Lover Be | The Originals

Chapter Forty-Two | Different

Malia found herself once again in the clutches of the witch who had once been her friend. The room she was kept in this time was different. She wasn't in a dark, damp basement or an empty room in an abandoned shop. She was in a bedroom on the third story of a very large house. Ellie had thrown her on the bed, but the soft comforter protected her from the force of the shove. Now, Malia was all alone in the bedroom. Her wrists were bound, but the witch had undone the ropes on her ankles when they walked in.

She looked around in confusion. It was just a regular bedroom with clean sheets on the bed and a desk pressed against the wall. Apart from the ropes on her wrists, there was nothing keeping her immobile. Strangest of all, Ellie hadn't done anything to try to hurt or torture her like before. Things seemed different this time.

And somehow, that made her more anxious.

Malia tried the door but it was firmly locked. She spent the next several hours walking around the room and then gazing out the window. As far as she could tell, they were nowhere near New Orleans anymore. There was nothing as far as she could see, just rolling fields of crops and a small shed some distance away. 

She had tried banging on the door and shouting for anyone to come, but there was never a sound. Finally, she resigned to sitting on the bed, her back against the headboard. Malia ached with hunger pains, and she wondered if Ellie's plan this time was to just starve her to death. Just as she was convinced that she was totally alone and untraceable, condemned to die alone, the door opened again.

"Here," Ellie threw a plate of meat, vegetables, and rice on the desk by the door. 

"Why am I here?" Malia asked.

Ellie rolled her eyes and scowled.

"Great question," she spat.

"Why are you- I mean, not that I'm complaining, but why aren't you, like, torturing me?"

"Somebody requested you be taken unharmed. Not that I wouldn't love to watch you bleed."

Malia's eyebrows knit. "So you're taking orders now?"

Ellie growled, fire flashing in her eyes. Her fist clenched.

"I don't understand why everyone cares so much about poor, little you."

"I guess they appreciate that I'm not a psychotic bitch," Malia returned.

Ellie reached to her side, grabbing the fork from the dinner plate. She chucked it toward Malia, using her magic to guide it along its course. The bladed embedded themself in the headboard, just an inch from Malia's head. Malia gasped, her heart skipping a beat.

"That's enough," an angry voice came from the doorway.

Malia looked up in shock as Donnie entered the room.

"I told you not to hurt her," he spoke sternly toward Ellie, who shied back. 

"I was just scaring her," she mumbled.

"There will be none of that, either," he turned his gaze toward Malia. "I'm sorry about the circumstances we're meeting under right now. I did warn you that I wasn't just going to let you go."

"So you kidnapped me?" 

"I had to get you away from those bloodsuckers. I love you, Lia."

Ellie huffed and turned to leave. Malia looked down at the thick ropes that bound her hands. 

"Funny way of showing it." 

Donnie sighed and pulled out a switchblade. He went to Malia and sawed the ropes off. Then he grabbed one of her wrists and whispered something unintelligible under his breath. 

"What was that?" Malia tore her arm away from his grasp. Instead of answering, he changed the subject.

"I'm sorry about all of this. You're free to roam the house as much as you'd like, and you can walk around the property as long as someone goes with you. There's a piano on the second floor, too. You're not a prisoner."

"But I can't leave. You're crazy, Donnie."

"They've brainwashed you, Lia. You don't see it now, but you will."

Malia shook her head, turning away from him.