September 2, 2012
Hayley was one of the best students Eisa had ever had.
In the four months since their training had begun, the hybrid proved that she was worthy of being taught.
She was determined. She was angry. She remained focused because she knew that all the things Eisa was teaching her were going to help her, the next time anyone dared to try and hurt her daughter.
"There you go," said Eisa, staggering back as Hayley managed to bite into her. "You're—" she wheezed a bit, "getting a lot better at this."
Though Eisa knew nothing about how hybrid powers worked, she'd encouraged Hayley to explore it on her own. Everyday, in a secluded area of the Bayou, they'd practice fighting techniques, having Hayley work on making her turning painless and fast.
Eisa allowed her to bite and scratch and attack her as much as she needed, in order to learn. It usually left her mauled and needing to get her neck snapped so she wouldn't attack Hayley (which was great practice to make sure she knew how to do that to an enemy). It wasn't a terrible ordeal, though, because Klaus was allowing them to continue training, out of respect for what Hayley needed to feel better. This meant they got to take water bottles full of his blood to heal Eisa when she really needed it.
She liked to hold on as long as she could. It was good practice for her. Hayley, initially, hadn't been too happy with Eisa offering herself up to be bitten constantly. But Eisa had quoted, 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger,' and Hayley relented. After all, as Eisa put it, this was helping her gain the upper hand against Klaus. She would eventually develop a tolerance to wolf venom, and it would be harder for her brother to subdue her.
Whenever they weren't training, Eisa was working. She would check in often with Isela, who would send them secure video footage of Hope to keep Hayley and Klaus feeling motivated, especially on full moons, when Klaus was weakened, and Hayley was forced to remember how she would never again turn on the full moon unless she wanted to, all because her daughter had saved her life.
It was a horrible reminder, at least on Hayley's end. She was depressed constantly, and Eisa knew why. While Hayley didn't have a sire bond that connected her with Hope, she had been turned by her, and her loss, the distance between them, the guilt of not being able to protect her daughter better despite the baby being the one who helped Hayley live after she'd been killed and thought permanently dead, it was all too much. Hayley's connection with her daughter was stronger than that of a typical mother and child. It made her sadder. Angrier. And with the heightened emotions, it wasn't doing any wonders for her mental health.
Eisa tried to spend as much time with Hayley as she could, even outside of training. Sometimes, she'd come home after spending hours observing the witches, trying to find out what they knew. So far, they all thought Hope was indeed dead. What struck her as odd was that two new witches were hanging around the French Quarter Coven more often. Vincent Griffith of the Tremé Coven and Kaleb Westphall from the Algiers Coven, seemed to be new members, and they were working quite closely with Esther. While Kaleb struck Eisa as a harmless kid, there was something about Vincent that unsettled her.
They were helping Esther, who, while still in the body of Cassie, was helping Francesca make new moonlight rings for any wolf that swore loyalty to the Guerreras, and acknowledged Francesca as their Alpha. Thankfully, these new rings didn't diminish Klaus's strength any further, but the twelve original rings that were made were leaving him incapacitated every full moon since Hope's birth.
At the very least, it didn't seem that Esther suspected that her four children knew that she was in Cassie's body. Which was good, because they had no idea where the white oak stake was (it had disappeared the night the Guerreras attacked), and they knew they needed more time to think up a plan that would guarantee success. With all that extra time, Eisa did her best to keep Hayley sane.
She would read with her, sometimes to her. They'd stay up late watching movies, criticizing bits of it and having discussions afterward. Sometimes, Hayley would just go into a long rant, and Eisa would listen, giving the best advice she could. Other times, Hayley would ask questions about what being a mother was like, so she could be ready for when Hope returned to them. It was conversations like that that truly made Eisa miss the times, centuries ago, when she raised her siblings.
She traveled very rarely, to kill those highest on her hit list. She couldn't take Hayley with her, obviously, but she'd tell her about them.
Ginevra de Castilla, a distant relative of Isabel de Castilla, sired by Eisa in 1494. She had slaughtered a massive group of children on a field trip in the 1990s, and Eisa had been hunting her since. She'd been dead within hours of Eisa finally finding out where she was located.
Esteban Mendez, sired in 1405. Just a year ago, he'd sexually assaulted two minors who he'd found walking home at night. Eisa had found him rather quickly and disposed of his body before anyone could know what happened.
Samuel, an unnamed peasant boy Eisa had taken pity on in the year 1302. He'd roofied, kidnapped, and killed fifteen women in the past two year. Eisa had left his body on full display at the bar he hunted them at, having located him after he'd gone underground, hiding because he knew she'd be after him. He'd begged her for mercy. She'd torn his spleen out through his throat.
