𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙀𝙇𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙉
ミ★ ( reign of wolves, act one ) ★彡

     Rhea couldn't take her eyes off of the portrait of Celeste Dubois. Davina had done a magnificent job of sketching her likeness from what she had seen in Elijah's memories. It looks just like her—powerful, cunning and beautiful. She was never insecure about any of his past lovers, but there was something about Celeste that made her nervous. Elijah had only ever loved two other women before her in his existence, that being Tatia... and Celeste. Though he was fond of her, Rhea knew he was never truly in love with Katherine Pierce despite many believing so; it was just unresolved feelings from Tatia—Celeste, however, he was infatuated with.

     There's something about the drawings that make Rhea want to pick up the pieces of paper and tear them up before promptly throwing them into the fireplace. The animal in her wants to erase all memory of Celeste Dubois from Elijah's mind to remind him that she should be the only one he thinks about—the only one he should ever truly love. She isn't sure if it's because her own jealous or because of the way Elijah's eyes linger on them a little too long; as if he's recalling every little detail of her face like it was just yesterday she was with him that makes her feel this way. Rhea hates the way her jealousy is eating her alive when it comes to Celeste—it's simply because she knows the only reason they didn't last was because she died rather than Elijah didn't want her anymore, and that's what she's struggling most with. She had doubts that Elijah wanted her back; she's secure with her relationship with him—they're engaged, after all.

She's internalising all of this, of course. There are more things to be concerned about rather than her jealousy, much like what Celeste might have planned if she was back like Davina says. If she was back, and as vengeful as he says she is, she would want to get revenge on the family that ultimately got her killed, and that worries her. There's no wrath like a woman scorned, and Celeste had been scorned immensely from what she had seen in Elijah's memories. This makes her nervous of her intentions.

     "The Italians call them strega. The Yoruba of West Africa call them aje, meaning mother. Where my mother was from, they called them hexa, and here we call them witch." Elijah started as he flipped through the pages of a book, "Over the centuries, vampires have fought them and fought beside them, bedded them and burned them. Whether adversary or ally, they have been a force to be reckoned with. Their ancestral magic anchors this city. There's never been one all-powerful witch until Davina."

     "Who is now tucked in safe and sound down the hall under my protection." Klaus smirked as he entered the room after checking on the witch in question, walking up to Davina's drawings, "Your Celeste was quite beautiful—" Rhea let out a small and quiet growl because he's just confirmed every ugly thought she's ever had about a dead woman, "—and a portent of evil, according to our volatile artist in residence." He finished, shooting her an amused glare because he just knows what she's thinking and it's embarrassing and weak.

     "Perhaps Davina's mistaken what she calls evil for power." Elijah suggested instead, pacing around the drawings in angst because he cannot figure it out, "Celeste was certainly very powerful in her day, but, she's been dead for over two hundred years. I don't understand. Why all these sketches now?" He asks, sitting down.

     "Why does any witch do anything?" Klaus asks as he sits down also.

     There was a scream, followed by a banging sound from upstairs, "Come on. You got to be starving. You haven't eaten since—" Marcel pleaded.

     "Since your best friend killed my best friend?" Davina snapped and Rhea could only pinch the bridge of her nose as she listened. The arguing between those two had been relentless ever since she woke up and Marcel hadn't gotten the hint and left her alone. Davina just wanted time to process and think about Tim's death. She can't do that with Marcel pestering her constantly about forgiveness that had nothing to do with that.

     "Davina, I'm sorry about what happened to this kid, Tim."

     "I'm sorry you don't hate Klaus for what he did or want to make him pay." Davina snarled.

     "He'll pay for what he did one way or the other, but right now, I just want to make peace with you." Marcel pleaded again.

     "Why? So we can be one big happy frankenstein family?" Davina said again and there was another crashing sound followed after it.

     Klaus' eyebrows raised in amusement while they listened to Marcel and Davina fight, "Well, that's going well." He commented.

     "If you were trying to win her trust, then probably killing her boyfriend wasn't the best idea." Rhea crossed her arms.

     "Oh, are there any more inopportune deaths you'd like to wave in my face?" Klaus responded quickly.

     Rhea only sent him an 'are you serious?' look to remind him of the fact that Klaus had indeed murdered her mother and herself, along with her twin and friends multiple times while Elijah gave a sarcastic smile, "Give us a month. We'll get you list."

With more banging sounds, Rhea sighed, "I'm going to go check on her." She said, grateful that the opportunity presented itself to get away from staring at Celeste's face for a moment and distract herself with other issues as she rushed upstairs and going into Davina's room. She couldn't have gotten upstairs any quicker because she felt like she was about to snap any second now the longer she stayed downstairs, "Get out." She ordered Marcel bluntly, he only stared at her blankly as she says again, "You're stressing her out. Get out."

