"HOPE." CULLEN CALLS for her daughter as she walks downstairs. "What's going on?"
"Mom?" Hope questions, keeping her eyes on the bone Hayley had found. It was sat on the dining room table, surrounded by a circle of salt. "Can you hear them, too?"
"What's going on?" Klaus exclaims, entering the room. His eyes moving from the table to Hope and Cullen.
"Look at me." Cullen instructs. "Tell me what you heard."
"Voices. They said that we're connected to this. You and me." Hope explains.
"If this fossil has been whispering lies, I'll gladly throw it in the river." Klaus snaps.
"No. Not the bone." Hope interrupts. "The witches. The Ancestors. They have a message for us. A warning."
"Tell me what they said." Cullen presses.
"They want you to go to St. Anne's Church to talk to them." Hope tells her mother. "They said you have to do exactly what they say, and you have to do it now. Before the Hollow comes for us."
-
"It's quiet." Cullen comments as they enter the old church.
"Of course it's quiet. It's a trap." Klaus quips.
"We don't know that." Cullen corrects.
"New Orleans witches have hated my family for three centuries. Of course it's a trap." Klaus states.
"The coven protects their own." Cullen tells him. "Hope's one of them now. She's part of their legacy."
"Hope is a far cry from a French Quarter fortune-teller." Klaus turns to face his wife. "And while we're on the subject, she's seven. If anyone wants to talk to her, they should ask my permission."
Cullen smirks. "You're gonna be a lot of fun when she starts dating."
"I'm gonna be a perfect gentleman. And should any of her suitors fail to meet my expectations, I'll compel them to the priesthood." Klaus smiles before their conversation is interrupted. "Oh, look, Harvest Girls. I assume you speak on behalf of your Ancestors."
"Provided that you've come in peace." One of the Harvest Girls speaks up. Another new piece of information. The night before Elijah and Vincent had performed the Harvest ritual, allowing the Ancestors a foothold back into the human world.
"Well, that depends on you, doesn't it?" Klaus arches an eyebrow.
"We don't want a fight. We're here to offer a deal." The Harvest girl continues.
"Although your brother did murder all four of us, so let's not pretend we're friends." Another witch chimes in.
Klaus shrugs. "Please consider all pretense of friendship dropped. Where are the Ancestors?"
"In order for them to appear we need your blood." One of the The Harvest girls explains.
"That's funny, I didn't hear you say please." Klaus quips.
"If you want answers, we have to guide you to the Ancestors. But since only one of you is a witch..." The girl trails off, glancing towards Cullen.
"We need to bend the rules." Cullen states, taking the bowl from the young witches.
The Harvest girl shrugs. "Simple loophole. You're both bound by blood to a New Orleans witch. We can use the link to your child to cast a spell and link you to an audience with the dead."
After both Klaus and Cullen have given their blood Klaus speaks up. "Why do I get the feeling there's something you're not mentioning?"
"Just one thing..." The Harvest girl exclaims. "This is gonna hurt."
Cullen and Klaus let out yells as their bodies suddenly arch back, the magic from the Harvest girls flowing through them. The both of them drop to the ground, no longer surrounded by the group of young witches.
"Now can I be angry at them?" Klaus exclaims as him and Cullen shoot up, the once light filled church now covered in a darker hue.
"Get angry later." Cullen instructs as they jump up from the ground. "We're here now. We may as well get some answers."
"So are we to wander around this dreary purgatory in search of lost souls?" Klaus question is answered when the church doors fly open, a cloaked figure entering the building.
"I wasn't sure you were gonna show up." A familiar voice speaks up.
"Well, I'm full of surprises. I hope you intend to make our trip worth the effort." Klaus replies.
"As a matter of fact, I do." The figure states, pulling their hood down. Klaus and Cullen glance at one another in surprise when they see Davina. "And you are gonna listen to every single word I have to say, because right now, I'm the only thing standing between you and the Hollow. How is Kol? Can't see anything here except New Orleans."
"I believe he's currently traipsing through the French Riviera, though I'm sure he'll return once I tell him how lovely you remain. Death becomes you." Klaus quips.
"Stop talking." Cullen snaps, knowing angering Davina would in no way help them.
"Gladly." Klaus muses. "Once she tells us something that could be of help, because, as I recall, when Freya kicked her into this drab shadowland, her brethren wanted to tear her apart."
"You want to defeat the Hollow. So do I. So do the Ancestors. But first you need to know what you're up against. It begins a thousand years before the city was founded. Two rival tribes decided to combine their power. They thought that by uniting in peace, they would enter a new age of harmony." Davina begins. "That marriage bore a child. For nine months, the tribe elders visited the mother, using magic to grant the child great power in hopes that the newborn would become a symbol of prosperity. But they had no idea what they were bringing into the world. She was named Inadu. Soon it was clear that she was stronger than anyone could imagine. And that she had a terrible hunger for more power still. And that's how the Hollow was born."
"Well, this is all frightening fodder for campfire tales, but how do we kill her?" Klaus interrupts.
"You don't understand." Davina states. "You can't."
"If this thing is so powerful it can't be destroyed, why bring us here? Why tell us all of this?" Cullen questions.
"The Ancestors needed you to know." Davina informs them.
