The Beautiful and the Faultless | Cami O'Connell

Chapter 3

Within minutes, they sensed movement.

"The hybrid is leaving the house," reported Ingrid. "My spell on Marcel Gerard worked. They clearly have no idea we are here."

Dahlia raised a brow at her. "Who is she with?"

"The husband. And her child."

Dahlia's lips curled into a cruel smirk. "Wonderful. Let us greet them."

They had to exit the apartment to enter the kenning perimeter. Had they done it Ingrid's way, they could have sent their message from a more comfortable location. Instead, they were in St. Anne's Church, just within the borders of Dahlia's spell.

They watched from different individuals as Hayley and Jackson moved around the Quarter with Hope in her stroller. They truly suspected nothing, and it made it all the more satisfying knowing they were thoroughly unprepared for what was to come.

"The violinist," said Ingrid, seeing a girl playing violin ahead of where Hayley was currently walking.

Dahlia jumped into her. The woman began to play an upbeat tune, immediately gaining their attention. It caused Hope to giggle. This, of course, made Dahlia more serious, and she delivered her first threat: her classic little song. Something Ingrid hated. Though Hayley didn't know what the melody meant, she clearly looked unnerved.

"That song," she murmured to Jackson. "What is it?"

Sensing their discomfort, Ingrid closed her eyes and raised her hands, kenning three people at a time, forcing them all to look at Hayley, which only made her more and more paranoid that someone really was watching them. Dahlia, it seemed, wanted to get clever, and had had a nearby waiter write on a chalkboard, 'A promise made is a debt to be paid.'

Ingrid switched over to a flower vendor, who happened to have a cluster of roses in his hands. She concentrated, and with all her might, forced the illusion of them being black dahlias, when really, they weren't. "Flowers, miss," she made the man say, keeping her hands steady to make the flowers appear as she wished them to. "A gift for the child."

"Uh, no, we're alright," said Jackson politely. "Thank you!"

"You sure?" asked the man through Ingrid, holding out a flower. "Black dahlias are in bloom. They're quite lovely."

The psychological torture was thrilling the two women who stood side by side, able to create any vision they wanted to torment Hayley, who had started to bolt away. But Ingrid forced him to grab her, making the eyes go white, which was a typical side effect of when the two witches would speak directly through someone, rather than making them say what they wanted.

Suddenly, Ingrid was forced out of the man's body as he was placed in a chokehold by Klaus. She jumped back into the violinist, but Dahlia had been more clever— she'd jumped right into Jackson as Klaus snarled, "Show yourself, witch."

"Klaus!" shrieked Hayley when Jackson's eyes went glassy.

"I am here," Dahlia said aloud beside Ingrid, and simultaneously through Jackson's voice. "I am everywhere. And I intend to take what is mine."

She exited him, and he gasped. Ingrid remained in the violinist, watching their reactions.

"It's her," said Klaus worriedly.

"Hey, what just happened?" asked Jackson worriedly.

"Dahlia," sighed Klaus in response before scooping Hope up, then grabbing Hayley and Jackson roughly and using his vampire speed to whisk them away.

"Well, that was fun," said Ingrid, though she didn't sound like she meant it. The darker side of her that Dahlia forced out had liked it very much, relishing in the blatant fear visible on the faces of Hope's parents. But the real Ingrid hated this. She hated knowing what was to come for Hope. She simply wasn't strong enough to fight off Dahlia's spell, given the witch was using her and Freya's magic to hold it in place.