Chapter 81

Davina moved slowly through the dense damp foliage. There was a chill in the air that made her wish she hadn't just run out in her pajamas. She couldn't see a thing in the pitch blackness but she refused to turn back. Izzy was out there somewhere searching for a father she barely knew and Davina knew she had to bring the girl back home before the deadbeat could talk her into doing something she'd regret.

She paused at the sound of rustling in the distance. Bracing herself against a nearby tree, she called, "Wh-who's there?" hoping that it was Izzy, but keeping her magic at the ready just in case it wasn't.

"You don't seem like the type to be roaming the bayou at night," came a gruff voice in the dark. She didn't recognize it and that only put her more on guard.

"Calm down," he growled, his voice louder as he came closer. "I'm not some kinda predator or anything. I mean...not one that you should be worried about anyway."

"Who are you?" she demanded.

The stranger came closer, the light of the moon just barely bright enough to illuminate his figure. There was a hint of pain in his black eyes even though the rest of his body seemed relaxed.

"The name's Tyler."

Her eyes narrowed knowingly. "Lockwood?"

Tyler tensed. There were only so many people in Louisiana who knew his name and if this strange girl in the bayou knew it, that could only mean she was somehow connected to the Mikaelsons.

"You've heard of me?"

His entire body suddenly seized with pain. Davina twisted her palm until Tyler dropped to his knees, struggling against the invisible force that seemed to be crushing his bones from the inside.

"Yeah," she growled, walking closer to him. "I have. My friend Marcel doesn't seem to like you very much. And if you're here, that can only mean you're up to no good."

"Marcel," he growled, his eyes glowing yellow with rage at the mentioning of Marcel's name. "Is the reason I'm out here."

"Oh yeah? What was the plan? You working with Izzy's dad? Was he supposed to lure her out here so that you could ambush Marcel when he comes to save here?"

"I have no fucking idea who Izzy is," he growled. "I came back to Louisiana because Marcel said he would help me get my friends back from a branch of Klaus's old sireline but he reneged on his end of the deal."

"Or did he just trick you into doing what he needed you to do," she smiled proudly. "He does that to people dumber than him."

Tyler bared his werewolf fangs and snapped at her but the girl's magic kept him pinned to the ground. She didn't even flinch at his failed attempt at an attack.

"Such a temper," she tutted. "Just like a wolf. But...lucky for you, I'm no sadist." Then, against her better judgment, she released the spell keeping him subdued. "However, try to attack me again and I'll break every bone in your body and leave you to the gators."

He grumbled his annoyance as he rose back to his feet.

"So," she crossed her arms over her chest, watching him angrily dust the dirt from his clothes. "If Marcel betrayed you, how are you still alive?"

He eyed her suspiciously, still unsure who she was or if he could trust her since she seemed to know Marcel so well. "Because...I'm clever."

She scoffed. "Everyone thinks that before they meet Marcel."

"What are you? The president of his fan club?"

She was grateful for the dark as her face burned with embarrassment. "No. I'm his...we're family. Which means if you're his enemy, you're my enemy."

"Wouldn't say we were enemies. We did fight side by side."

Davina thought back to the fight Hope told her she witnessed and how Tyler helped them fight Klaus's sireline.

"And now," he held his arms out to the trees surrounding them. "I'm stuck roaming these goddamn bayous because I can't go back to Stefan and tell him that he was right. That I never should've trusted Macel in the first place. Because now...those bastards are probably going to kill our friends for sure and it's all my fault."

"Sounds like you could use some help."

Tyler stared Davina down, certain she was just as untrustworthy as Marcel.

With a grunt, Tyler started walking back through the bayou. "Not from you. I'll figure out a way to save my friends on my own."

"Fine," she bit. "See if I care. They're not my friends."

As she glanced around the dark bayou, she realized that he was going in the direction she was headed before. With a sigh, she trudged forward, attempting to keep distance between them.

Sensing the girl behind him, he suddenly stopped and turned to her. "Are you following me?"

"No," she answered plainly, passing him as she continued on. "I was headed this way first."

"Well, find another way," he growled. "That way might get you killed."

She paused in her stride. "What's that way?"

