Chapter 29

Beatrix was the first to get into depth.

If there was anything that the Heretics seemed to agree on, it was hearing more about her. Kai had seemed rather pleased with himself when she had started on a more brief version of her story, as he already knew all of it. The smug look only came off when the others began to speak.

Obviously, they all hated the Gemini Coven.

Each had their share of different experiences, but the one common factor was that they had been shunned by their coven and had eventually come together under the guidance of Lily Salvatore— Damon's mother. Now, they were a family, and they'd stuck together up until now, having been rounded up on October 31st, 1903, all in one piece. They were all mostly unscathed, except for Beau, who had unfortunately been hurt by the infamous Rayna Cruz. Beatrix was glad she'd never had to face that woman.

"So," said Malcolm, leaning closer to Beatrix. "You've figured out how we can get out, eh?"

"Yes," said Kai, making a point of clasping Beatrix's hand. "We have Bennett blood, the Ascendant, and the perfect spot to take off. I say, we use the rest of this day to go over the plan, hmm? Tomorrow, we will get out."

Nora raised her eyebrows. "That soon? My, my, I think I am happy now that you waited to wake us up."

"I apologize for that," said Beatrix. "I know being desiccated is terrible. I just hoped that time might pass faster for you like that."

"We didn't have a blood supply anymore, either way," said Mary Louise. "We would have just desiccated again."

Malcolm tapped his hand eagerly on the arm of the couch. "Speaking of blood, can we... feed now?"

"Malcolm, be sensible," said Valerie. "They've worked so hard to help get us out. The least you can do is show some self-control."

"I'm merely inquiring, to see if the lady had plans to help us out in that area," said Malcolm, casting Beatrix a smile as if trying to suck up."

"Bloody brownnoser," sneered Nora under her breath. "Don't pay him attention. He was Lily's pet, and he thinks he can get you to pity him."

"I don't mind being fed on," said Kai, holding his hands up in surrender. "But it'd do you good to remember the plan we just explained. I need to be alive when we get out so we can kill all the coven members in one go."

"Look at that, we're getting to meet the oldest and youngest Heretic on the same day," said Oscar, grinning. "That's a good sign."

Kai grinned. "Hell, yeah. Now, I want to deliver you all to Lily in one piece, so we're going to go with my plan to keep you all out of the conflict. By the time she gets you, the Gemini Coven will be no more, and you'll be safe."

"You're certain?" said Valerie. "They won't be around anymore?"

"We've gone through the plan at least a dozen times already," said Kai proudly. "Don't worry. It'll go off without a hitch. As long as you all cooperate, I promise everything will go smoothly. Beatrix and I will take care of it."

"Oh, I don't doubt that," said Malcolm sarcastically. "Surely a human will do a splendid job of all of this."

Beatrix let out a growl. "I wonder, if you're keen on being left behind, hmm? We're trying to help you. Otherwise, I can put you all back to sleep and Kai and I will be on out merry way with the last of the Bennett blood. Then, you can rot in here for all eternity."

The Heretics were silent. Nora cast Malcolm a stern look, and he leaned back in his seat, glancing at Beau and Oscar for support, but both seemed to be on board with Kai and Beatrix's plan, and were in no mood to argue.

"Perfect," said Kai, smirking devilishly around the room. "Now, I think you've all earned some blood. Let Beatrix and I get to that. Wait here." He pulled her up and led her to the kitchen, whistling lowly as he started to search for glasses.

"Well, Malcolm's a prick," muttered Beatrix.

"He can probably hear you, you know?" said Kai, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Oh, I know he can. I want him to hear me." She shook her head as Kai brought out seven glasses. "You're sure you want to let them feed? You don't have to. They can live off of what we gave them until tomorrow, when they're back in the real world."

"Sure, why not? The more they cooperate, the better. You should start thinking about what we should wear to the wedding. We can do the whole matching my tie to your dress thing, if you want."

"Well, I didn't expect to be here for so long, so I didn't bring a dress," she sighed. "I'll have to find something when we get out tomorrow. We'd better hope the wedding hasn't happened yet. We never knew the exact date."

"Last I heard, it was the twenty something of this month. Let's hope your approximation of what day it is isn't too far off." He picked up a knife and slit into his wrist, his eyes closing as he started to let it drip into the first glass. "Can we do the whole Jesus Christ fish and bread thing? I'd rather not drink your blood just yet."

