(2/3)

Chapter 39

Hope laid in bed in the guest room of the Dupeaux home, staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep. She had been lying there for hours. Everyone else had gone to bed without a care but her mind was still racing with thoughts of Marcel, Kol, and Freya. And Mikael. She knew he was out there somewhere and so was Marcel and as long as Mikael was out there, Marcel wasn't safe.

"You're still awake," she was pulled from thought at the sound of Mrs. Dupeaux standing in the doorway, her husband by her side. Their serious eyes made her nervous.

"What's going on," Hope asked as she sat up, her heart racing. "Is Marcel okay? Did they find him? Is he okay? Please, just...tell me he's okay."

"W-we don't know yet, sweetie," Mrs. Dupeaux hurried to the bed and sat down beside her, enveloping her in a comforting hug. "Your uncle Kol just called and asked that we make sure you were alright. Apparently...there's a vampire called Mikael on the loose somewhere in the city. But don't worry, sweetheart. You'll be fine as long as you stay inside. We're not going to let anyone in here, okay. You're safe here."

Hope felt a slight relief in knowing that nothing other than what she already knew had occurred but since she was not supposed to know about Mikael's existence, she feigned surprise and worry. Mrs. Dupeaux held her, rocking her from side to side until Hope insisted she was fine and just needed to get some rest.

As soon as she heard the bedroom door to the Dupeauxs' room close, she hurried out of bed over to the dresser where her things were. She pulled her grimoire from her bag and fanned through the pages until she found the spell she was looking for. The spell that she and Sebastian tried to use to freeze time. The only thing it was good for was putting people in comas but that's all Hope needed.

"What are you doing?"

Hope slammed the book shut at the voice surprising her from the doorway.

Sebastian let out a yawn as he stretched his arms above his head. "I thought you were asleep," he asked through his yawn.

"Um, I couldn't go to sleep. I can't stop thinking about Marcel. And...there's something else." She walked slowly over to Sebastian, her grimoire clutched tightly at her side. "My...dad's dad is alive. And apparently he's a pretty bad dude. He killed one of Marcel's friend and with Marcel in the wind...I'm afraid..."

"I'm sure Marcel's fine," Sebastian reassured smiling weakly, moved by the anxiety in his friend's eyes.

"You don't know that. The way everyone talks about Mikael...it's like he's some sort of monster and Marcel is just one vampire. He won't be able to protect himself from Mikael. That's why...I have to help him."

"What could you do," Sebastian questioned, surprised by Hope's sheer overconfidence. "If Marcel, a two-HUNDRED-year-old vampire, can't defeat Mikael, what makes you think you'll stand a chance?"

"I have a plan," she stated plainly. "I'm going to put Mikael down without ever having to fight him."

Sebastian stared down at the book in Hope's hands. Earlier, while his mom and dad were teaching them about all the different plants in their garden, Hope had sparked his curiosity with all of her questions about Oleander roots. She wrote everything they said down in her grimoire and now his curiosity was piqued again.

"What are you going to do with that?"

Hope was silent for a moment. "I can't tell you," she muttered.

"Why?"

"Because...you're going to try to stop me and this is something I need to do."

Afraid that she was going to do something stupid, Sebastian demanded, "What are you going to do?" Again Hope was silent. "I am your best friend. You have to tell me."

Hope sighed, bound by the unspoken covenant of friendship, and answered, "I'm going to use the spell that we tried to use to freeze time against Mikael and put him in one of those semi-permanent sleeps like we did to Marcel."

Sebastian's eyes widened and he felt his sleepiness suddenly fade. "Are you serious? But...what if he kills you."

"He won't get the chance. I know where he is. When my Uncle Kol was taking me out of Algiers, I could smell a lot of vampire blood coming from inside a building not far from the river. I didn't tell my uncle because I knew he was going to lie to me but I'm sure that's where Mikael killed Marcel's friend. And it might be where I'll still find Mikael. I'm going to find him and keep myself hidden just long enough to start the spell. According to your mom, Oleander root has similar effects in spells as Callum root. If I replace it in the spell, it should take away the pain we felt from the spell siphoning our power. Then I'll just call out to Mikael and when he comes out, I'll goad him into attacking me but when he tries to cross over the circle, he'll be knocked unconscious like Marcel was. Then I'll hide his body so no one can find him and he'll never hurt my family again. Simple as that."

Sebastian took a deep breath, calming his racing heart, before saying, "So that's the plan, huh? Seems like you thought it out. Guess it's worth a shot. I really hope we don't die."

"We," Hope repeated, her eyebrows arched in disbelief. "You're not coming with me."

"Like hell I'm not," Sebastian quickly retorted. "If he's as bad as you say he is, there is no way I'm letting you go after him yourself. If anything happened to you and I wasn't there to stop it, I would never forgive myself."

"And if anything happened to you because of another one of my ideas, I would never forgive myself."

