Antoinette paled. "Klaus Mikaelson. I really don't know what you're talking about."

Hayley rolled her eyes and stood up. "Really? Okay, then I'll start. How did you know about his amnesia?" Because that was the part of Klaus's story that had terrified Hayley. Antoinette had apparently given no indication that she knew Elijah. No indication that she was surprised by his last name. No indication that she thought he should know her. She had known. "You know what? Don't bother. I don't trust you to tell me the truth. So, we're going to let Klaus do this his way." She looked over at Davina. "Can you soundproof the house, Davina? I'd really hate for this bitch's screams to scare the neighborhood children."

Davina nodded. The expression on her face almost as feral as what could be expected from Klaus. It seemed that the witch was becoming a true Mikaelson, in every sense of the word. At the moment, Hayley couldn't help but approve. "Yeah. Definitely don't want to scare the children. Not their fault, after all. Not to mention how awkward it could get if someone decides to call the police or something. I mean, don't you have to speak the language to compel someone? They can hardly be expected to obey a command they can't understand, right?" And then she held up her hands and started chanting. A few minutes later, she smiled. "There. Now we won't be disturbed. She's all yours, Klaus."

Klaus nodded. "Now then. We could have done this the easy way. At least long enough to find out what you're up to. But, unfortunately for you, the very reason that Josh realized there was a problem means that the easy way won't work on you." His smile turned feral. "Which means we have to do it my way. Before we can start the questioning portion of the festivities, we need to get the vervain out of your system. Now, you being a vampire, you can heal yourself. Which means the fairly painless way of slitting your wrist and letting you bleed out won't work. The fact that you're on vervain means that I can't just bite you and drain you that way. Which, unfortunately for you, means we have to do this the hard, painful way. I would say that I'm sorry, but I'm really not." He looked over at Hayley and Davina. "I'm going to take her to the basement. I want you girls to stay up here for this part."

"No. This is about Elijah. I want in."

Marcel shook his head. "He's right. Once we get to the questioning stage, I promise, you will be a part of it. But, you're going to have to be able to look Hope in the eye and tell her what happened here. For her sake, Hayley. Besides, I don't want Davina to have to watch this, so I'm asking you to keep her company up here. To say nothing of if Keelin comes back. Stay up here, for now. We'll call you down when we're ready for you.

Hayley looked over at Davina who was looking a little pale. "Fine. I'll stay up here while you drain her. But, if you ask her a single question without me, so help me I will find a way to kill you."

"I wouldn't dream of questioning her without you, love. After all, Elijah may be my brother, but he's your soulmate. You just may have even more right to know what this bitch is up to than I do. Let's go, then." And then he grabbed Antoinette's arm and yanked her into the other room, where presumably the stairs to the basement were located.

"You okay, over there?"

Davina swallowed hard. "I forgot what being a Mikaelson can be like, sometimes. I forgot this part. I mean, she deserves it. I keep trying to tell myself that she deserves it. And I can put on a pretty good act to do my part in intimidating her. But… I'm glad that they decided to leave us out of it. Even if you do feel differently."

Hayley sighed. "Honestly? I'm feeling pretty horrible, right now. But not so much because of what we're about to do to her, but because of Elijah."

Davina winced as a scream echoed up from the basement. After a second, she got herself back under control. "Alright, what do you mean by that?"

Hayley sighed. "Just that I was horrible to him after what happened in Freya's pendant. After I saw what was behind that red door in his head. Made a lot of accusations. And, look what I'm being a part of. I don't know how to reconcile the woman sitting here calmly listening while her brother-in-law tortures a woman, and getting ready to be a part of that torture, with the woman who screamed at the love of her life to not touch her, after breaking up with him because she 'only wanted good things' near her daughter. I'm worse than he ever was."

Davina shook her head. "Don't, Hayley. Elijah wouldn't want you to beat yourself up over it. You're doing what you have to do to protect your family. If this is more than just her stalking him. If she's working with her mother to finish her father's legacy? Then she's looking for a way to kill Klaus, and Hope."

The screams were getting louder, harder to ignore. And yet, the two women were doing their best to ignore them, anyway. "I keep trying to tell myself that. But, what makes us so much more important than everyone else in the world? What gives us the right to kill and torture people just to protect our own family?"

