𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 28

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Anna fumbled with her hands as the image of the two vampires that were found plagued her mind. Both had been desiccated and had a magical symbol carved into their foreheads. Their bodied laid in a rim of salt with runes written inside.

Now she was back in the courtyard with Elijah and Klaus along with the cities vampires as they discussed what had happened.

"Ah! Someone will die for this." Klaus held a ticked off expression.

"Remarkably, I don't disagree. However, I would like to know where they learned such dark magic." Elijah curiously thought. Anna was deep in thought as well, this type of magic, not just anyone was able to wield it.

"I had hoped never to see that symbol again. I recall it is the signature of a fool who once stood against us." Klaus clenched his jaw.

"Clearly, some upstart witch is salvaging old tricks." Anna annoyingly muttered. Witch's were always the one giving them a hard time.

Klaus looked over at the heretic, "I'll do for him as I did the other." the hybrid turned towards Diego, "Diego, when night falls, I want you to gather every vampire in the Quarter. Get me the head of whoever did this and put it on a stick."

"Yeah. That's gonna be a problem. Everyone is freaked out, man. We haven't had witches killing vampires in a long time. Marcel made sure of that."

Anna scoffed, "So you all were just hiding away behind Marcel like cowards?"

No one answered the heretic, "Such disgraceful species." the Martin heretic sighed.

"Marcel has run off like a scared child. You lot are left with me. Now, who of you will fight to defend our home?" Klaus looked around to see no one speak up, "Not a single one of you will stand with me, so afraid are you of this new threat? You should know better. I'll handle this myself." Klaus angrily stormed off leaving Elijah and an annoyed Anna with the vampires.

"Well since you lot are too scared to fight I'm sure you can handle warning other vampires about the casualties? Make use of yourselves and shoo." the heretic ordered before turning.

The vampires scurried away and Elijah chuckled at his soulmate.

"What?" Annalise tilted her head curiously.

"You'd make a fair leader."

Anna laughed, "I highly doubt that."

"You would." Elijah smiled before taking out his phone to call his youngest sister. He frowned when the call went to voicemail. The original tried again but the blonde did not answer.

"Rebekah is not answering her calls."

Anna furrowed her brows as worry set in, "You don't think that the person responsible for the daywalkers could still be out there hunting more vampires down?"

Elijah slipped his phone back into his pocket, "Frankly, I'm worried that she had something to do with this. She's very displeased with Niklaus, perhaps even conspiring with others."

Annalise and Elijah both looked over at Thierry who was drinking alone. The Mikaelson walked over to the vampire with Anna following closely behind.

"Thierry, is it?" Elijah questioned. The vampire looked up and nodded, "That's right."

"My sister is rather fond of you. Strange, she's not typically drawn to unremarkable men. Would you care to explain your sudden magnetism?" the original narrowed his eyes at him as Anna simply watched her soulmate interrogate the male.

"I don't know what you're-"

Elijah, now more annoyed, cut the vampire off by grabbing him by the throat and slammed him against the wall. "You can either tell me what you know, or I can distribute tiny pieces of you throughout the Quarter."

"She asked me to keep an eye out on witch stuff. I found something, and when I showed her, we were jumped by some guy. He desiccated her with his touch." Thierry reluctantly answered the Mikaelson.

Anna harshly scoffed as she finally spoke up, "Like a coward, you left her."

"What was I supposed to do, fight some warlock that took out an Original?" Thierry retorted. "Where was this?" Elijah impatiently questioned.

"The docks, warehouse 57. I was just doing what she asked. You cannot tell Klaus about this."

Elijah thought for a moment before snapping his neck and dropped the grasp he had on his body and watched as it hit the floor. "I shall take that into consideration."

"Let's bloody move it." Anna hurried the Mikaelson as the two walked out of the compound.

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The two soulmates arrived at the docks. Annalise caught sight of her best friend that laid limp on the ground.

The brunette rushed over to her but was stopped by the barrier of salt.

"What's happening?" Elijah worriedly questioned. "Some kind of boundary spell. Someone is channeling her. Typically, it's a lethal process, but because she's an Original, she can't die. Instead, she's an endless source of power." Anna anxiously chewed her lip as she explained.

"How do we break the link? We cannot enter the circle." Elijah began to pace, something he did when he was anxious.

"It's a convoluted spell. It's like a witch's recipe. You can spoil the balance by adding a more potent ingredient. A mystical binding agent. I don't know, volcanic ash, rock salt... anything up to and including eye of newt." Annalise commented as she studied the ring of salt.

Elijah's head perked up as a thought settled into his mind, "What about the blood of a witch?"

Anna turned to glance at him, "You absolute genius 'Lijah." the heretic extended her fangs and bite into her wrist just enough for blood to pour out.

The Martin girl held her wrist out and watched as droplets of her blood fell onto the boundary line. It began to fizzle and deteriorate and Elijah is finally able to get through.

The original quickly picked up his little sister and looked over at Anna. The two hurriedly sped out of docks.

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

Annalise held a bouquet of carnations as she walked over to a secluded area in the Marshall. The heretic approached a familiar tree and set down the flowers.

The brunette looked down at the ground and felt tears cloud up her vision. "Hey mom." her voice croaked out.

"I'm sorry it's been so long since I last visited you. I was too much of a coward to face this city again. I'm really sorry for everything I've done." Anna's voice trembled as a tear rolled down her cheeks.

"I really miss you, and I wish you were hear to help and guide me. Everything is coming back to haunt me and I don't know if I'm strong enough to face it. You left me too early mama." Anna's knees fell weak and collapsed on the ground as a sob finally escaped her.

She stood before the very ground her mother had been buried under over 300 years ago. Annalise was only eleven years old when her mother had passed away due to a sickness.

The heretic clenched her fists, fighting to stop the tears that kept flowing. "I'm sorry mama. I'm sorry killing us all. I'm sorry for killing papa."

The massacre of the Martin coven. A massacre she was responsible for.