Shielding The Innocent - Niklaus Mikaelson

Chapter 21

"Well, they said they're not leaving us till we get where we're going." Jackson replies.

I look back at Mary and she holds up a tin can with a handle that has white smoke coming from it. "So far, so good." She lowers the tin and nods at me. "Here, let me hold the little girls while you figure out where to cross." She sits to tin on the ground as Jackson helps me unbuckle them. When Bexley is off my back Jackson passes her to Mary and I free Hope and do the same. When she has them I walk towards the river with Jackson.

"What do you think?" I inquire.

"Get across, get to the highway, steal a car, and just go." I scrunch my eyebrows in thought.

"You okay?" He asks.

"It was a nice idea." I shrug. "Marry you. Make our people strong. Help Kelsey raise the twins surrounded by the pack."

"Hayley--"

"This morning when I told them they could go, I never let you off the hook."

"Don't do that." He says.

"I'm sick of other people making sacrifices for me, fighting my battles." I look at Mary with the twins talking to Jon. Him and Will had set Kelsey down for a minute.

"Hey, that's what family is." He reassures. "There's people you're born to, and people you choose, who stand beside you when things are hard. There ain't no place I'd rather be than right beside you. Okay?"

I nod at him with a small smile.

"Hey!" Someone yells. "We should cross over here. It's shallow enough."

Jackson and Mary quickly help me strap the twins back into the carrier on my chest and back. Then, we head over to Warren, who yelled. He leads us through the shallow part of the river with a few others. Mary walks ahead of me and Jon and Will carefully tote an unconscious Kelsey.

As we walk in the water it doesn't go deeper than our thighs. Our pants and shoes are submerged and it's not the easiest to fight the current, but it's manageable. "Pretty slippery right here. Be careful." Warren warns us a few feet ahead. As I pass Jackson and a few others they help me, making sure I stay steady with the twins.

We make it across and to the highway, just as a white Ford truck pulls up next to us. One of the wolves had ran ahead earlier to get a vehicle.

"Look what I got." He says proudly.

"Okay." I nod appreciatively. "Let's go."

________________________

Kelsey's Point of View

Groaning I sit up and immediately put my hand to my neck. The aching is slowly starting to fade, thanks to vampire healing. However, it's clear my neck has been snapped numerous times. My memory slowly comes back.

Me, standing over the twins in the safe house with Jackson and Hayley... and then darkness.

I sit up from some sort of makeshift stretcher and look around in confusion. Somehow I'm in a place that looks like a salvage yard. There is a crescent wolf standing a few feet in front of me with his back to me and I can hear others moving around the area.

My blood begins to boil as I realize what happened. Jackson and Hayley disregarded everything I said and knocked me out, so they could take me and the twins and run. Nik must be going out of his mind. I jump up to my feet and the wolf, Will, I think, turns back to face me. His entire face falls when he sees me standing. Fear radiates off him and he takes a step back.