Alright, guys. Brace yourselves because this chapter gets intense. Yes, there's more Kol in this one, and Cassandra finally sees him face to..new face. Some of you asked if Kol still has feelings for Cassandra. I'll let his words and actions answer that. I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed getting to put Cassandra in Cami's place when I went through this section and come at it from her point of view. As you'll quickly learn, the chapter kicks off with a scene between Elijah and Esther. Not exactly a warm and fuzzy moment between mother and son, but a necessary one for plot purposes. I thought about adding more Esther/Elijah scenes, but then this chapter would have been up in the 9K range, and I didn't need it to be that long, so I went with what I felt was the most important moment. With that said, thank you guys for all of the incredible things you had to say about the last chapter. I can't believe how close to 300 reviews this story is getting to. I look forward to hearing what you all think about this one. Happy reading!
Chapter 28 - Hunting The Hunter
A girl with long, wavy blonde hair wearing a long, white dress frantically raced toward a bright red door. She whimpered in fear as a shirtless, blood covered Elijah stalked towards her. When she reached the door, the girl jiggled the handle, but it would not budge. She pounded on the door with her hand as she glanced over her shoulder. Elijah remained emotionless as he quickened his pace and reached the girl who turned out to be Cassandra. She turned around and continued to bang on the door. He grabbed her by the arm and spun her around to face him. When he did, he wasn't staring at Cassandra anymore. She had transformed into a woman with wavy brown hair and brown eyes, a woman from his past, the first woman he'd ever loved. She was the first doppelganger. Her name was Tatia.
Elijah grabbed her by the hair and tilted her head to the side, exposing her neck. Ignoring her cries in protest, he revealed his vampire face and bit into her neck.
"No!" Tatia begged.
With a sigh, Elijah opened his eyes and lifted his head. Realizing it had been a horrific dream and that he was still his mother's hostage, he tugged at the chains bound to his wrists as hard as they could, but they would not budge. They had been secured by a spell.
"Have you forgotten where you are, son?" Esther called out, redirecting his attention on to where she stood a few yards in front of him beside a stone tomb with a cup of tea in her hands. She slowly walked towards him. "Safe your strength. My chains don't break so easily." She pointed above his head at a large poppet dangling from the rafters, magically fortifying them so they cannot be broken. "Having sweet dreams?"
Elijah let out a low growl as he lunged towards her as far as the chains binding him would allow. "Get out of my head."
"I'm not in your head, dear," Esther told him in a calm voice. "Go ahead. Get your bearings. We have much to discuss." She turned around and walked out of the mausoleum, leaving a confused and irritated Elijah behind.
She returned a little while later to continue their conversation. "What were you dreaming about ripping apart when you woke earlier?" She asked him. "Was it your new little plaything, Cassandra?" Or, was it someone else?" Elijah snarled and lunged at her again. "Stop fighting, Elijah. I brought you here to listen. And you're not going anywhere until I've said my piece."
"So speak," Elijah muttered as he stared at her with ice cold eyes.
"I want you to rejoin our family, but as a witch. I want you to leave behind the grotesque savage vampirism has made of you. Take the body of a mortal, and we can all be happy again. Start over." She turned around and took a sip from her teacup as she walked away from him.
"You do know you're entirely demented, don't you," Elijah called out after her.
Esther chuckled softly. "Am I? I'm not the one who pulls the wings off every beautiful butterfly that he finds." Esther slowly turned back around to face him. "Like the woman who flits across the edge of your nightmare."
"Let me go. Now!" Elijah growled and revealed his vampire face.
"How quickly you slip back into your more savage self," Esther wasn't bothered by it at all. Elijah relented and allowed his face to return to normal. "The moral son I raised is now but a mask worn to hide ancient demons."
"You know nothing." Elijah snapped.
"See, that's where you're wrong. I know more about the secrets you carry than you do. Shall I list them? I can begin with the first little butterfly you destroyed. The sweet young widow from our village who caught your eye when you were still human." Elijah turned away from her and licked his lips. "Ah, you remember her. Of course. How could you forget the first girl to ever steal your heart? She of mystical blood. The doppelganger, Tatia."
