Our Hope • Ava Rose Mikaelson

17. Exquiste Corpse

I'm in my room reading a book when I heard noises coming from Hope's nursery so I went to check it out, thinking it was Nik since he takes care of Hope when she cries late at night. He usually in the nursery before I get there and tells me to go back to sleep that he doesn't mind so I do go back to bed.

I walked into the nursery and I saw Rebekah leaning over my daughter's crib. From the corner of my eye, I saw a dead werewolf on the floor and I quickly realized it wasn't Rebekah that it was Eva Sinclair. The witch of the body who Rebekah is in. As soon I realized it was Eva and not Rebekah, the veins under my eyes appear and my fangs came out before I lunged towards her to protect my daughter.

"Get away from her!" I growled as I pulled her away and slammed her head on the nearby dresser.

I went to go check up on my daughter, but before I could grab her, I'm thrown back into my bedroom by Eva's magic, and she slams me into the back wall.

"Nik!" I yelled and in seconds he storms into the room.

"Rebekah!" He shouted at her. "What are you doing?"

He lunged towards her, but she casts a pain infliction spell on him making him groan in pain. I ran back into the room but Eva casts another spell on me. I started to choke and I couldn't breathe. I felled to my knees as I put my hand around my neck, trying to breathe but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't.

I got up from the floor still struggling just as Nik lashes out and clawed into Eva's leg which causes her to scream in pain. Eva realizes that she can't fight the both of us, so she lets go of the spell and jumps out the window before Nik and I could do anything.

I quickly ran over to the crib and picked up Hope. I held her in my arms never wanting to let her go.

"Shh, it's okay." I whispered soothingly. "It's okay, baby."

I looked at Nik and he gives me a worried look.

***

Nik and I are in the study with Marcel. He was the one who was looking after Rebekah before Eva took over and attacked him. Nik pulls out a pair of the magic-canceling manacles that we used on Finn to stop him from using magic.

"I should really stop packing these away. There's always one family member or another in need of a good shackling." Nik says as he hands the manacles to Marcel. "Find Rebekah... or Eva, or whoever the bloody hell that was. Use these to stop her from doing magic. And don't hurt her. The non-psychopathic bits are still my sister."

"Alright, I won't be the only one looking for her. She killed witch-kids." Marcel said as he gets worried. "The twenty-four-hour hold that Elijah got the covens to agree to? Ended at midnight. Every witch in the city is gonna be gunning for her."

"Go to Elijah." Nik tells me. "Get her to charm his elderly witch into calling off the hunt."

I haven't even told him that Elijah kissed me. I mean, what should I tell him? Should I even tell him at all? How the hell do I even bring it up?

Hey, your brother kissed me the night of my daughter's wedding but no worries because I have no feeling from him and he wasn't in his right mind.

You can't casually bring something like that up.

"And leave Hope?" I asked rhetorically. "No. I'm staying here with my daughter."

"Jackson has been working night and day to secure this compound, surrounding it with his werewolf army. Not to mention the fact that I'm here, and I know the best way to protect our child is to get Rebekah out of that serial killer's body and back into the original model."