I walk out of the kitchen and into the Courtyard from cleaning the twins bottles to see the Chief of Police dangling over the balcony. Furrowing my eyebrows in confusion, my eyes trail to the hand holding him by his neck.
"I think this city's finest could try a bit harder." Nik tells the man.
"Okay." The man agrees, his voice quivering in fear.
"What the hell are you doing?!" I exclaim, annoyed with his theatrics.
"Motivating the police in their efforts to locate Aurora." Nik says nonchalantly.
"I see we're in for another normal Mikaelson breakfast." Freya comments from behind Nik, although I can't see her from this angle.
"Niklaus, for heaven's sake, release the poor creature." I hear Elijah tell him and I groan, knowing what's going to happen next.
Nik removes his hand from the man's neck and he falls. So, using my speed I run over and jump, grabbing the Chief mid fall, allowing my momentum to land us gently on the ground. The Chief quickly grips his chest and turns around to look at me. Disbelief and shock cover his expression.
"Thank you." He whispers.
"No problem." I smile slightly, before joining the siblings upstairs.
"That's not what I meant." Elijah disapproves.
"He'll live." Nik shrugs.
"Yes." I cross my arms. "But how can he find Aurora with two broken legs."
"You caught him. No bones broken." He smirks. "Besides, he'll remember to do better." Nik walks past Freya and Elijah and into the study. I roll my eyes at him and follow.
"Is all this torture necessary?" Freya inquires as I sit on the couch.
"Where have you been?" Nik says.
"I was making sure that The Strix and their witches were out trying to find your loony ex-girlfriend. Is that okay by you--" Marcel explains entering the room from the other side and following Nik to his chair.
"Gentlemen, please." Elijah interjects cutting Marcel off.
"All of our heads are on the chopping block because he lost the one thing that can kill an Original." Marcel accuses pointing at Nik.
"Cami was waving the white oak around like a kite and how was he to know Aurora made a deal with one of your witches." Freya turns the blame.
"It's not his fault." I add to Freya's defense.
"Oh, yeah, it is." Marcel scoffs.
"I'm quite capable of defending myself." Nik states standing and facing Freya. "Thank you, Freya. What I cannot do it cast a spell to find Aurora. In that respect, we're alike."
"Hey!" I snap at him. "Lay off of her." Freya nods at me, before looking back at Nik.
"Aurora is cloaked, most likely by the very witch she killed." Freya tells him. "I have been working nonstop, everyday."
"Well, you've stopped now, haven't you." Nik quips as she looks at him in defiance. "Well, go on. On your way."
"Do you talk to our other sister like this?" Freya inquires and Nik doesn't respond. "Didn't think so." Freya turns and storms out. I shoot daggers at Nik.
"Freya..." Elijah tries to stop her, but she ignores him.
"Do you have any control of what comes out of your mouth or do you just enjoy being an ass?" I sneer at Nik and he just shrugs.
"What do we know about this traitor in The Strix coven?" Elijah probes, changing the subject.
"Nothing." Marcel responds. "No one knows how Aurora got to her, and no one knows where Aurora is. Our coven hit the same cloaking spell as Freya."
"Your coven?" Nik interjects. "Making yourself quite comfortable with The Strix, aren't you?"
"Yeah, yeah. To help you." Marcel counters as he pushes by Nik. Nik grabs his bicep and turns him back to look at him.
"Any other news from your new BFF's you'd like to make us aware of?" Nik says. Marcel holds his stare without fear.
"Niklaus, why don't we reserve any malevolent intentions for ex-girlfriends?" Elijah suggests. Marcel yanks his arm away and leaves.
"You might want to stop shitting on the people trying to help you." I glare at him. "Because one day they won't."
"Kelsey, I don't need a lecture." Nik groans.
"No." I snap. "You need a lesson on human decency."
"Well, I'm not human." He smirks.
"Don't give me that bullshit." I roll my eyes. "They call it a humanity switch for a reason. And if you want people to help you, you need to stop accusing, degrading, and insulting them." Bexley begins to cry, so I stand up and vamp to her.
