Chapter 12
"I'm what?" Elijah questioned confused on what Serena had just said. "A Demon," she asserted. Elijah was lost for words he didn't know what to think. "It makes sense. You said you hadn't been healing very well since you escaped from the pits, right?" she asked. Elijah nodded thinking deeply about it, "I was able to walk in the sun without a daylight ring,". "You see despite popular belief among witches, Demons only feed once or twice their entire life. Usually, a Demon would fall in love and would remove the soul of their lover to begin their transformation into a demon so effectively they can you-know" She stopped remembering Nathan was there too, "Eww" he screamed dawning a look of disgust on his face. "The other way is more of a defence mechanism. If a young demon is in trouble and connects with a soul and feels that person could protect them, they remove the soul so they can do exactly that," Serena finished. Elijah looked curiously at Nathan thinking about this, "So, Nathan has been feeding of my soul? That's why I've been feeling weak". "Yes, but that only begins our problems. Usually, a demon will take a soul in one go so the person being transformed feels as little pain as possible when their horns come through and them getting their magic-" she said. "Wait, horns?" Elijah interrupted. "Shush! We'll get to that" she asserted. "Where was I, oh yes. But judging by the mark on your neck Nathan has been taking small amounts of your soul over a long period of time meaning that you have begun to transform, but the part of your soul that's left is causing the pain you've been experiencing,". Nathan's face dropped and he started to cry, "I'm sorry dad, I didn't mean to hurt you," he sobbed. Elijah bent down to him, "Don't be silly Nathan, it's not your fault," Elijah replied picking him up for a hug. "Please continue Serena," Elijah said cuddling Nathan. "Also, when demons feed, they usually pick up one or two personality traits that they inherit from the soul, so Nathan gradually feeding off your soul would mean that he would inherit even more aspects of your personality," Elijah looked down at Nathan already wearing a suit and knew that what Serena was saying was the truth. Serena then proceeded to take off one of her rings revealing a pair of horns. They were black in colour and were about 3.5 inches tall, almost looking like bone. Elijah and Nathan were stunned and intrigued by Serena horns, "hope your listening because a demons' horns are the most important thing in demon culture,". Elijah nodded putting Nathan down, "Another thing witches assume is that demon magic is limitless, it's not. A demons horns act as stabilisers, the longer the horns the weaker the demons magic, the shorter the horns the less time the magic has to be stabilised. Nathan's father was what they call a 'death touch' his horns where soo tiny but his magic was unmatched, I imagine that the both of you will have similar looking horns, especially after what you did today," she finished putting her ring back on once again concealing her horns. Elijah was lost in thought, although everything made sense on why he was feeling weaker and the pain he couldn't quite wrap his head around him becoming demon. "So is dad going to be a hybrid-thingy?" Nathan asked his mother excitedly. Serena paused she had not even had the chance to think about that, "I guess,". "Cool!" Nathan said ecstatically with a huge grin on his face. Elijah wasn't so happy. "Can we stop the transformation? Or Speed it up?" He asked. "I don't know. But, I know once a demon starts to feed they have to take the full soul, but that's it," Serena said annoyed with herself that she couldn't be much help. "Is there anyone how would, any other demons perhaps?" He asked. Serena shook her head, "All the demons are in hiding.... " she paused and her face dropped as she began to rant to herself in ancient tongue. Both Nathan and Elijah looked at her confused, Serena then walked over to Nathan and covered his ears with her hands. "My arsehole brother would know what to do," she revealed releasing her hands from Nathans ears. "I heard what you said," he replied cheekily. "Shush you," Serena joked messing up his hair. "You don't have a good relationship with him?" Elijah asked. Serena shook her head, "my younger brother's heart was used by your sister as part of her Blood Order initiation, if James hadn't run off, he would still be alive. We haven't spoken since,". Elijah was taken aback by this he could tell at the diner that Freya and the Petersons had history by the tension but had no idea that there was that much depth to it. The trio then started to head back to the rest of the pack with Serena contemplating whether she should reach out to her brother or not. When they got back the wolves had finished dealing with the overgrown foliage. "Did you think of a plan?" Elijah asked Serena remembering this morning's events which seemed like an eternity ago. "No we got distracted by the ground shaking," she smirked. "We could take a break and go into town?" Elijah said. Nathan perked up, "Can we?!" he asked excitedly. Serena and Elijah exchanged grins and she shrugged her shoulders, "Yeah we can, maybe we can get some ice cream," she said suggestively. Nathan looked at Elijah confused not knowing what ice cream was, "trust me, Nate, you'll like it," Elijah winked. Elijah then asked Alpha Peter if he needed anything since they were going to town where he replied that his magic hiccup had provided them with enough food for a while but said he needed to talk to him when he got back later. Elijah then turned to Sarah and Katrina to see if they wanted to go, Katrina politely refusing. The four of them then left the pack going into town.
Chapter 13
They arrived at the park where there was a playground full of children, full of slides, climbing equipment, swings and even a zip line. Both Sarah and Nathans eyes lit up with joy, they wanted to run right to it and play. But Serena and Elijah walked right past heading to the ice cream truck to get some ice cream. Nathan and Sarah pleaded to go to the park with Serena telling them they will get some ice cream first and then go to the playground afterwards. Although the pair weren't overly happy with not going to the playground right then and there, they followed them to the truck to get some ice cream. They waited a few minutes for their turn as they watched the children in front of them get handed a white thing that looked like a cloud and start licking it with their tongue. Before he knew it Elijah handed him an ice cream and watched as Serena used a spell to convince the man she paid him for the four ice creams. The family then sat on a bench near the playground, their ice creams in hand, they made sure it was secluded so hopefully no one would recognise them. Nathan watched his mum and dad start to eat the ice cream and saw that they were enjoying it. He then started to eat his, his face lit up and he had the biggest smile on his face it wasn't like anything he had ever tasted before so cold and creamy. "Dad that is Delicious!" he screamed with joy. Sarah was too busy devouring hers to comment. Elijah winking at him he was almost done with his as well. They all sat there eating the desserts like they were in heaven, them all enjoying the cold sweat buzz of the ice cream until there very last bite of the wafer cone. After they had finished Elijah used his handkerchief to get any extra ice cream off their faces and after a few minutes they headed to the playground. Both Sarah and Nathan were buzzing with excitement. Elijah and Serena managed to secure a bench in the playground and Elijah told the children, "Be careful and don't talk to strangers," Nathan looked at Elijah confused, "What is a stranger?". "It's people you don't know," Elijah replied remembering they had no concept of stranger danger. "If someone tries to hurt you punch them right in the face!" Serena butted in, Elijah giving her the side eye. "Okay, mum!" Nathan said as the two of them rushed off to play on the climbing frame. The proud parents watched them walk off when a child ran up behind them, Nathan blurted out, "Back Stranger!" "Our daddy says were not allowed to talk to you!" Sarah chimed in. Serena looked at Elijah who was embarrassed, whilst Serena was laughing hysterically. "Begone stranger! My dad's over there" the pair heard Nathan call from across the playground. The other parents at the playground were starting to look at Elijah and Serena with judgemental stares. "We should probably go tell them not to hit anyone in the face," Elijah commented. Serena's face dropped as she realised what she had told them, and they rushed off to prevent them from punching another child in the face. They went over to them as they were transitioning from the slide to the swings, "I did what you said dad," Nathan said, Elijah couldn't argue with him he did tell him not to talk to strangers. "Do you want me to push you on the swing?" he asked Nathan and he happily obliged with Serena doing the same for Sarah. Although he found it difficult to control his strength while pushing the swing ending up just using his index finger to keep the swings momentum making sure Nathan didn't fly off into the nearby forest. Meanwhile Nathan was having an amazing time of the swing, "I can touch the sky!" he exclaimed. "Please don't let go," Elijah said worriedly not wanting him to swing off into the horizon. Then at the corner of his eye he saw Marcel walking past. Serena followed his gaze still pushing Sarah, "Who is it?" she asked finding Marcel. "That's Marcel. If he sees me here, he will tell Klaus," Elijah replied trying to act casual. "Why didn't you say so," she said preforming a spell which turned Elijah's hair blonde. "Haha you look funny!" Nathan laughed looking behind at Elijah's hair. They watched as Marcel walked by without even looking their way. Elijah let out a sigh of relief and Serena clicked her fingers turning his hair back to normal. "How did you do that?" He asked. "I've been known to dabble in illusion spells," she chuckled "I would like to know what else you dabble in," Elijah said not meaning it the way it came out. "I bet you would," they both laughed, the children being confused. Nathan and Sarah then got off the swings and went to have one last go on the slide before heading home, Elijah and Sarah waited on the side. "On a serious note, my speciality is curses, James is the master of illusions. My sister Alex, well, you don't want to be on her bad side. I heard it's gets bloody" Serena said sadly. "So do demons have special aspects of magic that there better at?" Elijah asked. "Er- not really it's up to the demon what they use their magic for, even before I was turned I enjoyed using my witch magic to curse people. I even made a bunch of girls in our village barren once, now that was fun," she laughed. Elijah shook his head and smiled, "Why do I feel like you and Nicklaus would get along,". She looked at him in disbelief, "Na, there would be too much of a power struggle. Which I would inevitably win," she said assertively. "I don't know if he would agree with you about that," Elijah said grinning at her. Then Sarah and Nathan came back from the slide and Serena asked, "You ready to go home?" to which they both nodded tiredly. The four of them began to head back but before they got there about halfway Nathan and Sarah couldn't walk anymore so Elijah carried both Nathan and Sarah after Serenas failed attempt to hold Sarah. They then proceeded to walk back with Elijah trying not to trip over with his limited vision. Serena was deep in thought barely speaking on the way back. Although he couldn't turn his head Elijah could sense Serena was upset about the possibility of reaching out to her siblings. Elijah sighed, "I have done things that my siblings should probably hate me for-"he started Serena looked up following his voice, "But although I have done these things I know that if I needed help they would come to my aid because that's what family is,". Serena looked at him his admiration for his family made her feel envious and lonely, "So you think I should just forgive them for everything that happened?" Serena asked half angry half curious to see what Elijah would say next, "Of course not. What I'm saying is that you need to move forward for both you and Nathan. He deserves to be spoiled by his aunt and uncle," Elijah smiled. Serena laughed knowing that if her siblings did find out about Nathan, he would indeed be spoiled but she didn't know if she could find it In her heart to tell them. "What if I can't do it? What if he doesn't want to help you and Nathan because of me," She questioned sporadically. "There's only one way to find out," he replied. They arrived back at the pack Serena now boosted with confidence knew exactly what she had to do to help her son, she didn't have a choice but to call James. She went to get out her phone when she realised that she didn't have his number. Meanwhile Elijah put the two sleeping children in bed for a nap then went back downstairs to find Serena who was on the phone outside when he was stopped by Alpha Peter. "Raven, your back. Can I borrow you for a moment," he asked. Elijah nodded and followed him to the next room which was a huge study, there where boxes everywhere with matching cobwebs and large amounts of dust. Alpha peter then walked over to the desk and retrieved a letter from on top of the desk, he then handed it to Elijah. Elijah looked at the letter
Dear Wolves,
I am writing to invite you to the High Witch Council for a meeting to renegotiate the terms of the packs expired contract.