Beatrix chuckled lightly and when the glass was about half full, she helped to wrap his wrist, tiptoeing to kiss him on the cheek. "Sure." She poured a little bit of the blood into each of the glasses, then hovered her hands over them. "Sanguis effingo, sanguinem duplici."

The blood began to rise, leaving each of the cups rather nicely filled. Kai smirked and patted his hand over her backside as she flicked her hand and made the glasses hover behind her, careful not to spill.

They found the Heretics right where they'd left them. She flicked her wrist again, and each glass went to one of the Heretics, who all seemed rather pleased with how much blood they were getting.

"You did a multiplying spell twice already, with such ease," mused Nora as she raised the glass to her lips. "Rather impressive."

"I studied magic from all over the world. I know how to simplify virtually every spell," she said, taking her own glass and drinking from it as she sat back down.

"This blood is incredible," sighed Malcolm as he drank. "No wonder you keep him around. I couldn't imagine why a beauty like yourself would keep a meager human as company."

Beatrix gave a wry grin. "You're really wanting me to leave you behind, aren't you?" she said with false sweetness. "An anchor would always be the safest route to take."

"Seriously, Malcolm, shut up," said Mary Louise irritably. "She's practically our legendary Heretic originator and you're trying to snuff your way into her good graces like that? She's not Lily. She's not going to baby us."

He shut up after that, and simply finished his glass.

"How do you know Lily, then?" asked Valerie softly.

"Oh, we don't," said Kai. "We were trapped in another prison world and we met her son when he came along. I assume she'll be somewhere around, and can give us the information we need. Here's to hoping she's heard a good few things to be of use."

"Otherwise, what?" said Oscar. "You let us free?"

"Sure," said Beatrix with a shrug. "If Lily doesn't cooperate, we'll set you off on your merry way. You can choose to go back to her or not."

The general environment seemed to be relief. Beatrix and Kai shared a suspecting look. They probably all wanted to be free after having been stuck with Lily for so long. From what they'd described in their tales, she was like an overlord that tried to control them as if they were her actual children. Oscar seemed the most intrigued at the idea of freedom, and Malcolm the least. Beau and the three women seemed somewhere in between, though leaning toward going off on their own.

"Well, we should retire to our rooms now, shouldn't we?" said Nora, standing up with her finished glass, and smoothing down her dress. "I expect we need to make our own preparations for tomorrow. I assume we will all have dinner sometime later?"

"Er, sure," said Beatrix. "We'll go find food to cook, if you'd like."

Mary Louise smirked at this. "Perfect." She looped her arm with Nora and led her away. Beau went to escort Valerie, nodding his head respectfully, and Oscar bounded away on his own, still looking pleased.

Only Malcolm lingered behind, swirling the last of the blood in his glass pensively. "You're both rather peppy, aren't you?" he said almost boredly.

"And you're insufferable, from the looks of it," said Beatrix, glaring down at him.

He gave her a cheeky smile. "You better not be trying to pull any tricks on us. This lot may be annoying, but they are my family, and I will not stand for anyone hurting them. I'm the strongest one, and I will fight for their honor."

Beatrix wanted to laugh. The arrogance radiating off of him was almost absurd. He surely thought highly of himself. In her mind, Nora and Beau seemed to radiate the most power, just from these first few hours of getting to know each other.

Kai stood, and stepped in front of Malcolm, looking entirely unamused. "I assure you, dude, we're not playing tricks," he said quite seriously before leaning down and smirking malevolently. "And I can also assure you that you have no chance with Beatrix."

Malcolm glared up. "Don't be so cocky, boy, you're human and I can assure you, she can do much better than you. Someone like me would be far more satisfactory."

Kai's lips only curled up further. "You heard her story pal. She's picking me over three Original vampire brothers." He leaned even closer, his eyes flashing with malice. "Because, at the end of the day, it's my incredible blood keeping her taste buds happy whenever she bites into my shoulder at night, trying to muffle her screams of pleasure. Get the memo?"

Malcolm's nostrils flared with indignation, and he gritted his teeth before speeding out of the room. Kai turned to see a very flustered looking Beatrix leaning back against the couch.

"What?" he said, coming closer and putting his hands on her hips. "Is jealous me a surprise to you?"