_____________________
Nik called me and told me that while he was asking Hayley to keep an eye on Cami, Aurora kidnapped Freya. So, I ask one of the people Nik has on standby to provide fresh blood to watch the twins. I made sure to compelled the girl, so that she couldn't treat them in a way I wouldn't approve. I enter the tower of St. Louis Cathedral. It's Freya's tower where she does her spells undisturbed. However, now everything is smashed and knocked over, creating a mess.
"A forest of pine
And a box made so fine
Come quickly
If not, then poor Freya shall rot
Buried in dirt for all time." Nik reads from the note Aurora left.
"Who does this bitch think she is? Robert Frost?" I scoff crossing my arms.
"The woman is insane." Nik says.
"Does she have to punish us with the world's most unfortunate limerick?" Elijah muses unimpressed. "Is it not enough that we're forced to play her wretched games?"
"Freya saw a vision of herself being buried alive." Nik informs us, making me groan.
"Aurora will do everything in her power to bring about this miserable prophecy." Elijah says.
"Let's go stop her, shall we?" Nik grabs the necklace Aurora left and we follow him out.
______________________
The necklace Aurora left has a compass pendant. Elijah has it and is leading us in the direction Aurora wants us to follow. We trail through the woods until we see the roof of a cabin.
"Freya's not in there." Nik says as we come to a stop. "She was, I can smell her blood but the stronger scent is due west."
"You track the scent, I'll take the cabin. Kelsey, you go with him." Elijah suggests. We start to head off in different direction, but Elijah calls out again. "And, Niklaus whatever happens, you promise me..."
"Aurora dies today." Nik finishes and we continue to follow Freya's blood.
"Do you have anymore insane ex-girlfriends I should be concerned about?" I inquire.
Nik chuckles and shakes his head. "None that I care to remember."
"Good, because I don't think I could handle another Aurora." I sigh. "Anymore and me and the twins are taking a vacation, while you deal with them."
"And I can't come?" He muses, smiling.
"Are you kidding?" I laugh. "They'd follow you."
"Well, I can't say I blame them." He jokes.
"Ha-Ha." I mock. "There isn't enough forest for your ego. But, I will say Aurora has nothing on me and you'll do best to remember that."
Nik laughs in amusement. "You wouldn't be planning on being my ex, would you?"
"Hey! I died giving birth to your babies, I'd say you're stuck with me." I nudge him.
"I wouldn't have it any other way." He smiles looking at me.
However, before I can respond I see a grave with purple flowers sticking out of the freshly moved dirt. My eyes widen and Nik follows my gaze. Nik quickly dug up a wooden coffin. He tosses it out of the grave.
"Hey, be careful." I warn him. He opens it. The coffin is empty with the words 'Guess Again' written in blood. Nik looks at it in confusion as I look to the right and see about fifteen graves, just like that one. "Nik." I mutter gaining his attention.
"Oh, bloody hell." He sighs.
I take a deep breath and I try to smell her blood, but with each coffin having blood written words it's a bit harder. Until, suddenly the scent becomes overwhelmingly strong. My head snap to a couple of graves away from me and I see blood magically floating off the flowers and into the air. I share a look with Nik, him seeing it too, and we both hurry forward. He vamp speeds all the dirt out of our way with his shovel. As soon as it's gone I jump into the grave and yank the coffin open. Freya gasps, taking in more air, since she was on a limited supply. The blood is coming from what appears to be a bullet wound. She is incredibly pale and clearly weak. Nik jumps in the hole with us and he gathers her in his arms and climbs out, me following. He bites his wrist and brings it to her mouth and she drinks. Her wound is healed in no time, but she don't look any better.
"What did she do to you?" I ask her in concern.
"She drugged me with whatever Tristan was drugging her with when he kept her locked away." She mutters.
Nik and I share a look, before we simultaneously grab her arms and lift her so she was standing. Then, we put her arms over our shoulders and started to make our way to the cabin.