Sebastian clasped his hands together in front of him and said, "Either I go with you or the minute you walk out of this house, I call Mrs. Marshall-Kenner."

Hope's mouth dropped open. "You wouldn't dare."

"Oh, I would so dare."

Hope was in a stalemate. With an angry snarl on her face, she bit, "Fine. But if anything goes down, you run. Even if I'm not behind you. I'm a tribrid, I'll catch up."

"Deal," Sebastian smiled.

The two teens snuck out of the guest room and down the hall to the garden. Sebastian knew that his parents were going to be furious with him when they saw that he and Hope were taking some of their rare plants again but he hoped that they would be so impressed that they took out a vampire all by themselves that they'll forgive him. Or, if they failed and made it out alive, maybe his parents would be so grateful that he wasn't dead that would forget about the plants. Either way, he was sure he was going to get away with taking the plants.

They put everything they needed for the spell in Hope's bag along with her grimoire and hurried to the front door. As Sebastian reached for the doorknob, Hope smelt a very familiar scent coming from the other side of it. She grabbed Sebastian and vamped away from the front door to the kitchen.

Sebastian was shocked by Hope's sudden forceful command but before he could say anything about it, someone knocked heavily on the front door.

The two teens were completely silent as Mr. and Mrs. Dupeaux came out of their room and moved cautiously to the door. After peeping through the viewing glass at the top of the door, Mr. Dupeaux let out a sigh of relief. He opened the door to see Kol standing in it.

"Sorry to bother you," Kol said with a cocky smile on his face. "I've just come to pick up my niece. We've decided that it's best if she comes home since things have gotten so...messy."

"Of course," Mr. Dupeaux said. "Please, come in."

As the three adults began down the hallway to the guest room, Hope realized that now would be her only chance to get to Mikael before her family tried to interfere. Holding Sebastian tightly with one hand and her bag in the other, she vamped out of the door and down the road a ways before she finally stopped.

"Jeez," Sebastian exclaimed as they jerked to a sudden stop. "You should warn me before you do that."

"Sorry," Hope breathed. "But I didn't want my uncle to spot us. They probably know that we're gone by now. We have to get across the river before he tells the rest of my family and they form a search party for us."

Sebastian nodded reluctantly. He hated being vamped around by Hope. It gave him motion sickness but now wasn't the time to complain about it.

Giving the bag to Sebastian, Hope lifted her friend on to her back and said, "Hang on tight," before she vamped back off down the road again.

Kol's stomach dropped when he saw Hope's empty bed.

"Where is she," he asked. Mrs. Dupeaux came into the room behind him, just as surprised by the empty bed.

"Maybe she's in the bathroom," she suggested. She rushed down the hall to the nearest bathroom only to find it empty. She and Mr. Dupeaux ran to every room in their home looking for Hope - the kitchen, the dining room, the garden - but she was nowhere to be found.

"She was just here," Mr. Dupeaux said exasperatedly returning back to the hall where Kol so impatiently waited. "We just checked on her not ten minutes ago."

"Maybe Sebastian knows where she is," said Mrs. Dupeaux. She opened Sebastian's door only to find another empty room. "God," her hands shot up to cover her agape mouth, every horrible scenario playing through her mind at once. "You don't think they would actually go out there, do you? S-Sebastian wouldn't deliberately disobey us like that."

Kol grunted. He knew his niece would definitely disobey someone if she thought her idea was better.

Immediately taking out his phone, her called Freya hoping that she would have good news for him. Luckily for him, she picked up on the second ring. "Please tell me you've located Mikael."

"You called just in time. I just finished the spell."

The flatness of her voice did little to reassure Kol. "Alright, love, spit it out. And then I'm going to need you to make a second one for our niece who has seemed to have gone missing from the Dupeaux's."

Freya little out a small chortle. With everything going on, she half expected Hope to run off at some point. "Well, you should go find her if only to remind her of the consequences of running off. But you don't have to worry about her running into Mikael while she's out there. According to my spell, he is in the middle of the ocean. Moving. Probably headed to some European country."

"What," Kol couldn't believe his ears.

"Yeah, I know. I was...pretty shocked too."

Kol could hear the disappointment in Freya's voice but he was apathetic to it. He hated Mikael. The only better news from that was that the man was dead again.

"In that case," Kol continued. "Forget about the location spell for Hope. I'll find her myself. You just focus on bringing Davina back." As he hung up from Freya, Kol said, "Mikael's gone so they're in no danger of running into him out there tonight. But," he slid his phone into his back pocket with a playful smile. "When I find them, I will be sure to give them something new to fear."

-M-

Marcel paced the floor of Josh's apartment waiting for the call to come through of Josh telling him he was on his way back. He had timed everything to the minute but Josh was twenty minutes late on his call back. Marcel was beginning to get worried. Best case scenario, Josh got hung up trying to convince Kol to come back with him to fight Mikael. Worst case...Josh found Mikael. He didn't want to think about that. He wanted to call him but he didn't want to blow his cover in the Mikaelson home just in case he was in a precarious situation.

