Episode 21: Point of No Return
Part 2
The Nursery of the Mikaelson Compound...
Rebekah placed a couple of buckets on the ground by Hayley, Klaus standing a couple of feet away from her with Cami at his side, Hope fast asleep in her crib. In one hand, Klaus had a knife which Hayley was staring at with a slightly concerned look on her face. "The idea, little wolf, is to drain the vervain out of your system by bleeding it out of you. I'm afraid it will be one of the more unpleasant experiences of your life but you are a trooper," Klaus said, handing Hayley the knife, Hayley reluctantly taking it.
"And I suppose my word isn't good enough?" Hayley asked.
"I'm afraid not. You see my trust issues have only gotten worse as it turns out, since my own brothers drove a dagger through my heart without a hint of remorse," Klaus replied, Rebekah rolling her eyes. "Besides, I know you cared for Jackson—I may not understand why, but then what makes anyone care for another? I know you won't be able to resist going to his funeral, which is why I have to rob you of your free will, to ensure that you don't."
"Cami," Hayley said, looking over at the blonde woman, silently pleading with her.
Cami understood Hayley's apprehension to being compelled, knowing what it was like to have Klaus take away your free will. That being said she also understood where Klaus was coming from, and she understood his need to want to protect Hayley so his child wouldn't lose her mother. Nevertheless, Cami turned to look at Klaus, Klaus looking back at her. "Can you really not trust the mother of your own child? I mean it's not like Hayley had anything to do with your siblings daggering you-"
"It's true. I didn't agree with it," Hayley interrupted, to Klaus and Rebekah's surprise. "If it were up to me I wouldn't have."
"Klaus wasn't even daggered for a full day! You use to have me daggered for decades at a time Nik-" Rebekah started.
"I do recall, though if it weren't for Cami, it might very well have been decades, maybe even a century or two for all I know." Klaus turned back to look at Hayley. "While I do appreciate that Hayley—I'm not leaving your safety up to chance. I hope you can understand that at least."
"Well I would like the chance to say goodbye to someone I loved-"
"Have you not already said goodbye? When you had a moment alone with his body after it was brought to the jazz club in Algiers? Jackson is dead, Hayley. And unless you want to join him, you'll agree that this is the best way to keep yourself safe."
Hayley had a defeated look on her face, resigning herself to what was about to come next. "Can we at least, do this in a room where my daughter isn't sleeping?"
"Of course."
Vincent's Apartment...
Vincent was now standing in front of the closed door that led into his apartment, the hallucinated Eva at his side. "Who wants to know?" Vincent asked, an anxious look on his face. He was expecting it to be one of the many enemies that Finn Mikaelson had made while he was inside his body.
"Name's Gia. I'm a friend of Marcel Gerard's."
Vincent sighed, becoming more angry than anxious. "And what does Marcel want me?"
"Open this door, invite me and I'll tell you."
Vincent laughed bitterly. "Vampires. The French Quarter was always crawling with them. I'm starting to think this Finn fellow had the right idea by wanting to take them all out," Eva said, Vincent smiling a little at her before turning his attention back to the door.
"I don't invite vampires into my home, and since you asked to be invited in and your friends with a vampire—well I can put two and two together."
"I understand most witches in this city aren't the biggest fans of us vampires, but I was only asking to be invited in to be polite. Worse comes to worse, we happen to know the witches here that don't mind us that could help me get past the whole invitation rule."
Reluctantly, Vincent opened the door of his apartment, seeing the vampire Gia standing on the other side. "If I invite you and you try to attack me—I will defend myself," Vincent warned.
Gia nodded and gave Vincent a look of respect. "I can guarantee you won't have to worry about it. I'm not a violent person."
Vincent gave Gia a sceptical look. "Can't say I've ever heard of a non violent vampire before."
"There's a first for everything, isn't there?"
Vincent stared at Gia hard for a moment. "Come in, Gia."
The Mikaelson Compound...
Klaus was sitting next to Hayley on a couch in the living area of the Mikaelson compound, Klaus holding a bloodied knife and Hayley holding her bleeding wrists over the buckets, watching as they collected every last drop of blood. "I think it's safe to say the vervain has just about been bled out of your system," Klaus said, looking at Hayley expectantly, Hayley still looking at the buckets.
"And here comes the part where you go inside my head and rob me of my free will," Hayley replied with a sigh.
"If I could trust you-"
"You can Klaus," Hayley interrupted, actually turning to look at him. "I seem to remember you told me you trusted me more than I knew not too long ago—that day you broke my neck and went after Jackson."
