Believer
Chapter 3: Keepers of the House : Part 1
The driver of the ambulance full of children drove down the empty road, until he saw the flashing lights of a cop car parked so he couldn't pass. Pulling over the side and parking, he gets out and the cop leaning against the car walks up to him, a smile on his face. Before the driver could ask, he fell to the ground, throat slit open and the cop holding the bloody knife. Stepping over the body, he walks to the back of the ambulance opening the doors to see the children. They look up at him in recognition, before they all felt a wave of dizziness and fell over, unconscious. Leaving his car behind, the cop gets into the drivers seat and drives away with the ambulance.
Driving down some abandoned dirt road, he parks and gets out as he sees five people appear.
"The children?" A dark chubby man asks, wearing a cloak.
"Sedated in the back." The cop answers him. The other man nods before handing him a talisman.
"It will protect you." Is all he says. The thin man nods his head and takes it into his hands, before walking away, leaving the children with the others.
Marcel heard a knock as he stood in his living room kissing Sofya.
"Ignore it." She tells him, but just then Vincent barges through the door, making her huff in annoyance, " I'll be in the other room."
Marcel nodded and grabbed a shirt, "Seriously man?" then he saw the worried look on his friends face.
"Those kids never made it home." Vincent states wide eyed. Marcel own grow wide and he says in frustration,
"What the hell do you mean? I loaded them in there myself!"
"Yeah, well it never arrived Marcel!" The witch says in frustration. Putting a hand to his face and closing his eyes he takes in a breath.
"Well, we weren't the only ones there." Marcel states.
"Why would she help us safe them, only to kidnap them or kill that guy and save us? I mean, why not just kill us while she had the chance and not have anyone in the way? I don't get it!"
"She left pretty early Vince. Face it, we got played! I don't trust random strangers who show up out of nowhere."
"Marcel…if that girl took those kids…I don't know how I'm gonna be able to find them. I couldn't even sense her!"
"Look…you just go and help Hope, I'm gonna see in the morning if I can talk to the witches, see if they know something about this spirit or whatever it is."
Hayley with Hope in her arms, hurried down the stairs of the Mikealson Compound in New Orleans.
"Is Vincent here yet?" She asks frustrated.
"I'm right here!" The man in question announced, " I kept my word, now the only question is rather you guys are gonna keep yours. As soon as I'm done healing your kid, you need to leave town." Hayley puts Hope on the cushion on the ground, making sure she lay comfortably.
"Well, we're not gonna stay are we! Your city has lost its charm!" Klaus exclaims angrily.
"What he means to say is, that we're very grateful. Just help her and well leave." Hayley says, her voice pitching at the end, looking at Vince with a begging expression.
"Just get us what we need and we'll do so happily." Elijah states.
Looking at Hayley, Vince says, "Excuse me." She moves out of his way and he makes his way to Hope.
Vincent immediately starts to chant and cast the purification spell on the little girl. Once done, within seconds Hope opens her eyes and smiles up at her mother. Hayley takes her into a hug and helps her stand.
"That's it, your little girl is purified." Vince says walking over to Klaus.
"Thank you." Klaus breathes out in relief.
"Now look, the only gratitude I need from any from you, is to see you leaving this city." The witch tells him and then turns around to walk out the door, but stops halfway to the door.
"Go over to daddy." Hayley tells her daughter, a small smile on her face. Hope nods and turns, dressed in her nightgown and a dream-like smile on her face. Just as she walks toward her father, something starts falling from the sky into the compound and around the seven year old, and she turns to look around her, terrified.
The Mikaelson's and Vincent watch in horror as crows fall one by one around the girl and then just stops. Hope stood confused and scared in a circle of dead crows, Hayley moves quickly to her and kneels in front of her placing a hand on her little shoulders.
"What is this?" Klaus asks Vincent, who stares just as shocked.
"I don't know." He answered the hybrid, wide eyes and horror present.
"Mom…can…you hear that?" Hope asks blinking as she looks around in confusion. Hayley looks at her concerned. "It's whispers…saying a name over and over…Kre Nan Hun, Kre Nan Hun." She whispers the syllabus out, hearing the snake like whispers in her head.
