Ch. 34

Chicago

The first thing we did upon arriving at my subordinate's manor in Chicago was stuff Klaus' body into Elijah's empty coffin. Immediately after I placed a heavy padlock on the coffin and a wave of magic washed over it. Nobody without seriously powerful magic would be able to damage the coffin enough to break it open, and nobody besides me could open the lock.

By the time that was done, Sage had shown up and I couldn't help grinning and spreading my arms wide as if asking for a hug, "Sage, darling! It's so good to see you again."

Sage just narrows her eyes dangerously at me, "I'm here for Finn. If this was a trick I swear I'll rip out your guts."

I roll my eyes at what all three of us know is an empty threat, but I keep the easy smile on my face as I turn to Elijah, "Elijah, why don't you go wake up our younger siblings while I take Sage to Finn. You can handle Rebekah and Kol together for an hour yes?"

Elijah actually looks a bit daunted by the prospect but nods, "I suppose I have enough bombshells to drop on them that they won't grow too bored while we wait. I may wait a bit before undaggering them, so that you are closer to being on your way when they awake."

I chuckle and we split up, Sage and I one way while Elijah goes the other. While driving to Chicago I'd had the coffins moved from the storage house Klaus kept them in to this manor that the vampire I'd put in charge of the city owned. I'd planned this out rather meticulously, and the way I wanted this to go called for Finn in one room and my other three siblings in the other.

As Sage and I entered the room, it was to find Finn's coffin already open with him laying inside all grey, dagger still buried in his heart. In a flash Sage was across the room and her hand was closed around the hilt, ready to pull it free. I blurred to her side and grabbed her wrist before she could do so, causing her to look at me with angry and betrayed eyes.

I grin as I preempt what is sure to be a loud exclamation, "Before I leave him to you my dear, there's one more thing I need from you."

Sage puts on the bravest face she can muster as she stares back at me with her jaw clenched, but we both know that at this point she'd get down on her knees and suck my cock if I demanded it of her, "Fine. What is it?"

I grin, "You don't need to be so upset darling, you'll like this order, you'll even want to carry it out. When Finn wakes up, if he speaks to the wrong person he's in danger of becoming suicidal. What I need from you is to make sure that doesn't happen. You're going to show Finn everything this world has to offer, everything he's missed over the last nine hundred years. You're going to convince him he's better off spending the next thousand years with you. Do you know why?"

She looks confused, as clearly she'd already had intentions of doing what I said, "Why?"

I smile, "Because if Finn dies darling, you and every vampire you've ever turned, along with every vampire they've turned will die with him. It's called a sire line Sage, and I'm sure there are people over the centuries that you've turned who you still care about. Finn cannot be allowed to continue bemoaning his monstrous existence. It's up to you to show him exactly what joy there is in being immortal. Understood?"

She nods, clearly shaken by my words but at the same time I can see her resolve harden. She'll do exactly what I want of her, even going beyond the call of duty now that she knows what's truly at stake. I grin and release her hand before stepping back, "Wonderful. Go ahead now, you've more than earned the right to be the one who wakes him."

She nods again before pulling the dagger free and tossing it aside, watching Finn's greyed face intently. The revival takes a little under thirty minutes and as Finn comes out of the coffin gasping, Sage is there with a blood bag. He frowns at the strange thing but she shows him how to drink from it and soon his color returns as he looks around the room and his eyes fall on me.

He looks absolutely astonished, "Vali? It's been a hundred years, where have you been?"

Even as he says this, he continues to take in the room he's in, the clothes were wearing, his brow furrows in confusion, "What are you both wearing? Where are we?"

Sage clearly has no idea how to tell him so I step up to the plate and rip the bandaid off full throttle, "Finn, you've been daggered for nine hundred years."

Finn looks incredulous at this information, "Nine hundred years? Daggered? What the hell are you talking about Vali?"

I sigh and bend down to pick up the white oak silver dagger off the floor, holding it up for him to see even as I begin to explain, "The Five that you lot believed you were tricking back in the 12th century were in fact aware of what you were. They slid these daggers into the hearts of each of you to temporarily kill you only to find they did not work on Klaus. He slaughtered the lot of them and woke everyone but you. He has spent the last thousand years daggering and undaggering our siblings at his own whim, but he's left you dead all this time."

Finn is up and out of the coffin in a flash, "Where is he? I will KILL that bastard!"

I grin at the display of emotion before shaking my head and spreading my arms wide, "I'm sorry brother, but I've beaten you to it."

Finn stops at that, blinking for a moment before his brow furrows, his anger completely drained by my strange statement. Finn had been speaking metaphorically, but now I'd admitted to doing what should have been impossible, "You've killed Niklaus? How is that possible? We burnt the white oak tree to ash."

