Hayley walked around the remains of the wolf village, a blank stare on her face. She hadn't felt anything since she handed her son over to Klaus to be taken away. She felt cold, empty.
There was still a lot of debris from when the bombs went off; with the wolves returning to the Quarter, no one had bothered to fix up this place.
As she walked she found a small teddy bear lying on the ground. She picked it up and stared at it, thinking for a split second
'Gideon would'
Before she remembered that he was gone, and it all came crashing back down out.
Feeling as if her lungs were collapsing on themselves, she started gasping for breath, a sick, wet sound, and fell down to her knees. Tears began running down her face as she collapsed onto the ground, sobbing while clutching the bear to her chest.
Birds sang a sad song in the forest, as if trying to share in her grief, her pain.
She lay there, for how long she did not know, until a voice spoke from behind her.
"It don't do well to stop moving child, not while there be work to be done."
Hayley rose up, still holding the bear, and found herself face to face with the strangest looking person she'd seen in quite a while.
The woman was black, probably mid 40's, Hayley couldn't quite tell, she was dressed in clothes that looked like hand-me-downs, and she seemed to have…bones woven into her long, curly hair.
"You're a witch," Hayley snarled, her changing to show her vampiric lycanthropy.
"Yes, but I be no threat to you child."
"I'm going to give you one minute to explain yourself before I rip your head off!"
"Curb your fire child," The woman said, disapprovingly, "A hot head will only get you burned.
"My name is Mama Brigitte, of the old bayou coven, of the greater Ancestral coven of New Orleans. One facet among many of a most ancient coven. I wish you no harm child, I be simply here to tell you that events be moving, best to move with them, it does no one good to be left behind."
Brigitte waved her hand, and the dirt on the bear fell to the ground.
"Good day, Hayley."
With that, she turned and seemed to meld into the shadows cast by the trees.
Francesca sat at her desk, tapping her pen onto the desk waiting for the Harvest girl to finally come over.
'I called her over a half and hour ago, I swear if she does not get over here in the next five minutes….'
Francesca's brothers glanced at each other, their sister had been becoming more and more agitated recently, and it was starting to worry them.
They glanced over at the security guards, whom were all showing similar signs of worry.
Oliver walked in, escorting a teenage girl with dark hair, and even darker eyes. A young man walked in with her, but Francesca didn't even bother looking at him, instead glaring daggers into Cassie.
Most of the wolves avoided Cassie's eyes, there was something in them, something…wrong.
"Where have you been? I called you over a half an hour!" Francesca roared, not caring about the feeling of unease the girl engendered in her compatriots.
"I have duties to my coven Francesca," Cassie responded in a deadpan expression. Her fellow witch chuckled under his breath.
"Whatever, we had a deal Cassie. Your kind don't interfere with us when dealing with the vampires in the Quarter."
"Davina is not part of our coven anymore, the rules don't apply to her."
"Make them apply!" Francesca snarled, walking right up to Cassie's face.
Cassie stared at Francesca with a blank look on her face, clearly unintimidated.
"We'll see what we can do, have a good day, Ms. Guerrera."
"She's unravelling at the seams, poor thing. The inaction is just too much for her."
"Perhaps she should have learned something of what it means to be a werewolf before she triggered the curse."
"Indeed."
Hayley walked into the factory, still holding the bear, and was surprised to find a small group there. She'd expected only Elijah and Klaus.
"It's time," Elijah said.
Hayley simply nodded.
"The plan is simple," Elijah informed the gathered group, "though it depends a great deal on everyone playing their role correctly."
"Joe," Elijah gestured towards the vampire, "Will return to shop, where there will no doubt be wolves waiting. He will offer information on the white oak stake in exchange for his life. Given the mental state that Francesca is in, there is little doubt that she will take the bait.
"Joe will lead Francesca to Cami," Elijah pointed towards her, "who will in turn lead them to the old foundry."
"Which leads them to us," Marcel finished, glancing at Josh, "There's enough wolfsbane stocked in there to take out every werewolf in the continental United States."
"Um, I'm not exactly a fighter," Josh quipped.
"You won't have to fight," Marcel assured him, "Just lock the door when they come in, I'll handle the rest."
