𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓
﹙ 𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒘𝒐, 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏﹚
࿐ ࿔ ✧˖*°
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Rory awakens to the smell of bacon permeating her nose. She lifts herself from her—slightly uncomfortable—sleeping position, rubbing her eyes. She unlocks her phone to check the time, seeing that it's only 9:30 am. She looks down at Klaus, who's still asleep. His head is bent in a slightly uncomfortable position, but he's fast asleep and doesn't seem to care that he could potentially snap his neck if he were to move a centimetre to the left.
"Nik," Rory mumbles sleepily, shaking his shoulder. Klaus doesn't move, but she knows that he's waking up. He's a light sleeper anyway; the smallest amount of movement would've woken him up. "Nik." she says again.
One of his eyes peel open. "My bloody neck hurts."
"You're the one that wanted to sleep out here," Rory responds as she clambers off his lap. She tightens the blanket around herself, feeling the morning breeze prickle at her skin. "Come on, I think they're making breakfast. I smell bacon."
"We don't even need breakfast," Klaus replies, but he doesn't argue any further as he pushes himself into a standing position.
Rory and Klaus trail into the motel room to see Kai and Hayley by the stove. The heretic seems to be doing most of the cooking, whereas Hayley was going back and forth between flipping the bacon and feeding Hope in her baby chair. Both the hybrids turn to face the couple, Kai waving enthusiastically.
"Good morning," Kai greets pleasantly as Rory slumps into a chair, tucking her head into her arms. "You idiots slept outside last night and forgot to close the balcony door."
"Sorry," Rory mutters. "Last minute decision."
"That's not an excuse," Kai places the spatula of scrambled eggs in front of her. "Taste. Do you think it needs salt?"
Rory takes a small mouthful, wincing as the food burns her tongue. "I think it's fine," she responds.
"Fine?" Kai repeats. "I did not spend over 10 years in the prison world trying to perfect my cooking for you to tell me that my breakfast food is just fine."
"I'm a vampire, Kai. I can't really judge food by the taste."
"What the hell are you talking about? Dead body doesn't mean dead taste buds."
"Language," Hayley scolds, covering Hope's ears. "Baby on board, guys."
Kai stares straight into Hayley's eyes. "Fuck." he says.
"You're the worst," Hayley rolls her eyes, tossing one of Hope's toys in Kai's direction.
"Hey, I'm working with fire here!" Kai yelps, swatting the plush toy away.
Klaus emerges from the bedroom, looking freshened up. He smells of bodywash and cologne, looking ready to take on the day. Rory hates herself for having such a hot fiancé—she feels like a complete slump when she sits next to him and he's all proper and she's still in her pyjamas with her hair all over the place.
Nonetheless, Klaus presses a kiss over the crown of Rory's head and makes his way towards Hope's baby chair, picking his daughter up to cradle her against his chest.
"What's on the agenda for today?" Kai questions as he scrapes the scrambled eggs off the pan onto Rory's plate.
"I dunno. I guess going even further," Hayley shrugs as Rory steals a piece of bacon off Kai's plate.
"Are we seriously just going to drive to the ends of the world and hope that none of Kieran's enemies find us?" Kai asks as he twists Rory's ear, the brunette yelping in pain. He gives her a pointed look, Rory pouting her bottom lip as she drops his piece of bacon back onto his plate.
"Well, as long as Freya's spell is in check, we don't really have a choice. All we have to do is stay out of New Orleans," Hayley states.
"Which begs the question on why we aren't heading off to some far off, tropical country," Klaus comments from the windowsill, where he's feeding Hope a mouthful of baby food.
"Because airports are dangerous and we could probably bump into one of the Strix flying into the country that are looking for you and that white oak bullet," Hayley responds in a pointed fashion. Klaus rolls his eyes in exasperation.
"I don't know why you're complaining. It's literally your own fault you're in this position. If you weren't such an asshole to people..." Kai trails off, staring straight at Klaus with an unimpressed look.
"This is coming from the one who murdered his entire coven in cold blood on his sister's wedding day?" Klaus retorts.
"Okay, I committed one mass murder. How many have you done?"
"That's none of your business."
Kai makes a satisfied sound in the back of his throat, nudging Rory's side. "He knows I'm right," Kai whispers in her direction.
"Please leave me out of this." Rory retorts, shovelling the last of the scrambled eggs into her mouth.
