Chapter 80
"I-I'm fine, Elijah," Hayley answered tensely. "And...I'm sorry for waking you but...I think you guys need to end your trip a bit early. Something's happened. With Izzy. I...I don't know how to explain it. Just...come home. Now."
Earlier
Izzy laid in bed watching Oliver sleeping peacefully across from her. He threw a fit about not having Marcel there to tuck him in but thankfully Rebekah was there to calm him down since Izzy had all but given up. Now he slept as if he'd never been a little terror less than an hour ago.
A slight knock on the doorframe of her door drew her eyes up to Hope standing in the open doorway, her eyes fallen humbly to the floor.
"What," Izzy groaned, sitting up in her bed so as not to be caught off guard just in case Hope had come for a second round.
Rolling her eyes at the older girl's defensiveness, Hope said, "I've come to apologize."
Izzy's eyes narrowed, unsure if she'd heard the girl right.
"I'm...sorry for throwing that pillow and hitting Oliver...even though I was aiming at you," she mumbled the last bit under her breath. "I just...you're not the first person to call me spoiled. But I'm not. I get punished when I mess up just like everyone else."
"That doesn't mean you're not spoiled," said Izzy, her irritation waining at Hope's obvious contriteness. "You're spoiled because you get everything you want whenever you want it. All you have to do is ask and here comes mommy and daddy with open hands, ready to fulfill your every need. You'd never survive in the real world."
Hope gave a deft shrug. "Maybe. But...That's not something I'd ever have to worry about either. My parents...they're immortal. And even if something did happen to them, I'd still have Marcel and Aunt Rebekah, Uncle Elijah, and Uncle Kol. And my pack. I...I don't have to worry about being thrown into 'the real world' because I have people who love me and who will protect me. And...I know that may make me seem a little spoiled sometimes but...isn't that the point of family? Shouldn't they want to spoil you with love and kindness?"
Izzy cut her teeth at the suggestion. "The real world isn't going to be so kind to you. You're gonna have to grow up sometime and you won't make it a mile outside this Compound the way you are."
"I survived on the run with my mom for years before we settled back home. I've slept in sketchy roadside motels and ate off greasy diner plates for most of my life. And I activated my werewolf curse when I was just eight years old using accidental magic to save another kid from getting snatched at a playground. So believe me when I say I've seen my share of the real world, Izzy. I know it's tough out there and someday I'm gonna have to be right back in the midst of it. But here, with my family, I don't have to be afraid that the mattress I sleep on tonight might have bedbugs because I know my Uncle Elijah is going to make sure the Compound is pest-free daily. I don't have to worry if my mom will make it home safe every day because I know every member of our pack is willing to lay down their lives to ensure that she does. And I don't sit up all night, staring into the darkness on the nights that my mom isn't able to tuck me in anymore."
Hope blushed as she realized she'd just admitted that Hayley still tucks her into bed at night but she also knew Izzy probably figured it out on her own by now. Now that she was older, Hope completed her bedtime routine and went to bed on her own but she still stayed up until Hayley peeped into her room sometime in the middle of the night and tucked her in before going to bed herself. It was a small reminder that she was safe and could sleep peacefully because she knew her mom was still close by.
"Now I have Marcel," she continued. "You can call me spoiled if you want...but...my dad always says, there are worse things to be."
Izzy climbed to the edge of her bed, staring down at the expensive comforter beneath her.
"Y'know," Izzy muttered, still unable to look Hope in the eyes. "My mom left me and Oliver with nothing. One day she just...took off. Oliver's dad left almost as soon as Ollie was born so mom's the only parent he's ever known and one day we look up and she's just gone. She took the car and all of our money, her credit cards. Mrs. Marshall-Kenner...she loves you so much. She would never just leave you like that. Honestly...I guess I'm just...jealous. Jealous that you are so damn loved and so damned spoiled that you don't even know how lucky you are."
Hope walked over to Izzy's bed and sat an arm's reach away from her, unsure of what to say to that.
