Valor | Marcel Gerard

Chapter 21

Andra was afraid.

The prospect of being returned to Malivore terrified her. To be alive and in pain simultaneously scared her a lot more than dying, because she'd grown so accustomed to being able to die temporarily and take her pain away.

He'll have me trapped for eternity after what I did. I won't ever see the people I love again. Ryan and Landon will be the only people alive that will remember me. The others will move on as if I never existed. I won't see my little brother grow up, I won't see what could have happened with Marcel.

I should have been braver.

"Please no," sobbed Andra, struggling weakly against Marcel's hold. Klaus was heading out, Dahlia at his heels dragging Freya along. "PLEASE! I'm begging you! Malivore will be a threat to Hope, if you toss me in, you're giving him all my knowledge and—"

"A monster made of mud does not scare me," said Klaus wickedly. "But he clearly scares you."

Marcel was shaking, trying his hardest to remain rooted to the spot. Andra was thinking as fast as she could, trying to find loopholes in the compulsion. If she could die and come back healed within minutes, she could find a way to subdue Marcel.

What could she even use to help her? Kol was slowly dying and asking him to do anything could make him disappear forever. Cami was unconscious and she was no match for Marcel. Elijah could help but she'd need to reach him first and somehow remove Papa Tunde's blade from him, which would take valuable time that she didn't presently have, and would require her being able to reach for her knife, a near impossible task considering Marcel restraining her and her difficulty with moving any muscle.

Rebekah. Rebekah would be useful. If she could remove her manacles, she could flick her hands and snap Marcel's neck. It would give Andra time to die, come back, and then find a way to keep Marcel at bay until a witch could remove the compulsion.

I don't know how the hell I'm going to pull this off.

"I don't want to hurt you," begged Marcel, pulling her as hard as he could while she dug her heels into the ground, hitting him weakly. "Andra, please."

"But you will have to hurt me if I don't comply, right?" she thought desperately. "Klaus didn't specify but you can deliver me to Malivore dead or alive, it won't matter anyway because I'll be there anyway. Wouldn't he want you to be as efficient as possible? My injuries would get blood on your car, you'd be distracted from your task trying to keep me quiet and complicit. I suppose that means you need to kill me."

"Are you crazy?" he gasped, squeezing her arms as if it was working to keep him stationary, without dragging her anywhere. "If I kill you, if you stop struggling, I'll just take you."

"No, you need to plan ahead, don't you?" said Andra, not daring to mention the word 'escape' in any way. "You need a car to take me to Kansas. Did you come in a car?"

"No."

"Exactly, you need to get one; you can't take me to Kansas on foot, it would be absurd. What if you break my neck? Let me sit still while you go gather the supplies? When you come back I'll let you take me."

He knew where this was headed, hoping that the compulsion wouldn't prevent this. But Klaus didn't say 'don't kill her, she'll come back,' and he didn't say 'don't let her escape.' He'd only said for him to toss her in the pit. That was it.

That's enough.

"Okay," said Marcel. "I will break your neck so that you stop fighting and causing a problem and I will use that time to get a car so I can take you to the pit."