The Original Family

Chapter Seventeen

I don't know how it was possible but it was getting worse. The longer I spent here under the spell the more unbearable it became. The only thing keeping me going was my connection to Henrik. He was the only one of my siblings with magic and because mine was pouring out of me I could connect with him. It didn't last long but it gave me a small break, even if I could still feel a smaller version of the pain.

I saw Elijah crouched down examining the corpse of Papa Tunde. "Papa Tunde defeated Rebekah with ease, almost got the two of us as well." Nik gestured to himself and Marcel. "Evermore is still missing, nowhere to be found. If he was supposed to be their prized fighter, why leave him dead in our front yard." Elijah stood up considering his words.

"Unless they already got what they wanted from him." Henrik stated. All three faces got a grim look on them.

"Well don't you all look cheery." Rebekah commented upon arriving. She came to stand next to Elijah. "Listen to this. A girl literally exploded from a grave today as Sabine was giving a tour of the City of the Dead." She paused and I saw a frown on everyone's faces and felt unease from Henrik. "It was Monique Deveraux." Shock and relief filled Henrik's entire body. "The tourists thought it was part of the show but the witches are celebrating like it's some kind of bloody miracle." She continued.

"Maybe it is." Everyone turned to Marcel. "They think that all hope is lost but now suddenly a Harvest girl is resurrected." He looked at Nik. "This is how we're gonna get Davina back. Kill the witch who took her place."

"I have a theory about who one of them could be." Caroline interrupted walking down the stairs. She stopped halfway down and showed everyone the sketch of Celeste. "I mean it's got to be. Davina was trying to warn us; she was drawing pictures of Celeste. She was warning us that a great evil was coming." She explained. Stefan arrived then with some vampires following him. He shook his head.

"Nothing. Wherever the witches have Ever it's not in the Quarter. We searched everywhere."

"She knew." Henrik whispered. Everyone turned to him. "Wait here." He commanded running upstairs going straight to my room. My bag and drawing was lying on my bed. He grabbed it and ran back to the courtyard. He laid it out on a nearby table everyone crowding around him. "Yesterday she up and left after drawing this." Elijah looked at the drawing while Nik flipped through my sketch pad that he got out my bag seeing the same drawing over and over again. "For ages we have been saying no knows more about the Harvest than her. She figured it out. That's why she left in a hurry." Henrik tipped my bag upside down pouring everything out. Caroline grabbed the old pictures or drawings of the meant to be dead witches along with the ones of the Harvest girls.

"She was gathering the ingredients needed to undo it." Stefan said picking up some of the bottles of herbs while Marcel studied the voodoo dolls.

I was ripped from Henrik and I knew he would have felt it. "Naughty, naughty." Celeste's voice sounded in my head. "You won't be doing that anymore."

_______

Celeste had made it worse. I could no longer connect to Henrik and to put me through even more pain she cast a spell to make me relive all my mistakes, my nightmares from the last thousand years. It the pain wasn't enough the mental torture was certainly going to drive me crazy.

_______

I felt myself being pulled into someone's mind. Celeste's. Elijah was on the ground. "You poisoned me with a kiss." He squinted. "At least you haven't lost your sense of irony." I felt disgusted by his words. I so did not need to see this and yet Celeste wanted me to.

"We may have time for more. But first I'm going to cure you of your greatest flaw. This absurd devotion to your lunatic family."

"Your anger is with me. Now if you have come here seeking revenge..."

"Oh I'll have my revenge." She cut him off as Elijah struggled not to collapse. "It's already started. Now I'm going for Klaus. He is gonna know pain and torment he's never felt before." I could feel her anger and hate grow when speaking of Nik. "Unless you choose to save him of course. But then that leaves Rebekah, your youngest sister. She's about to find herself in quite the predicament." Elijah was moving around the best he could, struggling to breath. "You could save her, but then that leaves Caroline in jeopardy."

"No. No, no..." The panic was written all over his face.

"Let's not forget that the wolf you like is with her. Poor Annalise has no idea how dangerous it is to be loved by you." She shrugged. "Oh well. Oh," she lifted a finger, "how could I forget. Henrik and Evermore." I could feel her glee. "The brother you have just gained back and the sister I have had for two days now. Though with what me and Papa Tunde have put her through it probably feels like years to her." Elijah clutched his head in pain, his upper body coming closer to the ground. "You could abandon the rest of your family to save Henrik or you could even save Ever from the suffering she is enduring as it is the worst of all." She crouched down to look him the eye. "With your body weakened by my spell, you won't be able to save them all." She stood. "You'll recover with just enough time to choose one." She held up a finger backing away. "Who will it be? I can't wait to find out." She tapped her head. "And I'm sure Ever feels the same. But something tells me she is last choice to you. After all she is the sibling you love the least."

_______

I could honesty say I never wanted anyone dead more than Celeste. I was struggling with being able to think straight. My mother's face appeared in my mind once again and I pleaded with her to leave. Before whatever mental torture with her could begin I was pulled into Celeste's mind. Once again I saw Elijah. He was kneeling next to the dead body of a wolf holding Rebekah's jacket. Relief was the only thing I could feel as the colouring was wrong for it to be Henrik. "Missing something." Celeste called out making Elijah's head snap towards her. He stood glaring, throwing the jacket aside. He took a threatening step forward but she just laughed. "You won't hurt me. I'm the only one alive who can break the curse on Annalise's family. And the only one with the location of Evermore." She gestured to someone standing behind her on her left. "Genevieve knows where your darling sister Rebekah is." She gestured to her right. "Bastianna has Klaus tucked away someplace safe. He's suffering horribly I might add." She sighed. "But Henrik is safe. The vampire Stefan got to him in time." She smirked. "But the others are experiencing pain like none other, and it's all because you chose to save a wolf and a vampire instead of your own blood."

Elijah lunged for her, but she thrust her hand out using magic to bring him down to his knees screaming in pain. My own worsened as she channelled me to keep him down.

"What a horrific ending," her hand closed snapping his bones, "to your pathetic, diseased family. I guess always isn't forever after all."