CHAPTER THREE | I'LL SEE YOU IN HELL OR NEW ORLEANS

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FREYA'S CONFIRMATION THAT THE PROPHECY WAS REAL ROCKED THE MIKAELSON FAMILY TO THEIR CORE. Putting aside their grievances with Klaus, Riley and Elijah joined him in the study in an attempt to work out what the prophecy meant and just who was going to wrong them. It was easy for the Hybrid to assume that the their sealed fate had everything to do with Lucien, who had coincidentally blown back into town with stories of their downfall. 

"Given the circumstances, Lucien qualifies as both friend and foe." Klaus told the couple with a pointed look while he shrugged. "And, according to Freya's prophecy—"

"—You have to beware of both friend and foe. But, let us not forget family, Niklaus." Elijah cut his younger brother off with ease.

"Lucien's two out of three. I say we put him down. Just like old times."

Riley scoffed in disbelief. "Is murder a default setting with you?"

"Just like old times?" Elijah echoed in a mocking tone. His gaze flickered to Riley, who had coincidentally remained quiet the moment they entered the study. "Brother, I wonder who among our family do you suppose has the greatest predilection for betrayal?"

"That's actually a good point. Never know when someone's gonna stab you in the back." Riley shot a glare toward the Hybrid and immediately noticed him look away in guilt. 

"Now, before we murder Lucien, there are certain questions that need to be answered: Chiefly, what is he doing here?" Elijah raised an eyebrow to his brother, who didn't answer. "And, the wolf venom. Why would he lie to you, his sire? I'm afraid we might have to resort to something deliciously medieval here, brother."

"We?" Klaus seemed utterly stunned by the word that his brother had chosen to use. "I take it you will lower yourself to associate yourself with your bastard brother, then? Have you finally forgiven me?"

"I will consider it." Elijah began with a tight lipped smile. "When Riley and Hayley forgive you and hell freezes over. For now, however, let's just hope your little friendship with Lucien doesn't disrupt our mission." 

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After visiting Lucien's seer, Alexis, Klaus and Elijah were shown only flashes of what was yet to come. In amongst those flashes were two faces that the brothers could easily pick out— Lucien and Marcel. Lucien was with Camil in the police department, and the Hybrid was eager to protect the blonde from any potential threat he posed while Elijah was intrigued to find out where Marcel's loyalties lie. 

With furrowed brows, Elijah and Riley entered Marcel's loft and were instantly met by the sight of Marcel's vampires unconscious. Elijah stepped closer, his body casting a shadow over Josh, who laid at his feet. "Oh. God."

"Joshua." Elijah yanked a handkerchief from his pocket and held it out to beaten down vampire at his feet. "What would kindly enlighten us as to what happened here?"

"Oh. God." Once Elijah's handkerchief dropped onto his chest, Josh let another small wince of pain leave his lips. "This woman."

"That's specific." Riley hummed softly as she bent down to help Josh back up onto his feet whilst Elijah's eyes scanned the room. "Who was she?" 

"I don't know. She walked in like the owned the place. Said she had to talk to Marcel in private." The vampire heavy exhaled. "We tried to get rid of her, and boom— smackdown city. Which, obviously, went quite well."

Elijah's pacing halted and his eyes were drawn to a calling card which was coincidentally laid on the ground beside one of the many unconscious vampires. The Original bent down to examine the calling card. "Did this woman happen to have a name?"

"I don't know." Josh furrowed his brows as he tried to rack his brains. "Um. Aya?"

"Aya." Elijah's entire body froze as the familiar name dripped from his lips. 

Riley could see that just by the way Elijah had reacted to her name, he was familiar with the woman that had attacked Marcel's group. "Another one of your old friends back to visit?" 

"I guess you could say that, yes." Elijah's eyes were permanently fixed on the calling card within his grasp. "I sired her." With a heavy sigh, he dipped the calling card into a pool of blood that was at his feet which eventually revealed an address on the card itself. "I suppose I shall have to pay her a visit."

"Uh— are you sure going alone is wise? She's kinda crazy." Josh interrupted once he saw Elijah stand upright once more. 

"He's not going alone." Riley snatched the card with the address out of Elijah's hands before he had even a chance to argue with her. "Come on."

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"Marcel Gerard. You were turned by an Original, yet you made yourself in your own image. You built a vampire community from ash, and this city thrived under your rule." Aya steppes closer to Marcel with a pointed look on her face. "Let us help you return New Orleans to what it should be with you as it's king."

Marcel's stern demeanour faltered and he wore an amused smirk. "A great sales pitch, really. Just one thing– who's us?"

"The oldest society of vampires this world has ever known. We're called The Strix."

"Quite the prestigious organiziation responsible for countless wars, numerous plagues, assassinations." Elijah trailed off from the doorway once he and Riley entered. 

