I truly must apologize for how long it took me to update. My life turned into a complete mess of chaos. But I wish I could've given you this chapter much sooner. Thank you, to those who continue to support my writing. YOU ARE EVERYTHING.
Music
Diver Revive by Fat Segal [Hayley/Compound]
25 Dollars Worth by London Music Works, The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra & James Fitzpatrick [Elijah]
Embrace by Ben Sollee [Elijah/Hayley]
U.R.A. Fever by The Kills [Klaus/Hayley]
Remeber How I Broke Your Heart by Priscilla Ahn [Elijah/Hayley]
Hayley marched into the compound. They were all aware of Elijah's original plan to dry her of vervain. Now everyone knew that she had no humanity. It explained her temperament that they had always thought was simply heartlessness.
The vampires were not under any orders to attack her, despite her escape and injuring of Andrea. Plus, no one dared even catch her in the eye longer than a second. She looked like she would rip out the heart of anyone who even acknowledged her.
"Where is Klaus?" She asked loudly.
They all stared at her, unsure if they were supposed to share that information with her.
But their silence only set her off. She grabbed the nearest vampire. She had been sitting on a chair, only a few feet away. Hayley ripped her off the seat and held her by the fabric of her collar.
"Someone tell me where Klaus is or I'll start ripping out hearts." Her voice was quieter than the first time she asked; yet it had more malice. She gestured at the vampire in her grasp, "I'll start with her."
Yes, they all outnumbered her by dozens. But they were under strict orders not to kill her. And they knew not to underestimate Hayley. Even if they could kill her, it would involve many of them dying first. After all, she had been raised a vampire by the Originals.
"He's in Mystic Falls!" A male immediately yelled. He had been sitting at the same table as the girl. He was standing, prepared to fight Hayley. But his eyes were locked with the vampire in her possession. They must be friends, Hayley thought with the way he responded.
But Hayley narrowed her eyes at the answer. "Why is he there?" She pushed, still threatening everyone with her hostage.
"Do you honestly think he told us?" The same guy responded. It was practically a yelp. He didn't bother hiding his panic at seeing his friend, perhaps even his lover, in the hands of a deadly vampire who had her humanity missing.
"Oh tisk-tisk…that's too bad for your friend here." Hayley mocked him as if she felt sorry for him.
The guy growled before lunging for Hayley. Before he even reached her, Hayley had snapped her hostage's neck and side stepped out of the way from the attack. He turned around for another strike, but Hayley saw this coming. She stopped him by using his momentum against him. Her hand shot into his chest, her fingers wrapping around his beating heart.
"That was very stupid." She sneered.
"He went to Mystic Falls because Katherine is dying." A voice exclaimed from above. Hayley recognized the voice. She paused, not looking up to the third party who had interrupted the chaos. Slowly, Hayley removed her hand from the man's chest. He let out a gasp filled with both lingering pain and relief.
Hayley slowly looked up to see Andrea on the catwalk above. The she-wolf was glaring down, her hands grasping the wooden bannister tightly. Hayley didn't return the glare, only smiled at her. By the look on Andrea's face, this was more effective anyway. The entire room was silent.
"Now you can stop trying to prove to anyone that you're a heartless bitch. There's enough dying going around." Andrea finished.
Hayley laughed at that. The next moment, she was standing on the catwalk next to Andrea. The she-wolf gasped, somehow forgetting the quickness of vampires. She looked at Hayley, trying to figure out if she had the balls to kill her.
"That's really hilarious to hear coming from you." Hayley stated. "You know… since you're responsible for twelve hybrids being murdered. Oh, and then there was Tyler's mom too. You were responsible for 13 deaths in one night." Hayley stepped closer. "One night." She emphasized in a deadly whisper.
Andrea took a step back, shocked. Her arms, that had been crossed, fell limply at her side. "How-how do you know about that?"
"Doesn't it drive you crazy?" Hayley asked softly, getting even closer to her face. "I know so much about you and you wouldn't even know my name if I hadn't told you myself."
Andrea pretended not to be intimidated. It was not a frequent feeling. But there was such mystery and aptitude hidden in Hayley's eyes: something that Andrea had never possessed herself.
"Then why don't you tell me more?" Andrea finally challenged.
"What… Elijah's still set on keeping me a secret?" Hayley snickered.
"Hayley." A voice from behind her called out powerfully. She turned around to see Elijah watching her cautiously. With his entrance, the vampires below stopped watching them as if they were live entertainment. They began quietly talking amongst themselves once again. "What are you doing here?" He questioned.
"Am I not welcome at the compound?" Hayley confronted with a grin.
"You know very well that this compound is open to you." Elijah clarified politely as he walked forward. "However, you have made a habit of bringing danger with you as well." He glanced down below to see that one of the vampires was picking up an unconscious girl while he had a blood stained and ripped shirt. "And with a mere glance, I can perceive that I am not far off, am I?"
