the original heretic book 2 -ON HOLD as of 22/4/21-

xii.

"mother." klaus greets coldly. "how about you tell us what you need to and leave so we can get this wretched night over with?"

"it pains me that you and elijah look at me with such disdain." esther said, sitting at the table. it was rather odd to see a teenager talking like that. "and brit, do you hate me too? i don't have any problem with you, in fact, i greatly admire you." i looked away uncomfortably.

"look, i'm glad esther, but why can't you treat your own children the same way you look at me? with fondness?" was all i answered with.

"because you are more pure than they could ever be, and i'm hoping that you can see that every action i have done has been to protect them all, and you!"

"protect them?" i asked incredulously. "you've tried to kill them, you hunted them, you made us into these monsters in the first place. you didn't know that i still was able to practice magic when you first killed me. you may love us, and see it as protection, but we see it as nothing but regret. you regret what you did, and now you're trying to take it back in the only way you can. you're pathetic." i seethed.

"everything is protection! the necklace i gave to niklaus, the necklace i gave you!" she yelled back.

"the necklace...." i muttered at the same time as klaus seemed to have a flashback.

over a thousand years ago...

"what is this?" i asked esther as she held out a necklace to me.

"it's for you. go ahead, touch it. what do you feel?" i hesitantly grabbed the pendant, gasping when i felt the amount of magic in it.

"i don't want to take away its magic!" i cried out, dropping it.

"you can't take away that magic. it's your magic. once i put that necklace on you, only you will be able to siphon from it." esther picked it back up. "you can practice magic like a normal witch now."

end of flashback

"that necklace was to make me weak!" klaus yelled at the same time i muttered.

"my necklace was to strengthen me?"

"i made the both of you a necklace to protect you." she answered us.

"you made me weak!" klaus roared. "you put your own son at risk at the same time you aided a defective witch!" 

"okay, ouch." i said sarcastically.

"shut up! i spent the entirety of my life seeking approval from the man i thought was my father and was denied it. you made me this way!" esther looked at him guiltily before beginning to gasp. out of nowhere, she slumped over, seemingly unconscious, and finn jumped to his feet in alarm, looking at all of us.
"she's gone." i examined the teen witches body, and the three brothers immediately began to fight. finn used his magic to aid him, and i yelled in horror as elijah flew across the room. i immediately cushioned his fall with the air, and turned back to see klaus falling to the ground in pain while finn rubbed his fingers together, muttering a spell.

"petrificus totalus!" i tried to shoot the bodybind curse at him, but he reacted quickly, using another spell to send it flying straight back into my chest. i fell over, immobile, as he ran out of the compound. my hands were against my thighs, so i just siphoned the spell from my body then shot it into the air in anger. "damn it! he got away!"

as we all sat up, recovering from the attack, a gasp was heard from the table and the witch sat back up.

"where am i? what happened?" i could hear her heart racing, and klaus walked over threateningly.

"hello. where's our mother?"

"your mother? i don't know! who are you?" in a fit of anger, klaus grabbed the girl in a chokehold as i realised what was going on.

"klaus! you're attacking a child! esther isn't habituating her anymore!" i pushed him back and pulled he girl into a hug.

"sshhh, it's okay. i'm sorry for klaus' violent actions, we're all on edge right now." i began calming the girl down as she sniffled.

"what happened to me?" she murmured.

"our mother took over your mind and body in order to carry out some of her wicked plans, but now has apparently moved on to someone new, and have no idea." klaus responded, still upset. "why?"

"you won't have the answer to that consciously." i told her, an idea forming in my head. "but i can get it."

"how?" elijah was now interested.

"it's a thing called occulemens, where i can look into your head and see your thoughts. since esther was in you, all her thoughts are still in your head, somewhere. i can find them. would you let me do that?" i requested cassie, and she nodded hesitantly. "okay. i need you to sit back, and look at me." i grabbed her hands gently as i looked into her eyes, silently casting the spell that would allow me to acces her head. after going through memories of the wolves, walki around town, and cassie before she got possessed, i found my answer.

"elijah visited his witch, and i got her. she would be a lovely next host for after dinner, don't you think?" vincent's voice echoed as i watched the memory.

"perfect." esther replied.

"elijahs witch!" i said aloud. "they chose her."

"hayley's with her right now." elijah realised, and the two looked at each other before speeding out.

while they were gone to help hayley, i took cassie back to the witches, explaining what happened. they promised that they'd take her somewhere safe to recover, and with one last hug, i left her there. i headed back to the compound, where the two brothers seemed to have ready found hayley and return her safely back. she stormed away from them as i walked in.

"save a girl then piss her off, good job." i said sarcastically to elijah, ignoring nik. whether it was in anger or not, what he called me earlier hurt. "i'm heading to my room, i need some time to think about what happened. g'nite." before klaus could attempt to talk to me as well, i hurried away, slamming the door to my room shut behind me.

"defective witch." i whispered sadly to myself, looking in the mirror. i felt as if i was looking at the younger, insecure version of me as klaus' words echoed in my mind. i faintly remembered my birth parents calling me similar things as they ran me out of the house. sitting in the middle of my bed, i grabbed my wand, tracing the words into the air. they glowed around me, multiplying until i was surrounded by a cage of glowing insults i had heard, defective witch glowing the brightest. i heard my door open, and i stared through the words directly at klaus, who looked at me in guilt. with another wave of my wand, they all vanished, and i put it away.

"goodnight klaus." was all i said. he opened his mouth to reply, but i turned away, pulling the covers over me so i could sleep.

a/n: bffs i had written ahead sm that i haven't actually written for like a month now, but the next chapter is the last one i pre-wrote, and i forgot where i wanted the story to go 💀