2016

Blood lay in separate puddles over the stone floor of the Mikaelson's compound. It dripped from the walls and absorbed into Elijah's clothing as he stared over the sea of vampire bodies that were dotted around, the sources of the puddles of blood.

"They've gone too far this time" Elijah commented, his gaze kept forward as Niklaus and Rebekah emerged at each side of him. They were stood on the balcony above, onlooking what had turned out to be a massacre, what had turned out to be the last straw.

"What are we going to do?" Rebekah asked, she looked at her brothers, her eyebrows knitted together in a worrying look. "These witches are ten times as powerful as we had expected and to we cannot count on Freya and Davina alone to out match them"

"The sheer force coming from a whole coven of New Orleans witches will kill them in seconds" Klaus added "it's too risky, and obviously an army of vampires isn't going to stop them from getting to us" he pointed out towards the bodies "exhibit A"

"Hayley's hybrid like wolves will do us well but I can see everything ending like this" Rebekah kept on, but Elijah stayed silent. "What do you think, Elijah?"

He looked up at his sister, his lips parted slightly as he tried to push out his next few words. "I-" he began but couldn't finish his sentence properly, leaving his family hanging on with curious eyes to see what he was about to say.

"I think it's time" Elijah murmured "it's time to go into the caves"

"Are you mental?" Rebekah exclaimed as she realised what Elijah had said, she did the most dramatic double-take ever, brushing the comment off and then realising what he exactly was getting to "We have locked those kinds of people here for hundreds of years for a reason, we cannot just let them out"

"I know; but she is our last resort" he replied; feeling fear, dread and a little curious as he saw visions of the girl he once knew.

"It isn't a last resort, it's a death wish" Klaus took Rebekah's side "the girl is insane with power, thanks to us"

"The cave?" Hayley had stumbled upon the mass of bodies and eavesdropped into their conversation. She looked up and asked them from below, stepping over a girl's body to get to the bottom of the stairs "what exactly is it?"

"A prison" Rebekah replied vaguely, not wanting to go into details.

"A collection of very dangerous creatures we have come across over the past three centuries" Elijah added "I wouldn't even bring it up if it weren't necessary"

"I don't mind you bringing up the prison itself" Rebekah replied "but it is who you are referring to; she doesn't deserve the freedom you're thinking of giving her"

"Who; exactly are we speaking about?" Hayley asked, completely out of the loop, wanting to know everything, as always.

"We shouldn't even be having to explain who she is" Rebekah huffed "but I'll start off by describing her as a monster, beyond anything we've ever seen. Death was too good for her, that's why we reenforced an old witch prison under the bayou and called it the caves"

"So it's kinda like Marcel's garden?" Hayley asked, trying to make sense of it all "but with a dangerous girl"

"She isn't a girl" Klaus broke his silence "she's a demon"

The three remembered the past events leading up to her capture, their hearts were heavy and even Rebekah felt nauseous "she was what you would call a siphoner..." Elijah clarified, explaining that she was a witch that could only practice when they had taken the power from something else.

"... Until we made her worse" Rebekah carried on, taking it in turns to speak in short bursts.

"In all fairness, we had no idea what she was truly like" Klaus did try and make excuses for them all, but they were at fault; they all knew it.

"I'm confused" Hayley stopped them from speaking in their small group of three "who is she? What did she do?"

"Her name was Cassandra Munroe" Elijah revel was the spine tingling name that brought shivers to Rebekah and visions of blood and death to Niklaus. "She is unstable maniac, we finally brought her down in the 1700's before she could do any more harm to the city"

"If she's so bad, why are you even talking about releasing her?" Hayley quizzed, seeing how the atmosphere had changed drastically. The room felt dark, it felt like a place where she didn't want to be.

"The witches have become too strong, and we cannot fight them alone" Elijah replied, his hand grasped onto the bar of the balcony.

"I can see that" Hayley turned and looked at the dead vampires "but I don't understand how one 'siphoner' can help us with a whole coven of witches"

"She isn't just a siphoner, not anymore; but a heretic" Rebekah had finally found her voice, she was able to speak with only a hint of venom "a vampire with the power of a witch"

"I'm sure if she's that powerful, and you've locked her away, she won't even be up to helping you" Hayley concluded "don't waste your breath"

"But that's the thing, there is quite a strong chance that she would" Rebekah replied, she looked at Elijah; who was now currently looking at his feet, and then back up to Hayley "We hold a weakness of hers..." But Rebekah didn't finish her sentence, instead she looked towards the entrance.

"Elijah..." Rebekah tapped on her brother's shoulder in urgency as the sight of Marcel coming through the door with another vampire stumbling beside him emerged.

"It's Josh" Marcel replied "he's been bitten"

Niklaus immediately sprung into action, he bit at his wrist and allowed some blood to trickle down onto his arm, before speeding down to them and feeding the twitching vampire his blood.

After a few quiet moments of observation, they realised that nothing was happening. Instead of Josh's skin knitting together to heal, it just grew more severe, the red blotches covered his body and the wound bubbled.

"Who bit you?" Elijah asked, something caught in his throat making his voice sound gruff as he spoke. But he knew the answer to it already, he just needed to hear it allowed.

"Lucien Castle" he rasped, confirming everyone's fears. Lucien castle has allied with the witches, creating a force so strong that nobody could fight it.

"They've teamed up" Klaus said "we cannot possibly fight them now, not when they have the means to kill us"

"I don't like the idea just as much as you" Elijah sat to the floor where Josh lay "but I think it's time; we need to get her out"

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