The look that Davina gave her was incredulous. "Everything. That's the point. If you aren't willing to kill to protect your family, then maybe you don't deserve to have a family to begin with. Why do you think I consider Marcel to be my father? Because he did more to protect me than any member of my biological family ever did. He saved me from my own people. When my own mother stood there and was going to watch them slit my throat, and turned away from me when I begged her for help, Marcel swooped in and massacred the lot of them. To save me. To try to save the others. That's what family does, Hayley. Especially in the world we live in. I wish I had a mother like you."

Hayley sighed and put her arms around Davina. "I know that you're right. That I'm just trying to be a good mother. But, it's hard to look at it that way, with that going on right under my feet. I mean, yeah… if she's up to something worse than just trying to get into Elijah's pants whether he wants her there or not, then maybe we do have to do whatever it takes to keep Hope safe. But, it's just hard to think of that. I guess you're right about it being what we're supposed to do. I mean, even by mortal law, self-defense or defense of someone else is a valid murder defense. Even the humans say I have the right to kill someone who is trying to kill my family. It's just hard to reconcile that from a moral standpoint."

"Pretty sure there's a line in the Bible about an eye for an eye. So, I think we may even be on the moral high-ground, here."

"Except we have to torture her to even find out for sure what she's up to. What if this is just one hell of a coincidence? What if she's mostly harmless? If her biggest crime is stalking Elijah, then I am being a party to torture because of some chick trying to get into my boyfriend's pants. Pretty sure that that is frowned on from both a legal and moral perspective."

"She knew to pretend she didn't know him. Hayley, I don't see this turning out to be a normal stalker situation. This isn't about her wanting in Elijah's pants. She's up to something."

And then the screams stopped. The silence was almost deafening. Until it was broken by Klaus yelling up to the girls. "The vervain is out of her system. Hayley, get your ass down here and let's get started."

"You ready for this?"

"Yeah. This part I can handle. Let's go see exactly what that bitch wanted with my boyfriend."

~You Can't Fight Destiny~

Marcel had to hold Antoinette's head still for Klaus to be able to look her in the eye to compel her. Hayley had to admit that that was not a good sign. "You are going to answer every question any of us ask you with one hundred percent honesty. You are not going to leave anything out. You will not lie, you will not omit. You will tell us everything we want to know." He looked up at Hayley. "I'll let you start."

Hayley nodded and then took the seat in front of Antoinette. "How do you know Elijah Mikaelson?"

"Klaus introduced us back in the 1920's. We met at a little speakeasy."

"And how do you know Elijah Montgomery?"

"I sold him and his friend the bar they own."

"Why?"

"Because we wanted to know where he was. Being the one to sell them both a business and a home meant we would know exactly where he was."

We. Hayley started shaking. "And why did you want to know where he was?"

"Because he doesn't know who he is. He's the easiest one to get close to."

There was a commotion behind Hayley that she did her best to ignore. She knew what it was. Klaus getting ready to rip Antoinette's head from her body, and Marcel restraining him. But, they still needed more information. "And why did you want to get close to him?"

"Partly to keep an eye on him. Know what he's up to. If any of his siblings came to see him. Find out why he doesn't know who he is."

It wasn't until that line that Hayley really caught what had been said. They knew. Whoever they were, they knew about Elijah's amnesia. They knew what only the Mikaelsons' most trusted inner circle knew. Had one of them betrayed them all? She was going to be sick. But, she had to keep going. "And how did you know about the amnesia?"

"We have people everywhere. We were there, at the bus station in Atlanta. We heard his conversation with Josh."

Okay, that meant that the spy was likely not one of their own. Hayley took a deep breath. "How did you know he was going to go to Manosque?"

"As I said, we have people everywhere. And when we learned in Atlanta that Elijah Mikaelson was walking around with amnesia, we of course followed him. We knew what plane he was on. I was already in France. I was the logical one to send."

"Why did they send you?"

"I was already in France. But, also because I had known him, once. I knew things about him. Things that we could use to get close to him."

"What kind of things?"

