Disclaimer: Anything you recognize, I do not own

A/N Please review and tell me what you think

Hope woke up in the back of a SUV. Her wrists were tied and the pain in her head that she'd been knocked out. She tried to remember what had happened as she worked on getting her wrists untied. She remembered someone grabbing her by the back door while Rebekah had talked to Marcel. She thought she remembered kicking over a vase, but she wasn't sure. She was trying to decide what was real and what wasn't; she still felt like throwing or passing out from the werewolf venom that had been in her system.

The car stopped. Hope frantically got the bindings off her wrists and wrapped the rope once around her wrists, leaving a good section of it free for choking the driver. The back door opened and she leapt at the driver, knocking him back a few feet. She tried to wrap the rope around his throat to choke him, but he easily grabbed her arms and threw her to the ground, knocking the breath out of her.

Hope kicked at his head, but he dodged her feet and got to work zip-tying her wrists again. She sent a wave of pain to his head and he let out a yell, his grip on her loosening. She jumped up and ran into the tree-line. She barely got two feet into the trees before the man darted in front of her again, grabbing her and throwing her to the ground again.

"Try that again and I will hurt you." He snarled.

"Who are you?"

"Tyler Lockwood. You're Hope Mikaelson." It wasn't a question.

"My family is going to kill you!" She threatened as he zip-tied her ankles together so she couldn't run away again.

"I can hold my own." He pulled her roughly into a sitting position. "You know you can't beat a hybrid, so you'd better start cooperating."

"You're a hybrid?" Hope asked in disbelief.

"The only one left, besides Klaus." He spat out Klaus's name like it was dirt. Hope was sure that Klaus had done something horrid to him, but she still didn't think it was fair that she was going to get punished for it. Tyler hauled her to her feet and swung her over his shoulder.

She didn't know how long Tyler carried her through the bayou, but all the blood had rushed to her head by the time he finally set her right side up. She fell over onto the front steps of a shack and looked around.

"What is this place?"

"The armpit of Louisiana." He replied.

"You're all class." Tyler ignored her as he pulled a knife out of his pocket. Hope started to inch away, as much as she could with all her limbs bound. "What are you gonna do with that?"

"Depends on you." He grabbed her ankles and cut the zip-tie on her ankles.

"The witches got the venom from you." She realized.

"They wanted my venom in exchange for a location on you." He explained absentmindedly. He looked at her. "What, did they try to use the venom on you?"

"They succeeded."

"Well, I'm sure your daddy healed you up real quick." Tyler told her bitterly.

"It wasn't as simple as that." Hope snarled back. Tyler didn't seem concerned. He motioned around at the camp they were in; Hope glanced around. It was run-down; she couldn't imagine having to live in a place like what she saw.

"That birthmark on your back? That means you come from a big-shot family. Some kind of royalty for the werewolves of this region. And right here… This is all that's left of them." Hope spotted a blonde woman standing in the tree-line, watching them.

"Hey! Help me!" The woman immediately ran away.

"They can't help you! They're in the woods, hiding, because they were persecuted for decades by vampires." Tyler explained. Another man walked up.

"Is that her?"

"Yeah, Dwayne. Get her inside." Dwayne grabbed Hope and started pulling her towards the shack.

"No, no!" She struggled against him and considered using magic, but Tyler glared at her and she knew she wouldn't make it two feet if she tried anything. "My family is going to kill you! Elijah, Klaus, Rebekah, they'll kill you!" Hope yelled at him. Dwayne shoved her into the shack and she hit the floor hard. She crawled over to the back wall to get some distance between them. Dwayne caught her and got another zip-tie from his pocket. In seconds, she was zip-tied to the fire stove.

Dwayne left, letting the door bang shut behind him. Hope tried to get her hands free, but they only got tighter. She looked around for something sharp, but couldn't see anything within her reach. She put her forehead against the fire-stove and closed her eyes.

Please, please, help, she wasn't sure who she wanted to help her, but she knew she was royally screwed if no one came for her. Klaus would tear Tyler apart; he may not have been a great dad, but he did get angry when people messed with her. No one hurt Elijah's family and lived and she counted this as 'hurt'. Rebekah was weirdly protective. Then there was her wolf. What had she and Rebekah agreed to call him? Wolfy? Wolfy would be useful right about now, but somehow, she figured that she was out of luck.

Tyler walked in and she looked up at him.

"They'll kill you."

"Don't you have any other threats? What makes you think I'm afraid to die?"

"You're crazy." She told him. Dwayne walked back into the shack and Tyler glanced at him.