"She's my family—"

"Yeah, well, you should know that family can still stress you out and you're making her volatile." Rhea snapped as her eyes narrowed onto him and she crossed her arms, "Get out!" She growled, "Or I'll make you."

    "Just because you've got the Mikaelsons backing you up doesn't mean you get to be rude to whoever you want." Marcel scoffed, "Eventually, there'll come a day where they can't defend you and it'll bite you in the ass."

     Marcel went to walk out the door and Rhea stuck her foot out right as Marcel walked passed her causing him to trip a little. She looked up at him, her face blank, "Tell me I'm rude one more time."

     Suddenly, Davina sucked in a breath before she began to choke. She doubled over and began to cough violently before she began to vomit dirt all over her bed. Forgetting their argument, both she and Marcel ran to Davina's side, "Davina!" He shouted, trying to get her to snap out of it.

     The ground began to rumble beneath them and it took them a moment to regain their balance, the earthquake going stronger by the second.

     "Davina, calm down!" Rhea shouted, worried out of her mind as Davina continued vomit up the dirt, unsure of where it was coming from.

     Klaus, who heard and felt the commotion from downstairs, entered the room to investigate, "What's with all the racket?" He snapped but stopped in his tracks when he saw Davina still throwing up soil, "Bloody hell."

     Eventually, after many more earthquakes, Rebekah came into Davina's room, seeing Rhea beside Davina's side, trying to comfort her through it all while she lay weakly on her bed. Car alarms could be heard in the background and people were on the street recovering after the earthquakes. Rebekah, looking worried, rushes into Davina's bedroom to check on her, "Hey. What kind of game do you think you're playing?" Rebekah asked in hush tones while Rhea looked at her with confusion, "I said disrupt the household, not destroy the whole city."

     "Wait, what?"

     Davina whimpered, "I didn't do it. Not on purpose. I—I don't know what's wrong with me." She says and Rebekah's face falls, realising that there was something going on, she then spots the dirt on the bed. Rebekah turns to look at Rhea, who can only shake her head. There was something seriously wrong that they won't be able to stop. It didn't look good and Rhea has a big feeling it has to do with how much power was in her. It reminded her of when Bonnie was meddling with dark magic and it started having an effect on her. This felt a lot like that and it's concerning.

     Rhea's hearing then picked up Elijah walking back into the compound with Sophie, "I have a feeling we're going to find out." Rhea told Rebekah and Davina, before she turns to the young witch, "I'm going downstairs so we can figure out what's happening. I'll be back to check on you, okay?"

     Davina nodded weakly, she was clearly terrified and Rhea felt bad for her. She was just a child. She reminded her of Elena before they fell out of their friendship—innocent, and a pawn in a game that was much larger than she could ever expect. Rhea didn't want her to make the same mistakes she made in Mystic Falls—and she didn't want Elijah to make those same mistakes either. They were supposed to be better, and as the Original family, they were powerful on their own volition. They didn't need a sixteen year old witch to do their bidding. Forcing her into something she doesn't align with would only bite them in the ass, and Rhea refused to let that happen knowing they have a child coming into the family.

     When Rhea walked downstairs, she saw Elijah practically interrogating Sophie, "So, you have stolen the remains of the very person that Davina's been drawing for months." He said and Rhea's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as to how this came about without anyone knowing, "Would you care to explain this startling coincidence?"

     Sophie's eyes widened in shock as she stares at the drawings that Elijah was pointing to from his desk, "I can't. I didn't even know who Celeste Dubois was until I—" She was cut off when the house started to shake violently, like the earthquake from earlier. Sophie looks alarmed, but Klaus, Elijah, Rhea and Rebekah seem merely irritated, "Was that Davina?"

     Klaus nodded in confirmation as he sat at the bar with a drink in his hand, "Charming little habit she's developed."

     "And the earthquake I felt today?"

     "Also Davina." Rhea nodded with a sigh, "And, she's vomiting dirt—and a lot of it."

     "Oh. We have a huge problem." Sophie stated panicked, "I thought that we had more time, but, we need to complete the Harvest now."

     Rhea's eyes then narrowed onto the witch, "Said the desperate witch, conveniently." She snapped and Klaus hummed in agreement as he took a sip of his drink.

     "I'm serious!" Sophie exclaimed, "That earthquake you just felt is a preview of the disaster movie that is about to hit us."

     "Rhea is right. Why should we believe you?" Elijah questioned her.

