When Sophie made her way out of the pool, Caroline stepped in front of the staircase. The woman looked up at her.
"I know you were just using her to protect your people. But try it again? And I'll kill you myself." Caroline said.
Klaus hung up the phone while Caroline was lost in her thoughts. She had actually threatened someone she barely knew over babies she hadn't met yet. She put her fingers to her mouth in surprise.
"I assume that you hadn't told Damon and Elena I was accompanying you to the Bennett witches' funeral." Klaus prompted with a smirk. She gave him a look.
"Obviously not. But when we get there, I'm not letting you out of my sight. No hope or dream crushing, Charles Dickens." She ordered. Klaus chuckled and smiled ahead.
"Don't worry, love. I'll behave myself." He assured her. "For you." He knew she'd give him a look for that, and pretended to ignore it.
They were very late to the funeral. There wasn't any structure to this, not anything like she'd envisioned for Bonnie. Bonnie deserved better.
"We have to stay for longer so I can give her the send-off she should have." Caroline told him as they readied in black clothing.
"We haven't the time."
"Sure we do. Hayley's just fine now, the babies are safe, everything's calmed down." She reasoned. Klaus sighed.
"No. No they haven't, love." He said. Caroline stared at him.
"What have you been hiding?" She accused, venom dripping from her words suddenly.
"Hayley is missing." Klaus replied. Caroline stared at him wide-eyed. "Elijah went to check on her and found no trace."
"Well could she just be with Rebekah?"
"Rebekah left town the moment the link was broken, there was no place safe for Hayley to venture."
Caroline groaned and held her head.
"Dammit." She threw her hands down. "We, we have to go back right now." Klaus shook his head. "Right now! She could be in more danger than she was before!" Caroline exclaimed.
"Your friend Bonnie needs you here and now, Caroline." He replied calmly, taking a step to her. She huffed. "Give her some modicum of a sendoff, perhaps this could just be a small ceremony to hold you until you have the time to plan a proper funeral. Then, when Hayley and the twins are properly safe, we can come back and do this right."
Caroline crossed her arms, thinking. She hated it when he was right. She had no time to make up for the bad planning now. And spending as little time around Damon as possible would be a plus. Hayley wasn't accounted for. But Bonnie had died.
"Fine." Caroline said in a firm voice. Klaus smiled at her softly. "A tide over funeral, until Bonnie gets the black hearse and Kentucky derby flowers she deserves."
The ceremony was going to take place in the middle of the forest, a makeshift altar made of a long ago cut tree trunk. Just Bonnie's picture was propped there. Just her smile staring back at them. As Caroline started for the line of trees they needed to cross, Elena put a hand up.
"Wait, Caroline. Why did you bring Klaus with?" She asked. Damon quickly came to her side.
"Because he's my ride back." Caroline replied. "And it'd be better if he stayed with me so he wouldn't have the opportunity to go off on a killing spree."
Elena nodded to herself and looked at Damon, who shrugged.
"Klaus does seem to do whatever you want him to." He offered, then looked at Elena. "Also, if Klaus decided to kill someone, Caroline's a good shield so we can get away."
"I'd be careful with those kind of jokes, mate." Klaus replied, coming to Caroline side as she glared at Damon. "Who knows what I'd take seriously."
"You're going to keep your murdery hands to yourself while you're here?" Damon asked, eyeing him suspiciously. Klaus smirked.
"Trust me. If there's anyone I wanted to kill, you'd be the first to know." Klaus seethed.
"This isn't the time to be making threats, Klaus." Caroline hissed at him. He noticed the tears in her eyes and tried to make an apology, but no words came out. He just blinked and his face softened.
"This is Bonnie's funeral. Let's go say goodbye." Elena added. She held up a small crystal bowl that Caroline just noticed she had been holding the entire time, filled with white feathers. Matt handed her Bonnie's cheerleading pom-pom.
Somberly, they headed to the clearing where Jeremy was waiting for them.