"That was before I was daggered-"
"Which I told you I didn't agree with."
"Would you now?" Klaus asked, to Hayley's confusion. "Would you have agreed with daggering me then with the knowledge you know now? Knowing that I'm going to prevent you from attending the funeral of your late husband?"
Hayley looked a little conflicted. "You're the father of my child, Klaus. And you're the biggest weapon we have in the fight against Dahlia. So no. No I wouldn't have, even with everything I know now."
Klaus stared at Hayley, not expecting the answer she gave. "I don't believe you."
Hayley sighed, rolling her eyes. "Somehow I knew you were going to say that."
Klaus then looked deep into Hayley's eyes, starting the compelling process. "You will stay in the nursery once you've returned to it Hayley Marshall, and you will not leave the room under any circumstances unless I tell you you can do so."
Hayley nodded, the compulsion appearing to be working, to Klaus' satisfaction. "Now before I return you to the nursery, there's one more thing—from now on, if I ask you to do something little wolf, you will agree to do it without question. You will trust me—blindly, even if I don't trust you. And you will forget we ever had this conversation."
He didn't want to take her free will away. He knew she would be furious with him once this was all over and he had everything figured out. And he was willing to let her hate him for the sake of keeping his family safe, her included. Without her free will, Hayley would no longer be a threat in Dahlia's eyes, there would be no need for Dahlia to kill her. He only hoped he could convince Dahlia of that, and Dahlia would be reasonable enough to accept it. Maybe he could even convince Dahlia to let Hayley tag along with them and still be a mother to Hope. Maybe.
The Claire Tomb/ "Kol's Playhouse"...
Davina had placed Kandahar root on the top surface of a table, Josh watching her while she did, an open grimoire nearby. "So is there any kind of risk that comes with the spell? Anything I should be concerned about?" Josh asked.
"Well there is the possibility that once Klaus figures out that you're unlinked from his bloodline that he'll try and kill you, but Kol and I would put him down before something like that happens," Davina replied with a smile on her face, looking at Josh.
"I meant any risks for you personally. A spell like this sounds like it'd take a lot of you."
"Maybe for an ordinary witch, but I'm not an ordinary witch. I'm a Harvest girl. You don't need to worry about me Josh. I tried to do this once before and I have no doubt I would've succeeded, but then Finn had to go and force Kol to sabotage me."
"About Finn-" Josh said, Davina giving him a worried look. "Marcel ran into that Vincent guy the other day, the guy Finn was possessing, and said he was acting kinda sketchy. He's worried that Finn's still possessing Vincent and just biding his time for some reason."
"Impossible. Kol told me that Freya expelled Finn's spirit from Vincent's body and sealed him away inside some kind of a talisman."
"Have you ever heard of a witch being able to do something like that before?"
"Well, no, but I don't exactly know everything there is to know when it comes to magic and witchcraft."
"Let me ask you this, does Kol trust Freya?"
Davina took a minute to think. "I'm not sure. I mean she helped him break his hex, save Rebekah and restore his original body, so I mean, I don't think he has any reason not to trust her right now. I'm sure Finn is actually in some talisman somewhere and Marcel is just worried for nothing."
"If you say so. He sent Gia to spy on him just to make sure. Told her to keep a safe distance from him."
"On to a new topic. You and Aiden, what's going on there?"
Josh sighed. "He's still understandably torn up about what happened to Jackson and he's taking his place as alpha to the Crescent werewolf pack until Dahlia's dead. And then we're going to leave this city behind like we planned. Or at least that's what he says."
"You think he's lying to you?"
"I think if he is he doesn't realize it—Aiden wanted to be alpha to that pack before Jackson died, it's what Klaus promised him in exchange for Aiden being his double agent. And now he actually is the alpha, granted he didn't become alpha the way he wanted to, and-"
"You're worried that he's going to get attached to his position and not want to leave with you when this is all over?"
Josh nodded. "Shouldn't I be? And if he becomes more involved with the pack than he already is, the Crescents hate vampires-"
"Josh, I love you but you're having this conversation with the wrong person. You should be having it with Aiden."
Josh hesitated for a moment before agreeing with Davina. "It's just, hard to talk to him right now, I don't have a lot of experience being around people who are mourning, I just... want him to be comfortable right now, as comfortable as he can be, I'm not sure if comfortable's the word I was looking for."
"I know. I get it. But for what it's worth, I think you're doing a good job by just being there for him, whether you're just being someone for him to talk to or a shoulder to cry on."
The Nursery of the Mikaelson Compound...
