Hayley witnessed a whole new Esmeray.
It was terrifying. She knew Esmeray could fight. She knew Esmeray could kill, and had killed. But this was another level of violence that the hybrid had never seen on the werewitch, who was usually so gentle with everyone.
Esmeray marched right through the lobby of the building, swiping her hand out and decapitating the receptionist when she tried to stop them. She slammed her thumb against the elevator buttons and stood, arms crossed, tapping her foot in annoyance as they rode up. Hayley would be waiting in the elevator while Esmeray was the first to confront Aurora. They were thankful that Esmeray was going to be able to get past the threshold without a problem.
"What are you doing?" Esmeray heard Klaus asking just before they got to the right floor.
"I'm gonna drive this into my heart, die, and be reborn," said Aurora. "And then, with the air of my new-found power... I'm going to silence you permanently."
Great, it was good to know that she had the stupid serum in her system, otherwise, she wouldn't be saying shit like that.
The elevator dinged as they got to the right floor, and Esmeray walked out into the hall, able to smell which one was the right room, judging by the fact that blood wouldn't be spilling out anywhere else. She held her hand up, and the doors exploded, shards of wood splitting off and embedding into the walls, away from Klaus and Aurora.
"Look at you!" said Aurora, a glint in her eyes as she giggled and clapped her hands. "Ooh, they told me you were strong. Come to kill me?"
"No, actually, not yet," she said, smirking at her. "What I'm going to do..." she started walking toward the door, "is get that serum out of you, make sure it burns, and then, I'm going to find Tristan, and make you watch as I maul him to death. Afterwards... I'll kill you."
Aurora's expression dropped into a sneer. "You don't have the strength to challenge me, witch!" she snapped. "You have no vampiric abilities. If I break your hands, you cannot rely on your magic."
Esmeray leaned into the doorway, pursing her lips as if she was thinking. "You know, you're right. I really don't have vampiric abilities. That's a ruddy shame, you know, because I think I'd enjoy this more if I had to drink your blood. You know, the way Mikael used to do to other vampires." She tapped her fingers against the wall. "I wonder, did Mikael ever give you his stamp of approval?"
Aurora faltered, but recovered quickly. She wasn't about to show Esmeray that she was hitting the right parts of her insecurities. "Did you really come here to flaunt about the fact that you met Mikael? I'm simply surprised you aren't dead."
"No, I didn't come here to do that," sighed Esmeray, putting on a sad look. "I came to remind you of how pathetic you are. Am I really supposed to believe you've been here for what... almost an hour, already, and you have yet to enact your serum? Ah, ah, ah—"
She held up her hand, freezing Aurora in place when she showed even the slightest signs of movement. "Aw, it's cute that you thought I'd let you do it," Esmeray crooned. "Too late."
She walked into the penthouse, looking around. "What a nice little place." She took her time going over to Klaus, who she hadn't yet acknowledged. He was chained up, and unable to move. She swept her hand over the chains, and they popped off, setting him free.
Esmeray made a point to turn Aurora around, magically, as she lifted Klaus up by his shirt, pulling him to stand before pressing her lips firmly against his. Though this terrified her, she wanted to make it seem as though she wasn't left damaged in any way after what Lucien had done to her. "Tonight," she whispered to Klaus once she pulled back, "you're mine."
Klaus knew that she was only pretending. He could see in her eyes how scared she was about what she'd just done. And yet, seconds later, that look changed, and became mirthless. She turned to Aurora, and smiled, seeing she was shaking with rage. "Oh, love, did you really think that he would want you again after he'd already had a taste of me? You may be from the same time as us... but you're nothing. You were his lover. I'm his soulmate. I was going to be the mother of his child."
"But you're not, are you?" Aurora spit out. "You lost that wretched baby! That was your own fault!"
Esmeray slammed her back into the wall, shoving her hand into her chest and gripping her heart. "I'm going to enjoy killing you, aren't I?" whispered Esmeray, her eyes flashing golden. "I'll relish in every bit of damage I do to you."
She released her heart and stepped back, putting her palm up and blowing on it.