"Vincent…what is that?" Hayley asks, barely taking her eyes off of Hope as she goes to look over at Vincent out of the corner of her eye.
"It's a nearly forgotten dialect. It's Creole, it means 'The Hollow'. It means the Hollow is coming." He explains to them, the fear noticeable in his eyes.
Freya walks into the barn only to be greeted by a sluggish 'hey' from Keelin, who seemed to just wake up from being passed out by the desk.
Groaning the wolf girl says, "I guess I feel asleep working, you get any?"
Freya goes over to another table and starts packing some things together, " Well, I just woke up from a five year nap."
"You going somewhere?" Keeling asks, noticing Freya with her bag. The blond turns to her and answers, "New Orleans. Hope is still sick and my brother asked me to see what I can do."
"Great then while you're up there you can grab a vile of Marcel's venom."
"Klaus did say that Marcel was to be preoccupied. We can enter his home and steal whatever we need and leave before anyone notices." Freya tells her with a smirk, leaning against the wooden structure.
"Okay, hold on! You want me to help you rob the most deadly vampire on earth? Yeah, I think I'll pass." Keeling answers holding her hand up and turning away from the woman.
Freya rolls her eyes at her and pulls out an object from her bag, "If you're worried about a fight, allow me to even the odds." And she opens her palms to reveal a ring. Keelin's eyes grow wide at the sight of the ring and she takes it, looking at it in wonder, "The stone is kyanite. It's been spelled to give you total control of your werewolf nature…even during a full moon." She continues to tell the wolf, her face blank.
Keelin looks at Freya, eyes still wide, "This is a cure. It's everything I ever wanted." Her eyes turn suspicious, "Whats the catch?"
Freya purses her lips into a somewhat smile yet smug look as she shrugs, "A catch?" She smiles and tilts her head to the side for a split seconds, "Insurance." Keelin nods at her and tries to take the ring off, realizing she couldn't as she continues to tug on it.
"More like a leash. You spelled it so I couldn't take it off."
"Like you said. It's everything you ever wanted." Freya finished.
Sensing Hayley, Klaus asks, "How is she?"
Hayley walks down the stairs of the compound, "Her fevers back but she's laying down right now, she's asking for you." She tells Klaus, both wearing troubled looks on their face's.
"Well, make up something, I'd rather my daughter not know I've gone to murder witches!" He says angrily.
"Before we make any rash decisions, first let me see what I can do." Elijah cautions to Klaus, holding up his hand in attempt to reason with him.
"And I will go talk to Marcel. I am probably the only one out of the three of us that wont get killed on arrival." Hayley explains looking between the two men.
"And that leaves me to do what, exactly?" Klaus proclaims angrily.
Hayley sighs in annoyance and looks him in the eyes, stating firmly, "Stay here and protect our daughter! Don't let anyone or thing near her."
After moment, Klaus finally sighs and nods his head, moving passed the mother of his child and up the stairs. Hayley goes to walk out of the house, when Elijah takes the back of her arm.
"Word of advice, Marcel is no longer the man you once knew him to be…he is no ally." He says reminding her. She nods her head and turns and makes her exit.
Klaus made his way up to Hope's room, upon entering he goes to sit on the bedside and looks at her with concerned eyes as he reaches his hand up to cares her hair.
"How are you feeling?" He asks her gently.
"I'm still so cold." Hope whimpers looking at her father, "Are the birds gone?"
"Yeah, they're gone sweetheart. And when you are better, which you will be soon, you and I will share the biggest plate of beignets the world has ever seen. And you can tell me where in this big wide world you would like me to take you next." The smile that grew on her face warmed Klaus's heart so much that he still felt it to be such a foreign feeling after being in isolation for so long.
"Mom said you loved New Orleans most of all." She watches as his face saddens slightly at her worlds. He looks down at her small hands and takes them into his own before looking back at her with a small smile of his own.
"I did once," He says to her softly," but putting your love in a place is a mistake. Being here in our home, seeing these walls, " Klaus looks around them, "I am reminded that it is people that it is best suited to fill our hearts."