"Would ya sit down," Vincent bit, sitting on the sofa across from Marcel as he continued to pace. "You're making me nervous. I'm already agreeing to jump back into this Mikaelson bullshit with you, the least you can do is not get me worked up before we have to face an ancient murdering bloodthirsty beast."

"I shouldn't have sent him alone," Marcel muttered. "I should've gone with him. For all I know, Mikael has him right now."

Marcel looked towards the door but before he could decide to go after Josh, Vincent stood up and blocked his path. "Calm down. I'm sure he's fine. Perhaps Freya needed to keep Davina's father a little longer than expected. She probably wasn't expecting to have him there so soon and it's taking her a bit to get the spell together."

"Or Josh is out there fighting for his life right now and he can't contact us because Mikael has him just like he had Zane." Marcel speech only managed to work himself up more. He sped past Vincent to the door and opened it, about to run through every street in Algiers looking for his friend.

He was paused by the sight of the men standing behind the door. Lora jumped to her feet, her fangs bared and ready to fight. Vincent's forearms twitched in anticipation, prepared to throw a spell if the necessity came.

"Tell her to put those fangs away," Klaus's voice fell monotonously from his mouth. "Before I remove them."

"Lora," Marcel stated without turning away from Klaus. "Put your fangs away."

Obedient to her sire, Lora's fangs shot back into her mouth but she stood defensively in place.

"I would ask to be invited in," Klaus said as he took an unobstructed stepped into the apartment past Marcel, Elijah entering right behind him. Marcel took a small step to the side, not wanting to bump shoulders with Niklaus or Elijah as they came in. "But I know this apartment isn't owned by a human. So any vampire that desires is free to just...walk through the front door. Isn't that right."

"What are you doing here," Marcel growled. He knew there was only one way Klaus could've known where he was and he was afraid to find out what he did to get that information. He knew Josh wouldn't just volunteer it. "Where's Josh?"

Klaus walked over to the rectangular lamp sitting on Josh's coffee table. He flicked the turquoise lampshade with his finger and it spun a little. "Joshua has...quite the eye for interior design. We should have hired him to renovate the library."

"Stop playing games, Klaus," Marcel barked. "What did you do to him?"

"Games," Klaus growled, cutting his eyes sharply at Marcel. "Like the games you've been playing all day by not answering a single one of my calls. Twelve hours I spent locked in my studio, on my daughter birthday, worried about where you were. Only to find out that you found the time to come visit your little friends in Algiers before you could be bothered to call home."

"I've been busy."

"I don't doubt it. A road trip to Florida can really take a lot out of you." Turning his attention to Vincent, he tutted, "Vincent. I can't believe he talked you into this. Did you really think you could take on Mikael with just him?"

Marcel was shocked to know that Klaus had found out about Mikael. He knew if Klaus knew that Mikael was back, there was no way he was going to let him out of his sight, let alone fight Mikael.

"From what I've heard through the grapevine," Vincent started cockily. "Mikael has been desiccated before and the witch that performed that spell didn't have a Mikaelson helping her then. Did she?"

Klaus smirked. "That sort of luck only happens once in a lifetime."

"Well, I'm willing to take the chance."

"I suppose you are too, Marcel," he cut his eyes back to Marcel. "Ready to give your life for what? For Mikael? Because he killed some vampire you sired?"

"Would you be saying that if he had killed me," Marcel asked, annoyed by Klaus's statement as if Zane was supposed to mean nothing to him.

"That's different," Klaus bit. "And you know it."

"No, Klaus, what I know is that you and your siblings...and your father...treat the lives of anyone you don't care about as dispensable. That's why I came after this family twelve years ago. That's why I became the Beast that nearly ended our family. All of that anger didn't stem from nothing, Klaus. Zane mattered to me. Mikael has to pay for what he did. Even if I have to die fighting for it."

"That's never going to happen," Klaus muttered to himself.

Then Elijah's phone began to ring. He took it out of his jacket pocket and felt an uneasiness at seeing Freya's name. This was the call he and Klaus had been waiting on. He answered with a cautious, "Tell me you have good news, sister."

"He's not in New Orleans," Freya answered somberly. "My spell shows he's mid-way across the Atlantic."

"The Atlantic," Elijah repeated in confusion.

"He's gone," Marcel bellowed, angered that he wouldn't be able to exact his revenge any time soon.

"Yes," Freya answered Elijah. "I guess...I guess he took my advice and left New Orleans and...he decided to go to Europe instead."

"Good," Elijah stated. "As long as he's as far away from this family as possible. After you finish the spell for Davina, I want you to put a boundary spell around New Orleans. Make sure Mikael can never get back in. And sister," Freya waited patiently as Elijah took a suspenseful pause. "Don't bother adding Finn to that boundary spell. We will take care of him."