Aurora instantly looked panicked. "TRISTAN!" She screamed, looking at a part of the room that was empty, except for a couch. "No— no— what did you do with him?!"
"What is she seeing?" Klaus whispered, limping beside Esmeray as Aurora tried to fight off the spell that kept her from moving.
"She's seeing Tristan, all wet and covered in seaweed, bound in chains and laid on the floor," she said, as if it was the most normal thing ever. "And now..." she wove her hand, and Aurora screamed again. "She's seeing him starting to bleed from his abdomen. In a few seconds, she'll see his organs start spilling out. She'll see his heart fly out, and it will land at her feet."
Sure enough, seconds later, Aurora was screaming her head off, pupils blown as she looked directly down to the tips of her shoes. "NO! NO! TRISTAN! TRISTAN, NO!"
Esmeray swiped her hands out, and the illusion disappeared, leaving Aurora a hyperventilating mess. "It isn't nice to lose someone, is it?" she asked, her voice laced with fake sympathy. "I promise you, that's just a taste of what I'll do to your brother. For what he did to Jackson... for what you did to Klaus... for what Lucien did to me... I will make sure the three of you learn why my Pack was so terrified, that they chose to put me to sleep."
She lifted her other hand, and Aurora gave a gasp, her hands able to move just so she could grip her own throat. "N-No—" she wheezed. "What— w-what are you—" Her mouth opened, and she coughed loudly. Esmeray walked casually to where she could see the empty little jar the serum had been in. She held it up lazily, tapping her foot and watching as a crimson liquid started pouring out of Aurora's mouth, emerging like a snake that slithered through the air before spilling back into the jar. It looked like Esmeray had created a stream of blood that flowed delicately from Aurora's esophagus, and back to its rightful place— outside of her body.
Hayley slowly came out of the elevator, watching the way Esmeray smirked. It was almost creepy. It dawned on her in that moment that they were very lucky to have her on their side. Even without being a vampire who could turn her humanity off, this was sadism at its finest.
"There we go, dear," sighed Esmeray as the last bit of serum spilled into the jar. She snapped her fingers, and Aurora slumped to the floor, unconscious. She put the lid on the jar and handed it to Klaus. "Maybe, I'll make her bleed out of her eyes next, and melt her brain for a bit. Ooh, and then, I'll make her see visions of being pecked to death by crows."
She marched right out of the penthouse, leaving Klaus and Hayley to share a concerned look before the younger hybrid picked Aurora up, carrying her limp body out.
"All that made me hungry," said Esmeray thoughtfully once they returned to the Compound and deposited Aurora in one of the empty rooms, the jar of serum beside her. "I think I'll make myself some cookies."
Klaus carefully followed her to the kitchen. "Aside from being hungry, do you feel well, love?"
"I should be asking you that," she said, without looking at him. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, now," he said, leaning against the counter. "There was not enough time for her to do much damage to me."
"Good. I suggest you bathe. You reek of blood."
He hesitated to go. "Thank you, love," he told her once he made his way out of the room.
She didn't answer, and let out a shaky sigh as she stopped preparing her materials to make the cookies. She sank to the ground, covering her face and groaning in annoyance with herself. "Stay calm," she muttered. "No reason to get riled up."
Hayley poked her head in. "No reason to get riled up about what?"
Esmeray turned red, and looked around before beckoning for Hayley to get closer. "I kissed him," she said, gesturing toward where Klaus's room was.
"Oh. And that's... bad?"
"It is," said Esmeray. "I'm getting his hopes up that I'll be fine soon, when I know I won't be. I just wanted to make Aurora jealous. I wanted to rub it in her face the way she did to me. But it almost backfired. As soon as I kissed him, I remembered how Lucien would... grope me... when he kissed me. The things he would say when... I managed to act as if nothing was wrong, but I was drawn back to that laboratory and..."
"He understands," Hayley said, crouching down beside her. "He knows. He won't hold it against you. He's open to helping you however he needs to. Just say the words, and he'll act. Even if you never kiss again for... fifty years... he'll still love you all the same."
