Fell In New Orleans | SEQUEL | TO [2]

053

I walked by Klaus' study sucking on a bloodbag. I stopped just past the doorway when I saw him inside. He was packing things into a small briefcase. I frowned in confusion as I entered the room, "What are you doing?"

Klaus didn't turn to look at me, instead carried on packing objects into the case, "Cami requested her dark objects in exchange for the weapon that could kill my family."

"Good." I said, walking towards him, "Except, I don't think that case is big enough."

"If she gets them all back, she will think she has power over me. She doesn't." Klaus replied, shutting the case.

"Seriously?" I frowned, "She just wants back what you took from her and vice versa."

"You know me, Cassie." Klaus said, picking the case up, "I am not taking that risk."

He headed towards the doorway. I sighed and began drinking the bloodbag again. I suddenly got a sharp pain in my stomach causing me to drop the bloodbag onto the floor, "Ahh!"

I pressed my hand against my stomach as Klaus turned and quickly walked back towards me, "What is it?"

"The baby." I said, breathing heavily. I glanced up at him, "I'm fine. Go to Cami, get the weapon back."

"I am not leaving you if you're in pain." Klaus frowned.

"I'm telling you to go. I'm okay, Klaus. Seriously, he's just kicking." I told him.

He hesitated, looking down to my stomach before he turned back around and left. I clutched my stomach as the pain remained. I took in several deep breaths for a good minute before the pain began to ease itself. I glanced down at my bump, hoping nothing bad was happening.

I headed towards Elijah's study to tell him where Klaus had gone. I could already hear Hayley talking to him inside, "Okay, so what's the plan? Cami's out there with the white oak, and I'm not gonna lose one more person that I care about."

I walked into the study, "Klaus is handling Cami."

Elijah nodded once, "'Til then, I'll keep Aya distracted."

I watched as he pulled some sort of scroll out of a desk drawer. I frowned a little in confusion, "Why don't you just kill her? You've killed others for far less."

Elijah avoided eye contact as he spoke, "She and I have history."

I looked to Hayley, who seemed unamused as she spoke, "You two had a thing?"

Elijah sighed, "Aya was a towering intellect with an insatiable curiosity. Passionate, fearless, and something of an outcast. Long ago, I invited her... to join a rather elite company. I determined she was perfectly tailored to bear the responsibility of an immortal life. I made her like me."

Hayley nodded in realisation, "She was one of the first Strix."

"We cared for one another deeply." Elijah replied, "Together, we created a fellowship unburdened by the limitations of man. It was the pursuit of a glorious new world. And then father led by that unquenchable desire to slay his children, Mikael descended, accompanied by a small army. He laid to waste everything that I built. So... we had no choice but to run.

Aya did not. So, when Tristan found her, he rescued her. She, of course, came to see him as something of a savior. And, in time, beneath his corrupted guidance, they made the Strix what they are today, a hive of depraved and ignorant savages. And she's never forgiven me. I'm not entirely certain I've ever forgiven myself."