[2] Darkest Hour • The Originals ✓

viii.

Marcel looked to Matthias, and he could see that he was raging. "War?" He asked.

"War." Matthias nodded.

⨳ ⨳ ⨳

Matthias walked into the compound with Elijah beside him.

"Brother!" Elijah shouted. "Niklaus!"

Matthias nodded in acknowledgement to the wolves around them as Hayley walked over to them. "You do realize that literally everyone in here has supernatural hearing, right?"

"Where is my brother?" He asked her.

Hayley sarcastically pulled out her phone, "I'll check his calendar... Wait, no. Not his wife, so..."

"Yet." Matthias joked and Hayley glared at him.

Elijah didn't find it humorous as he was annoyed. "Hayley, this city is under siege by an army of beasts following my deranged mother's every command. Now, considering it was your people who just declared war on my kind, now's not the best time for your particular brand of sass."

"Look, I killed two wolves last night." Matthias spoke and Hayley looked at him shocked. "They tried to hurt my friends, they were being annoying and self-righteous."

Hayley lost all the amusement she held moments ago as she spoke. "Klaus left a while ago. If you want to find him, I can't help you. If only there was a magical device that people used to call people? I don't know, I'm out of ideas. Good luck." She goes to walk away but stops herself. "Oh! One more thing, Elijah. Those "beasts" that you're referring to? They may be under Esther's control, but, like you said, they're my people. So, if you hurt them," She looked at Matthias, "or kill another one, your bitch mother will be the least of your problems." She promised before walking away.

"I like her." Matthias said with a laugh. "Come, let's go."

⨳ ⨳ ⨳

Returning the vampires, Matthias, Katherine, and Elijah began to train them.

Katherine was once again left with the ugly feeling in her chest when Elijah commanded Gia to remain inside with him while the others went out with Matthias and her. Matthias could see that she was insecure, that all of this was getting to her, and she didn't know how to handle it.

Matthias frowned when he spotted Hayley walking over to him. "Hayley, what's wrong?"

"We need to talk." She said and the look in her eyes was urgent. "Where's Elijah?"

"Inside." Matthias told her before nodding at Katherine. "Everyone take five!"

Heading inside, Katherine frowned at the scene in front of her. Gia had Elijah against the wall, and he looked almost pleased with the situation, like he was proud of her. Gia stuck her hand into his chest suddenly and Katherine reacted faster than the others. Katherine had grabbed Gia from behind and flipped her over, before sticking her hand into her chest and gripping her heart.

"Give me a reason." Katherine told her with gritted teeth.

"Katerina." Elijah warned with a pant.

"No." Katherine growled. "You don't get to Katerina me. After days, you've finally acknowledged me and it's because my hand is in her heart! So, give me a good fucking reason why I shouldn't rip it out!?" She shouted.

"Kat as much as I love you being a badass, we have bigger issues." Hayley reminded them.

Katherine removed her hand from Gia's chest and Aiden walked into the room. Despite her weak nature, Gia almost wanted to lunge but Katherine shoved her back down before walking over to Matthias.

"We're not here for a fight. Just hear him out." Hayley said.

"Speak. I suggest you be succinct." Elijah said.

Aiden sighed as he approached. "Please. I need your help."

After nodding at Katherine, the vampire left and quickly returned with Marcel and Josh at her side. The group settled in for the information that Aiden and Oliver had to tell them.

"The witch wants soldiers. So now, it's either join up, or pay the price." Aiden finished explaining to them about what happened earlier.

"I've known my brother Finn to be merciless, but I'll admit, this exceeds even my expectations." Elijah said.

"Because it's not Finn." Matthias snapped at Elijah. "He's been spelled again by Esther but this time I can't break it."

"They're just kids." Hayley cut in before Elijah could say something. "Marcel, you know the Quarter like the back of your hand. If anyone can get them out of here, it's you."

"And take 'em where?" He asked her.

"There's still wolves deep in the Bayou." Oliver spoke up. "Ones that didn't take a ring, they can look after them." He said with a nod towards Hayley and Aiden.

"The ones that never sold out, you mean." Marcel corrected him.

"If you wanna look at it like that, that's fine. We did what we had to do." Oliver told him.

Matthias then spoke up, "I mean, it's your fault they're in this mess Marcel." Marcel looked at Matthias confused. "You guys were fighting and instead of finding common ground you made it worse and turned them into wolves, you were the one that burned the bridge of peace."

Marcel sighed, "Your wolves have been fighting us for decades. Why trust us now?"

Aiden hesitated for a moment before speaking, "One of the recruits is my little brother. There's no way I'm sending him to war." He said with a shake of his head.

Marcel looked at Matthias, but he could already see that Matthias was going to help regardless of what Elijah decided. Katherine simply downed her drink like it was water and kept quiet, she knew that she would stand by Matthias and Elijah.

Elijah took a breath before stepping forward. "Tell us what you need."