Ava protested as he rose from the bed, and the glint in her catlike eyes was almost enough to make him ignore the trouble. But Elijah had not risen to power by ignoring warning signs, and with an apology, he slid back into his discarded clothing and went out into the hall.

He could pick out both of his siblings’ voices in the din. There was also a distinct crackling sound beneath everything else, and Elijah could smell smoke. Elijah resigned himself to dealing with whatever was happening below and abandoning Ava for the night.

His willingness to get involved in this kind of mess was precisely why he was in charge and the Spanish weren’t, but sometimes it infuriated him to have to be the responsible one. He stormed down the curved staircase, the stench of smoke burning in his nostrils. It was coming from his study, and was growing dangerously out of hand. In addition to the curtains, two bookcases on either side had gone up in flames, and many of the books looked unsalvageable. He also noticed that the charred walls and books were not the only damage. His desk—a heavy piece of chestnut that did not move easily—stood askew, and some of the drawers that he knew had been locked were ajar. The fire had not simply been an unlucky accident; someone had been in this room, going through his things, when it had started.

And Elijah could guess who it was. Rebekah may have provoked him—she couldn’t always help herself—­but the destruction in his study was Klaus’s work. There was no one else with such a talent for inconvenient chaos.

Even with Elijah’s unnatural speed and strength, it took him a few minutes to put out the fire, then he thundered out of his study, to where Rebekah and Klaus were locked in a pointlessly vicious struggle. Neither of them had a silver dagger or, thankfully, a white oak stake, the only two weapons that could take down an Original vampire. All they could accomplish was annoying each other and making fools of themselves. Their wounds would heal, but the embarrassment would linger.

Elijah grabbed Klaus by the collar and threw him backward, then stepped forward to rest his foot against Rebekah’s chest. He heard Klaus struggling to stand, and held out a warning hand. “Enough,” he said, his voice full of authority. “The two of you were content to let the house burn around you. Over what?”

They both began to argue at once, and he held his hand up again to silence them. Then, reluctantly, he pointed to Klaus. He would rather hear Rebekah’s version of events first, as it was almost certainly the more accurate one. But Klaus would never sit by and let her tell it. Giving him this small concession would help reestablish peace.

“Our sister is out of control,” Klaus spat contemptuously. “I asked for her help in finding a ­simple trinket, and she followed me around the house, attacking me like some kind of madwoman.”

To Elijah’s shock, Klaus stormed from the room without waiting to hear another word, scattering the remaining guests as he went.

“He’s lost his mind,” Rebekah argued, shoving Elijah’s unresisting foot away and sitting up. “I don’t know what he’s up to, but this thing he wants is no mere trinket. He wants it too badly.”

There was no doubting that she was right. Elijah couldn’t imagine what Klaus was looking for, or why it had suddenly gripped him that he must have it right now, in the middle of the night. Klaus should have been enjoying the party, not tearing the house apart on some wild errand. Something had set him off, and Elijah reluctantly guessed that he would need to get to the bottom of this.

Together they followed the telltale sounds of Klaus’s renewed search to Elijah’s bedroom. A quick glance told Elijah that Ava had left. He felt a quick pang of frustration—Klaus’s selfishness never stopped intruding on everyone else’s lives.

“You’re not welcome in this room, brother,” Elijah warned him, his voice cold and menacing. “Whatever this trinket is to you, you are still a member of this family, and this sort of behavior is unacceptable.”

He thought he heard Klaus chuckle under his breath as he opened Elijah’s wardrobe and began hunting. Elijah understood why Rebekah had lost her patience and attacked him; there seemed to be no other way to get through to him in this state.

“If we knew what he wanted...” Rebekah whispered, her blue eyes flicking sideways to meet his own. She was right. If they could find it first, they would have some leverage to make Klaus...what, though? Apologize? Explain? Think? None of those were likely, no matter what they held hostage.

It wouldn’t matter anyway. The house was full of powerful objects that they’d collected over the centuries, and Klaus could be after any of them. Their mother had been one of the most powerful witches in history, and they were the oldest and strongest vampires in existence. Useful, pretty, and priceless “trinkets” were so common in their house that they never would have missed one if they had not caught Klaus searching for it.

“Tell us what you want, brother,” Elijah ordered, guessing that it was futile.

To his surprise, Klaus emerged from the wardrobe, looking almost reasonable. “I want to be left alone, brother,” he retorted sarcastically. His voice was light, but his blue-green eyes blazed with a passion that Elijah thought bordered on madness. Perhaps Rebekah was right: Maybe their brother really was losing his wits. He had not been the same since that terrible night Vivianne Lescheres had died, but it wasn’t as if they all hadn’t experienced a few losses during their long lives.

“You don’t have the right to be left alone,” Elijah said. “I have put everything I have into building this haven for you—for both of you.” He saw Rebekah flinch, but he didn’t care. “I have spent decades building a kingdom for us, and all you have to do is sit back and enjoy. Instead, you spend your time on this nonsense. You let our house burn while you think only of what you want. The same will happen with this entire city if you aren’t careful.”

Klaus simply walked away. He didn’t respond or complain or argue, just sauntered past them as if he had not heard a single word.

Elijah tried to make sense of the entire scene that had just played out. Something had shifted within his brother. They heard a door slam downstairs, then Elijah felt the hair stand up on his arms. He could hear the sound of Klaus whistling. Cheerfully.

“Good riddance,” Rebekah muttered, once the sound had faded into silence. But Elijah knew that this wasn’t the last they’d hear of this. Klaus was up to no good, and whatever his plan, he was just getting started.

Copyright © 2015 by Alloy Entertainment

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Julie Plec skillfully juggles work in film and television as both a producer and a writer. She is the co-creator and executive producer of The Vampire Diaries and the creator of The Vampire Diaries spin-off, The Originals, which tells the story of history’s first vampire family.

Plec got her start as a television writer on the ABC Family series Kyle XY, which she also produced for its three-year run. She also collaborated with Greg Berlanti and Phil Klemmer on the CW drama The Tomorrow People, the story of a small group of people gifted with extraordinary paranormal abilities.

Her screenplay adaptation The Tiger’s Curse is in development at Paramount, and she will produce the feature @emma with Darko Entertainment. Past feature production credits include Scream 2 and Scream 3, Greg Berlanti’s Broken Hearts Club, Wes Craven’s Cursed, and The Breed.

ISBN-13: 9781460349731

The Originals: The Rise

An HQN Books novel/February 2015

Copyright © 2015 by Alloy Entertainment