The meeting will be held at harmony hall at 11am Wednesday.
Kind regards,
The High Witch Council
Elijah studied the letter repeatedly he had no idea what the contract would be for, "I got this yesterday, and I was hoping you would know what it meant," The Alpha said hoping for insight into the letters meaning. "I don't. But I'm sure there's a copy of the contract somewhere. Probably in here," Elijah replied looking around at the multitude of boxes. Suddenly, Serena appeared in the room, "How did it go?" Elijah asked, with Peter looking confused. "I forgot I didn't have James' number, but I left Alex a voicemail saying I need to talk to her," Serena replied proud of herself after taking the better part of 5 minutes to dial the number hoping that Alex wouldn't answer right then and there. "Look at this," Elijah said passing Serena the letter. She looked at it thoroughly and looked up confused, "What contract?" she questioned. "That's what were trying to figure out," Elijah replied. "We think they may be a copy in one of these boxes," Peter continued. Serena looked at the room full of boxes knowing that it was going to be a long and tiring task. "we better get started then" she sighed picking up the box closest to her and began to shift through it's contents with Elijah and Peter following suit. After an hour the trio where swiftly going through the boxes but had yet to find the contract or anything resembling one. Serena still looking through the boxes at a fast pace as she was thinking about something else entirely. "Which one of you went missing 300 years ago?" she randomly blurted out. Elijah looked back at her confused. "Because if the wolves were taken 300 years ago that means that they would have already known what they were doing, they would have needed vampire blood too, right?" Serena looked at Elijah with confidence. "But you're assuming that the hybrids are directly sired to one of my family," Elijah replied. "Think about it, you're making artificial hybrids you would want the strongest possible outcome- a direct sire descendant of an original would be ideal." Elijah couldn't argue with Serena's logic it would make sense for the vampire line to be of one of Mikaelson decent as they are meant to be strong and unbeatable. "If we figure out who it is maybe we can use it to our advantage," Serena replied excitedly. "But who?" Peter chimed in the mystery overtaking him. "It's not Klaus, he and his hybrids have yellow eyes not orange like the hybrids I fought. But-" Elijah began trying to remember if his memories matched. "around 300 years ago I was imprisoned for a few years, they removed my blood and didn't replenish it so I ended up frenzying and killing almost everyone on the estate," He watched the contrast in faces between Serena and Alpha Peter. Serena trying to hide a lustful smile whilst Peter looked back at Elijah in terror. "So, the Blood Order took your blood, preserved it somehow and have been using it since to create their own personal army of hybrids. Seems legit." Serena recapped. Elijah sat in silence and nodded and continued to pull another box towards him. "Oh and we need to talk about magic lessons," she said. "Magic lessons? I know how to read spells," Elijah replied. "Witch magic and Demon magic are completely different. Witch magic is full of holes and is spell driven where Demon magic is much more natural, plus it's much more emotion and dark magic based. We could do it here,". "Not at the pack I don't want to draw any unwanted attention to them. But I know a place in town," Elijah replied and Serena nodded. "AHAA! I think I found it!" Peter cried with both Serena and Elijah shushing him. Peter apologised forgetting that Nathan and Sarah were sound asleep upstairs. He then rushed over to them with the contract.
The contract itself was around 20 pages long. Elijah skimming through the contract which was an agreement allowing the witches to pick plants with magic properties on pack grounds. In return the witches would pay the wolves money for the inconvenience of invading pack territory. Also, the contract outlined in regards to selling the plants they picked that the wolves would receive a percentage of the profit. But after reading through hours of documents including bank invoices Elijah knew the wolves had been manipulated as they had barely received any profit when he knew himself that some of the plants mentioned in the contract were difficult to find.
"What does this mean?" Peter asked. "I'm not sure, but this is definitely exploiting the wolves, that is not nearly enough money, some of these plants are extremely rare," Serena said with Alpha Peter looking at her weirdly. "What? I make potions, rare plants can cost a lot of money," She replied sternly. "When is the meeting?" Elijah questioned "Wednesday at 11am I think? I couldn't read all of it," Peter replied embarrassed that he couldn't read it all, Elijah remembering that the pack were more or less illiterate only being able to read a few words at a time, "So, it's Saturday today, so I have a week to build a case." The others nodded. "I'll teach the pack how to properly read and write," Elijah comforted Peter. "Me too, then we can go do magic practise afterwards and I get to spend more time with Nathan" she added. The trio decided that Elijah and Serena would teach the pack in the morning up until lunch where Serena, Nathan, Elijah and Sarah would go to learn to control their magic. They were about to come up with a plan to get the remaining hybrids back when they were disrupted by a large DING! The sound continued to echo throughout the room as both Elijah and Serena scrambled for their phones. Realising that it was Serena's phone she quickly grabbed it from her bag and when she saw who was phoning her face dropped in disgust, "It's Alex!" she whispered trying to hand the phone over to Elijah, Elijah pushed her hand back towards her, "I can't answer it!". Peter looked over at Elijah perplexed. Serena didn't want to answer but after some encouragement from Elijah she let out a big breath and answered the phone. "Hello?" she answered wearily. Elijah watched as Serena shifted from the confident women, he had begun to know over the last few days dissolve into a nervous wreck, with Serena biting her fingernails and playing with her hair he then whispered to Peter that her and her older sister didn't get along. "Yeah, I just really need to talk to you-"she said nervously looking at Elijah for support. He gestured to her to continue the conversation, "I was wrong to blame you for what happened, and I wanted to apologise in person," she finished Elijah nodding in approval with Serena waving him off. "Tomorrow morning? I'll be there, bye" she hung up the phone and let out a huge sigh of relief. "You happy now?" she asked looking back at Elijah "What exactly did she say?" he questioned. "Alex said she's going to be at the house tomorrow morning so we can meet her there," She replied with confidence. "We?" Elijah looked at her complexed. "Yeah, me, you and Nathan. I'm doing this for you so damn right you're going to be there," she snapped back. Elijah couldn't argue, Serena and her family where the only ones that had any idea of what was going on with him and how to fix it. After clarifying there plans for the next day Elijah and Sarah sat back in silence on the floor exhausted from the day of planning and playing, whilst Alpha Peter was looking around in confusion like a curious puppy. He was about to speak when Sarah and Nathan came into the room groggy and dazed after waking up, there hair stuck up from where they had been resting on their pillows. "What's that noise?" Nathan groggily asked. Elijah turned his head up and listened to see if he could hear what Nathan was talking about. He waited only hearing the pitter patter of rain from outside beating against the windows. "It's just rain, honey" Serena replied being met by inquisitive eyes. The Alpha approached the front door of the pack-house with the children lingering behind him. He then proceeded to open the door and waited on the porch lifting up his right hand into the rain. He held it there for a few moments and smiled. When he was satisfied, he stepped off into the porch directly into the rain and did a t-stance allowing the rain to reach all over his body where he just stood there smiling like he was in blissful heaven, he was overwhelmed by this experience. He was then joined by the rest of the pack who had emerged from their homes entering the cold trickling rain with huge smiles across their faces as they became entranced. Nathan and Sarah now watching from the porch turned back to Elijah as if they were asking permission to go out in the rain where Elijah then took their hands and the three of them went out into the rain. The children smiled gleefully as they watched the raindrops fall onto their skin seeping through to their clothes. Serena watched from the porch of the pack house enjoying watching the children frolic in the rain, loving every moment. After about 15 minutes the pack retreated in from the rain, but the wolves were all in high spirits, it was the first time they had ever seen rain. Once they began to dry off Elijah and Serena began to tell Nathan about their plans to meet his aunt tomorrow Nathan being ecstatic to meet someone new from his family.