"You ready for this?"

"Let's do it." Tyler took his knife and went over to Hope. She kicked out at him, trying to keep him away from her, but he pinned her legs down with one hand and cut into her arm with the knife. Dwayne handed him a glass and Tyler let the blood drip into the glass. Then he handed it back to Dwayne as they both backed away from Hope.

Dwayne drained the glass and Hope shot him a disgusted look; what was with the obsession about drinking blood in New Orleans? Tyler reached over and snapped Dwayne's neck. Hope stared in shock.

"You're crazy." She repeated in a whisper.

"Don't get all judgy! Dwayne knew what he was getting into. He volunteered!"

"For you to kill him?" Hope demanded.

"Dwayne is a werewolf who died with your blood in his system. The same blood you share with your psychotic father." Tyler pointed out. Hope thought for a second and then looked at him in shock.

"You're trying to turn him into a hybrid? That's impossible! I'm not a hybrid, not yet!"

"You're something new entirely. I've been running with wolf packs all over the country. One of them was tight with a witch. She had nightmare visions about you and how Klaus could use you blood to make an army of hybrid slaves."

"I'm sick of witches saying I'm going to kill everyone-."

"You might not, but your blood, your family, will."

"Why do you want to make more hybrids?" Hope changed the subject.

"Hybrids are the most powerful creatures in the supernatural world. I need to make Klaus pay for what he's done to me! If you haven't noticed, these people don't have much to live for. They'd all welcome the chance to become the superior species. Trouble is, all hybrids are sired to Klaus. They follow his every move. No way I let that happen."

"How can you be so sure that Klaus knows what my blood can do?"

"Klaus Mikaelson, killer of men, women and puppies, all of a sudden wants to be a daddy? Or, he's got an ulterior motive. Hybrids can walk in the sun. Their bite is lethal to vampires."

"I'm well aware what venom can do!" Hope snapped at him.

"The point is, they'll take over New Orleans by the end of the week. And you know what's going to stop Klaus then? Nothing." There was a gasp and they both turned towards Dwayne as he sat up.

"You're gonna have to feed on her."

"Bite me!" Hope snapped.

"I'm not going to, he is."

"I wasn't being literal, Tyler!" Tyler stepped on her legs to prevent her from kicking him and then stooped down to cut into her neck. She let out a yell and desperately tried to kick at him, but he was already out of her reach.

"Do it, before she heals." Tyler ordered. Dwayne hurried over to Hope and fed on her neck. Hope screamed and struggled, but it was a minute before Dwayne stopped feeding, only to fall to the floor, convulsing. Tyler grabbed him and hauled him out of the shack. Hope listened, but couldn't hear anything.

Finally, Tyler came back into the shack.

"It worked, didn't it? He's a hybrid." Hope guessed.

"If Klaus gets a hold of you again… He wins."

"He hasn't tried to use me." Hope shot back.

"Yet." Tyler stressed the word. He stooped to pick the knife up off the floor.

"Whatever you're thinking of doing, it won't work! I have vampire blood in my system!"

"If you don't stay dead, I'll rip out your heart and see what that does." Tyler told her. He started towards her and she screamed, hoping that someone, anyone would hear her.

Dwayne rushed into the shack.

"Get away from her!"

"What do you care?" Tyler demanded.

"I said get away!"

"You got what you wanted, now get lost!" Tyler snapped, annoyed. Hope stared at Dwayne and then put on her most helpless, pleading voice.

"Dwayne, he's gonna kill me! And he's gonna kill you, too! He said that hybrids are too dangerous to live! You need to stop him!"

"SHUT UP!" Tyler shouted at her. Dwayne tossed Tyler across the room and ran to tackle him as he started to get up. Hope turned back to her restraints. She balled her hands into fists and the restraints got tighter. She jerked her hands down as hard as she could and the ties snapped, leaving cuts on her wrists, but nothing containing her.

She leapt forward, grabbed the knife on the floor and sprinted from the shack. She sprinted into the tree line and kept running; it was much easier running through the bayou with light to guide her. She half-ran, half-rolled down a hill and hide behind a tree to catch her breath and try and slow her pounding heart.

Hope heard footsteps approaching and bit back a whimper; what was a knife going to do against a hybrid? Best case scenario, you kill him temporarily, she told herself, worst case scenario… She didn't want to think about what the worst case scenario would be. She braced herself, listened as the footsteps grew closer and then spun around, knife raised.

Elijah caught her hand and smiled at her.

"Forgive me; I thought you were in danger. It appears I was mistaken."

