The Red Herring Revives: A Mikaelson Love Story

Chapter 67: My Daughter's Keeper

~Klaus POV~

When Klaus came to, he dared to look over at Hayley. There she lay on the sacristy, the bloodstains still staining her neck. He crawled up towards her and laid her head on his lap, softly stroking her hair.

"Thank you." He murmured. "And I'm sorry."

For a moment, the hybrid wallowed in his anguish. The despair was proving too much today, first Iliana, then Hayley and soon his daughter too because he knew was not strong enough to save her on his own. But just when the sadness threatened to consume him, he found anger. And he knew just who to direct it at.

He picked up his phone and endured the ringing until he finally heard her voice.

"I didn't think I would be hearing from you so soon."

"Iliana is dead." He began.

"What?"

"Hayley is dead. My daughter is going to die. And it is your fault." He continued.

"Nik—"

"This is all your fault!" He screamed. "If you hadn't taken away the child. If you hadn't locked us up in the cemetery. If you hadn't come to New Orleans in the first place! YOU SHOULD'VE JUST STAYED AWAY! ...I wish you had just stayed away."

"Nik, I'm...I can't do this right now. I need to—"

"You need to come here right now and help me." Klaus told her. "That is what you need to do, Fiore. You owe me."

"I can't. Not right now."

"WHY NOT?"

"The Other Side is imploding." Fiore explained. "If I don't bring Kol out now, then he'll be gone forever."

"I don't care." Klaus told her. "If I don't save my daughter she will be gone forever. And her blood will be on your hands."

"That isn't fair, Nik."

"You have never been fair, why should I extend the same courtesy to you?" He replied.

"Any other time, I would be there. You know that. You know me."

"All I'm hearing are excuses, Fiore." He murmured tiredly. "But why should I expect anything from you?"

"Klaus, I am sorry." Fiore told him, managing to surprise him with her honesty. "I am sorry that I did that to you. I went too far; I know that now. I was hurt. But it's no excuse. But I need you to—I hope you know how sorry I am."

He didn't answer, because he knew it was pointless. "Klaus? Klaus?"

He hung up the phone and threw it at the wall, watching it as it helplessly scattered across the floor.

Elijah stormed into the church and it was only then that Klaus noticed how weak he was too. Bitten by the wolves no doubt. He stopped in his tracks as he saw Hayley lying limply on his brother's lap. Klaus barely even had it in him to say anything, the hybrid merely shook his head.

"She can't be gone." Elijah said bitterly as tears flooded his eyes. "No."

And as Elijah fell to his knees in tears, the tears Klaus had managed to keep from falling finally got their escape.

"You've been bitten." Klaus murmured as he bit his wrist. "Here."

Elijah was surprised be his brother's kind gesture, but nonetheless took Klaus' offering. He drank the blood that healed his wounds before sitting beside his brother despairingly. Elijah picked up Hayley's brother and lay her back down on the sacristy, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead.