IT HAS BEEN SAID THAT THE HARD TIMES MAKE YOU STRONGER. In ways, that is true. But right now, even though I hold all the magic in the world, I cannot help but feel so weak and defeated.
The other night, I stood in the nursery that was supposed to be for Hope, and maybe, one day she'll use it, but right now, it's not safe for her to be near New Orleans. I looked out the window to the Quarter and just thought about everything. About how we have so much work to do in order to bring my baby home.
I will vanquish whatever enemy stands in my way for her. That starts with Francesca Gurrera who blindsided all of us. She triggered her werewolf curse, along with her men, in order to take over the Quarter. She may have succeeded, but not for long.
While Genevieve is dead, that bitch is still causing problems from beyond the grave. The spell she cast making the moonlight rings connected them to Nik. So whenever a full moon comes, all of his strength is depleted while the other wolves run free. It's taken a toll on him. He's used to being the biggest and baddest creature around. With this, his enemies can overpower him easily.
He is also growing impatient, as am I. We're trying to sell our grief and stay in hiding, but this is getting exhausting. It's been months and we've done nothing.
I sat in my bedroom and read a book when I heard a clanging next door. Nik is on one of his tantrums again with Elijah. I got up and saw that Nik threw a canvas across the room. I take it painting isn't as soothing as he intended it to be.
Elijah picked up the canvas. "I suppose we shall have to call this your white period."
"I'm missing a crucial color in my palette. That of my enemy's blood." Klaus replied. Here we go again.
"Well, I recommend a Venetian red with a dash of rust." Elijah retorted.
"It's been months! I've adhered to our plan, sit and do nothing, sell our grief. And now our child is safely away and another full moon is upon us. Another night of pathetic weakness as the moonlight rings steal my strength. The inertia is killing me. August may be able to hide it better than I, but I know it's killing her, too. I need to act. I-I need to spill blood." Klaus rambled. He's not wrong. I am going stir crazy.
"Well, then. You'll be pleased to know that I've located the last of the 12 rings forged with your blood." Elijah said. Thank god.
Klaus and I smiled. "Then it's time." He spoke.
It's time, indeed.
—
Whenever Davina is in trouble, she rubs the necklace I gave her and it'll zap my chest. I was in the middle of my book when I felt that zap. The best thing about being a powerful witch, I was able to spell the necklace to tell me where she is.
I followed the signal to a record shop. When I walked in, Oliver was talking to her. He's afraid of me. They all are.
"What's going on here?" I grilled him.
"Oh, nothing. Just talking to Davina." He shrugged.
"Talking to her or harassing her?" I questioned him. He didn't say anything. "I think she's a little young for you, Oliver. It's time to go." I spoke. He didn't move. He just stood there. "Go!" I said, louder and slammed open the door with a spell. He didn't stick around longer to test me. He walked out of the shop.
When he was gone, Davina looked at me. "I'm sorry, I just can't stand him."
"Trust me. I don't like him either." I sighed.
The guy behind the counter nodded. "Thank you."
Joe Dalton. He's a vampire who runs the shop. He's harmless. "No problem. I enjoy pissing off the dogs. Especially, him."
I looked back at Davina who let out a sigh of relief. I'm so proud of her. She's come a long way. She told her coven to fuck off and is back in high school. She's really putting her life back together. She's also been really supportive of everything that I've been through. She doesn't push on it, which is good. I just hate lying to her. I wish I could tell her that Hope is alive but I know that would jeopardize everything.
—
We have a plan in motion. We need to get to Francesca but her house is locked up like Fort Knox. We need to attack when it's the most unexpected.
Nik and I decided to go pay a visit to Marcel. We're going to need his help.
"The wolves have the numbers. Back in 1925, the Guerrera pack was maybe 100. We went guerrilla warfare on their asses and wiped them out over a four day fight. But we're not just talking about Guerrera's now. They've got wolves coming in from packs all over." Marcel explained.