Serafina Dalton, sired in 1270, had gone to a Pride Parade and killed nearly one hundred members of the LGBTQ+ community in what was ruled as a bombing. Eisa kept her for a few days, torturing her until she decided to kill her and rid the world of her wretched presence.
"There are so many more I still need to hunt," said Eisa, offering Hayley a glass of bourbon. They were seated by Eisa's window, looking out over another funeral, where trumpets blared and people danced, celebrating the life of someone neither vampire had ever met.
"You're efficient, though," said Hayley. "Sounds like you have your poor witches working overtime trying to locate all these... how many are on your hit list as of now? Sixty-seven people who have done something evil."
Eisa smirked. "I compensate them for their work. I get them the jobs and homes they want, I give them money to send their kids to college and buy them nice things. I give them protection so they don't get hurt for the help they offered me. It takes time to find them, my sirelings are unfortunately intelligent little twits who get Cloaking Spells done, and change their names. But they can never hide for long."
Hayley, who had briefly seen Eisa's list, decided to ask her about one of the names. "The one at the very top. That guy... you didn't go after him. But those four you killed these past months... they took up spots two through five. What happened with that guy? Shen Min."
Eisa gritted her teeth. "He was a torture consultant for Genghis Khan. I turned him in the year 1227. He was so brutal. After what had happened with Aya... I was a different person. I was drawn to those like him. Sadists. Masochists, even. He loved showing how well he resisted pain. He loved to inflict it. We slept together often, before and after I turned him. Out of everyone I've slept with, he's the most brutal in bed. It's almost concerning how rough he is. I eventually left, I wanted to travel a bit more, and he obviously didn't wish to come with me. I saw him, centuries later, and he caught me with a woman. He had since become a member of the Strix, and he knew Aya, and he... well, he didn't react too well when he found out that I fancied the ladies. He started to view me as weak. He said some very cruel things. Over time, he's followed after me, killed women I've slept with as if to threaten me. We've dueled several times. Out of everyone in the Strix, we've seen each other most, because he seeks me out, to torment me."
Hayley blinked. "So, basically, this guy hunts you."
"He likes to think he does," said Eisa. "Really, I don't care to hide my whereabouts from anyone. I allow him to find me. He hardly ever manages to get to me. So he'll hit the closest spot he can— someone I care about. It's terrible, really, and it's one of the reasons I've limited myself in the past. I don't wish to place a target on anyone's back, especially not a younger supernatural who wouldn't stand a chance against him."
"He sounds like an asshole."
"He is. And the bastard has the entire Strix Coven helping him hide. My witches can never locate him. Besides, right now, most are working to find the other people on the list. And, the other trusted few are working to find this blasted white oak stake. I've offered to have one of my witches help find the twelve original moonlight rings, but Elijah insists he has it handled."
"You seem so stressed," said Hayley, frowning a bit. "You're out and about all the time when you're not training me. It's a lot for you."
"Oh, darling, don't worry about me. When I ran the Strix, we'd spend some weeks working twenty four hours a day on training. No sleep allowed for seven days or more. Vampires don't need to sleep, after all, and it helps build endurance. With them, I also ran very strict feeding schedules. I'd teach them to stay firm even when they hadn't had a drop of blood in days. One of the men I trained— Mohinder, one of Elijah's sirelings— was my best pupil when it came to that. I haven't the faintest idea how he could last so long without blood. And he made a name for himself, by not drinking human blood. He only drinks the blood of those who he defeats in combat. As you can imagine, he doesn't feed very often. And yet, his strength doesn't diminish."
Hayley raised her eyebrows. "These Strix vampires sound pretty intense."
Eisa blinked. "Well, of course they are, Elijah and I created them. They took after him, being all proper and well-dressed. I was the one who made them warriors on the inside."
"I wanted to thank you," said Hayley, scooting her chair closer. "I can imagine it was different, then. Training a whole group, for a cause that mattered to you. You were their Queen, they needed to serve you. You're giving a lot of your time now to help me, and you don't owe me that."
Eisa took her hand. "You lost your child. You gained abilities you didn't want. You needed to learn to control it. You needed an outlet. Look at you now. You're prepared to defeat anyone who would lay a hand on your daughter. I didn't think it right to just sit back and let you work it out on your own. I know you never wanted to be a vampire. I know you don't even fully like vampires. What sort of partner would I be if I didn't try to help you ease into it?"