Freya's breath caught at finding out Elijah knew about Finn too. "What are you going to do to him," she demanded.

"Nothing permanent," Elijah stated calmly. "I'm sure you will find a way to see him again one day."

Elijah hung up before Freya could retort.

"You're still bringing Davina back," Marcel asked.

"Did you think we wouldn't because of the means you took to get her back," Klaus charged.

Marcel's jaw tightened tensely. "Actually, I did."

"You should know me better than that."

"If Mikael is gone," Vincent began as he walked over to the sofa where his bag sat. "Then so am I." He knew from past experience that after the threat was gone, all there was left was Mikaelson drama and unless you were a Mikaelson, it was best to stay as far away from Mikaelson drama as possible.

"No," Marcel sped over to him, grabbing the strap of his bag before he could put it over his shoulder. "We can still do this. If he's in Europe then we'll just have to go to him."

Klaus's face became red with anger at hearing Marcel declare his intent to chase after Mikael.

Vincent chuckled derisively. "Are you insane?" The serious look on Marcel's face answered his question. Shaking his head, Vincent continued, "Look, man. I only agreed to this because I wanted to protect my city from another Mikaelson war. If Mikael's gone, then there's no reason for me to go after him."

"I need to go after him," Marcel barked. "He killed Zane."

"I'm sorry," Vincent shrugged. He snatched his bag out of Marcel's hand with little resistance and started for the door. Looking back at Marcel one more time, he said, "I really hope you come to your senses and decide against it, but if you're still planning to go after Mikael, good luck." Then he left, shutting the door behind him.

Marcel squeezed his hands into tight fists, furious at everyone - Vincent for abandoning their plan just because Mikael was no longer in New Orleans; Klaus and Elijah for interfering; and Freya and Kol for being the reason behind it all.

Elijah walked over to Lora and the girl backed away, her defenses still up around the two Originals. Seeing that the girl was about to run, Elijah sped over to her, clasping her shoulders between his hands, and stared her in the eyes. "Go take a long walk around Algiers and don't come back until the night is over."

Against her own will, Lora's feet began dragging her out of the apartment. Elijah shut the door behind her and watched Klaus as he watched Marcel.

"Do you have any idea how foolish it was for you to try to go after Mikael on your own," Klaus scolded.

Marcel was unmoved by Klaus's anger. He had a rage of his own that showed no sign of diffusing any time soon.

"Zane was my responsibility," he bit. "I should've been the one to kill Mikael."

"You can't kill Mikael," Klaus shouted, growing irritated at his son's stubbornness. "He is an Original, Marcellus. He's more powerful than you and essentially indestructible."

"I've taken down Originals before," Marcel retorted in anger. "Originals aren't indestructible. You're just like cockroaches. All I need is the right equipment."

Klaus saw Elijah's eyes narrow at Marcel's menacing speech. He watched as Elijah's body tensed, immediately on the defensive as he always was whenever he heard a threat towards an Original, but just as Klaus thought he would have to put his brother down before he did anything to hurt Marcel again, he saw a calmness enter Elijah's eyes.

Elijah's natural response to hearing something that could be perceived as a threat to an Original was to put an immediate end to it by any means necessary but as he stared at Marcel's angry face, his heart softened. He was instantly reminded of the horrible, impulsive mistake he made on the bridge those twelve years ago, the mistake that nearly led to the destruction of his family. And he was reminded that his duty to protect his family extended beyond his siblings as it had been for so many years. Marcel was also his obligation to protect and he was bound by his duty to his family to protect him. He failed him once, but he wasn't going to fail him again. At that moment, he became determined to protect Marcel, even if he was protecting him from himself.

"You seem to have forgotten, Marcel," Elijah started calmly. "That you are no longer the Beast that so effortlessly took down our family. You, just like any other vampire, are now at the mercy of the Originals' strength and as an Original, let me be the one to remind you that taking us down is not as easy as you may remember."

Marcel turned to Elijah, the flame of his anger growing with the fodder of their unrelenting attempts to reason with him. "I don't care if it's not easy! I'm not going to let him get away with it. I'm going to kill Mikael even if I have to do it alone with my own two hands."

"You'd be a fool to think we would ever let you go chasing after him," Elijah stated plainly, fed up with Marcel's stubbornness. "An ordinary vampire like you stands no chance against an Original. You will leave the dealings of Originals to the Originals. Do I make myself clear?"

Marcel chewed viciously at his lip as he glared at Elijah. There was nothing he hated more than when Elijah attempted to patronize him. It only made him want to do exactly what Elijah was advising him against.

"I'll show you exactly what a vampire like me can do to an Original," Marcel stated. As his fists tightened, ready to attack Elijah, Klaus vamped over to him, grabbing him by the arm.

"That's enough," Klaus growled.

"Brother," Klaus looked over to see Elijah delicately removing his jacket and draping it neatly over one of Josh's kitchen bar. "Let him go."

