Dark Moon | Klaus Mikaelson

Chapter 19

Esmeray had been so distracted, she let her guard down.

She had been planning a speech to recite to Damon to have him hear her out, because she didn't want him to walk toward Elena without knowing her thoughts. She'd been going out through the backdoor when Paige yanked her arms behind her back.

"I'm sorry," she said, covering her mouth. "Stay calm. I can't stop myself..."

Esmeray tried to break out of her hold, but Paige was far stronger, and snapped her wrists back, making her whimper in pain, feeling her carpals breaking. She didn't know why Paige was doing this, but it was clear that she was trying to stop her from doing magic. She felt herself be dragged off to the side of the house, and she managed to see a familiar face that struck fear in her.

Mikael. He was waiting at the front door casually. Esmeray supposed Klaus had gone inside not long after she had, perhaps to look for her. She blinked away her tears of pain and tried to listen, hearing footsteps before she saw, from a distance, the door opening and Klaus staring at Mikael.

"Hello, Niklaus," said the brute of an Original that Esmeray despised, after seeing what he'd done to Klaus and his siblings.

"Hello, Mikael," greeted Klaus gruffly, though with a taunting air, as usual. "Why don't you come in? Oh, that's right. I forgot you can't."

Mikael shrugged. "Or you can come outside if you want."

"Or I could watch my hybrids tear you limb from limb." The hybrids, excluding Paige and Mindy, moved behind Mikael, all waiting for Klaus's orders.

The elder Original was unfazed. "They can't kill me."

"True," admitted Klaus, holding up his hand. "But it'll make a hell of a party game. All I have to do is rub these two fingers together and they'll pounce."

"The big bad wolf," said Mikael venomously, glaring at his stepson, who dropped his hand, looking uncomfortable. "You haven't changed. Still hiding behind your playthings like a coward. You only forget. They may be sired by you, but they're still part vampire. And they can be compelled by me."

At this, Paige walked forward with Esmeray, but they were also joined by Mindy, who had Elena in her grasp. Klaus immediately tensed at the sight of the two of them restrained and outside, where Mikael could hurt them.

This was panic as he had never felt it before. Klaus had been scared in the past, yes. But perhaps his fear had never been so bad when Mikael faced his siblings because they were his children, and deep down, he knew Mikael could never hurt them, and if he tried, he might not succeed at killing them. The one he wanted to hurt was Klaus and this... this was the way to do it. Klaus could see that both Elena and Esmeray looked terrified, and he wished to be able to tear Mikael to shreds in that instant, but he knew he couldn't risk it.

He cared far less about Elena in that moment. He could sense every emotion coursing through Esmeray's body. She was rigid and he recalled what she'd told her about her father's friend having been killed by Mikael when he went to help, following the man's ruthless attack on the North East Atlantic Pack to kill Klaus's real father. The last thing he wanted was for Esmeray to get hurt, and Mikael seemed to realize that he'd struck gold in having caught both girls at once.

"Come out and face me, Niklaus," said Mikael as Mindy pushed Elena toward the Original. "Or she dies, and the other hybrid whelp will be next."

"Go ahead," said Klaus, trying to feign indifference. "Kill them."

"No, Klaus!" pleaded Elena, her eyes wide. "He'll do it!"

"If she dies," said Mikael, nodding back at the hybrids, "this lot will be the last of your abominations."