Rising from the ashes (Gia & Elijah Mikaelson Fanfiction - The Originals)

13. Phoenix

It was a cold winter night. The forest was completely silent with no sound nor movement penetrating the trees. There was a little breeze blowing lowering the temperature by the minute. Phoenix grinded his teeth and pulled his jacket tighter. The forest was dark with only the moon lightening his path. His vampire vision helped him find the way. He was close now. He could smell the blood. Soon, he would find what he was looking for. And then blood will flow.

"Hurry up, will you? We don't have all day you know. If dad catches as here I'll be grounded for a month."

The memory came out of nowhere. Phoenix tried to shut the door to the past but failed anyway.

They were walking through a narrow corridor. None of them made a sound. She did not like to be bothered. Not in here, where she could feel the past come to life all around her. Jacklyn inhaled and allowed her imagination to run free, tried to imagine what it was like to live in here when the place was bristling with life before everything turned to dust, in a time long forgotten. A sudden thump broke the silence and Jacklyn abruptly turned around. Phoenix was lying on the floor holding his foot, next to him was a big grey rock.

"Aren't you watching where you're going?" she snapped. "That could have been something priceless you know and you could have ruined it."

"Is that all you care about? Old stones and... rocks?" he said throwing the rock aside with a sob. "My foot hurts."

"Then you should have been more careful. Haven't your father taught anything? Stop being such a cry baby and get going, I want to see that chamber before we go. And I'm not leaving until I've seen it. Now, move it!" Jacklyn turned around and continued walking.

Phoenix wiped his tears and got up, applying some pressure to his foot. He fell right back down. "Dammit" he cursed. Phoenix slowly raised his eyes to meet Jacklyn's only to find her gone, moving further and further away in the darkness. A feeling of desperation filled his heart. Phoenix tried to get back up. He was not weak. He could do this and everyone was going to see how strong he really was. So what if his father thought otherwise? In his eyes he was always going to fall short to her. Jacklyn was better than him! Phoenix knew that, his father told him oh so many times. And he was right. She was better. With those piercing blue eyes, the hair made out of silk and those legs, strong enough to struggle you with. How could she not be? She was carved out of marble like those statues she had always admired. She was beauty incarnate. He could not fail her now. He would prove to her that he was strong enough. Strong enough to stand beside her and face any challenge by her side. And with Jacklyn, there were going to be plenty. That girl had a gift of running into trouble.

Phoenix pushed away the memory and kept going. What did he know anyway? He was only fifteen then, fifteen and a fool. How could he have actually believed that he mattered to her? That he would ever matter? He acted like a moron. All he did was follow her around like some sort of puppy dog. It was pathetic. By the time he realized his mistake it was already too late.

He had spent years honing his skills. Getting smarter, stronger than he had ever been before and it was all for her. His father never gave a shit about him. All he ever talked about was Jacklyn and how strong she was. How smart. In front of her he was nothing. A bug he never learned to care about. But that bug was determined to make her notice. Jacklyn belonged to him. He'd always known that, from the first moment he laid eyes upon her. Too bad she disagreed. He was furious when he first learned about her departure. How dare she leave him? But it was college. And he understood her thirst for knowledge. He knew that if he ever tried to stop her she would cut him off completely. And he would never allow that. So he waited, putting all that anger and frustration into bettering himself. Making him all he was ever meant to be. A man who could proudly stand by her side in his own right. There was a time he would do anything for her. Anything! Until he came into her life.

They were standing in front of her dorm room entangled in an embrace. He lowered his head and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. A kiss that deepened fast inflamed by their passion. She opened the door to her room and led him inside. Phoenix sat outside her door with tears falling, hearing the moans from the inside. He didn't know who that man was and he did not care. Even then, after her tremendous betrayal he would forgive her. If only she came to him.

He waited for her. Months passed but he waited. She would leave him eventually. Jacklyn was his and she was going to realize that. All he had to do was wait. Wait for something that would never come to pass.

The day he found out about her marriage something inside him broke. His love turned to hate. A hate that burned so bright that could erase the fucking town from the map. The day he trust that blade into his heart was the best day of his life. It gave him pleasure beyond imagination. As for Jacklyn, well, if he couldn't have her then no one else would.

"That bitch was supposed to be dead." He thought, his rage getting the best of him. How the hell did she even survive? And she did not just survive him once but twice. That bastard came out of nowhere. Faster than anything he'd ever seen before. And that said a lot. Phoenix was one of the strongest vampires in the world, one of the fastest. He made sure of that. His ruthless training increased and changed to accommodate his new abilities and the vampire that turned him... was as good as dead. The only reason he was still keeping him alive was for info.

The rotten corpse was older than he looked. Hence he had a lot of knowledge, including that of a specific Original family that had taken control of New Orleans. And he knew what haunted them too.

If Jacklyn had decided to play with an Original vampire then he was going to play with one too. One that would be delighted to destroy them all.