"Elijah, I didn't expect to see you on this side of the river," Marcel spoke walking towards Elijah.
"Yes, well I have some business to attend to and I have someone who wanted to see you," Elijah gestured to Charley, she walked from behind the building smiling when Marcel's eyes lit up happily.
"No way! Charlotte, it's been so long!" He laughed pulling her into a hug.
It was the day after fighting for and getting the moonlight rings back as well as the kiss. Hayley and Klaus were down in the bayou trying to locate any of her pack members that were still alive. Elijah and Charley came over this way to try and persuade Marcel to help us.
"What brought you back to town?" He asked, pulling away from the hug, Marcel and Charley used to be close. He'd come around just as a boy and she took over a sisterly role for him. She was sure it had been about 75 years now that she hadn't seen him.
"Well, I was asked to come down and help out with the old Mikaelson family drama," Charley shrugged casually, in all honesty she was happy to be back down here, her life was quite boring without them.
"I didn't expect you to be assembling a vampire community," Elijah spoke up before Marcel could respond.
"Well, my community was fine until Klaus had the brilliant idea to make moonlight rights, now that harvest girl is making more," Marcel sneered and Charley realized the drama between Klaus and Marcel still hadn't been settled over all of these years.
"Let me guess, offering them to the wolves for their allegiances?" She asked, Marcel nodding in confirmation.
"The wolves are just kneeling at her feet. The Quarter's become a dangerous place. And you, well I guess you and Charley, are the only true vampires left. If you ask me, you're better off joining my community. Maybe that's why you're here?" Marcel had a leering smile and she fought the urge to roll her eyes at his antics.
"Mm-mm. We came to make you an offer. Find us the white oak stake and I'll let this little social experiment continue," Elijah offered, Marcel watching him for a moment, looking briefly at Charley then back at Elijah.
"Even if I wanted to help, I don't have a clue where it is,"
"Yes, but you do have an ally in Davina. She can find it. Thing is I'd speak to her myself but I'd feel the conversation might become a little unpleasant," Elijah answered him. Charley watched a brief flash of anger in Marcel's eyes, Elijah had told her that Marcel was close with the young witch.
"You don't go anywhere near her," Marcel growled protectively.
"Hey, we won't, you know me I wouldn't let the girl get hurt. Is it settled, you'll help us?" Charley asked, stepping forward and resting her hand on his shoulder. Marcel pulled his eyes away from Elijah to look at her giving his friend a short nod.
"Great. You'll deal with the matter personally, do come find us when you do we'll be here," Elijah turned, walking away.
"Thank you, Marcel," She gave him a small smile leaning over to kiss his cheek. No doubt he was only helping them because he would want something in return later but he still could have said no.
"So, about last night," Elijah started as Charley followed him in an alleyway between two brick buildings.
"'Lijah you don't have to-"
"I do have to, Charlotte," Elijah stopped her, backing her into the wall. Her big eyes looking up at him as her heart started pounding in her chest, he smirked at the effect it had on her but it fell almost instantly.
"I shouldn't have pushed you away the way I did and so I must apologize to you for that, you didn't deserve that. Charlotte, I am sorry," He apologized sincerely and he was. The tears that filled her eyes last night before she ran away had been like a punch to the guy, a physical hit more than he deserved.
"I'm not," He cocked his head confused at her words. She brought her hand up to caress the side of his face gently, feeling his stubble cover jawline under her fingertips, "I'm not sorry because I got to kiss you for the first time in 50 years. I got to have you hold me in your arms and feel your body against mine after only having imagined it for so long."
"I looked for you once, and found you," He confessed in a quiet breath, dropping his forehead against her, his arms coming up to circle around her waist.
"When?" She asked, eyes falling shut just letting herself listen to him.
"It was years after you left. Rebekah told me about visiting you and accidentally let it slip that she would be visiting you in New York. I made it seem like I didn't care, but after knowing where you were after so long I couldn't help myself. I followed her to New York and watched the two of you around town. I'll admit the shopping part was quite boring but watching you two laughing and having fun gave me a strange sense of comfort. I wanted badly to just come over. I stopped myself though, you looked so happy and content I didn't want to ruin that, I didn't want to fuck up your new life," So many emotions passed through his voice as he spoke and it broke Charley's heart when she heard the pain in his voice.