"I'm sorry," Hope muttered. "That...your mom left. You're right, I'll probably never know what that's like. But...you're a Mikaelson now. You won't have to worry about it ever happening again. Mikaelsons stay together. Always and forever."
Izzy scoffed at the familiar maxim. Since living with the Mikaelsons she'd probably heard each of them repeat it a hundred times but she wasn't sure if that was true for her and Oliver.
"But I'm not really a Mikaelson though, am I."
Cocking her eyebrow in confusion, Hope asked, "Why aren't you?"
Izzy lifted her hands in front of her as if it were obvious. "I'm not...y'know, one of you."
"Marcel and Davina were adopted but they're still a part of this family. My mom is only connected through me and Uncle Elijah but she's still a Mikaelson."
"Yeah, but...that's different." Izzy stood from the bed and drifted over to the balcony, her jaw tense as she thought about her family. "I have a secret," she muttered. "But...you have to promise not to tell anyone. Especially not your dad."
Curious about the older girl's secret, Hope scooted closer so that she wouldn't have to talk so loudly with the door open.
Taking a deep breath, Izzy admitted, "My mom...hated your family. She even hated Marcel for being associated with them. She used to always call them and other vampires 'crimes against nature' and would always admonish the other witches for making alliances with Marcel after your family left. Everyone...just called her crazy. And I think they thought me and Ollie would grow up to be just like her. That's why none of them offered to take us in when mom disappeared. They didn't want any more crazy witches anywhere near them. Before your family returned, I heard the old Regent talking to some other witches about what to do with me if something ever happened to mom and she said...'We should just get rid of her. Don't want another Eva Sinclair.'"
"But...you're not evil," Hope asserted. "You just...have anger problems. Nothing a little therapy won't sort out."
Izzy turned hopeful eyes up to Hope. She thought the girl would hate her for admitting the secret she'd kept for so long but she was barely fazed.
"Look, my family might think I'm just some naive little kid but I'm smart enough to know that my family has more enemies than allies. But that's why we have to stick together. You're one of us now. And we don't judge people by the actions of their parents. Hell, my grandpa tried to hunt down and kill my dad for centuries. But my dad doesn't let the hate his father showed him bleed into his relationships with me and Marcel."
"Y'know," Izzy smirked. "You can actually be a little wise when you're not being a little wise-ass."
Hope playfully stuck her tongue out and flipped her middle finger at Izzy but that only made the older teen smile broader.
"Well, well, well." The two teens looked up to see Davina leaning against the doorframe with a gleeful smile on her face. "Look at you two getting along."
Izzy gave Hope's head a playful push and said, "Yeah, turns out she's not so bad if you get over the annoying rich-kid vibes."
Hope rolled her eyes at Izzy's teasing.
"Well, now that we're all friends," Davina said as she sauntered over between them, wrapping her arms over their shoulders as she pulled them into her embrace, "How's about we celebrate tomorrow with a milkshake at this amazing witch-owned diner I found a few blocks away."
"Eddie's?" Hope asked excitedly. "I love that place!" Before Hope could continue exclaiming her excitement, she sensed another person on the other side of the balcony doors. She narrowed her eyes until she made out the silhouette of a man standing in the dark. "There's someone outside," she whispered.
Davina dropped her arms from the girls' shoulders and pushed them behind her, the tips of her fingers tingling with magic. Whoever was on the other side of the door didn't yet know the girls knew he was there and she used that to her advantage. Twisting her hands at the door, she pulled them open with her magic and yanked the man onto the floor, folding his body at her feet.
They all stared at his face, not recognizing the stranger for a short while, before Izzy's eyes suddenly widened with realization.
"Dad?" She muttered.
"Dad?" Hope repeated in confusion. "I thought...you said your dad was dead."
"I thought...he was."
The man glared up at Davina, a fire in his dark eyes as he growled, "Let go of me, witch."
Unfazed by the revelation of the stranger's identity, Davina said, "Not until you tell us why the hell you were spying on us through a window?"
"Wasn't spying on you," he growled, his backcountry accent coming out clearer the more he struggled against her magic. "I've come for my girl."
