Hiya. :D
So this chapter, as well as the next one, are crucial to Rose and Elijah's little... Thing. I don't even know what to call it. :')
I hope you like it!
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Chapter Seventy-Seven
I was exhausted to say the least. But, nevertheless, I got up and had a shower, then got dressed and met the three of them downstairs. I didn't see it at first, but then I noticed a giant feast in the middle of the abattoir.
"Rose didn't bring it," Klaus said. "She was with me last night. Last time I checked, she was still asleep."
"Not anymore," I sighed, walking down the steps. They both turned back to look at me, then Klaus looked to Hayley.
"I guess we have Elijah to thank," Hayley concluded.
"This wasn't my doing," Elijah stated curiously as he came down the stairs to stand behind me. The two of us walked towards the table, and stood on the opposite side of Klaus and Hayley.
"Then... Where did all of this come from?" Hayley asked.
Suddenly, a covered dish started to move around. Hayley jumped back, while the three of us just looked down at it curiously. Klaus lifted the lid off of it quickly, and two birds flew out from under it. This time, we all jumped.
"What the hell was that?" Hayley asked.
Klaus looked down at the dish, and saw a piece of folded paper on it. He picked it up and looked inside of it, sighing. "An invitation from our mother."
I groaned. "This woman is insufferable," I said. "No offense."
"None taken," Klaus chuckled, while Elijah only smiled.
I was heading out of the abattoir an hour or so later, Elijah at my side. We had decided that we would do what we could to sabotage their mother with the short amount of time that we had. It seemed that he wanted me to do something for him.
"Roseia, I was hoping that you may do a spell for us," Elijah said.
I bit my lip, knowing that I likely couldn't. My power wasn't working properly lately... I knew why, but he did not. And there was no way in hell that I was going to tell him.
"What would the spell be?" I asked him.
"We need a spell to find out when our mother moves to another body, and who it will be in."
I shook my head. "I don't think I'll be able to do that, Elijah."
He looked down at me with a skeptical look, but then nodded, not pushing the subject any further. Good thing that he didn't, because I wasn't going to tell him anything.
*
I was tired today, but I was good at hiding it. I decided to go with Hayley to talk to the witch that Marcel had found. It turned out that Cassie had taken her, in other words, Esther had captured her. So Hayley went to help her, and beat up Oliver to make it look like he hadn't let her go, and he had just been jumped.
We both rushed into the shop that the witch, whose name was Lenore was in. Hayley held the bag of ingredients, and I followed close behind her. She went into a back room, where Lenore was standing at a table with a pot in front of her.
"So, will this take long?" Hayley asked.
"You want me to soul brand the resurrected spirit of a thousand year-old witch. It's best I take my time and do it right," Lenore said as Hayley handed her the bag. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry. No one should ever have to lose a child."
I sent Hayley a sad smile as she spoke. "No, no one should."
"You have the talisman?" Lenore asked, and Hayley seemed saddened and distracted. She was likely thinking of Hope, and how badly she wanted to be reunited with her daughter.
"So, how does this work?" I asked. "You put the spell on Esther, and then what?"
"The next time she jumps into a body, she'll be marked with a distinctive symbol on the back of her hand," Lenore told us, pulling the python out of the bag. "This way, you'll always know who she is."
"We still don't know why she's here. When Esther held you captive, did she give you any idea why she's doing all this?" Hayley asked.
"Love," Lenore stated.
Hayley rolled her eyes, sitting down on a stool. "How hard did they hit you?" she asked.
"What besides love can inspire such pain and cruelty? And Esther?" Lenore said, taking a knife and slicing the snake open. She pulled out the intestines and squeezed the blood into the pot. "Her love is very, very strong."
Lenore finished her spell soon after, and she suddenly fell forward. She leaned against the cauldron to keep her from hitting the table. Hayley looked at her in concern, glancing at me before looking back at Lenore.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
Lenore seemed a little disoriented. "Yes."
"You sure?" Hayley asked.
Lenore nodded. "Just getting my bearings."
I looked down, and my eyes widened. It was the mark. A black mark in the shape of a triskelion on Lenore's hand.