She shook her head, her cheeks still pink. "No. It's just incredibly hot."

He smirked and looped his hands around her, sliding them down her back and gripping her ass in his hands, bringing her closer. "Oh, yeah? Good."

He brought his lips to hers, and she placed her palms flat on his chest at first, leaning into it, before gripping at the fabric of his shirt. He pulled away just to kiss her neck, making her moan quietly as she tilted her head back.

"I can't wait until I have fangs of my own," he purred against her skin. "It's the most intimate thing that two vampires can do with each other, isn't it?"

She nodded slowly as he kissed over her clavicle. "Y-Yeah, it is," she breathed. "It'd help strengthen us too, I think..."

"Have any of the Originals ever had some of your blood?" he murmured, letting his tongue trace back up over her carotid.

"N-Not that I recall," she breathed as he brought his hand around her throat and tilted her to look at him. He smirked, and brought his other hand up to brush her hair behind her ear, bringing his knuckles down across her jaw.

"Then, I intend to be your first," he whispered, going toward her ear. "And your last."

He kissed her once again, and she melted back into it.

_

Later that evening, once the aurora borealis was in the sky, they had their dinner. Kai and Beatrix had gone out and gathered enough ingredients for supper tonight, and breakfast and lunch tomorrow.

They'd had a rather quiet meal, with the Heretics being very proper and silent, working with their utensils as if they were residing in a castle. They'd played some music in the background on a phonograph, and when it got much later, the Heretics all bade them goodnight, and Kai and Beatrix were left to clean up the plates.

"Today was fun," said Kai happily. "Tomorrow, I'll make us a nice yummy breakfast, and maybe you can whip up something for lunch. Then, we'll be on our merry way."

He offered her his hand, the music still playing in the background. "Dance with me?"

She had accepted, of course. Draping her hands around his neck, they'd begun to sway. No words needed to be exchanged. It felt nice just to know that they were being held. That they were not alone in this. They were getting out, and everything was going to be okay.

When the needle had cut out, they'd gotten to work, both smiling like idiots. They'd sat at the table with any writing utensils they could find, and had begun to figure out what else they intended to do.

"So, we established we definitely want to do the video message, right?" said Kai. "But like, what do we say? Just hey, we're back, blah blah blah? Nah... we need to do something interesting."

"Mmm, foreshadowing?" suggested Beatrix. "We can start planning what we're going to do at the wedding and leave it so they don't find the camcorder until after, so they have to relive it all over again. By then, we'll be back in New Orleans."

"Back in New Orleans with your comfy bed," sighed Kai. He then paused to think. "Ooh— I have an idea. We leave a bomb or something for Bonnie. Big Kaboom!"

Beatrix scrunched up her nose. "Something more agonizing. Something that'll damage her psychologically. Make her want to be dead, or make someone else want to kill her. I want her to suffer."

Kai's face was soon bearing a wicked grin. "Oh.... oh, I have the perfect idea..." He tucked his hands under his chin and closed his eyes, as if picturing him. "Link her life to Elena's."

Beatrix's eyebrows shot up. "Dang. That's.... not a bad idea."

"Think of it. Bonnie and Elena are super close, right? We have the power to put her into a really deep sleep if we want to, and make it so Elena can't wake up until Bonnie dies. We can link me to it so it's locked in when I die. Damon will torment Bonnie. She'll feel guilt. Literally their whole friend group will prefer Elena to be alive. This— this is perfect."

And so, they spent the next several hours planning the spell out. Heads together and bent over the parchment, they scribbled and drafted the perfect spell. They would just need to do it at the wedding, with the Bennett blood they already had, and a small strand of Elena's hair.

When they were finally up in their room that night, excited and still unable to sleep, they lay in their bed, Kai spooning Beatrix and letting his hands caress over her stomach affectionately.

"Do you really see us being together?" whispered Beatrix as he rested his head onto hers. "I want us to be. We just... haven't yet established anything."

"Yes, I do," he said, closing his eyes. "I see... all these things that I never would have thought of before. I can picture us doing things I hadn't imagined before, in depth. I can't help but feel cheesy whenever it crosses my mind, but seriously, can you imagine us having kids? I don't particularly like kids that much, or at least, I didn't before. But seeing you with Hope even for that brief moment... or hearing about how you raised Marcel... I don't know, it sounds stupid because we can't procreate, but I could like, almost visualize us having kids. I'm sorry, that was probably weird..."