His words riled every familial bone in Izzy's body. "Let him go," she demanded of Davina as she hurried to help the man to his feet.
Reluctantly Davina released the spell she had that kept the man pinned to the ground.
"Wh-where have you been?" Izzy asked, dusting off her father's worn leather coat but it seemed like it had years of caked dirt on it that she could never brush off.
"Out in Lafourche with our people."
"Our...people?"
He stared down at her and Izzy saw the same disgust in his eyes that she remembered from when she was a kid. Quickly looking away from her, said, "Our pack," he continued. "It's where we're from. Suppose ya momma never told you nothing 'bout that."
"She told me you were dead. Are you saying that we're...that you..."
"Are a werewolf?" he walked over to the closet and grabbed an empty gym bag from the bottom of it. "That's right. And I can smell that this place is crawling with other wolves so let's get you out of here before they come barging through that door."
"Wait, wait," Hope stepped forward. "You've gotta have her mixed up with some other girl. There's no way Izzy's a Hybrid. I would sense her...wolf-ness."
"Obviously, she hasn't activated her curse yet," he responded curtly. "But that's alright. We'll activate it soon enough. You're gonna need it to survive in the backcountry. Especially since our old pack master combined with this Hayley-woman's pack a few years ago before we dissented back into our own pack after the Mikaelsons left. Now we can change a will, which makes the survival of the fittest a lot easier."
"You can't just show up here in the middle of the night take her," Davina barked. "You...you have to talk to Marcel and Hayley first."
He looked over his shoulder at Davina with a face full of anger, his dark brown hair framing his dark eyes to make them appear more menacing.
"She-she's right," Izzy said. "I-I can't just leave with you. What about Ollie?"
The confusion on the man's face told Izzy that he had no idea who she was talking about and so she pointed across the room to the still sleeping soundly.
Her father snarled at the sight of him. "So...she finally made another one."
Davina's eyes narrowed at his choice of words. "What do you mean 'made' another one?"
He sneered as he threw the gym bag over his shoulder. "There's a reason I had to wait for Latoya to leave New Orleans before I could come back for my girl. The crazy bitch threatened to kill me if I tried to interfere with her little experiment."
Izzy's skin began to crawl as a vague childhood memory of her father referring to her as an 'experiment' during one of her parents' many arguments resurfaced. "What experiment?"
"Your momma was insane," he growled. "She hated vampires so much, she tried to build her own army against her. I didn't know her plans when we met. I knew she'd been with a few other wolves before me but I just thought she had a type. Turns out she was just using us for our DNA. See...this witch army she was making...she wanted them to be able to have the power to anchor themselves to draw more magic."
Davina's eyes widened with realization. "She was trying to create witch-werewolf hybrids."
"Bingo," he growled. Looking over to Oliver, he said, "Y'know, I was never really cut out for this 'father' role. It was always too confining. I used to leave you and her and run off to be with my pack and...lose track of time."
"Why...did you stop coming back?"
"Did she tell you, you had more siblings?"
Izzy was stunned at the announcement. "I've got more brothers and sisters?"
"Had." His eyes dropped coldly to Izzy. "Latoya and I had a son after you. Named him Antwon, after her father. One day when I came back...he was gone."
"What...what happened to him?"
He stared at her with dead eyes. "So you were too little to remember. That's good."
Izzy clenched her fist, irritated that he'd avoided answering her question.
"Why didn't you take me with you when you left?"
"I always intended to come back for you. You were always so much bigger whenever I came back but not quite big enough. I never had any intention of raising a kid so I wanted to wait until you were big enough to take care of yourself. You're so much bigger now than the last time I saw you."
Izzy's brows furrowed in anger. "Yeah, well...I was, like, four the last time you saw me."
"And how old are you now?"
"Turned sixteen a couple months ago."
"Damn, it's been that long? I heard through the bayou pipeline that Latoya had absconded from New Orleans after the Mikaelsons returned so I came as soon as I could."
"And it took you months to get here?" she barked, her anger flaring as she remembered what she'd gone through before Marcel saved her and Oliver.