Chapter 14
The following morning Serena was up early pacing herself around the living room nervous about talking to her sister properly the first time in 6 years. She didn't want to, but it wasn't about she wanted, Nathan needed her so she would have to swallow her pride just long enough to get James' number where she would have to go through all this again. In the Kitchen Peter was making toast for the kids and himself whilst Elijah was drinking black coffee leaning against the counter eating a cupcake. "Is Serena, okay?" Alpha Peter asked watching her pacing around the living room as he put two pieces of burnt buttered toast in front of Nathan and Serena, with them both looking at it in disgust. "Yeah, she is just nervous because she hasn't spoken to her sister in a long time," Elijah replied finishing the last drop of coffee from his mug placing it in the sink. "Are you sure you don't mind watching Sarah?" he asked. Peter turned towards him, "No not at all, I've got a whole thing planned," Sarah looked up excited. Serena then came over to see if the Elijah and Nate where ready to go. Nathan looked down at the burnt toast and went to get his jacket and the three of them gathered their things and left. It took about 10 minutes for them to reach the Peterson's family home. Serena stood outside taking a moment to contain herself and what she was about to do and the three of them proceeded to enter the house. To Serena's surprise no one was home as the three of them began to look around. Serena looked around confused, "Alex!" she shouted with no response. "Alexandra if this is your idea of a joke it's not funny!" she shouted again met with her own echo reflecting at her. "Maybe she isn't here yet?" Nathan suggested with Elijah nodding in agreement. Serena then got the two of them to wait in a separate room by the door until Alex arrived. Serena then went into the kitchen to get some water for them both when she heard the door swing open and shortly after Alex came into the kitchen. There was an eerie silence between them with both sisters waiting for the other to speak first. "Alex, I wanted-" Serena started being interrupted by her sister who cut straight to it, "What do you want Serena?" Alex huffed. Serena was slightly taken aback by this, "What do you mean, what do I want?". Alex raised her eyebrows and shook her head, "Don't play dumb sister. You are the queen or grudges. You haven't willing spoken to me in 6 years, James for over a 1,000 and you think that you calling me saying you want to make up doesn't seem suspicious at all? So, let me ask you again, what do you really want?" Alex questioned. Serena took a moment to think of how to answer her, "I needed James' help with something I was hoping you could give me his number," Serena replied truthfully. Alex was impressed that Serena told her the truth but also a bit downtrodden that the call was just a rouse, she was hoping that she was wrong and that her and Serena could make up. "You don't need his number he's here,". Serena looked around, "What do you mean? He's in the house?". Alex nodded, "I was afraid you would finally try and kill me so I called James, that's why I wasn't here when you first arrived" Alex said looking around to see where James was. Serena then bolted to the room where Nathan and Elijah where in and when she entered saw James intensively studying the mark on Elijah's neck. Alex then came in behind Serena seeing Elijah and Nathan on the sofa. Alex seeing Elijah turned to Serena "You didn't turn him, did you? Just because they look the same-"Alex began. "My mum didn't turn my dad, I did" Nathan interrupted coming to his mother's defence. Alex and James shared a moment of silence as they stared at Nathan. "Everyone this is my son, Nathan" Serena said breaking the ice. Alex and James took a while to process what Serena had said but once they did, they had huge grins on their faces. James was the first to give the boy a hug with Alex looking excited but confused, "But I watched them take him away" she said softly. "He somehow ended up in the pits," Serena replied. "The pits?" Alex questioned. "It was an underground prison where the Blood Order kept the wolves to be experimented on," Elijah finished filling out the blanks. James turned back to Alex exchanging horrified looks. Alex then proceeded to go over to Nathan and hug him almost pushing James over in the process. She then noticed Nathan's number on his wrist. "Whats that?" she questioned. "That's my number," he replied Elijah rolled up his sleeve showing them his number as well, "You poor things," Alex said squeezing Nathan even tighter. "So when we all felt that huge magic surge the other morning that was Nathan using his magic to escape the pits?" Alex asked with Serena nodding in agreement. "The message makes sense now," James said. "What message?" Serena said with both her and Elijah looking confused. "The reason we went to the Mikaelsons for help was because I got a message just after the surge saying that a familiar face would take us to what we seek. I never met Gabriel, so I assumed it meant Freya." James clarified. "Anyway. We have a problem, Nathan unintentionally began to feed on Elijah's soul in the pits and I thought if anyone would know what to do it would be you, James" Serena said. They all turned there attention back to Elijah and James again examined his neck. "How long have you had this mark on your neck?" he asked, Elijah thought about this for a moment, 'I'm not sure we had collars on, so it was hard to tell," Elijah replied. James not satisfied with Elijah's answer turned to Nathan. "Nathan, do you remember any time when you felt funny or tired after you spent time with your dad?' he asked. Nathan took a moment to think but nodded. "Do you remember how long ago, don't worry you're not in trouble," James continued. Nathan shook his head getting tired with this line of questioning. "What's so important about it?" Serena asked. "If we knew when Nathan started to feed on Elijah's soul, we would know how much time we have left to remove his soul before-" He stopped "Before?" Serena prompted. "Before Elijah's soul completely caves in on itself and kills both him and Nathan. That's what the mark on his neck means" James finished. "So, we need to get Nathan to finish feeding on Elijah's soul? That won't be too hard." Alex insinuated. "That depends on how long it's been. The longer it's been the more resistant the soul would become and given Nathans age I don't think he would be able to take the rest of the soul on his own," James said. "So, your saying my own soul is killing me?" Elijah questioned. James nodded "it's a defence mechanism, no one can live with half a soul, so it slowly begins to decay killing the souls original host and the Demon feeding upon it.". Everyone accept James was shocked by this news. "But we have time to fix it right?" Serena questioned. James hesitated for a moment, "I think so. It will be tough, but I think we should be able to work something out. Besides, I just found out I have a nephew he's not going anywhere" James joked winking at Nathan with Nathan smiling back at him. "So, what are we going to do?" Elijah asked. "We'll have to see if Nathan can take the rest of your soul on his own. Otherwise, we will have to find a way to manually remove it ourselves," James finished. "But something like that has never been done before," Alex inserted, with James shaking his head, "Our best bet it to keep both halves of the soul together, this will hopefully buy us some time to if needs be, make a spell," He replied almost defeated. "Alex, Serena, why don't you go show Nathan around the house me and Elijah just need to talk about something," The two sisters looked at each other in confusion. "Just two minutes" James told them sternly. Serena rolled her eyes and took Nathans hand and went out of the room followed by Alex. James then turned to Elijah "Now, have you had any magic surges since you left the pits?" he asked. "Magic surges?" Elijah questioned. "Magic surges. Transforming Demons often have uncontrollable surges of magic that is a prelude to their horns coming through. Have you ever blacked out or don't remember something?" James asked. Elijah though deeply about this and nodded, "When the Bloods came to my brothers house the other day, they brought one of their friends who just happened to be the one that whipped me In the pits. I scared him off then about an hour later they got a call saying he jumped off a building to his death. So is that what you mean?" Elijah recalled as James stood staring at him with his mouth open in shock. He eventually nodded, "I'll have to make you something so we can hide your surges," James suggested, thinking about what he could do to hide a death touches magic. Elijah sighed, "Will Nathan survive?" Elijah asked out of the blue. James smiled, "I told you, he's not going anywhere,". Elijah let out a small grin and nodded. "You really care about him, don't you?" James said noticing that he was only worried about Nathans life and not his own. Elijah smiled. "I didn't know vampires had feelings," James joked and the pair laughed. James then got up and went over to cabinet on the left side of the room and found some glasses. He looked over at Elijah and choose the ones with the thicker frame and performed a spell on them. He then threw them at Elijah. "These will hide your eyes colour changes if you unexpectedly have a magic surge," James said. Elijah then put the glasses on but was uncertain about them. Then Serena, Alex and Nate arrived back in the room after giving Nathan the house tour and they discussed Magic training, the wolves and how Elijah's family couldn't know about any of it.
