Force of Gravity • NM

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The House had seen its fair share of battles, betrayals, and impossible choices. But tonight, something different hung in the air...fear. Not just the fear of losing a battle, but the fear of losing Henry.

The dinner table had been turned into a war council. Maps were sprawled out, old grimoires stacked between half-drunk bourbon glasses, and Bonnie was thumbing through a heavy, dust-covered book of ancient protection spells. Elijah stood near the fireplace, arms crossed, deep in thought. Finn, more rigid than ever. Kol, uncharacteristically quiet, was playing with the silver ring on his finger, while Damon leaned back, unimpressed, sipping on his drink.

And then there was Esther. The Original Witch. The mother of monsters.

She stood at the head of the table, her presence like a dark stain on the room. It was unnerving, the way she watched them, eyes calculating yet... almost soft when they landed on Rebekah. When she had first arrived, her voice had been calm, almost motherly, as she congratulated her daughter on motherhood.

Rebekah had barely responded, her fingers tightening around the silver rattle in her hands.

But now, the warmth was gone. She was the tactician, the witch who had bartered her own children's fate to protect them from something worse.

And now she had to do it again.

"We can't stay here," Elijah said finally, voice even. "It's too dangerous."

"You think I don't know that?" Rebekah snapped, voice tight, one hand gripping the chair beside her for support. Stefan was beside her in an instant, his hand resting lightly on her back. She exhaled sharply. " But Henry needs stability. We can't just keep running."

"And we won't have to," Klaus interjected, eyes sharp. "We fight. We stand our ground. We do what we do best—"

"And get torn apart?" Naira cut in.

Klaus turned sharply toward her, a muscle in his jaw twitching.

"I hate to agree with Naira," Finn muttered, "but she's right. Dahlia is far older than us, more powerful than we can comprehend. If we try to fight her head-on, we will lose."

"Then what do you propose?" Klaus growled. "We simply hand over Henry? Because that's never going to happen."

Esther hummed from her spot at the table, her fingers gliding over the edge of a book. "You all assume you will have a choice," she said finally, and the room fell silent. Her eyes lifted, sharp and knowing. " Dahlia and I... we were sisters, yes, i hate her, but in many ways, we were the same. Do you think she has not already sent her watchers? That she has not already ensured her claim to Henry?"

A chill swept over the room.

" What does that mean?" Rebekah asked, voice almost trembling.

Esther gave a ghost of a smile. " It means, dear daughter, that the moment I arrived, I could feel her presence lurking. Perhaps you have noticed—the crows outside your windows? The sudden chill in the air?"

Bonnie's expression hardened. "You mean she's been watching us?"

"She always has...the closer she gets...the more clues she will leave..."

A silence stretched between them, heavy with the weight of the revelation.

" So, we have no time," Elijah summarized grimly. " If she knows where we are, she'll come soon."