He watches her smile at him, until it suddenly drops and she winces, "Dad, I don't feel so good."
Klaus moves his hand up to Hopes forehead, his eyes grow in concern at the temperature.
Marcel walks into an alleyway, where some of the Quarter witches where at. As he walks up some stairs, he stops and looks at them saying, "Listen up! Listen up!" He calls out to the crowd, most of the witches look at him in fear and some in disgust. "For five years now we've had a truce; stayed out of each others business, tended to our own. But now your problems are becoming mine. Someone is taking children and as you know I have one non-negotiable rule; we do not mess with kids! Now you've seen that graffiti. " Marcel points at the wall behind where the witches stood, and they turned around to look at the Ouroboros symbol, "Someone here's gotta know who's responsible, right? So just give me a name, hm?"
"We don't owe you anything!" One of the witches calls out at him, holding her young daughter close to her, "You're no friend to witches."
"You don't trust him, I get it." A voice says behind the witch. She goes to turn around and looks at the former werewolf queen.
Hayley stood there leaned against the wall, arms crossed. Pushing herself off the wall, she walks toward the witch slowly, "But one of those kids is my daughter. She's seven…she likes to paint, catch fireflies, make up stories. All I know is that she's sick, and right now I don't care about the past; I'm just a mom asking you to help me." She finishes kindly, looking into the woman eyes.
The darker skinned witch looks down at her daughter for a moment before looking back at Hayley, "Theres a girl named Laura. I saw her draw the same symbol on her window in blood."
Hayley looks up at Marcel and back at the witch, "Where do I find this witch?"
"Oh, she's no witch, she's one of yours, a wolf. She ran off to the bayou." The witch tells her. Hayley nods at her and walks to leave, Marcel not far behind her.
Vincent stood before some witches that came to the church and spoke "Alright, look, I called you all here because there is something dangerous in the city. I mean this thing, it has followers and it's angry. This thing-"
"It is something my family and I hope to eliminate." Elijah interrupted as he leans against the entryway of the church, "If you all would give us a minute Mr. Griffith and I have much to discuss that would be very much appreciated."
The witches look at Elijah and then at Vincent, waiting for his instruction.
"It's alright ya'll, give us a minute." Vince tells them, still looking at Elijah. Once everyone left, he speaks again, "I have enough on my plate as it is, what do you want Elijah?"
"You need me, and unfortunately I have a long history of moving anything undesirable from New Orleans." Elijah tells him as he walks passed Vincent and up the stairs of the altar, turning to him.
"Yeah, and I'm sure that I'm probably one of those people on your list, so I think it's best if I work on my own." Vincent states.
"Oh it wont be a problem, children's lives are at risk."
"Oh and you care about children lives now? What about Davina Claire, Elijah? You certainly didn't think twice about her." Vincent exclaims angrily, crossing his arms.
"So you can only see me as some kind of merciless butcher?" Elijah asks gruffly.
"Yes, I do." Vincent says as a matter of fact.
"I will be however you want me too, I'll be the devil himself if I have too. But make no mistake that I will do whatever necessary to make sure that my niece is safe from harm. Now, from where I am standing, you are facing two evils, wouldn't it be nice to have one of those by your side?" Elijah …
"You might wanna be careful there, because I've got a feeling that I might be facing three evils." Vincent spits at him with hateful eyes.
Elijah narrows his eyes, this certainly is new. " And what other evil is there in the city?"
"Last nigh, when Marcel and I went to save those kids, we had help from some strange woman. She killed the witch responsible, but before she came, we tried to kill him and nothing worked, suddenly she came in a form of smoke-clouds, something like that, and stabbed him with some kind of knife. Before she left, we asked what she was, and she said that there are bigger supernatural to worry about then what we are. And then she left so suddenly, that it just makes me wonder if she could have been the one to kidnap them. " Vincent explains to him.
Elijah's eyes widen as he heard 'smoke' and 'clouds'. Could it be? He thinks with interest. Before he had a chance to answer, someone else spoke up.
