Chapter 14
Eight-to-Sixteen Odds
Klaus POV

Today's the first day in five days that's she's changed out of her pajamas. Depression slapped her in the face. It comes and it goes and I rarely ask what the cause of it is. Sometimes- like myself- she just falls into a state of meloncholy.

However, today is All Hollows Eve and she's in a better mood. She's gutted pumpkins for carving and baking, and the triplets have painted their own pumpkins. Horrible, really, but I'm sure they'll get better once their motor skills improve.

"You're in a better mood. Any idea what brought it on?"

"It still comes and goes."

"Still going to be my date tomorrow?"

"Yes. What are you doing?" Her eyes narrow at the towel in my hand.

"Something there." It doesn't want to go away so I wet my fingers in the sink and sweep them across her cheek. "You've been waking up at night. Are you having weird dreams again?"

She breathes in deeply. "More like memories, I think."

"You think?"

"It's way back in the day. Something about a white-eyed guy and wearing a mask. That makes no sense."

"Former foe making a reapparance perhaps?"

"Maybe. Thing is, I'm not finding him in any of my journals. I've asked Logan and she doesn't remember either."

"What makes you think she knows?"

"We're sisters. We've been reborn into the same circle dozens of times and she's been featured in those dreams."

"Have I?"

Slowly she grins. "In one I pushed you off a cliff."

"That's not comforting."

"And then I pushed Hayley off. We don't need a shrink to decider that one. Then there was one," She smiles, "It was so weird." Laughing softly.

"Tell me"

"I got you pregnant."

"Say what?"

"We were sea horses."

"Sea horses." I say it slowly. "That's ridiculous."

"I said it was really weird."

"Male sea horses can get pregnant?"

"Um-hm. They lay eggs. The male seahorse has a pouch where the female deposits about a thousand or more eggs, and they're carried to term by the male who even experiences contractions during birth."

"Okay, even more weird." I put my hands upon her waist and gently squeeze. "But what I get out of that dream is you want to have a thousand of my babies."

"Klaus."

"A thousand is a lot. You sure you wanna have that many?"

"Klaus."

"It'd be like having our own army. Do you think that's even possible?"

"Nik,"

"And this time I can see you get huge. Think we'd be able to have one of those pregnancies where they're conceived in the same week?"

"Niklaus."

"Yes?"

"The term you're looking for is superfetation twins. No, I don't want more kids and no I don't think it's possible to have that many children because females are born with all the eggs they'll ever have while males continue to make sperm until they die. I don't know how true that is for hybrid biology, nor do I want to find out so you an me, we're gonna invest in some birth control mister."
"So there will be sex in the future? Cause theres a bet going on that you're not gonna do it before New Years." Logan comes in and steals a cookie. "We should start cultivating silphium."
"What's silphium?" Hayley comes in and goes to the fridge for a pre-made bottle.

"Birth control. It was so popular that the herb became extinct." I reply. "I'll take her."

She's still in pajamas.

"Not sleeping?"

"No. I think there's something in my closet." She looks directly at Rox.

"I can feel you staring at me." She's icing the pumpkin cookies.

"There's nothing in there. We have wards against closet monsters." Logan tells her.

"Closet monsters." Hayley scoffs but when both tribrids look at her, her smile drops. "There's really closet monsters?"

"There are other dimensions, Hayley. Just because you've never seen them don't mean they don't exist." Logan shares. "There's one breed that are similar to djinns. They show you your fears and feed on it until you die. Djinns are the opposite. They put you into a coma where you're in lala land of your desires, and they feed off of your high until you die."

"Then there's Moldvarp."

"Moldvarp?"

"Child-appearing trickster that is King Under The Bed. It turns out my Boogyman series was based upon repressed memories of both moldvarp and the boogyman."

"There's no such thing as a boogyman. Now you're just messing with me."

"I wish. That thing killed me twice." Rox comments. I can't tell if she's messing with Hayley or not.

"Whatever. If you've got her, I'm gonna grab a shower."

"I got her."

Hayley leaves and I have to ask. "Are you messing with her?"

"No."

"Rox."

"Really Nik. I'm not messing with her. You remember I would put mistletoe under the bed? And mint in the closet? Now you know why. Hi." She smiles at Hope who's been staring at her. "Y'know the amazing thing about babies? They can breathe and swallow at the same time and then they develop a gag reflex that won't allow it. You should hold her upright a little more."

"Why?"

"Ear infections are common because the liquid backs up int the tubes in their ears."

"Why?"

"Your sinus's are all connected. You've been alive how long and you don't know this?"

"I've never taken care of a baby before. Children, a few times, but not a baby."

I sit in the chair she pulls out for me and I adjust Hope in my arms so her head is above her legs and she's half sitting completely upright.