"Anyway," Hayley places her elbows on the table. "Kai and I were taking a walk in the woods yesterday and we ran into one of my old family friends, Kayla McInnis—a werewolf who had her, uh...first kill. And while we were there, we made a discovery."
"Werewolves have been going missing in the area," Kai continues, chewing on his bacon absentmindedly. "Well, not really going missing. We kinda came to the conclusion that they were being hunted."
"And what made you come to that conclusion?" Klaus asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Because we found an ID hanging off a tree, and guess where the victim worked?" Hayley inquires.
"You're going to love this," Kai adds.
"Where?"
"Kingmaker Land Development," Hayley responds. "Also known as the people that were hunting werewolves in the Bayou back in Louisiana."
"Also known as the company your old annoying pal Lucifer owns." Kai states.
Rory meets Klaus' eyes, a frown on her face. "Did you know about this?"
"Not at all," Klaus responds. "What the bloody hell would Lucien want with werewolves?"
"We can pay a visit to his offices," Hayley offers. "That'll give us something to do while running from your enemies."
Klaus purses his lips, but he ends up nodding. "Very well," he ends up saying. "Let's find out what my first-sired is up to."
｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ
Rory, Kai and Klaus end up sitting and waiting in a rundown café whilst Hayley hands Hope off to Mary, an older werewolf that would routinely babysit her while Hayley was off running Mikaelson business. Rory and Kai were engaged in a rather violent game of rock paper scissors, Klaus left to watch his fiancée and her friend bicker loudly.
Klaus is just glad that the café was almost completely empty, because if it wasn't, he's sure they would get kicked out.
"Ouch, Kai!" Rory whines as she pulls her hand back. "You hit me too hard that time!"
"Not even," Kai rolls his eyes.
"It's welting, you bitch!" Rory shouts, showing him the back of her hand.
"That's not my fault," Kai blinks innocently.
Rory growls under her breath, launching herself forward to grab Kai's hair in a bout of anger. Klaus slumps further into his seat, sipping at his disgusting coffee. He's used to his fiancée's childish antics—and loves them, he truly does—but one could only sit through a round of Kai and Rory's fights for so long before they lose their mind.
When Klaus' phone rings to reveal Elijah's name on the screen, he's almost relieved. Rory twists Kai's cheeks between her fingers, barely realising that her fiancé had taken off to answer a call.
"Ouch!" Kai yelps as she pinches the skin tightly. "Ouch, ouch, ouch! Uncle! Uncle, uncle! Rory!"
"Say you're sorry," Rory demands.
"That's how you play the game!"
"You hit me way too hard!"
"There aren't any rules—fuck, Rory, let go!"
"I said say you're sorry!"
"I'm sorry!"
"Sorry for what?"
"I'm sorry for slapping your hand too hard! Rory, I literally can't feel my face—" Rory releases Kai's face before the heretic could finish his sentence. He groans as he rubs at his cheeks, the skin reddening brightly. He grumbles under his breath. "You're psychotic. I don't know how you're engaged."
"My fiancé loves that I'm psychotic, thank you," Rory responds with a smirk.
"He's lying to you."
"You're such a little bitch—"
"Are you guys seriously still arguing?" Hayley interjects, crossing her arms across her chest. She raises an amused eyebrow as both Rory and Kai slump in their respective seats, looking annoyed with each other.
"He started it—" Rory starts.
"—She started it," Kai says at the same time.
Hayley's smirk only widens. "Okay," she raises her arms in surrender. "Well, Hope's down for the count. She fell asleep as soon as Mary started the car; I doubt she'll miss any of us over the next few days. Where's Klaus?"
Rory looks around the diner, pausing as she notices the Original hanging up the phone with a grim expression on his face. "There," she points him out as he stalks towards their table. "And he does not look happy," she comments as he stops in front of them. "Everything okay, babe?"
"Lucien has revealed his true nature. He's taken Freya," Klaus responds.
Rory and Hayley gasp in surprise. Kai looks up from his phone. "Who's Freya again?"
"His sister, idiot. You've literally went out partying with her so many times." Rory hisses.
"I'm sorry. It's really hard to keep up with his family tree; it's like a new sibling pops out of nowhere all the time!" Kai exclaims. "I tell you, if it was me, I'd be losing my mind."
Klaus rolls his eyes in response. "At this current moment, it seems her rescue depends on Elijah working with my ever-reliable brother Finn."
"And who is he?" Kai whispers under his breath in Rory's direction.
"The one that hexed me."
"See? So confusing," Kai huffs.
