•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

Being under the same roof as the Mikaelson siblings was only ever destined to be chaotic. And though having to live with all of them made her uneasy, Arabella can handle chaotic. She handles chaos everyday, living with Damon and Stefan. The Boarding House is always filled with arguments, and death, to be frank.

However, Mikaelson's truly are something else.

As Arabella makes her way into the kitchen for some breakfast blood bags, still in the sweatpants and tank top she slept in with her hair in a tousled bun, she doesn't expect to see what she sees. Elijah and Klaus peacefully sit across from each other, each of them reading calmly, classical music drifting pleasantly through the air. It would seem civilized enough if not for the young blonde lying lifeless on the coffee table, blood dripping steadily from a bite in her neck.

"What the hell..." Arabella slows to a stop, staring between the two Originals. Neither Klaus nor Elijah look up, as if this is a normal, daily occurrence. Which, Arabella begins to realize, it probably is. "Had breakfast without me?"

"Goodmorning, love," Klaus looks over his shoulder and smiles up at the vampire-witch, before turning back to the body. "This was an honorary meal for Elijah, as an apology for handing him to Marcel, but..."

"Forgiveness cannot be bought, Niklaus," Elijah says without looking up. Arabella snorts at his answer and leans against Klaus' armchair, studying his book in hand.

"A Poison Tree," She reads the title, grimacing. "I hate poems. They're like riddles-- just get to your point."

"And here I thought you enjoyed showing off your intelligence?" He looks back up, his face coming a bit too close to hers for comfort. Arabella straightens up.

"I do-- poems are specified for a specific audience. There's nothing intellectual about them," Klaus lets out a breathy laugh.

"Well, that's one way to look at it. I think there's a deeper meaning behind each word."

"Ever thought of becoming an English professor?" Arabella teases with a small grin. Klaus rolls his eyes at her words, and before she can tease some more, Hayley strides into the room in her pajamas, holding a hand over her belly.

Arabella joins the werewolf on the walk to the kitchen, greeting her and asking how she slept. As the two women walk away, Elijah and Klaus' eyes follow, both brothers quickly snapping out of their trance and turning back to their books.

"And I just feel weird, sleeping in any position. I feel like I'm gonna crush the baby," Hayley says to Arabella as the older prepares herself some coffee, deciding to opt out of bourbon this time.

"You won't, don't worry," Arabella assures with a light laugh. "Your body will naturally protect the child. Plus, I doubt it's that easy to hurt a tribrid baby."

"I hope so," Hayley seems unconvinced. Her face contorts to annoyance as she looks through the fridge. Loudly, she says, "Listen, I know I'm the only one in this house who actually drinks milk, but would it kill any of you to add it to the grocery list?" Instead, she pulls out a tub of ice cream, ignoring the disapproving look Arabella sends her way.

"Speaking of, add bleach," Rebekah bursts through the backdoor and walks through the kitchen, waving around a pair of gloves.

Arabella snorts at both of them, but her humor dies down when she notices Elijah standing at the kitchen entryway, staring her down. Clearing her throat, the younger vampire picks up her mug and goes to leave, paying the eldest Original a curt nod.

"Morning, Elijah," He doesn't reply, simply keeping the burning gaze.

She's not quite sure what his problem is. Elijah, the ever so noble Original, seems to dislike Arabella, for whatever reason. And she can't seem to pinpoint why.

Instead of overthinking the subject, Arabella decides to just get ready for the day instead. Ever since Elijah stepped foot into the house, he seems to radiate the energy of someone who is in charge. Meaning, the little plan to take Marcel down would probably have to get temporarily postponed, at least until Klaus could reason with his brother.

As she has that last thought, Arabella realizes the plan is probably going to be postponed for a while. Mikaelson's aren't exactly the most reasonable of creatures.

She quickly changes into a pair of faded, baggy jeans, short beige boots and a tucked in black tank, securing her curls into a ponytail with a scrunchy. After grabbing a cloth bag, the vampire-witch settles in the outdoor part of the Plantation, deciding to do some gardening.

If there is one thing Arabella misses about Mystic Falls, it's her greenhouse. The fresh air, hanging heavy with smells of the Earth, the large glass dome allowing pools of sunlight in, the way all her mixtures were just a step away... it makes her homesick just thinking about it. Though the Mikaelson Mansion doesn't exactly have a greenhouse, it does have a garden, which she has used to her advantage. So now, with a pair of sunglasses shielding her eyes, Arabella yanks out weeds from the fields, stuffing them into her bag.

It's easy enough work, and allows her to think. Well, it would, if she didn't feel a burning gaze on her back not more than five minutes after starting.