"Elijah, darling, you can fuck my life up any time," She whispered, grabbing his face and pulling him into a kiss, praying he wouldn't pull away this time.
He sighed when her lips pressed against his, using his body to press her tightly against the wall as he kissed back. He would never get tired of kissing her. All of the years before he never got tired of it and now it was like the first time all over again. Kissing her made him feel as close to being human as he could get.
"As much as I would love to just stay here like this, we do still have some business to attend to," Elijah pulled away from their kiss breathless, one hand sliding up to caress her face mirroring her own hand on his face.
"Well, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon," She leaned up kissing him once more before untangling herself from him. "C'mon let's find something to occupy the time until Marcel finds us,"
For the next hour they walked around the little community, talking about things that had happened over their years apart and ended up standing and watching two older men playing a game of chess.
"Davina's on her way. By the time she gets here, you need to be gone." Marcel spoke walking up on the other side of Elijah.
"I'm not going anywhere until I know the whereabouts of that stake," He answered, still watching the game of chess.
"What, you think she's just gonna cooperate with you standing here. First thing I learned about living with your family, wherever you people go threats and bloodshed are soon to follow. So just stay out of sight, try not to kill anyone. And Charlie, it was good to see you," Marcel turned to leave back down one of the alleyways.
"I see he's still not Mikaelson's biggest fan," Charley chuckled, nudging him with her elbow and receiving a small smile in return.
"Yes, well past traumas still take a toll on him I guess. Come on," He tilted his head, grabbing her hand and leading her down the same alley Marcel had just disappeared down.
"Charlie, what are you doing here?" Marcel asked as he opened the door to his apartment.
"Well, I wanted to meet Davina. I asked Elijah to stay out of sight just like you did. She doesn't know me, she doesn't have to know who I'm here with," Charley shrugged walking in when he stepped aside.
"So, you and Elijah, are you two back together?" Marcel asked, the two of us sitting on the couch.
"Um, no, not really. I mean I've been gone for a long time, I didn't leave on the best terms with him and now he has that whole thing going on with Hayley. So thing are a bit-"
"Complicated? Aren't that always?" Marcel chuckled and that made her laugh.
"Yeah, I guess they are usually complicated. We'll see how it works out though," She shrugged looking towards his window that gave a perfect view of the Huey P Long Bridge that stretched across the Mississippi River.
"He'd be crazy not to want to be with you," She gave him a small smile, hearing the front door slide open before she could answer.
"Long time, little Dee," Marcel smiled standing up as the pretty brunette walked in.
"Whose this?" She asked with her eyes glancing at Charley briefly as she stood up.
"Come here, I couldn't get a hug first?" Marcel asked, pulling her into a hug.
"It's good to see you, Marcel," She smiled and Charley could tell she really loved him.
"Dee, this is Charlotte, she's an old friend from a long time ago," He introduced us after pulling away from the hug.
"It's nice to meet you, and you can just call me Charlie. I've heard so many wonderful things about you," She shook Charley's hand when she offered it, an odd tingling feeling shot up her arm at the contact and she could tell Davina felt it too. Her big green eyes looking into Charley's blue ones curiously.
"It's nice to meet you, Charlie. Well, I got your message, Marcel, what's up?" She asked, brushing off the feeling and turning her attention back to Marcel.
"Look, I hate to ask you for a favor but I- well, we need your help. A locator spell, something missing," Marcel explained, only filling Davina's eyes with more curiosity.
"The white oak stake, powerful enough to kill an original," Charley added, her eyes turning to Charley, filled with less curiosity now and more with what seemed to be annoyance.
"Did one of them put you up to this? Did she?" Davina asked, pointing towards me, Marcel shook his head quickly placing a hand on her shoulder.
"No. But Dee, if that stake gets used on Klaus every vampire that he sired dies too," Marcel explained, trying to get the point across at how important the stake was.
"I know. But what if I do find it? I'm not just gonna give it to Klaus. He and Elijah are both brutal sadistic monsters," Wow she really didn't like Elijah or Klaus.
"Davina, I wish I could disagree with you. However, you make a good point. Although you and I both have a good reason to find the stake. I want to protect friends of mine and you want to protect yours," She tried to convince her, knowing if she brought up Elijah it would probably make her even less inclined to help us.
