CHAPTER THREE
'if not you then who?'

"Natalie Pierce, long time no see." the woman spoke whilst rubbing down a bar, somewhat surprised to see her old friend barging through the door.

"Gloria, my favourite witch." Natalie said before pausing, "Or least favourite depending on how this conversation goes."

Gloria raised an eyebrow, "Elaborate."

"Well i'm not sure if you remember, but we had a deal. A deal which I have upheld, you on the other hand.." Natalie trailed off, pulling out a chair and sitting down whilst inspecting her crimson red nails.

"I don't follow."

"They found me." she said, looking up from her hands and tilting her head at the witch expectantly, as though asking for an explanation. Though they both knew she wasn't asking, she was demanding.

At this Gloria's eyes widened. Quickly attempting to defend herself, "I can assure you Natalie, I had nothing to do with-,"

"Save it."

"I don't care for your stupid excuses." Natalie continued, rising from her chair and coming to stand face to face with the woman, "What I care about is that whether through your compliance or carelessness, Klaus now knows where my sister is."

"Natalie-," Gloria spluttered.

"Fix it." Natalie demanded. "For years now I have been supplying you with herbs which preserve this." She said, trailing a finger down Gloria's face, "Which preserve your youth. In return all I ask is that you keep me and Katherine hidden, protected." she removed her finger now, "So you can either uphold your end of the bargain and reinforce that sneaky little spell of yours, or you can, well, you know.." she said pretending to slice her neck with her thumb.

"The choice is yours." She shrugged, turning to leave the bar before pausing at the door and twisting slightly to look Gloria in the eye. "I'll be back later, I trust you will make the right decision."

»--•--«

"How did it go?" Katherine asked, lounging on a sofa, glass of champagne in one hand, phone in the other.

"I'm not sure yet, we can only hope that my threats will have persuaded Gloria to recast that spell." came Natalie's response. She was sat at a bar a few miles out of the city's centre, nursing a glass of whiskey.

"And if she doesn't..?"

"Well let's just say I know a certain siphoner who would be more than happy to drain her magic and use it to help us." A smirk etched its way across her face at the thought. She had been rather fond of Gloria, but she was proving to be less useful than originally anticipated. Even if she does agree to restore the spell, it may be time to begin searching for a new witch.

"Ah yes, that Parker kid. What are you doing now?"

"Well i'm about to get a snack, i'm feeling a bit peckish." Natalie said, eyes zeroing in on an attractive man who was beckoning her from the other side of the bar.

He would do quite nicely for a mid afternoon meal.

»--•--«

"So, have you decided your fate yet?" Natalie asked, strutting into the bar whilst messaging Katherine her location. Since splitting up they had been giving each other constant messages regarding there whereabouts, that way if one of them were to go missing the other would know where to look.

A few seconds had passed and she still hadn't been given a response, causing her to look up from her phone in slight confusion.

"Gloria?" she asked again, a little louder this time.

Still no response.

Her eyes wandered the room searching for any sign of the witch. Despite not being able to find anything, she could hear something.

Dripping. A constant dripping.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she began to follow the noise, it leading her to a supply room in the back of the bar.

She was hesitant to open the door, fearing the worst. Though she soon rolled her eyes at that thought, she was a five hundred year old vampire, opening some door wasn't going to kill her.

In one swift motion she turned the handle, a gasp tearing its way out of her throat at what she saw.

Gloria was hanging from the ceiling fan. Her arms and legs had been twisted to form knots keeping her up. Not to mention the intestines hanging out of her body. The source of the dripping appeared to be her stomach which had been ripped open, allowing an assortment of blood and organs to fall out onto the floor. Her ribs had been twisted at funny angles and her spine looked cracked in multiple places.

In short, Gloria was dead.

"Son of a bitch." she breathed out, not once taking her eyes off the grotesque scene laid out before her.

"Language, my dear, I don't recall you being this vulgar the last time we met." came an all too familiar voice from behind her, one which caused Natalie to freeze.

Her whole body felt like it was on fire, the whispers which usually inhabited her mind becoming louder and louder till they were now screams and shouts. Each one wailed for her to return to her soulmates, the presence of one of them behind her begging her to turn around and run into their arms.

She clenched her fists and squeezed her eyes shut in a meagre attempt to regain some form of self control.

She had to stay strong, if not for her own sanity then for Katherine's.

Katherine.

Her dearly beloved sister whom they would torture and kill at the first opportunity. She couldn't let that happen.

"Elijah.." she breathed out in a small voice, practically whispering. Though she knew he heard.

She could practically feel the way his body tensed up at the sound of her voice. And she knew that he too was fighting the urge, the urge to engulf her in his arms and mark her as his just as he had all those years ago.

The difference being that he was prepared to give in, he wanted to in fact.

She did not.

She would not.

"Elskan." he responded, a grin of glee breaking out on his face. One which quickly faded upon watching Natalie stumble away from him, before she attempted to speed out of the bar entirely.

Though she didn't get far, slamming into an unknown force at the entrance which knocked her onto her back.

"What the-," she stood back up in confusion, lifting a hand to the door only to feel some sort of invisible wall beneath her fingers.

"I have a variety of witch contacts, it took quite some time I will admit, but they were eventually able to break that pesky little spell Gloria had cast for you," Elijah started, walking towards Natalie slowly as he spoke, as though he feared that moving any faster would scare her away. "Additionally they agreed to cast a temporary boundary spell, I had anticipated that fleeing would be your initial response to our reunion."

Typically Natalie would have come up with some sort of witty response by now, yet she still found herself unable to speak. By this point she had turned so that she was facing Elijah, sharp eyes following his every movement. Should he overstep she was ready to defend herself, to attack.

Elijah lifted his hands in an act of surrender, he wanted peace. The action was similar to what one may do when approaching a frightened animal. "Now, now, there's no need for such hostility. I see the glare behind your eyes."

He had kept moving forwards whilst speaking, now a mere metre away from where Natalie stood and it seemed he wasn't about to stop.

"Me and Katherine," Natalie rasped, her voice coming out far shakier than she had hoped. "We would like to make a deal." she requested, voice far firmer this time, her head held high.

Though this only seemed to amuse Elijah as he stared at her, adoration present in his eyes. "Would you now?"

"Yes." she responded, her eyes holding no such joy, it was clear that whatever feelings of compassion he held towards her were not remotely mutual.

"Well go on then," he gestured with his hand for her to continue, "the floor is yours."

A/N: how do we think Elijah is going to react to her offer?
and how will Klaus react when he discovers Elijah found her first?

Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed!

Words: 1422
Originally published: December 1st 2024