"Elijah!" She dropped the knife and he released her hand.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Some guy named Tyler, one of Klaus's hybrids… the last one, I guess." Hope told him, breathless from her run. After a second, she continued: "He kidnapped me and kept me in some shack and then… I can make hybrids. My blood can. He thought Klaus was going to make an army of hybrids so he was going to kill me. He… he was going to kill me." The entire situation seemed to really sink in. Elijah sat her down on a nearby log.

"I would love it if people could stop trying to kill me for a day." She said after a moment.

"You were successful in making a hybrid?" Elijah questioned.

"Tyler did it, really. What's it mean if a hybrid is 'sired' to Klaus?"

"The sire bond allowed Klaus to command his hybrids; they had no choice but to obey. Even when they hated him, they found themselves doing what he told them, regardless what they wanted." Elijah explained.

"Dwayne, I mean the hybrid that Tyler created… He was acting like he was sired to me." Elijah was silent for a moment, then he sighed.

"I should take you home."

"Tyler knows where we live. What's to stop him from grabbing me again, or burning the house down around us?" Hope demanded, standing up.

"I believe Niklaus is handling Tyler."

"I want to go back there."

"Hope-."

"That hybrid is sired to me. I want to see if he's okay. Tyler was older and stronger…" Hope trailed off, her point made. Elijah slowly nodded, knowing that he wasn't going to be able to convince her otherwise. He offered his arm and she stayed close to him as they quickly made their way back towards the shack.

Klaus was waiting for them when they finally got back. Hope started towards the shack, since Tyler was no where to be seen, but stopped dead when Klaus kicked a body off the porch. Hope flinched and backed up to be next to Elijah again.

"There you are! I was beginning to worry Hope had been drugged or poisoned again; she has a nasty habit of letting that happen. Perhaps you could shed some light on the situation. This appears to be a hybrid."

"His name was Dwayne." Hope told him.

"Well, whoever it was, I didn't sire him."

"I did." Hope told him. Klaus stared at her.

"Tyler took my blood, made him into a hybrid." She motioned towards the body, trying her best not to look at it. "He was sired to me, that's how I escaped." She added.

"He didn't need doppelganger blood?" Klaus questioned, intrigued.

"What blood? No… Just mine."

"He claims that you knew that. Furthermore, that you intended to use this knowledge to build an army." Elijah explained. Any interest Klaus showed changed to anger immediately.

"And, of course, you assume it's true. I mean, why else would I show interest in my own flesh and blood?" Klaus questioned. Before Elijah or Hope could respond, he went on. "A heartbroken little crybaby points his finger at me, and my own brother falls in line, eager to believe it! How quickly you believe the worst!"

"Oh, spare me your indignation." Elijah snapped back. Hope looked between them, weary of what was about to happen. "When have you ever demonstrated any kind of concern towards your child, beyond your own selfish pursuits? And what was it you once said to me? 'Every king needs an heir!'." He impersonated Klaus's voice oddly well.

"My big brother." He shook his head and looked at Hope. "So, you doubt my intentions? Well, I can't say I'm surprised, standing next to the noble Elijah, how can I be anything but the lesser brother? A liar, a manipulator-."

"What did I do? I told Elijah what Tyler said-."

"Yes, you tell Elijah everything. Meanwhile, it takes me half the night to learn you've been poisoned by the witches-."

"You're mad because we didn't call you? I wasn't in any state to be having a chat about who exactly we should call!" Hope was yelling now.

"Like you would have chosen me over Elijah in any-."

"You are such a five year old!" Hope snapped at him. "I am sorry we didn't call you. I'm sorry you're an arrogant piece of work. I'm even sorry that Mikael kicked the crap out of you on a daily basis. I know from experience that it sucks and it makes you want to do anything, anything, to make sure you're not hurt again. But if you don't want to be seen as the bad guy, try, oh, I don't know, not being the bad guy!"

Once she was done shouting, the bayou was completely silent. Elijah was looking between Klaus and Hope, ready to get in between them should a fight start. Klaus was staring at her, as if he was trying to comprehend her words.

"Brother, if-." Elijah started after a minute.

"You and Hope have said all that needs to be said, brother. I'll play the role I've been given." Hope looked annoyed.

"Klaus-." Before she could finish, Klaus darted forward and bit Elijah on the neck. Hope let out a shriek and rushed towards Elijah as he fell to the ground. Klaus wiped his mouth on his hand.

"You two enjoy each other's company. You'll have much to bond over, once the hallucinations and dementia set in. Consider that bite to be my parting gift to you both."