| THE STAND:
CHAPTER ELEVEN |
"I don't care if you like me. Some new vampires are in the Quarter from out of town—way out of town—and they want the Regent and Monroe's on their side." Marcel told Vincent, "And I know your kind of witches don't particularly like the Monroe's, but I know you've been helping Davina and Ares."
Vincent sighed in defeat upon realising the witches were in danger, while Marcel continued his explanation.
"And if they say no, they'll kill Davina. They've killed Ares once before, they'll do it again. Rhea is the only one with a fighting chance. I've told them to leave town, but of course, they would rather stay and fight. I'd rather not sit back and watch them get killed." Ares and Marcel had come to a mutual agreement that they both cared immensely about Davina Claire, and whilst he hadn't trusted the witch at first. He didn't want him to get killed, again.
Vincent thought to himself for a moment, "Ares and Rhea haven't spoken in days, correct?" Marcel nodded, "We've gotta make sure they don't settle their differences just yet—and as for Davina— there may be a way to get her out of trouble, but you ain't gonna like it."
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Rhea had retreated back to her bedroom, trying to tune out the sounds of the inevitable torture the Mikaelsons were about to inflict upon their first sires. Usually, Rhea would be aboard the torture train, but today, she physically didn't have the strength to. She was tired. She had lived a long life, full of pain and hurt— although she had some truly happy times, the pain outweighed that by a tonne. She wondered if this was a psychotic break, was she really going insane? Was she losing herself? Would she end up completely off her rocker?
Her thoughts halted when Hayley entered her room, "Get up." Glancing up at the hybrid with a raised brow, she didn't make a move to comply with her wishes.
"No."
"I'm gonna say this one more time, Rhea. Get up. You're gonna come and help me and Freya torture Rebekah's location out of Aurora. Let you burn off some steam, you look like you need to." She remarked, taking in the witch's ghastly appearance.
"No, Hayley. I want no part in this, I'm sick of people using me as pawns in their own twisted games." She repeated her earlier words, she had no interest in the inevitable war that seemed to get closer by the second.
Hayley crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes, "I'm not here to get you to help Klaus, or Elijah. I'm here as a friend. You're a mess, Rhea. You can't sit around moping for all of eternity, okay? I heard you earlier, you were borderline hysterical. You can't sit around and cry yourself into a coma. You wanna feel better? You fight. Not for the Mikaelsons, or your brother. You fight for yourself, for your own cause. Now come on." She pulled on the witches shackled arm, forcing her to stand up, she took off the shackles, "Much better."
Rhea had taken in Hayley's words, she was right. She couldn't hide away in the shadows waiting for someone to use her in their next turn in this game, she had to come out of the shadows and show everyone that she fights for no one. She is her own team.
The two joined Aurora and Freya in the ballroom, the latter had just finished burning sage, Rhea noticed. No one could hear them.
"And now that my spell has made it so no one can hear what happens.." Freya started, her face brightening when she saw Rhea, she wasn't sure that Hayley would be able to talk her out of her current mood.
"We're gonna have a lot of fun." Aurora gaped at Hayley, surprised by her appearance.
"Hayley! The mother of Niklaus' child. Ooh, I was really hoping I'd get to meet you."
Hayley looked towards Rhea, a look that clearly said 'is she serious?' Rhea just smirked, clearly Hayley hadn't expected Aurora to be that unhinged.
Glaring at the older vampire, Hayley told her, "Feelings not mutual."
Aurora didn't look the slightest bit bothered at Hayley's rejection, "Oh, okay. So, then what, pray tell, are we doing here?"
Hayley and Rhea had moved so they were either side of Freya, the serious expressions on their face showing that they weren't messing around.
"You're gonna tell us where to find Rebekah, or we're going to kill you, Aurora." Rhea said calmly, the tone of her voice not really matching up with her threat.
Aurora let out an 'oh!' before starting to chuckle at the three woman, who only looked back at her smugly.
Almost instantly, Hayley and Aurora started fighting. Hayley threw a punch to Aurora's face. The force of it was so strong that the impact caused her to spin away.
"Ugh!" Aurora cried out, doubling over as she recovered from the blow.
"I'm gonna ask you again— where's Rebekah?" Hayley asked, it was more like a demand but it didn't phase Aurora, who only wiped her bleeding nose before looking to Hayley with an impressed look.
"You're quite strong.. For an infant."
Freya looked to Rhea, "What do you say to pain infliction, combining both of our magic?" She asked with a smirk on her face.
Rhea matched the smirk with one of her own, holding her hand out, "I thought you'd never ask."
The two joined hands before thrusting their free ones out toward Aurora, the power of the two witches combined made it much worse than that of any ordinary witch. Aurora screamed in pain whilst clutching her throbbing head.
Aurora mustered up all her remaining energy and fought through the pain long enough to vamp-speed toward Freya and Rhea, shoving them directly into a nearby wall, distracting the two long for the spell to stop. Aurora then lunged for Hayley, backhanding her across the face, angering the hybrid so much so that she started to fight with her again. Aurora blocked her punches and twisted Hayley's arm back before kicking her in the stomach. Whilst Hayley was recovering, Aurora threw her backward into the wall opposite of Freya and Rhea, laughing triumphantly.
Aurora lunged for Hayley again, Freya and Rhea were already one step ahead, jumping forward and casting yet another pain infliction spell, this one even more powerful than the previous. Aurora clutches her head and groans in pain, nearly falling to her knees from the force of it. A Mikaelson and Monroe witch were most certainly a force to be reckoned with.
They released her after a moment, Aurora was panting heavily, until she started to giggle manically. Freya and Hayley looked baffled at how exhilarated she seemed to be, Rhea on the other hand, was not surprised in the slightest.
"Woo!" She paused to laugh, "That actually hurt!" She laughed again, "Oh, I haven't felt pain since the 1700s! Kind of tickles."
Then her smile fell, and her gaze fell upon the three women, a cold expression upon her face, "And for that, I'm gonna make you suffer."
She went to lunge for them but Rhea yanked her by her hair before she could get to them, pulling her head back.
"How about a werewolf bite from my dear friend, Hayley? You psychotic little bitch." Rhea said through gritted teeth.
Aurora giggled, "By all means! If only I can laugh in your face when Nik heals me and Tristan kills you for taking part in this pathetic excuse for torture." Rhea mustered up all the strength she could to kneel Aurora in the stomach before using her magic to throw her across the room. She crashed into a far wall.
Freya smiled condescendingly at the vampire, "Maybe Klaus would heal you, but I doubt he would heal your brother."
Rhea nodded to Hayley, trying to rile Aurora up, "Maybe you should bite him instead."
Hayley smirked, "Hmm!"
Aurora all but growled at Rhea, "You won't kill me, Rhea. Tristan would kill you himself if you did so, and you wouldn't let Hayley bite him because you care about him, so who's the real winner here, my dear?" She turned her attention to Hayley, "No one should dare my brother.. Seeing as you're going to need him if you want your precious Rebekah back."
The three stared at her furiously, willing her to continue on with her revelation.
"You see, while I did ensure that Rebekah was dropped in the ocean, I didn't know precisely where. I had some old friends do it for me... and then I killed them, but I have procured the exact location of Rebekah's watery grave in two sealed envelopes. Mine contains the latitude.." She trailed off, as she circled them like a predator.
"And Tristan's contains the longitude. So you really can't kill either of us. X marks the spot!" She stopped directly in front of them, a smug smile taking over her features.
"So tell me, girls. Who has the advantage now?"
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