"Sorry to interrupt your conversation, but I'd just like to clarify that I am not the kidnaper." A female voice interrupts, drawing the attention of both Elijah and Vincent. Vincent recognizes her from last night, while Elijah eyes widen at the sight of her, a girl…woman now, he hasn't seen in so many years.
"Elena…" Is all he manages to get out as he continues to stare at her.
Sending him a small smile, she greets back in a tone of familiarity, " Hello Elijah."
Vincent looks between the two of them, distrust for this girl building even more in the pit of his stomach. "You two know each other?" He asks suspiciously.
Elena looks away from the Vampire and looks at the man who's life she saved last night and replies with a shrug, "Something like that." Elijah's lips twitch at her vogue answer. "Anyway, seeing as the kids went missing again, and last nights events, I think it's best I tag along again. And before you ask and throw all that's why should we trust you' crap, If I wanted to kidnap a bunch of children, I would have kidnaped my nieces, because they would come willingly." She continues with a hint of an authoritative tone Elijah didn't know she was capable of.
"And what makes you think we need your help?" Vincent asks almost defiantly. Elena sends him a quirk of a grin.
"If it wasn't for me, you and the other guy…Marcel was it? Would have been a little dead…well you would have been,not too sure about the other one to be honest." Elijah hid his shock quite well at this , even though he heard so from Vince, it was different hearing it from her…at least he assumed, but now that he though about it,…she does seem different then last I've seen her.
"Elena…if you don't mind my asking, but why do you feel inclined to help in such a dire situation? Non the less my niece after all my family put you through?" Elijah couldn't help but ask, if he was being honest with himself, he was very curious on why she was in New Orleans, but that could wait.
"I'm not about to let my dislike for your brother cloud the fact that there are five innocent children who are being drained dry of their magic. I'm not that petty, or Katherine, for that fact. I thought you at least knew me better then that Elijah. Look, we can play catch up later if you want, but right now, we need to hurry." Elena pushes.
"Look, if you can help us and do whatever the hell that was last night, be my guest." Vincent tells her, turning to the Vampire he states, "We need all the help we can get and for now, I'll believe you, but I sure as hell don't trust you." Turning back to Elijah he says, "But we're doing this my way."
Nodding his head once, Elijah gives Elena a look, his lips twitching as he purses his lips and holds back a smile, "Shall we go then?"
Relaxing her tense muscles a bit, she answers, "Fine by me. Lets go."
Once arriving in front of Marcel's apartment door, Freya wastes no time casting a spell, opening the locked door. Hurrying inside with Keelin she looks around the place.
"Nice job on the lock, you'd make a good cat burglar." Keelin compliments mockingly.
"All magic is, is just opening locks and finding loopholes." Freya states simply.
"Soooo…tell me again why you don't just tell your family about our secret project?" The werewolf asks her, eyeing some furniture.
"They tend to be overly sensitive when it comes to Marcel."
"Not you though huh? The merciless badass who doesn't get sentimental about anyone." Keelin tell her jokingly, giving Freya a smirk over her shoulder.
Smiling at that, Freya states walking around the room, "Someones gotta be the big sister."
"Okay, since you're so in love with taking charge, where do we look?"
"Marcel stockpiled Klaus's blood, no doubt he did the same with his venom." Freya muses.
"So he had to hide it someplace safe." The curly haired woman replies.
"You know, that ring enhances your instincts. Why not try using them?" The witch points out impatiently
"Sorry, I don't do bloodhound." Keelin tells her, leaning with both hands on a table.
"Fine, we'll do it my way." Freya bends her head forward at this and raises both hands, snapping her fingers. Within a second, a door blending in with the wall clicks open, revealing a safe. Turning around to look at it, Freya pursed her lips, a look of indifference on her face, her 'friend' looking impressed at the small door.
After they made their way up to the foyer of the church, Vincent went to grab an urn. Elena raises an eyebrow, and Elijah turns his questioning look to Vincent.
"Is that?" Elena asks slowly.
"It's the ashes of a witch that lost their way because of the Hollow." Vincent answers her, glancing at her for a moment. Elena looks at the ashes and then turns her head away, looking over down at the altar of the church. The idea of looking at the ashes of a man she killed was unnerving to her.