"I did nothing but love that woman until the day you took her life."
"I know that's what you believe, which is precisely why you are here. I need to show you the monster you really are."
Esther walked away from him to retrieve a lit candlestick, then she returned. "When I do, you will beg for salvation, and happily, I shall provide it." She held the candle up in front of his face and chanted the incantation to a spell which sent his mind spiraling back in time a thousand years to when he'd been human. "It was Samhain. When we danced and killed the best of our livestock to appease the gods for a new season. All women envied her. All men wanted her. But she only had eyes for one."
In the memory, Elijah was standing off to the side watching the villagers as they danced around a tall bonfire. Among those villagers was Tatia, and she was dancing with Klaus. She found a brief moment to pause and lifted up the mask she wore as she turned toward Elijah. She smiled at him and gave him a little curtsy. He couldn't help but smile back. His smile faded as he watched Klaus spin her back toward him and lift his mask up so he could kiss her. Having seen enough, Elijah walked away. He ended up by the pig pen and knelt down to pet the big black pig inside.
"Do not tell me you came to save Loki the pig from his face," Tatia walked up to him holding her mask in her hands.
Elijah glanced at her stood back up as a smile tugged at his lips. As he spoke he stared back down at the pig. "No, I'm afraid Loki the pig's fate is to be food." He paused and glanced sideways at her. "Just as you are fated to love another."
"And you?" Tatia tilted her head slightly. "Fated to watch from the shadows, a noble martyr? Fate does not dictate my heart, Elijah. I was fated to throw myself on a pyre after my husband died in battle, but I did not. I chose to live. And I chose to give my heart once more to someone strong, protective, fierce, and yet noble, and gentle." She paused and placed her hand on the side of his face. He raised his hand and placed it on top of hers. "I choose you, Elijah." His lips parted slightly in surprise. He stared at her a moment, then leaned in to kiss her.
She leaned back with a laugh. "And you choose to have our first kiss where your mother slaughters the pigs?" She flashed him a grin. "Not very roman—"
He placed his hand behind her head and cut her off with another kiss. After a couple of long seconds, he slowly pulled away. "Perhaps we should set Loki the pig free," he murmured as she slowly opened her eyes. "Seems one's fate can change after all." He grabbed the side of her face and leaned in to kiss her again."
Esther blew out the candle, ending the memory and bringing Elijah back to the present. "But that was just the beginning. A brief moment of happiness. That is how it always begins. A butterfly lands upon your finger, unaware that it will lead to her tragic end."
"Her tragic end came when you drained her body of blood," Elijah scowled. "All for a spell to the smother the wolf within Niklaus, as memory serves."
"Actually, Elijah," Esther laughed. "Your memory doesn't serve you at all. You just don't realize it yet. But by the time we're done here," she stroked his face. "You will."
Cassandra stood next to Klaus in front of the cabin's front door, watching as the young man inside eased Davina's unconscious body into a chair. She'd been extremely annoyed when she realized she couldn't enter without Davina's invitation, leaving her with the only option of giving orders.
"She needs a hospital," Cassandra murmured. "She could have a concussion or a brain bleed. Or here's a thought. You could bring her over here and let me heal her."
"No. No vampire blood. She wouldn't want that," the young man, Kaleb, shook his head. Cassandra sighed and folded her arms across her chest. She turned her head as Klaus held up the white oak stake in his hand to show he'd taken down Mikael. "Oh, hello, darling. Back to huff and puff and blow the house down?"
Cassandra blinked in surprise at Kaleb's use of the word 'darling'. She'd only known one person to ever call anyone by that term of endearment. She knew Kol had taken a witch body, but she didn't know what he now looked like. She also knew that this kid using the word could have been a complete coincidence. Nevertheless, she decided to pay close attention to everything he said and did. She needed to know for sure if he was Kol.
"You know, it's funny how often a person's sharp tongue can end up cutting their own throat."
"Klaus, he's just a kid. Give him a break," Cassandra told him as she focused her hearing on Davina's pulse and heartbeat.