"She wanted to know where your brother is." Andrea interjected.
Both Elijah and Hayley's gaze flickered to her as if they had both forgot that she was even there. Hayley's acknowledgment quickly turned into a glare. But it was brief, turning her attention hastily back to Elijah.
"How is it even possible that Katherine could be dying?" She asked.
Elijah suddenly looked uncomfortable discussing such matters so out in the open. The vampires below could easily hear. But most importantly, Andrea stood right there still trying to figure out what Hayley's connection was to him. He kept asking himself why he had put such an effort from refusing to share any information about Hayley to her. The only answer he ever concluded: he didn't want her to realize that she could have possibly been a substitution for Hayley. But was she even? He then wondered. But he didn't even know anymore.
"Can we please discuss this in private?" Elijah asked her softly.
Hayley narrowed her eyes at him. After a moment, she nodded in settlement. Elijah was stunned at how easily she agreed. He led her to his bedroom. Just before they reached the hallway they had to turn into, he glanced back at Andrea. She looked betrayed, but mostly angry. However somehow, he knew that she wouldn't eavesdrop on their conversation.
Elijah closed the door behind him. When he turned around, he paused as he watched Hayley glance around the room, observing it. He suddenly realized how strange it was, seeing her in here. For a moment, she looked like her old self. Elijah suddenly felt like he was seeing her ghost in one of his dreams.
The reverie was broken when Hayley quickly turned around with a dark demeanor shadowing her. "Do you have any more tricks up your sleeve to force my humanity back?" It wasn't really a question, but a warning not to try anything like that again.
Elijah's head bowed slightly. "I finally recognized that I could not force such a transformation onto you. I will not go through such torture again anytime soon."
Hayley observed him for a moment, measuring his earnestness. "Why is Katherine dying?" Her question came out like a bullet, reminding Elijah of why she agreed to meet with him in privacy in the first place.
"From what I understand, Elena forced the cure onto Katherine as a last effort of survival when she had been attacked. Katherine was hundreds of years old. Evidently, the age slowly deteriorated her once she became human again." Elijah put his hands in his pockets, a gesture that Hayley had once found so charming and old-fashioned. "Now Niklaus wishes to bask in her death." He sighed.
Hayley knew he thought the comment would earn a smirk from her. But she just kept her eyes locked on him, emotionless. "The only thing I'm confused about is why you chose to stay here." She muttered evenly.
Elijah tilted his head faintly in confusion.
"The two of you rekindled so quickly after I died. I thought being the noble and honorable gentleman you claim to be, you would at least give her some comfort while she is on her deathbed."
Elijah's mouth opened slightly, a subconscious reaction to defend himself. But he is more taken aback by her knowledge of his lustful relationship with his "ex", Katarina. "Did Nikla-"
"No. He didn't." She answered before he could even ask. "The in-between is no heaven, Elijah. The only thing we were left to do was watch the people we had left behind. I didn't want to find you. I thought you would be utterly broken, lost. But Kol…he had finally convinced me that I should seek you out." Hayley explained it all as if she were reporting an incident that had no personal connection. There was no emotion as she illuminated her time in death. It was the first time she had ever even shared it.
Elijah clenched his jaw as he listened. He was trying to control his emotions. But his eyes began to betray him as they filled with tears. He managed to keep them intact, stopping them from escaping his eyes.
"I found you in that stupid little town Katherine had compelled as her home. I was so happy at just seeing you. I was such a lovesick idiot. Then you kissed Elena, believing her to be Katherine. I didn't see you again until you refused to give the cure to Rebekah…the same cure that would've allowed me, Kol, and Finn to return."
Elijah understood now. All she had seen was him moving on. Except what she didn't understand was that it hadn't been him moving on at all, but him trying to find some way to deal with the pain. They were all distractions. Then Hayley awoke, back into the world of the living, only to be completely alone. When she eventually found them, she also found a girl that would only seem like a replacement in her eyes.
"Hayley," Elijah whispered.
Her breath caught. Somehow she heard everything he was thinking just within the whisper of her name. Without any intent, she had finally told him what measures had brought her to become the person she was now. There was so much more pain and treachery, but Elijah would eventually put it all together.
"DON'T." She stopped him. "Whatever you want to say to me. Just stop. I don't want to hear it." Without giving him any time to continue his efforts, she left the room. Her walk was quick.
But this time, Elijah wasn't going to let her go that easily. He followed her down the catwalk. The vampires below instantly looked up, knowing there was something going on.
"Hayley, wait." Elijah commanded. But she glided down the stairs, acting as if she couldn't hear him.
He continued after her.