Chapter 15
"Raven! Are you ready?" Alpha Peter called from the packhouse kitchen; the day had come for the meeting at the witch council. Elijah had spent the last few days gathering evidence to support the wolves in getting a new fairer contract that the witches could not exploit. He picked up the folder containing the evidence he collected and met Alpha Peter at the door ready to go. They then made their way to the address on the letter to the High Witch Council, finding it to be a huge hall in the centre of the city. They then both entered, Elijah still not used to not having to be invited in because of his transformation, and went up to the receptionist desk. Alpha Peter then got out the letter showing it to the receptionist and upon reading it she looked them over recognising Elijah, "How did you get in here? Oh never mind I don't get paid enough to care" she murmured and led them to one of the meeting rooms. When they entered the room was huge hall with multiple level of stands to hold the capacity of the council, The room was full of witches towering over them from the stands whispering amongst themselves upon seeing Elijah. "Silence!" A woman's voice echoed throughout the hall, with everything falling deathly silent. The woman then got up standing in the centre of the stacks, emanating her control over the other witches in the room. She was in her mid-40's brown hair and blue eyes but the way she controlled the room they knew she was in charge. "Thank you for coming, I am grand councilwoman Valerie, leader of the High Witch Council" her voice was soft but firm. The witches all looked back at Peter waiting for his response to which he nervously replied, "My name is Peter. I am Alpha of my pack, and this Is my vampire friend Elijah". Valerie nodded not sure who let the vampire in, "We have asked you here today to discuss the expired contract between the wolves and the witch council and the contracts renewal. The contract itself has been in place for 200 years and has received positive reception by witches and wolves alike". "But your council is the only party that has benefited from such arrangements, exploiting the previous wolves that resided at the pack, not paying them what they were owed" Elijah shut her down and saw the councilwoman gobsmacked as his comment and the rest of the room remained silent, listening to what she about to say next, "What are you implying?" Valerie responded not sure what to say. "I'm saying that the council exploited the wolves and profited off their ignorance. This can be seen in the very contract you provided under paragraph four subsection 2 which states plants picked on pack grounds to be sold, the wolves are to receive 40% of the purchase price plus 20% of any profit. However, according to these records form the last 7 years although plant prices have increased the wolves have yet to receive their share of both purchase price and profit, making this contract void. Unless you want to pay..." he smiled flicking through his notes "$87,260 to the wolves for the last seven years of backdated payments". This left the room in silence, the witches all frozen in shock. Elijah went up to stack passing her his notes to look at which included evidence of the non-payment form the witches, plant prices for each year and his calculations. The councilwoman was impressed by the evidence, seeing his notes to be correct putting her in a difficult spot. Peter had no idea the gibberish coming out of Elijah's mouth but judging from the witches' reactions that it was good. The councilwoman finally looked up and sighed, "The council is in no position to pay-" She was cut off by Alpha Peter, "Then thank you for your time but I have decided that my pack will not be renewing the contract." The whole room erupted with whispers from the witches residing in the stands, 'where will we get our plants from?' 'The prices will go up' were some of the comments echoing throughout the stands. Freya amongst them was furious with what her brother had done, she would never be able to live this down. Peter smiled and turned around to leave feeling proud of himself. Whilst Elijah, went up to get his notes from councilwoman leader Valerie who continued to look at him in shock. He took the notes seeing Freya glaring at him from the stands as she mothed to him 'meet me outside' as the witches began to disperse from the stands. Elijah then followed Alpha Peter outside waiting for Freya to emerge from the hall telling Peter to head home as his sister wanted to talk to him, to which Peter thanked Elijah for helping him and headed home to the pack.
Elijah met Freya outside of the town hall. Her cheeks were red, and Elijah could hear her heart loudly thumping from 30 feet away, she was fuming. She approached him like a raging bear, "we need to talk" she said firmly. Elijah looked at her confused and looked around. "In Private" she said leading him back to Klaus's house. Where Kol and Rebecca were casually sitting on the sofa reading and Klaus was on the phone with Hope. When Freya came in slamming the door after Elijah entered, making the three of them jump. "What was that!" she shouted at Elijah. "What was what?" He replied calmly. "You made me look like a fool, in front of all the witches!" she screamed the others now intrigued by the argument Klaus telling Hope he would talk to her later. "I researched everything properly, every word I said in there was the truth. It's not my fault that your council didn't do the same," Elijah calmly snapped back. Freya became further enraged, "It has been the same contract for over 200 years! Do you have any idea how much prices will rise? Do you realise what you've done!" She questioned Elijah angrily. "With respect Freya, same contract or not its still exploitation. The wolves have every right to renegotiate the terms of the contract, as stated in paragraph 14 subsection 3. Therefore, they also have the right to refuse its renewal," Elijah retorted whilst keeping his calm demeanour. "You read the contract?" She huffed. "Didn't you?" He fired back. Freya silence gave him the answer he needed. "Do you know how hard I've worked climbing the ranks of the witch council? How much I sacrificed? For you just to come along, with not a care in the world and ruin everything!" She questioned him. Elijah began to feel a blinding rage inside of him as he shook his head, "You are a fool to think that the witches would ever give the power of authority to a Mikaelson," he snapped back. Freya deep down knew this was true but was too riled up to admit it. "You're lying," she said trying to contain her anger but her trembling voice betraying her. "I'm many things but a liar isn't one of them," he quickly replied offended by Freya's comment. "Why were you there anyway, there just wolves," she shouted her voice somehow getting louder each time she spoke. "You know why!" Elijah raised his voice, not quite shouting but jut enough to tell he was annoyed. "We don't know why" Rebecca interrupted. "Care to enlighten us?" Kol followed, Elijah looking over at his siblings on the sofa with Klaus staring curiously at Elijah's glasses. Elijah then turned towards Freya trying to see how she would wriggle herself out of this. Her face was blank and expressionless as she tried to collect herself, Elijah was giving her the side eye to prompt a response from her. "No, I wouldn't," she roared back. Elijah angrily huffed and rolled his eyes, he hadn't expected her admit everything but something would have been nice. The lights then began to flicker violently around them. The siblings all looked at one another concerned on what was going on with Elijah remaining in the same stance. The cupboard doors in the kitchen then began slam in rhythm with the light flickers. "300 something years I've lived in this house and now suddenly there's a poltergeist," Klaus snorted. Without warning the light bulbs exploded causing glass to shatter all over the living room floor in tiny little pieces. Elijah then began to feel a numbness in his body, in a matter of seconds it had taken over his entire body and he mentally lost consciousness, his eyes flashing white. Without a word he proceeded to leave the house, leaving his siblings confused as the phenomena seemed to stop as soon as he left the house. He arrived at a rural area outside of town where he performed a spell on the plants growing there. The plants with magical properties all began to whither and decay within moments of the spell being performed, infecting all the plants that resided there with death and disease and like a plague it began to quickly spread throughout all the plants and foliage around it, leaving nothing untouched until the whole area lingered with death. This chain of death continued to plague the whole city only stopping at the New Orleans border. Satisfied, Elijah wiped the black blood dripping from his nose and went back to the house went up the stairs to one of the bedrooms, put himself in bed and fell asleep none the wiser on what he had just done.
Meanwhile, Panic had begun to set in with the witches as they watched as a flood of death infected and killed all the living plants that they use for spells, killing everything it touched. "We can't stop it!" One cried trying to use her magic to control it but failing miserably whilst others tried to remove some of the healthy plants from the infected ones but to no avail. Valerie the leader of the high witch council had no idea what was going on but she knew it was some force of dark magic. "What's going on?" High councilwoman Valerie hollered seeing death reaching everywhere. "We don't know, mistress, the plants just all started to die randomly," one Witch said. "What about the reserves?" the high witch asked thinking about the small collection of plants looked in one of the cellars for safe keeping. The High witches underlings looked shyly at each other waiting for one of them to give her the bad news. "We lost those too," One finally plucked up the courage to reply. The high witch sighed, "Call a meeting, we need to find out what this before it gets any worse!" she sternly commanded. All the underlings except one went out of the room to make an emergency Witch meeting call. Whilst the high witch then stared into the distance hoping this was a sick joke and not what she thought it was, some sort of demon invasion. She then noticed one of underlings still standing behind her, "Didn't I tell you to make that emergency call?" she questioned wondering why he hadn't left. "actually mistress, there was another message," He began. The councilwoman turned around curious about what other new could trump this tragedy, "Go on". "We had another report last night of a hybrid attack, apparently there were 4 hybrids that attacked a bunch of drunk Witch teenagers. There were no survivors, one of the boys had their skull crushed. They had to identify him by his dental records," He finished. Councilwoman Valerie was mortified by this news. "That is the 3rd attack in 3 weeks, this is all getting out of hand. Thank you for telling me," She replied acknowledging that it was worthy of her time. The underling nodded and disappeared. The high Witch stood lost in thought as to why the world had decided to go to shit when she was in charge.
