Book two of Adelia Laurentis series [IN-PROGRESS]
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They parted ways but were brought together again. Manipulated to serve a cause, their destiny was their greatest threat.
Amidst the chaos, he loved her to heart's content, and she wasn't even...
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Last night I gave a message to a star To carry to the moon, however far To deliver to the sun whose rays can turn The rocks to golden emblems as they burn.
- Rumi, Message To A Star
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August 1863 Fleureau Manor | New Orleans
"Sharel!" Klaus barged into the Fleureau manor and entered the parlour only to find the elderly witch sipping her morning tea.
"Nik, it's six in the morning. Do regress," Adelia reprimanded him while coming down the stairs.
"No time for pleasantries, little witch," he replied to her before turning to the matriarch, "Sharel, you might find this interesting."
The two women looked at the Original curiously as he rushed out in a hurry, making them sigh.
"What in heaven's name?" Sharel exclaimed when they set foot in the bayou with her granddaughter trailing behind her as Klaus led them deeper into the swamp. There were bodies everywhere; all with the same wound.
"Seventy-seven corpses. I counted them myself," he said, gesturing to their surroundings.
"Forgive me for a lack of tact, but this is bloody conspiratorial," she muttered with a grim look.
"Grandmother!" Adelia hushed the Beauchêne witch for her language.
Sharel knelt down to examine a corpse as she trailed a gloved finger down the markings drawn upon the wrist of a man. "A sacrifice," she realised.
"Why would the witches sacrifice themselves? That amount of power is enormous," Adelia cautiously said and turned to look at the younger Original. "Elijah informed me about the recent witch activities that you were paranoid about, Niklaus. Something concerning the full moon."
"Why do the witches do anything, love? To make my life miserable," he sarcastically replied.
The young witch touched one of the bodies lying around and frowned when she failed to siphon anything. "Their power has already been taken and they haven't even been consecrated yet."
Klaus sighed and turned to them, "Now would be the best time to inform you that Elijah is missing as well," he finished, raising a brow as the witches fell into silence.
"Elijah is missing?" Adelia hesitated as her fingers immediately took to fiddle with her sleeve, anxiousness gripping her bones.
"If Klaus says, then Elijah must be unless he has daggered his brother," the elder Beauchêne witch answered, eyes not straying from her granddaughter's worried state—too worried for a mere friend. "Adelia shall be staying within the walls of Fleureau. If the witches are up to something then I do not want her in the vicinity."
