Hellfire | Hayley Marshall

Chapter 34

Brunch was set to be a disaster.

"Sister!" said Klaus, welcoming Freya as she walked in with Eisa, Kol, and Finn. "And the rest of my siblings— come in, make yourselves comfortable."

"No wolves today, Nik?" asked Kol, peeking out to the hallways.

Klaus chuckled. "I sent Hayley and her poorly groomed husband off to spend the day with their werewolf brethren to test the limits of their new abilities."

"Let's not discuss them," offered Rebekah as she came in with a tray of beignets. She could see the way Eisa's gaze had drifted to the ground. "Hello, Freya. I'm Rebekah."

The elder sister smiled warmly at her. "Rebekah, it is good to meet you. And Elijah, I presume?" She looked at Elijah, who'd walked in with champagne for them.

Elijah went to greet her. "Yes, pleased to meet you."

Freya was clearly feeling awkward, because she'd made a beeline to one of the decorations while the others got into their seats. Klaus was at the head of the table, Elijah to his right, Rebekah to his left, and Eisa, Finn, and Kol in sequence, filling up every last seat after their baby sister, except for the opposite head of the table, which was left vacant for Freya.

"This witch-hoop, it's Danish," she observed, holding up one of the artifacts. "Is this from when you all lived in Copenhagen in the 1500s?"

"Quite the eye!" said Klaus, though Finn scoffed.

"Well, not all of us," he mentioned. "Eisa and I were daggered, and Kol, well, he was traveling."

"Forgive me," said Eisa irritably, not wanting to have a fight this early in the meeting. "Could we perhaps discuss Dahlia? That is, after all, the most pressing concern."

"Please excuse my sister's lack of decorum," said Klaus with a smirk. "She's been in a foul mood of late. But, she is right. I did ask you here in the hopes that you would share some of Dahlia's secrets. So, without further ado, let's get to it!"

Freya slowly sank into her seat as the servers came around, serving waffles, eggs, sausages, pancakes, and several different bowls of fruit.

"The first thing you should know," began the eldest Mikaelson, "is that Dahlia is the most powerful witch I've ever seen. She craves more power still. Right now she is like me— limited to one year of life in a century. But, she wants to be free of that restriction. To gain true immortality. And that is why she will come here— drawn by your daughter to take the child's power for herself. And she would kill anyone who would defy her."

"And yet, you would defy her?" asked Elijah curiously.

"I don't have a choice," said Freya. "She will never let me be free. My one chance is to align with you and kill her."

Rebekah cast her a reassuring smile. "Well, we're all listening."

Freya drew a deep breath. "For you to understand, I need to start from the beginning. After taking me from my family, Dahlia used me to forge a new brand of connective magic, one that augmented my power even as it allowed her to draw from me. Once we were bonded, Dahlia became unstoppable. She wasted no time proving her might.

"The chief of a nearby village threatened to run us off, accusing Dahlia of witchcraft. She decided to make an example out of the entire encampment-- men, women, children. She killed them all with a wave of her hand. That was my first inkling of the power Dahlia had. Over the course of a thousand years, she's only grown stronger." She faced their half-brother. "And she will bring all her power to bear against you when she comes for your child."