Disclaimer: Anything you recognize, I do not own

A/N Please review and tell me what you think

Hope pulled open the fridge door, rooting through the food that had been thrown haphazardly in there. It was morning and, as usual, she was starving. Rebekah called it a wolf appetite; Hope called it human nature.

"Good morning." She jumped and her head impacted with the freezer above the fridge.

"Ow." She wasn't used to having Elijah around, evidently. Elijah came over, looking worried, but she shook her head. "I'm fine. Do we have a grocery list or a compelled minion that does the shopping for us? I need ice cream."

Rebekah came through the back door, dragging a trashcan behind her.

"Speaking of, add bleach." She went back into the living room and Hope watched her go, but then turned back to the fridge and grabbed a box of left-over pizza.

"I see they've been feeding you appropriately" Hope couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

"I'm sixteen, almost seventeen for the record. I eat what I want."

"When is your birthday?" She had to think about it, a sign that she hadn't celebrated it much in the past.

"December 12th. Mark your calendar. I want a unicorn." Elijah smiled and decided it was high time to chance the subject.

"Back to the murderous witches. I have some concerns."

"You don't say?" The amount of sarcasm that Hope managed that early in the morning was impressive. "They're evil. They're vengeful. And let's not forget my life is still magically linked to Sophie, which is not comforting. Although, she's probably been to the hospital a few times, so that is comforting." Hope mused.

"Yes, I think it's time we took care of that little problem." Elijah agreed. Rebekah re-entered the kitchen, dragging a corpse behind her.

"I am all for it. As soon as they're unlinked, we get to leave this crap town. Who do we have to kill?"

"Probably no one." Elijah replied.

"She's dragging a body." Hope whispered, as if he hadn't seen it. Elijah sighed.

"Alright, potentially everyone." He corrected. Hope put the box of pizza on the counter and turned to hurry after Rebekah.

"Rebekah, wait up!" She bounded down the back steps. Rebekah was just about to burn the body, but she stopped with the light still lit and turned around.

"Did you want to do the honors? Lighting things on fire is quite fun."

"Uh, no." Hope gave her a weird look. "Last night, you started to say something about the Bennett's witches-."

"Oh, yeah, that. I knew one, back in Mystic Falls. Cheeky little thing, always thought she could take us down." Rebekah explained.

"But she could do the spell."

"Yes, but you can't leave New Orleans and I am not tracking down Klaus's baby mama alone."

"If we can unlink me from Sophie-."

"Yes, Hope." Rebekah sighed, exasperated. "I will take you to New Orleans and we will find your mother, I promise. But it's no use talking about it now. Here, you're on fire duty. Make sure it doesn't spread to the house." Rebekah handed her the lighter and walked into the house. Hope stared after her and then looked at the lighter in her hand. With a shrug, she tossed it onto the body and watched it burn.

"It's just us again." Rebekah announced when Hope came into the living room, a plate of pizza in hand. Hope swallowed the bite she had in her mouth.

"What?"

"Elijah and Klaus are off to fix all our problems. We've been told to stay behind."

"Or-."

"You are not going after your pet wolf."

"He's not my pet."

"Oh, you have a gender for it now, do you?" Rebekah teased. Hope sat down on the nearest chair.

"I just think it's a guy."

"A hot guy?" Rebekah wriggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"How should I know? I haven't seen him in human form!" Hope shot back.

"Does this wolf have a name?"

"I'm sure he does. For now, we're calling him Wolfy and he shall be my Wolfy." Hope smiled and took another bite of pizza while Rebekah laughed and shook her head at her niece.

Suddenly, Hope yelped and grabbed at her neck frantically. Rebekah jumped up.

"What?"

"I got stabbed!" Hope complained, looking at the blood on her fingers. The wound had healed, but Rebekah pushed her head to the side to examine her neck anyway.

"It's gone now."

"It was like a needle or something." Hope rubbed her neck as if it was still sore.

"Do you feel alright?"

"I feel fine, but I know it's Sophie-related."

