laissez les bon temps rouler//jackson kenner

2.8

"I'm through with persuasion," Elijah states before turning to leave.

I grab him by the shoulder to stop him. "Has the earth shifted on its axis? You needing restraint from me?"

Elijah looks taken aback by my words. He is distracted by his phone going off. Bekah is frantic on the other end, "It's me. I have the baby, and we're on the run. Esther found us. We're safe, for now. I've lost her bloody starlings, but I have no idea where to go."

"Tell her to head west," Nik demands.

"Do not tell Else!" Bekah shouts. Too late for that I think. "Esther's too smart for that. The only advantage that we have is that she thinks the baby died. Text me the plans." Bekah hangs up the phone.

Elijah sighs. "Go both of you. I'll take care of Kol and Finn."

Nik looks at Elijah annoyed. "Splendid. And, in your hands, I assume they'll be dead by nightfall."

"I will show restraint. Jolie needs her mother," Elijah urges.

"What she needs, what we need are allies to help us defeat our mother. Finn and Kol must be turned to our side. Without their help, there will be nowhere left for Jolie to run. Plus I should be here to look after Jack. The last thing I need is our mother going after him." I tell him.

"Else, your child," Nik starts.

I interrupt him, "I have waited months to see my daughter." I pause for a moment. "I can wait one more day." Elijah looks at me sympathetically. "Elijah. Do whatever it takes to keep her safe."

"I give you my word," Elijah promises.

After Elijah leaves I turn towards Nik. "I trust you can handle our brothers. I need to keep an eye on Jack. I meant what I said. I don't need our mother going after him."

Nik nods his head. "Take care of that wolf man of yours. I would like my niece to be able to see both of her parents."

I take off and head to the Bayou. I sit with Hayley, Aiden, and Jack outside of Jack's trailer.

"The wolves are freaking out. They know it had to be an insider who took down Vincent last night, seeing as no one could have been anywhere near him," Aiden tells us.

"Did anyone suspect it was you?" Jack asks.

Aiden shakes his head. "No, not yet. But, they're gonna figure it out, which pretty much means I'm screwed unless we come up with a plan."

"Call a meeting. The whole pack, tonight. If they're so scared, now's the perfect time to convince them they need to ditch Esther," I reason.

Aiden holds up his hand, on which he wears a familiar-looking silver ring with a black stone. "She gave them moonlight rings."

"Well, those rings make you slaves," Hayley tells him.

"No! They make us powerful. We were exiles before, but now we run the city! The vampires are scared of us, and nobody, including me, is just gonna walk away from that because," Aiden starts.

Jackson stands and approaches Aiden. "Set the damn meeting." Jack walks away.

I give Aiden a look before following Jack. I find Jack at the dock on the pond. He is sitting drinking a beer.

"So, are you gonna work on a rousing speech, or just get day-drunk?" I ask him.

"Little bit of both," Jack tells me. I snatch the beer from him, and take a sip. Jack chuckles a little as he grabs a brown leather bound journal. "You know, for months, I wrote down every single word Ansel said. The entire history of our people. If only I'd known he was your father, I would have asked him a hell of a lot more." I frown at the mention of Ansel. He was my real father and I only got to know him for a few hours. "You know, I was up all night looking through this, trying to find something, anything that will help me figure out how to get our people back together." He tosses the book back onto the table.