After Nik took me out to the cauldron I soaked in a large tub comfortably, water running over my feet. I'd felt the need for bubbles to they covered the water and anything I didn't want anyone to see. I smiled as I remembered my little outing with Nik as my victims laid throughout the compound up towards Nik's bathroom. I enjoyed feeding on people's blood. Was I a ripper like Stefan? No. Every kill I made was a conscious choice that I couldn't look back on.
"Come to check up on me?" I asked turning my head to see Elijah staring at the body of the witch leaning on the doorway to the bathroom.
"You've had an eventful evening." He noted.
"I was really having a crappy day, so Nik took me out to the Cauldron. Wouldn't you know, we ran into some rude witches!" I told him with my smile still in place.
"So, would you like me to remove your leftovers?" he asked me sarcastically and I sighed, smile gone. I leaned over and grabbed a towel before standing up and wrapping it around my bubble-covered body.
"Don't you dare judge, Elijah! What I did is no worse than anything Nik has ever done in the last thousand years." I reminded him.
"I would hope that you would hold yourself to a higher standard than Niklaus." He told me and I gave him a look.
"I'm a hybrid now, and I have a new werewolf temper to go with a new appetite. And the witches who tried to kill my children are worth nothing more than food. Excuse me." I said scooting past Elijah before walking back to my room to change. Elijah quickly left the bathroom to interrogate his brother about our recent activities.
"You took your wife on a witch hunt?" Elijah asked him.
"I simply wanted to persuade those witches to locate the white oak stake for me. When they proved unable to do so, I let Nicole have her fun." Nik told him. "I only joined in when she told me to do so."
"She grows more savage by the day! Can you not see that she is falling apart?" Elijah asked angrily.
"Perhaps the problem is your high standards? Nicole is one of us now. Being a vampire only exaggerates what you truly are, and wolves are wild things. She doesn't need you hanging over her shoulder every moment judging her." Nik told him.
"I am trying to help her, and I asked you to help her, brother." Elijah reminded him causing Nik to angrily rise to his feet.
"I am helping! You should have seen her last night! Covered in witches' blood and smiling from ear to ear! She is embracing who and what she is!" Nik told him. "In time she will be just fine."
"Niklaus! Your wife deserves much better than just fine!" Elijah told him angrily before the two glare at each other. "You'll take her to the Bayou. Find any remaining wolves and Hayley. Perhaps they can reach her. Now, more than ever, she needs a connection to something, some of her humanity, some degree of dignity." Elijah insisted before storming out of the room, leaving Nik to consider his advice. Once Nik decided to do as his brother ordered he went to my room just in time to see me pull on my top and a new leather jacket. When I turned I went and bought myself a new wardrobe.
"We are going out." He told me.
"Where are we going?" he asked me.
"The Bayou."
When we arrived at the werewolf encampments looking around for any of the crescents who may have been hanging around.
"I told you, this place is deserted." I told him.
"No, their scent is fresh. They're hiding." He told me as he searched through the empty tents around us. "Which means somewhere nearby, we will find the remnants of your pack."
"And then what? It's not exactly like they're going to welcome us. If there's one thing these people hate more than vampires, its Hybrids." I told him.
"What they hate is their lack of power. Hence the willingness of their brethren to deal with that witch in exchange for rings! But, she hasn't gotten to your lot yet, so, we need to get to them first and ensure they align with us." He told me.
"Awesome." I said sarcastically. "Now all we gotta do is find them and convince them that we are the better choice."
"A task I leave to you. Go on!" he told me making me look at him in confusion.
"And how do you want me to do that?" I asked him.
"Well, you're a Hybrid now, with heightened senses unlike anything under the sun... besides me." He told me smirking.
"And Hayley." I told him sarcastically before dramatically sniffing the air like a dog. I actually smelt something and closed my eyes so I could focus. Nik watched me, but after a moment I opened my eyes and sighed.
"This is ridiculous." I told him.
"Your people need a leader! You are their queen!" he told me and I turned to him.
"I'm not their queen, Nik!" I told him. "I'm just a stray and I am a mess! I cry all day, I feed all night. All I can think about is how much I miss our children." I said.
"Do you think you're alone in that pain?" he asked me pain filling his eyes.
"Of course not." I told him. "You are a wonderful father to your children. And they'll know that even if it takes us years to get them back." I told him. "What do you do?" I asked. "When it get to be too much?"
"I seek comfort in the idea of what I will do to those who would harm her." He told me. He came towards me and hugged me to him tightly. He kept his arms around me before gesturing towards an overturned chair, over which what looked like a man's jacket was laying. He grabbed the jacket and handed it to me making me roll my eyes at him. I took it from him and reluctantly sniffed the sleeve to get the scent. "Concentrate." He instructed. I inhaled deeply before eventually finding the direction in which it led me. I started walking towards it with Nik smiling proudly while following me.
When we found the Crescents they were gathering up their belongings in a clearing as we approached them from the woods, trying not to startle them as we determined how to proceed.
"So, Jackson is MIA and Oliver seems to think he's the Alpha. We should have brought Hayley with us." I told him.