"Do me a favor and don't die on my watch. I'll never hear the end of it." Rebekah sat down on the arm of the chair.

"I'll certainly try my best." Hope leaned forward and touched her pizza. "And it's cold again." She complained. She stood up but immediately swayed and to sit back down.

"What's wrong?" Rebekah asked.

"I don't know… Did I get drugged again?" She cried. Rebekah slapped a hand to Hope's forehead.

"You're burning up."

"I don't feel so hot. I mean, I feel hot, but-."

"I get it." Rebekah stood up and grabbed Hope's arms. "Get up; we'll get you to bed." She pulled Hope to her feet and caught her as she started to fall. With Rebekah's help, Hope managed to stumble upstairs. Rebekah let her fall on the bed and dug her phone out of her pocket.

"I'm calling Elijah." She stepped out into the hallway as she dialed. Thankfully, Elijah answered quickly.

"Rebekah-."

"Get back here, now." She was in no mood for chit-chat. "Something's happened to Sophie and it's affecting Hope."

"What exactly is going on?"

"I don't know. She can barely walk, she's burning up-."

"I feel like I've been micro-waved." Hope moaned from the bedroom.

"She feels like she's been micro-waved." Rebekah reported.

"I will find Sophie and be there as soon as I can." He promised.

"Hurry; I'm new to this whole aunt thing and I don't know what to do." Rebekah hung up and went back into the bedroom. Hope was curled up in a loose fetal position on the bed.

"What can I do?" Rebekah questioned, nervously turning her phone over in her hands.

"Freeze me in a block of ice."

"I'll get you some ice water." Rebekah hurried from the room.

"You came to New Orleans big and tough… look at you now." Hope jerked up at the new voice in the room. At the end of her bed was Marc Lahey, her old foster father. "You thought you could handle it. How is this handling it? How is lying down and crying like a baby doing anything?!" He threw a glass at her head. Hope shrieked and rolled off the bed to avoid it, backing herself against the wall.

Rebekah rushed into the room as Hope looked around, trying to spot Marc again. The room was empty except for the two of them; there was no evidence anyone else had been there.

"What happened?" Rebekah demanded.

"There… He…" Hope stammered.

"Were you hallucinating?"

"I… Maybe." She slid onto the floor. Rebekah set the glass of water down and went to pull Hope to her feet and get her on the bed again.

"Let me see your neck." She pulled Hope's hair aside and sucked in a sharp breath when she saw that the puncture wound was back swollen and had the distinct look of a werewolf bite. "Oh my…"

"That bad?" Hope mumbled.

"Stay still. Drink this; keep it down if you can." Rebekah shoved the glass of water into her hand. The front door banged open and Rebekah ran for the stairs, meeting Elijah and Sophie as they came up to the second floor.

"What is she doing here?" Rebekah demanded.

"I'm trying to help"

"Help? You're the reason we're in this bloody mess. Do you know what they injected you with?"

"They said it was something that would kill Hope without killing me, but-."

"Werewolf venom!" Rebekah cut her off. She looked at Elijah. "She's part vampire, Elijah, and it's killing her. Why aren't they unlinked yet?"

"Niklaus can-." Elijah started. Sophie cut him off.

"Klaus's blood neutralizes the effect of werewolf venom until it passes out of a person's system naturally. I'm the one with in my system, but it's not affecting me-."

"Which means that no matter who we give the blood to, it won't do a darn thing." Rebekah interrupted. Sophie nodded. Rebekah and Elijah both looked ready to murder someone, but before anything else was said, there was a scream from Hope. Elijah darted towards her room.

"She's hallucinating already?" Sophie asked.

"They got themselves a lot of werewolf venom." Rebekah agreed dryly.

"I may know a way to slow down the effects, or at least the fever. But I'm gonna need some special herbs."

"Then go get them." Rebekah told her, annoyed. She stopped and sighed. "You want me to get them, don't you?"

"A witch going to get some special herbs, especially after all the rest of the witches know I'm linked to her… I wouldn't get three feet into a shop."

