The Apprentice (The Originals/The Vampire Diaries)

Chapter Twenty-Four

  The first email Annette got from Elijah was about two months after she and Mikael had left New Orleans.


 Dear Annette,

 I hope you do not mind my writing to you when there is no major crisis currently happening here. I have been feeling very lonely lately.

 Dahlia and Esther are both gone. There is no need to worry about either of them anymore. But, of course, other problems are still sticking. 

 Niklaus had a curse put on Hayley (Hope's mother) and her entire pack. They tried to run with Hope when Dahlia was after her. My brother had Dahlia cast a curse upon them that would only let them be human on the full moon night. I have brought Hope with me to the bayou to see Hayley, her husband Jackson, and the rest of the pack for the last two months, but it is hard to bare. Freya cannot find a way to undo the curse, and the wolves are trapped that form until a reversal can be found.

 I have hardly spoken to Niklaus since then. I can barely bring myself to even look at him. It just astounds me how he could let it happen. And he murdered someone I cared about as well. Her name was Gia, and we had become close.

 Freya and I are taking care of Hope as best as we can, but she needs a mother. I am sorry to burden you with all this, but is there any chance you know how we may be able to reverse the spell? I would be grateful.

                                                                                                                                                              
                                  
                                                                                                                                          Elijah Mikaelson

 
 To be stuck as werewolf except on the full moon was terrible indeed, Annette thought. She wished there was something she could do, but she wasn't a witch. She didn't know anything about magic. 

 Mikael wasn't at all surprised when she read the letter out loud.

 "He killed a woman Elijah cared about, and had a curse put on the mother of his daughter on top of that."

 "Do you think he might regret it?" Annette asked.

 "Well, it doesn't sound like he's making any attempts to make up for what he's done. This is exactly what he does. I followed his activities for years. And...although I have acknowledged that I played a part in the how he became that person, it's wrong. I mean, if I can go this long without trying to kill him, surely he can try not be evil for once."

 "I think I'm going to write him back. I feel bad for him now."

 "Tell him he and his sisters are welcome to come join us if they want."


 Dear Elijah,

 I am sorry to hear things are going so badly in your home. I know very little about magic, and I don't know any way that this curse on Hayley and her pack can be reversed. I would advise that you keep looking until you find something, anything; to be trapped in werewolf form for so long is something no one should have to endure.

 I am sorry to hear about your friend, Gia. It was a terrible thing for Klaus to do, and I hope he at least regrets it a little bit. If things really are that bad in New Orleans, Mikael says you and your sisters are welcome to join us. At least consider it. 

                                                                                                                                                      Sincerely, 
                                                                                                                                                      Annette

 
 "Do you really think they'll take us up on the offer?" Annette asked Mikael.

 He scoffed. "Of course not. You've seen how clannish that lot are. They won't leave him to live a nomadic life with us, no matter how much they hate him." 

~~~~~~

 While all the tensions continued back in New Orleans, Annette was actually enjoying the hiatus from monster hunting. She and Mikael spent a few months in Norway, then moved on to Sweden and Finland, and then onto Australia, where they had never been before.

 At first Mikael had seemed a little lost without any hunting or tracking to be done, but he soon began to move easily with the idea of being free from any vows he had made centuries before. Annette noticed the change in him: he seemed much calmer now, and smiled more. Of course it bothered him that Klaus was still out there, and it always would. But he clearly attempting to learn to live with it.

 The months flew by. Annette kept up a correspondence with Elijah, whom she beginning to really like. She once spoke with Freya over the phone, to see how things were going. When Mikael had spoken to her, she knew he was trying to convince her to come stay with them.

 "Are you sure you want to stay? Freya, you haven't known him for as long as I-but do you really-(sigh) Fine. But be careful. Yes, I know you're an adult and you can look after yourself. But your brothers have managed to attract many enemies over the centuries."

 But one chilly autumn day, Annette received an email from Elijah, but realized when she opened it that Freya had written it. 

 
 Dear Father and Annette,

 I hope things are good wherever you are right now. Some strange things have been happening around here lately.

 These new vampires came to town some time ago. There's Lucien Castle, who is supposedly an old friend of Klaus', and the de Martel siblings, Aurora and Tristan. Aurora has turned out to be Klaus' ex-girlfriend, and Tristan is the first of Elijah's sire line. They're plotting some kind of revenge scheme against my family.

 There's a prophecy we learned, that my siblings would all fall: one by friend, one by foe, and one by family. I don't know if it's true or not, but I'm really worried. If you know anything about it, can you please tell me?

                                                                                                                                                             Love, 
                                                                                                                                                             Freya

 Annette felt her good mood drain away as she read the letter. Lucien Castle had had the nerve to show himself in New Orleans?

 "Annette, could you stop looking at your phone for a few minutes? Honestly, what is it with people with their little electronic things these days?" Mikael had just come into their hotel room and looked annoyed to see her staring at the little screen. But when he saw the look on her face, he asked, "What's happened?"

 So she read the letter aloud, and when she was finished, he cried, "What absolute rubbish! And this prophecy just happened to appear at the most convenient time for the trio, I suppose? They have to be making it up."

 "It does sound a bit ridiculous," Annette admitted. "I suppose I should write Freya back and warn her that they're definitely up to something."

 "Of course they are. We know they're no good." He paused. "Annette, it's nearly Christmas, isn't it?"

 "It is." She was surprised he had mentioned it, given he wasn't the celebratory type. "Why?"

 "I think this Christmas, since I haven't acknowledged it much in the past, I ought to do something different and visit my family. What do you think?"

 "And you are aware that Klaus will be there?"

 "I know. I'll just have to ignore him. But we can see Freya and Elijah, make sure Niklaus hasn't terrorized them too much, and we can see what Lucien and the de Martels are up to."

 Annette felt a sense of dread. She would preferred to go the rest of her eternity without seeing Lucien again, but for the sake of the task, she would risk the chance of it.