Guilt ▻ The Originals [3]

23

At the Abattoir, Freya and Elijah were arguing in the second-floor study when Klaus and Ophelia suddenly walked into the room with Stefan in tow, which caused each of them to turn. "Freya, this is Stefan Salvatore, an old friend." Klaus introduced the younger vampire to his sister.

Elijah rolled his eyes at the sight of Stefan, and Freya gave Klaus a hard look, "One of my trickle-down sirelings. Long story," Klaus continued on before turning to Stefan, "Stefan, this is Freya, my brand-new older sister. Also a long story."

Stefan nodded and smiled weakly in acknowledgment while Klaus turned back to Freya to address her as he patted Stefan affectionately on the back.

Feeling impatient, Ophelia decided to speak instead, "Stefan needs a favor." She informed Freya in a calm tone.

Freya looked at Stefan suspiciously as she took a step toward him, "You're an old 'friend,' are you?"

"Well...That kind of depends on your definition," Stefan replied awkwardly as he looked at Freya nervously, but Freya continued to scowl at him.

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It was still early morning, and the sky remained dark as Ophelia and Hayley walked toward an abandoned train car. The duo shared a glance before they walked into the train car, which had a sign indicating it was formerly a post office car. They hesitantly walked through the hallway inside as they made their way toward the main room, where old-fashioned jazz music playing on an old record player nearby.

Hayley finally ripped the curtains open, but was shocked to find that there was no one in the room, though the creaking floorboards gave she and Ophelia the inkling that they were not alone.

Ophelia grabbed Hayley by the arm and turned to leave. However, when she sensed something nearby, she soon found a hidden door and opened the lock to find someone's body inside, which immediately slumped forward onto Ophelia.

Smiling in a furious manner, Ophelia lifted the person up by their hair to find that it was Lucien, who had been bound, gagged, and was desiccated as though he had been starved for quite a while.

"Well, well. If it isn't Lucien," Ophelia spoke up, a sarcastic smile on her lips at the sight of the vampire.

After a moment, Ophelia turned to Hayley, "Honestly, we should just leave him like this," She suggested in a sarcastic tone, "He's so much quieter."

Rolling her eyes, Hayley had just removed Lucien's gag and the elder vampire began to pant for breath weakly, his skin still gray from being starved, "Get...Klaus...out of here." He managed to get out, causing Ophelia to turn to Hayley, who shared the same frown as her.

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Later on, Ophelia and Hayley had brought Lucien back to the compound, where he was frantically gulping down several blood bags to replenish himself in the courtyard while Marcel and the two females argued about what had happened to Klaus and Marcel in front of him, "I had no idea that Aya was gonna take Klaus and Elijah down!" Marcel complained, gesturing to Lucien, "And regardless, why the hell are we trusting this guy all of a sudden, huh? He's the one who ran off with Aurora the first chance he got."

"You can hardly fault a man for following his heart," Lucien argued defensively, "Yet, the moment she started raving about firing white oak into Klaus, well..." He trailed off, letting out a sigh in defeat, "Words were said, hearts broken, veins drained."

Ophelia turned to Marcel, a furious look on her face, "You're one to talk about trust, Marcel. Wasn't it you who handed my dead husband's heart to the people that helped murder him?"