Klaus's face scrunched into a hateful snarl. "If you think I'm going to let you hurt him, Elijah-"

"He is recalcitrant, Niklaus. He is going to go after Mikael lest we show him how vulnerable he would be to an Original. We both know that you don't have the fortitude to do this with him, not to the extent that he deserves, so I will gladly assume the mantel."

Marcel snatched his arm out of Klaus's hold and glowered furiously at Elijah. As he watched his son's anger grow, Klaus felt his heart begin to break. Looking into Marcel's shimmering eyes, Klaus realized how much pain he was in. Marcel had lost three of his people in one week and it obviously hurt him so badly that he had turned to anger to avoid feeling the pain. Klaus knew the feeling well.

Stepping back away from Marcel, Klaus threw his hands up and muttered, "If you two want to fight. Go on. But, Elijah. Know that I would sooner see you with a dagger in your chest than watch Marcel suffer."

"Don't worry, little brother," Elijah said confidently rolling up his sleeves. "This won't take long. Little Marcellus just needs to release a bit of this anger and his Uncle Elijah would be honored to be of assistance."

Moved by his anger at Elijah's constant condescending attitude, Marcel sped over to him in a blind rage, his arm wrenched back as far as he could get it. As fast as Marcel had moved, Elijah moved faster, anticipating Marcel's every move. Marcel missed his first strike as Elijah made a quick, yet small, sidestep. He swung again, and again Elijah dodged him. His anger clouding his better judgment, Marcel decided to try to tackle Elijah and just as his shoulder made contact with Elijah's abdomen, he felt his feet lift from the floor and his body hovering in the air. With a slight twist of his waist, Elijah pulled Marcel from his body and threw him across the room. Marcel crashed back first against Josh's old record collection.

"Elijah," Klaus growled deeply as he watched Marcel burst angrily from the pile of broken records.

"We're almost done, brother," Elijah calmly stated.

Marcel looked down to the broken shelf that once held Josh's records and saw a thick piece of narrow wood broken from it. Elijah saw the short hesitation in Marcel's eyes as he quickly assessed where should aim the makeshift stake. In one swift move, Marcel bent over, grabbed the stake, and threw it across the room at Elijah's heart.

Anticipating Marcel's actions, Elijah caught the wood between his fingers and before Marcel could react, he chucked it back across the room at him.

Marcel's breath caught in his chest when he saw the stake soaring at him at a speed quicker than he could dodge it. He didn't release his breath until he heard the sound of the stake sticking into the wall behind him, having passed swiftly underneath his left arm without ever touching his body. In the next second, Elijah was standing inches away from his face.

"That is how easy it would have been for Mikael to kill you," he growled.

Refusing to be bested so easily, Marcel took another swing at Elijah's face. Elijah blocked Marcel's wild punch with the palm of his hand and gripped his fist tightly within it. Marcel screamed as Elijah crushed his knuckles within in his hand. He tried to punch Elijah with the other hand but just as before, Elijah caught his fist within his palm and began crushing it with as much force as he did the other.

Having Marcel at his mercy, Elijah twisted Marcel's arms behind his back and spun him around. He slammed Marcel's chest into the wall, his arms pinned tightly behind his back, and growled, "This is how easily he can subdue you. You take for granted the kindness Klaus exhibits when fighting you but I guarantee Mikael will be far from merciful."

Elijah grew annoyed at Marcel's constant struggles to break free from his immutable hold. He realized that Marcel was as stubborn as his father and if he were to let things go on any further, Marcel would fight until he couldn't fight anymore and that would have done nothing to assuage Marcel's anger or change his mind about going after Mikael.

Changing tactics, Elijah ordered, "Tell me his name." Marcel ignored Elijah's request and continued to struggle against him. Attempting to get Marcel's attention, Elijah took both of Marcel's wrists into one hand, freeing the other to land a firm smack on the side of Marcel's thigh. "Call down and answer me or this fight will take a far different path than you would like. What's his name?"

"Who's name," Marcel yelled in frustration.

Elijah thought back to the memory of Zane lying on the apartment floor that Kol had shown him. "Your vampire that died. The young man Mikael killed. What was his name?"

Remembering Zane's green eyes, full of life, and then immediately with that life completely drained from them ended Marcel's struggling.

"Z-Zane," he muttered. "His name was Zane."

"Such a dull name," Elijah said, tightening his grip on Marcel's wrists anticipating another burst of futile struggles. "I can't imagine someone with such an unextraordinary name could be worth all the fuss."

"You didn't know him," Marcel roared, resuming the fight to free himself from Elijah. "He was innocent. And loyal to a fault. He would've done anything for his friends. He would've done anything for me..." Marcel's passionate struggles began to fade as his mind was flooded with memories of Zane. He had known him for mere weeks but he cared for him as much as he cared for Davina and he had been fighting all day to avoid feeling the pain he felt when he lost Davina. Standing there now, trapped in Elijah's grip, he realized that he couldn't do anything other than face his feelings. "He would have done anything for me," he repeated. "And all I had to do was protect him...and I couldn't even do that."

