Chapter 31
Although Marcel resented Klaus for grounding him, Rebekah made his first forty-eight hours of house-arrest bearable. They never left the room, enjoying the comfort of each other's touch and hold freely for the first time in centuries.
It was on the third night that Marcel received an urgent text from Josh. Marcel was fast asleep with Rebekah in his arms when he felt the unexplainable urge to wake up. He saw the glow of his phone in the dark. Easing Rebekah on to the mattress, he grabbed his phone and read: New Vampires have moved into the Treme. Say they're looking for Klaus. They're at the Witch Lounge rn. Zane and I are here keeping an eye on them.
Marcel's immediate reaction was to go to the Treme and find these new vampires who dared come into his town uninvited but then he remembered his grounding.
He started on a text to Josh telling him to sit tight and wait for reinforcements but before he could get the message out, he got another text from Josh.
There on the move. We're following.
Unsure about the strength of these new vampires and afraid for the safety of his friends, Marcel called Josh.
"Hello," Josh answered lowly.
"Where are you?" Marcel muttered, trying to keep from waking Rebekah up.
"We just left the Lounge."
"Go back, now. I don't need you following those vampires. If they're looking for Klaus, they'll find us eventually."
"Too late, bro. I think we've made it to their hideout. Oh man...there are more of 'em. There are like...a dozen of 'em and that's just outside. Wait, I recognize one of them. I think these guys are a part of Klaus's old sireline."
"What," Marcel barked, waking Rebekah from her slumber. "Josh, get out of there right now."
"Y-yeah, maybe you're right. We're just gonna-" The call suddenly went silent.
"Josh...Josh," Marcel barked into the silent phone. He hung up and immediately called Josh back but the phone went straight to a dial tone.
"What's happened," Rebekah demanded. "What did Josh do?"
"Some of Klaus's ex-sireline are in the Treme and Josh and Zane followed them to their hideout and now I can't get him on the damn phone!"
"Calm down," said Rebekah, softly stroking Marcel's back. "I'm sure Josh is fine. He's a smart man. He wouldn't put himself in something he couldn't get himself out of."
Rising to his feet, Marcel declared, "I have to go find him."
"No," Rebekah stated firmly as she stood up beside him, her pink negligee making her serious glare less threatening. "You're not going anywhere near that lot. For all we know those vampires are older and stronger than you. Let's just go tell Klaus and he, Elijah, and I will go see what's what."
"Josh is my guy," Marcel yelled, furious that she suggested they turn over the life of his friend to someone who could clearly care less whether he lived or died.
"And you're my guy," Rebekah yelled back, unaffected by her lover's rage. "And I'm not going to let you run to your death. We're going to Klaus and we're not going to argue about it because it is the only logical solution. You know Klaus's sireline goes back centuries. The last time you met those monsters you were the Beast and you could take down anyone. Now you're just a two-hundred-year-old vampire that could be easily trounced by, say, a three-hundred-year-old vampire or a four-hundred-year-old vampire."
Marcel's lips tightened in anger but he knew she was right. He anger and fear made him want to run blindly into the dark to find Josh but he wouldn't be able to defeat a dozen of Klaus's vampires on his own. Besides, if they were back in town after the killing spree the Mikaelsons went on after their return to New Orleans, he knew they had to be up to something nefarious and Klaus definitely needed to know that.
Still worried about Josh, Marcel decided to call Zane's phone, hoping that he'd answer.
The ringing phone brought relief to Marcel but only until the ringing ceased.
"Hello," Lora answered. Marcel recognized her voice immediately. "Marcel?"
"Lora," he stated disappointedly. "What are you doing with Zane's phone?"
"He forgot it here. I was just about to bring it to him. He's at the Witch Lounge with Josh if you're looking for him."
"No, Lora, he's not. He's gone somewhere with Josh and I don't know where. You stay at the apartment until I call you and tell you it's okay."
"But, why? Did something happen?"
"I don't know yet. I'll call you as soon as if figure it out."
~M~
Klaus found himself in a long stretch of dark hallway in the Compound. He moved slowly through it, an inkling feeling urging him to be cautious. And then he stopped at a familiar door. Marcel's bedroom. The sound of a child's laughter moved him to open the door.
Ten-year-old Marcel sat in the middle of the room, his back to the door, playing with something in his hands.
"Marcellus," Klaus spoke with relief.
"Hello, poppa," Marcel said happily but didn't turn around.
Intrigued by what could keep the boy's attention so firmly, Klaus asked, "What are you doing, son?"
"Playing," Marcel answered innocently.
"Oh. Playing with what?"
