The Apprentice (The Originals/The Vampire Diaries)

Chapter Fifteen

A/N: I forgot to mention: I entered this book in the Pastel Awards 2017. Voting is open right now for the People's Choice Award, and if you guys are enjoying this book it would really mean a lot to me if you went over there and voted. Thanks.
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New Orleans, Louisiana, 1919

 New Orleans was a vibrant city filled with life. Annette gazed around as they walked through the French Quarter.
 
 "Can you please keep up, Annette?" Mikael asked in an exasperated tone.

 "You haven't said if we're going anywhere in particular."

 "Of course we are. I'm not stupid, Annette."

 Now they had a location on Klaus and they were on the trail, it felt as if things had finally gotten back to normal again, though things were more tense now than they were when there were no leads at all. Annette could sense the excitement rolling off Mikael in waves. 

 "In here." They went into a tavern called Rousseau's, and Mikael moved to a corner and watched a couple on the other side of the room.

 "Who are we watching?" Annette whispered.

 "They are the ones who summoned me."

 "But who are they?"

 "Annette, that is my daughter." 

 Annette looked at the girl in surprise. "That's Rebekah?" She was a beautiful blond girl, though Annette could see very little resemblance to her father. If that was Rebekah, then the dark-skinned man she was with had to be her lover. "Why would they summon you?"

 "Simple. They want Niklaus gone." Mikael watched Rebekah leave, then said to Annette, "Wait outside a moment, will you?" 

 So Annette walked down the street, taking in the liveliness of the city. It was certainly less grim here than it had been in Europe at the time. She watched all the people walking by, but none of them looked like Klaus.

 After a short time Mikael emerged from Rousseau's. "I have a plan, but it's gruesome and involves quite a lot of murder."

 "I already knew that," Annette said. "What are you going to do?"

 "Kill any friends Niklaus may have so that he will not be missed by anyone. I am going to erase his very existence from the earth. Young Marcel Gerard was able to tell me where he is going to be tonight. But first I must pay a visit to my son, Elijah. I would rather you not join me, as it may not end well."

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 Annette spent the rest of the afternoon hanging around the opera house Mikael had given her the name of. He had said that when people started to arrive, she was to compel them to view tonight's show as a comedy. What any of this had to do with killing Niklaus, she had no idea; she hadn't thought Mikael was going to make a big spectacle of it.

 Once she had done her job, she went backstage to find Mikael dragging bodies onto the stage.

 "Are these Niklaus' friends that won't be able to miss him?" she asked.

 "Exactly. That should do it. And then there's this one." Mikael dragged over the limp body of Marcel Gerard.
 
 "I thought he was on our side."

 "Well, I haven't killed him. He is merely very weak," Mikael said as he strung Marcel up. "And now we go find Nikalus."

 Annette followed Mikael up to one of the boxes.

 "Stay here," he whispered.

 After Mikael had gone in, white oak stake in hand, Annette peeked in to see the man they had been looking for in person: Klaus Mikaelson.

 He was obviously terrified. Why wouldn't he be? Annette had never seen Mikael look so menacing before as he told Klaus of his plans to wipe him from the face of the earth.

 At his signal, the curtains drew back, and when Annette heard the roaring laughter from the audience she knew her compulsion was working and when Klaus ran past her, not even noticing her, to go save Marcel, she knew Mikael's plan was working perfectly.

 Mikael emerged and said, "Come. We'll follow him."

 Annette could not help feeling sorry for Marcel as Klaus tried to save him. If Mikael had not told her, she would have thought he was dead.

 When Rebekah ran onto the stage in an attempt to save her lover, Annette grabbed her and said, "I wouldn't do that. He will live."

 "Let go of me!" The two struggled, but Rebekah stopped when Annette bit her in the neck, getting a taste of her blood.

 Rebekah's cry of pain made Klaus turn towards her. Mikael would have had an opportunity, but a dark-haired man whom Annette assumed was Elijah had come, but Annette managed to bite Klaus on the neck as well.

 He looked at her in bewilderment. "What are you?"

 "I am the Hybrid," she replied simply. She then moved to free Marcel from his bonds, feeling pity. "You'll be all right," she whispered to him.

 Klaus, Rebekah and Elijah had escaped the building and were running through the streets of the city. Annette ran to catch up with Mikael, who was storming through the streets, screaming endlessly and setting things on fire, yet not managing to get ahold of Niklaus.

 It was a massacre, and Annette had no idea what to do to stop it. She had never seen Mikael like this before, and didn't know what to say to him, wondering if he would kill her as well in this mad frenzy of his.

 Eventually, they had lost all sight of the Mikaelson children, people were dead and about half the city is on fire.

 "Mikael, they're gone!" Annette shouted. "Let's just put out the fires and decide what to do next!"

 "I can't stop!" Mikael shouted back. "I will find him!"

 "Mikael!" Annette kept following him. "Would you just stop this madness and talk to me for a minute!"

 "Madness?" Mikael repeated, turning to look at her. "This is what I have been waiting for!"

 Annette could not resist the urge to slap him hard across the face. "I thought you cared about people! This is not doing your mission any justice! Look around! Do you see a dead Niklaus anywhere?"

 Mikael stared at her, apparently shocked by the slap. He then slowly looked around at the city he was in the process of destroying. "Kol and Finn. They weren't there. It's been centuries."

 "Oh, for goodness sake!" Annette grabbed him by the arm and ran out to the bayou, where the was no fire.

 "What was all of that, Mikael?" she demanded. "You could not have just killed Klaus quietly? You had to make an entire spectacle by committing a massacre and setting an entire city ablaze?"

 "You know this not the first time I have burned down a city," Mikael said dryly. "How do you think the Great Fire of London in 1666 began?"

 "I don't care what you did in London, I'm talking about now! I...I've never seen you in such a way."

 "That is because you have never seen me when I find Niklaus. I knew my behavior would be shocking to you; that I made you keep a distance. He deserves to die, Annette. He is the reason little Henrik was killed. He was only a child, Annette, just a little younger than you were when I saved you. Then he murdered my wife and convinced his brothers and sister that I murdered her!"

 "Would you have murdered her?" Annette asked.

 Mikael looked more shocked by that question than he had when she slapped him. He shook his head and took a step back. "No. Not that, never that. I wouldn't have been able to bring myself to. But he did."

 Annette nodded. "I believe you. Now, what is this about Kol and Finn? Do you believe Niklaus would have murdered them?"

 "Annette, if he murdered his own mother, he could very well murder his brothers. I thought I could save them, and Elijah and Rebekah. I gave Elijah a choice today: stand with me, or fall with Niklaus. He chose Niklaus. I have no way of getting through to them now."

 All the anger that had been radiating off him had disappeared, and now Annette could only sense sadness. She reached out and pulled him into a hug, deciding he needed one. He was stiff at first, but then he melted and hugged her back.

 "We'll get justice for them," she whispered. "There has to be a way, somehow."