When I woke up I was already struggling, as if my body itself knew that the baby and I were in danger and instinctively fought to break free but I was too weak, and also in pain. My entire abdomen felt like it was squeezing itself beyond natural capability, and as I came around fully I screamed from the sensation and started to fight back even harder as I recognised the signs of labour and recalled that my waters had broken during the fall. I lashed out with everything I had, but the witches had me gagged and bound as they dragged me into the church of St. Anne's towards the sacristy, and tried to hold me down on the floor as Genevieve ordered them to pin me down. Through the gag, I spouted off such profanities at her that I swore I was going to make her pay if she did anything to hurt this baby. "We should take her to the City of the Dead." I recognised Monique as well, causing my fury to burn all the brighter but my magic was being blocked, some kind of metal cuff being fixed onto my wrists which not only kept me from using magic, but neutralised the spells I had placed on my body as well.
"We won't make it, the baby is coming now." You damn bitches! I'll see you all burn in hell if you do anything to us! Nik won't let you get away with this, he and Hayley will have your heads and string them up as decorations for Halloween!
"The plan was to induce her when the sacrifice was ready!" Monique argued, my ears ringing at the word sacrifice. Oh god, they wanted to sacrifice the baby. No, no they can't do that! Once this baby was born, the magic protecting her will vanish the moment they cut the umbilical cord, severing my link to her. I have to get out of here, I have to run!
"I had to subdue her, and the trauma caused a placental abruption. So, the baby is coming, and we'll just have to adapt." I screamed and continued to fight with everything I had, bruising my body in the effort to escape with the baby still alive inside me before I would let any of them lay a hand on her. "You need to be calm, Ophelia."
"Why? Why are you doing this?" Managing to mumble through the gag and my tears, I heard the cold, course reply of Monique Devereux.
"To be reborn, you must sacrifice." I screamed at her.
"I don't need to be reborn, I am the last of my kind! If you kill me, the line of druids will end and if you kill this baby, the wrath of heaven, earth and hell will fall upon your coven! I will reach back beyond the grave and destroy you all down to the last child! I will shake your ancestors to their core and OBLITERATE THEM FROM BEYOND THE VIEL!" My threats had no effect, however, as another contraction took hold and I struggled to even breathe through it, all of Eve's lessons completely flying out of my head as I sobbed.
"The ancestors demand an offering in exchange for power." Genevieve attempted to explain gently, however I was having none of it as Monique continued with less sympathy.
"You and your child will be a fine offering."
"Like hell we will, you'll be the first to die you stuck up little bitch! I'll destroy you all!"
"No, you won't! And neither will Klaus, or Elijah! When your baby is born, you will offer her up to those who came before us." I couldn't believe what I was hearing, the whole world had gone mad. Their ancestors wanted the blood of an innocent baby just to have more power than they already had. It was insane, a violent sacrilege against everything pure and holy, and my druid nature found it almost unbearable to comprehend that someone would want to kill a life before it had even had a chance to really live.
"I'm sorry, Ophelia, but this is the way it had to be." The gag having slipped free slightly, I spat in Genevieve's face with all the bile and hatred I could summon.
"You will not have her! You're all insane! I'd die a thousand times before I'd let any of you psycho witches have her! The Mikaelsons will come for you, and the Crescent wolves, and when they find out what you've done, they will tear all of you to pieces! There will be no survivors after this, no vessels for your ancestors to imbue their magic! Your line, your legacy will crumble into ashes, and I will make sure that none of you will ever be able to rise from your graves!" Wiping my spit from her face, Genevieve hardened her expression and moved the gag back into place before commanding for the birthing to begin, sending me back into a flood of sobs as I tried with all my power to summon magic to save us but the shackles had me bound, and I could not break free of them. I still shared the baby's blood, and her witch magic meant that I could not escape these bonds which were meant to restrain witches. My only chance was to try and fight back the moment they cut the bond between us, but I was uncertain that it would work, after all, it would take time for her blood to leave my system.
