STOLEN | THE ORIGINALS

3.14 | Live and Let Die

[ Chapter Forty-Two ]

RAYLYNN'S BLOOD pounded in her ears as she stared at Elijah. His stare remained on the White Oak stake in his hand, contemplating her plea to hold off on driving the weapon into his heart.

Raylynn could not believe the night took such a turn. They had a plan, not a great plan, but a plan nonetheless. Now, everything went to hell in a matter of minutes. She faced two brothers who wanted to sacrifice themselves to save their family. Too eager to die for ones they loved.

"Elijah, please," Raylynn begged with her stare planted on the stake in the man's trembling hands. "I'm not going to lie to you and say that I can find another way, okay? But, give me a day. One day for you to say your goodbyes. Please. I can't - I can't go back to our family and tell them you died when you had the chance to say goodbye to them."

Elijah lifted his gaze to meet her eyes. The stake still aimed toward the center of his chest. "There is no other way, Raylynn. The magic will begin to consume me at any moment. There is not more time."

"I can dampen the effects for a little while," Raylynn told him. Her hand raised a bit, just in case she needed to intervene. "You won't hallucinate. You won't try to kill anyone. Just - put the stake down."

"Mom? Elijah?"

Raylynn snapped to where her son emerged from the tree-line dressed in the clothing she laid out for him. Hope stepped next to him, pulling her hair from underneath her plaid shirt.

"What's going on?" Ryan questioned, flicking his gaze between his mother and uncle.

Raylynn dismissed her son's inquiry and set her attention back on Elijah. She was worried that he would use the teenagers' appearance as a distraction, giving him the opportunity to stab the stake into himself. "Elijah, don't do this."

"Don't do what?" Hope asked with furrowed brows. "What's going on here?"

Elijah held Raylynn's stare, not glancing toward the children as he spoke, "Hope, Ryan, leave. You do not need to witness this."

"Witness what?" Ryan moved out of the forest and closer to the salt circle. He looked to his uncle, finding the sharped stake in his grasp. "Why do you have that? What're you doing?"

Elijah's knuckled turned white around the narrow White Oak. "With my death, the magic will be gone and Hope will be safe."

"Death?" Hope exclaimed from where she stepped around her brother. Her eyes widened when the realization dawned on her. "They put it into you. But, Dad told us that he put it into something safe."