"This way there's also less acid reflux when you burp her. It's not 100-percent effective, but it helps." She lays her towel across my shoulder. "See? Isn't that better?"
Hope smiles around the bottle and tries to grasp Roxys necklace.

"Oh no you don't. We're not going through that again."

And gets Roxys finger instead. She's doing so much better around Hope. I don't often see that face she often has when Hayley is in her vacinity.

"What?" She says when she notices me staring at her.

"Your attitude is better."

"I see you in her more than her. Too bad there's no embarassing baby pictures of you. I'd kill to see baby Klaus with chubby baby cheeks."

She's at the right height I can kiss her on the cheek.

"Sorry darling. But Elijah says that Kian and I look exactly alike."

"Roxy!" At the sound of Roccos voice, Hopes eyes look to the side and Roxy jumps.

"Found this on the road heading this way."

It's a gray . . . boy? Girl? I'm not sure. Whatever it is, it's gray and sickly and dressed in rags. I can smell it clear across the room.

Roxys responce isn't what I'm expecting. She hisses and her fangs are out.

"Why would you bring that here!"

"It says it knows you and there's a maenad on the loose."

"What is it?"

"Nice to see you too, Juliana."

That resignates with Roxy.

"I'm not she anymore." Her eyes look it over. "Gidion?"

"In the flesh."

"You know it?"

"From another life. Juliana and I go back to the days of Zeus, Poseidon and Hades." It pulls out a chair and sits. "I hear you've got offspring now. I hope it's not with Carrick? He always was a dick."

"No. Not with Carrick. How am I certain it is you?"

"Demensia, Demona and Calidora."

Roxy relaxes and smiles. "Where have you been?"

"Oh, y'know, living amongst the poorest so I can get a meal that doesn't taste like formaldehyde. I can eat it, but it gives us the shits."

"Roxy."

"It's a ghoul." Roxy tells me. "They feed on corpses and take the form of the person they consume. After I migrated out of Greece, we haven't seen each other except for Juliana, about 200 years ago."

She picks up a glass, knicks her wrist and fills the glass.

"How did you know I was here?"

"I heard rumors that there was a gathering of Weyvern in the area. I figured if you're alive, it's where you may be and we can continue our symbiotic relationship. Thanks."

As he's taking a drink, I can see his skin clear up and he looks more human.

"I'm coming from Louisiana." He belches. "There's a maenad running around down there and it's looking for a place to roost. That bitch heard the same rumor I did and I think she's heading this way.

She said something about a Wyvern that took out her eye, took out most of my flock and stuck me with some kinda quill from the hog beast she keeps." He reaches into a pocket and sets it on the table. "That's what I pulled out. Too bad for her, I'm immune to everything."

Roxy doesn't touch it. Both hands come up and the items there between her hands telekinetically.

"That Weyvern that took out her eye wasn't me. It was Logan."

The quill looks like a giant hypodermic needle that's black on one and and gradually gets lighter and turns a deep shade of yellowy-beige.

"Mind if I shower? And get some decent clothes?"

"Rocco, can you get Gideon some clothes from a shop in town? He should be about Oric's size. Robby can show you upstairs." It's wrapped back in the cloth and set on the table. "To shower. And Gideon?"

"Yes Jules?"

"It's Roxy now. And if you hurt any of us here or are feeding me false information, I'll kill you."
He smirks, "You know me better than that, Rox. 4 lifetimes and how many times have I fucked you over?"

"None."

"That must count for something. Besides, you know I don't eat babies. They taste like fish." He makes a sour face. "And I'm no follower of Dionysus. I'm a Hades man."

Once he's upstairs with Robby, I begin asking questions.

"Ghouls?"
"I doubt you'd notice them. They're the bottom feeders of the bottom feeders. Most species hate them so they often kill them on sight. When I met Gideon, he was being strung up by the villiagers."

"Did I know you in those life times?"

"It was before I ever met you. I'll be back."

She goes into the kitchen and returns with a glass container with a lid that latches.

"Is he a threat?"

"If he hasn't changed, and I doubt he has, no. He's always been a loyal friend."

"He's not staying here."

"He won't want to. There's a group under the cemetery he's more likely to join." She makes a label and tapes it on.

"And a maenad is what? I've heard the term before but I always thought it was myth."

"There's not many around. They're almost always female and bat shit crazy. That time he's referring to was when Logan and I were living in a tiny community in Switzerland. Maenad rolled in, chaos,
chaos, lots of debauchery and death. Logan got close enough to pluck out her eye before we both were killed. That township's been vacant ever since and they're afraid to step foot on what they think is haunted my demons."

"What do they do? Just cause madness?"

