Ambience ~ n.m.

The Family Feeling

"Stop."

Hayley and I turned and saw Jackson come out from the trees. "Jackson?" Hayley asked. "Hayley." Jackson acknowledged. "And Harper. Now, who are you?" I ask turning back to the man with the blade.

"I see you met my friend Ansel." Jackson told us. "You know them?" The man, Ansel, asked. "Yeah, actually, I do. Hayley was supposed to be my wife."

Jackson, Hayley, Ansel and I sat by the fire. Jackson told the story of how he ended up so deep in the bayou. After a while, I just stopped listening. I was too enthralled with finding out who this man was and why he was so familiar.

"-After a while, word had spread about what happened to you and your baby." That's all I heard from the conversation, and my eyes snapped to Jackson's. His eyes held so much empathy, and I just turned my gaze away and felt sorrow fill me.

My eyes caught Ansel's bright blue eyes and something kept pulling my interest.

"So after that, I knew it was over, and I just drifted. That's when I met Ansel. See, he's been teaching me the old ways. The traditions. What it means to be a wolf." Jackson told Hayley and I.

"You mean by living out in the ass end of nowhere?" I asked. "Hey. Easy. Your kind makes him orney." Jackson told us. "'My kind?'" Hayley asks. "Jack, whatever you and your friend think of me, my kind is the wolves. Even if they did pledge allegiance with a witch all that means is that they need an alpha." Hayley explains.

"Ollie needs one too." I sigh, knowing that would influence his decision.

"Yeah, I heard about that. Thing is, Ollie betrayed me. He plotted with Guerrera's. He spilled his own people's blood." Jackson shouted. "He was trying to make it up for that." Hayley tried to intervene.

"It doesn't matter. Witches have him. He's dead. Not that I care." Jackson told us.

"You don't want to be the alpha? Fine. I'll save Ollie myself." Hayley stood and looked at me. I sighed and stood as well. Hayley and I started to walk and realized that Ansel was following us. "Have you got a problem, old man?" Hayley asked.

"I have no love for vampires, but I will not allow a wolf to be killed by witches." Ansel told us and started walking. I jogged to keep up with Ansel and sighed. "You remind me of someone." I tell him. "And who would that be?" He asked.

"I don't know yet." I shrug.

Hayley called Marcel to tell him we're coming. "Tell me you got your alpha." Marcel asked Hayley. "He's out of commission, but I've got the next best thing. I'm assuming you have a plan to keep Finn occupied?" Hayley asked into the phone.

"Yeah. Yeah, I think I might have an idea." Marcel assured her.

After the day of walking in silence, we finally made it to the cemetery. We climbed the steps of a tomb and found Oliver hanging by chained hands, blood covering him. Hayley repeated his name, trying to wake him.

"Wake up!" Hayley whispered.

"What the hell are you doing? Who the hell is that?" Oliver asked weakly. "We're here to save your ass. Please tell me you know where Elijah is." Hayley sighed as I grabbed the chains and broke the.

"They know we're here." Ansel told us.

We heard them coming towards the tomb, and we began to work quickly. I gave Oliver to Hayley and she had him lean on her for support. "Let's go." I tell them. "Just leave me here, go." Oliver ordered us.

"To hell with that. They want a fight, I'll give them a fight." Hayley hissed. "No. I came with you to save one of my own, not watch as you kill scores of them." Ansel told her. "I agree. I mean, I came to this city helping the wolves, just because I'm a vampire now doesn't mean that that's going to change." I tell Hayley.