Original Vampires, Welcome to New Orleans (The Originals Seasons 1 and 2 Fanfic)

Chapter 15: The Red Door

Lilliana panted, half screaming as she ran down the hall in a white dress. The silent steps of the predator sounded behind her. Elijah walked quickly, his strides filling up the room. She began to tug on the red door in front of her, attempting to escape, but to no avail. He grabbed her and tugged her arm to face him, but alas, she was wearing a different face. The Petrova doppelganger cried and screamed as he pulled her towards him and bit down hard on her neck.

Elijah gasped, being pulled out of the dream and into the sharp reality. He started to pull on the chains, but to no avail.

'Have you forgotten where you are, son?' Esther said, holding a cup full of some mysterious liquid. 'Save your strength. My chains don't break so easily. Having sweet dreams?' He lunged towards her.

'Get out of my head.'

'I'm not in your head, dear. You were screaming. Go ahead. Get your bearings. You, Lilliana and I have much to discuss.'

'Who were you dreaming about ripping apart when you woke earlier?' Esther asked. 'Was it your new little plaything Lilliana, or was it someone else?' He lunged towards her again. 'Stop fighting, Elijah. I brought you here to listen, and you - or her, are not going anywhere until I've said my piece.'

'So speak,' Elijah snapped.

'I want you to rejoin our family, but as witches. I want you and Lilliana to leave behind the grotesque savage vampirism has made of the two of you. Take the bodies of mortals, and we can all be happy again, start over.'

'You do know you're entirely demented,' I said drily, spitting out some blood, 'don't you?'

'Am I?' she said, turning and kneeling in front of me. 'I'm not the one who pulls the wings off of every beautiful butterfly that he finds, like the woman who flits on the edge of your nightmares.'

'Let me and Lilliana go, now,' he snarled, his face changing into his vampire form.

'How quickly you slip back into your more savage self. The moral son I raised is now but a mask worn to hide ancient demons.'

'You know nothing,' he growled.

'See, that's where you're wrong. I know more about the secrets you carry than you do. Shall I list them? I can begin with the first little butterfly that you destroyed. The sweet young widow from our village, who caught your eye when you were still human.'

'Elijah, who is she talking about?' I asked. Upon seeing the look of realisation in Elijah's face, the witch smiled.

'Ah, so you do remember her, of course. How could you forget the first girl to ever steal your heart, she of mystical blood, the doppelganger Tatia?'

'I did nothing but love that woman, until the day you took her life.' Esther walked away from her son.

'I know that's what you believe, which is precisely why you are here. I need to show you the monster you really are. I need to show her, too,' she said, gesturing to me. 'When I do, you will both beg for salvation, and happily, I shall provide it.'

'I certainly won't do any such thing, bitch,' I spat. She picked up two candles, holding them close to us, as we were both thrust into a memory.

'It was Samhain, when we killed the best of our livestock to appease the gods for a new season,' Esther said.

This memory. It was Elijah's memory. Something that seemed too far back in the past to be mine. A girl was dancing in front of a fire, and I noticed the dark hair. The face. I thought for a moment I was staring at Elena, the newest Petrova doppelganger, but alas, I wasn't. I assumed this was Tatia.