Bad Blood

Chapter 42

Aunt Rebekah said" Good lord, that one has some lungs on him. He should've been an opera singer. Might've ended better for him, actually." They just took out an entire bus of inmates and guards, Uncle Kol was chasing one.
Aunt Freya said" Is this absolutely necessary?"
" That depends. Do you want us at our full strength, or do you plan on rescuing Nik on your own?"
" Well, death rattles are distracting, and I'm trying to break a cloaking spell."
Uncle Lijah yelled" Kol, would you please?!" Uncle Kol snapped the screamer's neck," Thank you. You were saying?"
" I can sense Klaus is still in New Orleans. Most likely somewhere underground." Uncle Kol walked back up," I can't get a read on exactly where, unless I'm in the city itself."
Hayley said" Yeah. That's gonna be a problem... I have contacts in New Orleans. As you can imagine, the place is crawling with vampires, all of whom hate all of us. Whatever we do, we need to do it fast."
" Well, I wasn't planning a pub crawl. I don't wan to stay any longer than we have to. But we need to go."
Uncle Kol said" Whoa. Wait-wait, we're not doing this today...?"
Aunt Rebekah said" Hasn't Nik suffered enough?"
" Yes. And I've died. Twice. I'm not about to give Marcel a shot at a third. Now, I say, we draw that muppet out of town. And when he's gone..."
Hayley said" I have been away from my daughter long enough. If you're afraid..."
" It's called being sensible. Until Freya can make enough cure with her werewolf hostage, Marcel can basically chew through our bloody throats."
Uncle Lijah said" Enough. We're all in danger. We free Niklaus today. Even if I have to burn that city to the ground." He got up and walked away, we followed him.
——
We walked into Aunt Freya's tower,
Hayley said" All clear, Freya."
Uncle Kol said" This is where you absolutely had to do a locator spell?"
Aunt Freya said" Ah, well, when I first moved to New Orleans, I primed this space. Marked it with my magic, made it mine."
" Oh, this dusty bell tower may be your own, but this is Marcel's city, and we're nothing but targets."
Hayley said" All the more reason to let her get to work. The sooner we find Klaus, the sooner we get out of here."
Aunt Freya said" It won't take long."

Aunt Freya found Uncle Nik, so now it's rescue time,
Josh said" Everyone's out, place is yours." Josh had to clear out the customers of his bar, Rousseau's.
Uncle Kol said" See? Wasn't that easier than us having to try to kill everyone?"
" Yeah. So, what now?"
Uncle Lijah said" Would you be so kind as to move that freezer unit, so that we might be able to access the tunnels?"
Hayley said" Time's ticking, Josh. Go on." Josh walked into the kitchen,
Uncle Kol said" Are you absolutely certain we're looking in the right place?"
Aunt Freya said" We know this tunnel runs the length of the city, Marcel must've carved out a section to serve as his personal dungeon."
Uncle Lijah said" Ingenious and sadistic. Well done, Marcel."
Uncle Kol said" Save the compliments for when he comes to kill us. Your flattery might give him pause." Josh came back,
He said" Okay, you're all set here. So, uh, good luck, break a leg, and I'll just be on my way."
" What, so you can rat us out to Marcel? Not bloody likely."
Aunt Freya said" Oh, just snap his neck. We'll be done by the time he wakes."
Uncle Lijah said" And if he wakes before that?"
Uncle Kol said" Then kill him."
Josh said" I'm right here, guys."
Hayley said" We're not killing him."
Uncle Lijah said" Yeah, you're probably right. For some reason, he's of value to Marcel. Kol, would you..?"
Uncle Kol said" Happy to stay and have a drink and eviscerate anyone who tries to follow you."
Aunt Freya said" Good, then let's go. We're wasting time."
Uncle Lijah said" Splendid. Peter..."
I said" I'll stay and make sure Uncle Kol doesn't kill Josh."
" Good." They walked away, I sighed and scooted onto a chair.
——
Uncle Kol was staring at a picture of Davina,
Josh said" Here's to nobody dying today." They took the shot," Or was I premature? Tell me... what happens Klaus gets out? What are you guys gonna do? Massacre this whole city?"
Uncle Kol said" We just want to get our brother and leave. I, for one, hope I never see this filthy city again." He sat next to me,
" I was with someone. This guy, Aiden. He died. Killed by your aunt, actually. And afterwards, I hated everything. And I mean everything. Even the... sun. You know? It just kept coming up every morning, like it was any other day and the world hadn't completely changed. It's taken forever for me to feel normal again."
" How fortunate for you that you do."
" You will, too. It does get better, Kol. Eventually."
" Why are you telling me all this?"
" I think... Davina would have wanted me to." Josh's phone vibrated, Uncle Kol grabbed it from his jacket, we saw a text from Marcel, Teutoburg. Uncle Kol stood up,
" Well, since we're such good friends now, perhaps you could explain what Teutoburg means." He walked to Josh, Josh turned to him,
" Um... look, I'm really not a part of all this..."
" Of course you are, especially when you're receiving coded messages from the man that's holding my brother captive. Now... listen very carefully. If something has happened to my sister, or if something is about to happen to another member of my family, this city and everyone in it will burn: you, your boyfriend, your friends, this bar, your home... shall I continue? Now... tell me what Teutoburg means."
I said" Josh, tell us."
Josh said" It's a battle... where the bad guys caught the good guys off guard. Marcel is warning me that you're all here so that I can spread word to the rest of our guys..."
Uncle Kol said" So you can keep us busy and Marcel can kill us." I stood up,
I said" Don't kill him." Uncle Kol snapped his neck,
" You're lucky Davina liked you. Let's go, Peter." He held out his hand, I grabbed his hand and we sped off.

