𝑰𝑵𝑻𝑶𝑿𝑰𝑪𝑨𝑻𝑬𝑫 - 𝘯𝘪𝘬𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘬𝘢𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘰𝘯

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴇɪɢʜᴛʏ sᴇᴠᴇɴ

                                                  ➳

Esther returns to the crypt, Elijah is still bound in the magical chains. She eyes him, but she has no intentions of letting him go, yet.

"Who were you dreaming about ripping apart when you woke earlier? Was it your brother's new little plaything, Lunar? Or, was it someone else? Her daughter? Perhaps it was someone entirely different altogether." Esther taunts.

Elijah aggressively lunges for her, but despite his efforts the spell is too strong and he cannot break the chains, or get closer to Esther.

"Oh, stop fighting, Elijah! I brought you here to listen, and you're not going anywhere until I've said my piece." She tells him.

"So, speak." He snaps at her, furious.

"I want you to rejoin our family, but as a witch. I want you to leave behind the grotesque savage vampirism has made of you. Take the body of a mortal, and we can all be happy again. Start over." Esther proposes.

"You do know you're entirely demented, don't you?" Elijah spits out, shocked at how insane his mother has actually become.

Esther chuckles at the insult. "Am I? I'm not the one who pulls the wings off of every beautiful butterfly that he finds." As she talks, Elijah continues to fight against the chains to no avail. "Like the woman who flits across the edge of your nightmare."

"Let me go. Now!" Elijah shouts, growing angry his vampire features expose themselves, veins protruding beneath his dark eyes, fangs bearing.

"Hmm. How quickly you slip back into your more savage self." Esther replies, unfazed. His vampire features vanish, a look of distraught replacing them.

"The moral son I raised is now but a mask worn to hide ancient demons." Esther continues to taunt, chipping away at Elijah's brick wall.

"You know nothing." He shoots back.

"See, that's where you're wrong. I know more about the secrets you carry than you do. Shall I list them? I can begin with the first little butterfly you destroyed." His mother's voice is hurtful, spiteful, as she talks.

"The sweet young widow from our village who caught your eye when you were still human." She watches as he shifts uncomfortably. "Ah, you remember her. Of course. How could you forget the first girl to ever steal your heart? She of mystical blood, the doppelgänger, Tatia." Esther continues.

"I did nothing but love that woman until the day you took her life." Elijah replies, numbly, in shock at the accusation.

His mother smiles. "I know that's what you believe.. which is precisely why you are here." She picks up a candle now, holding it in front of him. "I need to show you the monster you really are. When I do, you will beg for salvation, and happily I shall provide it." Esther casts a spell, and suddenly Elijah is transported into a flashback.

Mystic Falls - 10th Century

A celebration is underway in the village, as the villagers celebrate Samhain, offering their livestock to the God's that they worship.

Meat cooks over mass bonfires and villagers dance around the flames, wearing masks; laughing. Nearby, Elijah and his mother are watching as Tatia dances, too. Her forest green mask matching her dress, Elijah thinks she looks beautiful.

"It was Samhain, when we danced and killed the best of our livestock to appease the gods for a new season." Esther says to him in the present.

Tatia lifts her mask, smiling at Elijah, but the moment is fleeting for Niklaus grabs her arm, spinning the brunette around toward him.