Eternal || Elijah Mikaelson

CXLIV - Tristan's Gift

The next chapters are gonna be reallllllly fun to write. ;) Prepare for some more Tristan, everybody.

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Chapter One Hundred & Fourty-Four

By the time Elijah called me it was almost two in the morning. He had had a busy night, he had said. I could hear the fear and uncertainty in his voice, so I begged him to tell me where he was. He would not tell me, and said that it wasn't safe to speak at home. So I asked him to meet me at Royal Hotel in the Quarter.

I got a suite on the top floor, then waited for him in front of the hotel. I tapped my fingers against my thigh, my nails drumming into the jeans I had thrown on. I finally saw him turn the corner and come rushing down the street, walking as fast as he could. I said hello to him, to which he nodded, but didn't reply. He licked his lips and walked into the hotel behind me. We went up in the elevator, and he was still silent.

Since he had been so worried about telling me at the compound, I had brought some sage and spelled it. No one would hear us, even people with supernatural hearing.

He paced back and forth, removed his coat, and kept on pacing. His expression showed one of concentration, but the wideness of his eyes and the way he rubbed his hands together were both clear signs that he was actually terrified.

Finally, he came to sit down on the bed by me, then whispered, "It did not work."

"What didn't work?"

"Your spell on Rebekah. She got halfway to the airport and then nearly tore out her driver's neck."

My eyes widened a little, and he sighed before putting his face in his hands.

"I... I'll do something else. I'll ask Freya to help this time," I said, standing to my feet and going to get my bag before he stood and grabbed my arm. He stopped me, and I looked at him in confusion.

"No, we can't. Not yet. I thought my sister was out of her mind when she first said it, but we must concentrate on the prophecy. She has fallen, now only a friend and foe remain. We must wait."

"What do you mean she has fallen?" I asked.

He swallowed. "The only way to save her was to use the white oak dagger on her."

I nodded. I was certainly surprised, but I understood why he had done it. It was a good idea. "All right. That's good, she'll be safe."

He blinked a few times, then his brow furrowed in confusion. "I thought you would want to know her location."

"The less people that know, the better. If you want to tell me, you can. But I won't push you to do so."

He nodded a little, and then the uncertainty faded from his eyes. He suddenly looked down at me in what could only be described as admiration. "Thank you, darling."

I smiled at him. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked the time, then sighed a little. "I have about eight hours until I'm meeting Hayley in the bayou. Why don't we make the best of this room until then?"

A mischievous grin came over his face.

I snickered a little. "You look like Klaus."

He laughed in reply, pulling me close.

"You'll regret saying that, my dear."

*

I left in the morning, and Elijah was still asleep when I did. I left him a note, assuring him that I would be fine and that everything with Rebekah would work out for the best. I knew he would prefer I leave a note instead of a text. After all, he always thought writing a message was more intimate.

I knew that there was something wrong the further into the bayou I drove. I could hear heartbeats that were not Hayley's or Jackson's; they were too slow, barley even audible for my hybrid hearing. They were vampires, and it seemed like they were old.

When I stepped out of my car about a half mile away from Jackson's house on the river, I quickly realized that I wasn't far away enough.

A dart was shot into my left shoulder, and another into my right thigh. I hissed in pain and frustration and yanked them out, only to have a dagger plunged into my chest.

Aya was in front of me, her calm demeanour making me want to rip her face from her skull. She yanked the dagger out, and I realized that it hurt far more than it should have. I looked down, and saw that the blood that left the wound was black.

"That's-"

"-Poison," Aya stated, dropping the dagger and going straight to my throat.

Aya shoved me against the closed car door. The glass shattered behind me, and the metal crunched under my breaking bones.

"The darts are also poisoned. Of course, it won't kill a hybrid like you, but it will leave you with no magic and no power to heal for twelve hours," she said, a sick grin coming onto her face. "Until then, I'm sure that Tristan will just love the gift we have brought him."

"What-What have you done to Hay-Hayley?" I asked, my voice shaking and uneven with her hand crushing my airway.

"I would say that we won't be hurting her, and that she will only be a pawn in Tristan's little game, but then again... She did torture him. He usually is very calm. I wonder how much anger he will unleash when he has the woman who once tortured her at his mercy?"

I tried to crush her wrist under my palms, but the poison was lurking into my veins. It rushed through my body and made me weak and exhausted. The edges of my vision were filled with spots, and her words were echoing in the air.

I saw people come behind her, men in suits. Of course the rest of the Strix were here. She couldn't handle one hybrid on her own let alone both Hayley and Jackson.

With one last burst of rage, I brought my right foot up and to the side. Her kneecap was dislocated and she yelped, dropping and letting go of my throat. While she was down, I braced myself against the car and slammed my knee into her face. Her nose broke and spouted blood before she fell, completely unconscious.

I was about to run, but one of the Strix bolted to me and grabbed my skull in his large hands. He twisted his palms, and my neck was snapped under his grip.

I dropped to the forest floor, completely unaware of exactly what Tristan had in store for all of us.