"No. I believe you may have good intentions but their family had all of the power for so long. They manipulate and kill anyone who gets in their way. That time is over. From now on, they can know what it feels like to be afraid," She turned around, ignoring Marcel's attempts to stop her. Charley raised her hand gesturing for him to let her go.
"Charley, I can convince her to help-"
"No, Marcel, don't you get it?" Charley asked, smiling at him getting a raised eyebrow in return.
"Get what?" He asked, making her laugh.
"She cares for you yet she was so casual about the fact that you could die if the stake was used on Klaus. Marcel, she knows the stake won't be used because she knows exactly where it is, she's had it this whole time," Charley explained, amused at how oblivious he was, she practically threw it out there that she had the stake for herself.
"The stake is safe," She told Elijah as they walked outside, finding him right on the side of the brick building.
"Davina has it, she won't use it on Klaus because it would kill me," Marcel added as the three of them started walking through the crowded street.
"Of course she has no reason whatsoever not to use it on me," I looked over at Elijah and Marcel shrugged like it didn't really matter.
"I highly doubt she'll use it on you but I suggest you be on your best behavior," Marcel shrugged, but Charley knew Elijah wouldn't let it go and he didn't.
They were currently on their way back across the river. Marcel had called Davina to try and persuade her once more to just help them or to give him the stake. She denied having the stake once again but it wasn't hard to tell she was lying. She couldn't exactly blame her, the big bad Mikaelson brothers were intimidating and if she has the one weapon that can kill them there's no way she would just give it up. Suddenly, Charley had that same odd tingling from earlier except this time it was paired with the feeling of dread like someone was scared. She couldn't help but feel like something was wrong, like something was wrong with Davina. She didn't even know the girl but she knew she didn't want anything bad to happen to her.
They came to a stop at a redlight and she chanced it, throwing her door open and jumping out. She could hear both Marcel and Elijah call out her name but she didn't look back as she sped off to Rousseau's. If nothing was wrong she could just tell them she had a weird feeling and needed to check it out, however if something really was wrong and she ignored that feeling she would never forgive herself if the young girl was hurt. As she got closer to the restaurant she could hear sounds of a struggle, and the sound of a girl's scream that Charley knew in her gut was Davina. She was in the back door without a sound rushing to the front in time to see a vampire ready to bite Davina. Charley ripped her away from him, punching the vampire and watching them slam into the wall. She looked back at Davina for a moment to make sure she was okay before turning back, stopping dead in her tracks.
"Mikael?" She breathed out, taking a step back towards Davina. Mikael should have been long dead.
"Father," Elijah growled, suddenly standing in front of Charley. She rested a hand on his back, Mikael was ruthless, worse thank Klaus or Elijah combined and he would kill anyone he could.
"Hello, son. I'd hoped to see your brother first but we have some unfinished business as well," Mikael answered, Elijah pushed Charley back hitting Mikael as hard as he could. She watched them go back and forth for a second trying to figure out what she could do.
She watched as Mikael pinned Elijah against the bar, her eyes widening when he pulled out the white oak stake. She vaguely heard Marcel behind her talking to Davina but my full attention was back on Elijah when he groaned as the stake started to pierce his chest. Charley was no match for Mikael and didn't know what else she could do so she rushed forward, jumping on Mikael's back, too busy with the stake to have noticed her moving. Charley yanked his head back, sinking her teeth into his neck. Mikael let out a pain filled howl reaching behind him, grabbing her by the back of the neck to pull her off and throw her across the room. Her body crashed through one of the tables, part of the splintering wood stabbing her in the side. She gritted her teeth, the wood burning inside of her skin. She stood up just as Marcel tossed Davina her bracelet.
"Stop. Go back now." Davina commanded, Mikael's eyes were full of hatred as he turned and sped out of the building. Elijah sled over to me, as Davina looked back angrily at Marcel before storming out.
"Charlotte, are you alright?" Elijah asked, reaching out to her.
"I'm okay, I just have a piece of wood stuck in my side," She panted, the pain in her side getting worse.
"Here, let me," He rested his hand on her waist, the other slowly pulling her shirt up. She clutched onto his arm tightly as his hand wrapped around the wood, her eyes filled with tears as he pulled it out. God it had been a long time since anything like that had happened. She took a deep breath, feeling the wound already healing.
"Are you okay?" She asked, running her fingers over the bloody wound on his chest, his also starting to heal.
"Yes, I am okay," He promised, pulling her into a hug.