed with a sigh. She already knew how the whole thing would turn out. But she needed that key. That was her main priority.
"Ha, no way. All they need is one bite and they die. I'm not taking that chance." Marcel became defensive almost immediately.
"I've never used my bite to kill anyone. I have other methods for that. Besides, I'd like to get a workout in since I'm clearly not welcomed there. So what do you say?" Arabella raised her eyebrow again. For being feared, she would have thought that everyone would have an insight into her patterns. But it seemed like they were all clueless.
Marcel looked around to see if it were really a good idea. Looking for the okay from the others. Arabella was dangerous, and he didn't want to be responsible for any dead Strix members.
"I'm in." A tall, dark, and bulky man stepped from the circle and stood behind Marcel. Arabella's eyes lit up.
"Excellent." Arabella beamed. The bigger they are...
Four more stood around Arabella and she couldn't contain her excitement as she smiled brightly at Marcel.
"Fine, if you beat all five of the Strix's best fighters. Then I will gladly give you the key." He rubbed his forehead and threw his hand up in defeat.
"But?" She egged on. She knew there wouldn't be a fight without rules and guidelines.
"You cannot turn wolf, nor could you bite any of them." Marcel's tone became low. If Arabella actually cared about Marcel's opinion, she would almost feel insulted. But she hadn't, and she didn't. But she only dealt with his existence because Rebekah fancied him.
"Sounds fair. Shall we?"
After that, the circle around her parted and the space that she walked through led straight to the cage where Arabella would fight the Strix members.
She was the first to step up and step into the ring. Behind her, a female, about the same height as Arabella, followed in behind her holding an extra pair of wraps. She held them out for Arabella to take, and she did take them. Arabella wondered why she was offered anything at all.
The woman nodded her head once and then backed away and started stretching while she waited for Arabella to finish wrapping her hands. But holding those wraps, memories flashed behind her eyes.
Arabella didn't know how to fight, so Kol decided that he would be the one to teach her. So she dressed in an extra pair of Kol's trousers and a button-down shirt and waited for her lesson in the ballroom. Elijah leaned against a nearby wall as he watched her with curiousness and adoration. He felt that he could always protect Arabella from harm. But Arabella, being who she was, wanted to be able to defend herself, and her family when the time came. By then, she knew they were vampires, and they knew she was a werewolf, though they had not seen the beast she transformed into. So the lessons wouldn't be hard or awkward when the time came. When Arabella turned her head to see Elijah watching her, she smiled wide, and with the clear love in her eyes, she knew her life couldn't be any better. Then Kol walked in with his boyish grin and started with three simple words.
"Shall we begin?"
Arabella came back, and she remembered. She remembered who Kol was. And instantly she sighed with exasperation when the memories of him came sailing back.
She looked down at her hands and they were wrapped almost perfectly, but she didn't have any recollection of doing it herself.
She would get back to Kol later, for now, the remembrance of knowing how to fight surged through her bones, which made her look up through her eyelashes and smile devilishly. The female fighter placed her hands up close to her face and inched closer as she indicated she was ready too.
Arabella didn't know anything about protecting her face, all she knew was to simply keep her guard up. She was so used to shifting into her inner monster that she really didn't worry about up-close combat. But she no longer wanted to rely on the Lycan inside of her to fight her battles, she wanted to be as dangerous as her counter-demon. And fighting the Strix members and getting that key was technically killing two birds with one stone.
She was obviously still working on the common phrases for the present century.
The fighter tried to catch Arabella off guard by swinging her foot up towards her head. Arabella reacted by diving below and then jabbing the fighter in her stomach. The force of the blow sent her flying into the wiring around the cage. But she caught herself and landed on her feet with little to no effort.
That was when another fighter entered the cage. And Arabella couldn't help but smirk. They all wanted to see a challenge. Vampires versus Werewolves.