Marcel stood up and slowly turned around. Klaus's breath caught in his chest at the sight of the boy's plaything: the white oak stake embedded with the magic of the hunter's ring.
"M-Marcellus," Klaus said softly. "You shouldn't play with that." Holding his hand out, he prompted, "Give it to poppa."
"Okay, poppa. After I kill you with it."
Klaus froze. His little Marcellus had just promised to kill him. He knew it had to be a dream but he could not force himself awake.
Just then, Elijah entered the room. "What's going on here?"
"I'm going to kill poppa," Marcel stated calmly. "And you. And Kol and Rebekah."
"What," Elijah barked angrily.
Regaining the ability to move, Klaus turned to Elijah and said, "Leave him to me. He's just a boy."
"A boy that's promised to kill you!"
"He doesn't mean it, Elijah! He is my son, let me talk to him."
Suddenly, while Klaus's back was turned, Marcel lunged at him with the white oak stake. Seeing the impending danger, Elijah pushed Klaus out of the door just in time but then Marcel's stake went plunging into his own chest.
"No," Klaus screamed as Elijah's dying body fell to the floor. When the body caught fire, Marcel reached into the blazing flames and pulled the stake out. The fire had burned layers of flesh from his arm but Marcel didn't seem bothered by it. He was focused on Klaus.
With a cheerful smile, Marcel said, "You're next, poppa."
"Klaus," Marcel gave Klaus's shoulders a fervent shake. He noticed the stress on Klaus's face and wondered what he could be dreaming about to cause him to look so distressed but he didn't have time to think about that now. Now he had to find Josh.
Rebekah stood behind him wondering the same thing. She had heard from Elijah about Klaus's frequent nightmares but she had never been privy to witness them herself. Staring down at Klaus's terrified sleeping face, she suddenly felt guilty about never being there to comfort her brother like Elijah.
"Klaus," he shook him again. "Wake up."
"What is going on in here," Elijah's voice came in a heavy, angry whisper from the doorway.
Marcel turned to Elijah, a look of confidence on his face as he stated, "I have vampire problems that I need Klaus to deal with."
Elijah glanced at the pained expression on Klaus's sleeping face. "C'mon," he waved for Marcel and Rebekah to follow him. "Tell me your vampire problem. Let him sleep. It only exasperates his condition when you try to wake him from a nightmare."
"His condition," Marcel repeated softly. He looked down at Klaus. It was obvious by the tension in his eyebrows that Klaus was having a nightmare but Marcel didn't think twice about waking him from it. He had always found someone waking him from a nightmare as a welcomed reprieve.
Elijah watched as Marcel's face went from furious confidence to frightful concern. Klaus didn't want Marcel to know about the nightmares caused by his years of torture with Tunde's blade, Elijah suspected that was more to protect his son from feeling more guilty about what he did to his family than it was because of Klaus's pride.
"Come with me," Elijah said as he walked away from the door. Marcel and Rebekah followed behind him, leaving Klaus to deal with his nightmare alone.
"I need Klaus to save Josh and Zane," Marcel firmly stated when the three of them entered the study. "Why can't I wake him up?"
"Because you couldn't wake him now if you tried," Elijah sighed. "Trying to wake him up when he's in the middle of one of these torrential nightmares only makes it worse on him and it is not my endeavor to see my brother suffer any more than he is already."
"I don't understand. Why, all of a sudden, is it not okay to wake him from a nightmare. Has some witch cursed him."
"No. Not a witch." Elijah left the vague statement lingering in the air. "Now tell me your problem so I can advise you on how to deal with it and send you back to your room where you're supposed to be, Marcellus."
Marcel grew furious. Now wasn't the time for Elijah to play mocking Uncle. "Klaus's sireline has come back into town. Josh and Zane were following him and now they've gone missing and Josh isn't answering his phone. I need to find them before something happens."
Elijah was silent for a while, contemplating the dilemma before him. "This is quite serious," he stated. "I'm glad you came to us about it before running off to fight them yourself. But, since Klaus's sireline already knows where we live and they haven't come to confront us yet, I have to assume they're planning something and it would be unwise to go barging in on them without a plan of our own. So, I'm going to wait for Klaus to wake up and discuss this with him."
"No, we don't have that kind of time." Marcel barked. "They could be dead already. We need to go find them."
"These are his friends, Elijah," said Rebekah. "His family. We can't just let them die."
"We can't be sure they're dead, sister. Josh has the tendency for betrayal. For all we know he could be in line with Klau's enemies, preparing to take this family down as we speak."
Marcel slammed his fist down on the table beside him with enough force to split the wood. "Josh isn't with them and the more time we spend here arguing about it, the more danger he could be in."