She shoved past vampires who weren't fast enough to get out of her way. The next second, they were on the street outside the compound. By some miracle, there were no vampires lingering outside tonight. There was a motorcycle with a helmet parked to the side. It was Hayley's.
Hayley grabbed the helmet to get seated. But Elijah ripped the keys out of the ignition, making it impossible for her to escape so easily.
"You're scared." Elijah pointed out boldly. "You're scared that if you actually listen to what I have to say, you will not be able to contain that humanity any longer."
"Don't flatter yourself." Hayley snapped, getting up from the bike.
"Do you truly believe that I abandoned you so easily? That I loved other women the way I loved you?" He confronted.
"Yes!"
"What you saw was an act, Hayley." He whispered. "I tried to fool the world around me that I could survive without you. Sometimes, for a few moments at best, I could even fool myself."
Elijah kept getting closer, refusing her to ignore to any emotion he was trying to convey onto her.
"I don't believe you." Hayley growled back. She kept stumbling backward, trying to find the air, the space that she needed to get away from his emotions.
Elijah finally completely closed to the distance between them. He softly placed his hands on either side of her face. "Hayley, I never stopped loving you. If you are the intelligent and brave woman that I fell in love with, you would believe me." He murmured, placing a kiss on her lips. It was desperate and rushed, bringing Hayley back to their last kiss when they both knew she was about to die.
Hayley quickly pulled away, shoving him away. Without even realizing what she was going, she slapped him. The left side of his face held an imprint of her hand. She was seething, her chest rising and falling as she tried to contain her rage. "But I don't believe you." Hayley ripped the motorcycle keys out of his hand, threw on her helmet, and sped away. She left Elijah, frozen and watching her escape until she disappeared into the night. It seemed all he did now was watch her leave.
It was 2 o'clock in the morning when Klaus returned to New Orleans. An entire trip to torture Katarina on her deathbed and he never even made it to the Salvatore boarding house. Klaus had a smile on his face as he entered his personal quarters in the compound, thinking about Caroline in the forest. He turned on the light sitting on his nightstand with a boyish smirk.
"Either you enjoyed watching Katherine suffer or you finally fucked Caroline Forbes." A voice said from the other side of the room. Klaus quickly looked up but contained any further evidence of surprise. Hayley was sitting on one of his couches, a bottle of tequila in grasp. There was hardly a fourth of it left. For his sake, Klaus hoped she hadn't started with it full.
"What are you doing here?" He accused, not hiding his irritation.
"Well…in the few days you were gone, Elijah kidnapped me, locked me in the garden, and drained my vervain with the intention to compel my humanity back." She waited for his reaction, which was dramatic enough for her to realize that he had not been aware of his brother's plan. "I managed to get away before the deed was done."
"I can assure you, had I been here, no such thing would have occurred." Klaus solemnly noted.
Hayley watched him for a moment. Then she stood up from the chair. There was a slight stumble that she tried to hide. But Klaus had already decided that she'd consumed that entire bottle alone. She slowly walked up to him.
"Why is it that you accept me this way while Elijah and Rebekah look at me like I'm some shattered jewel?" She asked him with a husky voice. But her eyes started at his own, only to move down to look at his lips.
Klaus could smell the tequila on her lips. But he also couldn't help but get caught in her gaze.
He'd always thought Hayley was beautiful, though he had never expressed such an opinion to anyone. He remembered the first time he'd seen her: she had showed up to Mystic Falls' local hangout. She was alone, having disobeyed Elijah's orders to stay put at the mansion. But at the time, Klaus had just thought she was someone passing through. Her attire made it obvious that she belonged in bigger and better places than Mystic Falls. Her eyes looked as if she was about to do something mischievous, but there was still a mystery to be solved deeper within. He had overheard the way she dealt with Damon Salvatore's pursuits, smiling at how sassy and witty she had retorted.
However, Klaus had never had feelings for Hayley. He saw the way Elijah looked at her and he knew that it was not the same. Even Kol, who had quickly formed affection for the human girl, regarded her as if she were some angel that had been sent to save him. Klaus' original connection to Hayley had been one to protect her for the sake of his brother. However, he soon recognized their similarities and learned that she too had been abandoned as a child. Now he felt as if she were a sister, so unlike his own Rebekah, that he needed to shield.
"I supposed I simply see you as more capable, stronger, and…deadlier. Instead of seeing you as shattered." He finally replied.
Hayley managed to creep even closer. "So you'd be completely happy with me staying like this…forever?" Her voice was even raspier.
"I guess so." Klaus whispered back.
What was happening?
Hayley's eyes fell to his lips once again. There was a beat, a hesitation before their lips collided. She slammed him against the wall. Klaus kissed back, reciprocating as much as she was instigating. Hayley yanked his leather jacket off, throwing it to the side. Then she pulled his Henley t-shirt over his head. His hands started pull at her raggedy t-shirt, getting rid of it as well.