_____________________
Nik, Freya, and I stumble through the cabin doors to see Aurora push Elijah in our direction. She holds us a gun point, as Nik and I lean Freya on the door frame. She is still unable to completely hold herself up.
"How are you alive?!" Aurora's eyes widen in frustration as she glares at me. She hasn't seen me since she kidnapped Cami and I and according to her face, none of her allies informed her I didn't die. "I compelled that therapist to kill you!"
"Many people have tried to kill me and failed." I sneer. "You're not special honey."
"UGHH!" She squeals pissed off, making my smirk.
"Stop this." Nik demands.
"Why?" She questions. "One brother's life to end another brother's torment? It's almost poetic."
"You're doing this for your brother?" I scoff. "He locked you away and kept you drugged. Your brother doesn't care about you. He just wanted to keep you away from whatever he was doing so that you didn't get in the way. You were nothing more than a liability."
She turns the gun on me. "You don't know what you're talking about! My brother loves me and he is the only family I have!"
"The bullets..." Her aim changes back to Elijah as he speaks. "They're white oak, Niklaus."
Nik leaves mine and Freya's side and starts to walk towards her. My heart drops when the gun turns on Nik and I go to step forward, but Freya weakly grabs me. "We both know you're not going to pull the trigger." Nik says calmly. He stops walking when he is shoulder to shoulder with Elijah.
"Yet again, you're wrong." Aurora tells him. Then, she turns the gun back to Elijah and Freya quickly raises her hand and magically pushes to bullet as Aurora pulls the trigger. The bullet soars into the wooden post behind Elijah, instead of into his heart. Elijah ducks out of the way and Aurora disappears.
Freya starts coughing violently and sinks to the ground. I grab her and follow, getting on my knees and keeping her up. Nik comes over and looks at her in concern.
"Tend to Freya." He tells Elijah. "I have to murder my ex." I go to stand, but he stops me. "Stay here."
"Nik, you can't go alone." I protest.
"She can't kill me if you're alive." He reasons. "She doesn't know about the bond, but if she kills us both then we actually die." I reluctantly nod in understanding and he vamps away.
My phone rings and Davina's name flashes across the screen. I glance at Elijah and he nods taking Freya from me.
I quickly answer it. "Are you okay?"
"Kelsey, where are you?" Davina asks frantically.
"Dealing with Aurora with Nik and Elijah. Why? What's wrong?" I question in concern and Freya and Elijah look at me confused.
"You have to listen to me." She stresses. "Aya's witches are coming to kill you."
"What are you talking about?"
"They need an unsired heart. The twins blood in your system is why you transitioned." She quickly explains and my eyes widen.
"I'm not the only one." I breath out.
"Hayley..." Davina says in realization.
"I'll take care of it."
"No, wait, Kelsey...." But I cut her off by hanging up. I quickly hang up and call Hayley.
"What's up?" She asks breathlessly when she answers.
"Where are you?"
"Marcel's gym. Why?" She inquires.
"Aya's witches are after us. Stay there and I'll explain when I get there." I hang up and look at Elijah. "You heard?" And he nods. "Good I got to go."
I don't give him time to respond, instead I high tail it to Hayley.
_____________________
I bust through the gym door and rush into the boxing ring with Cami and Hayley.
"Are you guys okay?" I ask and they both nod. "Good, let's g--"
I'm cut off by the doors swinging open again and a witch in a black cloak storms in. Hayley and I take our position in front of Cami.
"Get out of here. Right now." Hayley tells Cami. The witch throws her hands forward and sends Hayley and I flying into to top of the cage, making the fenced wall come down with us as we yell in surprise.
Hayley groans and sits up and the witch sends her soaring into the wall behind her, breaking a bar that held a punching bag. Hayley grunts and tries to get up, but the witch forces her down. In anger, I flash my eyes at the, now, three witches and growl. One of the new witches flicks her wrist and slams me into the same wall and I crumble on the ground beside Hayley, unable to move.