She shook her head. "I've thought of it too. It's... it's interesting how finding someone that you mesh with well will make you picture yourself in situations you hadn't dreamed of before. This is just another of many reasons why I insist that you have good inside of you. I think... all of us have some mesh of evil and good. A lot of people never tune into the evil. Others never tune into the good. I can't say I'm proud of myself for tuning into my darker side so often. But I can say that it's so much more exhilarating to see myself in a positive light. You have so much worth. I hope that you know that. No one gets to define the goodness in you other than yourself. Yours is the only opinion that matters. And I, for one, am so proud of how far you've come. How good you can be...."

He'd fallen asleep soon after, his arms still around her. But Beatrix's mind was wandering, some paranoia seeping in unscheduled. Typically, she could ward off such negative thoughts and sleep soundly. This wasn't the case that night.

What was the purpose of you telling him that he's got good inside of you, when you're both preparing to go on a murder rampage?

She tried to shake the thoughts out, turning around to face him and burying her head in his chest, trying to focus on his heartbeat and the way he hugged her tighter in his sleep.

Why poison his mind with optimism and pathetic talk of having children if you're both setting your sights on killing a pregnant woman?

She squeezed her eyes tightly. Her conscience was just being overactive. It didn't mean anything. There was no reason to get insecure...

You seek to hide from the darker version of you but I'm right here, you cannot escape me. Don't go on with a pathetic charade of good. Let it consume you.

She shook her head, hearing the words echoing. Now she was wondering. Why be good? There was no point to it. Being bloodthirsty wasn't necessarily a bad thing...

He is a sociopath. He will never truly care about you unless you tune into the darker side of you that will be just as hungry for murder as he is. Only then will he truly love you...

Beatrix wasn't sure how long it took for her to go to sleep, but it was definitely far too long for her liking.

She didn't understand that the voice she'd heard wasn't actually her conscience. She wasn't realizing that Elijah had been right. Her time in the prison world had taken more of a toll on her than she had realized, and even though she had not wallowed in sadness this time, it had still been creeping up on her, living in the suppressed feelings that she had not brought to light. It never truly left her, always seeking to make her once more a victim. Wanting to corrupt her and consume her until all that was left was an evil creature that would reign destruction on the world.

After all, if the supernatural was real, there was no reason at all why Chamer couldn't reach from his ancient Mayan realm and attempt to destroy her. Chamer wanted chaos and death— excitement after not being able to gain Ixazaluoh's soul until she was too drained of magic to yield any sort of benefit to the realm of Xibalba.

But of course, Beatrix had no idea that it was even possible. Who would have thought that the darkness tied her to her Mayan roots more deeply than she realized.

Thus, she remained clueless.

Kai was whistling when she went down for breakfast, still rubbing her eyes. "You slept in more than usual," he said as Beatrix started to set the table.

"Mm, yeah, trouble sleeping," she said. "But no matter— we're getting out today. All is well."

"Certainly," he said, pecking her cheek as he passed her, and holding up an old looking bell. "Look— I found this bell! It's pretty cool. The others are outside, let me go call them in."

She nodded slowly, sitting down in her seat as she heard him start ringing the bell and calling the other Heretics in. She draped one hand tenderly over her stomach, wincing.

"Come and get it!" she could hear Kai saying. "Big breakfast for a big day! It's time we get the hell out of this place!"

The feeling was back. The same unsettling twist in her stomach that made her feel afraid. Even hours later, when they were all gathered in the clearing, she could still feel it like a thumping heart in her core, hanging a threat that told her not to resist.

"Sangina Mearma, Ascendarum Cavea. Sangina Mearma, Ascendarum Cavea."

She was speaking the words but not focusing on them. She had kept a subtle hold on her stomach, fearing almost like she might snap suddenly. She tried to think of anything that might clue her in on how to suppress the feeling. In some people, their dark side came out in mental dream battles that they could win with their wits to ward off any sort of possession. In others, spells were needed to ease the mind. And then, in rare cases such as hers, the darkness practically took the shape of another being— someone who had been alive long ago, which made it all that much more difficult to beat.

Darkness came in different forms, and if there was once thing that those forms had in common, it was that they weren't patient.