"Well, we don't need to hit them all. Just the 12 with the rings that take me out every full moon." Klaus replied.
"You want to find 12 rings. Go out and chop off the hand of every wolf you find until you get what you want. You taught me that. You two and Elijah are stalling. Why?" Marcel asked us.
Funny thing about that.
"Because it's possible they're in possession of something very dangerous to us." I replied. Marcel knows about the surge of power I now have. He knows that I am immortal and that the weapon is also deadly to me. That's another thing that's been keeping me up at night.
"They have the stake that can kill you." Marcel let out, surprised.
"It went missing the night we lost our child. So...it's in play and the thought of that makes me very nervous, especially on nights like tonight." Klaus replied and gestured to the full moon standing tall.
"Why would you tell me that?" Marcel asked Klaus.
"Depends. Do you have it?" Klaus asked him.
"Course not. That kind of weapon does me no good. You die, I die. Along with every vampire we've ever sired. Even if I did have it for August, I'd be dead from you and Davina." Marcel replied. At least he knows.
"Well then, perhaps you'd like to help us get it back." I said.
Marcel looked intrigued. Klaus continued. "We attack the wolves tonight when the moon hits its apex. They won't expect it while I'm weak."
Before Marcel could reply, someone walked in. "Hey, bad news or good news?"
It was Joe from the record shop. "Klaus and August, Joe. Joe, Klaus and August."
Joe smiled at me and nodded. I nodded back.
"Now, you wanna talk Guerrera's, nobody fought harder back in 1925 than Joe here. Fought so hard he retired to retail. Been keeping the peace ever since, living right under their noses." Marcel went on. About that...
"Yeah, well, good news is your order came in this morning. Bad news, I got made. August here saved my ass, but what's done is done, so pour me a drink, play me a song, because it's gonna be my last." Joe went on.
"Joe, don't be dramatic. Just head out of town until things blow over." Marcel told him.
"No way. I don't run from Guerrera's." Joe replied and took a sip of his drink.
"You don't leave, you won't have to. They'll sniff you out in a day." Marcel replied.
"Let them come hunt me down because I've had a good ride." Joe shrugged.
Klaus leaned in. "How would you like to get back in the fight, Joe?"
Joe leaned into the table. "What do you have in mind?"
"I've been thinking about this whole thing the wrong way. Guerrera pack loves to hunt. They're primal. Alphas. I have you my reason for not making a move these past few months. What, pray tell, is theirs?" Klaus asked.
Oh my god. I get it now. "They don't have the stake." I let out with a smirk. That's one person to get off the list.
"Well, then who the hell does?" Marcel asked.
I shrugged. "Tonight it doesn't matter. Because tonight, we're going on a wolf hunt." I smiled.
I have been waiting for the moment I can rip the head off of Francesca since the moment she double crossed us with Genevieve. That bitch has it coming.
—
We went home to tell the plan to Elijah, who to no ones surprised, wasn't pleased. Usually I'm not for a blood bath but after what she did, she deserves every horrible thing that comes her way. Once we eliminate her, that's one less person that is after Hope.
"We have the Guerrera's right where we want them. We have them sitting and worried and now we know they're an army with no defenses against an original." Klaus told him.
"We don't know that for sure." Elijah tried.
"I'm willing to gamble." I shrugged.
"It's too risky. The stake didn't just disappear, someone has it." Elijah tried to reason.
"One enemy at a time. In the end, we'll slay them all." Klaus said and sat down. He winced. The moon is almost risen. "Tonight, we just have to plant the right seeds. And for that, we need help."
With that, we got Hayley. Poor girl has been going through the motions. She did not want to be a hybrid at all and I hate that the choice was taken away from her.
I started to go over what we knew. "We're taking the 12 original rings. Four sit on the hands of the Guerrera brothers. One on Oliver, one on Francesca. Three with the home security details and the rest scattered among the lackeys. Each ring is distinguishable by its setting. Gauche, like those that wear them."