Hayley and Cami were standing by Hope's crib, Hayley looking weak from the bloodloss but trying to stay upright and conscious. "So I can honestly say that today hasn't been one of my better days, what with being forced to bleed myself out and the father of my child refusing to let me go to my husband's funeral and all. Now he's off to Algiers with Elijah, Rebekah, Freya and Kol."
Cami looked at Hayley sympathetically. "All I can say is, he does mean well," Cami offered, Hayley laughing a little.
"They should write that on his tombstone. He meant well. Providing he ever dies of course."
"Let's hope not. So... how much blood are you going to need to drink before you're back to your old self?"
Hayley sighed. "I don't know. Maybe a couple IV bags worth. Must be strange being friends with vampires, witches, werewolves, and hybrids—without being anything supernatural yourself."
Cami smiled, "more exciting than strange in my experience."
"You ever worry about becoming one of us one day? One of the supernatural?"
"No, not really," Cami admitted. "I mean I could become a vampire if I wanted to, but being human has worked out just fine for me so far, and frankly I don't think immortality is for me."
"Klaus might ask you this same question some day soon you know."
Cami looked at Hayley curiously for a moment. "Why would he?"
Hayley waited for Cami to catch on to what she was implying but Cami continued to look oblivious. "Klaus has a thing for you. I know it, Elijah knows it, Rebekah—and once he finally works up the courage to tell you, which he will sooner or later, he's going to offer you his blood. Or at least I think he will, I can't imagine him wanting to be with someone who would age and die while he continues to look... like an eternal twenty five year old."
Cami didn't seem to accept what Hayley just told her as fact, laughing a little, waiting for Hayley to start laughing with her, but she didn't. "You think Klaus has feelings for me?"
"The way he looks at you—is not all that different than the way he use to look at this girl we knew back in a town called Mystic Falls. And it's not just the look that I'm basing this idea off of... He helped you back when Father Kieran was hexed, he trusts you—which is huge for him, you saved his life when Mikael stabbed him with the white oak stake, you undaggered him. So yeah, I think he has feelings for you."
St. James Infirmary...
Klaus, Elijah, Kol, Rebekah and Freya were standing around the middle of the St. James Infirmary club, each of them looking a little tense, Elijah more so than anyone else. "How long do you think it'll be before Dahlia gets here?" Rebekah asked, looking over at Freya, then at Klaus.
"Hard to say. She'll come for us whenever she feels like, though I imagine it'll be sooner rather than later," Freya replied. "Since we've already passed her deadline."
"So what's the plan then, we just ambush her and stab her in the heart with the enchanted knife?" Kol asked.
Freya nodded. "More or less."
"Great. Now we just need to decide who will have the honour of putting our wicked aunt down for good."
"Me," Klaus stated firmly, looking around at all of his siblings, as if he was expecting one of them to challenge him for it. "It's my daughter she wants to take, that and I'm the hybrid which makes me slightly superior to the rest of you, making me the logical choice. Any objections?"
"No offense Niklaus but you were recently daggered, I imagine you're still recovering, making you weaker than what you ordinarly are," Elijah countered, Klaus glaring at him.
"And whose fault is that?"
Before anyone else could say anything, Klaus suddenly collapsed on to the floor of the St. James Infirmary, unconscious, Rebekah, Kol and Freya immediately tending to him while Elijah watched, looking concerned but not moving from where he was, standing in place.
An Unknown Tomb in Lafayette Cemetery...
Klaus suddenly found himself laying on the floor of a tomb in Lafayette Cemetery, his head next to a table leg. Slowly, Klaus got to his feet, spotting Dahlia standing on the other side of the tomb, her arms folded. Klaus dusted himself off a little before he looked at Dahlia and opened his mouth to speak. "So, I guess you brought me here because you want to know where I stand now in light of recent circumstances?"
Dahlia grinned widely.
Author's Note: I hope everyone is liking that I've incorporated more moments between the Mikaelson siblings, or at least that's what I'm trying to do. The Klaus/Kol scene last chapter was one I really enjoyed writing and there's a Klaus/Rebekah scene I plan to write in a later chapter that I hope everyone will like. The idea to include Hayley more in the Klaus/Dahlia storyline was an idea given to me by Stand with Ward and Salvatore, which gives Hayley something to do in this story since I killed off Jackson and Hayley's role in the last couple of episodes of the season revolved around her being with Jackson. Anyhow, feel free to give me your opinion on this chapter with a review, if you feel there's something I could be doing better or something I could work on don't hesitate to tell me, or if you just want to say I like what you're doing so far, etc.