Lover Be | The Originals

Chapter Thirty-Four | The Monster

The morning sun filtered through the curtains of Malia's apartment. She stirred from her slumber, and the memories from the days before flooded back.

She sat up, rubbing her eyes, and noticed she wasn't alone. Klaus and Elijah were speaking in hushed voices in the kitchen, but they turned to her when she moved.

She saw them and remembered what they had done for her.

"Thank you," she whispered with appreciation. They moved forward to check on her.

"We said we would keep you safe, didn't we?" the corners of Klaus's lips tugged upward.

"I know, but I didn't really believe it before," she looked up at him. "I believe it now."

Klaus placed his hand on the side of her face, thankful that the marks from the torture had gone away. She looked down but didn't move away. Elijah shifted his gaze away from the two of them.

"Where's Nelle?"

"She left, not long after you fell asleep last night," Elijah responded.

"I should go," she breathed in deeply and stepped away from Klaus, "thank her. She saved all of us yesterday."

"You shouldn't go anywhere, love," Klaus tried to convince her. "You've had a long few days."

Malia's face dropped as she remembered, an unwanted memory popping into her vision.

The backhanded slap burned Malia's face. She was hit so hard that the chair shifted with the momentum of her body.

"I just don't get it," Ellie was shaking her head when Malia's vision came back into focus, examining the knife in her hand. "What is so special about you?"

"I'm not a vindictive bitch?" Malia shot.

Ellie laughed dryly, her eyes narrowing.

"I mean, sure you've got a pretty face, but so do lots of girls. Maybe it's that little innocence thing you have going on. So weak, so pathetic. What has these boys wrapped around that finger of yours?" Ellie's eyes drop down to Malia's fingers. "Maybe I should break them."

She marched over. Malia was shaking her head, pulling against the ropes. Ellie pulled her pinky and snapped it, causing a shrill cry from Malia. One by one, Ellie broke all ten of her fingers, waiting until Malia stopped screaming between each so that she would anticipate and fear every new break.

"This wasn't part of the deal," Ellie spun around to see Yara at the door. Malia recognized her from her daughter's funeral.

"I join the First Coven and we eradicate vampires. That was the deal. She's human," Yara protested.

"No, Yara. The deal was that you would do whatever it took to eradicate vampires. This is what it takes," Ellie throws her hand behind her, pointing to Malia. "She is what it takes. The Originals care for her, she is the perfect bait. Don't you want to see Klaus and Elijah dead? The men who stood to the side and let your daughter die. For all we know, they orchestrated it! Don't you want revenge for sweet Naomi? You can do to them what they did to her."

Yara looked over at Malia, each of her fingers bent at weird angles. Blood covered her body from hours of torture. Her lip quivered, and she turned and walked out.

Ellie knelt in front of Malia, a smirk tugging at her lips.

"She doesn't know that I orchestrated that little attack," Ellie laughed. "Members of the First Coven get a few special perks when we join. One of those is the power of Suggestion over vampires. It's not as strong as compulsion, but especially for younger vampires, it gets the job done. I needed to rile up the witch community so they would join our cause."

"You're a monster," Malia breathes out, remembering the grief-torn community. Yara sobbing over her deceased daughter. Young Savannah, so alone while her mother falls apart.

"No," Ellie says, annoyed. "Vampires are monsters. You have no idea how much carnage those brothers you're so fond of have left in their wake over the centuries. You know, I might still kill you. But it would be a mercy because whatever charade they're pulling with you won't last long. They'll succumb to their true nature."

Ellie stood up, knife in hand.

"That's enough of that. Shall we continue?"

Without another second wasted, she plunges the knife in between Malia's ribs, eliciting an almost inhuman cry.

"Malia?"

Malia wasn't sure which brother had said it. Her knees gave out and she fell into someone's arms.

Elijah's phone began to ring and he answered with his hand that wasn't holding Malia upright.

"Yes?"

His jaw tightens and he hangs up.

"Niklaus, we have a problem. The killings haven't stopped."