01/24/19
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO: ASHES TO ASHES
"So now that you have sat and healed...what do you mean, Niklaus has a plan? We had a plan, a plan he has mercilessly destroyed!" Elijah yelled as I flinched.
"Your plan wouldn't have worked, Elijah! He said your plan would fail. So he had to enact one of his own." I tell him.
"And What might that be?" He asks.
"He has to get her to link to him." I say.
"My brother wishes to bind himself to our enemy?" Elijah asks carefully. "She'll be virtually indestructible."
"He said I had to convince you that everything he had to do he had to do alone. You had the wrong ingredients to kill Dahlia, and he has to buy time before he finds the right ones." I explain.
"How?"
*
"I am so sorry about Gia, Elijah. I didn't know that he would do that." I shake my head as I watch Elijah stare at her body.
"Are you?" He asks me.
"I'm not condoning his actions. I'm trying to help you. All I know is, Klaus will do whatever he has to do for-"
"Klaus will do whatever he has to do for Klaus!" I close as my eyes and put a hand to my stomach. "Now Hayley is not answering her phone. Now, what has he done?"
"Back off, Elijah." I hear behind me and see my dad and Rebekah in her original body. "It's not her fault."
"Don't blame the messenger." Rebekah says.
"Rebekah." Elijah says in shock.
"Looks like Niklaus had a lot on his to-do list last night, and as for Hayley..." she looks back to my dad as I furrow my eyebrows.
"What about Hayley?" I ask them.
"When Klaus attacked me, he stole the spell that I used on the crescent wolves." My dad tells us giving me a sympathetic look.
"So he would condemn her to the body of a beast?" Elijah asks angrily as I grow offended and ashamed.
"Elijah, listen to me." Rebekah says and walks in front of him. "Hayley will be human once a month. We will find her, and we will help her."
"No." Elijah shakes his head.
"We need to focus on those who need saving today. Freya called. Dahlia is incapacitated. They are two hours north at orchard near pearl river. She has hope." Rebekah tells her right before he speeds away.
"I'm just gonna..." I point to the compound and walk away from the two still there. Too much information right now. If Klaus cursed Hayley, then, that means my brother is cursed. Every wolf out there is cursed. I won't be able to see my brother except once on a full moon and that's even if I can find him. And don't get me started on Elijah, he called me and my brother and even my babies beasts.
I get it's hard for him right now, but it's hard for everyone. I mean, Gia is dead. Hayley and Jackson are cursed. I sigh rubbing my temples and open one of the cabinets taking some Advil. I'm way too stressed and stress is not good for my babies.
*
"Nik is demented. Are we really to dig up our mother, burn her to ash, swap said ashes for Kols, and then trick Davina into using up her last chance to bring someone back from the dead, not to mention we lose the opportunity to save Kol if Davina doesn't turn us inside out?" Rebekah rants.
"Or we dig a deep hole and leave both of our problems at the bottom of it." Elijah says looking at Klaus and walking around him.
I stand up and slam Elijah against the wall as my eyes start to glow. "I have had it with you Elijah. You were supposed to be my friend. This is your brother you're talking about, my babies dad, you once promised me that my babies wouldn't be taken away from me..." I laugh. "I shouldn't have had you promise not to take away their father. I have tried so hard to stand by your family...to be 100% on the Mikaelson side but if this is what helping your family does," I look down at Klaus' body. "Then I won't help. I can't keep stressing about all of this. I can't keep waking up and guessing if today is the day that someone I love gets taken from me."
"We will do whatever has to be done to kill Dahlia. We will save Hope, I will save the man I love and once he is awake, then he and I will save our children. If that is a problem for you, well, I don't really care what you want." I let go of him seeing the slight bruise from my grip heal.
"I say we chose a more permanent option...find the white oak stake, kill Klaus. Dahlia dies with him." Freya says as I look at her. My dad walks over to me and grabs me in case I go to attack her.
"Oh, yeah, and so do i, my daughter and her babies and every other vampire that Klaus has turned." Marcel says getting angry himself.
"The dagger...it's bloody melting." Rebekah says catching our attention.
Elijah bends down to get a closer look before looking up at us. "We have no choice but to finish the task that Niklaus has set."
*
I stand by as Freya chants, trying to stop the dagger from melting or at least slow it down but it seems to just go faster. "It's no use. I can't slow her magic. Everything I'm trying fails." Freya says standing up. My dad puts his head in his hands as I sigh. Freya looks up at the stairs causing me and my dad to look up. Veins crawl up the staircase and the walls.
"There's got to be a way to kill her." Dad says. I see Freya look down and then pull the white oak stake from her jacket.
"Freya? No." I say as my eyes get watery.
"No! Freya!" My dad yells going for her but she uses her magic to push us both against the wall.
"No! No! No! You kill him, you kill us four too!" My dad yells at her.
"I don't want to kill you. I don't want to kill him." Freya cries.
"Freya...please. You want all of our trust? This is not the way. Please, Freya if Klaus dies, so do my babies. Their innocent." I try to stop her.
"This is the family I longed for, but because of her, I'll forever be alone." She says and brings the stake down as I scream in fear.
Thankfully Klaus reaches his hand up and stops the stake. "Sister..." he whispers and takes her hand with the stake in his hands. Dahlia gasps awake as my dad and I are free from the hold on the wall.
Freya helps Klaus stand as I walk beside them. "I'm almost impressed by the lengths you'd go to for your little girl, thought not enough to let bygones be." Dahlia says and sticks her hand out as the white oak flies in her hand.