He came in swinging, and at that time Arabella was unprepared. The male fighter's foot connected directly to her chest and she went flying back against the cage that time. The wind was knocked out of her, but she didn't plan to stay on the floor for long. She hurried and scrambled to her feet, and as soon as she was standing straight her eyes flared. She wasn't shifting, but the male fighter didn't know that. So he backed away, and she stalked closer, and as soon as his back hit the cage, Arabella went to swing at him but the female fighter was behind her. But that didn't stop Arabella since she quickly turned and grabbed her by her neck and snapped it with an effortless move. Which made the male fighter upset because he charged at Arabella. She was quick to twist around and grab him from behind, and she squeezed him hard enough to make his spine snap. Once he cried out in pain, she took his head in her hands and twisted it hard enough to snap it. Two bodies lay limp on the mats as she stood above them with her chest heaving.
Arabella was panting now when she looked up to see how Marcel was looking at her but instead found Elijah, standing right behind him. When the others felt his presence, they all turned in his direction and stared. But Elijah's attention was on one person only: Arabella.
Quite frankly he assumed that she would be in and out with retrieving the key from Marcellus. However, he didn't expect Arabella to stoop so low into fighting them for it. For now, he felt obligated to get her out of the mess she was in. Too bad he didn't know that Arabella wanted to be in that fighting cage. She needed the practice.
"What happened to needing the workout?" Marcel shouted as his arms flew outward from his sides.
"What happened to this being a challenge? This is sad." Arabella shrugged. She calmed her breathing and turned away, and as soon as she said and did it, the tall, dark, and bulky fighter sped into the cage, and Arabella's shoulders fell. She knew that there were three more fighters she was supposed to take on before getting the key, but now she was bored.
Elijah used his vampire speed to get into the cage and he stood right in front of the other male fighter. The two temporarily dead vampires were being pulled out of the cage.
Elijah removed his suit jacket as he waited for the fight to commence, and as he did so Arabella's right eyebrow automatically went up as she checked out Elijah. She realized just why she didn't picture him wearing anything else because he was absolutely arousing in the suits he wore. Especially when he was wearing all black. She wasn't entirely sure whether she wanted to scold him for trying to defend her, or simply unbutton his shirt slowly, and entertain the craving she'd been missing.
And since she couldn't go with her second choice, she went by scolding him for trying to defend her.
"Elijah, Qu'est-ce que tu fais?" {What're you doing?} She mentioned as she turned him slightly by the shoulder. "I've got this handled."
"If this were truly handled, then you would have already had the key and you wouldn't be fighting vampires Arabella. What're you trying to do, get them to trigger your inner wolf?" He didn't look at her, and that's what Arabella hated. She didn't like when he didn't look at her when he spoke because she knew, just by that he was upset with her. But she didn't know why. It was her choice to fight these vampires, but he wouldn't understand.
"I cannot work out in a normal gym Elijah. And I hate to say it, but vampires give me a challenge. I'm trying to stay in shape and help Camille. So what if I have to fight to get it?" She explained. But that didn't cause Elijah to move.
"We'll talk about this later," his head was low as he rolled up his sleeves, and then he positioned himself as the fighter stalked closer. Then the other two joined him as they could see that it was unfair for one vampire to go up against two Originals.
Elijah calmly raised his fists, but Arabella took it upon herself to fight the other two. They immediately began to throw their punches and Arabella ducked and weaved. They were fast, but Elijah was faster since he knocked the bulkier man out with two swings of his fist, then he raced around them and snapped the others' necks, and stared at Arabella. He was annoyed.
"Marcellus, if you would." Elijah's eyes didn't leave Arabella's gaze. But it didn't matter because she didn't feel guilty about her choices, and if that was how Elijah wanted to make her feel then he was in for a rude awakening. She wasn't taking anything back.
Arabella was the first to step out of the cage and was met by Marcel who was approaching her through the expanding crowd of vampires.
"A deal's a deal." Marcel smiled as he held the key up for Arabella to take. Just before she reached to grab for it, Elijah was already at her side, precisely at the same time Aya walked in to see what was going on.
"Oh look who it is, the sire who doesn't give a rat's end about any of us." She smirked as she swayed with a certain beauty in her walk.
"Aya, it's always good to see you." Elijah sighed as he continued to stare at the woman who drove him completely mad. Arabella.
"Mmn, likewise," Aya replied dryly and with a great amount of sarcasm.