     "You've met Davina, you know her story. For months now, she's been holding all the power of the three girls sacrificed in the Harvest ritual. A force that was meant to flow through her and back into the earth. One person was never meant to hold that much power. It's tearing her apart, and it will take us down with it." She explained and Rhea looked fearful as she continued, "As she self-destructs, she'll cycle through four stages that represent the four elements that bound together the Harvest. Earth stage comes first, as you can tell with the earthquakes. Then comes wind, and since each stage is more intense than the last, let's just say she'll blow the roof off this place."

     Rhea went over to Elijah's side for comfort as she continued, "Then after the wind is water. Rain, floods..." The witch continued, "The last stage is fire, and since it's the last... and it will be by far the worst." She warned.

     "I didn't take over this town to watch it burn to the ground." Klaus' jaw clenched at the idea of New Orleans being brought to the ground by fire again. "We might need to complete the Harvest after all."

     "I hate that I'm saying this, but I agree." Rebekah sighs, "She will take us all down with her, we cannot let this happen." She decided as she stood up, "I'm going to go and let her know."

     "I think I'm going to be sick." Rhea mumbled to herself, the feeling of bile rising up in her throat at the idea. It's just one sacrifice after another; girls—children—being used as pawns. How can they protect them when their fate is to be used as sacrifices?

     "You've convinced my siblings. You have yet to convince us." Elijah stated, pointing in between him, Marcel and Rhea.

     "We don't have time to waste. The first sign's already come and gone."

     "So fix her!" Marcel snapped.

     "She can't be fixed." Sophie snapped back, "She can't be saved. This will not stop at the earth sign, and if you wait it out, you immortals will be the only ones left to argue about it."

     They could hear Davina's whimpers from upstairs as she grew more and more upset by the news Rebekah was giving her when suddenly, extremely strong winds start to blow through the Quarter, bursting many of the compound's windows open. "Christ." Rhea uttered as she watched things blow over.

     Rebekah finally injected Davina with the sedative, and after a moment, Davina fell unconscious; the wind stopping shortly afterward. Sophie looked at them all, "Convinced now?"

     Some time later, Elijah, Klaus, Rhea and Marcel were congregated downstairs. Elijah was pacing anxiously, "We sedated her too heavily." He worried.

     "Well, if this is her sedated, I'd hate to see her otherwise." Klaus commented, "We all agreed that Davina must be sacrificed. There's no need to let her blow the roof off our heads in the meantime."

     Rhea scowled at Klaus, "Don't you have a small Victorian doll to take over?" She snarked, "We're talking about sacrificing a teenage girl. You out of all people might be okay with it since you've done it before, but, this is no joking matter."

Elijah sighed in agreement. He couldn't believe he was about to agree with his brother after he was originally so against the Harvest, "No one wishes to see Davina come to harm less than I, but, there is no scenario here in which we simply wait this out. She's going to die."

Marcel scoffed, "According to Sophie, the witch who screwed over everybody here."

"The Harvest was working before it was stopped. If a nonbeliever like Sophie Deveraux can come to have faith that these girls will be resurrected, then I, also, am a believer." Elijah said.

"I saved Davina from the Harvest, and now you want me to just hand her over?" Marcel looked at Klaus.

Klaus went to open his mouth and Rhea held her hand up, "I can tell you're about to open that fat trap of yours, and word of advice—don't." She snarled.

     "The earthquake I was willing to chalk up to hideous coincidence, but, these winds? If Davina is not sacrificed, then every inch of earth that shook, everything blowing about now will soon be drenched in water and consumed by fire." Klaus reminded them all.

     Marcel threw his hands up in the air, "Oh! Now you care about the city."

     "We ought to. We built it." Elijah pointed out with his arms crossed.

     "And we all saw it burnt to the ground twice. I will not let that happen again. Do I make myself clear?" Klaus warned.

     Marcel scoffed once more before he left angrily. Elijah turned to his younger brother and gave him a look, "Not a people person, are you, Niklaus?"

     "Nonsense. I love people." Klaus responded blankly and Elijah huffs in response, "Just on my way to warn a couple of prominent ones in case the weather gets out of hand. If you fancy yourselves as plus diplomatique, perhaps you'd like to come along."

     "He wants to go and be present when Sophie consecrates Celeste's remains." Rhea rolled her eyes, "He wants to pay his respects."

     Klaus sent an amused look, noticing her clear jealousy. Hayley then entered the room hesitantly and she looked straight at Elijah, "Hey. Do you have a minute?"

     "Just on our way out." Elijah answered coldly, grabbing onto Rhea's hand and they turned to leave.

     "Which one of us is the people person again?" Klaus shouted out after them.

Sophie was at the cemetery, where she had set up Celeste's bones in preparation to do the spell to absorb her power. Rhea had gotten the heads up on the way to the cemetery as to why Elijah had acted so coldly—because Hayley had went behind his back to get Celeste's remains location in an attempt to strike a deal to help her family. Elijah was more distraught over him unintentionally breaking a promise to Celeste as she did not wish to be consecrated like many others before her. She wanted to be in peace. While Rhea may feel slightly jealous about Celeste, she was owed that much.