We got to the cemetery, we saw two people, the woman stuck another arrow into Aunt Rebekah's back.
A guy said" We could get a pretty penny for Rebekah Mikaelson."
The woman said" Yes, we could. But if Marcel wants her safe, then I'm gonna keep her safe." Uncle Kol sped up and tore the guy's heart out,
He said" Well, he won't be taking anyone, as he is rather indisposed. But to be fair, you won't be keeping anyone either." He dropped the heart, the woman sped off, I sped to Aunt Rebekah, He tore the arrows out of her back." Welcome back, Rebekah." Then vampires surrounded us, Uncle Kol started fighting them, one came near me, Aunt Rebekah threw him onto a spike. Uncle Kol was repeatedly beating one,
Aunt Rebekah said" Kol! I think you got him."
" Can we leave this awful city now?"
" Where's Elijah?" 
——
We were waiting, and they were taking a really long time, I was staring at the end of the tunnel.
Aunt Rebekah said" Elijah, this is me not worrying that you were supposed to be here 20 minutes ago. Please call me back."
Uncle Kol said" It's been too long. We should go."
" We're not leaving our family."
" Marcel could be shredding our family to pieces as we speak."
" Well, perhaps they simply don't have cell phone service in a drainage pipe. They'll be here, Kol. And while we have a moment, I wanted to say thank you."
" For what?"
" For coming to get me. So I could be sitting here, annoyed at you."
We heard footsteps, I saw them walking up, Aunt Rebekah hugged Uncle Nik,
Aunt Freya said" Hey, you can hug him later. We need to leave."
Hayley said" Marcel's right behind us. Go. Go!" We started towards the car, then we saw Marcel,
Marcel said" Actually... I'm right here." I looked at my family, I gulped, Hayley grabbed my hand," You shouldn't have come back- none of you."
Hayley said" That's what family does. We fight for each other."
" Yeah, so I've heard. Though it didn't really work out for me, did it?"
Uncle Kol said" Oh, for god's sake, you were never a Mikaelson, get over it. Don't you have a city to run? Vampires to boot out of town?" Marcel walked forward, Aunt Rebekah stood in front of us,
She said" If you want to kill one of us, you'll have to kill us all."
Marcel said" Hey, don't push me, Rebekah."
" Then get on with it. Let's end this once and for all."
Uncle Nik said" That's enough. That's enough, Marcel, you've won. New Orleans was our city once. Now it's yours. For good."
Marcel said" Is the great Klaus Mikaelson accepting defeat? Or is this all just another distraction?"
" Neither. In fact, despite your appalling behavior, I'm offering you a chance at peace. Attempt to kill us all, and you will be making a mistake. Any who survived would no doubt return to seek revenge, bringing our enemies back to your city in our wake. And even if you did manage to eliminate us all, one day my daughter would come for you. And her daughter after that. On and on for all your days- an endless cycle of violence you will bring upon yourself. Or... or we leave and we never come back."
" After all that time buried in a hole, you still got some nerve. Yeah, well, you stand there with a straight face and try to sell this like it's your choice. But here's the truth. I could kill all of you right now. And tonight I would sleep like a baby. Hell, that's what you would do. You've destroyed more people, taken more lives, ended more families than anyone who's ever lived. All because you can. But here's the other truth. Despite being raised by you people... I am nothing like any of you. In fact, I'm proud as hell I'm not a Mikaelson. I beat you all without turning into you. And now you can live the rest of your lives knowing that the only reason that you exist is because I am showing you mercy. Now go. And don't ever come back." We walked to the car, getting in, I wanna go back home, back to little sister.
——
I'm woken up by Hayley,
She said" Come on, sleepyhead, go up to bed."
I said" Well, now I'm not tired." She ruffled my hair," Wait, we're home?" She nodded, I sped out of the car quickly, I stopped at the door, looking back at Uncle Lijah, Nik, Aunt Rebekah and Hayley.
Uncle Nik said" Five years.. has never felt so long. Thank you for not abandoning me."
Aunt Rebekah said" Well, we did consider it. The vote was rather close." She and Uncle Lijah walked up, I smiled at them, then sped up to Hope's room.
I quietly closed Hope's door and sat against the wall, watching her sleep on the other end of the bed. I rose the barrier spells I had in place on the side of her bed just in case she turned too much. Uncle Nik and Hayley walked in,
Hayley whispered" Want me to wake her for you?"
Uncle Nik said" No, let's let her sleep." Hayley walked away, smiling at me, Uncle Nik looked at Hope,
I whispered" Somnium." I twirled my finger and a sand dolphin began circling her head. I sped up and out the door, I sped to the kitchen, grabbing a blood bag then sped up to my room.