"I know you're there, Elijah," Arabella straightens up, pushing her sunglasses to the top of her head and creating a headband of sorts. The Original walks to her, from where he had been standing in the dark shade of an apple tree.

"Gardening?" His eyes are set on the bag of weeds. Arabella shrugs.

"I guess. Some spells require a piece of nature, so I use weeds that I pluck from the plants. It's like killing two birds with one stone," She explains, getting only a head nod in return. Sighing, the younger vampire throws the bag on the ground, slightly surprising Elijah. "What is your problem?"

"Pardon?"

"What is your problem?" Arabella repeats slowly, glaring at him. Elijah's expression remains calm, his hands tucked into the pockets of his expensive trousers. She continues, not giving him a chance to reply just yet. "Ever since I have stepped foot back into this house, you've been giving me some sort of death stare. If you have a problem with me, Elijah, that's fine, but at least say something about it instead of just..." She trails off, motioning wildly at him with her hands.

Elijah walks forward, saying nothing, all while keeping that incessant, irritating gaze. She hates it, she truly does. Arabella never realized how much she appreciates Klaus and Rebekah's upfrontness. If they have a problem with someone, they give no care if the individual is made known about it. Elijah, however, seems to enjoy keeping his true feelings to himself. Ironically, she finds herself despising the latter more.

"I do have a problem," Elijah admits casually, catching Arabella off guard. She hadn't expected him to actually admit to it. "I spoke with my sister. She told me about your offer for Hayley to get rid of the child."

"So much for 'girl's sticking together'," Arabella mumbles, mocking Rebekah's accent.

"You needn't worry, she made me give her my word that Niklaus would not be made aware about your little proposition," Elijah waves her worries away, taking another step forward. He's now close enough that Arabella could easily hear his voice as it set to a dangerous low. "But he is not the one you should be worried about. Arabella, despite my brother's odd and rare trust in you, I am, and will remain, cautious."

"I was doing Hayley a favor," Arabella defends her prior actions, standing her ground. "No woman should ever be forced into motherhood. I thought you cared about her?" Her words cause a falter in Elijah's eyes, but he quickly composes himself.

"I know you are here solely for Marcellus," Elijah looks up at the sky, studying two birds soaring through it. "But listen closely, Arabella," His gaze snaps back down. "If I suspect for a second that you are a threat to Hayley or the child, I will get rid of you myself."

"Are you threatening to kill me?"

"Stay in line, and it will not come to that," He shrugs. "I protect my family, always and forever. And this child is my family."

She just scoffs at his words, shaking her head. "Can I ask where this mistrust is from? If anything, I think I've helped your family a pretty good amount, considering all the crap you brought to my home."

"I once thought you could make a good ally," Elijah admits, narrowing his dark eyes in the slightest. "But since the time that you and I met, you have allowed Niklaus to have an influence on you."

"That's bullshi--"

"Tell me, Arabella," He cuts her off swiftly. "How many times must my brother lie to you before you finally stop running back? And how many of your morals will you break for him?"

Elijah doesn't wait for a response, leaving back into the mansion. Arabella stands in the same spot, staring straight ahead and processing his words. They're not true. Elijah just came back from being daggered, and thinks he understands how everything here works. He's wrong.

Right?

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

"Yes, go ahead, make me the bloody babysitter of the pregnant werewolf and the Klaus spawn. Not like I have anything better to do," Rebekah begrudgingly mutters under her breath as she scrubs her hands free of dirt. She has just finished burying the body Klaus had carelessly left on the coffee table, and now has orders from Elijah that she has to reluctantly follow.

"Where is everyone?" The Original's attention is snapped away from her cleaning as Arabella walks in with a bag of weeds in one hand and a bag of apples in another. She grimaces at the bleach filled air in the kitchen.

"My brothers went to go find Davina and get her to unlink Sophie from Hayley," Rebekah explains, turning off the sink and reaching for a towel. "You and I are on a nanny duty."

"What the hell?" Arabella throws her hands up, brows scrunching together angrily. "Who decided that?"

"Elijah is to thank."

"Of course," The younger vampire rolls her eyes. "So we're just expected to sit around all day and watch Hayley?"

"As far as I'm concerned," Rebekah shrugs, flipping silky locks off her shoulders. "Those apples?"

"Yeah, I figured if I didn't pick them, they would go bad," Arabella tosses the bag on the table. Rebekah grabs them and nods towards the doorway.

"I'll go make sure Nik's baby mama is fed," With that, the blonde struts out the room.