"I'm sorry, Marcellus, but I've said no. I promise you, as soon as Klaus wakes we will go looking for those vampires but right now the safest place for you is right here in this Compound."
"I don't care about what's safe for me!"
"I know you don't, but we do. If Klaus were to wake up and something had happened to you, an eternity wouldn't be long enough for him to forgive me."
"What if I went with him," Rebekah suggested. "I don't care how old Klaus's sireline is, they can't get past me. I'll protect Marcel."
"Rebekah, we don't know how many of them there are and we don't know what they want. The last time Klaus's sireline came to New Orleans they brought with them the knowledge of a new species of vampire. If they have similar knowledge now, you two killing them all before Klaus or I have a chance to question them could put us all in danger."
"Fine, then I'll be sure to ask a few questions in between the killings."
"Rebekah, I said no. End of discussion. Now both of you," Elijah fanned his hand towards the door, motioning for them to leave. "I need sme time to myself to contemplate their reason for being here."
Marcel walked briskly out the door, Rebekah following him while lacing Elijah with a disappointed glare.
"I'm not going to let them die," Marcel stated once the study door closed behind them. "I'm going to find them."
"Then I'm going with you."
Marcel wasn't surprised by Rebekah's immediate proposal. He knew with an Original by his side he had a far greater chance of getting Josh and Zane out alive.
"Can I go?"
Rebekah and Marcel turned to the end of the hall to see Hope standing there watching them, nervously twiddling with the last button of her pajama top.
"Hope, darling," Rebekah said surprised. "What are you doing up?"
"I had to go to the bathroom," Hope answered, walking closer to them. "Then I heard you all in dad's room."
"And you've been eavesdropping this whole time," Rebekah scolded.
"I was just curious. No one ever tells me anything."
"Because you're a child, Hope. This has nothing to do with you."
"But I can help. I'm strong."
"I know you are, love, but we don't need your help right now. We can handle this. Go back to bed."
Hope folded her arms obstinately over her chest, a stern pout on her face, and said, "I'm just going to follow you anyway so you might as well take me with you."
Shocked at the girl's blatant disobedience, Rebekah turned to Marcel. Marcel simply shrugged. "This is what I have to deal with," he stated.
Turning back to Hope, Rebekah put her foot down and said, "I am your Aunty, little miss, and what I say goes. Now, you're not coming with us. You're gonna go back to your room and stay there. Do I make myself clear?"
"Fine," Hope stamp. "Leave without me. I'll just tell Uncle Elijah that you left. I'm sure he'll be excited to hear that you two deliberately disobeyed him."
"Why you little stinker,"
"Alright," Marcel agreed. "You can come but you stay out of the action. If I find you anywhere near one of those vampires I'm dragging you back to the Compound myself. Deal?"
Hope smiled from ear to ear. "Deal."
"Are you insane," Rebekah scolded Marcel as he started walking away, Hope closely following behind them. "She can't come. We don't know how dangerous these guys are or what they want."
"She's going to follow us anyway," said Marcel. "The only way to stop her is to wake up Klaus and he's not really in the 'waking up' mood right now."
"What about Hayley?"
Hope felt a chill run through her at the thought of them telling her mom what she planned to do.
"We tell Hayley and she tells Elijah and he ends our rescue mission before we get to the Treme."
Rebekah knew Marcel was right but she still thought it was dangerous to bring Hope along with them. Turning to her eager niece, Rebekah said, "You may think I'm the fun Aunt now, love, but if you put yourself in danger tonight I will come down on you with all the wrath of Elijah. Do I make myself clear?"
Hope had never seen her Aunt so serious before. Rebekah could be quite intimidating when she wanted to be.
"Y-Yes ma'am," Hope answered, deciding to not join in the fray should there be a fight as she initially intended.
-M-
Kol walked out of the blaring nightclub significantly buzzed. He'd left Josh at the Witch's Lounge when Zane came in since there was still bad blood between the two of them but it was nearing morning now so he assumed Josh was beginning to get a bit bored with Zane and was craving the company of his fun friend. When his second call didn't go through he was beginning to get a bit worried. That's when he noticed a slight movement on the roof across from him. A normal person wouldn't have noticed the impressive vampire speed but he did. And he also recognized the sense of the three vampires running by.
Rebekah and Marcel came to a sudden stop when Kol appeared before them. Not anticipating their sudden stop, Hope slammed into Marcel's back and fell to her bottom.
"Ouch! What the hell, Marcel," she barked, rubbing her smarting bottom. Then she looked up to see her Uncle Kol who didn't seem happy to see her.
