Interlude: Rebekah & Elijah

New Orleans

It was Fight Night at the Abattoir and Marcel watched from above the courtyard, leaning against a railing as his nightwalkers fought for the right to earn daylight rings. Between one moment and the next, Ravia arrived beside him, remaining silent as she joined him in watching the young vampires below fighting.

Marcel smiles, not taking his eyes off of the courtyard even as he speaks, "It's been a while Ravia, you don't usually come out these days for anything less than a supernatural war. Should I be worried?"

Ravia makes a 'hmm' sound in her throat before replying, "Perhaps. My Master just called. I am to warn you that his sister is on her way to New Orleans."

Marcel furrows his brow, "Rebekah? It's been ninety years since she left, why would she come back now."

Ravia shakes her head, "The Master has asked that she be allowed to explain that herself, but he wishes to clarify that it's not her fault. He notes that in nearly a century you have never found a female companion to replace his sister, and hopes that you will do him a favor by giving rekindling your relationship with Lady Rebekah a chance."

Marcel can't help but scoff, "And what does Klaus have to say about that?"

Ravia pauses for a long moment, "Lord Klaus does not have a say in the matter, but I am not allowed to tell you more. My Master wishes for you to ask Lady Rebekah for more information on that matter."

Marcel runs a hand over his face, sighing explosively but nodding, "Very well. I'll hear her out. When will she arrive?"

Ravia smiles, pleased at her task's completion, "Lady Rebekah will arrive tomorrow morning at the private airstrip you've been trying to find more info on for the few years. It belongs to my Master."

Marcel blinks at that, finally turning away from the vampires fighting below to give Ravia his full attention, "Hang on, what? That place is his? Not even the humans could figure out what was going on there, the best I could find was that the place belonged to a… Mr. Masters"

Marcel lets out a groan as he finishes that sentence and buries his face in his hands, "Ravia, sometimes I hate your Master."

Ravia just smiles placidly, "My Master provokes that reaction in many people. So long as you do not act on that hate, we will be fine."

Marcel just chuckles, well used to Ravia's brand of humor by now.

XxScenebreakxX

Marcel is of course waiting at the private airstrip the next morning when Rebekah's plane lands. Ravia is at his side, as her presence was necessary to get him into the highly secure airstrip. The door of the plane opens and the stairs fold down. A moment later Rebekah, dressed in the newest fashion, is walking down those stairs and onto the black tarmac.

Her eyes widen as she sees Marcel and a wide smile spreads across her face as she blurs across the airstrip over to him and launches herself into his arms, gushing a bit as she does so, "Marcel it's so good to see you."

She punctuates this statement with an eager kiss which Marcel happily returns even as he wraps his arms around her. When they break apart though, his brow is furrowed, "It's good to see you too Rebekah, but it's been ninety years. Where have you been?"

Rebekah's smile drops from her face and she glances at Ravia with a growing frown, "No one told you? Where do you think I was Marcel? Klaus put me in a box only a few short years after New Orleans burned. I didn't even know you had survived until yesterday when Vali woke us all."

Marcel blinked at that, before cupping her face in his hands, "I had no idea. You know I would have come for you if I'd known. Where is Klaus now? Will he come after you now that Vali has freed you?"

Rebekah smiles and shakes her head, "No, Vali has taken care of him. He made a dagger that works on Klaus, and he'll stay daggered until Vali changes his mind. There's nothing left that can keep us apart."

Marcel smiles wide at that and goes in for another kiss. He has many more questions, and many concerns whirling around in his head given what he's learned, but they aren't the sort of things to be sought right now. Right now he will do as Ravia's Master asked and give Rebekah and his relationship another chance.

That won't stop him from looking into this supposed daggering of Klaus. He's a leader of a city, he isn't the sort of person to just step back and accept how things are without knowing all the details. He won't let Klaus come back and take what he's built here, no matter what.

XxScenebreakxX

Madrid, Spain

Elijah looked at the large stone building Lexi had directed him to with a slight frown. There was armed security all over, and whoever lived there was quite paranoid. Though given what Lexi had been willing to tell him of Tatia to secure her freedom, he supposed the paranoia might be warranted. Still, he had nothing to hide, and so he walked straight up to the front gate and smiled at the door guard.

"I am here to see Tatia. You will let me in."

This statement resulted in an assault rifle immediately being pointed at his breast. He just raises an eyebrow, not the least bit perturbed, "Do you really think that will do anything to me?"

This gets a response from the guard finally, "Wooden Bullets, so yeah."