RING! RING! Elijah's phone began to ring. He startled awake confused on how he got in bed as the last thing he remembered was leaving the hall with Freya after the meeting. Still groggy he roamed around the room trying to find his phone and eventually found it on the floor by the bedside table. He picked it up and answered the call his vision still blurry he was unable to tell who it was, "Hello?" he slurred, his head noticeably throbbing. "Where are you?" Serena's voice screamed on the other end of the phone. "I'm at home... I think," Elijah replied unsure of where he was. "Look out the window, NOW!" Serena panicked down the phone. Elijah then got up and went towards the window in the room, pulling the curtain back so he could see. He saw that the plants had all withered and decayed and deep down he had a small feeling that he had something to do with it. "Did I do that?" he said to Serena on the phone. "Just come to the place you showed me the other day we need to talk," Serena muttered hanging up the phone. Elijah then proceeded to get ready having to change his shirt as his back had bleed through again stuffing it in a box underneath the bed. He then retrieved another jacket and readjusted his glasses before heading out. But before he could he was stopped by Klaus who saw him coming down the stairs from the living room, "Why are you wearing glasses? They don't suit you" he asked from across the room. Elijah looked longingly at the door wanting to leave and avoid answering but he knew that Klaus would stop him before he could. He then looked back at Klaus, trying to think of a decent excuse, "I've been doing a lot of reading lately and they stop my eyes going blurry," was the best he could come up with him hoping Klaus would buy it. He knew he had to change the subject so before Klaus really had a chance to think about what Elijah had said he quickly fired, "Where's Freya gone?" noticing that she wasn't in the house. "Emergency Witch meeting or some crap like that," Klaus replied. "Okay." Elijah replied slowly backing away towards the door. "What were you two arguing about earlier on? Something about the wolves?" Klaus asked curiously him looking at Elijah intensely awaiting an answer. Elijah honestly couldn't remember any of the argument he had with Freya before he surged so again had to make something up on the spot, "I've just been spending a lot of time with the new wolves helping them get on their feet after the horrific endeavour they experienced. Freya didn't know I was acting as their 'lawyer' I guess that pushed her off the edge." Elijah replied truthfully hoping the questions would end. Klaus starred him down for a good 10 seconds deciding if he believed him or not. Elijah didn't stare back but didn't change his demeanour allowing Klaus to sway to the side that Elijah was being honest. As soon as Klaus turned his head Elijah bolted for the door and headed to the cemetery not looking back, just in case Klaus or someone was following him.
Elijah arrived at the cemetery he went up to one of the tombstones in a small cluster in the middle of the derelict cemetery and turned the crest anti-clockwise revealing the secret room beneath the cemetery. He entered finding Serena, Nathan and Sarah already inside waiting. Immediately after she saw him Serena slapped him across the face, "What did you do!?" She screamed at him with the children watching back intrigued. "I don't remember," Elijah replied. "You better try, James and Alex are at this stupid emergency Witch meeting covering for your arse!" She roared back, slowly calming herself down. "I remember going back to my brothers house and arguing with Freya but after that It's all a bit of a blur and I woke up in bed," He finished recalling everything he remembered to Serena. She looked at him believing him, "Freya must have really pissed you off if she caused you to do that. I'm surprised she's still breathing. I would have killed her right where she stood if she got in my face," Serena trailed off. "She's still my sister, try not to make open threats when I'm here. Especially in front of the children" He reasoned, and Serena smiled softly. "You really are an idiot you know that. You managed to kill every plant in the city that are used for magic spells except the ones at the pack," She retorted. Elijah turned at her surprised letting out a tiny grin. "Why are you smiling that's not good," she chuckled back as if she wasn't screaming at him a mere two minutes ago. "How did you know if you were at the pack?" Elijah asked coming back to the issue at hand. "Alex called and told me, she said to get you and wait here till they got back," she answered, "So Magic training whilst we wait!" Serena cackled watching as both Elijah and Nathan's faces dropped like a pile of bricks, "No!!" Nathan shouted in disbelief. Serena laughed she learned she loved winding them up. Serena then got two identical candles from the back and placed them on a table to the side of the room using her magic to light them she then got each of the boys to sit behind a candle, "Were going to learn to send messages the Demon way!" she announced proudly with only Sarah seeming interested. They spent the better part of 20 minutes trying to send messages to each other through the fire from the candle, they took turns giving and receiving the messages but had no luck, only hearing whispers of the message with Nathan's mainly being about his boredom, the flames would turn green for a matter of seconds before reverting back to normal the message being interrupted. "Why don't I have horns?" Nathan asked out of the blue showing where his thoughts had wondered off to. Serena looked at him confused as to where that question came from but responded as best as she could, "Natural born demons don't get their horns until they hit puberty, so around 14 or 15 years old, kind of fits in with you growing up. But because you're a death touch I imagine that yours may come in a year or two early,". Nathan looked both disappointed and satisfied at this answer Serena giving him a huge hug. Just then they heard footsteps treading about outside. The four of them went silent for a brief moment knowing that it was probably James and Alex but just to make sure Serena retrieved 2 daggers from the same place she got the candles and handed one to Elijah just in case it was someone uninvited. Nevertheless, the doors opened it was indeed Alex and James making there way into the room. Elijah then handed Serena back the dagger she had given him and she put them away. Alex and James waved at the trio and Nathan ran up and gave them both a hug, which they both embraced. Once they had gotten the pleasantries out the way they began to fill in the others in on what happened at the meeting. "How did it go? Did you sort it out?" Serena questioned inquisitively. Alex and James exchanged worried looks, something wasn't right. "Em- they don't suspect us but all the witches know that our families don't get along," James mumbled. Serena looked upon them with confusion, "What do you mean?" Serena asked. "Freya started it, going on about it how it must of been us because we're demons and don't have a good bone in our bodies." Alex retold. "She's one to talk" Serena commented, "That what I thought" with James in agreement. "So we said that it wasn't us and then-" James stopped looking at Elijah before continuing "I said that it was more likely to be the Mikaelsons because from what I've heard your family always seems to be involved with this kind of stuff,". Elijah gave him an evil glare. "Then what happened?" Serena asked. "No one took responsibility and the council moved on to the hybrid situation," Alex finished. "Hybrid sit-u-tion? Sarah questioned. Elijah, Serena, Sarah and Alex looked up intrigued about this new information regarding the hybrids. "They said there had been a number of attacks. I know you said you had hopes of bringing them back to the pack but..." James started with both James and Alex looking nervously towards the ground. "For god sake just tell us!" Serena roared impatiently at her siblings. James glanced at Alex for a second as they shared a nod then James proceeded to gulp before saying, "There planning on killing the hybrids,".