"The mark..." I whispered.
"It's you, isn't it?" Hayley asked, backing up slowly. "Esther."
My phone suddenly rang in my pocket, and I pulled it out to check. Esther washed the snake's blood from her hands, then looked up at me. She nodded. "Go ahead. You can answer it."
I answered the phone. "Elijah, I'm at Lenore's shop."
Esther thrusted her arm forward, and my phone suddenly was flung out of my hand and hit the wall afterwards.
"That'll be enough!" Esther said.
Hayley was a mixture of scared and angry, while I was just angry. I moved in front of her discreetly, making sure that I could at least try and block Esther's power.
"They're gonna come for us," Hayley said.
"My darling, that's been the idea all along," Esther said, a devilish smile coming onto her face.
I narrowed my eyes at her. "Esther, you and I both know that I could kill you right now."
"If that were true, then why haven't you?" she asked.
I swallowed, continuing to stay in front of Hayley. I didn't say anything, and something sparked in her eyes.
"Ah... I see," she said, then glanced at Hayley. She didn't elaborate, though I was sure that she knew what was wrong. "You know, it's so lovely to finally meet you. Tell me, do my sons ever acknowledge the good you bring into their lives? After all, it was you who gave them hope. The promise of a child shows us all the of a future that could be. Children are meant to save us from the worst parts of who we are, a truth that makes my own circumstances all the more tragic, wouldn't you say?"
"I don't pity you, Esther," Hayley said coldly.
"It's a terrible thing for a mother to fail her child, as you well know," Esther said, not showing how much the harsh words had affected her. "But, now I offer you freedom. The gift of a new body. Freedom from being a hybrid. I have the ability to return to you all that you have lost, Hayley. To make it so that you could have a family of your own. More children of your own. Wouldn't that be nice?"
I let out a low growl, and was going to dart forwards, when her hand suddenly went up. I felt my windpipe begin to constrict, and my hands went up to my throat immediately when I found myself gasping for breath.
"I assume I have the misfortune of speaking to my mother," I heard Niklaus say as he walked into the room, and Esther stopped her spell on me. I almost dropped to my knees when I felt the air reach my lungs again.
She threw some kind of dust at Klaus, and he stopped in his tracks. "You hide behind your spells like a coward," Klaus stated.
"Hayley, go," I said, and she looked at the two of us with uncertainty, then nodded and left.
Esther suddenly threw more dust to the side, and I saw Elijah stopped by her shield as well. He looked at me with worry in his eyes, then looked back at her. "Everything you do is an act of war," he said. "If you touch her, so help me-"
"Roseia is free to go, the same as Hayley," Esther said. "I've spoken my peace, they know why I'm here. I have come to heal our family, Elijah."
"Well that's a grand sentiment, coming from you," Klaus growled.
"My intent was never to harm, only to heal!" Esther tried to explain, but neither of them were convinced. "As I have already healed your brothers, Finn and Kol! For you, I will undo everything that has been done, thereby giving you a new life. One without the vampire curse I inflicted upon you."
Esther waved her hand, and the ground beneath us began to shake. The lights began to flicker and sparks flew from them.
"Ask Hayley to share with you my loving proposition," she said.
"You're a fool if you think we'll accept anything you offer," Klaus growled.
"Oh, you are wrong, Niklaus," she told him. She raised her hands. "There will come a time when you will beg for it!" The windows behind her suddenly shattered, and that was it. Birds flew in and went towards us like a cloud, and when they were gone, so was she.
Elijah rushed towards me, and Klaus went forwards and put his hands on my shoulders to make sure that I was staying steady. I reached up and removed his hands, sending him a soft smile.
"Are you alright?" Elijah asked.
"Yes, I'm fine," I told him.
"Rose, you don't look fine," Klaus muttered. "You look like you're ill."
"I'm okay, Klaus," I told him. "Don't worry."
I walked out of the shop, with the two of them right behind me.
'I'm fine', I told them.
I lied.
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So, guys, something's wrong with Rose. What is it?
Let me know what you think. ;)