Accomplishing what he set out to do at the start of the fight, Elijah released Marcel's arms and stood back, waiting for Marcel to make the next move.

When Marcel turned to face the room, there were tears shimmering in his eyes. He kept his lip tucked tightly between his teeth to keep it from quivering but Klaus and Elijah knew his pain.

"Innocence...like his...is not easy to come by. But when you find it, all you really have to do it is protect it. And I failed."

"Marcel," Elijah reached out to Marcel and he immediately pulled away.

"It should have been me," he shouted. The moment the first tear broke free, Marcel fell into heavy sobs. His mind was flooded with images of Zane, the horrible way his body looked when he found him, and he remembered how helpless he was to save him. He hadn't felt that helpless in a long time and it only made him cry harder. "I would have gladly taken his place...to keep him from suffering."

"Don't be stupid," Klaus bit as he marched past Elijah to Marcel. Cradling Marcel's head between his hands, he looked him in his tearful eyes and said, "I know your pain, Marcellus, but don't you ever wish to take the place of a dead man, do you hear me?"

"He was just a kid," Marcel sobbed.

Surprising even himself, Klaus yelled, "I don't care! I don't care that he was a kid and I don't care how innocent he was. I know that you do, Marcel, and you probably hate me for saying this but. I. Don't. Care. You are what I care about, Marcel. You and Hope. And I would kill every vampire you ever sired before I ever let you give your life for one."

Furious at Klaus's proclamation, Marcel pushed against Klaus's chest, attempting to push him away but Klaus resiliently held on. Wrapping his arms around Marcel's shoulders, Klaus forced him into a hug, pressing Marcel's tear-streaked face against the crook of his neck.

"I'm sorry. I would do anything to keep you safe, Marcel," Klaus whispered as Marcel cried heavily against his neck. "The next time you feel like something is worth dying for, come to me. I will sacrifice it all for you."

Marcel's breath hitched with heartache. "You didn't see what he did to him. I wanted to rip Mikael's head off! But...Kol stopped me."

"And I am grateful for it," Klaus bit. "Mikael would have slaughtered you."

Now that he had let his anger go, Marcel was beginning to see how impulsive he had been in the past day. He realized that Josh was right. Dying fighting against Mikael wouldn't have solved anything. He had a chance of survival when he was going into the fight with Vincent and Kol but even after Kol didn't show and Vincent decided against chasing Mikael, Marcel was still considering going to Europe to hunt the man down alone. He couldn't believe that he ever thought something so stupid.

"Freya," he muttered against Klaus's shoulder. "And Kol...they did this. They brought Mikael back. They're the reason Zane is gone."

Klaus looked backed at Elijah, who had made his way back to the bar pouring himself a glass of Josh's most expensive wine, and he remembered what his brother had shown him about Kol at the Compound, how he was an accessory to Freya's plot to bring back Mikael.

"I know," Klaus said, rubbing his hand gently across the length of Marcel's back. "And I promise they will be dealt with. I love you, Marcellus. You know that, don't you?"

Marcel's rigid brows softened at Klaus's question. He pushed his face further into the crook of Klaus's neck and nodded yes.

"Then you should've come to me when you knew Mikael was back. I know that you think you can handle anything but there are just some things that even a two-hundred-year-old vampire can't handle alone. Mikael is five times older than you and five times stronger. You could have...you would have been slaughtered."

"It didn't matter," Marcel muttered. "Zane was my guy. I let Kol get away with killing Gwen. I can't let Mikael get away too."

Klaus's hand suddenly came down sharply against Marcel's backside and he let out a small yelp.

"No more talk of you going after Mikael," he ordered. "He is gone now. And if he ever returns, he will feel the pierce of the White Oak in his cold, dead heart." Klaus held Marcel in his arms until Marcel's crying had calmed enough for him to pull away. Holding Marcel at arms' length, Klaus asked, "Better?"

Embarrassed at his emotional breakdown, Marcel stared sheepishly down at Klaus's chest and nodded 'yes'.

"Good, because you have something more important than Mikael that requires your attention. There's a teenage girl about to wake in my home to a father she's never met while the father she does know is across the river from her."

Marcel wiped the tears fervently from his cheeks. He needed to get back to the Compound before Davina woke. He didn't want her to meet the man who aided in her conception. There was nothing good about him and Davina's ignorance of him was more of a blessing than she realized.

Pulling away from Klaus, Marcel hurried for the door, paused only by Klaus calling his name.

"One more thing before you go," said Klaus. "According to Kol, Freya has brought Finn back as well. And you know where he is."

"I know where the apartment that Freya had him stashed at before is," Marcel admitted. "But there's no guarantee he's still there."

"There's no harm in looking," Klaus smirked.