"She's right. You know, you might wanna try a bit of lavender under your pillow. Does wonders for stuck up pillocks with anger issues," Kaleb retorted.
"Hey, shut it" Cassandra glared at him.
"I promised not to kill Davina. I said nothing of this insolent sod," Klaus kept his eyes on Kaleb.
Cassandra sighed and grabbed Klaus by the arm. "Come on," she tugged him backwards, away from the doorway. "A minute ago you could have killed Mikael with the stake, but you didn't. You're not gonna kill this kid with it, either."
Klaus let out a breath of air as he turned his head to glance back inside the cabin at Kaleb who was still tending to Davina. He turned back to Cassandra after a moment and slowly nodded his head. "Fine," he handed her the white oak stake.
"Thank you," she whispered as she took it from him and gave him a quick peck on the lips in return.
He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his car keys. "Go get the car. Let's take her to a hospital."
Cassandra nodded and took the keys from him before walking off. He watched her for a moment, then walked back to the cabin doorway. "You've got a way with words," he told Kaleb.
"Well, I've traveled," Kaleb glanced over at him. He stood up and walked over to the door.
Klaus raised his hands and rested them against the door frame. "You seem to have crossed continents in order to weasel your way into Davina's good graces thereby meddling in my family business." His lips curled into a smirk. "Strange, isn't it. Unless of course it's your family business. You know, ever since my dinner with my mother and Finn, I've been wondering when you might make an appearance, Kol."
Kaleb/Kol laughed softly and waved his hand as he gave a small bow. "The jig is up. Hello, brother."
"It's not that I begrudge you hitching a ride back to the land of the living, it's just that you're making all the wrong friends, brother, and I have half a mind to show you how wrong you are."
"Well, I could always reacquaint myself with Cassandra. She's looking delectable, as always," Kol smirked.
"Cassandra," Klaus called out in a loud voice. "I changed my mind. I am going to kill him after all." When he got no response, he turned away from the doorway. "Cassandra?"
He started to make his way back to the SUV. Halfway there, his eyes landed on the open driver's side door with blood smears on the window. He ran up to and checked inside before continuing to the back of the car. The rear door was open and the back was completely empty. Panic flood him as he realized Mikael had somehow found a way to escape and had taken Cassandra with him. He quickly pulled his phone out of his pocket and called his brother.
"Elijah, where are you?" He began to leave a message when Elijah didn't pick up and made his way back to the cabin. "Mikael's loose with the stake and Cassandra is a hostage and I'm weaponless and in need of reinforcement. Urgently."
He ended the message and stuffed his phone back into his inside jacket pocket as he stopped in front of the open front door to address his younger brother who was sitting in a chair across from a still unconscious Davina. "Wake her up," He ordered Kol. "Tell her to get Mikael back here now."
"Well, let me think about that," Kol tapped his chin lightly as he glanced at Davina. He turned back to Klaus with a smirk. "No."
Klaus clenched his hands into tight fists as he gave Kol a death glare. "He took Cassandra. He's going to kill her, Kol."
"What?" Kol sat up as his face fell. He let out a displeased hiss. "Fine. Go search for her. I'll work on getting Davina upright so she can regain control of Mikael."
Klaus nodded and vanished into the night. With a heavy sigh, Kol went back over to Davina and tucked a small pillow behind her head. "It'd be really useful if you woke up about now. I kicked a few familial hornets' nests, and now someone I care about is in a bit of a jam."
After being blindsided by Mikael as she started to climb into Klaus's SUV, followed by the threat of being impaled by the Papa Tunde blade he held in his hand, Cassandra reluctantly handed over the white oak stake and willingly became his hostage. With a hand firmly locked around her upper arm, Mikael dragged Cassandra through the darkened woods deep in the throngs of the bayou.
"Klaus will find you," Cassandra hissed through clenched teeth as he pulled her along.
"Oh, he will," Mikael agreed. "But I will be ready."
"How? I've seen the kind of pain that blade causes. I know how weak it leaves its victims once it's been removed." Cassandra thanked her lucky stars that he hadn't yet used it on her.