"Ladies, gentlemen, and all those in-between." Marcel's voice boomed over the balcony, taking everyone's attention. "Welcome to Fight Night!" The people applauded, throwing fists in the air. Josh clapped awkwardly. "First rule of Fight Night..."
"We don't talk about Fight Night?" Josh quipped silently, hoping for a smile. All he earned was annoyed looks.
"The vampire left standing at the end of the night is one step closer to the inner circle, and a daylight ring!" The audience murmured, pointing like tourists and smiling. "If you can impress me, you too can enjoy the warmth of sun on your face." Marcel continued, pretending to lift his face to an imaginary heat. "All you gotta do is kick a little ass." He finished with a huge grin.
Josh looked away. He was such an out-doorsy person when he was human. To the point he got way more than his fair share of sunburns. No doubt that was a one-way ticket to skin cancer but now, he was immune to that stuff. And he really wanted to cook in the sun again. But he was no fighter.
The crowd made a circle in the middle of the floor, wondering what the next step was. Some were obviously not ready to fight, just there to watch for the moment. Maybe Josh could hide behind them.
"Our first two contenders," Marcel introduced. A smiling, aging asian woman in a sports bra and legging walked to the middle of the circle, holding out a fist to the crowd. "Felicia and Otto!"
Otto came out. The man looked like a friggin body builder that took his tips from Arnonld Schwartzenegger. He looked down at the woman with a condescending stare, flexing his muscles. Did he grow a couple of inches in those muscles alone?!
And yet, even though the body builder threw a surprise backhand at the woman, she took him down easily with her thighs snapping his neck. Marcel laughed at the man's arrogance and nodded to the woman.
"Damn girl, not bad!" He cheered. Felicia curtsied to him and suddenly Elijah appeared behind her. Felicia jumped, and the Original merely nodded at her. Rebekah stood at the corridor of the fight club.
The crowd went silent, and for a moment Rebekah knew Felicia was considering fighting Elijah. No doubt the woman thought knocking an Original out was a one-way ticket to a daylight ring, no matter if she could fight off all the other newbie vampires. So Rebekah made quick work of her. Marcel stared back with annoyance.
"Good evening." Elijah greeted in amusement. "We'd like a word."
"What do you two think you're doing?" Marcel angrily responded.
"It appears we've interrupted some amateurs." Rebekah said. "How sweet." They had rousted the witch community trying to hunt down anyone that saw Hayley, on top of looking for Agnes. The witches had convinced them Hayley wasn't there. Marcel was the only other option.
"Where is the girl?" Elijah asked.
"I don't know who you mean." Marcel replied.
"Give her to us or we'll kill everyone here." Rebekah added, crossing her arms.
"You two got a lot of nerve coming into my house and making demands." Marcel said with a smile. "I assume you're talking about Hayley?"
Elijah and Rebekah remained mute, staring up at him.
"Yay high," Marcel lifted a hand to his ear "dark hair, bitchy attitude. Who is she anyway?"
"A dear old acquaintance." Rebekah replied smartly.
"Well I don't have her. And before you start whining, I did pay her a little visit last night." Marcel replied. "I was feeling nostalgic." He shrugged and looked out at the crowd. "So I went back to the plantation, where I had been born a slave." His voice raised. "And imagine my surprise, when I realized that the family of original vampires had taken up residence." Elijah crossed his arms with a smirk, impressed. He saw several black fighters around the place, their faces had already dropped from excited to worried when they'd arrived. But now it was unbridled anger. And they weren't the only ones. "Your girl Hayley answered the door."
"That place isn't the same as you left it, Marcellus." Rebekah protested. "We raised the original building to the ground."
"And yet you still live there." Marcel replied. Rebekah pursed her lips and didn't push. "Hayley and I exchanged hellos and that was it."
"And we are supposed to believe you?" Elijah asked.
"Frankly, I don't care if you believe me. You can look around if you need to. Hell, I'll even help you find her. But the question I'd ask is, if Hayley isn't here...where is she?"
