Ardent | Elijah Mikaelson

Chapter 2

Evangeliya could not sleep.

She shouldn't have expected she'd be able to. Even as a child, whenever something exciting was to happen the following day, she could only toss and turn, wondering and waiting. It'd happened most memorably before the birth of both her sisters and in the days before Katherine's labor.

When she realized she'd find no rest that evening, she prayed. She had lost her faith a long time ago, hadn't even enjoyed practicing her parents' religion when she was young. But she recalled the first prayer she learned, a prayer her mother made that was simple for a child to learn, one to grant strength, to grant success, to ask for peace, guidance, and patience.

On her knees against the edge of the bed, she murmured the prayer over and over again, in between saying the names of her closest friends and family, those who she'd lost who would not be there to witness their victory. All the ones she could not save.

Prayer. Pearl. Prayer. Anna. Prayer. Rose. Prayer. Trevor. Prayer. Slater. Prayer. Mama. Prayer. Tati. Prayer. Iskra. Prayer. Anelia.

She wanted to believe they'd all found peace long ago. Though, in the case of her vampire companions, she wasn't sure how possible it was. She knew, however, in her heart, that as soon as Klaus was dead, their peace would come. No matter how long it had taken.

Her own peace was near, too. Once Klaus was gone, she could rest. No more being on the run, no more using false names and appearances. She'd be able to safely return to Bulgaria, and the weight of Katherine would finally be lifted from her. After freeing her, she'd remove the lingering worry she had always had for her sister.

Her hatred of her ran deep, but only half as deep as the love she had for her. She knew she would never cease hating Katherine, and she never wished to reconcile in any way. There was no reason to. Evangeliya could (and would) never trust her again. But she still kept her promise the way her sister hadn't, vowing to enact revenge on Klaus on behalf of both of them, and their innocent families.

Her breakfast was a nature photographer she found lurking in the backyard of the Salvatore House. She drained him almost entirely of blood, building her strength. Before he could succumb, she healed him, waiting a good several minutes for him to recover to clean the blood off his body and send him on his way, oblivious to what she'd done.

Once the rest of the individuals in the house were awake, she met with them in the library.

"Tonight is the full moon," said Elijah to Stefan and Elena. "We should assume that Klaus is prepared to break the curse."

"Elena said that the Sun and the Moon curse is fake?" inquired Stefan. "That it's actually just a curse placed on Klaus."

Elijah nodded. "Klaus is a vampire born of a werewolf bloodline. The curse has kept his werewolf aspect from manifesting. But if he breaks it... he'll be a true hybrid."

And our worst nightmare.

"Then why are we letting him break the curse?" demanded Damon. "We can kill him today. With Bonnie."

"She would die," said Evangeliya bluntly. "There is no guarantee she will live long enough to kill him. We haven't the tools we require to end his life prior to the ritual."

"I can't lose Bonnie," agreed Elena. "She can't use that much power without dying, and it could all be for nothing."

Damon rolled his eyes. "If she dies, I'll write her a great eulogy."

Elena's gaze was stern. "It's not an option, Damon."

Stefan opted to change the subject. "All right, how do we break this curse?"