Chapter 16
The six of them then went back to the pack to tell Alpha Peter the news. He was shocked, his whole-body trembling, he was glad that he had kicked George out when Elijah and the others arrived. "Is there anything we can do to stop them?" Peter worriedly asked. The Petersons shook their heads. "Unless" Alex began lost in a trail of thought. "Unless what?" James said with them all looking at her hopefully. "I don't think the attacks are random like the witches think," Alex began. Everyone looked at her perplexed and unsure where she was going. "All the hybrids' attacks were on lower ranking high witch council members," she continued. "So, you're thinking someone got the hybrids to attack and kill whoever they wanted," James concluded, and Alex nodded in response. "But who?" James asked. "The Blood Order," Elijah replied, and the room went silent. "The Blood Order experimented on the wolves in the pits making their own hybrids using my sire line," He finished. "Your sire line? Can't you control them then?" James asked pretty sure that was how vampires worked, the turned vampire has to do what their sire tells them. Elijah shook his head. "I guess it depends," Serena started. "On what?" James said confused. "When the first hybrid was made. If it was made when Elijah was dead his sire line technically wouldn't have existed, making it easier for the bloods to manipulate it and the hybrids, to their will," Serena guessed. "So theoretically all we would need to do is reattach Elijah's sire line and the hybrids would do as he says," James concluded. "Why do I get the feeling it's not that easy," Alex Questioned. "Cause it isn't. To magically reattach it would cause both Elijah and the hybrids to be in excruciating pain," Serena explained defeated. The group looked around defeated, unsure on what to do. "What if we don't have to fix it with magic," Alex said coming up with an idea, everyone looked at her hopeful to hear her idea. "Hear me out. Wolves are territorial right? So, what if Elijah challenged the leader of the hybrids if he wins the sire line would hopefully revert back to normal saving the hybrids," Alex finished. The group took a moment to think about Alex's suggestion, they were all infatuated by this idea and if it would work or not. "I think that might just work," Serena said softly trying to hide her excitement form her sister. "But son, your transformation, will you be strong enough?" Peter asked worriedly he had just accepted Elijah as his son he didn't want to lose him. "I'm an Original, I'll be okay," Elijah replied touched by Peters concern for him but deep down knowing that he was right he wasn't his usual self. "Anyone want a drink?" Peter replied and he went to get drinks for everyone, sluggishly leaving the room. The others continued to work on a plan whilst Elijah was curious as to what was upsetting Peter. "so all we have to do it wait for the hybrids to attack again, then get to them before the witches do, challenge the Alpha, win said challenge then were home free!" James quickly recapped shocking everyone in the room. Elijah then went into the kitchen to see if Peter needed any help. Before entering he saw Peter hunched over by the sink, starring off into the distance. "Do you need me to take some of the drinks in?" Elijah asked curiously. Alpha Peter then jumped back into reality as he turned towards Elijah his eyes watering. "Raven, you startled me. How long were you standing there for?" He questioned trying to pull himself together sniffing up his runny nose. "Are you okay?" Elijah prodded. Peter let out a weak smile he didn't want to lie to him. "Do you think they will blame me for what they did to them?" He asked sadly. Elijah went up to him putting his hand on Peters shoulder, "Blame you?". "I was their Alpha, I was meant to protect them and instead I just watched one after the other be dragged away, like animals. I watched as both my mate and my son were taken from me and I didn't do anything to stop them," Peter finished starting to well up with tears. Elijah sighed, "what could you have done? You saw what they did to me when I tried to do something," looking towards his back which still bared the scars from his experience in the pits. "I lost myself when they took Ash, I felt like an empty shell, putting on a facade for the pack pretending to be Alpha I once was, when in fact I was far from it." Peter confessed and there was a small silence between the pair "You remind me of Ash you know. He was compassionate always putting the needs of the pack before his own, just like you. I just don't want to see you get hurt like he was," He continued softly. Elijah was touched by this, was this what real parental love felt like? He gently smiled back at Peter, "You don't have to worry about me. –You should be worried about the kettle." Elijah said noticing that the stove-top kettle was steaming up all over the Kitchen with the tiny clouds of heat coming from the lid and nozzle accompanied by a loud wailing sound. Peter then rushed over picked up an oven mit and removed the kettle from the stove placing it on the unused side of the stove. Peter just laughed hysterically after afterwards, "Still getting used to everything". Elijah just shook his head and smiled. Then the others came in from the other room wondering what the commotion was all about. Where Peter retrieved cups from the cupboard and made everyone coffee. After everyone had their drinks, Peter went into another room and came back with a medium size box. "I got these for you in town today," He said placing the box on the kitchen side and opening the box revealing 12 delicious double chocolate muffins inside. The four demons' eyes lit up with desire. "Not all of them, I promised Nate and Sarah some," Peter said sternly. They all took one muffin each and shut the box but all of them continued to stare at the box longingly wanting another muffin. Seeing this Peter removed them from the counter, so they weren't visible. Suddenly, they heard Nathan and Sarah running from outside and they came into the kitchen hugging Elijah but almost toppling him over in the process. George then came in behind them out of breath from where he had been chasing them home. "Where do they get their energy from," George joked crouched over recovering from the rigorous exercise. "Did you behave for your uncle George?" Serena asked with the pair nodding with huge smiles on their faces. "What did you eat?" Elijah asked. "I had a burger and an ice cream!" Sarah replied gleefully. "I had an Ice Cream explosion! It was like a big, big, BIG hill of ice cream!" Nathan said excitedly. "That's sounds great honey, why don't you two get ready for bed me and your father will be up in a minute," Serena said. They then rushed upstairs. "How were they?" Elijah curiously asked George, "They were really good. They asked for you a lot though," George replied. "Did they ask about me?" Serena inquired trying to see where she stood regarding Nathans affection. "Not really, they just asked for their dad," George replied a little downtrodden. Serena glared evilly at Elijah and whispered jokingly to him, "You bastard you think you can buy their loyalty" and Elijah with a huge smile on his face whispered back, "don't be upset that I'm their favourite," as he nudged her shoulder winking at her and the two laughed. "Did you figure everything out?" George asked pulling them back to reality. "Yeah, we have a plan, when the hybrids attack next we'll find them before the witches. Elijah will challenge their alpha and win reattaching the sire line where he will be like 'follow me' and lead them back here," Alex replied brushing over the plan. with George looking cluelessly at her. Unknown to them Nathan and Sarah were listening intensely from the top of the staircase being as quiet as mice trying to make sense of what the adults were saying. Until they heard Elijah and Serena begin to approach the staircase where they quickly bolted into their bedroom acting like they had been waiting their patiently all along. Elijah then tucked them into bed and told them the story of how him and his family stopped his mother from killing his niece, which they seemed to enjoy. "Maybe tomorrow I'll tell you the story of how I ripped out the heart of-" "NO YOU WONT!" Serena stopped him. "awwww" the children mumbled disappointedly in sync with Serena rolling her eyes and grinning back at them. "Off to bed now, you two," she sighed as she made sure they were tucked in bed and left. Elijah then went over to them and kissed them on their heads but when he went to leave, he saw a piece of paper sticking out from underneath Nathans pillow. "What's that" he said as he picked up the paper from underneath the pillow. He then thoroughly studied it seeing that it was a spell in ancient tongue, but not just any spell a spell for necromancy. He looked back at Nathan who was looking hesitantly at him, "I just wanted everyone to be able to say goodbye," he said softly. Elijah smiled, "That's very noble of you, son. But, speaking to the dead is forbidden magic," he replied Nathan looking upset. "But... I'll talk to your mother about it, you know how she likes to break the rules," He replied trying to comfort him, Nathan letting out a smile. Elijah smiled back and told them to get some sleep and left the room with the spell in his hand. He then went downstairs joining Serena and the others. "What's that?" Serena said noticing the paper in his hand, Elijah then presented it to her and she took it and began reading, "It's a spell for necromancy. Nathan had it hidden under his pillow, I think he wanted to give the wolves closure," Elijah explained the group all looked touched by this sentiment. "Aww bless him, he's so cute," Alex said admiring his nobility. "But the witches declared necromancy a forbidden magic centuries ago," James begun "Only because they couldn't do it," Serena snapped back still looking intensely at the spell. James giving her the side eye. "What? You know it's true," she responded to her brother with them both knowing that the witches had a habit of labelling spells as forbidden when they couldn't perform them themselves. "I think not right now, but we should definitely consider it when the pack in reunited again," Alex suggested with everyone nodding in agreement.
Chapter 17
Although they were ready for the hybrids to attack, they seemed to be incredibly illusive, with them not showing up anywhere for 12 days. In which time, Elijah and the others had got themselves into a busy routine. They had really taken focus on the pack's education, with them taking in turns to teaching them different things such as writing and reading. It was a tedious task but with Elijah mainly teaching the children as they listened to him more than Serena and the others. They would teach the boring subjects in the morning where they would break for lunch then proceed to do fitness training afterwards. This consisted of shooting arrows and working on their combat skills as well as weapons training. The Peterson's where shocked by the sheer amount of progress the pack were making in a little number of days, almost like sponges soaking up water. The pack was beginning to be a force to be reckoned, now only waiting to be reunited. When they had finished training the wolves for the day Serena would take Nathan and Elijah for their magic training which was the extremely rigorous, each discovering something new about their magic each day. Over the 12 days their control over their magic had improved immensely to the point where they could understand and send messages through fire, which they had struggled to previously, as well being able to listen and communicate to their demon ancestors. Although Elijah had not yet found out how to reverse his spell. In between all this, because of the elongated time spent together Serena and Elijah had begun to grow closer and had developed feelings for each other that they were both oblivious to. Alex however was well aware of her little sisters' feelings towards Elijah and knew she needed to talk to her about it sooner rather than later.