"We are still linked, dear aunt. You may not want to punish me with that particular weapon." He says walking closer to her.
"Hmm, I made sure that the link between us melted along with that dagger...meaning..." Dahlia faces the dagger towards Klaus as I let out a shaky breath. "I'm quite free to kill you."
Dahlia uses her magic to bring Klaus towards the stake but my dad interferes and tackles Klaus to the ground. Suddenly Dahlia and Freya are gone and we all look around confused.
Klaus listens in and hears Hope crying. All of us rush upstairs and walk in to see the veins everywhere in her room and a drop of blood on Hopes hand. "Why didn't she take Hope?" Dad asks as Klaus picks up Hope.
"Because all she needed was a drop of her blood. Unfortunately, I have no idea where the vile harpy has fled to." Klaus says as I look at Hope.
"All right. Go. Get Hope somewhere safe. I'll track down your witch, and when this is over, you and I are gonna settle up." Dad says.
"Provided we survive what's to come tonight, I look forward to it." Klaus says as my dad leaves.
*
Klaus and I sit in St. Anne's with Hope. He gently rocks her as I drink some water. I was quiet the whole way here. I didn't know what to say or how to feel. "Your quiet."
"What am I supposed to say?" I ask looking at him. "I am so happy that you're awake Klaus but do you know how hard it was for me to convince Elijah of your entire plan? You killed Gia and don't even get me started on my brother and Hayley."
"I had to make it seem as if I cared for nothing, for no one, but you should know that when I hurt you..." Klaus looked broken and he couldn't even finish the rest of his sentence. "Our battle is not yet won, and I need you to protect the most important things in my life. I need you to do it here, where magic is void, and I'm sorry. I will find a way to make it up to you." I nod my head and look down but Klaus lifts my head up and kisses my forehead before leaving.
*
"When I invited you to meet me, I had no idea we were gonna have such a gorgeous guest." Vincent smiles as he takes his coat off. I laugh softly and look at her.
Vincent grabs a bottle and sits down looking at me. "You have blood right there."
"Oh, yeah. If my dad weren't a vampire my dry cleaning bill would be insane." I say as Vincent pours some alcohol into a glass. "Drinking in front of a baby, new all-time low?" I tease.
"Well, you're the one who brought her into a bar." He says looking up at me with a grin. "Oh, yeah, I know that look...sense of obligation, duty. What do you feel like you owe these people?" Vincent's asks me as he hands me some water. "You forgot, I have a few psychology degrees before the family you're so wrapped up in stole my body."
"So you're head-shrinking me now. Is that it?" I ask raising my eyebrows.
"No. I'm...I'm trying to figure out why a smart, levelheaded woman such as yourself would choose to stick around a town that, to my eyes, seems to offer you nothing but danger." He tells me.
"My family is here. My brother is here. Maybe it's some Family legacy." I say as Vincent shakes his head.
"Uh-uh. Don't feed me that legacy crap, Maddison. You want to talk about legacies? My mama, her mama, they daddy before were some of the wickedest witches the west side of this city has ever seen, and yet still, I'm able to walk away from magic because I know that it's not good for me, just like Niklaus and his whole clan are not good for you, Maddison."
"So you're walking away, huh?" I ask. "More like dumping your responsibilities on a teenager who doesn't know any better."
"She knows better. She knows." He defends himself. "She knows a hell of a lot more than she should, and if she's not careful, she doesn't walk the right line, she's gonna end up being the wickedest of them all. You mark my words."
"Then why would you leave her without a teacher?" I ask him.
"Well, ok." He smiles. "Fair enough. Pick a fight. Call me out, but, um, from one head shrink to a wise woman, what is it that you're deflecting from yourself?"
"You want to know why I stay in town?" I ask.
"Yeah." He nods.
"Because...against my better judgement, my sanity, and my common sense...i have strong feelings for what people think to be a monster." I say looking at him.
"And does this monster have strong feelings for you?" He asks.
"I would Hope to god he does." I say motioning to my stomach.
"I'm gonna need another bottle." He says and stands up.
*
Klaus was at the compound with Rebekah while Elijah was with my dad as they burned Gia's body. Rebekah told me everything that happened last night when I was watching Hope.
It reminds me of when I talked to Esther about how if things were different she could of been in my babies lives. At least Dahlia is gone now. A knock sounded at my door snapping me out of my thoughts. I stand up and put my hair in a messy bun before opening my door.
"Hi." I breathe out.
"Hi." He smiles. "Can I come in?"
I open my door wider. "Yeah. Come in." Once he walks in, I close the door and turn around to look at him. "What are you doing here, Klaus?"
"I'm here to apologize." He turns towards me as I cross my arms. "For everything. I know how hard this has all been for you. I'm sorry for your brother and I don't expect you to forgive me for that but I am sorry."
"Thank you." I nod softly.
"I also want to ask if you would officially move into the compound. For good. I know we are in a difficult place right now but I want you and our children to be safe. And I truly believe that is at the compound with me." He says as I think about it. I do feel safe with Klaus and I want to just run and kiss him but I feel like I'm betraying my brother if I do that. My brother has put his pack and Hayley before me at times so why can't I put Klaus and my children before him right now?
"Okay." I agree. "I want us to work. I want us to be okay again, Klaus, but I want full honesty. I don't want secrets and I don't want you going behind my back like with Gia and the wolves."
"I promise you, love, I won't go behind your back ever again." He says as I walk up to him and hug him tightly. I need this and I think he does too.