Esmeray smiled slightly. "Thanks." Hayley offered her hand to help her stand up, but Esmeray didn't take it, and instead, sat up on her own, and got to baking.
_
Elijah and Freya had been unsuccessful in taking down Lucien. They returned looking crestfallen, but relieved that Klaus was back.
"Mission accomplished," said Klaus snarkily, at the revelation that not even Freya's magic had been enough against the Ancestors who were backing Lucien up. "And it only took you the better part of a day!"
"Do you want the chains back on?" asked Freya, referencing the chains Aurora and Lucien had put on him.
"You'd be doing us all a marvelous favor," said Elijah. "Perhaps you could fasten something to his mouth, Esmeray?"
She smirked slightly. "I could just use a spell."
"Speaking of spells," said Hayley, "what are the chances of Aurora staying knocked out cold?"
"She'll stay unconscious until I see fit to wake her up," said Esmeray, no longer smirking. "I left the serum on your nightstand, Freya. You can study it first. We'll use it to figure out how to take Lucien down."
"I must say," Klaus murmured, looking toward Esmeray, "I'm rather looking forward to it."
Freya appeared amused with her brother's comment. "You're welcome." She and Elijah left the room, and Klaus cleared his throat before addressing the two hybrids. "I thank you both, as well."
"You can thank me in diaper duty," Hayley replied before following after the other two Mikaelsons.
Esmeray and Klaus were left in the room, looking awkwardly at their own feet.
"It'll be your birthday soon," Klaus said, trying to break the ice. "March 26th. By 1991 standards, you'll be twenty-three. In real time, one thousand twenty-nine. You still look quite young and beautiful."
Esmeray blushed. "Thanks," she said. That was right, she hadn't even remembered. She'd forgotten what day it was— it had been awhile since she'd paid attention to that. "If you um, want to talk, I'd rather do it in my room."
"We don't have to speak to one another if you do not wish to, love," he said, trying not to pressure her into a conversation.
"I want to talk, for the most part. Can you lead the way?"
He did so without asking why. He figured she didn't need to hear a man breathing down her back and sensing heavy footsteps following her to an isolated space. He kept replaying the memories he'd acquired from Elvis— the sight of Lucien dragging her limp body away to do as he pleased with her. It sickened him, and he hated that he couldn't make him suffer for it just yet.
"Thank you for the painting," said Esmeray, sitting on her bed and holding up the small canvas where Klaus had made a portrait of her mother. She let her fingertips move over her mother's face, and she smiled, before setting it down against her lamp. She watched Klaus sit at the chair on her desk, respectfully distant from her.
"I still love you, you know?" she mentioned, thinking she ought to.
Klaus gazed up. "I know," he replied. "I still love you as well. I always will."
"I just wanted to remind you. I know it can't be easy being unable to touch me."
"Love, don't worry about me. I will be fine."
"I want to try for a hug, if you're okay with it."
"Only if you're certain."
She looked afraid, but she nodded. "I just want to see how I react," she said, closing her eyes. She trembled slightly. "I can still sense where you are. I just want to focus on a good memory."
Klaus nodded, and stepped, little by little, toward her. She stood up slowly, her heart rate beginning to pick itself up as she felt him drawing nearer. She scrunched up her eyes, lifting her arms a bit, and he gradually moved his arms around her body, not squeezing her, merely holding her loosely in place.
She started to cry, and he made to withdraw, but she pulled him closer, gripping his shirt so tight, he was sure the fabric wouldn't be the same anymore. She buried her head in his chest, inhaling his scent to remind herself that it was him holding her, not anyone else.
"Tell me what's ailing you," he whispered, one of his palms sliding soothingly over her back. "I want to help you, love."
"I f-feel guilty for what I feel. I hate everything. Sometimes, I wish I was d-dead. I ask, 'why me? Why not someone else?' B-But I wouldn't wish this pain on a-anyone. T-This is so unfair... w-what the f-fuck did I do to d-deserve this?"