Our plan is to have Joe tell them that we think they have the stake. They're going to want to find it.
"If they believe they can get the stake, they will come for me when I'm weak. Each ring we retrieve will strengthen me, but I will still be at a disadvantage." Klaus spoke.
"Ergo, any hope of our success depends entirely upon our working together." Elijah spoke.
"As long as Francesca is dead, I think it's a successful plan." I let out.
Klaus smiled. "Her head will be delivered to you on a silver platter, my love."
"I'll be the one knocking it off her body." I replied. He smirked.
With that, he had to get moving. I went to leave, but Klaus stopped me.
"Be careful, darling."
I nodded. "Always."
He pressed a soft kiss to my lips and let me go. It's game time.
Cami is in on the plan, too. Joe is going to tell them that the priest got the stake before he died, so the wolves will go to Cami to find it. From there, she will give them an address. At this address will be Marcel and Josh to take them on with wolfsbane coming out of the sprinklers. It's actually a really good plan.
Hayley is going to take on the wolves that come to the compound and Elijah and I are going to Francesca's to get her once and for all.
Elijah and I arrived at Francesca's place and took out her body guards first. When they were dead, the brother's came out next to see Elijah and I standing in the yard.
"Good evening." Elijah smiled.
"Pardon the mess. They were rude." I shrugged.
Elijah ripped one of their hearts out and I snapped the neck of the other with a spell. A simple flick of the wrist.
Elijah went to the door first to see Francesca. She is scared of me when I have the power to kill her and she doesn't have the weapon to kill me.
"It's fine. He can't come in." Francesca said proudly. Oh, just you wait.
"Can't I?" Elijah questioned.
"Don't bluff me. You can't win." She replied. I've already won.
"You mobsters all suffer from such hubris. Do you know Al Capone thought himself invincible back in his day? And in the end, he was sentenced to the wretched filth of Alcatraz for which of his atrocities? Anyone?" Elijah asked. It was silent. "A failure to pay his taxes. The devil's in the details, isn't it?" He paused.
"My, my, you have a beautiful home here. I was so please the city took my suggestion to protect its heritage status and invoke eminent domain. So I suppose that means...this house now belongs to the public, and as such, anyone can enter without invitation." Elijah went on and stepped in the house.
I could've paid to see Francesca's face during that.
In an instant, Elijah fought the rest of the brother's and had them down in seconds. Francesca watched and screamed as he did so. When he was done, Elijah said to her, "My work here is done."
I stepped to the door. "But mine isn't." I smirked.
I watched her soul leave her body. She wasn't expecting me to show up here.
I used a spell to have her rushed to me. My hand went around her neck. She tried to fight me but I used another spell to make it so she can't move. At all. I loved seeing the panic.
"I can't wait to tell my daughter all about how you are the reason she almost died and then how her mommy saved her from the bad bad doggy." I said to her.
She was about to speak, but I stopped her.
"I don't think so."
With that, Elijah handed me a knife and I used it to wipe the head straight off her body.
"That's for Hope."
—
I hate how peacefully I slept that night. When did I become this person? I am a mother, now. I live to take care of my daughter and I just decapitated a woman because she posed a threat. I wish I didn't have to do that, but what choice did I have? The moment Hope came home, she would have killed her.
Nik laid next to me for a while. Told me it was normal to feel that protective. That it was okay for me to do what I did to save Hope but somehow I don't feel any relief.
"August, you are not a monster."
"What if Hope thinks I am?"
"She would never...because she will know all you have done to save her. And one day when she's old enough, we'll tell her all about us. All about what we did to help her."
I sighed and looked at him. "So, what's next? Figuring out what your mom wants?"
"We will destroy my mother. We've done it once. We can do it again. And with your power, she doesn't stand a chance." He paused. "Hope will be home in no time, my love. We will all be reunited. I promise."
With that, he leant down to kiss me softly on my lips. I will never get over that feeling.