"Fine. Happy to play fetch-girl. Text me what you need." Rebekah brushed past her, but then stopped and caught her arm in a death grip. "Stay away from Hope." With that, Rebekah was gone in a blur of speed.

Sophie jogged to Hope's bedroom and looked in. Elijah was trying to hold Hope down; she was frantically struggling, trying to get away.

"Stop, stop, let me go!" Hope screamed. Then, she stopped and Elijah slowly released her. Hope sat up and crawled back against her headboard. She was sweating, shaking and sobbing. Elijah looked over at Sophie.

"Rebekah left to get some things for me. If we can slow down the fever, maybe we can slow down the infection."

"Davina is working on unlinking you."

"Davina?" Sophie echoed.

"She doesn't know she's doing it, but it should be done soon." He assured her. Sophie looked at him in disbelief and walked away.

When Rebekah came back into the house, jars full of herbs in hand, she realized just how bad werewolf bites can get. Hope was on the floor in the living room, screaming and crying about something they couldn't see. Elijah was holding her, partly trying to comfort her, partly trying to contain her.

Rebekah shoved the jars of herbs into Sophie's hands and noticed three long scratches on the witch's cheek.

"What happened to Hope?" Rebekah's head whipped around to look at her niece again.

"Hope did it to me herself when I got too close." Sophie grumbled.

"Just make your magical potion or whatever." Rebekah shot back. She hurried over to Elijah and Hope and kneeled down next to them. "She's getting worse." She noted. Elijah nodded mutely, trying to restrain the struggling girl. Hope stopped and went almost limp.

"She's been going back and forth between hallucinations." Elijah reported. Rebekah put her hand on Hope's shoulder and brushed her hair aside. The wound on her neck was getting worse, if that was possible.

"You have a pool out back?" Sophie asked.

"Yes, but I don't think this is the proper time for a pool party!" Rebekah snapped.

"If we get her in the water, it'll slow down the fever… maybe." Sophie admitted.

"There's no cure for this. Slowing down the fever won't save her." Rebekah whispered to Elijah.

"I can hear you." Hope groaned from the floor.

"I know, Rebekah, but if we can slow down the fever enough to buy her some time-."

"I hope you're right about being able to unlink them." Rebekah cut him off. She shifted Hope so that the girl was leaning against her. Elijah stood up and went over to Sophie.

"I'll finish this outside." Sophie grabbed the bowl and jars, stacked them in her arms and headed for the back door. Elijah opened it for her and turned back to Rebekah and Hope. Rebekah was hauling Hope to her feet with some effort from both of them. Elijah hurried over.

"I got her." He told her. He put one of Hope's arms around his shoulders and scooped the half-conscious girl into his arms. Rebekah followed them out to the edge of the pool. Elijah set her down on the edge. Rebekah sat behind her to help hold her up and jerked her head towards Sophie.

"Help the witch." Elijah hurried over, but Sophie was just finishing up. Rebekah felt Hope's forehead.

"She's burning up!" She called over to them. And almost unconscious and hallucinating and dying, she added in her head.

"Get in her in the water!" Sophie called. Elijah took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves before jumping into the pool. He held his arms out to get Hope.

"No, no… I can't… He's here and… I can't." Hope moaned incoherently.

"Get in the pool, darling." Rebekah insisted. Despite her protests, Rebekah got Hope in the water. Elijah held her up; she was on the shallow end, so it only came up to her waist, but she was having trouble standing up straight. Sophie came down the steps into the pool with a bowl full of herbs.

"I still don't see how this is going to help!" Rebekah told her.

"If we can cool her down, we can slow down the infection."

"This is werewolf venom, not a common fever!" Sophie ignored her, wading over to Hope and Elijah. She handed Elijah the herbal concoction.

"Get her to drink this." Elijah held it to her lips and Hope obediently choked it down, but then turned away, coughing. Rebekah took the bowl back and set it on the edge, watching them carefully.

"You're going to have to get her heart rate and blood pressure down."

