Let me be the one for you- Lizzie Saltzman

The kindness of strangers

Nikos POV

I stand beside my father as we overlook the street listening to the storm brewing.

"Every last exit is sealed." We hear Elijah say from behind us and we turn to face him. "If your thinking about jumping, don't. I already tried it and landed in the worlds most pretentious wine cellar."

"You sorted it by vintage." My dad said.

"You don't remember do you?" I asked seeing the confused look on his face.

"I thought Marcel was intent on retrieving your memories." Dad said.

"He was. He failed. I still remember absolutely nothing and Antoinette is dying." He says.

" is she? Right. Yes. I'd forgotten." Dad says enjoying torturing Elijah.

"What the hell are we doing here? What is this place? This is dangerous, you and I here together." Elijah says agitated.

"We're not actually here together, are we?" I say sitting on the couch." Not physically at least. It's called a Chambre de Chasse. It's a magical mental prison designed to resemble our home. But don't worry. There's always a way out: a game or a riddle." I explained.

"How do we solve this riddle?" Elijah asked me.

"We don't do anything." My dad said. "We're square, you and I." My dad steps closer to him. "You nearly killed Hayley and Antoinette will die because of me." My dad says mockingly to him.

"And we would do hate to upset this delicate balance." I smirked.

"So we are gonna find our own way out and you're on your own." I get up and follow my dad out of the room leaving Elijah on his own. We walk down to the courtyard and I see my dad stop to look at a picture on the wall before we hear a noise.

"Who's there" I hear him call out from behind me as I look for the source. "Show yourself!"

"Oh Nik. Always so dramatic." I hear my Aunt Rebekah say as walks close to us.

"Aunt Bex!" I shout as I pull her into a hug.

After I let go she goes and pulls my dad into a hug. They let go when we hear a thud and look over and see Uncle Kol on the couch naked.

"Bloody hell." He says with his hand going over his face. "My least favorite recurring nightmare.

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"I was in Corsica, drowning my sorrows of not being able to come home and see Hayley after I heard she had been found when I suddenly dropped." She said while opening a wine bottle only to scoff when she sees it's empty. "What I wouldn't give to spend just a decade without being dragged into a godforsaken Chambre de Chasse." She says to my dad.

"I suppose you were in a board meeting." I say to Uncle Kol as he walks in while putting a shirt on.

"I was waiting for my wife to come home from work. Once again, ripped from complete contentment for...this. Suppose I'll ask the obvious: piss of any witches lately?" He asked my dad.

"Actually, my current enemies are a group of hatemongers who see me my daughters, and their mother as abominations to the vampire race."

"The bigoted undead." Aunt Bex says.
"That's new they must have a witch for hire."

"A witch that's spent enough time here to replicate every detail." Kol shows us a bottle. "This is Elijah's prized Cheval Blanc." He puts it on the table.

"The culprit may be closer to home." We turn and see Freya walking down the stairs. "A witch who knows the compound well and who doesn't trust you to stay away from Elijah. Someone who would risk everything to save New Orleans from plagues."