The next day started like any other. The wolves got up had breakfast and had their morning lesson and went to break for lunch. Elijah was talking to Serena as they watch the children play when James came out from the packhouse and rushed over to them, "I just got a message from Alex, there's an emergency at home and she needs all of us," He blurted out trying to catch his breath. Serena and Elijah looked at each other in disbelief. They then got up, Elijah asked Peter to watch the children for him and they left the pack curious about what was going on. They dashed off to the house hoping it was all a misunderstanding but when they got there, they were met with an eerie silence. The three of them slowly proceeded to enter the house remembering the lock was broken and they began to slowly look around. "James!" A voice called from the kitchen, but it didn't belong to Alex. The three of them walked into the Kitchen and standing there was an older couple with Alex sitting on a dining room chair next to them. "Mum, Dad? What are you doing here?" James asked confused, "We own the place son," the man replied, almost a mirror image of James with the minor differences of his nose shape and dusty brown hair rather than James' blonde, the brown being accompanied by some grey hairs. The couple then looked over at Elijah, "Who is he?" The woman asked, she looked like an older version of Alex. "This is our friend, Elijah," Serena replied smiling. "So you're the one who got them all to talk again," Serena dad asked rhetorically gesturing to the siblings with him intensely staring Elijah down. "When's the wedding?" The mother asked out of the blue with the siblings all paralysed with shock. Alex who had just taken a mouthful of coffee splattered it out on the kitchen counter. "Mum! It's not the Middle Ages. He's just a friend," Serena said feeling something was wrong with that statement. "Aw, that a shame I love a good wedding," her mother replied. "Besides I'm already married," Serena replied looking down at her ring finger but her ring that was no longer there. "you're a widow sweetheart, there's a difference," Her mother snapped back with Serena looking like she was about to cry. Elijah seeing this wanted to comfort her but didn't want to give Serena's mother any ideas, instead James stepped in getting his parents attention away from Serena, "Why did you send the message mum?" he asked. "Is it a crime for me and your father to want to see our children all together?" she replied sarcastically. "Yes!" The three of them replied with Elijah remaining silent with the father still staring at him. "You really sent that emergency message, just so you could see us all together the same time?" James questioned not buying what his parents had said. "Not exactly, we also wanted to know if you gorgeous children knew anything about the rumours of a new demon in town, we heard that whatever it was killed the witches herb supply. Isn't that right honey?" She finished looking at her husband who was still looking at Elijah confused. "You look familiar, I can't quite place it." He said to Elijah deep in thought. Serenas' mother just rolled her but on closer inspection she too saw that something about Elijah seemed familiar to her as well but before she could dwell on it Alex interrupted, "So a catch up and gossip, how unoriginal,". Serena's mother turned her attention back to Alex, "Well are you involved with this demon or not?" she asked sternly. "Do you have an older brother maybe?" the father asked Elijah almost over his wife. "I do have an older brother, but you wouldn't know him," Elijah replied, the old man looked defeated but was determined to figure out why he looked so familiar. "Why would we be involved with a death touch?" Serena replied to her mother's question, her mother looking at her that she had said something wrong, "because you were supposedly married to one,". "What do you mean supposedly?" Serena snapped back at her mother slowly beginning to anger. "Do you have any younger brothers?" Serena's father asked Elijah with Elijah nodding, Chaos had begun to form with one half of the room arguing about Serena's love life and the other on trying to decipher Elijah's identity, which would have been cleared up if Elijah told them his last name. "How do I know you even got married? Me and your father weren't invited to the wedding," She replied, Serena looked pissed off at her mother that she wanted to wrap her arms around her neck and strangle right then and there. "Maybe I should go find my marriage certificate with my dead husband's name on it, would you be satisfied then!" she quick fired back her voice elevated. Serena's father took his attention of Elijah for a moment to address Serena's behaviour, "Never raise your voice to your mother like that again!". James and Alex then jumped to her defence whilst Elijah noticed the candle on the side flickering green for a few seconds. He then watched it to see if it would do it again. It took a few seconds, but the candles fire turned green again and Elijah tried to listen to the message and see who it was from. "The prince and his friend are in trouble. The creatures are after them. You need to stop them, there in the cemetery." A voice whispered from the candle. And just like it had never happened the candle turned back to normal, and Elijah knew that although the message was vague, Nathan and Serena where in big trouble, they were being pursued by the hybrids. Elijah then interrupted the argument between the Petersons, "I need to go, thank you for having me," he said trying to signal the others, but they were too involved in the argument. Elijah then wasted no time, as soon as he got to the door her quickly dashed off to the cemetery hoping that he wasn't too late. Back at the house noticing Elijah had gone the arguing seemed to dial down a little, "You scared him off honey," Serena's mother said to her husband. "I'll figure out who he reminds me of, even if it takes me an entire lifetime, it's going to bug me" The father replied. Meanwhile the three siblings were confused over Elijah's abrupt exit, they had no idea why he had suddenly left. Then the cruel realisation set in, the hybrids.
When Elijah arrived at the cemetery, it was eerily silent, a low fog resided making it difficult to see. He tried his best to see if he could see anyone through the fog but was unsuccessful, "Nathan! Sarah!" he called but received no response. He started to worry that he was too late when he heard the little pitter patter of footsteps running towards him. He listened to the running getting louder and louder with every passing moment, Elijah was wildly looking around trying to find what way they were coming from as he was stood in path conjunction. BUMP! He felt something crash into his back and Sarah started screaming. Elijah quickly turned around to the source of the screaming seeing Sarah and Nathan, she then stopped screaming recognising Elijah and Elijah after hearing the approach of multiple assailants dragged the children away from the conjunction and hid behind a large tombstone. "What were you two thinking?" he sternly whispered trying to not draw attention to them. "We had to stop the witches from hurting them," Sarah said shyly, Nathan showing a large cut on his hand, "We lead them away, but they started chasing us,". Elijah was overrun with emotions he knew that they had done this with the best intentions, but they had been extremely reckless. "We will talk about this when we get back, but your both grounded," Elijah angrily whispered. They both looked shocked, but Elijah had more pressing matters to deal with, the hybrids were still lurking around. "WHERE ARE YOU HIDING!" A voice screamed in the distance. The children were paralysed with fear holding onto Elijah. "How many were chasing you?" he whispered. "Three," Nathan replied. Nathan began to speak when Elijah covered his mouth with his hand and shook his head and put his finger to his lips, there was one right next to them. The fog was covering them but if they made a sound all he had to do was turn around. Elijah thought about how easy it would be to rip out his heart right then and there, but he promised to get them home. They remained silent frozen in fear as they waited for the hybrid to leave but he just stood there, waiting. Elijah could sense the other two drawing closer as well, he had to make a move. Without warning the fog that had been giving them cover began to evaporate, the hybrid turned towards them now being able to see them and retracted his fangs. But before, he could do anything Elijah quickly got up and threw him across the cemetery creating a line of destruction with pieces of destroyed tombstone all over the cemetery. This alerted the other two who rushed over to them one went to fight Elijah whilst the other went after the children who were now running away. For Elijah fighting the hybrids wasn't a problem, the difficulty was not killing them. Whereas, before he would just rip out the heart of the person attacking him, he had no such luxury with the hybrids. The hybrids attacked trying to land a punch, but Elijah blocked it, and when he went to punch him again he took his arm and cracked it against the tombstone next to him, causing the hybrid to scream in pain. At the back of the cemetery Elijah watched as the children were being pursued by a female hybrid, he had to look twice to make sure, but he saw a head of white hair following close behind them, "Claire?" he muttered smashing the head of the hybrid into the tombstone enough to knock him out but not enough to kill him. Elijah then went after the children.
Nathan and Sarah were darting around the cemetery trying not to get killed by the hybrids, they regretted sneaking out from the pack. Suddenly, Nathan came to an abrupt stop, they had reached a dead end. Sarah knocked into him, "why did you stop?" she said but when she looked up she saw a big concrete wall in the way, blocking them in. The two remaining hybrids were drawing nearer, both were closing in behind them. Nathan used his magic to throw the male hybrid back whilst the other one slowly began to emerge behind them. From the Shadows emerged Claire, her fangs where bare and her eyes glowing red. "Aunt Claire?" Nathan whispered seeing her emerge from behind them. Sarah placed herself between Nathan and Claire protecting her younger brother, fearing for her life, her eyes glowing a darker shade of red. But to Sarah's surprise instead of hurting her, Claire stared right into her eyes then she sniffed her and put away her fangs "Sarah?" she whispered. Sarah opened her eyes after feeling the danger was over and then Elijah came in behind her placing a knife at her throat with no intention of using it, hoping he could reason with her. "Get off me!" she roared struggling against the blade. "I'm not going to hurt you. I need you to listen to what I have to say," Elijah said quickly. Claire hesitated for a moment, feeling something familiar about her captor's voice, she slowly began to smile, "Raven? you made it out". Feeling that this was a genuine reaction, Elijah removed the blade from her throat, and she went over to Sarah and Nathan and hugged them and began to cry, Elijah watched her and smiled "We've come to take you all home,". "But how did you get out? Did they hurt you too?" Claire suddenly panicked looking them over for any injuries, "No Aunt Claire, we escaped!" Sarah said excitedly. "Yeah. One second, we were there and then POOF we escaped thanks to dad," Nathan explained pointing at Elijah, Claire looking over at him. "We want to bring you and the other hybrids back home, but we can't do that whilst the Blood Order still has control over you. I need you to take me to your Alpha." Elijah said getting straight to the point. Claire looked at him processing the information that Elijah had given her whilst imagining the prospect of freedom. She then nodded, "I'll take you." She said leading them away. The hybrid that Nathan had thrown had regained consciousness, "Orion, I have to do something important, you stay here with Apollo until he wakes up. I'll come get you two later." Claire commanded, and he nodded in response and called "Until the next life" which Claire repeated back. She then proceeded to lead the four of them out the cemetery "NO KILLING ANYONE ORION!" she shouted as they walked through the front gate of the cemetery. Nathan looked back and saw Orion who was now sitting neck to the unconscious Apollo with his thumbs up and then continued to join the party, unaware of the chaos about to unfold.
