Severed Heaven (Niklaus and Elijah Mikaelson)

Chapter Seven: The Odds

A week after Dahlia's defeat, New Orleans

          On an early Saturday morning I stepped into the fight ring that oddly belonged to St. Anne's Church these days. I was planning on adopting a condescending, pre-lecture tone before joining the little voice in the back of my mind that daily said I should work out more, make more friends, and having made friends, not to be so selfish with them? Not including the fact that I had to get my frustration out at my cost. Staring out at him so as not to avoid my own anger and thwarting, I put on my boxing gloves with a challenging look on my face. I taunted Marcel with it, because I knew what he was about to say.

Marcel closed the ring before slipping on his own gloves. He stretched his arms by folding them inside out, then moved his neck left to right. "You're aware this is a place for vampires, right?"

I scoffed and turned to face him. "You don't believe I'm capable of the same physical strengths, Marcel?"

"Powerless? Not really." He was right, of course.

I threw the first punch straight away. It was my way of letting him know I was going to beat his ass in his own gym.

As he threw the second punch, and I horribly failed to avoid it, it only just occurred to me that I was here because of one person only. As the thought of him continued to invade the boundaries in my mind, I started to throw punches out of a reckless place, careless about the rhythm that Marcel had created at the very beginning. Here I would come to escape the known world and seek another of my own invention; yet I attempted to out my frustration all at once, setting myself up for failure. To be talking about him was a relief additionally, because I had not seen him since Dahlia's defeat. We hadn't spoken a word since then, and I knew why. Niklaus was furious about the fact that I kept silent about Hayley's escape from his grasp, however, Elijah was responsible for the saving me a lecture. They needed me and they knew it.

Marcel noticed my impulsive moves, and avoided my next punches with ease. It pissed me off when he stepped back purposely. "Easy, easy." He said rather smoothly. Instead of listening to him, though, I continued. "I said easy, Liz." This time he got through to me and he urged me to calm down. "Take a deep breath. Breathe. What's got you so worked up?"

I let myself catch my breath like he'd told me to. "You mean, who's got me so worked up?"

"Well." Marcel tried again. "Who?"

All right, I'd set myself up for this one. I shook my head out of frustration and let the biggest exhale escape my mouth. "Niklaus." I said, and sounded rather annoyed than relieved.

The vampire put his arms back up when I threatened him with mine. "Ah." He paused when I threw a dangerous punch. "Trouble in paradise?"

Right off the bat, I decided to avoid his question. I didn't even know the answer. Or perhaps the answer was so obvious that I didn't have to answer. No, I shouldn't speak on it. Not just because I didn't know how, but also because I wasn't sure what Marcel expected to hear. It could've been a joke as well as a genuine question, but I wasn't about to give myself away that easily. Then again, Marcel wasn't blind, neither was he stupid— he must know about Niklaus and I.

Marcel sent me a curious look. He was waiting for me to explain the situation. "Hayley's stuck as a wolf because of him, and I can't for the life of me figure out how to break that curse." I told him in between evading his punches. "And he claims I betrayed him, which is bullshit."

"How so?" He questioned me in between deep breaths.

I picked up on the fact that I was losing our rhythm once again, too caught up in my frustration towards Niklaus. "Well, how can I betray him when we didn't even trust each other in the first place?"