Elijah Mikaelson & The Dragon's Quest

Chapter 22

Elijah awoke and was pleased to find Angelica still soundly asleep, snuggled in under his right arm, head resting against his chest. Elijah lay still not wanting to disturb her, enjoying a quiet moment to simply hold his wife in his arms. She had collapsed from exhaustion after her shower the night before and only stirred enough to snuggle into Elijah before falling back into a deep sleep. He half expected to awake to find that she had silently slipped out in the early morning hours to resume her research. She had worked tirelessly to decipher the pictograms and other than Elijah's blood last night, he had surmised that she had neglected to eat or drink anything during that time frame. She was somewhat of an absent-minded professor and Elijah was pleased that she let go of her research, relaxing her mind long enough to refresh herself with a restful sleep.

But it would be short-lived as he heard his smart phone vibrate on the night stand and he could see it was Niklaus calling. Elijah answered the phone whispering to his brother to wait a moment. Elijah gently slipped away from Angelica, shifting a pillow in his place to allow her to sleep further but, unfortunately, he was not as good at it as Angelica was and she opened her eyes. He kissed the side of her head then answered Niklaus in his normal tone of voice. Elijah spoke briefly with his brother then hung up the phone. "Davina is awake and Kol is speaking with her. Niklaus is going to email a video clip of her to my phone shortly. He is recording what she is explaining about what happened to her. Davina is very weak, and she is not out of the woods yet." He looked at Angelica, who had nodded her head, but her eyes were closing again as she fell back to sleep while Elijah was midsentence. Elijah stopped speaking and gently moved a lock of hair away from her face. The windows were covered with blackout curtains, so the room was completely dark. "Let her sleep," thought Elijah, "I'll wake her once we have something to review from Niklaus." He tucked the blanket over Angelica to keep her warm, turned off the light and disappeared into the bathroom, showering and dressing for the day but not before leaving a glass of his blood on the nightstand for her to drink when she awoke.

Charlie was already in the kitchen when Elijah entered and headed for the coffee. Charlie did a double take when he realized Angelica was not with him. Charlie checked his watch then looked back down the hallway again. "She's still asleep," Elijah told him, aware of his concern that Angelica was not with Elijah. "Asleep, is she feeling alright?" asked Charlie. "She's fine, Charlie, she expended a great deal of energy over the weekend and forgot to eat in the process. The blackout curtains help, no sun to wake her up. She drank blood last night and I left a glass on the nightstand for her this morning." Charlie seemed satisfied with Elijah's explanation and focused his attention back to his computers. Elijah's phone pinged indicating the video clip from Niklaus had arrived. He handed his phone to Charlie who downloaded the video file for viewing. Elijah paused before he left the kitchen and asked Charlie for a favor. Charlie looked momentarily perplexed but then shook his head in agreement.

Elijah checked his watch and looked toward the bedroom, Angelica still had not stirred and he was concerned even though he would never admit that to Charlie. He started down the hallway toward the bedroom then stopped as he heard the shower turn on. "Nothing to worry about," he thought to himself and turned heel back to the living room, careful not to disturb Angelica's research that was strewn about the room. Although it looked a mess he knew that Angelica knew exactly what was in each pile. One collection caught his eye as it seemed sequestered from the rest of her research. He picked up the top paper and gazed at a sketch of the Greek alpha symbol. As he held the paper in his hand he looked at the next paper in the pile, alpha again. He leafed through the stack and they were all sketches of variations of the alpha symbol: The capital letter, the lower-case letter, the mathematics symbol, all in different written languages. He set the paper back down then straightened the stack. He perused the postings on the walls and other stacks of paper being careful not to move anything else.

Meanwhile, the doctors and researchers at Dragonetti Laboratories had worked feverishly to stabilize Davina Claire, who had been hovering close to death. She was in critical condition but was receiving the best care from the most qualified medical professionals. But no one had experience in treating a witch who had been resurrected from the dead, twice, and who had been stripped of magic. Davina had never regained the same level of power that she held prior to her death and it was the opinion of the doctors that it was likely her magic that had been sustaining her current life. Kol rarely left Davina's bedside throughout the weekend and Niklaus stayed by Kol's side in a rare display of brotherly support. But Davina had finally awakened and told Kol everything that had happened to her since arriving in Boston over a week ago.

Charlie, Angelica and Freya had already viewed the video but were waiting to replay it for Angelica. Alaric had called that he had deciphered most of the images sent to him and he needed to speak to Angelica. Elijah told Alaric they would call him back once Angelica had joined them. Elijah checked his watch again as he waited for Angelica to emerge. He went into the kitchen to find that Charlie had already heated the water in the tea kettle so Elijah made Angelica a cup and headed down to the bedroom. She was nearly dressed when he entered and set the tea on the nightstand next to the now empty glass that had previously held his blood. "How are you feeling, my love," he asked as he kissed her on top of her head. "Better now," she smiled as she stood and kissed him firmly on the lips. Elijah smiled and found himself staring into her face, checking her complexion and her eyes for signs that she was ill, but she seemed fine, her color was good, and Elijah told himself that he was being overly concerned. He told her about Niklaus' video clip and that Alaric had called for her.

Angelica finally emerged dressed and ready for the day. She and Elijah first video-conferenced with Henrik Finn, catching up with their son on his weekend and time spent working with Alaric. Elijah left her alone to speak with Alaric and the two spent the next three hours comparing notes and piecing together the pictogram interpretations, agreeing upon certain items and setting aside other items that they had not concurred upon for further research. She repeatedly watched the video clip Niklaus had sent of Davina recounting her ordeal at the hands of the coven. She and Freya discussed the spell and Freya was deeply concerned at the Coven's ability to strip magic from a witch. Freya had found the spell in the grimoire but not the spell to undo it, so she was working on a way to restore Davina's magic to her. But first they needed to find it.

Charlie had identified most of the coven members killed at the church and his research found them to be people of no consequence. Classic lost souls who dabbled in magic yet who seemed to have become Pentadeae zealots. Charlie opined it was time to stop referring to them as a coven but instead they were more like a cult and they needed to find the leader who harbored the greatest power and influence as all cult leaders do.

It was early evening by the time Angelica was ready to present their theory on what they had encountered. As she was readying herself, Elijah approached her with another glass of blood and handed it to her. "I'm fine, my love," she said but he was persistent, "Angelica, humor me please, you neglected yourself for days on this project." Angelica looked at him as he stood there, unwavering, holding the glass out in front of him. She smiled and took the glass from him, kissed him gently on the lips, and thanked him. She sipped from the glass as she turned her attention back to her research.

Charlie walked into the living room and observed the exchange then looked at Elijah who subtly shook his head side by side, indicating for Charlie to say nothing on the subject. Charlie nodded slightly then set to the task of setting up the video-conference with Niklaus and Alaric. Kol was only interested in who he had to kill to save his precious Davina and would not leave her bedside until that enemy was ready to be slain, preferably by his hands. Charlie brought each online and told Angelica everything was ready. Angelica thanked him and proceeded to present to them all what she and Alaric had found. The story of the Pentadeae would soon be revealed along with an unexpected mythos, the very origin of the Dragon Kings themselves.