Ardent | Elijah Mikaelson

Chapter 28

Hayley was already in the Bayou.

"What the fuck goes through your head," said Evangeliya, "and makes you think it's a good idea to kidnap a witch by yourself?"

"It worked, didn't it?" said Hayley. "This is Eve, by the way."

Evangeliya waved half-heartedly at the blonde beside Hayley. "Okay, great, but you could have been killed if that one shovel hit hadn't been enough to knock her out. She wouldn't have hesitated to flick her wrist and snap your neck. What exactly is the plan here?"

"Simple," said Hayley happily. "She fixes the Crescents, we let her go. Is she awake or just faking?"

"She is most certainly not faking," said Evangeliya, kneeling down to examine Céleste. "That is one hard hit, I'd be surprised if she doesn't already have a brain bleed. But I'm not giving her my blood for this, you just have to hope you didn't already kill her."

Hayley sighed. "Fine, then we wait. What's the deal with you and Elijah?"

"There is no deal, we're fine."

"You were jealous that he kissed Céleste."

"More like confused why he allowed it."

"And he got mad that you didn't listen to him."

"I like him very much but he can be just as stubborn as the other Originals when it comes to protecting the people he cares about. I don't take anything to heart."

"He's upset you didn't listen to him."

"If he wants to be sad about that, it's not my problem. I did what I felt was right. I'll be back, a bit of duct tape around her mouth and ropes on her wrists won't stop her from performing magic. I'll get some lobelia flower to keep her down."

She returned just before Céleste awoke, grinding the flower down and diluting it in water, having her drink it the moment she came to and Hayley removed the tape from her mouth. By the time she realized she wasn't just drinking water, the lobelia flower was already in her system.

"So, what's this, payback?" said Céleste, eyeing Eve and Hayley, who were each holding rifles. They were surrounded by werewolves, growling at the witch (and probably also at Evangeliya, who was leaning against a tree observing). "Look. I'm sorry I tricked you. I wasn't after you."

"What, and we were just collateral damage?" said Eve. "You almost burned her and Jackson alive in that plantation fire."

Céleste began to struggle against the rope, causing Hayley to fire the rifle, a shot whizzing right past the witch. "Careful, Sabine, or Céleste, or whatever you like to call yourself. Sudden moves make me jumpy." She cocked the rifle again, "And homicidal."

"What, you're gonna kill me, honey?" said Céleste.

"We can't," said Evangeliya sweetly. "But we could hurt you. And then we'll heal you back up and do it over and over again."

She rolled her eyes. "So, what do you want?"

"Back in the nineties," said Hayley, "you inhabited a witch named Brynne Deveraux, remember? Marcel had her– you– put a curse on a lot of werewolves so they'd only turn human on a full moon."

"I see," said Céleste. "Yes, that was me. Let me guess, You want revenge."

"I want you to undo the curse."

Céleste tilted her head back. "Fine. But I'm going to need a whole lot of herbs for this."

"Make a list," said Evangeliya as her phone began to buzz. "I'll get the stuff." She stepped off to the side to answer. "Everything okay with Klaus?"