"Well, well, well," Kol grunted as he looked at the watch on his wrist. "I do believe it's past your bedtime." Looking to Rebekah he asked, "What is she doing out this time of night?"
"Calm down, Unky Kol," Rebekah said brushing off Kol's concern. "She's with us."
"And, yet, somehow that still doesn't answer my question. And in her pajamas. You couldn't be bothered to let her dress before dragging her out into the night?"
"Josh and Zane are missing," Marcel stated, ending Kol's rant. "They were tracking some vampires nearby and now Josh isn't answering his phone."
"Josh is a strong, vamp," Kol scoffed. "He's probably fine."
"The vampires they were tracking were of Klaus's old sireline," Marcel admitted. "And Josh recognized one of them from...12 years ago, so it was probably an old one."
Kol suddenly understood Marcel's worry. As strong as Josh was, an older vampire could easily kill him.
Kol didn't know how to process his feelings of fear so he converted them to anger, a much easier emotion to handle.
"So you thought bringing Hope along was the way to go about finding him," he barked.
"No, I didn't, but she wouldn't take 'no' for an answer."
"She usually takes a smack to the behind as an answer," Kol bit. "Didja try that?"
Marcel held his arms out and said, "Be my guest."
Kol stared down at his niece, her big, wide eyes full of gloom in anticipation of her uncle's imminent spank, and he chickened out. None of them could bear to spank the girl. They lacked the fortitude that only Hayley, Elijah, and Klaus apparently possessed.
"Stay here with her," Kol ordered Marcel. "We'll find Josh."
"Are you crazy," Marcel barked, angry that Kol could even suggest that he stayed behind. "I'm not going to just sit on my thumbs while my guys are missing. I'm going to help look for them."
"Somebody has to stay here with Hope."
"Then you stay."
"Let's do the math. Who would fare better against a group of unknown vampire enemies? Two thousand-year-old vampires or one thousand-year-old vampire and Klaus's protected baby boy?"
Enraged by Kol's constant mocking, Marcel threw a powerful punch to his jaw, knocking Kol down. Kol's anger surging, he hopped back to his feet, prepared to fight Marcel when Rebekah sped between them.
"Don't you dare touch him," she growled, the memory of Marcel's scarred backside forever imprinted on her mind. "Never again."
Kol could have tried to speed around his sister to get to Marcel but the look of utter disgust she laced him with paused his anger.
"We all need to calm down," Rebekah insisted, taking a second to clear her mind. "We can't find your friend if we're fighting each other."
"Fine," Kol growled his agreement. "But I still think-"
His speech was cut short when he looked to see Hope sitting on the ground and instead saw nothing.
"Where'd she go," he asked looking around the roof. "Where'd she go!"
All three vampires began running from roof to roof, screaming Hope's name but she never answered.
"Dammit," Kol screamed into the air once the three of them met back up. Turning his anger to Marcel, he pointed his finger at him and said, "If anything happens to that little girl-"
"Nothing's going to happen," Rebekah calmly said. "We all know Hope's a bit of a wanderer. She probably knew you were going to try to leave her behind and went ahead to search for the vampires on her own."
"And what if she finds them?"
Rebekah quieted. She feared the same thing. Hope was always so eager to prove her power. She feared that if her niece did find the vampires she would try to rescue Josh and Zane herself.
Little did the three older vampires know, not three feet away from them stood Hope, cloaked under her own perception spell. She thought she was absolutely clever, hiding right under her family's nose so she could still be around when they found Josh.
"We should go tell the others," Marcel muttered under his breath. Rebekah and Kol looked at him in surprise. He wanted to go tell Klaus that they lost his daughter? "If Hope is lost with these other vampires roaming the city we'll need all the help we can get to find her before someone else does."
"He's right," Rebekah agreed.
Kol nodded, knowing that it was the best plan to find Hope, but as he nodded his head, he glanced down at the crowded bar across the street from them. It was unusual for so many people to be at a bar that time of night when most bars were closing, but even more unusual was the car he saw parked outside of the bar.
"Hey," he pointed down at the car. "Isn't that Freya's car?"
Rebekah and Marcel turned around to confirm Kol's findings.
"What is she doing in a place like that at this time of night," asked Rebekah.
A face appeared in the window of the bar and Marcel recognized it immediately. "That's them," he bellowed. "Klaus's sireline."
Rebekah shook her head in disbelief. "That...that couldn't be them. Freya wouldn't be involved with that lot...would she?"