He narrowed his eyes at her raised voice. "I told you, I'm not cut out for this father crap."
Davina crossed her arms over her chest. "Then why are you here?"
"Blood is still blood," he bit, growing more irritated by the brazen teenagers. "She belongs with her pack."
"We're her pack now," Hope butted in. "If you don't want to be her father then go. No one's asking you to."
He stared Hope up and down, sensing her tribrid nature and curling his lip in disgust - the same disgust he'd shown Izzy so many years ago. "You're a wolf?"
"I'm a Tribrid," Hope proudly corrected.
"But you're part wolf."
"So."
"So you should understand the importance of pack loyalty."
"You talk about pack loyalty," Izzy barked. "But you expect me to leave my little brother to go with a man I barely even know."
Her father sniffed the air. Hope narrowed her eyes, hoping he didn't sense the werewolf sentry coming down the hall as she did.
He threw the duffle bag on the floor and said, "I don't know who that boy's father is, but chances are he's another one of Latoya's experiments. That means he has a father out there somewhere who, like me, will come for him eventually. He will be fine here until then. You belong with your people." He marched over to the balcony, and turned to her one more time, saying, "But I'm not waiting around all night. I'll be camped out in the bayou til' daybreak. Come find me if you decide you want to be with your pack."
A knock against the door drew all three girl's eyes away from the balcony. "Izzy," a wolf called from the other side and before Izzy could respond, he said, "I'm coming in." And opened the door.
The balcony was empty when the wolf came in.
He sniffed around the room curiously and said, "I thought sensed a stranger wolf in here."
"Um...must've been a stray dog," said Hope, shining the wolf her best, innocent smile.
The wolf scowled at her, insulted by the idea that he would mistake the scent of a stray dog for a wolf.
Walking over to the balcony, he closed the doors and said, "I'm still going to report it to Hayley. We may need to increase security around the city. You girls keep the balcony doors closed until then."
The three of them nodded their agreement as the wolf left the room.
"I'm going after him," Izzy said seconds after the door closed.
"You're what?" Davina barked.
Izzy marched over to the balcony doors and pulled them open with unhidden rage. "He said I had another brother. I need to know what happened to him."
"You can't just leave, Izz. You barely know this man."
"He's my father."
"And?" Hope shouted. "He abandoned you with a mom that was creating an army of her own Hybrid children."
Izzy cut her eyes at Hope. "You have no idea what it's like to be abandoned by your parents, so don't try to lecture me right now. I need answers about who I am. Who the hell he is. And...I need to know everything he knows about my mom."
Hope's mouth slammed shut, her eyes bulging with embarrassment.
As Izzy snuck down the balcony, using magic to keep her balance as she scaled the three-story wall, Davina turned to Hope and said, "I'm going with her. Stay here and keep an eye on your phone. I'll call you if we need back-up."
"I'm coming too," Hope stated, marching purposefully towards the balcony doors. A forcefield kept her from crossing the threshold.
"Stay here," Davina repeated firmly. "If this guy is dangerous, I don't want you anywhere near him."
"If he's dangerous, I could help. I've fended off wolves before."
"I've protected myself against worst things than a pack of wolves. Your dad, for one. So I don't need any help getting Izzy back here."
Hope pouted and crossed her arms over her chest as Davina left the room, closing the balcony doors behind her and lacing Hope with one final, threatening glare before disappearing into the darkness.
Hope stamped her feet and pulled her phone out, immediately dialing Sebastian's number.
"Hello," the boy answered in a whisper, obviously afraid his parents would overhear.
Hope's body relaxed with relief that Mr. Dupeaux did not take Sebastian's phone away after their little venture out of town. "Good, you're awake. I need you." Hope gave Sebastian a quick summary of what had just gone down and ended with, "We have to follow them."
"Are you crazy," he bit lowly. "My ass is still sore from the last time we went somewhere without permission and now you want me to go trouncing about the bayou in the middle of the night? If the gators don't kill us, my dad certainly will."
Hope's frustration only grew but she couldn't blame her friend for being afraid. She knew if she didn't have her supernatural healing, she'd be in just as much pain.