The witches begin to advance towards us. Cami vamps to her purse and pulls out one of her Dark Objects. She quickly puts it on the ground and freezes the witch that has a hold on Hayley. Hayley jumps up and grabs a jump rope. Cami kicks the next witch coming at her and she hits her head on the boxing ring as she falls, going unconscious. Which, breaks me free and I jump up and grab a metal bar. Hayley vamps to the frozen witch and wraps the jump rope around her neck, breaking in. She falls to the ground limp.
I send my metal bar through the air and impel the witch sneaking up behind Cami. Cami swings around and looks at the now dead witch and then back you me and she nods in appreciation. Two more witches appear and they send multiple aneurisms to Cami's head, making her groan in pain and fall to her knees until she passes out. Then, since Hayley is closer to them they start magically yanking her heart out of her chest. She screams in agony, unable to fight back as her shirt starts to become stained with her blood. She falls to her knees and clinches her chest.
I snarl and run at them, but they start to do the same to me, stopping me in my tracks beside Hayley. Fire erupts in my chest and I let out a blood curdling scream. I grab my chest and then look at my fingers to see them coated in my blood. My ears begins to ring as I fall next to Hayley.
I know I have to do something or Hayley and I are going to die. So, I grit my teeth together and grunt as I force myself to stand through the pain. However, as my legs straighten out they send more magic at me and I scream in anguish. Their torment sending me back down to my knees. Hayley continues to try and fight through the pain.
I turn my glare to the witches. "You want our hearts? Then come and get them." I say daringly. They pull on my heart even harder and I gasp.
Suddenly, the two witches groan in pain and fall unconscious to the side. The burning pain through my chest stops and Hayley and I stay on our knees to regain our breath.
"What happened?" Hayley asks looking at the passed out witches and taking in copious amounts of air.
"I don't know." I swallow thickly. "Let's not stick around and find out." We both stagger to our feet as Aya storms in and approaches us.
"I thought I smelled arrogance." Hayley taunts.
"I think you meant confidence." Aya counters. "But I can understand how the uneducated are apt to confuse the two."
"Actually, she meant she thought she smelled bitch." I shrug. "She was 100% correct."
"You want to tell me what your dead-eyed drones want with our heart?" Hayley inquires, since I haven't had the chance to explain.
"It's nothing personal." Aya tells us. "I just value my life above yours."
Aya charges at Hayley with her hand ready to impel her, but Hayley dodges just in time. I throw my leg into Aya's side and she staggers back. Hayley punches her across the face and Aya bounces back and Aya lands a hit to my temple. She swings at Hayley and Hayley dodges it. Hayley throws her fist at Aya. Aya catches it and smacks Hayley with her other hand breaking her neck, sending her to the floor. Aya reaches over and grips my neck and slams me into the weights. I hear my back bone crack and I'm unable to move. She raises her hand to bury it into my chest, but Marcel grabs her and pulls her back.
"You take her heart, you start a war." Marcel says pinning Aya to his chest.
"Fine." She sighs. "I'll take that ones." She looks down at Hayley.
"And you'll get the same result." Marcel denies. "The Mikaelsons will destroy us for touching either one of them."
Aya head butts him causing him to release his grip on her. She quickly turns around and punches him in the stomach, making him double over.
"Don't let your association with werewolf trash cloud the opportunity before you." Aya tells him.
Aya turns her back to him and comes back to me and I still haven't healed enough to get out of the way. Marcel gets up and grabs a metal bar. He swings it into Aya's back. The grunts and falls to the floor.
"The Mikaelsons will kill us before you can even light the candles on that spell." Marcel warns her, holding the metal bar and pointing it at her.
Aya kicks the side of his weapon closest to her and the other end hits Marcel in the face. He loses his grip on the bar and Aya grabs it as she stands. She swings it at him and and her catches it. So, she shoves him up against the wall, holding the bar across his neck. As she's distracted, feeling returns to my limps and I am able to make small movements.
"There is no alternative." Aya says.