He pulled back, holding his hand up. She placed her palm against his, trying to draw several deep breaths as she focused only on their hands. "You didn't deserve this," he told her, holding his other hand up with the intention of caressing her face. She closed her eyes and nodded to show that he could, and he allowed his knuckles to run down her cheek slowly. "This world is wicked and cruel and has hurt you far too many times. If I could take this pain from you, I would. I'm so sorry I didn't save you earlier. I failed you. I couldn't find you, and I let myself get sidetracked solving a different problem. You should have been my priority."
Esmeray had to take several deep breaths to steady her voice before she spoke. "Lucien wanted to dictate when you got to find me. He wanted to be in control of when you saw what he did."
"I will make him suffer for it," Klaus promised her. "And you, love, can do the honors of killing him." He hesitated to ask his question, but added, "Did you mean what you said to Aurora about finding Tristan? I could try to locate him."
Esmeray shook her head. "I'm going to make it an illusion. He can rot, for what he did. I could torture him, but getting him out of that container would just give him hope." She opened her eyes slowly. "I want to kill her. But... I won't if you don't want me to."
"I care nothing for her. Do with her what you please. She and Lucien deserve nothing but the worst after they taunted us all for months, both well aware of where you were, and causing problems with Rebekah and the Strix. Give her every last bit of your wrath."
So she did. Klaus and Hayley walked through an installed camera as Esmeray woke Aurora up, tricking her into thinking that Tristan was bound to a chair across from her.
Aurora, despite having been tricked before, fully believed this. Were she not bound and gagged, she surely would have been screaming. Esmeray moved toward the empty chair, allowing for the illusion to be as brutal as possible. She made Aurora see her biting Tristan, pumping him full of wolf venom and leaving him bleeding. She made her see him bleeding from his eyes, begging for her help and telling her that he would die if she didn't save him. The final blow was Esmeray, cutting his head off, before she returned to stand in front of Aurora, yanking her up and taking her into another room, where she threw her on the floor and locked the doors.
"One simple rule," said Esmeray, removing any spells that rendered the vampire immobile. "If you kill me, you get to live. All is fair."
It was shocking for Klaus and Hayley to see Esmeray being so brutal. And for Esmeray, it was fun to see Aurora fighting so hard for her miserable life.
She beat her to death repeatedly. She'd go extreme overkill without ripping out her heart or cutting off her head, so that she'd get a break to recover before Aurora jumped back up again, trying so desperately to kill Esmeray.
"You're not trying hard enough," Esmeray taunted after she'd left a good five bites on the redhead. "I'd think you'd be more motivated. If you kill me, you have a chance to be with Klaus. And yet, you keep getting defeated. He's watching, you know. This only makes you look worse."
"JUST KILL ME ALREADY!" Aurora screeched, falling to her knees and holding her head. "Do me the one mercy of ending my life! You've killed my brother, you've taken the man I love, and here you are, bringing me back just to gnaw away at my body over and over again! If I wasn't mad before, I am now. YOU'VE DRIVEN ME MAD!"
"It sucks, doesn't it?" said Esmeray with fake sympathy. "Being tortured over and over again for long periods of time. Being knocked unconscious and waking up to a second round already happening. And it's been less than a day, love. Because of Lucien's sins, you're suffering. Because you hurt Klaus, you're suffering. You deserve every bit of this. I hope it hurts."
Esmeray moved toward her and gripped her throat. "And the moment you take you last, pathetic breath, I hope that you wake up in Hell, and remember that you only lived this long because I allowed you to. You only got to witness Tristan's death because I allowed you to. You'll suffer for the rest of eternity because I want you to. You are nothing but a chew toy to me. And for what you have done to my family and to me... you're going to suffer for all eternity."
She wished she could have temporarily gone to Hell, to see the look on Aurora's face when she realized Tristan was not actually dead, and she would not reunite with her brother for a very long time afterward.
The werewitch decided, once she herself was bored of killing her in so many different ways, that she wanted Aurora to see an illusion of Klaus watching her, before Esmeray tore her heart out. She let the body fall carelessly to the floor, and dropped the vampire's heart to the side, panting heavily as she looked around the room, whose walls were stained excessively with blood.