"Didn't you have like, seven brothers and sisters?"
"Yeah. So?"
"How is that any different from Klaus' family tree?"
"I didn't bother remembering their names."
"Kai," Rory scolds.
"I'm just kidding!"
Hayley shakes her head at Rory and Kai's banter once more. "Do you guys want to head back to New Orleans to help with the hunt?" she inquires.
"I'm staying with you," Rory says, resting her chin against her knuckles. Hayley turns to face her, a slightly surprised look on her face. Rory shrugs. "Us girls have got to stick together, right? Also, I literally cannot bear to think about being around Finn."
"No offense, but New Orleans doesn't seem like a great place to be right now. So I think I'm staying with them too," Kai gestures to Hayley and Rory.
Klaus licks his lips, considering his choices. "The wolves, Freya's abduction...it can't all be a coincidence. We'll let my brothers pursue the obvious path. We will pursue this one. No doubt all roads..." he examines the notebook that holds all of the Kingmaker office addresses. "...Lead to the same treacherous bastard."
｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ
The group end up at the fifth Kingmaker office that they visit on the same day. Rory squints up at the impressive building, but one thing rings clear—all of them look the same. There's not a single colour that's different, not a single chair out of place.
"Does he just build these from a kit or something? It's the exact same for the last five offices. Same windows, same plants," Hayley comments, speaking out what Rory was thinking.
"And inside, the same boring ass paintings. Same compellable receptionist," Rory comments. "You'd think an evil mastermind would at least provide his human employees some vervain."
"Whatever. Let's just hope this is the last one, because if I have to see another one of these boring old office buildings again I think I might just surrender myself to Lucifer," Kai mutters as he stalks forward, entering the building.
Klaus spares Rory an exasperated glance, in which Rory responds with a roll of her eyes. She tugs Klaus' arm to rest around her shoulders, pulling him after Kai.
"Ah, hello, love!" Klaus greets as he enters the building, heading straight for the receptionist. "We're here for a spot of search and potentially destroy," Klaus leans forward to compel her. "Do tell—where are the areas off-limits to general staff?"
The receptionist responds with a mischievous smile. "You just wait right here, and I'll have someone out here to help you with your inquiry."
Rory notices her arm moving under the desk. Not a second later, the lights completely go out and an alarm blares throughout the building. Red lights flash over the walls as the room fills with guards, all armed with guns.
"Stay right there!" one of them shouts.
"Oh, guns!" Kai exclaims excitably. "Always wanted to use one of those."
Rory looks down to see a laser pointer aimed directly at her chest. She looks up to meet the gaze of one of the guards.
"Shall we?" Hayley inquires.
"Ladies first." Klaus holds an arm out, gesturing towards the army of awaiting men.
Both Rory and Hayley pounce in sync, tearing through the throats of armed guards with ease. A bullet is shot through Rory's shoulder, making her stagger back in pain. She rips the gun out of his grasp, impaling him through the chest with the heavy weapon. She picks the bullet out of her flesh, turning around to throw it at vampire strength.
It lands directly between another guard's eyes, killing him instantly.
Kai digs his fangs into a guard's neck, ripping him away and throwing him through the glass door. He seems to be having the time of his life, red staining his clothes as his lips spread into a bloodthirsty grin.
The army of armed guards are taken down within minutes, not a survivor left behind. Rory retracts her fangs from the neck of a male, letting his headless body drop to the floor. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, smudging the ichor that stains her skin.
The four of them make their way down the hall, taking note that the entire building was on lockdown. Noticing a wayward scientist attempting to dive into a room for protection, Kai snaps his neck magically with a flick of his wrist. Klaus pulls the identification tag out of his coat pocket, tossing it in Rory's direction.
As soon as they step into the laboratory, a gasp of horror makes its way out of Rory's lips. At least a dozen men and women are chained up. Rory catches the sight of a half-transformed werewolf corpse in a cage, making her gag at the smell of rotting flesh.
"They're all wolves," Hayley says, breaking the tense silence.
"This is literally every zombie movie ever," Kai comments wondrously as he steps into the room, looking around. He sniffs at the air, noticing that the liquid steadily being pumped into the werewolves were wolfsbane. "They're all being poisoned."
"They're still alive!" Hayley exclaims in horror.
Rory steps into the room with wobbly knees, stopping in front of a plastic curtain. She pushes it aside to reveal a dead woman bound to an examination table, lacerations all over her face, neck and chest. Rory covers her mouth as she staggers back in surprise, bile rising up her throat.