"I have fought through more pain than anyone, living or dead," Mikael growled. He stopped and turned toward her, gripping the blade tightly in his other hand. "But once I feed, I shall be restored."
A wave of panic rushed through her. She knew Mikael had taught himself over the centuries to feed and be sustained by vampire blood. She was part vampire. Not wanting to be his meal, she tried to rip her arm out of his grip, but he was quick to yank her back towards him.
"Not on you," he told her in a grizzly voice. "At least, not yet. You, my dear, are leverage. Once I threaten to rip out your heart in front of him, Klaus will hesitate. And in that moment of weakness, I shall end him."
Though she was terrified, Cassandra did her best not let it show. "This is crazy, the two of you going round and round trying to kill each other. You are obsessed with the death of someone whose fatal flaw is he was fathered by another guy."
"Hush!" Mikael bellowed, making her flinch in fear. "You are the enabler of the weak. No wonder he seeks your company." He paused and turned away, staring into the woods ahead. Cassandra stretched her hearing capacity, and then she knew what he knew. "I hear music. And where there's music, there's food."
He dragged her along until they reached a clearing where a large group had congregated for a party around a bonfire. When they came to a stop beside the trees just outside the clearing, Mikael pulled Cassandra forward so she was beside him and slid his arm tightly around her shoulders.
"Well, well, well," he murmured softly as he gazed at the partiers. "Hillbilly Halloween. How perfect."
"No!" Cassandra whimpered as he slid his hand back down to her arm and tugged her along.
-o-
Sometime later, Klaus finally came up on the same spot Cassandra and Mikael had been stopped at when they'd heard the music from the party. Klaus's attention had been immediately drawn to a patch of smeared blood on a skinny sapling. He glided his index finger along the tree's wet edge and smiled at how fresh it still was. It meant they had recently been there. He continued on his way and came upon the clearing where the party was, but there was no longer any music playing. Each and every party goer wore masks as they stood around the crackling bonfire facing him. Some of them even held sharp wooden spears in their hands.
"Did you honestly think to hold me with a blade forged for pain," One of the party goers standing in front of the fire spoke in a loud voice as Klaus walked into the middle of the group. He held a long, sharp blade in his hand and pointed it at Klaus as he spoke. Unamused, Klaus tightened his jaw as he looked from him to his two comrades standing beside him. "Unlike the weak, unlike you, I gain strength from pain."
"Soon you will know the taste of white oak as it pierces your heart," a second party goer in the middle of the circle spoke out.
"Very clever, Mikael," Klaus shook his head as he spoke loudly. "Compelling the locals to say to my face what you dare not." He turned around as he spoke, hoping Mikael was lurking somewhere and could hear every word. "Enjoy the theatrics. They only delay the inevitable."
The first partier who had spoken let out a loud yell as he raised the blade in his hand and charged Klaus. Klaus blocked the blade and knocked him to the ground with an effortless punch. A second partier came at hi, but he quickly wrapped his arm around the partier's neck and snapped it with a loud crack. Using the blade and spear from the first two partiers, Klaus began swinging them at the rest of the partiers one by one as they came at him. After slaughtering all of them he knelt down and began to feed on the bodies, replenishing his strength. As he wiped his mouth after getting his fill, he stood up and turned around to find a surviving partier walking towards him, waving a crowbar wildly in his hand. Klaus punched him hard in the chest and sent him barreling down to the ground with a growl. Before he could finish the partier off, his phone began ringing from his inside jacket pocket. He let out a sigh and pulled it out to answer the call.
"I'm a tad busy. What is it, Hayley?" He grumbled impatiently.
"Something has happened to Elijah," Hayley spoke calmly. "He was supposed to be our decoy earlier tonight and now he's vanished. There's blood everywhere, werewolf and vampire. There's a trail. I need you to help me and Marcel track it."
"Well, as much as I might like to help you find my brother, I have more pressing matters at the moment," he turned and saw the partier crawling towards him and kicked him hard, sending him flying onto his back with a loud thud.