"Please inform the Ancestors that they're a colossal waste of my time. I've been alive a thousand years. I've never met anything I couldn't kill. " Klaus shrugs. "We will defeat this pathetic phantom, as well."
"It was her tribe that turned her into this thing. Her family should have stopped it." Cullen chimes in, wanting to know more about how she was connected to this woman and her bloodline.
"You don't think they tried?" Davina arches an eyebrow. "All they wanted was to undue what their magic did. But that was the beginning of the end. Over time, she grew and craved more power. Inadu channeled life in all its forms. Her hunger was insatiable. She loved the fear she inspired in others. Her people knew her as ruthless, unfeeling, empty. Until that became her defining quality. So they began to refer to her by that single trait...'The Hollow'."
"She killed them all." Cullen mutters.
"Not because they hurt her or were unkind." Davina shakes her head. "She did it for fun."
"Well, to be fair, we all have our bad days." Klaus smirks
"You think this is a joke?" Davina scolds.
"No, but it is a trifle tedious. Perhaps you could get to the bit of the story that might be of some use." Klaus counters.
"You want to defeat the Hollow?" Davina walks closer to them. "She only has one weakness."
"You have my undivided attention." Klaus insists. "What is it?"
"You." Davina looks towards Cullen. "The thing she wants the most is the one thing that can destroy her."
"What the hell does that mean?" Klaus breathes, glancing towards his wife.
"I'm done talking to you." Davina remarks, grabbing ahold of Cullen's arm.
Waking with a gasp, Cullen looks around noticing she was no longer in the ancestral realm. "What the hell is all this?"
"This is what's needed if we want to stop the Hollow." Davina explains.
"What's needed is Klaus." Cullen states, glancing back at her still unconscious husband.
"No, Cullen, we only need you." Davina corrects. "It all comes down to the bloodline. That's the only thing that worked against her. When her evil became too great to bear, the tribes united to defeat her. Tribe elders managed to capture her using mystical bindings. But even with all that power, Inadu was too strong. Death seemed the only solution. Four of the strongest elders each imbued a part of their magic into a mighty ax. When the weapon was ready they relied on her mother, the one who gave her life, to be the one to take her life. But before she could kill her child, Inadu cast a final spell. One powered by her own death. A curse upon all present that night. She bound them to the full moon, so that once a month they would turn into the very beasts they used to hunt her."
"The Hollow created the werewolf curse." Cullen's eyes widen.
"She's powerful." Davina nods. "And she wants even more power. She wants you. Once she gains enough power to awaken her old body the first thing she will do is come after you. Her body is dying, that's why she wants you. The only thing strong enough to house her is you and we can't give her what she wants."
Cullen takes a step back at Davina's words. "Davina. What do you mean?"
"I'm sorry, Cullen." Davina apologizes. "But The Hollow can't get what she wants. If you don't die The Hollow will take over you're body and no one will be able to stop her, at least this way we have a chance. After you die we'll use Klaus to cast a spell to imprison her for good."
Before Cullen can act a circle of salt appears around her, making it impossible for her to leave the small barrier Davina had put around her. "Davina." Cullen yells, banging on the barrier. "Don't do this."
Davina's lack of attention on Klaus must have been enough to snap him out of his sleep because in a minute he's off the ground, a hand wrapped around Davina's throat. "Let go of me." Davina shouts, raising her hands to send Klaus flying across the room.
"Davina." Another voice yells, echoing throughout the empty church.
"Don't try to stop me, Marcel." Davina shakes her head, barely acknowledging her old friend. Behind him followed Hayley and Elijah, looks of confusion on their faces at the scene in front of them. "If I don't kill Cullen, if I don't put down The Hollow, she'll come for all of you. She'll burn the entire city."
"Davina, please." Hayley calls, running towards Cullen only to be stopped by the barrier.
"D. There's got to be another way." Marcel tries.
"Davina if you touch her I will kill you." Klaus snaps.
"I'm already dead." Davina replies. "And soon Cullen will be too." Cullen lets out a yell as Davina begins muttering a spell, bring the heretic to her knees. "I'm sorry, it's the only way."
"No!" A voice yells, causing everyones attention to turn towards the doors of the church.
"Hope." Cullen mumbles, eyebrows furrowed.
"You promised to help, but you're not helping. You're hurting us, and I won't let you." Hope raises her hand, the salt around Cullen disappearing along with Davina. Once the young witch is gone Hope runs to her mother, wrapping her arms around her. Cullen sighs, tightening her grip around her daughter.
-
"Those for me?" Hope questions as her mother walks into her bedroom, a plate of cookies in her hands.
Cullen smiles, sitting down on her daughters bed. "After what you did today, your dad compelled the entire Magnolia candy shop."
"Dad seemed sad." Hope exclaims.
"I think that he wanted to be the one doing the helping today. But we both agreed on one thing: you were very, very brave." Cullen tucks a fallen strand of hair behind her daughter's ear.
"I just thought about what you would do. It's like you always say: if we stick together, nothing can hurt us. Always and forever." Hope smiles, kissing her fingers. Cullen laughs quietly, her love for her daughter obvious as she kisses her own fingers, wrapping them around Hope's tiny ones.