Savior | Klaus Mikaelson

Chapter 95

The full moon was two days away.

Anita was inconsolable. Elena had caught her scrubbing her bloody clothes so hard in the sink that her skin broke open. Hope was trying to tell her that it would all be okay, but Anita refused to believe it.

"I was so careless," she said softly. "I was an idiot... a complete idiot. I didn't pay attention, I didn't think..."

"This isn't your fault," said Elijah firmly. "You were protecting yourself and protecting your mother, you didn't realize..."

"I should have realized!" she snapped, holding her own head. "I can't take this! I always get mad about every little thing and now it's just going to be worse!"

Elena tried to hand her a glass of water. "Baby, just drink something, please, you haven't hydrated—"

"Is it going to help me?" asked Anita, her voice breaking. "Is drinking water really going to do anything to help me when I have to go through that pain in two days? What the hell am I going to do? I don't know what to do, and it's just going to hurt!"

"But you'll be okay," said Hope soothingly. "You're a Crescent, you acknowledged Hayley and Jackson as your Alphas, after your first full moon, you won't have to turn again if you don't want to."

"That doesn't make me any less of a murderer," said Anita. "I still killed somebody! That woman... she had kids, Hope. She had a daughter, who's our age. I took somebody's mother. And I can never take that back."

Hayley, Ansel, and Klaus were at her side on the days leading up to the full moon, preparing her for what she ought to expect. Hope, meanwhile, was in her room, feeling incredibly guilty.

"This is all my fault," she said when Maddy came to check on her the night of the full moon. "I was the one who used that spell to send everyone to a random part of the city so they wouldn't stop me. If I hadn't done that... if she hadn't been alone..."

"They might have still attacked her and caused her to trigger her curse," said Maddy. "Sweetheart, I don't want you blaming yourself, please. This isn't your fault."

"Yes it is, Mom. I was too impulsive. I shouldn't have attacked those vampires." Her lip quivered, and she began to cry. "Anita didn't want this yet. She wasn't sure she ever wanted this."

Maddy pulled her into a hug, holding her close and caressing the back of her head. "Shh, it's okay."

Somehow, just holding her made her feel a bit better. But Hope didn't exactly feel fully absolved of her guilt. At least, the guilt she felt she deserved to carry. Maddy wished she knew how to help her, but honestly, she was at a loss. What exactly should one say after something like this happened? In a supernatural world, things were far too complicated, and being a parent to a child as powerful as Hope, who somehow always managed to be in the center of every issue because others feared her abilities... well, it was difficult, to say the least. Maddy was sure she wouldn't have survived any of it if she hadn't had Klaus co-parenting with her.

They dreaded what would happen the night of the full moon. Ansel, Klaus, and Hayley had taken her out into the Bayou, so that she could be with the other wolves. Ansel would still be turning, so he couldn't stay at her side the entire time, but Hayley, Klaus, and the rest of the Crescents would act as moral support. Though Anita was obviously nervous about having so many people watching her, a part of her felt comfort knowing that she wasn't alone.

"I'm worried about her," said Hope as she sat by the window, watching the moon rising into the sky. "She'll have started turning by now. What if her wolf comes here?"

"The wolves don't wander out this far," said Maddy. "Besides, I think she's going to be running around and exploring everything she's never seen before. This is familiar to her, there won't be a need for her to come by. Are you worried Theo will get startled?"