"The pack I'm traveling with," he answered curtly. "A surly old bunch of backwoods bastards who only come out to civilization every once and a while so they're not used to things like annoying little witches invading their space. They only let me run with them because I'm a Hybrid and they can change at will so I guess they think that makes us kin somehow."

"Wait, are you talking about the pack from Lafourche?"

"You know an awful lot for a girl whose name I don't even know."

"The name's Davina Claire. Remember it. Because I've just decided that you are just the person I need to help me find my friend and if you don't, I'm going to fill your body with so much steam your head will pop off like a gasket top."

"What happened to not being a sadist?"

"Izzy's family. I'll do whatever I can to make sure she gets home safe."

"Fine, but if I help you," he marched over to her. "You have to help me get Klaus's blood so I can save my friends."

Davina stood in silence for a moment, contemplating his offer. Twelve years ago, she would've agreed to his stipulation without question but now...as much as she still hated Niklaus, he was Hope's father. The girl may never forgive her if she found out she was plotting against her dad.

And then there was Marcel. Although, for reasons she didn't know, he did plot to help this Tyler guy free his friends without consulting her, Davina knew that Marcel would know if she was planning something with one of his family's enemies.

I'll just have to make sure I don't get caught, she thought. "Alright," she held her hand out to her new ally. "Help me find Izzy and get her home safe, and I'll get you Klaus's blood. But then you and your friends disappear and leave my friends alone for good. Deal."

Still unsure if he should trust any friend of Marcel, but with no other choice, Tyler took her hand and shook.

-M-

Izzy stood in the silence of the dark woods, watching her father sitting in front of a burning campfire from a distance. If his senses were anywhere near as sharp as Hayley's, she was sure that he had sensed her approach but he didn't acknowledge her. He simply kept widdling away on a stick, sharpening the tip that she suspected the skinned rabbit at his foot would soon be splayed on.

"You hungry?" He finally said aloud, still refusing to look back at her.

"No," she answered curtly. "I already ate. Mrs. Marshall-Kenner ordered Italian."

"Good. This ain't much to share."

The sound of his knife scraping across the stick pricked at her nerves.

"Don't you want to know anything about me?" She asked.

"Like what?"

"Like...how I'm doing in school? What I've been up to since you disappeared. Where mom went?"

"You know where she went?"

"No...do you?"

"I try to know as little about that woman as I can." He finally sat his knife down and turned to look at her, but only for a moment. "We should awaken your abilities before we meet up with the rest of the pack."

"You mean...you want me to kill somebody?"

"That's the only way to do it, ain't it."

The thought made her skin crawl. "How do you even know I got your genes? Hybrids of any kind are rare, right? I could just be a witch."

"I know." He said as he shoved the pointy end of the stick through the rabbit and hung it between the two 'Y' shaped sticks on both sides of the fire, slow roasting it. "There's a garden behind yo' momma's house, ain't it?"

She nodded, unsure what that had to do with anything.

"There's a thing some witches do when they kill someone precious to them. They plant flowers over their bodies so they can have a part of them forever to use in their potions. Your momma...she had the biggest garden I've ever seen."

Izzy's eyes grew teary, afraid she knew what he was trying to say. "What happened to my brother?" She asked plainly, growing tired of the roundabout way he spoke.

He stared up through the dense trees. "You're right. Hybrids are rare. Most witch-wolf Hybrids can only be one or the other. Either you're born a witch and the wolf gene skips you or you're born a wolf and magic skips you. I found one of Latoya's old journals before I left the last time. It explained everything. She'd run a test on the babies when they were still in the womb to see if they carried both genes and...the ones that didn't, didn't make it to see the light of day. But, being born with both is apparently still a crapshoot. If you activate the wolf gene, you lose the magic. But...Latoya...the crazy bitch...she had a spell for everything. She had it written out so clinically...like he wasn't even our baby. Just a lab rat that failed to get through the maze. Antwon...he didn't make it. Neither did any of the other kids she got buried in her Neverland Garden."

Tears crept down Izzy's cheeks but she hoped she was far enough away from the fire for the night to mask them. "Are you saying...she killed her own babies?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. When I confronted her about what she did to Antwon, she threatened to kill me for interfering in her plans and she damn sure had the power to do it. She wanted her army. And she'd keep popping out babies and killing the ones that couldn't survive her hellbred spell just to make sure she had it. You were the only one to survive. Before your other brother, I guess."