"What do you want with him?"

Again Klaus looked to Elijah and this time Elijah looked back at him, setting his wine glass on the counter in front of him.

"Finn is an Original," Elijah stated thoughtfully grabbing his jacket and carefully draping it back over his shoulders. "It is better that he...returns to his family than be left of his own accord."

For a moment, Marcel was for the idea if only because it would anger Kol to have Finn around so much but then he remembered how Finn and Esther came after Hope as an infant and he was immediately repulsed by the idea of having him around Hope again.

"He gave up his right to be a part of this family when he came after an innocent child," Marcel stated firmly. "He can't be trusted."

"I agree," said Niklaus. Then he nodded slightly to Elijah.

Marcel's watched with shock as Elijah unbuttoned his suit jacket and reached into his two inner pockets. In one hand, he held a silver dagger and in the other, a small glass jar with a few ounces of white oak ash left.

"When I say that he should return to his family," Elijah said, examining the amount of white oak ash they had left and determining it was more than enough to put their brother down. "I didn't mean to imply that he would be doing so upon his own conscious, voluntary will."

Marcel couldn't help but remember the conversation he had with Kol about his fear of the dagger. He could only assume that Finn's fear probably steeped even deeper after spending nearly a millennia with a dagger through his chest.

"Are you sure about that," he asked cautiously. "Kol...talks about those things like they're worse than death."

Klaus scoffed. He could be sympathetic to Kol's fears because he knew Kol was mostly a victim of his brother's impatience and short fuse which lead to most of his daggerings but Finn was a threat to their family. More importantly, he was a threat to Hope. If something were to occur that made it beneficial for Finn to hurt Hope for any reason, Klaus couldn't trust that Finn would choose to do the right thing.

"It is the only way, short of killing him, to ensure that he doesn't come after Hope again," said Klaus. Then with a wry smirk, he added, "And Elijah insists that killing our dear brother is not the answer."

"What happened to 'no more daggers'," Marcel continued to object.

"Finn can't be trusted," Elijah said. "We will reconsider the proposition to undagger him in a few hundred years when Hope and her grandchildren are long gone and her great-great-grandchildren are scattered across the world where Finn will never find them."

Marcel still didn't like the idea of daggering Finn again but he didn't want to argue about it anymore. He needed to get back to the Compound so he could get rid of Davina's father before she came back.

"Fine," he said walking towards the door again. "I'll show you where the apartment is but then I'm leaving. I need to get back to Davina. And I've had my fill of daggering Mikaelsons."

-M-

Hope and Sebastian wandered the streets of Algiers following the faint scent of vampire blood leading Hope to a mostly dilapidated building. She went bravely inside, Sebastian apprehensively following behind her taking every step with more caution than his tribrid friend.

"Are you sure this is the place," he mumbled. A car drove past the building, it's lights causing shadows to dance across the wall and Sebastian felt his heart skip a beat, fearing that each shadow was Mikael.

"Shh," Hope hissed. "Yes, I'm sure. The scent is getting stronger. Now, be quiet. He's a vampire, remember. He can probably hear us."

"M-maybe this was a bad idea. We should just go back home and let your family deal with this Mikael-dude. They're like...immortal and junk. And we're just a couple of kids with a magic book. We can't fight an ancient vampire."

"We don't have to fight him," Hope whispered. "I told you. We're just gonna use the spell that knocked out Marcel on Mikael and put him out of commision before he ever has a chance to hurt my family. I just hope he's here."

"But we don't even know if this spell will still work with the Oleander root. We should have at least ran a test spell before we came here. We should go back home and test the spell and then-"

Hope stopped suddenly in front of a quiet apartment. Her sudden pause ended Sebastian's speech. He stood silently waiting for her to say something, preferably that she was wrong and Mikael was nowhere around.

"This is it," Hope whispered. "The smell's coming from in there." She listened intently for any sounds coming from inside. When she heard feet shuffling across the hardwood floor she said, "Someone's inside. C'mon,"

Still anxious about facing their unknown enemy, Sebastian reluctantly helped Hope set up the spell. Just seeing the circle painted on the floor in white paint reminded him of the last time they tried to perform the spell.

"You sure it's not gonna hurt this time," he asked.

Setting the bowl of mixed ingredients in the center of the circle, Hope answered, "Yes...I think. According to my calculations, yes...maybe."

"You do not inspire confidence, woman," he bit tensely.

"Well, I only had a few hours to think about this. The worst that could happen is...it doesn't work at all. Which, probably means it still won't hurt."

Seething through his teeth, Sebastian said, "It'll hurt if he kills us."

"Hey, you didn't have to come. I told you I could do this on my own."

Realizing the extent of his own cowardice, Sebastian got in the circle and grabbed Hope's hands. "Like I'm ever gonna let you die alone."