Arabella had no clue who the woman was, but clearly, there was a past between Elijah and her that was definitely unfinished. Arabella continued to stare at Elijah just like he was doing to her. Two could play at that game, and she had no intention of letting Elijah feel like he was right about something he knew nothing about.
"Now listen closely. Arabella is going to walk out of here. Beyond those doors you do not speak to her, look at her, or breathe in her general direction. Do I make myself clear?" Elijah looked from person to person as he weaved his arms through his suit jacket, making him look dangerous and sexy at the same time. Arabella had to snap out of her daze before she realized she was drooling. She was supposed to be upset by the way he interfered with her business, but it was kind of hard when she wanted to bite him.
"You're really just going to come in here and start making demands?" Marcel asked as he grew smug. Somehow thinking that giving Elijah lip would earn him brownie points with the Strix. It wasn't.
"Ah. Shh, Shh, Shh. Marcel, grown-ups are talking." Elijah turned his head away from Arabella and ignored whatever snide remark Marcel thought he was going to come up with.
But Arabella couldn't control the chuckle that escaped passed her lips. Once Elijah looked at her from his side view she tried her best to close her mouth. It was time for her to go, so she turned and started for the entrance to the church. No one was stopping her, not even Elijah. She thought that he was making sure that she left without someone following her, and that was why he wasn't leaving with her. But she had other things to do than worry about Elijah and his sired vampires.
Arabella made it outside and Camille turned around and faced Arabella when she approached. Camille seemed almost dazed and confused by Arabella, and Arabella wondered why that was.
"Are you ready to go?" Arabella asked as a general precaution. She wanted to see if she had been compelled by Elijah or not. And she could tell by what Camille's answer would be. If Camille were to ask where they were going, then Arabella would know, and that would cause a problem for Elijah and her. She needed Camille focused and with compulsion, Camille would be left cloudy and dazed and not herself. Arabella held up the key for Camille to take.
"I'm ready whenever you are," Camille replied calmly, however, her body language told Arabella that she was nervous about something. She took the key from Arabella and diverted her eyes elsewhere. She appreciated the help Arabella was giving, but she was still cautious because Arabella was still the big bad wolf of the French Quarter. A title that rightfully belonged to Niklaus Mikaelson, but now that Arabella Sophia Bonavich was back in town, she definitely reigned as the most terrifying. Even when she did look like a goddess on the outside. "When my brother was still alive, we spoke in this specific code. Somehow my uncle figured out how to leave me a clue as to where this key goes. I solved it, and now I know where we're going."
Arabella looked around the Quarter while she listened, and what she found were tourists walking and laughing with their friends or relatives. Arabella's eyes came across werewolves who were gathered around eating hotdogs and laughing. It was weird that they so freely roamed about in the Quarter, but they weren't the reason why Camille was feeling uneasy.
And then her eyes landed on a man, he had dark hair and bright eyes. He stared at Arabella as if he knew her. But she was sure she had never seen him before in her life.
He smirked at her, and that caused Arabella to furrow her eyebrows as she turned Camille away and began walking down the sidewalk. But Arabella couldn't help herself, she turned a little and looked at him again, and he didn't blink. He watched her. She was sure that she didn't know him, but by the look on his face, he definitely knew who she was. More than anyone in the entire city of New Orleans. And that made Arabella nervous.
"Is that guy behind us making you feel weird? Cause I can rip his tongue out if you'd like." Arabella offered, clearly covering up the uneasiness that she was feeling toward the stranger. She needed Camille to say yes in order for Arabella to feel better because Arabella didn't like to feel uneasy, and Arabella didn't like people who made her feel uneasy. She needed an excuse to use violence.
"Wha- oh, no." She turned, but Camille didn't see anyone when Arabella turned to see what she wasn't seeing, the man was gone. So that did make Arabella feel a little crazy. "I just know Francesca is up to no good. And I'm hoping this key could give us some answers."
Arabella smiled lightly, she could sense the good in Camille, and sure, it made her want to hurl. But she was trying to be good also. Start a new life of positivity and happiness. And the first step to doing so was helping Camille put a stop to Francesca Correa.