It was only in hindsight that she realized that she didn't feel better in any way.
She was in her shower, scrubbing all the blood away, when she started to cry. She sank to the ground, letting the water run over her, and let out a muffled scream into her hands, shaking her head and despising what she'd done.
It didn't matter that she thought Aurora deserved it. She was horrified with who she'd become. The monster she'd been in those moments with her.
"Stop screaming, love," Lucien had said, gripping her throat as his other hand tore off the hospital gown she was forced to wear. "No one is coming to save you. No one cares that you're here. Especially not him. He won't want you anymore. You're damaged, and you're not the girl he fell for. You've become a monster. You're only useful as a toy and a test subject."
Klaus came rushing in at the sound of her screaming. He saw her, curled up on the shower floor, sobbing uncontrollably, and moved to help her up, but he only made it worse.
"STOP!" she screamed, pushing her hands out and sending him flying into the wall. "STOP IT! DON'T TOUCH ME, LUCIEN!"
"I'm not Lucien," said Klaus, stumbling up and approaching slower. "I'm not him, love."
"YOU TURNED ME INTO A MONSTER! SOMEONE— HELP ME! KLAUS! KLAUS, HELP ME!"
"It's Klaus, love," he said as Hayley and Freya both came in, not sure what to do. "You're at the Compound, and you're safe now."
Esmeray could hear Hope wailing in the background, but she couldn't believe that she was really home. She was seeing Lucien, trying to pin her down again, taking advantage of how weak the drugs made her. She was listening to his cruel words, taunting her, telling her what he would do to her this time, how he'd leave her marked so that she could never be with Klaus again.
"I can see the look in your eyes," Lucien crooned when he was finished with her, watching how she stared at the ceiling, shivering and waiting for it to be over. "You're thinking of all the ways you could hurt me back. Don't you see? I've made you realize your hidden potential. I've helped you see what a beast you can truly be."
"Esmeray," Hayley said, kneeling beside her once she stopped the water. "Aurora's dead. Lucien is going to be dead, soon, too. It's okay. You're in the Compound. Listen— it's Hayley. You wouldn't be able to hear me if you were in the lab, right?"
She froze. That was true. The only person whose voice she had hallucinated as a coping mechanism was Klaus. Hayley's voice couldn't exist in the laboratory, they weren't close enough for that.
She didn't lift her head, but she tried to take in her surroundings based on her other senses. A cold floor. Her shower. Three people in the room, two females, one male. Hayley, Freya, and Klaus. The smell of paint. Klaus.
"I'm naked," she mumbled, realizing that she wasn't wearing clothes. "I need— I need to cover myself."
Hayley moved forward with a towel, draping it around her and helping her stand, with the towel still around her. Freya led Klaus out into the hallway as Hayley helped Esmeray get dressed.
"I made Hope cry again," she said, her breath hitching once she looked at herself in the mirror, beholding the crazed look in her eyes. "I've lost it. I've lost everything that made me good. I'm a monster."
"You're not a monster," Hayley told her. "Hope is perfectly okay. No one is judging you. It's going to be okay."
Esmeray nodded, as if she understood, but she really only did it to get Hayley to leave. She didn't believe her in the slightest. The hybrid moved to let Klaus in, and he slowly approached the werewitch.
"I'm here, love," he told her quietly, holding his hands out in a non-threatening manner. "Everything is alright. What can I do for you?"
"Hold me," she answered, closing her eyes. "Hold me, and tell me everything is going to be alright."
Slowly, he inched forward and pulled her into a hug. "I've got you," he whispered, feeling her starting to cry again. "I've got you, and I am not letting go. I will be with you every step of the way and I will never let him hurt you again. We are going to fix this, love. We're going to take him down. Everything will be alright, I swear it." He caressed her back, feeling that she was still trembling. "You're not a monster for wanting revenge and enacting it. You've never been a monster. You've always been my angel, my light, my everything. I am profoundly grateful to have met you."
He kissed the top of her head. "I adore you. I want you. I love you. Never, for a second, doubt that."
A/N: Happy 800 pages! Comment for more.