Chapter Text
Elena watched Jane-Anne with trepidation as her and the sister that apparently studied at Whitmore led Damon and Stefan to a cemetery. Elena struggled against Damon’s hold, but he barely minded it. Like she was a fly he could swat at whatever moment he chose.
And, Elena realised, that she was.
There was really no other way to phrase it, because that was the reality. She was playing in leagues above herself, be it Esther or even Damon and Stefan. And she suspected, the witches of New Orleans.
Jane Anne walked ahead, Sophie following closely behind, and Elena continued struggling against Damon’s hold.
“We have to do the spell in the cemetery,” Jane Anne said, and, in his haste, Damon pushed Elena inside. The moment she was inside, Sophie wrapped her wrists in handcuffs. Damon and Stefan attempted to enter behind her, but they were stopped by an invisible barrier.
“What the hell?” Damon said as Elena heard more people approaching them, turning to see twenty odd witches walking towards them.
“Vampires have to be invited in,” Sophie said lightly, “and we’re not inviting you in until you get Klaus Mikaelson.”
“That wasn’t the deal,” Stefan said as Damon groaned in frustration.
“Really? You wanna call big bad over here, to do what exactly?”
“That’s not your business,” Jane-Anne said, “bring him here, or we kill the girl. And the baby. Let’s see what the hybrid does to you then.” Elena balked hearing the threat, and she was tired. So tired that she wanted to give into Klaus’ idea, to settle somewhere far away, hiding in a house that wasn’t hers but his.
To be hidden away like Persephone.
With those cruel words, witches dragged her away while Damon and Stefan continued shouting and bargaining.
She wondered what Klaus would do them all this time.
The witches locked her in a crypt, and Elena looked around herself.
There was no escape. She did not have the strength of a werewolf, the magic of a witch or the speed of a vampire.
Her babies would have all three.
She did not possess much of any power, except her face and her blood.
Her blood.
She looked around the room, locating a sharp stone. She wasn’t sure what to do with it however. Her blood of use to others, not herself. Still she played with the stone as she continued pacing.
This would no longer stand. She couldn’t keep doing this anymore, not like this.
She was thrust into a world of the supernatural, elements and people even more dangerous than before, and she needed to adapt.
She didn’t know where Klaus was, or what he was doing, or how long it would take for him to come to her, to save her, but she knew she couldn’t just rely on him for the rest of her life.
The door opened suddenly, and Elena looked up to see Jane Anne. She felt her breath quicken and get pulse rise as she saw the other woman. Who had planned to trick her.
“So, what exactly was the plan when you met me at Whitmore?” She asked scathingly, “kidnap me from there, or trick me into coming here on my own?”
“Whichever worked,” Jane-Anne said coolly, walking around Elena, lighting candles on the wall. “This space is our most sacred. It’s where we bury our ancestors, where they become one with nature.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because you should know what’s happening. What you are being threatened for. New Orleans is no longer the city it once was. Witches cannot freely practice magic anymore. In fact, we can’t practice magic at all. It’s forbidden. Imagine that, a witch who can’t do magic.”
Elena frowned, there was clearly something bigger at play here, “forbidden? By who?”
“The vampire king Marcel.”
Her eyes widened, the name familiar. “Marcel?”
“He’s stayed here for centuries. Legend has it that Klaus taught him everything he knew.”
“So you plan to trade me for…..freedom from Marcel?”
“Something like that.” Jane-Anne said cryptically, and Elena realised she wanted Klaus to kill Marcel. But if he was who she thought he was, the last thing Klaus would do is kill him.
“And because you can’t do magic, you think it’s okay to just kidnap me?”
“You carry within you an abomination. You laid with the very monster who killed you. I don’t mind anything I do to you.”
Elena felt a wave of hurt going through her before she squared her jaw, “Klaus will kill you.”
“Not while we have you.”
She left then, and Elena was alone with the candles.
She braced herself, and sat against a wall, stone still in hand. She squeezed her fist around it, thinking back to Jane-Anne’s words and everything she knew.
Marcel, the vampire “king” who forbade witches from doing magic. But….how? And how did he know when witches did magic. Elena had seen at least twenty witches since she’d gotten here, a real coven, she thought, so what did Marcel have that scared them?
And how was he even alive? Klaus thought him to be dead.
She should’ve seen this before, she thought, everything seemed to lead to New Orleans.
She should’ve told Klaus about Jane Anne, but more than that, she shouldn’t have to tell Klaus. Should’ve been able to deal with a few people on her own.
Like the witches.