"I don't know and I don't care," Marcel said walking to the edge of the building. "But if Josh is in there-"
Suddenly Marcel's phone began to ring. He was surprised that he hadn't put it on silent to go skulking in the night but as he fished it out of his pocket and saw Josh's name across the screen, he felt a tension growing in him.
"Hello," he answered the phone.
"Marcel, man, I'm glad I caught you," Josh's peppy voice came across the line. "Dude, my phone died in the middle of our stakeout. Those vampires looked pretty formidable so Zane and I left as soon as it died. Lora said you were looking for us. I hope we didn't make you worry too much, man."
Marcel couldn't be angry over the wave of relief he felt. "Yeah, man, you had me a little worried but, uh...as long as you're alright..."
"Yeah, we're fine. But you should stop by tomorrow. These two are wearing me out. You know I can't handle baby-vamps alone."
"Y-yeah. I'll see what I can do," Marcel agreed but he knew once Klaus found out that he left the Compound when he wasn't even supposed to leave his room, and brought Hope along with him only to lose her, he was never going to see the light of day again.
"So," Kol growled from behind Marcel as he hung the phone up. "Josh is fine. That's nice. You brought my niece out here in the dead of night for no reason."
"I didn't bring her," Marcel barked. "She followed me."
"And if you were man enough to tell her no she'd still be home where she should be."
"If you weren't dumb enough to try to make her stay behind she wouldn't have run off in the first place."
The rage that radiated between the two of them ceased immediately when they sensed Freya exiting the bar. She had a long wooden box in her arms and looked completely unharmed. She got in her car and drove away, unaware of her siblings staring down at her. Moments later the vampires all came out of the bar and filled up the remaining cars on the block before all driving off in the same direction.
"Should we follow them," asked Rebekah as Freya.
"No," Marcel mumbled, very curious about what Freya was up to with those vampires but he was more worried about Hope. "We have to find Hope."
Suddenly, Hope appeared in front of them. "No," the girl demanded. "Let's follow them!"
"Hope," Marcel exclaimed. Realizing that his sister had performed the same trick she used on him in the hotel when the first met to keep him hidden from Elijah, he became infuriated. "Where you here the whole time?"
"There's no time for this," Hope barked. She wanted to know what Freya was up to much more than she wanted to explain a simple magic trick to them.
She turned to run after Freya's car but Kol sped ahead of her, blocking her way.
"I can't believe this," he scolded. "Did you see we were worried? Didn't you care that we thought something terrible was going to happen to you?"
"I'm fine," she exhaled, a bit annoyed by Kol's obstruction. "I just didn't want you to send me home."
"Worried about going home, were you?" Before Hope could react, Kol was behind her. He picked the girl up under his arm by her waist, leaving only her behind presented before him. He landed three firm smacks on the curve of her pajama bottoms with his bare hand but Hope could've sworn he had her mother's brush.
When he put the girl back down to her feet, she was in irrepressible tears. The pitiful look on his niece's face as she struggled to hold back her sniffling broke Kol's heart.
"D-don't ever...scare us like that again," Kol managed to say but his words came out as more of a plea than a reprimanding.
"I-I'm sorry," Hope stammered out before folding her arms over her face to hide the shame of her ensuing tears. They had all seen her crying after a spanking before so she wasn't embarrassed about that, not completely anyway, but Kol was supposed to be her fun Uncle. If she made him mad enough to spank her then she knew she'd really messed up.
"C'mon, love," Rebekah affectionately whispered to Hope as he lifted the girl into her arms. "Let's get you home before your mum and dad wake up."
Rebekah carried Hope back to Kol's car not far from where they were. Hope had cried herself to sleep in her arms so she decided to ride in the back seat with the sleeping girl on her lap on the way back. As soon as they were back in the Quarter, Rebekah's phone began to ring. She struggled to find the phone in her jacket pocket with Hope still lying heavily against her but she managed.
"Damn," she muttered at seeing Elijah's name. "And we were almost home free."
Elijah waited all of a second for Rebekah to say hello before he began to bark, "Where are you? Hope has gone missing. Wherever you are right now, stop what you're doing and come help us find her."
"She's alright, Elijah," Rebekah sighed. "She with Marcel, Kol, and I on our way back to the Compound."
"With you? Looking for vampires at 3 in the morning?"
"Well...she sorta forced her way into the search-party. You know how hard it can be to upset this adorable little face."
Standing out on the balcony of Hope's room, Elijah saw Kol's car driving down the road. He couldn't relax until he saw Hope's face through the back window, peacefully sleeping.
"You too have an adorable face, little sister," Elijah calmly stated. "And in about five minutes, I'm going to show you how easy it is to bring that face to tears."
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