A/N- Close to finishing this now.
The breath leaves Francesca's lungs in a short, shallow gasp, she tries to snatch it back, to force it back down her throat or to greedily inhale some more but the effort is futile.
She's dragged backwards as people shout around her, as bullets fire and pain envelopes her world.
However, before the last vestiges of her life were drained from her broken body, Raina throws her towards her men, who instinctively catch her and thus give her the precious few seconds she needs to run.
She makes sure to cut an unpredictable path but a bullet still hits her back.
It's too late though.
Her transition has already begun and with it comes rapid healing as her body struggles to cope with the changes slowly making their way outward.
The bullet that rips through her skin is painful but not as much as her bones beginning to break as they realign.
She barely makes it out of the old nightclub before she can no longer run, reduced to staggering as she sobs open-mouthed and crying in agony.
It is instinct that has her drop to the ground and curl up into a fetal position, to protect her vital organs and to try and will the pain away.
Neither works.
The first attacker puts a bullet through the back of her thigh and kicks her in the spine- which was breaking anyway.
The second attacker dies before he can even lay a hand on her.
Through the haze of her torment, she senses Cary's approach and knows that she has one last duty.
She has to tell him where Erik is.
Except when she tries to speak, all she can do is howl.
"Dammit," Nadia sighed as Cary ran into open ground, vulnerable to attack from all sides and unprotected as he knelt over the woman transforming into a werewolf,
"I told him to stay put."
She turns to Scarlet Rose, who herself was kneeling on the ground, a bowl of water in her hands as she whistled a long tuneless note,
"How much longer?" she inquired, shooting a warning glance to one of the vampires who started forward eagerly.
"You'll know when it's done," she answers, "The fog will be the first clue."
Nadia purses her lips and decides to ignore that sarcasm, "Noted."
She turns on her heel and faces the poor excuse for soldiers before her,
"I want someone to go and lure these creatures out, as many as possible."
She glances at the car behind her and remembers the industrial dumpster a block north,
"Does anyone know how to make an incendiary device?"
No-one sticks up their hand and she rolls her eyes, "Google it and figure it out, if there's one thing I've learnt about luring enemies into the open, it's that it's much easier if you set their shelter on fire first."
She feels a dampness on her cheeks and sees fog starting to creep its way slowly along the street,
"And hurry," she orders, "They might just be smart enough not to step outside without a visible escape route."
She puts her hands in her jacket as Scarlet Rose stands,
"It'll be dawn soon," she warns her, "And that will undo my work."
Nadia shrugs, "Hopefully we'll be done by then."
Of course, then their next worry would be the bodies, but she was already trying to figure out the solution. A mass murderer? An illegal rave and the nightclub caught fire?
It wasn't her problem, she wasn't sure who would be tasked with digging that mass grave but at the moment, she was concerned with killing her mother's enemies.
"Go find my mother," she commands Scarlet Rose, "Ensure that she is safe."
"I shall see to her future." the witch replies, turning and walking away with the eerie gait that showed she was in the midst of a premonition.
Two vampires edge forward, one tentatively holding a glass bottle with a gasoline soaked rag inside,
Nadia considered them both and made a note to take their names later, because if they survived the night, they would no doubt expect to be rewarded for their bravery.
"We'll take out their cars as well." One of them said before they followed the fog towards the building.
A howl cuts through the otherwise silent night and Nadia contemplates Cary and the babysitter as an ill-trained sniper aimed his gun at them.
She sighed but figured she was the fastest and his intentions had been pure.
So, she flashes over to them, grabs one by the arm and the other by what could possibly be their hind leg in the next five to ten minutes and drags them both back to the group.
"If she bites anyone, I shall strangle you both." She warns as the woman arches at what would normally be a physically impossible angle.
Cary is about to respond when one of the cars explodes, engulfed in flames before being hurled into the building. A torrent of bullets rain down from the second storey windows but the wolves failed to leave the building.