Still, in anger, she hung up without saying goodbye and marched out of the room. If she couldn't go on Izzy and Davina's excursion into the bayou, then they shouldn't be able to go either.
-M-
Finn sat tensely beside Elijah as they sped down the highway towards the city. He didn't know what he should say, or if there was anything he could say to ease his brother's worries. The story Hayley told them about Izzy's parents was beyond belief and now she and Marcel's surrogate daughter were lost in the bayou somewhere searching for a pack that no one knew anything about except that they had Hayley's ability to change at will.
As the car ahead of them started to slow down and pull over to the side of the road, Elijah followed suit.
Niklaus hoped out of the driver's seat of the car, his narrow nose pointed to the trees as he took a deep sniff. "We're close," he said as the rest of the Mikaelsons slammed their doors shut. "I smell a pack not far away. They're not of Hayley's bloodline."
"Any idea how many there are?" Marcel asked.
Niklaus looked over to Marcel, glancing him up and down. Freya had ended her spell so Marcel was moving with the grace and strength of a man who'd never felt the switch. But having his son at full force didn't ease Klaus's anxieties.
"I don't know," he answered, tossing the car keys to Marcel. "But I'll call you when we find out. You go back to the Compound and stand guard over Oliver."
Marcel's eyes narrowed at Niklaus's statement, knowing exactly what his father was trying to do. "If you think that I'm going to tuck-tail and run just because you're afraid I'll get a little wolf-bite, you're out of your mind, Klaus."
"We don't know what kind of fight we're walking into."
"And I'm not going to leave Davina to fight it on her own."
"I promise you, I will bring Davina home safe and sound, but I can't focus on whatever we're about to walk into if I am worried about you."
"Klaus-"
"Enough, Marcellus," Elijah raised his hand, silencing Marcel's argument. Marcel stared at him with gritted teeth. It didn't matter what Klaus or Elijah said, he wasn't leaving the bayou without Davina in tow. Turning to Niklaus, he said, "Even if you order him to leave, we both know he won't and you will be more stressed thinking about him roaming this swamp without you."
Klaus's jaw tensed as he knew Elijah was right. He glared at his son for only a moment before saying, "Kol, Finn, stay by Marcel's side at all times. We'll split into three groups and scour the bayou for the girls. I'll head towards the scent of the strange wolves. Elijah, you go South. The three of you go North." Then, turning to Kol, he said, "If you run into a wolf and Marcel gets bit, bring him to me. I don't care if you have to drag him kicking and screaming."
Before Marcel could object to Klaus's order, Elijah continued, "Our main priority is finding the girls and getting them home safely. Try to avoid a brawl with these new wolves if you can because we do not want to put the girls in the middle of a fight."
"Alright, whatever," Kol groaned, cracking his knuckles as he prepared to bombard the bayou and kill any wolf he came in contact with to protect Davina. He knew Marcel would be able to protect himself so he planned to split up from him as soon as they were out of his brothers' sight so they could cover more ground. "Let's just go already."
Elijah ignored Kol's rudeness for the time being as he sped off into the forest, Marcel and Finn immediately following. "Call me if you find them," said Elijah.
Niklaus nodded his agreement and sped off in the direction of the wolf scent.
With a sigh, Elijah turned to the South of the bayou, staring into the darkness as if he could see Izzy and Davina through the trees. "What are you doing, Izzy."
I know some of yall probably hated this chapter because you are over Izzy and Oliver but I just needed to give them a quick little backstory before we moved on. The next chapter will be them facing the repercussions of their decisions and then the story will return focus on Marcel/Kol/Finn and their respective paternal figures.
Just a quick spoiler before anyone jumps to any conclusions: Izzy and Hope are not ever going to be an item lol this family has enough semi-incest with Marcel and Rebekah, I'm not going to add any more.
(also, I've scoured the web searching for a reason there can't be a wolf/witch hybrid and I didn't find anything but i just know one of yall are gonna be like 'TVD said that can't happen because of _' and I'm not even mad lol I really wanna know why/if that is a possibility.)