"Has it spoken to you?" Elijah asks Vincent, looking at a painting.
Vincent turns to him and says uncomfortably, "It's more like a…podcast, but I was able to shut it out. A lot of people have a harder time doing that."
Elena perks up at this information and raises her brow.
Elijah notices her discomfort form her body language, but he turns stating to Vincent, "Like your wife "
"You know, theres a difference between what we project and what we have inside of our hearts. It's what we try to hide inside of our hearts, right? Now that thing, it took everything dark and twisted inside of me and it used it against me. Used it against my wife and ended up taking everything I ever loved away from me." Vincent explains to him as he presses his fingers against his chest.
"So you have every reason to want to remove it from this earth." Elijah implies.
"Yeah! But lets say you're gonna run into that thing today Elijah. It's gonna take everything that you want to keep buried and it's going to use that and make you do exactly what it wants you to do. And that's what makes you a liability to the very niece we're both trying to protect." Vincent hisses at him.
"It's more than that." Elena states still looking over the altar. It isn't until she senses their stares that she turns to look at them. "The Hollow doesn't just reach for the deepest darkest part of you. It literally takes a piece of your soul, and a human losing a part of their soul…it's the part that makes them go crazy. A human losing all of their entire soul? They literally become hollow, a vegetable…which makes perfect to use as a follower, fill them with ideas and return that part to the body, you've got yourself a bunch of robots, puppets on strings. It works the same with most supernatural beings."
"Hold up, you're saying the Hollow…is taking peoples soul?" Vincent says slowly as somethings are starting to make sense to him.
"Yeah." She tells him awkwardly, shifting next to the reeling.
Elijah's mind turns frantic at the thought of some spirit eating his nieces soul, "And how do you know this dear Elena?" He questions her, hiding his worry.
"I have an old friend whom is very good at his research." Elena tells him. Elijah simply nods his head, sensing that she wouldn't tell him more then that. Although still suspicious, he can't tell if she's lying or not, which worries him. I used to always be able to tell. Her heartbeat is so calm and steady…it didn't jump even as she saw me.
Vincent holds his hands over the ashes as he did his spell, and within seconds, his eyes shot open, "Oh god no."
"What is it?" Elijah asks. Elena looks at him in concern. Vincent lets out a sigh.
"This just got so much more screwed up." He tells the both of them.
"That man, Vincent…mom said that he was a witch, that he came to make me feel better, but I feel worse." Hope whispers.
"I know, I know, but don't worry, because as we speak your mother and your uncle Elijah are working with Vincent to fix you up. So you just stay calm,and they'll make everything alright." Klaus tells her in a greatness breathy tone.
Hope blinks a bit before asking, "Do you know what it is? The Hollow…"
Klaus looks down saying,"No sweetheart, I don't."
"It wants those other kids…I can feel them." She tells him and his eyes widen as he looks at her, she continues, fear in her voice, "I think it wants me too."
"I am not going to let anything take you. I promise you that, I'm going to keep you safe…Always and forever." Klaus proclaims to her as he takes her small hand into his own and places a soft kiss on it.
The three of them relocated over to an abandoned bar in the city not for from Rousseau's.
"Are you sure it's your friend?" Elena asks in concern. She knew his magic told him the truth but she hated when things turn out like this, where the suspect or bad guy turns out to be someone you trusted.
"It's what I saw." Vincent tells her and she can hear the pain in his voice; it makes her clench her jaw just a little.
"So this cop…he's your friend?" Elena asks Vince as they wait for Will to show up.
"Yeah, and I'll be damned if something happens to him because of something I brought into this world." He tells her, determination clear in his voice. Elena frowns at him, while Elijah sits quietly and poised in a chair listening.
Elena shifts as she's leaned against the wall, arms crossed, a frown finding its way on her face, although it's been doing that a lot since she's arrived in this town.
"Something tells me this Hallow thing isn't all your entire fault, partly yes, not everything though." Elijah hides his smile behind his hand at her words, Compassionate as ever.