"I rather suspect they're waiting until they make kills."
Nadia keeps her composure and turns to see Klaus Mikaelson approaching, soaked in blood and looking rather the worse for wear but alive and her mother is with him.
Along with what appeared to be mercenaries.
"They make kills, they awaken their werewolf abilities," He explains further, "They won't sacrifice the high ground until then."
Nadia silently cedes leadership to him, leaving him to issue orders and walking to her mother's side to examine her quickly, seeing her without obvious injury or harm.
"Did you see Scarlet Rose?" she asked quietly, but she shakes her head,
"Was I supposed to?"
Yes.
But Nadia wasn't going to risk having her mother run off in search for the witch, she would just have to hope that the woman was okay.
"No," she lies, "I was just curious."
Katherine looks like she's about to ask her something but is distracted by Caroline's shout.
"Witches!"
Nadia follows her outstretched arm to see a group of maybe a dozen women approaching through the fog.
"They must have been out when we sent the kill squad in," Katherine huffs as the Original hybrid claps his hands on her shoulders and moves her a step to the left so he has an unencumbered view of the threat.
"Right," he bites the word off, "Change of plans, we're going to split down the middle, vampires will cover the witches, soldiers will cover the wolves, Rebekah and I shall kill whomever picks a fight with us."
Rebekah tosses her hair over her shoulder and looks to her brother, finally taking her eyes off Nadia for which she is grateful.
She has no doubt that the female Original was close to figuring out who she is.
Katherine has moved away from Niklaus and is reaching into her jacket, pulling out a large knife and flipping it in her hand. "It'll be too close and too crowded to fire a gun safely," she explains to Nadia,
"But a knife?" she grins, "This I know how to use."
"You're not going down there!" Nadia hisses firmly, "You're…human and they're a lot more powerful than you."
She grins, "Not in the heat of battle when they'll be worried about the vampires, besides, there might be someone down there I want to kill."
Cary held Raina as tightly against his body as he could manage when hers was still twisting and cavorting in the agony of the change,
"Breathe," he murmured into her ear as she groaned in pain, "It's okay."
Werewolves would never die during their change, that would defeat the entire purpose but the pain could make them wish they were dead a thousand times over.
The primary change was always the hardest, as a person could partly transition from human to wolf half a dozen times before the end, as the magic coursed through the body for the first time.
Her muzzle retracted and became a woman's mouth covered in fur,
"Erik…" she slurred, spittle flying, "Taken…"
Her next words were strangled by her pain and Cary can't help her, because there wasn't anything that could be done for a wolf during the change.
And also, because Klaus Mikaelson had grabbed him and was dangling him by the throat, choking the air from his lungs.
"Who…" he snarls, as his eyes flash black and gold, "the bloody hell are you?"
Even if Cary wanted to tell him the truth, he couldn't talk around his crushed windpipe, a fact that Rebekah points out and as a result, he's dropped to the ground, staggering to keep his footing.
He coughs and inhales air greedily before straightening up, "My name is Cary," he tells him,
"I'm a member of the North East Atlantic Pack."
Klaus' eyes widen and he leans back slightly, obviously recognizing the name,
"After you stopped making hybrids, we decided to seek you out," he explains quickly,
"Especially after Erik was born, because we've been without an Alpha for hundreds of years' now since you were Ansel's only heir,"
He gestured to Raina, who was coiling about on the ground, "This is my cousin, when your brother started looking for a nanny, we figured it'd be a way to keep close to you and Erik, see what kind of guy you were before introducing you back to the pack."
Klaus is snarling and is clearly contemplating killing them both when Raina pulls herself up with a gasp,
"Crescent Pack," she wheezes, "Erik is with them."
She falls back into the dirt, unconscious and Cary flexes his fingers at his side before looking back to the Hybrid,
"If you want to kill us," he begins, "Do it after we've helped you win this battle."