Elena led the way to the trunk, tears already pouring down her face. She clutched at the bowl thinking it would stop her shuddering. Instead she felt a crack under her palm and she turned her emotions to her stomach, breathing hard. But knowing Damon was there helped her.
As she came to the trunk, there was a large lilac bush, the branches obscuring her vision. She brushed it aside.
Matt came around the other side of the tree, with Caroline and Klaus. Klaus held Caroline's arm as she began to lose her composure, and she let him do so. Matt stole looks at Klaus, both bitter and sad. Klaus ignored him.
Jeremy stood before them, and put a handheld bell down in-between the objects already on the altar. Caroline looked at the placement of them, and tried to move to put the pom-pom down, but stopped short. Klaus watched her, and gently pushed her to take a step. Shakily, she did so. Putting the pom-pom down, she quickly walked back. Klaus took her shoulder in one hand and she leaned into him. He tried to ignore the harsh intake of breath he took at her closeness. Instead, he kissed the top of her head and tightened his grip on her.
It was Matt's turn. He walked up and ceremoniously put the coach whistle down by the pom-pom. He looked at Jeremy, who stared back without a reaction. Then Matt turned and stood by Klaus and Caroline again.
Elena's turn. She slowly walked up to the altar, holding the bowl and took a pink of the feathers out, letting them drift softly down in the air. She couldn't take it anymore. Elena put the bowl down and rushed back. Caroline opened her arms to Elena and Klaus reluctantly let her go, the girls hugged one another tightly and cried.
Damon looked back at Elena, wishing he could've been the one to hold her. But he walked up, Bonnie's grimoire in his hand, and set it down, nodding to Jeremy. He walked back to his place as Elena and Caroline continued sobbing together.
Jeremy stared at them. Caroline and Elena broke apart only a little to face him.
"It's okay." Bonnie said from behind him. "They need this." Jeremy looked back at her. "I, need this."
Jeremy picked up the bell and glanced at them all.
"We ring this bell, in honor of Bonnie." Jeremy stated. Matt's eyes filled with tears. "In remembrance for her." Caroline and Elena's faces were streaked with tears. Damon cleared his throat to try and keep his own tears from falling. He didn't much care for the witch, but she was Elena's family. If there were a way to bring her back, he'd take it.
Jeremy rung the bell, then put it down before the chiming ended.
Damon and the others stared back at Jeremy, the silence hanging in the air.
"I'm not sure what else to say." Jeremy admitted.
"I am." Bonnie said. "Say that I'm not going anywhere." Jeremy looked back at her. "Say that even though they couldn't save me, I've been there the whole time."
Jeremy relayed the message, hope and excitement filling Caroline and Elena's eyes.
"I've watched you have the summer of your life." Bonnie said, appearing by Elena. "And I saw you happy." Elena and Caroline smiled together. "And I know you think now, that you can't have a normal life. That you have to be here for everyone. But you don't. Everyone will find their way. So you are gonna repack your things, you're gonna go back to college, and you're gonna live it up." Elena smiled again as she let out another couple of shuddering sobs.
"You didn't do anything wrong, Matt." Bonnie said, appearing beside him. "You know, I would've sent you three hundred emails back if I could." She joked, Matt softly laughed, turning red at how hard he was trying to keep the tears from falling. "I miss you."
"Caroline." Jeremy said. Caroline inhaled sharply. Klaus looked at her. "I watched you take care of Hayley better than anyone else could have. You shouldn't be scared of Elijah. Take a chance. I know that college isn't everything you expected and it's hard to juggle what you're doing. But you're doing great."
Bonnie went back to Jeremy's side as Elena reached for Damon and Klaus took Caroline in his arms. Caroline hesitantly looked up at Klaus as she let him hold her. Even as tears streaked her face, ruining her makeup, he thought she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. She sniffed and looked away.