The sound of the church doors being flung wide open caused me to open my eyes and look to see Nik standing there, visibly drained, but the mere sight of him was enough to make me sob once more with relief. "Nik!" An unbound rage overcame him, and in the next moment Nik had taken the head of one of the witch guards but before he could get any closer, was held down by both Abigail and Genevieve, who used their magic to throw him against a wall and pin him there. "No! No let him go! Let him go!" My words were cut off by another contraction and I released my voice into the rafters of the church, the sound echoing and carrying as flung back my head at the feeling of utter agony as everything seemed to twist and contract at the same time.
"You should know this brings me no joy. I promise I'll make it quick." Dimly aware of Genevieve's voice in the background, I gasped through the tail end of the contraction, already caked in sweat as I looked to see my being covered with a sheet to the lower half of my body, signifying that they were now ready to begin delivering the little one. "Let's begin, shall we?"
"No…no please I'm begging you…leave her be!" I begged them, sobbing uncontrollably as I felt utterly powerless in the wake of their control, a feeling I had never felt before. "You can take me, take the power of a druid, the most powerful druid ever to exist, you can have it all just please don't hurt the baby! Sacrifice me instead! Consecrate me with your ancestors!" But my pleas and cries fell upon deaf ears, another contraction beginning to take hold so all I could do was try and hold back for as long as I could, hoping that someone else would come to the rescue. I tried to fight it, but my body worked naturally with a process that women had been enduring for millennia long before there were doctors, nurses, hospitals, medicine or even psychotic witches answering the orders of dead ancestors.
All the while through the labour, Nik was bellowing in utter fury and desperation, threatening to bring hell and devastation onto their families if they did not let both me and the baby go, but even his threats which carried far more weight than mine, were disregarded as nothing as Genevieve continued to try and push me towards delivering the child. "One last push! Push! The baby's almost here!"
"No! NO! I can't, I can't let you! I WON'T!" But I could not fight nature, and my body was acting beyond my control and more often than not, I could not fight the need to push with the contractions as they came one after the other.
"I can see the baby!"
"Push! Gently! Gently!" I could feel the baby as she came away through the delirium of my pain and fear, howling with all the air my lungs possessed to try and call for someone, anyone, to help us. "There!" As the little girl I had carried for so long finally came into this world, I felt a momentary bliss of relief and accomplishment to know that she was here, followed by a cold dread to know that she was in mortal peril at the hands that enemies I should have protected her from. Recovering enough in order to lift my head, I saw the baby after the cord had been cut and the afterbirth removed, to see a washed and very pink little girl swathed in a blanket, held in Genevieve's arms as she smiled at me, and I only noted then that Nik had gone silent. "You have a beautiful baby daughter." Although this baby technically wasn't mine, my own natural instincts loved her as fiercely as I knew Hayley and Nik did, and nothing mattered to me more in that moment than that little girl. "We must start the sacrifice as soon as the moon sets with the morning sky…"
"Wait, wait please." I begged, suddenly finding my voice as tears streaked down my face, completely transfixed by the beautiful and precious child that she was holding. "Please let me hold her, let me hold her for a moment. I want to feel her in my arms." After a momentary pause, Genevieve complied and the moment I felt the tiny, soft bundle being placed into my arms, I completely and utterly fell in love like never before. That girl became my everything in that moment, and I could not hold back the smile as I pressed my cheek to her face and shuddered, still crying as I whispered all the blessings and hopes I could give her in ancient languages, hoping that my ancestors were listening and would protect her on my behalf, that she would be safe soon. Before I had even finished, the doors once again burst open and Hayley herself appeared with a snarling fury. My heart leaped with joy to see her, hoping now that we were saved and I turned my head in order to cry out her name, before suddenly I felt someone grasp hold of my hair and something cold sliced across my throat which made me choke in an instant.
I heard screams, powerful screams, devastating screams unlike any other as I started to convulse, choking on my own blood as Nik howled and, in her distraction, Hayley missed the witch that appeared behind her and, all at once, snapped her neck. She died instantly, whereas I died slowly whilst still holding the baby, however she was soon snatched away from me and left me with a lingering feeling of emptiness as the blood loss accumulated and I gradually began to fall asleep all the while being in utter agony, my lungs and throat burning intensely as I felt the last of my life fade away from me, the final sound in my ears being the mournful cries of Niklaus Mikaelson as he called out my name.