He glares down at Raina before a cruel smirk crawls across his face,
"I won't be killing anyone until after she's finished her transition, I would so hate to cut her agony short."
Annabelle's mercenaries were sent to take out the werewolves first, using the fog to cover their arrival and then announcing themselves with several smoke grenades to try and chase them from the building into the open.
When that didn't work, they went in guns blazing.
Klaus and Rebekah had gone to find Erik, trailing the scent of the Crescent wolf north from the area.
The vampires had no chance of a stealth attack on the witches, so they flashed down en masse, the first wave being felled by the tried and tested aneurysm spell, the second wave managing to kill a witch or three.
Katherine headed down at a more leisurely pace, even though adrenaline was powering through her body, making her sweat as her heart pumped annoyingly loudly in her chest.
Caroline has suffered the aneurysm spell so often, she can handle the pain, and one second she's crouched over, clutching her temples, in the next- she's snapping the neck of the witch responsible.
Nadia has a string of white rope she must have brought with her and is using it and her supernatural speed to choke the life out of the witches around her.
Katherine tries to study as many of the faces of the chanting witches as possible, although, she isn't entirely sure whom it is she's looking for, so she'll have to trust that they'll find her.
And they do.
A gust of sudden wind aimed at her hand sends her knife flying into the door of a car, embedding it deep in the metal and she gasps in surprise before turning to look at her attacker.
Sabine.
"Oh joy," she mutters, her voice dripping sarcasm, "You again. Come to tell me about your hot date with Elijah?"
Lesser mortals had been felled by the level of hatred burning from this woman's eyes,
"Why are you here, whore?" she demands, advancing on her with her arms crossed, her hands gripping her elbows as if trying to restrain herself.
"Oh, you know," Katherine rolled her eyes, "Getting some exercise, people tell me that walking is just so good for you, really gets your…obviously, I'm here to kill someone!" she finishes with a huff,
"I'm looking for whoever started the fire that killed Giacomo Farnese."
Sabine snorted and curled her lip, "What about your precious Elijah?"
Fear clutches at Katherine's heart, and, despite herself, she swallows, "He's next on my to-do list."
Sabine takes a step forward and Katherine forces herself to remain where she stands,
"He suffered, you know," she whispers, "In the fire, it didn't kill him instantly but burned him from the outside in, slowly, so, so, slowly."
Katherine can feel the rage boiling up inside her, there's a faint ringing in her ears as her eyelids feel like they're swelling with blood.
"You were the one that cast that spell?" she asks through gritted teeth and Sabine nods, still moving towards her.
"That's right…it was meant to kill you but now? I'm glad it didn't, it'll give me the chance to see the light die in your pretty little ey…"
Katherine smiles as Sabine pales in shock, looking down to her stomach where the handle of the Swiss army knife was sticking out at a strange angle.
Katherine smiled and leaned up to whisper in her ear, "I'm Katherine Pierce," she says,
"Underestimating me is the primary cause of death for my enemies."
Sabine inhales sharply and puts her hands to the wound, muttering darkly and Katherine suspects that she's healing herself, so she spins around to grab the knife embedded in the car, yanking it out quickly and already planning to jab it in her throat when she turns around to see her view impeded.
By an awfully familiar suited back.
And if she's surprised, it's nothing compared to the shock and awe on Sabine's face.
"Hello Celeste," Elijah says, his voice perfectly steady, while Katherine stretches up to look over his shoulder.
"How is this possible?" she demands in horror, her accent suddenly veering into nineteenth century creole. Elijah has a hand in his pocket,
"It is quite amazing what one can achieve when those they love are threatened,"
He takes a step forward and she skitters back in terror, wincing in pain and clutching at the knife in her stomach,
"You were so consumed with Katerina's downfall that you forgot just how dangerous I can be."
"No," she is pleading now, her voice breaking, "Non, cher, no…"
"Tout est possible," she whimpers, as he cups her head with his hand, crowding in until it looks like they're embracing, "Est pas fini…"
She screams as Elijah drives his hand into her stomach and reaches up for her heart,
"Desolee.*" He whispers as he tears the organ from her body.