"This is good." Bonnie said, nodding to herself. "This is all I wanted." Jeremy heard the tears fill in her eyes again. Caroline cried openly into Klaus's chest. Elena sobbed into Damon's neck. Matt held his fist tightly, looking about ready to pass out.
It was simple. Prove to the others what he already knew, and gain an army of allies to take down Klaus Mikaelson. Finally avenge his mother's death. All he had to do was make a hybrid.
He heard her inhale sharply, gasp, and figure out what was happening. Paying a hybrid in the Mikaelson mansion to spike Hayley's tea with tranquilizer worked like a charm, since he'd helped the guy break free of his compulsion. But now, Hayley was kicking through the glass of his truck.
Tyler swerved off the dirt road, got out and pushed the useless back window out of the way before catching Hayley's foot that was aimed for his head.
"Seriously?!" He yelled.
"Tyler?" She asked in return.
"You don't want to fight me, Hayley. You know you can't beat a hybrid." He caught Hayley's other foot and bound it in the same plastic as her wrists were. She screamed in frustration, yelling curses.
"You half-breed piece of shit!"
"Shut up!" He yelled back. She shrieked as he threw her over his shoulder and began to make the rest of the way on foot.
"Not the most attractive community." Elijah noted.
"I'm sure they'd say the same of us." Rebekah replied. So she was still mad at him. The vampires had scurried to the walls for the night, begrudgingly waiting for whenever Marcel would announce Fight Night again and daring to take peeks at the Originals they'd never met but were taught to fear. In turn, Marcel had asked for the Mikaelsons to be made comfortable. They sat in the middle of the room in the best chairs, refreshments readied for them, and unnecessary candles decorating the tables they were set on. They were being treated like the royalty they were.
Marcel came back into the main room, and began to grin at them.
"You know Elijah, I liked you better in that box." Marcel said. Elijah grinned back. "You Rebekah, I honestly thought seeing you last night was the last time for a long time. But no matter, you guys always did change your minds pretty fast."
"But since you're missing your lady friend, I thought you could use the help of a witch." He added as if it had been obvious. Rebekah kicked herself for not suggesting it after they'd learned Marcel wasn't the captor, but was grateful she hadn't slept with him and then he went to where she had been hiding for months and took the mother of her brother's children.
Two vampires strong-armed a witch into the compound, and it was Sabine. Her cloudy disposition showed that she did not come willingly, but as she met Elijah's eye, Rebekah saw a hint of smugness. Again.
"I'll grant you one little locator spell. Since I control the witches in this town."
As Sabine was brought to them, she yanked her arms from the vampire's hands. "Sabine's the best guide in the Quarter. If you need finding somebody, I guarantee she's your gal."
Elijah and Rebekah schooled their faces as Marcel began to walk away.
"Where are you going?" Rebekah demanded. He stopped and turned back.
"I hate to cut this short, but I got a room full of nightwalkers and the sun's coming up. Plus I've got a city to run. I'll leave you to track down your lost sheep."
"Very well, you may go." Elijah snidely replied. Rebekah noticed a spark of a fire in his eyes. No one would get away with insulting Hayley if Elijah has anything to do with it. Marcel narrowed his eyes as he turned away. Rebekah turned to Sabine.
"Can you find her?" She asked.
"I can try." Sabine replied.
Rebekah bullied someone into giving her a shot glass, which she then poured a fair amount of blood into and thrust at Sabine. The witch gave her a distrustful stare before sitting in front of the map Elijah had already laid out on the table.
Sabine poured the blood onto the corner of the map and began the location spell. She didn't need to chant, she was practically an expert as Marcel had stated. Her gleaming red fingernails hovered in lazy circles over the map while one thin line of blood made it way along the roads.
"She's in the back country." Sabine announced as Rebekah paced, Elijah sitting in front of her. "Past Houma, deep in the bayou."
Elijah rolled his eyes. "I don't suppose you could be a tad more precise."
Sabine smiled at him languidly, Rebekah noticed her eyes glinting with a mixture of flirtation and...malice? Before the witch caught her staring and looked away.