Izzy tried to remember back to the days after Oliver was born. Her mother wouldn't let her see him because she said he was too sick and she was afraid Izzy would make him sicker. She used to hear him screaming in the nursery for hours. Their mother always said it was just a symptom of his sickness. It was a full month before she was able to finally lay eyes on her little brother. Her stomach churned as she wondered what hell their mother must have put him through.

Rising to his feet, her father said, "There. Now I've told you the truth, let's put that shit behind us and move on. The dead are dead and ain't nothing we can do about it. We just gotta make sure the living stay alive." He pointed his knife off to the left and said, "The road's not that far away. We'll stop the first car we come across and," he held his knife out to her. "You can off the driver." He ran his thumb across his throat, mimicking how he expected her to make her kill. "We'll be back before it's time to turn the rabbit."

"N-no." Izzy bit, disgusted with the cavalier way he suggested she kill someone. She had anger issues but she never wanted to actually kill anyone. After she attacked that girl with the bat on the baseball field, she was more worried about the girl's survival than she was about her own safety in juvy.

"Don't be soft, girl," he sighed. "We don't got time for it. The backcountry is a dangerous place. You're gonna need your senses to keep you alive."

"Isn't that what you're supposed to be for?"

"You're a big girl now, Izzy. It's time for you to learn to depend on yourself."

"Learn," she barked. "I've been depending on myself just about my whole life. You abandoned me with a woman who was always more focused on plotting against the vampires than she was on her own children."

"It made you strong, right?"

"I didn't want to have to be strong!" Izzy's eyes watered as she thought about the way the Mikaelsons coddled Hope. "You should've been there."

"I told you. I never wanted to be a father."

"Then you shouldn't have had a child, you selfish fuck!"

"What did you just call me," he growled, moving closer to her. "You disrespectful little brat."

"Oh," Izzy's chest swelled with anger, unafraid of his rage. "Now, I'm a brat. Five seconds ago I was mature enough to raise myself."

She didn't flinch when he reached out to grab her, her fists clenched at her sides prepared to fight him if need be.

And then, all at once, her anger vanished, replaced with shock as she stared at the broad back of Elijah Mikaelson standing between her and her father.

"Hello," Elijah greeted the furious wolf with practiced decorum. "I don't believe we've met. I'm Elijah Mikaelson. And you are?"

"Elijah," Izzy muttered in irritation. "What are you doing here?"

"Hope came to Hayley in the middle of the night and said that you and Davina had run off after...your father. Naturally, I've come to meet the man who rendered you an orphan only to come back in the dead of night to stake his claim at fatherhood. What is your name, wolf?"

His fangs dripping with venom and every muscle in his body set on edge at the presence of the vampire, Izzy's father growled, "Matthew Bons."

"Matthew Bons. Sounds dreadfully ordinary. Tell me, Matthew Bons, do you think you can take on an Original vampire by yourself? If not, may I recommend you calm down before I go on the offense."

Irritation creasing his forehead, Matthew did as he was told, relaxing his body until his teeth ceased to drip their toxic venom.

Turning to Izzy, Elijah looked her over for any bruises and scars. The girl's cheeks tinted pink at his subtle glance, grateful that he'd shown up before her father put his hands on her like she suspected he was about to do before Elijah stood between them.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine," he muttered. "You didn't have to come."

He grabbed her chin, forcing her to look him in the eyes as he stated, "I most certainly did. How dare you go running off into the bayou in the middle of the night without telling anyone."

She snatched her chin from his hold and bit, "He's my father."

"A father you haven't seen since you were four-years-old according to Hope," Elijah bit. "We are your guardians now and you do not go anywhere after dark without permission. Is that understood?"

"If Hope told you all that, I'm surprised she didn't also tell you what I am."

Elijah stayed silent as Izzy's eyes bore into the ground, refusing to make eye contact with him. She couldn't bear to look at him as she told him the truth, to see the war of emotions flood his face as he thought of what to do with her and Oliver now.

"You're a Hybrid," Elijah answered plainly. "I know. But in what way does that excuse your disobedience and irresponsibility?"

