From a Cradle to a Grave

Chapter 38

Thunder rumbled in the distance, but the sound didn't make it into Aurora's ears. The excitement pounding in chest was far more deafening.

A blast of magic exploded out of Hope, sending Klaus flying through the air. To both Aurora's and Hope's dismay, he rolled onto his feet, not even fazed by the attack.

Well... That wasn't technically true. Physically, he had not a scratch on him, But the emotional turmoil that he was experiencing right now was too much for him to handle. He had entered this cemetery believing someone had abducted his daughter. Obviously, he had expected a fight of the worst kind. But to think his opponent in the said fight would be Hope herself... He couldn't do this. He wouldn't do this.

Hope's eyes glow golden, the same shade and shape of Hayley's eyes. Klaus briefly glanced at Hayley, who was still clearly in shock. Though he was loath to admit it, a strange form of connection had grown between the two of them since his vampires had tracked her down so many months ago. It was a connection that caused strange feelings in his chest to stir. He'd questioned himself many times, wondering, simply wondering, if he could actually be in love.

Hope's claws raked the side of his face, drawing blood. This seemed to snap Hayley out of her trance. Klaus's werewolf queen sped into the middle of the fight, forcing a distance between him and Hope.

"Hope, listen to reason here," Hayley said desperately. "That woman has been deceiving you this entire time. Your father and I care for you, and we care for each other. She is the real monster here."

Try as she might, her words were simply too unbelievable. But that wasn't her fault. After all, there was an extent to which absolute lies could sound convincing.

You're never going to hurt anyone ever again. Not innocent bystanders, not people who've offended you in the most insignificant ways possible.

Hope's words reverberated inside Klaus's mind. He wasn't about to deny the fact that he'd hurt many people who were undeserving of his explicit rage. In fact, there had been a time not so long ago that he'd taken immense pride in it. But the words that had followed...

And especially, especially not my mother. She's going to be safe from you now.

Safe from him. Hope saw Hayley as someone who needed to be protected from him. And was she wrong? In this moment, Klaus fully and totally believed Hayley to be his most trusted companion, his most loyal acquaintance. And his subconscious must know something he didn't, too, for why else would he have rushed to protect her during that plane crash from months before without a second thought?

But did the affections he had for her now mean anything at all when compared to the fourteen years of trauma he put her through? For over a decade, he'd chased her around the globe as he'd done to... To Katherine Pierce. Had Klaus truly once put Hayley in the same regard as he had that doppelganger? He didn't want to believe that, but...

Madrid, Spain, two years after Hope's birth.

Hayley ran. Her feet left the ground as she used her werewolf strength to jump from rooftop to rooftop. Though it was the middle of the night, she had no problem seeing where she was going... Nor hearing her chasers draw nearer.

A lump rose in the back of her throat. She hated Klaus Mikaelson with all of her being, not just because it was thanks to him she'd had to spend the past two years looking over her shoulder at every moment's notice, but also because of the memories these hunts of his brought to her mind. Did he not realize Hayley blamed herself for their daughter's death just as much as he did?

His vampire soldiers were surrounding her. She could hear them now. She could probably take them. She was a hybrid with werewolf toxins flowing through her fangs, after all. But if he had come here tonight personally... Hayley wasn't sure how she would react.