She waited for a long time, realising it got darker the later it got. It must’ve been night by the time Jane Anne and her sister were back.
Elena broached the subject.
“How are you planning to do magic if Marcel forbids it?” She asked but neither sister replied to her, going about setting their candles. Preparing for a spell using two ropes.
“How are you planning to deal with Klaus? He doesn’t like being forced,” she said, her heart beating loudly as Sophie turned to look at her. She turned away just as quickly though, not paying attention to Elena.
“I can help you,” she offered directly, “with your negotiations.”
“And why would we want your help?” Sophie asked before Jane-Anne pulled her attention back.
“Because you don’t know Klaus, you don’t know he is, how he gets.” There was a part of her that sounded like Katherine for a moment and she cleared her throat, not wanting to sound like her ancestor. They did not respond to her, and Elena was almost tempted to tell them about Klaus and Marcel’s relationship. But she didn’t, that was too personal, told to her in confidence. “You’ll see when Klaus is here, and if you want my help, you can just ask. But then, the price will be too high.”
She felt like an idiot saying those words, sounding like Katherine, but, she realised that they were the only defence, the only weapon she had.
Her guile.
“The price is always too high,” Jane-Anne said, her voice shrouded in determination, and then she took the two pieces of ropes, and vegan chanting. As her voice grew bolder, the ropes crept towards one another, twining around one another until they were knotted together.
Bonded.
It reminded her of herself and Klaus.
Soon as the spell was over, Jane Anne and Sophie left the room, locking her once more.
The passage of time was a mystery to her, and she continued playing with the stone she’d picked. She understood now why Klaus wanted to hide her away, why he’d always want to hide her away. She was a weak link. A human, fragile link orbiting in the circle of Klaus. She was the easiest way to get to him.
She turned the stone in her palm, her head resting against the wall. She wondered what to do, but there was really nothing she could do but wait for Klaus. Just as she’d had to rely on him when Jeremy had attacked her. She’d fared better when Bonnie had attacked her, but just barely. Every other time, she’d had to rely on Klaus. Or even Elijah. Never on herself.
Even Kol had to help her once.
She wondered what would happen the day they were too late to save her.
She felt a sudden surge of rage flow through her at the thought, but shook it off a moment later. There was no point being angry when the fault was her own. And being pregnant now, Elena thought as one hand flew to her stomach, made it that much worse. Made her that much more of a vulnerable target.
She’d forever be trapped in some metaphorical tower, waiting, relying on someone else to protect her, unable to thwart the threats against her.
When she fell asleep, there were salt lines on her cheeks.
She woke up sometime later, and not knowing the time was making her head throb. She got up slowly, banging on the door, and some unknown witch led her to a weird washroom.
She hated captivity.
She waited again, pacing around the room. Either Stefan and Damon were planning a devil may care plan, or Klaus was on his way to her.
She closed her eyes as she thought of him. The note. His reaction to it. Maybe not now, but maybe someday he’d be thankful to have her out of his hair. To not have to save her all the time. It was a thought that was unkind to him though, so she banished it, even if it did sometimes feel that everyone would be better off without her.
Still, when reading the note, he must’ve been angry. Must’ve thought her to be weak, to be….uncertain of her feelings, and she wondered if he’d believe her when she told him that it was compulsion. She wondered what he’d do to Damon when he found out it was his compulsion.
She shivered in repulsion, Damon had likely compelled Caroline to….what? Sleep with him? A wave of nausea rose within her at the thought, making her shiver again, and she wondered if he had. If, all this time, that’s what he’d been doing. Or maybe he’d just made her comply as he fed on her. As he fed on Andy.
Did that make it better?
Elena never wanted to comply again.
She was tired of being compelled, even by Klaus, especially by Klaus, and she wanted it to stop. The idea that it could be used for something so intimate and nefarious made it all the more worse.
The door opened, pulling her out of her thoughts, and a brutish looking witch, or warlock, Elena would ask Bonnie, pulling her out into a different room.
Klaus and Elijah were there, and she felt relief and hope and bitterness flood through her.
“The girl is pregnant,” Sophie said and Klaus growled in frustration.
“I do know that,” he snapped and Sophie looked taken aback. “Now, give her back, or I’ll kill every last one of you.” Klaus said, and Elena’s eye caught Sophie’s for a moment. She raised a brow, as if challenging her, the reigns of power now back within her hands. Maybe that made her a bad person, but she wasn’t using Klaus for his power. She was only thankful for it.