"What's more important than your own brother?" Hayley frowned.
"My life," Klaus answered matter-of-factly. "Davina had my father, Mikael, on a magical leash and it broke. Now Mikael has Tunde's blade, the white oak stake, and Cassandra. I'm gonna get her back." He paused and turned to the party goer who had crawled onto his knees and grabbed him by the throat. "And then I'm gonna end this. Either Mikael or I will be ash by day's end. And if you do find my brother, please, tell him I could do with a hand." He snapped the partier's neck and tossed him to the ground as he ended the call.
-o-
After forcing Cassandra to watch as he fed on and compelled the group of partiers in the woods to pass on his message to Klaus, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her along as they continued on their way. Eventually they came upon a run-down, abandoned warehouse. Gripping her arm, Mikael ushered her inside. There were overturned chairs stacked in a pile and other pieces of worn down furniture wrapped in plastic. Dozens of metal chains hung from the ceiling, almost like random decorations.
"You know," Cassandra stole a sideways glance at him as they walked. "I could never completely understand why you hate Klaus so, so much. I mean, I know the whole sordid tale, but a parent is supposed to love their child unconditionally, no matter what they say or do, regardless of whether or not they share the same genes." She let out a groan as he threw her onto the cold, hard floor and stopped a few inches away from her feet, gripping the Papa Tunde blade in his hand.
"I didn't always hate him," Mikael looked down at her. He was a ghastly sight with blood stains running down his chin and neck. "When Niklaus was born, I was overjoyed. I thought 'This one, this one has the eyes of a warrior. He will be worthy.' But my hope was short-lived. And when I found out that he wasn't really my son, my relief was glorious! But that passed with the knowledge that he was begat of a beast."
"His mother's infidelity was not his fault!" Cassandra glared at him.
Mikael raised his voice in frustration. "Everything that followed was because of Niklaus's obsession with the wolves! He ventured out to watch them turn under the full moon, and he took my youngest son, Henrik. He was but a child and he was torn apart."
"An accident," Cassandra replied in a sharp voice.
"AN ACCIDENT?" Mikael bellowed, scrunching his face into a menacing scowl. "HE MURDERED MY WIFE! His own mother, who sought to cleanse him of his beastlike nature. He betrayed me. He turned my entire family against me. And yet, you defend him!"
Cassandra took a deep breath and slowly rose to her feet to face him. "First of all, he never betrayed you. Your own wife did that when she slept with Klaus's biological father. Yes, he screwed up by taking Henrik out to see the wolves, a mistake he's lived with for the past thousand years, and one he'll continue to live with and regret for the rest of time. Second, he did not turn your family against you. You did that all on your own with your merciless beating on Klaus, all because he was this reminder of what your wife did, a reminder of how you failed as a husband. Oh yeah, I've heard all about the way you treated him, not just from Klaus himself, oh no, Rebekah and Elijah had plenty to add to that. And don't even get me started on your wife and what she did to Klaus." She knew she needed to dial down her rant, but she couldn't stop the words from coming out of her mouth. "You want to know why I defend him? I love him. That's why. I've seen a side of him that he rarely shows to others, a side that is honest and caring, and worthy of love. He is a warrior, the best damn warrior this world has ever seen. And you know how I know that?" She took a step closer and lowered her voice. "He beat you, Mikael. And he'll do it again. He's not afraid of you. And neither am I."
She didn't notice the dampness on her cheeks until she'd finished her speech and hastily wiped them away. Mikael appeared more amused than anything else and did nothing to stop the laugh that bubbled inside his chest.
"You should be, my dear," Mikael spoke in a low, sinister voice once his laughter had died down. "Since my wound does not appear to be healing, what I could do with right now is some food."
Cassandra's eyes widened in fear as she took a step backwards. "You-you said you wouldn't."
"I believe I said 'Not yet.' But now I'm in desperate need of sustenance. And you," he reached out and grabbed her, pulling her back to him with vampire speed and strength while his eyes turned red and veiny as his fangs appeared. "will make for a fine meal."
