Ardent | Elijah Mikaelson

Chapter 26

Weeks passed with no answers.

Marcel was miserable. Klaus was comforting him the best way he knew how. Rebekah was allowed to live in the Compound, but it seemed she wasn't someone the young vampire found comfort in anymore. Lately, he spent much time with Camille O'Connell, talking through his feelings. Honestly, it seemed the best way for him to begin healing.

The witches were silent. Sabine claimed there were still no answers as to why the girls hadn't come back. Everything had been quiet for a long time.

Too long.

Evangeliya tried not to complain. As frustrated as she was, the silence was nice. Hayley was progressing more and more in her pregnancy, having begun to buy baby clothes. Klaus was nearly done fixing up the nursery, and still refused to let her take a peek, teasing that she was too impatient and that as an artist, he needed time to perfect his piece.

At least they were getting along, in spite of everything.

Then, at last, they had their first whisper of activity, though it wasn't pleasant.

"These two went missing," said Diego, having led Marcel, Klaus, Evangeliya, and other members of the inner circle to where a pair of bodies were laid out. Vampires, desiccated, with a strange symbol carved on their foreheads. They were within a circle of salt and runes, nothing Evangeliya had ever seen before. "We tracked their phones, found them like this. Not even staked, just dead."

Marcel didn't even make a comment, he simply turned around with an angry look on his face and left. Too soon after Davina's death he was beginning to lose his friends.

"Where are you going?" demanded Klaus. "Someone has to account for this!"

He turned around. "You want revenge, get it yourself. That mark is tied to some bad mojo. Any of y'all got any brains, you'll head back to the Compound and stay the hell out of this."

Klaus's jaw tightened as he walked off. "We're gonna find whoever did this, and I will show them what suffering is."

"What did he mean?" asked Evangeliya after Klaus ordered the other vampires to go ahead and prepare the vampires for a search, carrying the bodies with them. "Marcel recognized the mark, so did you."

"I haven't seen that mark in a long time," said Klaus, messaging Elijah what had happened. "It was used by a witch named Papa Tunde who performed Sacrificial Magic back in 1919. We defeated him by killing his twin sons which he channeled for power. He has been dead a long time."

Evangeliya stared up at the sky. "How curious that the magic of a man who has been dead almost a century is suddenly being practiced again after a failed Harvest ritual."

Klaus growled. "Curious indeed."

Elijah was just as concerned when he saw the bodies. "Someone will die for this," Klaus sneered as Elijah traced his finger over the marks carved onto their foreheads.

"Remarkably, I don't disagree," said Elijah. "However, I would like to know where they learned such dark magic."

"I had hoped never to see that symbol again," said Klaus. "I recall it is the signature of a fool who once stood against us."

"Clearly, some upstart witch is salvaging old tricks."

"I'll do for him as I did the other." He faced the younger vampire near them, "Diego, when night falls, I want you to gather every vampire in the Quarter. Get me the head of whoever did this and put it on a stick."

"Yeah," said Diego, "that's gonna be a problem. Everyone is freaked out, man. We haven't had witches killing vampires in a long time. Marcel made sure of that."