Hellfire | Hayley Marshall

Chapter 42

The vampires only got to their feet when Eisa told them to.

"Good to see you all again," she said, looking around, before stopping in front of Tristan. "Well, not you. Why are you here, Tristan?"

Tristan cleared his throat. "Ms. Mikaelson, Mr. Mikaelson, Aya, and I require the room. Please leave us."

Eisa cast Marcel a look, before mouthing, 'Be careful,' as she watched him and the other vampires leave. She moved to stand closer to her brother as Tristan and Aya stood, also side by side.

"Your sirelines— your lives— are at stake," said Trsitan. "You'll want to hear what I have to say."

Elijah held up a finger, stopping him from saying any more. "You waltz into my city unannounced with your flock of sycophants flaunting news of a threat. All the while, your little lapdog Aya is conspiring with none other than Marcel Gerard."

"'Conspiring?'" snapped Aya.

Tristan chuckled lightly. "How grandiose. I thought I was the one with a flair for the dramatic."

"Watch your tongue," snapped Elijah, adjusting Tristan's tie threateningly, though, considering how touchy Eisa and Aya once been, it looked like something worth giggling about. "I am not the patient, fun-loving social butterfly you might recall."

Tristan sighed. "Your Marcel is a potential recruit. I sent Aya to fetch him, but he did not wish to come quietly. He has nothing to do with the larger issue we face."

"The larger issue?" asked Eisa, crossing her arms.

"You've no doubt heard about the war between the sirelines?" said Tristan. "Well, as it happens, your lines, thanks to my Strix, has wreaked all manner of havoc on Lucien and his assorted interests. As a result, he's desperate to exterminate the lot of us— me, Aya, everyone you two have ever sired. Of course, the economical way to complete this task would be for him to kill you both. He knows that throughout history, the two of you have nearly always stuck together."

"Hard to believe," said Eisa. "Lucien wouldn't be idiotic enough to do such a thing."

Tristan assented slowly. "You don't believe me. Perhaps you underestimate Lucien's ambition? While I doubt he'd have the gall to attack you directly, I believe he might try and find someone else to do it— namely, Niklaus."

Elijah narrowed his eyes. "What makes you so certain that Niklaus would select Lucien over his own family?"

"From what I hear," said Tristan, "he tortured his friend Marcel, cursed the mother of his child, and burned your paramour in front of you, all because he thought it the logical way to defeat his enemy. With Lucien in his ear, how long before the logical thing is to get rid of you?"

"Niklaus will not side with him," said Eisa. "Lucien could try and try to manipulate him, and our brother would not dare to kill us. Especially not me. I have stood by him far too many times in the past two years. He cannot ignore that. We have rekindled our relationship, and I trust my brother will let me know of any trouble."

"As a matter of fact," added Elijah, "Niklaus is on his way right now to put Lucien out of our collective misery. We won't need to worry."

Tristan suddenly looked alarmed. "You must stop him."

"And why would I do that?" asked Elijah.

"You've clearly heard of Lucien's seer by now," said Aya. "She believes there's an object capable of killing the both of you."

"We know that," said Eisa. "What of it?"

"Well, we don't have it," said Tristan. "I'm quite certain my sister doesn't have it, either. Logically, then, one must assume that Lucien has it, or he knows where it is. If he dies, none of us will find it. Not until some other assassin attempts to use it against you. If you've any hope of finding that which can kill us all, Niklaus needs to be stopped."