I grin and beckon for him to follow. He does so and Sage does as well as we return to the room with Elijah's repurposed coffin in it. I undo the padlock and open the coffin easily, showing Niklaus in all his daggered glory. Finn is astonished, "How is this possible if you just said the daggers do not affect him?"

I smile, "I had centuries of time on my hands Finn. I made one that did work on him, using the resources at my disposal."

I close the coffin up and put the padlock on it before turning to Finn and placing my hands on his shoulders, locking gazes with him, "I promise you this brother. For his crime against you, Nik will spend at least a thousand years dead in that box. After that, it will be your choice whether we wake him or not."

Finn looks at me for several long moments before nodding slowly, "A fitting punishment."

I grin and clap him on the shoulder, "Wonderful! Now, I believe you have someone who has waited nine hundred years for you to get reacquainted with. Best not to keep a lady waiting longer than you already have yes?"

With that, he turned back to Sage and a wide smile slowly grew across his face as he stepped towards her. I slipped from the room to give them privacy, knowing that Sage would do as I'd told her to, and distract Finn for the next century at the very least. I was quite pleased with myself as I made my way to the room Rebekah and Kol had been transported to, entering it to find everyone up and awake as well as focused on me as soon as I opened the door.

I grinned, "Ah, littlest brother and littlest sister. It has been a while hasn't it? What has Elijah been able to cover so far?"

Elijah speaks up at this, "I've told them of your true parentage and how despite that, you've taken Niklaus down and sided with us over him. I also told them what happened with Mikael."

I smile at that, "Ah, wonderful, just the basics then. Well, I'd show you his body, but I'm at least fourty percent sure that Finn and Sage are currently revitalizing their relationship in there. Possibly on the floor, or against the wall… or maybe against the coffin."

I smile wistfully and Rebekah wrinkles her nose in disgust, "Are you really fantasizing about our brother and his peasant lover having sex Vali?"

I grin, "More Sage than Finn, but yes."

Kol lets out a guffaw at that, laughing so hard he's almost bending over before straightening and composing himself after several moments, "Gods, it would seem we've traded the overbearing brother for the perverted one."

I just continue to grin, clearly unrepentant.

Rebekah is frowning and more than willing to change the subject, "Kol raises a good point. What happens now? Have we traded Klaus for you? Will you be the one who watches over us and decides when we need a dagger in the heart for a few decades?"

Instead of answering I look to Elijah, who holds up Kol and Rebekah's daggers. I take them from him and turn to my younger siblings, watching as they don't quite tense up, but they do grow a bit more wary. Flipping the daggers over so I'm holding the blades, I hold out the hilt to each of them. Slowly, they take it, looking at me with confused eyes.

I just smile, "From now on, you're the masters of your own fate. What you do with those daggers, I care not. Toss them into sea as I gave Klaus a chance to, use them on each other, I still will not care. Being a full hybrid, silver daggers such as those do not concern me."

Slowly they nod and I watch as they tuck the daggers away before continuing with my pre-planned spiel, "That said, I have something to offer to each of you, including you Elijah. You may call these offerings whatever you wish, but please consider them gifts with no strings attached."

Turning to Rebekah I smile, "First, little sister. I am offering you a ride on one of my private jets, a one way trip to New Orleans."

Rebekah looks a bit stricken by that, and I see pain flash across her face as she replies, "Why would I want that? That city holds nothing but bad memories and heartbreak for me now."

I grin a wide toothy grin as I proceed to drop my bombshell on her, "Because Rebekah, Marcel Gerald has been waiting for you to return for over ninety years, and has built a kingdom for himself in that time. All that he needs at this point is a Queen."

Rebekah is floored, actually stumbling back and placing her hand on her own coffin for support, "He's alive? He survived the fire?"

I nod, "He did. Ravia did as well, and together they've rebuilt New Orleans from the ashes of Mikael's tyranny. Marcel is waiting for you Rebekah, and Klaus can't stop you anymore."

There are tears in Rebekah's eyes now, and I have to refrain from rolling my eyes at her even as she suddenly blurs into me, hugging me and crying into my jacket. I manage to peel her off eventually and hand her a card, "This will give you access to a plane, as well as access to one of my bank accounts. A driver will be waiting for you downstairs. Go wild little sister, and then go to New Orleans."

She takes the card from me slowly and nods, before she leaves the room in a flash, I grin and turn to my brothers, finally rolling my eyes, "She was a little emotional, wasn't she?"

Kol snickers while Elijah frowns in disapproval and replies, "You say you have gifts for each of us. I can only imagine what you might have for Kol and I, after that display."

I grin at that, "Well now, you're certainly eager Elijah. We'll start with you then, save the best for last." I wink at Kol and he grins in response at the combination compliment/insult.