"Make sure to wash... them," Arabella calls after Rebekah, her voice fading off as the Original leaves. With a snort, the brunette grabs her weeds and speeds up to her own room to wash up. After a quick shower, she changes into a teal mock neck tank tucked into black jeans and short boots, leaving her hair in their natural curls.

As she finishes getting ready, Arabella plops down cross legged on the wooden flooring and begins to get her weeds ready. Of course, they need to be dried out, and in order to do so, she needs to hang them up. Tying each with string, and when she's done, they will be hung up in her closet, which remains unused thanks to the roomy dressers. There are already some herbs and flowers drying out in there. NOLA has a wide selection of witch shops to get supplies from, but Marcel has vampires everywhere. Vampires who get suspicious if they see a fellow 'vamp' fraternizing with the witches.

"Arabella, come here!" Hearing Rebekah's worried voice, Arabella abandons her weeds and speeds into Hayley's room, where both girls are.

The werewolf lays on the bed, her forehead slicked with sweat and a hand laid over her stomach. Hayley's eyes are closed shut in discomfort, Rebekah holding a bowl with water and a soaked rag.

"What happened?" Arabella quickly walks forward, sitting on the edge of Hayley's bed and inspecting her.

"I thought it was morning sickness," Hayley explains, opening her eyes and shifting up so she leans against the headboard.

"I'm sure my niece is healing her up as we speak," Rebekah adds in as she blots the cloth against Hayley's forehead. Despite her confident words, her tone implies otherwise.

"Definitely not morning sickness," Arabella points out the obvious, laying a hand on Hayley's forehead. She quickly pulls away; Hayley is burning up. Her first thought is that the younger girl has come down with a flu of sorts, which wouldn't be all too alarming. Rebekah is right, the baby's blood should be healing her, which brings up the question as to why it is not?

"We think it's Sophie related," Hayley adds, wincing as she begins to feel slightly woozy. "I felt this prick in my neck--"

"What do you mean by prick?"

"Like I got stabbed with a needle or something, and I started bleeding," Hayley explains. She wasn't all too concerned about the former prick, however, when Arabella's eyes widen, her own heart rate picks up. "What? What is it?"

"I could be wrong, but I think I know what caused this," Arabella mumbles as she hastily stands up. Rebekah huffs as the younger vampire turns to walk out.

"Well, are you going to share with the rest of us?"

"Look, I don't want to worry you," Arabella sighs, holding her hands up and looking between the two of them. "But... I think someone stabbed Sophie with The Needle of Sorrows."

Rebekah glances at Hayley, who seems just as lost, and directs a rather dull look Arabella's way. "Explain it to those of us who aren't magic nerds?"

"It's a dark object," The Salvatore holds back an eyeroll. "It's purpose is to raise the blood temperature of a pregnant woman to...you know... "

"To cause a miscarriage," Hayley finishes with a shaky breath, sitting straighter. "What do we do? How do we stop it?"

Rebekah opens her mouth to reply, but quickly frowns as she sees Arabella turn on her heel and rush towards the door. "Where are you going?"

"To find Agnes."

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

"How'd you find me?"

Arabella steps out of the shadows of the shop, watching Agnes with a dark gaze. The Elder had gone into hiding in one of the magic shops owned by a French Quarter Coven witch, sitting in the back rooms amongst candles and burning essence. The table in front of her has a bowl with a half mixed potion inside.

"Only witch in the Quarter who can freely do magic, remember?" Arabella taps her Talisman with one hand, the other slipped into her grey trench coat pocket. "Locator spell."

"Didn't think you'd come after me, to be honest," Agnes muses, crumbling up some dried flowers into the bowl.

"After everything you did?" Arabella glares at her. "You're lucky I didn't bring Klaus."

"Using the hybrid has a threat!" The witch barks a harsh laugh. "That's low."

"As low as coming after a pregnant woman? Twice?" Arabella says through gritted teeth, stalking towards her. "Or as low as sacrificing four oblivious teenagers in some power hungry ritual? And then lying about it to cover your own ass?"

"The Harvest Ritual wouldn't be needed if Marcel kept his damn vamps in line," Agnes grumbles, shaking her head. "But it was necessary."

"You're insane," Arabella laughs humorlessly, looking up at the ceiling in disbelief. "You were psychotic in the 70's, and you still are," She storms up the table, pointing an accusing finger at Agnes. "You know, I despise Marcel Gerard with every bone in my body, but one thing I've always respected about him? His rules against hurting children-- any child, no matter their species. How does it make me look when I defend you witches, and you're all going about trying to kill innocent babies and teenagers?!"

"You witches," Agnes repeats, her lips curling up. "You always want to be a witch until it isn't convenient for you, Salvatore. This is the way our Coven works, take it or leave it."