"You're wrong." Marcel chokes out. "Give me a few hours to set this thing straight." She tightens in the bar, lifting him off his feet. "Or, push me out of the way and condemn yourself and everyone else in The Strix to a slow and painful death." She pushes him up more making him groan. "I wanna be de-linked just as much as you do. Give me the chance to do it the right way." Aya releases him and he falls to his feet.
"Bring me a solution by midnight, or I'll rip out your heart. Right before I come back and take hers." Aya threats and then she vamps away.
Marcel sighs and then he walks over to me and grabs my hand. I grit my teeth and groan in pain as her helps me sit up. Hayley opens her eyes and sits up and looks around for any danger.
"Are you guys okay?" Marcel asks after he helps Hayley up too.
"I think so." I nod reassuringly. "Thanks to you."
"Don't sweat it." He shakes his head.
Hayley goes over to Cami and picks her up. "I'm going to take her home." I nod in acknowledgement and she leaves.
"I should go too." I tell Marcel. "Thank you for helping. If you need help finding another solution or you don't have a plan by midnight, come find me and I'll help you. That bitch isn't killing Hayley or you, if I have anything to say about it."
Marcel chuckles and nods. "You got it." I pat his shoulder as I walk pass him and out the door.
_____________________
When I enter the Compound Hayley, Elijah, and Nik are waiting for me. Hayley is pacing and Elijah is making drinks. Nik sits on a chair looking anxious.
"Pour me one too, please." I nod at Elijah. Nik's head jerks up and lays his eyes on me.
His shoulder relax. "Are you alright?" He inquire as he scans my body, before his eyes land on the blood on the center of my shirt.
"Just dandy." I mutter sarcastically, while taking my glass from Elijah and downing it. Then, I plop on the couch and let out a sigh.
"The attack was about breaking the sire link." Hayley tells them.
"Davina told me that Aya's witches already have the spell to do it." I add.
"And how does yours and Hayley's hearts play into all of this?" Nik questions.
"Kelsey and I are the only unsired hearts in history." Hayley answers. "Apparently, that's the key to make it work."
"And yet, Marcel neglected to mention it this morning." Nik scoffs.
"He didn't know they'd need the heart." I defend him. "Davina warned me as soon as she figured it out. Marcel saved our lives."
"But The Strix might yet come for you both." Elijah points out.
"Let them." Hayley shrugs. "We're not easy targets."
"You got that right." I agree.
"They'd be better off trying to find some witchy workaround." Hayley adds.
"Unless they already have." Nik says in slight realization.
"They need one of our hearts." Hayley says. "Or one that's identical to it."
I sit up straight. "Jackson." Elijah and I state in unison. Hayley gasps and sighs deeply.
"The unification ceremony didn't just marry us, it also made his heart a mirror image of mine." Hayley comprehends.
"We need to dig it up." Nik concludes as he stands.
"Klaus..." Hayley replies sternly.
"Aya said she'll kill Marcel if he doesn't have a solution." I protest. "We can't let him die."
"Aurora's bullet very nearly killed Elijah." Nik reveals. "When she returns, and she will, I would prefer the vampires of New Orleans be obligated to protect us. They'll be more likely to do so if our lives remain linked to theirs." And then he storms out.
"Niklaus is right." Elijah agrees. "The sire line has to remain unbroken. We have to go."
____________________
We go to the park where Hayley buried Jackson's heart and planted a tree. She wanted to keep it as something beautiful and close, so she could visit him whenever she wants to. However, when we arrived the tree is yanked from the ground and has been tossed to the side. The dirt covering the heart has been removed and the hole is empty. Hayley says nothing and she walks over to it and squats beside it.
"Who would steal his heart?" She whispers and then she stands. "It was the only only piece of Jackson that I had left." She sighs.
Elijah walks up next to her and I slide my hand into Nik's. "We'll find who did this." Elijah promises her.
"And return the favor 10-fold." Nik adds to it. I lay my head on his shoulder and release his hand, wrapping my arms around his torso and his arm goes around my waist as he pulls me closer. My heart aching for my best friend.