"There are stories of exiled wolves, encampments." Sabine glanced between the siblings. "If Hayley went out that far, chances are she went to find them."
Tyler's boots crunched on the dead leaves scattered about the dirt yard of the small shack he headed towards, Hayley had given up struggling when she realized she couldn't pull herself off his shoulder. He crouched down and sat her on the one step to the wrap-around porch. As he turned away, Hayley quickly took in her surroundings.
This place looked abandoned, nearly. Run-down, certainly. The shack was built to be halfway over the water of a lake, the forest Tyler had carried her through ending a couple yards away. Next to the trees was another house-like shack, one more lived-in. Things strewn about on the porch as if the owner would come to collect them shortly.
"What is this place?" She mumbled.
"The armpit of Louisana." Tyler replied. He casually reached into his back pocket and withdrew a knife. She started.
"What're you gonna do with that?" Hayley asked, trying to crawl back away from him. He pointed the blde at her.
"That depends on you." He quipped, then slice through the zip-tie around her ankles. She needed to look up that video on how to get out of those when she was free of this...if she got out of here.
"Hey, you attacked me." Hayley shot back, standing up freely. "You ambushed me."
"In Klaus's backyard." Tyler sneered. "You're shacked up in a mansion with that psycho. When you used to help wolves." Hayley shook her head. She'd told Tyler why she betrayed him and the others before. If he couldn't accept it, it wasn't her problem.
"You're pregnant with his kid." He added. He scoffed, staring at her stomach. "A hybrid baby. Yeah, I know all about it."
"Yeah, I know you're the reason why Caroline found out. I also know you're the reason why she left New Orleans to come be my babysitter." Hayley spat. Tyler's eyes flashed yellow.
"What?" He growled. She gulped. Oh. He didn't know about that bit. Whoops.
He shook his head. "Doesn't matter right now. I've been roaming all over the bayou asking questions. And I learned some things." He jerked the knitting of Hayley's sweater off her right shoulder and gripped her arm where the large eye-print birthmark was previously covered. "This crescent means you come from the wolf equivalent of royalty in this region. And right here," he threw the fabric back over her shoulder. "is what's left of them."
Hayley blinked the tears from her eyes. Tyler just wanted to hurt her for what she did to their pack. He was lying, and wanted to fool her into thinking he'd basically brought her back to the family she'd sacrificed 12 sire broken hybrids for.
She scanned the trees anyway. Maybe this was as close as she'd get to her birth family, some fantasy she could conjure up. And a woman silently popped out from behind a tree, dirty blonde hair in a long braid swaying from her shoulder with cooking utensils in one hand.
She was probably the occupant of the other lived-in shack. The light caught the woman's shoulder as she turned away from her. It looked like a scar...in the shape of her own birthmark.
"Hey," Hayley cried out, taking a step towards her as the woman fled without a thought. "Help me!" She protested, holding up her wrists.
"She can't help you!" Tyler replied a little too gleefully. "They can't even help themselves. They've been persecuted for decades by vampires and are in hiding here because of it."
Hayley glared back at him and then a twig broke. She spun around and a man she hadn't even noticed was coming to them. He gestured at her.
"Is this her?" The man asked, eyeing her suspiciously. Tyler nodded. Hayley glanced back at him.
"Get her inside, Dwayne." Tyler ordered, then glared at her.
Dwayne roughly gripped Hayley's forearms and man-handled her into the shack. She tried to fight against him, but the zip-ties stopped her. She stomped on his feet, kicked him in the groin, even gripped the edge of the porch with her freed ankles. Dwayne either didn't care about the pain or he was wearing a cup, because he just yanked her feet from the porch and carried her bridal style into the small room. Hayley quickly threw her arms over the man's head and bit into his ear before he gripped her arms and threw her back into the wall.
"Careful, Dwayne! She's gotta be mostly unharmed for this!" Tyler called as he heard the scuffle.