WAR OF HEARTS • hayley marshall

28 | CEMENT VEINS

Elijah has just awakened on the ground, and is breathing heavily, still weakened from the spell Celeste cast on him. The spell was removed from Khalia and the girl sped to her brother. The Mikaelson male looked at his supposed to be dead ex-lover. "You poisoned me with a kiss. At least you haven't lost your sense of irony."

"I have a better discription than ironic." Khalia sneered at the witch, holding her brother up by his arms as he slowly became steady on his feet again. She threw the witch a heated glare over her shoulder. "Starts with basket and it ends with case."

"We may have time for more. But first, I'm going to cure you of your greatest flaw- this absurd devotion to your lunatic family." Celeste told the to siblings, ignoring the heated disgusting look that the Demon Mikaelson gave her.

"Takes a lunatic to know a lunatic, you bonkers bitch." Khalia snarled at the witch, tremors of anger running through her body, wanting nothing more that to speed forward and to rip out her heart. And she would do exactly that, as soon as her brother was back to himself.

Elijah starts talking before his sister could open her mouth again. "Your anger is with me. Now, if you have come here seeking revenge-"

Celeste cuts him off, "Oh, I'll have my revenge. Starting with Klaus. He is gonna know pain and torment like he's never felt before. Unless you choose to save him, of course. But then that leaves Rebekah, your tragic sister. She's about to find herself in quite the predicament. You could save her. But then that leaves Hayley in jeopardy..."

Elijah started panicking, his brother and the mother of Niklaus' child. "No. No, no."

"Not her." The words was low, hair raising, heart stopping, blood curling and inhumane all in one. A shiver crawled up Celeste's back. The next moment, Khalia launched herself at the witch and wrapped her hands around Celeste's throat. Before she could snap her neck, the witch threw the vampire of her and them placed the same immobilization spell on her as earlier.

Celeste rubbed her neck, smirking smugly at the enraged Mikaelson girl. "Poor girl. She has no idea how dangerous it is to be involved with the Mikaelson family. Oh well. With your bodies weakened by my spell - poison for Elijah and cement like veins for Khalia, you won't be able to save them all. You'll recover with just enough time to choose one. Who will it be? I can't wait to find out."

Khalia snarled at the witch willing her body to move but it was useless. She was frozen and powerless to kill Celeste or save Hayley. Her heart squeezed painfully in her chest, feeling as through someone was ripping it out over and over again as images of a lifeless Hayley filled her head.

And then everything went black.

***

Elijah awakens once again on the ground and saw his sister waking up next to him as well. His phone starts buzzing, and when he sees that it's Hayley, he answers it. He's still breathing heavily as he tries to recover from the spell and Khalia struggles to move her limbs, they were all feeling heavy and like Celeste said - it felt like cement was in her veins, making it difficult to move.

Elijah answers worriedly, "Hayley." His sister's head snaps up at the name and he can see how she leans over and uses her supernatural hearing to listen into the conversation.

"Elijah, Khalia isn't picking up her phone and something's going on with the witches." The werewolf told the vampire, her tone panicked and an automatic smile lifted on the vampire's lips when she heard the concern the pregnant girl felt for her.