Klaus and I were closely following behind Hayley back out into the main living room of the compound. Cami and Jacob were here now with the rest of the Mikaelson's in tow. Resting my hands on the table in the middle of the room I glanced between the group. "Alright so tell us what happened exactly. Because as far as anyone knew the Hollow had gone into hiding for two years."
"Hayley had gone out to do a wolf run since she's able to control when she turns. And I heard Andrea mumbling something but I couldn't understand it. Next thing I know she showed me her eyes and they were bright blue." My brother Jacob shrugged his shoulders leaning against the window frame.
Hayley wrapped her arms around herself, sighing heavily where I could sense her nerves. "She used to run around with the butterflies all the time. But then she just stopped a few days ago. And it just was off...like she just stared off in the distance in silence."
"So she's the complete opposite of herself. Every parent knows their kids better than they know themselves until they're older." Pushing my hair out of my face I sucked in a breath in thought.
Freya walked up to me laying some drawings that Andrea had done a few years ago when the Hollow began haunting her. "I've been looking at the drawings and I'm not sure what they mean but this is definitely the symbol for the Hollow." The pictures were all the same where it looked like a snake was trying to eat its own tail and was shaped in a circle.
"Why are we bickering about what we think happened and not just going and killing this thing once and for all." Kol asked, reaching for a baseball he kept underneath the table.
"Because it's not that simple, Kol," Elijah stated, his tone calm yet stern. "The Hollow is not just another vampire we can stake. It's an ancient spirit, it doesn't die easily."
Rebekah chipped in, her eyes full of concern. "And taking it on without a plan could mean walking into a trap. Especially when we have nieces and Andrea to consider."
I started pacing, the gravity of the situation sinking in. "We need to find out how Andrea's connected to the Hollow and how we can break that connection. If we can't, we risk not only her life but potentially all of ours."
Marcel, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up. He had willingly joined our team when it came to protecting our children. "We have dealt with the Hollow before. We can use what we learned last time, find its weak points."
Klaus nodded, a determined look in his eyes. "Marcel is right. We need to strategize, find out everything we can. The Hollow is cunning, powerful. We need to be prepared for anything."
Freya, with her knowledge of witchcraft, was our best bet at deciphering the symbols in Andrea's drawings. "I'll take another look at the drawings," she decided. "There may be more clues there than we realize."
As the group started discussing potential strategies, I found myself looking at Hayley, who was still standing quietly, her face pale. I knew we needed to act fast, not just for Andrea but for her too. The Hollow had already taken too much from us, we couldn't let it take away any more. Sitting in our bedroom I cradle Henrik in my arms humming a tone. "I wish I could say that you should stay here to protect our son. But I know you're too stubborn and that we also need your help with the magical side to get the Hollow out of her."
"I know you're worried, Nik. But none of us wish to sit here and watch Andrea get consumed by this thing." Lifting my head up Henrik made some noise at hearing his father's voice.
He slowly walked into the room lowering himself on a knee and letting Henrik suck on his thumb while we talked. "We won't let it hurt that poor girl any longer. Have you worked on that spell you were talking about yet?"
"The one that Kai used on Elena and Bonnie, no. It's a very complicated one. I'm not even sure that I don't have to have the Gemini leadership magic to pull it off. But my brother and Hayley would also have to agree to the terms." I met his gaze knowing that I told him about a backup plan if we got the Hollow out but we couldn't defeat her.
Someone came walking towards our room where we turned our heads and saw Freya. "Labonair blood is her Achilles' heel. Hayley's blood weakened her, but you've technically been dead for years.So it won't be strong enough to kill her. If we forge a blade using the blood of the last living Labonair..."
"So what do we do instead, Freya?" I asked rocking my son in my arms in the rocking chair.
"Andrea has been obsessed with the symbol that follows the Hollow: the serpent consuming itself.
Now, I believe this is showing us the key, the only means to which she can be destroyed, her own blood. The Hollow's one end of the Labonair bloodline. Andrea is the other. And we need to close that loop." Freya sat the drawings on the table near us holding up one of them as she talked since they all had the same symbol drawn. "The best way to do that is for Hayley to wield a weapon forged with Andrea's blood. When she stabs her, it's only then the Hollow can be obliterated completely."
Klaus rose to his feet standing at my side. "How are we supposed to get Andrea's blood on a blade if she is taken over by the Hollow?"
"Raelyn, I will need you to do the blood gathering spell. You once told me that you used it secretly to take some of your uncle Joshua's blood. It should work the same for this." She lifted her head up from sitting the drawing she was previously holding up.
Getting to my feet I laid a sleeping Henrik back in his crib. Turning back towards my sister in law I sighed. "And then once we kill her my daughters while drawing the magic from their cousin. So that I can do the second spell without resistance."
"Have you talked with your brother and Hayley about this part of the plan yet?" She asked with a concerned look.
Shaking my head, I answered her back. "No I haven't. But they're both too emotional right now for me to talk about the other part. Once we save their daughter then I'll talk to them. Go get me the blade you'll use and I'll do my part."