"What the fuck," Rory breathes in disgust. "That's a...that's a vampire. Lucien has been torturing all these people?"
"Huh. I guess Lucifer wasn't far off," Kai comments as he pulls off a breathing mask, revealing that wolfsbane was being breathed in by the werewolves.
"What the hell is Lucien up to here?" Klaus questions, a frown on his face.
The group set off to do their respective jobs in removing the breathing apparatuses that Lucien has them hooked up to, preventing them from any movement. Rory undoes the tubes with ease, helping a middle-aged man sit up. There are open wounds all over his body, making Rory sigh in pity.
"Here," Rory bites into her wrist, holding her bleeding wound over his lips.
The werewolf turns his head away. "No vampire blood..." he says weakly.
"Nik," Rory calls, making her fiancé turn to her. He rushes to her side. "It's okay, he's a hybrid. Everything's going to be fine, you just need to drink."
Klaus bites into his wrist without hesitation, holding the blood to the man's mouth. The werewolf drinks slowly. "He needed their venom," Klaus says. "He harvested the venom he needed, then reverse-engineered a vaccine. Clever stuff."
"What about her?" Rory gestures towards the woman that she found earlier. "The dead vampire."
"It was the wolf venom that killed her," Klaus replies. Rory looks down at her feet, remembering the slow and agonising process she had went through with Tristan. Klaus picks up a vial of clear liquid, examining it. "Just Lucien testing his cure."
"Why does he need to test out something he knows already works?" Kai inquires.
Hayley and Klaus exchange glances. Neither of them could come up with a plausible answer. Rory fidgets nervously. "Can we..." she says after a moment. "I'm sorry if this is inappropriate, but can we maybe go? I think I just...I need some air."
"Yeah, of course," Hayley notices how wary Rory is around the werewolves almost immediately, knowing how quickly they could kill her with just one bite. She wraps her arm around Rory's shoulder, tugging her out the door. "Meet us outside, okay? Finish healing up the rest."
Klaus manages to spare Rory a soft smile before she disappears down the hall with Hayley.
｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ
Hayley ends up staying back in Tennessee, whereas Klaus, Rory and Kai make their way back to New Orleans. Finn has apparently been bitten by Lucien (who is apparently a super hybrid now)—Rory couldn't care less, but if she was being honest, she couldn't stand to be near the Kingmaker offices anymore knowing what Lucien was doing there.
They get there just in time, seeing Finn sprawled over the couch. Rory keeps her distance as Klaus approaches his brother.
Kol steps aside, stalking towards Rory. Immediately, he wraps the brunette into a hug. Rory's surprised by the sudden display of affection, but she rubs at his back in the most comforting manner she can provide. He squeezes her smaller frame against his, cupping the back of her head to tuck her head into the crook of his neck.
"You okay?" Rory's voice is slightly muffled against his skin.
"Yeah," Kol replies, pulling away. "I just had a really crappy day, and I needed a hug from you."
Rory laughs a little, wrapping her arms around Kol's middle. His arm is slung around Rory's shoulders, leaning against the wall. Kai noisily sucks on a lollipop, his attention grabbed onto the Call of Duty game he's in on his phone.
"Thank you, brother," Finn says as Klaus feeds him his blood.
"How are you feeling?" Freya questions.
"I feel...strangely euphoric," Finn responds.
Klaus smirks. "I've been known to have that affect,"
"What a precious family moment. Pardon me while I go and gouge my eyes out with a hot poker," Kol comments in a sarcastic tone.
Finn gives his brother a sad smile. "I thank even you, Kol. Your little witch actually came through," Finn says quietly. "Today...I saw a glimpse of your coveted always and forever."
Kai yawns boredly. Rory reaches an arm out to smack him in the elbow. He responds with a scowl, rolling his eyes before going back to his game.
"And...I..." Finn trails off. His sentence is cut off by a coughing fit, blood spewing out of his mouth.
"Finn!" Klaus exclaims, rushing to his side.
"What's happening?" Elijah asks, panicked. "What's wrong with him?"
"His body—it's dying," Freya says, horrified.
"Kai," Rory says from under Kol's arm. "Kai, you can siphon the magic up from the bite, right? It's a—it's a werewolf bite," she pleads. Noticing that Kai was barely paying attention, she stalks towards him and tugs the phone out of his grip. "Kai!"
"I hear you," Kai states. "...but I'm not going to do it."