"I don't know," said Hayley quietly. "I guess, with the way I've been treated in the past, I just expected that you'd be... disgusted with the new me. I've become so much more brutal. I'm not the same girl you met that day you arrived at the plantation house.
"That was a year ago," mentioned Eisa. "No one could expect you to be the same after what you've been through. I get it. It happened to me, remember? My sister told it to you, before we met. I was so motherly before, quite gentle, hardly killed, had never even turned anyone into a vampire. I returned a complete monster, and I felt shame. But my siblings accepted me as I was, and it helped me quite a bit. Why shouldn't I accept this new you? I rather like it. You were strong before, and you're stronger now. You were efficient before, and you're more efficient now. You've grown, and I can see that now, you feel a bit more pride in your hybrid nature. That's an improvement. That's the sort of progress that will ensure you can see your daughter again, soon. And, above all that, you've become far more beautiful. You radiate a confidence you didn't use to have, and I can see you value yourself more than you did. I like seeing you this way. Happy with who you are. Determined to accomplish your goals."
Hayley set her drink down, pulling Eisa to meet her in the middle, their lips colliding.
Kissing. That was as far as they'd gone. A bit of groping, of course, neither could keep their hands at their sides for very long. They didn't do it often, either. This was only around the fifth time in the past four months, since their first kiss.
"Are you shivering?" asked the Original as she pressed her body into Hayley's, kissing her lips harder as her tongue tried to move into her mouth.
"Maybe," said Hayley, wrapping her legs around Eisa's waist and pulling her further down. "Feed on me."
"Is that really fair?" asked Eisa, trailing her tongue down Hayley's jaw, and then her neck. "You can't feed on me."
"Yes I can, you just need to have Klaus's blood afterward. Feed on me, Eisa."
The Original didn't hesitate any further. She bit into her, sighing in pleasure as Hayley's hand shot up, tangling in her hair and pushing her head down to keep her teeth latched onto her body. When she'd had enough, she used her vampiric speed to switch their positions, so that Eisa was under her now.
"You're so eager," cooed Eisa, looking up as Hayley pinned her down onto her bed by her wrists. The hybrid watched as the Original slowly licked the blood off of her own lips. "I like this new you."
"Why?" asked Hayley, smirking at her as she ground their hips together, hands tracing over Eisa's chest and slowly undoing the buttons of her shirt.
"You used to be so submissive. You'd whine if I whispered anything in your ear. Now, you're trying to be in charge. It's a nice change."
"Oh, yes, because you're so used to being top. Not anymore. The first time we do it, you can be top, but after that, I can't promise I won't try to do it more often."
"Aw," cooed Eisa, arching her neck back as Hayley started to kiss her clavicle "Bold of you to assume that a pup could gain the upper hand against an Original."
The hybrid gripped her throat, pulling her up. "Want to say that again?" asked the hybrid lowly, making Eisa smirk as she tried to breathe. When Hayley saw she was amused, she squeezed harder, which made Eisa grin more, letting her body go limp, playfully.
"So hot," the Original said, winking at her as she released her. "I've never been choked before, did you know that? Not in this context, at least. I always do it to others."
She seized Hayley's neck, moving to pin her face-first into the wall, with Eisa behind her, using her entire body to keep the hybrid trapped.
"You may want to be in charge," the Original whispered, sliding her hands down Hayley's sides, "but you haven't learned enough to be trying to command me, princess." She heard the slightest whimper, and pressed her hips forward, eliciting a gasp from the hybrid. "That's right. You're mine. I may allow you to be in charge from time to time, to see how you do. We'll just have to see, won't we?"
Hayley reached back, holding Eisa's body and pulling her further forward. The Original smirked, nipping at the hybrid's ear. "Look at you," she cooed. "Begging me to keep you restrained here. Desperate. Tell me what you want, princess."
"I want you," managed Hayley as Eisa brought her hand up her leg, sliding between them before snaking its way up her chest to hold her throat from behind. "Show me what it's like."
"Patience. You're not ready yet, sweetheart. Your training isn't finished. Going all the way is your reward for getting through it."
Eisa released her, turning her around and pressing their lips together, picking her up and keeping her against the wall, legs around her waist as Hayley held her face, keeping them locked together.
With a very satisfied smirk on her face, Eisa had gone out into town to fetch a few things she needed. Hayley had gone out into the Bayou to practice using her senses to find a necklace Eisa had hidden out there, a few days ago. Klaus was going to meet with Marcel, and Elijah was making plans to attack the Guerreras, now that he'd located the last of the twelve original rings.
