Julie Plec - Первородные - Восхождение

“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

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