Turning to Elijah I raise an eyebrow, "Now then brother, can you guess at what I have that you may want?"

Elijah's brow furrows and he instantly drops to one of our more recent conversations, "Are you offering me Katerina brother?"

I chuckle and shake my head, "I can see where you'd come to that conclusion Elijah, but no. Katerina is a copy of what you truly want, isn't she?"

Elijah grows more and more confused as I draw things out, before finally I say it, "Tatia."

His face immediately blanks at that, "Tatia is dead Vali. She has been for a thousand years. Mother killed her and used her death to bind the curse to Klaus after you left."

I sigh and spread my hands wide, "This Elijah, is my deepest shame, my greatest regret. Mother did not kill Tatia. When I left the family behind, I took Tatia with me. The blood Mother used to bind Klaus and I was what was left over from the ritual that turned us all into vampires in the first place."

Elijah is on me in an instant, hands grabbing my jacket as he slams me into a wall. I let him do so, as there's quite literally nothing he can actually do to me at this point. It's the angriest I've ever seen him, even as tears well in his eyes, "It was you? You took her from me? Why would you do this?"

I sigh and place my hands on either side of Elijah's head, resting my forehead to his, "I assure you brother, I had the best of intentions, though that does not excuse my actions. We both know exactly how hard it was to control our blood lust when we first turned. You have a thousand years of experience now with a vampire's heightened emotions Elijah. What would you have done, if Tatia had accidentally cut herself around you? Had exposed her blood to your senses?"

Elijah blinked at that, taken aback, "Are you trying to tell me you took Tatia from me so I would not kill her?"

His tone is incredulous, and I can't do anything but shrug my shoulders, "That was part of it. I wished to spare you the torment of killing your own beloved, but at the same time, I did not enjoy the way you and Klaus fought over her. I wished to spare your bond with him as well. If either of you had killed her by accident, I feared that that bond would be broken."

Elijah releases me and steps away, shaking his head. He can't even look at me with how distraught he is. Kol watches on seemingly unconcerned as I step away from the wall and straighten my jacket, "I understand if you cannot forgive me Elijah. But you will still want what I have for you."

Elijah finally turns to me as a light goes on and he finally looks past his anger to realize how this conversation began, "Tatia still lives? You turned her? How did you even figure out how to do so that early on?"

I shrug sheepishly, "I discovered purely by accident our blood's healing properties. After I found that out, I began to try to use Tatia to gain control over my own blood lust, by drinking from her multiple times a day, and then forcing her to drink my own blood to heal."

I pause before shaking my head, "Unfortunately, she injured herself, as I speculated earlier. I could no more control myself than you would have been able to, and she died. Fortunately, she died with my blood in her system and woke up immortal. Tatia does still live Elijah, and I have her location and a private jet waiting to take you there, if you want it."

Elijah is clearly torn, torn between being angry with me and accepting what I offer. Eventually he settles for a combination of both, speaking through gritted teeth, "Fine. I accept your offer."

I nod and retrieve a burner phone from my pocket, dialing up a number I know by heart and letting it ring. Only a moment passes before Lexi picks it up, "Y-yes?"

"Hello Lexi darling, it's me. Do you have eyes on your mentor?"

"N-not physically, not right now… b-but I know where she is, I've found the fortress she's holed herself up in. She's in Madrid, I c-can give you the address. Will you be coming soon?"

I can easily hear the desperation in her voice, she's still holding out hope that I'm being honest and will let her go once her appointed task is done. I chuckle, "Oh no, I won't be coming at all Lexi. I'm sending my brother Elijah to you, he's the one who will meet with Tatia. I'm washing my hands of the whole thing."

Lexi swallows thickly, "W-what does that mean for me?"

I walk over to a stone faced Elijah as I answer her, "That will be up to my brother. If he says so, you may consider yourself released from my compulsion once you direct him to Tatia. I believe your chances are good on that front Lexi, Elijah has always been the honorable one."

I hold the phone and a card identical to Rebekah's out to him, and Elijah takes both before leaving Kol and I alone in the room. I turn to Kol and let the look of contrition fall from my face, grinning wickedly, "So, chances of him forgiving me in the next century?"

Kol chuckles at that, "Knowing our "Family above all" older brother? Rather high I'd say. Might even be forgiven in the next decade given how many times Elijah forgave Nik over the last thousand years. But enough about them! I'm curious now Vali. I have no epic true love for you to pull out of a hat, so you can't possibly shock me like you did with Rebekah and Elijah. What gift do you have to offer me, your little brother?"

Instead of a straight answer I beckon for him to follow, "Its better if I show you I think." As we walked out of the room, I couldn't help myself and added, "Tell me Kol, what do you know of the first Immortal, Silas?"

-x-X-x-

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