Elijah Mikaelson & The Dragon's Quest

Chapter 14

Charlie Dragonetti arrived at the outskirts of Salem first. He located a safe house to use as a base of operations from where he could coordinate the Mikaelson's search for the missing Davina Claire. He needed half a day to set it up and Angelica ran interference with the Mikaelson siblings who were growing impatient, especially the impulsive Kol who was ready to burn down the entire town for playing a part in the abduction of his beloved. Niklaus would happily follow his younger brother into that melee for his experience has been that when dealing with witches it is better to bite first and ask questions later. The elder siblings Elijah and Freya were more patient and methodical in their approach and convinced their brothers to stick to the plan.

Angelica was working from the rear of the SUV, communicating with Charlie, reviewing the maps, going over the details of their plan. Elijah stood at a distance and watched his wife work, at her focus on the details, her total immersion in those details. But something was clearly wrong, and he wanted to ask her about it but the timing seemed inappropriate so he just stood there, watching her from the distance.

Niklaus noticed Elijah standing away from them and could not help but noticed the object of his attention. Niklaus approached Elijah and commented on how much she was in her element; she relished the strategy, the battle plans, and the execution of those plans. "That's it," thought Elijah. As if reading his mind, Niklaus asked him if everything was alright. Elijah paused and agreed with Niklaus on his observation, but he added that he thought that she was very sad. "Sad? What makes you think that, Elijah?" asked Niklaus. "It's a feeling, a byproduct of our link, she's incredibly sad right now, she's burying herself in the planning because she is trying not to think about Conrad, Mick, Lonnie and Epstein. She wishes Rafe and Albee were here, but she knows that they must continue to protect Henrick Finn. But she misses The Seven as a team. They were quite a force to be reckoned with and being out here, with Charlie, doing this, it is reminding her that they are gone." Niklaus suggested he speak with her but Elijah told him that would be the wrong thing to do right now, she has her ways of working through things, compartmentalizing things, and he would speak to her about it later. Niklaus looked at his brother and nodded, patted Elijah on the back then returned to Freya and Kol. Elijah knew what he must do, and Angelica was not going to like it, but it was for the best.

Angelica received word from Charlie that the safe house was ready. They entered the vehicles and met him there. It was impressive how much he had accomplished in a short amount of time. He had the surveillance system set up already, his computers were operational and maps were placed on tables to track their progress. White boards were set up to make notes along the way. Freya added an extra layer of security by placing a protection spell over the safe house to prevent any unwanted visitors.

Charlie had backpacks ready for each team and as they worked their way into Salem, they would set signal boosters and other electronic items to help Charlie map their progress. He issued each of them an earbud and reviewed how to activate the boosters. The teams were set: Kol and Elijah would start at the waterfront and Niklaus and Angelica would start from the eastside of town. Freya would stay behind with Charlie to see if she could pinpoint Davina's location as she was only able to remove enough of the cloaking spell to get them to Salem but she was prevented from finding Davina's specific whereabouts.

But Elijah spoke up and suggested that the teams change. He recommended that Freya team with Niklaus and Angelica remain behind. This way each team had a witch, or in Kol's case a former witch, who would be able to recognize witchcraft more easily. Angelica had an extensive knowledge of many things, witchcraft included, and she could both coordinate the search with Charlie from the safe house as well as analyze any photos they might send that needed identification. The room fell quiet not because of Elijah's suggestion but rather they knew Angelica might not take the suggestion well. Elijah had quite literally just benched his own wife from the game.

Angelica and Elijah locked eyes but neither said a word. The silence was broken by Niklaus who wisely told everyone to give Angelica and Elijah the room. As the door closed behind the last one to leave, Angelica spoke one word, "Why?" Elijah knew that no reason he would give would be sufficient, so he went for the only reason that stood a chance of winning his argument. "Because of Henrik Finn, my love," was his reply. He explained to her that they had to think of their son and to send them both into danger would be unwise as they needed to put Henrik Finn first. Saving the three of them from the witch's trap was exhausting for her and he wanted to be sure she had time to recover fully from the experience. With her at the safe house with Charlie, she would run the operation and be able to send in reinforcements should they get into trouble again.

Angelica thought of what he said and found it difficult to counter his argument because he was right about Henrik Finn. She agreed, reluctantly, to the change, but asked him whether this was fueled by the vision he experienced in the witch's trap that played upon his worst fears of losing Henrik Finn and Angelica to violence, possibly to his violence. Elijah was caught off guard by her analytical response because it was exactly on point. He could not shake the vision he saw of them on that floor and it gnawed at him because it was his deepest fear. Elijah admitted to her that he would be worrying too much about her during the search and that would be a distraction. They could not risk distractions since they did not know exactly what matter of enemy they were facing. Angelica understood. They called the group back into the room and jointly concurred that the teams would change as Elijah suggested.

Elijah loitered behind for a moment as they were preparing to leave to steal a private moment with Angelica. He kissed her goodbye and told her he loved her, and she told him the same. He touched the talisman hanging from her neck then embraced her tightly before he went out the door.