The Big Uneasy

Hayley watched as a parade of men dressed in all-white walked down the stairs playing the drums. Everyone at the party stopped what they were doing and turned towards the group of men. Elijah appeared to Hayley's left and the two shared a look of confusion before turning their attention back towards the drummers. They finished playing their song and stood silently as the lead drummer stepped forward.

"Happy Fête des Bénédictions!" He bellowed. "We have a message for all of you… from Marcel Gerard."

Hayley and Elijah frowned and the crowd began to murmur. What this was it couldn't be good. At that moment, all of the drummers simultaneously reached into their pockets and pulled out a small blade. No, this definitely wasn't good. Then men all sliced their wrists and let blood pour out of their veins and on to the floor. The vampires in the room immediately began to get restless as their black veins began to pop out of their faces. Fangs were bared and they began to hiss at the smell of blood. Elijah looked around at the crowd and stepped forward before facing all of them.

"Control yourselves. This is a vulgar trick," he said. When nothing changed, he stood firmly. "We do not violate our agreement!"

Then it went black.

Screams filled the air and Elijah smelled the familiar scent of iron and blood in the air. It was too late. But the humans were not his concern at the moment. As he pushed through fighting vampires and human bodies in the darkness, his mind was only on one thing. Her.

"Hayley!" Elijah yelled. Answer me. Say something back.

His heart was racing as he tried to maneuver his way around, but it was no use. He couldn't see anything and he couldn't move. He didn't know who was who so he didn't possibly want to risk harming anyone he knew. Suddenly, the lights turned on. His eyes scanned the room, but all he saw was blood and bodies littering the ground. No, no, no…

"Elijah?" a broken voice said. Elijah immediately whipped his head around to find Hayley slowly pushing herself up from the ground. A line of blood dripped from her hairline down her forehead, but that was all. Elijah breathed a sigh of relief and rushed over to her.

"Hayley. It's okay. It's all right," he said as he helped her up. She grasped his bicep and he held her elbow, simply needing to touch her and know she was alive and safe. They both looked at the wall to the left of the stairs and their hearts immediately dropped. Written in blood were the words, "There will be no peace."

"Come. Let's get out of here," he murmured as he led her to the door. Elijah kept a hand on the small of her back and her elbow in his other hand as they walked out the door. Most everyone had cleared out as they reached the fresh air, so he motioned for her to sit. She did so and looked up at him with wide eyes.

"What happened in there?" she asked. Elijah frowned and shook his head.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," he said. Hayley nodded, but said nothing more. Elijah could tell she was shaken. She kept one hand resting on her stomach and she stared off towards the street. Elijah sighed and sat down beside her. She turned towards him as he did so, but was quiet. Noticing the blood still on her forehead, Elijah took out his handkerchief and tilted her face towards him. He gently wiped off the blood from her forehead and put the cloth back in his pocket.

"Thank you," she said quietly. Elijah nodded and stood.

"I'm going to get to the bottom of this. You should find Jackson and the others. I'm sure they're worried about you," Elijah said stiffly. Hayley nodded and stood up. She looked at him one last time and offered a small smile before turning and walking in the other direction.


Elijah stood in the coverage of the dark forest as he watched them. Hayley, Jackson, and all of the other Crescents were sitting in a circle around a fire. The sounds of music, chatter, and laughter were apparent from here and he smiled. She looked genuinely happy.

He detected a presence coming from his right, but he knew who it was. She walked up and stood beside him in silence for a few moments. They watched the lively group of people drink and laugh together. They watched the kids chase each other around the fire. They watched a family.

"You don't need to keep coming out. I'd tell you if something was wrong. But she's doing okay. The girl has a natural gift for leading. She surprised everyone," Eve said. Elijah smiled at that statement and shook his head slightly.

"Not everyone."

Hayley laughed loudly at something particularly funny one of the older men had said and retorted causing an even bigger roar of laughter to erupt from the group.

"Do you want to join us?" Eve asked him.

"What I want Is for that girl to be happy. Don't tell her I was here."

Elijah turned and walked away, leaving the woman he loved with the family she deserved to have.


Hayley caught her breath for a moment and wiped the tears from her eyes. God, she hadn't laughed this hard in ages. It was a nice feeling after the events of the past few days. She needed this. She needed time to relax and finally get to know her family. She looked at all the faces around the fire and smiled. She finally felt home.

The moon and the stars shone bright tonight, and that wasn't something she could see in the city. The bayou certainly had awoken her spiritual side, and she was glad. She was finally starting to embrace what being a wolf was all about. The purity of it all was astounding.

As her gaze drifted from the sky to the tree line, she saw Eve standing in the distance, just watching them. She smiled and excused herself from the group before she walked towards her. Eve offered her a smile as Hayley came up to her, but didn't move from her spot.

"What are you doing up here?" Hayley asked her. Eve just smiled and shrugged.

"Just watching. You look happy down there, you know?" Hayley grinned and wrapped her arms around herself.

"I am happy."

"That's good."

They both gazed down at the group and the fire, simply enjoying the peacefulness of the night. Hayley closed her eyes for a moment and listened to the voices and the laughter down below. It warmed her heart, it really did, but part of her did miss being back with the Mikaelsons. She missed talking to Rebekah. She even missed Klaus's snippy comments. And Elijah… of course she missed him. Hayley sighed and looked down at the ground before turning her attention back to the bonfire.

"He was here, wasn't he?" Hayley asked.

"Of course he was."

Hayley swallowed and closed her eyes. Of course he was. She knew it the minute she saw Eve standing up here alone. It wasn't like her to be so far from the group and she was the only one in the pack other than Hayley that had even spoken to Elijah besides Jackson or Oliver who definitely wouldn't have come up.

"I know he's one of the original vampires and his family is seriously screwed up, but…" Eve said, not knowing how to finish her sentence. Hayley took a deep breath and looked up at her new family.

"I know," she said. "I know."