Nothing Dark Can Stay, Either

Chapter 7

After two months, they were ready to put their plan in motion.

Paranoia and wonder. That had been Kai's grand scheme. To release the spell that made them invisible and silent, and begin to do subtle things that would alert Bonnie and Damon to a third presence— not necessarily a fourth.

Between listening to Kai yap about how exactly he wanted things to be done, Beatrix would tune out any noise he was making and listen to Bonnie and Damon argue. Someone might have taken them for mortal enemies, with the way they sometimes went at it.

It reminded her of being in the Mikaelson compound. The constant bickering. Being put in the middle. Having to choose sides. Sometimes it had been over the silliest of things. Other times, it was more serious.

"Klaus is furious," Beatrix noticed one evening in 1914. She lay in an armchair, writing out a few simple spells that had come to mind, which she could make more precise later.

"When is he not?" Elijah had replied. He was standing at the window, staring out at the ceiling. "Niklaus is paranoid. He knows Kol is up to something."

Beatrix shrugged. "Kol has every right to befriend the witches. It needn't make Klaus so tense."

"He knows you're in on it."

She had looked up, boredly for the most part. "And what if I am? Kol is my best friend. I stand with him."

"I suppose Niklaus expects you to support him instead. He is your sire and a previous lover."

"That was too brief for him to think I bear excessive loyalty to him," she said a bit more sternly. "Why, Elijah? Where do you stand?"

He did not look at her. "I am unaware of what you and Kol are plotting. Perhaps Niklaus is right to harbor suspicion."

"We're not going to overthrow him and destroy New Orleans," Beatrix said, rolling her eyes. She stood and went to the window beside him, placing her hand on his. "You're not... siding with him, are you?"

"I do not take sides, Itza," he whispered, turning and lifting her hand, kissing the back of it tenderly. "But you have taken back your magic. Niklaus was previously angry that you'd set it aside, and now, you won't explain why you did it. All we know is that it benefits Kol."

He placed his hands on her waist, leaning down and pressing his lips on hers. "All I ask is that you be careful. Niklaus will not hesitate to tear your heart out. Kol may be willing to urge you into risking your life, but I will not tolerate it if it puts you in imminent danger."

"Look at you, being all concerned. I'll be fine, 'Lijah. You don't have to worry."

He hadn't had to worry, not until Christmas when Klaus had been holding her beating heart in his hand, livid when he discovered what she and Kol had been trying to do. The hesitation that had befallen him when he saw her choke beneath him and begin to cry was what gave Elijah time to save her.

"Today's the day," Kai said, snapping her out of her thoughts. He looked more cheerful than ever, with a maniacal glint in his eyes. "Today we start making noise. Remember what we planned? Cast a spell so that only Bonnie hears us casually dropping something. Have her start to get paranoid. When they're distracted, I'll finish the crossword puzzle. Two fucking months of hearing her whine about not knowing what twenty-seven across is. Yellow Ledbetter— how dumb can she be?"

"Give her a break, damn it," hissed Beatrix. "We don't know what year it is out there. She might not have even been in utero on this day."

"And you were three hundred and ten on this day, whatever," he said, wiggling his eyebrows. "Feeling old yet? No, wait— your would-have-been baby daddy is way older."