"That is their purpose. It's why they're called the raving ones. That madness has an end result of over indulgence in sex, drugs, alcohol, and fighting. Humans can only tolerate so much before they die of exhaustion, exertion and possibly alcohol poisoning or death by someone else in a moment of rage."

"How many have you killed?"

"Collectively, eight."

"And been killed by?"

"Sixteen."

I breathe in deeply.

"Not much of a gap."

"Think of them as a vampire with rabies and magic, and steroids; and when you've got an army of raving lunatics, things get a little difficult. But that's okay. We've got a warning and I've got something for her ass."

Hope's decided she's done and I lay her against my shoulder.

"Just don't do anything without me. We're a team and I'm not losing you."

"Did I mention I was just a witch every time I've faced one? This time I have some advantage."

"Roxy."

"Okay. I won't do anything without you."

"Good girl."

"Woof."

"Smart-ass. If he looks at my kids wrong, I'm tearing him in half."

"I don't like children. I don't even like my own children. You're safe." He's got a towel around his waist. "Is that the baby daddy?"

"I think it would be obvious with a comment like that."

"And the vampire and the weird thing upstairs, canoodling, what is she? And what are you this time?"

"Tribrid. Mom was a witch, dad was a were, and the vampire got added later."

"Wouldn't that make you, a, uh, do they even have a word for 4-parts of something?" He follows her into the kitchen.

He knows what she is? He knows and I don't?! Looks like I'll just have to have a talk with him.

"If they do, you got me. How about a mutt? Just call me a mutt. Cookie?"

"You know I don't eat that human soil."

"You know when you have a little bit, your meat suit stays fresher, longer. Nom-nom-nom."

"You haven't changed."

"Did you expect me to? I will change when," She pauses, "when the sun explodes and we all die."

"Morbid as ever."

He's sitting in the nook with a sour look at the small bowl of fruit she's given him.

"So how was your gathering? Last I knew your group had split down the middle and wanted to kill each other. Great sister hood by the way."

"There's been some mended fences. Things are still rocky with some of them, but we're getting on again."

"Sophie still a whore?"

"Actually, she's found her other half, got married and popped one out."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"And you! You popped out four. I thought you never wanted children."

"Things change and shit happens. And only three are biologically mine." She breathes in deeply. "There was a period of seperation and Klaus produced Hope with the vampire-werewolf hybrid you saw
canoodling with his brother upstairs."

"She's one of those that like to keep it in the family. I knew a girl like that once."

"How'd that end?"

"I ate her."

His response makes her laugh.

"You cannibal!"

"I don't play that game."

"As far as I can tell, they're not lying when they say there was no feelings shared or lost between them, and she's got her eyes on Elijah."

"You read them?"

"I don't want to."

"Afraid of what you'll find?"

"And if I just go for the easy magic way out, what happens when there is no magical way around or through something? I'd be screwed. Call it personal growth and trust building."

"You sound like the neo-yuppie dick-bag I ate on the way here."

"You're eating dick-bags now, huh? How's that taste?"

"Oh shut up!" He throws a blueberry at her. "You know what I mean! I'll eat a lotta things, but dick isn't one of them. That's my other brothers area."

There's more laughter and she throws the blueberry back at him.

"What do you plan on doing about the maenad?"

"I still have a horn somewheres. I'm gonna take a walk, find it, and give the bitch a taste of her own poison."

"I still find that so funny."

"What?"

"Sirens, maenads, and a lotta other shit isn't immune to their own poisons."

Sirens?

"Could always just give her the touch of death."

"That would involve me getting too close and I told Klaus I won't be stupid. We're going to shoot her in the face with a dart full of her own crap. Until then, you remember a white-eyed demon from
anywhere?"

He hums as he thinks. "Just that Japanese one with the forked tongue."

"No. It wasn't that."

"Weird dreams?"

"Uh-huh."

"Mama!"

"And they're awake."

"That is why I don't like children. The screaming and the crying, and then it grows up into an even bigger asshole."

"I bet they think the same about you. Go somewheres else. I don't need them questioning about your anatomy."

"It's called a penis. As small and sad as it may be, but I'm also in the form of a boy. The next person I eat has to look like Arnold back in the 80s."

"Yeah, yeah. Flex your pathetic boy boobs somewhere else."

"Mama, who's that?"

"That is Gideon. You'll meet him later when he's got proper clothes on. Until then, how was your nap?"

"I had a weird dream!" Kian announces.

"How weird?"

"I was riding a giraffe but it had a cats head and a horses tail."

"I think you need to stop having peanut-butter before bed cause that's even more weird than mine was."

"What was yours?"

"I don't remember much, but there's one piece I do remember. There was a unicorn with rainbow colored mane and when it farted it made a rainbow."

Even I have to laugh at that one. Unicorns and rainbow colored farts? Ridiculous!