"Yes, now Joe," Elijah ordered, "you will have to get out of there the moment that you deliver the news of the stake. It should be enough to by you temporary freedom."
Joe nodded, "whatever happens, happens."
"The rings we are looking for are different from the others. The normal rings are plain, the only thing remarkable about them is the stones. They are, quite simply, an example of function over fashion. However, the ones that sap my brother's strength are golden, and inlaid with exquisite designs," Elijah held up a file and started passing its contents around, "they are held by Francesca, her brothers, and the rest are scattered amongst her higher level security. Know these faces, memorize them."
"Kill them," Klaus joined in, to a slight chuckle among the vampires.
"Where did you get this information," Cami asked, looking at her copy.
"From Marco."
"Marco!?" Hayley asked, "He handed me over to them, why would he help us?"
"He's not helping us," Elijah responded, "He's using us to deal to kill Francesca so that she can pay for bombing the bayou, he is currently trapped by politics. Which leads me to the final part of the plan, where the two of you come in," Elijah said, looking at Hayley and Klaus.
Elijah took out the crystal that Marco had given him, and then twisted it, breaking it into two even pieces.
"I have seen a crystal such as this once before, it is bound to a disruption spell. Essentially, removing the power of any mystic objects in the area, for a time. Through it onto the ground, shatter it and these objects will be rendered powerless. Use the first half to remove the barrier surrounding our home. That will alert the witches, who will inform the werewolves. They will not miss the chance to take you in brother, they will move for you. When the arrive, break the second half. The moonlight rings will be temporarily removed of power, and the wolves will begin to turn, also, any of the cursed ones in the area should lose their ability to steal your strength."
"What will you be doing?" Hayley asked.
"I will be going to the Guererra home, just in case any of them decide to stay away from the fight. Now, does everyone understand what they're supposed to be doing, every role must be played perfectly."
Everyone nodded.
"Good," Klaus said, then there's only one thing left.
He opened a crate, revealing several glasses, bit himself, and bled into them.
"Wouldn't want anyone dying from a wolf bite tonight."
The plan nearly went off without a hitch. One by one, the Guererra pack moved like the pawns they did not even realize they were.
They put up a good fight, had it not been for Klaus' blood rendering the vampires immune to the werewolf bite for a time, they wolves probably would have won.
As it is, though, Francesca didn't quite buy Joe's story, and simply ripped his heart out.
To the surprise of everyone, when the effect of the crystal ended, the barrier around the Abattoir did not return. Perhaps the witches had been amused by the events, enough to grant their enemies a small boon.
"You're certain this will work?" Klaus asked as Elijah poured water onto the stones.
Elijah simply allowed the cracking sound to serve as his answer.
"This was my fault," Klaus said, the tension not quite having left him, "I came up with the idea for the moonlight rings, I decided to take command of the wolves, if I hadn't…"
"Marco and Francesca had been planning this ever since they found out about Gideon's existence brother, this would have come to pass one way or another."
Klaus simply turned his head upward to the second floor, where the nursery was.
"But now there's a weapon in play that can destroy us. I am the reason that events conspired to make it so."
"Niklaus," Elijah began, but Klaus simply stood up and walked away.
Elijah found Hayley in the nursery, the putting the bear she was holding earlier into the crib.
"I assume that Ms. Guererra is dead."
"I gave you her ring, didn't I," Hayley replied, not even looking at him.
"Just making sure, you could have allowed her to live, like you did Oliver."
"But I didn't," She replied, turning to him, "I couldn't…she was already dead when I got there."
"What?"
Hayley sighed, "the car was turned over, the door ripped off, and a dismembered corpse lying around in several pieces. The ring, and the hand that was wearing it, impaled on a nearby tree. If what you said before was true, then probably Marco decided to deal with Francesca personally, now that there's no one to look to closely into her death."
"Then what's troubling you?"
"I, I killed eight werewolves last night, eight of my own people. I was going to kill Francesca, and you know what? I didn't feel a thing about! I didn't feel conflicted, I didn't feel happy! I just went to do it!"
Hayley looked like she was going to cry, but refused to, holding herself together.
"Vampirism heightens emotion, what you're feeling now is perfectly nat-"
"Do not say natural! Whatever you do, do not say that. Nothing about what I am is natural Elijah!
