The Original: Book 4

Chapter 29

Running into the church, I turned the corner into the foyer, stopping in my tracks at the sight before me. On the other side of the room, Nik sat on the floor, Hayley's head in his lap. Even from where I stood, I could see that she wasn't moving. I slowly made my way over to them, tears filling my eyes. As I got closer, I could see the line of blood across her throat. "I'm so sorry, Hayley. I swore to protect you and I failed," I muttered, wrapping my hands around hers as tears slipped down my cheeks. The doors slammed open behind us and I heard Elijah call out Hayley's name. I turned my head as Elijah approached, falling to his knees.

"She's gone," Nik stated, tears falling from his eyes. "You've been bitten." Biting into his wrist, Nik held it out to his brother. After taking some of Nik's blood, Elijah lifted Hayley's body off the ground, placing it on the altar. I watched him, staring at her face. She looked so peaceful.

"How?" Elijah asked as I wiped the tears from my eyes.

"I was bested," Nik replied, sitting on the steps.

"You were bested," Elijah repeated, turning away from Hayley's body. "You...were bested!" I jumped as Elijah's loud voice echoed throughout the room. "My invincible brother."

I looked over as Nik stood from his seat, "they took the baby, but there's still time. We can save her."

"We're not just going to save her," I commented, standing. "We're gonna kill those witches."

***

"The tombs are empty, the grounds are deserted. She's not here," Elijah exclaimed, frustrated. We had been searching the cemetery for almost an hour.

"This is the only place they can be. We'll keep searching," Nik replied.

"They are not here, Niklaus. We're wasting time."

"Their Harvest was here, the Reaping was here. They're about to perform a ritual which will feed their ancestors for centuries, ancestors who are buried here!" As Nik spoke, a statue of an angel caught my eye.

"This statue, we've passed by it three times," I commented. Elijah turned, looking at the wall of names next to him.

"They have fabricated some kind of illusion," Elijah observed. In the blink of an eye, Nik was gone, now standing on top of a tomb.

"That's one word for it."

***

The sun had risen as we kept searching, turning in circles. "It's ingenious. I can see them, I can feel them and yet they are not real," Nik commented, making a mark on a tomb.

"There has to be a way. Even if I could just push through," Elijah emphasized, running his hands through his hair.

"We need to focus."

"My only focus right now is that child and her safety, do you understand me? This, all of this, this is the world that you created, Niklaus," Elijah declared. "All of your scheming, the enemies that you have made every single day of your miserable life. What results did you expect? That your child would be born into a happy life, that the mother would be alive to know her daughter, that we could live and thrive as some sort of family?"

"That was your fantasy, brother, not mine," Nik growled.

"No, brother, this was our hope. This was our family's hope, and now she is gone." Elijah's face softened. "Do you understand? I let this person in. I let her in. I don't let people in." Tears fell from my eyes as Elijah's face filled with sadness and I could see how broken he felt. "You knew this and you've taken her from me. I needed her and you've broken me." Elijah moved away, sitting on a stone step. Looking over at Nik, I could see the sadness and guilt in his eyes. He slowly went over to his brother, sitting down next to him and putting a hand on his arm.

"You can tell your niece how much you cared for her mother when we save her."

"And we will save her," I piped up. "I'll make sure of that."

"How?" Nik questioned.

"I'm going to try and locate the witches."

"Can you do that here?" Elijah rejoined.

"These people may not be my ancestors, but I have to try. I'm not letting anything happen to that little girl." Closing my eyes, I lifted my hands, focusing on finding Genevieve. Images of the witch flashed through my mind. She was wearing a white dress, a knife in her hands. A name popped up in my head and I knew it belonged to the owner of the tomb she was in. Opening my eyes, I looked over at Nik and Elijah, who had been watching me. "I know where they are."

Alright, so here's an update for ya! Things are coming to an end for this book. I'm hoping to have the next one up on the same day that this one ends. 

Just FYI, after this book is over, there will only be two more, then the series is over.

My character and her story are of my own imagination. They belong to me and nobody else. Please do not steal. Copyright 2017/2018.