Luckily Elijah is already moving, because the area he was occupying is full of those wooden bullets a moment later, even as Elijah arrives behind the guard and disarms him easily before breaking his neck. Once again stepping closer to the entrance, he straightens his suit even as a group of five more guards rushes out, their own weapons drawn and focused on him.

Elijah lets a small smile play across his face, "Before you force me to kill all of you, let your mistress know that Elijah Mikaelson is here to see her. I would hate to start off our reunion by shedding the blood of her subordinates."

The armed security is tense, but the clear leader does eventually take Elijah's advice, placing a finger against his ear and speaking quietly, letting someone somewhere know of Elijah's presence. A moment passes and the leader shakes his head, "No, he's alone, nobody with him."

A moment after that the leader looks at Elijah repeats a question, "Should we be worried about any more of your family showing up?"

Elijah sighs, "If she's worried about Vali, I can assure you that he stayed in America. It's just me, and all I wish is a chance to speak with her."

The guard nods and repeats those words back. After a long pause he gestures and those surrounding Elijah lower their weapons and clear a path.

Elijah walks through them and into the large building, the guard captain leading him down a corridor that led into a large hall, within which Elijah could see what could only be Tatia sitting upon a throne like a Queen.

As Elijah walked into what felt to him like a throne room he hadn't seen in centuries, he noted several vampires in the alcoves to either side of him, some watching him and some just pointed in his general direction. The latter wore blindfolds. As he focused his attention on Tatia, he noted that she wore a blindfold as well, and the skin that was visible around the edge of the blind fold was burned and scarred horrifically.

Tatia still manages to give off a regal air, her beauty barely diminished by the horrifying blindfold even as she sat forward and focused her attention on Elijah without actually looking at him. Elijah came to a stop at the bottom of the steps, looking up at her with abject sadness, "Tatia… what have you done to yourself?"

Tatia scoffs at that, smiling ever so slightly at the sound of his voice even as she berates him, her own voice strong and powerful, "I did what I had to Elijah. My early life was defined by my usefulness to people. I decided early on in my immortality that I would never be used again."

Elijah grimaces at that, "But the blindfold is so… unnecessary. You could just as easily ingest a small amount of vervain each meal and it would keep any Original from compelling you."

Tatia laughs at that, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth as she smiles at Elijah, unable to help herself, "As always Elijah, your honor tends to make you a little naïve. Of course I take vervain with my meals. All of my true followers do so. I wear this blindfold for one reason and one reason only." Here her tone loses its humor and she speaks in a hiss, "Vali."

Elijah frowns but catches on quickly, "What has he compelled you to do Tatia?"

Tatia responds by sighing explosively and leaning back in her throne, "You truly do not know. I suppose I forgive your ignorance then Elijah, to put it simply, I am not allowed to plot against your family and if I ever lay eyes on Vali again, I will be forced to present myself to him and do whatever he tells me to do. A safety precaution I'm sure, to keep me from ever seeking revenge, but not a position I will ever let myself be in."

Elijah's eyes narrow angrily at that as he processes her words. A moment later he takes his phone from his pocket and pulls up his contacts before calling Vali. Vali answers after only three rings, "Elijah! I didn't expect you to call so soon, was there a problem with Lexi?"

Elijah doesn't bother answering that, instead immediately biting out a command, "Release the compulsions you have on Tatia right now Vali."

There's a slight pause before Vali's voice comes back over the phone with a wicked grin clearly attached to the tone, "Oh? That would mean Tatia is listening in right now! Hello my dear, so good to hear from you again! I heard from Lexi that you've even gotten yourself a moniker in the time we've been apart. 'The Blind Queen', it certainly has a certain gravity to it. Absolutely lovely to converse."

The voice causes Tatia to shiver, but before she can respond Elijah snarls, "Vali! Compulsions, now!"

Vali responds with an over-dramatic sigh, "Always ruining my fun big brother… fine. Tatia, you may consider all previous compulsions void. You may plot against any Original you want as much as you want. You do not have to present yourself to me for orders if you ever lay eyes on me. Feel free to do whatever you want Tatia, I don't rightly care anymore. Just keep in mind which one of us is invincible and which one of us dies from her heart being torn from her chest, alright?"

Vali hangs up before Elijah can do it for him, and Elijah can only look sternly at the phone for several long moments before Tatia speaks up and he pockets it, "What has he done with Alexia Elijah?"

Elijah looks up to find Tatia's brow furrowed, and even with the blindfold it was clear she was worried for the vampire. He quickly puts her fears to rest, "From what I understand he captured her just a little while ago and compelled her to track you down for him. Instead of using that information for himself he gave it to me and when I arrived here I released Lexi from the compulsions put on her and sent her back to her lover. She's fine."