“You won’t,” Sophie said, plucking a pin out of her pants. She stabbed her finger with it, and Elena felt the pin prick, blood rushing to the tip of her own finger. “We’re linked together.”
Elijah, looking far calmer than Klaus, which wasn’t a achievement, said, “so what do you want?” Always the negotiator, Elena thought wryly.
“We want your help taking down Marcel,” Klaus let out a chuckle at Sophie’s words, mirthless.
“You want to fight a vampire with another? What a lovely little plan you’ve made. But I have a powerful witch outside, who’s going to undo this little spell of yours, and then I’ll kill every last one of them. But not you, Sophie Devaroux, I’m going to leave you alive to bury them.”
“Niklaus,” Elijah attempted to interject, but the next thing she knew was the world blurring around her, and then she was on the street outside the cemetery. With Klaus. He was looking down at her, and she felt that familiar pull towards him, the one that wanted her to sink herself in his arms.
“Where’s Elijah?” She asked as she looked around to look for him, only to spot three figures she hadn’t expected to see.
“Negotiating on my behalf. Something about showing them mercy and working with them as long you are linked to that godforsaken witch.”
But Elena was only half listening, flinging herself straight into Jeremy’s arms. She felt arms at her back, Jenna and Bonnie huddling around her, and it was the most warmth she’d felt in a long time.
“Hey guys,” she pulled back, and they gave her space to breathe.
“Hey ‘Lena,” Jeremy said, voice thick as he looked down at her.
“How are you?” She asked and he shrugged.
“Don’t feel like harming you anymore.”
“I’m glad Jer.”
“I’m sorry about what I did,” he said, and she shook her head.
“It wasn’t you,” he smiled, and there was something strained about it.
She looked at Jenna then, who embraced her quickly, another apology whispered in her ear. She pulled back and smiled at Bonnie, who looked to Klaus.
”What’s this about Elena being linked?”
“A witch linked herself to Elena,” there was an unreadable expression in Klaus’ eyes, something that she couldn’t quite figure out. She felt something prickling at her as Klaus looked at Bonnie with hope instead, “something to blackmail me into helping her.”
“I’ll undo it,” Bonnie said and Elena wondered when her magic had come back. With it, Bonnie would be able to protect herself, and was choosing to protect Elena too.
(It felt like forgiveness).
Klaus nodded, looking almost grateful, and Elena felt that prickling again.
(Klaus and Bonnie would make more sense, she thought. All powerful. Bonnie able to hold her own against him. Unable to be compelled.
And she….she was jealous about it.)
She felt ashamed of it the next moment, when Bonnie turned and looked at her with love, and tried to shake the thought off altogether.
They rode in silence to a foreclosed house that Klaus had found, she assumed, and the five of them ambled in. Jenna and Jeremy picked out their bedrooms, as Bonnie took a spell from Klaus and went to her room to study it.
Leaving just her and Klaus.
“Bonnie’s able to do magic again?”
“Kol taught her how to siphon magic,” Klaus said lowly and Elena swallowed.
“You went to Mystic Falls,” she stated.
“I did, I thought that’s where you ran.”
“I didn’t-”
“Why did you go with Damon Salvatore?”
“He compelled me,” she said, but Klaus didn’t look surprised at her words. “But you already knew that.”
“I wanted to hear it from you love,” he sounded forlorn, and Elena wished to comfort him.
“I didn’t want to write that note,” she said plainly, and he nodded.
“There he is,” Klaus said suddenly, voice changing to glib in a moment, “big brother, did you negotiate with the good witches?”
“I did indeed,” Elijah came in through the front door, and Elena blinked owlishly. “We take down Marcel and in exchange, they do not harm Elena.” Elijah nodded in her direction, and a wave of shame seemed to shroud her.
She couldn’t even protect herself.
“Well, there you are, my big brother, always there to clean up the mess,” Klaus sounded bitter as he spoke, and Elena reached out, her hand on his arm.
“You did create one, with your reaction.”
“Did I?” Elena’s hand tightened over Klaus’ arm as his voice grew dangerous and she turned to Elijah.
“Thanks for helping out Elijah.”
Elijah’s expression softened as he looked at her, and Klaus drew his arm away from her grip.
“I will always protect you Elena,” Klaus walked away from them, pacing behind Elijah, “you have my word. Ah-” suddenly, Elijah’s skin began to turn grey, and he fell back where Klaus caught him. The tip of the silver dagger sticking out of his chest.
“He does have the habit of giving out his word easily,” Klaus said glibly as he settled Elijah on a couch. “Now, shall we talk?”