Cassandra let out a bloodcurdling scream as he growled and bit into her neck. He drank violently and greedily. She could feel the life quickly draining from her body. By the time he was finished, she was on the brink of consciousness and barely able to stand.
"Well, well," Mikael chuckled softly in her ear as he licked his lips. "Seems we're about to have company."
Her head bobbled from side to side as he turned her around so she was standing with her back to him. He gripped the Papa Tunde blade in his right hand and draped it around her, holding the tip of the curved blade against her chest while he clutched the white oak stake in his right hand and held on to her other arm to keep her standing up. She could barely make out the sound of approaching footsteps and tried to open her eyes, but they refused to respond.
"You're gonna pay for hurting her," She heard Klaus growl in a low voice as he pointed a makeshift stake at Mikael. In that next moment, Mikael let her slowly fall to the ground in a heap.
"Oh, how sweet. The cur whines for its bitch," Mikael snickered as he held up blade and stake in his outstretched arms. "I'll make sure to rip out her heart right in front of your eyes just before you burn."
Klaus flashed him an icy cold stare before inhaling sharply and leaping through the air straight for him. He successfully knocked Mikael down, but Mikael was able to vamp-speed back onto his feet. As their fighting ensued, Cassandra slowly opened her eyes and watched as Klaus struggled to keep Mikael from pressing the tip of the white oak stake into his chest. Klaus eventually gained the upper hand again and threw a couple of punches at Mikael before letting out a guttural yell as he pushed Mikael clean through a brick wall.
Desperate to help in any way she could, Cassandra slowly pushed herself up to a sitting position, then rose to her feet. She watched as Klaus knocked Mikael to the ground and grabbed the hand that held the white oak stake as he straddled him, turning it so the tip was pointed down at Mikael.
"I'm not as weak as you remember, am I?" Klaus taunted him. He snapped Mikael's wrist and gained possession of the stake. He started to raise his arm, intending to drive the stake through Mikael's heart, when Mikael gripped the Tunde blade and threw it straight at Cassandra. Under normal circumstances, Cassandra would have been able to catch it on her own no problem, but in that moment she was weak and still regaining her bearings. Klaus knew this and whooshed over, catching the blade with his own hand when the blade was within inches of piercing her chest.
Before Klaus could turn around, Mikael appeared beside him and grabbed his right arm, twisting it so he could regain possession of the white oak stake. Gripping Klaus by the shoulder, he rammed the stake into Klaus's chest.
"No!" Cassandra screamed as Klaus yelled out in pain and began to stumble backwards. Cassandra started to run towards him, but she didn't get farther than a few steps because Mikael turned around and back handed her hard enough to send her spinning backwards onto the floor. She lifted her head and looked back to see Klaus falling to the ground. He lay on his side, staring back at her helplessly as his skin began to turn grey and veiny. Tears stung her eyes as she watched him slowly slipping away from her.
After an agonizing couple of minutes, Cassandra realized something was amiss at the same time Mikael did. He's not burning. Why isn't he burning? Her mind raced. Then she heard them. Voices. Two of them. They had to be right outside the warehouse. Davina's voice and…one she didn't recognize, though she knew she'd heard it before. Kaleb, or rather Kol, was assisting Davina, and whatever they were doing was preventing the stake from finishing off Klaus and his entire bloodline for good.
"Why aren't you burning?" Mikael growled. He stepped closer to Klaus. "If you were dead, you would burn. Burn!"
He lifted his head, finally hearing the same chanting that Cassandra had heard. Cassandra didn't care and remained silent, waiting until he went outside to scurry over to Klaus's body. She kept her ears focused on what Mikael was saying to Davina and Kol while she rolled him onto his back and wrapped her hands around the stake. She gave it a supernaturally hard pull, effortlessly removing it from him. She let out a deep breath and pressed her free hand to the side of his face as his skin color returned to normal.
"What do you think you are doing?" Mikael bellowed, causing Cassandra to jump and spin around on her knees to face him.