"If what I felt last night is anything to go by, theres something much stronger that had to have helped it, no offense, but I think theres someone else behind this probably." She tells him.
Vincent just stares at her, and Elijah turns to look at her, a stern look on his face now.
"And you always go off of a feeling you get?" Vincent asks unsure.
"My instincts are pretty good theses days, so yes." She simply says. Moving her gaze past him, she says, "Your friend is about to enter the bar."
"Okay, you guys, just go and stay in this room, I don't wanna scare him off." Vincent tells them. Staying behind as Vincent goes to meet with Kenny, Elijah and Elena stand quietly.
"What brings you to New Orleans, lovely Elena?" Elijah states with an emotion she couldn't quite figure out.
"Just another instinct of mine." She say's. Looking her over, he feels the difference between the girl he once knew and the girl who stands in front of him; there was simply something…else about her that made him feel nervous in a way.
"You've changed." He states blankly.
"I won't apologize for that Elijah." She tells him, quietly, unable for human ears to hear.
"I would never ask of you to." He replies silently. They both go quiet and listen as Vincent talks to Will.
"This isn't really the time for a drink, shouldn't you be out looking for those kids?" Will says as he sees Vincent walking through the door.
"I'm a little…upside down I guess. I've got this evil mojo just breathing down my back. It's the same thing that took out my wife, damn near took me out, and now I think it's trying to take out my best friend." Vincent says shakily, but just as he gets done explaining, Will pulls out his gun and point it at Vincent with an unsteady expression.
"Was this your plan Vince? Invite me here, confront me?" Will demands.
"Whatever this thing promised you, it's not going to deliver." Vincent tells him cautiously.
"You're wrong! The Hollow rewards those who are loyal!" The cop exclaims, making Elena roll her eyes at his statement, "Maybe if you did what it asked you to do, things might be different, for me, for Cami, for all of us."
"Is that what it told you Will?" Vince asks in concern.
"Thats what it showed me Vince! Look at this City! Its overrun with evil and the only way to take it back is to do one little evil thing myself." Will tells him, putting his gun down to his side.
"This is not what you are, you can walk away from this, I can help you walk away from this!" Vincent shouts at his friend pleadingly.
"You can't help me, you can't even help yourself. Don't you see? You're in the middle of everything thats to come, which is why they sent me here Vince, for you." Will pulls up his gun just as he finishes the last word and shoot at Vincent three times.
Elijah flashes in front of Vince acting as a shield, but the bullets never come near either of them. Just then Elena walks forward from her own corner, her hand held up, palm toward Will, who tries to shopped again, but the bullets hit against her barrier and drop to the ground. Letting his hand with the gun drop for a second, she lets the barrier go, and Elijah speeds toward the cop quickly, before taking his gun and throwing it to the side, then proceeding to take will and throw him to the ground.
Kneeling down next to him Elijah smirks, "Thats quite the monster you've got lurking in there, wanna see mine?"
As wrong as Elena knew this sounded, but the look that Elijah wore in that moment did something to her insides. Oh, Elijah, those words can be taken so many ways...Oh, get your head out of the gutter Gilbert! Not the time, nor the place. She lectures herself.
While Elena was in her thought, she didn't notice her two companions tie Will up to a chair. Snapping out of it, she turns to the man that fired the gun and cocks her head slightly, observing him and sensing for his energy. It's still there, but barely.
Will looks at the strange girl with shoulder length hair and an innocent look in her eyes, before turning to look at Elijah with hate in his eyes, "So I see you're dragging more innocent people into this. What, Cami wasn't enough?" He spits.
Ignoring his jab, Elijah turns to look at him, "We can do this the easy way or my way, but I warn you that my way is much more unpleasant." Vincent gives Elijah a warning glare, which is easily ignored. Turning to his friend he kneels down and sights.
"Look man, just tells us where those kids are alright? Please just let me help you!" Vincent begs his friend.
Will smirks at him," It's too late Vince! Nothing can help those kids, you hear me? Nothing!"