"We had bonded over the piano. So I knew that he played. Our spies knew that his friend had managed a bar. So, we had the perfect trap with the perfect bait. We bought a bar, and a grand piano. And then sold them to Elijah and Josh so that we would know where they were."

"And was your attempt to seduce him also part of your plan?" Maybe that was a secondary consideration on top of everything else that the bitch had already admitted to, but Hayley couldn't help wanting to know.

"No, that was my own doing. Oh, it certainly would have been a good way to get close enough to keep an eye on him. But, I have always been attracted to him. You of all people should understand that. It would have been a nice bonus for me."

"Why did you want to get close to him?"

"To watch him. To know where he was."

They were going in circles, now. Hayley took a deep breath. "Enough! Tell me what I want to know." Okay, she needed a better way to phrase the question. "What were you planning on doing to him?"

"There has to be another way to kill an Original besides just white oak. After all, Elijah died once before. From something other than white oak. We don't know what she used, but whatever it was, perhaps there is more of it. Or something else that would work just as well."

"And when you found it, you were going to test it on Elijah?" It was phrased as a question, but it wasn't really one. She already knew the answer.

"Yes. As I said, he already died once. Killing him wouldn't kill any of us. Which made him the perfect test subject."

"You say he was meant to be a test subject. Who is your real target?"

"Klaus. Hope. You, though you're easier. Marcel, who may be the hardest of all."

There was the sound of someone throwing up behind Hayley. Her guess was Davina. Not that she blamed the girl. "And why do you want to kill us?" It was all Hayley could do to stay calm, to not rip the woman apart. Or better yet, to just bite her and let her die in agony. They wanted to kill Hope. They wanted to murder her little girl for the crime of being Klaus Mikaelson's daughter.

"Because you should not exist. None of you should exist. Vampires are meant to be at the top of the food chain. Hybrids should not exist. It was what my father believed, it is what my mother believes. And it's what I believe. It's a shame that Elijah will have to die as well, but he is the easiest to get to."

And then there were hands on Hayley's shoulders, and Klaus was gently moving her off of the chair she was on. "You have mentioned others. How many of you are there?"

"Too many to count. I don't know if even my mother knows all of them."

"Are hybrids your only targets?" How could he be so calm? The bitch had just admitted to wanting him and his daughter both dead. And here was Klaus Mikaelson calmly questioning her like she hadn't said anything all that problematic.

"No, just the smallest group. It is time to restore proper order. And the best way to do that is to eliminate every bit of competition. Starting with the hybrids. But, then all werewolves and witches, as well. Give vampires back their rightful place as the true rulers of this world."

"Is your brother one of you? Does he believe what you and your mother believe?"

"He does what Mother tells him to do." It wasn't an answer, not really. And Hayley wondered if anyone else realized that. Antoinette didn't know if Roman really believed or if he was just doing what he was told because he was too afraid to go against their mother.

"Why is he at the Salvatore School?"

"For the same reason that I'm in Manosque. He is there to keep an eye on Hope. Perhaps, once we have our solution, Mother will have him be the one to kill the girl. Perhaps we will even have him test her mortality before then. We are, after all, quite curious about just how vulnerable she is, and just what would happen to her if someone were to just rip her heart out."

"You fucking bitch! She's just a little girl!" And with that, Hayley lunged at Antoinette and bit her. "How does it feel, Antoinette? How does a werewolf bite feel? I hope you burn in Hell."

Klaus sighed and bit his wrist, then held it up to Antoinette's mouth. "Honestly, love. And here I thought that I was the impulsive hothead. We aren't through with her, yet."

"What else can you possibly want to know, Klaus? There are a whole lot of vampires out there that want all of us dead. And we have no way of finding out who they are. Or where they are."

"Not all of them, no. But, there are ways around that problem. Now then." He turned his attention back to Antoinette. "Where is your mother?"

"She's in Vienna."

"Good girl. We'll be back, later." And then he snapped Antoinette's neck and gestured for the others to head back upstairs.

"What the hell are we supposed to do, Klaus? How do we fight an enemy when we don't even know who that enemy is? How do we even know who to trust, anymore?" She put her hand to her mouth and all but fell onto the couch. "I don't know how to protect her. And how do we ask Josh to keep trying to protect Elijah with this going on?"