"Wonderful," she said, looking at her phone and seeing a text from her brothers, asking her to get home. She made to leave the shop she was in, without buying anything, when she collided with someone. Stepping back, she saw Vincent Griffith looking at her.
"Mr. Griffith," she said a bit stiffly, trying to get around him so she could leave.
He got in her way. "Ms. Mikaelson," he said, tucking one hand behind his back and holding out the other for her to shake. "I was looking forward to seeing you."
"Were you?" she said dryly, taking his hand and barely shaking it. "I've got to run."
"That's a shame," said the man, stepping aside to let her go. "I'd been looking forward to this."
Eisa nearly froze.
"That's a shame," said Finn as he and Eisa walked beside him, greeting guests at the Mikaelson ball. She'd just told him that she didn't like this one bit. "I'd been looking forward to this. It seemed to make Mother happy, planning the evening for all of us."
"I have to run," she said again before darting out.
She had to be hallucinating, right? Her own paranoia was rising, because she didn't understand why someone like Vincent Griffith would be around Cassie so much. It was just a coincidence. This couldn't possibly be Finn. Finn was dead, and he wasn't a witch. He knew spells, but he'd never had powers of his own. He couldn't have come back the way Esther did.
Shaking her head, she walked in the study, finding her brothers waiting with Hayley.
"Eisa, wonderful," said Klaus. "Elijah believes we ought not move through with the plan. I say, we ought to. We have the Guerreras where we want them. We have them waiting, we have them worried, and now, we know they're an army with no defenses against an Original."
"It's too risky!" said Elijah sharply. "Everything I have prepared will be useless if they get their hands on that stake. Someone has it. We do not even know who."
"I'm willing to gamble," said Klaus. "What about you, Eisa?"
Eisa pursed her lips. "Elijah has a point, Nik. The moon will rise soon, and you'll be incapacitated. It will be up to the rest of us to do everything."
"Tonight," said Klaus, "we just have to plant the right seeds, and for that, we need help. When I spoke with Marcel, his vampire comrade— a fellow named Joe— arrived, and he offered his help. Now, that building Elijah has just recently kept out of the Guerreras' grasp is stocked with wolfsbane. Marcel has been doing it for months, placing it in the sprinkler system."
"Let me guess," said Eisa, crossing her arms. "You, Joe, and Marcel already formulated a plan."
Klaus cast her an innocent look, and she groaned. "Why do we bother—? What is it, Niklaus?"
As it turned out, earlier in the day, Davina has rescued Joe after wolves had stormed into his records shop and forced him out of the Quarter. He'd agreed to turn himself into them, so that he could be taken to Francesca Guerrera. He'd tell them that Klaus suspected they had the white oak stake. They obviously didn't, considering they hadn't attacked. They would try to find it, which wouldn't work, of course. Cami had already been roped in, consenting for Joe to tell the Guerreras that the stake landed in the hands of Father Kieran before he left New Orleans. The wolves would be lured to the Olmstead Foundry Co., where the stockpiled wolfsbane could be found.
"We're taking the twelve original rings," said Elijah, once this had been established. "Now, four of them sit on the hands of the Guerrera brothers. One on Oliver, one on Francesca, three with the home security detail, and the rest scattered amongst her lackeys. Now, each ring is distinguishable by its setting— gauche, like those that wear them."
"When they realize we don't have the stake," said Eisa, sitting back on the couch and thinking, "they'll wish to get to Nik, because they'll be confident in their ability to acquire it. One of us has to stay here, protecting him, because he won't be at full strength until all the rings are taken off the fingers of those who wear them. Hayley—?"
The hybrid nodded. "I'll stay here. Just promise me that Francesca doesn't come out of this alive."
Klaus smirked. "Her head will be delivered to you on a silver platter, little wolf."
They went their separate ways. Joe went straight to the Guerrera mansion, with Eisa guarding the perimeter around it. Elijah went to ensure Cami's safety for when the wolves came to question her about the location of the stake. Klaus burrowed away in his artroom, and Hayley patrolled the hallways. Marcel and Josh waited, ready to bathe the Guerreras in wolfsbane.
Eisa moved closer, once she saw two groups of wolves leaving the house. She saw Cassie exit the building, with Vincent Griffith trailing behind her. She waited until they were out of earshot before sweeping forward and attacking the five guards that were protecting the four gate doors. Easily, she sliced their heads off, before any of them could sound the alarm to Francesca.
She slipped into the garden, finding more guards were exiting the house to defend the entrances.
Eisa went to the back one first, furthest from where she could see Francesca sitting and talking with a few of her brothers. Seeing a ring on one of the wolves' hands, she punched out two hearts, then tore the ring off, pocketing it before slipping to the front of the house.