Izzy's eyes widened at the calmness of his tone. With how protective the Mikaelsons were over Hope, she was sure that they would be in a hurry to get so wild wolf pups out of their home to keep the girl safe but Elijah spoke of her linage as if it did not bother her as much as her running away from the Compound did.

Matthew grabbed Elijah's shoulder and spun him around to face him. "Listen, friend-"

Suddenly, Elijah's hand was around Matthew's throat, squeezing the muscles under his jaw as Elijah lifted the man from his feet. "I am not your friend," he growled. "You came to my home and stole away a part of my family. The only thing keeping me from breaking you in half right now is the fact that she is standing here and I fear the trauma my killing you in front of her will cause after having you so abruptly brought back into her life."

Elijah tossed the man to the ground, still standing between Matthew and Izzy with his back tall.

"She...is my daughter," Matthew choked out.

"Then you speak to me," Elijah growled. "Or one of the many other adults who live within our home and you explain your situation and we will decide where to go from there. Arranged, supervised visits perhaps, but you are not taking her from her home or her brother."

Matthew rose to his feet, his eyes shining with golden anger. "You can't tell me what to do with my child."

His anger growing, Elijah growled, "Where were you when she needed you?"

"Elijah, stop it," Izzy barked.

Elijah looked back at the girl, confused by her unexpected interruption. But she couldn't look at him.

"You...you don't get it," she continued. "I'm not...one of you. I'm a Jareaux...I'm a Bons. I'm not a Mikaelson. This...man...he's my father. Not you or Marcel or Klaus...him." She bit her trembling lip as she looked back up at Matthew. She knew if she went with him tonight, she would have to make a kill. And she didn't want to.

Elijah moved back in front of her, blocking her sight of her birth father as he reached out and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look him in the eyes. "I will say this one more time, Izzy, and you will not make me have to repeat myself again. You're not going anywhere without my permission."

Furious at the Original stepping in on his paternal territory, Matthew charged Elijah but the Original expected as much before the man even moved.

Using his vampire speed, Elijah spun around and slammed the palm of his hand into Matthew's exposed throat, breaking his windpipe in a single strike.

Izzy dropped to her knees in front of her father as he laid on the ground gasping for air as the world darkened around him.

"You killed him!"

"He'll survive," Elijah responded calmly. "If I wanted him dead, I would've killed him the moment I saw him about to put his hands on you when I arrived."

Fury burning in her eyes, she leaped to her feet and barked, "You can't just come around trying to control my life, Elijah. This is my father."

"For all intents and purposes, we are your legal guardians."

"Do you think I care about a stupid piece of paper?" She suddenly shoved her hands against Elijah's chest but the man barely budged as she pushed him. "He is my father!"

Angry that her shoving didn't affect him, she balled her hands into fists and slammed them against his chest.

"He is my blood! Not you! Or Hayley! Or Hope! You're not my family! I'm not...I'm not..." Her voice broke as her fist landed weakly against his chest. "I'm not a Mikaelson."

She forced her face to stay stoic even though her body shivered with laden emotion.

A breath caught in her chest as Elijah's arms wrapped around her, pulling her closer to him. Her face rested between her clenched fist on his chest, hidden from the world under the cover of darkness. And without warning, even to herself, she sobbed.

"It's okay," Elijah whispered, running his hand gently down her back. "I am well aware of the anger fathers can leave buried in their children. But we mustn't let it turn us into someone we don't want to be. We can choose our fates, Izzy."

"I'm not...I'm not one of you. I can't be...like Hope. She has so much love. My mom..." she clenched her fists tighter as tears ran down her cheeks. "I should've never been born."

Elijah ran his hand down her hair, placing a soft kiss at the top of her head.

"If you want to be a Mikaelson," he whispered. "You can be. It is more than just a piece of paper. It is a forever home, with a family that will never abandon you and will protect you from anyone who tries to bring you harm."

"Wh-why do you care?" She choked out. "I'm not s-some...stupid cute toddler l-like Oliver. I don't need you. I can...I can survive on my own even if I have to do it in the bayou with this bastard."

Elijah stared into the silent night as he remembered the day Niklaus brought Marcel home.