"You did not change just because you became a Hybrid." He reminded me. I was silent for a moment thinking of everything I'd done since I'd turned. Hadn't I changed? "Talk to them." I nervously made my way towards the group with Nik behind me. When they noticed us they all turned to face us and defensively formed a circle around us.
"The hell you two want?" Oliver asked.
"Hold your tongue, or I'll tear it from your gaping mouth." Nik told him and I shot him a look.
"We didn't come here to fight, Oliver." I said looking back to the wolf I'd taken the ring that had been making Nik weak. "Our pack has been divided by people who want us to be their slaves. What we need right now is a leader. Someone who will reunite us and make us strong again. Someone who will fight for our pack. If you let me, I can find that person. I can find Hayley and together we will do whatever we can to strengthen us."
"What?!" Nik whispered angrily behind me.
"You think we can trust you? You're not one of us! Hell, you're not even a wolf, you're a blood-sucking vampire parasite!" Oliver told me.
"You want to say that again and see what happens, Oliver?" I asked him.
"You tough girl, you're gonna attack me? In front of all them? You'll just give them another reason to say yes to Cassie and her moonlight rings. Yeah, they would rather follow a witch than you. Me? Hell, I'd rather die than follow you." Oliver told me. Furiously, Nik used his vampire speed to catch Oliver off guard and knocking him flat on his back before he stomped on his chest with his boot.
"Well, at least you didn't drag this out." Nik told him.
"Let him go, Klaus!" I ordered.
"You need to learn about the art of politics, love. You gain support by killing your detractors!" he said.
"They may not like me very much, but these people, including Oliver, are Hayley's family. Let him go. Now." I told him. "Not every ruler has to play by your games." Nik looked around at all of the wolves who were watching us intently and smiled before releasing Oliver.
"You see? There's your queen. Powerful, fearless, and, unlike me, merciful." He said before turning to me. "These people need to show you more respect. How you handle them now is up to you." He said before Hayley made herself known from the woods behind us. I smiled at her before I noticed Nik leaving.
"Where are you going?" I asked him confused.
"I'm going to find the witch. Seems I need to educate her as to what she may or may not do in our city." He told me. I nodded to him and started towards Hayley when he pulled me back to him. "They may not have accepted you as their queen, but you are still the queen of this city." He kissed my cheek before tuning and leaving me with the Crescents. I watched him until he fully disappeared from my sight before going back to them and helping the best I could.
As the day went on Hayley and I managed to convince the Crescents that moving into the Compound was a good idea for them. We gathered anything from home they might need before we loaded up vehicles and drove back to the compound. We stayed on the first floor since I doubted Nik and Elijah would be very happy about werewolves messing with their rooms. I smelt Elijah and Nik in the compound and followed their scent to the wine cellar while Hayley got everyone situated.
"It is worse than we thought." I heard Nik say as I joined them. I watched him break the neck off of a bottle of liquor and drink a large gulp of it before he continued. "I met the witch, Cassie. I studied her- her presence, the way she carried herself, the fervor with which she voiced her hatred of our kind. I looked into that girl's eyes, and, I swear to you, Elijah, she's not just guided by our mother. She is our mother."
"What?" I asked making my presence known to them.
"What is happening?" Elijah asked flabbergasted.
"I'm going to kill her. I will boil her bones and feed them to the dogs, if that's what it takes." Nik told us.
"Niklaus—" Elijah tried interrupting but Nik was in a panic right now. I went to him and took his hand in mine trying to calm him.
"What? What could possibly be more important than the return of our mother?" Nik asked him.
"Our father." Elijah said. "I saw him standing there in the flesh as you do now. He was enslaved with some spell cast by Davina. He holds the stake. If she chooses to release him..." my hand held onto Nik'd tighter and I took a deep breath.
"Well, then there's only one question we need to ask, isn't there? Which of our parents do we kill first?" Nik asked.
"I say the one who holds the most danger to us and our children." I said. "We take down Esther first and then we kill Mikael." After we all debated what to do (with no definite end) the three of us made our way to the courtyard where Hayley was helping the Crescents getting comfortable with their new home.
"Take any of the rooms on the first floor." She told them.
"Are we running a kennel now?" Nik asked me.
"Hayley will handle them." I told him making my way to her and our pack.
"Our family is under siege. It is not the time for guests." He told me.
"Look, if they're not with us, they're with the witches. You asked me this is better than adding more of this pack to Cassie's army." I pointed out.
"Well, it seems I'm a good influence on you after all." He said smiling. "I don't see Oliver amongst them. Am I to assume you finished him off?"
"I proposed a deal to Hayley and she gave it to him. He'll pledge his loyalty to Cassie, report back, and tell me everything that he learns." I told him and he smiled proudly at me.
"Well done!" he said. He turned to leave and I followed him.
"Why did you call me the queen of the city?" I asked him confused.
"You are my queen." He told me. "That will never change." I gave him a look before taking his hand back in mine as we walked towards upstairs.
"I need to move my clothes." I told him.
"Do you plan on having some of the wolves share your room?" he asked me.
"I don't think so, unless you want them sharing our room." I said giving him a small smile. He looked at me shocked before smiling and pulling me closer to him.