This was messier.
She could hear Francesca had heard the grunts this time, and to shield who it was, she tore one of the guards' aortas out, using the high pressure to spray blood all over the nearest window, giving her a chance to slip away and hide, taking a second moonlight ring with her just before a different guard exit the house and took the fallen one's place.
"Marcel has acquired two of the original rings," whispered Elijah to her, when he found her perched in a tree, listening in on what was happening inside the house. "He has also managed to seize four of the new rings forged by our mother. Hayley has acquired three—"
"And I have two," she said, patting her pocket. "That makes seven original rings. Rings eight through twelve are on Francesca and her brothers. Want to take care of those? Hayley will want to come here to get Francesca, so I ought to return home to keep Nik safe."
Elijah nodded, and Eisa slipped away, returning to the Compound, where Hayley was dragging dead bodies to the trash can. Their eyes met, and Eisa nodded, letting Hayley know she could leave. The hybrid was gone in milliseconds, and Eisa got to cleaning before going upstairs, seeing her brother had killed two wolves with just paint brushes.
"What an artist," she said, smirking as she watched him using the wolf blood to paint.
He cast her a smile, looking up as Elijah entered the art room. "I'm still not at full strength. Which of the rings are unaccounted for?"
"Only one," said Elijah. "I must say, the brothers fought valiantly before Ms. Guerrera escaped."
Klaus looked at him incredulously. "You let her get away?"
Elijah pursed his lips. "Not exactly. Hayley offered the idea before I attacked them. She's in pursuit. I expect she'll be back soon."
They knew she was back when they heard an angry huff followed by furniture being thrown around in another room.
"Rearranging your room?" asked Eisa, peeking in and seeing Hayley had wrecked quite a few things in one of the guest bedrooms.
"Why the hell don't I feel better?" snapped Hayley, turning to face her. "I thought— I thought if I kept up with the training, I'd be ready, and I was ready. I killed her. She looked me in the eye and begged me for her life as I tore her apart. And I said to myself, just get rid of her already. This is what you practiced for. So I did it. And I don't fucking know— I guess I expected that my head would clear, that I'd be as relaxed as I can be, when I'm with you, looking at the videos Isela sends of Hope. But I'm not relaxed. I'm pissed. I don't feel better— I don't feel peace. I don't feel anything."
She slammed her foot into the dresser, breaking the drawer on it. "When I was living with the Crescents in the Bayou, I finally understood the purity of being a wolf. The nobility. I killed eight wolves tonight before I got to Francesca. Eight of my own people. What's noble than that? I acted no better than a..."
"A vampire," finished Eisa quietly.
Hayley nodded, sinking onto the broken bed. " I can't even control my temper anymore. Look— I wrecked a perfectly good room for no reason." Her eyes flickered up, and she looked embarrassed. "And I just said something fucked up about vampires. Yet, you're still standing here. I don't deserve that, Eisa."
"You never stopped being a wolf when you became a hybrid," said the Original, sitting beside her. "You just added vampirism. Tonight, you killed traitors. You killed men and women who sought to harm an innocent baby. They didn't consider you or your daughter one of them, even though you are. As morbid as it is, this is what gets me from sulking after every person I kill. Some of them just deserve it. You don't kill innocents, Hayley. You do what any mother would— slaughter those who'd dare to pose a threat to her child.
"It's a brutal reality. And it won't make you feel better. Because you're good. All emotions are heightened now. And you feel guilt in a way you never did before. I kept killing, throughout my life, to the point where I no longer feel bad when I take someone's life. That's wrong. That's cruel. You? This remorse you feel? It shows that even as a hybrid, you have the ability to empathize, and that is more important than you could possibly know. It's a challenge, yes. And you'll overcome it, just as you've overcome many things in your life. The truth is, you won't feel peace until that little girl is back in your arms. Until you can see for yourself that everything you did was to protect her.
"It's something you'll need to get used to. You have a good amount of self control. I know you'll never hurt an innocent person. You'll only do what you must to protect Hope. It's why you train, it's why you go all out to do what needs to be done. It's the sacrifice a mother makes for her child. You're a new and different person. But the part of you that still lingers keeps you becoming better, rather than worse. You'll always be a wolf. You'll always understand the nobility and purity of it. It gives you an advantage. You comprehend the world in a different way, one which keeps you being mindful of who you're hurting."
Hayley's lip trembled, and she pulled Eisa into a hug, just needing to let it all out.
The Original held her as she cried.