"What?" Klaus snarls.
"I said I'm not doing it," Kai shrugs, crossing his arms over his chest. "And you can't make me."
"Malachai, this is no time for jokes—" Elijah starts.
"—Kai. My name is Kai. Not Malachai. And I'm not joking," Kai raises an eyebrow, meeting Elijah's gaze. "Why should I heal him? He fused Rory's soul to her body, hexed her, and then hexed his brother to die a second time. Not really a loss, I'd say."
"He is family," Klaus hisses.
"I'm well aware of that," Kai shrugs. "I just don't care."
"Kai, please," Rory pleads. "Just...just siphon the bite from him."
"What's the point? His body's already dying. I don't even see a bite anymore. Klaus' blood healed it, but the venom's already inside him," Kai chews on the lollipop stick that's in his mouth. "I might siphon the rest of his vampirism away and kill him even faster."
"Kai, please," Freya begs.
Kai shrugs. "He's your family, Rory is mine. You choose who to forgive, and so do I. And I choose not to," Kai plucks his phone from Rory's grip, tucking it into his pocket. "RIP. He looks like he's suffering there, you might want to hold his hand."
Without a second glance backwards, Kai leaves the room. Rory turns to face Klaus helplessly, the Original closing his eyes in sadness as he realises that there was no way of changing Kai's mind.
"I'll go talk to him—" Rory starts.
"—There's no need," Freya interjects. She looks angry and sad all at once. She presses her lips together. "It's too late."
Rory's eyes dart towards Finn, who had begun desiccating while her attention was focused towards the heretic. She tucks a hair behind her ear, taking a step back in the most respectful manner she could muster. She doesn't know how to feel about Finn's death. She feels a little guilty, of course—she can't help it.
But he tried to kill off his siblings more than once, hurt Rory, hurt Kol, attempted to hurt Hope. Countless unforgivable things that just couldn't be brushed under the rug.
Kai was right. Finn is their family, but he isn't hers.
"I'll leave you guys alone," Rory whispers softly.
She pulls away from Kol's grip, turning to stalk after Kai. She finds him in his bedroom, standing outside on the balcony. He has earphones plugged in, the melodies of a song flooding his ears. Rory tugs one of the earphones out, a frown on her face.
"If you're going to nag at me for not healing him, don't bother. I'm not listening," Kai states, turning to look back towards the street.
Rory sighs. "I'm not going to nag you, but you know the Mikaelsons aren't going to be as warm and welcoming with you anymore, right?"
"I don't care."
"Don't you?" Rory asks.
"I don't," Kai rolls his eyes, turning his gaze up to meet Rory's. "Just yesterday your boyfriend was telling me that I'm part of his screwed-up family, and I realised that I don't want to be. You were just Klaus' girlfriend and that got you kidnapped, tortured, hexed, almost killed. And you just forgive all of that."
"It's not his fault—"
"It's not?" Kai raises an eyebrow. "You're on the run because thousands of enemies are coming for him. People that he pissed off are gunning for you because that's the best way to get to him. Why is that? Because he was an asshole."
"Kai..."
"I don't expect forgiveness from people that I hurt in the past. I learned that from Bonnie. When people aren't ready to forgive you, they just aren't. I don't know why Klaus and his family expects so much from others when they aren't bending over backwards to keep others alive."
"Where is all of this coming from, Kai?" Rory questions. "I had no idea you felt this way."
"It came from watching you cry. All the damn time," Kai responds. "It came from hearing you talk about how somebody new is trying to kill you every day, and it's not even your fault half the time. It came from being on a road trip with you and your boyfriend and the mother of his child. Rory, this family brings nothing but misery to you."
"I..." Rory trails off. She doesn't know what to say. "I don't..."
"You have this ability to forgive the worst things people have done. I've had my own experiences with bad families. I don't need another," Kai stands up, tugging the other earphone out. "If Klaus and his stupid siblings want me out for not healing his brother that tried to kill you, then tell him not to worry. I'm already packed."
Rory doesn't manage to say another word as Kai brushes past her, leaving the room altogether.
A/N:
me in the beginning of this chapter: 🥰🥰❤️❤️
me in the end: angst. all i feel is pain.
yeah... that's just how it goes ig. kai thinks for
himself and makes his own decisions. i hope you
guys aren't too mad at him. (or me... because i was
the one that wrote it out).
hope you guys enjoyed!
vote and comment for more. love ya. ♡︎