They had been walking for about 10 minutes as they had to change their route to avoid the prying eyes of any witches, using an underground network of tunnels under the city to avoid detection, which explained why they were never seen. Claire then came to one tunnel which looked that it had been used more often than the others. Unlike the previous tunnels there were no cobwebs hanging on the ceiling and on the floor there where fresh marks where the door had been recently opened. "Were here," Claire said menacingly as she pulled a lever on the left side of the wall and the door slowly began to creak open. They then went into the room which looked to be part of an old basement, "How did you find out about the tunnels?" Elijah asked curiously. "We were given a blue map which showed us where they were," Claire said whilst looking around to see if anyone was In the basement. When she was sure there wasn't anyone nearby she turned to them, "They should all be up there, I'll take you to see Ash and the kids can stay-" "were not staying here!" Nathan interrupted with a brave look in his eyes. Elijah looked at Claire who looked like she was already caving into Nathan, she then huffed, "fine, but not a sound," she replied sternly. They then began to tread up the old basement stairs which to Elijah's surprise led to a cold and derelict unfurnished house which was two stories tall. The room they were in currently had ripped curtains and dust dancing around everywhere, their breath echoing throughout the room. Claire then moved them on to a small overgrown garden with a mermaid fountain as its centre piece. He then noticed a smaller staircase that reached up to the second floor. The three of them were looking around although Elijah was doing it more subtly than Nathan and Sarah. Claire just stood facing forward. Shortly afterwards faces seemed to emerge from the upstairs balcony looking down on the four of them, there were about 6 or 7 different faces that Elijah could see from the ground floor. Nathan then tugged on his jacket and Elijah saw that more had appeared around them, they all stared awkwardly at them, almost looking like they were confused. Elijah glanced around the garden counting them, he counted 14 hybrids, 7 on each floor including the two at the cemetery would be a total of 16 hybrids, he was perplexed on how the order where able to create so many. "I'm here to challenge the Alpha," Elijah announced. The whole room erupted in shock, with the hybrids chatting loudly amongst themselves, with some even hissing at him. Suddenly without warning the room fell deathly silent as the sound of footsteps approached from behind them "That would be me," a familiar voice called with an American accent. Elijah then turned around and saw himself looking back at him. The copy looked confused as well, his eyes thoroughly studying Elijah for a good minute or two. He then took a step back, "What trickery is this?" he screamed not taking his eyes of Elijah. He was met with a cold silence from Claire, with Ash looking vexed. On the other hand, Elijah couldn't believe that Peter had not told him that him and Ash where doppelgangers, but it did clear up how the order where able to make the hybrids. "I want to challenge you," Elijah repeated sternly. Ash smirked back at him, "Challenge me? Do you know what I am?" Ash questioned getting in Elijah's face trying to impose his dominance. Elijah reflected a smirk back at him, "Of course." He paused "I'm just not worried about it," Elijah said coldly playing into Ash's insecurities. Ash looked at him angrily, "You want to challenge me, copy. Go ahead," he said as calmly as he could, his tone betraying him. "On the contrary, it is you who is the copy," Elijah snapped back, hoping his anger would cause Ash to make a mistake. He then got Claire, Nathan and Sarah to wait safely on the side lines whilst the two of them fought and gave Nathan his glasses to look after. The rest hybrids watched silently intrigued for as the pair began to get ready for the fight to begin. They both looked at each other with the hunger and drive for defeating the other, Elijah knew he had to be strategical and wait for an opening as he wasn't as strong as he usually was because of his transformation. They then began the fight. Elijah was ready to block Ash's incoming punches readying his right hand. Unexpectedly, Ash had led with his left hand instead, catching Elijah off guard and left unable to effectively fend off the attack with Ash punching him several times before sending him flying across the room. Elijah composed himself and went in for an attack using his speed to try and build a stronger punch. Weakened by his transformation Ash managed to successfully block and retaliated using his left hand to punch both his face and ribs simultaneously using his speed to build up the momentum to make each hit a fatal blow, "I'm going to enjoy crushing your skull," he screamed with Elijah then blocking his last punch the stop in momentum meant that both where repelled from each other with Elijah crashing into the fountain and Ash thrown at the wall. Disorientated, Elijah began to get up from the floor underneath the fountain, his nose was bleeding, and he could feel that even though he had blocked the punch Ash had still managed to catch his face. Before, he could fully recover Ash speed over to him and grabbed his neck submerging Elijah's head in the fountain. He tried to fight back but the pressure around his neck was too strong. He could feel the water divulging into his lungs, he was drowning, he would soon be unconscious, and all of this would have been for nothing. Nathan and Sarah where watching horrified from the side lines, "leave my dad alone!" Nathan shrieked being held back by Claire, their voices echoing through the water. Elijah knew he had to act now. He elbowed Ash hard in the stomach and sure enough he released his grip from his neck causing Ash to fall backwards. Elijah knew this was his opening so he recovered as quickly as he could coughing up a small puddle of water before using his vampire speed to go up to Ash and break his left arm. Ash's over reliance of it, had made Elijah believe that his doppelganger was left-handed and he used that knowledge to his advantage. Ash roared in pain and bore his fangs but by that point it was over. Elijah punched him multiple times with Ash not being able to counter very well with his right hand. Elijah then proceeded to throw him across the room like a predator playing with its pray until he suddenly stopped. He then walked over to Ash who was now lying lifeless on the floor and put his foot on top of his head applying pressure to his skull, Ash was frozen with fear but remained brave, "what did you say about you crushing my skull?" Elijah asked whipping the blood off his face from where Ash had caught him. "Be done with It then." Ash said in defeat waiting for Elijah to finish him off right then and there. "You are defeated. Accept me as your Alpha," Elijah replied. Ash was confused to still be alive, "I don't want to kill you. I want to take you home to your father and the only way I can do that is if you accept me as your new alpha," Elijah said trying to reason with Ash. Ash took a second to take this in, his new masters had told him that his dad was dead after he had first turned, but Ash now knew that they only said that to get him to comply. "I accept you as my Alpha," he whispered. A huge gust of wind came in thrusting all the doors to the house open. Elijah felt a small sharp pain go through his body as he removed his foot from Ash's head and watched as the hybrid's eyes all turned a mesmerising orange, each one bearing their fangs one by one. Once they all done this the hybrids and Elijah's noses started bleeding until the final blow which felt like their hearts where being pierced and the hybrids all collapsed on the floor for a few seconds due to the immense pain. The mysterious wind left as quickly as it appeared leaving the hybrids with a reformed sire line. Nathan and Sarah who had no clue what was going on rushed over to their dad and hugged him, Elijah embraced them but was alerted to the fact that he had some broken ribs when they did. The hybrids slowly began to wake up and once they all where awake Elijah tested them and commanded them to lift their right hand, which they complied. "It worked," he whispered. He then helped his doppelganger off the floor by pulling him up, which caused them both extreme pain. A huge eruption of joy took over the hybrids. It was like a huge weight had been lifted as the hybrids who seemed to act like a hive mind before where now showing personalities laughing and joking with each other. Elijah then turned to Ash who himself seemed mesmerised by this transformation with a huge grin on his face, "What did you do?" Ash asked looking back at Elijah. "Your free from the control of the Blood Order," Elijah replied. Without warning Ash stepped forward and wrap his arms around Elijah hugging him and was met with another painful reminder of his ribs being broken, "ow," he muttered as Ash retreated from the hug. "Can we go home now?" Sarah questioned and Elijah laughed and nodded. They waited for Orion and Apollo to return from the cemetery after Claire called them and told them to return. Once all 17 hybrids where reunited they began the journey home to the pack excited and anxious for what was awaiting them there.