"How do you suggest I do that?"

"Hold her. It's a natural human remedy to slow heart rate and reduce blood pressure."

"None of us here are human." Rebekah pointed out, perhaps just to be nasty to the witch. Elijah swung Hope into his arms, backing up further into the pool so just her head and neck were above the water.

"Davina will break the link, we just need time." Elijah assured her. Rebekah looked at him doubtfully but said nothing as she squatted by the edge of the pool, hands clasped together tightly.

"You're going to drown. You're going to die." It was a voice only Hope heard, but the thought that it was a hallucination didn't cross her mind. She started thrashing around, trying to get away, trying to get out of the water.

Elijah was struggling to hold her and failed. Hope rolled out of his grip and landed completely in the water. Elijah grabbed her again, holding her up so she could breathe. She was sobbing again, but too weak to thrash around anymore. Rebekah groaned from the edge of the pool and quickly got her high heels off.

"Perfectly good outfit; dry-clean only…" She grumbled. She slipped into the pool and waded over to Elijah and Hope. She helped Elijah swing Hope back into his arms.

"Shush, it's okay." Rebekah told her, though her voice was far too nervous to be comforting. Hope coughed and blood dribbled out of her mouth. Rebekah looked over at Sophie.

"I thought this was supposed to help!"

"I said it would slow it down, maybe."

"You are worthless, you know that!" Rebekah snapped.

"Rebekah." Elijah scolded, his voice tight. She turned back to Hope and pushed soaked locks of hair out of her face. Hope coughed again, more blood coming out of her mouth. Then she was hyperventilating.

"I can't breathe… I can't… I can't breathe!"

"You're fine. Breathe." Rebekah insisted.

"Long, deep breathes, Hope." Elijah instructed.

"What… do you think… I'm trying… to do?" Hope snarled, coughing again and then going back to hyperventilating and wheezing.

"Just focus on the sound of my voice." Elijah told her, lowering his voice to a whisper. "You'll be okay, I give you my word." Don't make promises you can't keep, Rebekah thought bitterly. She put her hand on Hope's forehead and immediately had to jerk her hand away.

"Sophie!" She growled.

"There's nothing more I can do. If she dies, I might just die too!" Rebekah didn't know how the werewolf venom interfered with the linking spell, but she didn't want to ask for details. Hope was too weak to thrash, but she was sobbing, coughing and hyperventilating all at once. Elijah was still talking to her, trying to get her to focus, but the teenager wasn't cooperating in the least. Rebekah ground her teeth together.

"Hope." She cut Elijah off mid-sentence; it obviously wasn't working anyway. "You're hallucinating. You can breathe. You're fine. Focus!"

Then it was over. Hope was breathing properly, if not still choking on her sobs. Rebekah looked at Sophie.

"I just felt it lift." Rebekah sighed and Hope started to slowly calm down. Elijah set her on her feet, but she started to fall. Rebekah and Elijah held her between them as they headed towards the edge.

"Come on. Up here." Rebekah instructed absentmindedly as they helped Hope out of the pool. Hope sat on the edge, shivering. Rebekah hurried over to grab a towel.

"Elijah, as soon as your brother finds out that the link is broken, he'll kill Agnes. I know you don't owe me anything, but please, don't let him kill her." Sophie pleaded. Elijah went over to the table and pulled his phone out of his jacket. "Elijah! She's our only access to the power we need to survive. Promise me that you'll stop him!" Elijah continued to ignore her as she dialed a number.

"It's me, where are you?" He asked into the phone. "Don't hurt her. I'll be there shortly." He hung up and turned to Sophie. "I'll make you one last promise. I won't let my brother kill Agnes." Sophie nodded at him gratefully.

Elijah picked up his jacket and shoes. He went over to Hope as Rebekah wrapped her tightly in a towel. Rebekah looked up at him.

"Go. I'll stay with her." Elijah nodded and started away, but Rebekah caught his wrist, pulling him down to their level. "Make a promise to me. Kill Agnes."