"Stay the hell away from us!" She growled, flashing him her amber-gold hybrid eyes as she gripped the white oak stake tightly in her hand. "Or I swear to God, I'll kill you myself."
"You have a warrior's heart," Mikael slowly walked towards her and Klaus. "Perhaps I'll keep it as a souvenir."
He started to reach for the stake when Marcel appeared out of nowhere and started throwing punch after punch at Mikael, forcing him to back up away from Cassandra and Klaus as he did so. Eventually Mikael was able to regain the upper hand and knocked Marcel off his feet and onto the ground.
"NOW, ENOUGH!" Mikael yelled as he grabbed Klaus's makeshift stake and pointed it at Marcel. "This night has been a long parade of fools. I'll enjoy killing every last one of you."
Cassandra slowly rose to her feet as Klaus let out a gasp and opened his eyes. Staring at Mikael, her eyes widened in surprise as Hayley appeared behind him and threw a chain around his neck and spun him around to face her.
"Yeah, I wouldn't bet on it," Hayley glared at him. She swung the chain she was holding, which had a block of cement hanging from the end of it, as hard as she could at him and sent him down to the ground. Using that moment, she and Marcel rushed over to where Cassandra and Klaus were as Klaus pulled himself up onto his feet. They were joined by Davina, who stood beside Marcel. Klaus reached for Cassandra's hand and gave it a small squeeze before letting go and stepping forward so he was at the front of the group.
"It's over, Mikael," Klaus remained straight faced as Mikael stood back up and shook off Hayley's attack. "Are you going to beg for your miserable life?"
"You think having people makes you strong?" Makel let out an unimpressed laugh. "It proves how weak you are. Come find me when you don't have fools, women, and children fighting your battles." He threw the stake onto the ground and vamp-sped out of the warehouse.
After a long couple of silent moments, Klaus turned around and walked back to Cassandra while Marcel and Hayley ran outside to make sure Mikael was really gone. When Klaus was within a foot of where she stood, Cassandra let go of the white oak stake, letting it drop down onto the ground, and stepped toward him, throwing her arms around his neck.
"For a moment there I thought I'd lost you forever," she murmured as she buried her face against his shoulder.
Klaus wrapped his arms around her and pressed the side of her head. "You pulled the stake out in the nick of time. A moment longer and I would have been done for."
Cassandra lifted her head and leaned back to meet his gaze. "You know, we owe your brother Kol...yes I know who Kaleb really is, I heard the two of you as I was walking to the car...a really big thank you. Davina too. They did a spell to weaken the power of the stake long enough to allow me the chance to remove it."
"Yes, well, I'll thank him the next time our paths cross," Klaus chuckled softly. He raised a hand and brushed her hair out of the way so he could examine her neck wound. "Right now, I'm more interested in getting your neck wound to heal. You lost a lot of blood. Your healing is slower because of it."
"I'll be fine," Cassandra murmured. She gently pressed a hand against Klaus's bloody stab wound on his chest. "Yours isn't healing either."
Klaus placed his hand on top of hers. "Well, I was stabbed with white oak. It will take me a little longer to bounce back from it." Klaus shifted his gaze back to her neck. "He will pay for hurting you, love. For that alone, I will kill him." He paused and looked up as he realized something. "You know, in a thousand years, I think it's the first time I've seen him run."
"He was still weak," Cassandra murmured softly.
"And he knew he was outmatched," Hayley walked towards them. Marcel was right beside her. Klaus and Cassandra turned around to face them.
"We checked the perimeter," Marcel motioned with his thumb. "And he's definitely gone."
"I appreciate your assistance," Klaus nodded at Marcel.
"Oh, hey, you die, I die," Marcel raised his arms slightly and bobbled his head as he laughed softly. "Just call me selfish."
"Yeah, you die, a lot of people die," Hayley nodded. "Like Cassandra's sister for starters."
"Oh my god," Cassandra clapped a hand over her mouth as her eyes widened. "I could have lost her too. I hadn't thought about that."
"Yeah. But now we have another problem," A grim expression appeared on Hayley's face. "It's Oliver. And Elijah. Something's happened to them. They're missing."
