Ardent | Elijah Mikaelson

Chapter 24

Rebekah asked to see her.

Evangeliya figured nothing was wrong, leaving the house without thinking to tell anyone. It was still early; Hayley was asleep, Klaus had gone to see Cami, and Elijah had just hopped into the shower. Surely this meeting with Rebekah wouldn't take long.

"Thank you for meeting me here," said Rebekah, having asked Evangeliya to find her at the Jardin Gris Voodoo Shop. "I wished to speak privately, away from my brothers."

"Of course," said Evangeliya. "What's up?"

"Do you recall what we spoke about the day Hayley was taken?" said Rebekah. "About Marcel, his love for the city..."

"Yes. What's wrong, did he say something else? I'll gladly give him a good punch across the jaw if he's disrespecting you."

Rebekah tucked her hands together. "He said something, but it does not merit a punch. He wishes for us to have our happily-ever-after. He wishes for me to choose between him and Niklaus."

"So... you're choosing Marcel? You need me to cover for you, make sure Klaus can't find you? I have contacts, I can help you get away–"

"I need you to help, yes," interrupted Rebekah, becoming more agitated with each of Evangeliya's assumptions. "But not to help me flee. To put my brother down."

Evangeliya made a face. "Woah. Woah, woah, woah, no, I'm done trying to take Klaus down, it's never ended well for me and I don't think I'd survive another attempt. I don't want to focus on killing him anymore, especially not when I'll die if he does–"

"He needn't die," interrupted Rebekah. "We can incapacitate him without needing to kill him. Once he is weak, we will bury him in bricks and cement, he will be trapped there and we will all be free."

"Trapped until when?" said Evangeliya. "How are bricks and cement going to keep him trapped? How are you even planning to get him weak enough to bury?"

"Davina would spell him in. As for weakening him... that would be where you'd come in."

Evangeliya shook her head. "No. I'm not going to be the vampire muscle just because Marcel's vampires are too weak and inexperienced. I'm not putting myself at risk and I'm not betraying Elijah's trust by conspiring with you behind his back. I don't care about Klaus but I'm working to let that anger go, Rebekah, and I'm not risking my own skin. Besides, are you planning to fight in this battle or are you just going to let the rest of us get beaten up and mauled?"

Rebekah sighed, and Evangeliya frowned unhappily, realizing she hadn't planned to lift a finger. "I'm not helping you," said Evangeliya. "Besides, Elijah wouldn't let this happen."

"I was worried you might say that," said Rebekah, disappointed. "As for Elijah, well, he'll be distracted today."

Evangeliya tried to escape when she realized what Rebekah was going to do to her. Unfortunately, she was no match for an Original vampire, especially one who was in a vengeful mood. She didn't get very far before Rebekah caught her by her hair and snapped her neck.

She awoke in a dark room, chained to a wooden chair, arms cut and bleeding into buckets on either side of the armrests, her wrists cuffed together by a pair of heavy manacles. "Why am I not surprised?" she muttered, feeling too weak to rip the chains away.

The door across from her opened, light flooding in as Rebekah and Marcel entered. "Good, you're awake," said Rebekah.

She assumed they were in the Abattoir, or some other building owned and managed by Marcel. There were probably vampire guards everywhere, all of whom she could easily subdue, but maybe not in this condition.