     The wind was picking up continuously which made it harder for Sophie to continue through with the spell. She smudged a small dot of ash on the forehead of Celeste's skull while Sabine, Rhea and Elijah watch nearby. Elijah couldn't take his eyes off of her bones and Rhea shuffled around uncomfortably. Sabine walked over to the engaged couple, "You don't have to be here for this. It's gonna take some time for Sophie to prepare for her consecration." She told them.

"We have time. I owe her this." Elijah insisted and Rhea sighed.

"It seems like your soulmate isn't that pleased to be here, so care to elaborate why you're insisting on being here?" Sabine pressed and Rhea scowled at her.

"I love Elijah with all my heart but doesn't mean that I enjoy the fact that we're here doing this." Rhea responded, gesturing to the bones, "Not to mention we're doing all of this so we can sacrifice a sixteen year old girl."

Elijah only sighed, "Have you ever experienced something so profound and wonderful that when it was taken from you your life felt unbearable?" He asked Sabine.

"Yes, I have felt that, and I've got the scars to prove it." Sabine answered as she stares into Elijah's eyes.

"I believe that when you love someone and that person loves you in return you're uniquely vulnerable. They have a power to hurt you that's like nothing else." Elijah said as he looked down at Rhea, "Before I found Rhea, I thought that was Celeste. I thought what we had was love but now I know what real love is, and I must pay my respects because if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be the man I am today for my soulmate."

Rhea smiled at him and Sabine seemed surprised to hear what he had to say. Before she could remark on it, Elijah's phone rang and Rhea answered it, "Elijah's phone." He greeted.

"He's taken the girl." Rebekah responded, her voice snappy and clearly stressed out.

"Who has?" Rhea asked.

"Bloody, bloody Marcel!" Rebekah snapped angrily, a snarl ripping through her throat.

"And you wanted to run off and start a life with this back-stabber!" Klaus remarked to his sister in the background.

"Says the man who was shacking up with him not two seconds before all this went down." She argued with him. Banging of furniture was then heard in the background as the wind picked up again, "Okay. We need to divide and conquer if we're gonna stand a chance. He could have gone anywhere."

"Well, Elijah and I are here with Sabine." Rhea informed them, "Maybe we could try a locator spell?"

"I'll talk to the priest. They might even be at the church. It's the last place we'd think to look for them, right?" Klaus suggested.

"Okay. You check the church, I'll check everywhere else." Rebekah exhaled before hanging up the phone with a plan in motion.

Sophie started the consecration spell while Sabine got to work finding Davina almost immediately after hearing her conversation in a nearby mausoleum, performing the locator spell with Davina's hairbrush for her location while Elijah and Rhea watched anxiously nearby, mumbling in Latin as her hands danced over a map of New Orleans. Thunder and lightning had started crackling and it was clear the next stage was heading their way sooner rather than later. After a moment, she paused and shook her head in frustration, "This isn't working."

"She's nowhere to be found?" Elijah questioned.

"No. It's more like she's everywhere." Sabine then realised, "She's hemorrhaging magic. That means we have less time than we thought. We have got to find her. I have no clue where she is." Sabine informed them, closing her eyes and waving her hands around on the map to try and find Davina once more.

Elijah placed a hand on Sabine's shoulder, "Please concentrate. Try again." He asked her calmly.

Sabine nodded before she tried once more. After a few moments she stopped and turned to Elijah and Rhea, "Okay. Okay. She's somewhere near the river." She said, placing her hands onto that part of the map. Shaking her head, "I can't be more specific."

"It's a start." Rhea assured and they went to go and search for them but Sophie came into the tomb.

She looked panicked as she said, "It didn't work." They put their heads up to look at her, "I tried to consecrate her and absorb her magic, but... there's nothing there."

Elijah looked confused as he walks towards Sophie, "I don't understand. A witch's magic is infused in her bones until consecrated." He was sure that no one consecrated her bones since he hid her body so she could rest in peace. Her magic should still be there.

"Well, then someone's already taken it, because there's nothing there." Sophie exclaimed.

"There has to be another way." Rhea sighed.

"There is no other way." Sabine told them.

"Unless you know of some super-powerful dead witch whose bones were never consecrated, it's over." The hope in Sophie's eyes was diminishing quickly as was Sabine's.

Elijah smiled in realisation and Rhea looked up at him in concern as he said, "There is someone else actually..." Thunder and lightning strike, giving Rhea the feeling of dread from the next words out of his mouth as he says, "My mother."