Aya remained visibly frozen when she heard his voice and chose to keep her back to the Original. "You have to break rules if you want to build a new world." Finally, she spun on her heels to face the couple. "Hello, Elijah. It's been a while."

Marcel furrowed his brows. "You two know each other?"

"Intimately." Elijah wasted absolutely no time rushing toward Aya and plunging his hand straight into her chest. As he dipped her backward, his fist clenched around her heart. "Whatever you are doing here, I know you're not alone."

A agonising gasp left Riley's lips as both Marcel and Elijah's attention moved back to her. She choked on her own blood breathlessly as a man stood behind her with his hand plunged through her back as he gripped her heart. "Let her go, Elijah, or I shall be forced to do the same to someone that you care about. And, let me be clear upon the fact that I am sure you will suffer more if I am forced to remove this young girl's heart."

"And, there he is. Tristan." Knowing that he had no other choice, and given that they were outnumbered by the sudden influx of Strix members, Elijah removed his hand from Aya's chest. Almost immediately, Tristan did the same to Riley, who wasted no time moving beside Elijah and Marcel. 

"You go left, Riley goes right, I go down the middle?" Marcel whispered between the two supernaturals that stood beside him. 

Elijah simply chuckled at Marcel's confidence to fight against vampire's more than double his age. "Why don't you stay where I can see you?"

"It's been ages since I've enjoyed a good scrap, but, uh, it's not why I'm here." As Tristan removed a handkerchief from his pocket to clean his hand, he glanced at the rest of The Strix members. "Mr. Mikaelson and I require the room. Please, leave us." Once all of the vampires had made their exit, Tristan glanced to Riley. "You are the Evans witch, I presume. A pleasure to meet you."

"Riley." She snapped with a pointed look on her face, tilting her head as she scanned him. "You should know, shoving your hand through my chest doesn't go down as a great first impression."

"Apologies, but drastic action and all." Tristan mused with a light smile, then he turned to attention to Elijah. "Elijah, your sire line, your life is at stake. You'll want to hear what I have to say."

Both Tristan and Elijah were locked an intense moment of eye contact until finally, Elijah sighed. "Marcellus, please." Just as Marcel started to leave, Elijah stopped him again. "And, you would do well to be selective about the company you keep in future."

"Maybe you should remember who your friends are. It looks like you're gonna need them." Marcel irritably told him with a glare, sparing once final look toward Riley before he made his requested exit.

"You waltz into my city unannounced with your flock of sycophants flaunting news of a threat. All the while, your little lapdog, Aya, is conspiring with non other than Marcel Gerard."

"Conspiring." Tristan repeated. "How grandiose. I thought I was the one with the flare for the dramatic."

"Hardly dramatic if he's telling the truth, is it?" The strawberry-blonde interjected. She folded her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes toward the vampire. "What're you doing with Marcel?"

"Your Marcel is a potential recruit. He has nothing to do with the larger issue we face."

"The larger issue?" The Original vampire repeated. 

"You've no doubt heard about the war between the sire lines. Well, as it happens, your line, thanks to my Strix, has wreaked all manner of havoc on Lucien and his assorted interests. As a result, he's desperate to exterminate the lot of us— me, Aya, everyone you've sired. Of course, the economical way for him to complete this task would be for him to kill you." Tristan noticed the looks that both Elijah and Riley began to exchange. "You don't believe me? Perhaps you underestimate Lucien's ambition. While I doubt he'd have the gall to attack you directly, I believe he might try and find someone else to do it, namely Niklaus."

Elijah still remained rather amused by the situation.  "What makes you so certain that Niklaus would select Lucien over his own family?"

"From what I hear, he tortured his friend Marcel, cursed the mother of his child, and killed your paramour right in front of you, all because he thought it the logical way to defeat his enemy." Tristan's jaw clenched whilst he watched Elijah appear deep in thought. "With Lucien in his ear, how long before the logical thing is to get rid of you?"

"Well, I suppose there's one plus side to this entire situation, right?" Riley smiled gleefully as she stepped over to Elijah's side. "I'm pretty sure Klaus is on his way to kill Lucien now. So, crisis averted, right?"

"Wrong." Tristan argued back once Elijah and Riley started toward the exit of the ballroom. "You have to stop him. Lucien's seer believes there's an object capable of killing you."

Elijah spun on his heels. "I'm well aware."

"Well, I don't have it. I'm quite certain my sister doesn't have it, either." Tristan revealed and Elijah grew considerably more panicked than before. "Logically, then, one must assume that Lucien has it or he knows where it is. If he dies, none of us will find it. Not until some other assassin attempts to use it against you. If you've any hope of finding that which can kill us all, Niklaus needs to be stopped."

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