"Speaking of Josh. I hate to say this, love. But… are we really sure that we can trust him?"

"Seriously, Klaus? He's the one that told us about Antoinette to begin with. If he were working with her, he wouldn't have said a thing. He would have just let her do whatever it was she was going to do."

"Unless Antoinette was meant as a sacrifice. I'm sorry. But I can't trust anyone. Right now, I'm not even sure about trusting each other." And suddenly, he grabbed Hayley's chin and forced her to look him in the eye. Before she knew what he was up to he was talking again. "You will tell me everything I want to know, and answer all of my questions with complete honesty. You will leave nothing out. You will not lie, you will not omit. You will do this until I tell you that you are free." He let go of her.

"Is this really necessary, Klaus?"

"Oh, don't think that I'm picking on her. You and Davina are going to do me, next. The hard part is going to be figuring out a way to test the two of you, and Freya, and Vincent. Now then. Hayley. What are your intentions towards my brother?"

"I love him. Someday, when this Hollow business is over and we get him back, if he doesn't hate me for the way I turned on him, I'm hoping that someday I'm going to marry him."

"Do you have any intentions of hurting him?"

"My biggest regret in my life is how much I've already hurt him. My intentions are to spend the rest of Eternity making that up to him."

"And your feelings towards our daughter?"

"I would kill to protect her. I would die to protect her. She and Elijah are the only things in my life that ever made sense. They are my life."

"Did you know anything about any of what Antoinette told us before today?"

"Only the parts you had told us, about how you knew her."

Klaus nodded, and then looked her in the eye again. "You're free, now." And then he looked at Marcel and Davina. "Okay, my turn. Davina, do you know what to do?" When she nodded, he turned his attention solely on Marcel. "And you know the questions to ask?"

"Yeah, but honestly, Klaus. We don't need to do this. It's you and your daughter they want dead, for Christ's sake."

"I will not subject my siblings to something I am not willing to undergo myself. So, let's get to it, shall we?"

Marcel sighed, but then he nodded. And then he and Davina got to work.

It was less than five minutes before they had asked Klaus most of the same questions he had asked Hayley. It surprised no one when he gave pretty much the same answers. Well, minus Hayley's line about wanting to marry Elijah, of course.

"Well, now that that's done. There are still two more people that need to be questioned before we can get started on our little science experiment. Hayley, you can call Keelin back, now. And Davina…" He actually paused. "Davina, I'm sorry. But, I have to test Josh, too." And Josh was on vervain…

~You Can't Fight Destiny~

"So, I guess we should get started, shouldn't we? Man, I am not looking forward to this. Hayley, do me a favor, will you? Take Davina out for a bit. She shouldn't have to see this. Or hear it, for that matter."

Klaus had to give the boy credit. He had come to Paris under his own power, knowing exactly what was waiting for him. But, he was willing to do whatever they needed to keep Elijah safe. It was almost enough to make Klaus change his mind and not do this at all. Almost. But, Elijah had put Klaus first for the better part of a thousand years. It was Klaus's turn to look after his older brother. No matter who he had to hurt in the process. "For what it's worth, I am sorry about this, Joshua. I really do wish there was another way."

"Yeah, well. There isn't. Not under the circumstances. I don't want to be away from Elijah long enough for the vervain to get out of my system naturally. Not with this going down. So, you just do what you've gotta do to keep him safe."

"Davina, wait. Can you put him to sleep, or something? Something to make what I'm going to have to do to him less painful? I didn't much care about hurting Antoinette, because best case scenario she was a stalker who refused to take no for an answer. The odds are very good that Josh's only crime was caring about our family and being willing to put his own life on hold to help us when we needed it."

"Why Klaus Mikaelson. Is that compassion I'm hearing coming from you? This is new."

He glared at Hayley. "Enough with the jokes, Little Wolf. Yes, even I am capable of compassion every once in a while. It just seems unnecessarily cruel to repay Josh's loyalty with torturing him. So, Davina, is there a way to make this easier for him?"