Tatia nods slowly, letting out a relieved sigh before frowning again, "He called himself invincible. What has he managed now Elijah?"

Elijah sighs but sees no harm in revealing Vali's accomplishments. His brother certainly hadn't been shy about just telling everyone around him, "He apparently killed our father In the 20s. Mikael was the only one who had a weapon that could kill an Original, and assuming that Vali used it to kill Mikael, it would have burned up with my father's body. Vali has also broken the curse that our mother put on Klaus and him a thousand years ago. I can see why he's feeling invincible."

Tatia's eyes go wide, "He's broken the curse?" She immediately turns to a nearby attendant and barks out, "Get messages to any of our vampires in the western hemisphere, they need to evacuate now! Tell them that there will be a place for them here in Spain, they just have to get here. Tell them that our worst fears have come to pass and the Americas will soon be overrun."

Elijah frowns in confusion at that, "Tatia, what are you talking of? Overrun? Overrun by what?"

Tatia looks down at Elijah for a long moment before slowly shaking her head, "I'm not sure I can so easily forgive your ignorance this time Elijah, your oversight is frankly appalling. Tell me Elijah, what is the main reason Niklaus has worked to remove the curse for the last thousand years?"

Elijah thinks on that, his first inclination is to claim Klaus just wanted to be whole again… but something else strikes at his memory instead, something his brother had mentioned time and time again, "He… wanted to be able to make more hybrids. He wanted to be able to create an army."

Tatia smiles and nods slowly leaning forward in her chair further and further as she reveals what she knows, "And Vali has spent the last thousand years cultivating pack after pack of werewolf followers. He started with talks of alliances, but as the centuries went on the werewolves who originally allied with him became subservient to him instead, believing in his legend and becoming his followers in all but name. Those thousands, possibly tens of thousands werewolves are either now hybrids, or will be very soon. Vali has the army Niklaus always wanted and that means he's already won."

Elijah blinks, "Won? Won what?"

Tatia slumps back defeated, her voice barely a whisper, "Everything."

XxScenebreakxX

This is how it feels to be Tatia, The Blind Queen right now.

For the majority of your life you've had relative peace and relative control at the cost of your eyes.

Your actions and decisions have been heavily influenced by the events of your mortal life and the last moments Vali spent with you, but you've always stayed one step ahead of him. Until now he didn't even know if you still lived.

Back at the end of that first century you had agonized over whether you still wished death or not, had been almost ready to go through with suicide when you'd run into a young pitiable Native American girl named Adahy who turned out to be a vampire much like yourself.

More than that, you find out she's another of Vali's victims, only he's gone a step further in her compulsion and kept her from ever revealing the existence of vampires to humans, which has forced her to feed on animals alone, leaving her weaker. You take pity on her and take her in and in this your life finds purpose.

Over the centuries you have gained and lost much. Though Adahy eventually died to a persistent vampire hunter, more vampires followed and your purpose remained. You taught your followers and in doing so, showed as many of them as possible how to avoid the Originals and avoid the loss of control.

Forced to do so, you have ran for a thousand years, but at least in that you've been successful. In your millennium long existence, nobody else has used you like Esther or Vali did. You have been nobody's tool.

Yet as you sit there with Elijah only a few feet away, you realize you have been used once more. Without ever even getting close to you, Vali has used you again as a tool against his older brother. Elijah has come to find his long lost love and Vali's message is clear.

So long as you choose Elijah, so long as you allow him to stay by your side and be your protector, your lover, your everything… Vali will stay away. He will leave you alone. You will be his instrument to ensure Elijah's happiness, or he will come for you and nothing you or your people do will stop him or his hybrids.

This is the choice you are now faced with. An eternity of love with Elijah or an eternity of hate with Vali. With those options, there's no question which one is right, is there?

XxScenebreakxX

Slowly, Tatia rises from her throne and reaches up, pulling the vervain blindfold from her face with a hiss, and tossing it to the side. As she walks down the steps towards Elijah, her eyes heal rapidly, and by the time they are within inches of each other, she is gazing into Elijah's eyes with a small smile.

Elijah smiles back, bringing a hand up to softly brush her cheek with the back of his hand. Tatia catches it, and kisses his knuckles gently before speaking, "I have truly missed you Elijah. Out of all of your family, it was my separation from you that hurt my heart the most."

Elijah looks down at her as he responds, "In all my years I have never found someone that makes me feel the way you do Tatia. I have mourned you for so long, that it felt like my heart was rejuvenated when I found you still lived."

Leaning down, he kisses her deeply and Tatia returns it with enthusiasm, her arms coming up to wrap around his neck as he takes her into his embrace.

-x-X-x-

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