The Apprentice (The Originals/The Vampire Diaries)

Chapter Nineteen

 Silence. Darkness. It was all around her.

 Annette could find no way to break free. She was trapped, with no way out.

 She knew Mikael was near; she could sense his presence. She wanted to call to him, to be able to say his name. She wanted to hear his voice, to let him tell her everything would be all right. 

 But he couldn't. She knew he couldn't. He was trapped just as she was.

 Mikael was trapped with his thoughts. He could sense Annette's nearby presence, but he didn't have the strength to speak. He didn't have the strength to do anything...besides think.

 How could he have been so stupid as to let this happen? Thanks to his brilliant ideas, they were both locked up, desiccated, no way out.

 Annette. What was it about her that warmed his heart? In the beginning, he had only felt pity. But he had felt enough trust to tell her his story. He had grown fond of her, far too fond of her. All the times he had so courteous and respectful, he had merely wished to take her in his arms and never let go, and had never understood why he ever thought such things. But now he knew.

 He had fallen in love again, something he never thought would happen to him...

~~~~~~

 Blood. It was the taste of blood that suddenly brought Annette back to life. She took in a deep breath and quickly licked the blood up.

 "Well, you're a hungry one, aren't you?"

 Annette looked up at the woman standing over her coffin. "Katherine? Why are you here? Where are we?"

 "Be a little nicer, would you?" Katherine said. "I just revived you after years of sleeping."

 Annette sat up. "How long has it been?"

 "About seventeen years. You've been in this mausoleum for a long time, Mademoiselle Chevalier."

 "Seventeen years," Annette repeated softly to herself. "What about Mikael? Where is he?"

 "Relax, he's right here." Katherine walked over to the coffin that stood besides Annette's. "I figured I'd wake you first since you're the calmer one. I'll get to your boyfriend next."

 "No, wait." Annette climbed out of the coffin. "You can't give him human blood."

 "Why not?"

 "Because he only drinks vampire blood."

 "Vampire blood," Katherine repeated. "So, what is he, then? He's a vampire, but he's also a vampire hunter and only drinks vampire blood?"

 "Exactly. I am too weak to give him my blood to feed on. But you'll do. I can't bite you because of the werewolf venom in me, though. But I think...," Annette reached into the pocket of her jeans; she still had her old pocket knife. She whipped it out and slashed Katherine's wrist.

 "What are you doing?" Katherine cried. "Let go of me!"

 "I am simply awakening my 'boyfriend', as you call him."  Annette held Katherine's bloody wrist to Mikael's mouth. "Drink, Mikael."

 When the blood touched his mouth, he quickly began to drink more. He was no longer desiccated, and was out of the coffin in a flash.

 "Thank you for your service, Miss Pierce," Annette said. "You have been helpful once again." She snapped the doppelganger's neck. "You'll be fine after a quick rest."

 Mikael looked around the mausoleum. "Annette, how long have we been trapped in here?"

 "Katherine said it's been seventeen years."

 "Seventeen years? Who knows what Niklaus could have done in that time frame. Annette, are you all right?"

 "I'm fine," she answered. "I just haven't had enough blood yet."

 "Clearly, you haven't." Without warning, he lifted her up into his arms. "I'm going to get you out of here, we'll find you someone to feed on, and then we'll figure out what to do next."

 "Shouldn't we take Katherine with us?" Annette asked. "There must be a reason she revived us."

 "I will come back for her later. At the moment, you are my only concern, Annette. Whatever's coming can wait."

~~~~~~

  They stopped at the nearest hotel, and Annette went to take a long, hot shower. Seventeen years had gone by. What had happened in that time period? Who had even put them in that mausoleum to rot, anyway? It had to have been someone protecting the Petrova doppelganger.

 That made her stop to think. The doppelganger would be around the age of seventeen by now. She was the perfect age for Klaus to use her for his ritual, the exact thing she and Mikael were attempting to put a stop to.

 With them gone, he could have succeeded.

 Who knew what he would do then.

 When Annette eventually emerged from the shower, Mikael was sitting on the bed studying a map.

 "What have you been up to?" she asked.

 He tossed her a few blood bags. "Stole those. I got some answers of Miss Pierce."

 "You did all that while I was in the shower?"

 "You were in that shower for quite a long time," he pointed out. "You've probably deprived the rest of the building of hot water."

 "I would think I've earned that luxury after being locked up in a mausoleum for seventeen years," she snapped. "Has it really been that long?"

 He nodded. "Seems so. I was given some...extremely disturbing information by Miss Pierce. Niklaus used the doppelganger, Elena Gilbert, for his ritual. He is a hybrid now. And he is beginning to make other hybrids."

 "He's making an army of them? Why?"

 "Oh, who knows? The important part is that we need to stop him. To do that, we shall first seek out the Salvatore brothers. Katherine told me all about them. Do you remember the young man who was with Niklaus and Rebekah in Chicago? That was Stefan Salvatore, the younger brother. His brother Damon is apparently just as reckless."

 "How dangerous are they?"

 He scoffed. "Annette, I have been hunting vampires since long before they were born. I know how to deal with their type."

~~~~~~

 "What absolute idiots," Annette said as they watched the two young men at the bar.

 "I know," Mikael said with a sigh. "Unfortunately, they may prove useful, and we won't be able to kill them just yet."

 "Should we just go talk to them? All they're doing now is arguing with each other."

 "Yes, perhaps we should."

 They got up from their table and walked over to the bar.

 "Are you the Salvatore brothers?" Annette asked.

 Both brothers turned to look at them.

 "It's you," Stefan said. "Mikael."

 "Yes, of course I'm Mikael," he said. "Who else would I be?"

 "If you're Mikael, then who's the little redhead?" Damon asked.

 "That is my partner, Annette, the real first hybrid. I would not mess with her. Now, why don't you just tell us where my son is so we can end his reign of terror?"

 Stefan shook his head. "I can't tell you."

 "And why not?" Annette asked. "Has Klaus compelled you?"

 "This isn't very impressive, you know," Damon said. "Is this the best you mighty hunters can do?"

 "I would not provoke Mikael if I were you," said Annette.

 "Exactly." Mikael grabbed Damon by the chest and thrust hand in. "Now, Stefan, tell me where Niklaus is or I will rip your worthless brother's heart out."

 "Wait," Stefan said. "I can get him back to Mystic Falls."

 "Then do it," Annette said. "Bring him here."

 Mikael removed his hand from Damon's chest. "I would advise you to do exactly that. If you don't, we can easily kill you both as well."

 After they left the bar, Annette asked, "Now what do we do?"

 "We'll just have to stick around Mystic Falls until we get our chance. And then we'll finally get what we've been waiting for."

 They smiled at each other as they walked down the road.

 They were officially back in business.