"No one hurts my family and lives." He agreed. Rebekah nodded and released him. She turned back to Hope as Elijah hurried away.

"Come on, get up. We'll get you inside." She whispered gently. Hope let Rebekah pull her to her feet and lead her inside, leaving Sophie to go around the house and drive home. Ignoring the fact that they were both soaking wet, Rebekah pushed Hope onto the couch and sat down next to her.

"It's alright now. Are you okay?" She asked after a minute.

"I don't know…" Hope whispered. She thought for a moment. "I… I couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't. I thought someone was trying to kill me… or I was trying to kill you guys and…" Hope stopped, pulling the towel tighter around her. Rebekah was silent for a minute.

"It wasn't real, it's alright." There was a loud knocking on the door. Rebekah sighed. "Stay here." She went to answer the door and saw a man standing there.

"Who are you?"

"Josh. I, uh… Klaus is using me… I'm his informant. Is that what you call it?"

"I don't care." Rebekah started to shut the door, but Josh spoke quickly.

"Where is he? I've been trying to find him all day. Marcel knows that Klaus lied to him about where he lives." Rebekah considered this, but decided she didn't care.

"That is your and Klaus's problem. I'm not my brother's keeper. Find him on your own."

"Fine! Just... tell him to call me, please." He pleaded. Rebekah rolled her eyes.

"Okay, fine." Rebekah agreed. She shut the door with another sigh and headed back towards the living room. "Hope? I'll get you some dry clothes, just sit and rest for a while, alright?" Hope nodded mutely, so Rebekah headed up the stairs towards Hope's bedroom. She dug around the teenager's closet, trying to find something that wasn't denim shorts or old tank tops. She heard the knock on the door loud and clear.

"That's Klaus's minion, just tell him to go away." Rebekah called downstairs, stooping down to dig through a drawer. She listened carefully, but Hope's footsteps told her that she was walking easily enough. The front door creaked as it swung open.

"Hi there, I'm Marcel. I don't think we've met." Rebekah straightened up and sped downstairs, making it to the door in record time.

"Rebekah." Marcel greeted her. Rebekah pushed Hope away.

"I'll handle our guest." For once, Hope complied without argument, hurrying back to the living room. Rebekah kept her eyes on Marcel.

"Here I thought you Mikaelsons were living in the hotel."

"We needed more room. Hope you don't mind." Rebekah flashed a smile at him.

"Who's the girl?"

"Who? Oh, that one. She's our maid." Rebekah lied smoothly.

"Looks young."

"Well, I don't chit-chat with her much, wouldn't know." Rebekah shrugged it off. Marcel looked at her for a second and then smiled at her.

"I'll be on my way, then. I was just curious who was here."

"Just us. Do you want to come in?" Rebekah invited, knowing he would say no. He shook his head.

"I got a kingdom to run! I don't stick around this place anymore." He told her, smiling.

"Well thing, you'd better get back to that." Rebekah shut the door and sucked in a breath, knowing she'd just failed miserably at acting normal. The sound of shattering glass sounded in the living room and Rebekah whirled around.

"Hope?" No answer. Rebekah ran into the living room. A vase from an end table was shattered on the floor, the back door was open and there was no sign of Hope. Rebekah ran out into the back yard and looked around. "Hope?!"

Rebekah trudged back into the living room; looking around again, as if she expected Hope to be there. She had spent half an hour looking for Hope, only to come up empty-handed. Elijah and Klaus walked into the room.

"Where is Hope?" Klaus demanded, looking anxious. Under any other circumstances, she would've had a snarky comment about his reaction.

"I don't know." Her brothers stared at her. Rebekah swallowed hard. "Marcel was here. He left and I heard a crash in here and when I came here, she was gone."

"Marcellus…" Klaus growled, turning and heading towards the door again. Elijah went to follow him.

"What do I do?" Rebekah called after them.

"Stay here in case someone returns." Elijah instructed.

"I'm not staying here while you-." She started to complain, but they were already out the door. Rebekah stood staring after them, angry with them and herself.