"No, this is the way crazy ass witches like yourself make it work," Arabella corrects with narrowed eyes. "I have every piece of mind to sic a Mikaelson on you," She straightens up. "But I won't. If you tell me how to cure Hayley."

"There is no cure!" Agnes smiles wickedly. "The hell spawn will be dead by tomorrow," She plants her hands on the table and leans forward, watching Arabella in a way that makes the older vampire uneasy. "I know you must've used the Sorcerer's Talisman to take a peek into that child's future. I know you saw what we did."

"All I saw is a baby that nature isn't going to be a fan of," Arabella shrugs, jaw clenching. "A baby. That's it. Whatever darkness that may follow, the Mikaelson's will--"

"The Mikaelson's are the worst of them all!" Agnes bursts, slamming her hands down. "Do you even know who created The Needle of Sorrows?"

"A Claire and Malchance witch?" Arabella guesses, thinking back to her first time in NOLA, when she first learned about all the spelled objects. "Along with every other dark object at your disposal."

"They made it, yes, but do you know whose idea it was?" Agnes clicks her tongue, not waiting for a reply. She pulls a rusted bronze syringe from her pocket, holding it up like it's a prize. "Kol Mikaelson. He taught them how to do the spells, and those two witches just carried it out. Isn't that funny? The object used to kill the unborn Mikaelson was created by a Mikaelson."

"I have a pretty dark sense of humor, but no, Agnes, I don't think that's funny," Arabella snaps, growing impatient. She speeds around the table, harshly yanking the Elder by her shirt collar and slamming her against the brick wall, the needle falling to the floor. Jade eyes turn violet and red as veins protrude beneath them. In a low, dangerous voice, she threatens, "Tell me how to undo your damn spell, or I will start breaking your fingers one by one before letting Klaus deal with you."

"What a happy little pair you two are," Agnes seethes. "Like I said. Dark objects can't be stopped."

"Magic always has a loophole--"

"No," Agnes laughs cruelly, shaking her head. "Not always."

Arabella stares down the older witch, growing angrier by the second. New Orleans couldn't have possibly always been this screwed up, could it? How did it fall so far? A group of witches hellbent on using children as sacrifices for power, vampires terrorizing the streets, and werewolves hiding in the swamps. It's a corpse of the city it once was.

And the worst part is, the Mikaelson's may be the only one's using any common sense in all of this. How messed up and ironic is that?

Arabella ears perk up at the sounds of footsteps approaching, and what sounds like... a police radio? She immediately backs off the witch, head snapping to the entryway of the backroom.

Two officers break through the curtains hanging over the doorway, going straight for Agnes.

"Agnes Travers, you are under arrest," That's all they say, slamming the witch down on the table face first and cuffing her.

"Excuse me?!" Agnes fumes, struggling against the officer's hold. "You can't do this to me! UNder what charge?"

They say nothing, pushing her out the room roughly. Arabella watches the scene unfold in confusion, her eyes falling on the spare officer as he walks over to where The Needle of Sorrows lays and picks it up, wrapping it up in a cloth.

"What the hell is going on?" Arabella stops him from leaving, a frown taking over her face. "You and I both know that's not how you properly arrest someone," Hesitantly, she adds, "Did Klaus Mikaelson send you?"

"No, Father Kieren did," The man shakes his head, tucking the cloth wrapped needle into his jacket. "But the vampire ordered it, I hear."

Arabella's brows shoot up as the cop turns and leaves. Clearly, police officers here in New Orleans are a bit more aware of their city's antics. Or at least, a few of them are.

For a split moment, Arabella considers stopping the officers and saving Agnes from inevitable death at Klaus' hands. Does she deserve it, after everything she's done? Most probably, yes. However, the Elder is still a witch. She is an important pillar in the witch community here in NOLA, and protecting her would gain Arabella some trust from the Covens.

But a bigger part of her screams to let her go. To let Klaus do what he pleases, and to kill her for the crimes she's inflicted upon innocents.

A part of Arabella that has been buried down for quite a while now, and is slowly yet surely clawing its way out from the pit of her stomach. A part that Elijah had warned her was coming undone.

And that part wins. 

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

Author's Note:

Hello! So real quick, I know Agnes' last name is technically never said in the show, but let's just pretend it was Travers lmao. 

Also, what do you guys think of Elijah's negativity towards Arabella? Let's be honest, he gets really protective of his family and would probably be paranoid of anyone he thinks might be a threat. Trust me though, this is just the beginning!

Comment and vote plz! Honestly means the world to me<3

-Athena