"What am I? I felt nothing when a ripped those people apart, people who were just doing what they were told. A monster is someone who enjoys inflicting pain and death on the world, but, what do you call someone who does it without feeling a thing?"
Elijah could not find an answer.
Davina walked by the record shop, only to see it was closed. She heard someone whistling a tune, before…
"That sucks," A voice from beside her said.
She turned to see the young man with the messy sand brown hair that she'd passed while coming in last time.
"Yeah, I wonder what happened?"
"Don't know. But now what are you going to do? I don't know anyone else who sells ancient Icelandic Folk music."
"It wasn't for me," Davina said, smiling "It was for a friend."
"Interesting friend, I'm Frank by the way, but please call me Frankie, that way I don't sound like a business man."
Davina chuckled, "I'm Davina."
"Uneventful trip?" Mikael asked, as Davina returned with nothing.
"Store's closed," Davina said, refusing to back down. He didn't scare her, she owned him.
"Well then, how about you get back to work? The sooner you finish your spell, the sooner I can finally kill Niklaus."
"I'll finish it when I'm good and ready," Davina retorted, yet nonetheless, the sat and began to continue, looking over the spell in Esther's grimoire, and then to her own notes.
"Having difficulty?" Mikael asked mockingly.
"It's a simple unlinking spell, it's no trouble at all."
"Simple? Esther's one of the most powerful witches in history, vampirism is one of the most complicated spells every conceived, even isolating one small part of it would take the skills of a master. That a novice even presumes to be capable of spellcraft on that level is simply a show of your arrogance, little witch."
"And what makes you such an expert?"
"I've known Esther for decades, I watched her practice her craft. With her it was watching the creation of art, with you it's watching paint dry."
Davina glared at him, before glancing poignantly at her bracelet, the dark object that bound him to her. The only think in existence he hated almost as much as Niklaus.
With a simple grunt her turned to face the closed window, holding, as always, the white oak stake that would someday turn the traitorous bastard to ash.
As Davina continued working, she began humming a tune that had gotten stuck in her head.
If she had seen Mikael's face, she would have seen a sudden flash of recognition in his eyes, and a very cruel smile forming on his lips.
Cami walked quickly, afraid of being late.
"Hi," she said, finally arriving, "Mr. Griffith, I can't thank you enough for this opportunity."
"Please, Camille, for the purposes of these meetings, call me Vincent.
"Francesca has been killed, it is believed that the hybrid Hayley is responsible," the witch said towards Cassie.
Cassie wasn't looking at the witch, instead she was watching a young boy with dark hair and emerald eyes, as he stared at different flowers, before picking one.
"Thank-you for the information," Cassie responded, and please, on behalf of all facets of the coven, give our sincerest regrets."
The witch nodded and turned to leave, in truth, happy to be away from the strange girl.
Except, she was not a girl, and had not been for quite some time.
"Mother," the body of Vincent spoke, entering the living room of the mansion they had recently purchased.
"Finn," Esther said, smiling, "did she buy it?"
"Entirely,"
"Humans are weak," the little boy said, "they are far too open to trusting the wrong people."
"Now Henrik," Esther scolded, though there was no real force behind it, "they have their uses."
"They definitely do," a young man with mess, sand brown hair said, walking in only half dressed.
"Kol," Esther said, doing her best not to sound annoyed.
"What? I was locked in a box for over a century, I'm making up for lost time, besides they were more than willing," He responded, slipping down into one of the chairs.
"I seem to be doing just fine," Finn retorted, not bothering to hide his annoyance.
"Well, no offense darling, but, unlike you, I'm not content with 'just fine'."
"Why you…"
"Enough, both of you," Esther said quietly, "Desist with this puerility.
Francesca is dead"
That got the brother's attention. Henrik walked over and sat beside his mother on the small couch she was seated on.
"Tried to blow down the brick house did she?" Kol asked sarcastically.
"With Francesca dead, and Marco simply wanting to remain neutral, any werewolf that still thirsts for vengeance will fall to me. The witches have already recognized us as our own facet. With the vampires gone, there's nothing to stop us from taking root, in our new home.
Finn, Kol, Henrik," she looked at each other them, "be ready, we have a family reunion to plan."
So, there's chapter three. Hoped you liked it, reviews would be welcome.