Elena lets out a sigh and walks past the witch and up to the cop, kneeling down in front of him, she looks into his empty eyes, It's already eaten taken to much of him. Raising her hand to reach his face, Will moves his head away, "What are you doing? Stay away from me!" He growls at her. Placing her index and middle finger agains the side of his temple as he tries to jerk away, he suddenly falls limp against the chair.
Vincent and Elijah both look at her, eyes wide and Vincent's held a hint of fear in his eyes.
"What did you do?" The witch asks her shakily, moving to feel for his friends pulse.
"Don't worry, he's just asleep, it's something some of my kind can do. I think this should make searching for a trace easier, without the constant flinching and what-not." She tells him, keeping her face blank and voice steady, not giving anything away.
"You seem pretty powerful, why don't you just search for the Hollow?" Vincent asks her with a raised eyebrow.
"I've only been at this for two years…I'm not quite at my fullest potential according to my mentor." She chirps at him.
"Why are you helping us then? This isn't a game!" Vincent snaps.
Elena glares at him, "I said I wasn't at my full potential, not weak. I'm here to protect you, and help in anyway I can, protecting humanity from monsters is kind of my thing." With that, she walks into the other room annoyed.
Vincent sights in defeat, "Fine, whatever," and places his hands to hover over his friends head, closing his eyes, he casts his spells. After five minutes of no luck, Elijah growls impatiently, " If you don't get anymore results within the next five minutes, I will take these matters into my own hands."
"Five more minutes Elijah! This is ancient magic I'm working with here, it takes time." Vincent exasperates, gritting his teeth at the vampire.
Suddenly, Will's eyes snap open and he punches Vincent away, who was shocked at the sudden hit. Elijah moves to pin Will against the wall, but the human man pulls out the talisman he was given earlier and points it at Elijah who gets thrown back into the wall. Hearing the commotion, Elena runs into the room, just as Will points the object at him, she holds her barrier in front of him, repelling his attack. She goes to create a barrier around him, but before she could Will manages to run out of the bar making her growl in frustration.
" I'll go after him!" She huffs at the other two, who managed to stand up. Vince goes to touch her arm.
"No need, I placed a tracing charm on him, he'll lead us straight to those children." He tells her. Nodding her head, she looks at Elijah, noticing the wooden leg of a bar stool in his shoulder.
Wincing at it, she walks over to him, "Here, let me just…" And she takes the leg, pulling it out fast, so to rip the bandage right off. Elijah lets out a painful grunt at the action, but within a second, much faster then usual, it was gone, and he looks down to see her hand over where the wound was. As she moves to pull her hand away, he grabs it and looks into her eyes.
"Thank you, lovely Elena, although you didn't have too." He tells her softly. Elena shrugs her shoulders, looking up at him with a small smile.
"No problem, It's something I can do, might as well put it to use." He lets go of her hand after a moment and she turns to Vince and looks him over. Not sensing anything wrong with him, she nods her head and says, "All right, what's the game plan?"
"First I must call Niklaus and Hayley, see if they found anything." Elijah tells them.
"I know you can hear me." Says Klaus to a sleeping Hope, " I want you to listen…The heart, which beats in your chest, is a worriers heart, the heart of a Mikaelson. Whatever hold this power has of you," the little girl whimpers in her sleep, a distressed expression forming on her face, "it is nothing compared to your strength. Yours is a power greater then you know."
He looks at her, the expression on his face heartbreaking and filled with worry as he takes her hand and holds it to his lisps whispering, "Come on." Putting her hand down he continues, "Hope."
Noticing her whimpers getting worse as she starts to shake, he looks down and sees the bracelet she worse out on their walk, that she took off so she could heal the butterfly with her magic. Without hesitation, he snaps the bracelet off of her and flinches slightly as her eyes snap open.
"Dad?" She asks, "I saw them, the other kids. They're so scared…Promise me…if you ever see the blue lights, don't look at them." She continues weakly, before slowly falling back into her slumber.
Freya kept chanting over and over at the safe in the wall with no further luck. Letting out a sigh of defeat, she says, "I can't open it, which means this is exactly what we were looking for."
"Well, before you blow it open with a magic bomb," Keelin warns," Just keep in mind that they were gonna know that we were here."