It was a few hours later before we were all ready to face the Hollow. Andrea was apparently causing problems down the streets of the city. Marcel and the others remained outside while Hayley, Jacob, Klaus, me and our girls went inside to face her. Jacob raised his hands up, opening the doors. "Dissera portus....Andrea."
He gasped seeing that his daughter was standing in front of a crowd of people that the Hollow had gathered obviously.
"If you have come to stop me I will tell you right now that you can't stop me." Andrea declared standing in front of a golden statue that matched the drawings that we had given Freya. She raised her hand up doing a spell to throw us all backwards once the followers moved out of the way.
Holding myself up on my hands and knees with my hair in my face. I sighed, drawing out the blade that Freya had given me. Throwing it in Hayley's direction she caught it sending me a head nod that she was ready. Vamping up towards my niece I raised a hand throwing her backwards. "Motus!"
She got thrown back but she got to her feet quickly making her hand into a fist. "Per se qui e fractal toi, per se qui e total toi."
"Ah!" I screamed when a ring of flame surrounded all of us. My daughters hugged my legs when the flames came up trapping us. "Do what I taught you.."
Alina and Missy put their hands up against the flames siphoning the magic away. Hope held each of their hands in hers. "Go mommy." Hope told me where Klaus and I shared a head nod.
I ran forward about to strike her with a freeze spell but I spun my head around when Klaus and the others smacked into a barrier spell by her doing. "Inteo."
"Ugh Raelyn!" Klaus pressed his fists against the barrier keeping him out.
Turning my head back to the Hollow I glared at the person who was holding my niece. "What do you want from me, Hollow!"
"What I want, Raelyn...is for you to die" She raised her hand where I shifted my gaze in the direction she was holding her hand out to. Before my eyes something flew into her hand where she was now holding the white oak stake. She launched herself forward and she took me by surprise when she threw me onto my back holding the tip of the stake above my heart.
Jacob and Klaus screamed in terror together. "Rae no!"
"Andrea, please fight her. I know you can hear me and you don't want to hurt her." Hayley begged her with heavy tears.
I grunted putting my hands over hers on the stake while she attempted to stab me. I showed her my fangs trying to fight against her but the Hollow clearly had more strength then I ever thought even though she was inside the body of a child. ""Andrea, please don't hurt her. She's your aunt!" Jacob cried out blinking through heavy tears.
She grunted when I attempted to stop her by kicking her in the stomach but she took the hit like it was nothing. "I'm sorry, dad. But she's here to take my power!" Raising my hand I burned her heart when I siphoned off her.
She stumbled backwards, dropping the stake giving me the opportunity to claps my hands together in front of me trapping her in a stronger containment spell. "Imperium monstrum!" She hit the barrier but wasn't able to take it down as quickly which was a good sign.
"Solvet." The triplets mumbled together undoing the boundary spell instantly before she could break through the prison.
Klaus vamped towards my side, yanking up the white oak as quickly as possible. He looped his freehand with mine glancing back toward the werewolf mother. "Hayley go when I say so."
Alina, Hope and Missy slowly stepped forward raising their intertwined hands toward their cousin. We felt a gust of wind entering the room while we saw their hands turn red since the twins were siphoning off Hope and the last of the Gemini family magic we put into their bodies. "Magia tollux de terras....Magia tollux de terras.....Magia tollux de terras.....Magia tollux de terras!"
"It's working. Hayley go!" I gasped in relief seeing a string of blue magic begin to be pulled out of Andrea's body. Andrea's body gets thrown backwards while the magic is getting drained from her and I held my hand up making cuts on her so that I could make her blood drip onto the floor. "Venez sanguis. Venez sanguis. Venez sanguis la force de la bete a moi."
Jacob took the knife briefly from Hayley wiping up some of the blood that was on the floor before he gave it back to her so it had his daughter's blood now. Hayley rushes to her daughter, mumbling an apology. "I'm sorry, Andrea." Before she pushed the knife into her chest while the Holow's magic was completely drained by the time she pulled the blade out.
Jacob ran over catching his daughter's body seeing that her heartbeat was weak but she was still alive. He lowered her to the floor waving his hand over her body doing a sleeping spell. "Ad somnum, baby girl."
My husband held up a crystal ball looking type of object and the Hollow rollers gasped before he smashed it on the floor and they ran to get out but couldn't. "Hear ye, hear ye, all disciples and acolytes of the evil Hollow. Now that your master has been subdued, the power she promised you has been revoked, rendering you helpless, and bringing this pitiful coup to a rather abrupt end. This dark object has the astounding ability to seal you in the room."
Lifting my head upwards I saw Elijah standing on the platform above them by some burning candles holding a bottle that he set on fire while he spoke to the followers before he threw it down towards them. "Which is very inconvenient indeed. Particularly when one considers the architectural composition of the structure. And so, with very little effort... this place becomes an inferno." The followers all watched in terror as the bottle exploded and we all vamped out of the building before it was destroyed with them all inside.
Comments really appreciated ❤️ Melvia-ito