But as she began kissing him once again, something hit him. It was like a splash of cold water had been dropped on him. He pulled away, perceiving her. Her long blonde-red hair was mess from their affair. He brushed it away from her face delicately. Then he studied her eyes. That's where he caught it.
"What have you done?" Klaus growled, pinning her wrists to the wall.
"Klaus, let me go!" She warned in a growl that was louder than necessary. But he just assumed it was due to panic.
"How did you do that? How did that work on me?" Klaus continued to growl. Her siren powers couldn't work on vampires, they only work on human males. How could they have work on an original, a hybrid?
"I don't know what you're talking about." Hayley advised, trying to break her wrists free of his hold. But he slammed her harder into the wall, shaking it with his force.
Then Hayley caught his gaze once again, tilting her head a little. The influence dropped over him again. But it would only last a few seconds. Her supernatural hearing listened carefully. Her heart leapt when she finally heard what she was waiting for. She used the few seconds of power carefully, leaning in for another kiss. Klaus barely fought it this time. But Hayley continued, waiting until she heard the door open.
Klaus pulled away, dropping her wrists. Then he saw that Hayley wasn't looking at him anymore, but at the door. Elijah stood in the doorway. Letting in soft light to the dark bedroom. Klaus glared at Hayley, finally realizing what she had tried to do. That was why she cried out so loudly, knowing that Elijah could pick up her voice from a mile away, especially when it sounded distressed.
"Elijah, let me explain." Klaus was calm, knowing that he could calmly explain the situation.
"Are you going to try and use my siren curse as your excuse?" Hayley sighed. She pretended to be insulted, as if there had been no ulterior motive to her actions.
Elijah didn't look at Klaus as if he intended to lash out at him in any way. In fact, his demeanor remained composed. He stared at Hayley, who stood in only jeans and her red, lace bra. His expression was made of disappointment.
"I think you should know, Niklaus." Elijah started as he walked into the room. "Hayley threatened Andrea and her baby while you were away. I had taken her daylight ring and she was quite upset. She held a knife over Andrea's heart. When she finally got what she wanted, she practically broke Andrea's forearm in two."
Klaus slowly turned to look at Hayley, asking her with only a look if it were true. But her attention was on Elijah, her eyes narrowing, wondering what game he was trying to play.
Klaus took an aggressive tread toward her. It was one thing to threaten Andrea, but his child was completely unacceptable. Elijah stepped between the two of them before Klaus could attack.
"Still think you accept her this way?" Elijah challenged.
Klaus looked as if he were deciding on whether he would fight his brother to get to Hayley. But he didn't know what he'd even do to her. Teach her a lesson? But how? She believed she was indestructible. But she practically was because she knew the Originals would protect her despite her obvious hatred toward them.
After a moment of staring down his brother, Klaus backed away. He leaned around him though so he could make eye contact with Hayley. "If I see your face here again or anywhere near my child, I will lock you in the garden for a century. And I assure you, not even Elijah will stop me." Then Klaus rushed out of the room. He was still shirtless as he stormed away.
Elijah sighed once his brother was completely gone. He knelt down and picked up Hayley's black t-shirt that Klaus had thrown to the ground. He kindly gave it to her, not caring if she intended on putting it back on or not.
"How did you do it?" Elijah asked she took her shirt from him.
"Do what?" She asked innocently, slowly putting her t-shirt back on.
"Seduce him with your siren curse."
Hayley looked at the ground as she spoke. "My lip-gloss had vervain and wolf's bane mixed into it. He couldn't smell it because of the tequila."
"Did it feel like you thought it would?" Elijah continued.
Hayley couldn't help but finally look up at him. "What?"
"Having me catch you with him. Did I give you the reaction you were hoping for?" He clarified.
"Well, it's hard to say, seeing as we didn't get as far as I was hoping." Hayley retorted quickly.
Elijah smirked at that. But it hid the sadness and antagonism he was truly feeling. "When will you tire of this?"
"Of punishing you? Never." Hayley smiled. She walked toward him, still without her shirt on. She reached forward, about to caress his cheek condescendingly. But Elijah snatched her wrist before she could. "What? Earlier tonight you couldn't keep your hands off me. Now I can't touch you?"
"Not like this." He answered.
"What would you want if I actually did tire of this?" She opposed. "Would you want me to leave? Finally let you try and overtake New Orleans without me getting in the way?"
Elijah slowly and gently let go of her wrist. He looked at her in the way that had once made her uncomfortable.
"I have finally come to comprehension that you will believe anything you wish, Hayley. Therefore, I have no point in expressing my thoughts and feelings. I love you. But you will not accept that in your form."
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