She tips backward and he supports her in his arms as he lowers her to the ground, almost tenderly and sets her heart on top of her chest. Withdrawing his handkerchief from his pocket, he cleans his fingers before turning on his heel to face her.
By the time, Katherine has her hands on her hips, "Celeste?" she asks, having no real idea who the dead woman really was.
"Celeste DuBois." He answers and she shrugs, still not placing her in the list of women she knew wanted her dead.
She flips the knife in her hand again and throws it over Elijah's shoulder, aiming towards a witch who had been raising her hands at them and catching her in the throat but without the necessary impact, the knife tumbles to the ground,
"Damn," Katherine sighs, side-stepping him, "I'm gonna have to learn how to do that properly."
Rebekah struggles to keep up with her brother as he races down the city streets, making sudden sharp turns and usually pausing only long enough to sniff at the air and backtrack or change course.
She wonders if he's entirely sure that he knows where he's going but she doesn't want to stop him and ask.
Besides, if he was lost, he wouldn't be wearing that look of pure determination on his face, it would have been diluted with desperation.
"Are we close?" Rebekah dares ask when Nik finally slows to a powerful stride, "They can't have got much farther."
"He," Nik corrects her, his hands clenched into fists at his side, "Just one man."
And when they turn into the next street they see this one man, sitting at an old bus stop, with the glass having long since been broken and the blue paint peeled or covered in graffiti.
A man in plaid and denim is sitting there with Erik on his lap, jerking his knee up and down in an amateur attempt to stop the child crying.
He looks up when they approach and while there's fear in his eyes, there's also resignation,
"Hey," he offers and holds out Erik, "Sorry, I tried calling you but you weren't answering your phone."
Nik is usually the soul of wit but he doesn't respond, instead, he snatches up his son and pulls him to his chest, spinning away from them both and taking a few steps to console the boy.
Rebekah turns back to the werewolf, "So, what?" she shrugs, "Just a good Samaritan who wanted to bring back my nephew, free of charge?"
His face isn't handsome but it is pleasant to look at,
"I'm not an idiot," he tells her in a patronizing tone, "I knew you and your family weren't likely to die tonight, but," he jerks his head towards Erik,
"He is Hayley's son, which makes him our Alpha when he comes of age, so, I figured it was best to show you what I've been telling you all for months now."
Rebekah crossed her arms, "Which is?"
"That the Crescent Wolves aren't your enemy," he sighs, "All we want is face time with the kid as he grows up, we can't just have a stranger walk into the Bayou at eighteen and demand we bow down to him. We need to know what kind of man he's going to be."
That makes sense.
She clears her throat and looks to her brother who is still whispering to his son,
"Right, well, when things have blown over a bit, I'll speak to Nik," she promises,
"He honors Hayley as Erik's mother, and considering you kept him safe tonight, I'm sure he'll be somewhat open to the possibility."
The wolf nods and shoves his hands into his jean pockets before taking one out,
"I don't think we ever properly met," he gives her a nervous smile, "I'm Jackson, Jackson Parsons."
She smiles and shakes his hand, "Rebekah Mikaelson, I'm sure it'll be nice to meet you on a night where everyone isn't trying to kill my family."
He chuckles and she leaves on that high note, turning to focus on her brother who has finally calmed her nephew down.
"Come on, Nik," she whispers, "Let's go home."
Light worked differently on the Other Side.
As if a veil of grey gauze covered the world.
Francesca watched from the shadows as her brothers and henchmen were felled, one by one, in a storm of bullets and grenades.
This wasn't right.
It wasn't fair.
She had worked so hard for this!
It shouldn't have ended this way!
Where did these soldiers even come from?!
She screams in frustration and grief at seeing her brothers killed.
She goes unheard by the living.
A/N- Let me know what you thought.