Davina nodded. "I can pull him into a chambre de chasse. I think that if I pull his consciousness out of him for a bit, he won't feel what's happening to his body. I think. It's not like anybody has ever tested that before. But, it's the best idea I can come up with, right now. Added benefit is that I can pull him out of it as soon as you're ready to start questioning him. So, we won't waste any time waiting for him to wake up from having his neck snapped or anything else we could try to do."

Klaus nodded. "Do that. And I'll do my part to make this as painless as possible."

A few seconds later, Josh slumped over, and Klaus got to work trying to drain him without causing any more pain than absolutely necessary.

It took a bit longer than it had with Antoinette. Klaus was being more careful, trying to minimize the pain he would cause. But, eventually, Josh was sufficiently drained to make compulsion possible, and then Davina brought him back so that the questioning could begin.

"Why did you agree to go to France with Elijah?"

"Because, as screwed up as this family is, it's still the closest thing to a real family I've had since I came out. I was touched that Hayley wanted me to be the one to look after him, that she was trusting me with keeping him safe."

"What are your intentions towards him?"

"To do what Hayley asked me to do four years ago. To look after him, keep him sane, keep him safe. To be the eyes and ears he doesn't know he needs. And to be a middleman, keeping the rest of you aware of what is going on with him so that you haven't lost him completely."

"Do you have any intentions of harming him?"

"No. Of course not. You guys are my family. And other than Davina, Elijah is my best friend. I love him, the same way you do."

"How do you know Antoinette Sienna?"

"We bought our bar from her. And Elijah went on a couple dates with her. And then she started stalking him. I tried to keep her away from him, but she could be relentless."

It was enough. "Forget any pain that I may have caused you. Remember only that you were a true friend to Elijah when he most needed it." He rubbed his eyes. "And, Joshua, for what it's worth, Elijah chose well."

Josh looked stunned. "Elijah? What do you mean Elijah chose well?"

Klaus blinked at that. "They didn't tell you? Sending you with him wasn't entirely Marcel and Hayley's idea. You were Elijah's choice. He asked for you. Because he had faith in your loyalty to the family. He wanted someone who wouldn't have to be compelled to look after him. He wanted someone he considered family. And he chose you." He had to laugh at stunned look on the boy's face.

"All right, well, we still have another problem. What if Antoinette wasn't the only one in Manosque? Marcel's compulsion for Elijah to come to me if anyone calls him by name was fine before we found out that the people we most need to worry about know not to do that. How do I protect him from an unknown enemy who could be just about anyone?"

"That's where I come in. I can cast a spell that would keep all vampires out of Manosque. Make you, Elijah, Marcel, and Hayley the only exceptions to that. Maybe not fair to any that are living there, but until we come up with a more permanent way to protect him, we do what we have to."

Klaus nodded. "You do that. And actually, Marcel… I want you to go with them." He closed his eyes. This was the hard part. After everything they had learned, after even having Hayley and himself tested, he was about to put his brother's life in the hands of the one person on the planet who could kill him. "Go with them, and test Elijah. With him having no idea who he is, somebody could very well have gotten to him and won him over to their side. Just leaving out the bit about him being the one they wanted to test things on."

Marcel nodded. "I can do that. And, Klaus… Thank you. I know that right now trusting me is the hardest thing in the world, for you. But, I promise you that I am a member of this family. I would no more hurt Elijah than I would hurt Rebekah. It's going to be okay."

"Hayley, I'm going to need some of your blood for the spell."

Hayley nodded and held her arm out to Keelin who rolled her eyes. But, she opened her suitcase and pulled out a medical bag. "I guess it's a good thing that the main reason I was part of this little excursion was to test Hope's blood. And that I brought extra needles and vials." A few seconds later, she handed a vial of Hayley's blood to Davina.

Klaus clapped his hands together. "Right then! We all know our current tasks. Josh is going back to his job as my brother's keeper, Davina is going to clear out Manosque, Marcel is going to make sure that Elijah hasn't become an unwitting pawn in his own destruction, and the rest of us are going to play mad scientists." And he was going to try really hard not to worry about if he was sending a fox into the chicken coop. After all, Greta's people also wanted Marcel dead. It didn't actually make any sense for him to be working with them.