"My brother, Niklaus...has been wrong in a great many things in his life. But there is one aspect, I believe, he's proven to be right amongst all else. And that is...that children deserve love, peace, and happiness. Even if their parents can't provide it for them. You deserve to be happy, Izzy. You deserve a choice. You deserve a family that will make sure you will never have to be stronger than any other child. Because despite what you and...Mr. Bons, here, might think, that is what you are. A child."

Izzy's fist tightened against Elijah's chest for a moment, and then the damns broke and she sobbed heavier than she'd ever cried before. She couldn't remember the last time she felt like a child.

-M-

Davina and Tyler scoured the bayou in silence. Using his heightened sense of smell, Tyler was able to direct them away from any of the Lafourche wolves because, although he would be safe, they weren't fans of other strangers.

"Are we getting close?" Davina growled.

"I don't know," he bit. "I have no idea what your friend smells like."

"Search for the scent of the human's who's bathed within the last week and you'll probably find her."

Confused by the girl's taunting, Tyler lifted his arm and gave his armpit a discreet whiff, scowling in disgust of his own stink.

"Shut up," he bit at hearing her laughing behind him. "You'd stick too if you've been on the run for as long as I have."

"What exactly are you running from?"

"Oh, y'know," he shrugged casually. "A few hundred ancient vampires that want me and my friends dead. All because of a stupid mistake I made." He stopped in front of a fallen tree branch and kicked it with enough force to break it in half.

"What did you do?" Davina asked.

He looked back at her, a bit surprised that she wasn't afraid of him after his little display of unhinged rage. Then, returning in his stride, he answered, "I caught some stupid vamp feeding on a waitress outside a bar in my town and I showed him what it was like to be bitten. How was I supposed to know that he had a couple centuries-old friends."

"So hot-headed," she shook her head. "Just like a wolf."

"Hey, I don't need to be lectured by you. Stefan's been on my ass about it ever since Damon and Bonnie got swept up in all of this."

"How did they get swept up in this? I mean, you're the one who bit him. Why didn't they take you?"

Tyler suddenly stopped walking, his jaw tensed in anger. "They tried," he growled. "But...those idiots came to save me. And...dammit!" He slammed his fist into the nearest tree, splitting the wood as memories he'd been trying to bury since his friends disappeared resurfaced. "My friends and I...we don't have anyone but each other. Mystic Falls is only so big so all of us Supernaturals know each other. We protect each other. Our families...they're all gone. Those damn vampires saw this in the way my friends fought to protect me and so they just snatched whoever they could and disappeared into the night. Now Stefan hates me for getting his brother kidnapped and Caroline...says she doesn't hate me but she's always too busy to talk to me for more than a five-minute phone call. If anything happens to Damon and Bonnie...they'll probably never speak to me again."

"Well." A gruff voice coming out of the dark forest caused a shiver of fear to draw down both of their backs. "Doesn't that just sound terrible. For you."

They both recognized the voice at the same time.

Niklaus sped across the forest before Tyler could make a run for it, clasping the young Hybrid's neck in his hand as he slammed his back against the nearest tree.

"But it does sound like it is entirely a 'you' problem."

"Klaus, let him go," Davina barked, lifting her hands to perform a spell against the Original should he move to hurt Tyler.

Klaus turned back to her, his yellow eyes shining with anger. "You use your magic against me, witch, and this evening will turn out far worse for you than previously intended."

"Leave him alone," she continued. "He didn't do anything."

"Au contraire," He turned his sharp eyes back to the struggling boy under his hold. "When I find my enemies with missing members of my family, I tend to consider them guilty until proven innocent."

Davina didn't know what it was about Tyler - something in his story made her sympathetic to him - and so, without a second thought, she sent a surge of pain through Klaus's body, causing him to release Tyler as he fell to the ground in agony.

"Run," she screamed as she struggled to keep the powerful Original down.

Without a second thought, Tyler vamped away them. Davina considered running with him but she was sure she wouldn't get far in the dark bayou without Tyler's supernatural sense of direction. So, with a sigh, she released Klaus from her spell, waiting with her fists clenched at her sides for the Original to get up and try to attack her as he'd done a dozen times in the past.