"Well, do you have a better idea, because my family needs me and I'm out of time." Freya asks her irritated.
"Go help your niece. I've got super-duper wolf hearing and I will crack the safe open. If there is anything we can use, I'll grab it." Keelin tells her. Freya looks shocked for a moment, but its gone as fast as it came as she walks toward the wolf,
"Keelin if you try to run-" Freya warns but is quickly cut off.
"I know! You'll be able to make me turn all hairy, I got the threat the first time…You just go, help your family. I'll meet you wherever you tell me to." The wolf tells her, looking up at Freya. The blonde gives her a nod, pursing her lips before walking past her in a hurry and out the apartment.
Hayley pulls out her cellphone as she and Marcel make their way though the Bayou woods and dials a number, putting the device to her ear.
"How is she?" She asks as soon as Klaus answers.
"She's sleeping. Freya will be hear soon to start one of her concoctions. Tell me you have answers?" He replies to her.
"Marcel and I have a lead. A wolf who got caught up with the Hollow." She explains.
"A wolf caught up in witch business?" He interjects.
"Crazy, I know. I wanna ask her a few questions."
"Well, regardless of her excuses or your loyalties, I expect you to show this traitor the error of her ways." He tells her, his voice firm, leaving no argument.
"I'll handle it." Hayley says, hanging up the phone. As the wolf and hybrid come to a stop, she turns and looks down to where a girl stood facing the lake out by the dock.
"She's not gonna want to talk to a vampire, I'll go." Hayley tells Marcel. Looking at Lara and then at the wolf next to him, he replies,
"The thing is, last time I came across one of the Hollows goons, the guy tried to kill me if it wasn't for that other girl that showed up, so fair warning."
Nodding her head, she walks past him and down to the Dock and cautiously greets, "Lara…my name's Hayley, I don't know if-"
"I know who you are…Hayley Marshal, " Lara says shakily, holding a dagger in her hand, before turning around to face said woman, " I know why you're here…you're here because of the children. I'm sorry, I am, but there as good as dead."
Hayley kept the distance between the two as she kept her gaze steady, hiding her emotions.
"We're not here to hurt you." Hayley says gently.
"You can't hurt me anymore than I've already hurt myself." Lara's voice full of pain as she says this, " I didn't know this was gonna happen. I didn't know they we're gonna bring children into it."
"It's okay. Just tell us who they are!" Hayley demands.
Lara looks at the woman for a moment before speaking, "Those that serve the Hollow are followers of the blue light. I thought we were doing something good, trying to take back our city."
"Back from what?" Hayley asks, furrowing her brows.
"From him!" Replies the other wolf, stepping forward and pointing the dagger at Marcel. Hayley turns to look at the man then turning back to the girl as she continues, " From the vampires. For five years we've kept quiet, watching you lord over this city like it was yours."
"Hey, I spent the last five years keeping the peac-"
"It is not your city to rule!" Lara yells at him, cutting him off, "New Orleans belongs to all of us! And the Hollow offered us the power we needed. So long as we pledged our allegiance."
"Lara, you're a Crescent. You have the pack, you don't need this cult." Hayley tells her with pleading eyes.
"You were gone. You choose the Original family over your own kind. Don't you see…our pack means nothing. You mean nothing!" She throws at Hayley.
"You're right!…I wasn't there, but I have a daughter now and Lara, she's one of the kids. She's one of the kids thats in danger! So please, help us help them." Hayley pleads.
Lara lets out a bitter, menacing laugh," You cant help them. The Hollow wants power, the kind that only comes from sacrifice. Those kids will die so it can get stronger." She steps toward Hayley, "And it will feed and it will rise and we will all bow before it…The great beast." She goes to look at Marcel, "Even you. My only mercy is, I wont be hear to see it." And without another thought, she stabs the dagger into the side of her neck, falling to the ground.
Hayley's eyes widen in shock and she runs forward, catching the girl, and placing her slowly onto her lap and looks up at Marcel, who looks at the dead girl then at the ground, clenching his jaw.
I own nothing!