Born of Chaos ☽ E. Mikaelson¹

eighteen ☽ a trap

Cora had lied. Admittedly, she was something of a liar, especially when it came to her reputation, but in this situation, Cora had lied to Celeste. Sure, Celeste had false information because compulsion was solely a vampire thing, but getting vampires to do what she wanted was a skill that Cora had. However, it wasn't as simple as looking a vampire in the eyes and telling them what to do.

The magic that Cora spun had to run deeper than that. It had to be done slowly and over time, until her magic and her will had stained every thought and every memory. It was something that she'd only done twice in her life, but she would never do it to anyone else.

It was a last resort and Cora never should have done it the second time. It was her biggest regret.

All this is just to say that Cora would never do that to Elijah or any of his family. Especially not for any dead witches. However, Cora was doing a milder version of her psionic abilities for Klaus.

"You couldn't wait five seconds for me to get a hold on your brother?" Cora asked softly, cringing at every wave of agony that she felt radiating off of Klaus. Her hands remained positioned at his temples, using her magic to attempt to numb his pain receptors.

"It was Rebekah."

"Truly never a dull day with your family, is there?"

"Are you regretting this yet?" Elijah asked, watching as Cora closed her eyes, focusing on her magic. There was a long pause before Cora looked back up at him and said,

"I got a little payback with your ex-girlfriend, so I'm doing pretty good."

At Cora's mention, Elijah's eyes widened, a million things running through his head.

"Celeste, she was here?"

"Get Klaus home," Cora said, taking her hands off the Original hybrid's temples. She leaned back, resting her hands against her thighs. "I'll check for Celeste and the other witches."

"Are you sure? Your–"

Cora cut off Elijah with a kiss on his cheek.

"I won't be far behind. I promise." Cora rose to her feet. "And I'll call your sister. Get her the contact of a witch who can make sure she and Marcel stay cloaked."

Elijah followed the suite, lifting up his brother as he did so. Before he left entirely, he stole one more glance towards Cora. He'd always hated leaving her. Only now, whenever they separated, there were a whole lot more stakes than there were back in New York.

Cora had returned to the basement where she'd been held temporarily captive. Celeste was nowhere to be found which meant that Cora's spell had lost some of its potency. That happened when she was dealing with people who'd had longer lifespans. There were more memories and thoughts to sort through, meaning that whatever nightmare that Cora triggered might be a rather shallow fear. Her magic worked best when she could pick out an absolute worst fear. Clearly, she hadn't quite done that with Celeste.

To be sure that she was gone, Cora combed through the rest of the building, coming to a stop in one of the rooms. Blood. This must've been where Klaus was before that blade was taken out and he was unleashed on Rebekah. It made her flinch just thinking about it. The pain she'd felt from Klaus was overwhelming, devastating really. But perhaps some of that had to do with Rebekah.

Speaking of, as soon as Cora stepped out of the building, she called Rebekah.

"Klaus is out of commission for a time, so you and Marcel have to get as far as you can. I know a couple of people who can provide cloaking for you."

"What, no hello?"

"Hello, Rebekah," Cora answered in exasperation, finding herself a little glad that some of Rebekah's humour was intact despite the circumstances. "Don't mind me just getting to the point so that Elijah can work on getting Klaus to cool down."