The two teens took a deep breath and began chanting the incantation. As they chanted in silence, no pain or any sensation at all, Hope began to wonder if she had made a mistake by taking the Callum root out. Sebastian closed his eyes and started focusing as hard as he could on the spell. He didn't want to face Mikael but he knew that Hope was going to face him regardless and at least if the spell worked, they would stand a chance.

And then the ingredients in the bowl caught fire.

"You did it," Sebastian exclaimed in an excited whisper.

Hope wanted to celebrate but she had more important things to focus on. Taking the knife that Sebastian didn't know she had out of her bag, she ran the blade quickly across the palm of her hand. She stifled her scream through gritted teeth as the blood began to pour out of her wound. Sebastian instantly wrapped his hands around her's, putting pressure on her injury.

"What are you doing," he barked in shock.

"I'm getting Mikael to come out," Hope responded as if cutting her hand was the most natural thing in the world.

"You said you were going to call him."

"Because I knew you weren't going to be okay with me doing this."

"Gee, I wonder what would make you think that."

Hearing the anger growing in Sebastian's sharp tone, Hope said, "If I started yelling in the middle of the hall, his neighbors might have come out and we would be putting more people in danger. This way, only Mikael knows we're out here."

Sebastian was still angry with Hope's deceit but he understood her reasoning. Moving his hands to take a quick peek at her palm, he was glad to see her supernatural genes already working heal her.

Just as Hope expected, the apartment door they were in front of opened soon after the first drop of blood hit the ground.

Finn stood standing in the doorway, curiously eyeing the blood covered kids standing in the hall.

"You're not Mikael," Hope muttered.

"I'm not," Finn agreed. He recognized the girl from the street earlier that day. "You're Hope. Klaus's spawn."

"And you're the man who saved me and my Uncle Kol from Mikael," Hope said, looking the man up and down. There was no doubt in her mind that he was a Mikaelson. "Finn, right? You're my dad's oldest brother."

Finn smirked. "Klaus talks about me?"

"Nothing good," Hope replied coldly. "He just says that you were boring and that you hated our family. I guess that's why you're here with Mikael, huh? Since you both hate us." Craning her neck to look into the apartment past Finn, Hope asked, "Is he in there?"

Aggravated by the girl's candor, Finn bit, "Who?"

"Mikael, duh. He's who we're here for."

"Then I'm afraid you came for nothing because he's long gone. You should get going too. I'm sure it's past your bedtime," he said mockingly.

"I know he's in there," Hope persisted. "I can smell blood."

Finn smirked. "You certainly know Mikael. Where he is, death follows. But as I said, he's gone. And I'd prefer it if you left too. I don't want Niklaus sniffing around anywhere near me with his damned daggers."

Just as Finn was about to shut the door, he looked down and saw the circle intricately painted on the floor. He had never seen anything like it before.

He knelt down in front of it to examine it closer. He reached out to it and before Hope could tell him not to, he touched it. A blinding flashed knocked all three of them away from the circle.

-M-

Meanwhile

"This is the place," Marcel said as he stopped his car in front of the apartment building he and Kol followed Freya to. "Last door on the left."

"Wait here," Elijah ordered as he opened the back door. "I don't want to have to carry his body back to the Compound."

"Then call a cab," Marcel bit. "I want to be back at the Compound before Davina wakes up."

"That wasn't a request, Marcellus," Elijah replied coldly. "We shan't be very long."

Klaus let out a heavy sigh as he opened his door. He knew that he was going to have to endure a long argument on their way home between Marcel and Elijah about Elijah's lack of respect and he knew that he would have to endure more of the same from Marcel when they returned home if he didn't take up for him then. As Klaus opened his mouth to censure Elijah, he got a sudden whiff of all too familiar blood. Elijah and Marcel smelled it in the same instant. They all sped out of the car and into the building without a second thought.

When they stopped in the hall, none of them had the strength to move. Hope and Sebastian laid on the hall floor across from Finn's apartment, their eyes closed. Klaus was too afraid to listen for their heartbeats so Elijah did it for him.

"They're alive," he announced and like magic, Niklaus gained the ability to move again.

He rushed over to Hope, lifting her into his arms, her face scrunched up at him as she regained consciousness.

"D-dad," she asked, her eyes fluttering open.

"It's me, sweetheart," he replied, squeezing her in his arms to confirm to himself that she was perfectly alright. "What are you doing here?"

Hope looked over to Sebastian who was beginning to sit up himself, rubbing the soreness from the back of his head after having it smacked against the floor when they flew away. Then she looked back into the apartment. Finn laid on the floor of his apartment, still unconscious.

"Is he..."

Klaus followed Hope's eyes into the apartment. He was shocked to see Finn lying on the floor, his eyes closed and his body rigid.

"Elijah," he nodded towards the apartment.

Elijah walked into the living room and knelt in front of Finn. He tried to move his hand but his body was unyieldingly stiff. Looking back to Klaus, he uttered, "Well, he is certainly out of our hair for a while."