A deep, guttural growl escaped Klaus's lips as he rose to his feet. "How dare you," he spat, marching over to the girl. "Attacked me, so he can get away."

"He didn't even do anything. You were going to kill him for no reason."

"Trust me, girl. I have plenty of reasons to want to kill Tyler Lockwood, but none of them matter. The only thing that matters right now, is the fact that you seem to not know your place."

"Know my place?" Her voice lilted with disgust and surprise that Klaus would hold such an anarchic accusation. "And what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Klaus scoffed. "Certainly not what you and my daughter seem to believe. Your place in the Mikaelson hierarchy has nothing to do with you being a woman. Freya is one as well and she..." Klaus scowled as he remembered the magical swats his sister laced him with once upon a time. "At times, she holds even greater power than me."

"Of course it has nothing to do with me," Davina bit. "It never does. It's all about you and your need for control."

His face blank, Klaus responded, "Well, of course."

Davina's eyes widened at his unabashed agreement.

"For a thousand years, my family has lived and thrived because of my control. You...harvest girl, are the one part of this family that I have never been able to control. You seem to live under the delusion that you should be able to control your own life. That your friends should live simply because you don't desire them to die. That you can run off in the dead of night, chasing after werewolves for whatever asinine reason and that YOU can use your magic against ME because you want to."

Davina took a cautious step backward as Klaus took one forward.

"Let me make one thing perfectly clear, little witch."

Davina flinched as Klaus grabbed her arm, her reflexes too slow to move out of his reach in time.

"Marcellus insists that we treat you like his own - treat you like a Mikaelson. Well, Mikaelsons do not attack me and get away with it."

"Oh yeah," she growled, her fingers tingling with magic. "And what are you going to do about it? Put me in a coffin like you do your siblings? Banish me like you did Marcel?"

Klaus snarled as she reminded him of the many ways he mistreated his family in the past.

"What I'm going to do, harvest girl," Klaus suddenly grabbed her other wrist and pulled her hands above her head, lifting her feet off the ground. He could feel the magic she conjured in her hands as he held her off the ground and it irritated him to know that she was once again planning to use it against him. "Is give you a firm reminder of your place."

Davina's eyes widened in shock as the first smack landed across her pajama-clad bottom.

"You are not in charge," he growled, landing a second smack across both of the girl's cheeks. "On the shortlist of Mikaelsons I answer to, you are nowhere to be seen. You are so far at the bottom of the hierarchy, you are lucky we allow you to form an opinion. And when you," Davina squeaked as the third smack came sharper than the other two. "Do anything to go against my will, you will be punished just like every other Mikaelson."

She kicked her feet in the air at each preceding smack but Klaus would not stop until he drew tears. "Stoooooop," she screamed into the open bayou, her voice cracking with the need to cry but her pride too strong to let Klaus Mikaelson bring her to tears. "Marcel!"

-M-

Marcel's ears perked at the sound of a scream coming from somewhere deep in the bayou, far away from where he'd wandered with Kol and Finn.

"Did you hear that?" He asked, stopping in the middle of their search party.

Kol groaned as he pulled his shoe out of a thick pile of what he hoped was mud. "Hear what?"

"Sounded like...someone screamed."

Ignoring his own disgust for the moment, Kol asked, "Did it sound like Davina?"

"I don't know. Maybe. We should go check it out."

"We're supposed to be going North," Finn objected. "Away from the scent of venomous wolves."

Kol curled a lip in disgust at his brother's perceived brownnosing. "You keep going on this wild goose chase. We're going to save my girl."

"How do you know it's a wild goose chase," Finn demanded, following behind Kol as he and Marcel marched towards the sound of the scream.

"Obviously it is," Marcel answered. "Klaus was trying to keep me as far away from the action as possible. He probably sensed that there were no wolves in the North and that's why he sent us this way."

"Bloody bastard," Kol groaned. Starting at a jog, he said, "Let's hurry before something happens to her."

He didn't need to convince Marcel to start running with him. Finn, afraid of what Klaus would do to him if anything happened to Marcel in his absence, immediately followed behind the two of them as they vamped through the forest.

I just want to say I absolutely loved the reception of the last chapter. Thank yall for reading this story and loving it even with all the mistakes, you are the best.